Rajat Gupta resigns as ISB chairman

Hyderabad: Rajat Gupta, the former McKinsey & Co chief accused of insider trading in the US, has resigned from chairmanship of Indian School of Business, a Hyderabad-based B-School, Monday.

Putting an end to the speculation that loomed large over the issue of his resignation, the ISB confirmed his resignation and is on the lookout for a new chairman for the executive committee of the board.

"Rajat Gupta has requested the ISB executive board to relieve him of his board responsibilities till his pending matter with the US SEC is resolved.

"This, and the appointment of the new chairman, will be tabled at the upcoming board meeting on April 2, 2011," an ISB spokesperson said.

Gupta, who is the co-founder of ISB, may not attend the upcoming board meeting scheduled for April 2, sources said.

A McKinsey veteran, Gupta has decided to take "leave of absence" from management of USD 1.4-billion PE fund New Silk Route, which he co-founded five years ago.

Earlier, Indian-American Rajat Gupta had resigned from three corporate boards, including American Airlines.

Gupta, a former board member of Goldman Sachs and Proctor & Gamble, has denied the charges level against him by the American regulator.

"We also note the statement of counsel for Rajat Gupta, which asserts that the allegations are totally baseless. The ISB community is confident that Rajat Gupta will be vindicated. He continues to be the Chairman of the ISB executive board," ISB had said in a statement earlier.

ISB is a premier business school in the country and has academic alliances with the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, among others.

Source: http://biz.zeenews.com/news/news_content.aspx?newscatid=3&newsid=22313

Railway Budget: 'Bengal bias' plays to Mamata's poll script

NEW DELHI: Delivering perhaps the longest-ever budget speech by a rail minister, Mamata Banerjee was speaking on the Kolkata Rail Vikas Corporation when the Bihar contingent erupted. 

When Banerjee claimed that the corporation "will kickstart Kolkata's return to its glory", MPs belonging to JD(U) and BJP from Bihar protested against the discrimination against their state. "Why don't you shout when I announce things for Hyderabad and Gujarat or Kerala. Why is it that you scream only when I mention Bengal," Banerjee retorted. 

The aggression failed to cut ice with the complainants, leading to disruptions and a short suspension of proceedings. The hold-up would not have displeased Banerjee one bit. 

In fact, it played to the script that she has in mind for the coming West Bengal elections: paint herself as the saviour of Bengal, someone who has unabashedly used her perch in Rail Bhawan to shower projects on the home state. 

The charges of partiality towards her home state only enhances her persona as the benefactor of Bengal. 

Parochialism, just like nepotism, has never been considered to be a vice in India. But when grafted to a larger cause; for instance, rescuing West Bengal from the morass of backwardness and unemployment, it becomes glamorous and, politically speaking, profitable. 

Banerjee, who used her maiden rail budget to add steel to her campaign to dislodge the Marxists, knows it very well. Which was why moments after protesting that she had wrongly been charged with parochialism, she responded to the same charge with a defiant "I will do it" declaration. That she has no qualms in demonstrating her bias for West Bengal is brought out by her plans for exhibition trains. 

Banerjee knows that she can get away with the brazenness not just because her support is crucial for UPA's survival but also because no one with a stake in Bengal politics can afford to come in her way. That she has reckoned right was evident when CPM's criticism skirted the bias for Bengal. Congress has also to play along for the same reason, although Banerjee kept in mind the party's interests in the poll-bound states of Kerala, Assam and Tamil Nadu, as well as the besieged stronghold of Andhra Pradesh. BJP did protest against what it called the Bengal-centric budget, but that is only because it has bigger stakes elsewhere. 

Source:-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/rail-budget-2011/Railway-Budget-Bengal-bias-plays-to-Mamatas-poll-script/articleshow/7578405.cms

Delhi, Hyderabad among top ranked airports of the world

New Delhi:  The airports of Delhi and Hyderabad have been ranked among the top airports of the world in the airport services quality (ASQ) by the global body, Airports Council International (ACI).

While Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi Airport retained the number one position for the second year in a row among 49 airports handling 5-15 million passengers per annum (mppa), Indira Gandhi International Airport came fourth in a group of 19 airports in the 25-40 mppa category.

Mumbai's CST International Airport, run by GVK-led consortium, ranked in the 15-25 mppa category, the ACI said.

While the Indian airports ranked among the top in different categories, the ACI declared Incheon in Seoul, Changi in Singapore, airports in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai Pudong as the overall top 'best airports worldwide'.

The rankings were done on the basis of a global ASQ survey by the ACI of 153 airports, including 6 Indian ones.

The survey, which gets a representative sample of flights, destinations and passenger groups served by the airport, is intended to get feedback from users on a range of service delivery parameters. ACI audits the process to ensure compliance and validates the results.

The awards will be formally presented in April at the ACI's Asia-Pacific Regional Conference to be held here.

This was announced by P S Nair, who has been promoted as CEO (Corporate Airport Sector) of the GMR Group which leads the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) consortium.

Till last month, he was the DIAL CEO.

In DIAL, Nair was replaced by I P Rao while the Hyderabad airport, also run by GMR-led joint venture, now has Vikram Jaisinghani as its CEO.

Nair said the Hyderabad airport has improved on its ASQ rating which now stands at 4.51 and retained the top slot in its category consecutively for the second year.

On the IGI airport, he said the ASQ ratings improved "immensely" after the plush new Terminal-3 became operational last year.

To questions, he said a few areas on which the Delhi airport was lacking included value for money, inadequate shopping facilities and the ease of reaching the airport. "We are looking to improve these areas," Nair said.

ACI Director General Angela Gittens said airports in the Asia Pacific "made clean sweep" in the category of 'best airports worldwide' as they did last year.

Source:-http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/delhi-hyderabad-among-top-ranked-airports-of-the-world-85940

Kiran Reddy avoids Jagan 'bait'

HYDERABAD: A day after his belligerent posturing against Jaganmohan Reddy, chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy found himself in a tight corner. Having realised that his bravado of challenging the Jagan camp MLAs to resign and get themselves re-elected had backfired on him as it would reduce his government into a minority, the CM tried to buy peace by merely saying that his government's immediate focus is Rachchabanda and nothing else.

Making a quick somersault, the CM said on Sunday, "raat gayi, baat gayi (the issue is over and there's nothing to discuss)."

Kiran had earlier launched a broadside in Delhi on Jagan campers by asking them to quit the party and asserting that his government was not surviving at the mercy of any leader (read Jagan).

The CM was ill at ease here on Sunday while interacting with media personnel on the Rachchabanda programme, which was aimed at bringing the administration to the doorstep of the comman man. Refusing to entertain questions on his vituperative attack on Jagan and other issues, Kiran said: "Let us not talk about anything else other than Rachchabanda programme."

The CM even brushed aside queries on former minister and his bete noire Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy who defiantly said that he would not allow Rachchabanda to be conducted in the CM's home turf of Chittoor district. " I am only appealing to all public representatives not to politicise the programme since it is aimed at bringing benefits to 1.25 crore people who are below the poverty line," the chief minister said. When asked whether he would stand by his challenge and what he said to the media in Delhi, he merely smiled and said, "raat gayi, baat gayi." While the import of his reply is anybody's guess as the CM is not in a position to dictate terms to any leader at this stage, minister for civil supplies D Sridhar Babu came to his rescue by saying that no motives should be attributed to the remark of the CM as it was made in a "different context."

Meanwhile, the CM listed out the various programmes that would be taken up during the Rachchabanda which would be launched from Srikakulam district on Monday and would continue till February 12. He said he would tour all districts including the 10 Telangana districts as part of the programme. He said the programme would cost the government Rs 2,500 crore and already Rs 1,200 crore has been released.

Source:-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kiran-Reddy-avoids-Jagan-bait/articleshow/7350573.cms