India recorded the highest rise in natural gas output worldwide in 2009 after Reliance Industries' [ Get Quote ] eastern offshore KG-D6 field came into production, global energy giant BP Plc said.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries Limited began gas production from the Krishna-Godavari basin in April, 2009, and its 60 million standard cubic metres per day output led to a 75 per cent jump in natural gas availability in the country to 140 mmscmd.
"Last year, India [ Images ] had the highest increase in production of natural gas worldwide. And I just checked, it also had the highest corresponding increase in consumption in natural gas worldwide," BP Plc Group chief economist Christof Ruhl said.
The jump in natural gas production in India was possible because the government allowed private sector firms to take a lead in exploration for hydrocarbons.
"When you look at countries where gas production is heavily government-controlled, like Russia [ Images ], they had the biggest decline in gas production and consumption," he said.
"When you look at countries where new technologies have been developed like unconventional shale gas in the US. . . it was because they have an investment environment which is very competitive," he said.
Shale gas, trapped in sedimentary rocks, is said to hold the potential of doubling gas output in US.
Ruhl said that it was very clear who was left behind, as countries where natural resources were tightly controlled were less flexible.
Ruhl said the recent Supreme Court ruling in the Ambani gas dispute will help investment in the sector.
For investors, 'rule of law' and 'sanctity of contracts' they sign is important, he said. The court in May upheld the provisions of the production sharing contract an explorer enters into with the government for oil and gas prospecting.
It said the PSC gives the government the right to approve a gas price and fix its users, rejecting Anil Ambani [ Images ] Group firm Reliance Natural Resources [ Get Quote ] Limited's claim for gas from Reliance Industries Limited at subsidised rates.
"That (judgment) has certainly improved stability and the sanctity of contract," he said. "That was a step into the right direction."
Friday, 9 July 2010
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Japan Data Show Fragile Economy
Fresh signs that Japan's economic recovery may be losing momentum emerged Thursday, as a gauge of future business investment fell, the broadest measure of the country's trade slipped, banking lending continued to decline, and worker sentiment deteriorated.
The results highlight how Japan, which relies on exports to fuel its growth, remains vulnerable to a slowdown in the global economy. The apparent cooling of Japan's recovery, moreover, could hurt Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his ruling Democratic Party of Japan in an Upper House election this Sunday.
Core machinery orders fell 9.1% on month in May, the sharpest drop since August 2008, the Cabinet Office said Thursday. That was the first fall in this leading indicator of capital spending in three months, and came after orders rose 4.0% in April. The result was much worse than the median forecast for a 3.0% decline in a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and Nikkei.
The weakness shows that "firms are not likely to add to their business investment actively in the near term as there is still the risk that economic growth will be hampered due to a possible slowdown in overseas economies," said Norio Miyagawa, an economist at Mizuho Securities Research & Consulting.
Analysts said one factor in the fall was likely the concern firms had in May that Europe's sovereign debt woes could continue to roil global financial markets and push down trade.
Another factor in the fall, they said, was the strong yen, which eats into profits of exporters by making their products more expensive overseas and diminishing revenue sent back to Japan. The Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan business-sentiment survey showed big manufacturers and non-manufacturers plan to increase capital expenditure by 4.4% in the fiscal year started in April. But the strong yen could complicate that outlook, analysts said.
While stressing that the machinery order data are volatile and that May's fall likely doesn't change expectations for gradual recovery to continue, Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute, said that the strong currency could prompt firms to spend less.
"Many manufacturers rely on exports, so they are particularly sensitive to the strong yen," Mr. Nagahama said.
Separate data released Thursday by the Ministry of Finance showed that Japan's current account surplus fell 8.1% on year to 1.205 trillion yen ($13.7 billion) in May, as export growth slowed due in part to the fading effects of economic stimulus measures overseas.
The lower surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of Japan's trade with the rest of the world, came as the trade surplus fell for the first time in a year, dropping 0.6% to 391.0 billion yen, the data showed.
Exports rose at their slowest pace in five months. While overseas shipments were still up a solid 33.8%, that represented a slowdown from April's 42.7% rise.
Meanwhile, lending by banks excluding credit unions fell 2.1% on year in June, after dropping at the same pace in May, data released by the Bank of Japan showed. The continued fall reflected the still-low demand for borrowing for investment among Japanese firms, analysts said. While that was due in part to greater liquidity among companies whose profits have rallied, it also showed that overall capital expenditure remained low, analysts said.
