WB Reports India Retains as Largest Remittances Receiving Country in 2015

India became the largest remittances receiving country at US$72 billion this year followed by China at US$64 billion, the World Bank said in a report.

The US emerged as the largest remittance source country with an estimated US$56 billion in outward flows in 2014.

"India was the largest remittance receiving country, with an estimated US$72 billion in 2015, followed by China (US$64 billion), and the Philippines (US$30 billion)," the World Bank said in a report.

In outward flow, the US was followed by Saudi Arabia (US$37 billion), and Russia (US$33 billion) in 2014, the Bank said in the report.

Noting that the number of international migrants is expected to surpass 250 million this year, an all-time high, as people search for economic opportunity, the Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016 said the fast growing developing countries have increasingly become a strong magnet for people from other parts of the developing world.

International migrants will send US$601 billion to their families in their home countries this year, with developing countries receiving US$441 billion, the report produced by the World Bank Group's Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD) initiative said.

"At more than three times the size of development aid, international migrants' remittances provide a lifeline for millions of households in developing countries. In addition, migrants hold more than US$500 billion in annual savings," it said.

"Together, remittances and migrant savings offer a substantial source of financing for development projects that can improve lives and livelihoods in developing countries," said Dilip Ratha, co-author of the Factbook.

The top 10 migrant destination countries are the US, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Russia, the UAE, UK, France, Canada, Spain and Australia.

The top 10 migrant source countries are India, Mexico, Russia, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and UK.

Mexico-US was the largest migration corridor in the world, accounting for 13 million migrants in 2013.

Russia-Ukraine was the second largest, followed by Bangladesh-India, and Ukraine-Russia.

"There is ample research to demonstrate that migration, both of highly-skilled and low skilled workers, generates numerous benefits for receiving and sending countries. The diaspora of developing countries and return migration can be a source of capital, trade, investment, knowledge, and technology transfers," said Sonia Plaza, co-author of the Factbook. 

Agencies

Harvard Research Forecast Projects India's Economy to be Fastest Over Next 10 Yrs

India, with a projected annual growth rate of 7 per cent, has the potential to be the world's fastest growing economy over the coming decade, surging ahead of its South Asian economic rival China that will continue to see a slowdown, Harvard researchers said in new forecast.

"India has the potential to be the fastest growing economy over the coming decade... India tops the global list for predicted annual growth rate for the coming decade, at 7.0 per cent," new growth projections presented by researchers at the Centre for International Development (CID) at Harvard University showed.

"This far outpaces projections for its northern neighbour and economic rival, China, which the researchers expect to face a continued slowdown to 4.3 per cent growth annually to 2024, the report said.

South Asia and East Africa have the greatest potential for "rapid growth" as oil economies and other commodity-driven economies face the slowest growth outlook, it said.

"India has made important gains in productive capabilities, allowing it to diversify its exports into more complex products, including pharmaceuticals, vehicles, even electronics," said Ricardo Hausmann, Professor of the Practice of Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School and CID director. Hausmann noted these gains in economic complexity have historically translated into higher incomes.

"China has already realised many of these gains, doubling per capita income in less than a decade. We expect that India's recent gains in complexity, coupled with its ability to continue improving it will drive higher incomes, positioning India to lead global economic growth over the coming decade," he said.

The CID data predicted that growth in emerging markets will continue to outpace that of advanced economies, though the gap is closing. CID is also bullish on East Africa, with Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya ranking in the top 10, with all predicted to grow at least 5.5 per cent annually.

The growth forecast also looks favourably on Southeast Asia, where the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam look to drive growth well above global averages. Growth in advanced economies remains slow by comparison, though it has risen slightly in the projections in recent years.

The US is expected to grow at 2.8 per cent annually to 2024, with higher growth predicted in the United Kingdom (3.2 per cent) and Spain (3.4 per cent), and slower growth in Italy (1.8 per cent) and Germany (0.35 per cent).

The United Nations has also predicted that India will continue to be the fastest growing economy in the world in 2016 and 2017, projected to grow by 7.3 per cent next year and 7.5 per cent the year after amid a global order that will see persistent macroeconomic uncertainties, diminished trade flows and stagnant investment.

