China's stock market has seen net selling for a record six straight months, Bloomberg data shows. Foreign investors have fled amid economic problems and a tepid policy response from Beijing. In January, global funds sold $2 billion worth of Chinese equities. January marked the sixth consecutive month foreign investors were sellers of Chinese equities, according to a Bloomberg report. Last month, global funds sold 14.5 billion yuan worth of stocks — about $2 billion — and Beijing has yet to offer any policy solution to reverse the outflows. Chinese equities have shed roughly $6 trillion in market value since peaking in 2021.  The post-pandemic economic rebound never fully materialized for China, and instead, it's had to contend with severe real estate trouble, deflation, and fresh demographic challenges including an aging population and historic youth unemployment.  "You have an uber-bearish narrative around China that is proving very difficult to dislodge," Nicholas Spiro, a partner at Lauressa Advisory, told Business Insider in a recent interview. "China is emphatically out of favor with global investors." On January 22, Bloomberg reported that Chinese authorities were weighing a rescue package for stocks worth as much as $278 billion, pulled primarily from offshore accounts of state-run firms.  Yet experts told Business Insider that even sizable initiatives may not bring bears clamoring back to China. The bleak outlook stems from China's real estate market, which accounts for the majority of household wealth in the country. With property values depreciating, people's willingness to spend has also deteriorated, as has sentiment across the economy and markets. Deep-seated structural issues in real estate, experts say, make it difficult to envision what has to happen for investors to regain confidence.    Source: Business Insider  

President Md Shahabuddin has invited investors from the United Kingdom to invest in various sectors in Bangladesh, including oil and gas.  Sarah Cooke, the newly appointed High Commissioner of United Kingdom-Designate to Bangladesh, presented her credentials to Bangladesh President at Bangabhaban on Thursday, june 08 and conveyed the invitation.  Upon her arrival at Bangabhaban, a guard of honor from the President's Guard Regiment was accorded to the High Commissioner. Welcoming the new High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Bangladesh, President Md. Shahabuddin said, "The United Kingdom is a steadfast friend of Banglafdesh. In economic and industrial development of Bangladesh, the United Kingdom plays an important role." Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, after being released from Pakistani prison, first visited the United Kingdom and was given extensive respect. Recalling that memory, Bangladesh president expressed deep gratitude to the British people and the then British Prime Minister Edward Heath. President Shahabuddin remarked that the journey of cooperation between Bangladesh and United Kingdom began from that time and over the years this relationship has expanded in various fields. The Press Secretary to Bangladesh President, Md Joynal Abedin, informed that President Md Shahabuddin conveyed his congratulatory message to the new British King Charles III during the meeting. The High Commissioner stated that the partnership between Bangladesh and the United Kingdom is based on a strong foundation.  Praising Bangladesh's socio-economic development, she said, "My country will always stand by Bangladesh in its uninterrupted progress. In fulfilling her responsibilities as the High Commissioner, Sarah Cooke asked for President's cooperation."

 Indian business icon Ratan Tata backtracked on an almost-approved three-billion-dollar investment plan in Bangladesh in 2005, turning down a bribery deal placed by BNP leader Tarique Rahman, observed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy.      The unchecked greed of BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his friend Giasuddin Mamun took a toll on the investment sector of Bangladesh, causing many foreign investors to turn their back, Sajeeb wrote in a post from his verified account on Facebook on Sunday, as part of his take on the BNP-Jamaat rule between 2001 and 2006.     "Why did Tata pull out of a thousand-crore dollar investment plan in the last moment? How were the youths of Bangladesh deprived of their employment opportunities?" wrote Sajeeb.     The post, titled 'Subject - Tata's Investment' also incorporated an audiovisual detailing on why Tata pulled out, at the eleventh hour, of the investment plan they were so excited about.     "It was May 8, 2005. Former Energy Advisor Mahmudur Rahman announced that Tata was set to invest three billion dollars in Bangladesh, which would defy all previous foreign investment marks in the country. According to the plan, they would invest in the fertilizer and steel factory sectors in return for an undisrupted gas supply to Tata for 25 years. Tata also offered a 10 percent equity to Bangladesh," said the video report.     Attending a meeting with the Tata board of directors in India, Tarique Rahman, flanked by his friend Giasuddin Mamun and Silver Selim, wanted to talk to Tata privately. As other directors left, Giasuddin cleared his throat, demanding a 10% commission, a proposal rejected outright by the billionaire philanthropist. Still, Tarique stubbornly dwelled on his demand. At one point, Tata inquired about the recipient's bank account, which Giasudding said, was in Dubai, Singapore, and Malaysia. Mamun demanded Taka 200 crore in the first phase and Taka 100 crore during the election, the visual report added.     Bidding farewell to Tarique and Mamun, Ratan Tata sent a note on the meeting to a government official concerning the matter, which was even relayed to the then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the report further said, adding that then Tata formally pulled out of the project. Source: BSS AH

