Out of 1.83 million resident non-immigrants in America in 2008, about 400,000 were from India said the Department of Homeland Security. The majority of resident non-immigrants were citizens of Asian countries. Examples of the resident non-immigrant population are temporary workers, students, and diplomats who were legally admitted for specific and temporary purposes with long stays.
Posted on August 30th, 2010 by Gunjan
In recent weeks, the private equity giant, Blackstone Group decided to invest $300 million to buy a minority stake in Indian power developer Moser Baer Projects Private Ltd, which seeks to build out thermal, solar and hydro power generation as well as coal mining operations.The parent of this entity happens to be the world’s second [...]
Posted on August 19th, 2010 by Gunjan
For people living in India, the subject of monsoons dominates daily conversation. It has definitive impact upon the lives of many urban dwellers suffering a long spell of almost intolerable heat but rural Indian depend on the seasonal rains for their very livelihood. Each year as the monsoon season approaches in June, heightened anticipation and [...]
Posted on August 5th, 2010 by Gunjan
India’s high rate of inflation is expected to reduce with the recent rainfall in what is turning out to be a good monsoon season. India’s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, made a statement addressing a recent National Development Council (NDC) meeting, citing a bit more optimism about the inflation than projected by his advisory council’s [...]
Posted on August 3rd, 2010 by Gunjan
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released its 2010 World Investment Report with India moving up four spots from 13 to nine. With a whopping $130 billion inflow in 2009 the U.S. remained at the top of the list with China trailing, bringing in $95 billion. The total inflows were reported at [...]
Posted on August 1st, 2010 by Gunjan
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis spent Wednesday and Thursday last week in official talks in India. Ambassador Marantis met Indian Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar to discuss bilateral trade and investment issues, including U.S. agricultural and telecommunications equipment exports to India. (A Secretary in India is not a cabinet position but the senior-most civil staff [...]
Posted on August 1st, 2010 by Gunjan
The British Prime Minister David Cameron is visiting India now, at least three months before the scheduled visit of U.S. President Obama. Cameron is distinctly focused on commercial ties. Especially with his recent interest in containing expenses at home, India seems to be on the forefront for business engagement. In my posts I generally focus [...]
Posted on July 22nd, 2010 by Gunjan
Anything that’s said about Tata Motors’ Nano makes for news, and why not, never before did we hear of a $2,100 car! At the recent roll out of the Nano from its Sanand (Gujarat) plant it enjoyed some added attention. Cornell University Assistant Professor, Aleksandr Mergold with his team of four assessed the future of [...]
Posted on July 20th, 2010 by Gunjan
No longer will international vendors and consumers alike need to distinguish Indian Currency with “INR.” or “Rs”. India’s Finance Ministry has reached a verdict on their national search for a currency symbol. The new symbol, which was submitted by D Udaya Kumar of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, resembles a capital “R” with two [...]
Posted on July 16th, 2010 by Gunjan
In recent posts, I have reported how India continues to grow at an unprecedented pace despite the global slowdown. Indian companies are leveraging this growth streak to strengthen their corporate portfolios, particularly by making outbound acquisitions in western markets. In April-June 2010 quarter the number of acquisition transactions involving Indian companies was roughly the same [...]
Posted on July 3rd, 2010 by Gunjan
India needs $1 trillion in infrastructure investment, where there is still a gap of 25-30 per cent that can be filled by U.S. companies, according to the country’s Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee speaking at the recent U.S.-India CEOs Summit held in Washington, D.C. Infrastructure (roads, airports, bridges, railways) is often described as India’s Achilles heel, [...]
Posted on July 1st, 2010 by Gunjan
For decades India’s tax laws have gotten more complicated and the government’s take of overall GDP has generally meandered upwards. Unlike in the United States, income tax contributes a relatively small portion of the overall revenue collections. The vast majority of Indians fall below the threshold for income tax payments. Tens of millions of micro-businesses [...]
Posted on June 24th, 2010 by Gunjan
Listen to my comments on MarketPlace Radio on this. Click here. // India wants to assert its national identity domestically and internationally in many different ways. In recent years: The country has expressed pride in being invited to join the G20 group, but it really wants to be a permanent member of the United Nations [...]
