current affairs learning material quiz 2_partb

8/8/2019 Current Affairs Learning Material Quiz 2_PartB

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CURRENT AFFAIRS 26 th July09 31st July09

1. Ad agencies tie up with online cos tocash in on digital media growth

The growth potential of digital advertising is prompting traditional ad agencies to join hands withonline companies.

In Cannes, Microsoft announced partnerships with two leading advertising companies the WPPGroup and Publicis Groupe. Rishi Srivastava, consumer and online marketing officer, MicrosoftIndia, did not comment on the nature of the deals but said Microsoft was already working closelywith all major agencies in India and such deals were the need of the hour.

Online advertising is increasing rapidly and the deals are aimed at offering better solutions tolarge brands, he reasons.

Figures speak for themselves. While the traditional media will not grow over 13 per cent year-on-year this year, analysts believe digital media will grow over 80 per cent Y-o-Y as the base is quitesmall in India. Internet advertising is a Rs 250-300 crore market and, according to a Ficci-PwCstudy, is expected to touch Rs 1,100 crore by 2011.

Tapping this growth requires deeper relationships between stakeholders. Some data are withagencies, some with publishers. To convince clients to put money into a new medium, thestakeholders will have to work together. Agencies are tying up with publishers for consumer

research, data sharing, training and leveraging of technology platform.

Parminder Singh, business head, technology, at Google India, adds: Now agencies are willing todo joint pitches (for accounts). One reason is also that digital is a very dynamic medium.Agencies have to collaborate with publishers for technical know-how to keep pace with themedium. Also, the social media frenzy has opened up new avenues. Offline agencies need

publishers expertise to explore such avenues. Google works closely with all big agencies inIndia.

Independent digital advertising agencies dont feel any threat, though. Mahesh Murthy, founder and CEO of Pinstorm, believes traditional ad agencies are yet to understand how to work in the

digital medium. Their structure, which separates creative and media buying, is not suited for theintegration that digital needs.

Moreover, their business models, based on flat fees or commissions, are also unsuited to the performance-driven digital advertising industry. For this reason, he feels this space will probably be led by independent digital agencies. Conventional agencies also realise that independentdigital ad agencies are tough rivals, according to industry observers.


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The digital media industry will grow over 80% Y-o-Y as the base is quite small

Microsoft is working closely with all major ad agencies in India for deals aimed at increasing theuse of online advertising

2. Use of Facebook cuts productivity: Study

Facebook lovers, here is another survey showing how employee productivity is robbed atworkplaces. So, put a limit on its usage before employers and the bosses put a stop to its usage atwork.

While it wont make employers popular, restricting Facebook can reclaim lost productivity. Anew study by Boston IT advisory firm, Nucleus Research finds that, company that allow users toaccess Facebook in the workplace lose an average 1.5 per cent in total worker productivity.

Nearly half of employees in the recent social net-working study use Facebook during work hours some as much as two hours per day. The average worker uses it for 15 minutes aday, andmost couldnt come up with a legitimate business reason for logging on. The survey of 237employees also showed that 77 per cent of workers who have a Facebook account use it duringwork hours.

And some employees use the social networking site as much as two hours a day at work, thestudy found. Nucleus Research did not say how many workers fit into that category, but did notethat one in 33 workers surveyed only used Facebook at work.

Of those using Facebook at work, 87 per cent said they had no clear business reason for using thesite. If your company is facing tight margins and low profitability, as many are now, then howcan you accept any work distractions that drain your overall productivity? asked RebeccaWettemann, vice president of research for Nucleus Research, in a statement.

The study also noted that 87.25 million US users visited Facebook from home and work duringJune, and each of those people spent an average of 4 hours, 39 minutes and 33 seconds on the siteduring the month.

Nearly half of the employees in a recent social networking survey were found using Facebook during work BLOOMBERG

3. Godrej Consumer in takeover talks withSara Lee

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Mumbai, 26 July


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Godrej Consumer Products is in discussions with Sara Lee Corp to acquire 100 per cent stake inGodrej Sara Lee, a joint venture (JV) between Godrej group and the US-based firm, a topcompany official has said.

Godrej Sara Lee, which manufactures insect repellents, is a 49:51 joint venture company betweentwo whollyowned subsidiaries of Godrej &Boyce and Sara Lee Corp.

The Board of Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) yesterday approved the proposed acquisition of this 49 per cent stake from Godrej ConsumerBiz and Godrej Hygiene Care, the two subsidiariesof Godrej & Boyce.

GCPL is also in talks with Sara Lee Corp to acquire its majority 51 per cent stake in the JV. Our Board has approved purchasing the groups 49 per cent stake (from the Godrej &Boycesubsidiaries) in the joint venture. This process should be over within two months after gettingcourt approvals, GCPL Executive Director and President, Hoshedar KPress, told PTI here. We

are in discussions with Sara Lee to acquire their 51 per cent stake as well. This is a part of their global divestment plan, Press said. The purchase of Sara Lees stake in the JV will be at aroundthe same price at which GCPL intends to buy 49 per cent from its group companies.

The ballpark figure is around Rs 850-900-crore, Press said. The proposed acquisition of 49 per cent will be through the merger of Godrej ConsumerBiz and Godrej Hygiene Care into GCPL.

After the merger is approved, holdings (assets and liabilities) of the two subsidiaries would betransferred to GCPL, Godrej Group Chairman, Adi Godrej, told shareholders at the companysAGM. .

4. India to host Doha meet in Sept

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, 26 July

Happy with Commerce Minister Anand Sharmas efforts to revive the stalled Doha multilateraltrade talks, World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy has confirmed his

participation at the trade ministers meeting being hosted by India in September.

Yes, Lamy has confirmed his participation at the ministerial meeting in the first week of September, a commerce ministry official said.

The WTO chief is expected to play a referees role in his attempt to bridge the divide between thedeveloping and developed countries on market opening that each side is willing to offer for reaching adeal.

The WTO Director-General has expressed his satisfaction on the initiative of the commerce andindustry minister to organise the ministerial meeting, the official said.


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Trade ministers from around 30 key countries, including from the G-20 (a grouping of developingnations), are likely to be present at the meeting. It is also likely to have representation from thedeveloped world such as the US and the European Union.

India, Brazil, South Africa and China are the members of the G-20 representing interest of thedeveloping countries.

5. For Mozilla and Google, group hugs gettricky

MIGUEL HELFT California, 26 JulyBoxes lined the cubicles and hallways in the offices of Mozilla on a recent afternoon, and itschief executive, John Lilly, seemed a bit disoriented as he looked for a place to sit. Mozilla,

which makes the Firefox Web browser, had just moved from one end of this city to the other,mainly to gain more space for its growing work force.Yet it was hard not to read symbolism into the move. Mozillas old offices were next door toGoogles sprawling headquarters. For several years, Google has been Mozillas biggest ally and

patron. But in September, it also became Mozillas competitor when it unveiled its own Web browser, Chrome.So it seemed only natural for Mozilla to move out from under Googles shadow.Weve learned how to compete with Microsoft and Apple, says Lilly, a softspoken, earnest 38-year-old. Google is a giant, of course, and competing with them means we are competing withanother giant, which is a little tiring. Those big companies werent giving much thought to

browsers when Firefox was released in 2004, and neither were most ordinary Web users. A

browser was just a window onto the Web, and people used whatever was already installed on acomputer. Usually that meant Microsofts Internet Explorer.Since then, Firefox has captured nearly a quarter of the browser market by focusing on speed,security and innovation. Its success is all the more remarkable because it was built and marketed

by a far-flung community of programmers, testers and fans mostly volunteers coordinated by a nonprofit foundation. It is a shining example of the potential of open-source software, whichanyone can modify and improve, and its ascent is one of Silicon Valleys most unusual successstories.


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6. Seven new stealth frigates to be built inIndia

Indias largest warship builders Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL), Mumbai; and Garden Reach

Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata have prevailed over the Indian Navys objections.Business Standard has learned that MDL and GRSE will divide between them the entire order for seven improved stealth frigates, code-named Project 17A.The navy was insisting that the first two frigates of Project 17A be built abroad, so that MDL andGRSE could learn how to build ships using new modular methods that are preferred by Europeanshipyards. This would have raised the price of Project 17A by more than Rs 5,000 crore.MDL and GRSE countered that they possessed the technology and the experience for buildingcutting-edge warships entirely in India.Each Shivalik class frigate of Project 17 was priced at Rs 2,600 crore, and the navy plans to insiston the same price for Project 17A. Building abroad would cost at least twice as much as buildingat MDL and GRSE.

