18th Feb Daily Updates

Sebi slaps Rs 18 lakh fine on 8 companies
Market regulator Sebi has slapped a total fine of Rs 18 lakh on eight companies for failing to obtain registration with its online complaint system as well as not resolving pending investor grievances within the required timeline.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) through separate orders imposed penalty of Rs 4 lakh each on Asian Alloys and Mideast (India) Ltd and Rs 3 lakh fine each on Western Foods and B P Alloys.
It imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on four companies -- Nijjer Agro Foods, Harpartap Steels, Arihant Threads and R S Petro Chemicals.

Aero India 2015

i. The Air Force Station at Yelahanka in the IT city hosts the 10th edition of the biennial five-day international edition of the aerospace and aviation exhibition.

ii. the exhibition will also see participation of over 600 companies, including 295 Indian and 328 foreign companies. The US with 64 companies will have the biggest presence at the event.

iii. France will be the second biggest participant with 58 companies, followed by the UK with 48, Russia with 41, Israel with 25 and Germany with 17.

iv. foreign military aircraft on display will be – two F-15C Eagles, two F-16C Fighting Falcons, one Boeing KC-135 tanker, one C-17 Globemaster III and a P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft. Three Rafale fighters of French giant Dassault.

Sony's Google Glass rival SmartEyeglass goes on sale
Sony has began taking orders for SmartEyeglass internet-linked eyewear, moving ahead in the market as Google steps back to revise its Glass strategy.
SmartEyeglass connects with smartphones and then superimposes text, images or other information onto whatever real scene is in view.
A version of the eyewear tailored for software developers will be available in Japan, Germany, Britain, and the United States on March 10. The price in the US will be $840. In Europe it will be 670 euros plus applicable taxes.

 Black money probe in Geneva

i. Geneva’s public prosecutor searched the premises of HSBC Holdings PLC in Geneva and opened a criminal inquiry into allegations of aggravated money laundering.

ii. Swiss private bank allegedly helped hundreds of clients dodge taxes.

iii. The disclosures have sparked a political row in Britain over practices at HSBC and whether tax authorities had done enough to pursue possible wrongdoers.

China proposes triangular partnership with India, Sri Lanka

i. Beijing has proposed at triangular partnership with India and Sri Lanka, ahead of a month-end visit to Beijing of the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

ii. China’s new strategic construct of inclusive ties with India and Sri Lanka follows its advocacy of the 21st century Maritime Silk Road (MSR), where India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan are visualized as partner countries in South Asia.

iii.  India is connected to the MSR through the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor.

Veteran film producer and movie mogul Daggubati Ramanaidu passes away

Veteran multilingual film producer Daggubati Ramanaidu has passed away in Hyderabad, Telangana. He was 78 and was suffering from prostate cancer.

D Ramanaidu was popularly known as movie mogul and was the only Indian filmmaker to produce movies in so many languages including in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi and English.

About Daggubati Ramanaidu

• D Ramanaidu was born on 6 June 1936 in Karamchedu village of Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh.
• Film career- In his early life before getting into film industry, he had taken several odd jobs such as rice mill business and a bus transport business in Karamchedu.
• In 1960’s he started Suresh Productions and in 1964, made debut as producer in film Raamudu Bheemudu.
• In 1980’s he had established Rama Naidu Studios in Hyderabad.
• He holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the most films produced by an individual, as he has produced more than 150 films in 13 Indian languages.
• Political career- He was a member of parliament (MP) in the 13th Lok Sabha from 1999–2004. He had represented Telugu Desam Party (TDP) from Bapatala constituency of Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh.
• Awards- He was conferred with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award (2009) and Padma Bhushan (2012) in recognition for his contribution to Telugu cinema.
• Film awards- National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali- Asukh (1999), Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu)- Jeevana Tarangalu (1973), Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu)- Soggadu (1976), Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award- South (2000)
• His Preminchu movie has won 5 Nandi Awards during the year 2001 – 2002.

GI Airport ranked best by Airport Council International

Airport Council International (ACI) has ranked Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport of Delhi as the world’s most performing airports in the 25-40 million passengers per annum (MPPA) category. For this achievement, IGI has won the annual ASI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) award for the year 2014.

This award recognises and rewards the best airports in the world based upon Geneva-based ACI’s ASQ passenger satisfaction survey. While in this rankings, Chhatrapati Shivaji International (CSI) Airport of Mumbai was placed at Fifth position. IGI is run by Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a joint venture between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and GMR Group-led consortium. While, the CSI is run by Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), a joint venture between the AAI and GVK group-led consortium.

ASI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) passenger satisfaction survey

The survey rates each airport’s performance in 34 key service areas under eight major categories. These 8 categories include access, check-in, security, airport facilities, food and beverage providers etc at more than 300 airports worldwide.

All participating airports use the same survey questions, creating an industry standard set of responses that allows participants them analyse their performance.

The results of the survey also allow airports to track and analyse their performance by comparing other airports around the globe.