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Rajya Sabha has passed the Limited Liability Partnership Bill, 2008. Minister of Corporate Affairs, Shri Prem Chand Gupta today presented the Bill for consideration and passage by the House. All members supported it, thereby giving it the nod of the Rajya Sabha. The Bill provides for the formation and regulation of limited liability partnerships and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) as proposed in the Bill, 2008 is a new corporate form that enables professional expertise and entrepreneurial initiative to combine, organize and operate in an innovative and efficient manner. In India, this need has long been recognised for businesses which may require a framework that provides flexibility suited to requirements of service, knowledge and technology based enterprises.

Services sector is playing a major role in the national economy and there is a growing diversity in the range of services being offered. The services sector would also find this form very useful.The advantage of the LLP form would be that it will not impose detailed legal and procedural requirements intended for large widely held companies on such enterprises. In this way it will also be useful for small enterprises.

The need for LLP legislation has been recognized for a very long time. Various committees and Expert Groups have, from time to time, recommended introduction of LLP legislation in India. In the last decade itself, Abid Hussain Committee (1997) had recommended this legislation in the context of SSIs. The Naresh Chandra Committee on Regulation of Private Companies and Partnerships (2003) and Dr. Irani Committee on New Company Law (2005) had also made recommendations for a separate LLP Legislation.

However, it is the recent initiative of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs that has enabled this legislation to be finalized and tabled in the Parliament.

Government had earlier introduced the Limited Liability Partnership Bill, 2006 in the Rajya Sabha on 15^th December, 2006. It was later referred to the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance for examination and report. The Committee submitted its recommendations in its report to both Houses of Parliament on 27^th November, 2007. The present Bill, 2008 has taken in view the recommendations made by the Standing Committee and other relevant inputs.

The salient features of the LLP Bill, 2008 are as follows:

(i) The LLP will be an alternative corporate business vehicle that would give the benefits of limited liability but would allow its members the flexibility of organizing their internal structure as a partnership based on an agreement.

(ii) The Bill does not restrict the benefit of LLP structure to certain classes of professionals only and would be available for use by any enterprise which fulfills the requirements of the Act.

(iii) While the LLP will be a separate legal entity, liable to the full extent of its assets, the liability of the partners would be limited to their agreed contribution in the LLP. Further, no partner would be liable on account of the independent or un-authorized actions of other partners, thus allowing individual partners to be shielded from joint liability created by another partner’s wrongful business decisions or misconduct.

(iv) LLP shall be a body corporate and a legal entity separate from its partners. It will have perpetual succession. Indian Partnership Act, 1932 shall not be applicable to LLPs. Since LLP shall be in the form of a body corporate, it is also proposed that the relevant provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 may be made applicable to LLPs at any time in the future by Notification by Central Government, with such changes or modifications as appropriate.

(v) An LLP shall be under obligation to maintain annual accounts reflecting true and fair view of its state of affairs. Since tax matters of all entities in India are addressed in the Income Tax Act, 1961, the taxation of LLPs shall be addressed in that Act.

(vi) Provisions have been made in the Bill for corporate actions like mergers, amalgamations etc.

(vii) While enabling provisions in respect of winding up and dissolutions of LLPs have been made in the Bill, detailed provisions in this regard would be provided by way of rules under the Act.

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari released a book entitled “Reconciliation in Post-Godhra Gujarat: The Role of Civil Society” authored by eminent social scientist, Prof. T.K. Oommen at a function here today. Addressing on the occasion, the Vice President said that the book is not an altogether a theoretical book but is based on the actual experiences and author has done a great deal of work. He said that when a calamity occurs, the options are relief, rehabilitation and reconciliation and expressed his concern that the process of reconciliation did not reach the affected people living in the various camps there.

The Vice President opined that communal violence is often a deliberate product of human design seemingly provoked by national or religious passions and there is a need to impart lessons of reconciliation at the grass root level and involve the participation of the civil society.

Shri A. R. Antulay, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs, and Shri Dilip Padgaonkar, Member, National Commission for Minorities also addressed. A number of dignitaries were present on the occasion.

