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ASIAN BUSINESS
India, Malaysia and Indonesia were fleeced to the tune of $517
billion through illicit financial outflows over the past decade, Washington-based research and advocacy organisation Global
Financial Integrity (GFI) has said.
"India suffered illicit financial outflows of
$123 billion, Malaysia haemorrhaged $285 billion in illegal capital flight and
Indonesia lost $109 billion in dirty money," GFI said in a report.
GFI, which seeks to promote transparency in the
international financial system, also said Russia "experienced illicit
inflows and outflows totalling $764.3 billion since the collapse of the Soviet
Union.
"Our research shows that illicit financial
flows are one of the biggest hindrances to economic growth and one of the
primary drivers of inequality in rich and poor nations alike," said GFI
president Raymond Baker.
"The global economy is at a very tenuous place right now with
major emerging economies like India, Brazil, and Malaysia in turmoil, China
showing signs of slower growth and European nations just beginning a very
fragile recovery," Baker added.
ASIAN MANAGEMENT
China’s factories had their best growth in months in
August as domestic demand made up for weak exports, though lacklustre
performances from other regional manufacturers tempered hopes that Asian
workshops are on the edge of a solid recovery.
An HSBC purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed on
Monday that China’s manufacturing sector grew in August for the first time in
four months. A similar official survey released on Sunday showed sector growth
hit a 16-month high last month.
The two reports stirred hopes that the world’s
second-largest economy may finally be steadying after slowing down in 12 of the
past 14 quarters, cheering Asian investors who pushed regional stock markets to
a two-week high.
“We are definitely stabilising, but it’s going to be
a pretty weak to flat recovery,” said Stephen Green, an economist at Standard
Chartered, referring to China’s vast factory sector.
But relief that China may have dodged a sharp
slowdown was moderated by investor apprehension that times remain tough,
especially as other Asian factories foundered.
Indian factory activity shrank in August for the
first time in more than four years, adding to the country’s deepening economic
malaise.
A government report on Friday showed that India’s
economic growth in the April-to-June quarter slowed to 4.4 per cent, the
weakest pace since 2009, as both mining and manufacturing shrank.
Other PMI surveys showed the factory sector in South
Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, contracted for the third consecutive
month in August, while manufacturing activity in Indonesia - Southeast Asia’s
largest economy - also shrank as the index hit a 15-month low.
The final Markit/HSBC China PMI climbed to 50.1 for
August, a whisker above the 50-point level that separates an expansion from a
contraction in activity compared with the previous month.
Project and programme management professionals,
Psoda, is all set to fly the Kiwi flag at Cloud Expo Asia 2013 come November.
According to Bruce Aylward, CEO at Psoda, this is part of the company’s ongoing
strategy to enter markets outside New Zealand and Australia.
“Our initial focus has been on New Zealand and then
Australia. We are now ready to take our first steps into Asia. Our next target
market is Singapore to establish a base in Asia and then outwards from there.
To this end our product supports multiple languages including Chinese and
Japanese,” said Aylward.
Psoda will be focusing on its project and programme
management capabilities at the Cloud Expo Asia, and will use its presence there
to actively scout for channel partners in that region, while establishing its
brand and looking for customers.
According to Aylward, Psoda could be the only New
Zealand firm exhibiting at Cloud Expo Asia, and he expresses disappointment on
this since the Asian continent offers a promising market.
“The Asian markets offer strong growth in the next
couple of years. New Zealand firms are well-respected there, travel times to
Asia are faster than Europe and around the same as the US, and we are in
similar time zones so we can provide better day-time support. Additionally,
there is lower latency to deliver content to Asia compared to the USA or
Europe.
“NZ provides a neutral ground from which to provide
cloud services compared to e.g. the USA with the recent revelations of their
NSA's PRISM programme and also because of the distrust between the governments
of a lot of the Asian countries,” said Aylward.
BANKING
Banks in Malaysia are set to provide at least one
Internet banking kiosk at all their branches nationwide to facilitate the
public access to online banking and interbank GIRO (IBG) services by March
2014.
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Deputy Governor, Datuk
Muhammad Ibrahim, said this effort was in line with the central bank's
initiative to accelerate the migration to e-payments and was one of the key
strategies in its Financial Sector Blueprint to be achieved by 2020.
"A successful migration has the potential to
drive further efficiency gains and cost savings which will improve the
country's competitive position.
