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Two Indians did it: Indians are always tried to prove them that they are best in every field. Like in cricket our batsmen are at the top in the world, similarly in financial department. Remember Dheeru Bhai Ambani, one of the successful business persons. He is also from India. Now, his son Mukesh Ambani continues his success story. He has become eighth richest person according to Forbes. Not only he, but also another Indian who listed out in Forbes list is Lakshmi Mittal. He is considered as the steel-man of India. These two Indians made it possible to entry into Forbes list of ‘World’s Most Powerful Billionaires’. These Indians richest person ranks eight and thirteenth position respectively.

Mukesh Ambani: Continues his father’s business Anil and Mukesh Ambani controls the oil and gas industry named Reliance. It is the India’s biggest independent company with market value more than $73 billion which also active in some other business like Reliance fresh and Reliance mobile. Mukesh Ambani, first noted by Forbes in 2002 when inherited his father’s empire with his brother Anil Ambani. At that time they were jointly handle the energy as well as telecom companies. But earlier because of the battled over power between them, they divided the assets and the Dheeru Bhai’s empire got divided. Mukesh takes control of the energy entities and Anil manage banking and telecom industries. The great achievements have been acknowledged by Mukesh Ambani at national and International levels over the years are:

1. Accorded the ‘Indian Corporate Citizen of the Year’ by the India Leadership conclave in 2009.

2. Accorded the US-India Business Council (USIBC) ‘Global Vision’ 2007 Award for Leadership in 2007.

3. Accorded ‘ET Business Leader of the Year’ Award by The Economic Times (India) in the year 2006.

4. Accorded the Degree Honoris Causa, Honorary Doctorate by the Maharaja Sayajirao University in 2007.

5. Accorded the India Business Leadership Award by CNBC-TV18 in 2007.

6. He also received the first NDTV-Profit ‘Global Indian Leader Award’ from Prime Minister of India, Shri Manmohan Singh in New Delhi in the year 2006.

7. Had the distinction and honor of being the Co-chair at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2006.

8. Ranked 42nd among the ‘World’s Most Respected Business Leaders’ and second among the four Indian CEOs featured in a survey conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and published in Financial Times, London, in 2004.

9. Accorded the World Communication Award for the ‘Most Influential Person’ in Telecommunications by Total Telecom, in 2004.

10. Accorded the ‘Asia Society Leadership Award’ by the Asia Society, Washington D.C., USA, in 2004.

Lakshmi Mittal: Fellow countryman of the Mukesh Ambani in Forbes is second wealthiest person of India with market value $30 billion. It is none other than Lakshmi Mittal. He is the owner of ArcelorMittal which is the largest steel maker of the world and currently rank at number 13 in the Forbes list. He is operating in near about 60 countries and has market value of $65 billion. Lakshmi Mittal adopted his family business of steel in the 1970s. He broke out on his own in 1994 and is now planning joint iron venture in Liberia and Guinea with miner BHP Billiton, it noted. He bought 12-bedroom mansion in Kensington worth Rs $100 million in 2004. It was the most expensive home at that time in London. The great achievements have been acknowledged by Lakshmi Mittal at national and International levels over the years are:

2008: Padma Vibhushan

2007: Bessemer Gold Medal

2006: Person of the Year - (Financial Times)

2004: European Businessman of the Year - Fortune magazine

1998: Willy Korf Steel Vision Award - American Metal Market and PaineWeber’s World Steel Dynamics

1996: Steelmaker of the Year - New Steel

Another Forbes list personality: Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy and ranks second on Forbes list.

Saad Hariri who was appointed as prime minister of Lebanon ranks fifth.

Billionaire Sebastian Pinera is ranked 15^th on the list. He won Chile’s presidential election by defeating Eduardo Frei in a runoff vote.

Apple’s Steve Jobs ranks as the 18th most powerful billionaire in the world.

Falling Billionaires: Those billionaires who were falling from the ranks this year include Oprah Winfrey, Roman Abramovich and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud.

Nissan introduces 370Z coupe in India: Nissan Motor India Private Ltd (NMIPL) who is aiming to introduce nine-models in India by 2012 has launched its iconic sports car –Nissan 370Z on Wednesday January 20, 2010. According to CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama of Nissan Motor India Private Ltd, the launch of Nissan 370Z is a great excitement for all of us. Our motive is to provide all the comforts to our Indian customers and we are delighted that we are succeeded in that with our combined efforts. The breath-taking performance, seductive designing, latest technology and at effective price of Nissan 370Z enables the country to live fast.

Features of Nissan 370Z: It includes a front aluminum sub frame, an all-aluminum hood, aluminum door panels, aluminum-alloy engine cradle, and an aluminum hatch. The harshness of the body is provided by an extensive body structure including front suspension cradle. This helps to reduce front body lateral bending. It also include “V-bar” to reduce rear lateral bending. Along with all this, it also includes carbon fiber composite radiator housing and strengthening of the rear fender.

