Networking is the buzzword across all industries and regions as  the marketers have found a new channel to market their products and services and improvise upon them based on the feedback from their customers. Indians are not only active networking community but they are also aware of the opportunities like business growth and new business contacts that business networking brings forth.

ZaaBiz has various active business groups with focus on regional networking. But Business Bunch: Chennai is one of the most active and fast growing business groups. The group has crossed 200 active members. The response to the group has been phenomenal and i would take this opportunity to thank and congratualte all the members of the group.

Here is a piece of good news for all ZaaBiz members. There is a multi billion dollar opportunity for the Indian Technology Companies as there are a billion smart cards to be issued for a billion population as part of the eco-system citizen ID card programme proposed by the Unique Identification Number Authority of India.

It is expected to be vast comprising of data collectors/managers, delivery channels, chip designers, smart card manufacturers, application and software providers, system integrators, networking analysts and print companies.

It is estimated that the project will create at least a 100,000 additional jobs in the country in the span of next three years. An ancillary industry will also come up around this eco-system.

The entire ID card project is estimated to be in the range of around Rs 10,000 crore, with the first phase which will cover ultra urban, urban, and semi-urban populations offering a Rs 6,500 crore business opportunity. Companies like TCS and Infosys have confirmed that they will actively bid for the project.

Indra Nooyi and Shantanu Narayen have been named among the top 25 chief executive officers in the US, who kept their companies on success path despite challenging economic conditions, according to Forbes magazine.

Shantanu Narayen CEO of Adobe Systems and beverage major Pepsico’s Indra Nooyi have been ranked at the 16th and 17th places respectively in the list of 25 ‘top gun CEOs’ for 2009. Both CEO’s of Indian origin are nominated in the list of 25 CEO’s as they kept their firms thriving amid the recessionary situation.

The list is topped by business solutions provider Automatic Data Process’s Gary C Butler this was due to extremely strong at strategic planning and overall execution. Nooyi had the right long- term strategic vision and had executed very well. About Narayen, Forbes said he had been in the industry for a very long time and always has a strong sense of what the next key steps are in terms of positioning the company.

The list also includes Hewlett-Packard’s Mark V Hurd, Walt Disney Co’s Robert A Iger and Procter & Gamble’s Alan G Lafley among the top 25. ZaaBiz congratulates the winnsers for such a wonderful feat.

The World Bank has projected an 8% growth for India in 2010, which will make it the fastest-growing economy for the first time, overtaking China’s expected 7.7% growth.

The multilateral lender has revised upwards the growth rate for the Indian economy this year to 5.1% from an earlier projection of 4%, according to its Global Development Finance Report released on Monday. India has consistently outperformed growth forecasts by the World Bank in the past.

Barring a few countries, including India and China, the bank has cut 2009 growth projections for all other economies and expects the world economy to contract by 2.9% this year. Developing countries are expected to grow by only 1.2% this year.

The world bank has urged rich countries to boost the flow of credit to developing nations to help speed up economic recovery. This World Bank report compares with a more upbeat assessment by the International Monetary Fund, which said last week the decline in global output has moderated and it may raise its 2010 growth forecast for the world economy.

The faster growth rate of India is largely contributed by small export oriented houses as well. ZaaBiz congratulates all its members for the wonderful growth rate and hope they are able to outbeat all the expectations.

Subzero inflation has finally come to India with inflation dropping by 1.6% in first week of June to ten months after inflation peaked at 12.9% in early August. Annual inflation was at 0.13% in the week before. India’s negative inflation patch - negative inflation is expected to be short. The retail inflation as measured by consumer price indices is still hovering around 8%.

The negative inflation scenario is not going to hurt anyone and it is completely different from the deflation, which was witnessed 33 years ago. Then the deflation was driven by an extremely good harvest season and a subsequent drop in food prices to record lows. Unlike then, this time around, the negative inflation will have a positive impact on growth.

The manufactures stand to benefit as the prices of inputs are coming down at a faster pace than fall in prices of finished goods. The domestic consumption demand remains strong even at a time when the demand from overseas and from private in-vestments has fallen and hence this situation will not last for long.

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The government is considering a proposal to hike income-tax exemption available for interest payment on home loans to Rs. 2.5 lakhs a year to boost demand and rebuild the slowdown-hit housing industry.

