Sensex could slide to 12,000 level

The fact that stock futures of many Nifty stocks were trading at a huge discount to their spot prices an unusual phenomenon lends some credence to this theory. A spiralling inflation and interest rate has already cast a shadow on several sectors such as banking, auto and real estate. On Friday, there was more bad news in the property space, with a downgrade of the debt papers issued by Sobha Developers. This is one of the first downgrades in the sector.

Bears tightened their grip as inflation climbed further to 11.42% and the political situation at the Centre remained fluid. “A further rise in the oil price will, unfortunately, continue to be particularly bad news for India,” broking house CLSA said in a note to clients.

“This is both despite and because of the Reserve Bank of India’s increasingly pre-emptive monetary tightening stance,” the note said, adding that “a re-test of the 12,000 level on the Sensex cannot be ruled out in these circumstances and that will be accompanied by a further weakening in the rupee.” The broking house, however, said a decline to 12,000 level would be a “massive long-term buying opportunity.”

For all the uncertainty over UPA government’s future, brokers feel that politics is not as big a cause for worry as inflation. “Market has discounted politics, because the government’s immediate priority is its own survival, and not any major policy measures,” said a veteran BSE trader, adding that it would not make much of a difference to sentiment if the government lasted for a month or three.

Elsewhere in Asia, Chinese markets declined by over 5%, while markets in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan were down between 1% and 3%.

In the US, the Dow was trading marginally higher in early trade, though it was still close to its 21-month lows.
Even as stock prices are plunging rapidly, there is no talk of any brokering house or prominent market player facing a solvency crisis. This is because there are no major outstanding positions in derivatives as was there at the beginning of the year, just before the market went into a free-fall.

Bill Gates bids a teary farewell to Microsoft

Bill Gates said a teary goodbye on Friday to Microsoft Corp, the software maker he built into the world’s most valuable technology company based on the ambitious goal of placing a computer on every desk and in every home.

He leaves his full-time executive role at Microsoft, which he co-founded with childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975, to focus on his philanthropic organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest charity, funded in part by his vast fortune.

At an event at Microsoft’s headquarters campus here, Gates, who will become a non-executive chairman and work part-time, joined Chief Executive Steve Ballmer on stage to deliver a short speech and field questions from employees.

"There won’t be a day in my life that I’m not thinking about Microsoft and the great things that it’s doing and wanting to help," said Gates, who wiped away tears as the group of employees rose to give him a standing ovation.

Ballmer, a Harvard University classmate who joined Microsoft at Gates’ behest, got choked up as he tried to describe Gates’ impact on the company and society at large.

"There’s no way to say thanks to Bill. Bill’s the founder. Bill’s the leader," said Ballmer. "We’ve been given an enormous, enormous opportunity and it was Bill that gave us this opportunity."

Gates will leave behind a life’s work developing software to devote energy to finding new vaccines or to microfinance projects in the developing world. He will still work on special technology projects at the company.

Once the world’s richest man, Gates’ personal fortune has been estimated at about $58 billion, according to Forbes Magazine. He has slipped to third place, behind investor and good friend Warren Buffett and Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim.

ONE BILLION AND COUNTING

Ballmer spoke about how he contemplated quitting Microsoft a month after joining the company and returning to Stanford University business school. Bill passionately implored him to stay and laid out the vision of the company.

"This is what Bill said to keep me. ’You don’t get it! You don’t get it! You don’t get it! We’re going to put a computer on every desk and in every home,’" said Ballmer.

There are currently more than one billion PCs worldwide, according to research firm IDC.

Gates and Ballmer recalled the many steps Microsoft took to evolve from a fledgling start-up to a company of more than 90,000 employees making everything from video game consoles to computer software.

The pair remembered the battles with computer industry titan International Business Machines Corp’s, an early partner turned rival when it rolled out a competing operating system to Microsoft’s flagship software, Windows.

"We went toe to toe with the biggest, most powerful computer company in the world and we beat them," said Ballmer.

The 52-year-old Gates said the company had made "a mistake" not recognizing earlier how Web search and online advertising -- businesses dominated by another start-up turned powerhouse, Google Inc -- could transform the software industry.

However, he cautioned skeptics not to count out Microsoft.

"I love that kind of thing where people are underestimating Microsoft," said Gates. "Yes, we make mistakes and we know it, but we come back and learn from those things. A lot of our best work is the result of that."

After 33 years, Gates said he sometimes finds himself lost in thought, driving to Microsoft without realizing it. He also said he will move out of his corner office -- making way for Ballmer -- into a smaller area one floor below.

"I am sure there will some day next month where I start thinking about software and I will start driving here to Microsoft, go up to the fifth floor and walk down to my office and they will be remodeling it," said Gates with a chuckle.

"In fact, they were wondering if I was leaving at four or five today, so they could get started on that."

Can't do without chai? Beware

After water,is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world. In India, it’s customary to offer a guest some tea before anything else; chai-naashta, cutting chai and masala chai are part of our everyday vocabulary. And yet, the ill-effects of tea are overlooked.

The most active alkaloid ingredient in tea is caffeine — an addictive drug that stimulates the central nervous system. Tannin, also found in tea, may increase the risk of nasal and oesophageal cancer.

The perk-up effects of tea are short-lived and followed by withdrawal symptoms such as lethargy, headaches and acute irritation.
Tea does not bode for your stomach either. It is known to slow down digestion and impedes the action of ptyalin, a digestive ferment of saliva which acts like cooked starch. Excessive tea consumption could also lead to stomach troubles like gas formation and diarrhoea.

Women beware, tea could aggravate symptoms of pre-menstrual syndrome. According to a research conducted under Dr Annette Rossignol, an associate professor of public health at Oregon University,
women in China who drank between one to four cups a day were twice as likely to have Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS) than those who didn’t. Drinking eight cups of tea increased the PMS occurrence up to 10 times.

INCONTINENCE

Too much tea could also lead to incontinence or frequent or urgent impulse to urinate. According to a recent study by St George’s Hospital in London, caffeine could exert pressure on bladder by causing the muscles surrounding it to contract. Experiments show that five cups of tea increases urine by 400 to 500 per cent in people vulnerable to kidney related ailments. This continued stimulation of kidneys by caffeine found in tea might damage them.

Tea also contains oxalate, over consumption of which can cause kidney damage. It is known to soak up free calcium and other minerals found in the body. It could also promote kidney stone formation and effect other parts of body.

OTHER ILL-EFFECTS

The respiratory and cardiac muscles are stimulated by tea as coronary arteries get dilated resulting in the increase in the rate of blood flow. The quickening of respiration lowers levels of carbon dioxide and increases the heat production by 10 to 20 per cent. Caffeine too is found in teas — instant teas have 35 to 50 mg of caffeine, while iced tea contains about 65 to 80 mg; brewed tea has the highest amount of caffeine — 110 mg!

REPLACEMENTS

Have a cup of green tea instead, it has 50 per cent less caffeine (only 12 to 60 mg per 150 ml) and tannin. Flower teas such as jasmine also have very little caffeine content. Herbal infusions such as tulsi, ginger, peppermint, chamomile and cranberry are even better. They are no caffeine and multiple health benefits.

LEGENDS OF THE BREW

It is said that one night, sage Bodhirama found it difficult to stay awake during his meditations and kept falling asleep again and again.Angry with himself, he tore off his eyelashes and threw them near the tree
he was meditating under. Those eyelashes grew into the first tea bush. And this is why tea has become one of the most important things for those who meditate or want to stay awake.

