INDIA INC. REMAINS U.K. BOUND

India Inc.’s distinct preference for the U.K. was highlighted as Indian companies emerged as the second largest investor in the U.K. in the financial year 2008-09, replacing Japan as the largest Asian supplier of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects and ahead of China by about twice the number.

Indian companies set up 108 new Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects during the period, moving up five places when compared to the previous year, creating and safeguarding about 8,000 jobs according to the U.K.’s Department of Trade and Industry.

India’s affinity for the U.K. is marked by its historic ties, similar legal, accounting, finance and judicial systems. The English language and Parliamentary democracy are as Indian as they are English.

The U.K., however, needs to keep its competitive edge vis-à-vis other European countries that are moving aggressively to capitalize on Indian companies’ growth ambitions. Indian FDI in the European Union (E.U.) soared to $3.4 billion (€2.4 billion) in 2008 from zero in 2004, according to Luxembourg-based Eurostat, the EU statistical office.

INDIAN STOCKS EMERGE BEST PERFORMERS GLOBALLY IN 5-YRS PERIOD

A sharp meltdown during the last year notwithstanding, Indian stock market has emerged as the best performer among its global peers for a time-frame of five years with a return of over 65 per cent for investors, according to Economic Survey.

In the five-year period ending December 2008, the Indian stock market benchmark Sensex posted a positive return of 65.2 per cent, the Survey showed, even as a number of global markets such as Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan, posted negative returns...

The Economic Times

Modest global growth, US recession: World Bank

The global economy is expected to slow to a modest 3.3% growth pace this year, but the pace could worsen if the United States slips into recession, the World Bank said Tuesday. Despite financial turmoil unleashed by a meltdown in the US mortgage market, global growth slowed in 2007 to 3.6% from 3.9% rate in 2006, the Bank said in a report titled “Global Economic Prospects 2008.” Most of the 2007 slowdown was due to weaker growth in high-income countries. Developing countries cushioned the blow with robust 7.4% growth, virtually unchanged from 2006.

MINT
http://www.livemint.com/2008/01/09104718/
Modest-global-growth-US-reces.html

Rupee to continue rise against the dollar in 2008

The Indian rupee, that has appreciated about 12% against the dollar in 2007, will continue to rise against the dollar in 2008 but move in the 38-41 band to a dollar.After nearly three decades, the rupee has appreciated 12% against the greenback and about 6% against a basket of six major world currencies belonging to the US, the UK, Japan, Euroland, China and Hong Kong. The rupee began the calendar year 2007 at Rs44.26 a dollar.

Mint
http://www.livemint.com/2007/12/28000330/
Rupee-to-continue-rise-against.html

Clipping the dragon’s wings

Americans may well be delighted by new figures that show China’s GDP is 40% smaller than previously thought. Has the devious Beijing government been massaging the numbers, as communist planners are wont to do? Hardly. China’s GDP in yuan terms remains unchanged. What has happened is that the World Bank has changed the calculations it uses to make international comparisons of the size of economies.

The Financial Express
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/
Clipping-the-dragons-wings/254164/