I still believe that it is a good thing that think tanks are mushrooming in Delhi. They provide a platform for discussion, even if they shed more heat than light. With Parliament almost incapable of serious debate, informed discussion and civilised discourse, where does this nation get its intellectual churn, asks Mohan Guruswamy.
Infosys CEO S Kris Gopalakrishnan on Wednesday said that the IT major was looking at acquisitions in various geographies and has earmarked $450-500 million for the purpose.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to discuss the impact of global demand contraction on Indian economy with industry leaders in New Delhi on Saturday, ahead of the G-20 summit in London next week.
American investments in West Bengal are likely to suffer to a certain extent due to the Singur issue.
Three public sector companies are planning to set up 60-80 megawatt solar plants with an investment of Rs 1,000-1,200 crore (Rs 10-12 billion). The projects will come up in Rajasthan, Punjab and the Leh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Web is becoming an increasingly important resource to many aspects of life like education, employment, government, commerce, health care and recreation. It is used for receiving and providing information and interacting with society. Hence, it is essential that it be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. An accessible Web also benefits others, including people with changing abilities due to aging.
Industry bodies Confederation of Indian Industry and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry have asked for cut in interest rates to spur the sagging economy while presenting 100-day action plans to the government on Friday. Faced with high borrowing rates and demand slowdown,industry chambers have presented separate 100-day action plans to the government asking for steps to restore the economy back on high growth trajectory.
The country's largest software exporter, Tata Consultancy Service, on Monday said some Satyam Computer clients have turned to the Tata company on their own, adding it would not approach the clients of the scam-tainted firm.
For achieving $30 billion, the country would need over $11 billion FDI in the last five months of the fiscal in the midst of a global credit freeze. Riding on the back of impressive inflows of $25 billion in 2007-08, the government had aimed at $35 billion FDI for the current fiscal.
The world's largest mobile operator by revenue, Vodafone, which operates in India with a joint venture with Essar Group, on Monday said it will invest more in India as it sees more opportunities in the country.
A day before the second meeting of the new Satyam Computer Services board, newly-appointed director Tarun Das said the priority of the six-member team would be to protect the interest of employees, customers and investors.
Former CII president R Sashsayee, Jamshed Godrej of the Godrej Group and Suresh Neotia, Chairman of the Gujarat Ambuja, will be among the small group of industrialists meeting the prime minister. Besides the Satyam saga, the World Bank has initiated action against five Indian entities, including Wipro Technologies, for violating the guidelines of the multilateral lending agency on checking fraud and corruption.
India Inc said the Foreign Trade Policy would give a significant push to manufactured goods and agriculture- and labour-intensive exports.
The Indian automobiles and auto components industry is likely to create additional employment for 25 million people by 2016, said experts at an auto industry conference in in Ahmedabad.
The private banks won laurels because they pulled the banking system out of a decades-long stupor, combining technology and aggressive marketing to win customers. Now the shoe is on the other foot
"Overall we are beginning to see some hopeful signs. . . in a number of sectors we have seen some changes... cement, steel, capital goods... I don't think 5.1 per cent is what we are going to achieve," Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar said here at the CII Annual session in New Delhi.
The Reserve Bank is in touch with various banks to understand why lending rates are not coming down despite the central bank cutting policy rates, even as the bankers expressed inability to lower the rates when bond yields remain high.
The delegation held meetings with the state department and the White House, besides meeting the US corporate leadership, policy makers and think tanks. Prominent among those the delegation met included Jim Steinberg, the Deputy Secretary of State at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of state department.
Infosys, one of the biggest employers in the country, has said that all general hiring in the company has come to a standstill as business has slowed down considerably. Though Nilekani did not give out any numbers, it is understood that the Nasdaq-listed company is resorting to need-based recruitment, had made offers to 18,000 students of the 2009-10 batch from different campuses.
Speaking on the sidelines of CII annual regional meeting in Kolkata on Tuesday, Tata Steel group CFO Koushik Chatterjee confirmed that production cut continues to be around 40 per cent. Exuding confidence that the company will be able to save 600 million pounds by March as envisaged, Chatterjee said, "The cost saving measures are on track at Corus in line with the target."
Enthused by government's commitment to act proactively and ensure more liquidity to promote economic growth, ICICI Bank managing director K V Kamath on Monday promised to review interest rate in the next few days.
