NSE to become Market Leader in Marketcap

Riding on superior technology and FII preference, the National Stock Exchange is expected to surpass its older counterpart, the Bombay Stock Exchange, in market capitalization this year for the first time in history.
According to a report by global consultancy Celent, 2009 would be the first year when NSE's market capitalisation is expected to exceed that of BSE.
"NSE is expected to overtake BSE in market capitalization in 2009. Already far ahead in turnover, NSE is expected to further its lead over its older counterpart," the report titled, 'Indian Exchange-Traded Securities: Poised for Further Growth' stated.
NSE's market capitalization stood at Rs 47,01,923 crore at the end of trade on Friday last week, not far behind the Bombay Stock Exchange's valuation of Rs 50,12,966.76 crore, according to data available on the two bourses.
In terms of the relative size of the two main Indian equity markets, NSE has become the exchange of choice, it added.
According to Celent estimates, the market turnover of NSE for 2009 would be more than two times the turnover of BSE. On August 7, NSE turnover in value terms was around Rs 17,650 crore as against BSE's about Rs 5,443 crore.

Why India is a target

We're poor. We're illiterate. We're still traditional. Too many religions, too many languages, too many ethnicities. What do we have that the extremists repeatedly make us the target of their terrorism?
Those very things - poverty, illiteracy, tradition, multiple religions, ethnicities and languages. Not because they are a fertile breeding ground for radical recruits but because India is finding workable, affordable and replicable solutions which will help it overcome the same problems. Those solutions are being emulated by emerging societies across the world, giving them hope for their own futures. That is why India's unexpected rise is threatening to those forces that work in the darkness of despair. Socially, politically and economically, India sits between two extremes: the West and China. The models of the western world are too developed to be easily adapted - 50 years of aid has not been effective. China is autocratic, its top-down growth delivered by an appointed, disciplined elite to an obedient population. Neither condition is universal. India's is. "India is, in a sense, the crucible of the world," says Prableen Sabhaney of Fabindia. Under the umbrella of India, in varying stages of development, is the rest of the world - south Asia, where it is the mother culture, but also Africa, some nations of the Middle East, south and central America, central and south east Asia. These are regions rich in assets, and human capital with the potential and now the desire, to develop. They all think: If India can do it, so can they. India is showing how a developing country can transform itself - from the bottom up. Politically, it is democratic, pluralistic, inclusive. Its democracy is chaotic and imperfect, but it functions and it is moving forward. What counts is the vote, first and foremost. Accountability... that'll come later, at some point when democracy has produced enough social and economic equality. But that vote is empowering, it creates upward mobility and a huge constituency of the poor and underprivileged for democracy that gives it staying power. The executing machinery of this democracy is often faulty, but understands the constraints within which it operates. The election commission knows how to access and include people from the remotest corners of the country and overcome the boundaries of tradition - a case study that Afghanistan could use. The judiciary is overburdened and inefficient but also activist when necessary - Pakistan has seen that. The press is free and self-serving but enough times the watchdog it needs to be; the parliament is obstructionist but vital. Rather than spill blood, Indians have learned to use electoral politics and affirmative action to negotiate their way up and out of the centuries-old repressive caste system that left craters of inequality. It left India's elite, the Brahmins, excluded from the political and administrative system, so they turned to entrepreneurship from their professional degrees - mostly engineering. That's how information technology arrived in India, like the new avatar of Vishnu, bestowing upon India its transformative powers of a virtually workable existence. Sure, all developed countries have software, cellular and satellite technology. But resource-poor India used it differently. Software services were used as the engine of exports. Cellphones weren't just about communication but also about affordability. And affordable, home-built satellites which brought in western programming, transported ordinary Indians into the drawing rooms of the world and forever changed the aspirations of generations of young Indians. They all want to emulate the success of those Brahmin engineers, and education - which gives them freedom from poverty - has become their priority. Now India is known as a country whose brain power has 'ingenuity' and the unique capability of 'frugal engineering.' It also has model corporations like the Tata Group, which have a charitable trust as is majority shareholder, and understands the true meaning of 'stakeholders' and 'shareholders.' Companies like Fabindia have shown that artisanal collectives can compete with the mass production of China, and still keep India's delicate social balance intact. The economic success of a poor, democratic country is enough to threaten the terrorist way of life. But what really gives them sleepless nights is India's accessible dreams. It is possible in today's India, to go from rags to riches in one generation. There's confidence, there's education, there's increasing equality. This is fuelled by the exuberance of India's entertainment industry. Bollywood still produces mostly musical family fare but its stories have morals and are a handbook on how traditional, multi-religious and ethnic societies traverse the thorny path into the modern era without losing their identities. When terrorism strikes, Bollywood will show Muslims to always be the most loyal of friends. When traditionalists revolt against western cultural domination, Bollywood will tell the tale of a girl who lives in America and wears a short skirt, but can still fall in love with a son-of-the-soil and be a devoted wife in small town India. Television also unites this diverse India: talent from Kashmir to Meghalaya to Kerala dream of becoming the Indian Idol. The Taj and the Oberoi symbolized this India of accessible dreams. Accessible to Indians, but also to nations like India - poor, traditional societies, some re-emerging from the dark years of colonialism or misguided socialist policies or autocratic rule, looking for affordable, democratic, socially acceptable development models which will give them hope for a bright future. Exactly what the terrorists don't want.

