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Business Standard / New Delhi January 19, 2010, 0:34 IST
Describing Marxist veteran Jyoti Basu as a long-standing friend of Bangladesh, the country"s Parliament and cabinet have mourned his death, with premier Sheikh Hasina saying that she has lost a "guardian".
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh today ruled out withdrawing his resignation from party posts, but said he would no longer ‘slog’ for the organisation like he used to.
Silver has outshone gold’s performance this year and will continue to do so in 2010 as the metal responds to the prospect of a surge in industrial demand, Angel Commodities Broking said.
India’s Vavasi Group and Malaysia’s Al Bukhary Group have together appointed a merchant banker for conducting due diligence and fixing a valuation of Kuwait’s Zain Telecom. The two, along with BSNL and MTNL, the state-run telecom majors, have shown interest in jointly buying a 46 per cent stake in Zain.
Maharashtra government employees can no longer browse online trading sites from Mantralaya now, as the state government has blocked two financial websites moneycontrol.com and bseindia.com.
Uttar Pradesh’s main Opposition Samajwadi Party today opposed the division of the state into four smaller states as suggested by Chief Minister Mayawati.
After facing an united opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Monday over climate change, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ruling coalition today faced embarrassment as its ‘outside supporter’ Samajwadi Party (SP) joined the Left to stage a walk out in the Lok Sabha protesting the disinvestment policy of the government. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that the Left had approached them with a renewed offer to join hands against the government on economic issues.
The Indian bourses continue to trade flat. The Sensex is now at 17,600, down 15 points.
In a rebuff to China, India today made it clear that any paper visa “stapled” to the passport in separate sheets rather than pasted would be treated as invalid for travel out of the country.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the Satyam Computer Services fraud case, is currently in the process of preparing Letters Rogatory, which would be vetted by the Ministry of External Affairs before being presented in the court.
Financial services firm Edelweiss Capital today announced that it had entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with Japanese insurer Tokio Marine Holdings for a foray into life insurance.
After the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda) capped charges on unit-linked insurance plans (Ulip), insurers have started trying their hand at low-cost products. Aegon Religare, for example, is advertising its Invest Maximiser Plan as ‘Sabse Sasta Ulip’. And, Reliance Life Insurance has come up with Premier Life.
Dow Building Solutions, a foaming and insulation technology division of US-based Dow Chemical International, the world’s second largest chemical manufacturer, is contemplating investing $20 million (approximately Rs 98 crore) for setting up a manufacturing plant in India. “Potential for extruded polystyrene (insulation material) in India is very high.
JSW Energy proposes to enter the capital market with an initial public offering (IPO) to raise nearly Rs 3,000 crore in the near future.
Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao told students at the Indian School of Business on Friday that there was a manner of expression that could be called “Central Bankese” — which essentially meant “to speak in a language that people don’t understand”.
The All India Regional Rural Bank Employees" Association (AIRRBEA) on Sunday demanded the de-linking of the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) from the commercial banks sponsoring them.
With Indian Railways having developed two automobile wagon rakes (trains), with a holding capacity of almost 550 cars each for transport of vehicles from sites closer to their manufacturing bases to their final destination, auto manufacturers say they look forward to increasingly using this form of transport for their products.
The government will not sanction any Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) for an employee who uses personal car or taxi as mode of transport.
In the press conference that he addressed after the release of the third-quarter review of monetary policy, the RBI governor articulated in a clear manner the rationale for his proposals (“An expansionary policy is like chakravyuh”, January 30). However, one statement that he made is disturbing. He said: “We are going to manage the liquidity situation; we are going to calibrate our monetary policy to manage the borrowing in 2010-11.” It means the subordination of monetary policy to the management of public debt. The proposal for a debt management office (DMO) in the government delinking it from RBI is being actively pursued on grounds of the so-called conflict of interest that the latter faces. Now that it is resolved in favour of debt management, there is one more reason as to why the proposal for the new office should be given up.
