CURRENT AFFAIRS – 26th July’09 – 31st July’09

1. Ad agencies tie up with online cos to

cash in on digital media growth
The growth potential of digital advertising is prompting traditional ad agencies to join hands with
online companies.

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

“Online advertising is increasing rapidly and the deals are aimed at offering better solutions to
large brands,” he reasons.

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

Tapping this growth requires deeper relationships between stakeholders. Some data are with
agencies, some with publishers. To convince clients to put money into a new medium, the
stakeholders will have to work together. Agencies are tying up with publishers for consumer
research, data sharing, training and leveraging of technology platform.

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

Independent digital advertising agencies don’t feel any threat, though. Mahesh Murthy, founder
and CEO of Pinstorm, believes traditional ad agencies are yet to understand how to work in the
digital medium. Their structure, which separates creative and media buying, is not suited for the
integration that digital needs.

Moreover, their business models, based on flat fees or commissions, are also unsuited to the
performance-driven digital advertising industry. For this reason, he feels this space will probably
be led by independent digital agencies. Conventional agencies also realise that independent
digital ad agencies are tough rivals, according to industry observers.
The digital media industry will grow over 80% Y-o-Y as the base is quite small

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

2. Use of Facebook cuts productivity: Study

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

While it won’t make employers popular, restricting Facebook can reclaim lost productivity. A
new study by Boston IT advisory firm, Nucleus Research finds that, company that allow users to
access Facebook in the workplace lose an average 1.5 per cent in total worker productivity.

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

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

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

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

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

3. Godrej Consumer in takeover talks with

Sara Lee
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Mumbai, 26 July
Godrej Consumer Products is in discussions with Sara Lee Corp to acquire 100 per cent stake in
Godrej Sara Lee, a joint venture (JV) between Godrej group and the US-based firm, a top
company official has said.

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

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

GCPL is also in talks with Sara Lee Corp to acquire its majority 51 per cent stake in the JV. “Our
Board has approved purchasing the group’s 49 per cent stake (from the Godrej &Boyce
subsidiaries) in the joint venture. This process should be over within two months after getting
court approvals,” GCPL Executive Director and President, Hoshedar KPress, told PTI here. “We
are in discussions with Sara Lee to acquire their 51 per cent stake as well. This is a part of their
global divestment plan,” Press said. The purchase of Sara Lee’s stake in the JV will be at around
the same price at which GCPL intends to buy 49 per cent from its group companies.

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

After the merger is approved, holdings (assets and liabilities) of the two subsidiaries would be
transferred to GCPL, Godrej Group Chairman, Adi Godrej, told shareholders at the company’s
AGM. .

4. India to host Doha meet in Sept

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, 26 July

Happy with Commerce Minister Anand Sharma’s efforts to revive the stalled Doha multilateral
trade talks, World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy has confirmed his
participation at the trade ministers’ meeting being hosted by India in September.

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

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

“The WTO Director-General has expressed his satisfaction on the initiative of the commerce and
industry minister to organise the ministerial meeting,” the official said.
Trade ministers from around 30 key countries, including from the G-20 (a grouping of developing
nations), are likely to be present at the meeting. It is also likely to have representation from the
developed world such as the US and the European Union.

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

5. For Mozilla and Google, group hugs get

tricky
MIGUEL HELFT California, 26 July
Boxes lined the cubicles and hallways in the offices of Mozilla on a recent afternoon, and its
chief executive, John Lilly, seemed a bit disoriented as he looked for a place to sit. Mozilla,
which makes the Firefox Web browser, had just moved from one end of this city to the other,
mainly to gain more space for its growing work force.
Yet it was hard not to read symbolism into the move. Mozilla’s old offices were next door to
Google’s sprawling headquarters. For several years, Google has been Mozilla’s biggest ally and
patron. But in September, it also became Mozilla’s competitor when it unveiled its own Web
browser, Chrome.
So it seemed only natural for Mozilla to move out from under Google’s shadow.
“We’ve learned how to compete with Microsoft and Apple,” says Lilly, a softspoken, earnest 38-
year-old. “Google is a giant, of course, and competing with them means we are competing with
another giant, which is a little tiring.” Those big companies weren’t giving much thought to
browsers when Firefox was released in 2004, and neither were most ordinary Web users. A
browser was just a window onto the Web, and people used whatever was already installed on a
computer. Usually that meant Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
Since then, Firefox has captured nearly a quarter of the browser market by focusing on speed,
security and innovation. Its success is all the more remarkable because it was built and marketed
by a far-flung community of programmers, testers and fans — mostly volunteers — coordinated
by a nonprofit foundation. It is a shining example of the potential of open-source software, which
anyone can modify and improve, and its ascent is one of Silicon Valley’s most unusual success
stories.
 6. Seven new stealth frigates to be built in
India
India’s largest warship builders — Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL), Mumbai; and Garden Reach
Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata — have prevailed over the Indian Navy’s objections.
Business Standard has learned that MDL and GRSE will divide between them the entire order for
seven improved stealth frigates, code-named Project 17A.
The navy was insisting that the first two frigates of Project 17A be built abroad, so that MDL and
GRSE could learn how to build ships using new modular methods that are preferred by European
shipyards. This would have raised the price of Project 17A by more than Rs 5,000 crore.
MDL and GRSE countered that they possessed the technology and the experience for building
cutting-edge warships entirely in India.
Each Shivalik class frigate of Project 17 was priced at Rs 2,600 crore, and the navy plans to insist
on the same price for Project 17A. Building abroad would cost at least twice as much as building
at MDL and GRSE.
But the navy was focusing on early delivery, rather than cost. Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral
Sureesh Mehta, insisted on presenting before the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the
highest decisionmaking body in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the advantages of kicking off
Project 17A in a foreign shipyard. But Defence Minister AK Antony stepped in to order entirely
indigenous production.
At GRSE, a modernisation programme is underway to create the facilities needed for building
Project 17A. The Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Rear Admiral KC Sekhar, said a
fully equipped modular yard with a 250-ton Goliath crane will be ready in mid-2011. By then,
MoD sanctions will be in place and the navy would have completed the design of Project 17B.
Each Shivalik class frigate of Project 17 was priced at Rs 2,600 crore, and the navy plans to insist
on the same price for Project 17A
INDIA on Sunday achieved a historic naval milestone with the induction of its first indigenous
nuclear-powered submarine, ‘INS Arihant’.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared on the occasion that the country had no aggressive
designs but had to take all measures to safeguard itself.

7. Brand A-I: One too many

The cashless Maharajah must be hoping for a miracle to shed his excess baggage. Air India’s
mascot since 1946, the Maharajah keeps on smiling at us from the hoardings all over the country,
but the smile lacks cheer these days. For, India’s national airline is bankrupt.

Nacil (National Aviation Co of India Ltd that operates Air India) is expected to register a loss of
around Rs 5,000 crore in 2008-09, largely due to high operating expenses. Not that the airline was
making money earlier, but many in the aviation industry attribute the current crisis to the
government’s decision in 2007 to merge Indian Airlines (IA) with AI into one company. While
the idea was good as it could have achieved economies of scale, the shoddy implementation has
delivered a few hard knocks to brand Air India.
Look at the way the management has made a mess of the brand. The logo of the new airline is
now a redcoloured flying swan with the `Konark Chakra in orange, placed inside it. But
advertising and branding gurus are yet to figure out the reason for dumping the earlier logo – the
Centaur, a stylish version of star constellation Sagittarius — which had become a part of the
airline’s identity since 1948. Sagittarius, the archer, is the ninth sign of the Zodiac. The Greeks
represented this constellation in the act of shooting an arrow and it symbolised movement and
speed.

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

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

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

8. DoT wants Trai to limit number of telcos

CONFRONTED with the pending applications of 24 companies for telecom licences, the
department of telecom (DoT) now wants sector regulator Trai to cap the number of telecom
players who are allowed to offer mobile services in the country.
DoT in a communication to Trai (dated July 22) has asked the regulator to reconsider its earlier
recommendations where it had said that there should not be a cap on the number of telcos that
are allowed to offer telecom services in a circle.
The primary reason behind DoT’s move to approach the telecom regulator is that the Delhi
High Court, in a landmark judgement earlier this month, had quashed the communications
ministry’s notification announcing September 25, 2007, as the cut-off date for granting telecom
licences. This has opened up the pandora’s box for the government, as several of the 24
companies, which were denied licences on account of this cut-off date, are planning to drag the
communications ministry to the court. These 24 companies, which between them had filed about
343 applications, were denied licences on the basis of this cut-off date.
The story dates back to January 2008, when communications minister A Raja had arbitrarily
 announced that the first-come, first-served basis for allocating telecom licences, which come
bundled with 2G spectrum, will only be applicable to companies that applied before September
25, 2007. This was despite Mr Raja and DoT announcing earlier that the cut-off date for filing
applications was October 1, 2007.
A total of 46 companies had submitted applications for licences before the October 1 deadline.
But in January 2008, DoT said applications prior to September 25, 2007, would be considered.
The U-turn ensured that big names such as AT&T, Sterlite, DLF, Ispat and Moser Baer — all of
which applied after September 25, but before October 1, 2007 — were denied licences.
Several of these companies alleged that DoT changed the cut-off date, so that only a select
Indian companies such as Swan, Unitech, Loop, Datacom and Shyam get licences. So far, DoT
has provided no explanation for changing the cut-off date. Chennai-based STel had then
approached the Delhi HC after the company was granted licences for only six circles. The reason
cited was that the company had applied for licences in the remaining 16 circles after September
25, but before October 1, 2007. DoT had not processed STel’s applications for the remaining
circles, as these had come in after the cut-off date. STel had then demanded that DoT offer an
explanation for unilaterally setting on September 25 as the cut-off date.
The Delhi HC in its judgement then set aside DoT notification stating September 25, 2007, as
the cut-off date. DoT has now told Trai that there were 343 pending applications for telecom
licences while adding that there were already 12-14 operators offering mobile services in every
circle.

9. Intel, AMD slug it out for top slot in graphic

card market
INTEL and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), traditional rivals in the global chipset space, are
now set to take each other on in the $300-million Indian graphics card market. With the country
turning out to be a hub for graphic industries like animation and design, both the companies are
reworking their India strategies to grow their businesses in the computing segment.
The move has been triggered by the emergence of high-end games involving real-time 3D
rendering (such as first person shooting or racing games). A Ficci-KPMG study claims the
Indian animation industry alone will grow to Rs 3,900 crore from the current Rs 1,740 crore by
2013.
Global and domestic entertainment companies like DQ Entertainment, Yashraj Films, Disney,
MGM and Paramount have announced that they will tap the Indian market through
locallyproduced animation and graphics content. Such heavy-duty content development requires
standalone or discrete graphic cards against integrated graphics chipset (essentially graphic
capabilities within the computer motherboard). Integrated graphic chipsets are best suited for
basic applications like multimedia, high-definition videos, photos and digital music.
It is in the standalone space that Intel looks to grow, hoping in the process, to replicate its
market leadership in the integrated segment. To begin with, it plans to roll out next generation
graphic products and solutions, codenamed ‘Larrabee’, in India next year. It is also developing a
new micro-architecture on its existing platform. “The new products will open up a world of
 opportunity for both mainstream programming and graphic applications,” Intel South Asia
director (sales) R Ravichandran told ET.
AMD plans to significantly grow its market share in the professional segment, and is working
on a strategy to develop a product which will marry high-end computing and graphics in a single
chip. This product is currently under development in AMD’s R&D facilities in Bangalore and
Hyderabad.

10. Dell to model on Indian IT

DELL, the world’s second-biggest maker of personal computers after Hewlett-Packard, wants to
buy lean IT companies of the Indian school of outsourcing to improve its scale and credibility in
services. Dell makes almost 60% of its revenues from selling personal computers and has
established a support business for corporate PC users. It now wants to expand its services
business further into managing companies’ computer networks.
Steve Schuckenbrock, president of Dell’s large enterprise operations, said it was taking a
different route from rivals HP and IBM by helping firms strip out costs, rather than selling them
long consultancy and software contracts. The company, which has $10 billion in cash and short-
term investments, has said it wants to grow through acquisitions as well as organically, and
Schuckenbrock said Dell could use some help in establishing a reputation for services. “There’s
no question that we are interested in acquisitions to bring scale to our services business and to
bring more credibility to us as a services company,” he said.
Schuckenbrock, also responsible for Dell’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa,
reiterated that the company saw a little confidence returning to the US market.
The battle among industry giants is heating up with rivals such as HP and Cisco making large
acquisitions or expanding into new business areas. But Schuckenbrock said Dell was unlikely to
buy large companies. He said Dell admired companies such as Indian computerservices firms
who have branched out into managing customers’ networks, after saturating much of the market
for managing older business applications software.

