Indian Foreign Affairs News & Discussions (non-US & Pakistan related

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India-EU FTA by year-end: Sharma​

India was likely to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union by the end of the year, with the two sides expected to conclude the talks on the pact by next month, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said today.

Officials in India are currently having a dialogue with their counterparts in the EU over the terms of FTA. Another round of ministerial-level talks are scheduled in Brussels next month. Sharma will visit EU headquarters to finalise the agreement, which could open up new export opportunities worth $9 billion for India.

“We have agreed to meet in November for a ministerial review. After the negotiations in Brussles, we should be in a position to wrap it up or reach an in-principle agreement,” Sharma said in his address to the press in Dusseldorf, Germany, where he is for a Ficci business meet.
So far, there have been nine rounds of negotiations between India and EU over the proposed FTA.

Sharma said substantial progress had been made in the talks during the last round in August and it was decided that both sides should try to conclude the agreement in 2010.

The sides have been negotiating an FTA since 2007. Officials are trying hard to iron out differences in certain areas.

Ficci President Rajan Bharti Mittal said non-trade issues (such as environment and labour standards) needed to be covered under the proposed FTA, which would likely be signed when India next meets EU officials.

EU is India’s largest trading partner, with an estimated trade between the two sides during 2009-10 standing at around $75 billion.

Sharma has come with a 50-member business delegation to Germany, seeking to attract investment in sectors like research and development, technology and infrastructure, where India needs $1 trillion investment in the 12th Plan period (2012-17).

The meet in Germany is seen as a step towards achieving the bilateral trade target of ¤20 billion by 2012 from ¤13 billion in 2009, and facilitate this process through easy procedure and removal of non-trade barriers. Sharma said he was confident about reaching the ¤20-billion target earlier than 2012.

India will also take up with Germany the issue of problems faced by Indians in getting work visa and permit there. Recently, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had also said visa and work permits continued to constrain India’s economic relations with Germany. He had said Indian companies faced difficulty due to denial or delay in the issue of export licences by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control to the German companies supplying specific technology, equipment or material to India.

India-EU FTA by year-end: Sharma

 

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Mahindra & Mahindra growing into a global giant

Anand Mahindra, a scion of one of India’s richest families, abandoned a youthful flirtation with communism and cinema to work at the business he was born into. After expanding the steel and tractor maker into cars, financial services and resorts, Mahindra’s appetite for growth is unsated.

“There’s no reason why we can’t get into any other business,” said the 55-year-old head of Mahindra & Mahindra, who donated $10 million to his alma mater Harvard College this week. “B-School was me atoning for my sins at college.”

Mahindra has tripled sales over five years, spurred by rising demand in India where his flagship company gets 96% of revenue. To cut its reliance on the domestic market, Mahindra & Mahindra is in talks to buy South Korean automaker Ssangyong Motor Co, plans to sell trucks in the US and is reviving Satyam Computer Services after India’s biggest corporate scandal.



“This is the next phase of the Indian growth story —when Indian companies go overseas,” said Saikat Chaudhuri, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school. “Mahindra has been a strong leader for his company.” After studying film at Harvard, where he directed a movie about Kumbh Mela, a gathering of millions of Hindus at the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers in Northern India once every four years, Mahindra took his first job selling imported coal for Kaiser Resources in Bihar, one of India’s main mining regions. He lasted six months. “It was mafia land,” he said. “You couldn’t go out after dark.”


When Mahindra arrived, Mahindra & Mahindra was producing tractors and licensed copies of Willys Jeeps, largely unchanged since World War II.

He helped expand the auto range through a venture with Ford Motor Co and then by adding sport-utility vehicles under the Mahindra brand that have made the company the nation’s largest SUV-maker. Mahindra also helped push the company overseas, with US tractor sales beginning in 1994.

Mahindra & Mahindra is planning to challenge Toyota Motor Corp and General Motors in the US by introducing small diesel pick-ups. The company has won approval from the US Environmental Protection Agency to sell two models.
hen Mahindra arrived, Mahindra & Mahindra was producing tractors and licensed copies of Willys Jeeps, largely unchanged since World War II.

