India reached a milestone on Sunday when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur launched the country's first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine 'INS Arihant' for sea trials. Kaur broke a coconut and performed a puja after which she unveiled a plaque naming the 112-metre-long submarine."I name it INS Arihant. All the best to the submarine," she said. Declaring that India has achieved a "historic milestone in the country's defence preparedness" with the launch of the submarine, the Prime Minister said, "We don't have any aggressive designs nor do we seek to threaten anyone. "We seek an external environment in our region and beyond that is conducive to our peaceful development and protection of our value systems," Singh said in his speech congratulating everyone associated with the advanced technology vessel (n-submarine) programme.
Singh said, "Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon us to take all measures necessary to safeguard our country and to keep pace with technological advancements worldwide". With the sea trials, India has announced to the world that it possesses underwater platforms capable of launching nuclear weapons, completing its nuclear triad (land, air and sea) capability and strengthening its strategic deterrence. It also made its entry into an elite club of nations comprising the US, Russia, France, the UK and China which possess capabilities to develop nuclear submarine.
Code-named Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), the submarine christened 'INS Arihant' (destroyer of enemy) was launched for sea trials at the Matsya naval dockyard in Vishakapatnam. As India has declared "no first use" of nuclear weapons, the country's weapons system must survive a first strike for retaliation. Therefore, Arihant's primary weapon is stealth as it can lurk in ocean depths of half a kilometre or more and fire its missiles from under the sea. The 6000-tonne submarine is powered by an 85 megawatt capacity nuclear reactor and can acquire surface speeds of 22 to 28 kmph (12-15 knots) and submerged speed upto 44 kmph (24 knots). It will be carrying a crew of 95 men and will be armed with torpedoes and missiles including 12 ballistic missiles. Four more nuclear-powered submarines of this class have already got government's nod and these would add to the Navy's underwater combat potential in the years to come.
Defence Minister A K Antony, Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy witnessed the event. The Prime Minister flew to Vishakapatnam this morning by the IAF's newly acquired Boeing business jet and reached the venue of the submarine launch by road. Sea trials of the submarine will be conducted in the Bay of Bengal off Vishakapatnam, where the vessel was under construction for the last two decades. The Rs 30,000-crore secret nuclear submarine project was started in the 1980s though it was conceived by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the 1970s. The first official admission of the project nearing completion came this February when Antony had announced it during the AeroIndia show in Bangalore.
INS Arihant can also be armed with cruise missiles. The Defence Research and Developmen Organisation is already working on an equally secretive Sagarika project for a 700-km K-15 missile, capable of carrying nuclear weapons. With US, Russia and China already fielding 5,000-km range SLBMs, the DRDO too has recently tested an SLBM based on the design of 3,500-km range Agni-III. The induction of ATV will help India to complete the nuclear weapons triad, as envisaged under its nuclear doctrine to deliver nuke-tipped missiles from land, air and sea. India has land-based nuclear-capable Agni ballistic missiles, apart from IAF fighters such as Mirage-2000 that can deliver tactical nukes. Two decades ago, India had operated a Charlie-class nuclear submarine, christened INS Chakra, leased from Russia for three years between 1989 and 1991. Moscow will again lease out two Akula-class nuclear submarines to New Delhi for 10 years. Plans to deliver the submarines this June were hit by a mishap during sea trials late last year. But hopes have soared for its delivery in 2010 after Russia took out the repaired vessel for sea trials again early this month.
India launches First Nuclear Submarine -INS Arihant
ICICI to deduct credit card dues from salary account
In their constant pursuit of recovering dues from credit card customers, banks are empowering themselves with a tool that allows them to ask employers to deduct the outstanding amount from the salary.
Employees who may have defaulted on payment, however, cannot object to this deduction of dues at source, according to the new clause introduced in the `terms and conditions` by the country`s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank and expected to be adopted by others as well.
Such deductions will be remitted to the bank and will continue till the entire dues are recovered.
The amended `terms and conditions` say that "no law or contract" governing either the card holder or employers prevents the bank from seeking such deduction and subsequent payment by the employer to the bank.
When contacted, an ICICI Bank spokesperson confirmed the new clause. "This clause is applicable only for customers who default on their credit card payments. Prior notice has already been sent to all out customers to make them aware of this clause," the spokesperson said.
"Only the defaulters in repayment need to be concerned and it is not of concern to regular customers," he added.
With this clause, ICICI Bank is now "entitled and authorised to contact and require the card holder`s/card member`s employers to make deduction/s from the salary/wages payable by the employer to the card holder/card member and to remit the same to ICICI Bank until all of the card holder/card member dues outstanding from the card holder/card member to ICICI Bank is/are completely discharged."
Besides, as per the new clause, it would be the bank which would decide upon the quantum of the deduction.
"The deductions shall be of such amounts, and to such extent, as ICICI Bank may communicate to (and instruct) the card holder`s/card member`s employers," says the revised terms and conditions of the bank.