Does Viagra give athletes an edge?

Viagra, a little blue pill more usually taken for its off-the-field benefits, is now being studied for its role in boosting athletes’ performance. Some sports authorities say the drug is now finding a following among athletes. The World Anti-Doping Agency is currently studying Viagra’s effects in athletes but hasn’t yet banned it. Experts are divided over whether it actually offers athletes an edge.

“It’s possible,”’ says Anthony Butch, director of the Olympic Analytical laboratory at the University of California Los Angeles, a WADA-accredited facility.

Viagra, also known as sildenafil, is manufactured by Pfizer Inc. It was originally developed as a heart drug; its use as a treatment for erectile dysfunction was only accidentally discovered.

The drug works by increasing the effects of nitric oxide which makes blood vessels expand. That should theoretically allow blood cells to travel to the lungs more efficiently and to also receive more oxygen. It may also improve heart function.

Viagra is also approved to treat pulmonary hypertension, a condition where the blood vessels of the lungs tighten. Doctors have used the drug experimentally to treat pregnant women with high blood pressure and to ward off jet-lag.

But whether Viagra makes athletes faster, higher or stronger is uncertain.

“Just because you have more nitric oxide doesn’t mean that you are going to be a better athlete,” says Butch. “If you have all the nitric oxide you need and if you generate more from Viagra, it’s not clear what effect that would have,” he says. Still, some preliminary studies have shown that cyclists who took Viagra improved their performance by up to 40 percent.

“If you have more oxygen going to your muscles, that’s more energy and that makes you a better athlete,” says Dr Andrew McCullough, a sexual health expert at New York University School of Medicine. “Even if it only gives you a 10 percent increase, in peak athletes, that is enough to win,” he says.

McCullough says Viagra is only likely to help athletes like runners, cyclists or skiers: sports where endurance and speed are the key. Viagra does not work directly on muscles so it will not make athletes physically stronger.

If Viagra does give athletes an unfair advantage, they will be able to take it at the upcoming Beijing Olympics without worry, since it is not on the prohibited list of medicines. McCullough said taking Viagra could theoretically help people breathe better in heavily polluted cities, like the Chinese capital.

Many scientists at laboratories that conduct drug testing say they haven’t noticed a suspicious spike in samples containing Viagra. “We see it as much as we see ibuprofen or aspirin or antibiotics that are not prohibited,” says Christiane Ayotte, director of a WADA-accredited laboratory in Canada. “Athletes may be taking it, but they may be taking it for non-doping purposes,” she says.

Ayotte said it would be unrealistic to ban Viagra. “Are athletes going to have to submit therapeutic-use exemptions for Viagra?” she says, “That would be quite humiliating.”

Still other doctors say that Viagra’s more well-known effects on sex lives may be the ultimate explanation for any enhanced athletic abilities. “It could be that athletes are taking Viagra and then having vigorous sexual activity,” says Dr Gerard Varlotta, director of sports rehabilitation at New York University’s Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine. Varlotta doubts that Viagra itself could improve an athlete’s performance.

“If athletes are euphoric after sex after taking Viagra, they may be euphoric about their athletic endeavours,” Varlotta says.

Why Buying a car makes sense now

It’s no fun buying a new car right now. Interest rates are creeping up. You have to pay an additional excise duty on bigger cars. And fuel prices are going through the roof. Right? Well, not exactly. Although the sentiment dampners are there, this could well be as good a time as any to pick up a car.

For one, although interest rates have climbed to 13-14%, depending on your debt history, banks will be willing to offer you better terms. For instance, if you have ‘preferred customer’ status with one of the big three financiers, ICICI, HDFC or Kotak, you will be able to get yourself a much better deal than what’s on offer in the market.

Also typically the bigger the car, the better the interest rates. Financiers see the big car buyers as lower risk customers so the rates dip as go along. Which means although you cough up anywhere between Rs 30,000-50,000 ex-showroom thanks to the excise hike, a bigger car will get you better EMI rates than a smaller one.

Add to that the fact that banks offer special schemes for women and many car companies will also do their bit to sweeten the pill for their customers. For instance if you already own a car from a particular brand and are ready to change the model, dealers and financiers will doubtless offer you attractive terms.

For a mass market C-seg car, for instance, the rates can be as low 11.5-12%, which is a good 2-2.5%lower than that on small cars. And then you have to factor in the discounts. Car companies, eager to push volumes to beat the sentiment slump, have upped the rebate levels substantially.

For example, B-seg models are currently fetching anywhere between Rs 25,000-45,000 in discounts. The C-seg sedans, particularly models that have been around for a while, will get you anywhere between Rs 30,000-60,000 off, sometimes even more.

Even when companies have launched facelifts or new variants, in most cases prices have remained unchanged. Which means you get better features at the same price. And in most of these cases, the dealer throws in something to make the deal sweet so you won’t drive away without some bargain tidbit.

There’s another reason why buying a car right now may be a good idea. Although financiers aren’t willing to bet on it, the buzz is that yet another interest rate increase may be right round the corner. If that happens, your loan will become even costlier. So it may be a good idea to opt for it and push for a good bargain while you are at it.

Of course there’s one very good reason why you may want to wait till the festival season. There are a slew of new launches that are lined up and those brands which don’t have a new model ont he anvil will offer mucho rebates and other attractive add-ons to make it worthwhile for you.

Traditionally that mad scramble for consumer mind space is what makes festival buying a good bargain. But this year, with the Nano debuting, the scramble will be madder. Which means the goodies on offer will be that much more for you, dear buyer.

Finally does it make better sense to go for a cash payment rather than financing your new car given the rising rates of interest? Not yet. Financiers throw in a decent amount of discount and dealers on their own will likely not be able to match the combined rebate coughed up by them, financiers and the car companies.

Already, with demand slackening, dealer margins are fairly thin. So if you have to depend only on them for your bargains, you won’t get that much. You may argue that you pay more on interest which gobbles up the rebate over the loan period. That’s true.

But chances are you would change your car before the loan runs out so you can roll your interest without paying the entire amount and get a rebate on your new car as well. Happy bargain hunting.

Oil price to hit $150-170 in coming months: OPEC

The president of OPEC, Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil, predicted on Thursday that oil prices would rise to $150-170 a barrel during the northern hemisphere summer. helil insisted on Tuesday that oil producers saw no need to raise supply, blaming high prices on factors outside their control such as US pressure on Iran and the weak US dollar.

Speaking after talks with European Union nations, Khelil said the cartel of oil states believes it is pumping enough oil to supply current demand and has stocks and extra capacity to spare.

Khelil said prices in the next few weeks depend largely on how the US deals with Iran and the strength of the US dollar.

The US, supported by the European Union, wants Iran to permanently halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can give Iran the capacity to produce materials for a nuclear bomb if it wanted. Iran denies that, saying it only wants to produce energy.
"I think the market is probably waiting to see how the dollar is going to evolve in July, how the geopolitical situation is going to evolve with the threats made on Iran," Khelil said.

"I don’t think OPEC can do much about the geopolitics," he said. "I think some other people have to do something about that because if you have threats in areas that are producing areas or potentially producing areas, then of course the market will react to it."

The president of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, - based mostly in the Gulf region - could only handle one factor behind high prices: making more oil available.

"I think we are doing that and we think we are doing that very well," he said. "All you need to do is to look at the data to be convinced that the market is well supplied in oil and that we have enough surplus capacity and that we have enough stocks in the market."

