India’s Congress Party will lead an alliance of political parties that will form the next government after it emerged the surprise victor in the country’s national elections in early May. Voters shunned the previous regime led by the Bharatiya Janata Party whose economic reforms appear to have left a large majority of rural Indians unmoved.
Manmohan Singh, the former finance minister, will be the new prime minister after Congress party president Sonia Gandhi turned the job down.

India’s securities went from third to first world in record time. But is T+1 a step too far, asks Kala Rao.

With the uncertainty surrounding the two-month long impeachment process of President Roh Moo Hyun now finally resolved, and the president firmly back in the saddle, South Korea is keen to push ahead with more financial reform and, in particular, focus on asset management.

A trade boom coupled with WTO aspirations are prompting a more open market, writes Nick J Freeman.

Korea is becoming far too reliant on exporting to China, and the honey pot won’t last for ever, says Yang Sung-jin.

The signs for optimism in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico are under threat from a cooling of the Chinese economy and a probable rise in US interest rates.

The big issue in China is not inward investment but outward investment. Even as the queue for QFII (Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors) status lengthens (allowing access to China’s renminbi denominated A shares market, the bulk of stock market capitalisation), the talk is of when China’s own insurance and social security funds may be allowed to venture overseas freely and openly.

Louise do Rosario says the pace of change has speeded up dramatically since China signed up for WTO status.
For many years, foreign banks in China grew at a snail’s pace, while the local economy was growing an impressive 8%-9% a year. Foreign banks made a negligible impact on the local banking scene, as they were confined by law to a few cities and to serve mainly foreigners.
This situation has changed, thanks to the financial liberalisation China has made in accordance with its commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In recent years, foreign banks have made many alliances with and investments in their Chinese counterparts.

In an increasingly interconnected world, large financial services institutions (FSIs) are already sourcing their IT and business process services from a variety of international locations. As outsourcing services have evolved from filling tactical gaps to providing strategic cost and quality advantages as well as innovative features, FSIs are tapping supplementary alternatives to India as a location for offshore outsourcing.