• Swaraj Paul Chosen For Eastern Eye Community Awards
• UK Tempts Indians With US$ 30 Million Offer
• Wind Power Capacity up 45% in 2005-06
• IIM-B Submits Singapore Proposal
• US Courage Award For Neerja Bhanot
• Dual Citizenship For Swarj Paul
• IMT to Open Dubai Campus
• Satyam Varsity, HBSP Ink Pact
• SP Jain to Set up Third Overseas Campus in US
• IIM-C to Increase Seats by 15%
• Pact for mor Power Projects Likely, Moscow Supplies Fuel for Tarapur
• Time's Green Salute to Delhi CNG Heroes

• Five NRIs Among UK's Top Ten Richest
• New Jobs Will go to India, Warns Bush
• Young India to Edge Out Ageing China
• Laxmi Mittal Becomes Richer
• Advantage Young Indian Workforce
• Patel Flags Off Indian's Maiden Nagpur-Bangkok Flight
• Go to India GenNext: US
• Mittal Stays Richest Asian in Britain in 2006
• N Ireland Wooing Indians to Varsities
• China Seeks India's Help to Become IT Giant
• Washington, Delhi to be 'Sister' Cities
• NRIs, MNCs, lenders make a cool $10bn from Inida

Five Indian-born people feature in the top 10 list of Britain's richest, with Lakshmi N Mittal continuing to lead the league tables with a £14.8 billion fortune, the Hinduja brothers at number seven with £3.6 billion and Mumbai-born Baghdadi Jews, David and Simon Reuben at eighth place. The Sunday Times rich list, which chronicles the soaring wealth of Britain's 1,000 wealthiest, noted that 20 of the 54 billionaires had arrived here from overseas. The eye-poppingly wealthy overseas contingent, the list said, included "Indian, Russian, Scandinavian and Russian". Wealthy Indian-born, Britain-based people make a disproportionate contribution to the list with Mittal, UK's richest man, figuring as one of the usual suspects at the head of the table; Hindujas following a few steps behind and Reuben brothers one rung lower at £3.25 billion. The Reuben brothers' property empire is known to be flourishing but fortune is based on their experiment with scrap metal in 1990s Russia. The Indian spike on the 2006 wealth list includes the startling fact that as many as 30 Britain-based NRIs, including Lord Swraj Paul, have fortunes worth over £60 million each. Philip Beresford, who has compiled the Rich List every year since 1992, said the combined wealth of Britain's richest 1,000 people has soared by over £50 billion in a single year to £300.9 billion. The rich list also records the rise in wealth of other Indian-born businessmen, including Anurag Dikshit, whose online poker firm PartyGaming floated on LSE last year, Vedanta Resources' Anil Agarwal, the beauty products' czars George and Mike Jatania; Jet Airways' Naresh Goyal; online gambling millionaire Vikrant Bhargava; consumer electronics king Gulu Lalvani. Beresford said the life of Britain's super-rich people "just gets better and better. Booming stock markets, soaring property prices, mega takeover deals and the City awash with big bonuses have led to a wealth explosion."

Courtesy: The Economic Times, April 24,2006

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NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul has been chosen for UK's Eastern Eye Community Award 2006 for promoting social and educational policies and charitable causes. Receiving the award in the presence of over 1,000 distinguished guests at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Central London Wednesday night, an unassuming Lord Paul dedicated it to his late daughter Ambika and his wife Aruna, whom he married 50 years ago.Lord Paul, who is chancellor of the West Minster University and Ambassador for Overseas British Business said: "At 75, you don't expect an award. As I came to this country because of my daughter's illness, can I dedicate this award to her. Secondly I would like to dedicate it to my wife. We are married for 50 years." The citation noted that Paul came to Britain to seek medical help for his seriously ill younger daughter Ambika. Following her death in 1968, he decided to stay and work in the UK and founded Caparo, the UK-based industrial company which specialises in the manufacture and supply of steel-based engineering products for industry. The citation also referred to Paul's donation of £1 million to the London Zoo to prevent it from closure and several other charitable causes through his Ambika Paul Charitable Foundation. Others who received the awards instituted by Eastern Eye, Britain's biggest selling Asian newspaper, are Rita Sharma (Entrepreneur of the Year Award), Karl Sandhu (Young Achiever's Award), Avnish Goyal (New Comer of the Year Award), Sukhpal Singh (Acas Business Development Award) and Mike Jatania (Businessman of the Year Award).