Mahindra & Mahindra has jumped 38% this year in Mumbai trading, giving it a market value of $9.7 billion. The Mahindra family controls a 26% stake, according to the company’s annual report.

Delays in winning regulatory approval means the start of US sales is about a year behind schedule. The company is also in a legal dispute with a distributor that has further disrupted sales, which were previously scheduled to begin in December. Mahindra declined to comment on the automaker’s US plans and prices because of the lawsuit. Mahindra & Mahindra will need to win customers in a US market that has slowed to an annual sales rate of 11.8 million, according Autodata Corp. Full-year sales in 2007 totaled 16.1 million.


US drivers have also traditionally shunned small trucks because they aren’t much cheaper than bigger models with greater towing power, said Alan Baum, an analyst for Baum & Associates, an industry consultant in West Bloomfield, Michigan.


Mahindra & Mahindra growing into a global giant

 

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Russia should help India in developing n-triad: expert

Vinay Shukla
Moscow, Oct 5 (PTI) Ahead of Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov''s New Delhi visit, a top defence expert has said Russia should help India in developing its "wholesome" nuclear triad to further advance bilateral defence cooperation.

"In my view, Russia must help India in the development of its wholesome nuclear triad, so that it has naval, air and land platforms for its nuclear delivery systems," Ruslan Pukhov, Director of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) said.

Pukhov is also a member of Public Advisory Board of the Russian Ministry of Defence and will accompany Serdyukov on his New Delhi visit beginning tomorrow during which the India-Russia intergovernmental commission on military- technical cooperation co-chaired by Defence A K Antony is to hold its annual session.

"Why shouldn''t we jointly work for the development of an Indian SSBN (nuclear submarine for launching ballistic missiles)?" Pukhov told PTI.

He suggested that India and Russia could jointly develop a "de facto" common naval system of nuclear deterrence similar to one the US and Britain have.

"In case China develops its fleet of aircraft carriers, Russia could offer Project 949 (Nato codename Oscar-II) nuclear submarines, naval Tu-22M3 bombers and even, although could sound incredible, the nuclear propelled missile cruisers of Project 1144 (Orlan class)," Pukhov said.

Reacting to India''s apprehensions about China''s growing military clout, Pukhov termed as false reports that Moscow was giving superior weapons and technologies to Beijing.

"The type of harmony and complementarity of the military-political interests Russia has with India, will simply never be in our relations with China. This would contradict the elementary norms of geopolitics," he said.

"You will never hear Russian officials expressing concern at the growing Chinese military might, but all of them are well aware of its implications and very well understand that PRC poses a potential threat to Russia''s Far East and Eastern Siberia," he said.

The massive wargames Vostok-2010 (Orient 2010) involving thousand of servicemen and warships in the Far East and Eastern Siberia, during which the Russian troops also practiced the use of tactical nuclear weapons are the reflection of this concern, he said.

"The Indian Air Force''s Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a generation ahead of Su-30MKK/MK2 fighters given to China. Same can be said about Talwar class stealth frigates built for India and ''Sovremenny'' class destroyer sold to China.

"While India and Russia are jointly developing hypersonic BrahMos cruise missiles, fifth generation fighter (FGFA) and futuristic multirole transport aircraft (MTA), no such project is underway with China," Pukhov noted.

 

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Russian defense minister visits India | Defense | RIA Novosti


Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, on a two-day visit to India since Wednesday, will discuss bilateral military cooperation on Thursday, his spokeswoman said.

"The Russian defense minister will attend the tenth meeting of the Russian-Indian intergovernmental commission on military and technical cooperation," Lt. Col. Irina Kovalchuk told journalists.

She said the sides will sum up defense activities in 2009 and outline priority tasks to further develop military cooperation.

"After the meeting the sides are to sign the final protocol defining the basic directions of bilateral military and technical cooperation and specifying ways to implement the current projects," Kovalchuk said.

Serdyukov will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Arackaparambil Kurian Antony.

