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Satyam postpones board meeting to Jan 10Beleaguered Satyam Computer Services postponed its board meeting, convened Monday (Dec 29) to discuss a proposal for buy-back of shares by promoters, to Jan 10, the IT bellwether said Sunday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Dec 2008 | 2:03 pm Industry calls for push to affordable housingThe government's decision to provide 5% interest subsidy on housing loans taken by the EWS is seen as "a move in the right direction" by industry lobbyists.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 28 Dec 2008 | 1:49 pm Thailand: Thaksin followers begin 3-day protestBangkok: Several thousand supporters of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched three days of protests Sunday, sparking fears of a replay of the mass demonstrations that paralyzed the government for months and culminated in an eight-day seizure of the capital’s airports. This time, it was Thaksin loyalists instead of his opponents who took to the streets. The group, which calls itself the Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship, vowed to stage demonstrations nationwide unless Thailand’s new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolves Parliament and holds new elections. The alliance, dubbed the “red shirts” for their favored protest attire, says Abhisit’s Democrat Party came to power this month through a virtual coup d’etat. The group says the court ruling that dissolved the previous government, which was packed with Thaksin allies, and led to Abhisit’s selection as prime minister came under pressure from the military and other powerful forces. Police closed the gates of the Parliament building on Sunday in anticipation that the demonstrators would try to prevent the new government from delivering its policy statement to the legislature Monday and Tuesday. But protest leader Veera Musigapong told The Associated Press that the group had not yet decided if it would move to block the building. Police lines were reinforced in an effort to cordon off the Parliament building and Sanam Luang, a field in the historic heart of the capital where the pro-Thaksin Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship gathered Sunday. Abhisit told reporters that force would not be used against the demonstrators. Earlier, police Major General Amnuay Nimmano said those attempting to prevent the parliamentary session would be charged with insurrection. He said if the rally veered toward violence, its organizers must disperse the crowds while police would avoid any clash with the protesters. Warong Dechgitvigrom, a spokesman for the ruling Democrat Party, said party representatives would go together to Parliament on Monday morning and if it was blocked they would return to party headquarters. He said the government did not plan to force its way into the building. An Oxford-educated, 44-year-old politician, Abhisit was formally named prime minister on 17 December in what many hoped would be the end of months of turbulent, sometimes violent, protests that had their roots in a 2006 military coup that toppled Thaksin. Abhisit, the nation’s third prime minister in four months, vowed in his inaugural address to reunite the deeply divided nation and to restore Thailand’s tourist-friendly image. The eight-day airport shutdown battered the country’s essential tourism industry and stranded more than 300,000 travelers. Abhisit’s Democrat Party had been in opposition since 2001, when Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon, first came to power in a landslide election. Military leaders ousted Thaksin in September 2006, accusing him of corruption, keeping him in exile and controlling the country for an interim period until new elections in December 2007 brought Thaksin’s allies back into power. He returned to Thailand in February 2008 to face corruption charges but later fled into exile again and was convicted in absentia. Thailand’s recent political convulsions began in August when anti-Thaksin protesters took over the seat of government to demand that Thaksin’s allies resign. Since then, a series of court rulings resulted in the ouster of two Thaksin-allied prime ministers. In October, street clashes with police outside Parliament left two people dead and hundreds injured. Thaksin and his supporters retain strong support in rural areas where they built up a political base, but are disliked by many of the educated elite who viewed his six years in power as deeply corrupt and a threat to their interests. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 1:25 pm 2009 to be weakest year since World War II: ReportThe year 2009 is likely to be the weakest year for the global economy since the second world war, largely because of the recessionary trend in advanced economies.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 28 Dec 2008 | 1:02 pm Clean sweep for NC in SrinagarSrinagar: The National Conference, which is emerging as the single largest party in a hung assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, has made a clean sweep of the eight constituencies in Srinagar. Considered to be stronghold of separatists, the city recorded 20% polling in the final phase of elections held on 24 December. NC patron Farooq Abdullah won from both the constituencies of Hazratbal and Sonawar. The immediate rival of Abdullah in both the seats were PDP candidates. The PDP suffered a shock defeat in Batmaloo constituency where its former minister and general secretary Tariq Hameed Karra lost to Irfan Shah of NC by a margin of 2,500 votes. Karra had wrested the seat from NC in a bypoll in 2004. NC candidates Mubarak Gul, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Shameema Firdous, Naseer Ahmad Wani and Pir Aafaq won from Idgah, Khanyar, Habba Kadal, Amirakadal and Zadibal constituencies, respectively. In 2002 elections, National Conference had bagged five city seats while two went to Independents and another was won by the Congress. However, PDP made a clean sweep of Pulwama and Shopian districts winning all the six seats (four in Pulwama and two in Shopian) and also did well in Anantnag and Kulgam districts winning six of the ten seats. NC leader Omar Abdullah may be a potential chief ministerial candidate in Jammu and Kashmir but he has already won an endorsement from his political family that also had Congress links. Virtually endorsing Omar Abdullah for the Chief Ministership, NC patron Farooq Abdullah said his son could better serve the people of the border state and he himself would prefer to remain in Parliament. “Why not? Omar is a young man. If he could serve better, why not?” Abdullah said in Srinagar when asked if Omar could be the choice of the National Conference for the chief minister’s post. Omar is making a debut in the state Assembly. Young Congress leader Sachin Pilot, who is married to Omar’s sister Sarah, also rooted for his brother-in-law for the top post saying he is capable of handling the responsibility. “He is a hard-working man. He is also a bright Member of Parliament and I think whatever responsibility is entrusted to him, he can handle it perfectly,” Pilot told PTI in New Delhi. “Omar is a matured person,” he said. Pilot, Congress MP from Dausa in Rajasthan, said it augurs well for the country whenever young people are entrusted with such responsibilities. Farooq Abdullah, a former Chief Minister, who is a Rajya Sabha member, said he would like to continue in the Upper House of Parliament. “I would rather be in Parliament,” he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:54 pm Lakshmi Mittal tops losers' listBritain's richie-rich club saw their wealth melting away by more than half to 200 billion pounds in a year marked with a severe economic downturn.