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Air India may offer leave without pay option to 15K staffAir India Chairman Raghu Menon has confirmed that Air India is considering the leave without pay option. This will be applicable for 15000 employees but on a voluntary basis.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Oct 2008 | 4:42 pm Jet impasse: Raj Thackeray, Naresh Goyal to meet by SatYesterday about 1900 people hat were laid off by Jet Airways. Sacked Jet Airways\' employees continued their protest against the company today.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Oct 2008 | 4:26 pm Tata Steel signs longterm supply contract with ValeSteel major, Tata Steel has said that Corus has signed longterm iron ore supply contract with Vale, reports CNBCTV18. It further stated that Vale will supply nearly 63 MT of iron ore to Corus over five years.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:28 pm RanbaxyDaiichi deal hits a hurdle: SourcesRanbaxyDaiichi deal has hit a hurdle, reports CNBCTV18 quoting sources. SEBI has rejected the stake sale on stock exchange. Earlier, Ranbaxy had sought NSE, BSE nod for executing sale via stock exchange. NSE sought SEBI nod for block deal given CCEA requirements.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:28 pm Corus, Vale in pact for supply of iron oreNew Delhi: Tata Steel has said that its European subsidiary Corus has entered into a long-term contract with Brazilian miner Vale to secure supplies of about 63 million tonnes of iron ore for a period of five years. The contract would come into effect in 2009, Tata Steel said in a statement here. “We are pleased to have reached this important agreement with Vale. This contract complements the raw material strategy for Tata Steel Group’s European operations of combining external sources with future captive supplies,” Corus CEO Philippe Varin said. Corus, Europe’s second largest steel producer, had annual revenues in excess of £12 billion and produced about 20 million tonnes of crude steel last fiscal. Tata Steel, India’s largest private steel company, has an annual capacity of 28 million tonnes globally. The Tata Steel Group recorded a turnover of $33 billion in 2007-08. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 11:17 am RBI to wait and see as market strains easeMUMBAI (Reuters) – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it was too early to say if more steps were needed to ease cash conditions in its strained financial markets, after freeing up 1 trillion rupees ($20.5 billion) of funds in a series of measures.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 11:16 am Merrill posts $7.5 billion third-quarter loss - Reuters
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 11:14 am Emami buys Parikhs out of Zandu for Rs 243 crore - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 11:07 am PE inflows in realty space dry up during July-Sept quarterNew Delhi: Country’s real estate segment has taken a beating in terms of private equity investment in the third quarter of this year as the inflows into the sector was only $669.7 million, a dip of 73.21% from the second quarter of 2008. “Realty space is already buffeted by rising inflation, input costs and a tight squeeze by the government on fund inflows into the sector in order to discourage speculation,” research and financial consulting firm Four-S Services CEO Satyendra Shukla said, adding that fall of global investment banks has come as the latest salvo to hit the sector. According to preliminary estimates during July-September 2008 period, PE fund flows into the real estate sector stood at $669.7 million, down sharply from $1.66 billion during the January-March 2008 and $2.5 billion during the April-June 2008, Four-S Services said. “We are seeing signs of fund inflows from private equity players in real estate getting affected,” Shukla added. The various factors that had a negative impact on the PE fund flows include rising capital costs as high as 15-20% increasing input (raw material) costs and tightening fund inflows both domestic as well as global. Accordingly, there has been a sharp hike in the cost of real estate properties, which in turn has dampened demand. Real estate companies have been increasingly accessing funds from PE players in specific projects by splitting the projects into Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), instead of offloading stakes in the mother company. Four-S Services further said some of the real estate giants like Unitech, DLF Assets, Peninsula Land, Future Group and HDIL are reportedly in trouble after US-based investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection. Besides, Lehman is said to have had a total commitment of over $1 billion in the Indian real estate sector. “Between January and August 2008, investments made in phases in SPVs stood at about $1.8 billion spread across 25 deals, constituting 45% of the overall investments in the sector,” the provider of research, financial consulting and business content services said. In the domestic market, despite the cut in Cash Reserve Ratio, interest rates are not expected to go down in a hurry, especially since the government is keen on keeping inflation under check, market observers said, adding that the short-term outlook for the real estate sector looks grim and only those players who have significant reserves will be able to survive the current downswing. Earlier, PE investments in the country witnessed an increase of 55% in terms of value to touch $10.4 million during the first six months of this year, driven mainly by significant deals announced in the realty and infrastructure sector. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 11:06 am Singapore men put love on hold on financial worrySINGAPORE (Reuters) - "No money no honey" seems to be ringing true for Singapore's bridal agencies, which are seeing slowing business as the financial crisis and a looming recession hit love in the country.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 11:05 am M&A deals by Indian firms up 74% in July-September quarterNew Delhi: Despite the global financial crisis, the value of mergers and acquisition deals by Indian companies during the July-September quarter was up 73.58% at $9.2 billion, compared with $5.3 billion in the corresponding period in 2007. In its monthly report, international accounting and business advisory firm Grant Thornton said that the number remained strong with 35 deals worth $3.69 billion being signed in the month of September alone. Also readDeal tracker September 2008 Of these, 26 were cross-border deals valued collectively at $3.65 billion, with only $0.04 billion worth of domestic deals. ‘The global crisis in liquidity will see a rerating of global valuations and would provide some terrific opportunities for India Inc. This will be backed by the healthy Indian economy, to grab opportunities for acquisitions across the globe. These deals will prove to be of great value to India Inc which is well on its way to becoming India MNC when the global crisis recedes in the next 12-24 months,’ said Harish HV, partner, Transaction Advisory Services. The largest merger and acquisition activity during the July-September period was by the Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo, increasing its stake through open offer in Ranbaxy Laboratories to 58% for $1.7 billion. Emirates Telecommunications Corporation’s $0.9 billion investment to pick up 45% stake in Swan Telecom was the second highest deal in September, the report said. The total number of deals during the first nine months of the current calendar year stands at 381 against 527 in the corresponding period last year. In all, Indian companies signed 676 merger and acquistion deals during 2007. An earlier report by global deal tracking firm Zephyr published this month said that Asia Pacific region witnessed the weakest trend in terms of merger and acquisition deal volume as well as value in the third quarter of this year, with the M&A volume dipping to $111.65 million, half of the amount achieved this time last year. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 11:04 am Nikkei sinks 11.4% in worst fall since ‘87 crashTokyo: The Nikkei average tumbled more than 11% on Thursday in its biggest one-day fall since the 1987 stock market crash after weak US economic data intensified fears that recent global financial rescue measures will not be enough to stave off a recession. The benchmark erased a majority of the gains made on Tuesday, when it soared more than 14%, the biggest one-day gain in its 58-year history, after governments around the world pledged to support struggling banks. It is down nearly 45% so far this year. Shares most susceptible to the health of the global economy such as Canon Inc and shipping firm Mitsui OSK Lines took a heavy beating, though Tokyo shares slid across the board. Only two stocks including household products maker Kao Corp gained among the Nikkei 225 issues. “The deteriorating economy is coming into the spotlight as fears over the financial system, which had been the main factor for market sell-offs up to now, are easing gradually,” said Yoshinori Nagano, chief strategist at Daiwa Asset Management. “The sectors that reflect fears over the global economy the most are shipping firms and trading houses ... Just as financial worries started calming down after a series of measures, we’ll need steps to deal with the economy.” Fears of a recession were stoked as monthly US retail sales showed their biggest fall in more than three years and after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the US economy faced a “significant threat” from paralysed credit markets. In Japan, a Reuters poll showed manufacturing business sentiment hit a six-year low in October, in another sign the world’s second-biggest economy is on the brink of recession. The benchmark Nikkei shed 11.4% or 1,089.02 points to finish at 8,458.45, though it still held above 8,115.41 touched last week, which was its lowest point since May 2003. The broader Topix index lost 9.5% to 864.52. Wall Street had its worst day since the 1987 stock market crash on Wednesday, as bleak economic data fed worries that all the efforts to unlock credit markets may not avert a recession. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso also said on Thursday that share price falls show that markets believe the US bank bailout plan may not be enough to fix the financial crisis. “The markets are selling off stocks because investors still think the steps by U.S. authorities are not sufficient,” Aso told parliament. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 11:01 am JSW Steel delays WB project on credit crunchMumbai: “JSW Steel Ltd has delayed its project in West Bengal (WB) due to unavailability of funds, but will finalise loan tie-ups for it in two months,” a senior official said. “The Bengal project will take some time. In this market, I don’t want to launch any loan syndication,” MVS Seshagiri Rao, director of finance, JSW Steel Ltd said. The firm, which was planning to lay the foundation for the project in November, will set up a 6 million tonne steel plant in phases and a 300 megawatt captive power plant through its Bengal unit. “Recently, it cut the project cost to Rs40 billion from Rs350 billion announced earlier,” Rao said. “Establishing raw material linkages is a problem as India is deficient in coal. While iron ore prices have come off their peak, coal (price) is still high. Before raising capacity, we first need to secure raw material,” he added. Rao was concerned about a demand slowdown, which could be overcome if the liquidity crisis in India was resolved. COST CUTTING “With the firm’s topline likely to be hit due to easing finished steel prices and margins continuing to be under pressure, JSW Steel has resorted to cost-cutting,” Rao said. “Cost pressure is tremendous. So, we are focussing on areas where you can control costs,” he added. The impact of a recent deal to buy iron ore and coking coal at nearly double and triple rates and softening steel prices is likely to affect the company’s earnings. A Reuters poll of brokerages showed JSW will show another drop in quarterly profits to Rs4.66 billion on an 80% rise in net sale of Rs45.37 billion. Its operating margin is seen falling by 10.4% points in the quarter. In a bid to control costs, the firm is working at cutting its administration overheads and raising captive power through its units in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. “We will save Rs40 crore per annum once we go 100% captive in Maharashtra by December 2008,” Rao said. Shares in the firm ended 5.53% lower at Rs263.95 in a weak Mumbai market. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:57 am JSW Steel delays West Bengal project on credit crunchMUMBAI (Reuters) - JSW Steel Ltd has delayed its project in West Bengal due to unavailability of funds, but will finalise loan tie-ups for it in two months, a senior official said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:54 am RBI allows savings bonds as collateral for raising funds - Press Trust of India
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:54 am Sasken confident of maintaining current EBIDTA levels - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:49 am Sasken sees revenues up 10% in dollar termsMumbai: “Telecom products and software services firm Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd sees a 10% rise in dollar revenue in the current financial year,” a top official said on Thursday. “Right now we are not seeing much of a slowdown. We are feeling some pressure on the network equipment side but we should be able to grow at 10% this year in dollar terms and in rupee terms it will be higher,” Chairman and CEO Rajiv Mody said after announcing the quarterly results. Sasken’s consolidated net profit for the quarter to September decreased 28% to Rs103.7 million, while revenue rose 23% to Rs1.76 billion. “The dip in profit was mainly due to loss of Rs135 million on foreign exchange hedges,” Mody said. The company has $70 million worth of forex hedges. On the products side, which contributed about 12% to revenue, the company saw good growth momentum, “but the market environment for our services business remains challenging,” Mody added. “The second quarter has been slightly lower and slower for us but we see better business in the future quarters,” Mody said. During the quarter, Sasken added 11 customers taking the total to 96 clients. The company derives about 40% of revenue each from the US and Europe. Shares in the company ended down 5.3% at Rs93 in a weak Mumbai market. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:45 am Sasken sees revenues up 10% in dollar termsMumbai: “Telecom products and software services firm Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd sees a 10% rise in dollar revenue in the current financial year,” a top official said on Thursday. “Right now we are not seeing much of a slowdown. We are feeling some pressure on the network equipment side but we should be able to grow at 10% this year in dollar terms and in rupee terms it will be higher,” Chairman and CEO Rajiv Mody said after announcing the quarterly results. Sasken’s consolidated net profit for the quarter to September decreased 28% to Rs103.7 million, while revenue rose 23% to Rs1.76 billion. “The dip in profit was mainly due to loss of Rs135 million on foreign exchange hedges,” Mody said. The company has $70 million worth of forex hedges. On the products side, which contributed about 12% to revenue, the company saw good growth momentum, “but the market environment for our services business remains challenging,” Mody added. “The second quarter has been slightly lower and slower for us but we see better business in the future quarters,” Mody said. During the quarter, Sasken added 11 customers taking the total to 96 clients. The company derives about 40% of revenue each from the US and Europe. Shares in the company ended down 5.3% at Rs93 in a weak Mumbai market. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:45 am Recession fears provoke global market plungeA US central bank official, Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve, said that the US economy "appears to be in a recession"Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:44 am Sensex ends down 228pts; RCom zooms 10% - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:43 am Kingfisher board approves Mallya as ChairmanKingfisher Airlines said that its board has approved the appointment of Vijay Mallya as Chairman and CEO of the company and G R Gopinath as the Non-Executive Director and Vice Chairman.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:42 am Container Corp to maintain profit growth in FY09NEW DELHI (Reuters) - State-owned Container Corp of India expects to maintain its profit and revenue growth rate for the current financial year despite a market slowdown, its managing director said on Thursday. The logistics firm's cost controls and higher realisations will help it maintain its margins, while capital expenditure plans also stay on track, Rakesh Mehrotra said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:38 am No retrenchment in Air India, says Aviation Minister - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:37 am Nokia sees net profit plunge 30% in Q3Helsinki: Nokia reported a 30% drop in its third quarter net profit to €1.087 billion ($1.046 billion), amid falling sales and lower prices for its handsets. Nokia also announced that its market share had fallen to 38% from 39% a year ago. Chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo nonetheless remained upbeat. “With our scale, brand, improving product portfolio and low cost structure, we believe Nokia is well positioned for the current times,” he said in the earnings statement. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:37 am Britain, France call for a global finance summitBrussels: The Group of Eight major industrial nations announced on Wednesday they will hold a global summit perhaps as early as November in New York to forge common action to prevent another economic meltdown. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said all European Union nations now backed radical restructuring of international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. He demanded that the summit take place in November “preferably in New York, where everything started” and lead toward “a new capitalism.” EU leaders meeting in Brussels “all agreed that we don’t want the same causes to produce the same effects in future,” he said. “Europe will not let this crisis pass without taking action.” British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the meeting would require vision similar to the creation of the UN and the Bretton Woods conference that laid out an international financial and monetary system in the 1940s. Emerging economies such as China and India and European economies outside the G-8 should also participate, he said. The G-8 leaders said in a joint statement released by the White House that they were united in their commitment to change the regulation of the world’s financial sector to “remedy deficiencies exposed by the current crisis.” “We are confident that, working together, we will meet the present challenges and return our economies to stability and prosperity,” they said. Brown, a longtime former Treasury chief widely seen as a leader in crafting policies to combat the financial crisis, said he wants a group of supervisors from major nations to monitor the world’s 30 largest financial institutions. “I believe there is scope for agreement in the next few days that we will have an international meeting to take common action ... for very large and very radical changes,” Brown told reporters before meeting for talks on the financial crisis with other European Union leaders, who endorsed a euro1.7 trillion ($2.3 trillion) continentwide emergency bailout for the banking sector. “We now have global financial markets but what we do not have is anything other than national and regional regulation and supervision,” Brown said. “The IMF has got to be rebuilt as fit for purpose for the modern world. We need an early warning system for the world economy.” Sarkozy said a string of government bailout plans had “treated the immediate symptoms of the crisis without attacking the roots of the disease.” “We need to found a new capitalism based on values that put finance at the service of companies and citizens and not the reverse,” he told EU leaders. “This fundamental reform can’t stop at Europe. The economy is global; no country can protect itself alone,” he said. He demanded that new global rules cover all financial institutions including hedge funds. In a document given to EU leaders at a Wednesday summit and obtained by the AP, Brown said he wants banks to rethink how they deal with risk, and called for rules that make banks hold enough funds to cover potential losses, improve transparency in the system and eliminate conflicts of interest. Brown also wants executives to take more responsibility and end a system that encouraged reckless risk-taking. The current financial crisis began more than a year ago with heavy losses sustained by financial institutions in the United States on their investments in subprime mortgages. “Urgent work is needed to prepare proposals that address executive compensation structures that encourage excessive and irresponsible risk-taking by financial institutions,” Brown wrote. He also said governments need to try to close gaps in the “emerging shadow banking system.” The financial boom saw many banks jump into largely unregulated areas such as complex securitized investments while high-risk investors like hedge funds operated in near-secrecy. Brown’s paper urges “globally accepted standards of supervision and regulation applied equally and consistently in all countries.