Govt looking to allow up to 49% FDI in FM radio

FDI limits in FM radio could soon be increased to 49 per cent for non-news channels and up to 26 per cent for news channels. News will also be allowed, according to Mr Anand Sharma, Minister of State, Information and Broadcasting.

“We are awaiting the comments from TRAI after which approval of the Cabinet shall be sought,” said Mr Sharma. “We are in the process of finalisation of Phase-III of this policy which shall expand FM radio services to 275 cities across the country. This policy will follow an even more liberal dispensation than before and would promote healthy competition to benefit the masses,” he added.

Special incentives are being considered for the expansion of FM radio coverage in the North Eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir and island territories. The Minister was briefing media at a conference in the Capital. Policy initiatives for Mobile TV and Headend in the Sky were also being worked on.

Pay TV homes are projected to increase from 74 million in 2007 to 115 million in 2012, and the Government reiterated its commitment to digitisation of television. Convergence of information, communication and entertainment (ICE), or the “ICE revolution”, was posing an unprecedented regulatory challenge for the Government said the Minister. The Government is also looking at reforms in the cable laws and the digitalisation of cable services.

Content quality

Of special concern, however, was the quality of content in electronic media.

“The Supreme Court has made serious observations on this issue and we feel that there is a strong and urgent need of content regulation of some kind. We are seized of this matter and are trying to find a solution which strikes a balance between freedom of creative expression and the need of content regulation,” said Mr Sharma.

Commenting on the opening up of print media with permission for Indian edition of foreign news magazines, Mr Sharma said that the Government “mindful of the sensitivities involved in the news segment” has not allowed local content to be added by foreign publications.

According to the Ministry, the entertainment and media industry witnessed a growth of 17 per cent in the last financial, the television industry is expected to grow annually at around 22 per cent and radio industry at 200 per cent over the next 5 years. 

Oil & Gas Comes to focus

According to Ernst & Young, the value of oil and gas companies has decreased due to the ongoing economic downturn, making it a good time for Indian companies to buy global assets. Significantly, ESSAR Exploration & Production (EEPL) has become the first Indian oil company to enter Australia by winning two offshore petroleum exploration blocks.

While Indian companies are acquiring E&P assets abroad, sovereign wealth funds from China, the Middle East and Singapore are seeking to acquire E&P assets in India, which is expected to bring in foreign investments worth US$ 10 billion by 2010. And the government recently awarded 44 oil and gas blocks, which is expected to attract investments worth US$ 1.5 billion

Your Ad Here

India's mobile telephony segment to offer major scope for growth: ITU

According to the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a leading UN
agency for information and communication technology issues, India's current mobile telephone
penetration rate of about 20 per cent and market liberalisation policies are some of the factors that may offer "great potential" for growth of telecom companies.
Further, according to ITU, while India had about 296 million mobile subscribers by end-July 2008, the world's second-most populous nation offers major scope for growth in terms of numbers. Also, market liberalisation in India has contributed majorly in spreading mobile telephony driven by increasing competitiveness and price reductions.
India's mobile telephony operators now compete for low-income customers and the Average-Revenue-Per-User in India has touched almost US$ 7, one of the lowest in the world, the data revealed.
The report also stated that developing countries like India and China are witnessing an upsurge in the number of mobile phone subscribers which may lead to growth in the numbers to four billion by the end of the year worldwide. The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China – incidentally China, the world's largest mobile market, too has surpassed the 600 million subscriber mark by mid-2008) economies are expected to account for over 1.3 billion mobile subscribers by the end of 2008, owing to increasing impact in terms of population, resources and global gross domestic product (GDP) share.

