Indian investments reach US$ 11 billion in the US

New Delhi: Indian investments in the US has reached US$ 11 billion and has created more than 100,000 jobs, according to a report titled ‘Investing in America, How India Helps Create American Jobs’ by the US India Business Council (USIBC).

The report highlights ways in which the US economy is benefitting from the successful bilateral and business relationship with India, is scheduled to be released during the USIBC’ 38th Anniversary Leadership Summit on July 11, 2013.

The Indian direct investment in the US grew from US$ 200 million to nearly US$ 5 billion during 2000-10 and created 50,000 jobs, said Mr William Burns, US Deputy Secretary of State, in October 2012.

Indian investment in the US has touched US$ 11 billion, with as many as 100,000 American jobs created, according to the latest USIBC study.

USIBC has launched the Coalition for Jobs and Growth (CJG) to protect the interest of Indian companies in the US, which helps American businesses remain competitive in the global economy.

"USIBC supports the free movement of technical professionals. This freedom of movement is essential to US job creation, and is at the heart of our future economic prosperity," said Mr Ron Somers, President, USIBC.

The CJG believes that an open American economy helps give the United States the influence it needs to ensure that other economies stay open as well, it said.

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India-Israel trade rises to $6 billion in 2012-13

Hyderabad: Trade between India and Israel touched the $6-billion mark during 2012-13, up from $5.15 billion in 2011-12, according to an official from the Israeli Embassy.

Addressing a meeting here hosted by the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci) and Indo-Israel Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Jonathan Ben Zaken, Attaché - Economic and Commercial Affairs, Embassy of Israel, said trade volumes had grown to this level from a modest $200 million in 1992.

He further said bilateral relations between India and Israel had strengthened significantly in recent years with both nations experiencing a convergence of interests in agriculture, farm research, science, public health, IT, telecommunications and cooperation in space.

The Israeli industry is keen to take advantage of synergies with India in areas like water technologies, information technology and sectors that Israel is strong in.

About 265 information technology companies are doing significant business in Israel.

His country was always looking for innovation in solutions, technology, development and relations between countries, he said.

Fapcci President Srinivas Ayyadevara said: "Early implementation of the proposed free trade agreement between India and Israel will boost the bilateral trade multi-fold."

Ken Uday Sagar, President, Indo Israel Chambers of Commerce and Industry, explained the potential for collaboration and scope of bilateral trade.

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Tata Solar to build 50MW unit for NTPC

Mumbai: Tata Power Solar has secured a 50-MW solar project from NTPC. The project, to come up at Rajgarh in Madhya Pradesh, is to double NTPC’s solar capacity. The plant is scheduled for commissioning in March next year. It will generate 78.66 million units (Kwh) a year for the Madhya Pradesh Power Trading Company. “This project brings together two of our core strengths in solar, solar module manufacturing and high-quality engineering, procurement and construction capability,” said Ajay Goel, CEO, Tata Power Solar. “NTPC plans to broad-base its generation mix through conventional and non-conventional sources of energy to ensure long-term competitiveness and mitigate fuel risk, said A K Jha, Director Technical, NTPC. NTPC plans to set up 1,000 MW of renewable power by 2017.

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RINL signs MoU with MECL for exploration of iron ore, coal

Kolkata: Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL), which runs the Vizag steel plant, has entered into a MoU with Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd. ( MECL) for exploration of iron ore, coal and other minerals. RINL which lacks captive iron ore mines, has been aggressively pursuing its strategy for raw material security in the last few years. While it has been scouting for mineral assets and has made mining applications in several states, it received allotment of an iron ore block in Bhilwara from the government of Rajasthan only last month. The company said it also hopes to receive allotment of another block in Rajasthan and few more in Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.

The MoU will help RINL utilise MECL's expertise for detailed exploration of these blocks and get into iron ore mining for the first time. Incidentally, RINL already operates captive mines in minerals like limestone, dolomite and manganese. Additionally, the MoU also envisages detailed exploration for thermal & coking coal blocks that RINL hopes will will be allocate dto it in the near future. MECL's services would also be useful for further exploration of RINL's existing mines including those of limestone, dolomite, manganese, quartzite. The MoU was signed on Wednesday by A V Hariharan, DGM (Projects)-Mines on behalf of RINL and S K Sarkar, MECL's head of business development.

The state-owned steel major recorded a 14% growth in finished steel production during Q1 of FY14 and also reported a 7% improvement in generation of captive power during the period. RINL also recorded a 17% rise in production of value added steels, its best Q1 performance so far. Incidentally, value added steels accounted for 80% of RINL's total saleable steel production during the quarter under review. RINL also said it had registered a growth of 13% in Q1 sales this year, in the face of poor market conditions.

A special drive taken by the company helped in achieving sales of 5.5 lakh tonne matching the sales of corresponding period last year. Sale of special steels out of total saleable steels stood at 82% during the quarter, compared to 77% in the corresponding period last year. The company said its focus on rural marketing network has helped in enhancing the number of rural dealers to over 600 at present.

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Singapore’s L&W buys 25 acres in Bangalore for Rs 100 crore

Bangalore: In what is considered one of the largest real estate deals this year in the city, L&W Construction Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of a Singapore-based construction company, has bought 25 acres of land near the international airport for Rs 100 crore.

The land was bought from a Bangalore-based industrial group for Rs 100 crore. The Singapore company Lee Kim Tah Woh Hup Pte Ltd plans to develop a high-end residential complex there.

