Seven alerts for a money crunch!

Alert 1:You are terrible with bills and payments!
Maybe its forgetfulness or a laid back attitude or a chaotic lifestyle, whatever the reason, if you are laden with unpaid bills, get fined for late payments 70% of the time, bounce a few cheques every 10 months then its time to take stock of your organizational skills, at least in your personal finance department.Keep a monthly tracker, set reminders on your mobile, keep an online calendar that beeps when bill, insurance and other payment deadlines arrive, choose whatever means that you are comfortable with to meet the objective of being methodical with payments. Sort bills in a folder, keep them accessible at one place.

Alert 2: You use your credit cards excessively and take loans often
The golden rule is to spend less than you earn. Distinguish between your needs and desires. If you desire something too expensive, which you are tempted to purchase with your credit card, think twice. Don't splurge, see if it should be on your priority list.If it is a must have and you need it that badly, save for it. That will help you decide if you feel it is worth the effort. Remember, too much debt will eat into your monthly spending and put a road block to any kind of saving, as you will be busy paying off your credit card bills and monthly EMIs on personal loans for you to set aside anything for a saving.Instead try to reap the power of compounding interest by saving some funds. Once you are sitting pretty on a pile of money, you could then indulge in a well deserved vacation or that powerful music system, you always wanted as part of your relaxing Sundays

Alert 3: Obsessive compulsive impulsive shopping
Well, shopping malls, branded stores and supermarkets lined with tempting new entrants were designed with you in mind. These places you should avoid like the plague, if you are not someone who checks the price tags of goods but instead rely on the "I want it right NOW!" mind frame.Don't stack your living room or your kitchen or your fridge, with things that are purchased without any rhyme or reason. Take the example of Rema for instance, she has to try out new brands, interesting gizmos that she has no use for, antiques that she fancies endlessly and also food stuffs, the packaged, canned, ready to serve, frozen variety.Her living room is stacked with odd antique pieces that cost her a fortune, which she does not even have the time to take a second look at, her fridge overflows with canned foods that are well past their expiry dates and she owns three different kinds of mp3 players which she does not use! You are now thinking what a waste of money! Exactly!It is painful routine, but make it a habit. Keep a tab on your money outflow, make a note of what, where, when, how you spend. At the at end of every month, track your bills using an excel tracker or a good old accounting notebook and shred bills that are not required retaining warranty papers and bills, for goods that can be returned. Rema did that and realized how much more she could save with a little discipline!

Alert 4: You are a debt juggler!
Do you have a priority list of debts that you clear based on how heavy the late fee or charges are going to be or when next you need to repeat the use of that particular service?If this is the kind of lifestyle you lead, you need help! Find ways to cut back on your monthly expenses and pay off all your dues as quickly as you can.Don't let yourself into such a pins and needles situation again! Always cut back on spending, conserve on resources until to achieve control over your finances.

Alert 5: Cheques that bounce!If you think you can write cheques that cannot be encashed and get away with it scot free. Think again! Bounced cheques come with hefty fine amounts and establishing such patterns will not bode well for your financial track record.

Alert 6: Late and default payments
It can be minor expenses like a fine for the video or book that you returned late or consistently incurred late payment charges on your credit cards or EMI payments. The former just piles on miscellaneous expenses that end up adding to a significant percentage while the latter can lead to big trouble.Making a habit of this consistently can get you labeled as a defaulter. Your interest rates and lending rates could increase at an accelerated pace on the basis of your track record for late payments. Defaults will be reported to CIBIL. If a pattern is notice you will find taking a loan or applying for a credit card in future extremely difficult.CIBIL keeps track of all your credit and generates a report that clearly shows your past repayment track record. Nowadays Banks are keeping a close tab on these credit reports and base their loan decisions on the financial health of the loan applicant.

Alert 7: You don't have back up funds in place!
Can you survive a job loss for six months? Do you have some funds stashed away for such emergencies until you gather your reins and surge ahead confidently with a new job and a new plan for the future in place?What about a medical emergency? Do you have resources that you can tap into for such a scenario. If the answer is NO, then it is time to take a serious look at how you manage your money.Give it plenty of thought, time, effort, patience, commitment and enforce a plan of action.Small strategies will help go a long way! Keep watching this space on more such tips on managing your money. Here is a sample of a few things to start with, use your judgment and build on it.

