Business And Finance

Currency: Dollar steady in days trading

2008-11-19T00:53:00.000-08:00

6:06PM Tuesday Nov 18, 2008

The New Zealand dollar remained steady against the greenback today.

The NZ dollar was buying US55.05c at 5pm today, down slightly from US55.88c at 8am and US55.35c at 5pm yesterday.

The kiwi remained steady between US54.70c and US56c over the last two days.

The BNZ said the NZ dollar had "tagged along" with interest in the Australian dollar on the London market but "interest in trading the kiwi remains sporadic at best".

"Looking ahead, the outlook for global growth remains the key driver of currencies. Positive economic and credit news is still lacking."

The kiwi also traded in a narrow range against the Japanese yen, at 53.21 at 5pm today from 53.95 at 5pm yesterday and 54.23 at 8am this morning.

Business
RSS Email Print ShareThis
Currency: Dollar steady in days trading
6:06PM Tuesday Nov 18, 2008
Tracking the NZ dollar

* NZ dollar weak after market jitters
* Kiwi rallies after overnight fall

The New Zealand dollar remained steady against the greenback today.

The NZ dollar was buying US55.05c at 5pm today, down slightly from US55.88c at 8am and US55.35c at 5pm yesterday.

The kiwi remained steady between US54.70c and US56c over the last two days.

The BNZ said the NZ dollar had "tagged along" with interest in the Australian dollar on the London market but "interest in trading the kiwi remains sporadic at best".

"Looking ahead, the outlook for global growth remains the key driver of currencies. Positive economic and credit news is still lacking."

The kiwi also traded in a narrow range against the Japanese yen, at 53.21 at 5pm today from 53.95 at 5pm yesterday and 54.23 at 8am this morning.

Following the announcement that Japan's economy joined the 15-country euro zone in recession in the third quarter which added to investor concerns.

Against Australian dollar, the kiwi was at A85.45c at 5pm after slipping to A85.05c by 8am from A85.45c at 5pm yesterday.

Against the euro the kiwi was little changed at 0.43564, from 0.4391 at 8am.

The trade weighted index was at 56.31 from 56.88 at 8am.

Currency rates:

NZ dlr/US dlr US55.05c US55.35c

NZ dlr/Aust dlr

A85.20c A85.45c

NZ dlr/euro 0.43564 0.4399

NZ dlr/yen 53.21 53.95

NZ dlr/stg 36.78p 37.55p

NZ TWI 56.31 56.76

Aust dlr/US dlr US64.60c US64.77c

Euro/US dlr 1.2610 1.2582

US dlr/yen 96.65 97.50

- NZPA

Auto execs ask Congress for $25 billion lifeline

2008-11-18T16:48:00.000-08:00

GOP lawmakers appear wary about supporting more failing businesses
updated 7:22 p.m. ET Nov. 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with Congress on Tuesday for a $25 billion lifeline to save their once-proud companies from collapse, warning of broader peril for the national economy as well.

"Our industry ... needs a bridge to span the financial chasm that has opened up before us," General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner told the Senate Banking Committee in prepared testimony. He blamed the industry's predicament not on failures by management but on the deepening global financial crisis.

But the new rescue plan appeared stalled on Capitol Hill, opposed by Republicans and the Bush administration who don't want to dip into the Treasury Department's $700 billion financial bailout program to come up with the $25 billion.

Sympathy for he industry was sparse.

Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told Wagoner and leaders of Ford and Chrysler that the industry was "seeking treatment for wounds that were largely self-inflicted."

Still, he said, "Hundreds of thousands would lose their jobs" if the companies were allowed to collapse.

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., complained that the larger financial crisis "is not the only reason why the domestic auto industry is in trouble."

He cited "inefficient production" and "costly labor agreements" that put the U.S. automakers at a disadvantage with foreign companies.

Wagoner said that despite some public perceptions that General Motors was not keeping pace with the times and technological changes, "We've moved aggressively in recent years to position GM for long-term success. And we were well on the road to turning our North American business around."

"What exposes us to failure now is the global financial crisis, which has severely restricted credit availability and reduced industry sales to the lowest per-capita level since World War II."

Failure of the auto industry "would be catastrophic," he said, resulting in three million jobs lost within the first year and "economic devastation (that) would far exceed the government support that our industry needs to weather the current crisis."

Congressional leaders worked behind the scenes in an effort to hammer out a compromise that could speed some aid to the automakers before year's end. But the outlook seemed poor.

"My sense is that nothing's going to happen this week," Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said at the opening of the hearing.

Earlier, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Congress might have to return in December — rather than adjourning for the year this week, as expected — to push through an auto bailout.

"Dealing with the automobile crisis is a pressing need. We are talking about a lot of people ... and a great consequence to our economy," said Hoyer, D-Md.

The financial situation for the automakers grows more precarious by the day. Cash-strapped GM said it will delay reimbursing its dealers for rebates and other sales incentives and could run out of cash by year's end without government aid.

In the Senate, Democrats discussed but rejected the option favored by the White House and GOP lawmakers to let the auto industry use a $25 billion loan program created by Congress in September — designed to help the companies develop more fuel-efficient vehicles — to tide them over financially until President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

"There was no indication that there was any traction" for the White House plan, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska said after a Democratic caucus luncheon.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other senior Democrats, who count environmental groups among their strongest supporters, have vehemently opposed that approach because it would divert federal money that was supposed to go toward the development of vehicles that use less gasoline.

Instead, they want to draw the $25 billion directly from the $700 billion Wall Street bailout — bringing the government's total aid to the car companies to $50 billion.

A Senate vote on that plan, which would also extend jobless benefits, could come as early as Thursday, but aides in both parties and lobbyists tracking the effort privately acknowledge it doesn't have the support to advance. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson renewed the administration's opposition on Tuesday.

Even the car companies' strongest supporters conceded Tuesday that changing the terms of the fuel-efficiency loan program might be the only way to secure funding for them with Congress set to depart for the year and the firms in tough financial shape.

"While I believe we have to have retooling going into next year, if in the short run the only way we have to be able to get some immediate help is to take a portion of that, I would very reluctantly do that — but only because I believe President-elect Obama is going to be focused on retooling and on a manufacturing strategy next year," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

The White House said the government shouldn't send any more money to the struggling auto industry on top of the already-approved loans.

"We don't think that taxpayers should be asked to throw money at a company that can't prove that it has a long-term path for success," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader, said that redirecting the existing loans was "a sound way to go forward," and that he was working with Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada to set a vote on such a plan.

"The auto industry obviously is very important, very important to my state, but there is a way to do this," said McConnell, who has two Ford plants and a GM plant in his state.

Paulson, testifying on the House side, defended the administration's handling of the massive $700 billion bailout for the financial industry and said it should remain off-limits for Detroit, no matter how badly the automakers need help.

"There are other ways" to help them, he said.

At the same time, he testified, "I think it would be not a good thing, it would be something to be avoided, having one of the auto companies fail, particularly during this period of time."

The industry mounted a feverish lobbying effort to secure funds they said were vital to their survival — and the health of the broader economy. In an e-mail marked "urgent" and sent to owners of GM vehicles, Troy A. Clarke, president of GM North America, pleaded with them to e-mail their representatives in the House and Senate in support of a "bridge loan" for the industry — and ask their friends and family to do the same.

