THE WHIRRING WONDERS

Spotting a helicopter in the Indian skies is a rarity. One can imagine why. In a vast country such as India, there are just about 250 helicopters flying. While in a smaller city such as Sao Paulo, Brazil, there are close to 650 choppers ad in US, about 6000.

Typically, in India, helicopters have been used for very limited purposes – offshore, operations, VIP movements, corporate executives travel and as charter flights. Emergency medical services, search & rescue operations, police patrolling, traffic handling etc… are unheard of. In fact, so limited has been its use in India that there still is no academy to train helicopter pilots in the country.

However, this is now changing. Captain Karan Singh, CEO of Indo-Pacific Aviation & vice president of Business Aviation Association of India says he expects the chopper market to grow by 20% year on year for the next five years.

Earlier, buying a helicopter and operating it were prohibitively expensive and could only be affordable by a limited few. But with new & cost effective models coming in, and the growing affluence in smaller towns, there is a slow but a sure increase in the demand among individual users and small businesses.

BACK ON THE GROWTH TRACK

IT Companies say growth is mainly through revival of pending projects

Sunshine seems to be returning to the Indian information technology industry. But what is fueling this growth..??

Interestingly, the evidence is mostly anecdotal so far. Companies say growth is mainly coming from the pending projects being cleared by clients. 30% of the IT budgets that are used to make a change in the business were shelved during the slowdown. Those are coming back now. Analysts believe that in the near term clients, IT budgets are going to be flat & most of the revenues would come from the pending projects.

There are a number of reasons why the software companies in India have been so successful. Besides the Indian software companies, a number of multinational giants have also plunged into the India IT market.

India is the hub of cheap and skilled software professionals, which are available in abundance. It helps the software companies to develop cost-effective business solutions for their clients. As a result, Indian software companies can place their products and services in the global market in the most competitive rate. This is the reason why India has been a favorite destination for outsourcing as well. Many multinational IT giants also have their offshore development centers in India.

“Historically, for a 10% growth in revenues we would increase the workforce by 10%, but now we can do better revenues with the same people,” says Girish Paranjpe, joint CEO of Wipro. Thus we could conclude that, IT industry is on a Rocket Ride but not the workforce.

RISING DEMAND FOR COMPACT CARS

India could become a global production hub for hatchbacks as stringent emission norms come into play.

India has attracted the attention of the global automotive industry because of the impressive growth in the sector, particularly in the small car market, and its future potential in the country. Indian governments “Automotive Mission Plan 2006-16” talks about “building India as a small car hub”

2010 is going to be definitive year for Indian motoring. From Nissan to Porsche to our very own TATA Motors, all are lining up new models and variants for the Indian buyers. With new, exotic brands rolling in, the compact segment will see a close race this year.

Analyses show that hatchbacks are largely powered by petrol engines & have small carbon footprints. Hatchbacks can continue to be powered by next-generation internal combustion engine and still meet emission requirements beyond 2015. But bigger cars will need to adopt either hybrid or fully electric-propulsion system by 2015.

Considering all the features that a small car can pack, even those who can afford bigger cars are opting for the small ones. There are other benefits to smallness: less stress in driving and parking, since there is shortage of space on roads and parking areas in cities; less consumption of raw material, which means lesser fuel needed to run cars… etc… etc…

7 Reasons China Will Lead the Global Economic Recovery.

7 Reasons China Will Lead the Global Economic Recovery...

The recent 21% tumble in the Chinese markets had investors around the world bailing out of China. But, this sell-off actually created one of the biggest buying opportunities of a lifetime. Here’s why China is poised to take off – and how to cash in as China leads the global economic recovery.

1. Incredible GDP growth is driving returns

Recently, HSBC China economist Qu Hongbin forecasted that the Chinese economy will expand to 9.5% in 2010. The impressive GDP growth comes not only from China’s massive $586 billion fiscal stimulus package, but from strong growth in consumer demand.

2. China can stimulate its economy without going into debts

With $2.3 trillion dollars in reserves, China has been able to strategically stimulate their economy – without having to deficit-spend to do it. China hasn’t had to go into debt or print trillions of dollars to attempt to stimulate its economy like the U.S. did. This gives China an incredible opportunity to shore up the economy without damaging its future economic prospects.

3. China is funding global growth

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced they were considering issuing $50 billion in bonds to better finance aid to countries struck by the global financial crisis; they turned to China to purchase them.

4. China is moving the world away from US dollar

Not only is China taking advantage of its economic strength to gain leverage in the IMF, it is also pushing for a move away from the U.S. Dollar as the world reserve currency. As the largest holder of U.S. dollar reserves in the world, China has a lot of reasons to be concerned with the value of the U.S. dollar.

5. China is creating a marketplace for its currency

China's central bank has signed bilateral currency swap agreements with six different countries – including Argentina, South Korea and Indonesia – worth $95 billion dollars. The countries that participate in these swap agreements can use Chinese Yuan to buy goods and services in China. With these agreements, China has created a market for its currency without ever having to put it into the open market.

6. China has a room to grow

Annual per-capita income in China is only $6,000 – compared with $47,000 in the U.S. The sheer size of China (1.3 billion people) and its increasing prosperity is an enormous force that can’t be ignored.

7. Global GDP growth is shifting east

As the global markets begin to mend themselves we will see global GDP share move from the west to Asia – led by China. Western economies will decline to just 45% of global economic activity by 2012 – far ahead of the original estimates that predicted the West wouldn’t fall below 50% until 2015. The Shanghai Stock Exchange increased its share of global market cap by 636%. In addition, by 2020 – just 10 years from now – China’s share of global consumption will be equal to that of the United States.