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may propose a capital gains tax waiver in the Union Budget for overseas debt investors, a move that will set the stage for India's inclusion in the keenly tracked global bond indices of Bloomberg-Barclays and JP Morgan, three people familiar with the matter told ET. The waiver-and resultant inclusion of Indian debt instruments in global bond indices-should spawn significant capital flows into local debt securities, potentially driving down yields in Asia's third-biggest economy. Offshore investors are expected to start trading in select sovereign securities following their inclusion in global bond indices. That should draw as much as $250 billion of inflows over the next decade and reduce India's cost of borrowing by up to 50 basis points, a Morgan Stanley estimate showed. 'Tax to Hamper Liquidity' "If capital gains tax is applied on each bond transaction, it will hamper liquidity significantly, which goes against the global indices," said Sudip Chatterjee, head of global capital markets at international securities settlement platform Euroclear. "This means that we have to change our basic model and split the omnibus model into a segregated mode." An overseas investor is supposed to pay a short-term capital gains tax if a listed bond is sold within 12 months. The tax incidence is in the range of 30-40% depending on the nature of investor. Abolition of capital gain liabilities is perhaps the easiest path toward having Indian debt listed on Euroclear, Krishnamurthy Subramanian, former chief economic advisor to the finance ministry, had said last year in July. "If you want to be listed on Euroclear, then there is a decision that has to be made on the capital gains part," he had then said in an interaction with Bloomberg. "The cleanest solution is to remove capital gains tax." The finance ministry did not immediately respond to ET's query. Waiver on short-term capital gain liabilities will help remove the final hurdle for India's inclusion in the indices that global financial hubs track for parking surplus cash. Platforms such as Euroclear cannot calculate such a tax levy, which was billed as an impediment toward drawing overseas fund flows. Sovereign entities list their securities on global indices to help enhance liquidity - and hold down the cost of borrowing. "It is not feasible and defeats the key purpose (liquidity) on why countries include sovereign papers in global indices," Euroclear's Chatterjee said. Euroclear operates in 49 different countries. None of them have capital gains tax on bond transactions. Bonds foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) could purchase under the Fully Accessible Route (FAR) are now at about '16.98 lakh crore spread across 17 different tenors, show data from the Clearing Corporation of India. Maturities of those securities range from 2024 to 2051. "The government may consider a beneficial capital gain tax regime for secondary market sales to sweeten the deal for offshore investors," said Vishal Shah, partner - PWC India. "Equities are not comparable with debt as they have multiple investment options." Source: The Economics Times

Sonam Srivastava used to create trading algorithms for high-frequency securities traders. But when the U.S. advisory she worked for scrapped plans to launch in India, she decided to start her own advisory business in Mumbai. In 2019, she began offering stock portfolio recommendations on a site called Smallcase, which executes trades on investors' behalf.   Srivastava's recommendations became popular among retail investors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting with a "multifactor" strategy based on quantitative research, she has added new themes such as "momentum," which aims to take advantage of a bull market, and another focused on small-cap stocks.   Today, about 6,500 customers have invested nearly 1 billion rupees ($13 million) through Smallcase, Srivastava said in an interview. Most of her clients are "aggressive millennial investors aged 25 to 40, predominantly male, and come from the tier-one and tier-two cities," she added.   Srivastava and Smallcase are part of a major shift in India's wealth management industry. Retail investors, once a relatively small force, compared with foreign and domestic institutions, have grown rapidly since the start of the pandemic, helping drive stock prices to record highs. Economists at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India said the share of individual investors on the NSE by turnover rose from 33% in the 2016 fiscal year to 45% in fiscal 2021.   The number of individual demat accounts, which keep an electronic record of securities that investors are required to have to trade stocks, rose from 39.5 million in January 2020 to 77.2 million in November 2021. For all of 2019, the number of new accounts created totaled just 4.5 million. The trading boom has been fueled by a string of large initial public offerings in India's technology sector, such as food delivery company Zomato, and One97 Communications, owner of mobile payments app Paytm. Economists also attribute the growth in stock trading to a shift to high-yield investments amid falling interest rates.   