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RComm places $770 mn GSM orderReliance Communications is going full steam ahead with its GSM rollout. CNBCTV18 has learnt that the company has placed an order for USD 770 million worth of GSM handsets.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:40 pm See 30% dip in occupancies, tough times ahead: Asian HotelsSushil Gupta, Managing Director, Asian Hotels said a lot of cancellations are happening not only in Mumbai but across the country as business and leisure travels are being replanned. There has been an almost 2030% drop in occupancies and it can further go down. One cannot say that the worst is over.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Dec 2008 | 3:14 pm ISM Factory Index in US Decreased to 26-Year Low (Update1) - Bloomberg
Source: Google News India - Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 3:13 pm Travel agents won't sell Jet tickets, want commission system backTravel agents' associations Monday decided to stop selling tickets of India's leading private airline Jet Airways and its sister carrier JetLite from Dec 4, protesting against the air operators' decision to scrap a five percent agents' commission.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Dec 2008 | 3:00 pm Blackstone buys majority stake in CMS - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:57 pm Attacks in Mumbai are tragic end to year for TataBANGALORE (Reuters) - At the beginning of the year it seemed Indian conglomerate Tata Group was on a dream run, first unveiling the world's cheapest car and then buying the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford Motor Co for $2.3 billon.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:55 pm M&M November sales down by 41% - Financial Express
Source: Google News India - Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:55 pm Attacks in Mumbai are tragic end to year for Tata - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:51 pm U.S. STOCKS - Market tumbles on economy, spending angstNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks tumbled at the open on Monday on concerns about the deepening world economic slump and investors feared that the start of the holiday buying season may be followed by weak consumer spending.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:44 pm U.S. crude oil futures down over $4 on OPEC deferralNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures slid more than $4 in early trading Monday following OPEC's weekend decision to defer any further output cuts until mid-December.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:43 pm Slump hits world industry, BOJ calls crisis meetLONDON/BEIJING (Reuters) - European and Chinese industry activity slumped in November, Japanese officials said their economy was slowing rapidly and euro zone finance ministers gathered on Monday to discuss plans to curb recession.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:23 pm Shares swoon, rupee falters on growth worriesMUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex shed 2.8 percent and the rupee fell towards an all-time low on Monday as a slew of weak economic data and shaky European markets rattled investors after last week's deadly attacks on Mumbai.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:05 pm IndiGo to launch new flights from six citiesLow-cost carrier IndiGo Airlines Monday said it will expand its existing network by launching new flights from six cities - Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Jaipur.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:01 pm Dunlop workers in West Bengal block road, rail trafficA day after tyre-maker Dunlop India Limited declared suspension of work in its Sahaganj unit in West Bengal, the company workers blocked roads and railway tracks demanding the management reverse the decision.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:00 pm Tariffs to fall another 510% post terror attacksHotel stocks have taken a bashing after the Mumbai terror attacks, especially Indian Hotels and EIH. The attacks are likely to have longterm implications. Occupancies already fell by 2% in Q2. Sources expect tariffs to fall by at least another 510% immediately. Post the terror attacks, the industry feels occupancy rates could fall to 7080%.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:00 pm Crude Oil Falls After OPEC Delays Decision to Reduce Production - Bloomberg
Source: Google News India - Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:53 pm India index futures at discount on fresh shorts - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:51 pm Actis raises $2.9 bn to invest in EMsActis Capital said it has raised USD 2.9 billion to invest in companies across Africa, China, India, Latin America and southeast Asia and these new fund show more appetite for Emerging Markets, reports CNBCTV18. Actis said the new fund is double the size of its previous USD 1.5 billion fund in 2004 and more than the target of USD 2.5 billion.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:48 pm GM to make India hub for power-trainsUnperturbed by the Mumbai terror attacks and its ongoing struggle to avoid bankruptcy back home, US auto major General Motors Monday said it is making India power-trains development hub for Asia-Pacific region.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:40 pm India's fuel sales fall as economy slowsNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's domestic refined oil product sales fell in October for the first time in 17 months as slowing economic activity crimped demand for industrial fuels and diesel, government data showed on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:35 pm Mahindra reconsidering acquisitions as sales dip in NovemberIndian auto major Mahindra and Mahindra (M and amp;M) Monday said it will reconsider its plans for overseas acquisitions in the face of an economic downturn even as the company's overall sales in November went down 69 percent over the year-ago period.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:30 pm Centrum downgrades Jet Airways rating to 'hold' - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:28 pm Centre taking efforts to promote higher education: PMJaipur: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the Centre will set up 31 universities, eight IITs and seven IIMs as part of its efforts to promote higher education in the country. “Besides, 20 regional engineering, five Indian Science Institutes, two planning and structural colleges, 10 NITs and 1000 polytechnics will be established,” he said. “The Centre has given a high emphasis on education through schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan but the state government is not serious about its implementation,” he said. “Under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Mission, the Centre had provided a grant of Rs1700 crore to the state government for development projects in two cities including Jaipur, but the city has witnessed no major improvement,” the prime minister said. “The Congress-led UPA government has introduced several schemes like Rural Health Mission and Insurance, social security, old age pension, crop loan waivers and the NREGY scheme,” he said. However, Singh alleged that the state failed to implement in toto the NREGY scheme, under which 100 days of employment was guaranteed to rural people. “I am told that the BJP government in Rajasthan is not working for welfare of poor but spending money on unplanned things like buying planes, helicopters and cars,” he said. “The BJP government in the state promised 24 hours domestic and eight hours of agricultural power supply, unfortunately it remained as promises,” he alleged, while urging people to vote for Congress in the upcoming assembly polls in the state on 4 December. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:07 pm Consumer court rules in favour of accident victimA Delhi court has ruled that if an insured dies due to heart attack during an accident, then insurance cover can be claimed.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:01 pm India's merchandise exports dip 12 percent in OctoberIndia's merchandise exports fell 12.1 percent in October to register the sharpest fall in 10 years, due largely to the global financial meltdown, raising doubts if the target of $200 billion for the current fiscal can be met.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:01 pm Time to show we are Indians first: PMPrime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday urged people to rise above divisions of caste and religion and stand united as Indians and promised that his government would leave no stone unturned to fight terrorism.