pharmaceutical market of Central America

The pharma sales of the seven countries of central america are expected to reach US$2.53bn in 2010, a 7.9% increase from US$2.35bn in 2009. The sales are expected to maintain a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.6% over a five-year period, and 8.4% over a ten-year period. The pharmaceutical sales are expected to reach US$5.27bn by 2019. This is according to a report of CompaniesandMarkets.com
For more info on the Central America Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q4 2010: http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/r.ashx?id=852G62254342128&prk=dc9464d426ba854d3af301ceab8fa0e4

World cup and Olympics - Game Changers for Brazil

Brazil is going to host the World Cup football in 2014 and Olympics in 2016. These are not just games... but are game changers for the New Brazil. The Brazilians are using these two events to build the foundations for a New Brazil and showcase their arrival as a global economic and political power.

Brazil is the eighth largest economy in the world with a GDP of 1.5 trillion dollars and is expected to climb up to the fifth rank by 2016. In the first quarter of 2010, the Brazilian GDP grew by a record 9% and the estimated growth in 2010 is 7.6%, the highest in Latin America. Brazil is a superpower in agriculture with its growing output, exports and increase in the area of production. With the recent discoveries of large new off-shore oil fields, Brazil is emerging as an important global supplier of petroleum. Brazil is already a pioneer and leader in fuel ethanol programme with 90% of cars running with flexi fuels of petrol and ethanol.

The preparation for the games opens up projects worth $220 billion from 2011 to 2014.
Here are some samples:
-US$ 5.5 billion to improve transportation in Rio in preparation for the Olympic games
-A high speed bullet train at a cost of 18.7 billion $ is being developed and is expected to be completed in time for the World Cup
-plans for 11,700 miles of railroads facilitating improved access to the 12 cities hosting the World Cup
- US$ 43 billion will be spent on commercial and tourism construction in preparation for the 2014 World Cup
-US$ 3 billion in airport expansion and improvement.
-restoration of historic buildings and renovation of Rio de Janeiro city
- budget for the Games alone will be about $15 billion

A Conference is being organised in Sheraton Hotel, Rio de Janeiro on 31 August- 1 September on the infrastructure projects for the two events. Federal and provincial authorities, bankers and local and foreign companies will participate in the conference.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched on 29 March 2010, a $878 billion program to upgrade Brazil's infrastructure in the period 2011-2014. The plan will improve access to clean water, medical posts and energy as well as modernize the country's air, road and rail system.

The energy part of the plan envisages investment of 257 billion dollars. This includes the five year plan of Petrobras, the Brazilian energy giant to invest 220 billion dollars, the largest corporate investment in the whole world at this time. In 2010, Petrobras will invest 20 billion dollars in exploration and production and 17 billion dollars in refining and petrochemicals, with the remainder going toward areas such as distribution and biofuels.

Some of the other infrastructure projects are:
-construction of Angra III nuclear power plant
- construction of The Belo Monte 11.2GW, US$ 4.1 billion hydropower plant
- Jirau hydropower plant costing US$ 3.1 billion
- US$ 152 billion for the construction of low income housing over the next 15 years

The Indian exporters and business houses should focus on Brazil for exports and projects for the games projects. India´s exports were 2.19 billion dollars in 2009. The target should be atleast 7 billion dollars by 2014.

Colombia bullish on foreign investment

Colombia has become a favorite destination for foreign investment in Latin America. The foreign investors are getting into petroleum, mining, services and manufacturing. Colombia's foreign trade ministry expects $10 billion in foreign investment this year, approaching the record $10.6 billion of 2008. In 2009 FDI was 7.2 billion dollars.

The Colombian Minister of Energy and Mining announced on 15 August 2010 that he expected investment of 28 billion dollars in oil exploration and production in the next four years and increse the oil production to 1.4 million bpd by 2014 from 963,000 bpd in June 2010. Colombia is emerging as South America's third-largest oil producer behind Brazil and Venezuela. About 5.6 billion dollars of direct foreign investment went into petroleum and mining in 2009. Colombia's known oil reserves rose 22 percent in the last eight years to 1.9 billion barrels with production jumping 45 percent.

