PEOPLE NEWS: January 2019

Thursday, January 31, 2019

2nd Test: Sri Lanka look to shrug off injuries, off-field dramas against Australia

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ISRO Unveils Human Space Flight Centre in Bengaluru

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Nokia Sees Fast Shift to 5G Ahead After Strong Fourth Quarter

Nokia forecast stronger-than-expected 2019 and 2020 results thanks to fast-rising investments in 5G networks, after beating fourth-quarter sales and profit estimates on Thursday.

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Nokia Sees Fast Shift to 5G Ahead After Strong Fourth Quarter

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Nintendo Switch Sales Total 32.27 Million Since Launch

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Instagram Stories Now Has 500 Million Active Daily Users; Facebook Plans New Products to Improve People's Lives

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How much money ex-CEO Chanda Kochhar will have to return to ICICI?

The move follows a report by former Supreme Court judge, B N Srikrishna, which found Kochhar guilty of violating the bank’s code of conduct in disbursing loans to Videocon group. Kochhar had gone on “leave” on June 18 last year pending completion of the enquiry.

from Times of India http://bit.ly/2CSJQSC

Live: Cong wins Ramgarh, BJP leads in Jind

Congress candidate Shafia Khan wins Rajasthan's Ramgarh bypoll by a margin over 12, 228 votes, while BJP candidate Krishan Middha is leading in Haryana's Jind. Stay with TOI for all the live updates:

from Times of India http://bit.ly/2Bb2sNG

Three taxes on income no one should have to pay

from Times of India http://bit.ly/2SejLqO

New Zealand demolish India for consolation win

India seemed shorn of their aura in the absence of talismanic skipper Virat Kohli as New Zealand pulled off a stunning eight-wicket win in the fourth cricket one-dayer to halt the visiting side's domination on Thursday.

from Times of India http://bit.ly/2S0Ob0s

600 Indian students held in US for illegal stay

The Department of Homeland Security said it set up a fake university as part of an undercover operation to identify recruiters and entities engaged in immigration fraud. Eight student recruiters were charged with participating in a conspiracy to help at least 600 foreign citizens stay in the US illegally, according to the indictments.

from Times of India http://bit.ly/2WsmMTP

Mario Kart Tour for Android and iOS Delayed to Summer 2019

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Domestic gold demand dips 1.4% in 2018, up 4% globally

Fewer wedding days, price volatility and transparency measures may have dented demand.

from Gold News - Economic Times http://bit.ly/2Ww6Kbt

Gold Rate Today: Gold, silver climb on high demand

Gold prices held near eight-month highs in the global market.

from Gold News - Economic Times http://bit.ly/2CSgKTk

Gold near 8 month highs on Fed rate pause, eyes 4th monthly gain

Spot gold was steady at $1,319.87 per ounce by 0042 GMT.

from Gold News - Economic Times http://bit.ly/2CUHQt1

Weak jewellery sales to peg gold below $1,300 in 2019 - GFMS

In 2018 gold fell for the first time in three years as rising stock markets and higher US interest rates offered better returns.

from Gold News - Economic Times http://bit.ly/2UuvZJw

Coca-Cola announces 5-year sponsorship partnership with ICC

Coca-Cola president T. Krishnakumar said: “We want to be relevant globally with our portfolio of brands. Our strategic partnership with ICC reinforces our association with global sporting events.”

from Sports-News-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2DKsdG5

Boult's fifer hands NZ consolation win over India in 4th ODI

With run-machine Kohli rested after the side claimed an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, India's much-vaunted batting was dismissed for its seventh lowest ODI total -- 92 in 30.5 overs here -- after Trent Boult (5/21) dished out a deadly opening spell.

from Sports-News-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2HILCeF

Boult, Grandhomme swings India out for 92

Boult was ably supported by Grandhomme (3/26) as the duo made perfect use of the new ball and swung the ball both ways to make life miserable for Indian batsmen after New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss elected to bowl.

from Sports-News-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2DJexvh

One of our worst batting performances, says Rohit Sharma

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4th ODI: New Zealand demolish India for consolation win

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'Premature to compare India with WI of the past'

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Rahul Dravid bats for alternate careers for young cricketers

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Don't consider IPL form for World Cup spots: Amarnath

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Boxers sparring without doctor at national camp

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Shuttlers' Olympic preparation hits a roadblock

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Rohit Sharma pockets another 200 in ODIs

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2nd Test: Australia stick with winning combination against Sri Lanka

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Chahal and Kuldeep have been brave: VVS Laxman

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Musheer Khan's father appeals review of ban

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Davis Cup: Left-right combo a dream, says Bhupathi

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Berrettini a great talent, watch out for him: Leander Paes

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Leaders Liverpool slip up in Leicester draw

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Barcelona demolish Sevilla in Copa comeback

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Chelsea collapse to 4-0 defeat at Bournemouth

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5th ODI: De Kock assault sinks Pakistan in decider

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Umesh Yadav: Big brother in Vidarbha Ranji line-up

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Confessed as police threatened to implicate my family: Sreesanth

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The success mantra behind India's improved fielding

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Tesla CFO Leaves as Automaker Promises Profits and Cheaper Cars

The departure of Deepak Ahuja as well as missing Wall Street profit targets for the end of 2018, sent Tesla shares down nearly 6 percent after hours.

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Nvidia Cuts Fourth-Quarter Revenue Estimate on Weak China Demand

Nvidia on Monday cut revenue estimates because of weak demand for its gaming chips in China and lower-than-expected data centre sales.

