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India
is The World's Fastest Wealth Creator
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India
has emerged as the world's fastest growing
wealth creator, thanks to a buoyant stock
market and higher earnings. More wealth
also means more millionaires, whose number
has grown over 15% between 2000 and 2005,
keeping pace with China. And the boom is
set to continue in the foreseeable future,
with predictions that Indians will grow
richer at a rate faster than anybody else
on the planet over the next few years. Boston
Consulting Group's just released Global
Wealth 2006 study shows that during 2005,
the high growth in India's (15.9% in local
currency terms, compared with China's 14.8%)
assets under management (AUM) - comprising
cash, shares, assets in the country and
overases and money market funds - has helped
raise the global bar and more than make
up for the loss in AUM in the United States,
the world's wealthiest nation with $31 trillion.
The calculation excludes wealth attributed
to investors' own businesses, residences
or luxury goods. On the flip side, it is
the super rich in India and China who have
benefitted more from the boom than their
slightly less wealthy counterparts, the
report says. The steady growth, estimated
at nearly 16% in 20000-2005, has meant that
India's AUM has more than doubled from $268
billion to $559 billion, helping it move
up the ladder from the 27th place to number
19 during the five-year period. While growth
rate is projected to taper off a little
- to 13.3% between now and 2010 - India
is seen to be the fastest growing member
of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China)
club - which, the report says, will grow
twice as fast as the international average.
Wealth in BRIC is projected to grow at 10.6%
during the year period ending 2010, while
the global rate will be 5.6%. The report
also says that India will join the $1 trillion
wealth club by 2010, accounting for 1% of
the global pie of $115.8 trillion in 2010.
So, where is the growth going to come from?
The answer is infotech (IT), pharma and
textiles. With more wealth, the investment
pattern too is expected to change from predominantly
cash deposits (which constitute over 60%
of the AUM in India, China and Korea) to
equities and more sophisticated instruments.
In 2000, China and Brazil were the only
BRIC countries whose wealth markets were
among 20 largest in the world. By 2005,
China had moved from 12th place into top
10, Brazil had advanced from 18th to 14th
and Russia and India had entered top 20.
The report says BRIC countries have made
gains in the number of millionaires. Growth
rates of millionaire households in India
and China have been among highest in world,
averaging more than 15% per year from 2000
through 2005.
Courtesy:
The Times of India, September 23, 2006
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Five
NRIs Qualify For Nov 7 US Elections
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Five
Indian Americans have qualified to run in
the Nov 7 elections in the US for various
legislative offices. "Indian-American and
South Asian community's involvement in US
mainstream politics will continue to grow,"
Clinton administration appointee Rajen Anand
told India West, an ethnic Indian newspaper.
In Arizona, Democrat Rano Singh won her
primary unopposed to contest the state treasurer's
race. In Minnesota, incumbent state Senator
Satveer Chaudhary was elected unopposed
in the Democratic primary. A law student
at the University of Maryland, Neil B. Sood,
was elected unopposed in the Republican
primary for the House of Delegates. Kumar
Barve, 43, easily won re-election from District
17. He has become the longest-serving elected
Indian-American official. He represents
a district with a population of 110,000
in Montgomery County, Maryland. In Maryland's
District 42, newcomer Dilip Paliath, 35,
an attorney, won the third highest votes
to move on to the November elections. "You
know, with the population increasing and
activism increasing, more people will be
running, pretty soon it will not be news
because it will be normal," Anand said.
Courtesy:
The Times of India, September 23, 2006
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2
Indians Among The Richest Americans
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Indian-Americans
are not only climbing the corporate ladder
but also taking the elevator to the richie
rich club, leaving behind many US corporate
moguls, including those from Starbucks,
eBay and Motorola. Google Inc founder-director
Kavitark Ram Shriram and Bose Corporation
chairman Amar Gopal Bose have moved up the
rankings in the Forbes list of 400 richest
Americans. Google Inc founder-director Kavitark
Ram Shriram and Bose Corporation chairman
Amar Gopal Bose have moved up the rankings
in the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans.