The foreign investors who were deterred by the internal problems of Colombia in the past are now encouraged by the improving siuation of the country. Farc is irreversibly fading out. There is steady reduction in kidnapping, crime and narcotraffic. In any case, the Colombian economy has been stable and growing even despite those challenges. Politics has also been mature and there is a general political and economic consensus on the future of the country. The election of Manuel Santos, the new president , who had earlier served in the cabinet of Uribe means continuation of the policies of crackdown on crime and market-friendly approach.

Colombia is the only Latin American country to have an Investment Promotion Officer (Alejandro Pelaez) in their embassy in Delhi. Mr Juan Alfredo Pinto Saavedra, the Colombian Ambassador is one of the most active Latin American diplomats, reaching out to Indian business and media.

OVL and Reliance have already invested in the petroleum sector of Colombia. TCS, Infosys, United Phosporous, NIIT, Bajaj, TVS, Hero Honda, Havells, Essel Propack and Praj have operations in Colombia. In 2009 India´s exports to Colombia reached 504 million dollars. Colombia is the third largest destination of India´s exports to latin America. More Indian companies should enter this market which offers lot of potential for India´s investment and trade.

Agriculture Process Outsourcing by an Argentine Patel

This article was published by Financial Express of 1 August 2010
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/agri-process-outsourcing-by-an-argentine-patel/654277/

During my meeting with Gustavo Grobocopatel, the founder President of the Argentine farming company Los Grobo which cultivates 270,000 hectares, I told him that I came from a small farming family which owned just an acre of land. Gustavo responded, ¨Lucky you…. I am a landless farmer ¨. He is right. He does not own a single hectare. It is all leased land.

Los Grobo does not own any tractor or harvester either. They outsource all the operations such as planting, fertiliser spraying, weeding, harvesting, storage and transportation to contractors who own the machineries. The firm has a system of technical leaders each of whom manage 7000 hectares. They are not employees but are partners who share the profit and risk. Even the agronomists who work with the company are contractors, who get a share of the crops they raise.

The 270, 000 hectares of land spread over Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay are managed by the headquarters staff of about 100 people who are connected in a network with the land owners, agronomists, the international traders and the 4000 service providers. Grobocopatel who believes in social capital says, ¨We are not big… but many¨

Here is Mr Patel working on the fields with his laptop...

Grobocopatel´s Agriculture Process Outsourcing (APO) is similar to the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) operations of the Indian IT companies. Los Grobo office looks like a BPO of Infosys with young people in casual dress glued to their computer screens and working with their blackberries. The only difference with the Infosys office is that Los Grobo is located in a remote rural area in the middle of soya and wheat fields near Carlos Casares, a small village 300 km from Buenos Aires city....seen in the foto below...
Los Grobo office ...like a BPO of Infosys...

Grobocopatel says he was inspired by ¨Information Age¨, the book of the Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells which helped him to understand how networks could be used to generate wealth with the least investment. Grobocopatel describes his new model of farming as ¨Agribusiness in the new era of Knowledge Society¨. He points out at the young people behind the computers and says proudly that the human resources are the main asset of his company. Training and empowerment of the employees, the service providers and partners is an integral part of the value creation of the company. Los Grobo has arrangements with universities to give courses in agribusiness and management of small and medium family-owned companies at their headquarters in Carlos Casares. Los Grobo encourages its employees to become enterpreuners and even provides seed funding. Through its Rural Entrepreneurship Foundation, the company participates in projects to improve the standard of living in villages and small towns. Los Grobo, together with other partners, has created Bioceres, a biotechnology research and development organization.

