AAPI: March 2017

LISBON, 20th March 2017

Index of this Newsletter

INDIA

INDIA & THE WORLD

21.1. The world in the next five years: A dystopian view
21.2. India’s international trade challenges
22.1. India on collision course with EU over trade treaty
22.2. India, China team up against West’s pressure on drug patent norms
23.1. India most important for us outside of the US: Omidyar
23.2. India, ADB ink $375 mn loan pact for industrial corridor
24.1. Portugal and India: Colaboration in Hospitality. Cashless shopping in Goa
25.1. Business leaders must learn to listen

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LISBON, 20th March 2017

NEWSLETTER, 20-III-2017

INDIA

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

1.1. Modi sees ‘New India’ for the poor

BusinessLine | Poornima Joshi, 12 Mar. 2017

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday turned his party’s stupendous success in the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand elections into a victory march, looking beyond the 2019 general elections at 2022, the 75th year of the country’s Independence, with a fresh theme: ‘New India’.

The PM’s framing of the BJP’s “New India” slogan was replete with references to the poor and their upward social mobility, reflecting a change in political idiom from Achche Din to Antyodaya and Garib Kalyan (welfare of the poor).

The PM articulated the political message and transformed the celebrations of the latest poll results practically into the launch of the BJP’s campaign for the 2019 elections. The party has simultaneously worked towards the formation of its governments in Goa and Manipur, which delivered a hung verdict.

Manohar Parrikar, who has resigned as Defence Minister, held parleys with different sets of elected Goan MLAs along with his senior colleague Nitin Gadkari. Parrikar subsequently met the Goa Governor Mridula Shah and staked claim to form the government. Even in Manipur, where the Congress is just two short of a majority, the BJP, which needs nine MLAs to reach the halfway mark, aggressively pushed its claim to form the government. Discussions in the BJP’s parliamentary board on chief ministerial probables for UP and Uttarakhand were continuing till late in the evening.

Reforms, redistribution

At the same time, the PM and BJP President Amit Shah were already busy framing the popular discourse for the BJP as “empowerment, rather than appeasement, of the poor”.

The policy objectives were simultaneously summed up by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his post-poll comments. “We see no contradiction between reforms and redistribution of resources. They can be complementary,” said the Finance Minister, asserting that the results imply that the government will be “emboldened” in pushing crucial reform measures without being constantly wary of their political implications. The party’s extraordinary victory, especially in Uttar Pradesh, clearly means critics have to eat crow and the government has the people’s support in implementing any difficult policy measure.

However, as the Prime Minister’s speech at the BJP headquarters indicated, the articulation of the ruling dispensation’s policy perspective would remain strictly clothed in a “pro-poor” idiom. As the BJP expands its social base to Dalits and OBCs besides upper castes who voted for it overwhelmingly in UP and Uttarakhand, the political messaging too will be tailored for the new constituency. The PM thus described the latest poll results as a “golden moment” in the BJP’s history and an opportunity to work for the downtrodden.

‘Golden moment’

“This is a golden moment in the BJP’s history… We have seen many dreams being promised to win elections. But my dream is to take this ‘New India’ forward in the 75thyear of our Independence. I am not someone who thinks in terms of elections… What these results have done is to empower my ambition for 2022, to fulfil the aspirations of every Indian, to take India to newer heights,” said the PM. While framing the contours of the BJP’s campaign for the next general elections, the PM described the poor and their upward social mobility as the new policy paradigm.

“We are informed by Deen Dayal Upadhyay’s mission of Antyodaya and Garib Kalyan. I see the potential in India’s poor in contributing to nation-building. The poor are our biggest asset. The middle class has thus far borne the burden of more taxes, following all laws, rules, traditions. If the poor are empowered, the burden on the middle class will decrease. I see this as the guiding economic principle for the New India,” Modi said.

‘Hope for the future’

Amit Shah made no secret of the party treating the poll verdict in the five States as an endorsement of the Prime Minister’s leadership and his policy initiatives, especially demonetisation.

“In demonetisation, the poor found themselves united with the Prime Minister and the government… Today, for the first time after Independence, we have a Prime Minister who had ignited a hope for the future among the poor…

“The BJP’s victory march will go through Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka into western and southern India and will culminate in a bigger mandate for the party in 2019,” the BJP President said.

1.2. India's unemployment rate drops 50% in 7 months on Modi goverment's rural push

Times of India | Mar. 06, 2017

New Delhi: UP has logged the highest rate of decline in unemployment rate among major states in the period between August 2016 and February this year on the back of Centre's focus on rural jobs scheme MGNREGA. According to the latest report by SBI Research, a wing of the country's largest bank, SBI, during this period India's unemployment rate nearly halved to 4.8% in February from 9.5% in August 2016.

The report is based on estimates by BSE and CMIE worked out on the basis of data collected on employment/unemployment status of all members of 15 years or older from a sample of randomly-selected households. The report does not, however, indicate the sample size. UP saw the sharpest fall in unemployment at 17.1% to 2.9 %. Bihar was right behind UP, with 13% decline in unemployment rate, which fell to 3.7% in February.

Madhya Pradesh and Odisha are the other two states that logged 10% drop in unemployment to 2.7% and 2.9%, respectively. Jharkhand saw a decline of 9.5% to 3.1% in the unemployment rate.

The report attributes the decline in unemployment rate primarily to the Narendra Modi government's efforts in to generate employment opportunities in rural areas.

"This decline is also explained by households demanded/allocated work under MGNREGA, which increased from 83 lakh households in October 2016 to 167 lakh households in Februrary 2017. Hence, on the one hand the unemployment rate has halved, on the other hand work de-manded has doubled," says the report. It notes that the number of works completed under MGNREGA increased 40% to 50.5 lakh in FY17 compared to 36.0 lakh in FY16.

Notable increase was registered in the works of Anganwadi (166%), Drought Proofing (158%), Rural Drinking Water (698%) and Water Conservation & Harvesting (142%).

MGNREGA has been allocated a budgetary resource of Rs 48,000 crore in this year's Budget. During FY18, another 5 lakh farm ponds will be taken up, compared to expected 10 lakh farm ponds during FY17. This single measure will contribute greatly to drought proofing of gram panchayats, says the report.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

2.1. Govt to auction 5G spectrum in frequencies above 3k MHz

Times of India | Mar. 14, 2017

New Delhi: The government is set to go for 5G spectrum auction this year — making an early move to initiate rollout of latest communications technologies. The government will also go for a fresh auction in 700 MHz band, which drew a blank last year as companies complained of high reserve price. The 5G auction will be conducted by selling spectrum in bands over 3,000 MHz, and sale will be conducted here for the first time, top sources told TOI. Also on sale will be any remaining spectrum in bands such as 800 MHz, 900, 1,800, 2,100, 2,300 and 2,500 MHz. "The file has been moved within the telecom ministry, and we will make a reference to Trai on the issue very soon," one source said.

5G spectrum will be sold in bands such as 3,300 MHz and 3,400 MHz and the government expects that these will be put up for use of a host of new-age initiatives and services, including internet of things (IoT), machine- to-machine communications, instant high-definition video transfer and downloads, and connected smart cities. "These bands have potential when considered from the point of view of where we are headed for, in terms of technological progress. We intend to move in early in adoption of new technologies and also get a response from the industry on the matter," another source said.

According to the latest global mobility report by Ericsson, 5G networks are expected to be commercially available in 2020. By 2022, Ericsson forecasts 55 crore 5G subscriptions and coverage of 10% of global population for the technology. The government had dropped hints about making spectrum auctions an annual affair and officials said this was being done to "end complaints about spectrum scarcity, once and for all". Last time, the 700 MHz band got no response due to a pan-India reserve price of Rs 55,000 crore per block of 5MHz. Sources said this would be "re-calibrated" this time around. "We have noted the industry feedback, that prices were 'way too high' in the last round. These views will be conveyed to Trai so that they can factor this, while recommending reserve prices for next sale," the source said.

While the government appears bullish over auctions, the industry is complaining about being financially weak after the entry of Reliance Jio, which created steep competition and hit financials of existing telcos.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

2.2. Demonetisation will have positive impact on Indian economy, says World Bank CEO

HT Business | Mar. 03, 2017

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to ban high-value banknotes as part of efforts to stamp out corruption will have a profound and positive impact on India’s economy, World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva has said. Georgieva told Hindustan Times that “demonetisation” may have caused some hardship to people living in the cash economy but in the long run the move will help foster a clean and digitised economy. “What India has done will be studied (by other countries). There hasn’t been such demonetisation in a country so big,” she told HT in an interview late on Wednesday.

The World Bank CEO’s praise is the latest for Modi’s November 8 decision, which culled 1000-and 500-rupee bills with immediate effect, triggering a months-long cash crunch. In November, the International Monetary Fund said it supported India’s efforts to fight corruption through currency control measures, which have since eased. Georgieva compared Modi’s decision to that of the European Union, which is also phasing out high denomination bills but over a longer period of time. “While demonetisation has, in the short term, created some impact on businesses dependent on cash, in the long term the impact will be positive… The reforms India is targeting are profound.” She said the government’s financial inclusion programme along with the move towards digital payments and direct transfer of subsidies will help the poor.

Georgieva, who was in India for two days, travelled on a local train in Mumbai and visited the world’s biggest slum in Dharavi. She said people were eager to get a better life and that they were willing to pay more for improved services. She also appreciated the competition among states to improve the ease of doing business saying the situation has “improved”. “India is the bright spot in today’s global economy and it is visible in the country’s performance and more so in the aspirations of the people here,” she said. “Our growth projection for India for this year is 7%. The signs are positive with the reform process underway and GST expected to be implemented soon.”

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

3.1. How the world’s largest solar park is shaping up in Karnataka

Livemint, Sharan Poovanna and Nidheesh M.K., 6 Mar. 2017

Karnataka govt aims to generate by 2018-end around 2700 MW from the Pavagada solar park, in a region that has seen 54 droughts in the last 60 years

Karnataka Solar Power Development Corp. has managed to acquire 12,000 acres of the 13,000 acres identified for the Pavagada solar park project, and related infrastructure work has started in earnest.

Pavagada (Tumkur, Karnataka): Heat that can give you blisters. Fluoride contaminated water that can leave your bones brittle. Endless stretches of barren land where rains have stayed away for almost half a century. Thorny bushes the only vegetation in sight for miles.

An apt description of Pavagada—less than 200 km from Bengaluru, but it may as well be on another planet. The region is part of a large semi-arid tract in eastern Karnataka’s border district of Tumkur, which sits on an elevated plateau with several rocky hills all around. The state government has had to declare the region drought-hit 54 times in the last 60 years.

NDA bets big on solar power, to double capacity by 2020

The bone-dry region may be a bane for farmers, but could be a godsend for the state government which wants to experiment with something big—build what it claims is the world’s largest solar park. The aim is to generate around 2700 megawatts (MW) from the Pavagada solar park by the end of 2018. The idea resonates with the centre’s ambitious scheme to generate 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power by 2020. Work has begun in right earnest on the project. Roads now cut through the vast expanse of sand. Scores of workers in hard hats and covered in dust are at work, putting up substations and power lines. The first phase capacity of 500MW has been bid out and generation is expected to start in the next four months.

Govt’s solar park plan a lifeline for power transmission business

The park’s development is anchored by the Karnataka Solar Power Development Corp. Ltd (KSPDCL), an entity formed in March 2015 as a joint venture between Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) and Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI).

KSPDCL uses the “plug and play” model, under which it acquires and develops land as blocks for solar power generation, embedded with the required government approvals, and gives it out to solar power developers (SPDs) through auctions.

So far, plot allocation has been completed for 600 MW capacity. Six SPDs—Yarrow Infrastructure, Parampujya Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd, FortumFinnsurya Energy Pvt. Ltd, ACME Solar Holdings Pvt. Ltd, Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd and Renew Power—have taken over land and commenced work. The rest of the plots are in various stages of tendering.

The SPDs have, in turn, signed power purchase agreements with electricity supply companies or escoms. The agreements are drafted in such a way that the escoms get 90% of the power generated from the park, at a bundled tariff ranging between Rs3.50 and Rs4.50 a unit

Tariffs for world’s biggest solar power plant hit all-time low of Rs2.97/unit

KSPDCL has managed to acquire 12,000 acres of the 13,000 acres identified for the project, spread across five villages in Pavagada.

“It is a huge achievement. Land acquisition is a major challenge for any big project in India; especially for solar as around five acres of land is needed for 1 MW,” said Deepak Sriram Krishnan, manager of the energy department at World Resources Institute (India), a global non-governmental research organization. G.V. Balram, managing director of Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) and a Pavagada native, said that the credit for the smooth acquisition should go to the unique model deployed: the government did not acquire the land from farmers; it just sought to lease it for 25 years.

Balram said though farmers were emotionally attached to the land, they were happy to hand it over to a project if they could retain ownership. Farmers have so far not had an issue with the compensation amount— Rs21,000 per acre as lease, with a 5% appreciation every two years.

“Farmers have come to realise that it’s better if they don’t cultivate (the land). Anyway most of the time you don’t get enough rains to sustain the crops and invariably there is crop loss,” said Seshagiri Rao, a farmer and climate researcher who is a resident of a village in Pavagada.

But what will they do if they cannot farm?

“The impact is not that huge. Ten thousand acres is around five villages, so we are talking 5,000 families. I guess they will get jobs somewhere else. After all, we are talking about one of the most-arid regions in the country after Thar desert, where annual average rainfall is only 46 cm between June to November,” added Rao.

However, not everyone is happy. When Mint visited the region, villagers were upset with the government for not assuring power supply and jobs for them. Apparently, neighbours of what is touted as world’s largest solar power project are powerless.

Electricity is available for about three hours a day, though the voltage is too low to pump groundwater, complained many villagers. State energy minister D.K. Shivakumar says that these issues will be looked at. “This taluk witnesses around 8,000-10,000 people leaving their villages to go work in Bengaluru and other places. We are trying to stop this. The government will make investments of over Rs15,000 crore in the region which will help create jobs.”

3.2. India posts its lowest ever wind tariff of Rs3.46 per unit

Livemint, Mayank Aggarwal and Utpal Bhaskar, 23 Feb. 2017

Wind power tariffs followed the solar route and fell below Rs3.46 per kilowatt hour (kWh), in a 1 GW tender by state-run SECI. The government plans to achieve 175GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 as part of its commitments to the Paris climate change agreement. This includes 60 GW from wind power.

New Delhi: Wind power tariffs followed the solar route and fell below Rs3.46 per kilowatt hour (kWh), in a 1 gigawatt (GW) tender by state-run Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI).

Mytrah Energy (India) Ltd, IDFC Alternatives-backed clean energy firm Green Infra Ltd, global private equity fund’s Actis Llp’s platform Ostro Kutch Wind Pvt. Ltd and Inox Wind Infrastructure Services Ltd bid Rs3.46 per unit to win contracts for 250 MW each, said several people aware of the development.

These firms quoted these prices, at which they will sell electricity, to win contracts for the tender that had received 2.6 times the grid-linked capacity being sold. Tariffs have hitherto ranged from Rs3.9 per kWh to Rs5.9 per kWh.

“After solar cost reduction below Rs3/unit, wind power cost down to Rs3.46/unit through transparent auction. A green future awaits India,” said Piyush Goyal, minister for power, coal, mines and new and renewable energy in a tweet. The sector has been hit by inordinate delays in signing of power purchase agreements and untimely payments; distribution firms have shied away from procuring electricity generated by wind projects.

Renewable energy mission needs a robust grid network

The other firms participating in the bid were: ReGen Powertech Pvt. Ltd, India’s first Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan’s family-promoted Leap Green Energy Pvt. Ltd, Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries Ltd, Gamesa Renewable Pvt. Ltd, ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd, Hero Future Energies Ltd, RP-Sanjiv Goenka’s Group CESC Ltd, and Adani Green Energy Ltd.

“With the discovered tariff of Rs. 3.46, this auction will be disruptive for the wind industry. It will be interesting to see how banks, OEMs and developers work together to commission these projects—at these tariffs, the projects will need to be delivered at substantially lower project cost to ensure viability. Also, this tariff should not be considered as a benchmark in lower wind regime states. Overall, this is a positive development as this brings competition and transparency in the sector,” said Srishti Ahuja, director at consulting firm EY. “Today, if you see, pan-India wind power tariff is between Rs 4-5 per unit... So these (prices) are a significant improvement from current prices,” added Vinay Rustagi, managing director at Bridge to India, a renewable energy consulting firm. “These are going to be first wind power project connected to national grid and would sell anywhere in India. So this significantly reduces the cost of renewable power.”

Wind power reverse auction today, may witness aggressive bidding

The government plans to achieve 175GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 as part of its commitments to the Paris climate change agreement. This includes 60GW from wind power.

The price gap between electricity generated from thermal, solar and wind projects has been narrowing. This is primarily due to costs of solar modules and wind turbine generators falling by 80% and 20%, respectively, over the past five years. Mytrah Energy, Green Infra, Ostro and Inox Wind couldn’t be immediately contacted.

4.1. Ratan Tata’s investment in start-ups rises 30 per cent in fiscal 2016

BusinessLine, 19 Feb. 2017, Priyanka Pani

Ratan Tata’s personal investment firm RNT Associates had invested up to ₹80 crore in about 30 start-ups in fiscal 2016. This is 30 per cent higher than the ₹61-crore the company invested in FY-15.

According to the company’s latest filings with the RoC, accessed by BusinessLine via business research platform Tofler, the Mumbai-based investment firm, set up by Ratan Tata in March 2009, made small ticket- size investments in the range of ₹25 lakh to about ₹5 crore on an average. However, in 2015-2016, RNT's highest investment of about ₹31 crore was made in a company called Human Longevity.

