MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS       15 December 2006 

      Willis BA India sets up M&A unit mergers                    Willis BA India Pvt Ltd has set up a merger and acquisitions division in the country. It will offer insurance to mitigate risks from M&A transactions .The company has set up similar practices in China, Japan, Singapore, and
Australia in the past six months. Willis  BA India was recently involved in developing insurance solutions for Nicholas Piramal Ltd’s acquisitions in the UK and
Canada.         Tata AIG will soon launch similar M&A insurance products in the Indian market. It has opened up an opportunity for brokers.   Business line   15 December 2006 

  PETRONET STAKE FOR
QATAR 

                The due diligence exercise for Qatar to buy stake in petronet LNG Ltd have completed .Indications are that PLL expects a response from
Qatar shortly. India has made an offer of an equity stake to
Qatar.
Qatar was offered an opportunity to subscribe for petronet’s $100 million foreign currency convertible bonds which upon conversion into equity shares would translate into 7.5 – 12.5 percent equity stake.     India currently has a contract to buy 7.5 mt of LNG a year of
Qatar. Petronet has a 25 year contract to buy LNG from Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Co Ltd II, a joint venture between the state-run Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil.        Through this contract Petronet currently imports five mt at its Dahej terminal in
Gujarat and would start importing 2.5 mt more from 2009            Business line   15 December 2006 

    UB group’s acquisitions to be funded through Trust                    The UB group has decided to fund most of its future acquisitions including the possible takeover of Whyte & Mackay through a trust consisting of treasury stocks. There are around 17 million treasury stocks deposited in the trust and at an average of Rs 850 per share which is the current share value, it works out to around Rs 1445 crore                     The trust was formed as part of the merger of various entities to form United Spirits. Traditionally, whenever two companies are merged, the capital stands cancelled but the group instead of cancelling the shares of merged entities, allotted the shares to a trust, which also benefits the company. The group is looking at several new initiatives to keep ahead of the competition as foreign liquor majors line up to enter
India. The group plans to consolidate its administrative operations under UB Holdings and charge transaction processing fee to its companies like McDowell’s and United Breweries for using its services.    Business line  14 December 2006   CORUS GIVES MORE TIME TO TATA STEEL.CSN TO  REVISEBIDS         The battle for Corus is going to be a long –drawn one with Tata steel and CSN to outbid each otherTata Steel, according to the sources, is likely to utilise the time to have discussions with Corus shareholders to market the strengths of the Tata Group vis-à-vis its rival, CSN, and the benefits that would accrue as an upshot of a Tata-Corus merger. Tata Steel’s stock on the BSE dropped to Rs 435.60 at the end of the day on Wednesday from Rs 440.40 at the close of Tuesday, a drop of 1.08 per cent. Since October 5, when the company first officially announced that it was considering various opportunities, including Corus, the stock price of the company fell from Rs 537.85 Business line14 December 2006 BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES EYEING W.ASIAN COS           Britannia Industries Ltd has announced that it proposes to acquire a majority stake in two bakery product companies in West Asian market. According to a press release, the acquisition of shares is subject to signing of definitive agreements. Details will be made available upon signing. The company recorded a turnover of Rs 1,818 crore in the year ended March 31, 2006, and has been growing at the rate of 26 per cent in the first two quarters of the year.

GROUP 09(15 A)

  

 

 

               

 

ICICI Bank board to take up Sangli Bank 

ICICI bank is all set to acquire Sangli  bank ltd.of Maharashtra.Sangli was set up in the year 1916 by Raja of Sangli, has  around 192 branches across Karnataka,Tamilnadu, Delhi,
Goa , Gujrat, Andhra Pradesh. For ICICI bank it will provide the advantage of rural lending.If it acquires Sangli Bank then its number of branches will increase from 630 to 822 branches.                                                                                                                                                                    -Business line December 8 , 2006 

 

Infosys joins Nasdaq Top 100 index 

The banagalore based IT major became the first Indian company get into Nasdaq top 100 . rubbing shoulders with Dell,Microsoft and Intel. Infosys closed at $55.03 on Nasdaq on Friday. Based on its overseas market cap of $5.6 billion, it is likely to have a rank of around 80 on the Nasdaq 100 Index.                                                                            -         Business line December 9 , 2006 

 

Airbus A-380 coming to
India next year 

The world’s largest aircraft Airbus A-380  is coming to
India in the next year . Earlier it planned to get into
Bangalore but it was very small for it so it is looking at Delhi & Mumbai. Airbus estimates that
India would require 935 passenger and 165 freighter aircraft till 2026. “We estimate that there is scope for at least 54 large Airbus A-380 variety of aircraft in the Indian market till 2025″ Mr Leahy ,COO,Air Bus,said.                                                                           -         Business line December 12 , 2006 

Tata  CSN fight for CORUS 

In a punch-for-punch price battle for Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus, Brazilian company CSN’s bid at 515 pence a share has, for the moment, won the round against the revised offer of Tata Steel of 500 pence a share. However, the final whistle is yet to be blown, as Tata Steel has promised a “further announcement in due course.”                                                                          -         Business line December 13 , 2006 

L&T wins Rs 5,400-cr
Delhi airport modernisation deal 

L&T has won the Rs 5,400-crore
Delhi airport modernisation contract. The company said that the order, secured against international competitive bidding, involves design and construction of a passenger terminal and a 4.43-km runway, which would be one of
Asia’s longest.                                                                                                                                                                 -  Business line December 13 , 2006 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Retail Finance (Dec 8-15)

SIDBI launches software for credit appraisal 

Businessline, Dec 7

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched a new software for appraising and rating small and medium enterprises. The software, called Credit Appraisal and Rating Tool (CART), has been developed in-house by SIDBI. CART aims at helping in prudent decision-making on support-worthiness of credit proposals and on pricing of loans, said a statement from the company. This internally developed tool has been used by SIDBI for the last three years. It has contributed to significant reduction in credit dispensation time in the bank, said the statement. SIDBI has sanctioned about 1,000 loans of average size of Rs 36 lakh using this tool.

