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WB Governor tells Singur agitators to repect lawThe West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi has said that there is a need to facilitate an atmosphere conducive to dialogue. The law of the land has to be maintained, he said. The Governor said that the Opposition has assured that the National Highway would be free of any obstruction.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Sep 2008 | 5:30 pm Kiri DyesLonsen Grp JV to set up dyestuff mfg unitKiri Dyes Chemicals has entered a 60:40 Joint Venture (JV) with Lonsen Group for setting up dyestuff manufacturing facility, which will have production capacity of 20,000 million tonne per annum. The plant is expected to become operational in January 2009.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Sep 2008 | 3:45 pm Noida Toll Bridge confident to post 50% profit this yrPradeep Puri, MD, Noida Toll Bridge said that company has been achieving a decent bottomline every year. He added that company achieved a 50% bottomline last year and the company strives to achieve this kind of revenue growth every year.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Sep 2008 | 2:26 pm Azim Premji buys 10% in Subhiksha TradingSubhiksha Trading has a new investor. Azim Premji in his personal capacity has bought a 10% stake in the company. R Subramanian, Managing Director, Subhiksha Trading Services said that this is actually a sale by ICICI Venture. They sold down 10% to investor companies of Mr. Premji and the deal happened some time ago, he added.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Sep 2008 | 2:22 pm Sebi can\'t cut Sasken\'s 12mnth buyback space: SATSasken can proceed with the buyback till it is finally disposed on September 16. In a order, SAT said Sebi may not be able to curtail Sasken\'s 12month buyback window nor be able to subject Sasken to buy back on a weekly basis.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Sep 2008 | 1:31 pm China, Singapore agree on FTA!China and Singapore concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement, China`s first with another Asian country, news reports said Friday.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:41 pm Toyota launches `Corolla Altis`!Aiming to achieve a 10 percent market share in the Indian passenger car market, Japanese auto major Toyota on Friday launched an advanced version of its sedan, Corolla Altis, priced between Rs 10.83 lakh and Rs 12.86 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:41 pm Interest rates to ease after March: PNB!Country`s second largest public sector lender Punjab National Bank on Friday said that interest rates will start coming down after March.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:41 pm Rich countries reneging on aid promises for poor: UN!The world`s wealthiest countries are reneging on promises to boost development aid, threatening UN targets for drastically reducing poverty by 2015, according to a new UN report released on Thursday.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:41 pm World`s richest got even richer last year: Report!The old saying holds true: The rich do get richer. Even as world financial markets broke down last year, personal wealth around the world grew 5 percent to USD 109.5 trillion, according to a global wealth report released on Thursday by Boston Consulting Group.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:41 pm Sensex plunges 387 pts in early trade!The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex lost 387 points in early trade on Friday on heavy selling by foreign funds as well as retail investors, tracking weak global cues.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:41 pm FBI arrests ex-Credit Suisse broker!An indicted former Credit Suisse broker was in US custody on Thursday to face charges over deceptive sales of subprime-related auction-rate debt, the FBI said.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:41 pm Careers in aviation grow even as sector witnesses slowdown!The Indian aviation sector may have hit an air pocket because of an industry slowdown and rising airfares, but a leading travel and tourism training institute says this is temporary - the sector will boom, and jobs abound.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:41 pm Dell plans to sell computer factories: Report!Dell Inc is trying to sell computer factories around the world in efforts to cut cost and improve profitability, the Wall Street Journal said.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:41 pm Microsoft India selected for Award for corporate excellence!As many as eleven finalists, including Microsoft India, have been selected for the Secretary of States prestigious 2008 Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE). The pool was from 61 nominations submitted by US ambassadors around the world.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:41 pm Nano car deadlock shows holes in India land policyNEW DELHI (Reuters) - A colonial-era law for land acquisitions in India has helped trip up several industrial projects, including Tata Motors' plans for the Nano, adding to calls for reforms to keep investors attracted.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:35 pm 'ICICI, Kingfisher, Taj top brands in Asia-Pacific'Three Indian brands -- ICICI, Kingfisher and Taj -- have emerged as the most admired consumer brands across Asia-Pacific.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:32 pm Finnair plans to reduce flights from IndiaHelsinki-based Finnair has plans to optimise its Indian operations through flights rationalisation, a top company official said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:32 pm Indian equities give in to global rout - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:16 pm India may import 15 mln tonne coal for power plantsNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India plans to import at least 15 million tonnes of coal for its thermal power plants in the financial year to the end of March 2009, a secretary at the power ministry said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:07 pm Govt may consider cut in petrol prices - Financial Express
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:06 pm India's FX reserves at $295.309 bln on Aug. 29MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s Foreign exchange reserves fell to $295.309 billion as on Aug. 29, from $297.286 billion a week earlier, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its weekly statistical supplement on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:04 pm Nano deadlock shows holes in India’s land policyNew Delhi: A colonial-era law for land acquisitions in India has helped trip up several industrial projects, including Tata Motors’ plans for the Nano, adding to calls for reforms to keep investors attracted. Talks began on Friday to end protests by farmers over the loss of their land to the manufacture of what has been dubbed the world’s cheapest car in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. The controversy has hurt West Bengal’s image as an investment destination, and also reflects a wider conflict between industry and farmers unwilling to give up land in a nation where about two-thirds of the billion-plus people depend on agriculture. Discouraged by the protests, which have been led by the local opposition Trinamool Congress party, Tata Motors earlier this week suspended work in Singur, despite having invested $350 million, and said it was looking at alternate factory sites. “It’s not good for India’s image overall as a manufacturing destination, and the state has certainly suffered a setback,” said Abdul Majeed, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “On the positive side, perhaps now state governments will be more responsible and come up with clear policies for land acquisitions and compensations so this is not repeated.” Land acquisitions are largely governed by a British-era law dating back more than a century that allows states to buy land for undefined “public purposes”. Tata had leased the land in Singur from the state, and said it expects the project to create about 10,000 jobs. “While the (Tata) issue has clear political overtones, the underlying problem of the lack of a framework for land acquisition by private investors is a real one,” said Seema Desai, Asia analyst at Eurasia Group in London. An amendment bill and a new rehabilitation law have been pending in parliament since last year, Desai said. Meanwhile, courts have stepped in recently to resolve disputes involving big projects, including South Korea’s Posco’s proposed $12 billion steel plant in eastern Orissa and Vedanta Resources’ plans for mining in eastern India. EMOTIONAL ISSUE “Land acquisition is an emotional issue that has also become very political and is riddled with vested interests,” said V K Jairath, an infrastructure consultant and former bureaucrat. “There is a huge demand for land now from local and foreign investors, so we need a better policy, that takes into consideration the fact that a bulk of our people still live off the land. Plus our food security cannot be compromised,” he said. India plans to spend more than $500 billion over the next five years on building roads, ports and airports, while local and foreign investors are putting money into steel, energy, automotive and other projects that require big areas of land. Posco’s plans for tracts of forest land that could displace thousands of people were eventually greenlighted by the country’s highest court, which also cleared Vedanta’s mining proposal that had angered environmental activists. “Some states have certainly had more than their fair share of problems, and if investors see this as the start of a trend, they could have second-thoughts about India,” said Ian Fletcher, an automotive analyst at London-based Global Insight. “It may help to have the central government take over, or at least oversee, large investment decisions.” While West Bengal was criticised for bias against farmers, other states have avoided conflicts, despite the law. The western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, and the southern state of Tamil Nadu have attracted large investments in recent years and have managed land acquisitions with minimal fuss, while some other states have struggled, Jairath said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:03 pm India's external debt up by over $50 bn - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:59 am Reliance to drill Columbia offshore blocks in 2010Reliance Industries is likely to drill its first well in the two offshore blocks it owns in Colombia in 2010, the Latin American nation's upstream authority ANH said on Friday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:54 am India May Resume Trading in Soybean Oil, Rubber (Update2) - Bloomberg
