Geophysicist Devendra Lal passes away

This December 8, 2012 screengrab shows an obituary note on geophysicist Devendra Lal on the Scripps Institution of Oceanography site.

Noted geophysicist and Visiting Professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography [SIO] in California, USA, Devendra Lal, has passed away. He was 83.

An obituary notice on the website of SIO said he passed away at his residence in San Diego on Dec. 1.

Paying tributes to his contributions to earth and planetary nuclear physics during his 40-years of career at the Institution, the notice noted that he was both a caring and a demanding teacher.

Starting his research career at the age of 20 at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at Mumbai, the primary thrust of his work was in the field of cosmic ray physics, earth and planetary sciences and astrophysics. He was particularly interested in studying records of climate found in terrestrial minerals, and chemical history of ocean waters based on marine biogenic minerals.

His contributions included the setting up a national radiocarbon laboratory at TIFR to facilitate chronological studies of Indian archaeological sites going back to the Harappan era. He had also set up a Tritium Laboratory at TIFR which was later shifted to the National Geophysical Research Institute at Hyderabad.

He won the CSIR’s prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award in 1967 and was conferred Padma Shri in 1971. He was the recipient of NASA Group Achievement Award 9Skylab III), and Hans Peterson Medal from Royal Swedish Academy. He was Director of the Physical Research Laboratory from 1972 to 1983.

“The Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, community is mourning the loss of [its] long time faculty member’’, the obituary notice of the Institution said.

Astronomer Patrick Moore dies at 89

In this December 29, 2000 photo, British astronomer and broadcaster Patrick Moore at his home in Selsey, West Sussex, England. Sir Patrick has died, at age 89

Friends of popular British astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore say he has died at the age of 89.

A statement released on Sunday said he died at his home in the coastal town of Selsey in southern England. No specific cause of death was given, but he had suffered from heart problems.

Sir Patrick was well known for his long-running BBC television show The Sky at Night, which was credited for popularising astronomy with generations of Britons. He had presented the show for more than half a century.

The statement says he was briefly hospitalised last week when it was determined no more treatment would help him and his wish to spend his final days at home 

Moon magic on earth

Lonar was rediscovered for its exquisite moon minerals. 

The dismal state of the fascinating crater-formed Lonar Lake in Maharashtra is a reminder of human disregard towards its environment

Incredibly old at 50,000 years, the Lonar crater is the youngest and best preserved impact crater formed in basalt rock and is the only of its kind on earth.

Formed by a blazing ball of fire that weighed over one million ton in deadweight, it was a meteorite travelling at awesome speed of 80,000 km per hour. It pierced our blue planet and hit the earth with such fire, force and fury that it dug a deep depression in the rock-solid Deccan plateau. It crashed, exploded, erupted and spewed molten rock creating a magnificent crest on the rim covering a two kilometer diameter. Even though it was a mere chip of the moon, the hypervelocity impact of the 384,403 km travel from the moon to the earth, has left a dent 200 meters deep.

India’s vast territory has remote terrains, but none as extraordinary as the Lonar crater which forms a lake that lies close to the world famous Ajanta and Ellora caves. It is evident that urbanisation coupled with ever increasing population has led to an indiscriminate invasion of human activities in Lonar and this has created a constant threat to the ecosystem and its remarkable biodiversity. The lake also happens to be a captive water-body, hence the concentration of chemicals has been on the rise and has caused irreversible pollution.

Dr S Kurhade, Professor of Zoology from Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, who has a penchant for ornithology, says, “The unique Lonar Lake with alkaline and saline waters is being polluted in recent years by waste waters discharged and dumped from a nearby town. Even though the lush environment of the crater has been declared a wildlife sanctuary, it needs enhanced protection. Marauding pilgrims and increasing pollution is disturbing its substantial flora and fauna with about 100 resident and migratory birds."

