19.05.2008

• IGCC: Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle technology
• India has entered the green phase of coal technology. Last week, an agreement was signed between the BHEL and Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation to set up a 125 MW power plant at Vijayawada using IGCC.
• Considered the cleanest among the emerging power technologies, it first converts solid coal into a combustible gas, which is then rid of sulphur compounds and other pollutants. The cleaned gas is burnt in a gas turbine to generate electricity. The exhaust gas from the turbine is further used to produce steam to drive a turbine and generate more electricity.
• Thermal efficiency for IGCC plants is about 45 per cent but could go up to 60 per cent. This is a substantial improvement over the 35 per cent efficiency of pulverised coal plants. For every one percentage point rise in thermal efficiency, there would be a reduction of about two to three points in greenhouse gas emissions.
• Why is there a case for lower indirect taxes?
• A lower rate of indirect taxes is essential to bring down the tax-to-income ratio for those at lower income levels. Currently, those at the bottom of the pyramid bear a higher burden of tax than those at the top.
• Want a good lesson in demand management -- especially the one targeting non-customers? I bet no such piece appeared in recent times; at least in newspapers. A very interesting article in marketing management.
• Here goes the link. Definitely worth a read.
• On poison pill strategy as a defensive measure for hostile takeover
• The classic poison pill strategy (aka the shareholders’ rights plan) is one wherein the target company gives existing shareholders the right to buy stock at a bargain price if a hostile acquirer purchases more than a predetermined amount of the target company’s stock. The purpose of this move is to devalue the stock worth of the target company and dilute the percentage of the target company equity owned by the hostile acquirer to an extent that makes any further acquisition prohibitively expensive for him. There are many equally effective variations of the classic poison pill defence.
• Want to know the status of legality of this defence measure in corporate India? Look no further. You have a very well informed and incisive analysis here.
• India's management graduates output and committee looking into MBA education
• India is on top of the global league tables in the production of MBAs, about 100,000 per annum.
• There is no dearth of reports on what ails management teaching and what requires fixing: right now, another Committee (RC Bhargava) has been commissioned “to look into the matter.”
• MNCs have been praised and booed with frequency in our Indian mindset. Isn’t time we know something about the best performing and worst performing MNCs in India?
• Take a look at these figures:
• Best performers
• Worst performers
• Robotic surgery
• Canadian doctors have created history by performing the world’s first robotic surgery to remove brain tumour.
• In the landmark surgery, neurosurgeons at Calgary’s Foothills medical centre guided a newly developed robotic system — called NeuroArm — to remove an egg-shaped tumour from the brain of a woman.
• How much does cost because of loss of biodiversity?
• The destruction of flora and fauna is costing the world € two trillion ($3.1 trillion) a year, or 6% of its overall gross national product, according to a report trailed by German news weekly ‘Der Spiegel’.
• The Reliance brothers never fail to keep the market interested
• In what could be the beginning of Reliance Industries’ play in real estate and hospitality, the Indian conglomerate has sealed a $1-billion joint venture with the New York Stock Exchange-listed Vornado Realty Trust to set up a realty fund which will develop a network of mega malls and highway shopping centres in India, not just for Reliance Retail (RRL), but for others too. At the same time, Reliance is in talks with the Canada-based Four Seasons Hotels and French hotel group Accor to set up hotels in some of the group-owned properties in Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
• The younger brother is not lagging far behind with an announcement about Hollywood entry. Reliance Big, the entertainment arm of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, on Sunday took a giant leap into Hollywood by entering into a slew of development deals with production houses promoted by leading Hollywood names such as George Clooney, Nicholas Cage, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Chris Columbus, Jim Carrey and Jay Roach.
• Professors can turn entrepreneurs now
• In a move that would transform knowledge professionals into entrepreneurs, the government plans to allow professors and research scholars to set up commercial entities while being employed in academic institutes. The relevant service rules are also reported to be getting amended to allow for this.
• China's designs on Sikkim
• China wants to claim a piece of land in northern Sikkim called the “finger area” by the Indian Army. The boundary in the area is demarcated by stone cairns. The Chinese side has objected to these stone cairns, which loosely demarcate the boundary in the Finger Area. India has told China that it will not allow Chinese troops into the area and that it would mean a breach of the treaty between India and China to maintain peace along the border.
• This is the latest in a row of border incidents that irritate the Sino-India ties. China has continued to stake claim over large parts of Arunachal Pradesh particularly Tawang.
• What is a scam ad?
• These are advertisements meant for winning awards, according to the industry lingo.
• Recently, a series of ads created by McCann Erickson for the inner wear brand Hanes, owned by Hanes Brands, has boomeranged into an international controversy. This is on account of the use of racial slurs and the fact that the client had no knowledge of the campaign which was not commissioned by it.
• McCann's contract was terminated by Hanes.
• Statistics about India's Internet penetration
• There are over 49-million internet users in the country. Urban users account for a bulk of it, 40 million, with rural net users numbering 9 million.
• Every one in 10 urban Indians (12%) is now net connected. Over two-thirds (70%) of all internet users reside outside metros. And across urban and rural India, internet using population is evenly spread across all socioeconomic classes (SEC). What’s more, over 70% internet users prefer to access the net in Indian languages, with English users at just 28%, down from 41% in 2007.
• Have more apettite for figures and facts? Follow this.
• FDI norms to be relaxed soon
• FOREIGN direct investments into India are set for a more liberal regime whereby companies will require only an FIPB approval for investments up to Rs 1,000 crore. Clearance from Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) will be mandatory only for investments above Rs 1,000 crore.
• Earlier any investment proposal above Rs 600 crore needed an approval from the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) over and above the FIPB nod.
• Overall US trade distorting subsidies double
• The US’ trade distorting farm subsidy more than doubled a decade after it committed to bring them down by 20% in the Uruguay Round agreement of the World Trade Organisation in 1995. The overall trade distorting subsidies (OTDS), which was about $10 billion in 1995, increased to $22.6 billion in 2005 and then fell slightly to $17.4 billion the following year.
• India and other developing countries could not do anything about it as the US had all its numbers in order. The country managed to actually increase its subsidies instead of cutting it down as it had sneaked into a foot note of its schedule of commitments for the Uruguay Round an asterixed point changing the base year of calculation from 1995 to 1986-88. Since in 1986-88, its trade distorting subsidies was at an all-time high of $58 billion, a 20% reduction would mean that it was mandated to reduce its subsidies to just $46 billion.