Indra Nooyi, 2nd powerful women in 2015 Fortune’s business list

Indra Nooyi, CEO of food and beverage giant PepsiCo is the sole Indian-origin executive in 2015 edition of Fortune’s list of 50 Most Powerful Women in Business. India-born Nooyi was placed at a second position in this year’s list and has moved up by single position from her previous third position in the year 2015. This edition of the list was topped by General Motors CEO Mary Barra. She heads the United States largest automaker and it is her second year as head.

The list also includes

  • Third position: Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM.
  • Fourth position: Marillyn Hewson, CEO, Chairman and President of Lockheed Martin.
  • Fifth position: Ellen Kullman, CEO and Chairman of DuPont.
  • Sixth position: Abigail Johnson, CEO and President of Fidelity Investments.
  • Seventh position: Meg Whitman, CEO, Chairman and President of Hewlett-Packard (HP).
  • Eight position: Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.
  • Ninth position: Irene Rosenfeld, CEO and Chairman of Mondelez International.
  • Tenth position: Phebe Novakovic, CEO and Chairman of General Dynamics.

Government approves $400-million plan to procure armed Heron TP drones from Israel

The government has approved the purchase of 10 missile-armed drones from Israel.  The acquisition is worth $400-million. These drones will be operated by the Indian Air Force. Israel’s armed Heron drones are similar to the Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are capable of reconnaissance, combat and support roles. India already operates a fleet of unarmed Heron and Searcher UAVs for surveillance and intelligence gathering.

CarDekho acquired Auto portal Zigwheels

Online auto portal CarDekho has acquired Zigwheels, an auto portal owned by Times Internet. This is the second big acquisition by Jaipur-based Girnar Soft, which runs the CarDekho, BikeDekho and PriceDekho sites after it bought out Naspers-backed Gaadi.com a year ago.

Rakesh Sharma takes over as Canara Bank MD and CEO

State-run Canara Bank has announced that Rakesh Sharma has assumed charge as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Before joining Canara Bank, Sharma was MD and CEO of Lakshmi Vilas Bank since March 7, 2014.

DRDO appoints J Manjula as its first woman Director General

J Manjula was appointed as the Director-General of the Electronics and Communication Systems cluster of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO). With this, Manjula became the first woman DG of DRDO. For her accomplishments, she was given the India Today Woman Summit award for 2014. She is also a recipient of DRDO’s Scientist of the Year 2011 and Performance Excellence awards.

2015 Singapore General Elections: PAP returns to power

In recently concluded 2015 Singapore General Elections, People’s Action Party (PAP) led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has emerged victorious. PAP returned to power after scoring a landslide victory by winning an absolute majority of 83 seats in the 89 member Parliament.

  • The opposition Workers’ Party won 6 seats.
  • With this victory, governing PAP has secured their 14th consecutive term in office since the independence of city-state in 1965.
  • It was country’s first election after the death of its founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

 India-Australia naval exercise – ‘AUSINDEX 15’

India and Australia have begun their first bilateral naval exercise that will focus on anti-submarine warfare as the two countries look at deepening defence cooperation, especially in the Indian Ocean. AUSINDEX 15 is being conducted off the east coast of India from September 11-19.

Virat Kohli Becomes Co-Owner of IPTL Team UAE Royals; Roger Federer to Lead Side

Virat Kohli became the co-owner of International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) franchise, UAE Royals, on 10th September 2015. UAE Royals will be led by Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer.

  • The UAE leg of the IPTL 2015 will be starting from 14 December and will go on until 16 December. The matches will be played at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Stadium.
  • IPTL now has five teams for the second edition – Japan Warriors; defending champions The Indian Aces; UAE Royals; Philippine Mavericks and Singapore Slammers. IPTL 2015 will kick-start in Japan from 2 December and will end in Singapore on 20 December.

Ravi Shastri to continue as team director till T20 World Cup in 2016

Ravi Shastri has been retained as the Team Director of the Indian cricket team till the 2016 T20 World Cup at home, based on the recommendations of the BCCI advisory committee. Shastri, who was appointed Team Director in August 2014, has been given another seven-month extension till the completion of the World T20 in April.

India placed 22nd in new Asian football technical ranking

A new technical ranking system of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has placed India in 22nd spot among the continent’s 46-member countries, the highest among South Asian nations. The new ranking system is based on the performance of the national team and clubs (at AFC competitions) of a particular country in the last four years.