But the navy was focusing on early delivery, rather than cost. Chief of Naval Staff, AdmiralSureesh Mehta, insisted on presenting before the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), thehighest decisionmaking body in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the advantages of kicking off Project 17A in a foreign shipyard. But Defence Minister AK Antony stepped in to order entirelyindigenous production.At GRSE, a modernisation programme is underway to create the facilities needed for buildingProject 17A. The Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Rear Admiral KC Sekhar, said afully equipped modular yard with a 250-ton Goliath crane will be ready in mid-2011. By then,MoD sanctions will be in place and the navy would have completed the design of Project 17B.Each Shivalik class frigate of Project 17 was priced at Rs 2,600 crore, and the navy plans to insiston the same price for Project 17A

INDIA on Sunday achieved a historic naval milestone with the induction of its first indigenousnuclear-powered submarine, INS Arihant.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared on the occasion that the country had no aggressivedesigns but had to take all measures to safeguard itself.

7. Brand A-I: One too many

The cashless Maharajah must be hoping for a miracle to shed his excess baggage. Air Indiasmascot since 1946, the Maharajah keeps on smiling at us from the hoardings all over the country,

but the smile lacks cheer these days. For, Indias national airline is bankrupt.

Nacil (National Aviation Co of India Ltd that operates Air India) is expected to register a loss of around Rs 5,000 crore in 2008-09, largely due to high operating expenses. Not that the airline wasmaking money earlier, but many in the aviation industry attribute the current crisis to thegovernments decision in 2007 to merge Indian Airlines (IA) with AI into one company. Whilethe idea was good as it could have achieved economies of scale, the shoddy implementation hasdelivered a few hard knocks to brand Air India.


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Look at the way the management has made a mess of the brand. The logo of the new airline isnow a redcoloured flying swan with the `Konark Chakra in orange, placed inside it. But

advertising and branding gurus are yet to figure out the reason for dumping the earlier logo theCentaur, a stylish version of star constellation Sagittarius which had become a part of theairlines identity since 1948. Sagittarius, the archer, is the ninth sign of the Zodiac. The Greeksrepresented this constellation in the act of shooting an arrow and it symbolised movement andspeed.

AI executives say the flying swan has been morphed from the Centaur, whereas the `Konark Chakra is reminiscent of IAs logo. But experts say the decision is as illogical as the earlier initiative in 2005 to tweak the logo and the name of the airline. That time, the managementremoved the hyphen between Air and India and decided that the Centaur logo will be readjustedto point upwards to show the progressive growth the airline had made.

What has also worked against the brand is its failure to connect with the youth. "How can a brandsupport itself on emotional bonding with the older generation alone?" says Mahesh Chauhan,Group CEO, Rediffusion - Y&R. Chauhan also says the main problem has been the airlinesdeteriorating product quality and the growing competitive landscape.

But there are quite a few who are in no hurry to write the brands obituary. Santosh Desai, brandexpert and managing director of Future Brands says brands dont die that easily. Brand is like alife. It stays in the memory. So it would be incorrect to say that the IA and AI brands are dead.Conceptually, they can be revived." Srinivasan Swamy, chairman of RK Swamy BBDO, goes astep forward to say that the brand is making continuous improvements in all areas of operation.

8. DoT wants Trai to limit number of telcos

CONFRONTED with the pending applications of 24 companies for telecom licences, thedepartment of telecom (DoT) now wants sector regulator Trai to cap the number of telecom

players who are allowed to offer mobile services in the country.DoT in a communication to Trai (dated July 22) has asked the regulator to reconsider its earlier

recommendations where it had said that there should not be a cap on the number of telcos thatare allowed to offer telecom services in a circle.

The primary reason behind DoTs move to approach the telecom regulator is that the DelhiHigh Court, in a landmark judgement earlier this month, had quashed the communicationsministrys notification announcing September 25, 2007, as the cut-off date for granting telecomlicences. This has opened up the pandoras box for the government, as several of the 24companies, which were denied licences on account of this cut-off date, are planning to drag thecommunications ministry to the court. These 24 companies, which between them had filed about343 applications, were denied licences on the basis of this cut-off date.

The story dates back to January 2008, when communications minister A Raja had arbitrarily


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announced that the first-come, first-served basis for allocating telecom licences, which come bundled with 2G spectrum, will only be applicable to companies that applied before September 25, 2007. This was despite Mr Raja and DoT announcing earlier that the cut-off date for filingapplications was October 1, 2007.

A total of 46 companies had submitted applications for licences before the October 1 deadline.

But in January 2008, DoT said applications prior to September 25, 2007, would be considered.The U-turn ensured that big names such as AT&T, Sterlite, DLF, Ispat and Moser Baer all of which applied after September 25, but before October 1, 2007 were denied licences.

Several of these companies alleged that DoT changed the cut-off date, so that only a selectIndian companies such as Swan, Unitech, Loop, Datacom and Shyam get licences. So far, DoThas provided no explanation for changing the cut-off date. Chennai-based STel had thenapproached the Delhi HC after the company was granted licences for only six circles. The reasoncited was that the company had applied for licences in the remaining 16 circles after September 25, but before October 1, 2007. DoT had not processed STels applications for the remainingcircles, as these had come in after the cut-off date. STel had then demanded that DoT offer anexplanation for unilaterally setting on September 25 as the cut-off date.

The Delhi HC in its judgement then set aside DoT notification stating September 25, 2007, asthe cut-off date. DoT has now told Trai that there were 343 pending applications for telecomlicences while adding that there were already 12-14 operators offering mobile services in everycircle.

9. Intel, AMD slug it out for top slot in graphiccard marketINTEL and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), traditional rivals in the global chipset space, are

now set to take each other on in the $300-million Indian graphics card market. With the countryturning out to be a hub for graphic industries like animation and design, both the companies arereworking their India strategies to grow their businesses in the computing segment.

The move has been triggered by the emergence of high-end games involving real-time 3Drendering (such as first person shooting or racing games). A Ficci-KPMG study claims theIndian animation industry alone will grow to Rs 3,900 crore from the current Rs 1,740 crore by2013.

Global and domestic entertainment companies like DQ Entertainment, Yashraj Films, Disney,MGM and Paramount have announced that they will tap the Indian market throughlocallyproduced animation and graphics content. Such heavy-duty content development requires

standalone or discrete graphic cards against integrated graphics chipset (essentially graphiccapabilities within the computer motherboard). Integrated graphic chipsets are best suited for

basic applications like multimedia, high-definition videos, photos and digital music.It is in the standalone space that Intel looks to grow, hoping in the process, to replicate its

market leadership in the integrated segment. To begin with, it plans to roll out next generationgraphic products and solutions, codenamed Larrabee, in India next year. It is also developing anew micro-architecture on its existing platform. The new products will open up a world of


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opportunity for both mainstream programming and graphic applications, Intel South Asiadirector (sales) R Ravichandran told ET.

AMD plans to significantly grow its market share in the professional segment, and is workingon a strategy to develop a product which will marry high-end computing and graphics in a singlechip. This product is currently under development in AMDs R&D facilities in Bangalore andHyderabad.

10. Dell to model on Indian IT

DELL, the worlds second-biggest maker of personal computers after Hewlett-Packard, wants to buy lean IT companies of the Indian school of outsourcing to improve its scale and credibility inservices. Dell makes almost 60% of its revenues from selling personal computers and hasestablished a support business for corporate PC users. It now wants to expand its services

business further into managing companies computer networks.Steve Schuckenbrock, president of Dells large enterprise operations, said it was taking adifferent route from rivals HP and IBM by helping firms strip out costs, rather than selling themlong consultancy and software contracts. The company, which has $10 billion in cash and short-term investments, has said it wants to grow through acquisitions as well as organically, andSchuckenbrock said Dell could use some help in establishing a reputation for services. Theresno question that we are interested in acquisitions to bring scale to our services business and to

bring more credibility to us as a services company, he said.Schuckenbrock, also responsible for Dells operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa,

reiterated that the company saw a little confidence returning to the US market.The battle among industry giants is heating up with rivals such as HP and Cisco making large

acquisitions or expanding into new business areas. But Schuckenbrock said Dell was unlikely to buy large companies. He said Dell admired companies such as Indian computerservices firmswho have branched out into managing customers networks, after saturating much of the marketfor managing older business applications software.

11. Gangubai Hangals concert of life ends

MUSIC and Makhania Kuan in Patna. What do they have in common? As a stumbling kid, thiscorrespondent discovered the commonalities while cycling around three parallel roads in Patnaduring Durga Puja nights. Makhania Kuan was one of them (Govind Mitra Road and Khajanchi

Road being the others) where Gangubai Hangal stole the night away from the other stalwarts Pandit Ravi Shankar and N Rajam performing across.

