If you look at some statistics from the U. S. Census organization, the CIA Fact Book, and several other credible sources and put them together in a “what-if” analysis regarding the future economic power of Russia, China, India, and the United States, you can develop the following statistical measures:

- The current population of the United States is about 310 million people, the 2050 estimated population is expected to grow about 42% to 439 million, the current GDP of the United States is about $14. 43 trillion dollars which yields a current GDP to current population ratio of about $46,561 per person ($14. 43 trillion divided by 310 million people).

- The current population of Russia is about 143 million people, the 2050 estimated population is expected to shrink 23% to 109 million people, the current GDP of Russia is about $1. 24 trillion, yielding a GDP to population ratio of about $8681.

- The current population of China is about 1. 34 billion people, the 2050 estimated population is expected to grow about 9% to 1. 46 billion people, the current GDP of China is about $4. 8 billion, yielding a GDP to population ratio of about $3,595.

- The current population of India is about 1. 2 billion people, the 2050 estimated population is expected to grow about 53% to 1. 81 billion people, the current GDP of India is about $1. 1 trillion, yielding a GDP to population ratio of about $925.

Not unexpected, the United States is the richest country in the world as measured by gross GDP and GDP per citizen. However, the growth of the United States economy is pretty steady and conservative vs. countries like China and India. Let’s play some games with these base numbers:

- Let’s say, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, that China is growing very quickly the next forty years. If China is able to GDP ratio to the population in order to obtain, as measured by the ratio of the current U.S. economy, the total size of China’s GDP (in current dollars) would be about 34 trillion U.S. dollars, almost two and a half times higher than the U.S. economy.

- Let’s do the same thing with India but assume that the ratio is so low that they can only get their ratio up to one quarter of what the current U. S. ratio is, then the total size of the Indian economy as measured by GDP (in today’s dollars) would be over $21 trillion, 50% larger than the size of the U. S. economy.

- We will not do the same analysis for Russia since given how fast its population base is shrinking, its economic impact in the world economy will be less and less over time.

Both the upside risks to the markets of China and India alone has a very high number of citizens from different countries and their governments want to aggressively grow its economy. Before we know it could approach both the economy and / or exceeds the size and power of the U.S. economy.

If you do not believe these calculations, consider a recent article from the Financial Times that was summarized in the July 30, 2010 issue of The Week magazine. According to the Financial Times, China is now the biggest consumer of energy, passing the United States last year as reported by the International Energy Agency. As late as the year 2000, the United States used twice the energy that China used. Now, China is using at least 4% more than us.

The second source. In a recent Fortune magazine feature, Goldman Sachs, estimates that by 2050 China’s economic size is approximately 70 billion U.S. dollars while the size of the U.S. economy is only about 40 billion U.S. dollars and are included just before the Indian economy. By 2050, Brazil, Russia, India and China in greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of the developed world.

All of these numbers point to the same conclusion: namely that China and India will become much, much stronger in the coming years and much more competitive, both for raw materials, finished products, and markets to sell their products. The United States needs to take some long term strategic actions in light of the coming tsunami of stronger economic rivals:

- We cannot hope to compete in the future economic landscape if we do not find a way to better educate our children for this new reality. The United States consistently ranks in the bottom half of worldwide student testing and education. This will not make for a strong economy if our workforce is outsmarted by other countries that also have the advantage of numbers on their side.

- We cannot hamstring our own economy with Obama’s cap and trade policy while the rest of the world, including the bigger and bigger energy users of China and India do not agree to stringent and trackable carbon emissions programs. If the United States goes it alone in this area, our economy will suffer at the hands of these economies that do not, resulting in lost jobs, lost industries, and lost economic strength since any carbon savings we incur will be overwhelmed by these new economic powers.

- We cannot continue to police the world, draining our economy through our military budget. Better to focus on getting our own economic house in order rather than deploying troops around the world to protect against enemies that do not exist anymore, enemies that cannot do any direct harm to us, or enemies that are better handled by other countries or the United Nations. We need to bring home our 54,000 or so troops from Germany since the Iron Curtain no longer exists, we need to bring home the 90,000 or so troops from Iraq as Obama the campaigner promised to do, we need to bring home our 50,000 or so troops from Japan since Japan is not going to hit Pearl harbor again and 50,000 troops are useless in the face of 2,000,000 Chinese troops in the neighborhood, and we need to bring home our 28,000 or so troops from South Korea and let them handle their own security, their economy is strong enough to handle it. Our focus on defense needs to be much more narrow and much more focused on those that could actually harm us and we need to bank the savings and strengthen those areas that will enable is to better compete economically.

- We need to finally develop and deploy a sane national energy program that makes us as self sufficient as possible, given that the hungrier economies of India and China will start to compete with us for raw energy sources. The less we spend on energy, as with defense, the better and stronger our economy will be against the onslaught of the growing economic powers in the world.

- We need to start getting our national debt and government spending problem under control now. The more capital and investment dollars that can be funneled into American businesses, the better off we can compete with China and India and the rest of the world. If all of our available capital is going to the government, where it is used on wasteful, inefficient government programs or used to pay the interest our national debt, the less flexible and competitive American businesses will be and less economic health our citizens will enjoy.

Bottom line, what is needed is a long term strategic plan for dealing with the new world order in the areas of national defense and economic strength. Do we think that the American political class is ready for such a comprehensive analytical and strategic task? Consider what our politicians have been working on over the past year or so:

- Congressman and his staff worked on legislation that would regulate the volume of commercials on TV. – Congressman and his staff worked for legislation that prohibits the ED to broadcast television commercials. – Congressman and his staff worked on legislation to offer tax incentives for pet owners who must leave their pets in these tough times may be. – The U. S. Congress and the Federal Republic of the financial regulatory system was completely blind-sided by the greatest economic malaise since the Great Depression, not knowing what was coming to W & # XFC RDE, until it hit them in the face . – Politicians in both houses of Congress worked in a bill to regulate the division, how to decide the college football teams in the national championship. – The current governor of New Mexico is working or not to pardon Billy the Kid, who died more than a hundred years. – Georgia congressman, at a public hearing of the Congress of the island of Guam may revoke the sea. – At least two people are likely to sit in Congress, faces ethics charges as soon as possible and the Chamber of Representatives of several tests of financial and ethical violations, E. – Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, has publicly insane notion that unemployment is the best way to create jobs.

As you can see, we have not elected the most forward thinking, strategic brains in the country. They are so entwined in the daily political infighting and just absolutely trivial matters that time is slipping away while other countries are quickly growing their economies to compete with us, our companies and our citizens.

If long term, strategic thinkers were running this country, they would not be working on the above trivial matters but instead would be focused on the following:

1st step – to begin reducing the size of the federal government by 10% a year for five years to get our national debt and spending under control, and more capital to leave the market for private investment compared to other economies.

Step 2 – find a way to finally  make us more energy self sufficient and to bring other nations into a world wide, trackable process that reduces carbon emissions equally, not allowing any economy to gain an economic edge at the expense of others and the environment.

Step 3 – develop a ground up approach to overhaul, improve, and revolutionize American public education processes to prepare our kids for competition in the new economic world order.

Step 4 – bring home most, if not all, of our foreign deployed forces to begin the downsizing of our military budget in order to get our national debt under control and to provide capital to grow our private sector of the U. S. economy.

Step 5 – end the Cuban embargo immediately. After fifty years, most sane people would conclude it has not worked and ending the embargo would open up a new market for American businesses just ninety miles from our shores.

Step 6 – the most important step, institute term limit for all politicians. Given that none of these needed strategic steps have happened to make us better able to compete in the new economic reality and that most of the sitting politicians have been sitting in the same seats for decades while nothing happened, we cannot assume that all of a sudden they will do the right thing. We need to continually refresh those serving in Congress and the government with new people that are more fully aware of what is going on in the world and are not tied to old ways of thinking and spending.

