China and Hongkong see India as one great business opportunity.

We generally hear of C&I (in our last write up we abbreviated China and India) trade and routings through HK but have we pondered on the fact that HK can in a few years time take up on its own the trade with India as its better connected with her than China is.

We thought should get you some news with the three in picture. Today’s topic revolves on HK: How in one aspect it’s a literally a bridge between the two nations while in the other a rising competitor against China as regards trade with India.

Check out this video clip. Its quite informative. Here M. Arunachulam, Chairman, AR. International (HK) Ltd. was interviewed by Martin Evan – Jones Editor, Research, HK Trade Development Council where they speak on some real aspects involving the two countries.

The primary highlights of talk are:

- Trade potential between India and China where HK acts as the middleman connecting them

-low connectivity that Chinese businessmen have with India and HK’s great indo networks: lots of Indians based in HK and a handful in China

- Many Indian companies in China but what are the results for vice versa?? HK can catch up there!

- Indian hardware industry ?? Heard of it

- Middle East (Dubai in specific) on agenda!  about this statement: “ China should use India to …”

-Improvement in Regulations w.r.t trade with India: lot of streamlining there, thanks to WTO.
 
 Watch it out and lets share then on what you have to say. the question is right up there : the title

Numbers:(”47″,”94″)

The ranks are amongst 118 countries, India is way behind China in terms of eradicating hunger, 40 per cent of the world’s underweight children under five live in India.

Both nations are growing and prospering. But then there are always two sides of a coin. We all generally just talk about the goody - goody things happening in them. How much a poor gets affected by the positives that benefit a rich are often ignored. They pay the price.

No we not here to talk about rich vs. poor widening gaps in emerging economies. Growth in C&I (I would like to avoid repeating “China and India” every time, so C&I for short) is the buzzword. I share here the impact of rapid economic growth in C&I on food inflation with this audio clip from VOA’s Asia News Center in Hong Kong which talks about how the rising middle class in the two nations with their high incomes and improving consumption patterns impacts the food prices making them highly volatile.

An excerpt from the clip

“….In August, China’s inflation rate hit its highest level in more than a decade, with food prices up more than 18 percent from a year earlier. Officials in India are concerned about costlier food, despite its relatively stable inflation rate…”

Let’s see how the Indian and Chinese markets performed the last two days:

Sensex, BSE’s Benchmark Index surged to 789 points on Tuesday- the max in a single day to close at 18,280 points. It was the energy and telecommunication companies that led the rise, and we know its Reliance.

Watch its live graph here

Yesterday, the Sensex ended up 2% per cent at a record close of 18,658.25 after hitting a lifetime high of 18,703.67 during trade. 19,000 is not far away.

Head of research at Techno Shares & Stock said

“The market does look poised to touch 19,000. This is purely a liquidity play, which many of us have not seen in several years and this madness will continue till the liquidity lasts, and I would not be surprised if we witness a fall of 1,500 points in a day.”

In China, it was shares of banks, steel and winemakers that have soared the markets
The Shanghai Composite Index gained 23.13 point to 5,715.89 on Tuesday while next day it gained 55.57 points, or 1 percent, to 5,771.46.

The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.6 per cent to 1,551.19 on Tuesday while it fell 0.5 percent to 1,543.79 yesterday. 

One of the Officals of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS), an Indian Company, said

“Growth remains strong in India. While emerging markets overall are doing well, India and China have outperformed the rest. Foreign funds have no option but to get into emerging markets.”

We will get you a weekly round up of the markets performance. Keep logged on. Also if you would like us to start a conversion on a subject of your interest, write to us.

Today we have a different look at the two nations. They are not only outnumbering rivals in growth and prosperity but also under the table receivables.

Transparency International recently published its report on Bribe Payers Index for 2007. We present to you a video from Reuters where they spoke to the Company’s executive director Mr. Chandrashekhar Krishnan on the subject.

It’s quite interesting the way the conversation goes beginning with whether the entire issue of corruption is to do with culture or a consequence of rapid industrialisation in the economies and the research methodology.

Check it out!

Numbers:(”8″,”1,”%”)

For discussion on this topic check out our article “Mirror Mirror On The Wall…”.

Its soon gonna be time that the world starts thinking of new business models for no longer can just one be the king!

Whether you are in the States, the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, Oceania, or Europe, a product that China makes is in majority of the stores. Today we wear and carry the world factory with us as none can presently manage the sale price as well as the Chinese have done so far.

In Dubai, UAE, I chatted with a few friends in the business line (with China) who said that we just can’t compete with them. One of the friends in the textile industry had this to say

“ they have eaten up our market, even the loading/unloading charges are included in their total costs”.

Then when everyone including Indians began to think that: that’s that, and its Chinese or no one else, we saw the duopolists rising and the businesses worldwide shouting: India you are next one! But why….

India is becoming the next big choice as lower costs are driving the trend. Labor in China earns about 300 USD a month while in India its 60 USD a month. I wouldn’t go to China if I were to outsource my manufacturing.

According to Capgemini, Europe’s largest computer consultancy,

there’s a very keen interest in moving more manufacturing to India

. These guys conducted a survey of 340 mainly Fortune 500 global manufacturing companies and was amazed to know that India would be a Challenger to China in the next 3-5 years while on its way to be a world factory too.

If we look at the respondents’ plans for the coming years, manufacturing will become the number one activity to be off-shored to India. “What surprised us was when we asked about their plans for the next three or four years, they said outsourcing manufacturing (to India) was a higher priority than outsourcing back office work,”

However the concerns from India are : its sad infrastructure as regards manufacturing and supply chain are concerned. Wonder if that’s possible in the next 2-3 years. Yup, 5 years it should be. There’s lots for India to catch up: power supply and roads and airports are major obstacles. And India is working on it seeing the opportunities in its stride. Capgemini’s official said: India is building like hell, improving its infrastructure, so a lot of suppliers would like to be there.

I would like to know what you think:

1. Will India be able to beat China?

2. What gestation period should we expect India to take to catch up with China and be equally known in manufacturing outsourcing as for IT and business process outsourcing activities 

3. Should China start worrying?
 

Numbers:(”500″,”80″, “Billion USD”)

Emerging markets have international reserves of approximately USD 2.7 trillion.

We have discussed a lot individually on India and China as emerging markets and on Chindia as a combo but today we talk about the aspect of other Asian markets that are enchasing high returns as well.

There’s Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines that’s making big bucks thanks to momentum amongst India and China. Do you think you could ignore them?

We share with you this impressive write up on the subject. Following are a few lines from it.

But what about the smaller markets around China and India? Many have growing economies and impressive returns. “Asia is emerging from a 10-year cyclical downturn that featured a collapse in domestic investment at both government and company levels,” says Edmund Harriss, co-manager of the Guinness Atkinson China & Hong Kong Fund

Read the complete article here and share with us what you think could be your next station.

India’s forex market may be minuscule when compared to developed economies but recent government efforts to ease capital movement has led to the country recording the fastest rise in its turnover growth over the last three years. India’s share in the worldwide foreign exchange market turnover has grown to 0.9% this year from a mere 0.3% in 2004
For the complete write up, read here