For years, young, talented, well educated individuals left India, China, Dubai and Hong Kong to pursue better, more rewarding careers in the west. However, now as the economies in the west stagnate, the children of this same highly educated talent pool are casting their eyes east, back home - to lands of high growth, opportunity and adventure.

A tightening American economy, Wall Street troubles and price increases are enticing many mangers to transfer from traditional financial centers like New York and London to increasingly influential hubs of finance in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America, regions where the banks have already been building up business to tap rising growth potential.

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Initial Public Offering (IPO) activity in the Asia-Pacific region has nearly halved in the first half of this year, with India and China reporting a drop of nearly US$18 billion in mobilization of such deals.The total capital gathered by India Inc through IPO’s in the first half of 2008 stood at US$4.07 billion as compared to US$7.68 billion during the same period in 2007, global accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton told the Economic Times.

At the same time, data by another deal tracking firm Dealogic said IPOs by Chinese issuers have raised US$15.5 billion through 103 deals so far this year, nearly half of the amount raised in the corresponding period a year-ago - US$29.5 billion. (more…)

China will enforce Antitrust laws (anti monopoly laws or competition laws) from Friday, August 1st, while India will put the same laws into place by the end of this year. Antitrust laws are expected to delay or thwart high-profile cross-border mergers and acquisitions, in the burgeoning economies, lawyers and business executives warned the Financial Times.

China and India both will implement Antitrust laws based on the European Union model, which will essentially prohibit agreements or practices that restrict free trade and competition between business entities. The law will help control monopoly practices by firms which might use predatory pricing, price gouging, refusal to deal etc. The aim of the law which is to promote fair competition by supervising mergers and acquisitions of large corporations, including some joint ventures, is a cause for concern of many multinationals in the region.

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Contrary to popular belief, China is creative. Its just not creative according to the western definition of creativity. Its less about individual self-expression and more about ingenuity. It requires social approval, and is adopted and practiced by groups. Even as it provokes admiration, it is more real and less abstract in its form and expression, making it accessible. It is indeed a tool, a strategy for economic reform, says Kunal Sinha author of Ogilvy and Mather’s new book - ‘China’s Creative Imperative - How Creativity is transforming society and business in China’.

Leave aside images of rows of fake Louis Vuitton handbags replace them instead with shelves of self-painted shoes, designer skyscrapers, hand-made paper swans, indigenous baby baskets or chic clothes, Eastern Art is all about standing out from a crowd and functionality. For art to survive in the region it needs to be different, unique, bold and serve some kind of practical purpose for the user - whether it be designing shop signs from old plumbing or using old plastic advertisements as rain sheds.

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Continuing India’s trend of spreading its wings globally, Ratan Tata’s IT and telecommunications business, Tata Communications, signed an equity joint venture with shareholders of China Enterprise Communications Ltd (CEC) to acquire a 50 percent stake in the Chinese firm for an undisclosed amount, reuters reported.

The joint venture, signed through Tata Communication’s subsidiary, Tata Communications International, will provide networking services to domestic enterprises and MNCs in China.

“Emerging markets is a focus area for TC. China is a market we have been exploring for over a year now. We entered into a commercial relationship with China Enterprise Netcom Corporation (China Entercom) earlier this year. Our intention now is a strategic entry into that market, which is considered bigger than India for broadband and other services,” TC’s senior vice-president (corporate strategy) Srinivasa Addepalli told the Economic Times at a media briefing in Mumbai.

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Oil, politics, poverty, enviromental and security issues aside, the most absurd story dominated headlines of the worlds largest read english daily - the Times of India today. Headlines read - “1,500 manholes stolen, BMC says olympics to blame”. The BMC or Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation , is the corporation in charge of the city’s civic maintainance - responsible mainly for the building and maintenance of roads, streets and flyovers, water purification and supply, hospitals, street lighting, maintenance of parks and open spaces, sewage treatment and disposal etc.

