IEB reader Durgesh Prasad, sent in this idea, via email to some of the IEB contributors.

In today’s slow economy, where government is trying its best to keep the real estate market rolling and attracting investors to invest in real estate market in order to keep market live, I had an idea through which it can be achieved by government without loosing anything. Presently, the deciding period of differentiating a CAPITAL GAIN as Short term or Long term is 3 years period. If one sells his new house in less than 3 years and incurs profit, the gain is termed as Short term capital gain. And if he sells his new house after 3 years and incurs profit, the gain is termed as Long term capital gain. Now there is no way to avoid tax in short term capital gain, whereas there is way to save tax in long term capital

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What does 2009 hold for India, given the global credit crisis and the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks?

Joe Nocera, one of my favorite business journalists, thinks that India’s banking sector has managed to avoid getting dragged down by the financial maelstrom.

Do you agree?

And what is the outlook for the rest of the economy?

The deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India dominated the global headlines last week. What didn’t get a lot of attention, though, was the reason behind the attacks. The terrorists attacked the commercial heart of India — Mumbai’s financial district. And I believe their purpose was to destabilize India’s democracy and capitalist economy. Yet … India’s Economy was Struggling Before Those Attacks! The Indian economy expanded by 7.6% in the third quarter. And while that may sound impressive, it’s the slowest pace in four years and well below the 9% growth it had averaged for the last three years....

Independent Investor Research Tools; Be ready for 2009 with Water Stocks Directory, Renewable Energy Stocks Directory, Insiders Corner and Weekly Top 25 Search Trends POINT ROBERTS, Wash., Delta B.C., December 15, 2008 - www.InvestorIdeas.com, one of the first online investor resources providing in-depth information on renewable energy, greentech and water, provides independent investors access to research tools for making investment decisions moving into 2009 with a new Obama administration. With Obama’s mandate for renewable energy and infrastructure spending and job creation, investors researching the sectors can use the stock directories and resources at Investorideas.com to make their investment decisions. Investorideas.com has upgraded memberships to include access to restricted content at the water stocks directory, the Michael Brush Insider’s Corner, the Complete Renewable Energy Stocks Directory and inside access to weekly top 25 investor search trends. The water stocks directory is part ...

Tender Offer for Taro Pharma Tarries Along India's largest generic drug company [web link to analysis of this market] by market cap, Sun Pharma (Bombay: 524715), and Israel-based Taro Pharma (TAROF) have one month to reach agreement on an outstanding tender offer of $7.75 per share by Sun Pharma to acquire its smaller rival or the Israel Supreme Court will decide on the case. In early 2007, Taro agreed to the deal as it was struggling to survive and Sun invested $60M as part of a private placement to resolve Taro's liquidity issues. However, in May of this year Taro cancelled Sun Pharma's takeover of the Company and in September a Tel Aviv District Court dismissed Taro's argument that ...

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, Tuesday, November 25, 2008 -- -- Orient Green Power ("OGPL" or "the Company"), a dedicated renewable energy generation company with operations in India, announced completion of a fund raise of US$55 million led by Olympus Capital Holdings Asia ("Olympus Capital"). Olympus Capital is investing US$35 million, and Shriram EPC ("SEPC") and Bessemer Venture Partners ("BVP") have invested US$10 million each on the same terms. With the completion of this round of funding, the Company has access to US$75 million of equity, including funds raised earlier from BVP and SEPC. This equity infusion is in line with OGPL's business plan to achieve its growth objectives. It will provide OGPL with the capital to implement its operating plan of setting up and acquiring power generation assets based on renewable sources including biomass, cogeneration, wind, small hydro, and ...

The accompanying table includes the Top 25 rated companies with market caps over $50M U.S. Dollar which are included in the ETF Innovators [ETFI] Indian Generic Drug Index as a major component in the Global Generic Drug Index. The index also includes three companies based outside of India – Akorn (AKRX), Caraco Pharma (CPD), and Taro Pharma (TAROF). Akorn has a joint venture with Strides Arcolab (Akorn-Strides, LLC) which is focused on the hospital market for generic injectables, dominated by Hospira (HSP) and APP Pharma, which was acquired by Fresenius Medical (FMS). Taro is involved in litigation with India's largest generic drug company by market cap, Sun Pharma, to fend off a tender offer which Taro claims undervalues the company since its has completed ...

Just following up briefly on my last post, as anticipated by the PMI report India's industrial production growth bounced back again in September. Output at factories, utilities and mines rose 4.8 percent from a year earlier after a revised 1.4 percent gain in August, according to data from the Central Statistical Organization today (Wednesday).India's factory output rose 4.9 percent in the six months to September from a year earlier, less than half the 9.5 percent pace recorded in 2007, according to today's report.And the expansion in Indian manufacturing looks set to continue into October according to the latest ABN AMRO Bank purchasing managers' index (PMI) report. The index, which isbased on a survey of 500 companies, slumped to a seasonally adjusted 52.2 in October, its lowest since the survey began in April 2005 and sharply below September's ...

China announced on Sunday that is was going to put a stimulus package worth approximately $585 billion dollars into effect over the next two years.

A Marketwatch article entitled “China unveils stimulus package as growth slows,” describes the use of the funds as mostly infrastructure-related:

“Funds from the stimulus package will be spent in ten major areas that include low-income housing, rural infrastructure, water, electricity, transportation and improvements in the environment.”

World markets rallied sharply with the news, posting 3-5% throughout Asia. The US soared in early Monday trading as well – gaining 3-4% in just a few hours.

According to the Emerginvest Asian Heat Map, almost the entire continent had solid gains. China, India, and Russia all soared 5-7%.

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Indian inflation fell back again in the last week of October, as energy and commodity prices continued to fall, and the impact of the global financial turmoil and credit crunch ricocheted its way across one country after another. The IMF last week forecast annual growth for India of 6.3% in 2008 while India’s manufacturing expansion, which continued to weaken, still held out against the global trend, according to the latest JPMorgan global manufacturing PMI.

So, as we enter November, and a number of Indian indicators start to improve, it is certainly worth asking ourselves, has India turned the corner? Will India lead the emerging markets charge during the next global expansion?

I am not, I am sure, alone in feeling that this is a distinct possibility, and, indeed, a similar view was expressed only last week by Sharmila Whelan, senior economist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets.

“We do expect the Indian business cycle to

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