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Category Archives: Indian Economy

The NDA Govt Has Done More Than Just Be “Intolerant”

01 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by Prem Rao in In the News, Indian Economy

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Indian Railways, intolerance, National Commission for Minorities, NDA Government, PM Narendra Modi, Power Sector in India, rural electrification

Many people in India, like me, are fed up with the barrage of media coverage in 2015 on the “intolerance” perceived by some. I can write reams about this subject but now it has become old and stale. Suffice it to say that those who didn’t protest for worse tragedies in the past ( read: Sikhs massacre of ’84, many communal riots under the Congress Govt, the forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits etc) thought it fit to return their awards and generally paint a terrible picture of India, which the country didn’t deserve. I believe much of the flak that followed was based on perceptions not backed by concrete data. Continue reading →

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Doing Business In India

05 Thursday Nov 2015

Posted by Prem Rao in Indian Economy

≈ 2 Comments

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Ease of Doing Business, Indian Economy, Moody's, World Bank

The good news is that things seemed to have improved in the Indian economy as India’s rankings in the Ease of Doing Business quotient has risen from 142 to 130 in 2015. This ranking was conducted by the Word Bank. Clearly the moves made by the Narendra Modi Government seem to have paid off as traditionally this has been an area for concern and a major bottle neck for foreign investment since long. Yes, there is much more that remains to be done but things are moving, one must say, in the right direction. Continue reading →

India: Still An Attractive Investment Destination

07 Friday Aug 2015

Posted by Prem Rao in In the News, Indian Economy

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Adrian Mowat, FII, Indian Economy, Investments in India, Macquarie, Mutual Funds, Taimur Baig

The Modi Government has been in office for about 15 months and it’s time to take stock of what has happened to the Indian economy. Despite having an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha, the BJP has been pushed on the back foot because the opposition has better numbers in the Rajya Sabha. Several reform bills have got stuck in the legislative process. Sadly, it appears certain that the monsoon session of Parliament will go down the drain costing approximately Rs 260 crores to the tax payer. Continue reading →

Tourism In India: The Future Looks Bright

20 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by Prem Rao in In the News, Indian Economy

≈ 3 Comments

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Hotels & Hospitality in India, Incredible India, Make in India, Tourism in India

There are several sectors in India where the worth and potential of their assets have not really been fully utilised or harnessed. The tourism sector is one of them. Tourism accounts for 6.8 % of India’s GDP  and is the third largest earner of foreign exchange with earnings of $18.13 billion in 2013. Continue reading →

“Make In India” : A New Thrust For Economic Growth

03 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by Prem Rao in In the News, Indian Economy

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global manufacturing hub, Hannover Messe, Make in India, Prime Minister Modi

The secret of effective communication of a Government-led initiative which holds out strong economic and social developmental objectives is to use simple terms which can be easily understood by a large cross-section of society. A good example of this is the “Make In India” program launched by our dynamic Prime Minister, Shri. Narendra Modi. As the very name suggests this is a “major new national program designed to transform India into a global manufacturing hub.”

Continue reading →

Deloitte’s 2013 Human Capital Trends Report

31 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by Prem Rao in Indian Economy, Trends

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Deloitte, human capital

Each US $ which cost us INR 45 in 2011, goes for over INR 67 today. The Indian Growth Story which everyone loved is being questioned in debates every day. Is the ruling Government becoming more social by the day, at the cost of economic growth, with General Elections coming up in 6-7 months time? Is it no longer as industry friendly as it seemed to be?  The cost of land acquisition in India is likely to go up significantly causing anxiety to industry says a report with the news laws to come. The Food Security Bill, however laudable its objective is coming in at a very inappropriate time, with the Indian economy limping along at 4.6 % or so.

Continue reading →

I Hope I am Wrong About Generation Y

20 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by Prem Rao in Indian Economy, Personal Finance, Trends

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Income Tax, Indian Economy, tax savings

A few days ago, my wife and I dined out. It was a quiet celebration. We ordered well but we ordered judiciously. We were conditioned for years in the “waste not, want not” school of thinking.That’s not to say, we didn’t enjoy the meal. Of course we did, but we didn’t over order and we ate everything that we had ordered. Continue reading →

Spectre of Unemployment for Engineers in India

20 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by Prem Rao in Careers, In the News, Indian Economy

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

engineers in India, unemployment

I have an observation to make about the way most of us do things in India. We are quick to jump onto any band wagon and seldom monitor progress effectively to make course corrections as necessary. This extends to personal behaviours too. If we eat, we eat as if there is no tomorrow and if we spend, we spend lavishly, without a care for what might happen in the future. Sometimes we go the other way and deny ourselves even the basics, in the name of “economizing.” We seem to shuttle between the “feast” or the “fast” extremes, if you get what I mean.

This is reflected sadly too in this article I read recently in the Economic Times. It is full of facts but the summary is that a fifth to a third of the million engineers that graduate from Indian colleges will find it difficult to secure employment in the near future.

We are heading for what can be describes as fairly turbulent times. I find the annual GDP growth rate was the slowest in a decade. This article in the Wall Street Journal says, “Gross domestic product rose 5.0% in the fiscal year ended March 31, after a 6.2% increase in 2012 and annual rates of over 9% for a row of years before the global financial crisis of 2008.”

I see today that the Indian Rupee has gone up to nearly Rs 60 to the US $ as against some Rs 45 only two years ago.

The key to the unemployment issue to my mind is the mushrooming of engineering colleges, many of them with questionable standards of faculty and infrastructure, in many parts of India. The future looked extremely rosy with the IT and outsourcing boom, and every man and his uncle ( who could afford to do so) set up an engineering college. Things were fine as long as the economy did well.  The IT industry seemed to have an almost insatiable appetite for engineers. Chasing this dream, many young men and women were cajoled by their parents to leave aside whatever they were truly interested in and take up subjects which could help them get employment in this fast growing industry.

No one stopped to think that the boom couldn’t go on for ever. No one stopped to think that it made no sense whatsoever to start more engineering colleges without a care for the future prospects of the graduating students.

From all accounts, we see today that trouble is around the corner if not already at the door. Many have accepted employment doing jobs that can be done by people with far less qualifications. It is sad to think of graduate engineers ( of however debatable quality) taking to crime as has been reported in many cases. This is a terrible trend with some “new world” scams taking place based on plans hatched by intrinsically smart but poorly employed/unemployed engineers.

I hope the situation will change for the better. Till then as so graphically described in the Economic Times article, we must agree with Manish Sabharwal, Chairman of Teamlease Services when he said, ‘”The world of work is evolving… employers increasingly don’t care what you know, they focus on what you can do with that knowledge.” While dozens of new institutes have been established in the past six or eight years, he claims that over a third of them are empty and perhaps they are “worth more dead (for the real estate they sit on) than alive.”

The World Around Us

10 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by Prem Rao in In the News, Indian Economy, People

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CAG, court cases in India, India, internet usage

Some things grab your attention. Here are a few, and I am deliberately not talking of Arvind Kejriwal’s allegations against India’s son-in-law, Robert Vadra:). The office of the CGA ( Comptroller & Auditor General of India) has been in the news for the last few months.

Continue reading →

Are Indians Justified In Being Abusive?

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by Prem Rao in In the News, Indian Economy

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

customer service

The statistics shown are in this  article in the Indian edition of Forbes are interesting. It speaks of the findings from the 2012 Global Customer Service Barometer prepared for American Express.  Two issues stand out:- Continue reading →

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Prem Rao

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