Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Author of New Book on Twitter Gets Suspended by Twitter

Cover 
Prlog :14 Mar 2012


Celebrity author and social media persona Sarah-Jayne Gratton (@grattongirl) was suspended several days ago by Twitter, the very social media platform she is writing about in her forthcoming book - "Follow Me". 


Sarah-Jayne Gratton is a well known social media celebrity and the European correspondent for the US Show You Are The Supermodel.  Due to the success of her latest book, Zero to 100,000, which was released in October 2011, Gratton was approached by publishers Wiley to author their new book on Twitter, "Follow Me".

The irony is that Gratton was suspended from Twitter on Saturday 10th March, with no explanation being given by the platform as to why the suspension had occurred.  The huge popularity of @grattongirl was brought to Twitter's attention by the hundreds of tweets being sent to their @support department demanding that she be unsuspended, many with the hashtag #UnSuspendGrattonGirlTweets.  One from @martinchinnery read "How can the queen of Twitter be suspended? This is an outrage! #UnsuspendGrattonGirlTweets".


Twitter were quick to respond with a personal apology to @grattongirl for what they termed a "technical error" and her account was reinstated early on Monday 12th March.

Samsung Supplies Apple With IPad Screen After LG-Sharp Miss


 

Bloomberg News 
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Samsung Electronics Co. will supply the screen for Apple Inc.'s new iPad after LG Display Co. and Sharp Corp. didn't meet the U.S. company's quality requirements, an analyst with iSuppli said.

Samsung, the world's top flat-panel maker, currently is the sole vendor of the display for the 9.7-inch, touch-screen device that goes on sale March 16, said Vinita Jakhanwal, a senior manager at iSuppli, a unit of Englewood, Colorado-based IHS Inc. Samsung's shares surged to a record.

The supply deal deepens Apple's partnership with Samsung, which already makes the chips that power the iPhone and iPad, even as the companies sue each other around the world regarding patents. Apple unveiled a new version of the iPad last week that features a sharper display and faster processor to fend off growing competition from products including Samsung's Galaxy Tab.

Steve Park, a Seoul-based spokesman for Apple; Jason Kim, a Seoul-based spokesman for Samsung; Claire Ohm, a Seoul-based spokeswoman for LG Display; and Miyuki Nakayama, a spokeswoman for Osaka, Japan-based Sharp, declined to comment.

"The display specifications on the new iPad are very demanding in terms of the very high resolution," Jakhanwal said in an e-mail. "Achieving this high resolution without compromising on the power consumption and brightness and maintaining Apple's quality standards are supposedly proving to be a challenge for LG Display and Sharp."

Patent Lawsuits

Samsung shares climbed 2.4 percent to 1,250,000 won at the close of Seoul trading, their highest since listing in June 1975. LG Display gained 0.4 percent to 28,300 won, compared with a 1 percent rise in the benchmark Kospi index. Sharp added 4.3 percent to 531 yen in Tokyo, after falling as much as 5.1 percent earlier in the day.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, and Samsung have been locked in patent disputes concerning mobile technology and design since April, when the iPhone maker accused the Suwon, South Korea-based company of copying its products.
The iPad's new display has four times as many pixels as the previous version, making on-screen text, images and video appear crisper and more realistic. Apple may almost double spending on screens for tablets and smartphones this year, according to iSuppli.

LG Display

Market research firm Gartner Inc., based in Stamford, Connecticut, estimates 103.5 million tablet devices will be sold in 2012, with Apple accounting for two-thirds of them.
LG Display is Apple's largest vendor of liquid-crystal displays used in the iPhone and older models of the iPad. The Seoul-based company gets about 2 percent of its revenue from Apple, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
LG Display and Sharp may start shipping panels for the new iPad by April, said Jakhanwal, who's based in Santa Clara, California.
Apple may want to diversify its sources for the displays because of the lawsuits with Samsung, said Kang Yoon Hum, a Seoul-based analyst at NH Investment & Securities Co.
"Since the relationship between Apple and Samsung isn't great these days, Apple would want to get shipments elsewhere as well," Kang said by phone.



