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State Bank of India revises deposit rates by up to 50 bpsState Bank of India has revised the Deposit rates downwards by up to 50 bps in various maturities effective from 18th May 2009.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2009 | 4:31 pm Tea sector bullish due to poor supply: Harrisons MalayalamPankaj Kapoor, MD, Harrison Malayalam, said the tea industry is looking up for two reasons. One is that we are starting with a very low inventory and the other reason is since the last couple of months, starting from NovemberDecember onwards there have hardly been any rains, both in North India, North East as well as in Southern India, he said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2009 | 3:46 pm Cost of funds high despite better liquidity: IRB DevVD Mhaiskar, CMD, IRB Infra Developers, said the liquidity situation has improved but the cost of funds have not corrected. He feels almost 4060 projects would get bids in next few months. IRB, he added, is in a beneficial position to take advantage of the upcoming project bids.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2009 | 3:24 pm US judge to maintain protection for Sterlites ASARCO dealA US bankruptcy judge said yesterday that he would maintain protection for Sterlite Industries deal to buy bankrupt copper miner ASARCO, but left open the door to credible rival proposals.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2009 | 3:07 pm Telecom cos add 8.93 mn subscribers in April 2009Total GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) mobile users added in April, 2009 stood at 8.93 million versus 11.25 million in March, 2009.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2009 | 2:28 pm No plans to further dilute stake: DLF promotersDLF promoters today sold 16.8 crore shares, or about 9.9% equity, in the market raising nearly Rs 3,864 crore. Commenting on the same, Rajiv Singh, ViceChairman, DLF, said the deal ups the company\'s float in market and will attract FII investment. He added that the company won\'t dilute any more holding going forward.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2009 | 1:00 pm Former bureaucrat Runu Ghosh to be sentenced FridayThe quantum of punishment for Runu Ghosh, former deputy director general in the telecom ministry who has been convicted for corruption, will be pronounced Friday, a city court said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2009 | 12:39 pm BSE Sensex falls 1.1 pct, braces for exit pollsMUMBAI (Reuters) - The Sensex fell 1.1 percent in choppy trade on Wednesday as investors locked in profits after a 4 percent rally in the previous session, and awaited exit polls after voting ends in national elections.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 12:31 pm Indian Rupee Drops as Importers Sell Currency, Elections End - Bloomberg
Source: Google News India - Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:24 pm Air passenger traffic up marginally in AprilDomestic passenger traffic, which fell by 12 per cent in the first three months, picked up marginally last month.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 12:17 pm State Bank of India cuts deposit ratesMUMBAI (Reuters) - State Bank of India, India's largest bank, said it will cut interest rates on deposits by up to 50 basis points from May 18.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 12:15 pm Lupin Jan-March net profit 1.57 billion rupeesMUMBAI (Reuters) - Lupin Ltd said its Jan-March net profit rose to 1.57 billion rupees from a year-ago figure of 959 million rupees.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 12:13 pm Intel hit with record 1 bln euro EU antitrust fineBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission fined Intel Corp a record 1.06 billion euros ($1.45 billion) on Wednesday and ordered it to halt illegal rebates and other practices used to squeeze out rival AMD.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 12:10 pm FII can invest upto Rs 1,000 cr in govt debt!Market regulator SEBI today said that a foreign instituional investor (FII) can investment up to Rs 1,000 crore in government debt.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:10 pm Intel faces antitrust fine; decision likely today!The European Commission is expected to take a decision on Wednesday on computer chipmaker Intel which is facing largest ever penalty for abusing its dominant market position.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:10 pm Software piracy costs industry $50 bn: Study!Software piracy cost companies more than $50 billion last year, according to a study by the Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:10 pm Corporate woes rise as Asia reels from crisis: IMF!The global financial crisis is taking an increasing toll on Asia`s corporate sector with the region`s economies now among the world`s hardest hit, a senior IMF official has warned.