Business Standard / New Delhi February 1, 2010, 0:54 IST
Unlike the Chicago economists under Milton Friedman who argued that the unrestricted operation of private enterprise—seen as the most efficient form of economic organisation—was essential for economic development and that prices should be determined purely by market forces and inflation controlled by means of controlling money supply, Keynes, the most influential macroeconomist of the 20th century, had argued in his classic work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, that there is uncertainty in the world—uncertainty that cannot be reduced to statistical probabilities and has come to be described as “unknown unknowns.” This irreducible uncertainty, he said, lay behind panics and bouts and the instability of market economics that we see around us today. Robert Skidelsky, in his three-volume study of Keynes (1994), reminded us that the master had warned us against relying on econometric models of his own theories:
Srei Equipment Finance (SEFL), a 50:50 joint venture between Srei Infrastructure Finance (SIFL) and BNP Paribas Lease Group (BPLG), is planning to foray into agriculture, medical equipment and information technology (IT) equipment finance.
Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid"s idea of trimming "vulgar" salaries of CEOs received support from within the government, but the industry warned that any regulation would lead to flight of talent.
In a well-researched book, Shoma Munshi argues that the bahu-soaps, far from being regressive, had strong women protagonists.
Pre-selection likely to save 18 months.
The stock markets rose sharply on Monday on the back of strong gross domestic product (GDP) numbers and firm global cues. The Sensex closed at 16,926, higher by 294 points, and the Nifty re-gained the 5,000 mark to close at 5,026, up 84 points, on a steady day of trade. The Sensex had surpassed the 17,000 mark (17,096) in intra-day trades.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said here that India had increased its per-day construction of roads to 9 km and the target of developing 20 km daily would be accomplished by April.“We have reached 9 km per day of road construction and will hit our target of 20 km a day by April,” Nath, who was here to hold talks with the Malaysian government to invite them to enter the highway construction sector in India, said.Thirty-five Malaysian companies are already involved with various infrastructure projects in India.To construct 20 km of raods a day or 7,000 km a year, there had to be 20,000 km of work in progress, he said.
Not impressed by the ambitious plans announced by Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath, the Planning Commission has advised the ministry to fix a “reasonable target” for construction of roads this year. “...Fix a reasonable target for award of contracts in the rest of the current year and raise it subsequently as soon as possible,” the commission said in a communiqué to the highways ministry. The commission pointed out to the ministry that it would not be able to award road construction contracts for more than 3,794 km in 2009-10, against a target of 12,652 km.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today indicated that an FIR under abetment to suicide complaint filed two days back by Ruchika"s brother may be registered once investigations are completed.
India’s oldest exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), has approached the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for listing its shares. Sources said the listing would be through an initial public offering. This will make BSE India’s first listed exchange.
In an attempt to quell the dissidence in the ruling BJP in Karnataka, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has expanded his ministry by inducting rebel MLA M P Renukacharya into the cabinet. Renukacharya, prominent among the dissidents, who had questioned Yeddyurappa’s leadership, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor H R Bharadwaj at a brief ceremony here today.
GHCL promoter Sanjay Dalmia appears to be in control of the country’s largest soda ash maker, and is believed to have increased his shareholding significantly above the 18.5 per cent he held till recently when a battle for control of the company raged.
The Congress-JVM(P) alliance was leading in 20 seats and the BJP-JDU combine was ahead in 19, according to trends available for 70 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly.
Bank of Baroda (BoB), Andhra Bank and Legal & General’s insurance joint Venture, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co, has received all regulatory approvals for its products, and would launch operations in the second or third week of December, P Nandagopal, chief executive officer, IndiaFirst Life Insurance, said.
ICICI Securities, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley along with 14 other merchant bankers have submitted bids to manage the estimated Rs 14,000-crore disinvestment of the state-run iron ore producer NMDC.
Gujarat government has given its green signal to Nirma Ltd"s controversial cement plant in Mahuva. The company has been aiming to foray into cement production by setting up a 2.4 million tonnes cement plant in Bhavnagar district for an estimated investment of Rs 1000 crore, according to industry sources privy to the development.
