| POLICY
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DoT
offers sops to operators for rural
rollout
In a bid to boost rural
telephony, the government has decided to offer
financial incentives to operators for providing
services in rural areas. The Department of
Telecom has waived the licence fee from revenues
earned from fixed line phones in rural areas. [More]
India
relaxes offshore vessel hiring rules for oil
explorers
India has relaxed tight hiring
rules - announced in April 2008 - for ships
registered outside the country that are used for
exploring and drilling, for oil and gas off its
coast. [More]
India,
EU to sign open skies pact
According to
civil aviation ministry sources, Indian carriers
like Air India, Jet Airways, JetLite and the
Deccan-Kingfisher combine will be allowed to
operate virtually unrestricted number of flights
to European destinations. They can also enter
into code-share pacts with European carriers
without seeking government approval. [More]
Now,
apply for IPO without spending money
The
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
has issued details on the modalities according
to which, investors can apply for an initial
public offering (IPO), while still keeping the
application money in their bank account till
finalisation of the allotment. [More]
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| PEOPLE |
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Right moves, Ms
Pillay
Navanethem Pillay is a female
activist of Indian origin, whose experiences as
an international judge and also as a human
rights activist on the front lines, have helped
her become the newly appointed UN Human Rights
Commissioner. [More]
Magsaysay
award for Amte couple
Well-known
philanthropist doctor couple, Mandakini and
Prakash Amte, have been declared recipients of
the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award for their
contribution towards tribal medical care and
education. [More]
Three
Indian authors in Booker long-list
The
2008 Man Booker Prize list of probables has a
dominant Indian presence and is the first long
list for the prestigious literary award to
feature three Indian authors - Salman Rushdie,
Amitav Ghosh and Aravind Adiga. [More]
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| ECONOMY AND
ENTERPRISE |
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Industrial
production to see 10 per cent growth in FY
2008-09
India is expected to record a 10
per cent growth in industrial production during
the current financial year (2008-09), as against
8.3 per cent in the previous fiscal, according
to CMIE. [More]
Rural
India boosts FMCG firms' sales
FMCG
majors' growth in rural areas may eclipse the
growth of their urban counterparts, owing to
higher farm income and increasing disposable
income of farmers. [More]
Indian
food market to grow two-fold by 2025
The
Indian food market is expected to grow two-fold
by 2025, owing to the rapidly growing Indian
economy and improving lifestyles of Indians,
according to a McKinsey & Co study. [More]
Indian
Animation industry to touch US$ 993.38 million
by FY 2009
The Indian animation industry
is set to grow to US$ 993.38 million from US$
283.82 million by 2009 and two-fold to nearly
US$ 1.5 billion by 2010. [More]
Indian
Railways' profits to cross US$ 23.54 billion by
next fiscal
Indian Railways' profits are
set to cross US$ 23.54 billion by the next
financial year, having already posted a 22.80
per cent rise in its revenue earnings for the
July 11-20, 2008 period, according to Railways'
Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav. [More]
Indian
SMB market at 35 million units: study
The
Indian small and medium business (SMB) IT spend
was an estimated US$ 6.5 billion in 2007-08,
nearly 30 per cent of the total IT spend in
India, according to a Zinnov Management
Consulting study. [More]
Domestic
BPO sector to treble revenues by 2012
In
the next four years, the domestic business
process outsourcing (BPO) revenues are expected
to rise to US$ 5.37 billion from US$ 1.63
billion in fiscal 2008, according to Pune-based
research firm, Valuenotes Database study. [More]
Century
Textiles investing US$ 1.50 billion over next 5
years
Century Textile and Industries has
planned a capex of US$ 1.50 billion to be spent
over a period of five years, in the expansion of
its cement division and other projects. [More]
Rolta,
Nestle in S&P 2008 Global Challengers
List
Standard & Poor's has included
Rolta India and Nestle India in its annual list
of 300 mid-size companies that are expected to
emerge as challengers to the world's leading
blue-chip companies. [More]
Ranbaxy
is India's biggest pharma firm
Ranbaxy
has emerged as India's biggest pharmaceutical
firm with a share of 5.2 per cent of the
domestic market, in the April-June 2008 quarter.
[More]
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Robodocs
to the rescue
With India as much a part
of the technological advancement as any other
country in the world, 3G-enabled laptops - that
incorporate mobile telephones - will soon be a
reality. And, with robots wielding the scalpel
and doctors the remote control, medicine in
India is no longer the way we used to know it.
[More]
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We
have been in India since 2001 with our Skoda
(VW's Czech subsidiary) cars, and our current
sales figures imply 69 per cent growth in volume
sales in India, which is a very important market
for us. Now, we believe, is the right time to
expand.... India has a very skilled
workforce.
Jochem
Heizmann
Member
Volkswagen Management
Board |
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An
innovation by an IIT-Kharagpur administrator
will make it possible to ride a bicycle at 40
kilometres per hour without much effort. [More]
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PepsiCo
to roll out weather insurance for farmers in 10
states
PepsiCo International is rolling
out weather insurance plans for farmers and
potato growers, covering an area of 14,000
hectares in ten Indian states. [More]
Cashew
apple seen a viable source to produce
ethanol
The UNIDO Centre for South-South
Industrial Cooperation (UCSSIC), New Delhi, has
identified cashew apple as an alternative to
food crops used for ethanol production. [More]
American
makeover for rural stoves
Envirofit
International, a US-based non-profit
organisation, has introduced a range of
clean-burning and biomass-based cooking stoves,
into homes in rural south India. [More]
Solar
lanterns to empower BPL families
As per
market estimates, India has about 3,85,000 solar
lanterns in use and more than 50,00,000
households in India are to be provided with
these zero-maintenance solar lanterns. [More]
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