The ‘King’ goes shopping!

Travel companies in India are having a ball these days. With India’s tourism sector booming, almost all of them are on an expansion drive. One of the leading travel companies, Cox & Kings is planning to raise $80 million through the stock market (expected by March 2007) to become the first ever Indian travel company to get listed. As per reports, acquisition of other travel companies in UK & Middle East is on the cards, which will boost travelers from these countries to India. Like Thomas Cook, Cox & Kings too is all set to explore the franchise model to increase its presence in India. As part of its expansion strategy, the company plans to open 700 brand outlets in various Tier II & Tier III cities of India.

RCL & Bharti taste the Bhutanese defeat

Where on one hand there's celebration all around with respect to the success of the Indian players in retail, Reliance Communications (RCL) & Bharti, have yet again failed to make a mark on international soil. So what, if they are the largest CDMA & GSM operators in India, there is little respect for them outside the nation. While both players were recently knocked out of the race for securing telecom operating licence in Bhutan, the inexperienced Tahsi Group, with its Rs.795 million bid emerged as the victor! This follows the recent bowing out of both the players in a similar bid in Kenya and RCL's unsuccessful bid to enter the Egyptian market. Perhaps, this serves as a realisation that reigning supreme in India does not guarantee a similar recognition in the global markets, which are driven by much higher standards!

Kingfisher to add power its fleet!

All signs of Kingfisher Airlines going from strength to strength only gets more obvious by the day. The recent signing of a $300 million worth Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by Vijay Mallya, Chairman and CEO, Kingfisher Airlines on November 21, with Pratt & Whitney (a United Technologies Corporation company) for engines to power Kingfisher's new fleet of A330 aircrafts is the latest proof. The Pratt & Whitney engines would power Kingfisher's fleet of A320/A319s, ATR72s and A330s to ensure safer and more enjoyable travel experience for all the passengers.

M&M revving down the America roads

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has announced an accord with US-based Global Vehicles for the distribution of its range of pick-up trucks and SUVs in the US market, by the second quarter of 2007. This move by M&M is to garner a foothold in the largest market for SUVs and pick-up trucks. Global Vehicles has an established channel network of 130 dealers The company is still working on the price range of the products depending on customer expectations and initial market requirements. The volumes for the launch of the vehicles would be considered after the response from the US market.

Kotak Life to spread more

One of the major private players in the Indian life insurance sector, Kotak Life has announced plans to expand its presence to 90 new cities in the country and grow its agency force to 50,000 from the existing 18,000, with special focus on markets of Gujarat, Punjab, Kerala & Maharastra. This move has come in anticipation to grow above 100% in the future. Kotak Life, which has recorded first year premium of Rs.1.64 billion for the first half of the current financial year, has now launched a head start child plan that would provide long term capital growth along with protection of capital under volatile market conditions.

Sumo to lend $1 billion to ICICI

India's largest private bank ICICI is set to raise $1 billion loan in Yen. Permitted by the relaxed overseas borrowing norms, ICICI is preparing to take advantage of world’s lowest interest rate prevailing in Japan. After the bank’s lending surged 47%, it is raising the fund to further strengthen its lending base. The money will be raised in Yen to save on withholding tax and then the proceeds will be swapped into Indian Rupee. 14 banks have been hired by ICICI to arrange these loans that are expected to mature within a time period of one to three years.

Forbes salute to the Indian tycoons

NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal with an exorbitant net worth of $25 billion has gained top place in the Forbes magazine list of India’s 40 richest people. The list will be published in Forbes December 20 issue. Mittal is followed by Ambani brothers, with Mukesh & Anil taking the 2nd & 3rd position respectively. Two others who have re-entered into the list are tractor titan Keshub Mahindra & Cofounder of Infosys Technologies K. Dinesh. However, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon fame had to say goodbye to the list. With a humongous wealth of $11.2 billion, Mittal is also UK’s richest Indian and his company Ispat International is aiming to become the world’s largest steel firm.

A Case of different tariffs

After getting a go ahead from the Supreme Court, TRAI has made separate tariff structure for commercial CAS and non-CAS users. The first category would comprise of three stars and above hotels, inns and other commercial entities. They would have to pay the price for subscribing to cable channels based on the mutually agreed price. However, the bouquets offered to this category would be subject to restrictions. This means that the price would be market determined. All other commercial establishments would fall under the second category and the tariff s for this would be determined by those in the ordinary cable subscription area.

