Looking at Tourism in India

July 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Lotus Temple, New Dehli, India

Image by sonjalind via Flickr

Every year, travellers set out on holidays and vacations, breathing new life into the economy of the places they visit. In India, the largest service industry is tourism. More than five million foreign visitors make their way to India annually to experience the rich culture of one of the economical giants of the world.

The impact of tourism on India’s national gross domestic product is estimated at US$275.5 billion by 2018. In fact, the World Travel and Tourism Council declares India as a travel hotspot from now until 2018.  People are not only drawn to India for cultural history, but they also travel for business, medical purposes, and sports such as the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Medical tourism is on the rise in India. Travellers can receive high-quality treatments at a fraction of the prices they expect. Surgery costs average thirty percent lower than other well-known medical tourism destinations such as Thailand. Procedures people come to undergo include bone marrow transplants, cardiac surgery, orthopedic surgeries and liver transplants. India is best known for heart surgery. Access to leading medical technology at alluring rates is not the only place tourists spend their money on. Many people come seeking a taste of the unique culture and history India possesses.

India’s 5,000 year old history promises to deliver an unmatched travel experience to tourists.  The Taj Mahal is one of the most familiar sights of India. Millions of travellers visit the historical site each year. Other sites that draw people in include the Mahabodi Temple, skiing in Shimla, and the stunning Lotus Temple in Dehli.

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India’s Place in the Agricultural Landscape of the World

July 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Venezuelan sugar cane (Saccharum) harvested fo...

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Both the World Bank and the CIA World Fact Book rank India’s economy fourth worldwide.  A country’s gross domestic product is  a good indicator of the standard of living within that country. Among India’s economical make-up, agriculture plays an important role in the fabric of society.

With a population of 1,189,172, 186 and counting, one of the biggest challenges for the Indian agricultural industry is the population grows faster than farm production. The CIA World Fact Book lists India as the second most populated country in the world. Food items such as rice and wheat rise demand to keep up with the population boom. For many years, India has been an autarky, or self-sufficient economy. But since the 1990, it continues to develop an open-market policy. Agricultural output for India ranks second among the world economies.

Agricultural policy is focused on improving self efficiency of food production to combat hunger issues. India is among the world’s highest producers of rice, cow milk, sugar cane, buffalo milk and wheat. The Sugarcane Breeding Institute of Coimbatore, India was established in 1912 to improve sugarcane production. It is one of the oldest crop research institutes worldwide. Indian stock of the sweet crop is used in 26 other countries across the globe.

The institution is now conducting a research project to help the about 35 million farmers who cultivate and rely on the crop. The project is focused on creating a website where information can be shared easily. It’s main goals are to aid farmers and support sugarcane reasearch.

 

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Investing in India Worth Looking At

July 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Bombay Stock Exchange

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It is no secret that India grows quickly each year. This country, with the second highest population globally, possesses a thriving world economy that is on the increase.  As India expands in the world market, windows for foreign investment open wider to those who would step inside. Here is why you should look into investing in India.

In March of this year, investment icon Warren Buffett stated he was looking to invest in economic powerhouses like India. Asian Development Bank reports that the equity market in India ranks third in the world. With about US$600 billion in market capitalization, it sits right behind China and Japan as one of the major equity markets in the Asian region. India is expected to boost economic growth by at least nine percent annually within the next ten years. India’s economy offers investors a variety of opportunities. India’s service sector forms fifty percent of its economy. Other industries include pharmaceuticals, energy and consumer goods.

Domestic industry is on the rise in India. Last July, New Delhi opened a 3 billion dollar addition to the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Terminal 3 (T3) took 37 months to complete. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who dedicated the new terminal, stated its creation was a global benchmark for India. India’s government has worked to strengthen its country’s infrastructure.

The Bombay Stock Exchange is the fourth largest stock exchange in Asia. It’s also the second oldest in the world, with a history dating back to the 1850′s. With a youthful demographic and a solid work ethic, the global economy will see more from India in years to come.

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A Look at India’s Boarders And Their Relationships With the Countries

February 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

India is bounded by many countries on its northern borders while all its southern borders are sea-bound. India’s neighbors from its most northwestern border to its northeastern border are Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and Banglasdesh in that order. Except for China and Burma, all the other nations are considered to be a part of the Indian Subcontinent. They even have formed a group called SAARC which stands for “South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation”. There are a couple other members to this group as well but these border sharing nations are its core.

