Employees at Indian companies can expect an average 11 per cent pay hike in 2014, according to a survey conducted by professional services company Towers Watson. However, after factoring in inflation, the rise would be just 2 per cent. Taking inflation into account, Japan at 0.5 per cent and India at 2 per cent are among countries offering the smallest rises, while China and Vietnam lead the way with 4.9 per cent. “Indian companies have traditionally offered high salary increases as compa

Bangladesh has received a request from Sri Lanka on jute cultivation in its northwestern province Puttalam where Colombo assured of giving long-term lease of lands. The request came in a meeting between Sri Lankan President Mohinda Rajapaksa and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina here on Friday. Sheikh Hasina is now in Colombo to attend Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM). The Prime Minister expressed Bangladesh's interest in extending cooperation in cultivating unuse

Garment factory workers sew clothing for export at a factory in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district in September Hong Menea Cambodian exports to the United States saw a 3.7 per cent year-on-year increase in the first nine months of this year, according to the US Department of Commerce. Officials and insiders called the figure just a “slight increase”. While the government and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), said production had been slowed by garment workers strikes,

Hong Kong's Addchance Holdings Ltd says it has opened a $20 million garment factory in Cambodia to produce sweaters and socks for Europe and other markets. The company, which already operates the River Rich and Winner knitting mills in Cambodia in addition to other plants in southern and eastern China, said the new plant had 700 workers producing 250,000 sweaters a month. In a statement released in Hong Kong Thursday, Addchance said the new "green" factory was inspired by British retailer

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry on November 15 jointly held a conference in Hanoi on the forthcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the engagement of Vietnam in the deal. MoIT Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Khanh, head of the Vietnamese delegation at the TPP negotiations, highlighted opportunities and challenges that Vietnamese businesses will face when the country signs the deal, while offering some proposals to make full use of the

The weather will always have an effect on retail and this year the long summer, which continued into autumn, saw sales volumes drop 0.7 percent in October. The mild weather has made it more difficult for retailers to shift winter clothing, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS). Despite the fall in sales, general volumes of clothing are still up 1.8 percent over last year, pointing to an economic recovery and greater consumer confidence. Retail sector is 5 percent of UK economy T

The Brazilian Government is examining the possibilities of creating a differential tax regime for textile and clothing sector of the country, especially in terms of the key proposal to include a ‘layette kit’, consisting of 39 products, which include bed, bath and home textiles, among the benefits of the federal program ‘Minha Casa Melhor’ (My Better House), one of the initiatives undertaken by Brazilian President Dilma Roussef, announced president of the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Developm

China's stable economic development in October strengthened economists' expectations of a "happy ending" to the year, with industrial and service sectors progressing amid moderate inflation. The National Bureau of Statistics reported on Saturday that October's industrial output reached 10.3 percent compared with 10.2 percent in September. The increase was higher than the market had expected and was led by manufacturing, which increased 11.4 percent from a year earlier. Retail sales of cons

Clothing giant H&M is testing the garment production waters by entering into exclusivity agreements with factories in Cambodia and Bangladesh, according to a report from Bloomberg News yesterday. This means that Sweden-based H&M would buy all of the factory’s output. H&M, it seems, would still be free to source from other producers in Cambodia. Anna Gedda, H&M’s social sustainability manager, told Bloomberg the initiative would allow the company to “try different things” o

India's cotton exports are expected to drop by 9 per cent to 9 million bales in the 2013-14 marketing year on sluggish demand and high prices compared to the global market, a report said. India had shipped 9.9 million bales in the 2012-13 marketing year (August-July), it added. One bale contains 170 kg of cotton. "The 2013-14 export estimate is unchanged at 9 million bales. Indian prices have been high relative to international prices over the past few months... Demand from China has also