IKEA's challenge will be land acquisition for stores: Experts
Land acquisition will be a major hurdle for Swedish furniture retailer IKEA to set up its stores in India and it may have to even depend on public auction by government, according to real estate consultants.
The company, which has received nod from the government for its plans to invest $ 1.91 billion earlier this month, may also have to tweak their business model for India considering the constraints for right space, consultants added.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Zeenews, NDTV, Rediff News, India Everyday)
Future Group to have over 1,000 convenient stores in 2 years
Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group, which runs India's largest retail chain in both value and lifestyle formats, plans to increase the number of franchisee-based convenient stores to over 1,000 in the next two years.
Currently, the company has 100 franchisee-based convenient stores in Delhi and 200 stores throughout Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.
The company is also expanding its presence in the rural areas through the franchisee-based model.
In 2011, Indian retail market was about $ 470 billion and is expected to touch $ 675 billion by 2016. By 2020, the traditional and organised retail industry is expected to touch $ 1.3 trillion.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, IBNLive, Rediff News, News BCC, i4u)
States favour compensatory VAT, industry may resist
State governments are likely to favour a system in which they will not be dependent on another state to get their share of tax revenue in interstate trade under the proposed goods and services tax (GST).
But this model is likely to be resisted by industry as it will require traders to seek refunds from states for goods exported to another state—a process that until now has entailed long delays, said analysts.
GST, a tax reform that seeks to create one common market for all goods and services in India, has been long delayed due to differences between the centre and states, and between the states themselves, over issues including how to tax interstate movement of merchandise.
State governments, worried about revenue-sharing arrangements between themselves, are considering a compensatory value added tax (CVAT)model rather than the integrated GST, or IGST, model to tax interstate movement of goods.
(Sources: Livemint, News BCC, Daily India News, Infraline, Moneycontrol, India Everyday)
No case for India’s S&P ratings downgrade: Arvind Mayaram
There is no case for downgrading India’s sovereign credit rating, economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram told the news channel ET Now on Monday, after Standard and Poor’s reiterated its negative outlook on the country’s credit rating.
The rating agency last week warned that India needed to follow through on implementing a slew of pending economic reforms, a warning that dealt a blow to a government that had recently pitched for an upgrade.
The agency had also said that high fiscal and current account deficits remained a drag on India’s rating, saying there was a higher than one-in-three chance of it downgrading the country to “junk” investment status.
Mayaram said the concerns over the pace of implementing economic reforms were “overstated”, adding India’s current account deficit and economic growth are likely to improve over the previous fiscal year.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Reuters India, NDTV, India TV News, India Everyday)
Tech Inc set to get bigger bite of Japan’s $200-bn IT services mkt
Japan’s $200-billion IT services market is now offering renewed hope to Indian companies as the country tries to jumpstart its economy and as more Japanese firms look to expand globally, report Debojyoti Ghosh & Ajay Sukumaran in Bangalore. The road to recovery is coming after the 2011 tsunami crisis, which crippled the country. There is an increase in IT spend, including outbound investments where Indian firms stand a good chance because of their global presence, say experts.
(Sources: Financial Express, Indian Express, News Track India, India Everyday)
India, other FTA members to share 'offshore leaks' tax info
Stepping up efforts to tackle tax evasion, the 45-nation grouping on tax administration, which includes India, has agreed to share among themselves information received by member countries from "offshore leaks".
A worldwide media expose, described as "offshore leaks" claimed to have unearthed details of 250,000 individuals and entities from over 170 countries, including India, who evaded taxes by setting up companies in tax havens.
The Forum on Tax Administration (FTA), during the last meeting in Moscow which saw participation of representatives from 45 nations, resolved to share more data among the member nations to address the menace of tax fraud.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Indian Express, Financial Express, News Hour 24)
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