Los Grobo farms scientifically by satellite mapping of every hectare of the land using a vast database of agricultural metrics. They do ¨Precision Farming¨ in which monitors are used to control input distribution of seeds and different fertilisers for each parcel of land on the basis of information generated by software calculating the dosage needed, depending on satellite location of the seeding and sprayer machines. The best practices of Los Grobo include ¨No-Till Farming ¨ (direct seeding) in which the crop residues are left to decompose and enrich the organic matter and maintain soil moisture. The land is always covered by straw and residues. There is no ploughing of the land and exposing it to sun and wind and erosion and degradation. This method improves physical and chemical soil structure, reduces carbon emission, cost of production and labour and increases productivity and helps in the conservation of soil.

The innovative business model of Los Grobo has been studied and commended by Harvard University, among others. Los Grobo has been sought out for consultancies by other countries. It is the first company worldwide to obtain ISO 9001 certification on grain production processes. It is establishing its APO business model in Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Other Argentine farming companies are following the example of Los Grobo. This includes the company El Tejar which has emerged as the largest farming company in the world with cultivation of one million hectares this year. Such scale does not exist even in Brazil or USA. El Tejar´s goal is to reach two million hectares in the next five years. Out of the one million, 800,000 hectares are leased and 200,000 owned. El Tejar operates in Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil where they cultivate 600,000 hectares. With such emerging global pioneering leaders in farming, best practices, advanced technologies and abundance of water and fertile land, Argentina is set to become a significant global player in the future when the world is going to be more concerned about food security.

I call Grobocopatel as ¨Senor Patel¨. He has no connection to Gujrat. He is of East European origin and his grandfather had emigrated to Argentina in 1912. Grobocopatel founded the company in 1984 and has achieved a turnover of 700 million dollars in 2009-10. His target is 1.5 billion dollars in the next five years. Grobocopatel is an agronomist and had taught the subject in the Buenos Aires University before becoming an enterpreneur. His agronomist wife is also a director in the company. For them, farming is not just business. It is passion. Grobocopatel has admiration for Indian culture and practises meditation and yoga. He is planning to visit India for a month in December. He has agreed to give talks in India on his new business model and also meet Indian companies interested in strategic partnership with his company.

South America offers opportunities for Indian companies to invest in farmland and source edible oil, pulses, sugar and biofuels needed in India for the growing population and consumption. The Indian investors do not need farming expertise or invest in machinery since they can outsource all the farming operations to local service providers. A Non-Resident Indian company Olam is at present cultivating 30,000 hectares in Argentina growing peanuts, soya and beans and are planning to double the acreage in the next three years. All of their land is leased and their operations outsourced. Simmarpal Singh is the young country manager behind this success of Olam. I told Grobocopatel that we have an Indian Singh following in the footsteps of the Argentine Patel.

TCS plans for increase in Latin America business

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) plans to increase its turnover in Latin America to one billion dollars in the medium term , according to a statement by Chandrashekar, CEO of the company in July2010. At present their annual revenue is over 300 million dollars. They have close to 8000 Latin American employees in eight Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.
TCS will recruit 40,000 more staff this year around the world to increase its global staff strength to 200,000.

Mid-year review of Latin American markets

The July 2010 report of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean( ECLAC) has revised its estimate of the 2010 GDP growth of the region upwards to 5.2 % from its earlier projection of 4.3% in its December 2009 report. The highlights of the report are:

• Brazil will be the top performer in the region with GDP growth of 7.6%. Parabens Brasil !!
• Uruguay and Paraguay will grow by 7% and Argentina by 6.8%. The Mercosur countries are the top four performers of the region as a whole. Oops.. it is like the 2010 World Cup quarter finals in which all the four were in.
• Mexico will grow by 4.1%, Colombia- 3.7%, Peru-6.7%, Chile-4.3%
• Venezuela will be the only country which will go against the trend. No surprise...Its GDP is expected to suffer contraction of 3%.

The credit for the quick and robust recovery from the economic contraction of 1.9% in 2009 goes to the resilience and strong macroeconomic fundamentals of the markets and the pragmatic policies and prudent fiscal and monetary management by the governments. Following are some of the examples:

- Gross public debt of the region as a percentage of GDP has been brought down to 30.2% in 2009 from 58.2% in 2002. The highest is Argentina with 48.5% which is very low in comparison to the situation in USA and Europe. Credit should be given to Argentina which had brought down the percentage from 145.9% in 2002.

