XED NEWSLETTER

11 Pages 08th APRIL 14th APRIL 2011

a weekly news bulletin

www.xedintellect.com

IN BRIEF
COVER STORY INFLATION : ALL-ROUND PAIN
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
(as on 15.04.2011)

BSE SENSEX NSE NIFTY RS/$

19386 5824 44.52

PERSONALITIES OF THE WEEK

MUMBAI
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NEWS DIGEST
BUSINESS NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWS MISCELLANEOUS NEWS

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AAAI and Ad Club of Bombay flag off 6th Goa-fest.

Smartphone demand surging, Nokia to tumble: Analysts.

India fifth most powerful nation: National Security Index.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS 2 INTERNATIONAL NEWS 9

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. AAAI and Ad Club of Bombay flag off 6th Goa-fest. 2. India's domestic BPO market to be worth $1.4 bn in 2011: Gartner. 3. PepsiCo-Hindustan Unilever to re-launch Ice Tea, to take on Coke-Nestle. 4. Need to reduce trade deficit with China: PM. 5. Gautam Adani India Incs Biggest Wealth Creator in FY11. 6. Taming Inflation Means Trading Off Growth: FM. 7. Smartphone demand surging, Nokia to tumble: Analysts. 8. India dependent on Brazil & Argentina for edible oil and pulses. 9. India fifth most powerful nation: National Security Index. 10. Anna Hazare's Lokpal counterproductive: Suresh Khopade (IPS)

ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Current Market Rates as on 15 Rupee / US Dollar Gold (10 Gram) in Rs.
th

Apr11

Values 44.52 21,145

Stock Market Indices as on 15th Apr11 BSE SENSEX NSE (NIFTY)

Values 19,386 5,824

WATER SCARCITY: EVERY DROP IS PRECIOUS

Water scarcity occurs when so much water is withdrawn from lakes, rivers or groundwater that supplies can no longer adequately satisfy all human and ecosystem requirements. This results in more competition among potential users. Throughout history groundwater has been integral to human life and livelihoods, and to stable agricultural production. But groundwater is not evenly distributed around the world. Of total annual rainfall of 5,77,000 km3 per year, 79% falls on the oceans, 2% on lakes and 19% on land. Most of this evaporates or runs off into streams and rivers. Only 2,200 km3, or 2%, is infiltrated into groundwater. More water is being pumped than is being replaced and, sooner or later, this will lead to aquifers running dry. Surface Water: India receives an average of 4,000 billion cubic meters of rainfall every year. Unfortunately, only 48% of rainfall ends up in Indias rivers. Due to lack of storage and crumbling infrastructure, only 18% can be utilized. Groundwater: India possesses about 432 billion cubic meters of groundwater which is replenished yearly from rain and river drainage, but only 395 bcm are utilizable. Of that 82% goes to irrigation and agricultural purposes, while only 18% is divided between domestic and industrial.

Global water consumption has quadrupled over the last 50 years. Almost half a billion people live in countries where water is already scarce. By the year 2050, it is predicted that at least a quarter of the worlds population will be living with chronic or regular water shortages. Rainfall and the amount of water contained in underground aquifers have been well studied. When that data is plotted against population trends they spell out crisis in the future.