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Tesla Seen Forecasting First-Quarter Loss After Musk Warning

Tesla is expected to forecast a loss for the first quarter when it reports results on Wednesday, having changed their expectations for a profit after Musk's warning.

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Vodafone Launches Rs. 1,699 Recharge Plan, Starts Discontinuing Rs. 1,499 Option to Be In-Line With Airtel, Jio

Vodafone launched the Rs. 1,499 option earlier this month, but it has now been replaced with the Rs. 1,699 recharge plan.

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TRAI Asks DTH Firms to Honour Commitment on Long-Duration Packs, If Customer Wants

TRAI has asked DTH operators to honour pre-paid commitment on ongoing long-duration packs, if customer wishes to continue.

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Huawei's Founder Faces Fight for Company and Family

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei survived food shortages during China's Cultural Revolution, but now the reclusive billionaire faces an existential fight for his family and company.

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Madam, not NCLT please: SBI finally sees what fear can do

By Saloni Shukla and P R SanjaiWith 1.8 trillion rupees ($25 billion) in bad corporate debt to clean up, State Bank of India is having an easier time negotiating with founders keen to avoid the nation’s two-year-old bankruptcy law, according to Anshula Kant, a managing director overseeing stressed assets at the lender. That’s because a crackdown by policy makers has convinced business owners that they risk losing their companies once the courts become involved.“The first thing they say when they come to us is ‘Madam please don’t send us to NCLT,’" she said, referring to the National Company Law Tribunal, which oversees bankruptcy cases. If the founder is “genuine we don’t want him to lose the company.”Recent bankruptcy proceedings that wrested prominent companies from their owners were a wake up call for India’s business community, previously used to walking away from debts without major consequences. At the same time, the regulator has pressured banks to take defaulters to court, giving lenders just 180 days to recast loans once a payment is missed.The crackdown helped reduce the bad-debt ratio at India’s banks to 10.8 percent in September from 11.5 percent six month earlier, though it remains among the worst for a major economy. For SBI, it stands at a one-year low of 9.95 percent. 67767858 SBI is working with the founders of several mid-sized companies to restructure loans and escape bankruptcy proceedings, said Kant, who joined SBI in 1983 and was previously the lender’s chief financial officer. One-time settlements are a “preferred choice” if founders have funding, with the bank willing to take a haircut of as much as 40 percent, she said.The bankruptcy process itself is better suited for accounts where several lenders are involved, making it hard to get everyone to agree to a restructuring, according to Kant.Consensus building isn’t the only difficulty with the fledgling law. Legal challenges from founders, losing bidders and operational creditors have forced courts to extend the 270-day deadline for debt resolution that was enshrined in the law.SBI recently sought bids for $2.2 billion of loans to Essar Steel India Ltd. after the company’s founders challenged the mill’s sale. Essar was among the first 12 companies forced before the nation’s bankruptcy court by the regulator in 2017.Lost IncomeLenders to the so-called ‘dirty dozen’ lost out on 40 billion rupees in additional income due to delays in the resolution process beyond the time mandated by law, according to rating company ICRA. The number of cases of corporate debtors admitted before the courts that are yet to be resolved stood at 816 in September, it said.SBI is also working to increase the amount of money it sets aside for soured corporate loans. The lender plans to raise its provisioning to about 70 percent by March 2020 from about 57 percent currently, Kant said.“We want a cleaner balance sheet,” she said. “It will be our endeavor that all corporate non-performing loans will be provided up to 70 percent by end of the next fiscal.”

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2RpsNg1

Why ICICI must be made to answer on Chanda

by Andy MukherjeeIndia’s ICICI Bank Ltd. is seeking to claw back bonuses and stock options paid to departed Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar. That gives shareholders of the nation’s second-biggest private sector lender some justice. But the board should be made to hang its head in shame.Allegations of conflict of interest against the CEO first arose in October 2016. At the heart of the scandal was a 32.5 billion rupee ($456 million) loan to Videocon Group. Kochhar’s husband had beneficial business dealings with Videocon Managing Director Venugopal Dhoot, yet the CEO didn’t recuse herself from the credit committee that sanctioned the loan in 2012.For more than a year, the board of directors sat on a whistleblower’s complaint. Worse still, when the media started asking questions, Chairman Mahendra Kumar Sharma gave Kochhar a hasty vote of confidence in March last year. Finally, when it became clear to everyone except the board that her continuing at the bank was a problem, it ordered an inquiry by a retired judge. Even then, Kochhar agreed only to go on leave. Shortly afterwards, Sharma finished his term and was gone. 67765863 67761966 67758842 67762586 It’s only now that the inquiry has found Kochhar violated the bank’s code of conduct that ICICI has decided to treat her October resignation – tendered while she was on leave – as a termination. Kochhar says she is “utterly disappointed, hurt and shocked" by the decision. She’s right to be shocked. Which Indian board willingly reopens a book after making every effort to close it? Even now, the new directors would have liked to forget the whole thing and move on. That’s impossible, now that the government’s investigative agency has charged Kochhar, her husband and Videocon’s Dhoot with criminal conspiracy and cheating. The Central Bureau of Investigation’s first information report also names Kochhar’s predecessor and successor among people who could be investigated in the future.Suddenly it has become important for ICICI to draw a line between Kochhar and the bank; this time last year, she was the bank. The directors who helped her cultivate that image of invincibility abdicated their duty to uphold governance. Leave aside the Videocon loan, and the “illegal gratification and undue benefit” Indian sleuthsallege she received via her husband. Ask instead why the board was giving her a performance bonus that it now wants to take back. For piling up bad loans? ICICI directors shouldn’t get a free pass from regulators. Otherwise, they’ll just show up at other boards, perpetuating a culture of CEO worship that’s at odds with their role as stewards of public shareholders. Indian investors deserve better.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2TmgumE

