Indian Business News on Saturday, November 22, 2008

Cox & Kings pays $25 mn for Tempo

Mumbai: Travel firm Cox and Kings India Ltd, or CKIL, spent about $25 million (Rs125 crore) to acquire Tempo Holidays, an Australia-based specialist leisure travel company. The deal was negotiated through Cox and Kings (Australia) Pty Ltd, an entity controlled by Mumbai-based CKIL.
The acquisition was funded by internal accruals and offshore debt from Axis Bank Ltd.
The acquisition was funded by internal accruals and offshore debt from Axis Bank
“Tempo Holidays is fit for us and seeing the performance of Tempo Holidays it reinforced our belief that the Australian market is ready for an upmarket brand such as Cox and Kings,” CKIL’s Global CEO Peter Kerkar said in a statement. “Our products would be widely distributed in Australia and New Zealand.”
Tempo, founded by Susan and Gary Hearst in 1990 as Yalla Holidays and rebranded in 2001, is a leading wholesaler in the Australian outbound tourism market and offers travel arrangements in 42 countries. The Australian outbound travel market is expected to average annual growth of 5.2% until 2016.
The purchase, which dovetails with a slowdown in the travel industry, is expected to give CKIL an opportunity to tap potential in the Australian and New Zealand market, said a Mumbai-based analyst at a domestic brokerage who didn’t want to be named because he isn’t authorized to speak to the media.
“Downturn time is the right time to buy assets, though entering capital market is not advisable,” he said, adding that consolidation in the travel industry was imminent and that there would be more mergers and acquisition within the country and overseas.
In India, after airlines scrapped a 5% commission to travel agents on air tickets sold, Cox and Kings has started at least 20 more franchises in small cities and is expected to start 100 more.
“This acquisition and expansion assumes significance as one-third of travel agents will vanish from the scene. While small agents will shut shops, it gives lot of opportunity to big players who will emerge as specialist tour operators,” the same analyst said.
Early this year, CKIL dropped a plan to raise about Rs500 crore through an initial public offering of shares as the stock market slumped.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:49 pm

Indian science fiction authors fret niche, hope for more readers

Varanasi: Arvind Mishra, a senior government official with the Uttar Pradesh Fisheries Board, spends his day hours researching fish, and his evenings conjuring up aliens battling an intra-planetary caste system, and environmental degradation in planet Teran.
As secretary of the Indian Science Fiction Writers Association (ISFWA), a non-profit organization and author of a just released anthology of science-fiction stories, including one called Achhooth (Untouchable), Mishra belongs to a literary niche of Indian science fiction that’s surprisingly far more popular in regional languages than English, even as it struggles for recognition as a well-established literary genre.
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Last week, the writers, most of whom are members of either ISFWA or the Indian Association of Science Fiction Studies, which is based in Chennai, met in Varanasi over four days to discuss the future and perils of science fiction writing in India.
Similar to their Western contemporaries, these techno fabulists plough the usual science fiction avenues: aliens, virtual reality, teleporting, gene manipulation, cyborgs and androids. However, apart from the Indian-sounding names of their protagonists, there’s almost always a preoccupation with so-called Indian values.
“Technology and the laws of science are universal everywhere, but cultural factors and moral questions arising out of it are what differentiates Indian science fiction from the Western style,” says Y.H. Deshpande, a Marathi science fiction writer and author of three collections of short stories.
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One of Deshpande’s stories written in the 1980s, for instance, was about a widow with a choice to use her dead father-in-law’s artificially frozen sperms for conception. “In my story, the woman doesn’t go for this, but I’m sure this wouldn’t be a major issue in a Western science fiction plot line.”
Moral issues apart, writers say the other distinctive characteristic of Indian science fiction writing is, uniformly, happy endings.
“See, science fiction is a literary genre and unlike (Aldous) Huxley, writing about a bleak, dystopian future doesn’t really go down well with audiences. It’s much better to have a bleak situation and then some twist in the end that saves the day and keeps everybody happy,” says Mishra.
Also, to increase the acceptability of their works, many Indian science fiction writers are wary of getting too technical.
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“The science is generally just a backdrop, and most stories will usually involve aliens and space travel,” concedes K.S. Purushothaman, a science fiction critic and author of several academic dissertations on the subject. “In that sense, most writers here are still stuck to H.G. Wells. There’s rarely an in-depth explanation of an imaginary, futuristic science.”
He attributes this to a still-evolving culture of popular science communication, and the paucity of Indian scientists writing good fiction.
“Though most science fiction writers have a basic science degree, it’s rare getting experts to write,” says Purushothaman. “Therefore, you don’t see a lot of cutting-edge science fiction being discussed in these stories.”
Then there are people such as Nellai Muthu, who writes science fiction in Tamil, and has a day job as a space scientist with the Indian Space Research Organisation. Muthu says he regularly found time to write science fiction stories “up until the last few weeks when Chandrayaan (India’s recent probe carrier to the Moon) occupied too much time”. Not surprisingly, space and alien civilizations are his pet themes.
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His novel, Maakol Maindaragal (The Inhabitants of Planet Maakol), which won a state award, talks of the everyday affairs of a civilization whose inhabitants are made up of silicon, unlike earthlings who are essentially carbon.
Geetha B., an assistant professor at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, who also teaches science fiction as part of an English communication course, says Indian science fiction still doesn’t have great appeal for domestic, adult audiences.
“Much of our discussion, especially during these meetings, is about how to use science fiction to communicate science, and it invariably ends up as being a tool to get children interested in science,” she says.
Dishnuprasad Chaturvedi, a septuagenarian, retired school principal, who would easily count as one of the most prolific science fiction writers with 20 anthologies and translations of his works in Kannada and English, says science fiction writing does have a higher, often educational purpose.
He talks of his Yaadish ki chori, (The Theft of Memory) as an example. “I wove it around a crime scenario, and a detective catching a thief who swapped his brain. This way science is communicated in a readable way,” he recalls.
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Other Indian writers in this genre, for instance, are either part of non-profit organizations or use their writing skills to push pet perils.
G.S. Unnikrishnan, an officer with the Kerala agricultural department is set to make his novelist debut with Chimera, a science fiction work in Malayalam that talks about the possible damaging consequences of genetically-modified organisms. “I’ve been writing science fiction for over two decades, but a bulk of my work has been published in the regional newspapers such as the Malayala Manorama, Matrubhoomi and the local edition of The Hindu. The impact of GM (genetically modified) crops is a touchy subject with me and I believe this popular science novel will greatly popularize this issue,” he says.
Unnikrishnan’s sci-fi stories are usually about human beings subject to freak gene-modulating experiments.
Even though science fiction writing doesn’t earn these authors a livelihood, they remain fixated on readership, often personally translating their work into English to reach a larger potential audience.
“It’s a small niche genre. As of today, only 1-2 % of our total published output can be classified science fiction,” says Binny Kurien, editor of the National Book Trust, one of India’s biggest book publishers. “Currently, regional writers have a much greater following for their works, than English writers. But writing in English is the best way, writers believe, to be seen and reach the international market.”
“Noted Marathi science fiction writer Bal Phondke’s anthology of science fiction, It Happened Tomorrow, remains one of the best collections of Indian science fiction stories,” adds Kurien. “Now, we are trying to translate that into as many regional languages. As long as that demand remains, Indian sci-fi has a future.”

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:39 pm

Economic emergency

An economic emergency has been declared in the US—no, not by the Bush administration, but by Paul Krugman, writing in his New York Times blog.
There is much in the US economy that is truly scary: the relentless fall in share prices, a spurt in borrowing costs for companies and households, early signs of deflation, job losses and a bombed-out financial sector.
India is far better placed, even though the troubles here are mounting. But it is interesting to see that Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani, too, has said this week that India could face an economic emergency soon. Some of this is political posturing, but it is sensible to prepare for further deterioration in the economy.
That will mean two things. One, the government needs to come up with a coherent policy plan to replace the ad hoc moves and statements that we now see.
And those in the Opposition need to realize that there is a time for confrontation and there is a time for consensus. Scoring minor debating points against political opponents can wait for another day.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:37 pm