-The governments rely less on external resources and have been raising more funds from domestic sources. They have been reducing external debt burden consciously.

-The current account deficit of the region was brought down to 0.4% in 2009 from 0.6% in 2008.

-Flexible exchange rates, inflation targetting and sound financial regulations of the banking sector helped the region to withstand the global crisis of 2008-9 better than during the previous global downturns.

-Gross international reserves of the region has been steadily increasing from 163 billion dollars in 2001 to 563 billion in the second quarter of 2010. The reserves of Brazil are 253 billion dollars, Mexico- 104 billion and Argentina -49 billion.

-Inflation was brought down to 4.7% in 2009 from 8.2% in 2009. The average inflation rate of the region has stayed in single digit every year since 2003. Venezuela stands out as the only country with double digit inflation. It was 26.9% in 2009.

-Five countries namely Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Peru and Panama have been upgraded in recent years to investment grade by the Sovereign Rating Agencies.

Of course, the growth of China, India and Asia and the high commodity prices also contributed to the growth of Latin America.

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Lupin looking for acquisitions in Latin America

According to newspaper reports Lupin Ltd., the Indian generic-drug maker, is looking for acquisitions in Brazil and Mexico to expand its revenue from the Latin American region.
The company plans to spend $50 million to $75 million on each purchase, according to S. Ramesh, president of finance and planning. Lupin is looking for companies that have a strong marketing relationship with physicians and will make the acquisitions soon, he said, without providing a more specific timeframe.
Lupin generates 10 percent of revenue from a sales region that includes Latin America and Europe. Ramesh was quoted as saying “Latin America is the next stop for us, in so far as of acquisitions...Recognition with the doctor is the most important consideration for the purchases¨.

panama gets investment grade rating

Panama’s credit rating has just been raised to investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited “significant improvement” in the country’s fiscal policies and strong economic growth.
Moody’s upgraded the country’s debt ratings to Baa3 from Ba1, matching moves that Fitch Ratings made in March and Standard & Poor’s made in May. The outlook on Panama’s rating is stable, Moody’s said.
With this Panama joins the club of investment grade Latin American countries Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru.
GDP of Panama is expected to grow by 6% this year. The Panama Canal expansion project and investment in infrastructure add to long term prosperity.

Enlightening interview of Kapil Gulati

The conventional wisdom is that Brazil, Mexico or Argentina are the platforms to launch pan-latin american business. Kapil Gulati loves defying conventions. He is the new breed of Indian executives with a new mindset. He operates from the small country of Costa Rica and manages a business of 160 million dollars in 13 Latin American countries as well as in USA. And he wants to expand the business with new acquisitions.

During our lunch in Buenos Aires last month, I found him sharing my optimism and confidence about the prospects of Latin America for Indian business. He has adapted well to the Costa Rican ¨Pura Vida ¨. http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2009/05/costa-rica-pura-vida-country.html#links

Here is Gulati´s enlightening ( ... his company Havells is in the lighting business..) interview in Financial Express of today.

INTERVIEW: KAPIL GULATI
We are scouting for acquisitions & tie-ups in Latin America.

