For more details click here and download event brochure.
For highlights from last years Forum click here.

TrafficInfraTech 2012 – 2nd edition of TrafficInfraTech Expo
May 17- 19 at the Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre

India’s first trade show on Traffic Technology and Infrastructure ideally positioned to meet the requirements of the next Indian Financial Year 2012 – 2013. TrafficInfraTech offers you a range of services that will guarantee your company optimum presence before, during and after the Show. Features Rish Malhotra (Director) and Terry Bergan (President & CEO) of International Road Dynamics Inc. Saskatoon.

Why Exhibit?

• Major Road & Infrastructure Expansion programmes underway requiring high level of technology infusion
• Strengthen and showcase your Brand
• Ideal Platform to Launch New products
• Gain access to one of the highly buoyant market of Asia and find channel partners
• Meet highly qualified visitors with decision making authority
• A cost effective way to explore this vast emerging market

Why Visit?

• Meet the major players of the Industry under one roof
• Find the latest product and services from world class companies
• Obtain expert advice and solutions
• Experience the new research and innovation

Visit their event webpage for more information.

About the Conference
Held in Canada for the first time, it is the leading international event showcasing opportunities in India’s rapidly growing infrastructure sector. Through a series of short presentations and expert panels, the group will analyze key issues and seek to evolve specific solutions for Canadian investors and exporters.

Why you should attend
- Hear about India’s trillion dollar infrastructure plans–50% of which is to come from the private sector
- Understand the policy and financial environment, as well as opportunities in roads, rail, seaports, airports, power, water, real estate and urban development
- Learn about project timelines and risk-return profiles
- Showcase Canada’s competitive advantages in finance, engineering, architecture, construction, power and cleantech
- Connect with leading figures in the Indian and Canadian infrastructure sectors

Who will be there
The conference will host over 150 participants and more than 20 speakers, including:

Abhin Alimchandani, Director, Architecture, Stup Consultants
AK Upadhyay, Secretary, Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
Al Hamdani, VP, Project Finance, Export Development Canada
Archana Hingorani, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director, IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd, India
Atul Tandan, Director, Advisory Board, ASPIRE International Group
Dave Saunders, CEO, LEA Consulting Group
Doug Younger, Chair, National Infrastructure Team, Aird & Berlis LLP
Gautam Bhandari, MD, Morgan Stanley, India
GRK Reddy, Chairman, MARG
Jonathan Hausman, VP, Emerging Markets and Fixed Income, OTPP
Kalyan Ghosh, Sr VP & Head, Supply Chain Management, Essar Steel
Luis Miranda, Former Chairman, IDFC Private Equity
Nicholas Parker, Executive Chairman, Cleantech Group
Prashant Pathak, Managing Partner, ReichmannHauer Capital Partners
Pratap Vijay Padode, President, Aspire International Group
Preeti Saran, Indian Consul-General in Toronto
Rana Sarkar, President and CEO, Canada-India Business Council
Ravi Pendurthi, ED, Archean Group, India
Ravi Seethapathy, Manager, System Innovation & Advanced Grid Development at Hydro One Networks, Canada
RN Joshi, Director (Finance), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
S Viswanathan, MD, SBI Capital Markets
SG Shyam Sunder, Partner, IDFC-PE
Shahzaad Dalal, VC & MD, IL&FS Investment Managers
Shashidhar Nanjundaiah, Group Executive Editor, Infrastructure Today
Sourabh Sen, Director, Astonfield Renewables
Stephen Beatty, Head, Global Infrastructure (Americas), KPMG

Information and Registration
Event Brochure
Schedule
Speaker Bios
Registration (PayPal/Credit card)
Registration (Post/Fax)

For further inquiries contact Belle L. Serio at bserio@canada-indiabusiness.ca or 416-214-5947 x21

Silver Sponsors

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“It’s one big construction site in some of the major cities,” said Rana Sarkar, president and CEO of the Canadian-India Business Council.

