ICICI, India's largest private sector bank, plans to open three more branches in the UK in the next six months and consolidate its global operations.

"We opened two branches during the last one week – one in Frankfurt in Germany and another in New York on Saturday and we plan to consolidate our international operations now," bank's executive director Sonjoy Chatterjee said.

The Bank currently has nine branches in the UK and presence in 18 other countries including Russia and Canada.

"We will have another three branches in the UK in the next six months," he said.

The bank also has an offshore banking unit in Singapore, an advisory branch in Dubai, branches in Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Belgium, Qatar, and representative offices in China, UAE, Bangladesh, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

The Mumbai-based bank has consolidated total assets of about 115 billion dollars (about Rs.4,589.5 billion) as on December 31, 2007.

Sonjoy and his wife Ameeta were felicitated in London last evening by Vascroft Contractors Ltd for his "outstanding performance and his recent promotion as the Executive Director of ICICI bank. He was earlier Chief Executive of the ICICI, UK and Europe.

Arjan Vekaria, Vascroft chief, said "through his sheer dedication and hardwork, Sonjoy has made every Indian in the UK very proud."

Sonjoy said more and more leading Companies in the UK should engage themselves with India as the country was on a tremendous growth path.


Courtesy : WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

Gujarat is paying a heavy price in the form of burgeoning pollution levels for the rapid development of industries and urban transportation in the state, as revealed by the Socio-Economic Review for 2007-08.

The Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), Naroda, comes out with the dubious distinction of being the most polluting area in Gujarat, reveal figures of yearly average in seven cities.

Under a national project, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) monitors the ambient air quality at various locations in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Vapi, Ankleshwar, Rajkot and Jamnagar.

The annual status released in the Socio-Economic Survey 2007-08 admits that the suspended particulate matter (SPM) and respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) are on the higher side of the permissible limits of 100 micrograms per cubic metre. The reasons are attributed to vehicular emissions and dusting due to the semi-arid climate and soil pattern of the state.

Though the levels of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide have been shown within permissible limits during 2007-08, there is no reason to be overjoyed, as the figures indicate an yearly average, and air pollution also remains under control on days like Diwali or Sundays when vehicular emissions remain low compared to other days.

According to the survey, the Naroda GIDC remains at the top of the most polluted list with 329 SPM levels followed by CETP Nandesari (326). In RSPM levels, Nandesari is worst hit with regard to average RSPM levels at 171 throughout the year under review. Overall, among cities, Ahmedabad remains the most polluted followed by Vadodara and Rajkot.

Sanjiv Tyagi, member-secretary of GPCB, said he could not comment on the report, as he did not have details. Dipak Babaria, who has been connected with industrial associations on pollution matters, said nothing much was being done in the name of follow-up action after monitoring the air and water quality.

“Polluting units with clout have political protection and succeed in slowing down action against them,” he said.

In 2007, the state government started a new scheme ‘State Air Monitoring Programme’ to tackle the rising air pollution.

Under this, 24 monitoring stations have been set up to cover areas of major industrial and urban centres, including the Kandla-Gandhidham belt, the Morbi-Wankaner belt and Alang and Bhavnagar.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com