T P T M Assignment:

1. Discuss the present senerio of chemical and drugs exports 4m india. 2. Explain indian qaulity standars and inspection.and also total quality managenat. 3. Discuss the profile of meat and marine products exported from india. 4. Explain the strategies of gems and jewellery exports in the current international senerio. 5. Discuss the position of textile and garments export from india. 6. ExpALIN how foreign trade policy has influenced the export of agriculture products, handlooms, leather products and handicrafts. 7. The success as an exporter depents to a great extent, on gaining credibility". Do u agree? Explain. 8. "India has better advantage in the feild of project and concultancy export." Comment. Also give SWOT analysis of this industry. 9. "India should focus on export of IT products." Comment with appropriate reasons. 10. Write short notes on: a. Export of engineering products. b. Export of consumer durable goods. c. Export of minerals.

ANSWER1:
Indian Pharma Industry an overview
The demand for pharmaceutical products in India is significant and is driven by low drug penetration, rising middle-class & disposable income, increased government & private spending on healthcare infrastructure, increasing medical insurance penetration etc. The Indian pharmaceutical industry is growing at about 8 to 9 percent annually according to A Brief Report Pharmaceutical Industry in India, published in January 2011. The Pharmaceutical industry in India meets around 70% of the country's demand for bulk drugs, drug intermediates, pharmaceutical formulations, chemicals, tablets, capsules, orals and injectables. There are approximately 250 large units and about 8000 Small Scale Units, which form the core of the pharmaceutical industry in India (including 5 Central Public Sector Units). I. Current Scenario: India's pharmaceutical market grew at 15.7 per cent during December 2011. Globally, Indiaranks third in terms of manufacturing pharma products by volume. According to McKinsey, the Pharmaceutical Market is ranked 14th in the world. By 2015 it is expected to reach top 10 in the world beating Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Turkey. More importantly, the incremental market growth of US$ 14billion over the next decade is likely to be the third largest among all markets. The US and China are expected to add US$ 200bn and US$ 23bn respectively. McKinsey & Companys report, India Pharma 2020: Propelling access and acceptance, realizing true potential, predicted that the Indian pharmaceuticals market will grow to US$55 billion in 2020; and if aggressive growth strategies are implemented, it has further potential to reach US$70 billion by 2020. While, Market Research firm Cygnus report forecasts that the Indian bulk drug industry will expand at an annual growth rate of 21 percent to reach $16.91 billion by 2014. The report also noted that India ranks third in terms of volume among the top 15 drug manufacturing countries. Further, McKinsey reports Healthcare grew from 4 per cent of average household income in 1995 to 7 per cent in 2005 and is expected to grow to 13 per cent by 2025. Diagnostics Outsourcing / Clinical Trials: According to the estimates, the Indian diagnostics and labs test services, in view of its growth potential, is expected to reach Rs159.89 billion by FY2013. The Indian market for both therapeutic and diagnostic antibodies is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. Further, more than 60% of the total antibodies market is currently dominated by diagnostic antibodies. Some of the major Indian pharmaceutical firms, including Sun Pharma, Cadilla Healthcare and Piramal Life Sciences, had applied for conducting clinical trials on at least 12 new drugs in 2010, indicating a growing interest in new drug discovery research. Generics: India tops the world in exporting generic medicines worth US$ 11 billion. The Indian generic drug market is to grow at a CAGR of around 17 per cent between 2010-11 and 2012-13. Over the next few years, it is expected that the patent laws will provide impetus to the launch of patent-protected products. Such products have the potential to capture upto a 10% share of the market by 2015, implying the market size of US $2bn.

R&D: According to Battelle R&D magazine, gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) by India for 2012 was projected to be US$ 41 billion in purchasing power parity terms, which works out to 0.8 per cent of GDP. This is low both in absolute terms and as a proportion of GDP compared to other countries. This is partly because the size of the R&D base and absorption capacity is not commensurate with requirements. As per estimates in 2010-11, largest R&D expenditures attracted from pharmaceutical sector. R&D intensity for the pharmaceuticals sector was much higher than that for other sectors. Although there have been substantial increases in growth rates of patents filed in India during the last decade, the share of patents filed for work in India through indigenous research is less than 20 per cent of the total. A White Paper on R&D prepared by consultancy firm Deloitte in July 2011 estimates that more than 300 MNCs have set up R&D centres in India. Demand: The demand for pharmaceutical products in India is significant and is driven by many factors like low drug penetration, rising middle-class & disposable income, increased government & private spending on healthcare infrastructure, increasing medical insurance penetration, changing demographic pattern and rise in chronic lifestyle-related diseases; adoption of product patents, and aggressive market penetration driven by the relatively smaller companies. According to CARE research demand triggers for the growth are:

