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A combative Rahul Gandhi on Saturday (2 May) kept up his attack on Narendra Modi government, accusing it of working against middle class home-buyers by "diluting" a bill on regulating real estate sector and making it "pro-builders". The Congress Vice President, who has aggressively targeted the government and the Prime Minister over the land bill and farmers' issues since his return from a nearly two-month leave, today sought to reach out to middle class, saying he would fight for them the way he has stood by farmers and tribals. "Government, which has been working against farmers and tribals, is working against the middle class in the same manner," he told reporters after meeting several NCR flat buyers here. With Rahul upping the ante on the amended Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, the fate of the bill listed for consideration and passage in Rajya Sabha on May 5 has become uncertain as the NDA does not have the numbers in the Upper House to ensure its passage. "I have assured them that the way I am helping the poor and the tribals, I will do the same for the middle class. I will stand by them," the Congress leader said, as he sought to link the "suffering" of the middle class home-buyers with the issue of land, which the Congress has made a major political plank. Rahul said that he had learnt that it is not just farmers and tribals but also the middle class people that are suppressed on matters related to land. Assuring home-buyers that he would stand by them, Gandhi said that it was due to lack of transparency, the buyers were left in a quandary. "They are told that you will get the flat on a particular day but for years they don't get the flat. They are told the super duper area of the flat would be so much but what is delivered is different," he said. He said the government was trying to destroy the Bill which Congress led UPA had brought to regulate the real estate sector. "Main dilution is that earlier there was transparency. The carpet area that you sign is what would be given. They have diluted that now and from pro-buyer made it pro-builder," he said, firing yet another salvo at Modi government whom he has accused of being "pro-corporate, anti-farmer and anti-poor" over the land bill. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls also, the Congress Vice President had made a strong pro-middle class pitch promising to "create a floor" beneath the feet of 70 crore population of the country and lift them to middle class status. The Congress has decided to take the issue of changes brought about by the NDA government in the real estate bill to people and bring out the "contrast" between UPA's real estate bill and NDA's legislation on the line of what it did in the case of the land acquisition Act. (Agencies)
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How have the Indian reforms fared at the economic stakes? Is the Indian economy in a bad place and vulnerable to a downgrade (according to S&P) or is it the right place to invest (Deutsche Bank) which has performed better than China (according to HSBC)? The blitzkreig of measures (some truly much needed) undertaken by the new "old man in a hurry" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, fighting a last battle against policy paralysis, have somehow failed to yield the expected results. It appears to be a glass 'half-full-and -half-empty' situation with different perspectives colouring the conclusions. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and US Fed Reserve chairman on a two-day visit to India have been suppotive of the new drive to reform the economy, saying it will spur growth in private investment and income. Sitting beside P. Chidambaram, whose appointment as India's finance minister in August helped trigger the rash of reforms, Geithner said the new policies offered "a very promising path to improving growth outcomes for the Indian economy".India's Reform Drive To Draw Investment Looming Credit Rating DowngradeBut the foreign rating agencies continue to be divided in their opinion. India still faces a one-in-three chance of a credit rating downgrade over the next 24 months, says Standard & Poor's, although a series of reform steps launched in September had slightly improved the country's prospects. The S&P announcement coming a day after the IMF slashed the country's growth forecasts for 2012 to 4.9 per cent, dampened the market sentiment with the sensex plunging over 160 points on 10 October.S&P's credit rating for India is BBB-, one notch above junk grade and the lowest investment rating in the BRICS grouping of big emerging economies. S&P had lowered India's rating outlook to negative from stable in April."A downgrade is likely if the country's economic growth prospects dim, its external position deteriorates, its political climate worsens, or fiscal reforms slow," the ratings agency said in a report dated 9 October and released on 10 October.S&P analyst Kim Eng Tan said the reform measures had helped in "slightly" revising S&P's view on India's rating. "Right now we do see that government has taken some actions which we didn't expect initially. To some extent that has helped to revise slightly our views of credit downgrade," said Tan.S&P also affirmed its negative rating on seven public sector banks in India. The