Mr Bose and Mr Shriram, who are now US citizens
and worth $1.5 billion each, have beaten
Rober William Galvin of Motorola, Robert
Drayton McLane Jr of Wal-Mart and Roy Edward
Disney of Walt Disney. The net worth of
Mr Shriram and Mr Bose have grown to $1.5
billion each from $1.3 billion and $1.2
billion, respectively, last year. Accoustics
pioneer Mr Bose and tech wizard Mr Shriram
are tied at the 242nd position in the list,
ahead of Margaret C Whitman, president and
CEO of eBay Inc; Howard S Schultz, chairman
of Starbucks and Hilton Hotel chairman William
Barron Hilton. Mr Bose and Mr Shriram, who
are now US citizens and worth $1.5 billion
each, have beaten Rober William Galvin of
Motorola, Robert Drayton McLane Jr of Wal-Mart
and Roy Edward Disney of Walt Disney. While
Mr Shriram had entered the list at 258 in
2005, for Mr Bose (ranked 283 in 2005) it
is the fifth year in a row on the Forbes
400 list. The net worth of Mr Shriram and
Mr Bose have grown to $1.5 billion each
from $1.3 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively,
last year. The feat achieved by Mr Bose
and Mr Shriram comes close on the heels
of four Indian expats - Murli Kewalram Chanrai,
Mustaq Ahmad, Sudhir Gupta and Kartar Singh
Thakral - making to the Singapore's richest
40 list compiled by the same magazine. Forbes
said that billions of dollars accumulated
by Mr Shriram, a founding board member of
Google, are either self-made or are from
technology business. Mr Shriram, 50, was
born and did schooling in Madras, now Chennai,
and currently lives in California. He grabbed
the limelight first with creation of shopping
software solution Junglee, which he later
sold to Amazon in 1998.
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, September 23, 2006
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Eli
Lilly to Launch Anti-Cancer Drug
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Eli
Lily & Company India on Tuesday announced
the launch of ALIMTA (pemetrexed disodium)
for use in combination with cisplatin for
the treatment of patients with malignant
pleural mesothelioma (MPM), a rare type
of cancer.
Courtesy:
The Hindu, September 20, 2006
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Internet
Users in India Touch 37mn in Sept
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Internet
users in India have reached 37 million this
September - up from 33 million in March
2006. During the same period, the number
of "active users" moved up to 25 million
in September from 21.1 million in March.
"Active User" is an internationally-accepted
and widely-used category to define users
who have used the Internet at least once
in the last 30 days. The study - jointly
conducted the Internet and Mobile Association
of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International
- estimates the Internet user base is likely
to cross the 40-million mark by March 2007.
The numbers are a result of an "offline"
survey carried out in India to estimate
the "ever user" and "active user" categories.
The survey did not include rural areas.
According to the findings, youth are the
main drivers of internet usage in India.
College students and those below the age
of 35 are the biggest segment on the Internet.
Besides the youth, Internet-hungry small
towns are further fuelling the growth. As
per the survey, smaller metros and towns
are increasingly embracing the Internet
evolution and are pushing growth from below.
Smaller cities and towns have shown a whopping
142% YoY growth and now account for 25%
of all Internet users. Subho Ray, president
of IAMAI, said: "Although there is a marginal
revision of the earlier IAMAI number for
the year, given the rapid growth of Internet
business and government's massive e-governance
programme, it was time to look into the
numbers more stringently. This will help
better business decisions on part of the
industry as well as better resource planning
by the government." Mohan Krishnan, vice
president and country manager (eTechnology
Group) of IMRB, said: "The next round of
growth will be driven by new and innovative
applications such as blogs, P2P, video on
demand and online gaming while the old favourites
such as email, chat and IM will drive first
time users to the medium."
Courtesy:
www.business-standard.com, September 20,
2006
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It's
Raining Gems And Jewels
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India's
expertise in information technology has
begun to rub off on the gems and jewellery
sector too, with the country transferring
its expertise from handmade to machine-made
jewellery. Inaugurating the first "Lucky
Lakshmi-India's Jewellery Festival" in Mumbai
on Tuesday, commerce and industry minister
Kamal Nath said, "information technology
equipped advanced jewellery design systems
are being slowly introduced into the industry
through our new generation of technology-savvy
designers, who are well versed in the latest
design software." The 45-day festival is
being organised by the All India Gems and
Jewellery Trade Federation. The minister
assured the gems and jewellery industry
of the government's commitment to support
the industry through a liberalised policy
regime. Nath said, to improve the overall
competitiveness of the industry, the government
would resolve all issues, including the
impact of the recent floods in Surat, which
has a large concentration of diamond processing
units. He also highlighted the recent trends
such as emergence of branded jewellery and
changes taking place in jewellery retailing.
