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Business Standard
a few seconds ago
- Business Standard
US team may defer Aug 25 India visit for bilateral trade negotiations
A US team, which was scheduled to visit India from August 25, for the next round of negotiations for the proposed bilateral trade agreement is likely to defer the meeting to a later date, an official said. So far, five rounds of talks have been completed for the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) and a US team is scheduled to visit India for the sixth round of talks. The negotiations were scheduled from August 25-29. "This visit is likely to be rescheduled," the official, who did not wish to be named, said. Deferment or rescheduling of the meeting assumes significance as the US has announced a staggering 50 per cent duty on Indian goods. The US is pressing for greater market access in politically sensitive areas such as agri and dairy sectors, which India cannot accept as it affects the livelihood of small and marginal farmers. India has stated that it will not compromise the interests of farmers and cattle rearers. The US and India have announced plans to conclude the first phase of BTA by fall (September-October) of 2025. The two countries are aiming at more than doubling the bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030, from the present USD 191 billion. While the 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods entering the US has come into effect from August 7, an additional 25 per cent, was announced on India as penalty for buying crude oil and military equipment from Russia, will come into effect from August 27. During April-July, the country's exports to the US increased 21.64 per cent to USD 33.53 billion, while imports rose 12.33 per cent to USD 17.41 billion, according to commerce ministry data. The US was the largest trading partner of India in the April-July period (USD 12.56 billion bilateral trade) 2025-26. India's exports to America are recording positive growth since April this year. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mint
a few seconds ago
- Mint
Global PEs eye ESR India's warehousing portfolio in potential ₹3,500 crore deal
Mumbai: Global private equity firms Blackstone, Brookfield and Ascendas have placed binding bids to acquire the warehousing portfolio of ESR India as global investors consolidate their hold on the country's logistics infrastructure. The deal, which is likely to value the business at ₹3,500 crore ($400-420 million), is in its final stages, three people with direct knowledge of the development said. 'The binding bids came in on Thursday night. The firm will now sign exclusivity and proceed with one of the bidders," one person said. Mint first reported the company's plan to sell its warehousing portfolio on April 11. Real estate advisory firm JLL is advising ESR. Spokespersons for Blackstone, Brookfield and Ascendas declined to comment on the matter. ESR and JLL did not respond to Mint's requests for comment on Thursday evening. ESR India, a joint venture between Hong Kong-based ESR Group and Germany's Allianz Real Estate, is a logistics and industrial real estate company with about 24 million square feet of warehousing assets, including those under-construction. However, given the interest among investors in warehousing, the assets attracted suitors, the second person said. The company's parks are located in states including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Odisha. This is ESR-Allianz's second attempt at selling a controlling stake in the company. In 2023, the company planned to sell about 90% of the stake and retain the remaining 10%. The deal didn't go through, although Blackstone Group came close to clinching it. 'This time, the firm is looking to exit fully and hence the heightened investor interest," the first person added. Blackstone has been bulking up its warehousing portfolio. Earlier this year, it spent ₹1,700 crore to acquire LOGOS India's three warehousing parks in Luhari in Haryana and Chennai. ESR entered into the partnership with Allianz in 2018 and had said they would invest $1 billion, including debt, to develop large-scale warehousing and industrial facilities in India. Warehouse deals Xander Investment Management is also looking to monetize its warehousing assets in the country. Private equity firms such as Alta Capital's logistics platform LogiCap, Horizon Industrial Parks, CapitaLand Ltd, Firstspace Realty-backed Ascendas Firstspace and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing had placed bids for the asset, Mint reported in June. While the transaction is still in progress, Alta Capital may be inching closer to concluding a deal. Private equity investment in Indian real estate hit $4.2 billion in 2024, a 32% surge from the prior year, according to data from Knight Frank India, a real estate consultancy. Warehousing led the charge, accounting for 45% of these investments and surpassing the office sector, which had held the highest share of PE investments since 2017. An estimated 50-55% of Grade A warehouse stock is backed by global investors such as US private equity firm Blackstone, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, Singapore-based GLP, and Hong Kong-based ESR Group. According to JLL, India's warehousing stock has reached 533.1 million sq. ft, with emerging tier II-III cities contributing about 100 million sq. ft – a fourfold increase since 2017 – as of 2024. 'This shift signifies a fundamental change in the country's logistics landscape, aligning with the hub-and-spoke model envisioned during the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST)," JLL said. The centralized model helps to improve deliveries and reduce costs. There was robust demand across both established and emerging markets last year, with a combined absorption of 60 million sq. ft across 20 warehousing markets in India. The growth was driven primarily by the consumption boom, with 60% of online purchases now originating from tier II and III cities, it said.