Thursday's data follow other signs in recent weeks that Japan's economy may be losing some steam, as factory floors recently dialed down production and consumers remain reluctant to spend.
Industrial production fell 0.1% in May, for the first fall in three months, data last week showed. The jobless rate worsened to 5.2% in the month, from 5.1% in April, while household spending dropped unexpectedly by 0.7% on year in May, separate data showed last week.
Many economists say Japan's gross domestic product, which expanded an annualized 5.0% in the January-March quarter, will likely expand at a much slower pace in the April-June period. The average estimate for GDP growth in April-June in a survey by the government-affiliated Economic Planning Association released Thursday was for a 1.6% annualized expansion.
Adding to concern over Japan's longer-term growth prospects, the International Monetary Fund on Thursday lowered its estimate for the country's gross domestic product to a 1.8% expansion in 2011, down from its previous estimate in April for 2.0% growth.
The IMF raised its estimate for 2010 to 2.4% growth from 1.9% expansion. But the change was due to the sharper-than-expected export gains at the beginning of the year, which are now slowing.
The results highlight how Japan, which relies on exports to fuel its growth, remains vulnerable to a slowdown in the global economy. The apparent cooling of Japan's recovery, moreover, could hurt Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his ruling Democratic Party of Japan in an Upper House election this Sunday.
Core machinery orders fell 9.1% on month in May, the sharpest drop since August 2008, the Cabinet Office said Thursday. That was the first fall in this leading indicator of capital spending in three months, and came after orders rose 4.0% in April. The result was much worse than the median forecast for a 3.0% decline in a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and Nikkei.
The weakness shows that "firms are not likely to add to their business investment actively in the near term as there is still the risk that economic growth will be hampered due to a possible slowdown in overseas economies," said Norio Miyagawa, an economist at Mizuho Securities Research & Consulting.
Analysts said one factor in the fall was likely the concern firms had in May that Europe's sovereign debt woes could continue to roil global financial markets and push down trade.
Another factor in the fall, they said, was the strong yen, which eats into profits of exporters by making their products more expensive overseas and diminishing revenue sent back to Japan. The Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan business-sentiment survey showed big manufacturers and non-manufacturers plan to increase capital expenditure by 4.4% in the fiscal year started in April. But the strong yen could complicate that outlook, analysts said.
While stressing that the machinery order data are volatile and that May's fall likely doesn't change expectations for gradual recovery to continue, Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute, said that the strong currency could prompt firms to spend less.
"Many manufacturers rely on exports, so they are particularly sensitive to the strong yen," Mr. Nagahama said.
Separate data released Thursday by the Ministry of Finance showed that Japan's current account surplus fell 8.1% on year to 1.205 trillion yen ($13.7 billion) in May, as export growth slowed due in part to the fading effects of economic stimulus measures overseas.
The lower surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of Japan's trade with the rest of the world, came as the trade surplus fell for the first time in a year, dropping 0.6% to 391.0 billion yen, the data showed.
Exports rose at their slowest pace in five months. While overseas shipments were still up a solid 33.8%, that represented a slowdown from April's 42.7% rise.
Meanwhile, lending by banks excluding credit unions fell 2.1% on year in June, after dropping at the same pace in May, data released by the Bank of Japan showed. The continued fall reflected the still-low demand for borrowing for investment among Japanese firms, analysts said. While that was due in part to greater liquidity among companies whose profits have rallied, it also showed that overall capital expenditure remained low, analysts said.
Thursday's data follow other signs in recent weeks that Japan's economy may be losing some steam, as factory floors recently dialed down production and consumers remain reluctant to spend.
Industrial production fell 0.1% in May, for the first fall in three months, data last week showed. The jobless rate worsened to 5.2% in the month, from 5.1% in April, while household spending dropped unexpectedly by 0.7% on year in May, separate data showed last week.
Many economists say Japan's gross domestic product, which expanded an annualized 5.0% in the January-March quarter, will likely expand at a much slower pace in the April-June period. The average estimate for GDP growth in April-June in a survey by the government-affiliated Economic Planning Association released Thursday was for a 1.6% annualized expansion.
Adding to concern over Japan's longer-term growth prospects, the International Monetary Fund on Thursday lowered its estimate for the country's gross domestic product to a 1.8% expansion in 2011, down from its previous estimate in April for 2.0% growth.
