WEEKLY ECONOMIC BULLETIN - India in Businessindiainbusiness.nic.in/newdesign/upload/Publications/Weekly/August... · Vadinar refinery in view of the surging demand for petro products

NEWS FEATUREParliament clears GST, PM says will empower states, end corruption Marking a major leap towards enforcing a unified tax regime in the country, Parliament on Monday gave itsnod to the constitutional amendment bill on a Goods and Services Tax (GST) in what is seen as the mostradical indirect tax reform since Independence.

States on board for GST roll out - with riders Cutting across party lines, states across the country have expressed willingness to join hands with the central government in rolling out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime -- but with riders to protect their interests.

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India, Thailand review bilateral tiesIndia and Thailand reviewed bilateral ties in the Fourth Foreign Office Consultations between the two sides, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Friday.


Accion looks to double India investment in fintech cos to $50 millionAccion, the global nonprofit focusing on the financial inclusion space, is looking to double its exposure toIndia in the coming years from the current $25 million (Rs 167 crore).

OVERSEAS INVESTMENTS

ITP Division Ministry of

External Affairs Government of India

Issue No 687 I August 02-08, 2016

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TRADE NEWSEssar Oil investing Rs 1,600 cr in upgrading Vadinar refineryEssar Oil said on Sunday it is investing Rs 1,600 crore in upgrading 20 million tonnes per annum (mtpa)Vadinar refinery in view of the surging demand for petro products over the medium and long term.


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SECTORAL NEWSOnline hiring in IT sector revs up: ReportThe Indian IT sector, facing job cuts over the months due to sluggish growth, witnessed 51 per centgrowth in July in online hiring, said a global employment portal.


NEWS ROUND-UPWe're groping in dark on issues facing Indians in Middle East: ExpertFor want of a systematic study of the crisis facing the Indian diaspora in the Middle East, the government has little information, even on basic things like how many Indians have returned home, an expert has said.


WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN

WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN 2

Issue no 687 I August 02-08, 2016

>> NEWS FEATURE

Parliament clears GST, PM says will empower states, end corruptionMarking a major leap towards enforcing a unified tax regime in the country, Parliament on Monday gave its nod to the consti-tutional amendment bill on a Goods and Services Tax (GST) in what is seen as the most radical indirect tax reform since Inde-pendence.

The Lok Sabha voted for the second time on the measure inlittle over an year it had first cleared the enabling legislation in2015.

The lower house of parliament had to take up the bill yetagain after the Rajya Sabha, where the bill had been languishingsince then as the government did not have a majority in thehouse, gave its nod with few vital amendments on August 3.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the Lok Sabhawhen the bill was passed as were Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyand other senior ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, SushmaSwaraj and BJP patriarchs L.K. Advani and M.M. Joshi.

Making a departure, a jovial mood prevailed in the house evenwhile the amendments and the bill was taken up for voting.

As it was a Constitutional amendment bill, division of voteswas also mandatory.

"The motion is adopted by the majority of the house and not less than by the two-third of the majority of the house as re-quired by the Constitution," Speaker Sumitra Mahajan announced every time at the end of division voting.

After its passage and the chair announced adjournment of the house, treasury bench members and Union ministers wereseen greeting each other.

Intervening during the nearly six-hour debate on the bill, Modi said the GST bill will go a long way in helping states, supportsmall entrepreneurs and also curb the menace of corruption.

Expanding GST as "Great Step by Team India, Great Step towards Transformation and Great Steps towards Trans-parency", he said that it will be an important step towards getting the country rid of "tax terrorism" and also make "con-sumers the king".

He asked Jaitley to ensure that 16 states ratify the bill at the earliest and also that adequate steps are taken to ensureearly passage of the draft legislation on integrated GST, the central GST and the state GST.