The San Diego-based company is creating the world's largest and comprehensive database of whole genome, phenotype and clinical data. RNT also made a small investment of ₹3.25 crore in the world's largest community driven hospitality start-up Airbnb. Besides, RNT Associates has also invested in venture and seed funds, including Kay Capital, Charme II and Charme III, Lets Venture, Online Pte and Seedplus Singapore. The 79-year-old former chairman of Tata Sons has made some early stage investments in Indian unicorns such as Snapdeal, Ola and Paytm, through RNT Associates in which he holds about 99.9 per cent stake.

His close aide Krishna Kumar Kuttambally (aka KK), who was earlier his right hand man in Tata Sons, holds a very minority stake of 0.01 per cent. R Venkataramanan or Venky is also a Director on the board but has no shareholding in the company. The company has a subsidiary in Singapore, according to the RoC filing. However, it seems that the valuations of RNT's investee companies have eroded given that the revenues and profits of the company has declined in FY-16.

RNT's consolidated revenues in 2016 stood at ₹6.9 crore, down by 175 per cent from ₹19 crore in 2015, the RoC data shows. The profits have also come down by 25 per cent at ₹2.7 crore in 2016 against ₹ 11 crore in the year-ago period. There is usually a lag of six months to nine months when it comes to unlisted companies filing their annual numbers with the RoC, hence fiscal numbers are available only in December to February period.

Compared to 2015, the year 2016 had remained a very challenging one for the Indian start-up ecosystem as the valuations of several heavily funded companies such as Flipkart and Snapdeal came down following markdowns by their respective investors. Many well-funded start-ups shut down and a few merged with other bigger start-ups at lower valuations, thus marking the start of consolidation period in that segment. Many of Tata's investee companies such as Zivame, Snapdeal and Ola have seen major restructuring and reshuffle at the top management level and are facing severe cash crunch as global investors have tightened their purses. Meanwhile, a few like Bluestone and Urban Ladder are restructuring their businesses and reworking on their strategies.

4.2. Can sense a fantastic business momentum at the moment in India, says Rothschild

Livemint, Feb. 27, 2017

Mumbai: With a team of about 20 investment bankers, Rothschild and Co. has managed to be part of over 200 deals ranging from one of India's biggest in the oil and gas sector to automobiles and renewable energy, in 2016 alone. In an interview, Alexandre de Rothschild, deputy head of Rothschild Merchant Banking talks about working in India, dealing with the uncertainties here and tapping the true opportunities. Rothschild talks about why his bank will continue being an adviser in investment banking deals and other parts of the world that show promise. Edited excerpts:

What is the kind of opportunity you see in India?

Clearly, what you can sense here is a fantastic business momentum at the moment. Last time I was here, a few years ago, you could sense the same level of attraction from outside of India, but the perception was that the country is less organized than it is today to welcome flows of investment outside of India. Any country which grows rapidly comes with its own challenges and India has its challenges at the moment. But you can see that the trend is one which is extremely positive and where ambition of the government and business community tends to get aligned, which in our business, makes things little bit more easy. As far as we are concerned, 2016 has been a fantastic year, advising on more than 230 transactions. We work for corporates, private equity houses, we have been involved in government-related situations. We have roughly 20 bankers, but the India business is extremely strategic for the rest of the group. We have deals in renewable energy, oil and gas, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, finance. There is a big range, we are not dependent on one successful industry. Quite a lot of it is cross-border and therefore, we use a lot of Rothschild’s network, we have offices across 40 plus countries and all of them are looking for acquisitions in their own sectors.

Are you saying the present government is very focused on seeing business as solutions, which was not the case five years ago?

I think the rhetoric changed with the new government which always helped people, and I think that (at) the end of the UPA government, there was a slight sense of lack of energy. A new government came in. Slogans like less government more governance started trending. Slogans are slogans, but they, to a degree, do convey a message to the people.

You are one of the very few true independent investment bankers. How do you see this business growing?

Post the financial crisis, our model of being independent advisors has come out as a winning model. We have a number of competitors who also purely advise. We used to have to explain our model in a slightly defensive manner. We would have to explain things like we won’t trade your secrets somewhere else. Today, clients are convinced about the value-add of advice. You tend to see a lag between more mature markets who have already appreciated that and places like India. We will continue to do advisory. In advisory, we refine our expertise.

What do you infer from the happenings at large corporate houses such as Tata and Infosys, when it comes to corporate governance? How do foreign investors view this?

Obviously, people are extremely interested as soon as the perception that something is going wrong in a big group arises. It’s quite natural when large businesses are going through (a) change in management. Succession comes with a need to modernize the governance to reflect which era we live in. Five years ago, Airbnb didn’t exist. Today, it is the largest hotel company in the world without having any physical hotels. That should give a sense to traditional businesses that there is almost a revolution happening around us. These are extremely professional companies you mentioned in your question. There might be short-term turmoil, but over time, we are confident that they will do the right thing. Public markets tend to have a reaction which is immediate and that can create some volatility. People who are there for the long term have the ability to judge what the right thing to do is. It is too early to judge from outside.

We are seeing a phase of consolidation in sectors such as telecom and banking. In emerging nations like India, how much does consolidation help?

I think in telecom companies, there are some developed global models now. There is reasonable assumption of a move towards consolidation in that environment. It will probably mean overall service levels go up. In banking, scope is there for consolidation because there are so many banks. It is financially complicated for the regulator to have so many banks and in some cases, service being provided is less good. It is a desirable direction to travel in.

What are the challenges out here?

Like most places which experience a high level of growth, it is always correlated with some level of risk, 7-8% may be more, that needs to be absorbed in (the) right manner. There are some execution risks along the way. The impression I am getting is quite superficial, but there is a slight impression that the health of the economy and the general health of the banking system where non-performing assets (NPAs) are not at a sustainable level. Should consolidation address part of that to improve the banking system? It will be a very good outcome.

Apart from India, is there any other market that looks promising at this point of time?

We are present in more than 40 countries, we completely believe we have a global footprint. Africa is, of course, a major continent of huge opportunity where picking the right pattern, right people, having (the) right strategy is something, not an easy answer to a difficult question. You have a lot of exogenous factors in Africa, currency movements can be very drastic, macro-political changes which can sort of change the landscape quite rapidly. We would prefer to advise clients to look at pan-African business as opposed to making a mono bet into one country. Having (an) approach which is diversified within Africa is preferred.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

5.1. Govt readies multi-modal transport play to reduce logistics costs

Livemint, Mar. 15, 2017

New Delhi: India has firmed up the contours of its ambitious multi-modal programme to reduce logistics costs and make the economy competitive.

The strategy involves a reset of India’s logistics sector from a “point-to-point” model to a “hub-and-spoke” model and involves railways, highways, inland waterways and airports to put in place an effective transportation grid.

This includes setting up 35 multi-modal logistics parks at an investment of Rs50,000 crore, development of 50 economic corridors and an investment template which involves roping in the states and the private sector for setting up special vehicles for implementation. To implement this, the government plans to host a multi-modal summit—India Integrated Transport and Logistics Summit—in May, on the lines of the maritime summit to pitch project opportunities to the investors.

From Mumbai, it’s easier to send stuff to UK than Delhi: Nitin Gadkari

“It is for the first time that we have taken an integrated approach for the country’s transportation. This will increase India’s exports, provide employment opportunities, will be cost effective, and will make goods cheaper in the country,” said Nitin Gadkari, minister for road transport and highways, shipping and ports in an interview.

Sites for the proposed 35 logistics parks have been identified and they will be set up on railways, highways, inland waterways and airports transportation grid. Fifteen such logistics parks will be constructed in the next five years, and 20 more over the next 10 years. They will act as hubs for freight movement enabling freight aggregation and distribution with modern mechanized warehousing space.

The government’s intent was articulated by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech this year. It will work like this: a joint venture will be set up between National Highways Authority of India (49% share) and the partner (51%) for the project which may be a state government or a private entity. Of the land acquired for the project, 40% will be developed and returned to the land owner. While 20% of the land will be sold to finance the project, the profit from the rest 40% of the land will go to National Highway Authority of India. The road transport and highways ministry has also sought an infrastructure status for these logistics parks.

“This model will ensure that there will be no need for us to make investments,” said Gadkari. “We will build pre-cooling plants, cold storages, storage facilities for agricultural produce, food grains, hardware, cement, steel, fertilizer and will create a transport nagar (city) and logistic park. It will have fuel pumps and also truck maintenance shops. All of this will be at one place outside the city. Its first impact will be that it will reduce pollution, traffic jam, create new employment opportunities and contribute towards increasing exports,” the minister added.

According to the ministry of road transport and highways, several state governments want to partner with the ministry for the multi-modal logistics parks. A pre-feasibility study will be conducted in Chennai and Vijayawada shortly. “I have personally written to the chief ministers of states to make sure that these projects progress and have also invited them to the summit,” Gadkari added.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

5.2. SC asks industrial units to set up effluent treatment plants within 3 months

Livemint, Apurva Vishwanath and Mayank Aggarwal, 20 Feb. 2017

The court also said that industrial units without primary functioning effluent treatment plants will not be allowed to run after the stipulated time.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed industrial units across the country to set up effluent treatment plants within three months. The court said industrial units without functional primary effluent treatment plants will not be allowed to run after the stipulated time. “State pollution bodies will ask discoms (distribution companies) to disconnect power for industries that do not comply,” the court said. The court also directed states to build common effluent treatment plants within three years. A bench headed by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar directed that industrial units and states periodically apprise the National Green Tribunal of the progress made.

Civic bodies in states have been directed to set up zero liquid discharge plants and include real-time monitoring of waste treatment within six months from then. The court’s orders came on a public interest litigation filed in 2012 by non-profit Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti which sought directions to control industrial pollution. “Under no circumstances should any effluent in excess of norms allowed flow into any water body or seep into the soil,” the petition said. In January, the apex court had summoned the chief secretaries of at least 19 states for not having filed the state governments’ responses on time. “It seems that all these orders fall on deaf ears and the State is not at all serious in following them. Our experience over last few years show that most of these judicial directions are not enforced,” said Manoj Misra, convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, a non-governmental organization working for the rejuvenation of the river Yamuna.

The estimated sewage generated in India in 2015 was 61,948 million litres per day against an available treatment capacity of 23,277 million litres per day. A spokesperson for Dabur India Ltd, the maker of Hajmola candies and Vatika oil, said the firm has an environment sustainability mandate which requires all its manufacturing units to have effluent treatment plants, adding, “We treat water, recycle waste and converted it to bio fuel to generate steam to run our plants.” A spokesperson at Bajaj Auto Ltd said the company has effluent treatment plants at all its facilities.

– AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

6.1. Transforming the Food Economy of India - An international platform to showcase, connect & collaborate in the Food sector:

Press Information Bureau, Feb. 28, 2017

New Delhi: Smt.Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister of Food Processing today had a luncheon meeting with Ambassadors and High Commissioners of leading food processing and food retailing countries to share with them the investment opportunities available in India in the food processing sector. Speaking at the session Smt.Harsimrat Kaur Badal said “Recently, the Government of India has allowed 100% FDI in marketing of food products produced and manufactured in India. This initiative has opened up vast opportunities for international companies to invest in India in the food processing manufacturing, supply and marketing. Additionally, attractive incentives have been established by state andcentralgovernments to include capital subsidies, tax rebates, and reduced custom and excise duties. Increasing focus is also being given to supply-chain related infrastructure, such as cold storage, abattoirs and food parks. The whole idea is to spur greater growth in the food processing sector and transform Indian food economy as well as connect farmers with the value chain to increase their returns”.

During the interaction, the Minister also invited the countries to partner with World Food India 2017 - a three day flagship event being organized by Ministry of Food Processing Industriesfrom 3-5 Nov 2017 at New Delhi. The eventwill focus on showcasing achievements and opportunities of the Indian Food Processing Sector and fostering maximum investment commitments. The event will also provide a platform for exhibiting innovative products and manufacturing processes, showcasing the entire value chain of food processing industry with a vision to leverage innovation, technology, development & sustainability of the sector.

Speaking at the occasion, Shri Avinash K Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Food processing Industries said “With increasing disposable income and changing consumer preferences in India, processing, retail and e-commerce are the sectors where the opportunity lies. Over the past two years, the Government of India has taken a number of policy decisions to spur vibrant growth in the food processing segment. With a progressive policy outlook, we will offer full support towards new collaborations and greater investment.Given that the right framework is in place, acloser interaction is required between Indian and Global food & beverage sector and this platform will be provided by World Food India 2017.”

Shri J P Meena, Special Secretary, Ministry of Food processing Industries said,“India already has all the requirements for a head-start in the food-processing industry. Basic materials such as food grains, pulses, vegetables, meat and fish can be sourced locally. What is required is an integration and collaboration across players in the value chain, to garner mutual benefits. We are hopeful that investments resulting from opening up of the FDI policy will further help build up the required infrastructure in the food processing sector thus reducing wastages and integrating farmers to the markets”.

The interaction was attended by Ambassadors from Royal Danish Embassy, Embassy of France, Embassy of Republic of Korea, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Embassy of the Republic of Poland along with senior representatives from Canadian High Commission, Embassy of People’s Republic of China, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Embassy of the republic of Indonesia, Embassy of Italy, Embassy of Japan, Embassy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, High Commission of Malaysia, Embassy of Mexico, Embassy of Spain, Embassy of Switzerland, Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand High Commission, Embassy of Belgium, Embassy of the Federative Republic of Brazil and Embassy of the United States of America. The representatives appreciated the Ministry’s initiative of organizing ‘World Food India 2017’, including its timely announcement and expressed keen interest in partnering with the mega event.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

6.2. Food processing sector to generate 9 million jobs by 2024: Study

Times of India, Feb. 20, 2017

Mangalore: Indian food processing sector has potential to attract US$ 33 billion of investment and generate employment of 9 million persons days by FY 2024, said an ASSOCHAM-Grant Thorton Research paper. The food processing is a key contributor to employment generation in India. The policymakers have identified food processing as a key sector in encouraging labour movement from agriculture to manufacturing. By 2024, food processing sector is expected to employ 9 million people in India and expected to generate about 8,000 direct and 80,000 indirect jobs in the state, the ASSOCHAM-Grant Thornton joint study on 'Food Retail: Investment: Infrastructure' noted.

According to the study, Indian food processing industry is pegged close to US$ 121 billion to US$ 130 billion. With the second largest arable land in the world, it is the largest producer of milk, pulses, sugarcane and tea in the world and the second largest producer of wheat, rice, fruits and vegetables.

Despite the massive production, the degree of processing is low and ranges between 2-35% for different produce. India is one of the top rankers in the production of bananas, guavas, ginger, papaya, etc., although processing levels in the country remain limited. This indicates an extensive opportunity in the food processing sector, adds the paper.

According to the joint study, Indian food and retail market is projected to touch US$ 482 billion by FY 2020 from the current level of US$ 258 billion in 2015, adds the paper.

With globalisation and increasing trade across the borders approximately about 460 million tons of food valued at US$ 3 billion is traded annually. India has thus a great potential for global trade in agricultural and processed food products. The share of food processing exports in total exports was around 12% in the last few years. During FY 2011-15, India's exports of processed food related products have been growing at a CAGR of 23.3%.

The unorganised sector accounts for 42% of India's food processing industry. The sizeable presence of small- scale industries points to the sector's role in employment generation. As per the study, though the market falls under the unorganised sector in the country, the organised sector has a larger share in the secondary processing segment than the primary one.

Food and grocery constitute a substantial part of India's consumption basket accounting for around 31% share in the total. In contrast, consumers in other countries spend a much lower proportion of their income on food and grocery — 9% in the United States (US), 17% in Brazil and 25%in China. Food and grocery is the largest segment in India's retail sector, with a share of more than 60% in India's total retail market in 2014. India is the world's second largest producer of food after China. The arable land area of 159.7 mn hectares (394.6 mn acres) is the second largest in the world (after the US). India has a strong raw material base for the food processing industry. India is one of the largest producers of certain fruits, vegetables, pulses, cereals and dairy products such as mangoes, papaya, potatoes, onions, ginger, check peas, rice, wheat, groundnuts, milk and eggs among others.

Strong demand growth

Demand for food processed food rising with growing disposable income, urbanisation, young population and nuclear families

Household consumption set to double by 2020 Changing lifestyle and increasing expenditure on health and nutritional foods

Food processing hub

Indian benefits from large agriculture sector, abundant livestock and cost competitiveness Investment opportunities arise in agriculture, food infrastructure and contract farming Diverse agro-climatic conditions encourage cultivation of different crop.

Increasing investment

Govt. expect US$ 21.9 bn of investment in food processing infrastructure by 2015 Investment including FDI would rise with strengthening demand and supply fundamentals Launch of infrastructure development schemes to increase investment in food processing infrastructure

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

7.1. India's organised retail market presents a whopping US$ 75 bn opportunity for retailers

Economic Times, Feb. 28, 2017

Bengaluru: India’s retail market is expected to grow to US$ 1.1 trillion by 2020 on the back of income growth, urbanization and attitudinal shifts. The organized retail sector which is estimated to reach approx. 18-20% of the total sector, by 2020, is growing at a high rate of 20%-25% p.a.

Accordingly, CBRE sees a potential of targeting an organized market of US$ 70-US$80 billion currently, which comprises organised Indian and international retailers who are operating in India or are evaluating entering India.

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India and South East Asia, CBRE said, "India has witnessed a change in consumption patterns which has been driven by increased urbanization, expansion of the middle class & increased exposure to global lifestyle due to technological advancements. India's retail market is robust and this growth has not only been witnessed in the major metropolitan cities, but is also spreading across numerous tier 2 and tier 3 locations, providing enhanced business opportunities for retailers. To cater to this segment, we have formed a dedicated retail advisory team of experienced professionals to pioneer this specialist service in the country."

Retailers, especially from US and Europe, have been showing increasing interest in the India market, due to the growing opportunities in this sector. This is highlighted by the fact that over 40 major international brands have entered the country over the last two years.