A 45-year low drives home India's jobs pain

India's unemployment rate rose to a 45-year high during 2017-2018, the Business Standard claimed, quoting a government survey, in the latest setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi just months before a tightening election and a day before the Union Budget.The assessment by the National Sample Survey Office conducted between July 2017-June 2018, showed the unemployment rate stood at 6.1 percent, the highest since 1972-73.The survey has become a political issue after the acting chairman and another member of the body that reviewed the job data resigned saying there was delay in its release. The head of the government-funded National Statistical Commission PC Mohanan said on Wednesday that he and colleague J Meenakshi were unhappy at the non-publication of jobs data that had been due for release in December and alleged interference by other state agencies over backdated GDP data.The report claimed that joblessness stood at 7.8 percent in urban areas compared with 5.3 percent in the countryside.The data is significant because this was the first comprehensive assessment of India's employment situation conducted after Modi's decision in November 2016 to withdraw most of the country's banknotes from circulation overnight, the report said.India's economy has been expanding by 7 percent plus annually -- the fastest pace among major economies -- but the uneven growth has meant there are not enough jobs created for millions of young Indians entering the workforce each year. This has put pressure on Modi as he seeks to retain power in a general election due by May.Earlier this month, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, a leading independent think-tank, said the country lost as many as 11 million jobs last year.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2DMpfBb

