document.writeln("

Assocham: Latin America emerging as major trading partner of India
New Delhi: Latin America has emerged as a major trading partner of India in 2004-05 with its trade growing by 77.66 per cent to US$3.596bn as against a negative trade of 0.81 per cent in 2003-04, according to industry body Assocham.

New Delhi's total trade with SAARC, in the meanwhile, stood at US$5.216bn against US$4.829bn in 2003-04, a growth of mere 8.0 per cent. India's exports to SAARC in 2004-05 were at $4.309 billion against $4.159 billion in 2003-04.

Its trade with other international groupings such as ASEAN declined marginally to 9.02 per cent from 9.33 per cent in 2003-2004 and with EU to 11.56 per cent in 2004-2005 from 12.92 per cent in previous fiscal, it said.

According to the chamber the main reason for the downturn was imposition of non-tariff barriers as also anti-dumping investigations.
Back to News Review index page  

August exports up 25 per cent at US$7.35bn
New Delhi: India's exports went up nearly 25 per cent to US$7.35bn in August 2005, compared with US$5.89 billion in the corresponding period last year, according to provisional trade data released by the Commerce & Industry ministry.

Trade deficit, however, widened to US$3.14bn in August 2005, against US$2.04bn in August 2004, because of high imports. Import growth saw a slowdown as it rose 32.44 per cent to US$10.50bn in August, compared with US$7.92 billion in the corresponding period last year, the data revealed.

Imports grew 37.07 per cent to US$53.19bn during April-August 2005 while exports were up 23 per cent to US$35.76bn at the end of the first five months of the current financial year. Trade deficit during April-August 2005 increased to US$17.43bn, compared with US$9.73bn in the corresponding period last year.

During the period, oil imports rose 36.8 per cent to US$16.42bn from US$12bn during April-August 2004. Non-oil imports during the first five months of the fiscal also increased by over 37 per cent to US$36.76bn, against US$26.80bn during April-August 2004-05.

According to the dissaggregated data compiled by the directorate of commercial intelligence and statistics for April-June, petroleum products accounted for nearly 30 per cent of the total merchandise imports at US$9.44bn while gold accounted for 12 per cent share at US$3.83bn.
Back to News Review index page  

Pawar: Sugar mills to get Rs.525 crore interest subsidy
New Delhi: The government has decided to provide an interest subsidy of Rs525 crore to revitalise sugar mills in the country by reducing their interest on term loan rates to 10 percent.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told reporters that, in addition, the apex agricultural cooperative bank NABARD would provide liquidity support of Rs500 crore for restructuring of sugar mills.

Pawar also said that cane arrears totaling Rs12,144 crore have been paid to the farmers and the outstanding stood at a mere Rs77 crore.

Pawar revealed the rate of interest on the restructured loans would be reduced to 10 percent annum with effect from April 1, 2005 irrespective of the original contractual rate. He said that the original loan rates ranged from 14 to 15 percent, which would be brought down to 10 percent, entailing an "interest subvention'' of about Rs525 crore.

There are a total of 270 sugar mills in the country, Pawar said adding each mill involved 15,000 to 20,000 sugarcane growing farmers.
Back to News Review index page  

Manpower Employment Outlook survey says hiring expectations strongest in India
New Delhi: The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey reports positive employment prospects for the fourth quarter (Oct-Dec) of 2005. Hiring expectations of Indian employers remain the strongest of the 23 countries and territories surveyed.

The survey reveals a very buoyant hiring sentiment in India with an overall Net Employment Outlook of +40 per cent, an increase of 6 percentage points from +34 per cent in Q3 (July-September). Net Employment Outlook is derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating total employment to increase, and subtracting from this, the percentage expecting to see a decrease in employment at their location in the next quarter.

Of the 3835 Indian employers interviewed, 43 per cent said they expect to hire more people during Q4 of 2005, three per cent of the employers expect to reduce their workforce while 48 per cent will maintain their present levels of employment.

The survey covers employers in seven industry sectors, namely, finance/insurance/real estate; manufacturing; mining and construction; public administration and education services; transportation and utilities; and wholesale and retail trade.

