Indian Economy-News & Updates

[luckych]

Bangalore among the top 10 preferred entrepreneurial locations

: Silicon Valley, New York City and London are still the preferred locations for entrepreneurs to start up companies, but Bangalore is also now among the top 10 such preferred entrepreneurial locations worldwide.

While Bangalore managed to land at ninth place in the list of best cities for startups, India's financial capital Mumbai was slotted at 20.

The Startup Genome Project was started a year ago to study how entrepreneurs decide where to start their company. Started by a handful of serial entrepreneurs and startup mentors based in Silicon Valley, the project made an effort to scientifically study the startup ecosystems in different cities across the world.

While Silicon Valley had a strong early stage funding ecosystem, more mentors, ambitious and risky startups, New York City had diversity, niche focus apart from marketplace and social network focus. London startups were focused on project management and e-commerce as well as highly-educated ecosystem which bets big on perceived proven winners.

The report also offers insights on the three startup ecosystems. For instance, companies in Silicon Valley work 35% more than companies in New York City. In Silicon Valley, teams at startups work nine-and-half hours a day on average versus eight hours in London and seven in New York City.

The report, which is still a work-inprogress, has limited information on Indian cities as it was mostly the result of analysis of data received by the project from nearly 13,000 startups that used Startup Compass, a benchmarking tool launched by the Startup Genome Project.

Bangalore-based serial entrepreneur Sharad Sharma says Indian entrepreneurship gets under-reported as it is still focused on serving businesses. "The Startup Compass methodology puts a premium on velocity in achieving scale. This tends to happen slower in business-to-business startups than business-to-consumer startups."

Sharma, also a entrepreneur-in-residence and venture capital fund Canaan Venture Partners, predicted that angel funding deals will double in 2012 compared to 2011. "Ecosystems in Bangalore, NCR and Mumbai-Pune are rapidly evolving," he said while pointing out that besides startups like Flipkart, Bangalorebased startups like Hashcube and Unbxd are doing well globally.


Bangalore among the top 10 preferred entrepreneurial locations - The Economic Times

 

[Holmes]

India leaps forward in clean energy race

Washington, April 12, 2012

With India receiving $10.2 billion investments in clean energy, the country has emerged as one of the top performing clean energy economies in the 21st century, an eminent American non-profit organisation said in a report.

The Pew Charitable Trust, in its report, said India's clean energy
sector continued to flourish in 2011, with private investment increasing 54% to $10.2 billion, placing the country at number 6 spot among the G-20 nations.

This was the second highest growth rate among the G-20 nations, The Pew Energy said in its research report released in Washington on Wednesday.

"On a number of measures, India has been one of the top performing clean energy economies in the 21st century, registering the fifth highest five-year rate of investment growth and eighth highest in installed renewable energy capacity," said Phyllis Cuttino, director of Pew's Clean Energy Program.

"The country holds great potential in the Asia/Oceana region and will continue to be a top destination for private investment this year," she said.

Clean energy investment, excluding research and development, has grown by 600% since 2004, on the basis of effective national policies that create market certainty, Cuttino added.

India's "National Solar Mission", with a goal of 20 GW of solar power installed by 2020, helped drive the seven-fold jump in solar energy investments, to $4.2 billion, the report said, adding the country received $4.6 billion and an additional 2.8 GW of capacity was installed over the course of the year.

India now has 22.4 gigawatts of installed clean energy generating capacity, it noted.

"The clean energy sector received its trillionth dollar of private investment just before the end of 2011, demonstrating significant growth over the past eight years," said Michael Liebreich, CEO of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Pew's research partner.

"Solar installations drove most of the activity last year as the falling price of photovoltaic modules, now 75% lower than three years ago, more than compensated for weakening clean energy support mechanisms in a number of parts of the world," Liebreich said.

Globally, investment grew to a record $263 billion in 2011, a 6.5% increase over the previous year, the report said.

