What does President Lula's visit mean for India's business with Brazil

President Lula and PM Manmohna Singh with the CEOs

President Lula addressing the business meet

President Lula was accompanied by over 100 businessmen, the largest-ever bz delegation to have visited India.The delegates were busy with meetings and deal-makings and some of them are staying behind and visiting other cities. In his speeches, President Lula inspired confidence and optimism among Indian businessmen.

A Brazil- India CEOs Forum was formed and had its first meeting on 4 June. The Forum had a meeting with President Lula and PM Dr Manmohan Singh together. The Forum consists of 17 CEOs from India and 14 from Brazil. List attached. Cochairman from India is Rattan Tata and from Brazil it is Sergio Gabrielli, CEO of Petrobras. The Forum will meet once a year and suggest to the governments their ideas for more trade and investment. But more than that, the CEOs Forum has elevated the level of understanding and dealing to the top level. Earlier the interest in Indo- Brazil business was at the level of middle managers and Vice presidents. This means billions of dollars of deals from the earlier millions !

The governments and business of the two countries have set an ambitious goal of 10 billion dollars of bilateral trade by 2010.

The fact that both the Indian and Brazilian economies joined the trillion dollar ( GDP) economies almost around the same time( Brazil in April and India in May 2007) have given a new confidence boost.

Some of the deals made or in the making

- Petrobras is getting into 3 offshore blocks in India in joint venture with OVL. In return Petrobras has given equity to OVL in 3 offshore blocks in Brazil.

- HCL is gearing up enter Brazil.

-CVRD has already set up an office in Delhi and is doing bz with no of Indian companies. They are looking for investment opportunities.

- Essar is exploring mining opps in Brazil.

- BPCL is getting into a jv with Petrobras for ethanol in Brazil

I am more than ever optimistic and confident that the business with Brazil is going to make quantum leap in the coming years.

India-Brazil CEOs Forum

Mr. Ratan Tata (Co-chair),
Chairman, Tata Sons Ltd
Mr. Subodh Bhargava,
Chairman, VSNL
Dr. Surinder Kapur,
Chairman & Managing Director, Sona Koyo Steering Systems Ltd
Mr. V.R.S. Natarajan,
Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Earth Movers Limited
Mr. R. S. Sharma,
Chairman and MD / Mr. R.S. Butola, Managing Director, OVL
Mr. Dhruv Sawhney,
Chairman & Managing Director,
Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd
Mr. Malvinder Singh,
CEO & Managing Director, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd
Mr. Pramod Chaudhari,
Chairman, Praj Industries Limited
Mr. Ramalinga Raju,
Chairman, Satyam Computers
Mr. S. Ramadorai,
Chief Executive Officer, Tata Consultancy Services
Mr. Gautam Thapar,
Chairman, Ballarpur Industries Ltd.
Mr. Jamshyd Godrej,
Chairman & Managing Director, Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co. Ltd.
Mr. Sunil Kant Munjal,
Managing Director & CEO, Hero Corporate Services Ltd.
Mr. K.V. Kamath,
Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank Ltd.
Mr. Mukesh Ambani,
Chairman, Reliance Industries Ltd.
Mr. Deepak Parekh,
Chairman, IDFC
Mr. Tarun Das,
Chairman, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd & Chief Mentor, Confederation of Indian Industry

Brazilian side

Mr. José Sérgio Gabrielli (Co-chair),
CEO, Petrobrás (Energy)
Mr. Armando Monteiro,
Chairman, Confederation of Brazilian Industry Mr.
Vitor Hallack,
Chairman, Camargo Correa S.A. (Civil Construction, Textiles, Logistics, Energy, Construction material)
Mr. Paulo Godoy,
CEO, Alusa Holding (Energy Transmission, Construction and Cable TV)
Mr. Deonísio Petry,
Managing Director, Figwal Transportes Internacionais Ltd.(Transport)
Mr. Flávio Machado Filho,
Vice-Chairman, Andrade Gutierrez (Construction)