According to Kovalchuk, the key issues for the intergovernmental commission's consideration are the retrofit by Russia of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier for India's Navy and licensed manufacturing of Sukhoi Su-30MKI Flanker-H and T-90S tanks in India.

The Admiral Gorshkov is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier, originally named Baku. The ship was laid down in 1978 at the Nikolayev South shipyard in Ukraine, launched in 1982, and commissioned with the Soviet Navy in 1987.

It was renamed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1994, following a boiler room explosion, the Admiral Gorshkov sat in dock for a year for repairs. In 1995, it briefly returned to service and in 1996 was finally withdrawn and put up for sale.

The ship has a displacement capacity of 45,000 tons. It has a maximum speed of 32 knots and an endurance of 13,500 nautical miles (25,000 km) at a cruising speed of 18 knots.

The Russian-Indian commission's agenda also includes cooperation in developing and manufacturing a fifth generation fighter and a multipurpose transport aircraft, as well as joint production of BrahMos cruise missiles.

The BrahMos missile has a range of 290 km (180 miles) and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg (660 lbs). It can effectively engage targets from an altitude as low as 10 meters (30 feet) and has a top speed of Mach 2.8, which is about three times faster than the U.S.-made subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile.

Established in 1998, Russian-Indian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace manufactures and markets BrahMos supersonic missiles. Sea- and ground-launched versions have been successfully tested and put into service with the Indian Army and Navy.

 

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Canada likely to invest USD 3 bn in India's highways sector​

NEW DELHI: Shifting its focus from the US and other European nations, Canada has assured India to invest USD three billion in highways projects in the next five years, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said.

"Earlier Canada was parking funds in western countries mostly the US, I sensitised them...they showed a lot of interest. Over a period of five years, I think we should have close to USD three billion," Nath said.

He said he had talked to a large number of funds there, including pension and insurance funds and they have evinced interest in the India's infrastructure sector.

"I am optimistic that we would see some interest from pension funds and insurance funds (from Canada) because those are the kinds of funds, which for the long term infrastructure funds are the most desirable," Nath said.

The move comes in the wake of India raising cap on foreign institutional investors (FIIs) investment by USD 5 billion in government and corporate bonds each. Besides, the government allowed FIIs to invest additional USD 5 billion in bonds issued by companies engaged in infrastructure sector.

The country needs about USD 70 billion for building roads in the next four years and Nath had earlier said that USD 40 billion requirement would be met from the private sector, of which USD 10 billion is likely to come from foreign funds.

The government plans to build 35,000 km of highways by March 2014.

Canada likely to invest USD 3 bn in India's highways sector - The Economic Times

 

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7 Indian companies nominated for Platts Global Energy Awards​

MUMBAI: Seven energy companies from India, including Reliance Industries, have been chosen as finalists in the Platts Global Energy Awards, an annual program recognising exemplary industry leadership.

The seven companies are Reliance Industries, HPCL, Coal India, Cairn India, North Delhi Power Limited, Uhde India and GAIL India , a press release issued here today stated.

North Delhi Power Limited has been nominated in two categories--Power Company of the Year and Leading Technologies--Commercial, it said.

Platts Global Energy Awards highlight corporate and individual innovation, leadership, and superior performance in 17 categories spanning the entire energy complex.

The companies and the categories they have been nominated under are North Delhi Power under Leading Technologies-Commercial) and also under Operational Excellence--Power Company, GAIL under Operational Excellence--Downstream, Cairn India under Operational Excellence--Energy Producer, Coal India under Operational Excellence--Energy Producer, HPCL under Operational Excellence--Green Energy, Reliance Industries under Outstanding Programmes/End-User--Energy Efficiency and Uhde India under Premier Projects--Engineering.

Platts will also name the 2010 Energy Company of the Year and the winner of this award will be chosen from the entire list of finalists by the program's independent judges' panel, comprising of former regulators, past heads of major energy companies, leading academics and international energy experts.


7 Indian companies nominated for Platts Global Energy Awards - The Economic Times

 

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India, France aim to double bilateral trade​

India and France aim to double the bilateral trade to $12 billion (around Rs 50,000 crore) from current $6 billion and have identified food processing sector as a core area of cooperation.