The Lonar Lake is an exceptional ‘bowl of biodiversity’ and a wildlife sanctuary. It is land locked with extraordinary water qualities, and has no inlets, outlets nor does the water seep into the ground. It is fed by underground streams that are now dehydrating due to human folly. However, since ancient time, every summer the lake would go dry and the salt that was formed at the lake bottom was being harvested. The remarkable shape, size and samples of celestial leftovers have lent uniqueness to this crater. These exceptional traits have attracted constant attention of ecologists, geologists and astronomers from the across the globe. It has been the subject of several scientific studies on various aspects of crater ecosystem, yet it is seemingly unknown to the general public.

Even though the lake waters are devoid of fish, the Lonar crater is a bird-watchers paradise. Apart from parakeets and peafowl, there are crow pheasants, blue jays, bee-eaters, dabchicks, ducks, hoopoes, kestrels, lapwings, minivets, shovellers, spot-bills, swallows, stilts, wagtails, woodpeckers and other winged fauna. One can spot numerous langurs in the area and occasionally bats, deer, monitor lizards, mongoose and snakes.

Located 170 km northeast of Aurangabad and about 550 km from Mumbai, the fascinating site remained relatively unknown until it was conclusively identified as a meteorite crater only about two decades ago. Initially it was thought to be part of the volcanic upsurge and down-surge caused by the molten lava during the formation of the Deccan plateau.

It was first noticed 190 years ago by British explorer, A J Alexander, who went investigating the region. He found ancient temples in a dilapidated condition and strange ecology in a cavernous basin.

It was vastly different from the surrounding flat landscape even though it was discovered 57 years before the Ajanta caves. Strangely, both the Lonar crater and the Ajanta caves were chance discoveries by British explorers. Even more bizarre is ‘Lonar’, the name of the nearby village that is akin to the English word ‘lunar’, as if early Indians had the requisite knowledge that the crater was created by moon rock.

Last month, think-tanks in the USA sent out worldwide alerts that the earth’s rare metal content is diminishing fast as it is furiously being consumed because of human greed. The only viable alternative envisaged was to source the sky by mining the moon or meteorites and excavate asteroids. This commercial thought of exploring the space was basically derived after having studied 175 known craters on earth containing traces of moon minerals, including India’s Lonar crater.

It is tragic that the lake which holds together a unique ecosystem, and has aided human civilization in its quest for understanding the mysteries of the universe, is in desperate need of intervention.

India against allocation of certain domain names

India has made it clear that it does not favour the allocation of certain terms like ‘Indians,’ ‘Islam’ and ‘Ram’ as new generic Top Level Domain names (gTLDs), the concluding part of the web address that follows the dot, as the global web address system prepares itself for a phase of massive expansion in the coming months.

Applicants from different parts of the world have sought the addition of hundreds of such new terms, but the allotment of some of these gTLDs has been opposed by some countries, including India. The organisation that oversees the administration of the global web address system, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), set the ball rolling in January for the global expansion drive, inviting applications from interested parties. The Indian government has also shown the red signal to applications for the allocation of a few other gTLDs as well — ‘Bible,’ ‘army,’ ‘navy’ and ‘air force.’ It has also expressed its reservations about two others — ‘shiksha’ and ‘halal.’

These ‘early warnings’ on gTLDs from the members of ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee indicates “that an application is seen as potentially sensitive or problematic by one or more governments.”

But it does not constitute a formal objection and need not “directly lead to a process that can result in rejection of the application.”

The applicants can inform ICANN that they wish to withdraw their applications or hold discussions with the respective governments and try to address their concerns.

Reliance India had applied for the gTLD.indians, which has not been favoured by the Indian government. Documents enunciating the official viewpoint posted on the ICANN website said: “An exclusive right granted to a private company could be against the public interest of the Indian community.” And it went on to say this gTLD should be managed by the government “for the interest of all members of the community, including private companies.”

Citing trade mark laws, it said the term Indian denotes a geographical region in relation to goods and services, and it is also used extensively to represent products and services from India. It should “belong to the Indian community as a whole.”

India is also against the allotment of three other gTLDs — ‘.ram,’ ‘.islam’ and ‘.bible’ under a Section of the Indian Trade Mark Act that states a mark “shall not be registered if it contains or comprises any matter likely to hurt the religious susceptibilities of any class or section of the citizens of India.”