As corruption cases against members of the judiciary make the headlines, a proposed bill on judicial accountability has suggested that the declaration of assets made by judges will be treated as a "legal document" and can be used to investigate complaints against them.
The Supreme Court (SC) last week asked the Haryana Financial Corporation to refund the amount received from a buyer of a defaulting unit as it had not disclosed certain vital facts to the buyer. The corporation had forfeited the amount when the buyer withdrew from the contract of sale. The SC stated in the case, Haryana Financial Corporation vs Rajesh Gupta, that a “mere perusal of the provisions of the Transfer of Property Act will show that it was incumbent upon the corporation to disclose to the buyer about the non-existence of an independent passage to the unit. It was also the duty of the corporation to inform the buyer that the passage mentioned in the revenue record was not fit for movement of vehicles. The corporation also failed to show the buyer the entire documentation as required by law.”
Australian authorities today "unreservedly" condemned the killing of an Indian youth here calling his stabbing a heinous crime even as police claimed there was no evidence to suggest that it was a racial attack.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), at the 56th meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), chalked out an extensive agenda for education in the country, based on the principles of expansion, inclusion and excellence.
In a key fallout of the global economic crisis, which gathered steam with the collapse of the Lehman Brothers exactly a year ago, countries will now be more cautious amid the ballooning government debt across economies.
Seeking to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the petroleum space, India has called for partnership with companies in the African hydrocarbon sector.
A late charge by bulls helped key indices surpass crucial resistance levels. However, select momentum indicators are currently in a sell mode even while the trend is up. It seems that markets will remain directionless until a clear breakout in either direction appears.
With the new Railway time table coming into effect from November 1 this year, the timings of 19 trains originating in the jurisdiction of East Coast Railway (ECoR) would be changed. The trains whose timings would be changed include the Puri-Tirupati express, Puri-Howrah Jagannath express, Puri-Howrah weekly express, Puri-Howrah Garib Rath express, Bhubaneswar-Puducherry express, Bhubaneswar-Chennai express, Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam Intercity express, and the Visakhapatnam-Korba express among others.
The government today said Hindustan Copper would ramp up production to 11 million tonnes per annum by 2017 with an investment of Rs 3,500 crore.
Australia today gave a thumbs up to security arrangements for the 2010 Games in New Delhi and said their athletes will travel to India to participate in the October 3-14 mega event.
Raghavendra Kamath / Mumbai January 8, 2010, 1:07 IST
Autonomy with more powers for the commodity futures market regulator, Forward Markets Commission (FMC), now seems certain with the Reserve Bank of India saying that futures trading cannot be held responsible for the recent spurt in essential commodity prices. This clearly means that futures trading is getting support from policy-makers — a fact that is likely to prompt the government to introduce the Bill granting more powers to FMC in the next Parliament session.
Team up with little-known Delhi-based group, Malaysian billionaire but say ‘no view’ taken on their participation.
A reduction of the logistics costs by 1 per cent of the GDP means a saving of over $7.5 billion, according to a report on ‘Competitiveness Through Efficient Logistics’ released by KPMG in association with CII Institute of Logistics.
Gold futures prices declined by 0.11 per cent on the Multi Commodity Exchange today as speculators indulged in reducing their positions in tandem with weak overseas trend.
Gold traded near the lowest this month on speculation that the dollar will continue to advance on data pointing to a recovery in the US jobs market.
Gains in global markets and foreign buying helped Sensex move past 17,000 mark after 15 months. In a truncated week, BSE Sensex rose 440 points or 2.6 per cent to 17,135 and Nifty rose 125 points or 2.5 per cent to 5,083. Broader indices performed better than BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices, each delivering 1.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively. The market was buoyed by IMF"s statement that India’s GDP would grow at 6.4 per cent for CY09 and that the world economy would contract less than expected.
Global pharma major Pfizer is to source source 40 off-patent (generic) cancer care products from Bangalore-based Strides Arcolab and sell the products in the United States.
