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business in d ia
Indo American News • Friday, June 18 , 2010
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NRIs Step Up Investment in India on Euro Pain MUMBAI: Indian expatriates have started investing in their home country in a big way. Increasing job security in Gulf countries, coupled with fears of recession in Europe and North America, are prompting NRIs to repatriate their savings to Indian assets, the most favoured being real estate, closely followed by equities and high-coupon debt. According to Capitaline database, NRI shareholding in companies like Rajesh Exports, Uttam Galva, Tanla Solutions, Graphite India and Carborundum Universal, among several other smaller companies, has gone up over the past one year. A look at BSE scrolls reveals that NRIs have been net buyers of Indian shares since February, with April being the best month when Indian expats invested over Rs 20 crore at the net level in Indian shares. In February, March and May, NRIs invested Rs 10 crore, Rs 10 crore and Rs 13 crore, respectively; June is poised to be even better as the diaspora has invested close to Rs 17 crore in the first ten days of the month.
“NRI investments back home are showing a healthy trend. Confidence level of investors is high; they are buying shares at every fall,” said Krishnan Ramachandran, chief ex-
ecutive officer, Barjeel Geojit Securities, a Dubai-based brokerage, servicing Indian clients. According to Mr Ramachandran, Gulf-based investors have become a bit more bolder after fears of job losses subsided. “There is a change in the way Gulf-based NRIs are investing in Indian shares. Most of them prefer to trade in mid-cap stocks these days; they sell these stocks on gaining 5-10%,” Mr Ramachandran added.
Several Gulf-based investors had redeemed or sold their investments during the Dubai credit crisis last year. The current flow of money to Indian shares can be seen as Gulf-based investors reversing those transactions, according to investment experts. While Gulf-based NRIs are trying to benefit from investing in home markets, the Indian expats in Europe and North America are sending back their savings to preserve it in Indian assets. “The monetary crisis in Europe and America is forcing wealthy Indians to send their savings back to their home country. This trend may continue for some time, unless there is a dramatic recovery in the West,” said Saurabh Mukherjea, head of Indian equities, Execution Noble Group, a London headquartered money manager. “Rich Indians living in Europe and America are investing in Indian equities, Indian real estate and Indian fixed deposits,” Mr Mukherjea added.-ET
India Could Reach Double Digit Growth by 2012: Pranab Mukherjee KOLKATA: India could reach double digit growth in the remaining two years of the 11th Five Year Plan if the present trend of growth continued, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Saturday. The Indian economy grew by 6.7% in 2008-09 and by 7.4% in 2009-10. The latest economic survey has projected a growth rate of around 8.5 percent for the current fiscal. “If this trend continues, we will have double digit growth by the end of the 11th Plan, that is 2012,” Mukherjee told reporters here on the sidelines of a function. Earlier, in his address after inaugu-
rating the northeast India and West Bengal banking operations of the private sector Yes Bank which added 15 branches, he said: “My appetite for growth is infinite. I do believe India deserves higher growth because we have suffered a long spell of slow growth rate.” “My target is to breach the barrier of double-digit growth. It is required. To me growth is not merely a statistical figure. It means more jobs, employment, wealth and access,” he said. Asserting that there has been a paradigm shift in India’s economic approach and attitude, Mukherjee said “it is in the positive direction”. He described the east and
northeast as the region of the future, and said the region must come up for the government’s Look East Policy to succeed. Referring to the problems of subversive activities in the north east, the minister said once development comes, all other problems can be taken care of. -TOI
India in World’s Top-Hirers’ List NEW DELHI: All those looking for a job, India is surely the place to be, as current hiring levels in the country for professional and managerial staff have emerged as one of the highest worldwide, a survey says. Global staffing firm Antal, conducted a survey – Global Snapshot - across more than 9,600 companies in 55 countries in May on whether they were currently hiring and firing at professional and managerial levels. “The trends around the world found that not only have recruitment levels in India increased since the beginning of the year, they are now among the highest in the world,” the survey stated. India has continued to make a steady recovery from its depressing start of 2009, when less than 30 per cent firms in the country were recruiting at professional or managerial levels. Current hiring levels in the country are up at 73 per cent in the survey conducted in May, from 71 per cent in January, while the percentage of firms shedding staff is down
Vodafone Essar to Launch iPhone 4 in India MUMBAI: Vodafone Essar plans to bring the world’s thinnest smartphone iPhone 4 to India in the next few months. Apple’s iPhone 4 has the highest resolution display ever built into a phone. “Vodafone Essar will launch iPhone 4, the thinnest smartphone in the world, in India in the coming months,” the company said in a release here Tuesday. U.S.-based Apple Inc, the inventors of iPod, iPhones and iPads, had on
Monday introduced iPhone 4 with a sharper screen and video-chat features, an attempt to ward-off competition from devices running Google’s Android software. The iPhone 4 has a new camera system, capable of video-conferencing and recording high-definition video. With the advent of 3G, Vodafone intends to boost its sales by launching the iPhone 4 into the Indian market. The iPhone has emerged as Apple’s top product overtaking its Macintosh computer and iPod.-PTI
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, june 18 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
to just 11 per cent now from 16 per cent earlier, the report revealed. Countries having a higher rate of hiring included Canada (76 per cent), Egypt and Malaysia (75 per cent), Argentina and Saudi Arabia (74 per cent). China and Pakistan also witnessed strong hiring rates at 72 per cent and 62 per cent, respectively. “We have seen resurgent activity in hiring in the past few months at the mid and senior levels. Our revenues have nearly doubled from the previous quarter,” Antal’s Mumbai office Managing Partner Joseph Devasia said. “We have seen increased hiring across several sectors, including manufacturing, which is a great sign,” Devasia added. The lead in the on-going recovery seems to have been taken by the manufacturing sector where a staggering 96 per cent companies are planning to hire over the next three months. The survey also showed that Indian organisations plan on increasing their hiring activity even more, with 77 per cent expecting to hire managerial staff over the next three months.-Agencies