SIB lists new focus areas

In a bid to beat the industry slowdown, South Indian Bank (SIB) is planning to focus on retail traders to achieve its business target of Rs. 1 lakh crore by March 2014.   “We have a target to reach 25 per cent growth this fiscal,” said Cheryan Varkey, Executive Director of SIB, here on Monday at the inauguration of the SIB corporate branch. Mr. Varkey pointed out that, till September 30, the bank grew by about 24 per cent to achieve a business of Rs. 67,000 crore.

 “Although the present economic situation makes it a challenge to hit the target, we are going to focus on certain areas to achieve our targeted growth,” Mr. Varkey said.

“The biggest challenge is to maintain the growth. If industry fails to grow, then our growth rate will certainly decline. To overcome this, we are focusing on retail traders such as textiles, pharmaceuticals and jewellers,” he added.   Talking about assets, he said: “Except for our Rs. 150 crore exposure to Nafed (National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.) which has slipped into non-performing asset (NPA) during the second quarter,due to employee-related fraud, our asset quality has been good.”

 “The bank had net interest margin of 3.1 per cent during the quarter that ended in September. We aim to achieve net interest margin of 3 per cent in this fiscal,” he said.  

SBI will continue to grow ahead of the industry

When Pratip Chaudhuri completed one year in April this year as Chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), his leadership came in for praise from none less than the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. A man who with his observations has flagged debates on key issues, Mr.Chaudhuri is heading the bank at a time when economic growth is slowing down and the deteriorating asset quality of banks is becoming a major concern. In an interview to The Hindu, he spoke on a wide ranging issues. Excerpts:

How do you see the banking scene in a year from now, particularly for SBI?

Banking sector has a very promising future because Indian people are quite savings-oriented. Our rate of savings is 30 per cent and if you reckon the GDP at about Rs 80 lakh crore, about Rs 24 lakh crore gets saved. The acceptability and faith in the banks is enormous. As banking habit spreads, banks will have to go closer to the people. I think SBI is uniquely positioned to harness and benefit from the savings of the people and their faith in the system. The growth of SBI should be very good and I think it should be ahead of the average growth of the banking industry.

Moody’s has said it remained negative on the outlook for Indian banks over the next 12-18 months. How do you respond to this?

Rating agencies always have to highlight the downsides and pitfalls. Tell me in which part of the world the rating agencies have said that banks are going to have a great time. They would have their own reasons for saying what they have said. When talking about Indian banking sector, it is not very homogeneous. So for Indian banks, the asset quality, profitability and net interest margins are significantly different from one bank to another. Each bank could be an out-performer or under- performer.

Private banks are faring much better than public-sector banks. What ails state-run banks?

They came with a great advantage from day one as they had core banking, whereas public sector banks have legacy issues. But some thought public sector banks will simply vanish. That has not happened. Public sector banks have also got their act together and all of them now have core banking. In SBI, one great advantage is that we are a pan-India bank. But some of the public sector banks could be seen as confined more to certain geographies. They have to become more all-India banks. There is enough operational freedom and public sector banks can excel in the areas they want to.

Public sector banks are largely relying on bulk deposits which are having a share of 25 to 30 per cent. That is not good in the long run. These deposits are price driven and I call them ‘lazy deposits’. We need to strengthen our deposit franchise. SBI’s bulk deposits form just 1.5 per cent of total deposits. Banks must re-double their efforts to get retail deposits and shun high cost bulk deposit to the extent they can. Public sector banks are value creators. Government borrows at an average of 8 and 8.5 per cent from the market and all the public sector banks are giving a return on net worth of something like 13 to 16 per cent. Thus, Government’s investments are fetching a return higher than its cost of borrowing.

The RBI has expressed concerns about asset quality of banks. How serious is this in the coming days?

