|
|
|
|
Sun Pharma sends two proposals to TaroSun Pharma sent two proposals on December 22 to Taro. One requires an amendment to the merging agreement. Sun Pharma had asked Taro to agree with the merger amendment of USD 9 per share.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jan 2009 | 4:31 pm ECB norms restrictive in nature: SREI Infra FinanceHemant Kanoria, Managing Director, SREI Infrastructure Finance, said the governments stimulus announcement may not have an immediate delivery. The policy is restrictive to the extent that only multilateral and bilateral institutions can lend.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jan 2009 | 4:18 pm Nagarjuna Case: AP police issues notice against KampaniAndhra Pradesh police has issued lookout notice against Nimesh Kampani, Chairman, JM Financials, in its efforts to recover alleged defaults to depositors of Nagarjuna Finance Ltd (NFL), reports CNBCTV18. The notice permits detention of Kampani if he is seen at any Indian airport.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jan 2009 | 3:36 pm Will GSPL give 30% pretax profit for social development?All eyes are on GSPL where the results of a postal ballot will be declared on January 31. The ballot was to seek shareholders assent to whether the 30% pretax profit can be transferred as was requested by the Gujarat CM. It is likely that the company has to shell out 30% of pretax profits as the government holds 50.2% in the company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jan 2009 | 3:21 pm CV demand to improve in Q4 FY09: Shriram TransportR Shridhar, Shriram Transport Finance expects improvement in commercial vehicles demand in the fourth quarter as compared to the third quarter of FY09. He doesnt see liquidity being a concern going forward and is of the view that the second fiscal stimulus package is more a package for CV industry rather than a package for NBFCs.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jan 2009 | 2:22 pm Quippo acquires 49% in Tata Teles tower armAnil Sardana, MD, Tata Teleservices said Quippo Telecom Infrastructure will come in as 49% partner in the companys passive infrastructure company. Earlier, CNBCTV18 had reported that QTIL, may acquire 49% in Wireless Tata Telecom Infrastructure. Sources said it may merge its telecom assets with Wireless Tata Telecom.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jan 2009 | 1:55 pm Satyam aftermath: ISB\'s Rammohan Rao no longer on RBI panelThe dean of the Indian Business School who was also an independent director on the board of inthenews tech giant Satyam Computer Services till he resigned recently Rammohan Rao is no longer part of the selection committee for the Reserve Bank of India.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jan 2009 | 1:16 pm State oil company officials plan strike from Jan 7NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Officials of state-run oil firms are likely to go on strike, demanding higher pay, from Jan. 7, Petroleum Secretary R.S. Pandey told reporters on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:26 pm National Urban Health Mission to be launched next monthBangalore: Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today said the National Urban Health Mission covering over 400 cities will be launched by next month. The mission will cover cities with a population of more than 1,00,000 and will be implemented by various cadres of health workers and personnel including urban social health activists (USHA), he said at a function organised to mark the upgradation of the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute here. “We hope to launch the programme by end of the month or next month”, he said. Also on the cards was the National School Health Programme whereby school students would be screened for ENT problems, skin diseases, diabetes, cardiac health problems among others, he said, adding the programme will be implemented in all private and public schools. Health will be made a mandatory subject in school curriculum and will cover topics relating to nutrition, hygiene, environment, sanitation and HIV, he said. Yoga will also be made mandatory in all schools, he said while lauding Karnataka for taking steps in this direction. Stressing the need for augmenting the number of health workers, he said currently the country has 7,00,000 doctors but as many as 8,00,000 more are needed. As for nurses, there are one million at present although another 1.5 million more are still required, he said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:16 pm GTL board to consider buyback, merger - Hindu Business Line
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:15 pm Omar Abdullah sworn in as 11th J&K chief ministerJammu: Omar Abdullah was on Monday sworn in as chief minister of a National Conference-Congress coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, making him the youngest leader to occupy the post in a generational shift in state politics. Wearing a smart black sherwani, the 38-year-old Omar was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor NN Vohra in a simple ceremony at General Zoravar Singh Stadium here. Nine others including senior Congress leader Tara Chand Sharma, who has become deputy chief minister, also took oath at the ceremony attended by a number of dignitaries including Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The newly constituted council of ministers includes five ministers each from NC and Congress. Omar, whose party contested the elections alone and got 28 seats, crafted the new tie-up with Congress which won 17 seats, after discussions with Gandhi. Congress has agreed that there will be no rotation of chiefministership and he will hold the post for the full term. As Omar approached the flower-decked dais to take oath in English, the gathering, which included wife Payal, their two kids Zahir and Zamir and father former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, broke into a loud applause. Soon after taking oath, Omar said he will try to “heal wounds” of the two-month-long Jammu agitation and two decades of militancy in Kashmir. Others inducted in the ministry were three-time MLA and former JKPCC chief Peerzadas Mohmmad Sayeed, Taj Mohideen, Nawang Rigzin Jora, Shyam Lal Sharma all Congress, along with NC’s Ali Mohammad Sagar, Mian Altaf, Surjeet Salathia. Tight security arrangements were made for the ceremony. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:12 pm Meteoric rise of Omar Abdullah from an outsider to insiderJammu: Shedding the tag of an ‘outsider’, Omar Abdullah, who was sworn in as the youngest chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has emerged from the shadows of his more illustrious father Farooq Abdullah in a meteoric rise to carve a niche for himself. Ten years is not a long period in politics since he became a MP in 1998, especially in the complex cauldron of insurgency-hit Jammu and Kashmir, but Omar, the business management expert, showed exceptional adaptability, political acumen and articulation to evolve as a matured politician and win more admirers.  National Conference chief Omar Abdullah. (File photo) As he scaled the political ladder as a National Conference (NC) MP at the age of 28 to head of the party when he was 31, Omar was level-headed in his approach to show maturity not usually seen in his age group and which belied his boyish looks. The qualities of a mature politician in young Abdullah came to the fore in Lok Sabha in July 2008, during the confidence vote when in a fiery extempore speech lashed out at the BJP and supported the Indo-US nuclear deal leaving almost the entire House spell bound. He started his own blog which received maximum response from the youth of Kashmir and Omar used this forum to reach out to them and take their constructive suggestions for inclusion in his party’s manifesto. Scion of Kashmir’s first political family, Omar started his political career as a Lok Sabha member in 1998 and was re elected a year later. He went on to become the youngest union minister at the age of 29 under the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He served as union minister of State, Commerce and Industry in the NDA government. After two years, he was made the union minister of State for External Affairs. After NC snapped ties with NDA, Omar, the grandson of Kashmir’s tallest leader Sheikh Abdullah, was handed over the party’s mantle by his ageing father in 2002. It was baptism by fire for Omar as he took over the reins of the party just ahead of the assembly polls of 2002. Even though NC emerged as the single largest party in the polls, it was a dismal start for Omar personally at the state level as he lost from the family stronghold of Ganderbal in the Valley. The defeat in Ganderbal was a lesson for Omar, who far from being disheartened by the defeat, concentrated on nurturing not only his own constituency but other parts as well in order to strengthen the party. That Omar acts from his conviction was evident in 2006, when despite the disapproval of the UPA government, he had a one-on-one meeting with the then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad. The meeting was the first of its kind between a mainstream political leader from Kashmir and the Pakistan government. Omar escaped an assassination bid in 2007 when suspected militants fired two rifle grenades targeting him when he was interacting with party workers at a NC leader’s house. He was nominated as Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 2000-2001 besides leading the Indian delegations to UNESCAP Conference in Bangkok in 2000, World Economic Summit in Rio-de-Janeiro in 2000. He was leader of Indian delegation to UN World Conference on Racism in Durban in 2001 and Haj Conference in Jeddah. Omar was also the Prime Minister‘s Special Envoy to Libya in 2001 and Panelist in the Special Economic Forum Annual meeting in New York in 2002. Married to Payal, Omar has two sons Zamir and Zahir who stood by their father during his victory run at Ganderbal on December 28 2008. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:11 pm Rupee appreciates 38 paise against dollar!The Indian rupee on Monday strengthened by 38 paise against the US dollar in early trade on hopes that stocks may open notably higher after government`s second booster package.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:09 pm Oil above $47 on MidEast tensions!Oil prices rose nearly 2 percent on Monday after an Iranian military commander reportedly called for an oil boycott over Israel`s offensive in the Gaza Strip, and on concerns over the deepening Russian gas supply row.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:09 pm Sensex opens above 10K!Sensex surged by over 171 pts in early trade on the back of second economic stimulus package.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:09 pm EU ambassadors to meet in Brussels over Russia gas supply!Official representatives of European Union member states accredited at the EU management bodies will hold an extraordinary meeting in Brussels to discuss situation with the Russian gas supplies to the EU via Ukrainian territory.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:09 pm SBI picks up 20% stake in hospitality firm Mayfair - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:09 pm Quippo merges with Tata Tele's tower arm - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:09 pm Nifty ends above 3100 led by RIL, ONGC, banking, metal - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:08 pm Russian gas to Romania remains around 30 percent down - Reuters