"The card holder/card member shall not have, or raise/ create any objections to such deductions. No law or contract governing the card holder/card member and/or the card holder`s/card member`s employer prevents or restricts in any manner the aforesaid right of ICICI Bank to require such deduction and payment by the card holder`s/card member`s employer to ICICI Bank," it adds.
The revised credit card terms and conditions, after incorporating the new clause, have come into effect from July 23, 2009.
Kickstart Your Resolution to Save Money -10 Ways
You can't save money if you don't even know how much you're spending. Before you get down to the business of saving your money, take a week to track every single penny you spend. At the end of the week, you'll have a good idea of what you need to tackle first--for example, you might consider switching to a bank that's close to your office or home and offers no-fee withdrawals if you find out you're spending a lot on ATM fees.
Sell Out
The quickest way to get some cash in your hands? Sell things you don't need. Have a garage sale, put your old laptop up for sale on Craigslist, or sell your used books on Half.com. The extre money lining your pockets might inspire you to see how much you can save if you put in a little effort.
Ask Your Man Questions
Is your relationship getting serious? Before you move in or marry your guy, make sure you know all the intimate details of his financial situation. The five things you need to know? How much he makes, how much debt he has, how you plan to split expenses once your married or living together, how many kids you'll need to put through college, and where he sees himself in five to ten years, whether it's as CEO or as a starving grad student.
Keep Your Hands Off Your 401(K)
Dipping into your 401(K) early should be used only as a last resort. It'll cost you a penalty of at least 10% for cashing in before you're 59. Add the taxes Uncle Sam collects and you've already lost a sizeable chunk of your savings.
Ask for Forgiveness
Not from a higher power--from your bank. A late payment charge isn't written in stone, despite what they would have you think. If you've got a clean record, you may be able to get away with not paying it if you slip up--as long as you ask. Make a call to your credit card company to see if they'll waive it, just this once. Just don't make a habit out of it!
Invest
Think it's a bad time to invest your hard-earned cash? Think again. "Although the market's not going to go up right away," buying stocks or mutual funds now, when they are less expensive, is like "buying a dress from Banana Republic for $50 instead of $100," says senior financial adviser James E. Law of Law, Chemtob, and Associates.Tthe less you spend initially, the less risk is involved, and the greater returns could be. If, and only if, you have extra cash (your grocery money doesn't count!), consider putting your money into stocks, bonds, or even your office's 401(k).
Don't Make Stupid Mistakes
Late payment fees, bounced checks, and overdraft charges, besides wrecking your credit score, are easily-avoidable money-suckers. Start balancing your checkbook and keeping track of your cashflow and bill payment due dates on a service like mint.com and you'll never have to spend shoe money on bank fees instead.
Get Specific
Instead of vowing to spend less, give yourself a fighting chance by deciding exactly what you'll be spending less on. Will you be eating breakfast at home instead of buying something on your way to work? Will you drop the expensive membership to the gym you've been to twice in the past year and buy a pair of running sneakers instead? Giving yourself guidelines and following them makes you an active participant in your quest to save cash, instead of a helpless bystander to your spending sprees.
Get Insured
It might be tempting to go without health insurance if you're only going to a couple of doctors' appointments each year, but keep this in mind: a recent Harvard study found that nearly half of all bankruptcies today are attributable to overwhelming medical costs. Feeling healthy? Even minor injuries that end with a trip to the emergency room can leave you thousands of dollars in debt. Don't risk it.
Save On Your Energy Bills
Start by saving money in your home--if you're smart, you can save as much as 30% on your energy bills every month. Start by investing in compact fluorescent light bulbs (they use less power and last on average ten times longer than incandescent bulbs), using cold water for your laundry, and unplugging electronics when you're not using them. These small changes can make a big difference in your wallet.
Volkswagen plans merger with Porsche
The board of the giant German carmaker Volkswagen agreed Thursday to to forge a new global automotive powerhouse by mounting a two-step 8-billion-euro, ($11.4 billion) takeover of the legendary sports vehicle group Porsche.
Announcing the agreement, Volkswagen (VW) chief Martin Winterkorn said the way was now free for the creation of an integrated VW-Porsche group with the sports carmaker to remain an independent brand.
The new combined VW-Porsche group would be "a major force" in the world car business.
Meeting in Stuttgart, the VW supervisory board decision turns the tables on Porsche, which had been forced to abandon an audacious bid to acquire VW after wracking up about 10 billion euros in debt in a David-and-Goliath battle to buy Europe's biggest carmaker.
The prospect of Volkswagen now seizing control of Porsche came in the wake of the luxury sportscar maker's announcement Thursday that its chief, Wendelin Wiedeking was stepping down after opposing VW's takeover ambitions for Porsche.
The Volkswagen decision to back the takeover plan represents a major victory for its supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piech, after the protracted merger battle triggered a power struggle among the two families controlling Porsche and VW.
Under the VW takeover plan, the Wolfsburg-based motor vehicle group is expected to pick up an initial 49.9-percent stake in Porsche and then buy the rest at a later date at a total cost of about 8 billion euros.
