Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has topped the chart for celebrity endorsements on television during the first six months of this year, leaving behind not only Shahrukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar, but also the gorgeous ladies of the silver screen. During the January to June period, while
Dhoni endorsed brands for 24 companies on TV, Shahrukh and Sachin were seen promoting the products of 16 and 15 firms, respectively, according to the Adex survey of TAM Media Research.

In an irony of sorts, RBI gets to approve salaries of all the top-level bankers in the country, but the central bank's top officials themselves get less than 5 per cent of what is paid to the bank chiefs. An analysis of salaries paid to top officials of Reserve Bank of India and of banks licensed
by it to do business in the country shows that RBI Governor D Subbarao's total remuneration is less than not only the chiefs of private sector banks, but also most of the public sector lenders.

Ratan Tata, chairman of India's multinational company, Tata Group has said he has an "affinity" to South Africa and the firm is expected to increase its focus on Africa with a slew of new business launches being drawn up. "In India, we believe in destiny. I find that I have an affinity to South Africa," he told Economic Times in an interview, adding: "It’s not brick and mortar that brings people back."

Economy grew by an impressive 8.8 per cent during the quarter ended June on the back of robust manufacturing growth. However, certain sectors like financial services restrained the growth in economy, which had recorded 6 per cent growth rate in April-June 2009-10. Agriculture and allied activities grew by 2.8 per cent, higher than 1.9 per cent in the year-ago period, but it is nowhere between the target of four per cent pegged by the government in the medium term.

A company owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has filed a complaint in a US court against 11 companies, accusing them of patent infringement. The Interval Licensing LLC Friday filed the complaint in the district court in Seattle against Apple, Google, AOL, eBay, Facebook, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo and YouTube.

Google Inc launched a website on Thursday for users who want to sift through news, comments and other information on the Internet in real time, letting them follow conversations on social network hubs such as Facebook and Twitter in one place. The move expands the Internet search leader's efforts to compete with Microsoft Corp's Bing in letting web surfers track up-to-the-minute comments and postings and could also be a useful tool for organizations tracking public opinion on everything from a movie to a new product.