Serial Number 1

Portfolio Prime Minister and also In-Charge of the Ministries/Departments viz: Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Ministry of Planning Ministry of Water Resources Department of Atomic Energy

Name of Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 25

Department of Space Minister of Finance Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Minister of Defence Minister of Home Affairs Minister of Railways Minister of External Affairs Minister of Steel Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister of Health and Family Welfare Minister of Power Minister of Law and Justice Minister of New and Renewable Energy Minister of Urban Development Minister of Road Transport and Highways Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Minister of Textiles Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister of Information and Broadcasting Minister of Labour and Employment Minister of Human Resource Development, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Minister of Mines and Minister of Development of North Eastern Region Minister of Commerce and Industry Minister of Rural Development and Minister of

Shri Pranab Mukherjee Shri Sharad Pawar Shri A.K. Antony Shri P. Chidambaram Km. Mamata Banerjee Shri S.M. Krishna Shri Virbhadra Singh Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde Shri M. Veerappa Moily Dr. Farooq Abdullah Shri S. Jaipal Reddy Shri Kamal Nath Shri Vayalar Ravi Shri Dayanidhi Maran Shri Murli Deora Smt. Ambika Soni Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Shri Kapil Sibal Shri B.K. Handique Shri Anand Sharma Shri C.P. Joshi

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Serial Number 1 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Panchayati Raj Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Minister of Tourism Minister of Food Processing Industries Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Minister of Shipping Minister of Parliamentary Affairs/Minister of Water Resources Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Minister of Tribal Affairs

Kum. Selja Shri Subodh Kant Sahay Dr. M.S. Gill Shri G.K. Vasan Shri Pawan K. Bansal Shri Mukul Wasnik Shri Kantilal Bhuria

Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri M.K. Alagiri Ministers of State with Independent Charge Portfolio Ministry Civil Aviation Name of Minister Shri Praful Patel

Ministry of Coal and Ministry of Statistics and Shri Sriprakash Jaiswal Programme Implementation Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Ministry of Minority Shri Salman Khursheed Affairs Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry of Women and Child Development Ministry of Environment and Forests Ministers of State Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry of Railways Ministry of Home Affairs Ministry of Planning and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs Ministry of Commerce and Industry Ministry of Human Resource Development Ministry of Railways Ministry of Home Affairs Ministry of Textiles Ministry of Finance Ministry of Defence Ministry of Urban Development Shri Srikant Jena Shri E. Ahamed Shri Mullappally Ramachandran Shri V. Narayansamy Shri JyotiradityaScindia Smt. D. Purandeswari Shri K.H. Muniyappa Shri Ajay Maken Smt. Panabaka Lakshmi Shri Namo Narain Meena Shri M.M. Pallam Raju Shri Saugata Ray Shri Dinsha J. Patel Smt. Krishna Tirath Shri Jairam Ramesh

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

Ministry of Finance Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry of Steel Ministry of External Affairs Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Ministry of Labour and Employment Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Ministry of Power Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Ministry of Rural Development Ministry of Tourism Ministry of Shipping Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Ministry of Tribal Affairs Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Ministry of External Affairs Ministry of Water Resources Ministry of Rural Development Ministry of Rural Development

Shri S.S. Palanimanickam Shri Jitin Prasad Shri A. Sai Prathap Smt. Preneet Kaur Shri Gurdas Kamat Shri Harish Rawat Professor K.V. Thomas Shri Bharatsinh Solanki Shri Mahadev S. Khandela Shri Dinesh Trivedi Shri Sisir Adhikari Shri Sultan Ahmed Shri Mukul Roy Shri Mohan Jatua Shri D. Napoleon Dr. S. Jagathrakshakan Shri S. Gandhiselvan Shri Tusharbhai Chaudhary Shri Sachin Pilot Shri Arun Yadav Shri Pratik Prakashbapu Patil Shri R.P.N. Singh Shri Shashi Tharoor Shri Vincent Pala Shri Pradeep Jain Ms. Agatha Sangma

K. Rosaiah, Hon'ble Chief Minister, General Administration, Law and Order, PE and all other portfolios not allotted to other ministers P.Sabita Indra Reddy Home, Jails, Fire Services, Sainik Welfare, Printing and Stationery K Rosaiah Finance, Planning, Small Savings, Lotteries and Legislative Affairs D Prasadarao Revenue, Relief, Rehabilitation, ULC D Nagender Health and Family Welfare, APVVP and Hospital Services P Satyanarayana Arogyasri, Health Insurance and Medical Infrastructure P Sudarshan Reddy Medical Education N Raghuveera Reddy Agriculture, Agriculture Technology Mission, Horticulture, Sericulture, R.S.A.D P Lakshmaiah Major and Medium Irrigation V Sunitha Laxma Reddy Minor Irrigation J Geetha Reddy I and PR, Cinematography, FDC and Tourism A Rama Narayana Reddy Municipal Administration and Urban Development M Mukesh Goud B C Welfare Konda Surekha Women Development and Child Welfare, Disabled Welfare and Juvenile Welfare R Venkat Reddy Cooperation and Labour and Employment, Factories and Boilers J Krishna Rao Food, Civil Supplies, Legal Metrology and Consumer Affairs K Venkat Reddy IT, Youth Services and Sports S Vijayaramaraju Transport D Sridhar Babu Higher Education Damodar Raja Narasimha Marketing and Warehousing D K Aruna Small Scale Industries, Sugar, Khadi and Village Industries

Lok Sabha Members

1 2 3

Adilabad Amalapuram Anakapalli

Rathod,Shri Ramesh Harsha Kumar,Shri G.V. Hari,Shri Sabbam Reddy,Shri Anantha Venkatarami Deo,Shri V. Kishore Chandra S. Panabaka,Smt. Lakshmi Reddy,Shri Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy,Shri Jaipal Sudini Sivaprasad,Shri Naramalli Rao,Shri Kavuri Samba Siva

TDP INC INC

Anantapur

INC

Araku-ST

INC

Bapatla

INC

Bhongir

INC

8 9

Chelvella Chittoor

INC TDP INC

10 Eluru 11 Guntur 12 Hindupur 13 Hyderabad

Rao,Shri Sambasiva Rayapati INC Nimmala,Shri Kristappa Owaisi,Shri Asaduddin Reddy,Shri Y. S. Jagan Mohan Raju Pallam Mangapati,Shri Mallipudi Ponnam,Shri Prabhakar Rao,Shri Nama Nageswara TDP AIMIM

14 Kadapa

INC

15 Kakinada

INC

16 Karimnagar 17 Khammam

INC TDP

18 Kurnool

Reddy,Shri K. Jayasurya Prakash

INC

19 Machilipatnam 20 Mahabubabad

Rao,Shri Konakalla Narayana TDP Balram,Shri P. Rao,Shri Kalva Kuntla Chandrasekhar Sarvey,Shri Sathyanarayana Shanthi, M. Vijaya Jagannath,Dr. M. Gutha,Shri Sukender Reddy Reddy,Shri S.P.Y. Reddy,Shri Modugula Venugopala Bapiraju,Shri Kanumuru Reddy,Shri Mekapati Rajamohan Yaskhi,Shri Madhu Goud Reddy,Shri Magunta Srinivasulu Vivekanand,Dr. G. INC

21 Mahabubnagar

TRS

22 Malkajgiri 23 Medak 24 Nagarkurnool 25 Nalgonda 26 Nandyal

INC TRS INC INC INC

27 Narasaraopet

TDP

28 Narsapuram

INC

29 Nellore

INC

30 Nizamabad

INC

31 Ongole

INC

32 Peddapalle 33 Rajahmundry

INC

Vundavalli,Shri Aruna Kumar INC

34 Rajampet 35 Secunderabad 36 Srikakulam 37 Tirupati 38 Vijayawada

Annayyagari,Shri Sai Prathap INC Yadav,Shri M. Anjan Kumar Rani, Killi Krupa Chinta Mohan,Dr. Lagadapati,Shri Rajagopal INC INC INC INC

39 Visakhapatnam Purandeswari,Smt. Daggubati INC 40 Vizianagaram 41 Warangal 42 Zahirabad Botcha Lakshmi,Smt. Jhansi Siricilla,Shri Rajaiah Shetkar,Shri Suresh Kumar INC INC INC

LIVEMINT.COM 10 December 2010

Google says 300,000 Android phones activated daily
Google is fueling interest in Android devices with the release next week of a new champion on the mobile phone market battlefield, a Nexus S smartphone made by South Koreas Samsung

San Francisco: More than 300,000 smartphones running on Googlebacked Android software are activated daily, according to an engineering vice president at the Internet giant. Andy Rubin fired off the update in a terse tweet at microblogging service Twitter late Wednesday.

The news indicates that Android smartphones are building momentum in the hot mobile market, where just a few months ago Google boasted that the rate of Android handset activations averaged 200,000 a day. Google is fueling interest in Android devices with the release next week of a new champion on the mobile phone market battlefield, a Nexus S smartphone made by South Koreas Samsung. The Nexus S, the successor to the Nexus One launched about a year earlier, will be the first smartphone on the market powered by the latest version of Android mobile software, Gingerbread. The Android mobile operating system surged past Apples iPhone and Canadas BlackBerry in the third quarter to become the second biggest smartphone platform after Nokias Symbian, research firm Gartner reported in November. Gartner said Finlands Nokia sold 29.5 million smartphones during the third quarter of the year for a 36.6% share of the worldwide market, down from 44.6% a year ago. Sales of Android-powered smartphones soared to 20.5 million units, giving the Android platform a 25.5% market share, up from just 3.5% a year ago, Gartner said. Apples iPhone was next on sales of 13.5 million units for a 16.7% market share, down from 17.1% a year ago. Canadas Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, was in fourth position with sales of 11.9 million units. Its market share dropped to 14.8% from 20.7% a year ago. Microsofts Windows Mobile saw sales of 2.2 million units giving it a 2.8% market share, down from 7.9% a year ago, Gartner said.

Gold buying ebbs after two days of pick-up

International gold held steady in choppy trade as a dollar rally took a breather, and uncertainty over Europes fiscal health continued to attract investors to bullion

Mumbai: Gold buying retreated on Friday afternoon after picking up for two straight sessions, as traders sought better bargains to stock up for the wedding season, dealers said. I have booked for less than 10 kgs today. For deals to happen, either rupee must appreciate to 44.90, or gold must fall below $1,380 (an ounce), said a dealer with a state-run bullion importing bank in Mumbai. International gold held steady in choppy trade as a dollar rally took a breather, and uncertainty over Europes fiscal health continued to attract investors to bullion. International spot gold was trading at $1,391.45/1,392.20 an ounce as against the previous days close of $1,387.39/1,388.20. The rupee, which rose due to mild gains in the euro and positive shares, plays an important role in determining the landed cost of the yellow metal, which is quoted in dollars. The wedding season that follows Dhanteras and Diwali festivals is underway in India and will continue till end-December, sustaining the demand for the yellow metal. The country accounts for 20% of global demand for gold jewellery. In July-September, India imported 214 tonnes of gold, up 21.6% on year, the World Gold Council said.

Panasonic cautious on US, Europe holiday sales

One analyst said any increase on last years sales would be seen favourably, given economic uncertainty in developed markets

Tokyo: Consumer electronics maker Panasonic Corp said on Friday it sees no strong recovery in year-end sales in North America and Europe, but expects to pull its loss-making TV unit into the black in the January-March quarter. Panasonics president, Fumio Ohtsubo, also told Reuters in an interview he expected some restructuring costs from its takeover of subsidiary Sanyo Electric to arise in the financial year starting in April, as the company shifts focus for a big push into environmental technologies. We dont have detailed figures as yet, but based on quick reports from America and Europe, there is no strong recovery in consumption, Ohtsubo said of sales in the vital year-end shopping period. They are within the expectations we had at the beginning of the year-end period and roughly in line with last year, or slightly above, he said. One analyst said any increase on last years sales would be seen favourably, given economic uncertainty in developed markets.

If they manage to beat last years sales, that gives a pretty good impression, said Mizuho Investors Securities analyst Nobuo Kurahashi. The television market in particular has not been good in the United States. Ohtsubo said he expected Panasonics TV business to return to profit in the January-March period, partly thanks to the launch of a new model in February, though he expects the unit to post its third consecutive annual loss for the year to March. The units ability to make a profit for the September to March period would depend on year-end sales, he said. For the year to March 2012, the maker of Viera TVs and Lumix cameras is aiming to turn a profit on televisions, despite fierce competition that is expected to trigger a more than 10% fall in 3D TV prices, he said. In fiscal 2011 we will more or less have completed a system where panels are made in Japan, modules in various parts of the world and final assembly takes place close to the point of consumption, Ohtsubo said. Panasonic, which competes with the likes of Samsung Electronics in televisions, posted a 74% rise in profit for the July-September quarter. But it kept its full-year forecast unchanged on concerns about the strength of the yen, which has eroded overseas revenue for Panasonic and other Japanese exporters. Panasonic relies on foreign markets for about half its sales. Free trade Ohtsubo called on the government to forge free trade deals to combat what he said were disadvantages faced by Japanese manufacturers. Compared with South Korea, we are in a worse position in terms of corporate taxes, exchange rates and incentives for capital investment and research and development, he said. If we are also behind in sealing trade deals, Japans manufacturers will be hit from all sides, because we have to compete on a global basis. He said there was no change now to Panasonics midterm targets of 10 trillion in sales and 55 operating profit margin in the year to March 2013, but said they might be revised next year. Shares of Panasonic have fallen about 17% since the start of the financial year in April, underperforming a roughly 9% drop in the Nikkei average. Panasonic fell 0.8% to 1,185 on Friday. Panasonics takeover of Sanyo, aimed at enabling the firm to leap ahead of rivals in environmental technologies such as solar panels and rechargeable batteries, is scheduled to be completed by the end of March.

Ohtsubo said the process was going smoothly and reiterated a target of withdrawing from overlapping or non-core businesses to a total of 300 billion yen in sales. Sanyo has already shed its loss-making semiconductor and mini precision motor businesses. A lot of companies are going into environmental technology, said Mizuhos Kurahashi. But rechargeable batteries are not easy to manufacture and at this point it seems like a sector with a big future in which they are already a major player, so I think we can have good expectations.

US expresses regret over frisking of Indian ambassador

According to the Indian Embassy here, the State Department has reached out to Shankar and regretted about the incident

Washington: Expressing regret over the Indian Ambassador to Washington being pulled out of an airport security line and patted down, the US on Friday promised to ensure that such incidents do not recur. The Obama administration has regretted the humiliating incident that took place on 4 December at the Jackson-Evers International Airport where sari-clad Meera Shankar was about to board a flight to Baltimore after attending the Mississippi State Universitys programme. We obviously are concerned about it. We will be looking into it and trying to determine both what happened and what we could do to prevent such incidents in the future, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department in joint press conference with her Nigerian counterpart. According to the Indian Embassy here, the State Department has reached out to Shankar and regretted about the incident. The US State Department has reached out to the Ambassador and has regretted what all had happened. The Embassy is in touch with the State Department on this issue, Indian Embassy spokesman Virander Paul said. Paul confirmed that the Ambassador was subjected to the pat down security check last week at the Jackson-Evers International Airport. Earlier, State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley said: It is our understanding the (Indian) Ambassador was pulled out for secondary screening, and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) has indicated theyre prepared to talk about this.

Crowley said there are guidelines that have been published on diplomats. They are subject to basic security. So everyone at the airport goes through a basic screening, he said, adding from a TSA standpoint they followed their normal procedures. It is the responsibility of the Transportation Security Administration to assess each passenger and then work each passenger through security based on what they see, he said, adding that as to the rationale that TSA used for this, he will let them explain it. External affairs minister S. M. Krishna has called the pat-down of Shankar as unacceptable and said the matter would be taken up with the American government.

ICICI Bank, RIL lead the bounce back in Sensex

The BSE 30-share index Sensex was trading at 19,463.37 points at 11:15 am, up 221 points from yesterdays close

Mumbai: Two of the index heavyweights, ICICI Bank and RIL, on Friday led the recovery at the Dalal Street by rising 4.64% and 3.11%, respectively, at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The countrys most valued corporate firm Reliance Industries (RIL) shot up by 3.11% to touch an early high of Rs1,015 on BSE, giving the much needed push to the broader market, which was reeling under pressure. Similarly, top lender ICICI Bank, zoomed by 4.64% to an early peak of Rs1,106.35. Both these blue-chip stocks have contributed the most in in the Sensex gains today so far. Yesterday, amid heavy selling pressure, RIL had lost 3.41%, while ICICI had closed 4.41% down. The BSE 30-share index Sensex was trading at 19,463.37 points at 11:15 am, up 221 points from yesterdays close.

LIC Housing scrip sheds 7% in early trade

On the National Stock Exchange, the company scrip dipped 6.5% to trade at Rs828 in the morning session

Mumbai: LIC Housing Finance on Friday continued its losses for the sixth consecutive session, with the scrip shedding over 7% in the early trade on BSE, hit by the EPFOs decision to suspend further investments in the company. The government yesterday said the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will not invest any funds in the LIC Housing Finance, a subsidiary of the largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), till the CBI inquiry in the bribesfor-loans scam is over. LIC Housing scrip that has declined over 15% in the last five trading sessions, started the day on a subdued note and plunged by 7.49% to Rs.827.05 per piece on the Bombay Stock Exchange. On the National Stock Exchange, the company scrip dipped 6.5% to trade at Rs828 in the morning session. Meanwhile, the 30-share benchmark Sensex was quoting 203 points higher at 19,445.35 at 11:25 am.

Apple suppliers point to new camera-toting iPad in 2011

The revamped model would feature cameras on the front and rear, while the other said the new model would be slimmer, lighter and have a better resolution display

Hong Kong/Taipei: Component suppliers for Apple Incs iPad are gearing up for a new round of production in the first quarter, sources said on Friday, with one saying the product will be a revamp of the popular tablet computer including frontand back-mounted cameras. Touchscreen chip designer Wintek Corp, battery maker Simplo Technology Co Ltd and AVY Precision, an unlisted maker of covers for electronic products, are among suppliers for the next batch of iPads, four people familiar with the situation said. Two could only confirm they were ramping up for a new round of production in the first quarter for components previously supplied for the original iPad, while two said the ramp-up was for a new iPad. One of those said the revamped model would feature cameras on the front and rear, while the other said the new model would be slimmer, lighter and have a better resolution display. Camera module makers Genius Electronic Optical Co Ltd and Largan Precision Co Ltd were also starting new supply deals with Apple, two sources said, but neither could confirm for which product the modules were intended. It makes sense for these suppliers to begin delivering their goods in February, said Steven Tseng, an analyst at RBS in Taipei. I think Steve Jobs will announce

the new product in January, and we should see the new product hitting shops in about April. All the people familiar with the supply chain situation declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media on the topic and because of Apples obsession with secrecy. Spokespeople at all five companies either declined to comment or were not immediately contactable. An Apple spokeswoman also declined to comment. Component makers generally do not know what a finished product will look like or what software it will run on because they are only responsible for manufacturing one part before passing it on for assembly. Apple is expected to ship 12.9 million iPads this year, with shipments rising to 36.5 million in 2011, research firm iSuppli said in July, with an 84% share of the tablet PC market. Other tech brands such as Dell, Acer and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion have all also jumped on the tablet PC bandwagon, having unveiled their own versions of the mobile device. I expect to see more tablet PCs being pushed out in the second half of next year, said Bamboo Lin, an analyst at SinoPac Securities in Taipei. Sales of the iPad will still be good next year, but I expect those running on Googles Android system to have the advantage in the long run, just like whats happening with smartphones now.

Sinopec buys Occidentals Argentina assets for $2.5 bn

The top refiner in Asia and Chinas largest oil firm by sales said in a statement on Friday that the takeover was subject to government approvals

Beijing: China Petrochemical Corp, parent of Sinopec Corp, agreed to buy all of US-based Occidental Petroleum Corps oil and gas assets in Argentina for $2.45 billion, its first foray into the upstream market in the Latin America country. The top refiner in Asia and Chinas largest oil firm by sales said in a statement on Friday that the takeover was subject to government approvals. The move adds to a growing list of international purchases by Chinese firms in the past two-year as the country wields its financial strength beyond its borders while many Western peers struggle with the fallout from the global financial crisis.

