10.01.2007

• Secretary General of the OECD
• Mr. Angel Gurria. He is from Mexico. He started functioning in this capacity from June 1, 2006.
• Goldman Sachs CEO: Lloyd Blanfein. His last year emoluments were a record $53.4 mn.
• Morgan Stanley CEO: John Mack. His last year emoluments were $40 mn.
• SEZ clearances and policy matters
• While the Board of Approvals (BoA) for SEZs will clear the SEZ proposals, it is the EGoM (Empowered Group of Ministers) which will discuss and clear the policy related matters like the proposed ceiling on multi-product SEZs.
• Bill on Microfinance sector
• A bill on microfinance is expected to be tabled in Parliament in the forthcoming budget session.
• MFIs (Micro Finance Institutions) have justified higher interest rates as the transaction costs are very high. The government appears to be against proposing any ceiling on interest rates, as it would create artificial scarcity.
• They want the government to permit them to mobilize savings accounts by providing enabling guidelines.
• NABARD to be appointed as the regulator for the microfinance sector.
• Experts say that only 5% of the annual credit demand is met for the population living below the poverty line. Nearly 80% of the demand is met by the informal sector.
• NSE may have foreign stakeholders soon
• Goldman Sachs and NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) are expected to buy into NSE (National Stock Exchange) and buy up to 26% of it.
• RBI has allowed foreign investments up to 49% in stock exchanges, fixing FDI cap at 26% and FII cap at 23%.
• What’s the big difference between having your income treated as capital gains and as business income?
• If your income is treated as capital gains, you will pay just 10% of that as income tax.
• If, on the other hand, your income is treated as business income, it has two implications:
• The upside is that you will be able to set off all your business related expenditure against this income, to arrive at your net taxable income.
• The downside is that your net taxable income will be subjected to a higher rate of tax applicable to the individuals or corporates as the case may be.
• If you happen to be an FII, one more implication is that:
• Your business income cannot be taxed in India, unless you have a permanent establishment (PE) in India.
• Hence the income tax department would try its best to treat the income of the FIIs (who do not have a PE) from their stock investments as capital gains, so that it can tax that income.
• ULFA leaders
• There are about five leaders in the ULFA set up. Of them the widely known figure is Arabind Rajkhowa.
• Size of the Indian music industry
• About Rs. 720 crore.
• Yum! Restuarants
• It is the owner of the marquee brands such as Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell.
• It is $26 bn US based restaurant chain.
• TRAI to allow sharing of active gear
• Indian telcos are permitted to share only passive infrastructure like towers, repeaters, shelters and generators.
• Trai wants them to share optic and feeder fibre cables, radio links, network elements, backhaul, antennae etc.
• It is of the view that sharing will lead to deeper penetration and coverage and also lead to better intra-circle roaming.
• What is backhaul in this context? A terrestrial communications channel linking an earth station to a local switching network or population centre.
• What is the size of the current global economy?
• $420 trillion.
• Of this about two thirds is stated to be contributed by services.
• Private containers
• Container train business was opened to the private sector last year.
• The licence fee for operating container train business is Rs. 50 crores.
• Private container companies are required to have an annual turnover or net worth of Rs. 100 crores.
• What is an MCA? Model Concession Agreement?
• It is a legal document specifying the terms and conditions for public private partnership projects.
• Usually it is the Planning Commission which will either prepare or vet such agreements.
• What are the three books based on which the famous movie “The Ten Commandments” was made by Director Cecil B DeMille?
• “The Prince of Egypt” by Dorothy Clarke Wilson
• “Pillar of Fire” by J H Ingram
• “One Eagle’s Wings” by G E Southon
• Milk destroys benefits of tea
• Tea has complex compounds called polyphenols which are believed to help the arteries relax or dilate, thus enabling a smoother flow of blood.
• Milk contains three proteins, which adhere to polyphenols known as catechins, preventing them from carrying out their health-making work.
• Scooby Doo creator dead
• Iwao Takamoto, the animator who created Scooby-Doo died of cardiac failure.
• He was 81.

