India the Year in Review 2007

It's been an amazing year for India in 2007. We've highlighted the top business stories below and end with some predictions and opportunities for 2008.

• The BSE Sensex started the year at 12,300 and will end the year around 20,200 a tremendous year over year gain of 61%
• AT Kearney's famous emerging markets report gives China the nod for most FDI while India finishes in 2nd place
• While India is not in the traditional sense a serious tourist destination, the country still racked up $9.1 billion in toursim revenue, roughly equal to the American City of San Diego. This is up from $8.9 billion from 2006, which is growth but not much. Until Western friendly infrastructure and destinations exist, the global tourism crowd will shy away.
• The Richest man in the world in 2007 is for the first time in an Indian. Mukesh Ambani became the wealthiest man as a result of the India stock market increase.
• India real estate continued to increase in value in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. Some pockets of real estate in Chennai and Bangalore have seen slight downturns but overall the commercial market is still strong.
• According to CB Richard Ellis Research's semi-annual Global Market Rents survey, Mumbai is in the top 4 most expensive office market rents worldwide. Mumbai's Nariman Point, at $189.51 (occupation cost in US$ per square foot per year), rose three places to second.
• Speculation, rumours and several denials later, they tied the knot! Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai at last got married on April 23, 2007. No doubt, they broke thousands of young hearts! The former Miss World and star, Aishwarya, and Abhishek, sure make a 'dream couple'.

• India in elite space club! India joined the US, Russia, China and France as a commercial space launch nation in 2007. Indian space agency ISRO earned Rs.46 crore when an Italian satellite, Agile, was put into orbit by the PSLV C8 launch vehicle, on April 23, 2007.

• After the World Cup debacle, it was a great achievement by the Indian cricket team to win a Test series in England. The 3-test series was won 1-0 on August 13, with the other games drawn. This was India's first Test series win in England after 21 years!

• On August 30th, India also saw success in another, more unlikely sporting arena - football! It was a glorious chapter in the annals of Indian football as India won the Nehru cup. In the final, India beat Syria, who is ranked higher than India in FIFA rankings.

• Redemption and a World Cup! A new-look Indian team with Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain appeared in South Africa to participate in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 Cup on September 24. India had infused new blood into the team with the 3 'seniors', Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly, opting to stay away. The youth and energy showed in the shortest form of the game. India won the World Cup, beating archrivals Pakistan in the final.

• Mother India: Celebrated 60 years of independence in August with great fanfare in every country where NRIs live. NRIs across the world held their heads high in pride celebrating her achievements in the six decades. The new status of India as a 'soft' super power on the global scene with its vibrant democracy and economic progress were hailed.

Looking into 2008 - Predictions and Opportunities

• India's gaming market is still young while only 5% of the estimated 42 million internet users are playing games. There is an enormous opportunity here as Indian's love games and the internet will grow exponentially in use during the next 5 years.
• India's business video market while still nascent will increase in popularity in direct relation to India's internet bandwidth and connectivity.
• India's infrastructure improvement programs will come under considerable criticism from NRI's, local India businesses, and foreign investors as the infrastructure is not improving fast enough. The opening of Hyderabad's and Bangalore's modern airports in April 2008 will paradoxically increase the criticism because foreigners will be disappointed once leaving the airports and seeing the roads and buildings leading to the city centers are under developed.
• India social networks increase in popularity in 2008 but still lag far behind other Western countries. Currently, local Indians are hesitant to use the social networking services because not enough Indians are on the service to provide networking value.

• Bollywood has at least two global mainstream hits that are successful outside of India