Occidentals Argentina units hold interest in 23 production and exploration concessions in Santa Cruz, Mendoza and Chubut provinces in Argentina, according to the release. As of 31 December, 2009, the concessions held gross proven reserves plus probable reserves of 393 million barrels of oil equivalent. Gross production from 22 producing concessions totaled over 51,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2009, according to the release. China Petrochemical Corp or Sinopec Group agreed in October to buy 40% of Spanish oil major Repsols Brazilian arm for $7.1 billion, strengthening resourcehungry Chinas presence in Latin America. CNOOC, the third-largest oil and gas firm in China, agreed on Wednesday to acquire 50% of exploration rights in five Australian coal seam gas blocks owned by Exoma Energy Ltd for A$50 million. CNOOC in March agreed to buy 3.6% tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year for 20-year from BG Groups Queensland Curtis export plant in Australia that will use coal seam gas as feedstock. It said it would take equity stakes in the gas reserves and production facilities.

Google says 300,000 Android phones activated daily

Google is fueling interest in Android devices with the release next week of a new champion on the mobile phone market battlefield, a Nexus S smartphone made by South Koreas Samsung

San Francisco: More than 300,000 smartphones running on Google-backed Android software are activated daily, according to an engineering vice president at the Internet giant. Andy Rubin fired off the update in a terse tweet at microblogging service Twitter late Wednesday. The news indicates that Android smartphones are building momentum in the hot mobile market, where just a few months ago Google boasted that the rate of Android handset activations averaged 200,000 a day. Google is fueling interest in Android devices with the release next week of a new champion on the mobile phone market battlefield, a Nexus S smartphone made by South Koreas Samsung. The Nexus S, the successor to the Nexus One launched about a year earlier, will be the first smartphone on the market powered by the latest version of Android mobile software, Gingerbread.

The Android mobile operating system surged past Apples iPhone and Canadas BlackBerry in the third quarter to become the second biggest smartphone platform after Nokias Symbian, research firm Gartner reported in November. Gartner said Finlands Nokia sold 29.5 million smartphones during the third quarter of the year for a 36.6% share of the worldwide market, down from 44.6% a year ago. Sales of Android-powered smartphones soared to 20.5 million units, giving the Android platform a 25.5% market share, up from just 3.5% a year ago, Gartner said. Apples iPhone was next on sales of 13.5 million units for a 16.7% market share, down from 17.1% a year ago. Canadas Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, was in fourth position with sales of 11.9 million units. Its market share dropped to 14.8% from 20.7% a year ago. Microsofts Windows Mobile saw sales of 2.2 million units giving it a 2.8% market share, down from 7.9% a year ago, Gartner said.

Facebook co-founders pledge wealth to charity

Facebook co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz have joined a pledge to give away more than half their wealth to charity

San Francisco: Facebook co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz have joined a pledge to give away more than half their wealth to charity. The pair were among 17 of Americas wealthiest families to add their names to a Giving Pledge project started by billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. People wait until late in their career to give back, 26-year-old celebrity entrepreneur Zuckerberg said in a Pledge release online Thursday. But why wait when there is so much to be done? The 57 family or individual names on the Pledge roster include media mogul Ted Turner, film maker George Lucas, Oracle chief Larry Ellison, and famed investors T. Boone Pickens and Carl Icahn. With a generation of younger folks who have thrived on the success of their companies, there is a big opportunity for many of us to give back earlier in our lifetime and see the impact of our philanthropic efforts, Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerbergs status as the worlds youngest self-made billionaire comes from his ownership stake in Facebook, which has yet to go public with a stock offering. His net worth was recently estimated at nearly seven billion dollars. The pledge to divert the bulk of ones wealth to philanthropic works before or after dying is a moral contract, not a legal one, and is meant to inspire people in all income brackets to support worthy causes. Research shows that knowing others are donating makes people more inclined to give to charity, according to Princeton University professor of bioethics Peter Singer, author of the book The Life You Can Save. Publicly pledging to give will encourage others to give, Singer said. This holds true for billionaires and for those of us who arent anywhere near that level of wealth. The first 40 pledges to the project came in August. In just a few short months weve made good progress, Buffett said. I look forward to many more conversations with families who are truly fortunate, and whose generosity can and will change lives made good progress.

Investors spooked, stocks fall

The Bombay Stock Exchanges Sensex dropped 454.12 points, or 2.3%, on Thursday, to close at 19,242.36

Mumbai: Indian shares had their steepest one-day fall in six months as foreign investors got spooked by the growing controversy over telecom. Fears about weak corporate governance in smaller firms, expectations of further hikes in interest rates on the back of rising inflation and margin calls by brokers worsened the selloff. The Bombay Stock Exchanges Sensex dropped 454.12 points, or 2.3%, on Thursday, to close at 19,242.36. The markets have under-performed peers over the storm that has broken over the allocation of spectrum for second-generation (2G) mobile services since midNovember. The Sensex has dropped 3% since then while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index has been flat. Analysts expect stock markets to be volatile in the next few weeks, with the sentiment turning negative for Indian stocks despite strong economic growth in recent quarters and consensus estimates putting earnings growth at 20% for fiscals 2011 and 2012. Investor sentiment is bad, and more so for mid-caps and small caps, said Dhiraj Agarwal, director (India institutional equities) at Standard Chartered-STCI

Capital Markets Ltd. While there are no large institutional sellers yet, buyers seem to be stepping away. A ban by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India on the promoters of four companies from trading on bourses raised concerns over corporate governance and prompted some investors to make a hurried exit from many smaller firms, as speculation about more investigations under way gained ground. The BSE mid-cap index has corrected 10% since 2 December while the small-cap index has fallen 14%. The decline in small and mid-cap stocks pushed up the margin requirement on them, forcing sales, said Dipen Shah, senior vice-president (private client group research) at Kotak Securities Ltd. In some cases, investors resorted to selling large-cap stocks to fund their margins, which were due with the lenders, he said. Margin funding allows an investor to purchase stocks by paying only a part of the price, the rest being funded by the broker. If the share price falls below the purchase price, the investor is asked to put up additional margin. If clients are not able to meet that requirement, the broker may be forced to sell the stock to avoid further losses. Many retail and high networth individuals have been forced to unwind their leveraged positions because of the sharp correction in the market, said Sandeep Sabharwal, head of portfolio management services at Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd. Another issue that weighed on the mind of investors is inflation pressure that could lead to further increases in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), raising costs for companies and impacting valuations. RBI governor D. Subbarao said on Thursday that inflation remained above acceptable levels, signalling borrowing costs may be raised for a seventh time since March. While rising inflation and the consequent expectation of a rate hike are cause for worry, the various allegations of wrongdoing seem to be the biggest market dampener, even as macroeconomic indicators look robust, according to most analysts. I think both inflation and scam-related issues are at play, said Bharat Iyer, head of research at JPMorgan India Pvt. Ltd. But there is only so much you can do about inflation and the more pertinent issue I think relates to the scams and the corporate governance issues, which have come to the fore now.

While analysts affirm Indias domestic demand-driven growth story and expect markets to continue attracting foreign investments, the outlook for the near term does not appear too bright. Most analysts predict volatility in the trading sessions ahead. The Sensex has corrected by nearly 8.4% since its recent closing high of 21,000 on 5 November. Although some brokerages such as Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs have advised investors to remain underweight on India because of valuation concerns, the current decline is mostly because of local issues, analysts said. With a current account deficit, India is best positioned to attract capital flows, although the sentiment currently might not be very favourable, Iyer said. We are looking at returns of 15% in the year ahead.

16 tycoons agree to give away fortunes

Those pledging are part of a broader shift in philanthropy, in which successful business people, often entrepreneurs, are giving more of their money to charity far earlier than their predecessors

The billionaire founder of social network Facebook Inc. has agreed to give the majority of his wealth to charity, part of a broader group of rich entrepreneurs committing to philanthropy earlier in their lives. Mark Zuckerberg has signed onto the Giving Pledge, which asks signatories to commit publicly to give away the majority of their wealth. The 26-year-old is one of the 16 billionaires new to the pledge, which now totals at least 50 donors. New names include AOL co-founder Steve Case, investor Carl Icahn and former junkbond king Michael Milken. They join existing pledges made by wealthy individuals and families, including Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison, film director George Lucas and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. The Giving Pledge is an effort organized by software mogul Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett to persuade the worlds rich to boost their giving. I view this as a call to others who might in their 30s or 40s use some of their creativity to get involved in philanthropy earlier in life, Milken, 64, said of the pledge. Those pledging are part of a broader shift in philanthropy, in which successful business people, often entrepreneurs, are giving more of their money to charity far earlier than their predecessors. It was a trend that was helped along by Gates, who started his foundation while still leading Microsoft Corp. Case, 52, and his wife Jean Case, 50, said they signed the pledge because they hoped it would help philanthropists learn from each other. It is less about what size of a cheque that you write and more about the outcome, Case said. Case said Internet entrepreneurs have a unique interest in philanthropy. The folks that helped bring AOL to life were out to change the world, she said. It seems a natural thing that as they look at the role they want to play, they are giving back in big ways.

Icahn and Zuckerberg werent available to comment. In a video prepared by the Giving Pledge, Zuckerberg said, Theres so much that needs to be done, it would be better to start now. The Giving Pledge was born in part from a dislike by Buffett for dynastic wealth. Buffett over the years has schooled Gates on philanthropy, giving him a copy of The Gospel of Wealth, in which steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie argued that fortunes were often wasted by heirs and thus should be put to charitable use. Starting last year, Gates, his wife Melinda Gates, Buffett and other wealthy individuals hosted a series of dinners for billionaires to discuss setting up the pledge. That led to an announcement in June of the pledge and also its earliest signers. Since then, Gates, his wife and Buffett have been calling on billionaires to get their commitment. The pledge doesnt ask for specific donations, nor does it track giving; rather, it asks that a pledge maker commit to giving away the majority of their wealth. That proposition at times has been a tough sell, the pledge founders said. People are super nice to us, but there is a certain awkwardness because its a big decision, Gates said in an interview this week. Sometimes the wife and the husband have never really talked through their priorities on the charity stuff. Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in his Harvard University dorm before dropping out of college and working on the business full time in California, is one of the worlds youngest billionaires, worth an estimated $6.9 billion (Rs31,120 crore), according to Forbes. Yet, since his wealth is from his ownership stake in a firm that has yet to list on the stock market, much of that wealth is theoretical at this point. Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of Facebook and former Harvard room-mate of Zuckerbergs, has also signed the pledge. Many of the pledge signors had already planned to disburse their wealth and most are already involved in philanthropy. Its unclear if the Giving Pledge has encouraged more giving. Overall, philanthropic giving has been hit hard by the weak economy. Donations in the US fell 3.6% to $303.75 billion last year, down from $315 billion in 2008, according to Giving USA Foundation.

11 DEC
Nations set up global climate fund
The agreement set up a Green Climate Fund to administer assistance to poor nations, which many experts say are already suffering more floods and drought as temperatures steadily mount

Cancun, Mexico: Global talks on climate change on Saturday set up a new fund to manage billions of dollars in aid to poor nations in a hard-fought package urging deep cuts in industrial emissions. After two weeks of talks in Mexico and two virtually sleepless final days, more than 190 countries reached a deal that leaves open an extension of the Kyoto Protocol whose requirements expire in two years. A new era in international cooperation in climate change has begun, Mexican foreign secretary Patricia Espinosa told the talks in the resort of Cancun. A year after the chaotic Copenhagen summit, Espinosa won wide praise for steering the talks and seeking consensus on building blocks to a future climate treaty. Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh even called her a goddess. But the talks left much of the hard work to next years talks in Durban -- including the crucial question of by how much all nations will cut carbon emissions blamed for global warming. Bolivia was the main holdout. To the dismay of many other negotiators, Bolivian negotiator Pedro Solon took the microphone repeatedly after midnight, saying the deal would not halt climate change will put more humans in a near-death situation. But the vast majority of countries offered support. Australian climate change minister Greg Combet called the deal a historic step forward. Chief US negotiator Todd Stern said the deal while not perfect, is certainly a good basis for moving forward, voicing hope it would put the world on a more hopeful path toward a low-emissions and sustainable future. In a key area, the agreement set up a Green Climate Fund to administer assistance to poor nations, which many experts say are already suffering more floods and drought as temperatures steadily mount. The fund will be steered by a board of 24 members chosen evenly from developed and developing nations. For the first three years, the new international organization would be overseen by the World Bank a point of controversy for some activists who distrust the Washington-based lender. The European Union, Japan and the United States have led pledges of $100 billion a year for poor nations up to 2020, along with $30 billion in immediate assistance. A broader issue is just how wealthy nations would raise the money, with some negotiators advocating levies on airplane and shipping fuel. The agreement called for urgent action to cap temperature rises at no more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and asks for a study on strengthening the commitment to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The proposal says it recognizes that deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions are required according to science. The accord at Copenhagen included similar language, but it was never approved by the full UN-led talks. The Cancun deal also agreed on ways forward on fighting deforestation and on monitoring nations climate pledges. But the talks were stuck for days over the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, the landmark treaty whose obligations on wealthy countries to cut emissions run out at the end of 2012. With a new treaty looking distant, the European Union led calls for a new round of commitments under Kyoto. Japan opposed a new Kyoto round, pointing out that the treaty named after its ancient capital covers only 30% of global emissions because top polluters including China and the United States are not part of it. In a compromise embraced by Japan, the Cancun agreement called for work on a second period of the Kyoto Protocol to ensure that there is no gap but did not oblige countries to be part of the new round. Japan faced intense pressure to compromise, with British Prime Minister David Cameron telephoning his counterpart Naoto Kan, diplomats said. The Kyoto Protocol makes no demands on emerging economies to curb emissions. China has refused to be subjected to a treaty, although India in a surprise shift in Cancun said it would at least consider binding action in the future. Environmentalists were mostly positive. Tim Gore of anti-poverty movement Oxfam welcomed the Green Climate Fund and said the draft Cancun accord breathes new life into UN-led talks on climate change.

Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project not shelved: India

As the natural gas comes via Pakistan from Iran, there are some serious security concerns

United Nations: India has not abandoned $7.3 billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project and is seriously looking for courageous insurance companies to underwrite the project, a senior diplomat attached to the Permanent Mission of India to the UN said on Saturday. As the natural gas comes via Pakistan from Iran, there are some serious security concerns. Apart from what we see is happening in the world today, we need

Lloyds or other major global insurance giants setting up a new division and undertake the risk so that we can start the project, he said. On the global threat of terrorism and how India is planning to take up the issue at the security council, the official, who did not wished to be named, said elements such as Taliban or Al-Qaeda are the core issues. We know where the wiper or the snake comes from? We have to collectively deal with that. Pakistan is one country that is itself feeling the problems of terrorism now and the bigger problem faced by that country today is terrorism, he said. On the question of expansion of G-20 to include more developing countries, the senior diplomat, who enunciated the strategic agenda before India as a nonpermanent member of the UN security council from January 2011, said India is vary about small groups that were designed for a particular purpose suddenly gets expand because others want to be in and it does not serve the purpose. G-20 was born as a group of finance ministers when the East Asian economic crisis took place in 1997. The world financial and economic crisis took place in 2008 and no one knew how to deal with it including the US, the International Monetary Fund the World Bank had no clue. It was then decided to upgrade the finance ministers group to a heads of state governments so that they could do macro economic coordination and stimulus package and be able to produce reasonably good results. G-20 is big enough as it has the major economies and emerging economies, he said. If another crisis takes place, nations have to turn to some countries that are able to deliver the goods. India is yet to take a complete view on this stand, he said. On the global issues India will be facing as a non-permanent member, he said North Korea is a factor Security Council should concern itself and no member of the Council will disagree on this. On Myanmar, he said there are two approaches. One is broadly speaking the kind of approach India has taken along with some other very important countries in the region like China.

Oracle seeks $211 mln more from SAP

SAP should pay $211.7 million in interest-Oracle filing; request follows $1.3 billion jury verdict against SAP

San Francisco: Oracle Corp is seeking another $211 million from SAP AG on top of the $1.3 billion jury verdict it won last month after a widely watched copyright infringement trial. Oracle wants an additional $211,662,935 in prejudgment interest due to the company, according to a court document it filed on Friday.

Both parties have already agreed that SAP will pay Oracle $120 million in attorneys fees, the filing added. But the two sides could not agree on whether the final judgment in the case should provide for prejudgment interest, and if so, in what amount, according to the filing. We dont believe that Oracle is entitled to any additional compensation beyond the final judgment in this case, SAP said in a statement on Friday. Prejudgment interest is intended to compensate for the loss of the use of funds and account for the effects of inflation after a party suffers economic damages.

Facebook holds inaugural "Hackers Cup"

Facebook is taking its tradition of all-night hackathons to a higher level with an international coding competition promising top contenders cash, glory, and a free trip to the companys Northern California headquarters

San Francisco: Facebook is challenging software hotshots around the world to show their mettle in the online social networking kings first Hackers Cup. Facebook is taking its tradition of all-night hackathons to a higher level with an international coding competition promising top contenders cash, glory, and a free trip to the companys Northern California headquarters. The contest consists of a set of online rounds that kick off in January and a final round in March held at Facebooks campus in the Silicon Valley city of Palo Alto. Facebook will pay for the top 25 contestants in the online rounds to come to California for the final stage of the competition. The first place finisher is promised $5,000 and will no doubt catch the eye of recruiters at Facebook. Details about the contest can be found at a Hackers Cup page at Facebook.

Post 26/11,Congress played religious politics:Cables

US has neither confirmed or denied the authenticity of these cables, but said that some 250,000 papers have been stolen from its system and demanded that WikiLeaks return them back to the State Department

Washington: Post 26/11, a section of the Congress leadership was seen playing religious politics after one of its leaders, A R Antulay, implied that Hindutva forces may have been involved in the Mumbai terror attacks, according to a confidential memo by the then US ambassador to India, David Mulford, released by WikiLeaks.

The Congress Party, after first distancing itself from the comments (of Antulay, the then minority affairs minister), two days later issued a contradictory statement which implicitly endorsed the conspiracy. During this time, Antulays completely unsubstantiated claims gained support in ... Indian-Muslim community, Mulford wrote in his secret cable to the state department on 23 December, 2008. Hoping to foster that support for upcoming national elections, the Congress Party cynically pulled back from its original dismissal and lent credence to the conspiracy, Mulford wrote. Regardless of home minister P Chidambarams dismissal of Antulays comments, the Indian-Muslim community will continue to believe they are unfairly targeted by law enforcement and that those who investigate the truth are silenced, he said in the cable. The entire episode demonstrates that the Congress Party will readily stoop to the old caste/religious-based politics if it feels it is in its interest, Mulford alleged, according to the cable posted by WikiLeaks on its website yesterday. The United States has neither confirmed or denied the authenticity of these cables, but said that some 250,000 papers have been stolen from its system and demanded that WikiLeaks, the whistle blower website, return them back to the State Department. According to WikiLeaks, there are some 1,300 cables from the US embassy in New Delhi. However, only half a dozen of them have been posted by it on its website. Mulford said while the killing of three high-level law enforcement officers during the Mumbai attacks, including ATS chief Hemant Karkare, is a remarkable coincidence, the Congress Partys initial reaction to Antulays outrageous comments was correct. But as support seemed to swell among Muslims for Antulays unsubstantiated claims, crass political opportunism swayed the thinking of some Congress Party leaders, he wrote.

GE ups dividend again, cites stronger Capital arm

The worlds biggest maker of electric turbines and jet engines said it would raise its quarterly payout to shareholders by 2 cents per share to 14 cents

Boston: General Electric Co raised its dividend for a second time this year, in a move the largest US conglomerate said signaled its growing confidence in the rebound of its finance arm.

