FICCI Business Digest - January 2013

Re-energising the Electricity Sector

BUSINESS DIGESTVOL. NO. 9 ISSUE NO. 10 January 2013

Celebrating the spirit of Pravasi Bharatiyas

email [email protected] call 000 800 100 7789 / 080 4029 1298

Copyright © 2012 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

* Based on SAP customers listed in Fortune Global 100

96% of SAP Customers Run Oracle Applications*

OracleSurrounds SAP

Oracle Hyperion EPM

Oracle Database

Oracle Siebel CRM

Oracle PeopleSoft

HCM

Oracle IndustrySpecific

SAPERP

Oracle Middleware

Fonts: Univers LT Std. 75 Black, 65 Bold, 55 Roman/Oblique, 45 Light, 67 Bold Condensed, 57 Condensed

PRODUCTION NOTES

PUB NOTE: Please use center marks to align page.

Please examine these publication materials carefully. Any questions regarding the materials, please contact Darci Terlizzi (650) 506-9775

READER

01LASER% RELEASED

7/62012

Print Ad Resize

205 x 270mmFICCI

(Full Page Ad)

Job #:Ref #:

Headline:Date:

Project:Type:Live:Trim:

Bleed:

113M_CRP_OSurroundsSAP_India_FICCI113M_CRP_OSurroundsSAP_IndiaOracle Surrounds SAP07/06/2012APAC Regional FulfillmentMagazine180mm x 245mm205mm x 270mm211mm x 276mm

Insi

de…

Cover Story» Restructuring of Coal India Ltd. on

the cards» Power transmission line planning

and capacity building up against manifold challenges

» 32% of industrial units across India face power shortage of over 10 hours a week

» Sam Pitroda launches ‘India Smart Grid Knowledge Portal’

6Chairman Dr. A Didar Singh Editor Sukumar Sah Assistant Editor Sushmita Yadav Marketing Animesh Goswami Advertising & Circulation Veena Srivastava PL JosephRahul Siwach Design & Art www.seemasethidesign.com © All Rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, Electronic, Mechanical, Photocopying, Recording and/or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publisher.

Statement about Ownership and other Particulars about the Journal (FICCI Business Digest) required to be published under Rule 8 of the Registrar Central Rules, 1956.

Printed and Published by Secretary General on behalf of (or owned by) Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi and Published at Federation House Tansen Marg, New Delhi - 110001

R.N.I No. DELENG/2004/13722Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi - 110001 Phone: 23738760-70 (11 Lines) Fax: 23320714, 23721504 E-Mail: [email protected] Website: www.ficci.com

4 Secretary General’s Message

10 India woos Overseas Indians to a land of opportunities

14 Multi-pronged steps to boost Technical Textiles in the offing

16 Youthful population, urbanisation will drive tourism growth:

Amitabh Kant

18 Leveraging international expertise for a skilled India

22 States must come on board for development of highways

24 Proactive disclosure on water use by industry is vital

26 FICCI celebrates National Consumer Week

28 CSR in Companies Bill 2012

30 12th Businessworld-FICCI CSR Award

32 Re-living the Indian narrative

33 Meeting with Regional Chambers

34 New and updated services being offered by FICCI

36 In the States

40 Macro Economic Indicators

WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOuR FEEDBACK

We would like your feedback/comments to enable us to improve our offering. Write to us at: [email protected] or [email protected]

Re-energising the Electricity Sector

BUSINESS DIGESTVOL. NO. 9 ISSUE NO. 10 January 2013

Celebrating the spirit of Pravasi Bharatiyas

4 || FICCI Business Digest || January 2013

Dear Readers,

The challenges of revamping India’s electricity sector are legion. From poor financial health of utilities, inadequate fuel supply, decline in gas production, inadequate increase in coal supply to stranded assets on account of fuel shortage and a huge deficit in the southern region leading to power holidays in some states, the list is endless. The need for re-energising the electricity sector is therefore urgent. This can be achieved through a series of steps such as commitment to buy, an acceptable fuel price, operation of stranded capacity, commercial orientation of utilities, domestic fuel availability, creation of an integrated national grid with enhancement of inter-regional transmission capacity and promotion of competitive markets in all elements of the chain. The cover story in this issue throws light on some of these critical aspects of reform. The 11th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) was organized this year in Kochi, Kerala, by The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in partnership with the Government of Kerala. FICCI was proud to be the event manager for the three-day convention. Over the years, PBD conventions have given a voice to the Indian Diaspora in matters relating to knowledge, trade and investment, and social engagement. The dialogue has been translated into many concrete actions. This year’s PBD heard clarion calls by the President and the Prime Minister of India to the Pravasi Bharatiyas to engage purposefully and profitably in India’s growth story. We bring to you a snapshot of the mega event. There is no gainsaying that faster and hassle-free inter-state movement of people and goods is a sine qua non for maximizing the welfare quotient of a society. The challenge of building and upgrading the highway network in India is huge. The monies required for highway projects are enormous as are the problems in implementation. The NHAI Chairman addressed industry leaders at a conference at Federation House where he enlisted the support of the State Governments for successful implementation of highway PPP projects by signing State Support Agreement. This issue carries a brief report on the conference. I am happy to state that Aero India 2013, Asia’s premier air show is being organized jointly by the Ministry of Defence and FICCI at Bengaluru from February 6-10, 2013. We will share with you the highlights of the air show in the next issue. I look forward to your views and comments on our offering.

Secretary General’s Message


CO

VER

STO

RY

L to R: R S Sharma, Managing Director, Jindal Power Limited and Chairman, FICCI Power Committee; P Uma Shankar, Secretary, Ministry of Power; Sriprakash Jaiswal, Union Minister of Coal; Naina Lal Kidwai, President, FICCI; Dr A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI and Nitin Zamre, Managing Director, ICF International, India.

Bid to Re-energise the Electricity Sector Restructuring of Coal India Ltd. on the cards

With a view to infusing competition in the coal sector and to review the

existing institutional mechanism, the Government proposes to restru-cture Coal India Limited for which expression of interest has been floated by the Ministry for identifying suitable consultants, said Sriprakash Jaiswal, Union Minister of Coal, Government of India, while inaugu-rating the 7th edition of ‘India Electricity 2013’, organised by FICCI and Ministry of Power, Government of India, in New Delhi on January 16, 2013.

The theme of the three-day inter-national exhibition and conference was ‘Re-energising Indian Electricity Sector’.

Jaiswal said, “For increased transp-arency in coal block allocation the provisions of MMDR Act have been amended and new set of rules have been framed for allocating new blocks through competitive bidding. Recently, 14 blocks for power and three for mining have been put on offer under government dispensation

route. A few more blocks for offer to private sector are in the pipeline.”

He said that to adopt international best practices on trading of thermal coals and for ensuring consistency in quality of coal supplies, the Government has introduced GCV based grading and pricing of thermal coals in place of the earlier system of UHV. Emphasis is laid on strengthening the infrastructure for crushing, sizing and processing of coal besides strengthening sampling infrastructure in coal fields.

“Our efforts to acquire coal equity abroad have thus far resulted in acquiring two coal blocks in Mozambique by state-owned CIL while the private companies have been successful in acquiring the assets in countries like Indonesia, Australia, South Africa and South America. We need to be aggressive in this regard from long term energy security point of view,” he pointed out.

A knowledge paper ‘Re-energising Indian Electricity Sector’ prepared by FICCI and ICF International was released on the occasion.

B K Chaturvedi, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, said that the issues faced by the power sector related to capacity creation, problem of availability of fuel, pressures faced at the time of land acquisition for mining, power losses of 16-17 per cent and dismal performance of private sector in coal production.

He said that if the gas prices made remunerative, the Southern region is integrated with the national grid and new LNG capacities are created, many major hurdles of the electricity sector can be crossed. He further suggested that now that the tariffs have been revised in all the states of India except Assam, periodical revision of tariffs must be undertaken as and when the prices of the raw materials get escalated.

P Uma Shankar, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India, said that this year the focus was on Chhattisgarh and how best the state’s assets can be utilised. The issues of distribution reforms, role of regulators, enhancing viability of

January 2013 || FICCI Business Digest || 7

CO

VER

STO

RY

distribution companies, availability of domestic fuel, fuel pricing & contract management, project financing, transmission line planning and capacity building, peaking power and system reserve, power markets and demand side management needs to be deliberated upon to enhance the power sector. Also, renewables are becoming an important source of power generation, therefore, integration of it needs to be planned.

It should be noted that coal is the mainstay of India’s energy and will continue for some time in future. About 55 per cent of primary energy supply and about 70 per cent of power generation in the country is coal based. This is on account of availability of coal reserves in abundance and lower price of the fuel compared to other fuel resources. At the current level of coal production of about 540 million tonnes, the country’s coal reserves are likely to last for over 100 years. However, efforts were being made to enhance exploration for enlarging resource based.

Naina Lal Kidwai, President, FICCI, stated that according to a FICCI study Indian coal mining productivity is one-tenth that of the

United States, the second largest producer of coal. Coal production of Coal India Limited (CIL) had stagnated in previous two fiscal years FY12 and FY11 at 434 million tonnes. In the face of rising demand for coal demand, this was clearly unacceptable. Though to a certain degree this deficit can be bridged by coal imports, the average premium of imported coal incurs an additional cost anywhere between 30-50 per cent of domestic coal, resulting in steep hike of input costs. India imported 103 million tonnes of coal in FY12, resulting in a foreign exchange outgo of Rs 78,840 crore.

She said, “Ministry of Coal must explore gradual disinvestment of CIL and hiving off its subsidiaries as independent entities which can compete in an open market. In the long run, it will be necessary to amend the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act 1973, to allow for private participation in coal mining and production.”

Nitin Zamre, Managing Director, ICF International, India, highlighted the challenges faced by the power sector in India. Some of them were poor financial health of utilities; inadequate fuel supply; decline in

gas production, inadequate increase in coal supply; stranded assets on account of fuel shortage; huge deficit in Southern region leading to power holidays in some states and low despatch of W3 (Chhattisgarh) plants on account of transmission bottleneck.

He suggested both short-term and long term key measures that should be adopted to re-energise the sector such as commitment to buy, acceptable fuel price, operate stranded capacity, commercial orientation of utilities, domestic fuel availability, integrated national grid with enhancement of inter-regional transmission capacity and promoting competitive markets in all elements of the chain.

R S Sharma, Managing Director, Jindal Power Limited and Chairman, FICCI Power Committee, remarked that coal auction for PSUs and private sector will help in stepping up the coal production in the country. At present, inadequate fuel supply is proving to be a major hindrance. Once productivity is enhanced and restructuring of Coal India is undertaken, the sector is bound to narrow the gap between the demand and supply of electricity in India.

Power transmission line planning and capacity building are being

hampered because of issues such as fuel linkages for thermal plants, availability and acquisition of land, and environmental and forest clearances, Ravinder, Member – Power Systems, Central Electricity Authority, told the delegates at the India Electricity 2013.

Ravinder said that the transmission lines are non-polluting and noise-free, but still we have to face prolonged delays in environmental and forests clearances. He said narrow-base towers and cylindrical towers are being thought of as options, which will reduce the footprint of a tower.

Power transmission line planning and capacity building up against manifold challenges

“The rationale for planning the transmission corridor is being worked out. Also, it was seen that STUs and DISCOMS face the problem of lack of communication, which needs to be resolved,” he added.

A K Gupta, Executive Director – Engineering, NTPC Limited, pointed out that there was a huge mismatch between generation and transmission project schedules. This gap must be narrowed down and linkages and common meeting points need to be reached to avoid undue delays.

He also suggested that transmission development should be independent of generation projects and should be developed like any other

infrastructure project corresponding to load growth and area of generation; coal reserves and their location and likely generation of capacity addition scenarios.

