The Indian makers of a $4 smartphone hope its low price will allow millions of the poorest to own a mobile phone in a market which at present has seen only 10 per cent penetration. 
 
But labour rights campaigners worry that the push to churn out cheap handsets and tablets may lead to greater abuse of workers&#39; rights in India, world&#39;s fastest-growing smartphone market. 
 
Ringing Bells&#39; Freedom 251 smartphone, whose launch in February crashed the company&#39;s website, is priced at Rs251. 
 
On Thursday, the company&#39;s chief executive Mohit Goel said the first shipment of about 200,000 handsets was due next week. 
 
Ringing Bells pays fair wages to its workers and its pricier models will help offset the cost of the $4 phone, he added. 
 
&quot;Our vision is to make mobile phones more affordable to the millions of poor Indians who do not own one,&quot; Goel told Reuters. 
 
India sold 103 million handsets last year, an increase of 29 per cent on the previous year.&nbsp; 
 
With only one in 10 Indians owning a mobile phone, there is enormous potential - much of it at the lower end of the market where dozens of local and foreign brands are vying for customers with some handsets selling for less than $25. 
 
However, the pressure to keep costs low is pushing manufacturers to pay low wages, rely on cheaper contract labour and insist on unpaid overtime, activists say. 
 
&quot;Responsibility of the supply chain and workers lies with brand companies,&quot; said Gopinath Parakuni, general secretary at Cividep, a workers&#39; rights campaign group. 
 
&quot;Our regulations simply aren&#39;t strong enough to ensure workers in the electronics industry are taken care of,&quot; he said. 
 
&#39;Who pays the price?&#39; 
 
Last month Cividep and Amsterdam-based GoodElectronics issued a report on Samsung Electronics, the leader in India&#39;s mobile market, which found that Samsung workers were poorly paid with no way to effectively have their grievances addressed. 
 
A Samsung India spokesman said the company complies by all relevant labour laws and regulations wherever it operates.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;Fairness and respect for all are the values that form the foundation of our business,&quot; the spokesman said in a statement. 
 
While most of the 100-odd phone companies in India largely import from China and Taiwan, companies are increasingly heeding Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s call to &#39;Make in India&#39;, an initiative launched in 2014. 
 
Chinese phone maker Xiaomi rolled out its first, locally-made smartphones last year from a facility in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. 
 
The &#39;Make in India&#39; drive to boost manufacturing is aimed at luring more investment, raising economic growth and creating jobs in industries such as electronics and apparel. 
 
But these efforts lack sufficient checks and balances for millions of workers who face archaic labour laws, low wages, few benefits and little job security in businesses that often flout laws on safety or underage workers, activists say. 
 
In India&#39;s electronics industry, working conditions are &quot;among the worst&quot;, according to a 2013 report by Hong Kong-based labour rights non-profit Asia Monitor Resource Centre. 
 
Not all efforts to produce cheap electronics have been successful. In 2008, the Indian government unveiled a $10 laptop that ended up costing more than $100, while a $20 Android tablet sold through a subsidy scheme failed to capture significant market share. 
 
&quot;Companies like to say cheap phones and computers is about digital empowerment and democracy,&quot; said Raphel Jose at the Centre for Responsible Business in New Delhi. 
 
&quot;But we must stop and ask, &#39;what is the real cost of these cheap devices? Who pays the price?&#39; Cheap is not always good,&quot; he said. 
 
($1 = 67.55 Indian Rupees)&nbsp; 
 
(Reuters)

Activists claim that to keep costs low, manufacturers pay low wages, rely on cheaper contract labour and insist on unpaid overtime