The worlds biggest maker of electric turbines and jet engines said it would raise its quarterly payout to shareholders by 2 cents per share to 14 cents. Coupled with a July increase, GE has now raised its dividend by 37% this year, though it remains well below the 31-cent rate in place before chief executive Jeff Immelt slashed the payout in 2009 as the company scrambled to conserve cash during the financial crisis. The company now aims to pay back about 45% of its annual profit to shareholders in the form of a dividend each year. GE shares were up 3% in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Theyre signaling a little better environment for the segment of the business that was using cash, which was the financial side said Peter Klein at Fifth Third Asset Management. So theyre getting some back and theyre going to give some to us. Michael Neal, head of the companys GE Capital finance arm, told investors earlier this week that the unit expects to grow profit in 2011 and 2012 and resume paying a dividend to the Fairfield, Connecticut-based parent company in 2012. We are able to increase the GE dividend for the second time this year because of continued strong cash generation, accelerated recovery at GE Capital and solid underlying performance in our Industrial businesses, said Immelt, who will brief investors next week on GEs expectations for 2011. GE shares rose 53 cents to $17.66. They are up almost 13% so far this year, outperforming both the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poors 500 index. Rising Cash The company, which is in the process of selling a majority stake in its NBC Universal media business to No. 1 US cable operator Comcast Corp, has told shareholders it also plans to use cash to buy back a preferred stake it sold to Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc, repurchase its common stock and fund small acquisitions. Much of corporate America hoarded its cash during the downturn, and investors are now looking to companies to redeploy those reserves or pay them out to shareholders. Oliver Pursche, co-portfolio manager of the GMG Defensive Beta Fund, predicted other top multinationals would follow GEs lead to appease shareholders who have been pleading with them to stop hoarding cash. Fellow industrial Tyco International Ltd late on Thursday said it would seek shareholder approval to boost its dividend by 20%. Transfer company Western

Union Co this week raised its dividend and high-end grocer Whole Foods Market Inc said it would resume a payout. But Pursche said he also believed GEs move reflected a sense of relief among US business leaders that the Obama administration and the resurgent Republican opposition in Congress had reached a deal on taxes. They are growing less concerned about the economic recovery, Pursche said. Fellow US manufacturer United Technologies Corp late on Thursday told investors it expects profit to rise 7% to 14% despite an uneven US recovery.

Pfizer recalls lung drug after two deaths

Pfizer spokesman Curtis Allen said the drug, called Thelin, which is not sold in the United States, was being recalled in Europe, Canada and Australia after being linked to a new liver problem
New York/Boston: Pfizer Inc is voluntarily recalling its drug to treat a life-threatening lung condition and will end studies of the pill after it was linked to potentially deadly liver toxicity. The European Medicines Agency on Friday said the modest-selling drug, used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension, was withdrawn due to new information on two cases of fatal liver injury. Pfizer spokesman Curtis Allen said the drug, called Thelin, which is not sold in the United States, was being recalled in Europe, Canada and Australia after being linked to a new liver problem that occurs rarely and unpredictably in patients. The decision was based on a review of emerging safety information and post-marketing reporting, said Allen, referring to reports by doctors that have prescribed it. Thelin and similar medicines already carry warnings of elevated liver enzymes, a marker for potential liver damage. But the new liver risk for Thelin now suggests its overall risks outweigh its potential benefit, Allen said. Pfizer, the worlds biggest drugmaker, whose chief executive abruptly resigned on Sunday, scrapped US trials of Thelin for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Such patients have elevated blood pressure in lung arteries and veins that cause shortness of breath and other symptoms, which can lead to heart failure and early death. About 1,100 patients have taken Thelin since it was launched in Europe in 2006 and in Australia and Canada the following year. Pfizer in 2008 paid $195 million for the company that developed the product, Encysive Pharmaceuticals, even though the US Food and Drug Administration had repeatedly rejected the drug for lack of efficacy. Pfizer had been counting on the US trials to ultimately prove Thelins worth. It is the latest in a long string of setbacks for Pfizer, whose labs have not generated any big-selling drugs for more than a decade. Its another ding in their pipeline, though expectations for it (Thelin) had been fairly low, said Damien Conover, an analyst at Morningstar. Had it been approved in the United States and didnt have the safety side effect, you could have seen it just breaking into blockbuster sales at peak. Conover said investors are more focused on Pfizers so-called JAK inhibitor, an oral treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, and its ALK inhibitor for a subset of patients with lung cancer. Both drugs, if successful in trials, could generate peak annual sales of more than $2 billion, he said. Pfizer shares were up 1.3% to $16.98 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has fallen nearly 18% from a 52-week high of $20.36 in January.

Thelin garnered sales of $44 million in the first nine months of 2010, making it a small product for Pfizer. It competes with Tracleer, a drug made by Actelion Ltd that had sales of $1.4 billion in 2009. Thelin also competes with Letairis, made by Gilead Sciences Inc, which produced 2009 sales of $184 million. Thelin, Tracleer and Letairis all block fragments of endothelin, a protein that causes blood vessels to tighten up. Deutsche Bank analyst Richard Parkes said on Friday the new liver problem appears to be specific to Thelin. In contrast, Actelion has generated a large database of safety, showing that liver enzyme elevations with Tracleer can be safely managed, Parkes said in a research report. Actelion shares rose 1.3%, as the recall of Thelin eliminated a rival to Tracleer. Pfizer late last year bought US rival Wyeth in hopes Wyeths drugs would bolster Pfizers aging array of medicines, including the $11 billion-a-year cholesterol fighter Lipitor, which faces US generic competition in November 2011. On Sunday, Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler surprised Wall Street by announcing he would retire to recharge his batteries. He handed the companys reins to Ian Read, head of Pfizers global drug business.

Holcim hikes stake in ACC Ltd by 1.17 % to 47.37%

Holcim bought a majority stake in ACC in 2005 through Ambuja Cements, it is currently the promoter of both ACC and Ambuja Cement Ltd
Mumbai: Swiss cement giant Holcim Ltd has increased its stake in Mumbai based Cement company ACC Ltd by 1.17% to 47.37%, through Ambuja Cement India Pvt Ltd, by purchasing 22.13 lakh shares for Rs237.79 crore in a bulk deal on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday. Holcim bought a majority stake in ACC in 2005 through Ambuja Cements, it is currently the promoter of both ACC and Ambuja Cement Ltd.

Dard-e-retro
Viewers are made to travel back in time to share the directors deep-seated love for a kind of largerthan-life film that is apparently not being made any more.

A new genre of film-making has emerged in Bollywood in recent years. Its called the dard e-retro genre. A movie that belongs to this category pays subtle or open tribute to Hindi films from the 1960s and 1970s, even though it seems a bit too early to do so. Such films fondly evoke the way actors in the good old days dressed, wore their hair and make-up, sang songs and danced. Sometimes, filmmakers doff their hats to specific songs, characters, or pieces of dialogue. Sometimes, a whole movie is set in rewind mode, such as Om Shanti Om or Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai. Viewers are made to travel back in time to share the directors deep-seated love for a kind of larger-than-life film that is apparently not being made any more. The most blatant example of the dard-eretro genre is the recently releasedAction Replayy by Vipul Shah, which is based on a Gujarati play which, in turn, borrowed many ideas from Back to the Future. In Action Replayy, a young man goes back in

time to revisit the love story of his parents (played by Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan). The plot gave Shah a great excuse to excavate bellbottomed trousers, floppy wigs, polka-dotted dresses and hoop earrings. Audiences didnt seem to share Shahs taste for sartorially embarrassing times. The movie flopped at the box office. One of the premier nostalgists of Bollywood is Farah Khan, who wants to be known as the Manmohan Desai of modern film-making and who wants to deliver the same kind of all-round entertainment that Desai excelled at. Khans upcoming Tees Maar Khan, about a charming con man played by Kumar, hopes to evoke the same madcap quality of Desais movies. KhansOm Shanti Om started off as a pastiche to a kind of over-the-top film-making that we have apparently abandoned, but she didnt have the emotional distance or the critical faculty to maintain the momentum. Unlike seasoned practitioners of pastiche such as Quentin Tarantino or Todd Haynes, most Bollywood film-makers dont actually have a well-developed perspective on older storytelling styles. Retro films are little more than better-dressed versions of tacky 1970s movies, and are mostly interested in creating a kind of cool that will especially appeal to younger audiences. Throw in a disco song and the package is completenever mind the fact that disco music came to Hindi movies only in the 1980s, many years after shiny pants and glitter balls had invaded dance halls in America. Neither film-makers nor audiences, for that matter seem to care too much for verisimilitude. The crime drama Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, which claims to recreate the 1970s, isnt recommended viewing for students of production design. The real nostalgia of such films as Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai and Om Shanti Om seems to be for a time when film viewing was a far less complicated business than it currently is. Although 2010 hasnt ended, its safe to predict that this is the year when the film industry realized that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Viewers want to be served the same comfort food, but in shinier packaging. The humongous success of Dabangg proves that audiences havent lost their appetite for masala fare. Film-makers want to make the all-encompassing film that embraces all kinds of viewers. What better place to look for tried-and-tested fare than the 1970s, which is a golden decade for the mostly 30-something filmmakers who dominate Bollywood in the same way the 1950s were for older filmmakers? Tees Maar Khan will release on 24 December. Nandini Ramnath is the film critic of Time Out Mumbai (www.timeoutmumbai.net ) Write to Nandini at stallorder@livemint.com

CBI was aware of Radias role in 2009; govt cant curb leaked tapes
Radias phone lines were tapped for 120 days in 2008 and 60 days in 2009 from seven locations across India by the directorate general of income tax
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) knew of Niira Radias involvement in an alleged conspiracy as early as 16 November 2009 and was investigating the irregularities, the income-tax (I-T) department told the Supreme Court on Friday. The department, which tapped Radias phones in 2008 and 2009, filed a nine-page affidavit in response to Ratan Tatas privacy petition, scheduled for hearing on Monday. Tata moved court after around 140 such conversations were leaked in the public domain. Radias phone lines were tapped after a complaint was filed with the finance minister alleging that she had amassed Rs300 crore in nine years, and was indulging in anti-national activities and acting as an agent of foreign intelligence agencies, the affidavit said. On 16 November 2009, CBI wrote to the I-T department asking for information on Radias involvement in the award of telecom licences. The affidavit also confirmed the authenticity of the so-called Radia tapes as the I-T department said it had taken the requisite steps to maintain the integrity and safety of the data in electronic form. Radias phone lines were tapped for 120 days in 2008 and 60 days in 2009 from seven locations across India by the directorate general of income tax. This resulted in recordings of 5,851 calls to prominent politicians, businessmen and journalists. The leaked tapes suggest Radia, who represented Tata and Mukesh Ambani through her companies, tried to influence four major issuescabinet formation in the second United Progressive Alliance government, an apex court judgement on the spat between Mukesh and Anil Ambani over natural gas, the allocation of radio spectrum to Tatas telecom companies, and for the chief executives position of Air India for Sunil Arora. It is not possible or practical for the government to take steps to retrieve the various copies of some transcripts which have appeared in the print and electronic media or on the Internet, the affidavit said. The information and broadcasting ministry, which was also named as a respondent in Tatas privacy petition, did not respond in this affidavit.

IIP grows at fastest pace in 3 months

RBIs goal is to keep wholesale price inflation between 4% and 4.5%; may raise interest rates in Jan
New Delhi: Industrial production grew at the fastest pace in three months, threatening to strain power and transportation capacities, and stoke inflation. Stocks rose. Output at factories, utilities and mines rose 10.8% in October from a year earlier after a 4.4% increase in September, the statistics office said in a statement in New Delhi on Friday. The median estimate of 29 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for an 8.5% gain. Also See | The pressure of growth (Graphic) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor D. Subbarao said this week that inflation remains above tolerance level, as the country battles rising prices along with China.

India may raise interest rates in January after pausing at the next policy meeting on 16 December because of a cash crunch at lenders, said economists at Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd and Nomura Holdings Inc. This kind of strong growth will accentuate the pressure on inflation and calls for further monetary tightening, said Sonal Varma, a Mumbai-based economist at Nomura, Japans biggest brokerage. We think RBI is likely to raise rates in the January to March quarter. The Bombay Stock Exchanges Sensex rose for the first time in four days, climbing 1.4%. Ten-year government bond yields fell four basis points to 8.08% at close in Mumbai. The rupee advanced 0.4% to 45.05 against the dollar. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. The central banks goal is to keep the benchmark wholesale price inflation rate between 4% and 4.5%. It may slow to an 11-month low of 7.5% in November, according to the median of 26 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The commerce ministry is scheduled to announce the data on 14 December. In China, where industrial output rose 13.1% in October from a year earlier, inflation is accelerating following an unprecedented credit expansion, a result of efforts to protect the economy from last years global recession. Consumer prices rose 4.4% in October from a year earlier, the fastest pace in two years. The Peoples Bank of China on Friday raised lenders reserve requirements for the third time in five weeks. In October, it increased the interest rate for the first time since 2007. RBI, which has boosted rates six times this year, the most by any central bank in Asia, said on 2 November that it probably wont raise rates until January, giving itself time to see the impact of its monetary tightening. Indias benchmark repurchase rate is 6.25%. Manufacturing grew 11.3% in October after a 4.6% gain in September, Fridays report showed. Electricity production climbed 8.8%, while mining rose 6.5%. A cash squeeze at banks after companies, including Coal India Ltd, raised funds from share sales and businesses withdrew money to pay taxes, may also prompt Subbarao to keep borrowing costs unchanged for now, according to Anubhuti Sahay, an economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Mumbai. Coal India raised Rs.15,200 crore in October in the nations biggest initial share sale. Commercial banks borrowed an average Rs80,900 crore a day this quarter using RBIs repurchaseauction window, compared with Rs23,900 in the previous three months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, indicating a shortage of funds at lenders. Subbarao said on Thursday that RBI was conscious of the liquidity situation at banks, and that it will take some steps as may be necessary. RBI on Thursday conducted an auction to purchase Rs12,000 crore of securities to ease liquidity. Deputy governor Subir Gokarn told reporters in Kolkata this week that the move to replenish funds in the banking system isnt a sign of a change in the central banks monetary policy stance. Inflation will remain a problem for a long while, D.H. Pai Panandiker, president of the RPG Foundation, an economic policy group in New Delhi, said before the production data was released. When consumer demand rises amid infrastructure constraints, it pushes up the cost of doing business. India has a power deficit of 10.5% during peak hours, the Central Electricity Authority estimates, forcing most companies to invest in their own supply back-ups. The target to add 62,000MW of generation capacity in the five years to March 2012 may be missed by about 4,000MW, the government said on Thursday.

There is a real risk of inflation accelerating in the coming months due to strong growth, said Dharmakirti Joshi, a Mumbai-based economist at Crisil Ltd, the local unit of Standard and Poors Ratings Services. RBI may consider raising rates in January. Foreign manufacturers are investing more in India to benefit from growing demand in the country of 1.2 billion people. Daimler AG this week announced plans to invest as much as Rs350 crore by 2012 to expand its India factory that makes Mercedes-Benz cars. Manish Modi contributed to this story.

2G Scam | Trai wants 38 licences to be cancelled

Minister of state for telecom Sachin Pilot told the Rajya Sabha that the telecom regulator had recommended cancelling 38 licences after legal examination
New Delhi: The telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended the government to cancel 38 2G licences, including some held by Telenor, Sistema and Etisalats Indian ventures, a government statement said on Friday. Minister of state for telecom Sachin Pilot told lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha that the regulator had recommended cancelling 31 other telecom licences after legal examination, the statement added. Government officials have earlier said the Trai had recommended cancelling some licences as the companies had not met network rollout obligations. On Thursday, telecom minister Kapil Sibal had said his ministry would send notices to the companies by the end of this week asking them to explain why their licences should not be cancelled.

Engaged Radia to counter vested interests: Tata

Tata questioned as to why Chandrasekhar himself was trying to influence politicians and solicit support from selected corporate
New Delhi: Niira Radia, who is in the eye of a storm over leaked taped conversations, was engaged by the Tata group to counter a media campaign against it by an unholy nexus between certain corporate and journalists. As Tatas did not enjoy any captive connection to counter such media campaign, the group chief, who had earlier gone to the Supreme Court seeking a probe into leakage of tapes containing his conversation with Radia and also a ban on further publication of the same, said that Radia-led Vaishnavi was engaged to counter vested interests. Tatas views came amid the uproar over Radias alleged nexus with corporate, politicians and journalists and the ongoing litigation on the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Countering charges levelled against him and the Tata Group by former telcom entrepreneur and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Tata questioned as to why Chandrasekhar himself was trying to influence politicians and solicit support from selected corporate.

You and many others have focused your attention on Radia as a corporate lobbyist, Tata said while questioning Chandrasekhars role in trying to prevent entry of limited mobility and CDMA mobile service. The noted industrialist reminded Chandrasekhar of the time when he had parked himself at the Taj Mahal Hotel Delhi, for several months in 2002 to prevent entry of Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) limited mobility and CDMA. He also told Chandrasekhar about his interaction with the polity and bureaucracy and with other operators to forge telecom policy of his choice, while at the same soliciting support of industry lobby CII. Would you consider this as an endeavour to influence or subvert policy? To influence politicians or solicit support from selected corporates? I take it that in your view, this would not constitute lobbying ... Your affiliation to a particular political party is well-known and it appears that political aspirations and their endeavour to embarrass the Prime Minister and the ruling party may well have been the motivation behind your letter and the insinuations which you make, Tata said. Claiming that the Tata Group was under attack 10 years ago in media to defame the ethics and value systems of the group which held it apart from others, he said Vaishnavi was engaged to project the groups point of view in the media. He said Vaishnavi was owned neither by the Tata Group nor the group is Vaishnavis only client. Tata wondered why Chandrasekhar has sought to denounce Tatas association with Radia after nine years, particularly when he himself had interacted with her on some occasions in the past. Tata refuted allegations that the group had employed Pradeep Baijal, former Trai chairman and disinvestment secretary who is now working with one of Vaishnavis affiliate. Mr Baijal, whom you apparently have a dislike, is part of Noesis, (an affiliate of Vaishnavi in which Tatas have no ownership) and, as facts will show, on various occasions has differed with the Tata Group during his period in office and has not advocated or influenced Telecom Policy for the Tata Group in any way, Tata said.

SC stands by rotten remark against Allahabad HC

The Allahabad high court had taken strong exception to the apex courts remarks that something was rotten and there was rampant uncle judge syndrome in the higher court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain an Allahabad high court petition seeking expunction of its controversial remarks that something was rotten there and that it was suffering from uncle judges syndrome and stood by them. At the same time, a bench of justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra, while dismissing the Allahabad High Courts application for expunging the remarks, clarified that there were excellent and good judges too in the court.

Rejecting the arguments of senior counsel P. P. Rao that even a clarification that some are excellent and good judges would still cause suspicion on the integrity of the judges, the bench remarked, It is not just time to react but also to introspect. Reacting to the persistent plea of Rao that the clarification would not be sufficient, Justice Katju angrily retorted, Do not tell all those things. I and my family have more than 100-year of association with the Allahabad High Court. People know who is corrupt and who is honest. So do not tell me all this. Justice Katju further observed, Tomorrow, if Markandey Katju starts taking bribe, then the entire country will know about it. So do not tell me as to who is honest and who is corrupt. Rao submitted that the earlier observations had tarnished the image of the entire High Court judiciary and the rustic would not be able to distinguish between a honest and a corrupt judge. Do not tell me all those things about the rustic. They are much more enlightened. Do not think people of India are fools, the bench observed while dismissing the application. The Allahabad high court had taken strong exception to the apex courts remarks that something was rotten and there was rampant uncle judge syndrome in the higher court. In an application moved through its registry, the High Court had sought expunction of the remarks on the ground that they have made difficult for the judges to function and tarnished the reputation of the entire judiciary in Uttar Pradesh. The remarks are unfortunate and uncalled for and has brought down the image of the Allahabad high court judges in the eyes of the general public. The observations have made it difficult for the judges to function, the application had stated. It had submitted that judges of the High Court are appointed only after clearance from the Supreme Court collegium and as such, there was no scope to question their integrity. On 26 November, in a strong indictment of Allahabad high court, the apex court had said, There is something rotten there and raised serious questions about integrity of several of its judges.

