Car prices set for 2-phase hike in 2010.

Carmakers are gearing up for a two-phase price hike after almost a year, thanks to increasing input costs and the need to switch to switch to stricter emission norms from April next. Prices of popular vehicles such as Mahindra Scorpio, Maruti Swift and Honda Civic may go up by Rs 10,000-20,000 within a month or so as the raw material prices have gone up by 10-15% and also the Japanese carmakers are concerned by the rise in yen valuation. “We are facing pressures to increase prices to keep our profit margins in healthy territory,” said Pawan Goenka, head of the automotive division at Mahindra & Mahindra. “Steel and other major metal suppliers are pressing for price increase from for some time. We’ll try to absorb it but some may have to be passed on to the customers,” added Mr Goenka who is also president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers’ (SIAM). Maruti Suzuki, which is currently negotiating its supply contract, is expecting its raw material costs to be 5-7% higher in the secong half of the fiscal than the first half. “We are currently negotiating prices and final negotiations are yet to be concluded,” said S Maitra, Maruti’s managing executive officer (supply chain). Maruti and other Japanese carmakers such as Honda and Toyota are also keeping a tab at the recent fluctuations in the Japanese currency, which is at a 14-year high. A stronger yen will increase the import bill of these companies, which may lead to higher ex-showroom prices of imported vehicles like the Suzuki Grand Vitara and Honda CRV. “The recent changes in the Japanese yen is a cause of concern. If it continues unabated we will have to consider some price variation though nothing immediately is on the cards yet,” said Jnaneshwar Sen, vice-president (marketing) at Honda Siel Cars. These companies, however, may put off the price rise till the next year as carmakers traditionally offer high discount in December to clear off year-end inventories. Prices of cars were last hiked in January last. It will be followed by a second round of price hike before April, 2010, when stricter Bharati Stage IV norms will be applicable in big metros and Bharat Stage III in rest of the country. Each car upgrading to these norms will need an investment of Rs 5,000-15,000 on technology. The cost will be higher for bigger vehicles such as trucks and buses. Under the new norms, all the cars sold in 11 major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, where over 65% of the new cars are sold, will switch over to the new BS IV emissions, while the rest of India will upgrade to the BS III norms.
SUDEEP SINGH
PGDM III SEM
SEC-B

Rupee rallies on stocks rebound; $ fall.

The Indian rupee strengthened on Monday, pulling away from three-week lows hit on concerns about the Dubai debt crisis, as stronger Asiancurrencies and shares shares raised expectations of fund flows into the local market. At 10:15 a.m. (0445 GMT), the partially convertible rupee was at 46.39/40 per dollar, 0.5 per cent stronger than its close of 46.64/65 on Friday. "The rupee has rallied due to the global equities recovery and tracking weakness in the dollar index," the chief dealer with a large private sector bank said, predicting a range of 46.25-46.45 during the session. The index of the dollar against six majors was down 0.6 per cent. Most Asian currencies were stronger compared to the dollar. The dollar edged down against other major currencies on Monday, pausing from sharp gains made last week after the United Arab Emirates offered emergency assistance to banks in Dubai, soothing the market fears about a looming debt default. Indian shares opened up 0.65 per cent and quickly extended gains to more than 1.5 per cent. Market sentiment improved after many companies said they had only limited exposure to Dubai and on the rise in Asian stocks rose on hopes fallout from any debt default would be limited. Foreign portfolio buying of about more than $15 billion of stocks this year has helped the rupee rise about 12.5 per cent from a record low of 52.2 in early March. Dubai's debt crisis would not affect India much, but the government is keeping a close watch and will act to prevent any fallout, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Saturday. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at 46.36/46, little changed from the onshore spot rate.
SUDEEP SINGH
PGDM III SEM
SEC-B

Telecom players differ over spectrum capping

NEW DELHI: Telecom operators are divided on the cap that should be imposed on the spectrum held by them in a particular service area. This debate which leads up to an open house with Trai next week is critical as it will mould the future of M&As in the telecom sector which has up to 14 operators per circle with an average holding of merely 5.7 MHz of GSM spectrum. While some companies have up to 10 MHz in a handful of circles, most are at one-third of the world average of roughly 17 MHz per operator. Another related development to these caps will be the spectrum transfer charge and rules under with companies can consolidate spectrum following M&As — which are currently restricted under the M&A guidelines of April 2008. While all operators concede there should be a cap, they have wide-ranging differences depending upon their position, current possession of spectrum and future needs. In response to the Trai consultation paper which is to decide the critical issue of spectrum allocation among telecom operators in India, the responses are divided between existing and well-entrenched GSM operators, dual technology operators providing both CDMA and GSM services, and new entrants who are yet to launch services after having been granted licences in 2008. Companies like Datacom, Unitech, Bharti, Reliance, Idea, and Aircel have argued in favour of a cap of 25% of the total commercial spectrum assigned in a service area irrespective of technology mix or spectrum band deployed. This also implies that they expect every circle to have no less than four operators at any given point in time post the consolidation that is expected over the next two years. MTNL wants a maximum cap of 15 MHz per operator in GSM spectrum, and 10 MHz per operator in CDMA spectrum. Etisalat and Tatas advocate a 12.4 MHz cap in GSM spectrum per operator. However, on the CDMA side, Etisalat is silent while Tatas seek a cap of 10 MHz per operator. Industry associations COAI and AUSPI have predictably followed the same tune as their members. AUSPI's position is consistent with Tatas — seeking a cap of 12.4 MHz in GSM and 10 MHz in CDMA, while COAI has gone with the vast majority of GSM operators who have sought a cap of 25% of total commercial spectrum available in a circle. Both Vodafone and BSNL have agreed to a cap but not given a specific number, while Vodafone has referred to setting the spectrum cap in the context of spectrum holdings of efficient international operators. After the open house, Trai will submit its recommendations to the telecom department, which will take a final call on the matter. It is likely that DoT's decision will come after the 3G auctions, which are expected in January-February 2010.
POSTED BY:

PALLAVI SINGH

PGDM III SEM

The importance of asset allocation

Having an asset allocation plan is crucial to achieve your financial goals. In the long-term, it is the discipline with which you stick to your
asset allocation plan that will decide your returns. “The difference in returns between the best large-cap mutual fund and a fund that is ranked No.10 is too small to really bother me,” says Jaideep Hansraj, executive vice-president of Kotak Mahindra Bank. What makes the difference is the tendency among investors to be driven by greed and fear, and change the share of assets in their portfolio. So it may happen that an investor who wants to predominantly be in equity may end up with 80% of his investment in debt when the Sensex fell to 8500, and a conservative investor may end up holding 90% equity investments as a result of markets pushing up the value of his equity holdings. This indiscipline, may lead to returns dwindling in the long term, and reducing the ability of your portfolio meeting your financial goals. If you can’t approach a financial planner to determine your asset allocation for whatever reason, there are some mutual funds with a readymade solution. (See table.) The offerings from Templeton, Birla Sunlife and ICICI Prudential mutual fund help you invest as per a predetermined asset allocation. If you know your risk appetite, you can consider options from Birla Sunlife Asset Allocation funds or ICICI Prudential Advisor series funds.

BlackBerry Curve 8520 now available on Tata DOCOMO network for Rs 14,990

Tata DOCOMO today launched Blackberry Curve 8520 for its subscribers priced at Rs14,990/- offering features such as email, messaging, social networking and mobile Internet, as well as powerful multimedia features including a music and video player and camera with video recording.
Mr. Pradeep Dwivedi, Senior Vice President, Tata Teleservices Limited, said on the launch, “TATA DOCOMO recently rolled out its BlackBerry solution and has received an enthusiastic response. When we launched our BlackBerry services, we had promised our subscribers that we would bring them the best products and services. Living up to that brand promise, we are launching the stylish new BlackBerry Curve8520 smartphone for our customers. The major attraction of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 is that it brings the exceptional BlackBerry smartphone experience within the reach of a larger population.”
“The BlackBerry Curve 8520 is a sleek, stylish and approachable smartphone with a compelling mix of features. We believe this amazing new model, with its new trackpad navigation system and integrated multimedia features, will attract a broad range of mobile customers to the BlackBerry services offered on the Tata DOCOMO network,” said Ms Frenny Bawa, Vice President India, Research In Motion.
SUDEEP SINGH
PGDM III SEM
SEC-B

All-in-one for all

HP has finally come out with an affordable All-in-One PC with the HP Pavilion MS200, its first non-touch option in the segment. The MS200 is a stylish, fully featured, one-piece PC where everything is tucked away behind the 18.5-inch diagonal 16:9 widescreen display. So, no more cable clutter or messy peripherals, just lots of space on the desk. The MS200 features an AMD dual-core processor for increased efficiency and speed and is Energy Star 5.0 qualified. The MS200 is available from Rs 36,990 onwards. HP has also announced two new TouchSmart models — the HP TouchSmart300 and HP TouchSmart600 priced Rs 59,990 and Rs 89,990, respectively.
A new view of India -VIEWSONIC is becoming serious about the India market and launched a wide range of its products here last week. While ViewSonic LCDs and projectors were available till now through resellers, the company now plans to open exclusive outlets for its products like the ViewBook, All-In-One PC, Mini PC and mediaplayers. The ViewBook, which looks strikingly like the MacBook, could be a winner with its Aluminum-Magnesium alloy enclosure, extendable battery life and other high performance features. Hope the company gets its pricing, yet unannounced, right. Another thing that caught our eye was the VPD 500 Mediaplayer with the 5” screen, 8 GB memory and HD output. The player, ideal for movie buffs, also supports ebooks.
SUDEEP SINGH
PGDM III SEM
SEC-B