The 13 OPEC members have for years gathered regularly to establish production quotas. They control some 40 per cent of world oil output. Despite the current surge in oil prices and growing global demand, they have refused as a group to boost production.

However, Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, has said it would add 200,000 barrels per day in July to a 300,000 barrel per day production increase it first announced in May, raising total daily output to 9.7 million barrels.

OPEC members include: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

1% rate hike may up housing EMI by 7%

Interest rates are all set to go up by 50-100 basis points, following the RBI’s decision to increase the lending rate on funds to banks by half a percentage point. Punjab National Bank (PNB) CMD K C Chakrabarty said the step taken by RBI will lead to a minimum increase of 50 basis points in interest rate. Some banks might increase the rate even to 75 basis points, he added.

However, a senior official of a private sector bank said increase in the lending rate might go up to one percentage point (100 basis points). As the interest rates are going upward for last quite some time and not likely to come down in the near future due to inflationary pressure , many banks will increase the rates by one percentage point from July 1, 2008.

CMD of Union Bank MV Nair said the present round of increase in the policy rates will force them to raise their prime lending rates by 50 basis points to 13.25% from the present 12.75%.

He said the present tight money policy pursued by RBI to contain inflation will affect more those banks which normally borrow in the overnight money market to meet their lending requirements. Because of rise in the repo rate by 50 basis points to 8.50%, the interest rates on short term funds has gone up immediately.

In fact, many banks had not increased their lending rates, when RBI had increased its repo rate any cash reserve ratio in April.

Realty: Tough to buy, tougher to rent

Realty prices might be showing signs of easing, yet its tough to buy a house. Prices are still high and loans are getting expensive. Renting a property is also getting dearer.

According to analysts and developers residential rentals are hardening, registering a 10% growth. The demand for rented residential space is high as India has very low residential rental yields hovering around 3-6% (that is, given the high prices, people prefer to live on rent rather than buy a property).

At the same time home loan interest rates are around 11% to 13%. While new property sales are slowing down, rentals are showing an upwards trend.

Many prospective home buyers are deferring purchase, expecting a dip in prices, and looking for renting accommodation in the short run.

“People are nervous about spending the capital they have in times of uncertainty. Therefore renting remains the only option. Though India is also unique as lot of people prefer to park money in residential projects and lock up apartments, which reduces the supply of apartments for rent, putting an upward pressure,” says global real estate advisory DTZ director Abhilash Lal.

Agreeing that lower residential yields have made renting a feasible option for many, Ansal Housing and Construction Director Kushagr Ansal points out, “Real estate yields in India are very low, pegged at 4-6%. This makes renting a lucrative option.”

Though new supply is being added to the pool of residential properties, it hasn’t really helped in stabilising rents. Says Parsvnath Developers COO Dr B P Dhaka, “New supply is not coming in the preferred centrally located residential areas. Also maintenance and construction costs have gone up in the last one year. All this has contributed to higher rentals.”

Developers also feel that residential rentals will not be hit in the short run. “Demand hasn’t really waned for quality houses and the market is still buoyant. Till the time the job market is healthy and disposable incomes don’t go down drastically, rentals will keep moving up. Though the rentals will plateau out in the long run,” says Ansal API vice-president (marketing) Kunal Banerji.

However, Omaxe executive director Vipin Agarwal points out, “Since residential rentals and lease are long term arrangements, there has not been a significant increase in rentals in last 6-8 months (for people already living in rented properties).’’

Why Crude Oil market is exposed to speculation

Speculation in association with an increasingly weakening dollar and supported by some fundamental risks such as fear of supply disruptions from unstable resource centers has fuelled the price spikes.

As long as the US interest rates will remain low, commodity markets in general, and crude oil in particular, will remain exposed to large speculative swings. Speculators purchase futures with borrowed money at low interest rates.

The speculative demand pushes the spot prices upwards, which, in turn, fosters even higher expectations of future price increases, which generates even more speculative demand and so on in a self-fuelling upwards spiral up to the trend reversal when speculation is no more profitable. And in case a trend reversal ensues, speculation could create an amplifying effect on the downside.

In the shorter term where demand is very insensitive to price, sharp price increases, whether caused by the OPEC’s decisions or by the trader’s expectations, are not dampened by parallel reductions in demand volumes.

Also the supply side of the market is very inelastic in the short-to-medium term, large speculative price increases cannot be cut short by flooding the market with additional supply. In a situation like this, a price speculation can continue to growing without resulting in surplus inventory, simply because traders can keep selling the same inventories to each other at ever high prices.

The likely trigger for crude oil price crash could be a slowdown in emerging markets (perhaps caused by the high oil price itself), which would obviously cut down demand for goods and services in general and crude oil in particular.

While the economic growth will accelerate for oil exporting countries, the high crude prices will impact the growth figures of fast moving economies. Inflation is rising in India and China due to increase in the costs of food imports, the current account deficits, though comfortable at current levels (China’s surplus of 11% and India’s deficit of 1%) will also be rising if the prices were sustaining at current levels.

On the other hand the ongoing slowdown in the US economy, the subprime impact and credit crunch, will negatively impact the US oil demand which accounts for nearly 21 percent of the global demand for crude oil. And even if China ’s GDP continues to grow around 10-11 per cent in the next two more years, the resultant increase in oil demand will not be sufficient to offset the decline in demand from the US economy.

It may be mentioned that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has already cut its economic growth outlook through next year. It now forecasts several quarters of weak growth for most of its 30 members, which include the U.S., Japan, and several European countries.

Among the industrialized economies, the U.S. economy is projected to grow just 1.2 percent this year and 1.1 percent in 2009. The euro zone is likely to grow at 1.7 percent in 2008 and 1.4 percent in 2009. Japan is expected to expand at 1.7 percent this year and 1.5 percent in 2009. Also the IMF’s world economic outlook is not encouraging, they have already reduced the world GDP growth from 4.9% in 2007 to 3.7% in 2008.

According to the IMF estimates a permanent $ 5 a barrel increase in oil prices will decrease global GDP by up to 0.3 percentage points. This means that a $ 35 (approx.) increase in the oil prices since January 1, 2008, will cut the world GDP by 2.1% this year. The relationship between oil prices and output has also been studied by Bernanke, Jones, and Lee . These authors found significant recessionary and inflationary impact for oil prices on real GDP and consumer prices.

In a nutshell we can conclude that moderation in global economic growth could create a trend reversal in the crude oil prices, where there is possibility that speculation could create an amplifying effect on the down side. This is likely to pull crude prices back to US $ 85 – 90 range (per barrel) from where they had started recent up swing in January 2008.

Dr. S P Sharma is a Senior Research Analyst with IL&FS Investsmart Commodities Limited

'Pro-women laws being misused'

Are we being fair on the not -so-fair sex? It would appear not. Laws for protecting women like the anti-dowry legislation and the domestic violence Act were vociferously opposed by men’s groups on Wednesday at a consultation initiated by the ministry for women and child development and UNIFEM.

The burden of their argument was that these laws don’t follow the fundamental legal premise that a person is innocent until he is proven guilty. "In 30% of the cases that come to us, there is a rift between the woman and her in-laws where the woman forces the man to choose between the two under the threat of slapping Section 498A of the Dowry Prohibition Act on the husband and his family," said Ashish from Save Indian Family (SIF). He added that there should be a deterrent to prevent misuse of the law. Another representative Hemant from SIF said that 1.2 lakh women (women relatives of husbands) were arrested under the anti-dowry Act but the ministry of women and child development minister was not doing anything about it. "Are you a wife development or a woman development minister?" he asked.

