Modi discusses battery technology’s impact on India at Tesla
Prime Minister Modi with Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Tesla Motors plant. Photo: @PMOIndia
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has discussed with Tesla motors CEO Elon Musk the implications of the revolutionary battery technology in India and developments in renewable energy as he visited the automotive company’s headquarters. The meeting focused on adapting and obtaining the company’s “Powerwall” invention for India, namely a long-term storage device for solar energy which could “bring energy to hitherto un-serviced areas of India,” MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
"However such battery storage as suitable for Indian needs would look at more than just solar power," officials said, adding that it could useful where there was a need for off-peak power from alternative sources. At this point, however, it appears that the cost of the battery may potentially exceed what is commercially feasible or widely affordable in the Indian context. Discussions on adoption of renewable energy technology between Indian representatives and Tesla were preliminary and meant to understand the technologies and products. There was no talk of Tesla setting up manufacturing facilities in India but this could discussed in the future. PTI adds:
“Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Prime Minister Modi discussed Tesla’s developments in battery technology, energy storage and renewable energy, and the positive implications of this innovation for India,” Tesla spokesperson Ricardo Reyes told PTI after Modi had an hour-long trip at its headquarters. “We were delighted to host Prime Minister Modi at the Tesla Factory,” he said on Saturday.
During the meeting, Mr. Musk gave a presentation to Mr. Modi on the revolutionary technologies being developed by Tesla, which is likely to change the face of the motor industry and have wider implications on developing countries like India on renewable energy. (With inputs from Srinivasan Ramani)
India the next driver in innovation and PM right man in charge: Top US IT CEOs By PTI | 27 Sep, 2015, 10.02AM IST
PM understands how technology can drive change: Pichai
Along with Nadella, and Narayen, others seated on the dais were John Chambers, CEO of Cisco and next Chairman of USIBC and Google CEO Sunder Pichai.
SILICON VALLEY: Top CEOs of American companies, which have played a key role in IT revolution the world is experiencing now, have endorsed ambitious 'Digital India' programme, describing it as a vision that would bring India technologically at par with the rest of the world.
"Digital India will bring about solutions for the challenge of digital divide," said Satya Nadella, who took over as Microsoft CEO last year, at a dinner interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Talking tech. Leader of @Microsoft , @google , @Qualcomm, @Cisco@Adobe & The Indus Entrepreneurs call on the PM pic.twitter.com/t11JuBLCHe— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) September 27, 2015"Let's empower people from Nanyuki to Srikakulam," Indian-American Nadella said as he detailed out how digital technology can empower people across the world as he talks about Skype for students between schools to exchange ideas.
Speaking at a Digital India dinner in San Jose, he said that next week Microsoft will announce cloud computing from data centers in India. The dinner was attended by who's who of Silicon Valley's corporate world.
Modi has accelerated effort to make India the next driver in innovation, said Sunder Pichai, CEO of Google. He said India is the fastest growing startups in the world.
"We are proud of what is happening in India and share Prime Minister's vision of digital India," he said.
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayan said that the Digital India initiative would "transform India into a digitally empowered" knowledge economy. Prime Minister's vision of Digital India is exciting, he said.
And a Digital Technology dinner to end the day, serving to take @_DigitalIndia to greater heights pic.twitter.com/lFhCQGm6HP— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) September 27, 2015It has the potential to uplift the while of society in India, he said, with top IT CEOs seated on the dais along with Prime Minister Modi at a dinner hosted in his honour.
"I am sure Prime Minister Modi will take Digital India to greater heights," Narayen said, who moderated the discussion.
Along with Nadella, and Narayen, others seated on the dais were John Chambers, CEO ofCisco and next Chairman of US India Business Council (USIBC) and Google CEO Sunder Pichai.
Describing Modi as "amazing ambassador" of India, Chambers endorsed Digital India, saying it has the potential to bring about great changes in India. The US and India would be "very strong together under your leadership", it said.
Chambers said one has to compete against one's ability to innovate, and not against other companies or countries.
"If you can change India, you will change the world," he said, adding that internet is the second equalizer in life after education.
Paul Jacobs executive chairman of Qualcomm said, "we are extremely excited and motivated" by the Prime Minister's Digital India initiative.
Observing that mobile technology is changing everybody's life, he said India is poised to be leader in digital technology.
Jacobs announced $150 million funds to fuel innovation in Indian startups. He also announced Design India initiative and labs, saying it would help in 'Make in India' program.
Sharing Modi's vision of using mobile phone as a key instrument of governance, he said: "India under Prime Minister Modi's leadership is moving in the right direction."
Ahead of the dinner, Apple CEO Tim Cook; Nadella and Pichai met Prime Minister Modi at his hotel in San Jose. Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Silicon Valley in more than three decades.
Irish fair skin can be traced to India and the Middle East Sean Dunne @irishcentral September 10,2015 11:00 AM
Have you ever wondered where the Irish get their light skin color from? It appears we may now have the answer.Photo by: Photocall Ireland
Have you ever wondered where the Irish get their light skin color from? Well, it appears we may now have the answer.
A major new US study at Penn State University has found that Europeans' light skin stems from a gene mutation from a single person who lived 10,000 years ago.
Scientists made the discovery after identifying a key gene that contributes to lighter skin color in Europeans, and the Irish fall into this category.
The Mail Online reports that, in earlier research, Keith Cheng from Penn State College of Medicine reported that one amino acid difference in the gene SLC24A5 is a key contributor to the skin color difference between Europeans and West Africans. This is undoubtedly where the Irish get their light skin from.
"The mutation in SLC24A5 changes just one building block in the protein, and contributes about a third of the visually striking differences in skin tone between peoples of African and European ancestry," he said.
