XED NEWSLETTER a weekly news bulletin

11 Pages 01st APRIL 07th APRIL 2011 www.xedintellect.com

IN BRIEF

COVER STORY
JAN LOKPAL BILL: CRUSADING AGAINST CORRUPTION

ECONOMIC INDICATORS
BSE SENSEX 19,591 NSE NIFTY 5885 RS/$ 44.22 th (as on 07 April 2011)
PERSONALITIES OF THE WEEK

INDIAN DAIRY INDUSTRY

NEWS DIGEST
BUSINESS NEWS INTERNATIONAL

NEWS

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS

COMPILED BY

India to create 1.6 million jobs in 2011: Survey ECONOMIC INDICATORS 2 INTERNATIONAL NEWS 9

Mexico flies first plane with bio-fuel.

India-Pak match records highest-ever viewership.

COVER STORY 3 PERSONALITIES OF THE WEEK 4 BUSINESS NEWS 5-8 MISCELLANEOUS NEWS 10 GENERAL AWARENESS 11

TOP 10 HEADLINES OF THE WEEK

1. India to create 1.6 million jobs in 2011: Survey. 2. Amul is now a $3 billion brand. 3. India to become global spice hub soon. 4. India Central bank report: weak Chinese Yuan disadvantages India. 5. India-Sri Lanka final: Betting crosses a whopping Rs 50,000 crore. 6. Brand: Film stars safer bets than cricketers. 7. Mexico flies first plane with bio-fuel. 8. Toyota sells 1 millionth Prius hybrid in US. 9. India-Pak match records highest-ever viewership. 10. Indians among most vacation deprived: Survey.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Current Market Rates as on 07 Rupee / US Dollar Rupee/ Euro
th

Apr11

Values 44.22 63.23

Stock Market Indices as on 07th Apr11 BSE SENSEX NSE Nifty

Values 19,591 5,885

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX

The index is a combination of three sub-indices covering wealth, health and education. According to the UNs annual Human Development Index the countries whose HDI has improved the most since 1980 are mainly in Asia.

China and India have been helped by rapid GDP growth, but even slower-growing countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh have fostered human development by making progress in health and education. The countries where HDI has improved the least are mainly in Africa, with Zimbabwe at the bottom of the pile.

JAN LOKPAL BILL: CRUSADING AGAINST CORRUPTION

Gandhian stands against corruption, Nation follows suit: On 6th April, Anna Hazare and over 100 of his supporters sat on an indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar in Delhi demanding the involvement of civil society in drafting the anti-graft Lokpal bill. The fast was taken up by civil society members when the government did not accept their demand of having a joint committee on the bill. The government insists on the drafting of bill by its own committee which comprises of Sharad Pawar who has been involved in land scams in Maharashtra, Veerapa Moily who drafted the weak Lokpal legislation and Kapil Sibal who does not see any corruption in the 2G scam. Participants of the Jayprakash Narayan movement in the 70s observed a fast in support of social activist Anna Hazare's fast-unto-death which has gone on for some days now. Almost 5,000 people from all walks of life gathered at Jantar Mantar to show their support for Hazare. Support from all corners comes pouring: On April 4, the NACs (National Advisory Council) Working Group on Transparency and Accountability met other civil society groups to examine the various versions of the Lokpal Bill. One drafted by the government and the other (Jan Lokpal Bill) drafted by Anna Hazare and the civil society activists, with a view to producing its own draft. Never before in recent history of India, there has been a rally of more than 50,000 people for an apolitical, non-religious purpose. In the memorandum submitted to President Pratibha Singh Patil on February 27 itself, 3 million people voiced their support. The Jan Lokpal bill has been drafted by former Union Minister Shanti Bhushan, former IPS Kiran Bedi, Justice N. Santosh Hegde, renowned advocate Prashant Bhushan, former chief election commissioner J. M. Lyngdoh in consultation with the leaders of the India Against Corruption movement and the civil society. Quite contrary to government stance in this case J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah affirmed that his government would consider the amendments to State vigilance Act as suggested by a group of activists. He appreciated that civil society and volunteers of RTI movement have initiated a new debate of making certain amendments in the State Vigilance Act for making it more effective and vibrant. Bringing corrupt to book: Lokpal at centre and Lokayukta at state level will be independent bodies. Anti Corruption Branch and CBI will be merged into these bodies. All investigations in Lokpal & Lokayukta shall be transparent. After completion of investigation, all case records shall be open to public. They will have power to initiate investigations and prosecution against any officer or politician without needing anyones permission. Investigation should be completed within 1 year and trial to get over in next 1 year. Within two years, the corrupt should go to jail. At present the penalty is not commensurate to the amount of corruption. For example, A. Raja has swindled Rs 1.76 lakh crore. He went to jail and within four months he is out while he has made enough money for five generations. The Jan Lokpal Bill has the provision of recovering money from his property and other assets. Draft that can kill graft: The draft bill provides that at least four members of the Lokpal must have legal background. In order to assure people of integrity are appointed as members of the Lokpal, the bill bars appointment of any person who has been charge-sheeted under Prevention of Corruption Act or under Indian Penal Code. The bill proposes Lokpal to receive complaints under Prevention of Corruption Act, complaints of misconduct, grievances and complaints from whistle-blowers. The Lokpal shall also provide protection to whistle blowers. In a major applaudable move Lokpal & Lokayukta will get public grievances resolved in time bound manner, impose a penalty of Rs 250 per day of delay, to be deducted from the salary of guilty officer and award that amount as compensation to the aggrieved citizen. Hazare wants the Lokpal's office to subsume the Chief Vigilance Commision so that both political leaders and officials come under its ambit as well as the judiciary. He also wants the Lokpal to have police powers - that is, to not just be a recommendatory body but an effective office that can file FIRs, Chargesheet the accused and file cases. Hazare and other activists have been demanding for the Prime Minister's Office to come within the ambit of the Lokpal. Members of selection committee for lokpal would include Chief Election Commissioner, Comptroller and Auditor General of India and international awardees like Nobel Prize winners and Magsaysay awardees of Indian origin.