banks on which S&P has affirmed its 'BBB-' long-term and 'A-3' short-term issuer credit ratings include Bank of India (BOI), Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Indian Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Syndicate Bank and Union Bank of India (UBI).The S&P has further revised the stand-alone credit profile (SACP) of SBI to 'bbb-' from 'bbb' and that of UBI to 'bb+' from 'bbb-' based on anticipation of the banks' weak asset quality performance.Why India Still Looks GoodWhile S&P and IMF have managed to dampen immediate market sentiment, Deutsche Bank on the other says investors should continue to buy Indian equities. According to the bank, its India Risk-Love index is at a neutral from being in a mild panic in May. It even welcomes the high rate of twin deficits (current account plus fiscal deficit), saying such a situation creates ground for policy reforms, just like it has done now. "Prospective returns from these diabolical twin deficit levels are exceptionally good".Also, return on investments (ROEs) and EBIT margins are in the lowest quintile in the last two decades and are likely to rise as prior under-investment, policy reforms, contained commodity prices from a slowing China, and increases in infrastructure spending kick in. The bank is gung-ho on the reforms and expects a continued slew of reforms, project approvals and possibly a budget next April that also surprises positively.India Grew Faster Than China An HSBC survey says economic growth in emerging market economies slowed in the July-September quarter on poor performance by the manufacturing sector, but India expanded more than China, an HSBC survey said.The HSBC Emerging Markets Index (EMI) slipped to 52.1 in the third quarter this year, from 53.2 in the April-June period.A relatively better performance from the services sector was offset by the poor performance of the manufacturing sector, as global demand softened.However, among the big-four emerging markets, expansion in India and Russia were better than Brazil and China, HSBC said.Although the HSBC EMI, which is based on PMI ( Purchasing Managers' Index) surveys conducted across the emerging markets, stayed above the 50-mark that differentiates growth from slowdown, HSBC noted that the global economic condition is posing strong headwinds for them.Going forward, although manufacturing was mainly responsible for third quarter weakness, the longer-term outlook for the services economy deteriorated to its lowest level since the survey began in 2005.Though the level of gloom about the future business outlook moderated among the big-four emerging market economies, Indian counterparts were the most confident, the HSBC survey said.The taint of corruption has refused to leave the UPA 2 government. Despite all the measures to improve market sentiment, the latest DLF-Robert Vadra saga has again punctured the market sentiment. The prime minister today spoke about taking steps against corporates that fail to prevent bribery .A thorough spring-cleaning may be necessary before people's faith is restored.
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...I have come to understand that not all enclosed spaces are prisons, and that some are for safety: some are sanctuaries" What redeems a small place, turning a cell into a place of refuge? Peter Hobbs asks this question in In the Orchard, The Swallows. The book is about enclosed places — a small room where an unnamed man recovers from weakness, a garden in the house of the kind man who rescues him and of course, the orchard, where the memory of love resides. Hobbs sets the story in Northern Pakistan, a place of fluid borders with Afghanistan, where the swallows wheel over the branches of pomegranate trees. Swallows that appear as leit-motif, both in prison and in orchard, in sorrow and in love. The main character, a nameless man, sees a girl at a market... “Beside a tray of apricots — I remember because their colour was reflected onto the white silk of your dupatta.” They are two 14-year-olds. He gives her a pomegranate — the first fruit, in Islamic legend. This is another garden of Eden and they are young Adam and Eve. He is thrown out of this paradise when the girls's father, a politically important person, has him thrown in prison to rot for 15 years while undergoing hideous tortures. He survives and the love that led him into darkness ultimately delivers him out of it. We meet our narrator as he emerges from prison, a broken and disoriented 29-year-old who is nurtured back to health by a former government poet and his young daughter, living near the now-neglected orchards. In The Orchard is an exquisite love story. It is also a cruel story told with infinite gentleness, with the fragrance of a single crushed flower. The central theme of love runs through this short, fable-like novella. Here the love of the boy for the girl Saba, transcends the beloved (interestingly Saba means beloved ) to be one with infinity. It is difficult to find such love these days, a love beyond the broken body. One is reminded of the classic love story of Laila-Majnu. But in an interview to The Star.com, Hobbs said he had never heard about the tale of Laila Majnu before writing this novel. He had wanted this story, a fable of sorts, to be rooted in the natural world; the seasons and the landscape mattered a great deal to him and that's why he had set it in Northern Pakistan, a place that had impressed him a great deal when he had travelled there 15 years ago. According to Islam, pomegranates grow in paradise and can be tasted only fleetingly in this life. In the Orchard, leaves a bittersweet taste of paradise for the reader. Peter Hobbs, grew up in Cornwall and Yorkshire, and lived in Canada while writing this book. His debut novel, The Short Day Dying was shortlisted for the Whitebread First Novel award and the John Llewellyn Rhys prize and won a Betty Trask award. nandini (dot) bw (at) gmail (dot) com