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the G-8 the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia and emerging economies had to make decisions “so that something like this can never happen again.” The G-8 leaders praised the actions taken by finance ministers and central bank governors of the G-7 countries last Friday when they adopted a five-point action plan to deal the current financial troubles. That plan pledged efforts to keep major financial institutions from failing and to unfreeze credit markets. The G-7 includes all the countries in the G-8 except Russia. President Bush met with the G-7 officials on Saturday and then later in the day attended a session of the Group of 20 nations which includes the G-7 countries and major emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil. Founded in the aftermath of World War II, the 185-nation International Monetary Fund became the international economy’s firefighter in the 1990s, providing loans to countries in financial trouble from Thailand to Turkey, while requiring dire belt-tightening measures in return. It has faced an identity crisis in recent years because it has lent less to developing nations. The past week has changed that, with Iceland, Hungary and Ukraine now considering IMF bailouts. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:37 am Nokia sees net profit plunge 30% in Q3Helsinki: Nokia reported a 30% drop in its third quarter net profit to €1.087 billion ($1.046 billion), amid falling sales and lower prices for its handsets. Nokia also announced that its market share had fallen to 38% from 39% a year ago. Chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo nonetheless remained upbeat. “With our scale, brand, improving product portfolio and low cost structure, we believe Nokia is well positioned for the current times,” he said in the earnings statement. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:37 am NIIT Tech Q2 consolidated profit rises 7 pctNEW DELHI (Reuters) - NIIT Technologies Ltd on Thursday reported quarterly profit rose 7 percent, weighed by losses on forex hedges, and said it would sign more deals this fiscal year despite a deteriorating global economy.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:33 am Jet Airways says looking to return some aircraftReuters Mumbai: Jet Airways, India’s top private domestic carrier, was considering returning some of its leased aircraft due to a decline in demand, a senior executive said on Thursday. “We are looking at the possibility of returning some aircraft,” Chief Commercial Officer Sudheer Raghavan told Reuters on Thursday. “I can’t give you a number, but we are looking at reviewing our fleet requirement given the downfall in international and domestic business. The evaluation is still on,” he said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:33 am Playboy shedding DVDs in favor of onlineLos A ngeles: Playboy Enterprises Inc, which publishes the world’s most widely read adult entertainment magazine, will stop making DVDs to save about $12 million a year, and focus on distributing its content online, the company said in a regulatory filing. Shutting its DVD operations will cost 80 jobs and $2 million in restructuring charges, according to the filing on Wednesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. With another $4 million taken against archival materials and a receivable, the company anticipates taking $6 million in charges against operating income for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, which is expected to result in a net loss for the quarter. Playboy spokeswoman Martha Lindeman said the DVD business was accounted for on the company’s earnings statements under “Other” along with Playboy radio and its Alta Loma production company. In the first half of 2008, that line item was $2.9 million, compared to the first half of 2007 when it was $3.4 million. Lindeman said the DVD business was the largest of the three in that classification. Playboy said in the filing that it expects to see some benefits from the cuts in the fourth quarter of 2008, and the full effects next year. The company announced restructuring plans two months ago with an eye on saving $10 million a year. In August, Playboy posted a second-quarter loss of $2.1 million, or 6 cents a share, compared with net income of $1.9 million, or 6 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue fell 14% to $73.4 million. In a memo to all Playboy employees that was appended to the filing, Christie Hefner, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said the goal was to return the company to profitability in 2009. Hefner said in the memo that some savings would come from Playboy doing its own magazine pre-production work, outsourcing some non-core functions, and outsourcing newsstand sales for Playboy magazine and special editions. She said the company was acting to meet the challenges of increased competition for consumers’ attention, the migration of advertisers to other platforms, and higher costs of paper, ink and other expenses. The company will continue to deliver more content digitally, she said in the memo, as it exits the DVD business in phases over a few months to concentrate on selling that content online. Hefner said of the 80 jobs being eliminated, 25 were already open. Playboy will cut overtime, travel and entertainment, and find environmentally sound ways to save energy and money, including using lighter magazine paper and energy efficient light bulbs. Hefner said Playboy’s balance sheet is strong, its debt level is reasonable with a below market interest rate of 3 percent, and “we have a solid cash position of more than $25 million and access to a $50 million revolving credit agreement.” “Unlike other companies that began in print, we have profitable television, online and mobile businesses, which have domestic and international growth potential,” she said in the memo, adding Playboy expects growth in its licensing business to continue, that business was good at Playboy’s Las Vegas club, and that it was building an even larger project in Macau. She said Coty, the world’s largest fragrance company, would begin global launch of Playboy fragrances this fall. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:31 am Update: Inflation slips to 11.44% on Oct 4New Delhi: Inflation fell to 11.44% on cheaper crude and steel prices, offering some comfort to policy makers trying to insulate the country from the impact of global financial crisis. Although it is still far above the Reserve Bank’s tolerance level, wholesale prices-based inflation has been south-bound for three straight weeks now and dipped by 0.36% for the 7-day period ended 4 October, mainly due to 11% decline in steel and naphtha prices and six per cent fall in aviation fuel rates. It was 11.80% a week ago. However, there is no respite to the common man as the prices of fruits, vegetables and some cereals continued to increase during the week under consideration. Fall in inflation comes amid fears of a slowdown, which was reflected in meagre 1.3 % industrial growth in August this year, down from 10.9 per cent a year ago in the corresponding month. Even as the government deviated from normal practice and released the inflation data during the trading hours of bourses, the fall in inflation failed to prop up stocks, which plunged further by over 700 points with the benchmark BSE index ruling at around 10,130 at noon. Analysts feel that inflation may soften further in the coming weeks as the crude prices have been coming down in the month of October. “Inflation numbers may slide further from the current level as the crude has continued to soften during October,” said Crisil Principal Economist D K Joshi. Besides, falling commodity prices would decrease in the prices of some manufactured items, he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:30 am Murli Deora welcomes fall in crude prices - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:27 am No job cuts on cards: Tata SteelPTI Jamshedpur: World’s sixth largest steel maker Tata Steel today said that there would be no job cuts in the company following the global financial turmoil. “Tata Steel has faced such situation in the past boldly and will face the global financial crisis this time as well ... It has prepared the strategy,” company’s Vice-President (corporate services) Partho Sengupta told newsperson here yesterday. Tata Steel would continue to be the largest producer of steel in the world, he said on the sidelines of a function organised by the Jharkhand cricket academy. To a query about the sliding steel prices, he said it was a global phenomena. Many companies are laying off their employees as a part of cost cutting measure to weather the storm of global financial crisis. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:25 am BSE Sensex provisionally ends 2.5 pct lowerBANGALORE (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex provisionally dropped 2.51 percent on Thursday as fears of a global economic slowdown lingered, although they pared some sharp early losses after Europe came off lows and U.S. stock futures indicated a higher opening on Wall Street.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:08 am Jet Airways says looking to return some aircraftMUMBAI (Reuters) - Jet Airways, India's top private domestic carrier, was considering returning some of its leased aircraft due to a decline in demand, a senior executive said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 10:07 am Indian sugar futures fall as Oct deliveries jump - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:56 am Hospitality, tourism education gets boostTaking note of the growing demand for trained manpower in the hospitality and tourism industry, the government on Thursday cleared a proposal for setting up new educational institutes.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:56 am ‘Jet & Kingfisher had to fly together, or go broke’ - Sify