Vikas Saksena, Executive Vice President, Jindal Power Limited, remarked that there was a need for closer cooperation between the STUs and the other stakeholders. He highlighted the fact that it was very difficult to give specific drawal points, instead, target regions can be identified. The generation areas and load points are known, hence, these should take care of transmission planning.


CO

VER

STO

RY

As many as 61 per cent of the firms suffer above 10 per cent shortfall in production due to power cuts, 13 per

cent suffer 2-5 per cent shortfall in production, 12 per cent suffer 6-10 per cent and only 14 per cent, mainly in Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, suffer less than 2 per cent production losses, assuming that the firms do not rely on power back up units to ensure continuous production activity. This finding is revealed in a Survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF), ‘Lack Of Affordable and Quality Power: Shackling India’s Growth Story’.

The survey conducted over the last three months covering 650 large, medium and small industries in 20 states across India. Of the 650 companies interviewed, 67 per cent were privately owned and 28 per cent were either private partnership or individual ownerships. Only 3 per cent of the total sample was public sector or government run units and 2 per cent were from the multinational corporation category.

The survey reveals that companies in Gujarat incur low losses as power shortages in the state are negligible. Companies in Karnataka are in the IT-enabled services sector which is not as power intensive as Iron and Steel, Aluminium etc. and hence suffer less production shortfall as compared to the electricity intensive sectors. It was observed from the survey, that Maharashtra, which as a mix of both IT and manufacturing companies, like Gujarat, does not suffer as acutely by power shortages as some of the other states around the country. Based on these and other findings, the survey recommends the following 10-point policy package to provide affordable and quality to industrial consumers:

•Increasecapacityofinstalledsources•Ensuringcommunicationtoloaddispatchcentreand

an extensive review and audit of the protection systems•Implementationofsmartgrid•Grantofopenaccessoptiontotheconsumers,which

will allow all the bulk consumers to choose their distributors must be operationalised

•Useofalternatesourcesofpowergenerationmustbeencouraged

•Incentivise‘green’architectureorbuildingsuchthatconventional energy usage can be minimised to its lowest possible amount

•Awarenessandeducationprogrammesongreentechnology

•Createindustrialcooperativesthatcansourceelect-ricity or have a dedicated captive generation source

•Provideclearandpublicinformationonpowercuts•Stricterlawsandpenaltiesforthetheftand

unsanctioned use of electricity•In-depthstudyonthenormalrequirementsofdifferent

sectors in the country

The survey notes that firms are facing cost escalation, losses in revenue, increased consumption of fuel, increased investment in captive facilities, higher inventory costs and loss in competitiveness and many other issues that are seriously detrimental to the health and stability of the Indian industry.

Almost two-thirds of the firms in the Indian industry feel that because of the power shortage and intermittent supply, they are losing to their international competitors and thus losing their previously captured international markets. Not only does this limit future expansion as companies remain wary of not being able to compete, the Indian economy which depends highly on firms trading in the international markets is affected as well.

The results show that approximately 37 per cent of firms, mainly in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka face less than 1 hour of power shortage in a week and at the same time 5 per cent suffer 21-30 hours per week and 21 per cent suffer more than 30 hours per week (primarily in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh). Further, it was also found that 16 per cent face 6-10 hours per week, while 15 per cent face between 1-5 hours weekly. This makes it evident that no segment of the industry pan-India is safe from negative impact due to power losses and power outages. Overall, 32 per cent of industrial units across India face power shortage of over 10 hours a week.

The survey notes that 54 per cent of companies were aware in advance of the load-shedding schedule. While more than half of the companies are aware and the information is available, the awareness of load-shedding should be far more widespread. Within the 46 per cent, the majority of companies that did not know the schedule were from particular states. This implies that the information though available is not as uniformly available as it should be and that stakeholders in certain states are hence unprepared for power cuts, increasing the negative impact of power outages on their operations.

A centralised information channel must be set up, such that the entire Indian industry, not just companies in a few states have the knowledge and information of schedules on planned power cuts or load-shedding.

The revenue losses due to power cut range between less than Rs 1000 to above Rs 40000. Even small and medium firms incur losses above Rs 40000, mainly in the poorer performing states. In states like Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, the majority lose less than Rs 1000 implying that if the power scenario in the other states is made to mimic the scenarios in these three states, revenue losses can be brought down to as low as Rs 1000. As per survey findings, 57 per cent of the firms are of the view that cost of electricity will increase in the next six months, while 43 per cent believe that it will remain the same.

32% of industrial units across India face power shortage of over 10 hours a week

FICCI-BRIEF Survey: Two-thirds of Indian firms losing competitive edge due to shortages and erratic power supply


CO

VER

STO

RY

While many steps have been initiated in the area of Smart

Grids in the country, the concept and its applications are still at a nascent stage. There was a need to focus on the challenges faced by India and look at ways to reduce leakages, consolidation of micro-grids, find low-cost solutions and encourage indigenous discussions, said Sam Pitroda, Adviser to Prime Minister of India, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission and Chairman, India Smart Grid Task Force (ISGTF), while addressing a Special Session at ‘India Smart Grid Day’ in New Delhi on January 17, 2013.

FICCI partnered with the ISGF to organise the India Smart Grid Day as part of the India Electricity event. On the occasion, Pitroda launched the ‘India Smart Grid Knowledge Portal’, which was among one of the initi-atives that were discussed a year ago. The portal (www.indiasmartgrid.org) was developed by Ministry of Power (MoP), ISGTF and India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF).

The urgency for Smart Grids in India emerges from the key challenges that the industry is currently facing. India operates the third largest transmission and distribution network in the world, yet faces a number of challenges such as inadequate access to electricity, supply shortfalls (peak and energy), huge network losses, poor quality and reliability and rampant, theft. The evolution towards Smart Grid would address these issues and transform the existing grid into a more efficient, reliable, safe and less constrained grid that would help provide access to electricity to all.

“We have been able to set up a Task Force and Forum, dedicated to Smart Grid and have collectively decided to initiate eight trials but not much action has taken place in this regard,” said Pitroda. He admitted that so far the Smart Grid agenda has not been driven successfully.

Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission and Chairman, India Smart Grid Task Force, addressing a Special Session at ‘India Smart Grid’.

Sam Pitroda launches ‘India Smart Grid Knowledge Portal’

He pointed out, “If in the coming three months, we are able to work out a meter design and get the eight trials under way, it will be a big success for Smart Grid in India as these trials will help us in deciding how best India can benefit from it.” Pitroda also mentioned that he has requested the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission to release more funds to move the agenda of Smart Grid forward.

Reji Kumar, President, India Smart Grid Forum, said that the development of Smart Grid in the country has gained some prominence. Pitroda and the concerned authorities are working on how best Smart Grid can be used in the Indian context.

Dr. Arbind Prasad, Secretary General, FICCI, while welcoming Pitroda, said that for developed countries Smart Grid is a means to move towards a low carbon economy. For a developing nation like India, Smart Grid necessarily is a way to reduce power losses and improving quality of power supply.

FICCI partnered with the ISGF to organise the India Smart Grid Day as part of the India Electricity event. On the occasion, Sam Pitroda launched the ‘India Smart Grid Knowledge Portal’.


The 11th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) was organised in Kochi, Kerala, from January

7-9, 2013, by The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in partnership with the Government of Kerala. PBD conventions provide a platform to the Non-Resident Indians to engage with the government and people of the land of their ancestors for mutually beneficial activities. These conventions also assist them to network with the Indian community residing in various parts of the world and enable them to share their experiences in various fields.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas has been successful in giving voice to the Indian Diaspora in matters relating to knowledge, trade and investment, and social engagement. The dialogue it has fostered in the past has now been translated into many concrete actions. This year’s convention too carried forward the agenda set by the previous editions in deepening the relationship India has with its Pravasis.

Addressing the convention, Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, expre-ssed his confidence that the Indian economy would bounce back to a 8-9 per cent GDP growth due to its strong economic fundamentals and the reforms driven policy initiatives of the Government. “To achieve this order of growth over a sustained period of time would need large doses of investment. The overseas Indians could help by investing in Indian companies and in the capital market as the yield of the equity markets in India was much higher than elsewhere,” he said.

India woos Overseas Indians to a land of opportunities

India, he said, was a land of immense opportunity; the second fastest growing economy after China. But for a brief period of economic deceleration, six of the nine years that have gone by witnessed a GDP growth of around 8 per cent.

The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who inaugurated the convention, on his part, declared the Government’s unequivocal comm-itment to deepen the connection of expatriate Indians with their country of origin and advance their interests. “While honouring their achievements, we will also seek to facilitate their travel, business and education and make it easier for them to be a part of life of India, enjoy due rights and partic-ipate in India’s economic development,” he said.

He invited the overseas Indian com-munity to be a strong and vital partner and participant in India’s social and economic development. “Whether you wish to invest or share your knowledge, technology and skills, whether your enterprise takes you to the cities or your compassion brings you to a remote village, I assure you of our continuing effort to support your endeavours,” Dr. Singh said.

“Apart from physical safety, we are also concerned with the social and emotional well-being of our overseas brethren. We have therefore launched an insurance scheme for workers, esta-blished welfare funds in our embassies for distressed Indians, and created mechanisms to help vulnerable women abroad,” he pointed out.

“I wish to see the Indian Diaspora as a stronger partner, not only in India’s economic growth, but also in building India’s knowledge society, while continuing to engage culturally and emotionally, and serving as the effective ambassadors that they have been for this country.

With the knowledge and experience you have gained as academics, scholars, scientists, technologists, professionals and businessmen, you can play a decisive role in the development of India. I have no doubt that together we will keep our ‘tryst with destiny’.

While we celebrate the accom-plishments of the Diaspora, we should also not forget that many of them are struggling to establish themselves and many are facing hardships. Some of them are working as labourers and domestic helps. Many of them face difficulties on account of stringent labour laws, difficult working conditions, non-receipt of salaries, premature termination of contracts, change of contractual obligations amongst others.”

Pranab Mukherjee, President of India

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee (5th from left) welcoming the Overseas Indians to the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on January 9, 2012, in Kochi, Kerala.

Celebrating the spirt of Pravasi Bharatiyas

On the occasion, the Prime Minister released a stamp on ‘Gadar Movement’ and two publications, namely, ‘India Supports’ and ‘Handbook for Emigrants’.

He said that the protection and promotion of the rights and interests of Indian businesses, professionals and workers abroad is also a key task for our Missions in various countries. India’s Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements and Social Security Agree-ments with a number of countries play an important role in this regard.

Rajkeswur Purryag, President of Mauritius, the Chief Guest, said, “We take pride in the rise of India... we share


common values, a common heritage and we are grateful to India for its selfless support to Mauritius in its social and economic development process.”

The Indian Diaspora, he said, needed to capitalise on India’s growth story and seek active partnerships with Indian companies is areas such as science & technology, education and other hard and soft infrastructure sectors.

Vayalar Ravi, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, announced that the emigration system was being

“The theme of this Convention, ‘Engaging Diaspora: The Indian Growth Story’, is very fitting and appropriate on many counts. The theme reflects the increasing recognition of the importance and relevance of the Diaspora’s potential contribution to the sustained growth of India.

Mauritius and India, the land of our ancestors have always shared very close and special ties based on historical foundations and common values. We, in Mauritius, highly value the selfless support of India for our continued economic progress.”

Rajkeswur Purryag, President of the Republic of Mauritius

“Post-independence, overseas Indi-ans have served as a bridge of friendship and cooperation between India and their adopted homes abr-oad. Regardless of whether they are successful professionals, traders and entrepreneurs, or second generation Indians, comfortably reconciling their two identities, or workers toiling hard to build a future for their families, they are at all times a most effective window for the world to India’s heritage and its progress.

