Business with India

Converting SAARC sceptics: Modi says it’s time to act and make dreams flower

- by Manish Chand

It’s time to make a new beginning in South Asia and convert cynicism and skepticism shadowing the SAARC grouping into a ripe field of opportunity through deeper integration and freer movement of goods, people and dreams. This was the overarching message of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s debut speech at the SAARC summit in the Nepali capital as he unveiled new unilateral initiatives in areas of education, business, public health and IT, and offered to launch a SAARC satellite by 2016.
The prime minister spelt out the five pillars that underpin India’s vision for the region, which includes trade, investment, assistance, cooperation in every area, contacts between people – and, all through seamless connectivity.
In his speech, Mr Modi, who is attending a SAARC summit for the first time, provided a trenchant prognosis of what ails the 8-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and exhorted the SAARC leader to convert cynicism into a new narrative of hope and opportunity to bind the region together in an intimate mesh of trading, rail, road and air links.

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UK promises exceptional welcome to Modi, upbeat about India Story: Baroness Verma

- by India Writes Network

The multifarious ties between India and Britain are headed for a marked upswing. Moments after he met India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brisbane, British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: “Relations with India are at the top of the priorities of UK’s foreign policy.” “Your’s is a very inspiring vision, U.K. wants to partner in any way we can,” Mr Cameron said in another tweet.
The British leader’s enthusiasm seems to be shared across the spectrum in Britain. Soon after the Modi-Cameron meeting, Manish Chand, Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org), caught up with UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Baroness Sandip Verma, and found her brimming with enthusiasm about the trajectory of the India-UK relations and the India growth story.
The 55-year-old politician and businesswoman, who has been made a Conservative peer for life, is also a visible emblem of the success of the Indian diaspora in Britain. In this wide-ranging interview with indiawrites.org in New Delhi, the Amritsar-born Sandip Verma speaks about how Britain is eagerly looking forward to offering Prime Minister Modi “exceptional welcome,” the success of the Indian community in Britain and soaring expectations about the India story under the leadership of a reform-minded prime minister.

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Make in India: How to succeed

- by India Writes Network

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the “Make in India” initiative, which is aimed at increasing the manufacturing output within India. This is a welcome step towards harnessing India’s large labour force and resource base. However, the manufacturing sector in India has lagged in recent years, and to succeed several reforms are necessary to unlock the potential of India’s manufacturing sector.
Rebooting India’s manufacturing sector is a challenging but essential task. India has a huge potential for manufacturing a wide range of products ranging from traditional and cultural-related products to the most modern sophisticated products. Many of these products have good export potential that can be exploited. The example of the auto sector is a lesson to follow. India has become a major producer and exporter of automotive products including a wide range of 2, 3 and 4 wheelers and components. This has happened as a result of liberalization and integration into the global economy.
The “Make in India” campaign needs the widest possible support to succeed. The central and state governments, business and industry, and labour organizations must work together to achieve this goal.

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Modi pushes for people-centric reforms, revives global faith in India Story

- by Shweta Aggarwal

With the world’s gaze turned on the India growth story and the trajectory of the country’s economic reforms in Asia’s third largest economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured the international community about his commitment to “people-centric” reforms and the need to insulate it from “the political process.”
“There is bound to be resistance to change or reform. But it cannot be done in stealth,” Mr Modi told the leaders of the world’s leading economies during a special intervention on the first day of the G20 plenary session in Brisbane November 15. His remarks came in response to an invitation by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who is hosting the Leaders’ Summit.
In a veiled allusion to the pulls and pressures of democratic politics and India’s argumentative society, Mr Modi underscored that there was a need to “insulate reforms from the political process,” indicating his government’s willingness to go ahead with difficult second-generation economic reforms despite opposition from critics and sections of his own party to FDI in in multi-brand retail.
Ever since his election as the leader of the world’s largest democracy in May 2014, the world has been curious to know about Mr Modi’s vision of the prospects of the economic reforms in Asia’s third largest economy, which were bogged down in policy paralysis under his predecessor.

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Smart diplomacy, but no solution to climate talks and free trade

- by India Writes Network

With China breaking away from the fold of the developing world India will have the hard task of defending the principle of CBDR, and urge for greater emission cuts in industrialised world. The China-US deal on climate talks and the India-US pact on food security can only facilitate talks on climate change and keep multilateral talks going, but a permanent solution to the problems is not in sight.
The extension of Peace Clause is just like a lolly pop. The real issue is ensuring free and fair trade and acknowledging the right of food security in developing countries as enshrined in the UN Millennium Development Goals.

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India at G20: The Power of 20

- by Manish Chand

Call it the Power of 20. It’s the world’s most powerful economic club, bringing together 20 most developed and emerging economies in the world, spread across five continents. The G20 comprises around 90 per cent of the global GDP, 80 per cent of the world trade and more than two-third of the world’s population. Six years and eight summits later, it’s a high moment for G20 as the leaders of the world’s premier economic forum gather for their 9th summit in Brisbane, the picturesque gateway to Australia, November 15-16.

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