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Rev from Vodafone deal seen from Q3FY10: OnMobileVodafone has struck MA deal with Onmobile to use ringback tones, voice portal and speechenabled value added services, of Onmobile in emerging markets. Arvind Rao, CEO of Onmobile Global, said, We expect Vodafone to contribute 2530% of revenues in 35 year time, Rao said. Revenues from Vodafone deal will be visible from Q3FY10.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Apr 2009 | 3:33 pm Oz likely in recession: Central Bank chief!Australia`s economy was likely already in recession, Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens said Tuesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:38 pm Kohn sees gradual recovery in 2009!Kohn said steadier consumer spending and favorable earnings results from some banks, may indicate that US eco is poised to stage a gradual recovery.Source: Zee News : Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:38 pm India, China may see largest gains in IMF quotas!India, China, South Korea, Brazil and Mexico will see some of the largest gains in their quota shares in the International Monetary Fund to bring them closer to their evolving position in the world economy.Source: Zee News : Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:38 pm Pandit`s Citi, Sanjay Jha`s Motorola among top losers!Citigroup led by Indian-American chief executive Vikram Pandit and Motorola, headed by Sanjay Jha also of Indian origin, figure in the Fortune 500 list of firms posting some of the biggest losses last year.Source: Zee News : Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:38 pm Indra Nooyi ranked fourth on Fortune 500 Women CEOs list!The Fortune 500 may be dominated by male CEOs, but Indra Nooyi, Indian American CEO of Pepsico is listed fourth among "15 women (who) show what it takes to lead" some of the America`s biggest companies.Source: Zee News : Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:38 pm Loans to become cheaper as RBI cuts short-term rates!In a move that could bring further relief to the home, auto and corporate borrowers, the Reserve Bank on Tuesday cut repo and reverse repo rates by 25 basis points.Source: Zee News : Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:38 pm US to give Chrysler, GM new aid!The Obama admin will make about USD 500mn available to Chrysler through month-end as it seeks to reach an alliance with Fiat.Source: Zee News : Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:38 pm KS Oils aims $ one bn annual revenue by 2014 - Hindu Business Line
Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:04 pm Reliance Power ties up Rs 14500 cr for Sasan mega project - Hindu Business Line
Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:04 pm Air Works in pact with Kingfisher to service turbo-prop fleetAir Works, entered into an agreement with private air carrier Kingfisher Airlines on Tuesday to maintain its turbo-prop fleet of ATR-72 aircraft.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:03 pm TCS FY09 revenues at record $6b; up 23% YoYTCS FY09 revenues at record $6b; up 23% YoYSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:58 am SBI says cbank cuts a signal for lower ratesMUMBAI (Reuters) - Interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday are a signal for commercial banks to lower their rates, the chairman of the country's largest bank said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:57 am RBI to upgrade regulations to deal with menace of tax havensThe RBI said it would deal with the problem of black money being hidden in tax havens by continuously updating its regulations in line with the G-20 guidelines.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:54 am Worst in economy over, things beginning to improve: OP BhattThe worst in the economy is over with data indicating that the situation is improving, SBI chairman OP Bhatt said on Tuesday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:53 am IPL merchandise just a click away on eBay IndiaeBay India has joined hands with Indian Premier League team Kings XI Punjab to offer IPL merchandise.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:49 am HDFC not to lower interest rates as of now: Deepak ParekhCountry's biggest mortgage lender HDFC on Tuesday said it has no plans to cut its interest rates as of now.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:37 am Global M&A sees deals of $27.7 bn in a day - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:36 am Banks allowed to open ATMs without approval: RBIThe Reserve Bank on Tuesday allowed banks to open ATMs outside their branches without permission from the central bank.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:35 am Markets in red, Sensex down 81 pointsIndian equities markets closed in the red Tuesday, with a key index shutting shop 81.39 points lower than its previous close.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:32 am India's services revenues seen at $225 bn by 2020India's technology and services industry can earn $225 billion in revenues by 2020 despite the current global economic crisis, said a study released here Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:31 am Foreign car execs see mixed threat from China brandsSHANGHAI (Reuters) - Local brands took more than a quarter of China's passenger car market last month but foreign executives were mixed in their assessment of the competitive threat, saying quality standards still fell far short of globally acceptable levels.Source: Reuters: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:30 am India's central bank sees 6 percent growth, cuts key ratesIndia's central bank Tuesday predicted the economy would grow by 6 percent in the current fiscal. It cut key rates by 25 basis points and asked commercial banks to provide cheaper loans to industry and consumers.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:30 am MMTC opens retail chain for gold, diamond jewellery - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:29 am LTTE vows no surrender to Sri Lankan ArmyColombo: The Tamil Tiger rebels will never surrender, the head of the separatists’ peace secretariat told Reuters on Tuesday, despite their being outgunned in an apparent final offensive by the Sri Lankan military. Seevaratnam Puleedevan, secretary-general of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) peace secretariat, urged the international community to intervene by forcing a permanent ceasefire, which Sri Lanka has ruled out. The military says around 50,000 people have fled the Tiger-held area so far since Monday, and had given the LTTE until noon Tuesday, a deadline already passed, to surrender or be destroyed. “LTTE will never surrender and we will fight and we have the confidence that we will win with the help of the Tamil people,” Puleedevan told Reuters by telephone. He said he was near the border of the no-fire zone in Sri Lanka’s northeastern coast. The LTTE is surrounded there by around 50,000 troops expected to soon deal a final blow to the Tigers, who have waged war since 1983 to create a separate state for Sri Lankan Tamils. LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran was inside the no-fire zone, Puleedevan said. “He is with us and he is directing the war against the Sri Lankan armed forces and providing a lot of support and assistance to the people,” Puleedevan said. The LTTE founder created its culture of committing suicide by taking cyanide in case of capture, and of pioneering suicide bombing as a weapon of war. The latter has landed the LTTE on US, EU, Indian and Canadian terrorist lists. Puleedevan accused the military of using Tamil civilians as human shields, an accusation the United Nations, a host of western countries and people who have escaped LTTE-held areas have made against the rebels. “The time is running out for the international community to intervene, because you know that a bloodbath is going to happen,” he said. Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara categorically rejected the accusation. “We have never used civilians as human shields. We were on the other side and the LTTE was shooting and killing people and using them as human shields. We went in and rescued them. How can anyone say we were using civilians as human shields?” he said. Puleedevan also accused the government of killing 1,000 people and wounding 2,000 on Monday via shelling. The government has denied that and accuses the Tigers of creating a humanitarian crisis to build international pressure for a ceasefire to try and rearm, as they have done in the past. The United Nations and witnesses who have escaped Tiger areas have repeatedly said the LTTE was shooting people who try to flee and forcing others including children as young as 15 to fight. “People are giving full support to us and they are fighting with us, because the LTTE is fighting for them,” Puleedevan said. “That’s why they are voluntarily joining and fighting with us. We are not taking any children with us in our armed forces.” Sri Lanka’s air force on Monday released video taken from an unmanned drone showing what it said were people streaming out of the no-fire zone and congregating by the thousands at an army reception centre just outside of it. Another one said showed what the air force said were Tiger gunmen shooting toward hundreds of people corralled tightly together at the edge of the surf. Muzzle flashes could be seen. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:23 am Close: RBI rate cuts fail to entice, markets end flatNew Delhi: The Bombay Stock Exchange landed in red after swinging between negative and positive territory throughout the trading session on Tuesday. Mixed global cues dragged the benchmark Sensex lower by 0.74%. Investors also shrugged off positive sentiments, after key rate cuts by Reserve Bank of India were announced in which it cuts repo and reverse repo rates by 25 bps each to 4.75% and 3.25% respectively. Markets did gain some ground during afternoon trade following rate cut news but little buying was seen among key stocks. In the sectoral front, banks, auto, capital goods, metal and IT sectors were under most selling pressure. However, realty, FMCG and pharma stocks managed to experience some gains. Sensex opened today on downbeat note tracking weak global cues and after reporting some recovery during afternoon, the 30-share index slipped to end the day lower by 81.39 points at 10,898.11 and the 50-share NSE Nifty ended down by 11.80 points at 3,365.30. Top loser from the BSE index was Tata Steel, falling by 7.06% to Rs244.30, ICICI Bank by 6.51% to Rs398.80, Maruti Suzuki by 5.38% to Rs789.35, Tata Motors by 5.18% to Rs233.35, Sterlite Industries by 4.21% to Rs382.50, Larsen and Toubro by 3.41% to Rs853.80, State Bank of India by 3.13% to Rs1,255.35 and Reliance Infrastructure by 3.12% to Rs675.25. Among the gainers Bharti Airtel led the rally, surging by 5.35% to Rs718.75, along with Hindalco by 3.83% to Rs55.60, Sun Pharma by 3.15% to Rs1,219.90, DLF Ltd by 2.84% to Rs237.35, Tata Power by 2.41% to Rs880, ITC Ltd by 2.33%to Rs188.50 and HDFC Bank by 1.84% to Rs1,086.50. Among the global markets, Asian markets ended mostly lower, with decline in financial stocks on worries about rising bad loans. Japan’s Nikkei fell by 2.5% due to increase in bad loans of Bank of America and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell by 3% on sliding HSBC stocks. Meanwhile, the European markets are trading in green. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:20 am BSE Sensex shrugs off rate cut, falls 0.7 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex fell 0.7 percent on Tuesday as traders shrugged off a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and tailed weak Asian peers, with financial stocks among the major losers.Source: Reuters: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:19 am Pandit's future in Citi hangs in balanceCitigroup chief Vikram Pandit will try to convince investors that the financial services major is on a recovery path, following fresh concerns about his future in the company, a media report said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:15 am POLL - RBI seen lowering rates further in 2009MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to cut interest rates again in 2009 to bolster slowing growth and boost credit demand, a Reuters poll of 11 analysts showed on Tuesday after the Reserve Bank lowered rates earlier in the day.Source: Reuters: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:14 am Nayak leaves behind fine record at Axis Bank - domain-B
Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:12 am Sensex falls by over 81 pointsIn volatile trading, the Sensex fell by over 81 points in tandem with weak global trends but the central bank's reduction of key interest rates averted a major fall.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:11 am RBI puts on hold liberalisation policy for foreign banks - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:08 am Hero Honda Q4 net up 35%; recommends 1000% dividend - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:08 am Banks allowed to open ATMs without approval: RBIThe Reserve Bank on Tuesday allowed banks to open ATMs outside their branches without permission from the central bank.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 21 Apr 2009 | 11:01 am Satyam gets nod from Euronext Amsterdam NV to delist ADSIT firm Satyam Computer Services on Tuesday said the delisting of the company's American Depository Shares from NYSE Euronext has been approved.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:59 am Sensex falls 215 pts in opening trade on weak global cuesThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Tuesday tumbled over 215 points in opening trading on weak global cues.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:47 am Hamdard aims Rs500 cr turnover by 2010-11New Delhi: Healthcare and FMCG firm Hamdard is aiming to increase its product portfolio, with plans to introduce around 15-16 new products as it targets to become a Rs500 crore company by 2010-11. “We will be introducing around eight new products in OTC, six in consumer and around two in traditional medicines in the next two years. Our plan is to clock a turnover of Rs500 crore by 2010-11, up from Rs300 crore,” Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories chief marketing officer Arshad Siddiqui told PTI on the sidelines of a company’s event here. The company will invest Rs60 crore in marketing and another Rs9-10 crore in R&D this year. It is also planning to increase its retail presence to around eight lakh outlets and will add additional distributors to its network during the next two years. He said the company would be increasing its sales force from the existing 300 to 460 within the next two years. “We are also planning to ramp up our retail presence to reach a figure of around eight lakh outlets from the existing five lakh outlets,” Siddiqui said, adding that places like West Bengal, Maharashtra and the South would be the main focus areas. The company, which produces brands like Rooh Afja, Rogan Badam and Safi, has around 600 formulations in the market under the three segments of OTC, consumer and traditional. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:46 am Hero Honda Q4 net up 34.4 pct, beats f'castMUMBAI (Reuters) - Hero Honda Motors Ltd, India's largest motorcyle maker, on Tuesday reported a 34.4 percent rise in quarterly net profit, beating forecast, on higher sales and a reduction in raw material costs.Source: Reuters: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:33 am Tata Indicom launches QUICKFINDER A-GPS Service - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:31 am Third Front will nationalise Goa's mining industry: BardhanIf the Third Front comes to power at the centre after the Lok Sabha polls, it will nationalise the Rs.6,000-crore mining industry of Goa, which is largely at the hands of private players, a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI) said Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:31 am Sensex ends lower; banks, auto weigh - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:26 am Mid-cap drug firms seen posting mixed resultsMUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian mid-cap drug firms are expected to report mixed profits for the quarter ended March as high interest costs are seen capping export gains from a weaker rupee, analysts said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:19 am Google refines searches for pictures and newsSan Francisco: Google on Monday unveiled software tools that let people search the Internet using pictures or chronologically organize results of queries for news. Fledgling versions of Similar Images and News Timeline made their way out of Google Labs, a place where engineers at the California-based Internet giant get to spend time tinkering with promising innovations. A Similar Images feature added to Google’s Image Search tool lets people scour the Internet for like photographs with a single computer mouse click. Examples provided by Google include refining a search for “jaguar” to provide only images of the jungle cat or the luxury automobile. “So if you see an image you like, but you’re stumped on how to describe it, just click the ‘Similar images´ link to see more like it,” reads an online posting by ‘Googlers´ Chuck Rosenberg, Andy Hertzfeld, and Michael Cohen. Google News Timeline amasses stories from newspapers, magazines, blogs and other sources and presents search results in chronological graphs that can be Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:15 am Google refines searches for pictures and newsSan Francisco: Google on Monday unveiled software tools that let people search the Internet using pictures or chronologically organize results of queries for news. Fledgling versions of Similar Images and News Timeline made their way out of Google Labs, a place where engineers at the California-based Internet giant get to spend time tinkering with promising innovations. A Similar Images feature added to Google’s Image Search tool lets people scour the Internet for like photographs with a single computer mouse click. Examples provided by Google include refining a search for “jaguar” to provide only images of the jungle cat or the luxury automobile. “So if you see an image you like, but you’re stumped on how to describe it, just click the ‘Similar images´ link to see more like it,” reads an online posting by ‘Googlers´ Chuck Rosenberg, Andy Hertzfeld, and Michael Cohen. Google News Timeline amasses stories from newspapers, magazines, blogs and other sources and presents search results in chronological graphs that can be Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:15 am Indian sugar falls 6th day on extra quota, imports - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:09 am Hero Honda Q4 net up 34.4%, beats forecastMumbai: Hero Honda Motors Ltd, India’s largest motorcyle maker, on Tuesday reported a 34.4% rise in quarterly net profit, beating forecast, on higher sales and a reduction in raw material costs. Hero Honda, in which Japan’s Honda Motor Corp holds a 26% stake, said net profit rose to Rs4.02 billion ($79.8 million) in the fiscal fourth quarter ended March from Rs2.99 billion reported in the same period a year earlier. That beat a forecast of Rs3.69 billion in a Reuters poll of 16 brokerages. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:09 am RBI policy rate cuts below industry expectationsThe industry said that the RBI measures towards lower interest rates will reduce the credit cost, but the central bank should have gone in for deeper cuts.