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BIZ E– NEWSLETTER
India Focus
this issue
BILATERAL NEWS:
I-T not to reopen cases before 1 April,
Gem & Jewellery Road
show held in Singapore
Singapore gateway for Indian overseas
flows P.4
MOU between IIFT and SMU P.5
Global Investors Meet 2012 (GIM) at
Bangalore P.6
The Gem and Jewellery India, Myanmar ink pacts for
the Imphal-Mandalay bus service to be opera- Export Promotion Coun- tional through the year (the road is currently cooperation, development
cil organized a Road unusable during the rainy season) will be un- show in Singapore on 25 Business Standard: May 29, 2012 May, 2012, to create Naypyitaw (Myanmar): A new onshore oil An Air Services Agreement was signed, ena- awareness about India block that will be explored by Jubilant Tech- bling Indian carriers to combine their flights to nologies, a paper mill to be set up by JK Mills Myanmar with other destinations in Southeast Show (IIJS) and India and a pump plant by Kirloskar are the imme- Asia and elsewhere. A working group will diate business gains of Prime Minister Man- discuss possibilities of enhancing rail connec- Week (IIJW) slated in mohan Singh's visit to Myanmar, the first by tivity, movement of freight from India to August this year in Mum- an Indian Prime Minister in 25 years. Southeast Asia and cooperation in the railway A joint statement by the two governments sector. Chairman, GJEPC, was listed a host of other measures to bring India in town to promote the At the political level, the Prime Minister and and Myanmar closer together. These included road show and to extend President Thein Sein of Myanmar assured initiatives in economic cooperation, connec- invitation to local jewel- each other that territories of either country tivity, development cooperation, trade and ers to participate in the would not be allowed to be used for activities investment promotion, capacity building and forthcoming editions of inimical to the other. This includes insurgents human resource development, culture & peo- IIJW and IIJS in Mum- ple-to-people contacts, and academic ex- bai. To give an impetus to and to promote greater Coir exports rise by 30 %
participation of contin- Gaps in connectivity and physical infrastruc- 22 May, 2012, 11.18PM IST, ET Bureau gents from Singapore, the tural linkage with Myanmar in the highways, GJEPC is offering an railways and civil aviation sectors are to be Coir exports from the country have shown incentive in the form of a 28 % rise in quantity and 30 % increase in The scale of most of the projects undertaken is value for the year 2011-12. The exports where participating dele- small, in recognition of the capacities of both gations will get a 2 days , touched 4,10,854 tonnes valued at Rs 1053 sides. For instance, $5 million (Rs 27 crore) 3 nights complimentary per year for five years will be allocated for crore. The exports have surpassed the target stay by the GJEPC on small developmental projects such as schools, of Rs 850 crore fixed for the year by a large their visit to India for small roads & bridges, agriculture and agro- margin. This has been achieved despite eco- IIJW and IIJS. For fur- processing projects and related training pro- nomic turmoil in Europe and the US.The ther information please grammes in the Naga Self Administered Zone year saw the export of coir fibre, yarn, hand- refer to the Council's (in the Sagaing division, bordering Manipur) loom matting, geo textile, (Cont on P.4)
and the Chin State (bordering Mizoram) in www.gjepc.org Myanmar. Road connectivity that will enable HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA, SINGAPORE 1
INDIA FOCUS
Japan likes to be a partner in
seas but involved domestic assets, can now breathe easy. Finance minister Pranab Muk- national manufacturing policy
herjee on Wednesday said that the Income- The Economic Times: May 25, 2012 Tax separtment will not re-open cases where New Delhi: Japan wants to be a partner while assessment proceedings had been finalised rolling out India's national manufacturing before April 1, 2012. "I gave a commitment policy which aims at creating 100 million in Parliament with regard to retrospective jobs and enhancing the country's share in the amendments that the Central Board of Direct GDP to 25 per cent in 10 years. Japan Exter- Taxes (CBDT) will issue a policy circular to nal Trade Organization ( JETRO), an arm of the ministry of economy, trade and commerce clarify that in cases, where assessment pro-is likely to propose to Indian government that ceedings have become final before the first Japan should be declared a partner country day of April 2012, such cases shall not be while promoting India's manufacturing pol- reopened," Mukherjee said after inaugurating icy. the new direct taxes building (Pratyaksh Kar N Noguchi, JETRO's chief director general in Bhawan) in the Capital on Wednesday. "Now India told ET that most of 820 Japanese com- CBDT has issued a circular in this regard," panies which are active in India are in manu- he added. facturing sector, and many more such compa-nies are willing to shift their bases to India. In Budget 2012-13, the finance minister had Hit by economic downturn, the Japanese mar- proposed to amend the I-T Act 1961, with ket is shrinking every day and most of the retrospective effect. "Case like that of