17 APRIL 2016

Ø  A U.S. grand jury has imposed a $940-million fine on two companies of the Tata group in a trade secrets lawsuit filed against them. After days of hearings, the federal grand jury in Wisconsin ruled that Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Tata America International Corp. must pay $240 million to Epic Systems for ripping off its software. The Tatas have also been asked to pay another $700 million in punitive damages. In a lawsuit, filed in October 2014 in the U.S. District Court in Madison, which was amended in January and December 2015, Epic Systems had accused TCS and Tata America International of “brazenly stealing” its trade secrets, confidential information, documents and data. Epic said TCS took that data while consulting for its customer.

Ø  Contrary to speculation that India and France have reached an agreement for the direct purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets, official sources said talks on pricing had reached a critical phase and were expected to be completed in a few months. Sources said the differences over pricing had narrowed down considerably, and the talks were in the final phase. While the French offer was about €11 billion, India said it would not go beyond €8 billion. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has clarified on various occasions that there will be no compromise on the price. However, the talks to conclude the deal were gridlocked over offset requirements, customisations as sought by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and pricing.

Ø  All India Radio (AIR) officials are calling it a soft diplomatic initiative involving the humble radio. But when President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) transmitter in Chinsurah (West Bengal) on June 28 to broadcast to Bangladesh a mix of programmes from AIR’s External Services Division, officials will also be asking who is going to tune into the services on digital mode? While the UPA government did not tap the potential of AIR, the NDA has done so effectively with Prime Minister Narendra Modi using it to share his monthly Mann Ki Baat. Encouraged by the success of the programme, the AIR’s External Services Division is reaching out to Pakistan and Bangladesh, with a two-fold objective: To reach listeners in these countries and counter Chinese Radio International, which has a sizeable audience there. But what has stumped many is the continued use of DRM transmitters — which are powerful, yet under-utilised as digital receivers are expensive. Why not use the cheaper FM instead? The DRM super transmitter costs over Rs. 80 crore and has found few takers in India as it requires expensive receivers, which cost over Rs. 8,000.

Ø  India and the U.S. may not have signed the Logistics Support Agreement as planned during Defence Secretary Ashton Carter’s visit early this week but both sides are close to finalising an Information Exchange Agreement (IEA) on aircraft carrier technologies, as well as cooperation on air wing operations for carrier Vikrant under construction at Kochi. The IEA will formalise the exact technology that the U.S. will share and at what classification level, design side, operations among other things, a senior U.S. Admiral said. Both sides had already signed the Terms of Reference on June 17, 2015 during the first meeting of the India-U.S. Joint Working Group (JWG) on carrier technology cooperation. Once the IEA is in place a case will be put under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme of the U.S. government under which the Electro Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) technology will be sold to India, if the Navy decides to buy it. The IEA found mention in the joint statement issued after talks between Mr. Carter and his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar. India and the U.S. agreed to cooperate on aircraft carrier technologies as part of six “path-finder” projects under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative during President Barack Obama’s visit to India in January last year.

Ø  The Army’s tank line during the exercise ‘Shatrujeet’ in the deserts of Bikaner district of Rajasthan.

Ø  The New Development Bank (NDB), formed by the BRICS group of emerging nations, has approved its first loans — $811 million for renewable energy projects in Brazil, China, India and South Africa, Russian news agencies reported. The BRICS bank, with authorised capital of $100 billion, started work last year on funding initiatives for infrastructure projects in emerging markets and in its initial foray has lent $300 million to Brazil, $81 million to China, $250 million to India and $180 million to South Africa.