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:01 pm Markets rally on stimulus announcementThe government's second stimulus package announced Friday helped Indian equities markets make smart gains Monday, with a key index moving up 3.19 percent to close above the 10,000-mark.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 pm Satyam scrip pounded once againThe pounding of Satyam Computers scrip continued Monday with the stock losing 6 percent in the day's trade amid concerns that the recent Maytas deal fiasco could hit the company's new business prospects.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 pm Kingfisher launches daily Mumbai-London flight - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:59 am Stop playing divisive politics in J&K: OmarJammu: The new Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Monday cautioned political parties against playing “divisive politics” that divides people on communal or regional lines, saying it could further complicate the situation in the border state. “The state is overcoming a bad phase of divisive politics and I am sure that this phase will be over soon. There have been vested interests in the valley as well as in Jammu, who have sacrificed the interests of people over petty politics. This need to be stopped at once,” the young Abdullah told the news agency shortly after taking oath as the youngest chief minister of the state. He asked every party to stick to inclusive politics.  National Conference leader Omar Abdullah takes oath as the chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir on Monday. PTI photo “Election time is over and let us all (political parties) gracefully move forward and work for uplifting the state from the economic turmoil...we need to bring more and more industries into the state. Unemployment is a curse for the state which needs to be fought and there is no way other than providing a conducive atmosphere for investment,” Omar, who was sworn-in along with nine other ministers, said. Asked about the rationale behind his surprise meeting with rival PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, Omar said, “Why not? He is a senior politician and I wanted to seek his cooperation as a responsible opposition. I will be meeting soon other leaders of various political parties. We need to walk together.” Among the priorities before his government, Omar said he would like to focus on bringing down unemployment and eradicate corruption as this twin menace was eating into the vitals of the state. “Development has to be at the grassroot level and for this we need to have a corruption free state, come whatsoever.” In reply to a question about his government’s policies in tackling the 19-year-old militancy and separatist activities, Omar said, “those misguided youths should see the futility of violence and join the mainstream as otherwise they will face tough action from the security forces.” But while saying so, Omar said, “no security personnel will be allowed to commit any crimes or custodial killings in the name of countering militancy. Strict action will be taken not against the erring official but also against his superiors, if they fail to act in time. “People need peace. They want to earn their daily bread peacefully and do not wish to see the role of gun anywhere,” he said. Referring to separatists politics, the chief minister offered an olive branch to them asking them to understand the sentiments of the people and work for making their lives better. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:56 am BSE Sensex rallies 3.2 pct on economic stimulusMUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex rallied 3.2 percent on Monday to its highest close in two months as rate cuts and an economic package to boost faltering economic growth drove financials, cement and autos higher.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:51 am RCom launches GSM services in Punjab, J&K next - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:35 am Reliance mobile launches GSM services in PunjabReliance Communications Monday announced the launch of its GSM mobile services in Punjab, becoming the first telecom operator in the circle to have both GSM and CDMA services for mobile users.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:30 am Tata Teleservices to launch GSM services by year-endCDMA telecom service provider Tata Teleservices will roll out GSM services by the end of this year on an investment of $2 billion, the company said here Monday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:30 am Iran says Opec plans emergency meet in FebTehran: Iran’s state television says Opec countries have decided to hold an extraordinary meeting on falling oil prices in Kuwait in February. The Monday report quotes Iran’s Opec governor, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, as saying the organization planned to hold a regular meeting in March. But he says the “trend of oil prices” calls for holding a meeting a month earlier. Khatibi says the exact date for the meeting is not fixed and members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries haven’t received an invitation, yet. Iran supports a reduction of oil production to increase oil prices, which provide some 80% of its foreign revenue. The price of oil has plunged from $147 a barrel in July to around $40. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:30 am Ramadoss to seek hike in budget of anti-tobacco campaignBangalore: Union Health Minster Anbumani Ramadoss on Monday said his ministry will seek a hike in budgetary allocation for the anti-tobacco campaign and plans to use part of cess collected from tobacco sales for the purpose. Instead of focusing purely on carrot-and-stick policy to implement the no-smoking rule, the Government would seek to intensify its public awareness programme to ensure the enforcement of no-smoking rule in the country, he said. The campaign would involve a lot more enforcers in the form of members of parliament, MLAs, panchayats, teachers, among others to drive the no-smoking rule apart from punitive measures, the minister said while unveiling an anti-tobacco rally at Bangalore Medical College. “There is going to be a lot more noise made about it,” he said through school forums, NGOs and other similar forms. Currently, the budgetary allocation for anti-tobacco campaign was Rs450 crore and he would seek to increase it by another Rs100-125 crore annually to push it forward. The ministry was also planning to use part of the 5% cess collected from tobacco sale for the campaign, he said. Citing the success of the anti-smoking rule abroad, he said, “90% was achieved by public awareness and voluntary compliance and 10% by the authorities.” He hoped that the no-smoking rule in India would achieve a similar success through intensified public awareness programme, forcing smokers to give up smoking in public places rather than face the wrath of the public. He was optimistic that the campaign if sustained for another six months would yield the desired results. “It will trigger a chain reaction,” he said. The minister said tobacco killed five million world wide of which one million were Indians. A WHO survey revealed that 14.1% of 13 to 15-year-olds take to tobacco. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:27 am Quippo Tele may buy 49% in Tata Tele\'s tower armQuippo Telecom Infrastructure, or QTIL, may acquire 49% in Wireless Tata Telecom Infrastructure, reports CNBCTV18, quoting sources. It may merge its telecom assets with Wireless Tata Telecom and is likely to infuse funds in the merged entity.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:26 am Realty, infra firms say bank loans key to recoveryMUMBAI (Reuters) - Real estate and infrastructure firms do not expect the fiscal and monetary measures announced last week to help them much unless banks boost lending, improving demand in the embattled sectors.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:24 am Govt may invoke NSA against oil PSU officers on strikeNew Delhi: The Government today contemplated taking tough action, which includes invoking the National Security Act (NSA), against an ‘adamant´ union of oil PSU executives, which pressed for an indefinite strike on Wednesday and refused a dialogue on demand for higher wages. Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey wrote to PSU heads on taking stringent action under ESMA and the NSA and initiating contempt of court proceedings against the Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA) leadership, which has at least on two occasions failed to turn up for talks with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, official sources said. The Delhi High Court had stayed a strike in any of the three oil-marketing companies -- IOC, BPCL and HPCL -- while a similar stay is being sought by gas marketer GAIL India. The OSOA, led by Amit Kumar, is adamant on the strike despite the group, headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram, agreeing to give its report on officers’ demands in 30 days. As the ministry talked tough, oil PSU heads like GAIL Chairman U D Choubey appealed to officers against resorting to strike when the nation was faced with a worsening economic crisis and external threats like terrorist attacks. Sources said Pandey has asked oil PSUs to initiate disciplinary action like suspension and prepare a contingency plan to keep operations running with the help of employees who are not part of the agitation, and the Territorial Army. A strike in the oil sector can bring aviation services to a standstill within minutes and cripple auto and cooking fuel supplies if it lasts for two days. A Home Ministry circular of 1982 classified operations in oilfields and refineries, and fuel distribution as ‘essential services´ and a strike in these areas can be dealt with under the National Security Act, 1980. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:23 am Sun Pharma sends two proposals to Taro - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:21 am GE Healthcare to produce 'made in India' digital X-ray machineGE Healthcare will produce digital X-ray machines in the country in the next two to three months to penetrate deeper into the USD 30-million Indian market.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:20 am FBI to confront Pak with proof gathered in Mumbai: USNew Delhi: Piling up pressure on Pakistan, the US on Monday said an FBI team will take the evidence it has gathered in the Mumbai attacks to Islamabad and pursue the probe into the terror strike “to its conclusion”. “The FBI will pursue the evidence gathered there (in Mumbai) and they will eventually take the evidence to Pakistan because under our law, if Americans are killed, the US itself has a duty to pursue all avenues to the bottom of it,” US ambassador in Delhi David C Mulford told reporters here. “This is what the FBI is doing and will do in coming weeks and months,” he said. Noting that the US has been rallying behind India on the issue of 26 November Mumbai attacks, Mulford said Washington will pursue the investigation into the carnage to its “conclusion.” “The FBI has been in Mumbai since early December and has, I must say, been welcomed there. The level of cooperation offered to the FBI is very very significant and very much appreciated by the United States,” he said. Asked about reports that Pakistan has rejected evidence given by the FBI, Mulford evaded a direct reply. “I cannot comment on that because I don’t think the process is anyway completed,” he said. Describing the cooperation offered by India to FBI as “very very positive experience”, he said some agency officials were still in Mumbai. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:18 am TCS opens development centre in Bhubaneswar - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:16 am Satyam tumblesBANGALORE (Reuters) - Shares in Satyam Computer Services tumbled as much as 9 percent on Monday amid concern that corporate governance issues could hit new business at India's fourth-biggest software services exporter.