Business Secretary toplead steel industry's case

The Reserve Bank of Indiahas issued directions to allscheduled commercialbanks on the GoldMonetisation Schemewhich is set to replace theGold Deposit Scheme of1999. As per the guide-lines, banks will beallowed to fix their owninterest rates on golddeposits. These depositsoutstanding under theGold Deposit Scheme willbe allowed to run tillmaturity, unless thedepositors prematurelywithdraw them. The bank has said that

resident Indians, includ-ing individuals, HUFs andtrusts including mutualfunds registered underSebi regulations and com-

panies can make depositsunder the scheme. Theminimum deposit at anyone time shall be raw goldbars, coins, and jewelleryexcluding stones and othermetals- equivalent to 30grams of gold of 995 fine-

ness. The statement said,“There is no maximumlimit for deposit under thescheme. The gold will beaccepted at the Collectionand Purity Testing Centrescertified by Bureau ofIndian Standards andnotified by the Centralgovernment under thescheme. The deposit cer-tificates will be issued bybanks in equivalence of995 fineness of gold.” As per the guidelines,

banks will be free to setinterest rate on suchdeposit, and principal andinterest of the deposit willbe denominated in gold.“Redemption of principaland interest at maturitywill, at the option of thedepositor be either in

Indian rupee equivalent ofthe deposited gold andaccrued interest based onthe price of gold prevailingat the time of redemption,or in gold. The option inthis regard shall be madein writing by the depositorat the time of making thedeposit and shall be irrev-ocable,” it said. “The desig-nated banks will acceptgold deposits under theShort Term (1-3 years)Bank Deposit (STBD) aswell as Medium (5-7years) and Long (12-15years) Term GovernmentDeposit Schemes. Whilethe former will be accept-ed by banks on their ownaccount, the latter will beon behalf of Governmentof India.”

ASIANBUSINESSAsian Voice | 31st October 2015

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Alpesh Patel

Consultant EditorFinancial Voice

Dear Financial Voice Reader,I was very fortunate that when I did my first ever

launch for my hedge fund back in 2006 at the RoyalInstitute, Lord Noon (who sadly passed away thisweek) kindly attended. It is with sadness to note thepassing of a business giant, mentor and role modelwho was always generous with his time and kind inhis advice.My business has come a long way from back then,

but I still recall how privileged I felt that he took thetime to attend. I learnt a lot about him.But the markets teach you a lot about yourself

too. What do the markets teach us about wealthevery day? Well every day there are a hundred to athousand trades some individuals make. In thattime, unlike regular business deals, you learn a lot. You learn how you take failure, because you are

not going to win every time. You learn how to controlgreed, because it is tempting to take large bets, butnever a good idea.You learn about persistence paying off, because it

is very easy to give up and forget even the most suc-cessful traders have losing trades, losing days, losingweeks, losing months and losing years.The markets teach us wealth is not made like in

the lottery, in one minute, but by making small gainsand adding to them every day. The markets teach us, if we don’t want big losses

then we should take small ones quickly and not hideour heads in the sand. They teach us that there is alink between discipline and our success. They teachus to have a plan, and follow it and not be distracted.You will learn that risk and reward are difficult

friends. That the more reward you want, the morerisk you are given, and to make them asymmetric iswhat counts. You learn that risking the least to find out if you

will be right and then adding to your success is a farmore better strategy than any other. So there it is in the markets you learn about your

fears of taking losses, whereas you should fear biglosses, not any loss. You learn about your greed to rush money and by

doing so taking unjustified risks, neglecting your dis-cipline, relying on luck and then losing more money.You learn about self-control for gains tomorrow, inplace of small victories that make you feel goodtoday.Indeed, the markets are the best place to learn

about yourself and business. All the lessons of wealth from the markets are the

same as the ones you learn from the markets and theones which made Lord Noon the success he was.

Indian banks free to fix interest rates

The steelindustry inthe UK iscurrently incrisis. Theyplan to talkw i t hChancellorsregarding thepledges theyhad made inorder to helphard-pressedcompanies,fearing thatmore jobscould be in danger.Recently, Tata steel

had announced that 1,20employees were beingmade redundant at itsplants in Scotland andScunthorpe, totalling up toalmost 2,200 job cuts in ayear. The future of over1,700 roles at Caparo alsoseems doubtful after thecompany collapsed.However, Tata steel

have revealed that there

will be a £9 million pack-age jointly funded by theGovernment, in order tohelp retain Scunthorpe'sredundant staff.At a Steel Summit in

Rotherham, the BusinessSecretary, Sajid Javid com-mitted to fight forEuropean approval for thefull relief. He is also due tomeet European commis-sioners to appeal for theindustry's case.