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:10 pm DLF founders to get $800 mn from share sale!The founders of DLF Ltd, India`s top listed property firm, on Wednesday sold around 11 percent of their stake, raising more than USD 800 million, stock exchange data showed.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:10 pm Rupee depreciates five paise Vs dollar in morning trade!Moving in tandem with the local equity markets, the Indian rupee on Wednesday pared its early morning gains to depreciate by five paise to 49.35/37 against the US currency in the morning trade.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:10 pm High growth unsustainable without infrastructure, says Reddy!A 9-10 per cent economic growth rate for India is not sustainable without creating necessary infrastructure like power, ports and roads, warns former Reserve Bank Governor Y V Reddy.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:10 pm Air India to receive equity infusion, soft loan in next budget!National carrier Air India is likely to receive an equity infusion plus soft loans amounting to around Rs 4,000-5,000 crore soon, a source said on Tuesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:10 pm Japan`s current-account surplus shrinks after 7 yrs!Japan`s current account surplus in March fell 48.8 percent from a year earlier as exports fell amid the global recession, official figures showed Wednesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:10 pm Sensex pares early morning gains; dips 47 points!Selling in IT, banking and metal counters weighed on the domestic bourses with the benchmark Sensex dipping 47 points in the morning trade.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:10 pm Microsoft's Windows 7 to be available in market by December - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:08 pm BJP to be single largest party, NDA to form govt: RajnathNew Delhi: Expressing confidence that BJP will emerge as the single largest party and NDA will form the next government, BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said he expected the President to go by convention and invite the one with maximum number of seats. “BJP will emerge as the single largest party and BJP-led NDA will get a majority or will fall short by a small margin in which case I am confident that other political parties will support us,” Singh told reporters after holding a meeting with senior party leaders L K Advani and M Venkaiah Naidu. When asked about the expected role of the President after the election results are announced on 16 May, Singh said, “Let the president use her conscience. It is my belief that the President will go by the convention.” Singh refused to name the political parties which are likely to extend support if NDA falls short of a majority. “This is a part of our strategy. I will not say anything at all on this issue.” Naidu said, “We are sure we are going to be called (by the President). It is not only question of claim but also of reality. By any standard BJP is confident of coming to power.” Naidu said that Wednesday’s meeting with Advani and Singh was held to compare notes on the possible outcome of elections. “The party leaders will formally hold a meeting on 16 May evening. If we have to talk to other political parties, we will do so after that,” Naidu said. Naidu further added that TRS joining NDA has boosted the morale of the alliance. He predicted that the Third Front will break as it has “no agenda, no leaders and there are major differences within it”. Without naming H D Kumaraswamy, he said that a JD(S) leader had met the Congress President but still maintains that he had nothing to do with the Congress. “Who will believe them,” he asked. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 12:08 pm Ruling Congress ahead as voting ends - pollNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's month-long general election ended on Wednesday with the ruling Congress-led coalition forecast to be leading over the opposition Hindu-nationalist alliance.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 12:07 pm AMD faces tough road to benefit from EU aid - Reuters
Source: Google News India - Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:06 pm SBI cuts deposit rates by 50 basis points - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:05 pm Sensex ends 153 points down on Wednesday - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 13 May 2009 | 12:04 pm SBI slashes deposit rates by 50 basis pointsState Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, slashed deposit rates by 50 basis points on various maturities Wednesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 13 May 2009 | 12:01 pm Left will play important role after polls: Somnath ChatterjeeKolkata: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who was expelled from CPI(M) in the wake of Left withdrawal of support to the UPA Government, Wednesday said the party will get “reduced number” of seats this time but will play an “important role” after the polls. However he parried questions on whether he will rejoin the CPI-M. “The important thing is