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HSBC shares volatile ahead of $18 billion rights issue - Reuters
Source: Google News India - Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 1:13 pm 9.2 million GSM mobile connections added in India in February - Khabrein.info
Source: Google News India - Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 1:11 pm Continental to close two European tyre plants - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 1:09 pm SCENARIOS-Raising cash for IMF rescue packages - Reuters
Source: Google News India - Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:59 pm Insurance regulator IRDA plans steps to check malpractices!India`s insurance regulator now appears to be following the corporate sector`s credo - tough times are the right time to take difficult decisions.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:56 pm Asia topples Europe in expensive cities list!Asian cities have shot up the list of the world`s most expensive places as currency fluctuations bring down the relative cost of living in Europe, a survey found Wednesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:56 pm Madoff faces life in prison!Bernard Madoff, accused mastermind of a $50 billion financial fraud, is expected to plead guilty.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:56 pm Citigroup cheers markets but scene still bleak!Citigroup said it was profitable in first two months of 2009 and Toshiba was reported to be set for operating profit of USD 1bn next year.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:56 pm Pension insurer pays retirees after Madoff loss - Reuters
Source: Google News India - Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:41 pm Stocks in Europe, Asia, US Futures Climb; Rio Tinto Advances - Bloomberg
Source: Google News India - Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:38 pm Bangaloreans contribute to city's power crisis: surveyWhile residents of India's IT hub are crying foul about regular power outages, a survey has brought out Bangaloreans' some 'bad habits' when it comes to using and conserving electricity.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:00 pm UBS sees earnings at risk, ups 2008 net lossZURICH (Reuters) - UBS said earnings would remain at risk due to its exposure to illiquid and choppy markets, as it revised up its 2008 net loss, the biggest in Swiss corporate history, to include a large U.S. tax fine and extra writedowns.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Mar 2009 | 11:44 am Europe shares lifted by banks, miners and M&A talk - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 11:33 am RBI: growth target to be missed - reportNEW YORK (Reuters) - India will likely miss the central bank's 7 percent growth estimate for the current fiscal year as a result of the global economic crisis, governor Duvvuri Subbarao told Japan's Nikkei newspaper.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Mar 2009 | 10:35 am OPEC less pressed to cut, oil recovering: delegate - Reuters
Source: Google News India - Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 10:02 am Chinese exports dive, overshadowing investment riseBEIJING (Reuters) - China's exports tumbled in February as the world's third-largest economy felt the full force of the global financial crisis, but capital spending accelerated in response to a massive government stimulus package.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Mar 2009 | 9:27 am Emirates to cut China flights, India schedule unchangedEmirates Airline has decided to reduce its services on the Beijing and Shanghai routes even as its 163 flights to India remain unchanged.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Mar 2009 | 8:51 am Mittal, Ambanis among Forbes's top 10 super-richTwenty-four Indians have made it to the Forbes list of world's richest with steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal in fourth place.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Mar 2009 | 8:08 am S&P comfortable with Malaysia, wary on IndiaSINGAPORE (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's is likely to maintain Malaysia's credit rating despite a new 60 billion ringgit ($16.3 billion) plan to fire up its economy, but the ratings firm said it was concerned about the lack of political will in India to keep government finances under control.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Mar 2009 | 7:43 am Nikkei marks best gain in 6 weeks on Citi, techsTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average jumped 4.6 percent on Wednesday, posting its biggest rise in 6 weeks a day after hitting a 26-year closing low, as financial shares gained after Citigroup's chief executive said the U.S. bank was making profits.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Mar 2009 | 7:13 am Iran says OPEC could accept Russia as member - reportTEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's oil minister suggested OPEC would accept Russia as a member if Moscow wanted to join the 12-member oil producers' group, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Mar 2009 | 7:02 am Insurance regulator plans steps to check malpractices - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 6:33 am IMF chief says bank cleanup too slowDAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - The world's advanced economies are moving too slowly in ridding banks of problem assets, which could jeopardize a global economic recovery in 2010, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Mar 2009 | 5:07 am Insurance regulator plans steps to check malpracticesIndia's insurance regulator now appears to be following the corporate sector's credo - tough times are the right time to take difficult decisions.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 11 Mar 2009 | 5:00 am Kolkata's trams to sport a new look soonKolkata's trams, that have been plying in the city for over 130 years and are a unique symbol of the city, are set to get a makeover.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 11 Mar 2009 | 5:00 am Citigroup cheers markets but economies still bleakNEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - Citigroup said it was profitable in the first two months of 2009 and Toshiba was reported to be set for an operating profit of $1 billion next year, two rare shards of corporate news to lift markets.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Mar 2009 | 4:40 am Indian businesses upbeat on job opportunities - Hindu Business Line
Source: Google News India - Business | 11 Mar 2009 | 4:39 am IIT alumnus earns laurels for boosting India-Vietnam tradeIndian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur is widely renowned as a centre for excellence. And now one of its alumni has earned laurels for his 'significant role' in enhancing India-Vietnam trade.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 11 Mar 2009 | 4:31 am Indian stock, fx, bond markets closed for holidayMUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian stocks, currency and bond markets are closed on Wednesday for a second local holiday. Trading resumes on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Mar 2009 | 2:02 am Nasscom voices concern over H-1B norms restrictionNew Delhi, March 10 Software association Nasscom on Tuesday said any proposed amendment restricting the H-1B visa norms would be of “extreme concern” to the industry.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am Pfizer joins Govt’s anti-tobacco effortsMumbai, March 10 Smokers trying to snuff out their habit will increasingly find more support, with 1,200 more tobacco-cessation centres set to come up in the country.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am ‘Low’ weakens, rains converge over Tamil Nadu coastThiruvananthapuram, March 10 Rampaging westerlies packing a trough that dipped into the Arabian Sea scared away moisture-laden easterlies and weakened the causative ‘low’ off Sri Lanka on Tuesday.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am Job losses now spreading to non-export sectorsNew Delhi, March 10 After scorching export-related sectors, job losses are spreading fast to domestic units across the organised segments of the manufacturing and service sectors.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am NSE software to challenge ODIN of Financial TechMumbai, March 10 The country’s premier stock exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE), has stepped up its efforts to break the monopoly of Financial Technologies (India) Ltd in the area of front-end trading solutions forSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am Quietly cognisantThe first thing that strikes you about him is that he has no airs. He is as unassuming and down to earth as they come in these parts, and conservative too, as I later found out. Little wonder then, I tell myself, that despite its AmericanSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am Outlook bullish for crude in the medium termBL Research Bureau The liquid commodity that has the greatest influence on the global and local financial markets is crude oil. Market participants across the globe watch its movement keenly and want to know where it is likely to head in theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am Partner for overseas assets: Wait to get longer for Essar OilNew Delhi, March 10 Essar Oil may have to wait for some time before it gets a suitable partner for its three overseas exploratory assets. With the fall in crude oil prices and global cash crunch, most exploration companies are looking atSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am IPL revenue already tops last year’sRecessionary clouds may be hovering over the Indian Premier League (IPL), but its sponsors are confident that the event is on a firmSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am Chip industry: Gartner sees 45% drop in capital equipment spendingBangalore, March 10 Worldwide capital equipment spending for semiconductor industry could decline 45.2 per cent to $16.9 billion in 2009 from $30.8 billion in 2008 before increasing to $20.3 billion in 2010, research firm Gartner IncSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am See high demand due to higher infra development: Tata GroupThe current economic conditions are making business tougher for the Tata Group, while falling raw material prices are making its steel cheaper. But JJ Irani, one of the topmost executives of the Tata Group, says even though steel is becoming cheaper, demand in India will be higher than the global average because of the infrastructure development.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 10:58 pm Air pocket: Airlines hit by the rising dollarThere seems to be on end to the turbulent times airlines are facing. The latest air pocket comes in the form of a depreciating rupee. CNBCTV18\'s Neha Pandey delves deeper.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 10:47 pm Future Group to rejig biz into four separate entitiesIndia\'s retail czar Kishore Biyani is making his next big move. The recent changes in FDI norms have prompted Future Group to undertake a major restructuring exercise to unlock value from its current businesses. The move will entail four separate companies with Pantaloon Retail as the holding company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 10:38 pm Now, Bharti Retail to shut storesIt is not just Subhiksha or Reliance Retail; even Sunil Mittal\'s Bharti Retail is feeling the pinch. In spite of a slow, staggered launch, the company will also down the shutters on some of its stores.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 10:26 pm Eco slowdown, ban on Chinese goods hit Holi salesThe festival of holi this year comes in times of gloom. With the economy slowing down most shopkeepers are facing the pinch with sales taking a hit.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 9:45 pm Polo vs Fabia: Who will take on Indian roads in \'10?Europe\'s largest carmaker Volkswagen is all set to take on affiliate Skoda in the Indian market and the war will be between Volkswagen\'s Polo, and Skoda\'s Fabia. CNBCTV18\'s Sirish Chandran and Sandeep Srikanth delve deeper.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 9:36 pm Sebi order on Raju expected soon, may be banned from mktsMarket regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India, (Sebi) is all set to pass its first order against Ramalinga Raju, the former Chairman of the beleaguered tech giant Satyam. He is likely to be banned from stock markets.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 9:18 pm Is realty demand showing signs of picking up?Since last September, top builders froze the launch of new projects. But after cutting prices by as much as 40%, it seems consumers are beginning to bite. Sales are picking up for some developers. Is this time for a turnaround in real estate?Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 8:49 pm After movies, PVR ventures into bowling alleysFrom movies to bowling PVR has decided to foray into bowling alleys across India and this will be followed later by iceskating rings. PVR also says its business is recession proof.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 8:39 pm RBS India operations sale won\'t be easyThe acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotlands (RBS) retail and commercial operations in India is not going to be easy. RBS will have to first decide if they want to sell only the Indian retail branch licence or the entire banking licence.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 8:32 pm 45 pct of world's wealth destroyed - Blackstone CEONEW YORK (Reuters) - Private equity company Blackstone Group LP CEO Stephen Schwarzman said on Tuesday that up to 45 percent of the world's wealth has been destroyed by the global credit crisis.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Mar 2009 | 7:43 pm China adds deflation to economic worriesBeijing: China’s consumer prices fell in February, adding the threat of deflation to the nation’s economic woes, and officials warned the next few months look grim as the global downturn worsens.  Cost conscious: People shop for vegetables in Shanghai on Tuesday. Chinese officials have downplayed the risk that the country is succumbing to a potentially debilitating deflationary trend. AP “We expect negative CPI could persist for much of this year,” Citigroup economist Ken Peng said in a report. But others said inflation might quickly turn positive again as the government pumps money into the stumbling economy as part of its massive stimulus plan. A 1.9% decline in food prices, a major component of the index, and declines in international commodity prices helped drag the index down. So did excess inventories for many industries. The government downplayed the likelihood of a deflationary spiral. It said the fall was due in part to inflation being very high in February a year earlier, when the rise in the CPI reached a 12-year high of 8.7%. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said last week the government expects prices to rise 4% this year. A fall in consumer prices will be a relief to struggling Chinese households. But deflation could undermine the 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus, which aims to reduce reliance on exports by encouraging China’s own consumers to spend more. The country’s industry minister warned on Tuesday that many industries suffer from overcapacity, which could lead to pressure to cut prices further. “Many industries have more supply than demand, so now that we are working to expand the capacity of these industries, they may face new problems because of shrinking demand,” Li Yizhong said at a news conference. Although city dwellers rarely see evidence of falling prices on grocery shelves, some businesses say they are cutting prices. “We adjusted our prices downward by about 10% between December and February,” said Zhai Zhi, a salesman at Synear Food Co., a maker of frozen dumplings and snacks based in central China’s Henan province. Synear was cutting prices to match competitors and reflect lower costs, he said. Officials also warned on Tuesday it was too soon to say economic conditions were improving. They were unusually sombre at a time when Chinese leaders have been highlighting positive economic signs and trying to boost public confidence. “We should not be overly optimistic. China’s industry is still in its most difficult situation,” Li said. “The international financial crisis has not bottomed out and it is having a more and more profound impact on China’s economy.” Power consumption, a key economic indicator, fell by 3.7% in January and February from the year-earlier period, according to Li. He said output of nonferrous metals also fell, indicating slack industry demand. Trade fell again in February, commerce minister Chen Deming said at the news conference with Li, though he gave no details. In January, exports dropped by 17.5% while imports fell 43%. “It’s fair to say in coming months we will see quite a grim picture,” Chen said. The first CPI decline since December 2002 suggests Beijing can cut interest rates further as it tries to spur growth. Royal Bank of Scotland economist Ben Simpfendorfer said China faces a “more durable deflation problem” unless it revives private investment and consumption and reduces reliance on government spending. Adding to the gloomy economic news, the government reported housing prices fell in February for a third month, reflecting a sales slowdown that analysts say could hurt the economy as demand for building materials and labour shrinks. Prices nationwide fell by 1.2% from the same month of 2008, with some areas suffering double-digit declines, according to the Cabinet’s National Development and Reform Commission. Prices of newly built homes plunged by 17.4% in the southern financial centre of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:59 pm In Delhi, making a mess of abattoir modernizationNew Delhi: To find the Ghazipur slaughterhouse, just follow the black kites. Click here to watch video Located on National Highway 24 just a few kilometres east of the Yamuna river, one of India’s most modern abattoirs in a way symbolizes the difficulties of reaching hygienically dressed meat to local consumers. The shining new facility has the capacity to handle 5,000 small and 1,000 big animals every day—about 170,000kg of meat—but manages to process just 500 animals a day since it began operations in December. Even when it will run optimally—not certain when, given objections raised by environmental agencies and animal rights activists—it will barely meet one-third of the capital’s daily demand of 490,000kg. The situation is similar in other big cities across the country. The problem of slaughtering animals in a hygienic and humane manner has gained urgency because more and more Indians are including meat in their diets on the back of economic prosperity that saw the country drive its annual GDP growth to above 8% in the past few years.  Difficult transition: Livestock market near the Idgah slaughterhouse, which the Delhi government is trying to close down (top - Ajit Kumar / Mint). Butchers from the Idgah abattoir have been trained to work in the new slaughterhouse, but many are still resisting the move to Ghazipur. Suresh Verma / Mint Currently, neighbourhood butchers cater to most of the demand in India’s cities, and poultry and goat, preferred meats in the country, are typically butchered at small retail outlets, with little attention to hygiene. To be sure, most of the metros have abattoirs. Delhi, for instance, has a century-old slaughterhouse in Idgah in the heart of the old city, which the city in 2005 decided to close down and build a larger one at Ghazipur. Controversy has dogged the Ghazipur facility, which was constructed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) at a huge cost of Rs150 crore, right from the drawing board. The new abattoir was scheduled to be completed by 2005, but disagreement over costs between the contractor, Food Processing Equipment Co. Pvt. Ltd, and the municipality, led to many delays. No takers When the slaughterhouse did become operational in December, the city was unable to find entities to run it. “Initially when we had floated the tender, not many people were excited. They said the profit margin is not much and may even be negative. That is the reason why no one came up,” said councillor Vijender Gupta, chairman of MCD’s standing committee. In desperation, the corporation signed a contract with the reluctant builder to run the slaughterhouse. Under the arrangement, the company gets Rs35 lakh per month from MCD, which collects a slaughtering fee of Rs45 for each animal. The slaughterhouse is incurring huge losses since it costs Rs2-3 lakh a day to run the facility, according to MCD, which declined to put a figure to the deficit. The operator is also far from happy with the arrangement. “We are an engineering company. Our scope was not to run the slaughterhouse,” said managing director R.K. Saxena. “But when the MCD failed in getting somebody to run it, we were approached to take charge.” “Since there were no takers, we didn’t want MCD to strike off the entire project citing technical faults. We wanted to prove the fact that the slaughterhouse was technically sound,” he added. MCD also has till now failed to close the Idgah abattoir on the back of protests by local butchers who have refused to move to Ghazipur, which is about 20km away. Mohammad Yunous Quereshi, a member of the Delhi Meat Merchants Association and a third-generation butcher, said the distance of Ghazipur from Idgah adds to costs of transporting animals and pares margins. Another meat seller in the Idgah area, Mohammed Arshad, said the Rs45 per animal slaughter fee, which they have to pay to MCD at Ghazipur, compared with Rs5 they pay at Idgah, is unviable and would lead to a rise in retail prices. Local butchers question the rationale of building a new abattoir instead of modernizing the older facility. But the government held the old slaughterhouse had limited capacity, was unhygienic and located in a highly congested area. “In the city, if you have to do something to bring about a change, certain drastic steps need to be taken, which we have taken,” Delhi mayor Arti Mehra said in defence of the new abattoir. Environmental concerns The butchers are not the only ones dissatisfied. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has moved the Supreme Court against MCD and Delhi government saying they have violated environmental laws in setting up the new abattoir. The system at the slaughterhouse is supposed to ensure proper disposal of animal waste. CPCB said the system followed at Ghazipur is far from satisfactory and the abattoir is yet to get clearance from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee. A landfill site near the abattoir is a major cause of concern for CPCB. It has sought a time frame for its closure and the development of a green belt in its place. The slaughterhouse also lacks a biogas plant for the treatment of solid waste. There’s no storage space for hides and other inedible parts, and the space where animals must be rested, known as lairage, is inadequate in proportion to the abattoir’s slaughtering capacity. Integrated system Former adviser to the Food and Agriculture Organization and an expert on livestock, S.K. Ranjhan, points out that it is not enough that animals are slaughtered hygienically, the entire ecosystem, including transportation to the retail shop is important. “What is the point in doing all this hygienically and then transporting the meat in an open transport such as a tonga or rickshaw? We should have containers, completely refrigerated and free from any contamination,” Ranjhan said. There are also issues of meeting the city’s demand. The Ghazipur abattoir cannot hope to meet the city’s demand for meat even if it works at optimum capacity. The city’s estimated daily demand for red meat is 490,000 kg. The new abattoir’s capacity meets barely one-third of the city’s requirement. Ranjhan said Delhi actually needs five abattoirs, one located centrally, and the rest in four corners of the city. MCD’s Vijender Gupta said the government may set up more high-tech units. Meanwhile, the Ghazipur facility is already bypassing prescribed procedures such as resting the animals for 12 hours and examining them before and after killing, Mint found on a visit to the facility. Animal rights activists said that no effort has been made to make the procedure less traumatic for the animals. Ambika Shukla of People for Animals said: “If the whole objective is to protect the animals against fear, that is not being done. They can see another animal being killed, they can hear another animal being killed and worse they can smell it. Animals are completely traumatized by the time they are killed.” Everyone Mintspoke with regarding the issue agreed that a new system was required, but also that the situation at Ghazipur clearly reflects the shabby manner in which government projects are executed. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:54 pm 'US will hand Afghanistan over to Pak'On Sunday, US President Barack Obama suggested to The New York Times that hope in Afghanistan lay in reaching out to the moderate Taliban. For Indias Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), this is their worst nightmare coming true. After handing the moderate Taliban a share of the power in Kabul, say Indian officials, America will pull out troops, allowing the Pakistani army to run Afghanistan on its behalf.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:50 pm India Inc fumes as ICAI uses 'poll-itics' to defer AS 11 relaxationThe general elections could take a toll on the bottom lines of a host of Indian companies that have accessed overseas debt.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:49 pm Citigroup having its best quarter since 2007, Pandit tells staffCitigroup Inc Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said his bank is having the best quarter since 2007, when it last posted a profit.