FAPCCI demands Power for Industry- Mr. Devendra Surana, Sr VP, FAPCCI

FAPCCI has been in continuous touch with AP TRANSCO Officials since August of the last year. In the month of November 2011 TRANSCO Officials proposed to get a scheme Where in Industries in dire need could get some power at cost from RLNG. The present situation is a 15% - 18% Shortage of power in the system.

However, Industry is being forced to accept 40% power cut. Industry has several sunk Cost in terms of Interest, Depreciation, labour and other overheads which cannot be avoided. On the other hand, there is tremendous pressure from Customers and Bankers to meet the commitments.

In such a situation TRANSCO once again called in for a meeting. Various Deputy Engineers called upon people and over 200 people have attended the meeting expecting some ray of hope.

Once again the Electricity officials let us down without giving any solution. The Other day in the meeting held with Mrs. Geeta Reddy, Minister for Industries, it was promised that a short term solution would be worked out soon.

We request power to be generated from Imported RLNG and given at regular cost to SSI Sector. Medium and large scale sectors can be asked to pay a little higher. The entire Industry is in distress and demand power from Imported RLNG should be offered to Industries immediately.

FAPCCI welcomed the Supreme Court Judgment on “VODAFONE VERDICT”-

The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce & Industry in association with International Fiscal Association - Hyderabad Sub Chapter & Institute of Company Secretaries of India - Hyderabad Chapter organized a Panel Discussion on Supreme Court Judgment on “VODAFONE VERDICT” on 2^nd March 2012 at Surana Udyog Auditorium, Red Hills, Hyderabad.

Mr. V S Raju, President, FAPCCI, CS Shujath Bin Ali, Chairman, ICSI, Hyderabad Chapter , CA Neelesh V. Vithalani, IFA, Hyderabad Sub Chapter, Mr. P.V.V.S. Prasad, Chartered Accountant, Partner, Prasad & Prasad Co, Mr. T.S. Ajai, Chartered Accountant, Partner, T.S. Ajai & Co, Mr. Jayesh Sanghvi, Chartered Accountant, Partner, Ernst & Young, Mr. Sampath Raghunathan, Chartered Accountant, Mr. Srinivas Ayyadevara, CA, Vice President, FAPCCI, Mr. Abhay Kumar Jain, Chairman, Direct Taxes Committee, FAPCCI are the key speakers at the occasion.

The Tax experts and industrialists have welcomed the Supreme Courte judgment on the landmark verdict on India’s most debated tax dispute of VODAFONE. It will enhance the trust of international investors in Indian judicial system and it will send a clear message to international community about the supremacy of the rule of Law in India. And it will send positive signal to foreign investors and will beneficial for the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in long run. We also foresee income tax department will Legislate some form of GAAR. The panelists have come to conclusion that due to the lack of clarity and absence of appropriate provisions in the statute and treaty has led to unnecessary litigation in this case. It is the duty of the court to ascertain the legal nature of the transaction and while doing so it has to look at the entire transaction as a whole and not to adapt a dissecting approach.

Mr. Abhay Kumar Jain is predicting that tax administration will bring GAAR provisions and other anti tax avoidance measures to curb the loopholes available in existing income tax act in coming budget. And many provisions contained in propose DTC will be incorporated in the forthcoming Union Budget.

India-Australia bilateral trade 40 Billion US$ by 2015

The Institute of Indian Economics in association with The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce & Industry organized a Interactive Meeting with “” on 2^nd March 2012 at JS Krishna Moorthy hall, Red Hills, Hyderabad. Mr. David Holly, Australian Consul General to South India, Mr. Matthew (Matt) Crooke, Minister – Counselor (Economic), Australian High Commission was the key speakers at the occasion.

Mr. V S Raju, President, FAPCCI, Dr. U. Subrahmanyam, Director, Indian Institute of Economics, Mr. Devendra Surana, Senior Vice President, FAPCCI, Mr. Srinivas Ayyadevara, Vice President, FAPCCI, Mr. Shyam Sunder Pasari, Chairman, International Trade Relations Committee, FAPCCI, Mr.Ramakrishna Dastrala, Business Development Manager, Australian Trade Commission, Ms.Sangeetha Krishnamoorthy, Business Development Manager, Australian Trade Commission, Mr. O. Swaminatha Reddy, Chairman, Indian Institute of Economics are the other speakers at the occasion.

