Albeit the renewable power generation is relatively new to the mountainous south Asian country, it is upbeat about the commencement of the project by early next year. Mewang Gyeltshen, chief engineer from the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Bhutan told Recharge that energy demand was increasing by 12 percent, and country had sufficient supplies but remote households needed a sustainable standalone off-grid system.

On the other hand, India’s energy fund is aimed at developing a South Asian regional power grid, with focus on renewable sectors such as hydro, solar and wind. It will comprise of Bhutan with investment of about $850mn (3,000 MW), a 400-kv transmission line at $50mn with Nepal, a 1,000 MW HVDC link with Sri Lanka costing $415mn and a 1,000-MW HVDC back-to-back link with Bangladesh at $220mn.

It should be recalled the Tala Hydro power project in Bhutan, a joint venture by Indian firms, has been successfully commissioned in September 2006 and transmits power to North India. The project has mutually helped, Bhutan to jack up its economy while India to reduce power shortages in its northern parts.

The success of Tala has prompted other Indian energy firms to foray into Bhutan. Last month, the THDC India Ltd, a Govt. of India undertaking, has signed a MoU with Bhutan for the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of 180 MW Bunakha hydroelectric project in Bhutan. The Bunakha project is a part of the Indian government’s initiative to develop 10,000 MW of hydro power in Bhutan by the year 2020.

Bhutan sells hydropower to India at a price of $0.04 per kW, making 100 percent profit from a production cost of $0.02 per KW. Since it is estimated that for every one percent GDP growth more than the same percentage of energy production is required, Indo-Bhutan energy co-operation is likely to be a long-term one.

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The available figures indicate that the Indian diamond industry along with other major diamond trading nations is gradually recovering from the shattering effects of global economic crisis. Though the country was able to make some progress on export front in the month of May, it is still significantly short of the 2008 level of $2.55bn in the same month on polished diamond exports. Besides, India still has a polished export deficit of $864mn for the first five months of 2010, up from the deficit of $430mn it posted a year ago.

However, it is not clear whether India will be able to put the past trade record on track as major procurement sources have become susceptible to stiff competition. The latest developments in Zimbabwe and China ties signal that the latter is making inroads in obtaining diamond mining rights from some African countries including the former, to nudge India from the African procurement zone.

China is planning to augment its diamond polishing sector, which only produced $3bn in exports in 2009 as compared to India’s $17.5bn. It seems a fight is brewing between the world’s two fastest growing economies, China and India, to lay claim over diamonds of Africa.

According to sources, a deal has been struck between Zimbabwe and the Chinese government to supply weapons in exchange for a steady supply of diamonds. Moreover, some reports claim that Zimbabwe’s government is secretly giving mining permits to soldiers of the Chinese military, challenging the Kimberly Process, which promotes the mining and production of conflict-free diamonds.

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Interestingly, an internal Pentagon memo, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and mobile phones. It also reports that the country is home to previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and large deposits of niobium, a soft metal used in producing superconducting steel, besides lithium.

The memo compels to probe, what is Pentagon’s task in Afghanistan? Is it mining, peace-keeping or capturing the elusive terrorists? The timing of the announcement also induces the misgivings on the veracity of the study as well as the US interest in the country. Is the US trying to stay longer in Afghanistan on this pretext to thwart the increasing presence of the regional powers, China and India, by providing business options to the county?

In November, a 30-year lease, to start mining copper in the Aynak valley, southwest of Kabul, which holds one of the world’s biggest untapped copper deposits, was sold to the China Metallurgical Group for $3bn, making it the biggest foreign investment and private business venture in Afghanistan’s history. Likewise, post-Taliban, India is also heavily involved in the re-construction and development of Afghanistan’s infrastructure.

The retrospective chronicling of the events on the recent discovery compel to call for more queries. Why Russia did not show much interest in Afghanistan despite having the cognizance of country’s rare mineral wealth?

According to the study, while leaving Afghanistan in 1989 after nearly a decade-old occupation the Soviets left behind a horde of old charts and data hinting on the massive mineral deposits in the country. Incidentally, it says, it was with these data, the US Geological Survey began a series of aerial surveys of Afghanistan’s mineral resources in 2006.

Consequently, it establishes a fact that the US entered Afghanistan with prior knowledge of potential mineral wealth in the country. If there is truth in the find, then the Afghanistan’s new found fortune fuels the perception that any ‘offensive’ war includes an exploration agenda for natural resources or knowledge treasure trove behind it whenever any country initiates a war in a foreign land, especially a far-off one.

