Arvind’s Newsletter

1.Is GIFT City finally taking off?

This year, GIFT City is also hosting the state’s flagship Vibrant Gujarat Investment Summit with hundreds of thousands of CEOs and business owners expected to attend. Already, demand for office space is outpacing supply in the financial hub: rents have more than doubled and GIFT City authorities are allowing companies to rent co-working spaces to complete registration. 

Recently it allowed billionaire Azim Premji to set up a family investment fund, among the first high-profile tenants of the financial hub. Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has also applied to set up a family fund and several other billionaires are visiting the city next week, Reuters reported. 

2.Indian passport holders can now travel to 62 countries visa-free. Full list

People with an Indian passport can travel to 62 countries visa free as the Henley Passport Index ranked India at 80th globally. While India’s rank hasn’t increased from last year, the number of destinations has shot up to 62 from 57.

The country shares its rank with Uzbekistan, while the neighboring nation Pakistan is positioned at 101 spot. 

Singapore and Japan have boasted the world’s most powerful travel documents for the last five years, granting their citizens access to more countries without a prior visa than anyone else. 

However, things have changed this year as four European countries have moved up to share the top spot on the Henley Passport Index 2024 with those Asian nations. Residents of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain now have visa-free access to 194 of 227 destinations, three more than last year.

Here are the countries Indian passport holders can visit without a visa. Click link below

3.The goal of tripling global renewables capacity by 2030 is within reach, the International Energy Agency said, after growth of 50% in 2023.

The surge was driven by China, which more than doubled its solar capacity and increased its wind output by 66% last year. IEA chief Fatih Birol said the “spectacular” growth showed that the world was already on course to increase renewable energy 2.5 times by 2030 and that the COP28 goal was “not a million miles away.” The IEA warned, though, that such an expansion would not be enough to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and urged greater financial support for clean-energy projects, particularly in poorer countries.

4.Sub-Saharan Africa will be a bright spot in an otherwise bleak global economy this year, the World Bank forecast. 

The region will benefit from easing inflation and improved financial conditions, according to the Washington-based lender, whose assessment echoes that of the International Monetary Fund, which projects that sub-Saharan Africa will account for six of the ten fastest growing economies of the year. Still, that accelerating growth — 3.8% this year, and 4.1% next year — won’t be enough to rescue the global economy from what the World Bank projects will be the slowest five-year period in decades. “Without a major course correction, the 2020s will go down as a decade of wasted opportunity,” the bank’s chief economist said.

5.Microsoft overtakes Apple as world’s most valuable company

Artificial intelligence boom propels software giant to $2.9tn market value.

Microsoft usurped Apple to become the world’s most valuable public company on Thursday, as the boom in artificial intelligence brings a new twist to the decades-long rivalry between the two Big Tech groups. The software company’s shares climbed around 1 per cent in early trading to take its market value to $2.87tn, just ahead of the iPhone maker, whose shares fell by almost 1 per cent. Investors’ excitement about the new wave of generative AI, driven by the huge popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT since it launched in late 2022, has continued into the new year, with Microsoft one of its biggest beneficiaries.

6.Launches of ESG funds plummet as investors pull back

Launches of funds claiming environmental, social or governance attributes all but dried up in the past six months, as investors baulked at increased scrutiny of sustainability claims by companies and asset managers. 

Just six funds citing environmental, social and governance factors launched in the second half of 2023, compared with 55 in the first half, and an annual average of almost 100 between 2020 and 2022, according to data from Morningstar Direct.

ESG labels have also been removed from some fund names. The asset manager Abrdn plans to drop the phrase “sustainable leaders” from two funds in February, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Morgan Stanley and UBS also dropped ESG-oriented labels from some funds last year.

The moves come as ESG strategies encounter more attention from regulators, politicians and clients.

ESG broad-market funds generally outperformed their conventional counterparts in 2019, 2020 and 2021 but slipped in 2022 and 2023, according to Morningstar.

However, performance has not been the only factor deterring investment in ESG funds. In the US, Republicans have criticised financial firms for their hostility to fossil fuels and for being “too woke” by embracing social commitments such as diversity, equity and inclusion.