Dubai a hub for both the Gulf and Africa


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Diwakar Nigam, the managing director of Newgen Software, an IT company based in New Delhi, talks to The National about how the main trends in the industry are affecting his business.

Could you talk about what you are seeing when it comes to the IT sector in India, and how it is performing?

In India the software product industry is still at a very nascent stage when compared to the software services industry, which has already seen a matured growth. The government’s focus on Digital India, by increasing mobile and internet use in India, the growing phenomena of new age technologies such as social, mobile, cloud and analytics are the primary factors affecting the business dynamics positively.

What are the challenges?

Major challenges that the Indian IT sector faces are the threat of loss of business to foreign software companies. The government should take measures to counter this. It should lower taxes and ease regulations to provide the Indian software companies with a level playing field vis-a-vis their global competitors. Made in India software needs to be promoted to create confidence and awareness about the availability of high-quality products from Indian vendors.

Brexit has a mixed effect on India’s IT sector. In the short term, India will see a negative effect but then in the long term it is too early to predict the outcome. We have recently opened an office in UK to cater to the European market.

What are the new trends you are noticing?

Robotic-process automation, social media analytics and cloud and digital sensing are the emerging smart process-solution trends.

How important is the Arabian Gulf to the industry and what presence and plans do you have for the market?

The Arabian Gulf is an important market for India’s IT sector. We are currently present in Dubai, which acts as a central location to cater to customers and organisations in the Arabian Gulf and Africa. These areas are a major part of our growth and expansion plans. We have a strong partner network in this region and are working towards expanding this network in the region, with strong associations in the banking, healthcare and government sectors

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Biography

Favourite drink: Must have karak chai and Chinese tea every day

Favourite non-Chinese food: Arabic sweets and Indian puri, small round bread of wheat flour

Favourite Chinese dish: Spicy boiled fish or anything cooked by her mother because of its flavour

Best vacation: Returning home to China

Music interests: Enjoys playing the zheng, a string musical instrument

Enjoys reading: Chinese novels, romantic comedies, reading up on business trends, government policy changes

Favourite book: Chairman Mao Zedong’s poems

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The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059