India Seeks Latin American Investors in Manufacturing and Infrastructure

During a visit to India this week by business community leaders from Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, India indicated it was actively seeking LAC investment in its manufacturing, infrastructure, and agricultural processing sectors.

Led by Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas Espinel, the 250 member business delegation will attend a number of events and meetings hosted by the Indian Government and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi and Mumbai.

It is reported that projects worth over US$35 billion were offered to business leaders during the CII-hosted opening event yesterday.

“What LAC countries need to discover is the attractiveness of the market here and in particular manufacturing. That is where the Indian market is ideally placed to receive investments,” Secretary of Industrial Policy and Promotion Suarabh Chandra said at a CII function.

Chandra also briefed the delegation about India’s National Manufacturing Policy (NMP), which provides financial incentives to overseas investors, and 2013 changes in FDI policy.

The NMP aims to raise the share of manufacturing to 25 percent of India’s GDP by 2022 from 16 percent, and create more than 100 million jobs by 2020.

The LAC delegation was specifically encouraged to invest in the development of four new industrial corridors: the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor, Chennai Bangalore Industrial Corridor, Bengaluru-Mumbai Economic Corridor and Amristar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid also called upon India and LAC countries to increase bilateral cooperation in poverty eradication efforts and educational exchange.

Faster Visa Issuance Procedures

Noting that bilateral trade between India and the LAC has increased considerably over the past decade, Khurshid called upon small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in both India and the LAC to increase cooperation and investment.

Khurshid insisted, however, that there was an immediate need to improve Indian consular services in the LAC and issue visas to LAC citizens faster in order to boost economic engagement between the two regions.

While two-way trade between the LAC and India increased to US$46 billion in 2012 from only US$2 billion in 2000, Khurshid stated that “the figure is not reflective of the true potential of our economic engagement. We need, and I take note of this, to improve on our consular services and faster issuance of visas and I think that remains the pre-requisite that we must address.”

“This region includes five of the world’s most bio-diverse countries – Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. India wishes to build a long lasting, enduring relationship with LAC,” he added.

By increasing cooperation and engagement between LAC and Indian SMEs, both sides agreed technology related to e-governance, tele-education, tele-medicine and mining could enhance economic growth potential.

A report issued late yesterday appears to indicate the delegation is already seeing early signs of success as Ecuador announced plans to invest US$70 billion into India by 2017.

The next LAC business delegation is expected to travel to New Delhi in September 2014 in order to continue strengthening political and economic relationships being forged this week.

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Asian school students top global education survey

LONDON: A major global ranking released on Tuesday, which evaluated knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds, has showed Britain has failed in making it to the top 20 in mathematics, English and science for the first time.

Asian countries like China, Japan and Korea have outperformed the rest of the world in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s latest PISA survey in which over half a million 15-year-olds in 65 countries took tests in the three subjects.

The results have come as a shocker for the UK with British students faring poorest in mathematics — coming 26th in the league table. In English reading, they ranked 23rd and 18 in science.

Shanghai (China) and Singapore were top in mathematics. Students in Shanghai scored the equivalent of nearly three years of schooling above most OECD countries.

Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Korea, Macao, Japan, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and the Netherlands were also in the group of top-performing countries. The five top performing countries in reading were Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and South Korea. India was not among the countries surveyed.

Of those 64 countries with trend data in maths up to 2012, 25 improved in maths, 25 showed no change and 14 did worse. Brazil, Germany, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Tunisia and Turkey have shown a consistent improvement over this period.

Around 23% of students in OECD countries, and 32% overall, failed to master the simplest maths problems. Boys performed better than girls in maths. They scored higher in 37 out of the 65 countries and economies, while girls outperformed boys in 5 countries.

Of the 64 countries and economies with comparable data up to 2012, 32 improved their reading performance, 22 showed no change, and 10 deteriorated. Chile, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey improved their reading performance across successive assessments.

Across OECD countries, 8.4% of students are top performers in reading. Shanghai-China has the largest proportion of top performers - 25.1%. Over 15% of students in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore are top performers in reading, as are more than 10% of students in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, Korea, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway and Chinese Taipei.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Asian-school-students-top-global-education-survey/articleshow/26817209.cms

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A R Rahman bats for proper music education for kids

Underlining the need for music schools for youngsters, Oscar-winning composer A R Rahman feels children across India should have access to proper music education.

