สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 22 มกราคม 2557

Thai cities favourite among Indian tourists

Thailand continued to remain popular among Indian travellers during the last two years with three of its cities — Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya — featuring in the list of top 10 overseas destinations, according to a study. As per the Hotel Price Index (HPI) report by Hotels.com, other South East Asian countries that saw maximum visitors from India were Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Dubai, London, New York and Las Vegas also featured in the top 10 among other international cities. Among the domestic destinations, Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Chennai and Jaipur continued to reserve the top six spots for the international tourists. However, Agra has moved from its seventh position to ninth spot, giving way to Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram in 2013, the study said.

(Source: Financial Express)

Foreign investment of 10% in companies to be treated as FDI

In  a major overhaul of foreign investment rules, the government is readying a new set of definitions for overseas investors that will classify all overseas investors into two categories — foreign direct investment  (FDI) and foreign portfolio investment (FPI). Overseas investment with an equity stake in any company of below 10% would be categorised as FPI — merging the two earlier classifications of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and qualified foreign investors (QFIs). Any individual investment above 10%, according to the proposal, will be treated as FDI. These are part of the recommendations that a panel headed by economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram has finalised to make India’s foreign investment rules less ambiguous. The committee was set up after finance minister P Chidambaram in his 2013-14 Budget speech had proposed to follow the international practice for definitions of FDI and FIIs. Under the new definition, expected to be adopted shortly, portfolio investment by a single investor shall not exceed 10% in an initial public offer, a follow-on public offering or a qualified institutional placement (QIP) of a soon-to-be-listed company. The Mayaram panel has also recommended placing the onus of compliance with FPI aggregate limit from the Reserve Bank of India to investee companies through “share transfer agents.” “It is worth exploring if these entities can be called upon by Sebi, or by the company itself to perform this role,” a source said. It has also recommended a series of rules to prevent split investments stating that an investor in a company can hold investments either under FPI or FDI route, but cannot make investments under both routes. “Concerns have been expressed as to the treatment to be given to split investments,” the source said. “Necessary checks and balances need to be placed to ensure that a single FPI investor does not circumvent regulatory framework by splitting the investment or by acting in concert,” the source said.

(Source: Hindustan Times, Business Standard)

India slips on global map for business opportunities

When chief executive officers (CEOs) of global companies were asked to rate three countries that would contribute largely to their overall growth, India fared slightly poorer than last year, according to the 17th Annual Global CEO Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. However, compared to their global counterparts, Indian CEOs were more upbeat about growth, with about half saying they were "very confident" of growth prospects in the next 12 months. In the survey, seven per cent of global CEOs reposed their trust in India, compared with 10 per cent last year. For Brazil, the number slipped from 15 to 12 per cent. While that for China rose from 31 to 33 per cent, Russia stuck to last year's figure of seven per cent. India has faced criticism over its dilly-dallying over foreign direct investment in organised retail and its policy to tax companies retrospectively. Scams such as those related to the allocation of second-generation telecom spectrum and coal block licences have further marred its image. Last year's report had identified Indian market as "decelerating", while those in Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa were said to be "accelerating". CEOs say now, they are exploring growth in countries beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), adding they see good prospects in Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, Thailand and Vietnam through the next three to five years. The US, Germany and the UK have been ranked high on the list.

(Source: Business Standard)

Recovery in progress

The global economy is going to pick-up in the year and so would India's GDP growth, showed the latest World Economic Outlook report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday. According to the multilateral institution, growth in India picked up after a favourable monsoon season and higher export growth, and is expected to firm further on stronger structural policies supporting investment. Though the IMF's latest projection for India's GDP growth at 4.6 per cent this year is lower than World Bank's estimate of 4.8 per cent and Indian government's estimates of 5 per cent, these are better than IMF's October 2013 outlook. On the contrary, World Bank's January projections for India were lower than its June estimates, while the agency had raised its global growth projections. IMF in its latest report also said the global activity is expected to improve further in 2014-15, largely on account of recovery in the advanced economies, but downward risks remained in some economies.

(Source: Business Standard)

Economic Section

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