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08/04/2015

Cabinet amends real estate bill to stamp out illegal practices | Reuters

The cabinet has amended a bill to regulate the real estate sector, protect home buyers and curb undeclared “black money” in property markets that costs the exchequer billions of dollars in lost taxable income.

Labourers work at the construction site of a residential building in Mumbai's central financial district April 6, 2015. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

The decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s government to amend the bill, which was submitted by the previous government in 2013 but not passed by the upper house, aims to boost investor confidence and stamp out illegal practices.

The new rules, applicable to residential and commercial developments, will make it mandatory for all projects and brokers to be registered with the real estate regulator who will oversee transactions and settle disputes.

“The bill seeks to ensure accountability and transparency, which will in turn enable the real estate sector to access capital and financial markets essential for its long-term growth,” the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

During recent years sluggish economic growth and delays in getting approvals stalled several real estate projects, leaving buyers waiting for their homes and developers holding high debt.

“This will be a game-changer for the sector,” Rajeev Talwar, executive director at DLF Ltd, India’s top real estate developer.

via Cabinet amends real estate bill to stamp out illegal practices | Reuters.

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08/04/2015

Lapsed tenders hurt Modi’s ‘Make in India’ defence industry push | Reuters

Indian firms have spurned some $15 billion worth of government tenders to make a range of weapons since 2013, defence ministry officials say, in a blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his drive to wean the country off imported arms.

Executives cited unrealistic quality demands from a military short of planes, tanks and guns as a key reason for their reluctance to bid for projects. Complicating things further, the military doesn’t want weapons from Indian firms with no track record in defence manufacturing, experts said.

Irked by India’s status as the world’s biggest arms importer, Modi wants to build an advanced defence industry but almost a year into his “Make in India” campaign, which aims to turn the country into a manufacturing powerhouse, not one large domestic weapons project has been awarded.

Tenders for anything from air defence guns to surface-to-air missiles to transport planes have lapsed, defence ministry officials told Reuters. The tenders total around $15 billion according to a Reuters compilation of offers since early 2013.

via Lapsed tenders hurt Modi’s ‘Make in India’ defence industry push | Reuters.

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07/04/2015

India launches air quality index to give pollution information – BBC News

India has launched its first air quality index, to provide real time information about pollution levels.

The index, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will initially monitor air quality in 10 cities.

Last year the Environmental Preference Index ranked India 174 out of 178 countries for air quality.

The rising and health-endangering pollution has been mainly blamed on a huge increase in vehicles, particularly diesel-driven cars, on Indian roads.

Polluting industries, open burning of refuse and leaves, massive quantities of construction waste and substantial loss of forests have also led to high pollution levels in cities.

A World Health Organization (WHO) survey last year found that 13 of the most polluted 20 cities in the world were in India. The capital, Delhi, was the most polluted city in the world, the survey said.

It is a leading cause of premature death in India, with about 620,000 people dying every year from pollution-related diseases, says the WHO.

On Monday, Mr Modi said India “has to take the lead in guiding the world on thinking of ways to combat climate change”.

via India launches air quality index to give pollution information – BBC News.

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07/04/2015

Cairn India takes authorities to court over $3.3 billion tax demand | Reuters

Cairn India Ltd(CAIL.NS), India’s largest private-sector oil producer, said on Monday it had moved the Delhi High Court against a $3.3 billion tax demand from Indian authorities related to its listing in 2007.

Cairn India employees work at a storage facility for crude oil at Mangala oil field at Barmer in Rajasthan August 29, 2009. REUTERS/Parth Sanyal/Files

The company, a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc (VED.L), said it had filed a writ petition seeking “quashing/setting aside” of the order passed by the tax authorities.

Cairn India received last month the demand of about 204 billion rupees from Indian tax authorities for an alleged failure to deduct withholding tax on capital gains made by its former parent, Cairn Energy Plc (CNE.L), during a reorganisation ahead of its market listing. Vedanta said last month it would file a notice of claim against the Indian government under the UK-India bilateral investment treaty.

Cairn Energy, which received a tax demand of more than $1.6 billion related to the same case, has also filed a notice of dispute under the bilateral investment treaty.

