IPL where the money is

I have been casting a eye over the Indian Premier Cricket league being broadcast on ITV4 over the past couple of weeks.Not the best of coverage but nevertheless it captures the excitement of what is the richest competition in the world.

Today two new franchises were announced for the 2011 season to be based in Cochin and Pune at a cost of $330 and $370m respectively.

Those figures show just how much the value of the brand has gone up.Three years ago the intial franchises were sold for between $112m and $67m.

Today what was then the most expensive the Mumbai franchise wuld probably cost three times that.

Indian savers change direction

Indian's are changing their pattern of savings that might effect the financial of the country.

Tradition saving patterns were putting the money away in banks or scoieties but the boom in other investments saw the country's citizens moving into more risky investments.

Now with those in decline,Indians are reverting to their old ways of saving.The consequences being taht there is less availability of capital and puttng the financial sector under pressure.

According to the Economist

India's high savings rate has been a crucial driver of its economic boom, providing productive capital and helping to fuel a virtuous cycle of higher growth, higher income and higher savings. Since the 1990s, the gross domestic savings rate has risen steadily from an average of 23% to an estimated high of 35% in the 2006/07 fiscal year (April-March). The latter rate compares very favourably not only with developed economies (the US and the UK have savings rates of around 14%), but also with other emerging economies—with a few exceptions such as Malaysia (38%) and Chile (35%).

Attacks in Mumbai have all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda operation

This morning's news from Bombay brings the harsh realities of the continuing conflict between the Western world and a minority of the Muslim population.

It seems the attacks which have left over 100 dead were meant to target Western interests in the Indian city with hoders of US and British passports singled out.

Hostages were taken at both the Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi Trident hotels as well as at an office block in the city's financial district.

The Deccan Mujahideen group ahve claimed responsibilty.Their actions seem to have all the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda operation

According to the Independent

The attacks were bound to spook investors in one of Asia's largest and fastest-growing economies. Mumbai has seen several major bomb attacks in the past, but never anything so obviously targeted at foreigners.