Learning music is "not merely a side thing where you take tuitions in a house. If a kid wants to learn music, he deserves proper education in it," Rahman told PTI here.

The Academy Award winning composer, singer and producer was in the city to visit a flagship store in Manhattan for the leading global audio and infotainment group Harman International Industries.

A large number of Indians living in the area had lined up at the store to meet Rahman and take photographs with the music legend. Rahman was also gifted customized gold-plated JBL headphones by Harman International CEO Dinesh Paliwal during his visit to the store.

Harman had named Rahman its India Brand Ambassador for JBL by Harman's multi-year campaign.

Rahman, who founded KM Music Conservatory, a higher education institution focussed on music in 2008, said his efforts in setting up the music school has inspired people in India to "understand that education of music is very important".

"If a kid in a family of doctors wants to study music, it is his right to demand that and come to a school like the K M Conservatory," he said.

Rahman added that he had been offered to open similar music schools beyond India's borders in countries like Dubai and Malaysia but said he still needs to "perfect" the concept in India.

On whether he has plans to set up a music school in the US, Rahman said he might look at the possibility in future when he has more free time in hand.

"You cannot set up a school and let someone else manage it. You have to be passionate and be involved all the time, get constant feedback. That is my intention. For me a music school is like family, you cannot have kids and then say that they will grow up on their own. You need to take care of them. The same applies to a music school," he added.

Among the various projects Rahman is currently working on are 'Million Dollar Arm' and 'Monkeys of Mumbai', which is DreamWorks Animation's first-ever Bollywood-style animated musical adventure.

The Grammy-award-winning musician said he is always on the lookout for projects that are not repetitive and drive him to deliver his best.

"At this stage of my life, the projects have to compel, drive me. That is the kind of projects I am selecting. It is important that I do not feel that I have done this before," he added.

Rahman, 47, who recently gave cricketer Sachin Tendulkar a guitar, said he will miss the batting legend on the field but said it was the right decision by Tendulkar to retire.

"Of course, I will miss him on the field. It is very emotional but at the same time it is good to go at such heights," he said.

"Life does not come to an end" with retirement and Tendulkar can continue to share his vast experience and knowledge about the game.

Rahman said Tendulkar was moving to a new house where he was setting up a music room. Rahman bought a guitar for Tendulkar who said he would take it if it has been signed by Rahman.

Tendulkar, who retired from cricket last month, counts the guitar gifted by Rahman among the memorable gifts he has received and has said that it is "dear to me."

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-r-rahman-bats-for-proper-music-education-for-kids/1202707/0

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India Education Services plans 50 business school centres in 10 years

 NEW DELHI: India Education Services, an equal joint venture between HT Media and US-based Apollo Global Inc, that runs Bridge School of Management, plans to open 50 centres across India in the next ten years to train working professionals.

The company that currently has a centre at Gurgaon, will open a second one at Noida shortly. It is targeting to provide executive education programmemes to mid-level working professionals with 3-8 years of work experience.

It is aiming for a total of about one lakh students to be trained in the next decade.

"There is a lack of supply for the right talent for the right job in India today. What we are aiming is to address the 'employability' gap to help India's rapidly growing industry," India Education Services CEO Rajesh Puri told PTI.

He said by leveraging on knowledge, experience, expertise and technology from Apollo Global, Bridge will provide an innovative learning environment and industry focused management programmemes for working adults to boost their career.

"Currently, we have a total of 125 students, all coming from various industry segments, in batch of 20 each. Our aim is that in 10 years time, we should be able to train about a lakh students," he said.

When asked about the campus expansion, Puri said: "Our first centre is at Gurgaon and the second is coming up in Noida very soon. The overall vision is to have about 50 centres across India in the next 10 years."

He, however, declined to comment on investments for expansion that the company has envisaged.

Puri also said as the school moves forward, it may also take students from outside and not necessarily from industry alone as it is done at present.