We can succeed, we just need some visionary thinker and leaders to make it happen. India has its own problems, a large part of its population is still dirt poor, possibly providing social unrest problems unless they somehow can bring more people into their economic growth. The Chinese population will age quickly, as a result of their one child per family policy, putting strain on their economy in the coming years. All is not lost. In fact, if executed right, a long term strategic plan, as proposed above, could make the United States even stronger since new markets would open up in these growth economies. I guess the political class will get to this strategic plan as soon as the fix that pesky college football playoff system.


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Many decades have passed since outsourcing to India was first introduced. In simple terms outsourcing to India takes place when a company located in a country foreign to India like USA, UK, Australia etc outsources their work to a company located in India.   The type of work outsourced initially included call center projects which were target oriented and are to a large extend responsible for the change in lifestyle Indians are experiencing. In recent times outsourcing to India has grown to a very large extent and includes almost all fields of work. IT companies in India have made themselves capable to provide services like payroll management, accounting, medical transcription, customer service, data entry, document drafting, software development, web development, website designing, ecommerce site development, etc. The more the service areas are covered by the IT companies in India more and more IT companies providing outsourcing to India services have emerged. However all companies are not of the same size and do not cover all the service areas. Some companies like Infosys, Wipro, Etech etc are of international repute and cover different spectrums of services. Big names are few as compared to small names. Small companies generally work in a dedicated niche and usually charge lower. Reason why outsourcing to India is growing despite facing competition from countries like China, New Zealand, Korea etc are many. Advantages of outsourcing to India are more as compared to the disadvantages or should I say there is no disadvantage of outsourcing to India if the outsourcing company is able to decide the best company to outsource the project to. Here it is important to mention that when there are big and small companies floating in the same outsourcing to India pool it is cardinal for the parent company to decide whether they want to hire big company or small company. To elaborate the point mentioned in paragraph 3 big companies will charge heftily but provide outstanding services while small companies though charge lower are a trouble so far as quality of work is concerned. Hence companies which are able to hire good companies for their work find outsourcing to India to be more advantageous then being disadvantageous. In general the advantages of hiring an outsourcing to India company can be enumerated as below: 1. Hiring a company in India for doing some task is cheaper as compared to getting it done in the parent company2. Parent company gets enough time to spend on other core business practices by outsourcing less important tasks to India3. Outsourcing also makes the operations hassle free4. More people speaking international language English, fluently means trouble free communication5. Difference of time in India and other countries of the world is also beneficial to many especially countries where the difference is of more than 10 hours. 6. Indians around the globe have been known to be smart and quick learner. Hence hiring Indian for a project would mean smart brains will work on your project. Any company can easily outsource work to India as India has companies which can cater to all needs of clients efficiently.


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If you look at some statistics from the U. S. Census organization, the CIA Fact Book, and several other credible sources and put them together in a “what-if” analysis regarding the future economic power of Russia, China, India, and the United States, you can develop the following statistical measures:

- The current population of the United States is about 310 million people, the 2050 estimated population is expected to grow about 42% to 439 million, the current GDP of the United States is about $14. 43 trillion dollars which yields a current GDP to current population ratio of about $46,561 per person ($14. 43 trillion divided by 310 million people).

- The current population of Russia is about 143 million people, the 2050 estimated population is expected to shrink 23% to 109 million people, the current GDP of Russia is about $1. 24 trillion, yielding a GDP to population ratio of about $8681.

- The current population of China is about 1. 34 billion people, the 2050 estimated population is expected to grow about 9% to 1. 46 billion people, the current GDP of China is about $4. 8 billion, yielding a GDP to population ratio of about $3,595.

- The current population of India is about 1. 2 billion people, the 2050 estimated population is expected to grow about 53% to 1. 81 billion people, the current GDP of India is about $1. 1 trillion, yielding a GDP to population ratio of about $925.

Not unexpected, the United States is the richest country in the world as measured by gross GDP and GDP per citizen. However, the growth of the United States economy is pretty steady and conservative vs. countries like China and India. Let’s play some games with these base numbers:

- Let’s assume, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, that China continues to grow very quickly over the next forty years. If the Chinese are able to get their GDP to population ratio up to half of what the current U. S. ratio is, then the total size of the Chinese economy as measured by GDP (in today’s dollars) would be over $34 trillion, almost two and half times the size of the U. S. economy.

- Let’s do the same thing with India but assume that the ratio is so low that they can only get their ratio up to one quarter of what the current U. S. ratio is, then the total size of the Indian economy as measured by GDP (in today’s dollars) would be over $21 trillion, 50% larger than the size of the U. S. economy.

- We will not do the same analysis for Russia since given how fast its population base is shrinking, its economic impact in the world economy will be less and less over time.

Thus, the upside for both the Chinese and Indian markets are very high based on the sheer number of citizens in each country and their governments’ desire to aggressively grow their economies. Before we know it, both economies could be approaching and/or surpassing the size and power of the United States economy.

If you do not believe these calculations, consider a recent article from the Financial Times that was summarized in the July 30, 2010 issue of The Week magazine. According to the Financial Times, China is now the biggest consumer of energy, passing the United States last year as reported by the International Energy Agency. As late as the year 2000, the United States used twice the energy that China used. Now, China is using at least 4% more than us.

Another source. In a recent feature section in Fortune magazine, Goldman Sach’s was quoted as estimating that by the year 2050, the size of the Chinese economy will be about $70 billion while the size of the U. S. economy will be only about $40 billion and just barely ahead of the Indian economy. By 2050, Brazil, Russia, India, and China will exceed the greenhouse emissions of the rest of the developed world.

All of these numbers point to the same conclusion: namely that China and India will become much, much stronger in the coming years and much more competitive, both for raw materials, finished products, and markets to sell their products. The United States needs to take some long term strategic actions in light of the coming tsunami of stronger economic rivals:

- We can not hope to compete in the future economic landscape, if we do not find a way to better teach our children to this new reality. United States consistently ranks at the bottom of the world, and testing of a student’s education. That does not make a strong economy and our workers to other countries, which also has the numbers on their side is outwitted.

- We cannot hamstring our own economy with Obama’s cap and trade policy while the rest of the world, including the bigger and bigger energy users of China and India do not agree to stringent and trackable carbon emissions programs. If the United States goes it alone in this area, our economy will suffer at the hands of these economies that do not, resulting in lost jobs, lost industries, and lost economic strength since any carbon savings we incur will be overwhelmed by these new economic powers.

- We cannot continue to police the world, draining our economy through our military budget. Better to focus on getting our own economic house in order rather than deploying troops around the world to protect against enemies that do not exist anymore, enemies that cannot do any direct harm to us, or enemies that are better handled by other countries or the United Nations. We need to bring home our 54,000 or so troops from Germany since the Iron Curtain no longer exists, we need to bring home the 90,000 or so troops from Iraq as Obama the campaigner promised to do, we need to bring home our 50,000 or so troops from Japan since Japan is not going to hit Pearl harbor again and 50,000 troops are useless in the face of 2,000,000 Chinese troops in the neighborhood, and we need to bring home our 28,000 or so troops from South Korea and let them handle their own security, their economy is strong enough to handle it. Our focus on defense needs to be much more narrow and much more focused on those that could actually harm us and we need to bank the savings and strengthen those areas that will enable is to better compete economically.

- We need to finally develop and deploy a sane national energy program that makes us as self sufficient as possible, given that the hungrier economies of India and China will start to compete with us for raw energy sources. The less we spend on energy, as with defense, the better and stronger our economy will be against the onslaught of the growing economic powers in the world.

- We need to start getting our national debt and government spending problem under control now. The more capital and investment dollars that can be funneled into American businesses, the better off we can compete with China and India and the rest of the world. If all of our available capital is going to the government, where it is used on wasteful, inefficient government programs or used to pay the interest our national debt, the less flexible and competitive American businesses will be and less economic health our citizens will enjoy.

