A weekly sampling of news, analysis and
opinion on economic issues of India, China
and the U.S. Articles and opinion pieces are
from a variety of sources and viewpoints and
do not necessarily reflect those of ICA
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cited to the
original source. Access archive.
Events: Webinar (third party) |
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M&A
in China New Challenges and Opportunities
(The US-China Business Council, Jun
25)
Date: Thursday, June 25, 2009
Time: 10:00 am EDT
Duration: 60 minutes
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are one way
companies can accelerate corporate
development efforts in China during this
economic downturn, yet the rejection of
Coca-Cola's bid for a local juice company and
new transaction challenges show that barriers
and pitfalls still exist.
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Headlines |
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IMF
wants India to eliminate mandatory investment
norms (Hindustan Times, Jun 19) The
International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants India
to gradually eliminate the norms that make it
mandatory for banks and other saving funds to
park a portion of their funds in government
securities. According to the current
guidelines, banks are required to park 24 per
cent of their deposits in the government
securities and government notified bonds.
Similarly, National Small Savings Fund have
to invest money in state governments'
securities.
India
asks US, China to restart stalled Doha
round (AFP, Jun 19) India has called
on the United States, China and other powers
to return to talks immediately to frame a
world trade accord instead of waiting for
recovery from the global economic crisis.
India
Regulator Allows IPO 'Anchor Investors'
(Wall Street Journal, Jun 19) India's
capital-market regulator Thursday approved
the concept of anchor investors in initial
public offerings that would allow these
investors to subscribe to up to 30% of the
shares allocated for institutional investors.
The move, which allows the anchor investor to
apply for the shares a day before the
subscription opens for other investors, is
expected to help companies' founders to
create demand for their shares and get a
better price.
China
Offers Neighbors $10-Billion Credit (VOA
News, Jun 16) China is offering a
$10-billion credit to help members of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization overcome
the global economic crisis. The Shanghai
Cooperation Organization groups Russia, China
and the Central Asian republics of
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan.
U.S.
treasuries fall as Brazil, Russia, India and
China shed U.S. dollar reserves
(Financial Post, Jun 16) Leaders of
Brazil, Russia, India and China gathered in
the Ural Mountains on Tuesday to discuss
several issues, among them the possibility of
shifting their cash reserves into
alternatives to the U.S. dollar. The plan
seems to be to invest in IMF bonds rather
than treasuries.
Russia,
China, Central Asian nations hold summit
(AP, Jun 15) Leaders from Central Asia,
China and Afghanistan joined Russia's
President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday at a
summit that underscored Moscow's
determination to maintain influence in its
backyard and seek a stronger voice in global
economic issues. Members of the six-nation
Shanghai Cooperation Organization and leaders
of observer nations are meeting in the Ural
Mountains city of Yekaterinburg for two days
of talks that are expected to include
extensive discussions of Afghanistan.
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Energy |
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(Indian)
Oil firms hike jet fuel prices (Indian
Express, Jun 15) After two minor price
increases, state-run oil firms today hiked
jet fuel or ATF rates by over 12 per cent on
firming international oil prices.
International crude oil prices have firmed to
a seven-month high of USD 72 per barrel on
hopes of demand revival in US. The three
state retailers had from June 1 raised jet
fuel rates by an average of Rs 108 per kl,
which came on the back of a 1.8 per cent hike
in rates on May 16.
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Environment | Climate Change |
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Europe
to offer China help in burying CO2
emissions (Reuters, Jun 19) Europe
will next week start moves to help China and
India develop technology to trap and bury
carbon dioxide underground in the fight
against global warming, according to a draft
European Commission document. "China builds,
every year, as much coal-fired power plant as
the entire UK generating capacity," said a
report prepared for consultations with
industry and seen by Reuters on Friday.
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Industrial Resources | Manufacturing |
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India's
Steel Ministry Proposes Additional Tax on
Cheap Imports (Bloomberg, Jun
16) India's steel ministry proposed
imposing a temporary additional tax on cheap
imports, accepting local steelmakers' demand
to curb dumping. Imports of steel rose 21
percent to 528,000 metric tons last month
from a year earlier. Producers from Ukraine
and Russia are willing to sell in India at
below-market prices.
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Information & Communications Technology |
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China
tells Google to end foreign site access
(Financial Times, Jun 19) Beijing has
ordered Google to stop users of its
Chinese-language service accessing overseas
websites in the biggest blow to the world's
leading search engine in China since it
started operating there four years ago. In a
move that could disrupt Google's growth in
China, which now has more internet users than
the US, the Chinese government said it had
told Google to suspend foreign searches and a
feature that automatically suggests multiple
search results once typing commences in the
search window.
