Last week of February has been sedate to say the least – In the world of finance, MCX IPO was star performer,
with the issue being over-subscribed by almost 55 times on investor
frenzy over the sole listing of the commodity exchange. The allotment
is expected around 5/6th of March; whereas listing by the end of the week.
Among other news, the state-owned energy giant ONGC’s auction almost
fizzled out, thanks to reports of last minute bail-out by the insurance
behemoth LIC; which was disgracefully dubbed as ‘success’ by the
face-saving government. Here are few highlights of the last few days:
Shut your Mobile while Driving
The latest news that has hit headlines in today’s morning newspapers
is jail term and higher fine for traffic law offenders, including
drunken driving, jumping traffic signals and use of mobile phones
behind the wheels.
The Union Cabinet has approved amendment of the Motor Vehicles Act
to increase penalties manifold to as much as Rs.500 for talking on
mobile phone while driving (including hands-free instruments), and
subsequent violations up to Rs.5000.
Indian Mobile market grew 10% in 2011
The growth in subscriber additions in the telecom sector is having a
positive rub-off effect on Indian handset market as well, with the
sales registering 10% YoY growth at 183 million units in 2011.
Moreover, Nokia retained its top spot by retaining almost one-third
market share in terms of unit shipments.
Interestingly, the shipments for multi-SIM handsets grew 61% YoY, constituting more than half (57%) of the total Indian mobile handset market.
Forbes List of Asia’s 50 Power Business Women
International Women’s Day is annually held on March 8 to celebrate
women’s achievements across the world, from the fields as varied as
politics, business, education, etc.
Just prior to this crucial event, Forbes has released its list of Asia’s 50 power business women, mainly crowded by Indians, Chinese and Taiwanese people. Following are the 8 Indian women who made a cut into the elite list:
- Vinita Bali – Britannia Industries
- Shobhana Bhartia – HT Media
- Ekta Kapoor – Balaji Telefilms
- Chanda Kochhar – ICICI Bank
- Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw – Biocon
- Zia Mody – AZB & Partners
- Shikha Sharma – Axis Bank
- Mallika Srinivasan – Tractors & Farm Equipment
India’s Trade Deficit for January 2012 at $14.7 bn
India’s January exports
came in at $25.35 billion, up 10.10% year on year – taking the
cumulative exports for the 10 month period of the fiscal year 2012 to
$242.80 billion.
The value of imports in the country surged by 20.30% YoY to arrive
at $40.10 billion; marred by higher crude oil import bill. To sum it
up, India’s trade deficit for January got screwed at $14.70 billion vs.
$10.30 billion logged during January 2011. Trade deficit during the
fiscal stood at $148.60 billion as against $105.90 billion YoY.
Sunil Mittal hints at tariff hike if charged for spectrum
Yesterday, we briefed on how mobile media usage has surpassed TV in consumer time spent. InMobi’s Mobile Media Consumption report states that consumers spend 27% of their media time on mobile, compared to 22% on television.
With the apex court canceling 122 licenses of new telecom operators
in the 2G spectrum allocation case, telecom czar Sunil Mittal has
raised alarm bells saying
that mobile tariffs will have to be raised if incumbent operators like
Bharti are made to pay extra for the spectrum that has been allocated
to them.
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