Daily Economic News - 22 August 2014

FDI jumps 34% to $1.92 bn in June:
During April-June in this fiscal, the foreign inflows recorded a growth of 34 per cent. FDI was at $7.23 billion in April-June, 2014-15 compared to $5.39 billion in April-June 2013-14. Amongst the top 10 sectors, telecommunications received the maximum FDI in the first quarter of the current fiscal at $2 billion followed by services ($738 million), pharmaceuticals ($680 million) and construction ($281 million). During the period, India received maximum FDI from Mauritius at $2.61 billion, followed by Singapore ($1.18 billion), the UK ($567 million), Japan ($695 million) and the US ($249 million). In 2013-14, FDI inflows in India were $24.29 billion against $22.42 billion in 2012-13.
(Source: The Hindu)

Same rule for e-tail and multi-brand: Nirmala Sitharaman:
FDI is banned in multi-brand retail and the same applies to e-commerce also. Authorities suspect that many e-commerce firms have structured their business in such a way that foreign capital coming to their wholesale business indirectly supports the retail e-commerce business. India permits 100% FDI in B2B e-commerce activities (as in wholesale trade) but foreign investment is not allowed in B2C e-commerce companies. There are some domestic B2C e-commerce companies that also operate through the marketplace model but allegedly use their other FDI-funded ventures in the B2B space for retail sales. The minister’s reiteration of the policy would mean that such companies would now face the music.
Portals such as snapdeal.com, yebhi.com, myntra.com, jabong.com, firstcry.com and lenskart.com are among the major players in India's roughly $12-billion e-commerce industry that is growing at about 34% a year. According to an investment tracking agency, capital flow into India's e-commerce firms rose 258% to $805 million in 2013-14 from $224.85 million a year ago, indicating the high capital requirement of the fledgling industry.
(Source: The Financial Express)

5 Indian firms among Forbes’ most innovative companies:
Five Indian companies, including Hindustan Unilever and Tata Consultancy Services, are among Forbes’ list of the world’s 100 most innovative companies that investors think are most likely to “generate big, new growth ideas“.The five Indian companies on the list are consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever, which is ranked 14th, followed by IT major Tata Consultancy Services (57), construction services firm Larsen & Toubro (58), pharma major Sun Pharma Industries (65) and Bajaj Auto (96). The US was home to a majority of the companies on the list with 41 firms headquartered in the country, followed by Europe with 29 companies.
(Source: Hindustan Times)

Thaiindianet.Team

22 August 2014