"Retailing is much more than "space" or a "place to do business." Retailing is an environment. And while the drivers behind a retail business decision may be somewhat predictable, the physical and psychological forces that create the ideal environment for each brand vary significantly. Understanding these variations, no matter how subtle, is an important component of CBRE’s value proposition. It's what allows us to help our clients make the right decision - whether they're evaluating entry into India, a new location or an investment opportunity," said Magazine. CBRE India has launched its retail and business strategy services vertical to help international and national retailers tap retail opportunities in the country.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same

7.2. Coca-Cola, IFC and DCM Shriram help farmers raise sugarcane yields in Uttar Pradesh

Economic Times, Feb, 22, 2017

New Delhi: Coca-Cola, World Bank’s private investment arm International Finance Corporation (IFC) and DCM Shriram have helped raise sugarcane yields in Uttar Pradesh, and corporate executives say the budget’s announcement of a model law on contract farming will help farmers significantly. The companies are already working in rural areas to get proper farm inputs, which helps farmers deal with poor soil health and water availability to increase productivity, executives said. “Working with our suppliers and their suppliers, we are ensuring that we get long-term more reliable supplies of sugarcane and in the process, we ensure that prices are affordable, the yields continue to improve,” said Venkatesh Kini, president at Coca-Cola India.

DCM Shriram engages with about 1.5 lakh farmers in Uttar Pradesh and trains them to help increase their produce, which the company buys from them. The company is Coca-Cola’s supplier and has four sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh and engages with farmers around them. DCM Shriram is already working with the farmers on a contract basis, where it buys all the sugarcane yield from them. “We welcome FM’s announcement in the budget on a model law on contract farming as sugarcane is a threefour years crop and needs stable laws/policies,” said Roshan Lal Tamak, executive director at DCM Shriram.

“It will definitely help the cane farmers, as sugarcane farmers have largely small and marginal land holdings, and hence, they are not in a position to invest in adoption of technologies, better techniques, mechanization etc, while contract farming will enable easy adoption of the same, resulting in better incomes and productivity for the farmers.” With Coca-Cola joining the project last year, the scalability of the project has increased, said the company. The beverage maker, in turn, is ensuring a long-term supply from DCM Shriram. The project also aims at contributing to the government's target of doubling the farmers' income by 2022, the stakeholders said. “We at IFC are providing advisory knowledge to DCM Shrirams project. Besides increasing productivity, we want to make sugarcane cultivation profitable for farmers and help increase their income,” said RP Singh, senior technical adviser for sugarcane at IFC.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

8.1. 90,095 more affordable houses sanctioned for urban poor under PMAY(Urban)

Press Information Bureau, Feb. 21, 2017

Rs.5,590 cr investment approved with Central assistance of Rs.1,188 cr Madhya Pradesh gets 82,262 houses, J &K-4,915, Dadra and Nagar Haveli-803

New Delhi: Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation today approved construction of 90,095 more affordable houses for the benefit of urban poor under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) with an investment of Rs.5,590 cr and central assistance of Rs.1,188 cr. Madhya Pradesh has been sanctioned 82,262 houses in 49 cities and towns with an investment of Rs.5,260 cr with central assistance of Rs.1,071 cr. Jammu & Kashmir got 4,915 houses in 24 cities and towns with an investment of Rs.240 cr and central assistance of Rs.74 cr. Dadra & Nagar Haveli’s capital Silvassa has been sanctioned 803 affordable houses with an investment of Rs.26 cr and central assistance of Rs.12 cr. The approval accorded today was for construction of 46,823 new houses under the Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC) component of PMAY (Urban), enhancement of 773 houses in Jammu & Kashmir under BLC and building 42,499 new houses in Madhya Pradesh under Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) component.

In Madhya Pradesh, another 39,763 new houses will be built under BLC component under which an eligible beneficiary is assisted to build a house on the land owned by him/her. City-wise approvals in Madhya Pradesh include: Indore-30,789 houses, Ratlam-6,419, Sagar-3,156, Ujjain- 2,884, Katni-2,800, Shivpuri-2,625, Chindwara-2,508, Nagda-2,073, Jabalpur-2,012, Datia-1,726, Singrauli- 1,716, Dabra-1,720, Vidisha-1,513, Damoh-1,480, Sehore-1,200, Sidhi-1,057, Astha-1,000 and Unchehara- 1,000. In Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar has been approved 663 affordable houses, Handwara-602, Badgam-476, Baramulla-393, Doda-306, Pulwama-270, Kargil-261, Sopore-205, Ganderbal-185, Bhaderwah-176, Shopian- 159, RS Pura-143, Samba-121, Kishtwar-113, Leh-99 and Poonch-96.

With this, total number of affordable houses approved for Madhya Pradesh under PMAY(Urban) has increased to 1,87,135 and for Jammu & Kashmir to 5,864. With today’s approvals, construction of a total number of 16,51,687 affordable houses for the benefit of urban poor has been sanctioned so far under PMAY (Urban) with a total investment of Rs.89,072 cr with central assistance of Rs.25,819 cr. Under BLC and AHP components of PMAY (Urban), central assistance of Rs.1.50 lakh is provided for each beneficiary.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

8.2. 15.5% Growth in Domestic Tourist visits to States/Uts during 2016 as compared to 2015

Press Information Bureau, Mar. 03, 2017

Domestic Tourism in India Booming with significant growth in Domestic Tourist visits

New Delhi: Ministry of Tourism compiles data on tourist arrivals and visits to States/ Union Territories (UTs) on the basis of details received from various sources namely Bureau of Immigration and States /UTs. While surpassing the growth rate of 6.8% in Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) observed in January 2016 over January 2015, a significantly higher double digit growth rate of 16.5% has been witnessed correspondingly in the month of January 2017 over January 2016. A similar higher growth rate is also observed in the Domestic Tourist Visits (DTVs) during 2016, recording a marvelous growth rate of 15.5% over 2015. The data for DTVs, every year, is compiled by Ministry of Tourism based on the inputs received from all States/UTs. While complete data for each calendar year from all States/ UTs is received in the Ministry of Tourism sometime around in the months of April- May of the succeeding year, Ministry of Tourism has come out at present with provisional figures for DTVs on the basis of whatever information/ data is made available thus far by the concerned States/UTs coupled with estimation undertaken by the Ministry of Tourism for the missing/ incomplete data segments. The estimation process basically entails the Methods of prevailing growth rates and proportionate contributions.

Following are the salient features of the provisional figures for DTVs to States/ UTs during the year 2016:

During 2016, the number of DTVs to the States/ UTs was 1653 million (provisional) as compared to 1432 million in 2015 registering a growth of 15.5 %.
The contribution of the top ten States/ UTs during 2016 stands at about 84.2% to the total number of Domestic Tourist Visits as against 83.62% recorded in 2015.
The top ten States in terms of number of DTVs (in millions), during 2016, were Tamil Nadu (344.3), Uttar Pradesh (229.6), Madhya Pradesh (184.7), Andhra Pradesh (158.5), Karnataka (129.8), Maharashtra (115.4), West Bengal (74.5), Telangana (71.5), Gujarat (42.8) and Rajasthan (41.5).
Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have maintained the first and second rank respectively in terms of DTVs in 2016.  Madhya Pradesh has gained several ranks to reach the third position leaving Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra at the succeeding fourth, fifth and sixth positions.
West Bengal surpassed Telangana to attain the seventh position rendering Telangana at the eighth, followed by Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

9.1. Parle to launch Frooti Fizz, the first extension of the brand in 32 years

Livemint, Mar. 08, 2017

New Delhi: Parle Agro Pvt. Ltd is launching a fizzy version of Frooti—the first brand extension for the popular mango drink launched 32 years ago. Frooti Fizz is an attempt to build on the success of the original fruit beverage, which is Parle Agro’s largest revenue earner, making up more than 60% of the company’s sales. Frooti Fizz, priced at Rs15 for a 250 ml PET package, Rs30 for a 500 ml PET package and Rs25 for a 250 ml can, will be retailed across 1.2 million outlets of the estimated nine million outlets in the country, according to the firm. Parle Agro has set for itself the target of increasing annual revenue to Rs5,000 crore by 2018, from Rs2,800 crore, said Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director and chief marketing officer.

The firm has experimented with a fizzy variant in the past. In 2005, it launched Appy Fizz—the country’s first fruit-based fizzy drink that has grown at more than 20% a year in the past five years. “Parle Agro created the fruit plus fizz category in 2005 with the launch of Appy Fizz. Today, we hold maximum market share in this category. The launch of Frooti Fizz is a step towards taking this category to the next level. Mango continues to be India’s largest consumed fruit flavour and there’s space for the fizzy version of the mango drink in the market,” Chauhan said in an interview.

Parle Agro’s decision to launch Frooti Fizz, comes four months after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) set new standards for carbonated fruit beverages. According to regulations, beverages with a fruit juice quantity below 10% but not less than 5%, and 2.5% in case of lime or lemon, should be called carbonated beverages with fruit juice.

FSSAI’s norms came about two years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in September 2014, urged multinational carbonated beverages firms like Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. to mix natural fruit juices (at least 5%) in aerated beverages to help boost fruit sales for Indian farmers. Firms lined up to launch carbonated fruit drinks even before FSSAI set the standards. In July 2016, Real juice maker Dabur India Ltd launched Real VOLO, a fizzy drink that has 20-25% fruit juice content. In February, Bisleri International launched Bisleri Pop, an aerated fruit-based drink, to re-enter the carbonated beverages market that it exited in 1993. Coca-Cola India, the local arm of the American beverages maker, sells Fanta Green Mango, a carbonated drink that has 10.4% fruit content. Its rival PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd sells Nimbooz Masala Soda that has 5% lemon juice. Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are working on more fruit-based carbonated beverages, Mint reported on 22 July 2016.

The carbonated beverages category has experienced a decline in sales in recent years as juices and fruit- based drinks grew at a brisk pace. In 2015, the juices category posted a volume growth of 20.06% and a value growth of 25.78% over the previous year. Fizzy drinks, in the same period, grew 8.42% by volume and 10.82% by value, according to market research firm Euromonitor International. Next year, Parle Agro will get into new categories and launch products in its existing business lines. Besides Frooti and Appy, Parle Agro sells Bailey branded water and soda and Hippo branded snacks, among others. More than 81% of its revenue comes from beverages, while water accounts for about 12.5% and the remaining comes from food and other products, according to the company’s website. The company will be spending about Rs100 crore on the launch of Frooti Fizz, including the marketing expenses, said Chauhan.

Some analysts are skeptical about the potential of Frooti Fizz. “It’s a bit surprising why the company is launching a fizzy version of a successful brand when the carbonated beverages market is witnessing slow growth. It could have, instead, looked at the fortified drinks segment. As an extension of a successful mass brand, it might work, but eventually, the company will have to focus on fortified drinks,” said Rajat Wahi, partner and head (consumer markets), at consulting firm KPMG in India. Mango-based drinks account for the largest chunk of the juice-based drinks category in India. Coca-Cola’s Maaza, which the American firm acquired in 1993 from the Chauhan family-owned Parle Bisleri Ltd along with other brands such as Limca, Citra, Thums Up and Gold Spot, is still the market leader. Other brands in the category include PepsiCo India’s Slice and recent entrant Manpasand Beverages’ MangoSip. Maaza led the Rs11,922 crore juices (up to 24% fresh juice content) market with a 36.1% share (retail volume), followed by Parle Agro’s Frooti (24% share) and PepsiCo’s Slice (22%) in 2016, according to data compiled by Euromonitor International. Coca-Cola is targeting more than doubling annual sales of Maaza to $1 billion by 2023, from $400 million in 2015, Mint reported on 18 February 2016.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

9.2. Nooyi to PM: Will support development goals

BusinessLine, 2 Mar. 2017

PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi on Thursday shared with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the company’s various initiatives, such as its investments on locally sourced juice innovations and products inspired by India’s traditional recipes. In a statement issued after her meeting with the Prime Minister, Nooyi said: “As I shared with Prime Minister Modi, PepsiCo is well-positioned to help the government deliver on the national development goals he has outlined for farmers and supporting their livelihoods. The Prime Minister and I had an engaging dialogue on how PepsiCo is making investments to grow, process and use more Indian-grown fruit juice in our sparkling beverages.

“We also discussed our launch of new Quaker Oats products that take traditional recipes and add whole-grain Quaker Oats to help Indians start their day in a healthy way.” Last year, Modi had asked aerated drink-makers to focus on blending natural fruit juices in fizzy drinks to help augment fruit sales for farmers. Earlier this week, the company expressed its intent to create an integrated citrus cluster in Maharashtra after it has established a citrus processing facility in Nanded. On Thursday, she also tweeted about her meeting with Minister of Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman to discuss the Indian business environment and future opportunities. Nooyi, whose India visit began on Tuesday, has been hobnobbing with various Ministers and senior government officials. Discussions have been ranging from issues such as GST, India’s remonetisation drive and the push for digital payment mechanisms, among others. In addition, she has met with bottling partners and vendors in Gurgaon, visited local markets in Mumbai, besides taking stock of the company’s India business.

– INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURE

10.1. Ratan Tata steels the show at Geneva

BusinessLine, Murali Gopalan, 07 Mar. 2017

The charisma is still intact. When Ratan Tata entered the Tata Pavilion at the Geneva Motor Show, he was the cynosure of all eyes. Along with him was N Chandrasekaran who recently took charge as Chairman of the Tata group. Tata was quickly joined by Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, and the two were seen chatting away. JLR is, of course, one of the biggest acquisitions for the Group which has proved to be the lifeline for the passenger car business. Speth, in turn, has pulled out all stops with his team to ensure that the company has truly gone global with markets like China fuelling the growth story. As the unveiling of the cars got under way, Tata, Chandrasekaran and Speth were all ears as Guenter Butschek, Managing Director and CEO of Tata Sons, discussed the road ahead for each of the models. With him were his colleagues, Mayank Pareek, President (Passenger Cars), Tim Leverton, Head (Advanced & Product Engineering), and Pratap Bose, Head (Design).

As soon as the press meet was over, journalists made a beeline for Tata. “These cars are all fantastic,” said the former Chairman who led the way in catapulting Tata Motors to the status of a passenger car maker with the Indica in the late-1990s. He was visiting the Geneva Motor Show after a gap of four years (since he had retired as Chairman in 2012). Geneva is, of course, familiar territory for Tata Motors where it has been a consistent participant for the last two decades. And it is Ratan Tata who has truly led the way in the passenger car story and the imperatives of going global. What began as a revolutionary product in the form of the Indica led to an even more sensational headline grabber with the Nano in 2008.

The two products may not have set the sales charts afire but there is no question that it was Tata who was determined to show the world that his company could go beyond manufacturing trucks. It was also the buyout of JLR for nearly $2.5 billion that reiterated the commitment to the car business. Chandrasekaran smiled his way through as journalists crowded around him but refused to indulge anyone with a sound byte even as he made polite conversation. What came through loud and clear from the Tata Motors team is the intent to push the envelope in the mobility space. There have been some big disappointments like Nano but recent launches like Tiago seem to suggest that Tata Motors is keen on an image makeover with its new models. With Tamo, the new sub-brand, which has paved the way for the Racemo as the first product, a new chapter seems to be emerging.

The writer is in Geneva on an invitation from Tata Motors

10.2. Tata Motors partners with Microsoft for new car products

Business Standard: February 17, 2017

Mumbai: Within two weeks of announcing an open platform strategy for developing passenger cars, Tata Motors Thursday said that it has tied up with global technology giant Microsoft to improve the in-car connected experience. TAMO, the open platform from domestic automaker allows collaboration with various technology partners to launch low-volume niche products that can prove Tata Motors product development capabilities. This is a part for revamping product strategy of the company for the passenger car segment to safeguard itself from competition coming from technology giants such as Google and Uber.

"We are using Microsoft's connected vehicle technologies on Azure intelligent cloud to bring the digital lives of our customers into the cars they drive," said Guenter Butschek, CEO & MD, Tata Motors. The company will use Microsoft's connected vehicle technology along with AI (artificial intelligence, machine learning and IoT (internet of things) capabilities.

Microsoft announced the technology platform last year while announcing a similar partnership with Renault- Nissan. The platform is powered by Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing service for building, deploying, and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed data centers. Other global automakers including Toyota, Ford also have similar technology tie-ups with Microsoft to develop technology-enabled new products. But in India Tata Motors is the first company to do so. "We Expect 90% of new cars to be connected by 2020," said Anant Maheshwari, president, Microsoft India. "Using IoT, AI and machine learning technologies, we will provide vehicle owners in India and across the world with a safe, productive and fun driving experience," said Maheshwari.

Tata Motors said that the first automobile with the enhanced experience will be showcased at 87th Geneva International Motor Show in March 2017. Tata will incorporate Microsoft's functionality in its user interface app and services suite. The companies also detailed some of the features including the suggestion for restaurants, shopping and route assist tips for driver depending on the location and their profile. The platform will also provide timely alerts about the condition of the car to ensure that it is well maintained to minimise breakdowns. Azure will enable FOTA and SOTA updates (firmware and software updates) in addition to the control of settings remotely over the cloud. The more the people use the platform, the more amount of data is captured and analysed, making it an improving experience for everyone.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

10.3. JLR launches Made-in-India Jaguar XF sedan at Rs 47.50 lakh

PTI , BusinessLine, 23 Feb. 2017

Jaguar Land Rover India today launched its locally manufactured all-new Jaguar XF sedan at a starting price of Rs 47.50 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The all-new Jaguar XF will be available in two options — a 2-litre Ingenium diesel engine with a power output of 132 kW and a 2-litre petrol engine with a power output of 177 kW, the company said in a statement. “The introduction of the all-new Jaguar XF into our locally manufactured portfolio reiterates our commitment to the Indian market,” Jaguar Land Rover India Ltd Managing Director and President Rohit Suri said.

Since its introduction in 2009, Jaguar XF has gained immense popularity and success in the country, he added. The new sedan also comes with a slew of advanced technology features, including InControl Touch Pro with the all-new 25.9 cm (10.2) touchscreen infotainment system and a meridian sound system, the statement added. The Jaguar range in India also includes imported F-TYPE starting at Rs 1.25 crore, locally manufactured XJ starting at Rs 99.99 lakh, all-new F-PACE starting at Rs 68.40 lakh and the locally manufactured XE with prices starting at Rs 39.90 lakh, (all prices ex-showroom Delhi).

