Investing – Page 15

Ho Hum! “Trade war” not worrying Indian companies active in China

Seems Indian companies active in China think that the USA-China trade war is all a bit “ho hum” – or maybe an opportunity?

Indian organisations working in China don’t expect any critical effect of the escalating trade war among Beijing and Washington on their business, a new survey conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has stated, including that most of the companies intend to put more in Beijing in 2019.

The survey of Indian organisations working in China indicates cautious optimism and certainty when contrasted with the past survey a year ago. “Most organisations don’t see a significant effect of the present trade situation between the US and China on their business,” said Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.

In excess of 120 Indian organisations work in China separated from a sizeable number of merchants who have workplaces here; 57 of the organisations reacted to the CII poll.

As per the survey, two-fifths are considering inclining up their investment more than 2018. More IT and BPO organisations intend to make extra investment in 2019 contrasted with 2018.

My “top 10” of Indian companies active in China:

Adani Global; Essar; Jindal Steel & Power; Reliance ADAG; TCS; Tata Sons; Union Bank of India; Allahabad Bank; Bank of Baroda; Bank of India.

Also in China are Zee TV; Jet Airways; Apollo International; Ashok Leyland.

AustralianSuper leads the way on Indian infrastructure investment

The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India has just announced that AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest superannuation fund, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’), Canada’s largest single-profession pension plan, have each signed agreements for investments of up to USD 1 billion with the NIIF Master Fund.

The agreements include commitments of USD 250 million each in the Master Fund and co-investment rights of up to USD 750 million each in future opportunities alongside the Fund.

AustralianSuper and Ontario Teachers’ will now join the Government of India (GOI), Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Temasek, HDFC Group, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance and Axis Bank as investors in the Fund.

Pictured Mark Delaney, CIO, AustralianSuper

AustralianSuper and Ontario Teachers’ will also become shareholders in National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited, NIIF’s investment management company. Domestic investors HDFC Life and Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance have further committed INR 600 million in the third round.

With this, NIIF Master Fund becomes the largest infrastructure fund in India with assets under management of over USD 1.8 billion and a co-investment pool of USD 2.5 billion, which will enable the Fund to invest at the scale required for the large infrastructure requirements in India.

Well done AustralianSuper – leading the way for investing in India.

India and Australia to be key players in world’s largest free trade deal

Australia and India are poised to be key players in the world’s largest free trade deal – the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership which should be signed by mid 2020.

There are 15 countries in RCEP excluding the USA. Major players are China, Japan, Indonesia, India and Australia.

RCEP will have a market of over 3.5 billion people and almost 33% of the world’s GDP.

As we have noted before – Trumps’s trade war with China has given some urgency to RCEP negotiations and the 15 countries are set to complete the deal.

Pictured the two Prime Ministers excited about RCEP – Australia’s PM Morrison (left) and India’s PM Modi

Modi reforms paying off in record FDI for India

India has just reached record levels of Foreign Direct Investment inflow of US$64.37 billion, evidence that the Modi Government reforms are having an impact on the global reputation of India.

When the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government assumed power in 2014-15, the FDI inflows were US$45.14 billion.

Investing in India? The “investment grid” is a great source of information

Invest India runs a terrific website called the “India Investment Grid” and projects of all sizes and kinds are available there.

Terrific source of quality information.

https://indiainvestmentgrid.com/portal/

India Government to open state-owned firms to investors

The Modi Government plans to raise as much as US$ 47.4 billion in the next five years – by reducing the stakes in large state owned firms. It will include those in the oil, gas and power sectors.

I think this must be the country’s biggest privatisation move in more than two decades.

Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, in her maiden budget announced that there will be reduction in direct controlling of stakes in some state- run firms.

In its previous term, the government sold stakes in a host of companies to raise US$ 40.92 billion which was three times that of the previous government.

The government has identified several state-owned firms, including explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp, oil refiner Indian Oil Corp, gas transmitter GAIL (India) Ltd, power producers NHPC Ltd and NTPC, miners NMDC Ltd and Coal India, and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.

World GDP in one amazing chart

The latest estimate from the World Bank puts global GDP at roughly $80 trillion in nominal terms for 2017.

Today’s chart from HowMuch.net uses this data to show all major economies in a visualization called a Voronoi diagram – let’s dive into the stats to learn more.

The world’s top 10 economies

Here are the world’s top 10 economies, which together combine for a whopping two-thirds of global GDP.