"Research has suggested that with a successful
migration to e-payments, the annual saving will be one per cent of gross
domestic product annually," he told a media briefing after annoucing BNM's
awareness campaign on IBG here today.
To date, over 2,100 Internet banking kiosks have
been deployed at bank branches nationwide, representing 74 per cent of the
total bank branch network in the country.
Muhammad said both cheques and cash remained
prevalent in Malaysia at the moment and this trend needed to be monitored.
Businesses and members of the public are encouraged
to learn about the benefits, security features and safe practices regarding
online banking and e-payments, he said.
Following this, BNM, together with the Association
of Banks in Malaysia and banking institutions, will be conducting road-shows in
major cities and towns in the next six months.
According to Muhammad, the central bank has targeted
to increase the usage of e-payment transactions by three times to 200 per
capita by 2020 from the current 56 per capita.
It also aimed for a 10.6-time increase in debit card
transactions to 30 per capita from 1.2 per capita currently.
The number of cheques was set to be reduced by 13
times to 100 million from 204 million at present.
BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION
Wary of
cyber snooping, the government may ban use of e-mail services like Gmail and Yahoo for official communications so as to safeguard its
critical data.
Department
of Electronics and Information Technology is drafting a policy on e-mail usage
in government offices and departments, which will be released in two months.
"We
are working on an e-mail policy. The policy will apply to all the central and
state government employees using NIC. It will come out in about two months
time," DEITY Secretary J Satyanarayana told PTI when asked whether the
government is drafting a policy to check the use of e-mail services like Gmail,
Yahoo etc.
When asked
about the e-mail services that will be banned, Satyanarayana said, "I will
not be able to spell out the specifics. But, in general, it is to address the
large amount of critical government data and ways and means to safeguard it."
While
Satyanarayana refused to give details, officials said policy may make it
mandatory for government offices to communicate only on the nic.In platform.
The
government will send a formal notification after the policy is implemented in
about two months covering about 5-6 lakh Central and State government employees
to use the email service provided by National Informatics Centre (NIC).
The
development comes close on heels of concerns being raised by a section in the
government, especially intelligence agencies, over use of email services,
provided by foreign firms (mostly US-based), which have their servers located
in overseas locations, making it difficult to track if sensitive government
data is being snooped upon.
Wireless
leader Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) has partnered with world-leading
mobile-satellite services provider Thuraya Telecommunications Company (Thuraya)
to make satellite communications services that directly benefit some 700,000
registered merchant mariners, disaster- relief personnel and others with
mission-critical roles to fulfill.
This was
learned on Monday at a news briefing the local telco hosted on behalf of its
United Arab Emirates-based partners, with both committing to make “more
accessible, affordable and relevant” the
satellite communications business to a wider market in the country.
Among the
products unveiled were the Marino PhonePal, ostensibly the only local satellite
voice call service that can provide true satellite coverage while at sea, and
the upcoming SatSleeve, which can transform a regular iPhone into a portable
satellite phone unit in seconds.
“With this
enhanced mobility and accessibility of our satellite services, we can serve
better not only the maritime market, but also other critical and demanding
fields such as the media, the military and the country’s disaster and emergency
response agencies,” said Orlando B. Vea, chief wireless advisor for Smart.
With
Thuraya, which operates two geostationary satellites, Smart effectively
expanded its satellite footprint to cover two-thirds of the world. Smart
Satellite Services are now accessible in the land areas and major sealanes in
Asia, New Zealand, Australia, Middle East, Africa, Europe and Indian Ocean.
“Aside
from giving us broader coverage, our partnership with Thuraya enables us to
offer our customers a broader range of services, including text messaging and
mobile-data applications,” Charles A. Lim, Smart executive vice president and
head of Wireless Consumer Business, said.
The Marino
Phonepal is a prepaid, IVR PIN-based calling service that enables seafarers to
make voice calls from their ships, even while in the middle of the sea. It
offers the lowest “call home” satellite rates at P18 per minute.
BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT
The deal, which follows two years of collaboration
that saw Nokia devices using Microsoft’s Windows operating system, follows a
spectacular fall from grace for the firm that was once the world’s dominant
mobile phone maker.
But for Microsoft the buyout provides a cheap way to
catch up with Apple and Google and emulate their model of selling integrated
devices and software.
It also takes Nokia’s Canadian boss Stephen Elop
back to Seattle, with analysts touting him to take control of the enlarged firm
when outgoing chief executive Steve Ballmer leaves next year.
