The whole world needs a break from Oil based energy and more for BRIC countries. In this context everyone is watching Dr Manmohan Singh’s Government to conclude the Indo-US nuclear deal. Eventhough the percentage of power generated through nuclear reactors will be a mere 10% of the total power generated in its peak production, the deal brings an immense opportunity to co-operate big time in trade between the developed nations and India. The deal is symbolic in that respect and will bring in huge investments and consumption in India.

The Congress led coalition in New Delhi is dancing with a fragile majority support in Parliament especially with the Communist parties clearly intending to pull out support. This delicate balance is a test for India and the whole world will watch the Indian democracy in action. Can Congress do it ? Will Manmohan Singh have his way ? This is will be a historic agreement with the US and rest of the world and clearly lay a foundation of the economic power shift in to BRIC nations. The agenda is open for BRIC to set it.
Garden Fountains, Hammocks & Pets Statue

Senator Barak Obama has claimed the democratic party nomination for running as President. He crossed the required number of delegates to win the nomination. Senator Hillary Clinton ran a strong campaign and earned almost even delegates but was overshadowed by Obama wave in convincing the Super delegates.

Who is good for BRIC nations ?

Both India and China will agree that George Bush (though not popular from the War point of view) has done good things for both the nations. George Bush’s policies has literally clamped the terrorist activities from Pakistan into India. Bush declared Dawood Ibrahim as a Global Terrorist, thus restricting his movements. All the money chains of various Jihadi organisations were sealed and monitored on a global basis. Similarly Bush has expressed that Taiwan will not demand Independence and will consider it as an integral part of China. Also the trade continued to flourish between China and US.

Indrotuctory offer on Bungalow Plates

John McCain definitely carries the George Bush legacy and he has to minimize spending in War and address domestic economy of US. He is a War hero and a knowledgeable man from legislative perspective.

Obama has rhetoric with him. If he can sustain this and engage an effective foreign policy, as he proposes, he could win back US popularity among Europeans, Asians, and rest of the world.

Great Statues at Great Prices
Irrespective of who wins, BRIC Nations are in a growth phase. All they need to focus is on their reforms and set an agenda for global trade and political issues.

The Worlds top 25 innovative companies lists the best of the best. This year the Tata’s and Reliance have managed to be in the this elite list. Tata’s are only behind Apple, Google, Toyota, GE and Microsoft.

Timesofindia reports 

India’s two leading conglomerates, Tatas and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group, have made it to the league of the world’s 25 most innovative companies, riding on the cheapest commercial car Nano and an aggressive growth path, respectively.

In the list of world’s 25 most innovative companies released here on Friday, Tata group is ranked at the sixth position, while Reliance Industries is at 19th spot.

The list, published in the April 28 edition of BusinessWeek magazine that hit the newsstands on Friday, has been compiled by the US financial publication in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group.

Both Tata and RIL have made it for the first time to the annual list which is topped by Apple Computer, the maker of iPod music players and Mac personal computers.

Apple is followed by Internet search giant Google, Japanese auto major Toyota, industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE) and software behemoth Microsoft in the top five.

About Tata group , BusinessWeek said that “Mumbai-based conglomerate jumps onto our list for the first time, fuelled by its paradigm-busting 2,500 dollar ‘Nano’ car for the masses”.

“The car, from its Tata Motors unit, is the world’s cheapest, thanks partly to a distribution model that sells the auto in kits to entrepreneurs who assemble them for buyers.”

About RIL, it noted that “the Indian petrochemicals giant made it onto our list this year thanks to fans of its aggressive growth.

“But its ambitious plans to reach into grocery retailing, which is dominated in India by small shopkeepers who have rebelled against corporate entrants, have faltered,” it added.

Finally Ratan Tata’s dream has come to reality. He said ” A promise made is a promise made ” while driving the car to the podium at the auto expo in New Delhi. The car looks cute and comes in three different colours. Despite all odds and critical remarks the Tata team has overcome all conflicts and dilemmas to shape their first release. Hats off Tata Motors.

More info on www.tatapeoplescar.com

After few weeks of speculation the Citigroup board has finally appointed Vikram Pandit to head its global operations. Pandit replaces Prince was the buzz at the Wall street.

Vikram Pandit, a Nagpur-born NRI who wowed Wall Street before intense flames began licking the financial world, was on Tuesday named CEO of Citigroup, the world’s largest bank, in what many see as a crisis rescue mission.

Pandit, whose elevation had been in the air for several days, replaces the charismatic Charles O.

“Chuck” Prince III, who was forced out after the giant bank in November this year after it reported its first loss in 17 years amid a massive financial crisis. Prince had brought him into Citigroup only a few months earlier.

On Tuesday, the Citigroup board led by its chairman, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin fulfilled Wall Street expectation by picking Pandit as CEO, while naming Win Bischoff, who was functioning as interim CEO after Prince left, as chairman. Rubin, also a stand-in, returns to his previous duties as Citi director and chairman of the executive committee of the board.