At present, taxpayers taking housing loans are eligible for income-tax exemption on interest payment of up to Rs 1.5 lakh every year. Besides this, the repayment of principal amount is part of investments eligible for benefit in Income Tax. But this benefit is not sufficient as the rates in the real estate industry are extremely high.

If the exemption limit is hiked to Rs 2.5 lakh, then a person paying that much home loan interest in a year will save an additional Rs 31,000 in tax every year. This saving of over Rs 2,500 a month would be significant for most borrowers, making home purchases more affordable

The housing sector in the country will get a major boost in demand due to increase in the exemption ceiling as well as great reduction in the interest rates by banks on home loans.

Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecom service providers, has been adjudged the bestservice provider in the Asia-Pacific region by telecom research and consultancy firm Frost and Sullivan. 

The company was recognized for its contribution in overall service quality and has also been adjudged the service provider of the year in the “Best of the Best” category. The award puts Bharti Airtel’s as Asia-Pacific’s best telecom Major. Bharti’s plans to acquire few telecom companies in Africa could soon put it in the global recognition.

Vietnam’s telecom major Viettel has been named as the best emerging markets’ service provider. Additionally, India’s outsoucing company IBM Daksh was declared the best contact centre outsourcing service provider of the year.  We at ZaaBiz congratulate the entire team of Bharti Airtel for this wonderful acheivement.

Here is some good news for all ZaaBiz members in India. According to a survey, India continues to top the list of countries which hold a positive employment outlook. The survey was conducted among companies in 34 countries, and one in every five Indian employers said they were likely to recruit in the third quarter of 2009. The survey covered 5,000 firms in the country.

The study benchmark, called the net employment outlook (NEO), captures the percentage of companies anticipating total employment to go up against those who expect it to decline.

India topped the chart with a NEO of 19%, Norway came next with 10% followed by Poland (9%), Peru, Canada and Singapore (5%). China reported a lower NEO of 3% for the third quarter compared with the 4% it clocked for the quarter ending June. According to the survey, employers in sectors such as public administration and education are the most optimistic, reporting a NEO of 33% for the July-Sept quarter. Meanwhile, sectors such as finance, insurance & real estate have reported the least optimistic hiring intentions with a NEO of 11%.

Countries such as the US, the UK, Spain, Italy and Japan recorded negative NEOs. The survey also revealed that employers in five out of eight countries and territories across the Asia-Pacific region anticipate positive hiring activity for the third quarter, while globally only 11 of the 34 countries surveyed reported a positive hiring outlook for Q3.

The UAE government plans to implement far reaching reforms to improve the working conditions of its workers, a move that would also benefit the large number of Indian labourers in the country. The decision approved by the cabinet, makes it compulsory for an employer to provide his workers accommodation with the international labour standards. Employers in the UAE still have five years to comply with the rules, which will be implemented with effect from September this year.

The new manual offers a comprehensive package of standards to be provided in workers’ accommodation complexes. Among these is a directive for keeping accommodation at a safe distance from sources of environmental pollution and noise. The rooms should have three sq mts per worker and no more than 10 should live in one room.

Others include, meeting health requirements and safety standards, including building materials, water systems, sewerage, air-conditioning, lighting systems, elevators, emergency exits, fire extinguisher systems and indoor air quality. ZaaBiz congratulates to all Indians working in UAE and all who aspire to work in UAE.

The world’s least expensive car “Tata Nano” was conceptualized and manufactured in India. Many such innovative manufacturing business processes have been engineered in India, but the companies are never being awarded for their excellent contribution to the field of manufacturing. Foster & Sullivan & The Economic Times are about to present the Indian Manufacturing Excellence Awards (IMEA), which will award companies who are far-sighted and have innovative business models.

The Awards are a step towards encouraging Indian manufacturers to move towards global standards in manufacturing processes. The IMEA process will provide credible and unbiased evaluation of supply chain efficiencies of companies. The Award programme will identify and applaud efforts of companies towards achieving world-class manufacturing status, apart from recognising excellence in manufacturing practices. IMEA will also map an organisation’s strategic planning and its ability to implement compared with other companies in the same sector.

The Awards seeks to give recognition to the Indian manufacturing industry which contributes 16% to GDP and generates huge employment opportunities. The award is sure to boost the Indian Manufacturing Industry. We at ZaaBiz appreciate the efforts of Economic Times for recognizing the excellent work of Indian Manufacturing Industry.