11.1. Merck plans India bio-production plant

Livemint, Amrit Raj & Sundeep Khanna, 20 Feb. 2017

A Merck bio-production plant would provide critical infrastructure to small biotech and biosimilar firms in India who want to develop a process for a new biosimilar

New Delhi: German healthcare and life sciences firm Merck KGaA may set up a bio-production plant in India to help local companies create biotech drugs and biosimilars (copies of off-patent bio-tech drugs). The plant will be its fourth such globally, a top executive for the company told Mint. “We would be open to set up a bio-production centre. We have one in France and we have opened one in the US. We will open another one in China. Because we believe that demand in these three geographies is undisputed; as it is in India,” Udit Batra, member of the executive board of Merck KGaA and chief executive of its life science business, which contributes 44% of the firm’s global revenue, said in an interview on Friday. “We will talk to some government officials. We would want to make sure that we have some local customers who would like to use this facility and we want to make sure that regulations are somehow standardized,” Batra said.

“I think this is where the discussion needs to happen in a very open way and the government will have to assure us that the regulatory standards will apply to every one,” he added. Investments for such plants are not huge, around $40 million, Batra said; but the plant will provide critical infrastructure to small biotech and biosimilar firms in India who want to develop a process for a new biosimilar. “Bio-production plant synthesises a molecule and produces it at a higher scale. Somebody has to make it at a large quantity since smaller firms can’t do it. There are so many tests that needs to be done. What I understand (is) that they will help those companies to carry out those tests,” said S.K. Ghosh, head of the department of biotechnology at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. The benefits for Merck Life Science would also be significant, Batra said. “Benefit for us is pretty good, economically. Because, if we develop a batch for someone, they are going to use our products,” he said.

“When you are developing a molecule, you want to develop a batch with certain degree of confidence in process development. We are the only one in the industry who has the products and process development,” he added. If the company does open the centre, it would replicate the centres that already exist in Martillac in France and two additional ones that Merck has recently announced in Shanghai and Greater Boston in the US. Merck Life Science has a Merck Lab in India and has production facilities in Goa and Bengaluru.

11.2. Godrej Aerospace readies ₹200-crore facility for defence business orders

BusinessLine, Rahul Wadke, Feb. 26, 2017

Godrej Aerospace (GA), a business unit of Godrej & Boyce, which had recently contributed to the ISRO’s successful launch of 104 satellites by manufacturing critical systems and components for the launch vehicle, is ready with a ₹200 crore facility for taking on new orders from Aerospace and Defence sector. For ISRO’s launch, GA had manufactured second stage liquid propulsion engine and the fourth stage reaction control system components for the launch vehicle.

Prior assignments Since 1985, the company has been working with government agencies such as Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and ISRO. Later, it became a supplier to Brahmos Aerospace for its missile programme. It has also been a top vendor for ancillary supplies to global Defence and Aerospace majors such as Rolls Royce, GE and Snecma. Kaustubh Shukla, Chief Operating Officer (Industrial Products) of Godrej & Boyce, told BusinessLine that Godrej & Boyce has been building capacities to produce larger numbers of equipment and today it is completely geared for fresh orders from ISRO and Ministry of Defence. Shukla said that building manufacturing capabilities have taken many years for the company, as it believes that extensive experience is required for working with advance materials such as Inconel (nickel-chromium super alloy) and Titanium, which are extensively used in global Defence and Aerospace industries.

Capital equipment for making high-tech components can be bought easily on the market, but the expertise lies in knowing what to make and how to make those parts. Over the years the company has gathered a huge amount of knowledge, manpower and certifications and now it is ready to accept new challenges, he said. Shukla said that with ₹200 crore investments made by the company, a major phase of the investment is over. Only incremental investments will be made for buying required capital equipment. “We are no longer just a precisions component maker, today we can handle the whole value chain from machining, surface treatment to the assembly of mission critical components for the sectors,” he said.

‘Challenging task’ He pointed that making parts for a missile is a one-shot affair, but making parts for civil aviation companies is far more challenging as the lives of hundreds of people depend on those parts, which may be in service for six years in an aircraft. From space, defence to civil aviation, Godrej & Boyce is present in all these sectors.

12.1. Railways' target: Laying 9.5 km of tracks every day

Economic Times, Feb. 17, 2017

New Delhi: Indian Railways has set a daily target of laying 9.5 km of tracks to complete its ambitious line doubling and capacity expansion projects earmarked for the next financial year. The railway ministry is importing US-made track-laying machines that can lay around 1.5 km of tracks per day as against the 100 meters of tracks the railways lays manually on an average. The railway ministry has set aside a fund of around Rs 35,000 crore to undertake these works which include construction of new lines, gauge conversion and doubling of capacity. Of the total budget, around Rs 10,000 crore will be spent on construction of railway lines of dedicated freight corridors that will connect Delhi to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai and Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal.

“The US made new track laying machines being manufactured by Harsco will be used majorly across India from now on. “We have the target of delivering 9.5 km every day. It is for the first time that the railways will be working on such a deadline,” a senior railway ministry official said. For the next financial year, the total track laying target has been set at 3,500 km whereas the track electrification target has been set at 4,000 km. The target is significantly higher than the current one, where railway is constructing around 2,000 km of new tracks. Railway minister Suresh Prabhu has also instructed all his officials to wind up the long pending projects on priority basis. The ministry has already sent instructions to zonal railways.

The railway ministry plans to spend `1.31 lakh crore — the highest-ever for capacity expansion — in the next financial year. It has received `55,000 crore from the finance ministry as gross budgetary support. “We have been told to move to the project-based funding model where all existing projects are to be provided funds immediately so that they are not delayed any more,” the official said. The ministry is also going to undertake major track renewal works to make the railway network safer in the wake of the recent train derailment cases. “Around 3,600 km of track renewal will also be taken in the next year,” the official said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

12.2. India to become 2nd largest steel maker in 12-18 mths: S&P

Business Standard, Mar. 14, 2017

Mumbai: India is poised to become the second biggest steel producing country in the world after China over the next 12-18 months, as steelmakers continue adding capacities in anticipation of upcoming demand, S&P Global Platts said in its report today. This production increase is despite the slow pace of current steel consumption in the country, it said. India’s overall finished steel output over Apr-Jan was only 82.87 million tonne, about 68% of installed steel capacity of 122 million tonne per annum.

India’s steel ministry is drafting a new steel policy to raise the country’s steel production capacity to 300 million tonne by 2030-2032. Previously, this target was set for a time period of 2025. A number of private and state-owned mills have almost doubled their steelmaking capacities over the past five years, informed the report. The front runner was India’s largest steelmaker, state-owned Steel Authority of India (SAIL), which increased crude steel production capacity to 20 million tonne per year from the previous 13 million.

But the increase in demand for steel is struggling to keep pace with the rise in capacity. Recent data from India’s Joint Plant Committee shows that during Apr-Jan, SAIL’s overall finished steel output rose by an impressive 15.6% year-on-year, but only reached 9.95 million tonne, way behind installed capacity of 12 million tonne per year. While SAIL management aims to produce about 15 million tonne of finished steel during the fiscal year ending March 31, company officials estimate real output at about 13 million tonne, said the report. JSW Steel, Jindal Steel & Power, Tata Steel, Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam are among other big steel producing companies in the country.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

13.1. Government to play active role in making India a global semiconductor hub

Economic Times, Feb. 21, 2017

New Delhi: The ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) is revising its policy framework towards making India a global semiconductor hub, which will see the government taking a more active role, including initial investment, in a bid to attract private sector players. The existing policy has not worked as it offered little commercial viability for the private sector. Earlier, a Jaypee-led consortium pulled out midway from a project for setting up of a semiconductor wafer fabrication manufacturing facility. Recently, another consortium, led by Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (HSMC) including ST Microelectronics and Silterra Malaysia, which had also received approval to set up a fab unit, has been facing challenges in tying up the funding. The two projects were worth Rs 51,000 crore.

Admitting that the government’s earlier approach of inviting two private parties for the project — in which it was ready to subsidise as much as 40% of the project cost — had not worked, Meity Secretary Aruna Sundarajan told ET that the new approach will be more broad and have the government taking “a strategic and central role”. “Instead of just inviting the private sector, we are looking very closely at an approach where government makes a strategic investment (complete initial funding), and then at a suitable point in time, dilutes equity to bring in private sector partners,” Sundararajan said.

While allowing alterations to make the policy more compelling to investors, the government may also “look at overseas acquisition of assets”, she added, without specifying. Chip-level manufacturing is core to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Make in India programme that may attract big-ticket investment with the entire ecosystem including design and research & development, and potential job opportunities. Research firm Frost & Sullivan estimates that India’s semiconductor demand would bring economic opportunity worth $50 billion by 2020 across segments that include $30.3 billion from telecom products and equipment alone.

The electronic chipset accounts for a major cost of mobile phones and other electronic devices. But there has been little commercial viability for multinational firms to set up units in India, dditional secretary Ajay Kumar said. He added that the department is closely working with the sole consortium led by HSMC, which is still trying hard. The government has given all the requisite clearances to the HSMC-led consortium and the group is now mobilising its resources and getting investors. In 2016, the consortium was given more time to submit documents for setting up the facility. Since the government believes that having its own ecosystem is important enough, it is looking at building the local capabilities in some areas like gallium nitrate-based fabs.

The government is also considering promoting some of the more promising approaches that have come from Indian Institute of Science, along with a consortia. In January 2015, the government reconstituted an empowered committee (EC) under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog member VK Saraswat to set up fab projects. The EC is working towards stimulating the fab segment, which is capital intensive with niche technology expertise, available with only a limited number of players worldwide. “An incubator has been set up with financial support from the MeitY at IIT Hyderabad to promote fabless chip design industry in the country,” Kumar said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

13.2. New battery tech to bolster off-grid solar plants

BusinessLine, Aesha Datta, 23 Feb. 2017

For maintaining a solar plant for 25 years, batteries have to be changed more than five times.

New technology for batteries will soon electrify India’s off-grid power facilities. The Institute of Transformative Technologies (ITT) is currently working on three different battery types in the hope of reducing cost and increasing the lifespan of batteries. Sanjay Khazanchi, Chief Executive, Access to Electricity (India), ITT, explained that storage of electricity produced in off-grid solar power facilities is one of the biggest challenges in the uptake of solar power in rural areas. One of the challenges lies in the high cost and the other is the relatively short lifespan.

Weakest link

“In a solar mini-grid the pain area is storage. A solar plant lasts for around 25 years. The weakest link is batteries. They last for as low as two years and at most five-six years. For maintaining a solar plant for 25 years, you have to keep changing the batteries. It increases the cost of capex,” Khazanchi said. The institute is currently testing three new battery chemistries from across the world — lithium ion; advanced lead acid batteries being produced in Australia; and a sodium ion chemistry from a company in the US.

Lifecycle tests

ITT is attempting to create the environment of a rural solar mini-grid in the lab, with high ambient temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius, to conduct lifecycle tests, along with replicating the load profiles seen by batteries in rural environment to see which battery performs better vis-a-vis the baseline of the existing technology. “The intent is to see that the value these new technologies bring in would be far superior to the existing technology (lead acid batteries). Lead acid batteries in rural environment have their own challenges in giving adequate life,” Khazanchi said. Newer batteries with extended life spans have the potential to attract more investors in the market, which is currently lagging despite big potential and high demand.

“Globally, the industry is watching how India is going to do the off-grid rural electrification. Unfortunately, the volumes we have on the ground and the visibility of the volumes likely to be there in the future is still low. It’s a catch 22 situation. Maybe since the technology is not there and storage is expensive because of that the volumes are low but if we bring in a solution maybe that would solve the problem and make it workable,” he said. Deepali Khanna, Senior Associate Director of the Rockefeller Foundation, explained that the uptake of renewable energy is still rather slow in India. “By 2030, renewables would only be 17 per cent of the total energy mix in India. There is a lot more that needs to be happening here,” she said.

Energy efficiency Rockefeller has invested $1.5 million with ITT to resolve the storage crisis. Besides storage, Rockefeller is also looking at facilitating more energy efficiency appliances in an effort to make it feasible for citizen of rural India to use these. “We have a situation where people want to go beyond light bulbs and productive use and are looking at if they could hook up a TV, a fan or a fridge. So, we are looking at how to get more energy efficient appliances because we know their capacity to pay for electricity is limited. They can’t pay more than ₹500 per month and that is also a lot when you are taking about rural areas,” Khanna said.

14.1. Renault making money in India now after selling 100,000 Kwids: Carlos Ghosn

Livemint, Hormazd Sorabjee, 8 Mar. 2017

Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn on his plans for the Mitsubishi acquisition, that brand’s future in India and how he took inspiration from Tata Nano

Geneva: Carlos Ghosn, 62, is the global auto industry’s most charismatic and, some would say, best performing chief executive officer (CEO). He is also the chairman and CEO of French auto maker Renault SA, chairman of Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. Ltd, and chairman of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. He has turned around the fortunes of the first, rescued the second from near oblivion, and now wants to do the same with the third.

India is a big market for any carmaker: Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn On 23 February, Nissan announced Ghosn would step down as CEO, and focus on managing the Nissan- Renault-Mitsubishi alliance. On the sidelines of the Geneva Motor Show, Ghosn spoke to Autocar India on the alliance, his plans for Mitsubishi in India, and how he took inspiration from Tata Motors Ltd’s Nano.

Edited excerpts:

You have kind of relinquished your position as CEO in Nissan and are going to be focusing on the alliance specific to Mitsubishi. In India, Mitsubishi’s problem was no scale, no investment and no appropriate product. Suddenly these problems matter no more because of the alliance. Will it be logical to assume that with the alliance there’s a big market out there for Mitsubishi to tap?

Without any doubt because, in India, the most important step and our key for success—not sufficient but necessary—is the product. If you don’t have the product, you better not try your chance in India. It takes a lot of time to find a product. I think, with the A-platform (the second of the so-called common module family, or CMF, jointly developed by Renault and Nissan, a sort of modular manufacturing system for cars), particularly with the Kwid and all the products that are going to follow that, we think we have found our entry level (car) in the Indian market. But this platform is an alliance platform. Today, you are having a Renault product, tomorrow you are going to have a Nissan product. This platform will be open to Mitsubishi.

So Mitsubishi could use it and you could go all the way up and bring the Lancer back for example?

Yes, but Mitsubishi has so many opportunities to grow that the management of Mitsubishi is going to have to prioritize what they are going to do first, second and third. So I cannot tell you in what time frame this will happen, but without any doubt, this is a very big market for (the) future for any carmaker and for Mitsubishi in particular.

So what you are confirming is that it’s not a question of if but a question of when Mitsubishi will come to India with all guns blazing?

We are not limited to the short term; it is going to obviously mean mid- or long-term. Everybody expects India to be in the top 3-4 markets in the future. So you can expect that what happened in China, where all the carmakers are present, is also going to happen in India, with (the) exception that the Indian market is very tough for the foreign carmaker because of the specificity of the product and market.

Do you think you have an edge with Kwid?

It is doing well and has already got a lot of things like design and the touch-screen and a lot of things. Yes, we do; and we are improving and we are listening to what the customers are saying in India. Not only to improve our offer for the Kwid in India but also to improve our offer for the Kwid outside India because you know a version of the Kwid is going to be launched in Brazil as a second step of the A platform. So, for the Indian market, this is very important because it is very competitive, and if you are going to make it in India, you are going to make it in many emerging markets, and that’s why for us, testing and being successful in India and having a very strong acceptance of the product, a very competitive product in India, is a guarantee that these are going to do well in other markets.

Are you making money in India? Is this the tipping point?

We are starting to make money now after selling 100,000 Kwids. We struggled at the beginning because it was the new plant and a new car, so when you have so much innovation accommodated, you struggle with profitability. When you are going to a new emerging market with a new product, you have to be patient for your returns.

In future, is the CMF-B (for cars slightly larger than those on the CMF-A platform) also expected?

Obviously, the volume you expect from a car based on that platform is not going to be very big, so it can be an additional product but you can’t have a strategy on this platform.

So is there a lesson learnt by Nissan on the performance of its V platform (cars such as the Sunny and Micra that did not do well in India)? That you fundamentally cannot bring a European platform into India because the cost is too high and the customers may not pay for it?

You can bring copy and paste platform and product but that has to be a niche product. Don’t expect big volume coming out of it. If you want big volume in India and contribute to the core market, you will have to really tailor it, even the platform.

On Renault’s strategy, you are selling around 10,000 vehicles every month and are the No.1 European carmaker in India. You’ve even rattled Suzuki. So, that is saying something. What is the aim? Were you expecting this level of success?

I think this is all due to the attractiveness of the product. I think we have some improvement that we can make in terms of competitiveness of our plant because the plants are filled, then we have much better industrial performance, but we are not there. We will have a lot of improvement that we can make into this plant. Yes, after we have seen that the CMF-A and the CMF-A+ platforms are really adequately addressing the needs of the Indian market, we should be much more ambitions, in terms of contribution.

You previously mentioned Tata Motors’ Nano is really an inspiration for the Kwid. What are your thoughts on that and Ratan Tata’s vision for the Nano.

When Ratan came with the Nano, I congratulated him and he said I was the only one who congratulated him because a lot of people said it’s a bad idea. No, it’s a good idea. We came with the Kwid at the end of the day and the Kwid was inspired by the Nano.

14.2. Skoda to steer VW drive with Tatas

BusinessLine, 11 Mar. 2017

As Tata Motors and Volkswagen get set to forge a new partnership, it is Skoda that will take the lead in driving work forward. This VW group company had set up shop here 15 years ago in Aurangabad before its parent followed some years later by commissioning a plant in Chakan.

