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Saturday, September 25, 2010
11:23:00 PM | 
Posted by
Sukh Sandhu
Hyderabad, September 24
Reflecting the country’s growing economic prowess, India’s wealth generation has outpaced the global average by nearly four times. The individual wealth in India now stands at Rs 73 lakh crore and it is estimated to double over the next three years to touch Rs 144 lakh crore.
This means that the quantum of wealth earned and inherited by individuals in the past 62 years of Independence India will be doubled in the next three years. In what is billed as India’s first-ever Wealth Report, Karvy Private Wealth, the wealth management arm of Hyderabad-based financial services company Karvy Group, has said the individual wealth in the country was growing at a whopping 26 per cent as against the world average of 5.6 per cent.
“The wealth of the High Net worth Individuals (HNIs) across the globe is estimated to grow from USD 39 trillion in 2009 to USD 48.5 trillion by 2013, reflecting a growth rate of 5.6 per cent. The wealth held by individuals in India will almost double over the next three years from the present Rs 73 lakh crore,” the Wealth Report-2010 said.
Analysing trends in Indian investment scenario across all available asset classes, the report predicted rise in Indian investors’ appetite for risk-taking, manifold growth in equity investments and alternate asset class investments. The study considered asset classes like equity holding, bank deposits and debts and excluded assets like real estate and gold.
It pointed out that most of the individual wealth in the country is in the form of debt assets, which account for over 65 per cent of the total wealth at Rs 48.12 lakh crore, followed by equities at Rs 24.76 lakh crore (33.9 per cent).
Insurance investments comprise 14.3 per cent of the asset class, followed by savings bank deposits 9.2 per cent, small savings 7.1 per cent, PF 3.9 per cent and mutual funds 3.8 per cent. The report said Indians are currently under-invested in alternative assets, including private equity funds, real estate, real estate funds and real estate investment trusts.
Only 0.3 per cent of the wealth of Indian HNIs is in alternative assets as compared to 7 per cent globally. The report predicted an increase in alternative asset holding to 1 per cent in the next three years.
The investment trend is expected to undergo changes over next three years. The asset distribution will be redistributed, providing greater balance between debt and equities. The equity based asset classes will form 42.9 per cent of individual wealth by 2012-13. While investments in debt would increase by 20 per cent year-on-year in volume terms, its overall proportion would reduce from the present 65 to 56 per cent during the period. The shift could be due to reasons like a promising GDP growth, better understanding of newer and better investment avenues and a large young, educated population, the report said.
Broadly, individuals would remain invested in the same debt instruments as they are currently invested in. However, growth in small savings will become limited.
The Tribune 24/09/2010
This means that the quantum of wealth earned and inherited by individuals in the past 62 years of Independence India will be doubled in the next three years. In what is billed as India’s first-ever Wealth Report, Karvy Private Wealth, the wealth management arm of Hyderabad-based financial services company Karvy Group, has said the individual wealth in the country was growing at a whopping 26 per cent as against the world average of 5.6 per cent.
“The wealth of the High Net worth Individuals (HNIs) across the globe is estimated to grow from USD 39 trillion in 2009 to USD 48.5 trillion by 2013, reflecting a growth rate of 5.6 per cent. The wealth held by individuals in India will almost double over the next three years from the present Rs 73 lakh crore,” the Wealth Report-2010 said.
Analysing trends in Indian investment scenario across all available asset classes, the report predicted rise in Indian investors’ appetite for risk-taking, manifold growth in equity investments and alternate asset class investments. The study considered asset classes like equity holding, bank deposits and debts and excluded assets like real estate and gold.
It pointed out that most of the individual wealth in the country is in the form of debt assets, which account for over 65 per cent of the total wealth at Rs 48.12 lakh crore, followed by equities at Rs 24.76 lakh crore (33.9 per cent).
Insurance investments comprise 14.3 per cent of the asset class, followed by savings bank deposits 9.2 per cent, small savings 7.1 per cent, PF 3.9 per cent and mutual funds 3.8 per cent. The report said Indians are currently under-invested in alternative assets, including private equity funds, real estate, real estate funds and real estate investment trusts.
Only 0.3 per cent of the wealth of Indian HNIs is in alternative assets as compared to 7 per cent globally. The report predicted an increase in alternative asset holding to 1 per cent in the next three years.
The investment trend is expected to undergo changes over next three years. The asset distribution will be redistributed, providing greater balance between debt and equities. The equity based asset classes will form 42.9 per cent of individual wealth by 2012-13. While investments in debt would increase by 20 per cent year-on-year in volume terms, its overall proportion would reduce from the present 65 to 56 per cent during the period. The shift could be due to reasons like a promising GDP growth, better understanding of newer and better investment avenues and a large young, educated population, the report said.
Broadly, individuals would remain invested in the same debt instruments as they are currently invested in. However, growth in small savings will become limited.
The Tribune 24/09/2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
London: Imagine searching the Internet simply by thinking. Well, your imagination may soon turn into reality, say scientists who claim to be developing a computer which reads human minds.