Bridge School of Management is offering post graduate programmemes in management with specialisations in HR, finance, marketing and operations and technology functions. Each programmeme is of 11-month duration costing about Rs 2.5 lakh.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-12-01/news/44619568_1_bridge-school-50-centres-puri

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Education can help India overcome moral challenges: President Pranab Mukherjee

The people of the country need to make an extra effort to surmount the contemporary moral challenges, President Pranab Mukherjee today said, stressing the need to focus on education for India to be "truly developed".

"Educational institutions have a pivotal role to inculcate in our youth the core civilizational values of love for motherland, performance of duty, compassion for all, tolerance for pluralism, respect for women, honesty in life, self-restraint in conduct, responsibility in action and discipline," the President said at the 12th convocation ceremony of Rajiv Gandhi University here.

Asserting that education is the bedrock of an enlightened society, he said a good education breeds tolerance for divergent views.

"Our country has done well in terms of economic development. Yet, we cannot claim to have evolved into a truly developed society," he said.

"Development is not only about factories, dams and roads. Development, to my mind, is about people, their values and their devotion to spiritual and cultural heritage of our nation."

"At a time when we, as a nation, have to make an extra effort to surmount the contemporary moral challenges, it is holistic education that must play a definitive role in shaping our values," Mukherjee said.

The President, who was on a two-day visit to the north eastern state, expressed concerns over the declining standard of country's higher education and suggested its overhaul.

"Today, our universities lag behind the best universities in the world. According to an international survey, an Indian university or an institution is missing from the top 200 ranks. Naturally, we feel shock," he said.

"India is poised to become a world power. Not merely physical expansion is enough, we must have quality expansion. There is no dearth of quality teachers and students, what we need is quality education and an atmosphere for that," the President said.

"Why should our students go to abroad. Why can't we create reverse reaction. For that, we need to emphasise on education and research," he said.

Mukherjee said ancient universities in the country had excelled in providing education not only for one or two years but for 1,800 years, yet none of our institutes figures in list of world's top 200 such centres.

"Our ancient universities--Takshashila, Nalanda, Vikramashila, Valabhi, Somapura and Odantapuri-- were renowned seats of learning that attracted scholars from outside."

Mukherjee said country's higher academic model must undergo significant changes from the traditional pattern of delivering education.

He said every university has shortage of teachers but that cannot be overcome overnight.

Technology can play an important role for it, he said. The President also laid emphasis on conducting research activities in universities across the country.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-11-30/news/44596394_1_president-pranab-mukherjee-universities-quality-education

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Educational toys the next big thing in India

The knack Indian parents have for teaching their children is acting as a game-changer for educational toys, raising their demand by 15 percent year-on-year.

"In the coming days demand for educational toys will be more as the parents want more cerebral games for their children," Shyam Makhija, director, business development, Pegasus ToyKraft, told IANS.

"Educational toys have the potential to grow at around 15 percent year-on-year in the next five years."

As education is foremost on the Indian parents' mind, they look out for toys which provide educational value through play. Industry stakeholders are of the opinion that most toys provide educational value in some way or the other.

"From a purist's point of view we can look at an edutainment toy as one which provides direct and immediate educational learning through play. The categories which fit the bill most appropriately are educational jigsaw puzzles, tile puzzles, memory-based games, do-it-yourself art and craft kits, builder blocks and construction sets," he said.

"The scope of the educational toy industry is growing among the literate class of society. There had always been a relationship between learning and playing and it is very important to understand that," Sunil Nanda, president of the Toy Association of India told IANS.

The estimated size of the retail toy industry is approximately Rs.10,000 crore (US$16 billion) he said.

Paresh Chawla, director, Welby Impex, said toys play a major role to make a child learn various things while playing. "That is the sole reason why Indian parents are spending more on educational toys nowadays."

The industry has also held many seminars and talks with parents, teachers, psychologists and social scientists to understand what type of toys will help educate children of which age, he said.

"An educational toy should be able to add some cognitive value to the child. The presentation has to be very good so that a child doesn't get bored and it can arouse some curiosity in the child. Learning should happening subtly," Nanda added.

He said it is important for the educational toys to be age and gender appropriate. "Lots of research are needed towards it."

