|
|
|
|
`Give 30 yrs IT exemption to waste processing projects`!Assocham has asked the government to extend income tax exemption period for solid waste processing projects to 30 years, while asking RBI to accord priority sector support to such projects.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:36 pm Indian LPOs head for Japan!Indian legal process outsourcing units are now hunting for business in the East Asian countries.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:36 pm Jetlite`s Q2 loss at Rs 273cr; total loss more than net worth!Jet Airways` unlisted subsidiary, low-cost airline JetLite, had incurred a loss after tax of Rs 273 cr.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:36 pm Obama vows infrastructure boost!US President-elect Obama vowed to make the largest investment in infrastructure since the `50s.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:36 pm Argentina unveils plan to fuel demand for cars, stem job loss!Argentina announced on Saturday it would make nine billion dollars available to finance car purchases in an attempt to slow job losses in one of the industries hardest hit by the global credit crunch.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:36 pm Pharma industry seeks hike in medicine prices!Pharma companies have sought a hike in medicine prices and warned of stoppages in manufacturing of medicines under price controls, a top industry player said.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:36 pm ANALYSTS' VIEW - India plans extra spending, duty cutsNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government said on Sunday it will seek approval for extra spending worth 200 billion rupees ($4 billion) as part of a plan to boost the economy and help it counter the global slowdown.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:17 pm Govt plans more spending, duty cuts as econ boostNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government said on Sunday it planned $4 billion of extra spending this fiscal year in an effort to revive fading economic growth hit by the global slowdown and to shore up confidence knocked by militants' attacks on Mumbai.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:13 pm Special package for home loan borrowers up to Rs20 lakh: GovtNew Delhi: In order to boost the troubled housing sector, the government has said that the public sector banks would soon unveil a package for those seeking home loans of up to Rs 20 lakhs and promised measures that would accelerate the ‘growth trajectory’. Public sector banks will shortly announce a package for borrowers for home loans in two categories — for loans of up to Rs5 lakhs and Rs5-20 lakhs, an official statement said, a move that signals cheaper credit for buyers for low and middle-class segments. The government pointed out that there is a large unmet demand for housing in the country, especially for middle and low income groups. Stating that housing is an important source of employment and generates demand for critical sectors, the Centre has said that the housing sector would be kept under a ‘close watch’ and promised that additional measures would be taken, as necessary, to promote an accelerated growth trajectory. According to experts, the demand in residential segment has declined in the last six months on account of high interest rates on housing loans and steep rise in property prices during last two to three years. The government highlighted the RBI’s decision to provide refinance facility of Rs4,000 crore to National Housing Bank. “In addition, one of the areas where plan expenditure can be increased relatively easily is the Indira Awas Yojna,” the statement said. Expressing disappointment on the economic package for housing sector, Parsvnath Developers Chairman Pradeep Jain said: “Package for home loans borrowers is an eyewash. It is not going to spur demand.” To give a filip to the real estate sector, particularly housing sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had yesterday said that the banks can classify housing loans up to Rs20 lakh as ‘priority sector’ advances, subject to a ceiling of five per cent of their total priority sector target. Loans by banks to housing finance companies (HFCs) for on-lending to individuals for purchasing/constructing dwelling units may be classified under the priority sector, provided the housing loans granted by HFCs do not exceed Rs20 lakh per dwelling unit per family, RBI said. The special dispensation for treating loans to HFCs as priority sector advances will boost lending to the housing sector, it added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:05 pm Govt declares package to boost economy - Indian Express
Source: Google News India - Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 11:56 am British Airways launches London-Hyderabad service - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 11:41 am Assocham seeks 30-year tax exemption for solid waste plantsAn industry lobby Sunday urged the government to extend income-tax exemption for all solid waste processing projects to 30 years from the current 10 years to encourage corporate sector to invest in waste recycling technologies.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2008 | 11:31 am British Airways launches flights to HyderabadBritish Airways Sunday commenced direct flights from London to Hyderabad, its sixth destination in India.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2008 | 11:30 am India unveils Rs.3,000 bn package to pump prime economyIn a bid to contain the impact of the global financial crisis on India, the government Sunday unveiled a Rs.300,000 crore (Rs.3,000 billion/$60 billion) package to pump prime the economy with specific measures for various sectors.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2008 | 11:30 am Govt announces stimulus package, including tax cutsNew Delhi: The government on Sunday announced major tax cuts across the board to boost demand and allocated additional funds and incentives for exports, housing, textile and infrastructure to stimulate the economy, hit by the global financial crisis. “The government has been concerned about the impact of global financial crisis on the Indian economy and a number of steps have been taken to deal with this problem,” an official statement said. The package, coming on the back of fresh monetary measures announced by the RBI on Saturday, includes a 4% cut in ad-valoram duty across the board, to boost additional spending, besides enhanced credit for exporters, along with a Rs10,000 crore mop up for India Infrastructure Finance Company. “In order to provide a contra-cyclical stimulus via plan expenditure, the government has decided to seek authorisation for additional plan expenditure of up to Rs20,000 crore in the current year,“ the statement said, adding the total spending programme in the four months ending March was expected to be Rs300,000 crore. As part of efforts to boost the housing sector, the public sector banks would shortly announce a package for home loan borrowers in two categories - up to Rs5 lakh and between Rs5-20 lakh, the statement said, adding that additional measures would be taken, as necessary, to promote an accelerated growth trajectory. As a special gesture for the automobile sector, government departments would be allowed to take up replacement of vehicles within the allowed budget. Attaching special significance to infrastructure development, the government authorised India Infrastructure Finance Co Ltd (IIFCL) to raise Rs10,000 crore through tax- free bonds by March 2009 and said it would be permitted to raise further resources. “In particular, these initiatives would support a PPP (Public-Private Partnership) programme of Rs100,000 crore in the highways sector,” it said. Paying special attention to exports, the government decided to provide an interest subvention of two per cent up to March 2009 for pre and post-shipment export credit for labour-intensive exports like textiles, leather, marine products and SME sector. The concession is subject to a minimum rate of interest. Besides, it would provide an additional Rs1,100 crore for full refund of terminal excise duty/CST and another Rs350 crore for export incentive schemes and a back-up guarantee of Rs350 crore to ECGC (Export Credit Guarantee Corporation) for providing guarantee for exports to difficult markets and products. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 11:18 am Listen to the father of Indian TelecomThis is Kamla Bhatt; today my guest is Sam Pitroda, who is known as the father of Indian telecom.  Sam: Thank You. Thank you for inviting me. Kamla: Is it true you grew up in India without using a phone? Sam: Yes. I was born in the east in a small little tribal village in Orissa. There was no running water, there was no electricity, there were no schools, and there were no radios. I remember as a child, when we got our first radio all you could hear in Orissa in that little village was whistle. There was no other reception. So kids used to just listen to whistle and that was great fun. So of course I had no need for a telephone. In those days there were very few telephones and if you had a phone you are too rich to be my friend. So who do you call? I made my first phone call essentially when I came to US. Kamla: Which was what year? Sam: 1964 Kamla: And how old were you then? Sam: I was about 22. I was born and raised in Orissa and then went to school in Gujarat mainly because my parents came from Gujarat to Orissa and we had this strong connection with Gujarat through Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. So I still remember as a child, when Mahatma Gandhi died everybody at home had to take a bath as if somebody in the family had died. So when Sardar Patel died my parents decided to send us to boarding school in Gujarat hoping that we will study something. My father was not well educated, he was only fourth grade educated and he had this desire to make sure that all his kids would study something. So we, my brother and I went to Gujarat to study. We lived in Baroda. I did my degree in physics and saw that Kennedy had decided to send a man on to the moon. I was romantic, I was young, energetic and stupid and I said I want to go to America. I didn’t have money to go to America. Got some loan from Orissa government, bought a ticket, took a boat from Mumbai to Genoa, took a train from Genoa to London, took a plane from London to New York and took a bus from New York to Chicago. Kamla: Sounds like a movie. Train, car, plane. Sam: Well, you know I wanted to experience everything, we had all the time then. So came here in 1964 to get a PhD in physics essentially and realised that it takes 7 years to get a PhD in physics and I had a girlfriend in India. Kamla: How come? Sam: Well, you know in those days I had a girlfriend, I used to date, but it was not recognised in those days.. I was deeply in love with her and I said I am going to get something quickly done so that she can come here and we can get married. So I was told that I could go get a Masters in Electrical