Pratt and Whitney to set up engineering centre in Bengaluru

To be operational in 2023, facility will be fifth globally

Aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney (PW) on Monday said it will set up an engineering centre in Bengaluru, that is slated to commence operations in January 2023.

The centre, which will be its first facility in Asia Pacific and fifth globally, will enable the firm to offer engineering services on contract to its domestic and international customers, a spokesperson said.

PW’s integrated global engineering operations currently has centres in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Poland.

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NLCIL chief gets award

Rakesh Kumar, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NLC India Ltd (NLCIL), was recently conferred with the ‘Top Rankers Excellence – CEO of the Year Award’, according to a press release issued by NLCIL.

The award is instituted by a private agency – Top Rankers Management Club. He was also given the ‘CEO Leadership Excellence Award’, the release said.

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IMF Managing Director Appoints Krishna Srinivasan as Director of the Asia and Pacific Department

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announced today her intention to appoint Krishna Srinivasan as Director of the Asia and Pacific Department (APD). Mr. Srinivasan’s appointment as APD Director becomes effective on June 22, 2022. He will succeed Changyong Rhee, whose retirement from the Fund was announced on March 23, 2022.

Mr. Srinivasan, an Indian national, has more than 27 years of Fund experience, starting in the Economist Program in 1994. He is currently a Deputy Director in APD, where he oversees the department’s surveillance work on a number of large and systemically important countries such as China and Korea, and smaller states in the Pacific such as Fiji and Vanuatu. He also oversees APD’s work on key ASEAN countries, namely Malaysia and Singapore, as well-advanced economies, including Australia and New Zealand. During the Global Financial Crisis, while in the Research Department (RES), Mr. Srinivasan led the Fund’s work on the G20 including the preparation of analytical notes for the meetings of the G20 Ministers and Leaders.

“Krishna is a highly regarded member of our Fund family and has made many important and innovative contributions to our mission throughout his career at the Fund. His appointment to the Director position is a culmination of his superior record of leadership across a wide range of departments, including African Department (AFR), European Department (EUR), Monetary and Capital Market Department (MCM), RES, Strategy, Policy and Review Department (SPR), and West Hemisphere Department (WHD). This range of work and experiences is reflective of his career during which he has worked on the full spectrum of the Fund’s membership from low-income countries, to emerging markets, and advanced economies,” said Ms. Georgieva.

Prior to joining the Fund, Mr. Srinivasan was an Assistant Professor of Economics and International Finance at Indiana-Purdue University and a consultant at the World Bank in DC and the Center for Policy Research and Planning Commission in New Delhi. His wide research on Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and on climate and other economic and development issues has appeared in books, academic journals, and media publications.

Mr. Srinivasan holds a PhD (Honors) in Economics from Indiana University, a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, and a Bachelor’s (Honors) in Economics from the University of Delhi.

imf.org

Guterres appoints ex-diplomat of India Amandeep Sing Gill as technology envoy

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday appointed former Indian diplomat Amandeep Singh Gill as his envoy on technology to coordinate programmes for international digital cooperation.

Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced the appointment calling Gill a “thought leader on digital technology”.

Gill, who graduated from the Panjab University in Chandigarh in BTech in electronics, has a doctorate in nuclear learning in multilateral forums from the King’s College in London.

According to the UN, the envoy on technology “coordinates the implementation of the Secretary-General’s roadmap on digital cooperation and will advance work towards the global digital compact proposed in the common agenda, in close consultation with the member states, technology industry, private companies, civil society, and other stakeholders”.

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** Gautam Adani, advocate Karuna Nundy, jailed activist Khurram Parvez in TIME’s 100 most influential list

Apart from them, Indian American Bela Bajaria, the head of Global TV at OTT platform, Netflix, is also part of TIME’s list.

TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2022 includes billionaire Gautam Adani, advocate Karuna Nundy, who has been championing the cause of the criminalisation of marital rape in India, and human rights activist Khurram Parvez, who is currently in jail as part of an investigation in a terror-funding case in Kashmir.

Apart from them, Indian American Bela Bajaria, the head of Global TV at OTT platform, Netflix, is also part of TIME’s list.