We in the Government will do all that is possible to deepen their connection with India and advance their interests. While honouring their achievements, we will also seek to facilitate their travel, business and education and make it easier for them to be a part of life in India, enjoy due rights and participate in India’s economic development.

I believe that the overseas Indian community should be a vital partner and participant in India’s social and economic development. Whether you wish to invest or share your knowledge, technology and skills, whether your enterprise takes you to the cities or your compassion brings you to a remote village, I assure you of our continuing effort to support your endeavours.”

Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India

amended to keep in step with the needs all concerned. “We have worked on a law in this regard and we hope to finalise it soon.” He announced that the merger of the OCI and PIO cards would soon be done to create a single OCI card.

Oomen Chandy, Chief Minister of Kerala, in his address, pointed out that he expected the Planning Commission, Government of India, to respond positively to his suggestion to formulate a Centrally-sponsored scheme to supplement the efforts of the State Government in the rehabilitation of returning migrants.

Some of the major concerns still being faced by Indian expatriates in their host countries, especially in the Gulf, related to issues of job security, reasonable living conditions and legal protection for the unskilled and semi-skilled workers. These, Chandy said, needed to be addressed by the Union Government.

Amongst other, the PBD convention was addressed by K C Joseph, Minister for NORKA and Culture, Government of Kerala; Kamal Nath, Union Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs; Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry; Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission; Salman Khurshid, Union Minister for External Affairs; Ajay Maken, Union Minister for Housing and Poverty Alleviation; E Ahamed, Union Minister for State for External Affairs; Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development; Sam Pitroda, Adviser to PM on Public Information, Infrastructure and Innovation and Naina Lal Kidwai, President, FICCI.

Ten states of India showcased the multifarious investment opportunities for the Indian Diaspora with a view to identifying areas for forging partne-rships with overseas Indians. The states were Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh at the inaugural session of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.


“I am deeply aware of the problems faced by Malayalis in the Gulf and I assure you that I will take up your suggestions with the Prime Minister and my Cabinet colleagues for their expeditious redressal.

My Ministry has set up the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) which now covers all the missions abroad. We are using ICWF funds to assist Indians who are leaving UAE under the amnesty scheme announced by the Government of UAE recently; we supported the building of cremation and burial ground for Indians at Sharjah; the building of a multi-purpose centre and crematorium at Ajman, UAE; and the building of the Indian social centre at Umm Al Quwain, also in the UAE. In short, the Indian Community Welfare Fund is being effectively used for the welfare of the Indian communities abroad.”

Vayalar Ravi, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs

“The Kerala Government has established an investment promotion council and promotion board for fast-tracking the investment proposals. I wish to offer all help to all NRIs who are willing to invest in the various developmental projects.

In order to deal with serious travel issues from Gulf, State has taken steps to constitute a Company called ‘Air Kerala’ to operate budget airline services from Gulf to Kerala. Steps are on to implement the project with the participation of all the Non Resident Keralites of the State.”

Oommen Chandy, Chief Minister of Kerala

“India is facing challenges in infrastructure development, especially in urban sector. Today, around 430 million people are residing in cities and in the next decade, the number will increase to 600 million. Similarly, at present, there are 53 cities in India, and it will rise to 72 in the next decades, each having a population of one million.”

Kamal Nath, Union Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs

“Indian economy is growing despite the economic crisis that engulfed the world. The country’s GDP will grow in the coming years, generating new job opportunities. The FDI policy is made more rational and friendly. The national investment rate is around 33-34%, and by the end of 12th Plan the aim is to increase to 36%.”

Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry

“India invites contributions from the younger generation of the NRIs. The government is making plans to attract the youth among the Diaspora in this regard. The future Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conclaves will also need to include youth under 35 years of age so that their participation is ensured.”

Salman Khurshid, Union Minister for External Affairs

Celebrating the spirt of Pravasi Bharatiyas


“India needs to create durable products and not disposable ones. The country requires its own set of innovative ideas because we cannot adapt the Western set-up as the environment differs completely. Also, the focus should be on the people who are at the bottom of the pyramid and we need to increase their earnings and employment opportunities.”

Sam Pitroda, Advisor to PM on Public Information, Infrastructure and Innovation

“The Government of Kerala will chart out measures to extend voting rights to the non-resident Keralites for participation the electoral processes of the Panchayat and local bodies too. This plan will be moved when the next session of the Kerala Assembly happens.”

K C Joseph, Minister for NORKA and Culture, Government of Kerala

“Getting back to a robust growth mode is going to be a major aspect of the 12th Plan that has just started. During the next four years, we can’t have a robust export growth, but we can have robust economic growth. India is under-invested in. Once the signal is clear that the government is open to investment, it won’t be tough for growth.”

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission

“Rapid urbanization has increased in the country, and this situation calls for better infrastructure development. The Non-Resident Indian youth can lend their skills and expertise so as to get more involved in the infrastructure development of the country.”

Ajay Maken, Union Minister for Housing and Poverty Alleviation

“The decline in the percentage of Malayali workforce in the Gulf region now calls for steps to extend facilities for the development of skills to those who are looking to go to the Gulf countries in search of jobs.”

E Ahamed, Union Minister for State for External Affairs

“Wherever an Indian goes, he takes a bit for India with him. In times of distress and uprisings, India’s heritage represented by the Diaspora has to reiterate tolerance as an example to the world.”

Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development

“We hope to involve our Diaspora youth to the new opportunities in our part of the world. By tapping into the experiences and energy of young overseas Indians we can certainly achieve the benefits of ‘brain gain’. We are proud of the achievements of our engineering graduates from IITs who have been contributing to global research. I urge the Diaspora youth to connect with our Universities and explore new synergies for pushing the knowledge frontier. FICCI works closely with educational institutes and innovators and we would be happy to facilitate your endeavors across different verticals.”

Naina Lal Kidwai, President, FICCI


The Government is adopting a multi-pronged approach for growth of the technical textiles

sector in the 12th Plan. The approach aims to intensify implementation of Technology Mission on Technical Textiles; providing regulatory framework in specified areas for the growth of technical textiles; a special focus on usage of technical textiles in the northeast region of the country.

While inaugurating Technotex 2013 in New Delhi on January 17, 2013, under the theme, ‘Building International Linkages for Sustainable Growth’, Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry & Textiles, said that Rs 55 crore has been allocated for the development of technical textiles in the northeast. He announced that in the ensuing Budget the allocation for technical textiles is expected to be raised by five times. The Government was also working on a loan waiver package for the handloom sector especially for weavers and artisans.

Technical textile is an important part of the textile industry and its potential is still largely untapped. Unlike the traditional textiles sector, which witnessed slowdown in the last few years, technical textiles has reportedly experienced a robust growth. It is expected that technical textiles market in India will grow from the current size of around $11 billion to $29 billion in the next five years. The accelerated growth of Indian economy would also favourably impact the growth of the technical textiles. It is estimated that the overall growth in technical textile industry will be about 20 per cent in the next five years.

The Government would also be setting-up ‘revolving fund’ for providing assistance to entrepreneurs for R&D in the area of technical textiles and another revolving fund would be set up to provide loans on soft terms and conditions. The assistance from the revolving fund will be limited to maximum 90

Multi-pronged steps to boost Technical Textiles in the offing

L to R: Naina Lal Kidwai, President, FICCI; Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry & Textiles and Kiran Dhingra, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, releasing the ‘Investors’ Guide-Driving Growth of Technical Textiles in India.’


per cent of the estimated approved project cost and the promoter has to contribute minimum 10 per cent of the estimated approved project cost. The interest on loan shall be not more than five per cent per annum (simple interest). The loan assistance would normally be not more than Rs 100 lakh for each project. The repayment of loan, together with interest shall commence within one year after the project completion and shall be repaid in five years.

The Government is also in the process of supporting the setting up of technical textiles parks in the country under the SITP scheme. Already, there is Pallavada in Tamil Nadu, Baramati HiTech Textile Park in Maharashtra; Technical Textiles and Machinery Mega Project in Bellary, Karnataka and others for technical textiles manufacturers.

Exports of technical textile products currently stand at 16 per cent and there was potential to do better. Sharma said the sector accounts for four per cent of GDP and 17 per cent to industrial production.

On the occasion, the Minister released an ‘Investors’ Guide-Driving Growth of Technical Textiles in India’ and also launched the website and CDs on Compendium on COEs.

Kiran Dhingra, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, said that the technical textiles sector is expected to reach a turnover of $30 billion by 12th Plan end, an annual growth of 20 per cent. She said Rs 200 crore has been earmarked for the Technology Mission, which will help in creating infrastructure for R&D.

Further, an integrated skill develo-pment scheme for textiles has been launched under which several stakeholders have initiated efforts to promote development and training of personnel for technical textiles. Already 28 institutes and textiles research association have training facilities for technical textiles and the plan is to strengthen this and add a few more in times to come.

Naina Lal Kidwai, President, FICCI, suggested four policy measures for the growth of the sector. Firstly, there is a need to chalk out now a long term plan or vision for this sector in a strategic manner. This plan needs

to be for the next 10 to 15 years at least which will provide stable fiscal and non-fiscal regime for the sector. FICCI would be happy to assist Ministry of Textiles for formulating this roadmap.

Secondly, technical textiles find applications in different sectors which fall under various Departments of Government. Without the involve-ment of these departments the sector cannot register its targeted growth. It is important that regulatory regime and schemes falling under various departments ensure a stable and predictable market demand for these products in the next 10 to 15 years. This is a technology intensive industry and requires relatively substantial investment as compared to traditional textiles. Hence, it is important that they have a clear market development roadmap for a longer period. She suggested constitution of a Committee of Secretaries which can resolve these interdepartmental issues on a regular basis.

Thirdly, formulating standards for these products will infuse confidence in the consumers. There are number of technical textiles products for which standards need to be formulated. This may require capacity building at the standard setting bodies also in order to ensure speedy formulation of these standards.

Fourthly, technical textiles draw a lot of raw material from synthetic or manmade fibres. In order to ensure competitive downstream industry it is important to achieve a fibre neutral tax regime at the earliest.

Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman, FICCI Committee on Textiles and Technical Textiles, pointed out that the market for this sector is likely to attain a size of $29 billion in next five years. This only indicates that this sector has potential to be a sunrise sector of our economy. In the last few years, we have seen tremendous interest amongst domestic and foreign investors to understand and invest in this sector. What is needed now is to convert this interest into real investments, he said.

The conference was attended by a galaxy of CEOs from Indian and foreign companies institutions, including, Shishir Jaipuria, Managing

Director, Ginni Filaments; Ashok Gupta, Executive Director and CEO, Indo Rama Synthetics (I) Ltd; Justin Huang, Secretary General, Taiwan Textile Federation; Mohan Kavrie, Managing Director, Supreme Nonwoven Industries Pvt Ltd; Sushil Kapoor, President & CEO, SRF Ltd; Dr. Andreas Schmidt, Director, Hohenstein Institutes, Germany; Sarojit Malik, Founding Managing Director, Access International Capital, USA; Mary Lynn Landgraf, Senior International Trade Specialist, Office of Textiles & Apparel, US Department of Commerce; Vivek Kohli, Vice Chairman, Stag International; Vayu Garware, Managing Director, Garware Wall Ropes; Gautam Chakravarti, CEO, Gokaldas Exports Limited; Narendra Dalmia, CEO, Strata Geosystems; Milind Hardikar, Executive Director-Advanced Textiles, Welspun India Ltd; K Ramachandran Pillai, Chairman and Managing Director, National Textile Corporation Limited; Gautam Khanna, Executive Director, 3M India; Dr. Ashwan Kapur, Managing Director, Uniproducts (I) Ltd and Naishadh Parikh, Director, The Arvind Mills Limited.

