Time To Go FRENCH

The average French worker puts in 41 hours a week, against the legal 35 hours week; the average executive or engineer puts in 49 hours a week. It is not just that they work long; they are efficient too.

The French have the second highest level of productivity among OECD countries, next only to the US. Even they have amongst the world’s best education and healthcare system, said Jérôme Bonnafont, French ambassador to India.

France is maligned for strikes; but 80% of them in the public sector. The number of days lost to strikes in the private sector is 3.7 a year against 6 in US.

France is an attractive destination for investment from all over the world; it gets more than any other country except the US. In 2009, it received € 65 billion of foreign investment.

France is independent in industry and technology. It created its own railway system; its TGVs are amongst the best in the world, and it created an entire nuclear power system for itself. This is an achievement and a matter of pride.

The scope and opportunities of doing business with France is very high. “Our company is looking at possible acquisitions in France to acquire new technology. We are actually on the verge of signing a deal”, said Nishant Arya, Executive Director of JBM Group. The laws are different in France but the judicial system is easily accessible there.

BACK ON THE GROWTH TRACK

IT Companies say growth is mainly through revival of pending projects

Sunshine seems to be returning to the Indian information technology industry. But what is fueling this growth..??

Interestingly, the evidence is mostly anecdotal so far. Companies say growth is mainly coming from the pending projects being cleared by clients. 30% of the IT budgets that are used to make a change in the business were shelved during the slowdown. Those are coming back now. Analysts believe that in the near term clients, IT budgets are going to be flat & most of the revenues would come from the pending projects.

There are a number of reasons why the software companies in India have been so successful. Besides the Indian software companies, a number of multinational giants have also plunged into the India IT market.

India is the hub of cheap and skilled software professionals, which are available in abundance. It helps the software companies to develop cost-effective business solutions for their clients. As a result, Indian software companies can place their products and services in the global market in the most competitive rate. This is the reason why India has been a favorite destination for outsourcing as well. Many multinational IT giants also have their offshore development centers in India.

“Historically, for a 10% growth in revenues we would increase the workforce by 10%, but now we can do better revenues with the same people,” says Girish Paranjpe, joint CEO of Wipro. Thus we could conclude that, IT industry is on a Rocket Ride but not the workforce.

TAKE A STEP FORWARD. START A COFFEE PROCESSING UNIT.

The coffee industry of India is the 6th largest producer of coffee in the world, accounting for over 4% of world coffee production, with the bulk of all production taking place in its Southern states. India is most noted for its Monsoon variety. It is believed that coffee has been cultivated in India longer than anywhere outside of the Arabian Peninsula.

There are over 170,000 coffee farms in India, cultivating nearly 900,000 acres of coffee trees. Most coffee production in India is on small farms, with over 90% of all farms consisting of 10 acres or fewer. However, such farms account for just over half of all land used for coffee production and a minority of all coffee produced. Most coffee in India is grown in three states: Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamilnadu. These states accounted for over 92% of India's coffee production.

Demand for coffee in the country has been growing very fast. Traditionally only South Indian States were considered as the market for coffee. But in recent years, coffee has acquired a national presence & demand for coffee is growing much faster in the non-south regions. Between 2003 & 208 the coffee consumption is growing @ 45% annually while it has grown by 20.4% in the southern states. There are exciting business opportunities for coffee processing units especially in non-southern states.

Coffee Board provides 25% subsidy with a ceiling of 25lakhs per unit to individuals & firms & 40% subsidy with a ceiling of 40lakhs per unit to the self help groups & grower’s collectives or co-operatives on the total cost of the equipment.

Existing units can also avail this benefit for addition of any of the components.

7 Reasons China Will Lead the Global Economic Recovery.

7 Reasons China Will Lead the Global Economic Recovery...

The recent 21% tumble in the Chinese markets had investors around the world bailing out of China. But, this sell-off actually created one of the biggest buying opportunities of a lifetime. Here’s why China is poised to take off – and how to cash in as China leads the global economic recovery.

1. Incredible GDP growth is driving returns

Recently, HSBC China economist Qu Hongbin forecasted that the Chinese economy will expand to 9.5% in 2010. The impressive GDP growth comes not only from China’s massive $586 billion fiscal stimulus package, but from strong growth in consumer demand.

2. China can stimulate its economy without going into debts

With $2.3 trillion dollars in reserves, China has been able to strategically stimulate their economy – without having to deficit-spend to do it. China hasn’t had to go into debt or print trillions of dollars to attempt to stimulate its economy like the U.S. did. This gives China an incredible opportunity to shore up the economy without damaging its future economic prospects.

3. China is funding global growth

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced they were considering issuing $50 billion in bonds to better finance aid to countries struck by the global financial crisis; they turned to China to purchase them.

4. China is moving the world away from US dollar

Not only is China taking advantage of its economic strength to gain leverage in the IMF, it is also pushing for a move away from the U.S. Dollar as the world reserve currency. As the largest holder of U.S. dollar reserves in the world, China has a lot of reasons to be concerned with the value of the U.S. dollar.

5. China is creating a marketplace for its currency

China's central bank has signed bilateral currency swap agreements with six different countries – including Argentina, South Korea and Indonesia – worth $95 billion dollars. The countries that participate in these swap agreements can use Chinese Yuan to buy goods and services in China. With these agreements, China has created a market for its currency without ever having to put it into the open market.

6. China has a room to grow

Annual per-capita income in China is only $6,000 – compared with $47,000 in the U.S. The sheer size of China (1.3 billion people) and its increasing prosperity is an enormous force that can’t be ignored.

7. Global GDP growth is shifting east

As the global markets begin to mend themselves we will see global GDP share move from the west to Asia – led by China. Western economies will decline to just 45% of global economic activity by 2012 – far ahead of the original estimates that predicted the West wouldn’t fall below 50% until 2015. The Shanghai Stock Exchange increased its share of global market cap by 636%. In addition, by 2020 – just 10 years from now – China’s share of global consumption will be equal to that of the United States.