Courtesy: rediff.com, April 21, 2006

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President George W Bush has warned the country's schoolchildren that if they did not have the skills needed to compete with their counterparts from India and China, new jobs would go to those countries. The President was addressing a magnet school in Rockville, Maryland, on Tuesday, stressing among other things, the criticality of such subjects as Mathematics and Science. "If you're living in Midland, Texas, or living in Montgomery County, Maryland, it's important to understand, if children don't have those skill sets needed to compete with a child from India or a child from China, the new jobs will be going there," Bush told the students. "And so, in order to make sure we remain the leader of the world, we have got to continue our focus in education on high standards, accountability, and a new focus and intense focus on math and science, just like as what's happening in this school," he said.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, April 19, 2006

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Tony Blair's Britain has launched a US$ 30-million drive to link Indian research and educational institutions with those here and coax thousands of Indian students into cash-strapped British varsities, in what's thought to be the UK's first country-specific intiative of this sort. Prime minister Blair, who met students from around the world, including India, and international companies, including Tata, which are sponsoring the UK's Education Research Initiative, sang hymns to Indian educational excellence and Britain's keen desire for a strong educational partnership with it. He said: "No one who visits India can fail to be impressed by the advances its economy and education system are making. I returned (last September) determined that we needed radically to improve our links with a country that is producing thousands of graduates each year". At least one part of that "radical" improvement is meant to be attracting at least 50% more students from countries such as India into British universities. In a sign that Blair and his government is aware of a new move by Indian and Chinese students away from UK universities and towards Australia and New Zealand, he committed £7 million to the job of making the UK more appealing. But Blair insisted, "...it's not just about getting students to choose UK universities and colleges. It's about building sustainable partnerships between our universities and colleges and those of other countries." He said firms such as BP, BAE Systems, GlaxoSmithKline and Shell, along with Tata, would be "corporate champions" for the project. Britain, he said, would offer 40 new award programmes for Indian students, in partnership with Indian institutions. Split PhDs and research fellowships will also be available to Indians. He pledged that "new employment regulations" would make it "easier for talented international students to combine work and study here". Blair said his government was "overhauling" the UK's visa system from next month in order for non-European Union students who had completed a postgraduate degree and undergraduates in the UK's skills-shortage sectors to work here for one year.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, April 19, 2006

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India will be able to beat China at least in one respect - demographics. "India has a much more favourable demographics that could see its high growth rate not only sustained, but probably improved upon." In contrast, "China is rapidly becoming a middle-aged and middle market economy, and there is a meaningful threat to high growth, though not for a few years," says global financial firm, UBS in a report. "India has much more youthful features." In its report, 'How are Demographics Changing the Global Economy', UBS has said: In assessing the impact of demographics on economic performance and characteristics, India can easily sustain GDP growth of more than 7% over the next 25 years and an outcome close to 8% is feasible further out." Also, a favourable demographic outlook is likely to support claims about India's capacity to remain one of the biggest recipients of IT outsourcing. The report says a major demographic transition around the globe, has already begun, which is evident in a slowing population growth, change in age structure, stagnation or contraction in the size of labour force in developed economies and China, and the same in developing and emerging economies after 2020-25. "Tomorrow's successful firms, the kind of economic and social infrastructure we will be building, the patterns of consumption that will define rich, core businesses of financial services firms, and the level and structure of real interest rates, will depend on the outcome of demand and demographic shifts," it adds. The report says: In the developed world, the share of over 65 years in relation to the 15-64 year old age group ranges between 20-30%, the higher rates in Japan and continental Europe. These rates will creep up in the next five years, but after 2010 there will be a much more substantial rate of increase, such that by 2020, the range among the countries shown above will be 25-45%.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, April 19, 2006

