Visiting trade representatives from the European Union (UN) at the fourth joint business summit on Friday said India's manufacturing and knowledge industries would show the highest growth in mutual trade. This success, said Mr Arun Maira, chairman of the Boston Consulting Group, can be based on industries linking growth with business models tailored to Indian environments. "Global management and global practices have a place in India, as demonstrated by the success of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) firms. For further success, EU firms need to develop local management practices," he said. "India's knowledge economy is already acknowledged as a highly sophisticated ICT hub. Its engineering manpower is also well-known.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, November 29, 2003

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Indian American politics professor Suresh Renjen Bald was named Oregon Professor of the Year here at a ceremony honouring 43 top college educators in the nation. The Carnegie Foundation made selections from a pool of 400 nominees for the Advancement of Teaching, an independent Washington-D.C.-based policy and research center. Prof. Bald is the seventh Willamette University professor to have received the award in 13 years. Willamette University is located in Oregon state. Professor Bald told reporters here that as a student in India, she thought that the best way to learn was by interacting with teachers. "She definitely deserves it," said Jim Peterson, a senior politics major who has taken two of Bald's classes." Surprised she hasn't won it before... It's a great testament to her as a professor and as a person.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, November 27, 2003

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London: British corporate leaders say Indian call centre workers are better than those in Britain but news on Sunday led to more hand-wringing here.

Students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai defeated the reigning champions of "University Challenge", Britain 's popular quiz show.

The champion team from Birkbeck College of the University of London was crushed 150 to 85 on Mastermind, the Indian version of the British show.

The Telegraph called it a "humiliating defeat at the hands of electrical engineers from India.

"Birkbeck's defeat on the show - broadcast to millions on the BBC World satellite television service - was all the more bruising for national pride because so many of the questions were about British culture and history," the paper reported.

Birkbeck was one of four British teams to take part in the Indian version of the contest, which is one of the biggest hits on BBC World.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 24, 2003

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A road in New York is being named "Kalpana Chawla Way" after the Indian American astronaut who died when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over the Texas sky in February.

The Community Board No.3 in Queens voted a motion to rename a part of 74th Street in Jackson Heights "Kalpana Chawla Way".

"The motion will now go to the City Council in the form of a bill, and passage by the council is a mere formality," said community board treasurer Vasantrao N. Gandhi.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, November 23, 2003

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New York, November 21: Madhur Jaffrey, the 70-year-old thespian with a knack for cooking delectable dishes, has been chosen for Britain's highest civilian award: the Commander of the British Empire (CBE).

This is for the first time that an Indian-American has won the prestigious award.

''It is very emotional to be honoured by the Queen,'' said Jaffrey. Jaffrey, a household name in the UK, appears regularly in the soap Eastenders and is credited with being one of the gourmand chefs to introduce Indian cooking to the British palate.

Though not as widely known in the US as in the UK, Jaffrey's cookbooks have been bestsellers here, She has also won a James Beard Award for 'Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.' She has also written for The New Yorker, The New York Times and Gourmet.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, November 22, 2003

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Ahmedabad: The sprawling IIM campus is vibrant with a new-found spirit. And, it is not just about Confluence, the country's biggest B-school event, set to begin on Thursday. t is about a giant leap the institute is set to take towards the biggest dream that India's best B-school has dreamt of - an international status among management schools of the world, a place among the hallowed Ivy League. Confluence has attracted as many as 20 B-schools from four continents across the globe and, has given this dream a fillip with its organisers preparing to leverage the occasion to make IIM-A a "global brand."

"As many as seven rating agencies, of which two are international, have put us as Asia's number one business school. A survey by The Economist rated us 45th in the list of 50 top B-schools in the world. Our aim is to find a place among the top 20. Confluence is a part of that strategy and that is the larger objective of inviting international institutions," says IIM-A director Bakul Dholakia. (Can the IIMs be rated at par with the best B-schools of the world?)

And, he has a reason to be optimistic. The list of participating schools includes MIT Sloan, Stanford, London Business School, Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia University, Haas School of Business (University of California), Stern School of Business (New York University), the National University of Singapore and Lahore Management University, Pakistan, joining in.

A significant contribution to IIM-A's growing brand equity overseas also lies in the achievements of its alumni - the most recent example being Raghuram Rajan's appointment as chief economist of IMF - increasing the visibility of institute's alumni in corporate Europe and America.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 19, 2003

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Conde Naste Traveller recently rated India among the top 10 leisure destinations in the world. The Bali bombings have diverted tourist traffic away from Indonesia. And the government's open-sky policy (during December-February) seems to be working. Several foreign airlines have decided to add nearly 4,000 seats a week for travellers to India, sensing the opportunity. As a tourist destination this winter, India is hot.