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:53 am MTNL to install 1.5 mn 3G linesMTNL is installing 1.5 million 3G lines in the first phase in Delhi and Mumbai and plans to tie up with the content providers on revenue-sharing basis to enrich its high-end services.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:53 am NDPL joins IBM-led utility networkIBM on Friday announced that NDPL, a Tata Power and Government of Delhi joint venture company, has joined the IBM-led global IUN coalition of a few selected global utilities.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:52 am New RBI chief says inflation first priorityMUMBAI (Reuters) - Checking India's inflation, which is running above 12 percent annually, is the immediate priority but financial sector reforms will also be high on the agenda, the new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:46 am Vale's price ploy could revive India iron ore salesNEW DELHI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Vale's demands for an unprecedented mid-cycle hike in term iron ore prices could stem a slide in the Indian spot market, which offers cheap supply for Chinese mills seeking to undermine the Brazilian miner's position.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:43 am Russia’s MTS to sell Apple iPhoneMoscow: Russia’s number one cell operator MTS said on 5 September it has signed a deal with Apple Inc. to sell the iPhone in Russia. MTS, which becomes the last of the country’s “big three” providers to announce a distribution agreement for the handsets, did not provide immediate details of the deal. The announcement was made less than a week after MTS’s major rivals Vimpelcom and MegaFon said they have reached similar deals with Apple. Both MegaFon and VimpelCom said they will be offering iPhone 3G. MTS was not able to specify which model it will be selling. iPhones have not gone on sale officially in Russia, but are available on the “gray market” for some $1,000, several times the current retail price in the United States. An estimated 500,000 iPhones are in use in Russia, which makes it one of the biggest markets for iPhones outside the United States. Analysts say Apple decided to sign deals with the “big three” because it wanted to get a good exposure on the local market where buyers can be put off by being able to use a handset on only one network. Analyst Anna Lepetukhina, of Troika Dialog, said that iPhones will probably be available on different networks and operators will not be subsidizing the handsets, although details of the deals are not available yet. Lepetukhina said the official retail price in Russia, which she estimated at between $600 and $700, will draw iPhone users to buy more. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:37 am Russia’s MTS to sell Apple iPhoneMoscow: Russia’s number one cell operator MTS said on 5 September it has signed a deal with Apple Inc. to sell the iPhone in Russia. MTS, which becomes the last of the country’s “big three” providers to announce a distribution agreement for the handsets, did not provide immediate details of the deal. The announcement was made less than a week after MTS’s major rivals Vimpelcom and MegaFon said they have reached similar deals with Apple. Both MegaFon and VimpelCom said they will be offering iPhone 3G. MTS was not able to specify which model it will be selling. iPhones have not gone on sale officially in Russia, but are available on the “gray market” for some $1,000, several times the current retail price in the United States. An estimated 500,000 iPhones are in use in Russia, which makes it one of the biggest markets for iPhones outside the United States. Analysts say Apple decided to sign deals with the “big three” because it wanted to get a good exposure on the local market where buyers can be put off by being able to use a handset on only one network. Analyst Anna Lepetukhina, of Troika Dialog, said that iPhones will probably be available on different networks and operators will not be subsidizing the handsets, although details of the deals are not available yet. Lepetukhina said the official retail price in Russia, which she estimated at between $600 and $700, will draw iPhone users to buy more. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:37 am Gold eases on dollar strength, weaker oilLONDON (Reuters) - Gold eased on Friday as a strong dollar and weaker oil prices pinned the metal under $800 an ounce, although strong physical buying supported prices.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:16 am Parsvnath launches Parsvnath Premier in Indore - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:14 am Sensex falls 2.8pct on growth woes, techs dropBANGALORE (Reuters) - Sensex fell 2.8 percent on Friday to its lowest close in more than a week, as renewed worries about the global economy rattled markets worldwide and frightened investors.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:06 am BSNL to float $9 bn mobile lines tender - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:03 am 50 percent apple crop transported out of Himachal PradeshThe apple season in Himachal Pradesh is in full swing with 11 million boxes having been transported out of the state.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:02 am Farmers' widows to get help from Madhur BhandarkarThree more hapless agricultural families in Vidarbha in Maharashtra are in line for compassionate help -- this time from celebrated Bollywood producer-director Madhur Bhandarkar -- although none of them was found eligible for government help.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:01 am Tata to top global car market share growth: studyBy 2013, the global market share growth of India's Tata brand cars will be the highest among all brands, says a study by leading global market intelligence firm US-based Global Insight.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:01 am How many poor does India have? Experts to decideHow many 'actually poor' is India home to? Amid some confusion, sparked in part by a World Bank report, the government is setting up a new group to get the answer.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:01 am BSNL to float $9 bn mobile lines tender Sep 10The state-owned telecommunication operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) Friday said that it will float a mega tender for 93 million GSM lines Sep 10.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Sep 2008 | 11:00 am Auto sector to double GDP share in decade - Kamal NathNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India expects the automobile sector to double its share of gross domestic product to 10 percent and contribute $25 billion in export earnings in a decade, the trade minister said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 10:43 am 'Talks postponed as Trinamool did not follow Gandhi's advice'The talks to end the stalemate on the Tata's Singur plant were postponed from Friday morning to 4 p.m. as the Trinamool Congress-led opposition did not act on the West Bengal governor's suggestion to temporarily suspend protests and allow normalcy on the Durgapur Expressway, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said here.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Sep 2008 | 10:31 am ING Vysya Bank expects 35 percent growth in depositsING Vysya Bank Ltd expects a growth rate of 25 percent in advances and 35 percent in deposits in the current fiscal, a top company official said here Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Sep 2008 | 10:30 am SEBI proposes hike in cap for select investors in bourses - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 10:25 am Subbarao takes the reins at RBI - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 10:08 am Tea exports up 53% in July; output rises 5%New Delhi: India’s tea exports surged 53% in volume in July on robust demand created due to low output in Kenya, a major producing country, while output shot up marginally by 5%. According to the Tea Board, exports surged to 18.16 million kg in July against 11.88 million kg in the year-ago period, while shipments in the first seven months of this year shot up to 105.56 million kg, compared with 88.86 million kg in the same period last year. “A shortfall in the largest exporting country—Kenya—have moved buyers towards China and India. Though China outsmarted India with an export of about 151 million kg till June, India’s exports, too, have increased significantly,” a senior Tea Board official told PTI. In value terms, tea exports in July have surged by 50% to Rs 213.12 crore from Rs 143.51 crore in the year-ago period. The shipments between January and July rose to Rs 1,096 crore against 910.27 crore in the same period last year. Similarly, India’s tea production, the second largest in the world, shot up to 130.95 million kg in July, compared with 125.08 million kg in the same month last year. Output between January and July increased to 476.63 million kg against 459.79 million kg in the year-ago period. India is the largest producer of black tea in the world though China remains the top tea producer with an estimated output of 1,094 million kg in 2007 against India’s 945 million kg. Kenya is the third largest tea producer in the world with output pegged at 369.61 million kg in 2007. However, it led the pack of exporters, with an estimated shipments of 345.88 million kg in 2007 due to less domestic consumption. India remained at the fourth position, just behind Kenya, Sri Lanka and China, with the exports touching 179 million kg in the last calendar year. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 10:03 am GIL to set up additional 17000 telecom towers - Ambitious ... - IT Examiner
