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| Auto component sourcing from India to increase: ASSOCHAM NEW DELHI, Apr 17: India could be a major beneficiary of increased sourcing in the auto component industry which is....more Hyderabad
to emerge HYDERABAD, Apr 17: With seven international airlines apart from national carriers Air India and Indian Airlines now....more CII calls
for review of NEW DELHI, Apr 17: Commending the Government’s move to bring customs duty to the east Asian level, Confederation.......more IT
services, BPO contract NEW DELHI, Apr 17: The average deal size in the 600 billion dollar global IT and BPO services ....more |
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Developing countries need to have greater say in IMF: Rato WASHINGTON, Apr 17: The International Monetary Fund has said developing countries need to have a greater voice in........more Inflation
rises to 5.26 pc NEW DELHI, Apr 17: After falling for three consecutive weeks, the rate of inflation rose to 5.26 per cent during the week.......more Luxor sees
35 pc NEW DELHI, Apr 17: The Rs 160 crore Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt Ltd (LWIL) is looking to push exports by 35 per.......more VAT rates
on essential items NEW DELHI, Apr 17: VAT rates of essential items like atta, maida, tea, cereal and pulses...........more |
Auto component sourcing from
India to NEW DELHI, Apr 17: India could be a major beneficiary of increased sourcing in the auto component industry which is likely to flow contracts worth 700 billion dollars to low cost countries by 2015. According to an ASSOCHAM study, the size of global component industry is likely to go up to about 1.9 trillion dollars by 2015, which would present enormous business opportunities to India falling in the category of low cost country already supplying components to leading automobile companies globally. As per the study, auto component sourcing from low cost countries may increase the share of business in these countries from the present level of 65 billion dollars to about 375 billion dollars by 2015. For India, this would mean increased opportunity to scale up its component outsourcing business. Already india is becoming a hub for international auto majors for exporting Completely Built Units (CBUs) as well as for outsourcing components. Hyundai, Ford, Skoda, Suzuki and Mahindra have made India a manufacturing hub for particular models of cars. At the same time other MNCs such as Toyota, GM, and Daimler Chrysler are making India a hub for components. Mitsubishi and Yamaha have made India a hub for 125 cc motorcycles. Giving an account of the Indian auto component industry, the ASSOCHAM study said that the growth in the Indian auto ancillary sector is likely to be healthy between 15-16 per cent by the end of fiscal 2004-05. This is, however, lower than the growth of 22-24 per cent recorded in 2003-04, the study added. However, exports of auto components are expected to increase by 30-35 per cent, while replacement demand is likely to remain steady at 7-8 per cent in 2004-05, it added. The overall domestic market, including domestic light passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and two-wheeler markets is expected to grow at a modest rate of 10 per cent per annum over the next decade. The small domestic market size places a ceiling on the extent of exports each player can undertake take and hence achieving scale in the domestic market will be critical to capture future export potential, the study said. It may be stated that in a total auto component trade of 185 billion dollars, India accounts for 0.4 per cent while China accounts for 1.2 per cent and Mexico accounts for 5.9 per cent. According to the study, growth in the industry will be driven by demand from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), since the passenger cars and utility vehicle segment is likely to expand by 10-12 per cent, commercial vehicles and two wheelers are likely to grow by 12-15 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, and the tractors segment is likely to post a double digit growth after 4 years of continuous decline. Overall, the oem segment is likely to post a growth of 13-14 per cent in 2004-05. While highlighting areas such as engineering, education labour, redesigning manufacturing process etc as the major strength of the Indian Auto Component Industry, the ASSOCHAM study also said that lack of component scale, inadequate and poor quality infrastructure, taxation system may discourage manufacturing here. (PTI) |
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Hyderabad to emerge as a major aviation hub by 2008 HYDERABAD, Apr 17: With seven international airlines apart from national carriers Air India and Indian Airlines now operating from here, this historic city is emerging as a favourite hub among the international air carriers. There are fifty flights weekly being operated from here to various destinations in the world connecting the US, Europe, Far East, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and Africa. It was former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who came out with the idea of making Hyderabad an aviation hub between Europe and China and had successfully pleaded with the then Union Government for permitting more and more foreign airlines to operate from here. The previous Government also successfully got sanctioned a greenfield international airport at Shamshabad in neighbouring Ranga Reddy district to be functional by 2008. At present, about 15000 international passengers land and take off from the present airport situated in heart of the city. It, however, is not adequately equipped to handle the rush while shamsabad airport, which was named after late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, is