11. Gangubai Hangal’s concert of life ends

MUSIC and Makhania Kuan in Patna. What do they have in common? As a stumbling kid, this
correspondent discovered the commonalities while cycling around three parallel roads in Patna
during Durga Puja nights. Makhania Kuan was one of them (Govind Mitra Road and Khajanchi
Road being the others) where Gangubai Hangal stole the night away from the other stalwarts —
Pandit Ravi Shankar and N Rajam — performing across.
Her vocal renditions eventually coalesced into a voluptuous, fullthroated love song. What more
would a young boy on the threshold of teens ask for than a full physical release of tonality where
the gender differentiator in a voice collapses.
Gangubai’s voice was magically masculine. Not out of providence, but as great masters wish it,
she willed it to be so. When a throat operation changed her voice, she said: “Now it is closer to
my guru’s voice.” Her guru was none other than Sawai Gandharva or ‘Second Celestial’ who
bridged the divide between North and South. Sawai Gandharwa was instrumental in converting a
quaint place like Dharwad in North Karnataka to an abode of Hindustani music. His practice
inspired and left behind younger masters such as Mallikarjun Mansur, Basavaraj Rajguru,
Bhimsen Joshi and, of course, Kumar Gandharva.
However, Hangal was, perhaps, the last representative of a generation that valued tradition and
simplicity over show. She had been singing publicly since the late 1920s after her first concert in
Kolkata where Kundanlal Saigal burst out with “Wah, bai, wah” and performed with a group that
was two generations younger.

12. Fed chief voted best credit crisis

manager

GLOBAL investors give federal reserve chairman Ben S Bernanke top marks for combating the
worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and overwhelmingly favor his reappointment
amid optimism that the world economy is on the mend. Sixty-one percent of investors surveyed
in the first Quarterly Bloomberg Global Poll say the world economy is stable or improving and
almost 75% take a favorable view of the 55-year-old chairman. By almost a three-to-one margin,
they say Bernanke has earned another four-year term when his current one expires in January.
“He’s the best, maybe around the world,” said Wallace Lin, an investment manager with Euro
Asset Management in Hong Kong, who participated in the poll. Investors ranked Bernanke
higher than his counterparts at other major central banks, including European Central Bank
President Jean-Claude Trichet. The vote of confidence strengthens Bernanke’s hand as he faces
congressional criticism that the Fed overstepped its authority by helping to rescue failing
financial institutions in the midst of the crisis. President Barack Obama has praised Bernanke’s
performance atop the central bank without saying whether he wants him to stay.
“If he weren’t renominated, it could have potentially very serious and severe repercussions on
the stock market and the economy,” said Jack Liebau, a poll participant and president of
Pasadena, California-based Liebau Asset Management Co. Martin Feldstein, a professor of
economics at Harvard University, praised the policy maker. Bernanke has “done a very good job
and I think he should be reappointed,” Feldstein said. The Poll is a survey of investors on six
continents. It is based on interviews from July 14 to July 17 with a random sample of 1,076
subscribers, who represent leading decision makers in markets, finance and economics. The poll
showed Trichet received a favorable rating of 54%, while Bank of England Governor Mervyn
King garnered 50% approval and China’s central-bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, received
42%. — Bloomberg

13. Fiat, Tata look to bring Ferrari,

Maserati here
ITALIAN auto giant Fiat and Tata Motors are in talks for a joint marketing project to sell
Ferraris and Maseratis in India, news reports said on Thursday.
Mr Tata, who is also a Fiat director, told Italian daily La Stampa the two were studying further
cooperation to add to existing projects such as a partnership to produce engines in India. “We
have various projects, to take the Nano to Latin America together, to share platforms for new
cars, we have projects for (Fiat lorry unit) Iveco and marketing Ferraris and Maseratis,” in India
Mr Tata said. “We are talking about a lot of things.”
Both Ferrari and Maserati brands are under Fiat’s control. Tata Motors is also present in the
luxury car business, having acquired the British brands Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.3 billion
from the US automaker Ford last year.
At the other end of the scale, Fiat and Tata are considering marketing the Tata Nano, the
world’s cheapest car, in Latin America, where Fiat has a strong presence. Brazil is Fiat’s second-
biggest market after Italy.
The Nano, the Rs 1-lakh car, hit the streets this month in India, and Tata has plans to export it
to Europe, South America and Southeast Asia.
The Nano passed the European “crash test” safety standard on Friday, allowing it to be sold in
the Europe market and a launch is foreseen at the end of 2011, Mr Tata said.
Fiat and Tata build cars, engines and gearboxes together in India, and Tata Motors is Fiat’s
distributor in India.

14. Sanofi-Aventis buys Shantha in high-

value deal

FRANCE’S biggest drugmaker Sanofi-Avenits on Monday agreed to buy Shantha Biotechnics in

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

Merieux Alliance bought a 60% stake in Shantha Biotech in 2006 and subsequently increased it
to about 80%. KI Varaprasad Reddy, who owns a 13.4% stake and is the founder of the
Hyderabad-based company, will continue as managing director. The deal involves Sanofi’s
vaccine arm Sanofi Pasteur acquiring ShanH — which owns nearly 79% stake in Shantha
Biotech — from Merieux Alliance.
Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Delhi-based Panacea Biotech are the country’s top two
vaccine makers. Exports account for nearly twothirds of country’s vaccine market, estimated at
nearly $1 billion.
“I see a lot of partnerships and stake sales taking place in the coming years. It helps foreign firms
benefit from India’s cost advantage and domestic players can tap the export potential through
such deals,” said Sarabhjit Kaur Nangra, head of research at Angel Broking.
Shantha Biotech shot to fame in 1997 after it became the first Indian firm to develop and market
a recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine. It employs over 700 people and markets a range of vaccines
in India and global markets. It also provides contract research and manufacturing services and
has a wholly-owned subsidiary in the US.

15. Gail lines up Rs 7,600 cr to set up

India’s longest gas pipeline

GAIL India, the country’s largest gas transportation company, will invest Rs 7,600 crore in
building India’s longest gas pipeline from Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia in West Bengal,
chairman & managing director of Gail UD Choubey said.
The two spur lines will link Barauni and Chhapra in Bihar with Gail’s pipeline network. It
currently operates 7,100 kms of gas pipelines and plans to double its network by March 2012
with an investment of around Rs 28,000 crore. Gail director (finance) RK Goel said funding the
project will be done through internal accruals and debt. Gail’s current debt, equity ratio is 0.12:1.
Hence, the company is in a comfortable position to borrow substantially, he said. The company’s
current net worth is around Rs 14,000 crore.
Giving details of the Jagdishpur-Haldia project, Mr Choubey said it would be executed in
phases. First 1,410 kms of pipeline will be laid from Haldia to Phulpur, along with spurlines to
various consumers like Hindustan Fertiliser Corp at Durgapur and Barauni, Fertiliser Corp of
India at Sindri and Barauni, power plant at Barh and Bettiah and in Patna, Chhapra, Siwan,
Gopalganj and Bettiah, he said.
In the next phase, spurlines and feeder lines will be laid for a length of 450 kms to Kolkata,
Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Varanasi and Allahabad and Sagardighi. In the last phase, the gas pipeline
infrastructure will connect SAIL’s plants at Durgapur and Bokaro and the petrochemical plant at
Barauni with Gail’s network.

16. China set to respond in kind to India

milk ban

CHINA, India’s biggest trading partner, has threatened to impose restrictions on imports of
food products such as seafood and sesame oil from the country if New Delhi doesn’t scrap its
ban on Chinese milk and milk products.
The Indian embassy in Beijing is in touch with the Chinese government on the issue, minister
of state for commerce and industry Jyotiraditya Scindia told the Lok Sabha on Monday. China
had replaced the US as New Delhi’s biggest trading partner in 2008-09.
Only recently, Beijing had locked horns with India over a partial ban on Chinese toy imports—
later extended to other countries. The two sides have also been at loggerheads over import
checks in the form of antidumping duties and safeguard duties (levies to stop import surges of
identified products) slapped on Chinese goods in the past year.
Mr Scindia said in response to the extension of the ban on milk and milk products including
chocolate and chocolate products from China till December 24, 2009, China’s quality
supervision and inspection department had conveyed that it had encountered food safety
problems in imported food products like seafood and sesame oil from India.
China warned that if India insisted on extending the ban on milk and milk products till the end
of the year, it would also act on its concerns about the quality of imported food products from
India.
India has imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese products like yarns, fabrics, nylon tyre cord,
colour picture tubes and some chemicals. It is also looking at imposing safeguard duties on
Chinese goods. According to commerce department officials, with demand drying up in the
slowdownhit Western markets, China had identified India as an easy market for dumping its
goods.
India-China trade rose sharply to $51 billion in 2008-09 from $38 billion in the previous fiscal.

17. WHO moots parallel checks on Indian

vaccines by Canada health watchdog

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has proposed a parallel review of vaccines
manufactured by Indian companies, to be carried out by the Canadian national regulatory
authority, in addition to the marketing approvals given by the Indian drug regulator.
“WHO has recommended a parallel review of vaccine submissions for marketing authorisation.
For this purpose, WHO has proposed a parallel review project with biologics and genetic
therapies directorate of Health Canada to develop further the capacity of the Indian regulatory
authority,” a health ministry official said.
WHO had disqualified the Indian drug regulatory authority Drug Controller General of India
(DCGI) in 2007 after the regulatory system was found not up to the mark during a WHO audit.
Consequently, all new vaccines made by Indian manufacturers were barred from receiving the
global agency’s approval.
Even though WHO lifted the embargo in April 2009, officials in the health ministry say the
recommended move from WHO will strengthen the Indian regulatory system and bring it in line
with international standards.
“A double check of India-made vaccines by Health Canada will consolidate our efforts to
ensure highest level of quality, safety and efficacy of vaccines used in international
immunisation programmes,” the official said.
“Although major progress has been made, the WHO NRA assessment team issued some
specific recommendations that need to be implemented to consolidate the Indian NRA efforts to
reach the highest level of performance,” a letter from WHO to DCGI said.
The Indian vaccine industry is valued at around Rs 2,000 crore. Out of this, exports are
estimated to account for around Rs 1,600 crore. WHO procures around 60% of the global supply
of diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DPT) and BCG (bacille calmette-guérin) vaccines from India. It
also procures almost 90% of measles vaccines from the country.
Domestic vaccine manufacturers are required to obtain approval from the DCGI before
submitting a pre-qualification application of their vaccines to the WHO. Following this, a joint
audit of the manufacturing facility is conducted by WHO and Indian regulatory officials before
the vaccine receives final approval.
 18. Samsung Launches New 500 Gigabyte
per Platter Hard Drive Line-up for
Servers and Desktop PCs
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a worldwide leader in digital consumer electronics and
information technology, announced today its new line-up of high-density hard drives for high-
end computing environments, the Spinpoint F3.
The F3 operates at 7200RPM with offerings of up to 1 Terabyte (TB) data storage capacity by
using two 500 Gigabyte (GB) per platter disks. As well as meeting data center requirements for
addition storage to meet rising demand and increasing performance needs, the new drives also
deliver high-performance with lower power for desktop computers and servers.

The Spinpoint F3 utilizes advanced 500GB per platter technology, so that two-platter 1TB
capacity is achieved.. Increased areal density per platter provides up to a 30 percent higher
performance than a three-platter 1 TB in the same 3.5" form factor. A reduction in mechanical
parts also contributes to enhanced reliability in terms of anti-shock and data failure.

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

19. Effective Personal Protection for Use

When Safety Is Threatened
SAN DIEGO, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Visualize walking at night to your car after an evening
dining out with co-workers. The streets are dimly lit and no one is in sight. Slowly, you put the
keys in the door of your vehicle thinking nothing of the impending danger right behind you. A
person forcefully grabs you, takes all your belongings and rides off in your car. A casual dinner
has now turned into a nightmare. This is a very real situation that can happen to anyone but there
are steps that can be taken to divert such traumas.

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

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

PTI has a long history of providing non-lethal weapons for military, government, corrections,
private security and major agencies including the Federal Bureau of prisons, the United States
Border Patrol, thousands of police and sheriff departments, private entities, security services and
bail enforcement agencies around the world since 1999. With over 15 million projectiles and
16,500 launchers sold since its inception, PTI personal defense systems have been proven to be
highly effective and safe with no reported serious injuries.

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

bilateral trade

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

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

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

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

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

RECORD TRADE GAP

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

Geithner said the two sides agreed to take steps to bring trade more into balance but did not
mention currency concerns.

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

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

Beijing also dislikes that it is still considered a "non-market" economy under U.S. trade law.
 21. BP sees 2009 refinery rates higher
than 2008

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

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

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

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

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

Conn said market volumes for all refined products were down about 5 percent in both the second
quarter and the first half of the year primarily due to falling business-to-business sales. But the
company sees an uptick of volumes in business-to-consumer sales in the second quarter.

BP reported that global refining volumes for the second quarter were 2.269 million barrels per
day compared with the 2.246 million barrels per day seen in the first quarter.

