According to a recent report, the Government of India's fiscal deficit in April was at 541.58 billion rupees ($11 billion) The tax receipts were at 74.62 billion rupees while expenditure were at 662.17 billion rupees for the first month of 2009/10 fiscal year (India FY starts from April and ends in March). The government must be finding it hard to print the currency to meet the level of disbursements!

In a recent interview, Jim Rogers, a global investor says cotton, silver and sugar can be hot picks. He further suggests that there are tens of thousands of fund managers and becoming a farmer would be a better idea. He opines that the financial community is not going to be a great place to be in for the next 30 years. He says that the world is likely to face food crisis sooner or later, and it would be a better idea to invest in food and commodities.

Full interview may be found at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Interviews/Fund-Managers-can-become-farmers-Jim-Rogers/articleshow/4610704.cms?curpg=1

Labels: fund manager farmer, Global investor, Jim Rogers, rogers interview

Recently, the proposed US law has become a hot topic for Indian IT/ITES/BPO sectors. The proposed laws are aimed at protecting the American jobs, and it's reported in local news papers that the laws are not fair. Big Indian outsourcing technologies like TCS, Wipro, and Infosys are not happy with the development. In specific, a new rule would bar companies with more than 50 U.S. employees from getting any additional work visas if more than 50% of their US workforce is made up of H-1B or L-1 visa holders. It's surprising to know that some companies prefer to get their work done by H1B visa holders rather than native Americans. It also appears that the sole motive for this are:

• Lower wages that are paid to H1B visa holders.
  
• H1Bs' also work extra hours without any additional pay for the purpose of Green card (that entitles them permanent resident status) application processing.
• The employer may terminate the contract at any time without any obligation on its part

Though there is a lot of commotion on the 50/50 rule, it appears quite reasonable to have atleast 50% of employees US residents (permanent). Indian companies would do better if they conform to laws, and get on to their business as early as possible. It is also surprising to a common man, how US had allowed a US company to run in US with a majority of H1B employees.

On the other hand, it's discourating to resort to protectionism in Companies that had received US Government aid. The respective companies should be able to choose their employees without Government intervention. It might lead to lower efficiencies, and reduce productivity.

In any case, Obama government appears to be very careful in implementing the laws, and hope that the H1B laws would not be detrimental to countries like India, and China.

Labels: 50/50 rule, h1b, outsourcing, usa