1. Eye catching beauty: Nissan 370Z is famous across the world for its styling and eye catching beauty. The design of the car has been designed to give optimum performance while driving.  The unique and fabulous features of 370Z offer a person to spend a pleasure time while riding in the car.

2. Exterior Design: The dynamic styling of the car offers dual benefits to its riders. It provides aggressive appearance and a lighter, compact structure for enhanced performance. The design features of 370Z include long nose, canopy cockpit, muscular fenders; vertical door handles, and is a more wheel-oriented.

3. Interiors design: The interior style of the car is so designed that makes car and drive feel like one. The internal design of the ‘Everyday Sports Car’ offer high levels of comfort and utility. The car has come with 2-seat layout built around a deeply scooped instrument panel with a full-length center console separating the driver and passenger’s seat having open cargo area with enhanced storage and accessibility.

4. Driving performance: Nissan 370Z is powered by a standard 333 PS and 363 Nm Torque, VQ37VHR 3.7 L DOHC (Double Overhead Camshaft) V6 engine with Variable Valve Event and Lift Control (VVEL). The VQ series of Nissan engine is known for its unprecedented balance of better response, better fuel efficiency, better torque, and cleaner emissions. Double Overhead Camshaft features of Nissan makes the engine run more smoothly, quietly, and efficiently.

5. Safety: Nissan Motor India Private Ltd ensures safety of the people. The different features of Nissan 370Z includes front seat-mounted side impact supplemental air bags; the Nissan Advanced Air Bag System (AABS), roof-mounted side-impact air bags; Active Head Restraints, seat belts with load limiters, Zone Body Construction with front and rear crumple zones, Nissan Vehicle Immobilizer System and Vehicle Security System.

6. Variants of 370Z: Nissan 370Z comes in eight attractive colors with two interior leather color options (Persimmon Orange and Black) available in both Manual and Automatic Transmissions.

7. Price: The Nissan 370Z 6-speed M/T with Synchro Rev Match is priced at Rs 53.50 lakhs and Nissan 370Z 7-speed A/T with Manual Shift Mode is priced at Rs. 54.50 lakhs.

Structure: The operation layer of the 370Z includes the steering wheel, switchgear and shifter. Also the driver seat of the car is different from the seat of passenger. It includes lower seat cushion which are cut-out in the sides that allow the driver to push on the pedals without the seat fighting them. The armrests on the door have been designed to provide extra support. With all these features, the 370Z is also equipped with other interior comfort and convenience features like Nissan Intelligent Key with Push Button Start, power door locks with auto-lock feature, power windows with one-touch auto up/down feature, a center console box with a new non-intrusive cover design, rear window defroster with timer, automatic climate control, two 12 volt power outlets, four cup holders (two in door panels, two in center console), dual overhead map lights and a AM/FM/CD/AUX 8-speaker BOSE audio system with illuminated steering wheel-mounted controls.

One mobile number forever, One mobile number for life: Google is progressing towards becoming the centre of our global communications and is about to launch its new version of grand central, Google Voice in the next few weeks. Google Voice will have raft of features and the good feature of previous version i.e. grand central are also included in it. At present Google is only sending the invitations for Google Voice and will take it into functioning soon. Google Voice will allow users to maintain one number for life time and maintain that number diverting it to any number that you may currently be using, home phone, work phone, mobile, hotel room etc. It has a lot of features that will grow exponential moving forward and will enhance existing capabilities of your phone number. With Google Voice, you can access your voicemail online, read automatic transcriptions of your voicemail, create personalized greetings based on who is calling and make cheap international calls. You can make phone calls check your emails from this number. You can centralize all of your contacts and store and recall messages convert messages to text. Integrating the web and your phone is also easier than ever. The features which are added to older version are transcripts, SMS, international calling, and conference calling.

Free of cost: The most important point which no one can neglect is that it’s free of cost from Google. Well it will not be launched in all countries now but we can hope that it will not take much longer time to launch it worldwide. If Google Voice is a success then this service will make Google centre of your communications system, effectively giving them control and data on everyone you communicate with on every channel giving them a multitude of ways of monetizing the system. Those people, who are already using Grand Central can upgrade it to the new Google Voice just by click the upgrade instructions at the top of their inbox to get started. Google Voice service will be more beneficial with the new number as it will provide many additional features such as letting you record customized greetings for each caller, switch phones in mid-call, listen in on voicemail while a caller leaves a message, and block unwanted callers; it also offers lifetime voicemail storage, access to voicemail via web, phone, or e-mail, and call announcement and handling.