Agencies

$8.4 Bn Funding for Over 1000 Indian Startups Deals in 2015

Making it a year of startups, Indian and foreign investors have pumped in a whopping $8.4 billion in new ventures including eCommerce platforms in 2015 through close to 1,000 deals, even as questions have begun to be asked about their hefty valuations.

Those opening the purse for Indian startups included industry titans like Ratan Tata and N R Narayana Murthy as also marquee global investors like Alibaba and Softbank.

According to data compiled by domestic technology and startup blog trak.in, as many as 936 deals worth over $8.4 billion have been inked this year — up from 304 deals worth $5 billion that took place in 2014.

The industry is looking at a promising 2016, though experts and even the investors anticipate correction on the valuation side. The sectors to watch out for include financial technology, healthcare and enterprise technology, among others.

Also, the focus might shift a bit away from eCommerce companies towards some new areas, including agriculture.

This year, the eCommerce sector, led by e-retailers like Flipkart and Snapdeal, and the taxi-hailing app Ola, dominated the startup investments space.

Many of these firms commanded very high valuations, with marquee investors like Softbank and Alibaba, among others, doling out top dollar.

“The technology and eCommerce sectors have been in the limelight in 2015, and our country is the fastest-growing startup ecosystem in the world, right now,” Indian Angel Network (IAN) president Padmaja Ruparel said.

“Eleven of the 68 ‘unicorns’ globally, (companies that are valued at over $1 billion) are of Indian origin,” she added.

However, a debate has begun over the high valuations at which many companies have received funding.

Several industry titans, including former Tata group chief Ratan Tata, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy and techie-tuned angel investor TV Mohandas Pai, have questioned the high price eCommerce companies are commanding for parting stakes.

Tata, who himself has personal investments in more than a dozen startups, took a dig earlier this year at the fledgling sector, saying “valuations” and not “evaluations” are driving the play.

Pai also believes that only about 10 per cent of the startups will succeed over the next few years, and about 25 per cent will stay afloat, while the rest are bound to fail, leading to consolidation.

Ruparel pointed out that following the meteoric rise in the first half of 2015, valuations have become more grounded in the second half, and investors are also more keen to find out the business parameters before backing a company.

Agencies

Andhra's Visakhapatnam Gets Microsoft India’s Centre of Excellence

The Andhra Pradesh government today said Microsoft India will be setting up a Centre of Excellence in Visakhapatnam as part of its digital inclusion drive in the state, besides sharpening focus on raising productivity.

The technology giant signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government in deployment and use of information and communications technologies to offer better citizen services in the state, an official release said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu hosted a breakfast meeting for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella -- who is currently on a visit to Hyderabad -- at his residence today.

The meeting lasted for 80 minutes, during which Nadella assured the state government of total cooperation in utilisation of cloud data for improving citizen services.

"He (Nadella) has also agreed to set up a Centre for Excellence in Visakhapatnam. He promised to visit Anantapur district during his next visit," the statement said.

According to the MoU, the state government will use technical knowledge from Microsoft India, which will support building of up to three proof-of-concept (POC) solutions to apply Microsoft Azure Machine Learning and Advanced Visualisation in education, agriculture and e-citizen services, an official release said.

"These POC solutions will be built and deployed to address specific problems within each of the fields to achieve better outcome for the state. It would use the lab method for data gathering, analysis, predictive analysis and policy planning."

Reaffirming its commitment to supporting the government's initiatives for cloud adoption and improving citizen services, Microsoft India said it will continue to engage and train the government's key IT executives on Microsoft technologies such as Cloud, Mobility and appropriate Microsoft Technology stack.

The company will also deliver an exclusive workshop to the government's key administrative officers on improving productivity by using Microsoft technologies, it added. 

Agencies

Pharmaceuticals Industry in India Likely to Touch $55 Bn by 2020

India's pharma sector is likely to grow over three-fold to hit US$55 billion in the next five years, even as the exports from the sector may slow  down to grow at a CAGR of 7.98 per cent owing to stricter regulations in markets such as the US, Russia and Africa, says a report.

