General Awareness Updates – January 2012
Economy & Business
Tata Sons, the holding company of over U.S.$80 billion conglomerate Tata Group, announced that Cyrus P. Mistry (right), the
43-year-old Managing Director of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, will succeed Ratan Tata.
The Board of Directors of Tata Sons at its meeting appointed Cyrus P. Mistry as the Deputy Chairman. He will work with Ratan N. Tata over the next year and take over from him when Tata retires in December 2012. Shapoorji Pallonji Group holds 18 per cent stake in Tata Sons.
Commenting on the appointment, Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons, said: "The appointment of Cyrus P. Mistry as Deputy Chairman of Tata Sons is a good and far-sighted choice. He has been on the Board of Tata Sons since August 2006 and I have been impressed with the quality and calibre of his participation, his astute observations and his humility. I will be committed to working with him over the next year to give him the exposure, the involvement and the operating experience to equip him to undertake the full responsibility of the Group on my retirement."
Mr Mistry has been a Director of Tata Sons since August 2006. A Graduate in Civil Engineering from Imperial College, London, he also holds a Master of Science in Management degree from the London Business School.
The Reserve Bank of India has notified new rules doing away with automatic approval for foreign direct investment (FDI) in existing pharmaceutical companies. Tightening the norms, the Government of India had in November this year done away with automatic approval of FDI in the existing pharmaceutical companies.
"FDI, up to 100 per cent, would be permitted for brownfield investment (i.e. investments in existing companies), in the pharmaceutical sector, under the Government approval route," the RBI said in a notification.
Under the new rules, for any merger or acquisition, the overseas investor will have to seek permission from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). After six months, it will be the monopoly watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) which will vet such deals. For the new investment, 100 per cent FDI will be allowed under the automatic route, under which investors only inform the Reserve Bank about the inflows and no specific government nod is required.
"FDI, up to 100 per cent, under the automatic route, would continue to be permitted for green field investments in the pharmaceuticals sector," the RBI said.
The decision follows directions from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who along with his senior Cabinet colleagues had deliberated in October over concerns arising out of several acquisitions of domestic pharmaceutical companies by overseas firms. The recent acquisitions include Ranbaxy Laboratories buy out by Daiichi Sankyo of Japan, Shanta Biotech by Sanofi Aventis of France, and Piramal Health Care by Abbott Laboratories of the U.S..
India and Nepal have signed a revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), which will facilitate exchange of information on banking between the two countries and help prevent tax evasion.
It will replace an earlier agreement signed between the two countries in 1987. The agreement is also likely to boost confidence of investors and help Nepal attract more investment from India. India is the biggest source of foreign investments in Nepal, as also its largest trading partner. However, Nepal accounts for only 0.44 per cent of India’s total trade.
The bilateral trade between the two nations has increased from U.S.$1.98 billion in 2009-10 to around U.S.$2.70 billion in 2010-11, registering an increase of 37 per cent. Indian firms are the biggest investors in Nepal accounting for about 47.5 per cent of total approved foreign direct investment.
Till date India has signed DTAA with 81 countries and Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) with five jurisdictions.
The U.S. economy grew by an annual rate of 2%, rather than the 2.5% that was released in an official first estimate. However, there was some positive news as data showed unemployment falling in 36 states in October, and rising in just five.
In the wake of the ongoing eurozone debt crisis, the unemployment rate in the euro zone reached another high, standing at 10.3% in October; however, it was lower for the wider European Union, at 9.8%. Also, in the eurozone area, the average youth unemployment rate, i.e. for those under 25, was 21.4%.
India’s leading research firm Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has scaled down its GDP forecast by a notch to 7.8 per cent for this fiscal from the earlier forecast of 7.9 per cent.
"A sharp downward revision in the forecast for the mining index from 4.4 per cent to 3.2 per cent, manufacturing sector from 7.5 per cent to 6.9 per cent and electricity from 9 to 8.7 per cent has led to a further decline in our GDP forecast for this fiscal from 7.9 earlier to 7.8 per cent," CMIE said.
"The data releases continue to bring in news of an economy that seems to be in trouble. The index of industrial production growth has slowed down to 2-4 per cent and the wholesale price index-based inflation growth has remained riveted to 9.5 per cent in spite of sustained efforts by the RBI to rein in inflation by raising interest rates," the agency cited as its reasons for the sharp downturn in the economic growth. "The persistent fall in the IIP and the high inflation rate almost seem to suggest that the economy is headed towards stagflation," it warned.
AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, filed for bankruptcy protection, an abrupt course change by one of the U.S.’s largest carriers that caps a decade of restructurings that are helping revive the long-troubled industry. Before this, AA was the only big American international airline not to seek bankruptcy protection. It racked up U.S.$10 billion in losses over the past decade and a massive debt of around U.S.$30 billion.