Voda- Japanese companies want to shift bases out- fone, which is not closed won't come under side the country. "After the disastrous flood in Thailand last year, many Japanese compa- this clause," an I-T official told HT. Mukher-nies realized they should not concentrate their jee said that he has constituted an advisory manufacturing centers only in one place. group to resolve issues pertaining to transfer They want to set up manufacturing facilities pricing and international taxation. Worried in India so as to minimize risks", Noguchi over mounting tax litigations, Mukherjee also asked tax officials to avoid moving high Noguchi who had an earlier innings in India courts in case the question of law is not in-between 2005 and 2010, said many Japanese volved in disputes. "Normally my advise companies were also enthused by the success would be, with the two appeals at the com- story of the newly developed Neemrana in- missioner's level, the department need not dustrial area in Rajasthan. Over 30 Japanese rush to the high court, if there is no point of conditioning, Nissin Brake, Mitsui Chemical law concerned," the finance minister said. etc. are setting up their plants in Neemrana area. "Japanese companies are already con- India's first solar Renewable
tributing to manufacturing sector in India. Energy Certificates issued, to
But if we officially partner with India's na- M&B Switchgear
tional manufacturing policy, the process will get a momentum," said Noguchi. The Hindu Business Line: May 25, 2012 I-T not to reopen cases before
April 1, 2012: FM
‘Renewable Energy Certificates' were is-sued today. NSE and BSE-listed M and B HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Switchgear Ltd was issued 249 RECs by Foreign investors worried over retrospective the National Load Despatch Centre in tax on merger and acquisition (M&A) deals New Delhi. (Cont on P.8)
like that of Vodafone, which were done over- HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA, SINGAPORE 2
INDIA FOCUS

After Stockholm, Mumbai is
most liveable city: Survey
Some issues
The Hindu Business Line: May 22, 2012 City dwellers seemed most satisfied with the abundance of restaurants, pubs, cafes, shop-ping malls, supermarkets and entertainment facilities, apart from mobile network and wa-ter distribution. Traffic and parking, air quality, overall cleanliness and the manner of communication by authorities frustrated city dwellers the most, according to the survey. The findings further revealed that women in Mumbai and Tokyo were slightly happier Coimbatore: Mumbai has emerged as the sec- living in cities than men; and young people ond-most liveable city in the world, accord- were found happier than the old in Cairo and ing to an Ericsson ConsumerLab survey. The Seoul. This was in contrast to Mumbai, liveability factor has been tied to connec- Stockholm and Tokyo, where the aged ones tivity. Stockholm topped the list. were most content. India's business capital has in the survey out-
ranked cities such as New York, London and Coir exports rise by 30 %
Los Angeles.
(Cont from P.1)
The 30-minute online survey (with 1,500 par- rope, rubberized and curled coir, coir pith ticipants per city) was carried out in Cairo, etc go up. However, coir rugs and carpets Johannesburg, Mumbai, Stockholm, Beijing, showed negative growth in quantity and Moscow, Sao Paulo, Tokyo, Seoul, London, value. Los Angeles, New York and Hong Kong. "Urbanization is a global mega-trend. City Coir handloom mat and tufted mats wit-populations grow by 7500 people per hour, nessed a decrease in terms of quantity and and people are clearly feeling some stress increase in value. from overcrowding. We also saw how with the use of ICT, (Information and Communi- Coir fibre recorded 44 % increase in quan- cation Technology) people in cities alleviated tity at 1,19,684 tonnes and 67 % increase in such feelings and got on with city life," said value at Rs 203.23 crore. Coir handloom the Head of Research at Ericsson Consumer- mat and coir tufted mats were the other big Lab, Mr Michael Bjorn. selling products. The value of coir hand- The survey found that the average commute loom mats went up by 9 % to Rs 235.45 time in the 13 cities was two hours, twenty crore while the value of coir tufted mat minutes per day. went up by 16% to Rs 277.45 crore. "People are more relaxed when they know how long their commute will take, as this en- The export of coir pith has been on the rise ables them to use their time more efficiently. in the last few years. It has been no differ-Smart-phones are becoming an invaluable ent this year. The product which has found tool on the daily commute,' said Mr Bjorn. increased application in horticulture as a growing medium, clocked a 31 % increase "Big cities are hotbeds for creativity, bringing in quantity at 2,06,424 tonnes and 49 % together people from different walks of life. jump in value at Rs 221.50 crore. The sheer number of social opportunities is what makes life alluring in such cities," he said. HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA, SINGAPORE 3
INDIA FOCUS

now seen shifting their bases from Mauritius BILATERAL NEWS
Singapore gateway for Indian
"In terms of the richness of the entrepreneu- overseas flows
