สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 19 มีนาคม 2555
India and Africa aim for $ 90 billion trade by 2015
Indian and African leaders on Sunday agreed to sharply increase bilateral trade to $90 billion by 2015 as the two sides discussed potential deals.
The South Asian country is aiming to boost its trade and diplomatic ties with Africa where China has already made major inroads by striking multiple deals, building infrastructure projects and offering soft loans.
At the first day of a three-day India-Africa Forum Summit meeting in New Delhi on Sunday, where organisers said more than 250 projects worth close to $30 billion were being discussed, Indian Commerce Secretary Anand Sharma said that the goal of achieving $90 billion in trade between India and China in three years is a significant improvement, considering the fact that a decade ago the trade was $3 billion.
Africa, despite being home to most of the world's poorest countries, is richly endowed with oil, minerals and other natural resources.
At the meeting, the ministers launched the India-Africa Business Council to be co-chaired by Indian telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal, head of Bharti Group, and Dangote Group president Alhaji Aliko, known as Africa's "cement king". The council will propose ways to increase economic and commercial ties between India and Africa. While China prefers government-to-government deals, Indian investment has been mainly in the private sector, notably in telecom, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing.
(Source: Economic Times, Times of India, Radio Netherlands, AFPIndia)
Dinesh Trivedi resigns, Mukul Roy to be new railway minister
Dinesh Trivedi resigned on Sunday as Railway Minister ending his defiance and bringing to a close five-day drama after he incurred the wrath of Trinamool Congress for hiking passenger fares in the Railway Budget.
Trivedi (61), who had insisted yesterday that he would not resign unless his party boss Mamata Banerjee directed him to do so in writing, told reporters in Delhi that he called her up to confirm the real position.
Trivedi's decision is understood to have come after a word from the PMO to him to quit. The Congress leadership and the Prime Minister had assured Mamata that her demand for replacing Trivedi will be acceded after the presentation of the general budget on Friday last.
Mamata was reportedly upset with the railway minister over the train fare hikes announced in the Rail Budget. Trivedi had reportedly not consulted the Trinamool Congress over the budget, either.
(Source: Economic Times, Times of India, ZeeNews, IBNLive, AFPIndia)
India’s Proposed Change to Tax Law May Slow Foreign Investments
According to Finance Secretary R.S. Gujral, India will claim capital gains tax on cross-border acquisitions completed in the past six years through an amendment after Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) won a case against such levies.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on March 16 proposed changing the law two months after the Supreme Court ruled that Vodafone doesn’t have to pay $2.2 billion in tax on its purchase of the local business of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (13) in 2007. Taxation experts at firms including KPMG said the changes applicable retrospectively from 1962 may slow foreign investments into the South Asian nation.
Gujral, seeking to reduce concern that the changes will prompt the tax office to claim levies on 50 year-old deals, said the amendment was proposed to clarify the intent of the law.
India attracted $27.6 billion of foreign direct investments in 2011, a 31 percent increase over the previous year, according to data from the trade ministry.
The nation gives foreign investors the guarantee that they will not be taxed doubly, Mukherjee said in an interview to Bloomberg UTV on March 17.
(Source: Economic Times, Bloomberg India, Moneycontrol.com, AFPIndia)
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