• India Invests $1 Billion in Global Treade Deal with Africa
• A million jobs by 2010?
• Sensex hits 15k fuelled by 5 stocks
• 'India's IT exports to touch $60 bn by 2010'

• Biotech to generate business of US$ 5 billion by 2010
• India's overlooked 'grey market' workforce
• Outsourcing 'to earn India $40bn'

India has recently disclosed its plans to spend around $1 billion in a new global trade deal with Africa. Indian Ambassador Amarendra Khatua said that the agreement would consist of the improvement of the mining and oil facilities in Africa's Ivory Coast during the next 5 years. According to the official, his nation has sought to avail of the vast and abundant oil resources of the region through the Gulf of Guinea. Moreover, the Indian government has also considered about building new mining and energy facilities in the area. The new global trade deal would also serve to further fortify the alliance between India and Africa. According to analysts, the global trade deal is vital in India's search for more energy resources outside its territory. Currently, the nation has embarked on looking for more energy and raw materials in order to fuel its rapidly growing economy. India is among the Asian countries that have shown a fast and remarkable economic growth during the recent years. As a result of this phenomenon, the energy demand from both industrial and domestic consumers have also risen. As India's energy resources fall short before the increasing demand, the government continues to seek more foreign supplies through signing global trade deals on energy. In fact, a large percentage of the nation's energy needs is already covered by foreign supplies. It must be noted that the recent floods that submerge the western part of India has also rouse more fears on energy supplies. Continuous and heavy rains during the past weeks had resulted to floods, which destroyed several petrochemical factories and a natural gas plant in the area. The damaged factories of both Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Reliance Industries may only account for a minor percentage of India's entire production of energy. Still, the closure of these facilities has affected the country's energy sector and has roused concerns on energy shortage. According to India's Ambassador to the Ivory Coast, both India and China are in need of securing their current and future energy resources due to their rapid economic development. He added that both countries needed to invest more money on global trade deals covering energy supplies. Needless to say, Mr. Khatua said that a civil war, which lasted until 2003, might pose as a hindrance towards India's plans to venture in Africa's mining and oil industries. He added that there were still plenty of things to be negotiated before his nation could proceed with its plans to make a global trade deal with the region. Currently, the Ivory Coast produces above 60,000 barrels of oil a day. Indian Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) already invested around $12 million in the exploration of an offshore oil resource in the place. Meanwhile, India's economy continues to expand with the increase of foreign investments. More foreign companies have been attracted by the country's improvement and are looking for business opportunities in the region. The government though was warned to increase its investments on infrastructure projects in order to cover the long term needs of its growing economy.

Courtesy: www.pr-gb.com, July 31, 2007

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The Biotech Industry will generate a business of US Dollar five billion by 2010 and it is all set to play a vital role in Agri-Biotech. Inaugurating the conference on 'Bio-Explore' at Science City Auditorium here last evening, Tamil Nadu State Council of Science and Technology Member Secretary Dr Vincent said the policies devised by the state government would perform an imperative role in the growth of the biotech industry. The conference was organised by Alpha Arts and Science College in association with Ohlone College, USA to deliberate on the evolving trends in the field of biotech. Dr Vincent said Science and Technology would provide solutions and serves the humanity with second priority to earnings. The Bio-informatics and Nano Technology field foresee tremendous growth, he added. Speaking at the conference, former Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan said, "the purpose of the conference lie in exploring the path laid by biotech industry in India and identify flaws in it. Biotech is one of the most promising areas of growth and development, but it is not reaching heights in India." The conference should draft plans for students to engage them actively in learning, to fill the void of industry requisites and mould them to be absorbable into the industry. The demand for human resource in biotech field should be highlighted and the exploration should cover the entire gamut of the industry, he said. Pointing out the enormous gap in knowledge and information, he said "a consistent appraisal of syllabus and training the teachers constantly would lead to great pace in education. Biotech will play a pivotal role in Vision 2020." The conference witnessed panel discussion on 'Evolving Trends in Biotech Industry'. The team of panelists shared their views on Medical Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Emerging trends in Biotechnology and emerging opportunities in Life Sciences and Healthcare. They also presented an overview on Landscape of Healthcare Biotechnology and Biotechnology in Healthcare. Alpha Group of Institutions Managing Director Ms Suja George said the Alpha Arts and Science College proposed to start an Industry Practice School in Bio-Sciences. The purpose of the conference was to interact with industry and evolve short term and long term courses as per industry requisites, she added.

