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Railways show 50% jump in AC booking due to airfare hike!The steep rise in airfares has given a major boost to Indian Railways, which has seen bookings in air-conditioned (AC) coaches rise more than 50 percent.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 4:31 pm Leaving WTO would leave India without support: Pawar!Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has rejected a suggestion that India should step out of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) because of high agricultural subsidies in the developed countries.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 4:31 pm India Inc mops up USD 22 bn via syndicate loans this year!Global meltdown seems to have had no impact on India Inc`s fund raising as corporates, led by Tata Motors`s 3 billion dollar credit for JLR, have mobilised 22.3 billion dollars in loans so far this year, up by 18 per cent from the same period last year, said Dealogic.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 4:31 pm Global CEOs adopt `back-to basics` approach amid slowdown!Amid the credit crisis and economic slowdown, businesses are adopting a `back-to-basics` approach to cope with the challenging economy, shows a survey of chief executives of companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange including K V Kamath of India`s ICICI Bank and Indra Nooyi of Pepsico.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 4:31 pm Global CEOs adopt `back-to basics` approach amid slowdown!Amid the credit crisis and economic slowdown, businesses are adopting a `back-to-basics` approach to cope with the challenging economy, shows a survey of chief executives of companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange including K V Kamath of India`s ICICI Bank and Indra Nooyi of Pepsico.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 4:31 pm Yahoo selects Biondi, Chapple as new board members!Yahoo Inc said it will add the former chief executives of Viacom and Nextel Partners to its board of directors as part of the company`s deal to ward off a proxy fight with billionaire investor Carl Icahn.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 4:31 pm `Insurance sector may touch Rs 2 lakh cr bn by 2010`!India`s insurance sector may touch a level of Rs 2 lakh crore in the next two years in view of aggressive marketing techniques adopted by private insurance companies, a report said.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 4:31 pm Haryana to implement pay panel recommendationsAnnouncing an Independence Day bonanza for state government employees, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said Friday that his government will implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission on the lines of the central government.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 15 Aug 2008 | 12:02 pm RBI a net $ seller after 30 months - Sify
Source: Google News India - Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 11:51 am Himachal seeks Rs.734 crore central assistanceThe Himachal Pradesh government has sought Rs.734 crores from the central government for relief and rehabilitation following damages caused by heavy rains.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 15 Aug 2008 | 11:30 am Judge progress by improvement in common man's living standard: ChouhanMadhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said here Friday that his government has improved the infrastructure as also the common man's living standard - something which should be the criteria for judging the progress of any state.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 15 Aug 2008 | 11:30 am Indian Americans greet India on its 61st Independence-Day - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 11:20 am Patriotic fervour grips Indians across the world - Hindustan Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 10:59 am '1991 blazed economic freedom for India'Though India came out of the colonial rules in 1947, we could enjoy the fruits of economic freedom only in post-1991, with the onset of liberalisation.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Aug 2008 | 10:54 am Reliance looking at diesel exports to PakReliance Industries is looking at exporting diesel from its upcoming refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat to Pakistan after Islamabad last month allowed import of fuel from India.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Aug 2008 | 10:47 am JSPL to invest Rs 183 bn on Chhattisgarh unitJindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) will invest Rs 183 billion in Chhattisgarh to set up a steel unit and a 1,000 MW captive power plant, a company official said on Friday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Aug 2008 | 10:45 am Reliance close to Terai highway dealAfter its failure to penetrate Nepal's thorny hydropower sector, Indian blue chip company Reliance is now edging close to sealing a major construction deal in the Himalayan republic.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Aug 2008 | 10:44 am HAL Delivers First Indian Hawk To IAF - TopNews
Source: Google News India - Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 10:24 am Sensex Closes Below 15000-Mark - TopNews
Source: Google News India - Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 10:21 am EIH set to serve a Rs 650 cr spread in Goa, Bangalore - Sify
Source: Google News India - Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 10:11 am Chhattisgarh to get Rs.1.7 trillion investment in powerEnergy companies will invest Rs.1.7 trillion ($42.5 billion) in Chhattisgarh to set up coal-fired power plants having a total power generation capacity of 42,000 MW, Chief Minister Raman Singh said Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 15 Aug 2008 | 9:31 am Jindal Steel to invest Rs.183 bn on Chhattisgarh unitJindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) will invest Rs.183 billion in Chhattisgarh to set up a steel unit and a 1,000 MW captive power plant, a company official said Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 15 Aug 2008 | 9:31 am Reliance close to Terai highway deal in NepalAfter its failure to penetrate Nepal's thorny hydropower sector, Indian blue chip company Reliance is now edging close to sealing a major construction deal in the Himalayan republic.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 15 Aug 2008 | 9:30 am Hit by unrest, apple exports from Kashmir down to trickleThe supply of apples from Jammu and Kashmir, that accounts for 60 percent of the country's apples and 50 percent of its exports, will slow down if normalcy is not restored immediately, say worried industry officials.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 15 Aug 2008 | 9:03 am GLOBAL MARKETS - Fresh dollar surge knocks commodities lowerLONDON (Reuters) - A fresh surge in the dollar drove commodities lower on Friday, knocking gold and oil prices and weighing on world stocks as evidence mounted that U.S. economic problems are spreading to the rest of the world.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Aug 2008 | 8:46 am Oil falls to $113 on bearish global demandLONDON (Reuters) - Oil dropped by $2 to $113 a barrel on Friday to trade near the lowest since early May, pressured by faltering global demand and rising supply.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Aug 2008 | 8:41 am Inflation Surges To 12.44 Pc - TopNews
Source: Google News India - Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 8:34 am Idea Cellular open offer for Spice put on hold - Sify
Source: Google News India - Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 8:17 am Gold falls below $800 for first time since DecSINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold tumbled nearly 3 percent on Friday and slipped below $800 for the first time since December, with investors' confidence in precious metals shattered by falling oil prices and a surging U.S. dollar.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Aug 2008 | 7:34 am China and co stand between world and "recession"HONG KONG (Reuters) -A slowdown that has caused major economies in Europe and Japan to shrink will bring more pain before it ends but will unlikely become a global recession because of the emerging star power of countries like China.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Aug 2008 | 7:26 am Spa’s the way - Times of India
Source: Google News India - Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 7:03 am India's engineering services exports next big thing: surveyEngineering design and services exports - now only a small component of India's software and services exports - is all set to be the next big thing in the country's relentless march towards becoming a global knowledge powerhouse, says a new survey.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 15 Aug 2008 | 7:02 am Railways show 50 percent jump in AC booking due to airfare hikeThe steep rise in airfares has given a major boost to Indian Railways, which has seen bookings in air-conditioned (AC) coaches rise more than 50 percent.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 15 Aug 2008 | 7:01 am PM appeals for peace in Kashmir, ticks off PakistanThe turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir was a 'matter of concern', and people and political parties must eschew divisive politics to find a lasting solution to the state's problems, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 15 Aug 2008 | 7:01 am Google faces defamation lawsuit in India - WSJReuters - Google Inc's India subsidiary is being sued for alleged defamation in the Bombay High Court by an Indian construction equipment company, The Wall Street Journal said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Aug 2008 | 6:21 am India fighting inflation but growth important - PMNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Soaring inflation is due to external factors but the authorities are taking steps to insulate the poor against it while also balancing the need for a high pace of economic growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Aug 2008 | 6:17 am Provident Funds get more investment flexibility - Financial Express
Source: Google News India - Business | 15 Aug 2008 | 5:52 am High inflation turns marketmen extra cautiousAnalysts expect tight measures from RBI. Mumbai, Aug. 14 Surprising marketmen on Thursday was the higher-than-expected inflation figure. Thanks to the high fruit and crude price, inflation sky-rocketed to 12.44 per cent for the week ended ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am Indian Hotels plans to invest Rs 2,100 cr; will stay invested in OrientMumbai, Aug. 14 Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), operators of the Taj Group of Hotels, plans to invest Rs 2,100 crore to add 5,900 rooms in the next three years. ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am Costlier fuel, fruits drive up inflation rate to 12.44%Wholesale Price Index of all commodities at 240.4. New Delhi, Aug 14 The annual Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rose 12.44 per cent during the week ended August 2, above the previous week’s annual rise of 12.01 per cent, government ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am Sugar prices firm up as global supplies tightenDuty-free imports likely to be unviable at current rates. New Delhi, Aug. 14 The firming up of domestic sugar prices couldn’t have come at a worse time for a Government that is clearly in election mode. The main reason for this is the ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am Private provident funds allowed to invest up to 15% in stocksNew investment guidelines to give more flexibility to trustees. New Delhi, Aug. 14 Private sector managed provident fund and superannuation trusts can now have greater exposure in the stock ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am 3G policy: Foreign players want PMO to interveneSay auction rules unattractive for new players. New Delhi, Aug. 14 Stung by the recently announced policy for third generation (3G) mobile services, a delegation of foreign telecom players has approached the Prime Minister’s Office ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am Central Govt staff get pay hike as I-Day giftImpact on Budget this year at Rs 15,717 cr. New Delhi, Aug. 14 The much-awaited bonanza for over five million Central Government employees to move into higher pay scales became a reality on Thursday, with the Union Cabinet approving the ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am Auto cos tying up with ITIs to fight skill shortageMumbai, Aug. 14 The public private partnership (PPP) model for skill development in industrial training institutes (ITI) announced in the Union Budget turns into an opportunity for automobile manufacturers to fight the shortage of trained ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am Vendor consolidation gaining popularityWin-win for both clients, service providers. Bangalore, Aug. 14 With Indian IT vendors vying for a larger share of the offshoring pie, and their clients trying to cut costs, vendor consolidation is increasingly becoming more ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am US trade body clears Sun’s purchase of TaroAsks Sun to sell rights & assets of 3 anti-epilepsy drugs; Sun agrees. Mumbai, Aug. 14 The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has cleared Sun Pharma’s proposal to buy Israel-drug maker Taro, but first required the Mumbai-based drug ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Aug 2008 | 12:00 am Gasoline glut spells bleak years for refinersRefineries in Asia face falling gasoline prices and growing losses in producing the fuel, as the prospect of a sustained global supply glut looms over the industry.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Aug 2008 | 11:00 pm State sugar output may slump 30%July is the most crucial month for new sugar plantations, but Maharashtra hasn't seen any in the first three weeks due to lack of rains.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Aug 2008 | 10:59 pm AAI to upgrade Kolkata, Chennai airportsWith the Left parties out of government's hair, one would have thought greater private sector participation in airport infrastructure would become the order of the day.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Aug 2008 | 10:58 pm Oz's Cochlear tunes in to IndiaCochlear, the world's largest manufacturer of cochlear and bone conduction implants based in Australia, is betting big on the Indian market.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Aug 2008 | 10:55 pm Ipca to enter ayurvedic products marketIpca Laboratories, a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company, is entering the Rs 6,000-7,000 crore ayurveda products market.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Aug 2008 | 10:53 pm Electrotherm close to buying overseas mineElectrotherm India is close to acquiring an iron ore mine overseas and receiving allotment of another one in Jharkhand with total reserves of 100 million tonne.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Aug 2008 | 10:52 pm FAA proposes $7.1 million fine against AmericanWASHINGTON (Reuters) - American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp, knowingly flew planes that needed safety repairs, the U.S. government charged on Thursday in a letter that proposed a $7.1 million fine against the carrier.