Friday’s agreement was signed by Guenter Butschek, CEO & MD of Tata Motors, Matthias Mueller, CEO of Volkswagen AG and Bernhard Maier, CEO of Skoda Auto. The first step will address topics such as the application of specific market knowledge as well as local development expertise.

VW’s ‘Strategy 2025’ Once things are in place, the companies will begin joint development work which will lead to Tata Motors launching products in India from 2019. From VW’s point of view, this MoU is a critical part of its ‘Strategy 2025’ plan which will see emerging markets like India becoming big growth engines. Clearly, one of the decisive factors in this partnership is Tata Motors’ advanced modular platform which is cost-effective and can be leveraged optimally to roll out products in a hyper price-sensitive market like India.

This would be the best piece of news to VW whose cost structure has been the biggest stumbling block in being able to create an impact here. The German automaker is only too aware that markets like India are way too important to be ignored and this is where the Tata partnership will come in handy. Once things are in place, VW will look at using the base created here to meet the needs of other markets in Latin America, Africa and the Asean region which have similar pricing challenges.

This move will also have enormous benefits for Tata Motors which will hope to access VW’s enormous strengths in technology and recently launched drives like electric mobility. The company is slowly getting its act together in the passenger car business after a near six-year lull following the launch of the Nano. It has since begun the rebuilding exercise with products like the Tiago, Hexa as well as the Tigor and Nexon which are due to be launched soon.

Tamo sub-brand Another significant move involves the creation of the Tamo sub-brand which will involve creating niche mobility solutions at competitive costs. Numbers will also be limited and the idea is to showcase Tata’s prowess in smart products which can create a strong connect with youth. The MoU with VW is a big step forward and the challenge is to ensure that the Indian and German teams bond quickly and take the growth story forward. Both companies know only too well that they just cannot afford to slip up on this opportunity.

15.1. India's engineering exports likely to reach US$ 62 billion

Economic Times, Mar. 06, 2017

Kolkata: Growing by well over double digit since October, 2016, India's engineering exports are likely to reach $62 billion in the fiscal 2016-17, riding on the back of revival of demand in the US and for select products like iron and steel in China, an EEPC India analysis has shown. Encouraged by a smart recovery in engineering exports, EEPC with the support from the commerce ministry is working on a mega strategy to give a further push to these exports which involve large scale employment.

As a part of this strategy, the flagship 'International Engineering Sourcing Show' (IESS) is being held this year in Chennai between March 16 and 18 , 2017 unlike the earlier five annual editions which took place in Mumbai. “We wanted to bring the global engineering sourcing companies to the southern part of India which has emerged as a strong manufacturing base for the world supply chain,” EEPC India chairman T S Bhasin said. Over 400 global firms from 100 countries would participate in the event.

As for the outlook this fiscal and the next, Mr Bhasin said, “We stick to our view that Indian engineering exports are likely to see continuance of the uptrend on the back of revival of demand for metals and other basic material. Grand plans by President Donald Trump for significantly increasing expenditure on infrastructure would lead to the US witnessing more demand for the engineering products,” he said. Moreover, economic slowdown in the developed regions seemed to have seen the bottom and the bounce back is expected. Weakness in emerging market currencies including rupee following the apprehension of interest rate hike in the US will also help in raising the value of exports, the EEPC India chief noted.

For the April-January period of ten months of the current fiscal, the engineering exports have touched a figure of USD 50.87 billion , far exceeding the total shipments of USD 49 billion in the entire financial year of 2015- 16. The monthly shipments have now been about or above USD five billion this fiscal. For January, 2017 engineering exports aggregated USD 5.29 billion , showing an increase of over 12 per cent over the same month last fiscal. The engineering exports witnessed positive growth for the sixth straight month in a row, though the double digit growth began from October, 2016. Substantial rise in the exports was observed in case of iron and steel exports, electrical machinery, automobiles, medical & scientific equipment , railway and transport equipment.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

15.2. Philips bets on home-care services in India, looks to replicate model in other countries

Livemint, 9 Mar. 2017

Dutch firm Philips bets big on its Indian home-care services arm of the healthcare business and plans to replicate the model overseas in the coming years based on the success of the programme. The company launched home care services six months ago in the Delhi-NCR region to care for people suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Patients can avail the service from different subscription models offered by Philips. Currently a pilot is on in Karnataka and few areas in the western region. Addressing media persons, Abhijit Bhattacharya, Chief Financial Officer, Royal Philips, said the company is experimenting with home care services in India and based on the success there are plans to replicate the model in other countries as well.

Investment in R&D Philips has a global research and development centre in Bengaluru. It invests ₹12,000 crore in R&D every year for developing products using latest technology like artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning and also market specific products such as a device for screening pneumonia in kids, which is very specific to India. Philips is also focusing on strengthening its personal health and diagnostic and treatment segment.

Globally, the company has a market share of 41 per cent in the personal health space and 39 per cent in diagnostic and treatment space. Home appliances company Preethi, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Philips, has expanded to manufacture products like air fryer and soup makers. Bhattacharya said the company aims to promote healthy living and attract health-conscious clientele through this line of products. With healthcare technology growing at a rapid space, Bhattacharya said the company is on the lookout to invest and acquire potential companies and start-ups that will strengthen its healthcare business.

– SERVICES (IT, R&D, Tourism, Healthcare, etc.)

16.1. Government has added over 4000 medical PG seats for 2017-18: J P Nadda

Press Information Bureau, Mar. 03, 2017

“A huge boost to medical education in the country” New Delhi: Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare today stated that “an all-time record number of over 4,000 PG medical seats have been approved by Government of India in various medical colleges and hospitals for the academic session 2017-18 this year, taking the total number of PG seats available to 35,117.”

Thanking Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for his visionary leadership and constant guidance, Shri Nadda said that this will further boost our resolve to strengthen tertiary care and improve the medical education in the country. The Health Minister added that of the total increase, 2,046 seats are in medical colleges. Looking at

the need to increase PG seats in clinical subjects, the Government had decided to amend the teacher student ratio in clinical subjects in government medical colleges. This change alone has resulted in the creation of 1,137 extra seats in 71 colleges. Many others out of the total of 212 government colleges are sending their proposals and it is expected that at least 1000 more seats can be added during the month of March 2017, Shri Nadda stated.

This includes DNB seats, which are equivalent to MD/MS, have increased by 2,147 in the last one year. Shri Nadda said that there has been a total addition of 4,193 PG seats in the country so far, and a further addition of more than 1000 seats is likely during March 2017. The budget announcement of adding 5,000 PG medical seats in the country is thus likely to be achieved soon, the Union Health Minister said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same

16.2. Global move against Roche brings focus back on cancer drug prices

BusinessLine, Aesha Datta, Feb. 16

Pharmaceutical giant Roche is in the news for all the wrong reasons — for what is being seen as the company putting profits over human lives. The company has found itself in the eye of the storm following the death of Tobeka Daki, a South African activist as well as breast cancer patient. Globally, activists are making a call to compel Roche to lower its prices and stop litigating companies developing cheaper alternatives to trastuzumab, a drug for which Roche does not hold a patent globally since 2014.

The problem, however, does not begin or end with trastuzumab, which is used to treat an aggressive HER 2 positive breast cancer. In India, every year thousands go without life-saving cancer medicines they cannot afford, even though the country has one of the cheapest cancer medicines in the world — including patented drugs. Access to cancer medicines remains abysmally low in India, with cost of treatment over a year costing as much as ₹57 lakh for medicines such as Cabazitaxel, which is used to treat advanced prostate cancer and costs ₹3.3 lakh for a 60-mg vial.

PharmaTrac, which is a database on Indian pharmaceutical industry from market research organisation AIOCD AWACS, shows that prices of cancer medicines remain unreachable across the board — Sprycel (Dasatinib) by BMS costs ₹3,287 per 50 mg tablet and costs a patient over ₹23 lakh over a year ; Torisel (Temsirolimus) from Pfizer is priced at ₹70,971 per 25 mg injection and weighs in at a massive ₹36 lakh a year; and Pfizer’s Crizalk (Crizotinib) used to treat advanced lung cancer is priced ₹11 lakh a year in patient’s pockets. A study presented to the American Society of Clinical Oncology last year shows that the median monthly prices of patented cancer medicines stand at about $1,515 in India, against $8,694 in the US; $2,587 in the UK and $1,708 in South Africa. Yet, when people’s ability to pay for these medicines was taken into consideration (using gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity (GDPcap)) India fared the worst.

Patented drugs cost 313 per cent of the GDP cap in India, versus 192 per cent in the US, 78 in the UK and 157 per cent in South Africa. Sixty-two-year-old Prabha, a breast cancer survivor, is a prime example of this inability to afford treatment. Diagnosed two years ago with HER 2 positive breast cancer, she was treated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). However, when it came to treatment Prabha’s son Chetan — the only earning member of the family with an approximate annual salary of ₹3.5 lakh — could not afford to get his mother the Roche medicine trastuzumab that her condition needed. Her treatment would have costed Chetan at least ₹8 lakh.

“We tried all avenues. We wrote to the companies, health activists tried to help us, we even approached the government, but all attempts failed,” Chetan says. Six months back his mother finished treatment, without trastuzumab. “We hope that doesn’t impact her life,” her son says. Malini Aisola of the All India Drug Action Network, explained that while Roche does not have a patent on trastuzumab any longer, the company has made all efforts to block the entry of biosimilars — tying them up in litigation.

While Biocon and Mylan — the two companies who developed the alternatives — are now allowed to sell their biosimilars litigations have put constraints on how they can sell these medicines. The drug is now under the National List of Essential Medicines, and its price has been capped by the government at ₹55,812.29 for a 440-mg vial — still unaffordable for most. “Unless the government is able to provide these medicines for free most patients will never get these medicines,” Aisola said, calling Roche’s aggressive strategy to block cheaper alternatives “morally repugnant.”

17.1. Reboot to digital Rajalakshmi Nirmal

BusinessLine, 26 Feb. 2017

Indian IT companies should focus more on the digital side as the legacy pie shrinks IT’s on track, declare some. Not really, say others. Of late, opinion is divided on the strategy adopted by Indian IT companies. While one set of investors criticise them for keeping cash idle and losing the race to global peers, the other set is glad that they are not setting foot in unknown territory but, instead, saving cash for a rainy day. But what the second lot don’t seem to realise is that the global market for technology is changing at a rapid speed and Indian IT companies need to change and think ‘big’ to stay relevant. Already, export revenue growth has slowed to single digit (from 13.8 per cent in 2013-14 to 10.3 per cent 2015-16. In the current year, Nasscom estimates growth to be 8-10 per cent) and order book expansion is happening at snail’s pace. If Indian companies do not do a ctrl+alt+delete of their conservative ways and log into digital and consulting capabilities, they can lose significant market share. Also, with protectionism raising its head, uncertainty has multiplied manifold, taking away the ‘defensive’ tag from IT stocks.

If there is revival in the US economy over the next two years, with interest rates going up and more infrastructure investments by the new President, the Indian IT industry stands to benefit from revival in orders from the banking, financial services and insurance sectors (BFSI) and the retail segment, besides a strong USD. But to tap the opportunities, the tech industry must be ready to deliver just what the customer wants. Against this background, it makes sense for investors to review thier portfolio of IT stocks. Here’s a closer look at the key challenges the industry faces and how the big players are faring.

Visa overhang Young software engineers in India have to let go of their US dream. The protectionist rhetoric has become louder in the US with the new President, Donald Trump. Last month, Indian IT stocks nose-dived in bourses after the news of new legislation in the US to curtail H-1B visas and increase the minimum salary for these visa holders. While the legislation has not been passed yet, there is fear that it may crimp the Indian IT sector that takes a chunk of these visas every year.

Over 60 per cent of the revenue of the $150-billion-plus Indian IT industry is from exports to the US. Tech majors such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra have 20 to 40 per cent of their employees onsite. According to investment firm CLSA, Tech Mahindra has the highest share of onsite employees (totally 39 per cent including 19 per cent in North America) and TCS has the least (totally 19 per cent including 10 per cent in America). Infosys has about 26 per cent of its employees working onsite (that includes 13 per cent in the US).

When it comes to filling slots in their US offices, most Indian tech companies prefer to send people across on H-1B visas, given the high cost of hiring employees locally. At TCS, for instance, only 35 per cent of the headcount in the US are locals, for Infosys it is 34 per cent. So, any visa fee hike by the US may impact margins of Indian IT companies significantly. There may be margin erosion of around 200-300 basis points over a period of time as all old visas too get renewed. Wipro and HCL Technologies are placed better. Of the total employees working onsite in the US, 50 per cent are locals for Wipro and 65 per cent are locals for HCL Technologies.

Indian IT companies have already begun scouting for talent locally in the US. TCS’ application for work visas in April 2016 was down by 30 per cent compared to the previous year. Experts say that given that there is shortage of skilled workforce in the US, there may not be any severe restrictions on issue of H-1B visas. A Nasscom report of last year showed that 46 per cent of openings in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) jobs were vacant for more than a month in the US. But in view of the recent protectionist rhetoric in the US, Indian companies should try to make do with local manpower as much as possible.

Hit by automation US dreams aside, finding an IT job here in India itself is going to be difficult for software engineers. In 2015-16, the Indian IT industry was expected to create 2.75 lakh jobs, but it created only 2 lakh jobs. In 2016-17, the number is expected to be even smaller — 1.7 lakh. Slowing revenue growth alongside increasing pressure on profit margins is prompting tech companies to go slow on fresh hires. In the past five years, while IT exports have grown at an average 13.7 per cent annually, the headcount growth has only been 8 per cent. Companies have been able to do the same amount of work with less manpower, thanks to automation.

A report from global outsourcing research company HfS Research says that by 2021, India could lose 6.4 lakh low-skilled positions in IT services and the BPO industry because of the automation of support and back-office processing work. Though this is a dampener for a job aspirant, it is a big positive for an industry whose survival is being challenged, as costs come down. Infosyssaved 2,650 full-time employees worth of effort in the December 2016 quarter by deploying automation tools in application maintenance, package systems maintenance, BPO and Infrastructure Management.

Many other IT companies including Wipro and HCL Technologies also report use of automation platform. In 2015-16, Wipro says it freed up 4,300 employees because of its automation and AI (artificial intelligence) platform. For 2016-17, while the company targets releasing 4,500 employees, in the first half of the year itself it released 4,300 employees through use of robotic process automation. However, what you need to note here is that while on one side automation helps save costs, on the other side, it drags down revenue. Revenue cannibalisation due to automation, though not a desired outcome, cannot be avoided. Indian IT companies have to be more proactive about convincing clients on automation and sharing the cost benefit with them, else there is risk of losing business to competitors. Loss of revenue due to automation can be balanced only by growing revenue from new businesses in digital and related areas.

The digital challenge The worldwide IT services market is forecast to grow 4.2 per cent in 2017, up from 3.9 per cent growth in 2016, fuelled by investments in the digital business, intelligent automation and innovation, according to Gartner. IDC, in fact, has predicted that by 2017, over 50 per cent of spends of organisations will be for third platform technologies, which refers to cloud computing, big data analytics, mobile computing and IoT (internet of things) and by 2018, at least half of the IT spending will be on cloud applications alone. Indian IT exporters will be left out in the cold if they do not quickly adapt to the changing market. Over the last 7-8 years, the global tech sector has been making the shift from traditional to cutting-edge technologies to keep pace with customer demands. But Indian tech companies haven’t kept pace and so now, since they do not have a track record for large transformational projects, big clients choose to go with market leaders such as Accenture.

Data from HfS Research shows that of all the 371 deals of the 70 large and mid-size IT companies that it tracked in 2015, 137 were digital deals and over half of it was clinched by global IT service providers, including IBM (45 deals) and Accenture (16). India-centric service providers — Cognizant (8), Infosys (5), TCS (4) and Wipro (4) — won only a few deals. This trend has remained the same in 2016 too, says Pareekh Jain, Research VP, at HfS. “I see nothing has changed in the last one year, IBM and Accenture continue to win most deals. They invested very early in digital capabilities and have been able to take the lead…” A recent Nasscom report states that digital revenues contribute 14 per cent of the Indian IT industry’s overall revenue. To grow the digital business, Indian companies will have to look at inorganic expansion. All MNC digital majors have done it only through M&As. Accenture, which sees 40 per cent revenue contribution from digital, cloud and security services, made more than a dozen acquisitions in 2016. Of these, several were in the digital space — Karmarama (UK), OCTO Technology (Paris), Allen International (UK), MOBGEN (the Netherlands), IMJ Corporation (Japan), dgroup (Germany).

Cognizant, too, was on an acquisition spree last year, with four of its five deals being in the digital consultancy side — Adaptra (Sydney), Idea Couture, ReD Associates (49 per cent stake) and KBACE Technologies. But looking back at India, there have hardly been any acquisitions by IT service companies. Though they are sitting on piles of cash, they have not been open to inorganic expansion. TCS, for instance, has made only three major acquisitions in the last 10 years — E-Serve International, Citi Bank’s BPO arm, in 2008, the Pune- based Computational Research Laboratories in 2012 and Alti, an enterprise solutions provider from France, in 2013. In the same period, Infosys made seven acquisitions — three of which happened after Vishal Sikka took over as CEO in 2014 — Panaya, automation provider, Skava, a digital solutions provider and Noah Consulting, an information service management provider.

Wipro, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra too went in for some acquisitions. However, if we count only digital deals, the number is less. Digital acquisitions in the last five years were just Wipro’s acquisition of Appirio in 2016 — a SaaS (software as a service) provider for $500 million and Designit — a design company for $95 million in 2015, PowerObjects by HCL Technologies (provider of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, in 2015, for $46 million), and Skava by Infosys (for $120 million).