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Installed wind power capacity grew by 45 per cent during 2005-06 over the previous year, the same level of growth that was recorded in 2004-05, show preliminary figures provided by wind turbine manufacturers. However, turbine manufacturers hope that uniformity and consistency in policy will come about across the country so that capacity addition takes place at a faster pace. It is estimated that the total installed wind power capacity in the country will be 5,200 MW at the end of March 2006, against 3,595 MW at the end of the previous financial year - an addition of 1,605 MW. As in the past, Tamil Nadu has contributed to a bulk of this capacity addition accounting for nearly 870 MW during last financial year. Mr Ramesh Kymal, Managing Director, NEG Micon (India) Pvt Ltd, a wind turbine manufacturer, and Chairman, Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association, is confident that the growth in capacity addition will continue this year too and accelerate in subsequent years. This is mainly because of the better turbines that are available in the market now, which not only guarantee higher plant load factors - 35-38 per cent - but also are efficient in low and medium wind regimes. As far as other States were concerned, the sources said wind power policy was due for a review in Maharashtra later this year and, hence, there was a rush for installations now. Rajasthan, which is a small market for wind power, wheeling and transmission are the problem areas. There is potential for installing wind turbines in the desert region, where there is not much demand for power. Those investing in wind power are being asked to pay Rs 17 lakh a MW for improving the grid and also construct sub-stations and connect them to the nearest high voltage evacuation point. All this has pushed up the cost by Rs 25 lakh-30 lakh a MW, the sources said.

Courtesy: www.thehindubusinessline.com, April 19, 2006

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NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal's hostile bid to take over Luxembourg-based Arcelor may not have materialized so far but his effort has pushed up his fortune by 2.281 billion pounds since the bid, the Sunrise Rich List 2006 has revealed. According to the List, the Mittal family stake, a week after the bid, was worth 12.6 billion pounds, and on Wednesday it has shot up to 14.881 billion pounds, showing that investors like what Mittal wants to achieve in the global steel market. Philip Beresford is the author of this year's Rich List for the Sunrise Radio which showed the combined wealth of the top 300 Asian multi-millionaires in Britain has risen by 42.6 per cent since last year to 35.5 billion pounds. The fortune of Hinduja brothers, Gopichand, 66 and Srichand,70, shot up from 2.1 billion pounds last year to 3.6 billion pounds this year as "many doors that were previously closed to them were now opening after they were cleared in the Bofors affairs by the New Delhi High Court in June 2005," Beresford said. "As a result, they have now gone into two new areas: insurance and real estate development," he said. According to Beresford, the Caparo Group, headed by Lord Swraj Paul, is looking to make hefty investments in the booming Indian economy. "It will be a case of coming home for founder Lord Paul," he observed. The NRI industrialist and the family of the Caparo Group, figure eighth in the Rich List.