Her vocal renditions eventually coalesced into a voluptuous, fullthroated love song. What morewould a young boy on the threshold of teens ask for than a full physical release of tonality wherethe gender differentiator in a voice collapses.

Gangubais voice was magically masculine. Not out of providence, but as great masters wish it,she willed it to be so. When a throat operation changed her voice, she said: Now it is closer tomy gurus voice. Her guru was none other than Sawai Gandharva or Second Celestial who


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bridged the divide between North and South. Sawai Gandharwa was instrumental in converting aquaint place like Dharwad in North Karnataka to an abode of Hindustani music. His practiceinspired and left behind younger masters such as Mallikarjun Mansur, Basavaraj Rajguru,Bhimsen Joshi and, of course, Kumar Gandharva.

However, Hangal was, perhaps, the last representative of a generation that valued tradition and

simplicity over show. She had been singing publicly since the late 1920s after her first concert inKolkata where Kundanlal Saigal burst out with Wah, bai, wah and performed with a group thatwas two generations younger.

12. Fed chief voted best credit crisismanager

GLOBAL investors give federal reserve chairman Ben S Bernanke top marks for combating theworst financial crisis since the Great Depression and overwhelmingly favor his reappointmentamid optimism that the world economy is on the mend. Sixty-one percent of investors surveyedin the first Quarterly Bloomberg Global Poll say the world economy is stable or improving andalmost 75% take a favorable view of the 55-year-old chairman. By almost a three-to-one margin,they say Bernanke has earned another four-year term when his current one expires in January.

Hes the best, maybe around the world, said Wallace Lin, an investment manager with EuroAsset Management in Hong Kong, who participated in the poll. Investors ranked Bernankehigher than his counterparts at other major central banks, including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet. The vote of confidence strengthens Bernankes hand as he facescongressional criticism that the Fed overstepped its authority by helping to rescue failingfinancial institutions in the midst of the crisis. President Barack Obama has praised Bernankes

performance atop the central bank without saying whether he wants him to stay.If he werent renominated, it could have potentially very serious and severe repercussions on

the stock market and the economy, said Jack Liebau, a poll participant and president of Pasadena, California-based Liebau Asset Management Co. Martin Feldstein, a professor of economics at Harvard University, praised the policy maker. Bernanke has done a very good joband I think he should be reappointed, Feldstein said. The Poll is a survey of investors on sixcontinents. It is based on interviews from July 14 to July 17 with a random sample of 1,076subscribers, who represent leading decision makers in markets, finance and economics. The pollshowed Trichet received a favorable rating of 54%, while Bank of England Governor MervynKing garnered 50% approval and Chinas central-bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, received42%. Bloomberg

13. Fiat, Tata look to bring Ferrari,Maserati here

ITALIAN auto giant Fiat and Tata Motors are in talks for a joint marketing project to sellFerraris and Maseratis in India, news reports said on Thursday.

Mr Tata, who is also a Fiat director, told Italian daily La Stampa the two were studying further


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cooperation to add to existing projects such as a partnership to produce engines in India. Wehave various projects, to take the Nano to Latin America together, to share platforms for newcars, we have projects for (Fiat lorry unit) Iveco and marketing Ferraris and Maseratis, in IndiaMr Tata said. We are talking about a lot of things.

Both Ferrari and Maserati brands are under Fiats control. Tata Motors is also present in the

luxury car business, having acquired the British brands Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.3 billionfrom the US automaker Ford last year.At the other end of the scale, Fiat and Tata are considering marketing the Tata Nano, the

worlds cheapest car, in Latin America, where Fiat has a strong presence. Brazil is Fiats second- biggest market after Italy.

The Nano, the Rs 1-lakh car, hit the streets this month in India, and Tata has plans to export itto Europe, South America and Southeast Asia.

The Nano passed the European crash test safety standard on Friday, allowing it to be sold inthe Europe market and a launch is foreseen at the end of 2011, Mr Tata said.

Fiat and Tata build cars, engines and gearboxes together in India, and Tata Motors is Fiatsdistributor in India.

14. Sanofi-Aventis buys Shantha in high-value deal

FRANCES biggest drugmaker Sanofi-Avenits on Monday agreed to buy Shantha Biotechnics ina deal whose generous valuation is seen tempting other Indian vaccine makers to consider a sell-out if similar offers come their way.The deal between Sanofi and its French owners Meriuex Alliance values the unlisted Indiancompany at Rs 3,740 crore, or about eight times its projected sales of Rs 440 crore for this fiscal.

Merieux Alliance bought a 60% stake in Shantha Biotech in 2006 and subsequently increased itto about 80%. KI Varaprasad Reddy, who owns a 13.4% stake and is the founder of theHyderabad-based company, will continue as managing director. The deal involves Sanofisvaccine arm Sanofi Pasteur acquiring ShanH which owns nearly 79% stake in ShanthaBiotech from Merieux Alliance.Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Delhi-based Panacea Biotech are the countrys top two

vaccine makers. Exports account for nearly twothirds of countrys vaccine market, estimated atnearly $1 billion.I see a lot of partnerships and stake sales taking place in the coming years. It helps foreign firms

benefit from Indias cost advantage and domestic players can tap the export potential throughsuch deals, said Sarabhjit Kaur Nangra, head of research at Angel Broking.Shantha Biotech shot to fame in 1997 after it became the first Indian firm to develop and market

a recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine. It employs over 700 people and markets a range of vaccines


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in India and global markets. It also provides contract research and manufacturing services andhas a wholly-owned subsidiary in the US.

15. Gail lines up Rs 7,600 cr to set upIndias longest gas pipeline

GAIL India, the countrys largest gas transportation company, will invest Rs 7,600 crore in building Indias longest gas pipeline from Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia in West Bengal,chairman & managing director of Gail UD Choubey said.The two spur lines will link Barauni and Chhapra in Bihar with Gails pipeline network. Itcurrently operates 7,100 kms of gas pipelines and plans to double its network by March 2012with an investment of around Rs 28,000 crore. Gail director (finance) RK Goel said funding the

project will be done through internal accruals and debt. Gails current debt, equity ratio is 0.12:1.

Hence, the company is in a comfortable position to borrow substantially, he said. The companyscurrent net worth is around Rs 14,000 crore.Giving details of the Jagdishpur-Haldia project, Mr Choubey said it would be executed in

phases. First 1,410 kms of pipeline will be laid from Haldia to Phulpur, along with spurlines tovarious consumers like Hindustan Fertiliser Corp at Durgapur and Barauni, Fertiliser Corp of India at Sindri and Barauni, power plant at Barh and Bettiah and in Patna, Chhapra, Siwan,Gopalganj and Bettiah, he said.In the next phase, spurlines and feeder lines will be laid for a length of 450 kms to Kolkata,

Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Varanasi and Allahabad and Sagardighi. In the last phase, the gas pipelineinfrastructure will connect SAILs plants at Durgapur and Bokaro and the petrochemical plant atBarauni with Gails network.

16. China set to respond in kind to Indiamilk ban

CHINA, Indias biggest trading partner, has threatened to impose restrictions on imports of food products such as seafood and sesame oil from the country if New Delhi doesnt scrap its

ban on Chinese milk and milk products.The Indian embassy in Beijing is in touch with the Chinese government on the issue, minister

of state for commerce and industry Jyotiraditya Scindia told the Lok Sabha on Monday. China

had replaced the US as New Delhis biggest trading partner in 2008-09.Only recently, Beijing had locked horns with India over a partial ban on Chinese toy imports

later extended to other countries. The two sides have also been at loggerheads over importchecks in the form of antidumping duties and safeguard duties (levies to stop import surges of identified products) slapped on Chinese goods in the past year.

Mr Scindia said in response to the extension of the ban on milk and milk products includingchocolate and chocolate products from China till December 24, 2009, Chinas qualitysupervision and inspection department had conveyed that it had encountered food safety


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problems in imported food products like seafood and sesame oil from India.China warned that if India insisted on extending the ban on milk and milk products till the end

of the year, it would also act on its concerns about the quality of imported food products fromIndia.

India has imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese products like yarns, fabrics, nylon tyre cord,

colour picture tubes and some chemicals. It is also looking at imposing safeguard duties onChinese goods. According to commerce department officials, with demand drying up in theslowdownhit Western markets, China had identified India as an easy market for dumping itsgoods.

India-China trade rose sharply to $51 billion in 2008-09 from $38 billion in the previous fiscal.

17. WHO moots parallel checks on Indianvaccines by Canada health watchdog

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has proposed a parallel review of vaccinesmanufactured by Indian companies, to be carried out by the Canadian national regulatoryauthority, in addition to the marketing approvals given by the Indian drug regulator.

