BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

News in Brief: Business & Economy

E&Y awards 2008

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Anil Agarwal, Executive Chairman, Vedanta Resources, has been named the Ernst &

Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2008.

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The Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred upon P.R.S. Oberoi, Chairman and

CEO, The Oberoi Group.

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The Entrepreneur of the Year Infrastructure and Construction Award was presented

to Jaiprakash Gaur, Founder Chairman, Jaypee Group.

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Gautam Thapar, Chairman and CEO, Avantha Group, was announced as the winner in

the Manufacturing Category.

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The Award for the Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year was given to Arvind Rao, CEO

and Co-Founder, OnMobile Global.

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The Services Category Award was given to Rohinton Screwvala, CEO of UTV

Software Communications.

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M. Vidyasagar, Executive Vice-President at TCS, has been named the recipient of the

IEEE Control Systems Award 2008 for his research in the field of control and systems

theory.

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IT training company NIIT together with Adobe has announced the launch of its e-GURU

Web and multimedia curriculum for school students.

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The e-GURU curriculum would cover the Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection–

Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Premiere, Encore, Soundbooth, AfterEffects,

Fireworks and Dreamweaver.

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The Whale Shark Day, a joint initiative of Tata Chemicals, Gujarat Forest

Department and Wildlife Trust of India — International Fund for Animal Welfare

(WTI-IFAW), was organised in the presence of spiritual guru Morari Bapu at Porbandar

recently.

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The whale shark was placed under Schedule One of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act,

1972. This development was triggered by the award-winning documentary film, "Shores

of Silence" by Mike Pandey.

 

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State Bank of India has launched 'Grameen Shakti' – a micro insurance scheme for its

Self Help Group (SHG) members.

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VE Commercial Vehicles, the joint venture between Eicher Motors and Swedish group

AB Volvo, is planning to cater to a complete range of mining application products.

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Carborandum Universal (CUMI), part of Rs 9,582-crore Murugappa Group, entered

in to an agreement with Volgograd region administration in Russia to set up 100,000-

tonne silicon carbide fusion plant.

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Ashley Design and Engineering Services (ADES), part of the Hinduja Group's flagship

company Ashok Leyland, has been renamed as Defiance Technologies.

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Ramanujam Sridhar has authored the book 'One Land, One Billion Minds' that was

released recently.

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American Express (AmEx), world's fourth-largest credit card issuer, has received a go

ahead from the US Federal Reserve to convert itself into a commercial bank.

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Antrix Corporation Ltd (part of ISRO), which globally markets Indian Remote Sensing

(IRS) Satellite data has been conferred the 'Mini-ratna' status by the Union government.

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Asarco will collect a $50 million break-up fee following the decision by Sterlite

Industries (India) to cancel a $2.6 billion purchase of the bankrupt US copper producer.

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SBI Life Insurance Co has launched its first group health insurance plan 'Criti9' for

State Bank Group customers.

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Hewlett-Packard (HP) has unveiled three laptops-Intersect, Renewal and Intensity

designed by famous designer Vivienne Tam.

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The UB Group will sell South African wines from Jonty Rhodes promoted 10 Chapter

Pty in India.

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The World Gold Council (WGC) has engaged HDFC Bank, to provide personal loans

to gold buyers and GC has also organised "Lucky Laxmi"–retail sales of gold jewellery

items across the country.

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US based Wyndham Group has tied up with Bangalore-based Royal Orchid Hotels to

open 10 Ramada hotels across the country.

 

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Following its early success in Maharashtra, Thomson Reuters launched Reuters Market

Light (RML) in Punjab.

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Trent Ltd, the flagship retail arm of the Tata group, has launched of its value format

store 'Fashion Yatra' in Mumbai.

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Worsted suiting manufacturer Digjam has tied up with Scottish premium fabric

manufacturer Holland and Sherry (H&S) to retail its products in India. The top offering

in the H&S range is the Vicuna Aymara fabric that costs Rs 7.5 lakh a metre.

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Bharatiya Janata Party member Babubhai K. Katara was expelled from the Lok Sabha

after an inquiry committee of the House held him guilty of "grave misconduct" for trying

to illegally take two persons abroad on passports belonging to his wife and son.

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LexisNexis Butterworths of Britain has merged with law book publishers Wadhwa of

Nagpur.

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Microsoft unveiled a family of mouse devices in India. The Arc Mouse combines the

functionality of a desktop as well as a portable mouse. The Sidewinder X5 is a mouse for

game consoles. The Explorer Mini Mouse has allows the user to roll it over any kind of

surface: a marble floor, a carpet, or a wooden table top.

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International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Straus-Kahn (59) is

under investigation for nepotism and possible abuse of power. Kahn, who had an

extramarital relationship with senior IMF economist Piroska Nagy of Hungary, is

accused of having helped her get a generous severance package on her departure from the

IMF.

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The Communist Party of China (CPC) issued a policy document on to allow farmers to

"lease their contracted farmland or transfer their land-use right" to boost the scale of

operation for farm production and provide funds for them to start new businesses.

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Tanishq Jewellery of the Tata Group launched a new collection for the festive season

called Aleya.

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Women's magazine Femina has changed its positioning from "The Woman of

Substance" to "Generation W".

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Coca-Cola India has launched a communication initiative, 'Deep Jala Ke Dekho'.

 

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New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys have joined Goldman Sachs and private

equity firm CIC Partners to form a food and retail company called Legends Hospitality

Management that will offer a broad range of sports business services with an initial focus

on operating catering, concessions, retail merchandising and other facility management

enterprises for major sports and entertainment facilities.

