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Opec may meet early if oil drops below $40 a barrelLuanda: The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or Opec, could meet before March if Brent crude oil prices fall to below $40 (Rs1,968) per barrel, the group’s president was cited by Angolan weekly newspaper O Pais as saying. Although Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos said he only expected the next gathering of the 12-member Opec to take place, as planned, in Vienna on 15 March, he added the group could meet sooner if oil prices suddenly dropped. Asked whether a fall in the price of Brent crude to below $45 per barrel would trigger an early Opec meeting, he said, “We admit it could happen if (oil prices) drop below $40.”  What next? A December photo of Opec delegates in Oran, Algeria. The group may cut production again if crude prices fall further. Antoine Antoniol / Bloomberg Fuel demand in the US, the world’s biggest oil-consuming country, averaged 19.4 mbpd during the four weeks ended 16 January, down 4.7% from a year earlier, Thursday’s Energy Department report showed. The latest cut helped prices recover from recent lows on Friday, although prices remain much below the head of Opec’s 2009 target of $75 per barrel—a price Botelho de Vasconcelos says is necessary for oil exploration to be viable. London Brent rose $2.98 to $48.37 a barrel on Friday and US crude settled up 2.80% at $46.47. “A reference price of $75 per barrel enables us to maintain and develop our activity and turn medium-to-long-term projects viable,” Botelho de Vasconcelos, who is also the Angolan oil minister, said. Asked if Opec would carry out more cuts if prices did not reach $75 per barrel in March, he replied, “We could continue to carry out more cuts.” He added that other major oil-producing countries, such as Russia, Azerbaijan and Norway, which don’t belong to Opec, were welcome to join as this would increase the impact of the decisions taken by the cartel. “They have been invited. They have participated (in Opec meetings). It is in the interest of everyone that oil prices reach a certain level,” he said. feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 3:53 pm Tata Steel's Corus to cut up to 3,500 jobs - reportLONDON (Reuters) - Steelmaker Corus is poised to axe up to 3,500 jobs next week, The Sunday Times reported.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 3:37 pm Obama aide won't rule out more money for bailoutsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top economic adviser would not rule out on Sunday that more money may be needed to stabilize the U.S. financial system as a deep recession increases banks' losses.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 3:33 pm IMF to cut global growth forecast further - officialABU DHABI (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will cut its 2009 global growth forecast again, this time to between 1 percent and 1.5 percent, as economic conditions deteriorate further, an IMF official said on Sunday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 3:26 pm Unilever Dec qtr net profit dips 2.2 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's biggest consumer goods maker Hindustan Unilever Ltd met forecasts with a 2.2 percent dip in quarterly profit, as strong sales in some segments was offset by a slowdown in others.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:56 pm Surprises in 550 sq ftSet in the quiet seaview end of a Mumbai suburb, this small studio apartment does justice to its owner: a water-loving globetrotter and an artist. Designer Shabnam Gupta seems to have taken inspiration from these lines by William Blake, which are painted over the breakfast bar in the kitchen:  And heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour In this modest space, she has combined art, cooking and cinema—the owner’s three great loves—seamlessly, with nature at the heart of it all. The vertical garden in the sitting area was the first element Gupta and the apartment’s owner agreed on: Inspired by Patrick Blanc’s Parisian installations, particularly the Musee du Quai Branly, it is the focal point of the flat. Together with landscapist Neelam Sagar, Gupta chose composite soil as the base, in which she planted anthuriums, orchids and ferns with their roots balled up. They are watered by a special sprinkler system, all of which is boxed into the wall so that the moisture can’t ooze out. To frame the greenery, a natural local stone, in shades from yellow to black—deliberately roughened for a “raw” texture—clads the wall. It is complemented by a jigsaw-like coffee table which sports an embossed blue crocodile. Each piece of the table can be moved for versatility. In the bathroom is another simulation of nature: a cascading waterfall of a shower hewn from kota stone—a hundred times cheaper than the expensive products Gupta saw in the market. The doorway too is guarded by art: An ocean-themed Savia Mahajan painting adorns the door, on the rear of which the artist owner has sketched her own sequel, replete with sea creatures. They pop up in unlikely places all through the apartment. On the overhead beams above the passage between the kitchen and bathroom swims a shoal of steel fish. It started with a single piece crafted in Europe, and was replicated by a local blacksmith. More critters in glass hang in the window grilles. The apartment is a studio in name and in function too, full of shelves and nooks for painting, printmaking and photography materials. Heavy blinds convert a neutral-toned working area readily from sunny studio to darkroom. Factfile: Area: 550 sq. ft Designer: Shabnam Gupta Duration: Three-and-a-half months Materials: Natural stone cladding and plaster on walls; river-washed kota in bath; granite, cobblestone and Burma teak flooring; agglomerated stone on kitchen counter Also See More photos 1) Dark cantilevered shelves and cabinets, a stone tiled floor and white plastered walls in the artist’s work area provide a low-maintenance, neutral background for work in progress, with storage that keeps art materials ready at hand 2) Stained glass sunflowers and raindrops from the artist’s own range of products add an element of whimsy to the sunny sitting area. 3) The mild steel grill over the door is a feature of many Indian apartments, letting residents interact with outsiders from safety. This one, though, is distinctive in form, to suit the owner 4) An assortment of textures adds interest to this small, multifunctional space. Neutral colours unite the various work areas, from studio to kitchen; However, distinctive and arresting textures come from a shoal of metal fish overhead, faux jaali shutters, William Blake’s verse etched on the wall, an array of mirrored raindrops lining the side of the under-counter cabinet, wood and stone flooring, jute upholstery, and a plastic-and-steel bar stool. 5) The wall-mounted “vertical garden”, inspired by Patrick Blanc’s Parisian ones, forms a focal point. Photographs by Rohan and Maithili Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com CONNECT Admire Moritz Craffonara, a local from the Alpine Dolomites of Italy, wanted a bed under the stars. He approached industrial designer Ross Lovegrove, who in turn designed the futuristic Alpine capsule, an 8m-wide structure with a double glass skin that’s covered with a special reflective coating. Powered by solar panels and a vertical axis wind turbine, the off-grid alpine retreat’s shimmering glass skin allows individuals to admire the beautiful landscape. Construction is expected to begin in 2010 at Piz la Ila (Alta Badia, Italy), and the structure will be located at an altitude of 2,100m. Better Interiors SEE Zaha Hadid, Corian and Ernestomeda created the DuPont Corian Z. Island, which wowed audiences at Milan Design Week last year. The set is split into two units: one representing fire, the other water. There’s also a modular wall cabinet with futuristic doors. The wall covering diffuses sound and light, sporting LEDs you can set to suit your mood. The main island has a touch-control picture, and shifts from vertical to horizontal position (so it can be used for cooking and eating, or as an LCD TV screen and iPod station). Gretchen Ferrao Use FieldTurf Tarkett India celebrated the completion of 1,000 installations in India and its neighbouring countries last year. Marking the occasion, the brand launched an array of new products. Among these is a next-generation artificial grass, which is maintenance free (needs no watering, fertilizing, weeding, etc.) and has a life of 20-25 years. It is an ideal solution for spaces such as rooftops and balconies, where it is difficult to maintain grass. FieldTurf’s clients in India include Reliance Industries, Infosys, Hero Honda, the National Stock Exchange, MIcrosoft, Vodafone and Coca-Cola.Better Interiors Float Alexander Asadov’s Aerohotel, conceived as an elevated aquatic structure replete with hanging gardens, sits atop an elegant system of supports. This floating island preserves the ecosystem beneath it, unlike more traditional man-made islands. It consists of a 200m-wide circular hub which will contain cafes, restaurants and winter gardens, in addition to a hotel. The Aerohotel can be installed in any water body. Plans include docking for boats as well as a landing strip for a zeppelin. Gretchen Ferrao Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:37 pm The TimeOut mint PlannerDELHI Art Inscape and Tale Until 9 January  Daily, 11am-7pm. Art Gallery India International Centre (Annexe), 40, Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate (24619431). Nature of the City Until 16 January Curated by Alexander Keefe and Nitin Mukul, this exhibition explores the changing face of our urban surroundings through photography, installations, video and mixed media works. The participating artists are Sheba Chhachhi, Ravi Agarwal, Samit Das, Ram Rahman, Gauri Gill, Jenson Anto, Devang Anglay, Nitin Mukul, Parvathi Nayar, Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, Sumakshi Singh and Gautam Bhatia. The show will also feature a collaboration with photographer Pradip Krishen. Daily, 10am-11pm. arts.i, 7, Atmaram Mansion, Level One, Scindia House, Kasturba Gandhi Marg (43727000). Theatre The Promise 9 January In the savage 1942 winter siege of Leningrad, as the Russians fight off Nazi invaders, three teenagers—Lika, Marat and Leondik—are thrown together. They lose everything from their past and forge a new love that binds them and a new hope that keeps them alive: the promise of a better future. The play has been directed by Bharat Kapur. 