current affairs

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April-2009 Pramod Bhasin, Presiden and CEO of Genpact, took over as the new Chairman of National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) for 2009-10, succeeding Ganesh Natarajan. The former Indian ambassador to the United Nations, Nirupam Sen, is appointed Special Senior Adviser to the president of the 192- member General Assembly on the world financial and economic crisis. Naina Lal Kidwal is appointed as the country head of HSBC group companies in India. Balwinder Singh, a 1976 batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, took over as Additional Director in the Central Bureau of Investigation. Marris Zare music director of the movies A Passage to India and Lawrence of Arabia died in Los Angeles. Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was appointed as the new NATO chief. Israel's Likud party Chief Benjamin Netanyahu sworn in as the new prime minister of the Jewish state. Senior Election Commissioner Navin B. Chawla took over as the 16th chief Election Commissioner of India in New Delhi. The Government removes Raghu Menon from the post of Chairman and Managing Director of Air India and appoints EK Bharat Bhushan as the interim chairman and managing director. President Barack Obama has appointed Indian American management consultant Anju Bhargava, who is also an ordained ‘pujari’ (priest), as the member of a faith-based advisory council of the White House. V.S. Sampath is new Election Commissioner Union Power Secretary Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath, a 1973 batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, will be the new Election Commissioner.

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Page 1: Current Affairs

April-2009

Pramod Bhasin, Presiden and CEO of Genpact, took over as the new Chairman

of National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) for

2009-10, succeeding Ganesh Natarajan.

The former Indian ambassador to the United Nations, Nirupam Sen, is

appointed Special Senior Adviser to the president of the 192-member General

Assembly on the world financial and economic crisis.

Naina Lal Kidwal is appointed as the country head of HSBC group companies

in India.

Balwinder Singh, a 1976 batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, took over

as Additional Director in the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Marris Zare music director of the movies A Passage to India and Lawrence of

Arabia died in Los Angeles.

Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was appointed as the new

NATO chief.

Israel's Likud party Chief Benjamin Netanyahu sworn in as the new prime

minister of the Jewish state.

Senior Election Commissioner Navin B. Chawla took over as the 16th chief

Election Commissioner of India in New Delhi.

The Government removes Raghu Menon from the post of Chairman and

Managing Director of Air India and appoints EK Bharat Bhushan as the interim

chairman and managing director.

President Barack Obama has appointed Indian American management

consultant Anju Bhargava, who is also an ordained ‘pujari’ (priest), as the

member of a faith-based advisory council of the White House.

V.S. Sampath is new Election Commissioner

Union Power Secretary Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath, a 1973 batch IAS

officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, will be the new Election Commissioner.

Sonal Shah joins Obama administration

Indian-American Sonal Shah, who formerly led the philanthropic arm of

Google, has been appointed head of the new Office of Social Innovation and

Civic Participation in the Obama administration.

Senior advocate Ghulam E.Vahanvati was appointed as the new Attorney

General of India.He was the Solicitor General during the previous UPA

Government.

Page 2: Current Affairs

May-2009

The famous director , producer died in Mumabai. He directed fasmous movies

like Zanjeer, Lavarees etc.

President Obama Nominated Gen. Charles Bolden to be NASA Administrator.

Robert Furchgott who developed Viagra died at the age of 92. He won the

Noble Prize in Pharmacology. He proved that Nitric Oxide gas is useful for

various reactions taking place in the body which lead to the invention of

Viagra.

Eminent Historian, A R Kulkarni was dead at the age of 84. He is credited with

the setting up the History Department at the University of Pune in 1969.

Prasara Bharati Chairman, Arun Bhatnagar has resigned to his job.

Justice Pasayat was appointed as the chairman of the Competition Appellate

Tribunal.

June-2009

Nandan Nilekani of Infosys has been appointed as the Chairperson of Unique Identification Scheme (UID), a project by the union central Government. This newly created position will be equivalent to a Cabinet Rank minister.

Obama administration has appointed Farah Pandith as Special Representative to Muslim Communities under the aegis of the State Department and Secretary Hillary Clinton.

Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, a retired judge of the Supreme Court has been appointed as Chairperson of the Armed Forces Tribunal.

Lord Swaraj Paul was appointed by the British Queen as a member of her Privy Council, the British monarch|s advisory group whose members include the Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers and other eminent personalities.

Ramesh Pokhariyal is the new Uttarakhand CM Senior associate editor and bureau chief of The Hindu Harish Khare will be

the media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Nirupama Rao to be next Foreign Secretary :

she was High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. Her other diplomatic jobs included being Ambassador to Peru, deputy head of the Indian embassy in Moscow, and Minister (Press) at the Indian embassy in Washington, DC.

Karia Munda was elected as deputy speaker. Habib Tanvir, one of the greatest stalwarts of Indian theatre, died due to a

brief illness.

July-2009

Nirupama Rao is the new foreign secretary.

AP state’s 1st woman High Court Judge, Justice Amareswari was dead. Legendary Hindustani vocalist Gangubai Hangal died in Hubli. She was 97.

Page 3: Current Affairs

Padmanathan takes over as new LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) chief. Indira Jaisingh was appointed as the first woman Additional Solicitor General. Sri Vatsava is the new Director General of BSF.

August-2009

The Medal of Freedom Awardee Edward Kennedy, brother of John F Kennedy died

at the age of 75.

Hind Samachar Group Editor in chief, Vijaykumar Chopra was appointed as the

Board Chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI).

Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma was elected as the

Chancellor of UK’s Queen’s University Belfast.

VijayKumar Saraswat is the new chief of Defense Research and Development

Organization (DRDO).

Sonia Gandhi was ranked the 13th most influential women in the world by Forbes

magazine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was ranked 1st. Sheela Beyer, America

Federal Deposit Insurance Chairperson was ranked 2nd. Pepsi Co CEO, Indra Nooyi -

3rd , ICICI bank CEO Chanda Kochar – 20th and Biocon chairman, Kiran Mozumdar

Shah – 91st.

Jaswant Singh has released his controversial book ‘Jinnah: India-Partition-

Independence’.

The 13 Militant groups association, Therik-e-taliban announced Hakimullah Mehsud

as the new Pak Taliban Chief.

A postal stamp, in commemoration of Pingali Venkaiah, designer of the Indian

Tricolor, was released by the CM of AP.

Guitar legend Les Paul has died at 94. He invented the solid-body electric guitar.

Rangarajan Was reappointed Economic advisor to PM.

September 2009

Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, the father of the "Green Revolution" who is

widely credited with saving millions of lives by breeding wheat, rice and other crops

that brought agricultural self-sufficiency to developing countries around the world,

died in Texas. He was also conferred with Padmavibushan by India.

Former BCCI chairman Raj Singh Dungarpur died in Mumbai.

Jack Kramer, a tennis champion in the 1940’s and 50’s died in Las Angeles.

Page 4: Current Affairs

Retired IAS officer JM Girglani passed away. He was the chairman of the One-Man

Commission on Six Point Formula. Girglani was instrumental in implementation of

the popular GO 610 pertaining to repatriation of non-locals to their native zones.

Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General P. K. Bhardwaj will be the new

Vice-Chief of Army Staff.

General Deepak Kapoor, took over as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff

Committee from outgoing Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta.

Vice Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma took over as the new Navy Chief.

October 2009

Indian – American Mr. Suresh Kumar, president and managing partner of

KaiZen Innovation, known for his expertise of public-private partnership, has

been nominated Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director-General of the

United States and Foreign Commercial Service in the U.S. Department of

Commerce.

Global rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Asia-Pacific Chief Economist

Subir Gokarn will be the new Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India

(RBI).

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday elected Chhagan Bhujbal

as the leader of its legislature party, thereby making him the Deputy Chief

Minister of Maharashtra.

Dr. K. Radhakrishnan was appointed as the new Chairman of ISRO. He is

the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Center.

Admiral Suresh Mehta was appointed the new High Commissioner to New

Zealand. He is the 1st to be appointed to such post after retirement.

Joseph Wiseman, the actor who played the sinister scientist and title

character of Dr. No in the first James Bond feature film, has died.

G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, has

been appointed President of the International Academy of Astronautics

(IAA).

Sujatha Koirala was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal.

The US-based food and beverages giant PepsiCo has named Indian-born

senior executive Jaya Kumar as president of its two billion dollar Quaker

Foods and Snacks division

Page 5: Current Affairs

A veteran freedom fighter and disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, Chote Singh

Rathore, died. Rathore had played an active role in the Satyagrah and Quit

India Movement.

C.B. Muthamma, India’s first woman career diplomat and first woman

Ambassador, died in Bangalore.

Noted civil rights activist and Lawyer K Balagopal died of cardiac arrest. He

worked as a Professor in Kakatiya University. He wrote books like Naxalbari

Udyamam, Gamyam Gamanam, Chikati Konam.