Cheng and his team studied segments of genetic code that have a mutation and are located closely on the same chromosome and are often inherited together.
The mutation, called A111T, is found in virtually everyone of European ancestry.
A111T is also found in populations in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, but not in high numbers in Africans.
All individuals from the Middle East, North Africa, East Africa and South India who carry the A111T mutation share traces of the ancestral genetic code. According to the researchers, this indicates that all existing instances of this mutation originate from the same person.
The pattern of people with this lighter skin color mutation suggests that the A111T mutation occurred somewhere between the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.
‘This means that Middle Easterners and South Indians, which includes most inhabitants of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, share significant ancestry,’ Professor Cheng said.
Professor Cheng now plans to look at more genetic samples to better understand what role genes play in East Asian skin color. Perhaps he will take a look into where Irish redheads come from after this.
The composer who is under attack for composing the music for an Iranian film, can also be naughty and goofy
Avantika Bhuyan September 26, 2015Last Updated at 00:29 IST
“One day I got a call from A R Rahman: ‘Prasoon, I need you. Can you come down [to Chennai]?’ When I reached there, I realised that we needed to finish two important songs for the third season of MTV Coke Studio — all in one night, each being extremely poetry-heavy,” recalls lyricist, screenwriter and ad-guru Prasoon Joshi.
Even with the tight deadline looming on his head, Joshi remembers Rahman was unfazed and calm. The duo ended up finishing Zariya and Jagao Mere Desh Ko, which became hits that season. “This calm comes from his extraordinary belief that there is something called a world and something called a beyond. He is immersed in the beyond. It gives him the ability to deal with life’s pressures,” says Joshi.
Think of Rahman and his tranquil face with a hint of smile playing at the lips comes to mind. It’s only recently that one noticed a slight ripple at the surface when the Raza Academy issued a fatwa against him for his work in Majid Majidi’s Muhammad: The Messenger of God, terming it a mockery of the religion.
A rare emotional response by Rahman on Facebook took everyone by surprise. He wrote: “I am not a scholar of Islam. I follow the middle path and am part traditionalist and part rationalist. I live in the western and eastern worlds, and try to love all people for what they are, without judging them. My spiritual experiences working on the film are very personal, and I would prefer not to share these... My decision to compose the music for this film was made in good faith with no intention of causing offence.”
His response was admired by friends and well-wishers. Javed Akhtar, in an article for The Wire, questioned Raza Academy’s qualification to issue a fatwa. “I’m a rationalist and an atheist. But if people are religious in the way Rahman is, I wouldn’t have any problems with religion. For him, faith and religion is a very, very private affair. He prays and goes on pilgrimages. But as a man, music director and artist, he’s secular,” he wrote.
Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty, who has worked with Rahman on films like Ghajini, Slumdog Millionaire and Highway, feels that categorising Rahman and his faith according to religion is the gravest mistake anyone can make. “When you stand next to him or see him perform, the kind of spirituality he exudes has nothing to do with religion. It’s just that he found his path in Islam. But if he had found his path in Jainism or any other faith, his sense of belief and spirituality would have been the same,” he says.
A R Rehman with Bharat Bala
Those who know him believe that Rahman will take this controversy in his stride. “He doesn’t have malice or anger in his nature. When I have spent time with him, I have felt a sense of peace and good humour,” says Nasreen Munni Kabir, film maker and author of A R Rahman: The Spirit of Music who has known him since 1999.
Rahman could not be contacted for this article. His spokesperson said he isn’t giving interviews at the moment.
Rahman’s sense of spirituality extends to his working style. “He comes with no ego whatsoever,” says Pookutty. He remembers Rahman asking him for an opinion on the music of Highway. “I felt that the interval piece needed to be a little more emotional. He agreed and immediately took a flight from Los Angeles just to work on this one piece,” he says.
The film’s director, Imtiaz Ali, heard the new piece and very quietly said that though the new score was nice, he liked the original better. “So, Rahman said ‘okay’ and got back to work. This was a man who took a flight in a jiffy, recorded a piece again in no time only to have it rejected and was completely cool about it. That’s the way he is,” says Pookutty.
What drives him is an urge to experiment and enjoy new ideas and formats. “I don’t go to Rahman to get five songs. It doesn’t work like that. When I do a feature film, I am telling a story. He will then see how his music can be used as a narrative to tell that story. We discuss how the music will relate to the characters and the emotional landscape,” says director-producer Bharatbala who first worked with Rahman 25 years ago on jingles and moved on to creating the iconic album Vande Mataram with him.
Ali, whose partnership with Rahman has resulted in some seminal numbers from Rockstar and Highway, agrees. “Rahman is the purest technician I have worked with. And yet there is no fixed pattern with him. The journey of every song is different,” says Ali who is working with Rahman for his upcoming film Tamasha.
So this is how they work together: Ali tells him the story in a couple of minutes, elaborating on the situation or feelings of the character. “I don’t use direct explanatory words like ‘happy’ or ‘sad’. He goes on to surprise you with his musical take on the situation. For instance, in Tamasha, music has been used as a narrative to enhance the inherent drama of the situation without dialogue. Songs are almost like storytellers or sutradhars,” says Ali.
There is one situation in which a travelling musical parade in Corsica leads up to a song inspired by European dance music. Then there is the quirky “Heer is Sad” that has been written in the same melodic meter as the original Heer.
It’s this unpredictability that excites singers like Sukhwinder Singh. “With me, Rahman has a trademark line: ‘Sukhi, let’s go. Shall we start?’,” says Singh on the phone from Orlando where he is on a concert tour. “If there is a third person in the room, he or she will have no clue what’s the song or the composition. It is only in the next half an hour that we ourselves get to know what shape the song is going to take.” Of the 40 songs they have done together, he says, 39, if not all, were created this way.