India as a whole shares a turbulent history with Pakistan and Bangladesh as these two nations were carved out from India. Pakistan in particular has already had 3 major wars with India in the past 60 odd years. These conflicts occurred in 1965, 1971 and 1999. Of these three the 1971 also lead to the creation of Bangladesh which was originally called East Pakistan, but besides sharing a common religious background had totally different customs and hence wanted to be their own nation.

Besides having many skirmishes with Pakistan, India also has a frosty relationship with China. They have fought a war in 1962 which showed India’s friability in their defenses and since then both countries have remained wary of each other.

With Nepal, Bhutan and Burma, India has friendly relations. India has mostly civil relations with many nations all over the world, however the Indian subcontinent remains a hotbed area for conflicts and it remains to be seen how all of it will pan out.

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Foreign Relations: Understanding India’s Field Hockey Obsession

February 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Despite the fact that someone traveling to India might assume that Cricket was the national sport, it really is another form of activity. Field Hockey or just Hockey as it is referred to in India, is known across the world as the national game of India. Although this is the case many Indians themselves are confused over whether or not field hockey is the national sport as Cricket seems to be played everywhere. Hockey was one of the sports which India was said to have excelled at. There’s also that small thing that the world’s greatest hockey player Dhyan Chand was also an Indian player.

The Indian hockey team was such a belligerent Juggernaut that it has won a total of eight Gold Medals, one silver and two bronze medals. They have created a world record to win the most number of gold medals in consecutive tournaments [Six] as well as the most number of gold medals to be won in a team Olympic sport [eight].

Hockey was first played in the summer Olympics of 1908 and then skipped the next event to be featured again in 1920 and again was skipped in 1924, it became a regular event since 1928 and that is when the Indian ascendance began. India won the gold from 1928 to the 1956 Olympics, their streak was beaten by Pakistan in the 1960 Olympics who beat them to win the Gold. However, India won the 1964 Olympics Gold beating their Arch rivals by the same score line by which their streak had been stopped. India won Bronze medals in the next two tournaments and the last gold medal was won in the 1980 Rome Olympics.

Since then it has been a long slide downwards for the once renowned Indian team as the Indian populace has shifted their view to cricket and nowadays with the general apathy of the administrative side towards hockey, it will be a long time before Indian hockey reaches the zenith it once veritably occupied.

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Foreign Relations: Understanding the Partition of India

February 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

India began its journey on August 15 1947. There was a great amount of tragedy associated with this date and the time leading up to it. The true journey of India begins much earlier. You can trace India’s history as a colonial nation to when the British began conquering parts of India back in the 17th and 18th century. The British often say that they planted the notion of a nation amongst the different kingdoms in various parts of India. However this theory doesn’t hold up if you study the history. There have various empires going across to the time of Alexander wherein the entire Indian sub continent was under one empire. Beginning from the Mauryan empire to the Mughal empire and in ancient historical/mythological legends even then the land which was known as BharatVarsha was ruled as one empire.

When the partition of India occurred it was a huge shock to many people as they were displaced and amidst the rioting which took place, thousands of lives were lost. This partition affected the lives of all the citizens and was in part facilitated by the British who until then had a very famous policy called “Divide and rule” which they used brilliantly to conquer many parts of the world. They even utilized it to carve the British India Dominion into two separate nations. These two nations would have 3 majors wars with each other and many other skirmishes which would only lead to more heightened enmity between the two nations.

Pakistan, which is often considered a section of India, further disintegrated into 2 nations when its eastern half separated to form Bangladesh in 1971. Now the entire Indian subcontinent is beset with small nations who view each other with suspicion. These nations often forget their joint history and cannot seem to overlook their communal hatred. A tragedy by some experts, the partition of 1947 has given rise to a deep schism which will one day give rise to a greater catastrophe it seems.

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Can you hear me now?

December 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Mobile phone evolution

When many sectors slowed down due to global financial downturn, the Indian telecom industry has recorded a steady growth. In reality, it has been one of the major contributors to the growth of the Indian economy. The Indian telecom has the best penetration into the consumer market, covering both rural and urban India with unbeatable low tariffs, in turn contributing to the economic growth. In the year 2009, cell phone companies switched from per minute billing to per second billing and that says about the competitiveness in the mobile sector.