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

22. Warner Bros. Pictures International

Surpasses $1 Billion in Box Office for the
Ninth Consecutive Year
Warner Bros. Pictures International has surpassed the $1 billion threshold in international box
office revenue for the ninth consecutive year. The announcement was made today by Veronika
Kwan-Rubinek, President, Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures International.
Warner Bros. Pictures International pushed past the $1 billion mark with the launch of Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last week. The latest franchise entry now holds the record for
the highest-grossing international opening, industry-wide with $236 million, and in the first eight
days of release, became one of the fastest films to surpass the $300 million mark. The cumulative
total through the second weekend is $405.3 million.

Warner Bros Pictures International has been the market leader in five of the last eight years. The
Division has surpassed $1 billion in grosses a total of twelve years, and was the first to hit the $2
billion mark twice, in 2004 and 2007, the latter of which, at $2.24 billion, continues to hold the
record for the highest ever international gross for a single studio.

23. Netherlands smash record to win relay

gold
ROME (Reuters) - Olympic champions the Netherlands smashed their own world record to take
gold in the women's 100 meters freestyle relay at the world championships Sunday.

The Dutch quartet of Frederike Heemskerk, Magdalena Veldhuis, Inge Dekker, Ranomi
Kromowidjojo triumphed in a time of three minutes 31.72 seconds to take almost two seconds
off their mark of 3:33.62 from last year.

They had to come from behind after Britta Steffen broke her own mark to set a new individual
100m world record of 52.22 and give Germany the lead in the first leg.

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

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

Australian team member Meagen Nay, whose brother was killed in a car crash this weekend, did
not take part in the final after racing in the qualifying heat earlier Sunday.

24. Microsoft, Yahoo agree on ad

partnership: source
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc have agreed to an online search and
advertising partnership, in an attempt to rival Google Inc, that will be announced within 24
hours, a source familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

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

The deal should give Bing a giant boost in competing with Google's search engine. Google's
search engine dominates the marketplace with 65 percent of U.S. Internet searches, according to
figures provided by research firm ComScore. Last month, Microsoft had only 8.4 percent of the
market and Yahoo 19.6 percent.

There is a chance a deal combining the powers of the second and third-ranked search engine
companies would be blocked by antitrust regulators. Google and Yahoo dropped plans for an
advertising partnership last year under opposition from the U.S. Department of Justice.

That could trigger federal regulation limiting the ability of companies like Yahoo to collect data
from users' searches and share it with partners, said Gillis, which would remove a key advantage
of the partnership.

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

25. Subprime mortgage companies warn

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

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

Their concerns about financing payments for defaulted homeowners comes as pressure mounts
from Congress, regulators and state legislators for servicers to do more for the plan, which aims
to slow foreclosures and modify loans. The U.S. Treasury wants the companies to spend more on
its resources, including hiring staff and expanding training programs.

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

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

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

The group since September has approached the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and Congress for
help in funding the temporary "advances" that are fully reimbursed when a loan is modified or
foreclosed, Rose said. Help offered through the Fed's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan
Facility (TALF,) which allows for the pooling of advances for sale to investors, has backfired,
and is increasing financing costs, he said.

Standard & Poor's this month delivered a blow to Carrington and other potential issuers of
TALF-eligible bonds backed by servicing advances, by sharply discounting the value of the
assets that would go into the deals, Rose said. For Carrington, that would mean just 64 cents of
every dollar in assets would garner a AAA rating, the blessing required for inclusion in a TALF
deal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

" Whereas New Yorkers may once have been preoccupied with earning high salaries, they appear
now to be putting a greater emphasis on finding love.

Compared with past years, Cleveland, Ohio, is the biggest gainer, moving up 24 spots from 38 to
14, while Providence, Rhode Island moved up 18 spots to No. 15

27. Schwarzenegger signs long-awaited

California budget

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a package of

bills on Tuesday to balance the state's budget, which should allow the state to stop issuing IOUs
instead of paying bills and to prepare for a crucial sale of short-term debt.

Schwarzenegger said in a statement his signed budget would plug the deficit largely with
spending cuts of $16.1 billion and some one-time moves while excluding tax increases. It also
maintains a $500 million reserve, which analysts have said the state government likely will need
should its revenue slump persist.
That emergency measure allowed the state to preserve cash for priority payments, including debt
servicing payments to investors holding its cash. Two credit ratings agencies this month cut their
ratings on California's general obligation debt to near "junk" status amid growing concerns over
the state's finances and cash holdings.

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

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

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

28. Governor "Terminator" Kills AIDS

Program
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the US` largest AIDS organization as well as the operator
of California`s largest alternative HIV testing program, today condemned Governor
Schwarzenegger`s gutting of California`s lifesaving HIV/AIDS programs as he approves a
budget plan that includes millions of dollars worth of cuts to the state`s HIV/AIDS education,
prevention, counseling & testing, housing and treatment services.

Today`s cuts to HIV/AIDS programs include: an 80% reduction in funding for Education &
Prevention, a 70% cut in HIV Counseling and Testing, a 50% cut for Early Intervention (that
provides primary medical care), a 100% cut in Therapeutic Monitoring Program (the program
that monitors the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS drugs administered through the state`s AIDS Drug
Assistance Program), a 20% cut in Housing and more than a 50% cut in funding for Home and
Community-Based Care.

"With a single stroke of his blue pencil, Governor Schwarzenegger has terminated the state`s
AIDS programs and, along with it, the lives of some of the state`s most vulnerable citizens," said
Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "The Governor`s heartless act is
not only deadly, but guaranteed to cost California taxpayers millions more in the future. With
HIV testing programs sidelined and the state`s ability to prevent new infections stymied, new
infections in California will increase-each new infection can mean up to $600,000 dollars in
lifetime health care costs. A 100% cut to the Therapeutic Monitoring Program is the definition of
penny-wise and pound-foolish-with the ability to monitor the effectiveness of lifesaving AIDS
drugs hampered, the state`s already cash-strapped AIDS Drug Assistance Program will only end
up spending more for drugs."

"Governor Schwarzenegger`s unilateral decision to essentially dismantle the state`s lifesaving

HIV/AIDS programs will cost lives, endanger the public`s health, and constitutes negligence,"
said Whitney Engeran-Cordova, Director of AHF`s Public Health Division. "The state`s ability
to identify people living with HIV is now severely crippled-creating an enormous obstacle to the
prevention of new infections and linking those who need it to treatment. Not only will the
Governor`s callous funding cuts devastate those living with HIV/AIDS who rely on the services
the state provides to stay alive and healthy, but today`s cuts also pose a serious threat to our
shared responsibility to combat the spread of HIV in California."

29. Burger King Corp. Named One of "40

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

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

The "40 Best Companies for Diversity" list is included in the July 2009 edition
of Black Enterprise and is a comprehensive analysis of the top 1,000
publicly-traded companies and 50 leading global companies with U.S. operations.

ABOUT BLACK ENTERPRISE

BLACK ENTERPRISE (BE), your ultimate source for wealth creation, is the premier
business, investing, and wealth-building resource for African Americans. Since
1970, BE has provided essential business information and advice to
professionals, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and decision makers. Every
month, Black Enterprise magazine provides 4.3 million readers with information
on entrepreneurship, careers, and financial management. A multimedia company, BE
also produces radio and television programming, business and lifestyle events,
Web content, and digital media. Black Enterprise is the definitive source of
information for and about African American business markets and leaders, and the
authority on black business news and trends.

ABOUT BURGER KING CORPORATION

The BURGER KING system operates more than 11,800 restaurants in all 50 states
and in 74 countries and U.S. territories worldwide. Approximately 90 percent of
BURGER KING restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees, many
of them family-owned operations that have been in business for decades. In 2008,
Fortune magazine ranked Burger King Corp. among America's 1,000 largest
corporations and Ad Week named it one of the top three industry-changing
advertisers within the last three decades. Through its BK Positive StepsSM
corporate responsibility program, the BURGER KING system is committed to being a
socially responsible brand in all areas of its business - food, people, the
environment and corporate governance.

30. Dalai Lama says capitalism can learn

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

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

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

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since fleeing a failed uprising against Chinese rule in
1959. He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize.

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

AN "UNLIKELY PAIRING"

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

31. Genpact to bid for UID project

India’s largest business process outsourcing (BPO) firm, Genpact, plans to bid for the union
government’s Unique Identity (UID) project and is likely to enter a tie-up with IT players who
can work on the hardware aspect.

“Other than the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) segment, government is a key
sector for Genpact in India. We will be focused more on the process optimisation aspect than on
the IT. But since there is a small aspect of hardware involved in the government deals, we think
we are capable of handling this, as well as get into tieups if required,” said Harpreet Duggal,
Senior Vice President and Business Leader India, Genpact.

The NYSE-listed BPO forayed into the domestic market nine months ago and has already signed
four customers from the banking and finance and travel segments. The company is in the final
stages of signing three to four deals. It serves customers from its centres in Jaipur and Hyderabad
and has plans to further expand into tier-II cities.

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

32. India launches its first indigenous

nuclear submarine
India today achieved a historic naval milestone with the induction of its first indigenous nuclear-
powered submarine ‘INS Arihant’, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that the
country had no aggressive designs but had to take all measures to safeguard itself.
On the occasion, the prime minister said: “The government is fully committed to ensuring the
defence of our national interest and the protection of our territorial integrity. As part of this, the
government will continue to render all support to the constant modernisation of the Armed
Forces.” With today’s induction, India has become the sixth country after the US, Russia, France,
the UK and China to possess anuclear-powered submarine.
With this, India also announced the completion of its nuclear triad, the capability to launch
nuclear-tipped missiles from land, water and sea.
“The sea is increasingly becoming relevant in the context of India’s security interests and we
must re-adjust our military preparedness to this changing environment, and our Navy has a huge
responsibility in this regard,” he added.
INS Arihant is a ballistic missile submarine armed with 12 K-15 missiles, each capable of
carrying a 500-kg nuclear warhead, having a range of 750-km.

33. Social networking sites lead in

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

They karaoke to Kher’s track straight from their mobile phones over ibibo’s proprietary voice
platform and even upload it to the social networking site (SNS). Kher is amazed by the hundreds
of karaoke uploads driven by his track. “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that people
will be singing my songs in their voice through a mobile,” says Kher.

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

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

Indian networking sites such as BigAdda have been quick to tie up with Channel V for their
popular reality music show LaunchPad. International networking portal MySpace too has
launched a separate digital platform called Music Central that allows artists to take their work to a
wider audience. As a result, BigAdda’s LaunchPad page has over 20,000 members and over 115
videos of various bands participating in the show. “We are delighted to provide a platform which
gets artists recognition and helps them in furthering their career,” says Mandar Natekar, head of
revenue and marketing, BigAdda.com .

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

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

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

While Ladia rules out such a product for Bschools, he says that the tool is being developed for
subjects mostly in the science stream. Edukite also plans to include television based education
programmes using animation technology for reaching a wider audience of teachers and students.

Ladia feels the current products available for e-learning tools are more of video medium and
hardly carry any interactivity for students and teachers alike. "Our aim is to enhance the students’
understanding of advanced concepts, and also bolster their knowledge of fundamental principles.
There are very few companies across the globe who actually have both design and programming
talent inhouse which enables them to build hands-on activities and experiments. And there is no
better way to learn than to do it yourself and then figure out things," he further adds.

Edukite Learning is in talks with prospective partners in Egypt, Turkey and Russia for various
education related projects. The company currently has a very strong base in South Africa and is
working on numerous government projects.
35. Leeds to set up first Indian campus in
Bhopal
The UK-based Leeds Metropolitan University is setting up its first international campus in
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The campus, being set up in association with JSWS, a non-profit
making registered society in Bhopal which operates educational institutions, is the institution’s
sole destination in South-East Asia.

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

The course fee for all the courses except International hospitality business management is Rs 8
lakh. The international hospitality business management course fee is over Rs 10 lakh. All the
courses will have 30 seats each. The admission criterion for these courses is 60 per cent overall in
10+2 and 60 per cent in English language.