It will launch soon: The basic idea behind providing this one number is although wireless number portability has taken some of the sting out of switching carriers but there are still some constraints with moving out of state and with landline home and office numbers tied to geographic regions. If you use Google Voice then you can give out a single phone number to all your friends and relatives and they can call you on your single number wherever you are. Hope to get it launched soon in India too.

Govt decides to release final installment of pay arrears: Good news for the government employees, as the festival season came; government has decided to release the final installment of pay arrears. Government has decided to release the last installment of salary arrears to the government employers on Tuesday August 25, 2009. This will put burden on exchequer of over Rs. 17, 500 crore. The first installment of 40% arrears was paid during fiscal. The decision to release the second installment is taken by finance ministry office. According to them the remaining arrears is paid out now to the concerned government employees of the government. Every employee of the particular government has be paid by their own government. However the date of payment is yet to decide. The estimated arrears that are calculated is near about 29, 373 crores. The decision of releasing arrears in two installments had been taken in last year of the month August. According to that, in future the pay out will be released in two installments. They decided to release the first pay outs in 40% and second in 60%.

Finance minister office memorandum: Finance minister office declared a memorandum which has to be accepted by the concerned government and they accepted that. According to this memorandum, the government employees are advised to deposit the arrears in their GPF account as in the case of first installment they did. This time too government should permit their employees to deposit amount in GPF account for their better saving for future. The employees who joined the government service after January1, 2004 will get the second installment only after it is assured that they have joined the new pension scheme. They have to first complete all the legal formalities of new pension scheme and after their clarification, they got the second arrears. The government had accepted the cabinet 6^th pay out commission with all the modification s and after that it is allowed to release the arrears second and final installment.

Pensioners will also get: A sigh of relief for those who are in not in government job now that is they left the job either these employees are retired from the government jobs or has taken VLS, in short all the  pensioners of the government department will also get their final installment of arrears. As the cabinet has approved the 6^th Pay Commission report with effect from January 1, 2006 with few modifications, Government has to be paid the remaining arrears which are 60 % of the total. The government employees are happy to know this that they will get the final installment of the arrears as the festival season came and they will celebrate the festivals at their best now because of this declaration.

Indian currency template: In these days, the news of fake Indian currency notes is very common. Everyday at least one case is get to hear that fake notes found here and there. Now what first thought come in mind is from where they get the print of Indian currency notes? Is it available so easily that any once can steal the print? Is the template of Indian currency is available with such an ease? Who is responsible for all this?

CBI admits secret Indian currency template compromised: Due to increase in cases of fake notes, CBI researched on it and admits that Indian secret currency template which is used to print Indian currency notes has been compromised. Due to which the possibilities of fake currency notes increases and which affects the economy of India. CBI announces a special team which includes detective and officials. These officials are from Reserve bank of India, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Central Forensic Science Laboratory. This team will find out that how and at what level the design of the template has been compromised. The director of CBI Ashwini Kumar said that the CBI team ha revealed that the template of Indian currency which is designed in 2005 has been compromised. When he was asked that still the same pattern or template was used for Indian currency notes, he replied positive responses on this. And his positive response poses a question on the compromised secret template for Indian currency notes.

Finance Minister Official report: According to an official of finance minister I don’t know how CBI has been able to reach to secret template design of the Indian currency notes. It is not an easy task to reach there. He shows his amazement that it is very surprising to hear this news that CBI has reached and not only this but also investigated on this matter. The officials of Finance Minister was shocked to know that CBI has reached to the secret design and investigated this all. Although the RBI has not yet confirmed that the template has been compromised. They still did not give any confirmation on the report of CBI but CBI has already made a team to know that at what level the design has been compromised. According to Harsh Bhal, “A secret team has been set up which clear this issue as soon as possible”.

H-1B visa demand ebbs as US recession bites: This year is not at all good in terms of jobs point of view. Due to US recession many countries are also affected especially those which are related to Information Technology (IT) field. This in turn affect H-1B visa. The demand of H-1B visa also decreased due to this recession. This is the first year, IT business hits the business since it grew in 2001. This year, fewer applicants are requested for this visa. This indicates that there is less demand of skilled workers in foreign countries. India is one of the countries who used this kind of visa for their employees. But this year due to recession in western market business is not going well; less IT business professionals deploy their employees to client’s offices overseas. H-1B is directly related to trade market and less use of it shows less business. Because the process of business is not gaining too much speed, it affects the H-1B visa demand rate.