Insurance industry, major investor in equity markets

The life insurance industry was the largest investor in the Indian equity markets, ahead of foreign
institutional investors and mutual funds, according to figures released by the Life Insurance Council.
While the net inflow from life insurance companies into equity stood at Rs 55,000 crore till March 31, 2008,
foreign institutional investors and mutual funds invested Rs 53,403 crore and Rs 16,305 crore respectively.
Even for the five-month period from April to August this year, the insurance industry was the largest
investor in the equity markets, having made net investments worth Rs 20,000 crore during the period (when
foreign institutional investors have been net sellers).
Stabilising factor
Mr U. S. Roy, Managing Director and CEO, SBI Life, said Indian life insurance companies are the
stabilising factor in the capital markets, channelising retail investments into equity markets.
According to the Life Insurance Council, new business premium increased by 23 per cent to Rs 92,990
crore in FY 08, from Rs 75,400 crore in FY 07.
There is an increased demand for ULIPs, which accounted for over 80 per cent of the life insurance
business garnered in FY 08.
The total assets managed by the life insurance industry has gone up to approximately Rs 10,00,000 crore
till August this fiscal, from Rs 8,47,000 crore in FY 08, said Mr S. B. Mathur, Secretary General, Life
Insurance Council. The infrastructure investment also increased to Rs 90,200 crore.
'Health' potential
The life insurance industry sees tremendous growth opportunities in health insurance, as over 85 per cent
of the population is uninsured.
"In the post-detariffing scenario, the market has moved to sustainable pricing. The companies can now
reprice their products depending on the morbidity figures. Besides, in the present scenario of medical
inflation and the fact that 70 per cent of the total Rs 2 lakh crore spent on health comes out of the pockets
of the consumers, there is tremendous scope for long term health insurance provided by life insurance
companies", said Ms Shikha Sharma, Managing Director, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company.
Pension plans
The industry also sees itself as best suited to provide pension plans to all the sections of the society. "It has
become an increasingly attractive option with the current demographic scenario wherein the young
generation does not subscribe to provident funds", said Mr. Nandagopal, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance
Life Insurance.
According to the figures released by the Life Insurance Council, around 35 per cent of the new business
premium collected in 2007-08 was for pension plans.

Raghuram rajan panel want Smaller banks For India

THIS should sound sage advice in the aftermath of the Lehman collapse. The Raghuram Rajan panel has suggested that the Reserve Bank should consider entry of smaller players into the banking sector as failure of small banks will not have systemic consequence created by failure of a giant banking entity. There is no need to believe that smaller banks would fail and historical evidence is not relevant since the situation has changed.
The panel has suggested that the regulator should prescribe tighter capital adequacy and regulatory norms for smaller banks. The Rajan committee submitted its final report on financial sector reforms to the government this week. The panel urged the regulator to “allow more entry to private wellgoverned deposittaking small finance banks offsetting their higher risk from being geographically focused by requiring higher capital adequacy norms, a strict prohibition on related party transactions, and lower allowable concentration norms”.
This means that these banks, if allowed, would be entitled to advance a lower percentage of their deposits as advances in comparison to larger banks. Such norms would minimise the risk of any of the entities going bust, the panel feels.
The committee has also questioned the honesty of the large banks, saying there is “no necessary link between size and honesty, as the recent experience with large banks suggests”. It has, however, suggested that the regulator should be more selective and find “fit and proper” criteria for giving licenses to the smaller banks.
The intent behind the need of such banks is to bring local knowledge to the bankers so that they are able to take decisions quickly in conformity with their customers whom they would personally know. The entry of such financial entities would also help in achieving the government’s goal of financial inclusion.
The committee has clarified it does not recommend smaller banks based on earlier models where governance structure was poor, political and government interference was excessive, besides unwillingness to take corrective regulatory measures.

Intel unveils first Made-in-India chip

The world's largest chipmaker, Intel, on Tuesday unveiled its latest microprocessor for servers,
designed entirely by its Bangalore team and developed in a record two years. The Intel R&D centre in Bangalore designed the Xeon 7400 series processor and it marked the first time that work on the 45 nanometre technology was taken up by the company outside its US home base. The six-core microprocessor is based on Intel's x86 architecture.
A 300-member team from Bangalore undertook the work with support from units in the US and Costa Rica,Intel India president Praveen Vishakantaiah said.Intel's Bangalore R&D operations, which started a decade ago, have grown to become one of the largest centres outside the US. Besides the six-core microprocessor, the India R&D team has made important contributions to the teraflop and quad-core Xeon processor.Mr Vishakantaiah described it as a validation of the Bangalore operations and termed the country as a strategic destination as Intel India continues its focus on high-end technology development. The company said that upgradation costs in moving to the new server chips would be limited as the existing technology platform would support its new microprocessor. R Ravichandran, South Asia sales director Intel said the
new processor would allow a10-fold reduction in power consumption while substantially increasing performance.