Between 2010 and 2015 patent drugs worth US$171 bn are estimated to go off-patent leading to a huge surge in generic products. High margin pharma export business is expected to grow at a higher rate than domestic market given increased in outsourcing activities. Increased M&A activities is set to consolidate the market which widens geographic reach, strengthens distribution network and venture into new therapeutic segments. Indian companies files the highest number of ANDAs with USFDA leading to greater chances of approvals and thereby increasing export to regulated markets especially the US. There are currently approximately 175 USFDA and nearly 90 UK-MHRA approved pharma manufacturing plants in India which can supply high quality pharma products globally. Growth from rural markets will outstrip overall pharma market growth, albeit at lower margins, given lower penetration of 18-19% coupled with rising income level and awareness. Biopharmaceuticals is another potential high growth segment for Indian pharma growing at double digit driven by the vaccines market.

II. Major Pharmaceutical Companies India based pharmaceutical companies are not only catering to the domestic market and fulfilling the countrys demands, they are also exporting to around 220 countries. They are exporting high quality, low cost drugs to countries such as the US, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Ukraine, Vietnam, and more. Currently, the US is the biggest customer and accounts for 22 percent of the sectors exports, while Africa accounts for 16 percent and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) places around eight percent of orders, as per Research and Market report. For most of the pharma companies, domestic business contributes in the range of 20-50% of the overall revenue. US business contribution stands at 20-30% and remaining comes from the RoW markets. Leading Indian Players by Sales Company Cipla Ranbaxy Lab Sales in US $Mn 6,368.06 5,687.33 Year End March 2011 December 2010

Dr Reddy's Labs Sun Pharma LupinLtd Aurobindo Pharma Piramal Health Cadila Health Matrix Labs Wockhardt Trends:

5,285.80 1,985.78 4,527.12 4,229.99 1,619.74 2,213.70 1,894.30 651.72

March 2011 March 2011 March 2011 March 2011 March 2011 March 2011 March 2010 December 2011

All companies, including MNCs, have increased their field force in the last one year. Indian companies are entering into strategic tie-ups with MNCs to strengthen their product portfolio. Companies are expanding their presence in rural markets. Acquisitions by MNCs to gain quick foothold in the fastest growing Indian pharma market.

Most of the Pharma companies have shown considerable decline in growth in the first half of 2011. The slowdown is widely visible in the Chronic and Acute categories. Anti-invective, pain and gastro together contribute 1/3rd of the total pharma market. The pharma companies have started facing challenges in domestic market due to increase in competition from unlisted MNCs in this segment. They are rapidly expanding their field force to extend their geographical reach. Companies like Cipla, Torrent and IPCA which are mainly focused on Indian market are already feeling the heat. Growth rates of companies such as Cadila, Dr. Reddy and Ranbaxy have already come down. On the other hand Lupin and Sun are showing growth due to the shift of focus towards specialty therapies, where competition is relatively low. Basing on the changing macro factors and economic growth Emkay Research has expected the growth estimates of the pharma companies to decrease. It cut down the domestic growth estimates for Cadila, Cipla, Dr. Reddy, IPCA, Torrent and Unichem for FY12 and FY 13 by 2% to 5% and retained the growth estimates for Lupin, Ranbaxy, Sun, GSK and Pfitzer. Indian Pharma Domestic Growth Expectations Company Cadila Cipla Dr. Reddys Glenmark IPCA Lupin Ranbaxy Sun Pharma Torrent Unichem GSK Pfizer FY12 Domestic Growth 12% 10% 10% 16% 10% 19% 12% 15% 12% 5% 13% 14% Earlier growth estimates 15% 15% 15% 16% 17% 19% 12% 18% 12% 9% 13% 14%

Source: Emkay Research Major recent M&As:

Sun-Merck JV: Sun and Merck have formed JV to develop, manufacture and commercialize new combinations and formulations of innovative, branded generics in the Emerging Markets. Under the JV, Sitagliptin and Sitagliptin+Metformin have already been commercialized in the Indian markets.