--With assistance from Takashi Amano in Tokyo. Editors: Terje Langeland, Michael Tighe, Anand Krishnamoorthy.

Rail Budget 2012-2013 highlights



 

IANS | Mar 14, 2012, 02.53PM IST 
NEW DELHI, Following are the prominent highlights of the railway budget for 2012-13 presented in the Lok Sabha Wednesday by Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi:
* No steep increase in passenger fares; 2 paise per km for second class on suburban trains and 3 paise per km on mail and express trains; 5 paise per km for sleeper class; 10 paise per km for a/c III tier and first class; 15 paise per km for a/c II tier; 30 paise per km for a/c I.
* Outlay of Rs.60,100 crore during 2012-13, the highest ever.
* Targeting freight carriage of 1,025 million tonnes to bring in Rs.89,339 crore; passenger earnings estimated at Rs.36,073 crore; gross receipts estimated at Rs.1.32 lakh crore.
* New passenger services: 820 new items; 75 new express trains; 21 new passenger trains; 75 new services in Mumbai suburban system.
* Standard of hygiene needs to be improved substantially; all out efforts will be made on this in the next six months; duty bound to provide high standard of services; special housekeeping body to be set up for stations and trains.
* Corrosion from night soil being discharged from toilets on tracks costs Rs.350 crore annually; green toilets to be installed in 2,500 coaches in the next one year.
* Improvement of passenger amenities at a cost of Rs.1,112 crore; regional cuisines to be introduced.
* Two thousand one hundred specially designed coaches manufactured to meet needs of the differently abled; aim to provide one such coach in each express train.
* Focus during next five years on five areas: tracks, bridges, signalling, rolling stock and stations.
* Signalling to be improved over 19,000 km.
* Investment of Rs.1.70 lakh crore on rolling stock in next five years.
* Attempt to increase train speeds to 160 kmph; journey time from New Delhi to Kolkata can be brought down to 14 hours from 17 hours.
* Improvements to railway stations can provide employment to 50,000 people.
* Railways will require Rs.14 lakh crore in the next 10 years for modernisation.
* Aim to bring down operating ratio from 90 percent to 84.9 percent in 2012-13 and to 72 percent by 2016-17.
* Time has come for formulating national policy for railways on the lines of that for defence and external affairs.
* Railways should grow at 10 percent annually for sustained GDP growth.
* Railways to invest Rs.7.35 lakh crore during 12th Five Year Plan period (2012-17), a quantum jump from the Rs.1.92 lakh crore invested in previous plan period.
* Railways must attract 10 percent of the Rs.20 lakh crore government expects to spend on infrastructure during 12th Plan.
* Railways expect gross budgetary support of Rs.2.5 lakh crore during 12th Plan.
* Collective challenge to formulate viable funding mechanism for modernisation.
* Railways should contribute 2 percent of GDP from the present 1 percent.
* Stress on strengthening safety. Has to be be benchmarked with the best in the world.
* Target of reducing accidents from 0.55 to 0.17 has been met.
* Special purpose vehicle to be set up on safety protocols.
* Independent railway safety authority to be set up as statutory safety body.
* Investment of Rs.5.60 lakh crore required for modernisation.
* Independent tariff authority suggested; needs serious debate; experts panel established; decision after debate in parliament.
* Excess of Rs.1,492 crore after meeting expenses/dividend payments not adequate for meeting costs of several projects.
* World Bank funding of Rs.6,500 crore firmed up for dedicated freight corridors; land acquired for 3,300 km; first contracts to be handed out during 2012-13.
* Electrification to be undertaken over 6,500 km at an allocation of Rs.8,000 crore during 12th Plan.
* Conversion from DC to AC power supply completed in Western Railway corridor of Mumbai suburban rail system; conversion of Central Railway corridor to be completed in 2012-13.
* Elevated corridor from Churchgate to Virar in Mumbai being firmed up.
* Government should consider dividend payback to railways.
* Thirty-one projects over 5,000 km being implemented with state govenments sharing costs.
* Capacity augmentation to get Rs.4,410 crore during 2012-13.
* Eighty-five new line projects to be taken up during 2012-13.
* One hundred and fourteen new line surveys to be undertaken during 2012-13.
* New line projects to get Rs.6,870 crore in 2012-13.
* Gauge conversion to be undertaken over 800 km with an allocation of Rs.1,950 crore.
* GRP/RPF personnel deployed on 3,500 trains.
* Free travel by Rajdhani express for Arjuna awardees.
* Dedicated railway design wing at National Institute of Design with a contribution of Rs.10 crore.
* Guru Parikrama trains to be run to Amritsar, Patna and Nanded.