designed to handle any number of aircraft with automation and emerging technologies in the aviation field. Initially, there were only two airlines which were operating from Hyderabad to Middle East destinations — Air India and Indian Airlines. Later, over a period of three years seven airlines started flying from various destinations including China, New Zealand and Australia. According to tour operators here, after launch of the flights by Emirates, Saudi Airlines, Silk Air, Lufthansa, Malysian Airlines, Qatar Airlines and Air Lanka, the tourist flow has increased and would grow further when more airlines, including British Airways and Air France, start operating. Aviation industry sources said Hyderabad would become the fifth largest airport after the four metros in number of flights, leaving behind Bangalore which now occupies that slot. (PTI) |
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CII calls for review of anomalies in indirect tax provisions NEW DELHI, Apr 17: Commending the Government’s move to bring customs duty to the east Asian level, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) today demanded review of certain provisions in indirect taxes introduced in this year’s general budget. "Even though few anomalies in customs duty in case of aluminium and electricity meters had been removed in budget, yet there are cases where customs duty on inputs is higher than the duty on the final products and these anomalies need to be reviewed," CII said in a release. Anomalies exist in automotive tyres, chemicals, cutting tools - solid carbide drills/routers, equipments for inland container freight stations, glycerine refined, petrochemicals, refractories, soaps and toiletries. While customs duty on automotive tyre has been reduced from 20 per cent to 15 per cent, natural rubber smoked sheets and natural rubber technically specified continue to attract 20 per cent duty, the chamber said. Similarly in the case of chemicals, customs duty on various chloromethanes has been reduced from 20 per cent to 10 per cent whereas the duty has been reduced from 20 per cent to 15 per cent on the critical input methanol. CII also pointed out that solid carbide drills/routers for manufacture of PCBs is zero whereas composite blanks of stainless steel tungsten carbide with grain size less than one micron, stainless steel shanks and diamond grinding wheels required for manufacture have customs duty of 15 per cent. According to CII, one of the challenges faced by the Indian industry is the growing number of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and preferential trade agreements being signed by India with other countries. CII said these agreements have certain advantages for exporters in India but at the same time adversely affect the manufacturers if corresponding reduction in customs duty on inputs is not done. The chamber cited the India-Thailand Free Trade Agreement, which has an Early Harvest Scheme (EHS) covering 82 tariff lines. The EHS list includes air-conditioners, refrigerators, colour television, colour picture tubes, gear boxes for vehicles and customs duty on these was reduced to 12.5 per cent from September one, 2004. As per the agreement, duty would be further reduced to 6.2 per cent from September one, 2005 and complete duty elimination would be achieved in 2006, CII said. In order to enable the indigenous manufacturers to sucessfully compete with the imports from Thailand, CII said the import duties on their major inputs should also be reduced to commensurate levels to avoid inverted duty structure. It recommended that in future trade agreements, the minimum customs duty on manufactured goods should not be less than five per cent. (PTI) |
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IT services, BPO contract sizes shrink in Q1 to 69 m NEW DELHI, Apr 17: The average deal size in the 600 billion dollar global IT and BPO services sector shrank for the third consecutive quarter to reach 68.9 million dollars during the three-month period ending March 31, 2005, Datamonitor has said. The deal size fell 18 per cent year-on-year during the reporting quarter, partly due to multi-sourcing, Datamonitor’s "IT services contracts tracker" said. Of the deals tracked in the quarter, worth 6 billion dollars, 15 BPO contracts had a value greater than 100 million dollar, the largest of which was Atos origin’s 1.6 billion dollar contract with the UK Department of Health. However, half of the BPO deals tracked had a value of between 10 million dollars to 50 million dollars, showing that most of today’s bpo activity is happening around mid-size contracts, rather than mega-deals. A total of 456 IT services contracts were announced during the first quarter of 2005, worth a combined total of 31.4 billion dollars. This represents a 13.7 per cent decline on the first quarter of 2004 where the total value of contracts reached 36.4 billion dollars. The number of contracts tracked in Q1 2005 was up 5 per cent on the 435 recorded in the year-ago quarter, but the fall in average deal size suggests that clients are signing smaller, more focused deals with suppliers. Datamonitor lead analyst (global computing services) Nick Mayes said: "The decline in average deal value is partly due to the rise of multi-sourcing, where clients work with a number of best-of-breed IT services vendors, rather than a single outsourcer under a far-reaching mega-deal." The trend is particularly evident in the fast-growing hr outsourcing (HRO) sector. Outsourcing advisory firm everest group found that the majority of buyers of HRO services are in the mid-to-large segment (with between 10,000 to 25,000 employees), rather than the large-to-mega segment (more than 25,000 employees), Datamonitor added. (UNI) |