PERSONALITIES OF THE WEEK

Naina Lal Kidwai- The Corporate Diva
A prominent personality of the corporate world, she is the first woman to guide the functioning of a foreign bank in India. Naina Lal Kidwai comes from a family of high achievers. Her father was the CEO of a leading Indian insurance company; her sister became one of India's top golfers. By the age of 16 Kidwai had decided on a career in business, still a stronghold of male executives at the time. Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Naina earned an economics degree from Delhi University, where she was also elected president of the student union and won a college leadership award. She then completed a chartered accountancy course before applying to Price Waterhouse as a trainee in 1977. In 1982 she became the first female from her country to earn an MBA from the prestigious Harvard Business School. In the 1980s India's investment-banking industry was in its infancy, Naina found her own path and within three years rose to head Grindlays's western regional operations for investment banking. In 1989 she was promoted to head the entire division. At present, she is working as the Group General Manager and Country Head of HSBC India. Career: During 1994-2002, she worked at Morgan Stanley as Vice Chairman of JM Morgan Stanley and Head of the Investment Bank in India. She was instrumental in facilitating the cellular phone services nationwide through a deal involving the Tatas and Birlas. Her other positions include being a non-executive director on the board of Nestle SA, Chairman, City of London's Advisory Council for India, Global Advisor, Harvard Business School. She is on the Governing Board of NCAER, Audit Advisory Board of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, and on the National Executive Committee of CII and FICCI. Her interests include microfinance and livelihood creation for rural women and environment. Personal Life: Naina is married to Rashid Kidwai, who runs the NGO, Grassroot Trading Network for Women. She is the mother of two children, who is maintaining a great balance between work and home. She is very fond of Indian classical as well as western music. She loves to go on trekking tours to the Himalayas. She is a nature lover, who has a keen interest in observing the wildlife. Awards and Recognitions: In the year 2000, the Fortune magazine declared her as the third most powerful businesswoman in Asia. She has repeatedly ranked in the Fortune global list of Top Women in Business, 12th in the Wall Street Journal 2006 Global Listing of Women to Watch ad listed by Time Magazines one of their 15 Global Influentials 2002. In 2007, she received the Padma Shri, for her work in the promotion of Trade and Industry.

Arundhati Roy- Pen is mightier than the Sword

Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist, activist and a world citizen. She was born in Shillong to a Keralite Syrian Christian mother and a Bengali Hindu father. She left Kerala for Delhi at age 16, and embarked on a homeless lifestyle, staying in a small hut with a tin roof within the walls of Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla and making living selling empty bottles. From the Writers Desk: She began writing her first novel, The God of Small Things, in 1992, completing it in 1996. The publication of The God of Small Things catapulted Arundhati to instant international fame. It received the 1997 Booker Prize for Fiction and was listed as one of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year for 1997. Since winning the Booker Prize, she has concentrated her writing on political issues. These include the Narmada Dam project, India's Nuclear Weapons, corrupt power company Enron's activities in India. She is a figure-head of the anti-globalization/alter-globalization movement and a vehement critic of neo-imperialism. Limelight: She attracted attention in 1994, when she criticised Shekhar Kapur's film Bandit Queen. In her film review titled, 'The Great Indian Rape Trick', she questioned the right to "restage the rape of a living woman without her permission," and charged Kapur with exploiting Devi and misrepresenting her life and its meaning. Criticisms: In an interview with Times of India published in August 2008, Arundhati expressed her support for the independence of Kashmir from India which was criticized by Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party for her remarks. Other Projects: Since the success of her novel, she has been working as a screenplay writer again, writing a television serial, The Banyan Tree, and the documentary DAM/AGE: A Film with Arundhati Roy (2002). In early 2007, she announced that she would begin work on a second novel. Arundhati was one of the contributors on the book We Are One: A Celebration of Tribal Peoples, released in October 2009. The book explores the culture of peoples around the world, portraying their diversity and the threats to their existence. The returns from the sale of this book go to the indigenous rights organization Survival International.

