South Asia Investor Review

Why did Pakistan Supreme Court's 5 judge panel unanimously vote to disqualify Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding elected office after Panama Leaks JIT ? What was the basis for it? Can it be compared with the conviction of Chicago gangster Al Capone who was convicted for lesser charges of tax evasion, not multiple murders? Are those crying "conspiracy" right? Was the apex court influenced by the military? What is next for Pakistan? Will this decision help reduce corruption in high places? Will democracy be weakened or strengthened by continuing accountability of politicians, generals and bureaucrats ? Politicians Dominate Names of Offshore Company Owners in Panama Papers  Why did the Indian Army's vice chief say "Pakistan probably has better defense industrial base "? Is it out of frustration with the performance of India's defense industry? How's Prime Minister Modi's "Make In India" initiative doing since 2014 when it was

Five Pakistani companies are featured in the Forbes magazine’s latest annual ranking of the 200 best companies with under $1 billion in revenue in the Asia-Pacific  region. Pakistan's representation of 5 on the list is down from 7 last year. The number of Indian companies on the list is down to 3, less than half of the seven companies that made it in 2016. Among Pakistan's five companies on the list is Ferozsons Laboratories which is making its debut this year. The company's revenue jumped 93% last year. The list highlights 200 Asia-Pacific public companies with less than $1 billion in revenue and consistent top- and bottom-line growth. This year’s candidates come from 13 countries and averaged 55% growth in sales, a 24% profit margin, and 113% growth in earnings per share. China tops the  Forbes 200 list  with 71 companies followed by Japan 41, Taiwan 30, South Korea 22,  Vietnam 10, Singapore 7, Australia 6, Pakistan and Malaysia 5 each, Thailand 4, and Hong Kong

The Big Sick, a cross-culture romantic comedy based on actual events,  breaks new ground by casting a brown-skinned  Pakistani-American  in a lead role in a movie produced and widely screened in the United States. Acquired by Amazon Studios for $12 million after a bidding war at Sundance film festival, the film has already grossed over $25 million so far. “The Big Sick” is based on the life of   HBO's "Silicon Valley"  star Kumail Nanjiani, 39, who plays himself.  A Pakistani American man, a part-time Uber driver struggling to succeed as a stand-up comic in Chicago, Kumail notices a heckler named Emily (Zoe Kazan), during one of his performances. Thus begins a relationship characterized by a series of emotional highs and lows with a lot of laughter in between. Co-written with his wife, Emily V. Gordon, the romantic comedy (romcom) is a somewhat fictionalized account of the first year of their relationship, when a sudden medical crisis forces her to be put in a medi

What is India-China standoff in Bhutan's Doklam about? What are the risks of either side miscalculating ? Can this border conflict spiral out of control and escalate into a full-scale war like the the 1962 war? Can it lead to a wider r egional conflict ? How would such a war conclude? What are the political implications of the ongoing Panama case hearings in Pakistan Supreme Court? How are the media and political parties lining up on this? Will the Supreme Court disqualify and remove Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding office for corruption? Will it be seen as normal democratic process of accountability or a conspiracy to subvert an elected government? Why are Indians among the top 5 asylum seekers in the world along with Syria? What's driving Indians to seek refuge in OECD nations? Is it lack of economic opportunity or increasing religious violence ? Or something else? Viewpoint From Overseas host Faraz Darvesh discusses these questions with Misbah Azam and Riaz H

Is China ripping off its all-weather friend Pakistan by charging high interest rates on loans and exorbitant guaranteed returns on investments in  China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)  projects?  That's a question that is being asked on a frequent basis by Pakistan's friends and foes alike. While friends of China-Pakistan ties are concerned about an undue burden on Pakistanis, the foes see CPEC as an opportunity to create a lot of  fear, uncertainty and doubt  about it and its benefits for Pakistan's economy and society. Who's right? Who's wrong? Why? Let's dive into it. CPEC Projects in Pakistan Claims by CPEC Detractors: Many Western and Indian opponents claim that the cost of CPEC financing will be so high that Pakistan will not be able to bear it. They assert that China is attempting to catch Pakistan in a debt trap from which the country will not be able to escape, eventually turning it into a Chinese colony. The financing costs for Chinese loan

India is among the the top 5 sources of migrants seeking asylum in OECD countries, according to OECD's  International Migration Outlook 2017 . The other four are: China, Syria, Romania and Poland.  Is increasing  religious violence in India , like Syria, contributing to growing numbers of asylum seekers from the South Asian nation? UP CM Yogi Adiyanath with Indian PM Modi Indian asylum seekers rank 2nd in New Zealand, 4th in Latvia and 6th in Finland and United Kingdom and 8th in Australia, the OECD report says. The numbers of Pakistanis seeking asylum remains stable but they still show up among the top 3 asylum seekers in some OECD nations such as the UK, Ireland, Italy, Greece and South Korea. Indians have sought political asylum in more than 40 countries over the years, according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). There's a long history of India's religious and ethnic minorities seeking asylum abroad after being pers

In its latest economic growth projections, Kennedy School's Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University expects Pakistan's annual GDP growth to average 5.97% over the next 8 years, ranking it as the world's 6th fastest growing economy. Growth Projections. Source: HKS CID Report The Harvard growth projections are a bit more optimistic that other short, medium and long-term GDP growth forecasts for Pakistan offered by HSBC's 5% through 2050,   IMF's 5.5% till 2020, World Bank's 5.8% until 2019 and  The Economist EIU's 5.7% in 2017 Among the top 10 fastest growing economies, the  CID projects  Uganda to grow the fastest at 7.73%, followed by India 7.72%, Tanzania 6.66%, Senegal 6.49%, Madagascar 6.07%, Kenya 5.98%, Pakistan 5.97%, Indonesia 5.82%, Mali 5.75%, Turkey 5.64% and Philippines 5.43%. Among Pakistan's other neighbors,  China is forecast to grow at 4.41%, Sri Lanka at 3.77% and Bangladesh at 2.82%. Pakistan 2017

Data shows that Pakistan's literacy and enrollment rates are not rising in spite of significantly increased education spending over the last several years. Education budgets at federal and provincial levels have seen double digit increase of 17.5% a year on average since 2010. And yet, school  enrollment  and  literacy rate  have remained essentially flat during this period.  This  lack of progress in education  stands in sharp contrast to the significant improvements in outcomes seen from increase education spending during Musharraf years in 2001-2008. Why is it? Is the money not being spent honestly and wisely? Is the education budget being used by the ruling politicians to create teacher jobs solely for  political patronage ? Are the teachers not showing up for work? Is the money being siphoned off by bureaucrats and politicians by hiring "ghost teachers" in "ghost schools"? Let's try and examine the data and the causes of lack of tangible results from

Pakistan's mobile broadband operators are offering download speeds of 11.7 Mbps, more than twice faster than neighboring India's 5.14 Mbps as measured. 3G/4G/LTE Subscriptions are rising rapidly at a rate of about a million a month since the initial rollout in late 2014 brining the total number of subscribers to 41.72 million as of May, 2017.  Growing availability and rising speeds are enabling many new Internet applications that are increasing access to education/training, financial services and commerce while reducing the  digital divide  between the rich and the poor. 4G/LTE Speeds Source: Open Signal 4G/LTE Speeds:  Pakistan wireless carriers offer average 4G speed of 11.7 Mbps, more than twice faster than Indian operators' 5.14 Mbps, according to a report by New York based Open Signal's " The State of LTE " report released in June, 2017. Singapore tops the list with 45.6 Mbps 4G download speed. Worldwide average for LTE is 16.2 Mbps. Here's