The US reclaimed the top spot among all G-20 nations and attracted $48 billion. However, with $45.5 billion in private investments, China continued to be a hub of clean energy activity – leading the world in wind energy investment and deployment as well as wind and solar manufacturing.

Germany received $30.6 billion ranking third among G-20 nations.

The combination of falling prices and growing investments accelerated installation of clean energy generating capacity by a record 83.5 GW in 2011 bringing the total to 565 GW globally.

This represents almost 50% more than installed nuclear power capacity, the report said.

India leaps forward in clean energy race - Hindustan Times

 

[Sugarcane]

Industrial growth drops to 'disappointing' 4.1%, industry asks RBI to cut rates
NEW DELHI: Pulled down by poor performance of manufacturing and consumer goods, industrial growth slipped to 4.1 per cent in February prompting government to state that the "disappointing" numbers will have bearing on the Reserve Bank when it takes a call on the interest rates on April 17.

Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew by 6.7 per cent in February 2011.

Rising interest rates and poor domestic demand aggravated by global uncertainties hit the industrial investment, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

What is worse, the 6.8 per cent industrial expansion in January has been drastically revised to 1.14 per cent with chief statistician TCA Anant admitting "slippages" in data collection.

Prime Minister's economic advisory council (PMEAC) chairman C Rangarajan said the government is setting up a committee to tighten sources of data gathering.

As per the IIP data released today, the growth in factory output for the cumulative April-February 2011-12 period more than halved to 3.5 per cent from 8.1 per cent from a year ago. "These (IIP) figures will have bearing on monetary policy announcement scheduled for next week. The government along with RBI will take required steps to revive activity in the economy," Mukherjee said.

Key segments like manufacturing, consumer goods, consumer durables and intermediate items, are among the worst hit. In fact, consumer durables and intermediate goods slipped into negative zones.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia also described the IIP figures as "very very disappointing".

Industry said decline in industrial growth is a "cause for concern" and urgent steps are needed to bring reforms back to the forefront. Industry asks RBI to cut rates

Expressing concerns over slow industrial production growth, industry today asked the Reserve Bank to cut rates in its policy review next month to boost investments and bring the growth back on track.

"Overall, industrial growth remains weak in 2011-12 and it is important to use all policy levers to encourage growth and investment. It is time that RBI focuses on getting growth back by sharply reducing interest rates," CII said.

Sharing similar views, Assocham said RBI must take this (sluggish IIP growth) into consideration, while announcing the credit policy on April 17.

Industry has been blaming the slowdown in growth to the high interest rate regime that has made borrowings costly and curbed consumer spending.

Industrial output growth slowed to 4.1 per cent in February this year, mainly due to poor performance of manufacturing sector and consumer goods segments.

"The 4.1 per cent growth in industrial output is not good enough. This may not push the cumulative growth of the sector beyond 3.5 per cent in the 2011-12 fiscal," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said. Output of the manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the IIP, rose by just 4 per cent in February compared to 7.5 per cent in the same period last year.

"The slow growth of the manufacturing sector has got wider implications and needs to be the addressed on a priority basis," Rawat said.

Besides, the IIP growth has been revised downwards to 1.14 per cent in January from the provisional estimates of 6.8 per cent.

"The error reported in the January number has sharply pulled down the growth rate for the year till now," Rawat said.

During the April-February period of 2011-12, the IIP growth is 3.5 per cent, as against 8.1 per cent in same period in 2010-11.
Industrial growth drops to 'disappointing' 4.1%, industry asks RBI to cut rates - The Times of India

 

[Tridibans]

India's exports in volume grow fastest: WTO - India News - IBNLive

New Delhi: India recorded exports growth of 16 per cent in 2011, the fastest in the world in volume terms during last year, even as the global trade expansion slowed to five per cent, according to the WTO report.

"India had the fastest export growth among major traders in 2011, with shipments rising 16.1 per cent. Meanwhile, China had the second-fastest export growth of many major economy at 9.3 per cent," the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said.

However, the WTO economists forecast further slowing down of world trade in 2012 to 3.7 per cent as the downside risks remain high. "We are not yet out of the woods," WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said.