LIST of CEO;s World wide

A
Accenture - William D. Green
ACE Limited - Evan G. Greenberg
Aditya Birla Group - Kumar Birla
Adobe Systems - Shantanu Narayen
Aftermath Entertainment - Dr. Dre
Air Canada - Montie Brewer
Alcoa - Alain Belda
Altria Group - Louis C. Camilleri
Amazon.com - Jeff Bezos
AMD - Dirk Meyer
American Airlines - Gerard Arpey
American Express - Kenneth Chenault
Amgen - Kevin W. Sharer
AMR Corporation - Gerard J. Arpey
Analog Devices - Jerald G Fishman
Anheuser-Busch - August Busch IV
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group - Anil Ambani
Antigenics Inc. - Garo H. Armen
Applebee’s International, Inc. - Julia Stewart
Apple Inc. - Steve Jobs
Arcelor Mittal - Lakshmi Niwas Mittal
Archer Daniels Midland - Patricia Woertz
AT&T - Randall L. Stephenson
Austar - John Porter
B
Bad Boy Records - Sean "Diddy" Combs
BAE Systems Plc - Ian King
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) - Francisco González
Bank of America - Kenneth Lewis
Barclays - Bob Diamond
Bellsouth - F. Duane Ackerman
Berkshire Hathaway - Warren Edward Buffett
Best Buy - Brian J. Dunn
Bharti Telecom - Sunil Bharti Mittal
Blackstone Group - Stephen A. Schwarzman
Bloodline Records - DMX
BMW - Norbert Reithofer
Boeing - W. James McNerney, Jr.
Borland - Tod Nielsen
Boston Consulting Group - Hans-Paul Bürkner
British Airways - Willie Walsh
British Sky Broadcasting - Rupert Murdoch
Bruegger's - James J. Greco
Burger King - John Chidsey
C
Campbell Soup Company - Douglas R. Conant
Canonical Ltd. - Mark Shuttleworth
Capital One Financial - Richard Fairbank
Caterpillar Inc. - James W. Owens
Cavium Networks - Syed B. Ali
Cisco Systems - John Chambers
Citigroup - Vikram Pandit
Coca-Cola - Muhtar Kent
Cognizant Technology Solutions - Francisco D'Souza
Comcast Corporation - Brian L. Roberts
Compuware Corporation - Peter Karmanos, Jr.
ConAgra - Gary Rodkin
Continental Airlines - Larry Kellner
Cameron - Sheldon Erikson
Crown Worldwide Group - James E. Thompson
CVS Caremark - Thomas Ryan
Cypress Semiconductor - TJ Rodgers
D
DaimlerChrysler - Dieter Zetsche
Def Jam - L.A. Reid
Dell Inc - Michael Dell
Deutsche Bank - Josef Ackermann
Deutsche Post World Net - Frank Appel
Digg - Jay Adelson
Dish Network Corporation - Charlie Ergen
DLF Universal - Kushal Pal Singh
Domino's Pizza - David Brandon
DuPont - Ellen J. Kullman
Dubai Holdings - H.E. Mohammed Al Gergawi
Dunkin' Donuts - Jon L. Luther
E
EADS - Louis Gallois
eBay - John Donahoe
Electronic Arts - Lawrence F. Probst III
Environment Agency - Barbara Young, Baroness Young of Old Scone
Ericsson - Carl-Henric Svanberg
Eurasia Group - Ian Bremmer
Exxon Mobil - Rex Tillerson
F
Facebook - Mark Zuckerberg
FedEx - Frederick W. Smith
Free Software Foundation - Richard Stallman
Fidelity Investments - Abigail Johnson
Ford Motor Company - Alan Mulally
Fox Learning Systems - Debra Fox
Fisher Investments - Kenneth L. Fisher
FUBU - Daymond John
Full Surface - Swizz Beatz
G
Gas Powered Games - Chris Taylor
General Dynamics - Nicholas Chabraja
General Electric - Jeffrey R. Immelt
General Motors - Fritz Henderson
GfK AG - Klaus L. Wübbenhorst
GlaxoSmithKline - Andrew Witty
Goldman Sachs - Lloyd Blankfein
Google - Eric E. Schmidt
GMA Network - Felipe Gozon
H
Halliburton - David J. Lesar
Harley Davidson - James Ziemer
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care - Charlie Baker
HCL Technologies - Vineet Nayar
Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd. - Lee Shau Kee
Hewlett-Packard - Mark V. Hurd
Hindalco - Kumar Mangalam Birla
Home Depot - Frank Blake
Honda Motor Co. Ltd - Takeo Fukui
Honeywell - David M. Cote
HP Hood LLC - John A. Kaneb
HSBC - Michael Geoghegan
I
IBM - Samuel J. Palmisano
IKEA - Anders Dahlvig
Infosys Technologies Limited - Kris Gopalakrishnan
ING - Michel Tilmant
Intel - Paul Otellini
ITC Limited - Y C Deveshwar
J
J.Crew - Millard Drexler
JP Morgan Chase - James Dimon
[edit] K
Kaplan, Inc. - Andrew Rosen
Kingdom Holding Company - HRH Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
Koch Industries Inc. - Charles G. Koch
[edit] L
Las Vegas Sands - Sheldon Adelson
Lehman Brothers - Richard S. (Dick) Fuld, Jr.
Lucent Technologies - Patricia Russo
L.L. Bean - Christopher McCormick
Larsen & Toubro Limited - A M Naik
