FII stake at record high in nifty cos

Mumbai: Foreign institutional ownership in India’s top 50 stocks is at an all-time peak of 22% while the corresponding figure for domestic funds is at 11.2%, a fiveyear low, an analysis of the latest disclosed shareholding patterns has showed. During the October-December quarter, FIIs net bought Indian stocks worth $6.5 billion, the third highest for the period in the last 10 years. This pushed up foreign ownership to this record peak, the report by Axis Capital, which analysis shareholding patterns in 50 constituents of NSE’s nifty index, pointed out.

Hero unveils hybrid diesel concept, new 250cc bike

New Delhi: Pawan Munjalled Hero MotoCorp has started churning out new models and concepts close to three years after the split from Honda. The company, country’s largest two-wheeler maker, unveiled a 150cc hybrid diesel concept twowheeler and four other models, including a hybrid scooter and an all-new 250cc bike.
    Barring the 150cc diesel model ‘RNT’, the company plans to launch all other four models in the next financial year, Hero Motocorp MD Pawan Munjal said. “RNT is a concept. We will further develop it before it becomes a production model.”

Flipkart and Myntra might merge

Bangalore/Mumbai: Indian e-commerce biggie Flipkart has approached crosstown rival Myntra with a merger deal propelled by the larger, common investors behind the two Bangalore based e-tailers, people directly aware of the matter said. This development unfolded even as Myntra was sealing a $50-million (around Rs 300 crore) fund-raise from a consortium of investors led by PremjiInvest, first reported by TOI in its November 19 edition last year.
    US hedge fund Tiger Global and venture capital firm Accel Partners are the two common investors, holding significant shares in Flipkart and online fashion specialist Myntra. Myntra’s co-founder Mukesh Bansal and smaller investors like IDG Ventures and Kalaari Capital prefer raising another round of funds rather than selling off the company right now. But a final decision will be taken within two weeks as Myntra founders and investors take a decision “most comfortable with everyone”.

Google unveils contact lens for diabetics It Will Measure Glucose Level In Real Time, May Spell End Of Painful Jabs

New Delhi: The engineers inside Google X are hard at work. And this time they have come up with a contact lens that will measure the glucose level of a person in real time. The product is still in early stage of development. For now Google is testing prototypes and how they can be best used. 

If successful, this contact lens may help diabetics say goodbye to painful needles that they have to use several times a day to successfully monitor their blood glucose level.

Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Union minister Shashi Tharoor, found dead in Delhi hotel

NEW DELHI: Sunanda Pushkar, the wife of Union minister Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in suite 345 of Leela Hotel on Friday evening. Her death comes within 48 hours of her going public about her husband's alleged affair with a Pakistani journalist, raising suspicions of suicide, although no note has been found.

Her body was reportedly found by Tharoor when he returned to the hotel in the evening after Friday's AICC session. The couple are said to have moved out of the minister's official bungalow as it was being painted. The police were informed by Tharoor's PS Abhinav Kumar.

AUSTRALIAN OVEN Shaken Players Lash Out At Conditions After Cases Of Fainting, Vomiting Mar Day 2

Melbourne: Players fainted and vomited, while a ball boy collapsed as the Australian Open boiled on one of the hottest days in its history on Tuesday, prompting angry complaints and keeping fans away from the Melbourne Park.
    Temperatures of 42.2 Celsius, enough to melt plastic bottles on the rubberized courts, made for a punishing day for the players with some incensed their matches went ahead. Canada’s Frank Dancevic lashed out at the “inhumane” playing conditions after he felt dizzy and then blacked out and needed treatment during his first-round defeat to Benoit Paire.

Delhi government withdraws permission for FDI retail stores

AAP govt says no to FDI in multi-brand retail in Delhi. Fulfills another manifesto promise!
Reversing the earlier policy, the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government has written to the Centre that it will not allow multi-national companies to set up multibrand retail stores in the state.
Delhi has become the first state to withdraw permission for FDI in retail sector. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the party manifesto had expressed its opposition to the policy of FDI in multi-brand retail.

BEARING THE BURDEN: Coal India may pay 15k cr dividend

To Help Government Reduce 30,000 Crore Deficit From Disinvestment

New Delhi: Coal India is set to cough up a dividend of around Rs 15,000 crore to the government, probably a record, to help the Centre bridge the yawning gap between its disinvestment target of Rs 40,000 crore for the current fiscal and expected realization of around Rs 10,000 crore.
In addition, NMDC, another cash-rich public sector company, is likely to pay around Rs 2,500 crore by way of special dividend even as state-run oil companies turned down a request from the finance ministry, arguing that they have lined up investment plans and also have to bear a part of the subsidy burden.

UP blacks out TV channels for criticizing Akhilesh govt

Got Orders From ‘Higher-Ups’: Cable Operator

Lucknow: Within days of UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s open attack on the media for its “negative coverage of Saifai Mahotsav”, two news channels – Times Now and India News – were unplugged by cable operators, some of who confessed to acting on informal government orders.

