'Not In My Name': Activists fighting hate in India

BUENOS AIRES: The outcome of the eleventh ministerial conference (MC11) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was a positive one for India as the country was able to secure the interests of its farmers as well food security for the poor an official said on Wednesday after the talks concluded with no substantial legally binding declaration. India was successful stopping any of the new issues like investment facilitation and micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from entering the ambit of the WTO. Though there was no ministerial declaration work programmes on issues like fisheries subsidies and e-commerce became the outcome of the four day meeting which culminated on Wednesday. Work programmes are the guiding principles for an issue to move forward by the next ministerial while a ministerial declaration is a text with legal sanctity. In case a declaration is not there it s replaced by the chair s statement which sums up the negotiations and the road ahead. The chair s summary is not legally binding. We didn t yield ground or come out losers said another official. As an increasing number of Indian companies raise capital from global and domestic investors India has gone from being a must have market to a market that has no other alternative said Edwin Low co-head of investment banking and capital markets Asia-Pacific for Credit Suisse in an interview with Sanam Mirchandani and Sneha Shah. Calling 2017 and 2018 to be the golden days for Indian investment banking Low s firm is pulling all stops to grow their business here. Edited excerpts: How is the Indian market shaping up for deals? For the past few years investors have viewed India as a promising market given its sizeable population good demographics and healthy pace of economic growth. India has accelerated in terms of the maturity of companies that have done public market listings. We re seeing a resurgence in the Indian capital markets an example of this is the blue-chip companies who are achieving scale and attracting considerable investor interest to be able to raise large billion-dollar pools of capital. This reinforces India s position as a significant investment banking market. We view this year and next year as heralding the golden days of Indian investment banking. From a top down or a macro perspective India is among the top three economies globally and it is among the fastest growing. The domestic economy has improved after having absorbed the shocks of demonetisation and GST implementation reasonably well. There was an expectation that the disruption would last much longer but it has in fact bounced back faster than anticipated and that is what investors are betting on. There has been a flood of IPOs this year. What do you attribute it to? If you see the performance of the recent 30-40 IPOs they have delivered 25-30% returns so far which is stellar by global standards. The TINA factor ( There is No Alternative ) has contributed to this momentum and the positive foreign investor sentiment towards India. The positive sentiment also comes from transparency and fiscal discipline and the fact that more Indian companies are at the cusp of reaching investment grade. This confluence of factors creates a strong backdrop for Indian investment banking. Most of the recent IPOs have been PE-backed and as you said because of the TINA factor. What role do macros really play here? You are right. This works in a cycle and most of the PE investments made earlier had to find an exit and most of the IPOs this year were PE backed. But that is where we think 2018 is going to be different from 2017 where more primary capital is likely to be raised through the market as compared to secondary transactions. The entrepreneurial animal spirits of India Inc are back and boardroom conversations today are such that people are talking about growth and investments in greenfield projects which was not the case a few years ago. Will the IPO wave continue into the next year? This is the golden age of Indian investment banking. There is more maturity in terms of the corporate culture and the capital markets in India as well as very strong domestic liquidity coupled with the fact that we re seeing bigger IPOs from large blue chip companies which were unlikely to come into the market two or three years ago. Private equity activity in India has been very robust this year and we expect to see this continue into 2018-2019. If 2018 would be the year when we will see lot of primary growth capital being raised where will this growth capital really go into? India is largely a less-capital intensive services-based economy rather than an industrial-oriented one. As such primary capital market activity is unlikely to see much of an acceleration. The sectors where there is a need for growth capital however include financial services as well as the more capital-oriented real estate and renewables industries and steel and power companies where capacity utilisation still has a long way to go. We have seen better quality corporates with good balance sheets coming back which is why QIPs have started picking up in the last two or three quarters. We have seen insurance dominate IPO market this year but many have seen HNI and retail portions being undersubscribed. As the domestic market matures we can expect to see more listings from complex business models such as insurance which can be relatively less appealing for high net worth individials (HNIs) and retail investors. The other aspect is that banking financial services and insurance (BFSI) is a large sector; and while globally it typically represents around 35-40% of any economy in India we hardly have any publiclylisted insurers. Given that insurance IPOs are relatively larger deals if you look at the absolute dollar demand coming from HNIs and retail you will find the appetite has actually been quite good in comparison to smaller non-insurance IPOs. It is Important to consider also is that HNIs typically invest via asset managers as well so domestic asset managers are an indirect proxy for this investor class therefore the subscription figures may not fully reflect HNI demand. By Upmanyu Trivedi and Iain Marlow Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing Indians to link their digital IDs to a host of services such as credit cards and cellphones even as the Supreme Court will hear petitions Thursday seeking to limit the scope of the world s largest biometric database. Almost 1 billion people had signed up for the program before a landmark privacy ruling in August strengthened the case against making the Aadhaar ID mandatory. The court will now decide on the validity of the government s order to meet specified deadlines. Last month it told banks and utilities to stop scaring customers after people complained about a barrage of emails and text messages warning of frozen accounts and invalidated sim cards if they failed to comply with the government s push. To be sure the court s immediate hearing will only pertain to the deadlines with more detailed arguments on overall legality probably next year. While officials say Aadhaar is saving the government billions of dollars by better targeting beneficiaries of subsidized food and cash transfers critics point to unfair exclusions and data leaks. Instances of the exclusion of genuine beneficiaries and the public disclosure of Aadhaar numbers make it clear that significant room exists for instituting more substantive privacy protections and grievance redressal mechanisms said Saksham Khosla an analyst at Carnegie India. The Supreme Court can mandate critical safeguards. Aadhaar is a unique 12-digit number assigned to Indian residents backed by their fingerprints iris scans and certain demographic details. Some lawyers and activists such as Shyam Divan say that once linked to various services it will offer the government a web of information about each individual that will violate the person s privacy. Surveillance State The Aadhaar Act purports to provide legal sanction to a program that lays the framework for real time surveillance of every Indian Divan said at a previous hearing. Indians are mandated to link their Aadhaar to: Government-issued Permanant Account Numbers which help track tax filings Bank accounts credit cards insurance policies mutual funds pension plans Social welfare benefits such as cooking gas subsidies Mobile numbers Chief Justice Dipak Misra told lawyers in the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the case would be heard the next day. Enrollments to Aadhaar have increased by about 80 million over the past year -- roughly the entire population of Germany -- as pressure built on citizens to either link or forfeit these services. Modi had rejected Aadhaar while in opposition terming it a threat to national security. However he has since embraced and extended its scope far beyond what was envisioned earlier. Data Leaks The program is also plagued by allegations of data leaks where personal details of users were made public on government websites. The Unique Identification Authority of India which administers Aadhaar has denied database vulnerabilities. Meanwhile newspapers continue to carry reports about poor or disabled Indians -- such as leprosy patients -- who are denied food and pensions because they either lack an Aadhaar number or the fingerprints and iris scans needed to apply for one. Privacy experts and lawyers suggest the Supreme Court s ruling this August that Indians have a fundamental right to privacy could be a setback to the government s push. A right to privacy activists say means the government can t force Indian citizens to hand over their unique biometric data to the government in order to receive basic government services. New Delhi: India is an obvious essential and the most reliable partner for Japan to work with and the country places it at the center of its Indo-Pacific strategy Japanese envoy to India Kenji Hiramastsu said on Wednesday.Referring to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s visit to India in September and his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi Mr Hiramatsu said the strategic dialogue between the two leaders on regional and global issues was becoming increasingly deep and substantial. India is an obvious essential and the most reliable partner for Japan to work with in coping with the challenges that the world faces today. Japan places India at the center of its Indo-Pacific strategy the ambassador said.Mr Hiramatsu was addressing a gathering on the occasion of the National Day reception at the Embassy of Japan. The National Day of Japan is observed to celebrate the birthday of Akihito the Emperor of Japan who will turn 84 on December 23.Referring to the Japanese direct investment into India he underlined that Japanese FDI has almost doubled from 2.6 billion in 2014 to 4.7 billion in 2016. This he said clearly illustrated the huge upsurge in Japanese companies interest in entering the lucrative Indian market and expanding their operations.Mr Hiramatsu also added that the two countries were discovering new avenues of collaboration for instance in retail services sectors and start-ups. In the field of people-to-people exchanges Japan will continue to work towards accelerating it through tourism youth exchanges sports and Japanese language education. ET Intelligence Group: India has vaulted past Canada to occupy the eighth position on the market-capitalisation leader-board globally on the back of the sterling performance of its equity markets this year. The 49 per cent increase in market capitalisation so far this year has taken India s market capitalisation to 2.28 trillion against the 2.21 trillion of Canada whose valuation grew 12.4 per cent Bloomberg data show. India posted the biggest gain in market capitalisation among the Top 10 underpinned by three factors: The benchmark Sensex rose 24 per cent in local currency terms the rupee appreciated 12 per cent against the dollar bumping up gains in dollar terms and local companies raised cash through initial share sales expanding the investment universe locally. This year 82 Indian companies raised over Rs 71 687 crore ( 11.2 billion) in IPOs adding about 160 billion to the market float. Funds raised through the IPO route were the highest ever in a calendar year according to ETIG database. To be sure despite handsome gains this year India s share in the total world capitalisation is still 14 per cent lower than the 2010 peak. It now accounts for 2.87 per cent of