Chak De! India

India defeat Australia Again. India won the Twenty20 match against Australia in Mumbai on Saturday. The last bash was hit by the Indian captain MS Dhoni, himself, hitting a six. It showed the confidence level.

‘India doing well, but challenges ahead’: “…India has done remarkably well in recent years. But it faces a number of challenges. It has still high public debt, although it’s made impressive progress in reducing its fiscal deficit in the last few years. It’s recently been facing some inflation pressures, although they’ve taken steps to tighten monetary policy and those appear to have been reasonably effective so far,” IMF Director Asia Pacific Department, David Burton, said.

Tata family honoured with the ‘Philanthropy Nobel’: The Tatas, one of India’s leading industrialist families, have been honoured with the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy that is considered the ‘Nobel Prize of Philanthropy’ at Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons, accepted the medal on behalf of the family in the presence of former president of India APJ Abdul Kalam.

Will Jobs Move Back to Silicon Valley from India?: “Despite the difficulties, India still offers IT and engineering talent at a relative cost advantage to U.S. firms, and so the country will retain its appeal as an offshoring destination. That trend is unlikely to end anytime soon.”

In the Comfort Zone- India has wealth-building consumers rather than export riches. http://www.newsweek.com/id/43340 “India is the only economy in Asia driven primarily by domestic demand,” says Christopher Wood, chief strategist of the Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA. In short, India’s weaknesses have become its strengths.

“The fundamentals of the Indian corporate do not give a reason as to why there should not be such a high rise in the equity market. Only a few economies have such a high growth trajectory and India scores very high on both the growth prognosis and trajectory,” said Ms Kalpana Morparia, Chief Strategist and Communications Officer, ICICI Bank.

Growth in India, China to offset US slowdown: “Robust” growth in China, India and Russia, which accounted for half the global expansion over the past year, will compensate for the American slowdown. Indian gross domestic product will increase by 8.4% next year, unchanged from the July projection, after an 8.9% expansion in 2006-07.

Procurement offshoring is next big wave: After BPO and KPO, now it’s PO or Procurement Outsourcing. Experts predict PO is slated to emerge as India’s next big outsourcing story. Indian players are gearing up to take a larger share in the pie. It started off when Fortune 500 companies started having a more mature buying process. As a result, large vendor management groups were set up and complex bidding processes were introduced. In this rush to outsource, one group continued to enlarge, which is the procurement group.

India’s HNIs touch 1-lakh mark, clocks 2nd highest growth: A latest study has found that India’s High Networth Individuals (HNIs) population has touched 1,00,000 mark at the end of 2006. Indian HNIs posted the second fastest growth of 20.5%, says the Asia-Pacific Wealth Report released by Merril Lynch and consulting firm Capgemini.

19K in 4 sessions: It took four years for the Sensex to touch its first 1,000-mark in 1990, and just four days to sprint from 18,000 to 19,000. Does it make sense? Where is it headed? How long can it last? Bubbling! Is it not?

India 2nd best FDI destination in 2007: India has emerged as the most attractive location after China – ahead of the United States and Russia – for foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2007, according to the the World Investment Report of UNCTAD.

IMF lauds India’s growth, says monetary policy ‘appropriate’: Terming the Indian growth pattern as “impressive”, the IMF has said it does not foresee overheating of its economy as long as the current monetary policy is in place and its “independence is strengthened”.

India most reformed among emerging markets: India is the most reformed among emerging markets owing to the economic reforms undertaken by the government, according to a new survey by the Commonwealth Business Council.

Patni Comp in $200-mn deal with UK-based co: IT solutions provider Patni Computer Systems has bagged a $200-million (Rs792 crore) contract from UK-based Carphone Warehouse for providing wide range of technology services.

3 Indians in ArtReview ’07 list: Three Indians have made it to the annual ArtReview Power 100, a global list of the most powerful people in the art world, in a sign of the rising significance of the country’s Rs1, 500 crore art market. Artist Subodh Gupta comes in at No. 85, Osian’s auction house head Neville Tuli is at No. 99 and collector Anupam Poddar at No. 100.

CA opens $30mn tech centre in Hyd: CA Inc, a global securities management solutions company, has opened a $30-million (around Rs 120 crore) India Technology Centre (ITC) in Hyderabad — its largest facility across the globe. The ITC is a critical part of the company’s global R&D strategy. CA plans to rollout its highest revenue-generating products from India.

Goldman Sachs to invest $172 mn in Sigma Electric: Leading global investment banking firm, Goldman Sachs, will invest $172-million in Sigma Electric, a low-cost cast metal parts manufacturer.