Mr. José Antonio Martins,
Vice-Chairman, Marcopolo S.A. (Commercial Vehicles and Transportation)
Mr. Nilo Jose Panazzolo,
Managing Director International Affairs, Banco do Brasil S.A.
Mr. Giacomo Feres Staniscia,
CIO-CTO, Atech Tecnologias Críticas (Software)
Mr. Rúbio Fernal, Director for Business Development, Odebrecht (Construction)
Mr. Nestor Giacomin, Managing Director, Randon (Transport equipment)
Mr. Orlando José Ferreira Neto, Managing Director, Embraer (aircraft)
Mr. Rui Lopes, Vice-President, Grupo Gerdau, (steel)
Mr. Hermelindo Ruete de Oliveira, Managing Director, Copersucar (sugar and ethanol)

My article in Business Line of today on Brazil

Brazil — the emerging bio-fuel power
R. VISWANATHAN

The pioneer in the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel, Brazil could soon become a bio-fuel power with its ability to grow a variety of vegetables and oilseeds on large tracts of arid land unsuitable for other crops. India, which relies much on imported crude oil, has much to learn from the Brazilian success story and the way it was achieved, through public-private partnership, says R. VISWANATHAN.

Brazil is the pioneer, and world leader, in the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel in automobiles. It introduced ethanol-driven cars in 1975 after the first oil price shock. Today 80 per cent of the two million cars made in Brazil have flexi-fuel engines — introduced since 2003 — which can use either petrol or alcohol or a combination of the two. Besides cars, the Brazilians have started using ethanol in small non-passenger aircraft. A Brazilian air-taxi service company, which operates crop-duster planes, has cut its fuel bill by a third by using ethanol.

With the ethanol fuel programme, Brazil has reduced substantially its requirement of petrol. Instead of paying the high prices in dollars to the crude oil exporting countries, Brazil is paying its own sugarcane farmers, adding to domestic wealth and creating jobs. Equally important is the reduction in pollution by the use of ethanol, which is a cleaner and renewable source unlike the fast depleting petroleum.

Inspiring Example
The success of Brazil has inspired the United States, the European Union, Japan, China, India and many other countries to opt for the ethanol route. The US President, Mr George Bush, has called for a reduction in the consumption of petrol by 20 per cent in the next decade mainly by substituting it with ethanol and other bio-fuels. Seeing this favourable trend, Brazil took the initiative in the launching of an "International Bio-fuel Forum" at New York on March 2, along with the US, the EU, China, South Africa and India. Their objective is to commoditise fuel ethanol in the same way as crude oil is being globally traded.

According to a McKinsey study, global exports of fuel ethanol by 2020 will be a minimum of 50 billion litres with the potential to go even up to 200 billion litres. This has opened a golden opportunity for Brazil, which has many natural advantages to raise production and export of ethanol. Brazilians are aggressively positioning themselves to be a leading supplier and a global player as a "Saudi Arabia of fuel ethanol". Here are the competitive advantages of Brazil to become an ethanol power:

Brazil is the lowest cost producer of fuel ethanol in the world. Its cost of production is 23 cents per litre compared to 39 cents for the ethanol produced from corn in the US and 52 cents for the wheat-based fuel-additive in Europe. Brazilian farmers do not receive any government subsidy unlike their American and European counterparts.

Brazil is the leading exporter of fuel ethanol, accounting for almost 50 per cent of the global exports of 6.5 billion litres in 2006. Brazil exports ethanol to the US, Europe, Japan, Sweden, China and even India. Petrobras, the Brazilian state oil company, is gearing up to export eight billion litres of ethanol by 2010.