COVER STORY: INFLATION

Food inflation rose to 12.13% in the week ending Dec 11 compared to 9.46% in the previous week. This is the 3rd consecutive week that food inflation has risen after some signs of moderation on hopes of robust crops following good monsoons. Last week onion prices rose 33.48%, and to add to the common mans woes Petrol was hiked by Rs 3 and LPG by Rs 100. A case for price decontrol: In India politicians control prices, either by fixing them, using taxes or subsidies or being the major player in the market. Indian politicians claim that price decontrols will spur inflation. Inflation is caused by faulty fiscal, monetary and trade policies, not by price decontrol. Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman compared inflation to a balloon, he said that if you squeeze one part of the balloon, you simply create a bigger bulge elsewhere. Price controls are like squeezing part of the balloon. They cannot check inflation, since the underlying cause is the pressure in the balloon, which corresponds to the money supply. Global Issue: Inflation is a problem across the world. Indians are worried that wholesale price inflation is approaching 13%, and consumer price inflation is approaching 9%. This is well above what is politically tolerable, and well above the RBIs preferred range of 4.55%. The RBI has for two years been raising interest rates, and squeezing money supply through higher cash reserve ratios for banks, and open market bond sales. In many countries, central banks are reluctant to tighten money to slow growth in order to contain inflation. Many central banks have run up huge trade surpluses but resist currency appreciation. This tends to keep demand up and inflation high. Some lose some win: If farm produce prices increase by 10%, it will tend to worsen the poverty of rural consumers by 2.9%, but they will also cut poverty by 4.6% among farmers. On balance, rural poverty will decline, and so will national poverty. Inflation hurts if wages remain fixed. But higher farm revenues result in higher wages and incomes. Labourers, who earlier earned Rs 50/day, were now getting Rs 70/day. Tea-shop owners, who used to charge Rs 2 per cup, now charged Rs 3. So, higher incomes compensated for high prices. If interest rates dont rise as much as inflation, lenders lose and borrowers gain. In general the businessman is better equipped to handle inflation than the salaried class. Onion Tears: India cut import duty on onions to fight inflation, a day after PM Manmohan Singh expressed deep concern about rising prices. The Indian government had already banned the export of onions. Onion prices have more than doubled in the past week due to shortages caused by unusually heavy rains in India's western growing areas. Officials say hoarding and speculation have driven prices higher. India has begun importing onions from Pakistan, which is usually an export destination for Indian onions. Even if the onion price spike is short-lived, it is a bitter reminder of Indias long-term challenge in agriculture, where growth in output is trailing far behind rising demand for food, leading to steady upward pressure on prices. Our helpless politicians: The price of onions can also have political implications in India. At least three governments have had to pay a heavy price over the issue. In the 1980 elections the Congress had used the rise in onion prices as a key election issue, which resulted in the ouster of the Charan Singh government. A replay was seen nearly two decades later when the BJP lost power in Delhi in 1998 due to a sharp surge in onion prices just before the polls. High food prices have been a headache for the Congress-led UPA. In recent weeks better crop output due to robust monsoon had moderated food prices, but they still continue to remain high. PM Manmohan Singh, "We have made all the efforts to contain inflation and we will continue to do so. In recent days, the rate of inflation has come down. We expect this trend to continue and the rate of inflation to stabilize around 5.5% by March 2011." Moderate inflation is desirable: IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard suggested that countries should raise their inflation targets from a typical 2% per year to 4%. His suggestion was greeted with hoots of derision. Yet in a world where there are no good solutions to the European debt crisis, inflation could be the best of bad alternatives. Inflation will slash the real debt of countries with excessive debt overhangs, and could help revive growth sustainably. But if 4% inflation was the norm, a wage freeze would cut real wages very substantially and produce sizable structural adjustment. The Sukhamoy Chakravarty Committee in 1985 had come out with the same 4% inflation target for India.

PERSONALITIES OF THE WEEK

LATA MANGESHKAR- Indias Nightingale
On the first day of school, Lata started teaching songs to other children. When the teacher stopped her, Lata was so upset that she stopped going to school. So her formal education was limited to just one day. Lata Mangeshkar the eldest daughter of Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, a classical singer and theater actor was born on September 28, 1929. Her mother, Shudhhamati, was Deenanath's second wife. Bhaaw Bandhan. Meena, Asha, Usha, and Hridayanath are her siblings in sequence. Making of the Nightingale: Lata was very young when her father passed away. To take care of her family's economic situation, Lata acted in as many as 8 films from 1942 to 1948. She debuted as a playback singer in a Marathi film, Kiti hasaal (1942). Her first Hindi playback was for the film Aap ki sewa mein (1947) but she did not get noticed. In 1945, she met film producer S. Mukherji but he did not like her voice, as at that time, the industry was ruled by singers who had heavier and huskier voices like Noor Jehan and Shamshad Begum. Ghulam Haider, the famous music composer made Lata sing the song Dil mera toda in the film Majboor 1948, finally she got noticed. The song Aayega aanewala from Mahal was a huge hit and Lata secured a firm position in the industry. The husky voices of all other singers became obsolete in front of her high pitched voice. Soon Lata was the heartthrob of the masses. On June 27, 1963, against the backdrop of the China-India War, Mangeshkar sang the patriotic song Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru. The song is said to have brought him to tears. She is very fond of cooking nice dishes and interestingly always sings barefoot. Mangeshkar's career has spanned over six and a half decades. She has sung in over 980 movies, in over twenty Indian languages, mostly in the Hindi. Criticisms and Controversies: A rift developed between Lata and music director Burman in 1957, and Lata did not sing Burman's compositions again until 1962. From the 1960s, she was not on good terms with Mohammed Rafi over the issue of royalty payments to singers. In 1999, she was nominated as a member of Rajya Sabha. However, she did not attend the Rajya Sabha sessions regularly, inviting criticism from several members of the House. Feathers in the Cap- Lata Mangeshkar has won several awards and honors, including Padma Bhushan (1969), Padma Vibhushan (1999) and Bharat Ratna (2001) amongst several others.