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:26 pm Four arrested for e-ticketing fraudFour persons, including a woman, were arrested in the national capital for allegedly running an e-ticketing racket which earned over Rs 5 crore.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:25 pm Troubled Satyam to consider changes at board levelSatyam Computer Services is all set to undergo a major restructuring, course for which will be decided in the board's deferred meeting on January 10.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:23 pm GM India cuts production by 10%; extends annual plant closure!Taking advantage of an extended annual plant maintenance shut down, General Motors India is cutting down production by up to 10 percent from its two plants -- at Halol in Gujarat and at Talegaon in Maharashtra.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:18 pm `Deterioration` in services sector!The services sector has started showing "marked deterioration" since October.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:18 pm US buys stakes worth USD 171 bn in financial institutions!The US Federal government has bought stakes worth USD 171 billion in over 200 financial institutions, with Wall Street majors Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo receiving USD 25 billion each.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:18 pm "09 worst year for Russian economy"!The year 2009 will be the worst for the Russian economy since the World War-II, with the country`s national budget deficit touching the USD 70 billion mark, says the Finance Minister.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:18 pm India not suitable for low-cost airline operations: Report!India is not a suitable country for low-cost airline operations as it not only lacks infrastructure like low-cost secondary airports but also the cost of their staff is at par with full service carriers, a study has claimed.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:18 pm DoT to put off auction of 3G spectrumNew Delhi: The much-awaited auction of 3G spectrum is likely to be postponed by at least a few weeks as DoT may not get Cabinet’s approval on vital proposals relating to the services -- a move that could delay the start of high-end mobile services like high-speed wireless internet. According to senior Department of Telecom (DoT) officials, the auctioning of 3G spectrum slated for 16 January may be delayed, as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is yet to approve the policy. DoT had decided to take Cabinet’s approval on higher 3G spectrum charge and number of blocks to be auctioned in each circle. The Telecom Commission had discussed the issue in its meeting on 19 December, the officials said, adding that the decision to go to the Cabinet was taken as a precaution in view of the allegations during the allocation of 2G spectrum and new licences in January this year. Sources, however, pointed out that in case the approval was delayed beyond January 2009 the entire process of auctioning of 3G spectrum and start of high-end mobile services may get derailed as the government may get into general election mode. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:05 pm Influential US political scientist Samuel Huntington diesNew York: Influential US political scientist Samuel Huntington, author of The Clash of Civilizations and a professor at Harvard University, has died at the age of 81, the university announced on Sunday. Huntington, who retired from teaching in 2007 after 58 years at Harvard, died on 24 December in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, the university said on its web site. He was co-author or editor of 17 books, mostly on US government, democratization, military politics, civil-military relations and political development. Huntington was perhaps best known for believing that in a post-Cold War world violent conflict would come from cultural and religious differences among the world’s major civilizations, and not ideological differences between nation states. This view was fully explained in the 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order , which has been translated into 39 languages. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 11:35 am Govt to set up bio-security systemNew Delhi: The government is planning to set up a National Agricultural Bio-security System soon based on the recommendations of the farmers’ commission headed by eminent scientist MS Swaminathan. “The threat to the bio-security of the country has increased in recent times on account of rising international trade and emergence of trans-boundary diseases of plants and animals (such as Ug-99 and avian influenza),” an official statement said. The introduction of genetically-modified organisms and climate change also have the potential to create new diseases, it said, adding that bio-terrorism, too, is evolving as a potent threat. The government is also taking other steps to enhance the safety of plants and animals from diseases, pests and other threats. As part of the initiatives to boost bio-security, the Hyderabad-based National Plant Protection Institute has been converted into a society, which will provide it more autonomy, the statement said. The institute, re-christened as the National institute of Plant Health Management, would be developed as the premier institution for providing technical assistance to neighboring countries, it added. Moreover, the regulatory framework relating to plant protection is being strengthened, it said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 11:28 am Economy may see deflation next fiscal: bankers Mumbai: The economy may go into deflation by the second quarter of financial year 2009-10, as there are fears of inflation going below 0% in the face of unprecedented fall in