India Backs Investment From Wal-Mart and Ikea

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The New York Times
Saturday, September 15, 2012

India Backs Investment From Wal-Mart and Ikea

By GARDINER HARRIS

NEW DELHI — After years of intense debate, India’s government agreed on Friday to open the country’s retail sector to global behemoths like Wal-Mart and Ikea, pushing for a profound shift in India’s economic and political direction.

India is still mostly a nation of small shopkeepers and farmers, and its economy is heavily controlled by the government, a legacy from decades of socialist policies. But a sharp slowdown in economic growth and a sense of impending political collapse prompted the government to finally act on long-pending proposals to loosen market restrictions in hopes of luring more foreign investment and expertise.

“The time for big-bang reforms has come,” the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, said, “and if we go down, we will go down fighting.”

Mr. Singh is widely credited with helping bring about India’s first great bout of economic changes in 1991, when he was finance minister and India’s economy was in a crisis. But his reputation ebbed in recent months as the government’s economic agenda stalled and a growing chorus of critics described him as feckless, and worse.

A recent coal corruption scandal has also tainted Mr. Singh and led the country’s leading opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, to shut down Parliament in recent weeks with calls for his resignation.

“The cabinet has taken many decisions today to bolster economic growth and make India a more attractive destination for foreign investment,” Mr. Singh said in a statement. “I believe these steps will strengthen our growth process and generate employment in these difficult times.”

But the plans will continue to stir controversy, and it was not clear whether the government’s shaky coalition would hold together long enough to carry them out.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

Internet Analysts Question India’s Efforts to Stem Panic

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Internet Analysts Question India’s Efforts to Stem Panic

By VIKAS BAJAJ

MUMBAI, India — The Indian government’s efforts to stem a weeklong panic among some ethnic minorities has again put it at odds with Internet companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter.

Officials in New Delhi, who have had disagreements with the companies over restrictions on free speech, say the sites are not responding quickly enough to their requests to delete and trace the origins of doctored photos and incendiary posts aimed at people from northeastern India. After receiving threats online and on their phones, tens of thousands of students and migrants from the northeast have left cities like Bangalore, Pune and Chennai in the last week.

The government has blocked 245 Web pages since Friday, but still many sites are said to contain fabricated images of violence against Muslims in the northeast and in neighboring Myanmar meant to incite Muslims in cities like Bangalore and Mumbai to attack people from the northeast. India also restricted cellphone users to five text messages a day each for 15 days in an effort to limit the spread of rumors.

Officials from Google and industry associations said they were cooperating fully with the authorities. Some industry executives and analysts added that some requests had not been heeded because they were overly broad or violated internal policies and the rights of users.

The government, used to exerting significant control over media like newspapers, films and television, has in recent months been frustrated in its effort to extend similar and greater regulations to Web sites, most of which are based in the United States. Late last year, an Indian minister tried to get social media sites to prescreen content created by their users before it was posted. The companies refused and the attempt failed under withering public criticism.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

American Thwarted in Quest to Build a Ski Resort in India

The following is an excerpt from an article in

The New York Times
Wednesday, August 22, 2012

American Thwarted in Quest to Build a Ski Resort in India

By VIKAS BAJAJ

MANALI, India — To John Sims, the Himalayas, with some of the finest mountain slopes in the world, seemed like the perfect place to build India’s first Western-style ski resort.

But he got his first clue about the uphill challenge he faced when the local gods — or at least the holy men who claimed to speak for them — came out against his project here.

In the seven years since, Mr. Sims, an American hotel developer with years of experience working in India, has encountered seemingly endless setbacks.

Some opponents claimed falsely that the 115-acre project would take over the entire valley. Others complained that the developers had underpaid landowners for their property. The state of Himachal Pradesh, which had once championed the $500 million proposal, moved to scrap it after a different political party took over. Now, a court has allowed it to go forward but has given the developers just six months to secure environmental permits from a government that has repeatedly stalled the project.

“My fundamental complaint is only this: Why did you invite us?” Mr. Sims said. “Why did you take our deposit? Why did you encourage us to spend money and then make a 180-degree turn?”

It is not easy for any company to do business in India, with its mercurial and ponderous decision-making, creaky court system and woeful infrastructure. Witness the immense blackouts of late July, in which the electric grids serving half of the country’s population collapsed under the strain of the hot summer and too few power plants. The World Bank ranks India 166th out of 183 economies in the ease of starting a business.

