Prime Minister greets Indian diaspora
 Indian Prime Minister
Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated
the Sixth Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas in New Delhi on
January 8. Speaking on the occasion,
Dr. Singh said that the idea
of India transcends the narrow
barriers of religion, language,
caste or class, both within and
outside the Indian nation.
The Prime Minister
announced the launch of an
'Overseas Workers Resource
Centre' (OWRC), which will provide
all relevant information and
assistance to potential migrant
workers. He also announced the
establishment of the Prime
Minister's Global Advisory
Council, which will comprise
illustrious NRIs and People of
Indian Origin. The security and
welfare of Indian residents living abroad is
a top priority of our diplomatic missions,
the Prime Minister said.
Following is the text of the Prime
Minister's address on the occasion:<.
"Let me begin by wishing each one of you
a very happy new year. Even though Delhi is
right now cold, I assure you that a very
warm welcome awaits you in this land of
your ancestors. The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
is a very special day for each one of us.
Each of you represents the idea of India in
different parts of the world. Like I had said
last year, we are one family and the whole
world is our home. The invisible thread that
binds us together and bonds us with
Mother India is our common
'Indianness'.
Each year, we have the honour
and privilege of having an eminent
Pravasi as our chief guest.
This year, we have the distinguished
Dr. Navin Chandra
Ramagoolam, the Honourable
Prime Minister of Mauritius, as
the Chief Guest. The people of
India and Mauritius have deep
emotional links - civilisational,
cultural and many other.
Mauritius is a very special friend
of India. We take great pride in
the achievements of the people
of Mauritius to which the
Prime Minister and his great
father have made a very notable
contribution. Dr. Ramagoolam
is a great friend of India and a
very dear personal friend. It is
indeed my pleasure to extend a very warm
welcome to him and to his gracious wife.
As we begin the year 2008, we look back
at the year gone by with some satisfaction.
It has been a good year for the Indian economy,
for our working people and for our
entrepreneurs.
Continued on page 2
22 world-class railway stations
The Indian Railway Ministry's plans to
develop major stations in metros and other
prominent cities into world-class facilities
have received good response from international
bidders. Hong Kong-based Terry
Ferrell has been appointed architect and
technical consultant for the New Delhi station.
If everything works out as per plans
and construction and redevelopment work
starts as scheduled, almost two dozen stations
will sport a world-class look equipped
with modern amenities before the start of
the 2010 Commonwealth Games, according
to a senior ministry official.
Twenty-two stations will be developed
through the public-private partnership
route. Apart from the metros - New
Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai -
the stations which are part of the project
include those at Agra, Ahmedabad,
Amritsar, Bangalore, Bhopal,
Bhubhaneswar, Chandigarh, Howrah,
Jaipur, Lucknow, Mathura, Patna, Pune,
Secunderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and
Varanasi, besides Anand Vihar and
Bijwasan (both Delhi).
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Mumbai to host equity fair
India's financial capital, Mumbai, will witness
the country's first-ever private equity
fair - IPEX 2008 - to be held on
February 27.
IPEX 2008, organised by Yen Expo and
the Indian Institute of Management-
Ahmedabad (IIM-A), will see over 25 companies
showcasing their businesses to 150
private equity funds from India and abroad.
The fair will be held at Hotel Grand Hyatt.
"IIM-A has been roped in to make a
detailed company analysis of each applicant
and shortlist the best 25 for the fair," Sunil
Shirole, senior investment banker in Yen
Expo, said. Shirole said the fair would help
mid-sized companies who find it difficult to
attract private equity investors, as they are
unable to present their business plan in a
format that is appreciated by investors.
Fund-raising through the bond market,
currency and interest rate risk management,
securitisation with a view to ensuring
balancesheet liquidity, credit derivatives
and collateralised debt obligations continue
to be a complicated process for
an trading group.
Retail market to touch $365 bn
The boom in India's retail sector will continue
and top $365 billion in 2008, against
$300 billion last year, says a study by a leading
industry chamber, released in New Delhi
on December 31.
With a year-on-year growth of 30-35 percent,
the retail trade sector in India will top
$440 billion by 2010, says the study by the
Associated Chambers of Commerce and
Industry of India. "The retail industry size in
calendar 2007, particularly in its organised
retail segment, is around less than five percent,
which works out to be slightly more
than $16 billion," said chamber president
Venugopal N. Dhoot.
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