Tata Motors: Carl-Peter Forster, an Expat has taken over as the Group Chief Executive Officer + 27 other news items…Read on!…Weekly Newsletter 4 week ended 20th FEBRUARY 2010
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER FOR THE WEEK ENDED 20th FEBRUARY 2010.
1) Tata Motors has taken on board an expatriate to head the company. Carl-Peter Forster , 55, has taken over as the Group Chief Executive Officer and will oversee the Company’s global operations.. He has spent 24 years the auto giant General Motors . He takes over from Ravi Kant who has been elevated as Vice-Chairman in keeping with the company’s retirement policy. In another development , Ralph Speth has been appointed as the new JLR CEO.
2) SEBI has advised GOI not to go ahead with the proposal to compulsorily have at least 25 % Public Holding in all listed companies both government and private owned. SEBI has suggested that companies be allowed to do it in phases over a 5 year time span. Their advice stems from the fears expressed by Investment Banks that all affected companies may not need so much capital at one time in one go. According to SEBI , the affected companies will have to raise about Rs.1,50,000 crores from the market to comply with the new norm .Such high floating stocks can also adversely impact share prices.
3) Inflation on WPI basis has touched a 19 month high of 8.56 % in January 2010
4) SBI plans to extend interest free seed capital loans up to Rs.10 lacs to set up SME’s. The new scheme titled ” SBISMILE ” will allow entrepreneurs a moratorium of 5 years for repaying the seed capital amount. Apart from this , start-ups can also avail long term and working capital loans under the existing facilities.
5) Adi Godrej’s daughter , Nisaba Godrej will take charge of the group’s 20,000 employees as President ? Human Capital and Innovation.
6) Harvard Business School has decided to have its own classroom in India for its executive education .programme and Ratan Tata and Arvind Mahindra are said to be helping them in their search. HBS has been conducting such programmes in India since 2008 but in 5 star hotels.
7) In what the US has termed as a significant victory in the fight against terror , Taliban No.2 Mullah Abdul Ghani Bardar was captured in Karachi in a joint operation conducted by the US and Pak forces. He was next to Mullah Mohamad Omar.
In a landmark judgment , the Supreme Court has ruled that Directors cannot be tried for bounced cheques unless it is proved that they were directly responsible for the operations the time of the issue of the cheques.
9) Just over a year after the Satyam scandal , Mahindra Satyam has turned cash positive. According to a company spokesman , they have no debts and a. majority of the capital brought in by Tech Mahindra is still lying unutilized.
10) Pak arm of Al Quaida has threatened to carry out terror attacks in the forthcoming sporting events like World C up Hockey , IPL and Commonwealth games.
11) A Wipro employee has confessed to siphoning $ 4 million in the last 3 years and then committed suicide in December . He was in the finance department when the fraud was perpetrated. This incident has sent India‘s 3rd largest IT exporter scrambling to tighten internal controls..
12) Anand Mahindra has won Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the year” award for 2009. This was launched in India in 1999.Other famous winners include Ratan Tata , NK Narayanmoorthy , and Mukesh Ambani, The award is given to outstanding individuals who have built “best in class” business and also showed great tenacity in dealing with uncertainty.
13) Asim Ghosh , the former MD of Vodafone Essar is now trying to make waves in the oil & gas business. He is the new head of Hutchison’s oil business , Husky Energy , one of the largest integrated oil and gas companies in Canada promoted by Hong Kong tycoon Li Kashing who was the original promoter of Hutchinson Essar before Vodafone came into the picture.
14) GOI has decided to ban FDI in tobacco. This puts paid to plans of Japan Tobacco to inject $ 100 million into India.
15) Asianet News’s Malayali 2009 award was given to the former ISRO Chairman Dr. G Madhavan Nair for his contribution to the Chandrayan moon mission.
16) In a most unpopular move that will not find favour with farmers , GOI has decided to increase Urea prices by 10 % despite objections from key UPA allies.
17) Google India toppled Coco Cola as the second most valued brand in a survey done by a British based consultancy company , Brand Finance. Wal-Mart tops the list with a brand value of US $ 40,365 million. Google was valued at US $ 36,191 million while Coca Cola was valued at US $ 34,844 million.
18) GOI has approved an equity infusion of Rs. 800 crores in Air India to bail out the struggling airline. It will be released in 2 installments.
19) The famous international HR consultancy , Hays ( famous the world over for job evaluation ) has rated Infosys as one of the world’s top 20 companies that focuses on leadership as evidenced by development of employees even during the current slow down.
20) Radhika Pramal , the eldest daughter of Depak Primal will take over as the Managing Director of the world’s second largest luggage maker in April 2010. She graduated from Harvard Business School.
21) Despite strong protests from China , President Obama met up with the Tibetan leader , Dalai Lama at the White House.
22) The Dutch coalition government has collapsed because of differences of opinion amongst coalition partners if around 1600 troops in Afghanistan should continue to battle Taliban as part of NATO The government was elected to power about 2 years ago. Fresh elections are expected in another 2 months. This is the first government to fall over policy differences on how to go forward in Afghanistan.
23) Justice Jasti Chetmashwer has been appointed as the new Chie Justice of Kerala. He was previously the Chief Justice Guwahati High Court.
24) PM’s special envoy on climate change Shyam Saran has put in his papers and will be relieved on the 14th of March. He was a former Foreign Secretary of GOI who retired in 2006.
25) The influential Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council ( EAC ) in its assessment of the Indian economy for 2009-10 has said that GDP will be 7.2 % in current fiscal , 8.2 % in 2010-11 and 11.9 % in 2011-12. Its. Chairman , Dr.C Rangarajan has warned that current high rate of food inflation can creep into other sectors as well and that fiscal deficit needs to be reined in at 1.5 % in 2010-11. EAC has also hinted at stimulus exit in April this year.
26) The military has usurped power in the West African country of Niger. The military junta has arrested the incumbent President Mamadou Tandja . This is the 13th military coup in the African continent..
27) India retained their no.1 ICC test ranking by defeating South Africa by an innings and 57 runs in the second test at Kolkota , there by , squaring the 2 match series one-all.