First IT SEZ in north to start operations: The first three movers to the tax free zone will be WNS Global Services, Genpact and Accenture and all of them will occupy 75,000 sq ft each for their operations from the SEZ spread over 5 million sq ft.

Car cos to roll out 20 new models in 2008: At least 20 new passenger car models are expected to hit Indian roads next year. Tata Motors’ Rs 1 lakh car is certainly one of the most awaited.

JSW Steel to up capacity: Steel maker JSW will invest more than Rs 17,000 crore to increase production capacity to 10 million tonne by 2010 from current 3.2 MT.

DLF to build 20 malls: Real estate industry leader DLF plans to invest Rs 16,000 crore over four years to develop about 20 large shopping malls across the country.

Power in Power Project: Tata Power, Reliance Energy, National Thermal Power Corporation, Essar Power, Jindal Steel & Power, Sterlite Industries, DS Construction and engineering firm Larsen & Tourbo are in the fray for the 4,000 MW project. While Hong Kong’s China Light & Power Company (CLP) has joined hands with GMR Energy, Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation and US’ AES are going solo for Coastal Andhra Power, the special purpose vehicle set up by Power Finance Corporation (PWC) – the nodal agency for various ultra mega power projects in India.

3i Infotech buys US software company: 3i Infotech Ltd has signed an agreement to acquire J&B Software Inc of the US and its subsidiaries. J&B Software is engaged in providing software products and services relating to remittance processing in the US for blue-chip customers.

Philips to enhance R&D for global products: Philips Innovation Campus (PIC), Bangalore-based software arm of consumer electronics giant Philips, intends to enhance its contribution for evolution of global products for various industries.

Global biotech firms on India quest: Of the top-10 global biotech companies, the biggest two – Amgen and Biogen – have already set up wholly owned subsidiaries in the country. Others, such as Genentech, Serono, Chiron, Gilead, among others are in the process of exploring business opportunities in a big way.

GFA to invest $12 m in India: Geneva-based Global Franchise Architects (GFA), which has brands like Pizza Corner and Coffee World, plans to invest $12 million in India. India accounts for 40% of its global revenue and the company has been registering a growth of 40% year-on-year.

US IT major CA betting big on its India development center: US based IT major CA is betting big on its India development centre to fuel its future growth and will also tap the growing market in India to sell its software, leveraging on its partnership with domestic IT biggies – TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL and Satyam.

‘Food processing sector to grow’: Food Processing Industry (FPI) is estimated to grow at 9-12 per cent in the near future, according to a FICCI KPMG paper. Fruits and Vegetables processing, which is currently around two per cent of total production is likely to increase to 10 per cent by 2010, and further to 25 per cent by 2025. Value-addition in food products is expected to increase from 8 per cent to 35 per cent by the end of 2025. The food processing sector has the potential of attracting €2.7 billion investment by 2015.

TCS signs $1.2bn deal with Nielsen: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced the largest outsourcing deal in the Indian IT industry, worth $1.2 billion (around Rs 4,800 crore), with Netherlands-based Nielsen — a leading provider of consumer and media information services. The deal will enhance TCS’s presence in media consulting.

‘India Inc bullish on fund raising’: According to the the International Business Report 2007 conducted by global advisory firm Grant Thornton which surveyed over 500 businesses having a turnover in the range of Rs 100-500 crores, nearly 64% of the Indian businesses plan to raise funds for their growth activities in the next one year.

Quantum sets up R&D centre in Hyderabad: US-based Quantum Corporation announced the opening of its India Development Centre in Hyderabad. The Hyderabad centre will be a software R&D facility of the company in India that works on different components of software products being designed by Quantum to integrate them with data storage and protection systems.

Indian Outsourcing Has Peaked: Notwithstanding the occasional news stories about companies returning work earlier offshored to India, the logic behind offshoring and its financial impact (both on outsourcing firms operating in India and their American clients) remains intact.

India tops in remittances from migrants: India with $24.5 billion took in more remittance than any other nation. It was followed by Mexico ($24.2 billion), China ($21 billion), the Philippines ($14.6 billion) and Russia ($13.7 billion), according to a new UN study.

Cognizant to acquire marketRX: Nasdaq-listed Cognizant Technology Solutions has signed an agreement to buy healthcare specialist knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) firm marketRX Inc for $135 million in cash.

Bobby Jindal is first Indian-American governor: Republican Bobby Jindal has been elected the Louisiana governor after beating 11 rivals, to be the first politician of South Asian origin and the country’s youngest to become the governor of any American state.

Leftists might have brought PM and the country in trouble, but it hardly affects the boom.Sensex may appear to be bubbling. Risk takers gain too. Who bothers about the losers?