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:01 pm India's GDP seen falling sharply from Q4 - NomuraMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's economic growth will start falling sharply from the fourth quarter of 2008 mainly due to a drop in investments, demand and exports, Nomura Financial Advisory & Securities (Pte) said in a note.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:57 pm Auto stocks beaten by November sales volume; Maruti dn 9.4% - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:48 pm EU mulls 200 bn euro stimulus package amid reservationsAFP Brussels: European finance ministers get their first chance on Monday and Tuesday to discuss EU plans for a €200 billion stimulus package in the face of stiff German reservations. With the spectre of recession looming large, the European Commission called last week for a big boost to public investment and social spending across Europe while giving embattled consumers a range of tax breaks. Finance ministers from the 15 nations sharing the euro were to discuss their contributions to the overall plan on Monday evening in Brussels, to be followed by their counterparts from the full 27-nation EU on Tuesday. While the commission’s overall proposed packaged would be worth about €200 billion ($253 billion) or 1.5% of the 27-nation European Union’s output, Germany and some other countries balked at the idea of pumping so much money into the economy. A senior EU diplomat said that the ministers would be discussing: “should we set such a high number or not?” The European Commission aims to secure backing for the package from EU heads of state and government when they meet in Brussels at a 11 - 12 December summit. However, not all countries are in favour of such a package with Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, preferring to stick to its own plans for reviving its economy. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has dismissed the package as “ineffective populist measures” and has said Berlin does not have to go along with the idea of spending more to ease the crisis just because other countries are doing so. “The Germans do not have to accept a European proposal where we do not understand what could be the economic impact,” Steinbrueck told the weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel. Berlin had already shown a “strong response” to the global financial crisis, he said, having earlier this month committed around €31 billion over two years to support the German economy, which official figures showed fell into recession in the third quarter. Poland and the Czech Republic, which takes over the EU’s rotating presidency from France in January, have also sounded misgivings about the plans. Some economists also have their doubts about the EU plan, noting that €130 billion would come from national plans in Germany, France, Britain and Italy and the rest from EU funding. Also, some of the national measures would do little against recession in the short-term, economists have said, pointing to Germany’s package which would be spread over four years and Italy’s plans which include bank recapitalisations. Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced he will present on Thursday a “very strong” economic plan for France. He gave no details but said it would include measures for the energy sector which he characterised as a “reservoir” of jobs. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:43 pm GM board reviews new turnaround plan for bailout!The board of General Motors Corp met on Sunday to review a restructuring plan intended to cut costs and win support for up to USD 12 billion in emergency funding from the government.Source: Zee News : Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:42 pm Poland adopts $30 bn economic aid package!Poland on Sunday adopted an economic package for 2009-2010 valued at 24 billion euros to help weather the global financial crisis, as it revised downwards its growth forecast.Source: Zee News : Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:42 pm Oil prices down in Asia as OPEC maintains output quota!World crude prices weakened in Asia on Monday after the OPEC oil cartel maintained existing production quotas at a weekend meeting amid a global downturn, dealers said.Source: Zee News : Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:42 pm Rupee steady at 50.07/08 against $ in early trade!The Indian rupee was quoted steady at 50.07/08 against the US dollar in early trade after the equity markets surged raising expectations of capital inflows.Source: Zee News : Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:42 pm `OPEC to slash December output`!The OPEC will cut its December production by a "good amount," its secretary general Abdalla Salem El-Badri told reporters on Monday.Source: Zee News : Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:42 pm Sensex surges 200 points!The Sensex on Monday rose by over 200 points in the early trade.Source: Zee News : Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:42 pm Indian Hotels dips 4%, EIH 6% on BSE!Tata group`s Indian Hotels dipped over four percent, while Oberoi Group flagship EIH Ltd fell nearly six percent in the early trade on Monday.Source: Zee News : Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:42 pm SKorean exports fall sharply as global recession bites!South Korean exports fell sharply in November compared to a year earlier as the global recession began to bite, a government report showed Monday.Source: Zee News : Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:42 pm Global recession pummels Asia factories!New orders at Chinese factories tumbled in November while their US retail customers used deep discounts to lure shoppers at the start of a holiday season overshadowed by fears of global recession.Source: Zee News : Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:42 pm After Mumbai terror attacks, US delegations postpone tripsA much expected visit of officials from the US nuclear industry to India, scheduled to start Tuesday, has been postponed indefinitely as a fallout of the Mumbai terror attacks.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:32 pm Actis to pump in $1 bn in India - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:32 pm V.P. Agarwal appointed new chairman of Airports AuthorityThe government Tuesday appointed V.P. Agarwal the new chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:31 pm The weekly recap: November 24 - 28It has been a horrific week for the entire nation with Mumbai coming under terrorist attacks leaving 125 dead and over 300 injured.  There have been ten such attacks under home minister Shivraj Patil’s watch in 2008. As the unprecedented terror attacks in Mumbai stunned the entire nation, political parties decided to go slow on the last day of the campaign for the Delhi assembly elections.Listen to all this and more Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:30 pm SBI adjudged best bank in 2008PTI Mumbai: State Bank of India has been adjudged the Best Bank of the Year 2008 by London-based ‘The Banker´ magazine of the Financial Times group, the bank said. State Bank Chairman, O P Bhatt, received the award from Stephen Timewell, the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine, a press release today said. The award is decided on the basis of intensive research and analysis of financials and performance of prominent banks and clearly SBI emerged as the winner and best bank in the country, the release said. The awards presentation was held at the ballroom of The Dorchester Hotel, London, 26 November. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:28 pm Centre grants Rs95 cr to study aspects of manned space missionBangalore: Buoyed by the success of Chandrayaan-I, the Centre has approved Rs95 crore to study all aspects of the manned space mission programme. K. Radhakrishnan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre said that a project to send a two-member crew on a week-long space journey was awaiting the cabinet approval. “The space flight would have two-member crew on a low earth orbit for seven days which will be brought back to earth by landing the space craft in sea. The travel, which India hopes to achieve by 2015, would have the crew covering 275 km in the orbit and pass through the thermal atmosphere,” he said. This would be the first step in human space flight programme planned by India. “The country was looking at having manned lunar presence by 2020 plus and a mission to Mars by 2030,” he said. He said that there had been a renewed interest in moon mission with US, Russia, Japan and China planning one. The long term objective of the moon mission was reaching Mars where moon could act as point for refuelling apart from being explored for energy fuel supply. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:27 pm Weekly Recap: November 17 - 21 Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:27 pm Centre grants Rs95 cr to study aspects of manned space missionBangalore: Buoyed by the success of Chandrayaan-I, the Centre has approved Rs95 crore to study all aspects of the manned space mission programme. K. Radhakrishnan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre said that a project to send a two-member crew on a week-long space journey was awaiting the cabinet approval. “The space flight would have two-member crew on a low earth orbit for seven days which will be brought back to earth by landing the space craft in sea. The travel, which India hopes to achieve by 2015, would have the crew covering 275 km in the orbit and pass through the thermal atmosphere,” he said. This would be the first step in human space flight programme planned by India. “The country was looking at having manned lunar presence by 2020 plus and a mission to Mars by 2030,” he said. He said that there had been a renewed interest in moon mission with US, Russia, Japan and China planning one. The long term objective of the moon mission was reaching Mars where moon could act as point for refuelling apart from being explored for energy fuel supply. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:27 pm India to maintain growth of 7.5% despite recession: PMJaipur: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that despite economic recession and the difficult situation in western countries, India’s growth rate would be maintained at around 7.5% in 2008-09. “The last quarter’s report of the current FY has indicated that India recorded 7.6% growth,” the Prime Minister said at a gathering of intellectuals, businessmen, academicians and the media, organised on the eve of the assembly polls. “Economic crisis was looming all over the world due to the recession that started in the US and Europe, and India was not an exception to it,” Singh said, adding: “We are not untouched by the economic crisis.” “Some western countries’ economic growth rate was negative and recession was hovering there,” Singh said, adding that the Central government had taken measures to face the crisis. “Our export, industry and credit availability would bear the minimum effect due to the Centre’s steps to face the economic challenge and recover from it,” he said. “In such a tough situation, you need a government that understands economic issues better,” he said, adding that it was only the Congress that had the experience and capability to handle complex economic issues. “You may recall that in the 1990s the Centre faced the challenge of economic crisis successfully, in the present situation too we have controlled inflation. I believe while casting your vote you will remember this factor too,” he appealed. “This is the first time that growth in four consecutive years has been 9%,” he said, adding that the industries and businesses were given a boost, new jobs were created, and stagnant agriculture got great momentum. “The UPA government considered that the farmer was the backbone of the country and hence the National Agriculture Development Yojna and Food Security Mission were redrawn with priorities in the past four years,” he said Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:18 pm Genes that amplify illness ‘discovered’PTI Melbourne: Researchers in Australia have discovered what they claim is a certain gene combination which can amplify illness in people. According to them, people with the genes are not only vulnerable to illness but are eight times more likely to suffer from a severe and prolonged illness whenever they have an infection. In fact, this group of people is significantly more likely to have an intense illness during the acute stage of an infection -- when fever, aches and pain strike -- to signal the start of the body’s immune response. Conversely, the researchers at University of New South Wales found some people with another gene combination which made them particularly hardy, with a less severe illness, the ‘Clinical Infectious Diseases´ journal reported. The researchers have based their findings on an analysis of a group of 300 people of a similar age and ethnic background who were enrolled in an experiment after being diagnosed with acute glandular fever. Of those 300, almost 28% (83 people) had the genetic predisposition to having a more severe and prolonged illness, the researchers found. ‘It is widely acknowledged that individuals differ a great deal in their acute sickness response to an infection. We are starting to understand why and how genetic combinations play an important role”,said lead researcher Dr Vollmer-Conna . “Some people will experience more severe symptoms than others when they are acutely sick with the same infection because their body’s response is more intense which in turn is due to their genetic make-up. This group in the population were found to spend twice as many days in bed during the acute illness,” said Dr Vollmer-Conna. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:13 pm Genes that amplify illness ‘discovered’PTI Melbourne: Researchers in Australia have discovered what they claim is a certain gene combination which can amplify illness in people. According to them, people with the genes are not only vulnerable to illness but are eight times more likely to suffer from a severe and prolonged illness whenever they have an infection. In fact, this group of people is significantly more likely to have an intense illness during the acute stage of an infection -- when fever, aches and pain strike -- to signal the start of the body’s immune response. Conversely, the researchers at University of New South Wales found some people with another gene combination which made them particularly hardy, with a less severe illness, the ‘Clinical Infectious Diseases´ journal reported. The researchers have based their findings on an analysis of a group of 300 people of a similar age and ethnic background who were enrolled in an experiment after being diagnosed with acute glandular fever. Of those 300, almost 28% (83 people) had the genetic predisposition to having a more severe and prolonged illness, the researchers found. ‘It is widely acknowledged that individuals differ a great deal in their acute sickness response to an infection. We are starting to understand why and how genetic combinations play an important role”,said lead researcher Dr Vollmer-Conna . “Some people will experience more severe symptoms than others when they are acutely sick with the same infection because their body’s response is more intense which in turn is due to their genetic make-up. This group in the population were found to spend twice as many days in bed during the acute illness,” said Dr Vollmer-Conna. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:13 pm BSE Sensex drops 2.8 pct; banks, autos fallMUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex fell 2.8 percent on Monday as shaky European markets and deepening economic gloom triggered a wave of foreign fund selling after the market had risen more than 2 percent early.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:02 pm Students protest Wipro recruitment, meet West Bengal IT ministerHundreds of students in West Bengal, protesting IT company Wipro's decision to recruit engineers as business process outsourcing (BPO) employees, Monday met state IT Minister Debesh Das to air their problems.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:02 pm Bajaj to launch new bike a month from JanReuters Mumbai: Bajaj Auto Ltd, India’s second-biggest motorcycle maker, said on Monday it would a launch new model a month from January for six months to revive sales that fell 37% in November. High interest rates and sluggish consumer spending have dented demand for automobiles in India, including for motorcycles and scooters that Bajaj Auto produces and analysts said the costs of new launches could squeeze the company’s profit margins. To beat the slowdown, group firm Bajaj Auto Finance Ltd is offering a retail finance scheme to buy Bajaj’s vehicles at an interest rate of just under 8%, Bajaj Auto Ltd said in a statement. This is expected “to revive sales in the short term,” it said. Bajaj said motorcycle and scooter sales dropped 37% in November to 132,421 units from a year earlier. All vehicles, including three-wheeled motorised rickshaws that rose 13%, were down 32% at 159,747 units. The dwindling sales are expected to continue in December as dealers also cut back purchases to avoid piling up inventories, the company said. Bajaj said it would launch a new motorcycle every month from January to attract buyers. “Spending on new products will put pressure on margins,” said Prayesh Jain, research analyst with India Infoline. The products would do well only if they were different from its existing motorcycles and targeted at a new category, he added. Bajaj’s motorcycles, with engine capacities of more than 125cc, cater largely to the urban segment that has been severely hit by the credit crunch and rise in interest rates, he said. “We are not bullish on the company,” he said. The country’s top motorbike maker, Hero Honda Motors Ltd, posted a 0.5% rise in November sales, while third-largest TVS Motor Co’s sales fell 12.7%. Shares in Bajaj Auto, with a market value of $951.7 million, closed down 4.3% at Rs306.95. The stock has shed 49% since its re-listing in May this year, compared with the main BSE index that has lost 47% in the same period. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:02 pm Tough UN climate deal urged despite economic woes - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 1 Dec 2008 | 11:49 am Tata Chemicals to set up ‘customised fertiliser’ plantChandigarh: Tata Chemicals Ltd has said that it will set up a Rs50 crore fertiliser plant at Babrala in Uttar Pradesh for manufacturing customised farm nutrient, keeping in mind the soil fertility of the local area. Besides, the company would also invest Rs250-300 crore in setting up new fruits and vegetable distribution centres across major cities within next three years. “We are setting up customised fertilisers manufacturing facility at Babrala in UP with a capacity of 20 tonne per hour which will cater to 14-15 villages surrounding this area,” Tata Chemicals Executive Vice-President Kapil Kumar Mehan saidon the sidelines of CII conference. Claiming that it would be the first such plant in the country to provide customised fertilisers, he said that the main idea of having this facility is to provide balanced farm nutrient to farmers while keeping in mind the soil fertility of that area so as to maximise their returns and enhance the yield of the crops. “The company had already spent Rs5 crore on carrying out a study of the soil of this particular region to find out the deficiencies in the soil fertility,” he said. Hoping to launch customised fertilisers for kharif season of 2010, he said that the product, which is capable of increasing crop yield by 15-20%, would make available all the nutrients including NPK, sulphur, boron to the crop that are not sufficient in the soil. He said that the fertilisers would be suitable to wide range of crops such as wheat, rice sugarcane, maize etc. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 11:11 am Air India cuts fares on all domestic routesAir India slashed fares across the board Monday by reducing its fuel surcharge by Rs 400 for all routes. The cut will come into effect from midnight, an airline official said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 10:53 am Slowdown deepens in India, attack clouds prospectsMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's manufacturing industry contracted sharply in November and economists said fallout from last week's attacks on its financial capital risked deepening a deceleration already underway due to the global financial crisis.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 10:36 am Tata Elxsi to open its design studio in UKBangalore: Tata Elxsi, the technology arm of the multi-billion dollar Tata Group, has announced the opening of Design Studio Europe in UK. The design studio aimed at providing a range of high value services to customers in the European region with a global perspective. Based in Milton Keynes, UK, it provides easy access to customers and is one of the most preferred locations for technology companies, a company statement here said. This is the first of a network of international design studios, which will connect into IDE— the industrial design division of Tata Elxsi in Bangalore. The studio offers product design, packaging design, graphic design and design realisation services, customised to meet the demands of today’s dynamic market. Tata Elxsi Managing Director Madhukar Dev said: “With the impact of current economic developments across the world, design is a catalyst that can enable companies to sustain themselves while continuing to offer their end customer a superior product experience.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 9:52 am Maruti to make Gurgaon assembly line more flexibleMaruti Suzuki is working out a strategy to make its assembly line at the Gurgaon plant more flexible to meet the demand for some of its models such as the Swift and Splash.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:56 am Dunlop suspends work at Sahagunj facilityActivities have been suspended at the Sahagunj facility of Dunlop India after two years and one month of its reopening on October 31, 2006.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:55 am GAIL, ONGC to get gas from Reliances KG fieldGAIL (India) Ltd and ONGC will get the allocated share (together three million standard cubic metres a day) of the gas produced from Reliance Industries Ltds (RIL) Krishna Godavari gas field.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:52 am May be temporary slow-down: Home ministerHome Minister P Chidambaram Monday expressed confidence that the economy would register a very satisfactory growth, although there may be a temporary slowdown.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:19 am Essar in pact with Japan’s Kobe Steel for technology supportNew Delhi: The Ruia group-promoted Essar Steel said on 1 December it has joined hands with Japan’s Kobe Steel for technical assistance to strengthen its high-end product mix for the automobile sector. Announcing an umbrella agreement with the Japanese firm, Essar Steel said it will gain operational technology from Kobe Steel to manufacture superior quality steel products. The agreement also envisages supplying certain resources like slabs and raw materials to Kobe Steel, a statement from Essar Steel said. Essar Steel India CEO Dilip Oommen said the partnership will strengthen company’s products portfolio and enable it to produce steel for high-end applications in auto segment besides other technical guidance in certain areas. “In addition, it opens the possibilities of working on joint projects in future,” he said. Under the agreement, Essar Steel will receive technical assistance from the Japanese company for quality control, pollution check and energy efficiency at its steel works. Kobe Steel will also help the Indian conglomerate improve the quality of automotive steel. In February this year, Kobe Steel had agreed to provide technical guidance to Essar Steel on production and quality control of automotive steel sheet. Though the two companies have inked a pact for technology support, they have ruled out any capital tie-up in future. “Capital tie-ups between Kobe Steel and Essar are neither planned nor foreseen in the future,” the statement said. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:09 am Gold futures decline on weak global trendNew Delhi: Gold prices declined in futures trading on 1 December, on fresh selling in view of a weakening trend in global markets. The precious metal for December contract fell 0.69% to Rs13,075 per ten gram on the Multi Commodity Exchange in a trading volume of 745 lots. Gold for delivery in April fell 0.55% to Rs13,100 per 10 gram in trading of 35 lots, while February gold dropped 0.46% at Rs 13,070 in trading volume of 1,892 lots. Marketmen said trading sentiment turned weak as the gold declined for the first time in three days in Asia as crude oil fell and equities dropped after US retailers made lowest purchases in three years on the ‘Black Friday’ holiday. The gold in Hong Kong opened lower today at $811 an ounce, down from Friday’s close of $813, as falling crude oil prices reduced concerns of inflation. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 7:52 am Indian bourses hope to soon trade banned commoditiesMumbai: Indian commodity exchanges are preparing to resume trade in soyoil, chickpea, rubber and potato futures after a ban lapsed, officials said on Monday. The futures market regulator said the government had given no indication it intended to extend the ban. “We have not yet got anything from the government,” B.C. Khatua, chairman of the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) said. Bourse officials say trading could start quickly. “The suspension lapsed on 30 November. We have to now get the new contracts approved by the FMC,” said Anil Mishra, chief executive officer of the National Multi-Commodity Exchange. “We have already approached them with the new contracts for their approval. Once we have the approval, we can immediately start trading,” he added. The federal government banned futures trading in the four commodities in May after communist allies said it was contributing to rising food prices. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 7:43 am Update: Maharashtra CM offers to resign as anger mountsMumbai: Another top Indian politician offered to resign on Monday over the Mumbai attacks, which have upset relations with nuclear-rival Pakistan and undermined the government ahead of general elections due by May. Maharashtra state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, a member of the ruling Congress party, said on Monday he had offered to resign over the attacks that killed 183 people and locked India’s financial capital in a three-day siege. “I have offered to resign,” Deshmukh told reporters, adding he was waiting for party leaders to make a final decision. His offer follows the resignation of Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Sunday, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s announcement of a wide-ranging overhaul of the nation’s counter-terrorism capabilities.  Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh adressing the media outside Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai on Friday. PTI The attacks, which struck Mumbai’s two best-known luxury hotels and other landmarks in the city of 18 million, have threatened improving ties between India and neighbouring Pakistan. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has appealed to India not to punish his country for last week’s attacks, saying militants could precipitate a war, the Financial Times reported on Monday. Zardari, whose wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated by Islamist militants last year, warned that provocation by rogue “non-state actors” posed the danger of a return to war between the nuclear-armed neighbours. “Even if the militants are linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, who do you think we are fighting?” asked Zardari in an interview with the Financial Times. Analysts say the Mumbai assaults by Islamist militants bore the hallmarks of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group blamed for attacks in India including a 2001 parliament blast that almost plunged the two into a fourth war. “We live in troubled times where non-state actors have taken us to war before, whether it is the case of those who perpetrated (the) 9/11 (attacks on the United States) or contributed to the escalation of the situation in Iraq,” said Zardari. “Now, events in Mumbai tell us that there are ongoing efforts to carry out copycat attacks by militants. We must all stand together to fight out this menace.” Indian officials have said the 10 attackers who held Mumbai hostage with frenzied attacks using assault rifles and grenades came from Pakistan, a Muslim nation carved out of Hindu-majority India in 1947. [nLS401529] Candlelight vigils Mumbai residents returned to schools and offices on Monday for the first time since the attacks. India’s main share index rose around 2%, with sentiment helped by a reshuffle of key posts.  A resident of Mumbai attends a candle light ceremony and a protest after attacks on the city killed more than 174. Among the dead were 18 foreigners, including six Americans. Nine gunmen were killed. David Guttenfelder / AP Candles, flowers and pictures were also strewn at the bullet-scarred Cafe Leopold and at the barricades in front of the Taj and Trident hotels, where the gunmen holed themselves up during a 60-hour siege. More vigils and remembrances were planned in the city, with messages going out as mass texts, e-mails and Facebook messages. The White House said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to India on Wednesday. “Secretary Rice’s visit to India is a further demonstration of the United States’ commitment to stand in solidarity with the people of India as we all work together to hold these extremists accountable,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement. Rice has been in contact with the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in recent days to ease tensions between the states, and this is expected to be a dominant theme in her meetings with Indian officials. New Delhi said on Sunday it was raising security to a “war level” and had no doubt of a Pakistani link. There was anger that warnings of an attack appear to have been missed, and the response on the night was slow. Officials in Islamabad have warned any escalation would force it to divert troops to the Indian border and away from a U.S.-led anti-militant campaign on the Afghan frontier. “The architects of this calamity in Mumbai have managed to raise a threat on our other (Indian) border. As we have these people on the run along our western border (with Afghanistan), our attention is being diverted at this critical time,” Zardari told the Financial Times. Zardari has vowed to crack down if given proof. Some Indian security experts rejected the threat. “It’s part of the usual blackmail of the United States that Pakistan does to take more interest in India-Pakistan issues,” said B. Raman, a former head of Indian intelligence agency RAW. “They think this kind of argument will make the United States sit up and take notice of their sensitivities and do something about it,” he added, referring to warming ties between Washington and New Delhi, including a nuclear accord. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 7:36 am Mumbai limps back to normalMumbai: Two days after the last of the terrorists was gunned down by commandos, the country’s commercial capital limps back to normal with the routine flurry of activities seen in almost all parts of the city. The first signal of normalcy came when a couple of hours after the operation at the Taj was over on Saturday, Jehangir Art Gallery, a stone’s throw away from the landmark hotel, was thrown open for art aficionados. Yesterday, Cafe Leopold, where the terrorists started their bloody campaign, opened its doors to customers. Government and corporate offices, courts, schools, and colleges have also opened, and lakhs of Mumbaikars have resumed their daily routine. Local trains were running full this morning, indicating that the city’s denizens, though traumatised, have started a new day. There was also a flurry of political activities in the state following the resignation of the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil yesterday. More cacophony followed in the political circles, after Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil stepped down early today after demands from several sections for the resignation of Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and his deputy in the aftermath of the carnage. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is slated to hold a press conference within a couple of hours, but sources said it will be about police reforms. President Pratibha Patil will be arriving in the city in the evening. She will visit the hospitals where the victims injured in the attacks are recuperating. PTI KRK RRN BHA Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:59 am Food crunch opens doors to bioengineered cropsAP Kunming: Zeng Yawen’s outdoor laboratory in the terraced hills of southern China is a trove of genetic potential — rice that thrives in unusually cool temperatures, high altitudes or in dry soil; rice rich in calcium, vitamins or iron. “See these plants? They can tolerate the cold,” Zeng says as he walks through a checkerboard of test fields sown with different rice varieties on the outskirts of Kunming, capital of southwestern China’s Yunnan province. “We can extract the cold-tolerant gene from this plant and use it in a genetically manipulated variety to improve its cold tolerance,” Zeng says. In a mountainous place like Yunnan, and in many other parts of the developing world, such advantages can tip the balance between hunger and a decent living. And China is now ready to tip that scale in favour of genetically modified crops. Surging costs, population growth, drought and other setbacks linked to global climate change are pressuring world food supplies, while soaring prices on the street have triggered riots and raised the number of people going hungry to more than 923 million, according to UN estimates. With food demand forecast to increase by half by 2030, the incentive to use genetic engineering to boost harvests and protect precious crops from insects and other damage has never been greater. In Europe, Africa and Asia, governments that have resisted imports of genetically modified foods and banned growing such crops are loosening those restrictions. Meanwhile, they are pushing ahead faster with their own research, despite lingering questions over the safety of such technology. Biotech can help overcome food sustainability issues “Influential voices around the world are calling for a re-examination of the GM debate,” says C.S. Prakash, a professor of plant molecular genetics at Alabama’s Tuskegee University. “Biotechnology provides such tools to help address food sustainability issues.” Genetic