The Government would be setting-up ‘revolving fund’ for providing assistance to entrepreneurs for R&D in the area of technical textiles and another revolving fund would be set up to provide loans on soft terms and conditions.

Youthful population, urbanisation will drive tourism growth: Amitabh Kant


Amitabh Kant, CEO and MD, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, addressing the FICCI’s Conclave on ‘Investment in Tourism Infrastructure’.

near Asansol in collaboration with Changi Airport of Singapore.

He said new hotels are being put up by global majors such as Radisson Blue, JW Marriot, Westing Group, The Lalit, Country Inn & Suites, ITC, Taj Gateway, Mayfair Group, Best Western and Fern & Ecotel.

West Bengal, he said, offered an exhilarating travel experience with the grand Kanchenjunga Himalayan peak overpowering the State, Dooars foothills, tea gardens and forests, Bay of Bengal beaches, largest riverine delta in the world – the Sundarbans – great rivers and cruise options, heritage sites of the colonial era, mega city spice walks and night life, and festivity and lifestyle tours.

Dr. Mitra and others released FICCI’s knowledge paper entitled, ‘Investment in Tourism Infrastructure: Opportunities & Challenges’.

Usha Sharma, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, pointed out that the Government’s target of attracting one per cent of the world tourist arrivals by the end of the 12th Plan (2017) from the 2011 level of 0.6 per cent would require about two lakh additional rooms in the three-star or higher category classified hotels located outside cities with a population of over one million.

Sharma said that in view of the increased inflow of tourists, the

Tourism Ministry has identified 54 mega destinations and circuits of national importance and is in the process of identifying more such projects at culturally and historically important sites. The Ministry also provides Central financial assistance for the development of mega projects and ensures convergence of resources and programmes of the ministries to ensure that tourism-related and urban civic infrastructure complement each other.

Alkesh Patel, Chairman, Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), the largest hotel assoc-iation in USA, stressed the need to tap the expertise of the members of AAHOA in setting up franchisee hotels in India. The association members, he said, had met with every state government departments in the country and all have sought the expertise of AAHOA members in diversifying their tourism product.

Dr. Arbind Prasad, Director General, FICCI, noted that with domestic tourism growing at 12-14 per cent a year and the Government giving inbound tourism a thrust, sustained levels of investment would be required for building tourism infrastructure. He said that over 200 airports were planned to be built in the country, for which investment, both domestic and foreign, would be critical.

India’s youthful population and the rapid spread of urbanisation will drive the setting up of

hotel and other hospitality-related infrastructure as the country is set to witness vast movement of Indians not just domestically but also to overseas destinations, Amitabh Kant, CEO and MD, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, said in New Delhi on January 16, 2013.

Speaking at ‘FICCI’s Conclave on Investment in Tourism Infrastructure’, Kant said the multiplier effect of travel and tourism far surpasses any other sector. Worldwide, tourism creates 450 million jobs annually as against about 50 million by the software sector.

Putting India on the world tourism map would require focused attention on what Kant described as the 6Cs – civil aviation development, civic governance, capacity building, constant communication strategy, convergence with other sectors and community participation.

Dr. Amit Mitra, Finance Minister of West Bengal, urged investors to cash in on State’s initiatives to upgrade and create new tourism infrastructure projects. The State Government was proposing to expand the Bagdogra airport. A new international airport is coming up at Audal near the industrial hub of Durgapur and a new airport has also been planned

Located in the heart of Europe, Luxembourg provides global companies with many strategic advantages for conducting successful business in Europe. Indeed, with its open and export-driven economy, Luxembourg is fully integrated into the EU common market, yet offers commercial neutrality: Luxembourg is the ideal gateway to the European market with some 500 million consumers.

Ideal gateway to the european marketAirlinks to all continentsLuxembourg’s international airport is the 5th largest freight airport in Europe and home base of Cargolux, Europe’s leading all-cargo carrier. The global network of Cargolux and other airfreight carriers offer multiple daily destinations to all continents and make Luxembourg an ideal gateway to the European market. Luxembourg’s airport cargo centre, with its planned capacity of 1.2 million tons of freight per year, offers a high level of quality service. With its modern and well-equipped air freight handling facilities, LuxairCargo offers secure, efficient and speedy ground handling allowing for jumbo freighter planes to be customs cleared and unloaded at a record speed of as low as 90 minutes. Trucks are a minute away from the open road, and less than 24 hours from any European city.

A hinterland portMoreover, CFL Cargo (conventional rail freight) and CFL multimodal (containers) operate daily railway connections to the ports of the North Sea making Luxembourg a hinterland port of Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Hamburg.

outstandIng connectIvIty to the eu consumer marketEstablished at the junction of major North-South and East-West railway and motorway corridors, Luxembourg lies at the heart of the European road and rail network thus providing an easy and uncongested access to the European consumer market. CFL multimodal manages the country’s most important container terminal, which is located close to the largest marshalling yard in the region. The company offers a complete and professional service such as handling, trans-shipment, storage and loading of containers, customs clearance, security checks, organisation of combined rail and road transports. With its rail-road piggy-back service, Lorry-rail provides innovative solutions

logIstIcs hub luxembourg – putting europe at your fingertips

for multimodal transportation modes. The company operates a road/railway service for standard unaccompanied semi-trailers that connects Luxembourg to South of France.

dedIcated Infrastructure and hIghly skIlled peopleCross-border thinking, mobility and the cosmopolitan nature of its workforce, of whom more than one third commutes each day from the three neighbouring countries, contribute to the high productivity of Luxembourg. The Ministry of the Economy and Foreign Trade has developed and owns logistics parks in the immediate surroundings of the Luxembourg Airport (Eurohub Centre) and of major railway and highway corridors (Eurohub South). Created in 2009, the Cluster for Logistics Luxembourg offers a noteworthy exchange platform for all concerned actors (public and private) active in the field of logistics.

favourable tax and regulatory envIronmentFiscal representationBusinesses that source their goods from outside the European Union do not need a fixed establishment in the country of destination to comply with their fiscal obligations. They may use the service of a fiscal representative that takes care of their import declaration, payment of VAT due, if any, and other duties such as the reporting of intra-Community supplies as well as the statistical and VAT declarations for the importation of goods.

Authorised Economic Operator (AEO)To comply with EU security standards, the Luxembourg Customs authorities have implemented the AEO certification. This concept gives reliable operators the status of a secure and trustworthy operator of the supply chain.

Recognised certification agencyMany international automotive, medical devices and electronic manufacturers take advantage of the know-how and the efficiency of Luxembourg’s certification agency (SNCH), which offers EU wide recognised services.

No VAT pre-financingImporting goods into the EU generally triggers a Value Added Tax (VAT) liability in the country of importation, unless the goods are placed under a specific warehousing regime. Most EU countries require for immediate payment of VAT. Luxembourg’s advanced VAT regulations have completely eliminated that process. While several other EU countries allow similar processes upon request and under certain conditions, Luxembourg is the only country that never requires VAT pre-financing (automatically and unconditionally). Therefore, no cost is linked to the pre-financing of import VAT in Luxembourg.

world class logIstIcs playersAn important number of qualified players (i.e. carriers, handling agents, forwarding agents and logistics service providers) provide quality service allowing just-in-time access to the EU

consumer market. World-class logistics players such as Cargolux, China Airlines, Cobelfret, DB Schenker, DHL, Kühne+Nagel, Morrisson Express, Nippon Express, Panalpina, TNT, Yangtze river and Yusen Air & Sea, to name but a few, have already chosen Luxembourg as an operating base for added value logistic activities.

why luxembourg?Luxembourg stand apart is the fact that it manages to combine a unique series of assets:

Sound economic fundamentalsToday the Grand Duchy enjoys the highest standard of living in Europe, low inflation and unemployment, competitive corporate and personal income taxes and a balanced budget.

Luxembourg: connecting peopleLocated in the “Heart of Europe”, Luxembourg offers well-developed transportation and communication networks. The extended road and rail system as well as the Luxembourg international airport link the country with economic and political centres throughout the world.

An exceptional business environmentA free market approach gives businesses broad freedom of action. It is a small country where business can be developed easily and directly, avoiding cumbersome administrative red tape. The Government is willing to provide tailor-made incentives for investment, research and development.

A high quality of lifeA high standard of living and a comparatively low cost of living provides an ideal basis on which to build future development and success.

Social and political stabilitySocial conflicts in the Grand Duchy are avoided by regular consultations between the various social partners and the Government.

contactNidhi Palta, Project ManagerLuxembourg for Business – Trade and Investment Office in New DelhiTel: +91 11 4998 6607Email: [email protected]: http://investinluxembourg.in www.luxembourgforbusiness.lu http://newdelhi.mae.lu/en

AD

VER

TOR

IAL

Kühne&Nagel © Marc Schmit

Cargolux © P. Steichen


India’s growth story and its endeavours in skills development share a deep symbiotic relatio-

nship which needs to be nurtured if a double digit growth rate has to be re-achieved. According to Grant Thornton’s Global Dynamism Index 2012 we are the fifth best country in the world for dynamic growing businesses. However, ironically, on the parameter of Labour and Human Capital, the world’s second largest labour market i.e. India does not even make to the top 10. ‘Output per worker’ often remains a key area of concern for all businesses. With direct correlation to productivity, skills development is the buzz word today. Whether it is the slow economic pace or the FDI booster, the time is right to get our ‘skills’ act together. It is imperative to leverage international expertise in the area of skills development and vocation if we are to create a ‘glocal’ workforce.

Working with international partners can foster innovation and investments in the area of skills development. It can help build new partnerships and develop new commercial opportunities. India needs much expertise from partner countries that have experience in imparting skills and have developed innovative methods of vocational training. Also,

international partnerships help in deeper understanding of effective approaches to skills development, whilst raising the profile of vocational and technical education and enterprise skills.

International Collaboration in skills is an opportunity for: • Exchangeofbestpracticesand

sharing of new methods• Improvingknowledgeand

understanding of effective approaches to skills development

• Applyingthenewlyacquiredknowledge and experience in skills in institutions/organisations

• Buildingnew,andstrengtheningexisting, relationships with ministries, key skills agencies and employers

• EnhancingIndia’sreputationasasource of Skills and the capital for skilled labour.

Leveraging international expertise for a skilled IndiaPooja Gianchandani & Nikhil Kumar*

FICCI Skills Development Forum: Fostering International Partnerships FICCI has been working closely with almost eleven countries on the International Collaboration agenda through its Skills Development Forum (SDF) which has fed into policy debate and initiatives like the Sector Skills Councils (SSC), National Qualification Framework, setting up of Community Colleges, developing an Employer Engagement Network and mutual recognition of qualifications.

2012 witnessed an unprecedented increase in international interest on skills and training front. Organisations over the world are looking at the Indian skills industry as the next big market. Skills is a 20 billion dollar per annum industry according to National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) with very little regulation and huge scope for benchmarking and best

Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce & Industry (third from left), launching the India-Uk report on skills at JETCO Meet 2012.

A special session with Training Delegation from Belgium.


» Bi-laterals and Joint Working Group’s: FICCI is an active member of several skills working groups that facilitate bilateral dialogue on a country to country basis. Our most successful partnerships have been through the JWG on Skills and Vocational Training with Germany and UK.