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 Aug 2008 | 10:28 pm Hindalco prices rights at Rs 96/shareHindalco board panel has approved rights issue at Rs 96 per share of face value Re 1, reports CNBCTV18. Investors will get rights to buy three shares for every seven held. The company has set September 5 as record date for the same.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 9:33 pm Travel houses offering cheap 34 night packages abroadIf you need a muchneeded break from routine this long weekend and you still havent made any plans, there\'s hope, even if you want to dash. Travel houses are offering three or four night packages to Thailand, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Maldives and even Sri Lanka where you can get a visa on arrival.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 8:18 pm Bangalore int\'l airport heading for bankruptcyBangalore\'s brand new airport might be on the road to bankruptcy. The airport\'s promoters have appealed to the Civil Aviation Ministry to allow them charge domestic passengers a user development fee.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 8:15 pm Distribution makes a box office KinngMumbai: The new king of the box office is loud, brash and has cracked the secret to a perfect opening weekend. Singh is Kinng, a comedy starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, grossed a record Rs59.5 crore in its first three days in cinemas, thanks to a release strategy that sets a new yardstick for opening success. Clever timing, coupled with the highest number of prints ever distributed through the country, helped the masala flick, which tells the tale of a simple Punjabi lad who bumbles his way into becoming the king of the underworld. Its opening last weekend set a Bollywood film opening record, according to The Indian Film Co. (IFC), which co-produced the film and distributed 1,400 prints of the film to 1,700 screens globally. Analysts say the planning and execution of the launch signal that Reliance Big Entertainment, the movie production arm of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, which has backed the film, is preparing to up the ante with similar high-profile releases of 100 films that it aims to have lined up by the end of this year. Reliance officials did not return calls for comment. The company is currently bankrolling 70 films to the tune of about Rs200 crore. Through collaborations with Indian directors as well as Hollywood production houses, including a possible deal with Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks SKG, that number is due to increase. Singh is Kinng benefited from a carefully choreographed launch, which made it the sole contender opening in the weekend before Independence Day. The timing ensured a captive audience in the run-up to the long weekend, when it will have to field competition from just two major releases, God Tussi Great Ho, starring Amitabh Bachchan, and Bachna Ae Haseeno, with Ranbir Kapoor. Leaving nothing to chance, the distributors and makers of the film accompanied the release with an aggressive marketing and promotion campaign, which cost IFC up to 20% of the amount it paid for the rights of the film from the backers, a group that included Reliance Big Entertainment and Hari Om Entertainment, the production house set up by Kumar.  Ruling the screens: A promotional shot of Singh is Kinng. Besides the standard trailers and commercials across media, the film also used contests on both television and the Internet to drum up interest. An industry official on the condition of anonymity says the film spent up to Rs10 crore on marketing. The well-choreographed release comes in the wake of similar successes enjoyed by blockbusters, including Eros International’s Om Shanti Om, which held the previous record for opening weekend returns, as well as Welcome and Jab We Met, all of which relied on heavily planned opening weekends and clever marketing ahead of release. “The success of a film doesn’t just depend on the content,” says Sandeep Bhargava, chief executive of IFC’s advisory company, who advocates spending as much time on promoting a film and planning the release as making it. “It is important to market a particular film, and the marketing is as important as the content. This launch sets a new standard for releases.” Bhargava notes that hype around a film has to be created “from the moment it hits the floor”, with interest in the film being kept alive at every moment in order for it to become one of the most awaited films of the season. “Gone are the days of the six-week marketing campaign,” he adds. “Promoting the film and planning its release starts long before the movie goes onto the floor. The stakes are increasing as the market becomes even more combative.” Kishore Lulla, chairman and chief executive of Eros International, the production house behind Om Shanti Om, agrees with Bhargava’s notion that marketing is as important as content to ensure a successful opening weekend, especially given the variety of choices on offer to consumers. “After the opening weekend, it’s the capability of the content to carry the film forward,” he says. “In such a scenario, strategically planning out releases is very important.” Though the push to dominate the silver screen shattered box office records, multiplex operators say it was by no means the cleverest promotional campaign, but the most aggressive. “Its about capacity, and the number of shows,” according to Tushar Dhingra, chief operating officer of Adlabs Cinemas. “Singh is Kinng was a solo release and they went all-out.” In addition, the strategy and science of release timings will just keep getting more aggressive, according to industry observers and analysts. “This is just the beginning,” says Taran Adarsh, trade analyst and film critic. “Things are going only one way, and the trend follows the Hollywood model. To extract the maximum revenue, the makers flood the market with prints... Singh is Kinng has shown the way.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:46 pm Facts speak?On the eve of the country’s 62nd Independence Day, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government chose to advertise extensively about achieving several goals it had envisaged in the National Common Minimum Programme. However, a Mint analysis shows that most of the claims are at best half-truths. While surveys find that corruption by officials is rampant—they are unprepared to spare even the poorest of the poor—the ambitious farm loan waiver package has failed to keep unscrupulous moneylenders at bay or help farmers wriggle out of poverty and debt traps. Funds meant to promote education in the countryside go unutilized even as higher education institutes, such as IITs, lack proper infrastructure to support students. State governments that say the Centre is not doing enough to ensure proper implementation of the Mid-day Meal Scheme and child welfare programmes are themselves missing development targets. The progress of the rural health mission programme has been tardy and the states are complacent about safeguarding the rights of the underprivileged, including tribals. Here is an independent scorecard. To read the complete analysis click here Read our previous stories on these issues: To read stories related to the National Rural Health Mission clickhere To read stories related to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme click here More stories onNational Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:44 pm NTK | 60,000 monuments atnature’s mercy: IntachNew Delhi: Nearly 60,000 monuments across the country are at nature’s mercy with no agency taking measures for their protection, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach), a non profit, said. Intach has prepared a list of nearly 70,000 monuments in the country of which about 60,000 are not looked after by any government or private agency. “Many of these 60,000 monuments need immediate attention. Otherwise, they will be ruined,” Intach chairman S.K. Mishra said. ************ AUTO Bangalore company to launch electric scooter Bangalore: Bangalore-based EKO Vehicle Pvt. Ltd is all set to launch its second product, EV 60 electric scooter, and said it would commence export of battery-operated two-wheelers to the US market from January. The pollution-free EV 60 is priced at Rs39,600 and slated for launch next month, chairman Anil Ananthakrishna said. Set up in January 2005, the company has so far sold more than 15,000 units of its first product under the brandname Cosmic and Velociti. “We have orders to deliver (another) 100,000 units. ” The company’s expansion activity entails an investment of about Rs30 crore to Rs50 crore, Ananthakrishna said, adding it’s in discussions with angel investors to raise funds. The company would dilute its stake by 20-30% to raise money. (PTI ) Maruti rides on old cars to push new sales New Delhi: The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has tied up with scrap dealers across India to dispose of old cars to boost sales of new ones. “We have tied up with 15-20 people dealing in scrap in each of the cities that we are present,” Maruti Suzuki India chief general manager (sales support) Ravi Bhatia said. The company is offering its customers a discount of up to Rs40,000 on exchange of their old cars for new ones, while at the same time inviting bids from scrap dealers for the old cars. (PTI ) ********** AVIATION 5 firms in contention forcity-side development New Delhi: Five of the companies that were shortlisted from nearly 24 firms for possible city-side development of non-metro airports at Amritsar and Udaipur will be retained, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Thursday. Patel’s statement comes amid concerns that the process could be restarted from scratch after opposition from Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Left parties sought clarifications on various issues in the Request For Qualification or RFQ for the two airports. “Obviously they will be there,” he said when asked if there could be a fresh selection process. He added that the city side development will be done by the private operator and “terminal building will remain with AAI”. Companies short listed for the bidding include GMR Infrastructure Ltd, Reliance Energy Ltd, and Lanco Infratech Ltd. (Tarun Shukla) Aviation panel reviews key demands of airlines New Delhi: A committee, setup by prime minister Manmohan Singh in July to examine various issues pertaining to the financial crises being faced by domestic airlines, met for the first time on Thursday to review key demands including state taxes on fuel, pricing mechanism of oil companies, and the throughput charges applied by Airports Authority of India . The final recommendation on all major issues will now be prepared, a senior government official present at the meeting said. “A final proposal will be worked out by the ministry; the next meeting will be in three weeks,” this official said asking not to be quoted. (Staff Writer) *********** CORPORATE Sanyo, BPL shut joint TV plant in India Tokyo: Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd said it closed a box TV plant in India operated by a joint venture with local partner BPL after its profitability was hit by price falls and a shift in demand to flat TVs. Sanyo BPL, created in 2004 to make cathode ray tube TVs for the Indian market, produced 400,000 colour CRT models in the year ended March, and had revenues of about 4.5 billion yen ($41.14 million). The loss-making venture is set to be dissolved, a Sanyo spokesman said on Thursday. The Japanese consumer electronics maker plans to continue marketing its products in India through its own local sales subsidiary, he said. (Reuters) ********** ECONOMY Indirect tax collections rise 12% in April-July New Delhi: The collection of indirect taxes from customs and excise duties rose 12% in the first four months of the fiscal year to Rs74,360crore ($17.3 billion), the finance ministry said in a release on Thursday. The government raised Rs38,250 crore from customs duties in the four-month period, 20.3% more than a year earlier. It collected Rs36,109 crore from excise taxes, or 4.4% more, the ministry said. (Bloomberg) Govt approves 9 FDI worth Rs294 crore New Delhi: The government on Thursday cleared nine foreign direct investment proposals totalling Rs294 crore ($68.5 million), including those of JP Morgan and Rio Tinto. JP Morgan has been permitted to invest almost Rs100 crore, including in hotel and hospitality services. The government, however, deferred a proposal from Idea Cellular arm Aditya Birla Telecom to raise its foreign investment holding to 74%. (Reuters) ************* ENERGY ONGC refuses to reimburse service tax New Delhi: Oil explorers such as Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) have refused to reimburse service tax on offshore vessels they hire, giving foreign flag vessel owners an edge over Indian shipowners. Shipping secretary A.P.V.N Sarma has sought intervention of his counterpart in the petroleum ministry for “suitable directives to E&P (exploration and production) operators for reimbursement of service tax.” “E&P operators such as ONGC who have charter hired offshore supply vessels (OSVs) have declined to reimburse the service tax on the basis of their own interpretation (of rules),” he wrote to Petroleum Secretary last month. The vessel owners are to pay service tax to government irrespective of the position taken by oil firms. (PTI) No excise duty on UMPP equipment New Delhi: The government has granted full exemption from central excise duty on goods procured for setting up ultra mega power projects, or UMPP, based on super critical coal thermal technology, from which power procurement has been tied up on the basis of tariff-based competitive bidding. The exemption is applicable to goods procured for projects set up under government of India initiative and have an installed capacity of 3960MW or more. Certain conditions have been prescribed for availing the benefit of exemption which comes into effect from 14 August. (Staff Writer) RIL submits plan for 8 more gas discoveries New Delhi: Reliance Industries Ltd has submitted a development plan for eight more gas discoveries in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block. “The discoveries are adjacent to the Dhirubhai 1 and 3 gas fields that are currently under development,” said Canada’s Niko Resources, which is Reliance’s junior partner in KG-D6. While Dhirubhai-1 and 3 discoveries are expected to start production by end September, it is intended that the eight satellite discoveries would be tied back to the Dhirubhai-1 and 3 facilities. (PTI) ************ FOREIGN AFFAIRS Pakistan celebrates its 61st independence day Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday celebrated its 61st independence day with traditional flag hoisting ceremonies and fireworks despite growing militant unrest and deadly bombings. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who hoisted the national flag in Islamabad, said the government was “committed to bringing relief to the common man, to steer Pakistan out of the current political, economic situation.” Gilani vowed to fight the threats of domestic extremism and terrorism, and to forge friendly ties with nuclear-armed rival India. (AFP ) ************* HOSPITALITY Indian Hotels draws up Rs2,100 cr capex plan Mumbai: Tata-owned hospitality major Indian Hotels Co. Ltd said it has drawn up a Rs2,100 crore capex plan. “We plan to invest Rs1,500 crore over the next three years to add about 1,900 rooms in the five-star and luxury category and Rs600 crore to add about 4,000 rooms in the premium and budget segments,” Indian Hotels chairman Ratan Tata told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) here on Thursday. He said the firm plans to build hotels in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Noida. “We also plan to renovate and refurbish existing properties and the food and beverage division,” Tata said. (PTI) *********** INSURANCE Flagstone keen to enter general insurance sector Hyderabad: Bermuda-based global reinsurance firm Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings Ltd plans to enter the Indian non-life insurance sector, buoyed by the fast growing economy and low penetration of insurance in the subcontinent, said chairman Mark Byrne. “We are currently in talks with some prospective Indian partners for a joint venture and should firm up the venture shortly,” he said on Thursday after inaugurating the company’s underwriting support services centre. He said the company expects to complete the deal and begin Indian primary insurance operations in non-life segment within a year and plans to invest $30 million (Rs128.4 crore) in the venture to begin with. The New York Stock Exchange-listed reinsurer that reported $577 million revenues for the year ended December also plans to expand its Indian reinsurance operations and opened a representative office at Mumbai in June. “We currently have limited exposure of around $30 million to the Indian reinsurance market and plan to significantly enhance our business here,” said David Brown, the chief executive officer of Flagstone. (C.R. Sukumar/ Mint) **************** INVESTMENTS Credit Suisse invests $77m in Indu Projects Hyderabad: City-based construction company Indu Projects Ltd (IPL) has announced that global financial services company Credit Suisse Group AG has invested $77 million (Rs325 crore) in it for some 10% equity. The total commitment is for $113 million to pick up around 13% in the company’s paid-up equity of around Rs15 crore, its managing director and chief executive office, I. Syam Prasad Reddy, told Mint. The ‘Times of India’ newspaper has first reported the Credit Suisse investment in Indu Projects on 12 August, attributing it to unnamed sources. While promoters and associates hold around 70% of its equity, the balance is held by partners such as Citigroup Venture Capital, Maple Holdings, IDFC, Sun Apollo and Red Fort Capital. Indu Projects, which reported Rs1,300 crore of turnover for year to March, is currently executing projects worth Rs16,000 crore in irrigation, road and railway projects, said Reddy. The company plans to use the funds infused by Credit Suisse to expand its presence in the country and diversify into new areas such as contract coal mining, building health cities and agro-food parks, he said. (C.R. Sukumar / Mint) ***************** IT Wikipedia founder aims to break Google grip Singapore: Watch out Google, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales hopes that Wikia Search, a project he spearheads, will break Google Inc.’s domination as the world’s most widely used Internet search engine. Google and fellow titans Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp. dominate the Internet search engine market which Wales said was already causing some worry among Web users. “Right now in the US in particular, we have a really strong concentration of the industry,” Wales said on Thursday at the Global Brand Forum in Singapore. Industry statistics showed over 90% of Internet searches in the US are done through the three firms, he said. “So a lot of people are really concerned about this. Do we really want all of our traffic, all of our editorial control of the Internet all being piped through one, two or three companies? I don’t think we do. I think we want to have a broader marketplace than that.” Wales said Wikia Search will run on an open platform, similar to the principles behind Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia in which entries can be made and edited by anyone with an Internet connection. (AFP) Facebook is online social networking king San Francisco: Industry figures available on Wednesday show Facebook has dethroned MySpace to become the world’s most popular social networking website. Slightly more than 132 million people visited Facebook in June, compared with the approximately 117.5 million that went to MySpace that month, according to industry tracker comScore. Facebook seized the social networking crown from News Corp.-owned MySpace in April, comScore reported. Facebook’s moves to tailor versions of its website to languages other than English is credited with giving it a boost in international users that pushed it to the top of the social networking heap. “Facebook has done an exceptional job of leveraging its brand internationally during the past year,” comScore vice-president Jack Flanagan said in a release. Ranks of social network users grew 9% in North America but leapt 25% globally to 580.51 million people, according to comScore. The number of people using social networking websites climbed 66% in the West Asia-Africa region and 35% in Europe. The number of people that visited Facebook in Europe in June was 35.2 million; more than triple what it was in the same month last year. (AFP) *************** LEGAL Malaysian firm’s plea against ONGC dismissed New Delhi: The Delhi high court has upheld ONGC Ltd’s decision not to award a contract to Malaysian Ramunia Fabricators Sdn Bhd to develop an oil field off Mumbai’s coast. Dismissing the petition of Ramunia, a division bench headed by justice Manmohan Sarin said ONGC was right in rejecting its bid for the project. “We are prima facie of the view that the plea of loss of confidence taken by ONGC (against) the petitioners for having failed to furnish the performance guarantee appears to be justifiable deserving credence,” the court said. The bench passed the order on a petition filed by the Malaysian company seeking court’s direction to award the contract to it which was earlier given to Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) but was later cancelled paving the way for fresh bidding. ONGC had invited bids in May 2007 for its B-22 field development project in which L&T and the Malaysian firm had participated. The oil exploration major awarded the contract to L&T and dismissed the bid of Ramunia on the ground that the tender documents had been purchased by one company while the bid was submitted by another. (PTI) HC dismisses Pilots Association’s petition Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by Pilots Association against a Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) decision to implement the 1992 rules instead of the newly framed ones regarding duty hours. A division bench of justices R.M.S. Khandeparkar and Amjad Sayed was hearing the application filed by pilots opposing the DGCA’s decision to keep its newly framed 2007 rules regarding duty hours of pilots in abeyance. The association had said the 2007 rules were shunned because they lessened duty hours of the pilots and made the airlines to hire more pilots. DGCA says it has a right to amend the rules or keep them in abeyance, and 1992 rules were in operation for 15 years, so they can not be said to be causing much hardship to pilots now. (PTI) Sebi passes consent order on IPO scam Mumbai: Stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, on Thursday passed a series of consent orders in cases related to the initial public offering (IPO) scam, in which a few market intermediaries cornered a sizable chunk of equity offerings meant for retail investors. In one such instance, the regulator has settled a case with the Reniwal Group, certain foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and sub-accounts, who were allegedly involved in cornering shares of Nissan Copper Ltd. Sebi has received a consent payment of over Rs11 crore from the accused. In June, Sebi had received its first batch of a “consent” payment related to the IPO scam. These out-of-court settlements are reached with the consent of the involved parties and the regulator. In the first six months of this year, the regulator has settled 66 cases this way. And since it introduced the norms for such so-called consent orders in April 2007, it has cleared 87 cases. (Khushboo Narayan / Mint) Ranganayakulu is Sebi executive director Mumbai: Capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, on Thursday appointed Jagarlamudi Ranganayakulu as the executive director of its legal department. The position was vacant for past four months since its former legal executive director Sandeep Parekh quit in March. Ranganayakulu was a legal advisor in Sebi. He has also been an adjudicator and handled various cases, on behalf of Sebi, in courts. (Khushboo Narayan / Mint) ************ MARKETS China’s ‘hot money’ flow slowing: report Beijing: Foreign exchange deposits into Chinese banks in July dropped to $5.6 billion (Rs23,968 crore), down by nearly half from June, state media reported, indicating the flow of “hot money” into China is slowing. The level of new foreign exchange deposits was lower than last month’s $8.3 billion in direct foreign investment and the $25.3-billion trade surplus, the Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. The gap between the deposits and foreign investment showed an obvious outflow of short-term speculative funds, or hot money, the report quoted Chinese Academy of Social Sciences economist Liu Yuhui as saying. “Large amounts of capital have been flowing back to the US because of the stronger dollar,” Liu was quoted as saying. The government has expressed concern that if the hot money trend reverses, a surge of funds out of the country could have a big impact on an economy that is already slowing down. (AFP) Resurgere Mines IPO subscribed 1.2 times Mumbai: Resurgere Mines and Minerals Ltd received bids for 1.2 times the shares on offer in its initial public sale that closed on Wednesday, bankers to the issue said. The 4.45-million-share offer was fully subscribed on its last day, according to data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The shares were offered in a price band of Rs263-272 each. Resurgere, in which Merill Lynch and Co. Inc. holds more than 12% stake, is raising the funds for its extraction and crushing facilities and to purchase six railway wagons. “It is a small issue. So, it didn’t have a problem in sailing through,” a banker connected to the issue said. (Reuters) ************** MEDIA Prasar Bharti notice to private news channels New Delhi: State-owned broadcaster Prasar Bharti is believed to have issued a show cause notice to private news channels for “unauthorized” use of its Olympic footage while asking them to pay for it. Sources close to the development said Prasar Bharti, in a strong letter to the news channels, has asked them to either stop using the Olympics footage or pay up. Official sources said Doordarshan has the sole rights to telecast the Olympics and private channels would have to take permission and come to an agreement for payment to use footage. Top officials of leading news channels, including NDTV, CNN IBN, Zee News and India TV, declined to comment individually. News Broadcasters Association secretary general Annie Jospeh said, “This is an administrative issue and we would not like to go through the media.” (PTI) *********** POLITICS President appeals for calm in Kashmir New Delhi: Against the backdrop of escalating violence in Jammu and Kashmir over Amarnath land row, President Pratibha Patil on Thursday appealed for calm and said differences could be addressed through “dialogue and reconciliation.” In her second address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day, Patil made no direct mention of the simmering crisis but said “whatever the problem, whatever the cause, whatever the reason, there is no place for violence in our society.” She also said that India shouldn’t allow energy costs to hamper economic growth. “We cannot let lack of energy become a constraint on our ability to deliver high levels of growth,” Patil said in her address. “With the challenges of increased oil prices and climate change, the question of energy security confronts us.” India’s energy requirement is rising as an expanding economy boosts demand for electricity and spending by consumers on cars, motorcycles and trucks. Asia’s third-largest economy is expected to grow 7.7% in the year to 31 March from an estimated 9% a year ago, according to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s economic advisory panel report released on Wednesday. (Bloomberg/PTI) *********** RETAIL FDA order won’t affect Subhiksha, says chief Mumbai: Retailer Subhiksha Ltd, which has been slapped with a 20-day suspension order on its Mumbai warehouse by the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) on issues of hygiene, said that its operations in Mumbai would not be affected by it. The license of the warehouse which has been suspended is of one lakh sq. ft, managing director R. Subramaniansaid. “We have a total of three warehouses in Maharashtra—Pune, Nagpur and Mumbai—totally comprising around three lakh sq. ft,” Subramanian said. “We always have a back-up for the supply from other warehouses in case there is some problem in any particular warehouse,” he added. If need arises, the company may outsource from nearby states such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and other places, Subramanian said. However, he said, “We don’t think that need will arise since we are appealing to the Bombay high court at the earliest and are confident that the matter will be resolved soon.” Subhiksha has around 125 stores in Mumbai and 210 in the rest of Maharashtra, he said. (PTI) ************ WEATHER Rainfall was 36% above normal last week: Met Mumbai: The monsoon which accounts for four-fifths of India’s annual rainfall, was 36% more than average last week, likely boosting sowing of crops including rice, cotton, corn and soya bean. The nation received 85.8 millimetres (mm) of rain in the week ended Wednesday, compared with the 50-year average of 63mm for the period, the India Meteorological Department said on its website. Rains were excess or normal in 32 of the nation’s 36 weather zones last week, and deficient in the remainder. (Bloomberg) Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:43 pm Long weekend sees record booking for Bollywood flicksA long weekend ahead has ensured that Bachna ae Haseeno, starrer Bollywoods blue-eyed boy Ranbir Kapoor and its latest sensation Deepika Padukone, is getting a rousing reception if advanceSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:22 pm Rupee clocks largest drop in 3 months as shares down globallyMumbai: The rupee declined by the most in three months on speculation global stock losses will spur investors to pare riskier emerging market assets. The rupee fell to the lowest level in almost a month as Wednesday’s 2.7% jump in crude oil prices renewed speculation refiners such as Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, the nation’s largest, will buy more dollars. A 27% drop in the benchmark stock index has prompted global funds to exit the market as it heads for the first annual loss since 2001. “Global equity markets are still volatile and funds are going to pull out more money from emerging economies like India,” said V. Rajagopal, chief currency trader at Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd in Mumbai. “I expect outflows from India for the next three months and that is going to weaken the rupee.” The rupee fell 1% to 43.055 per dollar at the 5pm close, the lowest since 16 July, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It may fall to 43.5 in a month, Rajagopal said. Overseas funds sold $6.6 billion (Rs28,248 crore) more of local shares than they bought this year, compared with net purchases of a record $17.2 billion in 2007, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi. The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index, or Sensex, fell 2.4%, the most in more than two weeks. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.5%, a third day of declines. The gauge has slumped 20% this year. The rupee also fell as refiners, who depend on imports to meet three-quarters of their annual crude oil needs, paid more for shipments of the commodity this year. Crude oil advanced the most on Wednesday since 30 July. “India’s oil imports are high and dollar demand from refiners is still strong,” Kotak’s Rajagopal said. “Crude oil prices are still at elevated levels.” The country’s monthly oil imports averaged $8 billion this year, compared with $5.45 billion in 2007, government data show. India allowed the National Stock Exchange of India,the nation’s biggest bourse,to start trading currency futures, Sebi said on Wednesday. Currency futures are publicly traded derivatives that allow investors to trade a currency on a future date at a fixed price. Anil Varma conributed to this story. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:19 pm Public sector firms must wait till DecThe 1.6 million employees of public sector companies will have to wait till December for raised wages even as the Cabinet today cleared higher salaries for government employees.??The approvalSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:18 pm UPA pays heed to polls, exceeds panel awardTweaking and improving upon the award of the sixth Central Pay Commission, the government today decided to give each of its estimated 4.6 million employees a pay raise of between 28 and 40 per centSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:17 pm Could this be the first time Infy misses its annual guidance?The country’s second biggest software services provider, Infosys Technologies Ltd has an impeccable record of never missing its dollar-denominated guidance targets. It did miss the yearly guidance for the fiscal year to March in rupee terms, but that was because of the sharp rise of the rupee last year. What is more important is the dollar target, which the company has met even in the most challenging times.  Since that difficult year, Infosys has beaten its annual dollar-based guidance by an average of 10%, with the highest (15.3%) outperformance in 2001-03 and the lowest (3.9%) last fiscal year. This has earned Infosys a reputation that its guidance targets are conservative and analysts’ estimates are always higher than the company’s target. This, coupled with the fact that the company met its target even in the challenging times during 2001-02, has almost made the company’s guidance sacrosanct. But that is now changing. The head of research at one of India’s largest brokerages, who did not want to be identified, said, “Till the beginning of this financial year, I would have attached zero probability of Infosys missing its revenue guidance. The probability has now risen.” The consensus view on the street, he added, is still that the company would meet its guidance, although hardly anyone is expecting any meaningful outperformance as in the past six years. Yet, one mutual fund manager, when asked about the possibility of Infosys missing its guidance, pointed to an interesting statistic. In order to meet the higher end of its dollar-based revenue target for the year, Infosys has to garner incremental revenues of $70 million, $72 million and $76 million, respectively, in the remaining three quarters of this year. Infosys reported revenues of $1,155 million in the June quarter, and has set a target of $1,215-1,225 million for the September quarter. At the higher end of that target, it needs to generate additional revenues worth $70 million from its existing base. It doesn’t seem like much for a company that is expected to report $5 billion in revenues this year. But the fund manager pointed out that in the company’s history, it has managed incremental revenues of more than $70 million only on three occasions in the past—in the second and third quarters of 2006-07 and in the second quarter of last fiscal. On these occasions, Infosys had got unusually high business from a few of its top clients, especially in banking, financial services and insurance, as well as in retail. Analysts tracking these sectors note that each of these quarters was outstanding in terms of volume growth and was also a period when the company enjoyed billing rate increases. Infosys now operates at a much higher base than it did in those quarters, and this should work in the company’s favour. But given the current slack state information technology (IT) spending is in worldwide—and there is no question of an increase in average billing rates—it seems a tall order for the company to repeat what it did in those previous so-called “outstanding quarters”. What’s more, it needs to do it for three straight quarters to achieve its annual guidance. About a month ago, Infosys reiterated the guidance it had given in April. But the IT environment has turned negative in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, Cognizant Technologies Ltd, among the Top 5 IT services players based in India, said its conversations with customers indicated the effects of a slowing economy will impact industry groups other than financial services and health care in the September and December quarters. Indian IT players had earlier said the slowdown had impacted only financial services and retail. The head of research said that no industry or geography can be termed a safe haven in the current environment. Meanwhile, there is talk in the market that JPMorgan Chase and Co. has cut billing rates for its IT outsourcing contracts with a large India-based company. JPMorgan isn’t one of Infosys’ top clients, but with most banks going through difficulties, it won’t be surprising if there are further price cuts. Infosys had already mentioned it faced some cases of downward price renegotiations last quarter. It means that the entire increase in revenues would have to be volume-led. JPMorgan made a regulatory filing earlier this week that it lost $1.5 billion on mortgage-related assets in the past six weeks alone, and that trading conditions for these securities had “substantially deteriorated” this quarter. There seems to be no end to the negative news emanating from the US. One bright spot is that oil prices have receded, and this should ease things for a number of Infosys’ clients. But, on the whole, Infosys is faced with an environment that is nearly as challenging as 2001-02. As the chart shows, however, Infosys’ prognosis of how much incremental revenues it can garner is quite different this time around. According to the company, the practice of outsourcing to Indian vendors is much more widespread now than it was in that year. Besides, its reliance on the US has come down since; but then, even Europe is on the brink of a recession. All said, the probability of Infosys missing its guidance for the first time, even if it is only by a bit, seems high. Write to us at marktomarket@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:15 pm Asian stocks close in the black, but gains remain modestHong Kong: Asian shares closed mostly up on Thursday, but the gains were generally modest after a disappointing Wall Street performance and poor Chinese economic data. The Shanghai bourse fell by 0.38% after official data showed that China’s industrial output growth slowed to a 17-month low in July as a cooling global economy curbs demand for its exports. The Chinese stock market is some 60% down from its peak in October last year. Investors in the Asia-Pacific had to digest a poor lead from Wall Street on Wednesday after the Dow Jones index fell nearly 1% in the wake of figures showing declining US retail sales in July. A rise in world oil prices also curbed enthusiasm for stocks, although at around $117 (Rs5,007) per barrel, the cost of crude remains well down from record highs above $147 reached last month. Elsewhere in Asia on Thursday, Hong Kong, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore ended in the black. But Japan, Asia’s biggest market, fell 0.51%. India fell nearly 2.5%, but Indonesia rose more than 2% after posting better economic growth data showing 6.39% expansion in the second quarter. Japanese share prices closed down 0.51% amid fresh problems in the US financial sector and the domestic real estate industry, dealers said. ] The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 66.25 points to 12,956.80, the lowest close since 5 August. The broader Topix index of all first section shares fell 0.61%. Australian share prices closed up 0.6%. The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 29.5 points to 4,981.1, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 43.1 points to 5,039. Chinese share prices closed mixed, dealers said. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index—which covers both A and B shares—was down 9.22 points or 0.38% at 2,437.08 points. Analysts said lowerthan-expected industrial output data intensified investor worry over economic growth and company profits. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:06 pm HAL to make India’s first passenger aeroplaneBangalore: State-run military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, or HAL, will produce India’s first passenger aircraft, after the Indian Air Force, or IAF, chose HAL over private sector companies such as Mahindra Aerospace and Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T). IAF will be the first customer for the 14-seater, multi-role aircraft called Saras, which will be the first passenger plane to be designed and manufactured in the country. ALSO READ Most of the planes so far designed in the country by HAL and the Defence Research and Development Organisation, or DRDO, are for military use. National Aerospace Laboratories, or NAL, the state-run agency for civil aircraft design, was to choose between Mahindra Aerospace and L&T, which had been shortlisted as a manufacturing partner for Saras following a tender in February. But IAF last month insisted that HAL should make the planes to replace its ageing fleet of German-designed Dornier aircraft, people familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity. HAL had backed out of the Saras project after initial work following differences with NAL.  Test flight: The Saras plane -- named after the Indian crane --is still under development, with two prototypes undergoing flight trials. (PTI) “IAF felt that the (private) industry partners (still) do not have the skills and infrastructure to integrate a full plane,” said one scientist at NAL, who did not want to be identified. “They wanted one (manufacturing partner) who they were already comfortable with.” L&T senior vice-president M.V. Kotwal declined to comment. A Mahindra spokesman said Hemant Luthra, who heads the aerospace business, could not be reached for comment as he was out of the country. Mahindra Aerospace, which is jointly designing a five-seater passenger plane with NAL, is a unit of auto maker Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. “HAL being a defence (undertaking) has been identified by NAL to undertake production of Saras,” said IAF spokesman S.M. Sharma in an email, but declined to say whether the air force had asked for HAL to make the plane. Private firms are seen as handicapped by the lack of local aerospace infrastructure and knowledge “Take any company in India, they still have to learn to integrate an aircraft. Added to this, it will take 36-48 months to build infrastructure,” said Ratan Shrivastava, director for aerospace and defence at the India offices of research firm Frost and Sullivan. “They need support and a level playing field in (bigger) projects.” HAL, which would make the Saras planes at its transport aircraft division in Kanpur, would sign a pact with NAL soon, said an HAL executive who did not want to be named. The executive said private industry would be involved in manufacturing parts and systems, but HAL would be the assembler of the plane. On 12 February, Mint had reported that NAL set the price of Saras at Rs39.4 crore once manufactured, making it the most expensive in its class. The Saras plane, named after the Indian crane, is still under development—two prototypes are doing flight trials, while the third production-standard aircraft is being developed at NAL’s facility in Bangalore. The plane is expected to be certified by 2009. NAL has designed a two-seater trainer—Hansa, or Swan —and is designing a 90-seater passenger plane, in which it plans to have private and foreign partners. NAL is also in talks with HAL to be the production partner for the bigger plane, the HAL executive said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:05 pm Leighton to expand India presenceMelbourne: Australia’s largest engineering and construction company, Leighton Holdings Ltd, plans to raise A$700 million (about Rs2,600 crore) selling shares to expand contract mining in India, Indonesia and Australia. Leighton, which gets about a quarter of its sales operating mines for companies such as BHP Billiton Ltd, will sell stock to shareholders at A$35.35 apiece, 17% less than its close on Wednesday, the Sydney-based company said. Chief executive officer Wal King, 64, forecast profit will rise at least 15% this year as a resources boom continues into the next decade. Demand for coal and iron ore sent prices to records this year, encouraging investment in new mines in Asia. “The upside is very strong indeed,” said Peter Russell, head of research at brokerage Intersuisse Ltd. “Demand for commodities is not suddenly going to decrease.” Leighton said it will use the money to invest in plant and equipment in Indonesia, Australia and India. Indonesia is the second biggest coal exporter after Australia. India is the No. 3 iron ore exporter behind Brazil and Australia. “Strong demand for global commodities continues to support contract mining activity and resources-related opportunities for the group,” the company said on Thursday. Mining and resources generated 25% of Leighton’s sales in the year ended 30 June, behind engineering and infrastructure’s 42% share. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:05 pm 5 banks set to underwrite Hindalco rights offeringMumbai: Hindalco Industries Ltd plans to have five banks underwrite its Rs4,992 crore rights issue as a safety net to ensure that it raises the entire amount, according to bankers familiar with the development. By underwriting an issue, bankers guarantee that the funds sought by the company will be raised, as they will subscribe to any shares not taken by the shareholders. Although not the first time, it’s rare for rights issues to be underwritten this way. Normally, the promoter group picks up the unsubscribed portion of a rights issue so it can raise its stake in the company. GOING DOWNHILL (Graphic) Citibank India, DSP Merrill Lynch, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc., Deutsche Bank and home-grown SBI Caps Ltd are the bankers to the rights issue—a secondary market offering to raise money from existing shareholders. The company said on Thursday that it will issue 520 million shares at Rs96 each to existing shareholders, a 29% discount to the current share price. Hindalco will issue three additional shares for every seven shares held, said company secretary Anil Malik. He added that Hindalco is still negotiating the underwriting terms with its investment bankers. The country’s largest aluminium producer needs the money to part-finance the $3.03 billion bridge loan it has taken for the purchase of Canada-based Novelis Inc. in February 2007. The amount has to be repaid by end-November. A banker associated with the transaction claimed that Hindalco’s $1.2 billion rights issue is among the largest in Indian history and it can’t be compared with earlier issues that weren’t underwritten. The banker added that only 16% of the issue would have to be effectively underwritten since the promoters and institutional investors will be subscribing to the issue, under normal circumstances. These investors are looking for long-term returns by buying at a hefty discount to the market price. Underwriting acts as an assurance to the promoters that the issue will go through, said another banker involved in the deal. In the event of an unsubscribed portion, underwriters can either offer it to existing shareholders or place it with outside investors, he added. “Some of the unsubscribed portion could be taken by the Aditya Birla group,” said another investment banker who is advising Hindalco. None of the bankers wanted to be identified. The Kumarmangalam Birla-led group has 31.4% stake in the company, after subscribing to preferential shares last year. Life Insurance Corp. of India Ltd, which owns 11.13% in Hindalco, and 200 foreign institutional investors, or FIIs, which hold 12%, are expected to put in their shares for the rights issue. The rights issue, if successful, will provide only 40% of the funds required to repay the bridge loan. Hindalco hasn’t said how it plans to raise the remaining amount. The company had valued the Canadian aluminium maker at $6 billion last year, including debt of $2.3 billion. Hindalco had raised $4.5 billion to pay Novelis shareholders. With borrowing costs on the rise, Indian companies such as Hindalco and Tata Motors Ltd have turned to the equity market to part-fund their large acquisitions. But, shareholders haven’t taken kindly to the plans to dilute equity. Share prices of both companies have fallen since the respective rights issues were announced. The drop in share prices has forced the company to lower its rights issue price and dilute equity more than it had originally anticipated. This, in turn, has led to a further drop in the company’s shares. In the past three months, Hindalco’s shares have fallen 33.59% while Tata Motors shares have dropped by more than 30%. Hindalco shares fell 3.75% on Thursday to close at Rs135.80 a share on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The BSE’s benchmark Sensex index has fallen 15.15% since mid-May to end at 14,724.18 on Thursday, while the metal index has declined 24.77% in this period. Underwriting right issues is common in overseas markets, one of the most recent being that of Royal Bank of Scotland. The bank had raised funds to acquire ABN Amro for £50 billion. Goldman Sachs International, Merrill Lynch International and UBS Ltd had successfully underwritten a £12 billion rights issue of RBS. State Bank of India raised Rs16,000 crore in a rights issue in April, with its shares priced at a 30% discount at Rs1,590 each. After any rights issue, the equity base of a company increases and the higher capital allows it to raise more debt. On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, cut the time frame for the entire process of rights issue from 109 days to 43 days, to reduce the exposure of both firms and investors to market volatility. Mobis Philipose contributed to this story. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:05 pm Travel agents plan to levy transaction feeMumbai/New Delhi: Air passengers will have to fork out more money for travel as the domestic carriers refused to retain the 5% agency commission from 1 November. Instead, agents are now planning to impose a “transaction fee” on every ticket sold. The nature of this transaction fee and quantum will be decided in a joint meeting by travel agents and airline representatives next week.  In protest: Iata travel agencies such as Speed Air in Old Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi, was closed as part of an all India strike against the airlines’ implementation of 0% commission. Photograph: Madhu Kapparath / Mint “In principle, airlines have agreed that they will find a possible solution to include the proposed transaction fee on the ticket,” said Travel Agents’ Federation of India, or Tafi, national general secretary Ajay Prakash. “I cannot tell you what the increase for a domestic or an international ticket will be. We are trying to bundle this increase as a part of the ticket price.” Prakash added that travel agents will sit with legal and technical executives of airlines to find out the best way to implement this. Even as the travel agents and airline companies are working out alternatives for 0% commission from 1 November, the travel agents’ associations are divided on settling the issue. At a meeting on 14 August with representatives of airlines—including National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, (which runs Air India), Jet Airways India Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd—two leading travel agents’ associations agreed to impose a transaction fee on every ticket sold, instead of the current 5% commission. Tafi and Travel Agents’ Association of India, or TAAI, have agreed to form a committee along with representatives of airlines to finalize the modalities of charging a transaction fee on every ticket sold. The two associations claim to represent about 80% of the 2,600-odd accredited members of the International Air Transport Association, or Iata. However, the third association, Iata Agents’ Association of India, or IAAI, clarified that it will not back down from the original demand of retaining the agency commission. It also argued that Air India has agreed that it will retain 9% commission till May 2009. Biji Eapen, president of IAAI, said: “One can understand if airlines are eliminating agents’ commission to slash fares in public interest. On the contrary, they are increasing the fares. We already have a reinstatement of 9% agency commission instead of 5%. The so-called replacement of ‘transaction fee’ will not work in the Indian context as we are not used to giving ‘tips’ for every service, like in the US.” Eapen said that Tafi and TAAI, which have been fighting against 0% commission, have compromised and are smoking the peace pipe with airlines. “You would see many of TAAI and Tafi members joining us against this compromise. It is not only the travel agents who will lose out, but also the government stands to lose substantial amount of money in terms of service and other taxes as tickets worth Rs26,000 crore is issued through agents a year,” Eapen added. IAAI said it has a membership base of 617. “We are still in the meeting,” said P.K. Gupta, executive director, sales and marketing - passenger with Nacil. However, another senior Nacil executive said that the airlines have agreed to sympathetically look at issues of travel agents and have “in principle” agreed to help agents to execute a new system of transaction fee on every ticket. Nacil’s Gupta, Kingfisher Airlines’ vice-president (global sales) Siva Ramachandran and Sudheer Raghavan, chief commercial officer and Sonu Kripalani, vice-president for passenger sales (India) of Jet Airways attended the meeting. “We have requested airlines to defer the decision to eliminate 0% commission until the point we (develop) a proper method of collecting service or transaction fee,” Tafi’s Prakash said. “But, we are looking at a long-term solution rather than a short-term relief.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:05 pm Taking money and moods into accountIt’s a wonder, really, that the Bank of England’s forecasts get any attention at all. The UK central bank failed to anticipate either high inflation or low growth. But then few experts have done any better.  It’s particularly easy to trace the bank’s mistakes from its quarterly inflation report. Once a year, it even includes a page looking back at its record. The August report, published on Wednesday, shows a big miss. What actually happened to growth since February 2007 was considered highly improbable then, and the actual inflation pattern was considered close to impossible. The longer-term record looks better. In its decade of looking two years ahead, the bank has been more or less right—within its 50% probability band—71% of the time on inflation and 62% on growth. That’s largely due to the weatherman effect: “more of the same” is usually right. The predictor’s big test comes when the pattern changes—and it’s there the bank failed. The economists on Threadneedle Street can take comfort in their distinguished company. It’s hard to think of any central bank, government bureau or leading private sector firm which anticipated the global burst of inflation, even after commodity prices started rising five years ago. So when it comes to the key question right now—how much will the credit crunch squeeze growth?—your guess is probably as good as any expert’s. The easy explanation for this widespread failure is that the future is unknowable, especially when it is different from the past. But the economics profession has a particular paradigm problem with its prognostications. The models that forecasters use don’t take two important factors fully into account. Some central banks, including the Bank of England, pay lip service to the importance of the availability of money and credit in determining prices. Their macroeconomic models, however, basically ignore the financial system. And the model’s assumption that consumers basically ignore temporary troubles makes them prone to underestimate the severity of shocks. Taking money and moods into account won’t make economic forecasts perfectly accurate. But they could make forecasters look a little less foolish. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:05 pm Chrysler seeks new alliances in China, India, RussiaTraverse City, Michigan: A year after divorcing from Daimler AG, Chrysler Llc. is actively seeking new—but more limited—alliances with a number of other auto makers, a senior executive said on Wednesday. The US auto maker has entered partnership talks with auto makers in Russia, China and India and has also been approached by Italy’s Fiat SpA, Chrysler vice-chairman and president Tom LaSorda said. These partnerships will help it expand globally and also survive an expected consolidation of the automotive industry. “In the next five to 10 years I see more consolidation in every region of the world,” LaSorda told a conference sponsored by the Center for Automotive Research in Traverse City, Michigan. “We should expect to see Chinese auto makers exporting to North America soon, as well as European manufacturers bringing their small cars here to manufacture and sell here as well as export back home to take advantage of the weak dollar.” LaSorda does not expect Chinese manufacturers to set up plants in the US any time soon, but said they may do so in markets such as India and Russia where tariffs and duties make imports uncompetitive. While Chrysler is a small auto maker, its wealth of intellectual property in areas such as advanced manufacturing, safety and emissions controls makes it an attractive partner for auto makers in emerging markets, LaSorda said. Chrysler has “had discussions with multiple companies in Russia” and hopes to seal a deal “by the end of the year”, LaSorda added. The firm has also had discussions with “many companies” in India and held talks with Great Wall Motor Co. Ltd in China. LaSorda did not discuss whether any of the alliances could lead to a full merger, but Chrysler insiders said this would be unlikely, as the auto maker needs more time to recover from the failed marriage to Daimler. A deeper alliance with Nissan Motor Co. Ltd is possible but unlikely, he said. Chrysler is not holding “formal discussions” with Fiat, but the Italian auto maker did inquire about the possibility of using some of Chrysler’s excess capacity to re-enter the US market, LaSorda said. Meanwhile, Chrysler still expects to introduce a vehicle built by China’s Chery Automobile Co. Ltd in Mexico and South America in 2009. “We’re not going to be putting any nameplate on it until we can be rest assured it meets all of our standards,” he said. Chrysler has also started producing a minivan for Volkswagen AG that will be sold in North America next year. And its partners should not be concerned that these deals will be negated because Chrysler will founder or be sold by its new owner, Cerberus Capital Management Lp., LaSorda said. “No one is going to buy a car company like this in the market that it’s in and expect ‘Okay, why don’t we see if we can go sell it now after one year,’” he said. Chrysler recently announced plans to lay off more white-collar workers and slash its production as it struggles against a sharp drop in sales amid high petrol prices, a weakening US economy and stiff competition from Asian competitors. AFP Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:05 pm Leighton to expand India presenceMelbourne: Australia’s largest engineering and construction company, Leighton Holdings Ltd, plans to raise A$700 million (about Rs2,600 crore) selling shares to expand contract mining in India, Indonesia and Australia. Leighton, which gets about a quarter of its sales operating mines for companies such as BHP Billiton Ltd, will sell stock to shareholders at A$35.35 apiece, 17% less than its close on Wednesday, the Sydney-based company said. Chief executive officer Wal King, 64, forecast profit will rise at least 15% this year as a resources boom continues into the next decade. Demand for coal and iron ore sent prices to records this year, encouraging investment in new mines in Asia. “The upside is very strong indeed,” said Peter Russell, head of research at brokerage Intersuisse Ltd. “Demand for commodities is not suddenly going to decrease.” Leighton said it will use the money to invest in plant and equipment in Indonesia, Australia and India. Indonesia is the second biggest coal exporter after Australia. India is the No. 3 iron ore exporter behind Brazil and Australia. “Strong demand for global commodities continues to support contract mining activity and resources-related opportunities for the group,” the company said on Thursday. Mining and resources generated 25% of Leighton’s sales in the year ended 30 June, behind engineering and infrastructure’s 42% share. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:05 pm Free grated money from RBI finds no takersNew Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is in a fix about what to do with its money. Or, to be precise, what was once money. In the basement of the RBI building here—and in 18 other locations across the nation—three machines work every day to shred soiled, returned currency notes that make their way back to the central bank.  In dust: It is uneconomical to recycle notes in small quantities. Photograph: Rajeev Dabral / Mint Those machines churn out a lot of shredded paper. In 2006-07, according to RBI’s annual report for the year, 7.325 million pieces of soiled bank notes—almost a fifth of all the notes in circulation—were destroyed. “But that quantity isn’t sufficient to feed even a medium-size concern,” Gandhi says. That is also why paper mills, which largely depend on recyclables for their manufacturing, have not been interested. Until the mid-1990s, RBI would incinerate its returned currency before looking for other, more eco friendly alternatives. The most popular international model—shredding —was adopted, and thus began RBI’s campaign to evolve uses for its grated rupees. “We tried recycling it by making products out of it, like cardboard or novelty paperweights,” Gandhi says. “We tried making bricks out of them. We tried getting NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and commercial firms to see if they could use it. We even tried giving it away to the NGOs, free of cost.” At present, RBI sends the paper out to be interred in landfills and reclamations. The shredding room in the RBI is a high-security area, so Gandhi flicks to a closed-circuit camera view on a plasma television in his room. A team of three people man each of the three machines, which have been purchased for between Rs2-3.5 crore a piece. All the workers wear surgical masks over their noses and mouths, to filter out dust and fungus. The machines first sort soiled notes from unsoiled ones. Then a photographic scanner checks for suspect notes. “These could be forgeries, but they could also be cut, mutilated, or scarred in a way that makes them unrecognizable to the scanner,” Gandhi points out, so these notes, set aside, are later manually checked. Each one of the 19 shredding facilities is protected by the same rings of security that are in place at the RBI mints. “We have physical checks, biometric checks, and entry passes under double custody,” Gandhi says. “We conduct periodic checks, full audits and surprise checks.” Gandhi flicks to a different screen view, of a long, deserted, underground corridor, with a pile of white gunnysacks sitting forlornly outside a door. “We produce between 20 and 25 sacks like that every day,” Gandhi says. “Then, once a week or so, when there are enough bags for a truckload, somebody comes and picks them up.” RBI isn’t the only central bank to face this problem of disposal, according to Gandhi. “Most countries struggle to reuse their shredded banknotes,” he says. “So far, no enterprising person or organization has been able to tap this potential at all.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:04 pm India may have record soya bean productionMumbai: Soya bean output in India, Asia’s biggest exporter of soya bean meal, may reach a record next year after good monsoon showers and high prices spurred planting, a processors group said. Output for the harvest starting October will surpass the 9.99 million tonnes (mt), estimated by the government for the previous season, Rajesh Agrawal, a spokesman for the Soybean Processors Association of India, said.  Farmers plough a soya bean field on the outskirts of Bhopal. Monsoon showers have raised hopes for a bumper crop. Photograph: Prakash Hatvalne / AP “Exports will be robust and a bigger crop will ensure we have enough supplies to meet additional demand,” Agrawal said from Indore. Shipments will be more than the 5mt estimated for this year, he said. The area planted with soya beans rose to 9.26 million ha by 11 August, 6% more than a year earlier, the group said in its first crop survey this year. India, which grows non-genetically modified soya beans, sells more than 70% of its animal feed output abroad. Soya bean meal, India’s largest meal export, is added to poultry feed as a form of protein to aid birds’ growth. The area planted with soya bean rose 4.4% to 5.2 million ha in Madhya Pradesh, which accounts for more than half of the country’s production, according to the group’s survey. It fell to 2.7 million ha in Maharashtra, the second biggest grower, from 3.2 million ha last year. “The crop is in good condition and if the weather remains favourable in September, we will have a bumper crop,” Agrawal said. “Rains in the past few weeks have helped farmers sow the crop to the maximum area possible.” Soya bean meal for December delivery rose as much as 1.7% to $357.80 (Rs15,313) a tonne in after-hours electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade at 9.27am. The futures have dropped 20% from the 3 July record of $445.70 a tonne on speculation of bigger crops in the US and China. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:04 pm Govt okays FDI proposals worth Rs 295 crAccording to NewsWire18 reports, the Government has approved nine FDI proposals worth Rs 295 crore. It has approved JP Morgan\'s Rs 100 crore investment in hospitality sector. The Government has also cleared Rio Tinto\'s Rs 148 crore investment plan. It has deferred ABN Amro\'s proposal to provide value added services.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 7:02 pm 21% pay hike approved, arrears from Jan 2006New Delhi: In a move that will cost Rs42,762 crore and widen its fiscal deficit, the Union government on Thursday rewarded the five million people it employs with an average salary raise of 21%, going beyond the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. The cabinet also backdated the pay revision to 1 January, 2006. Central government employees and Armed Forces personnel would get 40% of the salary arrears this fiscal and the rest in FY10. Employees will receive higher salaries with their next pay cheque. The emoluments of an employee at the lowest level in Union government services would be Rs10,00 per month. Finance minister P. Chidambaram said the impact of the revised pay scales on inflation, which has surged to a 16-year high, has been taken into account. “Both the Union and railway budgets have a capacity to bear the burden on account of the implementation of revised pay scale for Central government employees,” he said after a cabinet meeting. The burden on the Union budget and the railway budget will be Rs15,717 crore and Rs6,414 crore, respectively, for 2008-09, Chidambaram said. Including arrears, the total burden would amount to Rs42,762 crore, more than the Rs30,621 crore the pay panel’s recommendations would have entailed. The cabinet overlooked the pay panel’s recommendations that called for linking the pay hikes to changes aimed at boosting productivity in the notoriously inefficient bureaucracy. It rejected proposals to limit full government holidays to three in a year, a liberal severance package for employees who have served between 15 and 20 years and flexible working hours for woman employees and those with disabilities. The spending will cause the fiscal deficit to swell. While the finance minister had estimated the deficit at 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), the prime minister’s economic advisory council, after taking into account the off-budget liabilities and the pay panel recommendations, had projected a deficit of 7.5%. “The government may reduce allocation for various social sector schemes in its effort to try and maintain the deficit level at 2.5% as mentioned in the budget,” said M. Govinda Rao, director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. “However, it does not change the overall situation. As already pointed out in the Economic Advisory Council Economic Outlook, the off-budget liabilities could amount to 5% of GDP in the current year over and above the budgeted fiscal deficit.” Mint had reported on 2 July that the government would pay close to Rs12,000 crore beyond the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. The additional payout was recommended by a committee of secretaries tasked with finetuning the pay commission report after holding discussions with employee unions. Arun Jaitley, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, leader said the approval of the pay commission recommendations had come too late, especially against the backdrop of inflation, which soared to 12.44% for the week to 2 August. Asked at a press conference if he thought the government had delayed the announcement to a date as close as possible to general election due by May 2009, he replied, “That may have been the government’s objective. But politically, too, it is too late.” Madhusudan Devram Mistry, a Lok Sabha member of the Congress party and a member of the parliamentary standing committee on finance, said the announcement was a “pleasant surprise”. “Even government employees didn’t expect a decision before Diwali,” he said. “To me, the biggest thing is that the Prime Minister overruled Chidambaram and ensured that the effective date would be 1 January 2006, instead of 2007, and that no sum would be required to be parked in the employees’ provident fund as suggested by him.” At least three promotions have been assured for all defence forces’ personnel and civilian employees under the modified Assured Career Progression scheme. While the civilians would get promoted after 10, 20 and 30 years of service, the defence forces’ personnel would get elevated in 8, 16 and 24 years. In another decision, the cabinet committee on economic affairs approved modernization of Chennai airport at an estimated cost of Rs1,808 crore. It also approved a new credit-linked subsidy programme called the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme by merging the Prime Minister’s Rojgar Yojana and Rural Employment Generation Programme. Ashish Sharma and Asit Ranjan Mishra contributed to this story. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 6:58 pm As Dhruv sales set to climb, plans afoot for overseas repair hubBangalore: Military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, or HAL, expects to sell its Dhruv advanced light helicopter to countries such as Jordan, Peru and Bolivia by October, and plans to build a repair hub in Ecuador to serve customers in Latin America. In June, Bangalore-based HAL concluded its first export deal to sell seven of the choppers to Ecuador for $51 million (Rs218 crore), followed by another win this month from Turkey for three. “We are continuing to go forward. We should have (total) orders for 16-18 helicopters in two months,” said Ashok Baweja, chairman of HAL. The sales mark the first large-scale exports of an Indian defence product. Dhruv, named after the pole star, is a 5.5-tonne helicopter indigenously designed by HAL. It is powered by two engines made by Turbomeca, a unit of France’s Safran Group. HAL is working on an armed version of Dhruv, equipped with missiles and guns, which is awaiting certification. Analysts say India’s aggressive push for a viable arms export policy, guided by a 2002 committee led by former minister of state for defence Arun Singh, is paying off. “This is the beginning; other products could also come up in future,” said Deba R. Mohanty, senior fellow for security studies at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank. HAL is designing the intermediate jet trainer, or IJT, and is the manufacturing agency for Tejas, the light combat aircraft, both under development and viewed as potential export products. HAL will open a repair hub and marketing office in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, to sell more helicopters in Latin America. “It would be a hub for our foreign operations,” said Baweja. The plane maker has delivered 70 Dhruv helicopters to the armed forces. It has an order for 159 more of the helicopters from the armed forces and the home ministry to be supplied in five years. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 6:56 pm FACTBOX - India agrees major pay hikes for govt workersREUTERS - India on Thursday approved higher wages for five million government workers costing $5.2 billion in 2008/09 and analysts said extra borrowing may be needed to fund the spending, pressuring public finances.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 Aug 2008 | 6:52 pm India wage hike threatens budget targetNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's cabinet decided on Thursday to increase wages of 5 million government employees in a $5.2 billion plan that could lead to more government borrowing.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 Aug 2008 | 6:49 pm Kingfisher brand can fly with Deccan licenceNew Delhi: The Union civil aviation ministry has allowed Kingfisher Airlines Ltd to merge its operations under the operating licence of low-cost carrier Deccan Aviation Ltd, granted in 2003, allowing it to fly overseas using its own brand as also continue with the Simplifly Deccan brand name until the technology platforms of the two carriers are integrated, a senior ministry official said. Bangalore-based UB Group-owned Kingfisher Airlines had bought a majority stake in Deccan last year and later announced a merger of the two. By bringing them together, Kingfisher, which would have completed five years in 2010, gets to piggyback on Deccan’s right to fly international routes from later this month when the low-cost carrier completes five years of continuous domestic operations, a requirement defined by the government for an airline to be eligible to fly overseas routes. ALSO READ A request by Kingfisher to run its services brand together with the Simplifly Deccan brand was turned down in February but, on Thursday, the ministry official said that decision would not have been fair, given that the government had allowed state-run National Aviation Co. of India Ltd to run the Air India and Indian Airlines brands under separate so-called air operator’s permits (AOP), or airline licences, even after the firms’ merger. “We can’t have one set of rules for national carrier and another for them,” this official said, asking not to be quoted. The merging of airline technology platforms, which are critical for bookings and route sharing, can take months. The integration of Air India and Indian Airlines’ systems, for instance, is still not complete—a year after the process of legal merger. “As far as the ministry is concerned, we don’t have any issue...they have to meet the DGCA (rules) now,” civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Thursday when asked if there was any hurdle left for Kingfisher to fly international.  