Goodbye Bank Secrecy, Goodbye Switzerland
From start of 2012 to May 2013, the number of foreign owned Swiss banks has fallen from 145 to 129(though it remains the biggest centre for global offshore wealth with $ 2.2 trillion i.e. 26% of the market, which was 27% in 2012). Example:- Lloyds Banking Group, Commerzbank, etc Reasons• Recent shake up in Europe’s economy • In 2012, one-third of banks had fund outflows • One bank in 6 recorded losses Hence many banks are reviewing their geographical footprint, specially in the offshore markets. Moreover, a combination of government actions from the US & EU and the increased regulatory pressure is likely to trigger more such changes, because it will only make it a more costly affair to do business. Smaller players will be forced to close or to merge with larger banks.

Switzerland will have to develop new products and services to attract foreign clients, now that banking secrecy argument has been solved in the recent.

Air-Asia to focus on India’s under-utilised airports
Budget airline carrier Air-Asia (which will launch later this year) is looking forward to:• Add 10 aircrafts annually • Focus operations on country's under-utilised airports as a part of expansion plan • To focus on South India first before expanding operations in the rest of the country The success will depend a lot on the cost structure & the marketing, says CEO Air-Asia. They are hopeful of achieving scale through lower-priced tickets & cutting costs by offering tickets online and keeping the agents away. Basically they want to have lowest fares & improved connectivity and tapping many routes that have potential. They will keep away from the metro airports of Delhi & Mumbai for the time being. They are going to face not only stiff competition in the domestic market, but also their margins will shrink with the fall in rupee.

Carmakers feel the heat as sales fail to sizzle
Despite record discounts, finance options & freebies, the car sales in India took a hit for the 8th straight month. Tata Motors sales fell the highest (33%), followed by Toyota (20%), GM (14%), M&M (13%), & even country’s top carmaker Maruti Suzuki (8%). Prime Reasons :• Depreciating Rupee • Spiralling fuel costs caused by the above • High Interest Rates • Additional Excise Duty on SUVs. However, Hyundai managed to marginally grow in sales by a strong portfolio & customer focus of its dealers. The sales of Ford, Audi & Mercedes Benz showed an upward trend too.

India slips on Global Retailer’s most attractive list
• Countries like Kazakhstan, Turkey & Armenia have pushed India to 14th position in the most attractive destination for global retailers from 5th last year. This is despite the government allowing 100% FDI in single brand retail but today it is still not easy to translate the business models into profits...though corruption has lessened the cost of business in India. Multi-brand players are having a “wait & see” approach as they are apprehensive of the way the policy will be implemented. The political uncertainty has affected the ranking the most

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Gas hike leaves Amma combustible
• • • Jayalalitha became the first CM to take on New Delhi & the Reliance industries in lieu of the recent doubling of the gas prices. She accuses that the rise was done to benefit the Reliance Industries The reports before have also suggested that probably Reliance Industries is producing far less produce from the KG-D6 basin and this new price hike will only lead to the company making huge profits. The decline is because of technical reasons , so plants are operating at a fraction of their capacity.

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