7pm. Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road (24682222). Tickets, Rs100-300, available at the Habitat programme desk. Rahe Naam Pakistan Ka 9 January Directed by M. Sayeed Alam, ‘Rahe Naam Pakistan Ka’ is a monologue by a 92-year-old man, played by a 29-year old actor (Abhijit Sen Gupta), reminiscing on the Partition. 7pm. Alliance Francaise, 72, Lodhi Estate. Tickets, Rs100-500, available at the venue two days in advance. Call (9810255291, 40506826) for advance booking. People Like Us 10-11 January A comedy directed by Feisal Alkazi, about living and loving in a metropolis and how interpersonal and family conflicts intrude into the workplace, just as workplace conflicts spill into private life. 7.30pm. Epicentre, Apparel House, Sector 44, Gurgaon (95124-2715000). Tickets, Rs200-500, available at the venue. Around town Lohri Bazaar 10 January The Sudan embassy—in association with the Society for Performing Arts and Cultural Exchange (SPACE) and Amanuday, an NGO for underprivileged girls—is organizing a Lohri Bazaar. Proceeds from the bazaar will go towards the health and education of girls in Jagatpur, New Delhi. 10am-5pm. Embassy of Sudan, 3, Shantipath, Chanakyapuri. Contact Neha Garg (9811139133) for invites. Khamir & the Weaves of Kachchh Until 12 January On display are shawls, stoles and textiles woven by artisans from the Kachchh region of Gujarat. They will also showcase crafts in silver and leather, and block-printed cloth material. 10.30am-7.30pm. Aga Khan Hall, 6, Bhagwan Das Road. For details, contact 24623108. Lohri 13 January Celebrate Lohri this year at IHC’s annual Lohri dinner. There will be music by Madan Gopal Singh, followed by an all-girls band from Jalandhar playing local instruments. Naturally, there’s a dinner buffet to tuck into after the performances. 7pm onwards. Habitat World, India Habitat Centre (24682222). Adults, Rs425, children, Rs325. Kids Sandwich making 10 January There’s more to making a sandwich than bread and butter. Join in to learn how to make a variety of sandwiches to tickle your taste buds. Ages 6-15. 5-6pm. Oxford Bookstore, Statesman House, Barakhamba Road (23766083). MUMBAI Art Travelling by Telephone Ongoing Eva and Franco Mattes are recognized as pioneers in the field of Net art, which involves scrambling or copying Internet codes. For ‘Life Sharing’ (2000), they submitted themselves to a year of satellite surveillance during which their every move was monitored. In 2003, they courted media attention with an elaborate prank titled ‘Nikeground’. ‘Nikeground’ circulated the rumour that Nike was going to buy and rename the town square Karlsplatz in Vienna—it would be renamed Nikeplatz. The duo’s newest works, some of which will be shown in Mumbai, are photos “shot inside” a game called Half-Life. It’s been one of their tougher challenges. “Every shot was taken while killing aliens, struggling with radioactive traps or while escaping helicopters,” says Franco. “Sometimes I had to go through the whole scheme over and over for hours, because every time I was trying to stand still and make the photo, some goddamn alien was trying to eat my brain.” 10am-6.30pm, Monday-Friday; 11am-4pm, Saturday. Galerie Mirchandani+Steinruecke, 2, Sunny House, 16/18, Mereweather Road, behind Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel, Colaba (22023030). Film The President is Coming From 9 January Bush is coming to Mumbai and wants to shake the hand of a young Indian who represents the country’s hopes. Six candidates are shortlisted and only one of them will be selected. Under the gaze of two public relations executives, the candidates spend 24 hours taking tests and clawing at each other. The movie is presented as a behind-the-scenes mockumentary. The screenplay echoes the pace of a sitcom as the audience is pelted with verbal and visual gags faster than it can react. It certainly entertains, but doesn’t reveal great truths about the national character other than the universally acknowledged one about our tendency to drag down our counterparts just like crabs trapped in a bucket. Across cinemas Music Umang 10 January The ITC-Sangeet Research Academy (western region) and Music Forum, Mumbai, present Umang, a concert comprising solo recitals by the prize winners of the All India Radio Competition 2008—nadaswaram player Mylai Mahendram, tabla players Jyotirmoy Roy Choudhari and Kaushik Bannerjee, sitar player Rohan Dasgupta, Hindustani classical singer Nupur Kashid and ‘pakhawaj’ player Ganesh Papal, among others. Admission on a first-come, first-served basis. 6.30pm. Godrej Dance Academy Theatre, NCPA, NCPA Marg, near Hilton Towers, Nariman Point (66223737). Bauchklang 15-17 January The Austrian band that mesmerized audiences last February performs hip hop and drum and bass, using only the power of their vocal chords. 10.30pm. Blue Frog, Todi & Co., Mathuradas Mills Compound, opposite Kamala Mills, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel (40332300). Tickets, Rs300. BANGALORE Photography Foliage and Photographs 15-18 January The show brings together a collection of black and white photographs by Diba Siddiqi, and a series of paintings titled ‘Foliage’ by Radhika Neelakantan. Siddiqi’s pictures are from her travels through Bikaner, Kutch, Munsiari in the Himalayas and Kathmandu. Siddiqi’s photographs will also be on show at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, GKVK Campus, from 19-26 January. 7am-8pm, Monday-Saturday; 7am-noon, Sunday. Art Complex, Kumara Krupa Road (22261816). Art Sacred Spaces 12-25 January A show of 13 abstract works by New York-based artist Shivani Dugar, who was born in Kolkata in 1979. Dugar grew up in Bangalore, completed her degree in finance at Georgetown University, Washington, DC and studied fine art at Pratt Institute, New York. She has, in the past, been part of group shows at Mahua Art Gallery, along with artists such as Anjolie Ela Menon, Shyamal Dutta Ray and S.G. Vasudev. 11am-7pm, Monday-Saturday. Mahua Art Gallery, 344/8, first floor, 4th Main Road, Sadashivanagar (23616971). Film Third Bengalooru International Film Festival 2009 15-22 January The third edition of the Bengalooru International Film Festival, organized by Suchitra Film Society, includes films from Italy and China and a retrospective of South Korean film-maker Kim Ki Duk, and Israeli film-maker Dan Wolman. Apart from Indian regional cinema and award-winning Indian and international documentary films, Biff will also have films by Kon Ichikawa of Japan, and Youssef Chahine of Egypt. Suchitra Film Society, 36, 9th Main, BV Karanth Road, Banashankari, 2nd Stage (26711785). Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, 716, CMH Road, Indira Nagar, 1st Stage (25205308). Theatre The Importance of Being Earnest 9-11 January Directed by Manasi Subramanyam. Writer: Oscar Wilde. Cast: Evam Entertainment, Chennai. Oscar Wilde’s light romantic comedy gets a dusting off in the New Year. 7.30pm, Friday; 3.30pm, Saturday-Sunday. Ranga Shankara, 36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar (26592777). Tickets, Rs200. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life! 13-14 January Directed by Sunil Evam Karthik. Writer: Evam (based on Monty Python’s ‘Flying Circus’). How much will you pay to get abused? Who is the greatest unheard-of music composer of all time? Do you think these questions are weird or, better still, do you want to know the answers? That’s the world of Evam’s piece, populated with weird and colourful characters. 