What are they: High
performance Italian sports cars, known for their looks, power
and price
Why is it in news: Lamborghini has launched its three
latest cars-Gallardo, Spyder and Murcielago-in India. They cost
Rs 1.65 crore, Rs 1.8 crore and Rs 3 crore, respectively
How many cars does it plan to sell in India: It has set
itself a modest target of selling 10 cars this year. "We
have already sold two cars and received booking orders for four
others," says Stephen Winklemann, President and CEO, Automobili
Lamborghini
What's their USP: These cars, with engine displacements
of 4,000-6,000 cc, do not roll of conventional assembly lines.
Rather, every component is put together manually by expert workers.
That's why the company makes only about 2,000 cars a year; potential
buyers also have to wait six months to a year before they can
take delivery of new cars
What are its future plans: The company, which has only
one dealer in Delhi-Exclusive Motors-plans to add another dealer
in Mumbai in the next six months. "The streets are not in
the best of condition and our cars are very low," says Winklemann,
a little apologetically, explaining the low target
-Amit Mukherjee
DoT Plays Big Brother
What are they: They
are web logs, popularly called blogs
Why are they in the news: The Department of Telecommunications
(DoT) asked Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access
to Blogspot (owned by Google), Wordpress, Typepad and 17 other
popular blogging domains, because some bureaucrat believed that
blogs were spreading misinformation in the aftermath of the terror
attack in Mumbai
The reaction: The Indian blogging community went up in
arms, terming the decision a brutal attack on democracy
And...: CNN and BBC flashed this news all over the world,
indirectly equating India with countries like China and Saudi
Arabia
Now what: DoT clarified that it had asked ISPs to block
only a few websites which had posted derogatory remarks about
Islam, but that a technical error led to ISPs blocking all the
blogging sites. Access to all but 20 specific sites had been restored
at the time of going to press
-Kushan Mitra
ECONOMY WATCH
CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT
Status: Up 96.48 per cent to $10.61 billion (Rs 48,806
crore) as on March 31, 2006*.
Impact: A rising current account deficit weakens the
domestic currency as imports overshoot exports.
*Latest figure available.
MONSOONS
Status: 14 per cent deficient between June 1 and July
18, but it now covers almost the whole of India.
Impact: NCAER has revised its forecast for agricultural
growth for the year from 3.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent. "Rural
consumption will be subdued this year," says Gaurav Vats, Senior
Research Analyst, Agriwatch. "Foodgrain production, mainly rice
and pulses will also be impacted," he adds.
-Compiled by Anand Adhikari and
Pallavi Srivastava
P-WATCH
A bird's eye view of what's hot and what's
not on the government's policy radar.
THE PRESCRIPTION |
»
Govt plans a legislation to curb land punters
» Regulator
planned for addressing issues of allottees and developers
» Once
enacted, legislation will come into force only in Union Territories
» At best,
it can serve as a model for states, as land is a state subject
» Expected
to become operational in November |
A FIX FOR SPIRALLING LAND PRICES?
Squatters, beware! Well, not really. The Central government
is attempting to draft a legislation that makes it mandatory for
those buying into 'urbanisable' land to start construction within
a fixed time frame from the point of purchase. Else, the government
will be within its rights to buy it. While this measure is aimed
at evicting squatters (and speculators and arbitrageurs) who drive
up land prices, the legislation will quite simply be a non-starter.
Why? Because land is a state subject. Unless, of course, the states
adopt it. A regulator is also envisaged under the legislation,
The Real Estate (Regulation and Control of Activities) Act (when
the bill is enacted). The regulator will redress the grievances
of both the allottees and the developers.
Once enacted, the Act will come into force in Delhi (where land
issues are administered by the Centre) beside Union Territories.
Hopefully, the states will adopt it before the land mafia makes
it any worse for city dwellers.
-Amit Mukherjee
BIG BROTHER HAS TO SAY YES
Only the paranoid survive, said former Intel chief Andy Grove,
a few years ago. He surely didn't suggest this prescription for
governments. Unfortunately, the Indian government is planning
to adopt this mantra. In a proposed move, the government plans
to license out the business of manufacture and purchase of broadcast
equipment. According to media reports, this move comes at the
behest of security agencies. The hounds fear that the country's
interests will be undermined if unfettered business is conducted
in this domain.
-Aman Malik
SUGAR EXPORT BAN SET TO GO
India's sugar policy is set to come a full circle with the government
planning to ease the ban on export of sugar. It had earlier said
the ban would be in force till April 2007, largely to keep domestic
prices in check; sugar, after all, is a commodity that can make
or break electoral fortunes.
Even at the time of the ban the government could have managed
price escalations in certain markets by moving stocks internally
rather than by banning exports.
Now, with the country expecting a record output of 22 million
tonne of sugar in the crushing season starting October, the ban
will go. Will domestic prices increase again?
-Aman Malik
TRADE (DEAL) SURPLUS?
The last fortnight has seen two big-ticket regional trade deals
involving India gaining momentum. First, Argentina submitted a
proposal for a three-way free trade agreement with a host of Latin
American and African countries. This was followed up by a deal
from the 25-member European Union (EU).
While the commerce ministry is immersed in assessing the impact
of these deals, the global trade deal under the WTO, appears to
have been put on the backburner.
-Amit Mukherjee
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Critical link: Power supplies |
RUPEE POWER
Domestic lending agencies like SBI, IDBI, ICICI have decided
to fund ultra-mega power projects in rupee denomination, preferring
it over foreign currencies. The reason is not hard to comprehend-lenders
funding seven out of every ten rupees in a project, foreign exchange
risk can jeopardise the viability of the project. In the unlikelihood
that all the six projects, aggregating 24,000 MW take off, the
rupee exposure would be a staggering Rs 75,600 crore.
-Balaji Chandramouli
|