Brazil is the world's second largest producer of ethanol after the US. Its production in 2006 was 17 billion litres, of which it consumed 14 billion litres and exported the rest.
Brazil is the world's largest sugarcane producer. The production in 2006 was 460 million tonnes, of which 55 per cent was converted directly into alcohol and the rest for producing sugar. The yield per acre of sugarcane in Brazil is one of the highest in the world, thanks to the cutting-edge research and development by their agro research institute EMBRAPA.
Brazil can increase the sugarcane acreage from the current six million hectares. Brazil uses only 47 million hectares for crops at the moment and can add 100 million hectares easily, without touching the Amazon or affecting the environment. Perhaps no other country has so much unused arable land. Brazil also has the ideal climate for sugarcane and abundant water resources.

Sugarcane is a more efficient source of fermentable carbohydrates than corn. Sugarcane-based ethanol returns four times more energy than the corn-based fuelcounterpart and produces less carbon-dioxide. Ethanol production in Brazil becomes even more cost-effective as many Brazilian ethanol plants are self-sufficient in power with their own captive plants which use bagasse as fuel and get even extra revenue by selling power to the grid.
Over the next five years, Brazilians plan to invest $12 billion to set up 77 ethanol plants and another $2.4 billion to expand the existing 360 units. By 2012, the production capacity will reach 9.5 billion litres. They are also investing in logistics such as pipelines and storage.

Beyond ethanol
Brazil is looking beyond ethanol and is pursuing other options of bio-fuels as well. It has already started producing bio-diesel from soybeans and reduced diesel consumption by 15 per cent. It now mixes diesel with 2 per cent vegetable oil but plans to increase this to 20 per cent by 2020. Again, Brazil has the natural advantage to grow dozens of vegetables and oilseeds for bio-diesel, in the large tracts of arid land unsuitable for other crops.
A Brazilian beef export company is building a plant to make bio-diesel from animal fat. Here also Brazil has an advantage with its large cattle population and competitive meat industry. Brazil is thus well positioned to become a bio-diesel power as well.
India has much to learn from the Brazilian success story and the way it was achieved through public-private partnership as a national priority. India can benefit through intergovernmental cooperation and business alliance with Brazil. Indian sugar companies are exploring opportunities for acquisition of sugarcane acreage and plants for sugar and ethanol production in Brazil. One company has already set up a subsidiary in Brazil and earmarked $500 million for investment.
(The author is with the Ministry of External Affairs. The views are personal. E-mail: viswanathanifs@gmail.com)

Link to the article:
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/06/02/stories/2007060200730800.htm

President of Mexico inagurates TCS centre in Gudalajara

Mr. Felipe Calderón, President of Mexico inaugurated on 29 May the Global Technological Development Center of Tata Consultancy Services in the city of Guadalajara in Jalisco state.

President Felipe Calderón was accompanied by Mr. Fernando Guzmán, Secretary General of the Government of Jalisco, Mr. Federico Hernández Corona, Magistrate of the Tribunal Superior de Justicia; Mr. Rinzing Wangdi, Ambassador of India in Mexico; Mr. Gabriel Rozman, President of TATA Consultancy Services in Iberoamerica, and Mr. Ankur Prakash, Director General of Tata Consultancy Services in Mexico.

This Centere's initial investment is about 10 million USD, and will employee about two thousand Mexican engineers and technicians.

Jalisco has a state-of-the-art technological corridor called as the Mexican Silicon Valley.

Biggest Brazilian Business delegation visiting delhi 3-5 June

Yes.. the biggest... 81 members.
areas of interest infrastructure, food processing , engineering etc
B to B interaction and meeting with president of Brazil and ministers on 4/5 June
contact
Mr Balduin, counsellor , Embassy of Brazil
Gunveena Chadha, CII

Here is the list.. got a bit messy in copying from excel

ABDIB - Brazilian Association of Infrastructure and Base industry
Paulo Godoy
President
Ralph Lima Terra
Vice Executive-President