India Inc too will feel US crisis tremors

The US financial market crisis will have more than just indirect impact on India. Besides the fact that jittery

FIIs are also spooking Indian markets, the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America and filing for bankruptcy by Lehman Brothers are likely to affect a number of Indian companies dealing directly with these beleaguered US giants.
What’s more, if the trouble brewing in American Insurance Group (AIG) in the US also turns into a crisis, it could spell disaster since AIG has a large array of interests in India, ranging from financial markets to realty.
The latest developments have signaled that the crisis in the US financial market is far from over. This is going to impact FII inflow into India, said HSBC group GM and country head Naina Lal Kidwai. The initial effect was clearly visible as the sensex fell by 470 points on Monday. At one point it had lost mroe than 800 points over last week’s close.
Former RBI governor C Rangarajan agreed that though India is not directly affected by the US subprime loan crisis, the financial turmoil there will have some bearing here. Both Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch have taken large stakes in a number of Indian companies. As even remaining afloat seems to be a hard task for them, a senior merchant banker said, they are offloading stakes in the Indian companies. This has affected share prices of the Indian firms.
Sebi figures released on Monday showed that FIIs have pulled out a net $8.01 billion since the beginning of 2008,with over $900 million of this outflow in the first half of September alone. As against this, FIIs had poured in over $17 billion into India in 2007.
In India, Merrill has invested in over 200 companies, of which in 177 it owns over 1% of paid up capital as on June 30, 2008.
Fed injects $70bn into markets The Federal Reserve on Monday said it had agreed to inject $70 billion into financial markets. The New York Fed,acting on behalf of Federal Reserve, said it agreed to a series of so-called “repurchase agreements” to ensure market liquidity
.

Quick Facts about India

Industry/Manufacturing

• India has the fourth largest billionaire population in the world, according to the Forbes list of world billionaires.
• India's financial capital Mumbai ranks as the seventh largest city, in terms of billionaire population, according to Forbes.
• Five Indian companies have made it to the Top 10 global outsourcing leaders list, compiled by International Association of Outsourcing Professionals
• 
  Mobile phone production in India will grow at a rate of 28.3 per cent - from 31 million units in 2006 to 107 million in 2011
• India's market for business intelligence (BI) platforms grew by 35.6 per cent in 2005-06, making it Asia's fastest growing BI geography, says Gartner.
• Indian cement industry is poised to add 111 million tonnes (MT) of annual capacity by the end of 2009-10 (FY10), riding on the back of an estimated 141 outstanding cement projects.
• India's steel production, growing at 15 per cent in the first half of 2007, is expected to touch 124 MT by 2011-12, going beyond an earlier official estimate of 80 MT.
• India's fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry has seen the launch of 251 new products up to October CY07, against 191 in the same period last year.
• India's telecom industry is expected to reach a size of US$ 87.33 billion by 2012, with a growth rate of over 26 per cent
• The Indian biotechnology industry is growing 37 per cent annually, and is expected to become a US$ 5 billion industry by 2010.
• India remains the undisputed leader in offshore services, accounting for about 65-70 per cent of the global offshoring pie, according to a recent research from Gartner Inc
• The Indian animation industry is expected to touch US$ 950 million by 2009, as global players like Walt Disney, Imax, and Warner Bros tie up with Indian animation companies. 
• With 27 per cent growth in 2007, India's IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector is set to cross the US$ 25.43 billion mark in 2008, says IT research company IDC (India).
• According to Nasscom, India's gaming segment touched US$ 48.26 million in 2006, is likely to cross US$ 427.35 million by 2010.
• The Indian healthcare IT market is the fastest growing in Asia - with an expected growth rate of 22 per cent - says a Springboard Research report.
• India's food and beverages sector, growing at 9 per cent, is expected to touch US$ 117.25 billion by the year-end.
• .India's foundry industry, the world's fifth largest producer of castings, is on a growth curve with an estimated potential to produce 10 million tonnes by 2012
• India is rapidly emerging as one of the world's media powerhouses. With 54 per cent of its 1.1 billion people aged under 25, it is potentially one of the world's largest markets for TV.
• India's food service entrepreneurs are executing massive expansion plans, with the industry expected to grow 48 per cent - to US$ 667.49 million - in the next two years.
• India's life insurance sector is expected to grow by around 30 per cent, to over US$ 50 billion, in this financial year.
• India has overtaken the US to become the second largest cotton producing country in the world, as per the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application
• Times lists the Tata Nano along with legendary cars - like Ford Model T and Volkswagen Beetle - in 'The dozen most important cars of all time starting from 1908 to the present'. 
• According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report, India could grow to almost 90 per cent of the size of the US economy by 2050.
Market
• 
  
