UK seeks Punjabi investors

Punjabi entrepreneurs have been in great demand, both in the UK and Punjab.

While leader of the opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal made a fervent appeal in Birmingham yesterday to UK-based Punjabi NRIs to make their motherland their destination for investments, a team of the UK Trade & Investment will be holding seminars, both in Chandigarh and Ludhiana, this week to invite entrepreneurial Punjabis to make the UK their new business destination.

This interesting development is beyond a mere coincidence as it indicates a reversal of trend with more and more Punjabis having a fairly good representation in Fortune 500 companies.

Bhattal, who addressed members of the Indian community as part of the Independence Day celebrations, wanted Punjabi NRIs to contribute and repay their debt to their motherland with their investments. She said the previous Congress government established a separate NRI department to assist them in the speedy redress of their grievances.

The British high commissioner to India during his farewell visit to Punjab some weeks also talked about boosting the UK’s business relations with the Punjabi community. The visit of the UK Trade & Investment group to Chandigarh on August 29 and Ludhiana on August 30 is an effort to enhance its engagement with the entrepreneurs of Punjab.

Jane Owen, director, UK Trade & Investment, India, says:

"The entrepreneurial characteristic of the Punjabi community is well known — in the UK we recognise it and celebrate it. Therefore, it is only natural for the UK to enhance its business relations with the next generation of entrepreneurs in Punjab, across all sectors.

"The UK is a vibrant, diversified economy that offers opportunities for companies to prosper and realise their international potential. That is why Indian investment into the UK is at an all-time high. In the first half of 2007, Tata-Corus ($9 bn) and UB-Whyte and Mackay (£ 600 m) alone pushed India onto the big league of investors in the UK.

"So, if you have an exciting business idea, or are keen to expand your business overseas, UK Trade & Investment experts will assist you through the journey. Our network of experts will help you reduce the cost, time and risk involved in selecting the right partner or location in the UK."

The Confederation of Indian Industry and the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry support the Chandigarh and Ludhiana seminars.

Representatives will accompany the visiting team from four regional development agencies --- Think London, One North East, British Midlands and Invest Northern Ireland.

Source://tribuneindia.com

Festival of India a sensorial delight

The 15th Annual Festival of India and Parade was held in Fremont, California on August 11 and 12. The Indian community of Northern California came together in the largest festival of its kind as more than 60,000 people over two days made a colorful addition to Fremont’s streets.

They also celebrated the 60th anniversary of India’s independence on August 15. Not just Indians but South Asians and other ethnicities came to stroll around and sate their senses. The tricolors of the Indian flag (Tiranga) were everywhere- orange, white and green balloons, clothes and decorations. The scent of tandoori chicken, kebabs and dum biryani floated on the air.

Taste buds exploded with the robust flavors of chicken tikka masala and lingered over the delicate essences of rose and malai kulfi. The nubby and smooth textures of bright clothes and cool metal jewelry begged to be held in the hand.

The throbbing beats of toe tapping bhangra and Bollywood music left no doubt that people were here to have fun. People drove to the Festival site at the intersection of Paseo Padre and Walnut Avenue from all over the Bay area and as far away as the Central Valley for different reasons. Some came for the food, actually many said that they could not resist the chance to sample seekh kebabs at one stall and dosa at the next, with Hyderabad biryani and chaat and ganne ka ras (sugarcane juice) nestled cheek by jowl.

Many came to shop at the bazaar stalls- clothes, jewelry, books, religion, yoga, meditation, community services all were available and you were as close to India as made no difference. The majority came to indulge and immerse their senses in Indian culture, the music and dance, the clothes, the smells, the colors, the languages, the people- if you closed your eyes, you were transported to India for a few nostalgic minutes.

