Bank of Baroda opened 1001 Ultra Small Branches Across India

Bank of Baroda, the public sector lender, on 22 March 2012 launched 1001 ultra small branches to provide banking services to the people of villages which don’t have access to banling services. The bank launched the ultra small branches under the financial inclusion initiative.

The virtual launch of 1001 ultra small branches was done by K. C. Chakraborty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, in the presence of M. D. Mallya, Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of Baroda, at Varanasi.

On the same day, 551 ultra small branches were inaugurated across Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Bank of Baroda is set to open 1700 ultra small branches in various villages across the country.

Syndicate Bank appointed Madhukant Girdharlal Sanghvi as its New Chairman

Public sector lender Syndicate Bank on 29 February 2012 appointed Madhukant Girdharlal Sanghvi as its new Chairman and Managing Director. Sanghvi would take the charge on 1 March 2012 after the superannuation of incumbent chairman Basant Seth.

Sanghvi, before this appointment, was the Executive Director of Bank of Maharashtra. In his 31-year long career in banking he has been attached with various banking organisation in different capacities.
Sanghvi started his banking career in 1980 with Bank of Baroda. He later moved to Dena Bank and went on to become a General Manager of bank in 2003. Sanghvi was appointed the Executive Director of Bank of Maharashtra in 2008.

US Banking Major Citi Group sold Stake in HDFC for 1.9 Billion Dollars

US banking major Citi group on 25 February 2012 sold its 9.85 percent stake in HDFC, India’s biggest mortgage lender, for around 1.9 billion dollars.
Citi group, the third largest lender of US by assets, was in alliance with the HDFC for last seven years. The sale of stake has come as the part of company’s strategy to disinvest in order to raise the capital as Citigroup faces a potential multi-billion-dollar writedown of its minority stake in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney brokerage.
Citi group, by selling its stake in HDFC, has joined the league of European and American banks like HSBC and Goldman Sachs who have also sold their Asian assets as global rules for higher risk buffers force lenders to raise their capital

Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Panel projected 7.5 - 8 % Growth Rate for 2012-13 Fiscal

The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Panel (PMEAC) on 22 February 2012 projected 7.5 - 8 per cent growth rate for the fiscal 2012-13. India is also expected to achieve a higher economic expansion if the global environment turns favourable. Indian economy was growing at over nine per cent before the financial meltdown of 2008 pulled down the growth rate to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09.

The economy recorded a growth rate of 8.4 per cent in 2010-11, which according to the CSO estimates is expected to moderate to 6.7 per cent in the current fiscal 2011-12.

As per the Review of Economy (2011-12) released, the growth rate in 2011-12 is likely to be 7.1%, marginally higher than 6.9 per cent projected by the Central Statistical Organisaton (CSO).

Inflation was projected to moderate to 6.5% by March 2012 and 5-6 per cent in 2012-13. While the retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 7.65 per cent in January, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation was 6.55 per cent.

Moderation of subsidy is expected to have a positive impact on manufacturing. It is also likely to help in softening of monetary policy. A need to make adjustment on the sale of petrol, diesel, gas and kerosene to reduce the huge burden of subsidy was also felt.

The negative developments in the Eurozone outweighed the small improvements in evidence in the US economy. The PMEAC projected the US economy to grow by more than the 1.8 per cent projected by the International Monetary Fund in September 2011 and reiterated in January 2012.

Analjit Singh to be non-executive chairman of Vodafone India

The Vodafone Group Friday named Analjit Singh as the non-executive chairman of its India operations.
Singh, a leading industry figure in India, is the founder and chairman of Max India Ltd as well as its subsidiaries such as Max New York Life Insurance Company Ltd, Max Healthcare Institute Ltd and Max Bupa Health Insurance Company Ltd.
"Analjit has been a longstanding, reliable and trustworthy partner in India," Vittorio Colao, chief executive of the Vodafone Group.
The appointment is effective Feb 16, following approval from the board of Vodafone India.
"Analjit knows our business well, having been the founder and chairman of Max Telecom, the business which has grown to become Vodafone India with nearly 150 million customers," said Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone's Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific region.

74 dead in Egypt's worst soccer disaster

Seventy-four people were killed and at least 1,000 injured on Wednesday when Egyptian soccer fans staged a pitch invasion in the city of Port Said, the deadliest incident since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak from power.
Angry politicians decried a lack of security at the match between Port Said team al-Masry and Cairo's Al Ahli, Egypt's most successful club, and blamed the nation's leaders for allowing - or even causing - the tragedy.
"Down with military rule," thousands of Egyptians chanted at the main train station Cairo where they awaited the return of fans, quickly turning the biggest disaster in the nation's soccer history into a political demonstration against army rule.
"The people want the execution of the field marshal," they shouted, turning on the ruler of the military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who tried to assuage anger by vowing to find the culprits in a phone call to a TV channel.
The post-match pitch invasion provoked panic among the crowd as rival fans fought, with most of the deaths among people who were trampled in the crush of the panicking crowd or who fell or were thrown from terraces, witnesses and health workers said.

HCL to create 10,000 jobs in US, Europe over 5 years

In one of the biggest announcements related to job creation here at the World Economic Forum, Indian IT major HCL Technologies today said the company will create 10,000 local jobs in Europe and the US over the next five years.
Terming it a socially responsible business model for growth, HCL Tech Vice Chairman and CEO Vineet Nayar said the company would create these jobs for fresh engineers through partnerships with educational institutes, local governments, local communities, customers and others in these regions.
The announcement came a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said here at the WEF Annual Meeting 2012 that Europe would work toward becoming a benchmark investment destination on the global arena, but she would want foreign companies coming there to create jobs as well.

