DLF to replace Dr Reddy’s on Sensex

Real estate developer DLF Ltd’s stock would replace Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd’s stock in the benchmark index, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) said in a statement in Mumbai on Monday.

The replacement will be effective from Nov 19 in the BSE Sensex, the bourse said.

This move is expected to be positive for DLF as funds which track the index will now take positions in the stock, said a leading stockbroker in Mumbai.

DLF Ltd had entered the capital markets this July with an initial public offering (IPO) of 175 million equity shares through a 100 per cent book building process.

Incorporated in 1946, the DLF group is a leading real estate developer based in New Delhi. The group has over 220 million sq ft of existing development and 574 million sq ft of planned projects. In September 2006 DLF was the only real estate firm among the 60 businesses named Superbrands of India under the real estate category.

source:->http://www.hindustantimes.com

NRIs form group to make Kerala an IT hub

The Kerala Information Technology Alliance (KITA) has been launched here to make Kerala a premier global technology hub.

Ommen Chandy, a former chief minister of Kerala, inaugurated KITA at the Kerala Centre in the presence of over 150 IT professionals and community leaders.

Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said in a message: “I hope KITA will provide a platform for IT professionals of Kerala origin to share best practices, ideas and thereby influence and accelerate the growth of Kerala in key industries.”

A voluntary body, KITA hopes to provide the network and connections for Malayalees and IT professionals worldwide to tap their collective intelligence and to innovate.

NRIs celebrate India’s successes and live it up

The Indian diaspora has been celebrating a string of Indian successes in the past couple of weeks. Topping them all is the Twenty20 World Cup Cricket win that left the entire country delirious with delight on Sep 24. Many a non-resident Indian shed to be in India to relish the historic moment.From London, author and journalist Shamlal Puri dashed off an e-mail, “I am jealous of you enjoying the celebrations of the Dhoni-led Indian team bringing the Twenty20 World Cup for the first time in 24 years!” From Melbourne, chartered accountant Shan Gupta wrote, “Chak De! India! We did it! We had lots of bhangra here to celebrate but the real action is in India.” From New York, businessman Manny Khanna phoned, “We wish we were in Delhi to celebrate with all Indians as most Americans do not know much about cricket and so we cannot share our happiness with them.”

Of course, they all saw it on their TV screens at ungodly hours and jumped with joy. The real action was when the team came to Mumbai and brought the city that never sleeps to a standstill during a working day as thousands upon thousands lined the streets to hail the heroes. The TV channels just had one story for days – the Twenty20 victory. The newspapers outdid themselves as Hindustan Times devoted its front page to a single full colour photo of the victory shot. Not to be outdone, The Times of India had a big colour photo with a punchy headline – ‘Pakistunned!’ Every NRI wished he were Shah Rukh Khan to land in South Africa and congratulate the Indian team or watch the victory drive in an open top bus of the team from the Mumbai airport to the Wankhede Stadium.

A few hours after Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team stepped out of the Sahar Airport, the Sensex hit another landmark by crossing the magic 17,000 figure with six sixers or just six sessions. It needed just five days and six sessions to cover 1,000 points. You could term it as six sixers just like Yuvraj Singh’s! The victory of Dhoni’s devils spilled over to the Sensex. More celebrations!

The rupee went on strengthening against the dollar by being quoted under 40 to the greenback. The exporters went into a tizzy but the importers and the outbound foreign travellers were happy. All this came a day before the grand finale of the Ganpati festival in Mumbai. Ganesha certainly removed all obstacles to the cricket victory and the rise of the Sensex this year.

Perhaps it all started with the release of the film, “Chak De! India” about the Indian women’s hockey team first forging into a fighting machine under stern coaching by Shah Rukh and then winning the World Cup against all odds. The story was translated from reel to real when the Indian Men’s hockey team won the Asia Cup after trouncing South Korea 7-2 in Chennai soon after. The film motivated the team to play all out even if Shah Rukh may not take the credit for it. The football team lifted the Nehru Cup earlier on with a stunning victory over Syria in one of the greatest achievements for Indian football. Now India’s Viswanathan Anand has been crowned the world chess champion in Mexico City. The celebrations go on…

It seems this is the time for Indians to party as the festive season sets in after the long hot summer and humid monsoons. Indians are laughing with TV stand-up comedy shows that have become very popular and created a whole new genre of comedians without comedy film roles. Indians are glued to the TV sets every Friday and Saturday nights to watch young crooners on reality music shows such as Zee’s “Sa Re Ga Ma” that attract NRIs and other contestants from the US, Dubai and Pakistan. Indians are also addicted to ballroom dancing as more and more enrol for dancing lessons for salsa and hip hop and avidly watch TV dance shows that display their skills and artistry.

For NRIs in London and New York, it has been a grand parade of India. A Taj Mahal replica floated down the Thames to mark the India celebrations. New York had a Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, business conferences and song and dance shows as the city was plastered with Indian posters. Yes, it’s party time for India!

Gulf NRI grooms And HIV scanner

Parents of marriageable girls looking for alliances with NRIs settled in the Gulf are increasingly asking the prospective bridegrooms to undergo HIV(AIDS) tests. Societal pressures from parents and NGOs in India are driving the motion, the Gulf News reported.

“There is no point in placing the blame on anybody over this. One thing that we all are aware of is that HIV(AIDS) has reached epidemic proportions. I do not see any harm if required to undergo a test,” said A NRI who works in a Dubai-based public relations agency.