How India's culture of ‘bending rules’ challenges FDA

By Ari Altstedter and Anna EdneyPerched on the edge of a sheer rocky outcropping, Mylan NV’s flagship pharmaceutical factory looms over a patchwork of farmers’ fields like one of the medieval hill forts that dot the landscape in this part of India.Mylan is the world’s second-largest manufacturer of generic drugs, and though it’s run from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, its operations three hours inland from Mumbai exemplify the central role India has come to play in the global generic-drug industry. About half of Mylan’s workforce is based in India. The company’s president rose through the ranks of its Indian unit. And that hulking, green, glass-and-concrete complex mounted on the hill is one of Mylan’s largest factories. One of the drugs made in that plant is destined for the U.S., where it’s the second-best-selling generic version of Lipitor, taken by millions of Americans to control cholesterol and lower their risk of heart attack. But a review of thousands of reports submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shows Mylan’s version of Lipitor is more likely to be associated with negative side effects than its rivals: 60 percent more than the top-selling generic version made by a Canadian company and quadruple that of the third-best-selling generic made by an India-based company, according to the reports from doctors, patients and pharmacists.The so-called adverse events listed in the documents, obtained through a public-information request, include diarrhea and muscle spasms. For some users, the drug didn’t work at all. And one report about an 82-year-old patient listed the adverse event as death.The FDA didn’t comment specifically on the reports but cautioned that they don’t all indicate a causal relationship to the drug. “Looking only at the number of AE reports for a particular drug does not give a complete picture of its risk profile, compared to other drugs,” said Sarah Peddicord, a spokeswoman for the FDA. A yearlong investigation by Bloomberg News into the generic-drug industry shows FDA inspections at factories from West Virginia to China have found reason to doubt the data meant to prove that drugs made there are safe and effective. The Mylan plant in India is just one of the places inspectors say they’ve uncovered such alleged problems. But the persistence of these doubts around the world hasn’t slowed the FDA’s push to bring a record number of new generics to pharmacy shelves in America, as it tries to deliver on President Donald Trump’s promise of lower drug prices. 67769957 India is the world’s largest exporter of generic drugs, making almost 40 percent of all new generics the FDA approved in 2018 through October. The FDA has found cause for alarm over the years at Indian factories across companies and around the country, from open toilet drains found at a sterile facility owned by Mumbai-based Wockhardt Ltd. to malfunctioning equipment at one of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories’ plants in south India. Since then, a Dr. Reddy’s spokesperson said, the company has strengthened “laboratory practices and procedures, quality control data security’’ and other critical areas. Wockhardt didn’t respond to a request for comment.While bad laboratory practices are usually at the root of the suspect data that inspectors are finding all over the world, in India there have also been high-profile cases of “overt and deliberate fraud,” bringing the manufacturing culture there under particular scrutiny, said Janet Woodcock, the head of the FDA’s center that reviews drugs. Woodcock didn’t identify specific companies.The agency increased inspections in India by 18 percent last year after two years of declines, underscoring the fact that India may pose the FDA’s biggest challenge as it struggles to ensure drugs are cheaper but also safe. “I don’t think everything’s fine, and I’m upset about it, but there’s not much you can do,” because India’s low production costs makes its pharma industry “enormously important” to the U.S., said Bruce Downey, former chairman of an industry lobbying group who now sits on the board of Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc., the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based generic drugmaker. “In New Jersey, there’s dozens of FDA inspectors. In India, there’s a dozen for the entire country.” In a statement about the adverse-event reports, Mylan lawyer Mitchell J. Langberg said that “any conclusions, inferences or extrapolations about the quality of products made by Mylan based on this data is unreasonable and unreliable.” Mylan cited a disclaimer on the FDA’s website saying the number of such reports associated with a drug should not be used to determine the likelihood of a side effect occurring, and said the quality-control issues the FDA found at its factory in India did not impact the quality of its drugs. The High Cost of Cheap PillsA year-long investigation by Bloomberg News into the generic-drug industry shows FDA inspections at factories from West Virginia to China have found reason to doubt the data meant to prove drugs are safe and effective. This is the third of four parts. The FDA uses the adverse-event-reports database to look for new safety concerns and monitor products after they’ve been approved. The reports have not been medically verified, according to the FDA.What Bloomberg found in the agency’s records highlights what’s at stake in the questions that persist around industry-supplied data used to confirm the safety of generic drugs: When a doctor prescribes one, how do patients know it will work the way it should? If the data submitted by the drug’s manufacturer can’t be trusted, they don’t know. Doubts about generic-drug companies’ data aren’t unique to India. But when you ask veterans of India’s pharmaceutical industry why the questions linger here, they use a singular term to explain it: jugaad. The Hindi word, translated as “creative improvisation” when it was held up in the Harvard Business Review in 2010 as an example for corporate America, has been elevated to something of a national ideal in India. It’s credited with the rise of the country’s two global industries, technology and drugmaking. In both, Indian companies with far fewer resources than foreign rivals came up with cheaper, more effective ways of doing things that ended up being a competitive advantage.But the word can have a darker connotation: Get it done at all costs.“It’s kind of bending the rules, breaking the rules, and finding shortcuts—and in some cases, outright misdemeanors,” said Jagdish Dore, who runs pharmaceutical-industry consultancy Sidvim LifeSciences in Mumbai. “And the pharma industry is not one where you can bypass rules and regulations.” People who closely follow the Indian business world trace jugaad’s emergence to the colonial era, when laws and regulations were often in service of British interests, rather than Indian ones, and so fair game to be skirted, bent or broken. After independence in 1947, the period of heavy handed government control and regulation of the economy known as the “License Raj” further cemented a flexible approach to the rules as a precondition for success in India.In some ways, the country emerged out of a kind of state-sanctioned jugaad. Frustrated by the high price of drugs made by foreign firms, the Indian government tweaked its laws in the 1970s so that instead of a drug itself being protected, a company could patent only the process for making it.That meant open season on any major brand-name drugmakers’ products, so long as the legions of highly trained scientists being pumped out of India's research institutes could find a different method for synthesizing them. By the time India opted back into the international patent system in 2005, the country had developed so much capacity for cheaply producing copycat drugs, it was poised to take over the global generics industry. Today, India’s thousands of drug companies not only supply the country’s poor with affordable medicine, but have become a key source of drugs for the rest of the developing world. They played a central role in bringing down the price of lifesaving antiretroviral drugs that have helped contain the AIDS epidemic. Mylan’s plant is a supplier of these, too. Globally, India accounts for 20 percent of generic-drug exports.But its drug industry also was responsible for one of the most dramatic examples of data manipulation in the history of the generics business. In 2013, New Delhi-based Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. pleaded guilty to the manufacture and distribution of adulterated drugs, and paid a $500 million penalty to the U.S. Justice Department, after widespread data manipulation was found at two of its factories.India became a focus for the FDA, and regulators have uncovered a steady stream of suspicious behavior at numerous companies, from computer files found deleted to employees caught on a company’s own security cameras shredding documents the night before an inspection, according to FDA inspection documents posted to the agency’s website. The FDA calls these data-integrity problems. The concerns got bad enough that Margaret Hamburg, who ran the agency under President Barack Obama, traveled to India herself in 2014 to get a handle on the problem. That year, the FDA stepped up oversight, resulting in additional sanctions in 2015, when Indian plants accounted for 60 percent of the 20 warning letters handed down from the