Courtesy: www.newkerala.com, July 31, 2007

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After information technology, India is emerging as a global hub for biotechnology. The Indian biotech industry, excluding the organised pharmaceutical and drug manufacturing companies, reported revenues in excess of $1 billion in 2005-06. Encouraged, the government has prepared a draft biotech strategy to provide a clear roadmap to the industry for 10 years. The draft strategy has tried to take a holistic look at the current scenario and has suggested several measures and timeframes to promote innovation and manufacturing. The declared goals are to create world-class human capital, build quality infrastructure, and address the basic needs of society. All this would be aimed at logging $5 billion and generating a million jobs by 2010. The sector is characterised by dynamic changes in terms of new ideas and developments. The applications cover a broad spectrum of sectors including agriculture, food processing, pharmaceuticals, textiles, chemical sciences, and environmental preservation. "The world has woken up to the fact that India is a country that cannot be ignored while plotting the landscape of the biotechnology industry," consulting firm Frost & Sullivan has said in a report. Arvind Lal of Dr Lal's Pathlabs said the quest for improving the standard of healthcare has led to a tremendous global effort dedicated to new drug discovery and development. "Today, the pharmaceutical industry faces significant challenges such as cost optimisation, competition from generic drug makers, and, most crucially, an 'innovation deficit'," said Lal. "There is a shortage of people with the appropriate research and development skills. In clinical research outsourcing, we have to recruit for the focus area of research," said Dr Kashmira Pagdiwalla, director (HR operations) at Intas Biopharmaceuticals.A survey Ficci found that the shortage of doctorate and post-doctorate scientists in biotech at a worrying 80 per cent. That's why growth of employment in biotechnology is 10 times that in the other sectors of the larger life sciences industry. "There are several employment opportunities in R&D, manufacturing and quality control. On a sub-sectoral perspective, the requirement of skilled manpower in R&D is more," Pagdiwalla said, adding: "Recruiting in biotechnology does not mean that an HR person can relax."

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, July 24, 2007

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India's growth story no longer needs to be sold. We are a trillion-dollar economy with a trillion-dollar stock market. India is now one of the world's major software and services hubs. India's much-maligned manufacturing sector is also increasingly seen as one (in select sectors at least) that can deliver global scale manufacturing capacity and price-competitiveness. Indian companies are rapidly expanding their global footprint, often through acquisitions funded by canny investors who have recognised the competence of Indian managers and the skills they bring to the table.Now consider this: an estimated one-fifth of India's current workforce - from shop-floor workers to top managers - which has played a crucial part in the transformation of Indian business, will be out of the workforce by the year 2010. For good. Not because they would have been 'downsized', but simply because they would have passed India's absurdly low retirement age of 58. Welcome to the downside of India's much-touted 'demographic dividend', its vast supply of young workers entering the workforce, which will give India a huge edge over other economies, who are faced with a rapidly aging working population. Young, yes. Talented? There's a question mark over that. According to a recent study by Citigroup, critical and rapidly growing sectors like retail, civil aviation, telecom services and infrastructure, especially engineering services, are already facing moderate to severe talent shortages. Meanwhile, experienced, well-trained manpower is simply walking out of the office door, never to return. And most employers do not even appear to be bothered by this. In a survey of 4,742 employers spread across all major sectors, the results of which were released recently, recruitment major Manpower India found that a majority of the respondents did not have any strategy in place to retain or use what it termed the 'older workforce' - employees aged 50 years or above.