Costa Rica is the America headquarters of Indian company, Havells Sylvania. Kapil Gulati, the company’s director of America, manages the $160-million operations in the region, including the US. Havells had bought the lighting and fixtures business of American firm Sylvania worldwide and Gulati is in the process of consolidating and streamlining the business. He discusses the company’s inorganic growth strategy for the region with FE’s Huma Siddiqui. Excerpts:
How do you plan to expand in the region?
Havells Sylvania is among the top-four lighting companies in the world owned by Havells India since 2007. In Latin America, we now have two manufacturing plants, in Colombia and in Costa Rica. We have local operations in 13 Latin American countries, from Mexico to Chile. We employ more than 750 locals and generate about $200mn revenue, 16% of the business of Havells India.
After India, Latin America has highest growth for the corporation. Chile is a developed and stable country with highest per capita GDP ($15,000). Peru is among the highest growth rate countries of the region. The countries touched 9.8% real GDP growth in 2008. These were a perfect fit in our phase-1 regional geographical expansion. In phase-II, besides improving our reach within the existing countries, we are improving our export business in Uruguay, Paraguay, The Caribbean & other Central American countries (Nicaragua & Honduras).
Last year, we formed local companies in Chile & Peru, but due to the global economic situation decided to put the process on slow track. This year in Q1, we started team building activity and local product validation process. In May, our local business in Chile was started.We are scouting for strategic tie ups, joint ventures and acquisitions to strengthen our position, especially in the biggest Latin American economies — Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.
What are the opportunities available to Indian companies in the region?
Over the last seven-10 years, the Indian business community has increased its participation in Latin America. The region has stabilised economically. With success stories like Havells, other Indian business houses can keep Latin America on their high-priority expansion list.
What is your company’s participation in energysaving programmes?
Some of the Latin American countries (Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil) have announced banning and phase-out schedule for high-energy consumption products like incandescent lamps. Most Latin American countries are now giving subsidy or even distributing free compact fluorescent lamps.
Have you identified partners for joint ventures in the region?
We are looking at local companies, with the objective of expanding our manufacturing base for energy-efficient products. Since we are a public-listed company, we have to follow certain guidelines, therefore cannot give more details.

Hola Business News - May 2010

This is the time of …¨ sonrisa de esperanza y sollozo de pasion¨…. Means ….¨smile of hope and cry of passion¨.
…for the football teams and the soccer-crazy people of latin america
Between 11 june and 11 july , watching football will take precedence over business meetings and office work. .. especially in Argentina and Brazil, the super powers of football.
While the Latinos are watching the football scores… the Indian exporters can plan and formulate strategies for market entry and expansion in Latin America..
Here is the Hola Business News…to help in the preparations of plans and strategies..

Expansion of India- Mercosur PTA
In the next India- Mercosur meeting to be held in New Delhi on 15-16 June 2010, the deepening and widening of the India- Mercosur PTA will be discussed.
The current India - Mercosur PTA which has become operational since June 2009, covers 450 itmes of our exports and 450 items of Mercosur exports. These lists are in the businesswithlatinamerica website. It has now been decided to expand the lists. Mercosur has already drawn up their list of 1600 items. Our commerce ministry is starting the list collection.Indian exporters, export promotion councils and trade and industry bodies can present their cases to the Indian commerce ministry..mentioning the items with the HS codes and percentage of preference you desire. Also you might like to check how much preferrence is being sought by Mercosur for the items which are of interest to your company.
Contacts in commerce MinistryAnil Mukhim, JS a.mukim@nic.inShubha Sarma DS shubha.s@nic.in
CII is planning to hold an interactive meeting with the visiting Mercosur delegation, which will have officials from all the four member countries of Mercosur.

Prospects of Latinamerican markets in 2010
According to ECLAC, the region is set for a GDP growth of 4.1% in 2010. IMF and Word Bank also predict 4% growth. Brazil, the largest market of the region is geared up for an admirable 7% growth, the highest since 1986. In the first four months of 2010, Brazil has generated almost a million jobs. The next football World Cup and Olympics in Brazil mean more investment, infrastructure and business in the coming years…

Peru, Chile, Panama and Mexico are expected to post growth in the 4 percent range. Other countries, such as Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Paraguay, and Uruguay ,will grow closely below the regional projected average of 4 percent. Venezuela is the only country which will suffer an economic contraction. Hmmm… Instead of feeling bad and guilty …someone … you know.. who ..is celebrating this as the ¨death of capitalism ¨ !

In the past, Latin America was known as the region of crisis and debtand they were given bitter medicine and condenscending sermons. Oops .. now the doctors have got the disease and the priests have become the sinners. Latin American economies have learnt from their past mistakes and have become wiser. They have withstood the crisis of US and Europe with their resilience and strong macroeconomic fundamentals. The Latino markets are stable and growing …while Europe is in crisis and USA had undergone worse in 2008-9. Since these developed markets do not bring smile to our exporters , it is time they should focus on new markets such as Latin America.

