US ambassador Timothy Roemer resigns US ambassador Timothy Roemer resigns US ambassador Timothy Roemer resigns

NEW DELHI: US ambassador Timothy Roemer, the US ambassador to India resigned a day after India told the US companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin that their fighter aircraft were out of the reckoning for India's MMRCA bid.

54-year-old Roemer, a political appointee, said he has accomplished all of the strategic objectives set two years ago and he wants to go back home to look after his family.

Roemer, who was nominated by US PresidentBarack Obama in May 2009, is expected to leave by June.

"Ambassador Roemer's departure is for personal, professional and family considerations," the US embassy said in a statement here.

"When I accepted the job two years ago, I told President Barack Obama that I will serve for two years, but that family considerations would be the front and centre after that," Roemer said.

Roemer said that the US-India relationship is on a "positive historic trajectory" towards a global partnership.

"The horizons of our relationship truly no limits," he said.

The US envoy said his two sons will be leaving for college in the next 14 months and he would like his parents and in-laws to spend more time with his children.

Noting that he came as a diplomat and was leaving feeling part of a family, he said, "For me and for my entire family the two years have been a time of incredible experiences, warm friendship, meaningful partnership".

"The US-India relationship -- what my friend President Obama calls the defining partnership of the 21st century - has progressed to the global stage. I am very proud to have led the team responsible for deepening and broadening the strategic partnership of this critical bilateral relationship, which is one of the cornerstones of our foreign policy.

"The US India relationship is on a positive historic trajectory towards a global partnership that is changing the way our two nations create economic opportunity for our citizens, educating the leaders of tomorrow, and ensuring safe and secure communities," he said.

VIVEK KUMAR

PGDM 2nd Sem

US ambassador Timothy Roemer resigns US ambassador Timothy Roemer resigns US ambassador Timothy Roemer resigns

NEW DELHI: US ambassador Timothy Roemer, the US ambassador to India resigned a day after India told the US companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin that their fighter aircraft were out of the reckoning for India's MMRCA bid.

54-year-old Roemer, a political appointee, said he has accomplished all of the strategic objectives set two years ago and he wants to go back home to look after his family.

Roemer, who was nominated by US PresidentBarack Obama in May 2009, is expected to leave by June.

"Ambassador Roemer's departure is for personal, professional and family considerations," the US embassy said in a statement here.

"When I accepted the job two years ago, I told President Barack Obama that I will serve for two years, but that family considerations would be the front and centre after that," Roemer said.

Roemer said that the US-India relationship is on a "positive historic trajectory" towards a global partnership.

"The horizons of our relationship truly no limits," he said.

The US envoy said his two sons will be leaving for college in the next 14 months and he would like his parents and in-laws to spend more time with his children.

Noting that he came as a diplomat and was leaving feeling part of a family, he said, "For me and for my entire family the two years have been a time of incredible experiences, warm friendship, meaningful partnership".

"The US-India relationship -- what my friend President Obama calls the defining partnership of the 21st century - has progressed to the global stage. I am very proud to have led the team responsible for deepening and broadening the strategic partnership of this critical bilateral relationship, which is one of the cornerstones of our foreign policy.

"The US India relationship is on a positive historic trajectory towards a global partnership that is changing the way our two nations create economic opportunity for our citizens, educating the leaders of tomorrow, and ensuring safe and secure communities," he said.

VIVEK KUMAR

PGDM 2nd Sem

Wipro result Q4 net up 14% at Rs 1,375 cr, announces 200% dividend

MUMBAI: The country's third largest software exporter Wipro on Wednesday reported a growth of 13.77 per cent in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, to Rs 1,375.4 crore.

Last year, the company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,208.9 crore for the fourth quarter.

"We have made good progress in creating a leaner, simpler and more customer-centric organisation structure. We believe our business strategy along with the new structure will deliver industry leading growth," Wipro chairman Azim Premji said in a statement.

IT services, which contributed 76 per cent to the company's revenues in FY'11, stood at USD 1,400 million, a sequential increase of 4.2 per cent and a year-on-year increase of 20.1 per cent.

The company said it expected its revenues from the IT services business to be in the range of USD 1,394 million to USD 1,422 million for the first quarter ending June 30, 2011.

The IT services segment hired 2,894 people this quarter and 14,314 people during the financial year, taking the total headcount to 1,22,385 employees as of March 31, 2011. It added 68 new customers for the reporting quarter and 155 new customers during the year.

"The business environment is positive and we are focusing on growth by directing investments on momentum verticals. We have announced wage hikes effective June 1, 2011, which would have an impact on the operating margins," Wipro executive director and chief financial officer Suresh Senapaty said.

Net income from sales for the reporting quarter stood at Rs 8,302.4 crore as against Rs 7,016.1 crore in Q4, FY2009-10, up 18.33 per cent.

For the fiscal ended March, 2011, the company has registered a net profit of Rs 5,297.7 crore, compared to Rs 4,593.1 crore during the previous fiscal, up 15.34 per cent.

Net income from sales in the 2010-11 fiscal grew 14.51 per cent to Rs 31,098.7 crore from Rs 27,157.4 in the previous fiscal.

On a standalone basis, the company has reported a net profit of Rs 1,337.6 crore for the quarter, a growth of 8.15 per cent vis-a-vis the same period last year.

"Our journey of building the new Wipro is based on the foundation of customer focus, domain and technology leadership directed toward the customer needs and providing enriching career opportunities for our employees," Wipro executive director and CEO (IT Business) T K Kurien said.

The company's cash and cash equivalents stood at Rs 6,114.1 crore as on March 31, 2011.

IT products comprised 12 per cent of the total company revenue at Rs 3,691 crore for the year, a decline of 3 per cent Y-o-Y. Revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 911 crore.

VIVEK KUMAR 

PGDM 2nd Sem

Facebook adds Send button for closed group

Facebook on Monday began letting members of cozy cliques formed at the social networking service share website links or photo albums without all their friends knowing about it. A “Send” button that lets people share website links with selected cadres instead of all Facebook friends was among enhancements being rolled out to a “Groups” feature launched in October of last year.

