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Tata end Singur saga: India Inc reactsIt\'s finally official. Tata Motors\' Nano will not roll out of singur. After a onehour meeting with the West Bengal Chief Minister, Chairman Ratan Tata said a decision had been taken to move the project out of the state. He blamed the decision on the agitation faced by the company in the state, and the threat to employee and vendor safety.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Oct 2008 | 8:15 pm Nano exits Singur: What happens to Tata\'s WB land?Commerce Secretary GK Pillai said in cases where the land is acquired for an industry, if the particular industry is unable to use that land it is left to the state government to then decide whether they would give it to any other industry or for any other public purpose.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:39 pm Sona Koyo supports Tatas despite Singur exitSurinder Kapoor of Sona Koyo feels that though it was a painful decision for Ratan Tata, people have been expecting the car to be launched this month. \"Tatas paramount concern was ensuring the security and safety of the people. Going forward we will support Tata Motors in which ever direction they go as vendors to the Nano project.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:22 pm Exiting Singur as have promises to keep: Ratan TataTata Motors have decided to pull out of Singur. Speaking to the press about his decision, Ratan Tata said that he was hoping for some understanding and reduction in agitation. \"We have moved the project out of West Bengal as we have timelines to meet and promises to keep but we have not lost any enthusiasm for the project.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Oct 2008 | 6:14 pm Wells Fargo to merge with Wachovia, deal valued at $15.1 bnWells Fargo and Wachovia will merge in a deal valued at USD 15.1 billion, reports CNBCTV18. The deal is valued at USD 7 per Wachovia share and is being done without FDIC, or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, assistance. It is in stockforstock transaction.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm McLeod Russel buys Vietnam tea maker Phu Ben for $7mMcLeod Russel has acquired Vietnamese tea company Phu Ben for USD 7 million, reports CNBCTV18. This is the first 100% international acquisition by an Indian tea company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Oct 2008 | 5:27 pm See Air India posting Rs 3K cr loss in FY09: Praful PatelCivil Aviation Minister Praful Patel sees domestic airlines loss at over Rs 6,000 crore in FY09, reports CNBCTV18, quoting NewsWire18. He sees Air India loss at Rs 3,000 crore in FY09. \"The government is considering Rs 1,000 crore equity infusion in Air India.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Oct 2008 | 5:25 pm US gov may withdraw motion against RanbaxyThere has been some good news for the beleagured pharma giant Ranbaxy. The US Department of Justice may withdraw the motion seeking to force the company to turn over its audit reports.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:00 pm TVS Motors to launch 2 motorcyles, scooters by FY10TVS Motor will launch two motorcycles one in Q4FY09 and another in Q2 FY10, reports CNBCTV18. Besides, it will also launch two scooters one in November 2008 and another in Q1FY10, the report adds.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Oct 2008 | 3:46 pm INDUSTRY VIEW - Tata Motors shifts Nano car plantNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Tata Motors Ltd will move the factory for its low-cost Nano car out of West Bengal after violent protests by farmers who lost land forced it to stop construction work at Singur last month, it said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:59 pm U.S. STOCKS - Market stays higher after services dataNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks stayed near session highs on Friday after a report showed that growth in the vast services sector held up in September, tempering worries about the economy and the profit outlook.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:57 pm Wells to buy Wachovia for over $16 bln; Citi deal offNEW YORK (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co agreed to buy Wachovia Corp for more than $16 billion, besting a U.S government-backed Citigroup Inc bid for some of its assets, in a deal that would catapult Wells Fargo to the top ranks of national consumer banks.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:49 pm Exiting Singur as have promises to keep: Ratan Tata - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:40 pm Anil Ambani inks $1.5 bn deal with Spielberg and SniderIndustrialist Anil Ambani has struck a deal worth $1.5 billion with three-time Oscar winner Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider to create a new motion picture studio. The joint venture is set to be launched by January next year.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:32 pm Apple says report of Jobs heart attack "not true"NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Internet report claiming that Apple Inc chief executive Steve Jobs has had a heart attack is not true, the company said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:30 pm Tata Motors shifts Nano plant after land rowKOLKATA (Reuters) - Tata Motors Ltd will move the factory for its low-cost Nano car out of West Bengal after violent protests by farmers who lost land forced it to stop construction work last month, its chairman said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:25 pm U.S. House begins procedural vote on bailout billWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday began a procedural vote that is needed to clear the way for debate and final voting on a $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:22 pm Emami to invest in coal mining, power sector - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:17 pm UPDATE 1-India inflation at 3-mth low, but no rate cut seen - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:17 pm US stocks higher as bank deal eases jitters - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:15 pm Tata project would have brought a major change in Bengal: FicciNew Delhi: Reacting to the Tata group’s decision to move the Nano project out of Singur, Ficci said that it is sad that the land dispute over the Nano project could not be amicably resolved and that the Tata project could not be retained in Singur. “The Tata project could have brought about a major change in the industrial scenario in Bengal”, said Dr. Amit Mitra, secretary general, Ficci. He added that this was not a one off auto project but would have given a boost to a whole host of ancillaries as well. Ficci noted that Bengal’s tradition of engineering and heavy industry had suffered over time because of lack of fresh investments in these industries in the state and the gradual closure of many of the old engineering industries. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 2:10 pm India Wants to Start Working on Reactors in 2009 (Update1) - Bloomberg
Source: Google News India - Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:57 pm Reduce HCL Tech, target of Rs 235: IIFL - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:51 pm Tata Motors moves out of Singur PTI Kolkata: Ratan Tata on Friday pulled out of West Bengal for its Nano project, blaming it on continuing agitation by the opposition parties, spearheaded by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee. Addressing the media after meeting with chief minister Budhadeb Bhattacharjee, Ratan Tata, however, said that Nano will come out as per the committed time. “Nano will come on time. We will make make-shift arrangement to meet deadline,” Tata said. “There was little choice but move out of Singur, he said. The move has been prompted after taking into account issues such as well-being of its employees at the project and safety of contractors as well as that of its vendors. The persisting agitation by the opposition parties has been the sole reason behind the decision to pull out of the project, he said. The company is exploring offers from three-four states about the new site of the project and the new location would be announced soon, Tata said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:42 pm Kajol appointed goodwill ambassador of trustKajol has been appointed goodwill ambassador and patron of the UK based Loomba Trust, a charity devoted to educating widow's children, particularly in India.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:32 pm Merrill Lynch CEO gets good job from BofAMerrill Lynch's Chairman and Chief Exceutive Officer, John Thain will take over as the President of global banking, securities and wealth management after its merger with Bank of America.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:31 pm Delhi makes way for solar-powered rickshaws - IBNLive.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:29 pm Cabinet okays Daiichi buy of Ranbaxy, Zenotech: FMFinance Minister P Chidambaram said that the Cabinet has approved the Daiichi buy of Ranbaxy and Zenotech.