Both Ali and Singh appreciate the fact that Rahman gives flexibility to both directors and singers to share ideas. “He doesn’t stop me ever. He knows that I sing from the heart and he gives that feeling a platform. There are times when I enhance his ideas. So it’s a collaborative process,” says Singh.
His collaboration with Rahman extends to food as well. “I stayed in Kodambakkam [where Rahman’s house is situated] for a long time, and today I am the best cook of idli-dosa in my house. Of course, I add my Punjabi touch to it,” he says.
But don’t be fooled by the calm exterior, say his friends, for Rahman is actually a “goofy guy”, full of mischief. “Whether it is music gear or any kind of technology, he will react to it and play with it like a child with a new toy,” says Bharatbala. Pookutty agrees. “When we are travelling together, I am his constant source of entertainment. And when Rahman and our common friend, Tuomas Kantelinen (the Finnish composer who has given score for films like The Legend of Hercules), are in the same room, there is constant laughter. No work happens.”
Despite his passion for technology, Rahman remains rooted. “He still prefers to work out of his old studio at his home. It’s called Panchathan. This is where he initially used to record. It’s not intimidating like modern studios. It’s warm like his personality,” says Joshi.
He recalls the making of the song Arziyaan from Delhi-6. “It took me a year to crack Marammat mukaddar ki kar do Maula. Rahman had already worked on a song and was waiting for me to write it,” says Joshi. “I wanted to write something special — to tap another side of me. So he made the music my ringtone. Every time my phone rang, I would remember that I hadn’t written it.”
The ‘modern’ middleclass ideal of suburbia: reaping the fruits of industrialisation while insulating ourselves from its side-effects by staying enveloped in an apparently benign, familial, protective, pseudo-naturalness… as Thomas Crowley shows us through the prism of one familiar household product.
Summer has arrived in Delhi, and with it the season’s urban fauna: wasps, ants, honeybees, and, most abundantly, mosquitoes. Cases of dengue are already being reported in the city, and Delhi residents are employing the usual defenses against mosquitoes, from nets to coils to plug-in vaporisers, to various creams and gels. In other words, it’s a good time of year for brands like All Out, Good Knight, Mortein, and – above all – Odomos.
By far the best selling mosquito repellent in India, Odomos has carefully built up its brand image, stressing the product’s safety and efficacy. In their branding effort, though, Odomosmarketers go beyond simple claims of effectiveness, and create deeper emotional and cultural resonances. The main emphasis of Odomos ads is the role of the mother in protecting her children. Not just any mother, of course, but a fair-skinned, thin, young ‘Mom’ wearing suitably ‘modern’ clothes, often with her equally fair-skinned, corporate-looking husband hovering in the background.
The purpose of all this maternal imagery is not just to convince mothers to buy the product; it’s also to evoke a sense of benevolent protection and care. Just as the idealised mother cares for her children, so too will Odomos care for you, the conscientious buyer, in this dangerous world filled with malaria, dengue and chikungunya. The buyer is meant to relate to the mother, but also, more crucially, to the children. To use Odomos is to be wrapped in a protective bubble of maternal protection; it is to be a child again, away from the worries and the stresses of adult life in a fast-paced modern world. No wonder that the image printed on every Odomos tube is of a happy family enclosed in an Odomos-generated force field.
The pastoral setting of many Odomos ads only strengthens this bubble of carefree nostalgia. There are rolling hills and verdant trees galore. The setting, though, has been strangely domesticated and suburbanised, reflecting an American vision of middle-class order, with neatly trimmed, immaculately green lawns, tidy streets and houses, and precocious-looking kids playing soccer. The ads evoke, not just a nostalgia for a lost past, but aspirations for a sanitised family life, free from mosquito-borne diseases, but even more than that, free from the messiness of present-day urban Indian life.
Odomos is made by Dabur, and the company as a whole has branded itself very effectively, often using similar strategies of linking safety to maternal care to a fulfilling, middle-class family life. Dabur is generally associated with mild Ayurvedic cures, thought to be safe alternatives to harsher allopathic treatments. Odomos benefits from this association, despite the fact that the product is, at its core, a powerful chemical synthesized in laboratories.
The pastoral themes, the nostalgic simplicity – these serve as effective smokescreens hiding the true nature of Odomos. Yes, Odomos may provide safety from mosquito-borne diseases, but it is effective because it is a potent chemical that was developed to interfere with the olfactory systems of mosquitoes. Specifically, the active ingredient in Odomos is N,N-Diethylbenzamide (DEB), a close relative of N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET).
DEET is the chemical most widely used in insect repellents, but it can act as an irritant to the skin, and, in extremely rare cases, has been linked to seizures. It remains the gold standard of the industry, though, because it is so effective, offering protection for up to six hours. DEB is a less common variant, and independent studies have shown that, compared to DEET, it is more likely to irritate the skin, and lasts for a shorter amount of time. Another study concluded that, when inhaled in high volumes, DEB can cause “irreversible depression in respiratory frequency,” an effect not found with DEET. But DEET has its own problems; one study indicated that park rangers who were exposed to high levels of DEET were more likely to experience insomnia and mood swings. As various studies make clear, both DEET and DEB have their share of potential side effects.
Repellents made from DEET and DEB may still be worth using, since they really do ward off disease-carrying mosquitoes, with fewer side effects than mosquito coils and vaporisers. One could rationally argue that the benefits of Odomos, or of similar products, far outweigh the costs. But this, of course, is not the argument that Odomos, as a brand, is making. Like any effective brand, Odomos is targeting the buyers’ emotions, fears, and aspirations, not their capacity for cost-benefit analysis.
