CEOs of some major companies

Here is a list of the CEOs of some major companies:

1) Apple - Tim Cook

2) Nike - Mark Parker

3) Coca Cola - Muhtar Kent

4) Pepsi - Indra Nooyi

5) Microsoft - Steve Balmer

6) Intel - Paul Otellini

7) IBM - Ginni Rometty

8) Walmart - Mike Duke

9) Google - Larry Page

10) Yahoo - Scott Thompson

Union Bank of India - All you need to know

Union Bank of India was registered on 11 November, 1919 as a limited company in Mumbai and was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi. In 2008, Union Bank of India became the first public sector bank to bring all its branches under the Core Banking Solution(CBS).

Vision:

To become the bank of first choice in our chosen areas by building beneficial and lasting relationships with customers through a process of continuous improvement.

Mission:

• To be a customer centric organisation known for its differentiated customer service
• To offer a comprehensive range of products to meet all financial needs of customers
• To be a top creator of shareholder wealth through focus on profitable growth
• To be a young organization leveraging on technology and an experienced workforce
• To be the most trusted brand, admired by all stakeholders
• To be a leader in the area of Financial Inclusion

Tagline:

Good people to bank with.

Other details:

Chairman and CMD - M.V.Nair(from 2006)

Executive Director(s) - S.S.Mundra, S.K.Jain

Employees - 27746

Headquarters - Mumbai, India

Revenue - US $4.07 bllion(2011)

Assets - US $13.45 billion

Number of branches - 3050

Number of ATMs - 3025

Foreign branches - Hong Kong

SBI and its associate banks - All you need to know

Here is a list of people who head SBI and its associate banks:

1) State Bank of India - Pratip Chauduri - Chairman - From April 7,2011

2) State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur - Shiv Kumar - MD

3) State Bank of Hyderabad - M Bhagavantha Rao - MD

4) State Bank of Mysore - Dilip Mavinkurve - MD

5) State Bank of Patiala - Ashok Nayar - MD

6) State Bank of Travancore - P Nanda Kumaran - MD

Revenue(as of March, 2011):

1) State Bank of India - US $32.44 billion

2) State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur - US $0.911 billion

3) State Bank of Hyderabad - unknown

4) State Bank of Mysore - unknown

5) State Bank of Patiala - unknown

6) State Bank of Travancore - US $1.16 billion

Tag lines:

1) State Bank of India - Pure banking, Nothing else

2) State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur - The Bank with a vision

3) State Bank of Hyderabad - With you, Always

4) State Bank of Mysore - Working for a better tomorrow

5) State Bank of Patiala - Blending Modernity with Tradition

6) State Bank of Travancore - Since 1945. A long tradition of trust

CRR and SLR

Cash reserve Ratio (CRR) is the amount of Cash(liquid cash like gold) that the banks have to keep with the Central Bank. This Ratio is basically to secure solvency of the banks and to drain out the excessive money from the banks. If the Central Bank decides to increase the percent of this, the available amount with the banks comes down and if it reduces the CRR, then the available amount with Banks increased and they will be able to lend more.

Statutory Liquidity Ratio(SLR) is the amount a commercial bank needs to maintain in the form of cash, or gold or govt. approved securities (Bonds) before providing credit to its customers. SLR rate is determined and maintained by the Central Bank(Federal Bank in US and RBI in India) in order to control the expansion of bank credit.

Bank Rate, Repo Rate and Reverse Repo Rate

Bank rate, also referred to as the discount rate, is the rate of interest which a central bank charges on the loans and advances that it extends to commercial banks and other financial intermediaries. Changes in the bank rate are often used by central banks to control the Money supply

Repo or repurchase agreement is the rate at which the central bank of a country(Federal bank in case of US and RBI in case of India) lends to other banks. The banks which borrow money from Central Bank to meet short term needs have to sell securities, usually bonds to the Central Bank with an agreement to repurchase the same at a predetermined rate and date. In this way, for the lender of the cash (usually the Central Bank), the securities sold by the borrower are the collateral against default risk and for the borrower of cash (usually commercial banks), the cash received from the lender is the collateral.

Reverse Repo rate is the rate at which banks park their short-term excess liquidity with the Central Bank. The Central Bank uses this tool when it feels there is too much money floating in the banking system. An increase in the reverse repo rate means that the RBI will borrow money from the banks at a higher rate of interest. As a result, banks would prefer to keep their money with the RBI.

Tobin tax

A Tobin tax, suggested by Nobel Laureate economist James Tobin, was originally defined as a tax on all spot conversions of one currency into another. The tax is intended to put a penalty on short-term financial round-trip excursions into another currency. It discourages market speculators by making their activities uneconomic, and in this way, to increase stability in financial markets. The idea was originally pushed by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in response to the financial crisis. More recently it has been formally proposed by the European Commission, with some suggesting the revenue could be used to tackle the financial crisis. It is now opposed by the current UK government, which argues that to be effective, the tax would need to be applied globally - not just in the EU - as most financial activities could quite easily be relocated to another country in order to avoid the tax.

FDI cap in various sectors

Here is a list of maximum FDI allowed in various sectors in India:

Petroleum Refining - 100%

Petroleum Marketing - 100%

Oil Exploration - 100%

Coal and Lignite Fields - 100%

Power - 100%

Drugs and Pharmaceuticals - 100%

Roads, Ports, Harbors - 100%

Hotels - 100%

Advertising - 100%

Films - 100%

Special Economic Zones - 100%

Non Banking Finance Companies - 100%

Private Sector Banking - 74%

Telecommunications - 49%

Insurance - 26%

Deja vu

Déjà vu (French - "already seen") is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined. The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eeriness", "strangeness" or "weirdness". The "previous" experience is most frequently attributed to a dream, although in some cases there is a firm sense that the experience has genuinely happened in the past. The opposite of deja vu is jamais vu - in which a person cannot temporarily remember something that they are well acquainted with. For example, when you cannot recall a common word, you are in jamais vu. Sometimes, when some words are almost there at the tip of your tongue but you are unable to spell it out, it is called presque vu.

Unfriend

The world "Unfriend" has been added to the dictionary.

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, It is the word of the year for 2009!!! And It was a tight race indeed with words like "netbook", "sexting" and "hashtag" giving strong competition. After the selection, several critics argued that the proper term is "defriend" and not unfriend. Oxford's researchers claim that unfriend is the more commonly used of the two.

World's Top 10 Airlines

Here is a list of the top 10 airlines of the world in 2011 according to Skytrax ratings:

1. Qatar Airways

2. Singapore Airlines

3. Asiana Airlines

4. Cathay Pacific

5. Thai Airways

6. Etihad Airways

7.Air New Zealand

8. Qantas Airways

9. Turkish Airlines

10. Emirates

How Many Share Your Birthday

Nineteen Million!!!

And, how does one arrive at this calculation? In fact, Its simple math. There are 365 days in a year and one shares birthday with 1/365 of the total population. Rounding off the total population to be 7 billion, one would share birthday with over 19 million people around the world. But, if you are one of the very few people who are born on 29th February, you would share your birthday with only 4 million people!!!