Among those betting on the Indian stock market is Debnarayan Banerjee, a 36 year-old information technology professional at a U.S.-headquartered multinational. Banerjee, who lives in Bangalaru, had been parking money in mutual funds for about five years when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020. His investments were intended to create a nest egg for his toddler's education as well as his retirement. He was also paying monthly installments for an apartment and a car he bought right before the pandemic struck.   Yet when India's stock market plunged in early 2020, Banerjee more than doubled his investments instead of cutting back. "Investing in stocks or mutual funds is a long-term play," says Banerjee. "It was an opportunity to buy more in the dip."   Now competition among startups to capture business from tech-savvy millennial investors is heating up. Venture capital firms have poured money into online brokerage startups like Groww and Upstox, both of which were reportedly valued at more than $3 billion in fundraising rounds in 2021. Zerodha, considered larger than those two competitors, with 7.5 million active users, has not raised capital during the pandemic.   Smallcase is an online marketplace that offers portfolios of stocks and exchange traded funds by licensed investment advisers. The company hopes to meet demand among investors who want to build a diverse portfolio of stocks but do not want to passively invest in mutual funds.   "The challenge in India has been that there would only be two ways for people to invest: Either they invest into a mutual fund, or they start picking their own stocks and build their own portfolios," said Vasanth Kamath, Smallcase's founder and CEO. "Smallcase is a great gateway in between because it gives you a portfolio approach to investing into equities, but the experience is also very simple."   Founded in 2015, Smallcase had 500,000 customers in January 2020, but that number jumped to 4 million during the pandemic, according to Kamath. The company held a $40 million funding round in August with a group of investors that included Amazon. But competition is only intensifying. WealthDesk, a portfolio investment startup founded in 2016, began offering products on Paytm's stock trading app in September.   Kamath said he is looking to expand Smallcase's offerings into new categories, such as bonds, and potentially cryptocurrency, if the regulatory environment becomes clearer.     India's benchmark Sensex stock index dropped 34% between January and March 2020, but has since risen by about 110%. Some analysts have warned that the dramatic influx of new retail investors means valuations are overheating. After reaching an all-time high in October, the Sensex has declined by about 7%. The increase in the number of new demat accounts hit a peak of 3.58 million in October and fell slightly in November.   "As active retail participants increased substantially, the overall market delivered a positive return of over 15% despite foreign investor outflows of more than 800 billion rupees in 2021," said Mitul Shah, head of research at Reliance Securities. "The recent correction certainly makes investors start thinking about fundamentals, the economy and valuations. The stock market is already trading at a 10% to 15% premium to its historical average valuation of 17 times [the] one-year forward price-to-earning ratio, which creates some discomfort on the valuation front."   Whether investors will stay after a market downturn "is something that all the entire industry is obviously thinking about, and we have no right answer," Kamath said. "But I think there is a strong undercurrent of something changing fundamentally in how people think about asset allocation." Source: NIKKEL ASIA

Laying emphasis on doubling bilateral trade volume by 2025, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Wednesday) invited French businessmen to boost their investors in Bangladesh as the country sits at a strategic location among major economic centers in the Indo-Pacific.    "French investment in Bangladesh is still modest compared to its global footprint. I invite French investors to witness first-hand the investment opportunities in Bangladesh," she said.    The Prime Minister made this call during her meeting with the Business Leaders of MEDEF International at the Place of Residence in Paris.    Mentioning that Bangladesh sits at a strategic location in the Indo-Pacific to act as a bridge among major economic centers, Sheikh Hasina said "We are working on making Bangladesh a regional connectivity hub. Our investments in road, rail, maritime, energy and digital connectivity across the region will be a real game-changer."    She said Bangladesh's Investment Promotion Agency- BIDA is directly reporting to her office and it will be happy to support French investors in any way possible.    She advised "You may wish to find a local partner to make your entry easier, and you would be well advised to build a partnership with Bangladesh in the long term."    "Bilateral trade between Bangladesh and France is growing steadily. The two-way trade stands close to 2 billion US dollars", she added.     Mentioning that France is now Bangladesh's 5th largest export destination, the Premier said "We must aim to double the volume of bilateral trade by 2025. Our export to France also needs to diversify further."    