ICICI Bank to acquire Sangli Bank for Rs 300 cr 

Businessline, Dec 10

ICICI Bank is to snap up Maharashtra-based Sangli Bank through an all-stock amalgamation deal costing Rs 230-300 crore. The share exchange ratio has been fixed at 100 shares of ICICI Bank for every 925 shares of Sangli Bank. “The board of directors of ICICI Bank Ltd and Sangli Bank Ltd at their respective meetings held on Friday, have approved an all-stock amalgamation of Sangli Bank with ICICI Bank. The amalgamation is subject to the approval of the shareholders of both the banks, the RBI and such other approvals as may be required,” said a press release from ICICI Bank. For the proposed amalgamation, ICICI Bank will additionally issue approximately 34.5 lakh shares, which work out to about 0.4 per cent of its existing equity capital. Going by ICICI Bank’s average share price in the last six months, the cost of the deal works out to Rs 230 crore. At the current share price (Rs 876 on Friday), it will be more expensive at Rs 302 crore. Sangli Bank will discuss the merger at its annual general meeting on December 18. Sangli Bank will offer ICICI Bank the fast lane to achieve its rural strategy, said Ms Vishakha Mulye, Chief Financial Officer, ICICI Bank.

Bank of India buys 76 pc stake in Indonesian bank 

Businessline, Dec 12

Bank of India today acquired majority 76 per cent stake in Indonesian bank, P T Bank Swadesi Tbk, said a press release from Bank of India. This is the first overseas acquisition for Bank of India, which has a representative office inIndonesia for the last 33 years. P T Bank Swadesi Tbk is a mid-sized bank operating inIndonesia for the last 38 years. It has four branches, two each in Jakarta and Surayaba, five sub-branches, six cash points and one mobile cash unit. It also has a core banking IT infrastructure, ATM facilities and licence to do forex business. It is listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, said the press release.

Bharti teams up with AXA for life insurance foray 

Businessline, Dec 14

Bharti Enterprises and the French insurance major AXA SA may join hands to set up a mutual fund and a non-life insurance company in the near future. Globally, AXA is one of the largest insurance companies and the fifth largest asset manager. Speaking at the national launch of Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company, Mr Henri De Castries, Chairman, AXA SA, said while the key business of the company was financial protection and life insurance, it was also looking at setting up businesses in the asset management and property and casualty insurance space.

Mergers and Acquisitions (Dec 8 - Dec 15)

1.Maruti tie up with banks to promote scheme for NRIs

SOURCE: 8 Dec 2006

 Maruti has tied up with SBI, HDFC, and ICICI for easy finance option to prospective NRIs opting for the” NRI Dilse” scheme. The company has currently a tie up with Citibank. Under it NRIs can gift cars t their nominees residing in
India. Other features include a special price exclusive after sales service and convenient payment option. The company is offering 90% of the ex-showroom price with an Emi staring a low as $99.
  2. IOB in pact with
India Infrastructure.
SOURCE: 8 Dec 2006

India Overseas bank and
India infrastructure finance company limited have signed a memorandum  of understanding to provide long term funds to the infrastructure sectors. The MoU will help the bank to actively take up infrastructure financial in the coming days. It will facilitate identification and lending to sunrise industries in the infrastructure and provide necessary impetus for infrastructure financing and for building up of a qualitative credit portfolio. Building of physical infrastructure could not be helpful for want of resources. 
3. Fiat, Tata in 50:50 joint venture to make cars.

SOURCE: 15 Dec 2006

Fiat and Tata motors announced the formation of 50:50 joint venture that will invest Rs 4000 crores  to produce passenger cars, diesel engines in one of the world’s fastest growing automakers. The announcement comes just days after Fiat got approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to invest Rs 2000 crore in
India.

Mergers and Acquisitions (Dec 8 - Dec 15)

1.Maruti tie up with banks to promote scheme for NRIsSOURCE: 8 Dec 2006 Maruti has tied up with SBI, HDFC, and ICICI for easy finance option to prospective NRIs opting for the” NRI Dilse” scheme. The company has currently a tie up with Citibank. Under it NRIs can gift cars t their nominees residing in
India. Other features include a special price exclusive after sales service and convenient payment option. The company is offering 90% of the ex-showroom price with an Emi staring a low as $99. 

2. IOB in pact with
India Infrastructure.SOURCE: 8 Dec 2006India Overseas bank and
India infrastructure finance company limited have signed a memorandum  of understanding to provide long term funds to the infrastructure sectors. The MoU will help the bank to actively take up infrastructure financial in the coming days. It will facilitate identification and lending to sunrise industries in the infrastructure and provide necessary impetus for infrastructure financing and for building up of a qualitative credit portfolio. Building of physical infrastructure could not be helpful for want of resources. 

3. Fiat, Tata in 50:50 joint venture to make cars.SOURCE: 15 Dec 2006

Fiat and Tata motors announced the formation of 50:50 joint venture that will invest Rs 4000 crores  to produce passenger cars, diesel engines in one of the world’s fastest growing automakers. The announcement comes just days after Fiat got approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to invest Rs 2000 crore in
India.

 

The Reliable Killer

AK-47
The Weapon That
Changed the Face of WarBy Larry Kahaner
Wiley — 258pp — $25.95 

 

Here’s today’s puzzler: Name a Russian innovation that whips most everything America and Western Europe throws against it, has astounding firepower, and is unaffected by heat, cold, and sand. It’s the Kalashnikov assault rifle, also known as the AK. Since its first large-scale production in 1947, this low-tech weapon of mass destruction has spread across the globe, doling out death from Afghanistan to the
U.S.

The AK has become the firearm of choice for at least 50 standing armies and uncounted ragtag outfits, from insurgents and terrorists to drug dealers and street gangs.

 

For inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, inspiration came in 1941 in the form of direct contact with Nazi invaders’ Schmeisser submachine guns. As the young tank commander recovered from his wounds, he vowed to create a weapon that would help defend the motherland. However, it took him years of tinkering, along with technical schooling, to perfect his brainchild, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947.

 

It was in
Vietnam, Kahaner tells us, that the AK really earned its stripes. In jungle skirmishes, whoever pumped out the most rounds in the shortest amount of time won.
America countered with its own automatic, the space-age-sleek M-16. But for years that rifle was reputed to have problems. One story, plucked by Kahaner from the
Vietnam memoir of Colonel David Hackworth, illustrates the issues. Hackworth came across an accidentally exposed Viet Cong gravesite, yanked out a mud-caked AK, pulled back the bolt, and fired off thirty rounds as if the gun had just been cleaned. “This was the kind of weapon our solders needed and deserved, not the M-16 that had to be hospital cleaned or it would jam,” wrote Hackworth.