Courtesy: Times of India, April 19, 2006

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A 4,700 sq ft of space on Singapore's Mei Chin Road, classes held only in the evenings between 7 and 10 pm and just one faculty at any given time on campus. That's pretty much what Brand IIM's maiden global venture-IIM-B's Singapore campus -proposes to have. While legal hurdles are being cleared for the overseas campus, IIM-B has submitted a detailed proposal to the HRD ministry on the Singapore initiative. To begin with IIMB-S, as it will be called, will offer two programmes - a two-year part-time MBA and executive education for senior and middle-level executives. The part-time MBA will involve 12 to 15 modules, with classes held during evenings between 7 pm and 10 pm. ''Each module will involve one faculty member staying in Singapore to deliver the module for two working weeks. As such, the faculty at IIM-B will be able to absorb this workload without sacrificing our commitments to programmes in Bangalore,'' Prakash G Apte, director, IIM-B informed the HRD ministry. Admission will be based on both CAT and GMAT. In addition, candidates should have three years of work experience, with a degree or an equivalent qualification from a university recognised by Singapore government. The executive education market in Singapore is expanding; several universities from UK, US and Australia are offering a variety of programmes in Singapore. IIMA and IIMC are also contemplating entry into Singapore market. IIM-B has developed goodwill and contact with several organisations in the corporate sector in Singapore through the work done by institutes' alumni in IBP projects for the last three years. The work done in these projects have been appreciated by the companies and several of them have offered to support the institute. IIMB has an alumni association with membership of over 100 in Singapore, many of who are in senior positions in the corporate sector and are willing to support the institute in establishing a presence in Singapore.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, April 19,2006

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"The workforce is ageing in the US and Europe. The largest, youngest workforce of India is the best in the world. Our English language and communication abilities are other factors that make India the hot spot for global human resources requirements," said Ms M. Nagarani, Associate Professor, Institute for Financial Management and Research, Chennai at the one-day workshop on `IT & HR Opportunities and Challenges' sponsored by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi and organised by the MBA & MCA Departments of Velammal College of Management and Computer Studies (VCMCS) and Business Line Club. Elaborating, she said, "The primary source of competitive advantage is knowledge and that is people. The earlier advantages such as innovation, quality and distribution have been lost." It was only during the Great Depression in the early decades of the 20th century that the HR profession assumed significance. Investigative journalism exposed wrong company policies and poor treatment of employees, Ms Nagarani added. Mr C. Venugopal, Joint Managing Director, Krysalis Consultancy Services, Chennai said, "In the manufacturing sector value is created by machines with people aiding the process. The productivity of the plant is more a factor of the technology adopted than that of the people per se. But unlike machines, human beings are complex. They behave differently at different times, are highly influenced by emotions and require skilled handling. This is the HR challenge in the services industry."

Courtesy: www.thehindubusinessline.com, April 19, 2006

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Pan Am flight attendant Neerja Bhanot, who died fighting hijackers at Pakistan's Karachi airport in September 1986, will be honoured with the second highest award in the US for crime victims. Bhanot, who hailed from this city, will be posthumously conferred the 2006 Special Courage Award by the US Department of Justice. Other attendants of the flight will also get the same award, said a statement from her family. Bhanot died while trying to save five children when the hijackers opened fire inside the Pan Am flight 20 years ago. The award will be received by Bhanot's brothers, Aneesh and Akhil, at Washington DC on April 21. They have left for the US. US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will give away the award. The Special Courage Award recognises individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary bravery in the aftermath of a crime or those who have performed a courageous act on behalf of a victim or potential victim. The award honours victims or survivors who have exhibited exceptional perseverance or determination in dealing with their victimisation, or acknowledge individuals who acted bravely either to aid a victim or to prevent victimisation.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, April 18, 2006

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Marking an important milestone in the country's aviation history, Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel flagged off the first international flight of Indian from Nagpur to Bangkok at Dr Ambedkar International Airport on Saturday morning. Also present at the inaugural were Member of Parliament Vijay Darda and Maharashtra Minister Haji Anees Majeed Ahmed, besides the airline's Chairman and Managing Director Vishwapati Trivedi and senior officials. The introduction of the twice-a-week service will benefit people of Nagpur and interior towns of Maharashtra like Gondia, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Amravati and Gadchiroli. The flight, IC 735, will operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays with departure from Nagpur at 10.10 am and arrival in Bangkok at 2.55 pm (local time). The return flight IC 736 will leave Bangkok at 3.45 pm and arrive in Nagpur at 5.50 pm. Indian has offered an attractive return fare of Rs 9,999 on this sector, thus bringing Bangkok, a popular tourist destination, within easy reach. With this new operation, Indian now connects Bangkok with nine Indian cities-Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai and Nagpur.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, April 16, 2006