The ownership of the new merged VW-Porsche group would be split between a more-than-50-percent stake held by the current controlling clans - the Porsche and Piech families.
Another 19 percent stake would then be held by the Qatar Investment Authority and about 20 percent would be in the hands of the German state of Lower Saxony, where Volkswagen is based.
Under the integration plan, VW and Porsche would together forge a carmaker with 10 brands.
This includes VW's nine brands from premium saloons such as Lamborghini and Bentley through to its more mass market brands such as Skoda and its flagship Volkswagen. Porsche will be the 10th brand in the new group.
But analysts say the VW takeover push has left open several key questions including the details of the link between the new VW-led carmaker and the oil-rich Qatar.
Held in Porsche's hometown of Stuttgart in southern Germany, the VW board meeting followed an all-night extraordinary session of the Porsche board, which gave the green light to talks aimed at securing a deal worth up to 5 billion euros with Qatar.
This could enable the state-owned Qatar Investment Authority to buy a stake in Porsche SE, the group's holding company, which Porsche said would help lay the foundations for integration moves with VW.
In addition, the Porsche board meeting approved a plan to raise 5 billion euros in capital.
Samsung reports biggerst profit in 2.5 Years
Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of memory chips and LCD screens, posted its best quarterly profit in 2-½ years thanks to a turnaround in its memory chip business but maintained caution for the rest of the year.
Samsung looks poised to make the most of a nascent recovery in the global memory chip sector following a 2-year-old industry slump, as it enjoys a technological edge over rivals such as Elpida.
Higher chip prices also helped Hynix Semiconductor, the No. 2 maker of memory chips, post a sharply narrowed net loss on Friday. Hynix is expected to swing to an operating profit in the current quarter.
"Samsung Electronics will benefit the most from the current chip sector recovery as it is the market leader in the most advanced mass produced DDR3 chips," said Kim Sung-in, chief technology analyst at Kiwoom Securities.
Hawala link in Satyam case - CBI
In a startling revelation, a highly placed source in the CBI today confirmed the hawala trail of money from Satyam Computers traced by the agency. The accused persons in the multi-crore scam allegedly routed some Rs 12 crore every month through hawala channels outside India since 2002 till the scam was unearthed, said the source. The money was illegally sent out of the country every month leading to the loss of some Rs 1,008 crores since 2002 till 2008.
CBI officials are already trying to identify the transactions and money routed by B Ramalinga Raju, Satyam’s founder chairman and main accused, in countries including the US, Mauritius and European nations. CBI sources alleged that Raju had fraudulently increased the number of employees (fictitious employees) in its offices in India and abroad to give a broader scope for the use of the hawala network.
“As we have come to know after preliminary investigations into hawala transactions, it has been learnt that Rs 12 crore every month was being sent abroad through hawala on the pretext of paying around 10,000 employees who never existed,” said the source.
Ramalinga Raju’s judicial custody ends on 22-07-09
The judicial custody of former Satyam Computers chairman B Ramalinga Raju and other accused in connection with the 7,800 crore fraud at the IT major ends on Wednesday.
On July 8, a local court had extended their judicial custody till Wednesday.
The accused are Ramalinga Raju, his brother and Satyam’s former managing director Rama Raju, ex-CFO V Srinivas, former partners of Price Waterhouse S Gopalakrishnan and T Srinivas along with Satyam Computer Services former employees G Ramakrishna, D Venkatapathi Raju and Ch Srisailam.
All are lodged at Chanchalguda Jail in Hyderabad.
Ramalinga Raju allegedly admitted overstating its cash reserves by USD 1.5 billion. Later, allegations have been made that the company’s assets were not inflated, but instead siphoned off by Ramalinga Raju.
Raju is currently held in Hyderabad’s Chanchalguda Jail on criminal charges including fraud, forgery, cheating, embezzlement and insider trading.
Mukesh Ambani owns a private and unlimited gold mine
Very little notice, however, has been taken of the fact that Reliance Gas Transportation and Infrastructure Ltd (RGTIL), which set up the pipeline network for transport of this gas which has had rival users clamouring for government priority, is no longer owned by RIL, but by the latter’s chairman and managing director, Mukesh Ambani.
The change took place three years earlier and went largely unnoticed, even though RGTIL is crucial for RIL’s burgeoning gas business. RGTIL was moved out of the RIL fold to be a subsidiary of Reliance Utilities Pvt Ltd in 2006. Which is owned by Mukesh Ambani through a clutch of eight companies. The entire transaction at that time took place for only Rs 5 lakh. Even at that time RGTIL had the right of use (RoU) for setting up a major pipeline network across the country.
RGTIL has so far laid 1,400 km of pipeline to transport gas from Kakinada to Bharuch, passing through Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat, at an investment of $4 billion. It is also in the process of implementing four pipelines that will interconnect with the east-west network. These are the 1,100 km Kakinada-Haldia, 600 km Kakinada-Chennai, 670 km Chennai-Tuticorin and the 660 km Chennai-Bangalore-Mangalore pipeline networks.