FDA’s Office of Manufacturing Quality. The regulatory scrutiny has taken a toll on the companies. FDA warning letters bar new product launches from a facility, restraining revenue growth. Since 2015, an index of Indian pharma company stocks has declined 25 percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The broader market, India’s benchmark S&P BSE Sensex Index, has rallied almost as much the other way over the same period.That’s helped put pressure on the country’s pharma barons—a coterie of homegrown billionaires whose net worth is tied up to a large extent in their company's stock. In the last two years, the most important executives have gathered for annual forums at an upscale hotel in Mumbai to hold forth about the primacy of a “culture of quality” to an audience of enthusiastic middle managers and visiting FDA officials. D.G. Shah, a white-haired veteran of Pfizer’s India operations who now runs the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, an industry body representing the largest domestic companies, has organized the panels. Shah said the root of the problem in India’s generics industry is cultural, but insisted a lax attitude toward process and procedure is to blame. “That’s the lifestyle, that’s the way people live in this country,” he said in an interview in Mumbai. He takes as an example the perpetual traffic jam honking away outside his window, where motorists habitually violate the rules of the road, and high concrete barriers are in place to keep cars, motorcycles and scooters from seeking a shortcut by darting into oncoming traffic or up on the sidewalk.“Culture change is not something that can happen overnight,” said Shah, whose group is undertaking training programs with its member companies to help a new attitude trickle down to all employees. “Culture and behavior change requires continuous effort.”While the number of FDA inspections in India and China has fluctuated in recent years, India’s share of FDA warning letters from the agency's Office of Manufacturing Quality began to decline in 2016 as companies in China received more. Last year, out of 53 warning letters issued worldwide, 10 went to drug factories in India and 16 in China.Shah said such figures are evidence that Indian companies have made progress ensuring that a disregard for the rules doesn’t make it to the factory floor. In 2016, an FDA inspector visited Mylan’s flagship factory about an hour’s drive outside the ancient holy city of Nashik in western India, where it makes its version of Lipitor for the U.S. According to an agency warning letter, the inspector found that quality-control technicians there had disregarded about 72 percent of failing quality checks in a six-month period—for no good scientific reason. He couldn’t rule out the possibility that staff were retesting failing drugs until they passed.Interviews with nine current and former employees at the plant produced more innocuous explanations for what contributed to the problem. They said investigating why a drug fails testing is time-consuming, and whether due to time pressure, ignorance or just laziness, it was easier to say the tester spilled some of the sample or made some other mistake and then test again. If the batch passed the second test, it was assumed to be fine.The Mylan employees, who requested anonymity because they still work for the company or elsewhere in the pharmaceutical industry, said that members of the quality-control team at that plant faced constant pressure to get the drugs out the door as fast as possible. This made it harder to properly investigate why a batch failed.Other times, technicians could be diligent about investigating the reason for a failed test, but not as thorough about filling out the report to document their work, either because they didn't know how or had difficulty with English. Some of the employees Bloomberg spoke to said plant managers had been aware of the problem and were instituting training courses to correct it at the time of the 2016 inspection.Asked about the workers’ comments, Mylan spokeswoman Lauren Kashtan said all medications at the company’s facilities are made “under stringent processes, procedures and rigorous testing designed to ensure that they meet the highest standards for quality, safety and efficacy. Any explicit or implicit suggestion that Mylan employees circumvented data and quality systems that jeopardized the quality of the medications we manufacture—for time pressures or any other reason—is simply false.”When FDA inspectors visited Mylan’s plant again last year, they made note of four potential violations of manufacturing guidelines, but the issue around invalidated test results was not one of them. One of the potential violations was a lack of soap and hand-drying equipment in the bathroom.In the earlier statement from its lawyer, Mylan said last year’s inspection resulted in the lifting of the FDA warning letter against its plant issued after the 2016 audit. In the intervening time, the company spent “millions of dollars” on employee training and to have a third party audit and certify its investigation results, it said. Mylan said that it had not experienced serious quality-control issues with respect to the production of its generic version of Lipitor in India, and that it also manufactures that drug in the U.S.Another FDA inspection of the Nashik plant about a week ago “found no repeat observations from prior inspections,” Kashtan said, and the facility was in compliance. As for Mylan’s version of Lipitor being more likely to be associated with adverse events than other top-selling generic versions, the company said it’s more appropriate to compare its safety record with the original branded drug made by Pfizer Inc. Adjusted for the number of patients who use each version, Pfizer's is associated with adverse-event reports at a rate “thousands of times” more than Mylan’s, Mylan said.When asked about the greater number of adverse-event reports for Pfizer versus makers of generic Lipitor, an FDA spokeswoman said it was because patients often don’t know they’re on a generic and identify their medicine by the well-known brand name of the company that invented it, rather than the drug’s chemical name used by generic companies who copy it. That means versions made by generic makers are often misidentified in the database, she said.A spokesman for Pfizer, Thomas Biegi, said Lipitor, or atorvastatin calcium, “is the most-studied statin and has a well-established efficacy and safety profile. Since its approval in the U.S. more than 20 years ago, Lipitor has been prescribed to millions of patients and studied in more than 400 clinical trials.”To help Indian factories change their culture in the wake of the Ranbaxy scandal, FDA leadership originally planned to put more inspectors on the ground. This proved harder than expected. Instead, the number of India staff shrank from a high of 12, in 2013. to only four at one point in 2017. Eight FDA employees are stationed at the India outpost now, including two drug inspectors, the agency said.The original argument for having foreign offices was that staff would have a chance to learn the customs of the country and build key relationships with government officials to instill best practices, said the FDA’s Woodcock. Inspectors based in-country also don’t need a visa for each round of inspections, while those based in the U.S. do. Countries can use visas as a way to punish the U.S. for actions they don’t like, such as trade wars, and to protect their domestic businesses.“It’s very difficult to separate or segregate a particular industry or a particular factory from the society in which we live.”The problem is that the FDA can’t find people who want to live in India, Woodcock said. Difficulty hiring forced the agency to close its Mumbai office in 2016. Because of those challenges, the agency has largely ditched plans to build up offices in India and China and is instead relying on a U.S.-based cadre of inspectors who fly overseas for a few weeks at a time, she said. This cadre was supposed to number as high as 20 people, but 12 were serving in its ranks as of December. The agency expects that number to go up to 17, and says any of its 255 drug inspectors in the U.S. can fly to foreign plants as well if needed. Amid those staffing challenges, the number of so-called surveillance inspections the FDA has conducted in India, like the ones at Mylan’s plant, have fluctuated. The number fell 7 percent in fiscal 2016 and then a further 4 percent in fiscal 2017, to 174. But in fiscal 2018, it jumped 18 percent, to 206.About 700 Indian factories are licensed for exporting to the U.S. They sprawl across a country that could fit Texas four and a half times, where 22 major languages are spoken. Getting tens of thousands of workers, spread from tiny villages to sprawling megacities, to change their habits is a herculean task.Rishikesha Krishnan, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, related a story of one foreign regulator visiting a drug factory of a company he declined to name. The inspector’s first question when he arrived after negotiating India’s chaotic roads was, “Guys, how can you maintain quality in your plant if this is the way things are outside?’”“I think this is one of the challenges the pharmaceutical industry has always faced,” Krishnan said. “It’s very difficult to separate or segregate a particular industry or a particular factory from the society in which we live.”—With assistance from Ed Strong, Rahul Satija, and Naomi Kresge