The Indian government projects more than US$1 trillion in infrastructure spending over the next five years and the projects that are happening right now are “just the tip of the iceberg,” says Sarkar.

The Canada-India Business Council and Aspire International Group are hosting a seminar, Infrastructure Today — India Opportunity 2012 the first event held in Canada that showcases the opportunities in India’s infrastructure sector. India’s construction sector is expected to grow by 35 per cent between 2009 and 2013.

Seven new smart cities are being built between the Delhi-Mumbai Corridor and over 215 million people will migrate from villages to cities by 2015 and estimated $370 billion will be spent on real estate in 2013.

Canadian opportunities lie within these new clean, green cities, said Sarkar.

“The great experiment in clean, green building is going to happen there. For our players to be involved in accessing those opportunities at scale and learning from them as we go through a rebuild of our own infrastructure is a key component of what we need to do as well.”

The Indian government is providing the conditions, but private companies are leading the way, says Sarkar and they are relying on various public-private models to tackle this emphasis on infrastructure. There was $52.1 billion in private investment between 2011-2012.

The construction boom is creating a huge appetite for equipment and materials. In the past, India has used materials such as concrete and steel for building but wood is a new market being established in the country.

“The thing about India is the market is so vast, it’s so super scale, that any opportunity that’s even very small in India is huge for us,” said Sarkar.

On average, 20 kilometres of roads are being built in India each day and over 100 projects have yet to be awarded. There are 70,548 kilometres of national highways to be built.

A high speed rail system will be developed as current routes are already saturated. Twenty-two stations have been identified for development and two dedicated freight corridors are planned.

The Delhi Metro system currently consists of six lines with a length of 189.63 kilometres and 142 stations. Phase III and Phase IV are scheduled for completion in 2016 and 2021, respectively. Work on Phase III has already started while planning for Phase IV has begun with tendering processes underway.

The New Delhi Airport is projected to be the most expensive in the world and $10 billion of investment is required. Other major airports in the country need expansion, including runways, capacity and parking space.

The country’s 12 major ports will be developed to attain international quality standards. There have been 276 projects identified including: additional berths, deepening channels, equipment and rail road connectivity.

“For Canadians, what they really need to do is understand what’s really going on in India there’s nothing of that kind of scale going on anywhere in the world but the opportunity is kind of mirrored in other places in the emerging world as well. It’s for our industry to understand where these opportunities are and how they can play in the value chain of those opportunities,” said Sarkar.

The conference will have more than 20 speakers and will take place today at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto.

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For the first time on Canadian soil, the  C-IBC and Aspire International Group held the Infrastructure Today- India Opportunity Conference, a  leading international event showcasing opportunities in India’s rapidly growing infrastructure sector. The event took place on May 11th, at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto and drew a crowd of over 100 participants and  25 expert speakers. Special thanks to: Aird & Berlis LLP,  Certified Management Accountants, Export Development Canada, Fraser Milner Casgrain Law and IL&FS Investment Advisors LLC .

The following is a summary of the key points covered during each session.

Inaugural Session

India’s infrastructure build-out is unprecedented and Canada needs to get more involved. Over the next five years, India is expected to spend over $US1 trillion on infrastructure—with over 50% coming from the private sector through private-public partnership (PPP) models. Success stories abound, led by a number of projects in the road and airports sectors. These are underpinned by rapidly growing demand and improved governance practices due to a political consensus that infrastructure PPPs are  fundamental to the country’s continued economic development. Foreign companies are encouraged to both invest in these projects and to supply them with essential equipment and competitive technologies. Canadian leaders such as SNC Lavalin, LEA Consulting and Hatch are already there, but there is room for many more.

