Looking past the poverty and ahead, if you sit on Indian investments you could be rewarded with plenty of profits.

Of all the crazy events in 2008, seeing the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in flames on TV is one I’ll remember for a long time. Last year, when I traveled throughout India, my first stop was Mumbai (or Bombay, as people still call it). I stayed at the Taj Mahal Palace.

India’s economy has not escaped the global downturn. But growth is still much higher than the developed world. Aggressive rate cuts and a fast-growing service sector will help revive the economy. Mike Caggeso picks two deeply undervalued Indian companies with a strong potential for profits.

With partisan politics and media telling their own twisted truth about the U.S. economy, perhaps the most accurate forecast comes from Europe.

Global markets are soaring today on renewed bailout efforts. But Irwin Greenstein says its probably not a good idea to jump back in to these emerging markets just yet. As always, China will be the bellwether for a sustainable recovery. And commodity prices will remain crucial for resource-rich nations.

India is already renowned for being a pharmaceutical giant. But China could steal that crown within a decade. This could provide investors a ground-floor opportunity to make huge profits from IPOs, says Irwin Greenstein.

The turmoil in US stock markets is making all the headlines. But BRIC nations are facing a much deeper crisis in their stock markets.

On Monday, authorities halted trading on Brazil’s Bovespa for 30 minutes after it tumbled 10%. Trading in Russia was frozen on several occasions in the last two weeks to prevent an all-out collapse of the market. And China’s CSI Index has lost 58% of its value so far this year.

Despite recent setbacks, however, Andrew Gordon reckons Brazil is the most likely of the pack to weather the current financial storm

As Wall Street descends into chaos, many investors are happy to sit on the sidelines holding cash. But there are still profits to be made for big-picture investors.

Chris Mayer says the next “megatrend” will be a $41 trillion global infrastructure boom. Urbanization on a massive scale in China and India requires huge construction projects. And this will create huge demand for building materials (like cement and steel) and basic commodities (iron ore, copper and nickel).

Chris says power-grid builder ABB (NYSE:ABB) and road-building equipment maker Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) are stocks to watch…

Although the EU and the US are in recession territory, prospects for growth in Asia remain strong, says Profit Hunter’s Manraaj Singh. This will be vital in sustaining global energy demand. It will also keep coal, the biggest source of energy for electricity production, in a long-term bull market.

Mining is an expensive business. So if commodities prices fall sharply many mines are forced to close rather than operate at a loss. When this happens supply tightens and prices begin to recover. Chris Mayer says there are signs this is happening now… and a rally in mining stocks is on its way.