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

36. Bollywood stars less than animated in

ad world

ANIMATION and advertising, separated at birth, seem to be pairing up to create an all-

consuming onscreen culture. The animated model is fast replacing celebrities on the endorsement
circuit. These blown-up “characters” are now selling everything — from cell phones and fizzy
drinks to cough lozenges and air-fresheners.
Companies like Vodafone, Virgin Mobile, Reliance Communications, Coca-Cola and Reckitt
Benckiser are using animation-based advertising to come through the clutter of celebrity overkill,
make cost-effective ads and, in some cases, rejuvenate brands. Coca-Cola is set to kick off a
campaign for its lemon drink Limca starring animated characters, despite having popular model
Sushma Reddy as the brand’s face. Vodafone’s series of ads using the eggshell ZooZoos pushed
the who’s who of Bollywood Alisters, including Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and Vidya
Balan, promoting rival Bharti Airtel out of the spotlight.
ZooZoo became an overnight sensation during the Indian Premier League this summer. All 27
ZooZoo commercials were aired back-to-back on 15 channels recently. “The aim was to push the
boundaries and create benchmarks of disruptive communication,” said Ajit Varghese, MD of
Maxus, Vodafone’s media buying agency.
Virgin Mobile chose animation characters Pebbleheads to popularise its brand late last year.
Reckitt Benckiser is using Mrs Raccoon for Air Wick air-fresheners and Mr T for Strepsils throat
lozenges. Pebbleheads commercials made their debut with a 50-paisa offer late last year. “The
Pebble World breaks the shackles which normal creatives could get confined to. It also helps us
spin youthrelevant stories,” says Virgin Mobile chief marketing officer Prasad Narasimhan.
Coca-Cola’s 3D animation campaign for Limca, to rollout on August 1 across all media, will
see the company entering the full-fledged animation space for the first time. “Animation gives us
a lot of possibilities that real life commercials don’t and research tells us animation now appeals
to people across ages,” says Coca-Cola India general manager, marketing (flavours), Srinivas
Murthy. The beverage maker, which has the likes of Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar and Shah
Rukh Khan as endorsers for various brands, says it is open to experimenting with animated
characters in the future, too.

37. Ess Dee Aluminium may buy Italian co

ESS DEE Aluminium, a leading provider of packaging solutions, is in advanced talks to buy
Comital, an Italian firm almost five times its size, for $125-150 million. A deal will help Ess Dee
Aluminium expand its presence in the consumer packaging business and ramp up global
operations. “We have been looking overseas for acquisition opportunities. But I have no
comments to make on any specific transaction,” said Sudip Dutta, CMD of Ess Dee Aluminium.
Mr Dutta owns close to 60% of the publicly listed firm, which provides packaging solutions for
drugmakers and food industry.
Comital is majority owned by Milan stock exchange-listed investment group Management &
Capitali. Comital group had revenues of $403 million for the year ended December 2008. Bank
of America Merrill Lynch is the banker facilitating the transaction.
The Italian acquisition will give Ess Dee a significant presence in Europe. Almost two
thirds of the revenues of Comital comes from the Italian market, with the rest of Europe
accounting for another third. Comital could also help the Indian firm expand into consumer
packaging business.

38. Mahindra Satyam loses Railways’ tech

contract
INDIAN Railways has cancelled a locomotive management system (LMS) contract awarded to
Satyam Computer Services (now Mahindra Satyam) in January this year, after the company
failed to meet the deadline for submitting required financial details and start working on the pilot
project.
“After non-delivery of the pilot, we served a notice around one-and-a-half months ago,” a
senior railways official told ET. He requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak
with media about vendors and contracts. While the value of the LMS contract is less than Rs 100
crore, it could help vendors chase similar contracts worth up to Rs 3,000 crore more effectively.
Apart from Mahindra Satyam, rivals, TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL are all aggressively bidding
for these contracts.
“We have already received three applications, including from Wipro, after we issued a new
tender for the same project,” he added. Railways has now invited other vendors including Wipro
to bid for the project.
Mahindra Satyam had emerged as the lowest bidder for the first in a series of outsourcing
contracts worth almost Rs 2,000 crore to be awarded by Indian Railways in January earlier this
year.
When contacted, a Mahindra Satyam spokesman said his company could not produce the
audited financial statements for past three years, which led to the cancellation of the contract.

39. ATC in race to buy Aircel towers

NASDAQ-listed American Towers (ATC) is set to join the race to buy out telecom company
Aircel’s 12,000 plus towers. ATC will join the Tata-Quippo combine and a clutch of private
equity players who are set to place bids for Aircel’s towers, an industry executive tracking the
development told ET.
Aircel has set July 24 (Friday) as the deadline for all potential bidders to respond to its
information memorandum, following which the telco will shortlist potential bidders, and the
process is expected to take over six months, this industry executive added.
Contradicting their views, another industry executive with a tower company said that
valuations had fallen further since the Tata-Quippo merger in December 2008, while adding that
Aircel was likely to get only about Rs 50 lakh per tower at current rates. When contacted, ATC
said that the company does not comment on speculations.
Aircel is the only telco amongst large operators that has not hived off its towers into a separate
entity. Towers are critical physical infrastructure that transmits voice and data signals to mobile
users. All large telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Reliance
Communications and Idea cellular, have demerged their towers and other physical infrastructure
into separate companies.

40. Sony makes $50-m bid for MJ’s

rehearsal video
SONY Pictures has offered a whopping $50 million to Michael Jackson’s concert promoters
AEG for the global distribution rights to a film that they are planning to make based on the
singer’s last rehearsal footage. The director and choreographer of Jackson’s comeback shows
‘This Is It’, Kenny Ortega, has been in talks with a number of Hollywood studios to make a film
on the final days of Jackson.
Sony Pictures plans to produce the feature-length documentary chronicling the final days of
‘King of Pop’ in partnership with AEG Live and Jackson’s estate. The concert organisers owns
over 80 hours of Jackson footage, shot as he prepared for his concerts at London’s O2 Arena and
three videos Jackson had shot that were going to run during the concerts, including an alternate
version of the pop icon’s now classic Thrillervideo. AEG is reportedly hoping to get back the
$30 million they spent setting up the comeback shows through the deal. Other rival studios such
as Universal, Fox, Warner Bros and Paramount Pictures are also bidding for distribution rights.

41. Sun Pharma arm faces class action

suit in US
CARACO Pharmaceuticals, the US arm of Sun Pharma, has been slapped with a class action suit
in the United States for allegedly failing to disclose adequate information about US regulatory
action that hurt its shares, rendering India’s most valuable drugmaker vulnerable to the prospect
of hefty payouts as damages.
US-based law firm Izard filed the case on behalf of some of Caraco’s shareholders in a
Michigan court on July 17. The law firm has also asked other shareholders, who bought Caraco
shares between May 2008 and June 2009, to join the litigation.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started inspections at Caraco’s Michigan plant in
May 2008 and issued Form 483, a special form that points out deviations during inspections from
standard US manufacturing practice.
The developments saw the Caraco stock plunge to $2.39 last month from about $10 in May
last year. Sales in the US, the world’s largest drug market, account for a third of Sun Pharma’s
total annual sales of Rs 4,272 crore. Its shares too took a beating here too, falling 12% on June 26
on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). “If this is not handled properly, it can potentially
snowball into a major problem for Sun Pharma,” said a top industry executive who asked not to
be named. An email sent to Caraco on Tuesday evening did not elicit any response.

42. Lauda believes Schumacher's return

will boost F1
LONDON: Former world champion Niki Lauda believes Michael Schumacher's shock return to

Formula One will help revitalise the sport.

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

Schumacher is widely regarded as the sport's greatest champion and Lauda, who won three world
titles, hopes his comeback will take attention away from the political rows that have dragged F1
through the gutter in recent months.

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

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

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

43. India launches its first indigenous

nuclear submarine
Prime minister says the country has no aggressive designs

India today achieved a historic naval milestone with the induction of its first indigenous nuclear-
powered submarine ‘INS Arihant’, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that the
country had no aggressive designs but had to take all measures to safeguard itself.

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

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

44. RCom bags Rs 10k-cr Etisalat deal

RELIANCE Communications (RCom) has bagged a 10-year, Rs 10,000-crore passive

infrastructure sharing deal from new operator Etisalat DB, earlier known as Swan Telecom.
RCom will provide end-to-end tower and transmission infrastructure to Etisalat DB in the 15
circles, where it has spectrum to offer cellular services.
Reliance Infratel, the company’s tower arm, will provide passive infrastructure, while RCom
will meet Etisalat DB’s transmission infrastructure requirements. Passive infrastructure includes
tower space for mounting antennas, shelter, air-conditioner, earthing and battery bank.
Transmission infrastructure refers to connectivity from customer premises to sites, bandwidth to
connect core network and carriage on bulk basis. “For Etisalat, this agreement presents large cost
optimisation benefits with an asset-light model. For us, it will improve capital productivity and
enhance our revenues by Rs 10,000 crore,” Inder Bajaj, who heads the Infratel business, told ET.
RCom will host Etisalat on 30,000 sites, which will be handed over to the telco in the next 18
months. “We are also in talks with existing and new operators for similar infrastructure sharing
deals,” he added.
“This win-win agreement demonstrates Reliance Communications capabilities to enable the
operators to go-tomarket with a bouquet of telecom infrastructure services,” RCom chairman
Anil Ambani said in a statement in Mumbai on Wednesday. Etisalat chairman Mohammad
Hassan Omran said: “As a new entrant in this dynamic market, this alliance provides us with
strategic advantages that will ensure a robust, speed to market and cost-effective rollout of
services. Strategic alliances are an integral part of our plans for growth and the Etisalat Group
will always be receptive to such alliances, which help enhance the customer experience.”
Typically, rent for a telecom tower ranges from Rs 24,000 to Rs 40,000 depending on the
location, whether the tower is ground-based or roof-based and the number of tenants. RCom has
an average of 1.6 tenants on its 50,000 towers across India. Many of its towers are hosting both
CDMA as well as GSM infrastructure, while some cater to only one of the two services. New
operators are increasingly outsourcing their infrastructure, call centre services and IT
requirements to cut down on capex and time-to-market.
45. Cos flash brands to raise cash
Mallya Joins Growing List Of Owners Pledging Brands, To Raise Rs 2k Cr BEER-TO-
AIRLINE tycoon Vijay Mallya knows the value of brands. And he’s pretty good at convincing
even the most traditional of bankers that brands have value and worth.
Recently, the audacious 55-year-old chairman of the UB Group convinced conservative,
government-owned State Bank of India (SBI) to accept the Kingfisher airline brand — registered
separately from its beer and wine brands — as collateral to raise Rs 2,000 crore in debt. It’s not
that others haven’t monetised brands to raise cash. They have. But what others haven’t managed
to do is to convince public sector banks to accept brands as collateral.
“Earlier, only private sector banks were lending against intangibles, and that too selectively
and only as a top-up to other collateral. But with transactions involving brands and intellectual
property becoming commonplace, even public sector banks seem to be getting comfortable,”
says Sanjeev Agarwal of audit and consulting firm Ernst & Young.
In an environment where credit is relatively scarce and lenders cautious, companies like
Kingfisher are recognising the value hidden in intangible assets such as intellectual property,
brands and customer relationships. Which perhaps explains why such assets have begun to play
an increasingly significant role in capital raising and bank lending.
 46. Kingfisher airline brand worth Rs
1,900 cr
SOMETIME ago, New Delhi-based LT Foods (earlier called LT Overseas) used its
Daawat brand of packaged rice as collateral to raise debt for its $50 million (Rs 200
crore) acquisition of US-based rice firm Kusha Inc.
Mr Agarwal says that in the past six months he has been part of similar deals
involving as many as five-six companies and as many brands. He did not disclose any
details, citing client confidentiality.
Globally, many companies have used their brands’ value to open lines of credit.
Perhaps the most famous example is Walt Disney, which did so in 1988 in the
Japanese market to raise as much as $725 million.
Mr Mallya’s UB Group itself has leveraged brands to raise funds for recent
acquisitions. The group’s liquor business — United Spirits — offered some of its
leading whiskies like Bagpiper and a few Whyte & Mackay brands as collateral to
raise over Rs 6,000 crore from institutions such as ICICI Bank.
Other Indian companies, ranging from a leading Mumbai-based retailer to an
Ahmedabad-based apparel maker have in the past pledged their brands to banks.
While lending against tangible, ‘visible’ assets such as capital, land, buildings and
factories is the norm, increasingly borrowers and lenders are coming around to the
view that value needs to be unlocked from intangibles too.
For one, intangibles hold an over twothirds share of enterprise value for Indian
companies, according to a two-year old global study on intangible assets by the
London-based Brand Finance Institute. Moreover, the fact that many businesses have
exhausted all sources of tangible assets for raising debt means India Inc will have to
look at structuring capital deals around intangibles like brands.
In the case of Kingfisher Airlines — it is registered as a separate brand with the
trademark office, distinct from beer and wine — the move to value the airline brand
separately was initiated early last year when the company initiated talks with private
equity funds to raise $400 million.
The brand’s worth, estimated at around Rs 1,900-crore, has been included in the
balance sheet, boosting the airline’s valuation, pegged at over $1.1-billion.

47. RANBAXY LOGS 30-FOLD RISE IN Q2

PROFIT

RANBAXY Laboratories on Friday stuck to its forecast of a $150 million (about Rs 725 crore)
loss for the fiscal year, despite posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings boosted by hefty
forex gains.
The firm, India’s biggest drugmaker by sales, said earnings in the remaining two quarters
would remain hostage to the effects of rupee-dollar fluctuations, but said it was hopeful of
resolving its regulatory troubles in the US soon. Ranbaxy’s results have been weighed down in
the last three quarters by forex losses and a US ban on some products.
 Now majority owned by Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo, Ranbaxy reported a consolidated net profit of
Rs 693 crore for the second quarter to June 30 — its first after three consecutive quarterly losses.
In the same quarter last year, the company had posted a consolidated profit of Rs 23 crore.
During the quarter, it posted a mark-to-market foreign exchange gain of Rs 807 crore, which
enabled it to write off most of its Rs 918-crore loss incurred in the preceding quarter.

