Economics | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

03/03/2014

India to investigate suspected kickbacks in Rolls-Royce deal | Reuters

India’s defence ministry said on Monday it had ordered a bribery investigation over state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited‘s (HAL) purchase of jet engines from Britain’s Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.L) in a deal worth at least $1.2 billion.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Central Bureau of Investigation, the country’s top crime-fighting agency, will look into more than 5 billion rupees ($80 million) in alleged kickbacks in the deal that was signed in 2011, a ministry official told Reuters.

No comment was immediately available from Rolls-Royce’s office in India.

Suspicions of corruption in India’s defense procurement program have for years delayed the modernization of the armed forces of the world’s most populous nation that continue to rely heavily on outdated Soviet-designed equipment.

The air force has been dogged by a series of crashes of its Russian-built MiG fighter jets, while an accident aboard a Soviet-made submarine that killed two officers last week led the navy’s chief of staff to resign.

India’s Congress party-led government is keen to be seen as tough on graft before parliamentary elections due by May. The party, lagging in the polls, has faced rising public anger over a string of corruption scandals in its current term.

The probe into the HAL deal follows the arrest in Britain last month of Indian-born businessman Sudhir Choudhrie and his son in a bribery investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into Rolls-Royce’s dealings in China and Indonesia.

Both men denied any wrongdoing and have been released on bail, their spokesman said last month.

via India to investigate suspected kickbacks in Rolls-Royce deal | Reuters.

Posted in corruption, Economics, India alert, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Central Bureau of Investigation, China, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, India, Rolls-Royce, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Serious Fraud Office, Sudhir Choudhrie

02/03/2014

India Wants to Build Its Own Chips to Satisfy Electronics Demand – Businessweek

India’s IT services companies are tops in outsourcing, with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS:IN) and Infosys (INFY) competing globally with IBM (IBM) and Accenture (ACN). The cities of Bangalore and Hyderabad are well established as research centers for such multinationals as Microsoft (MSFT), General Electric (GE), and Intel (INTC).

Pedestrians pass in front of smartphone wholesale outlets at Gaffar Market in New Delhi on April 9, 2013

But when it comes to hardware, India is behind. In 2013 it imported $33.5 billion worth of electronics, from semiconductors to smartphones. That’s more than it spent on any imports except oil and gold. With India’s large and growing middle class buying more digital devices, the reliance on imported semiconductors and other hardware is likely to increase. By next year, according to market analysts Frost & Sullivan, such imports will top $42 billion. “Our manufacturing has not kept pace with our consumption,” says PVG Menon, president of the Indian Electronic & Semiconductor Association. India does some assembly of TVs, mobile phones, computers, and set-top boxes.

The government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is trying to address this technology gap. The Indian cabinet on Feb. 14 approved plans for two semiconductor manufacturing projects, requiring an investment of $10.2 billion, with IBM, Geneva-based STMicroelectronics (STM:FP), and Israel’s Tower Semiconductor (TSEM:IT) taking part.

via India Wants to Build Its Own Chips to Satisfy Electronics Demand – Businessweek.

Posted in Economics, India alert, Manufacturing, Technology | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Accenture, General Electric, IBM, India, Infosys, Intel, manmohan singh, Microsoft, Semiconductors, STMicroelectronics, Tata Consultancy Services

02/03/2014

Chinese Employers Discriminate Against Women Planning to Have Two Children – Businessweek

Late last year, China’s central government announced reforms to the controversial one-child policy—in particular, approving a resolution that would allow couples to have two children if at least one of the parents was an only child. But the change didn’t go into effect instantly; implementation is controlled locally. On Tuesday, Shanghai’s government approved measures to enact the so-called two-child policy, effective March 1. Shanghai is the seventh region in China to adopt guidelines for reforming, not abolishing, the country’s sprawling population-control bureaucracy.

To some extent, the number of children couples can have—and when they can have them—will vary by city. Shanghai’s policies are more liberal than Beijing’s, where new guidelines took hold last Friday. Shanghai parents qualified to have two children can do so regardless of their own ages or the time between births. But Beijing parents with one child must wait until the mother turns 28, or the first child turns 4, before having a second child, as independent newsmagazine Caijing reported.