However, the makers of Odomos do put a patina of scientific justification on top of their emotional appeals. On the Odomos website, there is a reference to a study conducted at the National Institute of Malaria Research, which found that Odomos was as effective as DEET in keeping away mosquitoes. What they don’t mention on the website is the following information (readily available in the study itself): “The authors acknowledge M/s Balsara Home Products (now Dabur Research Foundation) for sponsoring the study as a contract research project and for gratis supply of Advanced Odomos and DEET samples.” A study paid for by Dabur finds that Odomos is effective. How surprising!
But this study ignores the real question: what are the risks of using Odomos? The invaluable website chemicalbook.com cites the following risks for DEB: irritating to the eyes; irritating to the respiratory system; irritating to the skin. Chemical Book also lists all the global manufacturers of DEB. The only one in India is Chemspure and its associate company Chemsworth, which is – according to the company website – “a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Enterprise offering Import-Export Services in duty free area.”
Dabur may have started out as a tiny, quaint purveyor of Ayurvedic remedies, but the company is now firmly embedded in the global industrial supply chain. For instance, it recently announced its decision to invest 350 crore rupees in capacity expansion, building new factories in India and setting up plants in Tunisia, South Africa and Myanmar.
The suburban life, celebrated by Odomos ads, has no place for such realities. The whole point of suburbia is to insulate oneself from these truths, to enjoy the fruits of industrial production while ignoring the system that underlies this production. It is a glorious world where everything is green, mothers protect their children, and no one asks what, exactly, is in Odomos.
World Bank, in association with The Department of Industry Policy & Promotion (DIPP) has released a report on implementation of business reforms in India; and Gujarat has topped the list of all Indian states in this research.
The report titled, “Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms”, has declared Gujarat as the easiest state to start a business, after considering 8 crucial factors which include allotment of land and permits, complying with environmental factors, registering a company, carrying out inspections and enforcing contracts.
DIPP came up with 285 questions, which was shared with various entrepreneurs, SMEs and Govt. organizations across India. The answers were reviewed by KPMG and World Bank for the creation of this report.
Overall, Gujarat has scored 71.14%, when gauged against a 98-points action plan, as suggested by the Indian Govt. and World Bank to make businesses flourish and prosper.
At #2 position is Andhra Pradesh which is closely following Gujarat with 70.12%; but the surprising entry is Jharkhand, which is ranked #3 with 63.09% points.
At #4 is Chhattisgarh, another surprising entry in the top 5. Madhya Pradesh is ranked #5 with 62% points.
Hence, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have now beaten states like Maharashtra (ranked #8), Karnataka (ranked #9), Tamil Nadu (ranked #12), and Delhi (ranked #15), which were traditionally considered as manufacturing and IT hubs of India.
Arunachal Pradesh is the most difficult state to start a business. The worst 5 states of India, in terms of ease of doing business are: Mizoram, ranked 28th with 6.37%; Jammu & Kashmir, ranked 29th with 5.93%; Meghalaya, ranked 30th with 4.38%; Nagaland, ranked 31st with 3.41% and Arunachal Pradesh, ranked 32ndwith 1.23%.
Onno Ruhl, country director of World Bank, said in the report “People love ranking but the challenge for states is to improve on various counts. We are excited to help them achieve this transformation,”
Here is the complete ranking of all Indian states:
Some other highlights from the report:
Top 10 sub-areas which were maximum reforms have been witnessed and the number of states which have implemented major changes:
– Top 10 specific reforms, pertaining to ease of doing business, and the number of states which have implemented these reforms:
– Top 10 areas where maximum reforms are required to kickstart new business expansions:
– The report also examines each of the 8 factors, and created a different state ranking for each.
– Every state has been micro-examined, in relation with every factors, and a comprehensive list of suggestions and room for improvement has been created.
In October last year, India was ranked 142 out of 189 countries in World Bank’s Global Ease of Doing Business report. After this report came out, Indian Govt. sought World Bank’s assistance in improving India’s position and this report is the first step in that direction.
2 years of Rajan: Analysts give 4.3 out of 5 to RBI governor By Kshitij Anand, ECONOMICTIMES.COM | 5 Sep, 2015, 01.38PM IST
NEW DELHI: Analysts and economists gave a thumbs-up to Raghuram Rajan as he completed two years as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday. On a scale of 5, five analysts have given Rajan an average rating of 4.5.
Raghuram Govind Rajan took charge as the 23rd governor of Reserve Bank of India on September 4, 2013 with a three-year term. In his first two years in office, inflation has come down, interest rate has eased to 7.25 per cent from 8 per cent in 2014, the forex kitty has swelled and the rupee has become more resilient. Plus, there have been two rounds of new bank licence awards, including the birth of an entirely new breed of banks in the country.
The former IMF chief economist, who had famously predicted the 2008 financial crisis in 2005, has also overseen some key reforms in monetary policy management and in the administration of the central bank.
India has been among the best-performing emerging markets amid a global currency rout against the dollar as emerging markets witness a major capital flight not seen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
"Dr Rajan's two years in office has been extremely valuable for the Indian economy. He has been successful in containing CPI inflation, managing inflation expectations and regaining investor confidence. The governor has also brought about some important changes to the monetary policy framework," said Dr Arun Singh from Dun & Bradstreet.
"The measures taken to bring about a resolution of the rising pile of stressed assets in the banking system will show results in the years to come," he said.
In the last one year, under his tenure, RBI granted banking licences to infrastructure financing firm IDFC and microfinance institution Bandhan.
Last month, the central granted 'in-principle' approval to 11 entities, including Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Paytm, Vodafone andAirtel to set up payments banks and proposed such licences 'on tap' in future.