Sam Pitroda was appointed as the PM’s advisor. Pitroda, who is also the chairman of National Knowledge Commission, will advise Singh on integrating information communication technology in the sectors of infrastructure, health, justice and information.

November-2009

U.S. President Barack Obama has nominated Indian-American Rajiv Shah to head the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Oxford fellowship has been given a philosophy student of Indian origin, Amia Srinivasan. With this fellowship she joined the band of scholars that includes the Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

Asok Chavan sworn as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra. P.S. Veeraraghavan, a rocket technologist, took over as Director of Vikram

Sarabahi Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, from K. Radhakrishnan. Mr. Veeraraghavan was till now Director of ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU), Thiruvananthapuram.

Srikumar Banerjee, a leading expert in Materials and Technology in the country and director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has been appointed as chairman of Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)

Vinita Kamte wrote a book titled “TO THE LAST BULLET” in search of truth behind her husband, 26/11 martyr Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte’s death. It was co-authored by senior journalist Vinita Deshmukh.?

Veteran journalist Naresh Chandra Rajkhowa, who broke the news about the Dalai Lama’s flight from Tibet through Tawang in March 1959, passed away.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato has appointed Siddharth Tiwari as Director of the IMF's Office of Budget and Planning (OBP).

Carnatic vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and playback singer Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna has been appointed as the ''Asthana Vidwan'' of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) for the third time. Dr Balamuralikrishna, who performed in more than 25,000 concerts worldwide and made over 400

Page 6: Current Affairs

compositions in various languages including Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, has now become the official singer in the Lord's court.

Belgium PM Herman Van Rompuy was elected as the first President of EU. Ashton was appointed the EU's first High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and security policy.

Ameed Karzai sworn in as the president of Afghanistan.

December-2009

Eminent Marathi and English literature, poet and filmmaker Dilip Chitre died. His well-known works include "Ekun Kavita", a collection of poems in Marathi, and "Travelling in the Cage" in English. Chitre's renowned work was "Says Tuka", the English translation of the poems by famous 17th century saint-poet of Maharashtra Sant Tukaram, and "Anubhavamrut", the works of the 12th century saint-poet Sant Dnyaneshwar.

Traian Basescu has won the elections with a margin of less than 1% to become the President of Rumania for the second time.

Nitin Gadkari was elected as the President of BJP. He was the president of Maharashtra BJP.

Kenyan born green campaigner and Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai has been selected the UN peace messenger for climate change.

Time Magazine picked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as Person of the Year for 2009. He was selected for his work to improve US Economy after economic crisis.

UGC Chairman, Sukhdev Thorat has been appointed as the chairman of Indian Economic Association.

Kannada actor Vishnuvardan died of heart arrest. He acted in 200 films. Well-known Kannada composer-singer C. Aswath died after a prolonged illness. Kalyani Kaul, a prominent barrister of Indian-origin, has been appointed as

Recorder by Queen Elizabeth. Reena Kaushal became first Indian woman who skied to South Pole. She

travelled 900km for 40 days along with 8 women from different countries. C Ramakanth Reddy took over as Election Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh.

He retired from the post of Chief Secretary. S V Prasad was appointed as the Chief Secretary in place of him.

January-2010

Page 7: Current Affairs

President Pratibha Patel presented the Ashok Chakra to1. Major Rishima Sharma, wife of Major Mohit Sharma (Posthumous).2. MS Beeta, Wife of havildar Rajesh Kumar (Posthumous)3. Major D. Sreeram Kumar of 39 Assam Rifles.

Six Padma Vibhushans, 43 Padma Bhushans and 81 Padma Shris are being awarded for the year 2010. The following are some of the names of the people chosen for the Padma awards:

Padma Vibhushan Ebrahim Alkazi (Art), Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman (Art), Zohra Segal (Art), Yaga Venugopal Reddy (Public Affairs), Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (Science and Engineering), Prathap Chandra Reddy (Trade and Industry)

Padma BhushanIlaiyaraaja (Art), Aamir Khan (Art), Fareed Zakaria (Journalism), Mallika Sarabhai (Art), Prof. (Dr.) Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana (Art), Prof. Bipan Chandra (Literature and Education), S.P. Oswal etc.

Padma ShriResul Pokutty (Art), Rekha (Art), Deep Joshi (Social Work), Saina Nehwal (Sports), Vijender Singh (Sports), Virendra Sehwag (Sports), Ram Narain Karthikeyan (Sports) etc.

According to defence ministry announcement, lieutenant General V.K.Singh will replace the current chief of the Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor, who retires from service on March 31, 2010.

Jyoti Basu, Veteran Marxist leader, who set a record as the nation's longest serving chief minister and one of the tallest figures in the country's political life, died of septicemia due to pneumonia that led to multi-organ failure. He was 95 and is survived by his son and three grand children.

An Iraqi court sentensed Ali Hassan al-Majeed, the Saddam Hussain henchman widely known as "Chemical Ali" to death by hanging for a 1988 gas attack that killed about 5,000 kurds.

Fitness trainer Dinaz Vervatwala enters Guinness book of world records for completing 26-hour-long aerobics marathon.

President Pratibha patil has approved the Sarvottham Jeevan Raksha Padak for Jammu gril Rukhsana Kosser, who killed one of the L.E.T terrorist and injuring another in Kalsian village about 217 km from Jammu on the night of Sep 27, 2009.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has appointed Gopinath Munde as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.

February-2010

M.F. Hussain, India's most celebrated artist has been conferred Qatar nationality.

Page 8: Current Affairs

Justice Nisar Ahmed Kakru was sworn in Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High court by Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan.

Indian - Origin lawyer Rashad Hussain will be U.S.’ new special envoy to the organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 35 - member board of governors elected Malaysian envoy Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob by consensus as its new chairman.

Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia will represent India in a high level panel to be set up by UN Secretary General Ban ki - Moon on financing climate change action globally. The panel will be co - chaired by British PM Gordon Brown and Ethopian PM meles Zenawi.

K.N.Raj, widely respected development economist, who was the economic adviser to Prime Ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to P.V.Narasimha Rao and one of the architects of the Indian plan edifice, passed away. He was 85.

Lawra Chinchilla became Costa Rica's first woman president Indian - American Pulitzer Prize - winning author Jhumpa Lahiri has been

appointed as a member of U.S. President Barak Obama's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, along with five others.

Nepal’s first Vice-President appointee Paramananda Jha, whose post has been inactive for the last five months over an oath-taking controversy, sworn in a second time.

For the first time, an India-born businessman Vim Kochhar (73) has been nominated to the Canadian Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

March-2010

The government of India appointed Congress President Sonia Gandhi chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC). The NAC was set up after the UPA came to power in 2004 as an interface with civil society on implementation of the government's National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP), including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Forests Right Act.

Eminent Bhoodan leader Biswanath Patnaik, 94, a close associate of Vinoba Bhave, and was popularly known as the “Koraputia Gandhi” passed away at Baliguda in Orissa's Kandhamal district.

A commemorative stamp on former Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy is being issued by the Postal Department on September 2 to coincide with his first death anniversary.

Chennai-born Shankar Balasubramanian of Cambridge University has been named Innovator of the Year by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Britain's leading agency for academic research and training in non-clinical life sciences.

The Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, has recommended the elevation of Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court Gyan

Page 9: Current Affairs

Sudha Misra as a Supreme Court Judge. Justice Misra, who hails from Bihar will be the fourth woman judge of the Supreme Court, after Fatima Beevi, Sujata Manohar, and Ruma Paul, who retired in June 2006.

The 31-year-old Tejdeep Singh Rattan became the first Sikh in a generation who had continued wearing a traditional turban and yet joined the United States Military, a feat not achieved since 1981.

Kanu Sanyal, one of the architects of the naxalite movement and who, in more recent times, was critical of the Maoists, was found dead at his residence in the Naxalbari area of West Bengal's Darjeeling district.

C.V. Midhun, a second semester B.Sc. Physics student of the Majlis Arts and Science College at Puramannur in Valanchery, Kerala ,who had disputed the famous black hole theory of noted scientist Stephen Hawking, has become part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment. The LHC, a gigantic instrument placed near Geneva, is studying the impact of particle collision.

The Centre has appointed Justice P. Venkatarama Reddy, a retired judge of the Supreme Court as chairperson of the 19th Law Commission, which will have tenure up to August 31, 2012.

Girija Prasad Koirala(86), the Nepali Congress president, who served as Prime Minister four times and as head of state once, passed away. Koirala, popularly known as Girija babu, was considered a ‘national guardian.'

Former Deputy Chief Minister and Veteran Dalit leader Koneru Ranga Rao (74) died after prolonged illness. Rao held various port folios, including housing and social welfare in the congress governments that were in power from 1978-88 and 1989-94 and went on to become the Deputy Chief Minister in Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy cabinet.

Noted Marathi poet and Jnanpith award winner, Govind Vinayak Karandikar(91) - known by his literary name Vinda, passed away in Mumbai.