Engineering in 9 months and I said that is what I want to do. So I dropped my PhD in physics, had a degree in electrical engineering. I went to work for a small company in Chicago for a while and then called my fiancé here and got married. Kamla: From girlfriend she progressed to fiancé? Sam: Yes, and she then became wife and she is still my wife. We have been married for almost 42 years. Kamla: And then you went on to establish a company and make your money. Sam: Yes, then slowly and slowly I called my entire family here. You know we were a big family with 8 brothers and sisters. So 7 came here, then my parents came here. In the process I got to work in telecom, by accident, for a company called GTE, doing digital switching design. I got lot of patents and my father, who was visiting told me once he said that you work too hard, why don’t you work for yourself? So I said OK let’s think about it. I was about 31-32 years old. I started a switching business with two friends in Chicago area. In those days this was you know pretty unusual. This was in early 1970s. We built a business called Westcom Switching, and sold it to Rockwell International in 1979. I made a little bit of money for a guy who never had money. It looked like so much money; I said what am I going to do with all this money? I went to India just to visit. I had never been to Delhi. I went to Delhi, tried to call my wife from a 5 star hotel to Chicago and couldn’t really make a good connection. And I always say that little bit of arrogance and lot of ignorance said I am going to fix this. If I had known everything I know today I would have never even tried it. So, arrogance and ignorance is a great asset. I came back and I told my wife I found my mission in life. I want to go fix India’s telephones. It sounded romantic. So then I decided to go back and forth every 2 weeks just to learn about India and finally someone said “Hey you need to meet Mrs. Gandhi if you really want to do something on that scale”. I didn’t know how to meet Mrs. Gandhi, I had no connections, I didn’t know anybody in Delhi. Finally through somebody, this man was a member of parliament from Gujarat, who knew my father in law, Mr. Baria, a very nice gentleman. He saw spark in my eye and he said I will organise a meeting for you. He organised a meeting and it was initially going to be a 10 minute meeting and I decided to cancel it. I said look in 10 minutes you can’t do anything. This is really serious, she should give me an hour and everybody said “Are you crazy? Why would Mrs. Gandhi give you an hour?” I said look we cannot do much in 10 minutes. So I waited. Finally got a call after 8-9 months that she would give me an hour. I went back from Chicago with a presentation and all that. She had her entire cabinet there, everybody finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Venkatraman they were all there at that time. That is when I got to meet Rajiv (Gandhi) for the first time. Rajiv was just getting into politics and we were just about same age and it was an accident of faith, we clicked. I saw in his eye a very comforting, welcoming attitude. I thought he would be the guy who would understand what I want to do. So when I gave a presentation to Mrs. Gandhi he was there he took interest and then I sort latched on to him. Over a period of time we became friends and he was really the key driver. Without Rajiv Gandhi I would not be able to do what I did. It was his political will that gave me the strength to go do all the things. You could say to some extent it was a joint vision but the political will was the key. He had trust in me, confidence in me, he backed me up to the hilt, he was very nice to me, very supportive and I think that kind of politician is hard to find. I don’t think many people understood Rajiv. He was a man in a hurry, he was a man who wanted two things for India, modernise India. He believed that as we enter 21st century we cannot enter with all the excess baggage of the past. We must look forward. He believed in technology, he was himself a tinkerer. He would fix a light bulb and he would say Sam look I got this light bulb. Kamla: He was also a pilot. Sam: Yes, he was a pilot. So it was a great combination. And then he gave me initial support and then when Mrs. Gandhi died, in January of 1985. I met him at his house. I still remember that and I decided I must go back. So I told my wife that I want to go back to India for good and then he was visiting US to meet President Reagan, by then he was Prime Minister. So I took my wife to meet him. He was very gracious and it was a great motivating force for Anu (wife) as well. So we decided to go back with the family and I spent essentially a decade in India. Kamla: But you gave up your US citizenship? Sam: Well you couldn’t really work closely with Prime Minister day in day out and still be US citizen. It was a moral decision on my part, he never said anything and nobody ever said anything. People didn’t even know that, that well but I felt I couldn’t do that. Kamla: C-Dot had already been established by then. Sam: C-Dot was established before Rajiv Gandhi became a Prime Minister. C dot was established in August 1984 under Mrs. Gandhi’s regime. Kamla: Just a month before she died. Sam: Yes. But Rajiv was very active at that very point of time. So in 1985 when he became Prime Minister, he was committed to modernising India. He was a firm believer in the use of technology; he and I both very strongly felt that technology is a great social leveller. Technology is an entry point to bring about generational changes and not an end point. So beside telecom, under his leadership I got to work on technology missions related to drinking water, immunisation, literacy, edible oil, milk production, dairy development and telecom. The idea there was to really take technology to people. There is technology in water from a desalination plant to hydrological surveys, satellite imagery. So technology unfortunately is seen by many as something exotic, fancy, urban, latest. Kamla: What does technology mean to you? Sam: To me technology is problem solving. Technology is a tool through which you can really begin to solve problems, which are complex, which at the end of the day help people. Kamla: Means to an end? Sam: Yes, it is a tool. Technology by definition is something you do outside your body to give you comfort whether it is a chair or glasses or clothes or food or communication. So our goal was to really take technology to people to see if you could make a dent in poverty, disparity, expedite the process of development, those were the fundamental issues. People at the top of the pyramid will find their way; in technology but can we take technology to the bottom of the pyramid was the real challenge. Kamla: Before I go to the next question, let us quickly clarify what is it that C-Dot did? What forces did it unleash in India? Sam: C-Dot was set up more as a bypass to the telecom system because Rajiv firmly believed that if we don’t setup a bypass it would be very difficult to change the system. Kamla: Work around? Sam: This is true today also. I think in many areas today if we don’t bypass some of the generational changes would be very difficult to implement because of the mindset. So C-Dot was setup as a group of young people dedicated to designing through indigenous development of the telecom switching systems and related products with focused on rural communication, digitisation of the telecom network and with a focus on building human capacity for telecom, software, computers all of that. We had some total of about 500 young engineers with average age of 23. I would say almost all of those people are now very important, in key positions in global ICT revolution everywhere all over the world. They are all over the world. It is not just C-Dot then we started C-DAC Centre for Development of Advanced Computing. A lot of new institutions were started in Rajiv Gandhi’s time: TIFAC (Technology Information and Forecast), we had a thing called C Dome, for advanced materials. There were some very interesting activities we launched then and those were the seeds we planted. See in those days it was very difficult to understand privatisation, public-private partnership because we were coming out of this socialist mindset. So people were not in tune with privatisation. It took us a long time to convince people to privatise telecom by MTNL, BSNL, bring private people to produce telephone instruments. But telecom was the key to privatisation in India and since we installed rural switching and thousands and thousands of STD PCO’s, people saw the benefit of telecom through our masses and that helped in privatisation. People don’t understand this, ok. Then people saw that telecom is indeed for poor, rural and if it’s going to help through privatisation lets do it. Kamla: Then you went through a phase of wilderness you know where... Sam: No, I think what happened basically is we lost the elections. After the election V P Singh became the Prime Minister. I was advised by many that I should resign as chairman of the telecom commission and as advisor to technology missions. I thought about it and I decided against it and I said look I didn’t do this for the Prime Minister though Prime Minister was very important. The Prime Minister was my pillar, a rock. Both of us did it for people of India. Kamla: But here was the new Prime Minister who probably didn’t have the will that you saw in Rajiv Gandhi? Sam: So, the new Prime Minister could have decided to fire me that was his privilege but I couldn’t resign because that would be hard on my part. That is how I saw it. I said I got to do this job against all the odds. I had support of the Prime Minister, I was lucky. I don’t have the support of the Prime Minister that is ok but I got to be convinced that I have a job to do. Any Prime Minister fires me I’ll accept that and Prime Minister was wise enough not to fire me. Some ministers took some shots at me which is part of Indian politics I have no regrets. I have no any bad feelings about it, that is the way life is and the poor Minister was doing his job. So I was attacked and you know they said I made money, I am a crook and all those stuff. I know my family went through very difficult times and we were followed by agents, we used to get threatening calls my wife used to get calls from all kinds of people we’ll rape you, we’ll throw you out to US, you go back, my children could be kidnapped and all that. But, that is part of the package. We hung in there. I had a heart attack in the process. Finally, Prime Minister VP Singh decided to change the Minister. New Minister came I continued but after heart attack I had to take a month or two off and when Rajiv Gandhi died --when he got shot or blown out -- that is when I really lost my heart. And I felt that I need to rethink through my life. By then I had got into a position that I had no money. I worked in India for 11 years but without any salary. I just went on with Rajiv as a sort of romance with the nation. When I realised that I don’t have money I also realised that my children are grown up now and they’ll need to go to college and I need to pay for the tuition. So I realised that pretty soon I will need 40000 for the tuition so I decided to come back I talked to then Narsimha Rao he didn’t want me to come back and leave, I talked to Deve Gowda then. H also said don’t leave and they were all very nice to me. That was part of our conversation with Sam Pitroda. Tune back in for part 2 of our conversation where he talks about why he returned to India and his role as the head of the knowledge commission that was instituted by the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Man Mohan Singh. This is Kamla Bhatt and this interview is brought to you in association with Live Mint Radio and as always thank you for tuning in. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 11:04 am Worldwide bailouts 10 times bigger than Indian economyNew Delhi: In their efforts to tackle the global economic crisis, the rescue packages announced by the governments across the world has crossed $10 trillion mark (about Rs50,00,000 crore) - an amount equivalent to nearly 10 times the total size of Indian economy. The amount is believed to grow even bigger with the turmoil still being in expansion mode. A lion’s share of about three-fourth of the worldwide bailout package of about $10.1 trillion has come from the world’s biggest economy, the US, whose total national debt has also incidentally crossed the $10 trillion mark. The size of the entire Indian economy, where the impact of global crisis has been relatively less disastrous, pales at about one trillion dollar. These bailouts, which have been prevalent in both developed and developing worlds due to the financial turmoil that turned severe after the fall of Lehman Brothers, have come in various forms of financial stimulus by the governments across the world - be it putting in fresh money into a crisis-ridden institution, bringing them under the government’s fold or other fiscal measures. America set the ball rolling for such packages, with the world’s largest economy announcing $700 billion plan primarily to shore up the fortunes of the country’s battered financial institutions. Taking into account other rescue acts by the US, its total bailout plan runs into more than $7 trillion. Various European nations together have come up with about $1.3 trillion in financial assistance apart from the European Commission urging the constituent countries to pledge nearly $254 billion. Further, Germany has thrown lifelines to the tune of $60 billion to save the country’s leading financial firms - Dexia Bank and Hypo Real Estate - both of which were battered by the worsening economic turmoil. While Hypo Real Estate received $50 billion, Dexia Bank got a lifeline worth about $10 billion. Among the developing nations, China has announced a massive $586 billion plan to boost its economy and the funds would be mainly utilised for infrastructure projects. Other major bailouts in recent times include $572 billion pumped by Ireland administration to strengthen the country’s banks, $150 billion pledged by Russia and $30 billion put in by the Poland government. Meanwhile, the whopping seven trillion-dollar injected into the economy by the US, includes billions of dollars of term funding facilities, currency swap arrangement with various foreign governments and rescue of Wall Street giants. With the economic turmoil continuing unabated, the Bush administration recently came up with another mega $800 billion plan, which would help in buying toxic mortgage assets, among others. Further, the Federal government threw a lifeline of more than $300 billion to banking behemoth Citigroup. The rescue includes fresh capital injection to the tune of 40 billion dollar and guaranteeing assets worth $306 billion. In the United Kingdom, the administration has announced injection of more than 100 billion dollar, with funds primarily utilised to rescue its banks. Bradford & Bingley, which was on the verge of collapse received nearly $33 billion from the administration. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 11:01 am India blasts Pakistan over hoax Mumbai callNew Delhi: India’s foreign minister on Sunday accused Pakistan of leaking a story that someone pretending to be him had called and threatened Pakistan’s president two days after the Mumbai attacks. New Delhi has blamed the attacks, in which 171 were killed across India’s financial capital, on Pakistani militants, which has imperiled improving ties between the long-time south Asian nuclear rivals. On Saturday, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported that Pakistan had put its forces on high alert after a hoax caller was connected to Zardari on 28 November. Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement that the last and only time he spoke to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was in May. “It is, however, worrying that a neighbouring state might even consider acting on the basis of such a hoax call, try to give it credibility with other states, and confuse the public by releasing the story in part,” he said. Officials from “third countries” called to inform Mukherjee of the hoax call, he said. He did not name those officials, but Dawn said it was US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was in both capitals this week to ease tensions. Mumbai police have said the gunmen were controlled by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group blamed for earlier attacks in India including a 2001 assault on India’s parliament that nearly sparked a fourth war between India and Pakistan. LeT is on US and Indian terrorist lists and Indian police say two of its operations leaders, who were designated terrorists by Washington in May, coordinated the Mumbai rampage. New Delhi has demanded Islamabad take swift action over what it says is the latest militant attack launched against India from Pakistani soil. The latest arrests come amid public anger at intelligence failures in preventing the attacks, which have been capitalised on by India’s main opposition party in the lead-up to elections due by May. India’s newly appointed home minister on Friday admitted there had been security lapses. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 10:12 am Kolkata's Old Silver Mint to have a makeoverKolkata's Old Silver Mint, a city landmark that is a crumbling symbol of Grecian architecture, is set for a makeover.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2008 | 10:00 am Govt to secure skies over oil basins from terror attacksNew Delhi: Caught napping by terrorists who took the sea route to Mumbai, the government is believed to be piecing together a plan that may see airspace over strategic installations being declared a no-fly zone to prevent 9/11 type attacks. After terrorists came on speed boats to launch the deadliest attack on Mumbai nearly two weeks ago, the Navy and the Coast Guard may patrol the mouth of Gulf of Cambay more frequently to protect oil and gas wells and other such installations in the western offshore, besides ships carrying crude oil and LNG into the country. The need is being felt for securing the airspace as well. Oil Minister Murli Deora has met Home Minister P Chidambaram and Defence Minister A K Antony to “flag possible threats to oil and gas installations,” official sources said. Ninteen public and private sector oil refineries and installations such crude import hubs at Kandla in Gujarat and liquefied natural gas receiving facilities at Dahej and Hazira, in the same state, may be covered by the no-fly zone. The Indian Air Force would be responsible for reinforcing the ‘no-fly-zones´, they said pointing a suicide mission like the 9/11 strike in US or even a remote-control operated unmanned plane could create havoc at oil installations. Navy and Coast Guard may be pressed for increasing patrol in western offshore, home to India’s largest oil and gas producing fields of Mumbai High and Bassein, to guard against terrorists strikes on facilities like oil wells - most of which are unmanned. While the Navy, Coast Guard and the security apparatus of the oil companies would guard the entire perimeter of the installations, sources said a “quick-response” team may be constituted to respond to any emergency. Terrorists managed to land large quantity of arms and explosives in Mumbai using small boats that went undetected by the Navy and Coast Guard, raising an alarm that the same modus operandi could be used to target oil facilities in western offshore. Western offshore is home to the nation’s biggest producing oil and gas fields with some 180 oil installations. Besides Mumbai High oil field and Bassein gas field, it is also home to Panna/Mukta and Tapti oil and gas field and its waters are used to ferry 70% of the crude oil India imports through ships and the entire LNG shipments into the country. Sources said the Coast Guard and the Navy will have to increase surveillance and patrolling to prevent terrorists from blowing up the oil installations or the ships that carry crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the country. At present, an Offshore Defence Advisory Group (ODAG), comprising of representatives of the Navy, Coast Guard, intelligence agencies and state-run firms like Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), coordinates security of the assets in the offshore. ONGC bears the about Rs100 crore spend on monitoring offshore oil and gas assets. There is a proposal to include private sector firms like Reliance Industries and Cairn India in ODAG for better coordination and they would be asked to bear a part of the security expenditure. Besides, the companies have offered to bear a part of the security cost, sources said. There is also a proposal to bifurcate the eastern and the western coast operations of the ODAG to ensure better security management. East coast, after the gas discoveries by Reliance and ONGC, has become a hub of activity and its security needs would have to be dealt with separately. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 9:50 am USL to start local bottling of Whyte & Mackay ScotchNew Delhi: Vijay Mallya-promoted United Spirits Ltd will start bottling Scotch whisky brands of Whyte & Mackay locally, while it gears up to introduce its vintage Dalmore brand priced at around Rs three lakh per bottle across major markets across the country. United Spirits Ltd acquired Whyte & Mackay last year for £595 million. “The local bottling of Whyte & Mackay Scotch whisky will start in the next couple of months at our Nashik distillery, where we are bottling our other Scotch brand Black Dog,” United Spirits Luxury Brands Business Head Anant Iyer said. Locally bottled W&M brands will compete with Seagram’s 100 Pipers and Beam Global’s Teachers. The idea of locally bottling Scotch whisky is to corner a 20% share in the domestic market because it would attract smaller duties and make the product less expensive, he added. “We will launch the locally bottled whisky from Whyte & Mackay (W&M) under the brand ‘W&M Special´ in India and we are targeting a 20 per cent market share in two years,” Iyer said, declining to give details. Besides, the company is also working on making all the nine brands from the W&M portfolio available in all major domestic markets, where it will compete with brands like Johnnie Walker, Black & White, Haig and Vat 69, all of which are from the Diageo stable, and Passport from Seagram. Besides, USL plans to introduce its premium brands, Dalmore-40 yrs, priced at around Rs3 lakh per bottle, and W&M blended-40 yrs, in major markets across the country, he added. The Scotch whisky market in India is estimated to be around seven lakh cases per annum and locally bottled brands are seen as the key driver of the market as they account for around six lakh cases and are registering maximum growth. Bottled-in-origin products, which are at premium level, have a market of around one lakh cases per annum in India, excluding sales through duty free shops, which account for around 30 per cent of the Scotch market in India. Whyte & Mackay is one of the biggest suppliers of bulk Scotch in the world and has an inventory of 115 million litres, valued at around $400 million. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 9:25 am Home loan rates may drop in medium term - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 9:24 am Low to medium turnout in 4th phase of J&K pollsSrinagar/Jammu: A low to medium turnout was on Sunday registered in the fourth phase of polling in 18 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir where voters braved cold conditions and a separatist boycott call to exercise their franchise amidst stray incidents of violence. Balloting is being held amidst tight security in Baramulla (seven seats) and Budgam (five) in the Valley and three constituencies each in Reasi and Udhampur in the Jammu region. Official reports said while around 19% turnout was recorded in Baramulla and Budgam districts in the first four hours, the polling percentage in Reasi and Udhampur districts during that period was more than 35%. Sopore and Baramulla constituencies of Baramulla district to which chairman of hardline faction of Hurriyat Syed Ali Shah Geelani belongs, recorded the lowest turnout of 6 and 7.6% till noon. However, Uri constituency near the Line of Control in Baramulla district recorded highest polling of 40 per cent till midday. Minutes after the start of polling in Baramulla district, militants exploded a hand grenade on Sopore- Sangrama road but there was no report of loss of life or damage to property, official sources said. Four photo-journalists were allegedly roughed up by security force personnel during polling in Sopore, the sources said. The incident occurred when the scribes were covering an anti-poll protest and subsequent lathicharge and teargassing by security forces at Arampora village in Sopore, they said. In 2002 elections, Sopore recorded the lowest percentage of voting (8.09%), Sangrama (22.10%) and Baramulla (24.14%) while Uri recorded the highest percentage (66.49%), Rafiabad (52.54%), Gulmarg (50.42%) and Pattan (41.55%). The highest number of candidates fighting from a single assembly segment is Sopore (24), followed by Sangrama (19), Chadoora (18), Beerwah (17), Budgam (16), Udhampur (16), Reasi (16), Gulmarg (15), Gulabgarh (14), Uri (13), Pattan (13), Baramulla (12), Ramnagar (12), Khansahib (11), Rafiabad (09) and Gool Arnas (09). Three other phases of polling are scheduled on 13, 17 and 24 December. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 9:18 am MP polls vote count on 8 DecBhopal: Counting of votes polled in the 27 November assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh will take place tomorrow, testing the claims of both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress. Both the parties are oozing with confidence that they will emerge as victors in the polls. The ruling BJP, which bagged more than 175 seats in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly in December 2003, is claiming that it will get an absolute majority this time on the basis of the developmental work done by its government in the last five years. It claims that the development done by it in the last five years was much more than what the Congress had done in 50 years. But the Congress is not buying the argument and insists that the BJP will lose the elections as there was widespread corruption during its rule. Madhya Pradesh has been ruled by the Congress most of the time and barring the present BJP government no non-Congress government has ever completed a full five-year term in office. The present Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been in office for almost three years as the BJP nominated two others - Uma Bharti and Babulal Gaur - to the post before he took over. The state politics has always been dominated by the two parties but given the number of smaller parties in the fray, many fear that the state may see a hung house for the first time. In Madhya Pradesh, the issue is whether the ruling BJP under Shivraj Singh Chouhan would romp home or the Congress stages a comeback amid apprehensions that the state could witness a hung assembly for the first time. Assembly elections to the 230-member assembly which recorded around 60% polling will decide the fate of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bharatiya Janashakti chief Uma Bharti and former chief minister Babulal Gaur. Elections to the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly was held in two phases by the Election Commission in view of naxal problems. The poll outcome would decide the fate of BJP government led by Chief Minister Raman Singh and the future of Congress in the state. The Congress campaign in the state was spearheaded by Former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi. In Mizoram, the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), opposition Congress and United Democratic Alliance (UDA), an alliance of Mizoram People’s Conference (MPC) and Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) locked horns for the 40-member House in the state where 72 per cent polling was recorded. BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani who campaigned in the poll-bound states appealed to voters to “reward” the BJP and “punish” the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls while Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accused the saffron party of trying to divide the country on the issue of terrorism. The assembly elections in the five states were the first after the government banned the exit polls. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 9:05 am Who will be the new finance minister? Three names doing the roundsHunt is on for a new finance minister with the names of S.M. Krishna, C. Rangarajan and Kapil Sibal under consideration in the wake of P. Chidambaram's shift to the home ministry.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2008 | 9:01 am Americans putt off plans to retire due to financial crisisNew York: Blame it on the worsening financial turmoil that today Uncle Sam is worried not just for his present but for the future as well, with most Americans deferring their retirement plans at least by a year or so. However, surprisingly, despite the uncertainty staring in their face, a lot of them are yet to change the way they have been traditionally saving or investing for the future. A recent Bank of America Retirement Savings Survey showed that about 43% of people in the US are planning to work for more years than they expected a year ago. “In the light of the recent economic turbulence, many Americans (43%) believe they now face more years in the workforce than they expected to one year ago,” said the Bank of America survey, carried out by Braun Research. According to the survey, which had participation of 1,000 people, over one-third (nearly 36%) of affluent respondents pointed out that the current economic conditions had pushed back their expected retirement age. Affluent Americans are described as individuals with investable assets between $100,000 and $3 million. Ironically, despite the ravaging market conditions, more than two-thirds (68%) of respondents have not changed the way they save, invest or manage their retirement assets in the last three months, the survey found. The worst-affected community would be the “Baby Boomers” or those approaching retirement, who may not have time to recover the financial losses incurred in the recent months. Going by the survey findings, 62% of the general public and about half (44%) the affluent individuals are either behind the schedule or have not commenced their retirement planning at all. The survey pointed out that the number of Americans delaying their retirement plans would go up if the economy continues to worsen. In a clear indication that the economic crisis has threw a spanner in their retirement plans, a survey in March this year had showed that 53% of the general public and 36 % of affluent Americans were either behind schedule or had not started their retirement planning efforts. “Lack of change in the way people are saving and investing for retirement may indicate that they’re ‘staying the course´, with confidence in their long-term financial plans and investments,” Bank of America’s Personal Retirement Solutions Executive Craig Averill said in a statement. Moreover, the survey revealed that six in 10 Americans (about 60%) have cut down on their spending as compared to their expenditure three months ago. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 8:34 am Jetlite’s Q2 loss at Rs273 cr, more than net worthNew Delhi: Jet Airways’ unlisted subsidiary, low-cost airline JetLite, had incurred a loss after tax of Rs 273 crore for the second quarter ended 30 September, which made the accumulated losses of the erstwhile Sahara Airlines exceed its net worth. While declaring its results of the second quarter ended 30 September, Jet Airways had said the subsidiary had “accumulated losses exceeding its net worth and its financial statements have been prepared on going concern basis”. According to reliable sources, JetLite’s revenues for the said quarter were at Rs429.3 crore against Rs366.2 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. Jetlite’s loss after tax increased over three-fold for the second quarter to Rs273 crore from Rs86.27 crore in the year-ago period. Jet Airways had also said in October that the parent company planned to support the growth plans of the said subsidiary based on its assets, growth model and other factors. During the quarter under review, Jetlite had a seat factor of 61.2% against 68% in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. The carrier’s revenue per passenger kilometre increased to Rs4.3 in Q2 in FY’09 versus Rs3.6 in Q2 FY’08. When contacted, a company spokesperson said: “There was no specific reason for losses but the general downturn in the industry”. The operations of Jet Airways as a whole showed a pre-tax loss of Rs578.5 crore versus a profit of Rs42.5 crore which was achieved in the same period last year. The breakdown of this number shows a loss of Rs288.6 crore on the domestic operations and a loss of Rs 289.9 crore on the international operations. The net loss suffered by Jet Airways stood at Rs384.5 crore with total income of Rs3,121.34 for the second quarter. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 8:13 am Pharma industry seeks hike in medicine pricesMumbai: Pharma companies have sought a hike in medicine prices and warned of stoppages in manufacturing of medicines under price controls, claiming that repeated pleas for price increases have fallen on deaf ears, a top industry player said. “There is an urgent need to achieve a balance between product availability, price and quality. Unremunerative and unworkable prices have seen production stoppages. The devaluation of the Indian Rupee has also increased input costs,” Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA) President B N Singh said in a statement. They have appealed to the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers to allow them to increase drug prices, claiming that procurement prices of bulk drugs and packaging materials have gone up substantially. Other factors, which have contributed to this situation, IDMA said, are the high cost of freight and accommodation. “The industry has found it hard to absorb these increases,” Singh said, adding that this has led to domestic users paying more for imported inputs. According to the Association, a substantial quantity of bulk drugs are being imported from China where prices have gone up substantially due to several factors. The pharma industry has urged the government to pro-actively ease the pressure on it, to ensure that manufacturers are able to continue providing quality medicines to the public. “Continued production is important. Pending study of individual API cost-escalations, the government should allow an ad hoc price increase of 25% in all APIs in the scheduled category,” IDMA Secretary General Daara B Patel said. “There has to be a price increase of at least 20% in all scheduled formulations to neutralise increased input costs,” Patel said. Never has there been such a steep cost-escalation in such a short period, IDMA said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 7:54 am Ram Shriram on India and SherpaloWe bring you Part-3 of our interview with Ram Shriram of Sherpalo Ventures, and board member of Google.  Kamla: Let us switch to Sherpalo. How did you get to choose the name because when I first heard the name, I thought it was Sher Palo- you know that is, nurture a tiger. Ram: Yes, it could be that and I think it certainly works well in India for that reason so “sher” and “palo” – to nurture pet tigers but really it was not so profound as that. When we did come up with a name, basically it was the only available domain name without having to pay for it. And since I started in Paulo Alto in January of 2000, I thought let’s just call it “sherpa” and “Paulo Alto”. So instead of saying, “Sherpa-in-Palo Altoo.com” which would have been too long a name, we just sort of abbreviated it to Sherpalo. Kamla: So that is why you label yourself as a mentor capitalist and not a as venture capitalist. Describe what is the difference between the two labels and what is it that you do differently with your companies? Ram: Let me explain that in mountain climbing terms. I go up tall mountains with heavy payload down my back where the oxygen is low and where there is lot less food, meaning lot less money to go. So we invest in companies. But we are not known for just being financiers as much. We are basically able to help the company with all of the early challenges because there are very few people that have been entrepreneurs before they became venture capitalists. And when you live that life and when you know what it is to be an entrepreneur both, successfully and having failed and I’ve done both; I think, it’s a much more sort of telling experience for the person building that business. So I have lived the life of the entrepreneur and so I know the pain they are feeling. I know the daily ups and downs they go through. You know, they have their highs and lows sometimes within a matter of hours, in a day. And helping them through that with hiring with the early customer wins, making sure that the right capital structure for that business is set from the get go. Also making sure that they are able to have a right sort of feedback on product direction and what sort of triage they need to go through in terms of features because you know in the early days. There is going to be very few resources; a lot of resource constraints so you can’t do everything that you want to do. You want to do a few things really well because you want to come out with a product that is fully baked even though it may be lacking in a few features or whatever, rather than the one that’s all achieving but not doing anything too well. There are plenty of companies who have had failures because they tried to aim too big and didn’t do a good enough job on even one piece o it that they could have owned. So take the first beachhead before you try to take the whole slide. Kamla: Let me switch to India. You’re investing in India but you’re not investing alone. You’re co-investing with Kleiner Perkins. Why have you adopted this kind of strategy and what are the opportunities that you’re looking for in the next 12-15 months? Ram: Well, Sandeep (Murthy is based in India) and I pick the companies that we want to invest in and Kleiner is a partner with us in those investments generally. There are other investments we have made with others and there are investments that we have made that have not invested in. For example, Pranav studio is an investment that we’ve made with the bunch of other people, the Ambanis and Mahindras and so forth. Why Kleiner? I think they’ve got a long track record in this business in the States. We want to take some of their best practises in building companies and being a young company being able to take that to the Indian market and that has worked well for us. We have Ajit Nazare from Kleiner who is quite active, working with Sandeep and I on the India stuff. We are able to tap into the infrastructure, for resumes for hiring, for additional networks of capital that we need access to, deep access to capital and so forth. But it all starts with picking the market sectors and picking the best team in those sectors and I think we have by far got an amazing portfolio in India. Kamla: So where are you looking to invest? Ram: Just recently started an effort and look at Cleantech, and alternative energy. It is a different need set of needs in India compared to here where we are in the early stages of looking at a few investments in that space and we continue to look at the investments on the web, in software. It is still very early, we are probably, in cricket terms, we are in the first innings of the five day test match and you know we are still playing the first batsman. The reason I say that is the Indian market on the internet, for the consumer internet is still completely controlled by the fact that there is still very few web users and that’s because of access issues. And till the access opens up in a much grander way, like what has happened in china, the size of the market will be limited because of that. And that will change over the course of the next 5-10 years and so I’m long on the India market because I think the opportunity over the long term is clearly there as long as the infrastructure continues to improve. Of course, we’re all hoping that it would improve faster, sooner, quicker as more Indians consumers get PCs and they get freer and greater internet access, more and more applications will become available. In addition of course, the mobile phone is the PC in India. A lot of applications success over the next ten years will come over the mobile phone not in China but somewhere in the world, outside U. There will be a big innovation in the mobile that would be a huge scale success along the lines of the big successes we have here on the- in terms of web services. Kamla: You travel frequently between here and India and this is with reference to innovation. When you are here in the valley, what kind of picture do you see when you go to India or China or other countries. The landscape there is so different, the scale of innovation, the kinds of innovation, the fact that you mentioned that a mobile phone company outside of the US is going to come. Is mobile the next frontier because you started the company 15-20 years back -- 802.1 you said. Ram: Well the mobile company we started 20 years back, Adulus was more in using mobile infrastructure so they were more in taking mobile manager, newly unlicensed spectrum to allow for data conversations to occur over unlicensed spectrum. The mobile opportunity I’m talking about now is more for data services on the mobile phone itself as smart phones do. You know the browser applications will predominate over time in a lot of developing countries; India and china and so forth. You know not a lot of the population will have smart phones, so lot of those applications will be sort of hybrid- text sms plus using offline or voice communication even as a hybrid. You’re going to see an interesting set of applications that are either carrier independent or offered by carriers as services will just significantly improve per activity but again using the phone as the PC as the centre piece. Kamla: The reason I asked you about the innovation question was because you were one of the people that C K Prahlad talked to for his new book on the new house of innovation, how innovation is going to be moving forward. That is the reason I asked because you are travelling so extensively, you get to see on the ground. You get to see the reality. This is not by reading the newspaper or an article on the web. Should you be concerned if you are in the valley that the pace of innovation has probably slowed down or is not at a very different space? Ram: No I disagree; I know there was a reason we got to talking about the pace of innovation slowing. I disagree with that book I think the pace of innovation. (Judy Estrin) Yes who I worked for and she is an extremely smart woman. So you know it is possibly slowed in some sectors she maybe referring to the networking industry for example where the pace of innovation is slowed. So maybe on the infrastructure side there is less innovation now but even there I think there is a fair lot of innovation going on in high end switching and so forth. But really the innovation at the application layer is only accelerating as best as I can tell and infact if you look at one billion downloads of applications on the new iphone at store and that’s faster than the one billion iTunes songs that were downloaded back when you know they introduced iTunes for the first time. It tells you that not only is the pace of innovation accelerating but even consumers are going crazy over and they are consuming it as fast as they are innovating and they are willing to try. So it is a flat world for innovation so it can come