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Last week, Mehmet Simsek, Finance Minister of Turkey told that his country’s GDP would grow 12 percent in the first quarter of 2010. He had claimed that the economy was recovering quickly from the backlash of the global meltdown in view of country’s several internal crisis management programs.

The 2nd TWTB meet, which is expected to become a venue for 7bn of trade deals, is held between 14th and 20th June. According to sources, the meet has been able to attract nearly 2,200 businessmen from 135 countries and 1,200 Turkish traders as well. About 1,600 translators are interpreting the forums into 38 languages, and the participants would form delegations to visit 62 provinces of Turkey.

The primary objective of the meet would be to include and optimize small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of Turkey to tide over the challenges from the monopolistic-oriented economies. Moreover, Turkey has no intention to endlessly wait for the EU membership to shape its economy to usher in growth particularly at a time when Europe is facing a volatile economic climate.

Through the TUSKON, a confederation with a strong base in Turkey and abroad, the country will be assisting entrepreneurs to overcome the language barrier by providing language courses, and in some cases even translations. The Turkish business confederation along with its affiliations across the world would be working together by simplifying and expediting business processes for country’s SMEs to make the export engine move forward rapidly.

The TUSKON has sister organizations in 135 countries across the world, and these institutions are set up by the Turkish entrepreneurs and volunteers to integrate its members to the international business environment. The Indo-Turkish Business Association, Thai-Turkish Business Association, South Africa Turkish Business Association and the Turkish and Cameroon Business Association are some of the business organizations affiliated to the parent confederation.

Turkey as an emerging export-oriented economy is paying vital importance for the TWTB meet as its trading history indicates those Turkish international business entities monetized significantly better than the domestic ones. A number of government agencies and companies including the Foreign Ministry, the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), Turkish Airlines (THY) and Bank Asya are joining force with the TUSKON to make the meet successful.

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The Trade Minister’s words were marked by clear ideas on which the country’s economic path would be paved in the coming years regardless of its size. He said NZ started its reform process 30 years ago with very high protectionist barriers but now was solidly centred on reciprocal trade liberalisation.

Groser shifted his focus from the FTA talks to WTO negotiations and expressed dismay over the inertia at the WTO. He said the WTO negotiating process was suffering from sclerosis, and criticized the WTO Director General’s use of the metaphor of having done 80 percent of the negotiation. He added that but last 20 percent or whatever number one chose to illustrate the remaining negotiating gap – was proving elusive.

He arrayed data on NZ trade policies including the collective effort in the early 1990s that it would not put all its eggs in the then GATT or now WTO basket. He pointed out since then, while emphasising multilateral trade policy, successive NZ Governments had aggressively and successively pursued a bi-partisan strategy of developing FTAs with economies which were either major trading partners or promised to be – i.e. the emerging economies.

“All projections suggest that in even twenty to thirty years’ time, the countries with the largest populations will have the largest economies. We will be living in a truly multi-polar world in which we are highly likely to have four economic super-powers with huge populations (China, India, the US and the hybrid model of the 27 Member EU) plus a range of very significant economies on a second tier including Japan, Korea, Indonesia and, of course the other of the so-called ‘BRICs’ – the formulation that includes not just China and India but also Brazil and Russia”, claimed Groser.

The gist of the address disclosed that NZ current FTAs including China, Thailand, Singapore and Chile and future FTAs or any other trade deals were and will be designed to follow an extreme application of what is called ‘first mover advantage’ strategy – getting in first, to avoid the possibility of being left to last.

NZ is the first developed country to have established a comprehensive FTA with China. Besides, NZ has negotiated a parallel FTA with Hong Kong – NZ is the only country in the world so far, other than China itself, to have such a relationship.

At a glance, the NZ-Russia FTA opens up business opportunities for not only the NZ dairy industry but also extend to other areas such as agro-tech, tourism and education. New Zealand’s exports to Russia are worth NZ$187mn ($127mn) last year, of which about two-thirds are dairy products. That’s just a fraction of the more than the $30bn of food Russia purchases annually.

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Ahead of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to India next month, hundreds of protesters took to the streets against the proposed trade pact, claiming it would hugely benefit the neighbouring country by forcing the domestic industry into appalling risks. The CEPA which was supposed to be signed two years ago is likely to come to fruition during Rajapaksa’s visit to New Delhi on June 8.

Many highly educated, including doctors and engineers who were part of the recent protest along with businessmen fear that the island could be dominated by cheaper and skilled Indian services at the expense of the domestic industry. But this argument is unfounded as India’s educated unemployed were largely jobless because their reluctance to work for less or in remote places. Moreover, Sri Lanka being a country less than half the currency value of India would not have to panic about the products or services from India going cheap rather can ensure superior quality which could help the country build its economy on a firmer footing.

The Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) signed in 1998 and which is effective since March 1, 2000 has been able to boost trade between both nations significantly with near equal opportunity for the Sri Lankans. The ISFTA that is confined to the trading of only goods pushed country’s exports by manifold from $55.7mn in 2000 to $516.4mn in 2007.

On the contrary, in 2002, the traded volume between China and Sri Lanka totalled about $350mn, of which China’s exports accounted for $340mn providing room for Sri Lankan exports at about a meagre $10mn. Although Sino-Lankan trade witnessed tremendous growth over the years with bilateral trade crossing $2bn in 2009, imports from China remained predominately greater than the efflux.

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India would be largely interested in absorbing Israel’s technological prowess in areas such as bio-tech, nano-technology, healthcare, security services, water management and agriculture. On the other hand, Israel will focus on the India’s manufacturing potential to overcome its limitations on this front.

Although there are equal trade and utility potential for both countries, the tariff differences remained a roadblock for the smooth transition of trade talks ever since they began. India’s tariffs are on the higher end, and will have to make steep reductions to accommodate Israel’s trading needs. However, given the smaller size of Israel’s manufacturing industry, India does not have to worry about any massive influx of goods if it compromised on tariffs.

Speaking to Business Line, Eli Belotserkovsky, Deputy Chief Mission, Embassy of Israel, said that there are very few issues that need to be sorted out to finalise a FTA between the two nations. He opined that the two-way trade was evenly matched at about $2bn, and projected to grow up to $6bn once the FTA was signed.

Belotserkovsky admitted that they were not good at mass production or heavy equipment, where India could play a big role. He also said that the textile trade was another area which had immense potential between the two nations.

The Indo-Israeli FTA is expected to promote investment opportunities for both governments as well as private enterprises. Among goods and services, both countries’ major area of focus would be agriculture as it has been in the past few years.

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According to sources, the US cotton industry, the largest producer is experiencing unexpected orders from China and Bangladesh. This new development at the cotton front has also pushed up demand for West African cotton. If the ban sustains for a longer period it may even help Australia and Brazil to chip in to the demands of the Asian buyers.

The global prices of cotton also witnessed sudden rise soon after the announcement of India’s ban on its cotton exports, a decision made to mitigate domestic yarn spinners’ woes. China, Bangladesh and Pakistan rely on India particularly due to low prices and inexpensive procurement overheads.

China is the largest importer of cotton, and its imports are estimated at 9.5mn bales per annum. Furthermore, China’s cotton demand is mainly met through the supplies from Indian cotton growers. Until India takes a review on the ban in favor of exports, which it does based on periodical production status; China along with other countries will have to procure cotton for higher prices.

But the Cotton Association of India fears that the ban may damage the reputation of India as an authentic source for cotton procurement in the future. Moreover, it is not clear how India’s cotton shipments would double to some 8mn bales by September this year as last month forecast by India’s Cotton Advisory Board (CAB).

Some figures show the US, Brazil and Pakistan have no surplus cotton, while China’s cotton acreage has dipped 10 percent this year. As per CAB, India has estimated cotton crop close to 30mn bales for 2009-10.

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In 2007, Bush administration began negotiations on ACTA particularly to contain several developing countries engaged in piracy acts, and to protect the interests of leading US firms which lost their price competitiveness on account of counterfeiting. Incidentally, the ACTA effect will not be restricted to internet activities alone but extends to counterfeit pharmaceuticals, designer merchandise, music, movies, etc.

Surprisingly, the final draft will not have the endorsement of China, one of the largest counterfeit producers. Hence, looking back to past events on taking action against China in regards to infringements, the trade pact is expected to encounter similar stalemate while implementing a likely ratified deal. Participants in the negotiations included Australia, Canada, the European Union, represented by the European Commission, the European Union Presidency (Spain) and EU Member States, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the US.

Many ACTA dissidents blame the secretive or undemocratic nature of reaching the agreement by not revealing the details for public discussion. On the other hand, WIPO provides scope for public scrutiny with an added advantage of the inclusion of major counterfeiting countries in negotiations.

Meanwhile, the tech firms are understood to be apprehensive about ACTA’s secondary liability clause, which recommends the responsibility of copyright infringement behaviour of the user on the online service provider. The clause will possibly affect social networking sites, video-sharing sites and several other user-generated content sites including the online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia.

Last month, a statement signed by senior trade-union officials from New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and the US raised the question of intellectual property rights becoming an element in the free-trade negotiations. However that fear is put to rest by officials at the eighth round of ACTA negotiations calling the deal as a ‘standalone’ one, and would not tinker with FTAs.