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Despite the onslaught of camera phones - cameras are still being sold. Japan, the world's largest manufacturer, shipped nearly three times as many cameras in January as it did in the same month of 2003, when the camera phone was still in its infancy. And this trend is best demonstrated by Canon which has seen its camera business grow as the proportion of its overall sales to more than 25 per cent in the last 5 months. A falling rupee may be forcing Canon India to hike prices of non-camera products twice in six months, but that does not stop it from setting a target a 45 per cent rise in sales this year, based on its expectations from sales of compact cameras and digital SLRs. And pushing the sales are the youth of India.The market of India is the market of youth, according to Canon India Senior Vice-President Alok Bharadwaj. To expand on this youth connect, Canon India has been using cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar so long. This year, it also added Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma. The products, colour, form, marketing engagement, everything is youth centric. The company is big in social media too. It has built communities of Digital SLR users numbering 180,000!When it comes to taking serious photos, people usually go to camera makers like Canon. This leaves the compact point-and-shoot camera segment of the market vulnerable. In markets such as the United States and Japan, there's not many more people who want to buy one. On the one hand, this is eating into sales that Canon and others traditionally dominated. On the other, the ease with which photos can be taken on a phone is feeding an interest in taking better photos, expanding the middle of the market into a "pro-sumer" segment of devices which cost a bit more but offer the user options so far unavailable on the mobile phone: An optical, rather than digital, zoom, for example, better flash, and image stabilization.In India, however, the mobile camera does not yet effect the entry-level cameras. Also, they continue to be aspirational in India. Moreover, inspite of the 100 per cent growth trajectory for the digital cameras, only 5 per cent of the population is covered. With the growing affluence, Canon India plans to sell about 1.2 lakh of DSLRs, double of 60,000 sold last year. The DSLR market is estimated to be 2.5 lakh units, so thew aim is to be close to 50 per cent market share.Canon sells its products through image squares. From 65 Canon Image Squares in 42 cities, the company plans to take it to 300 squares in 150 towns by 2014. In the compact camera segment too it aims to have a bigger slice — 25 per cent — of the marketshare. Falling Rupee & Costlier ProductsCome June and Canon India will be increasing prices of its non-camera products by up to 5 per cent from June to offset the impact of the fall in rupee, the second price hike within six months.The price increase will be in the documentation products including laser printers, copier machines, inkjet printers and other IT peripherals segments which contribute half of the its turnover.It will take a decision on hiking the prices of cameras in July and if the rupee slide continues, may go for a hike in October. "We are looking at increasing our prices by 5 per cent in all products except the cameras from June 1. Since this is the peak season for cameras we don't want to create any impact on sales now," says Bharadwaj."The rupee fall has made the environment very uncertain and a big challenge," he said.Admitting that price spike will impact sales at a time when already demand is slackening in the consumer durables space, he said: "We have decided to increase prices even if it means it slows a little bit of our topline, because the fall of the rupee is so steep."But despite the price increase in non-camera products and the resultant slackening demand, Bhardwaj expects Canon India revenue will grow 45 per cent this year and for this he is betting on an increasing share of compact cameras and high growth in digital SLRs."Our total revenue should be Rs 2,200 crore this year, last year we clocked about Rs 1,525 crore, " he said. Last year, the company's sales got hit as the supply chains broke down in the wake of the tsunami in Japan and floods in Thailand.Incidentally, while 50 per cent of Canon India sales are to private consumers, 25 per cent goes to large enterprises like banks and corporates and 25 per cent to the government, both state and central. Despite the rising prices, Canon India expects an increase in the sales to governments as it gets more modernised and digitalisation takes place.Canon has great expectations from India. While the mid-term story may be disturbed, the long-term story remains intact.
