Looking past the poverty and ahead, if you sit on Indian investments you could be rewarded with plenty of profits. This from Chris Mayer writing for the Daily Reckoning: Of all the crazy events in 2008, seeing the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in flames on TV is one I’ll remember for a long time. Last year, when I traveled throughout India, my first stop was Mumbai (or Bombay, as people still call it). I stayed at the Taj Mahal Palace. I remember what an oasis of calm that hotel was after spending a day in bustling Bombay. I remember its onyx columns and archways and domes, its hand-woven carpets and crystal chandeliers, its exceedingly polite staff and impressive Sikh doormen. Built in 1903 by a Tata, the Taj was a place of grace and old-world charm. From the hotel, you got a panoramic view of the bay, where the ...

Of all the crazy events in 2008, seeing the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in flames on TV is one I’ll remember for a long time. Last year, when I traveled throughout India, my first stop was Mumbai (or Bombay, as people still call it). I stayed at the Taj Mahal Palace.

I remember what an oasis of calm that hotel was after spending a day in bustling Bombay. I remember its onyx columns and archways and domes, its hand-woven carpets and crystal chandeliers, its exceedingly polite staff and impressive Sikh doormen.

Poor India, the old stomping grounds of the great Hindu kings, the playground of the Mughal Empire, had a rough year in 2008. India has had such a good run - five years of nearly 9% economic growth and a booming stock market - that it had reason to feel it was Fate’s spoiled darling. But in a long and checkered

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Agria Corp. (GRO) is a Chinese-based agricultural company involved in the research and development, and production and sale of three different types of upstream agricultural products; corn seeds, sheep breeding products and seedling products. The company's sales should rebound but remain below levels in the near-term due to depressed seed prices and global economic weakness. Longer term, revenue and earnings growth should be robust but we are concerned about significant governance and transparency issues.We are initiating coverage of the shares with Hold recommendation and a $2.00 price target.Read the full analyst report on GRO "GRO" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Hedge Funds in IndiaThe Benefits of Offering Hedge Funds in IndiaHere's a short article on how the Committee of Financial Sector Reforms in India might introduce hedge funds and why this would be a positive move for the Indian markets and fund industry as a whole.______________________ The Draft Report of the Committee on Financial Sector Reforms headed by Professor Raghuram Rajan was issued for comment in April 2008. Among the proposals that the high-level committee made was the introduction of domestic hedge funds. The committee feels that, “The presence of hedge funds would induce greater competitive pressure for other regulated fund management channels such as mutual funds.” This week’s article discusses the benefits of introducing hedge funds in the Indian market. It shows how ...