We’ve been watching CNN’s coverage of the attacks in Mumbai…and I think someone at CNN could stand to exercise a bit of judgment in selecting which commercials should air.
I’m not sure this is the right night for an ad by India Tourism to run.
Entries Tagged as 'India'
Wrongness of the Night
26 November 2008 · No Comments
Tags: Media · War on Terror · CNN · India · Mumbai
Highway Feature of the Week: Vashi Bridge, Mumbai, India
17 February 2008 · Comments Off
We’ll stay in India for a second week. Mumbai this time:
![[Please visit my site to see the map that would otherwise be embedded here]](http://www.triskele.com/images/map.gif)
This is the Vashi Bridge, a six-lane bridge connecting the satellite city of Navi Mumbai with Mumbai proper. Just to the north, you can see the predecessor span, which is apparently still open albeit only to two-wheeled traffic.
For a nice picture from the Vashi Bridge, I recommend checking out this post on Haricool’s Livejournal.
Tags: Bridges · Highway Feature · India · Mumbai
Highway Feature of the Week: NH-8 Outside New Delhi, India
10 February 2008 · Comments Off
For this week’s highway feature, I thought we’d head to India.
India’s still developing its highway system. In fact, when trying to find aerial footage of a highway in/around Delhi, I ran into problems in finding anything more significant than an arterial route.
The exception to that would be NH-8, which is being upgraded to the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway. The upgrades are so new that, as of this writing, Google Maps imagery hasn’t quite caught up to the construction:
![[Please visit my site to see the map that should appear here]](/images/space.gif)
Tags: Highway Feature · Highways · Road Construction · India · New Delhi
Sign of the Times
5 January 2008 · Comments Off
Remember when the U.S. Dollar seemed to be almost a universal currency?
From the AJC:
In a sign of how the once mighty U.S. dollar has fallen, India’s tourism minister said Thursday that U.S. dollars will no longer be accepted at the country’s heritage tourist sites, like the famed Taj Mahal.[...]
The Taj Mahal, India’s famed white marble monument to love, which had charged tourists $15 or 750 rupees, has been refusing to accept dollars since November.
The article mentions that it is more complex than just blaming a weakening dollar, and I think it would be fair to take this as much as evidence of maturation of India’s economy to the point that the Rupee is now highly preferred at least in its own country.
But, it’s still sad to think that the Greenback is less welcome than it once was around the world.
Tags: Actuarial Musings · Dollar · Exchange Rates · India
Deregulation Leads to Indian Property Insurance Rates Plummeting
2 January 2008 · Comments Off
Seen in the Economic Times:
MUMBAI: Property insurance rates fell by as much as 75-80% on the first day of free pricing in the general insurance market. Non-life insurance companies have started quoting rates aggressively with all price controls out of non-life sector.
The new regime has brought to centrestage the broking community who, until now, played a small role. By helping corporates get the best deals, brokers have driven down the price for medium- and large-sized companies.
A couple of thoughts come to mind.
On one hand, this is an entertaining bit of news to keep in the back pocket for the next time a consumer advocate demands increased insurance rate regulation due to allegations of price gouging by the industry. Free competition leads to reduced prices; whodathunkit?
On the other hand, the idea of such sizable price discounting would lead me to be concerned about whether these changes are reasonable, or true nuttiness and an absence of pricing discipline in a quest to buy market share.
Fortunately, I don’t work work with a business that writes much property insurance in India, or else I’d be reaching for a map of Indian catastrophe risks and some Pepto.
Tags: Insurance · India · Property Insurance