The younger generation came to affirm their identity and to have fun; they were closer to their roots for a day or two. And of course, everyone came to see Amrita Rao, the Grand Marshall of the Festival Parade, Bollywood star of movies like Main Hoon Na and Vivah. Vivacious, chirpy and doll like, she was down to earth and gracious and charmed all in her vicinity. Saturday was the first day, the day of cultural competitions and elimination rounds. As music resounded from the speakers, tiny tots to adults strutted their stuff and were put through their paces. Even as acts and troupes were eliminated, the participants still came across as winners as the sweet sound of applause rang across the stage. Meanwhile, hordes of visitors thronged the stalls, browsing through sundry pieces of ethnic origin. Colorful clothes, sparkling jewelry, intricate mehendi, all attracted the magpie attention of shoppers.

Various non-profit organizations like Ekal Vidyalaya and HelpVinay.org merited more serious and thoughtful attention. People interested in Indian real estate visited the Horizon Real Estate expo. Families with children gravitated to the Desi Knowledge and Meera Masi stalls, providers of educational and Indian language aids. These and others of their ilk are fairly recent beneficiaries of the struggle to maintain culture and language proficiencies in second generation kids. Of course, balloons, cotton candy and shaved ice treats did brisk business, too.

Hot and tasty food, cool drinks and colder kulfi were voraciously plowed through as tired feet and rumbling tummies led everyone to the food pavilion seating. Saturday night was the scene for the Festival Awards Dinner at Dr Japra’s residence. Major supporters of the Festival including Lufthansa and Kingfisher Airlines representatives mingled with local dignitaries, politicians and the FIA volunteers who labor every year to make the event a success. Colorfully dressed ladies and more somberly dressed men mingled and dined al fresco under an esthetically draped Indian shamiana (tent). The dinner party’s pièce de résistance was the arrival of the Grand Marshall, Amrita Rao, dressed elegantly in a cream ensemble. Prabhat K. Singh, Consul, Community Affairs, and Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman spoke about the Festival’s significance. Mayor Wasserman said the Indian festival has become more like a ‘Fremont Festival’.

After that, Amrita Rao was welcomed by Dr Japra and Yogi Chugh. She then presented an Award of Distinction to Lufthansa Airlines. She spoke about how welcome she had been made to feel and how well the Festival was celebrated so far from India. She went on to graciously pose with each and every one of her fans who stood in line to get a picture clicked with her. The dinner ended up looking like a photo shoot right out of Bollywood! The mood on Sunday was even more upbeat as the crowd swelled like a river along Liberty and State Streets. People, young and old, lined the road and craned their necks. They were waiting for the Parade and its floats to start. Fremont police lined the roads- there was the sudden sound of a fire truck siren.

The Parade started with the arrival of the Grand Marshall, Bollywood star Amrita Rao in an ornate horse drawn carriage straight out of, what else, Bollywood! Dressed in red, she was accompanied by Dr and Mrs Japra. This signaled the start of a whole motorcade of snazzy convertibles carrying various dignitaries including the Mayors of Fremont (Bob Wasserman), Milpitas (Jose Estevez) and Union City (Mark Green), Assemblymember Alberto Torrico, Pete McHugh (Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors), Fremont City Councilmembers Anu Natarajan and Bill Harrison, Roger and Viva Bakshi (Calcoast), Brian Pyke, GM, Fletcher Jones Motorcars (provider of abovementioned snazzy cars), Sudhan Thomas (Kingfisher Airlines), Deepak Mehta (Mehta Entertainment), Jayaram Komati (currently TANA and ex-Chairman FIA) and others.

The floats, decorated flatbed trucks, included BATA, HSS, AC Transit (small scale bus and clean air vehicle), RANA, Indo-Fiji, Kannada Koota, Orissa, FIA Youth Wing, Bay Area Tamil Manram, Uttar Pradesh Mandal, SaharaCare, Kingfisher Airlines, New York Life, MakeMyTrip.com, Maharashtra Mandal, Punjab. Other contingents included The Art of Living, Jammu & Kashmir and IACF, and Life Bliss Foundation. Other participants included two marching bands who merrily piped and drummed along. After the floats had passed along, the scene of action moved to the stage area. With various cultural offerings including dance, the stage area was a popular area to be near. Amrita Rao addressed the audience.