Costly miss on consulting The market leaders in the global IT space today, be it Accenture, IBM or Cognizant Technology Solutions, have a strong consulting arm. Given that about 13 per cent of the overall IT services market is made of consulting and the segment is growing faster than the overall market (Gartner research), it cannot be ignored. Also, as consulting expertise is essential to win digital orders, there is an urgent need to invest in consultancy. But Indian IT service companies have not built a consulting brand for themselves. Infosys’ Consulting and Package Implementation business contributes 30 per cent to the total revenue today — unchanged from five years back. Pure consulting revenue in this may be only about 10 per cent, say analysts. Infosys acquired Lodestone, a management consultancy firm in 2012, but it was only in 2015 that the company decided to merge Lodestone with its own small consultancy business and bring more focus on the consulting practice.

If you take TCS, the company reports revenue from consulting and enterprise solutions as one segment — which, in the recent December quarter, contributed 17 per cent to overall revenue. Wipro, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra also do some consulting work for their large clients with whom they have a longstanding relationship, but revenue is not reported separately. Today, all high-level strategic consulting business of clients go to large players such as Accenture, PwC, Deloitte, Boston and Cognizant.

But Indian IT players too have an opportunity, says a JP Morgan report. They can target the ‘ground-level’ projects in digital re-architecting of IT systems, analytics, mobility, cloud computing and process re- engineering. Though deal sizes are small here, the deals are numerous, the report adds. Big players do not come in here as organisations look for cost-competitive players. Indian IT companies have to take lessons from Cognizant’s success. In the last five years, it has successfully built a standalone consulting practice because it didn’t shy away from investing. Analysts at JP Morgan point out that Cognizant’s success in consulting was also helped by the matrix structure of the organisation where consultants have dual responsibility to both the industry head as well as to the consulting practice’s head, which facilitated collaborative work.

17.2. India’s IT industry is on the right side of history: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Livemint, Sundeep Khanna and Nandita Mathur, 21 Feb. 2017

New Delhi: Microsoft Corp. chief executive Satya Nadella is a man on the move. Traversing three Indian cities in three days, meeting a gamut of people from ministers to chief executive officers (CEOs) to journalists, Nadella is gung-ho about India, Indian IT firms and the future of Microsoft in India. At the core of his meetings has been the company’s cloud computing platform, Nadella’s focus area and one in which the company posted 93% growth in the last quarter. The company is also set to add State Bank of India to its customer list for its growing enterprise cloud services in the country.

Edited excerpts:

Can you start by telling us if there is a specific purpose for this visit and where India fits into your overall plans?

For me this trip is all about the cloud work that we are doing in India and the impact it is having. When I think about our cloud itself, we have made significant investments in building out three state-of-the-art data centres, in fact, putting a lot of capital to work, but what is gratifying to see is the momentum of what people are doing on top of it.

Flipkart, Microsoft announce strategic cloud partnership Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on this planet, but in the context of India we want to make sure it’s not just about our technology but it is the technology that Indian entrepreneurs and Indian organizations create on top of what we bring. For example, yesterday (Monday) I was in Bangalore and we had the Flipkart announcement...(they are) going to drive their next level of innovation on top of our cloud. But it is not just Flipkart. We have many, many start-ups that I have had a chance to see yesterday. People doing things on top of India stack and our cloud, doing many things in healthcare, so it is the entrepreneurs who have a lot of energy that are able to leverage the cloud. In fact, tomorrow, one of the big announcements is that the State Bank of India is going to move to Office 365 and the cloud. As you can imagine, a financial institution and a regulated entity moving to the cloud is a pretty big moment but we already have lots and lots of banks using the cloud, whether it is ICICI Lombard, Axis Bank or HDFC; we have significant momentum in financial services. Healthcare is another place—LV Prasad (Eye Institute), Apollo, Fortis or Max are all users of our cloud and so it’s great to see big business in India in important sectors leveraging the cloud.

Satya Nadella discusses Microsoft’s rural digital programme with IT minister But beyond the big business, what we are also seeing is new products that we are building specifically for the India market. So for example, the other big announcement that we are making tomorrow is a new Skype client built for India with built-in Aadhaar authentication—the idea being, now that people can use a messaging client to actually transact with the banks, government and using a messaging platform like Skype to take advantage of the India stack and the businesses that are being created around it. We also have a project called Kaizala that first got started in Andhra Pradesh where the government first used it to manage one of the festivals but now the Niti Aayog is using it to manage all the communications between all its employees across Niti Aayog. But increasingly even businesses will use it as a new messaging solution. Instead of using a consumer service, this is a consumer-like service except that, in this case, the data and the security is all managed by the entity. So these are new innovations we are bringing for the Indian market.

So in a sense, you are creating an ecosystem around your cloud in India. Would you look at deepening some of the relationships with these entities in any other way?

But actually these are all pretty deep partnerships. It is not just about consumption of any of our services, it is about them building their own digital platforms on top of our digital platform. Fundamentally, the construct there is all about trust, so these are not just client relationships. For example, a manufacturer that is using our IoT (Internet of Things) technology to improve productivity is not looking at us (as) a provider of technology but it is at the core of their business. A hospital or diagnostic care is improving efficiency so it becomes much more critical. By the way, one other segment which is fascinating to see and I’m enthused by is the public sector. Elections in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were all using cameras to monitor the polling stations where all the data was going to a public cloud. But here is the real interesting thing. After the election, they were able to bring down the stakes, so in other words they were able to use the taxpayers’ money very efficiently without putting in a lot of capital because elections come only once in a while. It’s not a continuous process.

"Fundamentally, the construct there is all about trust, so these are not just client relationships. "- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Similarly in Andhra, they used data to be able to do high school dropout predictions so that they can take the scarce state resources and use it to manage better outcomes for high school students. Now it is of course going to other places like Jharkhand and other places. In Punjab they used speech analysis—took the call centre speech samples and looked at them to see which processes of Punjab should be more automated so that the citizens of Punjab get better service from the government. And also it’s not (just) public sector, it crosses between (the) public and private sectors. For example, ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), which is a research organization, did a study using IoT technology in the field and again using advanced machine learning in AI (artificial intelligence) to improve crop yield.

"... We are not celebrating the fact that we just have a cloud here or it’s our investment but what people are doing on top of it"- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

They experimented in Andhra and proved they can improve crop yield. Now Karnataka has taken that up. But even other corporations who are in the agri-science business are going to take the same technology and apply it in their work. L.V. Prasad Eye Institute took all their data and said, how we can use it and to do better eye care after a surgery, how can we take eye care to remote locations. Now we have a consortium of all of the eye care institutions in India pooling their data to fundamentally improve eye care in India. These are some great examples, because to me, that is the real message here in terms of using our cloud, and we are not celebrating the fact that we just have a cloud here or it’s our investment but what people are doing on top of it.

Given that, where do you see Microsoft in India over the next 10-20 years? What is your vision?

If I go back to the birth of our company, we started out when Bill (Gates) and Paul (Allen) first created the basic interpreter for the Altair. And a lot has come and gone but our fundamental identity (is) as a provider of tools and technology—whether it’s students writing term papers, whether it’s small businesses trying to improve productivity or large businesses trying to become more competitive, or public sector trying to become more efficient, our goal is to provide them that technology. Today it is cloud, tomorrow it is AI, the day after it will be AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality)... technologies will keep coming and going but our identity of empowering individuals and organizations will remain, so when you ask me, 10 years from now, we will be talking about some brand new technology but what will not be different will be the examples I will be telling you—about what Indian institutions and individuals are doing with that.

Did Microsoft lose sight of it for some period before you took over?

The way I look at it is that I am a consummate insider, I have spent my entire adult life at Microsoft—25 years and I am proud of every one of them. Because if you look at it overall, here we are, 42 years after inception, competing with a whole host of new entrants but as relevant as ever. And that doesn’t happen if you are not in fact betting it all every day, because in the tech business it is not about the past but about the future, and your ability to lean in the future long before it is conventional wisdom.

"10 years from now, we will be talking about some brand new technology but what will not be different will be the examples I will be telling you—about what Indian institutions and individuals are doing with that"- Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft

It it is clear that you are not going to have a 100% batting average. No one is Don Bradman, but the way I think about it is that I will be happy with a Sachin Tendulkar average and so I would say we are in a very competitive situation—able to catch some trends even if we miss some trends but we catch more than we miss. Anyone who caught one trend is fine, but ultimately the real question is what about the next one... in our case we have proven that.

But you accept that you fashioned a turnaround for Microsoft?

The markets clearly say that. Well you know, markets are always lagging indicators. The thing is, I will never claim any victory because I think the key thing for me is to stay grounded on two very important aspects for me—our mission and sense of purpose—because that is the only long-term determinant of whether we will succeed or not and staying true to it and driving that in what we do in India and the products we create.

"I have understood the CEO’s job, perhaps, is more importantly, not picking the technology or strategy but about culture"- Satya Nadella, chief executive, Microsoft

Also, culture. Most organizations lose sight of it. It’s not just about strategy or ability to create technology if you are not committed to a learning culture. It can’t be just a poster on the wall. So that is something I have focused on. I have understood the CEO’s job, perhaps, is more importantly, not picking the technology or strategy but about culture—whether it is diversity, inclusion or the ability to work as one company, or whether it is our ability to support the notion that we have to contribute in every country we participate in, creating economic opportunity. Those are the important aspects.

With respect to what is happening in the US regarding immigration, is there anything you can suggest to the Trump administration to do things differently? Overall, I always go back to the two principles important to us. As a multinational company, we have to work in every country and make sure that we are contributing to that country’s interest and economic opportunity because that is how we will be measured. The second principle is that we are an American company so we stand for the enduring American values especially around diversity and inclusion.

"America is a land of immigrants and, in fact, I am a product of both of these, which is American technology reaching me, growing up in India that allowed me to dream the dream"- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

America is a land of immigrants and, in fact, I am a product of both of these, which is American technology reaching me, growing up in India that allowed me to dream the dream; and America’s enlightened immigration policy that let me live the dream and so therefore, we will always advocate for it, and to your point we will always, in the US or elsewhere, anything we talk about in our response to any policy around immigration, will always stand by these two principles.

How do you see the future of the Indian IT industry given all the challenges it is facing both at home and abroad? Broadly, when I look at the Indian IT industry, I only see tremendous energy and tremendous prospects and opportunity. Even if you look at what is happening at the India stack, the number of start-ups that I saw yesterday, they are all thinking about healthy solutions—that impact will reach massive scale in India and after, of course, reaching massive scale in India they will even look at other markets.

"India will be like any other market with ups and downs but from a secular trend they are on the right side of history."- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Every business is becoming a digital business and the need for these services is only going to increase, so India is well-positioned both with the Flipkarts of the world and the system integrators of the world to be able to look at both the domestic demand and market as well as the international market. India will be like any other market with ups and downs but from a secular trend they are on the right side of history.

18.1. With ₹303 plan, RJio primed for data war

BuisnessLine, Rajesh Kurup, 20 Feb.2017

Over 100 million consumers on Reliance Jio’s telecom network will be able to access 4G services at ₹303 a month once its free offer comes to an end on March 31. Users will get 30 GB of data each month with a daily cap of 1GB. All voice calls, be it local, STD or national roaming, will continue to be free, the company announced. This tariff plan will be available to all existing customers for 12 months for a one-time enrolment fee of ₹99. New customers, who sign up on or before March 31, will also be eligible. After March 31, RJio will launch other tariff plans.

To ring-fence its subscribers from any counter-offers by rivals, RJio has also announced that it will not only match the cheapest tariff in the market but also offer 20 per cent more data than other operators. Announcing the Prime Membership scheme, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries, said: “...just five months after Jio’s launch, Jio users consumed more than 100 crore GB of data. Today, India is the No. 1 country in the world for mobile data usage. Jio users consume nearly as much data as the entire US and nearly 50 per cent more mobile data than all of China.” Speaking about the 100-million subscriber addition, Ambani said RJio added nearly seven customers on its network every second, every day for the past 170 days.

Fare war coming?

Industry analysts said that though this is good news for consumers, incumbent operators will feel the heat. “If they were hoping for a respite, then that is not happening. We are in for a phase of hyper competition that will lead to consolidation,” said a telecom analyst. However, Rjio’s users will have to commit at least ₹303 a month. The majority of mobile users do not spend more than ₹150 a month. Therefore, Rajan Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India, representing the incumbent operators, did not sound nervous. “The market place will now become the place where consumer choice and preference will be revealed,” Mathews said.

18.2. RJio effect: Bharti Airtel to acquire Telenor India

BusinessLine, 23 Feb. 2017, S Ronendra Singh

Bharti Airtel on Thursday said it will buy Telenor India in a further indication of the consolidation underway in telecom as a result of Reliance Jio shaking up the sector with its pricing and deep pockets. The deal will give Airtel more spectrum and marketshare to take on Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, a serious challenger to its number one position. Although both Bharti Airtel and Telenor India did not disclose the deal size, analysts’ reports and internal company sources said it could be in the range of ₹1,500-1,800 crore. “The Airtel-Telenor merger is a strong consolidation move by Airtel to counter not only the unlimited offers given by Reliance Jio but also to silence the hype around the Vodafone-Idea merger to become the largest telecom company,” said Kapil Nayyar of International Business Advisors. Telenor India’s operations and services will continue as normal until the completion of the transaction, expected by the first quarter of the next financial year (between April and June). “The decision to exit India has been taken after thorough consideration.

It is our view that significant investments are needed to secure Telenor India’s future business, as on a standalone basis it will not give an acceptable level of return,” said Sigve Brekke, Chief Executive Officer of the Telenor Group. Telenor will receive zero cash and hand over the business on a debt-free basis to Airtel (refinancing the outstanding local debt first). Airtel would also take on the residual future liabilities, including around Norwegian Krone (NOK) 2 billion of spectrum and NOK 5 billion in lease obligations. As part of the agreement, Airtel will acquire Telenor India’s running operations in seven circles — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh East and West, and Assam. The deal will enable Airtel to bolster its strong spectrum footprint in the seven circles, with the addition of 43.4 MHz spectrum in the 1800 MHz band.

Seamless integration Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel, said that on completion, the proposed acquisition will undergo seamless integration — both on the customer and the network side. The proposed acquisition will include transfer of all of Telenor India’s assets and customers, further augmenting Airtel’s overall customer base and network. According to Telenor, the transaction will not trigger any impairment. As of the fourth quarter of 2016, the remaining value of tangible and intangible assets in Telenor India amounted to NOK 0.3 billion. The transaction is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.

According to analysts, the acquired circles — except Assam — are populous, low-income markets where Telenor offered cheaper services compared to rivals and managed to acquire 10-12 per cent revenue market share. “Its (Telenor’s) calendar year 2016 revenue was ₹4,800 crore... Its voice realisation at ₹23 paise/minute and average revenue per user (ARPU) of ₹90 is well below the larger operators,” said Kunal Vora of BNP Paribas. While Airtel has a 26.9 crore customer base with revenue share of around 33 per cent across India, Telenor has a little more than five crore customers with 8 per cent revenue market share in the seven circles it is present in. Airtel’s shares closed at ₹366.05 on the BSE on Thursday, up 1.36 per cent from the previous day’s close.

19.1. Supermarket chain DMart pilots delivery, pick-up centres to reach online buyers faster

BusinessLine, Priyanka Pani, 26 Feb. 2017

Home-grown supermarket chain DMart, which is all set for a ₹1,800-crore IPO next month, is building supply- chain capabilities, to reach its customers faster. According to sources, the company is piloting a project wherein it plans to open multiple delivery centres or pick-up points in catchment areas, where it has a store, for its online customers. The company had recently launched a mobile app and a website, to take on big-box retailers such as Star Bazaar and Big Bazaar besides online players such as Bigbasket, Grofers and ZopNow. Christened ‘DMart Ready’, the centres will be 150-200-sqft stores that will act as pick-up points for customers who order products on its app.

When contacted on the development, Neville Noronha, Chief Executive of Avenue Supermarts, DMart’s parent company, told BusinessLine that he would not be able to comment on the same at this moment since the company is going for an IPO.

Hybrid model According to experts, hybrid or omni-channel business models are needed to address diverse consumer needs and manage a variety of business constraints. “Using existing infrastructure, with a ‘digital layer’ on top, is a good way to offer convenience and flexibility to consumers at an incremental business investment,” said Devangshu Dutta, CEO of retail research and consultancy firm Third EyeSight. Dutta said that when UK-based retailer Tesco launched its online store, the company mapped each customer to its local stores, used store staff’s off-peak time to pick and pack orders, and delivered the merchandise at home through a fleet of trucks.

This allowed Tesco to build online traction without having to create a completely new business infrastructure. Similarly, a brick-and mortar-retailer also benefits from having an existing relationship, and doesn’t have to spend much on acquiring and reacquiring customers, compared with an online-only business, he said. Dutta added that both offline retailers and online players are still struggling with last-mile delivery and logistics and supply chain.

Mumbai-based DMart is experimenting with this strategy in a few places in the city, such as Andheri and Ghatkopar, at present. It will be soon replicated in all the 26 cities where DMart is present. DMart, promoted by equity investor RK Damani, is one of the most profitable companies with a strong balance sheet, among its peers. According to data collated by business research platform Tofler, Avenue Supermarts’ revenue has grown 40 per cent year-on-year, while its profits have witnessed 50 per cent growth in the past five years. In FY 16, the company’s revenues stood at ₹8,600 crore and profits at ₹320 crore. DMart’s better financial performance in comparison to its peers has been driven by its differentiated business model, wherein 90 per cent of its stores are located in properties owned by the firm, unlike most retail firms that go for leasing. Also, the company has kept operational costs low by opening stores in suburbs and small towns.

19.2. Flipkart in talks with Microsoft, others for up to $1.5 billion fundraising

Livemint, Mihir Dalal and Anirban Sen, 21 Feb. 2017

Flipkart has increased the size of its funding round after its turnaround under new CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy gathered steam since December.