India UK Joint Working Group on Skills Development under JETCO

India UK Joint Economic Trade Committee: The India UK dialogue on skills acquired pace when the Joint Economic Trade Committee formed the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Education and Skills. From being a small initiative to now becoming a vibrant partnership and much has been achieved in the short span of time. The UKISF has facilitated delegations, encouraged business partnerships, and engaged the government to supporting these partnerships. It has evolved into a platform where UK & India, share information and experiences, explore the possibility of joint initiatives in skill building activities. A 5 point agenda, as per below, was evolved during the JETCO meeting in April 2012 to concretize the partnerships:• ElevatingtheIndiaUKbusiness

partnerships by creating opportunities for Indian companies to participate in the UK skills and training market.

practice sharing. With a focus towards encouraging knowledge transfer and a clear understanding of the skills market, FICCI SDF has evolved its international collaboration agenda around three main pillars: • ActiveengagementinBi-

laterals, Joint Working Groups, Partnerships through MoUs

• PromotingBusinesstoBusiness(B2B) by fielding Delegations – both Inwards and Outwards

• Creatingnetworkingopportunities through events, seminars, workshops and roundtables

FICCI SDF collaborates with the best institutions around the world for knowledge transfer related to global best practices in skill development, facilitates dialogue on bilateral basis, creating opportunity for B2B collaboration and offer technical advisory in doing business in the skills development space.

• PromotingVocationalEducationin Schools

• CapacityBuildingandQualityManagement of private training providers

• LeadershipDevelopmentProgram for managers of the education and training companies

Cross sectoral collaboration – the retail and food groups have been merged with skills group

Indo German Working Group on Vocational Education and TrainingA Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning Cooperation in the field of Vocational Education and Training, was agreed between the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Indian Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOL) at the German-Indian Interg-overnmental Consultations in New Delhi on 31 May 2011. FICCI is an active member of the Indo German Working Group on Vocational Education and Training. As per the roadmap document evolved, FICCI is working for the areas of collaboration: • Upgradationandestablishmentof

vocational training institutions • TrainingofTrainers• Creatingapublicprivate

partnership based on the pattern of the German Dual System in companies in India

• Researchanddevelopmentinthefield of vocational training

• Developmentofcompetencystandards

• Coordination,networkingandidentification of new fields of cooperation

Working with international partners can foster innovation and investments in the area of skills development. India needs much expertise from partner countries that have experience in imparting skills and have developed innovative methods of vocational training.

Managed by FICCI & UKIBC

RCM Reddy, CEO & MD IL&FS Education and Chairman FICCI SDF (centre) and James Knight, President & CEO, ACCC (third from left) at Indo-Canada workshop.


The Indo German Skills Forum (IGSF) is a bilateral cooperation group formed to promote the Business to Business (B2B) interaction between Indian and German companies. This forum is managed by FICCI and iMove to facilitate private sector interaction to promote bilateral trade dialogue under the aegis of the Indo German Working Group on Technical Vocational Education & Training (TVET), chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.

India New Zealand Education Council (INZEC)In the Joint Statement between India and New Zealand released on 28.6.2011 during the visit of H.E Mr. John Key, Hon’ble Prime Minister, New Zealand to India, it was announced that both sides will establish a Joint Education Council to implement the Prime Ministers’ initiative. The initiative will focus on areas such as academic and student exchanges, joint research activities and industry collaboration. This India-New Zealand Education Council (INZEC) is expected to bring together Government, academia, business and industry of both the countries to further bilateral collaboration in the education and skills sector. Chairman, FICCI SDF leads the Leadership Development and Professional Development for Vocational Education and Training agenda of INZEC. FICCI hosted a delegation of 20 vocational and skills service providers recently.

India Canada Advanced Skills CommitteeAs a member of the India Canada Advanced Skills Committee led by India Canada Business Council, FICCI SDF pursues the following agenda:Acclimatizing / Briefing Sessions –

Organizing an introductory session for any delegation on Indian business environment, Govt. rules and regulations, Case studies.Supporting Business to Business

or Government to Government meetings Organizing seminars, workshops, round tables etc on Indo Canada related topics

FICCI also signed a MoU with Association of Community Colleges in Canada during the Global Skills Summit 2012 with the objective of sharing the Canadian college’s experiences in focusing on the learners in ensuring that they get jobs after graduation; and to explore the areas of collaboration between Canadian colleges and Indian institutions and private sector. A special workshop on Advanced Skills for Employment: Opportunities for India Canadian Cooperation was also organized by FICCI and Education Canada as a precursor to the MoU signing.

» Facilitating B2B through FICCI’s Skills Marketplace: exclusive opportunity for direct B2B interaction between International companies trying to identify suitable Indian partners and Indian companies seeking foreign collaboration. The participating companies get a unique opportunity to explore the areas of collaboration with their counterparts through dedicated slots of 10 minutes for interaction with each other.

» International Skills Round-tables: To facilitate the skills ecosystem not only from the perspective of learning, but also sharing of best practices, FICCI organised industry roundtables with various countries to position India as the skills development hub.

The first-ever ‘Roundtable on Skills for Employability in South Asia’ was held in Lahore to explore ways and means

to cover up the widening demand – supply skill deficits amongst South Asian workforce. FICCI and Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) along with NUEPA organized this roundtable which was attended by over 30 companies in various fields.

Roundtable with Burton and South Derbyshire College- The discussion was to evolve partnerships in key Sectors and identification of skill gaps in different sectors. The need of standard model for the skill trainers in India was stressed and the lack of content writers and assessors was expressed.

“English language an essential skill for Job Readiness” – a round table discussion with Cambridge University ESOL- The group discussed various aspects of developing and managing initiatives to improve English lang-uage skills of the learners across skill sets and felt that it is critical to define the appropriate language standards for industry especially Retail, Telecom, Travel and Tourism, IT, Manufacturing, Banking & Finance.

» Show-Know-Grow Conferences: This is a unique series of conferences organized by FICCI SDF were we offer International partners an opportunity to:

• Show:demonstratetheircapability and also share their best practices in the vocational, education and skills space

• Know:discussandlearnabouttheskilling India needs and the scale of the opportunity

• Grow:Interactwiththekeyplayers of the industry and discuss B2B opportunities

Skills Marketplace: Special Indo-German B2B session on Skills Development.


India & Sweden: Exploring Opportunities in Skills Development:There is a need to engage with Sweden, which has evolved as a partner of India, contributing to the economy with its several high-profile and employment intensive companies. It also has a culture of quality, which Indian market and the learners need to adapt comprehensively. At the same time, India offers a significant market to the Swedish companies, its vast demography, and a promise of long-term relationship. This programme provided a platform for Indian & Swedish companies to ideate and engage on new opportunities, partnerships and focus on developing long term relationship. It was graced by the presence of Minister of Enterprise of Sweden, H E Annie Lööf.

India-Queensland: Collaboration on Skills Development - The Premier of Queensland, Mr. Campbell Newman led a business delegation to India starting and explored opportunities in Skills, Education & Training in India. FICCI partnered with Government of Queensland to organise Show-Know-Grow conferences in 3 cities –Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Delhi.

» Delegations: FICCI SDF hosts delegations from across the world to enrich the Skills development space with new ideas and knowledge to improve the Indian

scenario. Similarly, it also takes members of SDF to foreign countries for grasping new knowledge and new experiences. This year a delegation of FTMA, an organisation from Belgium working in the metal and electro-technical industry visited to explore economical, social and educational opportunities in India.

» WorldSkills India Competition- The World Skills competition, which takes place in more than fifty countries, is conducted in India by FICCI (with NSDC partnership) and is helping in raising the profile of various Skills. Its ultimate aim is to make these trades of confectionery, cooking, plumbing, fashion technology and graphic design aspirational.

The Way ForwardThe world is growing old; India is not. The future of the world is India and India’s future is in the hands of policies and policy makers. The topmost agenda for policy makers in India should be expanding employment and increasing productivity. The way forward is to focus on skilled labour and technological capability, which are increasingly becoming the touchstones of competitiveness in an open and integrated world environment and through skilling, productivity will increase and jobs will be created, which ultimately will spur growth. Skills sector still needs greater engagement of international

“International collaborations in skills could play a very important role in our skill development initiative by helping fast-track the establishment of structures and frameworks for imparting best-in-class vocational education and training in this country – an essential pre-requisite for India being able to leverage its favorable demographics for achieving a faster and a more inclusive growth.

Countries like Germany, Switzerland, Australia, the United Kingdom, etc – which already have well-defined VET frameworks, including the role of industry in skills promotion efforts – as well as groupings such as the European Union and agencies like the International Labour Organisation (ILO), for example, could prove very useful reference points for India as it tries to create a skills culture among its people.”

Dilip Chenoy, CEO & MD, NSDC

partners on some areas; some of them have been given below. International expertise in these areas is necessary as they have been previously worked on in foreign countries and India can do better with their experience.

* Pooja Gianchandani is Director & Nikhil Kumar is Assistant Director, Skills Development, FICCI.

Taster Workshop on Application of modern training methods in TVET.


R P Singh, Chairman, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), underlined

that it was essential to get the States on board in the development of road network in the country. “States were putting all the responsibility on NHAI. They must share the cost of developing highways and undertake capital expenditure for funding the projects,” he said while addressing a FICCI conference on ‘Accelerating the Development of Highways in India’ in New Delhi on January 17, 2013.

Singh said that the challenge of building the highway network were manifold. For undertaking 8000-9000 kms of roads, roughly Rs 91, 000 crore was required. If a third of this comes from equity, the remainder Rs 60,000 would have to be debt-financed. He asked, are banks in a position to finance such a large amount in a non risk-free situation?

He said the cost of acquisition of land for road projects was escalating at a rapid pace. There were issues such as decrease in traffic due to the economic downturn and rising cost of raw materials. There were voices against collection of tolls as elections draw near. In any case, it was extremely difficult to index toll charges with inflation as the capacity to pay of the consumers has to be borne in mind.

As far as implementation of projects was concerned, delays were being caused due to the existence of far too many stakeholders. It was a case of ‘Too many cooks spoiling the broth’, he said. While the Planning Commission and the Department of Economic Affairs should lay down policy guidelines, the nitty-gritty of implementation should be left to NHAI; its board must have full authority, he said.

He suggested that there was a need to liberally allow transfer of equity so that the stronger players can come in and pump equity into highway projects. Yet, the challenge was to de-risk projects for private equity to come in a big way, he said.

The session was also addressed by Abhaya Agarwal, Partner, Ernst & Young; K K Kapila, Co-Chairman, FICCI Infrastructure Committee and CMD, International Consultants and

R P Singh, Chairman, National Highways Authority of India, addressing the conference on ‘Accelerating the Development of Highways in India’.

States must come on board for development of highways

Technocrats Pvt. Ltd and Dr. A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI.

According to Ernst & Young, there was a need for an independent regulator in the highways sector. The current arrangement both at the Centre and States – Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, NHAI, PWDs, etc. – results in a potential conflict as the rule making body is also the implementing body and there was no independent assessment of its performance across various parameters. The key func-tions of the regulator could be tariff

setting, regulation of service quality, assessment of concessionaire claims, collection and dissemination of sector information, service-level benchmarks and monitoring compli-ance of concession agreements.

There was also the need for the State governments to extend their active cooperation for enabling successful implementation of PPP projects by signing the State Support Agreements for PPP projects and providing the necessary support and assistance in letter and spirit.


India’s rapidly growing economy is driving increased water usage across different sectors. Various

estimates and projections indicate an increasing trend in water demand for agriculture, industrial and domestic uses in the coming decades. At this point, it is imperative to enquire, what role Indian industry sees for itself in the emerging scenario; wherein there is rapid depletion of freshwater sources coexisting with the need to sustain a growing economy. A growing economy will translate into increased intake of water for the water intensive industrial sectors such as thermal power plants, steel and textiles. Within the industrial sector, there is also a growing realisation to save water for its future growth. As a result, one witnesses initiatives undertaken by several industries across different sectors, but there is a lot more that the industries could do in order to effectively manage water resources.