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:07 am Many tools available to manage economy - RBIMUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India has a number of policy instruments besides interest rates to manage the economy and was ready to use all these tools, Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said after the Reserve Bank cut key rates on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:04 am Sector Review: SteelMetal sector, especially steel, has been one of the worst effected during the current crisis. Globally, monthly steel production declines 22%(y-o-y) in February 2009 to 84 million tonnes. FICCI-Ministry of steel National Conference organized a meet on Indian Steel Industry: The Way Forward recently. Following are the highlights of the meet prepared by Ernst & Young: While some revival is expected, normalised production expected to settle 10%-15% lower globally. However, Chinese steel production increasing again. Anecdotal evidence from Indian producers points to a recovery in March 09. Key issues for the steel industry: · Low global demand, impacting capacity utilisation · Low realisations · Relatively high raw material cost/availability · Tight financing conditions, especially for project funding Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:03 am RBI cuts rates, prods banks to help growthMUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India cut its key lending rate for the sixth time in seven months on Tuesday and pushed commercial banks to follow suit to bolster growth which has taken a bigger-than expected hit from the global downturn.Source: Reuters: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 10:00 am Europe shares gain; Tesco leads retailers upLondon: European stocks surged on Tuesday with Tesco leading retailers up, after the British firm posted a record annual profit. At 02:31pm (0901 GMT), the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.7% at 791.32 points, having recovered from a low of 781.80. The supermarket giant Tesco rose 5% after the world’s no.3 retailer showed its resilience to the economic downturn, posting a 10% rise in underlying annual profit to £3.1 billion ($4.6 billion), a record for a British retailer. Rivals Morrison and Sainsbury were up 1.9 and 1.2% respectively. Primark owner Associated British Foods rose 7% after beating forecasts with a 2% dip in half-year profit as growth at its discount fashion chain and sugar sales offset tough trading in other food areas. But some financials extended declines from Monday, when Bank of America disappointed investors with its results and raised fresh questions about the sector. Lloyds, Societe Generale and UBS were down between 1.9 and 3.3%. “There are still questions about banks’ earnings and provisions,” said Bernard McAlinden, strategist at NCB Stockbrokers. “The market is likely to give back some more of its gains. It’s as positive as you can be to say that we’ve seen the lows.” In macroeconomic news, Sweden’s central bank cut interest rates by 50 basis points to a new record low of 0.5% on to fight the country’s worst recession since the 1940s. The UK’s Consumer Price index was up 2.9% in the year to March, down from 3.2% the previous month. Across Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 rose between 0.4 and 1%. Oils gained as crude futures steadied below $46 a barrel after a nearly 9% fall on Monday. Total, ENI and BP rose between 0.3 and 1.2%. Defensives such as utilities gained in the wake of Monday’s slide. EON, GDF Suez and RWE were up between 1.7 and 2.7%. Miners fell, as metals prices slipped. Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Xstrata were down between 0.9 and 2.3%. Actelion Ltd, Europe’s largest biotech company, rose 9.5% after it posted more than doubled profit in the first quarter, beating analysts’ expectations, as demand for its top-selling drug Tracleer kept increasing strongly. Drugmakers Novartis and AstraZeneca were 1% lower after being downgraded by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. But Roche, one of the companies the broker said remains among its key picks, was up 1.3%. US futures were marginally higher. Bank of New York is among US companies reporting on Tuesday. On Monday, the pan-European index fell 3.5%, following six weeks of gains that had seen it rise more than 26% from its 9 March lows. It fell 45% in 2008, battered by a banking crisis that helped to tip several major economies into recession. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 9:58 am Fifteen women CEOs among Fortune 500 cos in 2009The number of women CEOs leading the Fortune 500 companies has increased to 15 this year from 12 in 2008.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 9:47 am Vikram Pandit's future at Citi hangs in the balanceCitigroup chief Vikram Pandit will try to convince investors that the financial services major is on a recovery path, following fresh concerns.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 9:44 am RBI cuts interest rates to push growthMumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut its key lending rate for the sixth time in seven months on Tuesday and pushed commercial banks to follow suit to bolster growth which has taken a bigger-than expected hit from the global downturn. Analysts said the size of the 25 basis point cut -- the smallest since the Reserve Bank of India began slashing rates last October -- signalled it may be near the end of its cutting cycle, though there was still some way to go before rates bottomed out. Also Read | RBI’s annual policy statement for 2009-10 (Full Text) “We don’t see it as the end to easing cycle, but the RBI will switch to more gradual cuts and a wait-and-watch policy,” said economist Deepali Bhargava at ING Vysya Bank in Mumbai. “Sectoral credit numbers released on Monday have revealed some pick-up in earlier credit-starved sectors, which is a positive sign.”  Growth was seen slowing to 6% in 2009-10, the weakest in seven years, from a downwardly revised estimate of 6.5-6.7% for the 2008-09 fiscal year that ended on 31 March. “Any upturn in the growth momentum is unlikely in view of the projected contraction in global demand in 2009/10, particularly the decline in trade,” the central bank said. The RBI also said the government’s planned heavy borrowing in 2009-10 was working against its efforts to maintain a low interest rate environment. Nonetheless, it again called on commercial banks, which have grown risk averse in the face of the slowdown, to follow its lead in cutting rates to boost the economy. The central bank has now cut its main lending rate by 425 basis points since October, when it and the government stepped up efforts to counter fallout from the global financial crisis after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. But prime lending rates of five major commercial banks in India have fallen by less than 200 basis points in the same period, limiting the impact of the RBI’s moves. Economic affairs secretary Ashok Chawla said the rate cuts would encourage commercial banks to lower their lending rates. “This is another reiteration of the signal from the RBI to banks and the credit market. There is scope for softening of interest rates,” Chawla said. Analysts said the rate cut will force banks to reduce their lending rates by 50-100 basis points in coming weeks, but it is unlikely to happen immediately as banks have raised funds via high-cost deposits earlier. A government-mandated small savings tax-free rate of 8% also acts as a huge deterrent. Central banks around the world have been slashing interest rates for months in a bid to revive economic growth, with the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan cutting rates to near zero. On Tuesday the Swedish central bank cut its key policy rate to a record low. Historical Low The RBI cut its lending rate to 4.75% from 5.0% and its reverse repo rate, at which it absorbs surplus cash from the system, to 3.25% from 3.5%, taking both rates to the lowest since they were introduced in 2000. A Reuters poll last week showed analysts were evenly split over whether the central bank would cut its key lending rate. The cash reserve ratio, the amount of funds banks have to keep on deposit with it, was unchanged at 5.0%. The 10-year bond yield fell to 6.19% after the policy announcement from the previous close of 6.39%, edging up to 6.22% in afternoon trade. The rupee recovered morning losses and by mid-afternoon was around 50.30 per dollar, a touch stronger than the previous close of 50.33/34. Although the RBI said it would maintain ample liquidity in the banking system, it said a major challenge was to manage large government borrowings without disruptions to financial markets. The government plans record gross issuance of Rs3.62 trillion of debt in 2009-10, and the central bank said it would use a mix of monetary and debt management tools to ensure its smooth implementation. The government’s borrowing swelled to more than double its initial estimate in 2008-09, partly reflecting spending plans in the latter part of the year to stimulate the economy, leading to a flood of bond supplies since February. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 9:33 am MMTC opens retail chain for gold, diamond jewelleryState-owned commodity trader MMTC Ltd, in association with diamond company Gitanjali Group, Tuesday launched 'Suddhi Sampoorna Vishwash', a chain of retail stores for selling hallmark gold and diamond jewellery.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Apr 2009 | 9:32 am India's services revenues seen at $225 bn by 2020India's technology and services industry can earn $225 billion in revenues by 2020 despite the current global economic crisis, says a study released here Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Apr 2009 | 9:02 am Tesco resists slump to make record profit of $4.6 bnLondon: Tesco, the world’s No.3 retailer, showed its resilience to the economic downturn, posting a 10% rise in underlying annual profit to £3.13 billion ($4.6 billion), a record for a British retailer. Shares in the supermarket group, which employs 440,000 people in 4,000 stores across 14 countries, jumped as much as 5% in early Tuesday trading and boosted retail stocks across Europe which have been hit by a steep economic downturn. Tesco said sales growth in its main British market had accelerated in its new financial year. Chief executive Terry Leahy told Reuters consumer spending was stabilising, though it was too early to forecast a recovery. He also said it was impossible to say when Tesco’s US business would break even because of a deep recession there. Tesco had planned for its US Fresh & Easy chain to break even at the end of its 2009-10 fiscal year, but said it now expected the business to make a similar trading loss to the £142 million for the year just ended. Leahy said he was “absolutely” committed to the U.S. chain. Retailers across the world have been struggling as shoppers curb spending amid rising unemployment. France’s Carrefour, the world’s No.2 retailer, last week reported its first quarterly decline in sales for six years. On Tuesday, British luxury goods