Arun Panchariya-UAE electricity authority on a drive to hire 400 Emiratis

The Federal Electricity Authority (Fea) is conducting interviews to hire 400 Emiratis this year with a view to secure 2,000 jobs for Emiratis over the next five years.

This came as part of the Abshir initiative, launched under the directives of the President, Sheikh Khalifa, which seeks to bolster Emiratisation.Fea yesterday interviewed 105 Emirati male and female job-seekers.Adnan Nasib Salem, executive director of the shared services department at Fea, said 90 per cent of Emiratis interviewed would be recruited. 

Fea has arrangements with a number of colleges and students whereby the authority supports students with monthly grants, Mr Salem said.

NASA Announced to send New Rover to Mars in

The US space agency NASA, on 4 December 2012 announced plans to send a new robotic explorer to the the Red Planet, Mars in 2020.

The announcement came a day after NASA released the results of the first soil tested by the Curiosity rover, which found traces of compounds like water and oxygen that are necessary for life.

Some basic guidelines for the mission are already planned. The 2020 rover is going to help NASA in preparing for its eventual goal of bringing samples from Mars back to Earth — an effort most scientists regard as the best way to look for signs of life on the Red Planet.

The unmanned rover's chassis and landing system will be based heavily on NASA's 2.5 billion dollar Curiosity rover, which was send on Mars in August 2012. The Curiosity Rover landed on Mars 5 August 2012 and dropped onto the surface by a rocket-powered sky crane. 

It's now four months into a two-year prime mission to determine if the Red Planet can, or ever could, support microbial life. The 1-ton rover carries 10 different science instruments to aid this quest.

The 2020 Curiosity Rover launch would allow NASA to keep contributing to two European-led Mars missions — the Trace Gas Orbiter and the ExoMars rover which is scheduled to lift off in 2016 and 2018, respectively. 

Reference: jagran josh

India sets up seaside "village" to nurture start-ups

KOCHI, India (Reuters) - Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Indian information technology giant Infosys (NSI:INFY.NS - News), stares out from a wall-to-wall poster in a modern office building near Kochi.

A caption reads: "We started Infosys in a room about this size; it's your turn now."

His message is directed at aspiring entrepreneurs at Startup Village, a state-of-the-art glass and steel edifice tucked in a green corner of the port city, who dream of creating the next billion-dollar tech giant.

But even three decades after Infosys, India's second-largest software service provider, was founded by middle-class engineers, the country has failed to create an enabling environment for first-generation entrepreneurs.

Startup Village wants to break the logjam by helping engineers develop 1,000 Internet and mobile companies in the next 10 years. It provides its members with office space, guidance and a chance to hobnob with the stars of the tech industry, including Gopalakrishnan, the project's chief mentor.

But critics say this may not even be the beginning of a game-changer unless India deals with a host of other impediments - from red tape to a lack of innovation and a dearth of investors - that are blocking entrepreneurship in Asia's third-largest economy.

India ranks 74th out of 79 nations in the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index, making it one of the worst places in the world to start a business.

A World Bank report says it is easier to start a business in violence-afflicted Pakistan or poverty-stricken Nepal than in their giant neighbour, where everything from getting electricity to credit is time-consuming and fraught with paperwork.

"Take Apple or take Google. If exactly the same company had been started in India, its prospects would have been very different," said Erkko Autio, chair in technology venturing and entrepreneurship at Imperial College, London. "Basically, it would have not reached the potential it has as a start-up."

Reference: http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news

Will Indian companies pass this CGR test?

Auditing and governing are two separate functions. But, these are not mutually exclusive. Neither are they independent, nor interdependent. Rather, one reinforces the other. For a company to have a good corporate governance practice, one of the important conditions is to have a voluntary rotation clause for auditors.

However this essential requirement for good corporate governance is not followed that seriously by large-cap companies in India. A recent study conducted by Institutional Investors Advisory Services (IIAS), a voting advisory firm shows that nearly 56% of the Sensex companies and 40% of the Nifty 50 companies have retained the same auditor for more than ten years. This is quite high if one goes by the voluntary code issued by the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) that prescribes an auditor rotation every five years. Large companies like Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Hindalco Industries, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Grasim Industries and Jaiprakash Associates have not changed their auditors for more than 20 years.

Companies say long relationships help in familiarising statutory auditors with their systems and processes and, in turn, make the audit process faster, more consistent and efficient. Corporate governance experts and advocacy groups say this practice has created a class of so-called vintage auditors and warn that it may dilute the independence required of auditors. If a company has had the same auditor for long, then knowingly or unknowingly, a comfort zone develops. Rotating the (audit) firm or at least the signing partner brings in some independence.

However, with the passage of the new Companies Bill, this long association between a company and its auditors is set to change. The draft Companies Bill, which is likely to be passed in the ongoing Parliament session, has taken a middle path as it advocates rotation after five years with the flexibility to extend it to 10 years, after which there is a mandatory cooling off period for five years.