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Oct 2008 | 1:12 pm Mitsubishi mulls unit merger with MorganMitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) is mulling merging its securities unit with US investment bank Morgan Stanley's Japanese securities unit, Kyodo News Agency reported on Friday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:49 pm Mitsubishi Outlander drives into IndiaHindustan Motors and Mitsubishi Motors launched the Outlander, a crossover sports utility vehicle (SUV) from the Mitsubishi stable, here on Friday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:49 pm Allahabad Bank eyes 20% loan growthAllahabad Bank is targeting a growth of 20 percent in its loan portfolio and 17 percent in deposit this fiscal, a top company official said here on Friday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:48 pm RIL eyeing diesel exports to PakistanThe Mukesh Ambani-headed Reliance Industries (RIL) is interested in exporting diesel to Pakistan if restrictions are removed, a senior company official said here on Friday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:48 pm Over-dependence on derivatives hit AIGThe US financial tsunami has washed out giant investment banks of the US and has led to many commercial banks being bought over or nationalised.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:47 pm Cabinet gives nod for Daiichi's purchase of RanbaxyIndia has approved Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo's buying over of Indian drug major Ranbaxy, Finance Minister P. Chidambarum announced on Friday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:46 pm BSE Sensex falls 4.05 pct to 18-mth lowNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex fell 4.05 percent on Friday to its lowest close in 18 months on rising concerns that Washington's $700 billion bailout package may not be sufficient to prevent economies from sliding into recession.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:44 pm Inflation at 11.99 pct on Sept. 20NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's wholesale price index rose 11.99 percent in the 12 months to Sept. 20, below the previous week's annual rise of 12.14 percent, government data showed on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:36 pm Govt approves sale of Ranbaxy to Daiichi Sankyo - Times of India
Source: Google News India - Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:34 pm McLeod Russel buys Vietnam tea maker Phu Ben for $7m - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:26 pm Samsung looks at increasing sales in India - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:10 pm Mitsubishi Outlander, costing Rs.2.02 mn, drives into IndiaHindustan Motors and Mitsubishi Motors launched the Outlander, a crossover sports utility vehicle (SUV) from the Mitsubishi stable, here Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:02 pm Allahabad Bank eyes 20 percent loan growthThe city-based public sector Allahabad Bank is targeting a growth of 20 percent in its loan portfolio and 17 percent in deposit this fiscal, a top company official said here Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:00 pm NBCC to launch power projectsNew Delhi: The National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) said that it is planning to launch several power projects across the country. “We are having discussions with several state electricity boards for joint venture power projects in the country,” said Arup Roy Chouhury, chairman and managing director of NBCC. “We are in the process of developing the 1000 MW power project in Chattisgarh and talks are in the final stage with concerned authorities,” Choudhury said. Besides Chhatisgarh, NBCC is having discussions with Karnataka and Jharkhand for setting up power projects in those states. NBCC which has earned about Rs280 crores as net profit last year has actively diversified into real estate sector and already taken up projects in Delhi and Kolkata and also expected to spread its wings in the Middle East. “Our aim is to deliver property at affordable prices to consumers,” said Choudhury. About the Delhi project, he said that the company’s plan is to construct affordable houses in the NCR zone in the near future. Speaking on financial performances, the CMD said that the company with a total income of Rs2,025 crores has grown over 30% every year in the last seven years. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:57 am S&P affirms ‘A-1+’ rating to Commercial Papers prg of ICICIPTI New Delhi: Global credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s today kept the ratings unchanged on ICICI Bank’s $375 million US Commercial Paper programme. The borrowing programme is supported by a $375-million irrevocable direct-pay letter of credit issued by Bank of America N A, S&P said in a statement. As the US Commercial Paper (USCP) holders would be paid by Bank of America on the maturity dates, they bear the credit risk of the US lender. Hence, the rating on this programme is equivalent to the short-term counter-party credit rating on Bank of America, it said. It will have a maximum tenor of 360 days and proceeds from this issue are expected to be used for general corporate purposes, it added. The short-term rating on the paper would expire when the letter of credit expires, scheduled for 30 September, 2009, it said, adding, the programme size has been reduced from $500 million. The bank would be issuing latest short term paper through its overseas branches in New York, Hong Kong, and Bahrain, it said. The paper constitute unsecured obligations of ICICI Bank and ranks equally with all of the bank’s unsecured and unsubordinated obligations. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:40 am Update: Sensex nosedives by 529 pts on all round sellingMumbai: In sync with weakening global stock markets, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Friday tumbled nearly 529 points, or 4.05%, on selling by funds due to growing concerns that $700 billion rescue package by US would not be enough to halt global slowdown. The BSE barometer index opened weak fell further to record a loss of 529.35 points at 12,526.32 as funds turned aggressive sellers in heavyweight stocks including market leader Reliance Industries and IT bellwether Infosys Technologies. The key index dipped to a low of 12,472.61 points during the day. The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also closed lower by 132.45 points, or 3.35%, at 3818.30 after falling to a low of 3804.85 during the day. Marketmen said weak global trends dampened the domestic bourses. They said investors hold the view that America’s $700 billion package is not enough to revive the troubled credit and financial markets. Heaviest among the Sensex Reliance Industries fell by Rs146.30, or 7.67%, at Rs1760.95. IT major Infosys fell by Rs62.95, or 4.33%, at Rs1390.95, ICICI Bank by Rs46.95, or 8.51% at Rs504.50, Tata Steel by Rs44.85, or 10.22% at Rs393.80 and Sterlite Industries by 7.84% at Rs395.75, its lowest in more than two years. All the five carry nearly 40% weightage on the 30-scrip benchmark Sensex. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:39 am Bailout bill faces crunch US House test !Leading Democrats were optimistic that a 700-billion-dollar Wall Street bailout would pass the US House of Representatives on Friday, but uncertainty kept stock markets skittish.Source: Zee News : Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:37 am Singur row: Tata to meet Buddha!Tata Motors` chairman Ratan Tata will meet West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee here on Friday to discuss the fate of Nano project in the state which is in limbo.Source: Zee News : Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:37 am Sensex plunges 204 pts in early trade!The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex dipped below the 13k level and lost over 204 points in early trade on Friday on all-round selling by funds despite the US Senate`s approval to a modified rescue package for the troubled financial sector.Source: Zee News : Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:37 am US banks borrow $367.8 bn per day from Fed!US banks` direct borrowing from the Federal Reserve shot to a record in the latest week as financial institutions became almost totally reliant on the lender of last resort amid the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression.Source: Zee News : Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:37 am BoA gives top job to Merrill CEO in merged entity!Merrill Lynch Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Thain will take over as president of global banking, securities and wealth management after its merger with Bank of America, a top bank official said on Thursday.Source: Zee News : Business | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:37 am Reliance Industries eyeing diesel exports to PakistanThe Mukesh Ambani-headed Reliance Industries (RIL) is interested in exporting diesel to Pakistan if restrictions are removed, a senior company official said here Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:33 am Over-dependence on derivatives hit AIGThe US financial tsunami has washed out giant investment banks of the US and has led to many commercial banks being bought over or nationalised. But what hit the world's largest reinsurance company, the American Insurance Group (AIG)?Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:33 am Cabinet gives nod for Daiichi's purchase of RanbaxyIndia has approved Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo's buying over of Indian drug major Ranbaxy, Finance Minister P. Chidambarum announced Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:32 am Talks between Buddhadeb, Ratan Tata begin over SingurWest Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata began crucial talks here Friday to decide on the future of the global auto major's stalled Nano small car project at Singur in the state.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:31 am AIG plans sale of business unitsNew York: American International Group Inc the insurer crippled by losses on bad mortgage bets, said on Friday it will focus on its property, casualty and foreign general insurance businesses. The company, whose shares rose 12% in premarket trading, said it would sell its remaining businesses and is working on alternatives for its financial products business and its securities lending program to help repay up to $85 billion in borrowings from the federal government. The firm’s worldwide property and casualty businesses generated close to $40 billion in revenues in 2007. AIG said it had drawn $61 billion on the Federal Reserve facility as of 30 September. Once the world’s largest insurer, AIG accepted a federal bailout on 16 September after losses in a financial products unit drove it to the brink of collapse. AIG’s shares, which have traded as high as $70.13 in the last year, fell to $1.25 in the hours before the bailout. The shares closed at $4.00 on Thursday. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:28 am French PM says world 'on edge of abyss'PARIS/LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Friday the world stood on the "edge of the abyss", gripped by a global financial crisis now threatening industry, trade and jobs worldwide.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:20 am Indian Oil Corp. may post losses in Q2New Delhi: State-run Indian Oil Corporation said on 3 October the company may incur losses in the second quarter for selling oil products at a discount. “We may incur losses for selling oil products at a discount if the government does not revise the subsidy-sharing mechanism,” company’s Director (Finance) S V Narsimhan told reporters on the sidelines of an energy conference. The company has already approached the government on this issue requesting to re-look into the subsidy-sharing mechanism. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:04 am IOC awaits changes in tax laws to buy diesel from RILNew Delhi: Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest oil firm, is looking at changes in tax laws to buy diesel from Reliance Industries to meet the fuel deficit. “We have appealed to the Government to do away with double taxation on products bought from Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery,” IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria told reporters here. IOC, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum need just over 2.5 million tons of diesel during the remaining part of the fiscal and if they are allowed to buy from Reliance it would help them save Rs650-700 crore. Reliance has converted Jamnagar into an only-for-exports unit, thereby getting tax incentives like exemption from payment of income tax and duty free import of raw material. An Export Oriented Unit (EOU) is discouraged from selling products in domestic market through levy of double taxation. The state-run firms would have to pay Rs9.51 a litre more in taxes on petrol and Rs2.85 per litre on diesel if they buy fuel from Jamnagar. Sales from an EOU or a unit in Special Economic Zone are treated as imports and are first levied customs duty, then additional customs duty and then CVD.his, additional excise duty in charged and a 3% cess is levied on aggregate of these. Multiple cess is not levied on direct imports. “There is a premium on imports and it is beneficial for us to buy from Reliance. We hope the Government does something about double taxation,” Behuria said. Reliance President (Refinery Business) P Raghavendra said the company was willing to supply whatever quantities that state-run firms needed provided double taxation was done away with. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 11:03 am Mcleod Russel to acquire Vietnam based tea co for $2 mnMumbai: Tea planter Mcleod Russel India said that it will acquire Vietnam-based Phu Ben Tea Company for $2 million. The acquisition was carried out by Borelli Tea Holdings, the 100% subsidiary of Mcleod Russel. “Borelli Tea Holdings has signed a term sheet with Belgium based SA SIPEF NV in this regard,” Mcleod Russel said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Phu Ben Tea Company is engaged in growing, manufacturing and selling of tea and produces around 4.5 million kg of tea annually in the three tea processing factories owned by it. The filing further said that Borelli would have to arrange a bank guarantee to secure repayment of inter-company balance of $5.01 million. “The inter-company balance would be paid by Phu Ben Tea Company within three years in equal installments at the end of 2009, 2010 and 2011,” Mcleod Russel added. Further, the board of the company has appointed Balaji Swaminathan as an Additional Director with immediate effect. Shares of the company were trading at Rs82.35, down 5.18% in the afternoon trade on BSE. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 10:57 am Railway employees to get bonus equivalent to 73 days wagesNew Delhi: Bowing to a long standing demand of railway federations ahead of the festival season, the government today approved 73 days productivity linked bonus to eligible Railway employees and enhancement in the prescribed wage calculation ceiling. “The union cabinet today gave its approval for payment of Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 73 days wages to the eligible non-gazetted railway employees for the financial year 2007-08,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi said. This would, however, not cover RPF and RPSF personnel. “The cabinet also gave its approval for enhancement in the wage calculation ceiling prescribed for payment of PLB and adhoc bonus to the eligible non-gazetted railway employees covered by the PLB Scheme as also non-gazetted RPF/RPSF personnel covered by the ad hoc bonus scheme,” Dasmunshi said. “This increase is from Rs2,500 per month to Rs3,500 per month and would be effective from 1 April, 2006,” he added. This had been a long-standing demand of railway federations. The grant this year is more than last year when the bonus was given for 70 days wages and the total amount was Rs600 crore. There are about 14 lakh railway employees in the country. However, about 17,000 railway officials are not entitled for bonus. Railways had projected Rs24,783 crore as cash surplus in the current fiscal. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 10:24 am Current fiscal FDI may miss target by $10 bn: reportPTI New Delhi: The foreign direct investment to the country may miss the current fiscal target by as much as $10 billion in the backdrop of a global economic slowdown and the US financial crisis, CEOs said in a survey. In a survey of CEOs by industry body Assocham, majority said India could optimally receive about $25-26 billion of FDIs in 2008-09 fiscal against the targeted volume of $35 billion. Other factors that may hinder the investment flow includes, adverse sentiments in the stock market, bottlenecks on infrastructure, no initiatives on disinvestments, rising interest rates, it said. The target of FDI in the last fiscal was $30 billion, of which the total investment received were about $25 billion, it added. About 300 CEOs opined that like last fiscal, sectors like services, computer software and hardware, construction, real estate and telecom would lead in getting FDI in 2008-09, Assocham President Sajjan Jindal said. During January to June, India received FDI to an extent of $22 billion only. During this period, FDI flow from the US towards India stood at $1.3 billion, which is only 6.11% of total FDI of $22 billion received by India during the period, it said. Out of 400 CEOs interviewed, 280 said stock market would continue to remain in dampen mood as large number of investors have shifted their investments to traditional source of savings channels. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 10:17 am Nomura to buy Lehman’s India operations, to retain staffNew York: Japanese financial services major Nomura Holdings is all set to buy the Indian operations of beleaguered Lehman Brothers and is likely to retain nearly 2,000 strong workforce, media reports said. “Nomura Holdings Inc. has reached an agreement to acquire for several billion yen Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s Indian operations that have handled the bankrupt US firm’s global back-office duties and information technology development,” Japan’s business daily The Nikkei reported. The back office operations of Lehman based in Mumbai has more than 2,000 employees and handle the investment bank’s information technology and research and development (R&D) activities among others. In addition, the back office was also handling trading settlement duties. Meanwhile, AFP said that the Japanese firm “reportedly decided to make the extra investment as the Indian base has talented IT workers and has functioned as the heart of Lehman’s cutting-edge systems”. Battered by huge losses in the American mortgage market, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection two weeks back with the US regulator. Since then, the firm has been disposing off its assets and Nomura snapped up the investment bank’s Asia-Pacific, European and Middle East operations. Reportedly, the number of Lehman employees taken by Nomura would be about 8,000, once the Japanese firm acquires Indian operations. Lehman’s North American operations were acquired by British banking major Barclays. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 10:13 am European banking chief urges U.S. bailout approvalLONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Europe's top banker echoed a mood of growing alarm in EU capitals on Friday, urging U.S. Congressional approval of a $700 billion plan to tackle a financial crisis now shaking the world economy.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Oct 2008 | 10:12 am Rs.2.02-mn Mitsubishi Outlander drives into IndiaHindustan Motors and Mitsubishi Motors Friday launched here the Mitsubishi Outlander, a sports utility vehicle (SUV).Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 3 Oct 2008 | 9:02 am Kohinoor Steel employees attacked in JharkhandKohinoor Steel Friday filed a police complaint against unidentified villagers for allegedly attacking its employees and vandalising its plant in Seraikela-Kharsawan district of Jharkhand, company officials said.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 3 Oct 2008 | 9:01 am Nikkei hits 3-yr closing low, economy’s fear deepensTokyo: Japan’s Nikkei average fell 1.9% to a three-year closing low on Friday for its worst week in more than a year, with growing fears about the global economy hitting high-tech firms, autos and exporters. Toyota Motor fell to a three-year low and Nissan Motor dropped to its lowest level in nearly seven years, after major car companies reported a 26% drop in overall US sales for September as the crisis on Wall Street rocked consumer confidence. “US indicators have been getting quite bad, and the rate at which they’re worsening has picked up,” said Hiroaki Osakabe, a fund manager at Chibagin Asset Management. “Japan’s economy isn’t good, America isn’t good, Europe isn’t good. The next to be hit may be emerging economies - and this will just increase worries for an export-dependent economy like Japan’s.” The benchmark Nikkei shed 216.62 points to 10,938.14, its lowest close since May 2005. It lost 8% on the week, its worst weekly drop since August 2007. The broader Topix lost 2.7% for its lowest close since February 2004, finishing at 1,047.97. On Thursday, the Dow shed more than 3% as data showing the number of people filing for unemployment benefits hit a seven-year high painted a troubling picture, as did a report showing a steep drop in factory orders in August. The US Senate passed the government’s $700 billion financial rescue plan after the House of Representatives rejected it in its original form. The House is expected to vote on the revised bill on Friday, but market participants said even its passage was unlikely to stave off economic fears. Some individual investors, though, appeared to be taking a more conservative view. “I must hold onto my stocks,” said Akihiko Furukawa, 72, who owns his own company. “Some of them are bad stocks, but there’s no point in buying or selling shares now.” Autos tumble, high-tech hit Among the worst hit shares were automakers, who have suffered all week. Shares of Toyota fell 5.3% to 4,080 yen, taking its weekly losses to 14% this week. Honda Motor Co fell 5.5% at 2,835 yen, its lowest close since mid-April, down 15% for the week. Nissan lost 7% to 621 yen, bringing its losses for the week to 18%. Toyota’s European sales forecast for next year is no longer realistic, the automaker’s regional head said on Thursday, adding that the figure is more likely to match last year’s level given the slowdown in the overall market and global economy. High tech shares tumbled as well, with TDK Corp down 7.8% at 4,710 yen, making it the biggest drag on the Nikkei 225 by volume weight. Kyocera Corp slid 3.4% to 7,660 yen and industrial robot maker Fanuc Ltd fell 2.1% to 7,330 yen. Canon Inc lost 4.2% to 3,840 yen and Nikon Corp tumbled 10.2% to 2,060 yen. Fast Retailing Co surged 13.6% to 12,370 yen to become the top positive contributor to the Nikkei 225 after the firm said its Uniqlo casual apparel chain’s same-store sales jumped 20.8% in September, thanks to strong sales of autumn items. Trade picked up on the Tokyo exchange’s first section, with 2.3 billion shares changing hands, compared with last week’s daily average of 1.9 billion. Declining stocks outpaced advancing ones by more than 4 to 1. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:59 am Hindustan Motors launches Outlander SUVNew Delhi: Automobile firm Hindustan Motors launched sports utility vehicle ‘Outlander´ in the country, priced at Rs20.2 lakh (ex-showroom). Outlander entered India after making its debuts in North America, Japan, Australia, Canada and West Europe. “We have launched the Outlander in India in keeping with the policy of offering the latest from the Mitsubishi stable to the Indian customers,” Hindustan Motors Chairman C K Birla said. The SUV would be available in the Indian market with a 2.4 litre petrol engine. The vehicle would be assembled at Hindustan Motors’ facility at Tiruvallur near Chennai. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:35 am Rice heads for India to sign landmark N-dealWashington: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to fly on Friday to India to sign a civilian nuclear deal, a landmark in a budding strategic partnership and a foreign policy win for the Bush administration. Rice got the green light after both houses of Congress in the last week voted for the agreement which lifts a ban on civilian nuclear trade imposed after India first conducted a nuclear test explosion in 1974. The deal “bolsters our partnership with the world’s largest democracy and a growing economic power, and will provide economic and job opportunities for our economy,” she said in a statement ahead of her trip. Rice will sign the agreement, which governs US-India trade in nuclear know-how, equipment and fuel, during her weekend trip to New Delhi, said Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Rood. The top US diplomat was to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is expected to sign on behalf of his government But before US firms can reap the benefits, Delhi must sign a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, and a convention on liability. “At the government level, we still have work to do in order to implement this,” Rood said. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the US Arms Control Association, said India has also not provided to the IAEA a list of civilian nuclear reactors that would be open for inspections - a step before the safeguards agreement. The US Chamber of Commerce said that with India’s 34-year nuclear isolation now history, a potential $150 billion of new investments were expected in terms of new nuclear generating capacity by 2030. “Companies like GE (General Electric) and Westinghouse, we think, are quite capable of competing there. The other international players, whether they be French or Russian, will be there I’m sure in a substantial margin,” Rood said. But Kimball said state-backed Russian and French firms may have the edge as they will worry less about liability issues than private US firms, which must wait until India signs the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage. India wrote a letter of intent last month to do so, said Kimball. Russian firms have an extra advantage because they are cheaper and India is used to their technology, he added. But most of all, Kimball charges that the deal with India, which has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, undermines the standards against the spread of nuclear know-how that the United States helped develop over decades. Rood disagreed. Rood said the nuclear deal is part of a broader “strategic partnership” in which the United States helps meet the energy demands of a booming economy, sees trade with India rise, and cooperates with New Delhi on counter-terrorism. “We have a budding defense relationship which has grown substantially,” he added. President George W Bush, who scored a key foreign policy success following the fast tracked congressional passage of the nuclear agreement, said he looked forward to signing the nuclear deal into law. The two countries had spent three years negotiating the deal since Bush and Singh first agreed to it in 2005 as part of a strategic partnership between the two biggest democracies. During her trip, Rice will also meet with Indian opposition leader L.K. Advani of the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which together with the communists had slammed the nuclear deal, saying it would curb India’s military options and bring the country’s foreign policy too much under US influence. Rice will also visit Kazakhstan after India. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:34 am Infosys shares fall after Axon backs HCL bidBangalore: Shares in India’s Infosys Technologies shed more than 4% on Friday morning after Axon Group dropped its backing for the outsourcer’s takeover bid in favour of a higher offer from HCL Technologies. HCL Technologies, India’s fifth-ranked software services exporter, climbed as much as 3.5% early on the British consultancy’s backing, but faltered in choppy trade as investors speculated on a possible bidding war. “The Axon move has come as a short-term dampener for Infosys to some extent,” said Harit Shah, a sector analyst with Angel Broking in Mumbai. “It seems that HCL is now better positioned to get this deal, but Infosys could go for a counter bid.” Infosys’s 600 pence per share, or £407 million ($719.9 million), bid for Axon was trumped by HCL’s cash offer last week of 650 pence per share or £441.1 million pounds. Axon said on Thursday it gave Infosys 60 hours to mull over the higher HCL offer before it shifted its recommendation. A spokeswoman for Infosys refused to comment on the Axon move to back the HCL bid. Nasdaq-listed Infosys, however, is widely expected to raise its offer and is seen by analysts as having the most synergies with Axon. “It’s too early to say anything on the outcome of this offer,” said Tejas Doshi, head of research at Sushil Finance. “A third party can also come into the fray and submit a higher bid than what has been offered to the shareholders.” Infosys, India’s second-largest software services exporter, was down 3.6% at Rs1,401.50 by 11:25am, after falling as much as 4.5%. HCL was down 0.1% at Rs205.50, falling back from an early rally to 212.85. In comparison, the main BSE index was down 1.4%. Analysts say a bidding war for what would be the largest overseas acquisition by an Indian information technology firm could push up acquisition costs and dent earnings in the near term. Axon provides services to companies using products of German business software maker SAP, a services segment which is seen as having strong business potential. Comparatively cheaper wages and a large pool of English-speaking graduates had helped sector leader Tata Consultancy Services and smaller rivals Infosys and Wipro ride an outsourcing boom for years. But growth has slowed sharply after Wall Street banks began to make huge writedowns and as the U.S. economy lurched towards recession, forcing the companies to look elsewhere to cut their dependence on the US market and add new service lines. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:11 am Aban Offshore bags Rs1,133 cr contract in MalaysiaPTI Mumbai: Drilling and oil field services provider Aban Offshore today said it has secured a contract worth $241 million (about Rs1,133 crore) in Malaysia for deployment of rig deep driller. “.. A letter of award has been received for the continued deployment of the rig dip driller 3 offshore Malaysia for a four-year period in direct continuation of its present contract,” Aban Offshore said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Last month, the company has entered into an agreement with Husky Oil for leasing its jack up rig for a drilling operation in China. The three-month contract would yield an estimated revenue of Rs38.70 million (Rs178 crore) for Aban Offshore, the company had announced in its earlier filing with the BSE. Shares of the company were trading at Rs1,945, down 4.68% on the BSE. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am Markets open weak, dip further on general nervousnessIndian equities markets opened weak Friday and began to slide deep into the red reflecting all round nervousness on weak global cues and a severe liquidity crunch.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 3 Oct 2008 | 6:31 am Apple’s iTunes store dodges music royalty hikeSan Francisco: Apple dodged a potentially deadly financial bullet on Thursday when US judges held steady on digital music royalties paid by iTunes online shop. The Copyright Royalty Board rejected a push by music publishers to get a bigger bite of the money Apple charges for digitized songs at iTunes. The board also didn’t endorse a lowering of royalty rates backed by Apple. Publishers will continue to get nine of the 99 cents iTunes charges per song. They had petitioned the board to raise their cut to 15 cents. ITunes vice president Eddy Cue said in testimony to the board that raising prices to cover increased royalty fees would cause song sales to plummet and if Apple absorbs a fee hike it would probably operate at a loss. “Apple has repeatedly made clear it is in the business to make money and most likely would not continue to operate iTunes store if it were no longer possible to do so profitably,” Cue said in court documents. ITunes song sales topped five billion in June and the northern California firm’s iconic chief executive Steve Jobs touts the online shop as the biggest music store in the United States. The iTunes catalogue lists more than eight million songs. Apple is fighting for a slight reduction in the royalty fee, saying that competition and piracy threats call for ongoing spending on research and technology. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 5:48 am RIL to start test runs of its Jamnagar refinery in few daysPTI New Delhi: Reliance Industries will begin test runs of its new export-oriented refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat in the next few days and may commission it within a months time. “Test runs will begin in next few days,” a top company official said. Reliance Petroleum, a unit of RIL, is setting up the 580,000 barrels per day (29 million ton) refinery in a Special Economic Zone at Jamnagar at a cost of $6 billion. The new refinery is likely to repeat the 1999 commissioning of RIL’s existing 660,000 bpd (33 million tons) refinery at an adjacent site to the new unit. “We could reach full capacity within a days of starting production,” the official said. “We will commission in phases and if everything goes well we hope to repeat the first refinery’s commissioning which was done in days because we did not have any problem,” the official said. Various units of the refinery will be commissioned step by step and full commissioning may take less than a month time. “Initially, we will produce Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel and will upgrade to Euro-V once more complicated units like DHDS are commissioned,” he added. The official, however, refused to put a date to the commissioning. Fuel from the refinery will be mostly exported to the US and Europe. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 5:18 am Nintendo to have Wii’s available for US holiday seasonNew York: Japan’s Nintendo Co Ltd expects to have more of its Wii game consoles available in the US this holiday season, but stopped short of guaranteeing there will be no shortages of the popular device. There will be a “significant increase from 2007’s levels” in North American supplies of the Wii between October and December, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Supplies of the Nintendo DS handheld device will also be available “in greater abundance” the company said. “While there’s no way to gauge total demand for our hardware systems, we’re trying to satisfy as many of those players as possible,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales and marketing. Last year during the holiday season, the device was very hard to find, with many stores quickly selling out shipments that they received each week. Nintendo at one point offered a “rain check” program with game retailer GameStop to deliver the Wii in January to shoppers who could not get the game console during the holiday season due to inventory shortages. The Wii had been in hot demand due largely to its unique motion-sensing controller and simpler games that have drawn customers outside the traditional base of young males. Sales of the Wii and rival consoles - Microsoft Corp’s Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 by Sony Corp - are expected to be strong this holiday. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 5:16 am Rupee falls to Rs47.11 against US dollar in early tradePTI Mumbai: The Indian rupee plunged by 49 paise to a five-year low of Rs47.11 against the US dollar in opening trade today following increased demand for the greenback from importers. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange market (Forex), the domestic currency, which touched a five-year low of Rs47.25 on Wednesday but closed the day stronger by 34 paise at Rs46.62/63, depreciated by 49 paise to Rs47.11 against the greenback. The currency market was closed yesterday on account of Gandhi Jayanti and Id-ur-Fitr. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:48 am PM to visit Japan for nuclear talksTokyo: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Japan this month for talks on nuclear energy cooperation and a free-trade deal as the two countries expand ties, an official said Friday. Singh will meet with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso and have an audience with Emperor Akihito during his 21-23 October visit, a Japanese foreign ministry statement said. Aso, a former foreign minister who became Prime Minister last week, is a strong supporter of cementing Japan’s relationship with fellow democracy India, partly to balance Tokyo’s often uneasy ties with China. Singh is expected to discuss nuclear energy issues in Japan, which reluctantly backed a nuclear technology deal between India and the US despite New Delhi’s refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Japan has a major nuclear power industry but strongly opposes nuclear weapons - a legacy of falling victim to the world’s only atomic attacks. Singh and Aso are also set to discuss efforts to forge a free-trade deal. Tokyo announced that Japanese and Indian negotiators would hold a 10th round of talks starting Monday in the capital. The two countries missed a deadline to reach an outline of the deal by mid-2008 as they struggled to reach an agreement on tariff reductions and investment goals. Singh also travelled this week to France to sign another atomic energy deal, part of India’s efforts to make up for a critical power shortage holding back its booming economy. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 3 Oct 2008 | 4:34 am France plans to sell large 1,600 MW reactor to IndiaParis, Oct 2 France’s nuclear energy establishment is delighted at the prospect of dealing again with India. It did not matter that the US Senate had not formally voted for the Indo-US nuclear deal; the French were raring to go and theirSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Broking firms feel the heat as trading volumes shrinkMumbai, Oct. 2 As trading volumes on the bourses continue to shrink, stock brokers expect a sharp fall in their income in the coming quarters.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Coverage of Orissa, Karnataka trouble: Balanced approach wantingIt is a hallowed principle of jurisprudence that justice should be even-handed, and both sides to a dispute must be given a full hearing before conclusions are drawn. The media coverage of the disturbances in both Orissa and Karnataka and the actionSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Hotels do not fear any slowdown in occupancyMumbai, Oct. 2 Hospitality majors have rebuffed travel agents concerns that the hotel occupancies in India will remain low during the peak season starting October because of the global economic slowdown.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Axon prefers HCL Tech’s offer to Infosys’New Delhi, Oct. 2 In a move that places HCL Technologies ahead in the race for the acquisition of the Axon Group, the Board of the UK company on Thursday dropped its recommendation of Infosys’ 600 pence a share offer, and said it wouldSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Financial assessment report likely by end-NovThe Committee on Financial Sector Assessment (CFSA), set up by the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India, is likely to submit its report to the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, by end-November this year.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Alchemist (Rs 89.45): BuyWe recommend a buy in Alchemist from a short-term trading perspective. It is apparent from the charts of Alchemist that it was on a medium-term downtrend from its early August high of Rs 105 to September low of Rs 71.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Maruti Suzuki to launch A-Star by month-endParis, Oct. 2 Maruti Suzuki India is expected to launch its new small car — the A-Star — by the end of this month.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Indian banks acted on timeThe Finance Minister, Mr P Chidambaram, and the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, have sought to allay fears on the impact of the worldwide financial meltdown on India’s banks and the economy.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Why the Wall Street turmoil is hurting usThe financial biggies sold investments in other parts of the world to make up for the losses suffered in the USSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Oct 2008 | 10:31 pm Broadcasters form dispute redressal bodySelf-regulation in television broadcasting took off formally with the News Broadcasters Association announcing the launch of its Disputes Redressal Authority.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Oct 2008 | 10:19 pm ‘In some way, the biotechnology industry has grown up with me’Hyderabad: Scientist Leroy Hood is best known for bringing engineering to biology—something that changed the way biologists work. He developed instruments such as protein and DNA sequencers and synthesizers as well as ink-jet technology for synthesizing DNA chips. Currently president of the Institute of Systems Biology in Seattle, US, he says he grew up with the biotechnology industry but it appears that, in some way, it is the industry that has grown up with him. He was the catalyst in the founding of several companies: biotech bellwether Amgen, instruments maker Applied Biosystems and a dozen other speciality companies. At 69, one would assume his entrepreneurial energy and scientific vigour are waning but Hood is charged up for his next venture which he says sums up his lifetime’s work and could prove to be a bigger success than Amgen. All his efforts are now channelled towards a new concept in medicine called P4—predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory. Recently in Hyderabad for a talk at the Human Genome meeting, Hood spoke on how education can change the way medicine is practised and delivered. Edited excerpts:  Go-getter: Hood has been the catalyst in the founding of several biotech firms—Amgen, Applied Biosystems—and a dozen other specialty firms. Seema Singh / Mint There are many dimensions to participation. We need to create very powerful information technology tools that would aid people in collecting information. There are two types of television—public and commercial. If you have to deal with education effectively, you got to deal with commercial TV. I’ve been talking to people in Hollywood to create a programme...create cartoon characters around scientists to show how passionate and involved they are in dealing with human life. Such things will influence public consciousness. I also think computer games are a superb way to learn and teach. If you can get the film industry to focus on this, the educational reach could be transformational. But if you don’t have basic education, as is the case with India, then you have a much bigger problem. Frankly, I think India’s education problem is almost entirely political. What is the fundamental difference between the old and new concepts in biology or medicine? Biology is traditionally understood in description but in reality it is about information—how the body processes information using its biological networks. I am writing a book on biology as an informational science and I hope people use it even in social sciences and humanities. If you think about medicine that way, you’ll have intuitive solutions. Personalized medicine is trickling in but not in the way we had predicted. Did we get too optimistic with the Human Genome Project? Yes, we did. Genomic medicine is an infinite misnomer. The human genome gave the parts list of genes and proteins but if anyone thinks he can make predictions from genome, he is wrong. We need to integrate this digital data (from the genome) with the environmental data (how the environment impinges on the body) and that’s where the systems biology approach comes into play—holistic, as opposed to atomistic—using mathematical and computational tools, new measurement and visualization technologies. We have wasted enough time and money in large genome centres and huge genome-wide association studies. They use a lot of money, create much hype and raise expectations. They should all have a sunset clause so that they can start all over again with new sets of problems. Are you still developing tools? We are building little chips that will measure 2,500 blood proteins which will allow us to study the state of organs in the body..., one organ at a time. We are developing approaches so that we can study an individual cell and deduce from it a person’s past immunologic history. In other words, we are moving towards single-cell analysis (most analyses today are made on millions of cells; the best ones use a few thousands of cells). We are able to measure 35 proteins today, but we want to scale up to 2,500 proteins. There are technical problems in that but we are working on them. For instance, we are creating a new chemistry that would replace antibodies as protein capture agents. Will this spin off another company, just as your work on DNA sequencing led to Applied Biosystems? Yes, we are starting a new company, which is, as of now, called Integrated Diagnostics but may morph into some other popular name. It will pick up the early warning systems in the body to predict diseases before they manifest. Actually, it’s much more than diagnostics and will have a lot of intellectual property. How will it be funded? The state of Luxembourg is our strategic partner and we have lined up some select venture capitalists. The fund raising, $70 million (Rs329 crore) in the first tranche, will be complete by mid-October. So that will make the number of companies you’ve founded… It is. between 15 and 20; the most successful ones are Amgen, Applied Biosystems and Rosetta Inpharmatics. Actually, I had none of them fail, the small speciality ones went into mergers. But I think Integrated Diagnostics will be more successful than Amgen. It is the sum of everything I’ve done in my...career. It’s my vision and I’ll make sure it gets done right. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 2 Oct 2008 | 7:45 pm FCCB redemptions put India Inc in a Catch 22 situationIndian companies that raised large sums of foreign funds to finance growth and acquisition plans during the bull run in the stock markets are in a Catch 22 situation.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 2 Oct 2008 | 7:25 pm Senate passes revised bailout BillHouse of Representatives to re-vote on Friday.