NRIs may lose special benefits on investments

NEW DELHI: The finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India are pushing for a change in the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy to curb the unfettered access enjoyed by non-resident Indians.
Under the current FDI regime, investment by NRIs is not subject to any sectoral restriction if it is not to be repatriated back. The Reserve Bank fears this provision can be used to bring foreign investment into restricted sectors or above the limits prescribed, a concern endorsed by the North Block.
They have proposed that NRIs should be allowed to invest only under the repatriable route, same as other foreign investors, and are made to comply with various restrictions.
"The provision has lost its relevance as non-resident Indians can invest on repatriable basis and there is no need for keeping such a category for investment," a government official told ET. Inter-ministerial consultations are underway. The finance ministry has sent the proposal to the ministry for overseas Indian affairs which manages NRI affairs. The Department of Industrial policy and Promotion, the nodal body for foreign direct investment, is also not opposed to change. The rule change could hit NRI investments in India, which contributed $4.7 billion between April 2000 and October 2011.
Schedule four of the Foreign Exchange Management Act allows NRIs to invest on a non-repatriable basis on same terms as any other domestic investors. This means that such investment by NRIs is not subject to any specific restriction prescribed for a sector under the FDI policy.
Experts say the RBI's concerns of regulatory arbitrage were valid. Non-residents can, for instance, invest in multi-brand retail, hold more than 74% stakes in telecom or invest freely in construction through the non-repatriable route.
Since the government does not look into the source of funds, NRIs can be used as a front to invest unhindered into any sector. Alternatively, the same NRI investor can invest up to the sectoral limit through the repatriable and beyond that through non-repatriable route, thereby escaping the restriction.
NRI investments made under non-repatriable route are not reported to the RBI and escape regulatory radar.
Akash Gupt, an executive director in consultancy firm PwC, feels stopping the non-repatriable route will create problems with respect to use of local funds by NRIs. "If the window (non-repatriable) is shut down, it would mean that NRIs cannot use their local funds to invest unless they are specifically allowed to repatriate such original capital."
Instead, he proposes a simpler fix that the government could clearly say that NRI investments would have to comply with restrictions on FDI no matter which window is used.

Ancient tree in China shows growth after transplantation

BEIJING: An over 4,000 years old cypress tree that was transplanted nine months ago in northwest China's Shaanxi province has shown signs of growth, said local gardening experts.New branches of the tree have emerged after nine months of preservation and maintenance, Xinhua reported.Trees with a long history are considered a symbol of eternity and witnesses to Chinese history, and locals generally revere the ancient trees, as they believe the trees possess souls.According to local villagers of Huangling county, the ancient tree had to be removed for constructing a water-control project, or else it would have been submerged.According to Wang Chunmei, head of the county's publicity department, the preliminary process of the transplantation began in November 2009.About nine months later, the experts considered it an appropriate time to transplant when the newly-grown capillary roots, which are vital to the root system and determine how much water and minerals a plant can absorb, had formed.On March 28, with the help of giant cranes, trucks, and a soil ball to protect its roots, the ancient tree, weighing 450 tonnes, was moved 2.5 km away from its original location.
The entire process took about four hours.According to provincial regulations, trees over 100 years old are protected and ancient trees, over 1,000 years old, receive the highest level of protection.