The Smell of My country

Bollywood eyes NRIs for instant success

Karan Johar started the NRI culture with Kal Ho Na Ho, Mira Nair perfected it with The Namesake. And as the trend goes American-desi film factory is working overtime it seems.

Latest in the genre is Anubhav Pal-Manish Acharya’s Loins of Punjab Presents.

Bollywood’s own obsession with sarson-de-Khet from Punjab is not for nothing, it directly translates into NRI-dollars.

Vipul Shah’s Namastey London and Anil Sharma’s Dharmendra-Sunny-Bobby starrer Apne had only one competitor Himmesh Reshammiya’s Aap Ka Suroor.

So do we have to guess the secret of the director’s success?

“The NRI market just loves Punjab,” said Vipul Shah, Filmmaker.

And why just Punjab there are many American-desi soul longing for Kolkata ready to shed dollars.

Mira Nair, Director

So, if you’re wondering what is with Bollywood directors showering love over vilayati cousins stop wondering and get real it’s their dollars that they are after.

Source:->http://www.ndtvmovies.com/

Kerala keen to set up university for NRIs

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala is ready to set up a university for non-resident Indians (NRIs), Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Tuesday informed the Kerala assembly. “We are keen to have it in our state and I assure you that we will provide all necessary infrastructure, and if needed we will give it for free,” said Achuthanandan in response to Congress legislator M Murali who raised the issue. Murali urged the house that Kerala should take the lead in setting up an NRI university since the largest number of expatriates was from Kerala. Incidentally, this is the first time Kerala has come forward to set up a university for non-resident Indians. Other southern states have already pitched in for this. The proposed university would be a deemed university with 50 per cent of the seats to be reserved for children of NRIs and the remaining seats for Indian residents. According to the guidelines, the institute should be run by a trust formed in India and the state government should allot it the required land. A reputed educational institute functioning abroad would handle the overall management. The Union Cabinet recently cleared the proposal under the University Grants Commission Act, and decided the university would be located in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The university would be a boon for Indians living abroad. Students from nearly 130 countries, particularly in the developing world, where educational facilities are either not available or are limited, look up to India for their higher educational needs.

Source:-> http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/

Policy for overseas Indian workers soon

The government is working on a policy framework for safeguarding the interests of overseas Indian workers, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said on Monday.

“It is… imperative that we develop a policy framework and an institutional arrangement that will best serve the overseas Indian workers over the medium to long term,” the minister said while inaugurating the second annual meeting of the heads of Indian missions in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Malaysia, Jordan, Yemen and Libya.

The two-day meet, being held by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), will discuss several policy measures for safeguarding interests of Indian workers abroad.

Stating that overseas Indian workers faced difficult working and living conditions, Ravi said: “The effort of my ministry has been focussed on achieving a minimum level of policy coherence and in defining minimum standards of living and working conditions that must be applied across all countries that have a significant overseas Indian workers population.”

There are around five million Indians in the six GCC countries of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. Many of them are working as contract labourers in the booming construction industry there.

In Malaysia, people of Indian origin constitute around eight percent of the country’s population of around 24 million. Many of them had migrated from India to work in the rubber plantations in the Southeast Asian nation.

Jordan, Yemen and Libya too have large numbers of Indian workers.

The minister stressed that the policy framework must include some non-negotiable terms of work contract.

“Such a policy framework must include certain non-negotiable terms of the work contract, an effective outreach programme for grievance redressal and a strong legislative framework to deal with intermediaries involved in the exploitation of the workers,” he said.

Apart from this, the two-day conference will also discuss special measures for protection of women emigrants in those countries, an MOIA official said.

Last year, a similar conference of envoys was organised by the MOIA at Doha in Qatar.

Source:->http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Every one’s dream a home…

Dubai 9 eyes real estate sector in three countries

DUBAI-BASED property developer Dubai 9 is assessing investment opportunities in the real estate sector in China, India and Malaysia, managing director Hayan Merchant said.

“We are still in the early stages of seeing what we can offer these markets, including the Iskandar Development Region (IDR).

Whatever we do has to fit into our business model of developing residential, commercial and real estate for tourism activities,” he said yesterday.

Several Middle Eastern groups have made commitments to develop real estate at IDR.

Property prices are expected to rise further in Asian cities and developers that are able to capture new lifestyle trends stand to win in markets away from their home turf.

Hong Kong’s Shui On Group chairman and chief executive Vincent H.S. Lo said developers needed ideas that catered to the needs of the younger generation.

DLF Ltd chairman Kushal Pal Singh said there was a huge gap in demand and supply in India’s office and residential units.

He cautioned that while there was huge scope for foreign companies to invest in India, there was a need to select the right partner.

Merchant said the boom in construction activities and real estate in Dubai was sustainable although a bubble was predicted a few years ago.

“The bubble will not burst but minor corrections can be expected in the property sector,” he added.

Hong Leong Group executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng said he would continue to invest in Singapore on expectation of further upside in the property market.

“Singapore is becoming a global city with many people buying high-end condominiums,” he said.

Macau continues to face challenges from emerging casinos but Melco International Development Ltd chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho said the group had a strategy in place to ensure Macau remained the region’s gaming hub.

Source:->http://biz.thestar.com.my