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:47 pm Revised dates for IPL soon: ModiMumbai: Season 2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will start as planned on 10 April and conclude on 24 May, but with a rejigged match schedule and a 10-fold increase in its security budget, following concerns about possible terror attacks.  Game plan: IPL’s Lalit Modi. Rajanish Kakade / AP The schedule had to be revised to avoid a clash of dates with the five-phase general election that begin on 16 April, six days after IPL’s opener in Mumbai, and to avoid overstretching paramilitary troops who will provide security for both the polls and the tournament. Security concerns were heightened by a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in the Pakistani city of Lahore this month. Players and officials have openly expressed reservations about playing in the subcontinent following the Lahore attack, but Modi said that “no foreign players have contacted us, directly or indirectly” to voice any concern about security arrangements. The attack, however, played a major role in forcing IPL organizers to undertake a detailed assessment of security cover. The security budget has been increased 10 times, Modi said. Centralized security for the event, audiences and the players will be overseen by security agency Nicholls Steyn and Associates, which will work closely with all state authorities. “Security is paramount for us. Players, officials and fans are all very important,” Modi said. “Players’ security was the responsibility of the teams last year, but this time we have gone venue by venue managing the security centrally. Of course we will coordinate with the teams.” Elaborating on the security plan, Modi said, “From the minute a (foreign) player lands here to the minute he leaves India, from the minute an Indian player enters the hotel to the minute he leaves, we will be managing the security.“ Two venues—Ahmedabad and Visakhapatnam—have been added to the eight cities that staged IPL matches in the inaugural event last year, while the town of Dharamsala may also stage some games. “Some matches are being moved from the home base of teams to adjust the blackout dates due to elections,” said Modi. According to figures provided by IPL, contracted revenue for the league are now in excess of Rs10,790 crore—an increase of Rs1,725 crore from last year. This number could rise if IPL’s governing council reverses a ban on political advertising during match telecasts as well as in-stadium promotions and team sponsorships. However, Modi maintained that no decision had been taken to lift the ban imposed by the IPL governing council on airing political ads during the match telecasts. Beyond this, tenders have been put out for screening of matches in multiplexes and the partner will be announced on Thursday, said Modi. Audiences will be able to watch matches of the day in theatres, except when a match is being played live in that particular city. The cricket commentary will also be available in multiple language feeds, expanding the reach of the event. AFP and PTI contributed to this story. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:32 pm Competition panel to soon begin probe into cartelsNew Delhi: Even as fears of cartelization rise in sectors such as civil aviation, Dhanendra Kumar, the new chairman of the newly constituted Competition Commission of India (CCI) said the body’s first priority after it starts operating in May would be to investigate takeovers, cartelization, and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) that could lead to the creation of monopolies. Click here to watch video Kumar, however, said that India’s competition body would fast-track approvals of mergers, provided they conformed to the norms, a matter that had become a bone of contention between industry and government. While declining to comment on the alleged cartelization in the airlines industry, he added that “CCI would first watch various moves, get the relevant data and will take any action if required after quickly analysing them.” Now that CCI has started functioning, the current anti-monopoly body will be wound up Kumar and CCI member H.C. Gupta, former coal secretary, were sworn in on 28 February, and another member R. Prasad, former chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes, was sworn in on 1 March. Two more members may join at the end of this month, Kumar said. “We held our first formal meeting on 2 March and since then we are meeting very regularly... I feel the commission will be fully operational in two months time,” he said. CCI assumed statutory powers to enforce anti-competitive practices in September 2007, when the amended Competition Act, 2002, was approved by Parliament. Since then it has been gearing up to start operations. Now that CCI has begun functioning, India’s current competition body, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) will be wound up within two years. A senior official in the ministry of corporate affairs, the administrative ministry that deals with CCI, also said the government would soon announce a competition appellate tribunal—to which appeals against CCI can be made—comprising a chairman and two other members. G.R. Bhatia, partner at Luthra and Luthra Law Offices, said: “In order for CCI to be fully functional it is essential that the appellate tribunal is set up, all regulations be notified and the law made effective; it is also essential that all dimensions of competition law are enforced simultaneously.” The provisions relating to competition law include anti-competition, abuse of dominant position, advocacy, and advisory services to the government and consumers. Kumar also said the government has already begun the work on recruiting 124 professionals and 63 support staff. “The government is hoping to fill a large number of such posts by inviting existing government officials on deputation, besides university professors and people from think-tanks.” Till Kumar’s appointment, CCI, which comprised an acting chairman and a dozen-odd officials, largely played an advocacy and advisory role. It has been advising industry associations and bodies, including those of airline and shipping firms, to abstain from what may look like “cartelization”. It took up the issue with associations in the aviation and shipping segments, besides others. Kumar said CCI will try to clear cases relating to M&As in a shorter time than what the law provides. The Competition Act has given CCI a maximum of 210 days to investigate matters relating to M&As. Industry has been resisting CCI norms relating to M&As. Mint had reported on 11 June that CCI had relaxed the norms with only significant M&As requiring its approval. Lalit Bhasin, a corporate lawyer, said CCI will not be fully functional till draft regulations are finalized. “The industry wanted some amendments to the draft regulations and the newly appointed members of the commission will have to apply their minds on what should be the set of regulations that will be conducive for the industry.” “I feel new set of laws will only be finalized and notified when the new government comes to power. Till then things will be in a limbo,” he added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:31 pm Terror, economy fears bump up IPL costsNew Delhi: The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team and the abrupt slowdown in the economy have not only pressured the organizers of the Indian Premier League, or IPL, to rearrange its second season schedule, but also pay out more for protection against terrorist attacks and, for the first time ever, insure itself against default in payments by advertisers. Two senior officials of the Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd have separately confirmed that premium rates for terror cover have gone up by at least 50% this year because of increased risks associated with the tournament. According to the officials, both of whom did not want to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media, the size of the terror cover is around Rs375 crore. Also See IPL Scorecard This is the first time IPL is taking out separate cover against terror attacks. Last year, it was part of a comprehensive risk package. “Premium rates are substantially higher this year after an attack on the Sri Lankan team. Rs33 lakh has been paid as premium for the whole event,” said one of the officials. Individual teams are also considering insurance cover. “We are careful about security of our players and making all provisions to ensure that we have incident-free matches in Delhi. Insurance cover by the IPL is a welcome move,” said Vidur Naik, marketing manager, Delhi Daredevils. Meanwhile, given recent instances of defaults in payments by some advertisers and the rapidly worsening economic outlook, IPL is not taking any chances. “For the first time they (IPL) have also taken cover of around Rs135 crore against the default by sponsors,” said the official. The second edition of IPL gets under way on 10 April. Neither official commented on the premium paid on this cover because this is proprietary information. IPL has already generated a lot of money for the Board of Control for Cricket in India, or BCCI, with media rights being sold for $1.02 billion for 10 years and DLF Ltd paying Rs200 crore as the title sponsor for five years. In addition, Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd (MSMPL), the broadcaster that beams the Sony bouquet of television channels, is in discussions to absorb the Rs137 crore loss IPL suffered after Reliance Big TV withdrew from a deal for advertising rights at the various grounds that the IPL matches will be held. As Mint had reported on 3 February, Reliance Big TV had done so after MSMPL signed its rival Airtel Digital TV, the direct-to-home arm of Bharti Airtel Ltd, as its on-air sponsor. On-ground advertising allows the sponsor to display its logo on the cricket grounds as well as put up its billboards across the stadiums, whereas on-air sponsors get to air their advertisements during the commercial breaks. Last year too, Oriental Insurance had designed special cover for various teams to insure against untoward weather, riots, public liabilities and other unforeseen tragedies, including terrorism. The sum insured ranged from Rs50 lakh to Rs9 crore for different teams, depending on multiple factors including the capacity of stadiums and the number of tickets sold. Under such contracts, the game is considered to have been played after the first ball of the match is bowled. Claims can be made only when the game gets cancelled without a single ball being bowled. This year, IPL has taken out a separate cover on terrorism. “So far, only the deal for terrorism cover has been completed. But for other items such as event cancellation, national mourning, fire or any other acts of god the deal is in its final stage and has not been closed yet,” said the second official from Oriental Insurance. Graphics by Paras Jain / Mint Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:26 pm Stem cells, science and dogmaThe lifting of a funding ban on human embryonic stem cell research by US President Barack Obama will impart momentum to this much maligned area of scientific study . Stem cell research has the potential to find cures to degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Stem cells have two key properties: the ability to maintain themselves in their original state; and the ability to be prodded to change into specialized cells (such as neurons, kidney cells and liver cells) from an undifferentiated state. Also Read Rethink stem cells? Science already has These properties make them valuable for research on the origin and control of serious illnesses. But as they are derived from human embryos, research is controversial. Religious groups argue that dabbling with stem cells is akin to playing god. That is an extreme view. Letting human life wither away due to disease when a cure is available is unpardonable. Sure, there are areas, such as human cloning, that such research should veer away from. They certainly present serious ethical dilemmas. But they are different from curing life-threatening diseases. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:26 pm How we’re bridging the gap between two iconic mind gamesKolkata: On a sunny February afternoon, around 40 middle-aged and elderly gentlemen and one lady sit around their tables inside the stuffy innards of the Kshudiram Anushilan Kendra—an indoor stadium in Kolkata. The grave-like silence is broken only by the whirring of the giant overhead fans and occasional announcements on the microphone as the participants at the national-level bridge championship organized by the Calcutta Bridge Club play for prestige and a handsome prize fund of Rs3.45 lakh.  