India looks East

.
.
.
.

Benefits of Doing Business in India

For companies and executives from Western economies there are many benefits of doing business in India when compared to other Asian or emerging country alternatives.

• With a 5,000 year heritage of welcoming foreigners to its shores, India welcomes diversity. America, Americans and American brands are well liked and popular in India while Europeans and Asians are also readily accepted.

• India is a free society and Websites, movies and music from other cultures is not censored or limited, with the exception of pornographic or extremely seditious materials.

• Investing into India and repatriating profits or other gains is generally quite straightforward. Foreign companies can readily raise equity capital in India and many foreign companies have subsidiaries traded on Indian stock exchanges.

• India’s location can make it a good strategic alternative to China for manufacturing and shipping to Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Honeywell manufactures turbochargers in Pune, and Hyundai makes automobiles in Chennai for the African and European market.

• India’s engineers and managers travel well globally. GE, Google, CA, Mastercard, Reebok and many others have transplanted managers first hired in India into corporate headquarters and worldwide leadership positions. India’s talent is a tremendous asset.

• You will readily find people who speak English and you can buy English language books and magazines in all major Indian cities and airports. If you speak a major European language such as Spanish, German, or French, you will also find speakers of these languages in major Indian cities, thanks to organizations such as Max Mueller Bhavan and Alliance Francaise and also due to India’s booming global call center business.

• India’s young population and growing economic power promises to be a magnet for foreign companies for decades to come.
•  

• Advantage India

• World's largest democracy with 1.2 billion people.
• Stable political environment and responsive administrative set up.
• Well established judiciary to enforce rule of law.
• Land of abundant natural resources and diverse climatic conditions.
• India's growth will start to outpace China's within three to five years and hence will become the fastest large economy with 9-10 per cent growth over the next 20-25 years (Morgan Stanley).
• Investor friendly policies and incentive based schemes.
• India's economy will grow fivefold in the next 20 years (McKinsey).
• Cost competitiveness; low labour costs.
• Total labour force of nearly 530 million.
• Large pool of skilled manpower; strong knowledge base with significant English speaking population.
• Young country with a median age of 30 years by 2025: India's economy will benefit from this "demographic dividend".
• The proportion of population in the working age group (15-59 years) is likely to increase from approximately 58 per cent in 2001 to more than 64 per cent by 2021.
• Huge untapped market potential.
• The urban population of India will double from the 2001 census figure of 290 m to approximately 590 m by 2030 (McKinsey).
• Progressive simplification and rationalization of direct and indirect tax structures.
• Reduction in import tariffs.
• Full current account convertibility.
• India is member of WTO.
• Robust banking and financial institutions.
•  

__________________________________________________________________

India, South Korea shore up strategic ties

By Times of India and PTI

In boost to their strategic ties, India and South Korea on Monday decided to enhance cooperation in sectors like shipbuilding, electronics, defence production, infrastructure and energy besides outlining mutual interest in areas of nuclear energy and cyber security.

  In the eighth joint commission meeting, external affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se deliberated on all aspects of the bilateral ties with a view to "chart out a road map" to further deepen engagement.

  "They agreed that development of cooperation in the field of defence equipment and technology, as well as, sectors like shipbuilding, electronics, IT, energy and infrastructure held considerable possibilities

   "They reiterated mutual interest in deepening cooperation in the areas of civil nuclear energy and cyber security," the ministry of external affairs said.

   In her address, Swaraj called South Korea an important partner for India's economic growth and invited South Korean companies to make "bold investments" and benefit from the "Make in India" initiative of the government.

   She said South Korea and South Korean companies occupy a strategic place in India's "Act East" initiative and that there was huge scope for greater investment in the country, particularly in the manufacturing sector.

    "We invite Korean companies to build on their success in India and make bold investments to benefit from my government's focus on 'Make in India' which is aimed at providing necessary policy and other incentives to encourage manufacturing in India," she said.

    Yun welcomed the initiatives taken by India and agreed to encourage the South Korean industry to engage with India even "more closely".

    In the meeting, there was agreement on the considerable potential for further expanding bilateral economic and investment cooperation.

   The South Korean side reiterated a cordial invitation for an early official visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the country.

   Swaraj welcomed the invitation adding that both sides will work closely to ensure a productive and successful visit of Modi at a mutually convenient early date.

       The two ministers exchanged views on global and regional developments and agreed to step-up exchanges between officials and academics of the two sides.

Swaraj also called on South Korean President Park Geun-hye and held meetings with the minister of trade, industry and energy and the national security adviser.

In her address, Swaraj sought steps to boost trade ties to realise the target of $40 billion bilateral annual trade by next year and said South Korean companies like Hyundai, Samsung and LG have become household names in India.

"My government attaches importance to relations with Republic of Korea. We see you as an important partner for our economic growth. Korea and Korean companies occupy a strategic place in India's 'Act East' initiative," she said.

Currently 300 South Korean companies have invested approximately USD 3 billion and have employed nearly 40,000 people in India.(Peanuts---need more investment from South Korea, and maybe they can teach India to play baseball, instead of cricket???)

The current bilateral annual trade between the two countries is about USD 16 billion. Indian companies have invested around USD 2 billion in South Korea and some of the leading names who acquired South Korean companies are Tatas, Mahindra and Aditya Birla Group.

"We would like to see a new form of connectivity between our two countries through cross-border production networks," the external affairs minister said.

"We need to work together to realize the fuller potential of bilateral trade. We had set a target of USD 40 billion by 2015. To achieve this target, our companies need to take full advantage of our economic complementarities and leverage the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement," she said.

India-South Korea joint commission for bilateral cooperation was established in February 1996, which is chaired by the external affairs minister and the minister of foreign affairs from the South Korean side.