Gopio wants govt to withdraw controversial NRI tax proposal

DUBAI,  January2: A global organisation of expatriate Indians has called on New Delhi to withdraw a proposal to impose tax on non-resident Indians (NRIs) who stay beyond 60 days during a visit to the country.
The controversial tax proposal, which was greeted with widespread protest and dismay by overseas Indians, is detrimental to the interests of NRIs who contribute substantially to the country’s development, Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (Gopio), the world’s largest group of Indians living abroad, said in a statement sent to Khaleej Times. The call for tax withdrawal was one of the many resolutions passed by the UN-accredited organisation to safeguard the interests of Indian diaspora, at the conclusion of the Gopio Convention 2011 held in New Jersey recently. At the biennial convention, Sunny Kulathakal from Bahrain was elected executive vice-president of the organisation for two years. He is the first Indian expatriate from the Gulf region to be elected to such senior position. Gopio also called for setting up a government mechanism to enable NRIs to voice their grievances and prevent adverse government policies. The New York-based body also urged New Delhi to nominate 
a few prominent NRIs to the Rajya Sabha.
It called for the initiation of suitable steps to set up fast track courts to deal with the growing number of property offences targeting NRIs, and urged the government to take steps for speedy disposal of cases involving custody of children of NRI parents. Gopio has also urged the Indian government to augment the staff strength of consulates for the convenience of NRIs. The meeting has resolved to identify and designate a single date that can be called International Indian Emigration Day.
While welcoming the setting up of Global Advisory Council by India, Gopio has requested the government to give representation to diaspora organisations in the council. The meeting resolved to extend all support to the Know India Programme initiated by the Indian government and wants a Gopio-Pravasi member committee to be set up to initiate the programme. The organisation said as more and more job seekers from India are falling prey to unscrupulous elements abroad, the Indian government should take suitable steps for the rehabilitation of such victims. Gopio also expressed special thanks to the authorities in the Kingdom of Bahrain for taking prompt action to protect the Indian community during the recent disturbances. The meeting has also urged the Government of India to end the discriminatory practices against NRIs at archeological sites and hotels.
During the convention, Gopio International held elections for positions in the new two-year term in the Gopio Executive Council in accordance with Gopio’s by-laws and procedures. The results of the elections are: Ashook Ramsaran (USA) was unanimously elected international president; Sunny Kulathakal (Bahrain) was unanimously elected executive vice-president; Dr Piyush Agrawal (USA) was unanimously elected senior vice-president; Inder Singh (USA) was returned as chairman.

17 die after drinking hooch in Andhra

 HYDERABAD(India) 2 January : Tragedy struck several tribal families in the coastal Andhra district of Krishna on the eve of the New Year when at least 17 persons, including three women died after consuming country-made liquor.The toll in Krishna district climbed to 16 since Saturday evening, while one person died in Nalgonda district on Sunday. The incident, coming close on the heels of the horrific hooch tragedy in West Bengal which has so far claimed 171 lives, occurred at Poratanagar in Krishna district. The victims, belonging to nearby tribal hamlets, had consumed the country-made liquor late on Saturday evening and immediately complained of giddiness. They were rushed to hospitals in Mylavaram and Vijayawada but 10 of them died on new year’s eve. Six more tribals succumbed to the hooch on Sunday with another eight still battling for their lives. According to doctors treating the victims, methyl alcohol must have been mixed with the liquor consumed by the tribals which led to the tragedy. Samples of the liquor have been sent to Hyderabad for chemical analysis.
While relatives of the victims staged a protest outside the hospital demanding compensation, Telugu Desam Party leader D Umamaheswara Rao joined the kith and kin of the victims and staged a protest at the Excise Office in Mylavaram, demanding action against the guilty and compensation of Rs1 million each to the families of the victims. Excise Minister Mopidevi Venkataramana ordered a judicial probe into the incident. He also ordered suspension of a circle inspector and a sub-inspector of Mylavaram’s Excise Department.

NASA marks 2012 with twin probes in moon orbit

LOS ANGELES, January 2(AP): NASA kicked off the new year with a pair of probes circling the moon in the latest mission to understand how Earth’s closest neighbor formed.
There was no champagne popping in the mission control room at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory when the Grail spacecraft arrived back-to-back over the New Year’s weekend, but several scientists and engineers celebrated by blowing noisemakers.
“It’s a really good feeling to have not one but two of our twins in orbit,” project manager David Lehman said Sunday after the mission was deemed successful.
The action began on New Year’s Eve when Grail-A swung over the south pole, fired its engine and braked into orbit around the moon. Not to be outdone, its twin Grail-B executed the same maneuvers on New Year’s Day.
The arrivals capped a roundabout journey spanning 3 ½ months and covering 2 ½ million miles (4.02 million kilometers).
The moon has long been an object of fascination. Galileo spotted mountains and craters when he peered at it through a telescope. Poets and songwriters looked to the moon as a muse.
Even governments wanted a piece of the moon. Since the dawn of the Space Age, more than 100 missions launched by the United States, Soviet Union, Japan, China and India have targeted Earth’s companion. NASA flew six Apollo missions that landed twelve men on the lunar surface and brought back more than 800 pounds (362.3 kilograms) of rock and soil samples.
Despite all the attention, the moon remains mysterious. Mission chief scientist Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said researchers know more about Mars, which is farther away from the Earth, than the moon.
One of the enduring puzzles is its lopsided shape with the far side more hilly than the side that Earth sees. Research published earlier this year suggested that our planet once had two moons that crashed early in the solar system’s history and created the moon that graces the sky today.
Scientists expect to learn more about how the celestial body formed using Grail’s gravity measurements that will indicate what’s below the surface.
Since the washing machine-size Grail probes — short for Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory — were squeezed on a small rocket to save on costs, it lengthened the trip and took them 30 times longer to reach the moon than the Apollo astronauts, who took a direct three-day flight.
Previous spacecraft have attempted to study the moon’s gravity — about one-sixth Earth’s pull — with mixed success. Grail was expected to give scientists the most detailed maps of the moon’s uneven gravitational field and insight into its interior down to the core.
Data collection won’t begin until March after the near-identical spacecraft refine their positions and are circling just 34 miles (54.72 kilometers) above the surface. While scientists focus on gravity, middle school students will get the chance to take their own pictures of the moon using cameras aboard the probes as part of a project headed by Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.
There’s already chatter about trying to extend the $496 million mission, which was slated to end before the partial lunar eclipse in June.

