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Kevin Carter, the originator of EMQQ, considers India to be an Emerging Market

By Consultants Review Team Thursday, 21 December 2023

Kevin Carter, the founder of San Francisco-based investment management and research business EMQQ Global, described India as the ideal emerging market, owing to its young population and widespread usage of technology. Carter also stated that India is similar to China 15 years ago, with the distinction that China did not have cellphones at the time, which India now possesses.

Carter stated on CNBC's ETF Edge show with Bob Pisani that investors want to invest in developing markets because that is where the majority of people are, they are younger, and their economies are rising quicker. "In terms of India, it is at the top of all of those categories." It is now larger in population than China, has more than half of its population under the age of 30, has the fastest growing economy...it actually beat the estimates and has grown by more than 7% in the last two quarters," Carter said, listing the reasons why India is the ideal emerging market. 

"Most of that growth is in consumption, and what is coming along with that is a $12-dollar supercomputer - the smartphone is bringing those billions of consumers online for the first time," Carter added, referring to Reliance Jio's feature phone. "On top of that, you have a government that is a democracy that supports technology, and you have a talent pool that is truly unparalleled on the planet." So it's the ideal emerging market in every aspect," Carter added.

Carter also stated that India's Aadhaar system was a technological game changer for the country. "India has constructed its own proprietary digital public infrastructure." The Internet and GPS are examples of digital public infrastructure that most people are familiar with. India has created its own to power the entire country. It begins with a scheme called Aadhaar, which means foundation and is a digital identifying system in which practically everyone in the country is now attached, their identity is tied to their fingerprints and eyeball scan in this database, which was established in 2010. They have used this to enable around 800 million people to open a digital bank account using only their fingerprint and eyeball, as well as 500 million new smartphone subscriptions. "They brought everyone into the financial system, and they did it in a technological way," he explained.

While the phone is not as complex as some of today's top-end mobile phones, Carter claims that the "$12 supercomputer" has two features that entry-level consumers in India desire. "The first step is to make payments. That is where the majority of the digital stars are exploding. The number of real-time digital payments in India is rapidly increasing. The second type is video. It does not have the largest screen, but it does get video with the world's lowest-cost data offered by Reliance Jio. "It's been a game changer in India," Carter remarked. 

Carter's comments come as India's growth continues to draw attention. According to the IMF's Mission in India, India has emerged as the star performer. "For quite some time now, we have observed that India is growing at a very rapid pace." When compared to comparable countries, it is one of the top achievers in terms of actual growth. It's one of the fastest-growing significant emerging markets, accounting for more than 16% of worldwide growth this year, according to Nada Choueiri in an interview with PTI. According to the IMF's annual Article IV consultation with India, the economy is on course to be one of the world's fastest-growing major economies. 



 

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