World's top 20 business hotels

Hotels that combine service, technology and comfort have topped a list of the world's best business hotels with the winners offering their guests those added extras that can make all the difference to a trip.
Readers of travel magazine Travel + Leisure ranked hotels on a list of services and amenities to come up with their 20 top business hotels, part of the publication's annual World's Best survey.
Some offered free Internet access and a 24-hour business centre, some had rooftop pools, while one had an award-winning Gordon Ramsay restaurant. Free parking was also a plus.
Boston's The Eliot had touch-screen monitors for guests to order room service and print boarding passes. The Peninsula Hong Kong transported one guest in a Rolls Royce and treated her to tea upon arrival.
This list (http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-best-business-hotels-2009/1) is below :
1. Palacio Duhau-Park Hyatt, Buenos Aires
2. Shangri-La's Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, Taipei
3. St. Regis, Shanghai
4. XV Beacon, Boston
5. Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong
6. The London West Hollywood, West Hollywood
7. Eliot Hotel, Boston
8. Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas
9. Sofitel Shanghai Jin Jiang Oriental Pudong, Shangai
10. Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong
11. Peninsula Hong Kong, Hong Kong
12. Pudong Shangri-La, Shanghai
13. Omni Mandalay Hotel at Las Colinas, Dallas
14. Intercontinental Buckhead, Atlanta
15. St Regis, Beijing
16. Peninsula Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills
17. Mandarin Oriental, New York
18. Conrad Centennial, Singapore
19. Four Seasons Hotel, Buenos Aires
20. Ritz-Carlton Central Park, New York.
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B.

Computer crash hits start of CAT exam

A computer crash in an unspecified number of centres in six cities marred the start of the Common Admission Test (CAT) that determines admission to over 100 business and management schools, a leading coaching centre said.
The crash occurred soon after the CAT examination began in Chennai, Kolkata, Bhopal, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune, affecting a large number of the 240,000 set to appear in the staggered test until Dec 7.
'We got calls from students in six cities saying they were not able to give the test because the computer system crashed. The students have been told they can take another time slot,' Ulhas Vairagkar, director of the TIME institute, a preparatory school for IIM aspirants, told IANS.
The reason for the crash is unclear, Vairagkar said.
It was the first time the CAT was conducted across India on computers -- as opposed optical reading marker. The Indian Institutes of Management, which conduct the exam, said they would comment later. It was not clear how many students were affected Saturday.
An American firm, Prometric, which has developed the computer system for CAT, said it would be able to assess what went wrong only by around 2 p.m.
Around 50,000 students are to appear for the exam in Delhi over a 10-day period. The test is scheduled in 32 cities at 105 centres, all connected to a main server.
IIMs and Prometric had issued a disclaimer to all the students appearing for the exam to refrain from discussing the new format and questions till Dec 7 when the exam schedule ends.
Last year, nearly 276,000 students across India took the test. Several experts told IANS earlier that the fall in registrations this year was due to CAT going hi-tech.
CAT exam assesses quantitative, logical, verbal and data interpretation ability of students.
CAT scores determine entry to the IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Indore, Lucknow, Kozhikode and Shillong as well as the Management Development Institute in Gurgaon, Institute of Management Training in Ghaziabad, Mudra Institute of Communications in Ahmedabad and Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research in Mumbai.
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B

Forget net banking, you can m-bank on the go

Ineternet banking has made lives enormously simpler for those who have access to the world wide web. But in terms of penetration, net banking is yet
to achieve the kind of usage that is witnessed by ATMs. The fact that it necessitates a computer means that it is not accessible to a large chunk of bank customers. This is the gap expected to be bridged by mobile banking — the latest channel opened up to bank customers. “Post RBI’s regulations on mobile banking issued in September last year, several banks had started working on launching their mobile banking services, and the hectic activity seen in this space in the last few days is the result of the culmination of these efforts,” says Ajay Adiseshann, managing director of PayMate, an m-commerce facilitator. Though services such as balance check, transaction enquiry and alerts were available with most banks even earlier, this has gained momentum now, as rolling out of full-fledged m-banking facilities is in full swing. Most banks allow their customers to avail of mobile banking even if they have not registered for Internet banking services. Banking on the move As per RBI guidelines, an individual can transfer funds — to another account with the same bank or other banks — through his/her mobile, subject to a cap of Rs 5,000 per day. For paying your bills/making purchases through your m-banking account, this limit would stand enhanced to Rs 10,000 per day. Furthermore, banks are allowed to set monthly limits for their customers. For instance, State Bank of India has placed a ceiling of Rs 30,000 in a month for these transactions. Within these restrictions, you can carry out almost all the transactions that you can do through net banking, including transferring funds, paying credit card and other utility bills, ordering cheque books and demand drafts and issuing stop payment instructions from your cell phone. In addition, you can recharge your mobile, pay life insurance premium, shop for products as well as services and buy movie, airline and train tickets through this channel. Getting started To avail of these services, you need to download the mobile banking application from your bank’s website on to your cell phone, and get registered for this facility. Generally, any Java-enabled cell phone model (cost starting at Rs 3,000) would be able to support this application. You would require a GPRS mobile Internet connection (which your cellular operator will make available on request) to transact through this channel. This facility is meant to be operator-agnostic, meaning, that it should be available across cellular operators. However, you would do well to check the list of telecom service providers through whom your bank is offering this service currently. Some banks also offer m-banking on the sms platform

Finance panel for 12% GST

New Delhi: The proposed goods & services tax (GST) could turn out to be a far more benign impost than anyone expected. In what would amount to a radical tax reform, the 13th Finance Commission is understood to have arrived at a revenue-neutral rate of around 12%, at least 4 percentage points lower than what most believed the combined Centre-state rate would be.
According to official sources, in a technical paper the commission is going to release shortly, it would also recommend a substantial broadening of the tax base by including hitherto untaxed—but potentially high-revenue—areas like real estate deals, high-end education and healthcare services. If the proposals are accepted, India Inc’s tax liability will see a major dip

In the commission’s ideal model, GST would subsume taxes on petroleum and alcohol, both of which states want to keep outside the new comprehensive, multi-point tax on value added. Levies on petroleum account for a third of the tax revenues of both the Centre and states. The commission, headed by Vijay Kelkar, even wants the beedi industry, which forms a large chunk of the domestic tobacco sector, to be brought under GST.
The commission’s mandate is to recommend a formula for fiscal resource distribution between the Centre and states, as well as states inter se. It is, therefore, bound to have a decisive say in finalising the GST structure, which is integral to the fiscal resource transfer policy. In fact, the commission has drawn inputs from senior finance ministry officials to prepare the technical paper.
The Centre and states continue to disagree on the structure and modalities of GST, with the former keen to use the new tax as a reform tool. So, by releasing the technical paper, the commission would help the Centre turn the table on the empowered committee of state finance ministers, which recently published a GST discussion paper that most analysts said reflected a compromise.
Real estate transactions now attract only stamp duty at the output level, whereas the output incurs input taxes like Vat on construction material and service tax on specified work contracts. “In most countries where a GST/Vat system exists, sale of property is taxed like any other transaction. All input taxes are recouped by taxpayers, except the final consumer, as credit,” said E&Y partner Harishanker Subramaniam.
The empowered committee’s model not only leaves many contentious questions unresolved, but also defeats the purpose of capturing most supply chains

POSTED BY:

ASIM SINGHAL

PGDM III SEM

Banks may get more time for NPA provisioning

The Reserve Bank of India may give banks a breather by extending the deadline for increasing the provision coverage for non-performing assets (NPAs) to 70 per cent from September 2010 to March 2011.

In its Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy, the RBI had said that banks should have minimum provision coverage of 70 per cent for NPAs by September 2010.

Fearing the impact of the RBI decision on their profits, banks had sought a review of the new norm. A PSU bank official said on Wednesday on the sidelines of an international banking seminar that the RBI refused to lower the provisioning requirement from 70 per cent but conveyed to banks that the deadline will be extended by six more months. However, the central bank is yet to issue a formal communication in this regard, he added.

This leeway will allow banks to step up gradually their provision coverage, thereby reducing the impact on profits.

In the monetary policy the RBI said, “With a view to improving the provisioning cover and enhancing the soundness of individual banks, it is proposed to advise banks to augment their provisioning cushions consisting of specific provisions against NPAs as well as floating provisions, and ensure that their total provisioning coverage ratio, including floating provisions, is not less than 70 per cent.”