In nominal terms, the US still has the largest GDP at $19.4 trillion, making up 24.4% of the world economy.

While China’s economy is far behind in nominal terms at $12.2 trillion, you may recall that the Chinese economy has been the world’s largest when adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) since 2016.

The next two largest economies are Japan ($4.9 trillion) and Germany ($4.6 trillion) – and when added to the U.S. and China, the top four economies combined account for over 50% of the world economy.

Here are some of the most important recent movements:

India has now passed France in nominal terms with a $2.6 trillion economy, which is about 3.3% of the global total. In the most recent quarter, Indian GDP growth saw its highest growth rate in two years at about 8.2%.

Brazil, despite its very recent economic woes, surpassed Italy in GDP rankings to take the #8 spot overall.

Turkey has surpassed The Netherlands to become the world’s 17th largest economy, and Saudi Arabia has jumped past Switzerland to claim the 19th spot.

India – have a go! Some “quick tips” for those thinking of doing business with India

Have a go! India is already a large market and growing fast – with a massive young population driving future demand. Interest is growing in “all things western” and demand in many sectors (IT, education, resources) is just so big it cannot be satisfied locally.

Do your homework! Failures are many and most can be traced back to lack of research or inability to adapt to the local market. Factors such as cultural differences, consumer trends and what the market wants have to be identified.

Above Australian PM Morrison and Indian PM Modi hit it off at a recent meeting

Use our reputation! Australia is generally well thought of in India – those who come here are amazed at the quality of our cities. Use this for brand advantage and to open doors.

Choose the right channel. Distribution, e-commerce choices and so on will be make or break for you if consumers are your target. Aussie firm COTTON ON recently set up and online sales entry into India, the first step towards a physical presence.

India is a “relationship” culture – meaning they want to get to know you first. It might take several visits for you to create the connection. Otherwise you get a short term transaction this year that might not be there next.

Indians can help you! Finding local Indian talent has been a big success factor for so many global companies, large and small. If you cannot afford to establish a local team then perhaps you cannot afford to do business there.

Adapt to culture – get some training to understand how to behave and how your Indian counterpart might think. We are different! If you are culturally adaptive you can succeed and enjoy the difference.

Have both short term and long-term goals – and long term with India means committing to this venture for at least three years.

But above all – have a go!

Australian firm MoooFarm wins award for work in India

MoooFarm, co-founded by Australian Indian impact entrepreneur Param Singh (pictured below) has been awarded a winning prize of $30,000 for their breakthrough technology of ‘Facial Recognition of Cattle’ in the Agriculture Insuretech Innovation Challenge organised by the World Bank Global Index Insurance Facility.

MoooFarm is an award-winning initiative that aims to increase income of 75 million small dairy farmers through capacity building, last mile extension and transfer of technology. Through its unique approach, MoooFarm addresses United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals toward Gender Equality, Poverty and Responsible Production and Consumption.

MoooFarm, bagged a winning price of USD 30,000 by The World Bank Group in Data Analytics category for their unique solution of ’Facial Recognition of cattle’.

With an accuracy of 95.7%, MoooFarm was able to test the facial recognition model using deep learning technology. In the coming weeks, this breakthrough technology will reach each and every small-holder farmer via MoooFarm’s mobile based application and its network of Village level Entrepreneurs.

According to The World Bank Group, the Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF), “helps smallholder farmers and micro-entrepreneurs gain better access to finance, manage financial losses, and protect their livelihoods against more frequent and more severe weather events…since 2009 it has facilitated more than 4.6 million contracts, covering over 23 million beneficiaries and $730 million in agricultural investments insured in more than 30 developing countries.”

Aussie firm Atlassian sets up base in Bengaluru, India

Australian IT firm Atlassian, which provides its technology to customers such a NASA, Spotify and Lyft, has set up its global R&D Centre in Bengaluru and plans to hire 300 people.

This move by the Australian software developer firm shows it is betting big on the India market and its tech ecosystem. The company provides team collaboration and productivity software.

Mike Cannon-Brookes, (pictured) co-founder and co-chief executive of Atlassian, said in an interview. “It (India) is a big part of our growth plans as the company continues to grow very rapidly. We always try to build well-balanced R&D teams not just on the software side of the things but also design, product management, security and all the aspects that go into making great software products.

“One of the big advantages Bengaluru has is (the availability) of great talent in all those areas in one spot,” he added.