"We will try to double the quantum of trade between India [ Images ] and France to $12 billion," Food Processing Industry Minister Subodh Kant Sahai told reporters after a delegation- level talk with French team led by its Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire.


Sahai, however, said no time limit has been set for achieving the target. He said that the two sides discussed in details the possibility of running joint ventures particularly in the field of food processing sector and an MOU could be signed in this regard when France President Nicolas Sarkozy [ Images ] visits New Delhi [ Images ] in the first week of December this year.

Sahai said that India with low food processing capacity of about 10 per cent could gain a lot from France which is the world leader in the food processing sector where about 80 per cent of the agriculture produce is being processed. The two sides discussed scope for exchange of food technology, bio-technology and building cold storage chains, he said.

France Agriculture Minister accompanied by a business team from that country termed the meeting as "fruitful" and said sincere efforts would be made to increase direct investments in each other countries.

The interaction session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry was also attended by Indian entrepreneurs.

France is India's fifth largest trading partner in the European Union. The trade between the two countries has been growing steadily and France today is the seventh biggest market of Indian products.

The bilateral trade had dipped to 5 billion dollars in 2009 due to global economic crisis. Major items of Indian exports are textile and garments.

There are about 600 French companies functioning in India at present but very few in the food processing sector.


India, France aim to double bilateral trade: Rediff.com Business

 

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PIB Press Release

Antony to Attend Asean Defence Ministers Meeting in Hanoi

The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony will leave New Delhi on Sunday for a four-day visit to Vietnam to attend the first ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM)-Plus at Hanoi next week. Shri Antony will be accompanied by a high level delegation including the Defence Secretary Shri Pradeep Kumar and representatives of the Services.

It may be recalled that during the Fourth ADMM held in last May, the ASEAN Defence Ministers agreed to establish an ADMM-Plus forum comprising the 10 ASEAN countries and 8 non-ASEAN countries namely, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand. Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States.

ADMM-Plus seeks to address the regional peace and security challenges by providing a balanced and inclusive security architecture for the region as a whole and provide opportunities to build mutual trust and confidence among the defence establishments of the ASEAN and the Plus countries.

We view our participation in the ADMM-Plus deliberations as an aspect of our Look –East Policy and the larger objective of our integration with the region.

On the sidelines of the ADMM-Plus, Shri Antony will also have bilateral meetings with the Defence Ministers of other countries. His visit to Vietnam will also be an opportunity for a series of bilateral meetings with the Vietnamese Defence Minister Gen Phung Quang Thanh and other Vietnamese leaders for discussion on issues of mutual interest. Shri Antony had toured Vietnam in December 2007 on a bilateral visit. This was followed by the visit of the Vietnamese Defence Minister to India in November 2009.

Shri Antony returns home on Wednesday.

Sitanshu Kar

---------- Post added at 01:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 PM ----------

India-Germany Discusses Collaboration in Knowledge Sectors and Cooperation in Infrastructure

PIB Press Release

Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, during his 3-day (6-8 October) visit to Düsseldorf and Berlin (Germany), emphasised on the strategic partnership in innovation between India and Germany. Discussions focused on taking Indo-German collaboration forward in key areas such as knowledge sectors like ICT, energy including renewable energy, cutting edge technology including environmental and green technology, life sciences and biotechnology, nano-technologies, small city and integrated townships, besides further enhancement of ongoing cooperation in infrastructure, manufacturing and engineering.

In Düsseldorf, Shri Sharma inaugurated the “India Goes to Germany Mission” and attended interactive meetings with the Chamber of Commerce of Düsseldorf and with select CEOs besides the meetings with the Minister of Economic Affairs, Energy, Construction, Housing & Transport of the State of North Rhine Westphalia.

In Berlin, Shri Sharma held a bilateral meeting with Federal Minister of Economics & Technologies, Mr. Rainer Brüderle and also inaugurated the FICCI-Fraunhofer Roundtable on “Innovation as a Driver of Indo-German Economic Relations”. Both the Ministers agreed on the establishment of a hotline between the Commerce & Industry Ministry in India and the Federal Ministry of Economics & Technology in Germany to facilitate resolution of any business-related visa issues that may arise from time-to-time. Both sides agreed on cooperating in multilateral fora on combating protectionist tendencies that have emerged recently.

