The Trade and Economic Relations Committee (TERC) chaired by the Prime Minister gave its nod for launching free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with Australia. It also decided that India will not take Intellectual Property Rights obligations beyond the domestic laws as mandated by World Trade Organization.

The committee also took up the proposal for a new economic engagement 'hrough the mechanism of free trade agreement with COMESA (Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa).

Reviewing the status of the negotiations, TERC observed that certain concerns have been raised about the Indian stand on issues relating to Intellectual Property Rights, especially in the context of pharmaceutical products. It was discussed that India should enforce a stricter IPR regime than what has been mandated in its domestic laws and the WTO agreement on TRIPS.

The TERC also approved the launch of negotiations for an FTA with Australia. The matter is likely to be taken up during the visit of Union Commerce and Industry minister, Anand Sharma during his visit to Australia.

TERC was informed that while there has been a substantial growth in bilateral merchandise trade with Australia, tariffs and non-tariff barriers continue to raise the cost of imports, imposing implicit taxes on businesses and consumers alike. It was felt that a comprehensive FTA with Australia would benefit both countries. India's bilateral trade with Australia stood at around $14 billion in the financial year 2009-10.

India has already implemented free trade pacts with South Korea and ASEAN and has signed comprehensive pacts with Japan and Malaysia.

The overall picture looks bright for the year. There seems to be a possibility of creating close to a million new jobs.

The external head hunters are optimistic of a very bullish trend with hiring requirements going up substantially this year by 60-70%, compared to last year’s 20% jump over the year before (2009).

The industry will see around 2 lakh fresh engineering graduates entering the job market this year while another 3 lakh people changing their jobs. With new job openings, 50,000 people are expected to join the IT industry from traditional verticals like manufacturing, auto, oil, telecom and logistics. The IT/ITES industry employs around 15 lakh people and at least 25% of it will be a part of the job churn.

2011 will witness a net hiring of around 4 lakh people (campus and lateral), against 2 lakh in 2010. 2009 was the worst year, with less than 1 lakh people getting jobs, with companies going back on their campus commitments and widespread lay-offs. Year 2008 saw a hiring of 2.5 lakh while 2007 was a bumper year that threw up 5 lakh jobs in the market.

Now to make things simpler, just walk into a bank and take a loan to pay for your child's education. Yes, banks have started offering education loans for children’s school fees!

Earlier, education loans were offered only for professional courses. Now, you can take them to pay the school fee, starting right from the nursery classes.

Loan criteria

The banks that offer this facility include nationalized banks such as Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, State Bank of Hyderabad and J&K Bank. The loan amount usually varies from 30,000-1 lakh, but the Bank of Baroda has an upper limit of 4 lakh. Though you don’t need an account with these banks to avail of the facility, account holders are given preference.

Another criteria is that the school should be affiliated to ICSE, CBSE or any other recognized state education board.

The loan is primarily meant to fund the tuition fee, but it can also be used to pay for other expenses, such as buying a laptop or apparatus needed for projects. However, in such a case, the equipment will remain in the bank’s name as security till the total amount is repaid.

The education loan will be available 12-13%. If you take a loan to finance your daughter’s education, you will be able to get an additional concession of 0.5-1% on the existing rate.