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:13 am India signs $2.1 billion defence deal with Boeing - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:05 am Tata Tele, Quippo Telecom merges tower bizNew Delhi: Tata Teleservices on Monday merged its tower arm with Quippo Telecom, a pure play towers company, to create a Rs13,000 crore entity with 18,000 towers, making it the second largest firm in terms of number of towers. As per the terms of the partnership, Quippo telecom would hold 49% in the new entity, while Tata Teleservices’s Wireless-TT Info-Services Ltd (WTTIL) would hold the remaining. Despite a low stake, Quippo would control the management. Quippo Telecom Infrastructure (QTIL), which is a Srei Group company, would have to pay Rs2,400 crore cash upfront for 30% stake in WTTIL, while it would transfer 5,000 towers to the new company for the remaining 19% stake. The branding exercise of the new entity would take place once the merger is complete. The existing telecom tower market has seen through competition with Anil Ambani’s RCom, in which private equity investors hold 5% having 13,000 towers. Indus Towers, which is a tripartite independent venture between Bharti Airtel, Idea and Vodafone Essar, after merging their individual infrastructure assets in 16 telecom circles in India leads the pack with 70,000 towers. “This company will organically grow into an entity with over 50,000 towers by 2012. “We are confident it will hold the largest tenancy ratio in the Indian telecom space as well,” Quippo Group president and QTIL managing director Arun Kapur said. The joint entity will invest about Rs2,000 crore in 2009-10 to build 8,000-10,000 towers, Quippo Infrastructure Equipment MD Sunil Kanoria said. Quippo will have to approach the High Court for clearance of the tower demerger transaction. “The combined entity will, therefore, have a portfolio of over 18,000 towers thereby making it the largest independently managed tower company in India, with an enterprise valuation of approximately Rs13,000 crore,” Anil Sardana MD TTSL said. He said the entity would be listed at a later date. “Consolidation gives benefits of scale. Tower players must have a large portfolio of shareable towers to be able to continue in the business,” an analyst said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:05 am Tata Tele, Quippo Telecom merges tower bizNew Delhi: Tata Teleservices on Monday merged its tower arm with Quippo Telecom, a pure play towers company, to create a Rs13,000 crore entity with 18,000 towers, making it the second largest firm in terms of number of towers. As per the terms of the partnership, Quippo telecom would hold 49% in the new entity, while Tata Teleservices’s Wireless-TT Info-Services Ltd (WTTIL) would hold the remaining. Despite a low stake, Quippo would control the management. Quippo Telecom Infrastructure (QTIL), which is a Srei Group company, would have to pay Rs2,400 crore cash upfront for 30% stake in WTTIL, while it would transfer 5,000 towers to the new company for the remaining 19% stake. The branding exercise of the new entity would take place once the merger is complete. The existing telecom tower market has seen through competition with Anil Ambani’s RCom, in which private equity investors hold 5% having 13,000 towers. Indus Towers, which is a tripartite independent venture between Bharti Airtel, Idea and Vodafone Essar, after merging their individual infrastructure assets in 16 telecom circles in India leads the pack with 70,000 towers. “This company will organically grow into an entity with over 50,000 towers by 2012. “We are confident it will hold the largest tenancy ratio in the Indian telecom space as well,” Quippo Group president and QTIL managing director Arun Kapur said. The joint entity will invest about Rs2,000 crore in 2009-10 to build 8,000-10,000 towers, Quippo Infrastructure Equipment MD Sunil Kanoria said. Quippo will have to approach the High Court for clearance of the tower demerger transaction. “The combined entity will, therefore, have a portfolio of over 18,000 towers thereby making it the largest independently managed tower company in India, with an enterprise valuation of approximately Rs13,000 crore,” Anil Sardana MD TTSL said. He said the entity would be listed at a later date. “Consolidation gives benefits of scale. Tower players must have a large portfolio of shareable towers to be able to continue in the business,” an analyst said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:05 am Markets close in green, Sensex gains 317 pointsBuoyed by the government's second stimulus package announced Friday, Indian equities markets closed in the green Monday. A key index ended trade 3.36 percent higher than its previous close.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Jan 2009 | 11:01 am Omar Abdullah to go Kalam way on internetJammu: Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah hopes to take a leaf out of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s people-friendly approach by personally replying to e-mails sent by citizens having any grievances. The internet savvy 38 year old National Conference president said that he will put a system in place so that the general public could directly send him e-mails. “I will be asking my technical team to create a system whereby the general public would be ready to e-mail me their grievances directly,” Abdullah said. Abdullah is among a growing set of young Indian politicians who are active on the world wide web with social networking profiles and online portfolios used to connect mainly to the youths. For the majority of people in Jammu and Kashmir without any access to the internet, Abdullah said that he would make sure that they can write to him directly or even meet him. There willalso be a mechanism under which the pending files of people move in a timely manner. Omar’s display of oratorial skills on 22 July during the Congress’ trust vote in Parliament won him a huge fan following on the video sharing portal YouTube. He also wrote weblogs and has a profile in one of the popular social networking sites. Kalam, during his tenure as the country’s President, was known for personally replying to e-mails send to him by citizens, a large section of whom were school going students. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:59 am Omar Abdullah to go Kalam way on internetJammu: Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah hopes to take a leaf out of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s people-friendly approach by personally replying to e-mails sent by citizens having any grievances. The internet savvy 38 year old National Conference president said that he will put a system in place so that the general public could directly send him e-mails. “I will be asking my technical team to create a system whereby the general public would be ready to e-mail me their grievances directly,” Abdullah said. Abdullah is among a growing set of young Indian politicians who are active on the world wide web with social networking profiles and online portfolios used to connect mainly to the youths. For the majority of people in Jammu and Kashmir without any access to the internet, Abdullah said that he would make sure that they can write to him directly or even meet him. There willalso be a mechanism under which the pending files of people move in a timely manner. Omar’s display of oratorial skills on 22 July during the Congress’ trust vote in Parliament won him a huge fan following on the video sharing portal YouTube. He also wrote weblogs and has a profile in one of the popular social networking sites. Kalam, during his tenure as the country’s President, was known for personally replying to e-mails send to him by citizens, a large section of whom were school going students. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:59 am Tata Tele sells tower unit stake to QuippoNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Tata Teleservices has agreed to sell a 49 percent stake in its telecoms tower arm to another Indian tower firm, valuing the business at an enterprise value of 130 billion rupees ($2.7 billion).Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:51 am India signs $2.1 billion defence deal with BoeingNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has signed a $2.1 billion contract with leading U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co for naval patrol aircraft as part of an overhaul of the South Asian nation's mainly old Soviet military hardware.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:50 am Citi retains India’s growth forecast for FY09, FY10New Delhi: Citi retained its forecast for India’s economic growth in fiscal 2009 and 2010 on “positive co-ordinated measures” by the central bank and the finance ministry. “These measures are positive and we maintain our FY 2009 and FY 2010 GDP estimates of 6.8% and 5.5% respectively,” Citi said in a research note today. Since the intensification of the financial crisis in September 2008, the government has taken several monetary and fiscal measures to stem deceleration in growth. These include interest rate cuts, relaxation of external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms, increase in FII limits in corporate debt as well as sector-specific measures. “While we expect further monetary easing in the coming months, the government has said this would be its last fiscal stimulus in FY 2009,” said Citi analyst Rohini Malkani in the note. On the monetary stimulus, she said the total liquidity injected into the system since September through CRR cuts and other liquidity measures work out to over Rs3,00,000 crore. “The key is now whether and how soon the policy rate cuts and liquidity injection get translated into lower and easier credit availability to the real economy,” Malkani noted. Citi said there were “many positive measures” on the fiscal front. These are increased central government spending by Rs20,000 crore, excise cut by 4% and allowing states to raise additional borrowing to the tune of Rs30,000 crore. On other measures focused on countering recessionary trends and making external credit easier, Citi said, “An extremely positive and long-awaited move was the removal of the all-in-cost ceilings on external commercial borrowing.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:49 am Rs 25K cr not enough to boost infra: LTYM Deosthalee, CFO, LT, said Rs 25,000 crore is not sufficient to give a boost to infrastructure. According to him, financial closure is a problem, which is compounded by less liquidity, high rates. \"SMEs are borrowing money at high cost, so banks must lend more. Also, private equity players are not keen to participate in marginal projects.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:45 am Stimulus not enough to change growth outlook: Goldman SachsNew Delhi: Global financial firm Goldman Sachs said in a report that the steps announced by the government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to arrest economic slowdown will not change the growth outlook for the current fiscal, even as it felt the apex bank may go for another cut in policy rates by 50 basis points. “While we welcome these counter-cyclical measures as a timely boost to confidence, we do not think that they will materially change the growth outlook,” Goldman Sachs said in a Asia Policy Watch report. Goldman said that India’s economy is likely to expand by 6.7% in the current fiscal and 5.8% in 2009-10. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate was 9% in the previous fiscal. Noting that RBI has since October reduced key policy rates several times, the firm said that it believes that RBI will cut the repo and reverse repo rates by another 50 basis points in January to bring the corridor to 3.5-5%. As regards the cash reverse ratio, the amount that banks keep with the RBI, the central bank could reduce the ratio by another 150 basis points to inject more liquidity into the system, it added. Since October, RBI has reduced the repo rate by 3.5%, reverse repo by 2% and CRR by 4%. The report said that in the coming weeks, the banks could lower lending and deposit rates as a result of the easing money policy being followed by RBI. According to the report, the fiscal and monetary measures announced will be positive for banks, NBFCs, and infrastructure companies, and limit further downside to growth. In order to reverse the economic slowdown, the government on last Friday came up with a second stimulus package, while RBI announced cuts in key policy rates and ratios to ease liquidity situation. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:35 am Tens of thousands of truckers strikeMumbai: Tens of thousands of truckers stayed off the roads on Monday after talks with officials to cut taxes and diesel prices broke down, threatening to push up prices of food and commodities across the country. “We are on an indefinite strike until our demands are met,” said Charan Singh Lohara, president of the All India Motor Transport Congress, which says it represents 6 million trucks across the country. “The government is giving concessions and bailout packages to so many industries. Why not us, when we are struggling to repay loans with high fuel prices, high prices of tyres and numerous taxes,” he said.  News on your mobile, log on to m.livemint.com But the country’s 200,000 transport companies have been hit in recent months by a slowing economy, higher interest rates on vehicle loans and greater competition from the railways. Sales of trucks and buses at Tata Motors, India’s top vehicle maker, fell by more than half in December from a year ago. India cut prices of petrol and diesel on 8 December after crude oil tumbled, but the economy, Asia’s third largest, has shown palpable signs of slowing amid a global financial crisis, after growing at 9 percent or more in the past three years. Economists and government advisers expect expansion to moderate to around 7% this fiscal year to 31 March. Talks with the government would continue, Lohara said, but a prolonged strike could nudge up prices of fruits and vegetables and disrupt supplies of other commodities. A three-day trucker’s strike last July calling for lower road tolls and cheap diesel had pushed up prices of produce. Big retailers stocked up and made arrangements with their own fleets to ensure supplies were not hit, said Rajan Malhotra, chief executive of Big Bazaar in Mumbai. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:28 am Thousands of truckers strike over taxes, fuel costsMUMBAI (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of truckers stayed off the roads on Monday after talks with officials to cut taxes and diesel prices broke down, threatening to push up prices of food and commodities across the country.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:25 am Closing: Sensex surges by 3%, rally on stimulus packageNew Delhi: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex traded higher as strong buying continued across sectors on Monday, 6 December, boosted by twin stimulus package announced by the government and RBI on Friday. Markets opened almost 2% up, reacting positively to the economic stimulus, also higher Asian markets further influenced the buying sentiments. The 30-share BSE index retained its 10,000 level to end 3% higher at 10275.60, up by 317.38 points. The broad based 50-share index closed at 3121.45, 74.70 points higher. Metal, bank, capital goods and IT stocks led the rally with oil and gas and metal index outperforming. Stocks of ONGC gained 6.43% to Rs 723.75 and Tata Steel rose by 6.73% to Rs 245.10. Bank stocks were nudged after Reserve Bank of India announced cuts in the cash reserve ratio by 50 basis points to 5% and also reduced rates of both Repo and Reverse Repo by 100 basis points to 5.5% and 4% respectively. ICIC Bank gained the most in the sector, as much as 6.04% to Rs 499.65. Sterlite Industries was the top gainer on the BSE pack as it traded higher by 9.82% at Rs 301.95. Tata Power followed by rising 7.76% to Rs 830.15, Jaiprakash Associates by 7.49% to Rs 93.95 and Tata Steel 6.73% to Rs 245.10. Meanwhile, controversy gripped Satyam Computer Services was the top loser, down by 6% at Rs166. Asian bourses also performed higher on hopes of economic recovery with the expected economic plan by new President-elect of US, Barack Obama. Japan’s Nikkei ended at its 2-month high of 2.07% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 3% higher. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:24 am India signs deal with US for long-range maritime aircraftIn its largest defence purchase ever from the US, India has signed a deal to buy eight maritime aircraft from aerospace major Boeing.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:17 am Kanwal Rekhi on InventusThis is Kamla Bhatt. Today my guest is Kanwal Rekhi, a well known entrepreneur, mentor and now an investor. He was a private investor and for the first time he has established a fund called Inventus Capital Partners. They plan to raise $125 million. This is a cross border investment fund, and they will be investing in India. So far Inventus has raised $51 million and they plan to raise the rest of the money by end of 2008. Kamla: Welcome to the show Kanwal.  Kanwal: Thank you. Kamla: Who are the two partners in Bangalore? Kamla:Inventus...it has so many interesting possibilities. Invent US.... Kanwal: Well, the name of the fund is one of the hardest things to do. Just about every name is taken. So John (Doughery) my partner and I spent almost 2 months turning up with this name. So it was India Venture US and InventUS. It turns out that Inventus is a root word for invention in Greek. So we liked it at the end. It was a positive word and it was not taken and reflected our feelings. Kamla: What is the goal of the fund? Kanwal: I had been investing on my own in the valley since the mid-1990s. The name of the game has changed a bit as lot of stuff is happening in India. US startups usually have Indian talent and Indian entrepreneurs are becoming pretty savvy and looking at the Indian opportunities and global opportunities and our sense was that a new type of venture fund is needed which watch both sides of the India-US equation. US entrepreneurs are levering Indian talent and the Indian entrepreneurs who are looking at the global markets and Indian markets. So we thought we needed a fund with presence on both sides. We have two partners in Silicon Valley and Bangalore. Kanwal: Samir Kumar. Samir was with Wipro at one time and he has been in the investment business since 2001and Parag Dhol. Parag was most recently with Intel capital and before that he worked for GE Capital and also worked for ICICI Ventures. Kamla: What is going to be the focus of the fund? Kanwal: It’s technology focus (fund). By technology we mean technology powered companies.We are smallish fund in size. We are going to bring series A type of investors. We are not going to be able to do companies which require $20-30-40 million because that is lot of money. So our goal is to provide $1-3 million to start up mostly in software, software-enabled services and consumer stuff which is beginning to happen more and more in India. We are not going to go too far away from technology. Kamla: You made your first investment. Kanwal: Yes, we made our first investment with Telibramha. The deals have been done and money has been disbursed. Telibramha is based in Bangalore and they are a bluetooth based proximity marketing company. Proximity marketing means they will have bluetooth hotspots in shopping centers, in stadiums, in movie theatres, multiplexes and most of the telephones are bluteooth enabled. If the bluetooth phone is receptive they can send you amessage and offer you a deal on the spot. Kamla: How much money have you invested in Telibramha? Kanwal: Well, Telibramha raised $2 million from two of us. We put a million dollars and then a million dollars were put by Ojas Ventures in Bangalore. So that is the first venture money in the company (Telibrahma). The company had some money from Karnataka state, KITVEN, a State Venture Fund and they have cashed out by and large in this round. Kamla: Before we started the interview you were pointing out the reasons why you went with Telibramha. You were talking about closed garden and open garden and some of the areas that you will not invest even in the moble space. Could you expand on that? Kanwal: Well, mobile value added services has been a hot area for the last 3-4 years one but has not panned out by and large. Because the mobile carriers have not been very easy to work with and part of the reason is they have been focussed on the subscriber growth, and make sure they don’t miss out on the market and market share battles. So they have not paid attention to value added services as a revenue source yet and they are looking at maintaining their market position. Also their sense is that the small built entrepreneurs are not well prepared to provide them the full partnership. So generally speaking they have not been very good towards entrepreneurs and what what we have seen is not very satisfactory. So in this situation Telibramha does not depend upon the carriers and they are building their own bluetooth networks. Kamla: SMS is something that you are not interested? Kanwal: We are interested. SMS is expensive and GupShup has done extremely well in producing traffic. Last I knew they had not been able to monetize their traffic as yet. So they are expensive and SMS messages are expensive to send and you have to be making revenue very quickly otherwise you will be spending a lot of money. Kamla: Is Inventus going to be investing by itself or are you going to be partnering with other funds to ininvest in companies in India? Kanwal: Our preference is to syndicate and partner with other people. In a venture business, everybody is a winner and multiple VC’s come together. So what you have from an entrepreneur’s perspective are two sets of network, two sets of smarts, who are helping you and everybody is distributed even further. We have a preference and will always like to have a partner in the deals. Kamla: As someone, who is going back and forth to India very often you have seen how the start up scene has evolved in India. What is your sense, what is your read of the startup scene in India and the criticism that has often leveled that venture capitalists are not doing enough to nurture start up companies and entrepreneurs in India and mentoring is something that is required? Kanwal: We have in India now a bright entrepreneurship 3.0. So back in 1999-2000 when entrepreneurship started to happen in India, I used to think these are immature entrepreneurs, this environment is immature and I don’t think we should expect any real miracles. But I used to also say that the Indians are fast learners and they will get their fingers burnt and pretty soon some of them will start to emerge as seasoned entrepreneurs. So what you have is a pretty interesting environment, and a lot more interesting now than it was 10 years ago. See what has happened with Naukri.com, Indiabulls, they are some of the people who have emerged as successful entrepreneurs in the last 10 years and that is pretty amazing. And you have now an eco-system which is developed in major metros-in Bangalore, in Delhi, in Mumbai. We are beginning