China’s relaxed birth-control policies also bring unexpected consequences. According to state-run Global Times, some female job applicants are already facing increased hiring discrimination as potential employers appear reluctant to pay for two maternity leaves. “An interviewer asked me if I was going to have two children, and I did not know how to answer,” one young woman in Zhejiang province told the newspaper. “Having children is also making a contribution to society, but they [potential employers] treat us like enemies, which is so unfair.”

via Chinese Employers Discriminate Against Women Planning to Have Two Children – Businessweek.

Posted in China alert, Economics, employment, One-child policy, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, Central government, China, one-child policy, Shanghai, two children, Zhejiang

02/03/2014

The Right to Inherit Isn’t Working for Indian Women, Says U.N. Study – India Real Time – WSJ

As their husbands, fathers, and brothers migrate to cities in search of work, women across India have become the backbone of the country’s agricultural sector. Nearly 80% of all rural women in India labor in the fields.

A study released Sunday by United Nations Women India and Landesa, a U.S.-headquartered nonprofit working to improve land rights for women and men, found that despite their time spent working in orchards, cotton fields, and rice paddies, and changes to inheritance laws, women rarely inherit the land that has sustained them and that they have sustained.

In 2005, the government of India amended its inheritance laws to ensure daughters enjoyed equal rights to inherit their parent’s land and property. But the law seems to be having little impact.

The survey of more than 1,400 women and 360 men in agricultural districts with large numbers of women farmers in three Indian states, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, found that just one in eight women whose parents own agricultural land inherit any of it.

This has significance far beyond intra-family squabbles over divvying up the family fortune. It is fundamental to India’s rural development and progress on a host of development indicators.

Simply, if women farm the land but don’t own it, they are little more than migrant laborers tilling fields owned by others. Without legal control over the land, or any documentation that they have rights to the ground they farm, they can’t access institutional credit, such as bank loans. Nor can they take advantage of agricultural extension programs, such as government offers of subsidized seeds and fertilizers. All of this stymies agricultural development.

It also limits agricultural production. This doesn’t just mean women have fewer tools for climbing out of poverty, it can also mean that their children are stuck there too: Researchers have found that women simply direct more of their income than men towards their children’s education and nutrition, which in turn lowers child mortality and helps reduce diseases of poverty.

The 2005, Hindu Succession Amendment Act giving sons and daughters equal rights to inheriting family land and property was heralded as an important step forward for India’s women.

The study published Sunday, is the first substantial evaluation of the impact of that amendment and indicates that many women have yet to benefit from the legal changes.

via The Right to Inherit Isn’t Working for Indian Women, Says U.N. Study – India Real Time – WSJ.

Posted in agriculture, Economics, India alert, inheritance | Leave a Comment »

Tags: agricultural development, agricultural land, agricultural sector, agriculture, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, India, inheritance laws, Land law, Landesa, Madhya Pradesh, rural women in India labor, United Nations Women India and Landesa, Women in India

28/02/2014

Made-in-USA Luxury Brands Win Fans in China – Businessweek

Corina Su would love to own a handbag or shoes from luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton (MC:FP) or Gucci (KER:FP). For now, Kate Spade (KATE), Michael Kors (KORS), or Coach (COH) will do. “We call these the ‘American trendy brands,’ ” says Su, a 25-year-old who works in advertising in Shanghai. She prefers Kate Spade’s bright colors and bold designs to the more muted styles offered by big European luxury houses that tout their heritage to justify charging more. “I might eventually buy an LV or Gucci bag,” Su says. “But it won’t be until I’m much older, I suspect.”

A Kate Spade handbag

As Chinese shoppers such as Su get better acquainted with American luxury brands, they’re discovering a designer wardrobe doesn’t have to cost months of pay. That’s helping U.S. labels that offer fashions with a foreign pedigree but price tags in the hundreds of dollars even as European luxury-goods makers raise prices for some bags to more than $4,000 to combat slowing growth. “The Chinese market is developing into a middle-class market, looking a bit less elitist and a bit more American,” says Luca Solca, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas.

via Made-in-USA Luxury Brands Win Fans in China – Businessweek.