Speakers:

• Pratap Vijay Padode, President, ASPIRE International Group
• Luis Miranda, former Chairman, IDFC Private Equity
• Preeti Saran, Indian Consul-General in Toronto
• AK Upadhyay, Secretary, Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
• Rana Sarkar, President & CEO, Canada-India Business Council

Session 1: Urban Infrastructure, Transport & Logistics

Rapid urbanization and growing vehicle ownership are putting massive pressure on India’s urban and transportation infrastructure. Although India has more than 4.1 million km of roads, only around 20,000 km currently meet the two lane standard. The supply of real estate is not keeping up with demand either, making commercial and residential space increasingly scarce and expensive. High population density, skyrocketing energy use and rising air pollution are also fueling a drive to develop an extensive metro rail system. It is estimated that India will require 7,400 km of track by 2030—up from 200 km today.

These sectors have very attractive policy regimes for foreign investors, including 100% ownership allowance, public viability gap funding, tax incentives and a variety of arrangements to share risks between governments and private developers. There are also substantial contracting and consulting opportunities for Canadian companies. For instance, Canada’s Bombardier and Open Text are supplying rolling stock, signalling equipment and software solutions to the Delhi Metro Rail.

But private investment in transport infrastructure can be politically challenging in India—especially in the case of toll roads. Strong efforts must be made to find the right balance between providing public services and ensuring adequate returns for investors. Yet similar challenges exist in Canada too.

Speakers:

• Shashindhar Nanjundaiah, Group Executive Editor, Infrastructure Today
• AK Upadhyay, Secretary, Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
• Ravinder N Joshi, Director (Finance), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
• Shahzaad Dalal, VC & MD, IL&FS Investment Managers
• John Haythorne, Partner, Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP

Session 2: India’s Insatiable Hunger for Resources

Despite significant investment in recent years, India’s energy supply is not keeping up with demand from consumers and businesses. Although power generation capacity has grown recently—largely due to private sector investment through PPPs—a full 40% of households are still without electricity. Even when a new plant comes online, it can be hard to secure fuel. Coal imports rose by over 80% last year, while natural gas production is stagnant. On the other hand, India has had some success with renewable energy—which now makes up 11% of the energy mix.

There are several ways that Canada can help India address its energy needs. Liberalization and the spread of PPP models have opened investment opportunities in traditional and renewable power generation, as well as distribution. As India seeks to build a denser, more resilient transmission network, Canada can also supply technologies and products such as telephone poles, wiring and tools to improve energy efficiency. There are significant opportunities for innovation partnerships between Canadian cleantech firms and their Indian counterparts. The city of Pune, for example, has emerged as a leading manufacturing cluster for these technologies.

Speakers:

• SG Shyam Sunder, Partner, IDFC Private Equity
• S Vishvanathan, Managing Director, SBI Capital Markets
• Nicholas Parker, Co-founder and Executive Chair, Cleantech Group
• Ravi Seethapathy, Manager, System Innovation & Advanced Grid Development, Hydro One Networks

Session 3: The Infra-environment

Investing in India’s infrastructure sector is not always easy. Although the market is there, project execution is often slowed by land acquisition, environmental clearance and drawn-out litigation. Taxation practices—although globally competitive—are in a constant state of flux, as India modernizes the way it collects government revenues.

But overall, the policy and regulatory environment is attractive and continues to evolve in the right direction. The legal framework for PPPs is well-established and foreign investors face no ownership restrictions, with the exception of certain airport projects. Accounting practices are standardized and reliable. Recently, the government liberalized foreign borrowings for the infrastructure sector and lowered the withholding tax on interest payments abroad. Reducing bottlenecks to project execution has also become a top political priority. India continues to draw from best practices in other countries, including Canada, which has significant experience with PPPs.

All this means that investors in Indian infrastructure projects can expect attractive, risk-adjusted yields—which has helped lift private spending from 17% to 39% of total infrastructure investment. But to increase the likelihood of success, Canadian investors are encouraged to contract a locally-based service provider to advise them on the ground.