More than 50 million groups have been created at Facebook since the option became available.
“A year ago, we launched the ‘Like’ button, which gives you a quick way to share the things you find on the Web with all your friends,” Groups team engineer Elliot Lynde said in a blog post. “But there are times when you find something that you only want to share with a few specific people.”
New Send buttons, which were at 50 popular websites and expected to spread to others, let Facebook users share links to pages with fellow members of specific groups or individual friends at the online social network.
For example, someone could send a link to information about a rock concert to roommates and a link to an interesting business journal article to workplace peers.
The Groups feature lets Facebook members set up private online havens for clusters of co-workers, family, teammates, or others.
Enhancements to Groups included being able to poll members on topics ranging from timing of upcoming meetings to locations for social outings. Group members are also being given the option of uploading entire photo albums for sharing.
An added control feature prevents new members from being added without approval of group administrators.


Prem Paritosh
PGDM - 2nd Sem

Pod taxi: Capital’s new ride?

The future is here and promises to be quicker and more personal. The Delhi government is looking at introducing ‘city pod cars’ to modernise its overburdened transport system. Pod cars are small automated taxis that run on a dedicated track and can seat two to 10 people. The personal rapid transit

system was introduced in 1975 in Morgantown in West Virginia, US and is popular. At London’s Heathrow Airport and Masdar City in Abu Dhabi trials are on. Closer home, the Haryana government is doing a feasibility study for Gurgaon.
With narrow elevated tracks and little space needed to raise pillars, pod cars are considered ideal for densely populated areas.
Chief minister Sheila Dikshit has called for a study on running the pod cars in congested areas such as Karol Bagh, Delhi University’s North Campus and east Delhi.
A kilometre of underground metro track costs R200 crore while the pod car system works to around R30 crore per km, a Delhi government official said.

Prem Paritosh
PGDM - 2nd Sem

Gadhafi’s son Saif al-Islam said the Libyan government would not be cowed by such attacks

Tripoli: Nato forces flattened a building inside Moammar Gadhafi’s Bab al-Aziziyah compound early on Monday, in what a press official from Gadhafi’s government said was an attempt on the Libyan leader’s life.

Firefighters were still working to extinguish flames in part of the ruined building a few hours after the attack, when foreign journalists were brought to the scene in Tripoli.
The press official, who asked not to be identified, said 45 people were hurt in the strike, 15 of them seriously, and some were still missing. That could not be independently confirmed.
Gadhafi’s son Saif al-Islam said the Libyan government would not be cowed by such attacks.
“The bombing which targeted Muammar Gadhafi’s office today... will only scare children. It’s impossible that it will make us afraid or give up or raise the white flag,” he was quoted as saying by the Jana state news agency.
“You, NATO, are waging a losing battle because you are backed by traitors and spies. History has proved that no state can rely on them to win.”
Gadhafi’s compound has been hit before, but NATO forces appear to have stepped up the pace of strikes in Tripoli in recent days. A target nearby, which the government called a car park but which appeared to cover a bunker, was hit two days ago.
The United States, Britain and France say they will not stop their air campaign over Libya until Gadhafi leaves power.
Washington has taken a backseat role in the air war since turning over command to NATO at the end of March but is under pressure to do more. Last week it sent Predator drone aircraft, which fired for the first time on Saturday

ROHIT KALIA
PGDM 2ND SEM

Indian firms to invest $3.5 bn in Bangladesh: Anand Sharma

Dhaka: Union commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said on Saturday Indian firms were ready to invest $3.5 billion in Bangladesh’s private sector.
“We have $3.5 billion in the pipeline for investment in Bangladesh in the private sector,” Sharma told a joint news conference with his Bangladesh counterpart Faruk Khan in Dhaka.
He said Indian entrepreneurs were interested in investment in telecommunication, pharmaceuticals and food processing sectors in Bangladesh.
Sharma who arrived along with a number of Indian businessmen in Dhaka on Saturday on a two-day visit earlier held talks with the hosts on boosting trade and investment between the two neighbouring countries.
Bangladesh commerce minister Khan said India had agreed to accept 25% more clothing items from Bangladesh to raise the annual import to 10 million pieces from 8.0 million pieces earlier.
Sharma said India would pay transit fees to Bangladesh as per the international norms and practices for using its territories.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her visit to India in January last year agreed to allow transit to India’s eastern states using Bangladesh’s territory and ports.
On the issue of proposals to use Bangladesh’s Chittagong and Mongla ports by India Sharma said: “It’ll unleash immense potential.”
India has given a $1 billion credit to Bangladesh to upgrade facilities and infrastructure for the proposed transit, Bangladesh finance ministry officials said. Sharma also said on Saturday his country was ready to ship 500,000 tonnes of grain to Bangladesh under government to government deals.
“We are ready to ship 300,000 tonnes of parboiled rice and 200,000 tonnes wheat to Bangladesh,” Sharma told the news conference.
The shipment is expected to start by next one week when Bangladesh decides through which port the consignment should be handled, Sharma said without giving details.

ROHIT KALIA
PGDM 2ND SEM

Facebook, YouTube the new battlegrounds in Singapore elections

The odds are always stacked against opposition candidates in Singapore elections and for Nicole Seah, a political novice contesting in the backyard of a popular former prime minister, they should be overwhelming.

Enlarge This Image

 

 

The Facebook logo is shown at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California May 26, 2010.

But are they? The winsome 24-year-old is already the city-state's second-most "liked" politician on Facebook and she enjoys a higher profile than many seasoned campaigners. She has clips on YouTube and is avidly discussed in blogs.
As Singapore gears up for elections on May 7, no one is sure how social media like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter will affect the outcome. What is clear is these outlets are sharply different to the pro-government local newspapers and TV.
"What used to be mere coffeeshop talk can now enter the public discourse, for better or worse," says Cherian George, associate journalism professor at Nanyang Technological University.