Don't mind losing my job, says Trivedi after Mamata rejects railway fare hike

 




Strongly opposing the hike in rail passenger fare, Trinamool Congress on Wednesday demanded a roll-back. A team of Trinamool Congress MPs met Railway Minister and party colleague Dinesh Trivedi soon  after he presented the Railway Budget in which he proposed to hike fares across all classes. 


Minister of State for Health Sudip Bandopadhyay said that the TMC MPs asked the Railway Minister to roll-back the fare hike.
When pointed out that Trivedi was a member of the Trinamool Congress, he said the Railway Minister has performed his "constitutional duty" by presenting the Budget.
"The Trinamool Congress never rolls back its demand," Bandopadhyay said. Poll: Is it time for Congress to part ways with Mamata Banerjee?
"Trinamool Congress wants withdrawal of rail fare hike," he said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/Popup/2012/3/railfarehike22.jpg 
He also said: "We have asked Dinesh Trivedi to announce a roll back in fares."
"Railway Budget...what was all that about increasing fares across the board? Upper class...maybe ok...but all? Sorry, cannot agree," Trinamool MP Derek O'brien tweeted.
On Wednesday, Dinesh Trivedi also said during a press conference that he had not consulted with the party.
Trivedi said: "The rail fare has been hiked to take care of expenditure incurred on security and other amenities to passengers."
"Considering the problems of 'aam admi', the rail fare has not been hiked steeply," he also said.
Earlier on the day while presenting the rail budget on the floor of the House the railway minister on Wednesday said safety would be the prime focus of his ministry during the 12th Five Year Plan, along with network expansion and modernisation.
With minor-to-moderate fare hikes, 96 new passenger trains and focus on safety, railway minister Dinesh Trivedi tabled his ministry's budget for 2012-13 Wednesday, promising the highest spending on projects worth Rs 60,100 crore ($12 billion).
"I am asking an extra two paise per km on suburban and ordinary second class. Similarly, an increase of three paise per km for mail and express trains," Trivedi said in his 105-minute budget speech, listing what will be the first fare hike since 2002-03.
"For sleeper class, I am asking only 5 paise (increase) and for AC chair car and III tier, only 10 paise per km, and for AC II tier 15 paise per km and AC I class by 30 paise per km," the minister told the Lok Sabha in his maiden rail budget speech.
Accordingly, over a 100-km run, the fares will go up by Rs  2 on suburban and ordinary II class trains, Rs 5 for sleeper class, Rs 10 for AC chair car and III tier, Rs 15 for AC II tier and Rs 30 for AC first class.
"The proposed revisions will have marginal impact on fares," the minister said, adding: "The proposed adjustments do not even cover fully the impact of increase in fuel prices during the last eight years."
But there were some immediate reactions opposing the fare hike.
Trivedi's own Trinamool Congress whose chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, long opposed to any exercise burdening average travellers, has already demanded a roll back.
But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said it was an exercise in the right direction. "The railway minister has presented a forward looking Budget with emphasis on safety and modernization of the Indian Railways," he said.
The other highlights of the budget proposals are airconditioned lounges and escalators at key stations, regional cuisine at affordable rates, book-a-meal scheme through SMS and bio-toilets in 200 trains and coin-operated ticket vending machines.
Trivedi, who referred to the word safety as many as 40 times in his speech, said he had vowed to make railways accident free when he experienced the pain of passengers and relatives after an accident in Uttar Pradesh soon after he took charge of the ministry.
"At that very moment, I took a vow to eliminate recurrence of such painful happenings. I decided my entire emphasis is going to be on strengthening safety, safety and safety. Deaths on rail tracks just can never be tolerated and it is not acceptable," he said.
"I vow to target zero deaths," he said. "I also propose to set up an independent railway safety authority, as recommended by an expert group headed by the former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar."
The minister listed four other focus areas in the next five years: consolidation, de-congestion and capacity augmentation of the network, modernisation and bringing down the operating ratio. He also stressed on better hygiene and higher speed of trains.
Trivedi said the operating ratio of the railways -- amount spent on running the network against revenues -- will be lowered to 84.5% from the current 95%, and to 74% by the terminal year of the 12th plan.
This is key to the network being able to garner money for expansion and modernisation.
The minister said he was looking at the current budget not as an exercise for the next fiscal alone, but also for the entire five year plan, drawing from the Vision 2020 document of his predecessor and party chief Mamata Banerjee.
The Indian Railways run the third largest railroad network in the world spread over some 64,000 km, with 12,000 passenger and 7,000 freight trains each day from as many as 7,083 stations to ferry 23 million travellers and 2.65 million tonnes of goods daily.
Along with the networks in the US, Russia, China and Canada, the Indian Railways figures among the top five in the world. Given its socio-economic role, Trivedi said it was time for a national policy on railways on the lines of those for defence and foreign affairs.
According to the minister, Indian Railways will invest Rs.7.35 lakh crore during the 12th Five Year Plan period (2012-17), against Rs.1.92 lakh crore in the current one. By then, it will double its contribution to India's gross domestic product to 2 percent.
Trivedi said the outlay of Rs 60,100 crore proposed for 2012-13 will be the highest ever and added that the network will require as much as Rs.14 lakh crore in the next 10 years for modernisation.
He said the plan outlay will be financed by way of Rs 24,000 crore through budgetary support, Rs.2,000 crore from safety fund, Rs.18,050 crore from internal sources and Rs 16,050 from extra budgetary resources, which will include market borrowings.
Coming to specific proposals, Trivedi said 85 new line projects would be be taken up during the next fiscal year at a cost of Rs 6,870 crore, even as feasibility surveys would be conducted for another 114 lines.
He said an attempt will also be made to increase train speeds to 160 km per hour from around 90-100 km per hour. With that, he said, a journey from New Delhi to Kolkata will be brought down to 14 hours from 17 hours.


