Tag Archives: india
Law and globalisation: Not entirely free, your honour
Posted on 01. Aug, 2010 by admin.
The legal profession, like the clients it serves, is well on the way to going global—but especially in India, obstacles to its spread remain LAW is supposed to be about universal principles: rules that apply without prejudice to a broad category of human beings, regardless of sex, culture or economic status. So in a world where barriers to the transfer of goods, expertise and people are coming down, you might expect that the legal profession would be among the first to fuse into a seamless transnational fraternity. In history, whenever cross-border commerce has flourished, as in medieval Venice, so too have trade lawyers with broad horizons, like the ones pictured above. And today, at least from the vantage-point of the ambitious practitioner, the legal profession seems to have little respect for borders. A talented graduate from any of the world’s top law schools can expect a life of globe-trotting. A single month’s work can include writing the small print on a Saudi investment in Africa, helping an Indonesian firm to market its shares in New York, and writing a contract under English law between two companies in Russia. Humanitarian law, as well as the commercial sort, is going global: these days nobody would be surprised to see an American lobby group test the principle of “universal jurisdiction” (for egregious crimes) by trying to get an African dictator arrested on a shopping trip to Europe. …
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Life Insurance: Types of Policies available in India
Posted on 29. Jun, 2010 by admin.
There are broadly two kinds of insurance policies available in India. Insurance cum investment plans and pure life covers (called term life insurance).
Insurance cum investment plans (which serve dual purpose of life cover and savings) are further subdivided into traditional insurance plans and ULIPs. The major difference between the two is that while in case of [...]
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Life Insurance: Types of Policies available in India
Posted on 29. Jun, 2010 by admin.
There are broadly two kinds of insurance policies available in India. Insurance cum investment plans and pure life covers (called term life insurance).
Insurance cum investment plans (which serve dual purpose of life cover and savings) are further subdivided into traditional insurance plans and ULIPs. The major difference between the two is that while in case of [...]
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Nuclear proliferation in South Asia: The power of nightmares
Posted on 24. Jun, 2010 by admin.
China’s proposed sale of nuclear reactors to Pakistan will intensify nuclear rivalry with India. But the damage will go far wider AT FIRST sight, China’s proposed sale of two civilian nuclear-power reactors to Pakistan hardly seems a danger sign. Pakistan already has the bomb, so it has all the nuclear secrets it needs. Next-door India has the bomb too, and has been seeking similar deals with other countries. Yet the sale (really a gift, as Pakistan is broke) has caused shudders at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), an informal cartel of countries who want to stop their advanced nuclear technology getting into the wrong hands. They are meeting in New Zealand, for what was supposed to be a quiet and nerdish rule-tightening session. But their efforts may now fall victim to China’s rivalry with America. …
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Automotive alliances multiply: All together now
Posted on 10. Jun, 2010 by admin.
EVER since the forging of Renault’s alliance with Nissan in 1999, Carlos Ghosn, the boss of both carmakers, has been on the lookout for new partners. He passionately believes that the alliance model he has created is superior both to the full mergers the car industry has often mucked up and to the limited co-operation deals that are two a penny. But attracting others to his big tent has taken time. In 2002 Nissan launched what has proved to be a successful joint venture in China with Dongfeng: it has become the leading Japanese brand in China, now the world’s most important car market. In late 2007 Nissan beat out General Motors to become a “strategic partner” of AvtoVaz, a big but sickly Russian carmaker, taking a 25% stake. Since then, Russian car sales have nearly halved. But Mr Ghosn believes that the tie-up with AvtoVaz will bring his alliance a 40% share of a market that was briefly as big as Germany’s and probably soon will be again. Earlier this year Mr Ghosn brought Daimler, a German maker of trucks and luxury cars, into a three-way alliance with Renault and Nissan. Daimler’s Dieter Zetsche, anxious to find a way to cut the cost of developing the firm’s lossmaking small cars, had held lengthy but fruitless discussions with, among others, Volkswagen, BMW and Fiat. The alliance will focus on sharing resources in four main areas: platforms for small cars and light commercial vehicles; small petrol and diesel engines; technology for fully electric and hybrid cars; and bigger diesel engines. Eventually Mr Ghosn is hoping for a bigger cross-holding than the tiny stakes in each other that Mr Zetsche agreed to. A successful alliance, Mr Ghosn says, “really is like a marriage”. Renault owns 44% of Nissan, which in turn holds 15% of Renault. They purchase most of their parts jointly, and have gradually learned to share engineering expertise, such as Renault’s strength in diesel engines and Nissan’s in petrol ones. The alliance, Mr Ghosn argues, has also made Nissan more daring and Renault more cosmopolitan. But Mr Ghosn believes that further scale is needed for three reasons. First, under pressure from legislators anxious to boost fuel efficiency and cut carbon emissions, carmakers are spending huge sums on developing a range of sophisticated new powertrains. Second, there is a pressing need for investment in substantial