An Eruption Of Reality

For the third time in two years we’ve discovered that flying is one of the weakest links in our overstretched system. In 2008 the rising cost of fuel drove several airlines out of business. The recession compounded the damage; the volcano might ruin several more

Nokia looks beyond handsets

Two days to Christmas, on an unusually warm afternoon in the capital, management guru Ram Charan is pacing a large conference hall at a Radisson hotel in south Delhi. His audience, the most successful consumer sales force in the country, some 250 sales and marketing people from Nokia, each key to the e4 billion, or Rs 22,700 crore, annual revenues the world's biggest phone maker counts from India.

Decline Of The West?

The West may have to choose between being left behind by Chindia and innovating for them

Cambridge University keeps in touch with its past students by sending them Cam, a free magazine. It does not merely give news about the university; it is meant to educate and entertain. The last issue carried a debate between Jaideep Prabhu, who teaches Indian business and enterprise in the Judge Business School, and Professor Peter Williamson who was visiting Cambridge from INSEAD in France. Williamson argued that the view of India and China as manufacturers of cheap and inferior imitations was outdated. They were generating new technology, consumer choice and business models at a lower cost; so the idea that western countries could keep ahead through innovation was mistaken. Reva, the Indian electric car, was being driven around and being charged at kerbside power points in London; Huawei had won a contract from Telenor for the latest video-on-demand. A single Indian firm, Piramal Lifesciences, was developing 14 new compounds to treat all the major diseases of the West. The West was in trouble; its belief that it could keep ahead of the East with its innovation capabilities was wrong. It had to think of something else.

Vinod Khosla among Forbes' 'greenest billionaires'

Vinod Khosla -- a co-founder of Sun Microsystems and a longtime partner at venture capital powerhouse Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers -- has, with fellow billionaire and green business supporter John Doerr, been pouring millions of dollars into green tech companies.

They're super rich--and motivated to mint more money while leaving a green footprint.

also click on this link
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/Vinod-Khosla-among-Forbes-greenest-billionaires/articleshow/5855395.cms

Five Billionaires Who Live Below Their Means

1. Warren Buffett 
2.  Carlos Slim  
3. Ingvar Kamprad 
4. Chuck Feeney  
5. Frederik Meijer

Russia's Pipeline To Chinese Capital

Companies that traditionally sought investment from Europe are now looking to China.

The New Face of Japanese Deflation

Falling prices in the 1990s were a sign of restructuring. Now they're a warning that something's going wrong.

In the face of seemingly intractable deflation, some in Japan are now trying to put a happier face on a phenomenon more often portrayed as a major problem. "We should enjoy mild deflation, rather than to deplore deflation as a disease," Eisuke Sakakibara, known as "Mr. Yen" during his stint running international economic policy at the Finance Ministry in the 1990s, said recently.

China's Half-Open Door

Reform momentum has stalled and the business environment is deteriorating.

From the dawn of the reform era in 1979, one of China's best cards in attracting foreign investment has been policy momentum. No matter how bad the problems were at any given moment, you could pretty much count on tomorrow bringing improvement in the business climate. Even the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre only briefly interrupted the progress toward a market economy.

India's Dirty War

A violent struggle over resource-rich land is pitting billionaires against Maoists. Thousands of villagers have been killed and displaced.

Singles Have 'No Life' And Other Work Stereotypes

Singles may be able to devote more time to their careers, but some say they feel stigmatized in the workplace for not being married with children.

IMF, World Bank Seek Stability

Proposals to address financial instability have yet to overcome political and technical barriers.

Cross of Gold

How the rush to crucify Goldman Sachs is clouding our judgment and distorting public policy

Is Greece's tragedy in its final act?

After months of market turmoil, Greece's government succumbed to reality and asked for a $60 billion bailout from its Eurozone compatriots and the International Monetary Fund. The rescue, once it is finalized, will likely calm markets for a while, since it will at the very least ensure Greece won't default on its massive pile of sovereign debt in the short term.

Obama’s Bad Cop

Clinton's played the heavy with Iran, Russia, and even Israel—and her sometimes hawkish views are finding favor with the president.

The film business

Rich pickings for the sharks

The author argues that a film’s theatrical run is little more than a marketing campaign for the subsequent release of DVDs and TV broadcasts, where the real money is to be made. Cinemas become less and less important as piracy and digital distribution eat away at Hollywood’s “windows”: the time that separates the appearance of a film in cinemas from its arrival on DVD and pay-TV. Eventually, Mr Epstein predicts, studios will release films almost concurrently in all formats. Executives have “as much chance of reversing the secular shift of audiences from the theatre to the home as King Canute had in commanding the tide to recede.”

Aliens exist: Hawking

‘Might raid Earth for its resources' 

Do aliens exist? They do, but humans should try to avoid any contact with them — at least, that's what one of the world's leading physicists, Stephen Hawking, claims.

'Privacy Is A Fundamental Right'

The privacy officials of 10 countries write to Google CEO raising concerns about privacy issues surrounding social network tool Google Buzz and Google Street View

Dear Mr. Schmidt:
Google is an innovative company that has changed how people around the world use the Internet.  We recognize your company’s many accomplishments and its dramatic impact on our information economy.  As data protection regulators mandated to protect privacy rights, we also applaud your participation in discussions in many jurisdictions about new approaches to data protection.