Elop ran Microsoft’s business software division
before jumping to Nokia in 2010, prompting accusations in Nokia’s native
Finland today that he was a “Trojan horse”.
Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX Capital,
said Elop was always aware that Microsoft wanted to enter the smartphone
market, but the Canadian had also ensured a favourable outcome for Nokia’s
long-suffering shareholders.
“Aside from the fact that the price-tag is a tasty
deal for Microsoft, the agreement is mutually beneficial,” Siddiqi said.
He said shareholders at both companies will welcome
the news and are likely to show little or no opposition to the agreement.
Siddiqi added: “For the broader market, it’s encouraging news too – deal
activity is back on board this year in a sign of corporate confidence.”
Nokia shares shot up after the deal was announced,
leaving the firm’s many detractors nursing deep losses on “short” positions.
The Finnish firm, which started life as a paper mill
in 1865, is left with a networks business and a portfolio of patents, to which
Microsoft has access.
Investors had ascribed little remaining value to the
phone business, which has seen its 40 per cent share of the world market in
2007 decline to some 15 per cent today, with just 3 per cent of the more
lucrative smartphones segment.
However, Victor Basta, managing director of
technology industry M&A broker Magister Advisors, believes Microsoft played
a hard game to pick up its target at a very favourable price.
INDIA MANAGEMENT
As a part of its renewed focus on business IT
services (BITS), Infosys, India’s second-largest information technology (IT)
services company, is strengthening its infrastructure management services (IMS)
offerings, a space that aided the industry’s growth even during uncertainties.
The increased focus on this segment is expected to provide a boost to the
company’s BITS business, which accounts for about 60 per cent of its total
revenues.
“In the last two years, we have done a lot of incubation and innovation in the BITS space. Henceforth, these are all going to be used more vigorously,” Chandrashekar Kakal, senior vice-president and global head (BITS), told Business Standard.
“We have looked at giving a thrust to the infrastructure management space. Earlier, we were known only for remote infrastructure management. But now, we are looking at end-to-end capability in the infrastructure space. So, we are winning large deals that are infrastructure-led and all of these would actually be accelerated as we go forward in the new direction.”
Soon after assuming charge as executive chairman in June, N R Narayana Murthy had acknowledged lack of concentration in winning large deals in the BITS segment had hit Infosys in the past few years. During an interaction with investors earlier this month, he had admitted the lost focus in the BITS business had been a mistake. In the last couple of years, IMS, which has been growing at a faster pace than the industry average, has been a key growth driver for most IT companies. However, Infosys’s presence in this segment is somewhat low compared to its large Indian peers. IMS accounts for only six-seven per cent of Infosys’s overall revenues, against 12-28 per cent for peers that have successfully used this to snatch market share, despite the fact that most deals in this space have thin margins.
“In the last two years, we have done a lot of incubation and innovation in the BITS space. Henceforth, these are all going to be used more vigorously,” Chandrashekar Kakal, senior vice-president and global head (BITS), told Business Standard.
“We have looked at giving a thrust to the infrastructure management space. Earlier, we were known only for remote infrastructure management. But now, we are looking at end-to-end capability in the infrastructure space. So, we are winning large deals that are infrastructure-led and all of these would actually be accelerated as we go forward in the new direction.”
Soon after assuming charge as executive chairman in June, N R Narayana Murthy had acknowledged lack of concentration in winning large deals in the BITS segment had hit Infosys in the past few years. During an interaction with investors earlier this month, he had admitted the lost focus in the BITS business had been a mistake. In the last couple of years, IMS, which has been growing at a faster pace than the industry average, has been a key growth driver for most IT companies. However, Infosys’s presence in this segment is somewhat low compared to its large Indian peers. IMS accounts for only six-seven per cent of Infosys’s overall revenues, against 12-28 per cent for peers that have successfully used this to snatch market share, despite the fact that most deals in this space have thin margins.
INSURANCE
A global body of insurers today said India should
speed up reforms in insurance sector, which would help in attracting more
foreign funds.
"Coalition of global insurers with substantial
investments in India has made a strong plea to the Parliament and India's
leadership to pass the Insurance Amendment Bill before this Parliament session
ends," Washington based Albright
Stonebridge Group said in a statement. Recent reports that the much-delayed
Insurance Bill is unlikely to be passed by the Indian
Parliament in its current session should be a cause of great concern to
everybody, it said.