 

Kalashnikov culture also spread to
Latin America, beginning with the Nicaraguan Contra war of the 1980s. Again the
U.S. helped spread the epidemic, as Lieutenant Colonel Oliver L. North’s secret White House project shipped thousands of AKs to the counterrevolutionaries. Soon, “just as it had done in the Middle East and Africa, the indestructible and cheap AK worked its way from country to country, turning small conflicts into large wars” in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia.

 

Today the AK’s place in civilization seems clear. In 2004, the Iraqi army, trained by the
U.S. military, nixed American-made M-16s and insisted on being issued AKs. That same year, Playboy issued its list of “50 Products That Changed the World.” Near the top–beaten out by only the Apple (AAPL ) Macintosh, the pill, and the Sony (SNE ) Betamax–was the AK, the embodiment of innovation’s dark side.

 

 

 

 

 

COVER STORY(9th to 15th Dec)

CSN bid for Corus set for this week 

• Brazilian steel maker CSN is set to table a formal offer for corus this week
• The Board of Corus is expected to meet on Sunday.
• The Bid may be announced on Monday if negotiations goes well.
• The Brazilian Company has announced last month it was considering and indicative bid of 475P which would trump Tatas 455p offer.

                                                         The Economic Times( Monday .11.December 2006)                                                                                                   Foreign flight norms for desi airlines likely to be relaxed.                                                                                                                               

• The norms for domestic airlines to fly abroad is relaxed by reducing the requirement of minimum five years of domestic operation to three years.
• Air Decan will be the first airline to enjoy this benefit.
• Air Decan has already completed three years in August 2006.
• This idea is to enable airlines like Air Decan, SpiceJet and Kingfisher to meet competition from foreign carriers.
• The revised norms will kick in with the new civil aviation policy which is likely to be put in policy by January 2006.

                                                                                        [The Economic Times. Thursday 14 December 2006]

      Century Mills set to shut down operations in Mumbai 

ü      About 6,300 of the 6,700 workers (comprising around 95%) have opted for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme offered by the company management.

ü      The management is subject to pay Rs. 9-10 lakhs per person on retirement with high cost of the operations.

ü      700-800 workers have rejected the VRS offer of Rs 3-5 lakh per employee.

ü      The employees demand for a compensation equal to what they could have possibly earned if they had worked till 60

[Business Line- 14^th December 15, 2006, Thursday]CRRash: Sensex loses 400 points 

·         Share sensex plunged 538 points

·         Settled at 13,399.43

·         Went down 400.06 points

·         BSE Bankex shed 463.96

The Economic Times       12/12/06

Tata motors, fiat to invest Rs 4000 Cr in new facility

·         Tata Motor and Fiat Auto will jointly invest Rs 4000 Cr in a 50-50 joint venture to make cars and engines at Ranjangaon near Pune.

·         It will have an annual capacity to produce 1 lakh cars and 1 lakh engines and gear boxes.

                                                             Business Line. (15^th December..2006 Friday)         

 

The Reliable Killer

AK-47
The Weapon That
Changed the Face of WarBy Larry Kahaner
Wiley — 258pp — $25.95 

 

Here’s today’s puzzler: Name a Russian innovation that whips most everything America and Western Europe throws against it, has astounding firepower, and is unaffected by heat, cold, and sand. It’s the Kalashnikov assault rifle, also known as the AK. Since its first large-scale production in 1947, this low-tech weapon of mass destruction has spread across the globe, doling out death from Afghanistan to the
U.S.

The AK has become the firearm of choice for at least 50 standing armies and uncounted ragtag outfits, from insurgents and terrorists to drug dealers and street gangs.

 

For inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, inspiration came in 1941 in the form of direct contact with Nazi invaders’ Schmeisser submachine guns. As the young tank commander recovered from his wounds, he vowed to create a weapon that would help defend the motherland. However, it took him years of tinkering, along with technical schooling, to perfect his brainchild, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947.

 

It was in
Vietnam, Kahaner tells us, that the AK really earned its stripes. In jungle skirmishes, whoever pumped out the most rounds in the shortest amount of time won.
America countered with its own automatic, the space-age-sleek M-16. But for years that rifle was reputed to have problems. One story, plucked by Kahaner from the
Vietnam memoir of Colonel David Hackworth, illustrates the issues. Hackworth came across an accidentally exposed Viet Cong gravesite, yanked out a mud-caked AK, pulled back the bolt, and fired off thirty rounds as if the gun had just been cleaned. “This was the kind of weapon our solders needed and deserved, not the M-16 that had to be hospital cleaned or it would jam,” wrote Hackworth.

 

Kalashnikov culture also spread to
Latin America, beginning with the Nicaraguan Contra war of the 1980s. Again the
U.S. helped spread the epidemic, as Lieutenant Colonel Oliver L. North’s secret White House project shipped thousands of AKs to the counterrevolutionaries. Soon, “just as it had done in the Middle East and Africa, the indestructible and cheap AK worked its way from country to country, turning small conflicts into large wars” in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia.

 

Today the AK’s place in civilization seems clear. In 2004, the Iraqi army, trained by the
U.S. military, nixed American-made M-16s and insisted on being issued AKs. That same year, Playboy issued its list of “50 Products That Changed the World.” Near the top–beaten out by only the Apple (AAPL ) Macintosh, the pill, and the Sony (SNE ) Betamax–was the AK, the embodiment of innovation’s dark side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Reliable Killer

AK-47
The Weapon That
Changed the Face of WarBy Larry Kahaner
Wiley — 258pp — $25.95 

 

Here’s today’s puzzler: Name a Russian innovation that whips most everything America and Western Europe throws against it, has astounding firepower, and is unaffected by heat, cold, and sand. It’s the Kalashnikov assault rifle, also known as the AK. Since its first large-scale production in 1947, this low-tech weapon of mass destruction has spread across the globe, doling out death from Afghanistan to the
U.S.

The AK has become the firearm of choice for at least 50 standing armies and uncounted ragtag outfits, from insurgents and terrorists to drug dealers and street gangs.

 

For inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, inspiration came in 1941 in the form of direct contact with Nazi invaders’ Schmeisser submachine guns. As the young tank commander recovered from his wounds, he vowed to create a weapon that would help defend the motherland. However, it took him years of tinkering, along with technical schooling, to perfect his brainchild, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947.

