Only 5 % Investment is of NRI's - At Least 95 Percent of Investments in the country is Domestic Investment

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today dispelled the impression that India was after NRI funds saying that more than 95 per cent of investment comes from domestic sources.

"I think we can get rid of the notion that we are connecting with the NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) because we want investment...we are not reaching out to NRIs because we need money," Ahluwalia said at the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas organised by the government in collaboration with industry chamber CII .

"At least 95 per cent of investments in the country is domestic investment," Ahluwalia said adding, "if you feel your money is well spent here, you are welcome... If you think in another country you can do better... as an economist I will tell you that is exactly what you should do."

Sharing the dais with Ahluwalia, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Valyar Ravi said, "The NRIs share in the foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country is just 1.3 per cent."

According to the latest government data, the cumulative FDI in the country since 1991 stands at USD 179.45 billion.

Although, the NRI investment in the country is not huge, but the remittances from workers are significant. India received USD 46.9 billion as remittances during 2008-09.

Ahluwalia pointed out, "We are reaching out (to NRIs) because we value the long, socio-cultural footprint that we all share.

"So, honestly I would tell you, if you don't feel ready to invest in India, don't be apologetic. It's our job to get investors...Indian or foreigner doesn't matter," he added.

India is planning to double the investment in infrastructure to USD one trillion in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) compared to USD 500 billion in the current Plan.

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Gold Towards new Record High

Gold towards new record High

India gold futures may extend gains at the open on Wednesday and hit record high later in the day supported by strong overseas leads, analysts said.

The most-active October gold contract on MCX last closed at 19,169 rupees per 10 grams, up 0.7 percent, after hitting a record high of 19,211 rupees in the previous session.

Gold overseas was within sight of a two-month high hit the previous day, as global sharemarkets tumbled and the euro slipped on renewed fears about the health of the global economy.

Buy gold around 19,130, targeting 19,250, maintaining a stop loss of 19,080.

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Farm land, gold are good investment options

Farm land, gold are good investment options:
Michael Burry, the former hedge-fund manager who predicted the housing market’s plunge, said he is investing in farmable land, small technology companies and gold as he hunts original ideas and braces for a weaker dollar. “I believe that agriculture land — productive agricultural land with water on site — will be very valuable in the future,” said Mr Burry in a Bloomberg Television interview.

“I’ve put a good amount of money into that,” Mr Burry, as head of Scion Capital, prodded Wall Street banks in early 2005 to create credit-default swaps to bet against bonds backed by the riskiest home loans. The strategy paid off as borrowers defaulted, letting his investors more than quintuple their money from 2000 to 2008, according to Michael Lewis’s book “The Big Short”.

It’s possible to find opportunities among small companies, because large investors and government officials focus on bigger ones, he said. He is particularly interested in small-technology firms. “Smaller companies in Asia, I think, are neglected,” he said. “There are some very cheap companies there.”

Investing in Gold

Gold is also a favoured investment as central banks issue debt and devalue their currencies, he said. Governments haven’t adequately addressed the causes of the financial crisis and maybe sowing the seeds for future problems by borrowing, he said.

In the US, lawmakers showed they didn’t understand how to prevent another crisis when they gave the Federal Reserve and chairman Ben S Bernanke additional authority, he said.

Background in Medicine

Originally, investing was a hobby for Mr Burry, who as a resident neurosurgeon at Stanford Hospital in the 90s typed his ideas onto message boards late at night. It’s possible Mr Burry is part of “an extremely small group” of economists and investors who are “really exceptionally adroit” at forecasting, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan had said in April. Mr Burry has been critical of the role Greenspan played in fuelling the crisis with low interest rates.

Goldman Sachs

Mr Burry said Wall Street i-banks such as Goldman Sachs Group shouldn’t trade on their own account and don’t always act in the best interests of their clients. The firm is disbanding its principal-strategies business, one of the groups that make bets with the company’s own money, two people with knowledge of the decision said last week.

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Drug Prices could further increase - FDI cap at 49% in pharma

Fearing uncontrolled mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by foreign drug firms that could lead to further increase in drug prices and also cartelisation, the government is eyeing capping the 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) currently allowed through automatic route in the pharma sector at 49 per cent and that too through the government route.

The finance ministry as well as the Planning Commission have advised the concerned ministries to expedite the process to ensure that 65 per cent of Indians, who according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) still lack access to essential medicines, are not deprived of affordable and high-quality medicines.

Earlier this year, Piramal Healthcare sold its domestic formulations business to US-based Abbot for Rs 17,353 crore.

This is the second-biggest acquisition of an Indian drug firm, after the country's largest drug maker Ranbaxy was acquired by Japan's Daiichi Sankyo for Rs 21,574 crore in 2008.