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Developing countries need to
have greater WASHINGTON, Apr 17: The International Monetary Fund has said developing countries need to have a greater voice in the financial body and warned major economic powers that it was their "responsibility" to rectify widening imbalances. The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IFMC), the IMF’s policy-setting body, at its twice-yearly meeting yesterday chaired by British Chancellor Gordon Brown agreed that developing nations should have a greater say in the world body. However, managing director Rodrigo Rato was cautious on the demands raised by developing nations that quotas or shares should be calculated on purchasing power parity on the basis of their gross national income, saying that will have to be a political decision. While taking note of the continuing global economic expansion, which is expected to remain robust in 2005, he said widening imbalances across regions and the continued rise in oil prices and oil market volatility have increased risks and called for steps to even out the pace of world economic activity. "If policies do not adapt, do not change to react to these imbalances, we run the risk of an abrupt correction of the markets...", he said. The IMF should focus on promoting policies for reducing global imbalances over time, addressing the impact of higher oil prices, in particular on the most vulnerable countries; managing the policy response to potential inflationary pressures and ensuring the sustainability of medium-term fiscal frameworks, he said. Rato observed that all countries have a shared responsibility to take advantage of the current favourable economic conditions to address key risks and vulnerabilities. He called for fiscal consolidation to increase national savings in the United States, supported by continued financial sector reform in emerging Asia, further structural reforms to boost growth and domestic demand in Europe and further structural reforms, including fiscal consolidation, in Japan. "A continuing increase in US net external liabilities will carry heightened risks of a disorderly adjustment. Global imbalances have widened further over the past year, and while the US external deficit has so far been financed relatively easily, the demand for us assets is not unlimited," Rato said. He said "an abrupt decline in investors’ appetite for dollar-denominated liabilities could engender a rapid dollar depreciation and a sharp increase in US interest rates, with potentially serious adverse consequences for global growth and international financial markets." Successful and ambitious trade liberalisation is Central to continued global growth and economic development, the committee said. The immediate priority was for WTO members to translate the mid-2004 framework agreement into a viable policy package in time for the December 2005 wto ministerial conference, it added. The committee said IMF surveillance should become more focused and selective in analyzing issues in an evenhanded way across the membership. The committee asked IMF to meet "the highest standards of internal management." (PTI) |
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Inflation rises to 5.26 pc for week ended April 2 NEW DELHI, Apr 17: After falling for three consecutive weeks, the rate of inflation rose to 5.26 per cent during the week ended April 2 due to higher energy and manufactured product prices. The wholesale price index-based inflation rate was 5.05 per cent in the previous week and 4.51 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago. Meanwhile, the rate of inflation for the week ended February 5 has been corrected to 4.96 per cent as against 5.01 per cent and the final WPI for all commodities is 188.5 as against provisional 188.6. The Union Budget has estimated that inflation in 2005-06 would be in a 4.0-5.0 per cent range. The index for food products increased marginally by 0.1 per cent to 174.3 from 174.2 due to higher prices of rice bran oil (4 per cent) and butter, coconut oil, sugar, khandsari and suji (1 per cent). However, the prices of bran (5 per cent), sunflower oil and groundnut oil (2 per cent each) and rape and mustard oil, oil cakes and gingelly oil (1 per cent each) declined. The index for food articles rose by 0.6 per cent to 187.3 from 186.1 for the porevious week due to higher prices of poultry chicken (9 per cent), ragi and fruits and vegetables (3 per cent each), fish-inland, bajra and jowar (2 per cent each) and fish-marine, maize, moong and urad (1 per cent each). However, the prices of barley (6 per cent), wheat and eggs (3 per cent each), and gram and condiments and spices (1 per cent each) declined. For non-food articles, the index declined marginally by 0.1 per cent to 178.4 from 178.5 following lower prices of copra (7 per cent), linseed (5 per cent), castor seed (3 per cent), tobacco and rape and mustard seed (2 per cent each) and mesta (1 per cent). The prices of raw silk (3 per cent), raw jute (2 per cent) and raw cotton and safflower (1 per cent each) moved up. The index for the major group of fuel, power and lubricants rose by 0.1 per cent to 289.9 from 287.0 for the previous week due to higher prices of aviation turbine fuel (20 per cent), naphtha (17 per cent) and furnace oil (1 per cent). The prices of bitumen, however went down by 2 per cent. The index for beverages, tobacco and tobacco products group rose by 0.2 per cent to 221.6 from 221.1 for the previous week due to higher prices of pan masala (3 per cent). Paper and paper products group saw the index rise by 0.2 per cent to 177.0 from 176.7 due to a percentage increase in the prices of newsprint and map litho paper (1 per cent). The index for chemicals and chemical products group rose by 0.3 per cent