15.02.2007

• Peak tariffs are likely to be cut to 5%
• In an attempt to curtail inflation, the government is toying with the idea of bringing down the customs duties to ASEAN levels from the present 12.5%. A 5% cut in the tariff will mean a revenue loss of about Rs. 3,850 crores.
• Deutsche Boerse to buy a stake in BSE
• The 132 years old Bombay Stock Exchange took the first step towards demutualization by offering a 5% stake to Deutsche Boerse for Rs. 189 crores.
• Earlier, the NSE (National Stock Exchange) had NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) Group and three other institutional investors pick up a stake of 5% each in it for a consideration of $49 crores ($490 mn).
• Ambarish quits Lok Sabha and the Cabinet over Cauvery tribunal award
• Union Minister of State for Information M.H. Ambarish has put in his papers following the tribunal award, stating that it was an unjust award.
• He is the second person to have resigned from Cabinet. Earlier during P.V. Narasimha Rao’s regime, Tamilnadu’s Vazhapudi Ramamoorthy, who was labour minister, quit proteting against the delay in the notification of the tribunal’s June 1991 interim award, directing the state to release 205 tmcft of water at Mettur.
• CMD of HPCL Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited
• Arun Balakrishnan is named the CMD
• HAL and BEL get Navaratna status
• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Bharat Electronics Limited are given the coveted navaratna status.
• Ras Al Khaimah invest Rs. 9000 crore in AP
• One of the emirates of the UAE and also one of the largest producers of ceramic tiles in the world, it is setting up a 25 lakh tonne alumina plant in Jerrela in Visakhapatnam District.
• Some important personalities connected with commodities markets and/or regulation in India
• Mr. Sundaresan, Chairman of FMC (Forward Markets Commission)
• P.H. Ravikumar, MD of NCDEX
• Kailash Gupta, MD of NMCE
• Bullion consumption
• India is the world’s largest bullion consumer with an annual intake of about 800 tonnes.
• Containing inflation and increase in CRR
• In the past when the RBI has increased the CRR in the late nineties, it has ended a growth phase. But then, that was also the time when the East Asian crisis was occurring.
• It is hard to say whether a repeat will happen now, with the ongoing monetary tightening.
• “TV is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome” – TS Eliot
• Indian urban scenario
• India’s population is expected to touch 140 crores (1.4 bn) by 2026. Of this 38% will be living in urban areas as against 28% in 2001.
• India’s urban population is spread over 4,378 cities.
• According to 2001 census, the total urban population is about 27.9 crores (279 mn)
• Concept of Aerotropolis
• It is a new urban infrastructure form comprising aviation-intensive businesses and related enterprises extending up to 25 km outward from a major airport. It is similar in form and function to a traditional metropolis, which contains a central city core and its commuter-linked suburbs, much like Delhi and its satellite towns in the national capital region. It has an airport at its core.
• Professor John D Kasarda has pioneered this concept.
• America’s Memphis and Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport have emerged as world’s aerotropolises spontaneously. Countries like Korea and Dubai are carefully planning aerotropolises.
• Project Natrip
• Conceived under the Ministry of Heavy Industry at the Centre, this is a Rs. 1,718 crore project. National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project. The project is aimed at driving Indian into the future through worldclass automotive testing, validation, R&D, homologation infrastructure and services.
• As part of it, one of the world’s largest automobile proving grounds is being set up at Pithampur near Indore. It will have 14 km long testing track with 23 surfaces.