Shaikh Zayed Camel Race Grand Prix Festival kicks off

 ABU DHABI, January 1 : The annual Sheikh Zayed Camel Race Grand Prix Festival kicked off Sunday at Al Wathba camel racetrack bringing together more than 10,000 camels competing in various events from racing to beauty contests.In attendance at the opening ceremony were Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs , Shaikh Sultan bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Advisor to the UAE President, officials and diplomats. The event which will run to January 5 is being held under the patronage of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The festival offers prizes totalling AED 30 million to winners of 155 races over various categories and distances. Besides the races, the festival also sees competitions including beauty shows, milking and breeding, and auctions as well as cultural and folklore sideshows. Traditional horse and camel shows were held at the event on its first day which featured a 4 kilometer camel race and an auction on 59 camels.

Indian diplomat in China S Balachandran attacked in court

Beijing, January 2: S Balachandran, a diplomat at the Indian Consulate in Shanghai attacked by a large group of Chinese traders in a court, as he tried to secure the release of two Indians who were held hostage by locals, demanding payment of their dues in the eastern business hub of Yiwu. Balachandran was later hospitalised as he fainted after being “manhandled” by the crowd that tried to snatch two kidnapped Indians who clung to him. The incident happened when he was leaving the court after prolonged negotiations on the night of December 31. The two Indians had been held hostage by the local traders for two weeks for non-payment of dues by their company, whose owner had allegedly fled the country. Riva Ganguly Das, the Consul General of the Shanghai Consulate of India told PTI here that Balachandran, working as Consul at the Consulate fainted when he was “manhandled”, while attempting to get the release of Deepak Raheja and Shyamsunder Agrawal. Balachandran, 46, tried to negotiate for their release for over five hours at a court in Yiwu, a big trading centre for a host of commodities. He was assaulted when the two Indians, being held captive for over fortnight clung on to him to leave the surcharged place. The incident took place in the court and in the presence of police and the judge. A high drama ensued as the crowd prevented the two from going along with him demanding that they pay millions of Yuan owed to them for commodities purchased from them.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2012: Kamla Persad-Bissessar on her way to India

Port of Spain, January 1: Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Indian-origin prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, will be going to India Jan 2 on a state visit, where she will meet President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and also be the chief guest at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) programme. One of the highlights of the trip would be Persad-Bissessar’s presence as chief guest at the annual PBD event in Jaipur. Persad-Bissessar is the first woman head of government from the diaspora and the first dignitary from Trinidad and Tobago to be bestowed with this honour.

Persad-Bissessar’s forefathers came to this twin-island Caribbean nation between 1845 and 1917. They were among the 147,000 Indians who came from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to work on sugar plantations.
The PBD is an annual event sponsored by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs of the Indian government and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). This time it is also being sponsored by the state government of Rajasthan. The event aims to promote, nurture and sustain a mutually beneficial and symbolic relationship between India and its diaspora. The PBD is a prolific gathering for overseas Indians of global repute who are highly successful in their respective fields of business, trade, medicine, science and technology. Around 1,500 people from over 100 countries are expected to be part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas event this year. She will be accompanied by several ministers and top government officials. Trinidad and Tobago Public Utilities Minister Emmanuel George has said his government was looking to India for its expertise in broadband internet access and water management technologies.