to see the Angel investors, we are beginning to see the small seed stage funds, beginning to see large funds and The Indus Entreprenuers (TiE) phenomenon is starting to repeat itself in various places. The nurturant and mentoring is always required because most of the entrepreneurs are first-time entrepreneurs and tend to come from non-business families and they need to understand the basics, the financials, how to do the income statement, how to do the balance sheets, how to value equity, how to hire a team and a lot more needs to be done. There is a lot more now that was not there 10 years ago. Kamla: You also made a very interesting observation that you usually don’t mix mentoring and investing. Kanwal: It is very hard thing to do because mentoring at least begin before you are investing, it’s a noble activity, it takes time and energ. When you mentor somebody your menti is your student, he is listening to you, he is learning from you. There is a huge potential of abuse when you tend to take advantage of the person because if you are an investor you are trying to get the best deal and if you are the mentor to someone you are trying to tell him how to get the best deal. So those two things may not likely happen together. So you know you are going to screw him or you are going to screw yourself. When I was mentoring I would not do investment in the (Silicon) Valley here. I will have somebody else become the VC, my investment should follow rather than lead. Almost all investment that I did including the one in Exodus, I mentored people and I sent them to other people for the investments. They did the negotiations and I would help them how to negotiate, wherever the deal that we are able to get through the process I would write the deal which I had not priced, which I had not done myself. Mentoring is a noble, selfless activity and investing is very much a self centred, get the best deal activity. Kamla: Who was your mentor when you were starting your company back in the 1980s? Kanwal: No, I did not have any mentors. I was learning as I went. One of the reasons is why we did The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) was it was very lonely. I had done everything from the seat of my pants and it was very very hard, very very hard. Kamla: There was nobody that you could turn to? Kanwal: No, it was very hard to turn to people because everybody believed that Indians were not entrepreneurs. Indian were not business people. Indians are techies. We should not be doing it. So as soon as you ask for help the first answer is why are you doing this? You are not supposed to be doing this you are supposed to be a good designer, a good programmer, a good engineer and so there was a lack of belief in us. As soon as you ask for help you have proving the point that they were making . So it was very very tough at that time. Kamla: When do you think that change came about in the valley and elsewhere that Indians were no longer techies, but they were also capable of running companies? Kanwal: Several of us have done well like Suhas Patil, Prabhu (Goel), and myself in the 1980s. So there was a sense that Indians can do entrepreneurship, but there was also a sense that it may be few of them who are exceptions rather than rule that Indians can do also (entrepreneurship). It was in the mid to late 1990s when the TIE phenomenon started to happen when the number of Indians believing in entrepreneurs started to mushroom. By mid to late 1990s it was a very well-established and the Indians were very good the entrepreneurs. Kamla: Do you think it is hard to be an investor today because there is so much happening around the world? The world is in transition at so many different levels, people are talking that finally may be convergence has arrived. What is your take? Kanwal: It is hard to be invested today because there is a lot of competition. But a good venture capitalist and angel investor will obviously do well because there is so much happening out there and you can pick and choose. You have to become a little bit more disciplined. Just to give you the math of it of the 1 to 2% of the population who start out in the population will succeed as an entrepreneur. So 98-99% chance is that average person who approaches you is going to fail as an entrepreneur. So you have to find ways to improve your odds from 1-2% to 10-20% and that means you will have to say no to the 90% of the people you see right away. And that will improve your odds from 1-2% to 10-20% and those are very good odds for the venture capitalist. You learned to become very disciplined in saying no. You were listening to Kanwal Rekhi. Tune back in for Part-2 of the interview where Kanwal talks about his failures and success and growing up in India. This is Kamla Bhatt. This interview was produced in association with LiveMint Radio. And, as always thank you for tuning in. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:01 am Mobile cos asked to freeze phones without IMEI numberThe Uttar Pradesh police has warned mobile companies operating in the state to freeze the hand sets especially the Chinese ones, which do not have the IMEI number.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 10:01 am Markets extend lead in afternoon tradeIndian equities markets gained in afternoon trade Monday with a key index trading 2.02 percent higher than its previous close, two hours before the closing bell.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Jan 2009 | 9:32 am Edible oil deficit to grow 73 percent by 2020: AssochamIndia's edible oil deficit is expected to widen by 73.5 percent by 2020 to more than 8.1 million tonnes a year from the current 4.71 million tonnes, said an industry lobby report, released here Monday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Jan 2009 | 9:30 am India econ package to give short-term boost - BNP ParibasMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's second fiscal stimulus package within a month is expected to provide a short-term boost to the markets, BNP Paribas Securities India said in a note on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 9:20 am Tata Tele to launch GSM services soonNew Delhi: Tata Teleservices on Monday said it will launch GSM service shortly, thereby following in the footsteps of Reliance Communications, which got into the arena last week, the first company in the country to be operating both in the CDMA and GSM fields. “We will start our GSM services soon. We have got spectrum in 13 circles in one or two months. We expect to get spectrum in all the circles barring one or two,” TTSL managing director Anil Sardana said. RCom has launched GSM services in 11,000 towns, which would be extended to 22,000 towns in the next few months. TTSL currently has a subscriber base of 32 million. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 9:19 am Dabur to open new stores, scales down store sizeNew Delhi: FMCG major Dabur India is back on its retail expansion track with scaled-down store sizes after curtailing its growth due to high estate prices. The company has scaled down the size of the stores to 700-1,200 sq ft from its originally planned size of 1,500-6,000 sq ft, besides removing its pharmacy section. Dabur India had decided to hold the expansion plan of its retail arm as it aimed to capitalise more from further slide in retail rentals that the company is expecting. Launching its first outlet in the captital this week, the new store would sell its beauty and baby-care products, fashion accessories and other merchandise products. However, it would no longer retail its prescription medicines. “In the health market, the stores will now stock only OTC products and not prescription medicines as was available in the previous avatar,” the company said. Besides, Dabur has entered into an agreement with Moda of Turkey and QVS of Australia, under which the two companies would sell their products through the new stores. On its tie-up with international brands, Dabur said the company has offered them “a springboard into the Indian market through Newu”. “With this, the company is confident of achieving quicker store turnarounds,” it added. Besides, the company also said it is yet to appoint a successor to Peter Baker, the ex-CEO of Newu. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 9:02 am Daiichi says Ranbaxy acquisition will hit its bottomlineJapanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo will take a hit on its books owing to its acquisition of Indian pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy Laboratories, a Daiichi company statement said Monday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Jan 2009 | 9:00 am Gap between rail, air fares narrowingThe latest fare reduction announced by the domestic airline industry has further narrowed the gap between rail and air fares, especially between cities that are more than 750 km apart.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jan 2009 | 8:54 am Tata, Kolkata firm form new telecom infrastructure companyTata Teleservices, the country's leading CDMA telecom services provider, and Kolkata-based Quippo Telecom Infrastructure, Monday announced the merger of their infrastructure businesses to create an independent telecom infrastructure company.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Jan 2009 | 8:32 am Sony may announce drastic cost cuts - mediaTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp is likely to announce closures of Japanese factories and major divisions early next month, the Times of London said on Monday, but the company denied any such plan existed.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 8:22 am Markets rise on basis of second stimulus packageIndian equities markets were trading in the green early Monday afternoon on the strength of the second economic stimulus package announced by the government Friday. The Sensex was more than two percent above its previous close.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Jan 2009 | 8:04 am Daiichi to book $3.9 bln loss on Ranbaxy stakeTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's third-largest drugmaker, Daiichi Sankyo Co, said on Monday it would book an appraisal loss of 359.5 billion yen ($3.9 billion) on a parent-company basis on its stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 7:48 am India gives evidence to Pak on Mumbai terror attacksNew Delhi: India on Monday handed over to Pakistan evidence about involvement of elements based in that country in the Mumbai terror attacks and asked Islamabad to implement its commitments. Stepping up the diplomatic offensive, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said he has written to his counterparts around the world and that countries are being briefed separately giving details of the Mumbai attacks and its links in Pakistan. “We have today handed over to Pakistan evidence of the links with elements in Pakistan of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008,” Mukherjee told reporters here. Pakistan high commissioner Shahid Malik was summoned by foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon to hand over the material. Describing the Mumbai attacks as “unpardonable crime”, Mukherjee asked Pakistan to implement the bilateral commitments it has made at the highest levels to India and practice its international obligations. The evidence includes confession of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone Pakistani terrorist held during Mumbai terror strikes, records of GPS and satellite phones used by the attackers and transcript of conversations between the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan.  