Tag: India

DHL commissioned research reveals new export landscape for ASEAN and Asia

Posted by | Nov 16, 2007 | |

DHL revealed today the findings of a study commissioned to Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on regional trade flows. The report entitled Trading up: A New Export Landscape for ASEAN and Asia, examines the movement of goods across borders in Asia, with ASEAN as the starting point. Findings show that despite goals on ASEAN integration, the new export landscape in Asia reveals that ASEAN is at a cross roads between pursuing deeper integration with fellow ASEAN member countries, or falling away to develop individual bilateral trading relationships with China. The share of exports to China from all ASEAN countries in the study except Vietnam has risen sharply while intra-ASEAN trade has shown a declining growth trend.

The release of the study is timed to coincide with the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ASEAN-BIS), which DHL has been a key sponsor for the past 5 years. The study concentrated on the ASEAN bloc’s six largest economies – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – and analyzed the trade of its closest regional competitors, China, Japan and India. Shifting import and export trends from 2000 to 2007 are analyzed, focusing particularly on the role played by high-value exports as compared with lower-value bulk commodity goods. It is follow-up research from “ASEAN Exports: Today, Tomorrow and the High-value Challenge”, which DHL and EIU jointly released at the 4th ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2006.

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TNT and Hongkong Post join forces to tap Indian market

Posted by | Nov 12, 2007 | |

TNT has signed a strategic partnership agreement to provide express services in India with Hongkong Post, the postal service provider in Hong Kong. The companies are also likely to tap into the emerging markets in the Middle East in the next couple of years.

The companies will together provide the Speedpost FreightPlus service, which enables Hongkong Post to deliver items to India in two to three days instead of five to six days as in the past. Shipments can also be handled in multiple pieces under one consignment, leading to greater flexibility.

Under the partnership agreement, Hongkong Post will provide collection and customer services for items to be delivered overseas by express. TNT will collect the items to be delivered to India. The items would be delivered through the Indian logistics company Speedage, which has an established network in India and was acquired by TNT in 2006. Hongkong Post will provide customer service support and manage item tracking and tracing requests.

TNT and Hongkong Post is also considering co-branding initiatives to provide time-definite and premium services for existing customers.

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India Post looks for consultants on Rs 23,000 million technology spend

Posted by | Nov 7, 2007 | |

India Post plans to invite consultants, such as KPMG International and Ernst & Young, to help the loss-making postal department buy technology solutions, including software applications and computer hardware, as it plans to spend around Rs 23,000 million on technology in a year’s time.

Postal revenues last year were Rs 14,000 million short of the department’s expenses in 2005-06, the latest data available showed.

An “expression of interest” inviting consultants “will be floated in few days’ time”, said a senior official at India Post, who did not wish to be named because the plan had not been finalized yet.

“We have been allocated Rs 23,000 million under the 11th Five Year Plan for computerization,” the official added.

For decades now, the department has been supported by the government in making up losses while running low-priced and inefficient services. A business software known as enterprise resource planning or ERP software, which integrates functions of finance, operations and distribution, is “very compelling for India Post for managing their large network”, said Arvind Mahajan, executive director at a Mumbai unit of KPMG International. “They would need a consultant to help evaluate different vendors for software applications and other services.”

Senior officials from India’s second largest software company, Infosys Technologies Ltd, have already met the India Post officials for providing application development, maintenance and system integration contract.

1 US Dollar = 39.31500 Indian Rupee

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India: Courier industry concerned over weight

Posted by | Nov 6, 2007 | |

After the communications ministry drew from examples across the world for drafting the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, the express/courier industry is now using the same global path to convince the government that `monopoly’ is a bad word.

The international examples are being cited mainly to illustrate the weight-and-rate criteria in the express/courier industry. It is learnt that the express industry representatives in a meeting with Ajay Shankar, secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), on Monday, cited global examples to make their point that some of the provisions in the Indian Post Office amendment draft bill are `retrograde’ in nature.

The industry is expected to make representations to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Planning Commission and the communications ministry, among others. Among the provisions to which the express industry is objecting include lowering of FDI to 49 per cent and exclusivity of the Indian Post to carry shipments below 150 gram.

The express industry could be allowed to carry shipment below 150 gm only if they charge a multiple of 2.5 times the speed-post tariff.

Currently, 100 per cent foreign investment is allowed in the sector and if FDI is lowered, India could lose out on its competitive advantage in the supply chain industry and global express distribution system, industry representatives are believed to have pointed out.

The industry is also opposed to the provision on regulating express operators and yearly renewal of registration.

The express operators have argued that among the countries where price multiple model is in place, the express industry is mostly out of the ambit of any monopoly. In New Zealand, UK, Estonia, Sweden, and Malaysia, for instance, there’s no monopoly of the government in the postal sector.

Sources in the government had earlier pointed out that the weight-and-rate criterion is prevalent in other parts of the world as well.

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