Mumbai airport's swanky new terminal

India's overcrowded financial capital unveiled its long-awaited Rs 5,500 crore new airport terminal on Friday, an ambitious, art-filled space that developers hope will be a showcase success in a country struggling to modernize inadequate infrastructure that is holding back economic growth.

EPFO may raise 2013-14 interest rate to 8.75%

New Delhi: The Employees Provident Fund Organisation may increase the the interest rate on your statutory savings to 8.75% for the current financial year, compared to 8.5% paid last year, helping over 8 crore subscribers earn higher returns during a period of high inflation. 

EPFO’s central board is scheduled to meet on Monday to decide the interest rate for 2013-14. EPFO fixes the rate based on the interest earned on its investment, a majority of which is in government securities, and it’s expenses. EPFO manages a corpus of over Rs 5 lakh crore and is a basic source of retirement fund for lakhs of Indians. Although it was initially looking at maintaining the interest rate at 8.5%, EPFO has found some surplus funds, based on higher returns to increase the payout. Employees unions are demanding at least a 9% return but labour minister Oscar Fernandes said that the interest rate was based on EPFO’s earnings. “We can’t cross-subsidize,” he said on Sunday evening. 

EPFO is estimated to have an income of around Rs 21,000 crore in the current financial year and increasing the payout to 9% will result in an additional burden of around Rs 1,200 crore. 

A higher payout ahead of the elections will will help the government blunt some of the criticism it has faced on the price rise front.

Partially frozen Niagara Falls

The polar vortex that has gripped the U.S. and Canada this week has led to some spectacular icy images. The latest come from Niagara Falls, which partially froze on Tuesday, when the high temperature was a record low of minus 2 degrees.The ice formed on the U.S. side of the falls, which straddle the border between the United States and Canada.

North & South reel under weather woes At 50°C, Australia records hottest year since 1960s

SIZZLING SOUTH: Heatstressed bats lined up for feeding at an animal clinic in Australia. At least 50,000 bats were killed by the heat wave

Canberra (Australia): Bats are dropping from trees, kangaroos are collapsing in the Outback and gardens are turning brown. While North America freezes under record polar temperatures, the southern hemisphere is experiencing the opposite extreme as heat records are being set in Australia after the hottest year ever. 

4,000 calls swamp Kejri graft helpline

New Delhi: On Day One, the anti-graft helpline launched by the Kejriwal government was swamped, receiving 3,904 calls by 3pm on Thursday. By evening, the number of calls had crossed 4,000 and two complaints had reached the anticorruption branch with initial evidence gathered through ‘sting operations’. The branch claimed it was gearing up to trap the alleged bribe-seekers within a day.

CM Arvind Kejriwal said an overwhelmed call centre staff could only attend to 824 calls due to heavy congestion in the line. Of these, 53 were found to be ‘genuine’ calls where specific complaints against officials were mentioned. He said 15 such callers refused to conduct stings. 

Mercedes unveils new S-Class at 1.57 crore

Hoping to cash in on the recent good run, Mercedes-Benz unveiled its new SClass luxury sedan, priced at Rs 1.57 crore (ex-showroom Delhi), and said that it is keen to add small and mid-sized SUVs to its product portfolio as it looks to regain the top slot in the premium segment of the market.
The new S-Class, which comes with a modified design and plush interiors loaded with features, is fitted with a 4.6 litre V8 engine and can attain a top speed of 250 km an hour. “We are launching the all new S-Class in India just three months after its global launch in October last year, following up on eight new products we launched in 2013 here,” said Mercedes-Benz India managing director and CEO Eberhard Kern.

Delhi: Kejriwal launches helpline to nab corrupt officials

Service Will Teach Citizens How To Mount Sting Operation

New Delhi: Delhiites can now call a helpline to seek assistance in nabbing a government official or organization seeking bribes for executing a public work or service in the capital.

 Launching the service on Wednesday, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal described it as a “helpline” to catch bribe-seekers and said it was not a “complaint number”. The helpline would instruct the caller on how to conduct a sting operation by secretly recording the demand of the accused (in audio or video) to create the ‘first evidence’, on the basis of which the government’s anti-corruption team will lay a trap to catch the offender red-handed.

15 unbelievable look-alikes of Indian celebrities

Many claim that each of us has upto 6 look-alikes around the world. Although we can’t verify the math behind the calculation, we can safely assume that the probability of a look-alike (or maybe a doppelganger) is pretty high.

So here’s a curated list of 15 Indian celebrities and their incredible look-alikes.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 400th career goal as Real Madrid beat Celta Vigo

Barcelona: A late double from Cristiano Ronaldo put some gloss on a stuttering performance from Real Madrid as they beat Celta Vigo 3-0 to cut the gap at the top of La Liga to five points.

The pressure was on Real with leaders Barcelona and Atletico Madrid having won their first matches of the year.
However, with Ronaldo unusually quiet and record-signing Gareth Bale only fit enough for the bench Real were frustrated by a Celta side who had several chances to score before Karim Benzema broke the deadlock midway through the second half.

Nine killed in Dehradun Express blaze

Thane (Maharashtra), Jan 8 (IANS) Nine passengers, including a woman, were roasted alive when a fire engulfed the speeding Mumbai-Dehradun Express near Dahanu town in Maharashtra's Thane district early Wednesday, officials said.