Wockhardt in talks with PE firms to raise $150-200 mn

Mumbai: Wockhardt Ltd, the country’s sixth largest drug manufacturer by sales, is in talks with a few private equity (PE) players and strategic partners to raise around $150-200 million (Rs750-1,000 crore), said two people familiar with the development, who declined to be named because of confidentiality reasons.
A key reason for Wockhardt’s search is to deal with liabilities arising out of redemption of $110 million worth of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), which the company issued in 2004 at a conversion price of Rs486 per share.
As per the terms of the bonds, Wockhardt will need to pay out $142.5 million when the bonds become due in October.
The same people said Wockhardt has had one round of discussions with at least two PE firms over the past few weeks, and that an overseas drug maker has also shown an interest in possibly buying a strategic stake in the company.
While they declined to name the PE firms or the interested drug maker, these two persons said that the talks have hit some roadblocks because of Wockhardt’s expectations for a high valuation.
Also, the company has not yet mandated any bankers for the funding and the talks with the PE firms are currently on a bilateral basis and led by a team of Wockhardt’s senior managers, they said.
“Wockhardt is in the process of evaluating various options to raise additional funds, including equity participation. However, we are not evaluating a strategic partnership for equity,” a spokesperson for the company said in response to an email query from Mint, while declining to elaborate.
The company’s share price of Rs93.10 on the National Stock Exchange on Friday is substantially lower than the conversion price of Rs486.
If instead of converting, the bondholders redeem the FCCBs, they will get a return of 29.58% on their investment thanks to the coupon rate of 5.25% (compounded semi-annually) on the bonds.
For investors to consider converting their bonds into shares, the Wockhardt scrip will have to be higher by at least 29.58% over the conversion price of Rs486.
In other words, Wockhardt shares need to rise by 576% from current levels—to Rs535.68 a share—for any prospect of the FCCBs converting into shares.
Hardly anyone expects a move of that size in Wockhardt’s shares in the next 11 months, by which time the bonds will mature.
On the flip side, the company’s plan to issue fresh shares to raise funds for its FCCB redemption will lead to considerably dilution in its equity.
Assuming that the company is able to raise equity at the current market price of Rs93.10 a share, that would involve an issue of as many as 76.6 million shares.
Wockhardt’s outstanding equity stands at 109.4 million shares currently, which means a fresh issue at current prices could dilute equity by as much as 70%.
If all shares are issued to third-party investors, thepromoter stake would fall from the current level of 73.6% to 43.3%.
“If there is situation that a company needs to raise small fund by diluting a minority stake, they would prefer to go for a private equity deal as there is no apprehension of losing control to a strategic partner,” says Chip Greene, partner and Asia head of US-based deal adviser The Parthenon Group, speaking in general and not about Wockhardt.
In the fiscal year 2008, the company’s cash flow from operations stood at Rs371 crore against ongoing capital expenditure of Rs336 crore, leaving cash of just Rs35 crore.
The company’s current debt is about Rs2,900 crore, compared to an equity base of Rs1,274 crore, or a debt-equity ratio of 2.28:1, making further debt financing harder to come by in a market already squeezed for credit.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:35 pm

Microsoft, vendors probed for evasion

Mumbai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in Mumbai has summoned Microsoft Corp. (India) Pvt. Ltd and seven software companies, and distributors that distribute Microsoft products in the country for alleged import duty evasion to the tune of Rs112 crore.
The firms are Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), CMC Ltd, Wipro Technologies, a division of Wipro Ltd, HCL Infosystems Ltd, Redington India Ltd, Ingram Micro Inc. and Softcell Technologies Ltd.
DRI, an agency that functions under the Central Board of Excise and Customs in the ministry of finance and deals primarily with violations of import law, has so far collected Rs48 crore from these seven firms for duty evasion.
According to DRI, these firms allegedly imported software from Microsoft Singapore Pte. Ltd between 2005-2006 and 2007-08 without declaring the correct value of the imports, thereby evading duty.
“These distributors did not disclose the full value of their transactions. They have imported software in the form of CDs and DVDs. While making payment for such software, they also needed to pay the licence fees. However, they evaded customs duty by not disclosing the licence fees to the customs authorities,” said a senior official of DRI, who did not wish to be named.
Under India’s valuation norms for imported products, the licence fees must be added to the value of the software.
“The companies have not paid the duty on licence fees paid for imported software. The value of licences for using the CDs and DVDs is 95% of the total import (cost),” said the official.
DRI had summoned Microsoft India officials on 13 October and asked some 17 questions on the violation of norms by its distributors.
The department started the investigation in June and in September it arrested Sunil Dalal, managing director of Softcell Technologies, a Mumbai-based software company and a distributor of Microsoft in the country, for import duty evasion to the tune of Rs25 crore. Dalal was later released on bail.
DRI questioned Ravi Venkatesan, chairman of Microsoft India, at its Mumbai office last month, said another official. Microsoft India declined to comment on the investigation. “We have no comments on this,” the company said in an email to Mint.
“Each of the seven distributors has paid 20-25% of the duty evaded by them. We are investigating the case and will issue show cause notices to these companies by December,” said the official, quoted in the beginning of the story.
In an email response, TCS said, “There is some inquiry going on with regard to import of Microsoft’s software in India. We have been advised by our legal advisers that there have been no irregularities committed in respect to such import.”
“The DRI investigation is on the valuation of the imported software sold to customers. The case is currently under representation and we are complying with the investigation requirements of DRI,” said Wipro.
A CMC spokesperson said: “This (issue) is regarding an interpretation of the law and if legal position so warrants, we will comply with the law. However, our legal experts are of the view that there is no duty payable (to the government).” S.V. Krishnan, chief financial officer of Redington India, said: “It’s just a classification issue. We have not misrepresented facts to evade customs duty. The category in which we had imported the software is legal.”
Emails sent to HCL Infosystems and Ingram Micro remained unanswered.
“Softcell has been fully cooperating with the DRI since the time the investigations started. The company has done no wrong. The methods and processes adopted by the company are based on sound legal advice and are consistent with the industry practices,” said D. Venkatesh, director of Softcell Technologies.
According to him, there is nothing illegal in the process adopted for the imports.
“We have neither misdeclared any information to customs nor misinterpreted the laws to deprive revenue to the government,” he said.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:34 pm