The gems and jewellery sector constitutes
15.13% of India's exports and marked a growth
of 12.97% in 2005-06 over 2004-05. India
is also the largest importers of bullion,
importing about 800 tonne a year. The country's
export of gold jewellery has also increased
by 11% during 2005-2006 over 2004-05.
Courtesy:
www.financialexpress.com, September 20,
2006
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Two
Wharton researchers have developed a mathematical
model that they say will allow companies,
for the first time, to predict at what pace
new products will gain acceptance in markets
where purchasing decisions by knowledgeable,
influential customers sway the buying habits
of others. Wharton marketing professor Christophe
Van den Bulte and doctoral student Yogesh
V Joshi say their model can be put to use
in industries as diverse as movies, music,
pharmaceuticals and high-technology. It
is possible the model may also be a way
to identify directors and actors who are
ready to make the leap from small films
to the Hollywood mainstream, they add. According
to Van den Bulte, chief marketing officers
do not need to be math whizzes to use the
model: he and Joshi have developed a handy
spreadsheet that incorporates a close approximation
of the equations and does the forecasting
for executives. Also, the model can easily
be estimated employing SAS, a commercial
software package popular with market research
providers. Marketers have long tried to
deepen their understanding of how new products
gain acceptance among customers, a process
known as product diffusion. Companies are
especially interested in diffusion in markets
that consist of two segments: 'influentials'
(knowledgeable people who keep abreast of
product innovations and readily accept them)
and 'imitators' (people whose purchasing
decisions are swayed by their savvier counterparts).
Targeting influential prospects who are
more in touch with new developments than
most people and converting them into customers,
the thinking goes, allows companies to benefit
from a 'social multiplier' or 'social contagion'
effect in marketing campaigns.
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, September 20, 2006
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Indian
art Works Steal the Show at Bonhams
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Famed
auction house Bonhams has clocked a total
value of around US$ 2.2 million for its
Indian paintings in its sale of Indian and
Pakistani works in London. The Indian section
hogged the show with 54 lots of the entire
spread of 67 lots. Fourty-six lots of the
54 have been lapped up by buyers. The average
lot price for Indian paintings figures at
£32,600. Jagdish Swaminathan's painting
from the Mountain and Bird series came out
tops with a final price of £207,200 against
an estimate of £180,000-220,000. Among other
top highlights in the auction are six FN
Souzas. These are Still Life which went
for £173,600, Head of Christ £173,600, Red
Landscape £162,400, Portrait of a Man £151,200,
Vase with Flowers £117,600 and Rear View
of a Female Nude £72,000. "Prices of Souza
are steady, but not apparently climbing
any further. In step, works on paper are
developing a healthy secondary market for
Souza," Mehreen Rizvi-Khursheed, head of
Indian and Pakistani art at Bonhams, told
ET. Ms Rizvi-Khursheed, of course, made
a special mention of two Souzas: Portrait
of a Man and Rear View of a Female Nude.
"The Portrait of a Man was almost lost to
us but for the fact that it appealed to
the present owner as he meandered through
a flea market in New York. He paid a mere
$50 for it and had no idea who the artist
was. The picture is a portrait of a suited
man against an orange background and the
buyer always referred to it as the chairman
of the Board. It was only years later as
Souza began to make a name for himself that
the buyer realised the stroke of luck in
picking up this valuable work." According
to her, the Rear View of a Female Nude was
also acquired by gallery owner Nick Treadwell
for £23. When Souza received the cheque
in January '67, he wrote to Treadwell saying
he was bankrupt and is having to change
the locks on his flat to protect what little
he has left. In the auction, at the same
time, AX Trinidade's The Woman Washing Christ's
Feet has gone for £60,000, George Keyt's
Krishna and the Gopis £57,600 and Sadanand
Bakre's Moonlit Cityscape £48,000. Together
with these highs are Krishen Khanna at £32,000,
four B Prabhas at £26,000, £30,000, £30,000
and £20,000 and a Raza landscape for £34,000.
Bonhams also offered some "well-provenanced"
Jamini Roys which sold between £1,800 and
£18,000. Sadanand Bakre, who worked in London
in the 60s, is an "underappreciated" member
of the original Progressives group of which
Souza and Husain were also members. This
sale has seen the Bakre works fetching tidy
prices. While two of them have gone for
£40,000 each, a couple of others have sold
at £26,000 and £8,500.