WHO has recommended a parallel review of vaccine submissions for marketing authorisation.For this purpose, WHO has proposed a parallel review project with biologics and genetictherapies directorate of Health Canada to develop further the capacity of the Indian regulatoryauthority, a health ministry official said.

WHO had disqualified the Indian drug regulatory authority Drug Controller General of India(DCGI) in 2007 after the regulatory system was found not up to the mark during a WHO audit.Consequently, all new vaccines made by Indian manufacturers were barred from receiving theglobal agencys approval.

Even though WHO lifted the embargo in April 2009, officials in the health ministry say therecommended move from WHO will strengthen the Indian regulatory system and bring it in linewith international standards.

A double check of India-made vaccines by Health Canada will consolidate our efforts toensure highest level of quality, safety and efficacy of vaccines used in internationalimmunisation programmes, the official said.

Although major progress has been made, the WHO NRA assessment team issued somespecific recommendations that need to be implemented to consolidate the Indian NRA efforts toreach the highest level of performance, a letter from WHO to DCGI said.

The Indian vaccine industry is valued at around Rs 2,000 crore. Out of this, exports areestimated to account for around Rs 1,600 crore. WHO procures around 60% of the global supplyof diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DPT) and BCG (bacille calmette-gurin) vaccines from India. Italso procures almost 90% of measles vaccines from the country.

Domestic vaccine manufacturers are required to obtain approval from the DCGI beforesubmitting a pre-qualification application of their vaccines to the WHO. Following this, a jointaudit of the manufacturing facility is conducted by WHO and Indian regulatory officials beforethe vaccine receives final approval.


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18. Samsung Launches New 500 Gigabyteper Platter Hard Drive Line-up forServers and Desktop PCs

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a worldwide leader in digital consumer electronics andinformation technology, announced today its new line-up of high-density hard drives for high-end computing environments, the Spinpoint F3.The F3 operates at 7200RPM with offerings of up to 1 Terabyte (TB) data storage capacity byusing two 500 Gigabyte (GB) per platter disks. As well as meeting data center requirements for addition storage to meet rising demand and increasing performance needs, the new drives alsodeliver high-performance with lower power for desktop computers and servers.

The Spinpoint F3 utilizes advanced 500GB per platter technology, so that two-platter 1TBcapacity is achieved.. Increased areal density per platter provides up to a 30 percent higher

performance than a three-platter 1 TB in the same 3.5" form factor. A reduction in mechanical parts also contributes to enhanced reliability in terms of anti-shock and data failure.

Samsung`s new hard drive utilizes its low noise operation technology SilentSeek and NoiseGuard to achieve a quiet operation system. In addition, the new Spinpoint F3 is compliantwith the (RoHS) restriction of hazardous substances directive.

19. Effective Personal Protection for UseWhen Safety Is Threatened

SAN DIEGO, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Visualize walking at night to your car after an eveningdining out with co-workers. The streets are dimly lit and no one is in sight. Slowly, you put thekeys in the door of your vehicle thinking nothing of the impending danger right behind you. A

person forcefully grabs you, takes all your belongings and rides off in your car. A casual dinner has now turned into a nightmare. This is a very real situation that can happen to anyone but thereare steps that can be taken to divert such traumas.

San Diego-based, PepperBall Technologies (PTI), has recently created a highly effective non-lethal pepper powder weapon for personal use called the HotShot. The HotShot is lightweight(3.4-ounce), portable, and compact and can easily be concealed in a purse, pocket or backpack

providing an instant protection barrier from attackers.

The HotShot is different from other products as it instantly bursts a large, visible cloud of powder irritate (up to 12 feet) which works immediately and overwhelmingly. It is unlike other pepper-based spray products that can take several minutes to properly administer and requireaccurate aiming. HotShot is also hotter, therefore more effective, than pepper spray. HotShot isideal for college students and women, and should be a first choice when safety is threatened.

PTI has a long history of providing non-lethal weapons for military, government, corrections, private security and major agencies including the Federal Bureau of prisons, the United States


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Border Patrol, thousands of police and sheriff departments, private entities, security services and bail enforcement agencies around the world since 1999. With over 15 million projectiles and16,500 launchers sold since its inception, PTI personal defense systems have been proven to behighly effective and safe with no reported serious injuries.

20. U.S., China vow cooperation on Doha,bilateral trade

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and China said on Tuesday they would push for asuccessful conclusion to long-running world trade talks, while working to reduce a hugeimbalance in bilateral trade.

A key feature of that was the need for both countries to avoid protectionism and to work for asuccessful outcome of the Doha round of world trade talks, launched nearly eight years ago inthe capital of Qatar, Geithner said.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan echoed those comments, adding that both sides supportedthe "early conclusion of the Doha round on the basis of locking up the existing achievements."

Almost exactly one year ago in Geneva, countries came close to a deal in the talks, only to fail inthe end.

The G8 leading industrialized countries, plus five leading developing countries, recently set anew goal to finish the Doha round by the end of 2010. But so far, that has not translated intovisible progress in the talks.

RECORD TRADE GAP

Last year, the U.S. trade deficit with China hit a record $266 billion. Many U.S. lawmakers andmanufacturers blame the trade gap on China's exchange rate policy, which they say givesChinese companies an unfair price advantage by depressing the value of the yuan against thedollar.

Geithner said the two sides agreed to take steps to bring trade more into balance but did notmention currency concerns.

The United States, for its part, will work to boost savings and bring down its huge budget deficit,while China agreed to shift to an economy less dependent on exports for growth and more ondomestic demand, he said.

China has long argued that easing U.S. export controls on high-technology would help erase thehuge trade imbalance between the two countries.

Beijing also dislikes that it is still considered a "non-market" economy under U.S. trade law.


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21. BP sees 2009 refinery rates higherthan 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters) - BP ( BP.L ) said global refinery utilization rose to 93.6 percent in thesecond quarter of 2009 from the same quarter last year and the company expects rates to remainhigher than they were in 2008 despite the challenges of low demand and high distillate stocks.

A faltering global economy has cut deeply into demand for gasoline and diesel fuel just as newrefineries commissioned during the time of tight supply come on stream, adding to the overhangof oil products.

The rise in utilization was helped by two of its large U.S. refineries. BP said its 475,000 barrel per day refinery in Texas City, Texas is making its full economic contribution for the first timesince early 2005.

During the conference call, BP said that demand for refined products was down in the first half from the same period in 2008. But it said it was encouraged by a slight uptick in demand in thesecond quarter from the first quarter.

"We are seeing a little more demand for gasoline coming back, and that is playing through intostock levels," said Ian Conn, the company's global head of refining.

Conn said market volumes for all refined products were down about 5 percent in both the secondquarter and the first half of the year primarily due to falling business-to-business sales. But the

company sees an uptick of volumes in business-to-consumer sales in the second quarter.BP reported that global refining volumes for the second quarter were 2.269 million barrels per day compared with the 2.246 million barrels per day seen in the first quarter.

BP is engaged in an expansion project at Whiting which allow it to process more Canadian heavycrude oil and increase motor fuel production by adding new sulfur recovery units and associatedcomponents as well as modifying existing parts of the plant.

22. Warner Bros. Pictures InternationalSurpasses $1 Billion in Box Office for theNinth Consecutive Year

Warner Bros. Pictures International has surpassed the $1 billion threshold in international boxoffice revenue for the ninth consecutive year. The announcement was made today by VeronikaKwan-Rubinek, President, Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures International.
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=BP.Lhttp://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=BP.L


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Warner Bros. Pictures International pushed past the $1 billion mark with the launch of HarryPotter and the Half-Blood Prince last week. The latest franchise entry now holds the record for the highest-grossing international opening, industry-wide with $236 million, and in the first eightdays of release, became one of the fastest films to surpass the $300 million mark. The cumulativetotal through the second weekend is $405.3 million.

Warner Bros Pictures International has been the market leader in five of the last eight years. TheDivision has surpassed $1 billion in grosses a total of twelve years, and was the first to hit the $2

billion mark twice, in 2004 and 2007, the latter of which, at $2.24 billion, continues to hold therecord for the highest ever international gross for a single studio.

23. Netherlands smash record to win relaygold

ROME (Reuters) - Olympic champions the Netherlands smashed their own world record to take

gold in the women's 100 meters freestyle relay at the world championships Sunday.The Dutch quartet of Frederike Heemskerk, Magdalena Veldhuis, Inge Dekker, RanomiKromowidjojo triumphed in a time of three minutes 31.72 seconds to take almost two secondsoff their mark of 3:33.62 from last year.

They had to come from behind after Britta Steffen broke her own mark to set a new individual100m world record of 52.22 and give Germany the lead in the first leg.