RGTIL is estimated to be earning an average revenue of $1 per mBtu (million British Thermal Units) from gas transportation to RIL’s customers in the fertiliser and power sectors. When the company would transport the entire KG Basin gas of 80 million metric standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd), it is likely to earn revenues worth $2-2.5 million a day, said an analyst. The net asset value of RIL’s gas business, based on just the production profile of D6, is estimated at $19.98 billion, assuming a sale price of $4.2 per mBtu.
An official spokesperson of RIL did not respond. Justifying the transaction, however, an executive said since RIL’s only investment at that time in the company was Rs 5 lakh as equity and RGTIL did not have any other assets, the company was “desubsidiarised” after the payment of the amount. He said regulatory caps on returns on investment in the pipeline business were not attractive for the group as a whole and so, it was decided to move the company out of the RIL fold.
Kasab statement admission of guilt: Judge
The special court trying the lone surviving terrorist in 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, on Tuesday said the Pakistani gunman's statement pleading guilty before it was not a confession but an admission of guilt.
Judge M.L. Tahaliyani said Kasab's statement before the court was "broadly speaking not a confession but an admission of guilt".
Tahaliyani's observation came after Kasab concluded his version of events related to November 26 terror strikes.
In a dramatic turn of events, Kasab on Monday confessed to his involvement in the terror strikes at CST and other locations, apart from giving a detailed description of his training by Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan.
Kasab was free to plead guilty at any point of time during the course of the trial, the court observed.
The court would need to verify whether Kasab was genuinely pleading his guilt as there were many charges against him, Judge Tahaliyani said.
The court could then accept or reject Kasab's statement or accept his plea and continue with the trial, the judge said.
Kasab, who was caught alive during the Mumbai attacks, had already recorded a confession before a magistrate but later withdrew it alleging it was obtained through coercion by police.
The gunman had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges framed against him.
Government hones in on probable independent directors for Air India
The government has identified people, with time and ideas, to be taken on Air India's board to steer the flag carrier to profitability, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said today.
"We are going to form an independent board of directors very soon. I shall be meeting the Prime Minister this week and discuss all the probable names," he told reporters on the sidelines of a management institute function here.
The airline's current board has only one independent director - N Vaghul, ex-chairman of ICICI, while the remaining nine are either from the civil aviation ministry or the airline itself.
The probables identified by the government are people who can "give time and contribute meaningfully for this great turnaround" that the airline hopes to achieve, Patel said.
On the requirement of funds for reviving the national carrier, Patel said that a revival plan on the financial side is expected from SBI Caps soon.
Dispelling the notion that the government would bail out the carrier, whose losses in FY'09 are expected to be near about Rs 5,300 crore and working capital borrowings around Rs 16,500 crore, Patel said the ministry was not looking at any major financial help but only an equity infusion
Govt Hits – Ambanis can’t hold economy hostage
The government has slammed the Ambani brothers for having created a private feud over a national asset, natural gas.In an independent appeal filed in the Supreme Court on Saturday, the Centre adopted an unusually belligerent stand towards the two powerful industrial groups while asking them to stop squabbling over something that didn't belong to them.
In its appeal, the Centre urged the apex court to quash the June 15 Bombay High Court order which directed Mukesh Ambani to honour his “commitment” and provide gas to Anil Ambani's RNRL as per an MoU between them. This MoU, the Centre maintained, was ``null and void''. Not just that, it also accused the brothers of trying to ``surreptitiously and unauthorizedly'' appropriating the country's sovereign natural resources as ``family property''.
While the stinging comments could seriously hurt the pride of the Ambani brothers, it is also a serious setback to Anil Ambani's claim over an agreed supply of gas from KG basin which is being operated by Mukesh Ambani. Not surprisingly, Anil Ambani rushed to the Supreme Court to file an affidavit, claiming the Centre had no role in the dispute.
Anil Ambani's RNRL reacted sharply to the Centre's appeal and virtually accused it of playing a new game altogether after maintaining before the Bombay High Court that its role in the dispute was limited to interpreting the The Economic Times Sharing Contract. The Centre's affidavit, expanding its role now, should be tossed out, it pleaded.
On its part, the government said natural gas was meant for the country's industrialization and not for the individual gains of ventures owned by the Ambanis. The MoU between Mukesh's RIL and Anil's RNRL was ``null and void'' in the face of enormous national interest involved in the distribution of natural gas, it said, adding, ``the national economy cannot be allowed to be held hostage by the Ambanis''.
In its appeal, the government said the gas produced from KG Basin, if properly utilized, ``will promote industrialization of
``Knowing fully well that gas does not belong to them (RIL and RNRL) and that contracting companies are bound by the terms of the The Economic Times Sharing Contract (PSC), RIL and RNRL have appropriated, through the MoU, in a surreptitious and unauthorised manner, the entire gas, treating the same as their personal and family property,'' it said.
``The MoU, therefore, to the extent that it has as its consideration a property not belonging to the signatories to the MoU (in this case belonging to sovereign government of India) is blatantly illegal and in disregard of the provisions of the PSC and should be declared null and void,'' it said.