Case for Disclosure

Proactive disclosure on water use by industries will go a long way in bringing in a culture of decision making, which accounts for the

Dr. Mihir Shah, Member, Planning Commission.

Proactive disclosure on water use by industry is vital

environmental costs of their decis-ions. Similar to the disclosure on energy use by industries, disclosure about water usage and trends across years will highlight industries comm-itment to conserving water. The benefits of measuring water use and wastewater discharge will enable industries to develop a water reuse, conservation and management plan.

Disclosure on water use can serve as an important piece of information for a wide range of stakeholders. For investors, it would mean that they have specific information on water use and sustainability measures so that they can divert capital flows to businesses with good water management policies. Civil society can use data to analyse the impact of industrial activity on the state of water resources. The governments would use this information in shaping national and local regulations that encourage sustainable water management.

While disclosure is important, making the right kind of information available is of greater significance. In respect of industrial water use, this would mean that industries while reporting on physical use of water also indicate the sources of freshwater. The information should also indicate water related risks in respect to the local context and measures which will be put in place to reduce/better manage water resources. At a later stage, when industries are familiar with the water use in their processes, attempts can be made to account for the water practices of their supply chain. The practice of disclosure can also be seen as a chance for the industry to highlight the impacts of the interventions on water harvesting, recharge on the state of freshwater resources in the area.

The12th Plan document is historic in the sense that it is for the first time

that any plan document has included a separate Chapter on Water Resources. The fact that access to adequate and safe water is becoming a growing concern across different sectors is the underlying theme in the Chapter. There is an emphasis for a paradigm shift in the way water resources are managed in our country.

Workshop on Water Disclosure

FICCI and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) India organised a workshop to understand the feasibility of water disclosure in India on January 21, 2013.

Dr. Mihir Shah, Member, Planning Commission, outlined the 10-point paradigm shift proposed in the 12th Plan. Participatory irrigation management with central emphasis on command area development; participatory aquifer management; breaking the groundwater-energy nexus; watershed restoration and groundwater recharge; conjoint water and wastewater management in urban areas; better database management and new institutional and legal framework were some of the reforms proposed as part of the paradigm shift.

Dr. Shah emphasised that the time has come for industries to understand water-related risks and take measures for conservation of freshwater and recycling of wastewater. He lauded the efforts of FICCI Water Mission in enhancing the knowledge base on best practices and urged the Mission to come up with demonstration projects. The Bureau of Water Use Efficiency, to be set up by the Ministry of Water Resources will be the nodal authority to engage with industries on improving water efficiency, Dr. Shah remarked.

*Romit Sen is Senior Assistant Director, FICCI Water Mission.


FICCI celebrates National Consumer Week

FICCI’s Committee Against Smuggling & Counterfeiting Activities Destroying Economy

(CASCADE) celebrated the ‘National Consumer Week’ from December 18 to 20, 2012, as a run up to the ‘National Consumer Day’, which was celebrated on December 24, 2012.

The National Consumer Week was flagged off with the ‘Awareness through Art’ programme on Dece-mber 18, 2012. More than 272 students from Delhi-NCR schools participated in an ‘On the spot interschool painting competition on consumer rights’.

The competition focused on the detrimental effects of smuggled, counterfeit and fake goods on the health and safety of consumers. The

paintings by the students brought to the fore steps, which can be taken by consumers to avoid being duped into purchasing these fake products, with the help of topics such as ‘Buying a product without receipt – Sensible or Dangerous’ and ‘Be responsible: Insist on a bill’. All the students who participated were awarded certificates and the students of St. Thomas, Sahibabad; Mount Carmel, Dwarka and Modern Public School, Barakhamba won the first, second and third prize respectively, and were awarded cash prizes by Renu Agrawala, Design & Publication expert.

This was followed by ‘National Consumer Rights Meet’ on December 19, 2012, where Consumer Rights

TopL to R: Anil Rajput, Chairman FICCI CASCADE; Pankaj Agrawala, Secretary Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food Supply and Distribution; Naina Lal Kidwai, President, FICCI; A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI and Meenu Chandra, Head, FICCI CASCADE.

BelowL to R: Anil Rajput, Chairman FICCI CASCADE; Pankaj Agrawala, Secretary Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food Supply and Distribution and Rajeev Batra, Co- Chariman, FICCI CASCADE.


The winners of the painting competition with Renu Agrawala Design & Publication expert (centre).

Activists from various states of India gathered to discuss the future course of the Consumer Rights Movement.

Pankaj Agrawala, Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, said, “The market was becoming complex with service industry overtaking the manufacturing industry.” A sizeable section of the population was not even aware of quality products. Further, he wanted consumer organisations to be more active in creating awareness and assured that the Ministry of Consumers Affairs will lend its support to the cause.

Anil Rajput, Chairman, FICCI-CASCADE, said, “Awareness is the beginning of change.” FICCI-CASCADE would continue its efforts to create consumer awareness through various campaigns throughout the nation. During the panel discussion, the consumer activists agreed that there was a need to bring about a change in the Consumer Protection Act and provide a mechanism for speedy trials of the consumer cases.

A seminar on ‘Building a Consumer Rights Movement-Empowering the Consumer of Today’ on December 20, 2012, was organised where the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food Supply and Distribution delivered the keynote address.

During the seminar, CASCADE, as part of its efforts to create awareness, commissioned a special study on the ‘Socio-economic impact of counterfeiting smuggling and tax evasion in seven key Indian industry sectors’ of the economy. The report prepared by the Thought Arbitrage Research Institute (TARI), New Delhi, made a pioneering attempt to estimate the size of the ‘grey market’ for selected industry sectors in India and projected the economic loss to industry, government and consequent social impact.

Commenting on the findings, FICCI President Naina Lal Kidwai said, “Counterfeiting was a serious economic offence causing a huge loss to industry, to the government and also to consumers. But it was still not considered as a serious offence.”

A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI, said that consumers today were compromising their safety, as the products consumed by them were not of the set standards because they were not coming from the manufactures who actually promised them safety and adequate quality.

FICCI-CASCADE would continue its efforts to create consumer awareness through various campaigns throughout the nation. The consumer activists agreed that there was a need to bring about a change in the Consumer Protection Act and provide a mechanism for speedy trials of the consumer cases.


CSR in Companies Bill 2012

India has a long tradition of close business involvement in social causes for national

development. In India, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is known from ancient time as charity, which through different ages is changing its nature in broader aspect, now generally known as CSR. CSR has been a part of the Indian business since late 1800s. Most corporate houses have been operating with a social conscience that is an inherent part of their business strategies. With the changing national and global expectations, Indian companies are responding to the market expectations through responsible business practices, but CSR in India to some extend is philanthropy. It is still considered external to business, as opposed to an internal process. But now India is at an interesting threshold with the enactment of the Companies Bill 2012 has made CSR necessary for businesses to engage.

“The idea was to give it a structure, a shape, regularise it in a way that it becomes formatted. And, we are following a principle of self-reporting. I am very confident because the private sector, the corporates — they themselves want to build bridges with the community. I also think it help them enhance their brand value and their presence in a very positive fashion. I am very confident that they want to come over and do it as long as there is absorptive capacity in the area to get the CSR done.”

Sachin PilotMinster of State for Corporate Affairs, Government of India

The Companies Bill 2012, after due discussions with stakeholders was cleared by the Indian Parliament on December 18, 2012. The new law mandates 2% of profit after tax (PAT) of preceding three years to be spent on CSR activities.


The Companies Bill 2012, after due discussions with stakeholders was cleared by the Indian Parliament on December 18, 2012. The new law mandates 2% of profit after tax (PAT) of preceding three years to be spent on CSR activities.

Who must comply?Every Company registered under the Companies Law or any previous laws (Section 1) If (Section-135): •Net worth of Rs 500 crore or more •Turnover of Rs 1000 crore or more •Net profit of Rs 5 crore or more

during any financial year

Who will be held accountable? •The company will constitute a

Corporate Social Responsibility Committee of the board members consisting of three or more directors

•At least one committee member shall be an independent director

What will the CSR Committee do? •Formulate and recommend a CSR

Policy and an indicative list of activities to the Board

•Recommend the amount of expenditure to be incurred on the activities

•Monitor the Corporate Social Responsibility Policy of the company from time to time

What will be the role of the Board of Directors? •Review the recommendations

made by the CSR Committee•Approve the CSR Policy for the

company •Disclose contents of the Policy in

the company’s report/website •Shall ensure that the company

spends in every financial year, at least 2% of the average net profits

of the company made during the three immediately preceding financial years, in pursuance of its Corporate Social Responsibility Policy; Provided that the company shall give preference to the local area and areas around it where it operates for spending the amount earmarked for CSR activities; Provided further that if the company fails to spend such amount, the Board shall, in its financial statement made under clause (o) of sub-section (3) of section 134, specify the reasons for not spending the amount i.e. the details about the policy developed and implemented by the company on corporate social responsibility initiatives taken during the year of sub-section (3) of section 134, specify the reasons for not spending the amount

How much will a company be required to spend on CSR? •Ensure that the company spends,

in every financial year, at least 2% of its average net profit made during the three immediately preceding financial years

What are the activities your company can undertake? According to Schedule VII, Activities – as a Project Mode, which may be included by companies in their Corporate Social Responsibility Policies, are:•Eradicating hunger and poverty•Promotion of education •Promoting gender equality and

empowering women•Health – reducing child mortality,

improving maternal health, combating HIV, AIDS, malaria

•Employment enhancing vocational skills

•Contribution to PM’s fund or any other fund set up by the Central Government or the State Governments for socio-economic development and relief and funds for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes, minorities and women

•Ensuring environmental sustaina-bility

•Social business projects •Such other matters as may be

prescribed

What does a company need to disclose in the Annual Report? •CSR policy, initiatives and the CSR

committee•Amount of expenditure incurred

on corporate social responsibility activities

•Valid reasons in case of failure to spend the earmarked CSR budget

What if the company contravenes the provisions of clause 135?• If a company contravenes the

provisions of clause 135, shall be punishable with fine which shall not be less than Rs 50,000 but which may extend to Rs 25 lakh and every officer of the company who is in default shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years or with fine which shall not be less than Rs 50,000 but which may extend to Rs 5 lakh, or with both under Sub Section (8) of Section 134.


R V Kanoria, the then President of FICCI, addressing the 12th Businessworld CSR Awards.

“No business can run in isolation, the revenues, the market, the products, the services that we all give and provide is for the community, not just to fulfil their daily requirement but also to have a sustainable, symbiotical relationship between the enterprise and the community.”

In 2012, 14 companies were ackno-wledged for their commendable CSR initiatives by the Minister

of Corporate Affairs Sachin Pilot at an award presentation ceremony on December 7, 2012, in New Delhi. The companies were acknowledged for their commendable work in the area of model village creation, integrated watershed development programme, sustainable livelihood & agriculture, rural digital infrastructure devel-opment to creating employment opportunities for the tribal youth and persons with disabilities.

FICCI and Businessworld instituted India’s first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award in 1999 to encourage corporate participation in inclusive growth. Until last year it was known as the Businessworld-FICCI-SEDF Corporate Social Responsibility Award.

It is an annual award that aims at identifying and recognising the efforts of companies in integrating and internalising Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in a strategic and systematic manner with their

overall corporate strategy. Over the years, the Award has not just grown in size but in stature and is presently recognised as one of the most coveted awards in the area of CSR. The initiative has given various companies an opportunity to showcase exemplary initiatives taken up by them.