A team at Intel Corporation is working on a new technology which will directly interpret words as they are thought, unlike current brain-controlled computers which require users to imagine making physical movements to control a cursor on a screen.
In fact, the scientists are creating detailed maps of the activity in the brain for individual words which can then be matched against the brain activity of someone using the computer, allowing the machine to determine the word they are thinking, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.
Preliminary tests of the system have shown that the computer can work out words by looking at similar brain patterns and looking for key differences that suggest what the word might be.
Dean Pomerleau, a senior researcher at Intel Laboratories, said that currently, the devices required to get sufficient detail of brain activity were bulky, expensive magnetic resonance scanners, like those used in hospitals.
"The computer uses a form of 20 questions to narrow down what the word is. So a noun with a physical property such as spade, which you dig with, produces activity in the motor cortex of the brain, as this is the area that controls physical movements.
"A food related word like apple, however, produces activity in those parts of the brain related to hunger. So the computer can infer attributes to each word being thought about and this lets the computer zero down on what the word is pretty quickly.
"We are currently mapping out the activity that an average brain produces when thinking about different words. It means you'll be able to write letters, open emails or do Google searches just by thinking," Pomerleau said.
Added Justin Ratner, director of Intel Laboratories and the company's Chief Technology Officer: "Mind reading is the ultimate user interface. There will be concerns about privacy with this sort of thing and we will overcome them.
"What is clear though is that humans are not restricted any more to just using keyboards and mice."
PTI
Monday, July 26, 2010
Seoul: North Korea on Saturday threatened to wage a nuclear "holy war of retaliation" if the US and South Korea proceed with joint military exercises on Sunday.
The country's army and population will "legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence", the National Defence Commission - the highest decision-making body in the country - said in a statement released by state media.
The commission insinuated that the US-South Korean exercises amount to training for a nuclear war.
North Korea has routinely threatened to deploy nuclear weapons in the past, for instance last February as the US and South Korea prepared for their annual joint military exercise.
The additional naval and air force exercises, formally announced Wednesday while US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates were in Seoul, are meant to deter North Korea's "aggressive" behaviour in the conflict over the March sinking of a South Korean warship, which Seoul blames on Pyongyang.
The US Navy is capable of defending itself and "clearly it would be very unwise for North Korea to challenge these forces", a State Department spokesman said.
The four-day manoeuvre in the Sea of Japan is scheduled to start Sunday. According to information from the US, some 8,000 military personnel from both countries will participate, along with 200 planes and 20 ships - including the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.
North Korea's nuclear threat came one day after a spokesman for the country's delegation said on the sidelines of an Asian security forum that it would physically respond to the exercises.
The South Korean armed forces have intensified their surveillance of the border between the two countries, the Yonhap news agency reported. But there had yet to be any unusual movements on the North Korean side.
"The army and the population of the People's Republic will if necessary start at any time a holy war of retaliation, based on nuclear deterrence," Pyongyang warned Saturday.
All manoeuvres by the US and South Korea are "nothing but outright provocations, with which the People's Republic is to be in every way crushed through force", it added.
The Foreign Ministry in Pyongyang also warned the US against new sanctions. A statement said North Korea would expand its nuclear deterrent and resort to "strong physical measures" in response.
While in Seoul, Clinton had announced the tightening of sanctions against the Stalinist state. The move is mainly meant to block financial support for North Korean nuclear-weapon and missile programmes.
The tensions on the Korean Peninsula have drastically increased since the sinking of the South Korean warship, in which 46 sailors died. North Korea has repeatedly denied any involvement.
IANS
The commission insinuated that the US-South Korean exercises amount to training for a nuclear war.
North Korea has routinely threatened to deploy nuclear weapons in the past, for instance last February as the US and South Korea prepared for their annual joint military exercise.
The additional naval and air force exercises, formally announced Wednesday while US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates were in Seoul, are meant to deter North Korea's "aggressive" behaviour in the conflict over the March sinking of a South Korean warship, which Seoul blames on Pyongyang.
The US Navy is capable of defending itself and "clearly it would be very unwise for North Korea to challenge these forces", a State Department spokesman said.
The four-day manoeuvre in the Sea of Japan is scheduled to start Sunday. According to information from the US, some 8,000 military personnel from both countries will participate, along with 200 planes and 20 ships - including the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.
North Korea's nuclear threat came one day after a spokesman for the country's delegation said on the sidelines of an Asian security forum that it would physically respond to the exercises.
The South Korean armed forces have intensified their surveillance of the border between the two countries, the Yonhap news agency reported. But there had yet to be any unusual movements on the North Korean side.
"The army and the population of the People's Republic will if necessary start at any time a holy war of retaliation, based on nuclear deterrence," Pyongyang warned Saturday.
All manoeuvres by the US and South Korea are "nothing but outright provocations, with which the People's Republic is to be in every way crushed through force", it added.
The Foreign Ministry in Pyongyang also warned the US against new sanctions. A statement said North Korea would expand its nuclear deterrent and resort to "strong physical measures" in response.
While in Seoul, Clinton had announced the tightening of sanctions against the Stalinist state. The move is mainly meant to block financial support for North Korean nuclear-weapon and missile programmes.