Till the dispute raised in the appeals filed by RIL, RNRL and the Centre was finally resolved, the Supreme Court should stay the operation of the HC judgment and keep in operation the interim arrangement ordered by the HC in its January 30, 2009 order, the Centre said.
Govt to conduct special audit of top 5 pvt telecoms
The government has ordered a special audit of the country`s five leading private-sector mobile telecoms firms to check whether there had been any misreporting of revenue, Minister of State for Communications and IT Gurudas Kamat said on Thursday.
"Certain phone firms have been charged with misreporting their revenue," Kamat said in a written reply to law makers in the Upper House of the Parliament.
"Hence, the Department of Telecom has decided to conduct special audit of Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltd and Tata Teleservices Ltd," he said.
Separately, the minister said state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd`s net profit for the year to March 2009 had dipped to 1.04 billion rupees (USD 21 million) as revenue fell and wage costs rose.
He did not give the comparable figure for the previous year.
Revenue for the year to March was 349.37 billion rupees, the minister said, 8 percent lower than 380.53 billion rupees in the previous year as reported on BSNL website.
The state-owned firm`s board last year approached the government for permission to sell 10 percent stake in an Initial Public Offer and an official had said they expected to raise about USD 10 billion from the IPO. The offering ran into opposition from the government`s communist allies and the firm`s employees.
BSNL Chairman Kuldeep Goyal said last month the government, which no longer relies on the support of the communist parties, was again thinking about the share sale and a decision should come shortly.
In a written response to another question, Kamat said new telecom operators Etisalat DB Telecom, Unitech and S-Tel had told the government they were deploying network infrastructure.
Norway`s Telenor is taking a majority stake in Unitech telecoms business, while Bahrain Telecommunications Co is taking a 49 percent stake in S-Tel. Both the firms have said that they would start operations during October and December.
Tata's final promise, to give First Nano key on Friday-17-07-09
Five years after his promise to build a people's car, Ratan Tata will hand over the key of his dream project--the Nano- to its first customer tomorrow.
From the birth of the dream in 2003, to its launch in 2008 and finally its delivery in 2009, the Nano's journey has been anything but smooth.
The car, first showcased at the Delhi Auto Expo last year, was at the centre of much controversy as its proposed plant site in West Bengal became a rallying point for Mamata Banerjee and her party to gain political mileage.
The controversy surrounding the site led Ratan Tata to abandon Singur and shift the Nano's production to Gujarat.
But the overwhelming support for Tata's dream car was evident when the booking opened early this year. Despite the slowdown in the auto sector, the car attracted over 2.05 lakh bookings.
In the first lot over 1.55 lakh cars would be delivered and the first one lakh will be sold at the announcement price of Rs 1 lakh, making it the cheapest four-wheels in the world.
Tata had earlier said that 'a promise is a promise' and keeping his promise he would hand over the first car tomorrow at the price-protected rate
Will Andhra and Gujarat house US nuclear reactors?
The United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's five-day tour of India beginning Friday is likely to set the stage for developing two US nuclear sites in India as a follow up to the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Former US President George W. Bush in December last year had signed into law a nuclear deal with India in a major step towards allowing New Delhi to buy US reactors and fuel for the first time in 30 years.
According to a media report,
The identification of the sites flows from a commitment
"It opens up as much as $10 billion worth of new exports to
Apart from naming nuclear sites, Hillary is expected to sign another agreement on end-use monitoring of sensitive
Assistant Secretary for South Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake said in
Allaying fears in India over the recent G-8 declaration regarding restriction on transfer of atomic technology to non-NPT States, Blake said it was "fully committed" to the nuclear deal with New Delhi and hopes to sign the end-use monitoring agreement on Monday. "We hope to be able to sign that (end-use monitoring agreement), and obviously, that will take place on Monday of next week," Blake told reporters in
Anil Ambani enters Hollywood, ties up with Spielberg
Anil Ambani signs deal for Hollywood debut
In one of the largest deals in global cinema in recent years, Anil Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment and Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg on Wednesday announced $825-million funding for their Los Angeles-based production house Dreamworks Studios to make six films a year for global audiences.
Ambani and Spielberg, in a joint global conference call from New York, said the movies produced by Dreamworks will be distributed by Walt Disney globally, while the exclusive rights for India will be with Reliance Big Entertainment.
"Clearly, the outlay of $825 million is what we are aiming at in the next three years - $325 million will be in the form of equity, $150 million will come from Disney, while the rest will come from banks and others," Ambani said.
"There is no scaling up or scaling down of investment. We will begin with $825 million and this is the largest in recent times," said the Mumbai-based industrialist, whose aides had earlier indicated an investment outlay of as much as $1.5 billion for Dreamworks.
Spielberg said he was looking forward to films produced by Dreamworks as also to visit India soon to meet with filmmakers, scriptwriters and actors to see how they can all collaborate.
"We have a golden opportunity to have a better control over our product," he said, alluding to the strained relationship Dreamworks faced after it was sold to Viacom's Paramount in 2006 for $1.6 billion.