"Whether it will have any impact and to whose benefit is anyone's guess."
The People's Action Party (PAP), which has ruled Singapore with an iron grip since independence in 1965, usually wins elections by a huge margin. But at the last election in 2006, when it won 82 of 84 seats, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter either did not exist or were in their infancy and confined to the West.
According to the government's Info-communications Development Authority, 81 percent of Singapore households had access to the Internet at the end of 2009.
TOP SOURCE
Facebook is particularly popular in the wealthy Southeast Asian city-state where there are an estimated 2.5 to 3 million users in a population of 5.1 million, according to industry estimates.
In a recent survey by the Straits Times newspaper, 36.3 percent of people between the ages of 21 and 34 cited the Internet as their top source of local political news compared with 35.3 percent who preferred newspapers.
According to local media, "Generation Y" citizens, or those born after 1975, make up one in four voters. And opposition parties have been quick to take note.
"There is this explosion of new media tools and we have been able to use them effectively to reach out and tell the truth about our party and what we stand for," Chee Soon Juan, secretary-general of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), told Reuters.
But despite the Internet's growing reach, Singapore's newspapers and TV stations continue to command a much wider audience. The Straits Times, for example, has an average daily circulation of 350,000 while the Online Citizen, a popular Singapore news and commentary site, gets around 25,000 hits a day.
Singapore Press Holdings (SPRM.SI), which has a near-monopoly on newspapers in the city-state, follows a strongly pro-government line. MediaCorp, which runs the TV stations, is a unit of state investor Temasek.
Seah, who set up her Facebook page just a week ago, had already received 22,372 "likes" as at 4 pm on April 26, far more than any Singapore politician other than the country's senior statesman Lee Kuan Yew.
Still, that may not be enough for her and her alliance from the National Solidarity Party to unseat the team from the PAP led by former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in a five-seat, winner-takes-all constituency.
"Social media has been more useful in forging connections between parties and sympathizers, for example, by helping party members identify people they could engage with in party activities," said Giorgos Cheliotis, who teaches communications and new media at the National University of Singapore.
"But I do not think that it has much power in swaying public opinion."

ROHIT KALIA
PGDM 2ND SEM

Flat closing for Nifty, Sensex closes down 38 points

The markets have retraced most of their losses in late-noon trades as the positive sentiment across the European market front negated the negative influence of the Asian peers. The Sensex, which had shaved off nearly 300 points at the lowest point of the day, is now just 34 points down at 19551 and the Nifty is at 5872, down one point, with the emergence of selective strength in metal and banking space aiding the recovery.  Same is the case with the broader market front; the midcap index is at 7237, lower by four points and the smallcap index is virtually unchanged at 8900.

The markets were weak for the larger part of the day due to negative cues from the Asian front. Major indices in our neighbourhood such as Hang Seng and Nikkei were down in the region of about a percent each, thereby having a cascading effect on the trading activity back home. But a partial recovery in Hong Kong and positive start to the proceedings across Europe seem to have allayed the nervousness back home, atleast for the time-being.

Hindalco is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, strengthening by 1.8% at Rs 382. In the metal space, Hindalco has gained 1.5% at Rs 222 and Jindal Steel has added 0.6% at Rs 693. And the banking space has seen the likes of SBI jumping 0.8% at Rs 2943 and ICICI Bank adding 0.4% at Rs 1118.

Hindustan Unilever tops the losers list on the Sensex, shedding 1.5% at Rs 284. Reliance Infra has lost 1.3% at Rs 684 and Maruti Suzuki, which is seeing profit-booking after its  post-results gains on Monday has lost 1.2% at Rs 1310.

The market breadth is negative. Out of 2873 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1142 advancing stocks as against 1619 declines.

Prem Paritosh

PGDM - 2nd Sem

Court allows 8-day police custody of Kalmadi

Sacked CWG Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi, arrested on charges of cheating, conspiracy and corruption in connection with awarding some Games contracts, was today remanded in CBI custody for eight days by a Delhi Court for custodial interrogation.

The other two arrested OC officials Surjeet Lal, Deputy Director General (Procurement), and A S V Prasad, Joint Director General (Sport), were also remanded in CBI custody till May 4 by Special CBI judge Talwant Singh.

The CBI had yesterday arrested Kalmadi, Lal and Prasad for allegedly awarding illegal contracts to a Swiss firm for Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) system for the Games causing a loss of Rs 95 crore to the exchequer.

The agency had sought 14 days' custody of 66-year-old Kalmadi and his associates contending that they have to be interrogated to unearth the money trail in the scam.

However, the judge granted eight days to the CBI to question Kalmadi and the two other accused.

The agency had submitted that Kalmadi and his associates were not cooperating with the investigators and have been "evasive" in responding to the questions.

"The behaviour of the accused so far has remained evasive and non-cooperative and they are not revealing the true facts and circumstances of the criminal conspiracy leading to the award of Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) system contract to Swiss Timing in a wrongful manner," the CBI alleged.

"Kalmadi as Chairman of the Organising Committee of CWG, Prasad as Joint Director General (Sport) and Lal as Deputy Director General (Procurement) during the relevant period were among the main functionaries and key personnel in OC.

"They were deeply involved and instrumental in allotment of TSR contract to Swiss Timing in a pre-planned and premeditated manner at exorbitant rates, thus causing wrongful loss to the government," the agency claimed.

Kalmadi, a Congress MP from Pune, and the two other officials have been booked under section 120B (conspiracy) read with Section 420 (cheating) IPC and other relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.

Kalmadi's arrest has come weeks after his close aide and OC Secretary General Lalit Bhanot and Director General V K Verma were taken into custody in the same case.

Prem Paritosh

PGDM -2nd sem

General insurers to face Rs 10,000 crore underwriting loss in FY-11: Crisil

NEW DELHI: Research firm Crisil today projected underwriting
loses of the domestic general insurance companies at Rs 10,000 crore in the
2010-11 fiscal.

We estimate the industry's underwriting losses to
increase significantly to more than Rs 100 billion in 2010-11 from Rs 59 billion
in 2009-10, Crisil Ratings Director Pawan Agrawal said in a statement.


"This increase reflects weak underwriting performance, increase in
reserving requirements for each of the past four years on the TP motor insurance
pool, and wage revisions in public-sector insurance companies," Agrawal added.


The rating agency however, said that the recent hike in the third-party
(TP) motor insurance premiums by the insurance regulator IRDA would improve the
underwriting performance in 2011-12.

From today, third-party motor
insurance premiums have increased by 10 per cent for private cars and
two-wheelers and 68 per cent for goods and passenger vehicles.

"We view
the rate hike in the TP motor insurance as a step towards containing the general
insurance industry's mounting underwriting losses," Crisil Ratings Head Rupali
Shanker said.

The hike in the rates would improve the general insurance
industry's combined ratio to around 110 per cent in 2011-12, from an estimated
132 per cent in 2010-11.