Sheikh Hasina said that she is sure that French investors will feel confident about the prospects for high returns on their investment.    "We would also welcome your constant feedback and suggestions," she said, adding, "Bangladesh stands ready to welcome you to make your business venture grow for our mutual benefit."    She thanked MEDEF for setting up a Bangladesh-France Business Council.    "We would encourage further bilateral engagements through institutional linkages. The MEDEF business mission to Bangladesh can be planned in connection with next year's celebrations of the 50th anniversary of our diplomatic relations," she said.    Referring to her yesterday's talks with President Macron and also with the French Prime Minister, she said they have agreed to take the bilateral Relations to new heights.    "This should be reflected in our economic partnership as well. I look forward to your active cooperation in making that happen", she added. The Prime Minister said in the last one decade, Bangladesh's economy has grown at an average rate of six percent with 8.52 percent growth in 2018-19. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said the economy posted a growth rate of 5.21 percent, the highest in the Asia-Pacific. She continued “Our strategy to maintain a balance between people’s lives and livelihoods worked in our favour.” She mentioned Bangladesh’s US$ 310 billion economy is now the world’s 41st largest in nominal GDP and the per capita income has been revised upwards to US$ 2,554. She added “Our macro-economic fundamentals remain strong and continue to get positive sovereign credit ratings. Our securities markets are also gaining international confidence.” Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh’s notable progress in the social sector is a result of the government’s inclusive development policies. She said “Our achievements in poverty alleviation, combating hunger, women’s empowerment, primary health care, free housing allocation, disaster management and social protection are now widely recognized.” She said the aim of the government is bringing 80 percent of the target group population under COVID-19 vaccination by March next year. “I call for international solidarity to build back better, stronger and greener from the pandemic.” She said the government is continuing to invest in productivity growth of the workers. “Our private sector is showing remarkable resilience. We have a fast-expanding middle-class consumer base. Our girls and women are making their mark in almost all spheres of society”, she added. The Premier hoped to groom the next generation as true global citizens. She said “We have the world’s second highest number of IT freelancers now working in Bangladesh. Some of our start-ups are getting sizable international investments.” Talking about the political situation in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said the overall political stability has created the right environment for its socio-economic growth. “Our territory is now relatively peaceful and secure compared to some of our neighbouring countries”, she added. She also noted that the pandemic could not slow down Bangladesh’s massive investments in infrastructure projects. She went on saying “We also offer one of the friendliest investment environments in the region. We remain open to sustained reforms in our legal and policy framework. Our legal regime offers sound protection to foreign investments. We are getting ready for the policy adjustments to be made following our LDC graduation.” She added the government is setting up 100 Special Economic Zones and 28 HI-TECH Parks across the country. Sheikh Hasina said “We now have excess power generation capacity. Our entire land territory has internet coverage. Bangladesh now ranks among the top rice, inland fisheries and vegetable producing countries. Our Blue Economy resources, however, largely remain untapped.” Regarding the climate change issue, she said, “Our vulnerability to climate change is a reality. But we are now focused on building climate resilience and sustainability.” She continued “This also creates green business opportunities for our partners. Our long-term development plans are aimed at building a peaceful, inclusive and prosperous delta.” She said all these factors make Bangladesh an attractive trade and investment destination. The Prime Minister repeated what she had said in Paris back in 2017, saying “France needs to invest to sustain its growth, and Bangladesh needs investment and trade to fast-track its growth. Together, we can create a win-win situation for our two economies.” She said a number of French enterprises are engaged in useful work in Bangladesh. “We developed our Bangabandhu I Satellite with the technical support of a French company. Two ground control stations have also been set up. We have started planning for our second satellite,” she added. She said Bangladesh’s air navigation systems are being supported by French technology and in addition French expertise is also being used in the energy sector, including for expanding one of our oil refineries. “We appreciate continued French investment in our water development sector. Agro-processing can be yet another area for enhanced cooperation,” she added. Source: BSS AH