Germany came in just 0.11 of a second behind in an exciting finish to claim silver.

Australia, led by individual 100m and 50m freestyle world champion Libby Trickett, took bronze.

Australian team member Meagen Nay, whose brother was killed in a car crash this weekend, didnot take part in the final after racing in the qualifying heat earlier Sunday.

24. Microsoft, Yahoo agree on adpartnership: source

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc have agreed to an online search and

advertising partnership, in an attempt to rival Google Inc, that will be announced within 24hours, a source familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo last year but its $47.5 billion bid was rebuffed and Yahoo's attemptto seal a search advertising deal with Google Inc fell apart under regulatory scrutiny.

The deal should give Bing a giant boost in competing with Google's search engine. Google'ssearch engine dominates the marketplace with 65 percent of U.S. Internet searches, according to


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figures provided by research firm ComScore. Last month, Microsoft had only 8.4 percent of themarket and Yahoo 19.6 percent.

There is a chance a deal combining the powers of the second and third-ranked search enginecompanies would be blocked by antitrust regulators. Google and Yahoo dropped plans for an

advertising partnership last year under opposition from the U.S. Department of Justice.That could trigger federal regulation limiting the ability of companies like Yahoo to collect datafrom users' searches and share it with partners, said Gillis, which would remove a key advantageof the partnership.

Shares of Yahoo traded at $17.39 in after-hours trading after closing at $17.22, while shares of Microsoft rose to $23.51 in after-hours trading from their close of $23.47.

25. Subprime mortgage companies warnon U.S. foreclosures

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Companies that service risky residential mortgages are warning U.S.officials that a key program to slow foreclosures may push some financing costs higher andderail their efforts, said a leading subprime firm.

Companies forming the Independent Mortgage Servicers Coalition, service many of the riskiestmortgages made during the housing boom, making them key players in programs to rein inforeclosures. The group collects and distributes payments on more than $700 billion in loans,according to its leader, Carrington Mortgage Services of Santa Ana, California.

Their concerns about financing payments for defaulted homeowners comes as pressure mountsfrom Congress, regulators and state legislators for servicers to do more for the plan, which aims

to slow foreclosures and modify loans. The U.S. Treasury wants the companies to spend more onits resources, including hiring staff and expanding training programs.

But manpower isn't the main worry for the independent servicers, which don't include large banks such as Wells Fargo & Co. Implementing the program means giving delinquenthomeowners more time fix their loans, which to servicers will the boost costs of extending

payments to investors as contractually promised.

Matching costs of servicing to public policy is growing increasingly difficult, said Bruce Rose,chief executive officer and general partner of Greenwich, Connecticut-based Carrington CapitalManagement, LLC, which owns CMS. Rose attended the meeting with Treasury.

The costs of borrowing to finance delinquent payments to bond investors far outweigh expectedrevenue from incentives paid by the government, Rose said. The government will pay servicers$1,000 for every loan modified, and another $1,000 a year for three years if the borrower stayscurrent.

The group since September has approached the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and Congress for help in funding the temporary "advances" that are fully reimbursed when a loan is modified or foreclosed, Rose said. Help offered through the Fed's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan


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Facility (TALF,) which allows for the pooling of advances for sale to investors, has backfired,and is increasing financing costs, he said.

Standard & Poor's this month delivered a blow to Carrington and other potential issuers of TALF-eligible bonds backed by servicing advances, by sharply discounting the value of the

assets that would go into the deals, Rose said. For Carrington, that would mean just 64 cents of every dollar in assets would garner a AAA rating, the blessing required for inclusion in a TALFdeal.

26. New York ranked top U.S. city forsingles

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - New York has been rated the best U.S. city for singles, bumpingAtlanta out of the top spot.

The Big Apple also edged past Boston, Chicago, Seattle and Washington, D.C., which roundedout the top five cities in the Forbes.com survey.

Atlanta fell to No. 6, followed by San Francisco, Los Angeles, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.

It was the first time New York had won the title in the annual poll that assessed 40 of the largestU.S. urban areas for coolness, cost of living alone, culture, job growth, online dating, nightlifeand ratio of singles to the entire population in the area.

But it was online dating that pushed it to the No. 1 position because it has more people withactive online dating accounts than any other city in the country.

" Whereas New Yorkers may once have been preoccupied with earning high salaries, they appear

now to be putting a greater emphasis on finding love.Compared with past years, Cleveland, Ohio, is the biggest gainer, moving up 24 spots from 38 to14, while Providence, Rhode Island moved up 18 spots to No. 15

27. Schwarzenegger signs long-awaitedCalifornia budget

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a package of bills on Tuesday to balance the state's budget, which should allow the state to stop issuing IOUsinstead of paying bills and to prepare for a crucial sale of short-term debt.

Schwarzenegger said in a statement his signed budget would plug the deficit largely withspending cuts of $16.1 billion and some one-time moves while excluding tax increases. It alsomaintains a $500 million reserve, which analysts have said the state government likely will needshould its revenue slump persist.


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That emergency measure allowed the state to preserve cash for priority payments, including debtservicing payments to investors holding its cash. Two credit ratings agencies this month cut their ratings on California's general obligation debt to near "junk" status amid growing concerns over the state's finances and cash holdings.

Schwarzenegger acknowledged many who rely on state aid both directly and indirectly wouldsuffer under the spending plan he signed. He also warned further pain may be in store becauseCalifornia's economy is in such bad shape, slashing the state's revenues.

Schwarzenegger detailed a long list of spending cuts and other efforts bringing the state's budgetinto balance, at least temporarily, including:

Local governments, also under financial strain, have vowed to challenge in court the state's planto seize their funds.

28. Governor "Terminator" Kills AIDS

ProgramAIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the US` largest AIDS organization as well as the operator of California`s largest alternative HIV testing program, today condemned Governor Schwarzenegger`s gutting of California`s lifesaving HIV/AIDS programs as he approves a

budget plan that includes millions of dollars worth of cuts to the state`s HIV/AIDS education, prevention, counseling & testing, housing and treatment services.

Today`s cuts to HIV/AIDS programs include: an 80% reduction in funding for Education &Prevention, a 70% cut in HIV Counseling and Testing, a 50% cut for Early Intervention (that

provides primary medical care), a 100% cut in Therapeutic Monitoring Program (the programthat monitors the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS drugs administered through the state`s AIDS DrugAssistance Program), a 20% cut in Housing and more than a 50% cut in funding for Home andCommunity-Based Care.

"With a single stroke of his blue pencil, Governor Schwarzenegger has terminated the state`sAIDS programs and, along with it, the lives of some of the state`s most vulnerable citizens," saidMichael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "The Governor`s heartless act isnot only deadly, but guaranteed to cost California taxpayers millions more in the future. WithHIV testing programs sidelined and the state`s ability to prevent new infections stymied, newinfections in California will increase-each new infection can mean up to $600,000 dollars inlifetime health care costs. A 100% cut to the Therapeutic Monitoring Program is the definition of

penny-wise and pound-foolish-with the ability to monitor the effectiveness of lifesaving AIDSdrugs hampered, the state`s already cash-strapped AIDS Drug Assistance Program will only endup spending more for drugs."

"Governor Schwarzenegger`s unilateral decision to essentially dismantle the state`s lifesavingHIV/AIDS programs will cost lives, endanger the public`s health, and constitutes negligence,"said Whitney Engeran-Cordova, Director of AHF`s Public Health Division. "The state`s abilityto identify people living with HIV is now severely crippled-creating an enormous obstacle to the


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prevention of new infections and linking those who need it to treatment. Not only will theGovernor`s callous funding cuts devastate those living with HIV/AIDS who rely on the servicesthe state provides to stay alive and healthy, but today`s cuts also pose a serious threat to our shared responsibility to combat the spread of HIV in California."

29. Burger King Corp. Named One of "40Best Companies for Diversity" by Black Enterprise Magazine

Black Enterprise magazine has named Burger King Corp. (NYSE:BKC) one of the "40Best Companies for Diversity" in the publication`s 5th Annual Diversity Report.BKC was included in the prestigious listing for the second consecutive year for demonstrating strength in the diversity of its employee and supplier base.

Burger King Corp. has built its inclusion efforts around a four-pillar strategyled by the executive team that encompasses its workforce, community, guests andoperators/suppliers. The company is dedicated to recruiting, retaining anddeveloping its employees from diverse backgrounds, as well as creating aworkplace where everyone can thrive both personally and professionally. Inaddition, Burger King Corp. strives to create business opportunities in theBURGER KING system for qualified suppliers owned by women and minorities becausethey are an important driver of the brand`s success.

