Allow foreign players in debt market, says survey

September 7th, 2009 ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) finance ministry has set up a special unit to manage public debt, WAM news agency reported Monday. The Public Debt Management Unit will, among other things, be responsible for the development of strategies for debt and risk management and refer these strategies to the cabinet.

July 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India is expected to issue by the end of this year a notification to increase foreign equity in defence production to 49 percent from the current 26 percent, a senior official said. This follows the Economic Survey for 2008-09 tabled in parliament July 2 that said that 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) should be permitted for high-technology defence equipment.

July 2nd, 2009 CHENNAI - Life insurance penetration in India dipped in 2007, first time since the sector was opened up for private players a decade ago, said the country's Economic Survey for 2008-09 released here Thursday. "The life insurance penetration in India increased from 1.77 percent in 2000 to 4.1 percent in 2006, before declining to 4 percent in 2007," the survey tabled in parliament by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Economic Survey for 2008-09 Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tabled in parliament Thursday has advocated sweeping policy changes like foreign investment in multi-brand retailing and higher foreign stake in insurance companies. The survey report card suggested the cap on foreign equity in insurance sector be raised to 49 percent from 26 percent currently.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The flow of credit to the farm sector increased to Rs.264,455 crore ($55 billion) last fiscal from Rs.254,657 crore in 2007-08, India's Economic Survey for 2008-09 released Thursday said. But agriculture growth fell sharply to 1.6 percent from 4.9 percent the year before.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Just a day before the government tables the railway budget, the Economic Survey for 2008-09 has suggested that the government should allow private players in passenger train operations to tourist spots. "Private entry into provision of passenger trains must be allowed to and from all the tourist destinations," said the survey.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's Economic Survey for 2008-09 released here Thursday has called for allowing private players - both domestic and foreign - to invest in the country's nuclear power sector. The survey, tabled in parliament by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, however, said the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap should be fixed at 49 percent.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Economic Survey for 2008-09 tabled Thursday has called for banking and financial market reforms, including increasing foreign investment in banks in a phased manner and lifting of ban on commodity futures. It also called for expediting passage of the Banking Regulations (Amendment) Bill and allowing high net worth individuals to invest directly in capital markets rather than go through the controversial participatory notes route.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government must allow entry of private players in passenger train operations and railway services to tourist destinations, the Economic Survey tabled in parliament Thursday said. "Private entry into provision of passenger train must be allowed to and from all the tourists destinations," said the survey.

June 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian economy is expected to grow by 7.2 percent in the current fiscal, primarily driven by improvements in consumer sentiment, rural economy, and policy reforms, said an industry survey released here Thursday. According to the survey, conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), about 42 percent of the respondents believe policy reforms would cast massive impact on the GDP (gross domestic product) growth.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Despite the overall slowdown and driven by unprecedented demand for mobile phone connections, the Indian telecom equipment industry grew 20 percent last fiscal to top $24 billion in revenues, says a new survey. Interestingly, though, the market for mobile and fixed-line handsets grew just 6 percent because of crashing prices and focus on rural market, said the annual survey by Voice and Data, a telecom industry journal of CyberMedia group.

April 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India as a retail market continues to be attractive to a lot of global players but the progression from expression of interest to the actual setting up of operations is slow, a survey conducted by a global real estate services firm indicates. Indian currently stands 39 on the list of most-preferred international retail markets, while neighbour China is high up in the list at number six, according to the survey done by CB Richard Ellis.

March 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Home Minister P. Chidambaram Tuesday condemned the shootout near Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium in which six Sri Lankan players were injured and said the security of the players was 'hopelessly inadequate'.

January 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Only five telecom operators out of 11 have met the 90 percent quality of service benchmark set by the sector's watchdog, a survey released Friday said. Interestingly, the country's largest private operator Airtel is among the firms that failed to meet the benchmark of 90 percent that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has set for quality of service.

December 24th, 2008 NEW DELHI - About 2.27 million personal computers (PCs) were shipped in India during the third quarter this year, reflecting a growth of 1.7 percent as compared to the corresponding period last year, according to a recent IDC's India Quarterly PC Tracker 2008 third quarter survey. IDC, provider of market intelligence, advisory services and events for the information technology and telecommunications sector, said desktop shipments fell 8.9 percent while notebook shipments grew 37.8 percent during July-September, compared to the same period in 2007.