Embattled Citigroup mulling sale, merger

New York: Executives at Citigroup Inc., faced with a plunging stock price, began weighing the possibility of auctioning off pieces of the financial giant or even selling the company outright, according to people familiar with the matter.
The internal discussions are at a preliminary stage and don’t signal that Citigroup’s board and management are backing down from their insistence that the New York company has ample capital, funding and strategic direction, these people said.
But with the stock down another 26% on Thursday, its worst one-day percentage decline ever, Citigroup officials have decided they need to reckon with a range of scenarios that were unthinkable only weeks ago.
In early trading on Friday in New York, Citi shares were trading at $4.56 (Rs228).
Citigroup’s board of directors was scheduled to have a formal meeting on Friday in the US to discuss the options, according to people familiar with the situation.
The directors have also been talking by phone about what could be done to reverse the stock’s slide. Top executives were locked in meetings on Thursday to hash out a stabilization strategy.
Meanwhile, chief executive Vikram Pandit had scheduled a conference call for 8am on Friday to discuss the situation with senior managers. A Citigroup spokeswoman said in a statement on Thursday evening: “Citi has a very strong capital and liquidity position” and is “focused on executing our strategy”, which includes cutting expenses and selling assets. “We believe the benefits will be seen over time.”
With roots stretching back to 1812 and more than 200 million customer accounts in 106 countries, Citigroup is an icon of global capitalism. It is getting battered by the same financial storm that has already remade the face of Wall Street, forcing the sale of Bear Stearns Companies Inc. and Merrill Lynch and Co. earlier this year, and triggering the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Analysing the situation: CEO of Citigroup Inc. Vikram Pandit. Jin Lee /Bloomberg
Analysing the situation: CEO of Citigroup Inc. Vikram Pandit. Jin Lee /Bloomberg
Pandit and other Citigroup executives have told colleagues they are frustrated and befuddled by this week’s 50% stock decline. Investors have dumped bank stocks en masse on fears that economic woes will batter financial companies worse than previously expected.
Weighing down the shares has been the US treasury department’s decision last week not to buy troubled assets from banks. Citigroup’s balance sheet includes battered securities and loans that many investors hoped could be offloaded to the government.
JPMorgan Chase and Co. shares slid 18% on Thursday, while Bank of America Corp. fell 14%. Citigroup fell $1.69 to $4.71 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Thursday. In early trading on Friday, JPMorgan was trading at $21.82, while Bank of America shares were at $11.28.
In Washington, Citigroup officials this week have been urging lawmakers and regulators to intervene by making it tougher for investors to place bets that the company’s share price will fall, a strategy known as “short selling”, according to people familiar with the matter.
The firm, along with representatives of other banks, is lobbying the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reinstate the ban it temporarily imposed this autumn on short selling of financial stocks, the people said.
SEC chairman Christopher Cox said he would hold a teleconference with international regulators on Monday to discuss short selling and other matters. In a statement, he said it was essential that “there be close coordination among international markets to avoid regulatory gaps and unintended consequences”.
Meanwhile, Citigroup executives and directors are rushing to bolster the confidence of investors, clients and employees. Members of the board are hoping that Citigroup can weather the storm by becoming more transparent with investors and easing anxiety that tens of billions of dollars in risky assets are lurking on the company’s books.
On Wednesday, in one move aimed at quelling the uncertainty about Citigroup’s exposure to risk, the company said it would buy $17.4 billion in assets from its structured investment vehicles complex investment tools that first encountered trouble last year due to their mortgage related holdings. Executives have been telling traders, brokers and other employees to reach out to clients and tick off a list of factors that showcase Citigroup’s strength. On Thursday, for instance, executives in the wealth management unit arranged a Friday afternoon conference call for clients. A brochure that brokers were asked to share with clients promises that the call “will help you to better understand the current financial crisis”.
The sell-off in Citigroup shares has led executives to start laying out possible contingency plans. In addition to pondering a move to sell the entire company to another bank, executives have started exploring the possibility of selling off parts of the firm, including the Smith Barney retail brokerage, the global credit card division and the transaction services unit, the people said. Pandit is loath to pursue such an approach, they added. Thursday’s stock slide came despite the announcement by Saudi Arabian investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud that he will increase his holdings in Citigroup Inc. to 5%, adding that he supports the banking giant’s management. “Prince Alwaleed began buying Citi shares as he strongly believes that they are dramatically undervalued,” according to an emailed statement from his office. His holdings are less than 4%, according to the statement.
In late September, hoping to deepen its pool of deposits and shed some risky assets, Citigroup agreed to buy Wachovia Corp. with backing from the US government. But before the two banks could hammer out a formal merger document, Wells Fargo and Co. swooped in with a higher bid, stunning Citigroup executives.
The Wachovia debacle turned out to be a turning point for Citigroup. The deal’s unravelling highlighted the paucity of other options for the firm to pursue in an era when many banks are merging in order to survive.
Few other banks that Citigroup can afford to buy would bring similar levels of deposits, the lifeblood of banks. In recent weeks, Citigroup has been negotiating a possible acquisition of Chevy Chase Bank, which is a fraction of Wachovia’s size, according to people familiar with the matter. With Citigroup’s stock declining, the Chevy Chase deal is now in danger of falling apart, the people said, because Citigroup had hoped to pay for the acquisition in stock instead of cash. Other bidders include Capital One Financial Corp., BB&T Corp., JPMorgan Chase and Co. and SunTrust Banks Inc., the people said.
Citigroup executives are also weighing the possibility of selling the company or merging with a rival. Some analysts have pointed to Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as potential suitors.
In the case of Morgan, Pandit spent most of his career there and still keeps in touch with Morgan executives, including CEO John Mack. But people familiar with the matter said that Morgan wasn’t weighing a bid and hadn’t spoken to Citigroup about a deal recently.
Morgan and Citigroup held preliminary discussions about a merger in September when Morgan Stanley shares were under intense pressure. Morgan covets the bank deposits and the added brokerage business that Citigroup would bring, but Morgan would mainly bring to Citigroup an investment bank that greatly overlaps with its own business.
Goldman Sachs is in much the same situation. It, too, would potentially look at pieces of Citigroup. But buying the entire company, and the liabilities that come with it, would be a lot to bite off.
Rob Curran, Dan Fitzpatrick, Aaron Lucchetti and Robin Sidel contributed to this story.
wsj@livemint.com

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:33 pm

How would Tata Consultancy Services fare if Citi changes?

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) was the biggest gainer among information technology (IT) stocks on Friday, which is intriguing to say the least, coming on the back of news reports in The Wall Street Journal that Citigroup Inc. would either sell portions of its business or even sell out.
Either outcome is very bad news for TCS, which is expected to derive annual revenues of as much as about $400 million (Rs2,000 crore) from the bank, after its purchase of the captive business process outsourcing (BPO) unit, Citigroup Global Services. This amounts to about 6% of the company’s annual revenues.
It’s still not clear what Citigroup’s future will be, but the bank’s commitment to provide BPO services worth $2.5 billion to TCS over the next nine-and-a-half years now comes under a cloud. If large parts of its business are sold out, the new owners may not be obliged to provide BPO services to TCS just because of Citi’s earlier agreement.
Given this possibility, it’s strange that investors chose to push up TCS’ share price by about 8% on Friday.
True, TCS’ share price has already fallen considerably since the financial crisis worsened and valuations are already low at less than 10 times trailing earnings. But the company’s high dependence on the financial sector—thanks to the Citi BPO buy, it’ll increase further from the already high level of 42%—implies that TCS could also be among the worst-hit among large IT firms.
Some analysts have a buy rating on TCS thanks to its relatively low valuation, but with the financial crisis worsening, they may need to do a rethink.
Write to us at marktomarket@ livemint.com

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:33 pm

Rupee finishes second weekly loss on outflows

Mumbai: The rupee completed a second weekly loss as a slide in global stocks fuelled concern that investors will step up equity sales.
All 10 most-active currencies in Asia outside Japan fell this week as Singapore and Taiwan forecast further contraction of their economies. India’s benchmark stock index had a second weekly decline as global funds dumped more local shares than they bought for a sixth day.
“The rupee still faces some risks in the short term, mainly due to global uncertainties,” said Vikas Agarwal, a currency and interest-rate strategist in Mumbai at JPMorgan Chase & Co. “Volatility remains high across asset markets.”
The rupee weakened 2% to 50.025 a dollar at the 5pm close in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It touched an all-time low of 50.5925 on Thursday. The rupee pared losses on speculation that the central bank sought to limit declines by selling dollars.
Investors based abroad pulled a record $4.27 billion out of India’s equity and debt markets last month as the credit crisis escalated following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September.
Offshore forward contracts showed traders increased bets for how far the rupee will weaken in the next month. Non-deliverable contracts showed an implied rate of 51.05 rupees to the dollar, versus 49.53 a week ago.
Forwards are agreements in which assets are bought and sold at current prices for future delivery. Indian rupee forwards traded overseas are non-deliverable, meaning they are settled in dollars rather than the local currency.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 5:30 pm

Shipping industry in a spin as rates sink

The cost of shipping is sinking, and shippers are struggling to stay afloat. The Baltic Dry Index, which measures the spot price for chartering ships that carry dry bulk goods such as iron ore, is down 93% from its May peak.
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At current prices, shippers can’t cover their costs. Many are breaching bank covenants and a few have been forced into administration. In a move of sheer desperation, the notoriously secretive London shipping community convened on Wednesday to try to cut their losses. The meeting focused on reducing the counterparty risk involved in the shipping business’ complex chain of long-term agreements, which stretch from shipowners through traders to the operators, known as charters.
The goal is worthy, since these agreements are creating unexpected losses for shipowners. That’s because ships are chartered and sublet, often several times as traders juggle long-term contracts to match supply and demand. But with spot prices at rock-bottom levels, long-terms contracts are being broken. The creation of charter clearing house could reduce the default risk up and down the chain.
But even the most efficient clearing house can do little to address the underlying issues plaguing the sector. The industry always suffers when world growth slows—spot rates often drop by more than 60% over a year—but 93% in just six months is shocking, even by shipping standards.
The boom was exacerbated by cheap credit, which made foreign trade less costly. That led to overestimations of the growth rate of world trade, and especially ambitious orders for new ships. The credit bust is now amplifying the downturn. Trade finance, which smoothes the waters for world trade, has become expensive and scarce.
The demand for shipping has fallen dramatically. The hard times could get still worse if banks start calling in loans. That would flood the already glutted market with a wave of foreclosed ships. The only remedy is the breaking yard. Until capacity is cut or trading conditions improve, shippers will be at the mercy of markets and bankers.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 5:10 pm

Property prices in India set to fall; tougher days predicted

Hong Kong: Indian property prices are likely to fall by a one-fourth in the coming year as the global economic crisis saps home buyer confidence, adding to the problems of capital-strapped developers.
A property market boom has been waning for a year, with land prices already falling about 15% from a mid-2007 peak, although forced sales have been rare.
But consultants and investors at the MIPIM Asia conference in Hong Kong this week have predicted tougher times ahead.
“We’re expecting a horrible 2009,” said Anshul Jain, chief executive for property services firm DTZ in India. “Prices have already shown signs of coming off, and chinks in the armour are surfacing.”
Indian property prices doubled in the two years after the country eased rules in early 2005 on inward investment in the construction industry, sparking interest in home-building among foreign funds. Developers, sometimes in league with funds run by the likes of Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc., and Merrill Lynch and Co., snapped up land.
The bigger firms, such as DLF Ltd and Parsvnath Developers Ltd, launched huge initial public offerings to fund new townships in a country where little housing had been built for 50 years.
But the sharp rise in prices, coupled with interest rate hikes designed to calm inflation in the booming economy, slowed home sales. And the crisis has added to the gloom, with residential transactions down by half from a year ago.
“We could see a 20-25% price correction,” said Anurag Mathur, joint India managing director at consultants Cushman and Wakefield.
The global credit crunch and a stock market slump cut off the supply of funds from the capital markets. And now a drop in home sales is shrinking cash flow.
Also, foreign investors, with their own economic worries at home and bargains popping up elsewhere, are unlikely now to jump into a market muddied by red tape, land disputes and unclear titles.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 5:06 pm