H-1B visa: H-1B visa is a kind of visa for foreigners to visit in United States. It is an official code for the work permit which is used by employer to hire a skilled professional from foreign countries. To get this visa, employer has to apply in advance to get the visa according to their time suitability. But this year due to uncertainty in business fronts, every one has thought at least once. India’s highest ranking software companies like TCS, INFOSYS said that this years they also used less H-1B visa to deploy their employees. According to INFOSYS, this years the total cost of the visa cut down and come down to around 25 crore from 60 crore in the time period of April-June. TCS said it has sufficient visas. They don’t need more as less business less demand of applicants. After seeing all this TCS is going to plan to train their employees locally. Before this TCS used its US centers to train their locally recruited employees from engineering colleges.

USCIS report: Each year many employers deploy their employees to US on H-1B visa. They deploy their employees to get them proper training to improve their skills in particular filed. This year recession affects mostly to IT field employees as well as employers. Employers don’t want to pay much cost to send their employees to United States. Instead of this they plan to train their employees locally. According to a survey, The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had received 44,900 H-1B petition. They received this petition till August 7. According to Washington, there is short of 65,000 in annual quota.

                              Overall we can say that due to recession, IT field companies affected much and in turn H-1B visa demand ebbs. Hope everything will be fine very soon and once again IT field in India becomes in demand.

Tech Mahindra among top 5 IT companies: Nasscom: Nasscom presents its list in which there are some changes shown because of Satyam Computers crisis. The first three positions remain same; there is some change in last two positions. Satyam Computers remember, yes the same IT Company who had done billion dollar fraud in early 2009 year. Instead of it, Tech Mahindra is considered and it scored fifth position now. Tech Mahindra is a name that is most famous in India. It is that company who has taken over Satyam. This Company becomes parent company of Satyam. After take over on Satyam, Tech Mahindra comes in top 5 IT companies.

Nasscom ranking: When fraud of Satyam opened publically, Nasscom decided not to take this company in ranking list. They officially out the company from their ranking. Nasscom did not take the risk to take Satyam in the latest ranking. Instead of that Nasscom considered Tech Mahindra, the new parent company of Satyam. According to latest ranking of IT industry association Nasscom, Tech Mahindra occupied fifth position. HCL Tech grabs the fourth position which was the position of Satyam Computer last year. The parent company of Satyam was previously ranked at number six, but due to Satyam’s exit from the list, it occupies fifth position and in this way comes into top 5 IT firms of India. Now Tech Mahindra is in Nasscom ranking. The first three positions remain same that is first three positions are scored by TCS, Infosys and Wipro respectively. They are still country’s largest software exporter.

Satyam Computers is not in ranking: Satyam Computers is officially out from the league of India’s top software companies. Now Satyam Computers has been rebranded to Mahindra Satyam and it is not considered in the latest ranking because of its acquisition. This is the common reason known by everyone. Another reason is it is yet to release the full year audit result of the Satyam Computers. Satyam Computers fallen into crisis because of the fraud done by its ex chairman. This ex chairman is also the founder of Satyam Computers, B Ramalinga Raju.

Nasscom doesn’t include some Indian IT companies: The list of Nasscom only included those IT companies who have their head quarters in India and have share in India-centric revenue figures. The Nasscom includes companies like Infosys, TCS, and Wipro. It doesn’t include some corporate companies like HP, Accenture and many more. These companies are not considered in the list because they have their headquarters in outside India and also don’t have any share in India-centric revenue. The question arise here is had they been ranked according to India revenues? Or would these companies be appeared in the Nasscom ranking? Only Nasscom association will answer this and explain this. 

Government Decision All hopes of revival have ended for the closed sugar mills of Punjab. Badal led SAD-BJP alliance government has decided to sell the land of six closed sugar mills to the Punjab State Federation of Co-operative House Building Society for the construction of housing colonies instead of reviving these sick units. With it the dreams of thousands of employees and mill laborers of resumption of work have dashed. It must be learnt that former Co-operative minister late Captain Kanwaljeet Singh had dreamt of reviving the sick mills within the time frame of three months but his dreams too have been broken. Co-operative department has 15 sugar mills out of which, Faridkot, Jeera, Budhlada, Jagraon, Tarantaran and Rakhra based sugar mills have been closed for a long time because of government’s indifference. All the workers of these mills have been left jobless. Neither they have got their salaries for a long time nor have they been transferred to other governmental departments.

Allotment of Land In its 2007’s assembly elections manifesto the SAD-BJP alliance had promised to restart these closes mills. Late Captain Kanwaljeet Singh had promised to take immediate steps for the revitalization of these ill-mills. To keep his promise he had planned to establish electricity production units in these sugar mills to solve the financial problems of these mills. More than fifteen private companies had showed their interests in this new planning. An electricity production unite has already been established in Faridkot based sugar mill that was established in 1991. This unite produces the electricity worth two crore seventy lakh annually. But this mill, too, has been closed because state government has shown the deficit of seventy seven crore in the time of ten years. In spite of the planning of restarting production from these sick unites the state government has allotted the land of these mills to Housefed to construct big residential colonies. Faridkot based mill has 133 acres of land out of which 65 acres have been allotted to Housefed to construct residential colonies. Except it large chunks of land of the remaining five sick sugar units have also been allotted to construct residential colonies.

