Business & Economy Current Affairs : November 19-24, 2009

• The target agricultural credit to be disbursed among the farmers across the country during the current fiscal year 2009-10 was approximately Rs. 3.25 Lakh Crore. Out of this amount Rs 1.38 lakh crore have been disbursed up to September which is about 42.41% of the total target amount.
• Out of this amount Rs 92,595.08 crore was disbursed through commercial banks, Rs 27,704.85 crore through cooperative banks, Rs 17,531.31 crore through rural banks.
• Past targets: The flow of agriculture credits has been Rs 86,981 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 2,87,149 crore in 2008-09 and it has always exceeded the target.
• On Kisan Credit Card: State governments have issued 8.53 crore cards up to July 2009.
• On Over dues: To relieve the burden of over dues, the government has waived or given relief to about 3.68 crore farmers through One Time Settlement involving an amount of Rs 65,318.33 crore making them eligible to avail fresh credit from the banking system.
  Short-term Rural Cooperative Credit Structure: Govt. of India is implementing revival package involving financial outlay of Rs 13,596 crore.
• On Private Moneylenders: Government has entered a trilateral agreement with the state governments and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and accordingly constituted a Task Force to look into the issue of a large number of farmers, who had taken loans from private moneylenders in the country.

November 19, 2009: Women among 100 Richest Indians
Following are the six women in the 100 richest Indians List compiled by Forbes Magazine.

• Rank 7 : Savitri Jindal : OP Jindal Group : Net worth $ 12 Billion (Richest Lady in India)
• Rank 19: Indu Jain : Bennett, Coleman & Co’s : Net worth $ 2.4 Billion
• Rank 55: Anu Aga of Thermax group : Net worth $935 million
• Rank 73: Kiran Mazumadar Shaw : Net worth $730 million ( Her company is developing the world’s first oral insulin)
• Rank 76: Shobhana Bhartia Hindustan Times : Net worth $ 690 Million
• Rank 93: Vidya Murkumbi : Shree Renuka Sugars : Net worth $490 million

November 19, 2009: India placed third by UNCTAD among preferred destination for foreign direct investment.
The UNCTAD ‘World Investment Prospects Survey 2009-2011’ has ranked India as the third preferred destination for foreign direct investment. India received $120.3 billion foreign inflows in the last 18 years since 1991. Currently, all the FDI-related norms are dispersed through press notes issued since 1991. Now the government is planning to put together about 175 of its ‘press notes’ into an user-friendly compendium. During April-August 2009-10, FDI in India declined to $13 billion from $14.64 billion in the same period last year due to the global credit squeeze.

November 20, 2009: Phenom 100
Phenom 100 is a small aircraft of the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer & world’s fourth largest aircraft manufacturer Embraer . The company is now promoting this Phenom 100 in India. It is a 4 seater costing $ 4 million. Interesting to note that the company has 30 firm orders from India. The direct competition of Phenom 100 is with Cessna and Mustang.

November 20: Mobile number portability will cost Rs. 19
Mobile operators can charge not more than Rs 19 from customers for switching to another operator under the proposed Mobile Number Portability scheme as per recent statement from TRAI. Porting of numbers in metros will be available by December 31, 2009.

November 20, 2009: IT Development center of HCL in Brazil
HCL Technologies has opened a global IT development centre in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil. This IT development center will cater to clients across Latin America, North America and Europe. HCL has presently operations in Sao Polo and this development center will assist the current operations. Please note that 40% of overall IT spending of Latin America comes from Brazil.

Some Bits about India Brazil Trade:

• Brazil and India have current trade of approximately $ 200 Million.
• Brazil, which stands for B in BRIC, the fastest growing developing countries of the world is supporting India’s candidature in the UN Security Council and on trade issues at the WTO.
• Brazil was the focus country in the 24th India International Trade Fair currently organised at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi from November 14 to 27.
• 87 companies from Brazil had participated in this trade fair.
• Brazil is also an agro-based economy like India and in future will be natural partner of India in manufacturing sector.
• Brazil is the largest producer of ethanol in the world and India is showing keen interest to develop this sector in view of the growing energy crisis.

November 23, 2009: On Fuel-efficiency norms
India Government will soon notify the fuel efficiency standards for automobile sector in the country. These norms will be enforced from 2011 through the Energy Conservation Act or the Motor Vehicles Act. This was stated by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh in New Delhi in the 4th Environment Friendly Vehicles conference. So, by 2011, it will be mandatory for automobile manufacturers to sell vehicles with energy-efficiency tags, adding the information on the labels will have to be certified by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.

Which sector of India are on top in regard with national emissions?
Power comes first, agriculture second and transport third.

November 23, 2009: Indian firms in the “Top Companies for Leaders 2009” of Fortune.
3 Indian firms viz. ICICI Bank, Infosys Technologies, Hindustan Unilever are in the list of top 25 companies among a survey done by Fortune among more than 500 global companies in search of the top businesses at attracting, retaining, and nurturing talent. After several rounds of analysis and interviews. ICICI is on Rank 5, Hindustan Unilever on Rank 10 and Infosys on Rank 24. The global top 25 list was topped by technology giant IBM, followed by Proctor & Gamble, while General Mills and McKinsey cornered the third and fourth positions, respectively.The full list is available at this link
November 24, 2009: UK Sinha panel on FII inflows, PNs
India’s Finance Ministry has constituted a 16-member group on portfolio investments which will be headed by UTI MF chairman and managing director UK Sinha.

What this working group will do?
This group will recommend changes in the existing policies on FII inflows and participatory notes, with a view to attract more foreign portfolio investments. It will also review the policies on other foreign portfolio investment by NRIs and venture capital funds. It will submit its report uin 4 months.
The group will identify challenges in meeting the financing needs of the economy through foreign investment.