- Insurance industry
- The IRDA has been requesting the government to infuse more capital in national insurance companies to bring their solvency margin to the required level of 1.5 from the current level of around 1.08.
- Nationalization of insurance business done in 1972. The four general insurers (i.e., New India, United India, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance) were functioning as subsidiaries of General Insurance Corporation of
- Taj Group of Hotels
- Established nearly 100 years ago, it runs 59 hotels in 40 locations across
- The retail spend in the organized retail stores has touched Rs. 55,000 crores ($12.4 bn) in 2006.
- RFID technology in oil exploration
- Normally we would have experience RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology in organized retail showrooms. But in oil exploration?
- Yes. It is reputed to help convert marginal oilfields into smart, digital platforms. The accuracy of exploration is reportedly helped by this technology. When drilling for new wells, companies use perforating guns. These shots have to be very accurate – targeting areas where there is oil. RFID tags can be embedded into the pipes fitted into prospective wells, eliminating wastage, cutting costs and saving time.
- There are about 135,000 registered CAs in the country. 55,000 of them are practicing in
- Every year about 9000 to 10,000 CAs graduate.
- Government de-licenses the 5.8 GHz spectrum for WiMAX usage.
- Globally, the WiMAX forum has identified 5.8 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands to deploy systems for WiMAX.
- With this de-licensing,
- World’s ice
- About 90% of the world’s ice is located in
- Food subsidy bill
- Budget estimates for the year pegged the food subsidy bill at Rs. 24,200 crores.
- Storage and transport costs are currently pegged at Rs. 358/quintal per month.
- Oil bonds
- These are issued to the oil marketing companies in the country by the government, to compensate losses incurred on sales of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene.
- For the year 2006-07, the cabinet has approved issuance of Rs. 28,300 crores bonds.
- They carry an interest of 7 to 8.2% depending on the prevailing interest rates. The bonds are shown as investments in the oil companies’ balance sheets and they usually sell them when they need the money.
- The government has to take the approval of the parliament for the issue of the bonds.
- Duties on luxury cars
- At present the CBU (Completely Built Units) imports attract the following duties:
- 60% basic duty
- 32% additional customs duty
- 4% countervailing duty
- + national calamity and contingency duty
- All put together, these duties add up to about 120%.
- The government is thinking of slashing the basic duty by about 10%.
- Corporates buy about 20 to 30 lakh tonnes (2-3 mn tonnes) of wheat per year compared to about 1.8 crore tonnes (18 mn tonnes) by FCI.
- Bulk of the investment in agriculture comes from the private sector. About 71%.
- The involvement of the corporate sector, the likes of Reliance, Bharti, ITC etc., is expected to provide powerful stimulus to increase production and productivity.
- It accounts for carrying roughly 95% of
- World’s largest container port is in
- Central Bank governors
- Those among you who want a great detail about transport sector details, look for today’s centre page article: “Fast-changing profile of ports” by Raghu Dayal. It is a good piece giving lot of information and stats on
- False promise of liberalization
- Read this article for a contrarian view on the benefits of financial globalization.
17.02.2007
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