Lupin-Lilly JV: They entered into collaboration to promote and distribute Lillys Huminsulin range of products in India and Nepal. Cadlia_Bayer JV: The venture will sell brands from both companies in Indian markets. Biocon-Pfizer JV: This collaboration will give Pfizer exclusive rights to commercialize Biocon products globally including co-exclusive rights with Biocon in Gernmany, India and Malaysia. Universal Medicines Aventis: Aventis has acquired Universal Medicines for over US$ 100mn.

III. Government Initiatives: Government initiatives in the public health sector have recorded some noteworthy successes over time with focus on investments related to better medical infrastructure, rural health facilities etc.

100 per cent FDI is permitted for health and medical services under the automatic route. The National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) had allocated US$ 10.15 billion for the upgradation and capacity enhancement of healthcare facilities. Moreover, in order to meet revised cost of construction, in March 2010 the Government allocated an additional US$ 1.23 billion for six upcoming AIIMS-like institutes and upgradation of 13 existing Government Medical Colleges.

As a result, FDI inflow in hospital and diagnostic centres was US$ 1.1 billion during April 2000 and November 2011, according to st Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) data. FDI inflow in medical and surgical appliances stood at US$ 472.6 million during the same period. And the drugs and pharmaceuticals sector has attracted FDI worth US$ 5.0 billion between April 2000 and November 2011 Budget 2012: Union Budget 2012-13, as expected, is positive for the pharmaceutical sector. The government has again increased budgetary allocation for healthcare spending, which would be an overall positive for the sector. Indian pharmaceutical companies have been investing on the R&D front to tap opportunities in the domestic and global markets. To encourage the same, the weighted deduction on R&D expenditure to 200% (in-house research) was extended for a further period of five years. R&D sops would continue to be positive for the sector as a whole. Budget Proposal Proposal to extend weighted deduction of 200% for R&D expenditure in an in-house facility for a further period of five years beyond March 31, 2012. Allocation for NRHM proposed to be increased from Rs 18,115cr in FY2011-12 to Rs 20,822cr in FY2012-13. Proposal to continue to allow repatriation of dividends from foreign subsidiaries of Indian companies at a lower tax rate of 15% up to March 2013. Introduced MAT on partnership firm. Impact Positive for all Indian pharmaceutical companies.

Positive for all pharmaceutical companies. Positive for all pharmaceutical companies, mainly Indian companies, as they generate the highest revenue from export markets. Would negatively impact Cadila Healthcare and Sun Pharmaceuticals. Since we have already factored in higher tax provision for FY2013, we are not changing our FY2013 estimates for both the companies.

ANSWER2:
IT Industry - an update
Indian IT industry has grown its revenues ten fold in the past decade, from US$ 4.8 billion in FY 1997-98 to US$ 47.8 billion in FY 2006-07. With strong demands over the past few years, placing India among the fastest growing IT markets in the Asia-Pacific region, its contribution to GDP is estimated to have grown from 1.2 per cent to 5.4 per cent in the same period. IT industry is consistently growing from the past decade, showing significant impact on the Indian and global economies. Industry expects to reach US$ 60 billion in exports by 2010.

Economic Survey 2006-07 says that the software and ITES exports from India grew from US$ 12.9 billion in 2003-04 to US$ 17.7 billion in 2004-05. Software and ITES exports from India, estimated at US$ 23.4 billion during 2005-06, were up by 32 per cent from the previous year. Indias Electronics and Computer Software / Services industry is estimated to be US$ 42.34 billion during the year 2005-06. The share of Electronics Hardware Industry is estimated to be US$ 12.65 billion and that of computer / services sector is US$ 29.69 billion. In percentage share terms, production of Electronics Hardware accounts for a share of 42.6 per cent and Software / Services accounts for 57.4 per cent. Domestic market: The domestic IT industry has moved away from hardware-led growth and is deriving greater momentum from the software and services sector. It is projected at US$ 15.9 billion in FY07, representing a 21 per cent growth over the previous year. However, hardware is still a large portion of the domestic pie at US$ 7.6 billion compared to US$ 5.6 billion from services, US$ 1.6 billion from software and US$ 1.2 billion from BPO. At these levels, the domestic BPO industry has logged a sharp 30 per cent growth; IT services 25 per cent and hardware, a 12 per cent growth over FY06. Although this segment has been led by MNCs in the past few years, Indian firms are gradually gaining ground. Overtime, this segment could become a larger SME play, as the mid-sized firms increase their levels of IT adoption. With an increase in the spend on software and services, and the outsourced model gaining noticeable grip, the domestic market is beginning to reflect the service line depth that characterises maturing markets. In fact, spends on software and services (IT-BPO) outweighed the total spending on hardware, for the first time ever in FY2006 and are expected to continue to gain share in FY2007. BFSI, Manufacturing, Telecom, and the Government are the key vertical markets driving growth in domestic IT spending across categories including hardware systems, networking, storage, security, enterprise application products, and related services. Education, Retail and Healthcare are a few emerging areas are expected to drive additional growth. BFSI, Telecom, and Consumer Durables are the early adopters of BPO in the domestic market and currently account for about three-fourths of the business in this space. BPO demand in the domestic market has witnessed noticeable growth over the past few years. As the Indian economy becomes more globally integrated, businesses in India are beginning to face increasing levels of global competition and being pushed to deliver world