The IMF raised its estimate for 2010 to 2.4% growth from 1.9% expansion. But the change was due to the sharper-than-expected export gains at the beginning of the year, which are now slowing.
I.M.F. Raises Growth Forecasts for World Economy
The good news is the world economy will grow faster than expected this year. The bad news is recovery remains overshadowed by major risks, and the pace of growth is likely to slow next year.
That was the thrust of the International Monetary Fund’s latest assessment of the global economy, which was released on Thursday.
“While we predict the recovery will continue, it is clear that downside risks have risen sharply,” Olivier Blanchard, the I.M.F.’s chief economist, said in a statement accompanying the organization’s latest report. “How Europe deals with fiscal and financial problems, how advanced countries proceed with fiscal consolidation, and how emerging market countries rebalance their economies, will determine the outcome.”
So far this year, growth has been stronger than widely expected, particularly in Asia and other emerging markets, prompting the I.M.F. on Thursday to raise its global growth forecast for 2010 to 4.6 percent. That is up from the 4.2 percent projection it had issued in April.
Overshadowing the recovery, however, is the lingering danger that the concerns over the high debt levels of several of the smaller European economies will escalate into a wider financial crisis, the I.M.F. cautioned.
Worries that Greece and several other European states might be unable to service their sovereign debt began to erode confidence in the soundness of banks in some euro zone countries this year, causing financial strains as banks became less willing to lend to each other.
The European debt jitters also caused global stock markets to tumble and the euro to fall sharply. Despite a modest recovery in recent weeks, the European currency is down nearly 12 percent against the U.S. dollar, and 16 percent against the Japanese yen since the start of the year.
“In the near term, the main risk is an escalation of financial stress and contagion, prompted by rising concern over sovereign risk,” the I.M.F. said. “This could lead to additional increases in funding costs and weaker bank balance sheets, and hence to tighter lending conditions, declining business and consumer confidence, and abrupt changes in exchange rates.”
In addition, the I.M.F. said growth is expected to slow during the second half of this year and into next year.
Advanced countries, for example, expanded an estimated 3 percent during the first half, the I.M.F. said, but the pace is expected to fall to only 2 percent during the second half of 2010, as growth in private demand slows.
For 2011, the I.M.F. projects a global expansion of 4.3 percent, a more muted pace than for this year, as governments around the world gradually withdraw the stimulus measures they implemented as the global financial crisis escalated in late 2008.
The I.M.F. projected that the world’s advanced economies will expand by 2.4 percent next year, compared to 2.6 percent this year. Growth in Japan will slow from 2.4 percent this year to 1.8 percent in 2011, and in the United States, from 3.3 percent this year to 2.9 percent next year.
For emerging Asian nations, the I.M.F. forecast 8.5 percent expansion next year, down from the projected 9.2 percent this year.
It raised its 2010 growth forecast for China to 10.5 percent, but projects 9.6 percent for 2011, down from the 9.9 percent it had previously forecast.
That was the thrust of the International Monetary Fund’s latest assessment of the global economy, which was released on Thursday.
“While we predict the recovery will continue, it is clear that downside risks have risen sharply,” Olivier Blanchard, the I.M.F.’s chief economist, said in a statement accompanying the organization’s latest report. “How Europe deals with fiscal and financial problems, how advanced countries proceed with fiscal consolidation, and how emerging market countries rebalance their economies, will determine the outcome.”
So far this year, growth has been stronger than widely expected, particularly in Asia and other emerging markets, prompting the I.M.F. on Thursday to raise its global growth forecast for 2010 to 4.6 percent. That is up from the 4.2 percent projection it had issued in April.
Overshadowing the recovery, however, is the lingering danger that the concerns over the high debt levels of several of the smaller European economies will escalate into a wider financial crisis, the I.M.F. cautioned.
Worries that Greece and several other European states might be unable to service their sovereign debt began to erode confidence in the soundness of banks in some euro zone countries this year, causing financial strains as banks became less willing to lend to each other.
The European debt jitters also caused global stock markets to tumble and the euro to fall sharply. Despite a modest recovery in recent weeks, the European currency is down nearly 12 percent against the U.S. dollar, and 16 percent against the Japanese yen since the start of the year.
“In the near term, the main risk is an escalation of financial stress and contagion, prompted by rising concern over sovereign risk,” the I.M.F. said. “This could lead to additional increases in funding costs and weaker bank balance sheets, and hence to tighter lending conditions, declining business and consumer confidence, and abrupt changes in exchange rates.”
