As chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke cut interest rates to near zero, pumped about $1 trillion into the financial system and took many unconventional measures to battle against the financial crisis.
US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has been named as the 'Person of the Year 2009' by the leading American magazine Time. The 56-year-old Bernanke, who has been mainly credited for steering the ravaged American economy through the financial crisis, has been chosen from many finalists including US House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Jamaican athlete Usain Bolte.
Malvinder Mohan Singh stepped down as chairman, CEO and MD of Ranbaxy Laboratories within a year of its acquisition by Japanese giant Daiichi Sankyo, marking an end of family's 48-year long association with the company. "But it was the right time for me to do so. I leave with complete confidence that the initial transition phase that followed Daiichi Sankyo's acquisition of majority shareholding interest in Ranbaxy has been completed successfully," he said.
Tech Mahindra was declared as the highest bidder for Satyam at a price of Rs 58/share, after a global competitive bidding process. Satyam’s acquisition marks the entry of Tech Mahindra, which has so far focused on the telecom vertical, into other verticals such as financial services, healthcare, manufacturing. Anand Mahindra, chairman of Tech Mahindra, said, “This is a landmark development for Tech Mahindra.”
In July, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani today took over as head of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI), which has been tasked to create a national database of identity details of citizens.
Nilekani said the first set of database will be ready in 12 to 18 months time as announced by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget speech.
Chanda Kochhar took over as the CEO and managing director of ICICI Bank from KV Kamath, who became the non-executive chairman. Chanda Kochhar joined ICICI as a Management Trainee in 1984, after her Masters in Management Studies (Finance) from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.
At 71, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata has four years to select his successor but it is a $70 billion question that still no clear answer. And every time a possible candidate's name is tossed up it creates an obvious frenzy. The buzz is back again and Tata in an interview to an international publication has made it clear that his successor could well be an outsider, even a foreigner.
As the regulator of the securities market, Sebi chief CB Bhave brought in many changes that could change the face of the way Indian securities market operates: abolishing of entry load on mutual funds, bringing in primary market reforms, giving the nod for extended trading hours, SME exchanges, interest rate futures, among others.
What a year it’s been for D Subbarao, the governor of RBI, from managing the fallout of the worst financial crisis in recent history by cutting rates at a record pace to shifting its focus to issues closer home, like the fast rising prices of essential items. At a time when the global recovery is still weak and India is seeing a rebound in economic growth RBI governor D Subbarao still faces the challenges of balancing growth and inflation.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee set the tone of the UPA government’s agenda by unveiling a budget that was overwhelmingly tilted in favor of rural India. And in a year in which the agricultural production was hit due to deficient monsoon, the budget helped the prop up rural demand. Though the budget was short of big-bang announcements and resorted to higher fiscal deficit targets, the fiscal sops helped to stabilise the Indian economy amid a global financial crisis. And the government’s roadmap for disinvestment also signals its intent to unlock value from the PSUs.
RIL, controlled by Mukesh Ambani, and RNRL, run by Anil Ambani, are engaged in a high profile legal battle in Supreme Court over the pricing of natural gas from the RIL’s in the Krishna Godavari basin.
Bharti was in exclusive talks with South African MTN for a deal that would have created the third largest global telecom player with revenues of 20 billion dollars and over 200 million subscribers. After the deal collapsed, Sunil Mittal, CMD of Bharti Airtel, said, "We had a target. We worked for very long (for deal with MTN) but it did not work,” adding that "you cannot predict cross-border deals, issues keep coming up and we were trying to overcome hurdles."
Telecom Minister A Raja was under attack over allocation of spectrum.
Union Minister for Surface Transport and Highways has laid out an ambitious target of building 20 km of road per day. He has also pushed through some changes to simplify the process for road-building projects.
Steve Jobs has been credited to single-handedly saving Apple, bringing in a revolution in online music, creating a world-beating smartphone and leading Pixar to dominate computer animation. So it's no surprise that Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was named CEO of the decade on Thursday by Fortune magazine, which said that Jobs' success in reordering four industries - computers, music, movies and mobile telephones - was "unheard of."