Speakers:

• Stephen Beatty, Head, Global Infrastructure (Americas), KPMG Canada
• MK Sinha, President & CEO, IDFC Private Equity
• Kalyan Ghosh, Sr. VP & Head, Supply Chain Management, Essar Steel Algoma
• Heidi Visser, Partner, Aird & Berlis LLP

Session 4: New Opportunities to Finance India’s Infrastructure: Infrastructure Debt Funds, Risks & Yields

India’s push to develop infrastructure PPPs has generated enormous interest from equity and debt investors in both India and abroad. This is supported by rates of return in the low to high teens, on average—although a number of projects in water and sanitation have returned over 30%. Moreover, many of these projects are de-risked through clauses that limit competition or through quasi-sovereign guarantees. The long-term debt market remains limited—putting pressure on bank balance sheets—but this is being addressed through the creation of infrastructure debt funds (IDFs) that will tap domestic and foreign capital.

Canadian financial institutions are keeping a very close eye on India’s infrastructure sector, although most have yet to take the plunge. For pension funds, the challenge is to find projects that deliver stable, predictable cash flow. This creates a preference for investing in brownfield projects with a proven track record. IDFs are another option for pension funds, but these instruments will have to compete with other emerging market sovereign and corporate debt delivering similarly attractive yields—often without India’s currency risk. Investors can also choose to reduce project risk by targeting small line infrastructure projects with shorter horizons that piggy back on larger, more capital-intensive projects.

As with infrastructure developers, it is important for foreign financial investors to cultivate Indian partners and have a presence on the ground. The project finance market in particular has a heavy local angle. Strong relationships can cut through false perceptions, limit communication gaps and generally help mitigate risks.

Speakers:

• Luis Miranda, former Chairman, IDFC Private Equity
• Al Hamdani, VP, Project Finance, Export Development Canada
• Archana Hingorani, CEO & Executive Director, IL&FS Investment Managers
• Gautam Bhandari, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley India
• Jonathan Hausman, VP, Alternative Investments & Fixed Income, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
• Prashant Pathak, Managing Partner, ReichmannHauer Capital Partner

Click here to request a copy of each presentation.

On Monday, India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the country will delay by one year the adoption of the “General Anti-Avoidance Rules,” guidelines designed to curb tax evasion, and ease some proposed duties and taxes that had spooked foreign and domestic investors alike. Soon after the announcement was made, India’s Sensex index shot up by nearly 300 points, but markets dropped on Tuesday.

Experts, politicians, journalists and businessmen weigh in on the changes:

Editorial, The Hindu: “Capitulating to unrelenting pressure from stakeholders affected by his stringent budget proposals, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has rolled back some while delaying implementation of others, notably the anti-tax evasion provisions popularly called GAAR (General Anti-avoidance Rules). The pressure brought to bear by angry investors and traders, depressed stock markets and a rupee in free fall was probably too much to bear. Mr. Mukherjee must also have been conscious of the importance of foreign portfolio flows to bridge the widening current account deficit, estimated to be around 4 per cent for 2011-12, while deciding to defer the implementation of GAAR until the next financial year. These were a red rag to foreign investors, some of whom held back fresh investments in the period since the budget. The Finance Minister has also done the right thing in shifting the onus of proving tax avoidance to Revenue, which is an amendment of the budget proposal, and in allowing an independent member to be appointed on the GAAR panel. The facility of seeking advance ruling on GAAR provisions is also a welcome step as investors can plan their moves better.”

Nicholas de Boursac, The Economic Times: “The Gaar provisions in particular bestow tremendous discretion upon the tax office to reconstruct transactions at later dates and in unpredictable ways. The foreign institutional investor (FII) community believes that the only solution is an unequivocal exemption for cross-border portfolio investments in Indian securities from both the Gaar and the indirect transfer rules.

