NAME OF THE GAME: Turner’s decision to create a hub for the troubled animation segment in India is seen as risky (Bloomberg)

Turner had so far gone it alone in India with its two kids’ channels. To grow, Turner realised an Indian partner for the Hindi entertainment space was necessary. Marcopoto is noncommittal on what took Turner so long to spread its wings, but he says now it would do so with gusto.

Turner’s decision to create a hub for animation development in India is significant, but animation has been a troubled segment in India. It is still nowhere near

the $1.5 billion that Nasscom predicted, and start-ups launched by UTV and Zee have closed down failing to make the grade. The triumph of hope over experience?

GLOBAL NEWS

(Bloomberg)

STOCKMARKETS
Creative Adventure

RAJESH GAJRA

A recent advertisement in news-papers by Sharekhan — one of the largest brokerage firms in India — has raised questions of misconduct. The ad compares the stockmarket to a warehouse sale, with pictures of shoes, cars and shirts with tags attached reading ‘65 per cent off’. “The stocks of some of India’s best managed firms are currently selling at a discount to their fair market value,” it says. It also offers readers a report on “8 stocks to buy in this market”.

Creative, but against the rules? The stock exchanges’ advertising code says that a broker’s ad should not contain recommendations on a particular stock. A Sharekhan official told BW that it had got the two exchanges’ approval before releasing the ad.

An NSE official confirmed to BW that this particular ad had come to it for approval in mid-March and that it cleared the ad on the understanding that the eight stocks will be revealed to callers only if they become Sharekhan’s clients first.

(AP)

ENVIRONMENT
Saving The Turtles

(Bloomberg)

OLYMPICS
Carbon Games

MANASHWI

(AP)

AVIATION
Larger Than Life

PIERRE MARIO FITTER

(Bloomberg)

The two airlines cite rising oil prices as the prime reason for the merger. Both firms emerged from bankruptcy last year.

Analysts predict that the Delta-Northwest deal could trigger similar mergers between other airlines. Continental Airlines and United Airlines are rumoured to be in such talks. Four smaller US airlines — Frontier, Skybus, Aloha and ATA — which recently entered bankruptcy protection, may also be tempted to consolidate. If these mergers take place, global airfares could rise once the combined entities gain a stranglehold over routes.

STOCKMARKETS
Fair Pay

FIIs want to get the Sebi order on cash market trade margins rescinded

RAJESH GAJRA

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are applying pressure on Sebi to rescind its 19 March circular, which makes it compulsory for them to pay margins on cash market trades from 21 April.

In a meeting with FII representatives and custodians, Sebi Chairman C.B. Bhave said there would be no going back on the imposition of margins, but he was open to allowing them to use their funds’ shares as margins instead of cash.

FIIs claim they do not pay margins in other markets. But Sebi’s stand is that the cash market margining on Indian exchanges will operate the same way as in other markets —

exchanges collect margins on net open positions of brokers regardless of whether the brokers are doing institutional trades.
Settlement risks — which margins are meant to address — are investor-type neutral. So, if retail and non-institutional investors can pay up, so can FIIs.

FARMER SUICIDES
The Agony Continues

Despite loan waivers, farmer suicides continue unabated

BW Bureau

(Reuters)

More than 280 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha district since January. The government says that more than 100,000 have killed themselves between 1997 and 2005 .

In Vidarbha, the main cause of suicide is indebtedness to moneylenders, who often charge interest rates of up to 40 per cent on loans.

Though the government has announced a Rs 3,750-crore aid package for indebted farmers, and a Rs 60,000-crore write-off of small farmer loans held by public sector banks, these do not offer any relief to farmers who have taken loans from traditional moneylenders. In fact, 116 farmers in Vidarbha have committed suicide since New Delhi announced its loan waiver.

Both, the state governments and the Centre have also shied away from using existing usury laws to go after the moneylenders, who often hold powerful positions in political parties.

Given the global rise in food prices, which is enriching farmers in countries such as Australia, Brazil and the US, various farmer organisations, such as the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, are pressing the government to raise the domestic support prices on crops. But New Delhi is refusing to budge.

ENVIRONMENT
Emission Standards

China has surpassed the US as the world’s largest carbon emitter

PIERRE MARIO FITTER

(Bloomberg)

However, China maintains that total emissions is the wrong statistic to measure a country’s carbon footprint and advocate emissions per person instead. In which case, tiny countries such as Luxembourg, with the highest standards of living and therefore high per capita carbon emissions, would be most responsible for climate change! China emits 6.2 billion tonnes of carbon each year.

India’s argument is similar to that of China. With 1.4 billion tonnes of carbon emitted per year, the country is the world’s fourth worst polluter, and its carbon footprint is continuously growing.

Since India projects itself as an Asian powerhouse and seeks a UN Security Council seat, its duplicitous posturing over climate change may have to end soon.

TECHNO BYTES

Testing times The Boeing Company is partnering with Computational Research Laboratory (CRL), a subsidiary of the Tata Group, to test and validate Eka System, the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world and the fastest in Asia. Boeing has shared information with CRL on the processes needed to conduct numerical simulations on high lift aerodynamics.

(Businessworld issue 22-28 April 2008)