Bug-sized spies: US develops tiny flying robots

AP
Dayton: If only we could be a fly on the wall when our enemies are plotting to attack us. Better yet, what if that fly could record voices, transmit video and even fire tiny weapons?
That kind of James Bond-style fantasy is actually on the drawing board. US military engineers are trying to design flying robots disguised as insects that could one day spy on enemies and conduct dangerous missions without risking lives.
“The way we envision it is, there would be a bunch of these sent out in a swarm,” said Greg Parker, who helps lead the research project at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. “If we know there’s a possibility of bad guys in a certain building, how do we find out? We think this would fill that void.”
In essence, the research seeks to miniaturise the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle drones used in Iraq and Afghanistan for surveillance and reconnaissance.
The next generation of drones, called Micro Aerial Vehicles, or MAVs, could be as tiny as bumblebees and capable of flying undetected into buildings, where they could photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists.
By identifying and assaulting adversaries more precisely, the robots would also help reduce or avoid civilian casualties, the military says.
Parker and his colleagues plan to start by developing a bird-sized robot as soon as 2015, followed by the insect-sized models by 2030.
The vehicles could be useful on battlefields where the biggest challenge is collecting reliable intelligence about enemies.
“If we could get inside the buildings and inside the rooms where their activities are unfolding, we would be able to get the kind of intelligence we need to shut them down,” said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Virginia.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 22 Nov 2008 | 4:00 am

Strike off but channels hold back fresh episodes

Mumbai: The longest running soap on Indian television, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi... made a comeback on Friday, albeit as a three-hour-long mega rerun on Star Plus channel, as entertainment networks held back fresh programming until the full resolution of a wage dispute with industry workers.
Although a 10-day strike by television industry workers was called off on Wednesday, broadcasters said they would not air any fresh programming until they are assured that there was no further risk of disruption.
The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (Fwice) maintained that the strike was off and employees had returned to work.
Opera queen: A scene from TV soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. A mega three-hour rerun of the show was broadcast on Friday. HT
Opera queen: A scene from TV soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. A mega three-hour rerun of the show was broadcast on Friday. HT
“We got into it together, now we will get out of it together,” said Uday Shankar, chief executive officer, Star India Pvt. Ltd, explaining that all broadcasters had agreed not to air fresh programming, events or movies till the matter was resolved.
An in-principle agreement signed on Thursday was withdrawn as make-up artists and sound engineers continued the strike. A new agreement will be drafted and presented in the next three-four days, said Dinesh Chaturvedi, general secretary of the Fwice.
This would effectively mean that viewers, who were subjected to seemingly endless reruns of serials during the strike, would have to wait for any fresh programming. Advertisers are now looking to renegotiate deals or pull out campaigns and migrate to channels with fresh programming.
One person belonging to a workers’ union, who did not wish to be named, said while employees had returned to work, in some cases TV channels were not “giving producers the green signal to shoot” and using the opportunity to weed out programmes that had not been performing well.
Shankar of Star India said a show like Bidaai or Balika Vadhu may not find it hard to bounce back, but weaker programmes could struggle.
“This strike did create time for us to sit back and think about things that had not gone right as well as opportunities available,” said Albert Almeida, executive vice-president and business head, Multiscreen Media Pvt. Ltd, adding this was the time to recast storylines and make changes. “However, all of us have termination clauses in our contract so we don’t need to use the strike as an excuse. The question is how is the show doing, do you have something to replace it with?. You may not want to pull out a poor show and further weaken the slot.’’
General entertainment channels have an opportunity to revamp their programming and take corrective action “where necessary”, said Chandradeep Mitra, president, Mudra MAX, the specialist media unit from the Mudra Group.
According to the latest TV ratings, bigger general entertainment channels such as Star TV and Zee TV had lost more viewership compared with smaller channels such as 9X, Colours and SabTV, which had managed to hold on to their viewers, Mitra said.
“The smaller players have got a fair amount of sampling,” Mitra said, adding it was an opportunity for smaller and newer channels to make a mark. “When viewing habits are broken, viewers tend to come in with lower expectations.”
“Advertisers have started asking for their pound of flesh,” said Joy Chakraborthy, chief revenue office, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.
Also, this is a good time for newer shows to make their presence felt. “Shows like Balika Vadhu, have only become popular in the last month or so. This is a good time for viewers to catch up with the earlier episodes which may not have been viewed,” said Chakraborthy.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:51 pm

Apec ministers urge free trade as way out of global economic crisis

Lima, Peru: Trade and foreign ministers from the US, China and other economies around the Pacific Rim called on Thursday for new free trade deals as a way out of the global economic crisis.
The ministers’ recommendations to avoid raising tariff barriers and to deepen economic integration among members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or Apec, trade group, will be presented to a summit of leaders on the weekend.
US President George W. Bush and leaders of the other 20 Apec economies, which together account for more than half of global output, are expected to use the summit to give another push to stalled world trade talks known as the Doha round.
G-20 economies last week agreed to take fiscal stimulus measures to stave off a deep recession
“We insist that at these times of crisis we are against any protectionist sentiment and we reaffirm our commitment to opening trade and to investment,” Peru’s foreign minister Jose Antonio Garcia told reporters.
China, which joined India in holding up the most recent Doha talks in July, said it was open to fresh talks before the end of the year.
“At the same time, we do not want to hold a ministerial meeting without ample preparations, so we can avoid further trouble from too many Doha negotiations that lead people to lose confidence in the world economy,” said commerce minister Chen Deming.
Nine members of Apec are also in the G-20 group of leading economies that last week agreed to take fiscal stimulus measures to stave off a deep recession.
The ministers meeting in Lima said they supported recommendations from the G-20 group, including more funds for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support emerging economies, and reviews of major global banks.
But it is unclear what specific steps can be taken as Bush is in his last weeks in office, and US President-elect Barack Obama may not make free trade pacts a priority.
According to IMF, the only developed economy that will expand next year is Canada. Japan is in recession, and so are Italy, Germany and the wider euro zone.
Leaders from Japan, Canada and other Pacific Rim economies such as South Korea, Taiwan and Mexico will meet in Lima’s fortified defence compound as thousands of police patrol the coastal capital to prevent an attack by Leftist guerrillas, who recently launched a series of attacks in Peru’s Andes.
Apec has been accused in the past of moving too slowly at the regional level, so several countries were busy advancing bilateral or multilateral trade agreements.
Canada and aspiring Apec member Colombia were expected to sign a bilateral free trade agreement on Friday. Peru and China are expected to sign a trade pact by March.
Chinese President Hu Jintao is the first Chinese leader to visit Peru. He brought dozens of officials and business leaders with him, raising hopes for large Chinese investment in Peru and elsewhere in resource-rich Latin America.
Also, the US, Australia and Peru said on Thursday they would start negotiations on a free trade agreement with the so-called “P4” countries—Singapore, Chile, Brunei and New Zealand—a New Zealand official said on Thursday. It has been dubbed “P7.”
“We’re trying to work through the economic turmoil and this is part of the answer,” said New Zealand trade minister Tim Groser.
Chilean foreign minister Alejandro Foxley said the seven countries should agree on the basics of a free trade agreement by March, and then invite other Apec members to join.
feedback@livemint.com