48. Celeb Endorsement Quotient

THEY are the prized brand ambassadors that companies chase after. From cars to chewing gum,
they have sold it all. Shahrukh Khan, arguably the undisputed king of Bollywood, perhaps does
not drive a Hyundai i10. But then, he has helped the South Korean carmaker sell many more cars
than it could possibly have on its own.
Likewise MS Dhoni, the skipper of the Indian cricket team, helps sportswear company Reebok
sell shoes. At the same time, he has his hands full selling PSPO fans, endorsing the Pepsi brand,
and posing for many other nonplussed companies trying hard to break through the advertising
clutter.
But is Dhoni the highest paid brand endorser? Or is it Shahrukh Khan who has earned at least
four times as much from brand endorsements as he earned from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, his only
release in 2008? And endorsement fee apart, who is the endorser who helps companies sell the
most? Is it Aamir Khan whose ads for Samsung helped the Korean electronics giant increase its
share in the domestic cell phone market? Or is it Sachin Tendulkar who helped Boost become a
household name?
Well, getting to the bottom of these questions to find out who are our top individuals as brands
wasn’t easy. So we did three things. We analysed the endorsement pattern of all our top
endorsers, how many brands do they endorse, how much money do they generate and what have
you. Then we tracked down the popularity of these celebrities on the internet based on the
number of hits and searches they get on google. And finally, we got global market research firm,
Synovate to formulate a methodology that dug deep into the mind of the consumer.
The result was the incisive SundayETSynovate individual-as-a-brand survey, which reached
out to around 400 SEC-A respondents from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and
Hyderabad. The survey looked to answer, among many others, a question that haunts marketers,
brand experts and of course, celebrity watchers: who is the most powerful individual- as a brand
today?
The answers that came up turned quite a few common perceptions on their head.

Bias & perception

BUT it wasn’t only the overall outcome that is interesting. Put another way: the bias and
perceptions across different cities were conspicuous throughout the survey. For instance, when it
came to the astronomical remuneration of brand endorsers, 95% of respondents from Chennai
felt that it isn’t justified.
But Delhi, which showed a tinge of soft spot for wealth related questions throughout, felt no
harm in seeing endorsers getting rich. Well, this is just one of the findings.
 And some of them are definitely as entertaining — if not more — than that blockbuster at the
multiplex near you. For many more interesting tidbits read on.

49. SingTel may buy Bharti Airtel shares

SINGAPORE Telecommunications (SingTel) may buy shares in Bharti Airtel from MTN
shareholders in order to maintain its equity stake in the Indian telco at a minimum level of 26%,
post the proposed deal between Bharti and MTN.
A person with direct knowledge of the Bharti-MTN deal said Singtel had sounded out banks
including DBS, in addition to its advisor Goldman Sachs, to raise funds to finance such an
acquisition of shares. The person, who did not wish to be identified as he was not authorised to
talk on the issue, said SingTel was keen to keep its stake in Bharti to at least 26%, a crucial level
that gives a shareholder more say in the company’s operations. The Bharti-MTN transaction, if it
goes through, could reduce SingTel’s stake by nearly 11% to 19%.
Bharti contributed a substantial 22% to SingTel’s net profit of $146 million in the January-
March 2009 quarter. Besides, Bharti also paid dividend for the first time in that quarter. “Buying
Bharti shares from MTN shareholders who may be interested in selling them is one of the
options SingTel is actively weighing,” said the person.
The proposed deal between the two telecom giants giants envisages that Bharti will issue fresh
shares, most likely in form of GDRs, so that no open offer is triggered as GDRs, unless
converted into equity shares, do not have voting rights. Under Indian laws, any acquisition of a
15% stake needs to be followed up by a mandatory 20% open offer.
“In such a scenario, most MTN shareholders may not like to hold on to Bharti GDRs, creating
an opportunity for SingTel to step in,” a senior banker tracking the deal told ET. The banker said
that MTN’s shareholders, based in distant South Africa, may not consider Bharti GDRs as a
longterm holding. This would provide an opportunity to SingTel, which has a big stake in a
growing Indian market, to buy these GDRs. These can subsequently be converted into ordinary
Bharti Airtel shares. Bharti Airtel has not categorically said it will issue GDRs but the absence of
voting rights make these the likeliest instrument.
When contacted, a SingTel spokeswoman said, “We don’t comment on market speculations.”
A Bharti spokesperson said, “As already communicated in earlier issued press note — SingTel, a
major existing shareholder of Bharti, will continue to be a strategic partner and significant
shareholder after the implementation of the potential transaction. Beyond what we have already
communicated in our press note (on May 25), we have no further comments to offer at the
moment.”
It is not clear at this stage how much money SingTel may raise to finance acquisition of Bharti
shares from MTN shareholders. However, going by Bharti’s current market capitalisation of Rs
80,000 crore, 7% (the difference between 26% and 19%) comes to Rs 5,600 crore.

50. Rolls Royce finds India red hot

ROLLS Royce Motor Cars, the UK-based manufacturer of luxury automobiles, sees India
emerging as its most important market in the next five to 10 years, and is looking at using parent
BMW’s supplier network in India to source components.
The super-exclusive British marque, which sells cars on the basis of pre-determined quotas in
low-volume markets, seems to have realised the potential of India, the second-fastest growing
economy in the world. “We believe India will be the single most important market for Rolls
Royce in the next 5-10 years,” said Tom Purves, the chief executive of the company. Mr Purves
said the market for his cars is shifting from the West to the East with markets such as India and
China contributing more to its growth. Rolls Royce cars are custom-made at its Goodwood
factory in the UK, and the talk of sourcing components from a foreign country is a first for the
carmaker.
“We’re open-minded, and being within the BMW group network, we have access to all the
purchasing power the group has and engineering opportunity that exists,” Mr Purves said. “In the
long term, India represents a phenomenal business opportunity because we have seen a general
movement of our business from the West to the East — to markets like India and China that have
played a crucial part in the growth Rolls Royce has enjoyed,” Mr Purves said. India has
improved its contribution to Rolls Royce’s overall business substantially. That’s good news
because globally the company has seen a 25% dip.

51. Delhi Metro seeks ban on Gammon

Delhi Metro, the country’s most ambitious infrastructure project, has served Mumbai-based
construction giant Gammon India a showcause notice, asking why it should not be banned for
two years and debarred from bidding for contracts under phase IV of the project.

Today’s move, announced at a press conference in the capital, comes a little over a month after an
accident killed six workers at a metro construction site on July 12. The accident, the latest in a
series over the past year, raised public outrage and prompted Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s
widely respected chief E Sreedharan to submit his resignation, which the state government
declined to accept in the interests of completing the project in time for the Commonwealth Games
next year.

DMRC has also blacklisted Arch Consultants, design consultants to the project, for five years,
and structural consultants Tondon Consultants for two years . Both have also been barred from all
existing contracts in which they were involved.

The corporation has also suspended its own deputy chief engineers V P Srivastava and Mukesh
Thakur. Chief engineer Rajiv Kataria (who was part of a committee investigating the accident
earlier) will be issued a penalty chargesheet.

Today’s decisions were taken after a high-powered committee set up to examine the cause of the
accident came out with its report on July 23 criticising DMRC for lax safety standards.

Addressing reporters today, Sreedharan said, “The reason for the accident was design deficiency
and material deficiency. It is not possible for us to take back ongoing projects from Gammon
because that would delay Phase 3 metro by six to eight months. There are very few contractors
who can qualify for Delhi metro projects.”

Design, structural consultants blacklisted, deputy chief engineers suspended

Is it correct on Delhi Metro’s part to blame everything on the contractors and absolve itself of
responsibility?

We are also responsible for the accident at the project site and that is why we have suspended our
officials. Our chief engineer (design), who was also on the committee, was removed from that
committee by me.

Gammon India has been blacklisted for two years. Will there be any project up for bid in these
two years?

Yes, the work on the Phase IV of the Delhi Metro is to start by mid-2010 and Gammon will not
be able to bid for those projects.

It seems most of your projects have been completed before schedule. Does this mean there is
extra pressure on contractors to finish projects that might lead to safety issues being
compromised?

We have finished work before the deadline on almost all the projects. There is no such pressure
on contractors. We have stipulated four and a half years for projects where it should take two and
a half years.

52. Wockhardt to sell entire nutrition biz

to Abbott
Wockhardt Ltd, which recently undertook a debt restructuring scheme, has signed an agreement
to divest its non-core nutritional business to Abbott, a global healthcare company.

Sources said the deal was worth close to $130 million (Rs 625 crore). A Wockhardt spokesperson
declined to confirm the size of the deal.

The company said the transaction was subject to customary closing conditions and various
approvals, and would be closed in the second half of 2009.

The company’s nutrition business includes some of the major child care brands, such as Farex,
Dexolac and Nusobee infant formulas, and Farex weaning cereal. The adult protein supplement,
Protinex, is a segment leader in the vitamin and health supplement category.

Wockhardt had acquired Dumex India, along with its two products, Protinex and Farex, from
Royal Numico NV of The Netherlands for an undisclosed amount in 2006. At that time, Protinex
and Farex, both well-known nutrition brands in the country for over 50 years, had a combined
annual sales of Rs 60 crore.

Wockhardt’s over Rs 3,400 crore debt was restructured by its lenders in June. As per the
corporate debt restructuring (CDR) scheme, it has to divest its noncore assets at an estimated
value of Rs 790 crore, within the next six years. It had already mobilised close to Rs 300 crore
from the recent sale of its loss-making German subsidiary, Esparma, to Mova GmbH and the
animal health division to Vétoquinol, aFrench veterinary care company.

With these sales, the company is likely to go slow on sale of other assets it had put on the block,
including its plans of divesting the proposed stake sale of its hospital chain, as the CDR package
approved by its lenders have taken care of the company’s immediate financial commitments.

The company is also looking at divesting a 32-acre dairy and milk processing unit in Punjab
which the company inherited from its acquisition of Dumex India and part of 250 acres in
Aurngabad. Wockhardt’s promoter, Habil Khorakiwala, was also planning to divest less than 26
per cent stake in Wockhardt Hospitals, which has 12 hospitals, for a valuation of Rs 800-1,200
crore. But the company may wait for more time to get good valuations, said sources.

53. India's top 20 BPO employers, top 15

BPOs

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) on Wednesday

released the names of the biggest employers in the Indian IT-BPO services sector.
The IT sector's highest industry body also named the nation's top BPO companies and the top IT
services firms in India.
Nasscom says that the list of the top BPO employers is based on the India-based headcount of
firms with IT-BPO operations in India, as reported to Nasscom in its annual survey.
Based on publicly available information, few other MNC's such as Accenture and IBM would
have also featured in this list. However, as they have not participated in the survey, Nasscom
does not have all the required details and are unable to rank them. Most companies on this list
are engaged in IT as well as BPO, the IT body said.
India's Top 15 BPO companies

1. Genpact India Pvt Ltd

2. WNS Global Services (P) Ltd
3. IBM-Daksh Business Process Services Pvt. Ltd.
4. Wipro BPO
5. Tata Consultancy Services BPO
6. Firstsource Solutions Ltd
7. Aditya Birla Minacs Worldwide Ltd
8. Aegis Ltd
9. Infosys BPO
10. HCL BPO
11. EXL Service.com (India) Pvt Ltd
12. Intelenet Global Services Ltd
13. Hinduja Global Solutions Pvt Ltd
14. 24/7 Customer Pvt Ltd
15. MphasiS BPO
Note: This list does not include some companies whose corporate headquarters are located
outside India, but have significant India-based delivery capabilities, and have not shared their
India-based revenue figures. Had they been ranked based on their India revenues, companies
such as Convergys and Sutherland Global Services would have also appeared in this list.
Since several companies are privately held, in order to maintain uniformity, revenue figures for
the ranked companies are not being shared.
India's Top 20 IT services exporters
Tata Consultancy Services
2. Infosys Technologies Ltd
3. Wipro Ltd
4. HCL Technologies Ltd
5. Tech Mahindra Ltd
6. Patni Computer Systems Ltd
7. MphasiS Ltd
8. Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd
9. Aricent Technologies (Holdings) Ltd
10. CSC India Pvt Ltd
11. Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd
12. Prithvi Information Solutions Ltd
13. Polaris Software Lab Limited
14. MindTree Ltd
15. Mascon Global Ltd
16. 3i Infotech Ltd
17. HSBC Software Development (India) Pvt. Ltd.
18. Hexaware Technologies Ltd
19. Mastek Ltd.
20. Sonata Software Ltd
Ranking is based on companies that have submitted the detailed form. It does not include
Mahindra Satyam whose revised audited revenues are not available.