Foreign airlines - including Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Malaysian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Gulf Air and Delta - have asked for permission to fly into India more frequently.

Says Emma Campbell, manager (Delhi and northern India), Cathay Pacific, "We have asked for permission to introduce additional flights from both Delhi and Mumbai." The airline is looking at introducing 15-20 flights during the season.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, November 19, 2003

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Kolkata: Union commerce minister Arun Jaitley today hinted at extension of special economic zone (SEZ) status to the services sector as well.

"We are keen on accommodating services sector in SEZs. But modalities have to be worked out before doing that. We have asked the state governments to give us suggestions on formation of such SEZs," Mr Jaitley, while inaugurating Manikanchan, the Rs 25-crore gems and jewellery park developed by West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) here, said.

Manikanchan has already been awarded SEZ status by the Centre.

On the other hand, the strengthening of rupee against dollar has become a cause of concern for the export community. More so as the appreciation of rupee is adversely affecting the country's export growth, Mr Jaitley said.

Talking to newspersons here today, Mr Jaitley, however, admitted of some positive signs that may boost the country's exports. "Recovery of the US economy in the third quarter would definitely be a boon for the nation's exporters," he added.

The export growth rate in the first half (April-September) of the current financial year was around 10%. "Despite several problems, India had been able to achieve export growth rate of 18% in the last financial year. This year's target has been set at 12%," Mr Jaitley said.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 19, 2003

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There is much flutter among rich Indians, who appear in the 'rich lists' every year. The flamboyant Indian-origin entrepreneur Anil Agarwal is to become one of the wealthiest businessmen on the London Stock Exchange when he floats his mining company Vedanta this week.

The float of $770 million worth Vedanta, 100 per cent owned by the Agarwal family, will be the biggest listing in the City this year and will be the first primary listing of an Indian firm on the London market.

The Sunday Times said once his other assets are included Agarwal should appear in the billionaire league and be one of Britain's top 20 richest individuals. He owns India's Sterlite and has been one of the successes in that country's privatisation programme, bagging Balco and Hindustan Zinc.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, November 18, 2003

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London: Away from designer minimalism characteristic of most London hotels, an NRI hotelier decided to go all out and introduce opulence to the city Seven years and over £40 million later, The Bentley opened here last month with 64 luxuriously designed rooms and suites. The crowning glory of the hotel in the quiet South Kensington area is its £4,000 imperial suite which comes with a grand piano and dining room for up to 12 guests and a classic Bentley at the disposal of the special guest.

"This is a dream project and I wanted the very best of everything. The idea is to pamper our guests to such an extent that they will never want to try any another hotel," said Joginder Sanger, also the owner of Washington Hotel on Park Lane, popular with Bollywood stars and Indian politicians.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, November 17, 2003

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Turn the corner at 28th Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, and get ready for a sensory feast. As the tantalizing smell of hot Sambhar competes furiously with the fragrance of Boti kabab you may even want to double-check the New York address on the storefronts. Could this really be in the heart of New York City- two blocks full of curry shops on the hill?

Tucked in between Gramercy Park, which was once the heart of New York's theatre district and south of Murray Hill is where you can find the two blocks which today boasts of over 15 Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi restaurants within a space of 100 metres. Chennai Garden, Udipi, Pongal, Haandi, and the quintessential Curry-in-a-Hurry all line the sidewalk to join hands to form Curry Hill.

In 1944, K. Kalustyan opened the doors of New York 's most famous house of spices at 123 Lexington Avenue. Housed where Chester A. Arthur was sworn in as the US President in September 1881, the news about 'Kalustyans' soon spread far and wide bringing Indian immigrants from far off states like Ohio and Massachusetts into the Big Apple in search of the rare but all important Indian spices. The success of the distinctive spice store ushered in many more that started specializing in Indian spices, groceries and sweets.