KIRAN MAZUMDAR SHAW- The Lady behind Biocons success

Kiran was born on March 23, 1953 in Bangalore. She started her professional career as trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974. In 1978, she joined as Trainee Manager with Biocon Biochemicals Ltd in Ireland. In the same year, she started Biocon India in collaboration with Biocon Biochemicals, with a capital of Rs10,000. Initially, she faced credibility challenges because of her youth, gender and her untested business model. The Taste of Success: She took the challenges in her stride and worked within the limiting circumstances to take Biocon to newer and greater heights. Within a year of its inception, Biocon became the first Indian company to manufacture and export enzymes to USA and Europe. In 1989, Biocon became the first Indian biotech company to receive US funding for proprietary technologies. In 1990, she upgraded Biocons in-house research program, based on a solid substrate fermentation technology. In 2004, Biocon came up with an IPO and the issue was over-subscribed by over 30 times. Post-IPO, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw held close to 40% of the stock of the company and was regarded as India's richest woman with an estimated worth of Rs 2,100 crore. Personal life: She is married to John Shaw, a Scotsman, who was the Chairman and Managing Director of Madura Coats from 1991-1998. John Shaw is currently the Vice-Chairman, Biocon Limited. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is a connoisseur of art and has a huge collection of paintings and other works of art in her possession. She is the author of a coffee table book, Ale & Arty: The Story of Beer. As a civic activist, she has been involved in various programs to improve the city of Bangalore, such as the Bangalore Agenda Task Force. Accolades: Kiran is a member of the Governing Body of the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, an autonomous body of the Government of India. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the recipient of several prestigious awards. These include ET Businesswoman of the Year, Best Woman Entrepreneur, Model Employer, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare, Leading Exporter, Outstanding Citizen, Technology Pioneer, etc. Government of India also felicitated her with Padmashree (1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005).

BUSINESS NEWS
1. AAAI and Ad Club of Bombay flag off 6th Goafest-TNN Apr 08 Indias biggest advertising festival got off to an intellectual start on Wednesday with industry stalwarts debating Are agencies ready for the new decade? Key speakers included Srinivasan K Swamy, chairman, Goafest Advertising Conclave, Rajiv Dube, director, Aditya Birla Management Corporation and Mayank Pareek, managing executive officer, Maruti Udyog. The five-day fest, organised by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and the Advertising Club of Bombay is also hosting an art workshop and a competition called Creativity with a conscience, in which participants showed off their creative talent making things from objects like old television set, mannequin, guitar and even graffiti wall. 2. India's domestic BPO market to be worth $1.4 bn in 2011: Gartner-ET Apr 13 The country's domestic market for business process outsourcing is projected to grow over 23% to touch $1.4 billion this year, says Gartner. In 2010, the domestic Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market was worth $1.1 billion. "It is relatively good growth rate (of over 23%). The domestic BPO market is expected to see increased volumes, especially in the telecom space," Gartner's Research Director T J Singh said. He noted that more areas are likely to adopt BPO models. According to global research group Gartner, the domestic BPO market would reach $1.69 billion next year and increase to $2.47 billion by 2014. In 2009, the market was worth around $885.6 million. Apart from many Indiabased BPO service providers, those from the US and Europe are also focusing on the Indian domestic market. 3. PepsiCo-Hindustan Unilever to relaunch Ice Tea, to take on Coke-Nestle-ET Apr 13 Hindustan Unilever and PepsiCo are reviving their seven-year-old joint venture to sell ready-to-drink teas and tea beverages by relaunching Lipton ice tea, four months after Nestle and Coca-Cola brought Nestea ice tea. Lipton tea will be rolled out in ready-to-drink bottles next week in Delhi and the NCR region, PepsiCo Executive Director, Innovation, Geetu Verma said. It will be sold in two flavours for 25 each and be taken to other cities in the course of the year, she said. The PepsiCo-HUL alliance launched Lipton ice tea in 2004, but the product was withdrawn within a year for lack of demand. Unilever and PepsiCo created Pepsi Lipton Partnership in 1991 to market ready-to-drink teas in North America. This was followed in 2003 by a second venture, Pepsi-Lipton International , covering many non-US markets. 4. Need to reduce trade deficit with China: PM-ET Apr 13 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pitched for greater Indian exports to China to reduce the trade deficit between the two countries and expressed confidence that the bilateral trade would surpass $100 billion by 2015. "I am confident that we will surpass our bilateral trade target of $100 billion dollars by 2015, but we have to make more efforts to promote greater Indian exports to China to reduce the trade deficit," Singh said in an interview to China's state-run Xinhua news agency. In 2010, bilateral trade between the two countries was in excess of $60 billion with the balance of trade tilting heavily in favour of China. The trade deficit for India for year 2010 stood at more than $20 billion. In 2009, it was $15.87 billion while in 2008 the trade deficit was $11.18 billion. 5. Gautam Adani India Incs Biggest Wealth Creator in FY11-ET Apr 14 Whats common between Gautam Adani and Anil Ambani? Or Vikas Oberoi and Rama Prasad Goenka? Not much actually. The chairman of the Adani Group was the biggest wealth creator at the end of fiscal year 2011, doubling his wealth to 33,211 crore by virtue of the Adanis stakes in three listed companies. Anil Ambani finds himself on top of the list of promoters who lost the most wealth in the April 2010-March 2011 period the chairman of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group was poorer by 10,841 crore. By the end of the fiscal year, Oberoi emerged among the select few realtors who were actually creating wealth and a billionaire to boot. There are, however, the inevitable surprises: The most visible name on that list, though, is Mukesh Ambani hes still Indias richest individual by far with a market value of 1,53,417 crore. But he was poorer by 4,656 crore at the end of fiscal year 2011 than a year ago.

