Unhappy man: Jet Airways' Goyal is facing serious charges

There is little doubt that Naresh Goyal, 56, created one of India's best airlines. However, there has always been a cloud over how Goyal, a Non-Resident Indian (NRI), got the funding to start his airline. In the US, where Jet Airways was supposed to start flights in July 2005, its security clearance has been held up.

To make matters worse, it emerged after the recent security scare at London's Heathrow Airport that Amin Asmin Tariq, a Jet Airways employee, was among the suspects. Jet immediately suspended Tariq and clarified that it had been "compelled" to hire him because of UK employment laws. Despite the clarification, the UK now plans to review Jet Airways' security clearance. There are reports that even Singapore wants to do the same. But Goyal is not without powerful friends. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel recently assured Parliament that the government had no reason to suspect that Jet was "financed by underworld elements".

Goyal, who is among the most written about personalities this year, was also "alleged" to have met Subroto Roy of Sahara India Parivar to revive the dead and buried proposal to merge Jet and Air Sahara. There was also speculation about a settlement. But Air Sahara vociferously denied the developments the next day.

And while all this was going on, the Jet Airways scrip actually did decently well on the indices, climbing 10.4 per cent in the week of August 14-18 week. Yet, the stock is still trading at just over half its issue price of Rs 1,100. Goyal hasn't had a great year, and he must be hoping that both he and his airline hit calmer waters soon.

-Kushan Mitra

NUMBERS OF NOTE

30 per cent: China's share of the world apparel trade; Mexico is in second place with a 9.5 per cent share and India is a distant third with 4 per cent

Rs 55.2: The net hourly pay in Delhi compared to Rs 63 in Mumbai, Rs 897 in Zurich and Rs 690 in London, according to a study published by UBS

30,000: The number of deaths in the UK every year due to obesity; the figure is 10 times higher in the US

1.64 per cent: SBI's wage bill as a proportion to its total assets, compared to 0.43 per cent for ICICI Bank and 0.36 per cent for UTI Bank

7.246 million: The number of passengers who flew within the country in the first three months of 2006-07, up from 4.99 million in the corresponding period in the previous year

Rs 44,700 per kilolitre: The average price of aviation turbine fuel in August, up from an average price of Rs 34,100 per kilolitre in August last year

Rs 4-6 crore: The cost per km of constructing a highway in India

77 per cent: The number of US households that had air-conditioning in 2001, the most recent year for which government statistics are available, against 56 per cent in 1978. All evidence suggests that it has continued to climb since then

4,000: The number of private schools in Delhi. Of these, only half are recognised by the government

$8 billion (Rs 37,600 crore): The amount that will be generated by Macau's gaming halls in 2007, helping it leap-frog ahead of the Las Vegas Strip as the world's largest casino market by then

20: The number of foreign movies screened in China last year; 16 of them were from the US

$1,565: Price of the first PC (cream-coloured 5150) introduced by IBM 25 years ago in August, 1981. The machine boasted 16K of memory, the size of a couple of terse modern e-mails or about 1 per cent of a floppy disk

NOTED

INDUCTED: By The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE)-a worldwide network of entrepreneurs and professionals of Indian origin-Infosys Technologies co-founder and chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy, on to its board of trustees. The organisation fosters entrepreneurship globally through mentoring, networking, and education and now has 44 chapters in nine countries and a membership of over 12,000.

SELECTED: By the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Pantaloon's as the formal wear provider and sponsor for Team India. Lalit Modi, Chairman, Marketing Committee, BCCI, said Pantaloon's Rs 20-crore offer for four years had been approved by the working committee of the board.

DROPPED: By GlaxoSmithKline, the controversial application to patent a key AIDS drug in Thailand and India. Glaxo, which introduced the drug Combid in Thailand four years ago, says it will withdraw the patent applications for the drug.

PROJECTED: By the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, a 7.9 per cent growth in Gross Domestic Product for 2006-07. This means the Indian economy will have averaged 8 per cent growth over a four-year stretch for the first time ever.

PROPOSED: By the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) a plan to write off Rs 10,000-crore accumulated losses. The landmark development by the board is sure to put pressure on the state exchequer, but there will be an immediate downward revision in tariff for WBSEB's 45 lakh consumers.

LAUNCHED: By Hindustan Motors, the Rs 29.7-lakh Montero, a premium SUV. This will be followed by another SUV, the Outlander, in early 2007 and a new premium-segment mini van-cum-sedan Grandis thereafter.

FILED: By the Karnataka government, a lawsuit in a civil court against Coke and Pepsi. This is the first such case filed by state against the cola giants. Says state Health Minister R. Ashok: "The state itself conducted tests and found the level of chemical pesticides higher than the permitted levels."

THE REAL PAY OF SENIOR MANAGERS

The next time you convert your US cousin's dollar salary into rupees and go green with envy, consider this: he probably earns less than you. A survey, conducted across 29 countries by the US-based Hay Group, adjusts the cost of living and rental expenses against incomes in various countries and arrives at the real income that senior managers actually take home. One caveat, the figures have also been adjusted for purchasing power parity. The survey shows that managers in countries with very high rates of taxation, such as Sweden, are much worse off than those in, say China or Poland. The global average pay for a senior manager is m59,651.

DRESS CODE FOR ACCOUNTANTS

Spit and polish: A sign of the future

When a practising chartered accountant (CA) meets any "external authority" for any official purpose, he will have to wear formal dress-full-sleeve shirt, tie and shoes (or saris or salwar kameez for women). The central council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the governing body, has come up with this dress code amid confusion and inhibitions among CAs across the country.

Says ICAI President T.N. Manoharan: "This is only recommendatory in nature and is not mandatory." Manoharan, however, expects his fellow chartered accountants to follow the "recommendations". The other rider: the code is applicable only to professionals working in their individual capacity or as partners in a CA firm. It will not apply to those who are employed in the corporate sector. Says Abhijit Bandyopadhyay, a central council member of ICAI: "We are trying to ensure that CAs are properly dressed when they attend official meetings. So there is no reason why it shouldn't work." He adds that ICAI will be liberal in implementing this code and will make concessions for CAs who live and work in small towns and non-urban centres.

But surely, there are other more pressing matters it should be addressing than improving the sartorial sense of its members.

-Ritwik Mukherjee