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India's services sector growth may be finally moving up echoing the manufacturing growth in April thanks to a rise in new business; the inflation growth may be ebbing and consumer buying as well as foodgrain production picking up, but some things never change. About 60 per cent of India's rural population lives on less than Rs 35 a day and nearly as many in cities live on Rs 66 a day, reveals a government survey on income and expenditure."In terms of average per capita daily expenditure, it comes out to be about Rs 35 in rural and Rs 66 in urban India.About 60 per cent of the population live with these expenditures or less in rural and urban areas," said Director General of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) J Dash in his preface to the report.According to the 66th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) carried out between July 2009 and June 2010, all India average monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) in rural areas was Rs 1,054 and urban areas Rs 1,984.Rural poverty is supposed to have declined faster than urban poverty during the latest period under review but the NSSO survey points out that 10 per cent of the population at the lowest rung in rural areas lives on Rs 15 a day, while in urban areas the figure is only a shade better at Rs 20 day.In March, the Planning Commission said 29.8 per cent of India's population or 35.46 crore live below the poverty line, a sharp drop from (40.72 crore) 37.2 per cent in 2004-2005. According to one estimate, however, this figure could be as high as 77 per cent. The problem lies with the definition of the poverty line. The new count is based on fixing the poverty line for a person living on Rs 28.65 a day in cities and Rs 22.42 rupees a day in villages.This is lower than last year's recommendation by the Planning Commission to set the poverty line at Rs 32 a day which stirred up a major debate across the country.In India, poverty counts are based on a large sample survey of household expenditures, that they are based on the purchasing power needed to buy food with some margin for non-food consumption needs.Poorest Of The Poor"The poorest 10 per cent of India's rural population had an average MPCE of Rs 453. The poorest 10 per cent of the urban population had an average MPCE of Rs 599", the NSSO survey said.The NSSO survey also revealed that average MPCE in rural areas was lowest in Bihar and Chhattisgarh at around Rs 780 followed by Orissa and Jharkhand at Rs 820.Among other states, Kerala has the highest rural MPCE at 1,835 followed by Punjab and Haryana at Rs 1,649 and Rs 1,510 respectively.The the highest urban MCPE was in Maharashtra at Rs 2,437 followed by Kerala at Rs 2,413 and Haryana at Rs 2,321. It was lowest in Bihar at Rs 1,238. The median level of MCPE was Rs 895 in rural and Rs 1,502 in urban India, indicating consumption level of majority of population.According to the study, food was estimated to account about 57 per cent of the value of the average rural Indian household consumption during 2009-10 whereas it was 44 per cent in cities.The study reveals that the average monthly per capita consumption of cereals was 11.3 kg in rural areas and 9.4 kg in cities.The number of poor in India remains staggeringly high. Also, demographics and the social character of the poor do not appear to be changing.Labourers (farm workers in villages, casual workers in cities), tribespeople, Dalits (formerly called low caste untouchables) and Muslims remain the poorest Indians.Almost 60 per cent of the poor continue to reside in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Significantly, 85 per cent of India's tribespeople and Dalits live in these states.Most agree that India has reduced poverty - from 55 per cent in 1973-74 to 29.8 per cent in 2009-2010, if the recent figures are correct.But it is not happening fast enough, considering India's reasonably high rate of economic growth. "High growth, though essential," says the India Development Report, "is not sufficient for poverty reduction on a sustainable basis."(With Agencies)