7.30pm. Ranga Shankara, 36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar (26592777). Tickets, Rs200. Dance XXV-Kinkini Rajatha Nrityotsava 9-15 January The XXV-Kinkini Rajatha Nrityotsava opens at 7pm on Friday with a Bharatanatyam performance by Rangashree. The festival concludes on Thursday. HN Kalakshetra, 36th Cross, 2nd Main, 7th Block, Jaya Nagar (26539239) Schedules are subject to change CONNECT RIDE Want to hire a cab in Bangalore? Keep these numbers handy: Cel Cabs: 60609090, City Safari: 64539999, Easy Cabs: 43434343, JD Cabs: 65766666, Manasa Cabs: 25430790, Meru Cabs: 44224422, Pragati Travels: 41172222, RR Taxi: 26666662, Spot Taxi: 41100000, Udaya Cabs: 25516666 READ When Pankaj Kurulkar realized that book lovers in 23 of Maharashtra’s 35 districts were left thirsting for knowledge because they did not have access to proper bookshops, he decided to take books to them. Last year, on World Book Day on 23 April, 45-year-old Kurulkar started Granthayan Books-on-Wheels, a company that allows readers in all the 353 talukas of the state to choose from 900,000 titles. The books reach readers within 10 days of their calling a toll-free number or ordering from the company’s website. Call 1800-2098074 or visit www.granthayan.comSanjivani Thorat WRITE For generations of Indian women who grew up on Mills & Boon, 2008 was a bonus year: The publishers set up shop in India. They have launched ‘Passions’, a search for Mills & Boon writers from India. Send in 2,000-word stories that could be set anywhere in the world, but have an Indian element in them. Need we tell you that they must have a happy ending? You have to be 18 years or older to qualify. Winners will also receive a year-long consultation from the Mills & Boon editorial team, a free laptop and diamond jewellery. For more, visit www.millsandboonindia.com. Entries must reach by 11am on 21 January. WATCH In 2003, faced with a jail sentence and hefty fine, Will Studd had to stop selling Roquefort cheese in Australia. The cheese enthusiast marked the occasion by staging a Roquefort burial. Though Australia lifted its ban on Roquefort in 2005, it still prohibits the import of other raw-milk cheeses. Studd’s passion for coagulated milk is still unbounded, though, and that’s apparent from ‘Cheese Slices’, his Travel & Living show. This season, Studd nibbles his way through France and Switzerland, among others, and divulges startling bits of cheese trivia along the way. Discovery Travel & Living, from 10.30pm, 6 January. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:37 pm Stimulus spending is not freeBack in the 1980s, many commentators ridiculed as voodoo economics the extreme supply-side view that across-the-board cuts in income-tax (I-T) rates might raise overall tax revenues. Now we have the extreme demand-side view that the so-called “multiplier” effect of government spending on economic output is greater than one—Team Obama is reportedly using a number around 1.5. To think about what this means, first assume that the multiplier was 1.0. In this case, an increase by one unit in government purchases and, thereby, in the aggregate demand for goods would lead to an increase by one unit in real gross domestic product (GDP). Thus, the added public goods are essentially free to society.  Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint If the multiplier is greater than 1.0, as is apparently assumed by Team Obama, the process is even more wonderful. In this case, real GDP rises by more than the increase in government purchases. In this scenario, the added government spending is a good idea even if the bridge goes nowhere, or if public employees are just filling useless holes. Of course, if this mechanism is genuine, one might ask why the government should stop with only $1 trillion of added purchases. What’s the flaw? The theory (a simple Keynesian macroeconomic model) implicitly assumes that the government is better than the private market at marshalling idle resources to produce useful stuff. Unemployed labour and capital can be utilized at essentially zero social cost, but the private market is somehow unable to figure any of this out. In other words, there is something wrong with the price system. A much more plausible starting point is a multiplier of zero. In this case, GDP is given, and a rise in government purchases requires an equal fall in the total of other parts of GDP—consumption, investment and net exports. In other words, the social cost of one unit of additional government purchases is one. This approach is the one usually applied to cost-benefit analyses of public projects. In particular, the value of the project (counting, say, the whole flow of future benefits from a bridge or a road) has to justify the social cost. I think this perspective, not the supposed macroeconomic benefits from fiscal stimulus, is the right one to apply to the many new and expanded government programmes that we are likely to see this year and next. What do the data show about multipliers? Because it is not easy to separate movements in government purchases from overall business fluctuations, the best evidence comes from large changes in military purchases that are driven by shifts in war and peace. A particularly good experiment is the massive expansion of US defence expenditures during World War II. The usual Keynesian view is that the World War II fiscal expansion provided the stimulus that finally got us out of the Great Depression. Thus, I think that most macroeconomists would regard this case as a fair one for seeing whether a large multiplier ever exists. I have estimated that World War II raised US defence expenditures by $540 billion (1996 dollars) per year at the peak in 1943-44, amounting to 44% of real GDP. I also estimated that the war raised real GDP by $430 billion per year in 1943-44. Thus, the multiplier was 0.8 (430/540). The other way to put this is that the war lowered components of GDP aside from military purchases. The main declines were in private investment, non-military parts of government purchases, and net exports—personal consumer expenditure changed little. Wartime production siphoned off resources from other economic uses—there was a dampener, rather than a multiplier. There are reasons to believe that the war-based multiplier of 0.8 substantially overstates the multiplier that applies to peacetime government purchases. For one thing, people would expect the added wartime outlays to be partly temporary (so that consumer demand would not fall a lot). Second, the use of the military draft in wartime has a direct, coercive effect on total employment. Finally, the US economy was already growing rapidly after 1933 (aside from the 1938 recession), and it is probably unfair to ascribe all of the rapid GDP growth from 1941 to 1945 to the added military outlays. In any event, when I attempted to estimate directly the multiplier associated with peacetime government purchases, I got a number insignificantly different from zero. As we all know, we are in the middle of what will likely be the worst US economic contraction since the 1930s. In this context, and from the history of the Great Depression, I can understand various attempts to prop up the financial system. These efforts, akin to avoiding bank runs in prior periods, recognize that the social consequences of credit-market decisions extend well beyond the individuals and businesses making the decisions. But in terms of fiscal-stimulus proposals, it would be unfortunate if the best Team Obama can offer is an unvarnished version of Keynes’ 1936 General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. The financial crisis and possible depression do not invalidate everything we have learnt about macroeconomics since 1936. Much more focus should be on incentives for people and businesses to invest, produce and work. On the tax side, we should avoid programmes that throw money at people and emphasize instead reductions in marginal I-T rates—especially where these rates are already high and fall on capital income. Eliminating the federal corporate I-T would be brilliant. On the spending side, the main point is that we should not be considering massive public-works programmes that do not pass muster from the perspective of cost-benefit analysis. Just as in the 1980s, when extreme supply-side views on tax cuts were unjustified, it is wrong now to think that added government spending is free. Edited excerpts. Robert J. Barro is professor of economics at Harvard University and a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Comments are welcome at theirview@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:35 pm Ask Mint | To maximize benefits, go for a long-term life insurance policy Term life insurance plans offer financial security to your dependents in the eventuality of your death. They ensure that your family members maintain their standard of living in spite of the drop in income. It is the simplest form of life insurance. The term plan works like a contract that provides a specified death benefit, but has no cash build-up or investment component. Since the premium for a term plan is low, a person may get adequately insured for a relatively low premium cost. Also, remember that the earlier you buy life insurance, the lower the premium. You could also consider a term with return of premium if you seek a capital guarantee on your invested amount. I am a 30-year-old man. I have been investing in short-term investment instruments such as mutual funds, etc. I plan to invest money in a life insurance plan this year. How long does the term of the policy have to be? We advise people to invest for the long term because whether you take traditional plans or unit-linked insurance plans, life insurance plans are most beneficial in the long term. The term you choose can depend on your own personal circumstances, though it would be advisable to look at terms of 10 years and above to maximize benefits. Readers are welcome to write in with their queries to askmint@livemint.com. The questions will be answered by senior executives from leading insurance firms. This week’s expert is Rajesh Relan, managing director, MetLife. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:29 pm Ask Mint | With property, loan rates down, it’s a good time to consider a buy I believe it’s a good time to consider buying property, as the current interest rates are somewhere at their 2006 levels and in some areas even the total cost of acquiring the property has come down by anywhere between 15% and 25%. Moreover, since you are buying a property for your own use, I think you should seriously start exploring options. In times such as this, when sales have dropped, developers would be more than happy to negotiate and what’s more, there are higher chances of you getting a property of your choice. If you are able to further negotiate a good discount where the rates have not come down much, and at the same time get the property you like, then perhaps that could be the best thing for you. In any case, one will never be able to call a correct bottom. I am a Union government employee and want to buy a property that costs around Rs35 lakh. I have two options available: 1) I can opt for a part of the loan from my employer and the balance from a lending institution. 2) Or, I can take the entire amount from the institution. Please advise. As a Union government employee, you may be eligible for certain concessional loans from your employer and hence you may not want to miss that. For the balance amount, you could avail a regular home loan through a second mortgage. The process is similar to a normal housing loan. This home loan product is specially designed only for Union government employees to buy/construct a residential property. Renu Sud Karnad is joint managing director, HDFC. Readers may write in with their queries and comments to askmint@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:29 pm Making sense of ModiNarendra Modi has set an example of honesty and has helped Gujarat achieve fast-paced development. (“The real Modi story” by Salil Tripathi, Mint, 22 January). That’s why he is a favourite among industrialists. The root cause of the post-Godhra riots was the burning of the train. Leaders such as Jagdish Tytler and H.K.L. Bhagat, who were allegedly involved in the 1984 massacre of Sikhs, are not called fascists. It is high time our Constitution is amended to let only permanent bachelors become prime minister or chief ministers. Leaders such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee don’t need to amass ill-gotten wealth and can concentrate on governance. - Tuneer Bondhopadhyay We thank our readers for some very interesting letters in response to our stories and columns. Do continue to write to us yourviews@livemint.com E-governance certainly has two sides to it (“The Internet and absent markets”, Mint, 19 January). There are customer records and transaction handling, and second, internal government transactions and decision pathways, leading to delivery of planned services to the intended customer— the citizen. So, in a way, your view was not clear about the concept itself. The biggest hurdle is not only the one-time cost for the user—computer, connectivity, electricity—but other factors such as upkeep of computers, regulated electricity, and custom-built applications that connect to the right sources of information. A very important business aspect ignored by e-governance is the absence of any plan to include third parties. Borrow a leaf from the STD/PCO booth plan. Incentivize shopkeepers and the unemployed to start a small business of dispensing information on demand, using an Internet-based system at one place or carrying it on a bicycle. -Anand Gupta The euphoria that surrounded the swearing-in ceremony of US President Barack Obama is understandable. However, a sense of balance is crucial at a time when the world is going through acute human distress. Some of the frills and frivolous expenses could have been cut this time. For instance, the train journey to Washington, DC by Obama on Lincoln’s route was a needless marketing distraction. The ball planned with singer Beyonce, who sang “At last”, was also dispensable. It was ironic that the new President’s team had planned a carnival, at a time when half a million Americans and another half a million around the world are losing their jobs and livelihoods! This was a time for a sober swearing-in ceremony, rolling up sleeves and getting down to work, to ensure factories do not close, and people have jobs, homes and money to buy food and clothes. - Rajendra K. Aneja The disaster at Satyam leaves many unanswered questions. Satyam’s founder B. Ramalinga Raju’s confession that he alone is responsible for the company’s misdeeds looks incredulous. A fraud of this magnitude is unlikely to happen because of one man’s wrongdoings. The authorities should now investigate all directors concerned, company officers, bureaucrats and politicians with connections to Satyam. Men of high integrity should be appointed to go into the murky dealings thoroughly. Highly qualified professionals should be appointed to head the organization. They should steer the company towards better days. Such swift actions will clear the blot on the corporate world. Similar companies then will not be tarred with the same brush. Only stern action will instil confidence in the minds of investors both in India and abroad. - K. Venkataraman We thank our readers for some very interesting letters in response to our stories and columns. Do continue to write to us yourviews@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:28 pm If Obama was indianBarack Obama’s inauguration as President of the US marks one of the most remarkable political developments of the modern world. In some ways, it is the realization of an ideal that was described by Abraham Lincoln, the president whose oratory most inspires Obama: “...a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”. Time and again in his inaugural address, Obama harked back to his country’s history and ideals in framing a vision of response to the challenges not only the US, but the whole world, faces. At India’s independence, Jawaharlal Nehru described the ideals of his new nation, and its grave challenges. India has come a long way, but still remains distant from the goals of bringing “freedom and opportunity to the common man” in “a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation”. What if Obama had given his inaugural address as an Indian? What might he have said? Like Nehru, Obama might note India’s glorious past, but also that some of the clinging past has held India back. Nehru said, “All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India, with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.” Obama would be just the person to remind us how far we have fallen short of this ideal in practice. If an Indian Obama were giving an inaugural address, he would certainly also refer to Nehru’s call to service. “It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and its people and to the still larger cause of humanity.” But he would note how far we are from that pledge of dedication, so that civic engagement has not fully taken root in India, politics is too often about power and private gain, and is subject to “petty grievances and false promises…recriminations and worn- out dogmas”. An Indian Obama might inspire India’s youth to involve themselves in changing this situation, to believing that not only can they compete with the world’s best in private endeavour, but also be citizens of the world, serving the “larger cause of humanity”. An Indian Obama, unlike his American counterpart, might not need to remind his audience that the market can spin out of control—that particular fear seems to be ingrained in the Indian psyche. Instead, he might remind us even more forcefully that the market’s “power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched”, for that is a lesson that India still has to absorb more fully. He might observe that India’s attempts to do more than just keep a watchful eye on the market have reduced prosperity, and ultimately failed to bring equality of opportunity, or lay a complete foundation for growth. An Indian Obama could make the case for “the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together”, but he would also have to point out that to do this, India’s government needs to shift from running factories and hotels and shops that can be managed more efficiently by the private sector, as long as a level playing field is created. An Indian Obama would note that Indians have gone to all corners of the earth, and thrived through risk-taking and hard work, built and fought for their adopted countries, but always sent back wealth and knowledge to their “much-loved motherland”. Most of all, an Indian Obama would emphasize the need for transforming “our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age”. He would point out forcefully how limited the reach of India’s educational system is, how those limits hold back so many, and how “those…who manage” as well as those who receive “the public’s dollars will be held to account”. An Indian Obama would appeal to the people and governments of the nations that border India, seeking “a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect”. He would offer ways to share and spread India’s fledgling prosperity with those neighbours: clean and adequate water, food for the hungry and education for the young of all those countries. An Indian Obama would remind the nation’s citizens of the values of hard work and honesty, tolerance and fair play, and the price of citizenship: duties that are not grudgingly accepted but seized gladly, reminding us that “there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task”. Nehru told the people of India: “There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be.” An Indian Obama would remind its people of this pledge. Nirvikar Singh is professor of economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Your comments are welcome at eyeonindia@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:28 pm If Obama was indianBarack Obama’s inauguration as President of the US marks one of the most remarkable political developments of the modern