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:49 pm

EU to overhaul farm subsidies system

Brussels: European Union (EU) governments agreed late on Thursday India time to overhaul the way the trade bloc distributes tens of billions of euros in subsidies to farmers.
The measures, which cover the period from now to 2013, are aimed at revamping a decades-old system in which farmers automatically earned money for farm products whether there was market demand or not. That system has been attacked at the World Trade Organization for making Europe less likely to import more competitive farm products from outside the bloc.
Resisting reforms: Tobacco growers protesting against planned subsidy cuts in Brussels on Wednesday. Sebastien Pirlet / Reuters
Resisting reforms: Tobacco growers protesting against planned subsidy cuts in Brussels on Wednesday. Sebastien Pirlet / Reuters
Critics said the measures, which were hashed out on Thursday morning after all-night talks in Brussels, were only a partial shift in policy rather than a wholesale reform of the €43 billion (Rs2.69 trillion) subsidy system.
“I regret what has been conceded in order to secure a deal which will lead to some new distortions in the short term,” said the British environment secretary, Hilary Benn. “We want to see further changes for the benefit of farmers, consumers and the environment and will continue to press for this.”
The Common Agricultural Policy absorbs more than 40% of the annual EU budget of more than €100 billion although the bloc's 13 million farmers represent only about 3%of its population.
Britain has led arguments that freer trade is the best way to tackle food crises linked to sharply increased prices over the past year.
France, which gets the biggest slice of EU farm subsidies, worth about €9 billion a year, has opposed a radical restructuring of the system, saying rising food prices underscore the need for a robust programme of regional support for farmers.
Such polarized views meant change was bound to be incremental. Even so, EU officials said the measures would free farmers to produce more food based on market demand and redirect money to more relevant uses like preserving the countryside and protecting the environment.
The reforms are “all about equipping our farmers for the challenges they face in the upcoming years, such as climate change, and freeing them to follow market signals,” said Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU commissioner for agriculture and rural development. “I'm pleased we managed to find a compromise.”
The measures also are positive for European trade relations, although the system still could affect prices and the way farmers produce, said Indhira Santos, a research fellow specializing in European agriculture at the Bruegel research organization.
“On paper these reforms make the European system more compatible with global trade rules,” Santos said. “In practice—although these changes might mean the payments are marginally less distorting—there's really little difference because most of the money still goes to the same people.”
But Jack Thurston, the co-founder of Farmsubsidy.org, which campaigns for budgetary transparency in European farm spending, said the significance of the reforms would be only very slight for trade relations because most of the international friction about farming in Europe concerned tariffs, rather than quotas or spending.
Among the measures agreed to early Thursday morning was to increase annual milk production quotas each year ahead of a planned abolition of the quota system in 2015.
In addition, EU governments agreed formally to abolish the so-called set-aside, which required some farmland to be kept out of production over the past two decades. EU officials say many farmers already are using all of their farmland, after an earlier agreement to lift the rules temporarily. Abolishing the set-aside entirely should foster greater food production and combat price rises, EU officials say.
The measures also reduce direct payments to medium-sized farmers and to big landowners. That money is to be shifted into other forms of rural spending, such as measures to protect the environment or revitalize the countryside.
But the measures did not go as far as EU officials had hoped. Fischer Boel, the EU agriculture commissioner, had sought a further 8% of all direct payments above €5,000 be shifted to rural projects, but governments limited that increase to 5%. Fischer Boel also had sought to reduce direct payments to the biggest subsidy recipients by up to 9%. But governments scrapped that plan, agreeing instead to reductions of 4% for payments above €300,000 a year.
Thurston, of Farmsubsidy.org, said large landholders had managed to maintain their benefits. “The changes will not get the Queen, the Duke of Westminster, or Prince Albert of Monaco off of the front pages of newspapers for being the major beneficiaries of these payments,” he said.
With milk prices declining in recent months after sharp rises earlier in the year, some dairy farmers turned up pressure on their governments to go slow on quota reforms, warning that sharper drops in milk prices could hurt their livelihoods. Germany, along with Austria and others, said that moving to jettison quotas too quickly could jeopardize the future of farmers in their mountainous regions.
As a special concession, those farmers will be allowed to use some money earmarked for other sectors. EU officials also will review the plans to scrap the milk quotas in 2010 and 2012 to ensure there would be no serious, long-term damage to the sector.
Italy, by contrast, won a special right to increase production more than other countries in light of its tendency to mismanage production and regularly produce more than the rules had permitted.
Generally, however, the move to end quotas on milk by 2015 would lead farmers to increase the size of their dairy herds in the most productive pastureland in Europe, leading to reduced prices for consumers in the near to medium term, experts said.
France was allowed to continue receiving subsidies that are based on farming sheep and goats. France also lobbied for, and got, a guarantee that the European Commission would have to buy its wheat at a guaranteed price of €101.31 per tonne if prices sink beneath that level, up to 3 million tonnes a year.
An even bigger debate on agricultural spending could lie ahead as part of negotiations on the trade bloc’s total budget after 2013.
Those talks have not started yet, although countries such as France are expected to argue for the need to preserve strong agricultural supports at a time of volatile food prices. However, pressures could grow to cut the EU farm budget if the financial and economic turmoil deepens and puts even greater strain on EU government budgets.
©2008/International Herald Tribune

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:48 pm

Govt eyeing fuel price cut after states’ vote

New Delhi: The Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is planning to cut petroleum prices after elections in six states are concluded on 24 December.
If the party does follow through, it could also help mitigate any adverse results in those elections and create a more populist image ahead of general elections due by April.
A senior cabinet minister involved with the thinking on this issue said the plan had been put on hold to avoid violating the election related code of conduct established by the Election Commission that generally prohibits moves that could be seen as trying to sway voters.
“It has been indicated to us that the code of conduct does not allow it,” said this minister, who didn’t want to be identified because petrol, diesel and kerosene price decisions involve clearances at the highest political levels of the UPA. “We will consider it after the elections. However, the price cut cannot be substantial and will depend upon the crude oil price stability. The problem is not with petrol and diesel. The oil marketing companies are losing money on the sale of kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).”
Welcome move? The Centre had raised domestic fuel prices in June with crude hovering at $123 then; it is down to about $50 a barrel now. Ramesh Pathania / Mint
Welcome move? The Centre had raised domestic fuel prices in June with crude hovering at $123 then; it is down to about $50 a barrel now. Ramesh Pathania / Mint
It is unclear if this minister has enough clout on his own to guarantee that the government will indeed cut prices even though the political dividend from such a move makes it likely that the ruling coalition will want to reduce prices in a still high inflationary environment, thus depriving the opposition parties of at least one hot button issue.
The margins of the oil marketing companies such as Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd have turned positive on petrol and diesel sales. The companies are earning Rs9.86 on the sale of per litre of petrol and 70 paise on per litre of diesel. However, due to the subsidy component involved in the sale of kerosene and 14.2kg of domestic LPG cylinder, they are losing Rs22.40 on per litre of kerosene and Rs343.49 on each cylinder. The companies are losing Rs110 crore per day.
The government raised domestic fuel prices by about 10% on 4 June, when international crude oil price touched $123 (Rs6,150 today) per barrel. Global crude prices were around $50 a barrel on Friday, having rebounded slightly from three-year lows that saw prices fall some 11% during the week.
With global crude oil prices cooling to $48 per barrel from a high of $145.31 per barrel on 3 July, the government has been increasingly under pressure from within the Congress party and the UPA allies.
The losses from selling fuel below cost at state-run oil marketers are estimated at Rs1,22,710 crore in the current fiscal year and the government-owned oil marketing companies posted an overall loss of Rs12,891.19 crore for the second quarter of the year.
“Even with the cooling of the crude prices, we are losing Rs61 crore per day. Even though the prices have come down, we are holding two months’ inventories of crude oil for September and October at $95 per barrel and $69 per barrel, respectively. This will be only exhausted by December-end. So, going forward, even this quarter looks bleak,” said S.V. Narasimhan, director (finance) at IOC, India’s largest oil refiner and marketer.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:36 pm

The tasks before Obama

New Delhi: President-elect Barack Obama will take office in January facing a number of issues that he needs to tackle even as the US contends with dwindling resources and decreased power and prestige across the world. Leaders at the HT Leadership Summit agree that the challenges he faces are daunting to say the very least.
Click here to watch video
Obama’s immediate to-do list includes restoring international law and order, reshaping the world’s financial institutions, creating new forms of energy and focusing on climate change and global warming, and working with world leaders to push toward nuclear disarmament.
“When president Obama takes office next year, he’s going to face a sea of troubles but will be armed with much less power and resources than any American president since the end of the cold war 20 years ago”, said Gary Samore, Vice President, Director of Studies and Maurice R Greenberg Chair, Council of Foreign Relations.
Here’s a cross-section of opinion from others at the summit.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:36 pm

PM is a passive observer: Advani

New Delhi: Lal Krishna Advani was the last speaker of the day at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. And when he spoke, people listened in rapt attention. Afterall,
they could be listening to a future prime minister.
The BJP leader and the former deputy prime minister was bristling with aggression when asked to map out his vision for the future. He said, before the future was discussed, the present had to be analysed. Advani then went out to detail how the five years of Congress rule has hurt the country.
Click here to watch video
Despite a tough rejoinder from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the trust vote in July, Advani was back taking digs at the man he has called “the weakest prime minister ever”.
“The UPA is a collection of independent fiefdoms of various ministers without any fear of the authority of the prime minister who is a passive observer.”
That would have surely rankled the Congress. But Advani was intent on giving out messages to others as well. “India will not be adjunct to any foreign power”, he declared. The BJP has opposed the nuclear deal with the US on the grounds that it compromises the sovereignty of India.
Advani was even willing to discuss the possibility of a Congress-BJP government at the Centre. “Let the proposal be made by the other side. And there has to be a crisis of that nature.”
It was reassuring to know that bickering politicians are prepared to work together if the need ever arises.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:34 pm