DC Avanti: India's first Super car

The well known Indian automotive design house, DC Design has unveiled its supercar called the Avanti. According to reports, the car has been named after the Studbaker Avanti that appeared in Tintin comics. The idea behind the Avanti, which means 'forward' in Italian, is to make affordable supercars and the car is expected to be priced at Rs 30 lakh, it was reported.

The car was unveiled by Amitabh Bachchan and will initially come powered by a 4-cylinder turbo petrol engine from Ford, and later a turbo V6 Honda engine. The 4-cylinder turbo petrol will make 265 hp, while the V6 engine will make 400 hp.

The Avanti is expected to do a sub-seven second zero to hundred timing. These engines are mated to a 6-speed dual-clutch transmission system. According to the reports, the engines are being tuned in the UK and will be shipped to India in crates where they will be installed the cars. Much like the engines, most of the other components that go into the cars will also be imported into the country. However, the body and interiors are being manufactured at DC's Talegaon plant in Pune. The body shell is made of aluminium, while the body panels are made of GRP.

Indian bureaucracy rated worst in Asia

Indian bureaucracy is the worst in Asia with a 9.21 rating out of 10, according to a report by a prestigious consulting firm based in Hong Kong.

India fared worst than Vietnam (rated at 8.54), Indonesia (8.37), Philippines (7.57) and China (7.11), said the report by Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd released on Wednesday.


Singapore remained the best with a rating of 2.25, followed by Hong Kong (3.53), Thailand (5.25) Taiwan (5.57), Japan (5.77), South Korea (5.87) and Malaysia (5.89).

The report said India's inefficient bureaucracy was largely responsible for most of the biggest complaints that business executive have about the country.

The complaints included inadequate infrastructure and corruption, where officials were willing to accept under-the- table payments and companies were tempted to pay to overcome bureaucratic inertia and gain government favours.

The report also highlighted onerous and fickle tax, environmental and other regulations that could make business in India "so frustrating and expensive".

It said dealing with court system in India was an unattractive option for companies, and would be best to avoid it.

The bureaucrats were rarely held accountable for wrong decisions and it would be extremely difficult to challenge them when there were disagreements.

"This gives them (bureaucrats) terrific powers and could be one of the main reasons why average Indians as well as existing and would-be foreign investors perceive India’s bureaucrats as negatively as they do,"

But there were plus points when India was compared to countries within the economic development group. In the 2011-12 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, India ranked behind China but ahead of Russia and Brazil for the burden of government regulations as well as for the burden of customs procedures.

India was also second to Brazil but well ahead of China and Russia for the quality of regulation and supervision of the securities exchange.

India was also better than Brazil, Russia and China as the fastest place to set up a new business and to deal with construction permits, and was the second fastest place to deal with export and import procedures.

Bajaj Auto launches ultra-low-cost car RE 60

Bajaj is India's second-largest two-wheeled vehicle maker, and is the world's leader in the three-wheeled vehicle segment, which includes the popular rickshaw taxis used across Asia's third-largest economy.

Bajaj Auto Ltd launched its first-ever four-wheeled vehicle, saying the RE60 would target commercial users and three-wheeled vehicle owners in India, and that production could involve Nissan and Renault.

The unveiling of the four-seater RE60 ended months of rumours that have buzzed around India's auto industry on the nature of the vehicle, which promises low carbon emissions and fuel efficiency, the company said in a much-anticipated launch

The vehicle resembles an over-sized hatchback with an elevated roof. France's Renault SA and Japan's Nissan Motor Co, who worked with Bajaj on developing what was slated to be an ultra low-cost minicar, will decide on co-operation on the RE60 in the next few days, Bajaj Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said.

Made in India, faked in China - $5-bn loss

Chinese manufacturers are increasingly 'faking' popular Indian products of consumer goods giants such as Dabur and ITC, undermining the legitimacy of brands and causing losses worth as much as $5 billion annually, officials said.


'A lot of counterfeit Dabur products are made in China. We have conducted at least 20 raids in China but no proper action has been taken by the Chinese,' said Ashok Jain, general manager of finance at Dabur India, the country's fourth largest FMCG firm.


He said such fake products manufactured in China with 'Made-in-India' tag are supplied across the world, mostly in India and African countries.


'It causes huge damage to the brand. Those fake products are obviously not up to our standards and supplied at very low prices,' Jain told IANS.
Dabur, which has nearly $4 billion market capitalisation, operates in key consumer product categories like healthcare, skin care, hair care and oral care. The company's revenue last fiscal was $910 million.


Goel said the big international brands like Nokia, Adidas, Reebok and Nivea were also widely counterfeited in China and supplied in India and other parts of the world.
Chinese manufacturers are also faking drugs, endangering lives of patients. Fake drugs, carrying 'Made in India' tags, supplied from China were recently detained in Nigeria and other African countries.
K.K. 
According to a report by think tank Indiaforensic Research Foundation, the total loss to the economy annually due to crimes such as counterfeiting, commercial fraud, smuggling, drug trafficking, bank fraud, tax evasion and graft is estimated at Rs.22,528 crore.

Foreigners can now invest directly in Indian stocks

The government gave a New Year gift to the stock markets by allowing qualified foreign investors (QFIs), including overseas individuals, to invest directly in Indian stock markets. So far, QFIs were permitted to invest only in mutual fund schemes.

"As a next logical step, it has now been decided to allow QFIs to directly invest in the Indian equity market in order to widen the class of investors, attract more foreign funds and reduce market volatility and to deepen the Indian capital market," the finance ministry said in a statement. Detailed norms are expected to be issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) over the next two weeks.

By allowing QFIs, the government is opening a new avenue for investment, earlier controlled by foreign institutional investors. Foreign nationals, who wanted to invest in Indian stock markets, came through the sub-account route. Non-resident Indians were, however, permitted to invest directly.