Concerned that acquisition of Indian pharma firms by multinational corporations (MNCs) was impacting the availability of low-cost medicines, the commerce and industry ministry, which formulates FDI norms had proposed tightening the rules so that Indian acquisitions by MNCs flow through it and not through the automatic route.

It had also mooted the idea of offering licenses to domestic firms to produce patented drugs to protect consumers' interests.

The commerce ministry has also come out with a discussion paper on "Compulsory Licensing"-a system whereby a third party other than the patent holder is allowed to produce and market a patented product or process-for formulating a coherent and concerted approach. The discussion paper seeks views from all stakeholders by this month-end.

Several developed and developing countries have introduced compulsory licensing. But these licenses under WTO norms have not taken off in India yet due to the absence of manufacturing facilities. Currently, a large part of the cancer drugs sold in India are patented and manufactured by MNCs such as Novartis, GSK and Roche, which cost over a lakh for a month-long treatment making these drugs unaffordable for the Indian population.

The paper also points at legal provisions and other related aspects of patent laws in India. It suggests the introduction of a compulsory licensing system to put a check on spiralling drug prices. It has also suggested measures to make available affordable drugs within the ambit of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) by expanding the number of drugs from its current scrutiny of pricing of 74 drugs. Another option could be by invoking the Competition Act, 2002.

The health ministry has also objected to lobbying by global drugmakers to change India's intellectual property rules.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had circulated a note based on views by global drugmakers that seeks changes such as legislative review of India's patent laws, data exclusivity and implementation of patent linkages.

If implemented, the proposals can have a huge bearing on the grant of patents in India, affecting the cost of treatment.

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Lack of Transparency in Gold jewellery prices

While the price of gold is fixed and uniform, there is no uniformity in the making charges. While branded jewellery is sold with making charges of Rs 150 per gram or even more, the small jewellers charge Rs 60-80. Sometimes, your family jeweller may be willing to let go of even that labour charge.

And in the capital's jewellery markets, the banners and hoardings all around claim 'Pure Gold-No Making Charges'. So, how is it that when the price of the gold is the same at all showrooms, jewellers sell the ornaments by charging a nominal amount as making charges? Afterall, the jewellers have also to pay the wages of the goldsmiths and bear the overhead costs.

The answer to this question was provided in October, 2001 by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). In a survey conducted by BIS on gold jewellery, 15 jewellery items were purchased from small and big outlets located in seven important markets of Delhi. All the jewellers assured that the pieces purchased were of 22 carat gold with the 916 required fineness. All the 15 samples comprising bangles, rings, chains, eartops and necklace sets were tested as per ISI 1418: 1999 standard at a BIS approved assaying centre of MMTC. The results, however, were an eye-opener.

Out of the 15 samples, only three were found to be of the claimed purity. The rest were of much lower purity than the claimed 22 caratage. On an average, the purity fell short by 15.5 per cent. Out of 12 samples, seven were short in purity by more than 15 per cent.

Thus, six samples of 22 carat gold turned out to be 18 carat.

One sample was of 13.5 carat, one of 19 carat, another of 21 carat, a fourth of 17 carat and the remaining two were also below the claimed 22 carat.

There is yet another allurement.

Every jeweller will assure you that he will buy back the ornaments, if returned, at the then prevailing rate of gold.

The knack is that the ornaments are rarely returned because they pass on from one generation to the other and by the time, they are to be returned, if at all, for remaking, many years have passed by and no one remembers from which shop they were purchased.

Even if one manages to reach the same jeweller on a rare occasion, he will gladly pay the price prevalent but deduct in the process the tanka, wastage, meena and polish charges.

All this tantamounts to unfair trade practice because the consumers do not get the ornaments of the projected quality.

If the jewellers levy the full making charges and add to it their reasonable profit, the consumers will at least get the ornaments of the claimed caratage. But with the currently prevailing deceptive methods of reducing the making charge, the ornaments of far lower purity are passed on. This has been going on since times immemorial.

The above trade practice was noticed by the MRTP Commission as well as by the Consumer Courts. But barring passing orders in isolated cases, no action of general application has been taken and the malaise has been continuing.

Pending the authorities taking up the issue for an authoritative verdict, two courses need consideration for immediate implementation. One, that the jewellers can be directed to charge their due making charges and not to meddle with the quality of gold. The second alternative is to ensure that only hallmarked jewellery is sold. Jewellers will never do so voluntarily because they will have no chance of fooling the customers as has been going on everywhere.

Hallmarking is a foolproof method to accurately determine and record the exact gold content in the jewellery. It is high time that the governmental steps in and makes hallmarking of jewelery obligatory to put an end to fleecing gold buyers.