The Indian makers of a $4 smartphone hope its low price will allow millions of the poorest to own a mobile phone in a market which at present has seen only 10 per cent penetration. But labour rights campaigners worry that the push to churn out cheap handsets and tablets may lead to greater abuse of workers' rights in India, world's fastest-growing smartphone market. Ringing Bells' Freedom 251 smartphone, whose launch in February crashed the company's website, is priced at Rs251. On Thursday, the company's chief executive Mohit Goel said the first shipment of about 200,000 handsets was due next week. Ringing Bells pays fair wages to its workers and its pricier models will help offset the cost of the $4 phone, he added. "Our vision is to make mobile phones more affordable to the millions of poor Indians who do not own one," Goel told Reuters. India sold 103 million handsets last year, an increase of 29 per cent on the previous year. With only one in 10 Indians owning a mobile phone, there is enormous potential - much of it at the lower end of the market where dozens of local and foreign brands are vying for customers with some handsets selling for less than $25. However, the pressure to keep costs low is pushing manufacturers to pay low wages, rely on cheaper contract labour and insist on unpaid overtime, activists say. "Responsibility of the supply chain and workers lies with brand companies," said Gopinath Parakuni, general secretary at Cividep, a workers' rights campaign group. "Our regulations simply aren't strong enough to ensure workers in the electronics industry are taken care of," he said. 'Who pays the price?' Last month Cividep and Amsterdam-based GoodElectronics issued a report on Samsung Electronics, the leader in India's mobile market, which found that Samsung workers were poorly paid with no way to effectively have their grievances addressed. A Samsung India spokesman said the company complies by all relevant labour laws and regulations wherever it operates. "Fairness and respect for all are the values that form the foundation of our business," the spokesman said in a statement. While most of the 100-odd phone companies in India largely import from China and Taiwan, companies are increasingly heeding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to 'Make in India', an initiative launched in 2014. Chinese phone maker Xiaomi rolled out its first, locally-made smartphones last year from a facility in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The 'Make in India' drive to boost manufacturing is aimed at luring more investment, raising economic growth and creating jobs in industries such as electronics and apparel. But these efforts lack sufficient checks and balances for millions of workers who face archaic labour laws, low wages, few benefits and little job security in businesses that often flout laws on safety or underage workers, activists say. In India's electronics industry, working conditions are "among the worst", according to a 2013 report by Hong Kong-based labour rights non-profit Asia Monitor Resource Centre. Not all efforts to produce cheap electronics have been successful. In 2008, the Indian government unveiled a $10 laptop that ended up costing more than $100, while a $20 Android tablet sold through a subsidy scheme failed to capture significant market share. "Companies like to say cheap phones and computers is about digital empowerment and democracy," said Raphel Jose at the Centre for Responsible Business in New Delhi. "But we must stop and ask, 'what is the real cost of these cheap devices? Who pays the price?' Cheap is not always good," he said. ($1 = 67.55 Indian Rupees) (Reuters)

India's $4 smartphone will further hurt underpaid workers' conditions, campaigners say

Spain, which goes to the polls&nbsp;on Sunday&nbsp;in a repeat general election, is the eurozone&#39;s fourth largest economy and one of the fastest-growing nations in Western Europe, although it suffers from high unemployment and debt. 
 
GROWTH 
 
Spain&#39;s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 3.2 per cent in 2015 and growth has remained steady this year despite a political stalemate that has left the country without a government since inconclusive December elections. 
 
GDP expanded by 0.8 per cent between January and March from the previous three months, higher than the average in the eurozone. 
 
Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy&#39;s conservative government predicts the economy will expand by 2.7 per cent this year, then slow to 2.4 percent in 2017. 
 
Spain in 2014 posted its first full-year of growth since a 2008 property crash sent the economy into a tailspin. 
 
Consumer spending is up as is investment by firms while export growth, which help lift Spain out of recession, has lost some of its steam. 
 
FAVOURABLE TAILWINDS 
 
Spain has benefited from favourable tailwinds that have propelled growth such as low interest rates set by the European Central Bank, a favourable euro exchange rate that helps exports, and falling oil prices that have reduced production costs. 
 
Spain is highly dependent on energy imports and the price of a barrel of oil has dropped to around 50 euros from the record highs of over 140 euros a barrel reached in 2008. 
 
But the Bank of Spain warned earlier this month that these beneficial conditions will progressively fade, leading to a slower pace of economic expansion. 
 
LABOUR MARKET REFORM 
 
The outgoing conservative government reduced the amount of compensation which companies must pay workers that they fire and created a new open-ended contract with a one-year trial period. 
 
The government and its backers argue these reforms helped lower Spain&#39;s unemployment rate from a record 26.94 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 to 21 per cent in the first quarter of 2016. 
 
They say the flexibility it introduced especially helped the auto sector. Spain is the second-largest automobile producer in Europe after Germany. 
 