Mr. V.S. Raju, President, FAPCCI said in his welcome address is that the Indian companies have invested around 3 billion dollars in Australia, dominated by coal. Recently, the GVK Group announced a deal to acquire Hancock Coal for 1.26 billion dollars. It plans to invest an additional 6 billion dollars to develop assets. Early this year, Lanco Infratech acquired assets of Griffin Coal in a 760-million dollars deal. Australia has so far attracted a global investment of 83 billion dollars in the resources sector alone, while the pipeline is at an estimated 430 billion dollars. In 2011-12, Australia has so far attracted a global investment of 83 billion dollars in the resources sector alone, while the pipeline is at an estimated 430 billion dollars.

Mr. David Holly, Australian Consul General to South India said that the growing of India and Australia bilateral partnership has doubled the from AUD 8 billion 10 2005 to AUD 22 billion in 2011, with trade expected to double again to US$ 40 billion by 2015. And this partnership launched CECA negotiations, which will have its third round next month. It is the growing strength of our bilateral investment partnership that has made Australia the third largest revenue source for India’s IT companies, many of which are located in this great State of Andhra Pradesh. Resources investment from Andhra has also been significant, including from companies like NMDC and GVK.

And it is the growing strength of our bilateral education partnership that has resulted in Australia’s Union education minister to visit South India in August last year after establishing with Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibal, the Australia – India Educational council. Working on the delivery of vocational education in India.

Meeting with Dr. J. Geetha Reddy, Hon’ble Minister on Power Cutsfor Major Industries

Dr. J. Geetha Reddy, Hon’ble Minister for major Industries and Sri Prasad Kumar, Hon’ble Minister for Small Scale Industries, have called for a meeting of representatives of Industry Associations to discuss Power problems faced by the Industry in A.P.

The FAPCCI delegation, consisting of Sri Devendra Surana, Sr. Vice President, Sri Srinivas Ayyadevara, Vice President, Sri. M. Sreerama Murthy, Chairman Industrial Development Committee, Sri M.V. Rajeswara Rao, Secretary General, FAPCCI, along with other major industrial Trade bodies like CII, FAPSIA, Ferro Alloys, ALEAP etc., participated.

The industry representatives stated that the Power problems have affected the industry quite adversely and the S.S.I. units are the worst affected ones.

At the instance of the Minister for industry, the Principal Secretary, Energy informed the Associations that there is no way to augment power supply as the corridor between North/East/West Regions and Southern Region is limited and out of 1400 MW booked by TRANSCO Andhra Pradesh received highest allotment of 750 MW. Tamilnadu and Karnataka exercised section 11 of Electricity Act and stopped the Private Power Producers (PPPs) from supplying power to A.P.TRANSCO. Hence, TRANSCO could not buy additional power from these PPPs. The only alternative was to rely on gas-based PPPs, located in the State, but their capacity is underutilized as RIL gas is not being supplied to them at the requisite quantity.

But he suggested that these plants can increase their power generation if RLN Gas is supplied to them. But the industry did not favorably respond to this suggestion earlier and only few industries opted to buy power from this source. The response was only to the extent of only 125 MW. The Principal Secretary said unless 500 MW capacity is pooled up and order is placed on gas PPPs, it is not possible to augment the power availability.

In response, FAPCCI suggested that as the situation ultimately boils down to power shortage, it is better that government buys RLNG and gets the 500 MW power generated by gas based PPPs and out of it 100 MW is reserved and supplied to SSI units at normal tariff and the balance 400 MW may be supplied to large units as well as to continuous process industries who can afford this power at higher cost without cross subsidy. With this alternative solution the problem of industry would get solved to a great extent. With this alternative all that the government has to do is to agree is to absorb a small cost of expensive power supplied to SSI units at normal tariff as the large industry will any pay actual cost of power at reasonable higher rate.