Posted in Affluence, China alert, Economics, fashion | Leave a Comment »

Tags: BNP Paribas, China, Coach Inc, Corina Su, European luxury, Gucci, Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton, luxury brands, Michael Kors, Shanghai

25/02/2014

EDF-Backed Acme Starts 25-Megawatt Solar Plant in India – Businessweek

Acme Solar Energy Ltd., backed by Electricite de France SA’s renewable unit, started generating power from a 25-megawatt solar plant in central India.

Map of India showing location of Madhya Pradesh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The completion of the project in Khilchipur, Madhya Pradesh state, more than doubles Acme Solar’s photovoltaic holdings to 43 megawatts, the company said by e-mail.

The developer, a venture between EDF Energies Nouvelles, Luxembourg-based Eren Groupe SA and India’s Acme Group, plans to jointly develop 200 megawatts of solar capacity.

via EDF-Backed Acme Starts 25-Megawatt Solar Plant in India – Businessweek.

Posted in Economics, Electricity, India alert, solar power | 1 Comment »

Tags: Acme, Acme Solar Energy Ltd., Électricité de France, central India, EDF Énergies Nouvelles, India, India’s Acme Group, Khilchipur, Luxembourg, Madhya Pradesh, Map of India, Watt

25/02/2014

Indian E-Commerce to Become $8 Billion Industry – India Real Time – WSJ

The outlook for India’s economy may be gloomy for now, but one sector looks set to boom: online retail.

As more and more Indians use the internet, revenues of e-commerce companies could triple over the next three years to 504 billion rupees ($8.13 billion), according to Crisil Research, a unit of division of Mumbai-based ratings firm Crisil Ltd.

There are around 200 million internet users in India currently and the number could grow to 500 million by 2015, according to consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

Over the last few years, dozens of websites have been launched in India to sell everything from books and appliances, to baby care products and flight tickets.

Online retail companies earned revenues of around 139 billion rupees ($2.24 billion) in the financial year that ended on March 31, 2013, according to the Crisil report. Though this is just 0.5% of the total revenues of brick-and-mortar retail companies, online retail sales have been growing much faster.

Revenue of e-commerce firms grew by 56% annually between the financial year that ended March 31, 2008, and the year ended March 31, 2013, according to Crisil.

The scope for growth in this sector has already attracted a lot of interest from venture capital investors.

Earlier this month, online retailer Jabong.com raised around $100 million from CDC Group PLC, a U.K. government-backed private-equity fund-of-funds that invests in some emerging markets, according to The Economic Times.

Clothing and accessories-seller Myntra.com also raised $50 million, this month.

Foreign companies have also been looking to get a piece of the action in India. Amazon.com Inc. launched its India website in June.

via Report: Indian E-Commerce to Become $8 Billion Industry – India Real Time – WSJ.

Posted in eCommerce, Economics, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: CDC Group, Crisil, Crisil Research, E-commerce, Economic Times, India, India website, McKinsey & Company, mumbai, Online retail companies, Online shopping, retail companies

25/02/2014

Stocks scale peaks, yuan drops most in three years | Reuters

World shares were at a 6-year high on Tuesday following a record peak on Wall Street, while moves by China to stamp out easy betting on the yuan triggered the currency’s biggest drop in over three years.

An office worker walks past the board of the Australian Securities Exchange building displaying its logo in central Sydney April 5, 2013. REUTERS-Daniel Munoz

The upbeat mood among equity investors in the United States as well as Europe helped steady markets in China after the sharp plunge in the yuan and talk of credit tightening had seen stocks in Beijing suffer their biggest drop since September. .SSEC.

Spot yuan has entered a dramatic weakening cycle in recent weeks, guided by a series of moves by the central bank, with the unwinding of yuan positions by banks and funds adding downward momentum.

China allows the yuan to move 1 percent above or below a midpoint set daily but traders believe the recent depreciation is intended to set the stage for a widening of that band to 2 percent or more this year to make it more free moving.

via Stocks scale peaks, yuan drops most in three years | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Economics, RMB | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, Central bank, China, Chinese yuan, Credit crunch, United States, Wall Street, yuan

25/02/2014

Property remains top wealth driver in China-Hurun list | Reuters

Real estate remained the most lucrative road to riches in China last year, according to the Hurun Global Rich List, despite Beijing’s repeated efforts to cool red-hot property prices.