The book records the efforts lost by the Gujarat Harmony Project (GHP) and the challenges faced by it in building inclusive communities. It has analysed the dynamics of communal violence by situating the description of carnage in a historical context and providing a detailed socio-political profile of Gujarat. It has attempted to contain communal violence by encouraging the ideas of secularism and unity in diversity. To achieve a durable inter-group harmony, lessons of reconciliation at the grass root levels are needed.

Following is the text of the remarks by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh at the ASEM Summit at Beijing yesterday:

The international financial crisis has resulted from three failures:

(a) A regulatory and supervisory failure in major developed countries;

(b) A failure in risk management in private financial institutions;

(c) A failure in market discipline mechanism

These are not my views but those of the distinguished Managing Director of the IMF, with which I agree.

We must analyse objectively how and why these failures have occurred with such ferocity. This is necessary to put in place a new set of rules which will prevent reoccurrence of such failures.

The sad truth is that in this age of globalisation we have a global economy of sorts but it is not supported by a global polity to provide effective governance.

The resulting crisis of liquidity, accumulation of bad assets, shortage of capital and collapse of confidence threatens to spill over into the real economy by way of reduced demand for goods and services particularly exports, reduced access to trade and suppliers credits superimposed on other crises – food and fuel price rises that have strained budgets and balance of payments leading to rising inflation and living costs in many developing countries.

The President of the World Bank has identified at least 30 developing countries whose balance of payments will experience a severe deterioration in the wake of this financial crisis.

The immediate task is to declog the credit markets the world over. Coordinated global action is essential to restore a measure of confidence in the credit markets.

From the standpoint of developing countries, international financial institutions, particularly the IMF and World Bank, need to put in place exogenous shock facilities to provide assistance to the affected countries more quickly and in larger amounts with less service conditionalities and greater flexibility.

Countries with strong foreign exchange positions could make additional resources available to the international financial institutions on appropriate terms to finance their operations.

As a counter cyclical device, increased infrastructure investments in developing countries, if backed by increased resources flows from multilateral financial institutions such as the IBRD and Regional Development Banks, can act as a powerful stabilizer.

The IMF should revisit the potentially powerful instrument of creating liquidity through fresh allocation of Special Drawing Rights in favour of multilateral development finance institutions.

The reform and reconstruction of the financial system has to be a collective international effort since borders no longer confine financial institutions or can keep out financial turmoil. Given the growth in cross-border investment, trade and banking in the last three decades, the world must ponder over the need for a global monitoring authority to promote global supervision and cooperation in the increasingly integrated world in which we live.

In devising a reform agenda, one must bear the wise saying of John Maynard Keynes regarding the economically damaging role of excessive speculative activity. To quote Keynes :

“Speculators may do no harm as bubbles on a steady stream of enterprise. But the position is serious when enterprise becomes the bubble on a whirlpool of speculation. When the capital development of a country becomes a byproduct of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done”

Clearly, there has been a massive failure of regulatory and supervisory powers. Speculators have had a free run for far too long a period. International institutions like the IMF have also not covered themselves with glory. There has been an unacceptable failure of effective multilateral supervision of major developed economies and in particular of what has been going on in their financial markets.

India’s banking system is sound and well capitalized. It is not exposed to the type of assets which have given rise to this crisis. Our real economy will grow at the rate of 7 to 7.5 percent this year despite the global slowdown of export demand and capital inflows. We have injected fresh liquidity in the system.

We realize that we cannot remain totally unaffected when the global economy and financial system are in deep trouble. Our stock markets and the exchange rate of the rupee are under pressure due to capital outflow of foreign institutional investors. Sooner or later, the real economy is bound to experience the pain.

We are therefore sincere in our desire to cooperate and coordinate our actions with the world community to find effective and pragmatic solutions to the formidable challenges the world economy is now faced with.”

