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

09/03/2015

Kashmir fight adds to hurdles for Modi’s reform push | Reuters

A ruckus over the release from prison of Masarat Alam Bhat, the man who led the most serious revolt in decades against the Indian military in Kashmir, is adding to mounting problems for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he tries to push economic reform through parliament.

Masarat Alam Bhat (2nd R), a Kashmiri separatist leader, speaks on his mobile phone at his residence in Srinagar March 9, 2015. REUTERS-Danish Ismail

The Lok Sabha was temporarily adjourned on Monday after opposition parties demanded to know why the separatist leader was released at the weekend by Kashmir’s state government, which Modi’s nationalist party supports.

“I am angered and condemn the release, just like other lawmakers,” Modi said in parliament. “I can assure you that my government was not informed about the decision by the state government and neither were we consulted.”

Modi swept to office ten months ago promising rapid economic transformation but disparate opposition parties have united to block his agenda, forcing the government to rely on executive orders called ordinances to pass unpopular policies.

With two weeks remaining of the current session of parliament before a recess, the government needs to win support for ordinances, including those raising the foreign direct investment limit in the insurance sector, or they will expire.

via Kashmir fight adds to hurdles for Modi’s reform push | Reuters.

Mufti Sayeed praises Pakistan on first day as Indian Kashmir CM

Posted in History, India alert, Neighbour conflict, Politics, separatism, Territorial dispute | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Aero India, All India Trinamool Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, economic reform, India, Indian Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir, Lok Sabha, Masarat Alam Bhat, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Narendra Modi, New Delhi, opposition parties, state government

09/03/2015

China says progress being made on India border talks | Reuters

Progress is being made on drawn-out border talks with India, China’s foreign minister said on Sunday, likening the process to climbing a mountain that becomes harder the closer to the summit you get.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gestures as he speaks at a news conference at the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's parliament, in Beijing, March 8, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

The neighboring giants have had numerous rounds of talks over the years without making much apparent process, in a dispute which dates back to a brief border war in 1962.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the problem as one “left over from history”.

“After many years of hard efforts, the border talks continue to make progress, and the dispute has been brought under control,” Wang told reporters on the sidelines of China’s annual meeting of parliament.

“At the moment, the boundary negotiation is in the process of building up small and positive developments,” he said. “It’s like climbing a mountain: the going is tough, and that is only because we are on the way up.”

China lodged an official protest last month when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited one of the border regions in dispute.

via China says progress being made on India border talks | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, Diplomacy, Foreign invasion, History, India alert, Neighbour conflict, Politics, Territorial dispute | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Arunachal Pradesh, Barack Obama, Beijing, China, India, Indian Ocean, Liu, Narendra Modi, New Delhi, prime minister of india

06/03/2015

PM Narendra Modi heads to Seychelles, Mauritius, Lanka; tour begins on March 10 – The Times of India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave on March 10 on a three-nation visit — Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka — the external affairs ministry announced on Friday with no mention, however, of the Maldives, which was being considered earlier.

On his first trip abroad in 2015, the Prime Minister will be visiting the three countries from March 10 to 14, the ministry said.

On March 11, in Seychelles, Modi will hold bilateral discussions with President James Alexis Michel to strengthen bilateral maritime ties and enhance development cooperation.

Modi will be in Mauritius on March 11 and 12 where he will have extensive meetings with his Mauritian counterpart, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, to further enhance the special and unique relations.

The Indian Prime Minister will also be the chief guest at Mauritius’s National Day celebrations.

via PM Narendra Modi heads to Seychelles, Mauritius, Lanka; tour begins on March 10 – The Times of India.

Posted in Economics, GeoPolitics, India alert, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Arunachal Pradesh, Barack Obama, Beijing, Bharatiya Janata Party, China, India, Mauritius, Narendra Modi, New Delhi, President James Alexis Michel, prime minister of india, Seychelles

05/03/2015

Funding the unfunded: India helps small business borrow to grow | Reuters

A new bank announced in the annual budget last week could boost loans and cut borrowing costs for India’s cash-starved small businesses — tailors, mechanics and phone booth operators who account for around a fifth of the economy.

A worker operates a lathe machine as he makes a steel cutter at a manufacturing unit in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi November 3, 2014. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee/Files

MUDRA bank – to be set up with $3.2 billion of capital to help microfinancing firms to lend more – should help leverage up firms which account for 40 percent of India’s exports, just as India tries to rekindle growth, lenders and entrepreneurs say.

India’s small businesses employ more than 106 million workers, according to government statistics, in a country that brings a million new workers into the workforce every month.