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** World Economic Forum forms Indian CEOs’ alliance to supercharge race to net-zero

The World Economic Forum on Monday announced a new ‘Alliance of CEO Climate Action Leaders India’ that will work towards fast-tracking decarbonisation pathways along India’s net-zero journey.

A collaboration between Kearney and Observer Research Foundation, the Alliance brings together chief executives from India’s leading businesses. The Alliance is part of the Forum’s Climate Action Platform and will build upon learnings from global projects such as the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders and the First Movers Coalition.

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Delhi Airport replaces Dubai as the world’s second busiest airport in March: Report

The Delhi Airport was in 23rd place in March 2019 before the pandemic.

Delhi Airport was the world’s second busiest airport in March 2022 in terms of domestic and international flights handled, said Official Airline Guide (OAG), a global travel data provider, in its recent report.

Whilst Atlanta retains its position as largest, Dubai is knocked out of second place this month (March) by Delhi which moves up from third place last month (February),” the OAG’s report mentioned.

The Delhi Airport was in 23rd place in March 2019 before the pandemic, it added. In March this year, airports in Atlanta in the US, Delhi in India and Dubai in the UAE handled 4.42 million, 3.61 million and 3.55 million seats, it mentioned.

dnaindia.com

** At $76.6 billion, India is third highest military spender in world, says report

According to data published by SIPRI, the top five military spenders—the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom, and Russia—accounted for 62 per cent of the global military expenditure.

India was the third-highest military spender in the world behind the US and China as the global defence expenditure reached an all-time high of $2.1 trillion in 2021, hitting record levels despite the coronavirus pandemic, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said Monday.

According to data published by SIPRI, the top five military spenders—the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom, and Russia—accounted for 62 per cent of the global military expenditure.

SIPRI said India’s military spending, amounting to $76.6 billion in 2021, grew by 0.9 per cent from 2020 and by 33 per cent from 2012. “Amid ongoing tensions and border disputes with China and Pakistan that occasionally spill over into armed clashes, India has prioritized the modernization of its armed forces and self-reliance in arms production,” according to the report.

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** N. Sankar: An innings of understated achievement ends

The chairman of the chemicals-to-shipping Sanmar Group passed away on Sunday

N. Sankar, 76, chairman of the home-grown chemicals-to-shipping conglomerate Sanmar Group, passed away at his residence here on Sunday after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife Chandra, son Vijay Sankar, who is the Deputy Chairman of the $1-billion group, and a daughter Madhurika, who is a venture investor and writer.

The elder of industrialist K.S. Narayanan’s two sons, Sankar obtained a B.Sc.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the AC College of Technology and a master’s degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.

A third-generation entrepreneur, Sankar started his career as a 21-year-old trainee at the group’s flagship chemicals company, Chemplast, in 1967, when his father was overseeing the business. At 26, he made his first entrepreneurial move by helming the acquisition of a major stake in Industrial Chemicals and Monomers, a carbide manufacturing company.

His stewardship of Chemplast, and the Sanmar Group as a whole, saw the group widen and enlarge its industrial and business footprint significantly. A pioneer in PVC manufacture, Sankar came up with some of the original choices for highly integrated manufacturing processes at various facilities of Chemplast.

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** Inc’s biggest merger: Merged HDFC entity to overtake TCS, second only to RIL

In the biggest merger in the history of India Inc, mortgage firm HDFC Ltd will merge with HDFC Bank, creating a banking behemoth with a market capitalisation of Rs 14 lakh crore.

After the merger, HDFC Bank will be 100 per cent owned by public shareholders, and existing shareholders of HDFC Ltd will own 41 per cent of HDFC Bank. Shareholders of HDFC Ltd will receive 42 shares of HDFC Bank (face value of Re 1 each) for 25 shares of HDFC Ltd of Rs 2 each — a ratio of 1:1.68.

Following the announcement by HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, HDFC Bank shares shot up by 9.97 per cent to Rs 1,656.45 on the BSE Monday. HDFC Ltd shares rose by 9.30 per cent to close at 2,678.90.

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