Operation of FDI caps in India and corporate control mechanisms

While India has generally been following an open door FDI policy, a few areas are still subject to caps on FDI and/or specific government approval. One of the justifications for the same is the need to retain a degree of control over the operations of the investee companies in Indian hands. Earlier this year, the government specified the methodology for calculating direct and indirect foreign equity in Indian companies in order to remove ambiguities in calculating the extent of FDI in a company. Based on empirical evidence this paper argues that percentage of shares or proportion of directors do not necessarily represent the extent of control and more direct intervention would be required if the objectives of imposing the caps are to be achieved.FDI; corporate control, veto powers, India, joint control, joint ventures, corporate governance

Lecciones de las crisis mexicanas para Corea

The Corean crisis in 1997-1998 resembled the Mexican crisis of 1982 more than it did the Mexican crisis of 1995, because it was more associated with international bank debt. It would help if government did not provide implict guarantees on this kind of debt

Empiricism in non-communicable disease mortality measurement for the Asia-Pacific: lost in translation

Control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is a key target for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. Available information indicates that countries in the Asia-Pacific Region accounted for 63% of the global NCD mortality burden in 2016. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for the Asia Pacific (UNESCAP) Regional SDG progress report for 2020 included estimates of trends in NCD mortality rates from 2000 to 2016, which showed considerable variation in national NCD mortality by sex and location

The civil registration system is a potentially viable data source for reliable subnational mortality measurement in India

Introduction The Indian national Civil Registration System (CRS) is the optimal data source for subnational mortality measurement, but is yet under development. As an alternative, data from the Sample Registration System (SRS), which covers less than 1% of the national population, is used. This article presents a comparison of mortality measures from the SRS and CRS in 2017, and explores the potential of the CRS to meet these subnational data needs. Methods Data on population and deaths by age and sex for 2017 from each source were used to compute national-level and state-level life tables. Sex-specific ratios of death probabilities in five age categories (0-4, 5-14, 15-29, 30-69, 70-84) were used to evaluate CRS data completeness using SRS probabilities as reference values. The quality of medically certified causes of death was assessed through hospital reporting coverage and proportions of deaths registered with ill-defined causes from each state. Results The CRS operates through an extensive infrastructure with high reporting coverage, but child deaths are uniformly under-reported, as are female deaths in many states. However, at ages 30-69 years, CRS death probabilities are higher than the SRS values in 15 states for males and 10 states for females. SRS death probabilities are of limited precision for measuring mortality trends and differentials. Data on medically certified causes of death are of limited use due to low hospital reporting coverage. Conclusions The Indian CRS is more reliable than the SRS for measuring adult mortality in several states. Targeted initiatives to improve the recording of child and female deaths, to strengthen the reporting and quality of medically certified causes of death, and to promote use of verbal autopsy methods can establish the CRS as a reliable source of subnational mortality statistics in the near future. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial

The evolution of population policy in Viet Nam

Three periods in the evolution of the population policy of Viet Nam are documented in this article: initiation in the 1960s and 1970s; maturity in the 1980s and 1990s; and legalization in the 2000s and early 2010s. A framework was used for stakeholder analysis in the sociopolitical context of Viet Nam in order to analyse interactions between leading state agencies in the development of population policy and their influence on the organizational structure of the population programme. The current tensions in the implementation of the population programme are highlighted, and a new population policy is called for that would be more conducive to addressing broader population and reproductive health issues, in order to respond more effectively to new challenges arising from the socioeconomic and demographic transition of the country

Measurements on Stationary Source Emissions and Assessing Impact on Ambient Air Quality around Two Indian Refineries

Emissions of particulate matter (PM), SO2 and NO2 from stationary sources and their concentration along with benzene and CO in ambient air around two Indian refineries were studied. Prediction of ground level concentration (GLC) of SO2, NO2 and PM was made by dispersion modeling. In Refinery 1, highest SO2 emission (646 mg Nm-3) were detected in Sulphur Recovery Unit while NOx emissions ranged from 57.8 to 445.0 mg Nm-3, respectively from various units. In Refinery 2, highest SO2 emission (935 mg Nm-3) was observed from Utility Boiler while NO2 emissions ranged from 13 to 235 mg Nm-3. Above emissions were within the stipulated emission standards prescribed by Central Pollution Control Board of India. Further, ambient concentrations of the above in the vicinity of these refineries were below their prescribed national ambient air quality standards. Air quality in terms of air quality index (AQI) was moderate or good at the study sites. Dispersion modelling exercise indicated that the observed GLC of SO2 and NO2 could be reasonably predicted by ISC-AERMOD model for both refineries while there was moderate to substantial difference between observed and modeled PM values due to presence of several sources of particulate emissions in the region that could not be considered in the model