According to sources, the draft will leave out three-strikes provision that would require border agents to search the contents of electronic devices. Experts term three-strikes a preposterous idea as it would virtually bring every transit cell to a standstill.

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The agencies including Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Export Inspection Council (EIC) have provided necessary technical inputs and financial assistance in supporting export growth in perishable items. The release indicated APEDA through its schemes for Infrastructure Development Scheme for Quality Development, Scheme for Market Development and the Scheme for Research & Development has been making efforts to expand export of products including processed food items.

The exports of perishable items have increased from $1.78bn in 2006-07 to $2.69bn during 2008-09, and a similar projectile has been able to witness in April to November 2009 period by recording more than $1.5bn. APEDA and Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) under the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India have compiled the export data.

As per the release, the vegetables exports from India during 2007 – 08 were about $341mn and the same was worth around $560mn in 2008 – 09 fiscal. In contrast, floriculture continued to idle with 82.5mn in 2008 – 09 and $76mn in 2007 – 08 as compared to 2006 – 2007 fiscal’s $146mn. The export of perishable items is permitted freely under the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP).

India’s perishable merchandise is largely comprised of vegetables, fruits, groundnuts, floriculture and livestock products. The latest figures show that fruits, groundnuts and livestock products have grown by about 10 – 20 percent.

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According to a Business Line report, the mission, led by Mr Marten van den Berg, Deputy Director-General for Foreign Economic Relations, brings 40 delegates from 27 companies, and will cover New Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai. Although majority of the group comprised of heads from the agro and automotive industries, the mission will also be exploring trade opportunities in areas such as, the life sciences and health, logistics and infrastructure, IT, tele-communications and innovative other sectors.

Last week, the Netherlands Ambassador to India Bob Hiensch has said that his country was eyeing greater bilateral trade between the two countries in coming years. He added that the Netherlands was hoping bilateral trade to reach €10bn by 2014.

Currently exports from India are valued at about €2.5bn and imports stood around €1.6bn. India and the Netherlands began their trading alliance since more than 400 years ago when the Dutch trading ships visited South and East coasts of India in search of spices and textiles.

The Holland delegation is mainly visiting India to showcase its prowess in various spheres including IT, agro-tech and water management systems to attract Indian companies whom desirous of entering the European market. It should be recalled that last month, Oedith Jaharia of the Netherlands India Chamber of Commerce and Trade told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that 25 percent of India’s fruits and vegetables were wasted in the absence of viable food processing technology. He suggested that India could use the Netherlands expertise in food processing to avoid such colossal waste.

The present economic outlook of the Netherlands is very attractive since the country is able to weather the recent global meltdown by bringing in foreign investments more than €3bn or about 30 percent of its GNP in 2009. Ms Jolanda van der Aart, who runs the India Desk at the Amsterdam Foreign Investment Office told Business Line that information, communication and technology was one of the five largest export revenue earner for the Netherlands, and has been growing at 4-5 percent every year, and this offered the Indian firms a huge opportunity by way of outsourcing and export and import of computer parts and systems.

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Women’s Bill recommends 33.3 percent or one-third of seats in the decision making bodies starting from the Lok Sabha, down to state and local legislatures. The sympathizers of the bill claim that such legislation will increase women’s participation in political affairs of the country by diluting gender inequality in the social system.

Though the draft has passed the first hurdle by getting a nod from the Rajyasabha, upper parliamentary house, underscores women emancipation and empowerment, it is believed to have constructed to serve a larger need of the country, i.e. population control. India’s policy makers envisages such a need as all inclusive growth in the past two decades have facilitated increased life expectancy and reduced infant mortality spiking population growth. They also perceive even 10 percent plus GDP growth would not suffice if the population growth is left untamed.

Nonetheless, there are many misgivings about as to how the bill would address the issues of women such as access to education, healthcare and even food, and above all the decision making rights including child-bearing. It should be noted that the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh stated before the bill was put to vote in the upper house “What we are going to enact today is a small token of homage to the sacrifices our women have made in nation building, in the freedom struggle, in all other nation building activities.”

Incidentally, the government seemed to be hoping the benefits of the bill to trickle in over a period of time than in immediate future. The exercise of effecting a policy change is an effort to expedite women empowerment through a governmental process rather than awaiting a social change as many countries with higher women parliamentary participation have experienced. Rwanda ranks first among the list of countries with female representation in the decision making body followed by Nordic states including Sweden and Finland.

The bill has to undergo two more phases for its approval, one at the lower house of the parliament and other at the state assemblies. Reservation within the new bill for minorities and lower castes as demanded by the opposing parties will be discussed once again in the coming sessions.