Refrence: http://in.finance.yahoo.com

Is the world not running out of Oil?

Oil is a precious commodity, as suggested by its consistently rising prices. And it's not just the demand factor reflecting in price. The oil prices, more than the demand supply logic, follow speculations that are often inflationary in nature, leading to a price premium that pure economics fails to justify.

Oil being the key source of global energy needs has been a subject of major studies and theories. Peak oil theory is one such famous and interesting theory. Also a scary one. It suggests that there will be a time when oil wells will be producing oil at their maximum potential and will then signal a progressive decline leading to the supply of oil falling short of demand. Infact, some have suggested that we have already reached that peak point. But if a recent industry report is to be believed, the theory seems to be falling apart. As per the report, the offshore discoveries are likely to keep oil flowing. The companies across the globe plan to drill a total of 301 offshore wells in 2013 itself. We all know that drilling wells is one thing and discovering oil another. So keeping the margin of safety, a success rate of just 25% implies an extra supply of 23 billion barrel of oil equivalent. This is around 28% higher than the average annual production in new offshore discoveries in last 12 years.

While this eases the concerns oil availability, what is also crucial here is its impact on prices.

And we wonder if these discoveries will also lead to softening in oil prices. One must not forget that drilling costs are on the rise. Also, with increasing thrust on environmental protection, the exploration may take longer or may even turn out to be cost prohibitive. Under such circumstances, the oil companies will be interested to drill only if oil prices remain high- either for fundamental or speculative reasons. But then, there are other factors that may come into play such as availability, usage and cost of alternative sources of energy. We don't know the future. But what is certain is that crude oil with all its vagaries will continue to be an interesting topic among investors.

Refrence: http://in.finance.yahoo.com

India's deficit-cutting plan faltering as clock ticks

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has banned government officials from holding conferences at five-star hotels, restricted travel and ordered a freeze on hiring to fill vacant posts.

A single-minded political veteran who commands both fear and respect in officialdom, Chidambaram is squeezing government ministries hard to cut spending wherever they can, and quickly, to help rein in a widening fiscal deficit.

He is a man under pressure and with an eye on the clock.
Four weeks ago to the day, he set himself an ambitious target: to hold the government's fiscal deficit for 2012/2013 to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product, even as sceptical private economists forecast a deficit closer to 6 percent.

But a series of revenue-raising setbacks since October 29 now means it will be almost impossible for the government to meet that target, economists say, and some finance ministry officials privately agree. That increases the risk that credit rating agencies could downgrade India to junk in the coming months.
"This has taken on a very great sense of urgency," said Rajiv Biswas, chief Asia economist at market information and analytics company IHS, as he called on Chidambaram to draw up a credible medium-term road-map for cutting the deficit.

GRAPHIC:

Rates, inflation, http://link.reuters.com/saq26s
The deficit reduction plan unveiled by Chidambaram last month was panned by economists for being short on specifics and putting a firewall around fuel subsidies and expensive social welfare programmes for the country's millions of poor.

A month earlier a deficit reduction panel appointed by Chidambaram had urged the government to cut such spending. Their language was dramatic: India was on the edge of a "fiscal precipice" and the economy was "flashing red lights", they said.
"BAND-AID APPROACH"

The government is pursuing a "band-aid approach" to deficit reduction, favouring quick fixes instead of implementing structural reforms to slash the deficit, said economist Rajeev Malik of CLSA in Singapore, who is sticking to a deficit forecast of 6 percent of GDP.
Financial markets are already expecting the government to overshoot its target and hit around 5.6 percent of GDP, which helped push benchmark 10-year bond yields to the highest in nearly three months late last week.
Refrence: http://www.moneycontrol.com

Sebi suspends registration certificate of Knack Corporate

Market regulator Sebi has suspended the registration certificate of Knack Corporate Services Pvt Ltd for a period of three months for alleged lapses in its functioning as a Registrar to an Issue (RTI) and Share Transfer Agent (STA). In addition, Sebi alleged Knack Corporate Services of major non-compliances regarding the rights issue of Ram Kaashyap Investments Ltd. RTI/STA work as documentation and payment processing agencies.

In its order dated November 8, Sebi said that it is suspending the certificate of registration "granted to Knack Corporate Services Private Limited, as a registrar to an issue and share transfer agent, for a period of three months". Further Sebi directed Knack Corporate Services to write to all its clients to make alternate arrangements for their registry and share transfer work during the suspension period.

Moreover, the entity would have to hand over all thephysical and the demat records of shareholders of its clients along with the database, after certifying their correctness, to the RTI and STA arranged by respective clients, under intimation to Sebi. The entity has to notify the concerned depositories about the transfer of records, Sebi said.

Reference: http://www.moneycontrol.com/