Courtesy:
The Economic Times: September 19, 2006
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BHEL
Bags Award for Innovation
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BHEL
on Monday said it has bagged the Government's
`Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskars' for innovation
in systems and processes. The public sector
company bagged three Vishwakarma Rashtriya
Puraskars for its innovations and modifications
in manufacturing systems and processes,
which resulted in saving Rs 50 lakh, according
to a BHEL press release. The company's Trichy
and Bangalore manufacturing plants have
also won two National Safety Awards for
the lowest accident frequency rate.
Courtesy:
www.thehindubusinessline.com, September
19, 2006
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God's
own country is on the threshold of a banking
revolution. By September-end, Palakkad in
north Kerala will become the country's first
total banking district, with every household
having their own bank account. Around five
lakh families of the district are set to
flaunt their passbooks and in many cases
ATM cards too. The State-Level Bankers Committee
selected the district, about six months
back. Since then, there has been no looking
back for the officials. At first, surveys
were conducted to identify the families
that did not have accounts. Various banks
were set targets. They then launched a campaign
with the local panchayats and civic bodies
to inculcate a banking habit. Many resisted.
"What is the point in having an account
without money?" - was the most frequent
question. But soon, the people were won
over. In the last three months, around two
lakh fresh accounts have been opened in
the district. Some account-holders them
will also get credit cards as bonanza. "We
are really excited. After Palakkad, we will
target the remaining 11 districts," a spokesman
of the SLBC said. If all goes to plan, all
families in Kerala will have their account
by March 2008.
Courtesy: Hindustan
Times, September 17, 2006
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Everyone
Loves an India Stint
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Expats
are coming to India sans the hardship allowance.
The good old Rupee is enough to lure foreigners,
as they embrace Indian salaries with open
arms and that too at local hire packages.
This comes at a time when Indian wages are
witnessing a paradigm shift to gradually
converge with international standards. What
is aiding the process is the fact that an
India experience on their resumes is becoming
an attractive proposition for the global
workforce. The trend is becoming visible
at specific levels in various companies
such as Motorola, Infosys, Evalueserve and
GMR, said a cross section of HR executives
that ET spoke to. Industry observers feel
expats today are realising that an India
stint - from a growth and role perspective
- can offer them a huge value addition.
"India is a market of constant learning
and provides these expats with a foundation
for a global tomorrow," says Raghuram Reddam,
country head (HR), Motorola India. The story
is the same for Infosys, which is attracting
expats who are software engineers, at Indian
wages. TV Mohandas Pai, director (HR), Infosys
says, "Expats are being hired in a big way
at local salaries, particularly in two categories.
One where young expats want to work with
Indian companies for a few years because
they want to gauge the impact of a flat
world, and another at certain mid and senior
level positions in technical domain where
their compensation is becoming comparable
with local wages, anyway." With close to
30 expats on its rolls, KPO major Evalueserve
feels that positions for international analysts
are bringing expats to India in droves.
"It's not only at the entry level, but also
at middle management level that the salary
differential has started to lose relevance,"points
out Ashish Gupta, country manager of the
Gurgaon-based Evalueserve. As India offers
a level playing field for expats there is
a growing interest in the Indian economy,
which is full of diversity and ambiguity.
Says Sangeeta Sabharwal, CEO (executive
search), MaFoi. "As the importance of emerging
markets takes a front seat for expats they
are ready to don the India tag to gain a
critical edge." Also, the salary gap between
an Indian and an expat, say HR consultants,
is reducing dramatically from a ratio of
1:10 a few years back to 9:10 today.
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, September 15, 2006
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Brazil,
India Agree to Share Energy Technology
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The
leaders of Brazil and India - two of the
world's leading emerging markets - agreed
on Tuesday to share technology for deep-water
oil exploration and developing alternative
energy sources. Brazil's President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva and India's Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh also said they hoped for
a successful conclusion to the WTO's Doha
round of talks on reaching a global trade
pact, which collapsed in July. The two men
signed a host of accords in areas from trade
to security in a move to deepen their bilateral
relationship. Both countries are members
of what economists call the BRIC group of
top developing economies, which also includes
China and Russia. They have also led the
G20 group of developing nations in the Doha
round. Under the accords, they formed a
joint biofuel committee to look at more
efficient and cheaper energy sources, especially
biofuels. Brazil is a world leader in both
areas. They made no specific mention of
cooperating on nuclear technology, although
India needs Brazil's support to gain access
to US civilian nuclear technology. In March,
US President George W Bush agreed to allow
India to access nuclear power technology
even though India has not signed an international
nonproliferation treaty and knows how to
make nuclear bombs. The deal must be approved
by the US Congress and also the Nuclear
Suppliers Group of 45 nations led by Brazil.