  The National Stock Exchange has become the world's second fastest-growing bourse in terms of number of listed companies, while the Bombay Stock Exchange is the biggest bourse.
• 
  
  The size of the luxury market in India is estimated at around US$ 3.5 billion, and could easily leapfrog to US$ 30 billion by 2015.
• 
  
  As many as nine Indian banks, led by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, have made it to the list of top 50 Asian Banks, as per this year's Asian Banker 300 report.
• 
  
  India's e-commerce market is expected to touch US$ 2.33 billion by FY2007-08, as per a survey by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and Indian Market Research Bureau.
• 
  
  Indian consumer spending could more than quadruple to US$ 1.77 trillion by 2025 - from about US$ 431.69 billion in 2005 - steered by a ten-fold jump in its middle-class population and a three-fold rise in household income, according to a McKinsey study.
• 
  
  India has recorded a 126 per cent jump in the amount spent on merger & acquisition (M&A) deals outside the Asia-Pacific region
• 
  
  India's internet user base grew by over 40 per cent to touch 46 million in September 2007 from 32.2 million in the same month last year.
• 
  
  GSM mobile subscriber base grew 62 per cent in 2007, from 105.4 million in December 2006 to 171.8 million at the end of December 2007
• 
  
  The Indian product engineering offshoring market is expected to witness a 23 per cent CAGR by 2012, as large captive centres of global corporations continue to expand their activities
• 
  
  The University of Oxford offers a new degree - MSc in Contemporary India - in response to the growing interest about India and its economy
• 
  
        Investment
• 
  
  India has ranked second in capital market inflows and fourth in mergers and acquisitions in Asia Pacific, with transactions worth US$ 65.033 billion reported in the first eight months of calendar 2007, according to Thomson Financial.
• 
  
  With an estimated intangible assets component of 74 per cent (as proportion of total enterprise value), India is just behind US (75 per cent) and Switzerland (74 per cent), according to Global Intangible Tracker 2007, the most extensive global study ever on intangibles assets by the London-based Brand Finance Institute
• 
  
  Indian firms listed in the US have a reason to smile - their total market value has grown by close to US$ 20 billion since the beginning of 2007.
• 
  
  Indians are expected to have US$ 1 trillion in investable wealth by 2012, with the country's robust economic growth driving a four-fold surge from just US$ 250 billion in 2007India Inc has announced M&A deals worth US$ 70 billion in 2007 - up 150 per cent over the previous calendar year - with the volume of deals involving Indian companies also having crossed the 1,000 mark for the first time.
• 
  
  India has recorded a huge rise in the number of corporate entities, with about 55,000 companies incorporated annually in the last two years
• 
  
  India receives the world's largest remittances - US$ 27 billion per year - according to a World Bank study, and global wealth managers are targeting the Indian diaspora to invest in the country.
• 
  
  India at second place in AT Kearney's 2007 FDI Confidence Index, continues to attract investors in the high value-added services industries like financial services and information technology
 