Investors spooked, stocks fall

The Bombay Stock Exchanges Sensex dropped 454.12 points, or 2.3%, on Thursday, to close at 19,242.36
Mumbai: Indian shares had their steepest one-day fall in six months as foreign investors got spooked by the growing controversy over telecom. Fears about weak corporate governance in smaller firms,

expectations of further hikes in interest rates on the back of rising inflation and margin calls by brokers worsened the sell-off. The Bombay Stock Exchanges Sensex dropped 454.12 points, or 2.3%, on Thursday, to close at 19,242.36. The markets have under-performed peers over the storm that has broken over the allocation of spectrum for second-generation (2G) mobile services since mid-November. The Sensex has dropped 3% since then while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index has been flat. Analysts expect stock markets to be volatile in the next few weeks, with the sentiment turning negative for Indian stocks despite strong economic growth in recent quarters and consensus estimates putting earnings growth at 20% for fiscals 2011 and 2012. Investor sentiment is bad, and more so for mid-caps and small caps, said Dhiraj Agarwal, director (India institutional equities) at Standard Chartered-STCI Capital Markets Ltd. While there are no large institutional sellers yet, buyers seem to be stepping away. A ban by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India on the promoters of four companies from trading on bourses raised concerns over corporate governance and prompted some investors to make a hurried exit from many smaller firms, as speculation about more investigations under way gained ground. The BSE mid-cap index has corrected 10% since 2 December while the small-cap index has fallen 14%. The decline in small and mid-cap stocks pushed up the margin requirement on them, forcing sales, said Dipen Shah, senior vice-president (private client group research) at Kotak Securities Ltd. In some cases, investors resorted to selling large-cap stocks to fund their margins, which were due with the lenders, he said. Margin funding allows an investor to purchase stocks by paying only a part of the price, the rest being funded by the broker. If the share price falls below the purchase price, the investor is asked to put up additional margin. If clients are not able to meet that requirement, the broker may be forced to sell the stock to avoid further losses. Many retail and high networth individuals have been forced to unwind their leveraged positions because of the sharp correction in the market, said Sandeep Sabharwal, head of portfolio management services atPrabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd. Another issue that weighed on the mind of investors is inflation pressure that could lead to further increases in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), raising costs for companies and impacting valuations. RBI governor D. Subbarao said on Thursday that inflation remained above acceptable levels, signalling borrowing costs may be raised for a seventh time since March. While rising inflation and the consequent expectation of a rate hike are cause for worry, the various allegations of wrongdoing seem to be the biggest market dampener, even as macroeconomic indicators look robust, according to most analysts. I think both inflation and scam-related issues are at play, said Bharat Iyer, head of research at JPMorgan India Pvt. Ltd. But there is only so much you can do about inflation and the more

pertinent issue I think relates to the scams and the corporate governance issues, which have come to the fore now. While analysts affirm Indias domestic demand-driven growth story and expect markets to continue attracting foreign investments, the outlook for the near term does not appear too bright. Most analysts predict volatility in the trading sessions ahead. The Sensex has corrected by nearly 8.4% since its recent closing high of 21,000 on 5 November. Although some brokerages such as Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachshave advised investors to remain underweight on India because of valuation concerns, the current decline is mostly because of local issues, analysts said. With a current account deficit, India is best positioned to attract capital flows, although the sentiment currently might not be very favourable, Iyer said. We are looking at returns of 15% in the year ahead.

Telecom tangle has deep roots

Fluidity of countrys telecommunications policy comes under the scanner as charges fly thick and fast
New Delhi: Tata Sons Ltd chairman Ratan Tata reacted angrily to an open letter from Rajya Sabha member and former telecom entrepreneur Rajeev Chandrasekhar, but while the text of his 14-page (including annexures) response highlighted his own consistent position on the pricing and allotment of air waves, it also reiterated an emerging truth about the Indian telecommunications business: one that involves ad hoc changes in policy, poor regulation, and an impressive display of crony capitalism. Since the late 1990s, Indias telecom policy has seen sudden changes in some cases, or the retention of an outdated policy in others, and while some of these changes are responsible for the countrys mobile telephony boomIndia had 688 million mobile connections at the end of September, but the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) says only 70% are activethey have also benefited almost all companies in the business. In an indirect admission of the fluidity of the countrys telecom policy, telecom minister Kapil Sibal said the government would ask a retired Supreme Court judge to investigate all allocation of air waves (or spectrum) since 2001. On Wednesday, Indias top court, too, signalled that it would like the investigation to date back to 2001. The court was hearing a public interest litigation asking it to step in and monitor the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) probe into what is being termed the 2G scamthe allegedly preferential and favourable allocation in 2008 of licences and spectrum to telcos entering the secondgeneration (2G) mobile telephony business. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, too, has previously suggested that it would like to see any investigation stretch back to 1999; the UPAs main rival, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), ruled India between 1999 and 2004. Ad hoc(ism) rules The changes, while arbitrary and beneficial to some telcos (and detrimental to the fortunes of others), did result in growth. In 2000, India had only 1.88 million mobile phone customers and average call rates were around Rs16 a minute.

At the end of September, the number of phone connections had multiplied 365 times and average tariffs dropped to around Rs0.30 a minute. In the process, Indias teledensity soared from 2.86% in 2000 to 60.99% in 2010. There have been some unique changes in policy over the years. In 2000, one change that made a significant difference is the shift from licence fee regime to revenue-share regime. This ensured that the telcos survived the initial hiccups and were able to build a viable business, said Kunal Bajaj, partner and director (India) for Analysys Mason, a consulting firm. Another important change was the introduction of the uniform termination regime that eventually enabled incoming calls to become free and allowed the mobile service providers to compete with the heavily subsidized fixed-line providers, he said. Through the boom, Indias policy on spectrum has been inconsistent. The recent report by the governments auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), that looks at the issue of 2G licences in 2008, points out that between 2001 and 2008 all telcos benefited from this But analysts reckon that Tata Teleservices Ltd and Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) were among the biggest beneficiaries of inexplicable changes in policysuch as the one in 2003 that allowed the two companies, which only had licences to offer fixed telephony services, to offer mobile telephony, albeit on a different technology platform, CDMA, than the one used by the companies that had licences to offer GSM mobile telephony services. In 2008, RCom and Tata Teleservices were again the beneficiaries when companies offering mobile telephony on the CDMA platform were also allowed to do so on the GSM platform. One policy change that made a huge difference is the introduction of the UASL (telecom) licence in 2004 that allowed the full-fledged entry of Reliance in the market. This brought in new competition and enabled the telcos to experiment with things like tariff strategies among others. The competition made a huge difference, Bajaj added. UASL is short for unified access service licence. To be sure, the telcos that had historically offered services on the GSM platform too enjoyed their share of benefitsthe spectrum allocation policy was skewed in favour of these firms, for instance. And between 2004 and 2007, some of these telcos received licences (around 48 of them were issued) and spectrum largely because of the arbitrariness of government policy, or the lack of onesomething Tata has complained about in his reply to Chandrashekhar. You have also not noticed that the CAG has not ascribed value to 48 new GSM licences issued to incumbents during this period even though CAG was supposed to cover the period from 2003, Tata wrote. (For a complete list of policies that changed the course of the telecom business, see chart, Change, the only constant). Many of these policies were upheld by telecom regulator Trai as well as the appellate body, Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). For instance, Trais 2007 ruling was responsible for allowing new entrants into the business, and at the same financial terms at which other telcos had entered the business several years ago. And TDSAT upheld the governments right to allow companies offering services on the CDMA platform to do so on the GSM one also. Tata vs Chandrasekhar

In his response to Chandrasekhar, who wrote a letter to Tata on 6 December, and released it to the media on the same day, the chairman of Tata Sons said that the missive from the member of parliament appeared to be an attempt to embarrass the ruling party and the Prime Minister. We should all note that many of the flip-flops in the telecom policies occurred during the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) regime, Tata wrote. Your affiliation to a particular political party is wellknown and it appears that political aspirations and their endeavour to embarrass the Prime Minister and the ruling party may well have been the motivation behind your letter. Chandrasekhar was elected to the Rajya Sabha with the support of the BJP in May 2006. Tata didnt spare the current government either and said the CAG report had ignored the 48 GSM licences issued to incumbent telcos between 2004 and 2008. Later on Thursday evening, Tata Teleservices sent a letter to Chandrasekhar refuting his argument, put forth in his letter, that Tata was one of the biggest beneficiaries of out-of-turn allocation of spectrum. UPA vs NDA The UPA, too, seemed to be in a mood to revisit recent history, with the Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari alleging that the migration of telcos from a licence fee regime to a revenue-sharing one in 1999, when the NDA was in power, had cost the exchequer Rs60,000 crore in notional losses. The BJP, the dominant member of the NDA, responded by focusing on what its change in policy had achieved. We unleashed the revolution and today we are boasting of more than 600 million mobiles in the country. It is due to the pragmatic and visionary policy of the NDA and that is why we are proud of our policy, said the partys spokesperson Prakash Javadekar. He added, referring to Tatas letter, that the chairman of Tata Sons probably didnt know much about what has actually happened. Meanwhile, opposition parties continued their demand for an investigation into the 2G controversy by a joint parliamentary committee. CBI vs Raja On Thursday, CBI questioned former telecom minister A. Rajas aides and associates, including his former personal secretary R.K. Chandolia, former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behuria, former member of the telecom commission K. Sridhar; former deputy director general in the access service wing of DoT A.K. Srivastava, and managing director of Chennai-based real estate firm Greenhouse Exports, Sadiqui Batcha. On Wednesday, the agency had searched the residences of Raja and several of these aides. There will be more raids and we do not rule out the arrest of these officials, said a CBI official who spoke on condition of anonymity. He didnt rule out interrogating Raja. The agency also said that it had seized a diary belonging to Raja with notes in Tamil. In a related development, the committee of secretaries, including the home secretary, the secretary of department of personnel and training, the revenue secretary, the chiefs of both the intelligence agencies and the directors of CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, met in the home ministry. We discussed the nexus between journalists, bureaucrats and politicians, said an official who attended the meeting, asking not to be identified. In mid-November, two magazines published transcripts of phone conversations between Niira Radia, a lobbyist for the Tata group and Reliance Industries Ltd, and several journalists, politicians and former bureaucrats. Some of the conversations, dating back to 2009 and wiretapped by the income-tax department, dealt with the formation of the government.

16 tycoons agree to give away fortunes

Those pledging are part of a broader shift in philanthropy, in which successful business people, often entrepreneurs, are giving more of their money to charity far earlier than their predecessors
The billionaire founder of social network Facebook Inc. has agreed to give the majority of his wealth to charity, part of a broader group of rich entrepreneurs committing to philanthropy earlier in their lives. Mark Zuckerberg has signed onto the Giving Pledge, which asks signatories to commit publicly to give away the majority of their wealth. The 26-year-old is one of the 16 billionaires new to the pledge, which now totals at least 50 donors. New names include AOL co-founder Steve Case, investor Carl Icahn and former junk-bond king Michael Milken. They join existing pledges made by wealthy individuals and families, including Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison, film director George Lucas and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. The Giving Pledge is an effort organized by software mogul Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett to persuade the worlds rich to boost their giving. I view this as a call to others who might in their 30s or 40s use some of their creativity to get involved in philanthropy earlier in life, Milken, 64, said of the pledge. Those pledging are part of a broader shift in philanthropy, in which successful business people, often entrepreneurs, are giving more of their money to charity far earlier than their predecessors. It was a trend that was helped along by Gates, who started his foundation while still leading Microsoft Corp. Case, 52, and his wife Jean Case, 50, said they signed the pledge because they hoped it would help philanthropists learn from each other. It is less about what size of a cheque that you write and more about the outcome, Case said. Case said Internet entrepreneurs have a unique interest in philanthropy. The folks that helped bring AOL to life were out to change the world, she said. It seems a natural thing that as they look at the role they want to play, they are giving back in big ways. Icahn and Zuckerberg werent available to comment. In a video prepared by the Giving Pledge, Zuckerberg said, Theres so much that needs to be done, it would be better to start now. The Giving Pledge was born in part from a dislike by Buffett for dynastic wealth. Buffett over the years has schooled Gates on philanthropy, giving him a copy of The Gospel of Wealth, in which steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie argued that fortunes were often wasted by heirs and thus should be put to charitable use. Starting last year, Gates, his wife Melinda Gates, Buffett and other wealthy individuals hosted a series of dinners for billionaires to discuss setting up the pledge. That led to an announcement in June of the pledge and also its earliest signers. Since then, Gates, his wife and Buffett have been calling on billionaires to get their commitment. The pledge doesnt ask for specific donations, nor does it track giving; rather, it asks that a pledge maker commit to giving away the majority of their wealth. That proposition at times has been a tough sell, the pledge founders said. People are super nice to us, but there is a certain awkwardness because its a big decision, Gates said in an interview this

week. Sometimes the wife and the husband have never really talked through their priorities on the charity stuff. Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in his Harvard University dorm before dropping out of college and working on the business full time in California, is one of the worlds youngest billionaires, worth an estimated $6.9 billion (Rs31,120 crore), according to Forbes. Yet, since his wealth is from his ownership stake in a firm that has yet to list on the stock market, much of that wealth is theoretical at this point. Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of Facebook and former Harvard room-mate of Zuckerbergs, has also signed the pledge. Many of the pledge signors had already planned to disburse their wealth and most are already involved in philanthropy. Its unclear if the Giving Pledge has encouraged more giving. Overall, philanthropic giving has been hit hard by the weak economy. Donations in the US fell 3.6% to $303.75 billion last year, down from $315 billion in 2008, according to Giving USA Foundation. The Wall Street Journal wsj@livemint.com

India drops two-year-old policy on climate change

Rameshs stand comes as the EU and island nations proposed scrapping the Kyoto Protocol
Cancun, Mexico: In an effort to break a deadlock in negotiations to save the planet from overheating, Union minister of state Jairam Ramesh discarded overnight Indias policy of two years on global climate change. Its a move that will likely win India international acclaim, but Ramesh must now prepare for fierce domestic criticism of his new stand that the country is willing to accept legally binding commitments in place of its oftrepeated policy of only voluntary action to cut greenhouse gas emissions. All countries must agree to a legally binding commitment under an appropriate legal form, Ramesh said as he surprised his own negotiators at the 16th global climate summit. The statement was not part of the ministers prepared speech, which he read at the plenary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as the summit is officially called. The United Progressive Alliance had assured Parliament that Indias position of refusing any legally binding agreements was non-negotiable. Last week, the Union cabinet accepted Rameshs proposal to drop the nonnegotiable bit, allowing him to be flexible here in this resort city in Mexicos Yucatan peninsula, one of the regions most at threat from climate change. Like most developing countries, India had consistently said that since global warming was caused by developed nations, it would only offer voluntary cuts of up to 25%not of overall emissions, but in the intensity of emissions, or reducing the carbon in every unit of industrial production. This offer was made at the non-binding December 2009 Copenhagen Accord, where 140 nations vaguely agreed to a 2-degree Celsius limit, widely deemed inadequate, to global warming by cutting emissions in half by 2050. On Wednesday, Ramesh said India would not accept absolute cuts in overall emissions.

The ministers stand comes on a day when the European Union and island nationsmost at risk from disappearing beneath rising oceansbacked by the US proposed the scrapping of the existing climate treaty, the 13-year-old Kyoto Protocol, which enforces emission cuts only on developed nations. In its place, they proposed a legally binding instrument for all countries from a dialogue process called long-term cooperative action (LCA). Why should we have a problem with the LCA text? the minister asked, though the LCA proposal was opposed by Indian negotiators. Backed by 70 nations, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives from South Asia, the proposal says that the replacement to the Kyoto Protocol (it ends in 2012) should be agreed at in the next climate summit in Durban, South Africa, in 2011. If we dont agree, we will be isolated, said Ramesh. Japan, Australia and Canada have opposed extending the Kyoto Protocol, which was never signed by the worlds largest economy, the US. A new legally binding treaty with legally binding commitments from the developed world and emerging economies such as India, China, Brazil and South Africa could pave the way for a truly global agreement, stuck in contentious negotiations over the last two years. We have to be flexible and recognize changing realities, Ramesh said, while ruling out India accepting absolute mitigation cuts. He said future discussion on legally binding commitments will depend upon enforcement, penalties for violations and monitoring systems. The minister has already proposed an international regime to monitor and enforce these commitments. That is already part of an official United Nations text. feedback@livemint.com

Insurers can offer group policies to agents: Irda

Incentive aimed at helping firms retain agents who have been quitting after a drop in their commissions
Mumbai: Life insurers will be allowed to offer group insurance policies to their agents under a proposal cleared by the industry regulator. This could help insurers retain agents who have been leaving the industry after the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) tightened commission norms.The industry has 2.8 million agents. A senior Irda official said that at the first stage, the regulator will allow life insurers to offer group health and group term assurance policies to their agents. India opened the insurance industry to the private sector in 2000, but no private insurer is allowed to offer group insurance cover to its own agents. The cover will be an incentive for agents who have recently seen a drastic cut in their commissions. Irda will issue guidelines on group insurance for agents in the next two weeks, the official said.

Those agents who have been with a company for 5-10 years should be incentivized in some ways. We feel it will help the industry retain the performing and serious agents in the business, the Irda official said. He declined to be identified as the final guidelines are yet to be framed. Under the proposed structure, an agent may be offered a health cover of up to Rs2 lakh annually as a part of the group health insurance plan. The group term assurance plan is also likely to offer a life cover of Rs2-3 lakh. All agents who have completed 5-10 years will be offered these covers at a nominal premium, the Irda official said. A company may opt to offer different plans with different sum assured and premia under a single group insurance, according to the experience of the agents with the same company, he said. There are 23 life insurers in India with total assets worth around Rs13 trillion. Till October, the industry collected new business premia of Rs69,707.92 crore. Nearly 80% of the new business premia in life insurance comes from sales of unit-linked insurance policies (Ulips). Ulips are hybrid products that combine life insurance and investments. Till August, life insurance agents could earn up to 40% as first-year commission from the sale of Ulips. Such lucrative front-ended commissions were drawing millions into the business of selling insurance. In fact, since 2000, the number of life insurance agents in India has grown fourfold from 700,000. Following a sudden tightening of Ulip norms in September and the erosion in commissions, the insurance business has turned unattractive for agents. Irda also capped surrender charges, stipulated a minimum risk cover, top-up benefits, and fixed gains or sum assured for Ulips. The most significant reform has been a cut in commissions that insurance companies used to pay their agents for selling Ulipsfrom 57.5% over five years to 30-32%. The first-year commission has been brought down from 35% to 10-15%, according to a second Irda official, who also didnt want to be named. For pension plans, the first-year commission has come down from 7.5% to around 5.5%. These norms forced companies to curtail their agency cost, and the agents started looking for different jobs to earn more. It will certainly help the industry to motivate agents and attract performing people to remain in the business. This in turn will result in better advice for customers and increase productivity of the agents, said S.B. Mathur, secretary, Life Insurance Council, a lobby for life insurers in India. Interestingly, Irda has also tightened the performance criteria for agents recently in its effort to improve the persistency ratio in the industry. The persistency ratio refers to the proportion of policies that get renewed every year. Some of the performance criteria for agents are to ensure an average annual persistency ratio of at least 50%. Among other norms, the minimum number of policies per agent need to be 20 per annum and the minimum first-year premium income to be procured by an agent Rs1.5 lakh a year. These rules are yet to be finalized by Irda, but industry experts say that when these rules are enforced, 50% of the agents will be out of business. The Irda official quoted in the first instance said the final guidelines on both agents performance criteria and provision of group health and term assurance policies will be announced later this month. Only good agents are required in the industry, and group health and term policies at nominal premium should help companies incentivize the agents, said the second Irda official.

anirudh.l@livemint.com

12DEC

13 DEC
IDBI to hike deposit, lending rates by up to 100 bps
In addition, the bank has hiked its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 25 basis points to 13.75%, which will also make existing loans more expensive
Mumbai: In line with the market trend, IDBI Bank on Monday announced a hike in deposit and lending rates by up to 100 basis points. While the interest rates on fixed deposits of different maturities will be increased by 25 to 100 basis points, loans from the bank would also become expensive, with the lender raising its base lending rate by 50 basis points to 9%, a release said. In addition, the bank has hiked its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 25 basis points to 13.75%, which will also make existing loans more expensive.