A high combined ratio indicates weak
underwriting performance. A combined ratio of more than 100 per cent indicates
underwriting losses.

Third-party motor insurance is the only segment in
the general insurance category whose tariffs are regulated.

The TP motor
insurance segment is marked by unlimited liability and numerous instances of
inflated and fraudulent claims, Crisil said.

"This rate hike is
inadequate to cover the substantial losses incurred in this segment; premium
rates need to more than double from the 2010-11 levels for the industry to make
underwriting profits in this segment," the statement said.

Prudent
underwriting practices marked by risk-based pricing across key segments,
effective claims management, and lower operating expenses remain an imperative
to further improving the general insurance industry's overall underwriting
performance, it added.

 

 

BY VIVEK KUMAR
PGDM -2 sem

ITC, Ruchi Soya in world's 50 fastest growing consumer firms

NEW DELHI: Two Indian companies ITC
and Ruchi Soya were among the world's 50 fastest growing consumer firms during
the June 2009-June 2010 period, according to the latest annual report by market
research firm Deloitte.

According to the 4th annual report "Global
powers of the consumer products industry 2011," by the firm, India's ITC
Ltd , which sells cigarettes, food and personal care products besides
presence in hospitality and paper segments, has been ranked 15th in the list,
while edible oil maker Ruchi Soya stood at the 20th position.

The
Deloitte report identified 250 largest consumer products companies, based on
data available for the 12-month period between June 2009 and June 2010.


During the period, ITC's net sales stood at $4.04 billion at a growth
rate rate of 17.2 per cent, while Ruchi Soya grew by 14.3 per cent with an
annual sales of $3.01 billion.

France's food processing firm Groupe
Bigard SA topped the list by growing at a rate of 80 per cent and sales of $6.27
billion for the period.

"Currently, while India is represented by only
two companies among the 50 fastest growing consumer product companies, there is
a huge potential as large Indian conglomerates in the consumer business sector
are witnessing strong growth," Deloitte in India Senior Director Rajan Divekar
said.

He said India's growth story comes from the increasing consumption
power among Indians and the modernisation of retailing.

"As the Indian
retail industry modernises, the cost of distribution is likely to fall,
suppliers will have an incentive to invest in technology and consumers will gain
access to cheaper, fresher and safer products," he said.

While the list
was mainly dominated by food, beverages and tobacco firms, most of the companies
were from emerging markets, including Latin America and Asia Pacific region.

 

 

BY ANIMA SINHA
PGDM - 2sem

Sensex recovers to end moderately lower

MUMBAI: Indian equities markets closed on Tuesday on a dull note after a benchmark index managed to move up from its intra-days lows, having slipped substantially during the day.

The 30-scrip sensitive index ( sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,596.32 points, closed at 19,522.65 points (provisional), down 61.66 points or 0.31% from its previous close at 19,584.31 points.

It had slipped to a low of 19,306.92 points around noon.

The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also ended lacklustre at 5,862.95 points, down 0.2%.

Broader markets too ended flat, with the BSE midcap index ending 0.04 percent down and the BSE small cap index closing 0.09% lower.


ROHIT KALIA
PGDM 2nd Sem

Food prices could push millions into poverty: ADB

MANILA: Surging food prices could push millions of people in Asia into extreme poverty and threaten the durability of the region's world-leading economic recovery, the Asian Development Bank said on Tuesday.

Domestic food price inflation in developing Asia averaged about 10 percent in the first two months of 2011, while international prices were up more than 30% in annual terms, the Manila-based ADB said in a report.

A sustained 10% rise in domestic food prices could push an additional 64 million people -- or nearly 2% of Asia's 3.3 billion people -- below the poverty line of $1.25 a day.

"Fast and persistent increases in the cost of many Asian food staples since the middle of last year, coupled with crude oil reaching a 31-month high in March, are a serious setback for the region which has rebounded rapidly and strongly from the global economic crisis," the ADB report said.

Food and fuel prices have added to price pressures in Asian economies, and earlier this month the ADB said some emerging economies were showing signs of overheating.

The ADB said if a 30% increase in global food prices persisted in 2011, growth in some food-importing countries could be cut by up to 0.6 percentage points. It also said if the level of oil and food price increases seen early this year continues, growth in developing Asia in 2011 "could be reduced by up to 1.5 percentage points."

"Food prices have become highly volatile, and the Asian food system's vulnerability to price shocks and natural calamities has increased significantly," the report said.

While countries had taken short-term measures such as cuts in import duties or sales taxes, subsidies and aid programs, the ADB said the frequency of food price shocks highlighted the need for long-term solutions such as more investment and higher agricultural productivity to secure food supplies. 


VIVEK KUMAR
PGDM 2nd Sem

Thousands of devotees rush to pay homage to Sathya Sai

Chants of ‘Om Sai Ram’ filled the air in this pilgrim town as lakhs of Sathya Sai Baba’s devotees thronged his ashram to catch his last glimpse. Among them are top political leaders, Bollywood personalities and sportsmen. The spiritual leader passed away on Sunday. 
Sachin Tendulkar reached Puttaparthi to pay last respects. Top politicians including BJP president Nitin Gadkari, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, Karnataka chief minister B Yeddyurappa, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and Prajarajyam chief Chiranjeevi will also pay homage today.

With tears in their eyes, devotees continued to queue up on the barricaded streets of Puttaparthi overnight and were led into the large hall where Sathya Sai Baba’s body, wrapped in saffron attire, was kept in a glass coffin.

Prominent VIPs seated close to the casket were Andhra Pradesh Health Minister J. Geetha Reddy, Ratnakar, Baba's nephew and son of his younger brother Janakiramaiah and Baba's personal caregiver Satyajit.

Sai Baba, 84, considered by many as reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, breathed his last on Sunday after battling a heart condition, respiratory congestion and renal failure for 28 days. The final rites would be performed on April 27.

Devotees thronged the pilgrim town and were forced to walk for nearly 6 km before reaching the ashram.

After initial crowd frenzy near the ashram that prompted police to use mild force last night, devotees formed disciplined queues by late night.

Police had turned the town situated 150 km from Bangalore, into a virtual fortress banning any kind of vehicular movement.