Curry Hill because of its convenient location attracts South Asians and non- South Asians from far and wide and of all lifestyles. "I used to have a 'cabs day' when I was the owner of Madras Mahal-one day when the food was totally free for cabbies in New York," says Shinde. New York 's legendary cab drivers are popular customers at the non-vegetarian restaurants as well, making regular stops for their boti kababs and Naans to keep them going till the wee hours of the morning and keeping the shutters open at the restaurants till late at night much in the Dhaba tradition. Brushing shoulders with the cabbies are UN officials, diplomats, American Indophiles, and Indians pining for desi- food-- all converging on these two blocks in Manhattan.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 17, 2003

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His mother was a hospital cleaner and father a truck driver, but, at 33, Paramjit Dhanda is already a member of the British House of Commons, one of its youngest MPs. Dhanda is the new face of the successful young Asian in Britain - sophisticated, forceful and totally British except for looks. He is the other end of the spectrum represented by Lord Swraj Paul for instance - the leading industrialist whose contribution to the British economy and society has been acknowledged with his nomination to the House of Lords.While the ethnic Indian community in Britain has been known as the most prosperous among all other ethnic groups, it has mostly stayed away from politics, barring a few exceptions. Even today, out of 659 members of the House of Commons, only 12 are non-whites, of which six are of Asian origin.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.com, November 14, 2003

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In Jules Verne's fictional odyssey Journey to the Center of the Earth, Prof. Lidenbrock and his nephew Axel descent into a volcano in Iceland to explore the innards of our planet. In seeking to offset the shortcoming, an international partnership of scientists and research institutions on Wednesday named India-born geoscientist Manik Talwani to head a multi-billion dollar programme called the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. The project, described as the largest, most ambitious geoscience venture ever undertaken, aims to explore the evolution and structure of the Earth. Unlike Prof. Lidenbrock, Dr Talwani won't be popping inside a volcano. Instead, he will oversee work on two state-of-art ships that will sail the world and sink its drills into the ocean floor at different sites to come up with answers on everything from continent formations to how oceans developed. Dr Talwani is an alumnus of Delhi University and is currently a tenure track Schlumberger Professor of Geophysics at Houston's Rice University, where there was much celebration yesterday at the prestigious announcement. "Manik's appointment is testament not only to the groundbreaking work he has been doing in Earth Sciences, but also to his proven leadership over the years in public-private research partnerships," said Rice President Malcolm Gillis.

Courtesy: The Times of India, November 14, 2003

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Unesco has declared the Indian tradition of Vedic chanting as an "intangible heritage of humanity". At a meet of jury members in Paris on 7 November, the Unesco director-general, Mr Koichiro Matsuura, announced that the tradition of chanting of Vedas in India is an outstanding example of heritage in the form of cultural expression. The Unesco proclamation, according to a Union culture ministry official, said the preservation of oral tradition of Vedic chanting has great significance as a unique cultural heritage in the current era of globalization and modernization when cultural diversity is under threat. Unesco's jury comprised a distinguished international panel. Vedic chanting made the final cut along with some other cultural heritage forms of various countries out of the 80 entries received from across the world, the official said. The Unesco declaration is expected to bring international recognition to the tradition of Vedic chanting, which has existed for centuries encoding the wisdom of the Vedas through extraordinary memorisation techniques. The culture department had recommended the Vedic chanting tradition to Unesco. The presentation was prepared by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.

Courtesy: The Statesman, November 13, 2003

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Brand India on the global map? It's bound to happen sooner than later. That was the mood of Day 2 of Ad Asia 2003, which saw the creme de la creme of the corporate world raising a toast to Brand India. Moving the idea of setting up a Brand India Foundation, which would be responsible for steering India to be among the top ten global brands by 2010, Mr. Birla, Chairman and Managing Director, Aditya Birla Group, called for using Indian intellectual capital as a platform to build Brand India. "I believe India's moment has arrived. India has every making of a 21st century miracle. In the New World, we cannot afford to ignore building Brand India. It is a commandment,' said Mr. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries. Drawing attention to India's successes and why the consumer should believe in Brand India, Mr Birla said, "GDP is growing at 8 per cent while the world average is about 3 per cent, Goldman Sachs predicts India to be the third largest economy in the world by 2050, over 35 per cent Silicon Valley start-ups are by Indians, and 100 Fortune 500 companies are outsourcing work to India.'' Mr. Birla was of the view that while Indian products had started leaving their mark on the global arena, this had to translate into greater value.

