China more preferred than India in pharma: Study
Mumbai: According to a survey by global business consulting firm Bain & Company nearly 90 pc of pharmaceutical executives consider China a better choice than India for low-cost drug manufacturing. Furthermore, only 17 per cent of the survey's respondents cite innovation as a key asset of Indian drug makers.

Bain's sample included 179 international executives with headquarters in North America, Europe, Asia and India. The executives also expressed concerns about intellectual property protection (56 per cent) parallel trade or grey market imports (52 per cent) and regulatory uncertainty (46 per cent) affecting the Indian industry.

However, despite current concerns with India's pharmaceutical industry, international executives increasingly expect greater collaboration here in the future. While only 38 per cent of the respondents considered doing business in India to be "extremely important", that number jumps to 62 per cent when survey participants were asked to project the marketplace five years from now.

Similarly, 35 per cent characterised India as an "attractive" market in 2006 (as a domestic market for drug purchase and consumption), while 58 per cent expect it will be 'attractive' by 2011.

Six out of 10 respondents felt that Indian pharma companies will improve their capabilities by the end of the decade in such areas as risk-sharing, product depth, increased scale and expanded expertise.
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S'pore wants India to widen import list
New Delhi: Singapore has asked India to add 752 items ranging from edible oils to electronics to the list of products being imported from Singapore on concessional terms. It also wants India to relax the rules for determining the origin of products so that more items could qualify for preferential treatment. Officials said that while some additional concessions could be extended to Singapore, it would not be possible to accommodate all their demands.

Under the India-Singapore CECA signed on June 29 last year, India has offered tariff liberalisation on 5,099 lines while keeping 6,551 lines in the negative list. Singapore wants India to review the negative list and bring down the number of protected items.

The list of items which Singapore wants to be excluded from India's negative list include condensed milk, edible oils, chocolate & cocoa products, tea, coffee, confectionery items, cigarettes, high speed diesel, shampoos, deodorants, yarn & fibre, CD & DVD players and auto-parts.

Singapore also wants that the ROO (Rules of Origin) guiding the CECA should be made less stringent like the one agreed to by India in its free trade agreement (FTA) discussion with the Asean.
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KPOs to pave the way forward
Bangalore: India heads the pack as the most sought after destination for the Knowledge Process Outsourcing industry which is estimated to generate 250,000 jobs in five years, a study by a leading staffing solutions company Kelly Services India said. India has three million people graduating every year and has a distinct advantage over China as over six times more people go to university in India compared to China, the study said. The study said India had the world's second largest reservoir of engineers, scientists and managers plus the largest pool of IT manpower with nearly 50 per cent plus fairly proficient in English. It was, therefore, not surprising that most estimates project that India would corner two third size of the Global KPO business--an impressive $12 billion in next five years employing over a quarter million people, the whitepaper said.

Hence KPO salaries in India could be 25-50 per cent higher than those offered to the same domain experts such as engineer, doctor, CA, lawyer, architect, biotechnologist economist, statistician and MBAs, it said.
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Three more IIMs likely
Ahmedabad: The M Veerappa Moily Committee in its final report to the government may recommend the setting up of three new IIMs with more flexibility in governance as a long-term solution.

Sources said, the committee is likely to accept recommendations from a core-group of management institutions, which comprises the six IIMs and National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai.

More IIMs across the country would ensure a balanced access of management education and, the three new institutes can come up in the course of 5-7 years and should be given more flexibility in governance, says the report submitted by the core group.

Rough estimates say that all IIMs and NITIE expansion to increase students intake would cost over Rs500 crore.

The group has recommended that the three new IIMs should be spread out across the country, where good faculty can be attracted and retained. The locations should be such that faculty and students can have productive interactions with industry and business houses.
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