group Burberry said revenue growth slowed in the second half of its fiscal year, though Associated British Foods said its discount clothes unit Primark was thriving. Asian Growth Tesco said strong growth in Asia, boosted by last year’s acquisition of Homever stores in South Korea, and robust profit margins in Britain had helped to offset more sluggish growth in Europe and losses in the United States. Sales rose 15.1% to 59.4 billion pounds in the 53 weeks ended 28 February. The dividend was raised 9.7% to 11.96 pence. Analysts’ median forecast was for Tesco to make profit before tax and one-off items of £3.04 billion, according to a Reuters Estimates poll of 19. “Another year of solid top and bottom line delivery,” Cazenove analysts said in a research note. “Current trading is showing an improved trend against tougher comps (comparative figures in the same time last year) and forecasts look secure.” At 12:40am, Tesco shares were up 4.6% at 347.2 pence, valuing the business at about £27.4 billion and helping the DJ Stoxx European Retail Index to rise 1.8%, making it the best performing sector in Europe. Improving trend Tesco shares have matched the pan-European index over the past year but trade at a discount as a multiple of forecast earnings to rivals such as J Sainsbury and Morrison on concerns it is losing British market share. Sales at Tesco’s British stores open at least a year, excluding petrol, rose 3.4% in the first six weeks of its new financial year, up from 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Sainsbury posted a 6.2% rise in underlying sales for the 11 weeks to 21 March, but Tesco says its growth is being curbed by shoppers swapping to its cheaper discount brand range. Britain accounts for about 70% of Tesco’s sales and over three-quarters of its trading profit. Tesco said it planned to cut capital expenditure to £3.5 billion this year from £4.7 billion in 2008-09, with lower investment in Britain and more cautious expansion in some foreign markets, like the United States. Nonetheless, the group expects to add 26,000 jobs and over 8 million square feet of new space, including 75% abroad. Net debt jumped over 50% to £9.6 billion to pay for an acquisition in South Korea and a deal to buy Royal bank of Scotland out of a financial services joint venture. Leahy said the group planned to cut this by about £1 billion this year. He also said Tesco would target cost savings similar to the £540 million achieved last year. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 8:49 am Govt expects banks to cut prime lending ratesNew Delhi: The government on Tuesday expressed hopes that banks will cut prime lending rates in response to the Reserve Bank of India’s move to reduce key policy rates by 25 basis points (bps). “The Reserve Bank has been monitoring the economic situation and ... reduced the policy rates by 25 basis points ... This is a reiteration of the signal from RBI to banks and the credit market,” Department of Economic Affairs secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters here. He said the central bank will continue to see what needs to be done and the RBI “is signaling or continues to signal if there is scope for softening of interest rate”. The RBI on Tuesday slashed the short-term lending rate (repo) and borrowing rate (reverse repo rate) by 25 bps to 4.75% and 3.25%, respectively, signaling that banks should reduce their prime lending rates (PLRs). However, the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of banks has been retained at 5.0% along with the bank rate at 6%. The stance of monetary policy 2009-10 is to ensure credit expansion at viable rates. Also, the central bank said that it will maintain a monetary and interest rate regime supportive of price stability and financial stability taking into account the emerging lessons of the global financial crisis. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 8:41 am Suzlon Energy posts net loss at Rs52.3 crNew Delhi: Leading wind-turbine maker Suzlon Energy on Tuesday said it has posted a net loss of Rs52.3 crore for the nine-month period ending 31 December, 2008, against a net profit of Rs565.28 crore in the year-ago period. However, the company’s total income nearly doubled to Rs17,499.2 crore from Rs8,924.3 crore during the same period, Suzlon said in a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The energy major’s profit before tax declined to Rs272.54 crore in the nine-month period ended 31 December 2008, from Rs689.63 crore in the year-ago period. Suzlon Energy chairman and managing director Tulsi Tanti had earlier this month said the company would start operations in South Africa and expand in South America, where the company has a presence in Brazil. It is also looking at enhancing its operations in Europe. The company, through its German arm REpower Systems AG, would supply and erect equipment for power projects in Canada from the next financial year (2010-11). Suzlon Energy plans to augment the manufacturing capacity of its equipment to support power generation of 5,700 MW by June this year, from the current 4,000 MW. Shares of the company were trading at Rs 57.35, down 2.13% on the BSE. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 8:32 am Hit by recession LG Electronics Q1 profit falls 25%Seoul: LG Electronics Inc posted a 25% fall in quarterly operating profit on Tuesday, hurt by the global recession, but results beat expectations on resilient handset margins and improvements in its flat screen TV business. The world’s No. 3 mobile phone maker said it expected to increase total sales by more than 10% in the second quarter from the first, thanks to strong revenues from air conditioners. It also said it aimed to increase mobile phone sales by more than 10% in the second quarter from the first. LG’s improving brand image and price competitiveness from the weaker won are helping the South Korean company expand market share in mobile phones and LCD TVs at the expense of struggling foreign rivals, even in the midst of the downturn. LG posted a won455.6 billion ($337.1 million) global-basis operating profit for the quarter to 31 March, beating a won307.4 billion average profit forecast from nine analysts polled by Reuters. That compared to a 605.2 billion won profit for the same quarter a year earlier but improved from a won101.4 billion operating profit in the fourth quarter last year. It posted a won197.6 billion net loss in the first quarter, narrower than a won671.3 billion net loss in the previous quarter when it was hit by sharp losses at its flat-screen joint venture, LG Display Co Ltd. Its global-basis sales were won12.85 trillion, in line with forecasts. LG, which trails Nokia and Samsung Electronics in mobile phones, sold 22.6 million handsets in the first quarter, down from 25.7 million units sold in October-December. Last week, Nokia reported a 27% fall in January-March sales and its first-ever quarterly loss while repeating its forecast for market volumes to decline around 10% in 2009. In popular liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs, LG competes with home rival Samsung and Japan’s Sony. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 8:28 am Tata Tele launches GPS serviceTata Teleservices Ltd on Monday announced the launch of Assisted Global Positioning System (AGPS) service, which will enable its CDMA subscribers to pinpoint locations of interest or track vehicles and consignments from origin to destination in real time.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Apr 2009 | 8:25 am Demerger of facility may lift sentiment for WelspunSteel pipemaker Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohrens decision to demerge its platecumcoil mill into a 100 per cent subsidiary may help improve the market valuation for the parent company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Apr 2009 | 8:22 am MM bets big on tractor exports to AfricaMahindra Mahindras Farm Equipment Sector, which exports tractors to 25 countries worldwide, is looking at Africa in a big way. The market here is expected to grow to one lakh tractors annually in the medium term.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Apr 2009 | 8:21 am Gold demand abates as prices jumpMumbai: India’s gold demand ebbed on Tuesday after having picked up in the past few sessions, following a 3% jump in prices this week, dealers said. “There are no buyers now as gold prices are up,” said a dealer with a private bank in Mumbai, adding “there were buyers yesterday.” The most-traded gold contract extended previous day’s days gains to trade 0.10% higher at Rs14,430 per 10 grams at 1:39pm. Gold rose in India, tracking its overseas peers which jumped on renewed economic worries, and on a weak rupee which has rendered the dollar-quoted metal as more expensive. “Sudden spike in gold prices and rupee has restricted activity in the gold market,” said Pinakin Vyas, chief manager-treasury with IndusInd Bank. Deamand had picked up in the past few sessions as traders replenished stocks ahead of the Akshaya Tritiya festival on 27April, the second-most auspicious day to buy gold after Dhanteras. Demand will revive again if either gold prices or rupee corrects, said Vyas, adding “traders are eyeing 13,500 rupees levels,” referring to levels last seen in late January. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 8:20 am Jet sees reduced demand for air travel industryForecasting a reduced demand for air travel in the next 12 months, Jet Airways has said that it is conserving cash in times of slowdown.