Courtesy: The Hindu, November 13, 2003

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Washington: As an electrical engineering graduate from Orissa's Sambalpur University, Surya Mohapatra never imagined he would gravitate one day to the area of medical diagnostics, much less head the Fortune 500 leader in the field. The change-over, announced by outgoing CEO Kenneth Freeman, will see Mohapatra take charge next May of a company ranked 391 in the Fortune 500 and 48 in the Business Week 50. He will be one of the very few India-born top executives of a Fortune 500 company, an honour he says he never really expected when he began life as one of seven children of an Orissa government employee. Mohapatra believes medical diagnostics is still very scattered and disorganized in India, although it has improved in recent times. Quest, he says, has no plans just yet for India because the company is at the moment focused very much on the US and "business models that work in the US may not work in India."

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 12, 2003

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The Swiss President on Thursday said his country is keen to have "brain exchanges" with India and not a "brain drain." The two sides signed agreements on Monday for cooperation in disaster management and science and technology and to explore prospects for diversifying bilateral cooperation in economic and other sectors. The Swiss President and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee held wide ranging talks on bilateral, regional and international issues. Terming India as an important country, the Swiss President, Mr Pascal Couchepin, said, "Instead of doing brain drain as other countries are trying to do, we do not want that. We want to have a brain exchange programme."

Courtesy: The Asian Age, November 11, 2003

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Circa 1937, much before the formation of Doctors without Borders (MSF), the Indian National Congress sent a group of five Indian doctors for the 'Indian Medical Aid Mission to China'. This was India's first overseas medical aid mission and was sent in response to Chinese General Chu Teh's appeal when that country was invaded by Japan. One of the doctors - Dwarkanath Kotnis - decided to stay back at the end of the mission. Though the UK has a significantly high proportion of medical professionals of Indian origin, the US is home to the largest number of Indian doctors outside India. According to some estimates, Indian-American physicians make up about 40,000 of the total 700,000 physicians in the country. Hospitals across the US have a significant number of Indian-American physicians - many of them working with premier medical institutions in the country like Johns Hopkins at Baltimore, Harvard Medical, the Mayo Clinic and Lenox Hill Hospital. Eileen Sheel, manager, media relations, at Cleveland Clinic, (one of the top five medical facilities according to US News) says that there are a number of Indians among the approximately 1,500 physicians at Cleveland Clinic, some of them in leadership positions. At the University of Chicago Hospitals, the chief of cardio-thoracic surgery, Dr Valluvan Jeevanandam, and the chairman of pathology, Dr Vinay Kumar, are of Indian origin. One should note though, that even if the numbers are highest in the US, it's across the Atlantic -- in the UK -- where the Indian doctors have had a longer history.

Courtesy: www.economictimes.com, November 11, 2003

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Fourteen is not an age at which you hone your entrepreneurial skills. But for Bangalore boy Suhas Gopinath, it was. Now, at 17, Suhas is the youngest CEO in the world, managing an IT firm, Globals Inc, along with three other friends. The 60-member team consists mostly of students, aged 17 to 22, divided between Bangalore and San Jose. Recently, when his company was offered a large outsourcing contract for Singapore and Hong Kong by the Indian arm of US-based Smith & Gale, the law did not allow him to sign it. One day in August, 2000, Suhas, studying in Class X at the Air Force School in Hebbal, was surfing the Net at a cyber cafe. He happened to hit a source code of MSN. That prompted him to learn more about HTML to design and launch his own website under the address of a US-based company, Network Solutions. After completing Class XII from Vidhya Mandir in Malleswaram, he has now applied for a two-year course in Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University. "But education alone will not make a good professional," he says.

Courtesy: The Times of India, November 11, 2003

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It feels great to be placed second at the mid-way stage of any tournament. The Hero Honda Masters is a special event and the feeling therefore is that much more special. Jeev Milkha Singh continues to lead the pack. Vijay Kumar and Pappan are tied-second with me. What is very encouraging is the fact that there are eight Indians in the top-ten. This tells you a lot about where India stands on the Asian golfing map. This is excellent news for golf. These boys and girls are the future of Indian golf and it is important to encourage them. Hero Honda Motors deserve a pat on the back for providing them the opportunity to watch the cream of Asian golf in their back-yards. It is now for them to put in the hard work and translate their dreams into reality.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, November 08, 2003

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The number is a new record for India, which for the second successive year stayed on top -- ahead of China with 64,757 -- as the country which sends the most number of students to the US, according to a report released by the Institute of International Education. The annual report, called Open Doors, shows that Indians now constitute 13 per cent of the total 586,323 international students who came to study in the US. The number of students coming to the US from India has shown a steady increase over the past decade, more than doubling from the year 1993-1994 when some 35,000 came in to make up 7 per cent of the international student population. The reasons for the growth, according to Prof. Jane E. Schukoske, Executive Director, US Educational Foundation in India, is that "Indians respect and invest in higher education as a pathway to family success and contribution to society".