07.01.2007

• Brand Sourav back in business
• The advertisers say that it is the kind of path followed by Saurav that makes him a darling for the advertisers. The leader to underdog to performer, path taken by him is a combination that is liked by advertisers.
• Apart from qualities such as aggression and leadership skills, others like grit, determination, conviction and never say die attitude are the stuff that advertisers like most.
• Tourist arrivals in India in 2006
• Tourist arrivals have crossed the 7.25 million mark.
• For the first time ever, the break up includes NRIs, PIOs besides foreign tourist arrivals. 4.43 million were foreign tourists and 2.82 million were NRIs and PIOs. PIOs are Persons of Indian Origin.
• The forex earnings from tourism in 2006 were $6.8 billion – up from $5.7 billion in 2005.
• Tough times ahead for VAS players
• The government is mandating that all short codes for SMS should have five digits in place of the current 4 digits. It is mandating that from May 2007, all the codes should have the number 5 prefixed to them.
• The VAS (Value Added Service) players in the telecom market are up in arms against this proposed move, as that would mean losing out their established branding.
• The government is not convinced about their losing the branding with the existing numbers and says that the complaint of the VAS players is not worth taking note of. It says that just as municipal corporations can demolish constructions, it can also come up with any change in numbering system to suit the network needs any time.
• An interesting story about discovery of sucralose and pronounciation
• It is a very interesting story about how pronunciation can lead to misunderstandings. In this story the misunderstanding led to discovery of a new material that is 600 times sweeter than normal sugar.
• One Mr. Shashikant Phadnis was studying chemistry at Queen Elizabeth College in London in 1975. He was working with his advisor Leslie Hough, to develop new insecticides and had just added sulfuryl chloride, a highly toxic chemical, to a sugar solution. Hough asked him to ‘test’ it, but Phadnis heard ‘taste’ and put a small amount on the tip of his tongue. And bingo, the new compound “sucralose” was discovered.
• Hoysala architecture
• Of the temples built during that period (Hoysalas ruled from Mysore during the 12^th century AD), those at Belur, Halebid and Somnathpur are the only surviving ones. While the Belur and Halebid temples suffered from heavy invasions during the 14^th century, the Somnathpur temple is near its original condition.
• The star shaped temple at Somnathpur is considered to be the latest and best preserved example of the Hoysala architecture. It has the Orasanna and Chennakesava shrines.
• Size of the sportswear market in India
• It is pegged at Rs. 1500 crores and is growing at 30% per annum.
• The renewed ULFA offensive in Assam
• In one of the worst militant attacks, 36 people, mostly migrants from Bihar, and seven poll personnel, were killed by ULFA and another insurgent group (KNCLF: Karbi Longri North Cachar Liberation Front) in Assam, taking the death count in the mayhem since Friday night to 56.
• Fastest car in India
• The fastest car in India was built by Fazal Khan of FRK Racing. He had modified a Toyota Supra with 800 bhp on tap and established a quarter mile record of 11.5 seconds.
• A great GB Shaw quote
• “If you are not an idealist in your 20s, then you have no heart and if you are an idealist in your 40s, you have no brains.”
• The next version of the Apple Mac OS X system
• It is called the Leopard and is previewed recently.
• Apple has sold more than 70 million iPods since they were introduced.
• San Francisco goes WiFi, free of cost
• The city an a company called Earthlink have reached an agreement to offer free wireless Internet access, promising to make it the first major US city to deliver multiple WiFi services city-wide.
• FDI in India
• The total FDI inflows this year are expected to peak to about $14 billion.
• Delhi and Mumbai garnered the major share of the FDI inflows during the period January 2000 to October 2006 with about 25% and 21% share each. In absolute terms, the share of Delhi was at Rs. 30,673.73 crores while that of Mumbai was at Rs. 25,685.45 crores.
• In the efforts to attract more FDI, the initiative taken by Tamilnadu to subsidize training programs is considered very innovative.
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
• The first time it was organized was in 2003 at Delhi.
• About marathons
• The marathon is a long distance running event of 42.195 kilometers.
• The name ‘marathon’ comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek soldiers who was sent from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been miraculously defeated in the Battle of Marathon. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping, but moments after proclaiming his message to the city, he collapsed dead tired.
• World record is held by Paul Tergat of Kenya for his September 28, 2003 run in 2 hours 4 minutes and 55 seconds.
• World record for women is held by Paula Radcliffe of UK in the London Marathon on 13^th April 2003 with 2 hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds.
• More than 800 marathons are organized in most countries of the world. Some of the most prestigious races are held in Boston, New York, London, Berlin, Chicago, Rome and Paris.
• Pankaj Advani
• He is the second cueist after Paul Misfud to win both the billiards and snooker amateur world titles.