India’s Budget, China’s bling and global M&A links

Thursday, February 24, 2011 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: Brazil, China , India | Tags: business, India, links, China, M&A, inflation, news, corruption, Brazil, mergers and acquisitions, luxury, BRIC

What have been the international and emerging market must-reads of the last few weeks? Check out our recent bookmarks from the world of international business news and opinion.

China
Learning to like inflation : Higher inflation could help to rebalance China’s economy, says The Economist.

Japan falls behind China : China has toppled Japan to become the world’s second largest economy after the US (which it is forecast to surpass by 2025).

China should garner 8-9 percent of global M&A : This is the figure financial services firm JP Morgan puts on China’s global mergers and acquisition activity this year.

What we all can learn from China’s business leaders : Forbes blogger Cheng Zhu interviewed 15 Chinese CEOs and found that they follow three interesting perspectives for leading change.

How to get your business website banned in China : Interesting piece on how (not) to get banned online in China.

The middle blingdom : Sales of luxury goods are booming in China, which is now the biggest market for Louis Vuitton (pictured).

India
Will 2011 be the year of international luxury brands in India? : Indian consumers are changing, so is India finally warming up to luxury brands? French, Italian and Swedish brands are leading the luxury influx.

India Budget 2011: 28 February 2011 : The Economic Times tells of how India will be affected by two budgets – not only next week’s India Budget but also the recent US Budget. The latter, the Times suggests, could provide “another window of opportunity to piggy-back on the US fiscal stimulus. But this window of opportunity may not be open for long”.

Catharsis for corruption : How the recent Indian telecoms scandal has put “endemic corruption” on the government agenda.

Brazil
Brazil: heading for subprime crisis? : The fast pace of credit expansion in Brazil is triggering alarm bells.

M&A and investment
Increasing appetite for M&A with 61% seeking access to new geographic markets : One from our own press room following our report on international M&A. Key M&A drivers for British firms included: build scale (61% of acquisitive UK PHBs), acquire new technology or established brands (41%), gain access to new geographic markets (61%) and gain access to lower cost operations (40%). We’ll have more from that report next week here on the blog.

Buy UK, sell China : India’s Business Standard suggests that “trading Asian growth for UK torpor” may not be a bad idea – and it carries tax benefits.

Image:Louis Vuitton in Beijing © Achim Hepp

You might also find these posts useful:

* Get the latest IndiaWatch – business news and analysis from our South Asia team.
* Indian takeovers of UK firms are on the rise
* Confidence falters as China inflation concerns grow