world. In some ways, it is the realization of an ideal that was described by Abraham Lincoln, the president whose oratory most inspires Obama: “...a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”. Time and again in his inaugural address, Obama harked back to his country’s history and ideals in framing a vision of response to the challenges not only the US, but the whole world, faces. At India’s independence, Jawaharlal Nehru described the ideals of his new nation, and its grave challenges. India has come a long way, but still remains distant from the goals of bringing “freedom and opportunity to the common man” in “a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation”. What if Obama had given his inaugural address as an Indian? What might he have said? Like Nehru, Obama might note India’s glorious past, but also that some of the clinging past has held India back. Nehru said, “All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India, with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.” Obama would be just the person to remind us how far we have fallen short of this ideal in practice. If an Indian Obama were giving an inaugural address, he would certainly also refer to Nehru’s call to service. “It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and its people and to the still larger cause of humanity.” But he would note how far we are from that pledge of dedication, so that civic engagement has not fully taken root in India, politics is too often about power and private gain, and is subject to “petty grievances and false promises…recriminations and worn- out dogmas”. An Indian Obama might inspire India’s youth to involve themselves in changing this situation, to believing that not only can they compete with the world’s best in private endeavour, but also be citizens of the world, serving the “larger cause of humanity”. An Indian Obama, unlike his American counterpart, might not need to remind his audience that the market can spin out of control—that particular fear seems to be ingrained in the Indian psyche. Instead, he might remind us even more forcefully that the market’s “power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched”, for that is a lesson that India still has to absorb more fully. He might observe that India’s attempts to do more than just keep a watchful eye on the market have reduced prosperity, and ultimately failed to bring equality of opportunity, or lay a complete foundation for growth. An Indian Obama could make the case for “the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together”, but he would also have to point out that to do this, India’s government needs to shift from running factories and hotels and shops that can be managed more efficiently by the private sector, as long as a level playing field is created. An Indian Obama would note that Indians have gone to all corners of the earth, and thrived through risk-taking and hard work, built and fought for their adopted countries, but always sent back wealth and knowledge to their “much-loved motherland”. Most of all, an Indian Obama would emphasize the need for transforming “our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age”. He would point out forcefully how limited the reach of India’s educational system is, how those limits hold back so many, and how “those…who manage” as well as those who receive “the public’s dollars will be held to account”. An Indian Obama would appeal to the people and governments of the nations that border India, seeking “a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect”. He would offer ways to share and spread India’s fledgling prosperity with those neighbours: clean and adequate water, food for the hungry and education for the young of all those countries. An Indian Obama would remind the nation’s citizens of the values of hard work and honesty, tolerance and fair play, and the price of citizenship: duties that are not grudgingly accepted but seized gladly, reminding us that “there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task”. Nehru told the people of India: “There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be.” An Indian Obama would remind its people of this pledge. Nirvikar Singh is professor of economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Your comments are welcome at eyeonindia@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:28 pm In a hard time, RBI choosesThere are two reasons why Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor D. Subbarao should announce a further cut in policy interest rates on Tuesday. One, there is growing evidence that the economy will weaken further this year and inflation will continue to fall. It seems likely right now that India will experience mild deflation in the middle of 2009 before inflation moves back into positive territory. The inflation scare of mid-2008 is now a memory as commodity prices collapse and companies lose pricing power (food inflation continues to be a threat to the poor).  Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint The question right now is to what extent Subbarao should cut rates. Since mid-September, he has been aggressively hacking away at the repo and reverse repo rates, at which the central bank lends to and borrows from banks for short periods of time. We think the central bank will have to settle for more modest cuts in the rest of 2009. A quick look at the recent history on inflation and interest rates would help. The year 2003 was the last time average annual inflation—as against the year-on-year number that is widely reported each week —was as low as it may fall to in 2009. The repo rate then was down to 5% compared with the current 5.5%. There is no reason to believe that RBI cannot go below that figure, but we believe it makes sense to ease more gradually from now on. A 50 basis point cut would be the safe thing to do. Subbarao has also been slashing the cash reserve ratio (CRR), or the proportion of funds that banks need to compulsorily keep with the central bank. The severe liquidity squeeze that sent money market rates sky-high in early October has eased. Banks are quite happy to park their surplus short-term funds with RBI and use growing portions of new deposits to buy government bonds rather than lend to companies. This is a problem of risk aversion and cannot be dealt with by a CRR cut. Should RBI cut interest rates further? Tell us at views@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:28 pm HUL Q4 net dips marginally to Rs 616 cr - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:11 pm Did Satyam funds evaporate after September 2008?Satyam may have been loaded with funds of over Rs 5,000 crore as on September 2008.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 1:12 pm Profit-hit Kudremukh suspends sale of iron productsThe state-run Kudremukh Iron and Ore Co Ltd (KIOCL) in Karnataka has suspended production and sales of pellets and pig iron following record slump in prices and lower profit, a top company official has said.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 25 Jan 2009 | 1:00 pm Cost of funds still high, cut key rates: Industry tell RBIAbout 78 per cent of the 150 CEOs surveyed said the previous cuts by RBI could not improve their financing situation due to unwillingness by the banks to lend money.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:55 pm Petrol prices to be cut by Rs 5, diesel by Re 1!Govt is likely to cut petrol prices by Rs 5 a litre and diesel rates by just Re 1 per litre.Source: Zee News : Business | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:32 pm Ford does not need govt loans: CEO!Ford Motor Co has enough liquidity to fund its restructuring plan and despite the deep downturn in auto sales still sees no need to ask for government loans, Chief Executive Alan Mulally said on Saturday.Source: Zee News : Business | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:32 pm Obama pushes $825 bn stimulus plan!Barack Obama sought to build public support for USD 825 billion economic recovery plan.Source: Zee News : Business | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:32 pm `Starbucks may cut 1,000 more jobs`!Coffee chain Starbucks Corp could cut another 1,000 jobs in the coming weeks as per a newspaper.Source: Zee News : Business | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:32 pm Did Satyam funds evaporate after September 2008? - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:24 pm High interest rates, cash crunch delay infrastructure projects: CIIHigh interest rates and credit crunch have delayed several infrastructure projects by up to six months, said a survey by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), released here Sunday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:01 pm Lord Jones appointed corporate ambassador for JLRLondon: Former trade minister of Britain Lord Digby Jones has been appointed as a corporate ambassador for Tata’s Jaguar Land Rover. Lord Jones said he is expected to attend a number of events at Jaguar and Land Rover dealerships throughout the year. He insisted that his role would not involve lobbying ministers on behalf of the company which has been in talks with the government for several months about financial assistance. “Digby is a great ambassador for the car industry, for the West Midlands and for British business. We have similar arrangements with a number of sports people and figures from the world of show business,” a JLR spokesman said. Representatives of the car industry will meet Lord Peter Mandelson, the business secretary, to stress its urgent need for loan guarantees to support the sector during a downturn which has seen new car sales plummet. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 11:32 am Starbucks may cut 1,000 more jobs - reportLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Coffee chain Starbucks Corp could cut another 1,000 jobs in the coming weeks, according to a report in the Seattle Times on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 11:13 am Hindustan Unilever Q4 profit dips 2.2%Mumbai: India’s biggest consumer goods maker, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, on Sunday reported a 2.2% dip in quarterly profit, in line with expectations. Hindustan Unilever, a unit of Anglo-Dutch Unilever Plc said net profit fell to Rs616 crore ($125 million) in the quarter to end-December 2008, from Rs6.3 billion year earlier. Net sales rose 16.8% to Rs4310 crore. Reuters Estimates had forecast net profit at Rs610 crore and revenues at Rs4350 crore. During the quarter, the company also booked profit of Rs8.85 crore on sale of properties, it said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 11:10 am Ceat plant in Gujarat coming upMumbai: Tyre major Ceat on Sunday laid the foundation stone of its Rs700 crore radial tyre plant at Halol, near Baroda in Gujarat. “With Gujarat emerging as the next auto corridor of India, Ceat is confident this plant will give us the added mileage for increasing our market share,” Ceat vice chairman Harsh Goenka said in a statement. The investment in the plant, which is a greenfield project, would be done in two phases. A greenfield project signifies there is no need to remodel or demolish an existing structure. The company would invest Rs500 crore in the first phase (2009-10) while Rs200 crore would be invested in the second phase (2011-12), the statement said. Spread across 125 acres of land, the plant whose foundation stone was laid by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, is expected to manufacture four million tyres in phase one and subsequently its capacity would be increased in the next 10 years, it said. The plant would manufacture radial tyres for trucks, buses, light trucks and passenger cars and a substantial portion of the production would be exported, the statement said. The plant is expected to provide employment to over 1,000 people in the first phase of operations, the press communique said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 11:09 am Valued Maytas for Raju family, not for Satyam: E&YNew Delhi: Auditing major Ernst & Young on Sunday said its valuation of controversial Maytas Properties was for a deal involving existing shareholders of the firm, but declined to comment on whether its report was misused by scam-tainted Satyam Computer. “We were not given to understand by any party, explicitly or implicitly, during the valuation exercise, about Satyam’s plans to acquire Maytas Properties,” an E&Y spokesperson said. Asked if the valuation, which it said was done in an “unrelated context” was misused by Satyam, also founded by Raju, and if E&Y would take any action against the IT firm, the spokesperson said “no comments”. The decision to acquire his family-promoted Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra, whose statutory auditor is also E&Y, proved to be the nemesis of Raju, who was arrested early January after he disclosed a Rs7,000-crore fraud. “Ernst & Young was engaged by a law firm to undertake a valuation of Maytas Properties, as required under the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India, for a proposed share transaction involving existing shareholders of Maytas Properties Ltd,” the spokesperson said. MORE PTI RKL BJ RHP NIR JAS “This valuation was done only to comply with the above regulatory requirement, and our engagement letter and valuation report clearly and unequivocally state the same,“ E&Y added. The spokesperson also declined to comment on whether the valuation of Maytas Properties was done at Rs6,500 crore, as mentioned by now arrested Satyam CFO Vadlamani Srinivas in the company’s board meeting on 16 December, to push through the acquisition, a proposal that backfired within hours. Satyam’s then independent director and former cabinet secretary T.R. Prasad had questioned the veracity of E&Y’s valuation saying,“As per the formula proposed by the board, the actual value of the company could come to less than half of Rs6,500 crore.” The spokesperson also declined to take this query and reveal the basis of valuation citing customers’ confidentiality agreement. The spokesperson also sought to clarify that E&Y was neither the advisor to the proposed Satyam-Maytas transaction nor “were we engaged by Satyam Computer Services or any of its subsidiaries to conduct the valuation of Maytas Properties”. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 10:38 am Boom or meltdown, Sterlite holds on Rs 6000-cr equity capital - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 25 Jan 2009 | 10:26 am Tatas to slash 5,000 jobs at Corus, JLRLondon: Indian conglomerate Tatas are expected to cut as many as 5,000 jobs at their steel and auto subsidiaries in the UK — Corus and Jaguar Land Rover — in the coming weeks. About 3,500 jobs are anticipated to go at Corus this week itself, while Jaguar Land Rover is expected to see another 1,500 layoffs in the coming weeks, The Sunday Times has reported. “Britain’s largest steelmaker, Corus is poised to cut up to 3,500 jobs this week in one of the biggest blows yet to the faltering manufacturing sector. “Further large-scale job losses are expected within weeks, with Jaguar Land Rover understood to be considering another 1,500 layoffs,” the newspaper said. Tata group firm Tata Steel had purchased Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus for about £6.7 billion in 2007. Another group entity Tata Motors snapped up luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover last year for more than two billion dollars from American auto major Ford. Meanwhile, the report noted job cuts at Corus are likely to “overshadow this week’s announcement by Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, of aid for the car industry”. The UK government is expected to come up with assistance to boost the country’s car industry, which is hit by the economic downturn. “It is understood the planned job cuts (at Corus) will come across the company’s 23,000-strong British workforce, and are not expected to lead to the closure of any large sites,” the report said. Quoting one industry insider, The Sunday Times said, “This is not about site closure. This is about making Corus in the UK competitive”. The Sunday Times said union leaders have been in last-ditch talks with the government in an attempt to fend off some of the job cuts. “In the case of Corus, they have pressed ministers to adopt a system offered by the Dutch government. Corus has operations in the Netherlands, where the state makes up the pay of workers put on short working weeks,” the report noted. Pointing out it was unclear Saturday night whether the government had turned its back on such a scheme, the newspaper added, “but it is understood that the Corus job losses will go ahead”. “They are part of a long-term restructuring drawn up by outgoing chief executive Philippe Varin. Numbers were being finalised this weekend,” the newspaper said. Noting that the Corus management had planned to introduce the changes gradually, the report said the plan has been accelerated by the crisis in the world steel industry. Coruss steelmaking operations are at Port Talbot, Scunthorpe and Teesside, with steel processing at sites in South Wales, Scotland and the Midlands. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 10:01 am Financial Technologies Q3 profit after tax up by 53%Goa: Bucking global meltdown, Financial Technologies (India) today recorded a 53% rise in standalone PAT, excluding project divestment income, at Rs43.2 crore for the third quarter of the current fiscal as against Rs28.3 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. “Despite the challenging global financial environment, we are able to maintain the robustness of our business model. We will continue to leverage our economies of scale in technology, trade and post-trade transaction lifecycle to create the most efficient network of exchanges,” Financial Technologies’ Whole Time Director Dewang Neralla told reporters here. Financial Technologies’ standalone Q3 FY’09 operating revenue also went up by 58% to Rs62.4 crore as against Rs39.4 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Total income, excluding PDI, also increased by 69% to Rs105.4 crore during the reporting quarter as against Rs62.4 crore in the same quarter previous fiscal. The company Board declared interim dividend of 100% per share of Rs2 each. Its cash and cash equivalents continued to remain healthy at Rs1,227.5 crore. “The strong performance of the company reaffirms the fact that companies with solid cash flow and sound corporate governance will continue to perform against any economic slowdown long term,” company’s Independent Director P G Kakodkar said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 9:57 am Fire foreign workers first: Republican Senator to MicrosoftAn influential Republican senator has asked the software giant to fire foreign workers hired on visas including Indians -- first.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 8:17 am Indian women now experimenting with their innerwearGone are the days when showing it off or talking about it was a taboo. Today's woman is not only experimenting with her intimate wear - lingerie - but not shying away from revealing it too.