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India
and Indonesia to boost bilateral trade
New Delhi: India and Indonesia on Monday have decided
to enlarge their bilateral economic engagement.
The
minister of commerce and industry, Kamal Nath, along with
his Indonesian counterpart, Ms Mari Elka Pangestu, have
agreed to work towards further South-South co-operation
in order to strengthen the business-to-business contact
between the two countries.
The
two ministers announced their intention at the eighth
India-Indonesia Joint Business Council meeting organised
by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(FICCI).
The
Indonesian Minister announced that as a first step towards
realising the bilateral trade volume of $10 billion by
2010, from the current $4 billion, Indonesia had relaxed
its visa policy and now provides visa-on-arrival to visiting
Indian businessmen and tourists.
Kamal
Nath underlined the need to diversify the bilateral trade
basket to achieve a quantum increase in trade. "If
trade is to be sustained and expanded then it cannot rely
on just handful of commodities. The pharmaceutical sector,
IT, two and three-wheeler and technology transfer in rail
transportation offer excellent scope for both trade and
investment," he said.
Onkar
S. Kanwar, President, FICCI, said that the trade volume
between the two countries could reach the $5-billion mark
in the next two years.
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Private
sector to fuel Indo-US economic growth
New Delhi: The economic future of India and the
future of the relationship between India and the US will
undoubtedly be powered by the private sector growth.
In
a luncheon session titled "The Prime Minister's historic
visit to US - What it means to US Business?" organized
by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today,
Charles "Chip" Kaye, Chairman, US-India Business
Council (USIBC) and President, Warburg Pincus said: "The
future of the US India relationship will be powered by
the private sector growth and decisions taken in the board
rooms."
The
session was organized by the CII as a follow up on the
Prime Minister's visit and to bring together the industry
players to discuss strengthening commerce and trade ties
with India, in advance of the upcoming visit of President
Bush to India in early 2006.
The
USIBC chairman mentioned that in the US today, businessmen
across the spectrum and financial investors are asking
the India question and wanting to know how they can participate
in the India emergence story.
While
responding to a question on funding infrastructure development
ahead of demand and the signals that the Indian government
needs to send out in this respect, Kaye said, "Resolution
of Dabhol was a tremendous start. We all know the challenges.
For our part, USIBC will work with CII in US to revitalize
interest. We are confident we can bring the infrastructure
developers back to India."
That
said, there is a role for government to provide risk capital.
The private sector will play a vital role also, as there
is need for creative solutions at state level where states
are allowed to experiment. Creative states will attract
capital, he added.
"There
are a wide variety of areas which are important to discuss
and in which U.S. companies are actively interested, such
as financial sector reform, opportunities in defense collaboration,
energy security, agriculture and infrastructure",
Kaye said.
Frank
G. Wisner, former Ambassador of the US to India said that
"The Indian Prime Minister's visit to the US caught
the attention of all Americans because it sent a signal
to the businessmen that all was well between the two counties,
some barriers were addressed and advances in removing
barriers to high technology trade were continued.
Moreover,
the core of the visit was to create a meaningful economic
dialogue by bringing together the heads of the best businessmen
of the two countries, with the two governments becoming
the enablers for discussion".
Apart
from Kaye and Wisner, the other members of the USIBC delegation
included Rajat Gupta, the USIBC's immediate past chairman
and senior partner McKinsey and Co., Scott Bayman, President
and CEO, GE India and Ron Somers, President, US -India
Business Council.
The
USIBC is the premier advocacy organization promoting American
economic interests in India. USIBC is teamed with CII
and Indian Industry to promote private sector investment
in both countries, advancing commercial relations, enhanced
trade and a positive environment for business.
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Assocham:
Exports to Africa to touch $6bn by 2010
New
Delhi: India's exports to Africa are likely to touch
to $6bn by 2010 from the existing level of $2 billion,
according to a paper brought out by Assocham on 'India-Africa
Partnership for Progress'.
The
chamber has identified seven key areas - food processing
plant, pharmaceutical machineries, textile machineries,
floriculture projects, leather processing plants, port
development and mining - which have potential for cooperation
between India and African industries.
The
paper also suggests that these areas have ample scope
fpr the establishment of JVs. But until arrangements are
made for proposed JVs, the focus areas for exports should
be transformers, switchgear, transmission lines, capacitors,
electrical fittings, agriculture pump sets, electric motor,
bulldozers, four- and two-wheelers, sanitaryware, textile
and leather products, bulk drugs and aluminum packaging
foils, inorganic and organic chemicals and software packages.
Africa's
54 nations offer wide diversity in terms of opportunities
in areas such as natural and mineral wealth, notably of
diamonds and platinum, phosphate, oil, gas and timber.
The
continent has also one of the fastest growing oil sectors
in the world as Nigeria is already acclaimed a major oil
producer followed by Sudan, the country, which has significant
reserves in its Upper Nile Region.
India's
share in African continent's total imports is a meager
2.2%. This signifies that there exists tremendous scope
for enhancing India's exports and investment flows to
Africa.
According
to Assocham, India's trade with the African region has
been growing steadily as its exports, which stood at $821
million back in 1994-95, reached $2 billion by the end
of 2004-05.
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FM:Economic
growth in Q1 likely to be higher than 6.9%
New Delhi: The Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram,
said on Monday that economic growth in the first quarter
of the current fiscal is likely to be better than the
6.9 per cent rate achieved for the fiscal year ended March
31, 2005.
"By
all indications, the growth in the first quarter this
year is better than the annualised growth of 6.9 per cent
last year. Economy is doing well. Let's not talk it down,"
Chidambaram said, while winding up discussions on the
supplementary demands for grants, which was later passed
by the Lok Sabha.
He
highlighted that key economic indicators such as industrial
growth, exports and revenue collections have recorded
robust growth in Q1 2005-06.
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Spectrum
policy likely in 15 days
New
Delhi: Telecom secretary J.S. Sarma has said that
the spectrum policy, crucial for growth of mobile telephony
and especially to start next generation services like
high-speed data and video services, is likely to be unveiled
in the next 15 days.
"The
decision on a spectrum policy can be expected in the next
15-20 days. We had constituted a three-member committee,
which will give its report soon. Based on that we will
take a view and finalise it. Fortnight will be a reasonable
time for the spectrum policy to be unveiled," telecom
secretary J.S. Sarma said.
Spectrum
is one of the most bitterly fought battles in the Indian
telecom scenario as the GSM operators besides wanting
more spectrum sought reserve of a certain band of spectrum
for high-speed data (3G) services, a move which was opposed
by CDMA players, claiming that spectrum band for their
voice telephony expansion.
Sarma
said the Government would also announce guidelines on
the manufacturing of telecom equipments by vendors in
India possibly this month.
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