India can generate 2,500 MW from waste: Assocham

September 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Gold prices may go up further during the forthcoming festive season to touch Rs.18,000 per 10 gram, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India(Assocham). Gold has seen a huge build-up in the exchange traded funds (ETF) in the last few weeks and will gain further momentum in view of festive demand and low international production, Assocham said in a report.

September 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Wholesale prices of rice rose more than 13 percent in the past one year due to a demand-supply mismatch, says the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham). The industry forum said the price of wheat similarly rose by about five percent.

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 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's arms imports are expected to touch $30 billion by 2012 even as the domestic defence market is poised to grow to $700 million in five years, according to an industry lobby report. The report submitted to the defence ministry by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said: "India's arms imports alone would rise to $30 billion by 2012." "The Defence Offset Facilitation Agency (DOFA) and the armed forces in consultation with India Inc should work out a comprehensive strategy to ensure that defence imports happen at extremely competitive rates," Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said.

July 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has urged the government to restrict Chinese power equipment imports as the domestic industry is badly hit by the cheaper availability of Chinese products. In a note submitted to the finance ministry, Assocham said India's power equipment manufacturers lost business worth Rs.2.5 lakh crore ($52 billion) as power producers turned to cheaper Chinese products.

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 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Despite achieving a healthy 16 percent annual growth rate, India's general insurance business accounts for just 0.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), compared to the world average of 2.14 percent, says a report released here Tuesday. "The penetration of general insurance in India remains low on account of low consumer preference, largely untapped rural markets and constrained distribution channels," said the report jointly prepared by Crisil and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

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.

June 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) Wednesday urged the government to exempt infrastructure projects from excise, value-added tax (VAT) and central sales tax (CST) to make them more cost-effective. "On account of excise, VAT and CST, the capital costs of projects become dearer by over 20-25 percent which puts huge burden on companies commissioning infrastructure projects," said Assocham president Sajjan Jindal.

June 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Medical tourism can fetch India up to Rs.8,000 crore in foreign exchange by 2012, nearly double than current figures, according to an industry lobby. "Currently, the earnings accrued through medical tourism annually are estimated to be around Rs.4,500 crore," said Sajjan Jindal, president of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) in a statement Thursday.

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".

May 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Punjab has incurred property losses of up to Rs.7,000 crore on account of the violence by followers of the Dera Sachh Khand sect, according to conservative estimates arrived at by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). "Social tension in Punjab has caused a loss of Rs.6,000-Rs.7,000 crore of public property and pushed behind its investment prospects to a significant extent," Assocham said in a statement Tuesday.

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.

March 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - A leading industry lobby Sunday urged the country's central bank to lower prime lending rates (PLR) for agriculture and infrastructure projects to 10 percent from the current 15 percent to help economic expansion. A list of recommendations sent to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) also called for a further slash of 50 basis points in repo, reverse repo and cash reserve ratios.

January 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Even as India's exports decline, India-African bilateral trade is projected to grow by over nine times from $26 billion now to $150 billion by 2012, according to an estimate by a leading business chamber. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), in a report on Africa, projects that in the next four years the continent will have greater business significance and drive two-way trade to over $150 billion.