NARAYANA MURTHY LOGS OUT OF BANGALORE AIRPORT 

A miffed NR Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies, has resigned from the chairmanship of the Bangalore International Airport Limited following a remark made by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.
Deve Gowda had said that the Infosys boss had made no contribution in the last five years to bring the Bangalore International Airport Limited to fruition.
The outbursts by Gowda and some Karnataka ministers on the IT industries in the state, and in particular on Infosys and Narayana Murthy, is likely to make an adverse impact on the investment growth in Karnataka, including Mysore, which is identified as the second growth centre in the state.

REDDY EYE ON INFLATION
 

As the quintessential central banker, he cannot shut his eyes to inflation, a scary loan growth, new uncertainties and hints of asset bubbles in real estate. 
RBI chief YV Reddy, has tried to balance the different roles in his monetary policy statement. 
Fearing inflation will cross the 5-5.5 per cent target, Reddy announced a 25 basis points hike in the reverse repo rate - a short interest rate at which the RBI takes money from banks — from 5 per cent to 5.25 
per cent. 
“The FM had said he will wait to see what RBI does... now I will wait for his measures," Reddy said in a lighter vein.

KBC RAKES IN MOOLAH 

Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) has turned out to be a big money spinner for the STAR network in India. The 330 episodes that have been aired have already earned advertising revenue of Rs 380 to Rs 410 crore and the remaining 50-odd episodes are likely to rake in another Rs 360 to Rs 380 crore. 
"By the time KBC-II winds up in February 2006, it would manage to generate additional advertising worth over Rs 360 to Rs 380 crore," sources added. In return, the prize money given out by the channel is only 8% of the advertising generated on the channel. 
According to STAR TV officials, while the first round of KBC aired 305 episodes, the prize money given out was Rs 25 crore and there were only three winners who took home Rs one crore.

KERALA NRIs NO LONGER DEPOSITING MUCH BACK HOME 

A fall in NRI deposits in Kerala banks continues unabated and brought the figure to a low of $6.5 billion. This was announced at the State Level Bankers Committee meeting in Trivandrum. One reason for the fall in NR deposits is that more and more non-resident Keralites living outside the Middle East, especially in the US and Europe, have better options of parking their funds elsewhere. Another reason is the falling interest rates on NR deposits. Close to 1.7 million Keralites work outside the country, about 75 per cent of whom are in the Middle East.