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2UtRVEA

Varun Beverages set to buy Pepsi’s bottling distribution ops in South, West

New Delhi: Diversified group RJ Corp-owned Varun Beverages (VBL) is set to acquire PepsiCo’s company-owned bottling, sales and distribution operations in South and West India for its carbonated drinks business and the announcement is expected within this week itself, a top official directly aware of the developments said. This will give the BSE-listed VBL national franchise ownership of the New York-based PepsiCo’s India bottling operations. VBL is already the franchise partner for PepsiCo’s bottling operations in the North and East and accounts for over 51% of its India sales volume.“The details of the deal have been finalised; senior managers are going to key cities to meet employees and brief them about the change in franchising. A few regulatory approvals are pending and the announcement to employees about the franchising is expected very shortly,” this official said.ET had reported in its January 14 edition that PepsiCo and RJ Corp are in advanced talks for the same.The maker of soft drink brands Pepsi and Mountain Dew has been divesting its bottling operations globally to operate asset-light businesses across world markets. The transaction will involve largescale transfers of employees and assets.“Close to 200 employees across functions and levels have quit over the past 12-15 months, the company hasn’t been able to attract much top-tier talent and carbonated soft drinks as a category has lost resilience,” this official said.The size of the deal is expected to be anywhere between Rs 2,400 and Rs 2,700 crore which is more than RJ Corp had paid in 2014 for PepsiCo’s bottling operations in the North and East. The business is about 130 million cases of carbonated soft drinks plus water, the official quoted above said. PepsiCo will continue to own the brand name and sell concentrates to franchisees, while sales and distribution will be operated by the franchisees.The $1.6-billion RJ Corp, among PepsiCo’s top three bottlers globally, has been associated with the beverage and snack maker since close to three decades. Its businesses include franchisee operations for Yum Restaurants-owned Pizza Hut and KFC and Coca-Cola-owned coffee chain Costa Coffee — both are operated under RJ Corp’s other group company Devyani International (DIL). Besides, DIL runs its own Cream Bell brand of dairy products and grocery retail chain JMart.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2Gi5N0T

Taproot Dentsu beats Ogilvy India for Indian Premier League deal

Taproot Dentsu, the creative agency behind popular campaigns for Bharti Airtel (Airtel girl campaigns), WhatApp (Share joy, not rumours) and Uber, has won one of the most prestigious creative accounts for any advertising agency — the Indian Premier League (IPL).Taproot will be working on all the creatives of IPL 2019, expected to kick off on March 23.Star India did not respond to an ET query, while Agnello Dias, chief creative officer, Taproot Dentsu, refused to comment for this story.“Taproot has done some superb work in the past and their ideas for IPL were fantastic. We will roll out the campaign created by Taproot Dentsu very soon,” said a highly-placed source.This will be the first time that Ogilvy India will not be involved with the IPL. For the last 11 seasons, Ogilvy has been associated with the cricket-entertainment league and has been creating campaigns for the BCCI.While Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) and the BCCI used to run separate campaigns, when Star India won the media rights, BCCI and Star jointly ran the campaign last year. “Last year’s campaign by Ogilvy did not touch the right chord. Some of the IPL campaigns of the past have been very catchy and memorable. We wanted something new,” the source added.Incidentally, Star India had roped in former Airtel executive Rajiv Mathrani as chief marketing officer for Star Sports in September last year. Mathrani has worked closely with Taproot on the Airtel campaigns.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2GdPzG2

Nifty headed for 2nd straight F&O series loss; YES leads gainers

NEW DELHI: Benchmark indices Nifty and Nifty Bank are headed for a drop in January F&O Series. This might just turn out be a decline for the second series in a row.India VIX -- a barometer for market volatility -- is on course for a turnaround as it looks to break a losing streak for two derivative series.Two sectors -- auto and media -- have lost sharply, by more than 10 per cent each in the ongoing series. Only 3 have stood out amid the losses – IT, energy and pharma. Infra and metals also featured in the loser's category.Dish TV, DHFL, Ashok Leyland and Indiabulls Housing Finance were among worst performers in the ongoing F&O series, plunging 36 per cent, 32.6 per cent, 21.4 per cent and 20.4 per cent, respectively. Shares of Reliance Communications dropped 20.3 per cent. Two Nifty firms are among the top five gainers in the F&O space in the ongoing series. One Nifty stock also featured among top losers.Yes Bank topped the F&O pack, with 12 per cent change in January derivative series. Dish TV saw the maximum loss of 36 per cent.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2HQIQ70