It is very difficult to predict the future but there exists a problem. There has been a slowdown in the economy and the rate of interest in India is generally higher than what it is globally. Indian companies have to pay a higher amount as interest. Now certain demand restrictions or slow down is showing up. For example, a major commercial vehicle manufacturer is shutting down the plant for three days. It cascades down to other industries. A continuously high fuel and power prices are also hurting. Since the banks lend to all segments, they will have the share of problems in their asset quality.

SBI is the biggest lender to Kingfisher Airlines.. Are there any lessons learnt?

We still think Mr. Vijay Mallya would live up to the hope. It’s a question of time. In the ultimate analysis the company has to revive itself. Banks can only support, which they did. I think even now Mr. Mallya can do everything possible to revive the airline. Maybe you can say that we are slightly disappointed with the speed with which it is happening. A meeting of consortium of lenders is taking place on December 18 and we expect the company to give us their thoughts about their plans for revival of Kingfisher Airlines.

The RBI’s monetary policy review is on December 18. Do you think it is time to cut interest rates?

I would in fact hope for and recommend a 50 basis points cut in both Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and in repo rate. That would have a soothing effect on the economic environment.

The RBI had de-regulated the savings bank rate. But public sector banks kept this rate at the same level, whereas some private sector banks hiked the rate?

I would not comment on others. But for us savings bank growth is phenomenal. We have not been dented by increase in savings bank rate by some of the smaller private sector banks. We have a huge distribution network. Even if these banks offered higher savings bank rate, how many people they have reached out to? Secondly, if return is the issue we offer a 6.5 per cent return on a seven-day deposit. So we think that saving bank is not an instrument for return maximisation. Savings bank is an instrument of convenience for payments. We have done a number of things outside the deposit rates. We have made multi-city cheques available to all customers at no extra cost. We are now running a scheme that for Rs.100 annual premium, a person gets Rs.4 lakh accident insurance. Similarly, we have done away with minimum balance charges. These banks which are paying higher interest rates have very stiff minimum balance requirements, which we think is not egalitarian. If we want to pay higher rate to the high value depositors, that if their balance is more than Rs.1 lakh on an average, then we will have to lower the rates we paid to our lower balance depositors. At this moment we are not inclined to do that. The message we are getting from our depositors is that rate is not very important issue for them to maintain the balance. It is the experience, service, and other facilities like locker, which are also important.

You championed for abolishing CRR … . Do you think CRR has lost its relevance?

In a debate or discussion there should be space for all views. My position was that CRR is being unfairly slapped on banks. CRR is a monetary instrument. Let it be imposed on all those financial intermediaries who are mobilising public savings, insurance and mutual funds. For example in Germany there is a CRR on insurance and there is a CRR on banks, the same one per cent. Second thing is that if it is an inflation fighting instrument, CRR has to go to 20 per cent. I have no quarrel with that. Let it be 20 per cent, but give me interest. If neither is feasible then CRR should be phased out. But I am grateful to the RBI that over the last two years, CRR has been brought down significantly, from 6 to 4.25 per cent. And see the benefit… most of the banks have reduced their base rates. Today our home loan rate of interest is 10 per cent and this was possible with the reduction in CRR.

What’s your estimate for profit and revenue growth for SBI in 2012-13 in percentage and absolute terms?

Last year our profit was Rs.11,700 crore and this year in the first half we have done about Rs.7,400 crore. So Rs.15,000 crore, as of now, looks a reasonable possibility. This will translate into 32 per cent increase.

Currently, growth drivers for SBI are retail, home, car loans and SMEs. The pipeline for corporate loans looks very dry. We think home ownership in India is much less than what it needs to be. Lot more number of people need to move into their own homes and to become home owners. So home would be our largest, SMEs and possibly exports.

Do you see any possibility of mergers in the banking industry in the near future?

Economic rationale for merger is very strong. Even within SBI we have merged two associate banks. We would like to merge the remaining also. But in SBI, the issue is each merger costs about Rs.1,000 to Rs.2,000 crore, because the associate bank’s terms and conditions of service have to be brought to the level of SBI. Once we are comfortable with capital, we can undertake that expenditure. Right now we are only looking at merger with our associate banks. This is much easier to implement and carry forward. A merger would take about two years to digest. Therefore, for SBI, one bank every two years.