Singh said both countries were united in
their desire for the Doha Round to reach
a successful conclusion. Talks stalled in
July as rich and poor nations failed to
close ground on cutting domestic farm subsidies
and opening up market access. At a meeting
in Rio de Janeiro last weekend, top officials
from the G20, Europe, Japan and the United
States agreed to resume the talks but set
no date. Singh, who was accompanied by about
50 businessmen, will meet South Africa's
President Thabo Mbeki in Brasilia on Wednesday
at the first summit of the recently formed
India-Brazil-South Africa alliance. India
is the world's largest democracy and Brazil
the fourth largest.
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, September 13, 2006
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New
Delhi Metro Line by Mid-November
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Though
it is slightly late by its own high standards,
the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation would in
a record period of just 26 months be commissioning
movement of trains on the new 2.81-km Barakhamba-Indraprastha
section of its Line 3 before the annually-awaited
India International Trade Fair begins on
November 14 this year. The new Delhi Metro
section is expected to considerably ease
vehicular movement around Pragati Maidan
during the fortnight-long fair as it would
provide people easy access to the exhibition
venue from all over the Capital. Instead
of getting caught in endless traffic jams
around Pragati Maidan, people will be able
to travel to the fair in the air-conditioned
comfort of fast metro trains. The construction
of the section -- which has one underground
station at Mandi House and two overhead
ones at Pragati Maidan and Indraprastha
-- had started in August 2004. According
to DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal, construction
of underground railway sections worldwide
takes about four years and elevated ones
around three years but the Corporation had
set itself a tight time-frame of just about
21 months to complete this corridor. ``The
original June 2006 target was actually unrealistic,''
he says. The new section, which rises from
around seven metres underground to a height
of over 20 metres over the short distance,
is now all set for inauguration in November
just before the mammoth trade fair. While
the civil work on and along the tracks is
almost complete, only the bridge that is
being constructed over the Indian Railways
line between Pragati Maidan and Indraprastha
stations remains to be completed. ``This
was an extremely difficult bridge to construct
as it spanned nearly 93 metres and the train
traffic was not stopped for a moment because
these lines provide the main link to eastern
India from Delhi,'' explain senior Delhi
Metro officials. With a train passing on
these lines every few minutes, most of the
construction activity took place at night.
Barring this bridge, which would be completed
this month, the tracks have been laid all
across the section and even the electrification
work is almost complete. Trial runs on the
section will start by October-end and thereafter
the track will be inspected by the Commissioner
for Railway Safety. As of now DMRC is operating
23 trains on Line 3 and since it would not
be getting any more train sets till mid-2007
there will not be any increase in their
numbers. Also, the peak frequency of trains
is expected to remain at five minutes as
at present even after the new section is
thrown open to traffic.
Courtesy:
The Hindu, September 13, 2006
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NRIs
Enjoy Highest Life Expectancy in US
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Asian
Americans, including Indian Americans, enjoy
the longest life expectancy of 84.9 years
in the United States, a new study has found.
The study, published in the PloS Medicine
magazine and conducted by the Harvard University's
Initiative for Global Health and its School
of Public Health, divided the US into eight
'Americas' based on race, location, population
density, per capita income and homicide
rates. Females among the Asian American
community in Bergen County, New Jersey,
enjoy the highest life expectancy of 91
years. Overall, Asian American females have
a life expectancy of 86.7 years. The 10.4
million-strong Asian Americans, with an
average per capita annual income of $21,566,
led the nearest group, the Northland low-income
rural whites, by 5.9 years. Third came the
Middle Americans, who form the majority
of the population in the US with 214 million,
with a life expectancy of 77.9 years. They
were followed by low-income Whites in Appalachia
and Mississippi (75 years), Western native
Americans (72.7 years), Black middle Americans
(72.9 years), Southern rural low-income
Blacks (71.2 years) and high-risk urban
Blacks (71.1 years). A team of eight researchers
led by Dr. Christopher J.L. Murray conducted
the study.