6. Taming Inflation Means Trading Off Growth: FM-ET Apr 14 Inflation can be tamed, but it will mean the country will have to make do with a much lower growth rate, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said, giving an uncharacteristically blunt assessment of the choices facing the nation for tackling the price rise menace. The Congress-led government, battling a raft of corruption scandals and public protests in recent weeks, has been on the defensive on the inflation issue for months, pilloried by the public, opposition parties and also elements within. But Mukherjee said while solutions existed to tackle the issue, they were not easy. Inflation has been a thorn in the governments flesh for long. While earlier it was driven by high food prices, what is worrying for the government is of late, inflation has been fuelled by high prices of energy and manufactured products and threatens to take the sheen off a high GDP growth rate of around 9%. 7. Toyotas Lean Lessons for Wipro-TNN Apr 14 In an industry where arresting people-led growth has become the next Holy Grail, Wipros early gains from applying Toyotas production system provide crucial learnings for the over $60-billion software exports business in the country. When Sambuddha Deb, 53, now the chief global delivery officer at Indias third biggest software exporter Wipro, was looking for answers to deal with rising wage inflation and growing complexity in large outsourcing contracts some years ago, Toyotas legendary production system was nowhere on his mind. Later, after looking at options that included the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award criteria, TRIZ (short for Theory of Inventive Problem Solving in Russian), and Toyotas Lean, Wipro finally decided to pick a leaf from the automakers production system. Unlike traditional methods of improving performance and quality of software projects, Lean promised to bring about an internal focus for continuously seeking ways to cut waste and increase value of investments. In a software development context, waste could include duplication of efforts, more people doing the same job, and time spent on readying for a new project. 8. Business School students all set to enter Bollywood-ET Apr 08 After management guru Arindam Chaudhari, who created a mark in film production with "The Last Lear" and "Do Dunni Chaar," a group of business management students at one of the premier B-Schools in the country are ready to follow suit. Friday Night Productions, a venture of students at Indian School of Business , is all set to debut in the hindi film industry with "Buddha in Traffic Jam," a mainstream political thriller, based on the life of a business school student Vikram Pandit. With a star cast that includes veterans like Anupam Kher and Pallavi Joshi, along with actors Arunoday Singh and Mahi Gill, "Buddha in traffic jam" went on the floors in February this year. "Buddha in Traffic Jam" brings to celluloid the problems of intellectual terrorism, contemporary naxalism and political nexus in the backdrop of a college set-up. 9. Ford India stops production of Ikon- ET Apr 08 Ford India has stopped production of its popular mid-size sedan 'Ikon' for the domestic market, a top company official said today. The midsize variant Ford Ikon was introduced in India in 1999 and went on to become one of Ford India's largest selling models. Last year, the company said the BS IV variant of Ikon would not be produced and that the BS III variant would be available only in Tier II and III cities. Asked if production would be continued for delivering vehicles to Tier II and III locations as the Ikon was very popular with tourist operators, he said they were not producing the model any longer at the plant near Chennai. Ford India currently manufactures Figo, Fiesta Classic and premium SUV Endeavour at their manufacturing facility in Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai. 10. Life at the Top Gets Shorter for Indian CEOs- ET Apr 09 The shelf life of Indian CEOs is getting shorter. With more growth and opportunities, CEOs are fervently job-hopping. Whats more, when Indian industry was busy growing relentlessly post-slowdown, its patience with the performance of CEOs got thinner, say talent watchers and firms that track CEO departures. A study done by EMA Partners and exclusively shared with ET corroborates high attritionboth forced and voluntaryat the top. According to the study, as many as 79 CEOs from 230 companies have quit their job and moved on to other companies or taken up higher responsibilities within the organisation from January 2009 till date. The average tenure of a CEO is about 50 months (or 4 years and 2 months).

