KV Kamath appointed as chief of BRICS bank

KV Kamath, Chairman of the ICICI bank has been appointed as the head of the New Development Bank of the group of BRICS countries. Earlier in April, Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley had informed fellow members of the five-nation BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bloc that India was in the final stages of nominating candidate for the president’s post of the $100-billion New Development Bank (NDB) to be headquartered in Shanghai. India will preside over the operations of the bank for the first six years, followed by five-year terms for Brazil and then Russia. Kamath was instrumental in transforming ICICI Bank into the conglomerate that it is today. Under Kamath, ICICI Bank undertook a series of acquisitions of non-banking finance companies between 1996-98, that ultimately led to the stupendous growth of ICICI Bank. Kamath serves as an Independent Director on the boards of global oil giant, Schlumberger, Lupin and was former chairman of Infosys. The BRICS Bank, which will be called the New Development Bank, will be headquartered in Shanghai, while India has got the right to nominate the first president. Kamath began his career in 1971 at ICICI. In 1988, he moved to Asian Development Bank and spent several years in Southeast Asia before returning to ICICI as its Managing Director and CEO in 1996. He retired as the Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Bank in April 2009, and took up his current position as non-executive Chairman. Earlier, Former FM, Yashwant Sinha and Former Minister of Disinvestment, Arun Shourie were doing the rounds for this post.

Xiaomi Launches Mi 4i Smartphone In India

Xiaomi, at its first global launch event in India has come up with its Mi 4i smartphone, putting aside all speculations about ‘I is coming’. Xiaomi founder and CEO, Lei Jun launched the Mi Band fitness tracker and also announced it as a giveaway for the audience, in his first appearance on Indian soil. It features a 5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD display, with a pixel density of 441 ppi. The screen of the Xiaomi Mi 4i smartphone is fully laminated with OGS Corning Concore, and comes with a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The dual-SIM smartphone is powered by a second generation 64-bit Snapdragon 615 SoC. Xiaomi Mi 4i’s runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system, along with MiUi 6. MIUI 6 also supports six Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil.

Best ceo award goes to adityapur

Wow, HDFC Bank has been voted as the best managed company in India by investors and analysts in a poll conducted by FinanceAsia, a leading global financial magazine. The bank is followed by other leading companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Idea Cellular, Infosys and Reliance Industries. In the same survey, Aditya Puri, Managing Director, HDFC Bank has been voted as India’s best CEO, ahead of CEOs of TCS, Infosys and Idea Cellular. The bank has also ranked third in corporate governance and investor relations. In its 15th year of conducting the survey, FinanceAsia received responses from over 250 portfolio managers and analysts from around the world. The magazine quizzed investors about the best managed listed companies across Asia, in addition to the best senior executives and best policies around dividend payments. Our heartiest congratulations!

N Venkatram set to be Deloitte CE

N Venkatram, the audit and enterprise risk practice head at Deloitte Haskins and Sells, will supersede Udayan Sen as the new CEO of the auditing major, as the latter ends his eight-year term on March 31, 2015, according to sources. Venkatram emerged as the top candidate in a partner nomination process that was used to elect the new CEO. The change of guard comes at a time when Deloitte, along with other major auditing firms, is all set to face its toughest phase on account of audit rotation where it could see most of its auditing clients changing their auditors in next two years.

Sumit Mazumder takes over CII reins

Welcome aboard…Sumit Mazumder, Chairman & Managing Director, TIL Limited, has been elected as the President of CII for the year 2015-16. He succeeds Ajay Shriram as the new President. TIL is the manufacturer of India’s largest range of material handling equipment in technical collaboration with world leaders like Manitowoc Crane Group, USA, Astec Industries, USA and Mitsui Miike Machinery Co, Japan. Mazumder is also the Executive Chairman of TIPL (Tractors India Pvt. Ltd.). A graduate of St Xavier’s College, Calcutta, Mazumder obtained a Master’s in Business Administration from Sam Houston State University, Texas, USA. He also undertook the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA. The Company is a distributor for Caterpillar, USA, in India, Nepal and Bhutan for earthmoving, construction, mining equipment and power systems.

The strategic and organisational decisions are made by a Council of Past Presidents of CII, which charts its long term vision and adapts it to the emerging eco-system. In addition, CII has a number of dedicated national councils, committees and task-forces, headed by CEOs who frame policy suggestions and action agendas on specific sectors and issues. Regional Offices are headed by chairmen and deputy chairmen, while state and zonal offices have their own chairmen and vice chairmen.

Datar Dhamaka enters Oman

After tasting success in Dubai and Bahrain, the Al Adil Group, better known as Datar Dhamaka, has now made inroads into Oman where it launched its first outlet in Muscat. This outlet was inaugurated by Dhananjay Datar, founder chairman of Al Adil Trading & Supermarkets. Datar, popularly known as Masala King, From a single store and humble beginnings in Dubai, Datar has become the 14th most powerful and influential Indian in the Gulf, according to the Arabian Business ranking. He has been recognised by the Forbes Middle East magazine, which has ranked him 44th among the top 100 businessmen in the entire Arab world. Al Adil Trading offers a wide range of products covering pulses, atta, masalas, spices, sugar, ghee, pickles, basmati rice, other rice varieties, biscuits, namkheen and many other products at half price to their customers.