Posted on June 24th, 2010 by Gunjan
Since September 2009, India’s industrial growth has been above 10 percent. In April 2010, industrial production was almost 18 percent higher than a year ago and ahead of a Thomson Reuters forecast of 13 percent. Machinery and equipment was the fastest growing industrial sector, at an incredible 55.6 percent growth from last year’s somewhat depressed [...]
Posted on June 12th, 2010 by Gunjan
Recent volatility in currency exchange rates accompanied with spiraling debt crises in Europe are instigating some fear and worry that a feeling of paranoia may overtake investors. Although the impact may be felt by some U.S.-based companies with outsource partners on the Indian subcontinent, those that spread costs throughout different exchanges such as Euros, British [...]
Posted on June 10th, 2010 by Gunjan
While the world struggles at low single digit growth and most American families have flat incomes, the news from India appear far more rosy. Per capita income grew by 10.5 per cent to Rs 44,345 in the year ended March 31, 2010 compared with Rs 40,141 in the year-ago period, according to India’s Central Statistical [...]
Posted on June 10th, 2010 by Gunjan
India’s economy may expand between 8.25 per cent and 8.75 per cent in the 12 months through March 2010, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi, reiterating a February Finance Ministry forecast. Sectors that are expected to make substantial contribution include automobile, telecom, services, engineering, and heavy engineering. India’s industrial output increased 16.7 percent [...]
Posted on April 5th, 2010 by Gunjan
India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, presented his annual budget to Parliament in February; he revealed that India had weathered the global slowdown quite well; in fact, manufacturing output rose 18.5 percent in November 2009, compared to the previous year. The minister predicted the fiscal deficit would fall to 5.5 percent in the 2010-11 fiscal year [...]
Posted on March 8th, 2010 by Gunjan
India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukerjee, presented his annual budget to Parliament last Friday; he revealed that India had weathered the global slowdown quite well; in fact manufacturing output rose 18.5 percent in November 2009, compared to the previous year, while the overall economy grew at almost 8 percent. The minister predicted the fiscal deficit would [...]
Posted on February 28th, 2010 by Gunjan
The global financing storm hurt some more than others. According to Project Finance International he world’s top Initial Mandated Lead Arranger of project financing in 2009 was the State Bank of India’s SBI Capital Markets which loaned almost $20 billion for domestic financing projects. IDBI Bank of India was ranked 5th at almost $4 billion. [...]
Posted on February 4th, 2010 by Gunjan
The Worlds Bank’s annual Global Economic Prospects 2010 Report says that India “is expected to grow at 7.5-8 % in 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively, well above the 6.4 % average posted during 1995-2005″. India’s own central bank, the Reserve Bank of India had already estimated growth in India at 7.5% for 2009-10. Foreign direct investment [...]
Posted on February 4th, 2010 by Gunjan
The results of a survey published by consultancy firm Nielsen indicates that Indians are most optimistic about job prospects and personal finances compared to the rest of the world. The Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence report that 92% of Indians were optimistic about their job prospects over the next year. In addition, the survey Nielsen published [...]
Posted on January 30th, 2010 by Gunjan
In 2009 “India maintained robust growth (6.7%) without Beijing’s hefty stimulus of $585 billion in part because it is less exposed to the international economy. China’s exports represented 35% of GDP compared with only 24% for India in 2008. Thus India was afforded more protection from the worst effects of the financial crisis in the [...]
Posted on January 30th, 2010 by Gunjan
Top executives of companies are generally a sanguine bunch. But the economic crisis of 2008 shook their confident about future prospects and the recovery in confidence has not been uniform. According the 2010 Price Waterhouse Survey of 1,198 CEOs, 81 per cent of CEOs worldwide are confident of their prospects (compared to 61 pecent a [...]
Posted on January 28th, 2010 by Gunjan
India’s factory output rose 10.3 percent in October from a year earlier as government stimulus measures and domestic demand pushed Asia’s third-largest economy into its 10th straight month of industrial expansion. The government also revised its number for September industrial output growth to 9.6 percent from 9.1 percent. The Expert expects India factory output to [...]
Posted on January 1st, 2010 by Gunjan
The global slowdown that began last year affected exports from India for a while but the overall mood in the country continued to be upbeat. Quarterly growth also continued so facts and emotions were lined up. In Q3 2009, facts seem to have gotten ahead of emotions as India reported 7.9 % growth, ahead of [...]
