Bangalore, November 19: The rapid growth of the Indian pharma and biotech industries is creating a huge demand for technology, equipment and services in research and development, quality validation, training as well as commercial processing in the life sciences field.

All set to provide such support is the Bangalore-based Millipore (India) Pvt. Ltd., a 14-year old joint venture between Indian promoter, Subhash Bagaria, and the Millerica, Massachusetts (U.S.) based Millipore Corporation. With 11 manufacturing units and six R & D centres across the world, the 50-year old Millipore Corporation is the global leader in this business and had a revenue of $704 million in 2002.

Millipore India has recently expanded its role by putting in place two new facilities. One is a process development lab, which will assist Indian biopharma companies in developing and scaling up manufacturing processes for new products and also train their process personnel. Millipore India is also in talks with some Southern universities to jointly run a structured and practical post-graduate course in biotechnology, using this lab as a core resource. The second new facility is an access services lab, the fourth of its type in the world, to help the Indian biotech and pharma companies in meeting stringent local and international regulatory requirements. This lab will conduct validation, microbiological analysis and retention studies. It will also support customers in microbiology training and provide offsite services such as quality systems, audit support and process optimisation. According to Sudhir Kant, President, Millipore India, these two labs will go a long way in enabling the Indian biotech and pharma industries to meet the challenges thrown up by the new product patent regime effective 2005.

In addition, the company has started a special school, where short term courses are held, lasting a couple of months, on filtration technology and processes. These are meant for customer personnel as well as others interested in picking up this technology.

Francis Lunger, CEO and President of Millipore Corporation, has many more plans for the Indian JV. Impressed by the high quality stainless steel machining and fabrication work done by the company, he feels it can become a global source for stainless steel components. He expects that the nucleus software support facility set up by Millipore India can be expanded to take up development of embedded software for Millipore equipment. He is also looking at the possibility of making the Bangalore company the main English speaking technical support centre for Millipore Corporation worldwide.

Courtesy: The Hindu, November 20, 2003

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Mumbai, November 19: Hero Motors, India's largest motorcycle firm announced on Wednesday that it has tied up with Europe's second largest producer of motorcycles and scooters, Aprilia, an Italian company, for manufacturing scooters in India. Production will start from late 2004.

According to a statement, Hero Motors, which is investing Rs 135 crores in setting up a manufacturing line at its Ghaziabad plant, will launch its first co-branded non-geared scooter in the fourth quarter of 2004.

The company will source vehicle designs for non-geared scooters, which it says will be a fusion of scooter economy, efficiency and style from Aprilia.

These scooters will be launched in the 75 cc model, the 92 cc aimed at young females, the 125 cc aimed at families and the young male market and the 177 cc category targeted solely at the export market. Though managing director, Hero Motors, Pankaj Munjal refused to reveal the price of the latest offering from the Rs 7,800 crore Hero Group, he did say that the vehicles would be priced higher than those offered by existing competitors.

"If you want the best technology, comfort, style and performance, you have to pay a premium," he said. The premium could be about 10 per cent over the competing models. Aprilia will only be paid an unspecified royalty per vehicle for the technology and design and will not have any equity in the venture.

Mr Munjal said the company was targeting a 10 per cent share in both the 3,50,000 scooter market and 4,00,000 vehicles a year in the family un-geared scooter market.

Hero Motors plans to export 20 to 30 per cent of the 4,50,000 units produced at their new assembly line.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, November 20, 2003

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New Delhi: A recent Goldman Sachs study says that India and China will have the highest growth rates by 2050, and the developed world is bullish about Asia and India. So, how is Asia looking at its new-found glory? Asian leaders met at Boao in Hainan, China, to chalk out a strategy that would provide a win-win solution to Asian countries. India is now firmly on their radar even east Asian countries, which had earlier used the opportunity of the Boao Forum for greater east Asian cooperation, are now looking south to India and Asean countries.

Dr Muthiah, who chaired a plenary session, said that the world GDP growth would have declined by 1% or, worse still, been in the negative had the Asian economies not contributed to global growth. Quoting the now dog-eared Goldman Sachs projections, Dr Muthiah said that China and India would lead the global growth over the next five decades. " India has averaged a growth rate of almost 6% over the last decade, and China has registered a double-digit growth rate. Further, the projections stated that India and China would have an average annual growth rate of 5.8% and 4.9% over the next five decades compared to 1.8% for the US and 1.4% for Japan. Asia as a whole will grow 3.5% annually."