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Thursday) invited the investors of the United Kingdom (UK) to be part of the developmental journey of Bangladesh by investing in a host of lucrative sectors. "… energy, renewable energy, shipbuilding, automobile, light engineering, agro-processing, blue economy, tourism, knowledge based hi-tech industries, ICT are awaiting foreign investment, and British investors can choose any of these and beyond,” she said. Sheikh Hasina also urged the expatriate Bangladeshi to come in Bangladesh partnering with British Investors, saying, " You will get all opportunities, and if any barrier, I will be there to see it." The premier was addressing the inauguration ceremony of “Bangladesh Investment Summit 2021: Building Sustainable Growth Partnerships and Roadshow” at Churchill Hall, Queen Elizabeth Center in London. She joined the event virtually from her place of residence in London. Besides, prerecorded video messages of Prince Charles and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson were played at the event. British Minister of State for Trade Policy Penny Mordaunt also spoke at the programme. Sheikh Hasina also offered exclusive economic zones where companies of a specific country can invest, adding, “ the UK investors can take one such a zone for themselves." As many as 100 Economic Zones and 28 High-Tech Parks are being made ready for overseas and domestic investments, she said.  Referring to demographic dividend, she said they focus on developing skilled manpower so that the investors get skilled human resources at competitive wages. “Let me assure you that our government agencies, including the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, will do their best to ensure a congenial business environment for you,” she added. The Prime Minister said her government will provide the British investors with ample opportunities for the best possible returns on their investment. Mentioning that quite a few major business organizations are operating successfully in Bangladesh, she said, “I would thus like to welcome more companies to come forward and invest in the capital market of Bangladesh.” Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh and UK have been enjoying the best of relations since the birth of the new nation in 1971, and in fact, the UK was a leading country to lend a generous hand in rebuilding war-ravaged Bangladesh. “And thus today, the United Kingdom is the 3rd largest export destination of Bangladesh, and the 2nd largest investor in Bangladesh," she said, mentioning that the relationship has been growing from strength to strength. She expected that Bangladesh Investment Summit will make two countries business relations even more fruitful. The premier said, “The Roadshow would, of course, get impetus by displaying Bangladesh’s potentialities with rewards of high returns from business and investments.” Narrating that Bangladesh today is a changed  country, she said it has undergone huge transformations on socio-economic fronts in last one decade and the UN declared Bangladesh eligible for graduation from LDC to a developing country due to governments efforts in realizing “Vision 2021”, and moving forward to be a developed country by fulfilling “Vision 2041”. According to ADB Outlook 2019, she said, Bangladesh is the fastest growing economy in the Asia-Pacific region. She mentioned that ADB attributes this to the strong leadership, good governance, stable government, political stability, sound macro-economic policy and right development priorities. Already Bangladesh is the 31st largest economy in the world based on PPP, she said. Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh has become an attractive investment destination recently due to rapid urbanization, increasing consumption of electricity, rapid growth of middle class consumers with increasing purchasing power; growing connectivity with massive markets in South and South East Asia. “We have been heavily investing in development of infrastructures, including energy and power, and road and railway communication,” she added. She mentioned that the government is, with its own fund, constructing the Padma Bridge having railway track connecting the untapped southern Bangladesh with the rest of the country. “Bangladesh is entering into the era of Metro-rail shortly,” she said. To feed the current and future growth of industries and overall development, she said, electricity production capacity has reached over 24,000 Megawatts (MW) with the target of 40,000 MW by 2030 and 60,000 MW by 2041. “We are also constantly improving our legal and financial infrastructures. Bangladesh has already become the most liberal investment regime in South Asia. And foreign investment is protected by Acts of Parliament, and bilateral treaties,” she said. She also mentioned that Bangladesh’s ICT sector is growing fast now with a billion-dollar export to 60 countries.  “The ICT industry is expected to grow nearly five folds to reach five-billion dollar mark by 2025.With more than 600 thousand free-lance IT professionals, Bangladesh is the right place to invest in ICT sector,” she said. The Prime Minister added Bangladesh now stands in the world as the 2nd largest RMG exporter; 3rd largest producer of vegetables; 3rd largest producer of inland fisheries; 3rd largest in internet freelancing; and 4th largest producer of rice. Source: BSS AH

