Written by a Pakistani journalist about India
Capital suggestion
By Dr Farrukh Saleem
12/9/2007
Here's what is happening in India:
The two Ambani brothers can buy 100 percent of every company listed
on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and would still be left with $30
billion to spare. The four richest Indians can buy up all goods and
services produced over a year by 169 million Pakistanis and still be
left with $60 billion to spare. The four richest Indians are now
richer than the forty richest Chinese.
In November, Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex flirted with
20,000 points. As a consequence, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries
became a $100 billion company (the entire KSE is capitalized at $65
billion). Mukesh owns 48 percent of Reliance.
In November, comes Neeta's birthday. Neeta turned forty-four three
weeks ago. Look what she got from her husband as her birthday
present:
A sixty-million dollar jet with a custom fitted master bedroom,
bathroom with mood lighting, a sky bar, entertainment cabins,
satellite television, wireless communication and a separate cabin
with
game consoles. Neeta is Mukesh Ambani's wife, and Mukesh is not
India's richest but t he second richest.
Mukesh is now building his new home, Residence Antillia (after a
mythical, phantom island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean). At a cost
of $1 billion this would be the most expensive home on the face of
the
planet. At 173 meters tall Mukesh's new family residence, for a
family
of six, will be the equivalent of a 60-storeyed building. The first
six floors are reserved for parking. The seventh floor is for car
servicing and maintenance. The eighth floor houses a mini-theatre.
Then there's a health club, a gym and a swimming pool. Two floors
are
reserved for Ambani family's guests. Four floors above the guest
floors are family floors all with a superb view of the Arabian Sea.
On
top of everything are three helipads. A staff of 600 is expected to
care for the family and their family home.
In 2004, India became the 3rd most attractive foreign direct
investment destination. Pakistan wasn't even in the top 25
countries.
In 2004, the United Nations, the representative body of 192
sovereign
member states, had requested the Election Commission of India to
assist the UN in the holding elections in Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah
and Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan. Why the Election Commission of
India and not the Election Commission of Pakistan? After all,
Islamabad is closer to Kabul than is Delhi.
Imagine, 12 percent of all American scientists are of Indian origin;
38 percent of doctors in America are Indian; 36 percent of NASA
scientists are Indians; 34 percent of Microsoft employees are
Indians;
and 28 percent of IBM employees are Indians.
For the record: Sabeer Bhatia created and founded Hotmail. Sun
Microsystems was founded by Vinod Khosla. The Intel Pentium
processor,
that runs 90 percent of all computers, was fathered by Vinod Dham.
Rajiv Gupta co-invented Hewlett Packard's E-speak project. Four out
of
ten Silicon Valley start-ups are run by Indians. Bolly wood produces
800 movies per year and s ix Indian ladies have won Miss
Universe/Miss
World titles over the past 10 years.
For the record: Azim Premji, the richest Muslim entrepreneur on the
face of the planet, was born in Bombay and now lives in
Bangalore.India now has more than three dozen billionaires; Pakistan
has none (not a single dollar billionaire).
The other amazing aspect is the rapid pace at which India is
creating
wealth. In 2002, Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh and Anil Ambani's father,
left his two sons a fortune worth $2.8 billion. In 2007, their
combined wealth stood at $94 billion. On 29 October 2007, as a
result
of the stock market rally and the appreciation of the Indian rupee,
Mukesh became the richest person in the world, with net worth
climbing
to US$63.2 billion (Bill Gates, the richest American, stands at
around
$56 billion).
Indians and Pakistanis have the same Y-chromosome haplogroup. We
have
the same genetic sequence and the same genetic marker (namely:
M124).
We have the sam e DNA molecule, the same DNA sequence. Our culture,
our traditions and our cuisine are all the same. We watch the same
movies and sing the same songs. What is it that Indians have and we
don't?
INDIANS ELECT THEIR LEADERS