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Under pressure to trim the country's fiscal deficit amid cooling economic growth and a crisis of stability for the coalition government, Pranab Mukherjee preferred to play safe on Thursday by presenting a budget that did not contain any big ticket announcement but was rather a realistic one given the state of affairs. The industry however, was not happy. A disappointed India Inc said on Friday his Budget is a "missed opportunity" and would have cascading impact on inflation and consumer demand.The Finance Minister proposed trimming the government's subsidy burden and called for speeding the pace of economic reforms, which have been stalled by political gridlock, in his budget speech on Friday.High oil prices have swelled India's subsidy burden to roughly 2.5 per cent of GDP and Mukherjee called for reducing that to less than 2 per cent in the fiscal year that starts on April 1."We have to accelerate the pace of reforms," he told parliament.In a manner the Budget was a directional one and the FM recognised the importance of capital markets and suggested changes in IPO guidelines steps to expand investor base as well as allow qualified FIIs into investing in corporate bonds.But fiscal deficit Continues to pressure the govt borrowing programme."It is not going to stimulate growth in the economy," Ficci President R V Kanoria said.CII President B Muthuraman said he was expecting much more and the excise-related proposals would push up prices.However, the steps to control fiscal deficit would augur well for the economy."The Budget is a missed opportunity," said Siddharth Birla of C K Birla Group said while, Biocon CMD Kiran Majumdar Shaw expressed fears the Budget would be inflationary. Harshpati Singhania of J K Group echoed similar views."Increase in excise duty will have inflationary implications," he said."...deficit is still high which is disappointing. Things are going to become costlier for final consumer," Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej said.Assocham President R N Dhoot said that he was expecting that the personal income tax exemption limit would be raised to 2.5 lakh per annum. "It is not done which is disappointing."However, certain initiatives like liberalising the external commercial borrowing (ECB) rules and boost to investment particularly in infrastructure sector were hailed by industry leaders.The BSE benchmark Sensex was almost flat during mid-day after the Budget was unveiled.In a mix of sops and imposts, the General Budget on Friday proposed a marginal raise in income tax exemption limit of Rs 20,000 but hiked service tax and standard excise duty by 2 per cent across the board to net an additional Rs 41,440 crore a year.Noting that the share of service taxes remains far below its potential, the Budget proposed to tax all services except those in the negative list which contains 17 heads.Stage was set for costlier luxury which are now attracting duty up to 27 per cent. ACs, refrigerators, cigarettes are also to cost more while mobile phone bills are set to increase.The Budget for 2012-13 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha, however, left corporate tax rate and peak customs duty unchanged while the import duty on gold bars and platinum and excise duty on cigarettes, bidis, pan masala and chewing tobacco were raised.Customs duty on completely built large cars SUVs and MUVs of value exceeding $40,000 (Rs 20 lakh) was also raised.While the direct tax proposals in the Budget will result in a revenue loss of Rs 4,500 crore, indirect tax proposals would result in a revenue gain of Rs 45,940 crore. Thus the tax proposals lead to a net gain of Rs 41,440 crore.Raising Rs 30,000 Cr Through DisinvestmentMukherjee set a target of selling Rs 30000 crore worth of stakes in state companies in the next fiscal year, roughly in line with forecasts. India has raised just Rs 13,900 crore in the current fiscal year from stake sales, far below its budget target of Rs 40000 crore.The government's move on Wednesday to raise railway fares for the first time in eight years sparked an intense backlash from the Trinamool Congress, further eroding its ability to make politically tough decisions such as raising diesel prices in order to ease its fiscal deficit.Mukherjee said he expects the economy to grow by 7.6 per cent in the fiscal year starting in April, up from an expected 6.9 per cent in the current year but below the 8.4 per cent growth of the previous fiscal year.