Lufthansa - Wolfgang Mayrhuber
Lockheed Martin-Robert Stevens
LPK - Jerry Kathman
[edit] M
Macy's, Inc. - Terry J. Lundgren
Marks and Spencer - Stuart Rose
McDonalds - Jack Greenberg
McKinsey - Ian Davis
Mercedes-Benz - Dieter Zetsche
Merrill Lynch - John Thain
Mesa Air Group - Jonathan Ornstein
MetLife - C. Robert Henrikson
MGA Entertainment - Isaac Larian
Microsoft - Steven Anthony Ballmer
Mile High Comics - Chuck Rozanski
Morgan Stanley - John J. Mack
Motorola - Greg Brown
Mozilla - Mitchell Baker
MySQL AB - Marten Mickos
MySpace - Chris DeWolfe
[edit] N
National Amusements - Sumner Redstone
NBC Universal, Inc. - Jeff Zucker
Newlog - Yochanan Vollach
News Corporation - Keith Rupert Murdoch
New York Times Company - Janet L. Robinson
Nike - Mark Parker
Nissan - Carlos Ghosn
Nokia - Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo
Nortel - Mike S. Zafirovski
Nintendo - Satoru Iwata
[edit] O
Office Depot - Steve Odland
Oracle Corporation - Larry Ellison
Orascom Telecom Holding - Naguib Sawiris
[edit] P
The Pantry - Peter J. Sodini (retiring September 2009)
Patni Computer Systems - Narendra Patni
PepsiCo - Indra Nooyi
Perot Systems - Peter Altabef
Pfizer - Henry McKinnell
Pixar - Steve Jobs
Playboy Enterprises - Christie Hefner
Polo Ralph Lauren - Ralph Lauren
Popular, Inc. - Richard Carrion
Procter & Gamble - Alan Lafley
Prudential Financial, Inc. - John Strangfeld
[edit] Q
Qwest Communications International - Richard Notebaert
[edit] R
Reliance Industries Limited - Mukesh Ambani
Renault - Carlos Ghosn
Rite Aid Corporation - Mary Sammons
Rocawear - Jay-Z
Royal Ahold N.V. - John Rishton
Royal Bank of Canada - Gordon Nixon
Royal Bank of Scotland - Stephen Hester
Ryanair - Michael O Leary
[edit] S
S. C. Johnson & Son - Herbert Fisk Johnson III
SAAB Automobile AB - Jan-Åke Jonsson
Samsung - Kun-Hee Lee
SAP AG - Henning Kagermann
SAS Institute - James Goodnight
Scottrade - Rodger O. Riney
Seagate Technology - Steve Luczo
Sears Holdings Corporation - Alan J. Lacy
Siemens - Peter Löscher
Simon Property Group - David Simon
Singapore Airlines - Chew Choon Seng
SingTel - Chua Sock Koong
Sirius Satellite Radio - Mel Karmazin
Sleep Country Canada - Steven Gunn
SoftBank - Masayoshi Son
Southwest Airlines - Gary C. Kelly
Sony - Howard Stringer
Starbucks Coffee Company - Howard Schultz
Statoil - Helge Lund
Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. - Walter Kwok
Sun Microsystems - Jonathan I. Schwartz
SunTrust Banks Inc. - James M. Wells, III
Supervalu Inc. - Jeff Noddle
Swedbank - Jan Lidén
Syntel Inc. - Bharat Desai
[edit] T
Tata Consultancy Services - S Ramadorai
Tata Steel - B Muthuraman
Telmex - Carlos Slim Helú
Telstra - Solomon Trujillo
Temasek Holdings - Ho Ching
Thomson Reuters - Tom Glocer
Tim Hortons - Paul D. House
Time Warner - Jeffrey L. Bewkes
TJX Companies, Inc. - Carol Meyrowitz
Tracinda Corporation - Kerkor "Kirk" Kerkorian
The Travelers Companies- Jay S. Fishman
Trump Organization - Donald Trump
Toyota - Hiroshi Okuda
Toys for Bob - Paul Reiche III
Toys "R" Us - Gerald L. Storch
Tradeking - Donato A. Montanaro
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. - Philip I. Kent
Tyson Foods, Inc. - Richard L. Bond (former)
[edit] U
UAL Corporation - Glenn F. Tilton
UBS AG - Oswald Grübel
US Airways - Doug Parker
United Parcel Service - Mike Eskew
United Technologies - Louis R. Chênevert
US Bancorp- Richard K. Davis
United Parcel Service- D. Scott Davis
UGI Corp.- Lon R. Greenberg
United States Steel Corp.- John P. Surma
United Technologies- Louis R. Chênevert
[edit] V
Valero Energy Corporation - William R. Klesse
Viking Range - Fred Carl, Jr.
Verizon - Ivan Seidenberg
Vodafone - Vittorio Colao
Vulcan Inc. - Paul Allen
[edit] W
Walt Disney Company - Robert Iger
Walgreen Company - Gregory Wasson
Wal-Mart - Mike Duke
Washington Mutual - Kerry Killinger
The Washington Post Company - Donald Graham
Whole Foods Market - John Mackey
Wikia, Inc. - Gil Penchina
Windstream Corporation - Jeffery Gardner
Winn-Dixie Stores - Peter Lynch
Wipro Technologies - Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani
World Wrestling Entertainment - Linda McMahon
Y
Yahoo! - Carol Bartz
YouTube, LLC - Chad Hurley
Yum! Brands, Inc. - David C. Novak