out of anywhere. It can come out of India, China anywhere. And their cost to access the global market is significantly lower, the threshold that they can come up with a product and it can instantly available to the global audience on the web and that’s the beauty of being able to innovate anywhere. So I don’t think the pace of innovation at the application layer is slowing at all. The innovation in Google chrome the new browser, was possible because of lots of advances in java script to make it far more performance intensive in terms of the ability to make sure that individual tabs can run without crashing the whole browser and making sure the security holes are plugged. All those little things are innovations and that’s going to quicken the pace of innovation now from competitors. Everyone at this thinks it’s a broadly used product you know you got one billion people out there using the net so every innovation gets instantly noticed and it’s going to evoke a quick reaction from others to innovate maybe even faster if they want to stay ahead of the game. Kamla: What about the 5.6 billion that is still got to get access if one billion people as you say. The population of the world is I believe 6.6 billion. How are you preparing yourself to tackle those opportunities? Ram: If you look at the growth on the internet over the last 12-18 months, half a billion people have come online and I would say a substantial number of them I don’t have exact stands but substantial number of that half a billion new internet users have come from the emerging markets, developing world, eastern Europe, Russia, Brazil, Latin America, South America not necessarily from western Europe, United States or Japan, those markets have pretty much saturation compared to in terms of internet usage. So there they focused on continuing to enhance the speeds of which people can access the last mile. In these other markets its all new internet users getting on the net for the first time and then of course you’ve got the older age population getting on the net for the first time and they are getting on our parents for example looking at u tube and reading and consuming their news directly online whether they are reading the Times of India of the New York Times they are doing that online now. Previously you know for six decades they were reading the physical newspaper and that’s a big change for them. They are reading blogs; they are listening to their favourite Caryatid or Hindustani music online. Kamla: Are you describing your mother? Ram: Yes, I think this is a big change that you didn’t have. Infact in some sense they are more net savvy because they are just pure consumers, they are not being critical of a product or a design or a feature. They are just using it and consuming it as rapidly as it is coming out. So that is causing more people to innovate because even if they are not making money they are so happy they have lots of users. So we have a situation now where you have lots of companies, young companies with plenty of users but no revenue and this the first time I have seen this phenomenon, where companies can have large numbers of users you have a company for example like Meebo, which has I think some twenty or thirty million uniques, doesn’t have much revenue to speak of but provides very useful service. And there are many many examples just like that you can go through. Kamla: So what do you make of this? What do you make of the fact that there are companies with millions of users but no money? What does it mean for you as a venture capitalist? Where do you are the opportunities for these companies? How are they going to monetise? Ram: Generally when there is a lot of usage and it hasn’t yet being monetised, is generally the case that it ultimately can be monetised. Kamla: But how? Ram: Well it will happen through the true and tried methods-better adds, text adds, perhaps some new form of you know pre- role or post role video adds and so forth. But there will be some ways to monetise; it may not necessarily garner the higher CPMs. Look at social networks. There is advertising on them. It’s not necessarily the highest value advertising that you could find but its monetisable. Everything that is out there that’s traffic at some level even if it is pennies on the dollars-can be monetised. But it isn’t even that I think the value to the consumer is immense that there are so many people using it. It also tells you how the entertainment medium has shifted from the amount of mindshare that the net is getting. If you look at the young kids of today, when they come home from school they are spending more of their time online. Not only are they online, but they are multi tasking online and are doing multiple things at once. Listening to their iTunes on their iPhone, having multiple instant messaging conversations, looking at a YouTube video and trying to do homework at the same time. We had a hard time just single tasking when we were going through colleges. And this is the generation that does multi tasking and that’s why you see so much consumption on the net. Kamla: It looks like your family provides you with that great test bed. At one end you have your mother and on the other end you have your two kids. So, I guess you get to see how pure consumers are behaving. Ram: Absolutely! Infact the best due diligence to do for company is to use your own children to figure out if they will eat the dog food. Kamla: So what has surprised you about the way your mother uses the internet for instance? Ram: I am amazed that some of the things that she uses and things that she bookmarks. She wakes up in the morning and the first thing she does is go to The New York Times page. She says I get more good news out of the New York Times and now they have gotten rid of Times Select so you look at the Friedman articles, Maureen Dowd, and Frank Rich Nicholas Kristol and all of those great writers. I think if you talk to Tom Freidman he will tell you what is more important to me I want you know 20 million people reading my column rather than trying to monetise it for 12 dollars a month. Now obviously it is a different issue for his employer at the Times for who needs to make an economic living out of it that they can ultimately pay to the great journalist that they hire. So we need to find a way out. Those that have sort of done review and you know in the publishing industry, in the printing industry, in the newspaper industry, as we know is not going to be there anymore its just not true. It’s not like Kindle is going to kill print books. Its not like radio got killed with the advent of television and the same thing newspapers aren’t going to get killed with the advent of internet. It will hurt them and they will need to restructure and there will be a new way and may be the new way will be a hybrid. And I think the transition from one to the other may be painful, in the interim it may cause some pain because you know we are used to. Kamla: What was a seminal moment in your life? Ram: I guess the most seminal moment going early way back was my father died when I was 3 years old. I was raised by my grandparents and my mother went back and got a degree. What that does is adversity has a way of making you hungrier to stay focused and to do well by your parents and your loved ones. Because everything that they are spending on you both in terms of time and money and effort. You want to have for their safety, to make them happy pay off. That is what I was focused on in my early life, in my early childhood life that shaped me as a person then. And then the values they instil in you take forward through life and that I think makes a material difference. So adversity then forces you to have a steely determination to succeed and you get hungry for that success and that yearning that you feel is something that’s unique to anybody that faces adversity. Kamla: What goals do you yet have to achieve? Ram: I think as I look at the next decade ahead I am looking to see what forms of good I can do. How best I can leverage to success that I can fortune to have so that I can impact more people with it. So, social entrepreneurship comes to top of mind but it is not something that I want to seek publicity for or focus on. You want to do these things as quietly and as selflessly as possible. Everything else in life that you do in the business world has a direct reward for a direct effort and here the reward will be the journey. So it is a journey that is a new area for me and I am looking forward to it. As I age I hope to get new wisdom and new humility to sensually figure out ways in which I can help K through K12 education for example and I am still learning in this area both here and in India. Kamla: Have you become calmer over the years? Ram: Definitely, you’re seeing much different personality than you would have seen 5-10 years ago where the ability to tolerating competence was much lower than it is now. Kamla: Why is that? Why is the ability higher now than it was before? Ram: Well, I think what it is, is you learn that different people are made differently and they have different ways to reach to their goals. Some people reach their limits of what they can produce and create and that doesn’t necessarily make them bad. It is just that they may not be right for that role in that instance. So you figure out different way to deal with them and they may not be the part of that business but they still are good people. In your early life as you are looking to build your businesses, you are so focused on the outcome. Not that I am not now, I am still focused on good outcomes but you can be focused on good outcomes without breaking lines and I think it gets you there with far less pain than it does when you have to break glass to get it to happen. Kamla: Ram, thank you so much for your conversation today. Ram: Thank you and it has been a pleasure to be on your show You were listening to Ram Shriram of Sherpalo ventures and a board member of Google. This is Kamla Bhatt and this interview is brought to you in association with LiveMintRadio... If you missed you may want to tune in and listen to part 1 and part 2 of our conversation with Ram. This is Kamla Bhatt and as always thank you for tuning in. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 7:40 am Terror attacks open up opportunity for security businessThe terror attacks on Mumbai and increasing security concerns spell boom time for at least one industry in India in a time of global meltdown - the business of security solutions.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2008 | 7:00 am ‘Car czar’ proposed to oversee US auto bailoutWashington: A government “car czar” would oversee any bailout of US automakers under proposed terms being negotiated by the White House and Congress for extending up to $17 billion in emergency loans that mainly aim to spare General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC from bankruptcy. Congressional and other sources familiar with the plan for oversight by an official within the executive branch said on Saturday that conditions were not final as Democratic leaders and the White House tried to cut a deal. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters the assistance would only be considered for companies “willing to make the difficult decisions across the scope of their businesses to be viable and competitive” and in cases where strong taxpayer protections could be guaranteed. Reeling from a plunge in sales they blame largely on the credit crunch and recession, once-vaunted GM, Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co sought $34 billion from Congress this week to forestall possible collapse. There is wide concern that insolvency at one of the big manufacturers would devastate the deeply interconnected industry, including suppliers and dealers. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts took the lead in writing legislation for majority Democrats. ‘Car Czar’ proposal One leadership aide said both sides favored creation of a “car czar” role within the executive branch to oversee funds and ensure conditions were met. Congressional aides and other sources said negotiators and the White House were trading draft proposals, and planned to work through the weekend. The details were to supplement a framework struck late on Friday on the amount of aid - up to $17 billion - and the source of funding, an Energy Department loan program approved in September to help automakers make more fuel-efficient cars. The bridge loans are designed to carry industry into spring. The impetus for the bailout breakthrough was an unexpectedly sharp downturn in US unemployment in November, which made lawmakers fear thousands of US auto industry workers could soon be added to the jobless rolls. Employers slashed more than 533,000 jobs last month, the highest monthly decline in 34 years. GM, Ford and Chrysler employ nearly 250,000 people and say millions of other jobs depend on their survival. The Detroit Three are weighed down by overcapacity, high healthcare and retirement expenses and high operating costs, as well as eroding market share due to competition from healthier foreign rivals like Toyota Motor Corp. Strict terms Their slide accelerated in the second half of this year when record high gas prices undercut sales of bread-and-butter sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. Chrysler Chief Executive Bob Nardelli told a congressional committee on Friday the company needed $4 billion to survive through March. His counterpart at GM, Rick Wagoner, said his company needed $10 billion over the same time frame. Ford wants a $9 billion line of credit that would only be tapped if its finances deteriorate more than expected in 2009. Chrysler is also seeking more cash for operations into 2009 and GM wants a credit line as well. Senior lawmakers hope next week to present a proposal for votes in both the House of Representatives and the Senate where there has been widespread skepticism about a bailout. The companies have said they would accept strict terms as conditions for aid. GM and Chrysler said they would go so far as to reconsider a merger if it meant getting federal funds. Congress is not expected to demand such a step this time. Nevertheless, aid for GM is expected to kick off a restructuring process that will resemble a bankruptcy proceeding but under the oversight of appointed officials rather than a federal judge. Depending on terms, the $2.5 billion of GM’s market value could be wiped out for shareholders. The automaker is working to slash $30 billion in debt and could offer equity to existing creditors, including the United Auto Workers. The union, which has lost over a third of its membership this decade, has signaled that it will accept deep concessions now in a bid to save GM and Chrysler. Other conditions favored by many lawmakers included limiting executive compensation, imposing strict loan repayment terms, and protections for taxpayers that might include an equity stake in a restructured company. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 6:46 am Reliance Life new venture to cross $1 bnNew Delhi: Riding on the back of 100% growth in new business, Reliance Life Insurance expects the first premium income to cross milestone figure of $1 billion mark by the end of the current fiscal. “We expect 100% growth in the new business premium during the current fiscal,” Reliance Life Insurance Chief Executive Officer P Nandagopal said. Given the growth expectation, the new business premium of the company would be about Rs5,500 crore ($1 billion) at the end of March 2009. The new business premium grew over 200% at Rs2,751 crore ($625 million) for the fiscal ended March, 2008, he said. During the first six months of the current fiscal, the insurer has earned first premium income of about Rs1,470 crore. Normally, an insurance company acquires major chunk of the new business in the second half of the fiscal, he said, adding, with the expansion plan on the anvil and huge recruitment plan the new business is likely to register a good jump. To support the growth plan, Reliance Life Insurance is set to hire 2,500 managers and close to one lakh advisers in the next four months. “We are planning to add close to 2,500 employees and 90,000 advisers by the end of March next year,” said Nandagopal. With the fresh recruitment, the total number of advisers would cross three lakh while total staff strength would be over 28,000, he said. During the first 8 months of the current fiscal, Nandagopal said the company has recruited over 40,000 advisors and added 8,000 employees in the sales functions. The recruitment plan is in line with the growth objective of the company, he said. On capital infusion, Nandagopal said the company has invested additional capital of Rs756 crore so far. Going forward, the company plans to invest another Rs600-700 crore in the next four months, he said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 6:28 am RBI extends time for exporters concessional ratesNew Delhi: The Reserve Bank has extended the period, during which exporters are allowed to enjoy concession on their overdue credit, to 180 days against current 90-day time. “The prescribed interest rate as applicable to post- shipment rupee export credit may also be extended to overdue bills up to 180 days from the date of advance,” the central bank said. Exporters are extended rupee credit at an interest rate 2.5% below benchmark prime lending rates. They are also allowed to enjoy this concession for 90 days beyond the time the credit becomes overdue. With the RBI’s decision, exporters can now continue to enjoy credit at lower interest rate for 180 days. The is also facility for 180 days for normal rupee credit for post-shipment expenses. “The recent provision of the RBI on the overdue bill is a logical extension of post-shipment credit in domestic currency for a period up to 180 days. It is a welcoming step,” Federation of Indian Exports Organisation (FIEO) President Ganesh Gupta said. With several sectors such as carpets, tea and handicraft putting up a dismal show, the overall export growth in October this fiscal slipped to about 12%. Exports in October 2008-09 declined by 12.1% to $12.8 billion from $14.58 billion a year ago, causing job losses in the sector. Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath had said that the government would review the export target of $200 billion for the current fiscal as the global economic slowdown is impacting it. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2008 | 6:18 am Indian banks' unlikely to drop rates despite RBIMUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian banks are unlikely to sharply drop lending rates immediately despite the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) slashing short-term rates as their cost of funds is still high and loan demand remains robust.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Dec 2008 | 6:14 am Vodafone challenged HC decision in Supreme Court - TopNews
Source: Google News India - Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 6:09 am Jetlite's Q2 loss at Rs 273cr - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 5:58 am M&M to temporarily shut production at five plants - TopNews
Source: Google News India - Business | 7 Dec 2008 | 5:08 am Kerala to revive two ailing state owned companiesKerala is to revive two ailing state-owned companies, Steel Complex Ltd (SCL) and Kerala Soaps and Oils Limited (KSOL), both located in Kozhikode, says Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2008 | 4:30 am Lamy urges WTO members to bridge gapsGENEVA (Reuters) - World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy urged member nations to show flexibility and narrow their remaining differences as he weighed whether to call a meeting to reach a new trade deal.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Dec 2008 | 3:31 am 'Car czar' proposed for any U.S. automaker bailoutWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A government "car czar" would oversee any bailout of U.S. automakers under proposed terms being negotiated by the White House and Congress for extending up to $17 billion in emergency loans that mainly aim to spare General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC from bankruptcy.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Dec 2008 | 3:14 am Refinance amount not enough: Home finance companiesMumbai, Dec 6 Housing Finance Companies, while welcoming the RBI measures, said the Rs 4,000 crore refinance facility provided through National Housing Bank is too small. The amount hardly represents five per cent of the total exposure of housingSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am ‘Hotels need to work on guest-friendly security measures’Bangalore, Dec. 6 It is tough times for hotels across the country. Tough times also signal the need for innovation to keep the business going.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Weekly News Round-upThe RBI on Saturday cut key short-term lending and borrowing rates by 100 basis points each and pumped in Rs 11,000 crore for housing and microSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am M&M opts for partial closure due to demand slowdownMumbai, Dec. 6 Following Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, the country’s largest utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra also has chosen to go in for a partial shutdown of its plants thisSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Cotton fabric output drops to 4-1/2 year lowChennai, Dec. 6 Fabric production by mills has dropped to the lowest level in four and a half years on account of lower downstream production, owing to reduced demand from the US and EuropeanSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am ‘Markets have discounted RBI measures’Mumbai, Dec 5 Officials at broking firms and mutual funds do not appear too enthused by the interest rate cuts and other monetary measures announced by the RBI on Saturday; the stock markets having factored this inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am RBI sees inflation rate below 7% by year-endMumbai, Dec. 6 The Reserve Bank of India expects the year-end inflation figures to be significantly lower than the seven per cent projectedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Foreign convertible bonds buyback with rupee resources allowedNew Delhi, Dec. 6 Indian companies can now pre-pay their existing foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) from their rupee resources in addition to their foreign currency accruals.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am RBI signals cheaper loansMumbai, Dec. 6 Sending a clear signal to banks to reduce lending rates and advance more credit to productive sectors, the Reserve Bank of India on Saturday cut its key short term rates – the repo and reverse repo – by one percentageSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am ‘Monitor steel imports to safeguard domestic industry’Kolkata, Dec. 6 Mr Sushim Banerjee, Executive Director (Commercial), SAIL, has emphasised the need for introducing import monitoring system to protect the interests of the domestic steel industry.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Meltdown, terror cast a shadow over tourism - Times of India