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:50 am Market turmoil hits Chola DBS. Hit by the liquidity crunch Chennaibased NBFC Cholamandalam DBS has decided to shut down its consumer finance operations. The consumer finance division, which was into unsecured lending contributes close to Rs 500 crore to the total assets of the company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:50 am Asia bank outlook increasingly negative, shares slumpSINGAPORE (Reuters) - The outlook for Asia's banking industry is turning increasingly negative, as banks from South Korea to Australia battle growing financing fears and brace for more bad debts as economies slow.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:38 am Recession worries rise, EU to offer aidLONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The global financial crisis shifted gears on Thursday with fears of recession rattling financial markets even as governments sought yet more action to stop the world economy grinding to a halt.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:35 am MRTPC to direct DGIR to probe JetKF allianceThe MRTPC Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission and the DGIR Director General of Investigation and Registration officials held a meeting on the Jet Kingfisher alliance. The MRTPC is expected to direct the DGIR to probe the Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways alliance. However, the DGIR will not take up suo motu investigation.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:35 am Dye making units face deceleration in exportsCelebration time is over for India's dyestuff industry.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:31 am Hospitality, tourism education gets boostTaking note of the growing demand for trained manpower in the hospitality and tourism industry, the government Thursday cleared a proposal for setting up new educational institutes and strengthening of the existing ones in these key areas.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:30 am NIIT Tech Q2 forex loss at Rs 8.5 cr - Hindu Business Line
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:20 am DLF to invest Rs 4,000 cr in Kerala in five yearsThe real estate developer DLF Ltd has announced plans to invest Rs 4,000 crore over a period of five years in various parts of Kerala.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:08 am Air India may offer 15,000 people leave without payState-owned flagship carrier Air India on Thursday said it would not retrench staff, but could offer leave without pay for three to four years to 15,000 employees.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:04 am Cairn to invest Rs 11,000 cr more in Rajasthan projectTo begin extracting its Rajasthan crude from the second half of 2009, Cairn India Ltd plans to further invest Rs 11,000 crore between 2008 and 2009 in the project.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:02 am Hospitality industry to go slow on hiringThe hospitality and tourism industry is gradually witnessing the ripple effects of economic slowdown as employers reported a dip in hiring intent even though the IT and ITeS segments remain upbeat.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Oct 2008 | 9:00 am TRAI mulls licence fee on tower infra companiesMobile operators such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications that have hived off their tower infrastructure into separate companies may soon have to pay additional licence fee on the revenues they earn from the tower business.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Oct 2008 | 8:58 am 'Fashion' earns Rs 85 mn from in-film advertisingHis forthcoming film 'Fashion' has got an 'A' certificate that may limit his audience size, but director-producer Madhur Bhandarkar has some reason to smile.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 8:58 am No pink slip, but Air India may offer 15,000 people leave without payState-owned flagship carrier Air India Thursday said it would not retrench staff, but could offer leave without pay for three to four years to 15,000 employees.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Oct 2008 | 8:30 am Airbus, Air India to set up maintenance facility in DelhiAir India and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) are joining hands to set up an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centre in Delhi. The government's National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil) owns Air India, while EADS is an Airbus company.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Oct 2008 | 8:30 am Inflation drops further, stands at 11.44%India's annual rate of inflation has further moderated, dropping to 11.44 percent for the week ended Oct 4, as compared to 11.8 the previous week.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 8:30 am 'Jet-Kingfisher pact could lead to regional alliance'The strategic alliance between Jet Airways and Kingfisher, aimed at reducing cost and enhancing capacity utilisation, could see more carriers in the region joining them, experts say.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 8:30 am Asia-Pacific markets in free fall over bailout doubtsMarkets across Asia plummeted on opening on Thursday, dragged down by US retail sales data and concerns about whether bank bailouts would be able to rescue financial markets.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 8:29 am Indian equities crash on US recession fearsA key Indian equities index was precariously close to the psychologically-important 10,000-point mark on Thursday noon on growing fears of a recession in the US.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 8:29 am No lay-offs in Kingfisher for the time being: MallyaKingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya early on Thursday ruled out lay-offs among the carrier's cabin crew for the time being.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 8:24 am Gujarat farmers being harassed for Nano project: LaluRailway Minister Lalu Prasad Thursday offered land for Tata Motors Nano project in Bihar saying that farmers in Gujarat's Sanand where the car is slated to roll out from were being 'harassed'.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Oct 2008 | 6:30 am Biocon Q2 net dips 54% on rupee volatilityMumbai: Biotechnology firm Biocon today announced a consolidated net profit of Rs25.02 crore for the second quarter ended 30 September, a 53.64% decline from the year-ago period, largely due to rupee volatility. The company had a net profit of Rs53.97 crore in the second quarter of FY’08, Biocon informed the Bombay Stock Exchange and added that its net sales rose to Rs439.30 crore for the quarter under review, from Rs263.66 crore last year. On a standalone basis, Biocon posted a net profit of Rs33.53 crore for the quarter ended 30 September, compared with Rs44.01 crore for the same period last year. Total Income of the company increased to Rs268.27 crore for the second quarter this fiscal from Rs241.32 crore a year ago. “Biocon’s H1’09 performance has shown resilience despite being impacted by rupee volatility, which has seen us make mark-to-market provision of Rs60 crore,” Biocon chairman and managing director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said. For the six month ended 30 September, Biocon has posted a net profit of Rs40.06 crore, a 62.49% decline from the net profit of Rs106.80 crore in the corresponding period previous fiscal. The net sales of the company stood at Rs703.23 crore for the six month ended on 30 September, from Rs517.66 crore in the corresponding period. “At a time when global businesses are challenged with an economic downturn, we believe that our strong financial base gives us a significant advantage,” Shaw added. The company, for the quarter ended 30 September, has paid dividend of Rs5 per share amounting to Rs50 crore for the year 2007-08 representing 100% (including a special dividend 40%). Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 6:26 am Breakthrough tech to increase range of high speed missilesMumbai: Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore have developed a new technology for increasing the range of high speed space vehicles including missiles. “This technology reduces drag of high speed space vehicles which dictates the range of the missile for a given amount of fuel,” Prof K PJ Reddy of Department of Aerospace Engineering said. “The thrust generated by the rocket engine must compensate for the drag encountered by the missile in its path,” he said. “This technology involving spray coating of the high speed missiles and other space vehicles can be used in the existing stockpile of missiles,” Reddy, leading a team of scientists who developed it said. “This method will ensure that without spending any additional energy the overall aerodynamic drag of the vehicle can be controlled and this in turn will improve the efficiency of the hypersonic flight of the vehicle. This is a very attractive technique for controlling aerodynamic drag of the vehicles flying at hypersonic Mach numbers,” Reddy said in the recent issue of Physics of Fluids Journal. The technology has been demonstrated by the scientists Vijay Kulkarni, GM Hegde, G Jagdeesh and E Arunan of the high enthalpy aerodynamics laboratory in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. “The IISc scientists have got Indian patent for the technology,” Reddy said. The main advantages of this innovative hypersonic drag control techniques are that it is a completely passive device that is non-intrusive and does not need any additional power during the actual flight to control the aerodynamic drag of the missile flying at hypersonic speeds. Also, the amount of heat energy released into the shock layer of the body can be altered to suitably control the aerodynamic drag of the hypersonic vehicle. “The nose of the missile is essentially blunted in order to reduce the heating problem but the drag encountered by the blunt bodies when they travel at hypersonic speeds (five to six times the speed of sound approximately 2 km per second) is larger,” he said adding hence one way of increasing the range of the missile or any vehicle is to reduce the drag force. “The new method involves a radically different technique in the sense that no additional device or power is required for controlling the aerodynamic drag in the proposed technique during the actual hypersonic flight,” Reddy said. “The technique is to coat the nose portion of the missile with a thin layer of material such as chromium,” the aero scientist said. “This metal coating evaporates due to the heating of the missile nose or vehicle during its hypersonic flight and the evaporated metal particles in atomic form react exothermically with the oxygen atoms surrounding the body to release additional heat into the air in front of the missile. This heat addition reduces the drag force up to about 47%,” he said. In fluid dynamics, drag is the force that resists the movement of a solid object through a fluid. For a solid object moving through a fluid, the drag is the component of the net aerodynamic or hydrodynamic force. One of the features of the new method is that it is expected to enhance the commercially viability of the technology. In addition, this technique will also be useful for the development space vehicles which consume lesser fuels and thus reduce the cost of space travel in the future, Reddy added. Asked how it can be considered as a breakthrough, Reddy said, “The existing techniques for reducing the drag force involve addition of an aero spike at the nose of the missile or blowing a supersonic gas jet from the missile nose tip.” “Implementation of these techniques involves major modification to the missile structure and hence can not be applied to existing missiles which are in stockpile,” he said. “While in the new technology developed by IISc, straight away you can spray the existing missiles or space craft without doing any modification,” he added. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 6:16 am You needn’t disclose a disease you got after renewing your health planI have already renewed the health plan I bought two years ago once and it is now up for renewal again. Six months ago, I was detected with diabetes. Do I have to disclose this to my insurer now? If I do, can they (a) reject my application for renewal (b) charge me a higher premium (c) not cover me for any diabetes related diseases? If I don’t disclose this information, can they refuse to settle any claim I make subsequently?  1. Reject the application for renewal, 2. Exclude diabetes-related diseases from the scope of cover, or 3. Refuse to settle any future claims arising out of this condition. I am told that a career as an actuary is very rewarding. What are the prospects and where is the exam conducted in India? How expensive is it? Actuaries have opportunities across a wide range of fields such as life insurance, general insurance, health insurance, reinsurance companies, pension funds, consultants, investments, academics and risk management both within India and abroad. There are currently fantastic opportunities for students considering an actuarial career. At the moment, most actuaries work in life insurance companies, but in line with developments in the rest of the world, they start to fulfill a more important role in general insurance and health insurance companies. General insurance does cover significantly more perils than any of the other fields and it is possible to specialize in one of those. It is also possible to specialize in a particular function such as pricing, product development, reserving and financial reporting. The Institute of Actuaries of India (http://www.actuariesindia.org/) conducts examinations twice a year. Examinations are held only at such places where satisfactory arrangements can be conveniently made for conducting them and where there are reasonably sufficient numbers of candidates. It is also possible to follow the actuarial exams of other countries, such as the UK or US, in India. The institute’s website can be looked up for more details about the exam centres and costs involved. Readers are welcome to write in with their life and general insurance queries to insurancequeries@livemint.com. The questions will be answered by senior executives from leading insurance firms. Ajay Bimbhet is managing director, Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Ltd. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 6:13 am Inflation at 11.44 pct on Oct 4NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's wholesale price index rose 11.44 percent in the 12 months to Oct. 4, below the previous week's annual rise of 11.80 percent, government data showed on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Oct 2008 | 6:06 am 'Fashion' earns Rs.85 mn from in-film advertisingHis forthcoming film 'Fashion' has got an 'A' certificate that may limit his audience size, but director-producer Madhur Bhandarkar has some reason to smile - of the Rs.220 million investment in the movie, it has already earned as much as Rs.85 million (Rs.8.5 crores) from in-film advertisement alone.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Oct 2008 | 6:03 am Indian equities down on US recession fearsConcerned over growing fears of a recession in the US, Indian equities opened sharply lower Thursday in tandem with other global peers for the second day in succession.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Oct 2008 | 6:01 am Container Corp to maintain FY09 margins, capex plansNew Delhi: Container Corp of India expects to maintain its full-year margin and keep its Rs5 billion capital expenditure plan on track despite a worsening economy, its managing director said on Thursday. “Adverse market condition does not impact us. Our expansion plans are out of our own sources” of funds, Managing Director Rakesh Mehrotra told investors during a conference call. The state-owned logistics firm on Wednesday said its net profit for the July-September quarter rose 28.7% to Rs2.24 billion from a eyar ago, while and net sales rose about 10% to Rs9.03 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 5:59 am Kingfisher board approves Mallya as Chairman, Gopinath as VCMumbai: Private carrier Kingfisher Airlines said its board has approved the appointment of Vijay Mallya as Chairman and CEO of the company and G R Gopinath as the Non-Executive Director and Vice Chairman. “Vijay Mallya has been appointed as Managing Director of the company and designated as Chairman and CEO,” Kingfisher Airlines said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The board of directors of Kingfisher Airlines at its meeting yesterday, approved the said appointments and has also accepted the resignation of G R Gopinath’s from his executive position as Managing Director of the company and accepted his continuation as the Non-Executive Director and Vice Chairman. Meanwhile, the resignations of Jayanth K Poovaiah, N S Narahari, S N Ladhani, P N Thirunarayana, Bala Deshpande and Hitesh Patel as Directors of the company were also noted, the filing added. Piyush Mankad, Diwan Arun Nanda, Naresh Trehan and G N Bajpai were co-opted as Additional Directors on the company’s board to hold office until the ensuing annual general meeting. Besides, K J Samuel’s resignation from his executive position as Executive Director and continuation as Non-Executive Director of the company was noted and approved and A Raghunathan has been designated as the Chief Financial Officer in place of Ramki Sundaram. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 5:52 am Rupee tumbles to Rs49.04/dollar as cash rates fallMumbai: The rupee fell steeply on Thursday as a slump in overseas stocks fuelled concerns of more outflows from local shares while cash rates eased after the central bank cut banks’ reserve requirement to 6.5%. By 10:20am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs48.79/80 per dollar compared with Wednesday’s close of Rs48.525/540. It had recovered from a fall to Rs49.05 in early deals, at which it was down 1.1%on the day. It hit a record low of Rs49.30 last week. “There are no inflows coming in to the market, the stocks are expected to be negative through the day, so the rupee opened with a gap,” said the chief dealer with a state-run bank. “There is also some non-deliverable forward related dollar demand in the market,” he added. Indian shares fell nearly 6% to their lowest since July 2006 in early trade, following plunges in overseas markets. They later pared their fall to around 4%. Offshore one-month non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at Rs49.84/99 per dollar, 1.9% weaker than the onshore spot rate. Two dealers said the state-run banks were seen selling dollars above Rs49, holding the local unit just below that mark. They also said on Wednesday evening’s cut in cash reserve requirements for banks would provide more room for the central bank to intervene to support the rupee. Central bank intervention and tight liquidity conditions in the domestic money market had pushed overnight cash rates to more than 19-month highs of 23% last week, but rates have eased since then due to central bank measures. The central bank last week cut the banks’ cash reserve ratio by 150 basis to 7.5% with effect from 11 October, and on Wednesday said it was further cutting it by another 100 basis points to 6.5% effective immediately. The two cuts put together have released $20.5 billion into the system. Overnight cash rates were quoting at 6.90/7.00%, compared with its previous close of 10.00/10.25%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 5:26 am Kingfisher not to sack cabin crew: MallyaBangalore: After declaring that it would do whatever it takes to cut flab, Kingfisher Airlines has now said it will not retrench cabin staff. “We have no excess staff and so there is no question of a retrenchment of any cabin crew,” Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya said late last night after a meeting with Deccan chief Captain G R Gopinath here. Mallya after backing Jet’s retrenchment of staff had said yesterday that “Jet had sacked people, we have sacked people and we will do whatever it takes to cut down cost and flab”. The Kingfisher chairman said, “We have gone through a very laborious extent of training our cabin crew perfectly who provide the finest standard of service in the Indian skies and we respect them and we don’t have excess numbers”. Battling a clawing downturn enveloping the aviation industry, Jet Airways had yesterday announced laying off 1,900 jobs across all operations that will result in savings of $1 million a month. “It is an unfortunate decision, which all of us in the company regret but it is an attempt to save the company and the jobs of the remaining employees,” Jet Airways Executive Director B Saroj Dutta had told reporters at the airlines headquarters in Mumbai. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 5:08 am Obama buys first video game campaign adsLos Angeles: Barack Obama, flush with cash and ramping up his advertising in the final weeks before the 4 November election, is making US political history by placing the first presidential campaign ads in online video games. The Democratic Illinois senator is using the Internet ads, featured in 18 games through Microsoft Corp’s Xbox Live service, to promote his online voter registration and early balloting drive in 10 battleground states, a campaign spokesman said on Wednesday. Unprecedented in US presidential politics, the video game buy is targeted mainly at young adult males who are difficult to reach through more traditional campaign advertising. “The 18-34-year-old male is the mainstream demographic for the hard-core video gamer,” said Van Baker, an analyst for Gartner Inc., a technology market research firm in San Jose, California adding: “They’re hard to get to because they don’t watch much TV and they don’t read a lot, so it’s a good venue to get that segment.” The ads appear in games as banners or billboards with an image of Obama, the slogan “Early voting has begun,” and a reference to his VoteForChange.com Web site. The site allows users to register online to vote, obtain absentee voter information and find a polling location. Polls consistently have given Obama, 47, an edge over Republican rival John McCain, 72, among younger voters. Far from turning his back on more conventional media, however, Obama’s campaign last week said he planned to make a prime-time pitch to voters 29 October in a 30-minute ad slated to run on two broadcast networks, CBS and NBC. A throwback to a campaign ad strategy fairly common in the 1950s and ‘60s, Obama’s long-form ad will mark the first such paid political national telecast since Ross Perot ran a series of them during his independent bid for president in 1992. Perot’s ads drew an average audience of 11.