Flight plan: A Kingfisher aircraft in Mumbai. ( Hemant Mishra / Mint) In April, DGCA director Kanu Gohain had said that there can be only one airline brand under one AOP. Until now, the regulatory response to Kingfisher’s ambitious plan to fly overseas was not clear given the technicalities involved in the merger of two different firms and the country’s complex aviation laws that do not allow two brands to operate under one airline operating licence, unless permission is granted as an exception. The permission to run two brands under one AOP potentially means Kingfisher can run both its eponymous brand and Simplifly Deccan brand domestically as also in international operations, which it starts on 3 September subject to DGCA approvals. Kingfisher plans to start flights to the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong—all in September. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 6:45 pm WHO measure to alter India’s nutrition nosNew Delhi: Malnutrition among Indian children is set to come down by at least 5% and decline in total malnutrition by some 2% simply by the country shifting to World Health Organization (WHO) measurement standards. Malnutrition in India is measured through the National Family Health Survey using a large-scale, multi-round process set up by the International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), a Mumbai-based deemed university that has been designated by the ministry of health and family welfare. According to the survey, malnutrition is measured by the percentage of children below three years who are too thin for their age or underweight. The new standards established by WHO using an international reference population show malnutrition at 40.4% against 45.9% according to 2005-06 survey, or NFHS III. For NFHS II conducted in 1998-99, malnutrition comes to 42.7%, according to WHO standards, 4% less than what was originally reflected. “WHO now covers various developing countries such as Indonesia and Brazil when it is framing parameters for malnutrition and, therefore, we felt that this standard can be extended to India as well,” says one senior professor at IIPS who didn’t want to be named. According to another Delhi-based researcher involved in the process, a presentation was made to the ministry a couple of weeks ago. The ministry still needs to take a call on the new norms. Ministry officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Incidence of malnutrition, according to NFHS, has tapered to 46% in 2006 from 47% in 1999 and 51% in 1993. But, going by WHO norms would mean that not only is malnutrition coming down but the decline is also faster. The UN Millennium Development Goal says child malnutrition among children below five years should come down by one-third, with more attention to children below two years. “Since WHO standards have a larger reference population, it may be a better measure of malnutrition,” says Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. “And, with various associated factors, such as income and educational levels rising, why should malnutrition not come down?” Singh, however, conceded that a lot still needs to be done on improving the quality of life of a whole lot of children by providing them essential services. The official website of NFHS still shows older malnutrition norms. “WHO standards are generally perceived to be more sensitive, which reflect facts, by the academic community,” notes a Delhi-based professor in the area of population studies, who didn’t want to be identified. Purnima Menon, research fellow at Delhi-based International Food Policy Research Institute, says that India should follow WHO norms, which not just cover underweight but also stunted (too short for age) and wasted (too thin for height) children. “It’s not always that if India adopts WHO standards that malnutrition will come down, it may rise if stunted growth is taken into account,” she says. “The real challenge is to use your own standards, make an assessment based on them and then take corrective measures,” says Imrana Qadeer, professor at Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University. WHO officials did not respond to the email sent to them. The Union government has been running a flagship programme called Integrated Child Development Programme where 3,82,000 Anganwadis, the hub around which ICDS revolves, disburse nutritious food supplements and provide pre-school education, immunization referrals and other services, as part of the scheme. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 6:44 pm The TimeOut mint plannerDELHI Art Urgent—10ml of ContemporaryNeeded! Till 27 August This group show highlights works by 10 young artists, all finalists of the FICA 2007 Emerging Artist Award. The actual winners’ show will take place later, but apparently the jury—Atul Dodiya, Subodh Gupta, N.S. Harsha, Shilpa Gupta, Annapurna Garimella and Anshuman Dasgupta—thought the finalists were so good that they should have a show, too. The artists are Abhishek Hazra, Baptist Coelho, Chinmoy Pramanick, Dilip Chobisa, Lavanya Mani, Rajesh Ram, Reji Arackal, Sakshi Gupta, Sisir Thapa and Ved Prakash Gupta. Monday-Saturday, 11am-7pm. Travancore Palace, Kasturba Gandhi Marg (23382067). Filament 21 August In celebration of its 10th anniversary, Khoj International Artists’ Association is holding a show of works by nine artists who have participated in their Peers Residency over the last six years. The artists include Aastha Chauhan, Aditi Kulkarni, N. Bidyut Singha, Pradeep Mishra, Prathap Modi, Rakhi Peswani, Rohini Devasher, Sandip Pisalkar and Surbhi Saraf. Monday-Saturday, 11am-7pm. Vadehra Art Gallery, D-178, phase I, Okhla (65474005). Theatre The Prisoner of Zenda 16-17 August Director, Feisal Alkazi; writer, Anthony Hope; cast, Little Actors Club Troupe. Based on the famous novel by Anthony Hope, the play tells the tale of Rassendyll, a young Englishman who is suddenly thrust into the middle of a stirring adventure complete with plots, counter-plots, sword fights and humour. 7.30pm. Epicentre, Apparel House, sector 44, Gurgaon. Tickets, Rs150-300, available at the venue (95124-2715000). The Physicist 17 August  Fatal secrets: The Physicist takes a long and hard look at science and the responsibilities it carries. 7pm. Amphitheatre, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road. Tickets, Rs50, available at the venue (43663333). Music Drift 17 August F Bar has launched a weekly music festival—Sundaze 2008—to be held on Sundays, promoting some of the country’s best talent as well as bringing in nationally and internationally acclaimed musicians. As part of the fest, Drift, which is an upcoming band, is one to watch out for. Expect the unexpected, along the lines of Steely Dan rubbing shoulders with Dizzy Gillespie. And they do an especially interesting version of Gillespie’s ‘Night in Tunisia’, according to festival director Gautam Ghosh. 8pm. F Bar and Lounge, The Ashok, 50B, Chanakyapuri, entrance from Niti Marg (26110101). Aditi Mohsin 17 August The noted young artist from Bangladesh will take part in a Rabindra Sangeet recital. 7pm. Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road (43663333). MUMBAI Around town Trash Dash 15 August Held since 2006, the I-Day Trash Dash basically gets participating teams to scramble through Borivali’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park, trying to gather as much rubbish as possible. The trail, which covers the Gandhi Smarak, recreational area, mini-train station and administration area, is dotted with picnic games and activities, adding to the competition. The teams that complete the trail and are found to have the heaviest bags of garbage walk away with prizes and as municipal trucks come and pick up the collection, every one leaves a cleaner park behind. 8am. To register, contact NOET on 65259195 or 9324771083, or visit ‘www.noetindia.org/trashdash’ Music Dialogue through Music 17 August City-based santoor player Ulhas Bapat, German saxophonist Christoph Lauer, French percussionist Patrice Héral and Pakistani tabla player Irfan Haider perform a jazz fusion concert jointly organized by Alliance Française de Bombay, Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai, Goethe Institut, Karachi and the Alliance Française, Pakistan. 10.30pm. Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel. Entry, Rs300 (40332300). Art Hide and Seek 18 August “Once upon a time, there was a zebra and there was a tiger.” So begins Amritah Sen’s fable about the aggressive tiger and the meek zebra as they walk different trails and zebra crossings. The collages and drawings tell the viewer of the many trials the two characters face during their journeys, which force the zebra to become more active and teach the tiger the value of deliberation. Sen’s work has the charm and simplicity of illustrations from children’s books. Her titles are sometimes cheeky puns on words and phrases (she has an entire series that plays on the word “in”—“In pain”, “Insane”, “In between” and so on). What makes Hide and Seek pleasant viewing is that she doesn’t attempt to be profound and didactic in most of the works. Sticking to a basic palette of black, white and grey with occasional accents of red and blue, her lines are clean and the neat detailing invites attention to the delicacy of her shading. Monday-Saturday, 11am-6.30pm. Project 88. BMP Building, NA Sawant Marg, near Colaba fire station, Colaba (22810066). Theatre Ilhaam 18-20 August Director, Manav Kaul; writer, Manav Kaul; cast, Kumud Mishra, Dilshad Edibaram, Abhay Joshi, Ayesha Raza, Bhupesh Kumar, Akash Basnet. 1 hour, 20 minutes. Middle-aged banker, Bhagwan stumbles upon enlightenment while sitting on a decrepit park bench. A series of events follow where he loses his job, goes missing and on his return, is no longer able to communicate with the world. All Bhagwan wants is to return to his daughter and wife and to sink back into the everyday routine. 6pm and 9pm. Prithvi Theatre. For ticket prices, call at 26149546. BANGALORE Art Subroto Mondal Till 18 August In a weird way, the works of Subroto Mondal appear straight out of an X-Files theme. Not only does he profess the need to believe in traversing “the unpredictability, the lack of an anchor, and the ups and downs of human existence”, in a passage that accompanied his works at a 2006 group show in Tokyo Mondal goes on to confess the presence of “nebulous apparitions, emerging to query us with their presence” in his art. “There is a power on this earth that manifests itself silently,” reads the passage. “Entire languages and music, as well as throbbing life forms, are creations of that silent creator.” Mondal adds that it is this belief that drives him as an artist. “As I create, I ask myself what is the truth—the revealed or the concealed?” 11am-7pm. Time and Space, 55, Lavelle Road (22124117). Sundays closed. Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath Ongoing The Art Complex will host four solo shows this fortnight by A.A. Swamy, Ajai Chavan, Iswari Rawal, and R.D. Roy. Swamy’s show, titled ‘Yakshavarna’, will feature his works on mixed media. Chavan, creative director of an advertising agency in Bangalore, will present his new series of canvases in a show titled “Who areyou”? None of the figures in Chavan’s work is clothed. “Clothes don’t make the man; rather, they tend to hide the true form,” he said, explaining: “The canvases endeavour to depict the emotion or activity through the form and fluidity of the human body.” Rawal, who comes from Indore, will show his collection of oils on canvas in a self-titled show. Roy, who is noted for his drawings and animation, will show his work between 18 and 22 August. Monday-Saturday, 7am-8pm; Sunday, 7am-noon. Art Complex, Kumara Krupa Road (22261816). Dance Salsa 15 August The third annual India International salsa congress is here and the first night of the congress features performances by students who have come in to Bangalore from across India. In attendance will be international artists who will provide students with feedback and pointers on improving their style. 6pm. The Grand Ashok Hotel, Kumara Krupa Road. Passes, Rs650 (9845015123). Fitness and wellness Self-defence workshop 16 August Due to popular demand, this time the Weekend Warriors have designed a programme for people who want to defend themselves, but don’t have the time to practise a martial art. The “Urban Survival” module has been designed specifically for Bangaloreans’ needs and is based on 18 years of research on street violence. Ashwin Mohan explained, “There are two reasons why people can’t defend themselves: firstly, they don’t know what to do, how and what to strike, and secondly, they get overcome by fear and either react wrongly or don’t react at all.” To address these problems, the workshop will focus on teaching five exercises that will build the necessary skills of self-defence. One of the exercises taught will be shadow boxing, where strikes are aimed at vital points of a human form cut-out. Mohan said, “Visualizing and practising make responses an automatic reaction in a stressful situation.” Among other exercises, participants are also taught breathing techniques to manage fear from the Chinese counterpart of pranayama, qigong. Regular practice of these will ensure that you will be able to handle attacks, assured Mohan. 6.30am-9am. Indian Heritage Academy, near Bethany’s High School, Koramangala. Fee, Rs500. Call 9845396360 for details. Theatre The Whale 17 August Director, Renee Philippi; writer, Herman Melville; cast: Carlo Adinolfi. 1 hour, 10 minutes. Herman Melville’s titanic epic ‘Moby Dick’ is adapted to the stage in a 60-minute, one-man theatrical exploration. Carlo Adinolfi, a trained dancer and actor, as well as creative director with New York’s Concrete Temple Theatre, cleverly knits together the piece by alternatively slipping into the roles of the sub-sub-librarian, the reflective Ishmael, the fierce whale Moby Dick as well as the maniacal Captain Ahab of the Pequod, whose life’s sole end is to reap death on the whale that destroyed his last ship and took his leg. Adinolfi’s performance evokes the visual force of life at sea through an incredible array of maritime props with all spoken passages accurately conforming to Melville’s original text. This is a travelling show that cannot be missed. 3.30pm and 7.30pm. Ranga Shankara, 36/2, 8th cross, 2nd phase, JP Nagar. Tickets, Rs200 (26592777) Film Breathless 21 August Alliance Française Ciné Club is hosting a Jean-Luc Godard special, which will include a screening of ‘Breathless’ in French. Godard’s first feature, adapted from an existing scenario written by François Truffaut, spins a pastiche with pathos as joyrider Belmondo shoots a cop, chases friends and debts across a night-time Paris, and falls in love with a literary lady. Seberg quotes books and ideas and names; Belmondo measures his profile against Bogart’s, pawns a stolen car and talks his girlfriend into a cash loan “just till midday”. The camera lavishes black-and-white love on Paris, strolling up the Champs-Elysées, edging across café terraces, sweeping over the rooftop skyline, Mozart mixing with cool jazz riffs in the night air. 6pm. Thimmaiah Road, 108, Vasanth Nagar (41231340). 