Indian
IT Plugs into a Growing Market of Small and
Midsize Enterprises (India Knowledge @
Wharton, Jun 18) Despite the economic
slowdown, the SME sector's potential has
caught the attention of India's IT players.
New York-based research firm Access Markets
International (AMI) Partners estimates the
addressable SME market for IT vendors at four
million. It defines these enterprises as
legal entities registered in India that are
profit-oriented and in a commercial location.
Bangalore-based Zinnov Consulting, on the
other hand, puts the number at 35
million.
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Innovation |
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When
robots fight, software will ensure ethics are
followed (The Times of India, Jun
20) A team, led by Ron Arkin at the
Georgia Institute of Technology has developed
an "ethical governor", which aims to ensure
that robot attack aircraft behave ethically
in combat, and is demonstrating the system in
simulations based on recent campaigns by US
troops, using real maps from the Middle East.
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Logistics | Transportation |
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China
Starts Building Railway to Desolate Lop
Nur (Beijing Review, Jun 18) China
Tuesday began building a railway to the Lop
Nur, a former lake area known as "the sea of
death" in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region. Construction the
360-kilometer railway from Hami Prefecture on
the China-Mongolia border to the Lop Nur near
China's largest desert, the Taklamakan,
started Tuesday and would take about two
years, said Nur Bekri, chairman of the
Xinjiang regional government, Wednesday.
Mahindra
Will Help India Beat China to U.S. Market
With Pickups (Bloomberg, Jun
17) Mumbai-based Mahindra plans to start
selling small 2- and 4-door pickups with a
diesel engine that meets California's strict
exhaust rules. U.S. plans for Chinese brands
such as Chery Automobile Co. and Geely
Automobile Holdings Ltd. have yet to
materialize, five years into their
announcements.
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Money & Capital Markets | Economy |
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Preference
for Sons in China May Lead to Bubbles in U.S.
(Wall Street Journal, Jun 18) Mr.
Bernanke's explanation for the savings glut
in the developing world was that the
financial crises of the 1990s had convinced
countries that they needed to hold more cash
in reserve. While there is probably truth to
that, the jump in China's savings still
raises an eyebrow. In 2007, Chinese household
savings as a share of disposable income was
30%, up from 16% in 1990.
India
slips into 'statistical' deflation
(Financial Times, Jun 18) India's economy
has slipped into deflation, according to its
closely watched wholesale price index, but
officials and analysts said the first decline
in wholesale prices in 30 years did not
signify a contraction in demand. India's
wholesale prices levels fell 1.6 per cent
during the week ending June 6, compared with
their 0.13 per cent increase the previous
week, the first time since the financial year
ending March 1978 that the index has
fallen.
India
reluctant to join de-dollarisation chorus at
BRIC (Economic Times, Jun 15) While
China and Russia are likely to pitch for the
induction of a new global currency to replace
the dollar as the world's main reserve
(de-dollarisation) at the first BRIC summit
beginning tomorrow in Yekaterinburg, it is
most unlikely that India will join the chorus
on this issue, according to government
sources.
China
wants U.S. to assume global duty of care for
dollar (AP, Jun 15) Beijing is
diversifying its overseas investments and
pressing U.S. officials for an "exit
strategy" from the ultra-loose fiscal and
monetary policies that China fears will
eventually inflate away the value of its U.S.
bond holdings and fell the dollar.
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Real Estate |
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China
shares rise after 9-month ban on IPOs
ends (Associated Press, Jun
19) Chinese shares rose Friday, led by
banks and real estate stocks as investors
reacted positively to news that the
government was lifting its nine-month
moratorium on initial public offerings. China
Vanke Ltd., the country's biggest developer,
vaulted 3.9 percent to 12.39 yuan, while
rival Poly Real Estate Group added 1.6
percent to 26.22 yuan.
Property
downturn has Morgan Stanley reeling (PI
Online, Jun 15) Morgan Stanley, once a
giant in the real estate business, is in a
world of hurt. The firm just reopened the
$525 million MSIF U.S. Real Estate fund, a
real estate investment trust fund, to
investors. And while the firm did close its
real estate operations in Brazil and Russia,
it still has real estate offices in China,
India and Mexico.
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Newsletter Staff |
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International
Contributors Editorial Board
Prashant Das - Co-Editor
Geoff Hiscock - Australia
Priya Roy- China (Shanghai)
Harsha Harjani - Hong Kong
Dr. Nilay Yajnik - India
Farhad Mirzaei - Iran
Asha Hemrajani- Singapore
Melissa Steinmetz - UK
Dr. Daney Jackson - USA
Dr. Sudhanva Char - Academic Resources
Shree Pandya - Engaging Youth
Laurel Askue - Environment & Conservation
Christopher Chan - Intellectual Property
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Institute
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knowledge on the rise of China and India and
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