Senior journalist T. Surender has been selected as the new Chairman of Press Academy of Andhra Pradesh (PAAP).

Iron Sharmila, who has been on a fast - onto - death since November 4, 2000 demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) in Manipur, was rearrested, as she continued her fast despite being released by the court.

Eminent industrialist G.P. Birla (87) passed away. Son of B.M. Birla, who had helped to set up units such as Orient Paper and Industries, Hyderabad Industries and Nigeria Engineering Works. He was also involved in setting up the Birla Institute of Technology in Ranchi, Birla Science and Technological Museum and Birla Archaeological and Cultural Research Institute.

April-2010

Page 10: Current Affairs

Major General C.S. Nair is appointed as the 14th Judge Advocate General (JAG) of the Army President Pratibha Patil has appointed senior-most judge of the Supreme Court Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia the 38th Chief Justice of India (CJI). He will replace Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, who retires on May 11.Justice Kapadia will be the first CJI born after Independence. Oh Eun-sun (44), a South Korean mountaineer became the first woman to scale the world's 14 highest mountains. Madhuri Gupta, a junior diplomat in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has been arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police on the charge of leaking sensitive national secrets to Pakistani intelligence agencies. Rajasthan Governor Prabha Rau died in Delhi following a heart attack. John Wakefield(95), fondly known as ‘Papa,'the torchbearer of Karnataka's first eco-tourism project — the Kabini River Lodge on the banks of the Kabini at Karapur in Mysore district, passed away. An ethnic Indian P.Kamalanathan won a prestigious parliamentary by-election for the Hulu Selangor seat in Malaysia. President Pratibha Patil cleared the appointment of Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court Gyan Sudha Misra as Supreme Court judge. The President has also cleared the appointment of Chief Justices of the Madras and Bombay High Courts H.L. Gokhale and Anil Ramesh Dave as judges of the Supreme Court. Juan Antonio Samaranch(89), giant of the Olympic movement heading the IOC from 1896 to 1925,died in Barcelona(Spain). IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) announced that Harsh Manglik will take over as the Chairman of its Executive Council for 2010-11, effective from April 20. Mr. Manglik, replaces Pramod Bhasin. Activist Dorothy Height, described by President Obama as the “the godmother of the civil rights movement” passed away at the age of 98 years. Ms. Height, a pioneer of the 1960s movement, had joined historic marches with Martin Luther King Jr. and led the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years Mukul Sangma was sworn in Chief Minister of Meghalaya. Dr. Sangma replaces D.D. Lapang, who resigned as Chief Minister, bringing the curtains down on nearly month-long dissidence in the Congress. Twenty-one of the 28 Congress legislators had demanded his removal. Vijay Gandhi was sworn in Magistrate Judge for the District Court of the Central District of California (U.S). Mr. Gandhi is the first Indian-American federal judge in California and only the second ever Indian-American federal judge in the history of the United States. The first was Judge Amul Thapar, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Kentucky on December 13, 2007. Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad, 68, Distinguished Professor in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and a world authority on management thought, passed away in San Diego after a brief illness. He was known for his work specialising in corporate strategy focusing on top management in large, diversified, multinational corporations.

Page 11: Current Affairs

Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya made his debut as a lawmaker, with a runaway victory from a parliamentary constituency in Matara district in the south. Jayasuriya won on the ticket of the ruling United People's Freedom Party alliance of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa. President Pratibha Patil has nominated M. Natarajan, former Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, as Chairman, Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology - Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. The former Director-General of the Border Security Force (BSF), E. N. Rammohan, was appointed by the Central government to probe the circumstances leading to the massacre of 76 CRPF personnel in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. Eminent Telugu storywriter and Sahitya Academy winner, Bhamidipati Ramagopalam(78) passed away in visakhapatnam. Chandigarh-born Srinija Srinivasan (40), one of the three co-founders of Yahoo! was appointed as a member of the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars by the U.S President Barack Obama. Ramana Murthy has been appointed as Chairman of A P State Cultural Council. ~Famous mountaineer of Nepal, Apa Sherpa, who broke his own world record by climbing the Everest 19th time last year, is all set to climb Mt Everest again on April 6th for his 20th climb. Henry Edward Roberts, a developer of an early personal computer that inspired Bill Gates to found Microsoft, died in Georgia. He was 68. General Vijay Kumar Singh took charge as the Chief of Army Staff from General Deepak Kapoor, who retired from service. The 13-year-old Jordan Romero, the teenager from Big Bear, California will attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest. If he succeeds, will be the youngest person ever to stand on top of the world's highest peak. Solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam was elected as chairperson of Bar Council of India (BCI).

President Pratibha Patil had appointed Justice Barin Ghosh as Chief Justice of the

Sikkim High Court.

May-2010

Germany's President Horst Koehler resigned after criticism of comments he made about the country's mission in Afghanistan.

S. Ramakrishnan, Director (Projects), Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, has been appointed Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Person of Indian Origin Dolar Amarshi Popat has been nominated by U.K Prime Minister David Cameron to the House of Lords.

The U.S government appointed Indian-American Kshemendra Paul to a key IT position, making him head of the Programme Manager for the Information

Page 12: Current Affairs

Sharing Environment (PM-ISE) agency that facilitates the sharing and access of terrorism-related information within various wings of the U.S. government.

Neeraj Patil, a leading NRI doctor, has been elected Mayor of the Borough of Lambeth in London.

The 13-year-old Jordan Romero became the youngest climber of the tallest mountain in the world,Mount Everest.

Film personality Tapen Chattopadhyay(72), famous for his role as Goopi in Satyajit Ray's classic Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen (Goopi the singer Bagha the drummer), died of chronic pulmonary ailment in Kolkata.

Commander Dilip Donde became the first Indian to circumnavigate the world solo in the boat INSV (Indian Naval Sailing Vessel) Mhadei, covering about 21,600 nautical miles (38,880 km) under sail.

India-born Scot John Shepherd-Barron(84), inventor of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), died after a short illness in London.

Ratan Kumar Sinha, who is closely associated with the design and development of the country's first thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, will be the new director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

The former Vice-President and three-time Chief Minister of Rajasthan in the past, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat died in Jaipur following cardiac arrest.

Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, was sworn in as the 38th Chief Justice of India.

The Centre decided to appoint Shantha Sinha as chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for the second term.

Veteran actor Mac Mohan(71) who was part of blockbusters like Sholay, Zanjeer, Don, Majboor died of cancer .

Shabana Mahmood, the Labour candidate for Birmingham Ladywood, in central England, and Yasmin Qureshi, Labour candidate for Bolton South East, in the north-west, became Britain's first women Muslim MPs.

The former Union Law Minister, Ram Jethmalani, was elected president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as the President of Nigeria, hours after the death of incumbent Umaru Yar'Adua.

Dr. Shah Faesal became the first from Kashmir to top the civil services examination 2009 conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.

Indian-origin professor Nitin Nohria has been appointed as the 10th Dean of the Harvard Business School (HBS) making him the first member from the community to occupy the post.

Indian scientist Goverdhan Mehta has been selected to be part of the 12-member committee to review the procedures of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

U.N. Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has appointed Atul Khare of India as Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.

JUNE-2010

Page 13: Current Affairs

Veteran Constitutional expert and noted advocate B. M. Masani passed away in Mumbai.

P. Obul Reddy, industrialist, philanthropist and patron of the arts, passed away. He was one of the first industrialists from the South to enter into the television business, was the proprietor of the firm that sold the popular Dyanora TV sets. He was also the former managing director and founder of Nippo Batteries.

One of the towering figures of Indian wrestling, Chandgi Ram, passed away. He was an Asian Games gold medallist in 1970.

According to Defence Ministry, Sachin Tendulkar will be conferred with the honorary rank of Group Captain of the Indian Air Force.

Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group of Companies has been honoured with Doctor of Law by the University of Cambridge in recognition of his business achievements and philanthropic work.

A.K. Antony became the first Defence Minister to land on the Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) of Nyoma in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.The ALG, activated in September,2009 for fixed-wing aircraft, is 23 km from the Line of Actual Control and close to the Sino-Indian border.

International law expert Kishore Singh has been nominated as the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education.

Yogendra Pratap Singh has been appointed the first Ambassador to the Republic of Niger.

Woman Justice Rekha Manharlal Doshit was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court by President Pratibha Patil.

As part of Election Commission's ongoing diamond jubilee celebrations, 93-year-old Shyam Saran of Kalpa village of Kinnaur district (Himachal Pradesh), one of the first few voters of Independent India, was honoured by Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla.

Naoto Kan was elected Japan's Prime Minister by the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors of Japan separately.

The government of India announced the appointment of the former Chief Justice of India, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, as the sixth chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) resigned citing his failure to stay attuned to the people's wishes.