"I am very excited that we are in business again and we are independent of any motion picture studio. Now, we feel we have the independence in our partnership with Reliance," Spielberg said.
Some of the films that will be produced first include 39 Clues, Cowboys and Aliens, Dinner For Schmucks, Motorcade and Hereafter in a mix of genres including thrillers, action, comedy and family drama.
Ambani also announced that his associate Amitabh Jhunjhunwala and Spielberg's partner for decades Stacey Snider, who has been associated with projects like Eric Brockovich, The Mummy and American Pie, would also serve on the Dreamworks board.
The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group ranks among India's top three industrial houses with interests in areas including telecommunications, energy, finance, entertainment and infrastructure development.
The group's entertainment business owns 428 cinema screens across India, the US, Malaysia and Mauritius, contributing 11 percent to the domesticindustry's box office collections and 35 percent from the Hindi movies screened in the US.
Its entertainment business has its presence across several platforms, including FM radio, music, sports, gaming, animation, Internet and mobile portals, direct-to-home TV, Internet TV and mobile TV.
Honda to step on the gas on hybrid development
Honda Motor Co's new chief executive Takanobu Ito said on Monday, that the No 2 Japanese automaker would accelerate development of hybrid models in the company's bid to align with customer needs.
In his first public appearance after taking office last month, Ito aid the company would launch the planned CR-Z hybrid sports car next February. The company would also launch a gasoline-electric Fit subcompact by end 2010 given the growing importance of fuel economy and environmental concerns in buyer calculations.
"I think everyone is going to go the way of hybrids," the 55-year-old former engineer told reporters at Honda's Tokyo headquarters.
"Bringing hybrids quickly to customers will be a major focus of our activities," he said.
"I want Honda to be a speedy company,'' he said
He added that this would include speeding up the development of dual electric motor powered medium-to large-sized vehicles; with the company having shelved its plan to use clean diesel engines to improve mileage on bigger models.
Latest Trends in Internet Marketing
Almost all of the articles on Internet marketing lack coverage on all the basics and all the avenues of Internet marketing because there is just too much information to cover in a few words. Here I am going for an attempt which will be an overview, not an in depth affair.
The most basic step in researching your market is to first have a "target." There should be a clear picture in your mind about the target audience and you should treat them as your potential customers. This means you know who you're aiming for (their likes, dislikes, general age group, income, business type, etc.) and have a general idea how to "hit" them. Sample target markets would include:
This includes the segregation based on
* Age group
* Qualification
* Per capita income
* Spending capacity
* Geographical location
* Business class
* Technocrats
Once you know who your target is - the more information the better - you're ready to get into the nitty-gritty of market research. There are five basic ideas in market research: "Primary," "Secondary," "Combined" (all types of research) and "Qualitative" and "Quantitative" (ways of gathering the information). A quick definition of each:
Primary research is research conducted by the primary user of the information. Secondary research is gathered elsewhere and used by you (purchased, leased, etc.). Most small businesses conduct both of these types of market research - customer surveys for primary information and by researching free or paying fees for secondary information. This is called "Combined" research.
Qualitative research is usually exploratory and has a direction or goal. It generally aims at specific issues in the subject matter and gives you a better idea in which direction you should proceed. This type of research is "loose" and is geared more towards finding a market or narrowing your market than it is towards getting specific information on that market and where your product fits within it.
Quantitative is much more rigid than qualitative marketing. This research gets much more accurate statistical results and information and is best used when your target market is already narrowed and you wish to find ways to reach or explore that market as well as find specific information on your product as it relates to that market.
Conducting your own market research is time-consuming, but is very well worth it if you have a need for information or if you are spending any considerable amount of money on your marketing for specific products or services.
Search Engine Marketing
This has, for a long time now, been a "hot phrase" in online marketing circles. I'm not sure why, since while it is generally an important part of a presence online, it is not the end-all-be-all of marketing on the Internet . Search engines have become one of the most expensive forms of advertising on the Web, but have also become one of the most effective. Great search engine marketing (read: placement, strategy, etc.) is done by professionals and takes a lot of time to do correctly. There are two types of search engines to market towards: search engines/directories and pay-per-click (PPC) engines.
Email Marketing
Marketing online using email is a touchy affair and can easily lead to many problems. Despite this, it is by far the most effective form of advertising online - bar none. An email advertisement to a targeted and strong list of people can generate responses of close to 1/3 (1 response for every 3 targets). That's phenomenal in ANY form of advertising.
There are three types of email marketing: SPAM/UCE, opt-in, and newsletter marketing.
SPAM/UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) is something that everyone, whether savvy online or not, has heard of. The word SPAM has risen from "questionable meat in a can" to "plague of the Internet" in the past three or four years. Despite its bad name - and any personal feelings I may have about it - SPAM is a very effective form of email advertising. If it weren't, it wouldn't exist.