 

It was in
Vietnam, Kahaner tells us, that the AK really earned its stripes. In jungle skirmishes, whoever pumped out the most rounds in the shortest amount of time won.
America countered with its own automatic, the space-age-sleek M-16. But for years that rifle was reputed to have problems. One story, plucked by Kahaner from the
Vietnam memoir of Colonel David Hackworth, illustrates the issues. Hackworth came across an accidentally exposed Viet Cong gravesite, yanked out a mud-caked AK, pulled back the bolt, and fired off thirty rounds as if the gun had just been cleaned. “This was the kind of weapon our solders needed and deserved, not the M-16 that had to be hospital cleaned or it would jam,” wrote Hackworth.

 

Kalashnikov culture also spread to
Latin America, beginning with the Nicaraguan Contra war of the 1980s. Again the
U.S. helped spread the epidemic, as Lieutenant Colonel Oliver L. North’s secret White House project shipped thousands of AKs to the counterrevolutionaries. Soon, “just as it had done in the Middle East and Africa, the indestructible and cheap AK worked its way from country to country, turning small conflicts into large wars” in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia.

 

Today the AK’s place in civilization seems clear. In 2004, the Iraqi army, trained by the
U.S. military, nixed American-made M-16s and insisted on being issued AKs. That same year, Playboy issued its list of “50 Products That Changed the World.” Near the top–beaten out by only the Apple (AAPL ) Macintosh, the pill, and the Sony (SNE ) Betamax–was the AK, the embodiment of innovation’s dark side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Reliable Killer

AK-47
The Weapon That
Changed the Face of WarBy Larry Kahaner
Wiley — 258pp — $25.95 

 

Here’s today’s puzzler: Name a Russian innovation that whips most everything America and Western Europe throws against it, has astounding firepower, and is unaffected by heat, cold, and sand. It’s the Kalashnikov assault rifle, also known as the AK. Since its first large-scale production in 1947, this low-tech weapon of mass destruction has spread across the globe, doling out death from Afghanistan to the
U.S.

The AK has become the firearm of choice for at least 50 standing armies and uncounted ragtag outfits, from insurgents and terrorists to drug dealers and street gangs.

 

For inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, inspiration came in 1941 in the form of direct contact with Nazi invaders’ Schmeisser submachine guns. As the young tank commander recovered from his wounds, he vowed to create a weapon that would help defend the motherland. However, it took him years of tinkering, along with technical schooling, to perfect his brainchild, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947.

 

It was in
Vietnam, Kahaner tells us, that the AK really earned its stripes. In jungle skirmishes, whoever pumped out the most rounds in the shortest amount of time won.
America countered with its own automatic, the space-age-sleek M-16. But for years that rifle was reputed to have problems. One story, plucked by Kahaner from the
Vietnam memoir of Colonel David Hackworth, illustrates the issues. Hackworth came across an accidentally exposed Viet Cong gravesite, yanked out a mud-caked AK, pulled back the bolt, and fired off thirty rounds as if the gun had just been cleaned. “This was the kind of weapon our solders needed and deserved, not the M-16 that had to be hospital cleaned or it would jam,” wrote Hackworth.

 

Kalashnikov culture also spread to
Latin America, beginning with the Nicaraguan Contra war of the 1980s. Again the
U.S. helped spread the epidemic, as Lieutenant Colonel Oliver L. North’s secret White House project shipped thousands of AKs to the counterrevolutionaries. Soon, “just as it had done in the Middle East and Africa, the indestructible and cheap AK worked its way from country to country, turning small conflicts into large wars” in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia.

 

Today the AK’s place in civilization seems clear. In 2004, the Iraqi army, trained by the
U.S. military, nixed American-made M-16s and insisted on being issued AKs. That same year, Playboy issued its list of “50 Products That Changed the World.” Near the top–beaten out by only the Apple (AAPL ) Macintosh, the pill, and the Sony (SNE ) Betamax–was the AK, the embodiment of innovation’s dark side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Reliable Killer

AK-47
The Weapon That
Changed the Face of WarBy Larry Kahaner
Wiley — 258pp — $25.95 

 

Here’s today’s puzzler: Name a Russian innovation that whips most everything America and Western Europe throws against it, has astounding firepower, and is unaffected by heat, cold, and sand. It’s the Kalashnikov assault rifle, also known as the AK. Since its first large-scale production in 1947, this low-tech weapon of mass destruction has spread across the globe, doling out death from Afghanistan to the
U.S.

The AK has become the firearm of choice for at least 50 standing armies and uncounted ragtag outfits, from insurgents and terrorists to drug dealers and street gangs.

 

For inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, inspiration came in 1941 in the form of direct contact with Nazi invaders’ Schmeisser submachine guns. As the young tank commander recovered from his wounds, he vowed to create a weapon that would help defend the motherland. However, it took him years of tinkering, along with technical schooling, to perfect his brainchild, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947.

 

It was in
Vietnam, Kahaner tells us, that the AK really earned its stripes. In jungle skirmishes, whoever pumped out the most rounds in the shortest amount of time won.
America countered with its own automatic, the space-age-sleek M-16. But for years that rifle was reputed to have problems. One story, plucked by Kahaner from the
Vietnam memoir of Colonel David Hackworth, illustrates the issues. Hackworth came across an accidentally exposed Viet Cong gravesite, yanked out a mud-caked AK, pulled back the bolt, and fired off thirty rounds as if the gun had just been cleaned. “This was the kind of weapon our solders needed and deserved, not the M-16 that had to be hospital cleaned or it would jam,” wrote Hackworth.

 

Kalashnikov culture also spread to
Latin America, beginning with the Nicaraguan Contra war of the 1980s. Again the
U.S. helped spread the epidemic, as Lieutenant Colonel Oliver L. North’s secret White House project shipped thousands of AKs to the counterrevolutionaries. Soon, “just as it had done in the Middle East and Africa, the indestructible and cheap AK worked its way from country to country, turning small conflicts into large wars” in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia.

 

Today the AK’s place in civilization seems clear. In 2004, the Iraqi army, trained by the
U.S. military, nixed American-made M-16s and insisted on being issued AKs. That same year, Playboy issued its list of “50 Products That Changed the World.” Near the top–beaten out by only the Apple (AAPL ) Macintosh, the pill, and the Sony (SNE ) Betamax–was the AK, the embodiment of innovation’s dark side.