Kapil Tripathi, scientist at Vigyan Prasar, which makes activity-based learning materials, said they prepare these kits to make children understand the facts and the reasons behind various natural developments like earthquake or biodiversity.

Vigyan Prasar does not sell its products through any shop. The educational kits are highly subsidised and are directly procured from its offices.

"The future looks bright considering that the current average amount spent for the child by the middle class and the rich in urban markets is as low as Rs.600-700 per child per annum," said Makhija.

At present, approximately 300 professional toy manufacturers exist in India.

http://newindianexpress.com/business/news/Educational-toys-the-next-big-thing-in-India/2013/11/11/article1884537.ece

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Biocon sets up education arm

BANGALORE: Biopharmaceutical major Biocon has set up an educational arm Biocon Academy with the objective of training and developing industryready talent for India's $11-billion biotech industry.

Projected to cross revenues of $100 billion over the next decade, the Indian biotech industry receives 40,000 graduates annually from over 725 biotech institutes in the country, of which only 2,000, or 5%, is employable.

"There is a very large gap that exists between the quality of human capital available and the need of the industry. If this sector aims for $100 billion in revenues, then it calls for a very large talent pool to enable us to achieve this goal," said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw , CMD of Biocon.

The Biocon Academy has tied up with Keck Graduate Institute , Calif., to offer the Biocon KGI Certificate Program in Biosciences, for which the enrollment process has begun . While the 16-week program would cost Rs 6 lakh per graduate, Biocon will bring down the cost to Rs 1.5 lakh by offering scholarships. "We will offer a merit scholarship of 75% of the course fee for all students selected through an intensive selection process," said Shaw. Initially, Biocon Academy will have 25 students per batch, and have four batches in a year.

Sheldon M Schuster, president , Keck Graduate Institute, said, "Through our collaboration with the scientists and subject matter experts at Biocon , KGI has developed an applied , graduate level curriculum that will be focused on teamwork and will reflect current industry dynamics."

Biocon, with revenues of close to $500 million, has spent Rs 10 crore in setting up the Academy , and will incur expenditure of close to Rs 10 cr per annum by way of administration costs and scholarships.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Biocon-sets-up-education-arm/articleshow/25618534.cms

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Now, scheme to curb default on educational loans

NEW DELHI: Faced with growing education loan default, Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Educational Loans has been finalized and is likely to come before the Cabinet in the next few weeks.

The scheme, devised by the ministry of finance, HRD ministry and Indian Banks' Association, proposes to set up a Credit Guarantee Fund with a corpus of Rs 2,500 crore. The fund will provide guarantee to educational loans up to Rs 7.5 lakh. It is proposed that loans — ranging from Rs 4 to Rs 7.5 lakh — will be guaranteed up to 75% of the amount outstanding with interest as on the date the account is declared non- performing asset (NPA). A HRD official said, "Earlier, it was proposed that loan up to Rs 4 lakh may be guaranteed up to 90% of the outstanding amount and loans up to Rs 7.5 lakh may be guaranteed up to 80%. But a uniform guarantee percentage was devised later. It is up to the Cabinet to revise the amount that can be guaranteed."

The fund will not apply to educational loan amount above Rs 7.5 lakh as they are given through appropriate collateral.

A HRD official said, "The new scheme helps banks with guarantee. It will encourage them to lend more and bring down the interest rate because of guarantee." It has also been specified that eligibility for guarantee be only for those loans in which interest does not exceed more than 2% of the base lending rate. Banks giving out education loans will have to pay a one-time guarantee at a specified rate upfront to the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust within 30 days from the date of first disbursement of education loan or 30 days from the date of demand advice of guarantee fee whichever is later or such date as specified by the Trust.

Once the guaranteed amount is paid to the bank, the borrower becomes a debtor of the government. While the banks will continue to follow up for repayment of the loan and share with the government recoveries proportionally, the government will also track the students and recover their own dues. Loan amounts will be reported to the Credit Information Company. The total outstanding education loan amount at the end of March, 2013, was Rs 53,520 crore. In total, there are more than 25 lakh education loan accounts.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Now-scheme-to-curb-default-on-educational-loans/articleshow/25665584.cms

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India poised to become the largest provider of global talent

MUMBAI: India is poised to become the largest provider of global talent with one in four graduates in the world a product of the Indian system, says a Ficci-EY Report on Higher Education in India: Vision 2030.