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government was already reeling from a dismal showing in recent state elections and more than a year of corruption scandals that have resulted in policy gridlock.With general elections set for 2014, the budget a year from now is expected to be laden with populist spending measures. Friday's budget is thus viewed as a last opportunity for Singh's government to roll back a yawning fiscal gap.India's fiscal deficit for the year that ends this month is expected to exceed the target of 4.6 per cent of GDP by more than a percentage point after economic growth slowed, the subsidy bill ballooned on higher oil and commodity prices and weak markets undermined efforts to sell state assets.High inflation forced the RBI to continue raising interest rates even as its counterparts elsewhere turned their focus towards reviving growth. While inflation is no longer near double digits, it rose to 6.95 per cent annually in February.On Thursday, the central bank disappointed market hopes that it would begin cutting interest rates after 13 increases between March 2010 and October 2011, and warned of renewed inflationary risks from high oil prices, a depreciation of the rupee and "fiscal slippage", a reference to the government's deficit.The Budget makes a provision of Rs 1,93,407 crore for defence services including Rs 79,579 crore for capital expenditure, raising the outlay by 17 per cent. The allocation is based on present needs and any further requirement would be met, Mukherjee said.Tax IncentivesUnder the budget proposals, individual income up to Rs 2 lakh will be free from income tax as against Rs 1.80 lakh currently.Income between Rs 2 lakh and 5 lakh will be taxed at the rate of 10 per cent while that above Rs 5 lakh but less than Rs 10 lakh would attract 20 per cent, and above Rs 10 lakh it would be 30 per cent.The Budget also allows individual tax payers a deduction of up to Rs 10,000 for interest from savings bank account which would help a large number of small tax payers with salary income up to Rs 5 lakh and interest from saving banks accounts up to Rs 10,000 as they would be they would not be required to file income tax returns.Within the existing limit for deduction allows for health insurance, the Minister proposed to allow a deduction of Rs 5,000 for preventive health check-up.Senior citizens who do not have any income from business are proposed to be exempted from payment of advance tax, reducing their compliance burden.While not proposing any change in the tax rate, the Budget proposes certain measures to allow corporates to access lower cost funds and to promote higher level of investments in several sectors.Mukherjee also announced sops for aviation and power sector.Service Tax Burden Goes UpNoting that the share of service taxes remains far below its potential, the Budget proposed to tax all services except those in the negative list which contains 17 heads.The important inclusions in the negative list comprise all services provided by government and local authorities except a few services where they compete with the private sector.The negative list also include pre-school and school education, recognised education at higher level and approved vocational education, renting of residential dwellings, entertainment and amusement services and large part of public transportation including inland waterways, urban railways and metered cabs.In addition to the negative list, there is a list of exemptions which include health care, services provided by charities, religious persons, sportspersons, folk and classical artists, individual advocate providing services to non-business entities, independent journalists, animal care and car parking.Service tax proposals alone are expected to yield an additional revenue of Rs 18,660 crore.The standard rate of excise duty on non-petroleum products was reduced from 14 to 8 per cent in the wake of global financial crisis in 2008-09 and was raised to 10 per cent in the Budget of 2010.Proposing a fiscal correction that would result in higher prices across-the-board, the Budget now proposed to raise the standard rate from 10 to 12 per cent, the merit rate from 5 to 6 per cent and lower merit rate from 1 to 2 per cent.However, the lower merit rate for coal, fertilisers, mobile phones and precious metal jewellery is being retained at 1 per cent.(With agencies)