The governor has also managed to steer the economy through some of the toughest times. Having taken over the reins at a time of highfiscal deficit, high inflation and a vulnerable currency, Rajan has managed to restore investor confidence in the monetary policy and brought stability to the banking system.
"Independence and credibility of the central bank has been reaffirmed and international investors have poured record amounts into the Indian fixed income market over the past two years," said Mihir Vora, Director and Chief Investment Officer, Max Life Insurance.
"The rupee has behaved well in recent turbulent times and inflationary expectations are rapidly coming down, which is not a mean feat to achieve," Vora said.
Important Developments:
Movement of BSE Bankex in Rajan's first two years:
The S&P BSE Banking has rallied over 68 per cent from 10,964.19 in September 2013 to 18,437.50 in this September.
Accolades from global fund managers
One of the reasons investors across the globe favour India is that RBI has avoided the mistakes of other central banks, which have lowered interest rates to stimulate growth. The new government's prudence in managing its finances has also helped.
"One of the advantages that India has other than having the lot of smarter people is that your central banker (Raghuram Rajan) is probably the best central banker in the world, or at least the least bad central bankers in the world," Jim Rogers of Rogers Holdings said in an interview with ET Now last month.
"I always admire what I read, when he says things. Unfortunately, he is not the Indian government. He cannot save India, but you certainly have the least bad central banker in the world and I hope he continues being like that," he said.
Raghuram Rajan took over the job two years ago at a time when the rupee was in a precarious state, but the new governor nursed it back to health.
In an interview with ET Now in August, Marc Faber said he did not trust central bankers except that of India's, since he has a solid grip on monetary policies, while other monetary authorities around the world were basically money printers.
"Mr Raghuram Rajan is an outstanding man who understands central banking. He is probably only one in the world among the crowds of professors at central banks that actually has a good grip on monetary policies and what you can or cannot achieve with them. He should get the Noble Prize in economics. Others are all money printers at heart, all of them," Faber said.
Outlook on interest rates:
With inflation easing, a rate cut is in the offing. However, it may not come soon considering the global conditions. A lower interest rate can effectively bring about a turnaround in investment and hence growth, say experts.
"Considering the current global conditions, Mr Rajan may continue to hold interest rates at current levels, because a fall in interest rates could trigger flight of capital from India and would put pressure on the rupee," said Tushar of Right Horizons Financial Services.
In August, the Reserve Bank of India kept interest rates unchanged as expected but raised hopes of a reduction before the end of the year if the monsoon maintains its 'near-normal' progress. Rajan reintroduced the phrase "accommodative stance of monetary policy" after having dropped it in the June review.
"In the near future, we are expecting no change or a very slight change (approx 25 bps) in interest rate amid poor monsoon conditions and inflation," says Rohit Gadia, Founder & CEO, CapitalVia Global Research.
Sandeep Nayak ED & CEO, Centrum Broking, is of the view that the interest rate bias is downward. He expects interest rates to come down by 25-50 bps this financial year.
Outlook on the rupee:
The US dollar gained significantly against most international currencies during the year, but depreciated against the US dollar. The currency volatility began from August 11, when China devalued its yuan by 3.5 per cent, collectively.
The rupee has lost about 3.5 per cent since them. Speculations are rife that the country, struggling for export competitiveness, would make its currency further weaker.
The rupee, however, depreciated only marginally against the US dollar; by that token, it gained strongly against other major currencies, viz., euro, British pound and Japanese yen, reflecting a weak economic outlook for these economies and their ultra-accommodative monetary policies.
"The rupee is under pressure and will continue to remain so. Relative to the fall in other currencies, the rupee is better-off due to a controlled current account deficit on the back of benign oil prices," says Sandeep Nayak, ED & CEO, Centrum Broking.
"The rupee should remain rangebound between Rs 65 and Rs 67 against the US dollar in the short term, but it is difficult to predict the range for the medium term," he added.
Nayak is of the view that interest rate-sensitive stocks are out of favour right now, but barring real estate, he sees interest returning to auto and selectively bank stocks from a medium-term perspective.
The rupee is expected to remain at current level till the end of the calendar year 2015, say experts. Rate-sensitive sectors such as infrastructure, metals and power could face the heat, which would further impact the performance of banks, because all of them have exposure to these industries.
The outlook for the manufacturing sector would not improve anytime soon on the back of cheaper imports from China and other emerging countries, where the local currencies have weakened significantly.
"I believe investors should choose businesses that could get benefits from the rupee depreciation - such as pharma and IT/ITeS. The rupee is expected to remain at current levels till the end of calendar year 2015," said Pendharkar of Right Horizons Financial Services.
"In addition, consumption businesses such as FMCG, paints, consumer durables and auto could be better investment options in the current scenario," he said. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/2-years-of-rajan-analysts-give-4-3-out-of-5-to-rbi-governor/articleshow/48834479.cms?prtpage=1
Appraisal time in PM Modi's government; ministers of state to make presentations on achievement
By Rahul Tripathi & Anubhuti Vishnoi, ET Bureau | 8 Sep, 2015, 10.20AM IST
It's appraisal time for junior ministers in the Union government. Ministers of state who report to Cabinet ministers have started making presentations to PM Modi.
NEW DELHI: It's appraisal time for junior ministers in the Union government. Ministers of state who report to Cabinet ministers have started making presentations to PM Modi. The presentation includes telling the PM of what they have achieved and areas where they can improve.
This is the first of its kind of exercise by the Prime Minister's Office. Some of the MoSes confirmed to ET about presentations at the PMO and that performance review will be the key focus of the meetings. There are around 25 MoSes who report to Cabinet ministers in the Modi government. The ministers and officials spoke to ET on condition they not be identified.