 

 

 

 

 

hot properties/new inventions/innovations

1.Recently cotton cultivation was badly affected by the incidence of white flies, diseases and overuse of insecticides, to the extent that many farmers gave up cultivating cotton, enduring great economic loss. Harbhajan Singh and his brothers then devised a new method of cultivation, which is sowing cottonseeds on ridges in a pattern of 2feet-6feet-2feet. That is to say, they kept a six feet gap between each set of two ridges at two feet distance from each other. Tractors were used to set the spacing between the ridges and water was allowed to flow only in the two feet gap and not in the six feet one. This pattern of sowing and irrigation helped them obtain a good yield even during the years of drought and in conditions of acute scarcity of water. Ndtv.com,15.12.20062. In a country bearing the reputation of being one of the world’s least efficient energy users, an innovation that has the potential to save five million tones of oil in a year would surely ring a bell. Researching his innovation since 1993, Mr Bhattacharya has come up with a pressure-type kerosene stove that has oil savings to the tune of forty to sixty per cent above the regular stove, additional features being enhanced safety, reduced operating noise level and better combustion. Mr Bhattacharya has applied for a patentIndianinnovation council (google)15.12.20063. The problem began when Mr Duraisamy was unhappy at having to eat cold food. By the time his wife could bring food from the house to the farm, it got cold. The solution came from a class IV text book belonging to Duraisamy’s daughter. In it was written that air when compressed generates heat. He also knew from his own experience that a cycle pump gets hot when air is being pumped from it. He thought of utilising the heat wasted at the exhaust of a water pump. Using an old engine as a compressor, Duraisamy took a pressure cooker and made two holes in it. Inside the cooker he kept a sealed container that was to act as a heat exchanger. The hot compressed air was pushed in through one hole and came out through the other. Thus was made a unique pressure cooker fuelled by compressed air. It takes about seven minutes reach a temperature of about 300 degrees centigradeNdtv.com,15.12.2006 

MARKETING (DEC 9 - DEC 15)

Ashok Leyland ad campaign puts customer in focus

Businessline, 14 Oct 2006 

Ashok Leyland will launch a corporate TV campaign next month to convey the customer-oriented side of its business. The truck and bus manufacturing company has launched the campaign in print - the theme central to it is the passionate engineer of Ashok Leyland, a quirky professional whose interest in his work borders on the obsessive. The print campaign has two product ads that talk about the company’s products and achievements and three ads that celebrate its engineers passion - one, for instance, says, “Only an Ashok Leyland engineer will calculate the RPM of the ball when a `doosra’ is bowled.” 

Tata Indicom prepaid offer

Businessline, 14 Oct 2006 

Tata teleservices announced the launch of a new pre-paid mobile phone named Tata Rhythm with FM radio. It is priced at Rs.2,199 and comes with additional benefits of free incoming calls for two years and 2,000 minutes of free calls to any Tata phone. The new mobile’s aim is cornering a significant chunk of the youth by making affordable the connectivity-entertainment combination. 

Luxor forays into retail segment

Businessline, 15 Oct 2006 

Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt Ltd, the flagship entity of the Luxor Group is launching outlets branded Luxor Signature. They recently opened their first outlet in Delhi NCR and plan to open 100 outlets across several formats by 2011 with an investment of around Rs 90 crores. The company is in the process of launching a kid’s educational and learning stationery brand. 

100 songs on Nokia phone

Businessline, 15 Oct 2006 

Nokia has partnered with the Indian Music Industry (IMI) for placing 100 songs of over 10 Indian music legends in the latest Nokia N-series (Nokia N91, N73 & N70) music edition mobiles. The legends include Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, A R Rahman, Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar, SD Burman, RD Burman, Mohd Rafi, Geeta Dutt and others. The songs can be unlocked by using a code available on the scratch card that will come along with the mobile at no extra cost.

brand story(11-16th dec)

Hindustan Lever Limited (also called HLL), headquartered in Mumbai, is India’s largest consumer products company, formed in 1933 as Lever Brothers India Limited. Its 41,000 employees are headed by Mr.Harish Manwani, the non-executive chariman of the board. HLL is the market leader in Indian products such as tea, soaps, detergents, as its products have become daily household name in India. The Anglo-Dutch company Unilever owns a majority stake in Hindustan Lever Limited.what helped HLL to capture such major share in FMCG market is its diversification into new market and market segments and also segments created for every product it manufactures.
Brands
 
Wheel Detergent ad in rural Nepal area.Some of its brands include Kwality Wall’s ice cream, Lifebuoy, Lux, Breeze, Liril, Rexona, Hamam, Moti soaps, Lipton tea, Brooke Bond coffee, Pepsodent and Close Up toothpaste and brushes, and Surf, Rin and Wheel laundry detergents, Kissan squashes and jams, Annapurna salt and atta, Pond’s talcs and creams, Vaseline lotions, Fair & Lovely creams, Lakmé beauty products, Clinic Plus, Clinic All Clear, Sunsilk and Lux shampoos, Vim dishwash, Ala bleach and Domex disinfectant.

 Marketing
In February 2003 Hindustan Lever Limited has launched a new division called Hindustan Lever Network. This division markets a wide range of Fast Moving Consumer Goods through Network Marketing.This operates by recruiting individuals as consultants. These consultants are paid a commission on the purchases made by them and on the purchases made by those recruited by them.

National Politics [08-15 Dec]

                   PM lays foundation for auto R&D centre

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today laid the foundation stone for the Rs 470-crore Global Automotive Research Centre (G-ARC) at Oragadam, near Chennai. Dr Manmohan Singh said that the facility would have the latest infrastructure for automotive testing and homologation and will be developed on 304 acres. Along with the Centres of Excellence being set up, G-ARC would make India a frontrunner in automobile R&D. The G-ARC is part of the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project and will help automobile and auto component manufacturers achieve global standards.

               Trinamool’s call to boycott Tata products

KOLKATA: With the indefinite hunger strike by Mamata Banerjee entering its 10th day here on Wednesday, the Trinamool Congress leadership called for a State-wide boycott of all products manufactured by the Tata Group of companies. This was in protest against the proposed setting up of the car manufacturing plant by Tata Motors at Singur in Hooghly district.