People with disabilities and older persons are now becoming a growing group of consumers of travel, sports and other leisure oriented products and services. The Ministry of Tourism wants to tap the potential of this group for promotion of tourism destinations in the country. The Ministry has therefore, taken the initiative to make the tourist facilities being created with central financial assistance barrier free. For this purpose, the Ministry organised a workshop in association with Svayam, a Delhi based NGO on creation of disabled friendly environment at tourist destinations to sensitise the engineers of State Tourism Corporations, ITDC and officials of Archaeological Survey of India about the special needs of people with disabilities. Engineers and officials of various State Tourism Departments/State Tourism Corporations attended the workshop. The objective was to sensitise the stakeholders towards the needs of physically challenged and motivate them to implement accessible facilities.

Inaugurating the workshop Shri Shilabhadra Banerjee, Secretary (Tourism), Government of India stressed on the need for making our tourist destinations barrier free for the benefit of persons with disabilities and older persons. He also said that it makes sense to provide special facilities for the physically challenged persons because this group is now willing to travel to different tourist destinations which provide accessibility and also has surplus funds to spend. Moreover, the accessible environment created for disabled persons are also used by people with limited mobility and the elderly.

The team of experts of Svayam trained by UN ESCAP at APCD, Bangkok conducted the workshop. The representative of ASI shared the experience of making Qutab Complex barrier free. The representative of Delhi Transport Corporation also explained the efforts being made by them to provide accessible public transport in Delhi.

The workshop was followed by a site visit to Qutab Complex which has been made barrier free by ASI with the assistance of Svayam, in an Accessible Low Floor Bus provided by Delhi Transport Corporation.

The workshop and the site visit to Qutab Complex created a positive attitude among the Engineers and Officials towards promotion of accessible tourism in the country.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the corporate travel service majority-owned by the Carlson Companies of Minnetonka, is moving part of its ticketing operations to India.

An undisclosed number of “centralized ticketing and refund fulfillment” jobs are being shifted to Gurgaon, India, although a help desk would be maintained in the United States, employees were told in an internal memo on Friday. The decision follows a one-year period in which the Indian operations handled the Asia-Pacific travel arrangements for Carlson Wagonlit customer Hewlett-Packard.

Spokeswoman Shannon Coughlin declined to say how many of Carlson Wagonlit’s 22,000 employees were affected, but she said about 10 of the affected workers were based in Minnesota.

The memo, from Janet Wheatley, Wagonlit’s vice president of traveler and transaction services in North America, said the shift to India was partly related to “sustaining our overall financial health as a business.”

Even as the peak season for the tourism industry in this part of the country begins, the United States government has warned its citizens to be careful of demonstrations organised by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in Mumbai and “throughout western Maharashtra”.

The advisory could not have come at a worse time for the travel industry. “We are just gearing up for our peak season when the largest number of travellers come to India, so such an adverse comment is worrisome,” said Ashwini Kakkar of Mercury Travels. He pointed out that even Australia and the United Kingdom have issued similar notices to their citizens.

“We hope that it will remain a temporary matter and business will not be hit in the long term. Christmastime is crucial as a number of NRIs also come to India at that time,” Kakkar said.

Frederick Divecha, senior vice president of Kuoni Travels, said that most Americans make their travel plans in advance and thus he was hopeful that the advisory would not affect inbound traffic too much. “We have not had any calls for cancellations yet,” Divecha said.

The US travel advisory tells Americans that there has been sporadic violence in the state following the arrest of “Raj Thackeray in connection with attacks on students from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar taking railway recruitment examinations”.

The warning goes on to say that “the US Consulate has received reports of rocks being thrown at cars, buses being damaged, trains being stopped, street blockages, and small roaming groups of rioters in the north and northeastern suburbs of Mumbai”.

American visitors to Mumbai are told that, “Although these disturbances are not directed at US citizens, they are indiscriminate and could affect anyone in their vicinity.” Moreover, “Demonstrations can quickly turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence.”

The American Consulate has asked its citizens to avoid large crowds and exercise caution in the vicinity of any demonstrations. They are also advised to “consider alternate travel routes to avoid affected areas”.

Television ratings for Game 1 of the World Series were down from last year.

The Philadelphia Phillies’ 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Fox on Wednesday night earned a 9.2 rating and 15 share, the network said Thursday.

That’s down 12 percent from the 10.5 for the 2007 Game 1 between the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies, but up 15 percent from the 8.0 for Cardinals-Tigers two years ago.