The awards had three categories namely:

Category I – CSR Award for Companies with turnover a. Rs 3001 crore per annum

and aboveb. Turnover between Rs 101

crore – Rs 3000 crore per annum

Category II – CSR Award for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with turnover• UptoRs100croreper

annumCategory III – Award for Exemplary Innovation promoting CSR

12th Businessworld-FICCI CSR Award


The award assessment followed an exclusive three-tier assessment process, independent of the orga-nisers. This year more than 100 applications were received and 14 companies were shortlisted in the stage one of the assessment. At stage one assessment, nominations received were thoroughly scrutinised by reputed international accountants and business advisors, Grant Thornton, India as per-defined indicators for specific category. The indicators includes institutionalisation of CSR, drivers for CSR, leadership, structure for delivery of CSR, resource allocation, monitoring and evaluation, documentation, reporting, environment practices, employee volunteering to identification of key communities and its needs, action plan, partnerships, impact and sustainability of the community development programme.

Subsequently, Birla Institute of Management Technology, India, a well known Management School, conducted ‘on-site assessment’ of the CSR work of the shortlisted

companies. The second assessment include partner checks, interviews process owners to assess what drives CSR, time spent by the senior management/CEOs, to checking of external/internal evaluations, understanding of internal and external stakeholders of the company, HR & environmental practices to interviews with the beneficiaries for the impact and accessing the sustainability of the community programmes.

Finally, an Independent Jury comp-rising eminent personalities from the relevant spheres made the final selection of the Award winners. This year the Independent Jury comprised M Damodaran, Former Chairman, SEBI (chairman), M K Venu, Mana-ging Editor, Financial Express, Dr. V. Mohini Giri, Chairperson of Guild of Service and War Widows Association, Mark Runacres, Advisor to The Confederation of British Industry, Sunit Tandon, Director IIMC and Pritpal Marjara, Managing Director, Population Services International, India.

This annual award aims at identifying and recognising the efforts of companies in integrating and internalising Corporate Social Responsibility in a strategic and systematic manner with their overall corporate strategy. Over the years, the Award has not just grown in size but in stature and is presently recognised as one of the most coveted awards.

Winners of 12th Businessworld FICCI CSR AwardCategory Ia – Large Enterprises

Winner: ITC Limited

Category Ib – Large EnterprisesWinner: Deepak Nitrate Limited

Category III – Exemplary Innovation Promoting CSRWinner: SRF Limited

Special Jury Commendation Tata Teleservices Limited

Companies acknowledged for their commendable CSR initiatives Adobe Systems Suzlon Thriveni Earthmovers Pvt Limited Essel Mining and Industries Limited National Stock Exchange JSW JK Paper Limited Cairn India Limited NTPC TATA Motors Limited


The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, released the FICCI coffee

table volume ‘An Illustrated History of Indian Enterprise’, at the 85th Annual General Meeting of FICCI, in New Delhi on December 15, 2012.

This was followed by a panel discussion held on December 20, 2013 in New Delhi, where the chief guest was the Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs, Sachin Pilot. The panel discussion included eminent personalities in the field of business and economics and comprised Dr. Ashok Desai, noted economist; Vikram Singh Mehta, former Chairman, Shell Group of Companies, India; R V Kanoria, Immediate Past President, FICCI and Sachin Pilot. It was moderated by Gurcharan Das, renowned writer and former Head of Proctor & Gamble, India.

The discussion began with a debate on the reasons behind India’s success post the reforms of the early 1990s. According to Dr. Desai, India’s case was peculiar as it had been able to progress despite its relatively closed economy. However, he emphasised that to sustain growth, India has to continue to open its economy. “For this we need to invest heavily in port and maritime infrastructure,” he said.

Mehta said that a big part of the success lay in the fact that Indian businesses did not follow the tried and tested methods of scientific business management that work in

L to R: Vikram Singh Mehta, former Chairman, Shell Group of Companies, India; R V Kanoria, Immediate Past President, FICCI; Sachin Pilot, Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs; Gurcharan Das, renowned writer and former Head of Proctor & Gamble, India and Dr. Ashok Desai, noted economist, at the FICCI book launch in New Delhi on December 20, 2012.

‘An Illustrated History of Indian Enterprise’

Re-living the India Narrativethe West. He cited the example of Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery built by the Ambanis. “The fact remains that for the first 10 years of its operation that refinery was the most successful refinery in the world, despite the fact that prior to the start of operations, all feasibility studies suggested that it would be an astounding failure,” he said.

Another interesting point raised by Das was that Indian business remains mired in tradition despite modernity. He cited the example of the Forbes Indian billionaire list which invariably is dominated by traditional business communities such as the Marwaris, Baniyas and Khatris.

Kanoria noted that these are tradi-tional communities that lean towards entrepreneurship. He explained that contemporary Indian business con-glomerates are increasingly looking to dissociate succession and control. “This is the sign of an industry that is maturing and becoming more profes-sional,” he said.

Pilot observed that India and its enterprises were still growing, despite the slowdown in the global economy. “The bottom line is that of the past eight years, for six years we have a GDP growth of over eight per cent and just because this has come down to 6.5 per cent this year, we are all pessimistic. The fact remains that 6.5 per cent growth is still decent at a time when the global economy is in the grip of a slowdown.”

‘An Illustrated History of Indian Enterprise’ provides an evocative account of Indian entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs from the dawn of civilisation to the present. With contributions from R V Kanoria, Dwijendra Tripathi, R Champakalakshmi, Shireen Moosvi, Purushottam Agarwal, Ashok Desai, TCA Srinivasa-Raghavan, Omkar Goswami and Vikram Singh Mehta, the volume chronicles the Indian business narrative through the intersection of history, culture, and commerce to offer a multidimensional perspective. It examines the policies and institutions that have enabled growth, studies the entrepreneurial role of the private sector and the role and position of public sector enterprises in the current scenario, and also looks at the possible future course for Indian business.

This visually appealing and substantive publication, is both reader friendly and scholarly, and should appeal to all those interested in the Indian entrepreneurial narrative. It also makes for an excellent corporate gift showcasing the best of Indian enterprise through the ages, from the Indus Valley till now.

Limited copies of the publication are available at the office of FICCI in New Delhi at a 20% discount on its MRP of Rs. 5000. Please contact Anjana Bisht at 011-2048092/09958109992 or via email at [email protected]

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2013 held in Kochi, Kerala, was a great success.

FICCI received support from both, the Kerala Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to facilitate the event.

On the sidelines of PBD, Dr A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI and Dr Arbind Prasad, Director General, FICCI, addressed the members of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Kochi at their premises. The meeting was attended by nearly 50 members of ICCI, covering a cross-section of industries.

In his welcome address, Nishesh Shah, President, ICCI, informed that this was the first visit by any Secretary General of FICCI to their Chamber, which has a history of 115-years. He said that the Chamber has been working towards a better environment for economy in terms of business and social activities.

Meeting with Regional Chambers

Shah also said that FICCI should arrange more programmes in Kochi, which should be in line with state’s needs in the sectors such as tourism, infrastructure development and logi-stics. Programmes on food safety and standards and legal metrology could be conducted on a priority basis.

Dr Singh briefly highlighted FICCI’s activities and extended full support and guidance to the Member Bodies and was in favour of more joint programmes in cooperation with the Member Bodies.

Some of the other issues that were discussed included, anomaly with regard to stamp duty for securities transactions charged by different states and demand for a uniform stamp duty and need for a master plan for the entire nation on infrastructure.

FICCI office bearers also met the officials of Kerala Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) to strengthen mutual cooperation.


•WebsiteLinkageswithMemberBodies –links with 24 Member bodies functional

• Lateststudies/research&knowledge papers posted on FICCI website

• RegionalInteractiveMeetingswithmembers

• Policypapersrelevanttodifferentsectors mailed to members at regular intervals

• Regularfeedbackreceivedfromthe FICCI Members Survey

• E-Networkservices–‘ANewHorizon’:

Twitter

Facebook

FICCI Blog

Pinterest

Slideshare

New and updated services being offered by FICCI

•Thoughtleadershipinitiatives•Channelisinginputsforpolicy

change •Connectingwith2,50,000

members from public and private sectors who FICCI represents directly and indirectly

•Viewsofexpertcommittees,forums and task forces covering 67 sectors of the economy

• Events/TradeFairs&Exhibitionsto network and showcase members’ products and services

•CapacityBuilding–towardsenhancing competitiveness

• Internationallyacclaimedplatforms to meet global political and business leaders

• FICCIBusiness Digest, a monthly magazine covering major FICCI events and programmes

•ADedicatedMembersHelpline.Toll free No: 1800-11-3128 and email id: [email protected]

Ongoing services offered by FICCI


FICCImembers’ helplIne

What are the benefits & services offered by FICCI?

How can I benefit from FICCI’s National & Global networks?

How can FICCI help in expanding business outreach?

How can FICCI assist in bridging information gaps?

How can I be part of FICCI’s leadership initiatives?

How could I participate in exhibitions & trade fairs?

Your one point contact :

Sudeshna BanerjeeDeputy Director

Toll Free: [email protected]

Federation House, 1 Tansen Marg New Delhi 110001

Industry’s Voice for Policy Change

THESE & ANY OTHER QUERIES ANSWERED BY


IN T

HE

STA

TES

L to R: Luvsanvandan Bold, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Government of Mongolia; Dilip D Dandekar, Consul General of Mongolia and Member, FICCI - Executive Committee; D Delgersaikhan, Director General, International Economic Department, Bank of Mongolia; C Bayaraa Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of Mongolia and Piya Singh, Director, FICCI-WRC.

Luvsanvandan Bold, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Government

of Mongolia, was on an official visit to India on the invitation of Salman Khurshid, Indian Minister of External Affairs. On January 15, 2013, the Minister commenced his visit from Mumbai, the heart of Indian economy and finance.

Bold visited the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the first exchange to be established in Asia in 1875, to discuss issues on bilateral financial matters, stock market and exchanged views with BSE’s CEO Ashish Kumar.

The Minister met Indian business representatives while visiting FICCI’s office in Mumbai and he discussed his plans to developing bilateral cooperation and investment environments between both the countries. He also stressed upon starting direct flights between India and Mongolia and establishment of more visa facilitation centers.

C Bayaraa, Ambassador Extra-ordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of Mongolia, made a prese-ntation on foreign investment trends in Mongolia and where the country

stands in the world rankings when it comes to carrying out business for overseas companies. He also talked about laws in strategic sectors such as mining, banking & financing and media & telecommunications. Indian companies can look at Mongolia as a gateway for doing business in emerging markets of East Asia such as China and Russia.

D Delgersaikhan, Director General, International Economic Department, Bank of Mongolia, made a prese-ntation on macroeconomic outlook of Mongolia, and highlighted the opportunities in capital markets and government bonds.

Dilip Dandekar, Consul General of Mongolia, pressed upon the need for identifying suitable opportunities for Indian companies in Mongolia and explores new growth avenues in Mongolia.

The meeting was attended by representatives from over 30 companies and entrepreneurs such as ACC, Waree Engineering, IL&FS, Solar Unlimited (India) Pvt. Ltd., Beautiful Planet, Dynamic Logistics and Hinduja Group.

Mongolia, a gateway to East Asia for Indian companies


IN T

HE

STA

TES

L to R: P K Jena, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Energy, Government of Odisha; C J Venugopal, Principal Secretary, Public Enterprise Department, Government of Odisha and G Mathi Vathanan, CMD, Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd.

Promoting Odisha as an attractive investment destination

On the behest of Industrial Promotion and Investment

Corporation of Odisha Ltd (IPICOL), the nodal agency of Government of Odisha for investment promotion and investment facilitation, FICCI’s Odisha State Council held a session with the leading electrical equipment manufacturers in Bhubaneswar on January 21, 2013. IPICOL desires FICCI to organise a series of dedicated sessions with the leading industry players across sectors for better promotion of the state as an attractive investment destination.