The Boao Forum has, at first glance, an east Asian focus. This despite the fact that it is headed by the former president of the republic of the Philippines Fidel Ramos, or the fact that 24 Asian countries, including India and other south and south-east Asian countries, were initial members of the forum. However, the Ficci secretary-general says that this has changed. "Even east Asian leaders were constantly speaking of south and south-east Asia and the need for greater co-operation, it is as if they have adopted a Look West policy." Dr Mitra said that some sectoral discussions of the forum would be travelling to India next year.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 20, 2003

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Bangalore: While China has been attracting some business process outsourcing (BPO) activity, the battle for supremacy in the contact centre (IT-enabled services) industry in Asia has boiled down to a head-to-head between India and Philippines.

The key to India 's recent success in attracting contact centre operations is its competitive cost structure, based largely on its low cost of labour and high service quality enjoyed by an increasing number of companies that have outsourced to India, said Jones Lang Lasalle's contact centres report.

But the real advantage for India lies in being the lowest 'cost per transaction' of any contact centre location in Asia. Comparison of cost in Asia is as follows: India $0.3, Philippines $0.4, China $0.5, Malaysia $0.6, Thailand $0.6, Hong Kong $2 and Singapore $1.3.

In addition, the global perception towards India 's workforce has improved substantially in the past three years. "Today, India has become one of the most favourable contact centre destinations, capable of handling complex outsourcing assignments apart from low-end customer service and BPO work", said the report.

Contact centres have accounted for the vast majority of demand for office space in major Indian cites. Currently, Delhi and Bangalore have emerged as preferred destination, with secondary hubs in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune offer relatively low cost locations.

Headcount is about 1,71,000, with an estimated 200 additional people recruited each day. The current share of contact centre production of seats in first half of 2003 are: Delhi 29%, Bangalore 25%, Mumbai 17%, Chennai 14%, Hyderabad 11% and Pune 4%.

The contact centre (IT-enabled services) industry is expected to grow at an annual rate of 54% in 2003-04 with revenues expected to rise to $3.4 billion.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 20, 2003

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It's destination India ' not just for the tourist in the globe-trotter, but also for jobs on the other side of the Atlantic.

Even as US companies rush to cut costs, a recent report indicates that one out of every 10 jobs in the US software industry will move to inexpensive emerging markets such as India by the end of 2004. Technical jargon terms this process as M2I ' Move To India.

Recently, HSBC Bank joined Lloyds TSB, Prudential, National Rail Inquiries and Bank of America in announcing that they would slash costs by moving thousands of jobs to India.

Then, software giant Oracle has said that it is moving 2,000 developer jobs from the US to India. Hewlett-Packard has also announced plans to close a customer-service operation in Florida and send the operation's 1,200 jobs overseas - again to India.

According to the UK-based Forrester Research, HSBC and other companies represent just the tip of the iceberg, with some 750,000 British jobs being moved offshore over the next decade.

In the US, figures are even higher with predictions of 3.3 million 'non-farm jobs' being offshored by 2015.

In addition to the local hiring, IT companies are busy relocating their employees in overseas offices to India. Bangalore-based i2 Technologies offers a case in point. Seems like the brain-drain story will continue to flow out of India.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.com, November 20, 2003

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Mumbai: The $18-billion Reliance Group chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani has visualised a major role for Indian commodities in the world markets as a result of commencement of futures trading in major commodities in the country.

"Today India is looking at major commodity markets in the world for price indications, the day is not far off when the world would look at India for price discovery in major commodities like gold, silver, edible oils and oilseeds, metals, spices, textiles and petro products," he said, while formally inaugurating futures trading in gold, silver and castor seed at Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) here.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 20, 2003

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Mumbai: Outsourcing isn't just making waves in India, it seems the flavour in US universities too. For Patrick T Harker, dean of Wharton School, outsourcing appears to be the biggest fad. But he adds in the same breath that India is so "hot" because of this fad on US campuses, that almost every faculty member wants to come to India. "We carried out a research on outsourcing and India, and the demand among business, students and academia was so great that we are doing a programme on it," he says.

He said that India is hot and everyone wants to understand the country, its companies and economy. In conversation with ET, Harker also spoke about ethics in management and the challenges of globalising a B-school. (Can there be a reverse brain drain from the US to India?)