July-2010

Gururaj ‘Desh' Deshpande, entrepreneur, philanthropist and Chairman of Tejas Networks, USA, had been appointed Co-Chairman of the U.S. National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) by the Obama administration.

Milon Kumar Banerjee(80), the former Attorney-General of India, passed away. Mr. Banerjee, as Attorney-General, had the rare honour of being called upon to

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address the Parliament regarding the powers of the Election Commission on August 5, 1993, a request that had not been made to the Attorney-General for decades, and the Padma Awards case, where he argued before the Supreme Court that these awards were not titles and as such were not violative of Article 18 of the Constitution.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) appointed D.R.S. Chaudhary, Additional Secretary, IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh as its official spokesperson.

Noted academician Gita Gopinath has been named professor of economics at the prestigious Harvard University, becoming the first Indian-origin woman professor in the institution's history.

Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has signed a marketing deal with an Indian sports management company Rhiti worth $42 million over two years. The deal, the richest in Indian cricket history, surpasses batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar's $40million three-year contract with sports management firm Iconix in 2006.

The 22-year-old Patna-born Tathagat Avtar Tulsi is all set to become the country's youngest faculty at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Powai in Mumbai. In 2003,Tulsi was named as one of the world's “seven most gifted youngsters” by Time magazine.

Lieutenant General Chander Prakash has been appointed the Force Commander for the U.N. peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.

The U.S. government had appointed Preeta D. Bansal to serve as the Vice-Chair of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the U.S. (ACUS).

Indian-American, Nisha Desai Biswal has been nominated by the U.S government to the post of Assistant Administrator for Asia in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

April-2009 Economy

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Union Commerce Ministry announced that India’s exports continued the

downtrend with a fall of 21.7 per cent in February, the lowest in 13 years.

Imports too dropped by 23.3 per cent during the month.

         Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) enters into a memorandum of

understanding (MoU) with the Steel Ministry to produce around 12

million tones of salable steel during 2009-10 despite the current

economic slowdown.

         Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) commenced production of gas from

Dhirubhai 1 and 3 discoveries of D6 block in Krishna-Godavari basin,

located off the coast in the Bay of Bengal.

         Four Central public sector undertakings – National Thermal Power

Corporation (NTPC), National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC), Power

Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC)

– signed an agreement to set up a high power testing laboratory for

testing equipment as per world standards.

May-2009 Economy

Indian Economy managed at 6.7% growth in 2008-09. Per capita Income, for

the first time crossed Rs.3000/month at current prices.

The Industrial growth for the whole of 2008-09 plunged to 2.4% from a high

of 8.5% in 2007-08.

According to Reputation Institute (RI), Tata Group, SBI and Infosys were

among the 17 Indian companies listed in the World’s Most Reputable

Companies in 2009. The top company was Italian Chocolate maker Ferrero

followed by Swedish Creative design firm Ikea and US based Johnson &

Johnson.

Daiiichi Sankyo has acquired Ranbaxy. It bought 64% stake in Ranbaxy.

National Aluminum Company Limited (NALCO) has bagged the Engineering

Export Promotion Council Eastern Region’s Gold Trophy, as top exporter in the

large Enterprises category, for its outstanding export performance during the

year 206-07.

The World Bank has approved a $400-million additional financing loan to

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

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Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) forecasts GDP growth at 6.1% in

2009-10, agriculture expected to grow by 2.8-3%, industry by 5-5.5% and

services by 7.5 – 8%.

The Sensex, at the opening bell, surged 1306 points to 13479 and Nifty was

532 points up at 4203 and hit the first circuit for the day on May 18th and also

for the first time in the history of the Indian stock exchanges and the markets

were closed for two hours. At 11.55 a.m. when the market opened again, the

Sensex gained another 700 points and Nifty 150 points and hit the second

circuit of the day and the market was closed for the day.

June-2009 Economy

The largest automobile manufacturer, General Motors filed for bankruptcy

court protection.

Indian Economy has, for the first time after 32 years touched negative

inflation of -1.6 at the end of the week on June 6th.

According to Hong Kong’s Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, Singapore

bureaucracy is the best in Asia followed by Hong Kong, Thailand and South

Korea.

The US Census Bureau has said that India's older population is projected to

quadruple by 2050 while that of the world is expected to triple.

In its latest report, the Census Bureau said the world's 65-and-older

population is projected to increase from 516 million in 2009 to 1.53 billion in

2050. The older population of the US is projected to double by that time.

July 2009 Economy

The RBI has revised base year to 2004-05 from the current base year of 1993-94.

China has emerged as India's largest trading partner, replacing US in 2008-09. Bilateral trade engagement between India and China stood at Rs 1,63,202 crore (nearly $ 36 billion) in April to February 2008-09, an increase of nearly 7% over Rs 1,52,713 crore in the year ago period. In the same period under consideration, bilateral trade between India and the US dipped 7.5% and stood at Rs 1,55,353 crore (approximately $ 34 billion).

Infosys became the first private company to get protection from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

RBI Policy for the year 2009-10.

GDP growth rate is estimated to be 6%.

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No change in interest rates.

4.75% repo rate, 3.25% reverse repo rate and 5% (CRR) cash reserve ratio.

Inflation is estimated at 5% by the end of the financial year. AP State’s Budget for the year 2009-10. For the financial year 2009-10, it

is programmed for

An expenditure of Rs.1,03,485.33crores out of which

Rs.63,301.22crores under non-plan and

Rs.40,184.11crores under Plan

Revenue surplus would be Rs.2, 406crores.

The fiscal deficit is estimated to be Rs.16, 162crores, which would be 3.96 percent of GSDP.

Sector wise budget allocations :

Irrigation – 17,800crores.

Panchayat raj and rural development – 3, 330crores.

Education – 1850crores

Building Houses – 1800crores

Healthcare, agriculture – 1470crores

Others – 1223crores. Budget 2009-10 Highlights :

Govt plans to bring back economy to high growth of 9%.

GDP growth dipped to 6.7% in FY|09

Fiscal deficit up from 2.7% to 6.8% of GDP

IT exemption limit raised; Rs 15,000 for Sr.citizens

Limit raised by Rs 10,000 for tax payers, including women

10% surcharge on personal income tax scrapped

Fringe Benefit Tax abolished

No change in corporate tax

Defence gets Rs 1,41,703 cr, up 34%

Total fiscal stimulus in 2008-09 amounts to Rs 1,86,000 cr

Funds for housing, amenities for urban poor up Rs 3,973 cr

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Funds for JN Urban Renewal Mission up 87% to Rs 12,887 cr

Assistance for storm-water drainage project up by Rs 300 cr

Farm credit target up at Rs 3,25,000 cr from Rs 2,87,000 cr

Additional Rs 1,000 crore for accelerated irrigation scheme

Commodity Transaction Tax abolished

New pension system trust exempted from STT; DDT

Minimum Alternate Tax hiked to 15% from 10%

Tax holiday on petro sector extended to natural gas

100% tax deduction on political donation

Fertiliser subsidy to be nutrient-based, not price

Banks and insurance firms to remain in public sector

Rs 100 cr one-time grant to expand banks in unbanked areas

Allocation of Rs 39,100 cr to be made for NREGA

NREGA coverage increased to 4.74 crore households in FY|09

Work National Food Security scheme has begun

Allocation for Bharat Nirman being raised by 45 per cent

Rs 2,000 cr rural housing fund under National Housing Bank

Mission for female literacy with focus on minorities, SC/ST

50% of all rural women to be brought into SHG programmes

Action for social security to unorganised sector workers

New pension benefits for 12 lakh jawans and JCOs from July

One lakh dwelling units for paramilitary forces personnel

Unique Identification Card to citizens in 12-18 months

Provision of Rs 120 crore for UIC project

Rs 2,113 crore allocated for IITs and new IITs

Rs 3472 cr for Commonwealth Games from Rs 2112 cr

Customs, excise and service tax base rates unchanged

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For Indira Awas Yojana, allocation increased 63%

8 missions being launched under Plan on climate change

Allocation for market development assistance scheme up 148%

Allocation for Rural Health Mission raised by Rs 257 cr above interim budget

Rs 500 cr for rehabilitation of Sri Lankan Tamils

Rs 1,000 cr for infrastructure in cyclone-hit area in WB

Total expenditure crosses Rs 10 lakh cr for first time

Share of direct taxes in revenue increased to 56% in FY|09 AP Govt announced agriculture action plan.

Increasing cultivation land to 124.06lakh hectares from 121.46 hectares

Increasing production of food grains to a target of 214.87lakh metric tons from 204.27lakh metric tons.

Fertilizer supply to a target of 71.75lakh metric tons.

Seeds supply to a target of 59.50lakh quintals.

Rs.500crores to modernize agriculture techniques. 2009-10 Railway Budget :

Plan outlay of Rs.40, 745crores.

57 new trains, 12 nonstop duronto trains.

