Inflation fell 1.17%

l

l

Date : Jul-23-2009 15:41

Inflation stayed negative for the sixth consecutive week at -1.17% for the week ended July 11, 2009 as compared to -1.21% in the previous week ended July 4, 2009 while 12.13% during the corresponding week July 12, 2008.

The wholesale price index for all commodities, used to measure the inflation, was up 0.1 per cent on a week-on-week basis, at 236.7 as against 236.4 for the previous week. Moreover, the index for Primary Articles group shot up by 0.7% to 260.3 from 258.5 for the previous week. The index for ''Food Articles'' group grew by 0.9% to 255.9 from 253.6. The index for Fuel & Power group rose by 0.1% to 338.4 from 338.2 for the previous week. The index for Manufactured group fell by 0.1% to 205.9 from 206.1 the previous week.

Mobile number portability to be delayed

l

l
Date : Jul-24-2009 08:40

As the telecom regulator is a still busy preparing regulation for the new system, Mobile Number Portability (MNP) will be delayed by at least three months from its scheduled execution date. MNP is a service that allows subscribers to hold on to their existing mobile telephone number when they switch from one service provider to another or from one technology to another of the same service provider. It is scheduled to come by the end of this year and not by September, as it was told previously. The Department of Telecommunications (DOT) had issued guidelines for its implementation in the country in August last year. Subsequently, the DOT issued licenses to two companies each serving a separate zone in the country. Hence, telecom regulator TRAI is working on regulations and the charges for the same.

Adani Power IPO to open on July 28

Date : Jul-21-2009
Adani Power Ltd, promoted by Adani Enterprise going for an initial public offering of 301,652,031 equity shares of Rs. 10 each for cash at a price to be decided through a 100 per cent book building process. The issue for the IPO opens on July 28.
The company has not mentioned about the price band of the issue. However, the company release says that the price band and the minimum bid lot will be decided by the company in consultation with the Global co-coordinator and the book running lead manager and advertised at least two working days prior to the bid/issue opening date. The face value of the equity shares is Rs. 10.

The global coordinator and book running lead manager for the issue is DSP Merrill Lynch. The other book running lead managers are Enam Securities, IDFC -SSKI, JM Financial Consultants, Kotak Mahindra Capital, Morgan Stanley India, ICICI Securities and SBI Capital.

The issue would constitute 13.84 per cent of the post issue paid-up equity share capital of the company. The issue includes a reservation of up to 8,000,000 equity shares for eligible employee. This Issue has been graded by ICRA Limited as IPO Grade 3, indicating average fundamentals through its letter dated July 2, 2009. The equity shares offered through this Red Herring Prospectus are proposed to be listed on the NSE and the BSE.

The company intends to utilize the net proceeds of the issue to part finance the construction as well as development of Mundra Phase IV power project for 1,980 MW and fund equity contribution in its subsidiary - Adani Power Maharashtra to part finance the construction and development cost of power project for 1,980 at Tiroda.

The company has an installed combined capacity of 6,600 MW. Currently, Adani Power is working on the following projects: a) Mundra Phase I and II with capacity of 1,320 MW. b) Mundra Phase III with 1,320 MW and c) Mundra Phase IV with 1,980 MW d) Tiroda Power Project, being developed by company's subsidiary Adani Power Maharashtra Ltd with 1.980 MW. Along with this, the company is also planning to develop two power projects with combined installed capacity of 3,300 MW through its subsidiaries.

India No. 2 in sending students abroad

More students than ever before are leaving their homeland to pursue higher studies abroad. The number of these mobile students increased two-and-a-half times between 1975 and 2007, to reach 2.8 million. Two-thirds of these foreign students make a beeline for six countries — the US, UK, France, Australia, Germany and Japan in that order.

Interestingly, Germany and Japan also figure among the top countries of origin of such students. China sends the largest number of students outside (about 421,000 in 2007) followed by India (153,300), Republic of Korea (105,300), Germany (77,500) and Japan (54,500).

The number of female mobile students is increasing at a slightly faster rate, as a result raising their share of the total from 46% to 49%, according to UNESCO’s recent report, ‘Global Education Digest, 2009’. Despite increasing numbers, the proportion of students going abroad for higher education has remained the same since 1999, approximately 2 out of every 100 students.

Among regions, Western Europe hosts the largest proportion of mobile students, over 41%, followed by North America with 24% and East Asia and Pacific with over 18%. In terms of individual countries, the US hosts the largest proportion, 21%.

A new trend in the flow of mobile students is the preference to stay within their regions of origin. For instance, 77% of students going abroad from West European countries stay within that region, while the corresponding figure for North America is 39%.

Mobile students from South and West Asia are understandably much less likely to stay within their own region — just 1.3%.

What seems surprising initially is that this is much lower than even in sub—Saharan Africa, where 23% stay within the region. But thats because most of these students would be concentrated in South Africa, which hosts one out of five mobile students of the region.

Mobile students also now have a wider choice of destinations. For instance, earlier, 71% of mobile Indian students went to the US, 8% to the UK and 7.6% to Australia. Now, the US share of Indian students going abroad is down to 56%. Many more are now going to Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the UK.

Globally too, the US’s share has declined. One out of every four mobile students went to the US in 1999. Now, it is down to one out of every five, though in absolute numbers, it has increased from over 450,000 mobile students to nearly 600,000.

Other historically popular destinations like Australia, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa now get a larger share of mobile students. Also, countries like China, South Korea and New Zealand have emerged as new popular destinations.

You might be surprised to know that India has a low rate of students going abroad compared to the global average. Just one in every 100 Indian tertiary students studies abroad against the world average of 1.8%.

Soruce:TOI