Cameron givesvisa pledge to

China

Chinese President XiJinping's recent state visitto the UK, both the coun-tries sealed a series of busi-ness deals, including anagreement by Chineseinvestors to take a one-third stake in Hinkley PointC, the country's firstnuclear plant for a genera-tion. Eyeing a larger shareof China's fast-growingtourist market, Cameronhopes to establish Britainas China's number onepartner in the west. Hisplans to announce cheapertourist visas will see thetourists pay a mere amountof £324. Ministers are alsoexploring a pilot for a 10year tourist visa, withunlimited multiple visits,specifically for China.Among deals to beannounced, Britain willalso set up a new system oftourist visas for Chinese vis-itors, who typically spend£2,688 each on an visit,totalling about £500m ayear. Beijing is expected tointroduce a reciprocalarrangement for Britishtourists.

Ethnic Business ConferenceThe Annual EthnicMinority BusinessConference broughttogether around 200 dele-gates. Held at FazeleyStudios in Birmingham lastTuesday, the popular eventwas organised by theCentre for Research inEthnic MinorityEntrepreneurship, orCREME, under the leader-ship of ethnic businessguru Professor Monder

Ram OBE, pictured.The event, which has

been sponsored by LloydsBank “a fellow traveller”since its inception 19 yearsago, featured a line-up ofspeakers and panel discus-sions. Speaking at theevening gala dinner,Professor Ram told dele-gates: “Making Diversityand Enterprise everybody’sbusiness. For some, it’s aslogan. For us, it’s ourvision and mission,” whichwon rapturous applause.Professor Ram, a humblegentleman, presented

Sophie Sinclair, who joinedthe CREME team asCentre Manager earlierthis year, with a bouquet offlowers for her outstandingwork. The welcome address

and vote of thanks wasgiven by Professor SimonCollinson, Dean,University of BirminghamBusiness School. Each year,ethnic minority businessescontribute an estimated£25-£32 billion to the UKeconomy.

Japan bids $15 billion to fundIndia's first bullet train

Japan has offered Indiafunds for its first bullettrain, estimated to cost $15billion, at an interest rate ofless than 1 per cent. Indiapicked Tokyo to assess thefeasibility of building the505-kilometre corridorlinking Mumbai withAhmedabad. While the project to

build and supply the routewill be put out to tender,Japan offering financemakes it clearly in the firstplace. China had won thecontract last month toassess the feasibility of ahigh-speed rain betweenDelhi and Mumbai, a 1200km route estimated to costtwice as much. Japan'sdecision to give free financeto Modi's project is part ofits push back againstChina's involvement ininfrastructure developmentin South Asia. “There are several

(players) offering the high-

speed technology. But tech-nology and funding togeth-er, we only have one offer.That is the Japanese,” saidAK Mital, chairman of theIndian Railway Board,which manages the net-work. The two projects arepart of a 'DiamondQaudrilateral' of high speedtrains over 10,000km oftrack that India wants toset up to connect Delhi,Mumbai, Chennai andKolkata. Japan has offeredto meet 80 per cent of theMumbai-Ahmedabad proj-ect cost, on condition thatIndia buys 30 percent ofequipment including thecoaches and locomotivesfrom Japanese firms, offi-cials said. “What compli-cates the process isJapanese linking funding touse of their technology.There must be tech trans-fer,” said Mital. The Japanese

International Cooperation

Agency has declined to giveout the details of its offer. Aspokeswoman said, “Thereport has already beenhanded over to India, andthe Indian government isnow in the process of mak-ing a consideration.”Counsellor in the economicsection of the Japaneseembassy, ToshihiroYamakoshi said thatJapanese countries werekeen to collaborate withtheir Indian counterpartson the rail projects as a partof Modi's Make In Indiaprogramme. “There is a lot of money

involved in this. The differ-ent departments are weigh-ing the implications.Should we be committingall our resources to a singlehigh-speed line,” an Indianrailway official said on con-dition of anonymity. “Therailways have not attempt-ed anything as big as thisbefore in terms of costs.”

Raghuram Rajan

Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, to plead steelindustry's case Dhiren Katwa