Bottom line, what is needed is a long term strategic plan for dealing with the new world order in the areas of national defense and economic strength. Do we think that the American political class is ready for such a comprehensive analytical and strategic task? Consider what our politicians have been working on over the past year or so:

- A Congresswoman and her staff worked on legislation that would regulate the sound volume of television commercials. – A Congressman and his staff worked on legislation that would ban the airing of ED commercials on television. – A Congressman and his staff worked on legislation that would provide a tax break for pet owners who might have to give up their pets in these hard economic times. – The entire U. S. Congress and the entire Federal financial regulatory network was completely blind sided by the biggest economic malaise since the Great Depression, not realizing what was coming until it hit them in the face. – Politicians in both houses of Congress worked on a bill to regulate how Division One college football teams decide a national championship. – The current New Mexico governor is working on whether or not to pardon Billy The Kid, who died over a hundred years ago. – A Georgia Congressman, at a Congressional hearing, worried in public on whether the island of Guam could tip over in the ocean. – At least two sitting Congress people are likely to shortly face ethics charges and potential trials in the House Of Representatives for numerous financial and ethics offenses. – Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, has publicly stated the insane concept that unemployment is the best way to create jobs.

As you can see, we have not elected the most forward thinking, strategic brains in the country. They are so entwined in the daily political infighting and just absolutely trivial matters that time is slipping away while other countries are quickly growing their economies to compete with us, our companies and our citizens.

If long term, strategic thinkers were running this country, they would not be working on the above trivial matters but instead would be focused on the following:

Step 1 – start reducing the size of the Federal government by 10% a year for five years to get our national debt and spending under control and to leave more capital in the private market for investment against other economies.

Step 2 – find a way to finally  make us more energy self sufficient and to bring other nations into a world wide, trackable process that reduces carbon emissions equally, not allowing any economy to gain an economic edge at the expense of others and the environment.

Step 3 – develop a ground up approach to overhaul, improve, and revolutionize American public education processes to prepare our kids for competition in the new economic world order.

Step 4 – bring home most, if not all, of our foreign deployed forces to begin the downsizing of our military budget in order to get our national debt under control and to provide capital to grow our private sector of the U. S. economy.

Step 5 – end the Cuban embargo immediately. After fifty years, most sane people would conclude it has not worked and ending the embargo would open up a new market for American businesses just ninety miles from our shores.

Step 6 – the most important step, institute term limit for all politicians. Given that none of these needed strategic steps have happened to make us better able to compete in the new economic reality and that most of the sitting politicians have been sitting in the same seats for decades while nothing happened, we cannot assume that all of a sudden they will do the right thing. We need to continually refresh those serving in Congress and the government with new people that are more fully aware of what is going on in the world and are not tied to old ways of thinking and spending.

We are successful, we need only a few visionary thinkers and leaders, to make it happen. India has its own problems, much of the population is still dirt poor, the possibility of social unrest problems if they bring more people in their economic growth. China’s population is aging rapidly as a result of a burden for one child per family policy, its economy for years to come. All is not lost. In fact, if executed right, a long-term strategic plan, as suggested above, the U.S. could make it even stronger, because the new growth markets in these economies, production, and wants to start # XF6;. I appreciate the political class of this strategic plan soon to confirm that pesky college football playoff system.


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A carbon footprint measures the total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, event, organization or product. Carbon accounting (also called GHG accounting) does assess the carbon footprint to help organizations adopt strategies aimed at fighting climate change. As with financial accounting and reporting, generally accepted carbon accounting principles are intended to underpin and guide carbon accounting and reporting to ensure that the reported information represents a faithful, true, and fair account of a company’s carbon emissions.

Business community in India has started seeing value in undertaking carbon accounting and reporting it in public forums. Such forums include Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and company’s Sustainable Development Reports. The number of companies which responded the CDP’s information request on climate change strategy, risk and opportunities assessment and carbon accounting was answered by 37 companies in 2007. The number increased to 51 in 2008 and dropped marginally to 44 in 2009, partially explained by the global financial crisis.

There is still long way to go for Indian businesses on the path of carbon accounting and disclosures. Even in the top 200 firms in India (by market capitalization), the response rate in last few years has steadily increased and reached 20%, a rather dismal performance compared to developed markets.

There are a few sectors like the software and services which are clear leaders in being carbon-aware, accounting carbon emissions from their emissions, taking efforts in reducing it and communicating it to the stakeholders. Part of this can be explained given the fact that these companies are most export dependent and draw majority of their clientele and revenues from markets of US and EU. Clear laggards in efforts in this direction are companies in the field of banking & diversified financials, capital goods, real estate and retail. Very few companies in these sectors have responded to the CDP information request and have accounted for their carbon emissions. Part of the lack of drive can be explained by significant domestic base, relative inelasticity of demand to seemingly peripheral factors and relative less thought given to corporate social responsibility.

In the following discussion, we summarize the key issues that would become increasing relevant to Indian organizations and drive thorough and wide spread carbon accounting, reduction and disclosure efforts.

Industries such as steel and textiles could soon face a carbon entry barrier, one way or the other, while exporting goods to markets where the country has enacted regulations stipulating guidelines for the domestic industry. The domestic industry, to maintain its competitiveness would ensure that less efficient (and therefore more carbon intensive) products entering into the economy pay for the difference in carbon levels by ‘carbon tax’ or equivalent.

Though these regulations may take some time to be widely implemented, it makes business sense for companies in select sectors to be prepared with a clear understanding of where they stand with respect to competition from developed countries and other developing countries such as China, Brazil or Vietnam.

Developing countries such as India, Brazil, China and South Africa (BASIC) are facing increasing pressure from the developed world to monitor and report their GHG emissions. This is due to the fact that the growth in GHG emissions worldwide in foreseeable future will come from these economies, thanks to their contribution to world economy and increasingly so. In order to make sure that the developed countries continue to finance emission reduction projects, energy efficiency and other technology development, the BASIC countries may have to undertake monitoring, reporting and verification of their national GHG inventories. When such an mechanism becomes a part of internationally negotiated agreement, carbon accounting and reporting would become statutory requirement like the annual financial reporting and auditing.

Having realized the crucial importance of good disclosure and corporate governance practices, investors across the globe are demanding companies to disclose their climate change strategies, perceived risks and opportunities created by climate change, contribution to climate change and efforts taken to minimize corporate carbon footprint. To reduce the transaction costs of responding to individual investors in unique format and vice-versa, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has been created as a not-for-profit non-governmental organization. Active since 2006, in 2010 CDP sent out information request to more than 3500 organizations across sectors and scales around the globe. In India, the information is sought from top 200 companies by market capitalization. The responses from companies in relation to their climate change strategies, perceived risks and opportunities and carbon footprint of their operations will be analyzed, compiled in a report and sent to more than 530 investors across globe. Investors also become aware if the organization chooses not to respond to such an information request or decline to participate. The list of investors who get seek such information from corporations through CDP includes Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JP Morgan Asset Management among others.

Such investor-facing communication should be taken seriously taken by companies and pursued pro-actively even if organization does not receive information request.

Carbon emission is a direct indicator of the energy consumption in a process or an activity. By mapping carbon footprint in detail, an organization can identify ‘emission hotspots’, the energy intensive processes and take actions to reduce the carbon footprint/energy consumption per unit product/service produced/delivered. This can directly lead to cost savings and thus addition to bottom-line, the ultimate test for evaluating success or failure of an activity/intervention.

 

Though the carbon accounting and disclosure efforts of an individual company may not have a direct bearing on the climate policy decisions taken by the Indian government, a wide participation by India Inc. in activities in the area of carbon accounting, emission reductions and reporting can send a strong signal that Indian industry is proactively engaging in the climate change dialogue and response process. Such activities will contribute towards political process through analysis and reporting. For example – the release of CDP India 2009 report coincided with landmark session in parliament where the environmental Minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh announced that India will reduce its carbon intensity levels by 20-25% on its 2005 over the next 11 years. The Economic Times carried an article quoting the CDP India report and saying that India Inc. is well positioned to achieve the 20-25% emission intensity reduction targets given that companies are already voluntarily disclosing their carbon footprints and undertaking measures to reduce them.