"Opening the doors to older workers is a major benefit…it will help organisations retain knowledge and experience, widen the recruitment base and could lead to more customers and greater profits," commented Soumen Basu, executive chairman, Manpower India. In other words, looking beyond those grey hairs makes sound business sense. Western companies have already begun to engage with the problem. A study by IBM Consulting carried this telling quote from Keith Johnstone, co-lead of Sandia's Knowledge Preservation Project: "What we're doing is trying to capture their ideas, but more than that, their psyches, to try to learn not just what they did, but why they did things the way they did; to find out what worked, what didn't work, what might have worked had the supporting technology been more advanced…"Another major issue will be the type of labour entering the market. Demographic studies have already found that states with high literacy levels, as well as urban centres, have significantly lower than average fertility levels. The reverse is true for the most educationally backward areas. According to Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute, "Educated and aging, or untutored and fertile - this looks to be the contradiction for India's development in the years immediately ahead."

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, July 12, 2007

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The Sensex touched 15,000 mark on Friday reaching this psychologically comforting milestone after 144 trading session or 144 days. But it touched it for a few seconds and was back in the 14,900 league. It closed at 14,964.12 up 102.23 points. The Nifty closed at 4384.85 up 30.90 points.A historic day, where 641 stocks ended in the green and 475 in the red, it was also a day of mixed reactions. The financial institutions were cautious as they felt that there were just a few stocks that pulled the Sensex up.The stocks that contributed to the ride to 15,000 were RIL, L&T, Bharti, ICICI, RCom and HDFC in the 30-share Sensex.But there were others like Mr Andrew Holland, managing director of DSP Merrill Lynch (INDIA) who said, "We had been expecting it so it has happened later than expected. The Indian markets had not been massive outperformers like the Asian markets. It had gone up just 8 and a half per cent compared to the 40 per cent of the Asian markets. We had issues of interest rates and big IPOs so it is time for the Indian markets to catch up." He said he felt that the 15,000 level could be sustained in the short term.Mr Holland said that the new high could sustain because they expect good results in first quarter.However Mr Ambaresh Baliga, vice-president, Karvy Stock Brokers looked at the new milestone as a pie in the sky. He said it may sustain for two or three days, but after the Infosys results are out the index could dip. He feels that Infosys results will be less than expectations because of the strong rupee against the dollar. The rupee had gained around eight per cent in the last few months. He said, "The dampner could actually be the Infosys results. We are expecting margins to be down because of the re:dollar position. Infosys results will be announced on July 11 and it usually sets the pace for the market. "Beyond that it is difficult to stay but we feel that the market valuations are stretched so once the Sensex starts coming below a certain level it will fall more." Mr Baliga added. Mr Nipun Mehta director and CEO of Unitis Tower Wealth Advisors P Ltd., said, "15,000 looks sustainable. There is a good possibility that there will be the good earnings results to back it. Results may not be good across the board. There could be industry specific hiccups. But there is good growth for larger companies." Mr S.P. Tulsian, a stockmarket consultant was bullish and said that the 15,000 will sustain as there is a good flow of funds from overseas, Q1 results are expected to be good and inflation too is coming down.

Courtesy: www.asianage.com, July 7, 2007

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Indian software and services exports are expected to earn about $40bn (£19.9bn) in the year to March 2008 as demand for outsourcing remains strong. The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) added that the sector should achieve $60bn in export revenue by 2009/2010. "We are confident and I think we will get there," said Nasscom president Kiran Karnik. "The overall demand is strong... the headroom for growth is huge."Indian software and services exports are expected to earn about $40bn (£19.9bn) in the year to March 2008 as demand for outsourcing remains strong. The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) added that the sector should achieve $60bn in export revenue by 2009/2010. "We are confident and I think we will get there," said Nasscom president Kiran Karnik. "The overall demand is strong... the headroom for growth is huge."