Prior to the approval, it is hoped, rather than reserving fixed constituencies for women, a rotating system covering all constituencies should be included in the bill for the outreach of all sections of the country. The new legislation to bear the desired results needs to include well chalked out responsibilities to the female representatives for the upliftment of the women of each constituency they represent. Unless these key elements are not looked upon, the fourteen-year old proposal may not be able to fulfil its very goal.

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Along with changes in trade policies which would help exports from developing countries the Chinese manufacturers also will get incentives to maintain price competitiveness in the global markets. China’s exports, which experienced robust growth of more than 25 percent before 2008, dropped by 16 percent last year.

Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming at the sidelines of the meet stated all China’s financial policies, including its devalued status of yuan/renminbi, were part of China’s stimulus package comprehensively designed to counter global economic meltdown. He also defended the subsidies, claiming the stimulus incentives “abide by the rule of the World Trade Organisation and bear no protectionism.”

While announcing the policy statement, China admitted that it would “eliminate unreasonable restrictions” on the import front. A re-look at this policy comes after repeated complaints from India to its Chinese counterparts at every platform they met. The policy statement said “imports from developing countries will be expanded so as to satisfy domestic demand on the one hand, and promote mutual benefits and common development on the other.”

Zhang Zhigang, a member of the CPPCC said that if the country wanted to encourage consumption, exports were “vital”. Likewise, Chen said that export-related sectors provide at least 90mn jobs – about 7 percent of the national population – and therefore affect consumption.

Barring surprises, most members during the meet felt export was key to China’s economy indicating the most censured yuan’s low currency value that is tied to the Chinese export advantage would be moreover the same for the coming months until it gets even with its early 2008 export growth. Chen statement corroborates that fact as he said “although yuan faces appreciation pressure, China still plans to keep the exchange rate of yuan stable”.

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According to Emirates Business24/7, the companies such as Gemalto, Fundamo, mBlox and the Western Union are keen on tying up with the mobile service providers to cash in on the new market. The primary focus of these companies would be to extend services along with the GCC member states to countries including India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan and Syria, and some countries in Africa and Latin America.

Gemalto, one of the largest in the mobile payments solutions segment, is already working with du and etisalat. Pascal Oromi, VP for mobile financial services at Gemalto said currently, one third of Gemalto’s revenue came from the Middle East, and was expected to grow significantly in 2010.

Likewise, Fundamo, another player in this space who was unsuccessful at previous occasions for tenders in the UAE is understood to be positive on another shy. Richard Bailey, Product Manager at Fundamo pointed out that mobile money provided a ready access to migrants who still did not have access to traditional banking services by offering banks an opportunity to reach out to the unbanked.

As per latest reports, the Western Union has roped in Comviva Technologies, one of India’s largest providers of VAS to mobile operators to its Mobile Vendor Program for servicing mobile finance initiatives across the globe. Khalid Fellahi, Senior VP, Mobile Transaction Services of the Western Union, informed the technology had been a success in Kenya and Philippines, and an announcement on its mobile wallet plans in the Middle East was awaited soon.

Whereas, Andrew Bud, Executive Chairman at Sweden based mBlox said the high mobile penetration and also lack of banking infrastructure in some areas make it a top area for mBlox. The company plans to operate from Mumbai in India to cater the needs of the Middle East.

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The president of Malaysian Indian Business Association (MIBA) P Sivakumar told that it was imperative to relax visa regulations to tide over the growing demand for tailors as many shops were at the verge of shutting down. The inadequacy of sustainable skilled human resources in this field within the country was pointed out to be one of the major reasons for the shortage.

Sivakumar said currently most of the workers with traditional sewing skills were hired from India and Pakistan. He further added although most of these businesses preferred to hire Malaysians, there was a lack of local workers with the necessary skills.

Many representatives from the industry is understood to have approached the MIBA president on this issue as they feared any delay from the government in granting permission to hire foreigners would force them to close shop sooner or later. Sivakumar said “We want the government to consider their plight as it is a unique problem”.

The Malaysian government’s efforts to train locals to avoid jobs being lost to foreigners were futile following many prospects who were homemakers opted to work from home. Sivakumar said the government should consider long-term training programs to generate skilled workers within the country.

According to sources, the MIBA is preparing to present a memorandum to the Human Resources Ministry to resolve this issue, and there are also plans afoot to set up an Indian tailors’ association. The MIBA is a non-profit and non-governmental organization which facilitates entrepreneurial integration of the Malaysian Indians to the region.