Yet according to government estimates, only 4 percent of 57.7 million small business units in India have access to institutional finance, leaving many to rely on informal lenders. Industry experts estimate that demand for loans from the sector outstrips supply by more than $80 billion.

Rating agency Crisil estimates that microfinance lenders have loan assets totalling $5.6 billion. But they have had a limited impact on small businesses as they primarily target lending to individuals or groups of individuals among the poor.

Even for the microfinance institutions that would like to lend more to businesses, rules cap the amount they can lend to a single borrower at 50,000 rupees ($803), making them an unviable option for many businesses.

via Funding the unfunded: India helps small business borrow to grow | Reuters.

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

Tags: 1st Manatee Bank, Accion, AdSense, Attorney general, BMO Harris Bank, businesses, Credit (finance), India, Lending Club, Loan, Mortgage loan, Secured loan, small business

05/03/2015

Modi to ramp up help for Indian Ocean nations to counter China influence | Reuters

(Reuters) – Prime Minister Narendra Modi will offer island nations in the Indian Ocean a broad range of military and civilian assistance next week in a bid to wrest back some of the influence China has gained by spending billions of dollars in the region.

Sri Lanka's President Mithripala Sirisena (C) shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) as his wife Jayanthi Sirisena looks on during Sirisena's ceremonial reception at the forecourt of India's Rashtrapati Bhavan presidential palace in New Delhi February 16, 2015. Sirisena is on a four-day state visit to India. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Modi will make the pledges during a visit to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles after decades of neglect by successive Indian governments. His trip to Sri Lanka will be the first in 28 years by an Indian prime minister.

China has built seaports, power plants and highways across the small island nations. Its navy has also made forays into the Indian Ocean, including when submarines docked last year in Sri Lanka, rattling New Delhi, which has an uneasy relationship with Beijing.

New Delhi is hoping to tie the islands into a closer security embrace, Indian officials said.

“India has a role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean region,” said a defence official involved in preparations for Modi’s trip, which begins on March 10. “We are providing patrol ships, surveillance radars and ocean mapping for the island states.”

At the top of Modi’s agenda is Sri Lanka, the tear-shaped island off the southern coast of India where a new government, concerned at Beijing’s growing influence, is reviewing infrastructure contracts the previous administration awarded to China. It has also ruled out additional Chinese submarine visits in the near future.

Modi is expected to tighten defence and security cooperation and push for final approval for a 500 MW power plant to be built by India’s state-run National Thermal Power Corporation under a 2012 agreement in Trincomalee, a strategic port in eastern Sri Lanka, Indian officials said.

The two sides were also in talks to upgrade military training, a Sri Lankan government official said.

via Modi to ramp up help for Indian Ocean nations to counter China influence | Reuters.

Pakistan Enjoys India-China Rivalry In S Asia

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, GeoPolitics, India alert, Politics | 1 Comment »

Tags: Arunachal Pradesh, Beijing, China, India, Indian Ocean, influence China, island nations, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena, Narendra Modi, New Delhi, prime minister of india, Sri Lanka

03/03/2015

Modi Eats 28-Rupee Lunch at the Parliament’s Canteen – India Real Time – WSJ

Last year President Xi ate at a local restaurant and caused a furore – https://chindia-alert.org/2013/12/31/tale-of-xis-dumplings-draws-crowd-society-chinadaily-com-cn/.

Now it’s Prime Minister Modi’s turn to mix with the ‘common man’. though in this case it is with fellow parliamentarians.

“He may sometimes wear expensive, custom-made suits with his name stitched into the pinstripes but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi can also sit comfortably with the common man.

The leader of the world’s largest democracy surprised everyone Monday by showing up to eat lunch with the regular riff-raff of Parliament.

Around midday he sat down at canteen used by members of Parliament and dug in to a vegetarian lunch. While the canteen is inside India’s grand Parliament building, the prime minister’s meal was simple.

Not unlike what most Indians ate on Monday, Mr. Modi nibbled on some vegetables and dal with rice and chapati.

His dessert was a bit fancy though, a fruit salad.

“We were stunned,” said Madhu Sheel Kalra, the canteen’s supervisor, who has worked there for 20 years and never seen a Prime Minister stop by for a meal.

Ramashankar, the waiter who served Mr Modi at table number three, said it was one of the proudest moments of his life.

“I felt so happy,” said Mr. Ramashankar, who goes by just one name.

Meanwhile a new factoid about India’s popular prime minister emerged: He’s not a practicing member of the clean-plate club.