"Indian pharmaceutical industry is expected to touch US$55 billion by 2020 as against the current size of US$18 billion but the exports may slow down to grow at a CAGR of 7.98 per cent in value terms due to tightening of regulatory mechanism in top exports markets of US, Russia and Africa," a joint report by Assocham and TechSci Research reveals.

Consolidation of pharmacy players in North America has resulted in the presence of leading firms that hold better bargaining power, it added.

The study report cited instances like the acquisition of the US distributor Celesio by US pharmacy Mckesson's in 2014, and formation of a joint venture between the US wholesale distributor Cardinal Health and CVS Caremark in 2013.

"Consolidation of pharmacy players is leading to an increase in pricing pressures for generic companies existing in the US market, which is expected to result in a decline in the year-on-year growth of pharmaceutical exports from India over the next five years," it added.

"A steep decline in currency in emerging markets such Africa, Russia, Ukraine and Venezuela may add to woes of drug manufacturers that supply pharmaceutical drugs to that region and are unable to generate high revenues on account of selling their drugs at a low priced currency," the report said.

India is the largest supplier of medicine to the US and pharmaceutical exports from India rose from US $3.44 billion in 2013 to US$3.76 billion in 2014.

"Pharmaceutical exports to the US are rising due to the increasing demand for high quality generic drugs in the market. However, the growth rate for exports of pharmaceutical products from India to the US is declining, due to increasing US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scrutiny on the quality of pharma products coming from drug manufacturing plants located in India.

"In order to boost the growth rate of exports to the US, Indian companies will need to leverage their compliance to US FDA regulations," it added.

The report further said the exchange rate issue in the country is affecting the pharmaceuticals market in Russia.

"For example, Dr. Reddy's pharma revenues in Russia dropped 9 per cent in dollar terms despite a rise of 30 per cent in Rubles. Hence, stabilisation of the currency is of utmost importance in generating revenues through exports," according to the report.

In addition, many Indian companies are operating through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Program (PBP) and hospital tenders, for supplying vital and essential drugs, for which prices are then regulated by the Russian government, it said.

Besides, exports of pharmaceutical products to Africa are being affected due to port delays and prolonged custom valuation, testing and certification requirements and the cost of returning consignments to India is huge and registration process for any generic pharmaceutical drug is time consuming, says the report.

Agencies

Pocharam Infosys New Campus Due for February 2016 Inauguration

India's second-largest IT company Infosys would formally inaugurate its campus at Pocharam here in February, Telangana Information Technology Minister K T Rama Rao said to media.

"The seating capacity of the campus is 25,000. Currently, 12,000 employees are working there. They are planning to inaugurate the campus formally in February, after the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections," Rao told reporters on the sidelines of a programme at T-Hub.

Vishal Sikka, CEO of Infosys, today visited the T-Hub, a technological incubator set up here by Telangana government.

"(Vishal) Sikka has invited us to inaugurate their largest campus at Pocharam in Hyderabad. We would request Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to unveil the IT policy of the state also at that time," said Rao.

The upcoming Pocharam campus of the IT giant would be spread over 447 acre, and built with a total investment of Rs 1,250 crore. The construction would be completed in three phases over a period of ten years, a press release of the company had stated earlier. 

Agencies

Singapore Firm Infinity Partners Biomatiques for Iris Recognition Tech

Leading Iris recognition technology company, Biomatiques Identification Solutions, has partnered with Singapore based Infinity Optics Solutions to bring upgraded technology products by March 2016. 

The tie-up will help to integrate Biometric Extended Depth-of-Field image capture (BEDoF) in the Iris recognition technology for the Indian market, the company said in a statement. 

"We are partnering with Infinity Optics who are the leaders in the market. It is definitely a benefit for us as it has helped us to upgrade the quality of our lenses which will eventually improve the end-user experience," said Biomatiques CEO Tamaal Roy. 

The probability of duplication for voice recognition is 1 in 500, facial recognition - 1 in 1,000, fingerprint - 1 in 10,000, Apple touch ID - 1 in 50,000 while, in iris recognition, it is 1 in 15,00,000. 

Iris recognition uses random textures that are visible in the eye, using the eye to confirm someone's identity. 

Biomatiques claimed it is the only Indian company to launch its latest range of products which are "ultimate in terms of access and security."