While the new deposit rates will come into effect from 15 December, the revised lending rates will be applicable to existing and new borrowers from 1 January. As regards the deposit rates, IDBI Bank will offer the highest rate of 8.75% on deposits of 1,100 days tenor, compared to 8.25% interest at present. The highest increase of 100 basis points was announced for short-term deposits with a 46-90 day maturity period. The depositors will now earn 5.50% interest on these short-term deposits, up from 4.50% at present. Following a recent suggestion from Reserve Bank governor D. Subbarao to hike deposit rates to increase the level of national savings, several banks -- including market leaders State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India -- have raised their rates by up to 150 basis points.

Huaneng Renewable scraps $1.28 bn Hong Kong IPO

Weak market conditions were also blamed for the lacklustre response to offerings
Hong Kong: Huaneng Renewables Corp, which holds among Chinas largest wind assets, pulled its up to $1.28 billion initial public offering (IPO) as a stalemate at the UN climate talks and a weak Hong Kong market hurt investor appetite. Its peer, China Datang Corp Renewable Corp, priced its Hong Kong offering at HK$2.33, representing the low end of an earlier indicated range raising about $640 million, a source familiar with the deal said. Datang originally aimed to raise up to $1.5 billion from its Hong Kong IPO. A total of 2.14 billion shares were sold, the source added. Failure of world leaders at Cancun to agree on extending the Kyoto Protocol casts shadows on carbon markets and worried investors about the prospect of Chinese renewable firms, said Yuanta Research analyst Min Li. Carbon offset markets worth $20 billion last year depend on Kyoto emission caps to drive developed countries to pay for cuts in greenhouse gases in developing nations. China is among the biggest beneficiaries of the Kyoto pact as its companies earn UN credits for helping prevent the release of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by building clean energy projects. World leaders at recently-concluded climate talks in Cancun delayed the task of extending the Kyoto pact until next years talks in South Africa. Kyoto expires in 2012. Weak market conditions were also blamed for the lacklustre response to offerings. In light of the change in market conditions and recent unexpected and excessive market volatility ... the company has formed the view that it would be inadvisable to proceed with the global offering at this time, Huaneng said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Application monies would be refunded in full without interest, the company said. Huaneng Renewables had aimed to raise as much as HK$9.9 billion ($1.3 billion).

Air India to offer more flights from Middle East

Air India plans to offer flights from the Gulf region to places like South East Asia, Kathmandu, Sri Lanka, SAARC countries and New York, via New Delhi, a senior official has said
Dubai: The Middle East is one of the largest and most important markets for Air India and the air carrier now plans to offer flights from the Gulf region to places like South East Asia, Kathmandu, Sri Lanka, SAARC countries and New York, via New Delhi, a senior official has said. We are also offering Delhi hub for selling in this market where the passengers can travel from Gulf to South East Asia, Kathmandu, Sri Lanka, SAARC countries and West bound New York via India, said Air India regional managerGulf, Middle East and Africa Abhay Pathak. Pathak was speaking on the occasion of the Annual Agency Award function for the year 2009-2010 in Dubai. He said the airline is exploring the possibility of offering tailor-made packages to address customers needs, adding that a new state-of-the-art fleet is already being put together. Pathak also noted that the airline continues to connect difficult destinations such as Kabul.

Aventis Pharma to exit vaccines co; shares rise

Aventis Pharma Ltd said it would sell 49% stake in a vaccine making firm to its joint venture partner Novartis Pharma AG for $22.4 million
Mumbai: Aventis Pharma Ltd, a unit of French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis, said on Monday it would sell 49% stake in a vaccine making firm to its joint venture partner Novartis Pharma AG for $22.4 million. Shares of Aventis Pharma rose more than 6% after the announcement. Aventis Pharma holds 4.9 million shares in vaccines maker Chiron Behring Vaccines Pvt Ltd while the rest is owned by Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Inc, a unit of Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG, Aventis said in a statement. Until February 2009, the unit was manufacturing anti-rabies vaccine Rabipur at its plant in Ankleshwar in the state of Gujarat while Novartis Healthcare is the distributor of the vaccines in the country, it said. According to the agreement, Aventis would continue to provide certain utilities and services at the Ankleshwar plant for a period of three years on mutually agreed terms, it said adding the deal would close before 31 Dec. After the deal is closed, all the pending disputes and legal proceedings between Aventis Pharma and Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics would be withdrawn unconditionally, it added. At 12:48 p.m., shares of Aventis Pharma were trading at Rs. 1,800, up 1.12% in a weak Mumbai market.

Confidence Petroleum bags Rs. 36.64 cr order from HPCL

Confidence Petroleum India on Monday announced that two of its units have received orders worth Rs.36.64 crore from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation for supply of LPG cylinders
Mumbai: Confidence Petroleum India on Monday announced that two of its units have received orders worth Rs. 36.64 crore from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation for supply of LPG cylinders. Confidence Petroleums Khopoli Cylinder manufacturing unit and Andhra Cylinders, a unit of Envy Cylinders, have bagged the orders, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The work is to be executed by April, 2011, it added. Confidence Petro is also expecting further orders from HPCL for its Bazpur (Uttaranchal), Kalmeshwar (Nagpur) and Saoner (Nagpur) units. Shares of the company were trading at Rs. 18.40, up 7.92% from the previous close on BSE.

Facebook in challenge to Google crown

Mark Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room six-year ago and is now worth an estimated $6.9 billion, refers to it as the social graph
New York: Facebook is challenging Googles supremacy on the Internet with a radically different approach to how people live, work, play and search online. While Google delivers search results selected by algorithms that take into account a users Web history, Facebook boasts a richer level of personalisation based on ones own likes and the recommendations of Facebook friends. Mark Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room six-year ago and is now worth an estimated $6.9 billion, refers to it as the social graph. I think what weve found is that when you can use products with your friends and your family and the people you care about they tend to be more engaging, Zuckerberg said in an interview with the CBS show 60 Minutes. The social graph is incredibly broad, said Wedbush Securities social media analyst Lou Kerner, picking up on Zuckerbergs favorite phrase. It includes not only what you do and what you like but people you know and what they like and the companies you interact with. For some Internet watchers like Kerner, Facebook is building a parallel network built around the interactions of its more than 500 million members. I refer to Facebook as the second Internet, maybe more valuable than the first because were all interconnected on it, Kerner told AFP. Social media is an increasingly important part of how you reach people and its a growing part of every marketers budget, he said. The idea is you do not want to fight Facebook, you want to embrace Facebook and leverage Facebook because this is where people are going to spend increasing amounts of time, he said. According to online tracking firm comScore, Google receives more unique monthly visitors than Facebook but visitors to Facebook spend more time at the site than they do on Google properties. Since this spring, Facebook has been rolling out features which put it on a collision course with Google -- an @facebook.com email service which competes with Googles Gmail and Facebook Questions, a search engine of sorts which lets Facebook members ask questions and get answers from other members. Facebook has also been facing off with Google on the hiring front, forcing the Mountain View, California-based Google to recently raise salaries by 10% across the board. Theyve become competitive in some areas, but its not that Facebook has grown at Googles expense or that Facebook is growing and Google is shrinking, said Danny Sullivan, editor of technology blog SearchEngineLand.com. Google is not going away, agreed Kerner. Google, in fact, I think is going to benefit from the emergence of social media.

Because what its doing is its driving people to spend more time online and when youre spending more time online, you end up doing more searches, he said. Where theyve really been encroaching on each other more is in the display space, Sullivan said. Facebook has a lot of people who buy display advertising. Google wants to sell more display advertising. Sullivan also said Google has been trying to encroach on their social area, but they havent been very successful. Zuckerberg, in the 60 Minutes interview, acknowledged there are areas where the companies compete. But then, there are all these areas where we just dont compete at all, he said. Facebooks growth is not necessarily a bad thing for Google, which has been coming under increased scrutiny from anti-trust authorities in both the United States and Europe. Some of it plays very well for Google, Sullivan said. Google is able to say You know, we have this stiff competition out there. Its not necessarily to Googles disadvantage that Facebook is growing.

Telecom regulator wants 69 telecom licences cancelled

The telecom ministry has said it would send notices to companies that have been named by the regulator, asking them to defend their licences
New Delhi: Telecom regulator has recommended cancelling 69 telecom licences, the government said on Friday, confirming earlier media reports in a case running parallel to an investigation into one of the biggest corruption scandals to hit India this year. The regulator has recommended cancelling 38 licenses of companies including the Indian joint ventures of Telenor, Sistema and Etisalats for failing to meet network rollout requirements, the government said. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) also recommended cancelling 31 other licences after legal examination, junior telecoms minister Sachin Pilot said in a written reply to a question from a lawmaker. The Trais recommendations are not binding, but the telecom ministry has said it would send notices to companies that have been named by the regulator, asking them to defend their licences. The ministry is also sending notices to companies involved in a telecom scam in which firms were allegedly given telecom licenses and spectrum at rock bottom prices, possibly costing the state $39 billion in revenue. Many of those companies are accused of being ineligible for the licenses. The case, which revolves around the sale of telecom licenses at low prices, has led to the resignation of telecoms minister, and, according to an official audit, has possibly lost the state $39 billion in revenue. It has also frozen the countrys parliament for nearly a month as opposition parties have demanded a full parliamentary investigation. The government has decided to set up a one-man committee of former Supreme Court judge Shivaraj Patil to examine the allocation of licences and spectrum from 2001 to 2009, telecom minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday.

A government auditor said in its recent report that licences were given too cheaply and 85 licence holders were ineligible to get them as they had suppressed facts and submitted false documents. Sibal said on Thursday his ministry would send notices to all the companies by the end of this week, asking them to explain why their licences should not be cancelled. He had earlier said there were 119 licensees who have not met rollout requirements. Telecoms licensees in India are required to cover 90% of the service area in metro cities and 10% of the main town in other parts within the first year. The cancellation recommendations include 10 licenses held by Sistema Shyam Teleservices, eight of Telenors India joint venture called Uninor, 14 of Loop Telecom, four of Aircel and two of Etisalat DB Telecom. The 31 licences which the regulator wants cancelled after a legal examination include 13 held by Etisalat DB, 10 of Videocon Telecommunications, six of Loop Telecom and one each of Aircel and Sistema Shyam. Last month, a source with direct knowledge had told Reuters that the regulator had recommended cancelling 38 licences for not complying with rollout requirements, and to legally examine 31 other licences which had just met them.

WikiLeaks Assange says US trying to prosecute him

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a documentary on Sunday he faced prosecution by the United States and was disappointed with how Swedish justice had been abused
Stockholm: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who angered Washington by releasing secret cables, said in a documentary on Sunday he faced prosecution by the United States and was disappointed with how Swedish justice had been abused. Assange has been remanded in custody in Britain after a European arrest warrant was issued by Sweden, which wants to question Assange about allegations made by two women of sexual crimes. He has denied the allegations. I came to Sweden as a refugee publisher involved with an extraordinary publishing fight with the Pentagon, where people were being detained and there is an attempt to prosecute me for espionage, Assange said in an interview in the documentary, aired on Swedish public television. So I am unhappy and disappointed with how the Swedish justice system has been abused, the 39-year-old Australian added in the documentary, which was made before his arrest. Assange faces a fresh British hearing on 14 December. His Swedish lawyer has said he will fight extradition to Sweden. One of his British lawyers, Jennifer Robinson, told ABC News in London on Friday that a US indictment of Assange was imminent, but the report offered no further details or comment by Robinson why she believed charges were likely to be filed. The US Justice Department has been looking into a range of criminal charges, including violations of the 1917 Espionage Act, that could be filed in the WikiLeaks case involving the release of hundreds of confidential and classified US diplomatic cables.

Narnia cruises to No. 1 debut with modest $24.5 mn

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third in the franchise based on C.S. Lewis fantasy novels, took in $24.5 million domestically, according to studio estimates
Los Angeles: The latest chapter in The Chronicles of Narnia saga has sailed to the top of the weekend box office, though the franchise sank to a weak debut compared to the first two movies. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third in the franchise based on C.S. Lewis fantasy novels, took in $24.5 million domestically, according to studio estimates Sunday. Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolies romantic thriller The Tourist opened in second-place with $17 million. Dawn Treader revenues showed a huge drop from 2005s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which took in $65.6 million over opening weekend, and 2008s Prince Caspian, which did $55 million. But with the movie topping $80 million in 85 countries overseas, for a worldwide total of $105.5 million, executives at distributor 20th Century Fox said they are making good headway toward recouping the movies budget of just under $150 million. We had a huge task ahead of us to resurrect this franchise and get movie-goers back to that feeling of affection they had for the first movie. I think all the evidence says weve accomplished that, said Chris Aronson, head of distribution for Fox, which took over the Narnia series when Disney dropped it after the second movie finished at $141.6 million domestically, less than half the $291.7 million haul of the first. I think they all had such a bad taste in their mouth from the last one. Thats why we really had our work cut out for us. Dawn Treader follows the adventures of some of the Pevensie siblings from the first two films as they take a magical sea voyage with their royal pal Caspian. Liam Neeson again provides the voice of talking lion Aslan. Sonys The Tourist also had a quiet start. The film stars Jolie as an Englishwoman who picks up a mild-mannered American (Depp) on a train in Europe as a diversion while shes on the run from cops and gangsters. You have two of the biggest stars in the world, so expectations could be skewed a bit, said Rory Bruer, Sonys head of distribution. But it certainly is a respectable opening. The previous weekends No. 1 movie, Disneys animated musical Tangled, slipped to third-place with $14.6 million, raising its domestic total to $115.6 million. Hollywood remains in a lull as it heads into the Christmas frenzy. Among the movies that will compete for holiday audiences are Jeff Bridges science-fiction tale Tron: Legacy, Robert De Niro and Ben Stillers comic sequel Little Fockers, Jack Blacks comic adventure Gullivers Travels and Reese Witherspoons romance How Do You Know. Overall revenues totaled $94 million, down 3% from the same weekend last year, when The Princess and the Frog was No. 1, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com. The marketplace is pretty much in a malaise, unless youre a specialty or indie film playing in a limited number of theaters, said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. Those are really the bright spots in an otherwise lackluster post-Thanksgiving period.

In limited release, Natalie Portmans ballet drama Black Swan expanded to more theaters and leaped into the top-10, coming in at No. 6 with $3.3 million in just 90 cinemas. That gave it a strong average of $37,024 a theater, compared to $6,892 in 3,555 cinemas for Dawn Treader and $6,168 in 2,756 locations for The Tourist. Distributor Fox Searchlight expands Black Swan into nationwide release Friday, three days after the Golden Globe nominations, where the film is considered a likely contender in acting and other categories. Portman, also a strong Academy Awards prospect, plays a ballerina coming unglued amid the stress of fending off a rival for the lead in Swan Lake. Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bales boxing drama The Fighter was the latest awards contender to put up huge numbers in a limited-release opening. The Paramount film took in $320,000 in four theaters, averaging a whopping $80,000. The Fighter stars Wahlberg as real-life boxer Micky Ward, who overcame harsh family conflicts to earn a title shot in his mid-30s with help from half-brother Dicky Eklund (Bale), an ex-fighter whose life unraveled amid crime and crack addiction. The film expands to wide release Friday. Disneys Shakespeare adaptation The Tempest, with Helen Mirren playing the traditionally male lead of the play, opened modestly with $45,000 in five theaters, for a $9,000 average. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday. 1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, $24.5 million. 2. The Tourist, $17 million. 3. Tangled, $14.6 million. 4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, $8.5 million. 5. Unstoppable, $3.8 million. 6. Black Swan, $3.3 million. 7. Burlesque, $3.2 million. 8. Love & Other Drugs, $3 million. 9. Due Date, $2.55 million. 10. Megamind, $2.5 million.

15 December 2010
Mumbai HC upholds stay on Kings XI termination
The two-member Division Bench ruled that the entire basis of the letter of termination issued by the BCCI to the Mohali franchise was erroneous and flawed
Mumbai: Indian Cricket Board suffered another set back on Wednesday when a division bench of the Bombay High Court upheld the order of its single bench, Justice S F Vazifdar, to stay the termination of Indian Premier League franchise Kings XI Punjab by the BCCI.

The two-member Division Bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Anoop Mohata today ruled that the entire basis of the letter of termination issued by the BCCI to the Mohali franchise was erroneous and flawed. It is abundantly clear that BCCI wanted to terminate the contract on the basis of what was factually incorrect. Termination was anything but fair and was wholly arbitrary, observed the Court. The order means the Mohali franchise can take part in the BCCIs players auction to be held on 8 and 9 January. The Division Bench cited seven circumstances which supported the decision of the single bench. The members of the consortium had exercised control of franchise, the Division Bench observed. Neither Dabur nor Windy Investments had exercised 100% control of franchise and all these companies belonged to Mohit Burman. There was no change in share pattern, the division bench said. The division bench also rejected BCCIs argument that under the franchisee agreement Kings XI Punjab cant seek injunction from any court and have to go for arbitration, saying, this will not apply here. Franchise owners Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman, who were present, rejoiced over the verdict.

Mosque attack kills 30 in Iran, wounds 100

A pair of suicide bomb blasts took place during a Shiite mourning ceremony outside the Imam Hussein Mosque in the southeastern city of Chabahar
Tehran: A pair of suicide bomb blasts outside a mosque in Iran killed at least 30 people and wounded more than 100 on Wednesday during a Shiite mourning ceremony, local media reported. Al Arabiya television reported that Jundollah, a Sunni Muslim rebel group, had claimed responsibility for the attack outside the Imam Hussein Mosque in the southeastern city of Chabahar, near Irans border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. The report could not be confirmed independently. Terrorists carried out two suicide bombings among Shiite mourners in front of a mosque in the town of Chabahar, deputy interior minister Ali Abdollahi told Iranian radio. Iran has faced a string of blasts in past months, including two in June that killed 27 people in the same province. Jundollah had also claimed responsibility for that attack. The Sistan-Baluchestan province is an impoverished area near Pakistan and Afghanistan. Bombings and clashes between security forces, ethnic Baluch Sunni insurgents and drug traffickers have increased in recent years in the area. Ali Mohammad Azad, governor of Sistan-Baluchestan province, put the death toll in the mosque blast at over 30. Many women and children were killed in the suicide bombing, he told state television. Ali Bateni, governor of Chabahar, said two assailants were involved. One of them was killed and the other was arrested, he said. Mahmoud Mozafar, head of the provinces Red Crescent, said his team had received a number of threats before the ceremony. We were on alert in the past days because of some anonymous threats, he told Reuters by telephone. He said that according to his information more than 36 people were killed.

Instability in region Iran says Jundollah has links to Sunni Islamist al Qaeda and has accused Pakistan, Britain and the United States of supporting the group to stir instability in southeast Iran, home to Irans Sunni minority. The three countries deny backing it. Based on our experience, we believe the intelligence services of America and Britain were behind Wednesdays bombing, said senior lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the students news agency ISNA reported. In May 2009, a suicide bomber killed 30 people and wounded more than 120 in an attack on a mosque in the city of Zahedan, capital of the Sistan-Baluchestan province. Ethnic Baluch, many with tribal links to their restive kin in neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan, make up an estimated one to three percent of Irans 77 million people. Iranian leaders reject allegations by western human rights groups that the Islamic Republic discriminates against ethnic and religious minorities.