crude and commodity prices. “If the current pace in inflation-decline continues, the figure (in WPI-based inflation) may slide below 2% by end-fiscal,” HDFC Bank’s deputy head of treasury, Ashish Parthasarathy said, adding “it may fall further to below 0% by Q2 fy10. Inflation almost halved to a nine-month low of 6.61% from this year’s peak of 12.91%, giving more space to the RBI to signal further cuts in interest rates. Deflation occurs in an economy when the negative inflation prevails for a long period. In the event of deflation, the RBI will have to enhance money supply and lower rates further “to support inflation”, IDBI Gilts’ economist Amol Agarwal said. The rapid decline in the headline inflation is likely to continue in the coming months, said Citibank India’s chief financial officer Abhijit Sen. “In my view, deflation is a remote possibility in this economy. However, if the inflation continue to fall to much lower levels, this would have an impact on the profitability of banks, as it would affect the credit demand,” Sen said. The sharp decline in inflation has given a headroom for the RBI to cut its reverse repo rate by 0.5-1%, he said. “A lower inflation rate has offered the opportunity to the Reserve Bank to explore further monetary policy options including a cut in the short-term reverse repo rate,” Sen said. Wholesale prices-based inflation declined by 0.23% for the seventh consecutive time during the week-ended 13 December as manufactured goods and food items became cheaper due to the cascading effect of fuel price cuts amongst other factors. “(The) declining inflation rate provides more leeway to the RBI to further slash interest rates. I expect a 100 basis points cut in both the repo (short-term lending rate) and reverse repo (short-term borrowing) rates,” said Crisil’s principal economist DK Joshi. The RBI had hiked its key policy rates several times till October to hold off skyrocketting inflation rate that rose to a multi-year high of around 13% in early 2008. However, with inflation now on the decline, the RBi has shifted its focus from fighting inflation to supporting economic growth with a series of rate cuts. It cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the percentage of cash banks are required to park with the apex bank to 5.5% from 9% and the repo and reverse repo rates to 6.5% and 5% respectively. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 11:10 am AI likely to announce fare cut in January first weekNew Delhi: Air India could soon bring good news for air travellers by announcing a cut in base fares on its domestic routes from the middle of January, official sources said here. Though its private competitor Kingfisher Airlines has declared that it would reduce fares only after the government decides to include jet fuel in the list of ‘Declared Goods’, Jet Airways could follow suit, they said. Sources said the Commercial Department of Air India was already working on reducing the fares and could make an announcement in the first week of January for slashing the fare prices effective from the middle of the month when the peak travel season comes to an end. Besides Air India, Kingfisher, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Indigo have already reduced fuel surcharge on all domestic flights, resulting in the airfares dropping by up to Rs400. The reduction followed successive cuts in aviation turbine fuel prices by oil marketing companies. In another development, the Civil Aviation Ministry has asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to crack its whip on domestic airlines continuing with the congestion surcharge of Rs150, despite substantial fall air traffic congestion over major airports like Delhi and Mumbai, the sources said. Many airlines also club these surcharges as ‘taxes’, though the only tax component in a ticket was the Passenger Service Fee (PSF) of Rs225, they said, adding that the airlines have been instructed to show the surcharge and taxes separately. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has been asking airlines to cut fares to boost the falling passenger traffic. “When ATF (aviation turbine fuel) prices have come down, so should the fares,” he said recently. When airlines were in difficulty, the government came to their rescue by giving extra line of credit, allowing staggered repayment of their estimated Rs3,000 crore dues to oil companies, abolishing 5% customs duty on ATF. Patel had then said that it was now imperative for the airlines to respond. The boom in Indian aviation has tapered off due to high air fares, primarily caused by soaring fuel prices and rising tax rates on ATF. The passenger load factor, or the number of passengers carried by airlines vis-a-vis the number of seats available, showed a marked decline in the recent weeks when the peak travel season began. The demand for reduction in air fares had also echoed at a recent meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the civil aviation ministry, with several MPs demanding that airlines should pass the benefits of the drastic cut in oil prices to their customers. Meanwhile, Patel is likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coming days to discuss the issue of including ATF in the list of ‘Declared Goods’, which would enable imposition of a flat 4% tax on it across the country. However, the state governments have sternly opposed the proposal saying they would stand to lose a lot if a central tax was imposed on jet fuel and have demanded compensation from the Centre. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 11:00 am SBI rectifies ‘technical snag’ in web site; launches kiosks - Livemint
Source: Google News India - Business | 28 Dec 2008 | 10:56 am SBI rectifies ‘technical snag’ in web site; launches kiosksMumbai: Debunking reports of hacking of its web site, a top State Bank official on Sunday said certain services of the bank were affected due to a ‘technical snag’ for two days, which has now been set right. “There was a technical problem in our web site since Friday evening, which disrupted the product information services of the web site. The problem was rectified by Saturday evening. The web site is now functioning smoothly,” SBI deputy managing director (IT) R P Sinha said. The web site www.sbi.co.in was the one affected by the technical snag, but the other site www.onlinesbi.com was operating normally, he said. Sinha stressed that the technical fault did not affect any transactions, including fund transfer nor lead to any loss of customer data. The largest bank in the country has an online customer-base of above 30 lakh. The lender has a branch strength of around 11,000 and about 15 crore account holders. The sites are maintained by the bank’s information technology department based out of the SBI Gobal IT Centre in Belapur. Meanwhile, SBI on Saturday launched internet kiosks at ATMs at railway stations to enable customers avail services like ticket reservation and utility bill payments, among other basic banking services through the centre. The bank plans to set up 383 similar kiosks by the end of this financial year. At the kiosks, the bank’s customers can book their tickets through the IRCTC gateway and get a printed electronic slip instantly. For the service, the customers have to pay Rs10 per booking to SBI besides the fees that IRCTC charges. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 10:29 am Unitech plans to set up two product specific SEZsNew Delhi: Unitech Ltd, the country’s second largest realty firm, is planning to set up two Special Economic Zones (SEZ) for automobiles and apparel sectors in Haryana and will soon approach the government for approval. “We are planning to apply for two product specific SEZs after a couple of months. One is for auto and another is for apparel,” company’s Chairman Ramesh Chandra said. Unitech, which presently has seven SEZs in its portfolio, would apply for the approval with the Commerce Ministry within the next six months, he added. Asked if the company had identified the land for these two planned SEZs, Chandra said: “Yes. We already have about 70% of the land. It is in Haryana.” He, however, declined to comment on the sizes of the two SEZs. Presently, Unitech has seven notified SEZ projects in Kolkata, Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. “We have seven notified SEZs. Construction is going on in three SEZs and they are also partly occupied,” Chandra said, adding that the construction activities in one more SEZ would start very shortly. Asked how much the company plans to invest in its SEZ projects, Chandra declined to comment saying, “It is demand oriented. We construct to the extent we are able to let out”. He, however, said some of the SEZ projects have private equity funding. Besides SEZs, the company is also planning to focus on mid-income housing and expanding its hotel business. Earlier this month, Unitech had announced to invest about Rs2,500 crore to develop 35 hotels across the country over the next seven years, while similar amount would be pumped in to build 10,000 units in Rs30-50 lakh category. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 10:21 am Enhance cost recovery & restructure PSUs, RBI to statesMumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked states to impose adequate user charges on various services provided by them and restructure public sector units (PSUs) as investment in them are fetching low returns. “Low recovery from various social and economic services has been a serious cause of concern for the state governments. While the recoveries from power and roads have shown improvement, recoveries from irrigation, education and health are more or less stagnant at the previous year’s level,” the RBI said in its recent report on state finances. Cost recovery in 2008-09 is budgeted at 1.4% for education, 4.4% for public health, 14.7% for irrigation, 25.4% for power, 7.7% for roads. Also, the return in terms of dividend and profits from investments made by the state governments in state PSUs has been quite low due to their lacklustre performance, it said. “For raising the level of (these) non-tax revenue of the state governments, there is a need for enhancing the cost recovery by way of levying of appropriate user charges and restructuring of the state PSUs,” it added. RBI also said improvement in the quality of delivery of services would enable the state governments to raise resources through these kinds of non-tax revenue. It said as a ratio to GDP, the states’ own non-tax revenue would be maintained at last at year’s level of 1.3%, although it will register an increase of Rs4,270 crore in absolute terms. The growth in states’ own non-tax revenue is budgeted to accelerate to 6.8% during 2008-09 against a decline of 1.1% in the preceding year. “The budgeted increase in non-tax revenue would mainly be contributed by increase in receipts from economic services, inter alia, industries, power and forestry and wildlife,” the report said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 10:15 am Tough time ahead for senior citizens as deposit rates fall - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 28 Dec 2008 | 10:09 am Bus, train to Lahore find few takers from AmritsarVery few passengers from India are boarding the bus service from here to Lahore and Nankana Sahib in Pakistan and the numbers are likely to go down further with the Ministry of External Affairs issuing a travel advisory asking Indians not to travel to Pakistan.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Dec 2008 | 10:01 am Mint has new editor, Narisetti steps downThe Delhi-based business paper from HT Media, Mint, has reshuffled its top editorial management that has seen Raju Narisetti stepping down as editor.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Dec 2008 | 10:00 am S Korea announces $28.5 billion energy planSeoul: South Korea on Sunday announced a massive investment plan to build more power plants, including 12 new nuclear reactors in the next four years, to meet growing energy demand. It plans to spend 37 trillion won ($28.5 billion) between 2009 and 2022 constructing 12 commercial reactors and 19 thermoelectric power plants, the ministry of knowledge economy said in a statement. The ministry said 12 nuclear reactors — including eight under construction — would be completed by 2012. Eleven of the thermoelectric power plants to be built by 2022 would be fuelled by liquefied natural gas, seven by coal and one by fuel oil, it said. South Korea, which relies heavily on oil imports, has tried to reduce its dependence on crude, diversify energy sources and cut down on the emission of greenhouse gases amid increasing power demand at home. The country now has 20 commercial nuclear reactors and 85 thermoelectric power plants fuelled by either coal, gas or oil. Nuclear power plants meet 34% of the country’s total electricity demand this year, and they will cover 48% by 2022, the ministry said. It said the country’s total electric power generating capacity would increase to 100.89 million kilowatts by 2022, up from 71.36 million now. The country would remove 22 old existing power generating units, including 13 thermoelectric power plants run by heavy fuel oil, it aded. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 9:48 am NC emerging largest party in J&KSrinagar: The National Conference (NC) emerging as the single-largest party in a hung Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir is all set to stake claim for forming the next government for which it will approach Congress. Only 22 results have been actually declared of which the NC bagged nine seats and is projected to win another 20 seats in a house of 87 members. With no party getting the required the 44 seats for a majority, the Congress will play the ‘kingmaker´. It has already won four seats and is ahead in 12 other seats. If the projections held true, Congress and NC which together could have 45 seats and may join hands to form the government after the long seven-phased polls spread over five weeks which saw a record turnout of 61% in the state. An elated Abdullah, who spearheaded his party’s campaign and also won from Ganderbal seat by a margin of 3,600 votes, said they would approach Congress for forming the government. His father and party patron Farooq Abdullah won from Hazratbal seat but was trailing in Sonawar. Though Congress is yet to reveal its cards, party president Sonia Gandhi has convened a high-level meeting of senior leaders to formulate a strategy on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir. Former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who won the election from Baderwah, said the party would ally with any party which would help combat terrorism. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 9:46 am Satyam defers board meeting, mulls governance stepsBANGALORE (Reuters) - Satyam Computer Services Ltd postponed this week's board meeting until Jan. 10 to give itself time to consider a series of options to shore up investor confidence, including steps to strengthen governance.Source: Reuters: Money News | 28 Dec 2008 | 9:43 am Troubled Satyam to consider changes at Board level - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 28 Dec 2008 | 9:41 am NEWSMAKER - Indonesia's "king of mining" eyes biggest bet yetJAKARTA (Reuters) - Yusuf Merukh, an Indonesian politician-turned-businessman, is nicknamed the king of mining after the 500 concessions in his portfolio, but his latest venture could dwarf the rest.Source: Reuters: Money News | 28 Dec 2008 | 9:40 am Gulf leaders to discuss Gaza at economic summitMUSCAT (Reuters) - Israel's attack on Gaza will be a new top entry on the agenda of an economic summit of Gulf Arab leaders next week, an Omani minister said on Sunday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 28 Dec 2008 | 9:26 am Bharti Teletech rejigs top management for better focusNew Delhi: Bharti Teletech, the telecom manufacturing arm of Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Group has rejigged its senior management to strengthen the core decision-making group in line with the company’s mission to become the finest sales and distribution company by 2012. The new team will look for emerging business opportunities. As part of the fresh appointments, Atul Jain joins the makers of ‘Beetel’ brand of phones as Director Sales & Distribution. Atul, a 19 year old industry veteran joins from Jumbo Electronics Retail where he was Country Head & CEO and also has experiences in Godfrey Philips India Ltd, Bharti Airtel, Coca Cola India and Mc Dowell & Co Ltd, the company said. Another key appointee Suresh Gupta joins as Chief Finance Officer, and will be closely supporting CEO in Finance, Logistics & IT process initiatives in Beetel. He joins from IT peripheral company with Intex Technologies India. Sandeep Tewari joins Bharti Teletech Limited as Head Marketing & Alliances, and will be supporting the CEO in Beetel Brand Building & Acquiring New Distribution Alliances with Technology Principal Partners. He was earlier with Videocon Group as the Marketing Head. Commenting on the leadership strength of Beetel, Sunil K Goyal, CEO, Bharti Teletech said, “The New Leadership Team is ready to carve out a fresh wave of growth for Bharti Teletech.” It has distribution alliance with Motorola, Sanyo, Polycom, Blackberry, Apple iPhone, Transcend, Casio. The move is seen as an attempt to step up focus on leveraging the extensive distribution network to increase the range of offerings and is in talks with leading technology companies for distribution alliances. Bharti Teletech also manufactures cordless, CLI, and basic phones, range of modems for broadband, and is the largest player in free to air set top box for DTH market. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 9:06 am NC open to alliance with Congress: Omar Srinagar: As Jammu and Kashmir headed for a hung assembly, the National Conference on Sunday said it would prefer to have an alliance with the Congress. “Personally, I will prefer to have an alliance with the Congress,” NC president Omar Abdullah said when asked whom his party would like to see as a coalition partner in the future government. Whereas the Congress on Sunday said it will not take the intiative to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir if it does not emerge as the single largest party in the 87-member Assembly. “If we do not emerge as the single-largest party, we will not take the initiative to form the government,” AICC general secretary Prithviraj Chavan told media in New Delhi. Ruling out any possibility of having a tie-up with BJP, Omar said his party would prefer to sit in the opposition rather than forming a government with the saffron party. The NC would try to get the support of the independent MLAs first before mulling other options, Abdullah said. Chavan said the Congress high command will take stock of the situation and some senior leaders of the party would go to the state on Monday to discuss the next course of action with the party legislators. However, Congress sources said the party would like to go with one of the two regional parties National Conference and PDP and take help of independents to form the next government. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 8:40 am Asia airlines brace for recession blues in 2009Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: The year-end festive season usually heralds a busy period for Asia-Pacific airlines, but in 2008, a global economic slump has choked passenger and cargo traffic and 2009 looks even gloomier. Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways chief executive Tony Tyler said in a, “now, as 2008 draws to a close, we are facing very uncertain times and the mood has turned decidedly somber.” While the drop in fuel prices has provided some reprieve, air traffic demand has fallen as companies and tourists cut back on travel. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned that the aviation industry faces its worst revenue environment in 50 years. Asia-Pacific carriers, which account for nearly a third of global passenger traffic and 45% of the global cargo market, will be badly hit with losses to more than double from $500 million this year to $1.1 billion in 2009, the IATA predicts. Aviation experts say regional airlines should be able to weather the downturn better than their American and European peers because they have relatively strong balances sheets and more modern fleets. Also, a number of airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Chinese carriers, are state-run, meaning they could get government support if needed. “Asia-Pacific airlines are generally better placed than their counterparts elsewhere amid difficult times but they will still feel the pain,” said Nicholas Ionides, regional managing editor of Flight International magazine based in Singapore. While Japanese carriers appear to be having a solid year-end, major carriers Japan Air Lines and All Nippon Airways have slashed their revenue forecasts. Airlines in Australia, China and South Korea are also struggling as their economies slow. India’s carriers, which are grappling with high taxes and insufficient infrastructure, can also expect lower demand following November’s terror attacks in Mumbai. Globally, air traffic will fall 3% next year, the IATA predicts _ the first drop since 2001, when the 11 September terrorist attacks battered the industry. Many airlines have cut capacity and shed jobs to cope with high oil prices earlier this year. In recent weeks, nearly all carriers in the region also slashed fuel surcharges and offered fare deals in response to declining fuel prices. Korean Airlines Co., the world’s largest international cargo carrier, posted its 4th straight quarterly loss for the 3rd quarter due to a weak won. Cathay Pacific reported its first half-year loss since 2003 and said its full-year results would be “disappointing” amid weakening revenue and losses from fuel hedging. Cathay has plans to park two freighters, offer unpaid leave to employees and possibly delay construction on a cargo terminal to cut costs. It will also scale back services to North America but add flights to Australia, the Middle East and Europe to keep passenger growth flat in 2009, but the airline won’t cut any destinations. Singapore Airlines said its third quarter profit dipped 36% and warned of “weaknesses” in advance bookings for 2009. Japanese carriers’ business has recovered recently as the yen’s appreciation against the US dollar and other currencies made traveling overseas cheaper for Japanese. Still, All Nippon Airlines has cut its net profit forecast for the full year by a third and deferred plans to order a new jumbo aircraft. Australia’s Qantas Airways has cut 1,500 jobs and plans to reduce capacity to the equivalent of grounding 10 planes. It also trimmed its full-year pretax profit target by one-third. In China, the state-run airlines recorded combined losses of 4.2 billion yuan ($613 million) for January-October. “The overall airline sector appears to be in its worst mess ever, and it will be pretty hard to survive,” said Song Weiya, a researcher with Great Wall Securities in Shenzhen. It’s two biggest airlines Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines in Guangzhou are in the midst of receiving 3 billion yuan ($440 million) capital injection from the Chinese government. China Eastern, which earlier failed to sell a stake to international investors, may now merge with rival Shanghai Airlines, an ally of flag carrier Air China. In New Delhi, state-run Air India is eyeing a government bailout to cope with a harsh downturn. After merger talks between Qantas and British Airways collapsed recently, some analysts say Qantas may seek a deal now with Asian carriers. Malaysia Airlines has expressed interest, saying recently it was in talks with a number of carriers including Qantas on possible partnerships. AirAsia, the region’s biggest budget airline, is taking a contrarian approach by adding flights and expanding amid the slump. Chief executive Tony Fernandes believes AirAsia will benefit as travelers downgrade to budget carriers. It became the first airline in the world to remove fuel surcharges on all its flights in November. AirAsia expects to fly 19 million passengers this year and 24 million in 2009, he said up from 15 million in 2007. The carrier plunged into the red for the first time in the third quarter, largely due to foreign exchange losses and unwinding of fuel hedging contracts. But Fernandes said AirAsia has no plans to cancel or defer its order for 175 Airbus aircraft, of which 55 have been delivered with nine more targeted for 2009. He said, “we are a beneficiary of the economic slump just like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart as people are looking for more value.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 8:36 am Haryana to create 17,000-acre land bank for industryHaryana's industry promoter, the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corp (HSIIDC), is creating a land bank of 17,000 acres for industrial units, the corporation announced here Sunday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Dec 2008 | 8:30 am Services sector will prop growth rate: Industry reportDespite the global economic slowdown, some segments of India's services sector, including IT, education and organised retail, retained 'high' growth rate of 10-20 percent this fiscal, an industry lobby survey said here Sunday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Dec 2008 | 8:00 am Industry calls for push to affordable housingDescribing the government's decision to provide 5 percent interest subsidy on housing loans taken by the economically weaker sections (EWS) as 'a move in the right direction', an industry lobby Sunday said it would boost demand of affordable housing.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Dec 2008 | 8:00 am RBI may cut repo, reverse repo rate ‘anytime’ now, say bankersMumbai: With the inflation declining even below the RBI’s comfort levels, the Reserve Bank is likely to cut the lending rate for banks and reduce the amount banks need to keep with the Central Bank ‘anytime from now’ to support demand, bankers have said. “A 0.5-1% cut in the reverse repo rate could be expected anytime now following the sharp decline in inflation numbers. This would be needed to support the falling demand in different sectors owing to a global economic slow down,” HDFC Bank’s Deputy Head of Treasury Ashish Parthasarathy said here. The Reserve Bank had revised its key rates several times in 2008 to balance the liquidity conditions in the system, besides supporting the economic growth momentum. It slashed the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), the percentage of amount banks need to park with the Central Bank by 3.5% to 5.5% from 9% besides cutting the repo, reverse repo rates to 6.5% and 5% respectively. Echoing a similar view, Vijaya Bank’s executive director, K C Kalia said the Central Bank is expected to reduce its key rates by 0.5-1% in the near future in view of the slowdown in different sectors. “A 1% cut in repo, reverse repo rates are likely with the inflation declining to 6.61%. I expect this to happen in the near term,” Kalia said. Meanwhile, the fears of inflation declining below 2% by the second quarter of 2009 next year is also looming large, which, if happens, will require measures from the Central Bank to support the inflation rate, Chief Financial Officer of a leading private sector bank said. “If the current pace (of fall in inflation) continues, it is very likely that the economy will face the phenomenon of deflation for a short while some time in the first half of 2009,” the official said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 7:01 am Chandigarh's top brass fight over multi-million rupee land dealsTouted as the greenest and most liveable city in India, Chandigarh is these days witnessing a major confrontation in its government as the union territory's administrator and top bureaucrat trade charges over land deals.