Recently, the State Bank of India Chairman, Mr O. P. Bhatt, had said that all banks had sought a review of the deadline. The SBI will have to provide around Rs 5,000 crore for improving its NPA coverage ratio, which has fallen to 42.87 per cent as of September-end 2009, compared with 44.14 per cent as of September-end 2008, he had said.

According to a report by rating agency Crisil, the proposed increase in NPA coverage ratio will mean that banks now have to make an additional provisioning of Rs 1,30,000 crore till end-September 2010. This estimate was based on the NPAs reported by banks as on March 31, 2009. As on this date, the banking system’s NPAs were at 2.3 per cent of total advances, while the NPA coverage was around 55 per cent.

In its report, Crisil also said that even if NPAs rise to 3 per cent by March 2010, the required additional provisioning could increase by Rs 2,00,000 crore. Therefore, the total provisioning requirement for the system could be between Rs 3,00,000 crore and Rs 3,30,000 crore till end-September 2010.

Consolidation issue


Also, on the sidelines of the seminar the RBI Deputy Governor, Dr K. C. Chakrabarty, said consolidation in the Indian banking industry is necessary, but the time for it has not yet come. The banking sector must focus on financial inclusion for now.

His comments assume significance in the light of the meeting between bankers and Finance Ministry officials to discuss consolidation, last week.

“Consolidation will happen in an industry where there is a proliferation of products and services. We are talking about consolidation in an industry where 50 per cent people are not having access to a bank account,” Dr Chakrabarty said.

While size is important to compete in the market, small banks are needed to reach out to the interiors of India, he said. For the next five years, financial products and services must be available through a bank-led model. Both large and small banks are needed, he added.
POSTED BY:

PALLAVI SINGH

PGDM III SEM

Satyam fraud totals $3 billion: Police

NEW DELHI: Police probing India's biggest corporate scandal said Thursday the fraud involving outsourcing company Satyam totalled over three billion dollars, double the amount originally suspected.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which filed new charges on Tuesday against 10 suspects, including company founder and chairman B. Ramalinga Raju, warned the scandal could grow further.

"The supplementary chargesheet we filed this week takes to 140 billion rupees (3.01 billion dollars) the total amount we believe is involved in the scandal," CBI's deputy inspector general V.V. Laxmi Narayana said.

"In a couple of days we will file another chargesheet in the case" which could increase the amount police suspect was swindled, said Narayana, head of the probe.

The earlier estimate of the fraud was 71.36 billion rupees.

Narayana said the latest figure was based on "disclosures" allegedly given to investigators by Raju and the nine other suspects in the case during questioning.

Raju stunned India's financial world in January when he declared he had overstated profits for years and inflated the company's balance sheet by more than one billion dollars.

Raju, his brother and eight other people were placed in custody on charges of conspiracy, cheating, forgery and falsification of accounts. The Satyam founder is in hospital being treated for cardiac problems and hepatitis, while the rest are in jail.

In April, mid-sized Indian computer outsourcer Tech Mahindra, part of leading Indian vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra, paid nearly 600 million dollars for a majority share in Satyam, rescuing it from imminent collapse.

However, Vineet Nayar, a senior Satyam executive, told Dow Jones Newswires that he doesn't expect any additional liability from the new fraud allegations.

"The CBI is talking about fraud by some individuals," he said. "It has nothing to do with the company as such."

Satyam, based in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, re-branded itself as Mahindra Satyam as part of an attempt to recover from the scandal.

Shares in the company closed up 2.43 percent or 2.2 rupees at 92.75 rupees following the company's assurances after sliding nearly 11 percent the previous day.

The suspects had allegedly used various methods to swindle money including forging board resolutions to illegally obtain loans, used fake invoices to get money and falsified other accounts, CBI officer Narayana said.

Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Kurhseed, meanwhile, praised Tech Mahindra for its work in rescuing the struggling company.

"Let us trust the good work that they are doing," the minister said in New Delhi.

Satyam was ranked as India's fourth-largest information technology services group by revenues when the scandal broke. Its clients included some of the world's biggest companies such as Nestle, General Electric and General Motors.

POSTED BY:
ASIM SINGHAL
PGDM III SEM

Mahindra Satyam feels heat of Rs 1,220 crore extra burden

HYDERABAD: Mahindra Satyam, the new owner of fraud-hit Satyam Computers, will have to manage an additional burden of Rs 1,220 crore over and above Satyam's rise, fall and its existing claims and pending law suits after India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Wednesday B Ramalinga Raju forged board resolutions to borrow money from banks to salvage his company.

However, there were no entries in the software firm’s books to this effect. This money is in addition to the unaccounted Rs 1,230 crore that Raju claimed to have been infused into Satyam by promoters of 37 front companies floated by Raju. Even in this case, there were no entries books.

Vineet Nayyar, executive vice-chairman of Mahindra Satyam, said that liabilities are still limited. “I think we need to distinguish two things. CBI is talking to the extent of fraud, accounting fraud committed what I am talking about our financial liabilities to what we term as Sundry Debtor those are not large, those we can manage, those we can handle,” he told ET NOW.

“Now that fraud is walk down the historical path what was the magnitude of the accounting fraud in the last seven to eight years, was it Rs 7,000 crore, was it Rs 10,000 crore, was that Rs 11,000 crore I assume that is what CBI is referring to but I must say I should not be commenting on it because I have not seen it,” Mr Nayyar added.

On Tuesday, the CBI said the investor loss from the Satyam accounting fraud was worth around Rs 14,000 crore, shares of Satyam plunged by 11% on BSE and financial analysts expressed concerns about the company’s liabilities.

Posted By:

Pallavi Singh

PGDM III Sem

Hey guys I've prepared a list of CEO of major Indian companies..check it out

Company-CEO/Chairman
ADAE-Anil Ambani

Air Deccan -GR Gopinath
Apollo Tyres-Neeraj Kanwar
Ashok Leyland-R Seshasayee
Asian Paints-Ashwin Dani
AV Birla Group-Kumar Mangalam Birla
AZB Partners-Zia Mody
Bajaj Auto-Rahul Bajaj
Bank of Baroda-MD Mallya
Bharat Forge-BN Kalyani
Bharat Petroleum-Ashok Sinha
Bharti Enterprises-Sunil Mittal
Biocon-Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Birla Corp-RS Lodha
Bombay Dyeing-Jeh & Ness Wadia
Britannia-Vinita Bali
BSNL-AK Sinha
Cadbury India-Bharat Puri
Cipla-YK Hamied
Cromptom Greaves-Gautam Thapar
Dabur -VC Burman
Dr. Reddy's Labs-K Anji Reddy (Chairman)
Dr. Reddy's Labs-GV Prasad (CEO)
EID Parry -SM Datta
Essar Group-Shashi Ruia
GAIL-UD Choubey
Godrej Group-Adi Godrej
Gujarat Ambuja Cement -NS Sekhsaria, Suresh Neotia
HCL Technologies-Shiv Nadar (Chairman), Vineet Nayar (CEO)
HDFC-Deepak Parekh
Hero Group -Brij Mohal Lall Munjal
Hinduja Group-SP Hinduja
Hindustan Petroleum-Arun Balakrishnan
HSBC India -Naina Lal Kidwai
Hyundai India-BVR Subbu
ICICI Bank-Chanda Kochar
ICICI Prudential -Shikha Sharma
ICICI Ventures-Renuka Ramnath
Infosys Technologies-Nandan Nilekani * Narayan Murthy (co founder and chairman), Kris GopalKrishnan (CEO)
IOC-Sarthak Behuria
Ispat Industries-VK Mittal
ITC-Yogesh C Deveshwar
Jet Airways-Naresh Goyal
Kotak Mahindra Bank-Uday Kotak
Larsen & Toubro-AM Naik
Mahindra & Mahindra -Keshub Mahindra, Anand Mahindra
Maruti Udyog-RC Bhargava
Microsoft India-Ravi Venkatesan
Motorola India-FV Vandrewala
Nicholas Piramal-Ajay Piramal
Nirma-Karsanbhai Patel
ONGC-R.S. Sharma
Pantaloon Retail-Kishore Biyani
Pepsi Co. -Rajeev Bakshi

1. Pesico- president -:- Indira nooyi
   Ranbaxy-Malvinder Singh Mohan
   Raymond-Gautam Singhania
   Reliance Industries-Mukesh Ambani
   Reserve Bank of India -Subbarao
   RPG Group-Harsh Goenka
   SAIL-SK Roongta
   Satyam Computers -Kiran Karnik(Chairman), A.S. Murthy (CEO)
   SEBI -Bhave
   Shoppers' Stop-BS Nagesh
   Standard Chartered-Jaspal Bindra
   Star TV India-Peter Mukerjea
   State Bank of India-OP Bhatt
   Tata Group-Ratan Tata
   Tata Steel -B Muthuraman
   TCS-S Ramadorai
   UB Group-Vijay Mallya
   Videocon Industries-Venugopal Dhoot
   Wipro-Azim Premji (Chairman), Girish Paranjpe & Suresh Vaswani (joint CEOs)
   Yes Bank-Rana Kapoor
   Zee Telefilms-Subhash Chandra
   Hindalco Industries-Kumar Mangalam Birla
   NTPC-R.S. Sharma
   Oracle Financial Services Software (i-flex)-Rajesh Hukku
   Spicejet-Sanjay Aggarwal.