Courtesy:
The Times of India, September 12, 2006
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Gandhi's
Path of Non-Violence Remembered
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Peace
activists and lawmakers have gathered here
together to highlight Mahatma Gandhi's path
of non-violence as an effective weapon of
counter terrorism. "We have to stop this
madness and the only way is to adopt non-violence,"
said Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma
Gandhi, at a rally marking the fifth anniversary
of the 9/11 attacks which left more than
2,700 people dead. "Let us follow the path
Gandhi showed us 100 years ago on this very
a path of non-violence to right wrongs,"
said the 72-year-old junior Gandhi at the
rally at the historic Lincoln Memorial grounds
in Washington. Monday's rally at Washington
also coincided with Gandhiji's first non-violence
campaign against racial discrimination in
South Africa. Democratic law maker from
the House of Representatives John Lewis
took the opportunity to push for non violence
as an instrument and mechanism of foreign
policy and called on nations "to push for
peace and lay down their tools and instruments
of violence and war". A fervent critic of
US President George W Bush Lewis argued
that violence is "obsolete as a tool of
our foreign policy". Law maker from Maryland
Chris Van Hollen recalled Gandhi confronting
injustice "head on" through non violence.
The Democratic law maker had lived and studied
in India when his father was a foreign service
officer. The rally at the Lincoln Memorial
was preceded by a conference titled "Non-Violence
in an age of terrorism", both of which were
organised by the Tennessee based Gandhi
Institute which is pushing for a curriculum
in public schools in the United States and
Canada on non violence.
Courtesy:
Hindustan Times, September 12, 2006
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Matrix
Founder Prasad Set to Get Into The Groove
at Mylan
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Matrix
founder N Prasad, who has built an enterprise
valued at $1bn in about five years, is in
no mood to put his feet up and relax. Mr
Prasad, who will join the Mylan board and
executive management team as head of global
strategies, describes his new role "much
bigger and more strategic in nature" and
is keeping his entrepreneurial options alive
and open. US-based Mylan announced on August
28, '06, that it would acquire 71.5% controlling
stake in Secunderabad-based Matrix Labs.
In a chat with ET on life after Mylan, the
serial M&A chaser Nimmagadda Prasad said:
"For so long, we have been in the buying
side of the M&A game all along. Now, we
have gained experience on the selling side
too. This is a new experience and challenge
for me. I am back to becoming an employee
now." Matrix had so far achieved scale on
the M&A platform. "With Mylan, we have moved
on to a much bigger scale at a global level,"
the founder promoter says. Though he is
yet to see the colour of his money, the
founder stands to gain about Rs 550 crore
by selling 12% of his 17.10% stake in the
pharma company to Mylan at the rate of Rs
306 per share. The immediate priority for
Mr Prasad is to close the transaction and
achieve integration between the two companies.
"Matrix is a core activity as far as I am
concerned. I am still the second largest
investor after Mylan. Even pre-Mylan, I
was the second largest investor in the company,"
he says. He describes Mylan as a good culture
fit for Matrix. "In fact, it is a mirror
image of Matrix," he says. He is confident
of a very active role in the new scheme
of things and that the culture and DNA of
Matrix will remain intact. Ask him about
his entrepreneurial options and he says:
"There is no boundary for an entrepreneur
and for him, the world is the market place.
I will look at anything that is meaningful."
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, September 09, 2006
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Indian
Navy Heads For a World Record
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In
what is described as first of its kind,
a 10-member team of Indian Navy will Ski
Traverse to the South Pole in December.
This is going to be a world record for the
armed forces as this would be first of its
kind to reach the remotest geographical
corner of the world since 1912. According
to a release from the integrated headquarters
of the ministry of defence (Navy), the team
will face inhospitable weather conditions,
which include wind speed averaging 100-150
km per hour, katabatic winds of 50-60 kms
per hour and cold ranging from -10 degrees
to -35 degrees. "The team would be cross-country
skiing over a distance of about 200-kms
while manually pulling sleds weighing in
excess of 140 kg. In most places the rate
of progress would be excruciatingly slow
and brutally exhausting as sleds and loads
would have to be lifted and manually hauled
across the ice waves," the release adds.
Chief of Naval staff, Admiral Arun Prakash,
who announced the expedition, said that
the proposed Antarctica expedition is a
landmark venture for the country and the
Navy. "Representing a microcosm of India,
the expedition will carry the hopes and
aspirations of our countrymen and reflect
the qualities of team spirit and an indomitable
will that our fine service embodies," he
added.
