Archive for March, 2008

According to the survey conducted by The Nielsen Company, India ranked 3 rd after Greece and Hong Kong in the list of most fashion brand conscious countries in the world.

The survey found that, over 35% of Indian respondents agreed they spend money on luxury brands, most bought luxury brand was Calvin Klein with over 34% surveyed having purchased it at some point, Gucci ranked as the most coveted brand for Indians, other brands that Indian consumers spend most on are Diesel, Christian Dior and DKNY.

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Today is a historic moment for Tata Motors, which has been negotiating the deal since January to buy Jaguar and Land Rover. Tata Motors buying out Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.3 billion has been hailed by domestic industry, including Tata’s competitors.

Just hours after Tata issued the announcement to confirm that it had purchased Jaguar Land Rover, comprising brands, plants and Intellectual Property Rights”, top persons at Unite, the UK’s largest trades union, said the deal “is really good news for the UK automotive industry”.

“I am delighted, not only as an industrialist and a person from automotive industry but also as an Indian, that Tata Motors has got the deal.” said Chairman of Bajaj Auto Rahul Bajaj.

• Also Read: Many faces of Tata Group of Companies

“The Tata-Jaguar agreement is once again a landmark in the march of Indian businesses. Done in a calm, transparent, ethical manner, it reflects the essence of the Tata philosophy. Kudos to Tatas for this leap ahead.” said Director General of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) S S Mehta.

Tata Motors is India’s largest vehicle maker. The Tata group has 98 companies in its fold, with operations in over 80 countries and exports to 120 nations. The Group, which has 27 publicly listed enterprises, has a market capitalisation of $56.52 billion and a workforce of 2,89,500. Its revenue is equivalent to 3.2 per cent of India’s GDP.

Source Credit - Economic Times 

Growing world economies, rising food demand and expansion of corn for producing bio-fuels has caused food inflation.

Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram blamed countries like the US for diverting food grains such as corn for producing bio-fuels, which led for to soaring food grain prices globally.

India banned exports of Edible Oils and even raised rice export prices to control rising prices.

He said the price food grain prices has soared worldwide to record levels in the last year, but diverting food for fuel had also contributed to increase in food prices.

“It has been estimated that nearly 20 % of corn grown in the United States is diverted for producing biofuels, As citizens of one world, we ought to be concerned about the foolishness of growing food and converting it into fuel,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in Singapore.

South Korea announced plans to cap greenhouse gas emissions at 2005 levels for the next five years, despite South Korea not required to make cuts under the Kyoto protocol.

In a policy report to President Lee Myung-bak, Environment Minister Lee Maan-ee presented the ministry’s initiative to contain emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, at 2005 levels.

The nation’s annual carbon dioxide emissions doubled between 1990 and 2005 to 591 million tonnes, among the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases.

According to UN agreement it is mandatory for industrialised nations to reduce emissions by an average of 5 per cent through 2012. South Korea is is classified as a developing country under Kyoto and therefore not required to make cuts.