What: Wikipedia, a free online resource where you can register and add/edit information on the subject of your expertise. However, online vandals are slowly destroying its reputation

Why: Take a look at the recent grab from Wikipedia's information on Infosys

Issue: It states that Infosys plans to offer $1 mn (Rs 4.5 crore), a portable computer, and a holiday to each of its employees. Infosys has 50,000 plus employees and that means handing out $50 billion (Rs 2,25,000 crore)

Solution: The foundation which runs Wikipedia has created a list of blacklisted editors (they are banned access). And it is considering making some pages available for editing only to a group of selected editors

-Venkatesha Babu

Show-piece Wheels

What: UK-based Swraj Paul's Caparo Group will launch Caparo Freestream, the first 'road and track' car in the world to exceed the power-weight ratio of 1,000 bhp per tonne, a breakthrough in automotive industry's quest to lighten the weight of a car while boosting its performance. The car will be launched in India too

What else: The ultra high performance Caparo Freestream is currently in prototype stage. It is essentially a track car (or sports car), which can also be used on the road. But it is unlikely to cause any ripples in the passenger-car market. Its targeted customers are sports car fanciers and corporate clients needing an affordable track car for increasingly popular 'hospitality race experience' events. The group is launching the car through Caparo Vehicles Technologies, the automotive engineering and design company it formed recently after acquiring Freestream, a young automotive consultancy set up by engineers Ben Scott-Geddes and Graham Halstead.

Why: Caparo Vehicles Technologies will produce the car in small volumes to flaunt its technical know-how and skills in whole vehicle design. The company plans to provide technology development, materials, engineering and design services to automotive, motorsport and aerospace markets.

How much: The projected price of the car is £1,50,000 (Rs 1.17 crore).

-Kapil Bajaj

Potter? No Way; He's Indian

Copy cat: You are just a Muggle

Harry Potter, the boy-wizard who is waging a seven-part war in print and celluloid against he who shall not be named, is as close to an industry as a fictional character can be. The boy, himself, however hasn't sold anything directly, to date. Which could explain why Warner Brothers Studios, the company that owns the rights to the Harry Potter motion pics, blinked when it caught what it believed was a look-alike of the boy selling bikes for Bajaj Auto.

The US media group has served a legal notice on Bajaj "for using its Harry Potter franchise " in an ad. The ad features a bespectacled flying boy, who puts you in mind of You-Know-Who. The tag line, 'Discover the Jaadoo', also uses a font that is pretty similar to the one that is used in the titles of the movies. Lowe, the agency behind the ad, refused to comment on the issue, and Warner Brothers' India office couldn't be reached (a mailed questionnaire to their HQ remained unanswered). Bajaj has already pulled out the ad. However, Gowree Gokhale, a copyright lawyer at Mumbai-based law firm Nishit Desai Associates, says it would be far from an open and shut case. "Protection of character merchandising rights is still a grey area in India. It won't be easy to establish that a character featured in an ad is a rip-off."

-Kapil Bajaj

P-WATCH
A bird's eye view of what's hot and what's not on the government's policy radar.

GOVERNMENT TO TEMPER ITS FREE TRADE ZEAL

India has signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with Singapore, Thailand and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). But realising the need to protect the interests of farmers and the small-scale sector, the government is working on a list of items which needs to be brought into the sensitive list (the imports of which are monitored regularly). It is also dividing the import basket into four categories: Normal Track 1, where tariffs will be eliminated by 2011; Normal Track 2, where tariffs will be brought down to 5 per cent by 2011 and eliminated by 2013; Sensitive Track 1, where the tariffs will be brought to 5 per cent by 2013 and eliminated by 2018; and Sensitive Track 2, where there will be no reduction or elimination of tariffs. The policy and the lists will be notified shortly.

-Ritwik Mukherjee

RBI HOLDS UP FVCI INFLOWS INTO REAL ESTATE

The gravy train of foreign venture capital investors (FVCIs) aka foreign realty funds has come to a grinding halt on Mint Street. Reserve Bank of India sources say the apex bank, which clears the proposals, has been sitting over them in order to prevent a property bubble. "There are over four dozen proposals worth $5 billion (Rs 22,500 crore) pending with RBI," say sources. RBI reportedly took this step following a nudge from the government, which is beginning to get concerned at the relentless rise in real estate prices. But industry sources don't expect RBI to stand in the way of these proposals for long. "The guidelines are pretty clear," says a domestic venture capitalist. In fact, there are already three dozen foreign realty investors in India, including First Carlyle Ventures, General Atlantic, Mauritius, WestBridge Ventures, Ascendas Property Fund, New York Life Investment Fund and Standard Chartered Private Equity (Mauritius).

-Anand Adhikari

NEW COMPANIES ACT TO MAKE APPROVALS TIME-BOUND

The amended companies act is likely to introduce the concept of deemed approvals. The Ministry of Company Affairs is working on a draft Bill which will have a provision on 'deemed approvals' in line with the J.J. Irani Committee's recommendations. This means companies can go ahead with their plans in case regulatory approvals are not forthcoming within a specified time. These plans can range from fairly simple ones for changing company names or shifting registered offices to more complex ones, such as mergers, which require multiple approvals. If all goes well, other corporate regulators such as SEBI and RBI will also be bound by specific timelines for saying 'aye' or 'nay'. Wonder where they'll put all their red tape.

-Shalini S. Dagar

RBI's Y.V. Reddy : Acting tough

FILE AND SMILE

Filing your tax returns will become easier from June 1. Graduates trained and certified by a public-private body comprising revenue officials and professionals will be at hand to help you do so. The Tax Return Preparers Scheme, which will be launched under Section 139 B of the Income Tax Act, 1961, promises to generate employment and widen the tax base by encouraging more small taxpayers to file their returns.

-Ritwik Mukherjee

READ DR REDDY'S LIPS

Banks were the crucial link in the IPO scam involving benami DEMAT and bank accounts. RBI had quickly stepped in and penalised HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Citibank, Bharat Overseas Bank and three others for violating its stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. Now, it has advised the individual banks to initiate criminal action against the officials involved for breach of prudent banking practices and for violating the guidelines relating to loans against shares. Who says there is no accountability in officialdom?

-Anand Adhikari