August-2009 Economy

Following are the highlights of the new Foreign Trade Policy that was unveiled by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma

Duty entitlement passbook scheme extended till December 2010 Extension of sops for export-oriented units till March 2011 Export target of $200 billion set for 2010-11 Growth target of 15 per cent for next two years, 25 per cent thereafter Inter-ministerial group to address issues raised by exporters Obligation under export promotion capital goods scheme relaxed Permission for tax refund scheme for jewellery sector No fee on grant of incentives to cut transaction costs Steps to help exporters reduce transaction costs Plan for diamond bourses in the country Single-window scheme for farm exports Re-export of unused leather allowed subject to 50 per cent duty Minimum value addition for tea reduced to 50 per cent from 100 per cent Export units allowed to sell 90 per cent of goods in domestic market

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Provision for state-run banks to provide dollar credits Twenty-six new markets added to focus market scheme Sops under focus market scheme hiked from 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent Number of duty-free samples for exporters raised to 50 pieces from 15 New directorate of trade remedy measures to be set up Zero duty under technology upgrade scheme

Reader’s Digest Association Inc., owned by the New York private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings decided to file for bankruptcy protection. New Income Tax Slab under New Direct Tax Code 2009 

Income Tax Slab Under New Direct

Tax Code 2009 applicable for A.Y.

2011-12

Individual Male

Up to Rs. 1,60,000 NIL

Rs.1,60,001 – Rs.10,00,000 10%

Rs.10,00,001 -Rs. 25,00,000 20%

Above Rs. 25,00,001 30%

Individual Female

Up to Rs. 1,90,000 NIL

Rs.1,90,001 – Rs.10,00,000 10%

Rs.10,00,001 -Rs. 25,00,000 20%

Above Rs. 25,00,001 30%

Individual Senior Citizens

Up to Rs. 2,40,000 NIL

Rs.2,40,001 to Rs. 10,00,000 10%

Rs.10,00,001 to Rs. 25,00,000 20%

Above Rs. 25,00,001 30%

Aurobindo Pharma to buy Trident Life Sciences.It would acquire 100% stake of Trident Life Sciences subject to suitable agreements between the parties.

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September 2009 Economy

35 Trade Ministers met in New Delhi. WTO Director General, Pascal Lamy also participated in the meeting.

The Center has approved “India Invest” to attract foreign investments. Central government, State governments and Federation of Indian Chambers and Industry will start this institute.

October 2009 Economy

NTPC-BHEL Power Projects Pvt. Ltd. (NBPPL), a 50:50 joint venture

between NTPC and BHEL, would set up its first power equipment

manufacturing plant with an outlay of Rs. 6,000 crore at Mannavaram in

Andhra Pradesh.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) preferred to keep long-term as well as

short-term indicative rates at the current level despite rising inflation and

inflationary pressure.

The RBI raised the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) — the portion of deposits

that banks are required to keep in government securities — by 100 basis

points to 25 per cent with effect from November 7.

The Union Cabinet decided to include three more schemes in the Prime

Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the welfare of minorities.

The additional schemes are the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, the

Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns and

the Urban Infrastructure and Governance Scheme.

A Reserve Bank of India committee suggested that the Benchmark Prime

Lending Rate (BPLR) system should be replaced with a base rate

mechanism to introduce greater transparency in pricing of loans given by

banks.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee launched the National Skill

Development Corporation (NSDC), a unique PPP (public-private

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partnership) enterprise which has been mandated to skill 30 per cent of the

overall target of 500 million people by the year 2022

Merger talks between emerging markets giants Bharti and MTN have been

called off, after the two firms failed to convince the South African government

– MTN’s biggest shareholder on the benefits of the deal.

Reliance Communications introduced a new plan whereby customers can

make all calls at 50 paisa a minute.

The Center and AP Govt. has made agreement to start Petroleum, Chemical

and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) between Kakinada and

Visakhapatnam.

The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) projected a GDP

(gross domestic product) growth of around 6.5 per cent for the current fiscal.

At this level, it would be lower than the 6.7 per cent growth in 2008-09 and

this would be mainly owing to a likely decline in farm output.

Industrial growth touched to a 22-month high at 10.4 percent in August

this year. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) figures showed that while the

manufacturing sector grew by 10.2 per cent during August 2009, the growth

in electricity generation was even higher at 10.6 per cent, and the mining

sector topped them both with a growth of 12.9 per cent.

November 2009 Economy

According to the IIP (Index of Industrial Production) data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), all the three major sectors, namely, manufacturing, mining and electricity generation witnessed markedly higher growth during the month as compared to September 2008.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has bought 200 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at an estimated price of around Rs. 31,490 crore ($6.70 billion), under the IMF’s limited gold sales programme.

The Indian Oil Corporation has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) to set up Rs. 10,000-crore nuclear power plant.

The Union Finance Ministry has constituted a working group to recommend changes in the existing policies on FII (foreign institutional investor) inflows and participatory notes (PNs), with a view to attracting more foreign portfolio investments.

Mukesh Ambani has topped the Forbes Rich list of Indian billionaires with a net worth of $32 billion. Steel baron Lakshi Mittal is next with a net worth of $30

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billion. Others in the top 10 include Azim Premji of Wipro, steelmakers Ruia brothers, real estate baron KP Singh and telecom tycoon, Sunil Mittal.

6 women have made to top 100 richest Indians. Ms. Jindal has retained the richest woman in India. She is ranked seventh in the list and she is followed by Bennett, Coleman & Co’s Chairperson Indu Jain, who is ranked 19th. Anu Aga of Thermax group and Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar Shaw have been ranked 55th and 73rd

December 2009 Economy

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified the new rules, called the ‘Income-tax (13th Amendment) Rules, 2009’ will come into force on April 1, 2009 which shall replace the already abolished Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT). Apart from conventional perks such as accommodation and conveyance, other benefits such as holiday/vacation travelling, free food and non-alcoholic beverages provided by the employer, gift or vouchers received by the employee on ceremonial occasions, reimbursements for club membership and tour allowances would also come under the ambit of the new income tax valuation norms.

The Harvard Business Review recently ranked CEOs of large public traded companies in a study conducted over 2000 CEOs worldwide. Mukesh Ambani, who heads Reliance Industries Limited, is the only Indian to be ranked among the 100 best performing CEOs in the world. He was ranked 5 in the world. Apple Inc’s CEO Steve Jobs was ranked 1 and Yun Jong-Yong, CEO, Samsung was ranked 2nd. Mukesh was ranked 2nd top Emerging Market CEO in the world and K.V. Kamath of ICICI Bank was ranked 9th Emerging Market CEOs.

The Board of Approval for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) gave formal approvals to six new SEZs: a solar PV (photovoltaic) SEZ of Lanco Solar Pvt. Ltd. at Ramdaspur in Cuttack district (Orissa); three information technology (IT) SEZs by the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation at Baprola village (Delhi); the Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society Limited at Nellikode village in Kozhikode (Kerala) and Empire Industries at Ambernath in Thane district (Maharashtra). Similarly, a bio-tech SEZ by Veritas Infrastructure Development at Alibaug in Raigad district (Maharashtra), and a gems and jewellery SEZ by the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation at Baprola village in Delhi were approved.

The Central Government is implementing the generation-based incentive (GBI) scheme for grid-interactive wind power producers and gives incentives worth Rs.380 crore to promote wind power generation. The government has launched a special programme to generate more wind power and attract investments, domestically as well as globally, to give boost to cleaner and renewable energy sector.

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The scheme would be scaled up after a review of its performance in the remaining period of the XI Plan (2007-12).

Of 18 Navaratna mega public sector undertakings, ONGC, SAIL and NTPC got greater financial and operational autonomy after the government accorded the Maharatna status to these firms to help them emerge as global giants. The company has to get a three-year track record of annual net profit of over Rs 5,000 crore, net worth of Rs 15,000 crore and turnover of Rs 25,000 crore to get Maharatna status.

Vijay Kelkar, Chairman of the 13th Finance Commission submitted its report to President Pratibha Patil on sharing of Central taxes between the Union and State governments.

January 2010 Economy

Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh received the report of the task force on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) headed by T.K.A.Nair.

Recommendations of the task force are: 1. Changes in polices to help growth of the sector 2. Roadmap for the development and promotion of the sector 3. In setting up of appropriate legal and regulatory structures to create a

conducive environment for entrepreneurship and growth of MSMEs. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) — the

portion of deposits that commercial banks are required to keep with the central bank — by 75 basis points from 5 per cent to 5.75 per cent.

The CRR increase would be in two stages: the first stage of increase of 50 basis points will be effective the fortnight beginning February 13, 2010 followed by the next stage of increase of 25 basis points effective the fortnight beginning February 27, 2010.

National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) announced its plan to setup mines and refinery project in visakhapatnam, AndhraPradesh at a cost of $1.2 billion and the smelter and a captive power plant with a cost of 16,350 crore in Brajrajnagar in Tharsiguda district, Orissa.