Security was beefed up in the city as over 12,000 policemen, including special task force and rapid action force, were deployed in Puttaparthi and all routes to the town were sealed.

A stampede broke out outside the ashram late on Sunday night. No injuries were reported and police raised barricades to keep the crowds at bay.

Prem Paritosh

PGDM-2nd sem

DMK takes a hit, Kanimozhi charged and summoned

The CBI on Monday filed its second chargesheet in the 2G spectrum case naming Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's daughter and MP Kanimozhi and four others as accused. A special court in New Delhi later in the day summoned Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's daughter and DMK MP Kanimozh i and four others to appear before it on May 6 as accused in 2G spectrum case saying "there is enough incriminating material on record" to proceed against them.

The court issued summons also to Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar, Karim Morani, Director of Cineyug Media and Entertainment (Pvt) Ltd, who are named as accused, for May 6. The three have not been arrested so far.

However, the CBI has not named Karunanidhi's wife Dayaluammal, whose name had figured in the 2G probe, as the accused in the supplementary chargesheet filed before Special judge O P Saini.

Others who have been chargesheeted along with Kanimozhi are Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa's cousin Asif Balwa, Rajeev Agarwal -- Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, and Karim Murani of Cineyug Films (Pvt) Ltd.

Kanimozhi has been charged with section 7 and 11 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The sections deal with acceptance of alleged gratification.

Kanimozhi, Sharad Kumar and Murani have not been arrested by the CBI but Asif Balwa and Agarwal are in judicial custody. The chargesheet said the investigation into the case disclosed that money had travelled from DB Realty to Kalaignar TV.

Kanimozhi, Dayaluammal and Sharad Kumar, Managing Director of Kalaignar TV, have 20, 60 and 20% shares
in the channel respectively.

The CBI told the court that Rs 200 crore connected with the 2G spectrum scam had travelled from a partnership firm of
Swan Telecom Promoter Shahid Usman Balwa to Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd.

The agency which in the first chargesheet had said the money travelled through a "circuitous route" through Kusegaon
Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, a DB group company and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd, has maintained the position in the second chargesheet.

"Investigations have revealed that in furtherance of the conspiracy, Dynamix Realty, a partnership firm of DB Realty
Ltd and other DB group companies, paid Rs 200 crore to Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd during December 2008 to August 2009, following a circuitous route through Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd (DB group holds 49 per cent equity in it)," CBI had said in its first chargesheet filed on April 2.

Prem Paritosh
PGDM - 2nd sem.

Indian Oil Corp may raise petrol prices at the earliest possible

NEW DELHI: State-owned Indian oil corp,
  the nation's largest oil firm, today hinted at an imminent hike
in petrol prices, whose rates have not been revised since January in view of
elections in states like West Bengal.

"We would do it (increase rate) at
the earliest possible," IOC Chairman Ranbir Singh Butola told reporters here.


In his first interaction with media after taking over as the Chairman of
the nation's largest fuel marketing firm, Butola said IOC and other state firms
had consciously decided not to revise rates of petrol to keep "the environment
happy".

The government had in June last year freed petrol pricing from
its control and state-run firms had on as many as seven occasions changed rates
in line with international prices before deciding in the second half of January
to freeze rates.

"We live in an environment (comprising of the people
and the government). If we take certain action, the environment is going to turn
against us," he said.

IOC is losing a tad less than Rs 7 per litre on
petrol currently. After including the local sales tax or VAT, the desired
increase in price comes to about Rs 7.50 a litre in Delhi.

"In our
consideration, we decided to take these losses for sometime," Butola said.


Asked if the petrol price will be revised soon after assembly elections
are completed on May 10, he said a review "will take place soon."

He,
however, deflected questions on state firms acting at the behest of the
government in not revising petrol prices.

IOC was losing Rs 297 crore
per day on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government-controlled
rates, he said.

"We are losing Rs 18.11 per litre on diesel, Rs 28.33 a
litre on kerosene and Rs 315.86 per 14.2-kg domestic LPG cylinder," he said.


The company, whose debt is growing at Rs 5,000-6,000 crore every month
on unchanged fuel prices, expects government to compensate it for the losses.


Its debt stood at about Rs 53,000 crore at the end of March.


While retail price of petrol is benchmarked at USD 98 per barrel of
international rates, the same for diesel is at USD 72-73 equivalent.


 The basket of crude oil that India buys averages USD 120 per barrel currently

 

 

BY ANIMA SINHA

PGDM - 2 sem

RIL eyes over Rs 1.5 lakh cr investment in next five years

NEW DELHI: Setting its sight on a number of new businesses and expansion of existing ones, billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries group may invest more than Rs 1,50,000 crore over the next five years.

The group is sitting on a huge cash pile of over Rs 42,000 crore that has nearly doubled in one year, and further money influx is expected in the next few months, while it might raise further funds from the market, mostly through overseas bonds and partly through project equity, sources said.

There might be major investments, totalling nearly Rs 1,00,000 crore, in the group's core businesses of petrochemicals and energy exploration and production over the next five years, they added.

Besides, business initiatives in telecom, power and financial services sectors would also witness investments worth at least Rs 50,000 crore in the next few years.

The group is working on various business expansion strategies for different segments and a consolidated view of these initiatives could be announced by the group chief Mukesh Ambani atRIL's Annual General Meeting on June 3.

In last year's AGM on June 18, 2010, Ambani had said that he was aiming to double the group's enterprise value in less than a decade, from an estimated USD 80 billion (Rs 3,70,000 crore) at that time.

RIL's cash balance stood at a record high level of Rs 42,393 crore at the end of last fiscal ended March 31, 2011, as against Rs 21,874 crore a year ago.

Besides, its debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.17 (meaning Rs 17 debt for every Rs 100 equity capital), which could allow it to raise significant debts whenever needed.

RIL raised USD 1.5 billion dollars through overseas bonds last year at very competitive rates.

RIL's revenue rose by 29 per cent in the fiscal to Rs 258,651 crore, while its net profit increased by 25 per cent to Rs 20,286 crore.

Sources said the group would look at both organic and inorganic growth opportunities in various businesses.

In a financial presentation after its full-year results last week, the company said it was "uniquely positioned to pursue organic and inorganic growth opportunities to meet its growth aspirations."

It also said that it had a "investment programme of over USD 10 billion to cater to domestic market" in petrochemicals business.