In addition, the I.M.F. said growth is expected to slow during the second half of this year and into next year.
Advanced countries, for example, expanded an estimated 3 percent during the first half, the I.M.F. said, but the pace is expected to fall to only 2 percent during the second half of 2010, as growth in private demand slows.
For 2011, the I.M.F. projects a global expansion of 4.3 percent, a more muted pace than for this year, as governments around the world gradually withdraw the stimulus measures they implemented as the global financial crisis escalated in late 2008.
The I.M.F. projected that the world’s advanced economies will expand by 2.4 percent next year, compared to 2.6 percent this year. Growth in Japan will slow from 2.4 percent this year to 1.8 percent in 2011, and in the United States, from 3.3 percent this year to 2.9 percent next year.
For emerging Asian nations, the I.M.F. forecast 8.5 percent expansion next year, down from the projected 9.2 percent this year.
It raised its 2010 growth forecast for China to 10.5 percent, but projects 9.6 percent for 2011, down from the 9.9 percent it had previously forecast.
Facebook Is Addictive: 39 Percent Social Network Users Confess
Is checking Facebook the last activity you do before dozing off or is it the first thing in the morning even before washing your face or taking a walk to the loo? If that is the case, then you are not alone. A recent poll reveals that a considerable number of American women check into their social networking accounts just after they wake up.
Lightspeed Research for Oxygen Media conducted the survey to find out the latest height of Facebook obsession. The report was released on Wednesday, July 7 revealing some amazing findings. The poll surveyed 1,605 American women users of Facebook who aged between 18 to 34. As high as 34 percent of them told that they logged into Facebook even before washing their face or brushing their teeth, while 20 percent admitted that they can even disrupt their night’s sleep to take a look at the social networking site. 39 percent of the surveyed women tagged themselves as ‘Facebook Addicts’.
About 57 percent of the participants told that they interact more through the social networking website in comparison to face-to-face interactions. 63 per cent of the respondents said that Facebook for them is more of a career networking tool. Another amazing revelation is 31 percent of the respondents draw more confidence out of their online personality than the real life one. 42 percent of the females opined that they do not mind posting their pictures in a visibly intoxicated state.
About 50 percent of the respondents admitted that it was fine to find and date other singles through Facebook, while 6 percent use Facebook to ‘hook up’ with other singles.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Dhoni marriage school friend Sakshi Rawat
Since the media people were kept far from the ceremony spot, Dhoni marriage photos and wedding pictures were not to be seen till yesterday evening. But now, few pictures of the marriage between the Indian teamcaptain, MS Dhoni and his school friend Sakshi Rawat started to be seen here and there on the web.
Here are a few Dhoni Marriage Photos and Wedding Pictures that we could find on the web (TOI)
Top 25 companies in the World
No. 1: JPMorgan Chase
Industry: Banking
Ranked 16th last year, JPMorgan Chase is now the world's largest company, based on its composite score for sales, profits, assets and market value.
No. 2: General Electric
Industry: Conglomerates
After a one-year reign as the world's largest company, General Electric fell to the second spot on our list as sales, earnings and assets declined over the past year.
No. 3: Bank of America
Industry: Banking
The 2009 acquisition of Merrill Lynch helped Bank of America
No. 4: ExxonMobil
Industry: Oil and gas operations
Despite a decline in both sales and earnings in the past year, ExxonMobil stayed at the No. 4 spot on our list.
No. 5: ICBC
Industry: Banking
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
No. 6: Banco Santander
Industry: Banking
Over the past year, a 115% gain in market value helped move this Spanish bank from the ninth spot to sixth overall on this year's Global 2000.
No. 7: Wells Fargo
Industry: Banking
A full year of Wachovia's operations (acquired in December 2008) helped Wells Fargo reach record figures in both sales and profits in 2009.
No. 8 (tie): HSBC Holdings
Industry: Banking
This international banking giant moved up two spots to tie petroleum giant Royal Dutch Shell for eighth position this year.
No. 9 (tie): Royal Dutch Shell
Industry: Oil and gas operations
Ranked No. 2 in 2009. Declines in sales and profits pushed this integrated oil company lower in our Global 2000 composite ranking this year. This U.K.
No. 10: BP
Industry: Oil and gas operations
This U.K.
BP 
Industry: Oil and gas operations
No. 11: BNP Paribas
Industry: Banking
Its $3 trillion in assets puts this international bank in first place in assets and is now the highest-ranked French firm on the Global 2000.