News on your mobile, log on to m.livemint.com “This material is linked to elements in Pakistan. It is our expectation that the government of Pakistan will promptly undertake further investigations in Pakistan and share the results with us so as to bring the perpetrators to justice,” the ministry of external affairs said in a statement. “We are also briefing all our friendly countries,” the external affairs minister said. “I have written to my counterparts around the world giving them details of the events in Mumbai and describing in some detail the progress that we have made in our investigations and the evidence that we have collected,” Mukherjee said. The external affairs ministry will also be briefing all heads of missions based here by tomorrow. Indian ambassadors and high commissioners will be doing the same in their host countries, he said. “It is my hope that the world will unite to achieve the goal of eliminating the threat of such terrorism,” Mukherjee said. India hoped that Pakistan will implement its “bilateral, multilateral and international obligations to prevent terrorism in any manner from territory under its control”. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 7:44 am Satyam dips 4% amid merger talks; HCL, MindTree move upSatyam Computer dipped on the bourses amid reports that its management and institutional investors are exploring a merger with another software company.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 7:22 am Commodity prices likely to go up on transporters' strikeTransporters have demanded that the government introduce a bailout package for the sector to address issues of high price of diesel, tyres, and permits.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jan 2009 | 7:21 am Satyam explores possible merger: paperMumbai: Satyam Computer Services’ management and some funds have approached two smaller rivals about a merger to fend off any possible hostile bid for India’s fourth-biggest software services exporter, the Business Standard said on Monday, but one of the firms said it was not interested. Citing investment banking sources, the newspaper said Satyam held talks with HCL Technologies, which recently bought British consultancy Axon, and MindTree Ltd about a possible merger. Bangalore-based MindTree said it was not interested. ”There’s no interest from our side. Let me tell you, there is minus interest from us on this idea,” Ashok Soota, executive chairman at MindTree, told Reuters by telephone. A spokesman for HCL, based in New Delhi, said the report was speculative. Officials at Satyam, which is also listed in New York, could not immediately be reached for comment. Speculation about a bid for, or management changes at, Satyam has been mounting since a botched attempt last month by the firm to buy two infrastructure firms in which its management had stakes. Satyam reversed the decision after shareholders protested, but its shares have slumped by more than a fifth since then and four independent directors have resigned. The outsourcer said on Friday that the holding of its founders had fallen by a third to 5.13% and analysts said this made Satyam a more attractive target for private equity or global information technology firms. Satyam has hired the local unit of Merrill Lynch to review ways to enhance shareholder value, and its board is scheduled to meet on 10 January to consider options, including a share buyback. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 6:41 am Samsung says no decision yet on chip investment planSeoul: Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of memory chips, denied a report saying it may cut its 2009 investment in semiconductors by more than half from last year amid a lingering downturn. Samsung may invest only 2 trillion-3 trillion won ($1.5 billion-$2.3 billion) in semiconductors this year, down from 6.2 trillion won last year, the Korea Times reported on Monday, citing company sources. Samsung denied the report. “At this point, we have not made any decisions on our investment plan, and even if we had a plan it would be contingent on different economic scenarios that will be possible during this year,” Chu-Woo-sik, Samsung’s executive vice president of investor relations, told Reuters. According to Samsung, the last time investment in semiconductors dropped to the 2 trillion won level was 2002, in the aftermath of a major downturn in the memory chip sector. The South Korean electronics giant said at a forum in December that capital expenditure would drop to 7 trillion-8 trillion won in 2009 from an expected 10 trillion won in 2008. “Overcapacity, rising inventories, slumping demand and a sharp fall in chip prices are forcing the company to slash investment,” an unnamed Samsung source was quoted as saying. Memory chip makers worldwide are being forced to cut output and reduce investment as they struggle under a prolonged slump that many have described as the worst ever in the industry. Samsung’s home rival Hynix Semiconductor Inc received some $600 million in emergency funding from its shareholders while German chip maker Qimonda also recently resorted to a €325 million ($452 million) loan and optional federal aid for survival. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 6:13 am Samsung to unveil word’s slimmest TVSeoul: South Korea’s Samsung Electronics on Monday unveiled what it says is the world’s slimmest LCD (liquid crystal display) TV. The new product, measuring only 6.5 millimetres (0.26 inch) thick, is thinner than any other existing TV set, and even slimmer than most mobile handsets, Samsung said in a statement. Its thickness is one seventh of Samsung’s “Bordeaux 850” LCD TVs, which is currently the thinnest in the market, the company said. The new product, which adopts an LED (light emitting diode) backlighting system, will be on display at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 6:09 am Madoff victims selling memorabilia on eBayNew York: Former employees and clients of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff are hoping to recoup some of their losses by selling Madoff memorabilia on the Internet. Madoff was arrested in December 2008 after allegedly telling investigators he had lost as much as $50 billion in client money in a giant Ponzi scheme. He had put his investment firm’s name on hats, T-shirts, beach towels and umbrellas. Dozens of the keepsakes are now being offered on the Internet auction site eBay. Some of the sellers say they’re former clients and employees. Others, like reseller John Mitchell, hawked a humidor bearing Madoff’s name. “I find these things and then I resell them,” Mitchell, of Fox Grove, Illinois, said on Sunday. He said he bought the humidor from the manufacturer before it ever made it to Madoff’s firm. Mitchell said he also sold Lehman Brothers items after the firm declared bankruptcy in September. “People are buying that stuff,” he said. “It’s sad, but it’s still humorous.” Other Madoff items for sale on eBay include insulated coolers, binoculars, golf caps and flashlights. Several eBay postings are prodding buyers to “own a piece of history!” The Madoff name wasn’t fetching top dollar on the Internet. Bidding for many items didn’t rise above $50. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 5:41 am Sensex earnings set for quarterly dip: Morgan StanleyMumbai: The BSE Sensex earnings are set for their first quarterly drop in the three months to end-December, since the data was first made available in 1999, Morgan Stanley said in a research note. “By our analysts’ estimates, the BSE Sensex earnings will drop 0.2% year-on-year compared with a growth of 5.5% and 20% in the September 2008 and June 2008 quarters, respectively,” the brokerage said. A compression in EBITDA margins will likely offset revenue growth, analysts Sheela Rathi and Ridham Desai said in the research note. They expect revenue growth at 14%, excluding the energy sector, and 7% including it. The cycle of negative operating leverage, deceleration in net financial income and profit growth will continue and may lead to more negative earnings revisions, Morgan Stanley explained in its earnings preview. “If earnings fall for the coming quarters, it should surprise nobody,” the note said. The brokerage expects EBITDA margins will likely rise for healthcare, energy, and technology companies, while those of materials, industrials, utilities, and consumer discretionary goods companies may see a sharp fall. The strongest growth is likely in technology, telecom, healthcare, consumer staples, and financials, it said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 5:40 am Japanese firm loses $3 bn on Ranbaxy: paperTokyo: Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd is expected to book more than ¥300 billion ($3.3 billion) in losses stemming from the fall in the stock price of its Indian unit Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday. The large valuation losses would likely force Daiichi Sankyo to post a net loss of about ¥200 billion yen, its first-ever net loss, for the year ending in March, the Nikkei said. The company bought Ranbaxy in November for about ¥490 billion, and the sharp fall in Indian drugmaker’s share price since then is likely to result in a writedown of about ¥300 billion on Daiichi Sankyo’s earnings for the nine months ended in December, the paper said. The firm, which has forecast a net profit of ¥65 billion for the current business year, is expected to announce the valuation loss this week, the Nikkei said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 4:55 am Japanese firm loses $3 bn on Ranbaxy: paperTokyo: Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd is expected to book more than ¥300 billion ($3.3 billion) in losses stemming from the fall in the stock price of its Indian unit Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday. The large valuation losses would likely force Daiichi Sankyo to post a net loss of about ¥200 billion yen, its first-ever net loss, for the year ending in March, the Nikkei said. The company bought Ranbaxy in November for about ¥490 billion, and the sharp fall in Indian drugmaker’s share price since then is likely to result in a writedown of about ¥300 billion on Daiichi Sankyo’s earnings for the nine months ended in December, the paper said. The firm, which has forecast a net profit of ¥65 billion for the current business year, is expected to announce the valuation loss this week, the Nikkei said. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 4:55 am Japan races to build a zero-emission carTokyo: Please erase your image of electric cars being like golf carts,” a spokesman for Japan’s fourth-biggest automaker said before taking a zero-emission vehicle out for a spin. As mass-produced electric cars come closer to reality, their makers are trying to polish the image of what experts say could be a hard sell in the current recession. “It’s fast, powerful and smooth,” Mitsubishi Motors Corp. spokesman Kai Inada said of the iMiEV electric car, which is due to be launched next year. Zero-emission vehicles may not be a novel concept for long. Japanese carmakers are racing to develop electric cars, and US and European manufacturers have also announced plans to roll them out within a few years. The dream of an electric car, which has been around since the time of Thomas Edison, has so far failed to break into the mainstream because of limited battery life that makes such vehicles impractical for most purposes. But after technological breakthroughs in the development of long-lasting lithium-ion batteries, soon it may not just be Hollywood stars who are zipping around in zero-emission automobiles. Mitsubishi’s electric car now runs 160 kilometres (100 miles) on one charge, which takes 14 hours when using a conventional 100 volt outlet on the wall, or 30 minutes to charge 80% of the battery using a special quick charger. With the help of government subsidies, Mitsubishi Motors aims to sell its iMiEV at a price of less than three million yen (30,000 dollars) as early as 2010. “The price and the short mileage per charge are the two biggest challenges we must address,” admitted Kazuhiro Yamana, head of Mitsubishi’s public relations department. Nissan Motor Co. aims to start selling an electric car in the United States and Japan in 2010 and the rest of the world in 2012. Other Japanese automakers have been working to create fuel cell cars, which produce electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, with water the only by-product. Fuel cell cars have a number of advantages over electric cars, said Honda Motor Co. engineer Michio Shinohara. Honda began selling the latest FCX Clarity in the United States in July, with the first five cars to be delivered to celebrities including film producer Ron Yerxa and actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Toyota Motor Corp., which has already won strong interest in its petrol-electric hybrids, is developing a range of fuel cell, electric and other clean cars that run on biofuel or clean diesel. Toyota says its fuel cell car FCHV-adv can travel 830 kilometres on a full tank of hydrogen, but it may not see mass production until 2016. Fuel cell vehicles belch out none of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, but their high cost and a lack of hydrogen refueling stations pose obstacles to mainstream use. So far, the government-backed Japan Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Demonstration Project has constructed 12 hydrogen stations nationwide, with plans to build more stations for commercial use from 2015. But experts question how much interest there will be for electric cars while the economy is in the doldrums. Longer term, green cars may be necessary lineups for carmakers because of regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, Endo said. “Green cars would be more sellable if the world economy recovers, which would lead to a surge in gasoline prices and generous government subsidies to purchase of green cars.” Japanese automakers have enjoyed brisk demand for their smaller, fuel efficient cars in recent years. The ailing Big Three US automakers - General Motors, Ford and Chrysler - meanwhile have faced criticism in Washington for being too slow to shift their focus from gas-guzzling SUVs. But even Japanese automakers still have more work to do before fuel-cell or electric vehicles are completely environmentally friendly. While fuel cell or electric vehicles emit no carbon dioxide themselves, CO2 is produced when hydrogen or electricity is produced from fossil fuels. Honda Motor has been conducting research into hydrogen generation from solar power since 2001, but only at an experimental level. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 5 Jan 2009 | 4:00 am Stimulus package a drop in the oceanNew Delhi, Jan. 4 The Friday Stimulus from the central bank and the Union Government, designed to pep up the spirit and revive activity amid the concerns over anaemic growth prospects for the global economy, coupled with the December 7, 2008Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Commodity outlook may turn positive in H2In 2008, commodity markets witnessed extraordinary volatility between the two extremes of the price spectrum. First, a huge bull run took prices of a wide range of commodities - energy products, precious metals, base metals, industrial metals,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am SREI Infrastructure Fin (Rs 46.10): BuyWe recommend a buy in SREI Infrastructure Finance stock from a short-term trading perspective. It is evident from the charts of this stock that it was on an intermediate-term downtrend from August 2008 high to early December 2008 low (from Rs 130Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Indices may move in a rangeThe second economic booster package has been rolled out on Friday. Theoretically, it should increase spending and demand for borrowing. It should also have a positive impact on the market sentiment this week, at least on the opening. TradingSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Ceiling on insurance cos’ management expenses may goBangalore, Jan. 4 The Ministry of Finance has proposed removal of the statutory ceiling on management expenses of all the insurance companies in theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Shipping lines buffeted by ill windsReports have it that foreign container lines serving Indian ports have not been doing too well for the past three months or so. The global meltdown is taking its toll on the country’s import and exports.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Comex gold futures to rise againGold futures ended marginally lower on Friday due to a strengthening dollar. However, firm physical demand and geopolitical tensions are expected to underpin gold futures. The other main external influence on gold was crude oil, which reversedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Timeshare: Recession no deterrentMumbai, Jan. 4 At a time when the travel and tourism industry is going through a solemn phase, one of its segments, the timeshare industry, seems recession-proof.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Non-domestic LPG cylinders likely to cost moreNew Delhi, Jan. 4 After witnessing a significant drop in rates, consumers of non-domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) may have to pay a marginally higher price for the product inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am An undercover economist on sex, logic & lifeWhen you meet such a guy, you say he is different. Meet Tim Harford, a Financial Times columnist and author of The Logic of Life and The Undercover Economist.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Jan 2009 | 10:29 pm Can't find a job? Study further, IIT-B tells gradsThe premier institute has offered BTech/dual degree (equivalent to master's) students the option of taking up master's or research degrees.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Jan 2009 | 10:28 pm After stimulus, Dalal Street clamours for fuel price cutsCars got some new paint, roads some repair. Market now wants some cheap fuel for a cruise. The Street is looking forward to a cut in petrol and diesel prices.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Jan 2009 | 10:21 pm Market rally faces its first New Year testWall Street's bid to rally from its worst year since the 1930s will be tested this week by the year's first wave possible roadblocks to Obama's stimulus plan.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Jan 2009 | 10:19 pm Buying options is the retail strategy nowMonal Desai talks about buying options and investing. Desai has been in the Indian derivatives market since its inception in 2000.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Jan 2009 | 10:15 pm Delhi, Mumbai airports seek to double terror coverThe countrys two largest airports Delhi and Mumbai are looking to double the terrorism insurance cover but face the prospect of paying higher premiums because of rising threatSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Jan 2009 | 6:57 pm Export growth to decline for the third month in a rowIndian exports are likely to record a dip for the third consecutive month in December 2008, contributing to the first quarterly drop in more than seven years, with recession causing overseas buyers,Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Jan 2009 | 6:56 pm Obama considers major expansion in jobless aidChicago: President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are considering major expansions of government-assisted health care insurance and unemployment compensation as they begin intensive work this week on a two-year economic recovery package. One proposal, as described by Democratic advisers, would extend unemployment compensation to part-time workers, an idea that congressional Republicans have blocked in the past.  Policy change: Barack Obama intends to push his promised American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. Gerald Herbert /AP The proposals indicate the sorts of potentially long-range changes that Obama intends to push in his promised American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, as he named it in his weekly Saturday address on the radio and YouTube. They will be combined with one-time measures that are more typical of federal stimulus packages to jump-start a weak economy, such as spending for roads and other job-creating public works projects. As the economy worsened in the weeks after Obama’s election, advisers and congressional leaders suggested that a stimulus plan would be ready by the new year for House votes this week. But the House is not expected to vote until next week at the earliest, which likely will push final action into February, Democratic aides said. The aides said delays probably were inevitable given the holiday interruptions, the big ambitions of the undertaking and internal tensions over the plan’s components and their costs. Obama advisers have said the package would carry a total cost of at least $775 billion. They concede that it is likely to grow in Congress, but both Obama and congressional leaders are intent on keeping the price tag below the politically charged figure of $1 trillion. In his address on Saturday, Obama, fresh from a two-week vacation, also announced that, as expected, he would begin meeting in Washington on Monday with congressional leaders of both parties in a bid for bipartisan cooperation. Obama has vowed to “create or save” three million jobs over the next two years—a goal that many economists consider unattainable under current conditions. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 4 Jan 2009 | 4:17 pm NASA robots mark five years on MarsWashington: The US space agency’s Mars rovers—Spirit and Opportunity—this month mark their fifth anniversary on the red planet, where they have endured harsh conditions and revealed a deluge of information. The journey has turned into humanity’s first overland expedition on another planet The twin robots, which landed on Mars three weeks apart in January 2004, were initially expected to have just 90-day missions, but have since sent back a quarter-million images, toured mountains and craters and survived violent storms. “The American taxpayer was told three months for each rover was the prime mission plan. The twins have worked almost 20 times that long,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) assistant administrator Ed Weiler said in a statement. The rovers, which along with 250,000 images have sent back to earth some 36 gigabytes of data, have greatly advanced Nasa’s understanding of Mars’ geology, including peeks into the its wet and habitable past. Analysts say the wealth of information will keep scientists busy for years as they further unravel the vast banks of data. Since 2004 the machines have covered 21km of Mars’ red rock desert, driving inch by inch to avoid chasms and rocky obstacles, picking up samples and snapping images to beam back to earth. “These rovers are incredibly resilient considering the extreme environment the hardware experiences every day,” said John Callas, project manager for the rovers. “We realize that a major rover component on either vehicle could fail at any time and end a mission with no advance notice, but on the other hand, we could accomplish the equivalent duration of four more prime missions on each rover in the year ahead.” While the machines have had relatively balmy 20 degrees Celsius summers, they have had to endure frigid extremes, where temperatures of minus 100 degrees Celsius in winter are common. Harsh Martian winds, however, have provided an occasional cleaning job to the rovers’ solar panels—critical instruments to power the machines. This unconventional aid, however, has not been reliable, with the Spirit machine’s panels hardly clear enough to survive its third southern hemisphere winter, which ended in December. Although the $820 million (Rs4,010 crore) project’s mission began as scientific, it has become something much larger, according to Steve Squyres of Cornell University, the mission’s principal investigator. The journeys “have led to something else important”, he said. “This has turned into humanity’s first overland expedition on another planet.