Robust hiring activity is expected across all industry sectors, with the greatest hiring expectations reported by services employers (+45 per cent), the most optimistic for the second consecutive quarter, followed by employers in finance/insurance/real estate (+43 per cent); public administration and education (+43 per cent); mining and construction (+39 per cent); and, manufacturing (+38 per cent).

Those in the wholesale and retail trade sector are steadier in their expectations with a Net Employment Outlook of +33 per cent. Transportation and utilities - relatively the least optimistic - has a healthy outlook of +32 per cent.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey also found that the majority of employers in 20 of 23 countries and territories surveyed expect to add staff during the fourth quarter of 2005; however, the outlook is decidedly less optimistic across the globe than it was three months ago.

In the Asia Pacific region, only employers in India and Singapore reported an improved outlook from Q3. The Japanese employment outlook remains consistent from third to fourth quarter, which is an improvement over Q4 expectations a year ago. The least optimistic hiring outlook in the region was reported in China, down slightly from third quarter

The quarterly report from Manpower Inc is the most extensive, forward-looking employment survey in the world, gathering data from more than 45,000 employers across the globe each quarter. India joined the program in Q3 of 2005.
Back to News Review index page  

TAPP- 4 begins commercial operation
Mumbai: The country's largest power plant, Unit-4 of Tarapur Atomic Power Plant (TAPP-4) went into commercial operation on Tuesday, seven months ahead of schedule.

The 540-MW unit, the country's largest nuclear reactor, achieved criticality on March 6 and was connected to the grid in June 2005, a statement from Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) said.

TAPP-3 is expected to follow suit about nine months later.
Tarapur 3 & 4 projects will generate 1,080 MW of electricity, which would be distributed to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa and the Union Territories of Daman, Diu etc.

The Government would decide the share of electricity for different States.

TAPP-4 has demonstrated NPCIL's ability and maturity in all fields of nuclear technology, according to the CMD officials. And this has increased the company's confidence to go to 700 MWe reactors, the design work for which has been almost completed, they said.

With the addition of TAPP-4, NPCIL now operates 15 reactors in the country with a total capacity of 3,310 MW. It is also constructing another seven reactors with a total power of 3,420 MW.
Back to News Review index page  

World Bank: India ranks behind Pak, Bangladesh and Bhutan in ease of doing business
Chennai: It is still tough to do business in India, according to the World Bank which has ranked India 116th among the 155 countries surveyed for its the `Ease of Doing Business' ranking.

India has been ranked much below even its neighbours Pakistan (Rank 60), Bangladesh (65), Sri Lanka (75) China (91) and Bhutan (104).

The study `Doing Business in 2006', conducted jointly by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, ranks New Zealand No 1, with Singapore, the United States, Canada and Norway in the next four positions respectively.

The ranking is based on 10 parameters - starting a business, dealing with licenses, hiring and firing workers, registering property, getting property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business, and reflects the position as it obtained in January this year.

The report, however, points out that the `Ease of Doing Business Index' was limited in scope, and did not account for a country's proximity to large markets, quality of infrastructure services, security of property and macroeconomic conditions or strength of institutions. Thus, while Jamaica, at 43, ranks above France (44) on the index, it did not mean that businesses are better off in Kingston than in Paris.

Though South Asian economies were increasing the pace of reforms to help small and medium businesses generate more jobs, these countries displayed significant obstacles, including legal and administrative hurdles.

In terms of protection of investors, Bangladesh tops the South Asian countries with an index of 6.7 (on a scale of 10), followed by Pakistan (6.3), and India (6). China, with an index of 4.3, is at the bottom of the index. On the tax front however, India has the least tax incidence of 43.2 percent of gross profits among its neighbours, while it is 57 per cent in Pakistan, 46.9 per cent in China, 49.4 per cent in Sri Lanka and 50.4 percent in Bangladesh.

On the Exim front, it is China which takes the lead, where it takes six documents, seven signatures and 20 days for exports, and 11 documents, eight signatures and 24 days for imports. On the other hand, in India, it takes 10 documents, 22 signatures and 36 days for exports and 15 documents, 27 signatures and 43 days for imports.
Back to News Review index page