A fine legal question has arisen which is whether a board"s circular can make a classification prospective when legally it is retrospective. This has arisen because of a Supreme Court judgement in the case of Jai Fibres Ltd vs CCE, Mumbai — 2007(218)ELT484(SC) interpreting the retrospectivity of classification on the basis of a CBEC Circular No.54/12/91-CX.1 dated 24.7.1992.
Life Sciences technology firm, Opto Circuits, a wholly-owned subsidiary Eurocor has received Communite European (CE) approval to market and sale its Drug Eluting Stent- Taxcor Plus in the world markets.
Food inflation softened marginally to 18.65 per cent for the week ended December 12 though inflation rates for cereals and pulses, which constitute the essential consumption basket, continued to be in double digits.
Christopher Hill (1912-2003), the brilliant British Marxist historian, reminded us that history and politics were two sides of the same coin. Which meant that historians were primarily interested in ideas not only because they influence societies but also because they reveal the societies that give rise to them. It also means that since politics is always in a state of flux, history had to be rewritten in every generation because, although the past doesn’t change, the present does; each generation asks questions of the past and finds new areas of sympathy as it relives different aspects of the experiences of its predecessors. Some such motivation has given rise to the recent crop of “revised” Indian histories from Ramachandra Guha’s India After Gandhi, Sunil Khilani’s The Idea of India and Nandan Nilekani’s Imagining India. And now we have Meghnad Desai’s The Rediscovery of India (Allen Lane/Penguin Books, Rs 699) that traverses the same passage of India from colonialism to a modern state.
Dilip Kumar Jha / Mmbai August 11, 2009, 0:24 IST
Cotton exports may rebound to 1.4 million tonnes (MT) in the 2009-10 season as a recovery in the global market is expected to boost demand for the fibre, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has said. “Exports from India could rebound to 1.4 MT,” ICAC said in a statement.
The state textiles and handloom department plans to work on improvement of designs of the famed traditional handloom products to make them more marketable in the international markets.
The government today indicated it will continue sops for Indian exporters who have seen a sharp contraction in orders since October last year.
With the small car segment driving growth, the country"s domestic passenger vehicle market is likely to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.9 per cent over the next five-years, a survey said.
The government today said it has approved revival of 36 sick central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) that will require Rs 2,921 crore of cash infusion, besides Rs 12,333 crore of other assistance.
Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today hit her predecessor Lalu Prasad where it hurt him most—on the supposed turnaround of Indian Railways during Prasad’s regime.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways was in a position to bid out contracts for the construction of 8,000 km of roads within the current financial year, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia indicated today.
The government expenditure on setting up 2,500 model elementary schools through public private partnership (PPP) during the Eleventh Plan period (2007-2012) would be less than Rs 500 crore, even as the allocation for it was originally planned to be Rs 1,250 crore.
Denied the chance, by a beady-eyed weight-watching travel friend, to carry with me into the heights of Uttarakhand Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther, I revenged myself by purchasing, at the highest (and wettest) place on our itinerary, a copy of Bill Aitken’s Touching upon the Himalaya: Excursions and Enquiries (Indus, 2004). Now that I am back at sweat level in Delhi and have actually read the Goethe, I realise that Young Werther would have made poor company.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved a special dispensation for Gazprom, allowing the operator of an offshore block to carry out additional exploration for 18 months beyond the Phase-III of exploration.
Delhi-based Vishal Retail’s Rs 730 crore of loans will be restructured, its bankers agreed today. It has become the second major retailer after Subhiksha to go into a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) process after it said it couldn’t pay its loans.
Several mines exploded along the Line of Control (LoC) when a fire broke out in the area, defence officials said today.
Second-largest shareholder Templeton seeks management change, to vote against directors.
Having spent thousands of dollars for many quarters lobbying on bilateral ties and for the nuclear deal with the US, India cut down on these expenses in the last quarter, even as neighbour Pakistan paid a higher quarterly bill for canvassing support for it in America.