Mukesh Ambani world's richest Indian despite $4.7 bn loss: Forbes

 

8 MAR, 2012, 07.36PM IST, PTI  



NEW YORK: Business tycoon Mukesh Ambani has retained his title of being the world's richest Indian despite an erosion of USD 4.7 billion in his wealth in the past year as he beat 47 billionaires from India inForbes magazine's annual list of the world's richest people. 

India's top ten richest billionaires included Savitri Jindal & family (world rank 80), Sunil Mittal & family (113), Kumar Birla (116) Anil Ambani (118) Dilip Shanghvi (124) Shashi & Ravi Ruia (133) and Kushal Pal Singh(153). 

The world list has also has nine of Indian-origin living in countries like Indonesia, Ireland, Thailand, UK and the US, taking the total number of billionaires hailing from India to 57. 

India's 48 billionaires have a total networth of a whopping USD 194.6 billion. 

Jindal group's Savitri Jindal is ranked 80 in the rich list with a networth of USD 10.9 billion. 

The 54-year-old Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, with a networth of USD 22.3 billion is ranked 19 in the global rich list. "Mukesh Ambani is the world's richest Indian, despite losing USD 4.7 billion in the past year," Forbes said. 

ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal comes at the 21st position with a USD 20.7 billion networth. Forbes said Mittal lost USD 10.4 billion in the past year, more than anyone else in the world and dropped out of the top 10 rankings for the first time since 2004. Mittal had ranked sixth in last year's list when his networth was USD 31.1 billion. 