Critics charge that part of the fall in unemployment is due to the drop in the size of Spain&#39;s total workforce as emigration has risen due to the lack of jobs. 
 
The bulk of the jobs that have been created are short-term and low-wage, they add. 
 
The average duration of a new contract in 2015 was just 53.4 days. Spain&#39;s monthly minimum wage, which is paid 14 times a year as in other southern European nations, is 655 euros ($740). 
 
The average annual income in Spain is 10,400 euros per person, according to national statistics institute INE. 
 
DEBT 
 
Spain&#39;s public deficit came in at 5.1 per cent of GDP in 2015, compared with 2.2 per cent in 2007, the year before the country&#39;s property bubble burst. 
 
Spain is facing possible sanctions from the European Commission for repeatedly violating its deficit targets. 
 
The European Union has set a public deficit limit of 3.0 per cent of GDP. The outgoing government predicts it will take Spain until 2018 to bring the deficit below this limit. 
 
EDUCATION 
 
The other Achilles heel of the Spanish economy is education and professional development. 
 
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), over 27 per cent of Spaniards aged 15-29 are not employed or in school, compared with an average of 15 per cent in the 34 nations that make up the body. 
 
Spain also struggles to retrain unemployed workers, especially low-skilled ones from the construction sector which was hit hard by the collapse of a property bubble in 2008. 
 
(AFP)

Critics say that the bulk of jobs created in Spain in the recent past are short-termed and offer low wages

Spain, which goes to the polls on Sunday in a repeat general election, is the eurozone's fourth largest economy and one of the fastest-growing nations in Western Europe, although it suffers from high unemployment and debt. GROWTH Spain's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 3.2 per cent in 2015 and growth has remained steady this year despite a political stalemate that has left the country without a government since inconclusive December elections. GDP expanded by 0.8 per cent between January and March from the previous three months, higher than the average in the eurozone. Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government predicts the economy will expand by 2.7 per cent this year, then slow to 2.4 percent in 2017. Spain in 2014 posted its first full-year of growth since a 2008 property crash sent the economy into a tailspin. Consumer spending is up as is investment by firms while export growth, which help lift Spain out of recession, has lost some of its steam. FAVOURABLE TAILWINDS Spain has benefited from favourable tailwinds that have propelled growth such as low interest rates set by the European Central Bank, a favourable euro exchange rate that helps exports, and falling oil prices that have reduced production costs. Spain is highly dependent on energy imports and the price of a barrel of oil has dropped to around 50 euros from the record highs of over 140 euros a barrel reached in 2008. But the Bank of Spain warned earlier this month that these beneficial conditions will progressively fade, leading to a slower pace of economic expansion. LABOUR MARKET REFORM The outgoing conservative government reduced the amount of compensation which companies must pay workers that they fire and created a new open-ended contract with a one-year trial period. The government and its backers argue these reforms helped lower Spain's unemployment rate from a record 26.94 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 to 21 per cent in the first quarter of 2016. They say the flexibility it introduced especially helped the auto sector. Spain is the second-largest automobile producer in Europe after Germany. Critics charge that part of the fall in unemployment is due to the drop in the size of Spain's total workforce as emigration has risen due to the lack of jobs. The bulk of the jobs that have been created are short-term and low-wage, they add. The average duration of a new contract in 2015 was just 53.4 days. Spain's monthly minimum wage, which is paid 14 times a year as in other southern European nations, is 655 euros ($740). The average annual income in Spain is 10,400 euros per person, according to national statistics institute INE. DEBT Spain's public deficit came in at 5.1 per cent of GDP in 2015, compared with 2.2 per cent in 2007, the year before the country's property bubble burst. Spain is facing possible sanctions from the European Commission for repeatedly violating its deficit targets. The European Union has set a public deficit limit of 3.0 per cent of GDP. The outgoing government predicts it will take Spain until 2018 to bring the deficit below this limit. EDUCATION The other Achilles heel of the Spanish economy is education and professional development. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), over 27 per cent of Spaniards aged 15-29 are not employed or in school, compared with an average of 15 per cent in the 34 nations that make up the body. Spain also struggles to retrain unemployed workers, especially low-skilled ones from the construction sector which was hit hard by the collapse of a property bubble in 2008. (AFP)

Spain struggles to reduce unemployment, debt despite growth

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