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 2 Oct 2008 | 7:01 pm One day at a time: the diary of an employee on the benchBangalore: Benched has to be among the most feared verbs in the information technology (IT) industry. Being benched is worse than being laid off because it doesn’t possess the finality of having no job.  Illustration by Jayachandran / Mint As companies in the US and Europe, the main markets for Indian IT services firms, are delaying ongoing projects and deferring decisions on new ones, companies here are increasingly putting more people on the bench. Not since 2001, when employees at several Indian companies found themselves on the bench in the wake of the dotcom bust, have so many found themselves in limbo. While companies aren’t keen to discuss the numbers on their benches, anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that these have been on the rise. Two weeks ago, Mint spent a week shadowing, in person, through mail, phone and chat, an employee on the bench. The 25-year-old works for a Bangalore-based IT firm and didn’t want either himself or his firm to be identified. The diary below was reconstructed based on these inputs and is a typical schedule for an employee on the bench. Monday Wake up at 7.30am. Play music on laptop. Iron clothes. Have a relaxed breakfast. Read The Times of India. Take an auto to office. Reach at 10.30am. Office hours are from 9.30am to 6pm, but when you are on the bench nobody cares. Check mails; few forwards. Talk to sales team to see if there’s any work in the horizon. Coffee break: This stretches as much as one hour 15 minutes at times. Some 5-10 of us take the break together. Back at my desk. Book tickets for a vacation to Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia. We are backpacking. Read blogs on travel to South-East Asia. Coordinate ordering lunch for everyone. Go through YouTube.com for travel videos. Lunch break for one hour. Chat online with friends. Read newspapers online. Nod off. The office boy comes and stands next to me to distribute some sweets and only after he calls out my name a few times do I wake up. Start coding for myself—just to stay in touch. Coffee break again. Play music without headphones to irritate the manager. Our team is so noisy—12 out of 18 of us are on the bench. Walk around the cubicles talking to friends; 50% of the time I’m not at my desk. At 7pm, the manager leaves and the team heads to watch the latest Bollywood hit, Rock On. Tuesday Dreaming of Chocolate Fantasy (a dessert). Awake at 7.30am. Borrow a friend’s bike to come to office. Walk into office at 10.30. Check mail. Coffee break with the gang. Do not order lunch—have a lunch meeting with a reporter at 12:30. Head to the nearby mall to check out some jeans. Meet the reporter for lunch. She picks my brains asking how I spend my time. One and a half months on the bench. What can I say? “I’m not bored. I’m delighted. It’s a nice break. You can’t always be working hard. You need some time to yourself. “I was on two projects in the US and the UK. Returned from the UK on 4 July and been on the bench since; excepting a short six-week assignment in between.” Finish lunch. She pays for my Chocolate Fantasy and her brownie. I say goodbye and head to the mall to look at some more jeans. I don’t like the fit. Head to the supermarket to pick up my favourite Lindt chocolates. Reach office by 3.30pm. Coffee break. Passive smoking. Checking out websites for my holiday. On phone with three friends, one after the other. Leave office at 7pm. Go home. Have dinner. Go to meet a friend with whom I’m travelling, discuss vacation, get some bookings done. Sleep at 2am. Wednesday Wake up late. Have to skip breakfast. Rush to office. Eat chocolates at my desk. Listen to music on Winamp. Chat with friends. Coffee break. Order chapati and dal from Empire Restaurant for lunch. My take on the US financial crisis is this: We are definitely hit by the crash of investment banks though I don’t foresee much of an impact on IT services sector here in India. Still, I am not expecting any projects from the US for the next three-four months. I do foresee a few projects from the UK, Dubai, China and Europe, though. Lunch with five friends ( two are on the bench) in the office pantry. Conversation revolves around my holiday and my colleagues’ projects. Manager treats the team to some home-made pastries made of chocolate, vanilla and walnut. Boy, she cooks real well. Got an official email—I got promoted! Just how does one manage a promotion while on the bench? Well, the promotion depends on how well you did in your last project and 360 degree feedback. Chat with friends. Listen to music. Leave to get my friend’s bike repaired. Dinner at home—some nice chicken curry. Turn in early. Thursday Wake up early. Still stuffed from the chicken curry. Pass breakfast. Reach office early—9.15am. Read through a pitch for a prospective client that keeps me busy all morning. Order lunch from Hyderabad Biryani. While waiting for food to arrive, review previous project. Chat with reporter. She wants to know if what I’m doing with old project is a nostalgia trip or work. It’s work, I tell her. Lunch time. Copy some songs and e-books from my friend’s hard disk. I don’t generally read e-books, use them for reference. Sift through the book on IT. There are some more on management and some novels. They monitor our swipe in and swipe out timings and we have to maintain an average of eight hours. So pretty much tied to the office. But hey, I’m not complaining. Leave office early. Watch Scent of a Woman on my laptop. Get ready to go out. Dinner. Dine out at Fiorano, an Italian restaurant, with colleagues. One of the people who got promoted is buying. Five people got promoted in my team. My turn to buy comes soon. Friday Last night’s tiramisu was something. Have milk for breakfast. Don’t feel like going to work but have a few chores. Reach office at 10am. Coffee break. As the US financial crisis intensifies, I get the feeling that outsourcing will grow more— companies may ship more work to India. Order chapati and dal for lunch to make up for last night’s indulgences. Wait for my friends. Ask around if there is something I can do. I sometimes end up doing bits of coding or design—for credit, of course. It all reflects in my bonus. Sometimes I get some coding work or design work… sometimes I don’t... I make sure they give me credit. And it adds up to my increment and bonus. Lunch with friends in pantry. Play Age of Empires (a computer game series made by Ensemble Studios) for a while. Review some documents. Work on a proposal. Head home at 6pm. Dinner with family. Take the late night bus to Chikkamagaluru (a scenic destination some 250km from Bangalore known for its coffee plantations) for the weekend. I need a break. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 2 Oct 2008 | 6:43 pm Layoffs on the rise as Indian IT cos look for means to stay afloat There were, at that point, around 15,000 employees on the bench, said an employee at the company’s Gurgaon office who told the Hindustan Times about the announcement on the intranet. And the company didn’t want to have anyone on the bench for more than a month, this person added. Mint couldn’t independently ascertain whether TCS had such a message on its intranet or validate the size of its bench. The company refused to participate in this article because it is in the so-called silent period in the run-up to the declaration of financial results for the quarter ended 30 September. Similar stories—most dealing with the size of an organization’s bench or the number of employees declared “reserves” as they do not have projects to work on—abound about other IT firms. Some newspapers carried a report last month that said Satyam Computer Services Ltd was looking to lay off 4,000 of its 51,643 employees. The report was based on an email purportedly written by an employee that was forwarded to several reporters. The company has not effected any large-scale layoff and has always denied the contents of the mail.  