During the presentation, junior ministers will talk about work allocated to them, goals, targets achieved in the past one year and roadmap. "They will also be required to talk about performance as junior ministers and what they have delivered in the past one year," said a senior official who is part of the exercise. Sources said an internal rating for each minister is also on the cards. The assessment may pave the way for a reshuffle in work allocation if the minister is not interested/shows a poor record in performance.
An MoS said: "Some of us have included our work as MPs in our constituency, which is related to work allocation as ministers." Official sources said the evaluation will also be done on steps that can be taken for successful completion of projects that are stuck — how to overcome problems identified by MoS. During one such presentation last week, a minister was asked to speak about his performance beside the presentation.
The exercise has been on since last week. Junior ministers in HRD and rural development have already made presentations. In the upcoming review, ministers of state in the home ministry will make presentations on internal security, J&K, issues related to FCRA violations, including cancellation of licences of Greenpeace and action taken against Ford Foundation, officials said. The tribal affairs minister's presentation was postponed twice.
PM Narendra Modi to meet top industry leaders on global economic scene By ET Bureau | 8 Sep, 2015, 06.26AM IST
PM Narendra Modi will tomorrow hold a wide-ranging discussion on global economic scenario with business leaders, including Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani, Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry as well as bankers and economists.
NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi will interact with top Indian business tycoons such asMukesh Ambani, Cyrus Mistry, KM Birla and Sunil Mittal along with RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, top bankers and leading economists on Tuesday in a rare meeting against the backcloth of plunging stock market indices, a weakening rupee and fears about global economic growth triggered by the China slump.
The meeting, the first time that such high-profile industry leaders are expected to sit across the table with the PM in the nearly 15 months he has been in charge, is expected to highlight India's relative attractiveness amid the growing global gloom and exhort the assembled corporate bosses to step up their investments.
Close to 40 people are expected to attend the closed-door meeting at the PM's Race Course Road residence in Delhi.
"The Prime Minister has regularly met top bosses of major global corporations and had also met industry chambers individually a couple of months ago," one official familiar with the matter said. However, this is the first time the PM is hosting a meeting of this kind, a normal practice during the Manmohan Singh era.
The meeting is being held at a time nervousness is rising whether India's incipient economic recovery could falter because of global factors, led by the Chinese slowdown and rising fears of a flight of capital from emerging markets, including India, in the event of a US interest rate increase.
Already, Indian stock market indices are near levels where they were when the Modi government took charge on May 26 last year.
Indian stocks tumbled to a 15-month low on Monday, with the benchmark Sensex slipping below the 25,000-point mark for the first time since June 2014, closing 308 points down at 24,893.81. The Sensex, which has fallen almost 11% since August 11, the day China first devalued its currency, is just 177 points away from its May 26 level.
The rupee hit a fresh two-year low against the dollar on Monday, closing 0.5% down at 66.82. It has fallen 4.6% since the yuan devaluation by China.
These are not the only causes for concern. Adding to the nervousness, India's GDP growth too slipped to 7% in the April-June quarter, down from 7.5% in the previous quarter, with analysts attributing the slippage in the growth clip to tepid investments by industry.
Gross fixed capital formation rose 4.9% in Q1FY16, a four-quarter high, but well below potential and with the gains mostly attributed to public investments. The private corporate sector, saddled with debt and excess capacity in many sectors, has been in a wait-andwatch mode for some time now, focusing more on balance sheet repair than fresh investments.
Officials said Tuesday's meeting, to be kicked off by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, will focus on the opportunities the global economic turmoil could throw up for India.
"A wide-ranging discussion is expected on the impact of recent economic events, and how best India can take advantage of them," a government statement said, adding that the meeting will have more than 40 delegates, including cabinet ministers, top government and RBI officials, industry representatives, bankers, economists and sectoral experts.
"The PM is expected to speak after hearing out their views and ideas," said the official aware of the meeting that is expected to last a little over two hours.
CII President and Tractors India CMD Sumit Mazumder, Ficci President and CMD of Bharat Hotels Jyotsna Suri and Assocham President and YES Bank CEO Rana Kapoor would also be present at the meeting.
"The PMO wants to focus the discussion on what opportunities India could exploit and has sought perspectives and ideas from different players, including economists and financiers. We hope the government will take some of those ideas and implement them soon to spur the economy," Mazumder told ET.
The Modi government has not reconstituted the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry that met regularly under the UPA government and included the who's who of India Inc. Towards the end of UPA's second tenure in office, India Inc had regularly used the forum to call for urgent reforms to salvage a slowing economy.
The NDA's victory at the 2014 Lok Sabha polls had been received with great enthusiasm by industry as it expected the Modi regime to take forward critical reforms that were left hanging by the Manmohan Singh government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asks industry to take risk, invest; India Inc wants rate cut By Vikas Dhoot, ET Bureau | 8 Sep, 2015, 02.59PM IST Post a Comment
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley expressed hope that it would by rolled out, Mazumder said, adding the land bill did not come up for discussion.
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked India Inc to take risks and step up investments, saying India's improved macro-economic and fiscal indicators were a good backdrop for investments.
"While the government has a role to play, industry also has a role to play in demand creation for investments," the prime minister said after a nearly three-hour meeting with top industrialists, financiers and bankers.
"The PM has adopted a hands-on approach with the economy to ensure that the momentum picks up before it's too late," said one of the industry captains who attended the meeting.
Modi and Finance MinisterArun Jaitley were listening for most of that time, with a dozen top government officials studiously taking notes on the ideas and concerns raised by industry captains that would be examined for further action.