No. 12: PetroChina
Industry: Oil and gas operations
Though ranked 12th overall on the Global 2000, PetroChina, with a market capitalization of $333 billion, is the world's most valuable company.
No. 13: AT&T
Industry: Telecom services
AT&T is the biggest telecom company in the world. The next biggest telecom company on the Global 2000 is Spain
No. 14: Wal-Mart Stores
Industry: Retailing
Despite falling to 14th overall, the world's largest retailer reclaimed first place in sales among the Global 2000.
No. 15: Berkshire Hathaway
Industry: Diversified financials
Ranked 19th in 2009, increases in all four Global 2000 metrics--sales, profits, assets and market value--moved this diversified financial company higher in overall rank this year.
No. 16: Gazprom
Industry: Oil and gas operations
No. 17: China Construction Bank
Industry: Banking
With $184 billion in market cap, this Chinese bank now ranks as the world's 12th most valuable company and 17th in its composite Global 2000 ranking.
No. 18: Petrobas
Industry: Oil and gas operations
Petrobras is the highest-ranked Global 2000 Brazilian company and one of eight oil and gas companies in the top 25 on this list.
No. 19: Total
Industry: Oil and gas operations
Oil and gas company Total fell to rank 19 this year and was supplanted by international bank BNP Paribas as the highest-ranked French firm on the Global 2000.
No. 20: Chevron
Industry: Oil and gas operations
Sales and earnings declined for the first time since 2002 knocking this U.S.
]No. 21: Barclay's
Industry: Banking
This U.K. bank jumped from a ranking of 77 last year to 21st this year and is now the third-biggest U.K.
No. 22: Bank of China
Industry: Banking
This Chinese bank now has over a $1 trillion in assets and makes its first appearance in our Global 2000 top 25.
No. 23: Allianz
Industry: Insurance
A swing from a $3.4 billion loss to $6.2 billion gain helped this company rocket from No. 368 last year to No. 23 this year on our Global 2000 composite ranking.
No. 24: GDF Suez
Industry: Utilities
This diversified natural gas utility is third biggest French company in the world and the biggest utility on the Global 2000.
No. 25 (tie): E.ON
Industry: Utilities
Record profits in 2009 helped this utility become the highest-ranked German company on the Global 2000 and to tie Goldman Sachs for the 25th spot.
Lady Gaga beats Obama in Facebook fans record
Pop star Lady Gaga has beaten US President Barack Obama to top the number of fans on social networking site Facebook.
The Poker Face singer's fan count reached 9,940,462, while Obama has 9,444,942 fans. She has also left Obama behind in Twitter followers as her follower count reached 4,762,938 compared to Obama's 4,422,923 followers, reports aceshowbiz.com.
According to British social-network statistics site Fame Count, Gaga is on the brink of becoming the first living person to have 10 million fans on Facebook beating out the US leader, Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber,
The 24-year-old posted a video, Friday, thanking her fans for the "love and support".
"Thank you so much for all of your love and all of your support and for sticking by me through the fame and the fame monster. Become my friend on Facebook. I'll never forget you," she said.
TV signals caused Russian rocket to miss ISS
Television signals caused a Russian cargo rocket to miss its rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS), NASA officials said Saturday. The engineers indicated they would avoid activating the system during Sunday's second attempt to dock, NASA officials said.
The Progress 38 cargo rocket missed its rendezvous with the ISS by three km late Friday. A new effort to dock is to be made at 1600 GMT Sunday and be broadcast life on NASA television. Seeking to pinpoint what went wrong, Russian flight controllers told NASA that the rocket had received a faulty "command to cancel" when a TV transmitter on the ISS was activated.
The TORU TV system was intended to give station Commander Alexander Skvorstov a real-time view of the dock, but apparently overrode the automated docking system called Kurs. Engineers initially thought that the Kurs system had malfunctioned. Russian officials told NASA that they had confirmed the Kurs system is working normally and had not failed.
"Russian officials said the TORU system will not be activated Sunday for the second docking attempt as a precautionary measure," NASA said in a statement. Russian specialists were conducting tests overnight Saturday to make sure things were working, and would perform another test when Progress is 15 km, or about 50 minutes, from the station.
Space officials were quick to assure that there had been no danger for the six people on board the ISS - three Russian cosmonauts and three US astronauts - as the Progress 38 approached, then veered out of control and glided past the space station.