Eight out of top-10 firms managed to add over Rs 22,000 crore to their market capitalisation (m-cap) in the holiday-truncated past week, with NTPC contributing a major chunk to the kitty.
KEC International, a part of the Rs 15,000 crore RPG group has won orders in Algeria and Abu Dhabi worth Rs 474 crore and Rs 76 crore respectively. KEC will undertake five turn key projects worth Rs 474 crore for CEEG spa in Algeria. The total length of these five projects is 858 km and completion period ranges from 12 to 18 months.
The simmering tiff between the family members of the century-old retail firm Nilgiri’s and its private equity investor, the UK-based Actis, became more complicated on Friday.
How the cash & carry retailer runs its business
As crude oil prices touched a fresh one-year high, trading at above $75 a barrel on Thursday, analysts and oil sector executives said underrecoveries could rise and become a cause of concern.
Naphthol Tar Fondue, Reactor Residue Quiche, Sevin Tar Souffle, Lime Sludge Mousse — these are on the menu of “Benign Buffet” to be served to government officials and members of the state cabinet with a complimentary B’eau Pal (Bhopal) Water Cocktail on November 28 at 12 noon on the Union Carbide road. The chefs are DRDE (Defence Research and Development Establishment), Gwalior, R Vijayraghavan and Sous-chef Tapan Chakravarty of Neeri, Nagpur.
Latha Jishnu / New Delhi November 12, 2009, 0:21 IST
Kotak Mahindra Bank has won a cybersquatting case at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) against a South Korea-based person, who was using the name "Kotak" in an internet domain.
Glenmark Generics Ltd, a subsidiary of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd, has confirmed that Smithkline Beecham Corporation (d/b/a) Glaxosmithkline (GSK) filed a patent infringement lawsuit on their US subsidiary, Glenmark Generics Inc, USA (Glenmark) in the US District Court for the District of Delaware in connection with the Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) filing for Atovaquone and Proguanil hydrochloride 250mg/ 100mg tablets.
Premvir Das / January 31, 2010, 0:16 IST
MPs and MLAs from Telangana cutting across party lines today resigned their seats in protest against the Centre"s decision to put the issue of the separate state on the backburner as the region shut down following a 48-hour bandh call.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged Union Power Minister SushilKumar Shinde to advise the Nuclear Corporation of India to bear with the state government for the delay in the site selection process for a nuclear power project.
Long before L N Mittal told a British newspaper that he may pull out of the 12 million tonne greenfield steel project in Orissa, the writing was on the wall. The sequence of developments on the projects, since the signing of the agreement between ArcelorMittal and the state government in December, 2006 had already put it in the ‘doubtful’ category.
Reliance Industries" (RIL) MA oilfield in the predominantly gas-rich KG-D6 block will hit peak output by this year-end, even as plans are underway to put nine more gas discoveries in the area into production, its Chairman Mukesh Ambani said today.
In a setback to Indian Air Force"s (IAF) plans to expand its capabilities, the Defence Ministry has cancelled a tender worth around Rs 6,000 crore for procuring six air-to-air refuelling aircraft.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) today said its board has approved the share swap ratio for the merger of the company"s subsidiary ETC Networks with itself.
Two top PSUs under the steel ministry -- SAIL and NMDC -- will enter into an agreement on Monday to mine Arki Limestone Mine in Himachal Pradesh, the home state of Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh.
Atul Chaturvedi has taken over as the Secretary in the Ministry of Steel.
Ethanol producers are cheering the government’s decision to raise the price of ethanol to Rs 27 a litre, as the decision may fetch long-term profits. Sugar companies, the main producers of ethanol, a by-product, have been selling it at Rs 21.50a litre.
Domestic air traffic in April was 14.8 per cent less compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, passenger load factors for all carriers rose significantly compared to the previous month, as a result of smarter pricing and cuts in capacity.
As part of its Phase-II plan, the Tamil Nadu government is planning to construct 17,000 disaster-resistant houses in rural areas. Each house would cost Rs 3 lakh, which is likely to be funded by the World Bank.