The government will be targeting April 1, 2017 (the next financial year) for the roll out.Replying to the debate, Jaitley said that the uniform tax law will India make an "integrated market and once it is enforced,

"doing business in this country will become easier".He also said demand for reducing indirect taxes and hiking direct taxes is not practical.Jaitley hit out at the Congress, saying the 18 per cent cap on GST rate was suggested by the party only after the bill was

passed in the Lok Sabha.Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge took a dig at Modi, saying he had opposed the bill as Gujarat

Chief Minister."We were the creators of the GST. We were the first to bring the GST. We support it. Those who are passing the GST now,

why were they opposing it when they were in the opposition?

WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> NEWS FEATURE3


"Had they agreed to our conditions on the GST earlier, the delay wouldn't have happened," he said.The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Second Amendment) Bill, 2014 and amendments (carried out by Rajya

Sabha) were declared approved by a two-thirds majority with 443 members voting in its favour and none against.Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK, which had staged a walk out in the Rajya Sabha, did so in the Lok Sabha also.The amendments to the government bill, as passed by the Rajya Sabha, moved by Revolutionary Socialist Party's N.K

Premchandran were also negated by voice vote, while six amendments including one on scrapping of additional tax movedby the government as amended by the Rajya Sabha were passed.

The government had moved amendments in the Rajya Sabha to the bill to accommodate concerns of opposition, notablythe Congress, scrapping the proposed levy of 1 per cent additional duty to compensate states for at least two years andmake the dispute resolution mechanism stronger, but the third demand - of specifying the GST rate in the bill itself - was notacceded to.

The new tax regime -- the idea for which was mooted in 2003 -- seeks to subsume all central indirect levies like exciseduty, countervailing duty and service tax, as also state taxes such as value added tax, entry tax and luxury tax, to create asingle, pan-India market.

It was however seven years later that a formal bill was first introduced, but this lapsed when the United Progressive Al-liance (UPA) was voted out.

In 2014, a recast bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 19, and was passed by it five months later on May 6,2015. The bill was then referred to a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha for examination which submitted its Report onJuly 22, 2015.

Source: Indo Asian News Service

WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> NEWS FEATURE

Cutting across party lines, states across the country have expressed willingness to join hands with the central governmentin rolling out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime -- but with riders to protect their interests.

The GST bill, which was long stuck in the Rajya Sabha where the Narendra Modi government did not possess a majority,was finally passed by parliament's upper house onWednesday. The Lok Sabha had passed it last year.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee soughtthat as states wanted to give relief to micro and smallbusinesses, they must remain under the control of thestates.

Endorsing Banerjee's views, West Bengal FinanceMinister Amit Mitra said the GST's primary focus was tobenefit micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

"In the single-tax regime, MSMEs must be benefitted.Bigger industries can manage a multiple-tax regime butsmaller players are fed up with multiple taxes," saidMitra, who is also Chairman of the Empowered Commit-tee of State Finance Ministers on the GST regime, inKolkata.

"Dual control will be allowed for entities with annual turnover of more than Rs 1.5 crore, while small players, with lessthan Rs 1.5 crore annual turnover, will be in the state's control," he said.

Terming the passage of the GST Bill unanimously a historic moment, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said as theGST was the brainchild of the earlier UPA government, the NDA regime had to amend the Bill to meet the demands of theCongress in order to safeguard the interests of the people and the states.

"The GST Bill was originally drafted by the UPA government to usher in the concept of aone nation, one tax. As the NDAgovernment's Bill had some lacunae, our party suggested certain amendments, which were conceded for its smooth pas-sage in a bipartisan spirit," he told reporters in Bengaluru.

Siddaramaiah, who also holds the finance portfolio, said Karnataka was ready to implement the GST regime from April1, 2017.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also said it was the previous Congress-led UPA government that con-ceived the GST Bill, while rincipal Secretary Finance Shrikant Baldi said the state would definitely be benefitted with theGST.

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Anurag Thakur, who is from Himachal, said the GST would have a positive impact on the In-dian economy.

Haryana Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu announced that the state was prepared to implement the GST regime."The state excise and taxation department was preparing a roadmap to implement the GST regime. The concerned offi-

cials have been imparted training on how to implement it effectively," he told reporters in Chandigarh.Political parties and their leaders in Odisha expressed hope that the GST Bill would bring tax reforms in the country."The GST Bill will bring uniform tax rate throughout the country and help in seamless movement of goods and services

across the states," Odisha Finance Minister Pradeep Amat said in Bhubaneshwar, adding that the GST regime would pro-vide more relief to the economy, industry, trade and agriculture.