Tatas unlikely to do airline business again, says Ratan Tata

Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata during an interview in Mumbai 

Once pioneers in civil aviation, the Tata group is unlikely to get into the sector because of “destructive competition”, its outgoing Chairman Ratan Tata indicated on Sunday.

Recalling the group’s proposal for a tie up with Singapore International Airlines (SIA) for a domestic carrier in India in the mid-1990s, the Tata patriarch pointed out, “It is a different sector today than it was at that time. It is somewhat like telecom. It is proliferated by many operators some of them in financial trouble. I would hesitate to go into the sector today in the sense that the chances are that you would have a great deal of competition which would be unhealthy competition.”

Asked if he was worried about “cut throat” competition, Mr. Tata responded in the negative but went on to say, “Cut throat competition which is done to keep you out is destructive competition. Overseas people go bankrupt or companies go bankrupt. Here they never do, they continue to be sick and still operate. Then they are operating to kill you.”

Was the story that someone had asked him to pay Rs 15 crore bribe to clear the Tata-SIA deal correct, the Tata chairman was asked during an interview.

He replied that the story was correct but it was not the then Civil Aviation Minister who had asked him directly to pay.

It was a businessman who “told me why don’t you pay. This is what the minister wants,” he said.

“I told him that you don’t understand. That is not how we do business. All he said to me was, ‘look if you want the airline, this is what you must pay. You know the minister wants that Rs.15 crore.’”

Mr. Tata recalled that after taking over as Chairman in 1991, he had drawn up a strategic plan in which he had seen aerospace and defence a new area for the private sector to enter in a big way.

“For several years, the fact that we had sanctions of various sorts on us, gave us no access to technology and that in itself was a challenge.”

But that challenge was never thrown to the private sector which was a “bit of a disappointment to me”, he said.

Vested interests in the public sector and government laboratories do not give these areas to the private sector. Therefore, while these areas have been opened up, the private sector’s involvement is still very limited, he said.

Court seeks SEBI records on Bharti Infratel IPO

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday declined to grant a stay on the initial public offering (IPO) of Bharti Infratel Ltd (BIL) on a PIL alleging that “the very foundation of this IPO is fraudulent.”

The court, however, asked Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to produce the records relating to its approval to the company for launching the IPO to see whether the company had complied with SEBI regulations while seeking the approval or not.

“We are not issuing notice, we are not saying anything and not passing any order. We will see the records to satisfy ourselves,” the bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said.

The bench passed the order after SEBI’s counsel Parag Tripathi volunteered to submit the records before the court while countering the petitioner’s allegation that SEBI has overlooked the litigations against the company over the issue of its merger/de-merger with Bharti Airtel Ltd, pending in various forums.

The counsel argued that the market regulator had already examined all the issues while granting approval to BIL.

Appearing for Bharti Infratel, senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul submitted that details about pending litigations were there in the draft Red Herring Prospectus and after examining it, SEBI had pointed out certain deficiencies and the company had incorporated them while finalising the prospectus.

Kaul argued that petitioner Manish Lamba, an investor, has already approached different forums on the issue seeking same relief and this court should not entertain his plea.

The petitioner’s counsel Sarat Chandra alleged that the prospectus for IPO is of 700 pages and the investor cannot read the bulky prospectus to know the risk factor involved in it.

Why is Apple stock turning bitter?

Apple’s abrupt descent is fuelling a debate among market watchers. 

This holiday season is shaping up to be a record-breaking period for Apple as shoppers snap up iPhones and iPads. So, why is the world’s most valuable company losing its lustre with investors?

Apple began selling the iPhone 5 on Sept. 21, the same day the company’s stock hit an all-time peak of $705.07 per share. Since then, the stock has plunged more than 20 per cent, trimming the company’s market value by more than $150 billion. On Friday last, shares were trading at around $534.