The stalled reforms to the land acquisition law, a persistent dampener for industry, was only alluded to through a reference to 'political opposition', but Jaitley is learnt to have exuded confidence that the Goods and Services Tax regime will be introduced "sooner rather than later".
"The prime minister and FM virtually advised secretaries and top officials to work towards improvements in the areas of concern flagged by each industrialist. The government has signalled the strong will to improve the regulatory landscape so that there's a genuine rebound in investments and the economy," said Yes Bank CEO Rana Kapoor.
"The PM was emphatic that risk-related entrepreneurship should not be subdued, but catalyzed. A lot of new investments could be made in soft infrastructure like affordable housing, hospitals as well as hard infrastructure like roads and highways," Kapoor said.
CII president Sumit Mazumder said the government made the point that India is relatively insulated from the China crisis, which is likely to re-appear. "We pointed out that though the government has done a lot to improve the ease of doing business, a lot more needs to be done," he said.
In fact, the ease of doing business, the problems faced by stalled projects, stressed corporate and bank balance sheets were recurrent concerns raised by most industrialists present.
The stock market see-sawed in the first couple of hours of trading on Tuesday, but picked up steam and was over 400 points higher by 3 pm.
The prime minister was keen on using the Mudra Bank to catalyse small and medium enterprises and urged industry leaders to adopt innovation clusters and focus on innovation, skill development and entrepreneurship initiatives. He spelt out the need to re-orient programmes like the MGNREGA towards skill-oriented spending, so that people have a permanent employable skill.
Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian made a strong case that India is in a relatively good place amid the current global economic turmoil and the 'base case for growth is now very clear,' said industry officials present at the meeting.
Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, Road Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari and ministers of state holding independent charge — Nirmala Sitharaman (commerce and industry), Dharmendra Pradhan (petroleum and natural gas) and Piyush Goyal (power, coal and renewable energy) were also present at the meeting.
Reliance Industries' chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani, Aditya Birla Group head Kumar Mangalam Birla, Adani group chairman Gautam Adani and Tata group chief Cyrus Mistry attended the meeting along with Wipro boss Azim Premji, Sun Pharma CMD Dilip Sanghvi, ITC's YC Deveshwar, IL&FS chairman Ravi Parthasarathy and TVS Capital's Gopal Srinivasan.
Eight economists, 14 industry representatives and four top financiers, including SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya, ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochar, IDFC's Rajiv Lall and CEO of the recently-launched Bandhan Bank Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, were also present.
Not Far From Prague, a Czech Village Worth Rhapsodizing About
The frozen-in-time town of Český Krumlov has scenery and history—and beer—that keeps travelers coming back
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A pint glass of Budweiser Budvar. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A view of Český Krumlov's old town and the Vltava River. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The castle of Český Krumlov, built by the lords of the House of Rozmberk, sprawls along a cliff top above the Vltava River and the historical center of the town. The tower on the right is the former church of St. Jost, today the Marionette Museum, and the tower to its left is part of the castle and above the Castle Museum. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Český Krumlov castle at night. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Visitors settle onto park benches in the central square of Český Krumlov. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Graffiti on the side of a building in the historic center of Český Krumlov, a local artist's commentary on the tourist passion for selfies. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A medieval-style painted sign in Český Krumlov including the logo of the brewery that makes the beer served. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Many Czech cafes, bars and restaurant have exclusive relationships with breweries. Here a restaurant advertises that it serves Budweiser Budvar. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The copper kilns at Budweiser Budvar are used for the malting, mashing and brewing of the beer. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Three out of four beer taps in this Cesky Krumlov bar are dedicated to Czech Republic's Budweiser beer. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A pint glass of Budweiser Budvar. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A view of Český Krumlov's old town and the Vltava River. ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
AFTER A DAY of walking the cobblestone streets of Český Krumlov, a medieval town in the Czech Republic just north of the Austrian border, my wife and I agreed that a beer was in order.
“Bring us something cold and local,” I asked the waiter at the cafe where we’d taken seats at a table outside. Czechs are proud of their beers: They guzzle them with gusto, consuming 30% more per person than Austrians or Germans, the two runners-up in the list of big beer drinking countries (Czechs drink twice as much as the relatively abstemious Americans). So I was eager to sample some of the local suds. When he returned, the waiter was carrying two tall glasses emblazoned with a red-lettered swoosh and the logo, Budweiser.
We came all this way for a Bud?
“Sorry, but we wanted a Czech beer,” I said before the waiter could get away.
“That is a Czech beer,” he replied. “Try it. You’ll like it.”
I liked it very much. It was full-bodied with a nice tang of hops; hefty but not heavy. “Where is it made?” I asked as he passed by our sidewalk table again. Just a half-hour away, it turned out. My curiosity was piqued. How was this Budweiser related to the one with the same name and a similar logo that’s served in bars all across America? I added the question to my already lengthy list of things we wanted to explore in this surprising place.
Český Krumlov is located 15 miles north of the Austrian border in the western Czech region of Bohemia. It was part of Sudetenland, a historically German region that was incorporated into Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I and annexed by Hitler after he swept up Austria in 1938. Ten years later, it fell into the shadow of the Iron Curtain and was left to rot from neglect by the Soviet-managed Czechoslovakian government.
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The restored Renaissance plasterwork facade of restaurant Jakub, in the Krcinuv Dum HotelPHOTO: ROGER TOLL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The town’s fortunes have certainly reversed in the 25 years since the Velvet Revolution. Today, it is the Czech Republic’s second most visited destination, a fairy-tale pretty town of 14,000, cradled below forested hills and straddling the Vltava River, which carves swooping esses through the historic center. No fairy tale would be complete without a castle, and Český Krumlov’s, which served as the seat of the House of Rožmberk (Rosenberg in English) from the mid-1200s to the 1600s, doesn’t disappoint.