Sport for seniors? The national-level bridge championship held in Kolkata recently. Most players of the game in India are middle aged. Indranil Bhoumik / Mint “You won’t see any youngsters here…the average age (of players) is between 55 and 60,” says Debasish Ray, secretary of the club and an accomplished player himself, who represented India at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in the US in 2002. The predicament of bridge becomes starker when compared with chess. Whereas chess currently has some 4,115 players registered with the All India Chess Federation, bridge has some 13,000. “Yet chess is thriving while we are in decline,” says Ray. Echoing his views, Sharad Tilak, an international master in chess as well as an accomplished bridge player, says, “Cards are still not held in high esteem in our society, and if you go to a chess tournament these days, you’d see at least half the players are youngsters —children below 15 years —but it’s not so in bridge. I think parents don’t encourage children to play bridge because cards are naturally linked to gambling.” But there are a few youngsters such as 15-year-old Karan Sharma, who are accomplished both at chess and bridge and buck that trend. “I used to play chess for a long time but seeing my dad play bridge on the net I got hooked and my dad coached me on from there,” says Karan, whose father Vinay played for India two decades ago. Parents are now realizing that bridge improves memory, sharpens the mind and is a team game According to Vinay, Karan’s father, the lack of an iconic player such as Viswanathan Anand, the current world chess champion, is another reason why bridge hasn’t spread among youngsters in the way chess has. Parents go to the extent of allowing their children to give up studies for chess because they want to see their children grow up to become another Anand, says Vinay. But things seem to be changing, albeit slowly. A school, Samadhan Bridge Academy, has been founded in Saki Naka, Mumbai, to train youngsters and currently has some 100 students. What’s more, companies such as HCL Technologies Ltd, Tolani Shipping Co. Ltd, Shree Cements Ltd, Bajaj Auto Ltd, Global Tele-Systems Ltd, India Glycols Ltd and Phoenix Mills Ltd have pledged support to a trust that will not only support and groom young bridge players from all over India, but will also sponsor their trips to tournaments abroad, according to Anand Samant, who heads the Bridge Federation of India’s junior development programme.  Change needed: The lack of an iconic player such as Viswanathan Anand, the current world chess champion, is cited as a reason why bridge hasn’t spread among youngsters in the way chess has. Indranil Bhoumik / Mint “Parents in Chennai want their child to be a prodigy in the Viswanathan Anand mould,” says Rajasekhar. “(But) bridge’s icons such as K.R. Venkatraman—also an IIT Madras product—can hardly match up to that kind of parental expectation,” says Kumar, 22. Despite the duo’s success, the numbers haven’t increased. “At the T. Nagar Social Club where we play, there hasn’t been any notable increase,” says Rajasekhar. However, if Samant is to be believed, parents are beginning to realize that bridge improves memory and sharpens the mind and unlike chess, “(it) is a team game where you have to work with a partner and are up against two opponents... It wasn’t for no reason that General Eisenhower, when he became president, favoured bridge players for his planning department.” Mint couldn’t independently verify if he actually did so. The Internet too has helped to generate interest in the sport among youngsters. According to Samant, many young people, who wouldn’t turn up at tournaments or register themselves with the Bridge Federation, play online. “You will see thousands of youngsters playing on Bridgebaseonline.com, but (they) would never come to a tournament or be part of a club,” says Samant. What is also heartening is the financial support that the sport is receiving from companies such as HCL Technologies, Dhampur Sugar Mills, Tolani Shipping and Shree Cements and even the railways. Because it’s hardly a spectator sport, funding comes from companies that have enthusiasts holding key positions, says Ray, citing the examples of Kiran Nadar, wife of HCL founder Shiv Nadar and the Dhampur Sugar managing director Ashok Goel. Goel took part in the tournament in Kolkata. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:26 pm Biotech firm raises $10 mn from PE fundBangalore: Bangalore-based Cellworks Group Inc., which also has an office in California, has raised about $8-10 million (Rs41.44-51.80 crore) from a California private equity (PE) investor, details of which will be announced in the next few weeks, says its co-founder and chief executive Taher Abbasi. Still, in a financing environment that is getting more challenging by the day, if an Indian biotechnology start-up raises close to $10 million in private equity it doesn’t necessarily signal an uptick in the biotech fortunes, rather this sets it apart from the rest as many of them begin to look for government money.  Challenges ahead: ABLE’s director general Shrikumar Suryanarayan. As the stock market in the US continues to fall, biotech companies have been hit hard—120 of the 370 public companies in that country have less than six months of cash, according to the US trade body Biotech Industry Organization’s 26 February report. In comparison, the Indian biotech industry seems slightly cushioned. “Indian companies have a service model inbuilt in their business…it’s learn while you earn,” says Shrikumar Suryanarayan, director general of the industry body Association of Biotech Led Enterprises (ABLE). The few start-ups that engage in research and development, he adds, are cross-border entities which use the Indian arm for cost reduction as India continues to be an affordable innovation destination. The true impact of the slowdown on the sector will emerge when the annual industry report is released in June by ABLE and the trade journal BioSpectrum, but experts think as the money supply gets tighter there’s a big opportunity for India. “Pressure on cost reduction is not ruled out but it’ll overall be good as Indian bio-services will now become affordable to local start-ups,” says Suryanarayan. He draws parallels from the IT industry where services from leading vendors such as Infosys Technologies Ltd and Wipro Ltd were unaffordable to Indian technology companies until the dot-com bust in 2000-01 which eventually rationalized the rates. For product companies, which have long laboured under the yoke of not having funding, there’s now public money available for radical research. The department of biotechnology (DBT) in New Delhi launched the Rs350 crore Biotechnology Industry Partnership Programme (BIPP) in December from which the first round of awards will go out in March. Under this, for the first time, the government is using taxpayers’ money to fund truly innovative and risky research. DBT secretary M.K. Bhan says that in tough economic times the government needs to “treat biotech as public sector units” to facilitate product development and ensure their affordability. The Rs350 crore budget can be scaled up if it gets adequately utilized, says Bhan. This has generated excitement in the sector and companies, including Cellworks, which traditionally did not tap into DBT funds, are planning to do so. “We snugly fit in the category (drug discovery, diagnostics, and clinical trials) of grants that the government is now providing,” says Sriram Nadathur, director of Nadathur Holdings and Investments Pvt. Ltd, promoter of Lifespring Ventures which has funded a suite of drug discovery and development start-ups. While Lifespring is already financing its five start-ups, Nadathur thinks the additional fund from DBT can be deployed for “another programme”. “It is nice to have it; not necessary to have it.” But for those such as Navya Biologicals Pvt. Ltd, DBT could well be the saviour. Operating on internal accruals from services to pharma companies, Navya is developing a basket of blood proteins needed in treatment of accident or burn victims. This research is funded under DBT’s Small Business Innovation Research Initiative. “Once we cross the proof of concept stage in next four to five months, we’ll apply for BIPP grants,” says co-founder Vinay Konaje, acknowledging that there’s at least four to five years of work before the product could be ready for use. Several such high value researches or so-called shovel-ready ideas are being pursued in the start-ups around the country which require not only funding but serious hand-holding to reach the market. For that, DBT has set up a two-year, Rs30 crore pilot project called Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Programme. But, entrepreneurs say, the department also needs to revamp its operations as the industry doesn’t have “pleasant experiences” dealing with its funding bureaucracy. “Besides filling 40-50 pages of application forms, the types of questions asked—how many and what types of equipment you have, how much you pay your staff, et al.—are big discouragements,” says Abbasi. Nadathur, too, doesn’t recall any cordial collaboration. “There is will (in the government) but no structured way of disbursing money, which is very unlike venture capitalists,” says Anuradha Acharya, promoter of bio-IT services company Ocimum Biosolutions Ltd in Hyderabad. Both Bhan and Suryanarayan agree that these are evolving times and many teething issues will be solved as these initiatives mature, but it appears the entrepreneurs themselves want more clarity. “Since BIPP uses public money, DBT needs to maximize returns and have more accountability and transparency,” says Konaje. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:22 pm Biotech firm raises $10 mn from PE fundBangalore: Bangalore-based Cellworks Group Inc., which also has an office in California, has raised about $8-10 million (Rs41.44-51.80 crore) from a California private equity (PE) investor, details of which will be announced in the next few weeks, says its co-founder and chief executive Taher Abbasi. Still, in a financing environment that is getting more challenging by the day, if an Indian biotechnology start-up raises close to $10 million in private equity it doesn’t necessarily signal an uptick in the biotech fortunes, rather this sets it apart from the rest as many of them begin to look for government money. Challenges ahead: ABLE’s director general Shrikumar Suryanarayan. As the stock market in the US continues to fall, biotech companies have been hit hard—120 of the 370 public companies in that country have less than six months of cash, according to the US trade body Biotech Industry Organization’s 26 February report. In comparison, the Indian biotech industry seems slightly cushioned. “Indian companies have a service model inbuilt in their business…it’s learn while you earn,” says Shrikumar Suryanarayan, director general of the industry body Association of Biotech Led Enterprises (ABLE). The few start-ups that engage in research and development, he adds, are cross-border entities which use the Indian arm for cost reduction as India continues to be an affordable innovation destination. The true impact of the slowdown on the sector will emerge when the annual industry report is released in June by ABLE and the trade journal BioSpectrum, but experts think as the money supply gets tighter there’s a big opportunity for India. “Pressure on cost reduction is not ruled out but it’ll overall be good as Indian bio-services will now become affordable to local start-ups,” says Suryanarayan. He draws parallels from the IT industry where services from leading vendors such as Infosys Technologies Ltd and Wipro Ltd were unaffordable to Indian technology companies until the dot-com bust in 2000-01 which eventually rationalized the rates. For product companies, which have long laboured under the yoke of not having funding, there’s now public money available for radical research. The department of biotechnology (DBT) in New Delhi launched the Rs350 crore Biotechnology Industry Partnership Programme (BIPP) in December from which the first round of awards will go out in March. Under this, for the first time, the government is using taxpayers’ money to fund truly innovative and risky research. DBT secretary M.K. Bhan says that in tough economic times the government needs to “treat biotech as public sector units” to facilitate product development and ensure their affordability. The Rs350 crore budget can be scaled up if it gets adequately utilized, says Bhan. This has generated excitement in the sector and companies, including Cellworks, which traditionally did not tap into DBT funds, are planning to do so. “We snugly fit in the category (drug discovery, diagnostics, and clinical trials) of grants that the government is now providing,” says Sriram Nadathur, director of Nadathur Holdings and Investments Pvt. Ltd, promoter of Lifespring Ventures which has funded a suite of drug discovery and development start-ups. While Lifespring is already financing its five start-ups, Nadathur thinks the additional fund from DBT can be deployed for “another programme”. “It is nice to have it; not necessary to have it.” But for those such as Navya Biologicals Pvt. Ltd, DBT could well be the saviour. Operating on internal accruals from services to pharma companies, Navya is developing a basket of blood proteins needed in treatment of accident or burn victims. This research is funded under DBT’s Small Business Innovation Research Initiative. “Once we cross the proof of concept stage in next four to five months, we’ll apply for BIPP grants,” says co-founder Vinay Konaje, acknowledging that there’s at least four to five years of work before the product could be ready for use. Several such high value researches or so-called shovel-ready ideas are being pursued in the start-ups around the country which require not only funding but serious hand-holding to reach the market. For that, DBT has set up a two-year, Rs30 crore pilot project called Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Programme. But, entrepreneurs say, the department also needs to revamp its operations as the industry doesn’t have “pleasant experiences” dealing with its funding bureaucracy. “Besides filling 40-50 pages of application forms, the types of questions asked—how many and what types of equipment you have, how much you pay your staff, et al.