"Despite what you may be hearing, we are not asking Congress for a bailout but rather a loan that will be repaid," Clarke said in the message.

That argument could be vital as bailout fatigue threatens to sap support for the carmaker aid.

Lawmakers grill Paulson on bailout plan

2008-11-18T16:42:00.000-08:00

Paulson pressed on help for distressed homeowners
updated 4:36 p.m. ET Nov. 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - Faced with exasperated lawmakers upset by shifts in bailout strategy, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson launched a spirited defense Tuesday of his handling of the $700 billion program and expressed fresh reservations about tapping the pool for mortgage guarantees to relieve skyrocketing home foreclosures.

Members of the House Financial Services Committee grilled Paulson for not doing enough to help distressed homeowners and for failing to force banks that get some of the bailout money to specifically use it to bolster lending to customers, one of the prime reasons behind the rescue package.

"It is essential" that some of the bailout money be used to ease foreclosures, said the panel's chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., a key player in shaping the package that Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law Oct. 3.

Amid fits and starts in the administration's rollout and direction of the program, "I have to say at this point that public confidence in what we have done so far is lower than anybody would want it to be, to the point where it could be an obstacle to further steps," Frank lamented.

In a break with the administration, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair, made a fresh pitch for using $24 billion of the bailout pool to help Americans at risk of losing their homes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is urging Paulson to support the FDIC plan.

"As foreclosures escalate, we are clearly falling behind the curve," Bair warned the panel. "Much more aggressive intervention is needed if we are to curb the damage to our neighborhoods and broader economic health."

Although Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers that in cases of some home loans, the FDIC plan could saddle heavy costs on the government, he said it is still a "very promising approach."

While Paulson was resistant to using some of the bailout money to provide mortgage guarantees, he said the administration will look for ways to provide foreclosure relief.

Some Democrats also prodded Paulson to divert $25 billion of the bailout money to help Detroit automakers. Paulson, however, didn't budge in his opposition.

"I don't see this as the purpose" of the bailout program, which is intended to stabilize jittery financial markets and get lending flowing more freely again, Paulson told the panel.

The Treasury chief found himself on the hot seat just one week after he officially abandoned the original rescue strategy of buying rotten mortgages and other bad assets from financial institutions. That had been the main thrust of the plan Paulson and Bernanke originally pitched to lawmakers.

Focusing the bailout program on infusing billions into banks — and possibly other types of companies — to pump up their capital and bolster lending to customers was deemed a faster and more effective approach to stabilizing the financial system than the original centerpiece of the plan, Paulson said.

Buying financial institutions' toxic debts would have required a "massive commitment" of the bailout money, Paulson told the panel. As economic and financial conditions quickly worsened, it became clear that the first installment of the money — $350 billion — for that purpose "simply isn't enough firepower," he said.

It's crucial that the administration be nimble in assessing changing conditions and adapt the bailout strategy accordingly, Paulson said.

"If we have learned anything throughout this year, we have learned that this financial crisis is unpredictable and difficult to counteract," he said. "There is no playbook for responding to turmoil we have never faced. We adjusted our strategy to reflect the facts of a severe market crisis."

But lawmakers worried the administration was sending confusing signals to taxpayers and Wall Street investors.

"It is in the best interest of, not only the economy, but also of the public, that as we shift and improvise on occasion that we clearly communicate the objective and the basis for what we're doing," said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala. "I have a particular concern and that's that we don't appear to have an exit strategy."

Treasury will focus on rolling out a capital injection program to pour $250 billion into banks in return for partial ownership stakes in them, Paulson said. And, the department will search for new ways to boost the availability of auto loans, student loans and credit cards, which have been become harder to get due to the credit crisis.

Specifically, the department along with the Federal Reserve, is exploring using some of the bailout money to bankroll a new loan facility designed to help companies that issue credit cards, make student loans and finance car purchases. Paulson said he expected putting up only a "relatively modest share" of the bailout money for this facility.

So far, the Treasury Department has pledged $250 billion for banks and has agreed to devote $40 billion to troubled insurer American International Group_ its first slice of funds going to a company other than a bank. That leaves just $60 billion available from Congress' first bailout installment of $350 billion.

Paulson said he is not planning to initiate another capital injection program beyond those already announced. Thus he's unlikely to tap the remaining $350 billion before the Bush administration leaves office on Jan. 20.

The idea behind the capital injection program is for banks to use the money to rebuild reserves and lend more freely to customers. However, banks do have the leeway to use the money for other things, such as buying other banks, paying dividends to investors or bonuses to executives. That has touched a nerve with some lawmakers.

"My constituents are telling me that many of them still cannot get access to credit," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.

Locked-up lending is a prime reason why the U.S. is suffering through the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. All the fallout from the housing, credit and financial crises have badly hurt the economy, which is almost certainly in recession, analysts say.

Paulson said the U.S. had "turned a corner " in averting a financial collapse, but he warned "there's a lot of work that still needs to be done in terms of the recovery of the financial system."

FriendsGear News

2008-11-18T08:14:00.000-08:00

FG MEMBERS,

We are informing you that blog area is not
for business related matters. Please use
the following features for your ads:

FORUM, GROUP, BULLETIN and CLASSIFIED.

If we found members still created blogs for any business

related topics, the said blogs would be deleted without

prior notice.

Thank you for your support.

FGAdmin Team

easyJet full-year profit down 45 percent

2008-11-18T01:46:00.000-08:00

LONDON (AP) -- Budget airline easyJet PLC reported a 45 percent drop in full-year profits on Tuesday as higher fuel costs offset a strong gain in revenue. Some of the accounts, however, were criticized by the company's founder, who said newly acquired assets were being overvalued.

For the year ending Sept. 30, the company reported a net profit of 83.2 million pounds ($123.5 million) compared to 152.3 million pounds in the previous year.

Revenue rose 31.5 percent to 2.36 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) boosted by the acquisition of GB Airways in January and a 17 percent gain in passenger numbers to 43.7 million. The load factor rose 0.4 percentage points to 84.1 percent, the company said.

The company's shares were down 6.8 percent at 257.75 pence (US$3.82) in early trading on the London Stock Exchange.

"We recognize that economic conditions will be very difficult and easyJet is planning accordingly, which means focusing on offering customers great value, driving down controllable costs and preserving cash," said Chief Executive Andy Harrison.

In a statement included with the earnings report, the company's founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou expressed his disagreement with the management's recent takeover of GB Airways and the valuation of aircraft and slots at Gatwick airport gained with the deal.

In both cases, Stelios said, he believed the value was worth less than the company's figure.

"I believe that with careful cash management and in particular more prudent capital expenditure, easyJet PLC and its shareholders will be the winners in European short-haul aviation," Stelios said. "We must focus on cash flows forecasts and not on carrying more passengers."

On the Net: http://www.easyjet.com/en/Investor/investorrelations--introduction.html

Google's AdSense a bonanza for some Web sites

2008-11-17T11:06:00.000-08:00

By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

LOS ANGELES — Canadian software developer and part-time humorist Eric Giguère made fun of the avalanche of Internet arthritis drug offers on his Web site last year. For his efforts, he received a $350 check from Internet search giant Google.