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 20, 2003

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A report by Goldman Sachs is causing a stir in India and abroad. It projects that China, US and India will be by far the three largest economies in the world by 2050. Each of them will be more than four times as large as the next largest economies - those of Japan, Brazil, Russia, the UK, and Germany. The report estimates that the US ' GDP will be $45 trillion, China 's $35 trillion and India 's about $28 trillion, whereas Japan 's will be about $7 trillion. And so the global economic landscape, and with it geo-political equations, are likely to change significantly. One may view such long-term projections by economists with healthy scepticism, considering that the world was supposed to run out of food before the turn of the century according to the Club of Rome, and the twenty first century was supposed to be dominated by Japan according to economists who extrapolated the country's impressive growth in the 1970s. What will cause China and India to become so dominant on the global stage by 2050? The principal factor contributing to the huge sizes of the Chinese and Indian economies if they continue on their development paths is demographics. Both countries have huge populations.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 20, 2003

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Bangalore, November 19: FreeMarkets, the sourcing solutions company will be signing contracts with midcap companies in India which have turnovers ranging from Rs 200 crores to Rs 500 crores. FreeMarkets acts as an intermediary between companies and suppliers helping them source their requirements in terms of products and services.

Mr Glen T. Meakem, founder and chairman of FreeMarkets said, "India is a strategic focus for us. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, the first public sector customer for FreeMarkets in India since July 2003, has saved up to 15 per cent of the cost involved in purchase of cables after availing our services."

Mr Ravi Kumaraswami, group director, FreeMarkets, said, "As PSUs are looking at cost reduction, we are also targeting government companies besides the private sector." FreeMarkets, which is currently operating in the northern, western and southern parts of the country will also start operations in the east shortly.

In India alone, FreeMarkets has 30,000 suppliers while it has 2 lakh suppliers worldwide. The company has saved Rs 700 crores for Indian customers since its operations began in the year 2000.

FreeMarkets believes the total enterprise-sourcing opportunities in India are worth $30 billion and comparable with other Asia-Pacific markets although more fragmented.

Speaking on the company's future plans, Mr Kumaraswami said, "We are planning to make atleast six companies in the midcap market sector as successful as larger companies."

Courtesy: The Asian Age, November 20, 2003

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Kolkata, November 19: The global jewellery majors have recently started looking at India to set up their base in the country through routes like joint ventures or fully owned companies for outsourcing Indian designed diamond and gold jewellery.

This move, the industry believe, will boost trading activities in the country. The rate of growth of trading activities in gems have already outpaced the growth witnessed in other segments of export from India. The country's international trading activities in cut and polished diamonds have gone up by 171.40 per cent during first half of the current fiscal against the same period previous year. In value terms it has reached $318.81 million from $117.47 million.

Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council chairman Sanjay Kothari on Wednesday told The Asian Age that some of the international jewellery companies have initiated processes to form joint ventures in India with local companies.

"Already few international jewellery companies have started their outsourcing activities through their affiliates. JVs between Indian diamond and gold jewellery exporters is expected to materialise shortly," Mr Kothari said.

However, he refused to divulge names of specific companies who are toying with the JV ideas.

Currently, Special Economic Zones allows 100 per cent FDI in this sector. Profits are also allowed to repatriated freely without dividend balancing.

Mr Kothari asked the government to treat 100 per cent Export Oriented Units at par with Special Economic Zones.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, November 20, 2003

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New Delhi: Leading basmati exporter Satnam Overseas is setting up a rice mill near London to market its flagship brand, Kohinoor, through major retail chains of Europe.

Estimated to be around Rs.20 crore, the investments for the rice processing facility will be routed through Indo-European Foods, the UK-based subsidiary of Satnam. As of now, Satnam processes basmati meant for the European market at a rented mill in Sweden.

Setting up a mill in Europe is necessary to market Kohinoor through retail chains like Safeway and Walmart, Satnam's joint managing director Gurnam Arora told ET. Talks are on with a number of retail chains and they had indicated that setting up a milling facility in Europe would provide them comfort about timely supplies. Nearly 42,000 sq ft of space is being bought near London.

Brown basmati exported from India would be processed and packaged at the new mill that would come up early next year, Mr Arora said. Machinery produced in India would be installed at this mill. The new facility will help Satnam to take care of changes in trade policy that are being brought about under the WTO.