Economy of Punjab Except it the financial condition of the remaining sugar mills of Ajnala, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawan Shahar), Batala, Morinda, Fazilka, Bhogpur, Kharar, Budhewal and Gurdaspur is also not satisfactory. Farmers have lost their interest in the production of the sugarcane because of transportation problems. On the other hand state government, too, is indifferent towards this small scale industry. Because of it most of the sugar mills could run only for 50-70 days during the peak season this year Sugar department MD Vinod Kumar said that large parts of these sugar mills have been sold for the construction of residential colonies but his department is very serious to revive and revitalize these closed sugar mills. Punjab government’s decision of selling the sugar mills’s land indicates that at one hand it is indifferent towards the economic interests of the farmers and on the other hand it is non-serious for the industrialization of the state.  Punjab is an agricultural state and most of its industry is agricultural based. It is a border state so private sector has not showed much interest in investing here. We must not forget the Nandigram like incidents. If in future some hopes of new industry rise then the land of these closed mills could be transferred for establishment of new industry. But SAD-BJP government’s decision indicates that they are not honest towards the people of Punjab. 

Black Money Issue During the 15th Lok Sabha elections BJP leaders had raised the issue of black money that corrupt Indian millionaires, political leaders and police officials have deposited in the foreigner especially Swiss banks. They were saying that billions of black money will be brought back into the country and India will become world’s most prosperous country in a very short time span. But one question rises that corrupt industrialists and political leaders are the owners of this black money not the ordinary Indians and thus who will bring the black money back into the country and who will allow doing so. During the election time it was a perfect slogan to befool the people but now Congress led UPA government should seriously and honesty think about this problem so by bringing the black money back into the country the progressive works should be given a new impetus.

Reality In reality the term ‘black money’ is related with cash flow of the currency and only those people know how to use it properly who are the masters in this profession. Firstly black money is deposited in the foreigner countries or properties are bought in and out of the country with this money. Sometimes, people buy land or large farm houses in the names of their relatives which are usually bought in non-existent or bogus names. Whenever some officer or leader is caught red handed taking the bribe they usually decline about their ownership of some property etc. so properties are bought in non-existence names by the corrupt officers and leaders. There are many examples of it that corrupt leaders amassed a lot of property during their rule and they were blamed for corruption. They lost in the elections but after elections their children live the life of kings. CBI raids recovered documents of property that had been bought in non-existent names. Luxury cars were found but they say that their relatives are the owners of these items who are the god fearing people and daily goers to the Gurudwaras or temples. There are many examples when many high class government officials and police officers had collected crores of rupees though corrupt means for the satisfaction of their personal interests.

Corruption Definition United Nations Development Program has given a new definition to the increasing corruption of Asian countries according to which if some political leader or government officer misuses his power for his personal interests or accepts money or gifts as bribe then it can be called corruption. There is also another example of corruption: to earn money by abducting someone, acceptance of commission for doing some government works or earn by fraud. There is another way also. Sometimes people buy the government property in their own name by corrupt means. Then a large amount of money is taken from some bank by giving the guaranty of that property and that loan is never paid back. UNDP has said that a few people are becoming rich by the misuse of their position and by fearing the ordinary people. On the other hand poor are becoming poorer. Thus new investment and the progress rate of the country is adversely affected. There is an organization named Transparency International that keeps a hawk’s eye on the corruption of whole of the world. According to it no other country is as corrupt as is India. It has analyses the reports of 159 countries of the world and India is at number 12th as for as the corruption is concerned. Singapore and Hong Kong are very less corrupt countries. One striking fact is that when a country like Hong Kong can end the corruption then why India cannot do so? The main reason behind most of the world’s corruption is it that officials don’t get enough salaries to meet their daily needs. So they accept bribes. Indonesia is more corrupt country than India. Its government employees can meet only 7-10 days’ daily needs with their salaries. In Mongolia Magistrates don’t get more than one thousand rupees as their monthly salary and half of them don’t have homes to live. Philippines officers are also among the most corrupt people of the world.

NRI’s Politicians and high government officials of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab like Indian states earn crores of rupees by corrupt means and deposit that black money in Bangkok or Switzerland. Then that black money is transferred to other banks or countries. NRI’s (Non-Resident Indians) can buy property in India. In most cases these properties are bought in the names of NRI’s but in reality corrupt leaders and bureaucrats spend the money on these properties. Thus black money has started to return to India by this new method and is becoming the white property of corrupt leaders and bureaucrats. Now ordinary people have understood this fact that political leaders and corrupt bureaucrats are looting and grabbing country’s money and property by both hands.

