India will be 'youngest' nation by 2010: Morgan Stanley study
Mumbai: India is set to be the world's 'youngest' nation by 2010, according to a JM Morgan Stanley study. Favourable demographics, along with structural reforms and globalisation will drive the country to a sustained 8 per cent plus economic growth, the study has said.

The second edition of the 'India and China: New Tigers of Asia,' says that India can maintain the high-growth phase longer than East Asia as its age-dependency ratio will continue to decline till 2035 - that is, the share of working-age population will continue to rise.

While India's median age by 2015 will be 27 from the current 24, that of China will reach 37 from 32.

The favourable demographics would also push India's aggregate savings to over 33-35% of GDP over the next five years, from the past three years' average of 28.6%, the study says.
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Indo-Singapore trade growing annually at 41 pc
Mumbai: Singapore-India bilateral trade, currently growing at 41 per cent has already begun to outpace the growth in the Singapore-China bilateral trade.

"Rate of growth of Singapore's trade with India has reached 41% and has outpaced the growth of the its trade with China." Pradeep Menon, executive director of Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) said.

Menon was part of 45-member Singaporean business delegation, that was interacting with Indian businessmen at the Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC), Mumbai. The delegation held talks with Indian industrialists and explored new business opportunities.

Before coming to Mumbai, the delegation visited Chennai and Pune and held talks with the businessmen there. The Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between India and Singapore, industrialists believe, has laid the foundation for future growth of business partnership between the two countries.
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Parliamentary panel recommends duty revision on petro products
New Delhi: The Parliamentary standing committee on petroleum and natural gas has recommended changing the customs and excise duty structure on petro-products.

"The excise duty on petroleum products be so structured as to ensure that the interests of the consumers were not compromised. The committee also recommends that the ad valorem component in the existing mix should be replaced by a single specific component," the committee has said in its report.

As regards customs duty, the committee view was the levy is only a mechanism to ensure fruitful gains to refining companies.

The customs duty levied on products did not actually add to the revenues of the government as product imports were almost nil owing to surplus refining capacity in the country, the committee report said.

While the customs duty on crude oil is 5%, petrol and diesel attract a customs duty of 10% each. The government is in the process of finalising a hike in petroleum product prices and a final announcement is expected sometime this week.

According to sources, the decision on petroleum pricing would be a mix of price increase and duty cuts on oil products.
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India joins 12-nation group with energy efficiency labels
Thiruvananthapuram: India has joined a select group of 12 countries with energy efficiency labels for refrigerators, which manufacturers must display on each unit on a voluntary basis.

The standards and labeling scheme for frost-free refrigerators and tubular fluorescent lamps came into operation from May 18 this year, according to the Society of Energy Engineers and Managers (SEEM).

Twenty other countries have this provision on a mandatory basis.
Energy efficiency labels empower consumers to make informed choices about the products they buy and help them manage energy bills by selecting products with least energy consumption. The energy use is clearly indicated on the label, in terms of units of energy consumed and is also represented by the number of stars.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is the implementing agency for the standards and labeling scheme as envisaged in the Energy Conservation Act 2001.

The BEE has adopted the Australian/New Zealand standards for testing in the case of frost free refrigerators and Indian Standard 2418 for tubular fluorescent lamps.
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