South Asia Investor Review

Pakistan's KSE100 (Karachi Stock Exchange 100) index closed the year 2016 as the world's best performing stock market index over one-year and five-year periods, according to data available from  Bloomberg . It has not only outperformed India's Sensex index but also the Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets index. Source: Bloomberg Pakistan's key index KSE-100 has rocketed up nearly 46% in 2016, far outpacing India's Sensex's 2.57% rise and MSCI emerging market's 8.42% increase. Similarly, over 5 year period, KSE-100 has soared 321% vs India's Sensex rise of 72% and Morgan Stanley emerging market index decline of 7.72%. Source: Bloomberg Pakistani stock market gains are driven by multiple factors. Dramatically improved security has brought investors and accelerated the nation's GDP growth. Adding to that is the optimism accompanying Morgan Stanley's decision to bring Pakistan back into its emerging market index that has spurred more buyi

Pakistan is the third biggest source of foreign doctors who make up a third of all practicing physicians in the United States, according to OECD. Vast majority of Muslim doctors in America are of  Pakistani origin . Foreign Doctors in America: About 30% of the 800,000 doctors, or about 240,000 doctors, currently practicing in America are of foreign origin, according to  Catholic Health Association of the United States . Predictions vary, but according to the American Association of Medical Colleges, by 2025 the U.S. will be short about 160,000 physicians. This gap will most likely be filled by more foreign doctors. Foreign Doctors in US, UK. Source: OECD Pakistani Doctors in United States: As of 2013, there are over 12,000 Pakistani doctors, or about 5% of all foreign physicians and surgeons, in practice in the United States.  Pakistan is the third largest source of foreign-trained doctors. India tops with 22%, or 52,800 doctors. It is followed by the Philippines with 6%,

Here's CNN analyst Van Jones talking about the ill-effects of Islamophobia in America: "Honestly, if a Muslim family moved next door to you, you would be the happiest person in the world. First of all, the chances of your kids getting into trouble just went way down. OK, went way down. Because (American) Muslim community has the lowest crime rate, the highest entrepreneurship , the highest educational attainment for women in the country (US). They are the model American community. And so, when you have people who are now afraid to come here--that's starting to happen--you have geniuses from Pakistan , who are from Indonesia, who now (think to themselves) "I'm not safe here". That becomes an economic problem for America long term. So that we're starting to do stuff here that doesn't make good sense for what has made us great so far." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr5cLv8Dj2I Related Links: Haq's Musings Hindus and Mus

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused his critics of his demonetization decision of “brazenly standing in support of the corrupt and the dishonest” and equated their criticism with the “firing at the borders by Pakistan in a bid to provide cover to infiltrators”,  according to the  Indian media reports . Diverting Attention: Modi's attempt to use Pakistan to divert his people's attention from India's internal problems is not new. In fact, it's part of a pattern that seems to work in India. But why is it? What makes so many Indians so gullible? To answer this question, let us look at the following quote from Indian writer Yoginder Sikand's book  "Beyond the Border" : "When I was only four years old and we were living in Calcutta (in 1971)...it was clear that "Pakistan" was something that I was meant to hate and fear, though I had not the faintest idea where and what that dreaded monster (Pakistan) was. What I heard and read

Are immigrants in the United States or United Kingdom or any other host country truly representative samples of the populations in their places of origin? Are American Hindu or  Muslim demographics  comparable to those of the countries they left? A recent report done by Pew Research answers these questions with substantial amount of data on educational attainment. Global Hindus and Muslims: Hindus are the best educated religious group in the United States. They are followed by Jews in the second place and Muslims at number 3, according to Pew Research. However, both Hindus and Muslims are  at the bottom in terms of educational attainment  measured across the globe. 41% of Hindus and 36% of Muslims have had no formal schooling. Hindus have the widest gender gap in education among all religions in the world with Hindu women trailing Hindu men by 2.7 years. US Educational Attainment By Religion: American Hindus are the most highly educated with 96% of them having college degrees,