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NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul and his wife Lady Aruna Paul have acquired the Overseas Citizenship of India. ``I am happy the Government of India has finally decided to sanction the dual citizenship. Not that I am more Indian now than I have always been, but it is a very nice gesture on the part of the Indian Government,'' Lord Paul said on Thursday night. A spokesman of the Indian High Commission said Lord Paul was among the prominent people who have been given dual citizenship. He said the High Commission here was one of the four missions in the world that had handled the largest number of applications for dual citizenship since January 9 this year. - PTI

Courtesy: The Hindu. April 15, 2006

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For decades, a significant section of Indian students' dream was to study in the United States and work there. And now, a 'reverse trend', albeit with a smaller number to begin with, may take shape with American students coming to India for higher learning. An American delegation, led by Senator Michael B Enzi, and comprised of among others by US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, is on a mission to India to study the educational system in India and how the country is able to churn out a large number of highly-skilled professionals. "As Secretary of Education I am anxious to see how you all and how others around the world develop human capital and talent. Certainly you (India) have done that and you are doing that. That's why so many industries and American companies are coming here to grow and expand," Spellings said. Spellings said the team was looking forward to learn about what India was doing on innovation and competitiveness. Earlier, she, along with Enzi and other Senators Lamar Alexander and Johnny Isakson, visited Infosys, Texas Instruments, and the GE's R&D Centre and also met some Google officials. Spellings said the US would encourage American students to come to India to learn and the numbers are going to 'accelerate'. "Yes, absolutely," she said about the expected rise in the number American students. According to one estimate, there are around 70,000 Indian students studying in the US, while about 780 American students are learning in India. "That's going to change overnight (more American students will come to India to learn). At Infosys, they were telling us there were 300 permanent employees who will come here for six months to two years from the US and then go back. These are growing programmes and will grow overtime," she said. On what are the areas that American students would be keen to study in India, Spellings said it's clearly information technology. "But also systems management. Things you do collaborate, leveraging all of the various things that we saw at work today at the companies we saw," she said.

Courtesy: www.financialexpress.com, April 14, 2006

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The Institute of Management Technology (IMT), one of India's leading business schools, will open its first overseas campus here at the Dubai Academic City (DAC). The institute, ranked eighth in the Outlook-CFore survey of business schools in India, will start its Dubai classes from September. It will initially offer three courses: MBA, Executive MBA and Executive MBA (Part time). Media reports here quoted B.S. Sahay, director of the Ghaziabad-headquartered institute, as saying that the doors for admission have been opened. Students will be selected through GMAT/CAT scores or through a test conducted by the institute and a group discussion, interview and academic records. This is the institute's third campus after Ghaziabad and Nagpur. It will operate out of a rented building in DAC and later move on to its own independent building. "Our vision is to bring world class management education, training and consulting within easy reach of management professionals seeking global careers. The establishment of the Dubai campus is part of our mission to position IMT on the global business map and to become one of the top business schools in the world," Sahay was quoted as saying. The 26-year-old institute is the first Indian business school to be granted a licence by the Ministry of Higher Education, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the institute's website. Other top Indian business schools that have campuses in Dubai are the Xavier Language Research Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, and Mumbai's SP Jain Institute of Management.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, April 14, 2006

