FICCI against Govt subsidizing IIMs
FICCI has said the government should not subsidise IIMs, and permit time-tested and internationally-accepted alternatives to be offered to students, at much lower cost to the taxpayer and marginal cost to students.

FIICCI says the government should consider the immediate creation of US FAFSA-type infrastructure that has been working in the US to support meritorious students. This would impose a much smaller burden on the exchequer than what it would have to bear to keep the IIMs running, if student fees were slashed to Rs 30,000.

FICCI says under the lowered fee structure, the government would have to pay more than a crore per student at all the six IIMs immediately.

The FICCI position is likely to strengthen the argument put forward by students of the six IIMs as well as IIM Ahmedabad board chairman and Infosys mentor, N R Narayana Murthy, against the reduction of fees.
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Indian PC market grew at 19.5 pc: Gartner
According to research firm Gartner and Dataquest magazine the Indian personal computer market grew 19.5 per cent annually, and acquired an 8.64 per cent share in the Asia-Pacific region, with more than 2.5 million units shipped in 2003,

The survey said Hewlett-Packard claimed the top spot, clocking 9.6 per cent overall market share, up from 8.9 per cent last year while HCL finished a close second with 9.1 per cent market share in terms of unit shipment. IBM came in third, with 6.4 per cent, marking a better performance in the notebook segment where it ranked second after HP.

Following these were Dell Inc, Zenith Computer and `others' (the last segment claiming around 68.7 per cent market share against 73.95 per cent in 2002.)
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ICAI revises the preface to accounting norms
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has revised the `Preface,' to the statements of accounting standards issued by the institute and has said in the revised Preface that all accounting standards issued by the institute are "principle-based implying that they are not to be considered "rule-based."

According to senior accountants 'rule-based' accounting standards are prone to misuse as demonstrated in the events (corporate wrong doings such as Enron) that shook the US in recent years. Accountants say principle-based approach being adopted is much better.

To cite an example of rule based vis-à-vis principle-based approach they say in the case of consolidation of financial statements in a rule-based approach (like US GAAP), an entity with 50.1 per cent stake in another entity would alone be required to present consolidated financial statements while on the basis of principle-based approach of "control" the consolidation would be a must even if the holding is say 49.5 per cent and control is exercised through other routes.
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Personal credit quadruples since 2000
The personal credit outstanding in the country has increased four times and stood at Rs 160,000 crore in 2003 from Rs 35,000-40,000 crore in 2000, according to KSA Technopak.

The retail consultancy says this amounts to 12-14 per cent of the total consumer earnings of Rs 1,200,000-1,300,000 crore in a year but it is short of those in developed markets. In the UK, for instance, the personal credit outstanding is 1.1 times the total consumer earnings.

The credit economy is rising as decision-making is shifting towards the young as people below 35 make up 65 per cent of the population according to KSA Technopak.
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