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 21 Apr 2009 | 8:19 am Tata BP Solar’s manufacturing capacity crosses 100 MW markNew Delhi: Tata BP Solar, a joint venture between Tata Power and BP Solar, which aims to manufacture products to support 300 MW solar electricity by 2012, has produced equipment to generate over 100 MW of power. “Tata BP Solar has manufactured solar cells and modules to support 105 MW energy so far,” said a person familiar with the matter without divulging further details. Tata BP Solar exports nearly 70% of its products to the European and the US markets. It has three units in Bangalore. The company invested nearly $100 million (about Rs 500 crore) in 2008-09 for manufacturing solar cells and panels. Tata BP Solar provides services to defence forces, northeastern states, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, educational institutions such as IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, IIM Bangalore and has also electrified 20 villages in Orissa. The company’s clientele includes corporates such as ONGC, Indian Oil Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Tata BP Solar is planning to work with realty developers such as DLF and Unitech to provide its services for their townships.It is also looking forward to tapping the potential solar power market in the National Capital Region and is planning a foray into other areas of renewable energy. The National Solar Mission programme of the government aims at setting up research industry partnerships, providing tariff structures and tax breaks for promoting competitiveness in the solar energy sector. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 8:11 am Navin Chawla takes charge as CECNew Delhi: Navin Chawla on Tuesday took over as the new chief election commissioner (CEC) succeeding N Gopalaswami, who not long ago had recommended his removal from Nirvachan Sadan sparking a huge political controversy. Power secretary V S Sampath also took over as the third election commissioner following the elevation of Chawla. 64-year-old Chawla, who was the senior-most election commissioner after Gopalaswami in the three-member panel, will remain in office till 29 June next year when he turns 65. The chief election commissioner, a Constitutional post, enjoys a term of six years or till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. He is the first CEC, who took over in the midst of a five-phase Lok Sabha elections and will oversee four phases of the polls. The elevation of Chawla, who was appointed as election commissioner on 13 May 2005, comes after a controversy triggered by Gopalaswami’s recommendation to the President for his removal from office for alleged partisan functioning. The government had not only turned down Gopalswami’s recommendation but had even announced on 4 March that Chawla would succeed him as CEC. While demitting office on Monday after an eventful stint, Goplaswami wished Chawla “a very bright tenure”. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 7:58 am Manmohan Singh as PM cannot be taken for granted: LaluPatna: Giving a new twist to the prime ministerial race, RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday said that Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister could not be taken for granted and UPA constituents will sit together after the elections to choose their nominee for the top post. The Railway minister, who all along has maintained that Manmohan Singh was the UPA candidate, on Tuesday sang a different tune against the backdrop of his party RJD and the Congress going their own ways to fight the elections in Bihar. “UPA is a confederation of secular parties and does not belong only to the Congress. We will sit together (after the elections are over) to chalk out a common minimum program and in consultation with all our partners select a leader who will be the prime minister,” Prasad told reporters here. “The UPA will form its government and there is no no doubt about it. But, indeed, the people in the state Congress leadership misled Sonia Gandhi about their strength as a result of which the party fielded candidates in so many places against us. “These people will not be able to show their faces to the Congress president after the elections,” he said. Asked about the strained relations between the RJD-LJP alliance in Bihar and the Congress, Prasad said, “These things are natural during elections. Do you expect us to worship each other. “There is a famine of candidates in the Congress, which is busy rebuilding and reviving its organization. But despite the presence of Congress candidates in the fray in large numbers against nominees of secular parties the NDA will be wiped out,” he said. Referring to state Congress president Anil Kumar Sharma’s demand for an inquiry into his alleged role in shielding perpetrators of Bhagalpur communal riots, Lalu shot back, “Those in the Congress leveling such unfounded allegations will land themselves in trouble. Was the Congress in power in the state in 1989 or I? Everybody knows it was the Congress. “It was my government that booked the perpetrators and got them convicted,” he said. The RJD president accused chief minister Nitish Kumar of setting up a judicial commission to probe the Bhagalpur riots only to ensure that NDA’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani’s name as one of those who fanned communal tension at Bhagalpur was removed. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 7:36 am Oil steadies below $46 after near 9% fallSingapore: Oil steadied below $46 a barrel on Tuesday, pausing after an almost 9-percent fall a day earlier as traders awaited further cues on demand from US economic, corporate and oil inventory data. The focus is back on the state of the economic recovery in the world’s biggest energy consumer after Bank of America, the top US bank, posted a jump in bad loans, sending equity markets and most commodities down. Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower, while government bonds jumped as investors moved away from risky assets into traditional safe havens. US crude for May delivery, which expires later in the day, inched down 6 cents to $45.82 a barrel at 11:37am, after plunging by $4.45 on Monday, while London Brent crude rose 4 cents to $49.90. “It seems people are trying to sort out the noise in the economic data and profit releases from the United States. They’re still a bit confused if this is the bottom of the market or if we’ve got worse to come,” said Ben Westmore, commodities analyst at National Australia Bank. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, Wall Street’s barometer for fear, jumped more than 15% on Monday, the largest daily percentage gain since 20 January. Oil has been trading in a tight band between $46 and $55 for the past month, after rallying steadily since mid-February from the mid-$30s, helped by hopes of economy recovery and optimism over Opec’s compliance with agreed supply cuts. The oil cartel meets again next month, but the International Energy Agency’s deputy Executive Director Richard Jones said he did not expect further cuts from the meeting. UAE’s Oil Minister Mohamed al-Hamli declined to say if Opec might cut output further at the meeting, but said the market is “certainly well-supplied”. Traders will also look out for US oil inventory data, with the American Petroleum Institute due to release figures later in the day and the more authoritative US Energy Information Administration’s numbers due out on Wednesday. US crude oil inventories likely rose for the seventh week in a row last week on higher imports and as seasonal maintenance cut refinery demand, a preliminary Reuters poll showed. On average, the poll forecast a crude inventories increase of 2.6 million barrels, an 800,000 barrel drawdown in gasoline stocks and a 500,000 barrel decline in distillates. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 7:31 am Sensex back in the greenIndian equities were trading mixed a little after noon Tuesday, with a key index ruling just above its last closing figure shortly after the central bank cut key rates by 25 basis points.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Apr 2009 | 7:30 am Noon: Markets turn positive after RBI rate cutsMumbai: Indian shares erased losses of nearly 2% and briefly turned positive on Tuesday afternoon, with sentiment helped by a central bank rate cut to boost growth. By 12:26pm, the 30-share BSE index was down 0.1% at 10,971.45 points, after edging up 0.05% earlier and The 50-share NSE index was up 0.3% at 3,386.35. India’s central bank cut its key short-term rates by 25 basis points each on Tuesday to shore up faltering growth as the global economic crisis hits Asia’s third-largest economy harder than expected. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 7:19 am Now read Amar Chitra Katha on your mobileWatching the latest flick on your mobile may still be some months away. But you can catch up with favourite comic strips or read those illustrated tales of Amar Chitra Katha, as phone operators are offering more features to lift their bottomlines.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Apr 2009 | 7:01 am Economy to grow by 6 percent, inflation to rise too: RBIIndia's economy will grow by six percent this fiscal while inflation would rise to around four percent, the central bank said here Tuesday while announcing a 25 basis points cut in key rates in its annual economic policy review.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Apr 2009 | 7:00 am 12 more Kingfisher pilots quit, to join Qatar AirwaysOn the heels of about a dozen pilots quitting Kingfisher Airlines, 12 more have put in their papers at the Vijay Mallya-run air-carrier.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 21 Apr 2009 | 6:39 am Central bank cuts key ratesIndia's Central bank cut key rates Tuesday by 25 basis points in a move to infuse more liquidity into the system and stimulate lending growth.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 21 Apr 2009 | 6:33 am TCS to focus on cost-cuttingTata Consultancy Services Ltd posted a 4.6 percent rise in quarterly profit, but it expects prices to fall by lower single digits in the coming year.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 21 Apr 2009 | 6:30 am RBI cuts repo, reverse repo rates by 25 bpsThe RBI cut its key short-term rates to shore up faltering growth in the face of slowdown. Repo rate has been cut to 4.75% and the reverse repo rate to 3.25%.