Priyanka Chopra dines with Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan!

The Gunday actor confirmed that as a child she always preoccupied by a stately chateau of a President’s central residence

Priyanka Chopra, who was one of a guest during a cooking celebration hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee during his central residence, only can’t stop vehemence about her special assembly with Mukherjee. In fact a Gunday actor took to Twitter to speak about her knowledge of assembly some unequivocally renowned guests. “As a child I’d always wanted to try a hallways of a Rashtrapati Bhavan..lovely dusk with a President and his renowned guests,” tweeted a National Award-winning superstar.

PeeCee took time out of her chaotic report to keep a prestigious appointment as she is also gearing adult for her much-talked subsequent Gunday co-starring Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor. “Looooong day of #Gunday promotions.. Now looking brazen to some laughs during comedy nights with Kapil..then delhi!!’ she added.

Now subsequent time we strike into Priyanka a initial thing we will ask her about will naturally be about a tasty menu and a special widespread she enjoyed during a ultimate address! Hai na, BollywoodLifers?

Source: http://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-gossip/priyanka-chopra-dines-with-pranab-mukherjee-at-rashtrapati-bhavan/

Gold price may rise to Rs.33,000 per 10 grams this year

New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) Gold prices, which crashed by 28 percent in 2013, are expected to touch a high of Rs.33,000 ($532) per 10 grams this year, a bullion market operator said.
Riddhi Siddhi Bullions Limited (RSBL) Managing Director Prithviraj Kothari said the average price of gold in the current year is expected to be around Rs.28,000 per 10 gram.
According to Kothari, gold may slip to a low of Rs.25,000 per 10 gram in 2014.
“The average base price for gold in 2014 is expected to be $1375 an ounce. In the domestic market gold is expected to move in a range of Rs.25,000 to Rs.33,000 per 10 gram and the average base price for the same is expected to be around Rs.28,000,” he said.
He said the average base price for silver is expected to be around $2,500 per kg, while the average base price for silver in the domestic market is expected to be around Rs.45,000 per kg.
Trade range for silver is expected to be Rs.37,000 to Rs.55,000 per kg, he said.
Kothari-led firm RSBL deals in bullion, specialising in bars and coins of various precious metals like gold, silver and platinum.
Ending a 12-year of bull run, gold price slumped by 28 percent in 2013, the sharpest annual decline since 1981.
Gold demands in India remained subdued due to a series of measures taken by the government and the central bank to discourage investments in gold, in a bid to control the current account deficit, that rose to a record nearly $88 billion in 2012-13.
The current account deficit is expected to decline below $50 billion in the current financial year ending March 31.
Kothari pointed out that gold has witnessed a significant bear market since reaching a record high at $1,910 an ounce in 2011.
Some say the no. '13’, considered unlucky by many, has proved to be inauspicious for gold too, he remarked.
“But over the years, gold has always enjoyed the status of safe haven asset. History of Gold equals to an object that has always been used as a hedge against inflation. At any point in time, gold is proportional to a store of wealth that can be used for monetary purposes,” he added.
Referring to services offered by his company, Kothari said: “The penchant for accumulating gold is a deep-rooted Indian trait where gold is symbol of trust and our services are designed to cater to that trust.”
Founded in 1994, RSBL holds the largest variety of bullions and coins across India.
RSBL recently launched a symbol on its spot exchange system to deliver .916 purity gold bangles or chains, approximately 1 kg in weight. ‘RSBL SPOT’ offers innovative and lucrative offerings that not only include bullion, but also jewellery.
The electronic over-the-counter (OTC) bullion trading system boasts of transparent benchmark pricing and has more than 3,000 online clients and numerous delivery centres across India.
Kothari elaborated: “Over-the-counter bullion trading is one of the most popular investment tools in the global financial market. If you want to invest in bullion, you can choose to invest in OTC Bullion Trading without paying full amount of the contract value. You can effectively seize opportunities with the leveraging effect.”

Source: http://www.thesouthasiantimes.info/index.php?param=news/28839/Business/22

Scooter boom: Young women and India's roads

Weighing convenience as well as safety, some young women, and their parents, see the scooter as the best solution for commuting to work, going to college or simply going out to meet friends.

Scooter sales were up nearly 20 percent in the nine months through December, according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers data, easily outpacing the 2.5 percent sales growth of full-size motorcycles. Sales of cars, trucks and buses all fell.

Still, scooters accounted for only 20 percent of India's 14 million-unit two-wheeler market in the last financial year. Two wheelers are the most common mode of transport for millions of middle-class Indians.
Both Honda and Yamaha have identified the growth potential in scooters, and are building models designed for women and adding new plants to keep up with demand.
"College-going girls and working women are really creating this demand-wave in the scooter segment," said Abdul Majeed, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers India.
"Housewives are also using scooters to drop (off) kids and buy vegetables," Majeed said, adding that he expects strong sales growth to continue and for companies to launch more scooters geared

Yamaha launched its first Indian scooter designed for women, the Ray, in 2012. The bike sells for around about 47,000 rupees and comes in colours such as 'starry white', 'plush pink' and 'burgundy bliss'. About 70 percent of the women who buy it for themselves are under 30, the company says.