Opt-In email advertising is extremely effective and carries very little of the weight of SPAM marketing. The idea is pretty basic: you create a list of email addresses and send marketing messages to them occasionally. The hard part is getting those names to start with. Usually other forms of advertising get your website going and this type propels it forward.
Newsletter marketing is similar to opt-in marketing, but includes useful information such as articles or insights. In fact, you're probably reading this article through a newsletter that is being used to market a business of some type or another . Newsletters can be time-consuming, but are well worth the effort. Some newsletter publishers supplement their income by running advertisements in their publications
If done right, a proper newsletter or opt-in list can greatly increase your success online. If you feel you don't have the time or skill to publish your own newsletter, there are those who will do it for you.
Mallya calls Gujarat prohibition a failure, govt reacts
Charging that prohibition in Gujarat has failed to stop illegal production and consumption of spurious liquor, United Breweries Group Chairman Vijay Mallya today virtually asked the state government to lift the ban on making and selling of alcoholic drinks. Mallya''s comments in the wake of the recent hooch tragedy, which claimed more than 100 lives, drew a sharp reaction from the Gujarat government.
"Unilateral assessment that the prohibition policy of the state was resposible for the tragedy from the largest producer of liquor who has vested interest in the business is unfortunate," health minister and state government spokesman Jaynarayan Vyas said. Mallya had said liquor prohibition in the state had failed to stop the illegal, unhygenic and unsupervised production of deadly spurious liquor and that the death of so many people should serve as "a wake-up call to our political hypocrites.
" "Chief Minister Naraendra Modi knows fully well that every brand of alcohol is available in the state of Gujarat at two or three times the price charged in neighbouring states. This means that the government of Gujarat is losing thousands of crores in potential revenue," he said.
But Vyas in Ahmedabad said Mallya''s statement has "come at a wrong time" and "the issue cannot be solely ascribed to prohibition policy or lethargy of police. It has far more complicated causes like deprivation due to poverty, reckless urbanisation and frustration among the poor.
Six Mega-Trends that Define India's Future
Writing a year ago, I looked at sharply rising (and indeed, record) oil prices and forecast the safe thing: an economic slowdown in 2006, after three years of rapid growth. An unkind colleague mailed me that article the other day, to underline human fallibility.
As far as I know, only one person forecast anything like what the Sensex achieved: something like a 50 per cent gain in the past year, starting from the already high levels of December 2005.
In fact, the member of Sebi (the stock market regulator) who daringly forecast the Sensex hitting 16,000 was hooted out by most commentators.
Despite this failure last year to tell the good news before it happened, the safe forecast this year too would be to stay with the thought that the business cycle has not been abolished, and that a slowdown has to appear on the horizon before too long -- especially since interest rates have been climbing, loans for cars and housing have become costlier, and the United States (the world's "consumer of last resort") is slowing down.
But the nagging worry is that, in choosing what looks like the safe forecast, we may simply be suffering from a fear of heights.
Commentators like Larry Summers and Ajay Shah, both writing on Business Standard's editorial page in recent days, have said in essence that there is reason to worry because there seems to be no reason to worry!
In other words, that this is just too good to last, and it could therefore be the calm before some as yet unseen storm. Since that is the kind of forecasting that no one can deal with or prepare for, what about staying with the assumption that the economy will continue to soar, without meeting Icarus's fate?
What would that mean? Four more quarters of handsome corporate results, and the Sensex at 20,000 a year from now? Another year of 20 per cent pay hikes? And hiring in the tens of thousands by a dozen and more firms that are burning the rubber in many different sectors? More foreigners telling us nice things about ourselves?
Like Goran Ivanisevic sending down one service ace after another, permanent good times can sound monotonous and almost boring. Except that China has been sending down those aces for a quarter of a century, and the story of its dramatic rise is anything but boring.
Still, better than attempting risky forecasts, it may be more productive to understand mega-trends. "Mega" because they cannot easily be reversed, have large ripple effects, and which therefore will define the future. I can think of half a dozen such
MEGA-TREND 1 is the acquiring of scale. The Indian economy, Indian companies and Indian markets were mostly small or tiny. Remember that the Ambani family wealth seven years ago was about Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) -- the same as Jignesh Shah's today. Don't know about him? He is a first-generation entrepreneur who is not yet 40.
The telecom market was 5 million connections 15 years ago; now it is over 180 million, and the fastest growing in the world. The fourth-largest phone company in India is now being valued at $20 billion. Or take commercial space: all of India's cities used to have office space totalling 40 million square feet. Now we are adding that much as new commercial space every year.
The total Indian car market was half a million vehicles in 2000; by 2010, a single company will be turning out twice that number, and India will be a small car manufacturing hub for the world. Companies, when they hired, used to do so in the hundreds; now the big ones do it in the tens of thousands.
On a visit to India some years ago, the chairman of General Electric (Jeff Immelt) said that whenever his company had bet on the Indian market, it had failed them; but whenever they had bet on the Indian people (Indian skills, that is), the bet had paid off. But by his last visit to Delhi, Immelt had changed his view: now the market is working too.