"The state will also be empowered to tax on services," Amat asserted.

States on board for GST roll out - with riders

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In Kerala, Jose Sebastian of the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation said the e-commerce segment would comeunder the tax net in the GST regime.

"Being a consumer state, Kerala will get Rs 4,000 crore every year once GST is in place. When GST become a reality, taxrevenue which has been going to states from where the goods were purchased, will come to our state," Sebsatian toldIANS in Thiruvananthapuram.

CII's Kerala State Council chairman Harikrishanan Nair said traders would benefit from GST on account of zero rate taxon exports.

In Maharashtra, Gera Developments Managing Director and CREDAI Vice President Rohit Gera said the GST, should takecare of home buyers by ensuring it does not increase the cost by raising the tax incidence on them.

SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said in Mumbai that GST would result in efficiencies by enabling seamlessmovement of goods and integration of markets across the country.

"The structural transformation of GST in the long term will be enormous and our bank is fully geared to meet the imple-mentation challenges and the necessary IT support will be in place in due time," she added.


WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> NEWS FEATURE

The Union Finance Ministry has said it has started the process of examining the proposal from the Railway Ministry tomerge the Rail Budget with the General Budget, 92 years after the separation took place.

"We will look at his (Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu's) proposal and examine it. It will have to be done in consultationwith the Railway Ministry. That process has started," Fi-nance Secretary Ashok Lavasa told IANS.

The Rail Budget has had a separate existence fromthe General budget since 1924 when the British spun itoff for a better focus on India's most important infra-structure network. The Railways then accounted for 70per cent of the total budget.

The Rail Budget now is only 15 per cent, on an aver-age, of the country's budget.

Asked when a decision is likely, Lavasa said, "We canreach a conclusion only after we have considered thepros and cons of his (Railway Minister's) proposal."

"This (merger) is something that has been suggestedeven in the past. So, one will have to consider what wasthe view taken in the past and why that view was taken," he said.

The Indian Railways suffer from a huge revenue deficit, the burden of which after the merger will be transferred to theMinistry of Finance.

According to Prabhu, who suggested the merger of the two budgets in a recent letter to the Finance Ministry, the al-ready stressed Railways were facing an additional burden this year of Rs 30,000 crore on account of the 7th Pay Commis-sion recommendations.

The letter from Prabhu came after a committee headed by NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy suggested the merger aspart of restructuring of the Railways.

If the merger happens, the Railways will also get rid of the annual dividend it currently has to pay for Gross BudgetarySupport (GBS) from the government.

Prabhu in the current Monsoon session of parliament had questioned the paying of the dividend to the Finance Ministry."This paying dividend to the Finance Ministry is one area which really needs to be looked into. Why should the Railway

pay dividend? This has been a recommendation of the Standing Committee. There have been several unanimous recom-mendations on this by several Standing Committees that the Railways discharge very useful public functions," Prabhu saidin the Lok Sabha.

If the Finance Ministry agrees to the proposal, there could be a unified Union Budget for 2017-18 after 92 years. Source: Indo Asian News Service

Centre considering proposal to mergerail, general budgets: Lavasa

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Accion, the global nonprofit focusing on the financial inclusion space, is looking to double its exposure to India in the comingyears from the current $25 million (Rs 167 crore).

The firm is looking for investments across areas likesmall business lending and financial technology startups,primarily in the early to mid-stage segment.

"Today, India is our most active country. We have athree-pronged strategy in the country," said Accion chiefoperating officer (COO) Esteban A Altschul. He said thatAccion is currently in talks with half a dozen companies foran investment and that "India is the hotbed for financial in-clusion worldwide".

On the financial inclusion side, Accion is eyeing invest-ments in segments like alternative credit scoring, risk man-agement and insurance products for bottom of the pyramid.