Satnam Overseas is also setting up a large facility in Haryana for manufacture of processed foods. The state-of-the-art facility, coming up at a cost of Rs.6 crore, will produce 'heat and eat' range of ready foods.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 19, 2003

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It's destination India - not just for the tourist in the globe-trotter, but also for jobs on the other side of the Atlantic. Even as US companies rush to cut costs, a recent report indicates that one out of every 10 jobs in the US software industry will move to inexpensive emerging markets such as India by the end of 2004. Technical jargon terms this process as M2I - Move To India.

Recently, HSBC Bank joined Lloyds TSB, Prudential, National Rail Inquiries and Bank of America in announcing that they would slash costs by moving thousands of jobs to India. Then, software giant Oracle has said that it is moving 2,000 developer jobs from the US to India. Hewlett-Packard has also announced plans to close a customer-service operation in Florida and send the operation's 1,200 jobs overseas - again to India.

''But it is false to think the only jobs which could go overseas are low-skilled with low wages,'' says John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

According to the UK-based Forrester Research, HSBC and other companies represent just the tip of the iceberg, with some 750,000 British jobs being moved offshore over the next decade. In the US, figures are even higher with predictions of 3.3 million 'non-farm jobs' being offshored by 2015.

Says Les Mara, vice-president (consultants), Cap Gemini Ernst and Young, ''Offshore outsourcing is no longer just about call centres and low content activities; it is about skilled work too.''

Courtesy: The Times of India, November 19, 2003

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Mumbai: In yet another move to establish itself as a global automobile brand, Tata Motors is considering setting up base in Thailand with an assembly facility for pick-up trucks.

Sources said the firm, which recently sent a team of officials to Thailand on a recce, is keen on the country. Thailand is the second largest producer of pick-up trucks in the world.

Several companies like Toyota Motor Corp, General Motors, Ford Motor Co, Isuzu Motors and Mitsubishi Motors are present in Thailand with significant production and export operations for pick-up trucks.

Tata Motors, which recently signed an MoU for the acquisition of commercial vehicle facilities of the sick Korean auto manufacturer Daewoo Motors, sent a top-level delegation to South Korea to begin due diligence of the Daewoo facilities.

This exercise is expected to be completed in around four months. In the event of Tata Motors acquiring the Daewoo facilities, the Korean unit could act as a springboard for Tata Motors' foray in China.

A Telco spokesperson refused to comment. Meanwhile, sources also said the company's proposed Iranian venture with local auto maker Khodro had once again gained momentum, with the latter restarting talks with the Indian firm.

Courtesy: The Times of India, November 19, 2003

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Kolkata: India has potential to generate 30 million jobs on incremental basis in outsourcing business by 2020, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) vice-president and director K. James Abraham on Tuesday said. "Right now less than one-third of fortune companies were going for outsourcing and even less than one-twenty fourth of that was coming to India… So there is huge potential for job creation from outsourcing in the country," Abraham said here.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, November 19, 2003

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New Delhi: The Shining India story may give birth to Indian multinational brokerages. The rising international interest in the Indian stock markets generated by FIIs is now taking traditional Indian brokerage houses overseas with plans to tap the average foreigner retail investor apart from HNIs interested in Indian stock markets.

At least two top Indian brokers, who had been exploring the option of setting up shops in the Middle East to cater to the vast pool of high net worth investors, are now in the process of giving shape to their plans.

Says Mr Motilal Oswal, "We had been wanting to set up an office in the Middle East to tap the vast pool of disposable income there for long. That should happen by March next year."

This will be the first terminal for an Indian stock exchange set up outside India. The firm already caters to some Gulf-based HNIs and offers portfolio management services. With the setting up of the office it will concentrate on the average retail investors there.

Another media-shy Delhi-based brokerage with 20 branches in India is looking to launch operations in the Gulf in another six months. The firm has already identified some HNIs and is exploring the procedural options currently.

Expansion plans are not just limited to the Gulf. A whole gamut of heavy-duty brokerage houses that had hitherto concentrated only on the Mumbai markets and used the franchise or the sub-broker route to cater to markets outside Mumbai are setting up branches across India.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 19, 2003

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Chennai: India is likely to become the third-largest IT market in the Asia-Pacific region in a few years time, overtaking markets such as South Korea and Australia, according to a senior Oracle official.

Keith Budge, regional managing director, Oracle, said the company's expectation was that the country would become the third-largest IT market in the region after Japan and China within a few years.