Made in India, faked in China- $5bn loss

New Delhi: Chinese manufacturers are increasingly "faking" popular Indian products of consumer goods giants such as Dabur and ITC, undermining the legitimacy of brands and causing losses worth as much as $5 billion annually, officials said.  "A lot of counterfeit Dabur products are made in China. We have conducted at least 20 raids in China but no proper action has been taken by the Chinese," said Ashok Jain, general manager of finance at Dabur India, the country's fourth largest FMCG firm.  He said such fake products manufactured in China with "Made-in-India" tag are supplied across the world, mostly in India and African countries.  "It causes huge damage to the brand. Those fake products are obviously not up to our standards and supplied at very low prices," Jain told IANS.  Dabur, which has nearly $4 billion market capitalisation, operates in key consumer product categories like healthcare, skin care, hair care and oral care. The company's revenue last fiscal was $910 million.  Pradeep Dixit, a senior official of ITC, a $33-billion conglomerate, said the popular FMCG brands of the company were counterfeited by unscrupulous firms and supplied in domestic as well as foreign markets.  "Our popular cigarette brand is faked and supplied widely in the states like Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh," he said.  "China is a big problem everybody is facing," said S.K. Goel, chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs, told IANS.  Goel said the big international brands like Nokia, Adidas, Reebok and Nivea were also widely counterfeited in China and supplied in India and other parts of the world.  Chinese manufacturers are also faking drugs, endangering lives of patients. Fake drugs, carrying " Made in India" tags, supplied from China were recently detained in Nigeria and other African countries.  K.K. Vyas, Delhi's deputy commissioner of police (crime), said the police have seized and confiscated a lot of fake and counterfeited products of popular brands in the national capital recently.  Vyas emphasised on the need for enhancing punishment for unscrupulous manufacturers and importers. "Punishment needs to be enhanced. Also there is need that judiciary addresses these issues quickly."  "Counterfeiting is a big menace. It is hurting everybody - consumers, industry and the exchequer," said Anil Rajput, chairman of the anti-smuggling and anti-counterfeiting committee of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).  Recently, FICCI formed a panel called "FICCI-Cascade" that expands into a committee on anti-smuggling and counterfeiting activities destroying the economy. Chaired by Rajput, the committee is working closely with the government to curb this menace.  According to a report by think tank Indiaforensic Research Foundation, the total loss to the economy annually due to crimes such as counterfeiting, commercial fraud, smuggling, drug trafficking, bank fraud, tax evasion and graft is estimated at Rs.22,528 crore.

Happy new year for hiring: 5 lakh jobs likely in 2012

NEW DELHI: The new year may bring in loads of cheers for job-seekers, as the experts expect the companies to hire more than five lakh new employees during 2012 despite the uncertainties prevailing about the overall economic scenario. Adding to the cheers of the job market, the employees could expect double-digit salary hikes during 2012. "If all goes well, and depending on policies of the government and market situation, more than 5 lakh jobs will be created across all segments," executive search firm GlobalHunt's Director Sunil Goel said. The Indian job market in 2011, felt the ripple effects of the global economic uncertainty, but emerged out of it rather strong, as companies adopted a "cautiously optimistic" approach and experts believe in the new year jobs will continue to be added, albeit at a slower pace. As per Monika Tripathi, Vice President (Heading the IT, ITeS, Telecom and Research practices) at recruitment process outsourcing firm Elixir Consulting, "The IT/ITeS sector alone will generate as many as around 3 lakh jobs in 2012." Elixir expects the hiring activities to increase by 7-8 per cent in 2012, from the levels seen in 2011. As the companies would increase their technology investments and entities from abroad look at India-based service providers or development centres, there is a bright prospect for both domestic as well as multinational companies based in India, in the IT/ITES segment. In the coming months job, opportunities are expected to grow exponentially in sectors like retail, healthcare and IT & ITeS, defence, hospitality and consumer durable. "Since the interest rates have hardened to all times high, they are bound to come down giving much needed respite to banking, this should give boost to real estate and automobile and hence these sectors are likely to see some hiring," executive search firm Symbiosis Management Consultants' CEO and Founder Vinay Grover said. Echoing similar sentiments, Richie Madan, Executive Director at Elixir Consulting, "there is a great demand for talent across industries in India. The Retail, BFSI, FMCG, Hotels and Hospitality sectors would pick up pace and would improve in 2012." FMCG, Pharma are insulated from recession and will remain constant, Grover said, while adding that E-Commerce being a new kid on the block will emerge as a saviour and will compensate for rather dull scenario. As far as compensations are concerned, there is reason to cheer, the average salary increase would increase to at least 12 per cent, from 11 per cent in 2011.