Though India went through a devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that has taken a heavy toll on the economy, for stock market investors it’s been boom time as the capital markets remained bullish and scaled new heights this fiscal year. Equity investors have witnessed a wealth addition of more than 31 trillion rupees (US$ 416 billion) in the first four months of the current fiscal year, Press Trust of India reports. Bombay Stock Exchange-listed companies have added 31.19 trillion rupees of market capitalization from the ongoing bull run. The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex jumped 3,077.69 points or 6.21% during April-July, helped by overall bullish sentiment. The benchmark reached its all-time high of 53,290.81 on July 16 and achieved its lifetime high closing at 53,158.85 on July 15. This is despite the fact that the pandemic had badly hurt the economy, rendering people jobless and denting consumption. In the last fiscal year ended March 31, India’s economy had suffered its first full-year contraction in 40 years. One of the major factors powering the rally is the creation of huge liquidity as the Reserve Bank of India has kept interest rates low to encourage investments in the pandemic-hit economy. This has led to an increased interest in stocks among retail investors, as they find bank deposits less attractive. According to a recent State Bank of India study, 4.47 million retail investor accounts have been added during the two months of this fiscal year. For the last fiscal year, 14.2 million new individual investors were added to the market. Another factor is the good inflow of foreign capital. Investment through participatory notes rose to a 37-month high of 922.61 billion rupees in June. Participatory notes are issued by registered foreign portfolio investors to overseas investors who wish to be part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly. They must, however, go through a due diligence process. Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala opines that the current bull phase will last for a very, very long time. He is counting on the nation’s potential for long-term growth and political stability to fuel further gains in the stock market. He feels India will remain lucrative for investors even after the US Federal Reserve begins withdrawing stimulus, though there might be some short-term disruptions. However, the Reserve Bank of India has taken a much more cautious stand and warned about a possible stock market bubble. The central bank noted that the prices of risky assets in many countries have touched record high levels during 2020-21 on the back of unparalleled monetary and fiscal stimulus levels. This could have “unintended consequences” in form of inflationary asset prices. “This order of asset price inflation in the context of the estimated 8% contraction in GDP in 2020-21 poses the risk of a bubble,” the central bank said. Source: Asia Times AH

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday invited the world to invest in India, saying the South Asian nation offers what innovators and investors need. "India's strides in the world of tech and start-up are well-known," Modi said, delivering a virtual keynote address at the 5th edition of VivaTech -- one of Europe's largest digital and start-up events, held annually in Paris. The prime minister's appeal comes as India turns a corner from a surge of coronavirus infections that overshadowed the Modi government's economic agenda, including his Make in India campaign to attract manufacturing investment. "Our nation is home to one of the world's largest start-up eco systems. Several unicorns have come up in the recent years," he said inviting investment into India based on five pillars of "talent, market, capital, eco-system and culture of openness." Modi pointed out that India has 1.18 billion mobile phones and 775 million internet users. Data consumption in the country is among the highest and cheapest in the world, and Indians are the largest users of social media. "There is a diverse and extensive market that awaits you," he added. Touching on India-France ties, Modi said technology and digital are emerging areas of cooperation between the two countries. "Many youngsters saw the French Open with great enthusiasm," he said, pointing out that Infosys, one of India's leading IT services companies, provided tech support for the recently concluded tennis tournament. He added that French company Atos is involved in a project for making the fastest supercomputer in India. "Whether it is France's Capgemini or India's TCS and Wipro, our IT talent is serving companies and citizens all over the world." On COVID-19, a deadly second wave of which ravaged India in April and May, Modi called the global pandemic "the biggest disruption of our age". COVID-19 "put many of our conventional methods to test," he added. "However, it was innovation that came to the rescue." Modi mentioned India's unique biometric digital identity system known as Aadhaar, which helped the government to provide financial support to the poor. The IT platform Aarogya Setu enabled effective COVID-19 contact tracing, while another digital service called CoWIN helped in the country's vaccination drive, the prime minister said. "Had we not been innovating, then our fight against COVID-19 would have been much weaker," Modi said. "We must not abandon this innovative zeal so that we are even better prepared when the next challenge strikes." He also said two vaccines -- Covishield, which is known as AstraZeneca overseas, and indigenously-developed Covaxin -- are being made in India and more are in the development or trial stages. The Serum Institute of India is manufacturing Covishield while Bharat Biotech is producing Covaxin. As of Wednesday morning, India had administered nearly 262 million doses nationwide - mostly first of the two required -- since launching the inoculation drive on Jan. 16. The country has