Accion has been operating in India for nearly a decade,with investments in Patna-based microfinance firm Saija Fi-nance, Mumbai-based banking correspondent player Swadhaar Finserv and more recently in Chennai-based financial inclu-sion platform IFMR Holdings.

Accion also has a platform that backs more early stage companies, called Venture Labs. Under this programme, it hasbacked six companies in India with an average cheque size of $400,000 (Rs 2.6 crore).

Some of these companies, which have raised follow on funding, include non banking finance company Aye and creditscore firm CreditVidya.

While the investments on the financial inclusion side are expected to focus on small business lending space, where tech-nology enabled companies like NeoGrowth -where Accion is also an investor -besides LendingKart and Capital Float haveraised funding rounds.

Another player, Five Star Business Credits, which provides loans to micro entrepreneurs, also recently raised Rs 114crore from Morgan Stanley Private Equity.

The firm also has an Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund, which is being run by an affiliate Quona Capital, which has investedin companies like budget housing lender Shubham Housing Finance and business-to-business marketplace Indiamart. Be-sides investments, Accion also conducts industry building and client education initiatives.

Source: Economic Times

WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> OVERSEAS INVESTMENT7


Accion looks to double India investmentin fintech cos to $50 million

WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> OVERSEAS INVESTMENT8


India, Thailand review bilateral tiesIndia and Thailand reviewed bilateral ties in the Fourth Foreign Office Consultations between the two sides, External Af-fairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Friday.

Swarup said the two sides held deliberations on Thursday on the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including the fol-low up of the outcomes of the state visit of Thai PrimeMinister Prayut Chan-O-Cha on June 16-18 this year, cel-ebration of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relationsnext year, cooperation in economic, trade and investment,political, defence and security-related matters

“During the consultations, both sides exchanged viewson issues of mutual concern at regional and multilaterallevel, including cooperation in Asean (Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations), Bimstec (Bay of Bengal Initia-tive for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Coopera-tion), ACD (Asia Cooperation Dialogue), UN and otherinternational organisations,” he said.

While the Indian side was led by Preeti Saran, Secre-tary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, the Thailand side was led by Apichart Chinwanno, Permanent Secretary inthe Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.


WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> OVERSEAS INVESTMENT

German firm ZF to set up technology centre in HyderabadGerman auto-component manufacturer ZF Friedrichshafen AG will set up here its India Technology Centre, which will bededicated to software and mechanical engineering, an official statement said.

This will be the company's first technology centre inIndia and it will support its global development teamswhile enabling the company to accelerate local productdevelopment, said a statement from the office of Telan-gana Information Technology and Industries Minister K. T.Rama Rao

To be fully operational by January 1, 2017, the facilityis expected to have a work force of 2,500 engineers by2020.

"This new facility is a significant investment for ZF inIndia. We are harnessing the skilled talent pool that Indiahas to offer in order to develop superior technology solu-tions for our global as well as local customers," said ZFFriedrichshafen AG CEO Stefan Sommer.

"As demand for software engineering grows, we will exponentially increase our capacity to help meet our customers'growth aspirations. With this Technology Centre, we are reinforcing our global R&D footprint as well as our commitmentand investment in the rapidly emerging Indian market," he added.

According to the statement, 13,800 engineers are currently working in R&D with ZF globally. The research and devel-opment network consists of more than 100 development locations, including 17 main development locations.

"We have 1,000 external engineers in the field of electronics, software and mechanical engineering with key IndianEngineering Services providers in Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Our ZF India Technology will build on this engineer-ing foundation, and focus not only on bringing advanced technology to India, but localizing more strategic business activi-ties including research, design and development," said Mamatha Chamarthi, senior vice president and executive lead forthe new India Technology Centre.


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WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> SECTORAL NEWS10


The Indian IT sector, facing job cuts over the months due to sluggish growth, witnessed 51 per cent growth in July in on-line hiring, said a global employment portal.

"The IT sector which was facing the brunt of extensive job cuts, charted a positive trend in July, witnessing 51 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth over June in online hiring," Monster.com's monthly employment index revealed.

Similarly, pro-active steps by the government has led to online hiring in the education sector zoom 74 per cent in Julyfrom 65 per cent YoY in June, surpassing other sec-tors.