These risks include a steeper than expected downturn in Europe, financial contagion related to the sovereign debt crisis, rapidly rising oil prices and geopolitical risks.

India, also emerged as the second-fastest importer after China growing at a pace of 6 per cent in 2011.

While, Indian exports increased the fastest in the world in volume terms, in terms of dollar realisation the growth has been slowing sharply since August 2011, according to Commerce Ministry data.

In their report, the WTO economists said the weak import demand from the Europe and US would adversely affect the emerging and developing countries like India.

The US and European Union together account for nearly 35 per cent of India's exports of USD 245.9 billion in 2010-11, as per India's trade data.

"The outlook for world trade darkened in recent months as the euro sovereign debt crisis threatened to undermine global growth. The agreement on a debt restructuring plan for Greece has provided some respite for governments, but at least a mild recession in the European Union may now be looming, with negative consequences for global trade and output," the WTO said.

In the 3.7 per cent world trade volume growth in 2012, two per cent increase is estimated for developed nations and 5.6 per cent for developing economies (including the Commonwealth of Independent States).

On the import side, the WTO is projecting 1.9 per cent growth for developed countries and 6.2 per cent for developing economies and CIS.

 

[cloud_9]

Installed Capacity Crosses 2 lakh MW Mark

The installed capacity in the country has crossed 2 lakh MW mark with the commissioning of a 660 MW Unit of a power plant in Jhajjar in Haryana this week. With this the total installed capacity has reached 2,00,287 MW. It includes 1,32,013 MW capacity in thermal sector, 38,991 MW in hydro sector, 4,780 MW in nuclear sector and 24,503 MW in renewable energy sector. At the end of the 11th Plan, i.e. on 31st March 2012 the total installed capacity stood at 1,99,627 MW.

There has been an unprecedented growth in capacity addition during the 11th Plan with addition of 54,964 MW of fresh capacity showing a growth of 159% over the 10th Plan period during which 21,180 MW capacity was added. During the 9th Plan the capacity addition stood at 19,010 MW. The year 2011-12 also saw new benchmarks created in the capacity addition. A record capacity of 20,501 MW was added in 2011-12, out of which 5,482 MW was added in the month of March 2012 alone.

The improved performance in capacity addition during the 11th Plan period has been recorded across all sectors including the central, state and private sectors.

Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report for the Quarter Ending December 2011

The number of telephone subscribers in India has increased from nearly 907 million at the end of Sep-11 to 926.5 million at the end of Dec-11, registering a growth of 2.16% over the previous quarter as against 2.36% during the QE Sep-11. This reflects year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth of 17.69% over the same quarter last year. The overall tele density in India reached 76.86 as on 31st December 2011.
Trends in Telephone subscribers and Teledensity in India

1. Subscription in Urban Areas grew from 601.72 million at the end of Sep-11 to 611.19 million at the end of Dec-11, taking the Urban Teledensity from 166.01 to 167.85. Rural subscription increased from 305.51 million to 315.33 million, and the Rural Teledensity increased from 36.40 to 37.48. Share of Rural areas in total subscription has increased from 33.69% at the end of Sep-11 to 34.03% at the end of Dec-11.

2. About 49.87% of the total net additions have been in Urban areas as compared to 64.37% in the previous quarter. Rural subscription growth rate increased from 2.50% in QE Sep-11 to 3.22% in QE Dec-11, and Urban subscription growth rate declined from 2.29% in QE Sep-11 to 1.63% in QE Dec-11.

3. With 20.23 million net additions during the quarter, total wireless (GSM + CDMA) subscriber base registered a growth of 2.32% over the previous quarter and increased from 873.61 million at the end of Sep-11 to 893.84 million at the end of Dec-11.

4. Wireline subscriber base further declined from 33.31 million at the end of Sep-11 to 32.69 million at the end of Dec-11.

5. Internet subscribers increased from 20.99 million at the end of Sep-11 to 22.39 million at the end of Dec-11, registering a quarterly growth rate of 6.66%. Top 10 ISPs together hold 95.04% of the total Internet subscriber base.