11. Uttam Galva owner Miglani family buys Brahmani Industries- ET Apr 11 The Miglani family, which jointly controls the high grade steelmaker Uttam Galva Steel along with ArcelorMittal India, has acquired Brahmani Industries, a greenfield steel plant being built in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, by the controversial Reddy brothers , who also own mines and large tracts of land in the mineral-rich Bellary region of Karnataka. On March 24, Brahmani Industries convened an extraordinary general meeting to approve change of its name to Uttam Galva Ferrous. ET has a copy of the notice. The EGM also approved the change in the statutory auditors of Brahmani, from Sarda & Associates to Prakkash Muni & Associates. The exact date of the acquisition is not known and the companies have made no public announcement. 12. Tanishq ropes in Big B, Jaya Bachchan to endorse diamond range- ET Apr 11 Tata Group jewellery brand Tanishq on Monday announced Bollywood's leading couple Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan to endorse its diamond range. The couple will be seen together on screen after a decade since the release of Karan Johar's film 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham' in 2001. Tanishq's new ad campaign featuring the duo aims at spreading awareness among consumers about how to assess the purity of diamonds. It is scheduled to go on air on April 15, 2011. "With the growing demand for diamond jewellery category that contributes major part of our sales, our major focus this year will be to offer hi-quality diamond jewellery coupled with exquisite designs," he added. The Tanishq retail chain currently includes 121 exclusive boutiques in 76 cities. 13. IIP RISES JUST 3.6% IN FEB- TNN Apr 12 Industrial output expanded at a slower-than-expected 3.6% in February, triggering concerns that low single-digit growth for the third consecutive month could upset economic growth calculations. The government expects the economy to grow 8.6% in the year ended March 31. The cumulative industrial output for April-February was up 7.8% from a year ago, indicating it could fall short of expectations. The statistics office has pegged Indias GDP growth at 8.6% for the current fiscal, with an identical contribution from industry. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia expects farm performance to be better than the projected 5.4%, which will make up for the decline in industrial output. 14. British American Tobacco edges out SingTel as largest MNC by value of equity in India- ET Apr 13 London Stock Exchange-listed British American Tobacco (BAT) Plc, the worlds secondlargest tobacco company after Philip Morris, has emerged the largest multinational corporation by value of equity held in Indian businesses during the fiscal ended March, an ET study shows. The 109-year-old tobacco giant ousted Singapore telco SingTel from the top slot as the value of its holdings in ITC Ltd and VST Industries rose to $10 billion, marginally above the value of SingTels aggregate holdings in Bharti Airtel Ltd. BAT sells its marquee brands such as Dunhill and Lucky Strike in more than 180 countries. BAT is ITCs single-largest shareholder. Hyderabad-based VST Industries, in which BAT owns more than a third, owns the popular Charminar brand of cigarettes. BATs rise to the top was spurred by the rise in ITCs share price. 15. Small, medium cities grab 60% of jobs created in FY11: Assocham- PTI Apr 11 Medium and small cities like Pune , Agra and Meerut rather than top metros have emerged as hot destinations for job aspirants by clinching a lion''s share -- 60 per cent of the total jobs created in the country last fiscal, an Assocham study said today. Sector wise it was IT which had grabbed the biggest pie with 30 per cent of the total employment generation share during the period, the industry chamber said in its report. "Rather than tier I cities, tier II and III cities are emerging as prominent destinations for companies to provide job opportunities for aspirants," Assocham, which claimed analysing trends of job openings from a sample of 6.54 lakh employment opportunities generated in 2010-11, said. Seventeen tier-II cities such as Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Surat, Chandigarh and Lucknow grabbed 38.8 per cent share of the total opening and created 2,53,702 jobs, it added.