FAPCCI also suggested that VAT set off should be given to industry for its diesel purchases for power generation. Further, the Govt. also should remove 25 paise electricity duty. With these two, the power generation will get augmented and there will be some relief on the TRANSCO power grid and the SSIs will thus get some additional relief.

The Minister stated that she will discuss these issues and suggestions with the Chief Minister and see some kind of relief is given to SSIs and to the overall industry as well.

State Budget: 2012-13 Implications and Impact on Commerce & Industry

Today an interactive meeting on “State Budget: 2012-13 Implications and Impact on Commerce & Industry” was held at FAPCCI in association with MPOT group. The meeting was commenced with the welcome address by Mr. V.S. Raju, President Fapcci. The speaker panel is Mr Ye. Seshasai Babu, CA, Mr. C. Kutumba Rao, Expert in industry analysis, Mr. C. Narasimha Rao, Senior Journalist, Prof. ML Kantha Rao, Mr. Nitin K Parekh, Chairman Trade & Commerce committee, Fapcci, Mr. Devendra Surana, Senior Vice President, Fapcci, Mr. M.V. Rajeswara Rao, Secretary General, Fapcci. The meeting discussed the impact of the State budget on Commerce & Industry.

In the welcome address Mr. V. S Raju, president Fapcci requested the Government to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the Commerce & Industry in order to support the Government in achieving the targeted revenues and social services. He requested for assured power supply to industry and requested for increase of Capital expenditure on Energy sector in order to meet the growing demand of industry at large.

Mr. Seshasai Babu informed that in budget it was proposed Sales tax revenue will be Rs. 45,000 crores from 36,000 cr i.e., an increase of Rs. 9000 cr is proposed, which is 25% of the current year collections, which will be very difficult to generate since severe drought conditions and negative growth conditions in Agriculture sector. Based on this scenario, there will be possibility of bringing more exempted items under taxable net and there is further possibility for change of classification from 5% to 14.5% slab for some of goods. At the same time the increase proposed vehicle tax will lead to further burden on Commerce and Industry.

Mr. Parikh requested the Government to allow the input credit of vat on HSD, furnace oil, coal and to bring back the higher tax slab from 14.5% to 12.5%. He further requested the Government not to change the tax rates middle of the year and middle of the month which was causing problems in their planning. He further requested to exempt all food grains from the tax net. In order to face the competition with neighboring states, he requested for a stable tax policy like the Central Government doing for the past decade.

Mr. C Kutumba Rao, expressed that the failure of many SEZ’s and erratic power supply effecting the Industrial growth rate and there is no clarity in the budget on allotment of lands to new industries. He further requested for increase of Capital expenditure on Energy, Infrastructure and midyear review of budgetary targets. He further requested to release the pending incentives to the industry, which are of Rs. 500 cr immediately. He expressed with the uniform growth of the industry will help to meet the budgetary target of Rajiv Yuvakiranlu. He expressed dis satisfaction with the for the poor co-ordination by the Government with Trade and Industry in pre-budget session and expressed that 50% of revenues are contributed by the Trade and Industry should be taken into confidence in preparation of the Budget of the Government.

Mr. Rajeswara Rao expressed that there should be pre-budget and post budget meetings with Fapcci, CII and other bodies of the Trade and Industry. He requested the government to minimize the power cuts to the Industry, which was causing loss to the nation in creation of wealth and jobs. He expressed the revenues from Sales tax are gone up by 100% within 3 years with support of the Trade and Industry and requested Government to support the Trade and Industry on all aspects.

Prof. ML Kantha Rao expressed that the Government is concentrating on numbers and not facts. In 5^th five year plan the contribution from Agriculture sector is 60% of the budget and at present which is less than 13%. He expressed that the state, which are having more agro based industries and dependency on agriculture is higher, should be given preference to agriculture sector and the utilization of capital expenditure should be with proper analysis for the returns on the capital expenditure. He further expressed that there should be more allocation to Trade and Industry in order to meet the budgetary targets and it will be difficult to meet the budgetary revenues without changing the tax rates and without effective mechanism.