Country's largest iron ore miner NMDC and the world's premier diamond producer De Beers found traces of diamond deposits in kalahandi, Nawaranpur,

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Nuapada and Bolangir dists of Orissa and in kurnool, Prakasam and Anantpur districts of Andhrapradesh.

The Union Cabinet approved ONGC Videsh Limited's (OVL) proposal to invest $359 million (Rs. 1,651 crore) for oil exploration in two deep-sea blocks in Nigeria over the next five years. OVL is the over seas investment arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

The Union Finance Ministry agreed to release over 12,000 crore in cash to loss making state-run oil companies to cover for losses in the current fiscal. The projected loss of IOC, BPCL and HPCL on the sale of domestic LPG and kerosene below cost is Rs. 29,405 crore. Another 12,000 crore loss is projected on petrol and diesel.

National Textile Corporation Limited (NTC) inaugurated three "revival-cum-modernisation" textile mills, Tata Mills, Podar mills and the India United Mill no.5 with a capital outlay of Rs. 130 crore.

The Asian development Bank (ADB) had Sanctioned $150 million aid for the Khadi and village Industries commission (KVIC).

ONGC petro - Additions, a joint venture firm promoted by ONGC, plans to set up a grassroots Integrated Petro Chemical Complex at a cost of Rs 13,000 crore at Dahej in Gujarat.

Bharti Airtel, India's leading telecom services provider said it had agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Warid Telecom, Bangladesh, currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dhabi Group and will make a fresh investment of $ 300 million to expand the operations of Warid Telecom.

The Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the U.S-based soft drinks major, Pepsico Holdings Pvt. Ltd to inject additional equity of $ 200 million (around Rs. 930 crore) into its Indian arm within three years. With this Pepsico's total FDI into the country reaches $ 655 million.

February 2010 Economy

Highlights of 2010/11 budgetNeed to review stimulusChallenge to return to 9% growth, then double-digitFinal FY10 GDP figure maybe higher than estimate of 7.2%Need to move towards fiscal consolidationFiscal deficit seen at 6.9 pct of GDP in 2009/10Fiscal deficit seen at 5.5 pct of GDP in 2010/11 (Reuters poll 5.6 pct)Fiscal deficit seen at 4.8 pct of GDP in 2011/12; 4.1 pct in 2012/13Total expenditure in 2010/11 11.87 trillion rupees (USD 256.75 billion)2009/10 revised estimate for tax collection 7.47 trillion rupees (USD 161.58 billion) Need to review public spendingRoadmap within six months to cut public debtGovernment will be in a position to implement direct tax code from April 2011Aims to introduce GST in April 2011Since December have been signs food prices pressures transmitting to non-food

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items.Government to simplify FDI policy

In one of the biggest recalls recorded in the Indian automobile industry, leading car maker Maruti Suzuki India announced that it had recalled nearly one lakh 'A - Star' cars, the company's flagship export model, to replace a faulty fuel pump gasket.

The recommendations of the Thirteenth Finance Commission, headed by Vijay Kelkar are:Asked the government to extend specific grants such as Rs. 24,000 crore for elementary education and 15,000 crore for environment.Suggested the government earmark 87,000 crore exclusively for local bodies.Targeted the fiscal deficit at 3 percent by 2013 - 14 for the current level of 6.8 percent and the elimination of revenue deficit b y 2013 - 14 from the current level of 4.8 percent this fiscal.The States would get 32 percent of its tax revenue along with Rs 3.19 lakh crore as grant for the next five fiscal years (2010 - 15)

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cleared a proposal made by the state Government of Andhra Pradesh to give loans upto Rs 1 crore to SC/ST entrepreneurs with out collateral security to encourage them as industrialists.

13th Finance commission recommendations for the state of Andhra Pradesh:The State was likely to get Rs 1 lakh crore as its share in Central taxes and another Rs. 13,802 crore as grants - in - aid over the next five year period.The divisible pool of Central taxes had been increased from 30.5 percent to 32 percent of which the state's share was 6.93 percent.

Economic survey 2009-10 tabled by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha: - Projection of GDP expansion - 8.75 Percent growth in 2010–11

- 9 Percent growth in 2011-112008-09 2009-10

GDP Growth 6.7* 7.2**Industrial Growth 2.6 8.6*Forex Reserves $ 252 billion $ 283.5 billionFood grainsProduction 230.8 Million tonnes 233.9* Million tonnesGross FiscalDeficit 5.9* percent of GDP 6.58 percent GDP* - Quick estimates ** - Advance Estimates

Andhra Pradesh was the first state to get the centre's approval for setting up the

Petroleum, Chemicals and Petro Chemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) proposed between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada, as said by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Economic Advisory council to the Prime Minister under the Chairmanship of C. Rangarajan released the ''Review of the Economy 2009-10''. It suggested that the Government have to initiate fiscal consolidation in the coming fiscal year (2010 - 11) to ensure fiscal sustainability, enable greater flexibility in monetary

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policy calibration, contain interest in payments and to avoid upward pressure on interest rates and to curtail the expansion of the base of service tax in Government's expenditure.

A World Class Seed Vault has been established on the Siachen Glacier to preserve India's biological wealth for future generations. The vault, which has a natural temperature between –20 and –40 Celsius, will hold samples of rice, pulses, peas and beans and can be used for building food programmes across the nation.

Tata Sons and Italian defence major Agusta Westland signed an agreement for formation of a joint venture company, which will establish a final assembly line for AW-119 helicopters for the Indian army and the global market. The AW-119 has been offered to India by Agusta for army's requirement for 197 choppers to replace its ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak light helicopters.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a notification introducing a new category of Non - Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) as "Infrastructure Finance Companies (IFCs)'' with a view to encouraging larger flow of funds to infrastructure. The existing categories of NBFCs are Asset Finance Companies (AFCs), Loan Companies (LCs) and Investment Companies (ICs)

India's IT - BPO market (including exports) could touch $285 billion in 2020, said the report prepared by KPMG and ASOCIO (Asian Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation).

The Union Cabinet liberalised the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy further by allowing the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to clear proposals from overseas entities worth up to Rs.1,200 Crore, against the existing limit of Rs.600Crore.

World's largest manufacturer and marketer of fertilizers in the cooperative sector, Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative (IFFCO) announced a strategic alliance with Canadian Company Grow Max Agri Corp to make its foray into Potash Project and Oil and gas exploration.

East India company, the trading company with a 400 - year history will soon open outlets to sell tea, coffee, spices and fabrics. It was bought in 2004 by Indian - Origin businessman Sanjiv Mehta.

The Central Statistical Organisation in its advance estimates pegged economic growth at 7.2 percent in 2009-10. It was higher than 6.7 percent recorded a year ago.

The Securities and exchange board of India (SEBI) has constituted a committee headed by former Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan to review the structures of the stock exchanges as their role as self - regulatory bodies and functions as profit entities are sometimes conflicting in nature. The committee may also look into the listing-related matters of the stock exchanges.

GAIL (India) has been shortlisted as one of the 15 companies having qualified for the ambitions $30 billion National Gas Master Development Plan and its implementation in Nigeria.

The National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency would soon be launched to unlock the $15 - billion energy efficiency market. The initiate would reduce carbon emissions by almost 99 million tonnes.

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A Report of the Export Group on "A Viable and sustainble system of pricing of petroleum products'' headed by Kirit.S.Parikh was submitted. The recommendations of the committee are

1. Complete decontrol of the petrol and diesel prices. 2. Hike of Rs. 100 per domestic LPG cylinder and an increase of Rs. 6 for

liter kerosene

March 2010 Economy

AP’s per capita income for the financial year 2009-10 was Rs. 43, 556. It is 6.49% more when compared to 2008-09 (Rs. 40, 902.). The GSDP was 7.76% for the financial year 2009-10.

Vizag steel plant was given Navaratna stature by the central government. The company authorities need not take permission from the government up to Rs. 1000 crore investment.

The Seed processing plant under the Seed Business Incubation (SBI) initiative run by the farmers in partnership with International Crops Research Station for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Aakruthi Agricultural Associates of India (AAAI) is launched at Uravakonda in Anantapur district. This is first-of-its-kind in the country where ICRIST and a private organisation came forward for establishing an innovative Public Private Partnership-based seed system.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) is keen to join a consortium of companies comprising GAIL (India) and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) to launch a coal gasification project at the now closed Talcher unit of the Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI), which will enable CIL to source one-third of its requirement of an explosive it now has to procure from outside. A mine with a reserve of 5.5 million tonnes has been earmarked for this venture. The output of this mine would yield 3.7 million tonnes of coal annually which would have 30 per cent less ash content and could be gasified.

Having set an export target of $200 billion in 2008-09, India ended the fiscal year with $185 billion on account of the shrinking markets following the global meltdown.

The Planning Commission scaled down the 11th Plan growth target to 8.1 per cent from an average annual growth of 9 per cent pegged earlier.

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Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said, investment in the infrastructure sector in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12) would be very close to the target of $500 billion, primarily due to better show by the telecom sector. On growth prospects during the Eleventh Plan, he said it was likely to be 8.5% in the 2010-11 fiscal and 9% during 2011-12.

State Bank of India (SBI) opened the 1,000th branch and 10,000th ATM in Mumbai. With this, SBI now has 12,448 branches and over 21,000 ATMs.

The Reserve Bank of India has raised the repo and reverse repo rates (short - term rates at which the RBI lends and borrows from banks) by 25 basis points to 5 percent and 3.5 percent respectively.

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S & P) pegged India's overall growth rate at 8 percent for 2011 - 12. S&P raised India's sovereign rating outlook to 'stable' from 'negative' even as it cautioned that the high rate of inflation at nearly 10 percent could upset the country's stable macro economic and interest rate environment.

The Central Government will set up a Central Food Security Fund to compensate the Below poverty Line (BPL) beneficiaries of the Targeted Public Distribution system (TPDS) who fail to get the proposed mandatory 25 kg of wheat or rice per family a month at a subsidised rate of Rs. 3 a kg.

National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Fertilizers where the company has set a production target of 32.31 lakh tonnes of urea for 2010-11.

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group entered into a memorandum of understanding with respect to cross-listing arrangements, development and distribution of financial products and services.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee moved the State Bank of India (Amendment) Bill, 2010 in the Lok Sabha which reduces Centre's shareholding in State Bank of India (SBI) from 55 percent to 51 percent and allows the bank to raise more capital from the market through preference shares.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with RBI Governor D. Subba Rao unveiled a plaque at RBI head quarters to mark the Central Bank's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in Mumbai.

The Reserve Bank of India deferred the implementation of the Base Rate regime by three months to July 1 and also exempted three categories of loans from the new system. The RBI decided to replace the current benchmark prime lending rate system with the Base Rate to increase transparency in lending at much lower rates than their benchmark lending rates to new customers.

Italian helicopter manufacturer Agusta Westland and Tata Motors which recently signed joint venture for setting up a final assembly unit of AW 119 have finalised Hyderabad as location for the proposed unit.

Kobelco Group of Japan is setting up an equipment machinery facility at the multi - product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Sri City at Tada in Andhra Pradesh.

Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan launched the 3G mobile services of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) covering 29 cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh.

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Eurocopter, world's leading helicopter manufactures announced that it would form ventures with Pawan Hans Helicopters for maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) and training facilities either in Mumbai or Delhi. The MOUs for the two proposals would be signed during the three - day, 'India Aviation - 2010' beginning at the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad.

April 2010 Econom y

The Central Government said that ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank could not be called Indian-owned banks. According to Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary R. P. Singh,”At best, the two can be called Indian-controlled banks.” ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have over 74 per cent foreign holding, including that of foreign banks and overseas institutional investors. According to the 13th Finance Commission report, the Transmission & Distribution losses were about Rs.40,000 crore in 2009-10 which would swell to Rs.68,000 in the current fiscal. The Planning Commission was trying to set up an expert committee to find out the causes for such losses and to know the financial status of the distribution companies. Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and NTPC entered into a joint venture agreement (JVA) to set up nuclear power projects in the country. The Planning Commission announced the setting up of an 18-member expert committee headed by Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C. Rangarajan to recommend measures for efficient management of public expenditure. The Union Cabinet approved a capital infusion of Rs.15,000 crore in Tier I capital instruments of the public sector banks (PSBs) during the current fiscal to facilitate an increase in their lending capacity by about Rs.1.85 lakh crore. NTPC announced that it was exploring the possibility of setting up two coal-based thermal power plants in Kazakhstan,which has huge coal reserves of about 33 billion tonnes. NTPC's total coal requirement for the current financial year (2010-11) is about 145-150 million tonnes, of which the company is planning to import 14 million tonnes. The government would earn up to Rs. 45,000 crore from the auction of 3G and broadband spectrum. As said by Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja, the Telecom Commission, the policy-making arm of the Department of Telecommunications, will soon take up the issue of disinvestment in the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. The Sam Pitroda Committee had recommended 30 per cent disinvestment in BSNL, besides offering voluntary retirement scheme to 1 lakh employees, to improve the financial health of the organisation. The Reserve Bank of India hiked the short-term indicative borrowing and lending rates — repo and reverse repo and the mandatory Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of banks by 25 basis points each. The Government has accepted the Tendulkar Committee Report to adopt a new poverty line to identify poor. The new standards of the Planning Commission would consider more parameters than only the sufficient food basket for assessing poverty.

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Earlier a family was called poor if did not have the required income to buy sufficient food containing a minimum number of calories (2100 for urban areas and 2400 for rural areas) per day. Now, the minimum income required to rise above the poverty line, apart from food, would also depend on expenditure on education and health. The new poverty estimate would not change the urban poverty figure but for rural India, the number of poor would increase from 28.3 per cent to 41.8 per cent. As many as 372 million Indians will be categorized as poor. BGR Energy Systems has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Orissa Government for setting up a 1,320 MW (2 × 660) power plant at Bhapur in Nayagarh district, Orissa, at an investment of about Rs. 6,287 crore. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved financial support of Rs. 282.25 crore to the Indian Maritime University (IMU), Chennai, to meet capital expenditure and recurring deficit. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) banned Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in cigarette manufacturing. The UN Agency UNFC & CC (UNFCCC) issued the first set of certified emission reduction (CER) to the ONGC from its first registered CDM (clean development mechanism) project,the waste heat recovery project at Mumbai High. With this, ONGC is to earn green revenue from CDM projects. Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma released the final document of FDI Policy Framework that would comprise the single document on FDI policy and mark the inception of a whole new chapter on FDI policy. The government of India is drawing up ambitious plans to set up a ‘Sovereign Fund' that would help its state-run companies pursue acquisition of oil, gas, coal, LNG and other raw material in other countries in order to compete with China which has $2.4 trillion of reserves and a $300-billion sovereign fund. It has outpaced India in the global quest for resources. Chinese companies spent a record $32 billion last year buying oil, coal and metal assets abroad, while a $2.1-billion investment by OVL was India's sole energy acquisition. Four major public sector undertaking (PSU) companies — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), NTPC, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) — are aiming for the ‘Maharatna' status and have made presentations before the inter-ministerial committee (IMC) making a claim for the status seeking more autonomy in decision-making and financial investments.

The government of India indicated that it would soon put in place the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) to plug the regulatory gaps and loopholes generated recently by the controversy surrounding the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) over administration of unit linked insurance plans (ULIPs). y

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May 2010 Economy

During the first meeting of the newly constituted Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry Dr. Manmohan Singh reviewed the state of economy with Mr. Tata, Mr. Ambani, Azim Premji, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Swati Piramal, Chanda Kocchar, Deepak Parekh, Kesab Mahindra and Kiran Majumdar Shaw and asked them to form sub-groups on food security, public-private- partnership, backward area development and corporate social responsibility.

The Central Government has granted ‘Maharatna' status to four giant public sector undertakings (PSUs) — NTPC, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

The Bank of Rajasthan, one of the oldest private sector banks in the country announced that it would merge with the ICICI Bank.

According to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the 3G mobile license spectrum auction generated Rs. 67,710 crore for the government. Reliance Communications bagged the highest number of 13 circles followed by Bharti Airtel 12, Idea 11 and Tata and Vodafone nine each.

The government decided to set up a Pharmacopoeia Commission in Ghaziabad at a cost of Rs. 14.08 crore for developing indigenous medicines with the aim of raising the country's share in the $62-billion global herbal drug market.

The Reserve Bank of India allowed infrastructure finance companies (IFCs) to raise money from overseas markets up to 50 per cent of their owned funds automatically.

NTPC-BHEL Power Projects Ltd. (NBPPL) signed an agreement with its equal joint venture partners NTPC and BHEL to meet the target of order bookings worth Rs.7,000-crore in the current financial year. NBPPL has been jointly set up by NTPC and BHEL for capacity building in manufacturing of power plant equipment.

June 2010 Economy

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended that the foreign investment limit for broadcast carriage services such as DTH, IPTV, Mobile TV, HITS, Teleport and MSOs, which are upgrading to digital and addressable environment, may be raised to 74 per cent. The existing limit for most of these services is 49 per cent.

The Reliance Communications (RCom) and its subsidiary, Reliance Infratel, have entered into a Rs.50,000-crore deal with GTL Infrastructure to create the world's largest independent telecom infrastructure company.

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The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) signed a revised gas supply agreement as per the directions of the Supreme Court.

According to a United Nations report on the Millennium Development Goals for 2010, India is expected to reduce its poverty rate from 51 per cent in 1990 to 24 per cent in 2015.