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. TARGETED AUDIENCE Obama’s video game ads are targeted at a more finely targeted group of potential voters. The in-game ads are delivered to players through 18 games, ranging from ‘Guitar Hero 3’ and ‘The Incredible Hulk’ to sports titles like ‘NASCAR 09,’ ‘NBA Live 08’ and ‘NFL Tour’. “Such ads can be directed to particular geographical areas through the Internet Protocol addresses registered with Internet service providers when players´ Xbox 360 consoles go online,” Baker said. Obama’s campaign said the game ads are targeted at 10 key states where early voting is available and relatively simple — Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida and Colorado. “These ads will help us expand the reach of VoteForChange.com, so that more people can use this easy tool to find their early vote location and make sure their voice is heard,” campaign spokesman Nick Shapiro said. Nearly 5 million people have visited the VoteForChange.com site since its launch 25 August, and more than 774,000 have downloaded a voter registration form using the site to date, his campaign said. Earlier this month, the Obama campaign placed nationwide VoteForChange ads on users’ home pages of the social networking site Facebook.com. The novel use of interactive media by Obama is further evidence of his substantial funding advantage over McCain, whose own campaign is limited to the $84 million in public money he agreed to accept. Obama raised a record $67 million in August and is expected to perhaps approach $100 million for September, according to the Washington Post, which reported that Obama has been running seven or eight times as many commercials as McCain in some states. His 30-minute ads on CBS and NBC are believed to have cost his campaign roughly $1 million each. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 5:06 am Global recession fears drag Sensex 6% downMumbai: The liquidity booster of Rs65,000 crore announced by the government and RBI failed to enthuse the stock market on Thursday as the benchmark Sensex crashed by 658 points in opening trade on increased capital outflows by foreign funds triggered by weak global cues. The 30-share index, which had lost nearly 674.28 points in Wednesday’s trading, fell by a whopping 658.52 points, or nearly 6% at 10,150.54, a level last seen in June, 2006, due to heavy sell-off by foreign funds in the stocks of banking, metals, capital goods, oil and gas and power sectors. The National Stock Exchange index Nifty tumbled by 194.60 points, or 5.82% to 3,143.80 with all the heavy-weight stocks trading in the negative zone. In a bid to further ease liquidity position, Reserve Bank yesterday announced another 100 basis points cut in CRR, which would release Rs40,000 crore in the cash-starved banking system. Besides, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday announced to provide first installment of farm debt waiver of worth Rs25,000 crore to the RBI to be distributed among commercial banks and financial institutions. However, series of measures taken to ease pressure on the financial sector has failed to enthuse the market, traders said. Marketmen said apart from sharp losses in the global stock markets, depreciating Indian rupee against the US dollar too dampened the trading sentiments here. The Indian rupee fell by 52 paisa to Rs49.04 against the US dollar in opening trade on the Forex market on Thursday. ICICI Bank, largest lender in the private sector, plunged by Rs18.20, or 4.39% at Rs396, while state-run State Bank of India lost Rs31.10, or 2.08% at Rs1,466 despite cut in CRR by the central bank. Other stocks which also dragged the BSE barometer down are Reliance Industries fell 6%, Larsen and Toubro down 6.54%, BHEL by 5.69%, Tata Steel shed 5.65%, Reliance Infra down 9.48%, HDFC Bank 5.74 per cent, Infosys Technologies lost 4.98 %, Satyam Computers by 3.82% and Tata Consultancy by 7.48% and Wipro by 6.45%. Meanwhile, the US Dow Jones Industrial average fell by 7.87% and London’s FTSE lsot 7.16% last evening, while Japan’s Nikkei was down by 9.55% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 7.68% and Shanghai Index shed 3.79% in early trade on Thursday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 5:05 am Feds investigate failure of Washington MutualSeattle: Federal authorities said on Wednesday they have opened an investigation into the failure of Washington Mutual Inc., the largest bank failure in US history. US Attorney Jeff Sullivan said in a statement that his office, the FBI, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s inspector general, the Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission created a task force to look into the thrift’s failure. He asked anyone with information to contact authorities through a tip line, or to e-mail the FBI’s Seattle office. “Given the significant losses to investors, employees and our community, it is fully appropriate that we scrutinize the activities of the bank, its leaders and others to determine if any federal laws were violated,” Sullivan said. Seattle-based WaMu ran into trouble giving loans to people with poor credit repayment histories during the housing boom. As talk of the 119-year-old thrift’s instability spread and its credit was downgraded, people began pulling their money out leaving WaMu without enough cash to meet its obligations. It filed for bankruptcy protection and was sold last month in a $1.9 billion fire sale to JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the biggest US banking companies. Sullivan’s statement did not say what laws investigators believe may have been broken. His spokeswoman, Emily Langlie, said the US attorney’s office would have no further comment. The Associated Press reported last month that the FBI is investigating four major US financial institutions whose collapse helped trigger a $700 billion bailout plan by the Bush administration. Law enforcement officials told the AP the FBI was looking at potential fraud by mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and insurer American International Group Inc. Additionally, a senior law enforcement official said failed investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. also is under investigation. A spokeswomen for WaMu did not immediately return calls, and JPMorgan spokesman Tom Kelly declined to comment. In January, the FBI announced that it was investigating 14 companies for possible accounting fraud, insider trading or other violations in connection with home loans made to risky borrowers. Agency officials did not identify the companies under investigation but said the probe involved companies across the financial services industry, from mortgage lenders to investment banks that bundle home loans into securities sold to investors. Last fall, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he issued subpoenas to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in his investigation into potential conflicts of interest in the mortgage industry. He said he wanted to know about billions of dollars of home loans they bought from banks, including WaMu, and how appraisals were handled. Jack Kirkwood, an associate professor who teaches corporate law at Seattle University Law School, said he had no firsthand knowledge of what the task force would be examining, but that there were several possibilities. Another area of concern could be predatory lending, which dovetails with Cuomo’s inquiry, he said. If investigators could document instances where WaMu overstated the ease with which homeowners would be able to repay loans, or otherwise victimized homeowners, prosecutors might be able to win relief for those borrowers. This month, Bank of America agreed to pay as much as $8.4 billion to reduce interest rates and principal loans for nearly 400,000 customers of troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., which Bank of America had acquired. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Oct 2008 | 4:34 am Markets stabilise after opening fall, but still way downIndian equities markets opened with a steep crash Thursday, following similar precipituous slides in other east Asian markets and a major fall in New York. The major indices had stablised in the first 10 minutes, but were still way down.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Oct 2008 | 4:30 am Models sizzle on WIFW ramp in Vivienne Tam's peony collectionAfter having dressed up Hollywood stars like Demi Moore, Halle Berry, Jennifer Aniston and Katie Holmes, New York-based designer Vivienne Tam displayed her talent at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW), where models set the ramp on fire with her peony inspired collection.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am No lay-offs in Kingfisher for the time being: MallyaKingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya early Thursday ruled out lay-offs among the carrier's cabin crew for the time being.