• 

Your Ad Here

Industry/Manufacturing

• India has the fourth largest billionaire population in the world, according to the Forbes list of world billionaires.
• India's financial capital Mumbai ranks as the seventh largest city, in terms of billionaire population, according to Forbes.
• Five Indian companies have made it to the Top 10 global outsourcing leaders list, compiled by International Association of Outsourcing Professionals
• 
  Mobile phone production in India will grow at a rate of 28.3 per cent - from 31 million units in 2006 to 107 million in 2011
• India's market for business intelligence (BI) platforms grew by 35.6 per cent in 2005-06, making it Asia's fastest growing BI geography, says Gartner.
• Indian cement industry is poised to add 111 million tonnes (MT) of annual capacity by the end of 2009-10 (FY10), riding on the back of an estimated 141 outstanding cement projects.
• India's steel production, growing at 15 per cent in the first half of 2007, is expected to touch 124 MT by 2011-12, going beyond an earlier official estimate of 80 MT.
• India's fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry has seen the launch of 251 new products up to October CY07, against 191 in the same period last year.
• India's telecom industry is expected to reach a size of US$ 87.33 billion by 2012, with a growth rate of over 26 per cent
• The Indian biotechnology industry is growing 37 per cent annually, and is expected to become a US$ 5 billion industry by 2010.
• India remains the undisputed leader in offshore services, accounting for about 65-70 per cent of the global offshoring pie, according to a recent research from Gartner Inc
• The Indian animation industry is expected to touch US$ 950 million by 2009, as global players like Walt Disney, Imax, and Warner Bros tie up with Indian animation companies. 
• With 27 per cent growth in 2007, India's IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector is set to cross the US$ 25.43 billion mark in 2008, says IT research company IDC (India).
• According to Nasscom, India's gaming segment touched US$ 48.26 million in 2006, is likely to cross US$ 427.35 million by 2010.
• The Indian healthcare IT market is the fastest growing in Asia - with an expected growth rate of 22 per cent - says a Springboard Research report.
• India's food and beverages sector, growing at 9 per cent, is expected to touch US$ 117.25 billion by the year-end.
• .India's foundry industry, the world's fifth largest producer of castings, is on a growth curve with an estimated potential to produce 10 million tonnes by 2012
• India is rapidly emerging as one of the world's media powerhouses. With 54 per cent of its 1.1 billion people aged under 25, it is potentially one of the world's largest markets for TV.
• India's food service entrepreneurs are executing massive expansion plans, with the industry expected to grow 48 per cent - to US$ 667.49 million - in the next two years.
• India's life insurance sector is expected to grow by around 30 per cent, to over US$ 50 billion, in this financial year.
• India has overtaken the US to become the second largest cotton producing country in the world, as per the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application
• Times lists the Tata Nano along with legendary cars - like Ford Model T and Volkswagen Beetle - in 'The dozen most important cars of all time starting from 1908 to the present'. 
• According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report, India could grow to almost 90 per cent of the size of the US economy by 2050.
Market
• 
  
  The National Stock Exchange has become the world's second fastest-growing bourse in terms of number of listed companies, while the Bombay Stock Exchange is the biggest bourse.
• 
  
  The size of the luxury market in India is estimated at around US$ 3.5 billion, and could easily leapfrog to US$ 30 billion by 2015.
• 
  
  As many as nine Indian banks, led by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, have made it to the list of top 50 Asian Banks, as per this year's Asian Banker 300 report.
• 
  
  India's e-commerce market is expected to touch US$ 2.33 billion by FY2007-08, as per a survey by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and Indian Market Research Bureau.
• 
  
  Indian consumer spending could more than quadruple to US$ 1.77 trillion by 2025 - from about US$ 431.69 billion in 2005 - steered by a ten-fold jump in its middle-class population and a three-fold rise in household income, according to a McKinsey study.
• 
  
  India has recorded a 126 per cent jump in the amount spent on merger & acquisition (M&A) deals outside the Asia-Pacific region
• 
  
  India's internet user base grew by over 40 per cent to touch 46 million in September 2007 from 32.2 million in the same month last year.
• 
  
  GSM mobile subscriber base grew 62 per cent in 2007, from 105.4 million in December 2006 to 171.8 million at the end of December 2007
• 
  
  The Indian product engineering offshoring market is expected to witness a 23 per cent CAGR by 2012, as large captive centres of global corporations continue to expand their activities
• 
  
  The University of Oxford offers a new degree - MSc in Contemporary India - in response to the growing interest about India and its economy
• 
  
        Investment
• 
  
  India has ranked second in capital market inflows and fourth in mergers and acquisitions in Asia Pacific, with transactions worth US$ 65.033 billion reported in the first eight months of calendar 2007, according to Thomson Financial.
• 
  
  With an estimated intangible assets component of 74 per cent (as proportion of total enterprise value), India is just behind US (75 per cent) and Switzerland (74 per cent), according to Global Intangible Tracker 2007, the most extensive global study ever on intangibles assets by the London-based Brand Finance Institute
• 
  
  Indian firms listed in the US have a reason to smile - their total market value has grown by close to US$ 20 billion since the beginning of 2007.
• 
  
  Indians are expected to have US$ 1 trillion in investable wealth by 2012, with the country's robust economic growth driving a four-fold surge from just US$ 250 billion in 2007India Inc has announced M&A deals worth US$ 70 billion in 2007 - up 150 per cent over the previous calendar year - with the volume of deals involving Indian companies also having crossed the 1,000 mark for the first time.
• 
  
  India has recorded a huge rise in the number of corporate entities, with about 55,000 companies incorporated annually in the last two years
• 
  
  India receives the world's largest remittances - US$ 27 billion per year - according to a World Bank study, and global wealth managers are targeting the Indian diaspora to invest in the country.
• 
  
  India at second place in AT Kearney's 2007 FDI Confidence Index, continues to attract investors in the high value-added services industries like financial services and information technology
 