"If the Insurance Bill does not pass through
the Parliament in the current session, the global investment community may read
it as a lack of interest on part of its policy makers to do what needs to be
done to avert a bigger crisis," Frank Wisner,
former US Ambassador to India, was quoted as saying in the statement.
He has been leading this coalition of global insurers
advocating for increased FDI in insurance, it added.
The Insurance Amendment Bill to raise FDI cap in the
insurance sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent has been pending in the Rajya
Sabha since 2008.
"It is imperative that the proposed Bill...is accepted
since it is widely seen by the foreign investment community and governments as
a key reinforcement of India's commitment to financial and economic
reforms," the release said.
Former Country Head and CEO of AIG India Sunil Mehta
said that any further delay in pushing insurance reforms will exacerbate the
risk of losing this capital to other competitive markets.
For a country with a GDP that is about to touch USD
2 trillion, India has woefully inadequate insurance coverage, the statement
said, adding, only 6 per cent of the 1.25 billion Indians have life
insurance and only 5 per cent of has health cover.
ODISHA BUSINESS
The state government has approved a
proposal for installation of solar panel in roof top of all government establishments in
Bhubaneswar and Cuttack area under PPP model and has directed the
implementing agency to sign agreements with International Finance
Corporation (IFC).
“Government has been pleased to approve the proposal for implementation of solar rooftop project within twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar,” said Sangramjit Nayak, joint secretary in the state energy department to managing director of Odisha Hydro Power Corporation Ltd (OHPC) in a letter issued on Monday.
The OHPC should now take necessary steps to sign an agreement between Green Energy Development Corporation Ltd (GEDCOL) and IFC for project financing, he added.
GEDCOL, a recently established agency for development and maintenance of carbon-free energy in the state, is the wholly-owned subsidiary of OHPC.
The solar project is aimed at reducing ever-increasing power bills of government offices.The government has been criticised by the High Court for not clearing large amount of pending power bills in a tariff hike case.
In October last year, the state government decided to set up solar lighting systems on rooftop of all government offices from 2013-14 onwards. The project also mandates that solar heating system should be installed at all government-run hostels and guest houses to trim power bills.
“Government has been pleased to approve the proposal for implementation of solar rooftop project within twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar,” said Sangramjit Nayak, joint secretary in the state energy department to managing director of Odisha Hydro Power Corporation Ltd (OHPC) in a letter issued on Monday.
The OHPC should now take necessary steps to sign an agreement between Green Energy Development Corporation Ltd (GEDCOL) and IFC for project financing, he added.
GEDCOL, a recently established agency for development and maintenance of carbon-free energy in the state, is the wholly-owned subsidiary of OHPC.
The solar project is aimed at reducing ever-increasing power bills of government offices.The government has been criticised by the High Court for not clearing large amount of pending power bills in a tariff hike case.
In October last year, the state government decided to set up solar lighting systems on rooftop of all government offices from 2013-14 onwards. The project also mandates that solar heating system should be installed at all government-run hostels and guest houses to trim power bills.
State-owned SAIL is scouting for new iron ore mines
in several states, including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and
Karnataka, as it is gearing up to increase its steel making capacity by up to
50 percent to 21 million tonnes by this fiscal.
"For ensuring regular supplies of iron ore, capacities of existing iron ore mines are being expanded and new iron ore mines are being developed. In addition, new iron ore deposits in the states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, MP, Maharashtra, Odisha and Karnataka are being explored," SAIL said in its annual report for 2012-13.
Currently, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) meets all its requirements through captive iron ore mines and had produced 21.48 million tonnes (MT) of ore in the last fiscal to produce 13.4 crude steel.
By March, 2014, its hot metal production capacity -- the benchmark for steel production capacity -- is expected to rise to over 21 MT, as the company is expecting to commission majority of its Rs 72,000 crore expansion programme.
However, this will also lead to over 50 percent jump in iron ore requirement for the company to about 34 MTPA as 1.6 MT ore is generally used to produce 1 MT steel.
To meet the requirements, the company is expanding the capacities of its several mines, it said. This includes expanding the capacities of Kiriburu mine (to 5.5 MTPA from 4.25 MTPA), Meghahatuburu (to 6.5 MTPA from 4.3 MTPA) and Bolani (to 10 MTPA from 4.10 MTPA).
"For ensuring regular supplies of iron ore, capacities of existing iron ore mines are being expanded and new iron ore mines are being developed. In addition, new iron ore deposits in the states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, MP, Maharashtra, Odisha and Karnataka are being explored," SAIL said in its annual report for 2012-13.