Giguère has one of those ubiquitous "Ads by Google" links on his site, offering ads the search giant considers of interest to readers. You might think that people rarely click on them, but they do — and often.

"For my own, personal humor writing, I got paid," Giguère says. "It certainly opened my eyes to the possibilities that were out there."

How AdSense works

Advertisers pay Google and Yahoo to have their ads appear next to search results. Google's AdSense program gives advertisers additional reach, by putting their ads onto an estimated 200,000 additional Web sites.

The twist is that Google pays each Web publisher a commission, in exchange for running the ads. It's found money for many publishers, who say they make anywhere from $50 to $200 a month and beyond.

Advertisers buy search keywords.
A purchase of "cell phone" for instance, produces ads next to search results on Google's main page. The same purchase also produces AdSense ads for cell phones on many other sites, including Chris Pirillo's Lockergnome gadget and gizmo blog, when cell phones are mentioned.

Google has a simple proposition for anyone who owns a Web site: Let it put up links to its ads, and Google's AdSense program will give you a piece of the action when someone clicks on them.

It's found money for many bloggers, small e-tailers and huge businesses — from small personal sites such as Giguère's, to those of big-time corporations such as Amazon.com, the New York Times and About.com.

Giguère was so inspired, he wrote a book, Make Easy Money with Google, coming in May from Peachpit Press. Hundreds of online forums and Web sites are devoted to AdSense tips and tricks. The downside of the AdSense economy, critics charge, is that the avalanche of ads has created a new form of spam and is destroying the integrity of sites.

"This is a program that rewards people not for creating the best content, but for how to create sites to attract more advertising," says Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch online newsletter. "AdSense has nothing to do with search. It effectively turns the Internet into a billboard for Google's ads."

Google, whose executives often say their mission is to organize the world's information, naturally begs to differ. "If I do a search for the New York Times and see an ad offering a subscription discount, that's useful to me," says Susan Wojcicki, Google's director of product management.

Web site publishers don't disagree.

"Say I write an article about a Braun shaver," says Chris Pirillo, who runs the Lockergnome.com gadget Web site. "I publish it, and within minutes, I have targeted ads about shavers on my site. Someone who reads the content may feel compelled to pick one up. That helps me and the reader."

Tales of AdSense riches range from a few hundred dollars a month to $50,000 or more a year, though high-dollar paydays are rare. They require a Web site with tons of traffic and the ability to put in 18-hour days working the system.

Pirillo, who has a following from his former role as a host on the now-defunct TechTV cable channel, says he's clearing more than $10,000 a month.

Before AdSense, which began in March 2003, bloggers and other small Web publishers had fewer options to make money. They could put banner ads on their sites for a host of non-related products, or commission programs from Amazon and eBay. "It was a lot more work, and you didn't get much of a return," Pirillo says.

With AdSense, "You write content, publish it, and the money starts to pour in," he says.

When he published the now-defunct Silicon Alley Reporter magazine, Jason Calacanis says, he used to suffer from insomnia, worrying about his monthly $200,000 to $400,000 printing bill.

He now runs a company called Weblogs, which publishes 75 Web sites on such topics as cars, gadgets, digital music and video games. He sleeps much better, he says, because "with AdSense, you know you're always making money. Your life gets a lot easier."

In his first four months of Web publishing, AdSense brought in $45,000. Some of his blogs produce $3,000 a month. His best do "four figures," Calacanis says, though he's reluctant to fill in the exact numbers. "And that's with zero marketing," he says.

How it works

Google and Yahoo dominate the booming online search advertising business, which is expected to grow to $5.6 billion in 2008, from $2.7 billion in 2004. Profit from search advertising enabled Google to more than double its revenue in 2004, to $3.1 billion.

The concept — text ads that appear next to search results — works on a "pay-per-click" model. Advertisers pay only if someone clicks on an ad. To use the programs, advertisers buy "keywords" for anywhere from 5 cents to $100 a word. Those are the terms people type into query boxes when they're searching, such as "Atlanta wedding photographer" or "Omaha Italian restaurants."

AdSense works as a part of that keyword model; it's an offshoot of what Google calls its AdWords program, which competes against Yahoo's Overture unit.

AdSense is a bonus program for advertisers who use Google AdWords. Through AdSense, Google clients get to tout their wares beyond Google's home page — potentially reaching more than 200,000 participating Web sites.

Small Web site operators have flocked to AdSense as a way to attract advertising. To participate, they sign up at Google, which reviews the site. Once a small piece of computer code language is implanted on an accepted site, Google does the rest — matching ad links from its warehouse of clients to appropriate sites.

There's an art to optimizing a site to attract more links — and generate more revenue.

Gay Gilmore, who runs Seattle-based recipezaar.com, says the trick is to attract ads next to recipes beyond the main page. "The ads need to be targeted," she says, "so that when someone is reading about chicken soup, an ad for one of the ingredients is of keen interest."

Web site publishers need to be creative, says Dave Lavinsky of TopPayingKeywords.com, an AdSense advice site. A house painter advertising his services on a homemade site is leaving money on the table if he mentions only house painting, he says. "'Housepainting' is a 20-cent word. 'Home improvement' is worth $2, so you should create content for that."

But Sullivan says keyword tricks hurt the editorial integrity of sites. Another problem, he says, is the proliferation of computer-generated directories with links to hotels, restaurants and entertainment and no real editorial content, fueled by the availability of "Ads by Google" checks.

Wojcicki says Google tries to review all sites in its program, and removes offenders such as the directory sites. Critics say the site reviews can sometimes result in an FCC-like "family friendly" filter. Bloggers complain about being rejected for discussions of sexuality and use of four-letter words.

"I begged, argued and appealed to reason for months," says author Susie Bright, whose site discusses sexuality issues. "I pointed out that all my postings were things you could easily read in ... any number of mainstream magazines that cover sex and politics from a fairly sophisticated point of view. And I pointed out that my readers like to buy trousers, go on vacations, purchase ink and basically buy all the same things that everyone else does."

Wojcicki wouldn't address the specifics of Bright's concerns, but says AdSense isn't for everyone. "We're very careful about who we let into our network. We reject sites with content some people may feel uncomfortable about."

With pay-per-click ads, Google and Yahoo are locked in a bitter battle for advertiser dollars. But Yahoo doesn't compete with AdSense for small publishers — yet. Yahoo says it will introduce an offering later this year.

For now, Google's most notable AdSense competitor is privately held Kanoodle, which accepted Bright's site. It works with small publishers and big ones (including USATODAY.com and MSNBC) and differs from AdSense in that advertisers can choose topic areas of the sites where they want their ads to appear.

"The search advertising market is red hot right now, and publishers and advertisers want more," says Kanoodle CEO Lance Podell. "We offer them more places to show their ads, and they love that."

How long will search sizzle?

Google's initial public stock offering last summer was a Wall Street sensation. The stock opened at $85 a share and now sells for around $180, down from its 52-week high of $216. Some analysts fret that the red-hot paid search market could start to cool down.

Forrester Research, revising downward earlier projections, expects 30% growth in search advertising revenue this year, after a 45% jump in 2004.

"Click fraud" is another nettlesome issue for Google and Yahoo.

Advertisers pay for ads only when they're clicked, but it doesn't always work that way.