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Dec 2008 | 6:32 am Realty industry wakes up to reality: Bubble has burstThe five-year boom in India's realty industry came to a crashing halt in 2008, following an acute liquidity crunch, falling sales and rising interest rates.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Dec 2008 | 6:31 am Global meltdown catches IT firms off-guardAfter nearly a decade of uninterrupted boom, the Indian information technology industry finds the road ahead bumpy as 2008 draws to a close, with the global meltdown and financial turmoil in the US and other rich countries catching the otherwise resilient sector off-guard.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Dec 2008 | 6:30 am LIC Housing Finance to launch Care Homes for agedMumbai: LIC Housing Finance (LICHF) has come out with a novel scheme pan-India of providing community dwelling units to benefit the aged as part of its social responsibility initiative. LICHF would build about 90-100 dwelling units on a five to seven acre complex called ‘Care Homes´, complete with a gym, walking track, a library, a community centre and a kitchen apart from medical facilities. The minimum age for taking a dwelling unit in a Care Home is 50 years. Care Homes are separate from the reverse mortgage scheme, which LICHF plans to launch shortly for the benefit of senior citizens. Reverse mortgage is a financial product that enables senior citizens (above 60 years) who own a house to mortgage their property with a lender and convert part of the home equity into tax-free income without having to sell the house. LICHF, a 100% subsidiary of LIC, had started its first Care Home in the southern metropolis about three years back and following its success, plans to replicate the model pan-India. “We already have one such Care Home in Bangalore and plan to open two more in Bhubaneswar and Jaipur for which we have already acquired land,” LICHF director and chief executive RR Nair said. “Once we cover major cities, then possibly we will go for secondary ones...,” he said. “We will begin construction of homes in both places after certain formalities are completed,” Nair said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 6:11 am Panasonic Electric to shut 3 plants, cut 800 jobsTOKYO (Reuters) - Panasonic Electric Works, the building materials unit of consumer electronics maker Panasonic Corp, said it will close three additional plants in Japan and cut 800 workers as a slowing economy hits demand.Source: Reuters: Money News | 28 Dec 2008 | 5:20 am HC upholds dismissal of SBI manager over lapsesNew Delhi: The Delhi High Court has upheld the dismissal of a State Bank of India manager who was sacked from his job for showing an undue favour towards a customer exposing the bank to a risk of Rs70 lakh. Although there was no financial loss caused to the Bank, a bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Mool Chand Garg upheld K Raj Arora’s dismissal after noting that the manager repeatedly indulged in irregularities with respect to one group of companies. “The incidents cannot be said to be trivial merely on account of negligence. They are repeated incidents and by a person like a bank manager who has a capacity and knows the significance of caution in commercial transactions,” the court said. “There is, however, some doubt about the aspect of financial loss as there is no material placed on record before us of such financial loss and at the initial stage only a prospect of loss was discussed,” the court said. The court asked the bank to consider giving pensionary benefits to Arora who was dismissed from his job 14 years ago. “The Authority may have a relook at the matter limited to the aspect of reduction of sentence to a punishment where the appellant may be entitled to pensionary benefits or part thereof if no excessive financial loss has been caused,” the court said. The Court passed the order on the petition of Arora who had pleaded that he had an unblemished career of 28 years and had nothing to fall back upon on account of the punishment of dismissal from service. In the case, the Disciplinary Authority of the bank had dismissed Arora from the job on December, 1994 after he was found guilty of favouring one customer. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 5:14 am GM India cuts production by 10%; extends annual plant closureNew Delhi: Taking advantage of an extended annual plant maintenance shut down, General Motors India is cutting down production by up to 10% from its two plants — at Halol in Gujarat and at Talegaon in Maharashtra — as the auto mart reels under a demand slump. “We usually have annual plant maintenance shut down for 7-10 days. This time we have extended it up to 15 days and it will result in a reduction in production by up to 10%,” General Motors India Vice-President P Balendran said. The two plants have been shut down from 16 December till the end of this year, he added. Balendran said the company, which had set a target of producing 85,000 units from the Halol plant, now has scaled down it to 70,000 units. The plant on a two-shift basis manufactures about 200 cars a day. The Talegaon plant, which went on-stream earlier this year, works on a single shift basis and produces 200 cars a day. It has a capacity to produce 1.4 lakh units annually. “The extended maintenance shut down will result in loss of only nine working days as we work on a five-day week basis,” he said, adding that the workers would work on holidays, including weekends to compensate for maintenance shut down. While most carmakers reported decline in sales growth, GM India’s passenger car sales, however, marginally grew in November to 3,673 units against 3,653 units in the corresponding month last year. In fact, last month the company had increased the production in this segment by 19.61% to 4,842 units compared with 4,048 units in the same month last year. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 5:12 am Panasonic Electric to shut 3 plants, cut 800 jobsTokyo: Panasonic Electric Works, the building materials unit of consumer electronics maker Panasonic Corp, said it will close three additional plants in Japan and cut 800 workers as a slowing economy hits demand. The company, which sells lighting equipment, built-in kitchen systems and other building products, will carry out the plant closures and job cuts by the year ending March 2011, a Panasonic Electric spokesman said on Sunday. The latest streamlining measures come on top of two factory shutdowns and elimination of 200 jobs so far in the current business year to March 2009, the spokesman said. Of total job cuts of 1,000, 550 of them will be full-time positions. Panasonic Electric Works, owned 51% by Panasonic Corp, the world’s no.1 plasma TV maker, has not decided which three of the remaining 13 domestic factories will be closed, he said. Housing starts in Japan, battered by a regulatory change in 2007, were flat in November compared with a year earlier, far below a median forecast for an 8% rise. Panasonic Electric Works in October cut its net profit forecast for the year to March 2009 by 12% to 38 billion yen, which would be down 16% on the year. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 4:54 am Top 10 NRI Newsmakers of 2008After the enthusiastic response to the first list of NRI newsmakers for 2007, here is the updated version before 2008 ends. The selection is based on news value and the degree of interest and concern to NRIs.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Dec 2008 | 4:00 am SBI Web site hacked, but no data lossMumbai, Dec. 27 The menace of hacking has come to haunt India’s largest bank, State Bank of IndiaSource: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Component makers reel as auto sector skidsChennai, Dec. 27 The auto component industry is convinced it is seeing a repeat of the 1997 low, only this time it will be tougher and last longer — through 2009 and 2010.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Air India 1 busier with Manmohan than with VajpayeeNew Delhi, Dec. 27 Air India 1, the official carrier of the Prime Minister, has been busier during the last five years than it was during the preceding five year period.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Banks offer card protection schemes to attract customersMumbai, Dec. 27 Faced with increasing credit card losses and a shrinking card base, some banks are offering schemes that provide customers coverage of fraudulent transactions in case of loss or theft of credit and debit cards.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Weekly News Round-upThe annual Wholesale Price Index-based inflation has dipped to a nine-month low of 6.61 per cent for the week ended December 13. This is lower than the previous week's rise of 6.84 per cent, helped mainly by a recent duty cut on manufacturedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Satyam defers Dec 29 Board meetingHyderabad, Dec. 27 Satyam Computer Services has decided to postpone the crucial December 29 board meeting, even as the investor community is anxious about theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Market decline is steep while fall in FII holdings is notBL Research Bureau For much of 2008, FIIs have been cast as the villains of the piece in the Indian stock market meltdown. Net sales of Rs 52,842 crore executed this year by FIIs also seem like a mammoth sum.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Farm debt relief evokes lukewarm responseMumbai, Dec. 27 Banks such as Union Bank of India and IDBI Bank have been taken by surprise at the ‘not so good’ response of large farmers to the one-time settlement scheme under the Government’s Agriculture Debt Waiver and DebtSource: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Chennai to host Pravasi Bharatiya Divas - Sify
Source: Google News India - Business | 27 Dec 2008 | 7:47 pm LIC goes whole hog to sell new policyThe Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the countrys largest insurer, is pulling out all stops to mop up Rs 25,000 crore through Jeevan Aastha, a single-premium product which offers atSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 27 Dec 2008 | 7:09 pm SBI shuts website after hackers break inThe State Bank of India, the countrys largest bank, has had to shut down its corporate website after overseas hackers tried to break in.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 27 Dec 2008 | 7:08 pm Chandrayaan finds iron-bearing minerals on moonAn experiment onboard Indias maiden moon mission, Chandrayaan-I, has found iron-bearing minerals in abundance on the lunar surface, initial reports suggest.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 27 Dec 2008 | 7:07 pm Lending norms may be eased for UMPPsWith no sign of the global liquidity crunch abating, the government is planning to ease the lending norms for banks and financial institutions so that they can provide funds for the ambitious ultraSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 27 Dec 2008 | 7:06 pm Satyam puts off board meeting to January 10Meeting agenda to go beyond buyback.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 27 Dec 2008 | 7:03 pm Chinese savings helped inflate American bubbleThe Chinese have piled up so much excess savings that they lend money to the United States at low rates, underwriting American consumption.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Dec 2008 | 6:42 pm China to extend expertise to Himachal Pradesh in tourism - Zee News
Source: Google News India - Business | 27 Dec 2008 | 4:03 pm TN may ban stateowned liquor shopsFinding liquor in Tamil Nadu might get difficult as the state government lays foundation for a total ban on the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac). CNBCTV18s Divya Rajagopal reports.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 27 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Realty slowdown hits AP govt\'s infra plansThe slowdown in the real estate sector has become a serious challenge to the YS Rajasekhara Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh. It has now threatened to take a toll on the Rs 1.3 lakh croreprogramme to build 30 major and 18 medium irrigation projects. CNBCTV18s Vishwanath Pilla and Arvind Sukumar report.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 27 Dec 2008 | 3:33 pm Kingfisher Airlines plans to raise $400 millionChairman of Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya has said that the company's plans to raise 400 million dollars are on track.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Dec 2008 | 2:00 pm
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