Bengaluru: India’s largest online retailer Flipkart is in talks to raise a mammoth funding round of up to $1.5 billion from investors including Microsoft Corp., eBay Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd at a valuation of $10-12 billion, said three people familiar with the matter. Flipkart has increased the size of its funding round after its turnaround under new chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy gathered steam since December, said the people cited above, asking not to be identified. Flipkart, which also owns the fashion retailers Myntra and Jabong as well as payments app PhonePe, initially wanted to raise anywhere between $500 million and $1 billion but is now seeking up to $1.5 billion, they said.

Apart from online marketplace eBay, payments firm Paypal, Chinese gaming and messaging giant Tencent, and Microsoft, Flipkart is also in talks with Google Capital for the ongoing round, one of the people said. Two financial investors or funds have also expressed interest in investing in Flipkart, the three people said. They declined to name the funds.

Krishnamurthy worked at eBay for nearly seven years in a finance role. Flipkart, which also owns the fashion retailers Myntra and Jabong as well as payments app PhonePe, initially wanted to raise anywhere between $500 million and $1 billion but is now seeking up to $1.5 billion. The funding discussions may give Flipkart a pre-money valuation of $10-12 billion, the people said. That is lower than its previous valuation of $15 billion, but would still represent a coup for Flipkart, which has seen its valuation cut by up to 60% by five of its own investors over the past one year.

Pre-money refers to the valuation before the round’s cash infusion. The discussions may be finalized within the next three months, the people said. eBay, Tencent and Google Capital didn’t respond to emails seeking comment. PayPal and Flipkart declined to comment. Microsoft did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Flipkart and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership, which will start with Flipkart adopting Microsoft Azure as its exclusive public cloud platform.

News of Flipkart’s discussions with eBay, Paypal and Google Capital were reported separately earlier by The Economic Times, The Times of India and FactorDaily, respectively.

Flipkart last raised funds more than 18 months ago when existing investors led by Tiger Global Management pumped $700 million into the company, valuing it at $15 billion. Flipkart has raised nearly $3.5 billion in cash over the past six years. To be sure, the deal could collapse if investors do not agree with Flipkart’s valuation. Since February 2016, Flipkart investors including Morgan Stanley, Vanguard Group and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. have marked down its valuation. The lowest of these estimates values Flipkart at just $5.54 billion. And at least five funds besides Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, have walked away from discussions with Flipkart because of differences over valuation, the people cited above said. Additionally, discussions with eBay are complicated because the company is also a strategic investor in Snapdeal (Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd), Flipkart’s smaller rival. Recent developments have been encouraging for Flipkart, though.

20.1. RJio aims to corner 50% market by 2021

Business Standard, Mar. 06, 2017

Mumbai: Reliance Jio (RJio) has set a target of capturing half the telecom sector’s projected revenues of Rs 3 lakh crore by FY21. The company, which will start charging customers from April 1, indicated this at an analyst meet on Thursday. The company also plans to hit an operating profit margin of 50 per cent on the back of an efficient network, which it claims operates at the lowest operating cost per gigabyte. If RJio manages to reach the projected numbers, it will be unprecedented given no new entrant at the global level has achieved more than 10 per cent market share after launching their services.

In fact, most analysts had pegged a revenue market share of 20 per cent for the company by 2020. RJio is expected to break-even at the operating profit level by the end of FY18 and achieve revenues of $3 billion (or Rs 20,000 crore), according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. This would translate to a 10 per cent revenue market share at the end of FY18. To achieve its revenue target of Rs 1.5 lakh crore over the next four years, the company has to grow by 65 per cent annually. The company is banking on rapid growth of data services and its superior network and capacity edge to achieve its goals. RJio highlighted its current cell (spectrum and tower) capacity is 4.7 times that of the sector and the company is working on doubling its current capacity in calendar year 2017. Further, given that 60 per cent of its sites are fiberised (connected with high-speed optic fibre) versus 20 per cent for industry and its capacity advantage will mean that the competition will take at least three-four years to catch up.

After the launch of RJio services, data consumption has expanded by six times from 200 million gigabytes (GB) per month to 1.2 billion GB a month. Customers, according to RJio, have the ability to pay Rs 500 per month, if the 2009 average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 179 is used as a base and adjusted for inflation. The company, which had 100 million users in December, expects to close FY17 at 120 million users. RJio has said the sector's voice services will shrink by 66 per cent by 2021 to Rs 50,000 crore from the current Rs 1.5 lakh crore and they will shift to the data segment. While analysts believe the data segment will improve substantially over the next four years, they are sceptical about the revenue growth of the sector. Says Manoj Behera of Phillip Capital, “The 60 per cent increase in industry revenues from Rs 1.87 lakh crore to the estimated Rs 3 lakh crore over the next four years looks ambitious as sector revenues, which have seen a decline in the December quarter, are expected to shrink further in the coming quarters. A 15 per cent annual growth looks difficult.” What could change, however, is any upward movement in prices in a post-consolidation phase. RJio, according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, indicated the company will raise prices over time. Currently, however, in an environment of falling prices and the capping of tariffs will make it difficult to improve industry revenues.

Incumbent operators will have to follow RJio to reset the prices for their premium or high-value customers and these will come down from levels of Rs 700-800 to about Rs 300, in terms of ARPUs. Given the large current base and two SIM cards per customer, fresh customer additions are also unlikely to happen at the rate recorded earlier, says an analyst. Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

20.2. Google, Reliance Jio developing affordable 4G smartphone

BusinessLine, Varun Aggarwal , 14 Mar. 2017

Google and Reliance Jio may be secretly working on an affordable smartphone that will work exclusively on the latter’s 4G network. The phone is expected to be launched before the end of this year, according to industry sources aware of the development. Google branding will help boost Reliance Jio’s plans to sell cheaper 4G handsets and reach a larger market. It will also ensure that Jio apps are more tightly integrated into the Android platform, improving the performance significantly.

“Such a smartphone will help Rjio increase data adoption — helping it render movies and music better over its network. It will also improve the overall quality of service delivered on the Jio network. “For Google, this would mean access to a large number of new users who would be connecting to the internet for the first time. It may also help the company assess its low-cost handset strategy,” said Sanchit Gogia, CEO at Greyhound Research. While RJio and Google declined to comment on the development, industry sources said that the two have been working together even on developing software for RJio’s smart TV services, which will be launched later this year.

Android One This will be Google’s second attempt at launching affordable smartphones in India after the not-so-successful Android One project. The technology major had launched the Andorid One project in India in September 2014, wherein it worked closely with brands such as Micromax, Karbonn and Spice to ensure the phone performed well despite being priced at just Rs. 6,500. This meant Google managing the design, development, marketing, and support of these devices while all manufacturing was carried out by the partnering original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Android One also saw Google putting a lot of emphasis on regional languages as the phones allowed users to not only type in Hindi but also use the voice assistant in Hindi.

Working with Jio, Google is reattempting Android One, albeit with just one player, this time around. “Android One had too many OEM partners, with each phone from every brand looking exactly the same, leaving no distinction for the vendor. Moreover, at the same time, Chinese players like Xiaomi launched their phones at similar price with a lot more features, essentially killing the idea of Android One completely,” said Jayanth Kolla, founder and partner at Convergence Catalyst.

INDIA & THE WORLD

21.1. The world in the next five years: A dystopian view

Livemint, Manas Chakravarty, 20 Feb. 2017

The US intelligence report says India will be the world’s fastest growing economy in the next five years. However, ‘internal tensions over inequality and religion will complicate its expansion’. Photo: HT These are uncertain times. Whether it’s the anti-globalization backlash in the US, or the probable break-up of the European Union (EU), or, closer home, the increase in terrorist activity in Pakistan, we’re badly in need of a crystal ball that will tell us how these disturbing trends pan out.

And what better crystal ball than the one used by the Director of National Intelligence of the US. Last month, the US National Intelligence Council, which says it “supports the Director of National Intelligence in his role as head of the Intelligence Community (IC) and is the IC’s centre for long-term strategic analysis”, brought out a report, Global Trends, Paradox of Progress, which maps trends in the world over the next five years and also over the next 20 years.

Did free market fundamentalism spawn the likes of Donald Trump?

This is probably the best forecast that money can buy, given the resources that American intelligence agencies command.

Since forecasting how things play out over 20 years is a joke, let’s look at the report of the next five years, which has better odds of getting at least some predictions right.

The picture painted by the report is one of unrelieved doom and gloom. It doesn’t beat about the bush, it doesn’t mince its words. Right up front, it says, “The next five years will see rising tensions within and between countries.”

Global economic growth will slow, making life difficult for governments, who will come under increased pressure to deliver jobs and welfare.

Governance will become more difficult. Real wages have been stagnant in the West, and this will lead to increased populism and dissatisfaction with globalization.

A new economic paradigm is being fashioned

Both the US and Europe will turn inward. Stresses in societies will increase as they fragment along religious and cultural lines, aided and abetted by the echo chambers of social media.

Geopolitical risks will rise, as ambitious new powers such as China and Russia seek to expand their presence. Non-traditional forms of warfare, such as cyber-warfare and terrorism, will gain prominence. Environmental stress will increase.

The report continues with this litany of woes.

One of the reasons for the doom and gloom, from the American viewpoint, is the demise of Pax Americana and the emergence of assertive new power centres which are not enamoured of democracy. The old rules of the game are being rewritten.

What can the US do about it?

The report’s answer is revealing: “It will be tempting to impose order on this apparent chaos, but that ultimately would be too costly in the short run and would fail in the long. Dominating empowered, proliferating actors in multiple domains would require unacceptable resources in an era of slow growth, fiscal limits, and debt burdens.”

Simply put, the US can’t do anything about it.

Globalization and its political backlash

What does the report say about India?

India will be the world’s fastest growing economy in the next five years. However, “internal tensions over inequality and religion will complicate its expansion”.

More worryingly, it says that Pakistan, unable to compete in economic growth with India, will increasingly turn to “asymmetric means”.

Towards that end, it will seek to enhance its nuclear arsenal and delivery capabilities, using “battlefield nuclear weapons” and sea-based options.

As if that isn’t enough, “Violent extremism, terrorism, and instability will continue to hang over Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the region’s fragile communal relations”.

The report says that populism and sectarianism will intensify if Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan fail to provide employment and education for growing urban populations and officials continue to govern principally through identity politics.

It quotes an estimate that India alone will need to create as many as 10 million jobs per year in the coming decades to accommodate people of working age in the labour force. Increasing urbanization will mean that providing services for burgeoning city populations will be a huge challenge for resource-strapped governments in South Asia, and that may “create new social, political, environmental, and health vulnerabilities”. Already, more than 20 cities in India alone have air quality worse than Beijing’s.

And, finally, the report warns, “The perceived threat of terrorism and the idea that Hindus are losing their identity in their homeland have contributed to the growing support for Hindutva, sometimes with violent manifestations and terrorism. India’s largest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, increasingly is leading the government to incorporate Hindutva into policy.” It says that this could increase social tensions in the region. This analysis by the US intelligence community is, of course, not the last word. The report itself says that its opinions are not cast in stone and good policies could change these dire predictions.

Also, it was US intelligence that thought Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction; so, they are far from infallible. While many of these predictions are eminently plausible and are an extension of current trends, few people are buying into the doom and gloom.

You only have to look at the global stock markets to see that there’s still a lot of optimism around. Also, the report says that India’s will be the fastest growing economy in the world in the next five years; so that alone should support investment in this country.

The value of the report, however, lies in it being a wake-up call. Its message is that the world is now a more uncertain and dangerous place, which makes pursuing the right policies all the more important. For India, the lesson is that the leadership’s focus must be on providing jobs for the masses and improving the delivery of services to them, while at the same time doing all it can to ensure peace, including communal peace, in the region. It’s a very tall order.

21.2. India’s international trade challenges

Livemint, 28-II-2017

New Delhi will have to deal with the ripple effects of a Trump administration packed with WTO skeptics.

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) creation in 1995 was, to a substantial extent, under the auspices of then US president Bill Clinton. He deemed the extension of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade—the organization overseeing the multilateral trading system since 1947, also midwifed by the US—into the WTO advantageous for the US. These are vastly different times and Donald Trump is a very different president. His administration has now shown intent to step back from the WTO. It has asked the US trade representative’s office to find ways to circumvent the WTO’s dispute system. Given the implications, it is a good time for New Delhi to take a hard look at its trade policy and planning.

The Trump administration’s lack of enthusiasm for the WTO shouldn’t come as a surprise. Central to Trump’s vision of making America great again is the suspicion that the international order is rigged against it. Its allies are deadbeats that have mooched off a consistently credulous Washington, while international organizations like the WTO are sclerotic bureaucracies that care little for American interests. Given this and Trump’s consistency in advocating trade protectionism—which would doubtless entail run-ins with the WTO—his administration was always more likely than not to be a disrupter in this regard.

But whether in the WTO or out of it, the US will continue to dictate the international trade agenda. This places India in a difficult position on multiple levels. For one, the US is India’s largest single-country trading partner by some distance. Second, as we have recently written in these pages (goo.gl/iYRCLV), the importance of international trade in general to the economy took off after the economic reforms of 1991 and has accelerated over the past decade. Indeed, India has traded more with the rest of the world as a percentage of gross domestic product than China since 2011—and both countries, along with much of the developing world, have benefited immensely from the lowering of trade barriers and the rule-based trade order that the WTO embodies.

New Delhi’s response must, similarly, be on multiple levels. Thus far, it has rightly preferred trade arrangements under the WTO’s auspices to the tangle of bilateral, regional and mega-regional trade pacts. There is no immediate reason for this to change. But it cannot afford to remain apathetic to regional or bilateral arrangements either given that they have proliferated following deadlocks at the WTO. If Washington further undercuts the WTO, as it is shaping up to do—and other countries inevitably follow suit—the balance will skew further.

Ensuring that New Delhi has a seat at the table when it comes to these arrangements will require a political will and diplomatic effort that are currently lacking; witness the India-European Union free trade agreement, hanging fire since 2007. As Hardeep S. Puri has written in a Carnegie India paper, this means leveraging its membership in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership better than it has thus far, as well as pushing to join the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. The latter is considering an Asia-Pacific free trade area—another incentive or threat, depending upon New Delhi’s approach.

New Delhi must also undertake several reforms. The Chelliah committee report of 1992-93 noted the importance of a limited number of tariff rates to simplify administration and reduce distortions. Against its recommendation of six rates to be implemented by 1998, India currently has 15 MFN (most favoured nation) tariffs. As Harsha Vardhana Singh has pointed out in Business Standard, this structure is further complicated by a system of exemptions and concessions that brings India’s average trade-weighted tariffs more or less in line with low tariff economies—but leaves it with significantly higher headline rates, leading to the perception of a high tariff economy.

A forward-looking trade policy must accompany the rationalization of the tariff structure. New Delhi’s foreign trade policy, 2015-20 doesn’t go far enough in this regard. Technical, sanitary and phytosanitary barriers to trade are increasingly important—and they call for a trade policy that helps exporters meet international standards while reducing the cost of compliance. The policy must also reconfigure its trade promotion incentives from handing out financial sops to better helping exporters attain competitiveness. In Washington last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of the benefits of free trade. He is unlikely to find the new administration as receptive to those principles. While Washington might find the cost of circumventing the WTO too prohibitive in the long run, this much seems a safe bet: A Trump administration packed with WTO sceptics is unlikely to be status quoist. The ripple effects mean New Delhi must confront change—both by working within the WTO to resolve the deadlocks, such as on agricultural subsidies and free movement of professionals, that are robbing the body of relevance, and outside it. India has benefited too greatly from trade to do any less.

22.1. India on collision course with EU over trade treaty

Livemint, Asit Ranjan Mishra, 20 Feb. 2017

European trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström had proposed EU and India first negotiate a bilateral investment treaty before they restart talks for the free trade agreement. New Delhi may reject EU offer to start talks for bilateral investment treaty

New Delhi: As India’s 31 March deadline to unilaterally terminate all existing investment treaties with partner countries draws closer, New Delhi is likely to reject an offer from the European Union (EU) to start negotiations for a stand-alone bilateral investment treaty (BIT) while negotiations for the comprehensive bilateral trade and investment agreement (BTIA) remain in limbo.

European trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström, in a meeting with commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Davos last month, had proposed EU and India first negotiate a BIT before they restart talks for the free trade agreement (FTA). India wants to follow the middle path and sign a toned-down version of BTIA which would include an investment chapter and leave aside contentious issues for the time being. However, EU hasn’t agreed to the offer so far.

“Once we have started the process of negotiation for a comprehensive trade and investment treaty, our policy is that we can only do it as part of BTIA. Last July, we had offered EU to do an early harvest of BTIA; they have not responded or accepted it so far. If they want to go for comprehensive BTIA, we have also expressed our willingness to restart negotiations. The ball is in EU’s court, not in our court,” a commerce ministry official said speaking under condition of anonymity.

“They knew existing investment treaties are coming to an end two years back; so now, it is up to them how they want to take it forward. We have acted in a transparent manner in this matter and have given countries enough time to restart negotiations for fresh BITs. They can still allow individual EU countries to sign BITs with India and we have conveyed it to them. But it is their policy problem that they don’t allow it,” the official added. India is looking at a situation where it may not have a bilateral investment treaty with a large number of countries, including those in the EU, on 1 April 2017.

It would unilaterally terminate all such existing treaties on 31 March, having given one year’s time to countries to renegotiate the treaties based on the model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) passed by the cabinet. India brought out a new model BIT in December 2015, intending to replace its existing Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPAs) and future investment treaties, after being dragged into international arbitration by foreign investors who sued for discrimination, citing commitments made by India to other countries in bilateral treaties. The model BIT approved by the cabinet excludes matters relating to taxation. Controversial clauses such as most favoured nation (MFN) have been dropped while the scope of national treatment, and fair and equitable treatment clauses, have been considerably narrowed down. In the recent past, many multinationals including Vodafone Group Plc and Sistema have dragged India to international arbitration, citing treaty violations. In the case of White Industries versus the government of India, for instance, the Australian investor cited a favourable substantive MFN provision in the India-Kuwait BIT that it said was absent in the India-Australia BIT. The Australian company, which argued for including the provision in the India-Australia BIT, won the case in 2012.