—are big discouragements,” says Abbasi. Nadathur, too, doesn’t recall any cordial collaboration. “There is will (in the government) but no structured way of disbursing money, which is very unlike venture capitalists,” says Anuradha Acharya, promoter of bio-IT services company Ocimum Biosolutions Ltd in Hyderabad. Both Bhan and Suryanarayan agree that these are evolving times and many teething issues will be solved as these initiatives mature, but it appears the entrepreneurs themselves want more clarity. “Since BIPP uses public money, DBT needs to maximize returns and have more accountability and transparency,” says Konaje. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:22 pm Malaria drug found to curb animal viruses that spread to humansScientists have discovered that an old anti-malaria drug is effective against two fatal viruses that recently jumped from animals to humans. The closely related viruses, Nipah and Hendra, live in the fruit bats sometimes called flying foxes and are believed to infect animals that eat fruit contaminated with the bats’ urine or saliva. Nipah was discovered in 1999, when it was blamed for the deaths of 106 people in Malaysia and Singapore, mostly farm or slaughterhouse workers who got it from pigs. Since 2001, Nipah has killed more than 100 in Bangladesh and India. The early deaths were from brain infections, but in 2004 it also took on a respiratory form transmitted from person to person. Each small outbreak had a different death rate, but most were well over 50%. Hendra was discovered in 1994 in Australia, where it has killed dozens of horses and two of four humans known to have been infected by horses. Until recently, there was no known treatment. But in the last month, two teams of scientists—one at Cornell’s medical school in New York and one in France—separately discovered that chloroquine, a malaria drug invented 50 years ago, prevents both viruses from reproducing. Chloroquine has a long safety record and, in laboratory tests, appears to work at doses even lower than those used to prevent malaria. It has not yet been tested against Nipah or Hendra in humans but presumably will be during the next outbreak, scientists said. ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:14 pm Rethink stem cells? Science already hasWith soaring oratory, US President Barack Obama on Monday removed a substantial practical nuisance that has long made life difficult for stem cell researchers.  Making way: President Barack Obama signs an executive order on stem cells and a presidential memorandum on scientific integrity on Monday. Gerald Herbert / AP In practical terms, federally financed researchers will now find it easier to do a particular category of stem cell experiments that, though still important, has been somewhat eclipsed by new advances. Until now, to study unapproved stem cell lines, researchers had to set up separate, privately-financed labs and follow laborious accounting procedures to make sure not a cent of federal grant money was used on that research. No longer. The lifting of such requirements “is just a major boon for the research here and elsewhere”, said Arnold Kriegstein, a stem cell researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. George Q. Daley, who studies blood diseases at Children’s Hospital in Boston, said he had derived 15 human embryonic stem cell lines using private money, and that for the first time he could now apply for grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study these cells. In the last eight years, his lab has moved from 90% NIH support to half NIH, half private financing. But private money is now drying up, he said, and new NIH support will be particularly welcome. However, the president’s support of embryonic stem cell research comes at a time when many advances have been made with other sorts of stem cells. The Japanese biologist Shinya Yamanaka found in 2007 that adult cells could be reprogrammed to an embryonic state with surprising ease. This technology “may eventually eclipse the embryonic stem cell lines for therapeutic as well as diagnostics applications”, Kriegstein said. For researchers, reprogramming an adult cell can be much more convenient, and there have never been any restrictions on working with adult stem cells. For therapy, far off as that is, treating patients with their own cells would avoid the problem of immune rejection. Members of Congress and advocates for fighting diseases have long spoken of human embryonic stem cell research as if it were a sure avenue to quick cures for intractable afflictions. Scientists have not publicly objected to such high-flown hopes, which have helped fuel new sources of grant money like the $10 billion (Rs51,800 crore) initiative in California for stem cell research. In private, however, many researchers have projected much more modest goals for embryonic stem cells. Their chief interest is to derive embryonic stem cell lines from patients with specific diseases, and by tracking the cells in the test tube to develop basic knowledge about how the disease develops. Despite a Food and Drug Administration-approved safety test of embryonic stem cells in spinal cord injury that the Geron Corp. began in January, many scientists believe that putting stem cell-derived tissues into patients lies a long way off. Embryonic stem cells have their drawbacks. They cause tumours, and the adult cells derived from them may be rejected by the patient’s immune system. Furthermore, whatever disease process caused the patients’ tissue cells to die is likely to kill introduced cells as well. All these problems may be solvable, but so far none have been solved. Restrictions on embryonic stem cell research originated with Congress, which, each year since 1996, has forbidden the use of federal financing for any experiment in which a human embryo is destroyed. This includes the derivation of human stem cell lines from surplus fertility clinic embryos, first achieved by James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin in 1998. President Bill Clinton contemplated but never implemented a policy that would have allowed NIH-financed researchers to study human embryonic stem cells derived by others. Research was able to begin only in August 2001, when president George W. Bush, seeking a different way around the congressional restriction, said researchers could use any lines established before that date. Critics said the distinction between the Clinton and Bush policies lacked moral significance, given that each was intended to get around the congressional ban, based on a religious and moral argument. The proposed Clinton policy amounted to: “Stealing is wrong, but it’s OK to use stolen property if someone else stole it.” The Bush policy was: “Stealing is wrong, but it’s OK to use stolen property if it was stolen before 9 August, 2001.” Obama has put the proposed Clinton policy into effect, but congressional restrictions remain. Researchers are still forbidden to use federal financing to derive new human embryonic stem cell lines. They will, however, be allowed to do research on new stem cell lines grown in a privately financed lab. Stem cell research is the best known of several avenues of investigation into what is known as regenerative medicine. To regenerate the aging body with its own subtle repair systems, of which stem cells are one component, would be far more effective than the brute methods of drugs and surgery used today. But scientists are still merely at the threshold of understanding how the body’s 200 different types of cell interact with one another. It seems likely to be years before biologists know all the settings that must be adjusted in a human cell’s chromosomes to make it become a well-behaved cone cell in the retina or a dopamine-making neuron of the type destroyed in Parkinson’s. Despite the new interest in reprogrammed stem cells, human embryonic stem cells are still worth studying, both to track the earliest moments in disease and to help assess the behaviour of the reprogrammed cells. ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:12 pm Anatomy of a real-estate crisisNew Delhi / Bangalore: When he bought the four-bedroom apartment in Unitech Grande on the outskirts of New Delhi 22 months ago, the hefty price tag of Rs2.75 crore didn’t deter him. The economy was humming, the markets surging and nothing, it seemed, could go wrong.  Hard hit: A plot owned by Sobha Developers in Bangalore. Hemant Mishra / Mint The price of the apartment, promised for delivery in September 2010, has now dropped by about half to Rs3,500 per sq. ft, said the 37-year-old buyer, who didn’t want to be identified by his name or profession. “I can’t even sell the property because of the erosion in value. I will lose money if I sell now,” he says, adding that he is fretful the project will be delayed because “not even a hole has been dug in the ground” at the site in Noida since he purchased the apartment. His predicament illustrates the plight of homebuyers who bought apartments and houses at the peak of the property cycle after prices had surged 30% year-on-year during 2005-07. Those properties are worth half the price they paid after the economy and, with it, the real estate market, went into a tailspin last year. Debt-laden developers, too, are hurting as an economy headed for its slowest growth in six years, sinking property values, job losses, higher borrowing costs and tough-to-get credit keep both genuine buyers and speculators out. “In hindsight, everyone is wiser,” says R. Nagaraju, general manager (corporate planning and strategy) at Unitech Ltd, India’s second largest developer by market value. “Nobody saw it coming.” Speculators, with access to plentiful and cheap credit, fuelled the property boom, booking apartments and selling out for a profit when prices rose. Speculative buying made up as much as 40% of total property sales, experts reckon. “They would come with Rs5 crore wanting to pick up five different properties of Rs1 crore each... They would quit as soon as they made a neat margin,” says Farook Mahmood, chairman of Bangalore-based realtor Silverline Group Inc. Leveraged to the hilt Developers tried to cash in by launching luxury and so-called super-luxury residential projects in the Delhi suburbs of Gurgaon and Noida, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai. “Every developer wanted to launch a luxury project,” says Amber Maheshwari, director (investment advisory) at real estate consultancy firm DTZ. He says there was “latent demand for high-end housing”, but it was “finite”. Developers scrambled to acquire land in prime locations even if it was at exorbitant rates. “In the rush to acquire land, every developer leveraged to the hilt,” says Maheshwari. “Money available to construct projects was diverted to acquire land.” Money became easily available after 2005, when the government allowed foreign direct investment in real estate. Developers funded their expansion though private equity investment, debt and money raised from the capital markets. “The three major errors that most developers committed during the boom years that preceded the slowdown are, the greed to buy more and more land without understanding the risk factor associated with it, indiscriminately announcing projects of millions of square feet at the highest possible price,” says Pujit Agarwal, managing director of real-estate developer Orbit Corp. Ltd. “And thirdly, developers forgot who the real customer was and got carried away into building luxury apartments even in far-off suburbs, which wouldn’t attract enough buyers just because those (apartments) assured higher margins and there would be fewer flats to sell,” Agarwal adds. In 2007, when the stock market was booming, many developers raised money from the public. DLF Ltd, the country’s largest developer by market value, raised about $2 billion (Rs10,360 crore today) in June 2007 in what was then the largest-ever initial public offering in the country. Developers such as Omaxe Ltd, Puravankara Projects Ltd and Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd also came out with public offerings during the year. End of the party As property prices zoomed, alarm bells had begun to sound that the real estate market was overheating. Home loan rates shot up as the central bank raised interest rates to douse inflation that was surging on the back of oil prices that reached a record $147 a barrel in July.  