SNAPSHOT-Indian policy highlights on Wednesday, July 21
NEW DELHI, July 21 (Reuters) – Following are statements from Indian policymakers as well as latest news and scheduled events.

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Volatile markets pose policy challenges – G20 Governments must put their public finances in order to calm global financial markets rattled by a spreading debt crisis in Europe, finance ministers of the Group of 20 leading economies said. Read more on Independent Online

Canada Raises Policy Rate, First in G-7 After Global Recession June 1 (Bloomberg) — The Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate from a record low today, the first Group of Seven country to do so since last year’s global recession, and said further moves will be “weighed carefully” against future growth in Canada and elsewhere. Read more on Bloomberg

Chinese economy roars into 2010; tight policy seen
China ’s economy began 2010 at a cracking pace, logging surprisingly strong 11.9% year-on-year growth in the first quarter that supports the case for tighter monetary policy to avert the risk of overheating.

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Taiwan cbank says loose policy over, H2 rate rise seen
* Says returning to normal monetary policy

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Policy on electronic accessibility on the anvil
Much needs to be done to make electronic products and services accessible to the differently abled.

Read more on The Hindu

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As the Great Depression touched every corner of America, the New Deal promoted indigenous arts and crafts as a means of bootstrapping Native American peoples. But New Deal administrators’ romanticization of indigenous artists predisposed them to favor pre-industrial forms rather than art that responded to contemporary markets.

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A New Deal for Native Art: Indian Arts and Federal Policy, 1933-1943

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board: An Aspect of New Deal Indian Policy

- Opportunities – Applicable Laws/Regulatory Policies. – Tax Benefits/ Incentives- Current Projections in the Budget. I. INTRODUCTION. Due to LPG policy particularly liberalized Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) regime the India’s explosive economic progress has captured the world’s attention and its property market has indeed emerged as one of the most appealing investment destinations for both domestic and foreign investors.

Indian Real estate is on the high growth path and the boom is mainly due to mall culture, multiplexes, hypermarkets and retail sector are growing in India and retail brands from all over the world are showing their keen interest to even setup their base in India especially MNCs apart from retail outlets coupled with rising demand for commercial and residential boosting the industry. It is expanding its wings even in remote towns. Leave aside metro cities, smaller towns have attracted construction activity from big developers. Shopping malls, skyscrapers and new infrastructures are shaping new India.

II OPPORTUNITIES Indian real estate has huge potential demand in almost every sector especially commercial, residential, hospitality, healthcare, retail and industrial etc. This is growing at a dizzying pace of almost 30 percent each year. The bulk of construction activity – 80 percent is dedicated to housing, while the rest is commercial, including offices, malls, hotels and hospitals.The Real Estate market is projected to grow to US$60 billion by 2010 at a CAGR of 40% Several factors are expected to contribute to the rapid growth in Real Estate Large demand-supply gap in affordable housing, with demand being fuelled by tax incentives and a growing middle class with higher savings. Increasing demand for commercial and office space especially from the rapidly growing Retail, IT/ ITeS and Hospitality sectors etc. Investment opportunities exist in almost every segment of the business as per the estimates of Investment commission of India particularly in the following sector. Over 20 million new housing units will require in next 4 years. Office space for IT/ITeS: Five-fold increase in office space requirement over the next 3 years Commercial space for organized retailing: 200 million sq. ft. by 2010. Hotels & Hospitality: Over 40,000 new rooms in the next 5 years Investment opportunity of over US$75 billion in will require in the next four years. Working Group on Urban Housing pertaining to the 11th Plan made assumptions on unit cost of construction of houses in million plus cities and other urban areas for estimating the investment required for overcoming the housing shortage. The total estimated investment for meeting the housing requirement upto 2012 was estimated to be of the order of Rs.3,61,318.10 crores consisting of Rs.1,47,195 crores for mitigating housing shortage at the beginning of 11th Plan and Rs.2,14,123.10 crores for new additions to be made during the 11th Plan period (this includes construction of pucca houses & upgradation of semi-pucca and kutcha housing units.Apart, India in the next two years period is estimated to require investments worth US$60 billion by 2010. This again has opened up opportunities for foreign investments in the realty sector. FDI liberalization in year 2005 has thrown open the lucrative parts of the Indian realty market to global investors. Foreign Direct Investments in the real estate sector in India would also contribute towards making the sector more organized. Besides increasing professionalism in the sector, it would bring in advanced technology and help in the creation of healthy and competitive market environment for both domestic and foreign investors.Real Estate companies have been successfully tapping the country’s booming capital markets for funds. Commercial office space requirement is led by the burgeoning outsourcing and Information Technology Industry. The leaders of the IT/ITES world have set up or are setting up their centers in India. Estimated demand from IT/ITES sector alone is expected to be 150mn sq.ft. of space across the major cities by 2010. In residential sector there is housing shortage of 19.4 million units out of which 6.7 million are in urban India. High demand growth has led to prices doubling over 3 years in many cities. The increase in purchasing power and exposure to organized retail formats has redefined the consumption pattern. As a result the country has experienced mushrooming of retail projects across the cities.Growth is expected in the all following sectors and Foreign Direct Investment is encouraged and permitted these sectors subjected to certain conditions. • Hotel Development• TourismIf you want to read article go to second part of this – Indian real estate investment policy India – Part II.