Dr Anumapa Singh, who counsels couples, pointed to the anomaly in the domestic violence law in that the aggrieved party could only be a woman while the respondent could only be a male. "We have witnessed violence at home where the perpetrator is a woman. So why does the law hold a man as the accused?" she wanted to know. TOI had reacted to an observation of the Orissa chairperson of the state commission for women on September 19, 2007, when she had said that these laws were being abused. We had felt there should be checks on such abuse and said, "In cases where a complaint is proved false beyond doubt, the accuser must face a jail term." This would act as a deterrent to the abuse of Sec 498A, we felt.

At the meeting on Wednesday, however, the men’s group wanted the laws to be scrapped altogether — which is not such a good idea as it is undeniable that many women do get harassed by greedy husbands and in-laws and need legal protection. Sanjay Bhartia of the Gender Human Rights Society said, "We have been opposing the domestic violence Act and have even submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister last year on the issue," he said. Bhartia added that there was need to review the laws that were radically tilted in favour of women and open to misuse.

Men’s organisations invited for the interaction landed up in huge numbers with posters and banners, disrupting the consultation with their sloganeering.

Faced with vehement opposition, WCD minister Renuka Chowdhury admitted that she was open to change the law. "Law-making is a dynamic process. We are ready to change the law but as of now there will be no amendments to it," she said.

Reacting to the constant allegations of misuse, Chowdhury said that there were enough deterrents in the penal code to punish those found guilty of misuse. She, however, did not spell out the deterrents.

Wednesday’s protest came at a time when the Delhi police commissioner has issued instructions that only the husband and not the extended family can be arrested in anti-dowry cases. Reacting sharply to this, National Commission for Women chairperson Girija Vyas said, "If the anti-dowry law is taken lightly, women will suffer a huge loss. Only 6% of the cases are false under the Act."

India ranked 74 on world corruption index

India has been ranked a lowly 74, two steps down since last year, among 180 countries of the world on the worldwide Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), prepared by independent international agency Transparency International.

However, corruption is much higher in Pakistan which occupies 140th place, a little below Iran, Libya and Nepal which are ranked 133, 134 and 135 respectively.

Meanwhile, China which was ranked a joint 72 with India in 2007, slided a step down to occupy a place above its neighbour this year.

Among other Asian countries, Russia is placed still lower on 145, while Sri Lanka occupies the 96th position and Maldives is ranked 90.

The least corrupt country in the region is the nascent democracy Bhutan, which has been placed at the 41st spot by the non-government organisation tracking prevalence of corruption worldwide.

Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Singapore and Sweden corner the top five spots retaining positions as the least corrupt nations of the world, while bottom of table is occupied by Myanmar and Somalia.

The United States also retains its position and is ranked 20th, just below Germany, Ireland, Japan and France. Besides, Britain occupies the 13th spot and is just ahead of Hong Kong.

C02 emissions: US losing business in Europe

United States is losing business in Europe because of failure to respond to climate change. US and China are the largest emitters of carbon and they have an enormous responsibility to participate in emissions trading, Bart Chilton, Commissioner of Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)said.

Speaking at the Finance IQ, Second Carbon Trading Conference, New York, New York on Wednesday, he said that , it is past time for the United States to pick up the slack and start getting serious about climate change.

“In fact, the biggest increase in the Chicago Climate Exchange carbon market took place after Super Tuesday, February 5th. That is the date when 24 states had political contests—with 52% of all pledged Democratic Party delegates and 41% of the total Republican Party delegates at stake. That is the date when the field of presidential contenders shrank to three viable candidates,” Bart Chilton said.

All three, Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain, support a mandatory cap and trade system. Within a short period of time thereafter, prices for the Carbon Financial Instrument traded on the Chicago Climate Exchange moved from the $2.50-$3.00 range to over $7.00.

“Ensuring honest emission markets, for both futures and options contracts, would be the responsibility of the CFTC. We would perform the same types of oversight functions that we currently perform to guard against fraud, abuse and manipulation. We would work to ensure that these emission markets are viable tools for hedgers and for speculators,” Chilton added.

Despite the phenomenal growth in market for carbon emissions since 1990’s the United States, world’s historically largest emitter has only initiated certain voluntary carbon markets and has sat on the sidelines and not truly tapped into its massive potential to participate in this space, Chilton said.

“We all know that the global market for carbon emissions has grown precipitously since its origins in the 1990’s, and particularly in the last few years. In 2002, the World Bank estimated the volume of carbon emissions traded globally at 32 million metric tons with a value of approximately $100 million. For 2008, these values are estimated to increase to a volume of 4.2 billion metric tons, and a total value of $92 billion,” he said.

What does all that mean? It means that the market value of global carbon trades has experienced an average annual growth rate of about 312% since 2002! That is a cumulative increase of 92,000 percent! That’s not conjecture, it is a hard number fact that this trading has gone from $100 million to $92 billion. As important is the fact that what we are seeing is a policy value shift – a change in priorities for the world which is reflective of the seriousness of this issue, Chilton added.

It is unacceptable that China, the second-largest economy in the world, is not stepping up and participating in this global challenge, he commented.

Hows and why’s of Internet banking

Are you one of those wizards whose Internet banking password is `Password123’? You are in August company. Most don’t seem to have the patience to create an elaborate password. Your Internet banking account is only as secure as its password. A weak password exposes it to strangers and hackers.

If you love the ease of online transactions, you have to learn the ropes of basic online security, in your own interest.

Here are a few tips for creating and more importantly, remembering a secure password.

Your name, surname, pet name, names of your kids, your birthday, your employee number, your car’s number plate, and your account number, are all easy to guess. Avoid them completely.

Don’t create lazy passwords. To make passwords strong, complicate them with capitals and small letters; use numbers and characters such as !@#$% ^&*() .

Create an algorithm. It could be important dates, the first line of your favourite song or your favourite movie. Like `One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’, will get you ‘1F^TCNest’.

Don’t scramble around wondering if `F’ was capital or if it was `o’ or `0’ or `1’. Have an algo and always apply it.

For example, one number, one character, beginning with caps and ending with the last word in full. Use the algo to reset and change passwords. Don’t discuss your algorithm, it is the formula to your password.

There are passwords to your Yahoo and Hotmail accounts and there are passwords to your bank account. Don’t sweat over the small stuff. If your friend logged in to read your mail, you may at the most lose a friend; if someone logs in to sweep off your cash, you lose both the money and the friend. Keep your critical passwords strictly confidential.

Also, avoid typing a password in front of someone. Passwords like ‘qwerty123456’ are so easy for peepers to figure. Avoid strokes to adjacent keys that can be cracked by mere observation.

Short passwords can be easily assaulted. Hackers routinely crack up to six characters. If your algo is a good one, remembering may not be tough. `Raindrops keep falling on my head and I want to steal your umbrella’ can become a superb password -- RkFoMh&Iw 2SyU.

Longer a password, the more secure it is. For, every extra character increases the potential for more possible combinations. Anyone who uses a combination of at least eight letters, numbers and special symbols make things hard for decryption software.

If you use 26 lowercase letters of the alphabet and a password length of seven characters you will have 26 = 8.03 billion combinations to choose from.

This may appear large but it will be cracked in 45 minutes by a common computer.

Passwords longer than seven characters, using non-dictionary words are therefore to be preferred in an attempt to use ’good’ passwords.

