1- Union Government imposes Anti-dumping duty on graphite electrodes imports

Union Ministry of Finance has imposed an anti-dumping duty on imports of graphite electrodes used in steel plants for five years. The imposed duty ranges between $278.19 and $922.03 per tonne.

The decision was taken following the recommendations of the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping Duty (DGAD).

Earlier, DGAD had initiated and conducted investigation into dumping, on complaints of domestic manufacturers- HEG and Graphite India With this move, government aims to protect the domestic industry from below-cost shipments of graphite electrodes.

It should be noted that the graphite electrodes are used in melting of steel.

What is Anti-Dumping Duty?

• It is duty imposed by government on imported products which have prices less than their normal values or domestic price.
• Usually countries initiate anti-dumping probes to check if domestic industry has been hurt because of a surge in below-cost imports.
• Anti-Dumping Duty is imposed under the multilateral WTO regime and vary from product to product and from country to country.
• In India, anti-dumping duty is recommended by the Union Ministry of Commerce, while the Union Finance Ministry imposes it.

2- Punit Renjen appointed as CEO of Deloitte’s global operations

Punit Renjen

Punit Renjen was appointed as the Chief executive officer (CEO) of accounting giant Deloitte’s global operations.

He will succeed Barry Salzberg and assume his new role of Deloitte Global CEO from 1 June 2015. Currently he is serving as US business Chairman and CEO of the Deloitte group.

Deloitte is U.S. based accounting giant which is present across 150 countries including India and employs over two lakh people. It is one of the four largest audit firms in the world and competes with PwC, KPMG and EY.

With this appointment, Punit Renjen is the first Indian-origin person to head a Big-Four global audit firms. He also has joined a growing list of persons of Indian origin who have made to the top posts at multi-billion dollar global corporations. This list includes Indira Nooyi of PepsiCo, Satya Nadela of Microsoft and Anshu Jain of Deutsche Bank.

About Punit Renjen

• Punit Renjen hails from Rohtak, Haryana.
• He grew up in India and holds a bachelor’s degree with honours and a master’s degree in management from Willamette University, U.S.
• Renjen has rich and wide experience of 27 years with Deloitte and has held a number of leadership positions, including chairman and CEO of Deloitte Consulting LLP.
• In addition, he also had served as a member of the board of directors of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (Deloitte Global).
• Renjen was also Chairman of the Deloitte Foundation board of directors.
• In 2007, he was named inConsulting magazine’s Top 25 Most Influential Consultants.

3- Jawed Usmani takes oath as Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of UP

Jawed Usmani

Former IAS officer Jawed Usmani took oath as Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of Uttar Pradesh (UP).

He was administered oath to office by Governor of UP Ram Naik at a function at Raj Bhawan in Lucknow. He was sworn-in to office after he had taken voluntary retirement as Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Revenue.

Background

Jawed Usmani was appointed as UP CIC in November 2014. But during this appointment, he was the chairman of Uttar Pradesh Board of Revenue.

He was able to take over as state CIC as Right to Information Act, 2005 has provision mentioning that any person while he/she is in government service cannot be can be appointed to this statutory post.

About Jawed Usmani

• Jawed Usmani is a 1978 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.
• He holds MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad and MSc degree in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics.
• Earlier, he had served as secretary in Union coal ministry and also as joint secretary to the several Prime Ministers including H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral and Atal Bihari Vajpayee from 1996 to 2001.
• He also had served as joint secretary of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh between 2004 and 2007
• He was a senior advisor to the Executive Director at the World Bank in Washington DC and Minister of Economic Cooperation at the Embassy of India in Nepal.
• In 2012, he had served as Chief Secretary in Uttar Pradesh.

4- Infosys acquires automation tech firm Panaya for $200 million

India’s software services giant Infosys has announced to acquire to acquire US-based automation technology firm Panaya.

In this regard, Infosys has signed a definitive agreement to fully acquire Panaya for an enterprise value of $200 million (1200 crore rupees) in cash.

Acquisition of Panaya is part of Infosys new strategy to enhance its competitiveness and productivity of current service lines by leveraging automation, innovation and artificial intelligence. It also the first major acquisition since Vishal Sikka took over as the CEO and MD of the company.

Panaya was founded in 2005 in Israel by its current CEO Doron Gerstel. It has around 50 employees and its clients include Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Bosch, Whirlpool, GSK and Siemen .

Panaya is the Infosy’s second largest acquisition after it had acquired Zurich-based consulting company in 2012 for around $350 million.

5- Veteran journalist, cartoonist Rajinder Puri passes away

Rajinder Puri

Veteran journalist, cartoonist and political activist Rajinder Puri has passed away on 15 February 2015 in New Delhi. He was 80.

About Rajinder Puri

• Rajinder Puri was born in on 20 September 1934 in Karachi (in undivided India) now in Pakistan.
• His distinguished career as journalist and cartoonist spanned for more than six decades.
• He drew cartoons for international daily The Statesman in 1956-57. Later he drew cartoons briefly for international newspapers like The Guardian and The Glasgow Herald (1958–59).
• He was associated with Hindustan Times from 1959 to 1967. From 1972 to 1977, he was the editor and proprietor of Stir Weekly.
• Rajinder Puri was the founding General Secretary of the Janata Party in 1977.
• He has authored many books which includes India 1969: a crisis of conscience (1971), India the wasted years: 1969-1975 (1975), Government that works– and how! (1989), Recovery of India (1992), Bull’s Eye (2004).

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