1 hour, 41 minutes. Members will get preference for entry and seating. RECOMMENDED DELHI Dance Ballet/Krishna 15 August  Thorough research: Krishna broadens the spectrum of the production with each passing year. 7.30pm. Kamani auditorium, 1, Copernicus Marg (23388084). MUMBAI Nightlife Black Project 16 August When DJs Irfan (I-side) and Imran (Mfibian) take over the decks at the Blue Frog this fortnight, expect trippy, dance beats (Eastern and Indian instruments sampled in) with techy, chunky house and D&B. The twins have taken their music to underground scenes in Kuwait (they moved back in 2002), Muscat, Bahrain and Dubai, which they’ve called home for six years now. But it’s closer home, in Ahmedabad, where they first picked up the groove. Encouraged by professors at St Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad, to participate in intercollegiate competitions, they set-up Third Ear, a fusion band. Third Ear disbanded in 1999 and the twins graduated into Asian electronica. Since then, they’ve opened for idols Talvin Singh and Nitin Sawhney, produced tunes (released on a UK-based label, VoodooFrequency) and regularly gigged in Dubai. 10.30pm. Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel. Entry, Rs300 (40332300). BANGALORE Art Frozen Phoenix 18-22 August M. Shanthamani’s new show may leave you aghast, and that’s exactly what she’s looking to do. Over the telephone, days before her show, she warned, “It may be intimidating to see my new works.” The show, which includes four installations cast in paper pulp and charcoal, is focused on the theme of human fragmentation, and doesn’t shy away from the notion of fragmented human bodies. On her choice of material—charcoal—she said: “I use material as a metaphor to speak of contemporary concerns that affect humanity, reconstructing through charcoal, piecing together fragments of the human body, domestic objects and nature.” She explained later that she’d chosen charcoal “as it represents a sense of time, and is, in fact, a metaphor for experience in time”. The apprehension of her works being perceived as daunting and reprehensible has a lot to do with the medium, said the artist. “There’s a direct association as charcoal is already burnt, it’s consumed,” she explained. The works at Frozen Phoenix include a piece that depicts “a resilient pregnant woman, with a plant” (the figure is charred, like it were debris in the remnants of a disaster), an “entrapped ominous cloud” and pickle jars (on a shelf like funeral urns, ashes outside). 10.30am-6pm. Gallery Sumukha, 24/10, BTS Depot Road, Wilson Garden (22292230). Sundays closed. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 6:42 pm Before it’s timeFor six joyful months, Sarika Bhatt, a 30-plus Gurgaon-based consultant, sailed through her pregnancy. She was marking time in delightful anticipation of her baby’s arrival. Then, in the 26th week (three months before full term), her blood pressure suddenly shot up and protein loss was detected in her urine—signalling a pregnancy-related condition known as pre-eclampsia that can be fatal for mother and child.  “The doctor told me that if I seemed upset, the child would sense it,” she says. “So, I refused to cry. Only once, when I saw the doctor’s blood-stained gloves after carrying out a procedure on her, I couldn’t stop my tears...” She adds, “I tried to do my best for Deetiya—expressing my breast milk for her, and just being there.” Frightening as it may sound, this is becoming increasingly common. The number of premature babies is rising worldwide. In the US, one in eight babies was born premature, according to non-profit organization March of Dimes’ figures in 2007—an increase of almost a third over a decade. In India, too, there seems to be an upward trend. According to a government study, 12% of Indian babies are born premature and 30% are born with low birth-weight. “Certainly, in my experience, I do feel that the incidence of premature babies is increasing,” says Sabhyta Gupta Vaid, consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician, Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon. Government mortality statistics show that prematurity is one of the top 10 causes of death in the country. That’s the bad news. The good news is, with improved care and technology, more and more premature babies are now surviving. Even the risk of problems such babies are likely to suffer is reduced. FIVE FAMOUS PREEMIES Napoleon Bonaparteclick here for picture Isac Newtonclick here for picture Stevie Wonderclick here for picture Albert Einsteinclick here for picture Charles Darwinclick here for picture Many reasons Why are some babies born early? There are a number of factors. “The nutritional status of the mother is a major reason. Genital tract infections can also affect the baby,” says Dr Vaid. Other reasons include smoking, alcohol intake, anomalies in the mother’s uterus or cervix, or developmental problems with the foetus. The risk of pre-term birth increases in those carrying twins or triplets. New Jersey-based Nita Gopalkrishnan knew of the risks since she was carrying twins. So, she was not surprised when she went into premature labour at 29 weeks, even though she had been given magnesium sulphate to prevent this. Her babies were 3lbs (1.4kg) and 3lbs 7 ounce (about 1.6kg), respectively (see box, right). Greater use of assisted reproductive technology, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), also appears to increase this risk. So do situations where the mother is under stress. The mother’s age matters, too—being more than 35 or under 17 adds to the problem. Odds improving Fortunately, with improved technology, new research findings and care guidelines, the odds for the pre-term baby are improving. Today, according to UK government statistics, a 28-week, 800g baby has a 90% chance of survival, with fewer complications, in a well-equipped neonatal unit. “Thanks to better equipment for monitoring and care, more pre-term babies and low birth-weight babies are surviving,” says Vidya Gupta, consultant neonatal specialist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. “For example,” she explains, “we have better warmers to keep the babies at the correct temperature, since they cannot maintain their body temperature when they are very small. We have better equipment for ventilating their lungs, and also to monitor their heartbeat, their oxygen levels.” A few years ago, according to her, the doctors would focus on just keeping the baby alive. Now, the aim is to keep the baby alive with minimal damage. Prematurity brings about its own set of risks, greater for very early or very small babies. The commonest is cerebral palsy—a disorder that affects body movements. The affects can range from an inability to coordinate limb movements or walk properly, to simply having difficulty with fine motor tasks such as writing or holding a pair of scissors. Other problems for premature babies include retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Left undetected and untreated, it could lead to blindness. Musician Stevie Wonder lost his sight to ROP. About a quarter of the babies born before the 30th week have hearing impairments. “We try to prevent problems through early detection—for example, through echocardiography and ultrasound of the brain,” says Dr Gupta. A range of neonatal experts regularly monitor the child’s eyes, hearing, and look for other possible complications. Detecting and treating problems early means these children can grow up to lead normal or near-normal lives. Ultimately, technology assists; but most of these children have a strong sense of survival and resilience, too. “I now feel that premature babies are smarter, more perceptive—and real fighters!” says Bhatt. History would agree—Napoleon, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin were all preemies.  DEETIYA, 3 Deetiya was born 700g, only a little bigger than the palm of her mother’s hand. She was put on oxygen immediately; probes plugged to her body monitored her heartbeat and oxygen levels continuously. With translucent skin, tiny bones and ribs jutting out initially, she spent the next three months in the neonatal ICU, undergoing blood transfusions, surgeries, and a whole host of interventions. Even after she was brought home, she was regularly monitored by a development and other specialists. That was 2005. Today, she is a healthy, lively three-year-old getting into mischief. SATVIK & SANJNA, 1  RISK FACTORS • Multi-foetal pregnancy (twins or triplets) • Mother younger than 17 or older than 35 • Nutritional deficiencies in the mother • History of pre-term labour • Pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure) • Earlier spontaneous abortions • Infections during pregnancy • Intake of alcohol, tobacco or drugs during pregnancy • Uterine or cervical abnormalities • Mother too thin or too fat before pregnancy • Excessive stress • Periodontal disease PREVENTION • Get regular check-ups to detect any problems early on • Be aware of the signs of pre-term labour • Treat all urinary tract infections and sexually transmitted infections • Stop alcohol and drugs and quit smoking • Reduce stress during pregnancy • Manage chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, hypertension • Have a nutritious diet rich in folic acid and iron • Treat periodontal disease • Maintain optimum weight POSSIBLE PROBLEMS Many premature babies grow up to be perfectly normal, but there are some risks of the following: • Cerebral palsy • Autism • Eyesight problems such as retinopathy of prematurity • Hearing problems • Brain damage • Digestive problems Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 6:38 pm Ford begins production of new Fiesta in GermanyDearborn: Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it has begun production of its new subcompact Fiesta at a plant in Germany. The vehicle is the first product to come out of Ford’s new global development process, which aims to produce global models that are tailored to regional tastes but have the same underpinnings. It’s slated to go on sale in stages between now and 2010, starting in Europe. The Cologne Stamping and Assembly plant is the first Ford assembly facility to build the new car, with production at Ford’s Valencia assembly plant in Spain set begin in January. Asian production is scheduled to begin later this year in China and Thailand, Ford said. Ford’s Cuautitlan assembly plant in Mexico, which previously made F-Series trucks, is being retooled to build hatchback and sedan models of the Fiesta for the North American market beginning in 2010. The Fiesta is one of six new models Ford plans to bring to North America from Europe in the coming years, as part of efforts to cut costs and boost its North American car lineup. Last month, Ford announced plans to retool two U.S. truck factories in Michigan and Kentucky to make global vehicles off the European Focus platform. The automaker said it expects to manufacture 148,000 Fiestas in the Cologne facility this year. When at full capacity, the plant is expected to produce 1,900 Fiesta and Fusion vehicle per day, Ford said. Since it was first launched in 1976, Ford said it has sold more than 12 million Fiestas. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 5:55 pm Rural wireless broadband to be rolled out by year-endNew Delhi: The first rural rollouts of wireless broadband powered by the so-called Wimax protocol could take place before the year-end, a top executive of government-owned phone firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, or BSNL, said here on Thursday.  Vision ahead: BSNL plans to install WiMax capabilities in 1,000 blocks out of 6,000, says Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and MD. Photograph: Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint “We are planning on installing WiMax capabilities in 1,000 blocks out of the total 6,000,” said Kuldeep Goyal, BSNL’s chairman and managing director at an industry meet here. “Proof-of-concepts, for which we’re working closely with a number of vendors, are being installed, and will hopefully be completed in the next few months.” A block refers to an administrative grouping of villages, at times around a town Wimax is short for worldwide inter-operability for microwave access, a standard that is capable of data speeds of 10 megabytes per second up to 2km away from a radio transmitter. The wireless broadband rollout will bring Internet connectivity to what are called Common Service Centers, or CSCs, computer kiosks equipped to provide e-governance services related to health, education and agricultural information, and designed to provide connectivity to citizens. Under the plan, nearly 100,000 CSCs, covering 600,000 villages, have been approved at a cost of Rs5,742 crore over four years. Goyal estimates CSCs in 25,000 villages to go live over the next year. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 14 Aug 2008 | 5:45 pm Nongovt PFs can trade in securities from Apr 1Nongovernment Provident Funds (PFs) can invest up to 15% fresh flow in shares. Government has said that nongovernment PFs can trade in securities. Nongovernment PFs can invest in bonds of multilateral agencies. Government has said that the new PF investment pattern will be effective from April 1.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 5:36 pm DoT rejects Fin Min\'s objection on 3G auction issueDoT has rejected Finance Ministry\'s objections on 3G auction issue. According to Dot sources, the timeframe for 3G auctions will not be changed. While the Telecom Ministry has said that Finance Ministry\'s reservations on procedural aspects is surprising.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 4:46 pm Now sip your tea at a Wagh Bakri tea lounge!Ahmedabadbased tea company Wagh Bakri is making ambitious plans for growth. The company, which has a significant presence in Gujarat and Rajasthan has ventured into opening tea lounges and aims to go public next year.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 4:36 pm No capex plans for now: ABG ShipyardDhananjay Datar, CFO, ABG Shipyard feels what Sebi has amended and changed is welcome because this would bring more dynamism into the fund raising by corporates through QIP or any other route. However, he said as far as his company is concerned, it doesnt really matter much.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 3:40 pm Niko Resources sees D6 gas development starting Q3 CY08Niko Resources, the Canadian oil and gas major, sees D6 gas development starting in Q3 CY08, reports CNBCTV18. \"Volumes will ramp up to 2.8 billion cubic feet per day, or bcf/d. D6 oil development will start in Q3 CY08. Post that, volumes will ramp up to 40,000 barrels per day.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 3:30 pm CCEA approves modernization of Chennai airportThe Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, or CCEA, has approved the proposal for modernization of Chennai airport, reports CNBCTV18. The Chennai Airport modernization will cost over Rs 1,100 crore and is to be completed by December 2010.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 Aug 2008 | 3:27 pm Indian inflation jumps in early Aug, policy seen tightNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian inflation accelerated faster than expected in early August to a new 13-year high of 12.44 percent, and analysts said sustained price pressures would force the central bank to maintain its tightening bias.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 Aug 2008 | 1:41 pm
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