Cairn India shares had gained 0.3 percent in morning trade on Tuesday in a broader market that was up about 0.2 percent.

via Cairn India takes authorities to court over $3.3 billion tax demand | Reuters.

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03/04/2015

Hindus to be world’s 3rd largest population by 2050, says Pew Research Centre’s religious report – The Hindu

The world population of Hindus will grow rapidly between now and 2050, based on a relatively high expansion rate and the youth profile of this community. The largest global growth, however, will be among Muslims, outpacing the growth of every other religion’s population.

Hindus will become the world’s third largest population by 2050 while India will overtake Indonesia as the country with the largest Muslim population, according to a new study.

This was a key result of an in-depth study on “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050,” by the Pew Research Center, which sought to explain “Why Muslims Are Rising Fastest” in terms of the community’s higher fertility – 3.1 children per woman – and the fact that 34 per cent of Muslims are below the age of 15 years.

The Pew growth projections report says that India would retain a Hindu majority but would also have the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, surpassing Indonesia.

Worldwide, the Hindu population is projected to rise by 34 per cent over the period, from a little over 1 billion to nearly 1.4 billion, roughly keeping pace with overall population growth, the report noted.

By 2050, Hindus will be third, making up 14.9 per cent of the world’s total population, followed by people who do not affiliate with any religion, accounting for 13.2 per cent, the report said.

People with no religious affiliation currently have the third largest share of the world’s total population.

The Hindu population’s fertility rate, at 2.4 children per woman, is second to the Muslim figure, but ranks above Jewish and Buddhist fertility, respectively at 2.3 and 1.6 children per woman.

Further, 30 per cent of Hindus are below the age of 15, which is lower than the corresponding number for Muslims, while at the other end of the age spectrum seven per cent of Muslims were above 60 years old in 2010 and the figure for Hindus was eight per cent.

The Pew study found that Muslims would nearly double their numbers in Europe to more than ten per cent by 2050 and would outnumber Christians worldwide by 2070, according to the forecast of the growth of religions around the world.

In North America, the Hindu share of the population was expected to nearly double in the decades ahead, the report’s authors said, up from 0.7 per cent in 2010 to 1.3 per cent in 2050, when migration is included in the projection models.

However, without including migration effects the Hindu share of the region’s population would remain “about the same.”

via Hindus to be world’s 3rd largest population by 2050, says Pew Research Centre’s religious report – The Hindu.

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02/04/2015

Why India’s Road Safety Campaigners Welcome Lower Penalties For Speeding, Drunk Driving – India Real Time – WSJ

India’s roads ministry has dialed back plans to toughen punishments for traffic offenses including causing the death of a child in an accident and driving while drunk.

It’s a u-turn you might expect road safety campaigners to denounce.

But activists fighting to reduce fatalities on the world’s most treacherous roads say softening the penalties in the latest draft of the Road Transport and Safety Bill could make the roads safer.

Rohit Baluja, president of the New Delhi-based Institute of Road Traffic Education, said lighter punishments for traffic violations are more likely to be enforced by authorities.

“There is a need for development of infrastructure like more accurate breathalyzers and better training of police,” before stiffer fines are introduced, he added.

India has the world’s deadliest roads: More than 130,000 people were killed on its byways last year. In 2006, the country overtook China as the single-largest contributor to the global number of road deaths.

via Why India’s Road Safety Campaigners Welcome Lower Penalties For Speeding, Drunk Driving – India Real Time – WSJ.

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02/04/2015

India’s IT plans suffer from power cuts, congestion – and monkeys | Reuters

As India launches an $18 billion plan to spread the information revolution to its provinces, the problems it faces are a holdover from the past – electricity shortages, badly planned, jam-packed cities, and monkeys.

The clash between the old world and the new is sharply in focus in the crowded 3,000-year-old holy city of Varanasi, where many devout Hindus come to die in the belief that doing so will give them salvation. Varanasi is also home to hundreds of macaque monkeys that live in its temples and are fed and venerated by devotees.

But the monkeys also feast on the fibre-optic cables that are strung along the banks of the Ganges river.

“We cannot move the temples from here. We cannot modify anything here, everything is built up. The monkeys, they destroy all the wires and eat all the wires,” said communications engineer A.P. Srivastava.