He was not specific about the timeframe. "It might be one or two years. It might be three or four," he said.

The market would be driven by IT investments in both public and private sectors. The company expects a lot of activity in the government sector as well as in the telecom, financial services, manufacturing and healthcare sectors in the next few years.

"There is a lot of confidence. There is a lot of interest in trying out things," he said. Indian companies are now looking not just at the domestic market but also at international markets. "They recognise the need for advance IT systems to enable them to compete on a global stage," he said.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 19, 2003

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India and China are vying to host the research and development laboratory of Cambridge-based semiconductor company, ARM. The initiative by the company known as a standard bearer for the UK technology sector, is being seen as a blow to UK's reputation as a centre for new technology.

India is being seen as the most likely contender for the job. Executives are impressed by Indian talent and feel that they can no longer ignore India's highly educated workforce when assessing where to locate their businesses. One reportedly said, "The quality of their graduates, especially in science and maths, is so high, that we would be mad not to employ them. It's not just that they are cheap. They tend to have better skills than their British or American counterparts.

The steady export of jobs from the UK to both India and China was confirmed at the weekend when the head of the UK's Confederation of British Industry (CBI) warned that the two Asian giants could easily outperform the economies of Europe.

On the eve of this year's annual meeting of CBI, Digby Jones said in an interview that corporate Britain was in danger of losing its competitive edge and that "India and China will eat Europe for lunch, dinner and breakfast if we are not careful."

Courtesy: The Pioneer, November 18, 2003

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Mumbai: Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an outfit operating under the aegis of the ministry of information and technology is expecting export revenues from software and IT-enabled service units to rise to around Rs 3,500 crore in '03-04.

Export revenues from STPI's units in '02-03 stood at Rs 2,311 crore. The high revenue growth export estimate of about 51% is driven by the growth of captive and third-party business process outsourcing (BPO) units. According to STPI officials, apart from the existing 1,000 companies (both Indian and MNCs), there has been an addition of 40 units since April '03 as of November '03.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 18, 2003

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Shanghai: The booming East China region as well as Shanghai metropolis have wooed top Indian firms like Infosys, Satyam, TCS, NIIT, State Bank of India and Reliance to set up software development centres or representative offices to tap the huge Chinese and East Asian markets.

"In keeping with China 's emergence as a manufacturing hub, the Indian industry is taking a dispassionate look at the benefits of greater economic engagement through investments, opening of representative offices and the setting up of operations in East China region, especially in Shanghai," the Consul General of India in Shanghai, Sujan Chinoy said.

India 's total trade with East China has registered an impressive 70 per cent growth in 2000 reaching $777 million, and another impressive 28 per cent increase in 2001 reaching almost $1 billion.

In 2002, India 's total trade with East China stood at $1.582 bn, an increase of 60 per cent over 2001. During 2002 India 's total exports to East China reached $669 million while imports touched $913 million.

Courtesy: The Times of India, November 18, 2003

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Two-three years ago, India was a minuscule exporter of steel to China. This year upto September 2003, Indian steel accounts for 6-7 per cent of Chinese steel imports. Five firms - Sail, Tata Steel, Ispat, Jindal and Essar, account for about three-fifths of these exports.

For the first time, during January-September 2003, the bilateral trade balance has swung in India 's favour. This is entirely because of steel exports that have, according to Chinese data, amounted to around 1.6 million tonne in the first nine months of 2003. And, it is important to reconcile data: For 2002, India says its exports amounted to 262,000 tonne while the Chinese claim it was 480,000 tonne.

The Chinese have made their discomfiture known by telling the Indian government that Indian steel exports have crossed the critical threshold of 3 per cent of imports. The WTO allows any country to take protective measures when this level is crossed. Last year, China took action against a series of countries but exempted India . Now, they are telling India to moderate steel exports. The Big Five have gone out of their way to assuage China, saying that when steel demand picks up, exports would automatically reduce. Presently, about 10 per cent of India 's steel output is exported, of which roughly half is to China alone.

India must also explore new avenues of win-win cooperation in steel. China is desperately short of good-quality iron ore. India is already the third largest supplier of iron ore to China, after Australia and Brazil. In a recent interaction with the Chinese Iron and Steel Association in Beijing, one of India 's most outstanding techno-managers, B Muthuraman, MD of Tata Steel, proposed: Make semi-finished steel in India from Indian iron-ore and thereby add value within India. Then make finished steel in China thereby adding further value there.