ALM BRAZIL INTERNATIONAL Ltda
Marlucia Martire
Director

Anrossi Construtora e Incorporadora Ltda.
Vânia Mara Ferreira
Coordinator

Arakhan Trading Corp.
Fernando Esposito
International Trade Director

Chamber of Commerce India Brazil -SÃO PAULO
Roberto Paranhos do Rio Branco
President
Rakesh Vaidyanathan
Secretary General
Nils Tarnow
Associate - The Jai Group (Associate Chamber of Commerce Brazil-India(CCBI)
Adriano Zerbini
Chief of cabinet Sao Paulo cityhall (Associate CCBI)
Fabíola Costa Girão Vaidyanathan
Lawyer - Machado Associates (Associate CCBI)
Luiz Carlos Tremonte
President - SIMASPA (AssociateCCBI)
Ademar Lemos Passos
President - Lemos Passos (Associate CCBI)
Bernardo Silva
Director - Fullcomex (Associate CCBI)
Mario Giannini Baptista de Oliveira
Director - Protege (Associate CCBI)
Fábio Suplicy
Director - SIMASPA (Associate CCBI)
Brazil- South Africa-Chamber of Commerce
Fernando Tomé
Manager
India Brazil Chamber of Commerce (CCBI)-Belo Horizonte
Raquel Novais
Consultant
Dailani Seixas Carrijo
Consultant
Elson de Barros Gomes Jr.
Honorable President