the world s market capitalisation compared with the 10-year average of 2.46 per cent. New Delhi: India s national carrier Air India has suspended three employees and warned the pilot for arriving late after over 100 passengers including Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju had to wait inside a plane for over an hour on Wednesday.The minister demanded an explanation from new Air India chief Pradeep Kharola after angry passengers confronted him and demanded to know why their flight from Delhi to Vijaywada was not taking off.Mr Raju surrounded by protesting passengers phoned Mr Kharola from the aircraft.The airline s spokesperson GP Rao confirmed that flight AI 459 yesterday morning was delayed by around one and a half hours. Passengers protested and questioned minister Raju on the delay in the flight. Immediately the minister asked Air India CMD Pradeep Kharola about the reason for the delay Mr Rao said. A warning letter has been issued to the captain for reaching the airport late he added.The flight was to take off at 6 am but the airline s operation wing reportedly decided to wait for better visibility. This was apparently not communicated to the ground staff who started boarding as scheduled.The flight was delayed even more when the pilot was reportedly stopped at the security check over a problem with his airport pass. Only the co-pilot could reach the plane on time.Reports say the pilot finally reached around 15 minutes late.It is not the best start for Mr Kharola a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who took charge as Air India s Chairman and Managing Director on Monday. He is helming the airline at a time the government has started the process for its strategic disinvestment. NEW DELHI: After the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi issued a strongly worded statement on his conversation with Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday the Indian side on Wednesday tried to paper over what seemed like differences between the two sides. Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said Sushma Swaraj had raised the Doklam crisis with Wang Yi. External affairs minister and Chinese foreign minister both noted the challenge it had posed to the relationship and both expressed satisfaction that it was resolved with the disengagement of troops at the face-off site through concerted diplomatic communications. On Tuesday a statement attributed to Wang Yi after his meeting with Sushma took an unusually tough line belying the Indian readout which seemed a lot more positive . Reporting on Wang Yi s remarks the MEA spokesperson said Wang Yi conveyed that the peaceful resolution of the Doklam issue reflects the political maturity on both sides. While agreeing with this EAM reiterated that the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas is an essential pre-requisite for the smooth development of bilateral relations. The Chinese statement said Wang Yi had told Sushma The standoff put the bilateral relations under severe pressure. Wang Yi s statement of his meeting with Swaraj is no longer there on the website of the Chinese foreign ministry. Instead there is another strongly worded readout of his meeting with NSA Ajit Doval where he says darkly China-India relations are at a crucial moment at present and both sides need to make correct choice regarding the future development direction of bilateral relations. In this statement Wang Yi did not even refer to his meeting with his principal interlocutor Sushma Swaraj confining his remarks to a rebuttal of Doval. In fact on Sunday Wang Yi reporting on China-India diplomacy in 2017 took a fairly tough view of Doklam. We handled the Indian border troops trespass into China s Dong Lang area in our national interest on just grounds and with restraint. Through diplomatic means we engaged with the Indian side and it withdrew its equipment and personnel. This demonstrates not only the value and emphasis we put on relations with India but also our sincerity and sense of responsibility in maintaining regional peace and stability. We believe that as long as we continue to engage in in-depth strategic communication and promptly dispel strategic misgivings the strategic value of China-India cooperation will speak for itself... That is clearly how China read the Doklam crisis very different from the Indian spin on it. Raveesh Kumar added EAM also underlined the need for approaching our difference with due consideration to each other s sensitivities and concerns. She recalled the consensus between the leaders of India and China reached in Astana earlier this year on the need to work together to ensure that our differences do not become disputes. Both sides though agreed to step up strategic communication through more dialogues. BUENOS AIRES: The 11th World Trade Organisation ministerial conference talks ended with the ministers refusing to agree to even a declaration reflecting the huge gap between the 164 members. Although a decision to address India s concerns over public stockholding of food grains was expected the plan had to be abandoned after the US failed to back it. On Wednesday the Americans blocked attempts to work out reforms in farm trade putting the entire ministerial meeting in jeopardy. While WTO secretariat and the Argentinian team of organisers sought to salvage a deal India refused to play ball as the proposed declaration was short of its expectations given that it did not mention continuation of the Doha Round of talks or maintaining special treatment for developing countries. Government officials however claimed victory saying that they had managed to prevent any deal on e-commerce or new issues such as investment facilitation but acknowledged that India s aggressive interests could not find a solution. We plan to move ahead with what s on the table in Geneva (at the WTO headquarters) said an official. A solution on food security would have meant that the developing countries could continue with minimum support price-type schemes without fearing a breach of the ceiling of 10% of the value of production. But Indian officials said that there is no worry on that count as the WTO members had agreed to a permanent peace clause that guarantees protection from any action even if the cap is scaled.