Don’t make the password so complicated and bizarre that you cannot remember it unless you wrote it down somewhere. Commit your password to memory with a keyword or picturisation.

Imagine for example, a cuckoo clock striking one, on the top of your bank building.

If you don’t leave your house key below the door mat, you don’t leave your password below the keyboard, mouse pad, in your diary, or on a post it slip stuck to your monitor.

If you have to store it, make it a sentence only you understand. For example, cuckoo clock above the bank strikes one. Never keep the user name and password together.

Online banking comes with some preset safeguards. Your password is masked when you type it -- it is not displayed on the screen. You are required to reset passwords periodically.

When you reset, you are asked for the old password for authentication. Your new password has to be typed twice, so that you don’t inadvertently set a password with a typo and are unable to retrieve it. Your account is locked after a few attempts at guessing the password. You can ask for resetting if you have genuinely lost the password.

As most writers on the subject say, a password is like your toothbrush: choose carefully, change regularly, and never share it with anyone.

India banks sell dollars to beat tight cash, rupee up

The rupee rose to a fresh three -week high on Thursday as banks liquidated dollar holdings amid tight cash conditions in the money market, and buoyed by firmer stock markets.At 11 a.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 42.695/700 per dollar, 0.1 percent stronger than Wednesday’s close of 42.73/74. The rupee has risen 0.6 percent this week but is down 7.7 percent in 2008.

"It is very difficult to hold on to a long dollar position with call rates at almost 9 percent," a senior dealer with a private bank said.

Overnight cash rates, a barometer of cash supplies in the inter-bank money market, were at 8.50/8.75 percent, compared with 6 percent when cash is adequate.

The rupee was also underpinned by a hefty half percentage point increase in interest rates by central bank on Tuesday to rein in galloping inflation. It was the second rate rise this month.

Traders said annual inflation, which hit a 13-year high in early June above 11 percent, was expected to stay in double digits for some time.

"With this kind of inflation and repeated rate hikes in the country, there is expectation the rupee may not weaken more than 43 per dollar," the trader at the private bank said.

Dealers said they expected dollar supplies would be higher than demand, helping the rupee to trade in a band of 42.65 to 42.75 through the rest of the session.

Traders were also watching the stock market to gauge fund flows. Foreign institutional investors have been net sellers of $6.2 billion of Indian shares so far this year, after having bought $17.4 billion in 2007.

India’s main share index was up 1 percent in the morning but is down more than 29 percent so far in 2008.

Now, an 'orgasm jab' for women

Want to heat up your bedroom life? Get the ’G-shot’! It’s a jab that enhances a woman’s sexual experience by boosting the G-spot- the ultra-sensitive area of tissue that can hold the key to happy lovemaking.

Also known as the ’orgasm jab’, the non-surgical treatment comes at a price of 800 pounds. Rather like lip-plumping jabs, the treatment involves injecting collagen straight into the G-spot, reports the Daily Mail.

This not only enhances its sensitivity, but increases the width of the area to the size of a 10 pence piece. It also raises the G-spot a quarter of an inch in height, making it much easier to find.

The treatment is sure going to make women’s sex life reach new levels as with the evolutionary treatment they can achieve multiple orgasms every time they have sex.

Quit smoking, stop heart problems: Cardiologists

Stay away from smoking and fast food, advocate eminent cardiologsits to youths as the number of young people suffering from heart problems are on the increase. The number young people coming with heart ailments for treatment was gradually increasing but no statistics are available," they said.

It was important to have a national statistics to work on proper policies and programmes to make a healthy society, they said citing the example of American Collelge of Cardiologists’ programme on diet restriction and compulsory exercises for youth.

"Today, it is a scary situation as we get young people in late twenties and thirtees with heart problems," eminent cardiologist Dr Samuel Mathew told media on Wednesday.

"Since we do not have the statistics on young adults, the civic bodies should prepare epidemiological data so that the country can have proper statistics to work on various policies and programmes," he said.

Angioplasty is a common intervention choice to avoid bypass surgery and "we try to avoid surgery on a young person and even angioplasty," he said.

Mathew demonstrated today two difficult cases of 100 per cent blockages in patients (71-year-old man and 47-year-old woman) with low heart function for the benefit of 1,500 cardiologists who were attending the international cardiology meet at Bangkok.

Other doctors who participated in the angioplasty demosntration were Jamshed Dalal, Anil Sharma, Nitin Gokhale and Ajit Menon.

Shake a leg to recharge mobile battery

What do you do if you are stuck in a field at a pop festival but there’s trouble ahead because your mobile phone’s battery is about to run out? Thanks to a new gizmo, you now just need to face the music and dance.

Mobile phone operator Orange said on Tuesday it had teamed up with GotWind, a firm specializing in renewable energy, to produce a recharger powered by dance energy alone.

The portable kinetic energy chargers will be given a test run at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, the world’s biggest greenfield music and arts celebration that begins on a farm in Somerset on Friday.

Orange said the prototype chargers weigh the same as a phone and are about the size of a pack of cards. Attached to the user’s arm, they employ a system of weights and magnets which provide an electric current to top up charge in a storage battery. This can then later be used to recharge the phone.

"We wanted to create a fun, engaging and interactive product which would encourage users to have a laugh while charging their mobile phone and at the same time test out a new energy-efficient prototype," said Hattie Magee, Head of Partnerships at Orange UK.

Mittal buys third major property in London's priciest street

NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has bought his third major property for 70 million pounds in Kensington Palace Gardens, London’s most expensive street. ( Watch )

Mittal, whose fortune is estimated at 27 billion pounds, already owns two large homes in Kensington Palace Gardens where Princess Diana spent her last years.

The latest purchase of the former embassy of the Philippines from Hedge fund tycoon Noam Gottesman came a month after Mittal bought Britain’s most expensive house for 117 million pounds on the street nicknamed "Billionaire’s Row", ostensibly for his son Aditya and his family.

The 70 million pounds price tag for Mittal’s latest property is all the more remarkable as the former Philippine Embassy is in need of modernisation, the Evening Standard said.

The 16,250 square feet home is also not the largest in the road but it looks on to Kensington Palace.

58-year-old Mittal, Britain’s richest man, himself lives in a home in Kensington Palace Gardens which he bought for 57 million pounds four years ago and is three times-bigger than his latest acquisition.

Idea Cellular to Buy Spice Communications to Compete With Bharti Airtel

Idea Cellular Ltd. the fastest growing of India’s five biggest mobile-phone carriers, offered 32.4 billion rupees ($757 million) for control of Spice Communications Ltd. to increase subscribers by a sixth.

Idea, owned by billionaire Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, agreed to buy a 41 percent stake from Spice Group for 77.30 rupees a share and make an open offer for a further 20 percent at a price that’s 41 percent higher than Spice’s close yesterday. Idea, whose chairman also runs cement and aluminum operations, will sell a 15 percent stake to Malaysia’s TM International Bhd. after the takeover. TM owns 39 percent of Spice.

Idea will add about 4.5 million customers, closing in on Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., India’s fourth-largest carrier. India is projected by the telecom ministry to double its mobile-phone subscribers to 500 million in two years, after having surpassed the U.S. as the second-biggest market this year.

``By taking over Spice they enhance their position and secondly, they become a dominant player’’ in India, said Choo Swee Kee, who counts TM International shares among the $202 million he manages at TA Asset Management Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur. ``For TM International, to hold a smaller stake in a bigger ocean is better than to hold a larger stake in a pond.’’