                  Maharashtra clears land for Reliance SEZ

Reliance Industries’ proposed Special Economic Zone at Navi Mumbai is on course, with the Maharashtra Government clearing allotment of 1,150 hectares of land.With this, Reliance has received more than 50 per cent of the required land for its multi-product SEZ.Out of the total SEZ area, 15 per cent would be earmarked for residential purposes and the remaining 85 per cent for industrial purpose. Reliance is setting up two SEZs in the State, with the other one being proposed in Raigad district, which will be spread over 10,000 hectares, involving a cost of Rs 30,000 crore

                                India, UAE sign deal 

NEW DELHI: Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and visiting Labour Minister of the United Arab Emirates Ali bin Abdullah Al Ka’abi signed an agreement on Wednesday to facilitate recruitment of workers and regulate their terms of employment. Under the agreement, a bilateral committee is to be set up (consisting of three members from the two countries) to review employment opportunities in the UAE and the availability of corresponding skills in India.

 

         

Commodity

Asia ethanol demand seen at 2 billion liters in the year ending September 2007, but it would not push up sugar prices, according to Mr. Christopher Berg, Deputy Director of German analyst F.O Licht.

Pepper futures fell sharply on Thursday on bull liquidation and other factors such as the announcement by the Kerala State Marketing Federation that it would sell 300 tones of pepper held bi it and absence of buying support due to lack of confidence in the quality of the materials available with the e exchanges.

Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed marginally lower on Thursday, as prices of rival soya oil declined on the Chicago Board of Trade. The bench mark February contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivative exchange finished down 3 ringgit at 1,850 rinnggit ($552) per tonne.

 Group - 5

 15 (B)

OUTSOURCING

Unisys, Wipro Tie Up For IT Outsourcing 

Unisys and Wipro Technologies have formed  a global alliance to establish an intergrated means to execute go-to-market and delivery activities for managed services. The two companies will seek opportunities to provide IT services like deskside and hardware support services and multilingual service desk services. Both the IT giants have signed an initial outsourcing engagement for a fortune 500 company in US with Unisys share of total contract value estimated at $ 27.5 million spread over a [eriod of 5 years. Under the contract Unisys will be a sub-contractor to Wipro in providing managed services to support more than 20000 employees in US, Canada and
UK.

Source: The Economic Times, 8 December 2006.

 

BPOs Shed Vanilla Pricing, Go For The Kill. 

Call centers and process back offices are now increasingly getting paid on the success of each call or transaction rather than the minutes spend on each. The BPO industry has moved a few notches up in the value chain. It evolved from being projected as a fun place to a work place. Today BPO companies have emerged as business partners rather than plain vendors. In line with this, the whole matrix of pricing is that it is witnessing dynamism with new models emerging depending on the complexity of process outsourced.

Source: The Economic Times, 8 December 2006.

 

 

Wipro Pushes Beyond Global Delivery Infrastructure Management. 

Of all the Indian vendors, Wipro today maintains the strongest European client base for offshore infrastructure services. The company is actively pushing beyond pure remote infrastructure management and has recently begun to successfully compete head to head against traditional on-site outsourcers for larger end-to-end infrastructure outsourcing deals. As a result of its strategic commitment to growing the infrastructure management business, Wipro continues to invest in European resources for deeper local market penetration.

Source: www.forrester.com , 5 December 2006.

National Politics [01-08 Dec]

Promoting trade

The King of Jordan, Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, calling on the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, at Hyderabad House, in the Capital on Friday. India and Jordan are expected to sign several agreements and pacts linked to investment, tourism and cultural ties.

Business Line 02 Dec.

India keen on stake in Sakhalin-III project

After the success of Sakhalin-1 fields in Russia, India is making a case for Indian participation in Sakhalin-III oil fields. Russia is planning to invite bids in future for Sakhalin-III project and once the blocks are put on offer, India will look for opportunities there.India plans to get more oil and gas from Russia as part of its efforts to diversify sources of energy.

Business Line 03 Dec.

Centre to come out with accounting standards

Government would soon specify the accounting standards that companies need to adopt for the preparation of their financial statements under the company law.

Business Line 03 Dec.

Control drug prices: Commerce Ministry

Efforts by the Ministry of Chemicals to reduce medicine prices by putting in a regulatory framework for the pharmaceuticals industry has run into another roadblock. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has written an official letter to the Ministry of Chemicals refusing to support the draft legislation for the National Pharma Policy.

Business Line 04 Dec

Panel moots formula for gas price valuation

A high-level committee appointed by the Petroleum Ministry to work out guidelines for valuation of natural gas has recommended a formula by which the Government’s share of royalty and profit petroleum would be at the market-determined price, even though the producer sells to the consumer at a negotiated price.

Business Line 05 Dec.

Tata Power to make Defence products

Tata Power has received seven licences from the Government for manufacturing electronic systems and products for defence services.According to the company, the licences would enable Tata Power to be the prime contractor to the Ministry of Defence for designing, development, manufacturing, assembling and upgrading critical systems in seven core areas of defence strategic electronics.The seven defence production licences pertain to design, development, manufacture, assembly and upgrades of Electronic Warfare Systems for Army, Navy, Air Force, Para-military and Inland Security.

Business Line 06 Dec.

SBI plans domestic float next year to fund growth

SBI plans to tap the domestic capital market next fiscal to fund its business growth. The bank was awaiting Parliamentary nod to the proposed amendments in the State Bank of India Act before it goes about raising more tier-I capital.

 

UNCLE TOM’S CABIN

                                           UNCLE TOM’S CABIN      

                                      BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

 

ABOUT AUTHOR:

Harriet Beecher was born June 14, 1811, the seventh child of a famous protestant preacher. Harriet worked as a teacher with her older sister Catharine: her earliest publication was a geography for children, issued under her sister’s name in 1833. In 1836, Harriet married widower Calvin Stowe: they eventually had seven children. Stowe helped to support her family financially by writing for local and religious periodicals. During her life, she wrote poems, travel books, biographical sketches, and children’s books, as well as adult novels. She met and corresponded with people as varied as Lady Byron, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and George Eliot. She died at the age of 85.REVIEW

The historical significance of Stowe’s antislavery writing has tended to draw attention away from her other work, and from her work’s literary significance. Her work is admittedly uneven. At its worst, it indulges in a romanticized Christian sensibility that was much in favour with the audience of her time, but that finds little sympathy or credibility with modern readers. At her best, Stowe was a early and effective realist. Her settings are often accurately and detailedly described. Her portraits of local social life, particularly with minor characters, reflect an awareness of the complexity of the culture she lived in, and an ability to communicate that culture to others. In her commitment to realism, and her serious narrative use of local dialect, Stowe predated works like Mark Twain. This paper provides an overview and analysis of Stowe’s novel which illustrates the cruelty and inhumanity of slavery. Some of the characters in the novel provide justifications for slavery and others express their reasons for opposing it. Stowe’s novel also demonstrates how slaves were kept disunited and powerless, and how some slaves acted to resist authority. Stowe’s personal view son the issue are also revealed in the novel, as well as the role of lawmakers and the church in allowing slavery to persist.