class levels of product and service quality. BPO has emerged as an effective means of entrusting specialists with the task of consistently delivering the desired high-levels of quality leaving the client organisations to focus on their core businesses. Increasing competition and growing emphasis on customer satisfaction is also driving the public sector organisations towards BPO. Last year, Air India outsourced its domestic customer service operations to third-party providers. This year, the Indian Railways announced its plans to establish Railway Enquiry Franchisees across the country. Success of these early initiatives by the public sector is of critical importance to the domestic BPO sector as they will add significant scale and serve as proof-of-concept for an even larger market opportunity. Hardware Industry: While there have been no spectacular achievements in the hardware segment as in the case of the software segment of the IT sector, there has been a steady progress in production and exports of hardware. Hardware accounted for about 49 per cent of the total domestic IT-BPO spends in FY2006, its share falling below the 50 per cent mark for the first time ever. While pricing continued to slide across key categories, domestic hardware revenues grew by 20 per cent in FY2006 and are expected to exceed US$ 7.5 billion, growing at about 17 per cent in the current fiscal. PCs, notebooks, and servers continued to lead hardware spending across vertical markets in FY2006. Networking equipment, peripherals, and storage witnessed strong demand in select sectors including Discrete Manufacturing, Telecom, Oil and Petrochemicals, and IT-BPO. Interestingly, desktop shipments outside the top four metros grew 3-5 times faster than in the top four metros an indication of the growing penetration of IT adoption in the country. Electronics exports (Rs Crore)
Items Electronics hardware Computer Software Total 200001 4,788 200102 5,800 200203 5,600 200304 7,700 200405 8,000 200506 8,500

28,350 36,500 46,100 58,240 78,230 103,200 33,138 42,300 51,700 65,940 86,230 111,700

Source: Ministry of Information Technology

PC market: The Desktop PC market (including Notebooks) grossed 2.96 million units in the first half of 2006-07 (April-September 2006), registering a growth of 19 per cent over the same period last fiscal. The buoyant mood in IT consumption was led by significant growth in notebook sales, which grew by 180 per cent, while consumption of desktops grew by 8 per cent. Given the strong macroeconomic conditions and buoyant buying sentiments in the market, led by demand from various industry verticals PC market is expected to witness huge growth. The Industry verticals that are contributing to the high growth in PC sales are Telecom, Banking and Financial Services, Manufacturing, Education, Retail and BPO/IT-enabled services as well as major e-Governance initiatives of the Central and State Governments.

Further, significant consumption in the small and medium enterprises contributed to the industry growth and consumption in the home market remained buoyant. The production and growth trends of PCs during the last 5 year have been as follows:
Years (Rs. Crore) 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Production 80,124 97,000 118,290 152,420 190,300 245,600 Growth (%) 16.4 21.1 18.2 28.8 24.9 29.1

Source: Ministry of Information Technology

As per the MAIT-IMRB study, the Assembled PCs - the smaller lesser known regional brands and unbranded systems, accounted for 45 per cent of the PC sales in Q3/2006-07, while the proportion of the branded PCs was 55 per cent. MNC brands accounted for 44 per cent of the market while the Indian brands accounted for the rest 11 per cent. Following are the significant trends in buying and usage patterns of the PCs, as per the MAIT-IMRB Study:

Desktop market: It was primarily the banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, educational institutes, retail sector, IT sector and IT related companies that lead the business segment consumption; while in the household segment, reduced prices coupled with applications for 'entertainment' and 'education' have fuelled the market. The households market that witnessed a slight slow down earlier has once again become vibrant.