that nobody is ignoring the Left. It will play an important role in Indian politics. Left has to be at the forefront and I hope it plays a proper role,” Chatterjee told reporters after casting his vote here. “It will be a reduced number unfortunately but it will no doubt play an important role in Indian politics. Their importance is that no body is ignoring the Left. Please consider this,” he said. Asked whether he would rejoin CPI-M and that West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was in touch with him in this regard, Chatterjee said,“ I do not know. I have not had any talk (with Bhattacharjee) about going back or coming.” The veteran communist leader, however, maintained: “I did not leave the party on my own. The party felt in its wisdom that I am not fit to be in the party and I have accepted their verdict. I never challenged it. I said I have my own conscience.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 12:01 pm Jayalalithaa keeps her options open Chennai: AIADMK chief J.Jayalalithaa, whose party fought the Lok Sabha elections as part of the Third Front, Wednesday appeared to be keeping her options open, saying that she has got feelers from ‘many places’ and that she would decide on her strategy after the results are out. The former Tamil Nadu chief minister, whose AIADMK is in an alliance with Left parties, PMK and MDMK in Tamil Nadu and is expected to do well in the polls, said she would decide on her strategy after consulting her allies. “There are feelers from many places. But I am not responding to any overtures now. I prefer to wait until the 16th, until I have the results in my hand and then I’ll decide what to do after consultation with my allies,” Jayalalithaa said when asked whether she has got any feelers from the BJP for her support to the NDA government. Replying to another question on JD(S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda’s statement that the Third Front would remain, she said that she would not comment on any such statements now. Jayalalithaa was speaking to reporters after casting her vote at the Stella Maris College here. Asked whether she will go to Delhi after the results are out, she said: “Everything depends on the results. If the results are as the way I expect I will be going to Delhi.” The AIADMK chief said if the polls are held in a free and fair manner in Tamil Nadu her party-led alliance will sweep the elections. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 12:01 pm Leaders of Third Front, BSP to meet on 18 MayNew Delhi: With reports of cracks in the Third Front, leaders of the non-Congress, non-BJP parties, including BSP, will meet here on 18 May to discuss the possibility of forming an alternative secular government. TRS, which switched to the NDA side three days ago, has not been called for the meeting, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said on Wednesday. “Leaders of non-Congress, non-BJP will meet here on 18 May to decide the future course of action. BSP will join these discussions where we will explore the possibilities of forming an alternative secular government,” he told reporters here. Karat said the Left parties will meet in New Delhi on 17 May which will be followed by the CPI(M)’s Politburo meeting on 18 May and central committee the following day. “This will be the first round of meeting among the parties,” he said. Asked whether TRS has been invited to the meeting, Karat said: “TRS is not in this. He (K Chandrasekhar Rao) has obviously found some other place.” On reports about BJP sending feelers to TDP, Karat said he was in touch with TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on a “daily” basis. “In fact, It was he (Naidu) who asked me to make this announcement,” he said. “He (Naidu) is the main mover behind the non-Congress, non-BJP combine,“ Karat said. On JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy meeting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, Karat said former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has already clarified his party position. “He (Gowda) is one of the main movers of the front.” When asked about what parties like AIADMK, TDP and JD(S) would do, he said “I can’t speak on behalf of all these parties.” Besides BSP, Left parties, AIADMK, TDP, BJD and JD(S) will also participate in the meeting. CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said: “what’s wrong in that? She will consult her allies which are the CPI and the CPI(M). Without discussing with us, she will not think of any option”, when asked to comment on AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa’s statement that her party would take a decision after the poll results in consultation with her allies. Bardhan also said after the results are out on 16 May, the Third Front would get “more numbers” and “will tell the President that we must be given a chance”. The Left parties would meet on 17 May, a day after the results come out. The CPI national executive would meet on 19 May followed by a three-day session of its national council. The decision-making bodies of Forward Bloc and RSP would also be meeting on the same days. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 12:00 pm INTERVIEW - Container Corp sees FY10 volumes, profit riseNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Container Corp of India sees an improving economy increase volumes at the logistics firm, reversing last year's decline, and sees sales too rising faster in 2009/10, a top official said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 11:59 am Shriram Transport Finance to set up eqpt finance arm - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 13 May 2009 | 11:55 am ONGC plans Rs 9000 cr Mumbai High revamp - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 13 May 2009 | 11:55 am Close: Investors panic ahead of exit polls; Sensex falls 1.1%Mumbai: Markets closed a volatile session on negative note on Wednesday due to profit-booking after Tuesday’s rally and cautious sentiments of investors ahead of unpredictable exit polls for 15th Lok Sabha elections. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex opened in green but only to immediately turn volatile tracking mixed US stock markets. Then trading remained choppy on mixed global cues and political concerns over uncertainties prior to election results on 16 May. Markets did regain briefly but slipped again to end the day 1.14% down. The 30-share BSE index closed lower by 138.38 points at 12,019.65 and the 50-share NSE Nifty ended down by 45.85 points at 3,635.25. Among sectors, all indices ended in red barring consumer durables stocks. Metal, IT, FMCG, PSU, oil & gas and bank stocks suffered most of the selling pressure. Leading the losers on the BSE index was Tata Steel, lower by 3.67% to Rs265.35, along with Sterlite Industries by 3.46% Rs475.25, ONGC Ltd by 3.44% to Rs852.50, Jaiprakash Associates by 2.90% to Rs137.20, Maruti Suzuki by 2.67% to Rs837.75, State Bank of India by 2.57% to Rs1,262.15, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd by 2.40% to Rs510.20 and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd by 2.36% to Rs622.45. Realty giant DLF’s stocks dropped by 1.59% after news came in that company promoters sold 9.9% stake to raise funds and save DLF Assets. Among gainers, on top was ACC Ltd by 3.37% to Rs614.85, Housing Development and Finance Corp by 3.03% to Rs1,897.10, Grasim Industries by 1.83% to Rs1,803.20, Ranbaxy Lab by 1.05% to Rs177.50, Hindalco by 0.92% to Rs71.10 and Tata Motors by 0.52% to Rs268.30. Asian markets ended mostly up with rise in oil companies on stronger crude prices. Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.5% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.55% lower as banks reversed trade. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 11:55 am Suzlon Energy cancels bond repurchase worth $166 mnNew Delhi: Wind power equipment maker Suzlon Energy on Wednesday said it has dropped plans to repurchase bonds worth $166 million issued by the company in June and October 2007. The company announced on 11 May that it would repurchase the bonds issued in June ($88 million) and October ($78 million) 2007. “Suzlon Energy today announced the cancellation of the repurchase,” the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Now the aggregate principal amount of June and October 2007 bonds following cancellation stands at $211 million and $121 million respectively, it said. The company also said that the promoters of the company sold three crore equity shares. The company announced repurchasing June 2007 bonds with an aggregate principal amount of $29 million for a cash consideration of $16 million. And, it also announced repurchasing October 2007 bonds with an aggregate principal amount of $44 million for a cash consideration of $23 million. Shares of Suzlon Energy were trading at Rs77.90, down 3.65% on the BSE. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 11:54 am LS polls conclude, counting on 16 MayNew Delhi: Long and winding elections to Lok Sabha finally ended Wednesday, but roughly half of the 71.4 crore registered electors participated in this democratic exercise that is widely expected to deliver a hung house. Counting will be held on 16 May. The Congress-led UPA is looking for a new term in office while the NDA steered by the BJP is trying to end its term in the opposition, although it isn’t clear if one of them would on their own be able to muster the 272 seats needed to stake claim for power. Politicians were fierce verbally during campaigning, but the elections itself were bloody with naxalites attacking polling and security personnel in the first two rounds leaving over 20 dead. The fifth and final phase Wednesday saw elections to 86 constituencies across nine states and two union territories, including all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu. One person was killed and several hurt in clashes in Tamil Nadu, while another was killed in a clash between Trinamool Congress and CPI-M activists outside Kolkata before