News in numbers | Print publications rise in India

The number of registered print publications grew to 105,443 in March 2015, an increase of about 12% over the March 2013 figure

After losing out to Gujarat in two of the last three years, Maharashtra is prepping itself for a return to the top of the list of states in terms of investments drawn in calendar 2015. Government data on memorandums signed in 2015, till June, between states and entrepreneurs for projects that were implemented shows Maharashtra leading Rajasthan and Gujarat. Since then, Maharashtra has beaten Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh for a $5 billion investment by Taiwanese company Foxconn, and also sealed two other significant deals with General Motors for a car factory and with the Anil Ambani group for an aerospace park.

6.6%

Percentage of people in Bihar in the age bracket of 20-34 years who were graduates, according to Census 2011. Among states and union territories, this is the third-lowest, after Tripura and Assam. Chandigarh was the highest, with 28.3%. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as part of a broadside on his party’s political rivals in the state, lamented the youth of Bihar were forced to leave the state because it did not provide them enough opportunities for higher education. Bihar goes to polls later this year.

0.03%

The lowest existing expense ratio for exchange traded funds (ETFs) in India currently. Expense ratio is the cost of managing a mutual fund scheme, expressed as a percentage of the assets managed by it. Mutual funds are slashing their fees, or expense ratios, in ETFs—which mirror stock indices—to attract investors. Before the recent cut, the lowest expense ratio for equity ETFs in India was 0.07%, whereas the average was 0.6%. Lower expense ratio of equity ETFs is cited as an advantage over actively-managed funds. The total assets under management in ETFs more than tripled from Rs.4,283 crore in May 2012 to Rs.14,008 crore in May 2015.

105,443

Print publications are receding in the West, but not in India. Not yet anyway. The number of registered print publications grew to 105,443 in March 2015, an increase of about 12% over the March 2013 figure. Among states, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi, in that order, have the highest number of registered publications. Even as the number of Internet users increases steadily in India, the print industry still commands about 43% share of all advertising revenue. A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers has predicted that while the global newspaper industry will continue to decline in established markets, countries such as China and India will be exceptions, accounting for 57.3% of global average daily print circulation in 2019.

1,500

The number of yoga asanas the Indian government has shortlisted in order to prevent foreign companies and individuals from obtaining patents or trademarks for ancient yoga techniques. The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a unit under the Ministry of Science and Technology, is responsible for challenging claims at global patent offices. As many as 250 asanas have been video-recorded, with an aim to complete the rest in about six months. In the last five to six years, TKDL has thwarted over 200 attempts to patent Indian products/techniques. A few days ago, a British company’s bid to patent a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green tea for hair loss treatment was foiled by India, which argued this was part of India’s traditional knowledge.

Source | Mint – The Wall Street Journal | 10 August 2015