The rating is the percentage watching a program among homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned into the broadcast among those households with TVs on at the time.

Kuoni India yesterday introduced luxury packages to Thailand in association with Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in Mumbai. The new luxury brochure showcases various luxury destinations of Thailand including unexplored places like Koh Samui, Krabi, Chaing Mai and Hua Hin. With a variety of options of beaches, spas, inland forests and world class hotels wherein the packages start from Rs 54,500 per person.

Speaking on the occasion, Zubin Karkaria, CEO AND Managing Director, Kuoni India and South Asia said, “We have unveiled the luxury packages when the world is facing A global meltdown. I think this is the best time to travel as people are not busy with their business and are upset with their work opportunities. These luxury holidays will definitely make the travellers feel good and fresh.” Kuoni India is looking at repositioning Thailand as a preferred destination for Indian luxury segment.

Kuoni India introduced the luxury packages concept way back in 2006 with three destinations and today have about 16 luxury destinations to offer. “We are planning to introduce luxury packages to Egypt, Turkey and Spain by next year. These luxury packages are receiving amazing responses and the segment is growing at almost 25 per cent every year,” added Karkaria. The packages to Thailand include ‘Cultimo’ – a culture based package for short trips and ‘Ananea’ – packages related to responsible and eco-friendly tourism.

According to Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, Director – India, TATA, a new office will be opened in Mumbai by year end to cater to Southern parts of India along with Maldives and Sri Lanka. “We have seen phenomenal growth since we opened our office in New Delhi five years ago. This year about 5.1 lakh Indians visited Thailand and we expect the figure to touch six lakh for 2009. We expect India and China to propel our growth in tourism.”

Sri Lanka Tourism will initiate an aggressive promotional campaign to attract Indian tourists into Sri Lanka. More than nine million tourists expected to travel out of India, Vice President, Tourist Hotel Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) Amal Goonetilleke said.

Sri Lanka Tourism to tap vast Indian Market

Hiran H. SENEWIRATNE

Sri Lanka Tourism will initiate an aggressive promotional campaign to attract Indian tourists into Sri Lanka. More than nine million tourists expected to travel out of India, Vice President, Tourist Hotel Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) Amal Goonetilleke said.

Deputy Chairman City Hotels Association Amal Goonetilake addressing the conference. Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel. Management Chairman Bernard Goonetilake and Deputy Chairman of John Keells Holdings (JKH) Ajith Gunawardena were also present. Picture by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa

“In view of the current global financial crisis, India and China have had an adverse impact the way the European countries are affected. Therefore, it is an opportunity to promote Indian tourists specially family and corporate into Sri Lanka,” Goonetilleke told at a media conference yesterday. She said that more than nine million Indian travellers are expected to travel outside India and they expect to attract at least nine per cent of them into Sri Lanka as a thrust as it is the biggest tourist market for Sri Lanka.

“We are going to adopt tailor-made strategies for each and every Indian State to promote and attract Indian tourists to Sri Lanka and capture at least seven per cent of them in the next year,” Goonetilleke said.

They are looking at tailor-made promotional campaigns into Indian States through road shows and other activities in the country. Further, they will also meet top ranking politicians in Indian States including opposition members as a part of the programme during the next year, she said.

Deputy Chairman of John Keells Holdings (JKH) Ajith Gunawardena said that the Indian market is important for Sri Lanka due to the close proximity, access and the sea factor and the most important thing is the expanding middle class in India.

“India has not had a major impact from the global financial crisis, which will help to promote the lucrative Indian market in the shortterm perspective as a thrust sector. Therefore Sri Lankan Airlines and Sri Lanka Tourism should work in hand in glove to grab this opportunity,” Gunawardena said.

General Manager Sri Lankan Airlines MICE Division Amith Sumanapala said 77 flights fly to India and with these aggressive tourist promotions they could increase the seat factor in the flights available.

Sumanapala said Sri Lankan Airline being a 100 per cent Government entity has not tied up with any airline. With the new promotion they are expecting to tie up with other airlines and tour operators to achieve the goal.