Posted on December 3rd, 2009 by Gunjan
The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct 27th that Tata Motors profits doubled in Q3, as as raw-materials costs fell and sales increased in India. This followed a report ten days earlier that India’s largest software services exporter TCS posted an unexpectedly robust 29% rise in its profits and margin conscious Infosys, recorded a 7.5 [...]
Posted on November 1st, 2009 by Gunjan
India plans to sell stakes in at least five state-run firms by the end of the fiscal year in March 2010 following successful IPOs of two firms that raised $1.8 billion. Privatization had slowed down during the last decade but the present government, elected with a strong majority in May 2009, is showing signs of [...]
Posted on October 5th, 2009 by Gunjan
Spielberg seals deal with India money, Watch Amitabh Jhunhjunwala
Posted on August 23rd, 2009 by Gunjan
Pranab Mukerjee presented the budget for the current fiscal year yesterday and it appears to have something for everyone. Expenditures rise by about 35% with the stated goal of halving poverty over the next several years. Thefiscal deficit — the gap between its revenue and expenditure — is expected to balloon to 6.8 per cent [...]
Posted on July 7th, 2009 by Gunjan
India is the largest borrower from both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and has always made good on its loan payments. The moneys are used for mega-development projects, usually around infrasctructure. But a new plan to develop flood management, water supply and sanitation in the northeastern border state of Arunachal Pradesh caused [...]
Posted on April 14th, 2009 by Gunjan
In this global downturn, more attention is turning to India as a market and as a resource. I see that every day in my consulting practice at Amritt, Inc. But The Economist turned to India to start its talk about Entrepreneurship during the downturn. In 1997, I joined an organization called The Indus Entrepreneur (TiE) [...]
Posted on March 24th, 2009 by Gunjan
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the United States dropped by 5.5 % in 2008 compared to the previous year. In China FDI rose by 10.7% in 2008. An article in the Economist today show that Brazil and Russia had increases of 17.5% and 20.5 percent respectively. Topping the list of FDI increases among major economies [...]
Posted on February 20th, 2009 by Gunjan
While there is a global recession and crisis, India is one of the few countries that continues to grow. Most of the current growth is driven by domestic factors in India, not by exports. Finance-dependent industries such as automobiles and real estate have slowed. But so much of the Indian economy has always run on [...]
Posted on February 13th, 2009 by Gunjan
International Patent Filings: USA 53,521, China 6,089, India 766 According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, the U.S. continues to lead international patent filings by a large margin. However patents arising from developing countries have risen rapidly particularly from China. Among developing countries India falls behind Korea and China in such patent filings. But the [...]
Posted on January 31st, 2009 by Gunjan
As President Obama takes office, there is still gloom about the economy and about America’s role in the world. At least that is what Reuters reports today in a survey of 22,000 people in 22 countries, conducted for it by Ipsos. Respondents from 20 countries gave bad marks to the United States in foreign relations [...]
Posted on January 20th, 2009 by Gunjan
In the next few weeks Hollywood celebrities, agents, dealmakers, assistants and paparazzi are going to learn how to pronounce Anil Dhirubhai Ambani’s name. Amid all the turmoil in the financial markets, Ambani’s company Reliance ADAG has just plunked down $500 million to help Steven Spielberg (the god of Hollywood) take Dreamworks SKG out of the [...]
Posted on September 20th, 2008 by Gunjan
Services, telecom, housing, construction activities, real estate, electrical equipment and computer software and hardware continued to attract increased Foreign Direct Investment into India. According to India’s Reserve Bank, which is an arm of the government, FDI inflows during April-June 2008 crossed US$ 10.07 billion, 11 percent higher than the same period last year. For the [...]
Posted on August 29th, 2008 by Gunjan
By Christmas this year, the world’s largest refinery complex will be operational in western India. It will produce 1.1 million barrels a day. Recent development is partly financed by a loan guarantee from the Export Import Bank of the United States. American companies have played a major export role in the new refinery’s success. San Francisco based Bechtel provided design and project management, Kansas City-based Black & Veatch sold sulfur and gas treatment units, New Jersey’s Foster Wheeler provided industrial heaters, and UOP near Chicago supplied catalytic converters.
Posted on July 12th, 2008 by Gunjan