16. Goa-fest gets KPMG to re-verify creative Abby winners-ET Apr 08 Inside the KPMG office in Mumbai sits a 10-man team dedicated to an event happening in the land of fun and sun - Goafest 2011. As agencies across the country flock to Goa to celebrate Indian advertising, campaigns entered by agencies that are winning at the Creative Abby awards are been re-looked at with a fine toothcomb by the Goafest organising committee with the help from KPMG, who are the official auditors of Goafest 2011. Since Tuesday this week, the 10-member team at KPMG has been busy calling up clients, whose work agencies have entered to verify and double check all the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners at the Creative Abby. The verification involves checking the date of entries to verifying if the campaign has been ratified by the clients and that they are not 'one-offs' or 'scams'. 17. High on Dhoni, Aircel Signs CSK for 85 cr-ET Apr 12 Aircel has signed the most expensive sponsorship deal in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with Chennai Super Kings, even as top IPL teams rode the euphoria over Indias World Cup victory to almost double their revenues this season. The telecom service provider has paid more than 85 crore to renew its sponsorship contract with the Chennai teamled by Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhonifor three years, two officials close to the development said. Dhoni endorses the Aircel brand. Clearly, the telecom service provider wants to make the most out of its association with the most expensive cricketer who led India to World Cup glory after 28 years. The deal beats two-wheeler maker Hero Hondas estimated 75-crore deal to sponsor Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians for three years. Hero Honda, till last year, had been sponsoring Delhi Daredevils, which is led by Virender Sehwag. 18. Tatas Bag Record Deal To Modernise Air Force Bases BS Apr 10 A Tata company has won the largest-ever defence contract awarded to an Indian private sector company through a competitive global tender. On March 16, the Ministry of Defence signed a `1,094-crore contract with Tata Powers Strategic Electronics Division (Tata Power SED) for modernizing 30 Indian Air Force (IAF) airbases across the country. Tata Power SED has 42 months to execute this strategically vital contract, officially called Modernization of Airfield Infrastructure, or MAFI. Starting with the Bathinda airbase in Punjab, Tata Power SED will refurbish and modernize airfield infrastructure so that the IAF can operate its next generation of modern combat aircraft from there. State-of-the-art Air Traffic Management systems will be installed, along with Category2airfield lighting systems and hi-tech navigational aids that will permit flying operations at night and in adverse weather. This will be followed by the MAFI Phase II contract for refurbishing another 28 airbases. The current contract has an option clause, which allows the ministry to invite Tata Power SED to execute the Phase II of MAFI at a pre-determined rate. 19. Tata Sons files defamation case against Outlook BS Apr 11 TATA Sons Ltd has filed a criminal defamation complaint against news magazine Outlook for publishing articles which had claimed that the group received undue pecuniary advantage from former Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie during divestment of state-owned VSNL in 2002. In a criminal complaint filed before the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Mumbai, Tata Sons has claimed that an article published by Outlook in its March 28, 2011 edition and another in the April 4, 2011 edition made false and defamatory statements and harmed the reputation of the Tata business name. According to the complaint, the article published by Outlook in its March 28 edition titled Arun Shouries Gift to Tatas suggests that the Tatas received undue pecuniary advantage from Arun Shourie in his capacity as Minister of Disinvestment in relation to the groups acquisition bid for 25 per cent stake in VSNL when it was privatised by the Centre in 2002. 20. Bharti, Aircel to launch Apple's iPhone 4 in India- Reuters Apr 11 Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's top mobile phone carrier, and its smaller rival Aircel separately said on Monday they would launch Apple's iPhone 4 in India in the coming months. Both companies declined to give specific dates for the planned launch. Bharti and Vodafone Essar already sell earlier models of the iPhone in India. With nearly 800 million mobile subscribers, India is the world's second-biggest market for mobile phone services and is also the fastest-growing. But smart phones are estimated to account for just over 5 percent of the mobile handset sales. Indian carriers have recently started rolling out high-speed third-generation (3G) mobile networks, which is expected to boost sales of smart phones. Bharti had 159 million mobile subscribers as of endFebruary, while Aircel had 53.5 million.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
21. Smartphone demand surging, Nokia to tumble: Analysts-Reuters Apr 08 Growing demand for phones running on Google's Android platform will help the smartphone market grow in 2011, boosting companies like HTC and Samsung Electronics who are betting on the platform. Android's popularity has helped the Asian manufacturers to rise fast in smartphone rankings, and HTC overtook Nokia in market capitalisation for the first time on Thursday. Shares in HTC were worth $33.4 billion at their Thursday close, with Nokia stock worth $33 billion. Nokia still has higher volumes, selling 19 phones for each HTC phone sold last year. But its average sale price was just $85 compared with HTC's $360, according to Strategy Analytics. Surging growth in the high end of the market, helped in part by new models of HTC, will lift global sales of cameraphones 21 percent in 2011 to 1.1 billion handsets, topping the 1 billion mark for the first time, Strategy Analytics said. 22. India dependent on Brazil & Argentina for edible oil and pulses-ET Apr 08 In the last two years, India's imports of sugar were, the largest sugar exporter. India has been regularly sourcing small quantities of sunflower oil and pulses from the two countries. India is expected to continue to be dependent on imports of edible oils and pulses and is likely to import wheat and sugar in future whenever domestic productions fall short. India could count on Argentina and Brazil as reliable long-term sources since the two have the potential to increase production in the future. The June 2010 report of the Brazilian agriculture ministry and the September 2010 report of an Argentine agricultural foundation give the following predictions for 2020: Combined soy oil production of Argentina and Brazil is projected to increase from 10.8 million tones (mt) in 2010-11 to 16.9 mt in 2019-20. Their exports will increase from 6.5 mt in 2009-10 to 8.7 mt in 2020-21. Argentina will continue to be the largest exporter of soy oil and increase its share of global trade from 48% in 2009-10 to 58% by 2020-21. 23. China sees first quarterly trade deficit in six years-ET Apr 10 China saw a trade deficit of $1.2 billion from January to March this year, the first quarterly trade deficit in six years, according to figures released Sunday by the General Administration of Customs (GAC). In comparison, there was a trade surplus of $13.91 billion in the first quarter of last year, Xinhua reported citing the GAC . Exports surged 26. 