Some competitors click ads just to run up the other guy's bills. Web publishers with AdSense get their friends to click ads so they can get more money. Some savvy webmasters have set up automated clicking models called "Hitbots" or "Clickbots," which click away all day, and cost the advertiser.

Such efforts "threaten our business model," Google CFO George Reyes said at a recent industry conference. "Something has to be done about this, really, really quickly."

University of California professor John Battelle, who is writing a book on search, says the success of AdSense has built a "growing, extremely sophisticated offshore industry."

"There are more of these sites than you can imagine," he says. "The robots click on the ads and then none of the clicks turn into leads for the advertisers. That's not how it's supposed to work."

Google and Yahoo say they are working on the problem, but Battelle doesn't think that's enough.

Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online have banded together on several occasions to fight e-mail spam, and Battelle says Google and Yahoo should show the same kind of joint leadership. "Because if they don't, it will end up biting them in the butt."

USA TODAY

Project and Infrastructure Finance MENASA

2008-11-17T10:54:00.001-08:00

Project Finance Magazine and Euromoney Seminars are proud to present Project and Infrastructure Finance MENASA. This multi-streamed, senior-level networking event will address the world’s most important infrastructure markets – the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.

The infrastructure needs of these three regions have been well documented:

The Middle East is increasingly becoming the world’s most crucial economic driver. As expansion continues at a rapid rate, the need for large-scale project investment in oil & gas, power, mining, transport and social infrastructure becomes ever more pertinent. This is being driven by the GCC power houses, in particular Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Oman and Qatar.

However, whilst huge expansion brings great opportunities; challenges still exist. Ever rising EPC costs and an international market less able to swallow debt, added to crippling currency conversion rates, means there is a risk that deals will become more difficult to finance.

North Africa has benefited greatly from high commodity prices and until recently, from high liquidity. Whilst that has now changed, the desire is still there and if political and credit risk can be mitigated, there are some exciting opportunities in sectors as diverse as ports, metals and refineries.

Growth in South Asia has been driven by India where the desire to continue economic growth of 8-9% has meant a glut of opportunities, particularly in transport, PPP and the power sector. Challenges still exist, most notably through difficult regulation and bureaucracy. However, there seems to be a real momentum and desire to get deals done, as well as a whole host of new investors – many from the Middle East.

Against this background, the Project and Infrastructure Finance MENASA Conference will have its own dynamic take on this exciting market; offering delegates the ability to meet new potential business partners from across the world, and learn from an array of senior, international speakers from many different walks.

Project and infrastructure finance across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia is currently one of the most important stimulants of global economic growth. If you have a real desire to play a part in this industry as it continues to grow, book today.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Sohail Barkatali, Partner, Chadbourne & Parke

Richard Keenan, Partner, Chadbourne & Parke

Faizal Amod, Chief Financial Officer, Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation

Paddy Padmanathan, President & CEO, ACWA Power Projects

Terry Newendorp, CEO, Taylor Dejongh

Rohit Chaudhry, Partner, Chadbourne & Parke

Nicholas Rubio, Development Director, Ferrovial

Christopher M. Cantelmi, Vice President, Head of Project Finance, Marubeni Europower Ltd.

Esa Ikaheimonen, Vice President, Finance and CP, Shell Africa

Brad Boyd, Vice President, Treasurer, Methanex Corporation

Inderjit Singh, Senior Vice President, DAE Airports, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise

Ivan Hopkins, Head of Structured Finance, National Commercial Bank

Saad Ur-Rehman, Head - Structured Finance Division, Corporate Banking Group, Banque Saudi Fransi

Frank Beckers, Managing Director, Head of Project & Capital Advisory Middle East, Africa & South Asia, Deutsche Bank AG

Zulfiqar Ali, Senior Vice President, Abraaj Capital

Arvind Mayaram, Joint Secretary, Infrastructure, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, India

Shekhar Damle, CEO, L&T Power and Infrastructure

Anna Roy, Director of PPP, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India

Venkatesh Babu, Managing Director, Lanco Group

N. Ravichandran, Director of Finance, SKIL Infrastructure Ltd

Source : euromoneyseminars.com

Bank of America to exercise option, buy in 19.6 bln CCB shares

2008-11-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

Bank of America said here on Monday it would exercise its option and purchase 19.58 billion H shares of China Construction Bank from central Huijin.

The exercise price per share will be 1.2 times of the audited net assets value per share on Sept. 30, 2008. The transaction is scheduled to be completed by Nov. 30, 2008.

Source: Xinhua

India demands greater energy efficiency and renewables

2008-11-17T10:52:00.002-08:00

India must improve energy efficiency and develop significant electricity-generating capacity through renewable sources and nuclear power, business leaders at the World Economic Forum's 24th India Economic Summit said Monday.

"If India sustains a growth rate of 7-8 percent, there will be a huge energy shortage," said Adil Zainulbhai, managing director, India, for the global consulting firm McKinsey Company.

Efforts to meet the shortfall will likely entail the use of low-cost, "dirty" coal and diesel fuel, he warned. It is critical, therefore, to decrease demand through greater energy efficiency and to increase capacity through private sector participation in nuclear power and renewable energy projects including solar, geothermal and wind initiatives.

"From a climate change perspective, the rate of energy consumption around the world is unsustainable," said Tejpreet Singh Chopra, President and Chief Executive Officer of GE in India.

While oil will remain the dominant source of energy for some time, "nuclear power will become increasingly important," he said, adding that the "safety norms in the nuclear space have significantly increased in the last few years."

While other participants of the Summit warned that renewable energy projects are generally not yet commercially viable on a large scale and need to be given a boost through government incentives and subsidies.

Wind power pioneer Tulsi R. Tanti, Chairman and Managing Director of Suzlon Energy in India, argued that if the pricing of energy takes into account environmental damage, this would boost investment in the use of renewable energy sources.

Innovation and technology are rapidly reducing development costs, he explained, adding that there are major opportunities in renewable energy in India.

The World Economic Forum's 24th India Economic Summit, which opened in New Delhi on Sunday, saw nearly 700 participants from over 35 countries, including leaders from business, government and civil society.

Source: Xinhua

Indian HR giant Manpower to cut 5 percent jobs

2008-11-17T10:52:00.001-08:00

ndia employment services giant Manpower Inc Monday said it would cut off five percent of its Indian workforce as part of cost-cutting measures under the pressure of the global economic downturn.

"We may trim five percent jobs in India as almost 15-20 percent of the business has been affected in the country due to the slowdown," Manpower chairman and chief executive officer Jeffrey A. Joerres told reporters here on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum-India Economic Summit.

Manpower is the leading employment service company in India, which currently employs around 21,000 people in India and 35,000 globally.

The company's IT engaged services (ITeS) segment has been affected most, Joerres said.

Source: Xinhua

Jordan's stock index sheds 16% in one-week time

2008-11-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

The share price index in Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) shed about 16 percent over the past six trading days, with analysts calling on government's step in, local daily The Jordan Times reported on Monday.

The share price index closed at 2,893 point on Sunday, registering a 3.47 percent drop. Among 170 companies whose shares were traded, prices of 30 companies rose, and prices of 132 declined.