The fire is believed to have erupted in one bogie and quickly spread to two other bogies, catching the passengers in their sleep around 2.30 a.m. Wednesday, a Western Railway official spokesperson said.

THE BIG CHILL

 Lake Michigan has frozen and Chicago is being called ‘Chi-beria’ after temperatures dived to -26°C, making it colder than the South Pole in Antarctica (-23) and Novosibirsk, in Siberia (-21). Tuesday could be the coldest day for the US in the 21st century with temperatures expected to dip to -52°C (coupled with windchill), in Montana (northwestern US, bordering Canada). New York hit a 118-year low of -16°C on Monday. At least 22 people have died due to extreme cold in 11 states since January 1. Anana, the lone polar bear at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, has been moved to a climate-controlled environment. More than 4,300 US flights were cancelled on Monday and over 6,500 delayed. Indianapolis has banned driving except in emergencies

Reliance to launch 4G

Reliance Jio Infocomm plans to provide connectivity speed that will be 10-12 times faster than 3G

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) plans to offer a top data transmission speed of 49 megabit per second (mbps) downlink and uplink between 8-9 mbps through its pan-India 4G network, which is 10- 12 times faster than 3G. An RJIL official told PTI that at a speed of 49 mbps, a subscriber can download a full- length movie of 600 megabytes in about 2 minutes. The average top speed of 3G network is 4 mbps.
“We are practically achieving a speed of 49 megabit per second downlink, and uplink is between 8- 9 mbps. Theoretically, the present set- up that we have can achieve speed of 112 mbps downlink,” the official said.
Apart from phones, the high- speed Internet connection will also be linked to household TV sets.
The 4G network- based Jio Television can serve as a third alternative for consumers.

Dubai Shopping Festival- 2014

 The 19th edition of the widely popular Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) gets underway Thursday with its organisers aiming to make it a global retail success.

"In the last few years we have witnessed the number of visitors to the Dubai Shopping Festival averaging around four million and we are anticipating an increase of 5 to 10 per cent during the 19th edition of the DSF Jan 2-Feb 2," said Laila Mohammed Suhail, chief executive officer of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), an agency of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing.

Corey Anderson hits fastest ODI century

New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson cracked the fastest century in one-day international history, reaching three figures in just 36 deliveries against the West Indies on last Wednesday.

The previous record was held by Shahid Afridi, who took 37 balls to reach his ton playing for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in 1996.

Anderson, who finished the New Zealand innings unbeaten on 131, hit 14 sixes in his whirlwind assault, the third highest number of sixes in an ODI innings.

Who is Arvind Kejriwal..?

Arvind Kejriwal (born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician who has been Chief Minister of Delhi since 2013. Born in Haryana, Kejriwal is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, where he studied mechanical engineering. He worked for the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) as a Joint Commissioner in the Income Tax Department. He is well-known for his efforts to bring and implement the Right to Information (RTI) Act at grassroots level and his role in drafting a proposed Jan Lokpal Bill.

Kejriwal won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006 for his contribution to the enactment of the Right to Information Act. In 2006, after resigning from the IRS, he donated his Magsaysay award money as a corpus fund to found an NGO, Public Cause Research Foundation. In 2012, he launched the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and defeated Sheila Dixit in the 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly election by a margin of 25,864 votes.

Gold is no longer a safe investment

The myth that gold prices only rise was shattered in 2013 and the metal lost its safe haven status

    The crash in gold prices was one of the biggest shockers of 2013. A correction had already begun at the fag end of 2012, but prices really crashed in 2013, triggered by fears that the US Federal Reserve would scale down and do away with the economic stimulus.

Kejriwal asked to rethink refusal to fight Lok Sabha polls

New Delhi: The last word may not have been said on Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal contesting the Lok Sabha election, a move that would spice up the leadership stakes so far dominated by Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
    Though Kejriwal on Saturday did not seem keen to contest — and fuel speculation of being the “third” PM
hopeful — several AAP leaders expressed the view that a bold projection of the Delhi chief minister could prove to be inspirational for the AAP Lok Sabha campaign.
    During discussions of the AAP national executive on Sunday, a section of leaders felt Kejriwal had been hasty in ruling out standing for Lok Sabha as he is the party’s nationally recognized face and his projection, even implicit, as a prime ministerial choice could turn out to be a game changer.

HOTEL MANAGEMENT AS A PROFESSION, WHY SHOULD WE CHOOSE ???

Hotel Management is a glamorous profession and also offers a bright future. Today Hotel Management inIndia has become a promising choice as the students in search of exciting job opportunities and career are opting for this course instead of traditional courses

The rapid growth and promotion of Tourism, Catering, Hotel sector has resulted in huge job prospects for Indians. The boom in the Hospitality industry (propelled by foreign &domestic tourism) has created the demand for well-trained quality personnel. This has not only led to mismatch in terms of hotel room supply and demand but also in terms of professionals required to manage hotels. Whereas the demand is much higher than the existing 1,14,000 hotel rooms across all categories, India is facing acute shortage of trained hotel staff.