PATNA // A series of crude bombs killed five people in the capital of Bihar state on Sunday, shortly before a campaign rally by the opposition party leader Narendra Modi.
Seven small bombs exploded near the venue in Patna, where tens of thousands were gathering to hear Mr Modi, a popular but divisive leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), launch the opposition’s campaign for elections in the eastern state.
The first explosion occurred in a public toilet at a railway station, before more blasts near and just outside the Gandhi Maidan ground where the rally was held.
“Five people were killed and over 60 people injured in the serial blasts,” said S K Bhardwaj, the additional director general of police in Patna.
Two people were arrested, another police officer said, while the national government deployed anti-terrorism forces to Bihar to investigate.
Television footage showed people running from an explosion, with smoke rising above them.
“The condition of nearly half a dozen injured is critical,” said an official from the Patna Medical College and Hospital, adding that some people were injured in stampedes after the blasts.
Mr Modi, who has been campaigning to topple the ruling Congress party since he was named last month as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the national elections, later took to the stage and urged Hindus and Muslims to unite to overcome poverty in Bihar, a key battleground in the general election due next May.
“If we want to take Bihar forward we need to unite people of all religions, caste and creed together. We want to unite people, not divide them,” he told cheering supporters.
“Our opponents are fooling people. That’s why I want to ask my poor Muslim and Hindu brothers, do you want to fight against each other or against poverty?”
Mr Modi ignored the blasts during his speech and instead focused on criticising the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the country’s high inflation. He also accused Bihar’s highest elected leader, chief minister Nitish Kumar, of betraying the BJP after using its support to win his seat in the state.
Mr Modi’s plans to visit Bihar have been controversial since Mr Kumar severed ties with the BJP six months ago to protest Mr Modi’s candidacy. Mr Kumar has questioned Mr Modi’s secular credentials and suggested that he could exacerbate communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims in India.
The chief minister of the economically successful western state of Gujarat, Mr Modi is popular with the corporate world. Many hope he can revive Asia’s third-largest economy if elected next year.
But he remains a divisive figure, tarred by religious riots in Gujarat in 2002 in which as many as 2,000 people were killed, mainly Muslims, according to rights groups.
Mr Modi was chief minister at the time and denied any wrongdoing, but one of his former ministers was jailed last year for orchestrating some of the violence.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned Sunday’s blasts, appealed for calm and “called for urgent steps to identify and take action against those responsible”.
The junior home minister, R P N Singh, said officers from the National Security Guard and National Investigation Agency had been deployed to Bihar.
Two more unexploded crude bombs were discovered at the railway station after a bomb disposal squad swept it, a police official told the Press Trust of India.
After the rally Mr Modi described the blasts as “deeply saddening and unfortunate”.
“Condolences with families of deceased & prayers with injured. I appeal for peace & calm,” he tweeted.
Mr Modi and his political rival Rahul Gandhi from the Congress party are holding a series of mass rallies across the country in a battle to win five key state elections later this year.
Those elections are seen as a crucial test of popularity, with both parties hoping to capitalise on any momentum from the results for next year’s general election.
* Agence France-Presse with additional reporting by Associated Press
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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.”