"The series of losses has been continuing for a long time at the Amman Bourse and I believe it is the time for the government to do something to stop the flagging market," Jawad Kharouf, president of the Association of Certified Capital Market Professionals, said on Sunday.

Source: Xinhua

India's Hottest Young Executives

2008-11-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

India's Hottest Young Executives

Business Today's third listing of 25 young executives setting the corporate fast-track on fire.

A unique mixture of demographics (more young than old) and economics (one of the fastest growing economies in the world) has bestowed India with a large, and growing number of Masters, and Mistresses of the Universe, young people who have done, and continue to do great things for their companies; high-performers, according to the lexicon of some companies; listers or fast-trackers, according to those of others. Four years ago, when this magazine embarked on its, and the country's, first ever exercise to identify India's Hottest Young Executives, it started by defining young as 40 or younger, but was eventually compelled to relax the ceiling to 42 to make up the number of 25. This year posed no such problems. The initial shortlist compiled by polling the country's most respected executive search firms (see How We Did It on page 129) boasted around 100 names. That's a good sign in more ways than one. At one level, it simply means that more companies are willing to trust young and capable executives with larger responsibilities. These enhanced roles have become possible because the companies themselves are growing, an indication of the overall health of the Indian economy and, therefore, the number of super-execs that is 40 or younger, can be yet another proxy that can be used to chart the progress of a country from developing to developed. Clearly, we're getting there.

Ved Prakash Arya
36/Chief Operating Officer/ Pantaloon Retail (India)
Shopkeeper #1

What sort of man would love to be called that? A man who has stood on the store-floor and, by his own admission, "sold 52 shirts in a single day". A man who spent nights on the site while, in his previous job, involved in the creation of the first Globus store. A man whose two children love to spend time at the stores their father oversees, thereby, providing him with an easy option to balance life and work. And a man who is feted by his boss, the notoriously hard-to-please Kishore Biyani, India's most successful retailer for his eye for "detail" and "meticulousness". The man is Ved Prakash Arya, a graduate of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, who believes he is where he is (he comes from a middle-class family in Jaipur) because "people trusted me at a young age". Well, he has proved himself: in the past 18 months he has closed two venture capital funds focussed on the retail space, a new business for the company; he is responsible for all of Pantaloon's M&A activities; and he also oversees all its strategic initiatives.

-Ahona Ghosh

Anurag Behar
37/ Managing Director (Wipro Infrastructure Engineering) and Corporate VP, (Brand, Corporate Communication and Community Initiatives)/Wipro
Long-distance Runner

He is among the handful of individuals reporting to Chairman Azim Premji; he has handled critical functions, including innovation and quality; and there are those who believe Anurag Behar, an engineer from Regional Engineering College, Trichy, and a management graduate from XLRI, Jamshedpur, is slated for greater things. It is a good time to be heading an infrastructure business, says Behar, whose father was in the Indian Administrative Service-his efforts to enter the service proved abortive-and he speaks warmly of Wipro's culture that allows people to take on new challenges every few years. "Infrastructure is big," says the marathoner, who has run in 113 places across 17 countries. "And (our) quality initiatives have reached a level of maturity."

-Venkatesha Babu

Sanjay Behl
37/Head (Brand and Marketing)/Reliance Communications
The Right Number

When act 1 is a 11-year stint (in marketing) at India's most respected consumer products marketing company, Hindustan Lever Limited, and Act 2, a brief but intense year-long one as the head of marketing at mobile phone maker Nokia (it sold two million phones last year), Act 3 has to be something staggering. In the case of Sanjay Behl, a product of Mumbai's Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, it is; the man is now in charge of the marketing efforts of all the businesses of Reliance Communications (he also has a group-responsibility and will be overseeing the launch of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's new identity over the next few weeks). "I have a chance to establish the culture here," says Behl, who switched jobs because he was impressed by "the mindset and vision of Anil Ambani (the Chairman of Reliance Communications)". And telecom, he adds, is the sector to work in, mentioning, only half in jest, that it is "the chaos in telecom" that keeps him going. "The explosive growth in telecom is what gives me a kick."

-Krishna Gopalan

Koushik Chatterjee
38/Vice President (Finance) and CFO/Tata Steel Company
Before Country

He is the hottest young executive in India," says B. Muthuraman, CEO, Tata Steel, of his CFO. There's more than just a CEO's pride in that statement: A chartered accountant, Koushik Chatterjee was the man responsible for Standard & Poor's rating Tata Steel two notches above India's sovereign rating. He leveraged this rating to raise $1 billion (Rs 4,500 crore) at a competitive rate, something he will have to increasingly do as Tata Steel moves towards its goal of becoming a global steel major, a goal that will require investments of $23 billion (Rs 1,03,500 crore) over the next 10 years. Chatterjee's only regret is that this means even less time to teach (which he did at XLRI while posted in Jamshedpur).

-Ritwik Mukherjee

Francisco D'Souza
36/Chief Operating Officer/Cognizant
The Accidental Indian

While in his teens, Francisco D'Souza taught himself programming to make some money on the side as a contract coder. At 24, he was already a co-founder of Cognizant Technology Solutions, an American it services company that was created to leverage the India advantage. Today, he is Chief Operating Officer of the same company and his CEO, Lakshmi Narayan, says, "Francisco has built the front-end (client-facing) organisation of Cognizant, which clearly differentiates us from other offshore players." In an industry where the ability to manage cultural diversity is becoming increasingly crucial, D'Souza himself is a bit of a cultural chameleon. He was born in Nairobi and has studied all over the world, fallout of his father's job; the man was with the Indian Foreign Service and believed that his son would be better off studying at local schools rather than the international ones that diplomats prefer. Armed with an MBA from Carnegie Mellon, D'Souza signed up with Dun & Bradstreet; then, helped build Cognizant. "I am just part of the cultural system that nourishes talent," he says modestly.

-Nitya Varadarajan

Vinod Dasari
39/COO/Ashok Leyland
Homing Pigeon

He has A US passport. Yet, one reason Vinod Dasari moved from Cummins was because he had done so well that the company wanted him back at HQ. Dasari went to the US when his family emigrated in the 1980s. With an MBA from Kellogg, he went to work for Timken which sent him to India to turn around its operations; he did and that merited a transfer back to the us. He moved to Cummins in 2002 when the company offered to send him to India to turn around its operations. At Leyland, Dasari is looking forward to helping the company take on multinational rivals. "The next big product we'll launch will be a bus to take on Volvo and beat it," he says.

Kushan Mitra

Bhargav Dasgupta
39/Senior General Manager and Head (International Banking and Global Markets Group)/ ICICI Bank
Today Moscow, Tomorrow The World

He dreamt of working for the Tata Group, and did work for Tata Motors for two years after qualifying as an engineer. Then, he left to acquire a postgraduate diploma in management from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, because he got bored. "I want a job that will charge you up to come back the next day," says Bhargav Dasgupta. His present job at ICICI Bank, an organisation he has been with (it was ICICI, actually) since 1992, should do that. Dasgupta is the man in charge of expanding the bank's international footprint. At the end of 2005, ICICI Bank's international business (some $7 billion or Rs 31,500 crore) accounted for 15 per cent of its total business; by 2008, this proportion, says Dasgupta, will be 25 per cent. "Initially, we followed our customers and tried to be the bank for non-resident Indians," says the man, who travels 15 days a month, "but in the past year-and-a-half, we have targeted the non-Indian community and in Canada and the UK, 70 per cent of our new customers are not Indians."