The "40 Best Companies for Diversity" list is included in the July 2009 editionof Black Enterprise and is a comprehensive analysis of the top 1,000

publicly-traded companies and 50 leading global companies with U.S. operations.

ABOUT BLACK ENTERPRISE

BLACK ENTERPRISE (BE), your ultimate source for wealth creation, is the premier business, investing, and wealth-building resource for African Americans. Since1970, BE has provided essential business information and advice to

professionals, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and decision makers. Everymonth, Black Enterprise magazine provides 4.3 million readers with informationon entrepreneurship, careers, and financial management. A multimedia company, BEalso produces radio and television programming, business and lifestyle events,Web content, and digital media. Black Enterprise is the definitive source of

information for and about African American business markets and leaders, and theauthority on black business news and trends.

ABOUT BURGER KING CORPORATION

The BURGER KING system operates more than 11,800 restaurants in all 50 statesand in 74 countries and U.S. territories worldwide. Approximately 90 percent of BURGER KING restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees, many


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of them family-owned operations that have been in business for decades. In 2008,Fortune magazine ranked Burger King Corp. among America's 1,000 largestcorporations and Ad Week named it one of the top three industry-changingadvertisers within the last three decades. Through its BK Positive StepsSMcorporate responsibility program, the BURGER KING system is committed to being a

socially responsible brand in all areas of its business - food, people, theenvironment and corporate governance.

30. Dalai Lama says capitalism can learnfrom Buddhism

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama may not be the first person who comes to mind for business advice but, as the Buddhist monk wrote in his new book, capitalism can profit fromBuddhism's principles and values.

In "The Leader's Way," published this month by Broadway Books, the spiritual leader of Tibetwrote that both business and Buddhism attach importance to happiness and making the rightdecisions, and a company without "happy employees, customers and shareholders will ultimatelyfail."

Citing Buddhist basics such as good intentions, a calm mind free of negative thoughts and arealization that nothing is permanent, the Dalai Lama and co-author Laurens van denMuyzenberg tackle timely issues such as corporate compensation, malfeasance and the collapseof the subprime mortgage market.

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since fleeing a failed uprising against Chinese rule in1959. He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize.

Inclined toward socialism, the Dalai Lama wrote that his understanding of communism camethrough meetings with the late Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung. His admiration of Mao ended, hesaid, when Mao compared religion to "a poison."

AN "UNLIKELY PAIRING"

The book, subtitled "The Art of Making the Right Decisions in Our Careers, Our Companies,and the World at Large," emerged out of meetings between van den Muyzenberg, aninternational management consultant, and the Dalai Lama from 1991 to 2000.

31. Genpact to bid for UID project

Indias largest business process outsourcing (BPO) firm, Genpact, plans to bid for the uniongovernments Unique Identity (UID) project and is likely to enter a tie-up with IT players whocan work on the hardware aspect.

Other than the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) segment, government is a keysector for Genpact in India. We will be focused more on the process optimisation aspect than onthe IT. But since there is a small aspect of hardware involved in the government deals, we think


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we are capable of handling this, as well as get into tieups if required, said Harpreet Duggal,Senior Vice President and Business Leader India, Genpact.

The NYSE-listed BPO forayed into the domestic market nine months ago and has already signed

four customers from the banking and finance and travel segments. The company is in the finalstages of signing three to four deals. It serves customers from its centres in Jaipur and Hyderabadand has plans to further expand into tier-II cities.

As a part of its strategy to expand in the domestic market, Duggal said the company willintroduce its international learning to the market and the operations would also be different fromits international operations. In total, we have 1,000 people working on the domestic market. Thisincludes the sales and marketing. But we will leverage our talent base for winning market share inIndia, said Duggal.

32. India launches its first indigenousnuclear submarine

India today achieved a historic naval milestone with the induction of its first indigenous nuclear- powered submarine INS Arihant, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that thecountry had no aggressive designs but had to take all measures to safeguard itself.On the occasion, the prime minister said: The government is fully committed to ensuring thedefence of our national interest and the protection of our territorial integrity. As part of this, thegovernment will continue to render all support to the constant modernisation of the ArmedForces. With todays induction, India has become the sixth country after the US, Russia, France,

the UK and China to possess anuclear-powered submarine.With this, India also announced the completion of its nuclear triad, the capability to launchnuclear-tipped missiles from land, water and sea.The sea is increasingly becoming relevant in the context of Indias security interests and wemust re-adjust our military preparedness to this changing environment, and our Navy has a hugeresponsibility in this regard, he added.INS Arihant is a ballistic missile submarine armed with 12 K-15 missiles, each capable of carrying a 500-kg nuclear warhead, having a range of 750-km.

33. Social networking sites lead in

redefining entertainmentKailash Kher is one happy man. The popular singer has four million users of www.ibibo.comhooked on to his song Na Batati Tu .

They karaoke to Khers track straight from their mobile phones over ibibos proprietary voice platform and even upload it to the social networking site (SNS). Kher is amazed by the hundredsof karaoke uploads driven by his track. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that people


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will be singing my songs in their voice through a mobile, says Kher.

According to ViziSense, an online audience measurement and analytics platform, from the 49million internet subscribers, social networking, photo and video sharing sites draw over 50 per

cent of the Indian internet audience.

Sanujeet Bhujabal, marketing director, Sony Music, says that websites such as Yahoo IndiaMovies and Rediff Movies have a different ambience when compared to an SNS. The scope of innovation, execution and interaction on an SNS is wider primarily because the features on thesesites allow better integration of content, he says.

Indian networking sites such as BigAdda have been quick to tie up with Channel V for their popular reality music show LaunchPad. International networking portal MySpace too haslaunched a separate digital platform called Music Central that allows artists to take their work to awider audience. As a result, BigAddas LaunchPad page has over 20,000 members and over 115

videos of various bands participating in the show. We are delighted to provide a platform whichgets artists recognition and helps them in furthering their career, says Mandar Natekar, head of revenue and marketing, BigAdda.com .

.

34. IIM-A grads set to enhance e-learning

Education seems to be turning out a favourite among graduates of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). After the likes of Educomp and CEON Solutions, which were founded byIIM alumni, couple of IIM-A graduates are planning to offer real interactive elearning tools for colleges using multimedia simulations and animations, through their company Edukite Learning.

The companys founders, Vineet Ladia and Aravind Venkatraman, who had so far been offeringreal interactive e-learning tools to South African schools, are launching the product in India for the first time.

"Unlike existing players in the e-learning segment, we have made our software more interactive by leveraging the digital medium. Using animations, simulations, virtual experiments andeducational games, we enable students and teachers to convert mere multimedia simulations intoreal class-room activity they can experience the content they are studying and get a hands-onunderstanding of the concepts. While the product is being launched for schools for the first timein India, we are developing a similar product for campuses," says Vineet Ladia, director, EdukiteLearning.

While Ladia rules out such a product for Bschools, he says that the tool is being developed for subjects mostly in the science stream. Edukite also plans to include television based education

programmes using animation technology for reaching a wider audience of teachers and students.

Ladia feels the current products available for e-learning tools are more of video medium and


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hardly carry any interactivity for students and teachers alike. "Our aim is to enhance the studentsunderstanding of advanced concepts, and also bolster their knowledge of fundamental principles.There are very few companies across the globe who actually have both design and programmingtalent inhouse which enables them to build hands-on activities and experiments. And there is no

better way to learn than to do it yourself and then figure out things," he further adds.

Edukite Learning is in talks with prospective partners in Egypt, Turkey and Russia for variouseducation related projects. The company currently has a very strong base in South Africa and isworking on numerous government projects.

35. Leeds to set up first Indian campus inBhopal

The UK-based Leeds Metropolitan University is setting up its first international campus inBhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The campus, being set up in association with JSWS, a non-profit

making registered society in Bhopal which operates educational institutions, is the institutionssole destination in South-East Asia.

All students will get at least one semester of study time in the UK at Leeds MetropolitanUniversity. In case of the international hospitality business management course, which is a four-year course, students will be studying two years on the India campus after which they will begoing for paid placement of one year where they will have an opportunity to earn up to 10,000-15,000 to the UK and then study at the university in UK for one year.

The course fee for all the courses except International hospitality business management is Rs 8lakh. The international hospitality business management course fee is over Rs 10 lakh. All the

courses will have 30 seats each. The admission criterion for these courses is 60 per cent overall in10+2 and 60 per cent in English language.

Clement believes that India with its huge population in the age group of 18-25 years has a vast potential. With the higher education gross enrolment ratio at about 12.5 per cent there is a needfor growth in the infrastructure of the education industry. The growth expected in the next fewyears is very high and would certainly attract international players.