The country needed to focus on applications for education, e-governance, health, food and developing local applications in future, he said in his keynote address through tele-conferencing at the CII organised `Comtel 2008' on the theme `Breaking Barriers, Bridging the Divide' in Bangalore on Wednesday.
"We two sides support free trade. . . this (easing of ban) is a very concrete sign to show that China and India like to work together to tackle the financial crisis and to achieve common development," Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yan told reporters in New Delhi at a CII function.
An 80-member strong Indian delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry will participate in the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from 23-27 January 2008.
The government plans to start 100 centres in two years, which will also become a career counselling centre for job-seekers.
Says Satyam is not a commodity. B K Modi of Spice had earlier pushed for e-auction, for its transparency.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday asked the industry to hold the price line, failing which the government may take administrative measures to control the soaring inflation, hovering above seven per cent mark now. However, he said the government feels that fiscal and monetary measures to control inflation are sufficient at present. Among the monetary measures to control prices, the Reserve Bank on Tuesday announced a hike in CRR by 25 basis to 8.25 per cent.
"It defies logic, one is not sure whether there is much more to it than is written in the letter and whether the letter contains all the facts," KPMG chief operating officer Richard Rekhy said on the sidelines of a CII function in New Delhi. It is too simplistic at the moment to believe that the kind of thing that has happened in the company is done by Raju alone, he said.
Stressing the need for the government to take more steps for boosting growth, noted industrialist and Godrej Group chief Adi Godrej on Thursday said the Indian economy needs a lot more liquidity to sustain its growth momentum.
'The ban on Chinese imports is a suicidal step.' 'This will result not only in economic depression, but in a chaotic situation.'
There is a need to set up independent regulatory authorities on energy, transport and urban infrastructure at the state level to ensure smooth implementation of infrastructure projects, especially those which are taken up on the PPP (public private partnership) model, said Vinayak Chatterjee, co-chairman of the CII National Council on Infrastructure and chairman of Feedback Ventures Limited.
Allocations for new projects have diminished in relative importance, but policy pronouncements continue to have an impact. To come straight to the point on outlays, the table shows that against the country's requirement of $100 million per annum (as per the 11th Five-Year Plan), the Union Budget is able to provide only about 5-6 per cent of the requirement in 2008-09. How does this 5-6 per cent come about?
In its morning update, the Union health ministry said the total number of positive cases has reached 2,16,919 with a record spike of 9,304 new cases since Wednesday 8 am across the country, while the death toll has increased to 6,075 with 260 more fatalities in this period. A PTI tally of figures announced by different states and union territories, as of 9.50 pm, showed a higher number of confirmed cases across the country at 2,17,389 and the death toll at 6,233.
Ashok Soota has cited 4 challenges that India Inc is facing. He stressed on a robust risk management strategy for Indian companies. He also stated responding to changes in market environment, resolving legal and regulatory differences and encouraging leadership and accepting cultural diversity as other challenges. Highlighting the challenges faced by the India Inc, experts said globalisation is essential to pursue growth opportunities and leverage comparative advantage.
India's economic condition is expected to improve by 2022 though the gap between the rich and the poor would widen, said C K Prahalad, management consultant and author of corporate strategy, including The Core Competence of the Corporation, said on the sidelines of the CII press conference.
The country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, on Thursday said that "Tata Nano" may have a marginal impact on the sales of its entry level small car Maruti 800 but ruled out cutting its price.
The country's largest bike maker, Hero Honda, on Thursday said the launch of the Rs 1 lakh car 'Nano' will not have any impact on the two-wheeler industry.
The removal of tariffs would result in health insurance becoming the second-largest business for general insurance companies over the next three years.The health insurance premium which stood at Rs 675 crore in 2001-2002 has risen to Rs 3,200 crore by March 31, 2007.
"Higher the number of creative minds, the faster India will transform into a developed nation," the former President told participants of "Imagine and Innovate", a contest for teens organised by the CII in Chennai.
Indian clean technology businesses are finally catching the attention of investor community. New Ventures India - founded by World Resources Institute and CII-Godrej Green Business Centre - aims to fund 50 entrepreneurs in this segment by 2010 with a target investment of $250 million
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