Target India and China: Obama tells corporate America

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Feb 8 (PTI) US President Barack Obama today asked American business leaders to aggressively pursue the huge middle class in India and China to increase their export, thus create hundreds and thousands of jobs in the country.

"The truth is, as countries like China and India grow and develop larger middle classes, it''s profitable for global companies to aggressively pursue these markets and, at times, to set up facilities in these countries," Obama said in his address to the US Chamber of Commerce.

Obama said with the march of technology over the last few decades, the competition for jobs and businesses has grown fierce.

"The globalisation of our economy means that businesses can now open up shop, employ workers and produce their goods wherever there is internet connection," he said.

The United States needs an economy that''s based not on what it consume and borrow from other nations, but what Americans make and sell around the world.

"We need to make America the best place on earth to do business," he noted.

"As a government, we will help lay the foundation for you to grow and innovate. We will upgrade our transportation and communications networks so you can move goods and information more quickly and cheaply.

"We will invest in education so that you can hire the most skilled, talented workers in the world. And we''ll knock down barriers that make it harder for you to compete, from the tax code to the regulatory system," he said.

At the same time, Obama reminded the American corporate leadership of their corporate and social responsibilities.

"But as we work with you to make America a better place to do business, ask yourselves what you can do for America. Ask yourselves what you can do to hire American workers, to support the American economy, and to invest in this nation.

"That''s what I want to talk about today � the responsibilities we all have to secure the future we all share. As a country, we have a responsibility to encourage American innovation," he said.

Emphasising on exports, Obama said this means seeking new opportunities and opening new markets for goods.

"I''ll go anywhere to be a booster for American businesses, American workers, and American products. We recently signed export deals with India and China that will support more than 250,000 jobs here in the United States," he said.

"We finalised a trade agreement with South Korea that will support at least 70,000 American jobs � a deal that has unprecedented support from business and labor; Democrats and Republicans. That''s the kind of deal I''ll be looking for as we pursue trade agreements with Panama and Columbia and work to bring Russia into the international trading system," Obama said.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/target-india-china-obama-tells-corporate-america-20110207-113000-672.html

India, China talks fruitful

BEIJING, April 8 – Describing as “very fruitful” the four-day visit of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna here, China today said it would like to enlarge the scope of ties with India and contended that joint development of the two countries would be conducive to regional peace and stability.

Krishna had “extensive contacts” with the Chinese leaders, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu told a media briefing, replying to a question on the outcome of the External Affairs Minister’s visit.

His visit was “very successful and very fruitful,” she said.

As two emerging major countries, India and China have common interests and concerns in many fields, Jiang said.

“The joint development of the two countries will benefit the two people and will be conducive to the peace and stability of the region and world at large. We would like to take this opportunity to promote a larger and new development of bilateral ties,” she said.

Krishna left here for home this morning after his visit, during which he held talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minster Yang Jiechi and signed an agreement to establish a hotline between the Prime Ministers of the two countries.

He also inaugurated the year-long celebrations in connection with the 60th year of establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. – PTI

After China, India to buy IMF bonds worth $10 billion

Toeing the line of other BRIC countries, India today announced that it will buy bonds worth $10 billion from the International Monetary Fund. This was announced by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee who is attending the G-20 finance ministers' meet in London. China yesterday committed to buy bonds worth $50 billion from the IMF and there have been talks that Russia and Brazil may do the same.

After the IMF bailed out India from one of its worst ever economic crisis in the 1990s, this comes as a kind of role reversal where the government would contribute to the kitty of the multi-lateral institution to revive the world economy and provide funds to needy developing nations. "However, this participation in IMF's debt would not load India and not further stretch its resources," an official statement said on Friday. The amount of $10 billion is in proportion to India's current quota share at the IMF.

A decision to raise IMF's lendable resources to $500 billion through bilateral financing and the New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) was taken at the G-20 summit held at London in April 2009. India's announcement comes in the backdrop of the recent decision of the IMF announcing a framework for the issuance of notes to the official sector. The design of these Notes will allow investments to be treated as international reserves.

This would enable the Reserve Bank of India to invest a portion of its foreign exchange reserves in these financial instruments. The decision will bring India in the forefront as a significant partner in the global economic and financial framework.

"India believes that the IMF is a quota-based institution and raising resources through bilateral financing and the expansion of the NAB are not a substitute for quota resources, but a temporary bridge to a quota increase. We fully expect that the next general quota review, which is now agreed to be concluded by January 2011, will result in the long overdue substantial re-balancing of quota and voting power in favour of emerging market economies and developing countries," the official statement said.

ENS Economic Bureau

India, US for resumption of Doha talks

NEW DELHI, June 10 (PTI): The 19-member group of farm exporting countries said the India and US have favoured the resumption of Doha round of talks as soon as possible.

“Senior negotiators must reconvene in Geneva as soon as possible to map out a clear path towards the conclusion of the (Doha) negotiations, and to start down that path before the European summer break,” the group said in a communique.

It further added that “USTR (Ron) Kirk and Commerce Minister (Anand) Sharma of India fully endorsed these views.”

Sharma is the new commerce minister of India. Meanwhile, foreign media reported that India and the US representatives have agreed to “reset” the stalled Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Cairns Group conference in Indonesia.

Foreign media quoted WTO Director General Pascal Lamy as saying that Doha Round should be concluded by next year.

“What I saw is Ron Kirk and Anand Sharma clearly engaging in a process that should lead to the conclusion of the round some time next year,” Lamy, who met Sharma and Kirk in Bali has been quoted saying.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jun1109/Business3

India : Global footwear brands get their shoes from India

India : Global footwear brands get their shoes from India

NEW DELHI: Possibility of Roger Federer or a Maria Sharapova sweating it out on the lawns of Wimbledon in shoes of Indian make is very real.

Adidas, Reebok, Nike, Puma and Fila, international sports footwear companies presently get their shoes manufactured in India through domestic companies such as Lakhani and M&B Footwear.

"We are using 10 percent of our total production capacity for producing shoes, mainly sports shoes, for multinational brands in India. In the coming year, we hope to double volume of production for global brands," said Inder Dev Singh Musafir, Managing Director of M&B Footwear.

M&B Footwear has an exclusive manufacturing and marketing rights for Lee Cooper shoes in India and is targeting a turnover of Rs100 crore by end of this fiscal.

Adidas has spent a lot of time with Indian shoemaker Lakhani Shoes for past few years training and improving processes.

Specialized sports shoes of global brands, manufactured in India is likely to enter international markets in couple of years, expects Gunjan Lakhani, Director Lakhani Armaan.

"The retail boom is going to drive this growth and many Indian footwear companies are investing in technology and capacity addition to drive this growth," he said.

China based company, Apache, the largest manufacturer of Adidas shoes worldwide, is finalizing plans to set up a large facility in south India in coming 12 to 18 months, industry sources say.


Sajid Shamim, Director of Marketing at Reebok India agrees and said that Reebok's Greg Norman line of world-class golf wear were already being made in India.

Organised shoe industry size in India is about Rs3,000 crore of which about 10 percent is used for manufacturing of shoes for global brands.