Nitika

PGDM-3rd sem

sec-B

Universities must fall in step with research institutes
If the country’s top research institutes were embedded into university campuses, it would give students a direct experience of cutting-edge research from a very early stage, according to Nobel Prize winner Venkatraman Ramakrishnan.During an hour-long web chat hosted by the US State Department on Tuesday, Dr. Ramakrishnan took questions from Indian students, scientists, reporters and well-wishers on a variety of subjects, including the state of India’s education and research establishment.He felt that currently, top class research in India is limited to a few good institutes, a situation that needs to change. "I have always felt that for research to improve, students need to be exposed to the very best research at an early stage. One change over the last several decades is that individual universities have lost ground to large research institutes. It would be a good idea to embed research institutes inside university campuses, and perhaps also integrate research more into universities," he said.Asked whether the government’s expansion of the IIT network would help Indian scientists make a global mark, he felt it was as important to set up more institutes for the basic sciences, modelled on the Indian Institute of Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the National Centre for Biological Sciences, preferably located within university campuses.Dr. Ramakrishnan also recalled his visits to several universities, and his impression that they were underfunded in comparison to central research institutes. "I think if one has to constantly worry about funding and facilities, it is hard to be innovative," he said, recommending that the government and Indian scientific community take steps to improve funding for universities.He pointed out that increased funding for research would follow economic growth. "Science is expensive, and historically countries have started excelling in science as their economy has grown, whether it was the industrial revolution in Britain, or the growth of the USA or Japan," he said, pointing out that the US became the leading economic power by 1910, but only became a major scientific power after 1945. Similarly, Japan gained economic strength from 1960, but started producing world-class scientists, including Nobel prizewinners only in the last 10 to 20 years. For India, "I am hopeful it will happen in the next few decades," he said.Even at an individual salary level, scientists and even PhD students need to be paid much better, said Dr. Ramakrishnan. "I don’t think scientists care a lot about money. I took a 40 per cent pay cut to move to England. However, it is important to pay scientists well enough so they don’t have to constantly worry about money and are secure, because this frees them to think about their research," he said.Apart from the money factor, it will take time for Indian science to develop a culture of excellence. "I see very bright young scientists in my field in India who are publishing very good papers. Eventually, these people will create an atmosphere of excellence, and then from that a culture of tackling the hardest problems –rather than a defeatist attitude of ‘we can’t compete’ – will emerge," he said.He accepted the admiration of the many high school students chatting with him, since he remembers what it was like to be a young student dreaming of a Nobel Prize and being fascinated by scientists. But Dr. Ramakrishnan is not comfortable with the title of an Indian role model. "People should not see me in that role but rather develop internal confidence. But I hope that people feel happy about the fact that someone from India, who got their basic education in India, could go on and do well internationally.

Fully committed to implementing civil nuclear deal, says Obama

The summit meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama, taking place on a grey and rainy day at the White House, ended on an optimistic note with the U.S. President reaffirming that he believed that the relationship between the two countries was one of the “defining partnerships of the 21st century” and that the U.S. welcomes India’s leadership role in Asia.
There were indications however evidenced in part by the delay in the finalisation of the joint statement that is customarily produced after the delegation talks, and the delayed start of the press conference by the two leaders, that there were still some issues to be resolved in the negotiations. It also seemed that the expected agreement on fuel reprocessing was not coming through in this visit, while both sides once again swore their commitment to its full implementation.
But there was no doubting the cordiality and the determination of both sides to keep the bilateral relationship in high gear. Mr. Obama said that he had reaffirmed to the Prime Minister his administration’s “commitment to fully implement the U.S.-India civil nuclear agreement” which he said would “increase American exports and create jobs in both countries.” In his remarks at the press conference, Dr. Singh also said, “we agreed on the early and full implementation of our civil nuclear cooperation agreement.” He added that “our strategic partnership should facilitate transfer of high technologies to India”. Delay in finalising reprocessing accord
Sources said that the delay in finalising a reprocessing agreement did not mean anything and that this would come through soon if not during this visit. Mr. Obama was lavish in his praise for India’s leadership role in Asia which he said had expanded peace and security across the region. Calling India a “rising and responsible global power,” he said that his commitment to India could be seen in his personal partnership with Dr. Singh and that they had worked together on economic matters at various G20 summits.
Making a specific reference to the “horrific attacks in Mumbai one year ago this week,” Mr. Obama said that to prevent future attacks, the two sides had agreed that the law enforcement and intelligence agencies will work even closer.
India and the United States have agreed, according to Dr. Singh, that the meeting on climate change at Copenhagen to take place in December should have a “substantive and comprehensive outcome that would cover mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology.” The Prime Minister said that the two countries should become partners in developing the “green economy” and that India wanted to benefit from clean and energy efficient technologies from the U.S. For his part, Mr. Obama said that it was essential that all countries do whatever necessary to reach “a strong operational agreement” that would serve as a “stepping stone to a legally binding treaty” and to that end, the Prime Minister and he had made “important progress.”
Dr. Singh said that India would work with the U.S. for the success of the Nuclear Security Summit which the U.S. President is hosting next April.
In what appears to be an outflow from Mr. Obama’s traditional views on the dangers of outsourcing American jobs, the U.S. President said that the partnership envisaged was also in the context of his top economic priority — “creating good jobs with good wages for the American people.” The two leaders also agreed to step up the educational exchanges including “dramatically expanding the Fulbright-Nehru program

Fully committed to implementing civil nuclear deal, says Obama

The summit meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama, taking place on a grey and rainy day at the White House, ended on an optimistic note with the U.S. President reaffirming that he believed that the relationship between the two countries was one of the “defining partnerships of the 21st century” and that the U.S. welcomes India’s leadership role in Asia.
There were indications however evidenced in part by the delay in the finalisation of the joint statement that is customarily produced after the delegation talks, and the delayed start of the press conference by the two leaders, that there were still some issues to be resolved in the negotiations. It also seemed that the expected agreement on fuel reprocessing was not coming through in this visit, while both sides once again swore their commitment to its full implementation.
But there was no doubting the cordiality and the determination of both sides to keep the bilateral relationship in high gear. Mr. Obama said that he had reaffirmed to the Prime Minister his administration’s “commitment to fully implement the U.S.-India civil nuclear agreement” which he said would “increase American exports and create jobs in both countries.” In his remarks at the press conference, Dr. Singh also said, “we agreed on the early and full implementation of our civil nuclear cooperation agreement.” He added that “our strategic partnership should facilitate transfer of high technologies to India”. Delay in finalising reprocessing accord
Sources said that the delay in finalising a reprocessing agreement did not mean anything and that this would come through soon if not during this visit. Mr. Obama was lavish in his praise for India’s leadership role in Asia which he said had expanded peace and security across the region. Calling India a “rising and responsible global power,” he said that his commitment to India could be seen in his personal partnership with Dr. Singh and that they had worked together on economic matters at various G20 summits.
Making a specific reference to the “horrific attacks in Mumbai one year ago this week,” Mr. Obama said that to prevent future attacks, the two sides had agreed that the law enforcement and intelligence agencies will work even closer.
India and the United States have agreed, according to Dr. Singh, that the meeting on climate change at Copenhagen to take place in December should have a “substantive and comprehensive outcome that would cover mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology.” The Prime Minister said that the two countries should become partners in developing the “green economy” and that India wanted to benefit from clean and energy efficient technologies from the U.S. For his part, Mr. Obama said that it was essential that all countries do whatever necessary to reach “a strong operational agreement” that would serve as a “stepping stone to a legally binding treaty” and to that end, the Prime Minister and he had made “important progress.”
Dr. Singh said that India would work with the U.S. for the success of the Nuclear Security Summit which the U.S. President is hosting next April.
In what appears to be an outflow from Mr. Obama’s traditional views on the dangers of outsourcing American jobs, the U.S. President said that the partnership envisaged was also in the context of his top economic priority — “creating good jobs with good wages for the American people.” The two leaders also agreed to step up the educational exchanges including “dramatically expanding the Fulbright-Nehru program

Nifty gains momentum; oil & gas, metals up.