BUSINESS NEWS
1. India to create 1.6 million jobs in 2011: Survey- ET Apr 01 For the second successive year, more than one million new jobs will be created in India's organized sector in 2011, led by the healthcare sector, but there will be no attractive pay hikes for those in harness, states a survey on employment opportunities released Thursday. Another dampening factor is that there will not be any attractive compensation package for freshers as the wage bill hike across sectors for 2011 is pegged between 8.82 percent and 12 percent, says the Ma Foi Randstad Employment Survey. According to the survey, around 1.6 million new jobs will be created in 2011 on the back of capacity expansion by companies. As per the survey conducted amongst 650 companies across 13 industry sectors in eight major cities, the healthcare sector is expected to create 248,500 new jobs. Sectors like real estate, hospitality and manufacturing of non-machinery products together would create 223,400 new jobs. 2. Amul is now a $3 billion brand-TNN Apr 02 Co-operative dairy giant Amul is now a three billion dollar brand. The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) that markets brand Amul has reported a sales turnover of Rs 9,780 crore for the fiscal year 2010-11, a growth of 22 per cent over previous year when it had registered Rs 8,002 crore annual turnover. Putting together direct sales done by all the 13 district dairy unions of Gujarat, which are member unions of GCMMF, sales turnover of brand Amul has touched the Rs 13,500 crore mark - US $ 3 billion. Amul had achieved the distinction of becoming country's first billion dollar co-operative brand just four years ago in 2007. At the same time, sales of Amulspray, which is India's largest selling infant food, has crossed Rs 1,000 crore mark turning the infant food into a Rs 1,000 crore brand. 3. India to become global spice hub soon-BS Apr 04 India, the world's leading spice producer, exporter and consumer, is all set to become a hub of global spice trade with the launch of an international body that would coordinate it. "Process is on to open the head-office of World Spice Organisation (WSO) at Kochi. It has been registered and will be formally launched within three months," Founding Chairman WSO Philip Kuruvilla told PTI. Kochi in Kerala is the hub for spice trading in India. The body will not only seek better solutions for sustainability of spice production, but would also address the issue of food safety regulations. A global body that can connect all the spice producing and exporting countries for timely exchange of information from production to exports to regulation is needed, he added. 4. India cbank report: weak Chinese yuan disadvantages India- Reuters Apr 01 A weak Chinese currency erodes the competitiveness of trading partners including India, whose imports from China are growing faster than its exports, a staff study by the Indian central bank said on Friday. "By keeping RMB (renminbi) undervalued against the USD and depreciating it in line with the USD in the international market without taking into account the economic fundamentals of China, it invariably and distinctly provides competitive advantage over its trade competitors and trade partners including India," the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) staff study said. The United States has long called on Beijing to let its currency rise more quickly, accusing it of keeping its exchange rate artificially cheap to give its exporters an unfair advantage. India's central bank chief has said that an artificially low yuan hurts India, although Indian officials have generally refrained from criticizing Beijing's currency policy. The report by the RBI's research department, which does not necessarily reflect the view of the central bank's management, warned against a growing reliance on Chinese imports, which rose to 10.7 percent of all Indian imports in 2009/10 from 7.3 percent five years earlier. 5. India-Sri Lanka final: Betting crosses a whopping Rs 50,000 crore-ET Apr 02 The underground betting syndicate is in a frenzy over the India-Sri Lanka cricket World Cup final here Saturday. A mind-boggling sum of Rs.50,000 crore (over $11 billion) is at stake on the final showdown, sources said. If the punters are to be believed, India are a clear favorites at 46 paise against Sri Lanka's Rs. 1.38. In simple parlance, if one bets Re.1 on India and it wins, the better gets his rupee back plus 46 paise. For a rupee bet on Sri Lanka, and it wins, the return would be a whopping Rs.2.38. Among the players, Sachin Tendulkar is considered the best bet for hitting a half century at 90 paise, but a whopping Rs.5 for a century.