"The increase in Indian students in the US is good news for both countries. Indian students are contributing talent to the US, and bring home cutting-edge skills to the Indian workforce," Prof Schukoske said in comments attached to the report. According to the Open Doors report, while there was an increase of about 8500 in the number of Indian students who came to the US from last year's total, there was a decline of around 10 per cent in the number of student from largely Muslim countries. The fall is attributed to the post 9/11 scenario.

Courtesy: The Times of India, November 06, 2003

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London newspapers have never devoted so much space to India as they are doing these days, reflecting the wide reader interest, and reports range from the growing Indian economy, the galloping IT industry, business, fashion design, music and the country's best cultural ambassador of all - Bollywood. And surprisingly, it is the white youth, men and women, who form the bulk of the audience and breakout into a jig when songs like Chaian, Chaian... electrify the stage. But it's the growing concern over job outsourcing that has Britons worried as they prepare to lose thousands of jobs - unofficial estimates put the figure at 200,000 by 2010 - to the former "subjects." "It's as if India has burst out into British consciousness," said Michael Binyon, a leader writer in The Times newspaper. "I can't put the finger on why but it's there." While IT has given India a new confidence, the economy, fashion design and Bollywood have all contributed to enhancing India's image, he said. Gerry McCrudden, a British diplomat who returned to London two months ago after a seven-year tour of duty abroad, the last three as first secretary (press and public affairs) at the British high commission in New Delhi, says he is struck by the all-pervasive interest about India. One offshoot of this has been the mushrooming of restaurants offering Indian cuisine. "But all the restaurants are not genuine," McCrudden discovered. "I went to one and ordered palak paneer and what was dished out was a thin gravy with grated cheese, not like the chunky paneer pieces you get in Delhi. "So I called the restaurant manager and asked in my best Hindi 'you are not from India, are you?'" He admitted he and his cooks were from Bangladesh.

Courtesy: The Times of India, November 06, 2003

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With the slump in the global technology behind it, the Indian software services sector can look forward to a rebound in business opportunities in the next few years. The fact that the Indian IT industry made the best of the tech slowdown -- by converting the adverse conditions into providing high quality services at lower costs -- has made it a favourite destination for outsourcing and off-shoring by global majors. Indian software firms in the small and medium enterprise segment must emulate the global services model of their global peers such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro to compete with the IT vendors of other countries to grab multi-million dollar contracts for sustaining their growth. With global IT majors like IBM, EDS and Accenture looking increasingly towards India for outsourcing their innovative requirements cost-effectively by setting up captive offshore development centres, the Indian software sector is bound to witness competition. "In such a scenario, Indian firms should consolidate their position by developing domain expertise across the verticals so they can not only deliver cost-effective services, but also provide innovative products/solutions to expand their client base," she added.

The latest IDC survey of the global tech industry has revealed that the customers' increasing comfort with off shoring and competitive dynamics have altered in favour of India's professional services firms. With global IT spending including hardware, software and services set to cross $800 billion in 2005 and $1 trillion by 2007, the prospects of outsourcing and off-shoring from countries like India are bright.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, November 05, 2003

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Bangalore: It majors Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services continued to dominate in the UK offshore market with over one third of Indian investment into Europe was concentrated in Britain. This was revealed at a seminar on UK Trade and Investment Opportunities in the UK software and IT services sector by Phil Codling, research manager from Ovum Holway, the largest Europe-based analyst firm covering telecom and technology sectors.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, November 04, 2003

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Two NRIs, Dinesh Dhamija in travel business and Tom Singh, head of a women's wear empire, are among the top 500 pay earners in the UK, media reports said. According to the Sunday Times Pay List 2003 revealed on Sunday, 53-year-old Dhamija and his wife Tani, set up Dabin Travel in 1980, followed by Flight bookers three years later. In 1996 a friend who had developed an internet booking engine persuaded him to try it out - and ebookers, the online travel company, was born. In 2002, Dhamija's salary was 3,32,771 pounds, and in November 2002 he sold 9.45 million pounds of shares. Dhamija, a new entrant in the top pay list is listed 80 with assets worth 9.783 million pounds. 54-year-old Tom Singh is listed 229 with assets worth 3.634 million. Last year he was 253 with 2.879 million pounds worth assets.

Courtesy: The Times of India, November 03, 2003