The report further outlines that by 2030, the emergence of a robust higher education system would enable India to augment its gross enrollment ratio (GER) to 50%, with a student enrollment of more than 70 million across the higher education system; reduce disparity in GER to 5 percentage points across states, gender and various social groups and emerge as a better informed and evolved society, leading to improved social indicators including better health and sanitation, life expectancy, and law and order.

India would also emerge among the top 5 countries in the world in terms of research output, with an annual R&D spend of US$140 billion; have more than 20 universities among the global top 200 and become a global destination for higher education, the report goes on to add.

" By 2030, India is expected to be a dominant economy of $10 trillion. Hence, there is an urgent need for developing a coherent co-relation between our vision, planning and implementation for education with the economic planning, to make significant strides over the next 15-20 years," said Ficci secretary general A Didar Singh in a release.

According to Amitabh Jhingan, partner and national leader - education practice, EY : "In order to realise the goals we envision for 2030, adopting a transformative and innovative approach is critical across all the levels of higher education: from curricula and pedagogy to the use of technology to partnerships, governance and funding. Making rapid progress over the next two decades would require a committed and concerted effort from all stakeholders involved, that is academia, industry and government."

The report has also identified important interventions required for realising the envisioned state of the Indian higher education system over the next two decades. These include adopting a learner-centered paradigm of education and new pedagogical techniques; easing faculty recruitment norms and implementing tenure-based and rewards-based systems to retain quality faculty; attracting and incentivising best-in-class faculty to conduct research; strengthening industry academia linkages and incentivising high-quality private and foreign participation in higher education.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/education/india-poised-to-become-the-largest-provider-of-global-talent-ficci-ey-report/articleshow/25708604.cms

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Technology can help solve CAD problem, says Ambani

Painting an optimistic picture of India, Chairman of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani said India can solve its current account deficit problem by increased use of technology across all spheres of industries and especially in the energy sector.

Addressing a gathering of Asia Society in Mumbai on the launch of a collection of essay called “Reimagining India” on Tuesday evening, Ambani said delivery of education, means of livelihood and health care services can be expedited if the country embraces technology. “India is not behind in innovation. By embracing technology, education can be provided to all Indians across the country,” Ambani said.

On CAD, Ambani said today India has a current account deficit problem mainly due to import of energy products like oil & gas. “For a country like India, there is no other option but to rely on technology, even to solve our energy problems” said he. The United States, one of world’s biggest energy consumer, has now become an exporter of gas - thanks to improved technology to generate gas from shale deposits. The gas prices also tanked in the US to just $2 a unit due to shale gas production. This model can be replicated in India.

"But a pre-requisite to solve CAD problem is education and to make 250 million young Indians acquire skills and make most of available technology," he said. Ambani is one  of the contributor to the book alongwith CNN’s Fareed Zakaria; Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates; Google chairman Eric Schmidt; Harvard Business School dean Nitin Nohria; Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal and Nandan Nilekani, cofounder of Infosys and chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India.

Ambani said broadband technology is providing access to opportunities irrespective of geographies. “So, you can access them in all the 5,432 small towns and cities, and 6,00,000

villages in a matter of a couple of years and then scale up. That is what gives me optimism and positivity," Ambani said. Reliance is investing close to $5 billion in the launch of broadband services in India.

Ambani said it is important to bring close to 700 to 800 million Indians - who remained excluded from India’s success story in the last 20 years - to the economic mainstream.  “If we manage to bring this segment into the economic mainstream, it will result in enormous enhancement of India’s economic and non-economic power as we will generate equality in access despite inequality income,” said he.

Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said India has a chance to create a completely new template.   He said smaller states are better to manage. "I have no problem about more states coming up. If size is the issue, make it (states) more manageable," Mahindra said.

Reimagining India: Unlocking the Potential of Asia’s Next Superpower is published by McKinsey and it brings together leading thinkers from around the world to explore and debate the challenges and opportunities facing the country.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/technology-can-help-solve-cad-problem-says-ambani-113111300196_1.html

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