India’s Supreme Court halted a demolition drive by civic authorities in the Muslim-dominated northern part of the capital on Wednesday amid allegations that they were ordered as retribution against religious minorities after sectarian violence last week.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation sent bulldozers early on Wednesday to raze “illegal” constructions in the Jahangirpuri area, where clashes erupted during a religious procession by a Hindu far-right group on Saturday. TV footage showed them demolishing structures adjoining a mosque as hundreds of policemen stood guard.
The corporation, controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said the drive was to remove “encroachments”.
But lawyers for two Muslim organisations told the Supreme Court the drive was “punitive” and “unconstitutional” because due process was not followed.
“This is about a completely unconstitutional and illegal demolition which has been ordered in the Jahangirpuri area, where riots took place last week. No notice has been served,” said Dushyant Dave, representing Islamic clerics' body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind.
The court issued a status quo order and listed the matter for a detailed hearing on Thursday, along with another petition by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind that sought a nationwide ban on similar demolitions targeting Muslims after sectarian violence.
The clashes in Jahangirpuri broke out during a procession organised by the right-wing group Bajrang Dal to celebrate the birth anniversary of Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god.
Muslim residents claimed that the participants, some of them brandishing swords, baseball clubs and country-made pistols, tried to desecrate a mosque, triggering clashes and arson.
At least 25 people were arrested, the majority of them Muslims, and at least nine people were injured, including eight policemen.
Police said the violence was brought under control within hours.
Late on Tuesday, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation announced a “special joint encroachment removal action programme” in the locality, similar to recent action taken by authorities in other BJP-ruled areas of the country.
Dozens of homes and shops belonging to Muslims were demolished in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat states in recent weeks after sectarian violence during Hindu religious processions.
The demolition order in New Delhi was issued hours after the local BJP leader, Adesh Gupta, wrote to the civic body asking it to demolish properties belonging to “rioters”.
“The illegal encroachments and constructions done by these rioters should be identified and bulldozers run over these encroachments,” Mr Gupta wrote.
Government critics and Muslim activists accuse the BJP of using demolitions to target the minority community and appease its right-wing vote bank.
“This is a demolition of India’s constitutional values. This is state-sponsored targeting of [the] poor and minorities. BJP must bulldoze the hatred in their hearts instead,” Rahul Gandhi of the opposition Congress Party tweeted.
Sectarian tensions have increased after students in the BJP-ruled southern state of Karnataka were banned from wearing the Muslim headscarf to class earlier this year.
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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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