India, Russia to set up $1 bn fund to promote business:Nirmala Sitharaman

by | posted in: Corporate Updates, Cross Border Transactions, M&As, Joint Ventures, Economy, Business Updates, Corporate Affairs, India & International - Corporate updates | 0
Both the countries would contribute USD 500 million to the fund, Sitharaman said while addressing India-Russia Business Forum at the ongoing International Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS).

India and Russia are setting up a USD 1 billion fund to promote mutual investments in infrastructure and technology projects, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

Both the countries would contribute USD 500 million to the fund, Sitharaman said while addressing India-Russia Business Forum at the ongoing International Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS) here yesterday.

While the Russian funds would be channeled through Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Indian contribution will be accrued from National Investment and Infrastructure Fund.

Sitharaman elaborated upon other measures being taken by Russia and India to scale up their economic engagement and to boost bilateral trade and investment.

As part of these initiatives, the India Russia CEO Forum will hold its meeting this year at a mutually convenient date. The forum was constituted in St Petersburg in June 2016.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Russia is estimated at USD 1.2 billion till date while Indian investment in Russia is around USD 4.9 billion.

“There is tremendous potential for enhancing such investments,” the minister said, adding that initiatives like Make-in-India would catalyse Russian investment in several Indian sectors including Defence production.

“The Make-in-India initiative was launched by the government in order to encourage businesses to manufacture products in the country, creating additional jobs for local population. This is a major drive to foster innovation, enhance skill development, protect intellectual property and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure,” she said.

India and Russia are engaged in robust cooperation in the energy sector, including collaborations in civil nuclear energy, hydrocarbons and renewable energy.

Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-russia-to-set-up-$1-bn-fund-to-promote-businessnirmala/1/906310.html

FIPB clears 15 FDI proposals worth Rs12,000 crore, defers 6

by | posted in: Corporate & Business Advisory Services, Corporate Updates, Cross Border Transactions, M&As, Joint Ventures, Economy, Business Updates, Corporate Affairs, India & International - Corporate updates | 0
The FIPB, headed by economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, deferred 6 proposals, including that of Gland Pharma with the proposed FDI inflow of Rs8,800 crore.

Inter-ministerial body, foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) on Tuesday approved 15 investment proposals, including that of Apollo Hospitals, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Vodafone, envisaging foreign investment of Rs12,200 crore. “15 out of 24 FDI proposals were approved while three were rejected,” people familiar with the matter said.

The FIPB, headed by economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, deferred 6 proposals, including that of Gland Pharma with the proposed FDI inflow of Rs8,800 crore.

These proposals were deferred for further consultation and want of more information, sources added. Among the proposals approved, Twinstar Technologies will alone bring foreign capital of about Rs9,000 crore into the country.

Besides, proposal of Apollo Hospitals worth Rs750 crore and public sector Hindustan Aeronautics worth Rs170 crore for helicopter manufacturing also got green signal from the board.

The government has already announced winding up of FIPB by putting in place a new mechanism, a move which will further improve ease of doing business.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget 2017-18 announced abolishing FIPB saying 90% of the foreign investment approvals are via automatic route and only 10% go to the board.

Currently, FIPB offers single-window clearance for applications on FDI in India that are under the approval route. The sectors under automatic route do not require any prior approval and are subject to only sectoral laws.

India allows FDI in most sectors through the automatic route, but in certain segments that are considered sensitive for the economy and security, the proposals have to be first cleared by the FIPB. With growth in FDI in important sectors like services and manufacturing, overall foreign inflows in the country rose by 30% to $21.62 billion during the first half of 2016-17. FDI in the country grew by 29% to $40 billion in 2015-16 as against $30.94 billion in the previous financial year.

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/P9toBbJ2zW53TvhzKFkelO/FIPB-clears-15-FDI-proposals-worth-Rs12000-crore-defers-6.html

India, UK set to sign GBP 1 bn biz deals

by | posted in: Corporate Updates, Cross Border Transactions, M&As, Joint Ventures, Economy, Business Updates, Corporate Affairs, India & International - Corporate updates | 0

India and the UK are expected to sign business deals exceeding GBP 1 billion (Rs 83,00 crore) during the three-day visit of British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is here on her first bilateral visit outside Europe since assuming office in July.