The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) is preparing to call tenders in a month for construction of various facilities for the specific pathogen-free (SPF) shrimp seed (Penaeus monodon – black tiger prawn) multiplication centre at Mulapolam village in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh.
Evincing interest to participate in India’s urban development process, multilateral lending agency World Bank has initiated a dialogue with the urban development ministry to provide a loan assistance of $5 billion to develop Indian cities, a top official said.
The BJP, which got two more seats than ally Shiv Sena in the Maharashtra Assembly poll, has staked claim on the post of the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, held by the latter for the last 10 years.
Ajai Shukla / New Delhi October 20, 2009, 0:37 IST
The new year has brought good news for almost all car manufacturers, with market leader Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, General Motors and even Fiat, posting their highest monthly sales since their inception.
The issue concerning foreign ownership in Indian banks is currently under discussion among the finance ministry, commerce and industry ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and is likely to be resolved soon.
Fresh trouble appears to be brewing over non-vacation of spectrum by Defence Ministry, a move that could frustrate the Telecom Ministry"s scheduled auction of third generation (3G) radio frequency next month.
The telecom department has written to the Cabinet Secretary seeking expeditious vacation of airwaves held by the defence forces so that the exact availability of 3G spectrum is known before the auction scheduled for December 7 takes place.
The board examinations for Class-X and Class-XII under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will commence from the first working day of March next year.
After the launch of the country’s first indigenous nuclear submarine, India has the “technical expertise and capability” to build nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and warships, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Anil Kakodkar has said.
A high level committee appointed by the IIT Council will revisit the fee structure as part of its mandate to assess how the revenue could be increased for the premier institutes.
A sneeze raises eyebrows and coughing makes people nervous in the city, which has emerged as the epicentre of swine flu with 100 casualties.
Hoping to get the US government"s nod to go ahead with its business in India, GE Hitachi has begun talks with domestic companies like BHEL, Bharat Forge and Larsen & Toubro for making atomic power equipment.
It was another lacklustre day of trade. The markets oscillated between either side of the dotted line before ending virtually unchanged. The Sensex closed at 16,894,lower by 18 points and the Nifty ended flat at 5041. Realty and energy stocks were in the doldrums, while consumer durables and pharma stocks looked up.
With no clarity on availability of third-generation (3G) mobile spectrum, the government is considering, among others, restricting the number of private players to just two to avoid a situation where it would need to pay damages to operators.
Other banks to go ahead with plans, private players to wait for spreads to narrow.
Magma Fincorp Limited, a leading asset finance company, has picked up seven per cent stake in Experian Credit Information Company of India Pvt Ltd, the Indian Credit Information Company (CIC) arm of the global information services company, Experian.
The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 16,393 - up 35 points. The Nifty ended (provisional) at 4,916 - up 34 points.
The private players across the country who had signed MoUs since the constitution of Jharkhand as a new state bifurcating Bihar in 2000, have been eagerly waiting for the follow up action against their signed MoUs by the Shibu Soren-led ministry sworn in on last week by the Governor K Sankaranarayanan, ending over 11 months of President’s Rule in the state.
Three train accidents, 69 flight disruptions and power failure in four states on the first fog of the season
The Planning Commission today said it would start interacting with Union ministries over the next two-three weeks over their demands for gross budgetary support for 2010-11.
The Planning Commission today said it will start interacting with Union ministries over the next two to three weeks over their demands for gross budgetary support for the next fiscal, amid reports that ministries have asked for a steep hike in resources in the Plan outlay.
Real estate firm CHD Developers" is looking to expand its education business and plans to open around 500 pre-schools in the next five years across the country.
Current market fluctuations in bonds yields were not dangerous, and a 10-year yield of 7-8 per cent was not uncomfortable, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty said today.
The ministry of environment and forests has drafted a comprehensive legislation encompassing all aspects of climate change that it plans to put in place post the climate change talks in Copenhagen scheduled from December 7-18.
Latha Jishnu / New Delhi November 20, 2009, 0:40 IST
Pakistan"s intelligence agency ISI was behind the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul which killed 17 people and wounded more than 60 others, Afghan envoy to the US has claimed.