India Brazil Chamber of Commerce (CCBI)-Belo Horizonte
Leonardo Ananda Gomes
Director Vice-President
Carolina Christo de G. Simões
Manager of Market Intelligence
Mauro Seabra Federici
Director Executivo
Fernanda Drumond
Assistant of Market Intelligence
Molly Mitchell-Olds
Assistant to Executive Director
Camargo Corrêa S/A
Vitor Hallack
President
Center of exporters of ornamental rocks
Valdecyr Roberte Viguini
S/A President
Chaves de azevedo Lawyers
Victor Josebachvili
Director
Clube dos 13 -(Union of Main Soccer Teams)
Joao Gilberto Vaz
International Representative
Dr. Fabio André Koff
President - Brazilian Major Football Clubs League
Dr. Paulo Samuel Peres
Financial & Contracts Director
Marcos Antonio Gurgel de Oliveira
Assistant - International Market
Luhan Soriano Vaz
Assistant - International Market
Philip Koh
Managing Director - STTeleport -Singapore Office
Amos Lim
Broadcasting Services Manager -
COMEXPORT foreign trade company
Andre Cassaro Strunz
Trader
National Confederation of Industry
Armando Monteiro Neto
President
José Augusto Coelho Fernandes
Executive Director
José Frederico Álvares
International trade manager
Pag3
National Confederation of Industry
Tatiana L. Palermo
Analyst
Pablo S. Cesário
Analyst
Construtora Andrade Gutierrez S.ª(construction)
Flávio Machado Filho
Executive-Director of Institutional Relations
Cruzeiro Esporte Clube(soccer)
Antônio Claret Nametala
Directorof Marketing (Associate IBCC)
Ricardo Drubscky
General Director of Soccer (Associate IBCC)
D´Andrea Vera Lawyers
eduardo rosa
Senior Lawyer
EMBRAER EMPRESA BRASILEIRA DE AERONÁUTICA S/A
Orlando José Ferreira Neto
Director for EMBRAER Asia Pacific
Empire Industries Ltda.
Andre Luis da Silva
President
EXCELER BRASIL SERVIÇOS E COMERCIO LTDA
ALEX CARVALHO SOARES
Commercial Director
Federation of industries of the State of Distrito Federal
Antônio Rocha da Silva
President
Walid de Melo Pires Sariedine
Sectoral Vice-President
Federation of industries of the State of ESPIRITO SANTO
Lucas Izoton Vieira
President
Federation of industries of the State of RIO GRANDE DO SUL
PAULO GILBERTO FERNANDES TIGRE
President
CARMEM PINENT TIGRE
FIGWAL International transports LTDA.
DEONÍSIO T. PETRY
Director
FUNDAÇÃO APLICAÇÕES DE TECNOLOGIAS CRÍTICAS - ATECH
GIACOMO FERES STANISCIA
Director
Futebologia(soccer)
René Santana Silva
Soccer Coach (Associate IBCC)
GL&B Projetos Ltda
Beatriz Leitão
Director
GTS Global Trade Services do Brasil
Ragvinder Singh Rekhi
Vice President
Pag4
Indústria de Bebidas Nu Cabresto Ltda(beverage company)
Cíntia Cardoso de Souza
Owner (Associate IBCC)
Carolina Harboe Gonçalves
Commercial Director (Associate IBCC)
Industria Mecanica Marcatto LTDA(Mechanic industry)
Vasco Marcato
Commercial Director
JOSÉ MAURÍCIO MACHADO E Associates LAWYERS
Fabíola Costa Girão Vaidyanathan
Lawyer
Luís Rogério Godinho Farinelli
Associate
Ana Maria Nakaza
Associate
lambertucci ind. com . exp ltda
Joelma Lambertucci de Brito
Director
Mining delfim moreira ltda epp
Augusto jose delfim moreira
Director
jose henrique delfim moreira
Director
Noronha Lawyers
Vera Helena Moraes Dantas
Associate
Odebrecht S/A
RUBIO FERNAL FERREIRA E SOUSA
Director
ORCA CONSTRUCTION
WILDER PEDRO DE MORAIS
Director President
WALDO MARCOS CAETANO DOS ANJOS
Engineering Director
Nestor Cuñat Cerveró
Director
Cristian Bronzini
Foreign trade Director
Carmen de Souza Suarez
Import-Export Assistante
Portugal Transports and Logistics
Casmar Mascury Saidan
Director(Associate IBCC)
Promon S.A.
Milton Lopes Antelo Filho
Manager, Competency Center
Gilson Galvão Krause
Executive Director
Pag5
Rama Empreendimentos Ltda
Mauro Seabra Federici
Consultant (Associate IBCC)
Élson de Barros Gomes Jr.
Associate(Associate IBCC)
Representaçoes Steimetz Gross Ltda
Mauricio Hentz
Commercial Manager
City secretariat of International Relations
Adriano Nogueira Zerbini
Head of Cabinet
Silveira's Family Ltda
Rodrigo Duarte Carvalho da Silveira
International Affairs Manager(Associate IBCC)
SOLTRADE COM IMPORT and EXPORT of Leather
Luciano da Silva Andrade
Director
Marile Paludetto Estanti
Manager
The Jai Group Consultancy Ltda.
Rakesh Vaidyanathan
Partner
Nils Tarnow
Partner
Ricardo Puga
Project Leader
Tigre S.A.- Tubes and Connexions
Maria Aparecida Metanias Hallack
General Manager
Varig Logistics
Karla Maria Gouvêa
General Manager(Associate IBCC)
Vedic Indus Ltda
Raquel Carvalho Novais
General Manager- India Office(Associate IBCC)
Preeti Gayal
Business Development Supervisor(Associate IBCC)
Kanwal Singh
Consultant (Associate IBCC)
Gurvinder Kour
Consultant (Associate IBCC)
VILA PORTO INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SA
KLINGER CASTELLUBER
Trader (Associate IBCC)
webvix marketing virtual ltda
carla munzlinger
Associate-Directora e-business
mario munzlinger junior
Associate-Director

TCS revenue from Latin America was US$ 160 million in 2007

congrats TCS !

Tata Consultancy Services saw sales in Latin America soar by more than 200% to US$160mn in fiscal year 2007, ended March 31, compared to FY06, according to TCS Iberoamerica's head of marketing Abhinav Kumar.

Latin America now represents 4% of the IT services company's global revenues, which hit US$4.3bn in FY07. In the previous financial year, the region contributed 1.9% of global sales. Overall net profits reached US$950mn for fiscal 2007.