Russia's Progress 38 is carrying 2.5 tonnes of food, clothing and equipment for the ISS crew. When NASA's space shuttle programme retires early next year, Progress and Soyuz, which transports astronauts, will be the only transport to and from the space station.
Source:IANS
Jesus spotted on Google Earth
LONDON: An Internet fan has claimed that he saw lord Jesus Christ's image in a farm on Google Earth.
Zach Evans, 26, spotted Christ's image as he strolled the map site looking for holiday destinations.
Reportedly, Christ can be clearly seen in satellite pictures of a field on farmland near Puspokladany, Hungary.
"I'm not a religious person looking for images of Mary or Jesus in everything, but this is obvious," the Sun quoted Sales assistant Zach, a resident of Southampton, as saying.
ISRO launches PSLV-C15 on july 12
The preparations for the launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C15) are going on full-fledge by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which was postponed in the past due to a drop in the pressure in the vehicle’s second stage.The rocket will put in orbit five satellites – Cartosat-2B from India, Alsat from Algeria, and three nano satellites i.e. NLS 6.1 and NLS 6.2 from Canada and Switzerland, along with Studsat.
Cartosat-2B would be launched on July 12 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh
It should be noted that rocket’s main cargo Cartosat-2B is a remote sensing satellite, which will give boost to the country’s infrastructure and urban planning.
ISRO will launch Cartosat-2B on July 12.
Google to push Android in India and China
Google is set to push its Android mobile operating system in emerging markets such as India and China.
The company wants to put Android on budget phones made by the likes of Huawei and LG.
Talkin' bout revolutions
Andy Rubin, Vice President for Engineering at Google, said in a recent interview that: "The down-market opportunity is about to happen. It's actually quite a revolution."
Rubin explained that Google is making it easier for app developers to accept payments from within apps and also to sell subscriptions, in order to make more money from Android.
Mobile research firm Gartner estimates that the total global market for mobile advertising will grow from just under $1 billion last year to a whopping $13.5 billion by 2013.
Gartner also foresees Android will overtake Apple's iOS at some point in 2012 to become the world's second-most popular mobile operating system, behind Nokia's Symbian.
"As Android develops, the main vendor who is going to feel the pressure is Nokia," said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Gartner.
Earlier this month we heard the first rumours of what we might expect to see in the new Android 3.0 'Gingerbread' later this year.
India all set to roll out indigenous naval LCA
India is all set to roll out its indigenous naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) facility in Bangalore on Tuesday, which will be witnessed by Defence Minister A K Antony.
"The first indigenous naval Light Combat Aircraft - the LCA (Navy) NP1 - is scheduled to roll out from HAL Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) hangar on July 6," a Defence Minister official said here on Monday.
An important milestone for the naval programme of Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), the aircraft would be brought out of the hanger where it was assembled part-by-part during the roll-out.
Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma will be the chief guest at the event. The aircraft is being readied for induction into the Navy and for deployment on board the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), currently under construction at the Cochin Shipyard, by 2015.
Following the roll-out, the Naval LCA, with state-of-the-art technologies and punch, will be ready for the phase of systems integration tests leading to ground runs, taxi trials and flight trials.
Once the ground based tests are completed , the 'NP1' is expected to fly by the end of this year and the NP2 is likely to fly by the end of 2011.
The government had sanctioned the LCA (Navy) programme in 2003 and the first stage of development included design and fabrication of a trainer and a fighter - NP1 and NP2 respectively - along with a Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) at Goa naval air base, which has already come up.
The SBTF is being used to simulate carrier take off and arrested landing and as a training facility for future pilots of the naval LCA.
It is also being used for training on the newly acquired MiG-29K fighter jets, bought from Russia to be operated on the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, which is under a repair and refit programme in a Russian shipyard. The LCA (Navy) NP1 would be flying with the GE-F-404-IN20 engine and is designed for Ski-jump Take Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) operations.
The only carrier-borne aircraft in the light category in the world, Naval LCA will be operating with a wide variety of operational weapons and equipment like the Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile, anti-ship missiles, conventional bombs, air defence guns, counter-counter measures and drop tanks.
The ADA is responsible for design, development, ground test and flight test of both the Naval and Air Force versions of the LCA. HAL is the principal partner of ADA in this task.
The Indian Navy, the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) and Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA), all have played an important supporting role in the development of the Naval LCA right from its inception, the officials said.
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