6. Number of Broadband subscribers increased from 12.83 million at the end of Sep-11 to 13.35 million at the end of Dec-11, registering a quarterly growth of 4.03% and Y-O-Y growth of 21.49%.

7. Share of Broadband subscription in total Internet subscription decreased from 61.1% at the end of Sep-11 to 59.6% at the end of Dec-11. 85.12% of the Broadband subscribers are using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology.

11. At the end of Dec-11, total number of permitted private satellite TV channels registered with Ministry of I&B, as obtained from its website, is 825. There are 163 pay TV channels in existence, as reported by 25 broadcasters/their distributors, as on QE Dec-11. Maximum number of TV channels (Pay, FTA and Local) being carried by any of the reported MSOs is 277 whereas in the conventional analogue form, maximum number of channels being carried by any of the reported MSOs is 100 channels.

12. Apart from All India Radio, Prasar Bharti – a public broadcaster, there are 245 private FM Radio stations in operation at the end of Dec-11.

13. Besides the free DTH service of Doordarshan, there are 6 private DTH licensees, offering their services to the DTH subscribers. As on 31.12.2011, their reported subscriber base is 44.21 million. Number of Set Top Boxes (STBs) installed in CAS notified areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai increased from 8,19,960 at the end of Sep-11 to 8,53,737 at the end of Dec-11.

 

[Tangent]

WOW..!! Hope to see 100% electrification and load shedding a thing of past...

With the rise in electicity generation and rise in LPG prices, Induction cooking range will be a big hit.

 

[Great Sachin]

Good to here all the positive news of Indian growth....dont worry all the negative news are taken care by Pakistani and Chinese

 

[NSG_BlackCats]

Exports cross $300 billion

India's exports crossed the $300-billion mark, achieving the target set by the Commerce and Industry Ministry for 2011-12.

However, the rising import bill inflated by high crude oil prices and import of gold and silver pushed the trade deficit to a whopping $185 billion, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told journalists here.

Imports shot up by 38 per cent to $485 billion in the last fiscal.

Mr. Sharma said the export target was achieved despite lower export demand from traditional markets and the eurozone crisis as outbound shipments grew in new markets of Latin America and Africa.

“We are on course, despite the difficult global scenario and the contraction of demand in some of the traditional destinations and the eurozone crisis,'' he said, releasing the provisional trade data.

Mr. Sharma said imports increased mainly due to high crude oil prices and huge demand for gold and silver. Consequently, the trade deficit was estimated to have widened to $185 billion from $104.4 billion in 2010-11.

“Our current account deficit and the trade deficit are a challenge. Both are under stress. The country would devise a strategy in its upcoming foreign trade policy to regulate and address the growing trade gap,'' he remarked.

Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar said the sectors that led to higher exports included gems and jewellery, textiles, petroleum, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

 

[Vinod2070]

Exports cross $300 billion

That's unbelievable!

On track to $600 billion by 2020.

The total trade will be more than $1 trillion by then. Just unbelievable!

 

[Maritimer]

That's unbelievable!

On track to $600 billion by 2020.

The total trade will be more than $1 trillion by then. Just unbelievable!

If you consider the trade in merchandise + services, then total trade is near $1 trillion this year.

 

[lepziboy]

Exports cross $300 billion

Trade deficit is still a major issue increased $80 billion too much per year

 

[cloud_9]

Trade deficit is still a major issue increased $80 billion too much per year

Its around $185 Billion but mainly due Oil,Gold and Silver.
Oil Bill - $150 Billion (80% of which is imported)
Gold/Silver Bill -$60 Billion

 

[Sadhu]

The Gross domestic savings (% of GDP) in India is 32%....... it can finance its deficit from saving if it comes to that....Not to consider amount of gold in this country ....so chaddar ood ke so0 jaoo ......No worries ....

This blue tv analyst are the biggest moron of the decade or may be even of centuries ........