It is evident that voluntary initiatives such as the CDP or company’s sustainability reports highlighting their carbon emissions, reduction measures and targets are influencing policy decisions and in future will play a significant role in India’s climate change strategy and policy.

________________________

EcoLogic Consultancy is a focused Carbon Management consulting firm. We provide services in the wide spectrum of carbon management, helping our clients identify the risks and opportunities in climate change, mitigate the risks, exploit the opportunities, and thus tackle the environmental challenge.

For further details, reach us at

enquiry@ecologicconsultancy. in

www. ecologicconsultancy. in

Indrajeet – +91-90287 88430

Kedar – +91-90007 72462

 


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With the popularity of online technology and internet throughout the world, reaching every house, hardly you will find anyone who is not in use of internet. In these days social networking websites, travel websites, online billing portals, online softwares portals and many more are coming with their unique features and facilities that not only offers free services but also builds common platform from where one can buy anything of any type. Like business to business – b2b portals that carries large number of exporters, importers, manufacturers, sellers, buyers and many more online traders in order to perform online trade and business activities. Indian suppliers directory tradecaste. com is one of the famous and popular Indian b2b portals where Indian manufacturer, distributors, importers, suppliers and other traders get to know each other needs and able to know about the different ideas of the current market scenario. Indian b2b portals have turn out as one of the major marketing tools where large number of distributor, manufacturer and supplier of international market want to make full use of it. It turns out as one of the famous online business center where you can find a to z items, products and services offered by different manufacturers, sellers and exporters for trading purposes.

Indian Exporters :-These b2b portals enable you to save your precious time which in turn saves your hard earned money. By making use of these types of new advanced and online trading methods and time efficient steps is helps in generating revenue and also improves productivity to the business. These Indian B2B trading portals also known by indian suppliers directory that has completely changed the way of trading was done; it has brought efficiency in every aspect of online trading. These suppliers and exporters directories bring more business opportunities in order to cater different manufacturers, suppliers, buyers not only in India but also throughout the world. Here in this Indian b2b portal which is also known by importers directory and exporters directory brings all types of products ranging from health and pharma products, agriculture, lights, fashion, accessories, chemicals, food & beverage, gifts & crafts, telecommunications, security &  protection and many more products and services you will find here subscribed by different online traders. tradecaste. com can make complete use of the untapped corners of India by displaying different products on the internet thereby inviting dealers, importers, manufacturers and exporters to go through various available products and services.

B2B Directory India has the advantage of its ease of use and speed of trading through online techniques. You can go directly to the Indian manufacturer, distributor, and reduces product from each log. It has a much broader platform and a common one corner of the world available to others. Thus, the whole world can see the various products and services, online commerce is increasingly merchants. Price, price and minimum order quantity for each product and service you make things orderly and appropriate manner, which gives a very positive impression to customers.


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Rice is grown in many regions across India. For about 65% of the people living in India, rice is a staple food for them. Rice is essential to life in India. It is a part of nearly every meal, and it is grown on a majority of the rural farms. Rice is one of the important cereal food crop of India. Rice contributes about 43% of total food grain production and 46% of total cereal production in the country. It continues to play vital role in the national exports. The percentage share of rice in total national export was 4. 5% during 1998-99. The percentage share of agriculture export in total national export was 18. 25, whereas the percentage share of rice export in total agriculture export was 24. 62 during 1998-99. Thus, rice export contributes nearly 25% of total agriculture export from the country. Some important facts about rice in Indian Scenario are as: • Agriculture is the main source of income for families in India. Farms cover over half the land and almost three-quarters of that land is used to grow the two major grains: rice and wheat. • India is the second leading producer of rice in the entire world, preceded only by China. • India’s annual rice production is around 85-90 million tons. Annual consumption is around 85 million tons. • In India, Rice is cultivated in both seasons – Winter and Summer. • West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Karnataka and Haryana are the major producing states. More than 50% of total production comes from the first four states. • Food Corporation of India purchases around 20 to 25% of the total rice production in the country both under levy from the rice mills and directly in the form of paddy from the farmers at Minimum Support Prices announced by the Govt. • More than 4000 varieties of rice are grown in India. • India is the world’s largest exporter of Basmati rice to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East Countries, Europe, and the United States. • India has the potential to export one million tons of Basmati rice. • Major destinations for Indian non-basmati, white/parboiled rice are Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, Ivory Coast, and other African countries. Types and Forms of Rice:Worldwide, there are more than 40,000 different varieties of rice. Often times, rice is categorized by its size as being either short grain, medium grain or long grain. Short grain, which has the highest starch content, makes the stickiest rice, while long grain is lighter and tends to remain separate when cooked. The qualities of medium grain fall between the other two types. Another way that rice is classified is according to the degree of milling that it undergoes. This is what makes a brown rice different than white rice. Thus, the primary differences in different varieties of rice are their cooking characteristics, shapes and even colors and in some cases, a subtle flavor difference. The influx of convenience foods has brought consumers rice in bags, packets and cartons. Rice can be purchased cooked or uncooked, packed, dehydrated and also frozen. To meet the many special requirements of packaged foods, rice undergoes varying degrees of processing, including regular-milled, parboiled, precooked, and brown. Export of Rice from India:Worldwide, India stands first in rice area and second in rice production, after China. It contributes 21. 5 percent of global rice production. Within the country, rice occupies one-quarter of the total cropped area, contributes about 40 to 43 percent of total food grain production and continues to play a vital role in the national food and livelihood security system. However, India did not become a major rice exporting country for a long time. Its share in world rice trade, mainly in the form of small-volume exports of highly prized basmati rice, was insignificant (5 percent). It was not until the mid-1980s that the quantum of export started to grow, from 110 000 tonnes in 1978/79 to 890 613 tonnes in 1994/95 and to a record 5. 5 million tonnes in 1995/96, second only to Thailand (at 5. 9 million tonnes). Among the exporting countries, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Pakistan are the major countries exporting rice in sizeable quantity.


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“Outsourcing” is no more a new term in today’s global marketplace. It has become one of the key factors in formulating the overall corporate strategy in the emerging and highly competitive market scenario. The reason as why more and more companies are getting attracted to this concept is because it offers less capital expenditure, improved efficiency, saves on recruiting, training and operating costs and gives access to specialized skills. India being a land of highly skilled professionals is thus becoming a hub of outsourcing.

General Outsourcing Trend

Outsourcing is an arrangement in which one company provides services, sometimes from overseas or sometimes within the same country, to another company that could also be or is usually provided in-house. It is a straightforward concept based on the principles of comparative advantage and division of labour. Thus, the decision for a business to outsource is often made in the interest of lowering firm costs or to make more efficient use of labour, capital, technology and resources. Off-shoring, on the other hand is process where work is sent across the borders of a country which can be even within the same organisation itself.

 

But outsourcing offshore is now a more popular corporate strategy, which is used, to a large extent, by enterprises in developed countries to increase profitability, by investing overseas in relatively ‘low-wage’ developing countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China (commonly termed as BRIC) to name a few. Personnel in creating offshore outsourcing alliances stress the savings as being the prime driver, which lead to lower costs while maintaining high quality. This is due to a combination of factors, such as high level of education and skills appropriate to the tasks outsourced.

 

Service organizations like Intellectual Property practitioners, lawyers, physicians, surgeons, dentists, clinical laboratories, hospitals are relying on developing countries to manage non-core processes for them. The motive of doing so is to focus more on their core competencies. Today India has become the hub of outsourcing and is capable to providing varied types of services to the developed countries, few of them being:

 

Legal Process Outsourcing

Legal services or precisely the Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) has picked up high momentum in the recent years. Legal Process Outsourcing is one of the value added Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services which involves legal work that companies outsource to more economical destinations.   It includes various processes and services which requires varied level of legal acumen and knowledge to perform a particular type of task.

 

LEGAL PROCESS OUTSOURCING

 

 

IP Regime & IP Outsourcing

In law, intellectual property (IP) is an umbrella term for various legal entitlements which attach to certain types of information, ideas, or other intangibles in their expressed form. The holder of this legal entitlement is generally entitled to exercise various exclusive rights in relation to the subject matter of the IP.  Intellectual property laws are designed to protect different forms of intangible subject matter, although in some cases there is a degree of overlap.