"They don't want to trouble their parents or brothers. They want personal mobility," said Roy Kurian, vice president of marketing and sales at Yamaha in India. "If a guy had to ride then he would have gone for a motorcycle," he said.

HONDA REVS UP PRODUCTION

The potential sales opportunities presented by India's fast-growing middle class, and in particular more independent-minded women, has caught the attention of the two-wheel giants.

Honda Motor said on Wednesday it would build a fourth motorcycle factory in India with initial investment of roughly 11 billion Indian rupees and annual output capacity of 1.2 million vehicles.

The factory, to be located in the state of Gujarat, is due to start production in 2015, the world's biggest motorcycle maker said in a statement.

About 3,000 new jobs will be created at the plant, which will mainly manufacture scooters, demand of which has surged in the world's biggest two-wheeler market.

Last month, Honda expanded production capacity at its third motorcycle factory in India by 600,000 vehicles a year. The fourth plant will bring Honda's total capacity in India to 5.8 million motorcycles a year, the company said.

Local player Hero MotoCorp (NSI:HEROMOTOCO) also sees the potential of women buyers. "Why should boys have all the fun?" asks Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra in a commercial for Hero MotoCorp's Pleasure scooter.

Besides being more maneuverable than motorbikes, the step-through frame of scooters means makes it easy to ride wearing a skirt or traditional saree. Scooters also usually have space under the seat big enough to stow a handbag.

While the scooter provides women with an alternative to using public transport, safety issues abound on India's notoriously dangerous roads. And few would risk riding alone at night.

Manufacturers have identified the south and west of the country - regions that tend to be less socially conservative than northern India - as the most profitable markets for women-friendly scooters.

Bharat Makwana, who runs a small chemicals business in the commercial capital Mumbai, said that instead of buying a motorcycle for himself, six months ago he bought a Honda scooter so his wife and daughter could also use it.

"The scooter is for the entire family. When my 17-year-old daughter turns a year older she can use the scooter herself."

Everything you need to know about Microsoft's new CEO

Microsoft drafts in Satya Nadella as its new CEO. Here's everything you need to know about him.

 

 

 

Microsoft has chosen long-time employee Satya Nadella as its new CEO, bringing to a close its five-month search for Steve Ballmer’s replacement. The engineer has worked for Microsoft since 1992, when he left Sun Microsystems. Critics consider him a “safe” choice for a company which some claim is in urgent need of a radical management change, as the PC buying slump continues to bite.
Despite dominating the PC landscape for decades, Microsoft has lost ground in recent years to rivals, such as Apple and Samsung, as the mobile revolution has taken off.
Here, we find out a bit more about the new guy in charge of Microsoft.
Full name: Satyanarayana Nadella
Age: 46
Salary: In his previous role, Microsoft reportedly paid him $669,167 as a base salary plus stock bonuses which add up to $7.6 million. And that’s just for 2013.
This will inevitably shoot up now he’s taken over the company reins, one has to presume.

Education and skills: Nadella hails from Hyderabad, India. He graduated from the University of Mangalore with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering before continuing his education in the United States.

He earned two more masters' degrees: one in computer science from the University of Wisconsin, and another in business administration from the University of Chicago.
Nadella worked at Sun Microsystems until 1992, when he joined Microsoft.

 

A Microsoft mainstay: Since joining the Redmond giant in 1992,  Nadella has moved between departments every few years.
“This journey has both kept me on my toes and constantly motivated,” he told the Deccan Chronicle, an Indian English-language newspaper.
For instance, he’s served as vice president of the Microsoft Business Division, senior vice president of research and development for the Online Services division, and president of the software giant’s $19 billion Server and Tools Business.

Cloudy credentials: Nadella’s work led him to his most recent role as executive vice president of the Cloud and Enterprise group. His official biography lists him as in charge of “building and running the company’s computing platforms, developer tools and cloud services.”
In this position, he’s been credited with shaping Microsoft’s Cloud OS strategy, the backend system for its online services.
Cloud OS helps run Microsoft services like Bing, SkyDrive, Xbox Live, Windows Server, and Visual Studio. These services, especially Office, rank among Microsoft’s strongest.
Industry reaction: Analysts seem to consider Nadella a safe pair of hands, and someone who’s unlikely to change Microsoft’s direction too much.
“He is the right person to drive safe, right down the middle of the fairway, and continue Microsoft's strengths,” Rajeev Chand, research head of a tech investment bank, told India’s Economic Times. “What we don't know is will Nadella help with the consumer revival, or with the mobile revival. Mobile is an open hole in his background.”
Choosing a man with little mobile experience to lead a company in dire need of a mobile strategy may seem inadvisable. Nadella, however, has shown an aptitude for adapting to new environments in the past by changing jobs every few years.
“Always keep learning,” he told the Deccan Chronicle. “You stop doing useful things if you don’t learn.”