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:57 am SEBI proposes raising investment cap in boursesMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's financial market regulator on Friday proposed raising the investment limit in stock exchanges to 15 percent from 5 percent for certain investors, which could lead to foreign exchanges increasing existing stakes.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:42 am Azim Premji buys 10% in Subhiksha Trading - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:23 am Tata Motors fixes record date for rights issueTata Motors said on Friday that it has fixed September 16 as the record date for determining shareholders entitled for the Rs 4,147 crore rights issue.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:09 am Big Bazaar plans to open 15 stores by NovemberRetail chain Big Bazaar plans to open 15 more stores by November end, some of them in new markets, at an investment of Rs 1,500-1,600 crore.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:08 am Toyota launches 'Corolla Altis'Aiming to achieve a 10 per cent market share in the Indian passenger car market, Japanese auto major Toyota launched an advanced version of its sedan, Corolla AltisSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:05 am Azim Premji takes 10% stake in SubhikshaWipro Technologies Chairman, Mr Azim Premji, has taken a 10 per cent stake in discount retail chain Subhiksha Trading Services.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:02 am Japanese shares close down 2.75%Tokyo: Japanese share prices hit their lowest level in nearly six months on Friday, losing another 2.75% after weak US data, with a spike in the yen hitting exporter stocks, dealers said. The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 345.43 points to close at 12,212.23, the lowest close since mid-March. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares dropped 30.81 points or 2.56% to 1,170.84, slipping below 1,200 points. The Nikkei briefly fell more than three percent in early trading due to concerns that speculators may place big sell orders in Nikkei futures. “Speculative selling could kick in any time in Nikkei futures amid weak sentiment, as concerns over economic conditions are not easing any time soon,” Akira Ishida, head of the equities department at Chuo Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires. Ishida added that the cautious mood may persist next week, as some investors were already starting to worry about earnings reports from US brokerages late next week and beyond. Wall Street was hammered overnight as more losses in private-sector employment weighed on market sentiment, with fears that consumption, a main pillar for US growth, is stumbling. A survey by payroll firm ADP on Thursday showed the loss of 33,000 private-sector jobs in July, which heightened anxiety ahead of a government report Friday on monthly US payrolls for August, dealers said. Dealers also said selling accelerated during the day as the European Central Bank cut its growth forecast for the year to 1.4% from 1.8% The 15-member eurozone in the second quarter suffered its first contraction since the bloc’s creation in 1999. Big losses among major bank stocks dragged down the index. Mizuho Financial Group sank 6.3 percent to 413,000 yen as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group lost 4.7% to 585,000. Toyota Motor Corp. shares were down 2.47% at 4,750. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:01 am Reliance spending Rs.10 mn to help develop Gujarat villageAs part of a Rs.10 million corporate social responsibility (CSR) project, India's largest private company, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has built a market and created a garden for commercial plants in a Gujarat village.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:00 am Dr Reddys, US co in pact for dermatology drugsPharma major Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd has entered into a licensing and distribution agreement with the USbased Cosmederm Technologies, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on dermatology and aesthetic medicine.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Sep 2008 | 9:00 am Great Offshore buys 2 maritime services cosGreat Offshore Ltd has announced its foray into port management and single point mooring operations through acquisition of two maritime services companies in Andhra Pradesh for an aggregate consideration of about Rs 160 crore.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:57 am Big Bazaar plans to open 15 stores by November endPTI Mumbai: Retail chain Big Bazaar plans to open 15 more stores by November end, some of them in new markets, at an investment of Rs 1,500-1,600 crore. With this, Big Bazaar, a subsidiary of the Kishore Biyani-spearheaded Pantaloon Group, will have 112 stores pan-India by November, a top company official said. Big Bazaar is targeting a network of 145 stores by June 2009. “We have zeroed in on several new and existing markets for the 15 stores that we plan to open by end-November. The investment will be in the range of Rs 1,500-1,600 crore,” Big Bazaar’s CEO Rajan Malhotra told PTI here. The stores would be set up in places such as Mysore, Pune, Cuttack, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Agra, Faridabad, Surat, Nashik, Mumbai, Delhi and Solapur, Malhotra said, adding that in some locations two stores would be opened. The retail chain would be extending its footprint into new markets such as Mysore, Cuttack, Chandigarh, Faridabad and Solapur. “These are new markets for us. We have done our research and expect these stores to perform well,” Malhotra said. Presently, there are 97 Big Bazaar stores with the 98th and 99th to be opened in Mysore and Pune. “Our 100th store will be opened in Cuttack market--all the three stores are likely to be set up by mid-September,” he said. Big Bazaar wanted to mark its century by opening its 100th store in the same location where it had launched its first -- Kolkata, “but there were some issues and hence, we moved ahead in search of other markets,” Malhotra said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:42 am West Bengal government, governor contradict each other over Singur talksEven as West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi Friday said talks between the state government and the opposition Trinamool Congress-led farmers body to resolve the standoff over the Tata Motors' Singur plant were deferred on the request of the administration, the chief minister claimed it was the governor who wanted the meeting postponed.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:30 am Deora rules out immediate cut in fuel pricesNew Delhi: Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today ruled out any immediate cut in fuel prices, saying international prices will have to fall further to trigger a retail price reduction. “Oil companies are still losing money....Please pray that prices come down further so that we can consider reducing fuel prices,” Deora told reporters here. Fuel retailers are currently losing about Rs 400 crore per day on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 8:04 am Web Special: ‘A Wednesday’ pulls no punchesFilm: A Wednesday Director: Neeraj Pandey Cast: Naseerudin Shah, Anupam Kher, Jimmy Shergill, Amir Bashir and Deepal Shaw Duration: 90 minutes New Delhi: Evoking awe and terror in a film on terrorism would be the most natural thing, you would think. And yet, most films on the theme end up as rhetoric, taking biased positions with hamsters who play more to the gallery than put up a credible storyline together. Which is why it takes the first few reels of A Wednesday to make you drop your cynicism and put the sub-plots of the narrative together, in an attempt to understand what’s going on. If there is any flaw in the film it is this. It takes a while before the entire story unfolds and you begin to flow with the sequence of events that pile up. Set in present-day Mumbai, it is a regular week day, Wednesday to be precise and an enthusiastic hindi television channel’s city reporter is dramatizing her ‘exclusive story’ on the apathy of the government in disregarding citizen safety with countless potholes on the streets. Ideal contender for the ‘hero’ of our film – Naseer to help him carry out a threat that will soon send Mumbai’s efficient police force in a tizzy. Note the word ‘efficient’. Here is a very unlikely ‘terrorist’ who operates out of an even more unlikely ‘den’. Nowhere like the Ajit of yore who had torture chambers within his lair or Gulshan Grover in his menacing garb who worked so hard to create the mean villainous look. Wearing an ordinary trouser and shirt, carrying a packet of vegetables, promising his wife that he will bring the almonds and raisins for her ‘kheer’ on his way home, he takes a detour, to finish a pending task. Atop an under-construction building, on a breezy rooftop, under a covered plastic sheet is his apparatus – equipment and gadgetary that threatens to blow up Mumbai with six serial blasts, unless the commissioner of police, Anupam Kher complies to his demand – in predictable terrorist outfit style – release four top terrorists who are in police custody, responsible for different blasts that have ripped different parts of the country, since the year 2000. And this makeshift table that houses his ammunition is what is absolutely chilling. Whether it is technology that is aiding that process or the immaculate planning of a super intelligent mind – the fact is that human life is so cheap and targeting the man on the street, the easiest way to destablize a city, a nation. The farm-fresh look of our characters is not just confined to Shah, who while munching home made sandwhiches and sipping his thermos flask coffee makes menacing calls, uses our television reporter to advantage (tempting her with the biggest story of her life and making sure she continues to keep her audiences updated) but extends to the entire look and feel of the police headquarters too. Kher’s two aides, the angsty volatile Jimmy Shergill who likes to talk