04.10.2006

Govt. may OK private cos to sell ATF at desi airports
Govt. to provide private companies with land and infrastructure facilities to set up shop at airports.

International firms will get permission to sell fuel to airlines directly

Proposed guidelines to be operational after the new civil aviation policy is approved

Initiative to have big impact on the bottomline of low-cost carriers

India’s beer market

Andhra Pradesh is the largest beer market in the country accounting for over 18% of the overall domestic consumption in the country. It is currently growing at 25% per annum.

Kerala tourism goes the homestay way
On rough count around 100 homestays are there in Kerala, out of which around 30 should be active.

Manas – the traditional name for home of Nambudiris.

PC sales in India
MAIT (Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology) estimates that 4.6 mln PCs and 4.3 lk laptops were sold in India during 2005-06.

In Q1 2006-07 about 1 mln desktops and close to 2 lk laptops were sold.

The Indian PC market is currently around 5 mln units a year and is set to be 10 mln units a year business in the next few years.

Damage caused by overloaded vehicles
Highways are designed for particular load. The damaging effect of higher axle loading than the standard axle would damage the road. An increase in axle load from 8 tonnes to 16 tonnes results in damaging the road by a factor of 16.

The GoI is launching French made machines to check overloading of trucks and plans to stop them from plying the on the road.

India is the 5th largest telecom services market in the world; $17.8 bn revenues in FY 2005.

An EOU (Export Oriented Unit) is one which is enjoined to export 50% of its output to be exported out of the country.

Reservation issue
The yearly government expenditure to sustain the current levels of reservation is around Rs. 13,500 cr.

By the end of 2010, 65% of India’s population will be in the 18-25 years age group.

Miss World contest 2006
Held in Poland.

Miss Czech Republic Ms. Tatana Kucharova is Miss World.

Runner up Miss Romania – Valentina Boitor

Third finalist: Miss Australia – Sabrina Houssami

Nobel prize for Physics
Americans John C Mather and George F Smoot won the 2006 Nobel prize for physics.
For their discovery of the black body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Global chip sales in 2005 were at $235 bn