MUMBAI: Equities were witnessing sustained buying activity across the board led by gains in oil & gas, metals and auto stocks. The market is


Tips to pick potential stocks Tips for range-bound markets Risk while investing in midcapslikely to turn volatile later in the day ahead of November series F&O expiry. “With F&O expiry just a day away, it would be wise to remain non-committal. We expect a flat to cautious start and another choppy day. The main indices will remain mostly sluggish in a tight range. Global events will continue to drive the sentiment. Concerns about banks came back to haunt China and Europe. In the US, stocks lost some ground amid persistent economic worries. A slow recovery is what the Fed predicts for the US along with high unemployment. This means rates will remain near zero for a few more months. The so-called ‘exit’ from the accommodative monetary policy is still some distance way. This holds true not just for the US, but for all the nations, including India. What this also means is there is no danger to the dollar carry trade. But, it would be interesting to see how the markets behave once the dollar bottoms out. That unwinding, whenever it unfolds will have a bearing on global equities. Whether the economic recovery picks up further momentum or fizzles out will also be keenly followed, said India Infoline report. At 11:18 am, National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 5126.05, up 35.50 points or 0.70 per cent. The index touched an intraday high of 5126.45 and low of 5078.35. Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 17,248.18, up 117.10 points or 0.68 per cent. The 30-share index hit an intra-day high of 17254.79 and low of 17124.15. “Trend deciding level for the day is 5086 / 17130. If Nifty trades above this level during the first half-an-hour of trade then we may witness a further rally up to 5118 – 5145 / 17232 – 17333. However, if Nifty trades below 5086 / 17130 for the first half-an-hour of trade then it may correct up to 5058 / 17029,” said Angel Broking note. BSE Midcap Index was up 0.91 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index gained 0.95 per cent. Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Oil&gas Index was up 1.82 per cent, BSE Metal Index moved 1.28 per cent higher and BSE Auto Index gained 1.12 per cent. BSE Realty Index was down 0.12 per cent. BPCL (6.91%), GAIL (2.33%), Reliance Industries (2.04%), SAIL (2.03%) and M&M (1.68%) were amongst the top Nifty gainers. HCL Tech (-0.96%), Reliance Infrastructure (-0.95%), Tata Power (-0.84%), ICICI Bank (-0.63%) and Jaiprakash Associates (-0.55%) were amongst the losers. Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1550 advances and 721 declines. Meanwhile, the US stocks fell on Tuesday on lackluster economic data in a session marked by low volume and choppy trading, but losses eased after the Federal Reserve raised its expectations for growth in 2010. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 17.24 points, or 0.16 per cent, to end at 10,433.71. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index inched down just 0.59 of a point, or 0.05 per cent, to 1,105.65. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 6.83 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 2,169.18. Asian markets were trading with modest gains after a weak session earlier. The Nikkei gained 0.34 per cent, Straits Times climbed 0.10 per cent and Shanghai Composite advanced 0.76 per cent.

Tatas may launch electric Indica by early 2011

With many automakers planning to launch eco-friendly vehicles for the domestic market, Tata Motors said on Tuesday that it may launch the electric version of the small car Indica in early 2011.
The company has been developing the car with Norway-based Miljøbil Grenland/Innovasjon, in which it has a 50.3 per cent stake. It plans to start a feasibility study for this in the next year and may launch the car simultaneously with the European launch.
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“It will be available for India at around the same time as the global launch. It will be launched in Norway, Denmark and the UK in 12-14 months. We’re evaluating the option of an Indian launch, but are still not sure if the electric vehicles (EVs) are the best option for the country,” said Mr Prakash M Telang, Managing Director, India Operations, Tata Motors.
He further added that the main problem is the high cost attached to EVs, which is mainly because of the expensive batteries. “It will be 70-150 per cent more expensive depending on batteries. While lead acid batteries are not good enough, lithium-ion is too expensive. We have to look into the cost equation,” he said.
Responding to sales outlook for the remaining half of the fiscal, Mr Telang said that the shift from Bharat Stage III emission norms to Bharat Stage IV in April, may lead to good sales in the fourth quarter.
“There is optimism – I see good sales in the fourth quarter. In commercial vehicles (CVs), there may be pre-buying because of the change in emission norms. Even passenger cars may see better volumes, but not as much as CVs since price escalation will not be as much in them. This has been the experience in most countries across the globe,” he said.
Automakers and especially commercial vehicle manufacturers are expected to raise prices from April, because of the newer engines that companies will have to deploy on their vehicles in order to meet the new emission norms.
When asked about the status of the Nano’s Sanand plant, Mr Telang said that the company is producing around 3,000-4,000 units of the low-cast car a month at the Pantnagar facility and it will start the trial production at Sanand by the fourth quarter of the fiscal. The Sanand plant will have an initial annual capacity of 2.5 lakh units a year, which will later be increased to 3.5 lakh units. The Pantnagar plant mainly produces the light commercial vehicle (LCV) Ace.
“We’re striving between the Ace requirement and the Nano. The plant has a capacity to produce 1.5 lakh Ace LCVs a year,” he said.

Survey of BSE trading members on extended timings

BSE Brokers Forum conducted a survey on the extended trading hours to seek views of the Trading Members of the BSE.
418 Trading Members responded to the survey. The key findings showed that more than 79% forming almost four fifths of the respondents felt that the current timings should not be changed. Of the balance 21%, 7% felt that the markets should be extended in the morning session only, 5% felt that the market should be extended in the evening session only and 8% felt that the markets should be extended in both the morning as well as the evening sessions.
The survey indicates that the Trading Members are not welcoming the change in the trading hours and see no benefit to the Indian Capital Markets in terms of getting volumes of the Asian Markets or getting a trend of the US Markets.
SUDEEP SINGH
PGDM IIISEM
SEC-B

Universities must fall in step with research institutes

If the country’s top research institutes were embedded into university campuses, it would give students a direct experience of cutting-edge research from a very early stage, according to Nobel Prize winner Venkatraman Ramakrishnan.
During an hour-long web chat hosted by the US State Department on Tuesday, Dr. Ramakrishnan took questions from Indian students, scientists, reporters and well-wishers on a variety of subjects, including the state of India’s education and research establishment.
He felt that currently, top class research in India is limited to a few good institutes, a situation that needs to change. "I have always felt that for research to improve, students need to be exposed to the very best research at an early stage. One change over the last several decades is that individual universities have lost ground to large research institutes. It would be a good idea to embed research institutes inside university campuses, and perhaps also integrate research more into universities," he said.
Asked whether the government’s expansion of the IIT network would help Indian scientists make a global mark, he felt it was as important to set up more institutes for the basic sciences, modelled on the Indian Institute of Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the National Centre for Biological Sciences, preferably located within university campuses.
Dr. Ramakrishnan also recalled his visits to several universities, and his impression that they were underfunded in comparison to central research institutes. "I think if one has to constantly worry about funding and facilities, it is hard to be innovative," he said, recommending that the government and Indian scientific community take steps to improve funding for universities.
He pointed out that increased funding for research would follow economic growth. "Science is expensive, and historically countries have started excelling in science as their economy has grown, whether it was the industrial revolution in Britain, or the growth of the USA or Japan," he said, pointing out that the US became the leading economic power by 1910, but only became a major scientific power after 1945. Similarly, Japan gained economic strength from 1960, but started producing world-class scientists, including Nobel prizewinners only in the last 10 to 20 years. For India, "I am hopeful it will happen in the next few decades," he said.
Even at an individual salary level, scientists and even PhD students need to be paid much better, said Dr. Ramakrishnan. "I don’t think scientists care a lot about money. I took a 40 per cent pay cut to move to England. However, it is important to pay scientists well enough so they don’t have to constantly worry about money and are secure, because this frees them to think about their research," he said.
Apart from the money factor, it will take time for Indian science to develop a culture of excellence. "I see very bright young scientists in my field in India who are publishing very good papers. Eventually, these people will create an atmosphere of excellence, and then from that a culture of tackling the hardest problems –rather than a defeatist attitude of ‘we can’t compete’ – will emerge," he said.
He accepted the admiration of the many high school students chatting with him, since he remembers what it was like to be a young student dreaming of a Nobel Prize and being fascinated by scientists. But Dr. Ramakrishnan is not comfortable with the title of an Indian role model. "People should not see me in that role but rather develop internal confidence. But I hope that people feel happy about the fact that someone from India, who got their basic education in India, could go on and do well internationally.
SUDEEP SINGH
PGDM III SEM
SEC-B

Anil Ambani tops Pay Chart ; Mukesh biggest dividend earner

It's Ambanis all the way in the Indian corporate world in terms of pay package or dividend earnings.


With a package of over Rs 52 crore in 2008-09, younger brother Anil has topped the list of executives in terms of compensation, while elder Mukesh has emerged as the country's highest dividend earner at Rs 930 crore, as per rankings compiled by Business India magazine.

In the top-five of compensation chart, Anil is followed by Kalanithi Maran and Kaveri Maran of Sun TV with packages of Rs 37.08 crore each, Madras Cements' P R R Rajha (Rs 28.7 crore) and Jindal Steel & Power's Naveen Jindal (Rs 28.27 crore), the magazine said in a statement today.

It is the first time that Mukesh does not figure among top-10 executives in terms of compensation package ever since the magazine started compiling the annual list in 2002.

Mukesh has been ranked at 19th position with a package of Rs 15 crore, owing to his voluntary salary cut of 66 per cent announced a few weeks ago. The magazine noted that Anil has topped the chart "thanks to the Rs 52 crore he collected in 2008-09 as commissions for the previous year."