6. Brand: Filmstars safer bets than cricketers-ET Apr 05 The historic win of Team India against Sri Lanka in the World Cup finals may have catapulted the Men in Blue to a different level as far as their brand equity goes but they still lack the reliability factor which Bollywood stars offer to brands. The man of the moment, M S Dhoni, who is expected to notch up to Rs 10 crore per annum in ads, and the little master, Sachin Tendulkar, are the only two safe bets, say experts in the brand endorsement industry. Captain cool, Dhoni endorses Dabur's Chyawanprash and Dabur Honey. In Bollywood, Aamir Khan tops the endorsement chart with a Rs 14-crore annual fee followed by Shah Rukh Khan who commands Rs 8-10 crore yearly. The advertising industry prefers filmstars over cricketers because their stardom surpasses one hit or a flop unlike players whose brand value changes with each tournament. A long-term association with cricketers like Sachin and Dhoni is possible because they have become icons and one performance does not impact their brand value. 7. Dhoni highest insured player in IPL-4-TNN Apr 07 Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is the highest earning cricketer in the world, is the most heavily insured player for the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL4) T-20 tournament which begins on April 8. An insurance firm official confirmed that the Indian captain, who led CSK to victory in IPL-3, has been insured for Rs 34 crore by the Oriental Insurance Company (OIC) a rise of Rs 24 crore over his insurance cover for IPL 3. CSK has paid a premium of Rs 16 lakh, which includes travel risk cover, including medical emergencies, personal accident and loss of baggage. Incidentally, little master Sachin Tendulkar, who will play for Mukesh Ambanis Mumbai Indians for the fourth consecutive season, has an insurance cover of only Rs 12 crore. According to a source from the insurance industry, every insurance company and IPL team have a different methodology of finalizing an insurance policy. For example, Ambani has decided to take comprehensive cover for his team, which includes event cancellation cover, workmens compensation, personal accident cover, medical cover and so on, he said. 8. Free mobile minutes come in new avatar- BS Apr 03 Telecom companies are no more at open war, trying to cut rates and into each others subscriber base. But they have not stopped pampering subscribers with discounted plans and free minutes. New operators, as usual, are taking the first step. However, these offers are also adding value, unlike earlier discounts which caused margin depreciation across the industry. Videocon, the last entrant into the sector, has a new plan called zero paisa per second.The top six operators together have a market share of 87 per cent, while the rest is divided between nine smaller ones. Tata Docomo had also launched a plan called Unpaid in partnership with the Future Group. Customers will be rewarded with free talktime for every purchase above`350 made at any of the Future Group shopping outlets such as Big Bazaar, Pantaloons, Central, Brand Factory, etc. 9. ESPN STAR Sports the other cricket jackpot winner-BS Apr 03 The 2011 cricket world cup has proved to be a golden goose for ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), with the telecaster raking in around `800 crore from the tournament. With India winning the cup, the seriescould turn out to be the one of (its) biggest revenue grossers, saidsevaral media buyers. They say with the India-Pakistan semi-final the most viewed on TV in the history of cricket, the broadcaster got a handful of advertisers who paid heavy premium to board on the final stage of the tournament. During the finals, ESS had sold a10-second slot for `23-24 lakh eachto last-minute advertisers. And, it got many such, in last-minute deals. These included Nikes bleed blue campaign, Amity Group,Volkswagen, Hero Honda, Usha Fansand the trailer of Shah Rukh Khans big-budget release, Ra.One, which is scheduled during Diwali. ESS has paid $1.1 billion ( `4,900 crore) or the exclusive global telecast rights for all International Cricket Council matches between 2007 and 2015. 10. Ford posts 97 pc growth for quarter ending March, 2011-ET Apr 01 Ford India today reported its strongest-ever growth in year-on-year sales , moving over 1 lakh units during the 2010-11 financial year, after registering a 97 per cent increase for the quarter ending March, 2011. During the January-March, 2011, period, Ford India sold 29,804 units, a 97 per cent growth from 15,154 units during the same period of the previous year. Ford India, which introduced its first compact car, Figo, last year, sold 85,000 units. In March, 10,485 units were sold, compared to 9,478 units in the same month last year, it said. The company recorded over 10,000-plus sales in March this year, the highest figure so far.It sold 10,485 units in March. Ford India currently retails premium SUV Endeavour, the old Fiesta and Figo. It has a manufacturing facility at Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai. The company has 170 dealers across India.