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 21 Apr 2009 | 6:00 am LTTE faces deadline to surrender; 39,000 people fleeColombo/New Delhi: Tamil Tiger rebels had just hours left to surrender by a government deadline on Tuesday, as tens of thousands of civilians fled the sliver of jungle the guerrillas still control in northeast Sri Lanka. With international concern growing over the fate of civilians caught up in the conflict, the rebels could be facing a last push by troops seeking to end their 37-year armed campaign for a Tamil homeland. The defence ministry gave Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran and his fighters until 12:00pm (0630 GMT) on Tuesday to surrender, although the government did not specify what action would be taken otherwise. The Sri Lankan Army said on Tuesday that more civilians have escaped from a patch of territory controlled by the Tamil Tigers, who are facing an ultimatum to surrender. “We have registered 39,081 people who came yesterday,” military spokesman brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. “Civilians continue to move over to our side today as well.” Their presence has been cited by the Sri Lankan military as a main reason preventing a final assault on the remaining Tigers in a government-designated “no-fire zone.” Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said the rebels were facing “complete defeat” and their reclusive leader had finally run out of time. “The only thing Prabhakaran can now do is to surrender,” he told AFP. “I don’t want him to take cyanide and commit suicide. He has to face charges for his actions.” The government has issued similar ultimatums in the past, most recently on 12 April when the guerrillas were told they had 48 hours to surrender. So far, the only reaction from the Tigers has been to renew their call for an unconditional ceasefire - something the government has already rejected. The crisis has sparked protests in Europe and expressions of concern by UN and human rights groups. In Paris, French police arrested 210 people on Monday when a rally by Tamils turned violent as demonstrators threw bottles at security forces and smashed windscreens. In London, thousands of Tamils blocked some of the city’s busiest streets, demonstrating outside parliament and calling for an immediate ceasefire. New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that the world had only hours to prevent a potential “bloodbath” in Sri Lanka. Anna Neistat, a senior HRW researcher, said the international community had “to make it crystal clear to both sides of this conflict - both the LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka - that they will not get away with it.” But Jaliya Wickramasuriya, the Sri Lankan ambassador to the United States, insisted the government’s priority was to rescue civilians. “We are not going to do any huge operation as such,” he told AFP. “We are still concerned about civilians.” UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon welcomed the escape of the civilians but was “deeply concerned” about those still trapped, his office said. According to the United Nations, as many as 100,000 civilians were trapped in LTTE territory and living in “dire humanitarian conditions” before Monday’s exodus. The mass civilian escape shown in the aerial footage appeared to have been triggered by the Sri Lankan military overrunning a Tiger defensive embankment. The defence ministry said the Tigers killed 17 civilians on Monday in at least one suicide bombing against escaping civilians. Both sides have traded accusations of targeting non-combatants, and the international community has repeatedly urged a permanent ceasefire to prevent further loss of innocent lives. The LTTE - once seen as one of the world’s most efficient guerrilla units - used to control a third of Sri Lanka’s territory, an overseas fund-raising network and a lucrative shipping business. In Colombo, President Rajapakse’s office compared the exodus of civilians to the fall of the Berlin Wall. “The exodus to freedom that is taking place in the north of Sri Lanka just now is no less a massive vote for freedom than the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989,” it said in a statement. UNICEF warns Lanka over military assault on rebels The United Nations children’s agency warned on Tuesday that a threatened Sri Lankan assault against holdout Tamil Tiger rebels risked the lives of thousands of trapped children. Following a mass exodus on Monday of around 35,000 civilians from the areas the guerrillas still control in northeast Sri Lanka. But the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said tens of thousands of civilians could still be trapped in LTTE territory, with the rebels preventing them from escaping. “If fighting continues and if the LTTE refuses to allow people to leave the conflict zone, then we face the intolerable inevitability of seeing many more children killed,” said UNICEF’s South Asia regional director, Daniel Toole. “Our greatest fear is that the worst is yet to come,” Toole said. “With the high concentration of people in a small space, the number of children killed in this conflict will continue to escalate. This is a price too heavy to pay.” The Sri Lankan government has not specified what action would be taken if the LTTE and its reclusive leader Velupillai Prabhakaran failed to surrender. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 5:56 am Result Review: Tata Consultancy ServicesTCS’ 4QFY09 results below our estimates. There was an organic volume de-growth at 2.65%. We believe that this was on account of exposure to more troubled clients. Top clients continue to face revenue, profit declines thereby impacting IT spends. Macro scenario still not conducive and budgets not finalized / under pressure. TCS has recommended a 1:1 bonus issue. We make changes to our FY10 earnings estimates and assume rupee to appreciate to Rs.46 per USD by 4QFY10. FY10E earnings stand at Rs51.4 per share with a price target at Rs597 v/s Rs617 earlier. We downgrade the stock to ACCUMULATE due to near-term uncertainties and recent price run-up and maintain preference for Infosys due to better growth rates and conservative accounting policies. A sharp appreciation in the rupee against various currencies and a prolonged recession in major user economies remain the key risks to our call. Click here for a detailed report Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 5:15 am Indra Nooyi ranked fourth on Fortune 500 Women CEOs listThe Fortune 500 may be dominated by male CEOs, but Indra Nooyi, Indian American CEO of Pepsico is listed fourth among "15 women (who) show what it takes to lead" some of the America's biggest companies.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 21 Apr 2009 | 5:01 am Rupee falls by 27 paise against dollar in early tradeThe Indian rupee on Tuesday depreciated by 27 paise at 50.57 against the US currency in early trade on heavy capital outflows by funds.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 21 Apr 2009 | 4:07 am U.S. to give Chrysler $500 mln, GM up to $5 bln in new aidWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will make about $500 million available to Chrysler LLC through the end of this month as it seeks to reach an alliance with Fiat, and up to $5 billion through May to help General Motors Corp restructure outside of bankruptcy, an independent oversight report on the Treasury Department's corporate rescue fund said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 4:03 am Oracle agrees to buy SunOracle Corp. agreed on Monday to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. and its Java programming language for $5.6 billion (Rs28,000 crore), definitively ending International Business Machines Corp.’s pursuit of Sun and giving Oracle “the most important software” it has ever acquired. The deal, which Oracle valued at $7.4 billion, including Sun’s cash and debt, represents the likely end to one of Silicon Valley’s more iconic companies, which had struggled for much of this decade to remain relevant.  Swooping in: Oracle Corp. chief executive officer Larry Ellison. Kimberly White / Bloomberg Roger Kay, analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates, said Oracle makes a better acquirer because it already uses Sun’s technologies in some principal offerings. And while IBM has a large software portfolio, Kay said, Oracle is “more purely” a software company such as Sun. However, IBM could have integrated Sun’s hardware into its line-up more easily, he said, adding that big cuts are likely ahead for Sun’s selling, general and administrative cost line, “which looks pretty heavy at 28.5% of revenue”. Sun’s board, which may have stymied the IBM offer, unanimously approved the Oracle deal, which is expected to close this summer. The deal values Sun at $9.50 a share, a 42% premium to Friday’s close. The deal price is slightly below IBM’s offer of $9.55 a share. Sun’s talks with IBM unravelled earlier this month, reportedly on divisions within Sun’s board and concerns raised during IBM’s due diligence. The breakdown raised new questions about Sun’s prospects and its chief executive, Jonathan Schwartz, who has been under pressure to come up with an alternative for the struggling computer maker. Schwartz’s status was described by some as precarious if he couldn’t complete a sale of Sun. Schwartz, who took over as chief executive officer in 2006, has made some progress in shifting Sun’s focus towards software, but the company still gets a big chunk of its revenue from the line of servers that has faced slowing sales recently. The Silicon Valley icon has seen slumping sales of its servers and posted losses in three of its last four quarters. The acquisition gives it Java, the basis for Oracle’s fastest growing business, Fusion Middleware President Safra Catz said that would make the Sun deal more profitable in per-share contribution in the first year than its recent acquisitions of PeopleSoft, Siebel and BEA combined. Oracle’s Fusion Middleware business is based on Sun’s Java language and software, and Oracle said it could now ensure continued investment in the technology. It will also acquire the Solaris operating system, the leading platform for its database business, which is its largest. Oracle has a history of acquisitions, having made at least 260 deals valued at more than $50.5 billion since July 1992, according to FactSet Research. This is Oracle’s largest deal since acquiring BEA Systems for $8 billion a year ago. wsj@livemint.com Kerry E. Grace contributed to this story. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 21 Apr 2009 | 3:47 am INTERVIEW - Tata CEO says to focus on cost-cuttingBEIJING (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest IT outsourcing firm, said on Tuesday that price competition will force it to focus on cost reductions in coming years.Source: Reuters: Money News | 21 Apr 2009 | 3:02 am Negative inflation may pose dilemma for RBI on key policy ratesNew Delhi, April 20 With inflation likely to turn negative before the month-end, the question, say some economists, is no longer one of whether to reduce the reverse repo rate, but by how much. This crucial policy rate – which is what banksSource: Business Line - Home Page | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:00 am RBI survey lowers GDP growth forecast to 5.7%Mumbai, April 20 The median forecast of real GDP growth, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s latest professional forecasters’ survey, for 2009-2010 has been revised downwards to 5.7 per cent from 6 perSource: Business Line - Home Page | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:00 am TCS posts 7% rise in Q4 net profit; forex losses at Rs 192 crMumbai, April 20 The current economic crisis coupled with losses related to forex hedging continued to weigh down the financials of Tata Consultancy Services, which reported a seven per cent rise in consolidated net profit for the three monthsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:00 am Party manifestos seek to axe FDI in retailNew Delhi, April 20 The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left might have different DNAs, but they are united in their opposition to foreign investment in the retailSource: Business Line - Home Page | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:00 am US forecaster sees better monsoon rainsThiruvananthapuram, April 20 India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast of a 96 per cent-of-normal rainfall has prompted a leading US-based forecaster to revisit its own seasonal forecasts for the ensuing southwest monsoon.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:00 am Shikha Sharma is new MD and CEO of Axis BankMumbai, April 20 The board of Axis Bank on Monday appointed Ms Shikha Sharma, Managing Director, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, as the bank’s new Managing Director & CEO. The appointment, however, did not find favour with theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:00 am Voltamp Transformers (Rs 456.75): BuyWe recommend a buy in Voltamp Transformers from a short-term trading perspective. It is apparent from the charts of Voltamp Transformers that after recording a 52-week low of Rs 265 on March 9, it reversed direction triggered by positive divergenceSource: Business Line - Home Page | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:00 am Intra-Congress feuds re-open in DelhiNew Delhi: The Chidambaram ‘shoe-gate’ might have taken the Congress by shock but it proved to be a blessing in disguise for two Congressmen in Delhi — Messrs Ramesh Kumar and J. P. Agarwal. The two were givenSource: Business Line - Home Page | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideDLF was volatile in the last trading session and formed a spinning top candlestick pattern signalling indecisiveness. Avoid trading in this counter. The near-term outlook is cautious in ICICI Bank andSource: Business Line - Home Page | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:00 am Global meltdown hits common carrier feeder servicesKochi, April 20 The fast dwindling cargo movement being experienced in the global shipping sector on account of the prevailing economic meltdown has dealt a blow to common carrier feeder services operating in the Kochi port, as most of theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 21 Apr 2009 | 12:00 am Hilton eyes tie up with Indian cos aside of DLFHospitality major Hilton international is looking to increase its operations in India. It is looking at tying up with companies other than DLF, with which it already has a 26:74 joint venture. In an application to the FIPB, Hilton said it wants to bring more brands into India and has also proposed a hike in its fee structure, claim sources.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2009 | 9:49 pm Growth prospects of Satyam still excellent: BCGJames Abraham Leader Technology Communications, BCG feels the growth prospects of the company is superb but needs some restructuring. Satyam has a fantastic record of great quality.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2009 | 9:02 pm Sun deal gives Oracle access to Java platform: ZDNetLawrence Dignan, Editor, ZDNet, said the deal gives Oracle access to Java on which its middleware is based. \"Oracle has been playing around with hardware a little bit and this totally plunges them into the hardware market which is an interesting detour for them.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2009 | 8:28 pm IT sector needs to be visa independent: Narayana MurthyNR Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies, said the Indian IT sector needs to be visa independent.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2009 | 8:17 pm India launches spy satellite, built jointly with IsraelBangalore: India successfully launched a surveillance satellite, built jointly with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said.  Eye in the sky: A polar satellite launch vehicle rocket taking off with RISAT-2. AP The 300kg radar imaging satellite, RISAT-2, and a communications satellite built by an Indian university were launched from Andhra Pradesh at 6.45am on Monday, Isro said in a statement on its website. RISAT-2 has a lifespan of three years and will help monitor floods, cyclones and management of disasters, S. Satish, spokesman for the space agency, said in a phone interview. It can also be used to monitor infiltration across the borders and can take pictures of small objects on earth, Rodham Narasimha, a professor at the Bangalore-based National Institute of Advanced Studies, said over the phone. India had wanted to develop such a satellite without any outside help, delaying the project, Narasimha said. The country’s space scientists are now planning their next moon odyssey, ‘Chandrayaan-2’, a mission that will see a soft landing of small rovers on the surface of earth’s natural satellite. “We are finalizing the instruments to be carried in the rovers. The work is on... It will be launched by 2011-end or during the beginning of 2012”, director of Isro Satellite Centre T.K. Alex told reporters in Sriharikota. ‘Chandrayaan-1’ completed six months in orbit on Sunday and is doing well, sending data from scientific instruments on board the spacecraft, Isro officials said. “We are making routine manoeuvres to ensure that the spacecraft is kept 100km from the moon,” a scientist said. Isro chairman G. Madhavan Nair said the success of ‘Chandrayaan-1’ has ignited the minds of young people. “When Isro advertised for filling up of 300 posts, we received a whopping 132,000 applications.” (‘PTI’ contributed to this story.) Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2009 | 7:45 pm Global conference marks 20 years of World Wide WebMadrid: A global conference on the World Wide Web got under way in the capital of Spain on Monday, 20 years after the invention of the global information medium. British software genius Tim Berners-Lee, one of the founders of the Web, will give a keynote talk on Wednesday “which will reflect on the last 20 years and look forward to the next 20 years” of the Web. Over the five days of the 18th International World Wide Web Conference, 105 research papers will be presented covering topics including interactive television, mobile Web applications and the challenge of new media to traditional media.  Five-day meet: People attending a workshop on the first day of the 18th World Wide Web Conference in Madrid on Monday. Susana Vera / Reuters It was held in China last year. The US will hold the next conference in 2010. With the help of other scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Berners-Lee set up the system to allow thousands of scientists around the world to stay in touch. In March 1989, Berners-Lee handed his supervisor in Geneva a document entitled “Information Management: a proposal”. The supervisor described it as “vague, but exciting” and gave it the go-ahead, although it took a good year or two to get off the ground, and served nuclear physicists in Europe initially. The WWW technology—which simplifies the process of searching for information on the Internet—was first made more widely available from 1991 after CERN was unable to ensure its development, and the organization made a landmark decision two years later not to levy royalties. Berners-Lee, now a researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US and a computer science professor at Southampton University in the UK, still heads the World Wide Web Consortium that coordinates development of the Web. feedback@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2009 | 7:17 pm Adobe makes push to put Web videos on televisionThe denizens of Hollywood and Silicon Valley have, by and large, vastly different value systems, role models, even tastes in cars, food and clothing. But they increasingly agree on one thing: a standard for online video called Adobe Flash. Flash was once known primarily as the technology behind those niggling Web ads in the 1990s that gyrated and flickered on the screen. Today, it is an ubiquitous but behind-the-scenes Web format used to display Facebook applications, interactive ads and, most notably, the video on sites such as YouTube and Hulu.  