The Central Government made it clear that unit linked insurance products (ULIPs) will be regulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). This puts an end to a two-month-long turf war between the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved for the disinvestment of 10 per cent each in Coal India Ltd. (CIL) and Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL). The move would likely to generate about Rs.16,000 crore for the government.

During the two-day Global Investors Meet in Bangalore, the Karnataka Government has signed as many as 361 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with investors for a total investment of Rs. 4 lakh crore.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while releasing the UPA government's Report to the People 2009-10, said that the govt had decided to set up a National Social Security Fund for workers in the unorganised sector which would cover weavers, toddy tappers, rickshaw pullers and bidi workers with an initial allocation of Rs. 1000 crore.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has given freedom to the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL) to price the natural gas produced by them at market rates.

July 2010 Economy

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said India would emerge as the third largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) for the three-year period ending 2012. Three Indian projects KG-D6, an integrated gas infrastructure projects , the 4,000 MW Mundra plant and Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi have been featured in Global consultancy firm KPMG's infrastructure 100 global project report. The Takeover Regulations Advisory Committee, constituted under the Chairmanship of C. Achuthan, submitted its report to C. B. Bhave, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The Union Cabinet approved a unique symbol designed by Bombay IIT post-graduate D. Udaya Kumar with a blend of the Devanagari ‘Ra' and Roman ‘R' to give a distinctive character and identity to the Indian currency . The State Bank of India and the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) of Oman signed an agreement to set up a joint investment fund with an initial corpus of $100 million. The India Oman Joint Investment Fund shall aim at making equity investments in various sectors of the Indian economy.

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Eight Indian companies have made into the list of the world's 500 largest companies compiled by Fortune magazine. IOC has the highest rank of 125 among the featured Indian companies, followed by RIL at the 175th spot, SBI (282), BPCL (307), HPCL (354), Tata Steel (410), ONGC (413) and Tata Motors (442).

According to a business survey conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and

Industry of India (Assocham).Tamil Nadu Gujarat and Maharashtra are the top three

preferred investment destinations in India.

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Do Multinationals Really Understand Globalization?

The ability of global companies to leverage global opportunities is surprisingly shallow

By Navi Radjou and Prasad Kaipa

Asia

Jennifer Yu Leads Rothschild's China Push China's Citic Bank Earnings Rise 45% Alibaba Targets More U.S. Deals Report Bolsters Toyota Honda to Fix Software in Hybrids

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IBM (IBM) recently released two important reports on the rapidly changing global business environment: the 2010 CEO Study, which is based on interviews conducted with more than 1,500 chief executive officers worldwide; and the Global Student Study 2010, which is based on a survey of more than 3,600 graduate and undergraduate students worldwide.

Taken together, the studies compare side by side the value system, mindset, and management style of current-generation CEOs with those of the Millennials (aka Generation Y) who are poised to become future leaders. As we studied them carefully, we found a big discrepancy between the Millennials' view of globalization and its impact on organizations and that of present CEOs.

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Most CEOs surveyed by IBM expect their business environment to get increasingly complex in coming years, driven by tectonic shifts in the macroeconomic environment: 76 percent of CEOs foresee a swift shift of economic power from the West to developing markets. We can't agree more: The Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) forecasts that the global share of gross domestic product (GDP) for developed economies will drop from 60 percent in 2000 to 43 percent in 2030. As a result, businesses will soon be operating in what we call a polycentric world—where Western centers of economic and geopolitical power will be interconnected with new centers of growth and influence in Asia, Africa, and South America.

The Task at Hand

A polycentric world is inherently complex due to its extreme diversity. Consider this: The already 250 million-strong Chinese middle class is expected to double in size in the coming decade and one global worker in four will be an Indian by 2020. The result? A massive increase in the diversity of the customer base and workforce of multinationals on a scale they have never experienced before. To effectively serve such a highly heterogeneous customer base and manage a highly multicultural employee base, CEOs of many multinationals will need to fundamentally redesign their monocultural (read: Western) and ethnocentric organizations. They will need to learn to juggle multiple business models, organizational practices, management structures, and even leadership styles in order to harness the growing diversity in the unpredictable global business environment.

Unfortunately, CEOs seem to underestimate the task at hand. Only 23 percent of CEOs surveyed believe that globalization will have a big impact on their organization in the next five years. Worse: While many Western CEOs claim that 50 percent to 60 percent of their future growth will come from emerging economies like India and China, another study shows that only 2 percent of their senior leadership currently hails from those fast-growing regions. This means that 98 out of 100 senior execs in Fortune 500 firms are defending obsolete business models in the old monocentric world (read: the U.S.), whereas only two of them are trying to restructure their organization for growth and success in the new polycentric world!

On the other hand, 55 percent of the Millennials that IBM surveyed expect globalization to massively change organizations in the future—and seem eager to contribute to those changes. After all, Millennials already live in a polycentric world and are fully aware of its extreme diversity—with their friends on Facebook and online gaming sites spanning multiple continents. As such, these culturally malleable Millennials welcome and celebrate the growing diversity in the globally interconnected business environment and are confident they can navigate through its complexity by leveraging their social networking skills and by focusing on continual learning.

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Polycentric Organizations

The onus is on existing CEOs to redesign their organizations to leverage global diversity and the creative potential of Millennials (who will soon swell their employee base) in order to find innovative solutions for dealing with complexity in the postrecession global economy. To effectively compete and win in the emerging polycentric world, we believe, monolithic and ethnocentric multinationals must evolve into what we call polycentric organizations that reflect internally the growing external diversity and are able to learn and adapt continuously. Polycentric organizations not only tame but even capitalize on global complexity because of three noteworthy attributes:

1. They operate as a network. Polycentric organizations eschew hierarchical structures and silos —the death knell for developing empathy and harnessing diversity. Rather, they operate in a networked configuration, integrating creative talent and ideas from employees, suppliers, and customers across regions to meet the global demand for innovative products and services.

2. They are highly adaptive. Flexibility is key to learning dynamically and succeeding in extreme diversity. Polycentric organizations aren't wedded to a single European or U.S.-centric business model or organizational practice, but employ a diverse portfolio of strategies and approaches that allow them to quickly learn and adapt to new opportunities and threats in different regional markets.

3. They boast a global mindset. Polycentric organizations don't believe in a single "corporate culture," and allow multiple perspectives and value systems to co-exist within the same enterprise. They are also open to external ideas and actively collaborate with a rich network of partners. This diversity in thinking and action is reflected in the heterogeneity of their leadership team and how they make and execute their decisions.

Our research shows that a few visionary multinationals—some Western, some Eastern—have begun to embody and manifest the three key attributes of polycentric organizations.

For instance, both General Electric (GE) and Cisco Systems (CSCO) are de-Westernizing their firms and creating networked organizations by giving leaders in emerging markets global R&D remit and global profit-and-loss (P&L) responsibilities. John Chambers, Cisco's CEO, dispatched his top lieutenant, Wim Elfrink, to Bangalore to launch and run Cisco's Globalization Center East, which now works closely with the U.S.-based research and development teams to co-create affordable and sustainable solutions for both emerging and developed markets. Likewise, GE's CEO Jeffrey Immelt has made John Flannery, till recently the president and CEO for GE Capital in Asia, the head of GE's India operations, reporting directly to GE Vice-Chairman John Krenicki. For the first time in its history, GE now has a senior vice-president heading India, which from now on will be treated as one single, integrated business with its own P&L on par with any other global business unit of GE.

Globalization Strategies

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Best Buy (BBY) has made adaptability the cornerstone of its globalization strategy. For example, Best Buy's astounding growth in China is due to the fact that it designed its local stores to be less transactional (as in the U.S.) and more experiential, giving Chinese customers plenty of space to browse and try out products before actually buying them.

Not to be undone by their Western rivals, next-gen multinationals from emerging markets like Tata Motors (TTM) and Lenovo (LNVGY) are diligently cultivating a global mindset by increasing the diversity of their leadership teams. For instance, Lenovo's chief marketing officer, chief operating officer, and many senior vice-presidents are all non-Chinese. Similarly, Ravi Kant, vice-chairman of Tata Motors, told us that the leadership team of recently acquired Jaguar Land Rover continues to make decisions and operate pretty much as before, and together with other Tata Motors units they are learning to operate with a global mindset. Finally, Suzlon Energy (SUEL:IN), India's wind energy pioneer, is tapping into globally distributed creativity thanks to its global innovation network with R&D hubs in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands.

The monocentric global economic order is rapidly being eclipsed by a polycentric world. Rather than keeping their enterprise locked into 20th century organizational structures and processes, CEOs of multinationals must leverage the Millennials to accelerate their firms' evolution into polycentric organizations that harness the diversity and capitalize on the complexity of the 21st century.

Navi Radjou is executive director of the Center for India & Global Business at Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Prasad Kaipa is a CEO coach and adviser; he has worked with more than 100 top executives and 30 Fortune 500 companies in the areas of leadership development and innovation.