Oral Slugfest

Three personalities, one objective and a common agenda. This sums up the current political environment of the country. Like men possessed the three key leaders from three key parties are addressing political rallies in a run up to the most awaited even of the decade – Elections 2014. Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal addressed rallies in three different states, describing one another as frauds. While BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi accused the Congress of playing “fraud” with the armed forces and labeled it a party that was the “ABCD of corruption”, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi took him on over the Lok Ayukta issue charging the BJP with “practicing politics of blood”. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal, on the other hand, attacked both the BJP and the Congress as being “hand-inglove on corruption” and favouring a few top industrialists. High time, one gets over petty politics of accusation and do something worthwhile to put growth back on track.

Reaching For The Top

Indian talent seems to be recognized far better abroad than in India. Lakshmi Swaminathan has been elected president of the Administrative Tribunal of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for three years. Swaminathan is the seventh president of the Tribunal and the first Indian to have been appointed to the post. Of the previous six, two had been from the US, two from Philippines, one from Sri Lanka and one from the UK. Appointed as a member of the Tribunal in 2010, Swaminathan is a jurist in administrative law and was Vice-chairman of the principal bench at Delhi of the Central Administrative Tribunal. She has worked in the ministry of Law & Justice for 20 years. Currently, she is a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of several public sector undertakings and the NSE. Woman power certainly is finding its right place across the board.

Calling It Quits

Admiral DK Joshi stepped down as the Chief of the Indian Navy hours after a submarine accident off the coast of Mumbai, in the backdrop of growing concerns about a series of mishaps involving warships. The Defence ministry said that Admiral Joshi was stepping down taking moral responsibility for the incidents in recent months. Vice Admiral R K Dhowan will function as the Navy chief till a replacement is named. Its high time we think about fleet replacement than personnel replacement.

Just In Time Funding

Even as new ventures in the online selling space are finding it difficult to survive the sluggish markets, online marketplace giant Snapdeal announced the receipt of its second round of funding worth Rs 30 crore from its old investors, led by American e-commerce player eBay. Snapdeal is expected to use these funds to build an ecosystem for logistics and supply chain and technological innovations for mobile commerce. Ecommerce seems to be on the uptick, but what if it ends the way dotcoms did?
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Change Of Guard

Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily’s recommendation for giving a one-year extension to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Chairman Sudhir Vasudeva has been rejected. This paves the way for ONGC Videsh (OVL) Managing Director D K Saraff to take charge as the company chief. Though the petroleum ministry was keen on giving extension to Vasudeva to push the company’s strategic initiatives, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had created roadblocks, stating there were six pending cases against the official. Saraff was selected by the Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) after short listing seven candidates, which included GAIL India Chairman and Managing Director B C Tripathi, ONGC Director (T&FS) Shashi Shanker, Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India head M S Rana and Indian Railways Chief Mechanical Engineer Ashwani Lohani.

Proactive Regulators – A Sign Of Good Times

According to ratings agency Moody’s, Tata Power stands to benefit from the latest compensatory tariff allowed by power sector regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) for the company’s Mundra plant in Gujarat. On February 21, CERC had allowed the company a 52 paise hike in unit tariff above the project’s levelised tariff of Rs 2.26 a unit as compensation for loss incurred due to change in Indonesian coal regulations in 2011. Regulators across the board are increasingly getting proactive in addressing the problems of corporate India and that is indeed a good sign of things to come.

Getting Over The Trouble?

Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) announced the setting up a committee to fi nd a strategic partner and divest a part of its stake in its various ventures, including the 24 per cent it holds in the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX). It has appointed a four-member committee to oversee a restructuring plan. In another development, MCX auditors, Deloitte Haskins & Sells is understood to have objected to the special audit of the exchange being carried out by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Clearing the mess is going to take a really long time for this once revered group for sure.

Finally Moving Ahead

The government has approved eight foreign investment proposals, including plans by L&T Infrastructure Development Projects and Welspun Renewables Energy, totalling Rs 1024 crore. The proposals were cleared following recommendations from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram. Welspun Renewables Energy received an approval to issue equity shares equivalent to a 13.3 per cent stake to Asian Development Bank for Rs 310 crore.

Driving Abroad

Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer has launched its operations in Turkey. The Delhi-based company announced a partnership with Asya Makina of Turkey to launch its two-wheelers there. Is it purely a geographical diversification or has the Indian market stagnated?