Remember this: Forgetting has its benefits

There’s an old saying that inside every 70-year-old is a 35-year-old wondering, “What happened?” What happened is that countless days, nights, meetings, commutes and other unremarkable events went by, well, unremarked. They didn’t make a lasting impression on the brain or they were overwritten by so many similar experiences that they are hard to retrieve. In short, they’ve been forgotten.
Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint
Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Neuroscientists say forgetting is crucial to the efficient functioning of the mind, to learning, adapting and recalling more significant things.
“We focus so much on memory that forgetting has been maligned,” says Gayatri Devi, a neuropsychiatrist and memory expert in New York City. “But if you didn’t forget, you’d recall all kinds of extraneous information from your life that would drown you in a sea of inefficiency.”
That was what prompted Jill Price to contact the memory experts at the University of California (UC) at Irvine in 2000. As she wrote in a book published this summer, The Woman Who Can’t Forget, Price could recall in detail virtually every day since she was 14, but she was mentally exhausted and tormented by her memories. UC Irvine scientists are interviewing at least 200 people who say they have similar “autobiographical” memories but so far, only three more have been found.
Memories of singular, significant events are generally easy to recall; people typically store them in long-term memory with many associations attached.
Memories of mundane, recurring events compete to be recalled, and scientists say the brain appears to be programmed to forget those that aren’t important. Neuroimaging studies show that it’s the brain’s prefrontal cortex that sorts and retrieves such memories.
Researchers at Stanford University’s Memory Laboratory demonstrated last year that the more subjects forgot competing memories, the less work their cortexes had to do to recall a specific one. In short, forgetting frees up brain power for other tasks, says psychologist Anthony Wagner, the lab’s director.
In fact, forgetting is a very active process, albeit subconscious, neuroscientists say. The mind is constantly editing information, all at lightning speed. “Your brain is only taking a small amount in, and it’s already erasing vast amounts that won’t be needed again,” Devi says.
Much that happens during the day doesn’t make an impression because our attention is focused elsewhere. Take your daily commute, says Wagner: “A heck of a lot of stuff is landing on our retinas as we’re driving down the road. But if you were focusing on the presentation you have to give, you didn’t perceive it and it didn’t get stored.” He notes that people face such a constant cognitive barrage that they frequently fail to attend to information that isn’t essential at the time. Studies have shown that when people are asked to focus on one thing, they fail to notice others—a phenomenon called “change blindness”. In one famous test, when viewers are asked to count how many times a basketball changes hands in a video, roughly half don’t notice that a gorilla walks through the scene.
Are memories for events you didn’t focus on, but stored in your brain nevertheless? That’s an area of much debate. Some experts believe hypnosis can trigger long-buried associations. “Memory consists of billions of puzzle pieces, and many of them look the same,” Devi says. “Each time you retrieve a memory, you’re reconstructing a puzzle very quickly and breaking it down again. Some of the pieces get put back in different places.”
What if you want to remember more about each passing day? One simple method is to keep a journal. Writing down a few thoughts and events every day not only makes a tangible record, it also requires you to reflect. “You’re elaborating on why they were meaningful, and you’re laying down an additional memory trace,” says neuroscientist James McGaugh at UC Irvine. Taking photographs and labelling them reinforces memories too.
But remember that forgetting can be very useful, says McGaugh: “If you used to go out with Bob and now you’re married to Bill, you want to be able to say, ‘I love you, Bill.’ That’s why forgetting is important.”
Write to wsj@livemint.com

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:20 pm

Steve Tappin | The author spills his secrets

At first glance, Steve Tappin, a young 42-year-old, could be just any other anonymous blond British businessman in a crowd. In fact, even though I have his photograph smiling at me from his new book’s cover, I can’t find him in the lobby of the Taj Palace hotel, bustling with foreigners there for the Global Fund meeting. After 10 minutes of walking up to the wrong men, I was the one finally discovered by Tappin—with no photograph to help in his quest.
He was probably aided by the clueless look on my face, but he’s also got an innate ability to tune in to people. A few minutes of casual chatting and I almost forget I’m there to interview him—I quickly grasp how 150 of the world’s most powerful men and women spilled all sorts of personal and professional secrets to him, even though they knew these would make it to the pages of his book The Secrets of CEOs (co-authored by Andrew Cave).
By the book: Tappin gave up his job as a CEO when he realized he was losing work-life balance. Jayachandran / Mint
By the book: Tappin gave up his job as a CEO when he realized he was losing work-life balance. Jayachandran / Mint
Along with writing, Tappin serves as managing partner in the global CEO and Board practice at Heidrick and Struggles, an executive search firm. After a week of meetings in India—just one stop on his global book launch—Tappin is more than happy to head for the Oriental Express bar, where he and his assistant order gin and tonics and toast the last interview of the week.
We settle in and quickly fall into a conversation that jumps from US President-elect Barack Obama’s leadership skills (“corporate leaders can learn from someone like that”) to soccer (“it’s my own form of spirituality”) and the economic crisis (“it’s like a domino effect—or more like a tsunami effect”).
I quickly admit to Tappin that I know next to nothing about the world of business. Books, art, couches? Sure. But Infosys and Wipro? You’re speaking a foreign language to me.
Tappin laughs and says that more than business, he’s interested in leadership skills and how to live a full life—two factors people often fail to consider in business, to their company’s detriment.
“Business schools give people the foundation of management, but they don’t teach anything about leadership,” Tappin says. “We train people to be experts in marketing or accounting or purchasing, but not in leading. In my MBA, the people who did well did average in school, but they were the people’s persons. They were charismatic, fun to be with.”
His book identifies five types of leaders across the top CEOs in the world: Commercial executors who “have a driving focus on achieving the best results in their industry”; financial value drivers who “aggressively pursue shareholder value”; corporate entrepreneurs who “excel in spotting breakthrough opportunities and making them reality”; corporate ambassadors, which “involves operating at a geopolitical level and delivering transactions that transform industries”; and, finally, global missionaries who are “on a personal mission to make a significant difference and a corporate mission to make their companies great”.
Not surprisingly, Tappin prefers the missionary leaders, and sees himself as one.
Tappin will put his money where his mouth is by donating all profits from the book to two charitable trusts he’s set up: a cancer research trust, in honour of his mother, and a social entrepreneurship foundation, in honour of Sir John Martin Jones, a close friend. The book is dedicated to them both—they died while it was being written.
He says corporations now have the ability to push the world in a positive direction, especially since they operate beyond a country’s boundaries. To sustain their business, they naturally need to think about peace, environmental practices and world health.
Tappin cites N.R. Narayana Murthy, chairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd, as representative of an Indian missionary leader who has made it part of his mission to push India forward as a country. India actually, he explains, has a strong group of leaders such as Murthy who will help see the country through the economic crisis (which he says isn’t nearly as bad yet as it will be: “The consumer confidence bubble and a business confidence bubble will burst. So the real economy will start to downturn. And then we’ll see a secondary liquidity crisis. Martin Sorrell says he’s never seen anything like it. It’s going to be as bad as 1974”).
In fact, he thinks India can use the crisis to its advantage. “In the coming year and the next, there will be fire-sale prices that we’ll never see again. If I were an Indian CEO, I would really be thinking opportunistically. Some of these assets will allow Indian companies to really grow globally.”
However, Indian companies should be wary of the upcoming talent crunch. Despite the large numbers of engineers and MBAs graduating, “Wipro accepts only one out of 115 applications. People are technically clever, but they don’t have commercial skills.”
We order a glass of wine as the conversation veers more into personal territory, and Tappin starts talking about his parents, his upbringing in Yorkshire, his marriage and his two girls. He says he knows the plight of CEOs well, as he worked as the CEO of a start-up, Edengene, for seven years. But, at the age of 35, he realized he had become a workaholic.
“I was feeling there must be more to life. I decided to retire and I travelled the world with my wife and kids... I used the time to prepare myself and really take my life to a new level.”
He also started psychoanalysis, working with a personal trainer, meeting with life coaches such as Tony Robbins, and contributing socially, by working in British jails with prisoners.
After a few months of personal development, he felt the itch to get back to work and thought he could use his background as a CEO and his personal development to create the best teams of leaders. Though he had worked with CEOs for the past seven years, he decided to expand his knowledge by interviewing at least 150 CEOs to better understand the paths to success and to see how leaders need to lead in the new business world. He thought the book would be a perfect way to share what he learnt from them.
Tappin’s current happy state of mind could be attributed to his healthy work-life balance or to his successful book launch, but he says most CEOs are usually not happy.
“Do you know how many emotions there are in a human body? We can experience 34,000 emotions. The average CEO in a week experiences 13. The most common emotions are irritation, frustration, disappointment.”
He refers to CEOs as Frodo (from Lord of the Rings) on the quest to return the ring to Mordor more than once. His colloquialisms may sound a bit goofy and his ideas a bit earnest to a cynic like me, but when a lounge singer begins her set, cutting the interview off, and Tappin heads off with some friends to enjoy the global good life of Delhi, I’m left wishing I had figured out a way to convince him to stay on as my personal life coach.
Curriculum Vitae | Steve Tappin
Born: 5 September 1966
Education: MBA from Cranfield University, UK
Designation: Managing partner, global CEO and Board practice at Heidrick and Struggles
Work Profile: Tappin began his career at ICI, then went on to work as a consultant at KPMG and PA Consulting. He was also the founding CEO of Edengene, a professional service business
Hobbies: Soccer and property development in countries as far-flung as Latvia, Turkey and Brazil
Career Crossroads: Before university, Tappin had the choice of playing professional soccer or becoming an accountant. He chose the latter: “I wanted to be the best.”