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 25 Jan 2009 | 8:00 am Satyam's government-named board, AP cops differ on staff numberThe government- appointed board and the AP police are tugging at opposite ends of the rope on whether the Satyam's employee numbers were inflated.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 7:58 am Corus poised to axe 3,500 jobs this week: Sunday TimesCorus, Britain's largest steel-maker owned by India's Tatas, plans to axe 3,500 jobs this week a leading newspaper claimed on Sunday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 7:56 am Citi sells $12-bn government-guaranteed bondsCitigroup has sold government guaranteed bonds worth 12 billion dollars, which will help the beleaguered entity to boost its balance sheet.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 7:53 am Obama's Chicago-based suit maker files for bankruptcyA Chicago-based apparel maker, which makes suits preferred by US president Barack Obama, has filed for bankruptcy.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 7:50 am Pig iron price slump forces Kudremukh to suspend salesHit by a record slump in prices of pellets and pig iron since September, the state-run Kudremukh Iron and Ore Co has suspended production and sales, a top company official has said.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 25 Jan 2009 | 7:31 am Rate cuts have not helped, says industryThe recent rate cuts by the central bank have not helped the corporate sector as banks have not lowered their lending rates, an industry lobby said Sunday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 25 Jan 2009 | 7:30 am Despite ban, kids playing with Chinese toys - Times of India
Source: Google News India - Business | 25 Jan 2009 | 7:19 am Satyam’s govt-named board, police differ on staff strengthHyderabad: The government-appointed Satyam board and the Andhra Pradesh police are tugging at opposite ends of the rope on whether the IT company’s employee numbers were inflated. “The board has confirmed that prima facie there appears to be no basis to doubt the same,” the six-member board said snapping its fingers at the state criminal investigation department’s claim that Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju had told them that employee numbers were inflated by over 12,000 in order to siphon off Rs20 crore a month. The company’s human resource department kicked off a verification process, as the board said an independent probe process is expected to reaffirm the head count in coming days. “As of now, we believe there are 53,000 employees, which is subject to verification and auditing,” a Satyam spokesperson said. Public prosecutor Ajay Kumar, on behalf of the CID, had told a local court last week that Raju had said he had inflated employee numbers so as to draw Rs20 crore a month from banks towards staff costs. Raju, along with his brother Rama Raju and company’s former CFO Vadlamani Srinivas, is in judicial custody pending investigation into a Rs 7,000-crore accounting fraud disclosed by him on 7 January. The police on Saturday arrested auditor Price Waterhouse’s partners S. Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri in connection with the Satyam fraud. The divergent claims by the board and the police reflect disunion among the different machineries of the government, although there claims are made of maintaining a coordinated action. A central government probe team from the Serious Fraud Investigation Office or the one from market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India are yet to gain access to Raju, much less question him. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 7:10 am Citi sells $12 bn government-guaranteed bondsNew York: Citigroup has sold government guaranteed bonds worth $12 billion, which will help the beleaguered entity to boost its balance sheet. The Financial Times has reported that Vikram Pandit-led Citi has sold “$12 billion of government-guaranteed bonds, the largest issuance since the US authorities agreed to backstop financial companies’ short-term debt in November”. Further, the daily noted that the issue surpasses a $10 billion offering by General Electric as the largest bond issue to be guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as part of the government’s efforts to help the financial sector. Citi has posted losses for five consecutive quarters, with $8.29 billion of losses in the fourth quarter of last year alone. Further, the entity has announced that it would be splitting itself into two separate businesses — Citicorp and Citi Holdings. The report quoting people close to the offering, which was carried out by Citi’s own investment bank, said its original size was increased after strong interest from investors. “Some 225 investors bought into the deal,” it said. Attributing to analysts, the Financial Times in a recent report published online said Citi was likely to use the proceeds to refinance existing debt. “Analysts expect other banks to issue FDIC-guaranteed bonds in the coming days following the announcement of fourth-quarter earnings,” it added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 6:37 am Three US banks fail this yearNew York: As the financial woes continue to mount in the world’s largest economy, three US banks have already have collapsed so far in 2009. The 1st Centennial Bank, Redlands is the latest entity which was closed down on 23 January taking the tally of failed banks to 18 since September last year, when the credit turmoil turned acute. On 16 January, Bank of Clark County, Vancouver and National Bank of Commerce, Berkeley had gone belly up. Last year alone, the US witnessed the failure of 25 banks -- an average of two entities going under each month. Ironically, official data shows that in the last eight years (2000-08), 52 banks have collapsed. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an independent agency, often appointed as receiver of failed banks on Friday, said it has closed 1st Centennial Bank. A major chunk of the bank failures happened in the ongoing financial turmoil, which turned severe with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2007. Meanwhile, among the 17 banks which had failed since September, the prominent one was Washington Mutual better known as WaMu, US’ largest savings and loan entity. It was later acquired by JPMorgan for nearly $2 billion. The ones that failed have been mostly small and regional banks, primarily due to the falling housing market. Prior to 2008, the largest number of bank failures took place in 2002, when 11 entities went belly up. Even as the federal government under former President George W. Bush pumped in billions of dollars including stake purchases in prominent banks, the country’s financial system continues to reel under credit crisis. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 5:46 am Fraud-hit can take legal steps for compensation - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 25 Jan 2009 | 5:32 am Obama pushes stimulus plan, meets economic teamWashington: President Barack Obama sought to build public support for an $825 billion economic recovery plan, pledging in his weekly radio address to use the funds to create jobs, improve healthcare and expand renewable energy. The new president, who took office on Tuesday amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, met with his economic advisers on Saturday after several days of lobbying lawmakers for quick passage of the stimulus package he advocates to lift the economy out of a yearlong recession. In addition to the stimulus plan, the administration is working on reforms and new uses for the second half of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the $700 billion financial rescue fund that Congress approved last year. The new money from the fund was expected to be used to stabilize the the housing market, strengthen core US banks and support credit markets to spur lending for autos, homes, small businesses, commercial real estate, college students and municipalities. The plan could be released as early as next week but would more likely come the following week, a Treasury official said. With new signs of weakness in the financial industry, The Washington Post said on Saturday that lawmakers were bracing for a request for new funding for the federal bailout programme, but the Treasury official declined to comment on the report. The White House released few details of the economic team meeting, saying only that “the president met with his economic team again this morning to discuss the week’s developments on the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment plan and proposals going forward including the budget”. The session included Larry Summers, director of the Economic Policy Council; Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget; and other aides and advisers, the White House said. Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner did not attend because he has not yet been confirmed by the Senate, said one official. The Senate is expected to vote on his nomination on Monday. Late on Saturday, the New York Times said the Obama administration plans to tighten the US financial regulatory system, including stricter rules for hedge funds, credit rating agencies and mortgage brokers. The broad changes include increased oversight of the complex financial instruments that helped spawn the current economic crisis, the newspaper said on its website. The newspaper based its story on interviews with officials as well as confirmation hearings for senior administration appointees, and a recent report by an international committee led by Paul Volcker, one of Obama’s chief economic advisers. Obama used his first weekly radio and Internet video address as president to press the case for quick passage of the economic recovery plan. Saying more people filed for unemployment this week than at any time in the past 26 years, Obama warned joblessness could hit double digits and the economy could fall $1 trillion short of its full capacity if nothing was done. “If we do not act boldly and swiftly, a bad situation could become dramatically worse,” he said. Obama hopes to sign an economic recovery plan into law within a month. The White House posted a four-page report on its website, www.whitehouse.gov, on Saturday outlining the impact of the stimulus plan. Aides said the report began to put “meat on the bones” of Obama’s previously stated goals. Energy efficiency Obama said the economic recovery plan would save or create 3 million to 4 million jobs while investing in clean energy development, education and improving health care efficiency. The US president said he intended to double the US capacity to generate energy from renewable sources like wind, solar and biofuels, and also discussed building a new electricity grid with 3,000 miles (4,800 km) of transmission lines. “We’ll save taxpayers $2 billion a year by making 75% of federal buildings more energy efficient,” he said. The plan also includes a Clean Energy Financing Initiative with loan guarantees and other financing mechanisms that aim to encourage $100 billion in private sector clean energy financing in three years, an aide said. The president said the economic recovery programme included funds to computerize the country’s health records in five years, which he said would improve health care and save billions of dollars. The recovery programme includes what one aide said was “the single largest investment in preventive health care in our nation’s history” to ensure people receive immunizations and get help to stop smoking and reduce obesity. Officials did not place a dollar figure on the programme. Obama said the plan also had financing to modernize schools, repair roads and expand mass transit. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2009 | 4:44 am Farmers block Rs.55 bn power project in ChhattisgarhPower producer GMR Energy's plans to build a 1,200 MW coal-fired power project in Chhattisgarh's Raipur district has hit a major roadblock, with local farmers vowing to go to 'any extent' to block the Rs.55-billion (Rs.5,500 crore) facility.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 25 Jan 2009 | 4:31 am LIC policyholders likely to see their bonuses diminishLife Insurance Corp of India (LIC) policyholders have to brace up for a cut in bonuses as the insurer's surplus could take a hit of around Rs.80 billion (Rs.8,000 crore/$1.60 billion) if the Indian government hikes its share in the surplus to 10 percent.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 25 Jan 2009 | 4:30 am HCC and Halcrow consortium bags INR 2726 crore order - SteelGuru
Source: Google News India - Business | 25 Jan 2009 | 4:20 am L&T's move in Satyam left investors guessing - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 25 Jan 2009 | 3:59 am Obama pushes stimulus plan, meets economic teamWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama sought to build public support on Saturday for an $825 billion economic recovery plan, pledging in his weekly radio address to use the funds to create jobs, improve healthcare and expand renewable energy.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2009 | 2:50 am ICICI Bank posts 3% growth in net profitMumbai, Jan. 24 A substantial rise in bad assets and higher provisioning resulted in ICICI Bank reporting flat growth in net profit during the quarter ended December 31, 2008. The bank’s net profit grew by three per cent at Rs 1,272 croreSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Copper market in surplus, but prices hold wellThe world copper market showed a surplus of 50,000 tonnes for October 2008, according to the latest assessment of International Copper Study Group (ICSG), the intergovernmental organisation to promote the baseSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Police on trail of 275 firms; 40 of them have Maytas tagHyderabad, Jan. 24 The Rs 7,136-crore financial fraud of Satyam Computer Services is assuming much larger proportions than initially thought, with the sleuths investigating the scam suspecting that Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, kin and friends may haveSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am SBI records 37% rise in net for third quarterMumbai, Jan. 24 State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest bank by business as well as market capitalisation, has reported a 37 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 2,478 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2008 as against RsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Price Waterhouse promises full cooperationNew Delhi, Jan 24 Audit firm Price Waterhouse on Saturday expressed “great regret” over the detention of two of its partners by Andhra Pradesh authorities in the Satyam scandal investigations.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Weekly News Round-upMany more disclosures came to light during the 4-day custodial interrogation of Mr Ramalinga Raju, Mr Rama Raju, ex CEO of Satyam, and Mr V. Srinivas, ex CFO.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Two Price Waterhouse partners arrestedHyderabad, Jan. 24 The CID on Saturday arrested Mr S. Gopalakrishnan and Mr Talluri Srinivas, partners in Price Waterhouse, the statutory auditors for the scam-hit Satyam ComputerSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am India Inc intrigued by L&T stake hike in SatyamMumbai, Jan. 24 Larsen & Toubro (L&T) literally set the cat among the pigeons on Friday when it decided to increase its stake in Satyam Computer Services to 12 per cent. The move surprised India Inc and rattled other interestedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Scope for more measures to counter slowdown: PC - Times of India
Source: Google News India - Business | 24 Jan 2009 | 11:47 pm Top Satyam auditors heldTwo top officials of the fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services auditor firm PriceWaterhouse have been arrested by the Andhra Pradesh Criminal Investigation Department.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 24 Jan 2009 | 10:31 pm ICICI Bank Q3 net up 3.41 % - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 24 Jan 2009 | 9:50 pm SBI net spurts 37% on income growth - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 24 Jan 2009 | 7:30 pm Price Waterhouse auditors arrestedCharged with cheating and conspiracy in the Satyam saga.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 24 Jan 2009 | 7:29 pm ICICI beats the Street with 39% rise in netICICI Bank, the countrys largest private sector lender, reported a 39.29 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,559.76 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2008, compared to the year-ago period.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 24 Jan 2009 | 6:35 pm SBI net rises 51% on loan growth, treasury incomeState Bank of India, the countrys largest lender, today reported a 51 per cent rise in consolidated net profit for the third quarter, helped by robust growth in loans and treasury income.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 24 Jan 2009 | 6:32 pm Prime Minister conscious and stablePrime Minister Manmohan Singh was conscious and very-very stable, doctors said today at the end of a successful coronary by-pass surgery, a complex beating-heart operation that took nearly 14 hours. As many as five by-passes were conducted.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 24 Jan 2009 | 6:30 pm Kazakhstan a partner in terror fight: IndiaPresident Pratibha Devisinh Patil Saturday described Kazakhstan as India's 'valuable partner' in its fight against terrorism, while thanking the Central Asian nation for its strong condemnation of the Mumbai mayhem.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 24 Jan 2009 | 4:30 pm Two Price Waterhouse partners arrested for Satyam fraudTwo partners of Price Waterhouse, the firm that audited fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services' books, have been arrested, police said Saturday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 24 Jan 2009 | 4:30 pm Two PWC staff arrested over Satyam - policeNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Two officials at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the auditors of fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services accounts, have been arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police, a senior police official said on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 24 Jan 2009 | 3:32 pm India's ONGC gets stake in Kazakh oil blockIndia's ONGC and its partner Lakshmi N. Mittal Saturday signed an agreement with Kazakhstan's national oil company for a stake in a block in the Caspian oil fields of the Central Asian country.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 24 Jan 2009 | 3:32 pm ONGC inks Kazakhstan oil exploration dealNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp said on Saturday it has signed a deal to explore for oil and gas in the Satpayev Block in Kazakhstan.Source: Reuters: Money News | 24 Jan 2009 | 3:16 pm
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