Support Net Neutrality

July 12, 2017
Support Net Neutrality
Internet neutrality is a big deal. It enables you, or anyone else, to complete at a true level playing field with large corporations. Support Net neutrality Early last year Mark Zuckerberg had pushed to break net neutrality in India. It failed! Read here more about Facebook’s biggest setback in the Guardian. Now the FCC has a plan to destroy net neutrality in the USA. It’s up to us to stop it.

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World Boutique Hotel award

November 9, 2016
World Boutique Hotel award
On behalf of Odyssey Tours I was pleased to collect the World Boutique Hotel award which this year was held at the Merchant Taylor’s Hall in London, November 9, 2016. Read more about it here. Yes! The first and probably not the last award It was an interesting night at a fascinating old building in Threadneedle St, Cornhill, which is in the heart of London. I had arrived on the Eurostar via Brussels so I did not have far to go.

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India's GDP accelerates to 7.4% in Q2 FY16

December 5, 2015
India's GDP accelerates to 7.4% in Q2 FY16
The optimism regarding passage of Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill in the ongoing winter session of the Parliament has increased, after top leaders from ruling and major Opposition Party met on Friday evening for negotiations. Q2 – FY: 2016 real GDP number improves on deflationary trends The economic growth for Q2 – FY: 2016 came in better than Q1 and was broadly in line with expectations. The Gross Value added (GVA) (basic price) clocked 7.

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Assocham sets up European headquarters in Amsterdam

December 2, 2015
Assocham sets up European headquarters in Amsterdam
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (known as Assocham India) has officially opened its first Dutch branch in Amsterdam. According to Vikas Chaturvedi, the founder of Assocham Netherlands, the launch of Assocham’s European base in Amsterdam “will give a substantial boost in business between India and Europe. This will further enhance the role of the Netherlands…

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Travel in style in India, relax in luxury in Goa

November 16, 2015
Travel in style in India, relax in luxury in Goa
Goa’s Most Romantic Experience The Solita is our own classic luxury yacht, available for exclusive charter cruises. A completely different way of exploring Goa, the Solita will take you out to sea to spot dolphins and down Goa’s secret backwaters, past quaint villages. Available at a priority booking to guests at Summertime Villa, this is an experience not to be missed. Goa’s very first and till today, the most beautiful yacht for charter, the Solita is a 42-foot yacht in the classic Grand Banks style.

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New bankruptcy bill to speed up shutdown of failed businesses

November 4, 2015
by Economic Times of India NEW DELHI: A government panel has sought the overhaul of the bankruptcy framework to allow the speedy winding up of failed businesses to protect shareholders and lenders, aiming to modernise an outdated system that drags out closure proceedings. It has recommended new institutions and structures for a fresh regime that will encourage entrepreneurship and foster a startup culture, among the stated objectives of the Narendra Modi administration.

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Modi must implement structural change to minimize corruption

July 14, 2015
by Trusted Sources Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke too soon when he claimed in May that there was “not one scandal” in his government “even after a year”, compared with his predecessor’s record when “every day was a new bad day”. As my colleague Amitabh Dubey writes from New Delhi: Corruption allegations have swamped Modi’s government shortly after that. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje were accused of secretly aiding Lalit Modi, a controversial businessman and founder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket franchise, who has moved to London to avoid questioning over alleged financial irregularities.

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Brilliant Out of the Box Thinking

July 30, 2014
Admittedly, your HSE or the Public Works Department may not approve but you have to give it to this guy, he thought about how to solve his problem and he did where many others would have failed.

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Market Entry into India

April 25, 2014
Market Entry into India
India has inched recently from 142 to 130 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index but one still needs to realise the complexity and difficulty of doing business. One therefore needs to take a holistic and pragmatic approach to this. The Indian statutory and regulatory environment is constantly being transformed. The new Indian Companies Act of 2013 was a major milestone. In recent years Transfer Pricing related disputes has let to many court cases (e.

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To quit or not to quit as a director

April 14, 2014
To quit or not to quit as a director
My company driver had collected me from the airport. It was a hot sunny afternoon and the air conditioner of the Toyota was blowing softly. I was on my way to my office and we were driving along the busy Airport Road. Suddenly my driver felt the need for some commentary as if pretending he was a tourist guide. “On the right you can see the jail which houses our Managing Director” he informed me with somewhat of a smile on his face.

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The Lokpal bill

July 11, 2011
The Lokpal bill
The OECD is advocating to fight corruption. See this link for more. Also the people of India are sick of corruption. Anna Hazare’s Jantar Mantar fast, which got overwhelming public support, has not gone in vain. The latest government version of the proposed Lokpal Bill is certainly an improvement over the anaemic bill drafted by the law ministry in December 2010, but the government is still not ready to go the whole hog.

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Hans Rosling: Asia's Rise -- How and When

July 23, 2010
Hans Rosling: Asia's Rise -- How and When
Hans Rosling So often during my talks I have referred to India not as an emerging economy but as a re-emerging economy. Hans Rosling does an excellent job at the recent Ted conference in Mysore graphing global economic growth since 1858 and he predicts the exact date that India and China will outstrip the US: July 27, 2048, just after my 88th birthday…

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Leaders in India

October 17, 2009
Leaders in India
Leaders in India was the name of the business forum conference I attended in Mumbai last week. With some humility I could not help but think that most of us did not really qualify that title. Then again, the only criteria was that you had to be a CEO. In my humble opinion there were too many foreign speakers/panellists in the conference. There are so many excellent Leaders in India that I failed to understand why they had to be flown in from abroad.

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India Symposium, Amsterdam

September 21, 2007
Take this chance to register for a unique investment event bringing together Indian & Dutch Investment professionals. Even if you are not investing but an opinion leader in this field do not forget what this conference might add to your views. We are gathering both Indian as well as Dutch executives together to exchange their opinions and opportunities in order to create more value to all of us. Date: October 3, 2007 Location: beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam Please register on time (see attachments) and go to http://www.

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Economic and Political Dimension of the EU-India Strategic Partnership

August 27, 2007
Economic and Political Dimension of the EU-India Strategic Partnership
Kamal Nath Last week I attended the high level meeting organized by the Europe-India Chamber of Commerce. Held at the European Parliament in Brussels, it was an interesting conference. The thing that struck me most was the high calibre speeches made by the representatives of the Government of India. Kamal Nath, India’s minister of commerce and industry, compared India with Europe where many states with different languages strive to provide a single economic entity.

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Let's meet in Brussels!

August 26, 2007
The Europe India Chamber of Commerce (EICC), of which I am a member, in association with Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC) and Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) is organizing a High level Conference “Europe meets India: Economic and Political Dimension of the EU-India Strategic Partnership – Challenges and Opportunities” to be held in Brussels on 8-9 November 2006.

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India, long-term sustainable growth?

October 24, 2005
Written by Alfred Tuinman, published in FM Corporate (Nr 1 Vol 1, Nov 2005) It was sometime after midnight that day in November 1982, that I experienced my first exposure to India. I was being driven through the dark streets of Bombay to my destination. I was to soon to recover from my long flight from Sydney. At various points I could see people huddled around little campfires on the side of the road.

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