Biztro

1. A house (or two) for Mr Agarwal

A detailed investigation by the New York Times into the foreign ownership of condos in an iconic Manhattan building—The Time Warner Center—has unearthed an Indian connection. Units 72B and 51E are owned by the Amantea Corporation, which has been traced to Vedanta’s Anil Agarwal. Documents confirm that he is behind condos purchased by the Amantea Corporation for $9.1 million in 2004, but his name doesn’t appear on public records. The deeds for two condos—one on the “maids floor” and another with sweeping views of Central Park —are signed by a New York lawyer.

Secret pharmaceutics deal with the US?

After US President Barack Obama’s visit, domestic drug makers suspect the government (read PMO) has committed relaxations in Indian patent law without so much as a by-your-leave from the Indian stakeholders, forget a parallel consultation within India. Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman has even said that India’s draft amended IP laws will be shown to the US before being finalised. Such unprecedented claims obviously have the pharma industry in a tizzy. What are the commitments that Michael Froman, head of the Office of the US Trade Representative, said India has agreed to when he spoke on oath in the US on January 27? Surprisingly, says a pharma industry source, officials of the health ministry, commerce ministry, even the department of pharmaceuticals, don’t know.

3. Is Deepak Parekh in the running for a top job?

One of corporate India’s top names—Deepak Parekh, the chairman of HDFC—appears to be in the running for a top government job. His name has apparently been shortlisted for India’s ambassador to the US. If so, that would be a complete U-turn for the Gujarati banker-businessman. In March 2002, he slammed the Modi government for the post-Godhra riots. In an interview with Indian Express, Parkeh said, “What is a government elected for? If they can’t protect innocent lives, they should go. Which kind of government allows the killing of women and children?” So, will Prime Minister Narendra Modi forgive and forget this time around? attacked by civil society. Pointing to major lacunae in the reports, development economists Jean Dreze and Reetika Khera sought to draw attention to the experiences of states like Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar, where reforms have sharply brought down the leakages through the PDS. Dreze warned against getting struck with “faulty numbers”.

Math

$ 16 billion The expected value of Indian e-commerce—valued at just $3 billion now—in 2016.

New definitions for broadband speeds
Peak internet usage in Europe is three minutes after the morning alarm

India’s Wikipedia fixation
No. of annual Wikipedia citations in India’s high courts.

Rs18,575 crore Record mutual fund inflow into India for 2014-15 (till January). It was `46,093 crore in 2013-14.

Mojo

An iconic symbol turns hundred

Coca-Cola’s contoured bottle—arguably the most successful manufactured artifact ever—celebrates a century. A Swedish engineer called Alex Samuelson designed the famous bottle, whose contours ape the curves of the nut. It was patented in 1915 and made public the following year. 

Mind

This week we learnt about…BBC’s ‘Sexy’ Economics Editor

Robert Peston the BBC’s economics editor, has written a fun column in the Evening Standard complaining of being “objectified” on primetime TV. His fans (many of whom we presume are women) seem more interested in his tousled tresses and sexy new specs.  Complaining about the attention, Peston writes, “There are plenty more, moaning about the way I speak, my suit, my scarf, my coat, complaining that I should have a different knot in my tie, insisting that I must be having some kind of breakdown, alleging (unfairly, I thought) that my shirts aren’t ironed, and repeating the terrible slur that my lack of grey hairs isn’t natural.”