Chatpata Churan with Kapil

Kapil Sharma needs no introduction! The stand up comedian has carved a niche for himself on Indian Television with his talent and his very popular show 'Comedy Nights with Kapil' that airs on Colors.

We all know that the entire industry is going ga-ga over his show and the audiences are also trying their best to promote the show in their own way.

But now what we have come across is something beyond imagination. It has been noticed that a local digestive 'churan' is named after Kapil Sharma. It is named as 'Comedy Kapil Chatpata Churan', isn't that amusing?

When Kapil Sharma learnt about it, he tweeted, 'Lo... Bus isi ki kami thi ab...'

Do check the Chatpata Churan picture!!!

PepsiCo CEO Writes Letters To Her Employees' Parents

Indra Nooyi

Since becoming CEO of one of the largest multinational food and beverage companies in the world, PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi has made bonding with key employees a top priority.
Apparently, that also includes bonding with their parents.
In a candid interview with Fortune at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, Nooyi revealed that when she first took over the company in 2006, she decided to write personal letters to each of her direct reports' parents thanking them for "the gift" of their children.
"It dawned on me that all of my executives who worked for me are also doing a damn good job, but I'd never told their parents what a great job their parents had done for them," Nooyi said. "I'd never done that."
Coming from a close-knit family herself, Nooyi has long emphasized the importance of family and strong bonds as factors in her own success. Over her tenure, she's worked to overcome obstacles such as intense scrutiny of new Pepsi products and the decline in soda consumption in the U.S. by focusing on strengthening the Pepsi team.
Nooyi believes new company leaders should work "to bond employees to the company" and focus on engaging them "with their hearts" as much as their minds in order to build loyalty and morale. And she's not the only one to focus on the parents of her staff. Several companies, including Google and LinkedIn, now host annual Take Your Parents To Work Days, when parents are welcomed to the office to learn about their kids' jobs.
However, Nooyi does admit that w riting letters to your employees' parents  is not for the faint of heart.  The letters "opened up emotions of the kind I have never seen," she said. "Parents wrote back to me, and all of a sudden, parents of my direct reports, who are all quite grown-up, and myself, we had our own communication.
"And one executive," Nooyi continues, "went home and he said to his mom, 'You know, my boss is really giving me a tough time.' And his mom told him, 'Nuh-uh, not about her. She's my friend!"

Sahara Career Thon

Sahara group, whose legal battle with Sebi continues in Supreme Court over refund of over Rs 20,000 crore to investors, has made a surprise announcement of plans being afoot to hire over 56,000 new employees this year along with investments to the tune of nearly Rs 32,400 crore.
In three-page newspaper advertisements, the group has invited applications for senior positions across business verticals within and outside country and said that these more than 56,000 new jobs need to be filled by the end of 2014.
In three-page newspaper advertisements, the group has invited applications for senior positions across business verticals within and outside country and said that these more than 56,000 new jobs need to be filled by the end of 2014.
At the same time, it has also claimed that the group, which calls itself Sahara India Pariwar, is “committed to creating four lakh salaried positions in next three years”.
The businesses for which job applications have been invited include FMCG & retail, dairy, poultry, luxury real estate and lifestyle, food factory, low-cost housing, CSR, education and even cruises (Sahara Water Homes).
The businesses for which job applications have been invited include FMCG & retail, dairy, poultry, luxury real estate and lifestyle, food factory, low-cost housing, CSR, education and even cruises (Sahara Water Homes).
Besides job details, the group also disclosed specific investment targets for at least four business verticals and these investments total to an amount of Rs 32,394 crore.
For its ‘Luxury Retail: Sahara Global Master craft Ltd’ business, the group said that an investment of Rs 1,400 crore would be made over five years, while Rs 5,172 crore would be invested in Food & Beverages and Entertainment: QSR (Quick Service Restaurants).
Its ‘International Business: Macedonia (Europe)’ business is expected to see an investment of Rs 13,922 crore in dairy project and Rs 9,600 crore in hospitality project.
Further, healthcare would seen an investment of Rs 2,300 crore for 5-7 years, according to the public notice.
The group also claimed a huge asset base with a market value of “Rs 1, 52,518 crore” and a land bank of 36,631 acres.
This massive recruitment drive comes at a time when the group is caught in a legal battle with Sebi, which had charged it of raising over Rs 24,000 crore through various “illegalities” in issuance of certain bonds through two firms.
These two firms — Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIREC) and Sahara India Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHIC)– were asked to refund the money to investors, while the Supreme Court also asked the group to comply with Sebi orders.
Sahara group later deposited Rs 5,120 crore with Sebi and claimed that it was way above the outstanding amount due to be returned to investors as more than Rs 20,000 crore were already refunded directly.
The Supreme Court has refused to allow Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy to leave the country till the companies provide details of refunding Rs 20,000 crore to investors.
The apex court last week asked the group to furnish all the documents to reveal the source of Rs 22,885 crore which it claims to have refunded to the investors.
Besides, the group was directed to place all documents including the bank statements sought by Sebi before February 11 when the court would take up the case for further hearings.