 

The existing frame work of intellectual property laws recognized internationally are those identified by TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) and governed by WTO (World Trade Organization). They are:

 

IP outsourcing is one of the most talked about services when it comes to legal outsourcing. IP as we understand includes patent, copyrights, trademarks, industrial designs, trade secrets, geographical indications and Layout designs, but when we talk about IP outsourcing it is majorly Patent work which is being outsourced currently. Patents are the most valuable informational source of technical and competitive information. During the last few years these have gained a lot more attention. Due to increase in the globalization and competition, it is very important for the companies to protect their innovations and also make their R&D activities more efficient, by means of Patents.

 

We know that patents are part of the company’s strategy is now at the same time, high costs of obtaining patents. Reducing the cost of a patent, therefore, essential to many organizations. Outsourcing patent work is thus seen as a means to reduce those costs. India is also a knowledge hub is not detected because of its rich talent pool. A set of IP providers in India has increased in recent years and the Giants have the specialized IP services. Many of the laws and professional Indian law firms are now trying to enter the market in order to ensure the highest quality analysis and research .

Most of these firms are located in the metropolitans of India like Bombay, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore cities, with well developed infrastructures, internet access and US or UK contacts. Almost all firms are providing the following types of Patent services:

Trademark comes the second in the list when we discuss IP outsourcing. But as compared to Patents, trademark still is in a blossoming stage and there are very few service providers who have gained expertise in this domain. Few of the Trademark related services catered by the Indian service providers are:

 

Outsourcing & IP issues related to their solutions

Associated with outsourcing are many issues which can be alarming if not considered properly before outsourcing the IP work.

 

1. Export Control Regulations

Mostly all the developed countries who are indulging into outsourcing offshore have well developed export laws in place. The export law generally pertains to “technology transfer” across the border of the country. Taking an example of U. S. for this scenario, we can talk about two distinct bodies which functions for controlling export law. Firstly, Commerce Department and secondly the Patent office (United States Patent & Trademark Office – USPTO) itself. The Commerce Department has set of rules known as Export Administration Regulation (EAR) which regulates the “export of technology” across the border of U. S. , similarly USPTO restricts “export of patent application” which generally is sent to off-shoring countries for drafting purpose.

Solution: Almost every U. S. organisation have found a solution to this problem of outsource off-shoring by getting export waivers from the Commerce Department, for the technologies which they want to off-shore. This has helped them in getting away with the regulation of EAR. Similarly other countries can follow the steps of U. S. export control bodies by providing a solution to the organisations interested in off-shoring technology or patent work across the border.

 

2. Confidentiality Concerns

Maintaining confidentiality is one of the major concerns of the foreign organisations when sending work to someone who is not a citizen of that country or who is not physically present in that country. Keeping track of documents sent miles away from the country becomes the highest priority as losing trust of the client is directly associated with losing confidentiality.

Solution:  Indian law is well established and in practice since decades now. As per the laws it becomes duty of the employee to make sure that each and every employee of the organization has signed agreements or contracts which abide them to follow and maintain confidentiality of the clients’ details. Violations of the legal document which forbid them from sharing the details with any third party can thus lead to punishable offence under Indian Laws.

 

3. Maintaining Work Quality

When it comes to patent work, quality plays a vital role. Unlike other services, patent services cannot be compromised on quality. A single words presence or absence in claims or specification of the patent application may lead to heavy aftermaths. Hence U. S. or U. K. attorneys are really concerned of a real good quality of work as per their own standards. They are concerned whether service providers in India can deliver as good as what their clients expect.

Solution: The best way to fight the U.S. or the UK is concerned about the quality of the training of lawyers on behalf of the employees have been offered a job providers in India. Extensive training for about one f or two years (depending on the type of work), the U.S. or UK lawyers (which is actually), to the o Quality & Lead # XFC;. Although it is again added to the relocation costs, but if the training provides an effective, once you have investments and could always be a permanent solution to his problem.

 

4. Cost Savings

The last and the foremost which any off-shoring party can ask is will there be any real cost savings from off-shoring.

Solution: associate patent-related work in India (especially in the preparation of patent application) will not pay more than $ 10-15/hr. On the contrary, the U.S. lawyer for the same work as ten times that amount. Given the investment in training, the former may be employed in managing the quality of work as Senior Associate. Both the foreign law firm to expect a 10% savings in offshoring work. In addition, cost savings of offshoring as the work of the patent system of docketing, proofreading, etc. can reduce the workload in-house lawyers. (Outsourcing and offshoring, a summary of issues “, National Law Journal, 12 September 2005)

India as a solution

India has been the most preferred choice among global organization when it comes to outsourcing. In the U. S alone, more than 80% have ranked India as their first choice, when outsourcing software and IT services. The U. S has also recognized India as an outsourcing superpower. The number of organizations outsourcing services to India has only been increasing over the years. Thus the reasons to outsource to India are:

 

Future Scope

Revenues from the Indian patent services off-shoring industry were nearly $46 million for the calendar year 2007 and are expected to reach $206 m by end 2012. Large corporations are in favour of off-shoring patent related (and other legal) work to India as they are the ultimate beneficiaries of the cost savings. The current addressable value of the patent services off-shoring market is estimated at $2. 2 billion. Typically catering to the international markets, patent services outsourcing to India is still in its infancy with a history of only about 3 to 4 years behind it. There are about 50 vendors in the industry with an estimated 1,550 professionals employed as of end 2007. While a few vendors have been in this business longer, this industry has gained momentum only in the last few years. The Indian patent off-shoring industry will grow 35% per annum over the next four years. As for the number of employees it is estimated that about 6959 people will be employed by the end of 2012 (“India is new hub for patent outsourcing”, Times of India, 8th July 2008, p: 19).

 

Conclusion

By virtue of WIPO & TRIPS the IPR regime has attained globalization which has further enhanced the scope of IP Outsourcing. Legal outsourcing in India is still in a beginner stage when compared to the heights which BPOs have attained in India, but the foundation has already been laid and within no time India will shine as a master in LPO industry as well.   While there are pitfalls, IP off-shoring has huge potential cost savings. If handled correctly, this can create history in the field of outsourcing. Indian companies that provide IP outsourced services thus can place themselves at an additional competitive advantage. As the Indian Patent Laws are getting more stringent and effective the Indian vendors are able to backup the U. S. and U. K. attorneys in a more competent manner. Thus, IP Outsourcing is a route to reduce cost and increase effectiveness by outsourcing work to India.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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                                                   Abstract

 

In recent years the destination sectors in FDI have became more varied.   FDI inflows have shifted from infrastructure, natural resources and export driven manufacturing to other areas such as retailing, tourism, construction and off shore services.   A World Bank study showed that cumulative FDI inflows to the retail sector in the 20 largest developing countries amounted to US$ 45 billion in 1998-2002 (about 7 per cent of the total of these countries).   The study showed that after liberalization; countries such as Brazil, Poland and Thailand have received significant FDI in retailing.  

