[Assam] India shining?

Wed Aug 22 19:11:54 PDT 2007

In spite of the ill-wishers of India, looks like it has finally 
arrived at the promised land.

So, when is the party to celebrate?

At 7:01 AM +0530 8/23/07, mc mahant wrote:
>India shining??------ 
>
>Doubts?
>mm
>
>
>Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:31:53 -0500
>From: assamrs at gmail.com
>To: assam at assamnet.org
>Subject: [Assam] India shining?
>
>This from the New York Times.
>
>I know, columns like this give heartburns to a few naysayers on the 
>net, but hopefully, they realize that even a country like Japan, 
>does not want to be left behind when it comes to investments in 
>India. :).
>  Without resorting to rah-rahs, while a few diehards on the net may 
>want it otherwise, India is fast developing into a major economic 
>power. Last night, at the Charlie Rose Show, Larry Summers (of 
>Harvard, economist, and former Treasury Secy) was also talking about 
>the huge developmental (and distributional) strides both China and 
>India have been experiencing.
>
>--Ram
>
><http://www.nytimes.com/> 
>
>August 21, 2007
>
>As Japan and India Forge Economic Ties, a Counterweight to China Is Seen
>
>By <http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=HEATHER 
>TIMMONS&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=HEATHER 
>TIMMONS&inline=nyt-per>HEATHER TIMMONS
>NEW DELHI, Aug. 20 - When Prime Minister 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/shinzo_abe/index.html?inline=nyt-per>Shinzo 
>Abe of 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/japan/index.html?inline=nyt-geo>Japan 
>touches down in 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/india/index.html?inline=nyt-geo>India 
>this week, it will be the highest-level step yet in what analysts 
>say is a long-term effort to balance, if not contain, China's 
>growing economic and political might.
>As Beijing's influence in Asia and around the world has grown, their 
>common interests have forced Tokyo and New Delhi to begin warming 
>their historically chilly relationship and to start forging closer 
>economic ties. "The key issue facing the whole region is how to 
>accommodate the rise of China," said Suman Bery, the director 
>general of the National Council of Applied Economic Research, a New 
>Delhi research group. Indian economists estimate that Japanese 
>investment in India will reach $5.5 billion by 2011, compared with 
>just $515 million in the 2006 fiscal year.
>Mr. Abe is on his first trip to India. He and his Indian 
>counterpart, Manmohan Singh, are expected to unveil public-private 
>partnerships and new business initiatives. Leading the agenda will 
>be a $100 billion infrastructure project to create a high-tech 
>manufacturing and freight corridor between New Delhi, India's 
>capital, and Mumbai, its port and financial center. It would be the 
>most expensive development project in India, and a third of the bill 
>would be paid by Japanese public and private money. Mr. Abe and Mr. 
>Singh are expected to announce that the two governments have reached 
>formal agreement on the deal.
>Japanese business leaders traveling with Mr. Abe will disclose 
>similar deals this week - on natural gas, transportation, currency 
>swaps and Japanese investment in Indian educational projects, Indian 
>officials said. Chief executives from 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/toyota_motor_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Toyota, 
><http://www.nytimes.com/mem/MWredirect.html?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=MSBHF;MSBHY>Mitsubishi, 
>Canon, 
><http://www.nytimes.com/mem/MWredirect.html?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=HIT>Hitachi 
>and others have joined a new India-Japan business leader forum, 
>which will meet for the first time on Wednesday in New Delhi.
>Consultants are trying, so far in vain, to coin the catchphrase, 
>like "the Samurai and the Swami," that will sum up the nascent 
>strategic economic relationship between the countries.
>Courting India has come slowly for the Japanese, who were highly 
>critical of India's surprise nuclear weapons test in 1998. While 
>Japan is a large lender to India, until now it has not been a major 
>investor or business partner. Instead, Japan has virtually sat on 
>the sidelines while countries from Switzerland to Brazil cemented 
>business alliances in India, where economic growth is about 9 
>percent a year.
>Japan's trade with India was about $6.5 billion in 2006, according 
>to the Indian government - about 4 percent of Japan's trade with 
>China. "Whatever doubts Japan had for so long, now India is smelling 
>like roses," said Jagdish N. Bhagwati, an economist and a professor 
>at 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/columbia_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Columbia 
>University and a fellow at the 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/council_on_foreign_relations/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Council 
>on Foreign Relations. "They want to get in before it is too late."
>For Japan, India is an attractive market, both for its growing 
>consumer spending and cheap labor. Tokyo also has an interest in 
>diversifying its Asian trading partners and reducing its dependence 
>on China. As an increasingly confident China has flexed its muscle 
>regionally and globally, anti-Chinese sentiment has been rising in 
>Japan, as has anti-Japanese sentiment in China.
>"India is a much safer bet, in business terms," because it lacks the 
>historical baggage, said Richard Tanter, professor of international 
>relations at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 
>Australia.
>Then there is the straightforward economics. Japanese and other 
>automakers, for instance, view India as a potential manufacturing 
>center that could offer lower labor costs than China. But India's 
>manufacturing and export potential are still crippled by an 
>inability to move goods in and around the country.
>The proposed New Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor could address that 
>problem. The nearly 1,500-kilometer corridor would include a 
>high-speed freight line and nine 200-square-kilometer investment 
>regions dedicated to industries like chemicals and engineering, as 
>well as three ports and six airports.
>Infrastructure projects like the industrial corridor are "the kind 
>of thing Japanese companies are particularly good at - roads and 
>harbors and ways to get into developing countries," Mr. Bhagwati 
>said. Japanese companies were heavily involved in the construction 
>of New Delhi's clean, efficient subway system.
>India, which desperately needs more power generation, could be a 
>particularly fertile market for 
><http://www.nytimes.com/mem/MWredirect.html?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=TOSBF>Toshiba, 
>which bought the nuclear power plant manufacturer Westinghouse last 
>year.
>Any deals between India and Toshiba would be far in the future, 
>though. India's government is still deeply divided over a deal with 
>the United States that allows India access to civilian nuclear 
>technology, and Japan may not support the United States-India 
>nuclear deal, given Tokyo's aversion to nuclear proliferation.
>Still, on Monday, Mr. Singh stressed India's commitment to nuclear 
>energy during the opening of a new research center in New Delhi, 
>calling oil imports an "unbearable burden."
>The most successful India-Japan business partnership to date is a 
>venture by the automakers 
><http://www.nytimes.com/mem/MWredirect.html?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=SZKMF>Suzuki 
>and Maruti, which has become one of India's leading carmakers after 
>a troubled start in the early 1980s. Sales of its reliable, zippy 
>and cheap Marutis were up 17 percent in the quarter that ended in 
>July from a year ago, to 1.6 million units.
>Toyota's India partnership, Toyota Kirloskar Motors, which dates 
>back to 1999, makes about 60,000 units a year. But, last month 
>Toyota executives said they expected the unit to produce 10 times 
>its current capacity by 2015.
>Culturally and economically, Japan and India remain far apart, a 
>fact that government officials and economists said could complicate 
>building a stronger relationship. Speaking Monday during a meeting 
>in a New Delhi hotel to discuss the Japanese prime minister's visit, 
>Mr. Bery, the director of the New Delhi research group, said Japan's 
>manufacturing is "state of the art," which has "not been our strong 
>suit."
>Minutes later, the five-star hotel fell victim to one of New Delhi's 
>frequent power disruptions, the lights flickered out and the meeting 
>carried on in the dark.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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