Business India said that the salary figures could appear huge, but "they are almost pocket change compared to what some of these owner-executives could potential earn and to what they pocket as (tax-free) dividends."

In terms of dividend payouts, second-ranked Azim Premji got Rs 465 crore, which is nearly half the amount for Mukesh, the magazine noted.

HCL's Shiv Nadar is ranked third (Rs 320 crore), followed by Anil Ambani (Rs 256 crore), Kumar Birla (Rs 202 crore), Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghabi (Rs 181 crore), Sun TV's Kalanithi Maran (Rs 76 crore) and Cipla's Y K Hamied (Rs 61 crore) in the dividend chart.

The magazine said that last year's financial crisis hit senior executives as many companies went into austerity drives and cut the annual compensation of many of their executives.

"But many leading executives like Baba Kalyani of Bharat Forge, Onkar Kanwar of Apollo TAyres, Sajjan Jindal of JSW and not to mention Mukesh Ambani took voluntary pay cuts in either salary or commissions and performance bonuses," it added.

For the first time since liberalisation, the salary hikes were in single digits and performance bonuses were also smaller and various studies pointed out at top leaders being the worst affected by the meltdown, the publication noted.

"The slowdown has in fact resulted in a change being introduced in the salaries at the managerial levels ... But executive compensation in India is always a thorny issue, with many companies having the C-level positions occupied by owner- managers," it added.

The magazine said that 64 of the 100 top paid executives are either the controlling shareholders of members of the family that started the companies.

Indian rupee opens higher as dlr falls overseas

The Indian rupee rose on Wednesday morning, supported by a weaker dollar overseas and traders said they would await the opening of local

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At 9:01 a.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 48.28/29 per dollar, stronger than Tuesday's close of 46.37/38. The dollar fell to its lowest in seven weeks versus the yen on Wednesday. The dollar index against six major currencies was down about 0.1 percent.

India's benchmark BSE share index shed 0.3 percent on Tuesday, but is up more than three-quarters this year on foreign portfolio buying of about $15.3 billion. The inflow has helped the rupee recover from a record low of 52.2 per dollar in early March.

Tatas may launch electric Indica by early 2011

New Delhi, Nov. 24 With many automakers planning to launch eco-friendly vehicles for the domestic market, Tata Motors said on Tuesday that it may launch the electric version of the small car Indica in early 2011.

The company has been developing the car with Norway-based Miljøbil Grenland/Innovasjon, in which it has a 50.3 per cent stake. It plans to start a feasibility study for this in the next year and may launch the car simultaneously with the European launch.

“It will be available for India at around the same time as the global launch. It will be launched in Norway, Denmark and the UK in 12-14 months. We’re evaluating the option of an Indian launch, but are still not sure if the electric vehicles (EVs) are the best option for the country,” said Mr Prakash M Telang, Managing Director, India Operations, Tata Motors.

He further added that the main problem is the high cost attached to EVs, which is mainly because of the expensive batteries. “It will be 70-150 per cent more expensive depending on batteries. While lead acid batteries are not good enough, lithium-ion is too expensive. We have to look into the cost equation,” he said.

Responding to sales outlook for the remaining half of the fiscal, Mr Telang said that the shift from Bharat Stage III emission norms to Bharat Stage IV in April, may lead to good sales in the fourth quarter.
“There is optimism – I see good sales in the fourth quarter. In commercial vehicles (CVs), there may be pre-buying because of the change in emission norms. Even passenger cars may see better volumes, but not as much as CVs since price escalation will not be as much in them. This has been the experience in most countries across the globe,” he said.

Automakers and especially commercial vehicle manufacturers are expected to raise prices from April, because of the newer engines that companies will have to deploy on their vehicles in order to meet the new emission norms.

When asked about the status of the Nano’s Sanand plant, Mr Telang said that the company is producing around 3,000-4,000 units of the low-cast car a month at the Pantnagar facility and it will start the trial production at Sanand by the fourth quarter of the fiscal. The Sanand plant will have an initial annual capacity of 2.5 lakh units a year, which will later be increased to 3.5 lakh units. The Pantnagar plant mainly produces the light commercial vehicle (LCV) Ace.

“We’re striving between the Ace requirement and the Nano. The plant has a capacity to produce 1.5 lakh Ace LCVs a year,”
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B

Post-26/11, is India safer?

The BEST assessment is that the Government's strategy has broadly worked but there's no room for complacency. Home Minister Chidambaram gets a pat, but the threat remains and major systemic changes need to be carried out.

Aroon Purie, Editor-in-Chief, India Today:

Our first meeting was in March 2009 when the Board of Experts on Security Terror (BEST) was set up as a part of the India Today Group's campaign on the 'War on Terror' which was launched in the aftermath of 26/11. The idea was to keep our audience briefed with expert viewpoints on security and terror and what can be done. Our focus continues to be on the threat of cross-border terrorism and in the last 11 months, nothing major has happened as far as a terrorist attack is concerned. Is this our good fortune or has the government done something?

Meanwhile, other security and terror-related issues have come up. Naxal terror is now on top of the national agenda and we want to hear from you on how the Government should tackle it. We can't, of course, stop looking at Pakistan which seems to have its own internal problems but doesn't appear to be repentant for what it does to India and continues on its stubborn path. How we should tackle Pakistan remains an issue. Add to all this, of course, is tensions with China. We are keen to hear from you how India is dealing with China and what it really needs to do.

Raj Chengappa, Managing Editor, India Today:

In March, the BEST assessment was that the Government had totally failed to tackle the terror threat post-26/11. We are just a month away from the first anniversary of 26/11 and we need an assessment as to whether we have progressed, have there been any big shifts or as Aroon mentioned, are we just lucky that we haven't had a major cross-border terror attack?

Ved Marwah, Former Governor, Jharkhand:

A number of factors have helped in ensuring that we haven't had any major incidents since 26/11. Some credit for it goes to the Government and some to developments in Pakistan where the jihadis are busy fighting a battle for survival; India and Jammu and Kashmir is no longer on top of their agenda. If the Pakistan Army wins, we will have trouble and if the jihadis win, of course, we will have more trouble. P. Chidambaram taking over as the Union home minister has helped in creating a feeling of urgency in the security agencies-intelligence agencies, state police and paramilitary forces.

Certain legislative actions have been taken, the law has been tightened with the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act and an investigative agency has been set up. But the Government should not be complacent. The danger is very much there and the moment things settle down in our neighbourhood, we will be a big target for the jihadis. The apparatus inside the country is there; it hasn't been identified or eliminated. This can be activated at an opportune moment. For that the Government still needs to do a number of steps. Among them is that the Government needs to give the National Anti-Terrorism Agency a mandate to keep an eye on developments within the country and in the world. It should analyse every incident and take steps to strengthen our preparedness. We need a comprehensive law which is understood by the investigative agencies, the prosecution and the courts. We need a broad national consensus among all political parties and they should not make political capital out of a terror incident.

Satish Nambiar, Former Deputy Chief of the Army Staff:

Last time we started on the premise that our focus should be on prevention. I have been articulating this for sometime and this is relevant. Now it's almost a year and we have not had a major strike. So let us credit the establishment. I would also like to see us evolve a pre-emptive strategy and develop a capability for pre-emptive strikes on terrorists dealing with the jihadi groups. This means that we have to find out where they are located and where their leadership is. If we have not done that then there is something seriously wrong. The Air Force has the capability to effect precision attacks. We must focus on developing it because we cannot wait for things to happen. We must pre-empt terror attacks.

Brahma Chellaney, Professor, Strategic Studies, Centre for Policy Studies:

There has been no terror attack for nearly 11 months but that doesn't mean that India is less vulnerable to terror attacks since we last met. The vulnerability level remains the same, but are we better prepared? Yes, we are better prepared not institutionally but at the level of Governmental response. It goes to show that if you put a professional in charge of a ministry he or she can make a difference. Ever since Chidambaram took over as the home minister, we have seen a conscious effort to revamp India's internal security policy.

He began from scratch and today knows exactly what is happening. Plus, he has put everybody under pressure. Every morning, he meets the heads of different agencies and the National Security Adviser (NSA). Therefore, for the first time there's coordination at the senior-most level. The prime minister has given him a blank cheque and doesn't interfere at all with the execution of Home Ministry policies and therefore suddenly you find there is a sea change in terms of management of India's internal security policy.

For the last three-and-a-half years, I have heard the prime minister periodically say that Naxalism is the biggest threat to India's security but there was no action. It was as if just waving the red flag was enough. But suddenly we have at least an effort, if not a strategy, to deal with Naxal violence. All this is happening at a personal level. What happens if the person is no longer there, there will be a slide back to where we were a year ago. It is remarkable that there hasn't been a single major terror attack in the last 11 months because we have ensured that 26/11 is not forgotten.