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Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata has donated $50 million to his alma mater, the 143-

old Cornell University in New York where he graduated as an architect in 1959. The

endowment consists of $25 million to establish the Tata-Cornell Initiative in

Agriculture and Nutrition. The other $25 million is set for the Tata Scholarship Fund

for Students from India, to help attract more of the best and brightest students to Cornell

from India.

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Utility vehicles maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd has launched Scorpio and Bolero

variants fitted with the FuelSmart system that enables the engine to automatically switch

off when idle, for instance at traffic lights, or when the vehicles are in neutral gear, and

restart once the driver releases the clutch pedal.

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Bloomberg News has filed a suit in a New York court under the 'US Freedom of

Information Act' against the US Federal Reserve after it refused to disclose the names of

those it has loaned money from the over $2 trillion emergency bailout funds set up from

US taxpayer's money.

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Bata India Ltd is venturing into the direct marketing sphere with the launch of Bata

Direct distribution channel.

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The Mudra Group has launched a specialised unit for sports marketing called '10

integrated' that will offer its clients a wide range of services including sports research,

licensing & merchandising, celebrity management consultancy and acquiring/creating

sports related entertainment content for television and internet.

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State Bank of India has received the Reserve Bank of India's approval for the proposed

joint venture company with Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS), for offering

custodial services in India.

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Pallab Sarkar of Hyderabad-based Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd (Midhani) has been

awarded 'Metallurgist of the Year 2008' in non-ferrous group by the Union Steel &

Fertiliser Ministry.

 

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FICCI has entered into 50:50 JV with American Society for Quality (ASQ) called

FICCI-ASQ Foundation for Innovation and Excellence.

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Representative from reactor majors Hitachi Ltd, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and

Toshiba Corporation, visited India for talks with Department of Atomic Energy

recently. The three leading Japanese firms are key members of global reactor

manufacturing alliances that are in the fray for new Light Water Reactor orders in India.

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Hitachi has a global alliance with General Electric Co for the nuclear power plant and

services businesses. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has a partnership with France's

Areva. Toshiba had earlier taken over US-reactor manufacturer Westinghouse

Electric's nuclear business.

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Royal Philips Electronics has acquired Mumbai-based Meditronics, a manufacturer of

general X-ray systems. The Netherlands-based company is looking to shift a chunk of its

R&D work to emerging markets.

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A Delhi High Court judgment has directed Pepsico India to remove the picture of a

"snow capped mountain" from the packaging of its bottled water brand Aquafina. The

objection was to the suggestion that the packaged mineral water originated in the

mountains. The court has also directed Pepsi to add the phrase "as per BIS standard" to

its label along with its "purity guaranteed" phrase.

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The Reserve Bank of India has decided to allow foreign companies to pick up to 49%

equity in Credit Information Bureau under the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) route.

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Xerox India has showcased its five top-of-the-line office products in the printer category

under the concept 'Colour-in-Office' with the promise of reducing the cost of colour

prints by more than three-fourths.

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EID Parry acquired 48% stake in Valensa International, a company engaged in

nutraceuticals based in Florida, USA.

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Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has partnered with the Apparel Export Promotion

Council (AEPC) in order to develop IT solutions for the 11,000-member companies

registered with the latter.

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State Bank of India and Indian Oil Corporation have joined the Volvo Ocean Race

India stopover team as official banker and partner respectively.

 

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Reliance Money, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has launched a ecommerce

Web portal called reliancemoneymall.com for a range of financial products.

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc has selected Mike Duke (58) to succeed Lee Scott as President

and Chief Executive Officer, effective February 1, 2009. Scott will continue serving as

Chairman of the executive committee of the board.

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Bajaj Entertainment Art Music Sports (BEAMS), a division of Bajaj International,

is planning to acquire television and radio channels to mark its entry into the media

industry.

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Dabur India Ltd has acquired a 72% stake in Fem Care Pharma Ltd (FCPL), a women's

skin care products company that owns brands such as Oxybleach cream, Botanica antiageing

cream, Stratum colour protecting hair conditioners, SAKA men's bleach and

Bambi fabric softeners.

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HCL Technologies has completed its mega-acquisition of UK-based SAP consulting

company Axon Group with a majority of Axon shareholders voting in favour of the

Indian company's 650-pence a share offer. This would mark the largest buy-out in the

Indian IT industry – surpassing Wipro's $600-million acquisition of Infocrossing.

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Taj Television Ltd, owners of Ten Sports, has won the exclusive production and telecast

rights for all international cricket tours of Pakistan.

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Chennai Super Kings, the Chennai franchise of the BCCI-IPL cricket team operated by

India Cements, has launched Kings Club, an official club membership programme. A

membership would offer the benefits of priority access to tickets and discounts for IPL

home matches, discounts on team merchandise and photo opportunities with the players.

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Nokia India has unveiled its "Touch Music" device, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and

announced the scheduled launch of its Nokia Music Store.

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State Bank of India has entered into a joint venture with Insurance Australia Group

(IAG) to enter the general insurance market. SBI already offers life insurance products

through its subsidiary, SBI Life Insurance Company, which is a joint venture between

SBI and the French financial services major BNP Paribas.

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Tata Chemicals will pick up 35% stake in JOil (Singapore) Pte Ltd, a jatropha

seedling company set up by Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory Ltd.

 

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