India is the world's largest exporter of labor with 15.8 million Indians working in other countries. Bangladesh ranks 5th with 7.2 million Bangladeshis working overseas while Pakistan ranks 6th with 5.9 million Pakistanis working overseas, according to Pew Research report released ahead of International Migrants Day observance on Sunday, December 18, 2016. International Migration:  Countries of Origin of Migrants to the United States Source: Pew Research Pew Research  reports that nearly 3.5 million Indians lived in the UAE, the world’s second-largest migration corridor in 2015. While most of the migration is from low and middle income countries to high-income countries, the top 20 list of  migrants' origins  also includes rich countries like the United States (ranked 20), United Kingdom (11), Germany (14), Italy (21) and South Korea (25). Top 25 Sources of Migrants: Here is the list of top 20 countries of origin for international migrants: 1. India 15.9 mill

Air forces of about a dozen developing nations are buying and deploying Pakistani made aircrafts. The reasons for their choice of Pakistan manufactured airplanes range from lower cost to ease of acquisition, maintenance and training. Pakistan's Aircraft Exports: Pakistan started developing defense hardware for imports substitution to reduce external dependence and to save hard currency. Now the country's  defense industry  is coming of age to lead the way to high value-added manufactured exports. Pakistan Super Mushshak Trainer Aircraft Nigerian Air Force is the latest to announce purchase of Pakistan made Super Mushshak aircraft after the United States' refusal to sell to Nigeria, according to American periodical  Newsweek .  Nigerian Air Force chief Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar was quoted by the  Nigerian media  as saying that "Pakistan has accepted to sell ten trainer airplanes. And that is why the Pakistan Chief of Air Staff is coming for the induction ce

Average Pakistani adult is 20% richer than an average Indian adult and the median wealth of a Pakistani adult is 120% higher than that of his or her Indian counterpart, according to Credit Suisse Wealth Report 2016. Average household  wealth in Pakistan  has grown 2.1% while it has declined 0.8% in India since the end of last year. Source: Credit Suisse Wealth Report 2016 Here are the key statistics reported by  Credit Suisse : Total Household Wealth Mid-2016 : India $3,099 billion Pakistan $524 billion Wealth per adult: India Year End 2000 Average $2,036 Median $498.00 Pakistan Year End 2000 Average $2,399 Median $1,025 India Mid-2016 Average $3,835 Median $608 Pakistan Mid-2016 Average $4,595 Median $1,788 Average wealth per adult in Pakistan is $760 more than in India or about 20% higher. Median wealth per adult in Pakistan is $1,180 more than in India or about 120% higher Inequality:  Median wealth data indicates that 50% of Pakistanis own more than $1,

Soaring broadband subscriptions in Pakistan have helped drive a whopping 35X increase in Internet data usage since January 2014. Rapid Rise in Broadband Subscription in Pakistan As the number of broadband subscriptions in Pakistan crossed 38 million in October 2016,  the internet data usage jumped from 1,243 terabytes in January 2014 to 45,672 terabytes in September, 2016, according to  Pakistan Telecommunication Authority . A lot of new data traffic is being driven by 3G/4G equipped smartphones running a variety of applications ranging from social media to consumer and business apps. Mobile Broadband: Mobile broadband (3G/4G) subscriptions have jumped from almost zero in 2014 to 34 million as of September, 2016.  It has been accompanied by corresponding increase in the number of  smartphones  which is expected to cross 40 million mark this year. Applications: Growth of 3G/4G networks and smartphones has spawned a variety of applications from social media apps to bu

Pakistan sits between two economically very dynamic regions: Central Asia (and Western China) and South Asia. Which region is better suited for its economic connectivity and integration? Should Islamabad focus on CAREC (Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation) rather than SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation)? Ideally, Pakistan should be a major player in both vibrant regions. However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy of attempting to isolate Pakistan has essentially forced it to choose. First, Mr. Modi decided to boycott this year's SAARC summit that was scheduled to take place in Islamabad, Pakistan. Then, he unsuccessfully attempted to hijack the BRICS economic summit in India to use it as a political platform to attack and isolate Pakistan .  The signal to Pakistan was unmistakable: Forget about SAARC. Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC): CAREC is a growing group of nations that is currently made up of 11 members, inc