Shri Sharma suggested further strengthening of institutional linkages especially between economic research and policy institutes in India and their German counterparts. Such linkages could be established between institutes such as German Institutes of Economic Research in Berlin, the Ifo Institute of Economic Research in Munich, Kiel Institute for World Economy and the Halle Institute of Economic Research Partners and, on the Indian side, the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), and the Gokhle Institute of Economic and Politics in Pune. Shri Sharma also endorsed linkages between National Institutes of Design in both countries and between the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and an appropriate German counterpart.

Shri Sharma delivered a special address as part of the Konrad Adenauer Lecture Series on “An Emerging India: Expanding Economic Frontiers” at Humboldt University.

 

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India may attract $41 bn pvt investment in road sector: Nath​

NEW DELHI: India's highways development project, the largest public private partnership programme in the world, is likely to attract a whopping investment of $41 billion, including FDI, from private sector, Highways Minister Kamal Nath said.

"Over the next few years, of the total projected investment size of $70 billion (Rs 3.09 lakh crore), the likely investments from private sector including FDI (foreign direct investment) will be about $41 billion (Rs 1.81 lakh crore)," Nath told investors from Australia in New Delhi.

The Road Ministry has unveiled an ambitious programme to construct 35,000 km of roads by March 2014 and has called for foreign investment to meet the financial requirements.

The Highways Ministry is keen to implement mega projects, each with a length of about 500 km and a total project cost of $500 million, he said.

"With our straightforward FDI regime, these should interest international players looking for sizeable investments," Nath said.

His announcements come in the wake of India raising cap on foreign institutional investors (FIIs) investment by $5 billion in government and corporate bonds each. Besides, the government allowed FIIs to invest additional $5 billion in bonds issued by companies engaged in infrastructure sector.

The government's determination to bridge the infrastructure deficit provides an immense opportunity to international financial institutions and infrastructure companies to participate in the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), he said.

Inviting Australian investors to participate in the highways sector, at a programme at Australian High Commission, Nath said, "...as two large democracies... India and Australia share a special bond. I am hopeful that this bond will make rapid inroads into the roads and highways sector in India."

Major Australian players have already evinced interest in partnering with the government for infrastructure development while leading contractor and project developer Leighton Group has already announced plans of over $300 million (Rs 1,500 crore) in road sector .

Apart from this, Nath last week had also said that shifting its focus from the US and other European nations, Canada has assured India to invest $3 billion in highways projects in the next five years.

The UPA government has plans to build 20 km of national highways a day to increase its network significantly and has launched the NHDP, the largest such programme on PPP mode.

Sixty per cent of the highways under PPP will be built on build, operate and transfer pattern.

The country, at present has about 70,000 km of national highways which is only about two per cent of the total over 33 lakh km of road network.

India may attract $41 bn pvt investment in road sector: Nath - The Economic Times

 

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India closes in on free trade deal with Japan​

India on Tuesday moved one step closer to signing a free trade agreement with Japan as the cabinet cleared a deal which could increase bilateral commerce tenfold between the two Asian powers.
"The cabinet has cleared it," government spokesperson Neelam Kapoor told reporters, adding the deal was expected to be finalised when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Japan later in October.


The pact is one of several India, with its economy growing at 8.5%or more this year and its potential customer base of 1.2 billion, is negotiating.

Asia's third-largest economy wants to sharply increase its share of global trade, currently less than 2%, in line with its rising global heft. A similar deal with the European Union, India's largest trade partner, may also be concluded soon.

Trade between India and Japan in 2009 was 940 billion yen (USD 11 billion), about 4% of Japan's trade with China, Japanese government figures show.

The Japanese Foreign Minister has said the deal, which will eliminate tariffs on 94% of bilateral trade flows in 10 years, could increase trade tenfold.


The pact follows years of wrangling over issues such as tariffs on Japanese car parts and tough checks on Indian pharmaceutical goods.