Even though we know at the policy-making level that Pakistan will not do anything about it, we have adopted a policy of throwing a dossier at them to keep them on the defensive. I was quite sceptical at the beginning of the wisdom of preparing a dossier and handing it to the sponsors of terrorism in India. So far, we have seen that these dossiers keep them off balance and remind Pakistan that as long as it would not act against the masterminds of the 26/11, there will be no normalisation of relations with India. Earlier, the Government had not shown this kind of will to stay on the course for more than few months. It came close to reversing the policy at Sharm el-Sheikh. But then stepped back. In a way a message has been sent to Pakistan that the onus is on them.

Ajit Kumar Doval, Former Director, Intelligence Bureau:

When you say, "Is India now better prepared to tackle terror attacks?" the terror threat has got to be seen in two areas. First, Pakistan and terrorist groups are entities, and second is the response that is the Indian state in its pro-active capability to prevent and to punish. The threat level has gone down-partly due to what is happening inside Pakistan; partly due to diplomatic pressure on Pakistan, partly what India has done diplomatically- playing its card in sustaining the pressure, calibrating it and not letting it be put on the backburner. Pakistan has come to some sort of an assessment that any covert action may probably incur an unacceptable cost.

It appeared that they are working on this assessment as was evident during former Pakistan NSA Major-General Mahmud Ali Durrani's recent visit. Institutional changes have not come up in a big way, except in building up an organisation for investigation. Chidambaram has been able to put the house in order. It is not that new capacity building has been done, but the existing capacity is now being used more optimally. In being pro-active, intelligence services have an important role to play. Our intelligence services too are performing and they have been much more effective than they were before.

G. Parthasarathy, Former High Commissioner to Pakistan:

India's ability to influence the real decisionmakers in Pakistan is limited. Your leverage with the Pakistan military is limited. The US, China and Saudi Arabia are the only countries which wield clout in the Pakistan military. Now, Saudi Arabia seems to be going along with what the Americans want. I think our effort to thwart Pakistan's attempt to bring Kashmir into the entire terrorist Afghanistan-Pakistan equation was imaginatively done. The focus, therefore, remained only on Afghanistan-Pakistan. The second point is that we are able to work with this system and get provisions in the Kerry-Lugar Act which for the first time singled out and conditioned aid to Pakistan to fund terrorism across its borders.

This was a conscious effort and the embassy and the ambassador deserve some credit for it. We have been able to influence one side, but also managed to move away from the initial pressure. We will have to find a mechanism at least on a back channel to engage the ISI. Whether or not to share intelligence is debatable, but we should spell out specifically what they should not do and what we mean by the infrastructure of terrorism. How that works out still remains to be seen. Pakistan has got its hands full on its western border and it may have to pay a heavier price if it repeats or even tries to repeat something like the 26/11. This message has been conveyed primarily because many citizens from other countries were affected by the terror strike and, most importantly, the Israelis too had their own impact.

This was the fall out of Mumbai. India derived a benefit and, in fact, it neutralised many things the previous government did like weeping about Pakistan being a victim of terrorism, joint terror mechanism and all such nonsense. If the Government shifts its focus with respect to Pakistan, to tell them about the price which they will have to pay and about what we mean by the terrorism infrastructure, it will be useful. Pakistan is in a very delicate situation and my hunch says that its army will run into a mess in Waziristan. There's a power struggle going on between the army and President Asif Ali Zardari.

If the army prevails, then they will be emboldened to look eastwards. If they don't, they could well be emboldened to divert attention and so under no circumstances should we let down our guard. Chidambaram has changed the ambience of the Government and the way it looks towards terrorism. In China's case though, its Government seems to have gone the other direction. Immediately after Mumbai, they welcomed Pakistan's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Tariq Majid and held out all sorts of goodies to him. The Saudis have been quiet apart from voting on Kashmir in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

Kapil Kak, Additional Director, Centre for Air Power Studies:

We are congratulating ourselves that nothing has happened in last 11 months. Let's reverse this. Nothing has happened as Pakistan is pre-occupied with its troubles on its western border. In the wake of 9/11, infiltration into J&K has virtually been reduced to a trickle, from 13 to less than one a day. Since Chidambaram took over as home minister, preparedness levels have been heightened but we have a long way to go. If there is an aerial attack, which has been feared and talked about, we are not prepared at all on the southern side which is very vulnerable as there are no radars to detect an aerial intrusion. Unless we get a homeland security kind of a template to prevent terror attacks, nothing much can be done. There has been a great deal of improvement on the intelligence side but I am not sure whether there has been an improvement in assessments. Situational awareness in managing terror now and in the next 10 or 15 years is crucial for any mechanism that would come in. I think it was a statesman-like act in not exercising the military option post-26/11. We have seen the rich dividends that philosophy has paid.

Yes, we have precision attack capabilities and have strengthened it competently and can deliver punishment precisely, but we also need to factor into our calculus that Pakistan is not going to let that attack or series of attacks go uncontested. Are we prepared to get into a limited war? I would much rather go the Chinese way. After the war with Vietnam, they tucked their tail between the legs and ran back to Beijing because they wanted to develop. We must follow the same strategy and keep in mind that strategic importance of India is its 9 per cent growth rate in the next 20 years.

Kiran Bedi, Former DG, Bureau of Police Research and Development:

We have more than a million policemen. I don't know whether any assessment has been made on their training, welfare or personnel policy. We invest nothing and have no objective assessments. I have not come across a single objective police assessment on police performance and their impact on us. The real intelligence, tackling of terror is actually done by the footsoldiers. I don't think that Chidambaram has reached the footsoldiers. Chidambaram has only reached the Central Police Organisations (CPOS). He has at least met the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief and the NSA, but why didn't he meet the state DGPs? The BSF and CRPF should be a part of his meeting and he should start involving others CPOs.

I don't think the responses are truly corrective, they are still only reactive. I want to see Chidambaram grooming leadership. I doubt if he is doing it. I don't see impatience in him. We all have to be in a hurry to be good leaders. If Chidambaram says police is a state subject, it is not acceptable to me because he can groom leadership. Maybe our expectations from him are high.

There is a big difference in the way we are responding to this meeting and the last one; the last one was one of total helplessness. Today, we may be over the moon but we should not be satisfied. We expect Chidambaram to spread good practices, structures, systems, responses and human resource policies down the line.

Ajai Sahni, Executive Director, Centre for Conflict Studies:

I agree with Kiran. There is a tremendous change in ambience but it is essentially something on the surface. Basically, our expectations are too high. Our standards have fallen so low that we are delighted with anybody doing anything. India is the only country in the world which idolises people for doing their jobs. What has been done in terms of real capacity transformation? Yes, there has been some additional efficiency in utilisation of existing capacities. In certain sectors, intelligence is one of the critical areas, the Central agencies have also been geared up to start trying to coordinate with the state agencies.

Are we better prepared? Chidambaram's answer was "we are as vulnerable as we were on 26/11". It would be wonderful if he becomes the home minister of India and not just of the Centre. It's not his job. He can't be running police stations at the ground level. Yes, he can coordinate better and create a better ambience, but he can't be running the security apparatus of the whole country. I am not an admirer of his predecessor Shivraj Patil but it was completely nonsensical to say Patil must go because there has been a terror attack in Mumbai. Protecting Mumbai is the job of the Mumbai Police, in coordination with the other agencies. Is the Mumbai police better off today? The National Security Guards (NSG) and Force One of the Mumbai Police have been allocated land which has been encroached by a builder and a slum colony.

One can meet all the DGs in the country but are the DGs running a police force that can be effective? No. Orissa has a sanctioned strength of 207 IPS cadres. It has 84 officers in place. There are 30-40 per cent capacity deficits in leadership at different levels in the state police forces. You can coordinate all you like and pass any law in the country but who will implement this law? You can do nothing with 1.2 judges per lakh population when worldwide, it is between 11 and 39. A police force can't do its job efficiently because it doesn't have the capacity to do so. The IB has improved tremendously, in terms of coordination, but what about capacity building? There is, moreover, a certain critical mass below which no augmentation is going to diminish our vulnerabilities. See the training of police forces: raw recruits are being thrown into special operations groups after 13 weeks of training.

Chidambaram is doing a good job but it is not his exclusive job to protect India. The rest of the system is still dysfunctional and the accumulated capacity deficits are so great and the rate of redressal so slow that Chidambaram's efforts will soon be overtaken by challenges. You can celebrate 11 months without any terror incident but it has nothing to do with any response that we have put in place; the critical mass is simply not there to alter the quantum of threat we are confronted with. We are just as vulnerable today as we were before.

V.K. Datta, Former DDG MO (Special Operations):

Let's not be lulled into complacency because nothing has happened since 26/11. We have been lucky and the luck is due to circumstances that Pakistan is facing now. The demon has not gone away, only his attention has been diverted. What we must examine is that after 26/11, it was for the first time that we were able to actually prove to the international community that Pakistan is a rogue nation. The cumulative pressure of the whole episode of producing evidences and handing over a dossier of these to Pakistan, has put them on guard. It is not non-state actors like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or the Hizbul Mujahideen which are attacking us, but it is the Pakistan Army and the ISI. If we wonder why Hafiz Saeed is not being hanged, it is because he is being run by the Pakistan army and they will not harm him irrespective of the government in power.

