Monday, June 19, 2017

India, China top remittance recipients; Jaguar Land Rover to hire 5,000; First flying car in 2018

1 India, China get most remittances (Cleofe Maceda in Gulf News) Families and dependents in Asia remain the biggest beneficiaries of money sent home by expatriates working in the UAE and around the world, with India, China, Philippines and Pakistan emerging in the top five biggest recipients of remittances in 2016.

A new report from the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) showed that India took home the crown as the top-receiving country for earnings made by migrants, recording a total of $62.7 billion in wire transfers from abroad.

Chinese dependents and families received the second-highest amount of money sent home by expats at $61 billion, followed by Filipinos ($29.9 billion), Mexicans ($28.5 billion) and Pakistanis ($19.8 billion).

Exchange houses have reported that money flows from the UAE continued to increase in 2016 amid sluggish economic growth and weak oil prices, with the volume of outgoing cash transfers increasing by 10 per cent to 12 per cent last year compared to 2015.


2 Jaguar Land Rover to recruit 5,000 (Katie Allen in The Guardian) Jaguar Land Rover has unveiled plans to recruit 5,000 new engineers over the next year in a boost for British industry as the Brexit talks begin. The carmaker has just enjoyed a record year of sales bolstered by demand for luxury cars in China and North America, and needs thousands of new recruits, predominantly in the UK, to help develop new models, including electric cars.

JLR is UK’s biggest car manufacturer and has been held up by ministers as a poster child for British industry. It is also one of the UK’s largest exporters, with about 80% of its £24bn annual revenues generated from cars sold abroad.

Its expansion plans will bolster hopes that the UK’s export sector can help offset some of the domestic pressures on the economy in the years ahead as household budgets continue to be squeezed by weak pay growth and rising inflation on the back of the slide in sterling triggered by Brexit.

JLR, owned by India’s Tata group, said that more than 1,000 of the new 5,000 engineering recruits would be electronic and software engineers. Faced with chronic skills shortages in the sector, the carmaker believes it has come up with an innovative way to reach candidates from a wider pool, and is working with Gorillaz to recruit people via the virtual band’s app.


3 First flying car in 2018 (Khaleej Times) While several futuristic flying car projects are underway in different countries, a Dutch design may be the first one sold and soaring into the skies.

After years of testing, the PAL-V company aims to pip its competitors to the post. It is poised to start production on what they bill as a world first: a three-wheeled gyrocopter-type vehicle which can carry two people and will be certified for use on roads and in the skies.

"This kind of dream has been around for 100 years now. When the first airplane was invented, people already thought 'How can I make that driveable on the road?'," chief marketing officer Markus Hess said.

The PAL-V (Personal Air and Land Vehicle) firm, based in Raamsdonksveer in the Netherlands, is aiming to deliver its first flying car to its first customer by the end of 2018. The lucky owner will need both a driving licence and a pilot's licence. But with the keys in hand, the owner will be able to drive to an airfield for the short take-off, and after landing elsewhere drive to the destination in a "door-to-door" experience.

It won't be cheap. The first edition, the PAL-V Liberty, costs $599,000. PAL-V was founded in 2007 by Robert Dingemanse and pilot John Bakker.


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