polling began. Prominent candidates in Wednesday’s round included home minister P Chidambaram, DMK’s T R Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran and M K Azhagiri, Congress’ Md Azharuddin, BJP’s Maneka and Varun Gandhi and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, MDMK’s Vaiko and SP’s Jayaprada. Also Read | Elections 2009 (Full Coverage) Congress’ Mani Shankar Aiyar, Sajjad Gani Lone of People’s Conference, BJP’s Vinod Khanna and Navjot Singh Sidhu were also among the big names in this round that saw a total of 1,432 candidates jumping into the fray. Besides all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, elections were held to four seats in Himachal Pradesh, two in Jammu and Kashmir, nine in Punjab, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in West Bengal, five in Uttarakhand and the lone one seat each in both Chandigarh and Puducherry. Uttar Pradesh, which returns the highest number of MPs (80), and Jammu and Kashmir were the only two states to go to polls in all the five phases. The Lok Sabha has 545 members, but elections are held to 543 seats as two members are nominated from the Anglo-Indian community. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 11:49 am Sony to phase out CRT TVs, focus more on LCDsNew Delhi: Shifting its focus to LCDs, Japanese electronic major Sony plans to phase out cathode ray tube (CRT TVs) and would invest Rs60 crore as promotional expense for its new range ‘Bravia’ in 2009-10 which was launched Wednesday. The company has already stopped production of CRT TVs and is in the process of exhausting the stock with dealers. “On last Diwali, we took the decision to stop production of CRT TVs and now, as Sony is focusing more on LCD screens, it will soon completely exit the CRT segment,” Sony India managing director Masaru Tamagawa said. When asked about investments, Tamagawa said the company will invest Rs60 crore in the current fiscal as marketing expense for ‘Bravia’ range. The new range of LCDs in India is priced in the range of Rs16,000 to Rs2.99 lakhs. The company is targeting a sales volume of 4.5 lakh units in the current fiscal, an increase of more than 60% as compared to 2.80 lakh units in the last fiscal. “LCD accounted for 21% of our television sales in 2008-09 fiscal, and it is expected that in the current fiscal it would account for 57% of our total sales in India. Soon it would completely replace CRT segment,” he said. The company, however, declined to provide any details about the revenue projections and its earning in the last fiscal. It merely said Bravia range accounts for 30% of its total earning in India. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 11:46 am Sensex falls on political uncertaintyMetals and IT stocks pulled down the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex by 138 points, amid rising uncertainty on the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2009 | 11:21 am H-1B visa rules tightened: US consulateHyderabad: The US Consulate on Wednesday denied any curtailment of H-1B visas to Indians but admitted the level of scrutiny has been scaled up due to Obama administration’s ploicy to absorb native Americans increasingly. The Hyderabad-based US consulate general Cornelis M. Keur said due to economic slowdown the world over, the US government has taken a decision to tie up its unemployment problem which is 9%. But, there was no significant change in visa policy. “We continue to issue H-1B visas with little more scrutiny,” Keur said. He said the US government has framed a policy for the companies to give preference to native Americans in employment. The Obama administration has taken up a practical approach in establishing relations with the countries while there were efforts in strengthening relations with India because of the “brain borrowing”, he said. Keur said there are three million Indians in the US who are contributing to its prosperity specially mentioning about the Andhraites who marked their presence in various fields in the US including IT. Keur said the Hyderabad Consulate, the fourth in the country was established due to the growing trade and development in the state in the IT, biotechnology and pharma sectors. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 11:18 am See a debt free company after rights issue: TV18Television Eighteen (TV18) board has approved rights issue of Rs 510 crore. Raghav Bahl, MD of Network 18, said, We want to be a zerodebt company after the rights issue, post which we will look at growth options. Our focus is on deleveraging the TV18 balance sheet. Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2009 | 11:05 am Ahead of exit polls, Sensex loses 138 pointsIndian markets turned edgy Wednesday ahead of the exit polls for the parliamentary elections, with a key index losing 138 points from its last closing figure at end of trade.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 13 May 2009 | 11:00 am See operating margins of 2021% going forward: Usha MartinRajiv Jhawar of Usha Martin said coal mines will be fully commissioned in this financial year. He expects 500000550000 tonne of steel production in FY10.