Commenting on the reasons for the fast growth in Latin America, Kumar said: "We have done lots of business, we brought several clients in the region, and from Chile we have started to serve some of our global clients in the US and Europe. And also we are offering nearshore services to the US using our infrastructure here [Chile]."

Kumar said most of the company's growth in Latin America is organic, although acquisitions have helped as well. The executive said TCS is constantly looking for business opportunities related to acquisitions, although he had nothing new to announce.

In Latin America, the two most important markets for TCS are Chile and Brazil, which account for nearly 3,600 of the company's more than 5,000 employees in the region.
TCS has over 800 employees in Uruguay where TCS has an offshore center serving Spanish-speaking clients in Latin America and the US.

"Mexico is also important and we have an aggressive plan this year, with several announcements coming up. We also expect to continue strong growth in Chile were we already are serving 70% of the financial [services companies] and banks," Kumar said, adding that the company is also looking to make Chile a platform of BPO services for clients outside the country.

In order to maintain similar growth rates in the region, Kumar said TCS would continue targeting the financial and banking sectors, which represent nearly 42% of global sales, and an even higher percentage in Latin America.
"We will continue focusing on this sector, but we are also looking for growth in other segments. For instance, we have been growing in the telecoms area in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil," Kumar said.

mexican demand for steel products from India

Mexican importers are keen to source Steel & Steel Products from India.
Products of immediate interest are: steel coils, steel sheets, galvanized steel coils, strained steel and others.

Indian suppliers can contact

Y. P. Singh
Minister in the Embassy of India, mexico
market_eoimex@prodigy.net.mx

Brazil invokes compulsory license for AIDS drug

Here is a news item of interest to Indian pharma companies

President Lula issued a "compulsory license" on 4 may 2007 that would bypass Merck's patent on the AIDS drug efavirenz, a day after the Brazilian government rejected Merck's offer to sell the drug at a 30 percent discount, or $1.10 per pill, down from $1.57.

The country was seeking to purchase the drug at 65 cents a pill, the same price Thailand pays.
It was the first time Brazil has bypassed a patent, but Lula da Silva said Brazil would consider doing so again on any drug sold at unfair prices. "Between our business and our health, we are going to take care of our health," he said after signing the decree.

After Thailand moved to override patents on three anti-AIDS drugs, including those made by Abbott Laboratories and Merck, the United States placed Thailand on a list of copyright violators.

Brazil had threatened several times to bypass drug patents, but the country had always reached a last-minute agreement with drug manufacturers.

Brazil provides free AIDS drugs to anyone who needs them and manufactures generic versions of several drugs that were in production before Brazil enacted an intellectual property law in 1997 to join the WTO.
But as newer drugs have emerged, costs ballooned and health officials warned that without deep discounts, they would be forced to issue compulsory licenses.

Efavirenz is used by 75,000 of the 180,000 Brazilians who receive free AIDS drugs from the government. The drug currently costs the government about $580 per patient per year.
The Health Ministry says that a generic version of efavirenz would save the government some $240 million between now and 2012, when Merck's patent expires.

BRICs Business Alliance- by Assocham

Assocham ( Associated chamber of Commerce ) organised an event today at their Hqrs in New Delhi to launch this new initiative. The presentation by the representative of Goldman Sachs on the BRICs( Brazil, Russia , India and China) was music to our ears. India would become the third largest economy of the world by 2030 and overtake that of USA by 2040. There were presentations by the embassies of Brazil, Russia and China. Mr Shashank, former Foreign Secretary, the mover behind this new alliance and past president of Assocham Mr Anil Agarwal spoke.