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:17 pm

Recast

Norden Wangdi, 37, remembers his mother dressing up in the traditional Sikkimese long dress, the Baku, for every formal occasion even though the family has spent most of its time in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. “My father even used to help her straighten out the folds. Most of her Bakus were made from Chinese silk brocade and looked very elegant.”
A year ago, when he and his wife Aparna,33, decided to launch their label in Sikkim and opened their first store, Ollatin, in Gangtok, they thought it was about time that they looked at this traditional dress, albeit with a twist. “Women in Sikkim, Darjeeling, Bhutan and Ladakh wear this traditional dress, but not many in the north or west India are exposed to the beauty of this garment. That’s why we decided that we would work at bringing this silhouette to life in other parts of the country,” says Aparna over the phone.
Among the first things the duo decided to do with this garment was to move beyond the usual Chinese silk brocade and work with different weaves instead. “We chose Banarasi silk for our first line of Bakus. It is not that we will not use other weaves, like Kanjeevaram silk, but because we are Delhi-based, we are more influenced by the weaves from this part of the country,” explains Norden.
Cross-cultural: Aparna and Norden Wangdi crafted this Baku from Banarasi silk. Madhu Kapparath / Mint; Location Shalom, Greater Kailash-I, New Delhi; Model Trishala Harichand
Cross-cultural: Aparna and Norden Wangdi crafted this Baku from Banarasi silk. Madhu Kapparath / Mint; Location Shalom, Greater Kailash-I, New Delhi; Model Trishala Harichand
They also decided to incorporate ‘sitare’ work and sequins, usually seen on traditional north Indian outfits on the Bakus in a minimalistic way. Most of the embellishment was used on the back flap and lower hem of the Baku.
The Baku is a variation of the garment worn in Tibet. It was worn as a long coat with a belt called Patuka. “Nowadays, most women wear Bakus with a shirt-like inner garment called Haanju. The Patuka has been done away with and the belt is now attached to the Baku, which is wrapped around the waist, back to front. Married women add an apron-like garment called Pangden in the front,” explains Norden as we sit in his studio-cum-design workshop in Shahpur Jat, New Delhi, and watch an assistant put one of the two Banarasi silk Bakus on a mannequin. She gets the drape of the back fold wrong, and Norden jumps up and takes over. He smoothens out a fold at the back, perhaps just the way his father did for his mother.
Besides experimenting with different fabrics, Aparna and Norden say that the next step will be to work on the Baku’s silhouette and marginally alter its cut. “We’ll work on the necklines, sleeves and even the shape of the garment next.”
Though they wanted to show some of their reworked Bakus at the recently concluded WIFW, they could not because these did not gel with the rest of their collection. “We have been working on our Baku line for the last six months only, so it was not feasible this time. We will definitely show our line at the next fashion week.”
The duo, who sold all the pieces stocked at Ollatin, say they were happy to note that some Bakus stocked at Mumbai’s Bombay Electric store, also sold out quickly. Priced between Rs15,000-20,000 (Chinese silk brocade Bakus are usually priced between Rs6,000 and Rs8,000), these Bakus will be showcased at a Tibet-inspired fashion preview at fashion store Mélange in Mumbai, in December.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:15 pm

General Motors is now cheaper than Maruti!

Chennai, Nov. 21 What are some of the world’s largest companies worth after this year’s carnage in the stock markets?
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 22 Nov 2008 | 12:00 am

Shortcovering boosts Sensex and Nifty

Mumbai, Nov. 21 The Sensex gained by 464 points or five per cent in the last hour of trading after a volatile session on Friday, as investors scrambled to cover their short positions, in expectation that the central bank might ease interest rates
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 22 Nov 2008 | 12:00 am

Market yet to evolve for high-end health covers

Chennai, Nov. 21 With rising health care costs, are there takers for high-value health insurance plans?
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 22 Nov 2008 | 12:00 am

Deciding exit routes vital before closing Regional Stock Exchanges

The vexed issue of the future of Regional Stock Exchanges (RSEs) — debated time and again — could be one of the likely subjects at the next board meeting of
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 22 Nov 2008 | 12:00 am

Fiat India rolls out first Linea from Ranjangaon

Pune, Nov. 21 Fiat India Automobiles Ltd (FIAL) has commenced production of the Linea at the Tata Motors-Fiat facility at Ranjangaon.
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 22 Nov 2008 | 12:00 am

India has ‘capability and ability’ to sustain growth rate of 8%: PM

New Delhi, Nov. 21 The country has the “capability and ability” to sustain a growth rate of about 8 per cent and “will do so,” the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said here on
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 22 Nov 2008 | 12:00 am

Google sees strong shift towards online ads

Chennai, Nov. 21 Google India is seeing a very strong shift towards online advertising, and more so in the face of a slowdown, says Mr Parminder Singh, Business Head (Technology), Google India. Speaking to Business Line, he
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 22 Nov 2008 | 12:00 am

‘Govt will protect industry from import surge’

New Delhi, Nov. 21 The Government may in the next few days come up with slew of administrative steps including the introduction of temporary licensing regime for import of select items as part of its efforts to protect the domestic industry from
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 22 Nov 2008 | 12:00 am

Indian crude basket drops to $45.50/barrel

New Delhi, Nov. 21 Will the plunging global crude prices result in lowering of domestic fuel prices is the question attracting maximum attention now. The Indian crude basket hit a fresh low at $45.50 a barrel on Thursday after touching a high of
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 22 Nov 2008 | 12:00 am

Banks prefer G-Secs, parking with RBI to corporate lending

Chennai, Nov. 21 After all the liquidity enhancement measures that have been announced over the past month, you would have thought money would be pouring out of every tap and corporates would be rolling in the
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 22 Nov 2008 | 12:00 am

Dabur acquires 72% in Fem Care Pharma

Dabur India on Friday acquired a 72.15% stake in Fem Care Pharma for Rs 203.7 crore in an all-cash deal in its bid to aggressively enter the skincare market
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Nov 2008 | 10:20 pm

Govt wants village phones to ring louder

With general elections well within sight, the government is in a hurry to expand the coverage of rural mobile telephony.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Nov 2008 | 10:17 pm

Industrialists point finger at China dumping

India's leading industrialists reportedly painted quite a gloomy picture of the economic situation at the meeting with leader of opposition L K Advani
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Nov 2008 | 10:16 pm

Cox & Kings buys out Aussie firm

Cox and Kings India has acquired Tempo Holdings, an Australian leisure travel firm, for approximately $25 million.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Nov 2008 | 10:15 pm

Jet Air may not fly Bangalore-Brussels

Less than a month after it started on the route, Jet Airways is planning to pull the plug on its flights between Bangalore and Brussels.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Nov 2008 | 10:14 pm

Debt burden triggered cash crunch at Dunlop

The severe cash crunch that forced Dunlop to close down its Sahajung and Ambattur facilities was triggered by the management's focus on reducing its debt burden
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Nov 2008 | 10:13 pm

China's First Auto looks past Singur for car project

Chinese auto major First Automobile Works (FAW) is looking beyond Singur to set up its Rs 1,500 crore, small-car unit.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Nov 2008 | 10:12 pm

Bial chief Brunner bids adieu

Albert Brunner, the chief executive officer of Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (Bial) has finally decided to bid adieu.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Nov 2008 | 10:11 pm

Fiat sees mid-Dec rollout for Linea

Fiat will begin selling its mid-sized sedan Linea in India from next month.The company started production of the car at its Ranjangaon facility
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Nov 2008 | 10:09 pm