Part 2
1. What is SATMO?
2. What is “Vande Mataram Scheme” ?
3. What is Golden Handshake Scheme?
4. What is India Brand Equity Fund?
5. What is Jago Grahak Jago”?
6. What is a revolving credit?
7. What is Gender Budgeting?
8. What is Soft Currency?
9. What are factors of production?
10. What is the principle of Diminishing returns?

1. What is SATMO?
SATMO is Satellite Money Order Service introduced by Postal Department Govt. of India on December 16, 1994. However this scheme could not make its headway due to functional complicacies.
2. What is “Vande Mataram Scheme” ?
Vande mataram schem is a nationwide programme aimed at improving ante and post-natal care--which was launched on February 9, 2004. The scheme envisages free ante and post-natal check-ups, tips to avoid nutritional problems and anemia and counseling on small family norm and is a major initiative in Public Private partnerships during emergency.
3. What is Golden Handshake Scheme?
Golden handshake scheme is a Govt. of India scheme introduced as a Voluntary retirement Scheme (VRS) in Industrial Policy Resolution 1991 for reducing the pressure of extra employees on public sector enterprises.
4. What is India Brand Equity Fund?
This is a scheme to promote Indian Brands in Overseas Markets with the primary objective of brand promotion and not export promotion. To make the "Made in India" label a symbol of quality, competitive price, reliability and service to the customer & to project India as a reliable supplier of quality goods and services. It was established on July 11, 1996.
5. What is Jago Grahak Jago”?
The Consumer Awareness Scheme for the XI Plan amounting to a total of Rs. 409 crores has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 24.01.08. This scheme has been formulated to give an increased thrust to a multi media publicity campaign to make consumers aware of their rights. The slogan ‘Jago Grahak Jago’ is part of the publicity campaign undertaken in the last few years.
‘Jago Grahak Jago’ has become the focal theme through which issues concerning the functioning of almost all Government Departments having a consumer interface can been addressed. To achieve this objective joint campaigns have been undertaken/are being undertaken with a number of Government Departments.
6. What is a revolving credit?
Revolving credit is a type of credit that does not have a fixed number of payments. Corporate revolving credit facilities are typically used to provide liquidity for a company's day-to-day operations.The credit cards are examples of revolving credit. They are renewed automatically until the notice of cancellation is receieved. The time of repayment is specified.
7. What is Gender Budgeting?
Gender budgeting is the process of conceiving, planning, approving, executing, monitoring, analyzing and auditing budgets in a gender-sensitive way. Gender Budgeting is actually an attempt to women upliftment without any sex discrimination while formulating the policies and making allocation for them.
Gender Budgeting is a process that entails incorporating a gender perspective at various stages- planning/ policy/ programme formulation, assessment of needs of target groups, allocation of resources, implementation, impact assessment, reprioritization of resources.
Gender Responsive Budget and Gender Mainstreaming are outcomes of Gender Budgeting.
8. What is Soft Currency?
Soft currency is opposite of hard currency and it indicates a type of currency whose value may depreciate rapidly or that is difficult to convert into other currencies. Soft currency can be in the form of paper, electronic or debt-based "IOUs" which have in the past been used in place of hard currency. This currency has limited convertibility into gold and other currencies.
9. What are factors of production?
The resources and the inputs which are required to produce a good or service is called factor of production. The basic categories are land labor and capital.
10. What is the principle of Diminishing returns?
This principle says that if one factor of production is fixed and constant additions of other factors are combined with this, the marginal productivity of variable factors will eventually decline. According to this relationship, in a production system with fixed and variable inputs (say factory size and labor), beyond some point, each additional unit of the variable input yields smaller and smaller increases in output. Conversely, producing one more unit of output costs more and more in variable inputs.

Part 1
What is a fiscal deficit?
What is Black Money ?
What is a Black Market?
What is a blue chip company? Why it is blue color only used in such companies?
What is a direct Tax?
What is an Indirect Tax?
What are LDCs or Least Developed Countries?
What are Middle Income Countries ?
What is Policy of Laissez Faire?
What is the difference between Monopoly and Monopsony ?

1. What is a fiscal deficit?
A deficit in the government budget of a country and represents the excess of expenditure over income. So this is the amount of borrowed funds required by the government to meet its expenditures completely.
India's fiscal deficit widened to Rs. 541.58 billion in April, 2009 as compared to Rs. 329.39 billion rupees in April 2008.

2. What is Black Money ?
Black Money is the unaccounted money concealed from the tax authorities. The black money runs a parallel economy adversely affecting the distribution of wealth & income in the economy.

The total amount of black money globally is estimated between $2.1 and 2.5 trillion. This is roughly about seven percent of the world’s GDP.

3.What is a Black Market?
A black market is an illegal market, in which something is bought and sold outside of official government-sanctioned channels. Black markets tend to arise when a government tries to fix a price without itself providing all of the necessary supply or demand. Black markets in foreign exchange almost always exist when there are exchange controls.

4.What is a blue chip company? Why it is blue color only used in such companies?
A blue chip is concerned with stocks & shares of company, which are well established and whose purchase is considered extremely safe. Due to stable earnings and no extensive liabilities these companies are called blue chip companies.
The term blue chip comes from casinos, where blue chips stand for counters of the highest value. Most blue chip stocks pay regular dividends, even when business is faring worse than usual.

5.What is a direct Tax?
A direct tax is that which is paid directly by someone to taxing authority. Income tax and property tax are examples of direct tax. They are not shifted to somebody else.

6.What is an Indirect Tax?
This type of tax is not paid by someone directly to the authorities and it is actually passed on to the other in the form of increased cost. They are levied on goods and services produced or purchased. Excise tax, Sales tax, VAT are indirect taxes.