Sanjiv Bhasin: Expect a 500-700 pt market rally in February

Midcaps and a large part of select PSUs can be huge outperformers but it is going to stock specific. There is scope 67766363 67768162 67757642 to be contrarian in a number of sectors, Sanjiv Bhasin, Executive VP-Markets & Corporate Affairs, IIFL Securities, tells ET Now.Edited excerpts: At the beginning of the year, the view was that US markets will remain under pressure, emerging markets will come back and the rally would be led by India. But now, everything has gone up and we are feeling left behind. Why is India underperforming the world with such good macros?Consensus generally tends to get proved wrong. Now, we were of the view that the Dow is due for a very strong rally and the dollar should weaken. Yesterday bond yields hit 2.68%, which tells you that Donald Trump has won over the Fed chairman and now there is dovishness which seems very good news for emerging markets. For India, there is this overhang of NBFCs and disclosures by DHFL, Zee. but being an Indian, we know this is part and parcel of all market moves. We are extremely positive. We think the results from select largecaps and midcaps have been extremely flattering and this could prove to be a lull before the storm. We will go up from 11000 to 11200 in February and I can reiterate that by 15th of April, you should be close to new highs. That aside, the midcaps and a large part of select PSUs can be huge outperformers and so it is going to more stock specific, but I do not rule out a 500-700 point rally in the month of February.A 500-point rally, did I hear you right? What could be the trigger, what will take us 2-3% higher on the Nifty?Two things; a) you will get over the budget where there could be some surprise packages in the form of tax exemption and b) the RBI turning extremely dovish and a rate cut coming. We know that we are in the realm of low inflation, low yields and the RBI trigger, liquidity and foreign flows on a strong rupee will all be the caveats for February being a very good month. Let us talk about some of the policy sensitives. You highlighted how the accommodative stance from RBI would help the policy sensitive or the rate sensitive sectors. Could there be a contrarian opportunity in real estate?Yes. Real estate assets have never been cheaper and stocks have actually been underperforming miserably. Once we get through these elections and see stability, it is a given that real estate prices as fixed assets should get a lion’s share of the money rather than gold. I am very bearish on gold. I would say that fixed assets will do well including real estate. Our top pick continues to be Godrej Properties followed by Sobha and maybe a Prestige Estate. These are three stocks where we can actually put a lot of money and be confident because the churning has separated men from the boys. Real estate can stand to gain by the middle of this year and later from there. The ICICI Bank numbers are good. The ADR shot up by about 8-9% overnight but the stock has also moved 40% in this fiscal itself. How much scope does it have to move forward from here? That is a good point. Smart money has been buying ICICI right from the time both the two agony aunts of Axis and ICICI left and if you were contrarian there, you have really made a lot of money. I still think we are headed much higher. Rs 700 is something which I do not rule out in the next one and a half years on ICICI and Rs 800 on Axis Bank. These are going to be prime plays on the corporate lending side and we have seen a cleansing of balance sheet. I can even add that State Bank should be a big outperformer in this trio of stocks. Another stock which I am very bullish on is IDFC First Bank. That will be the star of 2019 and Mr Vaidyanathan will see that bank is a huge outperformer in the next one year.What is the call on IT, especially the bigwigs?We have had two stocks as contrarian plays; MindTree and HCL Tech. We stand by that and Wipro is the dark horse which has out beaten all. We think these three should be the best combination to play on the IT side. You have advocated Maruti but what is the view with some of the two-wheeler names in the wake of the expected big allocation for the farm sector? Will that trickle down into consumption numbers for autos, the two-wheelers? We have seen autos go through the proverbial problem of competition like in telecom. Bajaj Auto stands out and they have given away part of the margins to get market share and that seems to be working. But I think this is just the lull before the storm, this has been a very strong sector for the last three years and this quarter we have seen problems because of insurance overhang of NBFCs. I still think that both Bajaj Auto and Hero are looking very good on the two-wheeler side. You even have Eicher and TVS. So, if you bought a basket of stocks and went for a SIP. rather than one outright purchase, you can make a fair amount of money. Consumption is going to come back once you get lower rates. Following the NBFC fiasco, most of the other banks started to lend very aggressively and insurance is now on the back burner. So. I am relatively bullish on autos. As a contrarian one of my top picks is Ashok Leyland. It is the third largest bus maker in the world. It will have 50% market share in India and you have seen state governments now get on the prologue of electric vehicles where Ashok Leyland has a first over there. Also in the LCV, MHV side. I think they are going to show strong numbers March quarter onwards. So at Rs 80-82, this is a very good bargain buy with a target of 125 to 135 by next Diwali. What has gone wrong for Godrej Consumer? HUL is growing at 10% plus, ITC is growing at 8-9% plus. Other companies which have reported numbers so far, are not bad including Asian Paints. Why is Godrej Consumer the odd one out?It could be a one quarter hiatus and I do not see that lasting. I think they will be back. We have seen the strong numbers in durables particularly the likes of Havells, Bajaj Electrical, Voltas and like you mentioned, the discretionaries and the sales of Asian Paints, ITC. Godrej Consumer definitely deserves to be bought. It is a pedigree name, the brand is doing extremely well and it is just a matter of time where higher costs will start to reduce and margins will expand. I think this quarter onwards you should start to see much better traction on volumes.But the management has said that 2019 will be a bad year for them! Do you think this is an indication of what is happening to the sector per se or this is isolated to Godrej Consumer?No, it could be isolated to them because there is competition which has brewed up over there and like I said, they are a very conservative management. They under promise and over deliver and that is what stands out for Godrej. However, consumption is a mixed bag. We have seen autos weak but we have durables doing extremely well. A company-specific move may be on the cards but definitely the broader band of peer groups are doing extremely well. So ITC continues to be our top pick over there and we think that they are going to just expand much more on the other businesses which is evident in the numbers on paper, hotels and the FMCG.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2WwmdZ2