-Mahesh Nayak

Kamesh Goyal
40/CEO/Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company
I Love Insurance

In some ways, Kamesh Goyal isn't someone you'd expect to be the CEO (he has no MBA; isn't an engineer; and graduated in 1986 from Delhi's St Stephen's College) of an insurance (he is much too young; surely, someone who is just 40 cannot head an insurance firm?) company. Then, Goyal was the youngest recruit of New India Insurance in the state of Delhi (he signed on when he was 22), and presides over an organisation of 1,700 with an average age of 26. "We have a flat organisation structure," says Goyal who moved to Allianz from KPMG (to which he had moved after almost nine years with New India) in 1999, in preparation for the sector being opened up to the private sector, something that eventually happened in 2000. "Insurance is changing completely from the perspective of customers," says Goyal, who is convinced that health insurance is the next big opportunity for insurers. Already, Bajaj Allianz is the most profitable private sector general insurer and it is a close #2 to ICICI Lombard in terms of business (among private sector players).

-Anand Adhikari

Tarun Katial
35/ Chief Operating Officer/Adlabs
Media Whiz-kid

He should have ended up as a chartered accountant, but the self-confessed urge to do something "different and exciting" saw Tarun Katial jump into the world of advertising where he spent a fruitful three years with agencies such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Enterprise Nexus, and Ogilvy & Mather. "I enjoyed my work, but wasn't too happy," says Katial, implying that his itch wasn't satisfied. Then, television happened. Spotted by Sameer Nair, the Chief Operating Officer of star TV, Katial spent five years with the company, but these were the years when the flagship channel of the network, star Plus, became India's most successful entertainment channel (it remains that today with over 40 of the top 50 shows in terms of rating points). Katial was very much involved with the launch of Kaun Banega Crorepati, the game show that changed the face of Indian television and a clutch of Balaji Telefilms weepies. "My perception was that for any product to cut ice with Indian viewers, it would have to be rooted in Indian values," remembers Katial. In 2000, star, impressed by the young man, promoted him to its Asia team, but Katial didn't want to move to Hong Kong; instead, he chose to move to rival Sony Entertainment Television. "Our entire team tried to stop him as he was an asset to us, but he had made up his mind," says Peter Mukerjea, CEO, Star TV. Katial worked his magic at Sony as well with soaps such as Jassi Jaisi Kohi Nahin and a talent show, Indian Idol, modelled on American Idol. Then came an offer from the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (through Adlabs) to head its fm operations (it acquired 44 licences recently) and Katial, who feels "this stint could be extremely challenging", jumped at the opportunity.

Archna Shukla

Manish Kejriwal
37/Temasek Holdings Advisors India Pvt. Ltd
Billion Dollar Dealer

Try this for pedigree: he graduated from Harvard Business School and went to work for McKinsey & Company, arguably, the world's best-known and most-respected consulting firm where he spent nearly a decade. He is married to Sunaina, the daughter of Bajaj Auto Chairman Rahul Bajaj. And he now heads the Indian arm of what is probably Asia's most aggressive private equity player, the Singapore government-owned Temasek. In two years, Kejriwal and Temasek have invested in companies such as TCS, Apollo Hospitals, Matrix Laboratories, Gateway Distriparks, Welspun India, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI, Reliance Capital, Shringar Cinema, ICICI OneSource, and several others. By some estimates, Temasek's investments in India, over the past two years that the fund has been active in the country, exceed $1 billion or Rs 4,500 crore. Along the way, Kejriwal, a regular swimmer who is also into scuba diving and sailing, has earned the reputation of being possessed of a golden touch. And despite the number of deals closed by Temasek over the past two years-around 12-Kejriwal wouldn't mind if Temasek were to do fewer deals in India, as long as he and his predominantly young team can add some value to the investee company. The media-shy Kejriwal (he is otherwise completely into news, whether at his 11th floor office in Mumbai's business hub Nariman Point or at home, where he watches either CNN or BBC) works hard and keeps a punishing schedule, but takes time off to spend with his wife and three-year-old son, read, or watch the latest from Bollywood. The sectors on the man's radar right now: banking, telecom, auto, it, BPO, pharmaceuticals, and export-based businesses.

Anand Adhikari

Rajesh Khanna
40/Managing Director/Warburg Pincus India
Entrepreneurial Investor

When, in 1995, Rajesh Khanna signed on with private-equity major Warburg Pincus, he did not really know what private equity was. "The first two years were spent learning what private equity was and what Warburg Pincus was about." Well, Khanna, a chartered accountant who worked with Arthur Andersen for a couple of years before going off to enrol at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (he worked with Citibank for a while before switching to Warburg Pincus), has learnt quickly. Today, Warburg has a clutch of investments in the country, is among the most respected private equity players around, and Khanna has had, and is having, a lot of fun. "For me, the kick has been in investing in companies like Moser Baer, Gujarat Ambuja, Max India, Nicholas Piramal, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC," he says, singling out Max India as the most complicated deal he has closed (it required an approval from India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board). "I believe strongly in India's growth story," says Khanna. It shows: 10 per cent of Warburg Pincus' assets are invested in India. For the record, the firm's other Managing Director, Pulak Prasad, also features in this listing (see page 118).

-Krishna Gopalan

Hemant Mallik
39/Head (Marketing)/ITC Foods
The Perfect Pitch

ITC found Hemant Mallik and vice versa under a tree on the Joka campus of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, during placement season in 1989. Placements weren't as organised as they are now, and several senior execs from blue-chip companies found themselves waiting for a room where they could interview people. The manager from ITC, recalls Mallik, who cannot remember the man's name, just led the group of people he was to interview to a shaded spot under a tree, and started the process. "That ability to think on his feet and solve problems rather than blame the system impressed me," he says. It impressed him enough to sign on with ITC and stay with it since, and enough to treat it as a tenet of sorts, first while marketing cigarettes and recently, while helping the company find its feet in the competitive consumer foods space. Today, ITC's foods business boasts a turnover of over Rs 700 crore (think brands such as Kitchens of India, Candyman and Sunfeast). "The credit goes to the team," says a modest Mallik, "I have just played my role."

-Venkatesha Babu

Rajiv Memani
38/Country Managing Partner and CEO/Ernst & Young India
The Competitive Conservative

I am a staid guy," declares Rajiv Memani, proffering his tastes in music (Hindustani; Pandit Jasraj is a favourite), literature (he is reading Amartya Sen's The Argumentative Indian) and leisure activities (spending time with wife and son) as evidence. Well, there is nothing staid about the company he heads, a large professional services firm that, apart from being among the country's biggest auditors, is also among its biggest corporate financial advisers (in terms of deals closed, it is among the top three i-banks in the country). Nor can the word be used to describe his stint as CMP. His elevation to the top post, superseding several others, was not really smooth; then, some senior partners who had signed on from Arthur Andersen left, again in circumstances that were not really pleasant. "That year, 2004, was one of the most challenging in my life," says Memani. The Delhi boy (he went to school at Delhi Public School, studied commerce at the city's Shri Ram College of Commerce, and then qualified as a chartered accountant), who believes only the paranoid survive has, er.., survived, and thrived.