with his fists and the brilliant Amir Bashir, along with those who help Kher crack the case are unlike the cops you have ever seen. Swift, sharp, fearless – they are in perfect sync with their commissioner. The film could well be a campaign that works at giving our cops an image makeover. It is a serious theme but does not weigh you down. It makes a dig at the establishment, reveals the plight of a hapless but well meaning chief minister but also shows you how there are ways of breaking out of the maze of bureaucratese especially in critical moments like this, when getting clearances and decisions is next to impossible. And that is where its punchlines come from. Even in this somber setting there are some light moments, the role of the hacker for instance who the CP hires. What does stay with you is Naseer’s little speech at the end, a bit too long but it forms the soul of the film and yes, the super efficient projection of the Mumbai police team. The threat of terrorism that most of us have to live with, of being ripped apart in a blast on a train, in a city mall or a busy airport almost recede, as you feel secure in the knowledge that you have cops who are actually doing their duty and are a match for any terrorist outfit. In a lot of ways A Wednesday treads new ground. Tightly knit, it does not drag at any point. Having discarded sub-plots, songs and background scores, it just tells its story as it is. There is a reason for every character to be there and even the briefest of the brief cameos deliver. The film ofcourse belongs to Naseer and Kher. A must watch. The film has a nationwide release today Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:42 am Indian officials meet sceptic NSG countriesVienna: As the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) inched towards forging a consensus on clearing a waiver to India for nuclear commerce, senior Indian officials have met representatives of the few sceptic member countries of the 45-member grouping to persuade them to give the green light so as to take the Indo-US nuclear deal forward. The informal parleys ahead of the second day of the NSG discussions came as delegates to the nuclear cartel expressed optimism over a consensus to end the country’s three-decade long nuclear isolation by today. “We are close to a consensus. There may be a statement for the press today,” a western diplomat, who refused to be identified either by name or country, said after the delegates considered a revised US draft waiver. The draft waiver included provisions like the NSG Chair informing the nuclear club about India’s adherence to its guidelines after holding consultations with the country, a move aimed at pacifying countries having reservations. Asked about the countries that have raised questions and expressed reservations over a clean waiver, the diplomat said they are positive and flexible. “I believe we are making steady progress in this process and we will continue to make progress,” US Undersecretary of State William Burns had said at the end of first round. A number of countries like New Zealand, Austria, Norway, Ireland, The Netherlands and Switzerland were not satisfied with the present draft and raised questions at the NSG meeting, particularly with regard to nuclear testing issue. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and Prime Minister’s Special Envoy Shyam Saran met diplomats of these countries soon after the deliberations of the opening day of the two-day meeting of the NSG concluded. A NSG waiver is a key step in the operationalisation of the nuclear deal which will go to the US Congress for approval once the atomic cartel gives the green light. The Indian delegation met diplomats of these countries in an attempt to allay their apprehensions. After the day-long deliberations, the NSG appeared to be close to a consensus but few members of the 45-nation grouping are still resisting the contentious issues whether or not there should be a ban on testing in the NSG waiver. The sceptic countries want the NSG waiver to have a clause for termination of cooperation if India were to conduct a nuclear test. India is strongly opposed to such conditions being included in the NSG exemption and a compromise language in the draft waiver is being worked out. Diplomats are expected to informally hammer out an acceptable formulation which can be brought to the table today. Some of them were confident of a breakthrough without the NSG having to meet for the third time to consider the revised American draft. The revised draft was prepared by the US in consultation with India after at least 15 countries sought amendments in the original text during the last NSG meeting on August 21-22. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:19 am Nano talks deferred after a few minutesThe talks between the West Bengal government and the opposition Trinamool Congress, to be presided over by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, for resolving the standoff over Tata Motors' factory in Singur, was deferred till 4 p.m. Friday after just a few minutes in the morning.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:02 am Changes in Western Dedicated Freight Corridor routePTI New Delhi: The alignment of the first phase work of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor has been finalised with about 20 changes from the original route plan. “Deviations have been made at a few places to avoid congested areas and railway junctions between Rewari and Vadodara,” said a senior Railways Ministry official. Changes in the alignment were necessary because heavy settlements were coming on the way along the 917-km long route, said the official. The route was diverted at many places including Bangugram, Makrena, Mahesana, Palanpur, Marwar and Phurela to avoid heavy displacements. The total length of the electrified Western Corridor from Rewari to JN Port Trust is 1426 km out of which work will begin between Rewari to Vadodara in the first phase. The Japan Bank International Corporation (JBIC), which is to fund 85% of the total cost, is currently conducting an environment and social impact study of the first phase project. The report is likely to be submitted by November and after that a loan agreement will be signed with JBIC, said the official. The first phase is estimated to cost about Rs 25,000 crore. The Western corridor will run the double stack container train with highest pantograph (current collection device) in the world. Indian railways will run the new generation pantograph at 7.5 metre height which will enable double stack container on flat wagons on the electrified route, said the official. Though double stack containers are running in China but they are not the standard international containers as they run on a lower height. In USA double stack containers run on non-electrified diesel locos. There was a successful trial run conducted between Daitari and Jakhapura in Orissa to establish a new height for the overhead electrical equipment line so that double stack container can run on electrified line,“ said the official. The construction of Dedicated Freight Corridor aims to link the ports of western India and the ports and mines of eastern India to Delhi and Punjab. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 7:02 am India’s Bharti AXA to charge email investors lessReuters Mumbai: Bharti AXA Investment Managers will charge lower fees from investors in its first Indian equity fund if they choose to receive all communications through e-mail, it said in a statement on Friday. The firm, which started its Indian operations in July and launched Bharti AXA Equity Fund on 4 September, has lowered expense ratio for investors in the “Eco Plan” by 25 basis points. Equity funds typically charge an annual fee of up to 2.5%. The option is available on a maximum investment of up to Rs200,000 per transaction, the firm, a joint venture between India’s Bharti Enterprises and AXA Investment Managers and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings, said. Eco-friendly initiatives have received little attention from investors in the surging domestic funds industry so far. India’s first environment friendly and socially responsible fund from ABN AMRO Asset Management collected Rs750 million last year, low by Indian standards. Its assets slumped to about Rs202 million at July-end, data from global fund tracker Lipper showed. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 6:41 am Interest rates to ease after March : PNBNew Delhi: Country’s second largest public sector lender Punjab National Bank today said that interest rates will start coming down after March. “Interest rates seem stable for some time now. We expect the interest rates will start coming down after March,” Punjab National Bank Chairman and Managing Director K C Chakrabarty said on the sidelines of a function here. The several hikes in repo rate and CRR effected by the Reserve Bank of India to tame inflation resulted in hardening of interest rates. The Reserve Bank last hiked the short-term lending rate (repo rate) by 50 basis points and mandatory cash requirement(Cash Reserve Rate) by 25 basis points in its monetary policy review on July 29. Following this most of the pubic sector banks increased their benchmark lending rates to 14%. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 6:31 am HDFC funds look at distressed realty projectsMUMBAI (Reuters) - The property funds of Housing Development Finance Corp and its asset management unit have more than $1 billion of available funding and will look to buy distressed real estate projects, Chairman Deepak Parekh said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Sep 2008 | 6:20 am IMF establishes panel for needed reformsWashington: International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn unveiled on Thursday a new high-level international committee tasked with proposing reforms to help the embattled institution maintain its relevance. Strauss-Kahn has appointed “a committee of eminent persons to assess the adequacy of the Fund’s current framework for decision making,” the IMF said in a statement. The panel would “advise on any modifications that might enable the institution to fulfill its global mandate more effectively.” The move came three months after internal IMF auditors released a harshly critical report on governance and urged “major changes” to maintain the embattled institution’s relevance. “Important progress has been made in the reform of the Fund’s governance, including the initiation of a process to realign members’ voting power within the Fund,” Strauss-Kahn said in the statement. “However, the task of enhancing the Fund’s legitimacy and effectiveness must also come to grips with the question of whether the significant changes since the establishment of the Fund require reform of the institutional framework through which members’ voting power is actually exercised.” Strauss-Kahn said he hoped to have the committee’s assessment by next April as part of efforts to produce concrete reform proposals for the 185-nation institution by September 2009. The new committee will focus on members’ voting rights and the respective roles of the board of governors, the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the executive board and Fund management. South Africa’s finance minister, Trevor Manuel, will chair the panel. Its members include ex-IMF chief Michel Camdessus; Mohamed El-Erian, co-chief executive and co-chief operating officer of Pacific Investment Management Co.; Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati; Guillermo Ortiz, head of the Bank of Mexico; Robert Rubin, senior counselor at Citigroup; and two university professors, Nobel economics laureate Amartya Sen at Harvard University and Kenneth Dam at the University of Chicago. In April, the IMF’s member nations overwhelmingly approved vote and quota reform measures that strengthen the role of developing and emerging market countries. That reform is still in the process of ratification by members, an IMF official said at a news conference Thursday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 5:07 am Sensex plunges by 387 points in early tradePTI Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex lost 387 points in early trade today on heavy selling by foreign funds as well as retail investors, tracking weak global cues. The 30-share index, which fell by over 150.76 points yesterday, tumbled by 387.43 points or nearly 2.39% at 14,511.67 points on selling by funds in heavy-weight stocks. Similarly, the National Stock Exchange’s index Nifty dipped by 104.85 points, or 2.25%, at 4,342.90 after stocks of realty, banking, oil and gas and metal sectors suffered sharp losses. Stock brokers said meltdown on the global stock markets, mainly dampened the trading sentiments here, triggering all-round selling by market participants. Major losers, which dragged the Sensex down were, Reliance Industries, Reliance Infra, RCom, BHEL, Larsen and Toubro, DLF Ltd, Unitech Ltd, HDFC Ltd, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy, Satyam Computers, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki. Meanwhile, the US Down Jones Industrial Average Index tumbled 2.99% last evening, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell by 3.12% in early trade today. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 5:01 am Gloom in Europe lifts dollar against euro, poundNew York: The euro sank to its lowest level of the year against the dollar on Thursday after the European Central Bank cut its growth forecasts, adding to gloom surrounding the eurozone economy. The dollar gained on sterling but fell against the yen as the market assessed potentially troubling economic news from Europe and the United States. At 2100 GMT, the euro was quoted at $1.4321 against $1.4492 late on Wednesday. The dollar stood at 107.33 yen from 108.27 Wednesday. Although stock markets were hammered by weak news from the US retail and job front, the dollar was supported by a survey from the Institute for Supply Management which showed a rise in service sector activity in the United States. The ISM index of nonmanufacturing activity came in at 50.6 from 49.5 in July and 48.2 in June, indicating modest economic expansion with a reading above 50.0. “The (US) economy appears to be muddling along and the people at the front lines, the purchasing managers, seem to agree with that sentiment,” said Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors. The outlook in Europe proved more troubling for currency traders. Both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England announced on Thursday that they had kept their key lending rates unchanged at 4.25% and 5.00%, respectively. The decisions were widely expected, but comments by ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet moved the market afterward. He said the central bank had cut its 2008 growth forecast to 1.4% from 1.8% and estimated growth next year at 1.2%, compared with its earlier outlook of 1.5%. He gave no indication the bank was ready to lower interest rates to help stimulate the increasingly fragile-looking eurozone economy. He did take note that the “euro area economy is currently experiencing an episode of weak activity,” following a contraction in the second quarter, the 15-nation bloc’s first such decline. The news came after British finance minister Alastair Darling said at the weekend that Britain was arguably facing its worst economic downturn in 60 years. In late New York trade, the pound was at $1.7681 from $1.7767 on Wednesday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 4:57 am Indian rupee weaker as Asian stocks downMumbai: The Indian rupee fell in early trade on Friday as local shares are expected to follow weak cues from Asian stocks, leading to foreign fund outflows. But anticipated capital inflows from a large company and lower oil prices are expected to curb the rupee’s fall. Traders said inflows were expected from Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo <4568.T>, which had struck a deal to buy 34.8% stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories from its founders and a further up to 20% from the open market for a total of $4.6 billion. Oil, India’s largest import, was trading below $108 a barrel. At 9:10 am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs44.465/48, compared with Thursday’s close of Rs44.35/36 per dollar. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 4:16 am Oil trades slightly lowerAFP Singapore : Oil traded slightly lower on Friday in a market torn between the pressures of falling demand and worries over storms lurking in the Atlantic Ocean, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, fell 18 cents to $107.71 a barrel after dropping $1.46 to $107.89 at the close of floor trading Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent North Sea crude for October fell 10 cents to 106.20 from a drop of $1.76 to 106.30 Thursday in London. With more than 95% of US oil production in the Gulf of Mexico still shut after Hurricane Gustav made landfall on Monday, traders were watching two other storms in the Atlantic, said Dave Ernsberger, Asia director of global energy information provider Platts, in Singapore. Analysts say Gustav did little long-term damage to oil industry infrastructure in the Gulf, the source of about one quarter of US oil production. Two other storms are on the horizon. “I don’t think traders are going to look to sell aggressively until the remaining threat from these storms has passed,” Ernsberger said. Oil prices have plunged from record highs above $147 in early July because of worries over slower demand in a weakening global economy. The market dismissed an unexpected decline in United States oil stockpiles last week. The US Department of Energy (DoE) said crude stockpiles had dropped by 1.9 million barrels in the week ended August 29 instead of the consensus forecast of 300,000 barrels. Distillates, which include heating fuel, fell by 400,000 barrels last week, less than the expected drop of 600,000. Ernsberger said there was tension in the market between the downward pressure on prices from demand concerns, and caution over the storms. Traders are looking ahead to Tuesday’s meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). “The rapidity of the price slide should provoke an aggressive reaction from OPEC. Actually, there now appears to be a consensus building within the group for a production cut. The debate at next week’s meeting in Vienna will be the size of a cutback,” said John Kilduff at Alaron Trading. But Ernsberger said he believed cartel members were under too much pressure from key consumers the United States and China to go ahead with a cut. The OPEC cartel of 13 countries produces 40% of the world’s oil. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Sep 2008 | 4:01 am SIAM to educate consumers on saving fuelInitiatives to begin from January. New Delhi, Sept. 4 Come January, vehicle users will know exactly how much their vehicle will run for a litre of fuel. They will also get tips on saving fuel ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am Banks would need Rs 5.68 lakh cr additional capital in next 5 yearsMaintaining capital-to-risk-weighted assets ratio at 12%. Mumbai, Sept. 4 The banking sector would require additional capital of Rs 5,68,744 crore in the next five years. ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am Inflation rate drops to 12.34% on cheaper food itemsNew Delhi, Sept. 4 The annual Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rose 12.34 per cent during the week ended August 23, marginally below the previous week’s annual rise of 12.40 per cent due to lower prices of mainly food products, ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am Pusa 1121 rice exports allowed through 6 ports$1,200/t floor price fixed, trade resents ‘non-basmati’ tag. New Delhi, Sept. 4 The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has lifted the ban on export of non-basmati rice prospectively to be applicable only for the export of ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am Sun Pharma extends open offer by a monthTaro appeals against earlier court decision. Mumbai, Sept. 4 Sun Pharmaceutical has extended the closing date on its open offer for Taro’s shares by a month, to October 3. ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am KEC International (Rs 426.5): BuyShort-term investors can buy KEC International at current levels. The stock is just commencing a smart up-move after a protracted sideways move from the July trough at Rs 340. The sequence of higher troughs in the ensuing period reflects the ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am Bengal Govt to hold talks with Trinamool leaders todayGovernor convenes meeting to find solution for Singur issue. Kolkata, Sept. 4 The West Bengal Government will hold discussions with the Trinamool Congress in a meeting that has been convened on Friday by the Governor, Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi, ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am Direct tax collections up 4% in AugustNew Delhi, Sept 4 The Centre’s net direct tax collections in August 2008 stood at Rs 12,761 crore, marginally higher than the Rs 12,274 crore collected in the same month last year, showing a growth of about four per ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am Tata Power acquiring 11.4% stake in Australian geothermal energy coBoth cos to look for geothermal prospects outside Australia. Mumbai, Sept. 4 Tata Power on Thursday announced it would acquire a 11.4 per cent stake in Geodynamics Ltd, an Australian company specialising in geothermal energy, for Rs 165 ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am Stage being set for monsoon exit from WestThiruvananthapuram, Sept. 4 There are early indications of a large anti-cyclonic anomaly developing in the lower troposphere over west Rajasthan and adjoining north Gujarat from September 8 to trigger the withdrawal of monsoon. ...Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Sep 2008 | 12:00 am Tata Motors, Fiat explore LCV tie-upTata Motors, India's largest automaker, is in talks with Italian auto major Fiat Group to work jointly in the commercial vehicles segment.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Sep 2008 | 11:14 pm Kotak Life to infuse Rs 100 cr capitalKotak Life Insurance plans to infuse Rs 100 crore of capital in the current year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Sep 2008 | 11:10 pm Ranbaxy open offer subscribed over 2 timesDaiichi\'s open offer for Ranbaxy closed today. The offer got subscribed by over two times. Life Insurance Corporation, and General Insurance Corporation have tendered their entire holding in the open offer. More than 18.4 crore Ranbaxy shares were tendered in the open offer.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Sep 2008 | 7:58 pm Subhiksha not paying some billsNew Delhi: Subhiksha in Sanskrit means “the giver of all good things in life”. Just don’t tell that to some vendors in the Capital’s largest wholesale market for fruit and vegetables, who allege that the no-frills discount retailer, Subhiksha Trading Services Ltd, hasn’t paid them their dues for the past several months. As a result, many wholesale suppliers in Azadpur mandi, or market, say they have stopped supplying to various Subhiksha outlets in the National Capital Region (NCR) as Delhi and its environs are collectively called, after their payments were held up for anything between two and six months. As a rule, bulk buyers pay up suppliers within a month. Click here to listen: National corporate editor Archna Shukla says the retail chain can ill-afford the fallout A senior office bearer of Vegetable Traders Association of Azadpur put the amount due to suppliers at around Rs2 crore. He didn’t wish to be identified. At least half a dozen other fruit and vegetable sellers in the mandi, however, said it could be as high as Rs3 crore. A trader, who did not wish to be named, said: “I will stop supplying to Subhiksha the day I recover my dues.” He claimed his outstanding against the firm was more than Rs30 lakh. “If I stop supplying to them, they may withhold my previous dues.” A Subhiksha official, however, downplayed the issue. “If you are doing business and someone’s payment is delayed, it could be for several reasons. It could be because of supply issues, quality issues, or billing issues,” said Ashu Phakey, president (Delhi region) at Subhiksha. He said he was unaware of the payment-related problem at Azadpur even as wholesalers maintained they called on him at his office as well as spoke to him on phone. “Since they are not organized kind of vendors, they, at times, have problem in being able to reconcile their accounts because they don’t operate with all the invoices…so some guys may have problems.”  Feeling the heat: Subhiksha MD R. Subramanian The discount retailer is facing a supply crunch in the NCR, with many wholesalers of fruit and vegetables stopping supplies to the firm over non-payment of dues. Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint Mint couldn’t immediately ascertain whether alleged payment delays were restricted to NCR, or were broader. But in NCR, many vendors, who have not been paid their dues, say they have stopped their supplies to the retailer. Sujeet Kumar of Sujeet Ajeet and Co. said he stopped supplying to the retailer two months ago after unpaid dues amounted to around Rs25 lakh. The result of the stopped supplies is that many Subhiksha outlets across NCR have either downed shutters, or are doing little business. A Subhiksha fruit and vegetable outlet in sector 62 of Noida has been shut for the past week. A security guard manning the outlet claimed it was because of a “supply problem”. At Moti Nagar, only a crate of potatoes and a large watermelon adorned the otherwise completely empty racks in the “Fresh” section of the company’s supermarket. A guard at the gate said supplies of goods and fresh fruits and vegetables in particular had not arrived for the past three weeks. “I hear the company hasn’t paid the vendors for supplies; that is why goods are not coming,” he claimed. The scene was no different at grocery stores in Noida’s sector 61 and 62. “There is hardly anything to sell,” said a store employee. “I heard there is a crisis at the top,” claimed another. A store manager blamed the poor supply to a strike by staff at a warehouse because “they hadn’t been paid salaries”. None of these employees wanted to be identified because they are not authorized to speak with the media. Meanwhile, some wholesalers at Azadpur allege that they went to the company’s regional office in New Delhi’s Neb Sarai area, but to no avail. Some vendors also accuse Subhiksha of offering to settle dues if the suppliers were ready to take a cut in the total amount. “They are asking us to forego 50% (of our dues) and take 50% of the payment,” said Sanjay Aggarwal, chairman of Dev Bhumi Cold Chain Pvt. Ltd. “They say, ‘otherwise you can go to court’.” Dev Bhumi had been supplying apples and kiwis to Subhiksha for the past year-and-a-half. But since mid-February, the supplier said he not only stopped supplying to the retailer, but also sent a legal notice over non-payment of dues. Now, Aggarwal is planning to take the retailer to court to recover dues of about Rs5 lakh. In an emailed reply, Mohit Khattar, Subhiksha’s president for marketing, said the amount owed to Sujeet Ajeet and Co. is only about Rs3 lakh against a claim of about Rs9 lakh. Kumar claims his other unit, Rajpal Ajeet Singh and Co., is owed Rs16 lakh by Subhiksha. Similarly, in the case of Dev Bhumi, Khattar said the amount owed was Rs1.4 lakh against a claim of Rs5 lakh. “We have requested the party to provide details in this regard to enable a reconciliation and are awaiting particulars,” said Khattar. Meanwhile, Dev Bhumi received a letter from Subhiksha on 4 September (two days after Mint sought clarification from the retail firm on payments to the vendor) saying the firm didn’t reply to a letter dated 15 July in which Subhiksha had raised “objections” on “quality issues”. Dev Bhumi said it never received the 15 July letter. “It’s ridiculous that they are raising objections on quality for supplies that were made in February 2008,” said Anil Dwivedi, director, Dev Bhumi. Subhiksha, according to some of these wholesalers, usually paid on time, but things started souring in March. The company, which runs India’s largest chain of discount supermarkets, has been one of the most aggressive organized retail players. It has flooded the country with hundreds of outlets in the past two years. It has opened at least 200 grocery stores, pharmacies and mobile phone outlets in NCR alone in the past two years. The discount retailer is one of the dozens of domestic companies that are trying to change the way Indians have traditionally been shopping across numerous garage-size mom-and-pop shops. However, in the absence of their own farm-to-shop supply chain, most of these modern retailers have had to rely heavily on traditional mandis such as Azadpur for supplies. Subhiksha ended 2007-08 with a revenue of Rs2,300 crore and, in an interview to PTI in January, Subramanian had said he was eyeing an annual revenue of around Rs4,500 crore this fiscal. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Sep 2008 | 7:32 pm To drive volumes, foreign liquor cos eye low-price local brandsMumbai: Foreign liquor firms that include Bacardi and Co. Ltd and Diageo Plc. plan to acquire low-priced brands after venturing into the Indian market a few years ago with premium offerings.  