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 Dec 2008 | 11:24 pm RBI does its bit, cuts rates to halt slowdownThe Reserve Bank of India governor reiterated this many times over on Saturday, after announcing a reduction in two of the central bank's key interest rates by 100 basis points eachSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Dec 2008 | 10:46 pm UP govt to reduce price cut on petrol - Times of India
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 Dec 2008 | 9:15 pm RBI cuts lending rate by 1% - Times of India
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 Dec 2008 | 9:14 pm Snifex, room key scanners could have averted Taj, Oberoi blasts - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 Dec 2008 | 8:29 pm Consultants reel as M advisory business disappearsUntil a few months back, the sales pitch of management consultants followed a standard pattern: The presentations were short, laden with management jargon, and the customer, mostly mid- to large-scaleSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 6 Dec 2008 | 7:23 pm Post-Mumbai, cricket picks up the piecesJust after Mumbai was hit by the horrific terrorist attacks, legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne said: It is just not worth the risk.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 6 Dec 2008 | 7:22 pm Rice serves India's wish, threatens to act if Pak doesn'tThe government is happy that the US has delivered a stern warning to Pakistan to act against terror and its non-state players.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 6 Dec 2008 | 7:20 pm RBI does its bit, over to govtThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today signalled a further reduction in interest rates by reducing the repo and reverse repo rates by 100 basis points each and announced a host of other measures toSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 6 Dec 2008 | 7:19 pm Bharat Heavy Electricals' plant technology test centre goes on streamA power plant technology test centre, one of only six in the world, was inaugurated by union Minister of State for Power and Commerce Jairam Ramesh at the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) unit here.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Russia aims big, can build 10 more n-reactors in IndiaA day after India and Russia inked a civil nuclear accord that envisages Russia building four additional reactors in Tamil Nadu, Russian ambassador to India Vyacheslav Trubnikov Saturday raised the stakes saying that his country was capable of supplying 10 more reactors to India.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Priority sector lending upto Rs 20 lakh a +ve: ParsavanthPradeep Jain, Chairman, Parsvnath Developers, said priority sector lending up to Rs 20 lakh is very positive for real estate companies but added that he was expecting more form the RBI Governor with respect to restructuring of the existing loan allowed upto 30 June 2009.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 Dec 2008 | 3:37 pm Himachal dam faces agitation over land acquisitionA multi-billion rupee hydroelectric project in Himachal Pradesh that will provide drinking water to Delhi once complete has run into trouble with residents of the area threatening an indefinite agitation against land acquisition for the dam.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 Dec 2008 | 3:01 pm White House: auto aid should contingent on repaymentWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Saturday that the federal government should not give money to help Detroit's Big Three automakers unless there was a strong likelihood it could be paid back.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 Dec 2008 | 2:52 pm RBI slashes rates to shore up growthMumbai: The Reserve Bank of India on Saturday slashed both its repo and reverse repo rates by 100 basis points each, effective 8 December, and unveiled a host of measures as part of its stimulus package to “step up demand and arrest the growth moderation”. The rate cuts are expected to compel commercial banks to reduce their main lending rates. RBI governor D. Subbarao said, “we have spoken to bankers, there was an exchange of views and expect that banks will now respond to the signals given.” With the latest cuts, the repo rate, or the rate at which the central bank infuses liquidity in the system stands at 6.5% and the reverse repo rate, or the rate at which it sucks out liquidity from the system, stands at 5%. Since 20 October, the Reserve Bank of India, or RBI, has slashed the repo rate by 250 basis points while it touched its reverse repo rate for the first time since mid 2006. One basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point. The central bank left other regulatory rates like cash reserve ratio and statutory liquidity ratio, or the portion of banks’ deposits required to maintain with the central bank as cash and government bonds, unchanged at 5.5% and 24% respectively. RBI said the reduction in the repo and reverse repo rates will help in “reduction in the marginal cost of funds to banks and enable them to improve the flow of credit to productive sectors of the economy on viable terms”. Subbarao said: “We are closely monitoring the liquidity situation and believe that the liquidity situation is more than comfortable. The liquidity adjustment facility is in absorption mode. The transmission of monetary actions takes time. These are uncertain times and there is risk aversion with lenders wanting to maintain more than adequate liquidity.’’ However, “I am only hoping that the measures send a positive and decisive signal,’’ added the RBI chief. To help the employment-intensive micro and small enterprises tide over their credit needs, RBI also announced special refinance facility of Rs7,000 crore to the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). The central bank is also working on a similar Rs4,000 crore refinance facility for the National Housing Bank (NHB) to extend its lendable resources. The central bank has also permitted banks to consider applications for premature buyback of foreign currency convertible bonds, or FCCBs, provided there is a minimum discount of 15% on the book value of such FCCBs if the source of fund for the buyback is held in foreign currency. It will also consider buyback of FCCBs out of rupee resources if there is a minimum discount of 25% on such bonds’ book values and the buyback is limited to $50 million of the redemption value per company, RBI said. The resources should be drawn out of internal accruals of the company. RBI said the decision to allow the buyback of FCCBs will help Indian companies to take advantage of the current discounted rates at which the FCCBs are trading. As a one time measure to boost lending to the housing sector, RBI allowed banks to classify loans granted by them to housing finance companies, for on-lending to individuals, under priority sector lending, provided the housing loan disbursed by the housing finance company does not exceed Rs20 lakh. The eligibility under this measure will be restructured to 5% of the individual banks’ total priority sector lending, RBI said. The centarl bank said this special dispensation would apply to loans granted by banks to housing finance companies up to 31 March, 2010. Banks are required to lend 40% of their fund to the priority sector which comprises agriculture, small and medium enterprises, education among others. RBI has also extended “exceptional regulatory treatment” to banks’ exposure to commercial real estates, which are restructured up to 30 June 2009. Under the current guidelines, exposures to commercial real estate are not eligible for the exceptional regulatory treatment of retaining the asset classification of the restructured standard accounts in standard category. “In the face of the current economic downturn, there are likely to be more instances of even viable units facing temporary cash flow problems,” RBI said. “To address this problem, it has been decided, as a one time measure, that the second restructuring done by banks of exposures (other than exposures to commercial real estate, capital market exposures and personal/ consumer loans) up to 30 June 2009, will also be eligible for exceptional regulatory treatment.” RBI in last week had doubled the time frame for export credit given at a concessional interest rate—from 90 days to 180 days—to help exporters who are facing difficulties on weakening demand for goods overseas. The loans, known as post-shipment credit, are offered at 250 basis points lower than banks’ main lending rates. The central bank now extended the facility to overdue bills as well for a period up to 180 days from the date of advance. “Given the uncertain outlook on the global crisis, it is difficult to precisely anticipate every development,” said Subbarao adding that it will continue to closely monitor the developments in the global and domestic financial markets and will take swift and effective action as appropriate. “The fundamentals of our economy continue to be strong. Once the crisis is behind us, and calm and confidence are restored in the global markets, economic activity in India will recover sharply. But a period of painful adjustment is inevitable,” added Subbarao. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 Dec 2008 | 2:12 pm RBI measures good but not enough: India IncUnsatiated by the policy steps announced by the Reserve Bank of India, India Inc said the package on rate cuts and steps for boosting housing and small and medium industries was not enough.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Dec 2008 | 1:58 pm India drives Scotch whisky industry highThe Scotch whisky industry is in high spirits due to growing sales in India and Eastern Europe, while growth in western markets has been hit by the economic slowdownSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Dec 2008 | 12:37 pm
|
