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
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.
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.
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.
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 daughters of Russia’s richest men are trying to make their names on almost everything - fashion industry, pop music, television and publishing. They always succeed because they always enjoy the support of their incredibly wealthy fathers.
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Meet Russia’s richest It-girls (Photos)
Fourteen-year-old fashion designer Kira Plastinina is among such girls. Her father Sergei is worth an estimated 700 million dollars.
Last week he reportedly paid two million dollars to fly Paris Hilton to Russia to endorse his daughter’s label at the Moscow Fashion Show.
Unsurprisingly, in a country where one in four people still lives below the poverty line, such extravagance causes deep resentment.
And whereas America took 200 years to produce the likes of Paris Hilton, the Russian equivalents have emerged only 16 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, The Daily Mail reports.
read more
India born Management Guru C. K. Prahlad has been chosen as the World’s most influencing management thinker by Suntop media.
A professor at the University of Michigans’ Stephen M Ross School of Business, Prahalad specialises in corporate strategy research and is a globally known figure consulted by the top management of many of the world’s foremost companies.
His book “Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid” is a fantastic book on emerging economies opportunities. The author emphasises how capitalism can eradicate poverty. There are classic examples of Hindustan Lever, Bharti Airtel, Tata’s proposed Rs 1 lakh (USD2500) car, ICICI rural banking…etc which are surely adopting this theory to go to consumers at rural areas.
With the subprime issue taking its toll , Charles Prince at Citigroup decides to resign. He has been at helm of affairs at Citigroup for the last 4 years after he took over from Sandy Weil.
The hunt for the successor is on at Citigroup. A name which is getting popped is Vikram Pandit, an Indian origin banker who currently heads its investment banking division. He would be the second Indian to lead a global bank after Rana Talwar at Standard Chartered.
PTI news in economic times reports
Vikram Pandit, an Indian origin banker, is understood to be in the reckoning to head the world’s largest banking institution Citigroup, whose current CEO is reportedly planning to resign later today.
US-headquartered Citigroup, which has presence across the world including India, is holding a board meeting here today where its Chairman and CEO Charles Prince is expected to tender his resignation, media reports have said.
Charles, who has been heading the institution for about four years, is reportedly taking the responsibility for huge losses that the bank suffered during the subprime crisis earlier this year.
According to industry sources, one of the main contenders for the post of CEO, at least on interim basis, could be Vikram Pandit, who joined Citigroup just about six months back and heads its investment banking operations.
Economies 2.0