Global smartphone market declined for first time in 2018

The overall global smartphone market declined for the first time in 2018, registering 4 per cent drop from 1,558.8 million unit shipments in 2017 to 1,498.3 million units 2018, Counterpoint Research said on Thursday.The fourth quarter smartphone shipments for 2018 recorded a decline of 7 per cent, marking it the fifth consecutive quarter of smartphone decline.Samsung had 19 per cent share, followed by Apple and Huawei, both at 14 per cent, globally. Xiaomi with 8 per cent market share was fourth."The decline in smartphone shipments can be attributed to lengthening replacement cycles in developed markets like US, China and Western Europe," said Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research.Smartphone original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) tried to push sales by adding features such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), multiple camera assemblies, full-screen displays and in-screen fingerprint scanners, etc."But consumers held on to their devices longer due to the absence of ground-breaking innovations and higher prices of devices being offered by the OEMs," Pathak added.Huawei, OPPO and Vivo continue to dominate with strong performances in China, India, Asia and parts of Europe.Samsung and Apple saw tough times as demand for their flagship phones waned due to competition from affordable yet premium phones from Chinese brands such as Huawei and OnePlus, the report said."The collective smartphone shipment growth of emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Russia and others was not enough to offset the decline in China, which was responsible for almost one-third of global smartphone shipments in 2018," said Research Analyst Shobhit Srivastava.Xiaomi reached a record fourth position for the full year after two years of setbacks thanks to immense growth in India.It has surpassed OPPO globally to take back the fourth position."BBK Group (which owns OPPO, Realme, Vivo and OnePlus brands) is collectively the world's third largest manufacturer, even bigger than Huawei in terms of volume," said the report.Huawei continued to have its sights on Apple and should surpass Apple as the second largest brand globally in 2019 if it does not face any sanctions from the US the way ZTE was cut-off from American suppliers, noted the report.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2G1PlSM

Bengaluru is India’s cybercrime capital

In Bengaluru, the high reportage of cases coupled with a lone and understaffed cybercrime police station has led to poor disposal rate of such cases.

from Tech-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2FXKJ09

TCS campus offers higher by 50% this year

The hiring momentum reflects TCS's robust pipeline - it has won deals worth $15.8 billion in the nine months of the financial year. The rebound in the mainstay banking and financial services business was a major growth accelerator, along with pickup in its retail and consumer packaged goods business

from Tech-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2SfNIGT

Global smartphone market declined for first time in 2018

The fourth quarter smartphone shipments for 2018 recorded a decline of 7 per cent, marking it the fifth consecutive quarter of smartphone decline.

from Tech-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2G1PlSM

California utility bankruptcy may pinch Indian IT firms

Californian utilities have faced uncertainty for months over the prospect that they could be held responsible for faulty equipment that led to massive wildfires in the US state.

from Tech-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2MLMeza

Foxconn to set up Industrial AI R&D centre at Hyderabad

Foxconn Industrial Internet Company, a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology group, has on Wednesday entered into an agreement with the Telangana government to set up the R&D centre.

from Tech-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2UqRN8L

India's premium smartphone market logs 8% growth in 2018: Counterpoint

India's premium smartphone segment, above Rs 30,000, witnessed an eight per cent growth in 2018 with Samsung leading the shipment chart with 34 per cent market share, as per Counterpoint Research.

from Tech-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2G8C2PO

OnePlus best-selling, Samsung led premium smartphone segment in 2018

OnePlus recorded its highest-ever shipments in a single quarter (Q4), capturing 36 per cent market share to lead premium smartphone segment for three successive quarters.

from Tech-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2t3uZ3n

Planning a trip to the USA? A playground on the water, Greater fort Lauderdale is a must-visit

The area is a hub for water-activities as well as first-rate nightlife, shopping and dining.

from Magazines-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2SfC7HW

A trip to the USA is incomplete without visiting its national parks

The 59 national parks in US have unique characteristics and opportunities.

from Magazines-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2HEvj2s

Chicago calling! Shop, eat, relax, repeat in the city that has something for everyone

As the birthplace of the skyscraper, Chicago is itself a museum of modern design and rich architectural history.

from Magazines-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2Sc3bbb

Hit the road to see the USA: Here are 3 fabulous routes to pick from

A road trip in the USA means freedom, fun and the joy of exploration.

from Magazines-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2HI55Mr

Follow the beat: A guide to the best music scenes in the USA

The country's best escapes to hear the music.

from Magazines-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2SlqoYe

With gorgeous Cherry Blossoms, a fabulous nightlife & more, Newark's a delight for every kind of traveller

Newark is just a 15-minute train ride from Midtown Manhattan.

from Magazines-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2HJSBnE

Every shopaholic's wonderland, Macy's is a lot more than just great deals and spectacular events

Some of the USA's top chefs oversee in-store restaurants, from Stella 34 Trattoria in New York City to Burger Bar in San Francisco.

from Magazines-Economic Times http://bit.ly/2ShjFP7

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Won’t Be in Fast and Furious 9

Dwayne Johnson won’t be part of Fast and Furious 9, the next mainline entry in the franchise, The Rock has revealed in a new interview. Jason Statham as well, possibly.

from RSS Feeds | ENTERTAINMENT - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com http://bit.ly/2WwxDvK

Spider-Man Star Zendaya in Talks to Play Love Interest in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Report

Zendaya — best known for Spider-Man: Homecoming — is in early talks to play Chani, the love interest of the protagonist Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) in the Dune reboot from director Denis Villeneuve.

from RSS Feeds | ENTERTAINMENT - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com http://bit.ly/2WyBAjR

Ben Affleck-Less The Batman, Suicide Squad Reboot, DC Super Pets Get 2021 Release Dates

DC Super Pets will release on May 21, 2021, followed by The Batman — minus Ben Affleck, and focusing on a younger Bruce Wayne — on June 25, 2021, and James Gunn’s soft reboot The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021.

from RSS Feeds | ENTERTAINMENT - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com http://bit.ly/2TrZJGQ