5 per cent year-on-year to $399.64 billion in the first three months this year, while imports soared 32.6 per cent to $400.66 billion from a year earlier. From January to March, the total value of imports and exports increased 29.5 per cent year-on-year to $800.3 billion, said the customs administration, adding that China reported a small trade surplus of $140 million in March, on the basis of a deficit of $7.3 billion in February. 24. Icelanders reject deal to repay debt to British-ET Apr 10 Icelanders rejected for a second time a plan to repay $5 billion to Britain and the Netherlands from a bank crash, results showed on Sunday, and the prime minister said economic and political chaos could follow. Policymakers have said a 'no' in the Saturday referendum meant the dispute will end up in a European court. Economists have said the uncertainty is hurting efforts to drag Iceland out of recession, end currency controls and boost investment. State television said almost 60 percent of voters had rejected the agreement, based on results from five out of six voting districts, including capital Reykjavik. Many voters were against taxpayers footing the bill for irresponsible bankers. Just over 169,000 votes had been counted out of the 230,000 eligible voters. The prime minister, who had predicted a no vote would cause economic uncertainty for at least a year or two, did not say whether the government planned to resign. 25. US sports tycoon takes over Arsenal for $1.2bn-TIMES NEWS NETWORK- TNN Apr 10 For several seasons now, their manager Arsene Wenger had been fielding all-foreign playing elevens. On Monday, English Premiership giants Arsenal put themselves wholly in foreign hands when they announced their takeover by US sports tycoon Stanley Kroenke for 731m pounds ($1.2 billion). The low-profile, Colorado-based Kroenke, who boasts of an estimated personal fortune of 1.85 bn, and is married into the Wal-Mart family, already owns a slew of baseball, ice-hockey, football (and soccer) teams back home. In doubling his stake from 30% to nearly 63%, Kroenke makes the popular London club the fifth Premiership side to come under American ownership, joining a rapidly-growing group comprising Manchester United, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Sunderland.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS
26. India fifth most powerful nation: National Security Index-TNN Apr 13 India is the fifth most powerful country in the world, says the latest national security index (NSI) designed by the country's foremost security and economic experts. A part of India's National Security Annual Review 2010, which will be officially released by foreign minister S M Krishna on April 19, the NSI 2010 placed India fifth in the hierarchy of top 50 nations identified on the basis of their GDP. According to Foundation for National Security Research director Satish Kumar, who edited the national security review, the NSI is based on an assessment of defence capability, economic strength, effective population, technological capability and energy security of the top 50 countries. The US is at the top of the list on the basis of these criteria followed by China, Japan and Russia. In brief 5th most powerful country in all, 3rd in terms of population, 4th on defence capabilities, 7th on economic strength, 33rd on energy security, 34th on technology. US on top, followed by China, Japan & Russia India is trailed by S Korea, Norway, Germany, France & UK. 27. Anna Hazare's Lokpal counterproductive: Suresh Khopade (IPS)-ET Apr 08 If Anna Hazare's demand for empowering Lokpal is accepted, it will create severe problems than solving them, a serving IPS officer, Suresh Khopade, has said. "Bureaucrats, particularly in third-world countries, tend to become pro-capitalist and status-quoist," Khopade, CID Special IG of Pune Police, said. "More powers to Lokpal will create a draconian babu who will create hurdles for development." He stated that even if the Jan Lokpal Bill were accepted, it would not stop corruption, as is the perception around Anna Hazare's campaign. "Corruption prevails in spite of thousands of anticorruption officials. Adding another body will not help, because supporting mechanisms, like the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Indian Evidence Act, etc remain the same," he said. 28. Students spot errors in IIT-JEE paper, but find going easy-ET Apr 11 The Joint Entrance Exam has the capacity to transform lives. So, when close to 5 million candidates stand for the race, an error is capable of wiping out several dreams. On Sunday, several students walked out after the first JEE paper and screamed that three questions in Maths were erroneous. IIT-Kanpur's director Sanjay Dhande said he had not received any complaints, but would look into the matter and justice would be done, if the questions were indeed vague or incorrect. In all, of the 4.85 lakh candidates, JEE-2011 saw the largest contingent of aspirants from UP (83,139), followed by Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. The stakes got higher for close to 95,925 students, for whom this was the last chance of their lives to get into the premier IIT. The remaining 3.89 lakh were sitting for the test for the first time. 29. If bribed, buy biryani but don't give vote: Mamata- ET Par 10 Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Sunday cautioned the people in West Bengal that efforts could be made to bribe them for votes and advised them to have biryani and snacks with the money offered, but "don't give your vote". "They will try to give bribe, offer money and will ask you to vote for them. Take the money and have snacks and biryani with it. But don't give them a single vote. Banerjee, the union railway minister , also termed the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders touring the state as fair-weather friends. The Trinamool has fielded 227 candidates while its alliance partner Congress has 65 for the six-phase polls in the state beginning April 18. 30. We have exams, not edu system- TNN Apr 14 In the midst of the entrance exam season, a furious dispatch to the Prime Minister from his scientific advisor has termed such tests as one big menace. Strongly recommending an immediate halt to the system of students being made to take a pile of exams, C N R Rao, who heads the scientific advisory council to the PM (SACPM), said in a letter sent last week that the US method of holding one national exam before students joined university was the right way. Referring to the exam overdrive, Rao briefed Singh on the various flavours of exams that dot a students life. It is important to relook at the entire examination system, including the system of final examinations, entrance examinations, qualifying examinations, selection examinations, and so on. Now, one hears of a proposal to have a qualifying or accreditation examination for medical graduates and postgraduates, he said. Citing the example of the IIT joint entrance exam, Rao said, IIT entrance exams have the reputation of being difficult and purposeful, but they have also had a negative effect on young minds. Young people suffer so much to succeed in these entrance exams, and in the process lose excitement in education itself.

