28.08.2007

  • I noted something on the Hyderabad Bomb Blasts in our Discover It blog. Take a look at it here.
  • National Commission for SCs and
    • Its Chairman is Mr. Buta Singh
  • CAS rollout halted
    • The rollout of the Conditional Access System, which was made operational throughout Chennai and in select notified zones in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, has been put on hold.
    • The I&B ministry has decided to conduct a detailed technical and consumer account audit across cities before notifying the date for the CAS rollout.
    • This means that the earlier plan of rolling out CAS in 19 other major cities in the country from 2008, will not be implemented for now.
  • Karnataka’s answer to Palace on Wheels
    • We all know that Palace on Wheels is a luxury tourist train that operates in Rajasthan.
    • Karnataka has come out with its version – the Golden Chariot. It covers two world heritage sites – Hampi and Pattadakal. It is expected to hit the tracks in November 2007.
  • What is account evergreening in loan (or NBFC) parlance?
    • What happens in this is, as borrowers miss personal loan EMIs, some of the finance companies extend a fat fee to the collection agent, with the understanding that the agent will return a large part of the amount. When the agent returns the money over a period of time, it is shown as loan EMIs. While for the company the net cash flow is nil – since money that goes out comes back – it’s way out to dress up the account. Even though there is a default, the loan account will be shown as a perfectly regular one.
    • What are the benefits? Why should the NBFC indulge in this?
      • The company need not provide for the bad loan. When a loan turns bad (i.e., default of 90 days or more), it has to be fully provided; in other words, earnings have to be lowered by the outstanding amount. This immediately impact profitability.
      • The income given to the agent is a tax deductibe expenditure.
      • The delinquency levels or the volumes of NPAs will appear well below the actuals.
  • Efforts made by the government to make business life easier in India.
    • As we took a drubbing in the 2007 World Bank rankings of “Doing Business”, the government has taken the following measures to improve our rankings. The World Bank rankings have kept us at 134th position among 175 nations.
    • The government ministries are working on a new system to reduce the time taken for registering a new business and getting all the procedural approvals from the current 302 days to 166 days.
  • Subprime lessons for India
    • Remember the article that we clipped in our 20th August notes on Indian Current Affairs about subprime myths and realities?
    • You shouldn’t miss today’s article by Rajrishi Singhal in the centre page. I am not able to find the web link. You are on your own there.
  • What are the components of the international licence-permit raj for the nuclear industry?
    • The NSG, IAEA, Zangger committee, Australia Group, Wassennar Arragement, MCTR and PSI.
    • I will give short notes about each of them shortly in our upcoming Discover It.
  • What is fair value accounting?
    • Fair value is the price at which an asset or liability could be echanged in a current transaction between knowledgeable, unrelated willing parties.
    • The objective is to estimate an exchange price for the asset or liability being measured in the absence of an actual transaction for that asset or liability.
  • Fastest woman in the world
    • Veronica Campbell. She clocked 11.01 seconds to finish 100 meters dash in the World Athletics Championships going on at Osaka.

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