11. Indian banking professionals' demand grows 25% in Africa, UAE-ET Apr 03 There is up to 25 per cent rise in demand for Indian banking professionals in the global market, especially from Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as firms seek to cash in on their experience, leading human resource firm GlobalHunt has said. There is 20-25 per cent increase in demand mainly for functions such as relationship management, sales and marketing, new product launch, back and front office operations and technology support across all levels, he said. At present, companies in these regions are offering 15-20 per cent hike on their current salaries to these banking professionals. These companies are offering double compensation and professionals are interested in taking up such assignments for new challenges, exposure, attractive compensation and saving potential, he added. Meanwhile, in the West Asia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia are keen on hiring banking professionals from India, GlobalHunt has said. 12. World Cup 2011 Final: After World Cup win, huge windfall for Indian cricket players-ET Apr 04 It's raining crores for the World Cup-winning Indian cricket team whose members will also get residential plots and Railways too chipped in announcing first AC complimentary lifetime passes. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took the lead announcing a Rs one crore award for each player and several state governments followed suit. Coach Gary Kirsten and other support staff will get Rs 50 lakh each as reward for their contribution, while the selectors will be given Rs 25 lakh each, BCCI President Shashank Manohar said today. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit announced a award of Rs two crore for Captain M S Dhoni and Rs one crore each for four Delhi players after their historic victory. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan announced award of Rs one crore each for Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan, who hail from the state. Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh will be given a cash award of Rs one crore. Jharkhand Government said it would give a plot of land to Dhoni to set up a cricket academy in the state. 13. IPL 4: SET Max fixes HD feed rate at Rs 10 Cr-ET Apr 05 SET Max, the official channel for the Indian Premiere League (IPL), is demanding Rs 10 crore for a high-definition feed for the tournament's fourth season, two direct to home television service providers said. Senior officials from the two companies, who did not wish to be named, said the broadcaster's demand was too high and it would have to slash its rate. Sun Direct is the only DTH operator that has a deal with SET Max for HD feed as it signed a deal last year. IPL's fourth season, which starts on April 8, will have 74 matches played between 10 teams. ESPN Star Sports (ESS) is said to have demanded Rs 10,000 per subscriber from DTH service providers for the HD feed, but had to scale it down to Rs 100-150. DTH players ended up paying 3-5 crore for the World Cup feed. 14. Nirma makes exit offer to residual shareholders-BS Apr 04 Ahmedabad-based FMCG firm Nirma today said it has made an exit offer to the remaining shareholders to tender their shares till March next year following its plans to delist from bourses . Post the offer, the promoter group increased the holding in the company to 90.82 per cent. The company said the shareholders can tender their shares to the acquirers at the final price of Rs 260 per shares during a time period of one year between March 31, 2011 and March 30, 2012. In December, Nirma Ltd had announced that it will delist from the bourses. In this regard, it said it would acquire all the 3.63 crore outstanding shares held by public, amounting to 22.83 per cent of the firm's equity capital. At the given price, the total outgo of the company on acquisition of shares held by the public is estimated at over Rs 940 crore. 15. Aditya Birla Group mulls stake sale in Idea Cellular report- Reuters Apr 05 The controlling shareholder of Idea Cellular, Aditya Birla Group, is mulling a sale of its stake in the mobile carrier and has held talks with potential bidders including MTN Group, Bloomberg reported, citing sources with knowledge of the matter. Talks between Aditya Birla Group, which owns a 47 percent stake in Idea, and South Africa's MTN are at an early stage and may not result in a transaction, Bloomberg reported the sources as saying. Idea's market capitalisation is about $5 billion and Aditya Birla Group's stake is valued at about $2.35 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Any deal with MTN would likely involve a mix of cash and shares, one of the sources told the agency. A spokeswoman for the Aditya Birla Group in Mumbai denied that the firm was in talks to sell the stake, while MTN declined to comment, Bloomberg reported. Axiata, Malaysia's second-largest mobile phone operator, reported a quarterly loss in February after writing down its investment in India and warned of more challenges ahead as competition intensifies.