She asked them how they were in various languages including Telugu, Gujarati, Punjabi, etc. and said that this was the best part of being Indian- the ‘Unity in Diversity’. She narrated a personal anecdote about her grandfather, Amrit Rao, a freedom fighter with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s INA, and how she was named after him. Along with the other cultural items, for the first time a Desi Idol competition (on the lines of Indian Idol) was held. After an audition, 14 singers were selected for Desi Idol USA’s first round held on the first day of the Mela.

The judges then picked eight singers for the second round, five singers for the third round and three for the final round. The winner of the competition was Parminder Guri and the runner up was Deepak Ganesan. The visitors at the Festival were enthusiastic; many were repeat visitors and said they would come again. Shereen Virk from Hayward, a young second generation Indo-American said that she has been coming to the Festival for more than a decade. She said that she visits family in India regularly and feels that India is advancing so rapidly that ‘it almost feels ahead of America’. Neha Kaur, her friend, said that she likes the Festival as it is very well organized and safe.

She loves to ‘walk and shop, walk and eat’ at the Festival. Anil who was visiting from India said that he really enjoyed the Festival and was very happy to meet the Indian community in America. He was also glad to see the cooperation between people in India and abroad. Rohitash Singh of Sunnyvale said that "you do not miss India here in the Bay Area". On the eve of India’s 60th Independence Day, he felt that India is becoming known as a self-sufficient power which is good.

However, it is also increasingly more polarized with the gap between urban and rural (areas) getting wider. The Festival organizers said they wanted to thank all the volunteers who had worked long, hard hours. They also mentioned the sponsors Lufthansa, Kingfisher Airlines, Fletcher Jones Motorcars, Comcast, Direct TV, Dish Network,MakeMytrip.com, HSBC NRI services, HDFC bank, Sahara Care, Air France, Eva Airlines, Fremont Motorcars, Moneygram, shaadi.com, AAA, Western Union etc. for making the Festival a reality.

Source://indiapost.com

NRIs favour real estate over stocks

Primary objective of the Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) was to lead Indian diaspora up the investment avenue, but one would certainly not have expected real estate to be the area of greatest interest. At least, not one in which NRIs would want OIFC help. But that’s exactly what’s happened.

We are getting a lot of queries from overseas Indians about investing in property in India. OIFC, a one-stop shop to help overseas Indians invest in India, was launched by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) on May 28. The CII is the private sector partner and host institution of this not-for-profit trust.

According to initial trend, real estate tops the list in terms of interest shown by overseas Indians while stock market investments come second.

With the surging demand for investment in real estate from domestic and overseas investors, real estate investment trusts when operational in India would enable a larger number of players to participate in investment grade buildings. These are currently worth $ 83 bn in India.

Currently, Indian REITs are entering the Singapore market. Ascendas India, the Business Park developer has already applied to the Monetary Authority of Singapore to raise $357m to invest in integrated real estate projects in India.

DLF and Unitech are also deliberating on this option. While Unitech is going in for an overseas listing, DLF Assets has kept its options open for an Indian listing if the trusts are allowed to operate in the next 12 months.

Bangalore’s Real Estate Bank International (REBI) has ambitious plans to reach out to overseas markets with an investment of Rs. 250 m, reports NRI Realty News.

Offices in Sri Lanka, US, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia will enable real estate services to reach out to non-resident Indians, while REBI’s domestic network will be expanded to 3000 franchises over the next three years.

Pearl Global is also venturing into real estate, as it ties up with Ansal Properties to develop 9.26 acres of commercial land in Gurgaon.

Earlier this month, the Bhoruka Group from Bangalore announced its intention to diversify from its existing power generation business to develop a premium residential project in south Mumbai. The defunct Mukesh Textile Mill property, covering 10 acres will be the site of the new project. The company will also construct an IT Park on 34 acres in Whitefield, Bangalore.
Kolkata based Bengal Shrachi Housing Development in a joint venture with two NRIs has announced the launch of a housing complex, Rosedale Garden, specially designed for non-resident Indians (NRIs). Tapping the desire for fully furnished ready-to-move in apartments for NRIs, the joint venture has invested Rs3bn in this mega project.