manipulation to insert desirable genes or accelerate changes traditionally achieved through crossbreeding can help make crops resistant to insects and disease or enable them to tolerate herbicides. Livestock similarly can be altered by inserting a gene from one animal into the DNA of another. Many researchers believe such methods are essential for a second “green revolution,” now that gains from the first are tapering off. Grown widely in Canada, Argentina and US Bioengineered crops are widely grown in Canada, Argentina and US, where nearly all soybeans, most cotton and a growing proportion of corn are designed for tolerance to herbicides or resistance to insects. A virus-resistant GM variety of papaya is commercially grown in Hawaii and China. Biotechnology will play an important role in the agriculture of the future, Robert Zeigler, director of the International Rice Research Institute, said in an interview with The Associated Press at IRRI’s headquarters south of Manila in the Philippines. Such crops “bring tremendous power and advantages to producers and consumers,” Zeigler said, noting the potential savings from reduced use of farm chemicals and of fuel for the tractors to spread them. After delaying the long-expected commercialization of GM grains for years, China’s leaders in July endorsed a 13-year, 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) program to promote use of genetically altered crops and livestock. Beijing is on the verge of releasing an insect-resistant rice variety, Zeigler said. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is a champion of the new agriculture. “I strongly advocate making great efforts to pursue transgenic engineering. The recent food shortages around the world have further strengthened that belief,” Wen recently told Science magazine. He praised the benefits— higher farm incomes and reduced use of pesticides from widespread use of so-called Bt cotton engineered to prevent bollworm infestations. The trend extends beyond China: Worldwide cultivation of bioengineered crops has expanded by over 10% a year for a decade, although by 2007 it still had reached only 282 million acres (114.1 hectares), an area about the size of Cuba, in 22 countries. Vietnam, Brazil, Africa developing commercial GM crops Vietnam is pushing ahead with an ambitious programme to develop commercial GM crops to reduce reliance on imports. In May, South Korea, which already imports GM soybeans, began importing bioengineered corn to help bridge shortfalls of conventional corn after China began limiting its exports. Last month, Brazil’s National Biosafety Commission approved two new varieties of genetically modified corn seeds, after giving the green light two years ago for GM varieties of soybeans. India has followed China’s example, tripling acreage of GM cotton, the only bioengineered crop it allows. In Africa, where governments have sometimes rejected food aid shipments containing GM grains, South African scientists have completed field tests of a potato developed to fend off tuber moths. They also recently approved trials of sorghum genetically enhanced to improve the digestibility and nutritional content of the coarse grain, which thrives in arid soils. European countries face growing pressure, under World Trade Organization rules, to open their markets to GM products. Many among the EU’s 27 member nations remain wary and, backed by consumers opposed to what some call “Franken-foods,” are fighting to keep genetically altered crops out of their fields and supermarkets. Genetic engineering to enhance productivities Even in China, despite its hefty investments in the research, few are familiar with genetic modification. Some who have heard of it remain cautious.Besides papayas, China allows farmers to grow GM varieties of green peppers and tomatoes, along with several nonfood crops. But genetically modified rice and wheat are still in field tests. Those test facilities are kept under high security, both to prevent contamination of non-GM crops and to protect the country’s own GM technology. Beijing seems determined not to cede its potentially huge local markets to big agribusinesses like the US company Monsanto and Switzerland’s Sygenta AG. “In general, the government has a very positive view toward GM technology and its products,” says Lu Baorong, a member of the National Biosafety Committee, whose desk at Shanghai’s prestigious Fudan University was piled with GM rice seed samples to be tested on Hainan, a tropical southern island. “Since China is a big country and we have so many people to feed, to have our own technology and guarantee food security is very important,” Lu said. Ultimately, widespread cultivation of such crops will depend on work done at IRRI and by researchers like Zeng, who have spent years painstakingly searching for traits that might unlock the secrets to future abundance. Zeng views genetic engineering as just one of many strategies, including irrigation and soil improvements and better farm management, needed to increase productivity to ensure future generations will have enough to eat. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:48 am Indian Hotels dips 4%, EIH 6% on BSEMumbai: Tata group’s Indian Hotels dipped over 4%, while Oberoi Group flagship EIH Ltd fell nearly 6% in the early trade today as negative sentiments after the terror attacks in the financial capital continued to impact investors’ confidence. Shares of Indian Hotels, the owners of the Taj chain of hotels, dipped to Rs38.50, its 52-week low level, after opening firm on the Bombay Stock Exchange. EIH Ltd fell by 5.88% to Rs92 from its previous close on the BSE. “Sentiments are negative for the entire tourism industry, including hotels, as the number of foreign tourist arrivals may take a hit. However, the impact on these scrips is only a short-term deviation,” SMC Global Vice-President Rajesh Jain said. The Taj and the Oberoi Hotels in Mumbai were among the main targets of terror attacks, in which nearly 200 people were killed. However, shares of EIH Associated Hotels, which fell sharply last Friday, gained 9.15% to trade at an intra-day high of Rs63.80 today. They were later quoted at Rs63, up 7.78% on the BSE. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:39 am India to grow 7-8 pct this FY - ChidambaramNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's economy will expand 7-8 percent in the year to March, former finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters on Monday, describing this as "satisfactory."Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:35 am Rupee steady at 50.07/08 in early tradeMumbai: The Indian rupee was quoted steady at 50.07/08 against the dollar in early trade after the equity markets surged raising expectations of capital inflows. In an otherwise quiet trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic currency resumed weak at 50.18/20 a dollar from its last close of 50.07/08. But in late morning deals, the rupee bounced to 50.07/08 a dollar. Forex dealers said the rupee drew support from a fresh surge in stocks raising hopes of some capital inflows. They said slack demand for dollars from importers in the light of sliding global crude oil prices also aided the rupee sentiment. Oil prices were down at $53.55 a barrel in Asian trade this morning. Indian benchmark Sensex was quoted higher by 200 points in early trade. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:34 am Maharashtra CM could be third in the firing lineNew Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh appears to be on his way out following his deputy R R Patil’s resignation in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks. “If one of the two goes, the other has to go too,” said a senior Congress leader today. The name of Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chavan is doing the rounds as the frontrunner to succeed Deshmukh, sources said. “We have taken our decision. The Congress had to take its own decision,“ NCP supremo Sharad Pawar told PTI when asked if Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh would follow suit of the Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader R R Patil’s resignation. Deshmukh is under pressure to give up his post in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks. A section of Congress leaders say that strong steps are needed to ensure that the party meant business when it comes to issues on security. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:10 am Maruti car sales dip 27% in NovemberNew Delhi: The country’s biggest car maker Maruti Suzuki India on 1 December reported a 27.4% decline in car sales during November at 47,103 units compared to 64,885 units in the same month last year. Total vehicle sales during the month were down 24.4% at 52,711 units against 69,699 units in the same month last year, the company said in a statement. Sales of compact cars, consisting of Alto, Zen Estilo, Wagon R, Swift and A-Star, were down 26.6% at 34,976 units compared to 47,641 units in November last year, the company said. Combined sales of sedans SX4 and Dzire during the month, however, rose 40.3% at 5,975 units compared to 4,260 units last year, it added. Domestic sales were down 26.9% at 47,704 units against 65,216 units in the same month last year. Exports grew 11.7% at 5,007 units from 4,483 units. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 5:29 am Sensex gains 200 points in early tradeMumbai: The benchmark Sensex rose by over 200 points in the early trade on 1 December, on buying by funds and retail investors on the oil and gas and banking counters. The Bombay Stock Exchange barometer, which had gained 66 points in the previous session, rose by 200.71 points or 2.12% to 9,293.43 points. The wide-based National Stock Exchange’s Nifty gained 58.70 points, or 2.09 per cent at 2,813.80 points. Marketmen said investors welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision to take over the finance portfolio. They said gradual recovery on the US markets, which ended 1.17 per cent higher, on Friday too had positive impact on the trading sentiments here. Among major gainers on the BSE, Reliance Industries surged by 2.35% at Rs1,160, while the country’s largest lender State Bank of India gained 2.32% at Rs1,113. ICICI Bank rose 2.5% at Rs350 and HDFC Bank soared by 2.55% at Rs943.90. Other gainers which supported the Sensex were BHEL, Tata Steel, Larsen and Toubro, Bharti Airtel, Rcom, JP Associates, Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra, HDFC Ltd, Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Satyam Computers and Wipro. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 4:56 am Attack aftermath: Maharashtra Deputy CM resignsMumbai: Maharastra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, who was in the cross hairs in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, resigned on 1 December. “I have submitted my resignation letter to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. I have gone by my conscience and decided to take this step,” Patil told PTI. “I pondered over the issue the whole night yesterday. Finally, I have decided to quit as per my conscience,“ Patil said. Patil’s resignation follows the exit of the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who put in his papers to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday, after the Congress Working Committee spoke disapprovingly of the Home Minister, in light of the Mumbai carnage and other terror strikes in the country. The Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, who was also in charge of the state Home Ministry, was under severe criticism following the terror attacks with opposition Shiv Sena and BJP demanding his resignation alleging that he failed to handle the situation. Patil belongs to the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party and hails from Sangli district in western Maharashtra. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 4:35 am GM board reviews new turnaround plan for bailoutBy Reuters Detroit: The board of General Motors Corp (GM) met on Sunday to review a restructuring plan intended to cut costs and win support for up to $12 billion in emergency funding from the US government, a person familiar with the deliberations said. Along with rivals Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC, GM is rushing to complete the business plans demanded by Congress as a condition of considering a $25-billion rescue package for the embattled industry. A GM spokesman said the automaker does not comment on board meetings as a matter of policy. “We are moving ahead toward delivering the plan,” GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said. Chrysler also to review turnaround plan Privately held Chrysler, which is owned by Cerberus Capital Management, said on Sunday its board would also convene to review its revised turnaround plan ahead of Tuesday’s deadline for submission to lawmakers. Ford spokesman Mark Truby declined to comment on when the automaker’s board would review the plans it will submit to Congress. The GM board meeting came on the same day that United Auto Workers president Ron Gettelfinger signaled his union was prepared to offer further concessions in order to win support for the bailout provided management shared in the sacrifice. “They need to establish that executive compensation is something that they’re willing to curtail,” Gettelfinger said in an interview on CNN. “They can also give the government an equity stake in the business.” The automakers met with skepticism from key lawmakers at hearings earlier in November and were widely criticized for flying to Washington in corporate jets. House and Senate Democratic leaders, in a letter to GM, Ford and Chrysler executives, said the companies demanded that each submit a “credible restructuring plan” by Tuesday. That is the same day that major automakers are expected to report bleak November sales results that show an only limited bounce from October when the consumer uncertainty and tight credit combined to send sales to 25-year lows. November sales seen bleak November sales are expected to show the auto industry running at a US sales rate of about 11 million vehicles on an annual basis, down by almost a third from 2007’s tally. Analysts see a chance for GM to stop burning cash if the industry recovers back above a sales rate of about 13 million vehicles and it succeeds with a stepped-up restructuring backed by federal funding in a deal that would involve steep concessions from creditors, executives and the UAW. The union is under pressure to surrender protections that allow laid-off factory workers at the Detroit automakers to collect over 90% of their pay by shifting to a jobs bank. The union agreed to restrictions on the program A potentially more important concession would be winning new terms for payments by GM and other automakers into a $48 billion trust fund scheduled to take over funding health care benefits for retired autoworkers from 2010. The revised plan GM is set to submit to Congress is also expected to show cuts to executive pay. The automaker paid its top executives more than $40 million in 2007, even as its stock dropped 19 percent and it posted a loss of $39 billion. Debt redemption options being explored In addition, the GM plan is expected to indicate that the company will ask some bond holders to accept equity and a limited cash payout to redeem the debt they hold. That proposed debt swap is seen as crucial because GM has more than $44 billion in debt on its balance sheet, analysts have said. The automaker burned through $6.9 billion in the past quarter and ended September with $16.2 billion. It needs a minimum of between $11 billion and $14 billion to operate and pay suppliers and has warned it could fall short of cash early next year without government help. The revised plans from all three Detroit automakers are expected to focus on their investment in fuel-saving technology and alternatives like GM’s battery-powered Chevrolet Volt. Analysts expect the automakers to detail confidential product plans that show they have a game plan for meeting federal requirements for a 40-percent improvement in fleet-wide average fuel economy to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Ford might be in a stronger position Ford is in a stronger financial position than its rivals and has suggested it would prefer to have a line of credit from the government. That would allow Ford to sidestep the issue of control of the No. 2 US automaker for now. The Ford family holds just under 3% of the automaker’s shares but controls 40% of the voting power under a separate class of shares that could be endangered by a government equity stake in the automaker. For its part, Chrysler’s owner Cerberus has indicated that it needs both an alliance with GM and Ford or other automakers in addition to federal funding to survive the downturn. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 1 Dec 2008 | 3:17 am Gold futures to consolidateGold futures, ended moderately higher on Friday helped by a recovery in the US equity markets which an economic indicator. Markets will also be eyeing the next week’s US manufacturing, payrolls and auto sales data for further clues on economicSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am C & C Constructions (Rs 104): BuyWe recommend a buy in C & C Constructions from a short-term trading perspective. It is evident from the charts of C & C Constructions that it had been on a medium-term downtrend from its September high of Rs 184 to October low of Rs 71Source: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Coming to terms with terrorMumbai, Nov. 30 The otherwise glittering Taj Mahal hotel looked desolate and lonely on Sunday evening, a day after the terror-siege on it was brought to an end by the country’s elite commandos.