India remains very far behind China not just in terms of the old-style physical infrastructure of roads and power output, the difference is very stark when it comes to the information and communications technology sector.
The government on Monday said that the stimulus packages to perk up the economy during the slowdown are not likely to be withdrawn this fiscal and the exit when it happens will be a gradual one.
This will help significantly reduce the clearing time required for high-value transactions, besides minimising related risks, Gopinath said at a CII-organised seminar in Mumbai. On an average, India's central bank handles around 60,000 real time gross settlement and about 50-lakh (5-million) cheque clearing transactions per day, Gopinath said.
India must take urgent measures like issuing sovereign guaranteed bonds and exempting FIIs from short term capital gains tax to stem the rupee's slide, India Inc said.
The issue was raised by the visiting CII's CEO Mission led by Bharati enterprise chairman Sunil Bharati Mittal, who among others met Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council, at the White House on Wednesday. During the meeting, the delegation comprising top Indian CEOs brought to the notice the concerns about the recent developments in the US with regard to H-1B work visa programme and certain provisions in the stimulus bill.
A cabinet note for setting up a fund, with initial corpus of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion), to provide credit to businesses in the unorganised sector has been prepared, a senior government official said.
On Wednesday, the finance minister expressed concern about the high fiscal deficit of about 6.8 per cent this year. He said some international rating agencies -- S&P, Moody's and others -- can think of downgrading India.
CII president K V Kamath, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Rajeev handrasekhar and Assocham President Sajjan Jindal held discussions with Chidambaram immediately after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had interacted with a larger industry group. The government as also the Reserve Bank of India have taken a number of steps since beginning of October to ward off the Indian banking system from the global financial contagion.
the Confederation of Indian Industry Business Confidence Index (CII-BCI) has predicted a return to better business conditions than before the downturn. The index for the period between October 2009 and March 2010 surged by a robust 7.4 points to 66.1 points, against a mere 2.4 point increase during the first half of the financial year.
The government on Wednesday said the country needs investment to the tune of Rs 361,000 crore (Rs 3,610 billion) to meet the shortage of nearly 25 million housing units.
'Most probably we will be going to campuses in January after we assess the situation. Since there is a slowdown and if the situation improves, we will be going to campuses,' says Infosys CEO and Managing Director S Gopalakrishnan.
Since independent directors are not involved in the day-to-day management of the company, their liabilities should be distinguished and made less onerous than liabilities of the executive and non-independent directors, said a CII statement.
Already two stimulus packages have been rolled out by the Centre to neutralise the impact of the global financial meltdown on the country and the Reserve Bank of India, through a series of monetary steps, released about Rs 3,20,000 crore (Rs 3,200 billion) in the system. Nath said that India is likely to receive foreign direct investment of about $30 billion during 2008-09. The government had set a FDI target of $35 billion for the fiscal.
I still believe that it is a good thing that think tanks are mushrooming in Delhi. They provide a platform for discussion, even if they shed more heat than light. With Parliament almost incapable of serious debate, informed discussion and civilised discourse, where does this nation get its intellectual churn, asks Mohan Guruswamy.
The data centre will act as a disaster recovery platform.
Asked about US President Barack Obama's proposal on tax restructuring, Chowdhry said he does not expect the move to affect Indian companies.
The Cabinet's decision to auction 3G spectrum in January next year will give a fillip to investments in port, power, telecom and roads in the next 12-18 months, deputy Planning Commission chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
Former US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill on Thursday said India faced the threat of more 26/11-like terror attacks and one of the reasons would be the lacklustre response by its government towards such crises.
"We have already put up draft rules of the IT (Amendment) Act on the website and have also received comments ... We are trying to finalise the rules within a month," Department of Information Technology (DIT) Secretary R Chandrashekhar told reporters on the sidelines of a CII conference in New Delhi on Monday.
"We had two meetings with the Sebi and couple of more is required (to decide on final guideline on IPO)," IRDA chairman J Hari Narayan said at a CII event.
The new Foreign Trade Policy announced a slew of tax concessions to boost exports, which have been on the downslide since October 2008.
Fast food chain McDonald's India is planning to continue with its expansion and will open 40 more restaurants across the country during 2009-10.
"If we continue with the polices in terms of assisting exporters . . . as long as we see those numbers climbing every month in an environment around the world where output and trade is shrinking, I think this is reassuring sign," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said on the sidelines of a CII function in New Delhi.
Leading hotels are taking all precautions but the unusual service the staff has been pressed into puts them at the forefront of COVID fight.
Infosys CEO S Kris Gopalakrishnan on Wednesday said that the IT major was looking at acquisitions in various geographies and has earmarked $450-500 million for the purpose.
While asserting that the growth of coronavirus cases in the country has been more or less linear and not exponential, it also said testing has been ramped up consistently.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to discuss the impact of global demand contraction on Indian economy with industry leaders in New Delhi on Saturday, ahead of the G-20 summit in London next week.
The government plans to start 100 centres in two years, which will also become a career counselling centre for job-seekers.
American investments in West Bengal are likely to suffer to a certain extent due to the Singur issue.
Three public sector companies are planning to set up 60-80 megawatt solar plants with an investment of Rs 1,000-1,200 crore (Rs 10-12 billion). The projects will come up in Rajasthan, Punjab and the Leh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Web is becoming an increasingly important resource to many aspects of life like education, employment, government, commerce, health care and recreation. It is used for receiving and providing information and interacting with society. Hence, it is essential that it be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. An accessible Web also benefits others, including people with changing abilities due to aging.
Industry bodies Confederation of Indian Industry and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry have asked for cut in interest rates to spur the sagging economy while presenting 100-day action plans to the government on Friday. Faced with high borrowing rates and demand slowdown,industry chambers have presented separate 100-day action plans to the government asking for steps to restore the economy back on high growth trajectory.
The Indian automobiles and auto components industry is likely to create additional employment for 25 million people by 2016, said experts at an auto industry conference in in Ahmedabad.
The country's largest software exporter, Tata Consultancy Service, on Monday said some Satyam Computer clients have turned to the Tata company on their own, adding it would not approach the clients of the scam-tainted firm.
For achieving $30 billion, the country would need over $11 billion FDI in the last five months of the fiscal in the midst of a global credit freeze. Riding on the back of impressive inflows of $25 billion in 2007-08, the government had aimed at $35 billion FDI for the current fiscal.
The world's largest mobile operator by revenue, Vodafone, which operates in India with a joint venture with Essar Group, on Monday said it will invest more in India as it sees more opportunities in the country.
A day before the second meeting of the new Satyam Computer Services board, newly-appointed director Tarun Das said the priority of the six-member team would be to protect the interest of employees, customers and investors.
Former CII president R Sashsayee, Jamshed Godrej of the Godrej Group and Suresh Neotia, Chairman of the Gujarat Ambuja, will be among the small group of industrialists meeting the prime minister. Besides the Satyam saga, the World Bank has initiated action against five Indian entities, including Wipro Technologies, for violating the guidelines of the multilateral lending agency on checking fraud and corruption.
India Inc said the Foreign Trade Policy would give a significant push to manufactured goods and agriculture- and labour-intensive exports.
The private banks won laurels because they pulled the banking system out of a decades-long stupor, combining technology and aggressive marketing to win customers. Now the shoe is on the other foot
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