Going beyond steel, Indian firms must appreciate that what matters most in China is scale and speed. More than that, provinces and municipalities who enjoy greater powers than their Indian counterparts are crucial. Yunnan and Sichuan are keen on greater cooperation with India, both at a public and private level. Indeed, the future of India 's East and Northeast is inextricably linked to such cooperation involving Bangladesh and Myanmar as well.

Courtesy: The Times of India, November 17, 2003

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Mumbai, November 16: Chennai-based Midas Communications, the only Indian company working in the telecom access technologies space, is targeting a four-fold jump in its revenues this fiscal with the demand of the wireless access technologies from telecom operators like Reliance Infocomm and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

Midas' two products, corDECT and optiMA, which the company is banking upon to generate the major part of the revenues, has been developed both in the wireless platform as well as in the wire platform.

"We are targeting a turnover of Rs 200 crores for 2003-04 as we expect that most of the telecom operators are looking at expanding in the next two years and corDECT is on their agenda. In fact one of our licensees has been able to garner a huge project of BSNL which consists of laying 600,000 lines in rural India and they will need corDECT for that," Mr Raghu Rao, vice-president, business development, Midas Communications, said.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, November 17, 2003

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New Delhi: FIIs have built-up huge outstanding positions in the derivatives market, which reached an all-time high of over Rs 3,500 crore last week. FIIs held 92,985 futures and options contracts worth Rs 3,505.3 crore as on November 13, according to Sebi data.

The build-up assumes tremendous significance as it comes in the wake of stiff exposure margins on outstanding positions, that go as high as 30% on some counters, imposed by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) last Monday, due to which gross open positions held in the market have shrunk substantially.

Marketmen pointed out that the Sebi data, in fact, underestimates the actual FII inflows into the derivatives segment, since several top FIIs also invest in futures and options through some propriety brokers by way of over-the-counter (OTC) deals, to circumvent the ceilings imposed by the exchange on maximum open positions that can be held by FIIs.

However, outstanding positions held by FIIs came down marginally on Friday to Rs 3,371.6 crore (91,903 contracts). Figures for Saturday are yet to be released. FIIs poured $590.9m into the equity market on Friday, and $59.6m in the debt segment. Hence, as on Friday, total FII inflows in these two segments this calendar totalled around $6bn.

Most FII investments tend to be in the nature of cash-futures arbitrage. In fact, the exchange has recently taken steps to curtail exposure in scrips on which derivatives products are also available for trading.

It also turns out that FII investments in the derivatives segment are not as reactive to price as those from the rest of the market, which primarily consists of high networth individuals and propriety brokers.

On Thursday, total outstanding positions in the market fell 4.3% from Rs 9,390 crore to Rs 8,980 crore due to a drop in prices. FII open interest rose only by 2.8% from Rs 3,400 crore to Rs 3,500 crore due to the price fall, according to a researcher with an institutional brokerage house.

"There seems to be an inertia in the FII segment. All activity in the derivatives market is happening in the balance Rs 5,500-crore market," he said. Another researcher explained the phenomenon saying that FIIs tend to have a longer investment time-frame and deeper staying ability.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 17, 2003

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New Delhi: In what could be the beginning of an ambitious international foray, Ispat group top honcho PK Mittal is believed to have struck a deal with the Libyan government to take over the management of a 2-m capacity state-owned integrated steel company there. Mittal will run the company on a lease basis in a profit-sharing arrangement with the Libyan government, sources close to the deal said. PK Mittal is also a front-runner for B H Steel, Bosnia's biggest steel mill, along with its two mines. Sources said Mr Mittal is bidding for a majority stake in B H Steel through Ispat Group Global Infrastructure Holding, the arm through which the Ispat chief will be bidding for international projects. (Can India be the global leader in the steel sector?)

PK Mittal has only recently acquired a 1.5m tonne coke oven plant in Bosnia.

Mr Mittal is also learnt to be scouting around in the former Eastern European region for possible acquisition targets as part of the group's plans to make a concerted effort to expand internationally. The plan also envisages acquiring lucrative mines as part of the proposed acquisitions abroad which will help Ispat to source its raw material at highly competitive rates and thus achieve significant reductions in the production costs of Ispat Industries.