Digital box: Adobe’s visualization of how Flash video could look on television sets. The improved Flash will support high-definition videos. Adobe Systems / NYT Narayen expects TV sets and set-top boxes that support the Flash format to start selling later this year. For consumers, what sounds like a bit of inconsequential Internet plumbing actually means that a long overhyped notion is a step closer to reality: viewing a video clip or Internet application on a TV or mobile phone. For Hollywood studios and other content creators, a single format for Web video is even more enticing. It means they can create their entertainment once in Flash and distribute it cheaply throughout the expanding ecosystem of digital devices. “Coming generations of consumers clearly expect to get their content wherever they want on it, on any device, when they want it,” said Bud Albers, the chief technology officer of the Disney Interactive Media Group, who will join Adobe executives at the convention to voice Disney’s support for the Flash format. “This gets us where we want to go.” Adobe, based in San Jose, California, is among the oldest Internet powers but perhaps one of the least visible to users. Founded in 1983, it first developed a common language for laser printers called PostScript and later built or bought popular desktop publishing tools such as Illustrator and Photoshop. In 2005, Adobe acquired Macromedia, the originator of Flash, and expanded from making software to create and share digital documents, such as Adobe Acrobat and the PDF file format, to dominating the budding market of tools to create online graphics and video. Last year, the company reported net income of $871.8 million (around Rs4,350 crore) on revenue of $3.6 billion. According to Adobe, Flash is now on 98% of all computers, and about 80% of Web videos are viewed using it. Some major players in the phone market do not support Flash. Most notably, Apple Inc., maker of the iPhone, says Flash uses too much processing and battery power. Narayen says handset makers will ultimately not be able to resist, since it will make viewing the Web on a phone no different from surfing on a computer. One company standing in Adobe’s way is Microsoft Corp. Its rival to Flash, called Silverlight, is used by Netflix and the British Broadcasting Corporation, among others, and was used by US firm National Broadcasting Co. last year to stream the Olympics. Microsoft says the second version of Silverlight has been installed on 300 million PCs since it became available six months ago. It also claims that Silverlight better supports live, high-definition video, which is paramount to bringing Internet content to large HDTVs. “I can’t imagine what could be more important on a television than high video quality,” said Brad Becker, director of rich client platforms at Microsoft—and a former Adobe executive. Adobe executives say the new Flash for television sets will support such high-definition video. Some analysts are not counting out Microsoft just yet. They say the company has a significant presence in the living room with devices such as the Xbox 360 game consoles that can stream movies to a TV. Microsoft also has the resources to finance an escalating competition. “There hasn’t been a true competitor to Adobe for quite some time and Microsoft could potentially start bridging the gap between the PC and the TV even more effectively,” said Josh Martin, an analyst at Yankee Group. “Maybe they could start putting out some of the fire that Adobe has long held.” feedback@livemint.com ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2009 | 7:16 pm India to have its own liquid telescopeNew Delhi: For a small town, Devasthal has astronomical ambitions. Next year, the town in Uttarakhand will host a unique telescope, only among a handful of its kind in the world, that uses a big, spinning bowl of liquid—and not the usual glass mirrors—to focus light from celestial objects. The telescope, with its 4m wide dish, will cost only one-hundredth of its equivalent-sized glass-mirrored counterpart, and is much easier to maintain, say scientists associated with the project, making it a potential candidate for futuristic space and lunar observatories.  Far-sighted: A file photo of a 6m diameter liquid mirror telescope at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. The liquid mirror telescope at Devasthal, Uttarakhand is modelled on this telescope. Paul Hickson (UBC) / Nasa “We will not be really involved in the construction and such,” said Ram Sagar, director of ARIES, “We will be handling the operations and maintenance part of it.” Sagar said the telescope would not cost more than Rs1.5 crore. “The glass mirror equivalent would be anywhere near Rs150 crore,” he added. Like in a camera, the primary dish in a telescope collects light from a source and focuses it to a point. From here, a complex arrangement of lenses magnifies the image for the human eye. The bigger the primary mirror, greater the chances of catching light, and therefore, “seeing” a distant, elusive celestial body. However, such mirrors are extremely expensive to make. Polishing their surfaces and chiselling them to a parabola (the most effective geometric shape for focusing light) are what adds to the cost. In ILMT, mercury is filled in a parabolic dish, which is rotated at a constant speed. That a liquid spun in a container naturally acquires a parabolic shape has been known to physicists since centuries. But Isaac Newton, who is credited with the design of the modern reflector telescope, and knew this property of liquids, didn’t have electric motors and charge-coupled devices (CCD), for making such a telescope. An electric motor turns the dish in ILMT and a CCD—like in digital cameras—allows you to take pictures without a photographic film. Sagar said that mercury is the most popularly used liquid for such mirrors. “It’s a highly reflective liquid, can peer as far into the sky as its mirror-equivalent and the images are as clear,” he added. However, because the mercury can spill, the telescope can only look straight up and cannot be rotated like the mirror telescopes. “So, you may have to have a series of these telescopes to increase the collection area. You can have 20-30 such telescopes instead of the rotating ones,” said Sagar. Ravi Subramanhyan, director at the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore founded by late Nobel laureate C.V. Raman, said that such a telescope would be a boost to Indian astronomy. “This, and another 3.6m dish telescope being built in the same spot, would be among the largest optical telescopes in India. That would draw more collaborative efforts among scientists in India, as well as abroad,” he said. India and Belgium are collaborating on a 3.6m dish telescope, which promises to be the biggest optical telescope in India. “Since we were anyway building this telescope, the Belgian scientists requested that we host the liquid mirror one, too,” said Sagar, “so that’s how this telescope is being built here.” With several lunar missions proposed by the US, China and even India, and the discovery of a class of liquids, called ionic fluids, that have mercury’s reflective properties, but don’t freeze in the moon’s harsh winters, liquid mirror telescopes are slowly becoming more than an academic exercise. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), the US space agency, last year commissioned a research project to develop liquid mirror telescopes for lunar observatories. Lunar observatories are useful, in that there’s a much greater chance of telescopes catching radiation from undetected, unknown bodies. That’s because the moon doesn’t have an atmosphere, which on earth prevents a wide range of radiation from reaching land-based telescopes. jacob.k@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2009 | 7:07 pm 'RBI steps will stop growth moderation'Though inflation is expected to be low this fiscal, the reserve bank on Monday hinted that it might not cut key rates in the annual monetary policy.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 20 Apr 2009 | 6:50 pm Sebi bars GHCL promoters, top brass from stock marketDisclosures on shareholding were inflated.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 20 Apr 2009 | 6:48 pm Tech M to announce open offer for Satyam todayTech Mahindra, which deposited the money for the acquisition of Satyam Computer Services Limited, will announce the mandatory public offer for a 20 per cent stake in the beleaguered IT firm on Tuesday.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 20 Apr 2009 | 6:45 pm Nayak quits after Axis Bank appoints Sharma as MDChairman loses vote 1-8; new managing director to get five-year term.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 20 Apr 2009 | 6:42 pm 28 Fortune 100 cos hiring amid financial crisisNew York: Even as a host of firms are slashing their headcount to save costs, as many as 28 American companies in the Fortune 100 list including retail giant Wal-Mart, Time Warner and beverage company Coca-Cola are still hiring. “As many big companies are announcing mass layoffs, these Fortune 100 employers have at least 150 openings as of mid-April,” the Fortune magazine stated. The Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc, ranked second in latest Fortune 500 list, has thousands of job openings. About Wal-Mart the magazine stated that the retailer is looking for staff at new locations and hiring store managers, human resource managers, pharmacists, customer service associates and cashiers, among others. Media group Time Warner has about 480 openings posted online in creative, editorial, marketing, media, finance, accounting, graphics design, animation, new media, ad sales, film/television production division among others. Technology giant Hewlett-Packard has 150 vacancies and is hiring in several areas of its businesses such as information technology, human resources, research and development, marketing, finance and administrative. While, beverage company Coca-Cola is searching for 160 people for a variety of different functions on many levels including finance, bottling, retail operations, production and customer service, delivery and food chemistry. Financial service major Bank of America Corp is looking to hire as many as 1,860 people in several areas including consumer banking, small business banking, credit cards, home loans, global banking, wealth management, technology, human resources, finance, communications and marketing. Further, aerospace and defence firm Boeing has 2,400 vacancies and according to listings on software giant Microsoft’s career website as of April it had 630 positions available in marketing, software development, customer service, information technology, operations, program management among others. Other companies among the 28 with significant job openings include --MetLife, Supervalu, State Farm Insurance, United Parcel Service, Medco Health Solutions, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, New York Life Insurance, Prudential Financial and General Dynamics among others. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2009 | 11:50 am
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