Notebook: Drop in prices have attributed to the high growth in Notebook consumption. With notebooks now being available at sub 30K prices, they are increasingly finding their way into the homes, SMEs and the education sector. High consumption in corporate, IT companies, financial institutes and the government, continues to drive the Notebook consumption. The printer market continued to be vibrant. Consumption of Laser Printers is growing, followed by the Inkjet. Consumption of Dot-matrix printer remains flat.

The printer market continued to be vibrant. Consumption of Laser Printers is growing, followed by the Inkjet. Consumption of Dot-matrix printer remained flat.

IT Software and Services sector IT-ITeS continues to chart double-digit growth and is expected to grow to US$ 53 billion by the end of calendar year 2008, says an IDC study. It will witness a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.1 per cent till 2008, with exports growing by 25.3 per cent and the domestic market by 18.5 per cent. With growth in the sector being stupendous, the average increase in salary levels in the ITeS sector is between 16 per cent and 18 per cent. Steady growth: According to Nasscom, the Indian IT-ITES sector (including the domestic and exports segments) is expected to exceed US$ 47.8 billion in annual revenue in FY07, an increase of nearly 28 percent in the current fiscal.

Contribution to GDP estimated to be 5.4per cent up from 4.8per cent last year. Service and software exports remain the mainstay of the sector contributing US$ 31.3 billion and beating forecast to register a 32.6per cent growth

Increasing traction in offshore product development and engineering services is supplementing Indias efforts in IP creation. This segment is growing at 22-23 percent and is expected to report US$4.9 billion in exports, in FY 2006-07.

MNC investments reach an unprecedented scale; over US$10 billion announced in FY 2006-07, to be invested over the next few years.

IT-Software and Services Sector segment-wise break-up

US$ billion IT Services -- Exports -- Domestic ITES-BPO -- Exports -- Domestic Engineering Services and R&D, Software Products -- Exports -- Domestic Total Software and Services Revenues Of which, Exports are Hardware Total IT industry (including Hardware)
Source: Nasscom

FY 2004 10.4 7.3 3.1 3.4 3.1 0.3 2.9 2.5 0.4 16.7 12.9 5.0 21.6

FY 2005 13.5 10.0 3.5 5.2 4.6 0.6 3.9 3.1 0.8 22.6 17.7 5.9 28.4

FY 2006 17.8 13.3 4.5 7.2 6.3 0.9 5.3 4.0 1.3 30.3 23.6 7.0 37.4

FY 2007 23.7 18.1 5.6 9.5 8.3 1.2 6.5 4.9 1.6 39.7 31.3 8.2 47.8

BPO Market: Indian IT-BPO sector (including the domestic and exports segments) is growing at an estimated 28 per cent in FY2007. Total revenue aggregate for the sector is expected to exceed US$47.8 billion; nearly a ten-fold increase over the aggregate revenue of US$4.8 billion, reported in FY1998, and direct employment is likely to cross 1.6 million. Over the past decade, the Indian BPO segment has witnessed significant transformation. Starting with basic data entry tasks, the industry graduated to a high proportion of voicebased services and a range of back-office processing activities. The last 3-4 years have seen the scope of services expanding to include increasingly complex processes involving rulebased decision making and even research services requiring informed individual judgment. Rapid expansion in scope of BPO has been accompanied by an equally rapid adoption across a range of vertical industries. This wide range of services may be summarised into four broad categories comprising Finance and Accounting (F&A), Customer Interaction Services (CIS) and Human Resource Administration (HRA), and a wide range of other vertical-specific and niche services. F&A services manage or support aspects of the finance and accounting functions of businesses. This includes activities such as general accounting, transaction management (accounts receivable and payables management), corporate finance (e.g. treasury and risk