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Jeevan Nischay

Jeevan Nischay

Minimum age at entry	18 years (completed)
Maximum age at entry	50 years (nearest birthday)
Policy term	5, 7 and 10 years
Minimum Single Premium	Rs. 10,000/-
Maximum Single Premium	Rs. 10,00,000/-

In this plan, an investment of Rs. 1 lakh would mature into Rs.1.7 lakh after a span of 10 years.

This is based on 'Jeevan Astha' that have guaranteed return during the financial crisis had mobilised around Rs.10,000 crore.

If your age of entry is 35 years then benefits are as follows:

Single Premium	Policy Tenure	1st Death Benefit	Guaranteed Returns
25000	5 Years	Rs 1,25,000	5.25%
25000	7 Years	Rs 1,25,000	5.54%
25000	10 Years	Rs 1,25,000	5.97%

'Jeevan Nischay' New LIC Plan

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Real Estate Investment in India 2010

As developing country India is growing exponentially in the field of real estate. India is trying to compete with developed countries in real estate infrastructure. Every where there is huge demand of property, flats and apartments. Either you want to choose personal or for commercial use you have to pay very high amount in the metropolitan like Mumbai and Delhi. Almost five per cent of the country's GDP is contributed to by the housing sector.

So, if you are trying to invest in real estate then its a good time for you because property is getting costlier every year.

You can invest in these Real estate areas of high demand and most profitable in 2010

Apartments
Institute
Hospitals
Commercial shops
Shopping Malls
Hotels
Offices

Development in IT ITES, requirement of houses in urban area ( 80 per cent of real estate developed in India is residential)

NRI Real Estate Investment in India 2010

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NRI investment options in india 2010

There are various NRI investment options in india,

NRIs can make investments in all the investments options which are available to Resident Indians.

2010 nri investment options
NRIs can invest in Inidia in

• Shares and stocks
• mutual funds
• Indian equities markets, including IPOs
• Company fixed deposits and non-convertible debentures of companies
• Real estate investments
• Government securities
• Bank deposits
• National Savings Certificates issued by post offices in India
• Deposits in Indian banks

Account needed for investment for NRI :

• NRE Account (Non-Resident External Rupee Account)
• NRO Account (Non-Resident Ordinary Rupee Account)
• FCNR Account (Foreign Currency Non Resident Account)

NRI can invest through 24% and 40% Schemes.

NRI investment options 2010

NRI Real Estate Investment

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confident to get 9-10 per cent economic growth

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh adressing Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas celebrations to invite Indian diaspora to participate in the development of the country says he is confident that country will get 9-10 per cent economic growth. He also added that NRIs can vote soon in Indian elections:.

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Investment in Gold : Insure your Money

Gold is always one of the good options for the investment, because it insure your money as commodity. It is the safe asset to conserve your money. Indian investors who purchased gold in the early 80s have made money in this asset. But in the US, UK and even China, the actual value of gold is still below the prices of 1981. Even in 2008 as the value of prices are down Gold value up by 29 per cent. So in these hard time you can insure your money by investing in Gold.

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Saving Scheme for Retiring Person of Public Sector Employees:

Return of 9.5% payable half-yearly on 30th June and 31st December respectively.
Minimum Rs.1000/- and the maximum limitation is the amount equal to total retirement benefit.
Operated by retired PSU employees in his/her own name or with the spouse, jointly.
Maturity period is 3 years.
Tax free.

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Schemes For Retiring Person

Government Employees :
Return at the rate of 8% per annum.
The minimum investment is Rs.1000/- and maximum amount equal to the total retirement benefit.
Maturity period of this scheme is 3 years.
Scheme is tax free.

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Tax Saving Schemes India

Public Provident Fund (PPF)

Interest rate of 8% p.a.
The minimum investment limit is Rs. 500/- and maximum limitation is Rs. 70,000/-.
Operated - singly or jointly.
Maturity period of 15 years.

National Saving Schemes (NSC)

Operated singly, jointly
Interest rate 8%.
The minimum investment limitation of the scheme is Rs.100/- and with no upper limit.
Maturity period of 6 years.
It is transferable
Provision of loan on the basis of this scheme.

Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP)

8 years
There is a minimum investment limitation of Rs.100/- with no upper limit.
This scheme is available throughout the year.
operated either singly or jointly.
nomination is also available
No tax benefit

Post Office Scheme (POS)

It can be operated by either singly or jointly.
It is available throughout the year.
categories:

* Monthly Deposit
* Saving Deposit
* Time Deposit
* Recurring Deposit

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Gold the safe place for your money

As the financial markets down due to recession gold is rocking the market by gaining its prices. Gold is becoming hot place to invest.

China reported 600 metric tons of gold reserves at the end of June, or 1% of its total cash reserves. At today's prices, that's about $16 billion worth, or about 20 million ounces, less than half a percent of the estimated total gold in existence.

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