Pandit, who is 50, is the first person of Indian origin to scale such heights in the financial world, which has many well-regarded Indian executives.  Read more Economic Times

Vikram Pandit, head of institutional clients at Citigroup Inc, is a front-runner for the bank’s chief executive spot, according to media reports. If Pandit were made chief executive, his ascent at Citi would be fast. He joined in July, when the largest US bank closed on its purchase of his hedge fund, Old Lane Partners LP in a deal worth an estimated USD 800 million. Read more

Reuters news in Financial Express

Also read our previous article about Citibank in Bricwire

Next CEO of Citigroup Indian ?

Citigroup gets 7.5B from Abu Dhabi

Consecutively for the last three years Forbes Asia awards has been given to India CEOs. Ratan Tata, Nandan Nilekani and now KV Kamath. The common factor is that these gentlemen are looking at exponential growth for their busineses.

Rediff.com reports

Forbes Asia has named K V Kamath of ICICI Bank  as the Businessman of the Year for 2007.

The chief executive of the bank since 1996, the 60-year-old Kamath was picked for building ICICI Bank into India’s most valuable bank and one of Asia’s top banks.

Kamath’s win puts him in the company of fellow countrymen Nandan Nilekani of Infosys Technologies , last year’s winner, and Ratan Tata, the 2004 businessman of the year.

His selection means Indian executives have won the accolade three of the last four years.

Under Kamath’s watch, ICICI Bank’s market capitalisation has risen to $31 billion compared with $1.6 billion in 2002 when the original corporate lending institution merged with its commercial banking offshoot. By this measure, it is among Asia’s top 10 banks and is bigger than Singapore’s DBS Group and Korea’s Kookmin Bank.

The bank has attracted big stakeholders such as Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and CLSA and Merrill Lynch funds.

The bank’s assets have grown 40% annually in the last three years to $93 billion, propelled by a boom in Indian consumer credit where ICICI has a dominant one-third market share.

The bank has also built up its customer base to 27 million — in 2006 alone, it added an incredible 8 million. “That’s more than the population of Singapore,” noted Kamath in an interview with Forbes Asia. The bank today has a foothold in 18 countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Read the rest of this entry »

Citigroup has got timely capital infusion. As they say great companies raise capital all the time and this may certainly give investors some confidence that the management is making its first steps in the right direction. Though there could be a lot of cleaning required, the foremost important decision for the board is to appoint the next CEO for the group.

Forbes.com reports

Citigroup is still in search of a chief executive, but it has found an angel.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is sinking $7.5 billion into the largest U.S. bank, shoring up its capital after billions in write-offs related to subprime mortgages.

The state investment fund will receive securities that will be convertible into no more than a 4.9% stake in Citi, the financial services giant said Monday night. It is a sizeable investment at a time when many investors and pundits are calling for major changes at Citigroup , including a possible breakup of the company.

One of Citi’s largest individual shareholders, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who is said to hold about a 4% stake, has pressed for tighter cost controls at the company since last year. Chief Executive Charles Prince quit earlier this month as Citi faced another $10 billion to $13 billion of additional write-downs in mortgage security holdings and after losing the confidence of the board and major shareholders.

With all the growth happening in BRIC, rising concerns are also on Climate change, environment pollution, usage of more cleaner form of energy. The current East Asia Summit in Singapore is discussing some of these issues along with trade agendas of the participating countries.

China View reports

The Third East Asia Summit (EAS) concluded here on Wednesday, with leaders from 16 EAS nations signing a declaration on climate change, energy and environment issues.

Concerned about the adverse impact of climate change on socio-economic development, health and the environment, particularly in developing countries, EAS member countries vowed to carry out individual and collective actions to address climate change, improve energy efficiency, and reduce deforestation.

The Singapore Declaration on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment was signed Wednesday afternoon by the 16 leaders of EAS in the Third East Asia Summit at the Shangri-La hotel.

“East Asia’s dramatic transformation is the biggest growth story of our times. Powered by the rapid emergence of China and India, the region is on the move and surging ahead,” said Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Third East Asia Summit.

“The most serious long-term challenge confronting all of us today is climate change,” he said, “This is why we have chosen the inter-related themes of ‘Energy, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable development’ for our discussion.”

EAS member countries recognize that rapid economic development poses new challenges in dealing with greater energy consumption, regional and global energy security concerns, the declaration said.

It stressed that all countries should play a role in addressing the common challenge of climate change, based on the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and leaders of the ASEAN member countries, and those of Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand attended the summit.

The EAS involves ASEAN member countries, namely, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as six other countries, namely, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. Read the rest of this entry »

Resource-rich Brazil is in the crosshairs of world mining giants as they race to uncover new deposits to feed red-hot demand for metals from fast-growing economies such as China.

Analysts say the possible mining sector takeover of Rio Tinto by BHP Billiton would boost competition for CVRD on its home turf in Brazil, where some of the world’s richest iron ore reserves are located.

Brazil-based mining sector consultants said on Monday such a tie-up was good for new projects and unlikely to trigger antitrust restrictions in the world’s second-largest iron ore exporting country after Australia. CVRD, in its turn, is the world’s No. 1 iron ore exporting firm.

BHP, the world’s biggest mining house, mapped out its plan on Monday to acquire rival Rio Tinto, signalling it was ready for a long fight despite Rio Tinto’s rejection last week of its $US140 billion ($A154.79 billion) takeover proposal as too low.

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The Age Reports