THE JEWEL OF THE BRIC CROWN

India is the preferred destination for Doing Business among the emerging BRIC countries, comprising of Brazil, Russia, India and China based on key factors that include, protecting investors’ interest; getting credit; employing workers; starting a business; and trading across borders, according to the rankings in the global report on ‘Doing Business 2009’ by the World Bank and its affiliate the International Financial Corporation.

India occupied the top slot in three of the parameters – protecting investors, getting credit and employing workers; while emerging second in trading across borders and starting a business. India’s improving business environment is a reflection of the regulatory reforms by the Government to bring uniformity in urbanisation across its regions to bridge the urban-rural divide, representing what it calls an “inclusive approach” to development.

This approach is reinforced in the Financial Budget 2009-10 announced by the Indian Finance Minister on July 6, committing increased investments in the infrastructure sector to more than 9% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2014 from 5% currently, apart from other rural development and welfare programs. This opens scope for investment opportunities, in the form of Public Private Partnership (PPP) developments that the government has championed.

Regional variations remain, however, due to internal pressure groups and anti-reforms voices within certain state governments. Cities such as Ludhiana in the north Indian state of Punjab; Bhubaneshwar, capital of the eastern coastal state of Orissa; Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat and Hyderabad, capital of the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh rank high in ease of doing business. In contrast, Kolkata, the capital of the East Indian state of West Bengal ranks lowest.

India 2nd optimistic employer in BRIC nations

Employment across BRIC region (Brazil, Russia, India and China) is likely to increase with the country expected to be the second most optimistic nation in terms of expanding its workforce over the next 12 months, says global consulting major KPMG.

Growth of employment is expected to be the strongest in Russia with almost half of Companies set to increase workforce numbers, while India followed suit and emerged as the second most confident nation

The Financial Express
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/
India-2nd-optimistic-employer-in-BRIC-nations/312671/0

India Inc eyes small cities for manpower

Despite the metropolitan cities offering maximum job avenues to the aspirants, the high cost of manpower and capacity constraints in these big cities is pushing industry to expanding its horizon towards small cities for job creation, according to ASSOCHAM Study on “Trends of Job Openings”. Out of the total 60 cities that have been tracked by the ASSOCHAM Placement Pattern (APP), the tier II and tier III cities have cornered 28% (total 14 tier II cities) and 38% (total 39 tier III cities) share of the job space respectively in the first three months of the year 2008.

Indiainfoline.com
http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/innernews.asp?
storyId=66863&lmn=1

India Inc moves to smaller cities to cut costs

Corporate India has begun to move towards tier II and tier III cities like Ranchi, Meerut, Udaipur and Patiala to bring down its rising manpower and infrastructure costs in the metros, said Industry body Assocham today.

The Economic Times
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/
India_Inc_moves_to_smaller_cities/articleshow/
3015508.cms