India became 3rd-largest economy in 2011 from 10th in 2005

                                                                                                                                                    Washington, May 3 (PTI) In a matter of six years, India emerged as the world's third-largest economy in 2011 from being the 10th largest in 2005, moving ahead of Japan, while the US remained the largest economy closely followed by China, latest figures have revealed.

"The economies of Japan and the UK became smaller compared to the US, while Germany increased slightly, France and Italy remained the same," according to data released on Wednesday by the International Comparison Program (ICP), hosted by the Development Data Group at the World Bank Group.

"The relative rankings of the three Asian economies — China, India, and Indonesia — to the US doubled, while Brazil, Mexico and Russia increased by one-third or more," the report said. The world produced goods and services worth over $90 trillion in 2011 and that almost half of the total output came from low and middle-income countries, it said.

According to the major findings of the ICP, six of the world's 12 largest economies were in the middle-income category (based on the World Bank's definition).

When combined, the 12 largest economies accounted for two-thirds of the world economy and 59 per cent of the population, it said.

The purchasing power parities (PPPs)-based world GDP amounted to $90,647 billion, compared with $70,294 billion measured by exchange rates, it said, adding that the share of middle-income economies in global GDP is 48 per cent when using PPPs and 32 per cent when using exchange rates.

The six largest middle-income economies — China, India, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico — account for 32.3 per cent of world GDP, whereas the six largest high-income economies — US, Japan, Germany, France, UK and Italy — account for 32.9 per cent, the report said.

Asia and the Pacific, including China and India, account for 30 per cent of world GDP, Eurostat-OECD 54 per cent, Latin America 5.5 per cent (excluding Mexico, which participates in the OECD and Argentina, which did not participate in the ICP 2011), Africa and Western Asia about 4.5 per cent each.

"China and India make up two-thirds of the Asia and the Pacific economy, excluding Japan and South Korea, which are part of the OECD comparison. Russia accounts for more than 70 per cent of the CIS, and Brazil for 56 per cent of Latin America. South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria account for about half of the African economy," said the report.

"At 27 per cent, China now has the largest share of the world's expenditure for investment (gross fixed capital formation) followed by the US at 13 per cent.

India, Japan and Indonesia follow with 7 per cent, 4 per cent, and 3 per cent, respectively," the report said.

China and India account for about 80 per cent of investment expenditure in the Asia and the Pacific region.

Russia accounts for 77 per cent of CIS, Brazil for 61 per cent of Latin America and Saudi Arabia 40 per cent of Western Asia, it said.

The report said low-income economies, as a share of world GDP, were more than two times larger based on PPPs than respective exchange rate shares in 2011.

Yet, these economies accounted for only 1.5 per cent of the global economy, but nearly 11 per cent of the world population.

Roughly 28 per cent of the world's population lives in economies with GDP per capita expenditure above the $13,460 world average and 72 per cent are below that average.

The approximate median yearly per capita expenditure for the world — at $10,057 — means that half of the global population has per capita expenditure above that amount and half below, it said.

The five economies with the highest GDP per capita are Qatar, Macao, Luxembourg, Kuwait and Brunei.

The first two economies have more than $1,00,000 per capita, the ICP report said.

Eleven economies have more than $50,000 per capita, while they collectively account for less than 0.6 per cent of the world's population. The US has the 12th-highest GDP per capita.

Eight economies - Malawi, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Niger, Burundi, Congo, Comoros and Liberia — have a GDP per capita of less than $1,000.

The five economies with highest actual individual consumption per capita are Bermuda, US, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong and Luxembourg.

The world average actual individual consumption per capita is approximately $8,647, it said. 

Sanitary pads from waste banana tree fibre? Harvard honours Indian student for social venture

Harvard University. (Photo: DC/File)

PTI New York Bureau 

New York, May 2 (PTI) Four Indians are among the winners of a Harvard Business School competition that awards prizes worth over USD 300,000 to new and innovative business and social impact start-ups conceptualised by the US institution's students and alumni.

Harvard MBA student Amrita Siagal won the grand prize in the 'Social Enterprise' category at the 18thHarvard Business School New Venture Competition for her venture 'Saathi', which she co-founded with Oracle engineer Kristin Kagetsu.

Saathi provides affordable sanitary pads made from waste banana tree fibre to women in rural India.

Siagal and Kagetsu, who both hold mechanical engineering degrees from MIT, received a USD 50,000 prize at the competition, which supports both students and alumni launching new business and social impact ventures inspired by "belief that one simple idea can change everything".

Saathi also got the audience choice award through an electronic crowd vote. The winner in the business track category was the start-up 'Alfred', being launched by Saurabh Mahajan, Marcela Sapone and Jess Beck.

Alfred is a concierge service individuals can use for their daily and weekly tasks, including dry cleaning, house cleaning, groceries, laundry, and more.

The Alfred team also won USD 50,000. The runner-up in the social enterprise track was 'Tomato Jos' founded by MBA students Mira Mehta and Mike Lawrence.

'Tomato Jos' is a vertically integrated tomato processing company that helps small farmers in Nigeria grow tomatoes that can then be made into tomato paste.

In the business category, 'Booya Fitness' founded by MBA student Pritar Kumar won the runner-up award and a USD 25,000 cash prize.

The venture is an on-demand video platform featuring workouts created by the industry's best boutique gyms and instructors.

The capstone event of the HBS's expansive offerings in entrepreneurship, this year's competition attracted 150 Harvard MBA candidates as well as students from six other Harvard graduate schools.

In addition, HBS graduates from 17 HBS alumni "hub" clubs worldwide participated in 14 regional competitions. As part of the finale programme, a member of each venture delivered a 90-second pitch to the audience, leading to an electronic crowd vote.

Over the course of the entire competition, which began last fall, more than 200 judges and mentors took part.

Alumni winners were chosen by an online crowd vote by other HBS graduates around the globe, HBS students, and a panel of judges in three categories most innovative, greatest impact, and best investment.