Crucial point: Infosys CFO V. Balakrishnan says finance and telecom companies need to grow together. Hemant Mishra / Mint The top five Indian IT firms—TCS, Infosys Technologies Ltd, Wipro Ltd, Satyam, and HCL Technologies Ltd—derive between 51% and 63% of their revenue from the US. Also See Silicon View (Graphic) In recent weeks, as several US and European financial institutions have collapsed, been bailed out by governments or merged with others to stave off a credit crunch, the feeling that the Indian IT services business is in for a rough ride has intensified. “The largest two verticals for the company are finance and telecom. If they don’t grow, the company won’t grow,” Infosys technologies Ltd chief financial officer V. Balakrishnan said on 11 July during an earnings call with analysts from the US after the announcement of the company’s results for the three months ended June. That was before Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. went bankrupt, Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch, the US nationalized insurer American International Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase and Co. acquired assets of Washington Mutual, Citigroup Inc. bought Wachovia Corp., Lloyds TSB bought HBOS Plc. in the UK, and several European governments bailed out Fortis. Finance is the key Over the next few weeks, as Indian IT firms declare their results for the quarter ended September and speak on their prospects ahead, the exact impact on their business of the financial crisis in the US and Europe will become evident. It won’t be insignificant: the top 5 Indian IT services firms get between 23% and 43% of their revenue from banks, finance firms, and insurers. Events in the US have come at a bad time for these firms. Last year (2007-08), they suffered the fallout of a strong local currency—they earn in dollars but spend largely in rupees, so a strong local currency and a weak dollar hurts them. This year, while the rupee has depreciated against the dollar, revenue has become hard to come by because of the financial crisis in the US. India’s software lobby group, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), and audit and consulting firms KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers have independently said that Indian IT services firms will have to defer hiring plans, cut workforce and bench strength, increase productivity and moderate wage increases. Also See Losing Value (Graphic) “Going forward, volume of new work is very likely to be limited and companies have already projected a flat if not declining pricing trends for the rest of the financial year,” says Viral Thakker, executive director of IT advisory services at KPMG. The first area where the impact of this will be felt is the bench. Benching the bench In good times, a bench, a complement of employees kept in reserve and who could be deployed quickly, was a good thing. Most companies maintained a bench. Now, through an exercise called “bench trimming” companies are looking to or will reduce the number of reserve employees. Satyam chief financial officer Srinivas Vadlamani says that the company’s bench strength would be lower in the current year (2008-09) compared with the last fiscal, as a percentage of the total workforce (he declined comment on the exact numbers). That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, said a consultant. “The slowdown is for real. But it would last for another nine months at best. Organizations should use this time to take stock of the flab, bench strength, (and) remove surpluses (and) non performers,” says Ganesh Shermon, partner at KPMG. “Reacting to margin pressures, companies are enhancing productivity, efficiency and resource utilization,” Som Mittal, Nasscom president said last week. Nasscom has already revised its growth projections for 2008-09 from 29% to 25% and said it could revise it further. In 2007-08, India’s IT services business grew 28% to Rs237,848 crore. “There will be an increased emphasis on better deployment of existing workforce for more efficient and cost effective delivery. This could mean bringing as much work offshore as possible as it offers cost benefit,” said PricewaterhouseCoopers executive director R. Sankar. KPMG’s Shermon added that the slowdown would definitely have an impact on half-yearly bonus payouts and mid-year salary hikes. “It would be foolish to attempt employee retention using the compensation route,” he said. The IT services firms aren’t complaining. For the past three years, salary increases in the sector have averaged 15% a year, and attrition has ranged between 11% and 18%. Moderating expectations The TCS employee in Gurgaon claimed that the company had deferred promotions that were due in the July-September quarter. Satyam has deferred pay hikes and has brought down the average increase in salary from around 18% last year to 11% this year. Some employees, however, say that while the average is 11%, most of them ended up with a single-digit increase in salaries. At HCL, salaries for employees in India increased by 12% this year compared with 17% last year, according to K. Srivastava, senior vice-president, human resources (HR), HCL. At NIIT Technologies Ltd, the corresponding numbers were 10-13% and 17-18%. “There is going to be no change of salaries for the top 15% of our employees but for the junior level hires, it is definitely lower,” said Rosita Rabindra, executive vice-president, HR, NIIT Technologies. “People are expecting wage hikes to be muted going forward for some time,” said an Infosys spokesperson. “Hopefully, aspirations will be more in tune with reality. So there is going to be some moderation on the compensation front.” Companies also expect to see lower attrition. Nandita Gurjar, vice-president and group head, HR, at Infosys, said the company’s attrition levels had reduced since last year because of lower hiring and employees adopting a “wait and watch” strategy. lison.j@livemint.com Ruchi Hajela is with the Hindustan Times Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 2 Oct 2008 | 5:47 pm For higher paying jobs, look beyond banksWe have been told that one of the principal reasons (though by no means the only one) Detroit got into trouble is that UAW (the United Auto Workers) ensured that the wages of auto workers in the city were too high.  An MBA with a few years’ experience does not become a genius; yet if this experience was in banking, his or her compensation became much higher than that of erstwhile classmates who went into other fields. This situation worked even with identical skills. A computer programmer, who worked in an information technology (IT) company, could move to an investment bank performing the same tasks as before and get a 100-200% wage increase. Even a secretary at Goldman Sachs supposedly made more money than a vice-president in a company in another industry. I wonder whether typing and filing at Goldman is intrinsically different from typing and filing at more humble locales! This two-decade-long persistence in irrationally high wages in the financial industry has not been explained by any economist, except to whisper under the breath that there are labour market rigidities. Presumably, labour markets (unlike financial markets) are not information-efficient; they can be fooled for 20 years, and serially correlated error terms can persist. In any event, in the face of this non-explanation, I always found it difficult to explain to folks why I left a bank and went into the IT industry where I was paid less and where I actually had to work hard. I used to get away by telling folks that it was “entrepreneurial challenge” and not compensation that interested me, skipping over the fact that I did not get promoted to the top table in my bank and, hence, I left. It appears that the financial sector problems today are not very different from those of auto and Detroit over the last few decades. There is definitely excess capacity in the industry. Anyone who gets fired from a bank seems to be able to join a hedge fund or a private equity fund as more exotic intermediaries are being created. Till now, the capital invested in the financial industry (and there has been a lot of capital attracted by the high returns...if you exclude 2008, and very poor returns if you include 2008!) has been used in an asymmetric fashion. If the great trading strategy works, the traders get big bonuses. If it does not work, the equity holders can take the hit (for example, Barings Bank and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., etc.). No economist has been able to explain why equity holders allowed financial sector executives to get away with this really good deal. Where are the Michael Jensens and the William Mecklings to explain this aberration in managerial incentives? I know of a senior foreign exchange trader who got a huge bonus one year when he made a lot of profits for his bank. The next year, he was making losses. Instead of his bonus getting clawed back, he simply moved to another bank that gave him a joining bonus larger than the “performance” (performed by putting the bank’s capital at risk, needless to say) bonus he got from his previous employer. While no plausible explanation has come from any contemporary economist for this phenomenon, any serious neoclassical economist would have told you that no labour market, however rigid, can persist for too long with these excesses and asymmetries. The only question academics need to debate now is whether two decades has been too long for the correction to be put in place. Be that as it may, the long persistent error of the labour markets is coming to an end. The excess capacity in the industry is being wrung out (Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual Inc., Wachovia Corp., Bear Stearns and Companies Inc., Merrill Lynch and Co. Inc., Bradford, etc.). The industry is slimming, facing up to its hubris as the biggest bubble of recorded times is bursting. There are no Japanese competitors such as the ones who hurt Detroit. This is occurring pretty much with all competitors. But just like UAW workers have been forced to take wage cuts from earlier unrealistic levels, I think we will see a decline in wages in the financial sector. The only question will again be whether this will happen quickly or slowly. In any event, parents of teenagers should plan careers other than investment banking for their children if high wages are what they are after. Jaithirth Rao, a former banker and technology entrepreneur, divides his time between Mumbai, Lonavla and Bangalore. Send your views on this column at conservative corner@livemint.com Click here to read all of Jaithirth Rao’s earlier columns Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 2 Oct 2008 | 5:27 pm
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