Give industry status to retail sector: Assocham

September 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Companies in the telecom and auto sectors have witnessed robust growth in turnover despite not increasing their advertisement budgets, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocam), an industry lobby. In a study titled "Cost-Benefit Analysis of Advertisement Campaigns", Assocham said: "The amount spent on the marketing expenses in proportion to the sales has undergone a substantial decline in 2008-09." However, it added that Indian telecom and auto companies, "despite spending less on their advertisement and promotion campaigns, were able to increase their sales volume significantly".

September 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Contrary to popular belief, tax expenses of companies with the infrastructure status have gone up by 90.3 percent, a survey released here Sunday said. According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry's (Assocham) Financial Pulse study, tax expenses for companies under the infrastructure status have gone up because of improved realisations.

August 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government should announce subsidies to the crisis-hit exporters in the forthcoming foreign trade policy to make India's exports sector more competitive, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has said. "Subsidies need to be extended to Indian exporters by substantially reducing excise and local levies and other export duties," Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said in a paper submitted to Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma.

August 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Though the overall economy has started showing signals of an early recovery, the country's textile sector, the second largest employment provider, is still struggling with the slowdown, an industry report said Monday. The report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said decline in textile exports and massive layoffs in the industry were still continuing.

July 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) wants the government to set up a Rs.7,500-crore ($1.5-billion) corpus fund for the meat and fish processing industry. The fund could be used to infuse new technologies and skills into the food processing sector in order to increase the production of meat, fish and poultry by 25 percent in two years, the chamber said in a statement Wednesday.

July 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The share of manufactured goods in India's exports declined from 81 percent in 1999-2000 to 63 percent in 2008-09, according to an industry lobby survey released here Monday. However, India's project exports - setting up infrastructure projects overseas - increased by over 25 percent during the same period, the report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said.

July 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian cities have the potential to have over 300 new hypermarkets by 2011, mostly in tier-I and tier-II cities, according to a joint study by global auditor KPMG and the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Assocham). The study, Reinventing Indias Retail Sector, said: "Even in 2008, 212 towns had sufficient market potential for hypermarkets for break-even existence.

June 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The banking sector, which hired 16,200 people in the first quarter this fiscal, remained the biggest job provider in the country during the period, an industry lobby survey said. The country's largest lender, State Bank of India, alone created 13,000 jobs, while Danalakshmi Bank and Andhra Bank recruited 1,300 and 900 people respectively, the survey by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said.

June 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government can raise about Rs.80,000 crore ($16.6 billion) by divesting stake in public sector units, says an industry lobby report. "Dilution of stake in leading public sector units alone could fetch at least Rs.80,000 crore," the report by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said, adding that this amount could be used to bring down the fiscal deficit burden.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Coaching institutes must be brought under the tax net as they seldom disclose their earnings, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has said. In a note submitted to the revenue department of the finance ministry Wednesday, Assocham said coaching institutes were charging "astronomically higher fee without submitting proper accounts of their income to tax authorities".

June 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) Wednesday called on the government to bring down tax on household purchases to less than 20 percent from over 45 percent now to spur domestic demand. "Although the annual income of an average Indian is growing significantly, it is not resulting in increased savings because the government takes away over 45 percent on household purchases in terms of indirect taxes alone," Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said in a statement.

April 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has urged the government to set up a 'separate infrastructure financing fund' worth $90 billion to finance infrastructure projects in the next three years. In a note submitted to the Planning Commission and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Assocham secretary general D.S.

April 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Corporate India's budget for brand promotion and entertainment will fall by nearly 32-35 percent in 2009-10 on account of the current meltdown, an industry lobby said in a report released Thursday. An internal assessment of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), which involved nearly 300 companies, said a 'vast majority' of private sector firms were yet to make their promotional budget public.

January 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Job creation dipped 38 percent in three critical sectors in the quarter ended December 31, 2008, an industry lobby report released Thursday said. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said job creation in the financial services, IT and hospitality sectors dipped 38 percent between October-December 2008, compared to the previous quarter, and predicted the situation would continue to be 'bleak' in 2009.

January 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A leading industry lobby has advocated a five-year tax holiday for hotels including five-star establishments in and around the capital to expedite hotel room construction before the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. The Union budget of 2007-08 provides a five-year tax holiday for two-star, three-star and four-star hotels and convention centres in Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) and Ghaziabad.