7.What are LDCs or Least Developed Countries?
Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are countries which as per United Nations show the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development.
They have lowest Human Development Index ratings of all countries in the world.
A country which has three-year average Gross national Income per capita of less than US $750 is tagged as LDC. a LDC must have an income of $ 900 to escape this tag. Besides if thse countries show human resource weakness based on indicators of nutrition, health, education and adult literacy and also or economic vulnerability based on instability of economy . Currently UN has tagged 49 countries in LDC. India is not an LDC.
8.What are Middle Income Countries ?
Middle-income countries (MICs) are the 86 countries that fall into the middle-income range set by the Bank's World Development Indicators. They account for just under half of the world's population; are home to one-third of people across the globe living on less than $2 per day; and are found in all six of the Bank's geographical regions. They cover a wide income range, with the highest income MIC having a per capita income 10 times that of the lowest.
9.What is Policy of Laissez Faire?
Laissez Faire is a French term and means no interference. It is a doctrine that states that government generally should not intervene in the marketplace.
10.What is the difference between Monopoly and Monopsony ?
In monopsony only one buyer faces many sellers. So this is called Buyer's Monopoly. It is a rare situation in today's economy.
In monopoly one seller faces many buyers. As the only purchaser of a good or service, the "monopsonist" may dictate terms to its suppliers in the same manner that a monopolist controls the market for its buyers.

Updated Current Affairs

v1. Mahindra & Mahindra Tie Up with Corporation Bank
2.India Winning the Series in New Zealand
3. India has 23rd least Friendly Tax climate
4. LIC contract to ElectraCard Services
5. Swapanali Yadav
6. DRDO Nishant
7. Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal to Ratan Tata
8. Kalpen Suresh Modi
9. Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim) and ICICI Bank
10. Japan now top M&A market in Asia-Pacific
11. PowerGrid

1. Mahindra & Mahindra Tie Up with Corporation Bank
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) and its joint venture company, Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd. (MNAL), has signed two MoUs with Corporation Bank for vehicle finance. Corporation Bank will be a preferred financier for the entire range of M&M and MNAL vehicles, encompassing utility vehicles, pick ups, three wheelers, passenger cars and Commercial Vehicles.
Note: Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd. (MNAL) is a 51:49 Joint Venture between Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) and Navistar Inc. USA. MNAL manufactures the entire spectrum of commercial vehicles ranging from 3.5 - 49 tons GVW/GCW. These products are developed to suit Indian conditions and will set new levels of reliability, efficiency and customer experience in the commercial vehicle industry. Apart from a joint venture to manufacture trucks and buses, in November 2007, Navistar signed a second joint venture agreement with Mahindra & Mahindra, Ltd., this one focused on producing diesel engines for Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles in India.

2.India Winning the Series in New Zealand
After a long wait of 41-years, the Men in Blue finally claimed a test series in New Zealand. Indian opener Gautam Ghamhir was declared man of the match. After vistory in New Zealand, India has achieved 3rd Position in ICC ODI rankings.

3. India has 23rd least Friendly Tax climate
While India still maintains a relatively low rank of 23rd least friendly tax climate in this year's Tax Misery Index, topped by France with harshest taxes across the world, it is ranked at top in terms of increase in its tax misery score, a collective measure of maximum corporate, personal, social security and sales tax rates. The index assesses whether a jurisdiction's tax policy attracts or repels capital and talent by calculating its Misery score. Jurisdictions at the top of the index with high scores impose the harshest taxes, while the most tax friendly are at the bottom.

The index, an annual global ranking compiled by the Asian edition of US business magazine Forbes, ranks the countries in terms of their tax climate harshness.

India was ranked 35th least tax friendly jurisdiction in the 2008 list.

France, China and Belgium have been named as having top three harshest tax climates.

Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong have trumped other economies to retain the friendliest tax climate, as per the 2009 Tax Misery & Reform Index.

4. LIC contract to ElectraCard Services
ElectraCard Services (ECS), India's leading electronic payment solutions provider, has been awarded the contract for end to end processing of LIC Credit Cards, by Corporation Bank. The bank will issue white label credit cards on behalf of LIC Cards Services Limited, a company owned by LIC of India as per agreement entered into and the cards will be launched soon, stated a press release. LIC of India, one of the biggest insurance companies in the world, plans to leverage its ready database of 235 million policyholders to issue these cards in the first phase of rollout. It also plans to launch a facility to pay LIC premiums using the credit card. ECS will handle complete processing of the credit cards right from applications, card and accounts, transactions, billing, statements, payments, dispute resolution, and general ledger. ECS will also provide additional services in the form of a 24x7 help line to assist LIC card holders, as well as generate SMS and email alerts. ECS will provide the entire infrastructure and manpower required for such operations and will manage all relationships with 3rd party service providers that are engaged within this line of processing services.

5. Swapanali Yadav
Swapnali Yadav, the 8 year old from Mumbai participated and successfully completed the 19th International Swim across the Gulf Of Mesiniakos from Koroni-Kalamata, a distance of 30km, in 11 hours 10 minutes. The next youngest competitor was 22yrs old. Her next target is to become the youngest to swim across the legendary English Channel. The record books indicate that the youngest swimmer to cross the channel is Thomas Gregory at the age of 11yrs and 330days. Mihir Sen, a long distance swimming legend, was the first Indian to swim across the channel in 1958.