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The members of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) advised Indian investors to be wary of scammers. The NIPC urged to either go through the Nigerian embassy in India or the commission itself for any trade or investment-related transactions to avoid any fraudulent deals.

The meet which was held in Ahmadabad, the former capital of Gujarat state chiefly discussed the issues related to fictitious firms and individuals from Nigeria that swindled many Indians through fake email business offers. Ibrahim Usman Gafai, representing High Commissioner of Nigeria in India suggested not to entertain any contracts being awarded by the Nigerian government through agents or individuals.

Gafai apprized that the veracity of any contract could be established through the government’s bi-weekly magazine, which contained the detailed procedure of awarding work contracts. He further added Indian traders could also verify the genuineness of any deal through the Nigerian embassy in India.

Several people in India have become victims to email frauds that baited them to cough up thousands of dollars to win jobs, lotteries and priceless property. Majority of the perpetrators of such frauds included nationals of Nigeria and from many other African nations.

Incidentally, Amul dairy company of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) became the main attraction to the Nigerian delegation during the visit to India. Amul became a household name in India after it revolutionized milk supplies by taking them to the door steps of most parts of India through its large distribution network.

Reuben Kifasi, director of the NIPC said that he wanted to replicate the successful co-operative model of Amul in his country. Similarly, Mustafa Bello, executive secretary of the NIPC stated that though it would not be possible to completely replicate the model but would have to take up in phases as his country was currently importing milk powder, and any stoppage might encourage smuggling.

However, Bello admitted that Nigeria would import milk from Amul during the transition from milk powder to milk in his country. The NIPC informed that it would send a team comprising of dairy professionals and farmers to Gujarat to study the Amul model.

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As per the survey, Indian naans and bagels, the New York favourite have also made notable growth by 13 percent and 11 percent respectively. Andy Simpson, Tesco’s bakery spokesman said “While croissants have been commonplace across the UK since the 1980s, it’s naan bread, chapattis, bagels and more recently tortillas that have now established themselves as popular snack alternatives to the traditional sandwich.

Simpson further added that there were so many bread varieties from all around the world now available in the UK and these were drawing sales from traditional loaves, rolls and baps which had reigned supreme in bakeries for hundreds of years. His words are corroborated by the fact that even kuboos, the most preferred bread variety of the Middle East is available in many of the stores in the UK regularly. Besides, the multicultural demographics and consumers’ attitude to experiment with new snacks have also led to the slide in the traditional British food stuff.

The state of the art commercially viable technology present now to produce many oriental bites is also believed to be another reason for them to breach the 250 year old strongly held fortress of traditional British bread basket. Until recently, large scale production of many Indian food items including chapattis and naans were not possible, but today instead of employing manual hours, such production processes are done by machines with relatively less time in making higher quantity.

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Sharma who was in China to attend the eighth Joint Economic Group dialogue urged the host country to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers on import of Indian rice, fruits and vegetables. He also requested to facilitate landing rights for Indian TV channels in China, and the import of more Indian films.

Sharma informed that New Delhi had doubled its foreign workers visa quota to 40, a decision that likely to help more Chinese firms than any other. However, the number of immigrant workers is still not allowed to exceed more than one percent of the total number of workers employed in any project. While China’s Commerce Minister Chen Demin reciprocated by saying that Indian workers would also get visas on liberal basis.

During the meet, Wen showed keen interest in improving bilateral ties with India and said that only if India and China shared common development platform that they could translate this century into an Asian one. Similarly, Sharma said the time for exclusivity in the international governance structure was over; and both nations would have to be at the front of a new global governance architecture.

After meeting several Chinese leaders, Sharma claimed the meet was very positive and substantive as it covered every component of the bilateral ties. He said that he received assurance from Beijing to encourage the Indian firms in the information technology, pharmaceutical and construction sectors to work with local partners to have ‘more presence and access’ in China.

In 2008–09, China exports to India stood at about $27bn while India’s remained around $11bn. China and India plan to take advantage of its vast consumer base of about 2.5bn people which could be larger than any bloc or region excluded of these two nations.

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The reopening of this route means the distance between India and China will considerably reduce from about 6000kms to less than 1750kms. China’s Yunnan province and India’s Assam state are likely to benefit through this decision though it opens up trade potential to Myanmar and Thailand.

The historic 1,726 km road, built by the Allied and Chinese forces under the supervision of the US Army General Joseph Stilwell, was used to transport the first supplies to the beleaguered Chinese Army during World War II in 1945 when Japanese troops invaded China. The Stilwell Road starts from Assam, in the heart of India’s North-east, and cuts through the Pangsau pass in Myanmar to Kunming in South China.