Describing her talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as good and productive, May said as leaders, they both were working to improve the livelihoods of their citizens creating jobs, developing skills, investing in infrastructure and supporting technologies of the future.Talking about Modi’s vision of smart cities, May said they have agreed on a new partnership that will bring together government, investors and experts to work together on urban development, unlocking opportunities worth GBP 2 billion for British businesses over the next five years.

This will focus on the dynamic state of Madhya Pradesh with plans for more smart cities than anywhere else and the historic city of Varanasi.

Four rupee-denominated bonds worth a total of 600 million pounds ($748 million) are expected to be listed in London in the next three months, Theresa May said.

The latest four bonds will provide financing to expand India’s highway and rail networks and meet its plans to boost energy efficiency and renewable energy, the government said.

They will be issued by Indian government-backed corporates Indian Railway Finance Corporation, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, Energy Efficiency Services Limited, and National Highways Authority of India by the end of January 2017. May said since July, more than 900 million pounds rupee-denominated bonds have been issued in London, equivalent of more than 70 percent of the global offshore market.

“This government will continue to work closely with both India and our financial services sector to ensure our growing rupee bond market continues to help finance India’s ambitious infrastructure investment plans,” May said in a statement. These rupee-denominated or masala bonds as they are called, unveiled in 2015, are an opportunity for Indian firms to raise money, while giving international investors access to higher yields in a zero-yield world.

They are also a way to borrow overseas, they are also an attempt to make the tightly-controlled rupee more widely available in global markets, similar to the way in which China has moved to sell more yuan debt to overseas investors. Alongside this, the UK has agreed to invest GBP 120 million in a joint fund that will leverage private sector investment from the City of London to finance Indian infrastructure.

Source: http://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/india-uk-set-to-sign-gbp-1-bn-biz-deals/story/239538.html

Ease of doing business: 12 states implement 75% of reforms

by | posted in: Corporate & Business Advisory Services, Corporate Updates, Economy, Business Updates, Corporate Affairs | 0

As many as a dozen states, including Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, have implemented 75% of the reform initiatives under the ease of doing business programme, reflecting positive sentiments, commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.

These three states are followed by Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Karnataka in implementing reforms.

The government, however, has maintained that the review process of the reform initiatives is still on and the current rankings may change.

The ranking of states is an assessment of the regulatory performance of states and a measure of how they improve over a period of time. Importantly, the rankings don’t accurately reflect the level of business-conducive nature of the states; rather, it shows how the states fared in implementing an action plan adopted by them with the help of the Centre within a particular time frame.

Addressing the inaugural session of the Invest North Summit organised by CII, Sitharaman also said tax and regulatory authorities are being directed not to go on an overdrive and asserted the government will not in any way create hindrances for businesses.

The ranking is based on indicators including the ease of starting a business, registering a property, getting credit, paying taxes and resolving insolvency.

The World Bank, which has been entrusted with the job of ranking states on their performance on ease of doing business by the centre, will likely wrap up this exercise by the end of this month.

Talking on the occasion, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Ramesh Abhishek said India is also hopeful of improving its rank among other nations in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index.

Last year, India was ranked 130th in the World Bank’s index covering 189 countries, an improvement of four notches from a year before.

While India improved its rank on three counts — starting a business, getting construction permits and accessing electricity — it witnessed its performance worsen in two areas — accessing credit and paying taxes.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/economy/ease-of-doing-business-12-states-implement-75-of-reforms/387441/

Gujarat is India’s growth engine: USIBC

by | posted in: Corporate Updates, Economy, Business Updates, Corporate Affairs | 0

Gearing up to participate in the next years Vibrant Gujarat Summit as a partner country, the US India Business Council has termed Gujarat as India’s “growth engine”.

“The state of Gujarat is one of the leading states in India for industries and is recognised as India’s growth engine,” USIBC president Mukesh Aghi yesterday said in an interaction with a delegation of senior official and business leaders from Gujarat.

“Vibrant Gujarat Summit is one of the most notable efforts in India’s attempts to place itself as the topmost investment destination,” he said, adding that USIBC is delighted to partner with the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

Aghi said the summit is also timely as it will be held during a critical phase of the GST roll-out.