Wipro boss Azim Premji is the third richest Indian in the list. With a networth of USD 15.9 billion, 66-year-old Premji is ranked 41 on the Forbes list. 

With an USD 8.1 billion networth, Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal is ranked 113. 

Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group chairman Anil Ambani comes in at the 118th position in the list, his networth of USD 7.8 billion, only about a third of that of his wealthier elder brother. 

"Despite patch up with brother Mukesh that included a much photographed reunion in their late father's hometown, Anil Ambani continues on a losing streak, down one billion dollars in past year and down USD 34.2 billion from his 2008 peak," Forbes said.  

Azim Premji Trust to sell 1,530-crore Wipro shares to fund education

 


13 MAR, 2012, 04.02AM IST, ET BUREAU  



BANGALORE: The endowment created by Azim Premji, one of the world's most generous philanthropists, will sell 1,530 crore in shares gifted to it by the Wipro founder to fund an expansive non-profit education initiative close to the heart of the software billionaire. 

The Azim Premji Trust, which was gifted 213 million shares of Wipro in December 2010 (valued then at 8,846 crore), will sell 35 million of them, the first time it is doing so since the endowment was created.

The money will be used to fund the expansion of Azim Premji Foundation, which is working to improve teaching and learning in some of India's most backward districts. It will also help the Azim Premji University scale up its teaching and research work.

"The principal amount that we get from the sale could be used to directly fund the foundation or we could just put in the income we generate from these funds. We will probably do a combination of both," the trust's chief endowment officer KR Lakshminarayana said.
Azim Premji
Premji, 66, is likened to Bill Gates and Warren Buffettfor his generosity in pledging a substantial portion of his nearly $16-billion fortune to improve the standard of education in India. The foundation was set up more than a decade ago with an initial contribution of about to 1,000 crore worth of Wipro shares. 

The sale by Trust, which owns 8.66% of Wipro's outstanding shares will help the promoter group bring down its shareholding from a little over 79% and closer to the 75% limit for promoters mandated by capital market regulator Sebi. But Wipro officials said the motive for the sale is to fund the foundation.

"We have taken 100 students in the first year and this year we will be taking in the second batch. Our primary constraint has been that we are still in a rented campus so we are not able to expand," Anurag Behar, vice chancellor of the foundation, said.

The university is setting up an 85-acre campus in Karnataka, which will allow it to increase the batch size to about 2,000 in the fifth year of operation, he added. The university is primarily engaged in the education-related training and research.

Citigroup Global Markets, Morgan Stanley India, UBS Securities India and Credit Suisse Securities India will manage the sale process. Wipro's shares closed at 437.15 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday.

Wipro Technologies eyes $3.5-billion services deals

IT 



14 MAR, 2012, 06.40AM IST, ET BUREAU  


BANGALORE: Information technology services provider Wipro Technologies is pursuing contracts worth around $3.5 billion, senior management of the company told investors during a recent road show in Europe. 

The Bangalore-based company is pursuing 15 $100-million deals and another 40 deals worth at least $50 million each. 

Selective disclosure to groups of investors is seen a pro-active effort by firm, which underwent a management restructuring almost a year ago, to instill confidence among the investors community. 

A Wipro spokesperson declined to comment saying the company does not discuss details of deals in pipeline. 

The disclosure at the road show hosted by Kotak Securities is in stark contrast to the weak demand commentary that has been coming from the management of Infosys. 

Last month, industry body Nasscom pared growth forecast due to weak macro economic conditions in theUnited States and Europe - two geographies that together contribute nearly 80% revenues for Indian ITfirms. 

Market analysts tracking large IT firms such as TCS,InfosysCognizant or HCL Technologies say typically these firms would be pursuing large deals worth at least $1.5 billion. 

Usually, IT firms refer to technology services contracts worth $50-100 million or more as large deals. 

"From a large deals perspective $3.5 billion is a fairly good deal pipeline," said Mumbai-based analyst Hitesh Shah, a director at IDFC Securities. "But it obviously depends on how many of these deals they actually manage to win."  