"July started on a positive note with our overall jobindex posting a two per cent increase from June,while online recruitment grew 19 per cent YoY acrosssectors," said Monster.com Asia-Pacific managing di-rector Sanjay Modi in a statement here on Thursday.

Online demand for healthcare professionals hasalso gone up 46 per cent YoY while it was 41 per centYoY in customer service exports.

"Online demand for senior management, however,declined 38 per cent YoY in July from 50 per centgrowth in June," Modi said on the occasion.

Though the IT sector's apex body Nasscom re-ported a decline in tech jobs due to automation, thehiring portal showed the sector reviving from long-term deceleration.

"The IT sector is moving towards demand for people with specialised skills owing to digitization of manual processes,while the education sector has been doing well with double-digit growth in July, thanks to a slew of measures by thegovernment early this year," Modi asserted.

Online hiring also exceeded the year-ago level in 21 of the 27 industries, which are monitored by the index.Though hiring trend improved in the IT hardware, software and BPO/ITES sector, it declined 4 per cent in production

and manufacturing compared to year ago."E-recruitment in retail has slowed, as online opportunities slipped two per cent below the year-ago level while ship-

ping-marine sector slumped nine per cent over the year," Modi recalled.E-commerce sector posted a four per cent growth, up from a negative two per cent in June.Likewise, online demand increased for 11 of the 13 occupation groups monitored by the Index.E-recruitment increased in 12 of the 13 cities, led by Jaipur in Rajasthan (up 36 per cent) followed by Chandigarh in

Punjab (35 per cent) and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu (up 32 per cent)."With 26 per cent, Bengaluru had shown steep growth YoY in online hiring, followed by Chennai 18 per cent," Modi

added.Source: Indo Asian News Service

Online hiring in IT sector revs up: Report

WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> SECTORAL NEWS

Sterlite Technologies, which designs, builds and manages data networks for telecoms globally, on Monday launched theSterlite Tech Academy to create a talented pool of network professionals who can handle smart data networks for 'Digi-tal India', 'Smart Cities' and 4G rollout.

“We are happy to launch the Sterlite Tech Acad-emy through which, the industry can now look for-ward to gain trained and certified professionals fortheir broadband infrastructure and fibre-deploymentprojects,” said Anand Agarwal, CEO, Sterlite Tech-nologies, in a statement.

In India, less than 20 per cent of mobile tower siteshave a robust fibre backbone as compared to 70-80per cent in the developed countries.

The academy will impart hands-on training andclassroom sessions in optical fibre cable deployment.

It will enable the entire value chain involved in broadband network deployment to solve challenges of currently de-ployed networks.

"This will help bring true broadband experience in the country and transform lives of the citizens through high-speedinternet," the company said.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

Sterlite Technologies to create smartnetwork professionals in India

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WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> SECTORAL NEWS

Smartphone maker OPPO -- sometimes called the Apple of China -- does not bother with sales figures in India, but fo-cuses instead on "best service and quality with beautifulness", a top company executive has said.

According to Sky Li, Vice President, OPPO Mobiles -- which enteredIndia two years back and has seen tremendous growth since -- thecompany never follows Key Performance Indicators (KPI) -- a meas-urable way to check how effectively a company is achieving key busi-ness objectives.

"Providing best service with beautifulness to the customers is ourstrategy to grab the Indian smartphone market," Li told IANS on thesidelines of the launch of OPPO F1s, a successor to the popular OPPOF1 device, in Mumbai last week.

"Being a priority market for OPPO, we understand the Indian con-sumers' demand for excellent camera quality. OPPO has rich experi-ence in camera technology and has been the industry leader withseveral accolades and awards to its credit," said Li, who is also theOPPO's Global VP and Managing Director of International MobileBusiness and President, OPPO India.

The company is carrying this legacy forward and stepping up theselfie revolution by launching the upgraded selfie expert -- F1s -- to share advanced photography technology with aneven wider range of users in India and also offer them an outstanding "selfie" experience.

