Govt to go ahead with Nelp VIII |
 The government has decided to proceed with the next step of the eighth round of auction of oil and gas blocks under the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (Nelp) and open the data room for prospective bidders on May 20.
“We will open the data room across the world for firms participating in Nelp VIII on May 20,” said V K Sibal, director general at the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). He also said there was no confusion on the issue of tax holiday for production of natural gas.
“The issue on tax is clear and tax will be levied. We are optimistic that we will receive good number of bids. Even without clarity on the issue, we got 80 bids last year,” Sibal added. Earlier, firms engaged in production of oil and gas were eligible for an income-tax holiday for seven consecutive years. This, however, was changed in the Union Budget of 2008-09, when the finance ministry declared that tax holiday was only for crude oil production and not natural gas.
“We will try to obtain a decision of the (new) government on this (tax) matter. If there’s no decision then we will go ahead with what we have,” said Petroleum Secretary RS Pandey. Fearing that lack of clarity on taxation would affect participatory interest in Nelp VIII, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had deferred the road shows, starting April 20, on India’s biggest auction ever of 70 oil and gas blocks. The DGH is optimistic that Nelp VIII will see successful round of bidding despite the grim economic situation across the world.
Source: The Economic Times |
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Airbus manufacturing hub in India |
Bharti Airtel customers will soon be able to make and receive calls on their mobiles, send text messages and even access data while travelling on select international airlines, with India's largest mobile phone operator entering into an agreement with an inflight solutions firm.
Bharti has tied up with AeroMobile, the world's largest inflight solutions company, which currently has agreements with several global carriers such as Emirates, Qantas, Malaysia Airlines and Turkish Airlines. Bharti will be the first Indian telco to offer this facility to its customers. Globally, several operators across Europe, the US and Australia offer inflight services. Bharti Airtel's chief marketing officer Raghunath Mandava said 434 international flights that has this facility had taken off/landed in India in April.
AeroMobile, a UK-based company majority-owned by Norway's Telenor, is in the process of entering into tie-ups with more airlines and this number is set to increase, said Mr Mandava. "While AeroMobile has tie-ups with Emirates & Malaysia Airlines, not every aircraft on their fleet will have this facility. It will depend on whether the aircraft allotted on that route has been wired by AeroMobile. But, passengers will be informed during their bookings if the facility is available on the flight," he said.
 Airtel customers will only have to activate their international roaming to use the service. On the tariff front, the rates will be similar to what Indian customers pay when they avail international roaming in Norway. This is because, AeroMobile is majority-owned by Norway's Telenor. An outgoing call will cost Rs 188 per minute while it will be Rs 24 per minute for incoming calls. Passengers will be 0charged Rs 41 for an outgoing SMS while incoming SMSs will be free.
Bharti did not give any revenue projections, but said it was targeting niche customers flying abroad. Passengers on international flights will not be able to use their handsets while flying over India as existing regulations do not permit cellular services on aircraft flying over Indian air space. "This facility will remain with the Captain of the aircraft. He can switch it on when the aircraft is outside the Indian air space, or turn it off, when it enters the country," Mr Mandava said.
In March, Malaysia Airlines, announced that passengers using in-flight mobile services had exceeded 40% of the total. "Data devices such as BlackBerry are proving to be popular, with data traffic on some flights exceeding 2MB, the equivalent of 40 Black-Berry users sending and receiving email," the airline added in a statement. According to AeroMobile's website, caller ID will also function as normal during inflight calls. "Simply switch your mobile phone on inflight to access GSM services, just as you would while traveling abroad. You will be billed via your existing mobile phone service provider. GPRS and all other IP based services (e.g. internet) is available. More applications will become possible once higher speed satellite communications services become available," the company website says.