6. DRDO Nishant
The DRDO Nishant is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) developed by India's ADE (Aeronautical Development Establishment) a branch of DRDO for the Indian Armed Forces. The Nishant UAV is primarily tasked with intelligence gathering over enemy territory and also for recce, surveillance, target designation, artillery fire correction, damage assessment, ELINT and SIGINT. The UAV has an Endurance of 4 hrs & 30min. Nishant has completed development Phase and User Trials.
The 380 kg Nishant UAV requires rail-launching from a hydro-pneumatic launcher and recovered by a Parachute System. Launches at a velocity of 45 m/s are carried out in 0.6 seconds with 100 kW power and subsequent launches can be carried out in intervals of 20 minutes. The Mobile Hydro-Pneumatic Launcher (MHPL) system mounted on a Tatra truck weighs 14,000 kg and boasts of a life cycle of 1000 launches before requiring overhaul. Nishant is one of the few UAVs in the world in its weight-class capable of being catapult-launched and recovered by using parachute, thus eliminating the need for a runway as in case of conventional take-off and landing with wheels.
source : wikipedia
7. Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal to Ratan Tata
The prestigious Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal for Industrial & Social Peace was conferred on Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman, the Tata Group of Companies. The Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal was instituted by XLRI in 1966. Previous recipients of the Medal include respected names from diverse fields such as J. R. D. Tata, Arvind Mafatlal, Holck-Larsen, Rajmohan Gandhi, P. N. Bhagwati, V. Kurien and M. S. Banga. Mr. Ratan Tata has already been conferred with the XLRI Honorary Fellow Award.
A legend Called Ratan Tata: Some Other awards and Honours

1. On the occasion of India's 58th Republic Day on 26 January 2000, Ratan Tata was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest decoration that may be awarded to a civilian.

2. On 26 January 2008, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian decoration.

3. He was one of the recipients of the NASSCOM Global Leadership Awards 2008 given away at a ceremony on February 14, 2008 in Mumbai. Ratan Tata accepted the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2007 on behalf of the Tata Family.

4. In March 2006, Tata was honoured by Cornell University as the 26th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, considered the highest honor the university awards to distinguished individuals from the corporate sector.

5. He recently received an honorary doctorate from the London School of Economics and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

6. He was listed among the 25 most powerful people in business named by Fortune Magazine in November 2007.

7. In May 2008, Mr. Tata made it to the Time Magazine's 2008 list of the World's 100 Most Influential People. Tata was hailed for unveiling his tiny Rs. One lakh car 'Nano'.

8. On 29th August 2008, the Government of Singapore conferred Honorary Citizenship on Ratan Tata, in recognition of his abiding business relationship with the island nation and his contribution to the growth of high-tech sectors in Singapore. Ratan Tata is the first Indian to receive this honour.

8. Kalpen Suresh Modi
Kalpen Suresh Modi (born April 23, 1977), best-known by his professional name, Kal Penn, is an American film and television actor, and is the incoming Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison in the Barack Obama administration. On April 8, 2009 Penn announced that he would join the Obama White House as Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. This necessitated that his character Lawrence Kutner was written out of the TV series House.

9. Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim) and ICICI Bank
The Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim) and ICICI Bank Limited acting through its Hong Kong Branch (ICICI Bank) signed a loan agreement for USD 98 million under the Two- step Buyer Credit (Export Credit) arrangement. ICICI Bank is the first Indian Bank to have entered into this arrangement with China Exim. The agreement was signed by Mr.Zhu Xinqiang, Assistant President, China Exim and Mr.Sudhir Dole, Senior General Manager & Regional Head- Asia, ICICI Bank. This agreement was signed in Beijing on March 19, 2009.

Source: icicibank.com

10. Japan now top M&A market in Asia-Pacific
Mergermarket says Japan now top M&A market in Asia-Pacific. Japan Has Overtaken China This Quarter as the Most Active Country in Asia-Pacific in the first quarter of 2009 as the most active country in the Asia-Pacific region for the first time in five years. Japanese M&A accounts for 28% of the number of Asia-Pacific deals, while Chinese activity makes up 25%, according to "mergermarket", the independent M&A intelligence provider.

11. PowerGrid
India’s central transmission utility PowerGrid Corporation has tied up 75% of the Rs 55,000-crore capex for laying inter-regional transmission capacity of 37,800 mw by 2012. Moreover, the company has received the Centre’s approval for raising an additional $1 billion from multilateral organisations such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the notification for which was issued recently. Of the Rs 55,000 crore, nearly Rs 16,000 crore will come from internal accruals and Rs 39,000 crore through domestic and international borrowings and also through suppliers’ credit. Besides, the state-run firm has proposed a capex of Rs 12,000 crore for 2009-10 against Rs 8,095 crore in 2008-09.

Politics
Lapang becomes Meghalaya CM
Donwa Dethwelson Lapang was yesterday sworn-in as the chief minister of Meghalaya where President's rule was lifted on Friday.Governor R S Mooshahary administered the oath of office and secrecy to Lapang at a programme in Raj Bhavan. Lapang is head of the Meghalaya United Alliance, which is comprising Congress and a regional party, United Democratic Party (UDP). The alliance has 37 MLAs -- 26 from the Congress, nine from UDP and two Independents -- in the 60-member house which now has an effective strength of 55 following resignation of one UDP MLA and disqualification of four others.
About President Rule in Meghalaya : President Rule in Meghalaya was imposed on march 18, 2009 after the government survived narrowly with the trust vote of speaker.

