Author Archives: 2point6billion.com

India-China Relations Strengthened Through Investment Agreements

May 22 – Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has recently met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, the first trip abroad for Premier Li in an official capacity. The two world leaders discussed India-China relations, as well as penned several agreements designed to foster investment and trade between the two nations.

“The purpose of my current visit to India is three-fold; to increase mutual trust, to intensify cooperation and to face the future,” said Premier Li.

Indian officials welcomed Premier Li on his first trip oversees since taking office in March, acknowledging the importance of his visit.

“We think very highly of this gesture because it is our view that high-level political exchanges between our two countries are an important aspect and vehicle for our expanded cooperation,” said Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesman. Continue reading →

Posted in Business | Tagged China, India, Trade | Leave a comment

China’s Provincial GDP Figures in 2012

Three-fourths of China’s provinces reported GDP figures over RMB1 trillion (US$163 billion) in 2012

By Yao Lu

May 21 – According to preliminary data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the country’s economy expanded 7.8 percent in 2012 amid the sluggish global economy, reaching RMB51.9 trillion (US$8.45 trillion). The growth rate, although the slowest since 1999, still beats the government’s 7.5 percent growth target. In the fourth quarter of 2012, the country’s economic growth reached 7.9 percent, putting an end to seven consecutive quarters of slowdown, up from 7.4 percent in the third quarter and 7.6 percent in the second. Continue reading →

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Development Zones in India

By Gunjan Sinha, Dezan Shira & Associates, Delhi Office

IB-2011-4issue-cover-art May 17 – India was one of the first countries in Asia to recognize the effectiveness of the export processing zone model in promoting exports, establishing Asia’s first processing zone in Kandla in 1965. More recently, the Indian government moved to increase India’s attractiveness as a foreign direct investment destination by announcing its Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Policy in April 2000, and then followed that up with the SEZ Act 2005 and SEZ Rules, which jointly came into effect on February 10, 2006.

The new rules further simplified and streamlined the utilization of SEZs, paving the way for the popularity these zones now enjoy. Today, the SEZ is the predominant development zone type throughout India, and its goals include:

Generating additional economic activity;
Promoting exports of goods and services;
Promoting investment from domestic and foreign sources;
Creating employment opportunities; and
Developing infrastructure facilities. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Featured | Tagged Development Zones, India Investment | Leave a comment

New Issue of Asia Briefing: An Introduction to Development Zones Across Asia

May 10 – The new issue of Asia Briefing Magazine, titled An Introduction to Development Zones Across Asia, is out now and will be temporarily available as a complimentary PDF download on the Asia Briefing Bookstore throughout the months of May and June.

The use of development zones in their different guises has been an effective model essentially brought to prominence by China over the past 25 years to help both foreign investors and domestic companies meet in a relationship that provides tax advantages to both. Development zones typically permit the foreign investor to bring component parts into a country for assembly without having to pay import duties. Investors may then add in locally-sourced components, assemble the final product, and warehouse it all duty free before then having the option of exporting the finished product (collecting some VAT rebates on the locally sourced portion) or entering the domestic market with a product assembled at local labor costs. Continue reading →

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Report Designates Delhi as India’s Most Creative State

May 9 – According to the Creative Index Report 2013, a report launched by Martin Prosperity Institute, Institute for Competitiveness and The Prosperity Institute of India, Delhi is India’s “most creative state,” or the state with the greatest economic potential in the Indian economy.

Selecting Delhi seems to be stretching the rules a bit, since it is in fact a Union Territory (UT) and not a state. The report, however, counts all seven UTs in India as states, judging 35 states in total. To determine the ranking, the report judges the “creative class” of each state by three criteria, which they refer to as the 3T system – tolerance, talent, and technology. Continue reading →

Posted in Business | Tagged Creative, Delhi, India | Leave a comment

Calculated Political Tension at China-India Mountain Border

By Amit Ranjan

May. 3 – In the Himalayas, two great powers are blaming each other for stirring tension. India says Chinese troops crossed the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border there. China claims it was merely responding to earlier intrusions carried out by Indian border guards. We don’t know who is speaking the truth. But “calculated” political tension has emerged.

The root of the Sino-Indian border dispute lies in the 1914 Simla Accord, signed by India’s British rulers and demarcating the border with Tibet. This “McMahon Line,” named after India’s foreign secretary at the time, is recognized by India but disputed by China which insists that Tibet was not a sovereign power. China invaded and conquered Tibet in 1950. Continue reading →

Posted in Featured, Politics | Tagged Border Dispute, China, India | 2 Comments

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