No cut in prices, says Reckitt Benckiser

Reckitt Benckiser India, a fast moving consumer goods company, may not reduce its prices in the short term even with the cooling off in commodity and input prices
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Nov 2008 | 10:08 pm

Another fog of uncertainty covers Delhi airport this winter

Air travellers to Delhi airport, which handles over 35 per cent of the countrys air traffic, may expect the usual harrowing times this winter with a thicker fog expected.
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 7:34 pm

Tata Motors differential voting shares stuck in first gear

The Indian stock markets first experiment with the differential voting shares has made a poor start.
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 7:33 pm

Pay panel keeps LG, Samsung in bonus mode

Just before Diwali early this month, Samsung handed its employees the customary bonus as well as gifts. Top performers received a double bonus.
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 7:33 pm

Citi India may slash over 1,000 jobs: Report

Days after Citis global CEO Vikram Pandit said the group planned to reduce head-count by 52,000, there are reports that the financial major will lay off over 1,000 employees in India.
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 7:32 pm

Mercedes to launch 6 AMGs this month

Despite a slowing car market, German luxury car maker Daimler, which owns the Mercedes badge, will launch six models from the AMG class in India before the end of this month.
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 7:32 pm

Citi board to mull alliances, asset sale

Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit told employees he doesnt plan to break up the company, aiming to reassure workers as the stock resumed a skid that has erased more than half
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 7:31 pm

Kirby Systems bags Rs 70cr order for Nano project

Preengineered building systems maker Kirby announced it has bagged a Rs 70crore order for the construction of manufacturing facilities from the Tata Nano small car greenfield project coming up at Sanand in Gujarat.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 22 Nov 2008 | 9:02 am

PowerGrid to sign up $400 m credit line from World Bank

Power Grid Corporation of India is set to sign up for a $400million credit line from the World Bank and is negotiating for another $200 million loan from Asian Development Bank, according to Mr I.C. Jaiswal, Executive Director.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 22 Nov 2008 | 8:55 am

Fiat India rolls out first Linea from Ranjangaon

Fiat India Automobiles Ltd (FIAL) has commenced production of the Linea at the Tata MotorsFiat facility at Ranjangaon.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 22 Nov 2008 | 8:50 am

SAT sets aside Sebi ban on Dilip Pendse

Tata Group\'s former blueeyed boy Dilip Pendse has won a battle against the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, in rigging of Global Telesystems case. CNBCTV18\'s Vivek Law delves deeper.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 9:52 pm

Govt working on sops for exporters: Comm Secy

Commerce Secretary GK Pillai said the government is working on incentives for exporters and could take steps to boost credit. CNBCTV18’s Economic Policy Editor Vivian Fernandes delves deeper.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 8:00 pm

Will realty body NAREDCO move result in price cuts?

The NAREDCOis advising a 1–5% discount on existing projects to customers paying on time, 5–10% price decrease in new projects, and 10–15% reduction in affordable housing, which means houses which cost Rs 3 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Rating agencies step up vigilance of realty cos

Leading rating agencies like Fitch and ICRA say they have stepped up vigilance of real estate companies. While they reviewed ratings on a six monthly or yearly basis, now they are reviewing data almost on an ongoing basis.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:32 pm

Citi may be looking for partners; India div to cut jobs

Senior officials at Citigroup have told CNBC US that they will have to make a strategic change in the firm\'s direction, including finding a possible merger partner or raising cash in the coming days to arrest a sharp slide in the firm\'s stock price.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:01 pm

Credit Suisse auto ancillary report: An analysis

According to a Credit Suisse report on the Indian auto ancillary sector, exports account for 20% of total sales by all auto component makers. Meanwhile, vendors with high exposure to local automakers may see doubledigit decline in sales and severe margin pressure.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 4:49 pm

RILRNRL imbroglio: HC wants to wrap case by Dec 12

On November 14, a Bench of the Bombay High Court adjourned hearing in the Reliance IndustriesReliance Natural Resources case to November 27. Today, government counsel Mohan Parasaran said the court has positively directed all counsels to cooperate and finish the matter in two days, i.e. December 11 and 12
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Nov 2008 | 3:47 pm

Eat, talk and buy art at India's unique art platform

A bunch of women, clad in chiffon and smelling of expensive perfumes, sip their cappuccinos and discuss art prices. In another corner, college students talk excitedly about their favourite painters. The venue is Arts-I, India's first one-stop arts shop in the capital.
Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 22 Nov 2008 | 4:31 am

India, Turkey set up study group for FTA

India and Turkey have set up a joint study group to work towards a bilateral free trade agreement.
Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:30 pm

Television industry impasse to continue as workers' body scraps agreement

Television audiences will have to make do with re-runs of old soaps for some more time as technical workers unhappy with a deal signed Wednesday to address their demand for higher wages, decided Friday to scrap the agreement. No shooting was held for fresh episodes Friday as workers did not turn up.
Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Nov 2008 | 6:30 pm

Court asks Pepsi to remove mountain picture from water bottle

The Delhi High Court Friday directed Pepsi to remove the picture of a snow capped mountain from its packaged water product Aquafina, saying it gives a misleading impression to the consumers.
Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Nov 2008 | 3:31 pm

Parties blame Dunlop chief, not recession for unit closure

Refusing to buy Pawan Kumar Ruia-owned Dunlop Tyres' claim that the global meltdown had affected its business, West Bengal's mainstream political parties are up in arms against the company management for suspending operations at its Sahaganj unit near here.
Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Nov 2008 | 3:31 pm

Bangalore airport chief executive Brunner quits

Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) chief executive officer (CEO) Albert Brunner is quitting the high-profile post and has decided not to renew his contract, the company said here Friday.
Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Nov 2008 | 3:31 pm

Gujarati-origin entrepreneurs in Uganda, Kenya seek Gujarat's help

A group of entrepreneurs of Gujarati origin settled in Uganda wants to set up an industrial development park in Gujarat, a senior state government official said here Friday.
Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Nov 2008 | 3:02 pm

'India not comfortable to work under any other command besides UN'

India will be 'very uncomfortable' taking part in any anti-piracy operation under any other nation's flag if NATO nations objects to the United Nations taking the lead in coordinating action to protect merchant ships against hijacking.
Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Nov 2008 | 3:01 pm

Delhi airport gears up to tackle winter fog

With winter setting in, airport officials here are gearing up to fight the fog menace, expected to be more this year in comparison to last year, a government official said Friday.
Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Nov 2008 | 3:00 pm

Relief package for exporters being drafted

A special relief package to prop the export sector is expected to be presented to an apex committee chaired by the prime minister by the weekend, Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai announced here Friday.
Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Nov 2008 | 3:00 pm

Dabur acquires 72% in Fem Care Pharma - Sify


Sify
Dabur acquires 72% in Fem Care Pharma
Sify - 32 minutes ago
Mumbai: Dabur India on Friday acquired a 72.15% stake in Fem Care Pharma for Rs 203.7 crore in an all-cash deal in its bid to aggressively enter the skincare market in the country.
Dabur buys Fem Care for Rs 203 crore Times of India
Dabur buys 72.15% in Fem Care Business Standard
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Source: Google News India - Business | 22 Nov 2008 | 5:13 am

Gandhi attacks business greed - Financial Times


guardian.co.uk
Gandhi attacks business greed
Financial Times - 1 hour ago
By James Lamont in New Delhi Sonia Gandhi, the highly influential president of India's ruling Congress Party, yesterday launched a vituperative attack on what she called the unchecked greed of bankers and businessmen, recalling the glory days of her ...
Sonia talks of calibrated liberalisation Economic Times
Sonia: protect the poor from impact of global meltdown Hindu
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Source: Google News India - Business | 22 Nov 2008 | 4:28 am

44 blocks awarded under NELP VII - TopNews


Sify
44 blocks awarded under NELP VII
TopNews - 6 hours ago
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) bagged 44 out of total 45 oil and gas exploration blocks with its partner BHP Billiton and GVK Power.
44 oil and gas blocks may fetch $1.5 bn Indian Express
Govt clears NELP-7 bids; Cairn trips Economic Times
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Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Nov 2008 | 11:34 pm

Advani meets corporate leaders - TopNews


Sify
Advani meets corporate leaders
TopNews - 6 hours ago
BJP’s senior leader and NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate, LK Advani stressed the need to take hard steps for country’s economic growth.
Make opportunity of adversity: BJP Economic Times
Mukesh and Anil Ambani shake hands at Advani's house Sify
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Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Nov 2008 | 11:25 pm

India to grow at 8%, says confident PM - Economic Times


Sify
India to grow at 8%, says confident PM
Economic Times - 7 hours ago
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said the India growth story would continue despite the pulls and pressures of the global economic crisis.
We can sustain 8 per cent growth rate: Manmohan Hindu
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Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Nov 2008 | 10:27 pm

Sensex up 464 points - Hindu