Runu Ghosh Convicted
Runu Ghosh, former deputy director general in the telecom ministry who has been convicted for corruption, will be pronounced Friday by a Delhi Court.

About Runu Ghosh :
She was a former Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer, and was held guilty by the court of amassing disproportionate assets of around Rs.2.27 million and can face imprisonment up to seven years. According to the prosecution, she acquired the wealth between 1992 and 1996 while working as deputy director general (licence and finance) in the Telecom Department during the tenure of then telecommunications minister Sukhram.

Hung parliament is what Exit polls say :
India's month-long general election ended Wednesday, with exit polls forecasting the Congress-led coalition to be leading the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. Neither group will win a parliamentary majority. They will now be battling for new allies to form a new government.

Abroad

Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal is the new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. He is a a veteran counterinsurgency expert. He will take charge as the administration begins to implement its new strategy for the worsening conflict in Afghanistan and a growing insurgency in neighboring nuclear-armed Pakistan by allies of al Qaida and the Afghan Taliban. He is successor of Army Gen. David McKiernan

About US forces in Afganistan: There are more than 75,000 U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan. Another 21,000 American soldiers are due to deploy this year, including 17,000 destined for southern Afghanistan, the Taliban heartland and opium production center.

Last Nazi War Crime Trail in Germany:
Germany is preparing for its last Nazi war crimes trial and a courtroom duel between two old survivors: John Demjanjuk, accused of being a concentration camp guard in the killing fields of Eastern Europe, and Thomas Blatt, a former teenage inmate in one of the Third Reich’s most brutal outposts. In a charge sheet to be read to him with the help of an interpreter, Mr Demjanjuk will be accused of helping to kill 29,000 Jews.

UN warns a humanitarian crisis in Pakistan:
Fighting between government forces and Taliban in northern Pakistan has created a rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis, say the heads of a Pakistan relief agency visiting New Zealand.Shama Mall, a deputy director of Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan, says the situation at home for the 200,000 people forced to flee in the last two days is worsening. “It’s very worrying at present. These people are under the open sky in a very insecure and unstable
environment. People have been forced to leave at short notice and their immediate needs are not being met. Many have never had to leave their communities before and are afraid to do so.

Business & Economy

India's Industrial Output contract by 2.3%
The country's Industrial output contracted by 2.3 per cent in March, the sharpest fall in 16 years, raising fears of a sustained industrial slowdown. The manufacturing sector, which accounts for 80 per cent of the index of industrial production (IIP), plunged by 3.3 per cent in March compared to last year's 5.7 per cent growth, latest official data released on Tuesday showed. Overall industrial output grew by a 2.4 per cent during 2008-09, down from last year's 8.5 per cent. click for Official Data


Microsoft launched First Bond Issue:
Microsoft has launched its first bond issue in hopes of raising 3.75 billion dollars, sparking rumors the US software giant was contemplating a takeover bid. Microsoft, in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said that it would use the money from the bond issue launched Monday for "general corporate purposes" and planned to offer five-year, 10-year and 30-year notes. The software giant "intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include funding for working capital, capital expenditures, repurchases of stock and acquisitions.


China's Exports Plunged 22.6% in April :
China's exports plunged 22.6 percent in April from the year before in the sixth straight monthly decline while a torrent in bank lending meant to ward off the economic downturn pushed up spending on factories, real estate and other fixed assets. China's economy is the world's third-largest after the U.S. and Japan - relies heavily on exports for growth.

Special Duty on nylon tyre cord fabrics from China
The Central Board of Excise and Customs has in a notification extended the special duty imposed on imports of nylon tyre cord fabrics from China for a period of another five years.

ICICI ties up with VISA for US Cards

ICICI India's second-largest Bank and India's largest credit card issuer, and Visa Inc.have announced a strategic relationship that will enable ICICI's New York Branch to issue Visa Debit cards in the U.S., extending the convenience and worldwide acceptance of Visa Debit cards to the bank's increasingly global customer base. The bank will offer Visa Debit cards to its Global Indian Account and other checking account customers at its New York branch. The Global Indian Account service addresses the banking needs of Indians moving overseas who require access to local banking facilities in the United States.

About ICICI Bank Ltd:

ICICI Bank Ltd is India's largest private sector bank and the second largest bank in the country with consolidated total assets of over $95 billion as of March 31, 2009. ICICI Bank's subsidiaries include India's leading private sector insurance companies and among its largest securities brokerage firms, mutual funds and private equity firms. ICICI Bank's presence currently spans 19 countries, including India.

About Visa Inc.:

Visa Inc. operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world, and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries.

TCS Contract with Volkswagen

India’s largest information technology (IT) firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has signed a five-year contract with UK-based automobile maker Volkswagen Group to deliver IT transformation and support services.TCS will support Volkswagen in its business transformation programme to meet its aim to “sell more cars, sell more parts, drive down costs”.

SBI cuts deposit rates :

The State Bank of India has cut its fixed deposit (FD) rates across maturities by up to 50 basis points (100 basis points = 1%), effective from May 18. This is the second time in this month, and sixth time in 2009 that SBI has cut its deposit rates. Earlier this month, it reduced rates by 0.25 percentage points.