Nyan informed that China had already constructed the road up to Tanai and there was a balance portion from Tanai to the Indian border which could now be completed with the support of India. The Stilwell Road on the Indian side is about 61kms and the major stretch of 1,033kms lies within the jungle-covered mountains and swampy valleys of northern Myanmar’s Kachin State, while in China it is 632kms.

In the past three years, China has taken proactive measures to cash in on the trade opportunities in Myanmar and India by constructing several stretches of the Stilwell Road. Moreover, Myanmar and China have an MOU to supply gas from Myanmar to China, and with the new discoveries of gas fields in Myanmar, India too nurses similar ambitions.

The re-opening of the road is expected to make the North-east region of India to become a major hub for almost all its neighbours to obtain Indian automobile components, fruits, grains, vegetables, textiles and cotton yarn. On the other hand, the Indian traders will have easy access to electronic gadgets, synthetic blankets, teak, gold and semi-precious stones from its South-east Asian neighbours.

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Though the UID program has given paramount importance to identity accountability of the country’s citizens, its larger goal would be to gradually wipe out paper currencies from its market. A mobile phone-based cash transaction with an upper limit on person to person money deals is likely to bring more transparency with minimal usage of paper currencies.

The identity card program has identified the possibility of making every transaction anything above a certain limit to be routed through either a credit/debit card or mobile phone tagged to one’s bank account; in either case the UID number will be the interface. The cost expended on the UID scheme is expected to be recovered through bringing in sizable transactions to book, reduction in expenditure on the mint and elimination of fake currency threat.

On the other hand, the implementation of the RTE in the form of neighbourhood education in a country like India is an uphill challenge particularly because about 70 percent of the population live in remote areas. Therefore, the country cannot afford to waste money on brick and mortar model, and the only option available before them is to go in for e-education formula.

The e-learning initiative will help students to get rid of the burden of buying the text and note books every year and carrying them to school by making the entire study material open source. Similarly, the global tenders for a substantial number of e-note books will make them extremely cheap through economies of scale. The most cost-effective education program undertaken by government of India will ultimately help the next generation of the country to prepare themselves to take on the electronic age head on.

The impact of both paperless projects by India is likely to transform the country to emerge as global leaders in environmental protection. Besides, it allows every citizen to partake in the massive exercise of protecting the environment with an extra guarantee on better living standards unlike some projects which often pile up agony to the country’s marginalized citizens in the name of development.

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Press Trust of India has reported that a Joint Study Group which was set up to conduct feasibility study for the Indo–Australian FTA had prepared a report favouring such a pact. After the formal reading by both the governments, a decision will be taken for when to start the negotiations.

The feasibility study, which began two years ago, is understood to have covered several areas of potential impact including implications on economic growth, trade in goods and services and investment, as well as for other commercial linkages. Varghese expressed confidence in the commencement of trade talks that would entail tariff liberalisation and removal of other barriers.

In 2007, India was Australia’s sixth largest market for goods exports, seventh largest market for services and seventh largest market for goods and services combined. The bilateral trade in goods and services in 2007 amounted to $13.3bn making India Australia’s tenth largest trading partner.

At the moment, the Australian export to India is largely focussed on commodities such as coal, gold, and services like education. Varghese opined Australia would like to bring under the FTA both “goods and services”, and also would be keen on reducing the tariffs on its wine in India.

The high commissioner acknowledged that his country wished to actively contribute to the energy needs of India by providing coal and liquefied natural gas. He indicated the approval, given by his government to the $20bn pact between Australian oil and gas company ExxonMobil and India’s Petronet, was an example. ExxonMobil is expected to supply natural gas to Petronet from the Gorgan oil field for 15 years starting from 2014.

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A major chunk of Indian chocolate market is ruled by Cadbury and it enjoys holding more than 70 percent of market share. Nestle, the Swiss leaders in packaged food with 25 percent share is the only other major competitor for Cadbury in India.

Cadbury India’s Cocoa Department produces over 2.5mn hybrid seedlings annually and distributes it among farmers. India as compared to other cocoa growing countries, its farmers use cocoa as an inter-crop between areca nut and coconut trees.

Cadbury believes that it can persuade 20 per cent of Indian farmers to plant cocoa and thereby bring more acreage under cocoa plantation. The co-ordination with the farmers and producers is expected to increase country’s production of the beans from 10,000 tons to ambitious 150,000 tons per year or 3 per cent of global production by 2020.

India’s Cocoa Development board is also understood to have undertaken a similar initiative to increase the production to 16,000 tons in two years’ time. India’s annual consumption of the beans is about 18,000 tons, and more than 40 percent of its total requirement is still met through imports.

