'We have discontinued or replaced certain contractual staff, total number not exceeding double digits, in the north India operations involved in activities under the discretionary cost head,' a Reliance Industries spokesperson said in reply to an e-mailed query sent by Business Standard. According to some employees, who claimed to have been retrenched, the number of laid-off people is much higher. However, the company denies this.
Data with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion reveals that between April 2005 and July 2008, Japan Inc pumped in 50 per cent of the total investments inflows between April 2000 and July 2008. In fact, between June and October this year, Japanese companies said they would pump in $8 billion. Experts say this is not a knee-jerk reaction by the Japanese, who are known to be very meticulous with their investments.
Raghuram Rajan, the PM's honorary economic advisor, said in 2006, 'It is important for India to exchange its paternalistic, directive government, which seeks to remedy every wrong through a subsidy, a quota, or a scheme, for one that creates an enabling environment for the people and unleashes their entrepreneurial zeal.' Two years later, his words seem prescient. But how much of what he says should be done will be done by the government in the limited tenure it has left.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads an Empowered Group of Ministers on Special Economic Zones, is likely to consult Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resolve the dispute between finance and commerce ministries over tax exemption for export profits from the zones.
The implementation of the ambitious India-Asean Free Trade Agreement is likely to miss the target date of January 1, 2009. Negotiators from both the countries had closed talks this August, after six years of painstaking dialogue.
This decision will come as a relief to Essar's multi-product port-based SEZ project in Hazira as well as of Adani Group's zone in Mundra, which the revenue department felt was not built on vacant land when it was notified, and hence it had violated the law. Both the zones are in Gujarat.
Three alternative approaches under consideration envisage addressing the flaws of the domestic market, broadening the foreign institutional investor framework and replacing the FII regime with a QFI framework. By reducing the complexity of obtaining permits, foreign investors will be encouraged to us onshore Indian stock market platforms. Individual investors will be allowed to trade on Indian bourses by opening a demat account and a bank account.
The decision by the Union government and the Reserve Bank of India to infuse Rs 1,25,000 crore (Rs 1,250 billion) into the banking system in the last two weeks alone is unlikely to fuel inflation, say economists, since this infusion will only meet the basic demand and not lead to a spillover.
The government is discussing a number of policy measures to insulate India from the impact of the global financial crisis including further banking reform, industrial de-control, auctioning all loss-making public sector units, foreign investment in retail, amending labour laws and notifying important pending legislation like the Delhi Rent Control Act.
According to sources, last week's talks between the two countries had hit a roadblock as Japanese trade envoys were unwilling to grant market access to Indian pharmaceuticals and allow professionals, including nurses, to work in the island nation. The talks were held in Tokyo.
Commerce Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai speaks to Business Standard on the impact the Tata Motors decision to pull out of Singur will have on the investment climate in the state.
Having made no headway to amend a 26-year-old double taxation avoidance agreement with Mauritius, the finance ministry has hardened its stance against broadening India's economic engagement with the island nation.
In effect, the government proposes to relax the norms with regard to foreign participation in multi-brand retail by opening up these specialised sectors, while keeping grocery and consumer goods retail out of bounds. The move comes months after the Left parties, which were opposed to any relaxation of FDI norms for the retail sector, pulled out of the United Progressive Alliance government.
Move to make investing in sectors with FDI cap easier.
The decision by India and Pakistan to scale up the number of freight trains between the two countries to five a day has not yet materialised due to lack of sufficient freight traffic between the two countries. At present, two freight trains each from Pakistan and India cross the border post at Attari and Wagah every day.
The relaxation will apply to those sectors that have composite caps (foreign direct investment or FDI plus FII). "The move will not impact sectors like banking and insurance which are governed by Acts of Parliament. However, sectors with composite caps which see administrative control like telecommunication services, broadcast services like direct-to-home and FM radio will benefit," a Delhi based FDI policy expert told Business Standard.
Mobile telecom service providers are up against a new problem -- unidentified operators have been found to take out subsidised handsets from their 'bundled' connections and ship them to overseas markets at significantly higher prices.
The government may liberalise external commercial borrowing rules in the next few days, especially for the infrastructure sector including capital-intensive ones like telecom, a Finance Ministry official said on Friday.
More than nuclear power, India stands to gain access to a wide range of dual-use goods and technologies, from which it was barred, as a result of the waiver by the 45-country Nuclear Suppliers' Group.
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