Delhi Diary : Vinod Mehta

The life and times of Shashi Tharoor resemble a morality tale. Here is a man who begins life with an extra-long silver spoon in his mouth. Clever, even brilliant, awesomely well-educated, lucky enough to land one of the most coveted jobs on the planet, author of several critically acclaimed books, he comes within a whisker of being elected Secretary General of the UN, manages to win a Lok Sabha seat, becomes a minister in the privileged foreign affairs ministry—and then throws it all away. Why? Is this man carrying an irresistible death wish? Or is he just a flawed hero of Shakespearean proportions? According to me, the above discussion is infinitely more interesting than whether he is a gentleman crook.

Once upon a time I used to read Vinod Mehta regularly........ He is very intelligent chap

India's Thinker : OBITUARY: C.K. PRAHALAD

He was a Professor of Corporate Strategy at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and was well known for writing best sellers on management subjects, including The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profit.

If they were crooks, wouldn't they be richer?

Millions of poor Indians are considered criminal by tradition. Most are nothing of the sort

ULIPs: Existing investors should stay invested

The no-load regime, which should have probably brought cheers among investors, however, turned out to be a nightmare for MF distributors as well as the manufacturers of MF products. In a country were financial literacy is still at a very nascent stage, convincing the investor to knowingly and willingly pay a commission for making such investments, was out of bounds for the distributors, resulting in a virtual boycott of sale of the MF products by the distributor community.

India's great escape from the socialist zoo

Critics pointed out that other developing countries like Korea and Taiwan had opted for export-oriented growth rather than self-sufficiency, and been rewarded with 10% GDP growth, thrice as fast as the Hindu rate of growth in India. The socialists smiled condescendingly and said that these countries were neo-colonial puppets falling into an imperialist trap, and had no future. In fact, the supposed puppets soon became richer in per capita income than their colonial master, Britain. India, alas, remained mired in poverty.

Time to rebalance America’s economy is set to shift away from consumption and debt and towards exports and saving. It will be its biggest transformation in decades, says Greg Ip

Instead, America’s economy will undergo one of its biggest transformations in decades. This macroeconomic shift from debt and consumption to saving and exports will bring microeconomic changes too: different lifestyles, and different jobs in different places. This special report will describe that transformation, and explain why it will be tricky.

Pakistan: No man's land A constitutional settlement—or a prelude to more trouble?

Mr Sharif, meanwhile, is likely to focus attention on the country’s economic woes, such as 25% inflation, acute energy shortages and strikes. A budget is due in June and will need to meet the conditions of an IMF loan approved in 2008. It could trigger mass agitation for a change of government.

Greece's deepening debt crisis:Worries about Greece’s ability to roll over its maturing debt are giving way to bigger fears

Optimists are still confident that the government can raise enough funds in the next six weeks to stave off default, though at a high cost. The government has more than €13 billion in cash, enough to refinance maturing debt and fund the budget deficit during April. It needs to raise another €10 billion-12 billion in May. The likely borrowing requirement for the remainder of the year, around €25 billion, is spread more evenly. “If we can get over the May borrowing hump, it’s a relatively smooth cruise for the rest of the year,” says one trader in Athens.

The gods strike back

ONE OF THE BEST ARTICLE ABOUT THE RECENT ECONOMIC PROBLEMS ENGULFING WORLD  thanks mik....
                                                              MUST READ

“THE revolutionary idea that defines the boundary between modern times and the past is the mastery of risk: the notion that the future is more than a whim of the gods and that men and women are not passive before nature.”

SEBI Order on ULIP

1. It has been noticed that the following entities have launched several Unit Linked
Insurance Products (ULIPs) :-
a. Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company Limited
b. Aviva Life Insurance Company India Limited
c. Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited
d. Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Limited
e. Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited
f. HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited
g. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited
h. ING Vyasa Life Insurance Company Limited
i. Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Limited
j. Max New York Life Insurance Co. Limited
k. Metlife India Insurance Company Limited
l. Reliance Life Insurance Company Limited
m. SBI Life Insurance Company Limited
n. TATA AIG Life Insurance Company Limited

In view of the above, I conclude that ULIPs offered by the said entities are a
combination of investment and insurance and, therefore, the investment components
are in the nature of mutual funds which can only be offered/launched after obtaining
registration from SEBI under section 12(1B) of the SEBI Act.
PRASHANT SARAN
PLACE: MUMBAI WHOLE TIME MEMBER
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA

Follow the wife? A good career move for a man

It is time society realized that modern families don’t really have a single breadwinner any more. And that a woman has as much right to ask her prospective husband to move down the career path she follows. Equally, it should not be considered “bad” if a man earns less than his wife - and does more housework than her.

Greek Bonds Plunge on Speculation EU-IMF Aid Plan May Falter

April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Greek bonds slumped, driving the yield premium investors demand to hold 10-year securities instead of German bunds to the most since 1998, on speculation the European Union’s aid plan for the nation may falter.

The yield on the two-year note surged a record 137 basis points after Market News International said Greece wants to bypass International Monetary Fund involvement in the agreement should it require aid because the terms would be too stringent. A Greek Finance Ministry official denied the report. An IMF delegation will start a two-week visit to Athens tomorrow to provide technical assistance at the request of Greek authorities, the fund said today in an e-mailed statement.

Japan's 'Lonely Deaths': A Business Opportunity

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In the 1990s, Taichi Yoshida, the owner of a small moving company in Osaka, Japan, began noticing that many of his jobs involved people who had just died. Families of the deceased were either too squeamish to pack up for their dead relatives, or there wasn't any family to call on. So Yoshida started a new business cleaning out the homes of the dead. Then he started noticing something else: thick, dark stains shaped like a human body, the residue of liquids excreted by a decomposing corpse.