But the story of the Himalayan Ski Village shows the particular difficulties faced by foreign companies.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

India’s Industry Helps Open Door to World

The New York Times

Sunday, April 01, 2012

India’s Industry Helps Open Door to World

By JIM YARDLEY

LAHORE, Pakistan — On the day the Indian trade delegation came across the border, Pakistan was having another political crisis. The prime minister was embroiled in a showdown with the country’s Supreme Court. Early elections were rumored. And Islamists had just staged a rally in Karachi to protest “foreign intervention” on Pakistani soil.

Not, perhaps, the perfect moment to hammer out closer trade ties.

Yet Rajiv Kumar, a leader of the Indian delegation, was pleased. It was mid-February, and his business group was staging the first Indian trade show ever held in Pakistan. Tens of thousands of visitors would attend during three days. And Indian and Pakistani business leaders, as well as both countries’ commerce ministers, swapped cards, sipped tea and feasted at lavish banquets. “Look at this!” Mr. Kumar exclaimed as his car rolled up to the convention center here in Lahore, where crowds were thronging for the trade show. “My God! Quite good, I’d say.”

One truism about the tortured relationship between India and Pakistan is that there is never a perfect moment. For six decades, through three wars and one nuclear standoff, diplomats have tried, and failed, to improve relations. Now, the private sector is giving it a shot. Trade has become the most promising opening in the latest round of diplomacy, as progress remains largely stalled on tough issues like terrorism, water rights and the status of Kashmir.

The foray into Pakistan is further proof of the increasingly important role of India’s private sector in foreign policy. India’s leaders, eager for a bigger footprint in global affairs, now aspire to a permanent seat on an expanded United Nations Security Council. But the Indian Foreign Service, though consisting of top-notch officers, is too understaffed to provide a comprehensive global presence.

To compensate, the government often relies on the private sector to serve as an intermediary abroad. India’s two leading business groups — C.I.I. (the Confederation of Indian Industry) and Ficci (the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) — now have offices around the world and sponsor informal diplomatic dialogues between India and countries like Japan, China, Singapore and the United States.

IBM Strengthens Presence in India with New Office in Ludhiana, Punjab

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LUDHIANA, India - 23 Mar 2012: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the opening of a new branch office in Ludhiana, Punjab as part of the company's continued geographic expansion across India.

The Ludhiana branch is IBM's seventh new office to be opened in India in the past 12 months after those in Coimbatore, Indore, Guwahati, Dehradun, Raipur and Visakhapatnam. IBM is currently focused on increasing its presence in smaller, rapidly developing cities as India's regions play an increasingly important part in the country's economic growth.

Ludhiana is the largest city in Punjab and is located in close proximity to the state capital Chandigarh where IBM already has an established presence. In recent years Ludhiana has experienced strong economic growth led by the development of the clothing, automotive parts and food manufacturing sectors. Small scale industries make up an important part of Ludhiana's business landscape with over 6,000 small and medium sized enterprises operating in the city.

"We are seeing strong demand for our solutions and services in Ludhiana as businesses in the city turn to IT to increase efficiencies and improve customer service," said Vivek Malhotra, Vice President and Territory Executive, IBM North & East India. "Crucial to Ludhiana's economic development are small and medium sized enterprises which spur innovation in the region and are at the center of a thriving export market in the city."

IBM's is currently working with a number of clients in Ludhiana. For example, textile manufacturer Nahar Group and rice producer Lakshmi Energy and Foods (LEAF) have both turned to IBM to help automate their business processes and optimize the use of information technology to aid business growth.

Another one of IBM's clients in Ludhiana is SPS Apollo hospital which selected IBM systems to improve patient care and ensure the smooth and efficient running of its state-of-the-art hospital in the city.

"As one of the largest cities in Punjab, with strong economic and population growth, companies and organizations in Ludhiana are coming under increasing pressure to transform," said Jugdiep Singh, Managing Director, SPS Apollo. "By working with IBM we are able to leverage the latest technologies to bring us closer to our goal of bringing excellence in healthcare within the reach of every individual."

IBM also has a program in place to invest in skills in the city. For example, it has established an IBM Software Center of Excellence at Punjab Agricultural University providing training on IBM software as part of IBM's Academic Initiative. Over 270 students have already completed IBM training in Ludhiana to date. Also, over 200 students from across 15 colleges in the Ludhiana region have registered for IBM's Great Mind Challenge - India's largest technical contest.

Mr. Jugdiep Singh, Managing Director, SPS Apollo inaugurated IBM's new office in Ludhiana today.