Courtesy:
The Asian Age, September 09, 2006
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Made
in China, Marketed by India, Inc.
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Made
in China, Marketed by India Inc. Increasingly
that's the sweet secret that Indian marketers
are resorting to. Cheaper Chinese goods
are proving to be too good to resist for
Indian companies, so now they're going the
whole hog - sourcing finished goods from
China, importing them into the country via
South-East Asia and rebranding them to sell
in India. "This trend of companies sourcing
finished products and rebranding them has
been increasing steadily over the past six
months or so," says T. Shivakumar, group
director (Asia-South), Ariba. The company,
a specialised procurement firm, has helped
Indian companies source goods worth Rs 2,000
crore in the past few years from China.
A fairly wide variety of companies are marketing
finished Chinese goods in India. These include
furnishing companies like Godrej and Usha
Furnitures, which have sourced almost their
entire range of modular furniture from China,
and Dabur, which has sourced Chinese aerosol
cans for its Odonil brand and honey for
its Dabur Honey brand. Other companies marketing
Chinese goods include Crompton Greaves,
Archies and La Opala, say sourcing companies.
Companies with a strong distribution network
have also taken to the China route for starting
a new product line. For instance, the RPE
Group, a Rs 1,000-crore group which is a
distributor for Nippo Batteries and television
sets, has imported finished infant-care
products from China over the past one year
with the help of B2B portal indiamart.com.
The group plans to leverage their nation-wide
distribution system to sell the products
under the brand name Purple Turtle. Supply
chain efficiencies that specialised sourcing
companies have brought to the sourcing game
has changed the cost structure dramatically.
The landed price, or the net price of goods
after import duties and transportation,
is lower by nearly 40-50% compared to goods
sold by Indian manufacturers, particularly
for durables. The net savings for companies
work out between 10-15% by sourcing directly
from China, even after stringent checks
for quality. Says Jude Magima, vice-president
(supply chain management) Dabur, "We engage
an independent agency to perform quality
checks at source, and then we check for
quality locally as well."
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, September 08, 2006
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`Demand
For Indian Knowledge Workers in Netherlands'
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There
is a huge demand for knowledge workers from
India to work in the Netherlands in industries
such as information, communication and technology
(ICT), biotech and pharmaceutical, according
to Mrs Karien Van Gennip, Netherlands Minister
for Foreign Trade. "We need more knowledge
workers from India," she told newspersons.
According to Mrs Gennip, in May this year
the Netherlands relaxed its regulations
to attract knowledge workers and since then
about 160 visas have been issued to knowledge
workers from India. "We looked at visa-related
issues in the last one year and relaxed
some of our regulations. It is now easy,
quick and transparent to get work visas,"
she said. The Dutch Minister said bilateral
trade between India and Netherlands was
about Euro 2.2 billion. Of this India's
exports to Netherlands was Euro 1.3 billion
and import from Netherlands was Euro 900
million. "We need to consolidate this further
and this is the main purpose of my visit
to India along with a business delegation
of 30 people from the Netherlands," she
said. According to Mrs Gennip, Netherlands
offers an easy gateway for Indian exporters
to tap the 450 million affluent consumers
in the European Union. There is no major
paper work involved to enter the Union through
the Netherlands. The Minister said she wants
to strengthen business relationship between
the two countries in areas such as ICT,
agriculture, biotech, water management and
infrastructure. The Netherlands, which is
the partner country at Connect 2006 (this
year's ICT event of Tamil Nadu), would highlight
at the event the success of mobile phone
penetration and Internet penetration in
her country, she said. According to Mr E.F.
Ch. Niehe, Netherlands Ambassador to India,
the Rotterdam Port Authority plans to advise
major ports in India on large-scale modernisation.
The authority just started work, he said
without elaborating.
Courtesy:
www.thehindubusinessline.com, September
08, 2006
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Hyderabad
Boy Makes it to Guinness
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The
wonder kid has finally done it. Eleven-year-old
Nishchal Narayanam has got an entry into
the Guinness Book of World Records in the
`Most Random Objects Memorised' category.
He broke the record of his own teacher,
Jayasimha Ravirala, who made it to the Guinness
Book for memorising 200 objects in December
2005 in Hyderabad. Nischal made the record
of memorising 225 random objects without
seeing them in the presence of 15 eminent
judges from various fields on August 20.