Idea this year has been adding customers faster than larger rivals Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Vodafone Group Plc’s Indian unit, according to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The combined entity will have about 30 million subscribers in the market of 269 million users. Bharat Sanchar had 41 million users in April, while Bharti, the nation’s largest operator, had more than 64 million subscribers.

Shares Surge

Spice surged 32 percent in Mumbai to close at a record 72.35 rupees. Idea climbed 2.8 percent to 101.90 rupees, its biggest gain since June 12. India’s benchmark Sensitive Index rose 0.8 percent.

Idea shares have dropped 27 percent this year compared with a 22 percent decline in the Bharti stock and the benchmark index’s 30 percent fall.

After the takeover, Idea will sell 464.7 million shares of the combined company at 156.96 rupees apiece to TM, Malaysia’s second-largest wireless carrier, the New Delhi-based Idea said.

``India is all about scale. The merger will result in scale being achieved, so it’s very positive for us,’’ Yusof Annuar Yaacob, chief financial officer at TM, said in a phone interview. ``A merger where we’ll end up having a stake in Idea is better than having 39 percent’’ of a smaller company, he said.

TM, which offers wireless services to 40 million customers in 10 Asian markets including Indonesia and Bangladesh, will gain a stake in an operator with licenses to sell services nationwide.

Yusof said TM will spend about $2 billion to get as much as a 19 percent stake in the merged entity and added he would fund it through debt.

Expansion Plans

Idea expects to start wireless services in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and Mumbai, the country’s financial hub, by August, Birla told reporters in Mumbai today. The carrier plans to spend as much as 100 billion rupees in two years to expand services and complete the takeover in six months, he said.

The Birla family, which is one of India’s oldest business families, runs companies including Hindalco Industries Ltd., India’s largest producer of aluminum and Grasim Industries Ltd., the South Asian nation’s third-largest cement producer.

``We have already moved from being the sixth biggest to the fifth-largest player in the telecom business. Our objective is to build on that position of strength and move aggressively with our growth plans,’’ Birla said.

Daler Mehndi sings in Rajinikanth's Kuselan

The magic and mayhem around superstar Rajinikanth’s ’Kuselan’ is getting bigger by the day. The audio album of the movie will hit the market on July 1 across the country. G. V. Prakash has reportedly come out with very good songs and Punjabi pop king Daler Mehndi will be singing in Tamil for the first time. Lending his inimitable voice for the song ’Oyam Zaarare’ this is the first time the popular singer will be featured in a South Indian song.

Big names of the music industry such as Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan, Sujata, Chitra, Sadhna Sargam, Shreya Ghosal, Kailash Kher and Prasanna.V.V. have all sung for ’Kuselan’.

Superstar Rajinikanth speaking about his role in the film said, "The character Ashok Raj will be a turning point in my career. I have always been overwhelmed by the response I get from my audience. I have portrayed nearly 20 different characters for a song in this film and I am very excited about the movie."

While Daler Mahendi’s song ’Oyam Zarare’ is poised to be the next chartbuster, the audiences will groove to the foot tapping tunes of ’Perinba’. A major highlight of the song is that P. Vasu has got the who’s who of the Tamil Film industry to appear in the song.

The audio rights for ‘Kuselan’ have been bagged by Big Music, truly a big name in the music business.

Katherine tops 'Most Desirable Women' list

Katherine Heigl has been named the Most Desirable Woman in a poll by AskMen.com. The ‘ Grey’s Anatomy ’ star pipped the likes of Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson to land the top spot at AskMen.com’s annual list of Top 99 Most Desirable Women.

In casting their votes, readers were asked to look beyond sex appeal and beauty to choose women who have the characteristics they value in a potential companion, like intelligence, humor, charisma, and ambition.

Over 5 million votes were cast as the readers identified the females from the worlds of music, fashion, sports, and entertainment who they felt best represented their ideal woman.

The second spot went to supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio, while actress Kate Beckinsale stood third.

The Top 10 Most Desirable Women are:

1. Katherine Heigl

2. Alessandra Ambrosio

3. Kate Beckinsale

4. Eva Mendes

5. Jessica Alba

6. Scarlett Johansson

7. Jessica Biel

8. Rihanna

9. Marisa Miller

10. Adriana Lima

Are you ready for Freemales?

If you are single, child-free (not childless) and consider relationships (read romantic) a high-risk job, you have just earned a new adjective for yourself – Freemale. This species came into existence about a decade back and while most other species that should be saved – both flora and fauna – are finding their way to WWF’s Red List, Freemales are actually increasing in number. So while all you Freemales out there raise a toast, countries like Australia and England are reporting in various surveys how the number of single women in the age-group of 25-45 have actually doubled and may soon surpass the number of their married counterparts!

Hallelujah to that, but is the situation in India similar too? Well, Freemales may not have overtaken the married women, but the numbers have shown an appreciable increase. In fact, you can happily count any woman who takes to her designer heels the moment a relative/friend/acquaintance asks ‘when are you tying the knot?’ in this category.

“What I don’t understand is why your single status is counted as ‘hasn’t got a good enough catch till now’. Yes, I am waiting for Mr Right but I won’t settle for Mr Right Now. So if I have to go without marriage, so be it. I am not complaining, only the rest of the world is,” says Sarika Gupta, a 30-year-old bank manager, who hates the fact that her self worth is decided by the fact that she has not managed to get a ‘Mrs’ prefix to her name till now, “I have a house, a car and a healthy social life. But all that is negated the moment my marital status comes into play!”

There are others who say that they are happy to put themselves first, only nobody will buy it. “I am ok with my life the way it is. I have seen my friends going through bitter divorces or making adjustments to somehow keep their marriage going. I won’t say I am disillusioned with the institution but just that it doesn’t excite me enough to give up my freedom and way of life for it. And honestly, I am too set in my ways today and too busy with work to try to make a match. I have men in my life but they aren’t the ones I will pledge my troth to anytime soon,” says 34-year-old Meenu Menon, a media professional.

However, these Bridget Jones-meet-Sex And The City quartet don’t intend to be single for the rest of their lives. “If love and marriage happen, great, but no second choices for me,” says graphic designer Arpita Trivedi, “I have spent a lot of time abroad before I came to India. Trust me, Indian society is as accepting of your single status as a US or UK. At least here you have your family to act as a cushion when you take a fall. There living a single life is much more difficult. But singletons all across the world are used to being go-getters; a loser of a marital match has no chance in hell of succeeding. So why go for it? Also, rootless as I have been of late, do I want to get into such a relationship and not change cities if my work demands it? I am not so sure.”

However, this status is not half as much fun as it sounds. Ask the 40-year-old Carrie Bradshaw in SATC, who at 40 realises credit cards can buy you Manolo Blahniks and extra closet space for your designer togs, but not love. You may not want to marry for the next three years, but will you regret this decision in five? “It is not easy,” confesses 36-years-old Juhi Galihar, a self-employed entrepreneur, “At times I do miss having a family, a husband. But then, my married friends say they wish they had decided to focus on their careers instead of taking a break to take care of their kids. Well, you can’t have it all!”

Where will Bill Gates head now?

The announcement by one of the world’s richest men two years ago that he intended to switch from the corporate arena to the world of charity sounded like a cliche. Now, Bill Gates faces the challenge of making it real. "With success, I have been given great wealth," Gates said in June 2006. "And with great wealth comes great responsibility to give back to society, to see that those resources are put to work in the best possible way to help those in need."