Indian Express
a few seconds ago
- Indian Express
‘Secession of the Successful' by Sanjaya Baru is part history of emigrations out of India and part reflection on what constitutes New India
On the 75th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India is entering its Amrit Kaal or the 'The Era of Elixir', which, in turn, refers to an auspicious period according to Vedic astrology. 'Starting from here, the journey of the next 25 years is the Amrit Kaal of a new India,' stated the PM in 2021. To be sure, anyone mapping public sentiment might come to the conclusion that Indians have never been more proud of India and that at long last, India is fulfilling its destiny. The government under Modi is viewed by many as the first government that is neither corrupt nor incompetent, unlike the governments in the past. What's more, national interest pervades all public life. India is now more united, more prosperous and more ambitious than anytime in recent history. As such, India is emerging as the destination for international investors, attracting best talent from across the world. Gone are the days when Indians would do anything to somehow escape from the country and go to some part of the so-called developed world. After all, who would want to leave India at this golden juncture? As it turns out, it is the rich and the well-to-do. What's more? They are taking their riches out of the country as well. And that, on the face of it, is the focus of the book, as the title suggests. The data is rather damning. On August 1, 2024, the Minister for State for External Affairs told the Parliament that a total of 2,25,260 Indians had 'renounced their Indian citizenship' in 2022, and another 2,16,219 did so in 2023. In 2014, this number was 1,29,234. Between 2011 and 2023, the minister said that a total of 18,80,559 Indians had given up their citizenship. It is another matter that the minister chose to see the data in a positive light stating: 'A successful, prosperous and influential diaspora is an asset for India.' But the truth is, unlike the past when either Indians left as indentured labourers (under the British rule) or as skilled professionals (doctors and engineers leaving India since the 1970s), it is the wealthy who are now fleeing the country, states Baru. He lists four phases of Indians emigrating and this is the fourth phase. 'It is still in its incipient stage but has already acquired a high profile. It is the migration of the children of the wealthy as well as of high net worth individuals (HNIs) and the politically and socially powerful and influential elite… the fourth wave, in many ways, amounts to a 'secession of the successful',' writes Baru. He quotes data from Morgan Stanley that an estimated 23,000 Indian millionaires had left the country since 2014. It is important to note the setting as well: The net wealth of Indian billionaires has grown by 280 per cent in the period 2014-22, which amounts to 10 times the growth rate of India's national income over this period. 'India's super rich have funds to secure multiple homes around the world. However, more importantly, they are now securing residence status and citizenship too,' states Baru. The reasons for this flight out of New India are not very difficult to guess but Baru categorises the emigrants into four categories: Fugitives from the law — 'the Choksis, Mallyas and Modis'; first generation wealthy who are wary of the political and bureaucratic regime at home — essentially the rich who have weak political connections; those desirous of de-risking and diversifying 'from an uncertain economic, regulatory and governance environment in India'; wealthy Indians seeking a better lifestyle or quality of life — those who are 'tired of living in First World ghettos in Third World India'. But here is the most perverse aspect of this flight. Baru writes that 'the Indian industry fights shy of globalisation and external liberalisation, seeking high tariff walls to protect their business interests at home but Indian business leaders want a liberal regime for taking their wealth out of India'. In other words, the rich are using India's high tariffs to keep out competition and make profits and then taking this wealth outside the country. 'Neither industry organisations nor the government, nor indeed many in the academic and media world, seem to view with much concern the fact that a low-middle income developing economy is declaring with pride its export of capital to a high income developed country,' warns Baru. While Baru raises a timely alarm through this book, by itself, the book's title is misleading. For the most part, the book is part history of emigrations out of India and part reflection about what constitutes New India. The specific bit about the 'secession of the successful' is largely dealt with in just two of the 12 chapters; the first of which comes well after the mid-way mark. As such, the title of the book is, at once, the smartest and the most misleading aspect of the book. And considering the hardcover edition is priced at Rs 799 when the average daily income of an Indian is Rs 652, perhaps an average Indian, who can only dream of leaving New India, can put that money to better use; a mutual fund SIP maybe.