Mobile phones and the internet are seen as the new thrust areas by children’s entertainment companies
Two private foreign fund investors have sold shares, worth Rs 47.74 crore, of Vijay Mallya-led United Breweries Holdings through open market transactions.
Swaraj Baggonkar / Mumbai January 6, 2010, 0:14 IST
Barack Obama / December 6, 2009, 0:20 IST
Vallee de Vin, maker of the premium Zampa brand of wines, is looking at investing upto Rs 35 crore on expansion as well as verticalisation by offering a range of services centred around the core business of wine manufacturing. Ravi Jain, chief executive officer of the Sanjegaon, Nashik-based vineyard, said that the company has a horizon of upto three years to raise the amount.
Taking in a pair of broken Reeboks turns out to be less than pleasant.
Sreelatha Menon / New Delhi November 1, 2009, 1:04 IST
City-based PGP Educational & Welfare Society, which runs engineering and arts colleges, is now planning to become an integrated one stop point by including medical education. The trust had already applied for a university status.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DCGA) is likely to submit its preliminary report to the Civil Aviation Ministry tomorrow on last night"s near-miss incident at Mumbai airport when two aircraft took off almost simultaneously from the same runway.
A parliamentary panel has rapped the steel ministry for under-utilisation of funds by Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) like SAIL and RINL, and said the Budgetary Estimates (BE) may be “inflated”.
Intermediate trend bullish, short-term trend neutral
Under attack for its climate policy for Copenhagen summit, the government today said India will not accept any legal binding on emission cut and rejected any proposal that would put a cap on the carbon emission.
After a lull of investments in the venture capital space last year, the US venture capitalists are optimistic about the future prospects of this segment in 2010 and said that India and China would attract a large chunk of these fund flows, a study said.
US markets ended flat on Wednesday. The Dow ended at 10,574. The Nasdaq slipped eight points to 2,301.
Posco India has sought more time from the Centre for implementing the Rs 54,000-crore SEZ project at Jagatsinghpur in Orissa, as the South Korean steel giant could not get land due to protests by tribals.
Public sector steel major SAIL has asked the government to evolve a time-bound anti-dumping duty mechanism to curb the rising cheap steel imports at a time when profits are under pressure due to falling prices.
Improved economic conditions globally helped the Tata-owned, British-based, brands Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) post 30 per cent growth in November, selling 18,825 units compared with the same month last year.
7Seas Technologies Limited, a Hyderabad-basd game development company, has collaborated with Intel to reach out to new gaming customers. Through the tie up, 7Seas" multi-genre PC racing game ‘Kraze’ will be made available on Intel"s Business Exchange (BX), an online technology marketplace, from next month.
The captive power plant of National Aluminium Company (Nalco) in Angul has started regulating power supply to the smelter, located next to it, owing to acute coal crisis.
Leading car makers are considering to raise prices of their vehicles across the board, if the government withdraws the excise duty benefit in the coming Budget. The benefit was given as part of a stimulus package in December 2008, following the onset of the global economic meltdown.
Bike maker Royal Enfield, a part of Eicher Motors, today said it will shift entire production to a new engine platform from April this year to make products compliant to stricter emission norms "Bharat Stage III".
Canon India, leading photographic and digital imaging company, expects to clock a 20 per cent growth this year. It earned a revenue of Rs 665 crore in 2008, registering a 20 per cent growth in the first eight months of 2009.
Leading steel maker JSW Steel today cut prices of its products by up to Rs 1,400 a tonne, mainly due to the softening global trend.
Chhatisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today said Maoists are hindering acquisition of land for Tata Steel"s proposed five million tonne integrated greenfield steel plant in the state.
B K Modi-promoted Spice Group and British Virgin Mobile have bid for MTNL"s franchise deals to offer 3G services in Mumbai and Delhi.
State run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) has taken to the franchise route to sell its 3G services in Delhi and Mumbai and has floated a global Expression of Interest (EoI) for 3G Services Franchisee.
