Category: Business

I had mentioned Zopa in my blog several months back. Its a company based in the UK with a unique lending/borrowing mechanism without going to banks. I thought it was a cool idea. Guess what? A bay area based company is following the same/similar idea.

The number of WEF delegates from India jumped to 80 this year from 30 last year – the latest sign of India’s rapid integration into the world economy. And to judge from the Davos program, India is the country of the moment, the Financial Times says. Of the 244 scheduled sessions, a dozen are devoted to India, twice as many as last year, while 60 feature Indian speakers. India’s high-profile “India Everywhere” campaign is a tacit recognition that the nation may have only a limited window to translate today’s unprecedented interest into hard investment, the FT says. The government has dispatched what it calls its “dream team” of economic reformers – led by P. Chidambaram, finance minister, Kamal Nath, commerce minister, and Montek Singh Ahluwaliah, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. They will carry a simple message: trust us and invest, the paper says….

I think is a great move as the entertainment industry is faced with dramatic changes over the next several years. The biggest positive would be Steve Jobs involvement in this time of change. One can’t rule out the possibility of clash of personalities at the Disney Board Room.

There could be some interesting growth opportunities for the bay area as I think Disney is likely to consolidate all their animation work under the locally based Pixar? It could also mean good things for Apple — Steve Jobs undivided attention, potential partnerships with the entertainment industry etc.