FDI dips by 50 pc to $1.16 bn in Oct

NEW DELHI: Reflecting economic slowdown in the world's major economies, foreign direct investment into India dipped by over 50 per cent to $1.16 billion in October for the second month in a row.

The country had received $2.33 billion overseas investment in the same month last year. In September, the inflows were at $1.76 billion, down by 16.5 per cent year-on-year.

However, during the April-October period, the FDI went up by 50.3 per cent to $20.8 billion, from $13.84 billion in the year-ago period as inflows were robust in the initial months, a senior government official said.

While in August foreign investment inflows had increased over two-fold to $2.83 billion, year-on-year, in July they declined after a significant jump for two consecutive months -- May and June.

Despite uncertainties in the global economy, FDI may touch $35 billion in 2011-12, as against $19.4 billion in the last fiscal on account of major deals like RIL-BP and Posco, the official added.

In 2010-11, equity inflows through the FDI route had dipped 25 per cent to $19.43 billion, from $25.6 billion in 2009-10. In 2008-09, FDI stood at $27.3 billion.

According to experts, uncertain economic conditions in the US and Europe are one of the major reasons for the declining FDI in India.

Mauritius, Singapore, the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany and the UAE are major sources of FDI for India.

During April-October, the sectors that attracted the maximum FDI include services, construction activities, power, computers and hardware, telecom and housing and real estate.

Wooing global investors by easing FDI procedures, the Reserve Bank yesterday said that transfer of shares between Indians and non-residents will not require its permission in several key areas like financial services

Vodafone decides to disconnect mobiles inactive for 60 days!

 Vodafone, the 2nd largest Telecom Operator has decided to go ahead and disconnect the services of mobile users who have not used their cellphones to make or receive calls for over 60 days.

This is probably due to the fact that Department of Telecom (DoT) have recently come out with circular that put stringent guidelines on the number allocation criteria for mobile operators. Due to this, Vodafone seems to woefully short on the availability of Mobile phone numbers to be allocated to new users.
This announcement will effects millions of Vodafone users, especially the ones who have picked up Lifetime Validity connections. Currently they need to only make a single phone call in six months to keep the number active. However, going forward the will have to use it within 60 days to ensure that their number is not disconnected.
Having said that, I am not sure if Vodafone can legally disconnect these Lifetime users. The reason being – It is binding on Vodafone to honour the agreement that has been made during the time of procuring new connection (about keeping active once in 6 months). A lifetime subscriber has full right to fight back if their connections are disconnected only after 60 days of non-usage.
In India, especially in urban areas, many subscribers have 2, 3 or even 4 Sims. They pick these extra Sims due to some attractive offers or due to roaming or number of other reasons. Whatever the case, this announcement will really put millions of subscribers in jeopardy!
Vodafone has said that they will be intimating the existing “irregular” users by either SMS or phone calls. However, I doubt how effective this will be as many users start using the sim only when it is required and most of the time it is switched off.

We will have to wait and watch how Vodafone customers actually react to this announcement – It is very much possible Vodafone may be taken to court by one those disgruntled users whose connection may be disconnected.

Argentina could be the next big venue to host Formula 1

Argentina to host F1

Formula 1 is big business both for the hosts and the the F1 circus as a whole and in a world where the economies of a region are at stake every country on the planet is looking at ways to support their economies. Formula 1 promises to bring in a lot of cash into the country thanks to its popularity. In 2011, India played host to Formula 1. Who would’ve thought India would become one of the prime venues for the sport. But, by successfully hosting F1 at a state of the art race track we proved to the world that racing may not be just limited to European countries and other developed nations.

The latest addition to the world championship would be Argentina. The country last hosted a Formula 1 race back in 1998, but since then the South American nation hasn’t been on the F1 calender. Having said that, Argentina has hosted the Paris-Dakar rally which is now held in South America due security concerns surrounding its previous venues. Formula 1 top boss Bernie Ecclestone has always welcomed the addition of new venues to the calender.

With his latest venture turning out to be a resounding success, Bernie is looking forward to a new venue is South America. Argentina has shown interest in the sport. Also, United States of America is constructing a new track in Austin, Texas which will host F1 in the future. According to Bernie, its is important to tap into the growing market in the Americas. He also intends to schedule more than 5 races outside of Europe which means we could have more races added to the season going forward.

However, logistical issues to cause a hindrance when chalking out a schedule. Thus, logistics could play a major role when it comes to adding new venues to the calender. In 2011, a total of 20 races were held in a season without a hiccup and hence we could see an extended season going forward. Of course, as fans of F1 we don’t mind having more races. Bring it on, Bernie!

Say hello to the O2 Pursuit Air Bike, albeit in concept form!

Potential energy, as we learnt back in school can be used to do plenty of things. Think of a rubber band used as a catapult to hurl around pieces of paper or a air gun to shoot rubber pellets. This is similar to what an Australian student, Dean Benstead, from RMIT university has done with a compressed air tank. He has used this compressed air tank as the sole source of propulsion to power a motorcycle, in this case a Yamaha WRX250 motocross bike. The O2 Pursuit is an air bike concept that runs on compressed air.

What Dean Benstead has done is, he has harnessed the potential energy that exists in a compressed air tank of 18 liters, into mechanical energy to power the O2 Pursuit motorcycle. 18 liters of compressed air is said to yield about .675 KWh of electricity, which is good enough to propel the motorcycle to around 20-25 kilometers on air power alone. So, the range obviously is the limiting factor with it not anything close to what the IC engine or even an electric motor can deliver.

Even so, if the technology to store more air at higher pressures safely, in a reasonably sized tank can be utilized, the range could go up by many times, perhaps even enough for air powered motorcycles to be good alternates to electric powered runabouts for city commuting. Tata Motors is said to be working on a similar concept called the Air Car, with a French company and we’re eager to see what emerges of that idea.

For now, enjoy these images of Dean Benstead’s O2 Pursuit motorcycle, which is claimed to be able to clock over 100 Kph in the real world, which is a very good figure for starters.