Premier realty firm Parsvnath Developers Ltd is set to develop their existing land bank over the next five years by investing over $4 bn. Launching over 100 real estate projects in all its segments, they aim at developing their saleable land bank of 153m sq feet.

They have six projects lined up for Delhi metro as well. Speaking in terms of growth, the company had reported a profit of Rs 2.92 bn in the financial year 2006-07 at an annual growth rate of 110 per cent.

The real estate sector has recorded commendable profit margins, evident from the profits posted by major real estate developing giants in the first quarter. The first quarter was beneficial for almost all real estate developers. Parsvnath Developers posted a record net profit of 179.56 per cent at Rs 1.02 bn against its previous Rs 365.5 m.

Unitech on the other hand has been registering a consistent growth of 8.6 per cent for the last four years. Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd. (Ansal API) reported a net profit of 16 per cent.

Indian realty is growing at 30 per cent, particularly in Tier II and Tier III cities. The $15 bn realty market is expected to reach $ 90 bn within the next eight years. Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Vizag, Coimbatore, Kochi, Jaipur and Nagpur are some Tier II cities witnessing unprecedented boom.

Research has it that realty can give an average return of eight per cent. Realty prices are doubling in some Tier I cities like Bombay, Chennai, Bangalore etc. Residential prices have gone over Rs 5,000 per sq feet and commercial prices are over Rs 10,000 in Tier I cities.

NRIs may rival MNCs as investors in Indian economy

The single-largest source of foreign capital into India, non-resident Indians, may one day become the prime source of investment in the domestic economy. A new report on remittances to India says "NRIs now see India as an investment destination" and are already leaving their mark in real estate and the stockmarket.

Muzaffar Chishti of the Migration Policy Institute, author of "The Phenomenal Rise in Remittances to India: A Closer Look," says the most striking evidence of the fact that NRIs are seeing the Indian economy as an opportunity is the rise of so-called "private transfers."

There are two main types of NRI remittances. The most well-known type is "inward remittance" i.e. when an NRI wires or sends money to an individual in India, usually a relative. The other type is "private transfer" i.e. when an NRI deposits foreign exchange into a rupee account and then spends it inside India.

The little-noticed trend, says Chishti, is how fast private transfers have grown. Between 2000-01 and 2005-06 private transfers grew by 88 per cent, more than double the rate of inward remittances. The former exceeded the latter by $ 2.3 billion last year.

The other trend is that North America, by far, is the largest source of remittances – 44 per cent of the total. The Persian Gulf, which once dominated remittances even 10 years ago, is the source for only 24 per cent.

Unlike the traditionally working-class Indian population in the Gulf, the middle-class North American NRIs are more likely to see India as a place for long-term economic investment. Nearly a third of all remittances are over $ 2,200.

In other words, NRIs are bringing in billions of dollars, converting them into rupees and personally spending them inside India. Chishti cites real estate experts as saying 20 per cent of all properties being sold for over $10 million in Delhi are being bought with NRI funds. "In the end, no one knows where or how much NRIs are investing in India," he says.

The amount of money concerned is enormous. Last year remittances to India totalled $ 24.6 billion, more than foreign direct investment or foreign institutional investment. Private transfers, which overtook inward remittances only in 2003-04, alone totalled about $ 13 billion last year. India received $ 15.7 billion in FDI equity flows during the same period.

The amount of money NRIs are transferring is still growing. Western Union, the world’s largest wire transfer company with $ 4 billion in revenues, says it saw a 102 per cent increase in person-to-person remittances to India last year.

NRI investment in India, believes Chishti, is a vote of confidence in the new Indian economy. In the past, India’s rigid foreign exchange controls, the volatility of the rupee and the lack of growth meant NRIs would keep their money in repatriable foreign exchange deposits rather than convert their money into rupees.

Another factor was 9/11 which drove some remittances out of the informal hawala market. Western Union, for example, experienced a surge in money transfers to South Asia as anti-terrorism finance laws were introduced across the world.

Chishthi is critical of the government’s lack of imagination on using NRI remittance for development purposes. For a while the surge in personal transfers was explained away as being overseas Indians cashing in various NRI-targeted bond issues.