In spite of the recent developments in retailing and its immense contribution to the economy, retailing continues to be are the least evolved industries and the growth of organised retailing in India has been much slower as compared to rest of the world. Over a period of 10 years, the show of organised retailing in total retailing has grown from 10 per cent to 40 percent in Brazil and 20 percent in China, while in India it is only 2 per cent (between 1995-2005). One important reason for this is that retailing is one of the few sectors where foreign direct investment is not allowed. Within the country, there have been protests by trading associations and other stakeholders against allowing FDI in retailing. On the other hand, the growing market has attracted foreign investors and India has been portrayed as an important investment destination for the global retail chains. The present paper attempts to analyze the reason why foreign retailers are interested in India, the strategies they are adopting to enter India and  there prospects in India

 

 

After the waves of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation marketing scenario particularly retailing has changed radically. These changes have resulted in emergence of new environment for buyers’ behaviour and purchasing habits. The upper and upper middle strata of the society now prefers to purchase well established branded goods from standard showrooms and it has transformed the entire picture and perception not only in the metro cities but almost in all big cities of our country. It is worth mentioning that retailing in India has been hailed as one of the sun-rise sectors in the economy. According to A. T. Kearney, a well known International Management Consultant, “India is the second most attractive retail designation globally, among thirty emergent markets. ” Till now unorganised retailing sector was dominating retail trade in India by constituting 98% of all retailing trade but now not only traditional Indian retailers but giant Indian retailers like Reliance has entered in the area and is planning to expand its activities in this sector in a big wag. Even world renowned retailing organisation like Wal-Mart has decided to enter in India via joint venture with Bharti and French retailer Carrefour is busy in chalking out strategy to enter the hyper market and supermarket retail format in India through Dubai based retail major Landmark group.

            In this context an effort has been made in this paper to review the emergence of global retailers in India, to examine the govt. policy relating to FDI in retailing and to evaluate the prospects of global retailing in India.

 

Why Global Retailers are Interested in India?

More specifically the global players are interested in India due to following reasons:

I) Strategic Location and Geography: India enjoys a unique geographical advantage. It is strategically located in Asia, access to all major markets throughout the world. With a total of 32, 87 590 Sq. Km, 7,000 km of coastline and borders six countries, India is the most promising destination for foreign direct investment.

II)          Versatile Demographics: Demographically with a population of more than 1. 1 billion and diverse culture, India is a land of all seasons.   India presents a real cosmopolitan population with diverse religions and culture. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam are the main religions of India. This variety of religions provides India with a diverse culture. Besides, India has versatile population of urban and rural nature. This versatility of population makes India a ready made market for foreign retailers.

III) The newly emerging economies: the economy is the world’s largest democracy, India, stable Govt. a vigorous program of economic reform. India’s foreign exchange reserves exceeding $ U.S. $ 120000000000, foreign direct investment in the U.S. over the 9. 9000000000, average GDP growth of over 7% a year, the appreciation of Rupee Vs U. S dollars to more than 2% over the past two years and a rapidly growing investment in infrastructure has all the ingredients of economic powers emerging superpower. India is the tip of the third largest economy in GDP in 2050 (Table 1)

 

Table 1: Forecast of GDP ($ Trillion)

Country

2010

2050

China

3. 0

44. 5

U. S. A

13th 3

35th 2

India

0. 9

27. 8

Japan

4. 6

6. 7

Brazil

0. 7

6th 1

Russia

0. 8

5. 9

U. K.

1. 9

3. 8

Germany

2. 2

3. 6

Italy

1. 3

2. 1

Source: McKinsey Quarterly 4th November

                  In such a scenario every multinational aims to set up a base in India, not to participate in Indian growth story, rather to build their own future.

IV)  Retailing: The Emerging Revolution: Retailing is the largest private industry in India and second largest employer after agriculture. The sector contributes to around 10 percent of GDP. With over 12 million retail outlets, India has the highest retail outlets density in the world. This sector witnessed significant development in the past 10 years from small unorganized family owned retail formats to organized retailing. Liberalization of the economy, rise in per capita income and growing consumerism has encouraged large business and venture capitalist in investing in retail infrastructure. The importance of retail sector in India can be judged from following facts (a) Retail sector is the largest contributor to the Indian GDP (b) The retail Sector provides 15% employment (c) India has world largest retail network with 12 million outlets (d) Total market size of retailing in India Is U. S $ 180 billion (e) Current Share of Organized Retailing is just 2% which comes around to $3. 6 trillion (f) Organized retail sector is growing @ 28% per annum.

V)    Indian Retailing: Opportunities Unexplored: India is sometimes referred to as the nation of shopkeepers. This is because the country has the highest density of retail outlets – over 12 million. However, unlike most developed and developing countries, Indian retail sector is highly fragmented and bulk of the business is in the unorganized sector. As compared to China (Table 2) the presence of global players in India is very less

Table 2: Number of Foreign Retailers in India & China

Retailer

China

India

           Wal- Mart

40

——–

           Carrefour

53

———

Tesco

30

———–

Subway

21

02

            KFC

Over 1000

04

            Starbucks

70

——

            McDonald’s

580

47

            Pizza Hut

110

75

            Louis Vuitton

06

2

            Prada

10

——–

            B&Q

20

——-

            Hugo Boss

60

02

Source: McKinsey Quarterly 4th November

 

India in such a scenario presents following facts to foreign retailers:

In addition to the above, improved living standards and continuing economic growth, friendly business environment, growing spending power and increasing number of conscious customers aspiring to own quality and branded products in India are also attracting to global retailers to enter in Indian market.

 

Major Global Players in Retailing:   The top 30 global retailers together with their percentage of sale from grocery and the percentage of sales in domestic and foreign markets for the year 2003 are given in Table 3.  

 

Table 3: Top 30 Global Retailers with their Sales in Grocery and Percentage

Share of Domestic and Foreign sales in Total Retail Sales, 2003

Company

Country of Origin

Net Sales 2003 (USD mn)

Grocery Sales (%)

Domestic Sales(%)

Foreign Sales(%)

Wal-Mart

USA

256,329

43. 7

79. 1

20. 9

Carrefour

France

79,609

77. 4

50. 7

49th 3

Ahold

Neth.

63,325

84. 0

15th 8

84. 2

Metro Group

Germany

60,532

50. 5

52. 9

47. 1

Kroger

USA

53,791

70. 2

100. 0

0. 0

Tesco

UK

50,326

74. 6

80th 1

19. 9

Target

48,163

17. 8

100. 00

0. 0

Rewe

44,251

7. 6

71. 4

28. 6

Aldi

41 011

83. 6

63. 0

37. 0

ITM (Inter Marche)

37,723

77. 3

72. 2

27. 8

Safeway(USA)

35 552

75. 5

85th 3

14. 7

Schwarz Group

33,357

83. 0

66. 2

33. 8

Schwarz Group

33,357

83. 0

66. 2

33. 8

Walagreens

32,505

380

100. 00

0. 0

Auchan

32,422

57. 2

57th 5

42. 5

AEON

30,574

47. 2

91. 7

8. 3

Ito-Yokado

30,541

62. 5

73. 8

26. 2

Edeka

29,670

83. 8

91. 2

8. 8

Sainsbury

27 995

73. 3

85. 1

14. 9

Tengelmann

27 721

69. 7

49. 1

50. 9

Leclerc

27,332

59. 9

95. 7

4. 3

CVS

26,588

31. 2

100th 0

0. 0

Casino

25,958

73. 3

58. 9

41st 1

Kmart

23,253

14. 0

100. 0

0. 0

Delhaize Group

21,256

77. 1

20. 1

79th 9

Loblaw

18,002

77. 5

100. 0

0. 0

JC Penney

17,786

16. 9

99. 4

0. 6

Coles Myer

17,523

58. 5

99. 4

0. 6

Daiei

17 158

43. 3

98. 9

1. 1

1,287,382

 

 

 

2,612,618

 

 

 

3,900,000

 

 

 

Source:  Extracted from M+M Planet Retail

 

Arguments in favour of FDI in Retailing  

FDI in retailing is favoured on following grounds:

(1) The global retailers have advanced management know how in merchandising and inventory management and have adopted new technologies which can significantly improve productivity and efficiency in retailing. (2)  Entry of large low-cost retailers and adoption of integrated supply chain management by them is likely to lower down the prices. (3)  FDI in retailing can easily assure the quality of product, better shopping experience and customer services. (4)  They promote the linkage of local suppliers, farmers and manufacturers, no doubt only those who can meet the quality and safety standards, to global market and this will ensure a reliable and profitable market to these local players. (5)  As multinational players are spreading their operation, regional players are also developing their supply chain differentiating their strategies and improving their operations to counter the size of international players. This all will encourage the investment and employment in supply chain management. (6)  Joint ventures would ease capital constraints of existing organised retailers and (7)  FDI would lead to development of different retail formats and modernisation of the sector.