Solution This problem can not be solved till the rise of strong will power in the political circles of the society. The present government should take the help of the Interpol to find out that which leader and bureaucrats has deposited his black money in which country and which bank. And that should be brought back to the country with the help of the governments of those countries. To stop the government officials and police officers from indulging into corruption, government should follow the American pattern. In America nobody’s job is secure and it keeps the fear of losing their jobs. As employees can be thrown out of system in the private sector by giving them three or six month’s prior notice, corrupt government officers should also be thrown out by giving them three or six month notice. This corrupt leaders and bureaucrats have started to take themselves as the rulers of the public instead of understanding themselves public servants. They earn and grab innumerable black money by forming this unholy relationship. If this practice is not put to an end then the economic progress of the country will get stopped.

Those who wish to buy new house, Realty giant DLF has some good offers of its new housing project at Gurgaon. It is a first of its kind move and the company has written to the people who had booked flats at its New Town Heights residential project, where construction is yet to start, of an amendment to its sale agreement. The change entitles customers to benefits that will work out to a price reduction, it says, of about 20 per cent.

The company will offer a 5% discount on the basic sale price. Another 10% rebate would be offered for timely payment. The changes also include an increase in the compensation rates for delays from Rs 5 per sq ft per month to Rs 10. DLF has rescheduled the payment plans as well.
Now, instalments have been linked to various construction milestones. All payments received over and above 35 per cent of the sale price will thus be treated as advance payment, and a rebate equivalent to 13 per cent interest will be allowed to the customer.During the times of global economic meltdown, the company said the move was in tune with its earlier announcement to cut the prices of residential projects by 15-20 per cent. “We have been implementing the price correction on a project to project basis. Different models were worked out in cities like Chennai and Bangalore. In Hyderabad, reduced prices were announced. Each model reflects the price correction happening in specific cities,” Rajiv Talwar, group executive director, DLF said. According to him, DLF’s attempt is to hold all existing clients, boost customer confidence and attract new customers, to ensure continued cash flow in the times of global recession. “We are trying to be responsive to the market,” he said.  

Customers, however, said it wasn’t such a generous thing. Commenting on the 10 per cent timely payment rebate, they said the rebate was on 65 per cent of the total amount, as 35 per cent was always paid as advance. “This means the rebate is effectively 6 per cent and not 10 as claimed by DLF. When the total benefit may not be more than 11 per cent, how can the company claim to offer 20 per cent discount?” they asked.The project-specific and city-specific plans also came under criticism. However, the customers agreed that the DLF move was not a legal compulsion but a goodwill gesture.The move has generated interest among other players also. Delhi-based property developer, Omaxe, said the company was working out a similar offer for its Greater Noida customers.

It was the settlement day of March series as tomorrow is Gudi padwa and the markets had to close all the settlements today itself. There was a stunning performance from the benchmark indices today. The Sensex once again had touched the 10,000 mark. It took almost 50 sessions and it managed to close above the same level. Nifty as well tested the 3100 mark but in the course of the day it retreated from that level during the last 10 minutes of the trade. There was good buying from the foreign as well as domestic investors. Local mutual funds were also active in midcaps on NAV propping.

Markets stayed positive as there was buying in infrastructure, metal, banking, technology, auto, FMCG and oil&gas sectors. It kept the mood positive throughout the day. Broader indices also followed the same trend but underperformed the benchmark indices. All sectoral indices ended higher barring Realty index.  The Sensex has touched an intraday high of 10,061.36, before closing the day at 10,003.10, up 335.20 points or 3.47%. The 50-share NSE Nifty shut shop at 3082.25, up 3.28% or 97.90 points, after hitting a high of 3103.35. The last time both indices had touched respective marks on January 7, 2009.

 The frontrunners include ONGC, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, TCS, L&T, Sterlite, Maruti and Tata Power which gained almost 6%, where as SBI, ITC, Infosys, Reliance Industries, NTPC, HDFC, HUL, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank gained upto 4%. Due to F&O expiry, there was the highest turnover and markets reported turnover of more than Rs 90,000 crore for the third consecutive day. Total traded turnover stood at Rs 97,107.51 crore. This includes Rs 15,527.42 crore from NSE cash segment, Rs 76,957.01 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 4,623.08 crore from BSE cash segment.

The wholesale price index (WPI) is very close to the 0% mark. Inflation for week ended March 14 came in at 0.27% — still in positive terrain — compared with 0.44% week on week (WoW). January 17 WPI inflation has been revised to 4.95% versus 5.64% provisionally. Everyone has very well-factored in a negative print in WPI and it is primarily on higher base last year. there will be lot more rate cuts going ahead. She forecasts another 50 basis points cut as far as reverse repo rate is concerned. But the Consumer Price Index still remains in double digit and that is something which hurts the common man.