India closes in on free trade deal with Japan - Reuters -

 

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India competes with China, Europe for growing African market​

NEW DELHI: With the help of the government, Indian industry is implementing a strategy to compete with China and European countries for capturing markets in growing African economies , particularly in East Africa.

As part of the game plan, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma will be leaving for Nairobi tonight, leading a business delegation of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Senior officials from 187 Indian companies would be participating in the 'Namaskar Africa' and 'India-East Africa Business Forum' events at Nairobi, opening on October 14.

FICCI President and Bharti Enterprises Vice Chairman Rajan Bharati Mittal, with a strong interest in the telecom business in Africa, is the leading member of the delegation.

Sharma will be addressing a meeting of the India-Kenya Joint Trade Committee, according to a Commerce Ministry statement here.

He is also scheduled to meet Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

While India has bilateral trade of USD 30 billion (2009- 10) with Africa, business with East African nations, mainly Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Ethiopia and Uganda, amounts to just USD 4 billion.

According to a FICCI study, "India has many commercial rivals in the region, particularly European countries like UK and China... The Chinese companies, which are government- owned, have far more capital for investment than the Indian private owned companies."

The European countries may exercise pressure on the African nations to counter China and India, it said, adding, "This is harmful to India's commercial and political relations with East African countries."

India, on its part, is trying to counter the commercial threat from China and European nations by offering lines of credit to African firms. "That will help source capital goods from India," FICCI Secretary General Amit Mitra said.

With a decade of growth at the rate of 5.4 per cent, the economic outlook for Africa is improving.

"For the first time in over three decades, a large number of African countries have begun to show sustained economic growth at the rates that are similar to the rest of the developing world and exceed that of most of the developed countries," FICCI said.

Healthcare and pharmaceuticals, power, construction, information technology, roads and railways and minerals are the areas of opportunity for Indian companies, the study said.


India competes with China, Europe for growing African market - The Economic Times

 

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India-Kenya Joint Trade Committee meet on Oct 13​

New Delhi, Oct 12: The 6th India-Kenya Joint Trade Committee (JTC) will meet in the Nairobi, on Wednesday, Oct 13 and both the nations are expected to talk about strengthening bilateral trade, investment and economic cooperation.


Indian Commerce Minister, Anand Sharma, will address the meeting and inaugurate the "India-East Africa Business Forum" and "Namaskar Africa" show on Thursday, Oct 14.


The events are being organized jointly by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and COMESA Business Council.

Anand Sharma is scheduled to meet Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and many other ministers of Kenya.

The JTC was set up at ministerial level in 1983 as a follow-up to the India-Kenya Trade Agreement signed in 1981, under which both countries accorded the most favoured nation status to each other.


India-Kenya Meet | Joint Trade Committee | Kenya Capital Nairobi | Strengthening Trade Relations - Oneindia News

 

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US Firm to Invest Billions to Set Up 1000 MW Solar Thermal Power Plants in India​

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US-based energy firm Bergamo Acquisition Corporation has partnered with an Indian company to set up 1000 MW of solar thermal power plants across India. Bergamo will hold 60 percent equity in the joint venture. The company has already selected six sites in as many states to set up the six 100 MW power plants. The company eventually has plans to ramp up the capacity to 100 MW.

The joint venture’s first power plant will come up in Solan, Himachal Pradesh. The company would also invest almost $220 million to set up a consumer-cum-retail division to provide high quality solar products such as solar heaters and solar lamps. A facility that will manufacture these products in India will also be set up by 2011.

The increased interest in the Indian solar energy sector is the result of the Indian government’s plan of setting up 20,000 MW of solar power capacity by 2022. Under the National Solar Mission, the central and state governments will provide several financial incentives to investors who wish to invest in solar energy-based power generation.

In addition to tax benefits and guarantee returns on investments, the government has also set premium tariff rates for solar PV and thermal power plants which are almost six to seven times those offered to coal power plants. Therefore, several government-owned companies including the leading oil and gas companies have multi-million dollar investment plans in solar and other renewable energy technologies.

