12th weekly news

2. NEW DEAL FROM NEW DELHI
Obama:We want access to your markets
 MUMBAI on Sunday saw a glimpse of the ‘wow factor’ that helped Barack
Obama become President in 2008 as he mingled and spoke to a young
audience at St Xavier’s College.
 Addressing an audience of 300 students at one of Mumbai’s best-known
colleges, President Obama was candid in acknowledging that the world has
changed and so has the US
 We have to negotiate this change in relationships... in the ’60s and the ’70s,
America could be open even if the economies of our trade partners were not
open

3. Was she? Wasn’t she? Nooyi keeps mystery alive on
Tata top job offer
 INDRA Nooyi coyly suggested that she has not been made a job offer as
Ratan Tata’s successor while simultaneously seeking to preserve an aura of
mystery around talk linking her to the top job at one of India’s most
respected conglomerates.
 If Ratan had asked me, it would have been difficult to trade a great job for
another great job,” the chairman and chief executive of PepsiCo told ET in
an interview on Monday, implying that no offer had been made and
prompting the question: “You mean to say Ratan Tata never offered you a
job.
 Pressed thus, she responded that she “will never ever answer that question
either in the positive or in the negative”, and in the process raised more
questions than answers.

4. ONGC blocks $500m payments to Cairn
Alleges Partner Inflated Expenses In Rajasthan Block
 CAIRN Energy, struggling to get approval for its $9.6-billion deal to sell
its Indian unit to Vedanta Resources, is getting mired in more problems as
its day-to-day operations and expansion plans are suffering in the wake of
simmering tensions with the oil ministry and stateowned partner Oil and
Natural Gas Corp (ONGC).
 ONGC, which is the licensee and a 30% owner in the oil-rich Rajasthan
block operated by Cairn, has held back $500 million to Cairn India alleging
that the expenditure had been inflated, a director in the company, who did
not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, said.
 Cairn spent money over and above the approved budget. ONGC is a PSU, it
is public money. We can’t spend it without approvals

5. CAG REPORT OUT: TELECOM MINISTER IN THE DOCK
CAG pegs revenue loss due to Raja at 1.8 L cr
After Chavan’s sacking, Congress will look to retain moral high ground by ousting
Raja in the much bigger spectrum scam
 THE country’s chief auditor has formally indicted communications minister
A Raja for causing a loss of up to 177,000 crore to the government by
selling airwaves, a scarce national resource, at a fraction of their original
value, disregarding the advice of several government departments, a
development that provides fresh ammunition to Opposition parties who
have been baying for his blood since 2008.
 The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in its report
submitted to the government on Wednesday after an 18-month probe, added
that the telecom minister had caused losses between 90,000 crore and
140,000 crore by awarding scarce airwaves to new entrants in 2008 using a
faulty and outdated policy.

6. CALL FOR TROUBLE: MURKIER DETAILS SET TO
EMERGE
 THE Enforcement Directorate, or ED, is investigating foreign entities that
bought stake in new telecom companies that were given permits in 2008, to
determine if the money received from these stake sales can be classified as
criminal proceeds.
 The agency, which investigates violation of India’s foreign exchange laws,
has also written to countries from where money was received by the Indian
firms for details on the investors and source of funds
 Prima facie, it appears that money was routed through several tax havens
and we have written to these countries for details,” said an ED official who
did not wish to be identified. “If the procedure for allotment of licences is
found to be faulty or inappropriate, then the money received by these
companies could be treated as criminal proceeds,” the official added.

7. Strapped MFIs seek 1,000 cr
Sector Regulator Knocks At Banks’ Doors To Seek Emergency
Funds
 CASH-STRAPPED microfinance firms have sought emergency funds of
1,000 crore from banks in a sign that the beleaguered industry’s options of
tiding over an acute liquidity crisis caused by the Andhra Pradesh
government’s move to regulate the industry are fast running out.
 The Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), a self-regulatory body of
a clutch of 44 NBFC MFIs, has asked for 1,000 crore in the form of
business continuity facility, an euphemism for emergency money, to ensure
survival.
 In an email to fellow MFIN members, Vijay Mahajan, the president of the
NBFC-MFI association, said the loan has been sought from SIDBI, SBI,
ICICI and other major banks.