When contacted, PK Mittal told ET that he was still in negotiations for the Libyan plant and the final agreement is yet to be executed for it. Mr Mittal also revealed that he was looking for possible acquisitions internationally "though things are still at an early stage".

Mittal is learnt to have formed an expert team for exploring and undertaking negotiations for his proposed overseas acquisition plans. "The game plan is aimed at getting a foothold in Europe which will not only help the group's exports but will equally help in sourcing iron ores at much cheaper prices," a sources familiar with the plans said.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 17, 2003

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Toronto, November 15: Lauding India's economic progress, Canada's Prime Minister-designate, Paul Martin, has said the country was emerging as an economic superpower.

"Within a generation, the U.S. will not be the lone economic superpower. India and China are already accelerating global competition, shaking the foundations of the world economy," Mr. Martin said in his maiden speech after he officially became the leader of Canada's ruling Liberal Party.

Courtesy: The Hindu, November 16, 2003

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Bigger size may not necessarily ensure better performance, at least, not in the banking sector. Indian banks have emerged as 'star performers' among the 300 banks surveyed in the Asian Region. Under the Asia's strongest banks model developed by the Singapore-based The Asian Banker Journal, Indian banks account for 40% of the top 90th percentile with an average score of 27 out of 35. Corporation Bank topped the list with a score of 30 followed by HDFC Bank with 29. Jammu & Kashmir Bank, State Bank of Patiala, Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Standard Chartered Bank of India, UTI Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, State Bank of Travancore and Vijaya Bank are the other banks which have got a score of 26 or above.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 14, 2003

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India has emerged as the second most active venture capital market in Asia-Pacific only behind South Korea in 2002. The venture capital funds disbursed a total of $590.21 million in 76 Indian companies, improving its ranking from third in 2001. This was among the several findings of the second annual survey of the venture capital industry conducted by Thomson Venture Economics and Prime Database, which were released by the Sebi Chairman G.N. Bajpai. According to Mr Haldea, such companies accounted for 57 per cent of all companies raising venture capital in 2002, compared to just 13 per cent earlier. Also the venture funds continued to look at larger deal sizes, in 2002 the average deal size was $7.11 million compared to just $3.85 million in 2000. Releasing the survey, Mr Bajpai said, "Indians have the aspiration to be entrepreneurs and with the kind of skill and talent we have, the role of venture capitalists becomes very important. The VCs have tasted success with few start ups and should expand the horizon of their funding to other potential areas like manufacturing and various other core sectors."

Courtesy: The Asian Age, November 14, 2003

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Planning Commission member N.K. Singh on Thursday highlighted the new opportunities arising from the high growth rate achieved by India in the 90s, the current economic buoyancy and its long-term sustainability. Speaking at a high-level seminar on 'India, the third power centre in Asia', held in the French Senate, Singh emphasised that the sustainability of the high growth would be propelled by what he described as "four drivers and an accelerator". The drivers, he said, were the 'demographic dividend', arising from the young and skilled population profile; consumption dividend, where nearly 40 million people each year were moving into the high consuming class; the knowledge dividend by India becoming the service capital of the world, particularly in high value economic activity; and productivity dividend arising from a favourable incremental capital output ratio. Christian Poncelet, president of the Senate, and Francois Loos, French Minister for External Trade, also emphasised the new importance of India in the changing global configuration.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, November 14, 2003

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After students its now the turn of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) itself to go global. IIT is seriously planning to set up a branch campus in Singapore soon. India's premier technology college has already given in-principle approval to establishing its branch in Singapore. This is as part of the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement planned with India, Singapore's minister of state for trade and industry Vivian Balakrishnan said on Wednesday. Preliminary talks were held in New Delhi in late March with six of the seven IITs and they agreed to setting up college in Singapore, subject to clearance from the Indian government. Speaking at the launch of a book on doing business in India, he noted that Indian students formed the largest segment of the international student body at the Singapore management university.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, November 13, 2003

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The emerging popularity of 'Brand India' in the software services space is now assisting India-based medium sized software units of MNC companies target customers outside the country. Captive MNC software units that ET spoke to said that cost and talent strengths that India offers will give them an advantage over local competitors in many geographies. CEOs of these companies however were unwilling to openly admit on their plans to venture outside the captive mould. Software firms that are looking at customers outside their boundaries are confident of their experiment being a success due to strong brand image that Indian has gained as the right destination to produce quality software.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 13, 2003