Earlier at an investor conference in February, RIL had projected investment totalling USD 25-30 billion (Rs 1,10,000-1,35,000 crore) for the next five years in its various businesses, including energy and telecom sectors.

ROHIT KALIA

PGDM 2nd Sem

RBI grants relief to banks on NPAs

MUMBAI: In a move that will ease pressure on bank profits, Reserve Bank of India has said that an earlier guideline requiring additional funds to be set aside for bad loans will not apply to loans that turn bad after September 2010.

This move will benefit all lenders as RBI has now specified the end point for setting aside additional provisions on bad loans. These guidelines on additional provisions were issued in October 2009 after banks turned in large profits following a bounce back from the global financial crisis.

At that time, the central bank had said that the idea was to build up a capital buffer during good times so that it could be used ifthe outlook for the economy changes. suddenly

State Bank of India will gain directly from this measure as RBI has said that even for those banks that have not achieved the prescribed provision coverage ratio, the target date continues to be September 30, 2010. SBI has been struggling to meet the 70% PCR and was expected to meet the target in the current fiscal. "Some of the banks that had been granted extension of time beyond the stipulated date for achieving the PCR of 70% on their request should calculate the required provisions for 70% PCR as on September 30, 2010 and compute the shortfall there from," said RBI "What this means is that after making provisions for NPAs as on September 2010, banks will only need to make the normal provisions for bad loans and the additional burden on the balance sheet will cease. But going forward, provision requirement could get stiffer as regulators move towards advanced accounting standards," said the chairman of a public sector bank.

But banks that have already made a provision will need to keep it aside as an additional buffer. "The surplus of the provision under PCR vis-à-vis as required according to prudential norms should be segregated into an account styled as countercyclical provisioning buffer. This buffer will be allowed to be used by banks for making specific provisions for NPAs during periods of system-wide downturn with the prior approval of RBI," the central bank said.

In a recent report on the banking sector, Care ratings had said that banks had improved its provision coverage ratio to 58.31% by end-December 2010 from 52.85% a year back.

Private banks have already crossed RBI's prescriptions by achieving a PCR of 74% as against 70% mandated by RBI but public sector banks continued to lag with a PCR of 54.41%. "On an overall basis, provisioning expenses rose by 54.48% on y-o-y basis in 9MFY11 on back of higher NPAprovisioning by banks to achieve the RBI mandated 70% NPA provision coverage," Care said.

VIVEK KUMAR

PGDM 2nd Sem

NEW DELHI: Networking giant Cisco has been accused of orchestrating the arrest of a UK-basedengineer. Cisco Systems allegedly led to the arrest of Multiven founder Peter Alfred-Adekeye in 2010 to force a settlement of Multiven's antitrust lawsuit against Cisco, a Multiven executive reportedly said.

According to a report in ComputerWorld, Multiven, an independent provider of service and support for networking gear, sued Cisco in 2008, alleging that the company monopolized the market for its software. Cisco countersued, charging Alfred-Adekeye of hacking into Cisco's computers and stealing copyrighted software.

The media report says that in May 2010, Adekeye was arrested in Vancouver, Canada, on 97 counts of intentionally accessing a protected computer system without authorization for the purposes of commercial advantage, according to his arrest warrant.

The ComputerWorld report quotes Canada-based Vancouever Sun, according to which "US authorities made serious mistakes having a British computer executive bizarrely arrested in Vancouver as he testified before a sitting of the American court he was supposedly avoiding."

The report says that for the last 10 months, Adekeye has been forced to remain in Canada since his release from custody under strict bail conditions.

His lawyer, Marilyn Sandford, called the explanation contained in a letter presented to BC Supreme Court "completely pathetic", and characterized the prosecutor's reasoning as "tortured" and "laughable," reports Vancouver Sun.

Sandford reportedly alleged that the US attorney colluded with computer giant Cisco Systems to commit an appalling abuse of process. "This was not full, fair and frank disclosure," she said. The prosecutor failed to tell Canada that Adekeye was a former Cisco executive involved in a massive anti-trust suit filed in Dec. 2008 against the company.

Adekeye's lawyer has asked Justice Ronald McKinnon to halt the extradition.

Adekeye left Cisco in 2005 to start his own companies. Three years later, he alleged that his former employer Cisco harmed his new ventures and consumers by forcing customers to buy a maintenance contract to cover future software fixes for its operating system and applications.

VIVEK KUMAR

PGDM 2nd Sem

PMO denies media report that PM contacted Kayani

NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister's Office on Sunday termed as 'false' a media report that Manmohan Singh had contacted Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani before the Mohali meeting between Prime Ministers of the two countries.

"We have seen media reports quoting a British newspaper saying that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh contacted Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani before the Mohali meeting between the two Prime Ministers. The report is false," PM's media adviser Harish Khare said in a statement.

London-based 'The Times' had on Saturday reported that Singh had appointed an "unofficial envoy" to make contact with Kayani, who exercises de facto control over Pakistan's foreign policy.

The talks, through a back channel, have encouraged the UK and US believe that the countries' competition for influence in Afghanistan could be better managed during efforts to start a peace process, the media report had said.

The visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the semi-final match betweenIndia and Pakistan in the cricket World Cup last month has sparked hopes of a diplomatic thaw between the two neighbouring countries.

ROHIT KALIA

PGDM 2nd Sem

2G scam: CBI may name Karunanidhi's daughter in 2nd charge sheet

NEW DELHI: The CBI in its second charge sheet likely to be filed tomorrow may name Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi, wife Dayalu Ammal and several others for allegedly getting benefits out of the allocation of 2G spectrum to certain telecom firms.

The chargesheet to be filed in the court of Special CBI Judge O P Saini may give details as to how over Rs 200 crore was illegally routed by jailed former telecom minister A Raja, his slain aide Sadiq Batcha and Shahid Usman Balwa, the former Managing Director of DB Realty to DMK-owned Kalaignar TV, jointly owned by Kanimozhi, Dayalu Ammal and Sharad Kumar.

Kanimozhi, Dayalu Ammal and Kumar, Managing Director of the TV, have 20, 60 and 20 per cent shares in the channel respectively.

The CBI had earlier told the court that Rs 200 crore connected with the 2G spectrum scam had travelled from a partnership firm of Balwa to Kalaignar TV.