Arguments against FDI in Retailing

Many trading associations, political parties and industrial associations have argued against FDI in retailing due to following reasons:

(1)      Indian retailers have yet to consolidate their position. The existing retailing scenario is characterized by the presence of a large number of fragmented family owned businesses, who would not be able to survive the competition from global players.

(2)      The examples of south east Asian countries show that after allowing FDI, the domestic retailers were marginalised and this led to unemployment.

(3)      FDI in retailing can upset the import balance, as large international retailers may prefer to source majority of their products globally rather than investing in local products.

(4)      Global retailers might resort to predatory pricing. Due to their financial clout, they often sell below cost in the new markets. Once the domestic players are wiped out of the market foreign players enjoy a monopoly position which allows them to increase prices and earn profits.

(5) Indian retailers have argued that, since a much higher credit interest rates in India, Indian companies, especially small & jaem # XFC; üjatel at a disadvantage compared with foreign operators, who have access to international funds with low interest rates . The high cost of borrowing for domestic forces players to higher prices for products in a responsible manner.

(6)      FDI in retail trade would not attract large inflows of foreign investment since very little investment is required to conduct retail business. Goods are bought on credit and sales are made on cash basis. Hence, the working capital requirement is negligible. On the contrary; after making initial investment on basic infrastructure, the multinational retailers may remit the higher amount of profits earned in India to their own country.

            In India, till recently, FDI was not allowed in retailing, but the Union cabinet on January 24, 2006 rationalised and simplified the FDI policy and allowed the contentious issue of foreign investment in retail sector by allowing FDI up to 51 percent with prior government approval for retail trade in single brand products.   This would imply that foreign companies would be allowed to sell goods sold internationally under a single brand, viz. Reebok, Nokia, Adidas. Retailing of goods of multiple brands, even if such products are produced by same manufacturer would not be allowed.   However, there are indications that the Government may allow foreign investments in retail segments where small domestic players do not operate. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion is preparing a detailed policy for further liberalisation of FDI in the country, which is likely to be announced before the budget 2007-08. As part of the proposed move, the Ministry has marked out sports goods, electronics and building equipment as some of the sectors that may be opened up with a 51% cap on FDI. The government is also considering to permit multi-brand retail in such areas. The government is likely to discuss the matter with the left parties before taking a final call on the issue. The Left has initially stalled the government’s plans to allow FDI in multi-brand retail on the grounds that it will adversely affect mom-and-pop stores.

It is worth mentioning that FDI restrictions have not deterred prominent international players from entering India. Many U. S and other international retailers and consumer goods companies consider India a top-priority market with the potential for breakthrough growth. In this context (a) Wal-Mart CEO, John Menzar visited India in 2005 and met with Prime Minister to discuss relevant issues. Wal-Mart’s sourcing from India, which was U. S. $300 million in 2004 reached to U. S. $1. 2 billion in 2005. (b) Fashion brand DKNY is set to foray into Indian fashion industry through franchise agreement with Indian company, S. Kumar’s. (c) Tommy Hilfiger, International fashion icon says that “We are going to build  a wonderful lifestyle business here” (d) Phillip Morris is ready to unveil its plans for kraft in India through Kraft Jacob Suchard (KJS) India, a wholly owned arm of Philip Morris India (e) Starbucks has expressed its interest in entering India through the franchise route.

            Although before January 24, 2006 FDI was not allowed in retailing, many international players are operating in the country.   Some of entry routes employed by them are discussed in details as below:

(a)  Manufacturing and Local Sourcing:  Companies that set up manufacturing facilities are allowed to sell the products in the domestic market.   Consumer durable companies such as Sony and Samsung have entered the retail sector through this route.   Due to high labour cost in their domestic market, many international brands are setting up manufacturing bases in developing countries such as India and China and / or are sourcing products from local manufacturers.   For example, Levi’s and Tommy Hilfiger are sourcing products from Indian manufacturers like Arvind Mills.   Benetton has a manufacturing unit in India.   Other international brands like GIVO from Italy have set up export-oriented manufacturing facilities.   These companies are allowed to sell products to Indian consumers through franchising, local distributors, existing Indian retailers, own outlets, etc.

 

(b) Franchising:  Franchising is the most preferred mode through which foreign players have entered the Indian market.   It is the easiest route to enter the Indian market.   Franchising is often used as a mode to expand the market of a particular retail enterprise outside domestic economy since it allows firms to expand without investing their own capital, is based on local expertise and enables firms to curb local oppositions and regulations. This is the most common mode for entry of fast food chains across the world.   Apart from fast food chains like Pizza Hut, players such as Lacoste, Mango, Nike and Marks and Spencer, have entered the Indian market through this route.

            For setting up franchising operation, the foreign players are required to take permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).   RBI often imposes the condition that franchisers have to bring in foreign investment and set up a base for carrying on operational activities.   A foreign franchiser not wishing to make a direct investment would have to render technical assistance to the franchisee.   Some franchisee, such as Pizza Hut has made significant investment in the supply chain.

            The arrangements between franchisee and franchiser are found to be extremely flexible and are based on negotiation between the two.   Some Indian franchisees have complained about high franchising fees together with high real estate costs, high import duties and other costs escalate the prices.   For instance, the cost of a Marks and Spencer product is higher than not only the brands produced domestically but also in comparison to the price of the product in the UK.   The high prices restrict the ability of the foreign players to penetrate the market but they have entered the country to make their brands visible to the huge Indian market.

            If FDI is allowed in retailing, franchisees are not very sure whether they would hold the retailing rights for the brands.   According to industry representatives, since franchisees largely constitute of domestic traders (even some unorganised retailers have take up franchising rights) who have made significant investment in infrastructure, government through legislation must ensure that they do not loose out their franchising rights if FDI is allowed in retailing and the franchisers decide to change the mode of operation.   The existing franchisees have also expressed an interest in entering into joint venture with the franchisers if FDI is allowed in retailing.

(c)  Test Marketing:  Test marketing is another route through which many foreign players have entered the Indian market.   Foreign investment Promotion Board (FIPB) allows foreign companies for test marketing of their products for a two-year period by the end of which they are required to set up manufacturing facilities in India.   Direct selling companies like Amway and Oriflame entered the Indian market through this route.   Initially, Amway got an approval for test marketing for a period of two years but they managed to secure an extension of one more year.   At the end of the third year, they set up contract manufacturing facilities and brought in foreign investment and technical know-how.   Oriflame too extended its test marketing license for a third year and at the end of which had set up a manufacturing facility in Noida (UP) for producing certain specific products.   Other products are imported and would continue to be imported from abroad.

            Nokia came to India through the test marketing route in mid-1990s.   Initially they got a license for two years to test their products in the Mumbai circle.   After three months of their entry they tied up with the service providers to provide integrated services to their customers.   Due to pressure from the FIPB, Nokia had tied up with the HCL Infotech as a strategic partner for all India distribution of Nokia products.   After the success of its products in the country, Nokia had opened up an office but had not set up a manufacturing facility and continued to import all products (even models made specifically for India).   After another two years they divided the country into four zones and entered into a strategic alliance for distribution with Supreme for East and West India while HCL continued with North and Southern zone.   Nokia had also applied for the cash and carry license from the FIPB and has recently got the license.   Nokia is aggressively targeting the Indian consumers and plan to capture 75 percent of the mobile market in the next seven years.   The company, which currently operates as a wholesale cash-and carry, recently announced that it would set up manufacturing facilities very soon.

            The test marketing route allows foreign players to test the demand for their products in Indian market before undertaking investment.   Even if FDI is allowed in retailing, many foreign players would like to enter the Indian market through this route.

 

(d) Wholesale Cash-and-Carry Operation: This is the route through which large international retailers such as Germany’s Metro Cash & Carry GmbH and Shoprite Checkers of South Africa have entered the Indian market.   The wholesale cash-and-carry operation is defined as any trading outlets where goods are sold at the wholesale rate for retailers and businesses to buy.   The transactions are only for business purposes and not for personal consumption as in the case of retailing.