16. Wipro buys IT unit for $150 mn- TNN Apr02 IT major Wipro Technologies has acquired the oil and gas information technology practice of US-based Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) for $150 million (about Rs 670 crore). Its Wipros second biggest acquisition in the IT space, the largest being its $600 mn takeover of Info crossing. SAIC is a $10-billion scientific, engineering and technology applications company. The acquisition will be funded through internal cash resources. The acquisition entails the acquisition of SAICs assets in the US and equity in its UK and Indian subsidiaries. SAICs oil and gas information technology practice has revenues of around $188 million. It is said to be servicing around six global-500 oil and gas majors. All the 1,450 employees of the acquired division will transition to Wipro across North America, Europe, India and the Middle East. Around 450 of the employees are based in India. 17. India ministry obtains stay order on Idea-Spice deal: sources- Reuters Apr 01 India's telecoms ministry has obtained an order to stay the takeover of a mobile firm by the country's sixth-largest mobile carrier Idea Cellular, two sources said on Friday, but Idea said it will oppose the move. Idea said in a statement on Friday the telecoms ministry had obtained "an ex parte order on a merger approved over a year ago," but did not give further details. A senior official in the telecoms ministry and another source with knowledge of the development confirmed that the telecoms ministry had obtained a stay order from the Delhi High Court against Idea's takeover of Spice Communications. In 2008, Idea agreed to buy smaller rival Spice in a three-way deal that also gave Malaysia's Axiata about a fifth of Idea. Under Indian rules, no firm is allowed to own 10 percent or more in two competing companies operating in a zone. 18. Gitanjali to expand through five Italian brands-ET Apr 01 In a bid to expand its global footprint, jewellery manufacturer and retailer Gitanjali Group today said it has recently acquired five Italian brands and launched Giantti Italia Srl , the company's Italian subsidiary with offices in Milan. The five Italian brands acquired by Gitanjali are Valente, Stefan Hafner, Nouvelle Bague, IO Si and Porrati. "Our choice for the future is, in fact, to keep all design and production in Italy. It is our desire to work with the Italian creators and designers to offer the international markets innovative collections with a strong stylistic connotation," he said. In addition, he said, Italian jewellery is very popular in India and Gitanjali Group's range of products are stronger and more diversified. 19. Volkswagen, Mercedes taking distributors of Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra-ET Apr 04 Global carmakers such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Nissan and BMW are snatching away distributors from domestic rivals, including Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra, by offering better margins as they strive to secure prime locations and boost sales in the world's fast-growing market after China. New Delhi-based Bhasin Motors, which sold cars of Mahindra & Mahindra from its swanky showroom in the south extension market for eight years, has recently taken Volkswagen to its fold. The distributor's four-storey building, which showcased only M&M brands, has been bifurcated into two separate showrooms to accommodate German carmaker's products. Mumbai, India's second largest automobile market after Delhi, is also witnessing a change as dealers are shunning their long-standing loyalties to traditional brands. In Mumbai, multinational companies own 20% of the total dealership network , according to data provided by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA). The German carmaker is offering margins of up to 5-6 % on sales of new cars as against 3-3 .5% offered by traditional players such as Maruti and Tata Motors. Other players like BMW, Nissan, Audi and Mercedes are also providing better incentives than domestic carmakers. 20. P&G to sell Pringles for $1.5 B to Diamond Foods- ET Apr 06 Procter & Gamble will sell its Pringles potato chips business to Diamond Foods Inc for $1.5 billion in stock, creating a new snack foods giant and freeing the consumer products company to focus on cosmetics and healthcare products. P&G will split off the Pringles business and combine it with Diamond Foods, with P&G shareholders owning 57% of the new company and Diamond stockholders the rest, the companies said. Diamond, known for its Pop Secret popcorns and Kettle chips, will also assume $850 million of Pringles debt. By adding Pringles to its portfolio, Diamond will more than triple the size of its snack business, and expects net sales of about $1.8 billion in the fiscal year ending July 31, 2012, the companies said in a statement. Diamond, which has grown through acquisitions, bought General Mills' Pop Secret business for $190 million in September 2008 and some assets of Harmony Foods in May 2006. It bought potato chips maker Kettle Foods for $615 million in February 2010.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
21. Mexico flies first plane with bio-fuel-ET Apr 03 Mexico has carried out the country's first flight using fuel made from plants in an Airbus A320 plane. Domestic carrier Interjet and Airbus carried out the demo flight Saturday, said Gilberto Lopez Meyer, Mexico's director of airports and auxiliary services. One of the two engines powering the aircraft used 30 percent bio-fuel as the A320 plane flew from Mexico City International airport to Angel Albino Corzo of Tuxtla Gutierrez airport in southern Chiapas state, RIA Novosti reported. The fuel was made from a locally grown oilproducing plant, jatropha. Jatropha is crucial in efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emission and has the potential to reduce the overall carbon dioxide footprint by up to 80 percent over standard aviation kerosene, according to Airbus. 22. Toyota sells 1 millionth Prius hybrid in US-msnbc.com Apr 06 Toyota Motor Corp., struggling to restart production after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, said Wednesday it has sold one million Prius hybrids in the United States. The automaker said the Prius has been the top-selling hybrid in the U.S. since it went on sale 11 years ago. The Prius is powered by both a gasoline engine and an electric motor. It can get up to 51 miles per gallon in the city and 48 on the highway. It has become increasingly popular this year as gas prices nationwide have moved toward $4 per gallon. Toyota said it has sold more than 2 million Priuses worldwide. The March 11 earthquake in Japan forced Toyota to stop production at most Japanese factories. But the company restarted two plants that make Prius and Lexus models on March 28. Moody's Investors Service warned Wednesday it may downgrade its credit rating for Toyota due to the financial fallout from suspended car production following the March 11 quake and tsunami. 