The session was attended by more than 60 CEOs and Senior Management Personnel of the leading electrical equipment manufacturers and IPICOL was joined by the Department of Energy, Government of Odisha, its associated bodies, the Public Enterprise Department, Government of Odisha.

The prime objective was to better target the investment promotion efforts of the state government and evaluate the effectiveness of such efforts in creating right perception about Odisha among the larger investor community. Feedback gathering about the investment facilitation framework currently in

vogue and expectation mapping were other aspects put to test.

G Mathi Vathanan, CMD, IPICOL, through a presentation highlighted the key aspects of doing business in Odisha. It included the intrinsic advantages the state possesses with respect to promoting manufacturing sector, success achieved so far, endorsement of the investment climate by leading captains of the industry and opportunities Odisha can offer to the electrical equipment manufactures.

P K Jena, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Energy, Government of Odisha, cited facts and figures about the massive investment plans of the government to strengthen the transmission and distribution network not only to address on an urgent basis the extreme loss levels in the sector but also to put in place an evacuation system that can efficiently transfer huge amounts of power to be generated in days to come in Odisha.

C J Venugopal, Principal Secretary, Public Enterprise Department, Government of Odisha, urged the participants to locate some of their manufacturing facilities in the state. He pointed out the pressing need

to establish quality service centers to cater to the existing industry and citied a grim example of how the industry is suffering due to the absence of service facilities in the state resulting in forced shut down of plants. According to him, as this segment of the industry does not need large tracks of land and has a low gestation period, manufacturers interested to come to Odisha will not face any difficulties.

Similar sessions with machine tools, food processing, IT/ITeS, technical textiles, process plants equipment manufacturers, steel and aluminium downstream industries are planned for the future.


IN T

HE

STA

TES

L to R: Ranjan Choudhury, Principal - Programme Development, National Skill Development Corporation; Dr. Sangeeta Goyal, Senior Economist, The World Bank; Vivek Kumar, Secretary, Higher Education Department, Government of West Bengal; Ujjal Biswas, Minister of Technical Education and Training, Government of West Bengal; Anil Verma, Secretary, Technical Education & Training Department, Government of West Bengal; Kalyan Kar, MD, Infinity Knowledge Ventures Pvt. Ltd.; Rahul Dasgupta, Director, Globsyn Skills Development Ltd and Shourie Chatterjee, VP, IL&FS Education & Technology Services Ltd.

Bengal needs to reap its ‘skill dividend’ to become industrial leader

‘Bengal Leads 2013’, an exhibition-cum-business summit, was

organised by the West Bengal Government in Haldia from January 15 to 17, 2013, to showcase the state as a favourable investment destination to the prospective investors. On the occasion, FICCI West Bengal State Council organised a session on ‘Reaping the Skill Dividend in West Bengal’ on January 16, 2013.

West Bengal, the fourth most populous state in the country, has 43 per cent of its population in the age group of 15-39 years. Thus, a huge chunk of potential workforce needs to be effectively trained and suitably placed for accomplishing the goal of inclusive growth. A large pool of skilled workers is critical for attracting investments into the state. As West Bengal gears up to reposition as an industrial leader, it is imperative to look at ways to reap its ‘skill dividend’.

The session on skill development brought together policymakers, industry and private training providers on the same platform to deliberate on the needs for various forms of PPPs and effective convergence of different skill development efforts of the government and private sector to ensure skilling at all levels of the ‘skill pyramid’.

Ujjal Biswas, Minister of Technical Education & Training Department, Government of West Bengal, was the Chief Guest at the session.

Speaking on the status of technical education and training in the state Anil Verma, Secretary, Technical Education & Training Department, Government of West Bengal, said that the focus areas were instituti-onalisation of vocational education, improve in quality and strengthening the linkages with industry. West Bengal was one of the first states chosen for the pilot project for NVEQF (National Vocational Educ-Wation Qualification Framework) in Class IX and X and 93 schools have been approved by MHRD.

Vivek Kumar, Secretary, Higher Education Department, Government of West Bengal, highlighted the recent private university act to provide a stable policy and institutional framework to encourage private investment in the state and therefore from the investors’ perspective West Bengal is an attractive market for investing in institutions and universities.

Dr. Sangeeta Goyal, Senior Econ-omist, The World Bank, presented a snapshot of reform strategy, which is being developed by The World Bank with the Technical Education &

Training Department to revamp the TVET system in the state.

Ranjan Choudhury, Principal – Programme Development, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), mentioned the role of NSDC to scale up the efforts necessary to achieve the objective of skilling 500 million by 2022 in the country. A district-wise, sector-specific skills gap study of West Bengal will be launched soon.

Shourie Chatterjee, VP, IL&FS Education & Technology Services Ltd; Kalyan Kar, MD, Infinity Knowledge Ventures Pvt. Ltd. and Rahul Dasgupta, Director, Globsyn Skills Development Ltd., shared their experiences in skilling the youth population in the state.

More than 20 private training providers including Future Lear-ning, ICA Infotech, Sriram New Horizons, NHSM Knowledge Campus, Technable Solutions, Future Hope India, Orion Edutech, IQST, Enterprise Development Institute, Bandhan and India Skills, were a part of the FICCI delegation to the Bengal Leads Summit.


KEY MACRO ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Nov 2011

Dec 2011

Jan 2012

Feb 2012

Mar 2012

Apr2012

May 2012

June 2012

July 2012

Aug 2012

Sept 2012

Oct 2012

Nov 2012

Index of industrial production (YoY %)

Industry 6.0 2.7 1.0 4.3 -2.8 -1.3 2.5 -2.0 -0.1 2.0 -0.7 8.3 -0.1Mining -3.5 -3.3 -2.1 2.3 -1.1 -2.8 -0.7 -1.1 -3.5 -0.3 2.3 0.0 -5.5Manufacturing 6.6 2.8 1.1 4.1 -3.6 -1.8 2.6 -3.2 0.0 2.4 -1.5 9.8 0.3Electricity 14.6 9.1 3.2 8.0 2.7 4.6 5.9 8.8 2.8 1.9 3.9 5.5 2.4

Industrial growth as per use-based classification (YoY %)

Basic goods 6.5 5.5 1.9 7.6 1.1 1.9 4.4 3.6 1.0 3.0 2.8 4.1 1.7Intermediate goods 1.3 -1.5 -2.5 1.0 0.0 -1.8 3.4 0.9 -1.2 2.7 1.8 9.4 -1.1Capital goods -4.7 -16.0 -2.7 10.5 -20.1 -21.5 -8.6 -27.7 -5.8 -4.4 -12.9 7.5 -7.7Consumer goods-Durables 12.8 10.1 2.5 -0.4 1.1 5.4 9.7 9.1 0.8 1.0 -1.7 16.9 1.9

Growth of core infrastructure industries (YoY %)

Overall Index 7.8 4.95 0.7 6.94 2.2 3.1 4.0 3.8 1.2 2.4 5.0 6.6 1.8Coal 4.9 5.6 7.5 17.8 6.8 3.8 8.0 7.2 2.1 11.0 21.4 10.9 -4.4Crude Oil -5.6 -5.6 -2.0 0.3 -2.9 -1.4 0.5 -0.8 -0.7 -0.6 -1.7 -0.4 0.8Natural Gas -10.1 -10.8 -10.4 -7.6 -10.1 -11.3 -10.8 -11.1 -13.5 -13.5 -14.8 -14.9 -15.2Refinery Products 11.2 0.8 -4.6 6.2 1.6 0.6 2.9 6.1 3.6 8.4 10.3 20.3 6.6Fertilizers -6.7 0.8 4.0 4.1 1.5 -9.3 -15.1 -11.7 -2.2 -2.1 5.7 2.0 5.0Steel 10.5 10.2 -2.8 4.7 2.3 6.8 4.9 -0.5 0.8 1.8 2.0 5.9 6.0Cement 17.0 13.6 10.9 9.8 7.1 8.7 11.4 10.1 3.2 0.4 13.8 6.8 -0.2Electricity 14.4 8.9 3.2 8.6 2.8 5.4 5.9 8.8 2.7 1.9 3.9 5.6 2.3

Monetary indicators (YoY %)

Money supply (M3) 15.2 15.6 14.4 13.5 13.0 13.0 13.3 13.2 13.5 13.7 13.4 13.1* 12.5Aggregate deposits 18.0 16.9 15.7 14.3 17.4 13.3 14.4 13.4 13.8 14.7 13.8 13.4* 12.8Total bank credit 17.6 15.9 16.4 15.6 19.3 17.6 17.8 16.5 17.2 16.9 15.7 16.0* 17.0Non-food credit 17.3 15.7 16.8 15.3 16.8 16.8 16.7 18.6 16.5 17.5 15.5 17.9* 17.8

Inflation (YoY %)

WPI 9.46 7.74 7.23 7.56 7.69 7.50 7.55 7.58 7.52 7.55 7.81 7.45 7.24Primary products 8.90 3.59 2.76 7.07 10.41 9.55 10.31 9.75 10.54 11.23 9.22 7.81 9.42Fuel group 15.48 14.98 16.99 15.11 12.82 12.10 11.53 12.07 8.39 8.74 12.00 11.65 10.02Manufactured products 8.17 7.64 6.71 5.82 5.16 5.27 5.24 5.37 5.87 6.36 6.47 5.95 5.41

CPI (IW) 9.3 6.5 5.3 7.6 8.6 10.2 10.2 10.1 9.8 10.3 9.1 9.6 9.55External sector indicators

Exports ($ mn) 23269.71 25365.69 25346 24618 28681 24455 25681 25067 22443 22300 23698 23247 22299.63Imports ($ mn) 39102.48 40044.06 40107 39781 42587 37941 41947 35371 37936 38000 41778 44208 41586.90Oil imports ($ mn) 12436.6 11678.7 12325 12660 15831 13909 14987 12229.1 13810 12840 14094 14785 14522.1 Non-oil imports ($ mn) 26665.9 28365.4 27782 27121 26756 24032 26959 25707.1 26777 24571 27685 29423 27064.8

Trade balance ($ mn) -13600 -14678.37 -14761 -15163 -13906 -13486 -16265 -10303 -15493 -15622 -18080.3 20961 -19287.3

Gross inflows / Investments ($ mn) 3423 2238 2,997 3204 2621 2947 2413 2214 2,388 3,856 5,117 3279 2395

FII ($ mn) 76 2302 5392 9228 -552 -1306 12 -412 2148 1566 4190 2937 2026External sector indicators (YoY %)

Exports* 3.8 6.7 10.1 4.2 -5.7 3.23 -4.16 -5.4 -14.8 -9.7 -10.90 -1.63 -4.17Imports* 24.5 19.8 20.2 20.6 24.2 3.83 -7.36 -13.5 -7.6 -5.08 5.06 7.37 6.35

Exchange rate and Forex reserves

Re / Dollar 50.84 52.66 51.35 49.16 50.32 51.80 54.47 56.03 55.47 55.55 54.60 53.02 54.68Re / Euro 68.90 69.31 66.21 65.09 66.52 68.16 69.70 70.30 68.24 68.87 70.12 68.75 70.15Re/ 100 Yen 65.62 67.66 66.78 62.74 61.04 63.81 68.33 70.67 70.23 70.68 69.90 67.23 67.60Forex reserves ($ billion) 307.8 296.6 292.7 295.9 294.3 294.8 286.0 289.7 288.7 290.4 294.8 295.29 294.50

Sources – Central Statistical Organization, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Finance, Reserve Bank of India, ^as on December 28, 2012, *as on October 26, 2012 *based on Provisional numbers, some numbers have been rounded to one decimal place

FICCI Business Digest - January 2013

Business

naina lal

pravasi bharatiya

montek singh

electricity

acceptable

enjoy due

vikram singh

consumer rights