(e)  Distributor:    Companies such as Swarovski and Hugo Boss have set up distribution offices in India and these offices supply the products to local retailers.   All products of Hugo Boss are imported and distributed through the company’s distributor.

(f) Special Cases: The Sri Lankan retailers have entered the India market through the initiatives of Export Development Board of Sri Lanka (EDB) which obtained special permission from the RBI to set up retail operations in India.   The EDB has leased 17 retail outlets in Spencer Plaza in Chennai in which Sri Lankan retailers are showcasing and selling their products.   The Sri Lankan products showcased in these stores are mostly at the higher end of the quality spectrum and can be brought into the country free of duty.   This gives an advantage to large Sri Lankan retailers like Hameedia not only to establish a global presence but also to access the large customer base of India at competitive prices.   The EDB is also exploring the possibilities of setting up similar trade centres in other cities like Delhi and Mumbai.   Although this mode has allowed retailers from Sri Lanka to enter the Indian market without domestic manufacturing and sourcing conditions and some products sold by these traders are similar to those sold by Indian retailers, EDB did not face any opposition from Chambers, retailers and the trading houses.

Although the official policy is that foreign direct investment in retail is allowed only one brand, and that up to 51% of retail sales, but it was a # & XFC; hiselt, without barriers to entry. Foreign players have used their strong presence in the country, and several alternative routes to enter India, a unique trade area. Some of the existing foreign players are listed below in Table 4

Table 4: Some Existing Foreign Players and Prospective Entrants

Type

Status

7-Eleven

Supermarket

Evaluating

Amway

Direct selling

Already in

Auchan

Hypermarket

Evaluating

Carrefour

Multi-format retailers

Wait and watch

Dairy Farm

Multi-format retailers

Tied RPG

JC Penny

Product sourcing

Already

Landmark

Department Store

Already in

Lee Cooper

Product sourcing

Already in

Levi’s

Product sourcing

Already

Mangos

Apparel retailer

Already in

Marks & Spencer

Department Store

Already in

Metro

Cash & carry

Already in

Oriflame

Direct selling

Already in

Reebok

Oint venture

Already in

Shoprite

Wholesale cash-and-carry and franchising

Already

Sony

Manufacturer Retailer

Already in

Wal-Mart

Hypermarket

Agreement with Bharti

Source: FDI in Retail Sector, Department of consumer affairs, Government of India, p. 115.

It is clear that the growing urban and rural markets of India and the unique opportunity to examine the tremendous representative of all retail formats. Initially, there may be some doubts and worries in the world allows players in the retail sector in India, but if they are staggered manner on the basis of L & # xE4; bimõeldud policy and to Chalke, they are likely to be more investment in organized retail f & # XFC, OR enables to carry and related sectors. As already discussed, it would also lead to the influx of latest technological know-how and the creation of an integrated and sophisticated supply chains, the availability of standard, quality and the latest high-quality products that help people to be able to gradation and increased procurement from India. But consider the following points in mind in this regard:

 

            The strategy of opening up should be backed by appropriate reform measures.   India can learn from the experiences of other developed and developing countries and develop its own strategies, laws and regulations that would be in the best interest of the country.   As of now, there is no proper definition of retailing or retail formats in India.   International players are exploiting the situation and are often entering the market and expanding their businesses through multiple routes and are operating in the country with more than one format of retailing.   The regulatory regime should address these issues.   The entry norms should clearly state the approval requirements, conditions / restrictions if any imposed, etc.   The government should also strictly enforce the quality standards for local production and imports.

 


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Since the current boom in offshore IT outsourcing has become one of the most popular games to Indian outsourcing firms preferred destination. The reasons for this are based on actual cost and ease of project management. First, the business processing outsourcing company provides more time to concentrate more on their core business. In addition, the company can be processed into lower labor costs and more efficient. Although the clear advantages of the outsourcing industry as part of a backlash from governments, the loss of jobs, because jobs are being created in offshore countries, resulting in wines coming from. Many have pointed out the real cost and poor quality of service as the hidden truth behind an attractive package. Despite the outcry, outsourcing to India has steadily increased and, again, I can help the world’s economic collapse. Outsourcing decisions on cost-saving and time saving aspects of the administration. is a cost-saving strategy, as it is stated there is no need to install and implement a mammoth infrastructure costs. Outsourcing companies are investing heavily in IT equipment, facilities and personnel. They provide offshore development centers for the convenience of your client’s project management in the workplace. There are a lot more pollution than the infrastructure costs alone. Because the work is outsourced to countries like India and China, where there is a large pool of talented competition, since the company’s unfettered access to cheap öjõu high skills. accompanied by a reduction in costs, a compromise of quality. However, outsourcing company India offers overseas, that their projects are in safe hands. Business processing companies in India have a solid service delivery models offer a world-class quality, even the low production costs. The paradigm shift in motivation is already apparent. The fact that so many companies continue to outsource is proof of that. With the sheer volume of work that is flowing into the country, must recognize the talent and know-how of Indian-owned provider of software development. Swimming pool of thought believes that the cost to the company no longer the only reason for outsourcing to India. There are other lucrative destinations, offering efficient services and cost. But you can trust the quality? India offering software development services in more than two decades. Statistics alone enough to showcase best practices for high-quality solutions in India. Indian providers majorly different from their counterparts at other destinations in the scalability of its strong focus on quality, and experience a wide range of services. In addition, India is the world’s largest pool of technical skills of about 200,000 engineers every year, supports the conclusion of universities in India. This number will only increase if the demand for business processing outsourcing to India. If the process is outsourced to India, companies not only benefit from low prices, but also the experience to improve productivity and quality. These are the reasons that should motivate offshore outsourcing to India.


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Outsourcing is one of the most popular and the most preferred strategy that businesses are now considering. This is because outsourcing can provide you a cheap way to get your business process or at least a part of the business process done. Because of this, outsourcing is now the latest trend with high-profile businesses today. By outsourcing business processes to other countries, you will save a lot of money. You may wonder why this is so. And, you may also think that outsourcing should cost more money than doing your business process in-house. And besides, why hire a company at all to do part of your business process when your company can do it alone. First of all, outsourcing is relatively cheap because business processes of companies in the United States, Canada and in European countries are outsourced in developing countries, such as India. India is considered as one of the largest outsourcing hubs today and many companies outsource their business process in this country because of cheap labor. This means that instead of employing a full-time employee in your company with all the company benefits and not to mention the high salary that you will give, you will only be spending a fraction of that sum when you outsource your business process in India. For example, when you have a project for your business that will regularly cost around 100 dollars per project, outsourcing it to India will cost around 20 dollars per project. Now, imagine if you have to do 1000 projects. You can see how much money you can save when you outsource it to India. India is also known to have a pool of talented IT professionals who are now seeking employment in companies that accepts outsourced jobs. These professionals are very competent and they also produce good quality work that may rival the work of your country’s IT professionals. Another reason why companies are now considering outsourcing their business process or at least part of their business process to India is because outsourcing can lighten the workload. Therefore, by lightening the workload, your company will be able to make full use of all of its resources aimed to improve the company. An example of this would be help desks. As a company that offers goods and services, you will need a help desk department in order to communicate with your customers and know about their inquiries, complaints and answer their questions regarding your product or services. A help desk department requires a lot of money to develop. You will need to purchase computers, subscribe to VoIP, and purchase help desk software in order to let this department run smoothly and efficiently. You will also need to hire additional employees for your company with full company benefits to act as help desk representatives who will answer the calls from your clients. By outsourcing your help desk to India’s call centers, you will never need to worry about purchasing computers, software and hiring employees. The call center in India will be the one who will provide all of that for you at a very cheap price. Companies considers India as their country of choice for call centers because of being an English speaking nation full of talented and qualified individuals. So, if you ever need to outsource anything from making payrolls, to making software, to getting help desk services, you should consider India as one of your choice countries to outsource your business process.


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