Srivastava, who oversees the expansion of new connections in the local district, said his team had to replace the riverside cables when the monkeys chewed them up less than two months after they were installed.

He said his team is now looking for alternatives, but there are few to be found. The city of over 2 million people is impossibly crowded and laying underground cable is out of the question. Chasing away or trapping the monkeys will outrage residents and temple-goers.

Varanasi is part of the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist leader who came to power last May.

A shortage of electricity is further complicating efforts to set up stable Wi-Fi in public places – daily power cuts can last for hours during the sweltering summer in Varanasi and across much of India.

Modi’s government has pledged to lay 700,000 kms (434,960 miles) of broadband cable to connect India’s 250,000 village clusters within three years, build 100 new “Smart Cities” by 2020 and shift more public services like education and health to electronic platforms to improve access and accountability.

via India’s IT plans suffer from power cuts, congestion – and monkeys | Reuters.

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02/04/2015

India says will shake up trade tariffs to compete globally | Reuters

India plans to pull its tariff regime closer in line with global norms to prepare for new regional trade pacts being negotiated by advanced economies, the government said on Wednesday.

A man walks past steel rims and parked cars at a dock yard at Mumbai Port Trust in Mumbai November 17, 2014. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade/Files

India has not been invited to join pacts such as the U.S.-led 12 country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and is “not in a position to join,” partly because its tariffs are not competitive, a top official said at the unveiling of a new five year trade policy.

“If the country is to stand up to these agreements, it’s important that we start to address these issues,” Trade Secretary Rajeev Kher said, adding that India’s access to markets was likely to erode when such pacts take effect.

Kher said India needed lower tariffs for intermediate goods to help it further integrate with global supply chains, and that these industries would have to come more competitive. He did not give more details.

Regional trade pacts are being promoted by advanced economies after years of failure to negotiate a global agreement under the World Trade Organisation.

via India says will shake up trade tariffs to compete globally | Reuters.

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01/04/2015

Tandoori microwaves help Samsung woo India, counter global dip | Reuters

Microwave ovens that cook tandoori bread, smartphones that understand Tamil and washing machines designed to deal with humid, dusty cities: all part of Samsung Electronics’ push to conquer India and offset a global slump.

A man walks at the Samsung Electronics' headquarters in Seoul January 7, 2015. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/Files

The consumer electronics giant is betting big on Asia’s third-largest economy, at a time when overall sales have struggled against rivals like Apple. In January, Samsung reported its first annual group profit drop since 2011, and in February its first wage freeze for employees in Korea in six years.

One source familiar with Samsung said the group, one of the biggest players in the Indian consumer electronics market, would invest up to $1 billion in manufacturing units and in research and development, adapting products to local taste and needs.

While Samsung does not give a figure for its investments or revenue targets from India, senior officials say it plans to invest heavily in manufacturing and research. It already uses a 10,000-strong development team to tailor everything from fridges to air conditioning units for Indian consumers.

“While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is talking about ‘Make in India’, we are saying ‘Make for India’,” said Ranjivjit Singh, chief marketing officer for Samsung in India.

“It’s not just about manufacturing, that we’ve been doing anyway. But we are making products designed for India, and this doesn’t happen by luck.”

Singh said Samsung was also considering adding a new manufacturing unit. It already has three research centres and two factories.

“A lot of states have been approaching us for a new factory, but it is premature to talk about investments,” he told Reuters.

via Tandoori microwaves help Samsung woo India, counter global dip | Reuters.

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01/04/2015

India aims to raise exports to $900 billion by 2019/2020 | Reuters

India aims to raise its exports to $900 billion by fiscal year 2019/20, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

A man walks past steel rims and parked cars at a dock yard at Mumbai Port Trust in Mumbai November 17, 2014. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade/Files

India’s total exports were $465.9 billion in the 2013/14 fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2014, the statement said.

In the first 11 months of the 2014/15 fiscal year that ended on Tuesday, merchandise exports stood at $286.58 billion, government data showed.

Merchandise exports account for about one-fifth of the $2 trillion Indian economy.

via India aims to raise exports to $900 billion by 2019/2020 | Reuters.

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