Sale push: A liquor shop in New Delhi’s Connaught Place. Imported spirits make up for 1.25 million cases consumed in India every year. Rajeev Dabral / Mint This strategy contrasts with local brewers entering the premium segment and is expected to support the multinationals in driving volumes, essential in a mixed economy market like India, say experts. “We are looking at opportunities to acquire one or two local brands to be added to our India basket to support our growth in the mainly focused premium spirit business,” Bacardi-Martini India Ltd’s president and chief executive officer Mahesh Madhavan said. Bacardi-Martini India is a joint venture between Bermuda-based Bacardi and domestic distiller Gemini Distillers Ltd. Diageo India Ltd, India arm of the world’s largest brewer by sales, has already launched one local brand each in the whisky, vodka and wine segments. Diageo India, a joint venture with the country’s second largest liquor firm Radico Khaitan Ltd, had launched a low-end whisky called Master Stroke in early 2007, as well as brands such as Shark Tooth and Nilaya in the vodka and wine categories, respectively. “Our business strategy is clearly focused on the luxury segment where our premium brands are well positioned,” said Asif Adil, managing director, Diageo India. However, “the low-end business will help companies keep revenues flowing as there is a large profit pool in a market like India,” Adil said. Diageo India had also launched its global whisky brand Haig Gold with an India-specific price tag two years ago by bottling it in the country. The world’s second largest liquor company Pernod Ricard SA, too, has an India strategy, though it positions itself in the premium and luxury market. “One reason is clearly the revenue support ensuring that operational profits are maintained through a volume game till the premium market is established,” said a sector analyst with a foreign brokerage, requesting anonymity. Liquor consumption in India is estimated at 230 million cases a year, of which 116 million cases are beer followed by the so-called India made foreign liquor, or IMFL, which accounts for about 112 million cases. Imported spirits, largely premium and reserve brands, make up for about 1.25 million cases, and the remaining are accounted for wine and other categories. Diageo’s premium brands in India include Johnnie Walker whisky and Smirnoff vodka, while Bacardi sells its premium rum and vodka brands in the country. Bacardi is also considering importing more brands in the premium white spirits segment, Madhavan said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Sep 2008 | 7:08 pm L&T lobbies for favourable qualification criterionNew Delhi: The country’s largest engineering firm, Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T), is trying to influence the government to incorporate a clause in India’s largest order for “super critical technology” power generation equipment that would make some rivals ineligible to bid, according to correspondence reviewed by Mint. L&T wants the government to make it mandatory for the bidders to be incorporated in India, with at least 51% equity held by a domestic company. If it is successful, the qualification criterion L&T is seeking would make competitors, such as the joint ventures between Alstom SA of France and Bharat Forge Ltd, Toshiba Corp. of Japan and JSW Group, and AnsaldoCaldaie of Italy and GB Engineering of India ineligible. Alstom, Toshiba and AnsaldoCaldaie hold the majority stake in their respective joint ventures. Also Read L&T, however, holds the majority stake in its joint venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) of Japan. Super critical equipment helps in higher plant efficiencies and economies of scale and is also environment-friendly. The government wants to place orders for nine such units of 660MW each with a total value of around Rs14,850 crore for state-owned firms NTPC Ltd and Damodar Valley Corporation. The order will be placed through international bidding, with a stipulation that the winner set up manufacturing facilities in the country. The order is expected to be placed by the end of this fiscal year. In a letter dated 21 August to Central Electricity Authority chairman Rakesh Nath, L&T senior vice-president A.K. Chattwani wrote: “The bidder should be a company incorporated in India, where the promoter having majority shareholding (minimum 51% equity) is an Indian company.” This letter follows a similar communication from Chattwani to Nath dated 23 July. An L&T spokesperson declined comment. Nath said: “We have not finalized anything so far.” He declined to elaborate. While the joint venture between L&T and Mitsubishi Heavy is for the manufacture of boilers, turbines and generators, the alliances between Toshiba and JSW Group and Alstom and Bharat Forge are for the production of turbines and generators. AnsaldoCaldaie Boilers India Pvt. Ltd, the joint venture between AnsaldoCaldaie of Italy and GB Engineering of India is for boiler manufacturing. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, or Bhel has the capacity for boiler, turbine and generator manufacturing. To increase domestic power generation equipment manufacturing capacity, the government plans to restrict overseas equipment manufacturers from bidding for domestic projects unless they have a manufacturing base in India, as reported by Mint on 10 April. However, the details of such an order are yet to be notified. A senior Bhel executive, who didn’t want to be named, said: “Though such a condition will not harm us, it will certainly affect the chances of other joint ventures such as those of Alstom and Toshiba. We have only collaborations, but no joint venture arrangements.” Under the bid guidelines that are being worked out, the lowest bidder will be given an order for five units; if Bhel is the lowest bidder, it gets the order for five units. If Bhel is not the lowest bidder, the government will still award it the order for the remaining four units, provided it agrees to match the lowest bid. If Bhel does not match the bid, this option will be given to others in the order of their bid ranking. JSW’s spokesperson didn’t respond to queries emailed by Mint. Toshiba, in an email response, said: “We do not think such a move would be good for India’s power generation sector, or any other economic sector, as it could discourage foreign capital from investing in India, and slow expansion of power plant equipment manufacturing capabilities and capacity.” Questions emailed to Alstom, Bharat Forge and MHI remained unanswered. AnsaldoCaldaie Boilers India Pvt. Ltd executives could not be contacted. A New Delhi-based power sector analyst, requesting anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said: “It is all because the government has not made its guidelines clear regarding the policy on power generation equipment manufacturing, leaving room for this kind of manoeuvring.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Sep 2008 | 7:05 pm India confident of positive NSG voteGovt burns the midnight oil, says 20 former doubters supported its case at Thursdays meet.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Sep 2008 | 7:03 pm Salora launches electronics retail chain under Terminal brandNew Delhi: Salora Retail Ventures Ltd, a part of consumer durables maker and distributor, Salora International Ltd, launched a retail electronics chain called Terminal, initially with nine stores in the national capital region. Salora claims its retail model—a neighbourhood store format—will help it stand out by being convenient for the customers and also cost-effective for the company. “The cost of setting up one store will be at least 25-30% lesser than the average investment made by other players in the retail industry,” said G.K. Jiwarajika, vice-chairman and managing director. “In the next five years the plan is to open 300-500 stores across India with an investment of Rs150-200 crore. The expansion, however, depends on real estate prices.” “Our model is such that we are expecting to break even in the next 12 months as against other players which take two-three years,” added Sanjive Sethi, chief executive officer, Salora Retail. With an average size of 900 sq. ft, a Terminal store sells LCDs, mobile phones, digital cameras, camcorders, laptops and home theatres. Salora Retail has previously been a single brand retailer with partnerships with Sony Ericsson and Virgin mobile in north and east India. Salora International is a conglomerate with interests in sourcing, manufacturing, supply chain management, distribution, marketing and retail in consumer electronics, telecom, information technology and lifestyle. The consumer durables and electronics retail segment is “growing fast and there is a lot of scope, going ahead. There are different formats existing at the moment. Since convenience does play an important role when it comes to shopping, neighbourhood stores do have a potential,” Anil Rajpal, vice-president, consumer goods and retail, KSA Technopak, said. Reliance Retail Ltd and a Tata group company, Infiniti Retail Ltd, as well as Future Group’s Home Solutions Retail Ltd are the key retailers operating big format retail stores under Reliance Digital, Croma and E-Zone brands. Small format retail chains include Videocon Industries Ltd’s Next Retail, Subhiksha Mobiles and Hotspot Mobiles. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Sep 2008 | 7:03 pm Azim Premji buys 10% in SubhikshaAzim Premji, promoter of Wipro, has bought a 10 per cent stake in food and grocery retailer Subhiksha for about Rs 230 crore.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Sep 2008 | 7:03 pm State govt agrees to discuss land-for-land at peace talksTrinamool backs down on extent of claims.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Sep 2008 | 7:02 pm British Airways eyes India tie-upUK flag carrier British Airways (BA) plans to tie up with an Indian domestic carrier in a franchise partnership.