The tensions on the Korean Peninsula have drastically increased since the sinking of the South Korean warship, in which 46 sailors died. North Korea has repeatedly denied any involvement.
IANS
Early results from NASA’s Kepler Mission, a small satellite observing deep space, suggested planets like Earth were far more common than previously thought.
Past discoveries suggested most planets outside our solar system were gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn - but the new evidence tipped the balance in favour of solid worlds.
Astronomers said the discovery meant the chances of eventually finding truly Earth-like planets capable of sustaining life rose sharply.
NASA so far formally announced only five new exoplanets - those outside our solar system - from the mission because its scientists were still analysing Kepler’s finds to confirm they were actually planets.
“The figures suggest our galaxy, the Milky Way (which has more than 100 billion stars) will contain 100 million habitable planets and soon we will be identifying the first of them,” Dimitar Sasselov, professor of astronomy at Harvard University and a scientist on the Kepler Mission said.
"There is a lot more work we need to do with this, but the statistical result is loud and clear and it is that planets like our own Earth are out there."
Picture: NASA/Jon Lomberg
News.com.au
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The results need to be confirmed in another study, and that level of protection is probably not enough to win approval of the microbicide gel in countries like the United States, researchers say. But they are optimistic it can be improved.
"We are giving hope to women," who account for most new HIV infections, said Michel Sidibe in a statement. He is executive director of the World Health Organization's UNAIDS program. A gel could "help us break the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic," he said.
And Dr Anthony Fauci of the US National Institutes of Health said, "It's the first time we've ever seen any microbicide give a positive result" that scientists agree is true evidence of protection.
The gel, spiked with the AIDS drug tenofovir, cut the risk of HIV infection by 50 percent after one year of use and 39 percent after two-and-half years, compared to a gel that contained no medicine.
To be licensed in the US, a gel or cream to prevent HIV infection may need to be at least 80 percent effective, Fauci said. That might be achieved by adding more tenofovir or getting women to use it more consistently. In the study, women used the gel only 60 percent of the time; those who used it more often had higher rates of protection.
The gel also cut in half the chances of getting HSV-2, the virus that causes genital herpes. That's important because other sexually spread diseases raise the risk of catching HIV.
Even partial protection is a huge victory that could be a boon not just in poor countries but for couples anywhere when one partner has HIV and the other does not, said Dr Salim Abdool Karim, the South African researcher who led the study. In the US, nearly a third of new infections each year are among heterosexuals, he noted.
Countries may come to different decisions about whether a gel that offers this amount of protection should be licensed. In South Africa, where one in three girls is infected with HIV by age 20, this gel could prevent 1.3 million infections and 826,000 deaths over the next two decades, he calculated.
He will present results of the study on Tuesday at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna. The research was published online on Monday by the journal Science.
"We now have a product that potentially can alter the epidemic trends ... and save millions of lives," said Dr Quarraisha Abdool Karim, the lead researcher's wife and associate director of the South African program that led the testing.
It's the second big advance in less than a year on the prevention front. Last fall, scientists reported that an experimental vaccine cut the risk of HIV infection by about 30 percent. Research is under way to try to improve it.
If further study shows the gel to be safe and effective, WHO will work to speed access to it, said its director-general, Dr Margaret Chan.
The gel is in limited supply; it's not a commercial product, and was made for this and another ongoing study from drug donated by California-based Gilead Sciences Inc., which sells tenofovir in pill form as Viread. If further study proves the gel effective, a full-scale production system would need to be geared up to make it.
The study tested the gel in 889 heterosexual women in and near Durban, South Africa. Researchers had no information on the women's partners, but the women were heterosexual and, in general, not in a high-risk group, such as prostitutes.
Half of the women were given the microbicide and the others, a dummy gel. Women were told to use it 12 hours before sex and as soon as possible within 12 hours afterward.
At the study's end, there were 38 HIV infections among the microbicide group versus 60 in the others.
The gel seemed safe -- only mild diarrhea was slightly more common among those using it. Surveys showed that the vast majority of women found it easy to use and said their partners didn't mind it. And 99 percent of the women said they would use the gel if they knew for sure that it prevented HIV.
This shows that new studies testing the gel's effectiveness without a placebo group should immediately be launched, said Salim Abdool Karim. The only other study testing the gel now compares it to placebo and will take a couple more years to complete.
The study was sponsored by the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, or CAPRISA; Family Health International; CONRAD, an AIDS research effort based at Eastern Virginia Medical School; and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.
Gilead has licensed the rights to produce the gel, royalty-free, to CONRAD and the International Partnership on Microbicides for the 95 poorest countries in the world, said Dr. Howard Jaffe, president of the Gilead Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm.
The biggest cost of the gel is the plastic applicator -- about 32 cents, which hopefully would be lower when mass-produced, researchers said.
Mitchell Warren, head of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, a nonprofit group that works on HIV prevention tools, said the study shows a preventive gel is possible.
"We can now say with great certainty that the concept has been proved. And that in itself is a day for celebration," he said.
Associated Press
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