rial community, Indians actually form the largest foreign business community in Singa- The Times of India: May 18, 2012 pore in terms of the numbers of enterprises being registered there. This is the testament of the Indian entrepreneurial spirit, for whom Singapore forms a very comfortable and natu-ral platform to operate in. We do see that they continue to grow and India will continue to sustain itself as the largest business commu-nity there. I am excluding the Singaporeans," Lee Eng Keat, International Director, Asia-Pacific, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), told TOI. The latest to look at Singapore closely is Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications, which is planning to list its undersea cable Mumbai: Singapore is fast becoming a mag- business Flag Telecom in Singapore to raise net and the gateway for Indian outbound in- $1.4 billion this quarter. "Reliance is plan- vestments. Not only has the island nation ning to list it as a trust. Lot of companies posted a 20% jump in attracting India's out- have listed in Singapore in form of trusts like bound investment in the second half of 2011 India Bulls, Ascendas India, Mercator and over the previous year, but the Indian com- Aban offshore as it provides more sophisti- munity has also become the largest foreign cated financing solutions," said Keat. business community in Singapore with a four-fold jump in numbers of registered busi- During the last quarter, India's biggest firm nesses to over 4,000 since 2001. by market capitalization, Reliance Industries, raised over $1 billion through a bond issu- The country, which accounted for a fifth of ance in Singapore to fund its US shale gas India's $20 billion outbound foreign direct business as island nation emerged as a lead- investment during the second half of 2011, ing debt listing venue in Asia. Indian firms could actually witness a bigger jump next accounted for 14% of the total bond issuances year as it's expected to outpace tax haven after Korea. "If you look at convertible bonds Mauritius, the current favourite, accounting of Asia, about 85% of them are listed on the for a fourth of the outbound FDI. Things Singapore exchange. Also, since 61% of could change this year because of a budget RMB-denominated bonds are listed on the proposal to target income tax avoiders Singapore exchange, it provides an enhanced through the imposition of General Anti- flow of RMB for Indian companies to tap Avoidance Rule (GAAR) from April 2013, on," said Keat. which will arm tax authorities with powers to even tax retrospectively. Last year, Tata Communications made Singa-pore its international headquarters by invest- Companies such as GVK, GMR and Lanco ing S$210 million in a data centre and tele- have all have made Singapore a hub for their communications facility and plans to invest international business operations. The list over S$440 million in the next few years to also includes Tata Capital, Tata Communica- beef up operations. Infosys, too, has a data tions, Fortis, L&T and TCS. Some like HCL centre there now. Fortis Healthcare is plan- and Punj Lloyd are planning to expand their ning a secondary listing on the Singapore operations. This comes at a time when many Stock Exchange and is also contemplating a PE firms, hedge funds and other investors are real estate investment trust on the lines of HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA, SINGAPORE 4
INDIA FOCUS

of India Bulls. Fortis has already acquired a specialized cancer hospital in Singapore and Both parties also agreed to conduct joint re-stakes in specialist health care practices in search, case writing in the area of interna-Australia, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Viet- tional trade and business, especially related to nam through its Singapore venture. Accord- the Asian region. The MoU also covers stu-ing to Malvinder Singh, executive chairman, dent exchanges between the two institutions. Fortis Global Healthcare, Singapore has a "With the shift in growth and centre of eco- very strong public healthcare system that is nomic gravity towards emerging economies probably among the leading ones in the world in Asia, it is becoming increasingly important so Fortis international business is headquar- for international trade professionals to be trained both inside and outside India to take full advantage of India's business opportuni- Similarly, for Punj Lloyd, Singapore has be- ties. That Singapore is a trading and logistics come the resource and project management hub with 3,200 engineers in the region. HCL, hub, as well as a major financial centre in the region makes the SMU-IIFT or Singapore- too, has more than doubled its head count in Delhi educational axis a good mechanism for Singapore to over 1,000 in the last one year while L&T Infotech launched its wealth man- fostering both education and trade," said Pro- fessor Srivastava, SMU's provost and deputy agement centre of excellence. GVK, on the president (academic affairs) in a statement. other hand, acquired Hancock Coal in Austra-lia for $1.2 billion through a Singapore entity IIFT director K. T. Chacko said, "The joining to leverage on its financial markets for raising of hands between Singapore Management finances as also to leverage the treaty be- University and the Indian Institute of Foreign tween Singapore and Australia. Trade, India would go a long way in enrich- IIFT signs MOU with Singapore