“He didn’t finish everything but he enjoyed what he had,” said Ramashankar.

Mr. Modi paid the bill himself. The subsidized meal was only 28 rupees. That’s about half a dollar.

Waiters said he didn’t leave a tip–few parliamentarians do–but he left a nice comment in the guest book, in Sanskrit.

“Blessed are those who serve food,” he wrote.”

via Modi Eats 28-Rupee Lunch at the Parliament’s Canteen – India Real Time – WSJ.

Posted in India alert, Politics | 1 Comment »

Tags: Afghanistan, Arunachal Pradesh, Beijing, Bharatiya Janata Party, China, India, Narendra Modi, New Delhi, prime minister of india

03/03/2015

Sri Lankan doubts on loans, submarines seen as rebuff to Beijing | Reuters

If last week’s visit to Beijing by Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera was meant to allay fears that the island nation’s new government was distancing itself from China, it failed.

China's Premier Li Keqiang (R) speaks with Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera during their meeting at the Zhongnanhai Leadership Compound in Beijing, February 27, 2015. REUTERS/Wu Hong/Pool

If anything, Samaraweera’s comments on the prospect of Chinese submarines using Sri Lanka as a stopover on long-distance westward missions and of bankrolling it through big loans underlined Colombo’s hardening position, experts said.

That would be welcomed by India, which, as Sri Lanka’s neighbour and traditional protector, had grown alarmed at its lurch towards China under the leadership of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, ousted in a shock election defeat in January.

“Some people say the (Sri Lankan) government had put too many eggs in the China basket,” said Sinderpal Singh, an India expert at the National University of Singapore.

“It’s a symbol to say ‘we would like to recalibrate our policy to one equidistant between India and China’.”

During his trip, Samaraweera said he did not envisage any more visits by Chinese submarines in the near future.

India voiced concern in November when Rajapaksa’s government allowed a Chinese submarine and warship to dock in Colombo, seven weeks after another submarine called at the same port.

One of the submarine dockings coincided with a state visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, himself wary of China’s increasingly assertive projection of naval power.

“…We will ensure that such incidents, from whatever quarters, do not happen during our tenure,” Samaraweera said of the potential diplomatic embarrassment.

Samaraweera made the remarks to the press and did not discuss warships or submarines during talks with Chinese officials, according to a member of the Sri Lankan delegation.

And while his comments do not preclude the future use of Sri Lankan facilities by Chinese submarines, they pointed to greater caution both in economic and military relations.

via Sri Lankan doubts on loans, submarines seen as rebuff to Beijing | Reuters.

Sri Lanka concerned by China loans, rules out submarine visits

Posted in China alert, Economics, GeoPolitics, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Colombo, India, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena, Mangala Samaraweera, Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Foreign Affairs (Sri Lanka), Prime Minister of Japan, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan, submarines, United Nations Human Rights Council

27/02/2015

Mufti-Modi meeting clears decks for BJP-PDP government in J&K – The Hindu

Decks were cleared for the first ever formation of a BJP-PDP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir following a “historic” meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and PDP chief Mufti Mohammed Sayeed where the two leaders gave their approval for a common minimum programme (CMP) for governance. The swearing-in will be on March 1.

PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meeting in New Delhi on Friday. Photo: PIB

Clearly the PDP expects the NDA government to resume dialogue process with Pakistan and Hurriyat leaders as Mr. Sayeed emphasised, after the meeting, the need to engage with Islamabad. The government, he said, must take off from where former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee left when he had extended a hand of friendship to the then Pakistan leadership. “History has given us another chance. We want to repeat history.’’

“It was a war of nerves,” he admitted to a questioner when asked about the BJP and the PDP reconciling two extreme ideologies but added that “common ground has been found” and both sides were “flexible”.

Repeating the BJP slogan of sab ka saath sab ka vikas, he said, the Prime Minister has won the mandate of the people of the country and has full legitimacy to decide on this alliance and adding that “this had to be done’”.

“We will now give a healing touch to the State,” he said.

via Mufti-Modi meeting clears decks for BJP-PDP government in J&K – The Hindu.

Why the PDP-BJP alliance is the best combination for J&K

Posted in India alert, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: 1958, Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Bharatiya Janata Party, Bihar, Common minimum programme, India, Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

27/02/2015

India in sweet spot of lower deficits, more growth – Economic Survey | Reuters

India can increase investment to drive economic growth without borrowing more, a key government report said on Friday, in an indication that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will stick to debt targets in his maiden full-year budget on Saturday.