It is clear that these proposed tax laws were written to address certain judicial decisions, but the overly broad nature of the draft provisions casts a wide net that will inadvertently capture non-targeted transactions and market participants. Government leaders have the ability to avoid these unintended consequences by following the international standard of exempting cross-border portfolio investments by FIIs from both Gaar and indirect transfer rules. ”

Shishir Asthana, Business Standard: “The euphoria over GAAR (General Anti-Avoidance Rule) lasted for exactly 90 minutes in the markets. Immediately after the finance minister announced the deferment of implementation of GAAR by a year, the Sensex shot up by nearly 300 points (intra-day) from a low of 16,652 to 16,944, to close near the day’s high on Monday. However, markets have gone back to discount other issues such as poor guidance by Cognizant, European polls and weak US data. 

This raises the question that was GAAR really as draconian as it was made out to be or was it just its deferment, and not rejection, playing on the minds of investors? 

While by deferring GAAR, the government has just kicked the issue forward. What is being keenly watched will be the outcome of the committee, which will be giving its recommendation for formulating the rules and guidelines for implementation of the GAAR provisions and to suggest safeguards so that these provisions are not applied indiscriminately.”

Nitin Shrivastava and Sachin P Mampatta, Daily News & Analysis: “Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were quite worried on the new taxation rules ever since the same were proposed in the budget. They were net sellers of Indian equities worth Rs. 568.40 crore [56.8 billion rupees] in the month of April after pumping in Rs 44,037 crore [44 billion rupees ] in the first three months of this calendar year.”

“The fact that lack of clarity on Gaar has been a big drag on markets for the last six weeks or so deferring Gaar implementation is unquestionably positive for liquidity and markets in the short term. Also, it sends out positive signs to FIIs that the government listens to corporates and investors,” said Saurabh Mukherjea, head of institutional equities at Ambit Capital.”

“Despite the news of Gaar deferment, FIIs net sold shares worth Rs.630 crore [6.3 billion rupees] on Monday, as per provisional exchange data.”

The Times of India:“Brokers and dealers said that the deferment of GAAR by a year was a temporary relief for Dalal Street and the decision is likely to only smoothen the process of shifting FII investments from Mauritius to Singapore. The tax rule is aimed at bringing those investors under the taxmen’s ambit who use aggressive tax avoidance treaties, like one between India and Mauritius, a move that a large number of foreign brokerages and FIIs say could dry up flows into the Indian market from the island nation.”

“Brokers also said that foreign investors would rather look at positive moves concerning the macro factors like fiscal deficit, current account deficit, high rate of inflation and interest rate in the economy. And on Monday, by rolling back some of the budget proposals that could have added to the government’s exchequer, the finance minister may even have reduced the chances of higher revenue inflows. For Tuesday, market players expect a flat trade with a negative bias.”

India Today:“Some amendments may well prove to be a boon for the investor community as they had got spooked with GAAR provisions. An enormous flight of capital has taken place since the budget impacting the rupee and general sentiment adversely.”

“What Pranab babu [Pranab Mukherjee] has done is provide more time to both tax payers and the tax administration to address all issues. The markets reacted positively to the news and the rupee, too, recovered from its early losses. Mr Mukherjee is not putting GAAR in cold storage, he is deferring it, though with amendments. At the same time, he has set up a committee which will bring ‘greater clarity and certainty’ when it hands over its report on May 31 after distillation of ideas with top of the line foreign investors recently.

Dinesh Kanabar,
 Deputy CEO and Chairman Tax, KPMG India: The statement given by the Finance Minister on the floor of the Parliament pushing back the implementation of GAAR provisions by a year is very welcome. The Standing Committee of the Parliament had given several suggestions on the GAAR provisions as they existed in the Direct Taxes Code Bill. These could not be considered by the Finance Minister because suggestions were received just a few days before the introduction of the Finance Bill 2012. A Committee said to consider the GAAR provisions can effectively deliberate on how these provisions can be introduced with minimum degree of subjectivity. The statement of the Finance Minister that the burden of proof will rest with the Revenue is again very welcome.