36. Bollywood stars less than animated inad world

ANIMATION and advertising, separated at birth, seem to be pairing up to create an all-consuming onscreen culture. The animated model is fast replacing celebrities on the endorsementcircuit. These blown-up characters are now selling everything from cell phones and fizzydrinks to cough lozenges and air-fresheners.

Companies like Vodafone, Virgin Mobile, Reliance Communications, Coca-Cola and ReckittBenckiser are using animation-based advertising to come through the clutter of celebrity overkill,


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make cost-effective ads and, in some cases, rejuvenate brands. Coca-Cola is set to kick off acampaign for its lemon drink Limca starring animated characters, despite having popular modelSushma Reddy as the brands face. Vodafones series of ads using the eggshell ZooZoos pushedthe whos who of Bollywood Alisters, including Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and VidyaBalan, promoting rival Bharti Airtel out of the spotlight.

ZooZoo became an overnight sensation during the Indian Premier League this summer. All 27ZooZoo commercials were aired back-to-back on 15 channels recently. The aim was to push the boundaries and create benchmarks of disruptive communication, said Ajit Varghese, MD of Maxus, Vodafones media buying agency.

Virgin Mobile chose animation characters Pebbleheads to popularise its brand late last year.Reckitt Benckiser is using Mrs Raccoon for Air Wick air-fresheners and Mr T for Strepsils throatlozenges. Pebbleheads commercials made their debut with a 50-paisa offer late last year. ThePebble World breaks the shackles which normal creatives could get confined to. It also helps usspin youthrelevant stories, says Virgin Mobile chief marketing officer Prasad Narasimhan.

Coca-Colas 3D animation campaign for Limca, to rollout on August 1 across all media, willsee the company entering the full-fledged animation space for the first time. Animation gives us

a lot of possibilities that real life commercials dont and research tells us animation now appealsto people across ages, says Coca-Cola India general manager, marketing (flavours), SrinivasMurthy. The beverage maker, which has the likes of Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar and ShahRukh Khan as endorsers for various brands, says it is open to experimenting with animatedcharacters in the future, too.

37. Ess Dee Aluminium may buy Italian co

ESS DEE Aluminium, a leading provider of packaging solutions, is in advanced talks to buy

Comital, an Italian firm almost five times its size, for $125-150 million. A deal will help Ess DeeAluminium expand its presence in the consumer packaging business and ramp up globaloperations. We have been looking overseas for acquisition opportunities. But I have nocomments to make on any specific transaction, said Sudip Dutta, CMD of Ess Dee Aluminium.Mr Dutta owns close to 60% of the publicly listed firm, which provides packaging solutions for drugmakers and food industry.

Comital is majority owned by Milan stock exchange-listed investment group Management &Capitali. Comital group had revenues of $403 million for the year ended December 2008. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the banker facilitating the transaction.

The Italian acquisition will give Ess Dee a significant presence in Europe. Almost twothirds of the revenues of Comital comes from the Italian market, with the rest of Europe

accounting for another third. Comital could also help the Indian firm expand into consumer packaging business.

38. Mahindra Satyam loses Railways techcontract


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INDIAN Railways has cancelled a locomotive management system (LMS) contract awarded toSatyam Computer Services (now Mahindra Satyam) in January this year, after the companyfailed to meet the deadline for submitting required financial details and start working on the pilot

project.After non-delivery of the pilot, we served a notice around one-and-a-half months ago, a

senior railways official told ET. He requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak with media about vendors and contracts. While the value of the LMS contract is less than Rs 100crore, it could help vendors chase similar contracts worth up to Rs 3,000 crore more effectively.Apart from Mahindra Satyam, rivals, TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL are all aggressively biddingfor these contracts.

We have already received three applications, including from Wipro, after we issued a newtender for the same project, he added. Railways has now invited other vendors including Wiproto bid for the project.

Mahindra Satyam had emerged as the lowest bidder for the first in a series of outsourcingcontracts worth almost Rs 2,000 crore to be awarded by Indian Railways in January earlier thisyear.

When contacted, a Mahindra Satyam spokesman said his company could not produce theaudited financial statements for past three years, which led to the cancellation of the contract.

39. ATC in race to buy Aircel towers

NASDAQ-listed American Towers (ATC) is set to join the race to buy out telecom companyAircels 12,000 plus towers. ATC will join the Tata-Quippo combine and a clutch of privateequity players who are set to place bids for Aircels towers, an industry executive tracking thedevelopment told ET.

Aircel has set July 24 (Friday) as the deadline for all potential bidders to respond to its

information memorandum, following which the telco will shortlist potential bidders, and the process is expected to take over six months, this industry executive added.

Contradicting their views, another industry executive with a tower company said thatvaluations had fallen further since the Tata-Quippo merger in December 2008, while adding thatAircel was likely to get only about Rs 50 lakh per tower at current rates. When contacted, ATCsaid that the company does not comment on speculations.

Aircel is the only telco amongst large operators that has not hived off its towers into a separateentity. Towers are critical physical infrastructure that transmits voice and data signals to mobileusers. All large telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, RelianceCommunications and Idea cellular, have demerged their towers and other physical infrastructureinto separate companies.

40. Sony makes $50-m bid for MJsrehearsal video


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SONY Pictures has offered a whopping $50 million to Michael Jacksons concert promotersAEG for the global distribution rights to a film that they are planning to make based on thesingers last rehearsal footage. The director and choreographer of Jacksons comeback showsThis Is It, Kenny Ortega, has been in talks with a number of Hollywood studios to make a filmon the final days of Jackson.

Sony Pictures plans to produce the feature-length documentary chronicling the final days of King of Pop in partnership with AEG Live and Jacksons estate. The concert organisers ownsover 80 hours of Jackson footage, shot as he prepared for his concerts at Londons O2 Arena andthree videos Jackson had shot that were going to run during the concerts, including an alternateversion of the pop icons now classic Thrillervideo. AEG is reportedly hoping to get back the$30 million they spent setting up the comeback shows through the deal. Other rival studios suchas Universal, Fox, Warner Bros and Paramount Pictures are also bidding for distribution rights.

41. Sun Pharma arm faces class actionsuit in US

CARACO Pharmaceuticals, the US arm of Sun Pharma, has been slapped with a class action suitin the United States for allegedly failing to disclose adequate information about US regulatoryaction that hurt its shares, rendering Indias most valuable drugmaker vulnerable to the prospectof hefty payouts as damages.

US-based law firm Izard filed the case on behalf of some of Caracos shareholders in aMichigan court on July 17. The law firm has also asked other shareholders, who bought Caracoshares between May 2008 and June 2009, to join the litigation.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started inspections at Caracos Michigan plant inMay 2008 and issued Form 483, a special form that points out deviations during inspections fromstandard US manufacturing practice.

The developments saw the Caraco stock plunge to $2.39 last month from about $10 in Maylast year. Sales in the US, the worlds largest drug market, account for a third of Sun Pharmastotal annual sales of Rs 4,272 crore. Its shares too took a beating here too, falling 12% on June 26on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). If this is not handled properly, it can potentiallysnowball into a major problem for Sun Pharma, said a top industry executive who asked not to

be named. An email sent to Caraco on Tuesday evening did not elicit any response.

42. Lauda believes Schumacher's returnwill boost F1

LONDON: Former world champion Niki Lauda believes Michael Schumacher's shock return to

Formula One will help revitalise the sport .

Schumacher revealed on Wednesday that Ferrari had persuaded him to come out of retirement toreplace Brazilian Felipe Massa, who suffered severe injuries during a crash in Hungary lastweekend.
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The 40-year-old German quit F1 in 2006 after a glorious career which included seven worldtitles, two with Benetton and five with Ferrari , and a total of 91 race victories.

Schumacher is widely regarded as the sport's greatest champion and Lauda, who won three world

titles, hopes his comeback will take attention away from the political rows that have dragged F1through the gutter in recent months.

Lauda, 60, said: "Michael's return is great news. He will be the saviour of Formula One after what we've gone through this year with all the politics. Then we had BMW pulling out withHonda having gone.

"Schumacher coming back is the best thing to happen to F1. And he will still be quick and still be competitive even though he has not raced since 2006. He is just too good not to make animpact on his return."

The Austrian, who came back after a five-year retirement to win his third title in 1984, told TheSun newspaper: "Michael is aware of the dangers. He is a clever guy and a grown-up man.

43. India launches its first indigenousnuclear submarine

Prime minister says the country has no aggressive designs

India today achieved a historic naval milestone with the induction of its first indigenous nuclear-

powered submarine INS Arihant, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that thecountry had no aggressive designs but had to take all measures to safeguard itself.