Mr. Narasimharao Rao expressed that the budget proposed by the Government is not reflecting the present requirement of the people at large and in particular the expectations of the Industry and the agriculture sector. He expressed that there is co-ordination missing from Government with the Industry bodies and associations. He requested the Government to have proper planning for assured power supply to Industry and requested the Government to release the pending incentives and to release long term strategy policy for power and industry.

Mr. Devendra Surana expressed that the state of Andhra Pradesh has lot of natural resources and coastal line, with the use of the all facilities the Trade and Industry are showing good growth rate in comparison with other states. He requested the Government to increase the budgetary support to Trade and Industry, which will help to meet the budgetary proposal of creation of employment in private sector under “ yuva kiranalu’

In conclusion the meeting requested the Government

1). to rationalize the tax rates and to bring down the maximum tax rate to 12.5%,

2). Not to Change the tax rates/slabs in the middle of the year/month.

3). to release the incentives and subsidies pending to the Trade and Industry

4). to assure good power supply and to lift the power cut to industry

Special package from Spice Jet to Tirupati devotees: MD, APTDC

The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) organized an Interactive Meeting on “Tourism Projects in A.P. and its related Issues” on 23^rd February 2012 at JSK Auditorium, Red Hills, Hyderabad. Mr. Sandeep Kumar Sultania, IAS., Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation was the chief guest for this workshop.

Mr. Sabyasachi Ghosh, IAS., Director,Directorate of Tourism, Govt. of A.P., Mr. V.S. Raju, President, FAPCCI, Mr. Ravindra Modi, Chirman, Tourism Committee, FAPCCI and Mr. M.V. Rajeshwara Rao, Secretary General are the speakers at the occasion.

Sri V.S. Raju, President, FAPCCI stated that tourism industry is one of the major segments of the Indian economy and is a major contributor to foreign exchange earnings providing employment to millions directly and indirectly and acts as a vehicle for infrastructure development. Andhra Pradesh is witnessing increase in the number of domestic and international tourists in the last few years, and it ranks as No.1 State in the Country for domestic tourism and is within the top 10 for international tourism. He congratulated the Tourism Department for making these efforts. He brought to their notice that there are complaints that clearance of the tourism projects are being delayed and requested for speed up the clearance of the projects under single window system and suggested to have a time-frame for the same.

Business tourism, Medical tourism, rural tourism, pilgrim tourism, adventure tourism, and sustainable tourism are some of the new products devised for changing demand, he said. The State has identified Medical tourism as immediate emerging sector for its promotion, especially to develop Hyderabad as medical Tourism Hub. FAPCCI in collaboration with the Tourism Department has organized a “Hyderabad as an International Hub for Medical Tourism – A road Map” in May, 2011 wherein the proposal for setting up the Hyderabad Medical Tourism Society was welcomed by all the stakeholders. It is understood that the Department is contemplating to create the Society, which will be an instrumental agency in promoting Hyderabad as an International Hub and requested for inclusion of FAPCCI as facilitator to take forward this important initiative.

Sri Ravindra Modi, Chairman, Tourism Committee, FAPCCI said that efforts should be made to promote film tourism in A.P. by setting up a film commission at the State level. He also requested for effective single window clearance for tourism projects for better growth of the sector. Also suggested forconducting short term duration training programmers on PPP basis for improving the skills and employability of local people and promote entrepreneurship in the tourism and its related sectors. FAPCCI would like to offer its services to collaborate with Department in organizing and implementing these programmers.

He mentioned that FAPCCI is planning to organize an event on the growth and potentialities of the Film Industry with the consultation of all the stakeholders and requested the Department to support and collaborate with FAPCCI in organizing the event.

Sri Sandeep Kumar Sultania, IAS., Managing Director, A.P.Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) informed that the APTDC will soon offer attractive packages for tourists from across the country for an all-inclusive, affordable and comfortable Tirumala-Tirupati visit. At present, APTDC has a joint initiative with Jet Airways and offers packaged tours to Tirumala-Tirupati, ex-Hyderabad at Rs. 9,250 per person, including accommodation, food and travel expenses. Many more such packages were on the anvil, he said.