So what bizarre connection do India’s sewage covers have with the glory of global sportsmanship at the olympics? The paper quotes civic officials saying that the massive construction activity undertaken for the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing has increased demand for iron ore globally. As a result, they claim, organised gangs are now operating in Kurla, Bandra, Mankhurd and parts of Byculla (parts of Mumbai city) to systematically steal the manhole covers. A staggering 1,500 covers have been stolen in the past few months—each costing a handsome Rs 5,500 (US$128) in the grey market.

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Shanghai vaulted into the ranks of the world’s leading centres of commerce, becoming one of eight Asian cities among the top 25, while Mumbai, improved its tally by 3 notches, emerging as the 7th most preferred destination for investment in 2008, a study by MasterCard said.

Tokyo retained its spot as Asia’s top commercial centre — and number three globally — while Singapore overtook Hong Kong which ranks sixth globally to move into fourth spot overall, the MasterCard Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index said.

“Asia’s dominance among the top 25 cities globally demonstrates the growing importance of Asian cities to a progressively urbanised global economy,” MasterCard said in a press release.

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Its been a bad begining to the week for Asia. Following a slide on Wall Street on Friday when crude oil neared US$140, and the latest emplyment data showed a steep increase in U.S. unemployment, shares on most Asian bourses have fallen.

Fears that the United States may be heading for a recession were re-ignited after the Labour Department said Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in May from 5.0 percent in April. It was the biggest monthly increase since February 1986 Forbes reported.

On Monday, South Korea’s KOSPI fell 23.35 points or 1.3 percent to close at 1,808.96, In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index finished down 308.06 points or 2.1 percent at 14,181.38, Singapore’s Straits Times index closed down 62.71 points or 2 percent at 3,084.02, and the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) fell 17.59 points or 1.4 percent to 1,230.98, off a low of 1,223.45. The Taiwan weighted index closed down 1.8 percent at 8,587.96, while the Jakarta composite index closed up 7.84 points or 0.3 percent at 2,410.08, off a low of 2,352.60. India’s Sensex provisionally ended 444.14 points or 2.85 percent lower at 15,128.04.

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Telecom and broadband experts belive that WiMax, a telecommunications technology that provides wireless voice and data over long distances is the solution for connecting Asia’s developing countries to the information super highway. While service providers say they don’t have the capital to set up mobile and internet services in Asia’s far flung under developed areas, technology guru’s have faith in wiMax’s ability to reach everywhere.

Thats why WiMax holds a promising potential as an alternative technology to connect underserved rural areas that will never realistically receive fixed-line services. The sweet spot for WiMax is its ability to provide voice and data connectivity at speeds of up to 1Mbps in Asia’s emerging markets where such digital divide exists, reported Business wire.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific WiMax Opportunity, finds that the region - covering 17 Asia-Pacific countries can potentially boast of 43 million WiMax subscribers by end-2013, generating estimated revenues of close to US$11 billion, at a CAGR of 45 percent (2007-2013).

The emerging markets are expected to account for nearly 80 percent (or 34.4 million) of the total subscribers in 2013, collectively contributing 69 percent (or US$7.59 billion) to the region’s total WiMax revenues given their low-ARPU (average revenue per user) nature.

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The pharmaceutical business is tilting towards Asia. The region is being hailed as ‘the pharmaceutical hub’, and most multinational and domestic companies in the region believe it is inevitable that Asia will soon be leading the pharma market, reported pharmaceutical technology.

India, China and Singapore are expected to become leaders in the pharmaceutical sector. India and China have become major suppliers of APIs, with India also exporting high volumes of pharmaceutical dosage products. South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong are also creating strong pharmaceutical bases, although these markets are mainly dominated by MNCs.

More clinical trials are also being conducted in Asia and India has taken the lead in clinical trial outsourcing. Asia is now returning to GDP levels of the 19th century when it was at its highest (12%). According to Goldman Sachs, India is expected to become the world’s third largest economy by 2050.

Many MNCs are investing and building their businesses in China and India, and it is expected that total pharmaceutical sales in China (at current levels of approximately $14 billion [€9 billion]) will double to $28 billion (€18 billion) by 2010.

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