Global companies eye India base

Question: My son who is a software engineer wants to join a multinational corporation in India which has established a GCC in Bangalore. I am not sure whether he is making the right move as he has got a stable job in a medium sized company involved in developing computer software. Any information which you may share will be appreciated.

ANSWER: Global Capability Centres are being established by several multinational corporations in India. There were 500 GCCs a decade ago and currently they number about 1,700, directly employing more than 1.5 million technocrats. The GCCs are not only set up by Fortune 500 companies but by Global 2000 companies and many more. Nasscom expects 500 more GCCs to be added to the existing count by 2026. The number of persons to be employed is likely to double by 2025. There are currently more than 15 GCCs in India which employ over 15,000 employees each. The main objective of multinational corporations establishing their GCCs in India is to digitally transform their businesses, drive research on newer technologies, and develop path breaking products, platforms and solutions. Therefore, your son is on the right path when he seeks to move to a GCC set up by a multinational corporation as the prospects for high remuneration and promotion are enormous.

Question: Many countries in Europe are now having trains which no longer run on diesel. Even electric trains are powered with hydrogen fuel cells. Is India planning to go in this direction?

ANSWER: The Indian Government plans to run 35 hydrogen trains under its ‘Hydrogen for Heritage’ project. These trains will be used on the Shimla route as well as in other mountainous areas including Darjeeling and the Nilgiris. These electric trains will be without a ‘catenary’, which is the system of overhead wires along railway tracks. Under the new system, the train will generate its own electricity using hydrogen fuel cells. These fuel cells combine pure hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity. These fuel cells were first used by Nasa in its Apollo mission. Thereafter the fuel cells have been used to power railways in Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Britain is planning to phase out diesel railway engines by 2040 using dual mode technology, under which trains will switch over from hydrogen to catenary power wherever available. The hydrogen fuelled locomotives are clean, efficient and powerful like electric motors but do not require a network of poles and overhead cables. However, the conversion to hydrogen fuel cells is expensive and in India it is expected that the cost of converting each train to run on hydrogen will be about Rs800 million.

Question: I have purchased an apartment in Pune and have become a member of the co-operative housing society along with owners of other apartments in the building. However, the society is not able to obtain conveyance of the title from the developer as Occupation Certificate has not yet been obtained by the developer. In such a situation, I and other flat owners will not be able to sell. Can something be done about this?

ANSWER: The developer is not giving you correct information because in Maharashtra a Government Resolution of 2018 permits co-operative housing societies to apply for and receive ‘deemed conveyance’ even where the occupation certificate has not been obtained by the developer. For this purpose, the housing society is required to submit a self declaration form affirming that it will pay the necessary dues and get an occupation certificate from the local authority. The officials of the co-operative department have helped many societies in the past to obtain the deemed conveyance where the societies have given a declaration and subsequently followed the process set out above. Therefore, your society must submit the self declaration form and affirm that it will pay the necessary dues for getting the occupation certificate. The dues generally pertain to charges for road development, water line, etc. which would obviously be shared by all the apartment owners who are members of the co-operative housing society.

H. P. Ranina is a practising lawyer, specializing in tax and exchange management laws of India.

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