to 185.6 from 185.1 due to higher prices of soda ash (10 per cent), caustic soda (5 per cent) and synthetic rubber (2 per cent). For non metallic mineral products group, the index rose by 0.2 per cent to 168.7 from 168.3 for the previous week due to rise in the prices of electrodes (4 per cent). However, the prices of building bricks declined by 4 per cent. The index for basic metal alloys and metal products group increased to 213.8 from 213.7 due to higher prices of bolts and nuts (4 per cent) and brass sheets and strips and aluminium ingots (1 per cent eeach). The prices of zinc, however, declined by a percentage point. The index for machinery and machine tools group rose by 0.2 per cent to 144.9 from 144.6 for the previous week due to higher prices of TV sets (b/w) (3 per cent) and complete engines (2 per cent). Higher prices of bicycles saw the index for transport equipment and parts group increase marginally by 0.1 per cent to 158.4 from 158.3. (UNI) |
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Luxor sees 35 pc growth in
exports; to NEW DELHI, Apr 17: The Rs 160 crore Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt Ltd (LWIL) is looking to push exports by 35 per cent this year to Rs 80 crore. "We clocked Rs 50 crore worth of exports last year. This year we are confident of taking them up by 35 per cent," Pooja Jain, vice president of Luxor, told PTI. The company is also looking to close 2005 with about Rs 175-180 crore in sales turnover. Luxor is currently registered in 110 countries will be consolidating its business in Africa, East Europe, Australia and Latin America. It is also looking to expand in the kids category, which was launched six months back, and further strengthen its ‘parker’ brand this year. "We are busy developing a new range of Luxor sketch pens and colour pens for kids to further expand this section. We are currently offering 10 products in this category and will add 20 more products this year," Jain said. Luxor will invest about Rs 10 crore in expanding its product range across different categories. "A new range of parker pens in the Rs 75-Rs 85 slot will be launched in August, and we will bring in an entirely new range of `pilot’ pens this year," Jain, who was recently promoted to the rank of vice president, said. She said this year will also see the launch of a designer ‘Parker’ line of pens. Currently, the company is looking to promote its copyright ‘junior’ brand which includes Colormax, sketch-o-matic and magic color, among schools across India. "We are not just offering colour pens for kids but a lot of thought has been given to the packaging and also to make the whole experience interactive and educative for the kids," Jain added. Luxor will also start a new advertising campaign with film star Amitabh Bachchan in August. "For now, we have shot stills with Bachchan which will be used in the new packaging for parker range of pens. TV campaign will come in the next quarter," she Pooja. For the ‘Junior’ range, the company is consdering having a kid-celebrity as its Ambassador, but that will happen only next year, she said. The company is also hopeful of crossing the 10 million mark for Parker pens in 2006. Parker contributes about 70 per cent to the overall business of Luxor. (PTI) |
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VAT rates on essential items differ widely across states NEW DELHI, Apr 17: VAT rates of essential items like atta, maida, tea, cereal and pulses are showing glaring differences across the states, according to trade body cait. Even capital goods, tools and stationary products show a difference of 8.5 per cent in states like Delhi, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. According to Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), states like West Bengal and Delhi have exempted atta, maida, cereals and pulses fully while Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir have imposed 4 per cent VAT on them. The empowered committee has given states the option to either exempt fully foodgrains or impose 4 per cent on them. However, the VAT panel’s chairman Asim Dasgupta is not clear whether to treat atta, maida, cereals and pulses as "foodgrains". Similarly, some states have taken the advantage of the option to impose either 4 or 12.5 per cent VAT on tea. As a result, tea attracts 4 per cent VAT in West Bengal, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, while it is attracting 12.5 per cent in Punjab, Maharashtra, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. West Bengal, whose Finance Minister is Asim Dasgupta, imposed 4 per cent VAT on capital goods and used car. But Delhi, Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and J & K kept them under the 12.5 per cent slab. Similarly, computer consumables attract 4 per cent rate in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, while they draw 12.5 per cent in West Bengal, Delhi, Punjab, Maharashtra and J&K. Dasgupta had yesterday claimed that variations in VAT rates among states are not significant. He had said only in a few states deviations have been noted by the empowered committee. Empowered committee, which met for two days on April 15 and 16, will remove the variations in VAT rates in its next meeting on 25th and 26th of this month. (PTI) |
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Punjab biotechnology incubator