The agency had said the money travelled through a "circuitous route" through Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, a DB group company and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd.

"Investigations have also revealed that in furtherance of the conspiracy, Dynamix Realty, a partnership firm of DB Realty Ltd and other DB group companies, paid Rs 200 crore to Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd during December 2008 to August 2009, following a circuitous route through Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd (DB group holds 49 per cent equity in it)," CBI said in its first charge sheet filed on April 2.

Besides, the second chargesheet may also throw some light on the role of Batcha who died in mysterious circumstances last month (March).

Names of Asif Balwa, cousin of Shahid Balwa, and Rajeev Agarwal, Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, who are presently in judicial custody, are also expected in the supplementary charge sheet.

Raja and eight others, including former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura and three telecom companies were on April 2 indicted in the 2G spectrum allocation scam by CBI, which pegged the loss to the exchequer at Rs 30,984 crore.

The first chargesheet has named Behura, Raja's former PS R K Chandolia, Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Reliance ADA group's Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, Reliance Telecom, Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom.

The CBI has informed the Supreme Court that the supplementary chargesheet will be filed before April 25 in the special court of Justice O P Saini and the probe in the case will be completed by May 31

VIVEK KUMAR

PGDM 2nd Sem

PMO denies media report that PM contacted Kayani

NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister's Office on Sunday termed as 'false' a media report that Manmohan Singh had contacted Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani before the Mohali meeting between Prime Ministers of the two countries.

"We have seen media reports quoting a British newspaper saying that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh contacted Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani before the Mohali meeting between the two Prime Ministers. The report is false," PM's media adviser Harish Khare said in a statement.

London-based 'The Times' had on Saturday reported that Singh had appointed an "unofficial envoy" to make contact with Kayani, who exercises de facto control over Pakistan's foreign policy.

The talks, through a back channel, have encouraged the UK and US believe that the countries' competition for influence in Afghanistan could be better managed during efforts to start a peace process, the media report had said.

The visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the semi-final match betweenIndia and Pakistan in the cricket World Cup last month has sparked hopes of a diplomatic thaw between the two neighbouring countries.

VIVEK KUMAR

PGDM 2nd Sem

Cisco accused of plotting engineer's arrest

NEW DELHI: Networking giant Cisco has been accused of orchestrating the arrest of a UK-basedengineer. Cisco Systems allegedly led to the arrest of Multiven founder Peter Alfred-Adekeye in 2010 to force a settlement of Multiven's antitrust lawsuit against Cisco, a Multiven executive reportedly said.

According to a report in ComputerWorld, Multiven, an independent provider of service and support for networking gear, sued Cisco in 2008, alleging that the company monopolized the market for its software. Cisco countersued, charging Alfred-Adekeye of hacking into Cisco's computers and stealing copyrighted software.

The media report says that in May 2010, Adekeye was arrested in Vancouver, Canada, on 97 counts of intentionally accessing a protected computer system without authorization for the purposes of commercial advantage, according to his arrest warrant.

The ComputerWorld report quotes Canada-based Vancouever Sun, according to which "US authorities made serious mistakes having a British computer executive bizarrely arrested in Vancouver as he testified before a sitting of the American court he was supposedly avoiding."

The report says that for the last 10 months, Adekeye has been forced to remain in Canada since his release from custody under strict bail conditions.

His lawyer, Marilyn Sandford, called the explanation contained in a letter presented to BC Supreme Court "completely pathetic", and characterized the prosecutor's reasoning as "tortured" and "laughable," reports Vancouver Sun.

Sandford reportedly alleged that the US attorney colluded with computer giant Cisco Systems to commit an appalling abuse of process. "This was not full, fair and frank disclosure," she said. The prosecutor failed to tell Canada that Adekeye was a former Cisco executive involved in a massive anti-trust suit filed in Dec. 2008 against the company.

Adekeye's lawyer has asked Justice Ronald McKinnon to halt the extradition.

Adekeye left Cisco in 2005 to start his own companies. Three years later, he alleged that his former employer Cisco harmed his new ventures and consumers by forcing customers to buy a maintenance contract to cover future software fixes for its operating system and applications.

ROHIT KALIA

PGDM 2 SEM

India bank loans up 22 pc on year as of April 8

MUMBAI: Indian bank loans rose 22 percent on the year as of April 8, the central bank's
weekly statistical supplement (WSS) showed on Friday.

Deposits were up
17.2 percent from a year earlier. Outstanding loans rose by 177.48 billion
rupees to 39.56 trillion rupees in the two weeks to April 8.

Non-food
credit rose by 321.04 billion rupees to 39.06 trillion rupees and food credit
fell by 143.56 billion rupees to 499.27 billion rupees in the period, the bank
said.

Bank deposits rose by 1.20 trillion rupees to 53.25 trillion
rupees in the two weeks to April 8, the WSS showed

 

 

BY ANIMA SINHA

PGDM -2 sem

Sensex closes 102 points up

MUMBAI: A benchmark index for Indian equities markets on Thursday closed 102 points up even as broader markets gave up their gains to end flat.

The 30-scrip sensitive index ( Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,582.5 points, closed at 19,573.33 points -- up 102.35 points or 0.53% from its previous close at 19,470.98 points.

It had earlier risen to an intra-day high of 19,695.98 points.

The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange shut shop 0.49% higher at 5,880.1 points.

Broader markets closed dull with the BSE midcap index ending 0.08% up and the BSE small cap index 0.03% down.


VIVEK KUMAR
PGDM 2nd Sem

Gitanjali Group expects Rs 1,000-crore business from Wedding Carnival

MUMBAI: Leading jewellery brand
Gitanjali Group today said it is expecting 43 per cent jump in sales at Rs 1,000
crore compared to last year from its ongoing annual promotional event.


'The Great Indian Wedding Carnival' is an annual promotional event
organised by the Group to give "great value to the consumers".

"We did
Rs 700-crore business from the event last year," Gitanjali Group Managing
Director Mehul Choksi told PTI here.

In its third year, the carnival
began on April 8 and will go on till May 15, he said, adding this is a mega
shopping festival coinciding with the marriage season.

"We have
introduced 800 new designs for this year's event and expect it will benefit both
our top line as well as our bottom line," he said.