Not just that, he went a step ahead, as
he could also relate a random object to
its number, give the names in correct order
for a series of numbers and also tell them
in the reverse order. Younger son of industrialist
N. Nageshwara Rao and Dr. Padmavathy, Nischal
studies in Class 6 in Geetanjali School.
The boy has a talent in the art of Ganitavadhanam
too and gave his maiden performance at Ravindra
Bharathi two years ago. He has also penned
a VI volume book and created a Primary Math
Lab to simplify the concept of Mathematics.
The list of accolades for Nishchal does
not end here. He has received felicitations
from premier educational institutions and
other art and literary organisations both
in India and abroad. His expertise in blind
fold chess is amazing as his surprise moves
criss-crossing the chess board and checkmating
the opponent are driven by his sheer concentration
and visualisation. Nishchal considers his
mother the driving force behind him. Although
the little master has not decided upon his
ultimate goal in life, he wants to set many
such records.
Courtesy:
The Hindu, September 08, 2006
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ICAI
to Set up Accounting Body in UAE
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In
what is seen as a major global recognition
of the growing prowess of chartered accountant
professionals from India, the Institute
of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)
has signed a memorandum of understanding
with United Arab Emirates Government to
set up a professional accounting body there.
The ICAI would develop curriculum, modules,
and skill sets for accounting professionals
there as per the MoU. Inaugurating a continuing
professional education seminar on `practice
management organised' by the Mangalore branch
of ICAI here on Thursday, the President
of the Institute, T. N. Manoharan, said
the institute had been persuading the UAE
Government to set up a professional accounting
body for the last three to five years. The
stock market there was booming and the flow
of international investments was alarmingly
high. Even the cash rich corporates across
the world were increasingly looking at this
part of the world to mobilise funds, he
said, and added that all this economic activity
needed auditing and accounting by way of
setting up a professional accounting body
with a training module. Mr. Manoharan said
the institute signed the MoU with the Centre
for Excellence for Applied Research and
Training, Ministry of Education, Government
of UAE, in the presence of their Education
Minister on August 25. The ICAI had set
up similar professional bodies in Nepal
and other countries, he said. Noting that
a delegation of the institute called on
the Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram
in New Delhi recently to discuss about professional
issues, Mr. Manoharan said the Finance Minister,
convinced by the ICAI's abilities, had directed
the Central Board of Direct Taxes and Central
Board of Excise and Customs not to issue
any circular, notification or clarification
without taking the views of the institute
henceforth.
Courtesy:
The Hindu, September 08, 2006
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Percentage
of Women Pilots Highest in India
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The
country may have alarming statistics on
female foeticide , dowry deaths and literacy
rates among women, but its aircraft cockpits
have started speaking a different story.
In the last one year or so, with the sudden
increase in number of pilots in India, the
male-female ratio of pilots employed by
airlines has also underwent a significant
change. The percentage of women pilots in
India has far surpassed the global average.
According to International Society of Women
Airline Pilots (ISA+21), the percentage
of women pilots globally is 5.88 %. Compare
that to India, where the conservative estimate
of women pilots is now about 11 %. Though
no agency or organisation in India has data
on gender ratio for the country's pilots,
statistics gathered from airlines and the
pilot's ground training exams held in July,
show that the percentage of women employed
as airline pilots or taking up a career
as a pilot in India is almost double that
of the global percentage. Though no agency
or organisation in India has data on gender
ratio for the country's pilots, statistics
gathered from airlines and the pilot's ground
training exams held in July, show that the
percentage of women employed as airline
pilots or taking up a career as a pilot
in India is almost double that of the global
percentage.
Courtesy:
The Times of India, September 08, 2006
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Surat
Floods Impact Global Diamond Trade
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The
world's biggest diamond company, De Beers,
on Wednesday said floods in Surat, among
other reasons, have dampened global demand
for uncut diamonds in the second half of
the year, even as burgeoning private wealth
in India stoked demand in the first half.
"It's a difficult set of circumstances,"
an agency report quoted De Beers MD Gareth
Penny as having said in Cape Town, South
Africa, on Wednesday. "Our business is enormously
centered on interest rates," he said, adding
that floods in Gujarat have "slowed down"
the country's diamond industry. Rising global
borrowing costs and increased diamond prices
have sapped appetite for luxury goods, leaving
gem cutters with bloated inventories and
weakening demand for De Beers' rough stones.
That has been compounded by floods in Gujarat,
which closed the world's largest cutting
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