Labourers work at the site of a monorail project in Mumbai February 27, 2015. REUTERS-Shailesh Andrade

The Economic Survey, the basis for Jaitley’s budget for the fiscal year starting April 1, forecast growth of 8.1 percent to 8.5 percent under new calculations that make India the world’s most dynamic big economy. The forecast marks an acceleration from growth of 7.4 percent in the current fiscal year.

“India has reached a sweet spot and … there is a scope for Big Bang reforms now,” the report said, adding the country was on course to hit double-digit growth rates.

Indian stocks rallied, with the benchmark Sensex gaining 1.7 percent, on hopes that Jaitley would deliver a business-friendly budget.

At first glance the growth outlook appears impressive. But it follows a big overhaul of India’s economic data, which previously showed the economy struggling to recover from its longest growth slowdown in a generation.

Other indicators of India’s economy are not as rosy as GDP data suggests. Earnings of the country’s top 100 companies shrank by 6 percent in the last quarter, private investment and consumer demand are weak and merchandise exports are falling.

The author of the report, economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, even said he was “puzzled” by the new GDP figures and played down suggestions that India’s $2 trillion economy was on a roll.

“India’s economy is still recovering, and not surging,” Subramanian told a news conference.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a landslide general election victory last May, capitalising on dissatisfaction among Indians over their economic lot and promising ‘better days’ of more jobs, investment and growth.

The report by Subramanian, a renowned development economist lured away from a Washington think tank by Modi, suggested the economy was now building momentum.

That, above all, reflects a near halving in international prices of oil, India’s biggest import.

As a result, the report predicts the current account deficit will be below 1 percent of GDP in 2015/16, a far cry from a figure of 4.7 percent in 2012/13 that preceded a currency crisis in India.

via India in sweet spot of lower deficits, more growth – Economic Survey | Reuters.

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

Tags: Arun Jaitley, Arvind Subramanian, Ashish Kumar, Asian Development Bank, Business Standard, Economic growth, finance minister, Gross domestic product, India, Narendra Modi

26/02/2015

To Combat Crowds, India’s McDonald’s Now Lets Diners Order at the Table – India Real Time – WSJ

Tired of having to elbow your way through pushy crowds to get your fast-food fix? McDonald’s MCD +3.87% in India has a solution for you: Skip the long lines and order a Maharaja Mac from your table.

The more than 350 McDonald’s outlets in India each get about 4,000 customers a day on average. That’s twice the number of customers that come to the average Mickey D branches in the rest of the world. As part of an experiment in crowd control, one franchisee has started allowing burger fans to order and pay through roaming cashiers who take orders and payments on Wi-Fi enabled tablets and credit-card machines.

The queue-quelling technology is already being tested at the McDonald’s at Mumbai’s Phoenix Mills mall. It will be rolled out in 200 more branches this year, said Amit Jatia, who runs most of the McDonald’s in India.

“India is changing,” he said. “You have to keep evolving with the changing needs of the consumer.”

Mr. Jatia’s Hardcastle Restaurants runs 202 McDonald’s outlets in western and southern India, while another group controls 166 restaurants in northern and eastern India.

via To Combat Crowds, India’s McDonald’s Now Lets Diners Order at the Table – India Real Time – WSJ.

Posted in Economics, India alert | 1 Comment »

Tags: Bolivia, CNN, CNNMoney.com, eastern India, French fries, Genetically modified organism, Happy Meal, India, Maharaja Mac, McDonald's, McDonald’s MCD, Monsanto, southern India, United States, Wi-Fi

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

Posts tagged ‘India’

Kashmir fight adds to hurdles for Modi’s reform push | Reuters

China says progress being made on India border talks | Reuters

PM Narendra Modi heads to Seychelles, Mauritius, Lanka; tour begins on March 10 – The Times of India

Modi to ramp up help for Indian Ocean nations to counter China influence | Reuters

Modi Eats 28-Rupee Lunch at the Parliament’s Canteen – India Real Time – WSJ

Sri Lankan doubts on loans, submarines seen as rebuff to Beijing | Reuters

Mufti-Modi meeting clears decks for BJP-PDP government in J&K – The Hindu

India in sweet spot of lower deficits, more growth – Economic Survey | Reuters

To Combat Crowds, India’s McDonald’s Now Lets Diners Order at the Table – India Real Time – WSJ

Tags

Creative Commons

Archives

Meta

Blog Stats

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

Categories

Blogs I Follow

Posts tagged ‘India’

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Tags

Creative Commons

Archives

Meta

Blog Stats