Led by Bharat Lal, Resident Commissioner of Gujarat, the Gujarat delegation concluded its multi-city roadshow in the US.

The multi-city industry roundtables aim to  provide an opportunity for the delegation to present Gujarat as the leading investment destination in India.

SIBC organised industry receptions and roundtables in Houston, Chicago, New York, Washington DC and Menlo Park, providing an opportunity for the delegation to meet over 100 top US companies across industries, including healthcare, food and agriculture, defence, logistics and infrastructure.

Some of the companies in attendance during the roadshow included MasterCard, UST Global, JP Morgan, Thompson Reuter, Abbott, Aemetis, Lockheed Martin, Cisco and Welspun.

As part of the roadshow, the Council also hosted a roundtable with Ajay Pandey, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT).

GIFT is being developed as a global financial and IT services hub, a first of its kind in India, designed to be at or above par with globally benchmarked financial centers.

Pandey discussed the International Financial Services Centre in GIFT and the benefits to the entities setting up operations in these cities that include the Minimum Alternative Tax, reduced from 18.5 per cent to nine per cent, the Security Transaction Tax (STT), Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT) and Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) waived off, a media release said.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/54376135.cms

 

Second instalment of FDI reforms cleared

by | posted in: Corporate Updates, Cross Border Transactions, M&As, Joint Ventures, Economy, Business Updates, Corporate Affairs, India & International - Corporate updates | 0

The Union Cabinet today approved the second instalment FDI of reforms, which the Centre has announced in June covering diverse sectors including Defence, food-processing, single brand retail and broadcasting.

The ex-post-facto approval for the reforms in the Foreign Direct Investment regime was given by the Cabinet in its meeting on Wednesday.

Under the amended rules, 100 per cent FDI with government approval is permitted for trading, including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured and/or produced in India.

In Defence, foreign investment beyond 49 per cent is permitted through the approval route wherever it is likely to result in access to modern technology or for other reasons to be recorded. The state-of-the-art technology condition has been dropped.

In the broadcasting sector, the amendments allow 100 per cent FDI via the automatic route, up from 49 per cent.

To encourage investments in pharmaceuticals, the amendments allow 74 per cent FDI under the automatic route in the brownfield (existing projects) segment. Earlier, all FDI in brownfield projects had to come in through the government approval route.

Similarly, in the civil aviation sector, 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route has been allowed in brownfield projects as against 49 per cent earlier.

Local sourcing norms have been relaxed up to three years, with government approval for entities undertaking single brand retail trading of products having state-of-the-art and cutting edge technology. Thereafter, sourcing norms would be applicable.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-news/second-instalment-of-fdi-reforms-cleared/article9057070.ece

Xiaomi, Foxconn to set up two more units in India

by | posted in: Corporate & Business Advisory Services, Corporate Updates, Cross Border Transactions, M&As, Joint Ventures, Economy, Business Updates, Corporate Affairs, India & International - Corporate updates | 0

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi today said it is looking to set up two more manufacturing facilities in India through its Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group.

Manu Jain, Xiaomi’s India Chief, said they are in talks with various state governments for finalising the land and other issues for the plants.

In August last year, Xiaomi, together with Foxconn, started assembling phones locally in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

“We have not finalised the locations for the facility yet. We are talking to multiple governments to see where we should be setting up (the plants). The factories are owned and operated by Foxconn, but dedicatedly (make production) for us. It is not a joint venture. We have some sort of financial arrangement between us,” Jain said.

Jain said the company may also launch air purifiers in India before the beginning of winter season.

“We think that it is a category which is about to take off. We are trying to bring that this year. The perfect time to launch is before winter, because that is when fog combines with smoke and becomes smog,” he said.

Xiaomi, which presently registers 90 per cent of its sales from online channel in India, is planning to double offline presence over the next few months.

Xiaomi recently launched Redmi 3S and Redmi 3S Prime in the country priced at Rs 6,999 and Rs 8,999, respectively. The phones will be initially available at Mi.com and Flipkart. The handset maker sells over one million phones a quarter in the country.

Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/business/news/Xiaomi-Foxconn-to-set-up-two-more-units-in-India/2016/08/13/article3576806.ece