-Ashish Gupta

Arvind Mendiratta
38/Chief Marketing Officer/Yum Restaurants International
Master Marketer

Not too many young achievers can claim, like Arvind Mendiratta justifiably can, that they know what women want. Between 2003 and 2005, when he was Head of Marketing at Whirlpool, he orchestrated a campaign along the same theme that, he says, helped the company increase its market share in the refrigerator and washing machine category from 20 per cent to 25 per cent. "Durables is an extremely competitive business and even a one percentage point increase in share is a big achievement," says Mendiratta, an engineer from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, who then took the road more travelled to graduate from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Then came a long stint with P&G in India, Bangkok and Singapore, the highlight of which was the India-launch of detergent brand Ariel, two years at Marico, his first shot at heading the marketing function of a company, and then Whirlpool. "Retail is an emerging sector and Yum is a leading chain trying to reposition its Pizza Hut and KFC brands in India," he says. "I thought it could be a challenging project to work on."

-Archna Shukla

Prashant Panday
40/Deputy CEO/Radio Mirchi
The Man Who Can Sell Anything

We started from scratch six years ago, and today, we can claim to be one of the largest media vehicles in the country with an audience base of 13 million," says Prashant Panday. "Even The Times of India can't boast this kind of consumer base." If Bennett Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL), the publisher of The Times of India, is unlikely to take offence at that statement, it is because Panday works for it and is speaking of Radio Mirchi, an fm station owned by its subsidiary, Entertainment Network India Limited (the company recently made an IPO). "Prashant is an excellent brand manager," says the company's CEO A.P. Parigi. Panday's and Radio Mirchi's success can be attributed to the former's approach to media-marketing: identify the target audience, come up with a relevant marketing strategy, and then think about the content. If that sounds like a marketing-heavy approach, it is because Panday, an engineer who graduated from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, believes "all you need to do is get your marketing formula right". Well, he's done that at Citibank, Pepsi, HLL, and now Radio Mirchi.

-Archna Shukla

Pulak Prasad
38/Managing Director/Warburg Pincus India
The Bharti Man

It would have been a crime to headline this any other way. Pulak Prasad is the man who took the call, in 1999, to invest in Bharti Tele-Ventures (between September 1999 and July 2001, Warburg invested $292 million in Bharti). In 2005, the company sold its last shares in the telco; all told, it made a profit of about $1.3 billion (Rs 5,850 crore). Prasad downplays his role in the deal, saying only that it began with a cold call to Akhil Gupta, Bharti's CFO, and he is quick to add that "the key reason for its (Bharti's) success is Sunil (Mittal) and his team", but Warburg Pincus' role in Bharti, in terms of helping the company evolve the appropriate strategy, and adhere to the highest standards of corporate governance, cannot be discounted. Prasad, a product of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, entered the world of private equity by chance-he was a consultant at McKinsey when he received a call from a headhunter-but he likes what he is doing. "Over the next 10-15 years, I see myself doing nothing but this," he says. "It's my passion."

-Krishna Gopalan

Subhinder Singh Prem
37/Managing Director/Reebok India
Boot-strap Operator

Subhinder is one shoe-maker who has made big promises and kept them all," says Vishnu Bhagat, CFO, Reebok India, referring to the adage (popular in this country) about promise-breakers being shoe-makers. That may just be a peer's approval-Bhagat and Subhinder Singh Prem signed up with Reebok around the same time, in 1995 -or it could be a numbers-man admiration for, er.., numbers. Between 2003, when Prem took over, and now, Reebok India has grown its business 150 per cent from Rs 160 crore to Rs 400 crore. Prem himself, a graduate of Delhi's Shri Ram College of Commerce, who then headed off to imt, Ghaziabad, for an MBA, credits the growth to his team. The man believes he was destined to be in the shoe business: he started off with Ranbaxy, but moved quickly to Mescos (it had a shoe business in the early 1990s), then Reebok, where he started off as Footwear Manager. In 2004 and 2005, Reebok India was named the best subsidiary within the Reebok system, "a major achievement," according to Prem. "There are many emerging markets we compete with."

-Archna Shukla

Rajiv Sabharwal
40/General Manager and Head (Mortgages and Real Estate)/ ICICI Bank
Home Depot Personified

Not too long ago, HDFC was the market leader in the retail mortgages market. ICICI Bank was not on the horizon. Today, ICICI Bank is the market leader with a 32 per cent market share. Rajiv Sabharwal can take some of the credit for that. When, in what was then ICICI, he moved to the mortgages department in 2001, disbursements were a mere Rs 100 crore a month. Today, the corresponding number is Rs 2,500 crore. "The market is large out there," says Sabharwal, "and there is a huge demand waiting to be met." In some ways, the man has the right background for the job of reaching out to people across the country (ICICI is famous for the reach of its retail mortgages products). His first job, after he graduated from Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, was with Godrej GE which sent him to Haryana to sell refrigerators. Sabharwal has developed strong relationships with developers and launched new products but, in a country where a home is still one of those once-in-a-lifetime purchase, the man will be remembered for funding dreams.

-Anand Adhikari

Dan Sandhu
37/CEO/Vertex India
BPO-boomer

In some ways, the story of Dan Sandhu is that of a typical new-age Indian. Sandhu is UK-born, qualified as a chartered accountant, and while at Leeds Business School, promoted a rock band and launched a radio station afterwards. He worked for a media firm for some time, but then met the founders of a business process outsourcing firm, 7c, in 1998. He joined as the Head of Finance, moved to start up the Indian operations with just over 50-employees, and in December 2002, when the company was acquired by Vertex, he was asked to stay on as head of Vertex India. Today, Vertex India has over 2,200 people on its rolls and thanks to Sandhu's innovative hr practices-signing up entire families in the workforce, being driven to work occasionally in the CEO's Mercedes, being served lunch by a senior manager-retention is among the highest in the industry. "People stay in work because of people," says Sandhu, who is also emerging as a face of the BPO industry because of his involvement with NASSCOM. "It is more or less the same work and money elsewhere."

-Shaleen Agrawal

Deepak Sogani
39/CFO/Patni Computer Systems
Enjoying The Ride

He was the first professional in the finance function at Patni. Eight years ago, when Deepak Sogani signed on- he was advising Patni then in his capacity as an independent consultant-his mandate was clear: transform Patni from a diversified family-held business to a widely-owned, pure-play it services one. And the IIT-Delhi, IIM-A (1991) alumnus has been turning it on ever since. His first task was to de-merge the non-core businesses like hardware, after which foreign investors began sniffing around for a stake. First came GE, investing roughly $15 million; then, in 2002, General Atlantic Partners pumped all of $100 million (Rs 490 crore then) into the company, making it the largest private equity deal in the world in that year. "The gap deal was challenging," says the former investment banker, explaining that the needs of the family and other stakeholders had to be balanced. In 2004, the company made an IPO; the same year, it acquired Cymbal, a California-based, telecom-focussed it services player for $68 million (Rs 306 crore then); and last December, it listed on the New York Stock Exchange. "We still have some more distance to travel," says Sogani, who has seen Patni grow from a $30 million company to a $450 million or Rs 2,025 crore (as of December 2005) one.