He said that with focus on rural, eco and film tourism, Government intended to aggressively adopt the public private partnership mode to showcase Andhra Pradesh as an attractive tourism destination. He called for greater participation by private operators in promoting in-bound tourists, especially international arrivals. Every now and then, APTDC keep holding road shows, but the fact remains that word-of-mouth publicity is much more effective. And so we must pay attention to this aspect even while escorting tourists from here to elsewhere and ensure that the word is spread wherever we go.

The APTDC also plans to add another two-three tourism training centres in the State, including one around the Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary (Medak) and Dindi reservoir (Mahabubnagar). There is a growing demand for these places among tourists and APTDC hope to provide the required facilities to them through their projects.

Sri Sabyasachi Ghosh, IAS., Commissioner of Tourism, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh stated that the potential of tourism to generate employment is matched by no other sector. He said that the Tourism Department is looking for more public-private partnership for development of tourist spots. Another unique service called Hop-on and Hop-off would be launched in the city within a month. Under the service, APTDC will provide six to seven buses to 13 tourist spots in the city.

Responding to a suggestion from the participants, he said that the annual Travel and Tourism Fair is open for FAPCCI and its members to participate. All that is needed is greater coordination with Government agencies, he said. The objective is to make tourist facilities affordable, comfortable, clean, neat and safe for the ‘aam aadmi' (common man), the middle class and the upper classes. The upper class tourist anyway pays for the best,” he said.

One of the members, stated that over the year, nature and adventure travel has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments of the industry. Much of this growth is taking place in biodiversity hotspots, areas harboring many species unique to that region, where tourism represents both opportunities for and threats to biodiversity conservation. Tourism and biodiversity are mutually dependent, hence there is a need to promote biodiversity. There was also a suggestion for inclusion of details of tourist spots promoted by the private developers and private tour operators in the booklet published by the Tourism Department.

The Officials informed that the Department will promote biodiversity and is also planning to bring out a Publication wherein the details of private tourist spots as well as tour operators will be published and circulated for wide publicity.

Sri M.V. Rajeshwara Rao, Secretary General, FAPCCI proposed a vote of thanks.

HarithOn - Green Run grand success

Planet 3 Protection Alliance in association with The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) and Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board and Ogene Systems(I) Pvt Ltd organized Harithon - Green Run on 19th February 2012 at 7.30 AM, People's Plaza Parking Lot, Necklace Road, Hyderabad. It was supported by AP Tourism, NAIP, APMAB, HMDA, JNTU Hyderabad, Osmania University, Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, 108, Rotary Club - Cyberabad.
His Excellency, Mr. Mohd Majid Hussain, Hon’ble Mayor of GHMC attended the event as a Chief Guest and gave a Green Message and had all the partakers take a Green Oath to make them socially responsible. And also said that events like this initiated by youth will help in making Hyderabad one of Greenest Cities in Hyderabad. Mr. V.S Raju, President, FAPCCI, Mr. Devendra Surana, Senior Vice President, FAPCCI, Mr. Sriniva Ayyadevara, Vice President, FAPCCI, Dr A Sharada Devi, Dean, Home Science College, Dr. A. Rama Krishna Prasad, Director, JNTU – Hyderabad, Mr. Tammareddy Bharadvaja, Fim Producer & Director, Mr. Srirama Murthy, Chairman, Industrial Development Committee, FAPCCI, Mr. Shyam Sunder Pasari, Chairman, International Trade Relations Committee, Mr. V.V. Sanyasi Rao, Chairman, Rural Development Committee, Mr. Mr. Suraj Prasad Agarwal, Past President, FAPCCI, and many representatives from Google, NAIP, Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Novartis, Infosys, S&P Capital IQ, Tata Projects, CMC Ltd, Bhashyam school, Citadel and Wipro shared their views on Green.

Highlights of the event:

1. Introduced the Organic T-Shirt for the very first time in the history of India for an event.

2. Stalls showcasing the Eco Friendly products like Potted Vegetables, Eco Colors, Natural Dyes, Millet Stalls, Khadi, Bi-Cycle Store were attracted by many.

3. Presented the first two winners with Bi-Cycles sponsored by Pedaller's Point.