In my talk about Brazil I said
- History and God have been kind to Brazil. In the last 180 yrs of history, India was under colonial rule until 1947 and Russia and China had undergone historic and sytemic changes but Brazil had an undisturbed continuity since its independence in 1825. Unlike the RIC countries, Brazil has not been in any war or seen bloodshed in the last 130 years.. Despite borders with 10 countries, Brazil has not inherited any border disputes.
- God has blessed Brazil with large fertile tracts of land, water and natural and mineral resources and a pleasant climate.
- Brazil has one religion and one language and no probelms of diversity

On the above historical and god-given heritage, Brazilians have now built " man- made fundamentals" which have postioned Brasil for a sustained longterm growth. These are
- irreversible instituitionalisation of democracy and stable, mature and pragmatic polity. In the absence of extremist parties and in the context of inevitable coalition governments in the future,there will be consensual and moderate policies without any radical turns.
- They have decisively overcome the triple curses of inflation, exchange rate- currency and external debt. Macroeconomic fundamentals and the new mindset are healthy and sound.
- Brazil is emerging as an agricultural superpower and can add another 100 million hectares of land besides the 40 million hectares currently being cultivated.
- Brazil is globally leveraging its domestic success of fuel ethanol proramme and has the potential to become a "saudi arabia of ethanol" in the coming years.
- Brazil has become a regional leader of south america through regional integration and a platform for business in the region.

I bet my money on Goldman Sachs report on Brazil and the BRICs.

outcome of visit of Brazilian and Cuban Foreign Ministers 10-13 April

During the visit of Cuban foreign minister 10- 11 April, the Government of India announced the waiver of Cuban debt of 62 million dollars. The principal amount is 29 million dollars and interest accumulated since 1990 was 33 million dollars. Since this issue has now been resolved, trade can be resumed now. Cubans are interested in import of pharmaceuticals, consumer goods and industrial products.

In the Indo- Brazil Joint Commission meeting 12-13 April, a trade target of 10 billion dollars was fixed for 2010. A large Brazilian business delegation will visit India in the first week of June 2007. A Indo-Brazil CEO Forum will be launched soon.

There are opportunities for Indian companies to do railway projects in Brazil and supply locomotives and wagons.
Brazilian infrastucture companies are interested in entry into India.

i- Flex planning a regional centre in Santiago, Chile

This follows the example set by TCS which set up a regional centre in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Indian IT solutions provider i-flex has presented Chile's state development agency Corfo with a request to start a joint feasibility study on a regional development and support center in the country.

The idea was first announced in January after a group of executives and authorities from Chile's private and public sectors visited India to meet with large IT firms to promote the country as a location from where to export services to the rest of Latin America.
The feasibility study is to be ready this month, and to make a final decision one or two months later. The study would include recommendations on installing a facility of this kind in the country, compliances, tax issues and work permits in case there is a need to bring in foreign experts.
Four banks in Chile are already using i-Flex products in their core transformation.

Currently, i-flex operates 14 development centers across India, Singapore and the US. The company posted net profits of US$49.2mn for the fiscal year ending March 2006, on revenues of US$334mn. Latin America accounted for 1% of sales.

Latin America represents 4-5% of global revenues and is set to continue growing 60-70% a year.

visit of Brazilian business delegation 11-13 April 2007

A eleven member business delegation is accompanying the foreign minister.
CII organising a meeting on 13 April afternoon
contact k.v.vidya@ciionline.org at CII
The Brazilian embassy could also be contacted.

Members of the delegation are:

1) DALMO DOS SANTOS MARCHETTI
DIRECTOR, Department of Transport & Logistics (Infrastructure)
NATIONAL BANK FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - BNDES
TEL: (21) 2172-8044
FAX: (21) 2220-6433
E-mail: dmarchet@bndes.gov.br

2) LEONARDO ANANDA GOMES
DIRECTOR VICE-PRESIDENT
Indo-Brazilian CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND FARMING
TEL: (31) 3264-5444
E-MAIL: leonardo@indiabrazilchamber.org