Greece paralysed by new anti-austerity strike

In addition to grounding planes and paralysing rail and ferries, the general strike shut down schools, courts, banks and pharmacies while hospitals ran on reduced staff
Athens: Thousands of Greeks demonstrated on Wednesday against a new wave of austerity cuts as a general strike brought the country to a standstill, paralysing air, rail and maritime services. Some 15,000 protesters according to police estimates marched in separate Athens demonstrations at the call of the main public and private-sector unions. Other protests against austerity measures were expected Wednesday in other European capitals, including Brussels, Luxembourg and Dublin. Enough is enough, read a banner carried at the head of the protest organised by the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) and the main union of civil servants ADEDY. History is written in the streets, the demonstrators chanted. Communist-affiliated workers had earlier staged another demonstration. The general strike, the seventh this year, came as the ruling Socialists hurried through additional reforms under a tough economy overhaul mandated by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in return for a rescue loan. A bill slashing salaries in the countrys poorly managed public utilities was approved in the early morning, months after civil servants in the broader public sector had also had their wages and pensions cut. Work rights are being suppressed and I think the whole Greek people should rise up, said Ellada Christodoulou, a lawyer in her fifties as she marched in the protest with a sign that said default on payments now. This is a fight not only in Greece but in the entire world, she said. In addition to grounding planes and paralysing rail and ferries, the general strike shut down schools, courts, banks and pharmacies while hospitals ran on reduced staff. Civil engineers, journalists and lawyers also joined the action. For a third consecutive day after previous action by disgruntled transport workers, Athens witnessed giant traffic jams as even taxi drivers prepared to stage a stoppage in support of the strike.

Prime Minister George Papandreou late on Tuesday called a crunch cabinet meeting to discuss privatisation and better coordination in the use of state properties. Hours later, the government secured parliamentary approval of salary cuts in the countrys badly mismanaged public utilities but was forced to axe a dissenting lawmaker, reducing its majority in the chamber to six. The new bill spelled salary cuts for staff at utilities, known as Dekos in Greece, who earn more than 1,800 ($2,413) a month. We have tough decisions ahead of us, but it is only through bold strokes that we can overcome the difficulties, Papandreou told his ministers late on Tuesday ahead of the parliamentary vote. The finance ministry had recently released figures showing that Deko staff were annually paid some 40,000 on average, far more than other public or private-sector employees. This was despite the fact that most of the public utilities were deep in debt. Greece is trapped under a debt mountain of over 300 billion ($402 billion) and came near bankruptcy in May before it was rescued by a loan from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF. The government in November announced a plan to reduce the deficit of loss-making state enterprises by 800 million ($1 billion). The adoption of such reforms follows a first round of austerity measures aimed at reducing the Greek public deficit, which stood at over 15.4% of output last year, more than five times the EU ceiling. The economy overhaul is a condition set by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for the release of a 15-billion installment from the 110-billion EU-IMF rescue package granted Greece in May. Athens is now hoping in exchange to get an extension to repaying this EU-IMF loan in order to avoid facing an impossible mission to settle it among other debts that expire in 2015. On Tuesday, unions brought hundreds of protesters outside the Greek parliament, carrying banners that read Strike until final victory. We cannot take any more (austerity) read another banner. Several hundred police officers and coastguards, whose wages were targeted in a previous wave of cuts, staged a separate demonstration later in the day. Your profits cost human lives, read a banner held up by uniformed security staff, some of them standing under a crossed-out emblem of the IMF.

Air India, BSNL likely to be provided govt support: PM

Enterprises which are facing difficulties, such as Air India and BSNL, are receiving the due attention of the government, Singh said
New Delhi: Amid the demand from Civil Aviation Ministry for induction of Rs.1,200 crore as fresh equity into Air India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said the government is actively considering helping the national carrier. Along with the Air India, state-owned telecom firm BSNL is also likely to get the government support. Enterprises which are facing difficulties, such as Air India and BSNL, are receiving the due attention of the government, Singh said.

The Prime Minister was addressing an award function of the Department Public Enterprises and PSUs body SCOPE here. Saddled with the loss of Rs. 5,551 crore in 2009-10, Air India is seeking induction of fresh equity to improve its balance sheet. Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel met Plan Panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia yesterday in this regard. A Cabinet note on equity infusion proposal has already been circulated among the key economic ministries including Finance. If the proposal is approved, it would be the second tranche of equity infusion since 2008-09 when Rs. 800 crore was released to the beleaguered carrier. BSNL, which used to be the flagship telecom company, lost market share to the private sector operators and posted its first loss at Rs. 1,822.65 crore in 2009-10. Talking about the ailing public sector units, the Prime Minister said that 20 out of 39 companies revived by the Board of Reconstruction of Public Enterprises, were making profits. We must ensure that these improvements are sustained in the long run, and these companies do not need to come back to the government for fresh revival packages, he added.

Air India, BSNL likely to be provided govt support: PM

Enterprises which are facing difficulties, such as Air India and BSNL, are receiving the due attention of the government, Singh said
New Delhi: Amid the demand from Civil Aviation Ministry for induction of Rs.1,200 crore as fresh equity into Air India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said the government is actively considering helping the national carrier. Along with the Air India, state-owned telecom firm BSNL is also likely to get the government support. Enterprises which are facing difficulties, such as Air India and BSNL, are receiving the due attention of the government, Singh said. The Prime Minister was addressing an award function of the Department Public Enterprises and PSUs body SCOPE here. Saddled with the loss of Rs. 5,551 crore in 2009-10, Air India is seeking induction of fresh equity to improve its balance sheet. Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel met Plan Panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia yesterday in this regard. A Cabinet note on equity infusion proposal has already been circulated among the key economic ministries including Finance. If the proposal is approved, it would be the second tranche of equity infusion since 2008-09 when Rs. 800 crore was released to the beleaguered carrier. BSNL, which used to be the flagship telecom company, lost market share to the private sector operators and posted its first loss at Rs. 1,822.65 crore in 2009-10.

Talking about the ailing public sector units, the Prime Minister said that 20 out of 39 companies revived by the Board of Reconstruction of Public Enterprises, were making profits. We must ensure that these improvements are sustained in the long run, and these companies do not need to come back to the government for fresh revival packages, he added.

India seeks win-win drug tie-up with China

Collaboration between India and China will give both nations a strategic edge over the developed countries, said Daara Patel, secretary general of Indian Drug Manufacturers Association
New Delhi: Indias top drug manufacturing association on Wednesday urged Chinese pharmaceutical companies to cooperate in a win-win partnership to supply global generic medicine needs. The call came as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao began a trip to India, accompanied by 400 Chinese business executives, aimed at fostering burgeoning trade and repairing ties dogged by persistent disputes over shared borders. Daara Patel, secretary general of the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association, told his Chinese counterparts in New Delhi a Chindia partnership meant together we could meet almost all global generic requirements. In recent years, the two countries have become major suppliers of low-cost medicines and medicine ingredients to global markets and their products are widespread in the generic and over-the-counter sector. China now produces large volumes of pharmaceutical ingredients while India is strong in manufacturing finished drug products such as anti-depressants, antibiotics and heart medicines. A strategic partnership will cover the gaps in production for each other, Patel said. Collaboration between India and China will give both nations a strategic edge over the developed countries, said Patel. Liu Zhanglin, vice president of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products, welcomed the Indian groups call. We agree we can work together to expand the global market and provide manufacturing tenders in partnership rather than competing, Liu said. The Indian group also announced the two sides have drafted an accord to be signed next month under which they will give each other more information and guidance about import regulations and marketing in their respective companies. The agreement comes as India seeks to promote its pharmaceutical and information technology exports to China. Bilateral trade stands at $60 billion, a 20-fold increase since 2000, but is massively in Chinas favour. Bilateral trade in health care products totalled the $3.1 billion for the first 10 months of the year, the Chinese delegation said, without breaking down the figures, up from $2.8 billion for all of 2009.

DBS to take over RBS China retail business

DBS shares ended down 0.9% on Wednesday, in line with the broader Singapore markets decline

Singapore/ Shanghai: DBS Group, Southeast Asias biggest lender, agreed on Wednesday to take over Royal Bank of Scotlands retail and commercial businesses in three major Chinese cities, as it accelerates expansion in the worlds second-biggest economy. The agreement ends more than a year of speculation over who will acquire RBS China assets, with rivals including HSBC Holdings Plc , Standard Chartered and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group having all been identified by media as potential buyers. But the arrangement between RBS and DBS does not involve any cash investment, transfer of outlets or business licences. It will give RBS 25,000 customers in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen the option to transfer their existing accounts and deposits to DBS China. Some RBS employees, as well as $900 million worth of banking products will also move over to the Singapore bank as part of the deal. This landmark agreement enables DBS China to rapidly expand its retail banking customer base, grow its deposit base and correspondingly, accelerate plans to grow its loan portfolio, in a market that is of critical importance to DBS, said Melvin Teo, CEO of DBS China. We didnt invest a single cent. RBS wants to exit, we want to accept, its just as simple as that. RBS chief executive Stephen Hester embarked on a wide-ranging asset sale programme after the bank was ordered last year by European regulators to sell a string of assets as a price for its state bailout. RBS, 83% owned by the UK government, has sold most of its commercial banking units in Asia but still has an investment banking presence in the region. RBS also has banking operations in other Chinese cities. China is a core market for RBS, RBS said in a statement on Wednesday. We will continue to provide services to large-scale companies and institutional clients in China. Doubling staff DBS plans to double its China staff to 2,000 next year and expand its China outlets to 50 by the end of 2013, Teo said, adding that he also expected the agreement with RBS would enable it to double its client base in China. The key here is that the transaction is in the right geography, and is part of a well articulated strategy of sourcing 30% of revenues from Greater China, Harsh Modi, a JPMorgan analyst said in a note to clients. DBS CEO Piyush Gupta earlier this year announced plans to boost revenue from outside the banks core markets Singapore and Hong Kong. He wants South Asia and Southeast Asia, excluding Singapore, to account for 30 percent of revenue in 5-year, with the same coming from Greater China. Singapores share will drop to 40% from 60% in the same period. We expect DBS to differentiate itself from the past on two aspects: good execution of plans and passing over costly M&A deals, said JPMorgans Modi. Hence, we believe DBS could shape up as one of the biggest turnarounds amongst Asian banks in 2011. DBS, which trades at 1.3 times book, trails rivals Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp , which trades at 1.9 times book, and United Overseas Banks around 1.7 times. DBS shares ended down 0.9% on Wednesday, in line with the broader Singapore markets decline.

Tata Motors launches special finance scheme for Nano

Tata Motors Finance (TMF) will provide finance up to 90% for the Nano at easy rates

Mumbai: In a bid to push-up sales, Tata Motors on Wednesday announced a special finance scheme by which a customer will get within 48 hours loan for its small car Nano. Tata Motors Finance (TMF) will provide finance up to 90% for the Nano at easy rates. TMF, which provides customer finance for all Tata Motors vehicles, is present in all the 540 passenger vehicles outlets of the company, Tata Motors said in a statement here. The move may help boost Tata Nanos flagging popularity, as sporadic incidents of the small car catching fire has made it difficult for the company to push Nano sales. Despite a number of assurances by the company through various campaign initiatives, the number of units sold has declined from 9,000 units sold in July to the low of 509 units sold in November. Last week, the company had announced a four-year or 60,000 kilometre manufacturing warranty on its small car Nano to woo customers. The Tata Nano will now come with a four year/60,000 km (whichever is earlier) manufacturers warranty, at no extra cost. Besides being applicable on new deliveries, the warranty is also being extended to all existing owners of the car, the company said. Besides, it had said all new Nano customers will have an option to avail a comprehensive maintenance contract at Rs. 99 per month. These benefits will further enhance the satisfaction of Tata Nano users, it said. Tata Motors earlier this month had asked Nano buyers to bring back their cars to add safety devices free of cost to prevent the vehicles from catching fire but insisted it was not a recall. The company even after registering 85% fall in sales at just 509 units in November this year, claimed that customer satisfaction with the small car was high. Customer satisfaction studies with current Tata Nano owners indicate that over 80% are satisfied or very satisfied with the car, because of it being small yet spacious, its performance, manoeuvrability, durability, mileage and safety, it said. It added that Tata Motors has made the Nano even more robust, as announced on 9 November, with enhanced features in the cars electrical and exhaust systems and that all new cars are being delivered to customers with these enhanced features. Parallely, existing owners are also being offered the option to install these in their cars, at no extra cost, the company said.

2G spectrum scam: ED joins CBI in searches

Corporate lobbyist Niira Radia was earlier questioned by ED in connection with its probe
New Delhi: Widening the probe in the 2G spectrum scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday joined CBI in conducting searches in connection with the case and visited the house of alleged hawala operator Mahesh Jain here.

Official sources said a team of the Directorate visited the house Jain in New Friends Colony area. They said the ED team may also visit some other locations where the CBI was conducting searches. The CBI was carrying out raids in Tamil Nadu and Delhi. The sources said Jains name had figured during investigations into the 2G scam and that the Directorate has found that Mahesh and his brother Alok Jain alias Bobby had allegedly registered companies as fronts. CBI sleuths searched the office and residential premises of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, former Trai chairman Pradip Baijal and a Chennai NGO with which DMK MP Kanimozhi is linked in a crackdown here and in several places in Tamil Nadu in connection with the scam. Radia was earlier questioned by ED in connection with its probe.

16 DEC
The year of networking
In the last year and a half, Zuckerbergs Facebook has added more than 250 million users. It is difficult to think of anyone else who has influenced so many lives in this period

To many, it might seem odd that a social entrepreneur should be put on the same platform as some of historys most influential and controversial characters, especially if that includes people such as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Adolf Hitler, Ayatollah Khomeini, as well as almost every US President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Yet Mark Zuckerbergs nomination as Times Person of the Year is hardly surprising. In the last year and a half, Zuckerbergs Facebook has added more than 250 million users. It is difficult to think of anyone else who has influenced so many lives in this period. And beyond the numbers, it has inculcated a wholly different world view for its followers, leading to whats known as the Facebook generation. Like that of the Millennials before them, the Facebookers sociological effects, already manifest, are likely to persist. Timemay find that 2010 will not be the only Zuckerberg year.

A crisis of legitimacy
Plagued by scandals, the UPA government at the Centre led by Prime Minster Manmohan Singh is busy saving itself from political downfall rather than securing the countrys future and punishing the guilty This is Indias season for scandal. But thats not quite all. A grave crisis of legitimacy afflicts the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. This is due, in very large part, to the

absence of leadership in government and in the political system. There are no signs of this abating anytime soon. If matters continue to drift, history may mark this as the tipping pointwhen matters turned from bad to worse. The country, after years of coasting along on autopilot, did not get the leadership it needed at a critical juncture. The spectrum allocation case, in this context, is only the latest link in a chain that began much earlier. Consider the nature of the drift: There is a clear line that joins the 26/11 Mumbai attacks with the spectrum issue. There are other markers along this path of deteriorationthe slowburning crisis in Jammu and Kashmir that boils over every now and then being one example. Each of these episodes has been marked by the absence of the kind of decisive leadership that was needed to control the situation. The response to 26/11 has been defensive and tepid. Kashmir, as always, has been left to its own devices. The 2G spectrum issue has played out before the eyes of aghast citizens, whove helplessly watched the plunder of resources controlled by the government in their name. During the recent troubled history of its tenure, the government has taken no steps to communicate with citizens or reach out to them in a meaningful manner, either through the press or directly. When it came to taking action, the governments steps were reluctant and halting. In this, it was always calculating a step ahead: Instead of doing what was right, the UPA government was always worried about the advantages the opposition would garner if it took decisive action. The result was that action whatever little of it the Manmohan Singh regime did take was almost always late and looked more in the nature of an afterthought. The departures of Shashi Tharoor, Ashok Chavan and A. Raja are all cases in point. Had the government been pro-active in the first place, all its worries about the consequences of getting rid of the corrupt and the compromised would have not existed in the first place. Indian democracy is robust and the average citizen intelligent enough to realize when the government is sincere and when the opposition is indulging in criticism devoid of merit. But the UPA does not have any faith in the average Indian. Which brings us to another aspect of the functioning of Prime Minister Singhs government: the arrogance of power. Minister after minister, leader after leader, keep making statements that insult the intelligence of citizens. There are far too many instances of such behaviour and citing particular incidents is invidious but one recent example is worth illustrating: The statement of Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on the threat to the life of the slain Mumbai police officer Hemant Karkare from right-wing Hindu organizations. This was a patently partisan comment meant to garner political mileage from a sensitive issue, one that wounded all Indians, irrespective of their religious belief. It was made in the full glare of television cameras, before and after inconvenient facts emerged. Yet, the individual concerned refused to back down. This was even after people at large had convinced themselves that there was more than a hint of suppressio veri in the proceedings. This is where the countrys leadership has to step in, be it Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. There is no sign of either one doing so. Singhs attitude is marked by professorial detachment, something that a prime minister cannot afford in a country such as India. Gandhis preoccupation has been the survival of the UPA government. The result is that a wide swath has been left open for ministerial discretion, or indiscretion for that matter. Ministers say and do what they please. There is little check over their performance and still lesser control over the promises they make, ones the people know they will never be able to fulfil or never intend to. Keeping ministers in check is difficult in normal times and more so in a coalition government, but the UPAs ministers tend to treat their departments as personal fiefs, mocking the idea of the collective responsibility of the cabinet.

That is the substance of the drift. It is for everyone to see. In this, the prime ministers first and last line of defence has been his personal honesty and integrity. No one disputes that. But after five-and-a-half years at the helm of India, that shining banner has frayed into a tattered standard. The question is not about him or his honesty but what his ministers do; what do his partymen do; the inability of his government to carry out key, nay the very basic, tasks of governance. In this and much else, Manmohan Singh, in spite of his lofty credentials and even higher expectations, has been found wanting. In calmer moments, he will do well to reflect on what needs to be done to stem the rot that not only threatens his government but also the present and future of the country.

GVK Energy gets Rs. 698 crore investment from Actis, GIC
Mumbai/Bangalore: Two leading private equity (PE) players will invest Rs. 698 crore in power

The company may come out with an IPO in the next 72 months, giving an exit option to the PE firms, says its CFO

company GVK Energy Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyderabad-based infrastructure developing company GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd. On Thursday, GVK Power said it signed an agreement with private equity firms Actis Advisors Pvt. Ltd and an affiliate of the government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) for an investment of Rs. 349 crore each in GVK Energy. Actis and GICs affiliate will bring in Rs. 218 crore each as the first tranche of investment. Also See Energy Investments (PDF) GVK Energy has tied up a total Rs. 1,498 crore from three private equity players, including Actis and GIC, and the overall stake dilution will be 24.97%. In early November, another private equity firm, 3i Infrastructure Fund, agreed to invest Rs. 800 crore in GVK Energy. GVKs power portfolio comprises an operational capacity of 909MW with a further 4,200MW under various stages of development. We have tied up private equity investments for around Rs. 1,500 crore. As on date, we have raised Rs. 936 crore from Actis, GIC and 3i. The second tranche of funds will be raised as and when we require the same. These funds will be used for the capital expenditure of our 4,200MW power projects under various stages of development, said Issac A. George, director and chief financial officer at GVK Power. We have given an initial public offer (IPO) as an exit option for private equity companies. This should happen in the next 72 months. Experts said GVK Power is following a well-documented business plan with specific plans of exit options and sourcing funds for its power projects. The company may look at investors in airport division in similar fashion. The surprising element in this development is the entry of GIC, said a senior analyst tracking GVK Power stocks at a domestic brokerage. He did not want to be identified. Actis is an emerging markets private equity investor with $4.7 billion (Rs.21,338 crore) under management. GIC is a global investment management company established in 1981 to manage Singapores foreign reserves. GVK is present in sectors including energy, airports, roads and urban infrastructure. As on date, GVK has invested more than Rs. 10,786.02 crore in infrastructure projects and has on-hand projects worth more than Rs. 25,000 crore.