On the other hand, the Government seems to be persistent with the introduction of retrospective amendment for taxation of overseas transfer. The statement made by the Finance Minister that assessments which have attained finality will not be reopened is very interesting. The issue as to whether or not the transaction is taxable has attained finality qua Vodafone having regard to the judgement of the Supreme Court. In that light it remains to be seen as to whether the Chapter would be closed vis-à-vis Vodafone both on the withholding matter as well as the substantive liability on the taxability of the transaction.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist): The decision on GAAR “and diluting many of its provisions is a meek surrender to finance capital, MNCs and the US administration”, the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.

“The US Treasury Secretary had personally lobbied with the Indian finance minister to revoke the GAAR, during the latter’s recent US visit in April 2012,” it said.

GAAR was meant to strengthen India’s tax laws to prevent foreign investors from avoiding paying taxes on capital gains in India, using the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) with tax havens like Mauritius, the CPI-M said.

“It is noteworthy that over 40 percent of FDI inflows into India are routed through Mauritius, in order to facilitate crores of rupees of tax savings by foreign companies at the cost of the Indian exchequer.

“GAAR have been implemented in countries across the world to crack down on such tax avoidance, including in developing countries like South Africa and China in recent times.

“Dilution of the GAAR in India would lead to the loss of thousands of crores of tax revenues for the government,” a CPI-M statement said.

It said other “retrograde announcements” by Mukherjee included the cut in capital gains tax on private equity, cut in withholding tax on foreign borrowings and withdrawal of tax on property transactions.

“These are all meant to favour big financiers and real estate players.

“The government’s excuses on lack of resources to fund subsidies and social welfare scheme ring hollow in the face of such tax largesse for the big businesses.”

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TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – April 26, 2012) - The Government of India plans to invest over US$1 trillion over the next five years to meet the country’s huge infrastructure demands. Over 50 percent of these funds will come from the private sector.

How can Canada get involved in this play? What Canadian products and expertise will be in demand as a result? And how should Canadian businesses and investors position themselves today, in order to benefit in upcoming years?

Join the Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC) & Aspire International Group at the largest gathering of industry leaders, corporate executives, institutional investors, planners and senior government officials on Infrastructure from both Canada and India, at:

“Infrastructure Today – India Opportunity 2012″ at the Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto on Friday May 11^th, 8:00-5:30

The conference will host over 150 participants including some of Canada’s largest pension investors and global infrastructure players, and more than 20 expert speakers, including:

• AK Upadhyay, Secretary, Ministry of Road, Transport & Highways, Government of India
• Dave Saunders, CEO, LEA Group
• Gautam Bhandari, Head, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure (MSI) Asia
• Luis Miranda, Former Chairman, IDFC Private Equity
• Nicholas Parker, Co-founder and Executive Chair, Cleantech Group
• Shahzaad Dalal, VC & MD, IL&FS Investment Managers
• Stephen Beatty, Head, Global Infrastructure (Americas), KPMG

Through a series of short presentations and expert panels, the group will analyze key issues and evolve strategies for Canadian investors and exporters. The sessions will cover urban infrastructure, transport & logistics, India’s energy needs, the policy and regulatory environment and recent developments in Indian infrastructure finance.

“The current Indian infrastructure investment and business environment is more attractive than ever, with a proven track record of success stories. Canada fulfills two prime needs: finance and technology-enriched with experience” said Pratap Padode, MD of Aspire International Group.

“Whether it’s engineering expertise, design and implementation, intelligent transport systems, green energy or a roster of leading institutional investors, Canada is well positioned to grow alongside India-if we start now and work collectively,” added Rana Sarkar, President & CEO of the Canada-India Business Council.

For more details on the agenda, speakers, sponsorship opportunities, ticket prices and registration please visit the C-IBC website at: http://canada-indiabusiness.ca/2012/05/infrastructure-today-india-opportunity-2012/.

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