Economy & Business
Tata Sons, the holding company of over U.S.$80 billion conglomerate Tata Group, announced that Cyrus P. Mistry (right), the
43-year-old Managing Director of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, will succeed Ratan Tata.
The Board of Directors of Tata Sons at its meeting appointed Cyrus P. Mistry as the Deputy Chairman. He will work with Ratan N. Tata over the next year and take over from him when Tata retires in December 2012. Shapoorji Pallonji Group holds 18 per cent stake in Tata Sons.
Commenting on the appointment, Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons, said: "The appointment of Cyrus P. Mistry as Deputy Chairman of Tata Sons is a good and far-sighted choice. He has been on the Board of Tata Sons since August 2006 and I have been impressed with the quality and calibre of his participation, his astute observations and his humility. I will be committed to working with him over the next year to give him the exposure, the involvement and the operating experience to equip him to undertake the full responsibility of the Group on my retirement."
Mr Mistry has been a Director of Tata Sons since August 2006. A Graduate in Civil Engineering from Imperial College, London, he also holds a Master of Science in Management degree from the London Business School.
The Reserve Bank of India has notified new rules doing away with automatic approval for foreign direct investment (FDI) in existing pharmaceutical companies. Tightening the norms, the Government of India had in November this year done away with automatic approval of FDI in the existing pharmaceutical companies.
"FDI, up to 100 per cent, would be permitted for brownfield investment (i.e. investments in existing companies), in the pharmaceutical sector, under the Government approval route," the RBI said in a notification.
Under the new rules, for any merger or acquisition, the overseas investor will have to seek permission from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). After six months, it will be the monopoly watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) which will vet such deals. For the new investment, 100 per cent FDI will be allowed under the automatic route, under which investors only inform the Reserve Bank about the inflows and no specific government nod is required.
"FDI, up to 100 per cent, under the automatic route, would continue to be permitted for green field investments in the pharmaceuticals sector," the RBI said.
The decision follows directions from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who along with his senior Cabinet colleagues had deliberated in October over concerns arising out of several acquisitions of domestic pharmaceutical companies by overseas firms. The recent acquisitions include Ranbaxy Laboratories buy out by Daiichi Sankyo of Japan, Shanta Biotech by Sanofi Aventis of France, and Piramal Health Care by Abbott Laboratories of the U.S..
India and Nepal have signed a revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), which will facilitate exchange of information on banking between the two countries and help prevent tax evasion.
It will replace an earlier agreement signed between the two countries in 1987. The agreement is also likely to boost confidence of investors and help Nepal attract more investment from India. India is the biggest source of foreign investments in Nepal, as also its largest trading partner. However, Nepal accounts for only 0.44 per cent of India’s total trade.
The bilateral trade between the two nations has increased from U.S.$1.98 billion in 2009-10 to around U.S.$2.70 billion in 2010-11, registering an increase of 37 per cent. Indian firms are the biggest investors in Nepal accounting for about 47.5 per cent of total approved foreign direct investment.
Till date India has signed DTAA with 81 countries and Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) with five jurisdictions.
The U.S. economy grew by an annual rate of 2%, rather than the 2.5% that was released in an official first estimate. However, there was some positive news as data showed unemployment falling in 36 states in October, and rising in just five.
In the wake of the ongoing eurozone debt crisis, the unemployment rate in the euro zone reached another high, standing at 10.3% in October; however, it was lower for the wider European Union, at 9.8%. Also, in the eurozone area, the average youth unemployment rate, i.e. for those under 25, was 21.4%.
India’s leading research firm Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has scaled down its GDP forecast by a notch to 7.8 per cent for this fiscal from the earlier forecast of 7.9 per cent.
"A sharp downward revision in the forecast for the mining index from 4.4 per cent to 3.2 per cent, manufacturing sector from 7.5 per cent to 6.9 per cent and electricity from 9 to 8.7 per cent has led to a further decline in our GDP forecast for this fiscal from 7.9 earlier to 7.8 per cent," CMIE said.
"The data releases continue to bring in news of an economy that seems to be in trouble. The index of industrial production growth has slowed down to 2-4 per cent and the wholesale price index-based inflation growth has remained riveted to 9.5 per cent in spite of sustained efforts by the RBI to rein in inflation by raising interest rates," the agency cited as its reasons for the sharp downturn in the economic growth. "The persistent fall in the IIP and the high inflation rate almost seem to suggest that the economy is headed towards stagflation," it warned.
AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, filed for bankruptcy protection, an abrupt course change by one of the U.S.’s largest carriers that caps a decade of restructurings that are helping revive the long-troubled industry. Before this, AA was the only big American international airline not to seek bankruptcy protection. It racked up U.S.$10 billion in losses over the past decade and a massive debt of around U.S.$30 billion.
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