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Sep 2008 | 7:02 pm 13th-century Czech city bids to become a global biotech hubBrno, Czech Republic: Just a few steps from the monastery where Gregor Mendel pioneered the field of genetics some 150 years ago, Czech officials hope to nurture their own biotech revolution. The plan is to turn Brno, a 13th-century city that went the way of manufacturing under communism, into a modern biotech hub and attract firms eager to tap into a skilled work force, even as a strong currency drives up costs and wages. “We are trying to connect industry, education and infrastructure to make it easier for companies to come here to create an environment that suits biotech companies best,” Brno’s mayor Roman Onderka said. The Czech Republic now hosts around 60 biotech firms, mainly near Brno and the capital of Prague. The key for Brno—the country’s second biggest city—is a partnership with the US Mayo Clinic, the research centre renowned for treating rare medical cases. Announced in 2006, it will help the country play on historic strengths in medicine and research and hopefully become a regional force for more than just cheap labour, said Tomas Sedlacek, chief macroeconomic strategist at Czech bank CSOB. The country hosts around 60 biotech firms, mainly near Brno and the capital, Prague Over the last decade, the Czech crown has been one of the best performing currencies, fuelled by economic growth of around 5% a year and investors’ expectations that returns on Czech investments will catch up with those in richer neighbouring countries. That is making it more expensive to do business in the country. But Alexandra Rudysarova, chief executive of CzechInvest, which promotes investment, argued Brno’s biotech push shows the nation offers far more than just low-cost labour. “We strive to lure investments into sectors such as biotech that provide high added-value and where investors are far less tempted to relocate to cheap countries east of our borders,” she said in an email. Competition The venture in Brno marks the first time the Mayo Clinic has looked abroad and is one of four potential new research centres for the city. Virend Somers, international director and a researcher at the Mayo Clinic, said Brno offers a pool of expertise. “The fact it is very much a university town is so important to make a venture like this successful to help drive creativity,” he said. The government plans to invest some $500 million (Rs2,215 crore) to support the four potential projects—with some money also coming from the European Union (EU)—as the city seeks to compete directly with long-established biotech hubs in California and burgeoning ones across Asia. Global biotech sales grew by 12.5% in 2007 to more than $55 billion, double the 6.4% pace seen in the worldwide pharmaceutical market, according to market research company IMS Health Inc. Tax breaks, lower wages, good transportation links connecting eastern and western Europe and a large student population that provides a skilled, English-speaking workforce have long attracted technology firms such as International Business Machines Corp., Honeywell International Inc. and Siemens AG to Brno. Ten years ago, biotechnology was virtually non-existent in eastern and central Europe, but skilled workforces and relatively low costs helped incubate the industry in countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. The fledgling International Clinical Research Centre is located near the 14th-century abbey where Mendel’s experiments with plants started the gene revolution that gave the world biotech drugs and genetically modified crops. It was there that the German-speaking Augustinian monk worked out the basic laws of inheritance by painstakingly cross-breeding thousands of pea plants. Other scientific leaders associated with the city include Ernst Mach—whose work resulted in the Mach numbers used to gauge supersonic speed—and Viktor Kaplan, inventor of the Kaplan water turbine. The new International Clinical Research Centre will be one of the EU’s largest biotech and medical research projects and will showcase new projects aimed at attracting researchers and biotech companies, officials say. “There aren’t many centres in the world that offer the combination of basic science to preclinical research to development of drugs, devices and technologies,” said Dr. Tomas Kara, the centre’s chief. When it gets fully up and running in 2010, the facility will provide the tools and training to help scientists from around the world more quickly turn their ideas in the lab into drugs and technologies people can use, Kara said. Current projects at the clinic, which will focus mainly on heart disease, neurosciences and oncology, include a computer program to prescribe drugs based on a person’s genetic profile. “We want to bring the best scientists in the world to one place. We hope that one day Brno could be the Silicon Valley of medicine and biotechnology,” Kara said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Sep 2008 | 6:54 pm Start-up at IIT Madras trains villagers for jobsChennai: A venture of the Indian Institute Technology, Madras, or IIT-M, is training villagers for employment in retail, business process outsourcing and security services, in an attempt to bridge the urban-rural divide. “If you take any industry, companies are always looking for people. Considering that majority of the population lives in rural India, we realized that they can be trained and brought to the same level as those in urban centres—and employed,” says Richa Pandey Mishra, founder and chief executive officer of eJeevika HR Pvt. Ltd, a start-up incubated by IIT-M. “This would help corporates battle labour shortage effectively.”  Rural resources: Richa Pandey Mishra (in black), founder and cheif executive officer, eJeevika HR, with her employess at IIT Madras. Babu Ponnapan / Mint The entrepreneur invests some Rs50,000 on a couple of personal computers, a broadband Internet connection and power back-up. The franchisees then identify potential candidates who are then trained by eJeevika according to the requirements of its clients. For now, eJeevika has developed training modules for security services, retail and business process outsourcing and would develop modules for other sectors depending on client requirements. Villagers who wish to be trained register with eJeevika’s website after which the company conducts an online interview in the presence of its client. Once the client gives a go-ahead sign, the candidate pays a fee and undergoes online training. Mishra says the fee is “nominal,” without elaborating. The candidate then has to clear online tests, interviews and a final face-to-face interview with the client. The entire process takes around a month, said Mishra. The firm has successfully piloted its model in Cuddalore and Tiruvallur districts of Tamil Nadu, she said. EJeevika trained and placed some 100 candidates with the help of a network of 20 franchisees in a few retailers and security services firms. Mishra declined to name clients citing business confidentiality. “This is what we need at the moment. There is a shortage of labour supply. There are talks about inclusive growth and here is a good example of inclusiveness,” said Rajesh Sukumaran, investment manager for Singapore-based angel investment fund Mercatus Capital’s India operations. With a nine-member team backing her, Mishra plans to train and find jobs for some 200,000 people in the next couple of years through a network of around 1,000 franchisees in the rural districts of India. “We will handhold the franchisee owner to help him set up the centre. What we are looking for is that he should be dedicated, besides being computer literate and a local guy,” Mishra said. EJeevika has a mix of field workers and technical staff. It also has tied up with corporate human resources experts who help improvize on training content to make it relevant to villagers. “India requires innovations like these,” said Ravi Narayan, managing director at Mentor Partners, that works closely with start-ups. “IT (information technology) as a business model has become passé. How one uses IT to scale up is what many companies have increasingly started to look at.” But, how will the company overcome constraints like limited broadband connectivity and erratic electric supply? “We will first go wherever there is connectivity,” Mishra said. “India is bound to grow and we will ride on that wave.” “Their scalability would depend on the quality of training that they provide to the candidates but it is definitely a scaleable model. With technology like 3G, issues like broadband connectivity form a temporary picture,” Sukumaran pointed out. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Sep 2008 | 6:54 pm MM for minimal spending to meet product, capital needsDr. Pawan Goenka, Vice President, SIAM, and President, Mahindra Mahindra, plans to do minimal investment to meet future requirements both in terms of product as well as capacity. \"There will be no change in any plans and all announced product plans are on track. There is no holding back of investment.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Sep 2008 | 6:53 pm KF to start Mumbai-London flights from Oct 26, says MallyaLondon: A day after Kingfisher Airlines started maiden Bangalore-London direct flight, the Chairman of the airline, Vijay Mallya said that it would launch the Mumbai-London flights from October 26. “The London-Mumbai flights would have connectivity to Colombo, Bangkok, Maldives and Male,” Mallya said. He said that direct Bangalore to San Francisco flights — A345 are also scheduled to start in October-November. Mallya, who is also Chairman of United Breweries, said that while travel on his flights would be an experience to savour, the First Class is offered at Business Class prices of airlines like the British Airways and Premium Economy Class at the Economic Class prices. The plane has only two classes - Kingfisher First Class and Kingfisher Premium Economy. “We have set the standards and raised the bar. We have designed the airlines as consumer product. Our brand embodies latest trends and lifestyle,” he claimed. He said that the unique feature of the wide-bodied aircraft is a bar lounge. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 4 Sep 2008 | 3:31 pm HP to focus on emerging SMBsMumbai: Anticipating huge IT spent by the small and medium businesses (SMBs), IT major Hewlet-Packard said that it would focus on emerging business areas like real estate, auto component and ITeS sectors. “These are real emerging areas in the SMB space. We aim to capture a sizeable market in these areas,” HP India Sales Director (SMB) Ashok Pamidi said after announcing a deal with Hiranandani Group. Hiranadani Group today inked a deal with Hewlet-Packard to implement IT infrastructure across its head office in Mumbai and branch offices across the country. Quoting a Gartner report, Pamidi said that only the construction industry in the SMB space is likely to spend $45.4 million by 2012 on IT from approximately $28 million in 2008. “HP offers entire IT infrastructure and IT softwares in the SMB space,” he said. A recent report prepared by Microsoft and IT research and Consultancy firm AMI Partners said that the share of Indian SMBs in the total IT spend would grow by 24% , fastest among all BRIC countries. Pamidi said that SMBs are spending more on IT now due to increased efficiency and reduced costs. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Sep 2008 | 2:52 pm
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