Davos, January 25
As the World Economic Forum's annual meet draws to a close, Indian business leaders say their main takeaway would be cautious optimism about their country, even as the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and evolving political scene seemed to dominate India discussions at this global gathering.

This year’s WEF, which is being held against the backdrop of a slow global recovery, has a large Indian delegation in attendance.

Diversified group Mahindra & Mahindra's senior executive Pawan Goenka said: “There is enough optimism about India. Therefore, I don't think that India story is dead at Davos.”

“In fact when I talk about India, there is this whole feeling that India has taken a back seat at Davos. But I did not see that,” stated Goenka, who is executive director and president - Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors at the group.

Discussions about the outcome of upcoming polls and the advent of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were major talking points.

“Everyone is more positive about economic recovery in different markets and there is an increasingly positive mood in Davos this year. About India, everyone is waiting for the elections and people are in watch mode,” N Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD of India's largest IT firm TCS said.

“What I am telling the Indian ministers here is that they should use platform like Davos to tell the world about their showcase projects that they have delivered,” Hinduja Group's Prakash Hinduja said.

According to Hinduja, a noted businessman, there is a perception the Indian government has done little, but that is far from the truth as government has indeed done many things.

Global real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle's (JLL) India head Anuj Puri said the mood about India is "something like subdued optimism or dissatisfied optimism".

Participating at the WEF, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma had said foreign investors continue to remain bullish on India and government's steps to fast track project clearances have given a boost to the growth story.

IT major Tech Mahindra's Executive Vice Chairman Vineet Nayyar said there has been an interesting focus on India. "Growth is being predicted and everyone is making their own assumption on the type of the government that would come in, but we will have to wait and watch," he said.

Puri, who is JLL India's Chairman and Country Head, said the mood is optimistic, but still there is some kind of dissatisfaction. — PTI

Davos, January 25
India has been ranked at a low 155th position in a global list that places countries on how well they perform on high-priority environmental issues.

The 2014 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), released today here, has ranked 178 countries in total. Among them, India is placed at the 155th position, with an index score of 31.23 points. Its rank is also much lower than BRICS peers.

Among the BRICS, South Africa was placed at the 72nd rank with an index score of 53.51, followed by Russia (73rd rank, 53.45 points), Brazil (77th rank, 52.97 points) and China (118th rank, 43 points).

Besides, India has fared poorly compared to neighbouring countries like Nepal and Pakistan — which are ranked 139th and 148th, respectively.

The overall list is topped by Switzerland followed by Luxembourg, Australia, Singapore, and Czech Republic.

“Emerging economies, including China, India, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa, have had modest improvement over the past decade, but they have also paid an environmental price for their rapid growth,” the report said.

The emerging economies represent 55 per cent of global growth from the end of 2009 to 2012. Urbanisation without sufficient investment in environmental safeguards is a key reason for emerging economies' poor showing when it comes to air quality, biodiversity and habitat protection.

The 178 nations in the index represent 99 per cent of the global population, 98 per cent of the world's total land area, and 97 per cent of the global GDP, the report said.

The index also demonstrates what happens when countries are unable to prioritise environmental management, the EPI said.

As per the report, the bottom five performers - Somalia, Mali, Haiti, Lesotho, and Afghanistan — all are grappling with civil unrest, significant economic development pressures, and political turmoil. — PTI

New Delhi, January 25
The Telecom Commission today recommended three options for levying annual spectrum charges on telecom operators, which will be considered by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) at their meeting on Monday.

"We have suggested three options to the EGoM, which will take a final call," Telecom Secretary MF Farooqui told reporters after a meeting of the inter-ministerial panel.

The matter is crucial for the spectrum auction scheduled to start on February 3, from which the government expects to raise at least Rs 11,300 crore to curb the fiscal deficit.

The EGoM will also consider the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) recommendation for a uniform spectrum usage charge (SUC) of 3 to 5% from April 1 across the sector.

Sources said the commission suggested levying an SUC equivalent to the weighted average of 3 per cent for spectrum won in the upcoming auction and the existing slab rate.

The second option is the weighted average of 5 per cent for the airwaves to be auctioned and the current slab rate. The third recommendation is to continue with the existing regime, the sources said.

GSM operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have locked horns with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm following the TRAI's recommendation of a uniform SUC.

The charge is levied annually by the government as a percentage of revenue earned from telecom services. It currently ranges from 3 to 8% for mobile operators, while for firms with broadband wireless spectrum such as Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Tikona, the fee is 1%.

Sources said the panel is learnt to have worked out three options for the SUC on BWA spectrum. One of the options is levying the weighted average of 1% on BWA and 3% when combined with other sets of airwaves. — PTI

San Francisco, January 25
Google apologised after the Internet giant’s widely used free email and an array of other services were disrupted by apparent software woes.

“Earlier today, most Google users who use logged-in services like Gmail, Google+, Calendar and Documents found they were unable to access those services for approximately 25 minutes,” Google engineering vice president Ben Treynor said in a blog post.

"For about 10 per cent of users, the problem persisted for as much as 30 minutes longer." Google did not disclose the full extent of the Gmail glitch but the brief outage was believed to have affected millions of people, including those using the service at work.

Complaints were posted online from Europe, Canada, the United States and elsewhere.

An online Google Apps tracking dashboard, which indicated that a dozen services — including Gmail and its social network Google+ — had experienced problems.

“Whether the effect was brief or lasted the better part of an hour, please accept our apologies-we strive to make all of Google's services available and fast for you, all the time, and we missed the mark today,” Treynor said. — AFP

New York/Washington, Jan 25
The US Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have both held investigations into whether Bank of America (BofA) engaged in improper trading by doing its own futures trades ahead of executing large orders for clients, according to a regulatory filing.

The June 2013 disclosure, which Reuters recently reviewed on a website run by the securities industry regulator FINRA, sheds light on the basis for a warning by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on January 8.

The warning, in the form of an intelligence bulletin to regulators and security officers at financial services firms, said the FBI suspected swaps traders at an unnamed US bank and an unnamed Canadian bank may have been involved in market manipulation and front running of orders from US government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Reuters has since learned that the Bank of America’s trading practices regarding Fannie and Freddie are the subject of probes, and that the investigations are ongoing.

Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin declined comment when asked abut the investigations.

The disclosure on the FINRA site doesn’t specifically accuse Bank of America of any wrongdoing. It says: “We understand that the (US Attorney’s Office) is investigating whether it was proper for the swaps desk to execute futures trades prior to the desk’s execution of block future trades on behalf of counterparties.”

The filing, which identifies the US Attorney's Office in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Bank of America is based, adds: “We also understand that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is conducting a parallel investigation into the trading issue.”

The filing cites the bank as the source of the information. — Reuters 

BRIEFLY

Forex reserves down
New Delhi: Forex reserves decreased by $1.20 billion to $292.08 billion for the week ended January 17, the RBI data showed. The forex reserves had increased by $177.8 million to $293.28 billion for the week ended January 10. — IANS