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Angst, anguish, angerThe only other occasion I can recall which gave rise to so much of anxiety, anguish and anger throughout the length and breadth of India as in the case of the Mumbai carnage was the Chinese invasion of 1962. I was at that time in the Union HomeSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Ennore Coke plans Rs 1,000-cr projectChennai, Nov. 30 Ennore Coke Ltd, whose 130,000-tonne coke plant at Haldia began operations just a few months ago, is preparing a plan to put up a 1 million-tonne plant that may require over Rs 1,000-crore ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am No strategy to combat terrorismLast week, I was dining at a diplomat’s home in Paris and it was while we were relishing the finest after-dinner eau-de vie cognac from the Charentes region, that the first news of yet another terror attack in India, the fifthSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Range-bound movement seen on Dalal StreetMumbai has been freed from the grip of terror. The global cues were positive on the weekend. This should clear the gloom though many unanswered questions about country’s internal security systems, may bother investors. The change in FinanceSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am GAIL, ONGC to get gas from Reliance’s K-G fieldNew Delhi, Nov. 30 GAIL (India) Ltd and ONGC will get the allocated share (together three million standard cubic metres a day) of the gas produced from Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) Krishna Godavari gas field.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Chidambaram made Home Minister as Patil steps downNew Delhi, Nov. 30 The aftermath of the most audacious and deadly terrorist attack on Indian soil has claimed its first major victim: the Union Home Minister, Mr Shivraj Patil.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Excessive pressure on the rupee will be curbed by RBIThe appetite for risk got a boost last week on the back of fresh measures by the US Federal Reserve to fight the credit crisisSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:28 pm On netbooks, AMD learns from Intel's experienceAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD) seems to be learning from the predicament of arch rival and the world's biggest chipmaker Intel Corp in the netbook computer spaceSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:23 pm MCX pivot leads fourth exchange planJaypee Capital, a subsidiary of Delhi-based Jaypee group is likely to be a major shareholder in the fourth stock exchange that is awaiting regulatory approvalsSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:23 pm Probe into import of steel via 15 countriesThe Union commerce and industry ministry has called for anti-dumping investigations on imports of hot-rolled coil (HRC) products originating in 15 countriesSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:21 pm Smaller UMPPs to add 5000 mwThough there's still time for ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) to be commissioned in the country, the smaller UMPPs model.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:18 pm Market pins hopes on Black Friday sales in USAfter the shock of the terrifying week, markets can hope for some peace if some key statistics from the US economy are positive.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:17 pm Rate-cut expectations increaseThe 10-year benchmark government bond yield fell to its lowest in three years on the back of strong rate-cut expectations.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:16 pm Sebi may tighten mutual funds normsMay bar premature withdrawals from fixed maturity plans.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:14 pm Mumbai is still a safe city, say expat CEOsExpatriate CEOs, many of whom have made Mumbai their first homes, may be unnerved by the three-day terror strike in Mumbai, but none of them feel Mumbai or other parts of India have become unsafe toSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:12 pm Patil quits, Chidambaram to be home ministerPM to hold finance portfolio for now; pressure for action on Pakistan.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:11 pm ‘Focus is on how to tap emerging technologies to improve efficiency’Bangalore: Software Engineering and Technology Labs (SET Labs), the research arm of Infosys Technologies Ltd, India’s second-largest computer services firm by revenue, says it has helped the firm improve productivity by as much as 10% in some areas through software tools. The labs, set up eight years ago, sees opportunity in building solutions “in the intersection of IT’ in areas such as nanotechnology and biotechnology, Subu Goparaju, vice president and head of SET Labs, says in an interview. Edited excerpts: How has SET Labs helped Infosys improve to serve its customers? The initial focus was on using the right framework, methodology, and internal software engineering and ensure in improving quality and productivity and doing everything right. As part of the non-linear growth of Infosys, how do we create significant IP and commercialise and monetise that? We actually have several initiatives in areas such as convergence, knowledge engineering and grid computing that create intellectual property. The next thing is being a partner in co-creation and innovation for clients. Today, given the company’s size and kind of services and solutions we offer, we have clearly become a trusted advisor and the expectations from clients are how do we help them in innovation. So, you run ideas with clients, build systems jointly and find solutions? What we are innovating may be different in different industries and in different client situations. Sometimes the focus of the client may be in operational efficiencies; sometimes it would be new products and solutions. In the current crisis, do you see an increase in customers wanting to find solutions for more urgent problems? It is not restricted to the current crisis. While the projects are going on, looking at emerging technologies, using the technologies and benefiting the clients. For example when you are in a growth phase, the focus is on how do we exploit emerging technologies for new products that are focused on clients. In situations as these, the focus is on how do I exploit these technologies for improving our efficiencies. By how much can productivity and efficiency be improved? We are an applied research group and majority of what we do goes into internal efficiencies – software engineering efficiency. We created IP assets -- lot of those things are used in projects and we are able to do clearly right things at the first time. We measure that by different products – Mantra, it is maintainence platform, where productivity improvement is 8-10%, some times even more. Similarly with Radiant and Influx. We have clearly seen productivity improvements mainly in the way we do things The biggest advantage for clients is that doing projects within budgets and in schedule and clients value that a lot. (Mantra, Radiant and Influx are software tools that help simplify processes and boost productivity and quality). How do you do that? First of all, the needs of the system are captured completely. If you don’t do that well, everything goes off the tangent. How do we estimate the time and budget and set the expectations clearly?. The benchmark data clearly shows that projects beyond a certain size -- almost 75-80% of them -- are not completed within budgets and time. That is anything beyond about 50-60-person-years kind of effort... Basically (it is due to) not capturing business needs accurately and completely and not (being) able to create a system architecture that translates those things into the system. What are the medium and long-term projects you are working on? For us, to benefit from a project in a medium term it is 12-18 months and beyond that is long term. Some of the projects are convergence research group, knowledge learning and grid computing, there are mix of projects that go beyond 18 months. Grid computing lab we started more than three years ago, not that anybody was asking for things around that. We believed that in terms of improving internal efficiencies as well as new opportunities, it would be an important to look at. Today, virtualisation has become a big thing, we are looking at it. We are seeing good amount of traction in our clients wanting to use IP that we have. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 5:33 pm
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