MUMBAI: MAXIMUM CITY

Life in the fast lane: Its a Friday morning, the alarm rings and Natasha, the Relationship Manager at ICICI Bank, Mumbai gets ready to rush to her office. She is married and has a 5 year old son Rohit. She has two maid servants to manage house work and look after the kid. She catches the 8.32 local from Andheri, to Colaba where her office is located. The family owns two cars which are used mostly on weekends. She is at her desk in her 12th floor office enjoying the Mumbai sea view by 9:30 am. At 5 pm she rushes to the nearby slums as she actively works for the Times of India Teach India program. Then at 6:30 pm for her weekly rejuvenation session at Kaya Skin. Then she shops at Oberoi Mall, Nariman Point. By 10:00, her husband Vikram picks her and both head off for a dinner at Spice Tree, Bandra. The couple end their day at their favourite lounge Bonobo. Welcome to Life in a Metro. Amchi Mumbai: Mumbai city is built on what was once an archipelago of seven islands: Bombay Island, Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli, and Old Woman's Island. The total area of Mumbai is 603.4 km2. Until the 1970s, Mumbai owed its prosperity largely to textile mills and the seaport, but the local economy has since been diversified to include engineering, diamond-polishing, healthcare and IT. Mumbai is the 4th most expensive office market in the world. It was ranked amongst the fastest cities in India for business startup in 2009. It is also the richest city in India, and has the highest GDP of any city in South, West or Central Asia. The port and shipping industry is well established, with Mumbai Port being one of the oldest and most significant ports in India. Sabse Bada Rupaiya: Mumbai is the commercial capital of India, generating 6.16% of the total GDP, and accounting for 25% of industrial output, 70% of maritime trade in India, and 70% of capital transactions to India's economy. It serves as an economic hub of India, contributing 10% of factory employment, 25% of industrial output, 33% of income tax collections, 60% of customs duty collections, 20% of central excise tax collections, 40% of India's foreign trade and Rs4,000 crore in corporate taxes.Mumbai is home to important financial institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India and the corporate headquarters of numerous Indian companies and MNCs. As of 2008, Mumbai's GDP is 919,600 crore, and its per-capita income in 2009 was Rs1,28,000 ,which is almost three times the national average. In April 2008, Mumbai was ranked seventh in the list of "Top Ten Cities for Billionaires" by Forbes magazine, and first in terms of those billionaires' average wealth. 1st day 1st Show: Most of India's major television and satellite networks, as well as its major publishing houses, are headquartered in Mumbai. The city also has a large number of cinema halls that feature Bollywood, Marathi and Hollywood movies. The world's largest IMAX dome theatre is in Wadala. Bollywood, is the largest film producer in India and one of the largest in the world. Mumbai produces around 150200 films every year. Ek Chalis ki last Local: Mumbai's suburban rail systems carries more than 6.9 million commuters on a daily basis and constitutes more than half of the total daily passenger capacity of the Indian Railways itself. It has one of the highest passenger densities of any urban railway system in the world. The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport is the main aviation hub in the city and the busiest airport in India in terms of passenger traffic. Apunka Fast Food: Mumbai is famous for its street food consisting of Vada pavs, pav bhajis and bhel puris amongst others. Vada Pav forms a breakfast for many of the local people. The combination of batata vada and split pav continues to be Mumbai's sledgehammer answer to the burger. Pav bhaji is an art of the street food culture, this is mashed vegetables cooked in spices, topped with butter and served piping hot with bread.