Challenges ahead
Indian software firms such as Tata Consultancy, Infosys and Wipro offer services like system integration, application development, and supply chain designing and back-office services. A large pool of English-speaking and well-educated workers have helped to win outsourcing contracts from firms in Europe and the US, and means India remains a favourite outsource destination. Nasscom says the industry contributes 5.2% to the country's gross domestic production. But there are challenges to the sector, such as rising wages and the increase in the rupee against the dollar this year.

Courtesy: http://news.bbc.co.uk, 3 July, 2007

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India's booming IT industry, which has clocked in a 30 percent growth in revenues in last fiscal, is on track to meet the export target of $60 billion by fiscal 2009-10, a top industry body has said. 'The software services industry continues to exceed forecasts year after year. With this robust growth rate, we are confident the export target of $60 billion will be achieved by FY 2009-10,' Kiran Karnik, president of the National Association of Software Services Companies (Nasscom), told reporters in Bangalore after releasing the annual survey of the industry for fiscal 2007. Riding on outsourcing and offshoring, the software services sector is projected to grow at 24-27 percent in the current fiscal (2007-08) to post topline revenue of $50 billion from exports and domestic market as against $40 billion in the last fiscal (2006-07). The revenue and export projections for FY 2008 are in line with the Nasscom-McKinsey study of 2005. The lower growth rate from FY 2007 to FY 2008, however, masks the projected incremental revenue of $10 billion, which is higher than ever before. Of the total revenue projection, software and services exports are estimated to grow by 26-29 percent to $28-29 billion in FY 2008 as against $23 billion in FY 2007. Similarly, exports from ITES-BPO segment will be $11 billion ($8.4 billion) and the domestic market is set to grow by 20-22 percent to contribute $10 billion ($8.2 billion).

Traditional verticals such as transportation, retail and hospitality will supplement the strong demand from banking and financial services, telecom and infrastructure services. 'From a market opportunity perspective, indicators continue to be positive with a potential addressable market of $300 billion, driven by growth of existing business and new servicesline opportunities. Though India continues to be the most preferred destination for global IT sourcing due to its talent pool, top-quality management and security and quality focus, there are certain short-to-medium term challenges that need to be addressed swiftly,' Karnik pointed out. Among the concerns are rupee appreciation, suitability of available talent, infrastructure development and sustenance of a positive policy/regulatory environment. For instance the rupee appreciation (about nine percent) during the last three months was 'too much and too fast' for the software sector. 'With exports generating over 80-90 percent of total revenues, rising rupee is a cause for concern for the industry. Unlike the traditional sectors, which avail import benefits for exports, the IT sector does not import anything. As a result, the impact of rupee appreciation is around 95 percent on the software sector as against 35 percent on the traditional or manufacturing sectors,' Karnik noted. According to the latest survey, the outlook for global IT-BPO demand is positive, as the un-addressed market potential for global sourcing is large. Momentum in new contract signings, renewals, restructuring, merger and acquisitions in key client industries and greater private equity activity are driving the growth and creating new opportunities. 'India continues to maintain its distinctive lead as the destination of choice on parameters such as talent suitability, maturity and business environment. For instance, 28 percent of the suitable talent is available across all offshore locations, which makes India outrank the next destination by a factor of 2.5,' Nasscom chairman Lakshmi Narayanan asserted. 'Similarly, broad service portfolio and strong emphasis on security and quality are enabling the industry to leverage the experience curve to derive gains from operational excellence,' he said.The survey ranked TCS as the top exporter in FY 2007, followed by Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, HCL, Tech Mahindra, Patni Computer Systems, I-flex Solutions, L&T InfoTech, Polaris Software Lab among the 20 leading export firms.

Courtesy: www.andhracafe.com, July 02, 2007

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