new manufacturing capacity and dealer networks in the emerging markets that are generating nearly all the industry’s growth. Finally, Mr Ghosn says, you can no longer survive as a “niche player” specialising in small cars or luxury vehicles. To cover overheads, big car manufacturers must cover every segment. Whether Mr Ghosn’s web of alliances can deliver all this is unclear. Even where full mergers have taken place, as with the disastrous union between Daimler and Chrysler, savings have proved elusive because engineers from one side are unwilling to share ideas and resources with the other. After 11 years and much effort, some argue, Renault and Nissan have yet to equal the efficiencies of the various arms of VW Group or Toyota, which are both tightly integrated and centrally managed. Mr Ghosn admits that it is hard to overcome the “engineering bias” that is often the enemy of efficient scale in the industry. “We are autonomous, but little by little we can commonise engines, transmissions and platforms,” he says. Although other carmakers have not fully embraced Mr Ghosn’s model, variations of it are spreading fast. VW sees the 20% stake it took late last year in Suzuki, which is strong in India and in small cars, as a “critical” step towards surpassing Toyota as the world’s biggest car company. PSA Peugeot Citroën and Mitsubishi, while balking at big cross-shareholdings, are keen to deepen their ties. And although Fiat has in effect taken control of Chrysler despite owning only 20% of the American firm, it is adopting a similar management structure to Mr Ghosn’s at Renault and Nissan. Mr Ghosn has long believed that knowing how to run an alliance is a big competitive advantage. It seems that he is no longer a prophet without followers. Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds
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Prudential’s Asian acquisition: Cold feet
Posted on 06. May, 2010 by admin.
Prudential’s Asian acquisition A regulator holds up the Pru’s giant Asian merger May 6th 2010 | From The Economist print edition THE bankers were in the building at Laurence Pountney Hill on May 4th, poised to price a $21 billion (£14 billion) rights issue. Printing presses were ready to spew out the 1,000-page prospectus. Then came the bombshell: the man from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was not happy with the man from the Pru. With that, a $35.5 billion deal to transform Prudential PLC, Britain’s best-known life insurer, into a dominant force in Asia was put on hold. Prudential wants to buy AIA, the Asian operations of American International Group (AIG), an insurance giant bailed out by the American government in 2008. AIA is in ten large Asian countries and the biggest life insurer in two of them; Prudential dominates in four. Together AIA and the Pru would become the leading life insurer in seven Asian countries, and the biggest foreign provider in China and India. Apart from the rights issue, Prudential is planning to raise another $10 billion in bonds, and to place $5.5 billion of its own shares with AIG. The deal was delayed, it seems, because the FSA got cold feet. It would remain the Prudential’s lead regulator, under international rules now in the works, even though at least 60% of the insurer’s new business income would be in Asia. With blood from the global financial crisis still flowing, it makes sense that the main regulator of a far-flung conglomerate, by most measures too big to fail, would want to be sure that capital is available in London in case of need. This last-minute hitch rather thwarted the earlier regulatory due diligence carried out on behalf of Prudential by lawyers Slaughter & May. Capital rules for insurers are in a state of flux. A new European Union (EU) directive known as Solvency II, which will have global ramifications, is being thrashed through various EU bodies and is about 95% complete. But studies on its likely impact are still being done. A big concern about the Prudential deal, under Solvency II, is whether the British holding company would have ready access to capital held outside the EU. The new Prudential plans to list its shares in Hong Kong and Singapore as well as in London and New York. The FSA’s objections may require the Pru to find yet more capital. This week’s thwarted attempt was already the biggest British rights issue ever, apart from those involving government money. And critics of the acquisition, including some of the Pru’s big shareholders, think the firm is overpaying. AIG was preparing to float AIA for up to $25 billion when Prudential stepped in with an offer $10 billion higher. Tidjane Thiam, Prudential’s current chief executive, and Mark Tucker, his predecessor, have pushed resolutely towards Asian expansion. The potential for growth in Asia, compared with prospects in more mature markets in Europe and America, is mouth-watering on paper: life insurance premiums gathered in India and China account for only 4% and 2.2% of GDP respectively; in Britain it is 10.6%. Yet there are those who worry, following reports that the Pru is ready to sell its British business to chase its Asian dream, that this 162-year-old insurance company is burning boats it should hang on to. On the numbers alone it may seem compelling to go flat-out for growth. But shareholders in financial institutions have seen rather too much of that strategy lately to be entirely comfortable with it. In a report published on April 30th, the OECD, a rich-country club, analyses the impact of the financial crisis on insurance. It warns supervisors to take more account of macroprudential spillover as many insurers react similarly to economic events. It may be that some such consideration prompted the FSA to slam on the brakes. Readers’ comments The Economist welcomes your views. Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds
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New India Assurance-Health Insurance
Posted on 05. May, 2010 by admin.