23. As Google aims to compete with TV, will YouTube lose its charm? Reuters April 7 With Google gearing up to infuse massive amount of money to turn YouTube into a competition for Television, the popular video sharing website, which has grown into its role in the world of internet as a social platform for the users, stands a risk of losing its charm. Quoting people familiar with the matter, Wall Street Journal reported April 7 that the Google Inc. is working on a major overhaul of YouTube as it tries to position itself for the rise of televisions. Competing with broadcast and cable television, Google is aiming to entice users to stay on YouTube longer, to boost revenue prospects by convincing advertisers on the reach for desirable consumers. According to the report, YouTube is set to undergo a series of changes. The home page will be revamped to highlight sets of "channels" around topics such as arts and sports. Google is planning to spend as much as $100 million to commission low-cost content designed exclusively for the Web, sources told WSJ. 24. Microsoft, Toyota team up on digital auto network-Reuters Apr07 Microsoft Corp and Toyota Motor Corp unveiled a plan on Wednesday to work together on bringing Internet-connected services to Toyota's cars across the world. The world's biggest software company and the biggest automaker said they were investing about $12 million (1 billion yen) in Toyota Media Service Co, a Toyota unit that handles its digital offerings for customers. Toyota is planning to set up a network based on Microsoft's Azure "cloud computing" platform by 2015, which would allow customers across the world access to Toyota's digital services, such as GPS, multimedia, and managing power on electric and hybrid vehicles. One of the services Toyota is planning will monitor and integrate a person's power usage across the home and car to maximize efficiency, for example by automatically charging electric cars when power rates are lowest. The chief advantage for Toyota is that it will be able to offer Internet-delivered services to customers in all 170 countries it sells in, through the use of one Microsoft cloud platform, rather than having to set up networks and data centers in each country. 25. Microsoft declares war on Google in EU anti-trust complaint-ET Apr 01 US computer giant Microsoft today declared war on Internet king Google when it joined officially an anti-trust complaint in Europe that could result in billions of dollars in fines. It is the first time Microsoft, which was itself hit with eight-figure fines during a decade of Brussels anti-trust action along with US chip-maker Intel , has gone public with submissions to European Union inspectors probing the online search giant. The move heightens the intensity of the probe against Google launched by EU regulators end November, amid accusations it rigged the search market for consumers. EU competition watchdogs are investigating whether Google is guilty of "unfavorable treatment" of rival search services providers and whether the company's own services -including YouTube video , book-scanning or telephony -- are getting "preferential placement" in consumer queries.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS
26. India-Pak match records highest-ever viewership-BS 01 Apr The much-awaited semi-final match of the ICC World Cup between India and Pakistan may not have been a thriller but has clocked a record viewership rating of 11.74, according to overnight television rating agency, aMap. Although most industry watchers will wait for the TAM ratings, which most media agencies subscribe to for a full analysis, media planners said the initial ratings suggest this has been by far the best encounter not just in this World Cup but in a very long time. According to aMap numbers, 67.3 million people watched the match across the official broadcaster of the tournament ESPN Star Sports (ESS) network of channels and state-owned Doordarshan. ESS said the World Cup had so far delivered 60 per cent more ratings as compared to the 2007 edition, played in the Caribbean. India had exited in the group stage then, which led to a huge drop in viewership and left sponsors in complete dismay. 27. Indians among most vacation deprived: Survey-ET Apr 05 "All work, no play" may be the credo India's young workforce swears by. The youth may be India's demographic dividend, but they are also among the most vacation deprived in the world, a survey said Tuesday. According to a Vacation Deprivation survey, India has emerged as the fourth most vacation deprived country after Japan, the US and Australia. The study says that on an average, Indians are entitled to 26 annual leave days but are able to avail of 22 leave days on an average. The survey was carried out amongst service class professionals at managerial levels and above in 11 countries in 2010, with over 1,000 respondents per country. The India survey was conducted in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. On the other hand, in France, which ranks as the world's most holiday-rich nation, the average employee receives 37.5 annual leave days per year (and takes on an average 34.5 of those days). 28. Anonymous Launches DDoS Attack On Sony- ibtimes.com Apr 06 The hacker collective Anonymous has made good on its threat to attack Sony, having launched a distributed denial-of-service attack on Wednesday afternoon. Anonymous launched a DDoS attack on Sony Wednesday, in revenge for the lawsuit the company filed against George Hotz for modifying his PlayStation 3. The attack is revenge for the legal action taken against another hacker who modified a PlayStation 3. Sony Computer Entertainment America filed suit against George Hotz, also known as Geohot. Hotz had released a firmware modification that allowed a Sony PlayStation 3 to run other operating systems. Sony had removed that functionality some months before. The suit is still pending. Anonymous has a Face book page that references April 16 a a day of some action, though it doesn't say what that might be. 29. Indian engineering degrees may be recognized in 13 countries soon-ET Apr 01 India is slowly but steadily gearing up for full membership of Washington Accord, the exclusive group of 13 countries that recognizes each other's engineering degrees. India has put the process on fast track after lying low for nearly two years. India became a provisional member of the accord in 2009. Early this week two mentors - R Menon Unnikrishnan of California State University, Fullerton, and Lock Kai Sang of Institution of Engineers, Singapore - on behalf of Washington Accord visited RV Engineering College, Bangalore, to oversee the process of accreditation. The two would now give a report to India's National Board of Accreditation (NBA). Based on their inputs, India would bring about necessary changes in the guidelines that have to be based on those of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), USA. Rajeev Kumar from IIT Kharagpur is not only preparing the accreditation guidelines but also brought these in sync with the ABET guidelines but added new transparent features like self-assessment by institutes. The guidelines are now entirely output-based (performance of students, quality of course content, faculty etc.) 30. Adi Godrej takes charge as ISB chairman-BS Apr 02 The executive board of the Indian School of Business (ISB) today accepted the resignation of Rajat Gupta, and elected Adi Godrej as the second chairman of the ISB, with immediate effect. In his new role, Adi Godrej will chair the ISB board. Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB said, Adi has been closely associated with the ISB since its inception. Over the years, he has provided valuable guidance towards making ISB one of the largest management institutions in the world. As the chairman of the Godrej Group, Adi has a strong reputation as a business leader and is committed to an inclusive India. We welcome Adi as our new chairman.