Currently, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) meets all its requirements through captive iron ore mines and had produced 21.48 million tonnes (MT) of ore in the last fiscal to produce 13.4 crude steel.
By March, 2014, its hot metal production capacity -- the benchmark for steel production capacity -- is expected to rise to over 21 MT, as the company is expecting to commission majority of its Rs 72,000 crore expansion programme.
However, this will also lead to over 50 percent jump in iron ore requirement for the company to about 34 MTPA as 1.6 MT ore is generally used to produce 1 MT steel.
To meet the requirements, the company is expanding the capacities of its several mines, it said. This includes expanding the capacities of Kiriburu mine (to 5.5 MTPA from 4.25 MTPA), Meghahatuburu (to 6.5 MTPA from 4.3 MTPA) and Bolani (to 10 MTPA from 4.10 MTPA).
RETAIL
WGSN, the
world’s trend forecaster, announced WGSN INstock, a new online analytics system
that will revolutionise the fast fashion retail industry.
WGSN
INstock provides fashion retailers critical market intelligence which informs
business-critical buying and merchandising decisions. The system is intuitive
to use and has been designed to become an invaluable tool for key decision
makers from the boardroom to buyers, merchandisers, and designers.
The
taxonomy and interface has been built by WGSN experts, many of whom were former
senior buyers and merchandisers at large retailers. The service, part of a
£10million investment, is intended to be used in conjunction with WGSN’s trend
forecasting service.
WGSN
INstock launches with the e-commerce product catalogues from a number of
influential retailers and thousands of brands in the UK and North America and
delivers data to desktops in one super-fast online application. With millions
of records compiled daily, WGSN INstock enables users to view complete product
ranges and to track key market metrics in an instant.
WGSN’s
biggest womenswear retail customers currently rely on manual market monitoring
methods known as ‘comp shopping’. By the time the data is digested and
presented, it’s out of date and the customer and the market have already moved
on.
The WGSN
INstock system will give a market-wide view of which retailers are backing what
trends right now and save significant time and money by reducing the need for
manual information gathering. WGSN INstock currently reports on over 250,000
products and more than 3m SKUs daily, enabling users to optimize their
in-season trading and forward plan effective stock ranges.
SUPPLY CHAIN
JDA Software Group, Inc. has announced the latest
release of its supply chain planning suite comprised of more than 20
applications. It is part of JDA eight, the recently announced JDA solution
release that unifies supply chain planning, optimization and business analytics
on a single platform for deployment in the cloud, said a release.
Major innovations now available in JDA's supply
chain planning suite include inline analytics, process-driven workflows,
packaged event-response levers, consolidated demand signals and in-memory
technologies.
JDA's latest supply chain planning suite introduces
inline analytics, the next generation of analytics that go beyond visibility to
offer diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive analytics that provide the
"why", "what if" and "what's optimal" insights
necessary to take action. With analytics embedded within the processing
platform, planners can respond to changes and resolve disruptions immediately,
said the company.
The suite also offers role- and task-based workflows
allowing planners to perform all tasks for a given business process.
Process-driven workflows with a consistent user interface allow planners to
fulfill their job functions seamlessly, intuitively and efficiently. By
removing the operational silos typically present when crossing from one supply
chain application to the next, JDA's supply chain planning suite allows
organizations to enhance employee productivity, reduce training time and
improve customer service, said the company.
_______________________________________________________________
Source of
Information for this issue: Google alert accessed on 9th and 10th Sept 2013
We welcome your suggestions in improving this information updating service.
Knowledge Is Power. Be Informed, Be Knowledgeable, Be Powerful.
Best wishes
Compilation
Sabita Sahu
Sabita Sahu
Junior Librarian
Concept, Layout and
Editing
Syamaghana Mohanty
Chief Librarian
Chief Librarian
Information and
Documentation Division, Chanakya Central Library
Asian School of
Business Management
Shiksha Vihar Bhola,
Barang Khurda Road,
Chandaka
Bhubaneswar-754012
Tel:0674-2374832, 2374833
E-mail:library@asbm.ac.in, chieflibrarian@asbm.ac.in
Sabita Sahu :Junior Librarian and Syamaghana Mohanty : Chief Librarian, Knowledge and Information Services Unit, Chanakya Central Library, Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar. chieflibrarian@asbm.ac.in ; www.asbm.ac.in
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