G.V. Krishna Reddy, chairman, GVK Power, said in a statement: While this strategic transaction will enable GVK Energy to deploy further capital, we believe that both Actis and GIC will prove to be ideal partners in the next phase of the companys growth. Michael Till, a partner and co-head of the Actis infrastructure business, said his company is helping secure Indians current and future energy needs through this investment. On Thursday, GVK Power and Infrastructure rose marginally to Rs. 39.60 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Private equity players are betting on Indias power sector as there is a demand-supply mismatch and regulations are being streamlined. The sector has become attractive for private equity investors who seek clarity in policies, said Kalpana Jain, senior director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd, a consulting and audit firm. If someone can get land, organize coal procurement, and get a power purchase agreement (PPA), power can be very attractive at this moment, she said. Queried on why private equity firms were looking at backing subsidiaries, Jain said: The expectation is that power has higher growth potential, which could be the play of the subsidiary, and could be taken to the market faster than the parent company. An investment in a subsidiary also increases the value of the parent company. They are keeping their options open. Vikram Utamsingh, executive director of KPMG India, a consulting firm, said big-ticket deals in the power sector have been triggered by the huge amount of dry powder (capital yet to be invested) lying with private equity investors. Private equity players need to find large-ticket deals and there are not many opportunities available for deals above $100-150 million outside the infrastructure sector. Expectations on returns are another reason. The private equity community expects infrastructure at an asset level could yield returns of 15-18%. Non-infrastructure private equity funds look for returns of 20-25%, so they take a call on these 1518% returns and, looking at the demand, they know they can get returns of 25% once the asset is up and running, Utamsingh said. According to both Jain and Utamsingh, investment in the power sector will continue to gain momentum in 2011 as well. This calendar year has witnessed similar investments in the power sector. Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Ltd received a $200 million investment from Singapores government investment arm, Temasek Holdings Ltd, for its wholly owned subsidiary GMR Energy Ltd. Similarly, US private equity firm Blackstone Group LP has invested $300 million in unlisted energy firm Moser Baer Projects Pvt. Ltd. In the electricity sector alone, India is facing a peaking shortage of nearly 12% and an energy shortage of 9-10%. Sushilkumar Shinde, Union minister for power, in October said India was targeting a capacity addition of 62,000MW in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012 -2017). In 2007-2012, the funding requirement in the Indian power sector has been estimated at $230 billion.

Abductions by fringe outfits revive fears among Assam tea estates

In a little over a month, at least three persons have been abducted from various tea gardens in Assam, the last one on Monday from Menoka Tea Estate in the Darranga Mela area
Kolkata: Fringe political outfits have, after a gap of at least five years, again begun extorting money from owners of tea estates in Assam. In a little over a month, at least three persons have been abducted from various tea gardens in Assam, the last one on Monday from Menoka Tea Estate in the Darranga Mela area near Indias border with Bhutan. Kamlesh Gupta, the manager of the estate, who was whisked away by armed gunmen from his bungalow on Monday evening, is still missing. Gupta, 50, is no greenhorn: he has worked at least 15 years in tea gardens, according to Pinaki Roy, director of Menoka Tea Estate Pvt. Ltd. He never mentioned receiving any extortion note, Roy said. At least two other persons were kidnapped from tea estates in Assam in the past few weeks, but they did not want to be named because their firms paid ransom for their release. One of them was an estate owner, the other a manager. In June-July, armed militants suspected to be members of a separatist group attacked and vandalized properties on two tea estates in Upper Assam, or the eastern part of the state. Several employees were assaulted and the owners of the estates later confirmed they had received extortion notes from the group. The situation is suddenly beginning to get concerning again, said one of the biggest tea growers in Assam, speaking on condition of anonymity. Unless nipped in the bud, these things can very quickly escalate into a niggling problem. Though militancy has abated, security guards at Assams tea gardens are still routinely armed. At Menoka Tea Estate, Guptas personal security guard carried a self-loading rifle, according to Roy. He was locked up in a room. For years, we havent faced any extortion, said Roy. The industry was in a shambles, and even if they hacked us to death we couldnt pay them (the separatists). Over the past few years, things have looked up, tea prices have remained strong and tea growers are again making money. Though the notorious separatist groups such as the Ulfa (United Liberation Front of Assam) and BLT (Bodoland Tigers) arent as active as they were earlier, we are again feeling threatened, he added. Guptas abduction brought back to the tea estate memories of a similar incident that took place in 1997. After 23 days and extensive discussion, militants had released Menoka Tea Estates manager. The tea industry had much worse experiences in the 1980s and the 1990s. In 1988, Ulfa militants were suspected to have killed at least a dozen tea garden officials and abducted many for ransom. Things came to a head in 1990, when in May, Ulfa militants killed Surrendra Paul, chairman of the Apeejay Surrendra Groupone of the biggest tea growers in Assamand in November, laid siege to erstwhile Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL)s Doom Dooma tea estate, forcing the company to secretly airlift its officials. HLL is now known as Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL). Though militancy has declined in the past decade, attacks have been carried out against companies such as HLL. In November 2003, explosives were set off at the companys personal care products factory in Tinsukia district of Assam.

Back then, local people wouldnt protest, but now its different. Locals have got together to protest the abduction at Menoka Tea Estate, which has some 300 permanent workers and employs as many more temporary workers. Over the last few days, our workers have led protest rallies of local people, blocked roads and even the nearest police station, said Roy. The state administration has launched a massive search operation, said an official at the Darranga Mela police outpost. He did not identify himself in the phone conversation. We suspect some insiders could be involved. The estate had sacked some of its workers. It could be a case of these guys retaliating.

Basel regulators give details of bank capital, liquidity rules

Lenders would have needed 602 billion to comply with the rules if they were in place at the end of last year
Brussels: Bank regulators published details of an overhaul of liquidity and capital rules for lenders to allow markets to make more thorough assessments of how well financial companies will cope with the new requirements. Lenders would have needed 602 billion (Rs. 36.2 trillion) to comply with the rules if they were in place at the end of last year, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision said. Banks would also have had shortfalls, including a 2.89 trillion gap in stable funding, necessary to meet separate liquidity requirements. The committee agreed in July to phase in the requirements up to 1 January 2019 to mitigate their impact. Regulators are overhauling bank capital and liquidity requirements because existing rules, known as Basel II, failed to protect lenders from insolvency during the financial crisis. The main elements of the overhaul were approved by leaders of the Group of Twenty (G20) countries last month. The transition period provides banks with ample time to move to the new standards in a manner consistent with a sound economic recovery, Nout Wellink, chairman of the Basel committee, said in a statement on the groups website. The Basel committee said the 602 billion would have been needed for banks to cope with a requirement to hold core capital equivalent to 7% of their assets, with these assets weighted according to their riskiness. The figure has been calculated by regulators based on data collected from 263 banks. Banks that do not meet the requirement will face restrictions on paying dividends, regulators said in September. Banks would also have failed at the end of 2009 to meet new rules on bank liquidity that have been drawn up by the Basel committee, the group said. Banks that fail the minimum liquidity requirements could meet them by lengthening the term of their funding or restructuring business models, the Basel committee said. The committee plans to introduce the liquidity rules between 2015 and 2018. The new rules are a landmark achievement that will help protect financial stability and promote sustainable economic growth, Wellink said. Internationally active banks with more than 3 billion euros in Tier I capital, a broader measure of banks reserves, would have needed an additional 577 billion euros of core capital to satisfy the rules, while other banks surveyed would have needed 25 billion euros, the Basel committee said.

The 2.89 trillion euro gap is the groups calculation of banks liquidity shortfall against a so-called net stable funding ratio. That ratio, scheduled to be put in place in 2018, aims to limit the mismatch between the duration of loans and deposits, to ensure that banks dont face cash flow problems. Lenders at the end of 2009 would also have had a shortfall of 1.73 trillion euros in the assets necessary to meet a separate liquidity coverage ratio, which will measure banks ability to survive a 30-day credit crunch. That ratio is scheduled to be effective from 2015. The actual impact of the new Basel requirements by the time they are implemented will likely be lower as the banking sector adjusts to a changing economic and regulatory environment, the committee said in its impact report. The results do not consider banks profitability or make any assumptions about banks behavioural responses, the report said. The Basel committee published a text clarifying the details of the regulatory overhaul. As well as revised rules on capital and liquidity, the overhaul also includes a limit on banks borrowings. The Basel committee brings together regulators from 27 countries including Brazil, China, India, Germany the UK and the US.

AP urges RBI to bar MFIs from tapping capital markets, PE funds

Andhra blamed the for profit MFIs backed by the funds of capital markets and private equity investors for the current plight of tiny borrowers, who were resorting to suicides
Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday urged a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) panel to bar micro finance institutions (MFIs) from tapping capital markets and seeking private equity investments arguing this has made micro lenders more profit hungry. Early this week, the state government had passed a controversial ordinance to check the strong arm methods allegedly used by some MFIs to recover loans from poor borrowers. This, allegedly, has led to rising number of suicides in the southern state. The high interest rates charged by microlenders also came under heavy criticism. Following this, the RBI constituted a panel headed by chartered accountant Y H Malegam. The committee, which is likely to submit its report by next month, visited the state on Thursday to take a stock of the situation. Submitting a report to the panel, the state government alleged that profit-seeking MFIs, backed private investors, has resulted in the current plight of microfinance borrowers. MFIs found it was necessary to make profit to grow and garner funds from the outside resources and marketing it as a good business opportunity among private equity funds, said the state government in its report. The point is that the funds flowing from outside have only one concern higher profit, at whatever cost. The poor have become an object of profit, a business opportunity, said Reddy Subrahmanyam, principal secretary with APs panchayat raj and rural development ministry. The government has submitted to Malegam that PE investors from across the globe were being lured by the higher profits and high returns showcased by the for profit MFIs.

These PEs are not social investors and therefore drive MFIs to earn more profits for them, defeating the very purpose of financial inclusion, said Reddy Subrahmanyam. In its report to Malegam panel, the government appealed, The MFIs shall not be allowed to go for IPOs (initial public offerings) as they have to generate more and more profits, defeating the very purpose of microfinance. Also, referring to the high return of assets (RoA) of 4%-5% of MFIs, the government said it was considered very high and there is a need to rationalize the same in tune with other similar financial institutions. In this context, the government has advised the Malegam panel to consider capping the interest rates charged by MFIs while lending to tiny borrowers, which ranged from 30%-40%. We propose that a cap of 8% on the interest rate spread may be imposed on interest rates being charged by MFIs. Interest spread is the difference between the interest rate at which MFIs borrow from banks and institutions and the rate at which they lend to tiny borrowers. AP government, which did not propose any measures in its microfinance bill to cap interest rates charged by MFIs, said, Implementation of this maximum cap on the interest rate spread is best done by state governments, which have the machinery to verify the situation in the field. Responding to a debate whether the interest rates charged by MFIs can be regulated by the state government, Reddy Subrahmanyam said, Considering that state governments have been regulating interest rates being charged by money lenders, there is no reason why the state governments should not be regulating the MFI lending rates. Referring to the key provision of monthly repayments by the micro borrowers stipulated in its microfinance bill, the AP government said, monthly collection system would significantly reduce operational cost of MFIs and such benefits could be passed on to the poor.

Seven veenas
The sound of the veena is by far one of the most grand and majestic of all Indian instruments, and one that is often associated with temple ritual and ancient scriptures
What is the genre of music you might expect to hear in an album titledMysterious Duality? Certainly not the veena, Ill wager a bet. But thats exactly what Jayanthi Kumareshs new album on the Earthsync catalogue is titled, and if the intriguing title doesnt succeed in arousing your curiosity, the album description most certainly will. Each of the four tracks on the album feature compositions with multiple tracks played on the veena by the same artiste, Jayanthi Kumaresh. The album notes state that the artiste used seven different veenas for the album, making it primarily a recording project as in no other situation would it have been possible for the artiste to have played all the tracks simultaneously. While one of the tracks is labelledTraditional (India), two are composed by Abhishek Raghuram and one by violinist and composer R. Kumaresh of the acclaimed Ganesh-Kumaresh duo.

Also Read Shubha Mudgals previous Lounge columns

Exploration: Jayanthi Kumaresh experiments with the veena. The sound of the veena is by far one of the most grand and majestic of all Indian instruments, and one that is often associated with temple ritual and ancient scriptures. But on the albumMysterious Duality you hear somewhat different and unfamiliar tones and textures of the veena. Lest anyone assume that I am joining the ranks of the supposedly orthodox who condemn any deviation from the conventional and traditional in one fell swoop, I must hasten to add that this unfamiliar use of the veena came as a very welcome surprise. I found it decidedly intriguing to hear the veena playing what sounded close to a bass line on one of the tracks, doing a pizzicato-like plucking on another, and at times, playing the same melodic lines in different octaves. What I am wondering is whether Kumaresh intends to keep this experiment restricted to a recording project alone. And if not, how would she counter the challenges posed by the project? Would she invite other vainikas, or veena players, to join her on stage, or would she use a combination of recorded tracks over which she would play live? The launch of an album is usually followed by a series of live concerts, and it would be equally interesting to observe how Kumaresh will handle the repertoire she has recorded in a live performance situation. And being a practical sort, Im also wondering how she is going to deal with the formidable task of travelling with so many veenas? Sadly, I was unable to speak to her in this regard, though I did try and schedule a chat a couple of times. Earthsync albums are always tastefully designed and produced andMysterious Duality is no exception. Im just wondering whether it was at all necessary to insert a rather narcissistic subtitle proclaiming Just me into the album title. And if that subtitle was at all necessary, couldnt it have beenJust Veena? Perhaps, without the subtitle, the mysterious duality would have been heightened subtly.

Europes Haircut: why debt restructuring is a must

For the euro zone, the alternative to internal devaluation--and reducing debts--is too dire to contemplate
What once could be dismissed as simply a Greek crisis, or simply a Greek and Irish crisis, is now clearly a euro zone crisis. Resolving that crisis is both easier and more difficult than is commonly supposed. The economics is really quite simple. Greece has a budget problem. Ireland has a banking problem. Portugal has a private-debt problem. Spain has a combination of all three. But, while the specifics differ, the implications are the same: All must now endure excruciatingly painful spending cuts. The standard way to buffer the effects of austerity is to marry domestic cuts to devaluation of the currency. Devaluation renders exports more competitive, thus substituting external demand for the domestic demand that is being compressed.

But, since none of these countries has a national currency to devalue, they must substitute internal devaluation for external devaluation. They have to cut wages, pensions and other costs in order to achieve the same gain in competitiveness needed to substitute external demand for internal demand. The crisis countries have, in fact, shown remarkable resolve in implementing painful cuts. But one economic variable has not adjusted with the others: public and private debt. The value of inherited government debts remains intact, and, aside from a handful of obligations to so-called junior creditors, bank debts also remain untouched. This simple fact creates a fundamental contradiction for the internal devaluation strategy: The more that countries reduce wages and costs, the heavier their inherited debt loads become. And, as debt burdens become heavier, public spending must be cut further and taxes increased to service the governments debt and that of its wards, like the banks. This, in turn, creates the need for more internal devaluation, further heightening the debt burden, and so on, in a vicious spiral downward into depression. So, if internal devaluation is to work, the value of debts, where they already represent a heavy burden, must be reduced. Government debt must be restructured. Bank debts have to be converted into equity and, where banks are insolvent, written off. Mortgage debts, too, must be written down. Policymakers are understandably reluctant to go down this road. Contracts are sacrosanct. Governments fear that they will lose credibility with financial markets. Where their obligations are held by foreigners, and by foreign banks in particular, writing them down may only destabilize other countries. These are reasonable objections, but they should not be allowed to lead to unreasonable conclusions. The alternatives on offer are internal and external devaluation. European leaders must choose which one it will be. They are united in ruling out external devaluation. But internal devaluation requires debt restructuring. To deny this is both unreasonable and illogical. The mechanics of debt restructuring are straightforward. Governments can offer a menu of new bonds worth some fraction of the value of their existing obligations. Bondholders can be given a choice between par bonds with a face value equal to their existing bonds but a longer maturity and lower interest rate, and discount bonds with a shorter maturity and higher interest rate but a face value that is a fraction of existing bonds face value. This is not rocket science. It has been done before. But there are three prerequisites for success. First, bondholders will need to be reassured that their new bonds are secure. Someone has to guarantee that they are adequately collateralized. When Latin American debt was restructured in the 1980s under the Brady Plan, these sweeteners were provided by the US Treasury. This time around, the International Monetary Fund and the German government should fill that role. Second, countries must move together. Otherwise, one countrys restructuring will heighten expectations that others will follow, giving rise to contagion. Finally, banks that take losses as a result of these restructurings will need to have their balance sheets reinforced. The banks need real stress tests, not the official confidence game carried out earlier this year. Where realistic debt-restructuring scenarios indicate capital shortfalls, across-the-board conversion of bank debt into equity will be necessary. And where this does not suffice, banks will need immediate capital injections by their governments.

Again, making this work requires European countries to move together. And, with banks balance sheets having been strengthened, it will be possible to restructure mortgage debts, bank debts, and other private-sector debts without destabilizing financial systems. Now we get to the hard part. All of this requires leadership. German leaders must acknowledge that their countrys banks are dangerously exposed to the debts of the euro zone periphery. They must convince their constituents that using public money to provide sweeteners for debt restructuring and to recapitalize the banks is essential to the internal devaluation strategy that they insist their neighbours follow.

Environment ministry issues show-cause notice to Mundra Port

The notice has asked MPSEZ to respond within 15 days as to why the environmental clearance granted to the project should not be revoked
New Delhi: The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has served a show-cause notice on Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd (MPSEZ) for alleged violation of coastal zone regulations, the latest in a slew of actions taken by the ministry for suspected breaches of environmental rules. Also Read | Compromise deal on Navi Mumbai airport The notice, posted on the ministrys website, has asked MPSEZ, promoted by the Adani Group, to respond within 15 days as to why the environmental clearance granted to the project should not be revoked. The notice was issued after a visit by ministry officials to the port located in Mundra, Gujarat, on 6-7 December. Officials of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board and Gujarat Ecology Commission also took part in the site visit. According to a report based on the visit, large-scale reclamation has been carried out using dredged material on mangrove areas. A pipeline for the disposal of dredged material is obstructing tidal flows in the area, resulting in the drying up of mangroves at several places. An Adani group spokesperson said the work carried out at Mundra was in compliance with clearance. We are studying the issues raised by the MoEF and will respond to them in due course of time. Operations at Mundra are normal as usual, said the spokesperson. The MoEF has taken action in several cases involving suspected breaches of environmental regulations. Notices have recently been issued to the Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai that allegedly allotted apartments to bureaucrats, ministers and military officials in a housing tower meant for Kargil war widows; the Lavasa housing project in Maharashtra; and a Jindal Power and Steel project in Orissa. The ministry has also blocked Vedanta Resources Plcs proposed mining project in Orissa. Some critics have branded minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh as antidevelopment because of the crackdown. Ramesh has maintained that he is only implementing environment laws that have been passed by Parliament and not being anti-development. (Mint interview, 20 November). The Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan, a Bhadreshwar-based trade union for fishworkers in the Kutch area of Gujarat, has been protesting against the Adani Groups port project since 2007 and writing to MoEF.

The mangrove area was cut without permission, which was about 1,000ha, said Bharat Patel, secretary of the union. Last year we had posed this to the minister during coastal regulation consultations and he had promised a committee. According to the Coastal Regulation Zone notification, construction and development activities such as reclamation and destruction of mangroves are prohibited. Areas that are ecologically sensitive such as mangroves, areas close to breeding and spawning grounds of fish and other marine life, areas of outstanding natural beauty and areas rich in genetic diversity are protected under the notification. The notice sent to the port also mentions that the natural flow of seawater is being obstructed by reclamation along the creeks. It also adds that the port township, known as the Samundra, and Sterling Hospital are both in the coastal regulation zone of the creek and neither have been cleared under the notification. The clearance letter for the project, dated 12 January 2009, stipulated that no existing mangroves would be destroyed during construction and operation of the project and there would be no filling up and reclamation of the creek.