Today, healthcare costs are high and still increasing rapidly day by day. In such a situation, getting medical treatment for illness, diseases or accidental injuries can be very difficult, because the medical expenses add up quickly. The same also goes for the medicines and another health care related services which are very costly. Here, health [...]
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New India Assurance-Universal Health Insurance Scheme
Posted on 04. May, 2010 by admin.
New India Assurance offers Universal Health Insurance Scheme which comes with personal accident and disability cover. This policy is specially designed for providing health cover to poor families, so premiums are very lower. For an individual the premium amount is Rs.300/- per annum and for a family up to 5 members (including the first 3 [...]
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Distorted sex ratios in India: Haryana’s lonely bachelors
Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by admin.
Struggling to cope with a dearth of brides BALJEET SINGH dandles his baby daughter on his knee, a picture of contented fatherhood. Last year the 37-year-old Hindu truck driver became the envy of his friends when he married a 16-year-old Muslim from Assam, in India’s north-east. The unorthodox marriage suited both. Mr Singh’s romantic life had become a casualty of India’s preference for boy babies, which in his state, Haryana, has led to the most skewed sex ratio in India: 116 to 100, according to the 2001 census, compared with a national average of 108. By the age of 30, says Mr Singh, he had given up hope of finding a girl from his own village, Nandgaon, or from his state. His wife, Sona Khatum, comes from an impoverished family in one of India’s poorest states, though village rumour mutters that she may be an illegal migrant from Bangladesh. Mr Singh paid handsomely. “Here, I’ve always been made comfortable,” she says shyly, from beneath her veil. Ms Khatum is one of an increasing number of brides imported into Haryana, one of India’s richest states. The Red Cross Society of India, which campaigns against gendercide in the country, reckons that at least 100 brides have been brought into Bhiwani, one of Haryana’s 21 districts. Nandgaon, a village of some 1,700 people, most of them farmers, is a microcosm of bachelor angst. The Red Cross reckons that at least 100 bachelors have passed the age range thought ideal for marriage, which is 20 to 25. At least five have married women from other states, and “lots of my friends ask me, how can I find one?” says Mr Singh. …
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Middle-income and developing countries: Crumbs from the BRICs-man’s table
Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by admin.
Emerging powers have helped poorer nations weather the global recession IN COLD-WAR days America and the Soviet Union vied for influence among the poor world’s minnows. Now the BRICs—Brazil, Russia, India and China—are getting into the game, and changing it. This month, Sri Lanka got $290m from China for a new international airport and $67m from India to upgrade its railways. As poor countries emerge from recession and the rich world flounders, big middle-income countries see a once-in-a-generation chance to win friends and influence people. The process is sometimes direct (through aid, trade, remittances, investment) and sometimes indirect (through commodity prices or competition in third markets, for instance). But it is always hard to pin down. None of the new donors (all of which, except Russia, still get aid themselves) publishes comprehensive, or even comprehensible, figures. But a new study* by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a British think-tank, says the emerging countries (such as the BRICs) increasingly affect the growth prospects of poorer ones. In other words, after decades of talk about the importance of “south-south” ties, those links have finally started to mean something. …
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