INDIAN DAIRY INDUSTRY

India is the worlds largest milk producer with the per capita milk availability about 258 grams per day. Milk Production in India in 2009 was 108.5 MT and is projected to reach 240 MT in 2020. Presently it contributes 12-15 % to the world milk production and it is expected to increase upto 30-35% by the year 2020. The largest exporter of milk is New Zealand and the largest importer is Japan. Indias dairy market is classified into organised and unorganized sector. 88% share of the total milk production is commanded by the unorganized sector - which specializes in selling sub-standard, unpasteurized milk more often than not adulterated with harmful chemicals. In the organised dairy industry, the cooperative milk processors have a 60% market share. The cooperative dairies process 90% of the collected milk as liquid milk whereas the private dairies process and sell only 20% of the milk collected as liquid milk and 80% for other dairy products with a focus on value-added products. Operation Flood Era: Dairy sector witnessed a spectacular growth between1971-1996 popularly known as Operation Flood era. An integrated cooperative dairy development programme was implemented in three phases. The National Dairy Development Board was designated by the Government of India as the implementing agency. It provided an assured market round the year to the rural milk producers and established linkage between rural milk production and urban market through modern technology and professional management. Milk production grew from 21 million tonnes in 1970 to nearly 69 million tonnes in 1996 - more than threefold, at the compound growth rate of 4.5 per cent. Some ten million farmers were enrolled as members in about 73000 milk cooperative societies. Dr.Verghese Kurien was the visionary and architect of this white revolution. Role of cooperatives: Cooperatives allow for much easier marketing of the end product as compared to other businesses. Cooperatives assure the farmer of not only a market for their product but also take care of logistical issues like transportation and containers. The farmer is spared these costs as well as the cost of putting up a retail outlet. They also allow for stable selling rate which does not change even when the yield is surplus. Payments are guaranteed to milk producers and ensured within a maximum of 30 days. Constraints of the dairy industry: Inadequate management of feeding herd and lack of quality control in various stage of production can cause major loss affecting the profitability of the entire venture. There is a propensity amongst farmers to take cash crops and value-added crops as fodders given to livestock instead of going for fodder cultivation in their own land. There is also a need to set up schemes for diversification and preparation of value added milk products at the production centers instead of sending raw milk over long distances. This incurs high cost on transportation and erodes profitability. Milk marketing: Government should provide parity between the price of cow milk and buffalo milk purchased from the farmers. It should encourage local sale of liquid milk instead of sending all the surplus milk to distant places. The methods of appraisal sanction and disbursements of dairy loans need to be improved, particularly by the cooperative Banks. Banks should also diversify and provide loans for all activities of dairy industry particularly for breeding of animals and processing and marketing of milk and milk products. Amul: Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) owned Amul, is the largest food brand in India and world's Largest Pouched Milk Brand with an annual turnover of US $1700 million in 200910. Dr Verghese Kurien, former chairman of the GCMMF, is recognised as a key person behind the success of Amul. The Amul Model is a three-tier cooperative structure. This structure consists of a Dairy Cooperative Society at the village level affiliated to a Milk Union at the District level which in turn is further federated into a Milk Federation at the State level. The above three-tier structure was set-up in order to delegate the various functions. Milk collection is done at the Village Dairy Society, Milk Procurement & Processing at the District Milk Union and Milk & Milk Products Marketing at the State Milk Federation. Currently Unions making up GCMMF have 2.9 million producer members with milk collection average of 9.10 million liters per day. In August 2007, Amul introduced Kool Koko, a chocolate milk brand extending its product offering in the milk products segment. Other Amul brands are Amul Kool, a low calorie thirst quenching drink; Masti Butter Milk; Kool Cafe, ready to drink coffee and India's first sports drink Stamina. Amul's sugar-free Pro-Biotic Ice-cream won The International Dairy Federation Marketing Award for 2007.