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Oct 2008 | 1:00 am US appears to be in recession: San Francisco Fed chief!The United States "appears to be in a recession," Janet Yellen, the head of the San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve, has said.Source: Zee News : Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:13 am Markets in red, Sensex closes below 11k !Stock markets on Wednesday slipped into the negative territory again after two days of gaining, with the benchmark Sensex nosediving over 670 points to close below 11,000 level on across-the-board selling by funds and general investors.Source: Zee News : Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:13 am RBI feeds more cash into market; cuts CRR by 1%!The Reserve Bank on Wednesday fed the banking system yet another Rs 65,000 crore through a one per cent cut in banks` mandatory cash deposits (CRR) and disbursal of funds under the farm debt waiver scheme, with the promise that more would be done, if needed.Source: Zee News : Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:13 am Developed nations asked to show flexibility on WTO talks!Favouring early resummption of the stalled Doha round of WTO talks, India, Brazil and South Africa on Wednesday asked developed countries to show greater flexibility to address concerns of developing countries to achieve a positive outcome.Source: Zee News : Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:13 am Iran hails world financial crisis as `end of capitalism`!Iranian leaders say the world financial crisis indicates the end of capitalism, the failure of liberal democracy and divine punishment, marking the superiority of the Islamic republic`s political model.Source: Zee News : Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:13 am RCom slashes local and STD rates!Anil Dhirubhai Ambani led Reliance Communications on Wednesday announced new pre-paid mobile service plans for its customers wherein local and STD calls for one minute duration would cost 50 paisa and one rupee respectively.Source: Zee News : Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:13 am Jet Airways to sack 1100 more employees!After sacking 800 employees on Tuesday, the country`s leading private carrier Jet Airways said on Wednesday that the process of laying off employees has not ended and more terminations are coming soon. A total of 1900 Jet employees are being `separated`.Source: Zee News : Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:13 am RBI moves to free another Rs 20,000 cr !A day after asking commercial banks not to withhold credit to the corporate sector, especially small firms, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday said that another Rs 20,000 cr or 200 billion (USD 4.18 billion) would be released for the needs of mutual funds.Source: Zee News : Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:13 am CRR cut may soften lending rates after some time: Bankers!Bankers on Wednesday said that lending rates may come down in response to a series of cuts by RBI in mandatory deposit requirements for banks but hastily added that a soft interest rate regime could still be some time away.Source: Zee News : Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:13 am Consolidation needed in aviation industry: Jet chief !Jet Airways chief Naresh Goyal on Wednesday made a call for consolidation in the Indian aviation industry, even as Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel described the current downturn as the biggest that the Indian industry has ever faced.Source: Zee News : Business | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:13 am HCL Tech first quarter net income rises 16%New Delhi, Oct 15 HCL Technologies on Wednesday posted nearly 16 per cent year-on-year rise in its consolidated net income for the first quarter ended September 2008, as rupee’s sharp depreciation against the dollar raised the value ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Hospitality industry to go slow on hiringNew Delhi, Oct. 15 The hospitality and tourism industry is gradually witnessing the ripple effects of economic slowdown as employers reported a dip in hiring intent even though the IT and ITeS segments remain upbeat.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am SEBI asks FIIs to share data on securities lent overseasMumbai, Oct. 15 SEBI wants foreign institutional investors and their sub-accounts to report to it the position of Indian securities lent by them overseas.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am TRAI mulls licence fee on tower infra companiesNew Delhi, Oct. 15 Mobile operators such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications that have hived off their tower infrastructure into separate companies may soon have to pay additional licence fee on the revenues they earn from the towerSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Gujarat to seek Rs 400 cr from Tatas for Sanand landGandhinagar, Oct. 15 The Gujarat Government on Wednesday decided to ask Tata Motors Ltd to pay Rs 400.65 crore for the land allotted last week to the automobile major near Sanand town in Ahmedabad district for its Rs 1 lakh-carSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideThe outlook remains positive as long as the stock trades above the support level of Rs 1,300. We re-affirm our buy recommendation in this counter.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Vegoils turn cheaper on global markets meltdownChennai, Oct. 15 This Diwali, you may have to shell out a lower price for buying edible oil, thanks to the effect of the meltdown of global markets, includingSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Banks, Nabard to get first instalment of farm debt waiverNew Delhi, Oct. 15 The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, on Wednesday announced that the Reserve Bank of India would provide temporary liquidity support of Rs 25,000 crore to commercial banks and Nabard against the farm debt waiver’sSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am United Spirits (Rs 767.75): SellWe recommend a sell in United Spirits from a short-term perspective. From the charts of United Spirits, we observe that after recording a life high of Rs 2,188 in October 2007, the stock has been on a long-term downtrend. Since then, the stockSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am RBI cuts cash reserve ratio yet againMumbai, Oct. 15 The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday announced a host of measures including a one percentage point reduction in Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to infuse more money into the liquidity-starvedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Coca-Cola profit rises, India unit posts healthy growthAtlanta: The world’s largest soft drink maker Coca-Cola Co. said its third quarter profit rose more than analysts had estimated because of higher sales outside the US. Net income increased 14% to $1.89 billion (Rs9,147.6 crore) from $1.65 billion a year earlier, the Atlanta-based firm said on Wednesday.  Blunting impact: The Atlanta firm offset slowing sales in the US by promoting more in emerging economies, lowering production costs. Chris Rank / Bloomberg Sales in North America dropped 2%, the company said. However, the Indian arm of the company showed double-digit growth in volumes. “Emerging markets continued to drive the results, with China, Turkey, India, southern Eurasia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Korea delivering double-digit unit case volume growth,” it said. One unit case contains 24 bottles of 8 oz (0.24 litre) each. Chief executive officer Muhtar Kent promoted Sprite and Minute Maid in emerging economies and lowered production costs, blunting slowing sales in established US and European markets where consumers face a possible recession. Coca-Cola reported its results a day after PepsiCo Inc. said profit fell 9.6%. “There may be economic disruption in the near term, but Coca-Cola always tends to come up on the other side of it in fairly decent shape,” Greggory Warren, an analyst with Morningstar Investment Services Inc., had said in a 13 October interview. Coca-Cola rose $2.07, or 4.7%, to $45.80 at 7.19am in trading before the New York Stock Exchange opened. The stock declined 29% this year before Wednesday, while PepsiCo dropped 28%. Bloomberg n (Mint’s Vijaya Rathore in New Delhi contributed to this story.) Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 15 Oct 2008 | 7:45 pm Google hobbyists put ‘paan’ vendor on the mapNew Delhi: On a warm day, in the deserted Knowledge Park in Greater Noida, Sanyam Jain stands at an intersection with a clipboard in one hand and a mobile phone in the other. He looks intently at his surroundings—a bus stop, a food kiosk, a photocopy shop—and makes quick notes. Then, looking at his phone, he sets off at a purposeful pace down the road, looking like a prosperous surveyor with a lot of surveying on his mind. “Everything in Greater Noida is far away from everything else —even simple things like photocopy shops,” he says. “People need to know where they are.” Click here to watch a multimedia narrative on google map-making process Later that night, after his wife is asleep, Jain will log on to Google Map Maker and mark the photocopy shop—as well as the bus stop, the kiosk, and the names of half-a-dozen colleges—on the Google Map of Greater Noida. And he’ll add more the next day and the next, just for the satisfaction of seeing his township swell in detail online. From being simply a practical tool to find the nearest Chinese restaurant, the launch of Map Maker two months ago spawned an excuse for many people to go offline—to set off on mapping sorties, as Jain does, and to help refine the maps of Indian cities and towns in their own time. There’s no underestimating the power of local knowledge, Jain points out, sounding a little like a bank motto. “A satellite picture would never have been able to capture areas like Chandni Chowk in New Delhi” —areas, he explains, that consist of tiny, labyrinthine alleys invisible from space. “Or even that kiosk, for instance.” Google had fully intended to rely on this local knowledge, as Mint reported at the time of Map Maker’s launch in late August. In that sense, it resembles Wikimapia, a similar collaborative mapping tool that was launched in mid-2006 and is now a cartographic directory of more than seven million locations across the world. When much of Google Maps still consisted of basic satellite photos, Google began releasing Map Maker in instalments. “First we asked our employees to build the areas they knew, then phased it to the friends and families of employees,” says Lalitesh Katragadda, the creator of Google Map Maker. Google Maps works as a simplified graphic overlay to satellite pictures; a road on the satellite image will show up as a road on Maps only after it has been traced and labelled. Map Maker opens that activity up to everyone, relying on the crowd sourcing for breadth and accuracy much as Wikipedia does.  Good Samaritan: Sanyam Jain marks Google Maps with the help of his Nokia GPS-enabled phone in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. On such expeditions, he carries printouts of satellite photos, and with his mobile phone rapidly flicks through the extant maps to spot gaps that need filling in. Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint In Bangalore, Rakesh Goel, a project manager at Wipro Technologies by day, became a map maker by night after GPS (Global Positioning System) led him down dead-end and non-existent roads during a drive to Ooty. “The Google Map of Bangalore is better than most others, but it still isn’t fully accurate,” Goel says. “For instance, on my route to work, the map shows a regular road where there is in fact a side-ramp near a flyover.” Goel works particularly hard on maps of villages and other remote areas, and he’s planning full-fledged mapping vacations to Ooty and Goa. “Even if I map the areas I pass through, that will be useful,” he says. At work, he’s online almost all day, and Google Map Maker serves as a brief refuge. “When I need a break or a distraction, I log on and map a little.” Jain, a 26-year-old graphic designer and the head of his own design shop, was first drawn to Map Maker because of Sim City, a cherished video game that involves creating functional cities from nothing. “Somehow, this activity reminds me of Sim City,” he says. But Jain also harks back to driving holidays with his father, when he was much younger. “We’d go to a country, say Switzerland, and he would want to drive everywhere,” he says. “So we’d rent a car, and I’d be assigned the role of navigator.” From all that poring over maps came his current obsession. Appropriately enough, Jain has a fabulous sense of direction. In the middle of the Knowledge Park, talking voluminously and earnestly about the Greater Noida area, he whips out bearings with the effortlessness of a conjurer pulling silk scarves from his sleeve. “That way lies Dadri. And over there is the Hindon River, which I was the first to label. And that way was an overland drainage pipe, which I followed and traced out on the map.” When he first started work on the maps of Greater Noida, Jain faced a veritable tabula rasa. “The satellite photos of the area were all in place, but the maps were really blank,” he says. “I had to start with tracing roads, marking out water bodies, that kind of basic thing.” Greater Noida posed a unique set of challenges. “For one thing, everything here looks the same,” Jain says, with a grin. “The road systems are more complex. The medians are wide, so you need arrows to indicate traffic direction. Then there are the service lanes and the bus lanes—all those need to be traced individually.” Within the larger Indian context lies a proportionately larger challenge. Since the number of people with ample Internet time to spare is so much smaller than in the US or Europe, and since they are concentrated in tight urban singularities, many areas run the risk of just never being mapped. Unless, that is, they happen to catch the eyes of people such as Jain. Jain has bustled actively about this calling. He has visited the local Honda Siel and the erstwhile Daewoo plants to map them; he labelled the helipad, the under construction hotel and the driving range at the Jaypee Greens Golf Club; he has marked hospitals and petrol pumps and police stations; he slips into residential colonies; he wants to next visit and map Atta Market, Noida’s version of Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk. On these expeditions, Jain carries printouts of the satellite photos, and with his GPS-enabled Nokia E71, he flicks rapidly through the extant maps to spot gaps that need filling in. “Even when I go for a haircut, I carry Post-It notes, to write down the names of businesses in the area, so that I can fill them in when I get home,” he says. Jain has done enough good work on Map Maker to be awarded the status of “moderator”, with powers to approve, or turn down changes by others. But even his additions are sometimes rejected by other moderators. On his phone, he pulls up an email from a moderator named Anu, who questioned his inclusion of high-tension power lines. The incentive, for ardent mappers such as Jain, is twofold, Katragadda feels. “I went out and mapped the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, which is essentially my hometown,” he says. “It’s emotionally very satisfying to see the place where you grew up incarnate itself on a map. It feels tactile, it feels real.” But also, Katragadda adds, many people are just too fed up at the lack of a reliable map. “Given that, it’s very useful for me and my friends to add the 10 things we know,” he says. “It isn’t a selfish motive. Because when they take time out to add these things that they know, they’re really just being good Samaritans.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 15 Oct 2008 | 7:13 pm Jet to cut 1,100 more jobs, employees protestIn a desperate attempt to reduce manpower costs after it announced a strategic alliance with Kingfisher Airlines on Monday, Jet Airways, Indias largest private sector airline, said it plannedSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 15 Oct 2008 | 6:44 pm RBI cuts CRR 100 bps, releases Rs 40,000 croreThe Reserve Bank of India today reduced the cash reserve ratio (CRR), or the proportion of deposits banks set aside, by another 100 basis points to release a further Rs 40,000 crore into theSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 15 Oct 2008 | 6:42 pm Mergers and acquisitions suffer on global slowdownMumbai: Mergers, acquisitions and spin-offs involving Indian companies are becoming more difficult and a study reveals that in the first 10 months of the year, the value of the deals that fell through is at least 20% more than the corresponding number for 2007. It is difficult to measure the value of deals that fell through because no value is assigned to some of these, such as the one between Reliance Communications Ltd, or RCom, and South Africa’s MTN. Also see Uncertain times And, while the number of deals that fell through in the first 10 months of this year is less than that in 2007, experts and analysts say the overwhelming trend is of slowing M&A (merger and acquisition) activity in the background of drying credit lines, plunging market capitalizations and global economic uncertainty. Sanjiv Kaul, managing director of private equity firm ChrysCapital Investment Advisors India, said he is “not surprised” with the numbers with the entire global scenario in a flux, “in a process of change in the last six months”. “Fundamentals are not so steady anymore. There are too many moving parts.” According to the study by Thomson Reuters, deals worth $1.51 billion (Rs7,308 crore) fell through between 1 January and 10 October this year, up from $1.26 billion in the same period in 2007. Deals worth $1.39 billion fell through in all of 2007. The deals considered include those in which an Indian firm was either the acquirer or the target and those involving a spin-off by an Indian firm. The study also shows that the number of deals that fell through declined from 21 last year to 15 this year. Joanne Hon, head of research for Asia in Thomson Reuters, termed this “positive”. “We have seen a strong trend of withdrawal of (M&A) deals and we will continue to see this trend on global meltdown. We will see India being a part of that scenario as well,” said Hon. She added that “the number of deals that came apart have reduced..so, the balance is there”, but said that this probably meant that “bigger deals were falling off”. A senior management consultant, who did not want to be named because some of the companies involved in deals that broke off were his firm’s clients, said M&A activity had peaked in the past few years when there was enough money in the system. With most countries in the world in the grip of a credit crunch, it is only natural that this activity reduces now, he added. “Valuations issues were also there in these cases as many of these targets had valued themselves when the Sensex was at 20,000 and higher. In other cases, it could be due to funding (difficulties).” Sensex is the 30-stock benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange and it has lost around 46.72% between 1 January and 15 October. Hon said the uncertain global economic environment had brought the shopping spree by companies to a halt. “Corporates will start to focus on business sustainability through organic growth” she said. The environment also makes it very difficult for the companies involved in a transaction to arrive at a “bidding price”, Hon added, because the volatility in stock and credit markets had skewed traditional parameters used to arrive at this figure. Apart from the RCom-MTN deal, other transactions that were abandoned include Vedanta Resources Plc.’s restructuring, Essar Steel Holdings Ltd’s bid for Esmark Inc. and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd’s plan to spin off its drug research arm. An 18 July statement by RCom on its MTN deal said that “the parties are presently unable to conclude a transaction” owing to “certain legal and regulatory issues”. Indian markets were plummeting and RCom’s shares were down 24% in the May-July period when the negotiations were on. An executive close to the development, who did not want to be named, said: “It was a share swap and did not require debt financing. Our reasons were different.” This person added that “everybody was hard-pressed for cash”. Vedanta Resources, in a release dated 24 September, stated that it was pulling off its restructuring plan “in view of the recent changes in global financial markets and investor feedback”. A Ranbaxy spokesman, when asked about the reasons behind shelving the demerger, said that the purpose of doing so—seeking alliances and partners among new drug research companies—was taken care of when the drug maker was acquired by Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. “The objective of the earlier proposed NDDR (new drug discovery research) demerger will be achieved by leveraging respective research capacities,” the spokesperson added. According to the study, India fares better than some developed countries in terms of M&As. The size of “completed” M&A deals for India had declined by 25%, according to an 9 October Thomson Reuters report—exactly in line with the global average and significantly better than a 28% decline for the US, 57% for France and 32% for the UK. “India’s data is not shocking because it has been able to absorb a lot of it in in-bound deals. It is not at (the) top of the list in (deal) withdrawals,” said Hon. Kaul said that while companies “may wait for these moving parts to stabilize, for a degree of predictability to kick in”, there would still be “pockets of growth in every sector in India even now.” Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 15 Oct 2008 | 6:41 pm FM fast-tracks liquidity to banksAfter extensive consultations among top policy makers including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the government today announced fresh liquidity enhancement measures including immediately releasing RsSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 15 Oct 2008 | 6:41 pm
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