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FIIs raise their India Inc stake to 20% in FY11
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Ballavpur Adivasi Kala Kendra
Ballavpur Danga, West Bengal
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Solar-Powered ATM to Increase Banking Penetration
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| 04. TRADE & ECONOMY |
| India pledges its support to Africa with US$ 5 billion credit |
Source: IBEF: May 25, 2011 |
New Delhi: Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has announced a US$ 5 billion line-of-credit (LoC) to help achieve the development goals of Africa. Dr Singh also said, “We will offer an additional 700 million US dollars to establish new institutions and training programmes in consultation with the African Union and its institutions.” He promised to make education an ‘enriching experience’ for African students in India and committed to 22,000 scholarships in the next three years to students from the continent.
The Loc for three years was announced at the 2nd Africa-India Forum Summit, which was attended by 15 African nations.
The Prime Minister also announced the formation of an India-Africa food processing cluster to boost development in the agriculture and allied sectors, which will contribute to the value addition and the creation of regional and export markets. A similar integrated Textiles Cluster will support the cotton industry and its processing and conversion into high value products.
Moreover, India has pledged support for weather forecasting technology, which Dr Singh said, “This will harness satellite technology for the agriculture and fisheries sectors as well as contribute towards disaster preparedness and management of natural resources.”
The Prime Minister spoke about increasing the access of African airlines to Indian cities in a significant manner over the next three years to promote better connectivity between the two countries.
On better interaction between businesses of the two countries Dr Manmohan Singh announced the setting up of a formal arrangement. "I propose that we jointly establish an India-Africa Business Council which will bring together CEOs of major corporation from both sides," he said. |
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| India, Uzbekistan sign over 30 agreements |
Source: The Hindu Business Line: May 18, 2011 |
New Delhi: India and Uzbekistan have signed more than 30 bilateral agreements in areas such as coal gasification, oil and gas, banking, pharmaceuticals, textiles, science and technology, standardisation, small and medium enterprises, and tourism.
The agreements were signed during the State visit of the Uzbek President, Mr Islam Abduganievich Karimov, to India.
In the hydrocarbon sector, one of the memorandum of understandings (MoU) signed was between Open Joint-Stock Company Uzbeko' mir (Uzbekcoal) and GAIL (India) for collaboration in underground coal gasification in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
Uzbekistan has developed advanced technologies in coal gasification. The MoU envisages establishment of a joint working group. It also forms the basis for concluding mutually beneficial agreements in prospective projects.
ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and Uzbekneftegaz (UNG), the National Oil Company of Uzbekistan inked an MoU for joint cooperation in upstream oil and gas sector in Uzbekistan as well as third countries.
The MoU provides for the formation of joint working group for identifying specific oil and gas fields in Uzbekistan and in third countries for exploration and production activities.
Uzbekneftegaz also inked an MoU with the Essar Group for cooperation in oil and gas sector – modernisation, gas transport system, and electronic reading system.
In the banking sector, an agreement for cooperation between Export Import Bank of India and National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity of Uzbekistan was signed.
The MoU envisages exchange of information in areas of trade and financing of projects, especially in the fields of road building, house construction and oil and gas sector, which are backed by State guarantees. The two sides will also pool their resources for collaborative research and identification of projects in Uzbekistan, an official statement said.
A protocol on introducing amendments in the existing double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) signed on July 29, 1993 was agreed upon.
The proposed protocol amends the article on exchange of information on India-Uzbekistan DTAA to meet internationally accepted standards and other articles for rationalising the withholding of tax rates in line with India's treaty negotiations with other countries to promote investment and cross border movement of goods, services and technology.
In the chemicals and fertilisers sector a memorandum of cooperation for supply of 50,000 tonne of urea and 10,000 tonne potassium chloride to India was inked. The urea and potassium chloride is to be supplied between 2011and 2015. |
Exports from SEZs up 43% in 2010-11
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Source: The Hindu Business Line: May 17, 2011 |
New Delhi: The country's exports from its Special Economic Zones (SEZs) registered a robust 43 per cent growth in the fiscal 2010-11 at Rs 3,15,867.85 crore, against Rs 2,20,711.39 crore in the previous year, even as the overall export growth was 32.3 per cent in rupee terms.
In a statement issued here, the Export Promotion Council for Export-Oriented Units (EOUs) & SEZs (EPCES) Chairman, Mr Jatin R. Mehta, said the Council was encouraged by the sound performance of its members despite a difficult international economic milieu.
He said the members have been dismayed over new constraints such as the imposition of minimum alternate tax (MAT) and Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) introduced in the 2011-12 Budget. He said that even as the Finance Bill 2011 retained these harsh provisions, the Council would be making its best efforts for withdrawal of MAT/DDT.
He said as on May 11, 2011 378 notified SEZs were functioning across the country out of the 582 approved SEZs so far.
There was a huge rush to set up SEZs across the country after the concept got concretised once the SEZ Act came into being in February 2006.
He said that at the end of March 31, 2011 as many as 133 SEZs are operational out of which 17 are multi-product SEZs and the remaining include mostly IT/ITeS SEZs, engineering, electronic hardware, textiles, biotechnology, gem and jewellery and other sector specific SEZs.
Encouraged by the consistently good show put up by the country's SEZs, the Council's Deputy Director General, Mr O.P. Kapoor, said the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Mr Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, would present EPCES export awards to EOUs and SEZs units for outstanding performance in the year 2008-09 to 48 operational SEZs on Wednesday here.
Some of the awardees include Nokia India Pvt Ltd (Rs 10,317 crore), Rajesh Exports Ltd (Rs 10,453 crore), Sulzon Wind Corpn. Ltd (Rs 1,554 crore), Su-Raj Diamonds & Jewellery Ltd (Rs 1,230 crore), Jindal Saw Ltd (Rs 1,520 crore), Moser Baer India Ltd (Rs 1,316 crore), Hindustan Zinc Ltd (Rs 1,315 crore) and Infosys Ltd (Rs 1123 crore), he said.
Meanwhile, in its latest monograph, Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India Pvt. Ltd has voiced concern that SEZs might be losing their sheen they have turned out to be financially challenging ventures for investors mainly on account of escalating costs, rising interest rates and limited access to finance.
In order to leverage the large pool of skilled workforce, a strong manufacturing base and strong potential to capture increased pie in global trade, it said the Government should play “a more pro-active role in promoting SEZs”.
The Government, it said, should do the “balancing act by providing the necessary support for land acquisition, speedy administration and approvals and also ensuring that the interests of the locals are protected”.
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