54. INS Arihant: A watershed moment

There are moments that are more definable than others, the watershed points in life, whether of a
nation, an institution or an individual. One such moment, whose time should actually have come
earlier, came to the Indian Navy with the launch of our own nuclear-powered submarine, INS
Arihant, in Visakhapatnam on July 26, by the Prime Minister. There have been other such events
in the sixty-year lifespan of the Indian Navy, induction of the cruiser INS Delhi in 1953, being
the first, followed in succession by others. The acquisition of the aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, in
1961, made the young Service a ‘blue water’ force, the only regional country to have that claim.
Inductions of the first submarine, INS Kalvari in 1967 and of the Missile Boats (which were to
wreak havoc on Karachi on December 4, 1971) in 1968, were others. Not to be left behind, was
the switch of maritime air surveillance aircraft from the IAF to the Navy in the late 1970s which
made the seagoing force a self-sufficient entity. To this list can be added the acquisition of INS
Viraat in 1987, making us a ‘two aircraft carrier Navy’, the lease of the nuclear-powered
submarine, INS Chakra in 1988 and, arguably, the induction of INS Jalashva (formerly USS
Trenton) a few years ago which has enabled credible assistance to be provided in the region
during natural calamities such as the tsunami of 2004. All of these and, of course, many other
milestones in afloat as well as shore support facilities have made the Indian Navy the leading
regional maritime power that it is. To this impressive list must now be added the launch of INS
Arihant.

It was over two decades ago that we embarked on a project termed the ATV, or Advanced
Technology Vessel. As far back as the mid-1970s, a small unit called Project 932 was constituted
under a Commander rank officer under the aegis of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)—
its task: to develop feasibility of a small reactor which could fit within a submarine hull. This
project moved slowly and with mixed results, with less than enthusiastic support from the Navy’s
hierarchy. In 1980, it nearly came to a dead halt. An officer working in the project, not a nuclear
reactor engineer but one who had acquired deep knowledge in this field on his own, persuaded
the then Navy Chief that the DAE design was seriously flawed. The matter was taken up with the
then Scientific Adviser in the Ministry of Defence, Dr Raja Ramanna —a distinguished nuclear
scientist himself — but without resolution. The result was that the 932, already on slow march,
ground to a halt. The officer who had questioned the design being developed left the Navy and,
whilst en route to the US, was arrested at the airport for possessing highly classified literature
which later turned out to be all in the public domain. He spent some years in prison, argued his
own case before the court and was acquitted, with strictures passed against the DAE.

It was not until the mid-1980s that the concept was revived as the ATV Project, this time under
the Department of Defence Research and Development (DRDO). By 1989, a fullfledged
organisation had been put in place with outlying units at Kalpakkam (under DAE for reactor
design) and Hyderabad (for developing auxiliaries and systems). We then entered into an
agreement with Russia for developmental and design assistance for a nuclear-powered submarine.
From then to now has been a long journey of two decades with many ups and downs but with
some very substantial long-term gains. Indigenous participation — especially of private sector
companies, Larsen and Toubro and Walchand, to name only two — has been very encouraging.
Aside from the reactor, we now have manufacturers who can build and weld submarine hull
sections which can stand pressures at great depths. Capacity to build pipes and cables,
compressors and air conditioning machinery, pumps, gear boxes and generators, all strengthened
for underwater operations has been created within the country. To this should be added
interfacing of electronic systems from several sources—no easy task. So, there is much to be
proud of and little to moan about the delay as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) can be
expected to do. The larger vision is, perhaps correctly, not part of his duty or responsibility; in
any event, there is no accountability.

55. IBM to buy analytics co for $1.2 bn

IBM plans to buy business analytics company SPSS Inc for $1.2 billion in cash to better compete
with Oracle Corp and SAP AG in the growing field of business intelligence.

The companies said on Tuesday that shareholders of SPSS, which provides predictive software
and services to help companies forecast trends and spot shifts in consumer patterns, would
receive $50 a share, a 42 per cent premium to Monday’s closing price of $35.09 on Nasdaq.

The proposed acquisition comes after a spate of deals in recent years in the business intelligence
sector, such as Oracle’s purchase of Hyperion, SAP’s acquisition of Business Objects and IBM’s
own deal for Cognos

56. So what’s a brand between friends?

Don’t have a telecom licence? Or that precious thing called spectrum, without which even a
licence is worth nothing? Or perhaps you’re a foreign telephone company, unwilling to dilute
your equity to below 74 per cent in an Indian joint venture? The way the law is right now, if you
don’t meet these criterion, you can’t offer telecom services in the country.

But don’t fear, MTNL is here — and perhaps BSNL as well! Thanks to a unique ‘services
franchisee’ bid that MTNL has just put out — all responses have to be in by September 4 – any
telecom firm that’s not already doing business in Delhi and Mumbai is free to offer telecom
services under its own brand in the two telecom circles where MTNL operates, in return for a
share of the total revenue it collects from these customers. And not just ordinary voice calls of the
type MTNL currently offers; the services franchisee will be offering high-end fast-speed data
services — so, if you want to operate your new 3G Blackberry Bold and want to download the
latest Angelina Jolie blockbuster, you can do it on a British Telecom or a China Telecom mobile
service, brought to you in association with MTNL.

That’s right, MTNL’s Expression of Interest (EoI) says, prospective participants are supposed ‘to
promote MTNL brand’ or ‘create own branding and marketing of 3G services & products’. Even
companies like Bharti have outsourced the major part of their networks to companies like
Ericsson, but the brand customers interface with is always Bharti — this makes MTNL, and
perhaps BSNL if it decides to follow in MTNL’s footsteps, the only telecom company in the
world to allow others to cannibalise its brand. Customers in Delhi and Mumbai could
theoretically know MTNL only for its voice calls but think of British or China Telecom when it
comes to data services.

Under the Expression of Interest, the franchisee will do everything. The franchisee, to quote from
the Expression of Interest, has to have the ‘necessary resources and infrastructure to acquire,
serve and retain customers, provide customer care, set up own payment collection
system/mechanism, create sales and distribution network, to promote MTNL brand or create own
branding and marketing of 3G services & products, advise & package different tariff plans, VAS
& content services for 3G Access Network. The 3GFranchisee is to provide end to end services as
per the schedule of services on 3G Access Network …’ The only thing MTNL will provide is
access to the spectrum and its infrastructure — its telecom towers, for instance —and the
necessary connectivity between various points, to take the signal from one base station by cable
to another base station, for example.

The good thing, from the customers’ point of view, is that the service will finally happen —
MTNL wants a minimum revenue of Rs 30 crore in the first year in each of the two metros it
operates in, going up to Rs 240 crore in the third year. Given its poor performance so far in
getting customers, MTNL is even willing to offer a 5 per cent bonus of the additional net revenue
if the target is surpassed.

The problem began late last year when, for reasons best known to it, the government allotted both
MTNL and BSNL 3G spectrum even though this was not given to any private sector firm — the
only proviso was that, whenever the auctions for spectrum finally took place, both firms would
match the entry fee paid by the others. And ditto for the revenue shares whenever they were
finally fixed.

Given the pace at which the 3G auction process is proceeding, that meant a headstart of at least a
year for these two public sector telcos. Most would have moved heaven and earth to make the
most of this largesse. Not so for either of the two PSUs. While MTNL has got around 300-500
subscribers so far, the company’s chairman has set a target of 1,000 customers by the end of the
year. BSNL hasn’t done that much better either and has 3,000 customers across 25 cities. And
though there is no official word, executives in the company say that even they might look at the
MTNL model for their 3G services.

Various issues come up. There is the obvious one about the branding that has been dealt with.
There is, then, the issue of a level playing field.

While private operators who wish to offer their own services will have to wait till such time as
the government finally allows 3G auctions — an Empowered Group of Ministers has just been set
up to examine the issue of the floor price that needs to be fixed before the auction — those
willing to operate through MTNL will get a headstart over them.

Telecom experts also point out, for instance, that what MTNL is doing through the Expression of
Interest is to create a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO ). A MVNO essentially buys
minutes or leases out infrastructure from a mobile operator and then offers services under its own
brand, collects the tariff and controls the subscriber.

Yet, it so happens that MVNOs are still not allowed in India — the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) has made its recommendations in favour of MVNOs but the
government still has to take a final call on these. It is unclear as to how MTNL floated an
Expression of Interest without any clarity on the matter though it has to be said that Virgin is
doing something similar with Tata Teleservices, though for ordinary 2G-type services.

Equally curious is the fact that the Expression of Interest allows global players with 100 per cent
foreign equity to apply though the government policy is clear that foreign equity has to be capped
at 74 per cent.

Whether this will work for MTNL, of course, is not fully clear as yet. For one, there is the issue
of whether private firms will bid till such time the MVNO issue is clarified and ditto for the 100-
per cent foreign equity clause. Another hurdle from the bidders’ point of view, of course, is the
time period specified. The Expression of Interest mentions a period of 10 years, with no clarity on
how costs of the franchisee are to be recouped once the contract period is over — there is money
that will be spent on brand-building and possibly even on infrastructure since the model allows
for either MTNL or the franchisee to spend on this. Nor is it clear that MTNL wants to carry on
with the franchisee’s brand for the rest of the period of its 3G licence and, if so, how this is to be
dealt with — in other words, MTNL still needs to do alot of introspection on what exactly it is
that it wants.

57. BMW quits Formula One at end of

season after a decade
BLOOMBERG Madrid, 29 July

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG will quit Formula One in November, becoming the second
carmaker in less than a year to withdraw from the auto racing series amid slumping sales.

Formula One is becoming less important as BMW “places stronger focus on sustainability
initiatives,” Chief Executive Officer Norbert Reithofer told apress conference in Munich today.
The biggest luxury-car maker follows Honda Motor Co, which left in December. In June, teams
agreed to scrap an energy-saving device to cut costs.

Munich-based BMW, which spends about $200 million on Formula One to market its brand,
reported a 13 per cent drop in car sales in June, the slowest decline since October. The carmaker
supplied engines to the Williams team for six years before buying its own team in 2005. In June,
Formula One teams said they agreed in 2010 to scrap a device that diverts energy from braking
into a power boost button because it’s too expensive. The Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems, or
KERS, was introduced by ruling body Federation Internationale de l’Automobile to make the
series more environmentally friendly.

The BMW team, which has about 700 staff in Munich and Hinwil, Switzerland, is withdrawing
after months of friction between competitors and the FIA over rules. In June, BMW joined rivals
including Ferrari SpA and Renault SA in threatening to set up their own series. Georg Stuerzer,
an automotive analyst with UniCredit in Munich, estimated that BMW spends ¤200 million a
year on Formula One and saving that money could add ¤1.50 to BMW’s share price by improving
cash flow and earnings.

58. Sanofi-Aventis buys Shantha in high-

value deal

FRANCE’S biggest drugmaker Sanofi-Avenits on Monday agreed to buy Shantha Biotechnics in

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

“A valuation of eight times the sales is unheard of. If other companies get such an attractive
valuation, they may be tempted to sell,” said HDFC Securities V-P for institutional research
Ranjit Kapadia.
A top executive at a rival vaccine company admitted that if offers as generous as that by Sanofi
are made, similar buyouts could happen. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
Merieux Alliance bought a 60% stake in Shantha Biotech in 2006 and subsequently increased
it to about 80%. KI Varaprasad Reddy, who owns a 13.4% stake and is the founder of the
Hyderabad-based company, will continue as managing director. The deal involves Sanofi’s
vaccine arm Sanofi Pasteur acquiring ShanH — which owns nearly 79% stake in Shantha
Biotech — from Merieux Alliance.
Merieux will retain around 5-10% in Shantha, Mr Reddy told ET.
Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Delhi-based Panacea Biotech are the country’s top
two vaccine makers. Exports account for nearly twothirds of country’s vaccine market, estimated
at nearly $1 billion.
“I see a lot of partnerships and stake sales taking place in the coming years. It helps foreign
firms benefit from India’s cost advantage and domestic players can tap the export potential
through such deals,” said Sarabhjit Kaur Nangra, head of research at Angel Broking.
Shantha Biotech shot to fame in 1997 after it became the first Indian firm to develop and
market a recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine. It employs over 700 people and markets a range of
vaccines in India and global markets. It also provides contract research and manufacturing
services and has a wholly-owned subsidiary in the US.
“Shantha’s portfolio of new vaccines will complement Sanofi Pasteur’s current vaccines,
positioning the company to accelerate its growth in strategically important emerging markets,”
Sanofi-Aventis CEO Christopher A Viehbacher said.
The new products under development at Shantha include a rotavirus vaccine, conjugated
typhoid vaccine, and a vaccine against the human papillomavirus which causes nearly all cases
of cervical cancer.
Sanofi Pasteur’s V-P for external and scientific communications Pascal Barollier told ET the
acquisition will be funded through internal accruals.
The French company has no plans to merge Shantha with Sanofi Pasteur India, he added