to be CHANDIGARH, Apr 17: A Rs 11-crore Bio Technology Incubator (BTI) will be set up at the nearby Dera Bassi with Central assistance, according to a Punjab Government spokesman. The proposed project would be set up as a public-private partnership model between the union and Punjab Governments and beckons industries limited. Fifteen industries have already given their consent to set up industries in this park. The BTI would focus on medicinal and aromatic plants and quality assurance of agri produce/products which have been identified based on demand of the industries of Punjab. The incubator would include common extraction facility for medicinal and aromatic plants. In view of low returns from wheat and paddy, the farmers of the state diversify into cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants. Hence, setting up of this facility was need of the hour to meet the extraction requirements for value addition. The facility would comprise state-of-the-art aloe vera gel extraction and powdering unit, distillation unit for aromatic crops and solvent extraction unit for medicinal plants. The incubator would house a testing and certification facility for agro products to meet the long-felt need of the farmers, of the processors and exporters from the northern region for various facilities, including quality testing and certification of agricultural raw materials and agro products, training and dissemination of latest information on quality and food safety aspects as well as providing the services pertaining to economic opportunities in post-harvest sector. The facilities of providing quality assurance services would give a big boost to agro-processing by making the sector more competitive in the international markets. (UNI) |
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RINL announces expansion plans
at an CHENNAI, Apr 17: Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) — embarking on a Rs 8,500 crore expansion programme this year — will be setting up a seamless tube plant at an estimated cost of Rs 800 crore. RINL director personnel K Ayyappa Naidu, speaking of the company’s expansion plans, said these 250-mm diametric tubes were ideal for high-pressure functionalities. Pointing to the tremendous potential offered by the gas corridor as part of the national gas grid project, he told reporters last evening that these were highly technology-intensive steel seamless tubes, which were currently being imported. These tubes could be used for gas applications, especially since these were capable of handling extremely high-pressure operations, he elaborated. This would be the first-of-its-kind seamless tube plant in the country. RINL had the complex technology and this could form as an import substitution for an integrated steel plant, Mr Naidu claimed. The setting up of the seamless tube plant, as part of the massive expansion programme that RINL was undertaking, would mean import substitution. The project report pertaining to RINL’s aim of achieving an expansion of seven mt by 2008 had been submitted to the Government. With the initial assessment completed, the project was under the Government’s active consideration and advanced stage of approval. RINL, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam steel plant, recorded an impressive performance both in production and sales. Having a paid up capital of over Rs 7,800 crore, the company registered a turnover of Rs 8,181 crore, the highest since its inception, almost 32 per cent more than the turnover clocked in the last fiscal. (UNI) |
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EU seeks policy intiatives from India to up bilateral trade NEW DELHI, Apr 17: The European Union (EU) has sought more policy initiatives from India to quadruple the total bilateral trade in services in the next five years. "There is much potential for EU and India to look forward to in terms of trade, job creation and economic progress. It is in this light, greater focus and policy initiatives are called for on both sides to realise this untapped potential," European Commission Ambassador Fancis D Camara Gomes said. He said in the EU, services were Central and accounted for a quarter of world trade. Nearly two-thirds of EU’s GDP was accounted for by services, which clearly indicated that there was much potential for trade in services between EU and India. Referring to bilateral trade in services, he felt that there had been substantial growth in the recent years. In 2002, India’s exports of services to eu amounted to 2.4 euros billion while EU’s services exports to India amounted to 2.6 billion euros. This, he felt was far below the potential that existed between the two countries. "There is a need to think in terms of at least quadrupling the total trade in services between EU and India the next five years or so given the inherent strength," he said at a workshop on "Indian services for EU countries" here. Italian Ambassador Antonio Armellini, said services liberalisation offered as great opportunities, if not greater, as goods liberalisation, since services was the fastest growing sector in world economy. He said italy was conscious of these opportunities and the ministerial delegation that accompanied the Italian presidential visit to India in February held several meetings to review possibilities of further cooperation. Several MoUs were also signed by Indian and Italian institutions. Mr Armellini said all were aware of the advantages and problems connected with services liberalisation under gats but given the latitude available to every single member country, the advantages ultimately outnumbered the problems. Dutch Ambassador E F C H Niehe said India had much to gain from liberalising trade in services, with its large pool of relatively cheap English speaking and skilled labour, which were of enormous competitive advantage. (UNI) I-T offices to remain open on Monday KOLKATA, Apr 17: Income-Tax offices in Kolkata will remain open on Monday (April 18), according to an order issued by the Chief Commissioner of I-T, Kolkata-I. It said today that I-T offices elsewhere in West Bengal would also remain open that day. (PTI) |
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