NextBillion - A WDI Publication

India poised for pharmaceutical boom

As the cost of healthcare rises worldwide, Indian pharmaceuticals have positioned themselves to take advantage. For instance, Indian drugmakers now have 75 plants approved to make drugs for the American market - the most of any nation except the United States itself. Also, like Indian IT a decade ago, pharmaceuticals are on the cusp of an outsourcing trend that could become a $3-billion-a-year industry by 2010. During a lifetime spent treating AIDS patients from Asia to the deepest reaches of Af...

Source

Christian Science Monitor (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Hospital Caters to China’s Wealthy and Poor

At the TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital just outside Beijing, patients can choose from six levels of service. At the lowest end, for about $6.70 a night, patients must share a small room with others. The biggest suite at the hospital, on the other hand, costs about $3,200 a night and occupies half the floor of a building. It offers satellite television, an indoor garden, a conference room, two bedrooms, a massage chair and a private gym. It’s just like a...

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Wall Street Journal (link opens in a new window)

Tata, Fiat may join hands for Rs 1-lakh car

Italian carmaker Fiat may join hands with Tata Motors to roll out Ratan Tata?s Rs 1 lakh dream car. The car, whose design is completed in Tata Motors’ Pune centre, is expected to hit Indian roads by mid-2008. Alfredo Altavilla, Fiat’s senior vice-president for business development said, Fiat has a strong presence in the small car segment and we are open to any kind of co-operation with the Tata group. On Thursday, Tata Motors and the Italian carmaker ...

Source

The Times of India (link opens in a new window)

Yale makes big changes to MBA program

Yale this year became the first major university to require its MBA students to study abroad. The Ivy League school also replaced finance and marketing courses that have been the mainstay of business education for 50 years with courses structured to mimic the way business managers operate. For one group of graduate business students at Yale, next month’s lessons will take place on pineapple, banana and coffee plantations in Costa Rica. Other Master of Business Administration stude...

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Associated Press (link opens in a new window)

Stanchart Bank Unveils New Product

STANDARD Chartered Bank has launched import and export financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The product has an international trade account and the SME express trade product, Herman Kasekende, the SME Banking general manager, said last week. He explained that the product was designed to make international trade cheaper, faster and convenient. Sh1m will be required to open this type of account. Kasekende added that the operators of the international a...

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New Vision (link opens in a new window)

Mexican insurers go for ’microinsurance’

Just as Mexico’s microfinance lenders have carved out a lucrative niche making tiny loans to some of the country’s smallest entrepreneurs, a handful of insurers are proving that it can be profitable to sell life insurance to the country’s working poor and lower-middle class. The issue isn’t that the population doesn’t have the economic capacity, disposable income, or an insurance culture, rather we as insurance companies need to adapt to their means, sa...

Source

BusinessWeek (link opens in a new window)

Program to Improve Access to Financial Services for Pakistan’s Poor

An ADB loan package totaling US$320 million will improve access of Pakistan’s poor to wider financial services. Pakistan has achieved growth rates averaging over 7.5% for the past three years, and reforms have led to a better and more predictable environment for public and private investment and thus to job creation and higher incomes. This growth has cut poverty and increased prosperity. However, 24% of the population still lives below the poverty line. ?To ...

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Asian Development Bank (link opens in a new window)

An Organic Recipe for Development

Organic agriculture is a potent tool to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, but also to alleviate poverty and improve food security in developing countries, many experts now believe. Organic agriculture’s use of compost and crop diversity means it will also be able to better withstand the higher temperatures and more variable rainfall expected with global warming. Organic agriculture is about optimising yields under all conditions, says Louise Luttikholt, ...

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WBCSD News (link opens in a new window)