59. ANIL PUTS DEORA IN GAS CHAMBER

ANILAmbani on Tuesday launched a bare-knuckled verbal assault targeting Murli Deora,
India’s petroleum minister and an old friend of Dhirubhai Ambani and Reliance Industries, run
by his elder brother Mukesh. Mr Ambani did this in the course of one of the most aggressive
speeches ever delivered at a company’s annual general meeting. In the course of a riveting
oneand-a-half hours, Mr Ambani, who was speaking at the AGM of Reliance Natural Resources
(RNRL), castigated what he described as RIL’s “dishonourable conduct in... refusing to honour
the gas supply contract” and the “exorbitant profits RIL is seeking to make at the cost of the
power and fertiliser sectors.” But more than that, the centrepiece of his speech was devoted to
what he claimed was the “apparently biased and partisan role of the petroleum ministry”. Mr
Ambani was also scathing in his remarks about a government decision setting a price of $4.20
per unit of natural gas, claiming that the price should not be more than $1.5. It is very rare for
Indian industrialists to so openly criticise a senior government functionary or even a corporate
rival, let alone with the belligerence displayed by Mr Ambani, the chairman of the eponymous
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) and among the world’s 50 richest men.
“I am bringing out facts which no one has brought out so far,” Mr Ambani told ETlater on
Tuesday evening. Mr Ambani’s speech had four major components: RIL’s conduct, Mr Deora’s
alleged bias, details of the production-sharing contract, which he claims favours RIL, and the
inappropriateness of the government-set price of $4.20.
Mr Ambani was blunt in his many references to Mr Deora. “It is evident that the apparently
biased stance commenced in 2006, coinciding with changes in the ministry. I am not casting
aspersions on the integrity of individuals here — I am sure that they have good reasons for their
stance,” was one of the most direct accusations.
This is of course not the first time that politicians and businessmen have duelled. Anil’s father,
the late Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of Reliance, battled former prime minister VP Singh
along with rival industrialists such as Nusli Wadia through much of the 1980s. But the
protagonists of these battles rarely spoke in public.
Mr Deora refused to join issue: “I have no comments to make... as the matter is sub judice. All
I can say (to Anil) is ‘best of luck’.” RIL too had no comments. “The matter is before the
Supreme Court and sub judice,” a Reliance Industries spokesperson said. Harish Salve, a legal
eagle who represents RIL, India’s largest private sector company by market capitalisation and
sales, told ET NOW, this newspaper’s business channel, that the Supreme Court would not be
swayed by the AGM speech. “Our judges are made of sterner stuff,” he said.
At the AGM, the mood was febrile, as some shareholders raised slogans criticising Mr Deora.
For the most part though they listened with rapt attention, perhaps aware of the history-making
nature of the speech. Most RNRL shareholders also own stocks in RIL from which the company
was demerged as part of the Ambani family settlement, which was executed over 2005 and 2006.
 The ultimate impact of Mr Ambani’s amazing speech remains unclear. Initial reactions from
senior leaders of the Congress indicated a certain element of shock and awe, perhaps because of
its sheer unexpectedness.

60. Coke’s Brazilian marketing head may

add zing to India operations
EVER since Venkatesh Kini moved on from being vice-president, marketing, Coca-Cola India,
to Atlanta three months ago, there has been much speculation on who would land one of the most
coveted jobs in Indian marketing space.
Brand Equity now learns from sources within the company that Ricardo Fort, currently
director, marketing, Coca-Cola Brazil, will be filling in that vacancy. The buzz is that Fort, who
has already visited the company’s Gurgaon office some time back, is likely to assume office
somewhere between October and November.
While Fort’s appointment might surprise those who expected an Indian to be named to one of
the top marketing jobs in the country, it is just another indicator of how serious Coca-Cola is
about India. Currently, Brazil, from where Fort will be moving, is the third largest market for
Coke in the world, after the US and Mexico (though China is all set to overtake Brazil in the near
future).
Relocating Fort from Brazil is a clear statement that the Coca-Cola Company is betting big on
India.
Not surprising, given that Coca-Cola India has been growing at a very fast clip in recent times
and many believe that in times to come, India could break into top three markets globally for
Coke.
In the last quarter, the company reported a growth of almost 33%, which is one of the highest
in recent times for the beverage maker. As reported in this paper earlier, on a recent visit to
India, Coca-Cola Company’s group president, Eurasia and Africa, Ahmet Bozer, had told ET
that he would like to see India among the top five global businesses for the company.
Clearly, the task for the new marketing director is cut out. Fort has been with the company for
just over a decade having joined Coke Brazil in 1998 as senior brand manager, Sprite. From
Sprite, he went on to handle the Coca-Cola brand up until 2002, when Atlanta hand-picked him
to lead their global football initiative and he moved to the US as director, global marketing
football.
He is believed to have been the key man behind the extremely successful association for the
brand with the 2006 World Cup Football. He took over as marketing director, Brazil, in
September 2006 and has spent the last three years in that role.

61. Asian countries end monopoly of US,

EU as largest buyers of Indian spices
ASIAN countries have ended the monopoly of the US and European nations as the largest
buyers of Indian spices. Though the trend has been visible over the last few years, it has become
more marked in the recent times with rising prominence of chilli, cumin, coriander, mint
products etc in the Indian spice basket.
 The increase in consumption has come from the Asian countries such as Malaysia, China, Sri
Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc. Saudi Arabia and UAE in West Asia have been good buyers of
Indian spices traditionally. Both East Asia and West Asia together accounted for 66% of the
spice export volumes, with the latter having a share of 46% in 2008-09. In value terms Asian
share came to 48% again with East Asia dominating with 36%. Around four years ago the total
share of Asian countries in Indian spice export was at 35 % with East Asia having a marginal
presence.
“Asia and Latin America have been our focus areas. Now Asia has started showing good
results with our efforts,” Spices Board chairman VJ Kurian told ET. Several Asian countries
have been successful in re-exporting the spices imported from India in value-added form. Spices
Board has planned spice parks in an effort to follow this example.
Traditional items such as pepper and cardamom used to dominate the spice exports earlier. But
now their role has been taken over by chilli, mint products, spice oil and oleoresins and cumin. In
terms of volume, chilli accounted for 40% of the 4,70,520-tonne spices exported in 2008-09
worth Rs 5300 crore.
In value terms, mint products had the highest share of 27% while its volume came to a meagre
4%. The value of chillies in the total export basket was 20%. Among the major spices, US’s
dominance is limited to mainly to pepper, spice oils and oleoresins. The country still has a major
share in the high-valued mint products with a purchase of 5675 tonne. But China with an import
of 5200 tonne is fast catching up. The US still retains the top spot with 21% of the total value of
the spices exported with all other major spice importing countries having a share below 10%.
In volume terms, the US and UAE have 11% each while Sri Lanka has 10% share.

62. Biedermann smashes 400 freestyle

world record
ROME (Reuters) - Germany's Paul Biedermann ripped up Ian Thorpe's world record to win the
men's 400 meters freestyle final at the world championships on Sunday.

Biedermann swam 3 minutes 40.07 to beat Australian Thorpe's 2002 mark by one hundredth of a
second. Tunisia's Olympic 1,500m champion Oussama Mellouli was second with China's Zhang
Lin third.

"It was a wonderful moment," Biedermann told reporters. "I had great opposition to push me to
this world record. It was my day today."

Thorpe retired before the full introduction of hi-tech swimsuits, which have caused a raft of
world records and are set to be banned from January.

63. Williams sisters power through to

Stanford second round
STANFORD, California (Reuters) - Wimbledon champion Serena Williams battled past China's
Li Na 6-3 7-6 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Stanford Classic, where she will be
joined by sister Venus, 6-2 6-3 victor over Canada's Stephanie Dubois.
Top seed Serena jumped out to a 6-3 5-2 lead behind some razor-sharp groundstrokes before the
hard-hitting Li fought back to force a tiebreaker.

However, the 11-times grand slam champion showed more ambition in the tiebreaker and
secured the contest when Li hit a backhand into the net.

"She's really good and keeps improving over time," Serena said of her Chinese opponent. "I was
a little off. I'd rather be a little off now and peak during the second week of the US Open."

Second seed Venus did not have to break much of a sweat against Dubois, mixing and matching
a net attack with some quick sprints from the baseline.

"It was a great match to get my rhythm, hit a lot of balls and work on my shots," said Williams,
who won Stanford titles here in 2000 and 2002.

64. Microsoft, Yahoo in 10-year Web

search partnership
SAN FRANCISCO/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc inked a 10-year Web
search deal to better compete against market leader Google Inc but stopped short of combining
their display advertising businesses.

Yahoo shares fell 7.5 percent, as some investors were disappointed by the limited scope of the
deal. Shares of Microsoft edged higher, while Google shares fell 1 percent.

Under the deal announced on Wednesday, Microsoft's Bing search engine will be the exclusive
algorithmic search and paid search technology for Yahoo's sites, while Yahoo will be responsible
for selling premium search ads for both companies.

Yahoo estimated the deal will boost its annual operating income by about $500 million and yield
capital expenditure savings of $200 million. Yahoo also expects the deal to boost annual
operating cash flow by about $275 million.

Yahoo reported income from operations of $13 million in 2008, hurt by $487.5 million in
goodwill impairment charge and $107 million in restructuring charges. In 2007, operating
income was $695 million.

Ross Sandler, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said some people will be disappointed that
Microsoft did not give Yahoo a big upfront payment, but noted that the partnership was good
overall for the two companies.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said the deal gives its new search engine, Bing,
the scale needed to attract more users and advertisers.

Yahoo, meanwhile, said it will focus on its portfolio of websites, expanding into mobile
advertising and other products.
Under the deal, Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10-year license to Yahoo's core search
technologies, and it will combine them with its own search technologies.

Microsoft will compensate Yahoo through a revenue-sharing agreement and pay traffic
acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo at an initial rate of 88 percent of search revenue generated on
Yahoo sites in the first five years.

Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force, they
said.

The deal combines the number two and number three players in the U.S. market for Internet
search and positions them to better compete with Google, which has an estimated 65 percent
share of the U.S. search market.

65. Apple working on digital albums,

tablet PC: sources
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The major music labels are planning a new digital album format that
will debut with a tablet-like personal computer from Apple Inc in September, people familiar
with the plans said on Monday.

The labels are attempting to revive the multi-track album format with new software that
packages songs, traditional album liner notes, music videos, and other interactive extras as part
of a premium-priced package.

The music industry first proposed the idea of an enhanced album format to Apple in 2007,
according to two people who said the labels have been separately working on a project code-
named "CMX".

The labels, including EMI Group, Sony Corp's Sony Music Entertainment, Vivendi's Universal
Music Group and Warner Music Group had planned to roll out the new album format to all
digital retailers this November.

But Apple decided to design its own version of an interactive album, which is expected to be
launched with its new unnamed tablet-like device this fall, the sources said.

The Apple album project has been code-named 'Cocktail' and the format is expected to work
with other Apple devices like the iPhone and iPod.

Industry sources said Chief Executive Steve Jobs would likely unveil the new device at an Apple
event in September.

Apple declined to comment, saying the company does not respond to rumors and speculation.
News of Apple and the label's plan was first reported by the Financial Times.

The partnership between Apple and the music labels is tinged with irony as it was the technology
company that effectively marked the end of the multitrack album format in 2003, when it opened
up its iTunes Music Store.
All music companies have seen their revenues plummet as fans who buy music online choose the
99 cent-priced track they want rather than invest in an album which is typically priced around $8
to $10.

The new interactive format, which could feature extras like interviews with the artist while
making the album, would be sold at a higher price than digital albums now. Insiders said there is
early evidence from current bundling experiments than fans are prepared to spend more for high
quality content.

66. U.S. and China sign memorandum on

climate change
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and China, the world's largest emitters of
greenhouse gases, signed an agreement on Tuesday that promises more cooperation on climate
change, energy and the environment without setting firm goals.

Chinese and U.S. officials signed the memorandum of understanding at the State Department
following two days of high-level economic and strategic talks.

The document, released by the State Department, did not set any firm targets but reiterated
support for a 10-year cooperation deal signed last year by the Bush administration and created a
new climate change policy "dialogue" which would meet regularly.

The memorandum listed 10 areas of cooperation, including energy efficiency, renewable energy,
cleaner use of coal, smart grid technologies, electric cars, and research and development.

Some in the United States argue Washington should not agree to specific reductions in industrial
emissions, which could boost energy prices, until China also agrees.

But others say China already has taken more concrete steps than the United States, which must
show, in the run-up to the Copenhagen meeting, it is serious about reducing emissions.

Chinese state counselor Dai Bingguo said both countries faced severe challenges posed by
climate change and Beijing was committed to cooperating with Washington.