-Brian Carvalho

Aashish Sonawala
37/Director (Sales)/GE Capital Aviation Services
High-flier

When GECAS discovered Aashish Sonawala was part of this list, the person most excited was not the man himself, but his boss, Bill Blair. That can only be an indication of how good a job Sonawala has done. In the past year alone, GECAS, the world's second largest aircraft lessor after ILFC, has placed aircraft worth over $2.5 billion (Rs 11,250 crore) in the Indian market, the world's second hottest after China. Sonawala, who has been a GE-lifer (he signed on after he finished his MBA from Boston University), attributes part of the company's success to GE's historical presence in the Indian aviation market (through GE Aircraft Engines) and part of his individual achievements to the company's culture. "This is a truly global company; this is not an American company operating across the world," he says. With the Indian aviation sector expected to grow at between 20-25 per cent over the next few years, Sonawala expects to be fairly busy over the next few years as well, "If the Finance Minister wants 8-10 per cent growth, aviation will have to play a key role, and so will we."

-Kushan Mitra

Pankaj Srivastava
36/CFO/Kodak India
Numbers Of Note

That finance pros have a role, a significant one, to play in the success of marketing-heavy consumer products companies is borne out by the success of Pankaj Srivasatava, an engineer from Delhi College of Engineering and alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Since he signed on with Kodak in 2001 as the Head of Finance of the consumer imaging business, Srivastava has re-engineered the company's supply chain and inventory management systems, just the kind of thing that makes CEOs happy. "He keeps a business perspective in mind while taking financial decisions," says Ravi Karamcheti, Managing Director, Kodak. Not surprisingly, Srivasatava, named Chief Financial Officer this year, admits that "the opportunities given to me by this company have been tremendous".

-Ahona Ghosh

Rahul Verma
34/Senior Director (India HR)/Accenture
People Person

There are few people in the IT services space that can claim to have worked for the same company. There are fewer still who can claim to have been made Head of hr at 27. Rahul Verma can, on both counts. In 2001, when Accenture (then known as Andersen Consulting) decided that it was time to scale up its operations in India, and pay some obeisance to that 'offshoring' trend that had created several of its Indian rivals, it had a workforce of just around 200 in the country. Today, it employs 16,800; Verma, a graduate in economics from Delhi University who went to Pune's Symbiosis to specialise in personnel management, has overseen that growth. The son of academics (his parents are both Ph.Ds and met while studying in what was then the USSR), Verma could have been expected to become an engineer or a doctor. The man himself had other plans; he had always considered himself a people's person. "HR is not a staff function, but a line one," he says, something that is particularly true of the IT services business. Part of Verma's success can be attributed to his philosophy of trying to solve any problem from first principles (as opposed to just accepting conventional wisdom). For instance, when Accenture felt the need to hire more people, Verma's approach suggested that it first hire hr pros, who could then help the company scale up its operations. Rather than hire mid- and senior-level hr execs from other firms, Accenture hires young people on the basis of a screening test and their aptitude for hr, and then puts them through a customised Accenture-XLRI two-year weekend course (Accenture pays for part of it) even as they learn on the job during the week. "Create, don't borrow or steal," says Verma, who was rejected twice by XLRI when he was trying to specialise in hr. "All of us appreciate the insight and the strategic view Rahul brings to the table," adds Chet Kamath, Managing Partner, Accenture India.

-Venkatesha Babu

Ireena Vittal
37/Partner, McKinsey & Company
Conscious Consultant

Humour of the self-deprecating kind is a welcome trait in a man or a woman. It is doubly welcome in a successful woman who works for the world's best-known consulting firm, McKinsey & Company. "Business," says Ireena Vittal, who calls McKinsey a terrific university where one works for the best clients and hires the best people, "is simple; we complicate it." Well, since 1996, when she signed on with the firm, she has been 'complicating it' in sectors such as retail, consumer goods and energy, and 'complicating' it successfully at that. No one in India, she claims, has a successful model (for retailing) because "the consumer is always ahead of you". "No one has a format that will work," she adds. The job, despite having spent 10 years on it, is still fun, says Vittal, because she is "still learning". Even her stints with Nestle (her first job) and Max (she helped launch Max's mobile telephony service in Mumbai), she claims, were good learning experiences. "At Max, we had about 90 days to launch the brand in Mumbai and we knew nothing about the category," she recalls. The lady, who travels for around 12 days a month (made bearable by the fact that husband Gopal, too, travels a lot), still manages to catch up with her reading (no management books for her please; "they're boring") and believes that this is a good time to be in India. "To me, the present is important," she says. "I think we in India are lucky to be alive at a stage considering the amount of action that is taking place."

-Krishna Gopalan

Gopal Vittal
39/Regional Category Vice President, Asia, (Fabric Cleaning)/HLL
Uber-salesman

For 16 years now, ever since he graduated from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, in 1990, Gopal Vittal has worked for the same company, Hindustan Lever Limited. Ask him about that and he will quickly clarify that his association with the company dates further back; after his graduation from Madras Christian College, he worked with Brooke Bond (which merged with HLL in 1996) for a brief while (saving enough money for a vacation to the North East of the country, that he still recollects fondly) before moving on to IIM-C. Today, he travels for 16-17 days a month (work-life balance maintained by the fact that his wife, Ireena, is also a fast-tracker at a consulting firm) and has a region-wide responsibility that he is thrilled with. "The kick comes from dealing with different cultures, like in Thailand and Philippines," he says. Vittal recollects the relaunch of Lifebuoy, between 2001 and 2003, fondly. "The period was a turnaround for the brand," he says. "Since then, its turnover has doubled." And his responsibilities, many times over.

-Krishna Gopalan

Bringing it all together: (Seated left-right) Transearch's Atul Vohra and Accord's Sonal Agrawal; (standing left-right) Ma Foi's K. Pandia Rajan, Shilputsi's Purvi Sheth and Stanton Chase's Venkat Shastry

METHODOLOGY
How We Did It

How did business today identify the 25 hottest Young Executives in the country? As a first step, we solicited the participation of the country's largest and best-known executive search firms. Five of the firms (the same five that had participated in the last edition of the survey)-Accord, Shilputsi, Ma Foi, Stanton Chase and Transearch-agreed to participate in the exercise. Each was asked to create a list of executives who were 40 or under, who had consistently been on the fast-track in their respective firms, and who had done something of note in the past 18 months. The firms were asked to exclude those individuals that had already appeared in earlier editions of the study. A team of Business Today editors created a shortlist of around 100 from the individual listings sent across by the search firms. In late February, senior editors of the magazine and the heads or senior partners of the search firms met in Mumbai to discuss the entries in the shortlist. The criteria: an age of 40 or lower, currently employed (not between jobs), a consistent track record, and a significant achievement in the past 18 months. Other factors considered included the size and the complexity of the business their companies were in, and their impact on their companies and industry as a whole. While due care was taken to ensure enough representation for all sectors, no quotas were set. The result: the third listing of BT's Hottest Young Executives in India.

Introduction

2008-11-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog. in here, i wanna try to collect all advertise. begin from business, finance, technology, sport, life style and everything. so, enjoy my blog, read the news, chat with others, ad your advertise to adbrite or just click there click here. there is no problem.

thanks for visiting my blog.