European markets were trading marginally higher at the time of Indian closings. The FTSE was up 5 points, to 3,905. The CAC was up 8 points, to 2,901 and the DAX gained 15 points, to 4,238. US futures were also trading higher. The Dow Jones Futures was trading at 7,730, up 50 points and the Nasdaq Futures were up 14.5 points, to 1,248. Asian markets ended strong. Shanghai, Hang Seng and Straits Times gained 3-4%. Nikkei was up 1.84% and Kospi went up 1.2%. Taiwan moved up 0.75%.

It was the most strongest session in the year 2009 which benchmarked indices this year. The upward journey was continued in the markets on the back of strong global cues. There was a short covering in rate sensitive and fresh long build up in major heavyweights which boosted the markets to reach it higher and higher.

Nifty touched the 2700+ mark while the Sensex reached beyond 8700 mark. Banking & financial, technology, metal, oil & gas and capital goods stocks led this rally followed by auto, realty and FMCG stocks.

 The Sensex which runs on 30 shares touched the geight of 8793.21 before the day closed at 8756.61. the over all gains is that of 4.95%% or say 412.86 points. The 50-share NSE Nifty gained 101.80 points or 3.89%, to settle at 2,719.25, after hitting a high of 2726.15. Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, HDFC, L&T, HDFC Bank, SBI, ONGC, TCS, Tata Power, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communication were leading contributors in this rally. However, only NTPC closed in red, was down 2%.

This is a real positive sign of the economy being revived and markets coming to the track. Mr. KV Kamath Said that he sees recovery in the fourth quarter of the current financial year across sectors except in the textile industry. Kamath, also the president of industry body Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), said he was basing his assumption on the interaction with members of the CII National Council meeting.

Talking about the Nify March Futures, it ended with 1-point premium. It added almost 40 lakh shares in open interest.this gives turnover of Rs9900 crores. The Nifty Put-Call ration was up by 1 point from 1.25 to 1.35. Stocks futures that added to the stream includes DLF which added 46 lakh shares, SAIL added about 30 lakh, ICICI Bank added nearly 22 lakh and Reliance Capital added about 11.5 lakh shares in open interest.

 The rally was led mainly by the positive global cues. When the Indian equities were closing, European marktets were toward high. FTSE went up 62 points, to 3,774. CAC was trading at 2,744, up 50 points and DAX was trading at 3,999, up 43 points. The US futures were trading with marginal gain; Dow Jones Futures were at 7,195, up 27 points and Nasdaq Futures at 1.166, up 3 points.  Asian markets ended higher; Nikkei 225 Average surged 5.15% and Straits Times was up 5.62%. Taiwan Weighted shot up 3% and Hang Seng gained 4.37%. However, Shanghai and Seoul Composite were up just 0.2% each 

It was for the first time in the history of IIM: Kolkata, Ahmedabad or Bangalore, everywhere the placement season was extended. In this time of global economic slowdown even the new asprirants are facing the heat. These management graduates haven’t got the blues over despite this exention. More over the salaries have fallen.

The new aspirants are not getting what ttheir seniors might have got. In Ahmedabad itself the salaries offered have dipped to 30%. Now the offered package is that around 12.5 lakhs. For those in Kolkatta, tthere is a slowdown by 12% and the average package that was offered is 14 lakhs. It was interesting to learn that the offers from the financial sectore were on high. Almost 40% of the offers were from the financial sector where as the number was 34% last year. 

This year there was another major change. PSU once again have started  coming to IIMs to find the talent. The only thing that was not interesting with the PSUs was that the offer was only for the average salary of 7 lakhs. In Bangalore as well the story is no good. Here the average salary offered was around 12 lakhs almost 30% lesser than what it used to be. Most of the recruiters have not participated because of the recruitement freeze that is going on because of economic slowdown and cost cutting.

 The companies are not hiring. Infact companies are facing a challenge in retaining the employees that they already have. Voluntary retirements, unpaid leaves etc are the measures that these companies have resorted to. PSU banks were among the top recruiters, hiring 34 of the over 200 students at IIM Calcutta. Things will be better next year says a report by global job survey firm Manpower. A survey of 3600 employers over seven sectors indicates slow but steady hiring could happen from the second quarter of 2009.  

While the meltdown has taken a global toll, India hiring will be the highest in the Asia Pacific region. Global meltdown has not spared even headline-making placements of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) grads. The average salary in the 2009 placement season at IIM-Calcutta witnessed a fall of 23 per cent over the last year.  The domestic average this year was Rs 12.7 lakh, with the highest offer at Rs 60 lakh per annum, while the average international package exclusive of bonus was $86,785 per annum. Several public sector units and public sector banks had recruited from IIM-C this year.

