02.04.2007

• Independent director norms flouted by corporate India
• Clause 49 of the listing agreement mandates having independent directors on the boards of the companies. Many companies seem to have followed the letter; not the spirit of these guidelines.
• Promoters have resorted to re-designating themselves as non-executive chairmen with a view to avoiding reservation of the half of the board seats to independent directors and instead limit to just one-third of the seats.
• Maruti has come up with an anti-stealing chip for cars
• The chip will allow the car to be opened only with the original key supplied by the company. If it is opened by any other means, it will stay immobilized.
• Laurie Baker dead
• Eminent architect and a British-born person who under the spell of the Mahatma Gandhi, preferred to settle down in India passed away.
• Having settled in India, he pioneered the concept of low cost housing.
• Dinosuars, mammals and evolution
• Dinosaurs ruled the earth from about 225 mn years ago until their demise about 65 mn years ago when the Earth was hit by a huge asteroid off the Yucatan peninsula.
• The Yucatán Peninsula separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico. The peninsula lies east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a northwestern geographic partition separating the region of Central America from the rest of North America.
• Wanna see the map? Follow this link.
• Some of the mammals that flourished soon after the demise of the dinosaurs included:
• Ptilodus: cat sized and rodent like
• Plesiadapis: squirrel like primate
• Creodonts: dog sized meat eater
• Andrewsarchus: lion sized carnivores
• SBI and ICICI Bank finally to be allowed in Singapore
• The CECA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement) with Singapore, which came into effect in August 2005 provided for grant of QFB (Qualified Full Bank) status to three Indian banks in Singapore and vice versa. Singapore, however denied the status to Indian banks because none met their prudential norms.
• With the recent upgrade of India’s sovereign rating and the ratings of the SBI and ICICI Bank by Standard Poor (an international rating agency) to investment grade, the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore, RBI equivalent) agreed to relax certain criteria and allow the two banks to operate in Singapore.
• With this, the Indian government is also expected to allow Singapore government investment arms Temasek holdings and GIC to hold 10% stake each in ICICI Bank.
• Unemployment rate decline
• A report released by the National Sample Survey Organization states that the rate of unemployment declined by 2 percentage points between 1990-2000 and 2004-05.
• In 2004-05, the unemployment rate was 2.1% for males and 3.1% for females.
• What do we do with these figures? I am bewildered. Should there be really such lag in coming out with statistical figures? What policy inputs can such delayed figures provide?
• Highest ATMs in India and the World
• UTI Bank’s ATM at Thegi near Nathula is at an altitude of 13,200 feet.
• Agriculture Bank of China’s ATM at Naqu, at about 14,765 feet is the world’s highest.
• Today’s article by Mythili Bhsunurmath on the disconnect between economic research and plicymaking is worth a read. Do read it here.
• Cricket
• Glenn McGrath became the World Cup’s highest wicket-taker. He had 57 wickets to his credit beating Wasim Akram’s 55.
• World Aquatic Championships at Melbourne
• Michael Phelps has won the 7^th gold with another world record in 400 meter individual medley.