Jones Lang LaSalle, international property consultants, facilitated the land deal, a press statement from the company said. Mayank Saksena, Managing Director – Land Services, Jones Lang LaSalle India, said, “This is an extremely strategic acquisition for L&W Construction Private Ltd, and one of Bangalore’s largest land deals of 2013 to date.”

L&W Construction plans to tap the expertise of Lee Kim Tah Woh Hup, a joint venture between Lee Kim Tah Holdings Ltd and Woh Hup (Pte) Ltd, two of Singapore’s oldest construction companies.

Together, they have completed projects in Australia, UK, China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, West Asia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Saksena said the Devanahalli sub-market is defined by an impressive scale of activity on premium and luxury projects.

“This is largely due to the ongoing and planned infrastructure developments in these areas, with the establishment of Bangalore International Airport being one of the primary catalysts for the North Bangalore micro-market.”

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India invites Vietnam to set up electronics cluster city

New Delhi: The Government on Thursday asked Vietnam to set up an electronics cluster in India.

India and Vietnam signed two memorandums of understanding (MoU) for partnership in the field of information, communications and technology (ICT).

The first MoU was on telecom regulation between the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority. The second was on spectrum management between Wireless Planning & Coordination Wing (WPC), DoT and the Authority of Radio Frequency Management, Vietnam.

Joint panel

Accordingly, Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal and his counterpart from Vietnam Nguyen Bac Son have decided to set up a six-member joint committee to work on a roadmap for collaboration in the field of ICT.

The joint committee will comprise six persons (three persons from each country) and the representatives from India will comprise one person each from the DoT, Department of Electronics and IT and Posts.

It was also decided that the first meeting of the joint working group should take place within next two months.

“They (Vietnam) will nominate three people and within two months they will chalk out a roadmap of collaboration for the future,” Sibal told reporters after the meeting.

He said the roadmap for investment by Vietnam will also be set once the joint committee meets.

“We have suggested that they should set up an electronics cluster in the form of a city,” Sibal said, adding that the joint committee would set out specific programmes through which this collaboration will take place.

He said the cluster can come up on the Delhi–Mumbai corridor, and that it could be named as ‘Ho Chi Minh’. Both the ministers said that a significant work for cooperation could be ready by later this year when a high level of Vietnam leaders will visit to India.

Electronics manufacturing

Both the ministers unanimously have agreed that electronics manufacturing, software services, standards setting, cyber security, spectrum management, ICTs regulation, cooperation on multilateral platforms and disaster management in coastal areas are some of the areas, the countries could cooperate with each other.

Considering the large young population with ICT skill sets, the opportunities are abundant to synergise strengths of each other, the Vietnam minister said.

He acknowledged the Indian support in ICT capacity building for Vietnam students in CDAC India and in establishing supercomputing facility in Vietnam.

India is supporting to establish a high performance computing centre at Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

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Nod to privatise Kolkata and Chennai airports

New Delhi/ Mumbai: In a significant move to bring in private operators to run airports, the government on Thursday approved privatisation of the Chennai and Kolkata airports, which are currently operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Separately, AAI has sought approval from the government to raise Rs 1,000 crore through issue of tax-free bonds to develop 50 low-cost airports in the country. The inter-ministerial group on Thursday decided to privatise the older terminals by bringing in a joint-venture partner to manage operations at the two airports, much in line with what it has done in Delhi and Mumbai. However, the new terminals built by AAI in both cities may be leased out to a private concessionaire at a pre-determined fee.

A senior official in the ministry said, “The AAI has invested substantial resources in modernising the airports at Kolkata and Chennai. The new terminals might be leased out to the private concessionaire who would be asked to pay a compensation for the investments made by the Airports Authority.” The airports at Kolkata and Chennai would be the first to go off the bloc in the government’s plans to privatise 15 airports across the country.

The Planning Commission would draft the concession agreements for bids. The others on the line for privatisation —as envisaged by the Prime Minister in the current financial year — include Lucknow, Guwahati, Jaipur and Ahmedabad.

Kolkata and Chennai airports were refurbished at Rs 2,325 crore and Rs 2,015 crore, respectively, but there have been complaints related to the quality of work and management of operations at both the airports.

The state-of-the-art integrated terminal at Kolkata airport has been built at a cost of Rs 2,325 crore. It can handle 25 million passengers annually, a leap from the current capacity of 4.8 million a year. Apart from the 195,000-sq metre, five-level integrated passenger terminal building, the new facility also offers modern taxiways and extension of a runway, so that it can handle bigger aircraft such as the Airbus A-380.

“No AAI employee will lose his/her job,'” said Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh. However, AAI unions have been objecting to the proposal. In June, the unions had even threatened to go on mass leave.

“Operation of large AAI airports through the public private partnership (PPP) model, in principle, is a great idea,” said Amber Dubey, partner and head (aerospace and defence) at global consultancy KPMG. According to him, it’s because of the PPP model that airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore are consistently ranked among the top by global agencies.

“PPP has also helped maximise non-aeronautical revenues at airports, which ultimately bring down aeronautical tariffs for the passengers. In the short-run, the user charges in PPP airports are high, but that is more due to regulatory complications than due to the concept of PPP. AAI has been the biggest gainer – it has and will receive significantly large funds from PPP airports as revenue share. These funds can be utilised by AAI to provide air connectivity to far flung corners of the country where private investment may not be forthcoming due to long gestation periods,” Dubey added.

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