MEGA-TREND .2 is the spread of connectivity and awareness. In John Naisbitt's original identification of mega-trends, back in 1982, he called it networking.
Imagine the difference between a country that has 5 million phones and another with 180 million; between a country with 10 million TV sets and one with 120 million; between a country whose trucks move at 25 km per hour on the highways (counting the time taken for stops), and 50 km per hour.
Think of the consequences as Country No. 1 morphs into Country No. 2: better supply chain management, just in time delivery, and therefore scale of production if you can start at dawn and give delivery 500 km away by dusk (tomorrow it may be 800 km).
Think different awareness levels and therefore a different quality of decision-making; and think speed of response because you can reach someone on a mobile phone anytime anywhere. In short, think productivity gains -- which is what the growth story is all about.
MEGA-TREND 3 is the growth of the middle class -- talked about and anticipated for 20 years, but finally acquiring true scale. In 2001-02, there were 61 million Indians belonging to families that earned more than Rs 2 lakh (Rs 200,000) a year; by last year (2005-06), that number had crossed 100 million.
In 2009-10, the National Council for Applied Economic Research forecasts it will be 173 million. Marry that with growing urbanisation, and it is a safe guess that well over a third of all Lok Sabha constituencies will have a sizeable middle class and urban voter base. Think, then, of the many changes this might bring about. The obvious point is about growth of consumption, but we can go beyond that.
For instance, could it lead to a different type of politics and politician, because the urban voter is usually not thinking caste? The middle-class will expect (and increasingly demand) reliable power, clean water, comfortable mass transport systems. . .
Look at the pressures on the government in Delhi in recent years, to provide clean air, uninterrupted power, fast traffic, and responsive government-and you can see what could happen elsewhere in the coming years.
MEGA-TREND 4 has to do with the growing problems of growth. There is the environment: the increasing pollution of air (all those additional cars), the dropping of the groundwater table, and the failure to renew resources (like forests).
There is the energy question: do we really think the world oil market will not go haywire if we treble our consumption? The fact is that we are locked into a pattern of increasingly energy-intensive, resource-gobbling production and consumption from which there is probably no escape any more because everyone wants the western middle-class dream.
As surely as night follows day, then, there will be consequences. As someone said, other than weapons of mass destruction, the only thing that can extinguish human life is environmental change.
The third problem of growth is disparity, which is almost certain to increase (think all the way from executive jets and Bentleys to luxury watches and multi-crore apartments). How will this play in a democratic system, if others don't have food to eat and are committing suicide?
Consider then how politicians are trying to mediate the tensions: reservations of seats and jobs, cesses of various kinds to finance big spending programmes. . . If the rich have thought they can secede into gated residential communities and offices in corporate parks, hang on because outside reality will intrude.
Two statements were made at a conference I attended last year. One said: "Globalisation is a market efficiency project, but badly prepared to handle its political fall-out." The other said: "The issues are emotional. The solutions are technical. The decisions are political."
I interpret that to mean the issues will not go away.
MEGA-TREND 5 has to do with India's increasing openness to the world. The number of US visas issued in India doubled in 2006, to over 800,000 -- more than in any other country, barring Mexico. More Indian students are studying in other countries than those of any other nationality, barring perhaps China. Neither of these was remotely true 15 years ago.
The foreign trade component of India's GDP (if you include trade in both goods and services, like software) is now about 55 per cent -- nearly three times what it used to be. Foreign institutional investors own about 25 per cent of India's listed stock. And Indian firms were buying three overseas companies a week, through 2006.
A country that is open to the world reacts in fundamentally different ways from a closed system (of the kind that India used to be).
There is greater self-confidence, faster acceptance of new influences and ideas, a willingness to accept global benchmarking, and a speedier response to changing circumstance. It is simply a more adaptive and therefore a more efficient system. Translate that to mean more productivity growth.
MEGA-TREND 6 the continuing dominance of youth. Something like half of India is under 25, and it will remain that way for some time. This is usually spun around into the economic fact that a higher percentage of people will be in the working age till the mid-twenty-first century, but that is only one facet.
Youngsters are different from oldies in a hundred ways, and anyone can make a long list of the differences. How this will affect Indian society cannot really be predicted, except to say that it will be more mobile (think more migrants), and more volatile (stronger responses to frustrations-- one manifestation being the spread of extremist Left ideology in some 60 districts).
It will adapt faster to new trends, and marketers will be encouraged to focus on low-cost products and services because youngsters usually have less money. It will probably mean that the two-parent home (for nurturing children) will remain the predominant norm for long, and that there will be a strong saving habit because families will be planning (among other things) for their children's educational future.
Four of these six mega-trends have almost entirely positive implications; one is clearly negative, and the last can cut both ways. There could be other negative trends too, like the steady collapse of governance and the country's politics shooting off the tracks.
The first is (one hopes) more easily reversible than these six and therefore does not affect quality; and the second is more a risk than a trend.
If, therefore, you were to outline a medium-term future for the country, you would paint a mostly upbeat picture. After that, whether GDP growth is 8 per cent or 9 per cent is really a matter of detail.