That pledge will see Gates, 52, take a hands-on role as co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s richest charity, which thanks to the generosity of Gates and his close friend, fellow business tycoon Warren Buffet, currently has a war chest of $37.3 billion dedicated to improving health care and fighting poverty in the developing world.

The foundation is destined to become even richer with both its main benefactors pledging to donate almost their entire fortunes and to require the foundation to spend all its money within 50 years of their deaths.

Currently, the foundation is required by law to make grants of at least $1.5 billion annually, but the plan is to dramatically increase that figure, and plans are already in the works to double the foundation’s staff of 250 employees.

The foundation is split into three units.

The Global Health Programme currently donates some $800 million a year -- roughly equal to the annual budget of the UN’s World Health Organization. It plays a leading role in efforts to eradicate polio, fight AIDS and spread the use of vaccines and immunizations.

The Global Development Programme helps fight extreme poverty, with grants that support micro-finance loans, agricultural development in Africa and the spread of information technology.

Among the biggest projects of the United States Programme are scholarships for high-achieving minority college students, Internet access in libraries and numerous other educational initiatives.

While there would seem to be little to criticize about a guy who gives $30 billion to charity, the foundation does often come in for criticism.

A report in the Financial Times quotes scientists condemning the grant-making process as "opaque."

Others say the foundation shirks the responsibility of "saving lives now" through simple actions like boosting vaccines, in favour of early-stage science aimed at developing breakthrough drugs.

Some also criticise the foundation for not taking more concrete steps to improve the lives of the poor, for excluding white students in the US from its billion-dollar scholarship programmes and for working with abortion-rights groups to help combat the spread of AIDS.

There is also a concern that the Gates Foundation will dominate any issue it becomes involved in, deterring other donors who might otherwise have contributed.

Gates, of course, is no stranger to controversy and appears ready to put his intellect and celebrity to bat for the foundation’s causes.

"The new world is more controversial than the old world," he told Newsweek.

"We do family planning. We fund research on crops, and some people think that you shouldn’t take science to help the poor people. This whole thing about which operating system somebody uses is a pretty silly thing versus issues involving starvation or death."

Gates is determined to have a major impact on the world’s major problems and has been studying furiously to get familiar with the science behind the issues.

He also brings his clout, vision and business acumen to the table, which could be decisive in pushing forward remedies and cajoling governments who might have different agendas.

"This is good news for the world’s poor," said Anne Lynam Goddard, chief of staff of CARE, an Atlanta-based non-profit funded by the Gates Foundation.

She recalls how Bill and Melinda Gates went to speak to ex-prostitutes in Botswana to learn about the spread of AIDS.

"Where others might have shied away from working in that sector, they haven’t," Goddard said. "They come with no political agenda."

India says Reliance to pump natural gas by September

India’s Reliance Industries Ltd will start pumping 25 million standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) of natural gas from its D-6 field in the Krishna Godavari basin by September, the government said.This would help fertiliser plants switch to gas from naphtha and fuel oil, boost power generation, and increase supplies to households, the oil ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Output from the deep-sea field in the Bay of Bengal is expected to rise to 40 mmscmd by March 2009, it said.

The government said companies that discover gas in India under the New Exploration Licencing Policy must accord priority to urea plants, LPG plants, power plants and city gas distribution projects in that order.

"The sale would be on the basis of formula for determining the price as approved by the government," it said.

Twenty-two natural gas-based urea plants, which are using naphtha and fuel oil as natural gas was not available, would benefit from the decision, the statement said.

The government said 3 mmscmd of Reliance’s gas would be supplied to existing gas-based LPG plants, while 18 mmscmd would be supplied to power plants which were idle, underutilised or due to be commissioned this fiscal year.

India markets rattled by surprise rate rise

Indian shares fell to their lowest in more than a year and government bond yields soared to seven-year highs on Wednesday after a surprise rate rise by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday aimed at reining in inflation.Bank shares fell, with No. 2 lender ICICI Bank dropping as much as 4.3 percent to its lowest since Oct. 2006 on expectations loan demand would ease.

Lenders generally were expected to raise interest rates after the RBI lifted its key lending rate by an aggressive half a percentage point to a six-year high of 8.5 percent and increased reserve requirements for banks.

The RBI tightened policy after data late last week showed annual wholesale price inflation jumped in early June to a 13-year high of more than 11 percent. It was the second rate rise this month.

The finance ministry said the rate rise would moderate demand and inflation but should augur well for the overall economy, which expanded 9.0 percent in the last fiscal year.

Industrialists were less sanguine, with automotive suppliers, real estate and consumer products makers concerned about the impact of rising credit costs on investment and demand.

"The entire industry will feel the impact as the cost of cars will go up now, as well as manufacturing costs," Arvind Kapur, managing director of auto parts maker Rico Auto Industries Ltd, said.

BOND YIELDS TO RISE FURTHER?

The partially convertible rupee, which has been under selling pressure from capital outflows and a widening trade deficit in recent weeks, gained 0.3 percent to 42.8625 per dollar.

Traders said foreign investors were buying Indian bonds to lock-in the higher yield, which in turn boosted the rupee. Exporters bought the rupee in anticipation of further gains.

The rupee hit a 13-month low of 43.21 in late May, but traders say the central bank has been supporting it since to prevent costlier imports from stoking inflation.

The benchmark 10-year bond yield jumped to 8.86 percent in early trade, a level last tested in October 2001, from a close at 8.57 percent on Tuesday, before the rate move.

"We should see 9.10-9.20 percent on the 10-year yields in the near term," said Suresh Pai, chief dealer at Canara Bank.

The benchmark share index fell 2.6 percent to its lowest since May 2007. It stood down 0.5 percent at 0700 GMT.

Poor India makes millionaires at fastest pace

India, with the world’s largest population of poor people living on less than a dollar a day, also paradoxically created millionaires at the fastest pace in the world in 2007 even though the world grew such "high net worth individuals (HNWIs)" at the slowest pace in four years.

Growing them at a blistering pace of 22.7 per cent, India added another 23,000 more millionaires in 2007 to its 2006 tally of 100,000 millionaires measured in dollars, according to an annual Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini report that weighs such financial information for its wealth and asset management purposes.

In contrast, developmental agencies put the number of subsistence level Indians living on less than a dollar a day at 350 million and those living on less than $ 2 a day at 700 million. In other words, for every millionaire, India has about 7000 impoverished people.

While India’s HNWI population growth of 22.7 per cent in 2007 exceeded China’s 20.3 per cent and its own 2006 gains of 20.5 in 2006, it was still way below its giant neighbour in absolute number of millionaires. China counted nearly 500,000 HNWIs.

Overall, the numbers of millionaires (not counting home values in their assets) in the world grew at 9.4 per cent and crossed the 10 million mark for the first time. The United States, despite its economic woes, led the pack of Richie Rich’s with more than three million millionaires, i.e., one in every three millionaires in the world lives in America.

The combined wealth of the globe’s millionaires grew to nearly $41 trillion last year, which means their average wealth was more than $4 million, the highest it’s ever been.

In measuring the millionaire mob in India, the Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini report looked at metrics for the year 2007, which means it did not take into account the precipitous stock market slide that has wiped out nearly a third of the market value in 2008.

"India led the world in HNWI population growth at 22.7 percent, driven by market capitalization growth of 118 percent and real GDP growth of 7.9 percent. Although India’s real GDP growth decelerated from 9.4 percent in 2006, current levels are considered more stable and sustainable," the report observed.