According to a latest report from the International Data Corporation (IDC), Chinese smartphone players like Vivo, Xi-aomi, Oppo, LeEco and Gionee had a 22 per cent share of smartphone sales in India in the quarter ended March 31.

Quality brands and players like Oppo now expect to grow in tier II and tier III cities with their large marketing spendsand increasing retail presence, the report added.

Speaking about the specifications of F1s, Li said it is an advanced version of the ealier "selfie expert" F1. "F1s takes selfie experience a step further with 16MP front camera, a sophisticated beautification feature and an in-

dustry leading 0.22s fingerprint reader. F1s also sports a 5.5-inch screen, an Octa-core processor backed with 3GB RAM,32GB ROM and 3075mAh battery at an amazing price of Rs 17,990," Li explained.

Asked about the "Make in India" initiative, Li said: "We had planned to open two manufacturing units in India, both inNoida (Uttar Pradesh). The first factory has already become functional last month."

India is going through a transformation period from feature phones to smartphones. The smartphone user base inIndia currently stands at 350 million and is expected to rise sharply.

Li feels that the "Make in India" initiative has created a strong platform for smartphone manufacturers like Oppo."Currently, there are many Indian consumers who are using low-end or less-value devices. The time when these cus-

tomers will switch over to mid- to high-end segment smartphones is an opportunity for us. We are committed to provideour best products," Li told IANS.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

Focus on best service, quality for Indiansmartphone users: Oppo

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WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> TRADE NEWS

Essar Oil said on Sunday it is investing Rs 1,600 crore in upgrading 20 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) Vadinar refineryin view of the surging demand for petro products over the medium and long term.

"Essar Oil's Vadinar refinery is looking atearning an additional $1.50 per barrel of crudeon its gross refinery margin (GRM) on the backof Rs 1,600 crore of investments," said a state-ment issued by the company.

"The company has already invested Rs 400crore during a 28-day planned shutdown of therefinery in September-October last year. A fur-ther Rs 1,200 crore will be invested to make ad-ditional upgrades in the various refinery unitsover the next 2-3 years," the statement said.

Vadinar refinery's current production ac-counts for about nine per cent of India's refiningcapacity.

"EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, de-preciation and amortisation) and profit after tax in the current financial year is expected to be significantly higher be-cause of the full availability of the refinery, stable crude oil prices, and our ability to optimally leverage on theinvestments," the statement said, citing Managing Director Lalit Gupta.

C. Manoharan, Director of Vadinar refinery, said: "Post the shutdown, we have been able to modify our crude blend.This has enabled Essar Oil to improve its crude and product mix significantly, which is reflected in our financial perform-ance."

In 2003, Essar Oil became the first private company to enter petroleum product retailing in the country, when thegovernment opened the sector to private-sector refiners.

The company runs a network of 2,470 operating retail outlets, while 2,850 additional outlets are in various stages ofimplementation.

Essar Oil has a target of reaching 4,300 operational outlets by the end of 2016-17. The total capital investment inthese outlets would be about Rs 2,100 crore.


Essar Oil investing Rs 1,600 cr in upgrading Vadinar refinery

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WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> TRADE NEWS14


The Indian government will organise an investment exhibition in Bandar Seri Begawan this September to boost economicties with Brunei, media reported on Sunday.

Indian High Commissioner Nagma Mallicksaid the expo titled "India Investrade" will fea-ture a large business delegation from Kolkata,Xinhua news agency reported.

"We have two big business delegations thatwill be coming to Brunei this year. In September,we will have a big exhibition... and later in Octo-ber or November a large delegation from theConfederation of Indian Industry in Delhi. Theywill hold meetings to explore investment oppor-tunities in both India and Brunei," she said onSaturday.

Representatives of Indian companies fromvarious sectors such as healthcare, pharmaceu-ticals, solar energy and engineering are ex-pected to meet Brunei businessmen to build up trade and investment ties.