GM's big gamble

World's number one car maker General Motors is contemplating an engine manufacturing facility in India at an estimated investment of $400 million. The news came at an elaborate ceremony at Talegaon (near Pune), where the company is all set to establish a 145,000 unit facility to fuel its expansion plans in India. The company has plans to enter the high-volume mini car segment with the launch of Chevrolet Spark by the next calendar year and the new facility will be used for this purpose. The automobile company also plans to make India as the export hub for its Spark model. Since diesel propulsion has gained extreme popularity with the Indian public, GM is also thinking of adding diesel engines in its Indian production line. The Talegaon plant is expected to start production within the next two years.

A sigh of relief for Delhi traders

The Apex Court on November 23, extended relief to nearly 18,500 traders in Delhi from the ongoing sealing drive conducted by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Terming it as interim relief, the Traders Association said that the Supreme Court’s order would make an impact only on a particular section of the traders and not all of them. The court’s order protects those traders who have complied with the undertaking that they would no longer misuse the premises meant for residential purposes. Meanwhile the traders have demanded from the government to bring about a legislation amending the current MCD Act and take away the sealing powers from the MCD.

Now more Swedish cement on Indian soil

Swedish cement maker Holcim, the world’s second-largest cement maker after Lafarge, bought an additional 3.6% stake in Gujarat Ambuja Cements (GACL) to add to its existing 14.8% holding, taking the total holding to 18.4%. The Swiss cement maker bought about 50 million shares from the founders of GACL at Rs.138.65 a share, valuing the stake at Rs.6.85 billion ($153.3 million). The promoters of GACL – Sekhsaria family, sold the shares to Mauritius-based Holcim’s subsidiary, Holderind Investments. Holcim had acquired 14.8% stake in GACL from the promoters in January this year when it bought a majority stake in GACL.

And now it's two eyes for an eye
The criminal judicial system in America is getting increasingly inhuman & needs to be corrected

For all the propaganda on Human Rights that the United States preaches while sermonising to the rest of the world, it continues to be its worst violator. It remains the hypocrisy of the first order that while America organizes the execution of Saddam Hussein, it simultaneously ignores the plight of several others that rot in the prisons of its own country. As on April 1, 2006, 38 states of United States Federal government and the US military took up capital punishment for those convicted of heinous crimes. It must also be brought to notice that on the same date, about 3,370 convicted prisoners across the country were in the death row. Even if the debate related to the need of capital punishment is kept apart, the treatment that has been meted out to these outlaws has been anything but ‘humane’. Though the American judiciary (Roper V. Simmons, 1 March, 2005) has outlawed capital punishment for juveniles and child offenders, the US along with Somalia remain the only two countries in the world that have not ratifyed the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child. It must simultaneously be recorded that America's treatment of mentally ill death row inmates has been barbaric. When President Clinton was approaching the end of his term in office, he claimed that America had become more humane in the eight years of his administration.

In the same month of his boisterous claim, about 10 convicts were executed across America. Of the 10 that were executed, 4 of them had proven records of mental illness. The record of ‘humane’ America doesn't stop here. Clinton's successor, George Bush Junior had a proven record of mental alignment with death sentence! As a Governor of Texas, the death penalty sentences reached a crescendo. His 5 year reign as the Governor of Texas had seen a total of 152 executions. That figure constituted almost 20% of total executions taken up across the United States. Things haven't changed much as even now Texas conducts more executions than any other state in the US, with around 470 executions in the year 2005 alone. As a staunch supporter of the death penalty-based judicial system, Bush was pushed on the defensive when an instance of his support to the execution of critically schizophrenic patient (who was later executed) was brought to his notice. The above mentioned case related to paranoid schizophrenic Larry Robison.

Bush dilly dallied on whose case before giving lackluster promises related to the Republican Party's commitment to enhance funding for the Mental Health Program. Amnesty International notes that of the 800 odd people that have been executed post 1992, more than 20% have had a proven record of mental illness. As things worsen and as paranoia grows on the American administration, it is extremely unlikely that this crucial aspect related to natural justice is ever going to be addressed. Despite all the claims on fairness of law in the United States, it has been nothing of the sort when its record of treating its criminals is considered. A system that harps more on seeking revenge than on correcting the malaise is being followed domestically and more apparently internationally. Thus before harping on human rights violations in countries across the world, America should look within for cleansing the filth that has made it more of a reactionary society and less of a tolerant and corrective system.