AeroMobile has an agreement with the world's largest aircraft maker Boeing whereby the latter will install this technology in all the new planes it manufactures. |
Ferns N Petals sets up first franchise in Kashmir |
 The flower trade in Kashmir is waiting to take off, from the new international airport at Srinagar. Ms Nusrat Jahan Ara, founder-director of Petals Agritech who has just become the first franchisee of the florist chain, Ferns N Petals (FNP), is hoping to send tulips to Dubai, and eventually to other global markets. Jammu and Kashmir sent about Rs 2 crore of flowers, mainly gladioli, lilies, and carnations, to the mandis in Delhi last year.
“With the new airport, we are looking to exports flowers to international markets; we will start with Dubai,” says Ms Jahan Ara. The offerings include Narcissus, Daffodils, Iris and particularly Tulips, which only the climate in Kashmir can support. The Indian Army is a significant consumer in the State. “There is a large presence of the armed forces, paramilitary, BSF, CRPF and the Army in the state who are sent flowers by family and friends,” says Mr Pawan Gadia, Vice-President of Ferns N Petals.
The retail chain of florists says the economic situation has led to people buying smaller bouquets. “Instead of Rs 700-600 per bouquet, they are spending Rs 400-300. But the volumes have expanded as we have managed to grow the consumer base through an expansion of our outlets and marketing initiatives,” he adds. |
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FDI growth up 85% in '08, highest globally
India achieved a stunning 85.1% increase in foreign direct investment flows in 2008, the highest increase across all countries, even as global flows declined by 14.5%, says the findings of the Unctad study — Assessing the impact of the current financial and economic crisis on global FDI flows.
The study, which updates the organisation’s January assessment, estimates that the FDI investments into India went up from $25.1 billion in 2007 to $ 46.5 billion in 2008 even as global flows declined from $1.9 trillion to $1.7 trillion during the period. It also cautions of a further decrease in FDI flows in 2009 as the full consequences of the crisis on transnational corporations’ (TNCs) investment expenditures continues to unfold
Surprisingly FDI increased by a much slower 10% in China, pushing up the inflows from $83.5 billion in 2007 to $ 92.4 billion in 2008. What is, however, significant is that India’s FDI flows which was just a fraction of that of China just a few years back has now touched half the levels. More importantly that ratio of FDI to GDP in India would now exceed that of China, indicating its larger role in the Indian economy, as the size of the Chinese economy is around three times higher than that of India.
India’s achievement in mobilising FDI is all the more significant because the inflows into the developed countries have declined by 25.3% in 2008.
In contrast the overall FDI flows to developing countries increased by 7.2% in 2008. The report warns that though developing and transition economies were quite resilient in 2008, during the downturn in global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, they will be increasingly affected in 2009 as international investment continues to decline.
However it also noted that some large emerging economies, such as Brazil, China and India, still remain favourable locations for FDI, particularly market-seeking FDI. They maintained relatively high economic growth rates in 2008 compared with advanced economies. As prospects continue to deteriorate more markedly in developed countries, investors are likely to favour the relatively more profitable options available in the developing world.
The fall in global FDI in 2008-2009 is the result of two major factors affecting domestic as well as international investment. First, the capability of firms to invest has been reduced by a reduction in access to financial resources, both internally — due to a decline in corporate profits — and externally - due to lower availability and higher costs of finance. Second, the propensity to invest has been diminished by negative economic prospects, especially in developed countries hit by the most severe recession of the post-war era.
The setback in FDI has particularly affected cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As), the value of which was in sharp decline in 2008 and 2009 as compared to the previous year´s historic high. Practically all sectors have been affected by a decrease in cross-border M&As in 2008, with the exception of oil, mining, and agrifood businesses. |
Goldman Sachs to train 29 Indian women entrepreneurs
As part of its focus on developing startups across the world, Goldman Sachs is looking at training and development of around 29 select women entrepreneurs in India. The effort is part of Goldman Sachs '10,000 Women' initiative, founded on the basis of a research conducted by the World Bank, Goldman Sachs, and others, which found that educating women is one of the most effective ways to increase economic growth and improve living standards in developing economies.
Source: Business Standard |
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