FDI in Latin America in 2009
Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI) in 2009 in Latin America was 77 billion dollars. Brazil, as usual, was the top recepient of FDI with 26 biilion dollars. What was unusual was.. Chile emerged as the second most preferred FDI destination with 12.7 billion dollars, taking over the usual number two slot of Mexico, which attracted 11.4 billion. Peru seems to be the most attractive destination for mining investment in Latin America. Venezuela is the least attractive destination for FDI...no surpise...Here are the figures of FDI in billion dollars...
USA continued to be the largest investor in Latin America ( 37%) followed by Spain ( 9%) and Canada ( 7%).
Outward Foreign Direct Investment by Latin America in 2009 stood at 11.4 billion dollars. Chile replaced Brazil as the largest investor with 7.9 billion dollars. Mexico was the second largest with 7.6 billion ( dont forget.. the world´s richest man is a Mexican ! ) and Colombia invested 3 billion. The surprise in 2009 was that Brazil which was the traditional number one missed out the top spots. The Brazilian companies received more from their subsidiaries abroad in 2009 than their fresh investment.

Since American and European companies are less active in Latin America at this time, the Indian companies should focus on this region to get access to edible oil, pulses, wheat, sugar, minerals and crude oil which are going to be needed more and more by the growing Indian market. Agribusiness, mining and petroleum should be the priority areas for Indian companies.

More Indian companies invest in Latin America
Renuka Sugar bought another Brazilian company for US$ 329 million in February 2010. In November 2009, Earlier, Renuka had acquired sugar and ethanol producer Vale Do Ivai S.A. Acucar E Alcool for $240 million. With these Brazilian acquisitions, Renuka has become the third biggest sugar company in the world, the number one sugar firm in India and among the top five in Brazil.
Godrej has acquired the Issue Group of Argentina which is a national leader in the cosmetics business. The turnover of the company is 35 million dollars which includes exports of 12 million dollars. Besides Argentina, the Issue Group cosmetics have a presence in a number of Latin american countries. The Group has a manufacturing plant in Buenos Aires.
Patni Computer Systems opened a new IT Delivery Center in Queretaro, Mexico to Serve North and Latin American Markets. Jose E. Calzada Rovirosa, Governor of the Queretaro State cut the ribbon on 12 march.
IFFCO ( Indian Farmers Fertilisers Cooperative ) has invested 25 million dollars in Americas Petrogas, a Canadian company, which has oil and gas projects in Argentina and a potash mine in Peru. IFFCO is keen on the potash project in Peru, as part of their global fertiliser production strategy. They are considering the construction of a potassium chloride plant in Bayóvar (Piura) which will involve an investment of 200 milion dollars. They are also considering a Urea production plant in Argentina based on the gas produced by Americas Petrogas in La Pampa province of Argentina.Kirloskar is exploring the possibility of manufacture of pumps in one of the countries to be selected in Latin America.

Latin American investment in India
Cinepolis, a Mexico-based multiplex operator, is rolling out its investment of 350 million dollars. The company started operations in India last year and is planning to operate 500 screens in 40 cities in the next five years in cities like Jaipur, Pune, Thane, Amritsar, Bangalore, Thane, Patna, Bhopal, Surat and Ahmedabad. It is the world’s fifth largest movie theatre circuit, operating 2,257 screens across 240 cinemas in six countries.
During my leave in India in April, I bought some chocolate candies in a super market in Trichy for the kids in my village. I was in for a surprise..the candies were made in Argentina by Arcor, the Argentine company !

