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Currency
futures to make debut soon
The Reserve
Bank of India has, in principle, allowed banks
and brokers as the first participants to start
currency futures on eligible exchanges. [More]
Visa
norms get easier for tourists from 18
countries
The Government proposes to
provide visa-on-arrival to tourists from 18
countries, who already get five-year multiple
entry visas. [More]
Tax
waiver for STPI units to continue till March
2010
The Finance Minister has extended
the tax holiday for software companies under the
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI)
scheme. [More]
Indian
companies to bid for foreign projects without
Centre's nod
RBI has exempted corporates
from seeking prior permission of the central
government for international competitive bidding
(ICB) in forex. [More]
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| PEOPLE |
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Seven Indians among top 100
intellectuals
Ramachandra Guha, Ashis
Nandy, and Sunita Narain, among others, have
made it to the world's Top 100 'public
intellectuals' list, as compiled by Foreign
Policy. [More]
Sonia,
Tata, Nooyi in list of world's most
influential
Congress president Sonia
Gandhi, Industrialist Ratan Tata and PepsiCo CEO
Indra Nooyi are the three Indians in
Time's 2008 list of the world's 100 most
influential people. [More]
India-origin
lady among UK's 20 most powerful in public
sector
Shriti Vadera, working with the
UK's Department of Business Enterprise and
Competitiveness, is among the Daily
Telegraph's 20 most powerful business people
in the country's public sector. [More]
Goldman
Sachs' Indian-origin manager in UK top
20
Sanjay Patel, senior executive at
Goldman Sachs, has been named among the UK's 20
most powerful fund managers, by the Daily
Telegraph. [More]
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| ECONOMY AND
ENTERPRISE |
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Organised
stores to capture 25 per cent of retail revenues
by 2011: study
India's organised retail
is growing faster than expected and could
account for 25 per cent of total retail revenues
by 2011, as per a study by Deloitte Haskins and
Sells. [More]
India
to become eighth wealthiest place by 2017:
Barclays Wealth
India is estimated to
witness one of the largest absolute increases in
the number of dollar-millionaires - taking the
wealth held by high networth Indian households
to about US$ 1.7 trillion by 2017. [More]
Exports
up 23 per cent at US$ 155 billion
India's
exports registered a 23.02 per cent growth, in
dollar terms, to US$ 155.51 billion in 2007-08 -
against US$ 126.41 billion in 2006-07. [More]
'India
to steer light vehicles market'
India is
poised to emerge as the world's fourth largest
light vehicle market by 2014, riding on low-cost
cars, according to a survey by CSM Worldwide. [More]
'IT,
BPO revenue to touch US$ 132 billion by
2012'
The Indian software and BPO segment
will grow at a rate of over 16 per cent to
become a US$ 132 billion industry by 2012, says
International Data Corporation. [More]
General
Insurance industry logs 12.5 per cent growth in
FY 2008
13 non-life insurers collected
US$ 6.75 billion in premium during FY 2008,
against US$ 6 billion collected in the previous
fiscal. [More]
India
set to be clinical research hub
The
Indian clinical research market is estimated to
grow to US$ 1.5 billion in value by 2010,
according to McKinsey. [More]
Mumbai
is world's seventh largest billionaire city:
Forbes
Mumbai - India's financial capital
- is the world's seventh largest city in terms
of billionaire population, according to
Forbes' list of top 10 cities for
billionaires. [More]
Five
Indian companies in top 10 global service
providers list
Five Indian software
majors are among the world's top 10 outsourcing
service providers, as per the International
Association of Outsourcing Professionals. [More]
Reliance
MF does a first, AUMs cross US$ 24.63
billion
Assets under management (AUMs) of
the mutual fund (MF) industry have swelled from
US$ 36.60 billion in April 2004, to US$ 130.26
billion in March 2008 - an almost 256 per cent
rise. [More]
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Junior
shoppers are now big business
To attract
trend conscious young customers and their
parents, organised chains are focusing on
branded children's wear - as well as on branding
pre-school education - for
differentiated competitive positioning.
[More]
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Nowhere
in the world has retail fallen into the
consumers' lap like it has in India.
B
S Nagesh
Customer Care Associate and
Managing Director
Shoppers Stop
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The
world's largest and costliest home - 550 feet
high with 4,00,000 square feet of space and a
price-tag nearing US$ 2 billion - is being built
by the richest Indian, Mukesh Ambani. [More]
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Organic
vegetable farming planned in 1,000 Kerala
villages
Kerala government's organic
vegetables farming programme is aimed at
self-reliance in vegetable production. [More]
All
Gujarat villages to get broadband
connectivity
Gujarat's ambitious 'e-gram'
project is the first-ever and largest project of
its kind, under the e-governance initiative by
any state across Asia. [More]
India,
Brazil have 'greenest' consumers:
Study
Brazilians and Indians have the
most environmentally-sustainable lifestyle as
per 'Greendex' - a National Geographic Society
study on global attitudes towards consumption
and the environment. [More]
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