“In those feudal days, the family owned the land, they owned the people and they governed the Kingdom of Bohemia as deputy kings,” our guide told us as we toured the main castle building, just a small part of the 40 Rennaissance and Baroque structures that comprise the entire complex. “They wanted their home to be as impressive, and nearly as large, as the king’s castle in Prague.”
They certainly succeeded at impressing. The ruling family’s vast wealth enabled them to hire the finest Italian and Dutch craftsmen to build and decorate their home, whose theater, added in the 17th century, is one of only two remaining Baroque theaters in Europe (the other is in Sweden). Its ceiling and walls are covered with elegant murals by two Viennese painters, and the complex mechanical systems that were used to move scenery and create special effects like wind and rain are especially interesting.
I had never heard of the House of Rožmberk, and had barely heard of Bohemia. I felt I was in a new world, just a bit further east of the Europe I know well yet as unknown to me as medieval China.
The town was a bustling center of trade, philosophy and science in medieval days, which is easy to imagine while walking along the cobblestone lanes among Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings—not a straight line in sight.
The next day, my wife and I ordered two more glasses of what was fast becoming our favorite beer in the cafe at the Egon Schiele Art Centrum. Set in a former brewery, the arts complex features works by Mr. Schiele, the bad-boy Viennese artist who scandalized the town when he and his mistress/model lived in the building for a year in 1911. He spent hours painting her as she posed nude in their garden, which apparently was less than private. The couple was forced to abandon their Eden in the wake of communal indignation.
We struck up a conversation with Ivo Janousek and Jan Palkovic, graduate students who grew up in Český Krumlov and who told us about the years behind the Iron Curtain.
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Local lagers on tapPHOTO: ROGER TOLL
“No money was coming from the government, so the town remained as it had always been, in a sort of deep freeze,” Mr. Palkovic said, explaining the absence of the bland and ugly modern buildings so commonly seen in former Eastern Bloc countries. With the Velvet Revolution, he said, everything changed. “Suddenly there was a future. People responded in a spontaneous burst of restoration and conservation work. There was no state funding at first,” Mr. Palkovic said. “The people of the town did it because it had to be done. It’s our inheritance, so a lot of people got involved.”
‘Bad boy Egon Schiele spent hours painting his nude mistress in the garden here.’
“What Český Krumlov was in the 1500s is present in the town of today,” Mr. Janousek said. “After the peak of activity here in the late 1500s, the place went to sleep, you might say. Now it has reawakened, but this time it is opening up to a much wider world. Český Krumlov is alive because of tourism.”
Indeed, the town’s setting along the Vltava and beneath forested hillsides makes it a popular spot for both kayakers and hikers, who arrive in the spring and stay through the end of fall. Český Krumlov’s castle and other historic buildings have earned it numerous recognitions; it was designated as a Unesco World Heritage site in 2002.
The next day, hoping to solve the mystery of the “other” Budweiser, we drove 10 miles to České Budějovice, a small city of about 90,000. České Budějovice is the commercial and political capital of South Bohemia and has been a center for beer production since the 13th century. Its first large brewery, Bürgerliches Brauhaus Budweis, was founded in 1795 by the German-speaking population. A century later, in 1896, the city’s marginalized Czech-speaking populace launched its own brewery, Budweiser Budvar, which is where the beer our waiter introduced us to is made.
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We took a tour of the Budweiser Budvar brewery, which included a look at the massive, copper fermenting vessels in the brewhouse and a sampling of the wares. Our guide cleared up at least part of our Budweiser confusion when she explained that the name Budweiser can indicate both a beer made in Budějovice (Budweis, in German) or a beer brewed in the same style as the pale lagers of Budějovice (as the American Budweiser is).
Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser hit the market in 1876, 20 years before the first bottle of Budweiser Budvar was sold. Shortly after the Czech Budweiser appeared, ownership of the name became a legally fraught issue that continues today. Budweiser Budvar is sold in most of the world under that name. But in Canada, the U.S. and some of Latin America it is sold as Czechvar. Similarly, in much of Europe, Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser is sold simply as “Bud.”
The deep caramel-colored quaff we were served on our first evening in Bohemia was just one of many happy discoveries we made during our two days in southern Bohemia. Another was that whenever we have a taste for that local brew back home, we can always crack open a Czechvar, which, no matter what you call it, will always taste to us like Český Krumlov.
THE LOWDOWN // EXPLORING SOUTHERN BOHEMIA’S BEER COUNTRY
Getting There: The easiest and most scenic way to reach Český Krumlov is by car. It is about a 3-hour drive from Prague or Vienna and about a 4-hour drive from Munich. The roads through South Bohemia are excellent.
Staying There: Hotel Ruze, a 16th-century palace with castle views, is the only 5-star hotel in town (from $150 per night, english.janhotels.cz). Sister hotels Krcinuv Dum and Latrán are also fine choices. Each has modern furnishings and a lot of Old-World charm. The suites are especially nice (from $90 per night, hotely-krumlov.cz/en). Castle View Apartments, just off the central square, has two roomy apartments for spreading out during extended stays (from $100 per night, castleview.cz/en).
Eating There: You can’t go wrong with fine restaurants Le Jardin, in the Hotel Bellevue(bellevuehotelkrumlov.cz), or Jakub (jakubrestaurant.cz/en), which serve traditional Czech fare and Continental fare. The popular U dwau Maryi (At Two Marys) is a fun place to have lunch at riverside tables in the shadow of the castle walls (2marie.cz). If visiting České Budějovice, don’t miss a meal at Masny Kramy, located in a 16th-century former meat market; the steaks are appropriately superb (masne-kramy.cz/en#home).