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Noted industrialist Lakshmi Mittal remains the richest Asian in Britain in 2006 with a wealth of 14.8 billion pounds, according to Philip Beresford, author of the Sunday Times Rich List. The latest listing shows that the wealth of Britain's richest 300 Asians jumped by over 40 per cent in a year, while the total wealth of British Asians went up from 24.9 billion pounds in 2005 to 35.5 billion pounds this year - an increase of 42 per cent. In 2006, Mittal, chairperson of the world's largest steel company Mittal Steel, continues to be the richest Asian in Britain. The wealth of Sri Chand Hinduja, 70, and Gopi Chand Hinduja, 66 - chairman and president respectively of the Hinduja Group - has more than doubled from 1.5 billion pounds in 2005 to 3.6 billion pounds this year. The Hinduja brothers retain their position as the second richest Asians in Britain after Mittal. The third richest Asian in the list is 34-year-old Anurag Dikshit, the co-founder of PartyGaming, the online poker company, with a fortune of more than 1.7 billion pounds. Reports say he lives in Gibraltar to take advantage of the favourable tax laws on gambling.

Courtesy: The Hindustan Times, April 12, 2006

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Satyam School of Leadership, the corporate leadership University of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, on Tuesday said it has entered into a partnership with Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP) and University as 21 Global (U21Global) to commence SSL's "best-in-class" curriculum with advanced global business leadership learning for its senior leaders. HBSP is a subsidiary of Harvard University in the United States. HBSP will provide leadership development content, case studies, and online leadership modules, while U21Global will deliver integrated additional content, participant management, and assessment processes. "SSL will facilitate the whole learning experience for the Satyam's leaders by enabling policies, processes, and systems at the organizational level," a Satyam release said. "The programme, termed as the Certificate of Global Business Leadership, will equip selected leaders with best-in-class skills taught in world-class MBA programmes to expand and deepen global strategic leadership capability. The core objective and focus of the programme is to further boost Satyam's strategic leadership excellence, to further "trusted-advisor" strategic relationships with Satyam's customers around the globe," it said.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, April 12,2006

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After Scotland's Fresh Talent scheme, which has been a big hit with Indian students, Northern Ireland now plans to woo Indians to its campuses. "We are easing our work permit rules to allow Indian students in Northern Ireland to work locally during weekends and also during summer vacations. They can find part-time jobs in areas of skill gaps," UK's secretary of state for Northern Ireland Peter Hain told ET. He's currently in India heading a large delegation which includes representatives from Northern Ireland's top universities-Queens and Ulster. "Queens University is forming partnerships with the University of Chennai and IIT-Delhi during this visit. Through such partnerships we hope to attract more post-graduate and doctoral students to our colleges. We are keen on PG students from India joining projects at the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) at Queens, which is focused on blue skies, strategic and industrial research projects together with big foreign industrial partners and research centres. The scheme targets businesses that have potential to trade on the world market from the earliest days, and are based on knowledge and intellectual capacity of the founders. Start-ups supported under this scheme could result from the commercialisation of research undertaken in universities or from ideas of employees. "Indian leading edge entrepreneurs looking at Northern Ireland for such global start-ups are very welcome and will be able to access support from the government in different ways including contacts with venture capital partners," Mr Hain said.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, April 11, 2006

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The SP Jain Institute of Management is working towards its third overseas campus. After Singapore and Dubai, it is looking at setting up a base in the US But what makes the SP Jain experiment truly interesting is that the institute is not really targeting foreign students, instead it proposes to give Indian students a chance to study in a foreign environment. "Indian education institutions have not made their mark abroad, this is primarily because many of them are promoted or funded by the Indian government, hence set for India." His argument is that the institutions set up with public money have a mission to serve the Indian population, hence must address domestic demand. Interestingly, his argument seems to echo minister for human resource development Arjun Singh's take on global branding alongside fulfilling domestic demand. What makes SP Jain's overseas venture interesting is that it seeks to prepare Indian students for the global market. "Learning takes place through programme content from faculty, but learning can also take place from a geographical context. If we take Indians out of the country, it allows for a change in mindset," Mr Jain. "We've had a few Singaporean students of Chinese origin this year. And our executive MBA programme at the Dubai centre has people from many nationalities, and this is after a year of operation. So I do see a change in the class composition in time to come," he added.SP Jain Institute of Management and Research's global plans seem to be the outcome of a desire to provide Indian students the opportunity of fulfilling their dreams of working abroad. "We would like to set up base in places that are aspirational for the student. We would have a presence in such places where Indians would like to take up jobs and live. China, for example, is a country that we will give a pass for now, because it is not a place where Indians would be happy to live and work in."

