A growing consumer demand in India and China means that citizens will not only be spending their disposable income in shops, but will also be surfing online for the hottest deals. A recently concluded Master card survey said that by 2010, China will reign as the highest online shopping turnover at about US$1.4 trillion while India will clinch the No 2 spot. Both countries are expected to displace japan which currently rules the online market, Thaindian reported.

“The rising population of upper-middle-income urban elites is likely to boost the online shopping markets in China and India significantly. Domestic consumer spending in the two countries is poised to pick up strongly, underpinned by the rapid pace of urbanization, robust economic expansion and rising spending powe,” the China Daily quoted the survey, as saying.

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American in theme, Sex and the City has been devoured by Asian women who all secretly desire to be like Carrie Bradshaw and her entourage. Living vicariously, single in a cosmopolitan city, Manolo heeled and smart-talking, the girls are envied by Asian women who have watched the episodes endlessly and see a glimmer of themselves in at least one character.

“I was surprised to find that Carrie and I shared so many problems as career women in big cities. I also met my Mr Right, but love and marriage don’t seem to be as easy as they were for my parents generation,” a Shanghai woman in her thirties told the Shanghai Star.

But can Asian women live the same lives? “Compared with women in New York, I think love affairs in Shanghai are more complicated. Unlike Carrie many local women take whether a man has an apartment, job or good education into consideration when they pick boy friends. I think in Shanghai few female lawyers would date a bartender like Miranda did in the show,” she added.

Across the Himalayas, society is no different. Although many Indian women claim they live life on their own terms, 30-to-40 year-old, successful, smart, sexy equivalents in India live a different reality.

Mumbai and Shanghai may be like Manhattan when it comes to the real estate index, but look at the relationship index, and what goes on here might make Miranda go on a stiletto-stabbing spree - Times of India.

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Would you buy a US$1,000 dress if you knew the tag on it said “made in China”? A recent report by the Guardian thinks otherwise. In an article on the increasing influence of Asian shoppers, the Guardian says - Asian shoppers are particularly origin-conscious as French and Italian luxury goods are important status symbols in the newly affluent region. The opinions of Asian shoppers are beginning to matter more and more as growth in more mature markets slows down.
“In Asia, in a certain segment, you can’t offer a product made in China or made in Asia,” said Patrizio di Marco, president and chief executive of Bottega Veneta, on the sidelines of a luxury goods conference in Tokyo. “They are very aware of where the product was made, and whether it was made in Italy, made in France.”

But that only represents Asia’s fashion elite, when it comes to more accessible designer brands, consumers may be less prejudiced than some producers think. They might even by willing to indulge in fakes - for you never know where the fakes come from.

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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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A recently held wine auction in Hong Kong sold US$8.2 million of fine vintages and smashed at least five world auction records for some of the world’s finest wines clocking Asia’s largest such sale till date.

Asia primirarily a fruit and rice wine consuming continent is now gulping down more of the fermented grape drink. According to Vinexpo/IWSR’s research for Asia, wine consumption increased by 10.4 percent in 2004-05 and by 8 percent in 2005-06.

They’ve also predicted that wine consumption would increase by 11.856 hectoliters until 2011, up 48 percent twice that of the period from 2002-2006 and also eight times as much as that of other countries in the world. Asian wine consmption is also expected to account for 4.8 percent of global wine consumption till 2011.

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The National geographic recently ran a quantitative consumer study of 14,000 consumers in 14 countries asking them about such behavior as energy use and conservation, transportation choices, food sources, the relative use of green products versus traditional products, attitudes towards the environment and sustainability, and knowledge of environmental issues.

This survey resulted in the “Greendex” a scientifically derived sustainable consumption index of actual consumer behavior and material lifestyles across 14 countries. While India and Brazil topped the list due to their relatively lower environmental impact from housing, low meat consumption and above-average performance on transportation and food, China came in fourth.

In India, 40 percent of the respondants prefer to repair things rather than replace them. 33 percent live close to places they need to go to on a daily basis, 47 percent are willing to pay more now for energy-saving appliances than pay more for them in the future, 84 percent eat locally grown products, 72 percent never eat beef and 76 percent never eat pork, while 17% always bicycle.

Almost on par with India, Bicycle friendly China lags behind due to its massive use of coal for home heating. The survey says that one-third of the Chinese population repairs broken goods, and a majority of them use public transportation. Even as the Chinese cycle less, and their demand for luxury cars rises, they express and above-average preference for avoiding enviromentally un-friendly products.

India China trade seems to me to be soaring like a kite tied to the ground.

While both countries celebrate having achieved a trade target of US$40billion set for 2010 in 2008, there are still only 120 companies of Indian origin registered wth the Indian embassy in Beijing, and even fewer companies of Chinese origin registered with the Chinese embassy in New Delhi.

While businessmen in both countries express a desire to do business in the other, barriers - social, political and financial seem to be keeping them at bay. Of the difficulties that Chinese firms face while doing business in India, Reuters reported - Chinese firms have found profits in India hard to come by. Tax barriers are everywhere, eroding their cost advantages. Corruption is rampant, adding another layer of difficulty. And Chinese goods have a low-quality image that is very hard to shake.

The challenges are not unique to India. Most are exactly what western companies encountered when they first arrived in China some 20 years ago. But Chinese companies, whose success so far has been largely built on their home-court advantage and low costs, are much less prepared to tackle those issues. 

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If its not politicians and huge trade volumes that bond countries in Asia, its got to be films.

After 43 years of not a single Pakistani film being screened in India, Shoaib Mansoor directed “Khuda Kay Liye” (“In the Name of God”) was released to rave reviews in India. Its the first Pakistani film to have crossed the border since the India-Pakistan war in 1965, when Pakistani films were banned in India. 

The effect has been a cultural two-way mirror dividing the countries, with Pakistan able to observe India (or a gaudier Bollywood version of India), but with Indians unable to see beyond their own frontiers.

The film gives many Indians their first glimpse of Pakistan.  In a New York Times interview after the first screening of his film in India, Mansoor said “They had very surprising ideas about Pakistan. They asked: ‘Do you have taxis there?’ ‘Can women drive?’ ‘Are women allowed to go to university?’ Besides the initial shock of Pakistans development, the viewers were also amazed by the unexpected beauty of Pakistani houses 

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India’s Minister for Culture & Tourism opens first China office in Beijing

The Indian Minister for Culture & Tourism, Madame Ambika Soni opened the nations first national tourism office in Beijing last night at a star studded gala dinner at the Beijing hotel. This follows the Chinese establishment of a similar office in New Delhi last August.

The new office, sited on the 29th floor of the East Tower of Beijing’s prestigious Twin Towers - the same building as Dezan Shira & Associates regional office - is headed up by Mr. S.R. Meena and is the 14th overseas office of the Indian Tourism Department.

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India and China’s growth in trade is having a ripple effect in the areas of consumer goods, art and tourism. Over the last few months, several large shopping malls, trade shows and exhibition centers in Beijing and Shanghai have been displaying the richness and diversity of India.

In 2007, over half a million visitors were exchanged between India and China. These included over 4,62,450 visitors from India to China, a year-on-year rise of 48 percent and about 68,000 Chinese visitors came to India, a 14 percent increase compared to the year before. In 2005, India received 46, 805 tourists from China while 6,29,947 Indian tourists traveled to China during the same year. (more…)