There are many opportunities to be found in Brunei as it is centrally located in the Asean region, Mallick said.India is keen to use its vast experience in agriculture and IT to help the Sultanate diversify its economy, she said.Brunei and India established diplomatic relations on May 10, 1984. According to Brunei's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

and Trade, a bilateral joint committee was set up in 1995 to promote closer cooperation between both countries.The main export of Brunei to India is crude oil, while India's main export to Brunei are labours including professionals

and semi-skilled workers.Source: Indo Asian News Service

India to hold exhibition to boost economicties with Brunei

WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> TRADE NEWS15


New complex on India-Bangladesh border to boost tradeA multi-purpose Integrated Development Complex (IDC), to be funded by the Union Commerce Ministry, will be set up inTripura to boost trade with Bangladesh, officials said on Thursday.

The IDC will come up at a cost of Rs 12.62crore at the Manu Land Custom Station (LCS)near Sylhet division in Bangladesh.

"The IDC will be an important trading pointbetween India and Bangladesh. This will be thesecond IDC along Tripura's border withBangladesh," Tripura's Industry and CommerceDepartment Director V.G. Genner told IANS.

Commerce and Industry Minister NirmalaSitharaman inaugurated the first IDC at Sriman-tapur in Tripura along the border with BibirBazar district of Bangladesh.

Tripura has eight Land Custom Stations alongthe India-Bangladesh border.

The IDC, to be built on six acres of land, is aminiature of the Integrated Checkpost built by India along Bangladesh and Myanmar border to boost trade and business.

The IDCs would have all basic modern facilities like customs, immigration, banking with currency exchange facility,warehouse and public utility services.

"Of the Rs 12.62 crore projects, 90 per cent would be borne by the Union Commerce Ministry and the rest by theTripura government," he added.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Tuesday visited the proposed site of the new IDC.There are 31 Land Custom Stations in the northeast bordering Bangladesh.According to a Tripura official, the total India-Bangladesh trade has increased manifold in Tripura from Rs 4.12 crore

in 1995-96 to Rs 384 crore in 2015-16.Goods worth Rs 382 crore were imported from Bangladesh and the remaining amount was the value of exports.India has a 1,880-km border with Bangladesh along four states -- Tripura (856 km), Assam (263 km), Meghalaya (443

km), Mizoram (318 km).Source: Indo Asian News Service

WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> NEWS ROUND UP16


We're groping in dark on issues facing Indians in Middle East: ExpertFor want of a systematic study of the crisis facing the Indian diaspora in the Middle East, the government has little infor-mation, even on basic things like how many Indians have returned home, an expert has said.

"Today everyone asks me how many have re-turned following the various issues in the MiddleEast. The answer is I don't know because suchthings can be ascertained only after a study," S.Irudayarajan, who heads the migration depart-ment at the Centre for Development Studieshere, told IANS.

"Now with these questions increasing, I havestarted to do a quick estimate and it would takea month for the first results to emerge," said Iru-dayarajan. External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj said on July 30 that the government wasmaking efforts to bring back over 10,000 Indianworkers rendered jobless in Saudi Arabia andKuwait and was providing them food in camps.

She also appealed to "30 lakh Indians in Saudi Arabia" to help "your fellow brothers and sisters".Her ministry said on Tuesday that 7,700 laid-off Indian workers in Saudi Arabia have been sheltered in camps and that

information about more workers in distress is being collected.Irudayarajan said the government finds itself without the necessary information in crisis situations because it has not

instituted any regular study to frame short- and long-term policies as far as the diaspora is concerned."The time has come to institute an annual review. There is no point framing policies after things turn bad. At the mo-

ment no one knows if this is just a passing phenomenon or not," he said. India's ignorance of short-term issues arises from a failure to take into account the long-term social and economic

changes that have taken place in the Middle East, such as the the education profile of the local population there, said Iru-dayarajan. "When migration from here began in the 1970s, education of the Middle Eastern nationalities was poor, buttoday the local youth are all educated and hence there is a job crunch, which is only natural."

The situation is similar to the expression of resentment against "non-Maharashtrians" living and working in Mumbai,said Irudayarajan, who has been doing studies of migration from India every five years since 1998.