A labourer works at a construction site in Beijing, January 20, 2014. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Six of world’s 10 top real estate tycoons are now from China and Hong Kong, according to Hurun Report Inc, which released its Global Rich list on Tuesday.

Hong Kong property tycoon Li Kai-shing claimed the top spot in the Greater China area with his fortune rising 3 percent to 200 billion yuan ($32.80 billion).

Wang Jianlin, chairman of China’s largest commercial property developer, Dalian Wanda Group, and Lui Che-Woo, founder of casino operator, Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd (0027.HK), were the runners-up with personal wealth of 150 billion yuan ($24.60 billion) each.

Wang’s fortune doubled last year, while Lui’s wealth jumped 108 percent, the report said.

Wang bought UK luxury yacht maker Sunseeker for $1.6 billion and is planning billion-dollar luxury hotel developments in London and New York.

Home prices in many Chinese cities continued to set records last year despite a four-year government campaign to cool the housing market, official data showed.

via Property remains top wealth driver in China-Hurun list | Reuters.

Posted in Affluence, China alert, Economics, real estate | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, Dalian Wanda Group, Galaxy Entertainment Group, Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd, Global Rich List, Greater China, Hong Kong, Hurun Report Inc, Li Kai-shing, real-estate, Rupert Hoogewerf, Wang Jianlin

23/02/2014

After farmers commit suicide, debts fall on their families – The Times of India

Latha Reddy Musukula was making tea on a recent morning when she spotted the money lenders walking down the dirt path toward her house. They came in a phalanx of 15 men, by her estimate. She knew their faces, because they had walked down the path before.

After each visit, her husband, a farmer named Veera Reddy, sank deeper into silence, frozen by some terror he would not explain. Three times he cut his wrists. He tied a noose to a tree, relenting when the family surrounded him, weeping. In the end he waited until Musukula stepped out, and then he hanged himself from a pipe supporting their roof, leaving a careful list of each debt he owed to each money lender. She learned the full sum then: 400,000 rupees, or $6,430.

A current of dread runs through this farmland, where women in jewel-colored saris bend their backs over watery terraces of rice. In Andhra Pradesh, the southern state where Musukula lives, the suicide rate among farmers is nearly three times the national average; since 1995, the number of suicides by India’s farmers has passed 290,000, according to the national crime records bureau, though the statistics do not specify the reason for the act.

India’s small farmers, once the country’s economic backbone and most reliable vote bank, are increasingly being left behind. With global competition and rising costs cutting into their lean profits, their ranks are dwindling, as is their contribution to the gross domestic product. If rural voters once made their plight into front-page news around election time, this year the large parties are jockeying for the votes of the urban middle class, and the farmers’ voices are all but silent.

Even death is a stopgap solution, when farmers like Reddy take their own lives, their debts pass from husband to widow, from father to children. Musukula is now trying to scrape a living from the four acres that defeated her husband. Around her she sees a country transformed by economic growth, full of opportunities to break out of poverty, if only her son or daughter could grasp one.

via After farmers commit suicide, debts fall on their families – The Times of India.

Posted in agriculture, debt, Economics, India alert | 1 Comment »

Tags: Andhra Pradesh, Debt, Farmer, farmers, Gross domestic product, India, Moneylender, Suicide

CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon

Categories

Blogs I Follow

Archive for ‘Economics’

India Wants to Build Its Own Chips to Satisfy Electronics Demand – Businessweek

The Right to Inherit Isn’t Working for Indian Women, Says U.N. Study – India Real Time – WSJ

Made-in-USA Luxury Brands Win Fans in China – Businessweek

EDF-Backed Acme Starts 25-Megawatt Solar Plant in India – Businessweek

Indian E-Commerce to Become $8 Billion Industry – India Real Time – WSJ

Stocks scale peaks, yuan drops most in three years | Reuters

Property remains top wealth driver in China-Hurun list | Reuters

After farmers commit suicide, debts fall on their families – The Times of India

Tags

Creative Commons

Archives

Meta

Blog Stats