Disinvestment is a buzzword now. Economic Survey 2009 indicates that the central government would mobilise Rs 25,000 crore from disinvestment of its holdings in state-owned enterprises (or public sector enterprises). The target is abysmally low (at Rs 1,120 crore) in the budget 2009-10 presented by the Finance Minister. We may assume that the target is Rs 25,000 crore for the year 2009-10. The government is committed to disinvestment, although some of its coalition partners and trade unions are against it. There-fore, although there is no debate on the issue within the lead coalition partner, there are some questions that remain unanswered.
Spot the odd one out: ICBC, CCB, HSBC, BOC. The four big banks operating in China may have similar sounding initialisms, but one of them – HSBC – isn’t Chinese at all. The UK-based lender, listed in London and Hong Kong, sees itself as stateless. But its national agnosticism may be getting harder to sustain.
Apart from the cityscapes, the Commonwealth Games provide the opportunity to improve the mindscapes of the people of Delhi. The Delhi Government has embarked on a civility campaign, Come on Delhi, to make the city a good host for the upcoming event.
Despite lower revenue projections this financial year, Pune-based manufacturing solutions provider KPIT Cummins Infosystems has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire US-based SAP specialist Sparta Consultant for Rs 180 crore.
Analysts, economists plan to raise their IIP forecasts
The government is likely to clear tomorrow a proposal suggesting release of inflation data on monthly basis and not every week for bulk of the items tracked by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI).
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today pitched for monthly release of inflation data as it is more sensible than the current practice of coming out with weekly figures.
German auto major Volkswagen today said it will offer package options to customers of its soon-to-be launched small car Polo, which will include features like accessories, safety and sports, and entertainment systems.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee wants the Income Tax forms to be simple so that a taxpayer can understand his liability without consulting experts or chartered accountants.
Usha Martin Ltd has been issued 44,317 carbon credits for its Clean Development Mechanism projects by UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, data from the regulator showed today.
Union Bank is on a restructuring drive to become the country’s top nationalised bank.
Pollution level in 10 major industrial hubs in the country, including some in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh has reached to a "very alarmingly" level, according to a study.
Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the proposals for diluting stake in two state-run companies SAIL and NMDC will soon be taken to the Cabinet for its approval.
Long delays in environment and forest clearances are turning out to be a major hindrance to implementation of various development projects.
The Finance Ministry today said asking the employees to pay taxes on their perquisites is not new because such incentives were under the net even prior to the Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT).
China: For China, 2009 was a momentous year. The People"s Republic turned 60, and Beijing staved off economic disaster with an unprecedented 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package. The stage is set for an eventful 2010. If all goes well, China’s GDP is set to become the world"s second largest. But all may not go well.
The Rs 950-crore second phase expansion plan of the Gopalpur port is likely to be delayed by a year as the project is yet to get the environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).
The Shipping Corporation of India Ltd. (SCI) accepted delivery of a Very Large Crude Carrier, m.t. Desh Vishal, on 25th June, 2009.
Although the market is hopeful of a solution to the subsidy issue, crude oil prices and the quantum of oil bonds would decide the near-term fate of OMCs.
Pharma firm Lupin today said it will borrow up to Rs 500 crore from corporate bodies and various financial institutions.
Paving way for its disinvestment, the country"s largest coal miner, Coal India, will soon become a "Public Ltd" company from a private one at present.
Regulators tighten net on safety grounds
India-born steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal remains the richest business tycoon in South Africa despite his fortune having halved in the past year due to the global recession.
The Madras High Court today stayed a directive of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to stop state-level drug authorities from issuing export clearances for medicines.
The Madras High Court has ordered notice on a petition seeking a direction to the centre to appoint a reg-ulatory body to prohibit obscene and pornographic material on the internet and penalise internet service providers (ISPs) and search engine companies for violation of licence conditions.
The Madras High Court today ordered issuance of notice to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on a petition from his AIADMK rival challenging his election from Sivaganga constituency in the May Lok Sabha elections.