He did his last study in 2013 whose findings were published in 2014. Things have changed dramatically since."Today it's a double crisis in the Middle East: oil prices have had a free fall and unemployment of their nationals is

slowly reaching double digits, which hitherto was in single digits," said Irudayarajan.According to Irudayarajan's latest published study, 90 per cent of Kerala's 23.63 lakh diaspora are in various Middle-

East countries, of which UAE accounts for 38.7 percent of the Kerala emigrants followed by Saudi Arabia which has 25.2per cent. The price of oil, on which the Middle-eastern economies depend heavily, has crashed from US$104 in May 2014and now hovering around US $40.

The deposits of non-residents in Kerala banks touched Rs 1,27,997 crore, up from Rs 1,17,349 crore, as on June 30,2015, according to the latest State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) report.


WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> NEWS ROUND UP

PM urges citizens to target 8 percent growthfor 30 yearsPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday gave Indians an ambitious target of achieving more than 8 percent growthrate for 30 years, saying this will change the entire developmental scenario of the country.

"If we can sustain an economic growth ofmore than 8 percent for 30 years, if not more,all that is good in the world will be at ourdoorsteps," Modi said addressing a Town Hall-style event organised to mark the second an-niversary of MyGov platform.

He said amid a recession-hit global economy,it is no mean feat for a country of 125 crore toachieve a growth rate of 7.5 per cent despitetwo consecutive droughts.

"The entire world is passing through reces-sion and the purchasing power has come downsignificantly. Indian agriculture is also facingpressure. To achieve 7.5 per cent growth rate insuch a situation is itself a big feat and I compli-ment 125 crore Indians for this," he said.

Stressing on the role of proper planning and balanced expenditure in running country's economy, the Prime Ministersaid there should be an optimal utilisation of natural resources.

"Only with proper utilisation of our natural resources, we can fully utilize human resource potentials," he said fieldingquestions from citizens from across the country.

On the Occasion, he feliciated people whose suggestions were included in his monthly "Mann Ki Baat" radio broadcast. He also met six engineering students who designed and developed the new PMO mobile app. Stating that agriculture remains a most potent sector to push up country's economy, Modi said the farmers should be

led towards modern amenities and his government's efforts to distribute soil health cards is a sincere attempt towardsthat endeavour.

He said in the changing agro-economic scenario, farmers should focus on multiple activities and also take up timbercultivation as a mid-term and lon- term strategy.

The Prime Minister also urged the agriculturists to dedicate a portion of their land and labour on subsidiary activitiessuch as animal husbandary, bee keeping and fisheries to bolster their income.

He also stressed on the need to focus on preventive and affordable health care and said the government is working onwidening the scope of health insurance.


17


WEEKLYECONOMIC BULLETIN >> NEWS ROUND UP

After GST, India more appealing to Chinese firmsIndia will be more appealing to Chinese firms after the clearance of much awaited Goods and Services Tax Bill in theupper house of Parliament, a state-run daily said on Friday.

An op-ed piece in Global Times said Chinawas willing to work with India to make GST Billa "reality".

It said the passage of the bill could boostPrime Minister Narendra Modi's political legacyand give him a better chance for a second term.

"This (GST) could certainly boost India's ap-peal to multi-nationals, including Chinese firms,as a myriad of existing federal, state and inter-state levies in the country had previously in-creased their tax burdens and barred them fromfurther exploring potentials in the world'sfastest-growing major economy.

"China is more likely to see this reform, whichaims to make India a better destination for in-vestment, as an opportunity rather than a threat," the daily said.

However, the Global Times lamented that Chinese companies still faced complicated and cumbersome tax system inIndia.

"Chinese companies are certainly welcoming the move. Along with other restrictions, the country's complicated andcumbersome taxation system as well as bureaucracy related to tax-collection remains a hurdle for the firms doing busi-ness in India."

"China will be happy to see the reforms go through as it sees this improved investment environment as an opportunityrather than a threat and will be willing to work with India to make it a reality," the write-up said.

"The move is both politically and economically significant. Politically, it showed that the Modi government can com-promise to get reforms made in the national interest.

"It could add momentum to the world's already fastest growing economy," it said.Source: Indo Asian News Service

18


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