The sell-off has had broad impact. It has reached beyond Apple’s own stockholders because the company is the largest component in the Standard & Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq composite index.

Apple’s abrupt descent is fuelling a debate among market watchers. Is the stock now a bargain, as some would argue? Or, is the recent markdown in Apple’s value justified because the company has entered a phase of less innovation and slower revenue growth?

The iPhone’s early lead in the smartphone market already has been surrendered to the more than 500 million devices running on the Android software. By comparison, as of the end of September, Apple had shipped 271 million iPhones since the gadget’s 2007 debut.

Nokia phones running on the recently released Windows 8 system from Microsoft Corp. pose a new threat, especially in China, where Nokia has struck a deal with that country’s largest wireless carrier.

Now, there are signs the competition is putting pressure on Apple in the booming tablet computer industry that it launched in 2010 with the release of the iPad.

In a report that likely contributed to Wednesday’s steep drop in Apple’s stock, research firm IDC predicted the iPad’s share of the worldwide tablet market this year would decline to 54 percent from 56 percent in 2011 and would dip below 50 percent by 2016. Meanwhile, the market share of tablets powered by Android, including Google’s Nexus line and Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle Fire, has climbed from 40 percent last year to 43 percent his year, according to IDC.

The iPad mini, which was launched as a result of the company being forced to respond to competition, has undoubtedly diverted some sales away from full-sized iPads, which sell at prices ranging from $399 to $829. That is one of the reasons BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis expects the iPad’s average selling price to fall by about $50 in the current quarter, which ends this month. That would be a 9 percent decline from the iPad’s average price of $535 during the July through September period.

Innovation contraction

Since Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passed away, the company has mostly been fine-tuning products that were created under his visionary leadership. Some investors are starting to wonder if Apple can conjure up another revolutionary product to catapult the company on another multiyear stretch of breakneck sales growth.

Smartphones and tablets “are starting to become more like commodities,” Gillis said. “And how much upside is left if you are stuck in a commodities business?” The question is- What is going to get Apple going again?” Most analysts believe Apple’s next breakthrough will be a television that shares the same operating system as the iPhone and iPad. An Apple TV would give the company a prized perch on the biggest screen in most households and open up an array of new business opportunities.

Fiscal cliff factor

Under laws set to expire Dec. 31, profits on stocks owned for at least a year are taxed at a 15 percent rate less than the same rate for ordinary income. If Congress and President Obama are unable to reach agreement that preserves that long-term capital gains rate, investors’ tax bills will be substantially higher next year.

Gillis, though, points out that savvy investors probably wouldn’t be selling their Apple stock just to save some money on taxes if they truly believed the stock is destined to soar higher and make them even richer a year from now.

“When you get to be as big as Apple, any shift in sentiment can have a material impact on the share price,” he said.

Wipro launches ‘SmartOffers’ with Intuition Intelligence

Wipro Technologies on Monday announced the launch of “SmartOffers”, a location based solution for banks, in partnership with Intuition Intelligence.

“Wipro SmartOffers, primarily targeted at retail banks, will help increase coupon redemption rates significantly by delivering the right offers to the bank’s customers over the mobile or the Internet,” the city-headquartered company said.

The solution leverages Wipro’s mobile-based applications IP, data models and partner’s algorithms to deliver highly targeted offers, it said.

Wipro is working with Intuition Intelligence who has a patented machine learning algorithm that applies rapid real time learning to target coupons, the company said.

Vijay Sharma, Global Domain Head — Banking and Financial Services, Wipro Technologies, said: “We expect Wipro SmartOffers to enable banks to pre-empt commoditisation by building brand loyalty and creating additional revenue streams. We are already testing the concept with several banks across the globe, which gives us a first mover advantage and are very encouraged by the prospects.”

Arif Ansari, Founder of Intuition Intelligence, Inc, said, “Our unique Intuition Intelligence Super Relevancy Engine proactively brings real time, contextually relevant offers to digital banking customers by server and client side learning. Unlike the aggregator centric models currently in practice in the market, this solution champions the Bank Centric Offer Model.”