National Issues

PM wants to eradicate small schemes:
Prime Minister has directed all ministries and departments to suggest ways to downsize existing programmes. At present, there are only 50 central and centrally sponsored schemes, which had an allocation of more than Rs 500 crore for this year. This implies that for creation of any meaningful space, a large number of ongoing programmes will have to be deferred. Politically, this will be an uphill task as the government had introduced zero budgeting system three years ago and the then finance minister P Chidambaram had publicly expressed concern that proliferation of small schemes was hampering meaningful implementation.

In the Budget for this year, there are 908 Central schemes with a total allocation of Rs 77,973.6 crore of which only 24 schemes have an allocation of more than Rs 500 crore. These 24 schemes account for 42 per cent of all centrally funded schemes. The balance 58 per cent schemes have a total allocation of Rs 12,0876 crore.

Read Some Government of India Development Programs

Defence
India gets Akula-II by end of this year:

India gets its first new generation Akula-II class nuclear attack submarine by the year-end, bolstering its Navy’s undersea capability manifold. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has ordered delivery of the submarine to the Indian Navy and has sanctioned $300 million for speedy completion of the project.

What is Akula?

Akula means Shark in Russian .

India is paying two billion dollars for the completion of two Akula-II class submarines. The first submarine will be named INS Chakra.Whereas the Russian Navy's Akula-II submarine is equipped with 28 nuclear-capable cruise missiles with a striking range of 3,000 kilometers, the Indian version expected to be armed with the 300 km range 3M-54 Klub nuclear-capable missiles. Missiles with ranges greater than 300 kilometers cannot be exported due to arms control restrictions, since Russia is a signatory to the MTCR treaty.
Ceremonies

National Technology Day celebrated on May 11:
National Technology Day marks 11th anniversary of Pokhran-II nuke test. May 11, was a significant day in the history of India and it represented scientific contribution in hi-technology for country’s development and pride.
Both 1974 and 1998 nuke tests were conducted on Buddha Purnima day
About Pokharan II:
Pokharan-II refers to test explosions of five nuclear devices, three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998, conducted by India at the Pokhran test range. The test was conducted when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was in power with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister. These nuclear tests resulted in a variety of sanctions against India by a number of major states. On 18 May 1974 India exploded its first nuclear device code named Smiling Buddha. After about a quarter century, on Buddha Jayanti, 11 May 1998, Operation Shakti was carried out. Shakti was the codename for Pokhran-II.

About India's Nuclear Warhead Program:
The Indian nuclear weapons program was started in the year 1964. The 1962 Sino-Indian war was an unforgettable lesson to the Indian establishment. It underscored the need to have a strong military with a comprehensive capability to deter enemy forces. The Chinese Nuclear Test at Lop Nur in 1964 goaded the Indian government into action to kickstart India's indigenous program to develop nuclear weapons. Preliminary studies were carried out at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and plans were developed to produce plutonium and other bomb components. The program was shelved after Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru's death. It was revived in the year 1968 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The program culminated in the nuclear test of 1974 at Pokhran codenamed Smiling Buddha.

After the 1974 test India decided to stop testing as a temporary measure. Various political parties, especially the right wing Jana Sangh pushed for further testing and weaponisation. Successive governments in India decided to observe this temporary moratorium for fear of inviting international criticism. In 1995, Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao decided to carry out further tests. But the plans were halted after American satellites picked up signs of preparations for testing at Pokhran. The Americans under President Bill Clinton exerted enormous pressure on Rao to stop the preparations.

People :

Suresh Kalmadi is president of Indian Olympic Association
Indian Olympic Association
The Indian Olympic Association is the body responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indian teams at the events. It also acts as the Indian Commonwealth Games Association, responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Commonwealth Games. The Indian Olympic Association was formed in 1927 with Sir Dorabji Tata as its first president and since that year has been the body officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee as India's national Olympic organisation He was replaced by Maharaja Bhupindra Singh of Patiala in 1928 who stayed on till 1938.

Appointed:

Air Marshal PK Barbora is air officer commanding-in-chief, Western Air Command : Air Marshal PK Barbora, VSM, has taken over as the air officer commanding-in-chief, Western Air Command. Air Marshal Barbora, born in December 1950 in Shillong, was commissioned as a fighter pilot in June 1970. A very experienced flier, he has flown over 3500 hours. Air Marshal Barbora also took part in the 1971 war with Pakistan.

Died
Former Navy chief Admiral Sardari Mathradas Nanda dies: Former Navy chief Admiral Sardari Mathradas Nanda, who became popular as "the man who bombed Karachi'' during the 1971 war but later got enmeshed in controversy after his son was accused in defence kickback scandals, died late on Monday. He was 94.

Appointed the Navy chief in February 1970, Nanda is credited with formulating the daring strategy under which Indian warships bombed Pakistani oil tankers and enforced the blockade of Karachi port during the 1971 war. He will always be remembered in the most glowing terms for his leadership during the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict, in which the Indian Navy carved its name in golden letters in the annals of history by its sterling offensive actions.
After retiring in 1973, Nanda also served as the chairman of the Shipping Corporation of India and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan.