Where Rich Indians are investing ? - Study Report

Where Rich Indians are investing. ? Recent Study by Capgemini – Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific Wealth Report-2008 tabulated these following facts.

» Around 1.32 lakh of HNWI’s (High Net Worthy Individuals) are in India . ( HNWI defind as People with at least USD 1 million in financial assets )

» Indian HNWI's are investing their money in the Equity Market -36%, Real Estate-24%, Fixed Income-18%, Cash/Deposits-15% and alternative investments like commodities, financial derivatives, hedge funds – 8%.

» Indian HNWI’s are investing their 75% of their mony only in Asia- Pasfic Region. Then 10% in Eroupe and 8% in North American Regions.

» Austrialian and Japanese HNWI’s are investing in Equity Market 38% and 17% Respecitively.

» India led the world in HNWI population growth, rocketing ahead 22.7% and exceeding gains of 20.5% in 2006.

» India’s Bombay Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India had respective growth rates of 122% and 115%. Market capitalization growth was driven mostly by price increases in the very active financial services, property, construction, and infrastructure sectors.

» China ranked second in HNWI population growth, advancing 20.3% in 2007, more than two and a half times greater than its 2006 pace.

» The Shanghai and the Shenzhen Stock Exchanges experienced the highest growth worldwide, at 303% and 244% respectively. Growth in the two exchanges was fueled by organic price increases.

» China attracted the largest absolute amount of private capital in 2007 at a country level, drawing in roughly $55 billion USD.

» The Nikkei 225 in Japan was the world’s worst performing index, contracting 11.1%.

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No Batteries Required - Wind Up Universal Remote Control

Can You imagine, Remote Control Will Work even without a battery. But having a remote that winds up to charge the battery is the best idea yet. How many batteries have your various remotes killed over the years. And it’s a pain replacing them. Some are AA some are AAA. Sometimes you only have one good battery and the thing takes two!

But Wind Up Remote Control, a handy device with completely battery free remote control so there are no batteries to replace, ever!

Just wind the dial and 30 full turns is enough to provide a full charge, which should last you about a week. Supposedly it works with hundreds of brands, including Samsung, Sony, Phillips, Panasonic so it should have you covered. It costs $39 but will pay for itself quickly by never needing batteries.

In near future you may say goodbye to batteries!

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World's Smallest GSM Mobile Phone - China's Xun Chi 138

The race for the World's Smallest GSM Mobile phone with entrants from Motorola, Samsung, Haier and NEC though the war still wages on, Now One Chinese Mobile Manufacturer also Join the race. Now as on the available data's World's Smallest GSM Mobile Phone is from China's Xun Chi 138.

The Xun Chi 138 is a GSM with bar form factor it measures only 67 mm (2.64 inches) in length a bit longer than the AA battery and weighs only 55 grams.

If you thought this was impressive & sure you will be blown away when you check out what this baby packs inside. As with the tiny size it is impossible for a keypad so the Xun Chi 138 has touchscreen with handwriting recognition and support for 260k colors.

The manufacturer has still found space to squeeze in a 1.3 Megapixel camera (actually VGA but interpolated to 1.3 Megapixel), USB port, WAP, GPRS, MP3 player and 138 MB of onboard memory. Maybe the next model will have a Mini SD card slot and Bluetooth.

The Xun Chi 138 is more like a chic phone as it comes in pink color. The stylus neatly fits at the back of the phone. Dont expect the phone to hit the West anytime soon as the Xun Chi 138 supports only Chinese character recognition for now. But it will work in many countries accross the globe.

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World's First Bio-Degradable USB Drive - From Hoshino

Most of the gadgets that we use right now will be tossed away within a few years and probably end up in a landfill somewhere. That’s why it’s nice to see that at least some companies are looking at biodegradable gadgets.

Hong Kong-based Hoshino announced the release of what it's designated "The World's First Bio-degradable USB disk." The USB keys are corn based. The corn is fermented into a material called polylactide (PLA), which, unlike the plastics traditionally used for these devices, can be safely broken .

The key is also shaped like an ear of corn, so you can acknowledge your own greenness, every time you go to retrieve information. Limited information only available about this device, but they have apparently made the entire drive biodegradable and obviously corny design, that’s good news.

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Midori - Microsoft's Next OS after Windows

Microsoft begins phasing out Windows XP by no longer providing copies of the operating system to PC makers and retailers for preloading on new machines from 2008 June 30 . It’s also a good day to start looking ahead to what comes next — after Windows. Midori is the next thing after Windows from MS. Eric Rudder heads this project, attempt to realize Gates’ vision of a truly object-oriented, distributed operating system.

Microsoft has started a new research project Midori, to develop a software program that will help uncouple Windows from a single PC. The company has revealed that a decision to develop Midori was taken because Windows is unlikely to be able to cope with the pace of change in future technology, and the way people use it.

"If you think about how an operating system is loaded, it's loaded onto a hard disk physically located on that machine. The operating system is tied very tightly to that hardware," the BBC quoted Dave Austin, European director of products at Citrix, as saying.

He said that that created all kinds of dependencies that arose out of the collection of hardware in a particular machine, and raised concerns for Microsoft's business in case Windows ends up being less important over time as applications become more OS agnostic.

A statement issued by Microsoft describes Midori as an ambitious attempt by Microsoft to catch up on the work on virtualisation being undertaken in the wider computer industry. Microsoft has said little about Midori and isn't commenting publicly on the project. But company research documents confirm that the project exists and is related to a public project called Singularity -- under which Microsoft developers are creating a slimmed down OS for use in the research community.

During a recent talk on a software tool called Chess, which is designed to check the status of programs that run in multithreaded architectures, Microsoft researchers Madan Musuvathi and Shaz Qadeer made reference to Midori by name in a PowerPoint presentation, documents show. In one slide, the researchers describe Midori as "OS in managed code." Midori, if it makes its way to the market, could solve a number of problems for Microsoft. The current version of Windows, known as Vista, has been poorly received by IT managers. Many view it as too large and resource hungry, and too desktop-centric, for an era in which much of business computing's heavy lifting is migrating to the Web.

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Mahindra plans 2 Wheeler ride with Kinetic

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), one of India's leading automotive companies, announced that its Board of Directors has approved the acquisition of business assets of Pune-based Kinetic Motor Company Ltd. (KMCL). The acquisition will
be done through a New Company to be formed. (New Co). The consideration for the acquisition is a sum of Rs. 110 crores (subject to closing due diligence) plus 20 percent stake to KMCL in the New Co. M&M will hold the balance 80 per cent of the equity.

Kinetic Motor Co. Ltd. to retain 20 per cent stake in new company. The acquisition of business assets of KMCL is a defining moment in the history of Mahindra as it will give us an opportunity to emerge as a full range player with a presence in almost every segment of the automobile industry. KMCL is a strategic fit with our overall two-wheeler strategy. The strong in-house design and development competencies provided by Mahindra Engineering Services (MES) and the recent acquisition of Italy-based design house, Engines Engineering, coupled with KMCL's expertise will enable us to assume a significant position in the rapidly growing Indian and global two-wheeler market. I am also delighted to announce that Mr. Anoop Mathur, President Designate, Two-Wheeler Sector, will spearhead this new venture" said Mr. Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Group.
Ms. Sulajja Firodia Motwani will be a Non-Executive Director in the new company. The deal will enable Mahindra to design and market a range of scooters, value engineered motorcycles and high-end motorcycles for the Indian and global markets, helping it establish a robust, end-to-end two-wheeler business in every segment of the industry.

"KMCL is a company with a rich heritage spanning more than three decades. Over the years, we have introduced several new concepts such as the Luna and India's first gearless scooter which have revolutionized the two-wheeler industry. Hence, we are delighted to associate with Mahindra, another pioneering automobile company with a rich legacy which will add long term value to the business and take it to greater heights,” said Ms. Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Managing Director, Kinetic Motor.

Within the overall two-wheeler strategy, scooters will form M&M's entry point into the Indian market and will be an important part of the company's overall two-wheeler product portfolio. There are several macro environmental trends which make the scooter market especially attractive to Mahindra. These include a younger, more affluent customer base with a significant number of empowered women and increased scooter demand in tier-2 cities and small towns. M&M is strongly positioned to cater to this demand, given the company's significant presence and brand equity in these markets.

For Mahindra, two-wheelers are an additional touch-point for consumers to interact and bond with the ever expanding universe of Mahindra products and services. Within the automotive space, it allows M&M to engage and build relationships with customers at a relatively early stage of the 'personal transport solutions' value chain. This will give an opportunity to place Mahindra in every household, given M&M’s dominant presence in the rural and semi-urban segments and Mahindra Finance’s extensive reach in these markets.

Moreover, the focus on more inclusive growth and improvement in rural transport infrastructure will only expand the demand footprint and increase two-wheeler penetration in semi-urban and rural areas as well.

India is the second largest producer of two-wheelers in the world. The two-wheeler industry has grown from 3 million in the Financial Year 1998 to 8 million in the Financial Year 2008. Domestic sales, which comprise 93% of total two-wheeler sales, have grown from 3 million in the Financial Year 1998 to 7.2 million in the Financial Year 2008, a CAGR of 9.2%. Despite recent market turbulence and volume decline due to tight credit situation, fundamental demand drivers for two-wheelers in the country remain strong. With growing GDP, higher disposable household incomes and increased discretionary expenditure on personal transportation, outlook for the two-wheeler business in India remains positive. Also, penetration at 25% of households in the country is still low and augurs well for increased “consumption”.

With sharply rising environmental concerns and favourable consumer attitudes in the West towards “green” vehicles, two-wheelers provide cleaner, quieter, more fuel efficient transport solutions. While this presents excellent opportunities in the overseas market, the trend is expected in India and other emerging markets as well.

Founded in 1970, Kinetic has a rich history of innovation and has introduced several new concepts over the years that have revolutionized the two-wheeler industry. Kinetic, in fact, brought the concept of personalized transport to India with the launch of the moped Luna in 1972. In 1984, it launched India's first gearless scooter which has come to symbolize comfort, convenience and universal appeal. Kinetic has also introduced new technologies to India including four valve engines, electric start on scooters and motorcycles, v- twin engines, USD forks, etc. It is also the only company to offer top-end world class bikes, Comet and Aquila, to Indian bike enthusiasts.

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