The festival offers
jewellery consumers an additional free jewellery and the chance to win an
attractive array of free gifts and prizes apart from discounts on making
charges, Choksi said.

Gitanjali Group, which recently acquired four
Italian brands, is in talks with a few more for acquisition. "We are looking at
a few more Italian brands and when something suits us, we will definitely go for
acquisition," he added.

In the domestic market, the company is planning
to introduce four new brands in the next 2-3 months, he said.

"We are
planning to introduce two more Gili brands, one emerald and diamond brand. We
are also planning to launch G brand at entry level, in which the products will
be low cost ranging from Rs 5,000-15,000 per piece," Choksi said.

 

 

BY ANIMA SINHA
PGDM -2sem

Reliance Industries posts record Q4 profit, lags estimate

NEW DELHI: Reliance Industr , India's biggest company by market value on Thursday reported 14
per cent increase in net profit at Rs 5,376 crore in the fourth quarter of the
past fiscal as natural gas production from its mainstay field declined.

Net profit in three months ending March 31 rose 14.1 per cent to Rs 5,376 crore, or Rs 16.4 per share, from Rs 5,136 crore (Rs 15.7 a share) in the same period the previous year, Reliance said in a press statement here.

Gas
output from its KG-D6 field off the Andhra coast has dropped to less than 50
million standard cubic meters per day on declining pressure at the reservoir.
Reliance anticipates output will further drop to 46-47 mmscmd by next
fiscal.

Reliance did not give
average production from KG-D6 fields during the January-March quarter but
analysts anticipated it was about 20 per cent lower than 61.5 mmscmd output
achieved in March 2010.

Besides
KG-D6, gas production from Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields in western offshore also
dipped. Crude oil production from KG-D6 has also lower as wells produced higher
water.

Revenues from oil and gas
business declined 5 per cent to Rs 4,104 crore in the fourth quarter while the
segment profit or earning before interest and tax (EBIT) fell 8 per cent to Rs
1,569 crore.

Reliance reported
margin of $9.2, the highest in the last eight quarters, indicating recovery in
the refining business globally.

Reliance earned $9.2 on turning every barrel of crude
oil into petroleum products in the January-March quarter as against $7.5 per
barrel gross refining margin (GRM) in the same period a year ago.


Revenues from the segment was up 22 per
cent at Rs 62,704 crore and EBIT rose 26 per cent to Rs 2,509 crore.


BY ANIMA SINHA
PGDM -2sem

France to send military liaison officers to Libya

PARIS: France, jointly with Britain, will send military liaison officers to opposition rebel forces locked in a conflict with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's army.

Government spokesman Francois Baroin stressed France had no intention of sending troops into Libya, where Western powers are struggling to break a deadlock in a two-month-old conflict.

"A small number of liaison officers (will be placed) with the National Transition Council in order to organise the protection of the civilian population," he told a news briefing.

He said they would number up to 10 and that this was an initiative in partnership with the Western-led coalition intervening in Libya.

The French officers are expected to advise rebel leaders on how to organise their ragtag forces, which are struggling against Gaddafi's bigger, better-armed and better-trained army.

They would also liaise with NATO on the location of rebels and Gaddafi's troops.

Britain -- which along with France has been at the forefront of the intervention in Libya -- said on Tuesday it was sending a dozen military officers to help Libyan insurgents improve their organisation and communications, but said they would not arm the rebels or train them to fight.

Baroin declined to say which countries could participate, saying: "We're not in the position to speak for other countries."

France already has several military officials in Benghazi protecting a diplomatic envoy who has been based there for the last few weeks.

VIVEK KUMAR

PGDM 2nd sem

Stapled visa issue: A litmus test for China

NEW DELHI: Burying the hatchet, leadership of India and China made serious attempts to mend ties at the sidelines of BRICS summit in China's resort town of Sanya last week. 

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced various initiatives, which include setting up of a new mechanism to increase cooperation and also restoration of high-level defence exchanges. 

There is, however, no word on the contentious issue of stapled visa from either side. 

Since 2008, China has been issuing stapled visas to the citizens of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which challenges the territorial integrity of India and highlights the new found ambiguity in China's view on Jammu and Kashmir. 

China's traditional position on Jammu and Kashmir has been of non-interference, but this shift reflects the apparent dilution in its traditional view. There is a view that China's move of issuing stapled visas will only appease and help Pakistan's cause, as Islamabad is hell bent to internationalize Kashmir. 

Stapled visa has remained a major irritant and one of the root causes of recent tensions between India and China. 

Defence ties between India and China reached tipping point last year when Beijing refused normal visa to Indian Army General BS Jaiswal, who had served the chief of northern command. In the light of this incident, India suspended defence exchanges between the two countries. 

According to sources, Jaswal was given stapled visa because he had headed the Northern Command, which not only operates in Jammu and Kashmir, but also has areas facing the Chinese border in Ladakh. 

Incidents of infiltration by Chinese troops were reported time and again. 

According to sources, a junior ranked official in People Liberation army opposed General Jaswal's visit to China and top leadership was not involved in the decision-making. This, some sources indicated, displayed the growing influence of the People's Liberation Army in China's foreign policy. 

It is learnt that India categorically told China to view Indian army as a unit and not segregate Northern Command. According to sources, there is a realization of India 's concerns and sensitivities in Beijing; in fact Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during India visit last year had assured the leadership here that the issue of stapled visas would be resolved. 

Just before the BRICS summit in China, Beijing issued normal visas to four Kashmiri journalists, which is a clear departure from the regular practice of giving stapled visas to Kashmir born Indian citizens. 

Did that indicate a change in China's visa policy pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir? There has been no announcement from Chinese side on the issue so far. It is believed that China's overture of giving normal visas to Kashmir born journalists could be a one off case because these journalists were part of the VIP official delegation. 

It is felt that if China really wants to bridge the gap with India, it should come out clear on its position on Jammu and Kashmir and should reverse its policy of issuing stapled visas. That would be the real litmus test for China. 

New Delhi will be watching keenly what kind of visa Chinese embassy in India would issue to the head of the Northern Command when he visits China next. It is accepted here that even if China decides to revoke its stapled visa policy it would happen in an evolving manner. 

The ball is in China's court. And in the matter of stapled visa China has to untie the knot.

VIVEK KUMAR

PGDM 2nd Sem