17 December 2010
EU to change treaty for new euro rescue plan
European Union leaders are changing the treaty that underpins the bloc to make room for a huge new rescue system for countries that get into debt trouble in the long term Gabriele Steinhauser/AP

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Brussels: European Union (EU) leaders are changing the treaty that underpins the bloc to make room for a huge new rescue system for countries that get into debt trouble in the long term. But they arent ready to beef up the bailout fund they have in place today. That resistance to bold, fast moves now, led by Germany, the regions economic engine, marked a summit of EU leaders wrapping up Friday. Pressure on the leaders mounted after a rating agency revealed new worries about Greece, where protests against debt-driven austerity measures turned violent this week. Spain, which many economists warn is too big to bail out with the existing 750 billion ($992.85 billion) fund, also faced worryingly higher borrowing costs Thursday. But policymakers meeting Thursday night in Brussels stressed that, for now, the pot of money is big enough. There will be no enlargement and deepening of the volume of the fund, said Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg who also heads the group of 16 countries that use the euro. EU President Herman Van Rompuy insisted that only about 4% of the regions bailout fund has been utilized since it was introduced in May. However, he said that the heads of state and government of the eurozone stand ready to do whatever is required to ensure the stability of the eurozone as a whole. Van Rompuy spoke after EU leaders agreed to change their central treaty to allow for a permanent rescue plan for countries that run into financial trouble after 2013, when the existing bailout fund expires. The treaty change contains no details on the new rescue plan, which wont come into force until 2013, but is a necessary legal step. The two-sentence addition to the treaty will allow countries that use the euro to establish a stability mechanism to be activated if indispensable to safeguard the stability of the euro as a whole. Any aid to heavily indebted countries under the new mechanism would be subject to strict conditions, similar to the steep budget cuts and measures to improve economic competitiveness imposed on Ireland and Greece in their bailouts. EU leaders had agreed to set up the so-called European Stability Mechanism at their previous summit in October and finance ministers outlined its broad features at the end of November. It will be more than just a bailout fund. In a first step, it will provide rescue loans to countries that face a crisis of liquidity that is, if they cant access money quickly enough to pay off their debts. Crucially, however, the ESM will also be able to force private creditors to assume some losses when a country is deemed insolvent.

This is a major economic decision, said Jose Manuel Barroso, the head of the EUs executive Commission. Champions of the mechanism argue that it is necessary to protect taxpayers in economically strong countries like Germany from having to pay for the profligacy of peripheral countries like Greece or Portugal. It will also help prevent states from building up unsustainable debts in the future, as investors will push up interest rates in light of potential losses on their bonds. Everybody has to stick to the rules and avoid that suddenly the Dutch taxpayer has to suffer for the abuse in Greece. Up to now, countries could get away with it, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. Finance ministers of the 27 EU nations will now begin working out details of the new mechanism, including how much money eurozone nations are willing to chip in and when exactly private creditors would be involved. A plan by Luxembourgs Juncker to introduce pan-European bonds to stabilize funding costs for weaker euro members also found no takers given strong opposition from Germany. But Juncker said he believed the final word on the bonds had not yet been spoken. As leaders were meeting in Brussels, more questions arose over their current strategy to tackle the crisis. Moodys Investors Service warned that a multi-notch downgrade of Greeces bonds was possible, since the countrys debt turned out to be even bigger than expected. Greece was only saved from default in May by a 110 billion rescue loan from other eurozone nations and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The rating agency warned that support for the struggling nation might be less strong in the future than it had previously assumed. The government in Athens is facing growing discontent from its citizens. A general strike escalated into violence Wednesday, as unions and other demonstrators protested salary cuts and weakened collective bargaining powers. The European Central Bank on Thursday sent a strong political signal to EU leaders that they need to do more to salvage their joint currency, saying it needed to almost double the size of its capital coffers, which have been strained by its investments in vulnerable government bonds. It is the first time in its almost 12-year history that the ECB has asked national central banks for a capital injection. Meanwhile, Spain - the eurozone economy many view as too big to bail out, had to pay significantly higher interest rates to borrow 2.4 billion ($3.21 billion) from bond markets Thursday.

Gold buying subdued as banks shut for holiday

The weddings season in India is drawing to a close, cutting demand for gold. The season will pick up in the third week of January Reuters

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Mumbai: Gold buying slowed on Friday as banks, the primary dealers of bullion, were shut for a public holiday, and dealers said trading would remain thin as wedding season comes to an end. Gold on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was trading 0.03% at Rs. 20,479 per 10 grams, falling from a high of Rs. 20,510. Prices are still down 2% from the all-time high of Rs. 20,924 struck on 7 December. Buying has slowed due to holiday today and it is expected to remain so as there are a few weddings left, said Haresh Acharya, head of bullion desk, Parker Agrochem Exports Ltd. The weddings season in India is drawing to a close, cutting demand for gold. The season will pick up in the third week of January. In July-September, India, the worlds largest buyer of the yellow metal, imported 214 tonnes of gold, up 21.6% on year, the World Gold Council said.

CIL mega IPO steals the show in 2010

The spectacular share sale of the worlds largest coal miner ahead of Diwali added glitter and spark to the governments fund-raising plans through divestment in key PSUs Namita Tewari / PTI

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New Delhi: Perhaps times definition of coal is diamond, said the famed Lebanese-American author Kahlil Gibran and true to that remark Coal India proved a virtual gold mine for the government in the year gone by. The spectacular share sale of the worlds largest coal miner ahead of Diwali added glitter and spark to the governments fund-raising plans through divestment in key PSUs. While the countrys largest ever IPO mopping up Rs15,200 crore hogged the limelight, a terse battle between coal and environment ministries after the latter declared 206 coal blocks in 9 coalfields as no-go areas for mining, and the governments talk of action against coal mafias numbering roughly 10,000 also gave much fodder to green activists and the media. Mergers and acquisitions of coal assets too made headlines throughout the year as firms remained in a frenzy to acquire assets in view of ever-widening demand supply gap of the dry fuel. As far as Coal India IPO was concerned a total of 484 Foreign Institutional Investors were allotted its shares through the IPO which was oversubscribed 15.14 times. FIIs submitted bids worth Rs1.20 lakh crore for the mega IPO which led to over subscription of shares in that category by 24.70 times. Overall, the IPO, in which the government sold its 10% stake in it, generated bids worth Rs2.35 lakh crore.

Coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal termed Coal India as Gold India. But even enhanced production of coal, with CIL that meets over 85% of domestic requirement likely to mine about 460 MT against last years 431.5 MT, will not be able to meet demand for the black diamond, which prompted users to look for assets across the globe. In one of the largest coal mine deals by an Indian group,the countrys largest coal importer Adani Enterprises had in August bought the Australia-based Linc Energys Galilee coal tenement in the Queensland for about Rs12,600 crore. It had also been awarded preferred proponent status for developing the Dudgeon point terminal in Macay, Queensland, which gives the Adani Group the right to develop a coal terminal with an annual capacity of 30-60 million tonnes (MT). Adani Enterprises also entered into a $1.65 billion deal with the Indonesian government and its mining company PT Bukit Asam for setting up rail and port infrastructure in the island nation and get rights to source coal to India. Besides, Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Power has bought three coal mines in Indonesia. Another group, Essar had earlier this year bought Trinity Coal Corp in the US and is aggressive for a similar acquisition in Australia. Jindal Steel & Power earlier this year vied with Chinas Meijin Energy Group to buy Rocklands Richfield, while Lanco Ifratech in December signed a pact with an Australian company to acquire Griffin coal. Other power companies-- Adani, Reliance Power, Tatas and Essar-- are likely to remain aggressive on buying coal reserves overseas even as Chinese entities will continue to pose a threat to such deals, energy information provider Platts forecast. CIL did not lag behind in scouting for assets abroad either. It is in advanced talks to buy 10 per cent stake in the US-based Peabody Energy Corps asset in Australia. The company is also negotiating with US firm Massey Energy and Indonesian Novem/Sinarma for a possible partnership for their respective mines in the US and Indonesia. The Navratna company has earmarked Rs6,000 crore for this purpose in the current fiscal. We are making efforts to increase our global footprint and are in advanced stage of talks with three firms for assets abroad, CIL chairman Partha S. Bhattacharyya told the news agency. Joining the race is the International Coal Ventures Ltd (ICVL), an SPV comprising CIL, NTPC, NMDC, SAIL and RINL. ICVL is scouting properties abroad and may bid for Australias Riversdale in which Tata Steel has 24%. Global miner Rio Tinto has already evinced interest in it while Tata Steel may counter Rio Tintos bid. Public and privately-run steel and power firms, aluminium producers like Nalco, which faced coal shortage last year are also actively scouting for coal properties abroad. We have shortlisted two firms for supply of 10 million tonnes of coal, half of which would go to our Rs18,000 crore Indonesian venture while remaining will be used elsewhere, Nalco director finance B. L. Bagra said. In the wake of the demand-supply gap, Indias coal imports are expected to touch 164 million tonnes by 2015 as against the current 73 million tonnes (Platts estimate). Coal minister Jaiswal said the deficit was being met through coal imports, which are rising fast and already accounts for over 10% of the consumption. Of the total installed power capacity of 159,398 MW in India, almost 50% is based on coal. Industries such as steel, cement, fertilisers and chemicals are major sectors of coal consumption. Globally, the Indian coal industry is the fourth largest in terms of reserves at 267 billion tonnes, and third largest in terms of overall production of around 550 MT per annum. The CIL meanwhile is in the process of restructuring its internal and external operations and also hopes to secure 138 coal blocks soon to meet its XIth Five-Year Plan (2007-11) target of 520MT.

Corp bond market can develop if borrowing is cut: RBI

If the government reduces borrowing programme, fiscal consolidation happens, then there will be a demand for corporate bonds, said a senior RBI official Reuters

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Mumbai: Indias corporate bond market can develop if the government reduces its borrowing programme, a senior Reserve Bank of India (RBI) official said on Friday. If government reduces borrowing programme, fiscal consolidation happens, then there is demand for corporate bonds, said Deepak Mohanty, executive director, responsible for the monetary policy department at the RBI. Reforms in the pension and insurance sector will also help in higher demand for corporate bonds, which will in turn help in financing infrastructure needs, he added.

Indias eleventh five year plan from 2007-08 to 2011-12 has allocated $500 billion for infrastructure investment, and for the twelfth plan it is $1 trillion.

Honda targets China sales of 7,30,000 units in 2011

Honda, like most other global automakers, is beefing up its portfolio of market-specific products in emerging markets such as Thailand and India to boost sales Reuters

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Tokyo: Honda Motor Co said on Friday it would target sales in China of 7,30,000 vehicles in 2011, for growth of more than 10% from the 6,50,000 estimated for this year. We expect the overall (Chinese) market to grow by an average 10%, Seiji Kuraishi, head of Hondas China operations, told reporters in Tokyo. We will aim for a growth of more than 10%, of around 7,30,000 units.

Honda operates 50-50 joint ventures with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co and Dongfeng Motor Group, as well as a majority-owned factory building the Fit/Jazz subcompact model for exports to Europe. Hondas production capacity in China is set to rise to 8,90,000 cars a year in 2013 as it strives to keep up with demand. Kuraishi said that while Beijing was moving towards fiscal tightening and discontinuing tax incentives on smaller cars next year, growth will be rapid in inland regions, which are replacing coastal cities as the major driver of car sales. To achieve fast growth in those markets, Kuraishi said one key would be the debut next year of the proprietary brand of Hondas joint venture with Guangzhou, called Guangqi Honda. The first car under the brand, called Everus, or Linian in Chinese, will debut at the Guangzhou auto show next week. The Linian brand will be key to attract younger and entry-level customers where the Honda brand couldnt quite reach, Kuraishi said. I have very big expectations for the brand, he said, declining to disclose a sales target or specific product plans. Honda, like most other global automakers, is beefing up its portfolio of market-specific products in emerging markets such as Thailand and India to boost sales. On the other hand, while gasoline-electric hybrid cars have yet to gain ground in China, Honda will aim to build the fuel-efficient cars locally as soon as possible, with or without sales subsidies from the government, Kuraishi said. He said Honda had no specific timetable, but added that it would need minimum monthly production of about 2,000 vehicles to make local hybrid production viable. Last year, Honda sold only about 300 imported Civic hybrids in China. For (local production), lowering the cost and product price will be important, which means we would have to localise the core components such as the batteries and motor, he said. Kuraishi added that Honda would want a wholly owned subsidiary to produce the electric motors, developed inhouse, in China without a local partner to prevent an outflow of the advanced technology. But Honda would be open to procuring batteries from any maker, including Chinese ones, as long as they met the car makers quality standards, he said.

Times Television to launch English movie channel on 19 Dec

The new high-definition (HD) channel will hit television screens from 19 December PTI

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New Delhi: The competition in the English movie channel space is set to heat up further, with leading broadcaster Times Television Network (TTN) on Friday announcing the launch of its new channel, Movies Now. The new high-definition (HD) channel will hit television screens from 19 December. Movies Now complements the urban focus of the network, where it has met with great success via Times Now, ET Now and zoOm. Movies Now challenges the status quo of the category to ensure the audience the best of entertainment, TTN managing director and chief executive officer Sunil Lulla said in a statement. The new channel will be available across analog, digital cable and DTH platforms, the statement said. We have put together a very well-thought through movies library reflecting the preferences of Indian viewers, who love to watch popular Hollywood blockbuster titles again and again, to name a fewRocky 1-6, Pink Panther 1 and 2, I Robot, Night at the Museum, Never Back Down, True Lies, Titanic, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, etc, Movies Now Channel head Ajay Trigunayat said. Currently, the English movie channels available to Indian viewers include Star Movies, HBO, PIX, WB and UTV World, among others.

M&As top $2.2 tn in first yearly rise since 2007

The preliminary figures show emerging markets made up a record 17% of transactions, and energy was the busiest sector
Quentin Webb and Denny Thomas / Reuters

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London/Hong Kong: Mergers and acquisitions rose for the first year since 2007, potentially marking the start of a new, multiyear M&A cycle in which emerging economies account for a bigger share of global dealmaking. Thomson Reuters data showed announced M&A grew nearly a fifth this year, to $2.25 trillion globally. The preliminary figures show emerging markets made up a record 17% of transactions, and energy was the busiest sector. Next year could be busier still. Executives, bankers, big investors such as Schroders, and analysts at banks including Credit Suisse, Nomura, and Societe Generale are among those predicting a further rise. Cheap debt, record cash piles, the need to outpace sluggish economic growth, and positive market reactions to many deals in 2010 should embolden companies to strike more deals, they say. We feel M&A volumes will improve next year, theres certainly going to be more cross-border activity than ever, and Asia -- again -- will be a bigger part of the equation, said Scott Matlock, chairman of international M&A at Morgan Stanley. Deutsche Bank, the worlds fifth-busiest merger adviser, said next year could bring a bigger rise.

The increase in M&A activity in 2011 should exceed that of 2010, said Henrik Aslaksen, Deutsches global head of M&A. Theres more confidence, theres ample liquidity, financing costs are attractive, and theres an intense focus amongst corporates to identify growth opportunities, he added. The pipeline is very broadbased. Its not just confined to one to two sectors. Senior executives on average expect $3 trillion of M&A next year, a recent Thomson Reuters/Freeman survey found. Goldman leads That means 2011 could be the second of several years of rising deals -- earlier this year Citi analysts said the world was in the foothills of a new M&A cycle. These cycles typically last years: the last peaks came in 2000 and 2007. Bankers say a combination of cheap stocks, as measured by price-to-earnings ratios, and even cheaper debt means many deals would offer a big boost to earnings. The optimism comes despite a slower fourth quarter and the worst spate of withdrawn deals since the height of the credit crisis: two collapsed BHP Billiton deals, in Canada and Australia, alone cut $100 billion from M&A volumes. Jeffrey Kaplan, global head of M&A at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said it was still challenging to get deals done, despite good momentum going into 2011 for both corporate and private equity activity. With about a fortnight to go, Morgan Stanley is lagging archrival Goldman Sachs, after beating it to the No. 1 ranking last year for the first time in 13-year. Goldman Sachs, under M&A head Gordon Dyal, has advised on $513.1 billion of deals to Morgan Stanleys $499.5 billion. Land-grab Emerging markets deals hit a record $378 billion, while developed markets lagged. Global M&A increased 19%, while US M&A rose 11% and activity in Europe climbed 5%. Colin Banfield, Citigroups head of M&A for Asia-Pacific, said currency rates were aiding the regions companies, which were growing more ambitious and contemplating bigger deals. But aside from several major telecommunications tie-ups in the developing markets, and the odd banner deal such as Chinese carmaker Geelys purchase of Volvo from Ford, many deals from newer markets were aimed at securing resources or technologies. Were still in the early days of emerging markets M&A, said Matlock at Morgan Stanley. When it gets really hot is when people decide they want to buy and build truly global multinational corporations, and were not there yet. Its more focused on acquiring natural resources or on opportunistic deals. Energy and power was the years busiest sector, with a near-40% rise in announced deals to $482 billion, followed by the financial and basic materials sectors. Asian companies including Chinas Sinopec Corp and Thailands PTT Exploration and Production struck deals that ranged from buying stakes in oil fields to Korea National Oil Corps hostile takeover of Britains Dana Petroleum.

Asian players, led by China, are making a land-grab for resources to fuel their economies for many years into the future, said Jeremy Wilson, co-head of natural resources at JPMorgan. A widely predicted European resurgence failed to occur as debt crises rattled the continent and forced Greece and Ireland to seek bailouts. European M&A rose 5% to $589 billion. All the right ingredients are in place for an upturn, said Philip Noblet, Merrills co-head of M&A for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. But it could be another lost year for M&A in Europe if economic worries dont subside and chief executives dont regain the confidence to do deals. The outlook is very uncertain -- and people hate uncertainty when they are buying.

Google to keep powering MySpace ads, search

MySpace and Google inked a multi-year agreement to renew and expand their relationship to include display advertising AFP

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San Francisco: MySpace on Thursday announced that Google will continue to power advertising and search at the flagging online social network under pressure to improve its financial performance. MySpace and Google inked a multi-year agreement to renew and expand their relationship to include display advertising. Were excited to deepen our partnership with one of the largest social Web properties in the world, MySpace, said Google vice president of global media and platforms Henrique de Castro. Were pleased that our technology will benefit MySpaces users on its newly redesigned site, and that MySpace has chosen our display advertising solution to increase its returns. News Corp. put MySpace on notice last month, saying the losses at the ailing social network were unsustainable and there needs to be improvement in the next few quarters. Weve been clear that MySpace is a problem, News Corp. president and chief operating officer Chase Carey said during a conference call with analysts after the media and entertainment giant released its quarterly earnings. The current losses are not acceptable or sustainable, Carey said. Our current management did not create these losses but they know we have to address them. Rupert Murdochs News Corp. bought MySpace for 580 million dollars in 2005 but it has been eclipsed by Facebook in recent years, which has grown to more than 500 million members while MySpaces numbers have dwindled. Were thrilled about renewing our partnership with Google, said MySpace chief revenue officer Nada Stirratt. We look forward to participating in the Google Display Network and DoubleClick Ad Exchange to increase yield across our display ad inventory.

Yahoo to close more services after 600 layoffs

Yahoo Inc. confirmed it will phase out several services in the upcoming months without specifically mentioning Delicious AP

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San Francisco: Yahoo is preparing to close more of its online services now that it has shed about 600 employees. The endangered list includes the content-sharing site Delicious, according to an internal Yahoo slide leaked on the Internet Thursday. After the slide appeared, Yahoo Inc. confirmed it will phase out several services in the upcoming months without specifically mentioning Delicious. The company has been getting rid of unpopular or unprofitable services during the past two years to focus on other areas more likely to attract traffic and sell advertising. As part of the reshuffling, Yahoo trimmed its work force by about 4% earlier this week. Yahoo bought Delicious for an undisclosed sum five years ago when the Internet company was trying to build a social hub.