Parsvnath Developers’ Exotica residential project in Gurgaon. Financing of huge amounts of debt is an issue for cash-starved developers. Ramesh Pathania / Mint By mid-2008, the property market party was over. According to a report by real estate consultancy firm Cushman and Wakefield, Mumbai, Delhi and its suburbs, Bangalore and Pune witnessed a quarter-on-quarter decline in prices of up to 15-20%, while prices in Chennai and Kolkata fell by 5-7% during the quarter ended December. Land buying also came to an abrupt halt as even existing projects could not find buyers. “I have stopped buying land a year back and I am now focusing on my copper business,” says Shyam Varma, 55, a resident of South Mumbai, who dabbles in real estate and the copper trade. Riding high on the real estate boom of 2003-04, Varma bought land not only in Mumbai, but in Agra, Aligarh and Pune before the good times ended. Today, he has an entire building ready with at least 20 apartments in central Mumbai, but hasn’t been able to sell a single one in six months even after he offered a 30% discount. “I have about 100 acres and am trying to sell, but there are no buyers,” says Varma. Developers also had to bear the brunt of measures taken by the government to prevent a bubble from building in the real estate sector. Interest rates on loans to developers rose from 12% to 16-18%. Funding crimped “The government got concerned because of inflation,” says Anshuman Magazine, managing director of CB Richard Ellis, a property advisory. “You can either control demand or supply. The government decided to control supply by increasing the lending rates to developers and increasing the risk rating on real estate lending.” Restrictions on external commercial borrowings also crimped funding. Government measures choked funding options for developers, says Magazine. “Demand slowed down and on the supply side, developers were not getting money. That was the trigger of a slowdown.” Developers are groaning under the weight of debt. DLF has a net debt of Rs13,000 crore, Unitech Rs8,000 crore, Parsvnath Rs2,000 crore and Omaxe Rs1,700 crore, according to figures they have made public. “The high debt of developers is a systemic fault…there is no long-term funding for developers. How can you develop 10- year projects without such funding,” says Unitech’s Nagaraju. Financing of such huge amounts of debt has become an issue for cash-starved developers. A recent Credit Suisse report says that companies are looking to sell land, restructure loans with banks, accelerate volumes by offering discounts and are even willing to consider equity dilution to manage their debt repayment schedules. DLF wants to reshuffle its debt by replacing short-term foreign currency borrowings of Rs4,000 crore with domestic loans having longer maturity at lower interest cost. Unitech, which had to repay Rs2,500 crore of debt by this March, has already rescheduled over Rs1,000 crore of loans. Developers have started to pull out of ambitious projects announced during the boom years. BPTP Ltd, which made waves when it won the bid for a 95-acre plot of land in Noida for Rs5,000 crore in what was considered India’s most expensive land deal, had to withdraw from the project because it could not make the payment. Projects across the country by Unitech, DLF and Puravankara are also being downscaled. Project delays Real estate projects by developers, including DLF, Unitech and Parsvnath ran into delays as funding dried up. “Initially, the delay was because of approvals required for projects at various stages, shortage of manpower and poor project management skills,” said an analyst with a brokerage firm, who didn’t want to be identified, referring to the industry as a whole. “From there on, it has become a question of liquidity.” Construction work on some projects has completely stopped in the last two-three months and many projects are likely to be delayed by one-two years, says a report by Citigroup dated 16 Janaury. A few small developers who have failed to start construction on their projects even one-two years after launch are now being forced to refund money to customers, the report says. Developers are also not paying commissions due to brokers for at least a year and are defaulting on instalments due for land purchased at high prices in auctions, says the Citi report. Realtors’ profits are falling, signalling that sales have virtually stopped. During the quarter ended December, developers saw up to a 95% decline in net profit on a year-on-year basis. DLF posted a 68% drop in net profit for the third quarter, while Unitech recorded a 74% drop. The profit drop was due to a decline in sales and prices, and developers’ increasing focus on affordable housing, where margins are lower, but demand potentially higher. “The supply of homes became so high that after a point of time, pricing had to correct,” says Maheshwari. “This led to a decline in sales…which resulted in a decline in the profits of developers.” Customers hold out Many buyers are not paying their instalments on time because they are concerned that the developer may not complete the project. Many real estate projects offer construction-linked payment plans under which the buyer pays the developer depending on the construction milestone achieved, says Sanjay Sharma who heads Gurgaonscoop.com, a website on the real estate market in Gurgaon. Developers, including DLF, Unitech, Omaxe, Ansal API Ltd and Puravankara Projects, have announced plans to develop affordable homes in the Rs10-50 lakh range. The downturn has brought the property market back to its senses, says Aashish Kalra, managing director of Trikona Capital, a real estate fund management firm. “Now you find every developer going for affordable and low-cost housing today because that’s the sector developers ignored before and they now realize that the real demand lies there.” So, when will the uptick come? “It depends on the revival of the global economy,” says Century21 India’s Mahajan. “We are seeing that recent steps like lowering of interest rates, correction in pricing is not lifting the buyers’ sentiment.” Expectations that prices would decline further, lack of confidence in developers’ ability to deliver, job insecurity and tightening of lending by banks have forestalled a recovery, he adds. “As far as product pricing and interest rates are concerned, the correction has happened,” says Unitech’s Nagaraju. “The response to one of our affordable housing projects launched 10 days back has been very good. Bookings are at healthy rate. Almost 70% has been sold out. The only thing that needs to happen now is a change in customer sentiment.” shabana.h@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:05 pm Porn or a brand with character? Many of these are voices of well-meaning Indians who are genuinely concerned about exposing India’s dark underbelly to the world. For them, the portrayal of poverty berates Indians and makes India look like an underdeveloped third-world country. Well, since it is brand India that is under discussion, here is my view as a branding professional. In my experience, the days of sanitized, plastic brands are long gone. There is just too much media attention for a brand to be able to hide anything about itself. Smart brands therefore, anticipate and figure out how to make the most of their strengths as well as their weaknesses. Dettol stings! Heinz ketchup makes you wait. Harley Davidson is noisy. Often, the flaw adds character to the brand and gives it a magnetism that sanitized, pink and white brands lack. The triumph of branding is that we have learnt to recognize this and build brand myths that encompass not just strengths but also weaknesses. You can’t hide Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s lack of Western polish. Man of sweat and toil from Jharkhand adds character to brand Dhoni. If you have a speed monster such as Ferrari, honest allusions to high maintenance costs add, rather than subtract, from the brand’s magnetism. It takes a certain sophistication to understand how brand myths take root and grow. Possibly, no one understood this better than Gandhiji. When he was headed for the London round table conference, he chose to flaunt a loin cloth because it underlined the fact that all that his hungry people sought and deserved was very basic human freedoms. Coming back to Slumdog Millionaire, I think it scores because it captures the undercurrents that represent the source of India’s progress more than one-dimensional India shining portrayals. It captures the lean, hungry ambition that drives Indians to uplift themselves and the irrepressible optimism that characterizes our journey. By not hiding our poverty, it explains where India’s exceptionally bright minds acquire the discipline to channelize their energies, passions and talents into extremely challenging endeavours. To my mind, Slumdog Millionaire adds character to the myth of brand India. I gather that today Dharavi is among the top must-see spots for tourists visiting Mumbai. And after a visit to Dharavi, most tourists say that India is amazing, something we can never be. So here’s a toast to you Danny Boyle—Jai ho! Arvind Sharma is chairman, India subcontinent, Leo Burnett India Pvt. Ltd. As told to Anushree Chandran anushree.m@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 6:05 pm NHPC to hire 200 employees to make up for exodus to pvt firmsNew Delhi: State-owned NHPC Ltd, the country’s largest hydropower company, said it will hire 200 employees across its engineering, human resources and finance departments despite the economic downturn.  Staff crunch: NHPC’s Garg says the firm plans to hire for several departments despite the downturn. Hindustan Times NHPC, which employs 12,000 people, has in the past few years seen an exodus of employees to private sector power firms, the new entrants in the hydropower business, such as Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Reliance Energy Ltd, Lanco Infratech Ltd and DSC Ltd (formerly DS Constructions). “In the past few years, around 400-500 employees have quit NHPC to join private sector power companies,” Garg said. Employees of public sector units (PSUs) such as NHPC, Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd and NTPC Ltd were preferred over others by private players for their expertise and experience. However, following the global economic downturn, PSUs are back in the limelight even for premier business schools, thanks to job security and the amenities provided by government-owned organizations. Human resource consultant Anita Belani, country head at Right Management India Pvt. Ltd, said: “In the past few years, we had seen a lot of attraction towards other sectors such as investment banking, finance, among others. This (preference for PSU jobs) is interesting. Large PSUs are good learning grounds for new graduates. There is a growing realization about PSUs in terms of stability and exposure that they provide.” India has a hydropower generation capacity of 32,000MW and plans to add another 16,553MW by 2012. NHPC is currently engaged in the construction of 12 projects with a total installed capacity of 5,322MW and plans to raise its capacity to 10,000MW by 2012. It has an installed capacity of 4,200MW, and added 1,917MW during the 10th Plan (2002-07). Hydropower projects are more complex to construct, and need specialized technology and design as against thermal power projects. NHPC has about 2,000 engineers on its payrolls. “For the projects under construction, contracts have already been awarded,” Garg said. He also pointed out the dearth of civil contractors in the country and said, “We have limited contracting agencies and need to have more civil contractors.” Some of the major contracting companies in India include Patel Engineering Ltd, Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd and Gammon India Ltd. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 5:56 pm BJD keeps options open for post-poll allianceBhubaneswar: Keeping its options open for the post-election scenario, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), in Orissa on Tuesday said that it was not part of any front or political formation at the moment despite its new-found bonhomie with the Left. Click here to watch video “We are neither part of the NDA, UPA nor Third Front,” said BJD secretary general Damodar Rout on the eve of the Naveen Patnaik-led government’s trial of strength in the Assembly tomorrow following the snapping of the party’s 11-year-old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “Neither the Congress nor BJP is our enemy. They are political opponents and we will campaign against them during elections,” he said. The BJD would take a stand on joining any front only after the elections, he said. “We will support the group which promises to protect the interest of the state,” Rout said while not ruling out the possibility of backing NDA (National Democratic Alliance) again or supporting UPA (United Progressive Alliance) in forming a government at the Centre. Denouncing BJP’s withdrawal of support to the Patnaik government barely an hour after seat-sharing talks failed, the BJD leader alleged that the saffron party “betrayed” the trust of the people who had chosen Naveen Patnaik as the chief minister. The BJP leadership could have waited for a day to resume talks on seat-sharing which had broken down, Rout said adding central leaders of the saffron party could have taken up the matter with the BJD supremo before pulling out of the government. “If they were unhappy over the talks, the BJP ministers could have submitted their resignation to the chief minister instead of rushing to Raj Bhavan to withdraw support to a popular government,” he said, claiming the BJP was demanding 93 assembly seats despite being aware about its “poor winning potential”. The BJP demanded more seats after being unable to withstand pressure from its rank and file, Rout said while blaming the erstwhile ally for breaking the association. Asked whether BJD would extend support to the NDA after the polls, he said “any decision regarding support to any front will be taken only after the elections”. Proving majority on the floor of the Assembly on Wednesday and subsequently winning the maximum seats in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections were BJD’s priority now, he said. The BJD leader denied allegations of horse-trading before the trust vote saying “we will sail through comfortably.” The party was also hopeful of getting votes from the opposition Congress which had in the past showed willingness to support Naveen Patnaik if he severed ties with the saffron party, Rout claimed. The BJD has 61 members in the 147-member house including the Speaker Kishore Mohanty. It has been assured the support of legislators belonging to the JMM (four), NCP (two), CPI (one), CPI-M (one) besides seven independents. One of the independents, Sambhunath Nayak had announced his decision to abstain from voting. The Opposition Congress has 38 members and BJP 32 of whom three MLAs had resigned from the party. “Our government is absolutely safe. While the chief minister has submitted a list of 76 supporting MLAs to Governor (M C Bhandare), more legislators are likely to vote in our favour,” Rout said. Meanwhile, Congress Leader of the Opposition Ulaka Ramchandra said his party was yet to decide its strategy for tomorrow’s trust vote. “We are yet to decide. Our legislature party will meet before the trust vote and finalise our stand,” Ulaka said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 5:39 pm Top gear in GenevaVolkswagen Polo  Interestingly, the same platform will also spawn a compact sedan, which VW hopes to launch in India by mid-2010 in the Rs6-7 lakh range. Skoda Yeti  Skoda doesn’t think so, and what we got was the world debut of the Yeti. It is a bit of a van, a car and even an SUV—all rolled into one. The Yeti offers seating for four or five, options of diesel and petrol engines, cargo space, and the best part—a four-wheel or front-wheel drive choice. It has a bold face, accentuated by the big round fog lamps, but retains the typical Skoda family look. The car goes on sale in Europe within a few weeks, and Skoda has begun a study to make the car in India by the end of 2010— where, like many European markets, it hopes to create a brand new segment of its own. Bentley Continental Supersports  The car is 110kg lighter than the Continental GT Speed on which it is based—which makes it the fastest Bentley yet, doing 0-100 kmph in a mere 3.7 seconds. If this car becomes popular, it could mark a whole new direction for premium cars in the near future. Chevrolet Spark  What is interesting is that the new Spark is based on the Suzuki Splash platform—which Maruti plans to introduce in India by 2010. Expect a 1.2-litre petrol engine, reasonable space and plenty of style. The price range would be between Rs3.5-4.5 lakh. Tata Prima  The car is a five-seater sedan, and Tata says it will go into production in India in about three years. The Prima boasts bold styling and flowing Italian lines, yet retains the design DNA seen in recent Tata showings such as the Indica Vista or Xover concepts. If the interiors and engine end up matching the style quotient, it looks like Tata has a winner on its hands. Porsche Cayenne  Vinayak Patankar is editor (auto), NDTV. Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com BUY To some, the Quik Pod is a nefarious device used for discouraging human interaction while travelling. To others, it’s a stick to which you can attach your camera to take fairly steady and flattering self-portraits on the go. The basic Quik Pod (www.quickpod.com)—essentially a monopod with a handle—costs $34.95 and includes a clip, wrist strap, carrying bag and a bubble level to ensure your shots have a flat horizon. The standard model extends to 18 inches and closes to 7.5 inches. It weighs 3.5 ounces and attaches to any camera with a standard tripod adaptor ©2009/ THE NEW YORK TIMES WORK The Kensington Slimblade ($129) is a trackball mouse that requires little desk space—they’re stationary, unlike mice—and offers a unique and highly accurate scrolling mechanism. In this case, the ball itself is made of heavy red plastic and the base has four buttons—left and right click, with two buttons for media and on-screen viewing control. It is compatible with PCs and Macs. It has a rugged USB cable clad in nylon fabric and the package looks as if it could survive the beating those old Centipede games used to take. ©2009/ THE NEW YORK TIMES SHOOT Samsung’s HZ15W camera ($330)is both portable and powerful. It has a 24mm ultra-wide-angle Schneider lens with an impressive 10x optical zoom, which is complemented nicely by the camera’s optical and digital image stabilization. You can put that zoom to use by recording high-definition video and also connect the camera directly to an HDTV, sans cradle. The 12-megapixel HZ15W has a 3-inch LCD screen and offers both manual and automatic shooting modes so you can play around with the shutter speed, aperture and exposure. It also has face and blink detection technologies. ©2009/ THE NEW YORK TIMES PLAY The standout feature of the Logitech G19 gaming keyboard ($200) is a tilting colour GamePanel LCD screen, 320x240 pixels, that can be used to display gaming information for about 60 games. It houses 12 fully programmable G-keys (three macros per key) and has multi-key input functionality, which means you can bang on up to five keys simultaneously. You can also record new macros, and there’s a game mode switch that disables the Windows key to help prevent accidental lockouts. It is compatible with both Windows and Mac. ©2009/ THE NEW YORK TIMES Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 5:27 pm Watertight Case Price: Rs48,000. www.technologies.vu Considering that it is a 17-incher, the 400:1 contrast ratio and 16-millisecond response time are not really as disappointing as the numbers read. No, the colours don’t pop and yes, the images could do with some vividness. But the overall sharpness is decent. With provision for one TV and AV input each, the device can deal with PAL, NTSC and SECAM RF colour systems. The front panel features an aluminous induction touch pad at the base for controls (as opposed to buttons) to resist moisture. The accompanying full-function remote (water-resistant, it can take wet hands but not a dunking) is slim and tidy. And because of its designated function, the 18.5x12.4x2.5-inch unit comes with a wall-mount bracket, no console/table stand. Verdict: At 4.1kg, it is a fairly lightweight wall hanging to hitch up—as TVs go. But with a hefty price tag, consider it only If you’re a hard-core TV-holic. Also Read Hands On earlier columns ********* Package Deal  Price: Rs8,799. www.hp.com For an inkjet printer, the black text output with serif and sans-serif fonts—in regular, bold and italic typefaces—in sizes ranging from 6 to 80 points was impressive. Even draft/economy mode is surprisingly decent. Colour photocopying too is fairly okay. Copying speeds for an A4 page are about 6-7 pages per minute for both colour and B&W in normal quality, which is good enough since you won’t be copying 30-40 page documents with it. Scanning and printing the same pages is slower but fetches better results. There are no issues with black and white photocopies—they’re no-nonsense, fast and clean. Yes, these could be a mite crisper. Printing on photo paper produces very good output (near lab quality) despite sizing issues with 4x6 borderless prints. And those looking for look-Ma-no-wires printing will find Wi-Fi connectivity a boon. Verdict: If you are looking for a compact device for your home or small office, check this model as it is a good value for money deal. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 5:25 pm Chinese-ruled Tibet hell on earth: Dalai LamaDharamsala: Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Tuesday, accused China of having brought “hell on earth” to his homeland in a speech on the sensitive 50th anniversary of a failed uprising. As Chinese authorities deployed a massive security force across the Tibetan plateau to prevent protests, he demanded “legitimate and meaningful autonomy” for the region in a speech at his exile base in northern India.  Middle path: The Dalai Lama addresses the media in Dharamsala, on the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. Ashwini Bhatia / AP The Dalai Lama said China had brought “untold suffering and destruction” to the Himalayan region in a wave of repressive campaigns since the uprising on 10 March 1959 that forced him to flee. “These thrust Tibetans into such depths of suffering and hardship that they literally experienced hell on earth,” he said, adding they caused the deaths of “hundreds of thousands” of his people. “Even today Tibetans in Tibet live in constant fear,” he said. “Their religion, culture, language, identity are near extinction. The Tibetan people are regarded like criminals, deserving to be put to death.” The anniversary of the failed uprising is being marked by vigils and protests in Dharamshala, as well as in places as far afield as Washington and Canberra. The Dalai Lama’s comments were dismissed as “lies” in Beijing. “I will not respond to the Dalai Lama’s lies,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters. “The Dalai Lama clique is confusing right and wrong. They are spreading rumours. The democratic reforms (under Chinese rule) are the widest and most profound reforms in Tibetan history,” Ma said. China has ruled Tibet since 1951 after sending in troops to “liberate” the region the previous year. However, the 73-year-old Dalai Lama still retains enormous support among the roughly six million devoutly Buddhist Tibetans who live in China, despite Beijing’s efforts to demonize him. In his speech, the Dalai Lama voiced frustration that repeated rounds of talks between the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile and Chinese officials have yielded no progress. “And quite apart from the current process of Sino-Tibetan dialogue having achieved no concrete result, there has been brutal crackdown on the Tibetan protests that shook the whole of Tibet since March last year,” he said in his speech, broadcast via the Internet to exiles and supporters worldwide. The Dalai Lama resisted pressure to radicalize his campaign against China, sticking by his “middle way” policy of non-violence. “We Tibetans are looking for legitimate and meaningful autonomy, an arrangement that would enable Tibetans to live within the framework of the People’s Republic of China,” he said. Peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks in Lhasa on last year’s anniversary erupted four days later into anti-Chinese rioting that swept into other parts of western China with Tibetan populations. Last year’s unrest deeply angered China’s leaders as they prepared for the Beijing Olympics in August, and they responded with a huge military crackdown across Tibet that triggered condemnation around the world. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 5:22 pm Wadhawan defers plans to launch hypermarketsMumbai: As the economic slowdown begins to bite organized retail, Mumbai-based retail food and grocery player Wadhawan Food Retail Pvt. Ltd has deferred plans to launch 10 hypermarkets in the country starting April. The retail chain, which runs stores under branded formats of Spinach, S-Mart, Sabka Bazaar and Lifestyle, has also laid off all but three of its 35-strong team for the hypermarket project, said an employee, who has been asked to leave. The company has also retrenched at least 20 managers from its Lifestyle chain, this employee said. He requested anonymity because the company is yet to clear his dues.  Trouble in store: A Sabka Bazaar outlet in New Delhi. Wadhawan Food Retail, which runs the retail chain, had plans to set up 10 hypermarts. Hindustan Times The group runs retail chains Spinach in Maharashtra, Sabka Bazaar in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, and S-Mart in Bangalore, and had planned to set up its first hypermarket by April this year. “There were around 35 employees recruited for the hypermarket team, but now only three have been adjusted in the Spinach team, the rest all have been retrenched,” the employee said. Spinach is the company’s grocery retail chain. A member of the Lifestyle team confirmed, on condition of anonymity, that management personnel from the division have been asked to go and the company has also postponed opening of lifestyle stores under the Ed Hardy brand name. “Presently, we have three Lifestyle stores operational and had planned to add two more this year. However, we will wait and watch the market condition before deciding on opening up of the two stores in Chandigarh and Bangalore,” the official said. Wadhawan Food Retail did not respond to email queries from Mint. The company was scheduled to launch its first hypermarket in Bhandup, a Mumbai suburb, in April. The hypermarket was to be spread over 150,000 sq. ft and would have come up at a cost of Rs100 crore. The company had planned to open nine more hypermarkets of at least 100,000 sq. ft each over the next three years. “At least the company is paying two months’ salary before laying off, that is the only good thing. However, the company should have recruited people after they were sure of their projects,” said the employee, who has been laid off. “The scenario is really bad, as almost all retailers have frozen recruitment and suddenly there are so many job losses.” Another senior official said the company had floated a national team about eight months ago, but now people from that team are also likely to be laid off. “There is a lot of manpower on the regional level for separate S-Mart, Sabka Bazaar and Spinach,” the official said, on condition of anonymity. “Around eight months back, the company had planned that the national team will look after the entire operations across formats.” The group had also identified properties in Bangalore and Pune for the hypermarket project, but did not finalize the deal, the same person said, adding that the group is also considering closing its distribution centre in Pune and will move those operations to its Mumbai distribution centre. Arvind Singhal, chairman of fashion, FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) and retail management consultancy Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd, said many new entrants in the retail sector are finding the business complicated. Some of the retailers are not performing up to the mark and are giving second thoughts to fresh investment. He said serious players such as Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd, Reliance Retail Ltd and Aditya Birla Retail Ltd are in the process of improving their business by reworking and closing unviable stores. They will continue to grow, whereas the small players may quit. On retrenchment, Singhal said that since the sector is new, sometimesthe employees do not perform up to the expectations. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 5:21 pm Yum goes Mexican with Taco Bell to take on street food in IndiaNew Delhi: The US owner of the KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants, Yum Brands Inc., plans to launch its Taco Bell eateries in India to compete with street food, an official said.  Recession-proof? Yum Restaurants’ Niren Chaudhary says the company aims to double its revenue in the next two-three years, driven by KFC Taco Bell, according to Chaudhary, is more affordable than McDonald’s, which has become a popular fast food chain in India. Yum has chosen India as one of the few markets where it wants to expand, given the country’s love for food, he said. “It (Taco Bell) is the biggest contributor to the (company’s) operating profit in the US. But so far it has primarily been in the US; the company has over the last two years started thinking of taking the brand international. It’s present in Canada, Singapore, Mexico, Spain, Dubai and now finally coming to India,” Chaudhary added. The first few outlets in the country will be company-owned and depending on the response it gets, Yum will put in place a strategy for future growth, he said. However, in order to satisfy the Indian taste buds, the food at Taco Bell will be customized to suit local demand. “Though the basic offering will remain Mexican, we will spice up the preparations to make it appealing for the consumers here,” Chaudhary said. Experts say the new brand could do well in India as the fast food segment in the country has not yet seen any impact of the current economic downturn. “India is a value-conscious market. Yum’s claim to offer Mexican food at street food prices could be penetration-pricing strategy to get more footfalls in the stores and make people experience the food,” Purnendu Kumar, associate vice-president at KSA Technopak, a retail consulting firm, said. The organized fast food market in the country is currently estimated at Rs2,500 crore and growing at 20-22% each year, according to Kumar. Prominent brands in the market include Pizza Hut and KFC by Yum, Dominos, McDonald’s, Café Coffee Day, Barista and Nirula’s, along with some Indian snacks and sweets brands such as Bikano and Haldiram’s. Besides getting in Taco Bell, the company is also looking at expanding its business both in terms of reach and revenue. “Today, we have more than 200 restaurants in India, about 140-odd Pizza Huts and over 45 KFCs. In case of Pizza Hut, we already have a very large base and are well penetrated. But KFC has come up only in the last six-seven years. So, we want to double the number of outlets to 400 in the next two-three years, with more focus on KFC,” Chaudhary said. He added Yum is getting a positive response to its brands. “The goal is to double our revenues in the next two-three years driven by KFC, which has grown by 30% over the last year. Even Pizza Hut is also growing at a rate of 7-8%,” Chaudhary said, without sharing the revenue figures. To drive the growth, Yum will open more company-owned stores in the near term. In the longer term, the split between the franchise-owned stores and company-owned outlets would be 80:20. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 5:20 pm Barclays Capital revises GDP growth for FY10 from 5.2% to 4%Will the fiscal and monetary boosts and the resilience of rural demand buoy the Indian economy this year? Barclays Capital economist Sailesh K. Jha doesn’t think so. He has revised his India GDP (gross domestic product) forecast for fiscal 2010 from 5.2% to 4%. That’s not all—he writes that the downside risk to his forecast could be as large as 200 basis points. The lack of credit growth in spite of higher money supply growth will put financial constraints on GDP growth Why the downward revision? The Barclays Capital report cites two factors: 1) the global nature of the current slowdown and 2) the prevalence of tight credit conditions despite substantial monetary easing. Jha points out: “Backward and forward linkages between developed and developing states have grown stronger since fiscal 2002-03, which means that headline GDP growth will be much more vulnerable in the current downturn.” The lowest annual growth rate in GDP since liberalization has been 4.3% in 1997-98, during the Asian crisis. Jha argues we’re likely to breach that low this time. Won’t the resilient rural sector be a buffer? Not really, because “some studies have highlighted that the share of industrial and service sector activities in rural area GDP has risen to 58.4% in fiscal 2008-09 from 48.6% in fiscal 1999-2000. In addition, studies have indicated that consumer spending in urban areas has a significant impact on rural employment and incomes; in particular, consumer spending on food, housing, health, education, clothing and footwear and consumer durables.” The lack of credit growth in spite of higher money supply growth implies that financing constraints will continue to hobble GDP growth. Won’t the fiscal stimulus help? It will, but that the stimulus acts with a lag of one year. Jha believes the stimulus to growth will be around 100-200 basis points and it will kick in not before early 2010. What about monetary policy? Although Barclays Capital expects Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut rates further so that the reverse repo rate is 1.5-2% by the third quarter of the current year, the note says that “the impact of M3 (the amount of money in the system) growth on GDP growth is small, has significant lags (three-four quarters), and is typically short-lived. As a result, in addition to policy rate cuts, RBI may allow the REER (real effective exchange rate) to depreciate further in order to limit downside risks to growth” and this could lead the rupee to fall to Rs56 to the dollar within the next three months. The Barclays forecast is way below the consensus forecast of 5.8% growth for fiscal 2010 and doesn’t seem to take into account the beneficial impact on consumption of lower commodity prices or the resilience of agricultural output. Nor does it seem to consider the much higher savings rate in the economy compared with the 1990s. But it breaks new ground in pointing out that the current downturn is likely to be worse than the ones in the 1990s and in the fact that the lower dependence of rural India on agriculture could actually be a weakness during a downturn. Write to us at marktomarket@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2009 | 5:10 pm IIM Bangalore grads slog to grab jobs in tough timesThe Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) is relieved now that its outgoing post-graduate programme (PGP) batch of 242 students has secured jobs at an extended campus placement.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Mar 2009 | 5:00 pm Salary packages of IIM-C graduates down 23 percentThe global recession has taken its toll on the salary packages of India's new corporate managers, with the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), seeing a drop of 23 percent in the average salary offered to its fresh graduates.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Mar 2009 | 3:30 pm UN to terminate "direct" contract with Satyam: ReportEarlier in January, the UN had suspended Satyam from the the Secretariat's vendor database and placed all ongoing contracts with the company under review.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Mar 2009 | 2:18 pm PVR ties up with Thai firm for bowling alleysMultiplex chain PVR Ltd Tuesday joined hands with Thailand-based entertainment giant Major Cinemas to open bowling alleys in the country.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Mar 2009 | 2:00 pm Citi profitable in first two months this year: ReportCiti chief executive Vikram Pandit in an internal memo to the staff tried to allay fears over debt and its share price, which is hovering around one dollar.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Mar 2009 | 1:02 pm Forget recession, WIFW attracts 13 commercial partners, 103 designersPremier fashion organisation, Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) has beaten recession blues by having as many as 13 commercial partners and 103 participating designers for the upcoming Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) to be held March 18-23.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Mar 2009 | 1:01 pm Air Arabia takes off to Goa in AprilAir Arabia will be the only UAE-based international carrier to offer direct flights to Goa from the UAE.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Mar 2009 | 12:57 pm CBI takes Satyam accused into custody for interrogationAll the five accused were lodged in the Chanchalguda Central Prison since January this year and were also grilled by SEBI and the SFIO.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Mar 2009 | 12:53 pm Audi to launch 7 models by 2010; some could go IndiaCelebrating its centenary year, German luxury carmaker Audi will launch over seven models, including hybrid and 'zero-emission' diesel vehicles.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Mar 2009 | 12:51 pm How much was the creator of the Nike Swoosh logo paid for her work?Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Mar 2009 | 12:48 pm
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