Courtesy: The Economic Times, April 11, 2006

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A Sino-India software research, education and training base, the first of its kind, has been established in the South-western city of Chengdu to replicate the success of Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, in the Communist nation which aspires to be a software giant. The base was established on April 6 between Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province and Bangalore. The event was held on the sidelines of the 'Chinasoft 2006' conference, Xinhua news agency reported from Chengdu. With its world leading hardware industry and surging software development, China has strongly aroused Indian firms' interest in potential cooperation in recent years, he said. The market capitalisation of the software industry has climbed steeply from $4 bn in 1999 to about $80 bn, with software exports in 2005 reaching $15 billion, Trivad said. If countries like India and China were to concentrate on specific areas of their technological advantage, they could benefit far more than by competing across the spectrum. "I am confident that very soon Chengdu will be the capital of IT in China," he said, adding that "we are committed to cooperating fully with Chengdu and supporting the city to follow the success of Bangalore." The software industry is still one of the fastest growing sectors in China's electronic information field, with a growth rate that is 16.7% higher than that of the industry as a whole, the ministry said. China's software industry witnessed a 40% annual growth rate over the last five years, expanding its share among the electronic information industry from 6.3% in 2001 to 11.2% in 2005.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, April 10, 2006

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There is some good news for IIM aspirants. The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, has decided to increase seats by 15%, from its current 262 to 300, beginning with the 2006 academic session. The increase in seats is part of a larger plan that the institute has to increase its intake capacity by a little over 53% by 2008-09. The decision, taken by the faculty council of the institute last month, was included in the annual report of the institute, placed in the IIM-C board meeting on Saturday and was finally ratified by the board. The annual report says the institute will increase seats to 400 by 2008. It also lists the infrastructural changes that have been lined up to accommodate this additional intake. Interviews for CAT are over and the IIMs are on the verge of declaring final results for their 2006 intake. Because of the increased intake from this year, an additional 38 students will make it to IIM-C.

Courtesy: April 4th 2006 , The Times of India

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New Delhi and Washington DC will soon be sister cities in keeping with the current mood that has made the United States and India "natural allies."Washington DC mayor Anthony Williams will visit New Delhi presently to formalize the relationship, the city's Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi, said on Sunday. Although the Capital alliance will be largely symbolic, New Delhi could, in the spirit of the ongoing goodwill and cooperation, ask Washington to lend them the services of the man popularly known as 'Nat' Gandhi. A native of Gujarat, Gandhi is credited with turning around the finances of Washington DC and making it a model worthy of emulation across the U.S, an achievement for which he has received nationwide recognition. But in the years he has been at the financial helm, the grocer's son from Gujarat has turned a $ 518 million deficit into $ 1.2 billion in fund balance and $ 300 million in cash reserve, even as neighboring Virginia and Maryland are fighting to balance their budgets. Thanks largely to his efforts, Washington DC has an A and A+ rating from Moody's and Standard and Poor's respectively. In fact, while revealing the impending Washington DC-New Delhi relationship at an event by the Indian National Overseas Congress to greet Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, Gandhi reminded the audience of his primary loyalty -- to the coffers of the city. "April 15 is approaching so please pay your taxes and please pay your parking tickets," he reminded the Indian-American audience in a preface to his speech, referring to the annual tax paying deadline. "Even if you are from Maryland or Virginia I don't mind if you pay Washington DC." Given his track record though, both Big Blue and New Delhi should be ready to hire him. His term as Washington DC CFO ends in June 2007.