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The winter chill is here, so stop warming your chairs and move it! Get going and get away for a while, it'll do your system a lot of good. Okay, so you can't jump and run right away, but you can start planning, right? This time, we say, go somewhere where it's really COLD, such as ski resorts. There's nothing more exhilarating than tearing down icy slopes against the onrushing, bitter-cold wind. And the fun is greater if you went to a place that is less celebrated, but no less exquisite than the world's best known ski resorts. So, here's a delectable menu of unusual options.Among the most spectacular ski experiences is one in the land of the midnight sun — Riksgränsen, the northernmost ski resort in the world (in Sweden), 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Locally, it is called heaven and hell; heaven because of the sheer variety of terrain available (though top elevation is just 909 metres); and hell because the weather could turn vicious in a moment. The resort is open from February to early July. Between mid-May and July, the sun doesn't set on Riksgränsen, meaning you can put on your skiing shoes or snowboard even at midnight. If you're lucky, you'll have the Aurora Borealis for company. While there are several pistes (marked or groomed ski trails) for the conventional skier, Riksgränsen is off-piste heaven (think of it as the skiing equivalent of offroading). What has Vladimir Putin been in the news for lately? Hmm… let's see… racing an F1 car, hunting, fishing, driving cross country, um… Alina Kabaeva... the list is long. But what we're getting at are pictures splashed all over of him skiing at Krasnaya Polyana, in the midst of the breathtaking West Caucasian mountains. Located in the European part of Russia, it takes just a two-and-a-half hour flight to reach Krasnaya Polyana from Moscow. The place is gentle compared to Riksgränsen, with more inhabitants, and lots of well-maintained pistes. Its best slopes are on the northern slopes of the Aibga Ridge, with the longest being 4 km in length. Heli-skiing (the helicopter drops you off at a remote, off-piste place) can lengthen the trail to 7 km and provide a vertical of more than 2,000 metre. Best time to visit is December-March, but the mild climate is a bother; so it's best to check the snow levels (on the resort's website) before booking the tickets.Down Under, Thredbo is thunder! Pardon the borrowed punchline, but Thredbo, in New South Wales, Australia, is truly the southern hemisphere's most sought after skiing destination. A relatively upmarket resort 500 km south of Sydney, Thredbo provides Australia's longest ski runs and the most vertical alpine terrain. Seasoned skiers could check out the Funnel Web, the steepest run on the mountain. When not skiing, one can indulge in a variety of self-guided bush walks or a joyride on the 700-metre Thredbo bobsled on a fun track full of wild straights, twists and turns. To unwind, there's the Schuss Bar or the Keller Nightclub. Best time to visit is now.From the land of the midnight sun to the land of the rising sun. Yes, Japan too has plenty of snow, and some cool ski resorts as well. One such resort, Hakuba Valley, is just a three-hour train ride from Tokyo. It has 10 resort areas and more than 200 runs for both skiers and snowboarders of all ability levels. Plus, a base snow cover of more than 10 metres every season makes Hakuba an ideal location for the regular skier. There is also a collection of natural hot springs that help you unwind after a tough day on the slopes. The resort is open from December until the beginning of May. And the best time to visit is mid-December to mid-March.This one's slightly on the eerie side. The Balkans, or more precisely, Transylvania, home to Bran Castle of Dracula fame, is a fast emerging hotspot for skiing enthusiasts. The amenities, though, aren't worth shouting about; what you can be sure to get is inexpensive, hearty food, uncrowded slopes and stunning scenery. Skiing, rather cross-country skiing is more popular here than snowboarding. The best known ski resort in the region is Brasov-Poiana. It is perfect for beginners with 15 km of slopes marked blue, red and black according to difficulty level. And don't worry, Count Dracula isn't among the hosts.(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 22-11-2010)
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