India’s import of cocoa beans and cocoa products in 2007-08 fiscal has increased by four-fold at about 8,000 tons, the same was just 2,000 tons in the beginning of the decade. According to Cadbury’s India forecast, cocoa demand is growing around 15 percent annually and will reach about 30,000 tons in the next 5 years. Industry observers said India through public-private partnership was attempting a cocoa revolution once again in the country to become a bellwether state of the beans in the region.

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The officials in the Sasastra Seema Bal (SSB) that guards the Indo-Nepal border stated the seizures of red sandalwood had become a commonplace issue all along the porous Indo-Nepal border. According to sources, this year alone about 450 tons of red sandalwood has been seized as compared to previous year’s 1000 tons.

The sandalwood is procured largely felling trees illegally from the Mysore region about 150km away from Bangalore and brought to any of the Eastern states of India including Bihar and West Bengal. Later it reached the final destination, China through Tatopani on Arniko Highway in North Nepal, the largest Sino-Nepal trade point. Nepali traders from Tatopani claimed that Arniko Highway was completely taken over by smugglers as conventional trade routes were heavily guarded.

Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) the sandalwood tree is protected, and any trading of sandalwood domestically or otherwise requires the government of India authorization. Sandalwood mafia in connivance with some state department officials is helping the trade to flourish despite such a trade activity invites heavy fines and rigorous punishments as per Indian law.

In Malaysia, the modus operandi is to declare the shipment of sandalwood as galvanised iron. Harun said last month the Timber board had seized a container loaded with 269 sandalwood logs worth more than $1mn that was trying to hoodwink the authorities through similar method. It should be noted that exporting the same imported goods from Malaysia the containers do not pass through the Customs formalities once again.

Fragrant sandalwood is widely used in the manufacturing of incense sticks, perfumes and toilet soaps. On the other hand, show pieces, handicrafts and some musical instruments in China are made out of red sandalwood. It has been told that even red sandalwood goes into the making of butts of firearms in China due to its curving capacity and strength. All varieties of sandalwood are used in various medicinal applications and beauty treatments.

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According to Pakistan’s food and agriculture ministry, bringing higher acreage of land under cultivation and perfect climatic conditions have helped the country to hope for a higher yield this year around. Pakistan consumes about 22mn tons of wheat per annum, farmers are expecting a bumper crop this year at about 24mn tons.

On the other hand, bumper harvests consecutively for the second year have assisted India to augment its stockpiles for about 30mn tons until early this month, increasing by two-thirds from a year ago. India procures its wheat from farmers for a minimum floor price of $225 per ton. The floor price is fixed for wheat and several other crops to the farmers to avoid incurring losses in case of lower yields or crop failures.

While India offloads 2mn ton surplus wheat, about half a million ton of Pakistani wheat would be heading to the Gulf region and Afghanistan. Pakistan is allowing wheat exports after the procurement of the same reached 8mn tons this year, the highest in seven years.

Indian traders are expecting a subsidy from the government to sell wheat and wheat products for a competitive price as international wheat prices is lower or about equal including cost and freight to the Southeast Asian region. Nevertheless, the wheat traders will export to their neighbouring countries including Bangladesh and Nepal since they are closer to the wheat procurement sites of the bordering Indian state, Bihar. Trade Secretary G.K. Pillai said exports would be allowed through select ports to keep a check on how much wheat was being exported.

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Turkey has also imposed similar duties on Indian goods during the same period. Indian governmental agencies involved in the exercise of getting the tariff rolled back appeared confident as Egypt’s decision was likely to prompt Turkey to follow the same steps to avoid any confrontation with India in this regard.

Ever since Egypt and Turkey imposed these additional duties, India had taken up the cause to both governments to have a relook at the issue and warned that they would challenge this at the WTO. The imposition of such tariffs is in direct violation to the WTO rules unless it proved that the imports are causing serious damage to its domestic industry.

Egypt’s move is likely to act as a disincentive to other countries that are planning to slap such duties on Indian goods. However, The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) said the tariff roll back would have only marginal impact on the exports since the global economy had not recovered yet.

The tariff imposed by Egypt in January on Indian goods was for a period of one year which included half a dollar on every kilogramme of cotton textile, and every kilogramme of processed sugar attracted $1. India is the largest exporter of cotton yarn to Egypt and the exports stood at about $115mn in 2007-08 fiscal. The two-way overall trade during the same period between both countries was about $3.5bn.

Indian exports have recorded a negative growth for the past five months, and the country is leaving no stone unturned to get them back on track. According to the Ministry of Commerce of India the talks are progressing to get a similar decision from the Turkish government.

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