so far reported 29.63 million infections with 379,573 fatalities. Modi's government has faced criticism for its handling of the coronavirus crisis, from a lack of hospital beds to an oxygen shortage to slow progress on the world's biggest vaccination drive. In his address, Modi said there has been a lot of disruption in different sectors over the past year, and much of it is still there. "Yet disruption does not have to mean despair. Instead, we must keep the focus on the twin foundations of repair and prepare," he said, calling for repairing of the health infrastructure and economies, and preparing for insulating the planet Earth against the next pandemic, among other things. Jointly organized by Publicis Groupe, a prominent advertising and marketing conglomerate, and Les Echos, a leading French media group, the latest edition of VivaTech runs from Wednesday to Friday. Source: Nikkei Asia AH

Describing Bangladesh as a promising destination for the US business and investment, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Tuesday) offered a special economic zone (EPZ) and a high-tech park to the American companies for their investments in a large scale. “We are offering one dedicated Special Economic Zone (EPZ) for American companies to establish manufacturing facilities,” she said while virtually launching the US-Bangladesh Business Council through a message. Pointing out that Bangladesh is now developing 28 Hi-tech parks for ICT industries with local and foreign investments, she said, “We are offering one Hi-Tech Park for ICT investment by US companies.” “It is important that both countries provide adequate policy support to further expand bilateral trade,” she added. The Prime Minister said that Bangladesh’s sustained economic growth, rapidly expanding domestic market and growing connectivity with a vast regional market of 4 billion people makes it a promising destination for US business and investment. “We are constantly improving our physical, legal and financial infrastructures to facilitate foreign investment. My government is establishing 100 `Special Economic Zones’ for rapid industrialization,” she added. She said that the United States has remained a strong partner in Bangladesh’s journey towards democracy and development. “It (the US) is the largest destination of our exports, the largest source of foreign direct investment, a long-standing development partner and an important source of technology and training,” she added. Stating that Bangladesh exports goods worth around 8 billion to US, of which 80 percent is garment items, she said, “we buy considerable amount of industrial raw materials and consumer items like cotton, soybean, and wheat from the United States. All these items enjoy zero tariffs in Bangladesh.” While Bangladesh’s dependency on foreign aid has reduced substantially, the need for foreign direct investment increased to create employments for millions of youths, she observed. The premier said that Digital Bangladesh has been an integral part of the nation’s “Vision 2021”. “I want to thank my ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed for his support in the planning and implementation of our vision of a modern Bangladesh capable of using technology to improve transparency in governance and spur economic development.” Today, Bangladesh exports more than USD 1 billion worth ICT products to over 60 countries, the US being the top export destination, she added. According to the USAID’s Comprehensive Private Sector Assessment 2019 for Bangladesh, she said, the ICT industry is expected to grow nearly five-fold to reach nearly five billion USD by 2025. Expressing her joy to join the business leaders from the United States and Bangladesh at the launching of the US-Bangladesh Business Council, the Prime Minister said it reflects the growing interest of the US business community about investment and doing business in Bangladesh. “I hope, it will help expand economic partnership between our two countries. My government will continue to support the activities of US-Bangladesh Business Council in the coming days.” PM’s Principal Secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus, Bangladesh Ambassador to USA M Shahidul Islam and US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R. Miller, also spoke.  Sheikh Hasina said the launching of the Council is taking place at a time when Bangladesh is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its glorious independence and the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She added that Bangladesh earned its independence through a nine-month bloody war in 1971 sacrificing the lives of 3 million martyrs and sanctity of 2 hundred thousand women. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman laid down the foundation of a prosperous Bangladesh on the ashes of the war-ravaged country, she said. “I have taken over his unfinished work to realize his dream of a Golden Bengal free of poverty, exploitation and economic disparity,” she added. “In the past one decade, we have made remarkable progress in socio-economic fronts. The strength of Bangladesh’s economy is now globally recognized,” she went on saying. “Our economy has shown great resilience even during the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said. The Prime Minister said that Bangladesh received the final recommendation of the UN in February to graduate from LDCs. Bangladesh is now marching towards achieving the target of becoming a high-income developed and prosperous country by 2041. Source: BSS AH