e_Paper 27-11-2016

Business 13
India’s Modi defends cash ban
after criticism
• AFP, New York
Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi hit back Friday at the mounting
criticism of his decision to
withdraw all high-denomination
bank notes from circulation, describing
the move as “for the larger
social good”.
The November 8 move to ban
the 500 and 1,000 rupees ($7.30,
$14.60) notes - some 85% of all
bills in circulation - as legal tender
has sparked turmoil in the vast
cash-reliant nation.
Long queues have formed outside
banks across the country as
people try to get rid of their old
notes, and the government has
repeatedly changed rules surrounding
the exchange process in
CEO: Siemens
is well placed to
adapt business
in US
• Reuters
German trains-to-turbines group
Siemens is well placed to do business
in the United States, regardless
of whether President-elect
Donald Trump backs fossil-fuels at
the expense of renewable energy,
its CEO told a newspaper.
“The good thing is that we can offer
everything. Steam power plants
that are powered by coal, state-ofthe-art
gas-fired power plants, wind
energy, we can build solar parks and
the necessary link to the power grid,”
Joe Kaeser told Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung (FAZ) in an interview.
Siemens employs 50,000 people
and makes $22 billion in revenues
in the United States, its single biggest
market, accounting for a quarter
of its total sales.
“It should pay off that Siemens
has built up local production and
engineering in the United States a
long time ago.”
Global renewable stocks fell following
Trump’s election victory,
fuelling concerns about the longterm
prospects of the industry in
the United States.
Siemens earlier this month said
it planned a public listing of its
$15 billion healthcare business, its
most profitable, and Kaeser told
FAZ that there was not much work
left to do to make the unit ready for
a stock exchange flotation.
“We have a lot of practice,”
Kaeser said, pointing to lighting
group Osram, which was spun off
by Siemens in 2013 and in which it
still holds a 17 percent stake. •
response to pressure from various
groups and mounting chaos.
“The decision isn’t being criticised
much (by the common
man),” Modi said in a speech Friday,
in which he praised citizens as
“soldiers in this fight against corruption
and black (unaccounted)
money”.
“Some things have to be done
above politics for the larger social
good,” he added.
Critics of the move have included
former prime minister Manmohan
Singh - whose economic reforms are
credited with rescuing India from
the brink of bankruptcy in the early
1990s - who said that the decision
could shave two percentage points
from the country’s GDP.
Ratings agency Fitch has also said
Charu Ceramic Ind. Ltd. of Bangladesh – a sister concern of Great Wall Ceramic Ind. Ltd. – signs an MoU with Siam Sanitary Ware
Co. Ltd., the largest sanitary ware manufacturer of Thailand, to produce world famous COTTO brand products in Bangladesh
DT
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2016
Merkel: G20
must tackle
global steel glut
• Reuters
The G20 group of leading economies
must find a solution to excess
capacity in the global steel industry,
German Chancellor Angela
Merkel said yesterday, adding that
overproduction in some countries
was causing job losses elsewhere.
Merkel said Germany, which
takes over the G20 presidency next
month, would push for a collective
solution for the worldwide glut
that has dampened steel prices for
years and raised tensions between
China and other major producers.
European and US leaders have
pressed China to accelerate capacity
cuts, blaming its big exports for
slumping prices and accusing it
of dumping cheap steel in foreign
markets.
“For example, at the G20 summit
in China, we discussed in a
very open manner overproduction
in the steel sector, which is resulting
in people in the steel industry
losing their jobs,” Merkel said in
her weekly podcast.
“We must solve this problem together,
so that we don’t have a situation
where one country wreaks
damage on other countries,” Merkel
added. China has vowed to cut capacity
by 45 million tonnes this
year, though it said in August it was
behind on that target.
Last month, the European Union
set provisional import duties
on two types of steel entering the
bloc from China to counter what it
said were unfairly low prices. The
measure was criticised by Beijing,
which accused the bloc of engaging
in protectionism.
Some 5,000 jobs have been axed
in the British steel industry in the
past year as it struggles to compete
with cheap Chinese imports and
high energy costs.
G20 leaders pledged at a summit
in China in September to work
together to address excess steel capacity
that has punished the global
industry with low prices for years. •
Huawei opens five post-sale service centres
• Tribune Business Desk
Leading global technology and
smartphone giant Huawei has recently
opened five service centres
located in Sylhet, Gazipur, Dhaka,
Bogra and Khulna.
With the opening of service
centres, Huawei has taken another
step towards extending its postsales
services to its customers
across Bangladesh.
Two service centres were inaugurated
in Khulna and Bogra on
November 16 while another two in
it would revise down India growth
forecasts for the fourth quarter of
2016 after the shock move.
Others have slammed the government
for its “shoddy implementation”
of the scheme.
But Modi hit out at his rivals,
saying those criticising his decision
were doing so because they
were “sad that they didn’t get any
notice, a chance to prepare for the
decision”.
“It is such a great step. A big,
big decision. And, for those who
dream of a great future for the
country, let’s come together to remove
the problems being faced by
the common man,” he added.
In weeks since the decision, people
nationwide have complained of
a cash-crunch, with rural farming
Gazipur and Sylhet on November
22.
One service center was opened
on November 23 in the capital’s
Paltan.
Ingmar Wang, director, Device
Business, Huawei Technologies
(Bangladesh) Ltd, was present at
the inauguration ceremony in the
capital.
About the inauguration of the
new service centres, Ingmar Wang
said: “We are happy to announce
our new service centres in new locations.”
areas, where local banks and post
offices have been slow to receive
new notes, the hardest hit.
Modi also urged Indians to
switch to non-cash methods of
spending.
“Every person has a right to
spend his or her money. No one can
take anyone’s money. Now people
can also spend through mobile
technology,” he said, mentioning
that the country had around a billion
mobile handsets and 60 percent
of its population was under 35
years.
Modi’s move is an attempt to
encourage more people into formal
banking, which will also increase
taxable income in a country where
only around 3 percent of Indians
pay any income tax. •
Huawei has quickly won the
trust of Bangladeshi people with
its high-quality smartphones and
after sale services.
These service centres will help
cater to the need of growing number
of customers owning Huawei
devices.
“We will open more service centres
across the country very soon to
keep our commitment to the Bangladeshi
market.”
The newly-opened service centres
are located at Baitul View Tower
at Old Paltan in Dhaka; Bhawal
Point Shopping Complex in Gazipur;
RB Complex, East Zindabazar
in Sylhet; KDA Avenue, Sheikhpara
Tetultala in Khulna, and AL-Amin
Complex in Bogra.
With the launch of these new
service centers, Huawei now has
six service centres and 52 collection
points across the country.
To serve its customer more
effectively, Huawei has also
opened a hotline – 09610 777 777
– for its customers. The hotline is
open Monday to Friday from 9am
to 6pm. •