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Jan 2009 | 4:06 pm ‘Gold rush’ for lead from car batteries poisons Senegal townThiaroye Sur Mer, Senegal: First, it took the animals. Goats fell silent and refused to stand up. Chickens died en masse. Street dogs disappeared. Then it took the children. Toddlers stopped talking and their legs gave out. Women birthed stillborns. Infants withered and died. The mysterious illness killed 18 children in this town on the fringes of Dakar, Senegal’s capital, before anyone in the outside world noticed. When they did—when the TV news aired parents’ angry pleas for an investigation, when the doctors ordered more tests, when the West sent health experts—they did not find malaria, or polio, or AIDS, or any of the diseases that kill the poor of Africa. They found lead. The dirt here is laced with lead left over from years of extracting it from old car batteries. So when the price of lead quadrupled over five years, residents started digging up the earth to get at it. The World Health Organization says the area is still contaminated, 10 months after a government clean-up. The tragedy gives a glimpse at how the globalization of a tool—the car battery—can wreak havoc in the developing world. As the demand for cars has increased, so has the demand for lead-acid car batteries. About 70% of the lead manufactured worldwide goes into car batteries. Both the manufacturing and the recycling of these batteries has moved mostly to developing countries. Between 2005 and 2006, four waves of lead poisoning involving batteries were reported in China. And in the Vietnamese village of Dong Mai, lead smelting left 500 people with chronic illnesses and 25 children with brain damage, according to San Francisco-based OK International, which works on environmental standards for battery making. For years, Thiaroye Sur Mer’s blacksmiths extracted lead and remoulded it into weights for fishing nets. This left the dirt of Thiaroye dense with small lead particles. Then the price of lead climbed, and traders from India came and offered to buy bits of lead by the bag for 60 cents a kg, says Coumba Diaw, a middle-aged mother of two. So Diaw dug up the dirt with a shovel and carried bags of it back to her house. It took just an hour of sifting to make what she did in a day of selling vegetables at the market. She kept her two daughters nearby as she worked. Women all over the neighbourhood did the same, creating clouds of lead. Then the sicknesses started. The deaths came, one after another, over the five months through March. In richer countries, recycling of lead batteries is regulated. “It’s when you get to Third World countries where you don’t have regulations or attempts to control the movement of this product that you see these kind of tragedies occurring,” says Maurice Desmarais, executive director of Battery Council International, a US-based trade group. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Jan 2009 | 4:05 pm World’s top gadget show gets online persona tooSan Francisco: Smart gadgets, lifelike video and pocket versions of laptop computers are expected to be Consumer Electronics Show (CES) stars as the annual extravaganza follows its gizmos onto the Web.  New tune: This 6 January 2008 photo shows guitarist Slash (left) with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates at the CES in Las Vegas. Microsoft may use this year’s show to launch its Windows 7 operating system. Paul Sakuma / AP Added to the mix will be studios that make films, TV shows, and music delivered digitally to devices increasingly tied to the Internet. CES itself is not immune to online trends driving much of the technology it spotlights. For the first time, CES has its own profile page on hot social-networking website Facebook and a team will fire off curt show floor revelations in the form of “tweets” on micro-blogging service Twitter. A CES video team will rove the event feeding content for its own YouTube channel. “We are a technology trade show and this is how our attendees are communicating with each other,” said CES spokeswoman Tara Dunion. “We are getting our perspective out there as to what we find interesting, and getting feedback.” CES is known as a place for deal making as well as promoting hot new gadgets. “CES is the place where the global technology industry comes together,” Dunion said. “Even though consumer is in the name it is really more tech oriented.” Rumours regarding CES announcements include word that Microsoft Corp. might unveil a revamped Zune in a bid to knock Apple’s iPod from its throne atop the MP3 player market. Palm Inc. is expected to introduce an overhauled operating system in what could be a last-ditch effort to reclaim former glory. “A big thing will be the launch of Palm’s new Nova,” said analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group in Silicon Valley. “It could be a swan song for Palm or the rebirth of the company.” Cable TV equipment supplier Digeo is also under pressure to deliver on an innovative digital media recorder that links to Internet services and TVs, according to NPD analyst Ross Rubin. Microsoft is likely to use CES for a “coming out party” for a Windows 7 operating system to succeed Vista, according to Enderle. Frugality in the marketplace and growing trust in using programmes as services on the Internet instead of loading software into computers should fuel fiery competition in netbooks, mini laptops designed essentially for getting online. “On the PC side, CES is going to be a netbook love fest,” Enderle said. “Apple may have something online and Google is doing something,” he said. “The expectation is that Google has its own PC platform coming and will throw it on a netbook—they want everything to be online and the netbook leans itself better to Google than to Microsoft and Apple.” Analysts said CES should also feature the introduction of a new mobile phone based on the Android open source platform promoted by Google. US firm T-Mobile launched the first “Google phone” in 2008. Dunion said “uber themes” at CES are likely to include green technology trimming power needs of gadgets while employing more recyclable and non-toxic materials in construction. TV screens ideal for home theatres and rich graphics will once again get high-profile at CES. Increasingly sophisticated pixel qualities should set the stage for a surge in 3D viewing experiences. “We really think next year 3D is going to really take off,” said Ujesh Desai, a GeForce vice-president at premier graphics chip-making firm Nvidia Corp. Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp. is backing a first ever national broadcast of a US college football game in 3D using the technology of Cinedigm and 3ality. “The biggest thing I see is the consumers expect high-definition entertainment,” said Hewlett Packard Co. marketing executive John Cook. While TVs are routinely a central theme at CES, the emphasis should be heightened this time by a mandated switch from analogue to exclusively digital broadcasting in the US in February. Support for Blu-ray high-definition DVD technology has gained momentum since the Sony-backed technology was declared winner of its format war with Toshiba Corp.’s HD-DVD systems at CES last year, according to analysts. The result could be more manufacturers leaping into the Blu-ray arena. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Jan 2009 | 4:05 pm US job losses in 2008 may be worst since 1945Washington: The US economy probably lost more jobs in 2008 than in any year since the end of World War II as firings rippled from home builders and auto makers to banks and retailers, a government report may show this week. Payrolls fell 500,000 in December, bringing last year’s decline to 2.4 million, the most since 1945, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of Labor Department figures due 9 January. The unemployment rate likely jumped to the highest since 1993. The figures will underscore the urgency behind President- elect Barack Obama’s plan to pass a stimulus package that will create jobs and mitigate the recession, already the longest in 25 years. Other reports may show slumps in housing, manufacturing and service industries deepened at the end of last year, setting the stage for more weakness in 2009. “We’re continuing to lose massive amounts of jobs, said Michael Feroli,” an economist at JPMorgan Chase and Co. in New York. The negative momentum carrying over into the first half of 2009 will hold down the economy regardless of policy. The jobless rate probably climbed to 7% in December from 6.7% the prior month, according to the survey median. Manufacturers probably cut 103,000 workers from payrolls, the report may also show. Factories, which make up 12% of the economy, shrank in December at the fastest pace in 28 years as new orders for products from cars to furniture reached the lowest level since records began in 1948, the Institute for Supply Management reported last week. The Bush administration agreed last month to give General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Llc. $13.4 billion in federal loans to avert bankruptcy. GM, whose shares slid 87% in 2008—the most among the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average—and Chrysler probably led a drop in December US auto sales that capped the industry’s worst year since 1992, according to the average forecast of analysts surveyed. The Tempe, Arizona-based ISM’s report on services, covering the rest of the economy, is due 6 January. That index likely dropped in December to the lowest level since records began in 1997, the survey showed, as Americans cut back during what may have been the worst holiday shopping season in four decades of record keeping. Electronic Arts Inc., the second biggest video game publisher, last month boosted planned job cuts to 1,000, or 10% of its workforce, and said it will consolidate or close at least nine studio and publishing locations. Labour market conditions have deteriorated, Federal Reserve policymakers said last month when they cut the benchmark interest rate target to as low as zero. The central bank also has said it will buy debt as the next step in combating the recession, now in its 13th month. Minutes of the Fed’s 16 December meeting will be released on 6 January. Obama has pledged to invest in roads, schools and the US energy network, something akin to the 1950s-era interstate highway construction boom. The package, aiming to create or save three million jobs, may be worth about $850 billion. The economy is still weighed down by housing, which is sliding into a fourth year of decline as foreclosures mount, prices drop and some buyers have trouble getting financing. Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy previously owned homes in November, a report from the National Association of Realtors on 6 January may show. A decline would be the fourth in the past five months. On Monday, a commerce department report may show construction spending fell 1.3% in November after dropping 1.2% the prior month, according to the median forecast. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 4 Jan 2009 | 3:39 pm
|