management, and tax management); compliance management and statutory reporting, etc. This segment accounts for approximately 40-45 percent of Indian BPO. CIS includes all forms of IT-enabled customer contact; inbound or outbound, voice or nonvoice based support used to provide customer services, sales and marketing, technical support and help desk services. The HR administration services include payroll and benefits administration, travel and expense processing, talent acquisition and talent management services, employee and manager self-service delivery services, employee communication design and administration. This segment accounts for about two percent of Indian BPO. BPO is witnessing an increasing emphasis on the cost-plus, additional strategic levers that it can deliver include innovation of the underlying business process being outsourced, improved competitive positioning, managing customer expectations, elevation of the strategic role of the retained organisation, optimal resource allocation, support for globalisation of their businesses, and technology support and access. This has also resulted in heightened C-level attention resulting in enterprise-wide evaluation of BPO opportunities which is in turn opening new avenues to explore. This steady expansion in scope coupled with low penetration levels is supporting high growth for BPO. Exports performance: Service and software exports remain the mainstay of the sector; FY07 export growth likely to beat forecasts and exceed 32 percent. While the US and the UK remain the dominant markets, contributing to 67 percent and 15 percent of total exports respectively, firms are also keenly exploring new geographies for business development, and to strengthen their global delivery footprint. Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, and Technology (Hi-tech/ telecom) are the main verticals, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the total; Manufacturing, Retail, Media, Utilities, Healthcare and Transportation follow also growing rapidly. IT services exports, accounting for 55-57 percent of total exports, are growing at an estimated 36 percent and are expected to reach US$ 18.1 billion in FY2007. Newer areas of application and infrastructure management, testing, etc. are gaining traction, with their share in the business-mix growing steadily. BPO continues to grow in scale and scope, with firms increasingly adopting a vertical focused approach. Total exports for this segment are expected to exceed US$ 8.3 billion in FY 2006-07, growing by 32 percent over the previous year. Lastly, increasing traction in offshore product development and engineering services is supplementing Indias efforts in own IP creation. This group is growing at 22-23 percent and is expected to report US$ 4.9 billion in exports, in FY 2006-07. IT firms: Indian companies are enhancing their global services delivery capabilities through a combination of greenfield initiatives, cross-border mergers & acquisitions, partnerships and alliances with local players. This is enabling them to execute end-to-end delivery of new services. Global software giants such as Microsoft, Oracle and SAP, have established their captive development centres in India. A majority of the companies in India have already aligned their internal processes and practices to international standards such as ISO, CMM, and Six Sigma. This has helped establish India as a credible sourcing destination. As of December, 2006, over 400 Indian companies have acquired quality certifications with 82 companies certified at SEI CMM Level 5 higher than any other country in the world.

Strong fundamentals including a large base of skilled talent, demonstrated quality and service delivery expertise at a significant cost advantage and an enabling environment have ensured that India attracts a disproportionately larger share of the global demand for offshore IT-ITES and continues to drive Indias export led growth. The top 40 publicly listed Indian firms have reported a top line year-on-year growth of nearly 35 percent, over the first half of the current fiscal. MNC owned captive units have been scaling up their operations steadily with the headcount estimated to be growing by about 2530 percent this year. Service-line expansion is aiding service providers to take on larger and more complex deals, and is driving up the average ticket size of contracts awarded to Indian firms. High offshore component of delivery and superior execution in multi-location delivery continue to be key differentiators. Broad-based industry structure; IT led by large Indian firms, BPO by a mix of Indian and MNC third-party providers and captives, reflects the depth of the supply-base. While the larger players continue to lead growth, gradually increasing their share in the industry aggregate; several high-performing SMEs also stand out. Policy initiatives for IT Sector

The Information Technology Amendment Bill has been introduced in the Parliament on December 15, 2006. This proposes to put in place technology applications, security practices and procedures relating to such applications. Furthermore, it addresses the issue of technological neutrality in IT laws as recommended by UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Signature.

A proposal for Electronics & IT Hardware Manufacturing Policy is also under consideration which aims to i) rationalize tariff structure on capital goods and inputs, ii) unifiy manufacturing for domestic market and exports, iii) facilitate registration of international patents, iv) transfer state-of-the-art technology(TOT) and v) enhance Research and Development.

In order to ensure that the benefits of IT reach the common man, Government has initiated a move to make available tools and fonts in various Indian languages freely to the general public. Tamil, Hindi and Telugu software tools and fonts have already been released. All Indian languages are expected to be covered in the next one year.

Government to ensure penetrations of the IT and ITES in the rural areas, has formulated a proposal to establish 1,00,000 Common service Centres (CSCs) in rural areas, which will serve not only as the front end for most government services but also as a means to connect the citizens of rural India to the World Wide Web. The scheme will be implemented through Public Private Partnership (PPP).

100per cent FDI is permitted in call centers