67. Starbucks Selects Unisys for Data

Center Outsourcing Services in China
Unisys to use global ITIL delivery framework to standardize and simplify IT management and
reduce costs for Starbucks` growing China business
SHANGHAI--(Business Wire)--
Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) today announced that Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq: SBUX)
has selected Unisys to provide data center outsourcing services to support the global coffee
company`s continued expansion in China.

Under the two-year contract, Unisys will provide systems management, network management,
asset tracking, and software image and voice systems management services delivered from the
Unisys Global Services Center in Shanghai.

The contract expands the existing relationship between Unisys and Starbucks in China. Unisys
has provided end-user support services, including service desk and nationwide infrastructure
support services, to Starbucks retail stores, support centers and manufacturing facilities in China
since 2007.

The new deal enables Starbucks to simplify its IT management by working with one vendor for
both service desk and data center support.

Unisys will continue to draw on its global experience working with Starbucks - including proven
global systems, processes and standards - to simplify and standardize IT management to support
Starbucks China. The Unisys data center services delivery model is aligned to the internationally
recognized Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) set of practices and policies for
IT service management, which are designed to improve both service delivery efficiency and
quality.

Unisys received a five-year global contract in 2006 for a range of data center support, network
and server monitoring, and security services to support Starbucks` expansion into international
markets.

68. Brazil's Ronaldo gets part in film in

Middle East
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian soccer player Ronaldo will take part in a film about a
Palestinian girl who hoped to meet him but was killed by a land mine before she could fulfill her
dream, his club said Sunday.

"(Ronaldo) confirmed that he made an agreement with the Iranian director to make the film in
the Palestinian territories," a spokesman for the Brazilian club Corinthians told Reuters.

The three times FIFA World Player of the Year's part will be filmed when Corinthians plays a
friendly "Peace match" against fellow Brazilian team Flamengo at a Palestinian venue on
September 15.

Corinthians have authorized Ronaldo, a World Cup winner with Brazil 2002, to stay on for a few
days after the friendly to film his scenes.

The film is based on the true story of a young girl who was good at soccer and idolized Ronaldo.
She died after losing a leg when she stepped on a land mine in southern Lebanon.
Ronaldo, a United Nations ambassador, visited handicapped children on a day trip to Ramallah
on the West Bank and to Tel Aviv in 2005.

The film, produced by Iranians Mansur Sohrabpour and Mohammad Latif, will be shot in
Lebanon.

69. RHJ won't rule out selling Opel back to

GM: report
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - RHJ International, a bidder for carmaker Opel, is not ruling out selling
Opel back to U.S. parent General Motors after returning it to health, RHJ's chief executive told a
German newspaper on Sunday.

"Let us be pragmatic. It won't work without General Motors," the CEO of the Belgian private-
equity firm, Leonhard Fischer, told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

The newspaper said Fischer was explicitly not ruling out the option of selling Opel, based mostly
in Germany, to GM after RHJ had completed its restructuring of the ailing carmaker.

RHJ and Canada's Magna submitted bids to acquire Opel on July 20.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Magna was Germany's preferred partner for Opel.
(Reporting by Marilyn Gerlach, editing by Will Waterman)

70. FACTBOX: Facts about ex-Soviet

republic Moldova
(Reuters) - Moldova holds an early election on July 29 after outgoing President Vladimir
Voronin dissolved parliament following its failure twice to endorse his choice of successor in the
aftermath of an April election to the assembly.

Following are some key details about Moldova:

Moldova is a former Soviet republic that declared independence on August 27, 1991, at the same
time as most Soviet republics in the aftermath of the failed hardline coup against Kremlin leader
Mikhail Gorbachev.

It has a population of about 4.5 million, sandwiched between Ukraine and European Union
member Romania, with which it shares a linguistic and historic heritage.

The ruling Communists won a parliamentary election on April 5. The Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe said the poll met international standards. But the outcome led to
violent protests in the capital Chisinau, with young militants alleging vote-rigging and
demanding an end to eight years of communist administration.

Transdniestria, a sliver of land in the east populated mainly by Russian speakers, broke away in
1990 and the two sides fought a brief war in 1992 after the collapse of Soviet rule.
Transdniestria, home to much of the country's industry, demands independence. Moldova is
willing to give it autonomy.

Moldova is the poorest country in Europe, with an average monthly wage of about $270. Its
economy is driven by agricultural production -- its wines are popular in the region.

Moldova is part of the EU's Eastern Partnership and European Neighborhood Policy initiatives,
but not a member of the NATO military alliance. It relies heavily on Russia for its energy
resources.

71. Thousands of China steel workers

clash with police
Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:01am EDT
BEIJING (Reuters) - Some 30,000 disgruntled Chinese steel workers clashed with riot police in
protest over a takeover deal, resulting in the death of an executive from another steel company, a
human rights group said.

News that Beijing-based Jianlong Steel Holding Company would buy a majority stake in state-
owned Tonghua Iron and Steel Group triggered Friday's protest, which also led to 100 people
being injured, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said
on its website.

Discontent over inequality and unemployment amid the economic downturn has triggered social
frustration in China, with many cases of riots by angry citizens. Friday's clash happened in the
northeast province of Jilin.

Chen Guojun, the general manager of Jianlong, was beaten to death by workers who were angry
that Chen was paid about three million yuan ($440,000) last year, while Tonghua's retired
workers received as little as 200 yuan a month, the center said.

A police officer from the Tonghua municipal public security bureau confirmed the riot and the
death of Chen, who was in his 40s, the South China Morning Post said on Sunday.

Tonghua's workers blocked highways and smashed three police vehicles in Tonghua city on
Friday afternoon, the center said, adding that they dispersed late at night after Chen's death.

Jianlong, which temporarily controlled Tonghua last year, is attempting to buy Tonghua for the
second time, according to the center.

China, the world's top producer and consumer of steel, has been forcing its mammoth steel sector
to slim down and consolidate, but its plans have generally met with resistance, with many local
governments anxious to preserve their own sources of revenue.

Local television announced on Friday night that the deal would be shelved permanently, the
South China Morning Post said.
 72. Financial Crisis Makes China SOEs
Emerge Strong
HONG KONG, July 26 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- In the wake of the financial crisis, Chinese
enterprises' performance on the international arena have caught wide attention; a majority of
these companies are state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Monopolistic character shielded SOEs from market contraction. With global trade stunted by
economic crisis, many of China's coastal manufacturing companies are hit hard. On the other
hand, State-owned enterprises are maintaining a strong foot-hold in monopolistic areas such as
grain import and export, petrochemicals, electric power, telecommunication, transportation. . .
these has shielded them from impacts of the global slump and help them retain huge revenues.

The Chinese government has set aside 4 trillion yuan investment mainly for infrastructures and
key project construction. The fund is mainly channeled downwards to large-scale, robustly-
funded and administratively-privileged SOEs. In the first half of 2009, China's newly-added
credit exceeded 7 trillion, a far higher level than normal. Statistics show that these capitals
mainly flowed to SOEs: abundantly-funded SMEs snatched money away from struggling private
enterprises that are starving for funds.

SOEs, while monopolizing some of the strategic industries, also have a stomach for competitive
sectors, and are striking down private enterprises using administrative measures and capital
advantages. This will cause a recession of the market economy, leading to monopoly in all
industries. Monopoly means corruption and low-efficiency, which will drag down China's
international competitiveness seriously.

73. Hamilton and McLaren are winners

again

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian
Grand Prix on Sunday as McLaren roared back to the front after a slump of 10 races without
success.

Kimi Raikkonen, driving the only Ferrari in the race after Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa
suffered a serious head injury in qualifying, was second in a return to what seemed like a
vanished order after nine races dominated by Brawn and Red Bull.

Australian Mark Webber finished third for Red Bull to go second in the championship, 18.5
points behind Brawn's Jenson Button with seven races remaining. Brawn lead Red Bull by 15.5
points in the constructors' standings.

Button had a frustrating afternoon in the Hungarian heat, the Briton struggling to get
performance out of the car's tires and finishing seventh after starting eighth.
His unhappiness was only relieved by the retirement of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, his previous
closest rival, and seeing the top two places filled by drivers whose title dreams had long
disappeared.

Hamilton's victory, 11.5 seconds ahead of 2007 champion Raikkonen, was the 24-year-old's first
since China last October, and 10th of his career. It was his Mercedes-powered team's first
podium finish of the year.

74. Bharti to be title sponsor of

Champions League T20
MOBILE services provider Bharti Airtel on Thursday picked up the title sponsorship of the
upcoming Champions League T20 tournament for Rs 170 crore.
The tournament, to be called Airtel Champions League Twenty20, kicks off from October 8,
2009, with 12 teams competing for the honours. The 16-day league will have a total of 23 T20
matches, and will be played across Bangalore, New Delhi and Hyderabad.
Bharti Airtel has signed the deal for a five-year term. Officially, neither Bharti Airtel nor
Champions League broadcast-rights holder ESPN Star Sports (ESS) commented on the deal size.
It carries $6 million in award money.
The economics work out to be higher than what real estate company DLF had paid IPL for title
sponsorship. DLF had bought IPL title sponsorship rights for Rs 200 crore for five years, but for
59 matches. ESS, which had paid a staggering $975 million to acquire rights of the league — its
most expensive cricket acquisition — is obviously looking to recover costs from sponsors and
advertisers.
This deal, media buyers say, may sweeten the pitch for ESS which is looking to now hard-sell
the tournament to advertisers. The Champions League is expected to generate high interest since
two back-to-back T20 tournaments scheduled to be played in India did not work according to
plans. While last year’s T20 Champions league was called off because of the Mumbai terror
attacks, the IPL was relocated to South Africa as its dates clashed with the general elections.
Champions League — to be played in October — coincides with the festive season, which
typically sees a spurt in advertising and promotional activity.
Bharti Airtel director marketing Shireesh Joshi said: “Combined with the success of the
Twenty20 format and growing popularity of club cricket in India, Champions League is a great
opportunity for us to partner.” Bharti Airtel was also IPL-2’s co-presenting sponsor

75. STANCHART SET TO BUY RBS’ SME BIZ

HERE
STANDARD Chartered is set to seal a deal to buy Royal Bank of Scotland’s retail and small and
medium enterprises (SME) operations in India, China and Malaysia, two people familiar with the
development said.
The deal, which could cost the UK-based bank around $250 million, is likely to be announced
in a fortnight, said a dealmaker close to the negotiations. The businesses on offer are a perfect
strategic fit for StanChart, which earns more than 70% of its income and over 80% of its
operating profit from Asian operations.
 RBS had put its retail and SME business in nine Asian countries on the block earlier this year.
The Indian operations of RBS, which continue to run under the ABN Amro brand name pending
regulatory approval, will account for a bulk of the consideration. The talks, which are taking
place in London, may conclude by early next week. Current discussions relate to the extent of the
losses that RBS will fund in the next 12 to 18 months, said a senior bank executive.

StanChart may get 19 branches, post-deal

THERE are also some HR issues in China and Malaysia that need to be addressed.
The retail and SME portfolio under the ABN brand in India is around Rs 11,500 crore, of
which the retail portfolio is around Rs 6,800 crore. Losses and provisions in these business for
the last calendar year stood at around $160 million (around Rs 770 crore). Despite losses, Stan-
Chart is keen on ABN Amro because of its one-million customers. It is also interested in Van
Gogh, the premium banking service offered by ABN Amro to high net worth individuals. Both
the banks have kept RBI informed about the due diligence and sale process.
The StanChart spokesperson said: “We always look at opportunities in our footprint markets
but, as you would expect, we don’t comment on any specific opportunities we may be looking
at.”
“The sale process of the retail and commercial assets in Asia has advanced well; however, due
to regulatory constraints and the confidentiality of the process, we will not comment on any
individual bidders or elements of the transaction process until its completion,” said the RBS
spokesperson.
An earlier proposal by RBS to sell 26 of its 31 branches in India had to be shelved because RBI
refused to transfer branch licences. StanChart is likely to receive some of the branches in order to
service retail customers.
Out of these 26 branches, around 10 are in cities where StanChart does not have operations. In
some of the other locations, the bank may need more branches, as ABN’s existing branches are
far from Stan-Chart’s. StanChart currently has the largest number of branches in the country at
90, and may get another 18 from the deal.
Given the fact that it is the UK government, with its 70% ownership of RBS, which is selling
the bank’s Asian units, RBI may take a lenient approach this time around. The transfer of branch
licences, however, may not figure in the sales agreement.
The business RBS will continue to do in India include wholesale debt and debt capital market
business, M&A, equities research and trading, markets and treasury, corporate banking, cash and
trade business and private banking business.
In China, RBS has around 13 branches while StanChart has around 55. StanChart may get only
around five or six of these branches if the regulators approve the takeover.
The portfolio in China is a mix of more wealth and commercial banking. In Malaysia, the gain
would be minimal for Stan-Chart, where RBS has four branches.
StanChart is one of the few banks to have been relatively insulated from the global financial
crisis, as most of its income comes from emerging markets in Asia and Africa.