• 

Your Ad Here

Industry/Manufacturing

• India has the fourth largest billionaire population in the world, according to the Forbes list of world billionaires.
• India's financial capital Mumbai ranks as the seventh largest city, in terms of billionaire population, according to Forbes.
• Five Indian companies have made it to the Top 10 global outsourcing leaders list, compiled by International Association of Outsourcing Professionals
• 
  Mobile phone production in India will grow at a rate of 28.3 per cent - from 31 million units in 2006 to 107 million in 2011
• India's market for business intelligence (BI) platforms grew by 35.6 per cent in 2005-06, making it Asia's fastest growing BI geography, says Gartner.
• Indian cement industry is poised to add 111 million tonnes (MT) of annual capacity by the end of 2009-10 (FY10), riding on the back of an estimated 141 outstanding cement projects.
• India's steel production, growing at 15 per cent in the first half of 2007, is expected to touch 124 MT by 2011-12, going beyond an earlier official estimate of 80 MT.
• India's fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry has seen the launch of 251 new products up to October CY07, against 191 in the same period last year.
• India's telecom industry is expected to reach a size of US$ 87.33 billion by 2012, with a growth rate of over 26 per cent
• The Indian biotechnology industry is growing 37 per cent annually, and is expected to become a US$ 5 billion industry by 2010.
• India remains the undisputed leader in offshore services, accounting for about 65-70 per cent of the global offshoring pie, according to a recent research from Gartner Inc
• The Indian animation industry is expected to touch US$ 950 million by 2009, as global players like Walt Disney, Imax, and Warner Bros tie up with Indian animation companies. 
• With 27 per cent growth in 2007, India's IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector is set to cross the US$ 25.43 billion mark in 2008, says IT research company IDC (India).
• According to Nasscom, India's gaming segment touched US$ 48.26 million in 2006, is likely to cross US$ 427.35 million by 2010.
• The Indian healthcare IT market is the fastest growing in Asia - with an expected growth rate of 22 per cent - says a Springboard Research report.
• India's food and beverages sector, growing at 9 per cent, is expected to touch US$ 117.25 billion by the year-end.
• .India's foundry industry, the world's fifth largest producer of castings, is on a growth curve with an estimated potential to produce 10 million tonnes by 2012
• India is rapidly emerging as one of the world's media powerhouses. With 54 per cent of its 1.1 billion people aged under 25, it is potentially one of the world's largest markets for TV.
• India's food service entrepreneurs are executing massive expansion plans, with the industry expected to grow 48 per cent - to US$ 667.49 million - in the next two years.
• India's life insurance sector is expected to grow by around 30 per cent, to over US$ 50 billion, in this financial year.
• India has overtaken the US to become the second largest cotton producing country in the world, as per the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application
• Times lists the Tata Nano along with legendary cars - like Ford Model T and Volkswagen Beetle - in 'The dozen most important cars of all time starting from 1908 to the present'. 
• According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report, India could grow to almost 90 per cent of the size of the US economy by 2050.
Market
• 
  
  The National Stock Exchange has become the world's second fastest-growing bourse in terms of number of listed companies, while the Bombay Stock Exchange is the biggest bourse.
• 
  
  The size of the luxury market in India is estimated at around US$ 3.5 billion, and could easily leapfrog to US$ 30 billion by 2015.
• 
  
  As many as nine Indian banks, led by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, have made it to the list of top 50 Asian Banks, as per this year's Asian Banker 300 report.
• 
  
  India's e-commerce market is expected to touch US$ 2.33 billion by FY2007-08, as per a survey by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and Indian Market Research Bureau.
• 
  
  Indian consumer spending could more than quadruple to US$ 1.77 trillion by 2025 - from about US$ 431.69 billion in 2005 - steered by a ten-fold jump in its middle-class population and a three-fold rise in household income, according to a McKinsey study.
• 
  
  India has recorded a 126 per cent jump in the amount spent on merger & acquisition (M&A) deals outside the Asia-Pacific region
• 
  
  India's internet user base grew by over 40 per cent to touch 46 million in September 2007 from 32.2 million in the same month last year.
• 
  
  GSM mobile subscriber base grew 62 per cent in 2007, from 105.4 million in December 2006 to 171.8 million at the end of December 2007
• 
  
  The Indian product engineering offshoring market is expected to witness a 23 per cent CAGR by 2012, as large captive centres of global corporations continue to expand their activities
• 
  
  The University of Oxford offers a new degree - MSc in Contemporary India - in response to the growing interest about India and its economy
• 
  