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Post the management transition at Wipro, when the firm departed from a co-chief executive model and handed over the CEO post to TK Kurien, investors have been keenly watching firm's growth trajectory as well as commentary from its management. 

At the time of management succession, Wipro's revenue growth was lagging that of its peers such as Cognizant, Tata Consultancy Service and Infosys. 

With Cognizant Technology Solutions taking over Wipro in quarterly revenue run rate to emerge as India's third largest IT services firm, has only added to the pressure on the management to perform or to be seen as doing the right things to bring growth back. Operational metrics at the firm have been improving since Kurien took over. 

From a year ago, when only one client was contributing over $100 million in annual revenues, Wipro now has six clients in that revenue bracket, possibly indicative of its sales efforts paying off. Revenue share of the largest client has gone up from 3% of overall revenues a year ago to 4% now. 

Sonia Gandhi's wealth valued at Rs 10,000-95,000 crore?

#4 Sonia Gandhi 


Source: World's Luxury Guide 13 March 2012
Congress President Sonia Gandhi's wealth is estimated to be valued at $2-19 billion (Rs 10,000-95,000 crore), according toBusiness Insider, a US based internet news.

The news website claims that the sexagenarian is world's fourth richest person. However, the Congress President in the last general elections had declared her assets worth Rs 50-75 lakh. 

The Business Insider attributes the source of the story to World’s Luxury Guide to the richest politicians, a website that sources its information from Forbes.comOpenSecrets.org, Guardian.co.uk, Bloomberg.com and Wikipedia.org, making its claim a model of vagueness in terms of numbers.

The site places Sonia Gandhi at the fourth place after the Saudi king, the Sultan of Brunei and Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor. 

Singapore Ranks First in Asia in Competitiveness,

 
Visitors look at the central business district skyline from the SkyPark atop Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. 


Sam Kang Li/Bloomberg  :By Kyunghee Park - Mar 13, 2012 11:39 AM GMT+0530

Singapore is Asia’s most competitive city in attracting businesses, efficiency and promoting a clean environment, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit report commissioned byCitigroup Inc. (C)
The island, ranked by the World Bank as the easiest place to do business, was the world’s third-most competitive city after New York and London among 120, according to the report. Singapore ranked the highest in financial maturity and physical capital, beating Hong Kong, which was ranked fourth overall, the report showed.
“Our strong attributes of trust, knowledge, connectivity and livability have underpinned our ability to attract investments, business, talent and ideas,” Leo Yip, chairman of Singapore Economic Development Board, said today in a statement. “It is also becoming a strategic location for Asian enterprises to build capability to grow international markets.”
Singapore has cut taxes in recent years to spur investment, prompting companies to hire hundreds of thousands of people from overseas. Foreigners and permanent residents make up more than a third of the nation’s 5.2 million population. The city has brought in about 1 million people since the beginning of 2005 as the government allowed more immigration to make up for a declining birth rate.
The city state forecasts its economy will expand 1 percent to 3 percent this year after growing 4.9 percent in 2011. The current gross domestic product forecast for Singapore in 2012 doesn’t factor in “downside risks emanating from abroad,” the trade ministry said on Feb. 16.

‘Neck to Neck’

While Singapore and Hong Kong were “neck to neck” in most of the categories, Singapore outperformed in environmental governance and global appeal, said Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh, senior editor at Economist Intelligence Unit.
Asia ranked the highest in terms of economic strength, the most weighted category in the ranking, making up 15 cities in the top 20, the report said. Of these, 12 cities are in China, the report showed.
“Asia’s economic rise is clearly reflected in the economic strength of its cities,” Stephen Bird, chief executive officer of Citigroup’s Asia-Pacific region. “Cities are engines of global growth that are transforming the landscape of investment, talent and business.”
The 120 cities account for about 29 percent of the global economy with a combined GDP of $20.2 trillion. The report looked at such categories as economic growth, social aspects, infrastructure and talent to identify areas of opportunities, Michael Zink, head of Citigroup for the Southeast Asian region, said today in Singapore.