 

Dr.KIRAN MAZUMDAR SHAW

Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw 

Dr.Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is an Indian enterpreneur, born on 23 March 1953 in Banglore. She is the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd. She was educated at the Bishop Cotton Girls School and
Mount Carmel
College at
Bangalore. After obtaining a B.Sc Honours degree in zoology from
Bangalore
University in 1973, she joined the
Ballarat
University in Melbourne, Australia and qualified as a master Brewer in 1975 to become
India’s first woman Brew master. Her professional career started with the position of trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974. During 1975-77, she worked in technical positions in Kolkata and Vadodara.In 1978, she joined as Trainee Manager with Biocon Biochemicals Limited in
Ireland. Collaborating with the same Irish firm, she founded Biocon
India with a capital of Rs 10,000 in her garage. Over the years, the company grew under her stewardship and is today the biggest biopharmaceutical firm in
India. 

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw has held several honorary and advisory positions, few of them are 

·        Member, Board of Governors,IIM Banglore·        Chairperson and mission leader of CII’s National Task Force on Biotechnology·        Member,The Prime Minister’s council on trade & industry in
India·        Member ,Board of science foundation,
Ireland 

Some of the major awards won by Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw are: 

·        Wharton Infosys Business Transformation award (2006)·        Padma Bushan (2005)·        Lifetime achievement award from Indian Chamber Of Commerce (2005)·        Honorary doctorate of science, from Ballart university (2004) 

 

GROUP 5A

cover story..(2nd dec to 8th)

Investors move away from small savings 

• Gross small savings collections in post offices and banks declined.
• This for the first time that savings comes down in the last ten years.
• Gross small savings declined to Rs 73,456 crores as compared to Rs 82,800 crores to last year.
• This is due to increasing inflation, investor’s preference for alternative investment avenues, interest rate offered on competing investments like bank deposits etc.

                                                                              Business line (6th December) 

Buddhadev rules out stopping work on Tata Motors project 

• 
  West Bengal chief  minister  said he is ready for talk with anybody even with Trinamool congress
• He denied to stop work on preparation for the Tata motors plant at Hoogly district
• Trinamool congress leader Ms. Mamta Banarjee began a hunger strike against the acquisition of land for the project.

                                                                  The Economic Times          (  5/12/2006) 

Cisco to locate unit in Chennai

With plans to make India its global hub, US-based networking major Cisco Systems on Wednesday announced a slew of initiatives including setting up a manufacturing unit in Chennai and tripling its manpower in the country from 2,000 at present to 6,000 over the next 3-4 years.

·       
India key to its global growth strategy; plan to triple manpower to 6,000.·        Twenty per cent of top executives will move to
India.·        Chennai unit will export hi-tech products to global markets.Chinese bikes to hit Indian roads soon; 3 cos look for distributors“Roadworthiness under Indian conditions doubtful” 

·        Three Chinese bike makers are planning to hit the Indian roads.

·        Cixi Kingring Motor cycle Company, Xindayang Group Company Ltd and Huzhou Jiajieshi Machine & Electric Company are exhibiting their products at the fourth
China products (Mumbai) Exhibition.

                                                            Business Line( 8^th December)

Retail Finance (Nov 25- Dec 1)

Public sector banks too offer online trade services

Businessline, Nov 25

 Not to be left behind private banks, several public sector banks are tying up with broking firms to offer online trading services. In the last week, three public sector banks announced trading services and a few more banks are also expected to follow. While the securities firms provide the trading facility, banks provide savings and demat accounts. For the banks, it means a new source of fee income, more floating funds and a larger base of low cost deposits in the form of savings and current bank accounts. State Bank of India, which tied up with Motilal Oswal Securities, already has 65,000 demat clients and is targeting 1,50,000 clients. “Online trading will give us floating funds,” said Mr Sangeet Shukla, Chief General Manager, (Personal Banking). Punjab National Bank has tied up with IDBI Capital Market Services and Oriental Bank of Commerce with ILFS Investmart. Bank of India is linking up with Asit C. Mehta Investment Intermediates Ltd.

Corpn Bank branch wins LIC award

 Businessline, Nov. 27

Corporation Bank, Personal Banking Branch, Nampally, has become the first public sector bank to earn BIMA Bank award from the Life Insurance Corporation ofIndia, South Central Zone, here. The award is in recognition of the highest insurance premium mobilised by the branch over the last six months. The branch had crossed Rs 50 crore business at the end of September 2006 and earned ISO certification, according to a press release.

SIB to launch co-branded Citi credit card

Businessline, Nov. 29

South Indian Bank (SIB), which opened a new office here recently to streamline its operations here, will be launching co-branded Citi Bank credit card next month. This is part of the bank’s endeavour to increase its non-fund based revenue. SIB has already signed MoUs with five mutual funds to distribute their products.

Catholic Syrian offers mediclaim policy

 Businessline, Nov. 30

Catholic Syrian Bank has launched a mediclaim policy, CSB Health Care Support, in association with the New India Assurance Company. The launch of the scheme is just right since most customers would be looking out for better tax breaks towards the end of the financial year, along with medical insurance facilities, Mr N.R. Achan, Chairman of the bank, said over the phone. The fee-based income of Catholic Syrian Bank is expected to go up substantially during the current year, since the bank has tied up with several mutual funds also for selling their products, Mr Achan said.  

MARKETING (DEC 1 - DEC 7)

Levi’s iPod jeans in India

Business Line, December 7 

Levi’s has launched its iPod compatible jeans in Bangalore, India. The Levi’s Redwire Jeans merges the iPod plug and play technology into the denim apparel. Developers at the Levi’s headquarters in San Francisco in association with Apple have been designed the jeans, are set to be compatible with most iPod models. Each pair of jeans comes with a Tech Pack that carries 6 docking cradles, an earphone set with retractable wires and a tiny device acting as an interface between the iPod and the jeans. Available for both men and women, the Redwire Jeans is priced at Rs 9000.     

H & R Johnson to diversify

Business Line, December 7  

Ceramics and tile manufacturer H & R Johnson (India) Ltd will invest Rs 50 crore to diversify its Marbonite brand in the vitrified wall category. Now, it is about to launch a new vitrified wall brand, the Marbonite Wonderwall. This was done after the market research predicted that there is a great need for Italian marble substitutes. 