        Investment
• 
  
  India has ranked second in capital market inflows and fourth in mergers and acquisitions in Asia Pacific, with transactions worth US$ 65.033 billion reported in the first eight months of calendar 2007, according to Thomson Financial.
• 
  
  With an estimated intangible assets component of 74 per cent (as proportion of total enterprise value), India is just behind US (75 per cent) and Switzerland (74 per cent), according to Global Intangible Tracker 2007, the most extensive global study ever on intangibles assets by the London-based Brand Finance Institute
• 
  
  Indian firms listed in the US have a reason to smile - their total market value has grown by close to US$ 20 billion since the beginning of 2007.
• 
  
  Indians are expected to have US$ 1 trillion in investable wealth by 2012, with the country's robust economic growth driving a four-fold surge from just US$ 250 billion in 2007India Inc has announced M&A deals worth US$ 70 billion in 2007 - up 150 per cent over the previous calendar year - with the volume of deals involving Indian companies also having crossed the 1,000 mark for the first time.
• 
  
  India has recorded a huge rise in the number of corporate entities, with about 55,000 companies incorporated annually in the last two years
• 
  
  India receives the world's largest remittances - US$ 27 billion per year - according to a World Bank study, and global wealth managers are targeting the Indian diaspora to invest in the country.
• 
  
  India at second place in AT Kearney's 2007 FDI Confidence Index, continues to attract investors in the high value-added services industries like financial services and information technology
 
• 

A historic moment for India as NSG gives it the nod

In a historic moment that ended more than three decades of nuclear isolation for India, the 45-nation
Nuclear Suppliers Group Saturday rewrote their guidelines to resume global nuclear trade with New Delhi.
The NSG's decision to grant India a clean waiver from its existing rules, which forbid nuclear trade with a country which has not
signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), came Saturday afternoon after three days of intense diplomacy by the US
and India in the nuclear cartel that controls the global flow of nuclear fuel and technologies.
The nuclear deal is now headed for the US Congress, which meets September 8 to discuss an approval for the 123 India-US
bilateral agreement which will bring the landmark nuclear deal to its closure over three years after it was first conceptualised.
The two countries are expected to formally sign the bilateral pact, likely when Manmohan Singh goes to Washington towards
the end of September, that will restore nuclear trade with the US after a gap of 34 years.
Economic sanctions were imposed by the US and the rest of the world when India first conducted its nuclear test in 1974.
The NSG's waiver also frees India to sign bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreements with France and Russia, leading
advocates of the nuclear deal, who also used their clout to win over sceptics in the nuclear cartel.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is set to sign bilateral civil nuclear cooperation with France when he goes to Paris for bilateral
talks Sep 30 after attending the India-EU summit in the coastal resort town of Marseilles.
The bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia, which was finalized last year and iniatialled early this year, will
be signed when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev comes to New Delhi in November this year.
The NSG had extended their two-day meeting in Vienna Friday by another day after marathon negotiations that went well past
midnight failed to bring sceptics around to back the nuclear deal.
Some sceptics in the nuclear club like Austria, Ireland and New Zealand, known for their hardline non-proliferation stance,
resisted till the last minute appeals by the US to accommodate India inside the global non-proliferation tent.
Austria and New Zealand, which were also supported by Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Switzerland, had insisted
that provisions be included in the draft on the proposed waiver that will allow NSG to terminate nuclear business with India if it
conducted another test.
India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement Thursday re-affirming New Delhi's commitment to a 'voluntary
moratorium' on future testing boosted India's case in the NSG and was praised as 'very significant' by NSG.
'This is a very significant statement which was discussed by members of the NSG and praised and welcomed by those in
attendance,' US Assistant Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John Rood told reporters at the end of
the of Friday's morning session of the NSG.
He added: 'On the basis of this a positive momentum has been generated in the discussion and as I said before we remain
committed to achieving the objective and remain optimistic that we can achieve that.'
'We remain committed to a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing. We do not subscribe to any arms race, including
a nuclear arms race,' Mukherjee said in his statement issued in New Delhi before the NSG met for the second day in Vienna.
The minister's statement and the existing guideline in the NSG that provides for termination of commerce with a country that
violates the rules and conducts a test were highlighted during Friday's discussions among the members to convince the
sceptics who are opposed to a 'clean waiver' for India.
However, in the end the US' arguments about the merits of accommodating India, the world's most populous democracy and a
rising economy, in the global non-proliferation order prevailed. Washington also managed to convince sceptics about India's
impeccable record in non-proliferation and how making an exception for India will be a net gain for the global non-proliferation regime.