Half the people in India may not have proper sanitization, but still owns a mobile phone. A more accurate data reveals around 545 million people have mobile connection, and roughly 366 million people do not have proper toilet. Yet, the statistics or the real situation has not stopped her from becoming the largest mobile service provider, second only to China. The cell phone industry has changed the face of India. It has transformed the way people speak, and connect. From finding a job to hearing astrological predictions, from finding a house to paying your monthly bills, mobile technology has changed the way Indians talk, breathe and move.

In February 2010 alone there were 20 million new mobile connections. Even in rural India where there is not much money seen, mobile phones have come to be a permanent object in their hands.

The entry of 3G and WIMAX technologies opened opportunities in terms of employment and also with respect to bringing home revenues.

The rapid growth of the telecom industry has helped in contributing to the growth of India GDP. By 2010, there are 612 million people expected to get mobile subscriptions accounting for 51% Indian economic growth rate. It is expected to generate revenues close to USD 43 billion by the end of this year. And, that is no tall order for such a ubiquitous industry. Once this sort of revenue is generated in the industry, the Indian telecom sector will vie with Mexico which has produced one of the richest men in the world, the indomitable Carlos Slim Helu.

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Comparison Shopping

December 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment
LA CANADA, CA - AUGUST 05: Customers shop at ...
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Like many people, I get an enjoyment out of shopping. While I do have a lot of love for big box retailers with shrinking prices, I also understand the value of shopping through smaller retailers, especially independent retailers and retailers that actually create their own products. I do a lot of shopping around because I want to make sure that I buy the right products at the right prices, and this allows me to find a wide variety of new and interesting shops and retailers that I might not normally be aware of.

I am a really big fan of comparison shopping. When there is something that I want to buy, the first course of action is to determine who has it. I use websites like Canada 411 to find out about different retailers in the area, then figure out who carries the product I am looking for. Next, I compare and contrast the prices and other features offered by each of the retailers to determine which is going to be the best deal for me. Usually this means the best selection of options for the lowest price.

I highly recommend that you consider comparison shopping when you are trying to make purchases big or small. When you comparison shop, which is something that you can do with most of the purchases that you make, you can save a lot of money while ensuring that you get the best possible products and services. You can comparison shop for everything from car insurance to health insurance, homes, cars, electronics and even clothing to make sure that you save money on your purchases over time. A little bit of comparison shopping can really go a long way in helping you get a good deal on anything that you decide that you want to buy.

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Keeping up With Indian Economics From Home

December 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Indian Money
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If you’re interested in economics, particularly in India, you can keep up with what’s taking place right from the comfort of your own home. You don’t have to go out into the world to know what’s taking place in it, and you don’t even have to leave in India to keep track of the things that are going on in its economy. If you don’t have a good computer, though, you can have trouble staying up with those kinds of things, because the Internet is the best place to get good information.

Make sure your computer and Internet provider are capable of handling all that you want to do. You may need to get a faster Internet speed, update drivers, download a new program, or make other changes to get what you’re looking for, but you can certainly find the information that you want about the Indian economy. Also, keep in mind that there are many sources of information and that some of them are more legitimate than others. If you aren’t sure about the source you’re getting your information from, it’s a very good idea to check with other sources so you get the entire story.

That’s especially true if you have a business that will be affected by the Indian economy or if you’re thinking of investing in it. You don’t want to end up losing money because you’re not paying enough attention to the kind of information you’re getting and where it’s coming from. Even one bad investment or business decision can be quite costly, so be sure that you know what you’re doing and that you get an advisor to help you if you need it. That way, you’ll be able to make the right choices, learn what you need to about the Indian economy, and be better-prepared to move your business and investments forward.

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Should I Buy Myself a Car for Christmas?

November 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Wal-Mart location in Moncton
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It might seem like I can’t get enough of shopping lately, but I really need to think about buying one more thing before I put my wallet away. My current car, Old Faithful, seems to be on her last leg. I can’t complain too much. This car has put up with 10 years of my lead foot and weaving in and out of traffic without so much as one insult. I’m sad to say that the current repair bill kind of sealed Faith’s fate. If this is the sign of thing to come, buying a new car could actually save money each month.

Like I mentioned, I’ve been out of the car market for about 10 years. I took one look at the current price of cars, and I was amazed. Now, I’m faced with a hard choice. Do I purchase a cheap car that may not last through the payments, or do I go with a car known for reliability with a higher price tag and cut out some of my little luxuries.

While the purchase process can be painful, who doesn’t love driving around in a new car? I’m off to read all the current advice on how to choose a car, which options to avoid, and how to negotiate the best price. Maybe it will even be fun?

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