Dear Reader,

Greetings. It is an understatement to say the watch is a synonym to Switzerland. It conceals more than it reveals the Swiss passion for excellence. The irrefutable evidence is that the Swiss watch industry has been making strides year after year, retaining and improving upon its share in the world's watch export market. According to the Federation of Swiss Watch Industry (FH), exports in 2007 touched a record 16 billion Swiss francs. The cover story of the current issue of Indo-Swiss Business carries a detailed analysis of the Swiss watch industry's performance. Most large and well-established brands have performed very well. For instance, the outlook for the Swatch Group is bright, going by its performance in the first two months of the current calendar year. In 2007, the Swatch Group's net income crossed one billion Swiss francs for the first time. The Swatch watch also crossed another milestone recently. It celebrated the 25th year of its first sales in Switzerland. While there were many who scoffed at the idea of a cheap, plastic watch when it came out on March 1, 1983, the past quarter-century has shown that the brand was a huge winner for the Swiss watch industry. We carry a report in watch news. Then we have a delightful first-person account of how a woman entrepreneur created Delance, a well-known brand of watches, designed exclusively for women. Today, Switzerland belies the most pre-conceived notions about it, that it is a country merely manufacturing mouth-watering chocolates and custom-made exquisite wrist watches for celebrities. However, in Switzerland, Journalist John Fund discovers much more than the above. Says Fund in the latest issue of the prestigious magazine, The American, about Switzerland, “A small country with a skilled workforce, booming exports, and enormous prosperity has become the envy of Europe.” We reproduce the article in this issue. In the news section, we highlight the recent technology-sharing pact between Microsoft, the world's largest software firm and Switzerland's two Federal Institutes of Technology (FITs). The number of super rich Swiss who made it into the recent Forbes list of the world's billionaires has risen to 12. There were four more Swiss billionaires compared with last year's inventory published by the US-based magazine. Switzerland is also home to 15 foreigners figuring on the Forbes list. We carry a report. Switzerland's decision some time back to open its borders to European Union workers has boosted the real estate sector across the country by creating more demand for property. We highlight a survey this regard. Switzerland's economy grew at twice the expected rate at the end of last year, driven by increased consumer spending and services exports. Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) in Bern reported recently that the country's GDP rose one percent from the third quarter, twice the rate forecast by even the most optimistic of market analysts. We share Seco's optimism. Plus the issue carries our regular features.

Wish you happy reading

Satya Swaroop
Managing Editor
satya@newmediacomm.biz