Aiyer Sourajit Knihy

Capital Market Integration in South Asia: Realizing the SAARC Opportunity discusses the potential Capital Market Products/Activities which can create closer inter-linkage of the South Asian capital markets and help local/global investors benefit from this economic opportunity. While some ideas may be implementable now; others have future promise as the regional markets further mature. The book demonstrates both retail and institutional investor interest in this combined high-growth region by offering scope for yield, diversification and risk mitigation, maximized upside from multiple growth markets, minimized downside through low-correlation constituents, and more. The book's core theme addresses the challenges towards deepening the awareness and acceptability of regional economies. Only when this happens will the asset flows increase into the regional market products, providing scale-up that will aid viability for these products.

The Bay of Bengal compares economic/corporate performance data of the Bay of Bengal (BoB) grouping with other regions of developing countries (ASEAN, Pacific Alliance, etc.) to show that the Bengal group is expected to reach a combined GDP of $6 trillion by 2021, just as the BRICS did in 2006 (five years after BRIC was coined). The BoB grouping has relatively the best linear/synchronised growth, a high proportion of companies generating consistent profits/return on equity, a more diversified profit pool, and a fair mix of economic-growth drivers. The author's aim is to justify the economic substance of this grouping so that it complements the political economy's initiatives that will follow.