Public sector companies included IOC, NTPC, Coal India, and the national banks were Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India.All the 265 students had got placement offers from various companies.  The foreign companies which recruited from IIM-C were Frost & Sullivan, BCG, A T Kearney, McKinsey, Barclays, Merrill Lynch and others.

 As they say: image is everything. Well the question is why does image matter when thoughts and predictions of doom and despair abound? As the global recession bites, most companies and countries are prompted to ask the question, “How do we get out of this mess?” rater then “how do we improve our image?”

Well for me this is short term thinking. Yes we know that there is a need to look hard at economic and business strategies for survival, but this has to be balanced by strategies for the longer term. A look at the top brands in the corporate world reveals that in adverse conditions they continue to invest in their brand, and use downtime to look at strategic brand improvements that can be put in place for the future when markets recover.

This is prime time for the world to work hard on the branding. Yes branding is what all the countries in this world need now. Barrack Obama was elected on the platform of change, and a large part of his campaign success rested on his declared determination to re- engineer and restore America’s global image. Now this was an emotional area as opposed to rational appeal that won him millions of votes. We know Americans want their brand and reputation back. Learning this lesson from the corporate world, the public sector has started branding the countries as branding has become constant cabinet agenda item. This is not surprising as a strong national brand can bring huge benefits including:
 currency stability,
restoration of international credibility and investor confidence
reversal of international rating downgrades
attraction of global capital
increase in international political influence
growth in export of branded products and services
increase in inbound tourism and investment
development of stronger international partnerships
enhancement of nation building( confidence, pride, harmony, ambition, national resolve)
attraction and retention of talent
reversal of negative thoughts about environmental, human rights and other matters of importance to global audiencesTo my mind India should be concerned with branding in order to gain such benefits. As it has positive growth and massive potential, it will continue to be faced with intense competition from other more developed as well as emerging economies such as China.  Confronted by situations where its products, service, systems and technology are easily replicable, the biggest challenges for any country is differentiation: the need to be perceived as being different and better than competitors, while marketing and selling similar things. India is no exception to this rule, and even though it presently has some cost leadership advantages, these may not be sustainable.

 Those who think about SATYAM be it being an employee, a shareholder, or for General knowledge purpose, on Thursday there was a news for them. A company insider, from human resources primarily, Mr. A. S. Murthy was appointed as new CEO of Satyam. Let’s hope the situation to change now. Also, Homi Khusrokhan, former MD of Tata Chemicals and Partho Datta, former CFO of Murugappa Group, who were tipped to be the CEO and CFO respectively, were simultaneously appointed as special advisors to the board to strengthen management and financial areas. This obviously means that they will not be members of the board.

Here I would like to emphasis that Murty is known to be extremely close to Ramalinga Raju. The only thing that differentiates him from the other Raju favorites in the company is that he is equally or I must say much liked by the Satyam staff who has welcomed this decision of his appointment. He is learnt to be consensus man.

 Satyam board also announced that it had received Rs.600 crores as bank sanctions which was part of a planned fund infusion towards the working capital requirements. There was also a news that salaries for January (globally) and the fortnightly salaries for February for its US-based associates have been met from internal accruals.

The board discussed with senior executives of the company. There were three names who were preferred. Based on this discussion and other feedback sessions Murty’s name came up in most of the lists. It is interesting to learn that company affairs minister Mr. P.C.Gupta once said that the new CEO of the company should be an internal man. Murthy was chief delivery officer in the company.

The board once again confirmed the key priorities and focus of the company will remain unchanged. The company will reach out to the key customers and associates to reinforce their trust and confidence. The company is going to assert the financial position and restate the Q3 results. It will evaluate the long term strategic position and options, legal liabilities and would deal with them, undertake the cost rationalization measures, resume the investment in the areas identified.

 New York-based legal firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katzin is also appointed to address various class action suits — numbering about a dozen - filed against it in the US. It was, however, made clear that Latham & Watkins, lawyers of Satyam for over eight years will continue to support it in its ongoing dialogue with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The appointment of Mr. Murthy will definitely take care of the son of the soil sentiment as witnessed in the recent weeks in the company. He is well respected in the company. His ability to integrate teams effectively and to make a collective decision is critical for Satyam as the company is going through its revival phase.

    Though most of the external clients of the company were told that the new CEO would be an outsider and now that Murthy is appointed, it would be worth watching how company is going to explain this to the clients that the decision would ensure cleaning of Satyam. It is quite obvious though why the choice fell on an internal candidate. No external candidate would like to join a company that possibly would get sold off in next few months, so no one is expected to take a plunge if not sure about his future.