The demand for solar energy-based power is also increasing as all the states are required to buy a definite percentage of their power from renewable energy power plants. And even though the per unit cost of generation is significantly high for solar energy power plants, the power companies will pool the electricity from conventional power plants and renewable energy power plants to sell it at a lower price in order to insulate the consumers from the high tariff rates. The government would compensate the power companies through several financial incentives.

The National Solar Mission is divided in three phases on the basis of installation targets— 1300 MW till 2013, 10,000 MW till 2017 and 20,000 MW by 2022. The projects for the first phase have already been approved. According to the Debashish Majumdar, chairman and managing director of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency the quantum of projects outstripped the proposed target for the first phase.

“We are over-subscribed for the first phase of 1,300 MW, and by December 2011 generation will have begun work for at least half of this target. The rest could be done by December 2012 which will be ahead of schedule. There is no dearth of investors.”

Going by current figures, for example, investments chasing every 1000 MW of photo-voltaic and solar-thermal power was almost four times the capacity.

Other foreign companies looking to expand their presence in the Indian solar energy market are: Siemens which recently launched its renewable energy business in India; equity firm Blackstone invested $300 million in one of India’s leading solar cell manufacturing company, Moser Baer; Astonfield Renewable Resources announced an investment plan of $2 billion to build 500 MW solar PV plant.

US Firm to Invest Billions to Set Up 1000 MW Solar Thermal Power Plants in India – CleanTechnica

 

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India, Russia moot setting up JV to produce telcom hardware​

MOSCOW: India and Russia could set up a joint venture for producing telecom hardware to meet the growing domestic demand even as government readies to roll out 3G and WiMax broadband in the country, Telecom and IT Minister A Raja said today.

"Russia is among the four countries, including the US, Taiwan and Korea, which have the capacity of making silicon chips for 3G and WiMax," Raja told reporters at the end of his Moscow leg of five-day Russia visit.

The idea of an Indo-Russian JV in India came up after Raja visited the Micron Company here, which produces silicon chips.

"I was highly impressed. It is an integrated company with full cycle of production from silicon wafers to micro chips. We will welcome technical and financial contribution from Russia in the JV," Raja said.

Raja is the first Indian Telecom and IT Minister to visit Russia after a gap of nine years since the former IT Minister Pramod Mahajan's Moscow visit in September 2001. The government then had vowed to invest heavily in the Russian IT sector, famous for its hi-end software.

Raja had parleys with his Russian counterpart Igor Shchegolev in Moscow to explore the possibilities for interaction in IT and telecom.

"We believe that joint work will bring information and communication technology to the masses. The two sides have agreed to sign a MoU to this effect," Raja said.

Russia is among the first few countries to implement commercial cellular networks of WiMax. At present they function in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Sochi and some other cities.

"We believe that this technology is ready for export," Russian IT and Mass Media minister Shchegolev told Raja.

The two ministers expressed satisfaction at the ongoing bilateral cooperation in the space-based navigation system GLONASS and productive activities of Russian-Indian venture Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), marketing cellular services in India under MTS brand.

Raja also visited the hi-tech Emergency Response Centre of the disaster management authority of the country in Moscow, which continuously receives online data from all over the country and automatically disseminates it among the concerned bodies.

"I was highly impressed by the centre. I think our Home Minister will visit it and the IT Ministry on its part is ready to help in creating such centre badly needed by India," Raja said.


India, Russia moot setting up JV to produce telcom hardware - The Economic Times

 

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ISRAEL, INDIA TO HEAD INTO FINAL TALKS ON FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
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13.10.10, 12:33 / Financial News

Israel and India have agreed to hold final talks beginning in November to prepare the ground for a free trade agreement.

According to a report in Globes, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz recently met with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee in the US and agreed that in early 2011 an economic delegation, consisting of leading Israeli business figures and headed by Steinitz, would visit India.

Steinitz told Globes that Israel needed new markets, and "must look eastward – especially to India and China."

In February 2010, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepted Israel's free trade proposal, and India's Minister of State for Trade, Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia informed Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer of that development.


Israel diamond portal financial news