On the occasion, the prime minister said: The government is fully committed to ensuring thedefence of our national interest and the protection of our territorial integrity. As part of this, thegovernment will continue to render all support to the constant modernisation of the ArmedForces. With todays induction, India has become the sixth country after the US, Russia, France,the UK and China to possess anuclear-powered submarine.

INS Arihant is a ballistic missile submarine armed with 12 K-15 missiles, each capable of carrying a 500-kg nuclear warhead, having a range of 750-km.

44. RCom bags Rs 10k-cr Etisalat deal

RELIANCE Communications (RCom) has bagged a 10-year, Rs 10,000-crore passiveinfrastructure sharing deal from new operator Etisalat DB, earlier known as Swan Telecom.
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RCom will provide end-to-end tower and transmission infrastructure to Etisalat DB in the 15circles, where it has spectrum to offer cellular services.

Reliance Infratel, the companys tower arm, will provide passive infrastructure, while RComwill meet Etisalat DBs transmission infrastructure requirements. Passive infrastructure includestower space for mounting antennas, shelter, air-conditioner, earthing and battery bank.

Transmission infrastructure refers to connectivity from customer premises to sites, bandwidth toconnect core network and carriage on bulk basis. For Etisalat, this agreement presents large costoptimisation benefits with an asset-light model. For us, it will improve capital productivity andenhance our revenues by Rs 10,000 crore, Inder Bajaj, who heads the Infratel business, told ET.RCom will host Etisalat on 30,000 sites, which will be handed over to the telco in the next 18months. We are also in talks with existing and new operators for similar infrastructure sharingdeals, he added.

This win-win agreement demonstrates Reliance Communications capabilities to enable theoperators to go-tomarket with a bouquet of telecom infrastructure services, RCom chairmanAnil Ambani said in a statement in Mumbai on Wednesday. Etisalat chairman MohammadHassan Omran said: As a new entrant in this dynamic market, this alliance provides us with

strategic advantages that will ensure a robust, speed to market and cost-effective rollout of services. Strategic alliances are an integral part of our plans for growth and the Etisalat Groupwill always be receptive to such alliances, which help enhance the customer experience.

Typically, rent for a telecom tower ranges from Rs 24,000 to Rs 40,000 depending on thelocation, whether the tower is ground-based or roof-based and the number of tenants. RCom hasan average of 1.6 tenants on its 50,000 towers across India. Many of its towers are hosting bothCDMA as well as GSM infrastructure, while some cater to only one of the two services. Newoperators are increasingly outsourcing their infrastructure, call centre services and ITrequirements to cut down on capex and time-to-market.

45. Cos flash brands to raise cash

Mallya Joins Growing List Of Owners Pledging Brands, To Raise Rs 2k Cr BEER-TO-AIRLINE tycoon Vijay Mallya knows the value of brands. And hes pretty good at convincingeven the most traditional of bankers that brands have value and worth.

Recently, the audacious 55-year-old chairman of the UB Group convinced conservative,government-owned State Bank of India (SBI) to accept the Kingfisher airline brand registeredseparately from its beer and wine brands as collateral to raise Rs 2,000 crore in debt. Its notthat others havent monetised brands to raise cash. They have. But what others havent managedto do is to convince public sector banks to accept brands as collateral.

Earlier, only private sector banks were lending against intangibles, and that too selectivelyand only as a top-up to other collateral. But with transactions involving brands and intellectual

property becoming commonplace, even public sector banks seem to be getting comfortable,

says Sanjeev Agarwal of audit and consulting firm Ernst & Young.In an environment where credit is relatively scarce and lenders cautious, companies like

Kingfisher are recognising the value hidden in intangible assets such as intellectual property, brands and customer relationships. Which perhaps explains why such assets have begun to playan increasingly significant role in capital raising and bank lending.


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46. Kingfisher airline brand worth Rs1,900 cr

SOMETIME ago, New Delhi-based LT Foods (earlier called LT Overseas) used its

Daawat brand of packaged rice as collateral to raise debt for its $50 million (Rs 200crore) acquisition of US-based rice firm Kusha Inc.Mr Agarwal says that in the past six months he has been part of similar deals

involving as many as five-six companies and as many brands. He did not disclose anydetails, citing client confidentiality.

Globally, many companies have used their brands value to open lines of credit.Perhaps the most famous example is Walt Disney, which did so in 1988 in theJapanese market to raise as much as $725 million.

Mr Mallyas UB Group itself has leveraged brands to raise funds for recentacquisitions. The groups liquor business United Spirits offered some of itsleading whiskies like Bagpiper and a few Whyte & Mackay brands as collateral to

raise over Rs 6,000 crore from institutions such as ICICI Bank.Other Indian companies, ranging from a leading Mumbai-based retailer to anAhmedabad-based apparel maker have in the past pledged their brands to banks.

While lending against tangible, visible assets such as capital, land, buildings andfactories is the norm, increasingly borrowers and lenders are coming around to theview that value needs to be unlocked from intangibles too.

For one, intangibles hold an over twothirds share of enterprise value for Indiancompanies, according to a two-year old global study on intangible assets by theLondon-based Brand Finance Institute. Moreover, the fact that many businesses haveexhausted all sources of tangible assets for raising debt means India Inc will have tolook at structuring capital deals around intangibles like brands.

In the case of Kingfisher Airlines it is registered as a separate brand with thetrademark office, distinct from beer and wine the move to value the airline brandseparately was initiated early last year when the company initiated talks with privateequity funds to raise $400 million.

The brands worth, estimated at around Rs 1,900-crore, has been included in the balance sheet, boosting the airlines valuation, pegged at over $1.1-billion.

47. RANBAXY LOGS 30-FOLD RISE IN Q2PROFIT

RANBAXY Laboratories on Friday stuck to its forecast of a $150 million (about Rs 725 crore)loss for the fiscal year, despite posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings boosted by heftyforex gains.

The firm, Indias biggest drugmaker by sales, said earnings in the remaining two quarterswould remain hostage to the effects of rupee-dollar fluctuations, but said it was hopeful of resolving its regulatory troubles in the US soon. Ranbaxys results have been weighed down inthe last three quarters by forex losses and a US ban on some products.


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Now majority owned by Japans Daiichi Sankyo, Ranbaxy reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 693 crore for the second quarter to June 30 its first after three consecutive quarterly losses.In the same quarter last year, the company had posted a consolidated profit of Rs 23 crore.

During the quarter, it posted a mark-to-market foreign exchange gain of Rs 807 crore, whichenabled it to write off most of its Rs 918-crore loss incurred in the preceding quarter.

48. Celeb Endorsement Quotient

THEY are the prized brand ambassadors that companies chase after. From cars to chewing gum,they have sold it all. Shahrukh Khan, arguably the undisputed king of Bollywood, perhaps doesnot drive a Hyundai i10. But then, he has helped the South Korean carmaker sell many more carsthan it could possibly have on its own.

Likewise MS Dhoni, the skipper of the Indian cricket team, helps sportswear company Reebok sell shoes. At the same time, he has his hands full selling PSPO fans, endorsing the Pepsi brand,

and posing for many other nonplussed companies trying hard to break through the advertisingclutter.

But is Dhoni the highest paid brand endorser? Or is it Shahrukh Khan who has earned at leastfour times as much from brand endorsements as he earned from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, his onlyrelease in 2008? And endorsement fee apart, who is the endorser who helps companies sell themost? Is it Aamir Khan whose ads for Samsung helped the Korean electronics giant increase itsshare in the domestic cell phone market? Or is it Sachin Tendulkar who helped Boost become ahousehold name?

Well, getting to the bottom of these questions to find out who are our top individuals as brandswasnt easy. So we did three things. We analysed the endorsement pattern of all our topendorsers, how many brands do they endorse, how much money do they generate and what have

you. Then we tracked down the popularity of these celebrities on the internet based on thenumber of hits and searches they get on google. And finally, we got global market research firm,Synovate to formulate a methodology that dug deep into the mind of the consumer.

The result was the incisive SundayETSynovate individual-as-a-brand survey, which reachedout to around 400 SEC-A respondents from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata andHyderabad. The survey looked to answer, among many others, a question that haunts marketers,

brand experts and of course, celebrity watchers: who is the most powerful individual- as a brandtoday?

The answers that came up turned quite a few common perceptions on their head.

Bias & perception

BUT it wasnt only the overall outcome that is interesting. Put another way: the bias and perceptions across different cities were conspicuous throughout the survey. For instance, when itcame to the astronomical remuneration of brand endorsers, 95% of respondents from Chennaifelt that it isnt justified.

But Delhi, which showed a tinge of soft spot for wealth related questions throughout,

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