India has served termination notices to as many as 57 countries, including European nations, with whom the initial term of the treaty has either expired or will expire soon. Geoffrey Van Orden, a member of the European Parliament and part of the European parliamentarians currently visiting India, told reporters on Monday the EU has said it would be very helpful if India could extend the existing BIPAs for six months to enable new mechanisms to be put in place. “The EU has consistently wanted to have an ambitious agreement whereas I think on the Indian side, there’s more of an aim towards picking and choosing. I think we need to work hard if we agree to a FTA; it would do enormous good to both sides,” he added. Elizabeth Roche contributed to this story.

22.2. India, China team up against West’s pressure on drug patent norms Amiti Sen

BusinessLine, 6 Mar. 2017

India, China, Brazil and South Africa are attempting to counter a push by the US and EU for more stringent global intellectual property rules. The four countries have called for intensive discussions at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on a United Nations report recommending rigorous definition of invention and criteria for granting of pharmaceutical patents. The report also proposes punishment for those using political or commercial pressure to check use of flexibilities allowed under the WTO’s intellectual property rights (IPR) rules. “There is a need for the UN report on access to medicines to be discussed threadbare at the WTO as it brings to light the way patents are being granted even when there are just cosmetic changes in the new form of a drug.

“Not just that, countries like India, which do not support such evergreening of patents, are facing criticism and pressure from many developed countries to make them change their laws,” a government official told BusinessLine. India and the three other nations that initiated discussions on the report at a recent TRIPS council meeting of the WTO also insisted that the agenda item should be in the Council’s next meeting. “The discussion is intended to facilitate an exchange of views on the recommendations of the UN Secretary General’s high-level panel, as well as to share national experiences regarding the use of TRIPS flexibilities,” the proponents said in their submission. Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria and Egypt welcomed the report, calling it “a significant and bold step”.

US, EU pressure New Delhi has been facing immense pressure from members such as the US and the EU to change its IPR regime. The top demand is that it should drop a provision in its law (Section 3d), which disallows grant of patent if a new form of a known substance does not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance. The US has been continuously putting India in its ‘priority watch’ list of countries with lax IPR rules in its unilateral annual assessment of its trading partners.

The US also alleges that there is lack of clarity in India’s rules for granting compulsory licences for manufacturing of copies of patented drugs in the case of national emergencies.

“India has just granted one compulsory licence for a cancer medicine. Still, the developed companies criticise our laws and keep the pressure up so that the country hesitates to grant more such licences,” the official said. While Indian IPR laws are in line with the WTO’s TRIPS agreement, countries such as the US and Switzerland are trying to make a case for non-violation complaints to be allowed under the TRIPS agreement. If this is allowed, it would mean members can file cases against each other if they feel that another government’s action or a specific situation has deprived it of an expected benefit, even if the TRIPS agreement has not been violated.

23.1. India most important for us outside of the US: Omidyar

Livemint, Feb. 17, 2017

New Delhi: For impact investment fund Omidyar Network, India is the most important country outside the US, and financial inclusion is one of its major interests here, a top company executive said. “Outside of the US, India is the geography that we are the most excited about and that we feel most committed to. There is no other place where we have a team of this size. There is no other geography where we have the type of portfolio, across all our areas, as we have in India,” said Tilman Ehrbeck, partner at Omidyar Network. Omidyar, which invests in both for-profit and not-for-profit businesses, focuses across five broad areas of interest globally—governance and citizen engagement, education, financial inclusion, property rights and emerging technology.

“India is the one geography where we work on all of these issues, where we have investments across all of these issues and where we have a team on the ground for all of these issues,” Ehrbeck said in an interview. Since its inception in 2004, Omidyar Network has invested more than $1 billion, of which $480 million went into for-profit companies and $560 million in non-profits. Its India investments add up to $200 million. For Omidyar Network, financial inclusion is a major area of interest in India, said Ehrbeck, given that in the last couple of years, India has leapfrogged from being a financial inclusion innovation laggard to being at the forefront of the technology-led inclusion movement. “Financial inclusion is one of the bigger topics that we embraced. When we started, globally, half of the working age adults were outside of the formal financial system. India, until 3-4 years ago, was not at the forefront of the technology led financial inclusion revolution, globally. However, over the last couple of years, India has catapulted itself to the forefront,” said Ehrbeck.

Ehrbeck cited three factors for India’s recent performance which has put it ahead of the pack in financial inclusion innovation—changes in regulation, a tech-savvy government and the development of India-specific digital infrastructure. “The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), through the financial inclusion committee report, came out with a number of important changes such as the narrow bank licences, which was a way to bring the telcos to the table in a regulated way. The RBI has put in place a lot of enabling pieces,” he said. The financial inclusion committee headed by Nachiket Mor in 2014 proposed differentiated licences to operate small finance banks and payments banks.

At the same time, the new government at the centre embraced technology and accelerated some of the things that were already underway, including the desire to switch to direct, electronic benefit transfers, said Ehrbeck. The development of the so-called “India Stack” that includes digital infrastructure such as the unique identity card programme “Aadhaar” and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) too have been catalysts for financial services innovations, he added. These factors have also seen Omidyar reorient its financial inclusion strategy towards technology-enabled financial services business models, away from its legacy investments, which was focused on SME lending businesses. In the last one year, the firm has invested in companies such as Scripbox, a mobile and digital-only wealth management company and ZestMoney, a digital lending platform.

In India, investments in technology-enabled financial services business models that further the financial inclusion goal will only continue to grow in importance for the firm going ahead. “We are very excited about models that use the flexibility that the digital infrastructure allows you, and use that flexibility to come up with new customer value propositions and deliver them at far lower cost. And in order to do that, you typically have to leverage technology,” said Ehrbeck. Nearly $270 million, or one quarter of the firm’s total amount invested globally, has gone towards the financial inclusion theme. Around 15% of that capital commitment has been made in India. “Within financial inclusion, India is a bigger priority now than it may have been in the past. It will be a fair prediction to say that we will invest more in India,” he said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

23.2. India, ADB ink $375 mn loan pact for industrial corridor

BusinessLine, PTI, 24 Feb. 2017

India and ADB have signed USD 375 million pact for loans and grants to develop 800—km Visakhapatnam— Chennai Industrial Corridor, which is the first phase of a planned 2,500-km East Coast Economic Corridor. ADB had last September approved USD 631 million in loans and grants for the industrial corridor.

The Asian Development Bank said in a statement that it approved loans comprising a USD 500 million multitranche facility to build key infrastructure in the four main centers along the corridor — Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Amaravati, and Yerpedu—Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh. The first tranche of USD 245 million that was signed will finance subprojects to develop high-quality internal infrastructure in 2 of the 4 nodes of the corridor — Visakhapatnam and Yerpedu—Srikalahasti. Another component of the approved ADB funds that the signatories signed was a USD 125 million policy— based loan that will be used for capacity development of institutions engaged in corridor management, provide support to enhance ease of doing business and for supporting industrial and sector policies to stimulate industrial development, it added.

The statement said along with the ADB loans, agreement was also signed last evening for a USD 5 million grant from the multi—donor Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund that is managed by ADB to build climate change resilient infrastructure. Among the outputs envisaged under the USD 245 million tranche-1 loan include strengthening and widening of a 29.6—kilometer section of state highway to four lanes to improve connectivity from Kakinada Port to National Highway 16, investments in smart water management in Visakhapatnam to reduce nonrevenue water and provide continuous water supply.

The statement said tranche-1 loan will have a 25-year term, including a grace period of 5 years, a 20—year straight line repayment method at an annual interest rate determined in accordance with ADB’s LIBOR— based lending facility. Deputy Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission L B Sondjaja said: “We estimate that by 2025, annual industrial output along the corridor will increase fourfold to USD 64 billion from about USD 16 billion in 2015 if investment opportunities are maximized over the next few years.” Manila based ADB, established in 1966, is owned by 67 members — 48 from the Asian region.

24.1. Portugal and India: Colaboration in Hospitality. Cashless shopping in Goa.

Goacom Newsclips, 27 Feb. 2017

1.Hospitality, Margao: Ten students from V M Salgaocar Institute of International Hospitality Education (VMSIIHE), Manora-Raia, have got lucky and got a ticket to Portugal. A Portuguese tourism delegation visited the institution to discuss in detail about the MoU signed between Turismo de Portugal and VMSIIHE recently.

It is a project to exchange students and make it a bridge between Portugal and Goa. Ms Ana Mendes Godinho, Secretary of State of Tourism, Portugal, along with President of Tourism, Portugal, Luis Araujo and Rui Alberto Carvalho Baceira – Consul general of Portugal in Goa, India, A M Gude of VMSIIHE, Director Mirza Shaikh and others were present at the visit. On the occasion Ms Ana Mendes said, “We are here to know the new friends. This partnership is to exchange students with India and especially Goa. This is our first project and it will foster the relationship and improve tourism of both the places.”

“It will foster the relationship with the people and Consul General was the man who got the brilliant idea. In fact, every Portuguese dreams of knowing Goa and it is a part of our hearts. Even India for us is in priority and we know the future is here and the scope is fantastic,” she said adding, “We can be two strategic crucial points in tourism. It was very emotional and touching relation.”Answering a question on Brexit, the President of Tourism Luis Araujo said, “We get 12 million tourists in Portugal which is more than our population. We are diversifying the market. We have several Indians coming too and we want that the present 30,000 Indians to increase.” “We have achieved the international dream of Salgaonkar and Portugal is the best strategic market,” said A M Gude. The Portuguese Consul said, “Goa and Portugal share a special relationship and we have a lot to learn in terms of tourism form the Portugal. Huge flow going from Goa to Portugal and we want to make Goa particular destination for Portuguese.” [Herald, Goa, 27-II-2017]

2.Cashless shopping. Times are rapidly changing and so are the trends in shopping. Goa, which normally used to deal in cash, has post demonetisation, completely reversed its mode of payment. Big retail stores like Magsons and Delfinos have reported that before November 8, 2016, 80 per cent of the buyers used to spend cash at the register counter and since November 9, 2016, 80 per cent of the purchases were done through credit/debit cards or app. Magsons which has 11 stores in the State claims to touch 140 areas in the state, which is a large chunk of buyers. “We are trying all means. With our app the response has been very good but it could be better and there is a huge scope in this mode of sale and purchase. We are ensuring that our customers get a better experience, shopping online than walking into our stores. Besides that our loyalty programme has been upgraded and redemption can be done online now from February 27 (today) and it can be done through our app Aaram Shop,” said Kirit Maganlal, proprietor of Magsons.

Magsons now accepts all forms of credit and debit cards, PayTM, Jio Wallet, Sodexo cards, ticket meal voucher cards, etc. Various schemes are also being launched to lure customers. “Bill Buster” is one such programme where a lucky person who buys goods worth Rs 1000 from the store may get an opportunity to buy three other products for Re 1 each. Also, big retail stores have seen increase in their customer base as the local mom and pop shops were not prepared for online or payment. “Since demonetisation we have noticed that our customer base has increased by over 30 per cent as their mom and pop shops were not accepting credit or debit cards. And they have remained with us as they found out that our products in many cases are cheaper and is easy to purchase with touch and feel,” said Anil Pereira, director of Delfinos and Champs.

Mr Pereira said that Delfinos and Champs has their products on Amazon and other e-commerce portals. “However, the normal age group visiting our Champs store is between 15-30 years, while at Delfinos it the entire family. Everbody has now got online prices at their finger tips so we have to ensure that pricing of products are reasonably good and competitive,” added Mr Pereira.

He also revealed that he was developing a software which allows a customer to chose the product online and order it and Delfinos will keep that product packed and ready with a QR code. “Time is money. This customer can just come to our store pay online and move with the products. There will be a separate exit counter for such customers. We will not go into home delivery,” added Anil Pereira. Also, yet another trend which has emerged lately is the attention span of online buyers. It is extremely short and has fallen to goldfish-like levels, and we are only going to grow more impatient and demanding as technology changes and progresses. Hence, marketing of products on retails stores are more direct and upfront. The potentially infinite scrolls of social media news feeds and endless streams of content from almost every brand in our mobile flashes with all details including compared price of the same product from different brands. This is making retailers job more difficult as they have to have a large inventory with attractive ever changing prices, primarily dictated by the big e-commerce companies like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. As we share articles after only reading the headline on our whatsapp, in a similar fashion marketing or purchase are now done hurriedly. Without even going through the minute details. In fact, it is not even adhered to as the seller is now willing to exchange or even return the already bought product.

25.1. Business leaders must learn to listen

Livemint, Arun Maira, 6 Mar. 2017

In the new globalization, businesses with global ambitions must learn to be local. Corporates must respond to demands from national governments to create more jobs within the countries in which they operate.

Arun Maira

When Jimmy Carter was president of the US, the shadow of recession was looming on the economy. The president’s advisers feared that even the use of the word “recession” while explaining the state of the economy would alarm the bulls, bring out the bears, and deepen recessionary conditions. So, at a press conference the secretary of commerce said that since he could not use “the ‘R’ word”, he would refer to what was happening as “the ‘banana’ thing”. Globalization is going through a “banana” moment. Cheerleaders of globalization have been reluctant to admit that globalization, in the form they celebrated it, is in deep recession already. Some say globalization has merely changed into a “new globalization”. Some others say that what has passed is “hyper-globalization” and we are still in “globalization”. There is a reluctance to let go of the word “globalization” and use another one for the forces shaping the world now. Though, as Geoffrey G. Jones, professor of business history at the Harvard Business School, says “we are in a ‘de-globalization’ period”.

The unequal gains of globalization

Jones’ explanation of why globalization of the sort celebrated in Davos in the last 20 years had to pass is that the gap between globalization’s prime beneficiaries and the rest of humanity had increased too much. Globalization’s elite was “People Like Us” from around the world. They cocooned themselves within ideologically and physically gated communities. They lost sight of those far below them. Meanwhile, surveys (they did not heed) were reporting that people were losing trust in the “Establishment”, which people saw as a nexus between leaders of governments and large business interests. The disconnect between the people and the establishment led to the rise of populist movements in many countries, the election of Donald Trump in the US, and to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s extreme sensitivity about his government being branded a “suit-boot sarkar”.

Globalization’s elite was ‘People Like Us’ from around the world. They cocooned themselves within ideologically and physically gated communities.

The world is not the same as it was 10 years ago. Despite globalization, it is more divided and less united. Social media, which innocents expected would unite people who had different histories, cultures and points of view merely by enabling them to connect with each other on the Internet, is exacerbating divisions. People band together with others like themselves on social media and lob hate-bombs across the walls at those they do not like. Samuel P. Huntington’s prediction of a “clash of civilizations” seems to be happening. Geopolitics, on the decline after the fall of the Berlin Wall, is back on stage. The world has changed: Business corporations must develop new capabilities to succeed in a post-globalization world.

In defence of globalization

The eclipse of globalization requires corporations to be more “local” in their strategies. They must respond to demands from national governments to create more jobs within the countries in which they operate. President Trump and Prime Minister Modi (with the “Make In India” campaign) are on the same page here. Multinational corporations (MNCs) will face increasing pressures to pay domestic taxes. Tax avoidance by shopping among tax jurisdictions will not be acceptable. Nor will intrusive adjudication of domestic policies with investor- settlement procedures that businesses were pushing for under international trade agreements. Business leaders will have to prove that they are aligned with domestic stakeholders’ needs. To say that they follow international norms, as MNCs are wont to, will not be good enough. They must listen better to local stakeholders, to learn local realities and adapt to them.

Social media, contrary to perception, is exacerbating divisions—people band together with others like themselves on social media and lob hate-bombs across the walls at those they do not like.

Multifarious reactions to globalization from environmentalists and defenders of human rights are compelling businesses to develop capabilities to listen to a broad group of stakeholders. The thrust of good corporate governance so far has been to make business managers more transparent and accountable to their financial investors, and fairer to their small shareholders. This will not be good enough. Businesses must be more transparent and more fair to other stakeholders too—such as local communities, small suppliers, and those who work in their enterprises (such as Uber’s drivers, whether or not they are legally “employees”). Two per cent of profits donated to corporate social responsibility will not be enough to win society’s trust. Full accountability is required for how 100% of revenue was obtained and profits made. Donation of a small sliver of their profits to social causes will not excuse businesses for the damage their operations may cause to the environment and the social compact. Therefore, good corporate governance will require broader score cards.

Which countries have benefited the most from globalization?

The freedom and the power businesses acquired with hyper-globalization was founded on many ideas. Milton Friedman’s dictum, “The business of business must be only business”, has often been cited to focus business managers on a narrow score card of revenue, profit, and shareholder value. Friedman also expressed his difficulty in accepting the notion that people should desire to speak to make their views known. He would much rather they resorted to “efficient market mechanisms”, rather than to “cumbrous political channels” to make their voices heard.

The old globalization that sought to tear down national boundaries for the free flow of finance and trade has passed. In the new globalization, businesses with global ambitions must learn to be local.

A world that is good for global businesses must be a world that is good for everyone too. Nations are societies: not merely markets and economies. In the market, we are customers. In society, we are citizens. All that citizens value cannot be expressed in monetary terms. Equity, trust, dignity and compassion are qualities that citizens value in good societies. Corporations, which claim to be global citizens themselves, must learn to listen, cumbersome though it may be, to the voices of citizens within their customers who speak of many things not convertible into money. The old globalization that sought to tear down national boundaries for the free flow of finance and trade has passed. In the new globalization, businesses with global ambitions must learn to be local. Businesses must adopt broader score cards. And they must learn to listen to the voices of diverse citizens wherever they operate

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AAPI

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Monday 20 March 2017

NEWSLETTER, 20-III-2017

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

– AGRICULTURE, FISHING and RURAL DEVELOPMENT

– INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURE

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NEWSLETTER, 20-III-2017

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

– INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURE

– SERVICES (IT, R&D, Tourism, Healthcare, etc.)

INDIA & THE WORLD