India's Recent Inward Foreign Direct Investment: An Assessment

Most often the reported FDI flows are accepted unquestioningly and are analysed and interpreted in a simplistic manner in spite of their many nuances. The discovery of some serious limitations and specific features of India’s FDI inflows adds a hitherto little discussed dimension which impacts the understanding of the flows significantly. The study, India’s Recent Inward Foreign Direct Investment: An Assessment, published in July 2018, vividly explains the various shortcomings and special features of the data using multiple examples and case studies and demonstrates that the annual aggregates cannot provide adequate guidance regarding the year-to-year changes. Nor do they truly reflect capacity creation in the economy. The problem turns out to be more acute at the sectoral level. The study conveys a strong message that the reporting mechanism and analysis have to be reshaped drastically in order to provide reliable guidance to policymakers and other national and international users. It could provide a template for understating the inflows into developing countries, in general

Building capacity for mortality statistics programs: Perspectives from the Indonesian experience

Information on deaths by age, sex, and cause are primary inputs for health policy and epidemiological research. Currently, most developing countries lack efficient death registration systems that generate these data on a routine and timely basis. The global community is promoting initiatives to establish and strengthen national mortality statistics programs across the developing world. Building human, technical, and institutional capacity to operate these programs are essential elements for the program. In Indonesia, the government has established a national Sample Registration System (SRS) covering a population of 9 million and is looking toward further scaling up of operations of the mortality statistics program in conjunction with expansion of the national Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems. This article reports the theoretical and practical perspectives gained from experiences in developing human capacity in the Indonesian context. These perspectives are described in terms of the institutional, personnel, and functional components of the program for collection, compilation, analysis, and utilisation of mortality and cause of death data. The article also describes the challenges and potential solutions for implementing capacity building activities at national and subnational level. In conclusion, the need for and availability of training resources are discussed, including the potential for involvement of public health academia and international collaborations within a research framework on program management, quality evaluation, and data utilisation. Adequate attention to capacity building is essential to ensure the success and sustainability of national mortality statistics programs.CR and MK are partially supported by a development partnership grant from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia, which also supports part of the capacity building activities described in this manuscript

India's FDI Inflows: Trends and Concepts

India’s inward investment regime went through a series of changes since economic reforms were ushered in two decades back. The expectation of the policy makers was that an “investor friendly” regime will help India establish itself as a preferred destination of foreign investors. These expectations remained largely unfulfilled despite the consistent attempts by the policy makers to increase the attractiveness of India by further changes in policies that included opening up of individual sectors, raising the hitherto existing caps on foreign holding and improving investment procedures. But after 2005‐06, official statistics started reporting steep increases in FDI inflows. This paper is an attempt to explain this divergence from the earlier trend. At the outset, the paper dwells on the ambiguities surrounding the definition and the non‐adherence of international norms in measuring the FDI inflows. The study finds that portfolio investors and round-tripping investments have been important contributors to India’s reported FDI inflows thus blurring the distinction between direct and portfolio investors on one hand and foreign and domestic investors on the other. These investors were also the ones which have exploited the tax haven route most. These observations acquire added significance in the context of the substantial fall in the inflows seen during 2010‐11. In most countries, particularly those that have faced chronic current account deficits, obtaining stable long term FDI flows was preferred over volatile portfolio investments. This distinction between long term FDI and the volatile portfolio investments has now been removed in the accepted official definition of FDI. From an analytical point of view, the blurring of the lines between long term FDI and the volatile portfolio investments has meant that the essential characteristics of FDI, especially the positive spill‐overs that the long term FDI was seen to result in, are being overlooked. FDI that is dominated by financial investments, though a little more stable than the portfolio investments through the stock market, cannot deliver the perceived advantages of FDI. The net result is that while much of the FDI cannot enhance India’s ability to earn foreign exchange through exports of goods and services and thus cover the current account gap on its own strength, large inflows of portfolio capital causes currency appreciation and erodes the competitiveness of domestic players. The falling share of manufacturing and even of IT and ITES means that there is less likelihood of FDI directly contributing to export earnings. India seems to have been caught in a trap wherein large inflows are regularly required in order to finance the current account deficit. To keep FDI flowing in, the investment regime has to be liberalised further and M&As are allowed freely. Even at the global level, the developmental impact of FDI is being given lesser importance notwithstanding the repeated assertions to the contrary in some fora. International data on FDI and its impact has never been unambiguous. If FDI has to deliver, it has to be defined precisely and chosen with care instead of treating it as generic capital flow. India should strengthen its information base that will allow a proper assessment of the impact that FDI can make on its development aspirations