3) MAURO SEABRA FEDERICI
EXECUTIVE MANAGER IN NEW DELHI
Indo-Brazilian CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND FARMING
TEL: (31) 3264-5444
E-MAIL: federici@indiabrazilchamber.org

4) CAROLINA CHRISTO DE G. SIMÕES
COORDINATOR OF MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Indo-Brazilian CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND FARMING
TEL: (31) 3264-5444
E-MAIL: carolina@indiabrazilchamber.org

5) PAULO GILBERTO FERNANDES TIGRE
VICE-PRESIDENT, Confederation of NATIONAL INDUSTRY
PRESIDENT, FEDERATION of Industries of THE STATE OF RIO GRANDE DO SUL - FIERGS
TEL: (51) 3347-8711 / 8712
FAX (61) 3347-8789
E-MAIL: presidente@fiergs.org.br

6) SERGIO BELLATO ALVES
DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS, Defence MARKET AND GOVERNMENT, ASIA-OCEANIA
EMBRAER
Tel: (12) 3927-3912
Fax: (12) 3927-1090
E-mail: sergio.bellato@embraer.com.br



7) TARCÍSIO TAKASHI MUTA
DIRECTOR-PRESIDENT
Foundation for Application of CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES - ATECH
Tel: (11) 3040-7301
Fax: (11) 3040-7400
E-mail: takashi@atech.br / delfim@atech.br / atech@atech.br / pettena@atech.br

8) FLAVIO MACHADO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS
Andrade Gutierrez Constructions
Tel: (61) 3424-3333
Fax: (61) 3424-3332
E-mail: ana.moreira@agnet.com.br / flavio.machado@agnet.com.br

9) ANTONIO CARLOS PORTUGAL
SUPERINTENDENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
CAMARGO CORRÊA CONSTRUCTIONS AND TRADE
Tel: (61) 3212-3106/ 3212-3100
Fax: (61) 3212-3117
E-mail: mbetania@camargocorrea.com.br

10) ALFRED SZWARC
CONSULTANT
UNICA – Sao Paulo Sugar Cane Agroindustry Union
Tel: (11) 3812-2100 / 1416
Fax: (11) 3812-3298
E-mail: alfreds@terra.com.br

11) FERNANDO AUGUSTO MOREIRA RIBEIRO
GENERAL SECRETARY
UNICA – Sao Paulo Sugar Cane Agroindustry Union
Tel: (11) 3812-2100 /1416
Fax: (11) 3812-3298
E-mail: fernando@unica.com.br

IMF says Latin America is less vulnerable to global slowdown

Some friends tease me as an incorrigible optimist when I talk about the new stability and growth of Latin America. They accuse me of partiality because of my passion.
Here is what IMF says... confirming what I have been saying
This is Reuters report of 17 march 2007

" Latin American countries have become less vulnerable than in the past to global slowdowns after strengthening public finances, reducing debt and building reserves, an IMF official said on Saturday.
"The region as a whole has improved ... reduced considerably its vulnerabilities," International Monetary Fund deputy managing director Murilo Portugal told Reuters. "There is a greater resilience now to face external deceleration."
He said many Latin American countries have improved their public finances by reducing debt and substantially increasing international reserves.
A string of weaker-than-expected economic data from the United States has raised concern the economy there may be slowing faster than expected, and that a subprime mortgage crisis could spread to other parts of the economy.
Draft International Monetary Fund forecasts obtained by Reuters earlier this week showed the international body expected global growth of 4.9 percent this year and next after last year's brisk 5.3 percent.
Economists attribute recent improvements in financial stability in Latin America partly to moves by some countries to replace debt in dollars and euros with debt in their local currencies, reducing risk from foreign exchange swings.
A study presented on Saturday by Inter-American Development Bank Senior Economist Andrew Powell at the regional lender's annual meeting in Guatemala showed issuance of domestic debt in Latin America had steadily increased since the 1990s, especially in small countries with limited access to markets."