India opens an embassy in Guatemala
This has enhanced the presence of India in Central America. Guatemala is the largest market of central america with 10 million population and is the entry point for the region. Panama is the other central american country where India has embassy.The embassy became functional from April 2010 with the following address.
Embassy of India
16 Street 4-88
Zone-14, Guatemala city
Telephone: 00502-23682988, 23683230,23633295,23633305,23682974
Mr Achal Sharma, Second Secretary - mobile number 00502 4891 4477Mr Mishra, Attache - mobile 00502 4965 0857

Third Festival of India 4-14 November 2010
The Embassy will organise the third edition of the festival in collaboration with EPCH ( export promotion council for handicrafts) of India as done in 2008 and 2009. The festival will include a handicraft exihibition with 60 Indian companies, classical and folk dance and music, films, food festival, exihibitions, seminars, literary events etc. Centro Cultural Borges is the main venue of the festival. Food festival will be at the Sheraton Hotel. The second Festival of India attracted 50,000 visitors and the Argentines are anxiously waiting for the next edition.

Participation in AutoMechanica Fair Buenos Aires 17-19 November
CII will bring 40 Indian autoparts companies and this is the first-ever Indian participation in this Fair

Made in India exihibition in Sao paulo, March 2011
CII is organising this first-ever exihibition in Brazil. Hmm.. we tried to get it for Buenos Aires but lost to my dear Brazil…no hard feelings..

India Business Seminar in Buenos Aires - 16 November
CII and the embassy will organise this mega event to promote Brand India in Hotel Sheraton. There will be speakers and presentations on Indian industry and on Argentine market. Over 200 Argentine CEOs, chambers of commerce and industry, government authorities and media will attend this event. Minister of State for Commerce from India will be the key note speaker at the seminar.

Golf and Polo tournaments
As part of the Festival, the third India Cup golf tournament will be organised in Jockey Club with about 100 golfers on 8 November.
The first India- Argentina Polo tournament will be held on 16 November in Buenos Aires. Players from India will come specially for the tournament.

Game for more…
Yes, we are game… to organise more trade promotion events, receive delegations and visits of individual exporters….

FDI in Latin America in 2009

Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI) in 2009 in Latin America was 77 billion dollars ( down from 132 billion in 2008 ) . Brazil, as usual, was the top recepient of FDI with 26 biilion dollars. What was unusual was.. Chile emerged as the second most preferred FDI destination with 12.7 billion dollars, taking over the usual number two slot of Mexico, which attracted 11.4 billion. It is interesting that Colombia had attracted more FDI than Argentina, the third largest market of the region. Peru is the largest attractive destination for mining exploration investment in Latin America and the third largest in the world. Venezuela is the least attractive destination for FDI...no surpise...
Here are the figures of FDI in billion dollars...

USA continued to be the largest investor in Latin America ( 37%) followed by Spain ( 9%) and Canada ( 7%).

Outward Foreign Direct Investment by Latin America in 2009 stood at 11.4 billion dollars. Chile replaced Brazil as the largest investor with 7.9 billion dollars. Mexico was the second largest with 7.6 billion ( dont forget.. the world´s richest man is a Mexican ! ) and Colombia invested 3 billion. The surprise in 2009 was that Brazil which was the traditional number one missed out the top spots. The Brazilian companies received more from their subsidiaries abroad in 2009 than their fresh investment.

Indian companies have also been showing enthuisasm for investment in the region. Notable case was Renuka Sugars which made a half billion dollar investment in Brazil recently. But still there is inadequate realisation among Indian corporates about the advantages and need for investment in the region. Agribusiness, mining and petroleum should be the priority areas for Indian companies. Investment in these sectors will get us access to edible oil, pulses, wheat, sugar, minerals and crude oil which are going to be needed more and more by the growing Indian market.

More Indian companies invest in Latin America

IFFCO has invested 25 million dollars in Americas Petrogas, a Canadian company, which has oil and gas projects in Argentina and a potash mine in Peru. IFFCO is keen on the potash project in Peru, as part of their global fertiliser production strategy. They are also considering a Urea production plant in Argentina based on the gas produced by Americas Petrogas in La Pampa province of Argentina.

Godrej is in talks with the Issue Group of Argentina to acquire their cosmetics production business.

Kirloskar is exploring the possibility of manufacture of pumps in one of the countries to be selected in Latin America.