Not quite a golden moment for Aishwarya

Kalyan Jewellers withdrew its controversial advertisement featuring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, following backlash on social media and an open letter from activists. The actor, who is brand ambassador of the Jeweller, was shown reclining under a parasol held over her head by a dark-skinned boy, in an adverting published in newspapers on 17th April. Soon after the open letter was published, the publicist of Aishwarya Rai, issued a clarification. It says, `The final layout of the ad is entirely the prerogative of the creative team for a brand. However, shall forward your article (the open letter) as a viewpoint that can be taken into consideration by the creative team of professionals working on the brand visual communication. Thank you once again.’ The open letter to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was written by activists Farah Naqvi, Nisha Agrawal, Enakshi Ganguly, Bharti Ali, Madhu Mehra, Shantha Sinha, Harsh Mander, and Mridula Bajaj. It says `We wish to convey our dismay at the concept of this advertisement, and that you have, perhaps unthinkingly, associated with such a regressive portrayal of a child to sell a product. Further, the extremely fair colour of your skin (as projected in the advertisement) contrasted with the black skin of the slave-boy is obviously a deliberate `creative’ juxtaposition by the advertising agency, and insidiously racist.’ Replying to the open letter and clarification from Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s publicist, the Jeweller issued a statement through its Facebook page. `The creative was intended to present the royalty, timeless beauty and elegance. However, if we have inadvertently hurt the sentiments of any individual or organisation, we deeply regret the same. We have started the process of withdrawing this creative from our campaign, ‘it said.

Next Gen Wipro

Rishad Premji, elder son of Wipro promoter Azim Premji, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Rs.45,000 crore company effective May 1. Father, Azim Premji will be 70 this July 2015, and Rishad’s elevation to the board clearly indicates he will represent the ownership interest in India’s third-largest IT firm. Azim Premji and family own 73.39 per cent of the shares in the company. Rishad, 38, joined Wipro in 2007 and has since taken on a number of critical roles. In a letter to Wipro employees, Azim Premji said, “These past eight years have given Rishad an in-depth view of the organization and makes him well positioned to guide Wipro and carry the mantle of ownership in the years ahead.” Wipro CEO, T K Kurien said Rishad has been a “terrific contributor”. “He’s extremely hard-working and I have never seen him ever being not part of the team. In a way, while he represents ownership, I think he represents management more. It requires maturity to handle that and he has done that well over the years.” Rishad has said it is an absolute privilege and honour to be invited to the board of Wipro, a company built over the past 70 years on the bedrock of uncompromising integrity and the hard work of thousands of Wiproites. Rishad did BA in economics from Wesleyan University, US, and MBA from Harvard Business School. He worked with Bain & Co for two years and with GE Capital in the US for four years. Heartiest Congratulations!

Audi TT launched in India at Rs.60.34 lakh

Audi at the coast of Rs.60.34 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) launched the new 2015 TT in India recently. The new TT will go up against sportscars like the Porsche Boxster, BMW Z4 and Mercedes-Benz SLK. The new generation TT is powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged four cylinder engine that develops 230PS of power and 350Nm of torque. The TT employs a complex Quattro four wheel drive system that sends power via a six-speed dual clutch automatic gearbox to all four wheels. The percentage of torque to each wheel varies according to the drive mode and grip levels to provide almost go-kart like handling. The TT can do the 0-100kmph sprint in 5.3 seconds and boasts of a top speed of 250kmph. The TT isn’t the round bubbly sportscar it used to be in its first generation. This new generation TT is more sharp edged and sporty that ever before. It gets the trapezoidal family grille with sleek LED headlights on either side, with lines almost entirely carried forward from the Sport Quattro concept. Large and muscular wheel arches, the signature TT silhouette and those wheels at the cars extremities give the TT a very purposeful look. At the rear, the 2015 Audi TT gets a completely redesigned bumper and a set of LED taillight.

Chimelong International Ocean Resort, Zhuhai, China has now entered into Indian market by interacting with the potential agents in Mumbai. The exclusive event was initiated by the Akquasun Group in association with Outbound Konnections.

The Resort houses Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, Penguin Hotel, Circus Hotel, Hengqin Bay Hotel and Hengqin International Circus City. The resort is located within one hour by ferry from Hong Kong, half hour by car from Macau, centre of Pearl River Delta. Elaborating on the India market Paula Lau said, “Chimelong is keen to explore productive business ties with the key Indian outbound players to target the high-end leisure traffic from India. Their current marketing initiative in Mumbai was a step ahead in this direction. ” Accessibility with 144 Visa which is free of charge for immigration, 24 hours border crossing between Macau and Zhuhai. Adequate recreational areas like bars, pubs, cafes, nightclubs, KTVs, cinemas, theatres, teahouses are the USP of the resort. Chimelong International Ocean Resort has to its credit the biggest ocean amusement park in the World.