ing the research and collaborative educational programmes. SMU's academic strength and in Management University on
depth understanding of South East Asia and training and research programs IIFT's core strength in International Business
The Economic Times: May 25, 2012
will prove a win-win situation for both." Cashew Buyer Seller Meet
held in Singapore
Kolkata: The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) and Singapore Management University ( SMU) have signed an MoU to collaborate on conducting training programs The Cashew Export Promotion Council of and research relating to international trade India–the apex organization of India and business from an Asian perspective. Cashew Exporters, organized a Buyer Seller Meet on 21 May, 2012 in Singa- Under the partnership, the two institutions pore. The event was a success with around will jointly design and launch management fifty traders and importers of cashew ker- development programs as well as offer post- nel from Singapore interacting with Indian graduate certificate programs in areas related cashew kernel exporters. to international trade, business and manage- HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA, SINGAPORE 5
INDIA FOCUS

FORTHCOMING EVENTS >>>> INDIA HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA, SINGAPORE 6
INDIA FOCUS
FORTHCOMING EVENTS >>>> SINGAPORE I– Business Event cum Road Show on Madhya Pradesh Global Investor's Summit
Date: 25 June, 2012
Venue: Hotel Mandarin Oriental, Singapore
Organizer: High Commission of India, Singapore; Email: [email protected]
Details: The State of Madhya Pradesh (MP) is organising "Invest Madhya Pradesh"- Global Investor's
Summit during 28th- 30th October 2012 at Indore, MP. The Investor's Meet seeks to highlight the in-
vestment opportunities in the state. Hon'ble CM of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan is
leading a high powered delegation to Singapore to promote the "Invest Madhya Pradesh" event
and to meet and interact with potential investors/ entities who may have an interest in doing business
in MP.
II– Singapore International Water Week 2012
Date: 1-5 July, 2012
Venue: Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
URL : http://www.siww.com.sg/
Details: Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) is the global platform for the sharing and co-
creation of innovative water solutions.
India's first solar Renewable Energy Certificates issued, to M&B Switch-
gear (Cont from P.2)
NSE and BSE-listed M and B Switchgear Ltd was issued 249 RECs by the National Load Despatch Centre in New Delhi. RECs are generation-based ‘certificates' awarded (electronically, in demat form) to those generating electricity from renewable sources such as wind, biomass, hydro and solar, if they opt not to sell the electricity at a preferentially higher tariff. These certificates are tradeable on the power exchanges and are bought by ‘obligated entities' that are either specified consumers or electricity distribution companies. These obligated entities may be required to purchase a certain quantum of either green power or RECs. The obligations are split into non-solar and solar — which means the obligated entities have to pur-chase either power from solar power projects or RECs generated by them. HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA, SINGAPORE 7
INDIA FOCUS
Government of India's website www.india.gov.in Ministry of External Affairs (ITP High Commission of India www.hcisingapore.com Dr. Reddy's Laborato-
Investment Commission of India ries Launches OTC
Department of Industrial Policy & http://dipp.nic.in Lanzoprazole Delayed
Release Capsules
Reserve Bank of India RTTNews.com Ministry of Corporate Affairs Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ministry of Commerce & Industry http://commerce.nic.in (RDY) has launched its Ministry of Finance http://finmin.nic.in Matters relating to Excise & Cus- zole delayed release cap- sules in the U.S market on May 18 after receiving Matters relating to Income tax ANDA approval from the Directorate General of Foreign United States Food & Drug National Centre for Trade Infor- www.ncti-india.com The company will market India Brand Equity Foundation the capsules under store brand labels in the U.S. Industry/Trade Organizations
Trade related Exhibition & Events www.indiatradefair.com Lanzoprazole delayed re- Confederation of Indian Industry lease capsule is the bio- Federation of Indian Chambers of equivalent version of No- Commerce & Industry vartis Consumer Health's Federation of Indian Export Or- Prevacid 24 HR capsule which received the Rx-to- EEPC India (Export Promotion OTC switch approval with www.eepcindia.org 3 years exclusivity from Sourcing of Products
the FDA on March 18, www.indiamart.com According to Symphony- IRI InfoScan Reviews, this www.indianexporters.com Prevacid capsule market www.tradeindia.com had brand sales of about For Feedback & Comments, please contact:
$115 million for the twelve Mr. Amitesh Bharat Singh, First Secretary (Commerce)
months ended March 2012. Trade Wing
High Commission of India
31 Grange Road, Singapore- 239702
Email : [email protected]; [email protected]
HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA, SINGAPORE 8
INDIA FOCUS

Source: https://www.hcisingapore.gov.in/adminpart/uploadpdf/98349india_focus_1june12.pdf