A federal judge rejected sentenced Bernard Madoff to spend the rest of his life in prison for an "extraordinarily evil" fraud that took a staggering toll on thousands of victims. The massive Ponzi scheme run by Madoff since at least the early 1990s demolished the life savings of thousands of people, wrecked charities and shook confidence in the USfinancial system. US District Judge Denny Chin cited the unprecedented nature of the multibillion-dollar fraud as he sentenced Madoff to the maximum of 150 years in prison, a term comparable only to those given in the past to terrorists, traitors and the most violent criminals.
Though the GST is some distance away from being implemented, as chairman of the empowered committee of state finance ministers, Asim Dasgupta has managed to bring about a consensus among the states and outlined a roadmap for its implementation. Asim Dasgupta, who is also the long-time finance minister of West Bengal, had also overseen the implementation of VAT as chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on VAT.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had to oversee a sector that was hit by a lot of turbulence in 2009 amid an economic slowdown and rising operational costs: airline strikes, Air India’s liquidity issues, layoffs, rising airport charges and taxation on aviation turbine fuel, among others.
Deepak Parekh, Chairman and CEO of the country's largest mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corporation, will step down after serving the bank for 31 years. Parekh will, however, continue as non-executive Chairman of HDFC, the holding company of its group ventures, including HDFC Bank, founded by his uncle Hasmukhbhai Parekh in 1977. Deepak Parekh assumed the role of Chairman and CEO in 1993. Under his leadership, HDFC has grown from its humble beginning into a major player with its activities diversifying into banking, asset management, life insurance, general insurance and real estate venture fund. He has been a member of various government appointed committees and advisory panels, including the board that moved quickly to stabilise the fraud-hit Satyam Computers.
After deftly capitalizing on the financial crisis with a series of bold deals, Warren Buffet agreed to buy the 131-year-old railroad company Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate he runs, will spend roughly $26 billion for the 77.4 per cent of the railroad company.
Citigroup Inc., led by Vikram Pandit, will repay $20 billion in aid to taxpayers, marking the latest step toward recovery for the US financial system. The move frees the bank from the close regulatory scrutiny that accompanied aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which the government put in place at the height of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008.
General Motors's new chairman, Edward Whitacre Jr, in a new television ad. Whitacre has shaken up the management ranks of General Motors after he took over as chief executive, by promoting a cadre of young executives to carry out his mandate for change. Edward Whitacre retired as chairman and chief executive of AT&T in 2007, after a 44-year career in the telecommunications industry. Whitacre was approached by President Barack Obama’s auto task force to lead a drastically remade board of directors at GM as its chairman. Since emerging from bankruptcy, GM has managed to hang on to most of its United States market share.
A federal grand jury formally indicted Raj Rajaratnam and Danielle Chiesi, accusing the billionaire founder of the Galleon Group and the former Bear Stearns hedge fund manager of operating at the center of a vast insider trading ring that profited from corporate secrets passed between an extensive network of informants. (NYT image)
In January, B. Ramalinga Raju, the founder of Satyam Computer Services, admitted of cooking up the financial books of Satyam to the extent of Rs 7,800 crore. The CBI now estimates that the loss suffered by investors in the Satyam scam may stretch to a staggering Rs 14,000 crore, nearly double of what it was estimated to be earlier. Raju was also named among the most outrageous CEOs of 2009 by Forbes.
Less than a year after grasping two multibillion-dollar bailouts from Washington, a resurgent Bank of America announced recently that it would repay all of its federal aid. But for Bank of America and its beleaguered leader, Kenneth Lewis, the turnabout is particularly sweet. Lewis was driven first from his role as chairman and then from his post as chief executive after the bank’s controversial takeover of Merrill Lynch last year. Now, with only weeks remaining in his tenure, he has managed to extricate Bank of America – not long ago regarded as one of the nation’s most troubled big banks – from Washington’s grip.
