May 17 – In India, nine renowned investment entities have joined forces in order to launch the Indian Impact Investor Council (IIC), which is to act as a self-regulatory body for the practice of “impact investment” in India.
Impact investment is the practice of investing in areas and industries with the direct intent of generating a social return along with a financial return, or “impacting” the target investment location in a positive fashion. The topic of impact investment is set to be one of the key themes at this year’s G8 Summit, and is also a growing trend in funds all around the world.
In India’s case, the initiative for a self-regulatory body to deal with impact investing has roots in its previous experience with microfinance, an equally revolutionary form of social investment that began with Bangladeshi businessman and Nobel Laureate Mohammed Yunus. Microfinance, although a highly lauded industry, is widely believed to have resulted in reckless lending in some cases, and investors are determined not to let this happen to impact investing. Continue reading
May 7 – Kolkata, once India’s capital under the Raj and one of its most enigmatic cities, is getting a makeover of its most historic areas from Asian practices familiar with preserving ancient buildings. Formerly known as Calcutta, the city was once one of the world’s largest ports and a flagship of the British Empire. It saw its fortunes wane, however, after trade from what became Bangladesh dried up and the Chinese occupation of Tibet ceased to connect the city with Lhasa. Up until that time Kolkata had been the import and export hub for Tibetan products – neither Lhasa or Kolkata have ever recovered their previous trade and historical ties.