It also ranked India’s two largest exchanges – the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange – among the world’s top 12 exchanges by end of 2007, "with growth rates of 122% and 115% respectively....that were boosted by initial public offering markets and heightened international interest."

Explaining the faster rate of growth of millionaires in India than in China, the report suggests that as market capitalization and real GDP in China were spread over a larger population, there were smaller per capita gains in China. In 2006, India had a larger market capitalization growth than gross national income, significantly impacting HNWI population growth.

In addition, it said, China is currently experiencing explosive growth in its "mass affluent" population, which has yet to break the HNWI threshold of US$1million.

The observation also suggests China is having greater equitable growth than India.

Sania Mirza overcomes injury to down Castano

Sania Mirza battled through the pain barrier to reach the second round of Wimbledon with a scrappy 7-6 3-6 6-4 win over Colombia’s Catalina Castano on Tuesday.The Indian number one, making a comeback after undergoing wrist surgery in April, needed a medical time out at 4-1 down in the second set to treat a pectoral injury.

Although the rub down could not save her from losing the second set, Mirza stood firm in the decider to wrap up victory after two hours 16 minutes.

"It’s always good to get through matches like that, even when you’re not playing your best, you’re coming back from an injury," Mirza told reporters.

"Today I actually felt nervous again to go out. I didn’t really sleep well last night, to be honest. But I think that happens when you’re coming back from injury.

"You’re probably expecting things from yourself which you’re probably not able to do as well as you did before.

"But getting through matches like this is what’s going to help you get better, and I think it was very good for me to get through that."

While Mirza lapped up the applause from the vocal Indian fans packed into court 11, Castano was left to reflect on yet another fleeting visit to the All England Club.

In six appearances at the grasscourt grand slam, she has lost in the first round every time.

Mirza, seeded 32nd, will next face Spaniard Maria Martinez Sanchez as she attempts to reach the third round here for the first time.

The 21-year-old, however, admitted her wrist still did not feel 100 percent.

"Medically, it’s fine now," said Mirza, who could face defending champion Venus Williams in the third round.

"But I still have pain when I hit a late forehand because that’s something that even the doctors have said stays.

"Sometimes it goes away in three months, sometimes it takes eight months. So that’s something that you kind of have to play through. It’s a new wrist so it takes time getting used to taking 100 mile an hour balls for over two hours.

"But I’m feeling like I can compete again and what the hell, I’m winning a match."

Loans to get costlier as RBI ups rates

Get ready for another round of interest rate increases from housing loans to car loans, from consumer loans to corporates borrowing for their business. Late on Tuesday, RBI raised two key policy rates — repo rate and cash reserve ratio (CRR) — by 50 basis points (100 basis points = 1%).

Aimed at reining in an inflation rate that is now at a 13-year high of 11.05%, RBI raised the repo rate to 8.5% from 8% with immediate effect. It also decided to increase CRR from 8.25% to 8.75% in two stages. From July 5, CRR will be set at 8.50%, and from July 19, at 8.75%.

This is the second time in less than two weeks that RBI has raised the repo rate to contain inflation. It’s the rate at which banks borrow from RBI. A rise in repo rate will make it more expensive for banks to get money from RBI, which is likely to force them to charge customers a higher interest rate. On June 11, RBI had raised repo rate by 25 basis points. Last month, RBI had raised CRR by 50 basis points.

RBI’s rate hike decisions are expected to force banks to raise interest rates as well as deposit rates. Higher interest rates will affect those who wish to borrow to buy a house, a car, or consumer durables like fridge and television; it will also hurt those who have taken home loans on a floating rate basis. Higher rates also mean corporates now have to pay more as interest costs for their borrowings. "The question is not if rates will go up, but by how much," said a senior official with a domestic financial house.

Anil Ambani firm signs up Bachchans in Rs 1,500cr deal

Reliance Big Entertainment (RBE) seems to be getting bigger by the day. Days after reports of the Anil Ambani firm planning to infuse about $600 million into Hollywood bigwig Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks comes the news of a mega deal with the Bachchans.

Sources said the deal could be worth Rs 1,000-1,500 crore and would include film production, television series, reality shows, internet and mobile content besides live shows. RBE will look into the managerial, marketing and distribution of the projects in the deal while the creative inputs would come from the Bachchans.

Some of the directors who have been signed up to direct films for the joint venture are Cheeni Kum director R Balakrishnan, Sujoy Ghosh, Rohan Sippy and Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi. A source from Reliance Adlabs said that more directors would soon be signed up for the joint venture.

Confirming the JV, a spokesperson for RGE said, "We are proud of the association with the Bachchan family. We are confident that the creative genius of the Bachchans and the business acumen of Reliance will create magic and take entertainment to a different level. The joint venture and our strategy to tie up with Indian and international creative talent will help the company build a new-age global entertainment conglomerate."

Amitabh Bachchan’s company AB Corp will facilitate the execution of the joint venture projects. Speaking to TOI , Bachchan Sr said, "We will provide the creative inputs and also share the profits. As of now, we plan to start with film projects and work in a way that will benefit us mutually. Also, they have given us the liberty to work outside and there is an unwritten understanding that we have the first right of refusal."Reliance Big Entertainment (RBE) seems to be getting bigger by the day. Days after reports of the Anil Ambani firm planning to infuse about $600 million into Hollywood bigwig Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks comes the news of a mega deal with the Bachchans.

Nuclear deal or early polls, India may learn soon

India’s government and its communist allies meet on Wednesday over a civilian nuclear deal with the United States, in talks that could decide if the controversial energy pact or the ruling coalition survives.The communists, who prop up the ruling coalition in parliament, say they will bring the government down if it pushes through the pact, a threat that last year saw Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s coalition delay a showdown over a deal.

The government’s non-communist coalition members, worried that inflation at a 13-year high could destroy their re-election chances in a snap poll, are pushing Singh to avoid a political confrontation and delay the deal.

But Singh is reluctant to publicly abandon a deal in which he has invested a lot of his personal reputation, giving rise to media speculation that he is now ready to sacrifice the Congress-led government with less than a year before polls.

"There is no doubt that the meeting is extremely crucial and we expect the Congress to formally announce its decision," said communist leader Nilotpal Basu.

Singh says the pact is vital to end India’s long exclusion from global civilian nuclear trade, and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee described it as the "most potent means" for achieving energy security for Asia’s third-largest economy.

The communists claim the deal, which gives India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and technology, would damage India’s independent foreign policy and security.

SNAP POLLS?

The Congress party has played down the political importance of the deal, saying it is one issue among many.

"The prime minister has categorically stated that nuclear deal is one important agenda, but the future of the government does not depend on the nuclear deal alone," Veerappa Moily, a senior Congress leader, said.

While time runs out, the deal still needs clearances from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Then the deal would have to go to the U.S. Congress for final approval. But it may already be getting too late as the United States gears up for presidential elections.

"The reality, of course, is that every day that goes by is one less day on the legislative calendar for us to be able to have congressional action take place," U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

"So it certainly gets harder every day that this is delayed."

Some analysts say the communists could allow the government to negotiate an India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA, and not let the deal go any further.

That would buy the government time and avoid early elections but leave the deal in limbo.

Snap polls are a possibility if Singh resigns, analysts say, but his party could also find a caretaker prime minister if it wanted to see out its term in office.

"At the moment, it seems unlikely that the government will risk their electoral prospects, especially keeping in mind the inflation," Basu said.

"There are differences on the deal even within the Congress, so they are unlikely to push ahead."