Courtesy: April 4th 2006, The Times of India

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Head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, will arrive on a five-day visit to India on April 6. According to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) Chairman and Managing Director SK Jain, Kiriyenko will be accompanied by a five-member delegation and a group of Russian journalists. On April 8 and 9, he will review progress on the two Russian-supplied 1,000 Mw atomic power stations at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and leave for New Delhi on April 9. During his visit, the two countries were likely to negotiate on four more nuclear power plants for the Kudankulam nuclear island. Eighteen lawmakers, predominantly Democrats, have tabled a motion against the nuclear deal and to the embarrassment of New Delhi, at least ten of them are members of the Congressional caucus on India and Indian Americans. Urging lawmakers not to seek changes in the Indo-US nuclear deal, now before the Congress, India has cautioned them that any revision will disturb the "delicate balance" that emerged out of complex negotiations between the two countries. After meeting key US lawmakers to drum up support for the deal in Washington, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran expressed hope that if the concerns raised by the Congressmen were successfully met and answered, "I think the deal should go ahead as it is."

"The focus of lawmakers on the Capitol Hill was on non-proliferation. There is a global non-proliferation regime. It has been an article of faith for the United States to support that regime all these years. Would this agreement in some way or the other undermine that regime is one of the important concerns," Saran said. On Russian supplies for the Tarapur units, the NPCIL said it was "being made under the safety exception clause of the guidelines of the NSG, which otherwise bans nuclear supplies to India." Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, during his visit to New Delhi last month, had announced his country's decision to supply fuel to enable the units to function with "safety". Fradkov had said the decision was within the "international framework" and that Russia had informed the Nuclear Suppliers' Group about it. However, Washington has expressed reservations to the move saying such a step should be taken only after India fulfilled its obligations under the Indo-US civil nuclear deal. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Anil Kakodkar, will visit Vienna this week for talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on a safeguards accord proposed under the Indo-US nuclear deal to pave the way for resumption of nuclear fuel for Indian reactors.

Courtesy: Business Standard, 3rd April, 2006

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It's not just FIIs who are making money out of India. What often gets overlooked is that MNCs, foreign lenders and the Indian diaspora have together earned a mind boggling $10bn from the country in '05. This is the highest they have earned so far out of India in a single year. Amid spiralling growth, money flowed out as dividend on stock holdings, interest payments by India Inc and returns given by banks on foreign currency deposit. Even after excluding $1.5bn as interest expense on the India Millennium Deposit, the return that overseas institutions and NRIs earned on their exposure to India is around $8bn - a new high.Even in the best year, their combined earnings from India did not cross $7.3bn, according to RBI data. This is inevitable as demand for money grows, and corporates fish around for cheaper funds abroad. The huge external commercial borrowings (ECB) by Indian firms will result in interest payments to lenders abroad. On the other hand, decent corporate earnings in '04-05 led to dividend income to foreign shareholders and parent MNCs. Under the balance of payments classification, the 'outflow on account of return on investments' or investment income comprises payment of interest on NRI deposits, payment of interest on loans from non-residents, payment of dividend/profit to non-resident shareholders, reinvested earnings, payment of interest on debentures, fixed deposits, government securities etc.

Courtesy: Economic Times, April 3rd

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The Time magazine has included two Indians-Sunita Narain and Bhure Lal-on its list of six Climate Crusaders of the world, for fighting pollution. Narain, head of the Centre for Science and Environment and Lal, Chairman, Environmental Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, worked towards building the world's cleanest public transport network, the magazine said in its latest issue. Delhi now has nearly 15,000 buses, more than 12,000 taxis and over 80,000 autorickshaws. It is because of their effort that Delhi now has its public transportation system, mainly bus, autorickshaws and taxis, being run on the environment-friendly CNG, Time noted. As a result, air pollution in Delhi has stabilised, it said. Before CNG was brought in, Delhi was considered to be the fourth most polluted cities of the world.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, April 01, 2006

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