South Asia Investor Review

The Covid19 pandemic that started in late 2019 continued to ravage the world in 2021. Europe,  India  and the United States were among the most impacted by it. Pakistan was able to control it better than its large eastern neighbor but it, too, was hit by double digit global inflation. Pakistan's economic recovery began in earnest with higher GDP growth, record exports and remittances from the Pakistani diaspora. It was a banner year for Pakistan's technology startups with over $300 million of venture investments, about 15 times higher than the year 2020. The war in Afghanistan ended with the US troops withdrawal and the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. Many risks and uncertainties remain as Pakistan and the world enter Year 2022. Let us hope and pray that the new year brings peace and prosperity for all.  Happy New Year 2022 Here is a summary of some of the key highlights, lowlights and issues for Pakistan's year 2021:  Highlights:   1. Banner year for  tech startups in Pakist

India is one of the most unequal countries in the world, according to the  World Inequality Report 2022 . There is rising poverty and hunger. Nearly 230 million  middle class Indians  have slipped below the poverty line, constituting a 15 to 20% increase in poverty. India ranks 94th among 107 nations ranked by World Hunger Index in 2020. Other South Asians have fared better: Pakistan (88), Nepal (73), Bangladesh (75), Sri Lanka (64) and Myanmar (78) – and only Afghanistan has fared worse at 99th place. Meanwhile, the wealth of Indian billionaires jumped by 35% during the pandemic.  Income Inequality Map. Source: World Inequality Report 2022 Unemployment Crisis:  India lost 6.8 million salaried jobs and 3.5 million entrepreneurs in November alone. Many among the unemployed can no longer afford to buy food, causing a significant spike in hunger. The country's economy is finding it hard to recover from  COVID waves  and lockdowns, according to data from multiple sources. At the same t

Is Bangladesh's officially reported GDP figure credible? Do consumption figures support Bangladesh's claim of higher per capita  income  than India and Pakistan?  Is it the recent  rebasing of GDP  that boosted Bangladesh's per capita income above India's and Pakistan's? If Bangladesh has higher GDP per capita, why is its per capita consumption of  energy , cement and steel so much lower than India's and Pakistan's? Does Pakistan really have a much larger informal economy than Bangladesh or India do? How long has it been since Pakistan rebased its GDP calculations? Is there a lot more currency in circulation in Pakistan than in Bangladesh and India? Let us try and answer these questions!  Rebasing GDP: Bangladesh just rebased its GDP in 2020-21 to year 2015-16. This has boosted its per capita income by double digits for every year since 2015-16.  Bangladesh's per capita income for the 2015-16 fiscal year has now gone up to $1,737 from $1,465 in the old c

Luma Health, co-founded by Adnan Iqbal, a second generation Pakistani American , raised $130 million in series C funding. Adnan's fellow co-funders include Dr. Tashfeen Ekram, a Pakistani-American and Aditya Bansod, an Indian-American. The latest round has brought Luma's total funding to $160 million.  "I have had a life of privilege. I have been to the right institutions. I have played collegiate sports. I check all the boxes. But I have a recognizable Pakistani Muslim name. I would have raised twice the amount of money in half the time if I was a white guy. That's just the honest truth", he told an interviewer.  Luma Health Co-founders San Francisco-based Luma’s platform is designed to centralize and automate scheduling and communication with patients. The company’s tech integrates with more than 80 types of electronic health records (EHRs) across the healthcare IT stack. Luma has served more than 30 million patients across the U.S. and is used by more than 550

India lost 6.8 million salaried jobs and 3.5 million entrepreneurs in November alone. Many among the unemployed can no longer afford to buy food, causing a significant spike in hunger. The country's economy is finding it hard to recover from  COVID waves  and lockdowns, according to data from multiple sources. At the same time, t he Indian government has reported an 8.4% jump in  economic growth  in the July-to-September period compared with a contraction of 7.4% for the same period a year earlier.   This raises the following questions: Has India had jobless growth? Or its GDP figures are  fudged ? If the Indian economy fails to deliver for the common man, will Prime Minister Narendra Modi step up his anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim rhetoric to maintain his popularity among Hindus? Labor Participation Rate in India. Source: CMIE Unemployment Crisis: India lost 6.8 million salaried jobs and its labor participation rate (LPR) slipped from 40.41% to  40.15% in November, 2021, according