We created more NSG hubs. If a terror attack were to take place in Hyderabad, how much time will the NSG hub there take to intervene in the city's outskirts? In Hyderabad's traffic, it takes a minimum of an hourand-a-half to move. Has the commander on the ground in that metro been given the mandate to move his force immediately, the moment the state police chief asks or is he still going to seek clearances from the Centre, the Home Ministry and from the director-general of the NSG. If you don't have this response mechanism properly organised, we will find a time lag in our response. A terror attack should have an immediate response from the NSG team in the metro and the mandate should be given to that officer immediately.

Can 26/11 happen again? Yes, any time. Our responses may be better. When we talk about our crisis and a disaster, we always propagate prevention. Prevention involves intelligence and pre-emptive strikes on terror modules before they can strike. We have not improved our preventive capability but our response time to a strike has improved from two hours to half-an-hour. But we will take a long time as there is no equipment, finances are short and motivation depends on individual personalities.

Amitabh Mattoo, Professor, International Politics, JNU:

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. We haven't had a major terrorist attack since 26/11. Some things have changed. What is happening inside Pakistan makes it difficult or costly for elements there to mount the kind of attacks they did last year. Then there is turmoil whether as a result of our pressure, international diplomacy or from internal elements in Pakistan. We need to be cautiously optimistic as we have always been but the fact is that changes have happened in the NSG hubs, the NIA and the IB. There has been more coordination. Chidambaram is right but let's not forget the prime minister, who has given him the leeway, freedom and carte blanche. It's a combination of personalities, policies and systemic factors.

Kashmir is Ground Zero. For Pakistan, it still remains a central issue. And a deeply emotive one whether we recognise it or not. Even now, Kashmir remains a deeply passionate issue which when provoked can create the most virulent ideologies prevalent in Pakistan. I feel that there is a moment of opportunity even on the Kashmir issue because you had the most inclusive elections in J & amp;K which have brought a large section of the state in favour of certain accommodation with New Delhi. I am not one of those who believe that Sharm el-Sheikh was a disaster. Even today, Pakistan is in turmoil and requires a multiplicity of engagements. You need an engagement with the LeT, of the kind that Doval or Datta might be capable of or have the capacity to deal with, but you need a diplomacy to deal with both civil society actors and actors that you might want to strengthen.
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B

Sensex companies' earnings rise 7.2% in Q2

COIMBATORE: Though the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of sensex companies have grown 7.2% year-on-year(y-o-y) to Rs 56,100 crore in the second quarter, some large caps have come up with a poor show.

Net profits of the 30 sensex companies grew 3.6% on a sequential basis to Rs 33,000 crore but dropped 2.7% y-o-y. Sales of sensex companies however grew both on a sequential (7.7%) and y-o-y (3.4%) basis to Rs 1,96,000 crore during the quarter, data shows.

“The breadth of earnings has been positive but several large caps have disappointed,” market observers said. “The earnings growth has been slightly below expectations,” said D D Sharma, senior vice president, research, Anand Rathi Financial Services.

EBITDA margins for the sensex companies improved 1% y-o-y to 28.6% while profit margins declined at a slower pace in the quarter to 16.9%, data compiled by domestic brokerage firm Motilal Oswal securities shows.

In all, 22 sensex firms made profits during the quarter with automobile majors Mahindra and Mahindra, Hero Honda and Maruti Suzuki reporting more than 90% y-o-y growth in profits. “Price hikes, full realisation of lower commodity prices and operating leverage drove up EBITDA margins (in automobiles),” analysts said.

While realty major DLF was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack with net profits plummeting 77.3%, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Reliance Communication too registered sharp declines.

Automobile, FMCG and pharma firms made gains but realty, telecom, metals, oil and gas and infrastructure companies saw a drop in profits. Automobile companies made an impressive 87% growth in profits followed by FMCG (25%) and pharma (24%). While the real estate sector saw the biggest contraction in profit margins, metals and telecom also recorded a fall in profitability.

A study of 115 major firms (excluding oil marketing companies) by Motilal Oswal showed that 51% of the companies made profit growth of above 15%, which is slightly lower than that of the previous quarter. About 35% of the firms in the group reported decline in profits.
POSTED BY:
PALLAVI SINGH
PGDM III SEM

Film piracy funding terror in India: Moser Baer chief

The film piracy industry in India is worth Rs.1,500 crore and its profits are being used to fund terrorism in the country, a top official of CD-DVD manufacturer Moser Baer said Tuesday.
'The piracy industry in India is Rs.1,500 crore and much of it goes to funding terror,' Moser Baer India chief executive Harish Dayani told IANS.
Dayani, while attending a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) conference here, said the US-based think-tank Rand Corp had warned in March this year that film pirates would fund terror activities in large scale in the future.
The CII conference on film finance attracted several people from the industry, who were in Panaji to attend the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
The 40th edition of IFFI started here Monday and will screen nearly 300 films from almost 50 countries during the 11-day event.
Dayani said film pirates sold nearly 80 million DVDs each year in India.
'Rising piracy and the emergence of DVD technology have shrunk the average cost of movie viewing for an Indian family to Rs.3.'
Nearly 40 million families in India have access to DVD technology and film pirates sell nearly 80 million DVDs each year.
'The rate for each pirated DVD is Rs.25 and the cost of a raw DVD is a mere Rs.11 to Rs.12. Imagine the profits they are reaping in,' Dayani said, adding that Moser Baer was forced to come up with a 'revolutionary pricing strategy' to popularise film CDs and DVDs in the face of piracy.
'When we first announced that we would sell movie CDs and DVDs for $1 some years ago, the US production houses scoffed at us. They were selling the same product for $20. But look at the scenario today. Walmart has started selling 'Casino Royale' DVDs for $2. Moser Baer's pricing logic has worked,' Dayani said.
Piracy is weaning away around 50 lakh potential viewers from the movie theatres by giving them cheaper options, he added.
According to Dayani, the effect of piracy is three-pronged.
'First, it affects the flow of patrons to cinema halls. It cuts down on revenue coming in from home video. Piracy also drops TRP (television rating points) as far as cinema broadcast from satellite is concerned.

Nitika

PGDM-3rd sem

sec-B

Twitter eyes acquisitions, sees making money in 2010

Micro-blogging site Twitter is interested in making more acquisitions as it continues to grow in popularity, co-founder Biz Stone said on Tuesday.
"That is something we are definitely interested in," Stone told a news conference in Tel Aviv. "We made an acquistion last year that turned out to be an outstandingly good decision."
He said there was nothing specific on the horizon.
"As our attention is grabbed by some of these developers, we will take a hard look at them," Stone said.
Twitter bought search engine Summize in 2008.
Stone said Twitter will "start making money" in 2010 as it unveils a plan early next year on how it will produce revenue through advertising. He declined to give details but said advertising will be "non-traditional".
"There are no dates when we need to break even. We have plenty of money in the bank," he said.
In September, Twitter received a new round of funding from investors including mutual fund giant T. Rowe Price and private equity firm Insight Venture Partners, which analysts said set the stage for an eventual initial public offering or sale.

Nitika

PGDM-3rd sem

sec-B

N-capable Agni-II missile fails to meet mission parameters

The first-ever night trial of India's nuclear capable Agni-II Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) has failed to meet all the mission parameters, defence sources said today.
N-capable Agni-II missile successfully test-fired
Nuke-capable Agni II missile fired first time after sunset

Vajpayee, Thackeray, Advani in Liberhan's culpability list

The Liberhan Commission that probed the Babri Masjid demolition has held 68 people individually culpable for leading the country "to the brink of communal discord". The list includes former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi as well as Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.

Who leaked? Dec 6: How it unfolded Slideshow Who said what Vajpayee link in report
Mixing religion with politics dangerous: Liberhan
Liberhan Commission report tabled in Lok Sabha
BJP-SP scuffle over Liberhan report, unruly scenes in RS
BJP accuses Cong of 'selectively leaking' Liberhan report
Cabinet meet over Liberhan Report leak; early tabling likely
Uproar over report shuts down House

There is certain amount of assertiveness by China: PM

"There is certain amount of assertiveness on the part of Chinese. I don't fully understand the reasons for it. That has to be taken note of," Manmohan Singh said during an interaction at the US council for foreign relations.
Stay the course in Afghanistan, PM urges US
PM concerned over diversion of US aid against India

Vajpayee, Thackeray, Advani in Liberhan's culpability list

The Liberhan Commission that probed the Babri Masjid demolition has held 68 people individually culpable for leading the country "to the brink of communal discord".
BJP-SP scuffle as Liberhan report tabled
Report answers all questions: Justice Liberhan
Amar Singh apologises to Ahluwalia for scuffle

Anil Ambani in court:

Anil Ambani today made a personal appearnace in court in the battle with brother Mukesh over gas from the Krishma Godavari Basin. Anil said he was in court not for himself but to represent the 11 million shareholders of the Reliance ADAG group.