 

[RPK]

Newsonair : Sports News, Cricket News, Delhi News, Common Wealth Games 2010, News 2010. Business News, Political News, State News, International News, Exclusive News & more...

Krishna’s UAE visit: India to sign key agreements on double taxation


Some key agreements on double taxation and consular issues are to be signed during the visit of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to the UAE from Saturday during which he will also co-chair the 10th session of the India-UAE Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation. The UAE side will be led by Sheikh Abdulla Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Foreign Minister.

The last session of the Joint Commission was held in 2007 in New Delhi. India’s bilateral trade with the UAE in 2010-2011 was estimated at USD 67 billion and is likely to increase further. India and UAE were each other’s largest trade partners in 2010-2011. The UAE is also a significant investor in India in terms of FDI.

Both countries have regular exchange of dialogue in the field of defence. There have been goodwill visits of Indian Navy ships to the UAE from time-to-time. Bilateral defence cooperation has been strengthened in the recent years and the UAE is home to an Indian expatriate community of more than 1.75 million, the largest expatriate community in the UAE.

The ministry of external affairs said that during his visit, Mr. Krishna will also interact with Heads of Indian Missions in the region at a conference in Abu Dhabi

 

[cloud_9]

Cabinet may approve National Electronics Policy within a week - The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: The government is likely to approve National Policy on Electronics (NPE), which aims to create a domestic electronics manufacturing eco-system worth $400 billion by 2020, within a week.

"Inter-ministerial consultation is complete on NPE and cabinet note has been sent. We expect the cabinet to approve the policy within a week," a senior government official told PTI.

According to draft of NPE ,which was put in public domain, the policy aims to promote domestic manufacturing of electronic products. The aim is to achieve a $400 billion turnover by 2020, involving investment of about $100 billion and employment to around 28 million people at various levels.

As per estimates, demand in the Indian market was $45 billion in 2008-09 and is expected to reach $400 billion by 2020. The domestic production in 2008-09 was about $20 billion. The actual value-addition in the domestically produced electronic product ranges between 5 to 10 per cent in most cases.

At the current rate of growth, the domestic production can cater to a demand of $100 billion in 2020 as against a demand of $400 billion. This means there could be a demand-supply gap of nearly $300 billion by 2020.

Under NPE, the government has set a target to increase the export in electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM) sector from the estimated $5.5 billion at present to $80 billion by 2020 and provide stable tax regime for period of 10 years.

As per the proposal, telecom products specifically mobile phones will be declared goods of special importance under the Central Sales Tax Act.

The government also aims to promote around 200 clusters across country under NPE which will house full eco-system for manufacturing electronic products like design house, training cent res, manufacturing facility among others.

Foreign trade policy likely next month: Rahul Khullar - The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: The foreign trade policy, to be unveiled next month, will focus on addressing India's trade deficit, which ballooned to $185 billion in 2011-12, exerting pressure on the country's current account deficit.

"The expectations are that 2012-13 would be difficult. But, there is a way of dealing with even difficult circumstances, so please leave that to be packaged, to be put together as part of the foreign trade policy (FTP) supplement that will be announced next month," Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar has said.

The country's imports grew by 38 per cent to $485 billion mainly due to high crude oil prices and gold and silver.

Though exports too crossed $300 billion for the last financial year, a widening trade deficit is an area of concern for the policy makers.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has said "current account deficit (CAD) and trade deficit are a challenge".

The minister has said that his ministry would devise a strategy in its upcoming foreign trade policy to regulate and address the growing trade gap.

The country's CAD nearly doubled to $19.6 billion or 4.3 per cent during the Oct-Dec quarter of 2011-12 fiscal.

CAD includes deficit in external trade of goods, services besides net investment income.

On cotton exports, Khullar said that scrutinisation and revalidation of registration certificates, which was issued before the ban on exports was imposed on March 5, will be completed by Tuesday.

"By Tuesday, all 19 lakh bales for which revalidation has been sought would have been issued. Ten lakh bales has already gone," he said.