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Satyam Computer Services has decided to set up a new global delivery centre in the Schengen region of Europe. This is in a bid to leverage the current rush for software outsourcing and to exploit the huge potential in the European markets in an effective way. The company will also set up a near shore development centre in Canada or Latin America soon. With the proposed additions to its overseas development centres the total number of such global delivery outfits will go up to 20 including those in the UK, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Australia, China apart from five centres in the US.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 12, 2003

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New Delhi: Indian Electronics and software companies have expanded their footprint across the world and in 2002-03 they sold in 181 countries against 175 in 2001-02. "In 1998-99 the number was 159 now there is hardly a country where India is not exporting these products," D K Sareen, executive director, Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council said. Of the 181 countries, US accounted for 58 per cent, UK for 13 per cent, Germany 4 per cent, Singapore 3 per cent, Netherlands 2 per cent, Belgium 1.80 per cent, Canada 1.65 per cent, Australia 1.25 per cent and China 1.04 per cent.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, November 12, 2003

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Multinational automobile firms such as Toyota, Hyundai, Fiat, Volvo, Ford, General Motors and Renault are planning to make India a major sourcing hub for automobiles and auto components. All these companies have outlined various plans for outsourcing from India. According to data provided by the Automotive Component Manufactures Association of India, Toyota wants to make India a hub for transmissions while Hyundai will make India its export base for small cars. Ford will source engines and also plans to set up a division for auto components with an investment of $500 million. According to industry sources, while French automobile firm Renault is in talks with several component manufacturers for sourcing of components of trucks and buses, GM is setting up a research and development centre in Bangalore. He added that other Asian countries such as China, Thailand and Taiwan do not have strong engineered products in the component manufacturing industry. These countries are strong in areas like injection moulded plastic, light fitting, wiring harness etc.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, November 12, 2003

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With eyes set firmly on becoming a multi-national company by 2017, state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation is planning to foray into the West Asian market with two projects in Saudi Arabia and Oman. The power giant is in the race for establishing an integrated power project and desalination plant near Jeddah. Chairman and Managing Director C P Jain said the company had put in an initial bid for the Shouiba integrated power and desalination project, 10 km from Jeddah. Jain said it would house a 700-MW oil-fired power project alongside a 170 million gallon-per-day (MGD) de-salination plant.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 11, 2003

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Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals has begun active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) supplies to its joint venture in China, which was established last year with North China Pharmaceutical Corporation (NCPC). The 50:50 JV company, NCPC Orchid Pharmaceuticals, which has set up a manufacturing facility, commenced its commercial production in early September '03. Since then, Orchid has exported $2 million worth APIs to former, which in turn converts them into formulations and sells in the local market. Apart from the products that are being exported to its customers in China, Orchid has come out with five new products exclusively for its JV with NCPC. For the second half, in addition to the new business via China, Orchid hopes to gain from a substantial contribution from its formulations arm, which is expected to end the year with a turnover of Rs 125 crore.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 11, 2003

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Indian MNCs are on a shopping spree buying companies everywhere in the world. From Azerbaijan to Australia and USA to UAE, 2003 has witnessed a spurt in the mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity expanding the footprint of Indian companies on the global orbit. The M&A service of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy reports that Indian companies have acquired over 40 foreign firms in April-October 2003. This year Indian companies' acquisition is likely to cross the $1 billion (Rs 4,500 crore) mark. Buoyed by productivity gains - financial reforms and a strong rupee - Indian manufacturing is going and thinking global. Take Pharma major Ranbaxy's journey. In 1998, Ranbaxy had to wait for a year just to get an appointment with Wal-Mart's procurement manager. Just five years later, Ranbaxy has an on-ground presence in 30 countries. "Indian companies have realised the competitive advantage of having large operations. That's why many companies are acquiring outside India and transmit service piece of the business here," says Rajiv Memani, director Ernst & Young who has helped several Indian acquisitions this year. What's propelling the foreign flow? "Indian companies have come out of the pain, focusing on productivity and profitability. Top-line companies are cash-rich. The big boost has come with financial reforms and a strong rupee," says Ajay Khanna, CEO, Indian Brand Equity Fund. In fact, with over 50 Indian companies spreading their wings, creation of an Indian MNC Index is in the works. Harvard University Prof. Tarun Khanna and IIM Bangalore Prof. Ramachandran are evolving an Indian MNC index - that will help determine to what extent Indian MNCs have globalised their organisations.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 10, 2003

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