India's Billionaires and The Market for Bentleys

1. India now has 40 billionaires, according to this Forbes list (well, a few on the list were just short of $1 billion). The Indian stock market has surged 50% since last November 2006, when the Forbes list was published, so there are probably even more Indian billionaires now.

What to do with all that wealth? Read below.

2. NEW DELHI: UK-based luxury car maker Bentley Motors has wheeled in two new models in the Indian market. Called Azure (pictured above) and Continental GTC, the two convertible models come at a price tag of Rs 3.80 and 2.10 crore, respectively. The company is eyeing to sell at least 25 cars every year in the Indian market. Since its India foray in 2003, Bentley has sold over 40 cars in the super-luxury segment.

One crore is 10 million, so 38 million rupees and 21 million rupees would mean a dollar price of $970,000 and $536,000 respectively, at today's exchange rate (Rs. 39.17/$). But, hey, $1 billion is 1,000 X $1,000,000, so even a $1,000,000 vehicle is only 1/10 of 1% (1/1000) of your wealth. You could buy several and not even notice any effect on your wealth....

Just another example of how rising wealth and income in one part of the world (India) can create jobs in another part of the world (UK), thanks to trade.