The silly season quiz

Who clashed? Who quit? Who lost? Who got annoyed? Who stood up? Who turned humble?

It is again that time of the year when the air is rife with speculation and anticipation in the run-up to the Union Budget and the Academy awards. Will finance minister Pranab Mukherjee use the annual ritual to announce a second stimulus package by reducing excise duty to spur industrial production? Will the nasty but nevertheless entertaining biopic of a whiz kid whose dot-com property was recently valued at $50 billion snag the Best Picture statuette? As the countdown begins, some memory crackers:
1 The maket is volatile because of:
a. Foreign investors’ withdrawal on low manufacturing output and high inflation data.
b. Sebi’s ban on entry loads for mutual funds.
c. Wikileaks’ threat to expose secret Swiss accounts. d. Debt crisis in the euro zone.

2 Food price rise is the collective responsibility of the cabinet. Who said this?
a. Prime minister Manmohan Singh.
b. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.
c. Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.
d. Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj.

3 Global food inflation is blamed on:
a. Speculative trading on commodity exchanges.
b. Drought in Russia and floods in Australia.
c. Chinese New Year celebrations.
d. Uprising in Egypt and Tunisia.

4. It is very difficult to manage inflation. Who said this?
a. RBI governor D Subbarao.
b. Former RBI governor Bimal Jalan.
c. Union home minister P Chidambaram.
d. Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao.

5 Petrol prices were hiked a second time in two months so that:
a. Refineries’ losses could be reduced with crude oil near $100 a barrel mark.
b. Galloping automobile sales could be moderated.
c. Fiscal deficit could be controlled.
d. ONGC could get attractive valuation for its forthcoming FPO.

6 Buying in gold is attributed to:
a. Rise in oil prices.
b. Loss of confidence in the US dollar.
c. Low output.
d. Buying spree of Indian housewives.

7 The 2-G spectrum allotment scam was exposed by
a. CAG.
b. Lobbyist Niira Radia.
c. Former BPL Mobile boss Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
d. Media.

8 Natural gas is the country’s property. Who said this?
a. ONGC boss to Sterlite boss on the latter’s takeover of Cairn India.
b. The Supreme Court, while disposing of the Ambani brothers’ gas pricing dispute in favour of Mukesh.
c. Russian President Vladimir Putin, while imprisoning Mikhail Khodorkavsky boss of Yukos, a private-sector oil company.
d. US Treasury Secretary to Chinese oil explorer CNOOC, trying to take over Unocal of US.

9 Who demanded minimum wages for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme?
a. Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
b. CPM politburo.
c. UP chief minister Mayawati.
d. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar

10 I am your sipahi in Delhi? Who said this?
a. Railway minister Mamata Banerjee to Maoists in West Bengal.
b. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi to Orissa tribals after Sterlite’s plan to mine bauxite in the state was nixed by the environment ministry.
c. Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah to borrowers of microfinance.
d. J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah to stone-pelters in the valley.

11 On which issue did RBI and SBI clash?
a. Loans to scam-hit telecom companies.
b. Rising non-performing loans.
c. Bribes-for-loans scam.
d. Teaser home loan rates.

12 The joint CEOs of which IT company resigned on the day of announcing the Q3 results?
a. Patni Computers.
b. Wipro.
c. MphasiS.
d. MindTree.

13 Partners Vodafone and Essar Telecom are at loggerheads over:
a. Merger of Essar Telecom with listed group company India Securities.
b. Income tax dues.
c. Launch date of 3G services.
d. Use of children in the number portability campaign.

14 The Hero Honda joint venture breakup got the market’s thumbs down over:
a. Supply of motorcycles outstripping demand.
b. Paucity of spare parts.
c. Changing preference of the market for scooters.
d. Ambiguity in royalty payment.
15 Ensure that all the stakeholders are treated fairly. Who gave this advice to whom?
a. Union telecoms minister Kapil Sabil to CAG.
b. The Supreme Court to the government while hearing petitions to prosecute former Union telecoms minister A Raja over 2-G spectrum allocation.
c. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh to South Korean steel maker Posco while clearing with riders its proposal to put up a plant in Orissa.
d. Venture capital investor N R Narayana Murthy to SKS Microfinance founder Vikram Akula.

16 Sebi rejected the application of MCX to start a stock exchange as:
a. Then Sebi chairman C B Bhave was former boss of NSE-promoted NSDL.
b. The share pattern of promoters was not as per rules.
c. The Bimal Jalan committee did not favour listing of bourses.
d. Anil Ambani’s group wanted to start a stock exchange.

17 The French auction method to sell PSU FPOs has been abandoned because:
a. Sebi made upfront payment mandatory for institutional investors.
b. Investment bankers objected they were getting no commission.
c. Too time consuming.
d. Of poor response to NTPC, REC and NMDC FPOs.

18 People of Maharashtra should take a leaf from Gujarat, where government, media and investors are all on the same page. Who expressed this sentiment?
a. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the Vibrant Gujarat conference.
b. Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on the agitation launched by environmental activists against HCC-promoted hill city Lavasa.
c. Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on the opposition to nuclear plant at Jaitapur.
d. BJP president Nitin Gadkari on being linked by media to controversial apartment tower Adarsh in Mumbai.
19 You both are wealth creators. Who said this to whom?
a. President Barak Obama referring to China and India.
b. Nasscom chief Kiran Karnik to Infosys and TCS bosses.
c. Anil Ambani to Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata
d. Income tax commissioner to film stars Priyanaka Chopra and Katrina Kaif.

20 You turned out to be a great entrepreneur, a visionary and an incredible altruist. Who paid this tribute?
a. Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravishankar to Wipro boss Aziz Premji on his philanthropic act of donating $2 billion, or nearly 10% of his wealth, to his own charitable foundation.
b. China’s President Hu Jintao to Robin Le, founder of Chinese search engine Baidu.
c. Screenplay writer Aaron Sorkin, while accepting the Golden Globe award for the film, Social Network, and referring to Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who did not cooperate in the making of the film.
d. The Himachal Pradesh police to the 17th Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorje, on finding foreign currency at the Dharamsala monastery.

21 Eric Schmidt stepped down as CEO of Google in favour of co-founder Larry Page:
a. As his company could not overtake Apple in market cap.
b. Because Apple CEO Steve Jobs is going on sick leave.
c. Smartphones using the Android operating system could not dent Apple’s iPad market share.
d. To speed up decision-making

22 I’m lovin’ it… is the slogan of:
a. Airtel.
b. Volkswagen.
c. McDonald.
d.Heineken.

Answers: 1 a, 2 c, 3 b, 4 c, 5 a, 6 b, 7 a, 8 b, 9 a, 10 b, 11 d, 12 b, 13 a, 14 d, 15 d, 16 b, 17 d, 18 b, 19 c, 20 c, 21 d, 22 c.

All correct: A socially conscious investor. Congratulations!
More than 50% correct: You track tends to stay ahead of the pack.
Less than 50% correct: Wake up!

Mohan Sule