Zen Estilo comes with Rs3.2 – 4 lakh price tag

The Economic Times, December 6 

Zen is back in a brand new avatar. Maruti Udyog launched the next- generation Zen as the Zen Estilo. Priced right in the middle of the B segment, the Estilo is now roomier and taller than the earlier Zen. It comes in four variants. The base Lx variant is priced at Rs 3.19 lakh and the top- end Zen Estilo Vxi ABS is priced at about Rs 4.02 lakh. The new Zen will also give competition to Hyundai’s Santro which starts at Rs. 2.7 lakh. 

Air Travel launches heli-tourism in Kerala

The Economic Times, December 5 

Latest marketing news in Kerala tourism, the Kerala based Air Travel Enterprises has tied up with King Rotors and Air charter to launch helitourism in the state. Several products that offered packages covering the hills, beaches and backwaters have been designed for upmarket tourists.   

Warming Up: Coke may launch hot drink Far Coast

The Economic Times, December 5

The Cola major is planning to enter the freshly brewed hot beverage market in India through bars which will serve tea, coffee and cocoa products. It introduced a similar concept in Singapore recently and sees a good opportunity for the product across
Asia. Coca- Cola India is also learnt to be working on a fresh plan on how to give a bigger push to Georgia brand. Already it has launched Far Coast in Canada, Sweden and more recently Singapore. The next destination is Norway.  

BPL plans Rs 60-cr ad campaign to push colour TV sales

The Economics Times, December 5

BPL Ltd, which is about to complete a prolonged financial restructuring exercise, has budgeted Rs 60 crore for advertising and marketing expenses to support its colour television business in 2007. This is expected to help the domestic major match the marketing blitz of chaebols such as LG and Samsung, which dominate the CTV market now. BPL, one among the first domestic brands to unleash big buck lifestyle campaigns, is slated to come out with new customer friendly, easy-to-use CTV models and back it up with new commercials.   

COMPANY NEWS

Reliance proposes to pipe natural gas to Tamil Nadu in 2-3 years 

 Reliance Industries Ltd will launch the project to pipe natural gas to Tamil Nadu in 2-3 years time, according to its Chairman, Mr Mukesh Ambani. The plan was to create a southern corridor pipeline to bring to Tamil Nadu a portion of the reserves of natural gas available at the Krishna-Godavari basin

  Business line 4^th Dec 2006

 Tata Power to make Defence product 

Tata Power has received seven licences from the Government for manufacturing electronic systems and products for defence services. According to the company, the licences would enable Tata Power to be the prime contractor to the Ministry of Defence for designing, development, manufacturing, assembling and upgrading critical systems in seven core areas of defence strategic electronics. 

 Business Line 5^th Dec 2006 

Cisco to locate unit in Chennai

With plans to make India its global hub, US-based networking major Cisco Systems on Wednesday announced a slew of initiatives including setting up a manufacturing unit in Chennai and tripling its manpower in the country from 2,000 at present to 6,000 over the next 3-4 years.

Business Line 7^th Dec 2006

Research&Development

 

 

Increasing energy storage

Dramatic growth in computer use is making consumers require more from their electronic devices, which creates increased demand for a better power source than existing battery technologies. To that end, researchers at Carnegie Mellon Univ. (CMU), Pittsburgh, Pa., have discovered a nanocrystalline material that is cheaper, more stable, and produces a higher quality energy storage capacity than what is currently used in a variety of industrial and portable consumer electronic products. According to the CMU team, nanostructured vanadium nitride with controlled oxidation of its surface at the nanoscale is less expensive to use than conventional materials such as ruthenium and can store energy for a longer period of time.

DATE: 03:11:06

Titanium powder process

A new process for making high-purity titanium metal powder can reduce cost and substantially boost efficiency in parts manufacturing. Developed by DuPont, Wilmington, Del., and Honeywell Electronic Materials, Tempe, Ariz., the process makes titanium metal powder which can then be pressed into desired shapes. The new method enables manufacturers to make parts with less machining and significantly less scrap, while yielding virtually the same strength and weight characteristics as machined titanium. The new powder form can be converted with nearly 90% efficiency compared to the 13% efficiency of conventional machining of solid pieces of titanium.

DATE:07:11:06

Fibers that see

Conventional optical systems rely on lenses and detector surfaces to create images, but they are constrained by their size, weight, fragility, and limited field of view. However, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, have developed an optical system made of flexible, lightweight, mesh-like webs of light-detecting fibers. If constructed in the shape of a sphere, the fiber webs can sense the entire volume of space around it. The fiber constructs have already demonstrated the ability to measure the direction, intensity, and phase of light without any components of conventional optical systems.DATE:07:11:06

 

 

Small chip, big results

A miniature wireless data chip, developed by Hewlett-Packard, Palo Alto, Calif., could provide broad access to digital content in the physical world. The 2- to 4-mm² chip, equipped with a built-in antenna, could be adhered onto or embedded into almost any object, including hospital wristbands, postcards, and printed documents, and it will give users instant retrieval of information and content now found mostly on electronic devices or the Internet. The experimental chip is a memory device based on complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS), with a storage capacity ranging from 256 kb to 4 Mb and a 10 Mb/sec transfer rate. DATE:10:11:06R & D at Bangalore BANGALORE, India — Xilinx Inc., which has an engineering team at CMC Ltd. at Hyderabad, plans to shift the staff to an independent Indian R&D subsidiary in 2006. CMC began providing R&D for Xilinx in early 2004, and so far 18 IP cores have emerged, including one for the company’s automotive business segment. Other work here includes development in embedded processing, high-speed I/O, design system validation and automotive applications. DATE:10:11:06  

A new development in UK

 UK based telecom billing solutions company INTEC, which has a centre of excellence in Bangalore providing professional services to global consumers, is now looking to move some of its R&D activity in India. R&D team will be about 100 people in two years with investment of $12million have been planned.DATE:10:11:06GROUP MEMBERS: REMITHA K RAMADAS(FK-1449)                                       ADITYA PANIGRAHI(FK-1318)                                        KRYSTYNA(FK-1370)                                        SRIKANT KUMAR(FK-1359)                                      VINOTH KUMAR(FK-1340)                                      SUBRAHJEET  JEE(FK-1295) 

COMPANY NEWS