International and Emerging Markets Blog

India’s economy - Uncertain times

Monday, January 16, 2012 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories: India, India Watch Issue 15 | Tags: India, economy, Grant Thornton, performance, India Watch, growth, emerging markets, inflation, India Economy, interest rates 2011, India Economy 2011, inflation 2011, interest rates, Rupee Devaluation 2011, political direction, economic advisory council, Rupee, stock exchange

As we enter what will hopefully be a more promising year in economic terms for many of the world’s economies, let us take this opportunity to take a look back at the year just passed.

2011 was somewhat of an annus horribilis, with natural disasters in Japan and New Zealand, political uprisings across North Africa, riots in some of the UK’s major cities and what could still be, an economic time-bomb in the form of the Euro-zone debt crisis. All these factors, and many others, led to the continued economic uncertainty seen in both 2009 and 2010, and India, like many other emerging markets was not immune to the global economic turmoil.

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Trends that will shape the global economy in 2012

Thursday, December 01, 2011 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: Brazil, China , Russia, Korea, India, South Africa, Thought leadership | Tags: business, economy, global, report, growth, survey, emerging markets, international, IBR, insight, inflation, International business report, trends, global economy, recovery, 2012, Ed Nusbaum

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What will 2012 bring for both mature and emerging markets? Read on for our major new report surveying demand, employment, investment, inflation and access to finance across 40 economies. It’s a must-read for any business looking to navigate international opportunities at this difficult time.

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IBR index shows business optimism collapsing under rising global uncertainty

Wednesday, October 19, 2011 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: Thought leadership | Tags: economy, statistics, IBR, International business report, Europe, index, US, debt, optimism, crisis

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New figures from Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR) show a pandemic collapse in business optimism during the third quarter of 2011 with net global business optimism dropping from 31% to just 3%.

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An overview of the Indian Economy

Thursday, October 13, 2011 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories: India, India Watch Issue 14 | Tags: India, economy, India Watch, growth, inflation, FTSE, economic growth, IMF, growth rate, Dow Jones, Indian Rupee

As we enter the final quarter of 2011, the world’s economies remain on a knife edge. Economic concerns coming out of the US and the eurozone continue to cause uncertainty across global markets. These effects can be clearly seen across the world’s market indices. For example, in the year to date, the Dow Jones has seen a fall of nearly 6%, the FTSE 100 a 12% fall and India’s Sensex Index is down a remarkable 23% (with the last quarter seeing the worst fall for almost 3 years).

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India’s United Progressive Alliance must act decisively for effective change

Saturday, July 16, 2011 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories: India, India Watch Issue 13 | Tags: India, economy, China, India Watch, growth, UK, South Asia Group, Anuj Chande, Capital Markets, inflation, Reserve Bank of India, RBI

This halfway point in the calendar year provides us with an ideal opportunity to review India’s economic and political status over the past few months and also to look forward to what the remainder of the year might have in store.

There seems no better item to start with then what has now become a fairly routine announcement from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Last month the RBI raised interest rates for the 10th time in 18 months. The repurchase rate was raised by 25 basis points to 7.5% as the RBI continued to try and curb inflationary pressure. As with the first quarter of the year, wholesale-price inflation (around 9.1% year-on-year to the end of May) continues to be fuelled by high oil prices and strong domestic demand.

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Grant Thornton India Watch Index outperforms all major London indices for the first half of 2011

| Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories: India, India Watch Issue 13 | Tags: India, economy, Grant Thornton, performance, India Watch, UK, South Asia Group, AIM, IPO, London listing, share price, PLUS, capital markets, main market, raising finance, equity

The Grant Thornton India Watch Index* showed the strongest performance in H1 2011 of all the major London indices, with a positive performance of 2.65%. This compares to FTSE 100 (0.78%) and FTSE AIM UK 50 (1.17%) and the falling AIM 100 (-8.54% ) and FTSE AIM All-Share (-8.10%).

Interestingly, since the start of the financial crisis in late 2008, the Grant Thornton India Watch Index has gained 142.85%, followed by the FTSE AIM ALL-SHARE (117.58%) and FTSE AIM 100 (112.46%) respectively, highlighting the sustained growth of the AIM market.

 

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Automobiles ‘Made in China’ or ‘Made by China’

Thursday, April 21, 2011 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories: China | Tags: business, tax, India, economy, Grant Thornton, global, China, growth, UK, infrastructure, mergers, mergers and acquisitions, IT, BRIC, acquisition

2009 was an important year for the China automotive industry. This was the year that China exceeds the United States and Japan in becoming the top car manufacturer by production volume. 2010 saw China produce just under 14m units, a 33% increase from 2009 and therefore consolidating its position as the world’s largest automotive manufacturer.  Into 2011, China’s position in the automotive market remains strong and this is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future.

As well as being the largest manufacturer, China is recognised as the largest automotive market in the world, given the size of the population where only one in five owns a car.  The forecast is that by 2015, the demand for cars in China will reach 25m - 30m units. Foreign car manufacturers are therefore naturally drawn to such an exciting market where the number of potential consumers is staggering.

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Sustained growth expected for India economy

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 | Posted by: Grant Summers
Categories: India, India Watch Issue 12 | Tags: business, tax, India, finance, economy, Grant Thornton, governance, India Watch, growth, UK, infrastructure, GDP, Capital Markets, economic, Alex Wright, Indian Economy, inflation, IT

Over the first quarter of 2011, the World’s economies witnessed a number of significant set-backs in their growth stories. The recent natural disasters suffered by Japan and New Zealand, coupled with the on-going political turmoil in the Middle-East, have created an unsettled start to the year.

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New M&A wave witnessed by India Inc.

| Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories: India, India Watch Issue 12 | Tags: business, India, investment, finance, economy, Grant Thornton, global, India Watch, growth, UK, Grant Thornton India, deals, international, economic, Indian Economy, sectors, IT, India Economy

During the first quarter of 2011, India witnessed 143 merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions compared to 188 in the corresponding quarter of 2010. M&A transaction values for the period were estimated at US$17.88bn (Q1 2010 equaled US$17.44bn).

In Q1 2011, there was 60 cross-border transactions of which 26 were inbound transactions (into India) with a total value of US$13.75bn. Whereas, in comparison to Q1 2010 there were 69 cross-border transactions of which 23 were inbound with a value of US$1.12 bn.

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India Union Budget 2010-11: A reflection

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories: India, India Watch Issue 12 | Tags: business, tax, India, investment, finance, economy, Grant Thornton, global, governance, India Watch, growth, UK, infrastructure, Grant Thornton India, South Asia Group, GDP, South Asia, economic, inflation, IT

The Union Budget 2010-11 was tabled in the backdrop of an improving economic scenario both within India and globally, but fiscal consolidation and expenditure discipline have still been rightly treated as the foremost priorities in this budget.

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