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2009 | 11:00 am Chrysler in bankruptcy but economic optimism growsChicago/Tokyo: Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday, the first such move by a major US automaker, but stock markets were upbeat on fresh hints the US and global downturns may be moderating. A widening of the swine flu outbreak mostly failed to subdue investors, who saw signs of an economic rebirth in a drop in US jobless claims, upbeat reports from the American heartland and better-than-expected corporate profits. Chrysler, which makes iconic brands such as Jeep and Dodge, filed for bankruptcy in New York and announced an industry-changing deal with Italy’s Fiat after weeks of talks to restructure its debt broke down. “It’s a partnership that will give Chrysler a chance not only to survive but to thrive in a global auto industry,” US President Barack Obama said. Both Chrysler and General Motors, its larger and also struggling rival, “are going to come back,” Obama said. Some analysts warned the ripple effect of bankruptcy at Chrysler could threaten the nascent US recovery. “It will create a great deal of uncertainty for the industry and suppliers,” said Bill Kohlder, co-chair of Butzel Long’s Global Automotive Practice. The auto news took some of the shine off US stock markets, which briefly turned negative at midday. But major indices were still on track to finish out the month with big gains. Positive data The number of US workers filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly fell in the latest week by 14,000 to a still-high 631,000. The data, taken with a slightly more robust employment reading from Germany and an improvement in Japan’s industrial output for the first time in six months, helped to brighten global stock market sentiment. “The cumulative weight of the evidence over the last several weeks is that the economy is moving closer to a trough,” said David Resler, chief economist at Nomura securities in New York. That view, reflected in the US Federal Reserve’s statement after its policy meeting this week, was backed up by the Chicago purchasing managers report. The Chicago index jumped unexpectedly to its highest level since September and its upbeat tone was mirrored in regional surveys from Milwaukee and Kansas City. “At the least, the industrial economy is transitioning from meltdown to a more normal downturn,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist with High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York. Policy-makers have started to acknowledge a more positive tone in economic data. The Bank of Japan joined the Fed in offering a more optimistic view of the global economy, helping markets to offset worse-than-expected job losses in Europe. “The Japanese economy is moving in a desirable direction and is likely to recover gradually in the second half of fiscal 2009/10,” BoJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said. Still, the BoJ said Japan’s economy was now expected to shrink by 3.1% in the year to March 2010, sharper than its previous forecast of a 2% contraction. In Europe, where Germany forecast an annual contraction of 6% on Wednesday, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny also offered optimism. “I do indeed see green shoots for the European economy, although the general perspective is of course that we will have negative growth rates in 2009,” Nowotny said. “I do see perspectives for a positive development in 2010.” Similar comments came from Christina Romer, a top adviser to Obama, who said she saw glimmers of hope the US economy was stabilizing but that it was still “hard to know” if a recovery would start this year. Mexico’s economy hit The MSCI’s all-country stocks index was on course for a 12% rise for April — the biggest monthly gain in its 20-year history. “The downside momentum is slowing, that is what the leading indicators are telling us, be it in the US or the euro zone,” said Michael Klawitter, senior foreign exchange strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort in Frankfurt. “Despite the discussion of swine flu, the market no longer sees this as an economic risk.” That was not the case for Mexico, the country worst hit by the new flu strain with some 176 deaths. President Felipe Calderon told his people to stay home from Friday for a five-day partial shutdown of the economy. Mexico’s central bank warned the outbreak could deepen the nation’s recession, hurting an economy that has already shrunk by as much as 8% in the first quarter. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the world is on the brink of a pandemic. Twelve countries have reported cases of the H1N1 strain, with the Netherlands the latest to join the list. The International Monetary Fund’s chief economist warned that some countries could see a “quite drastic” impact from the illness. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 10:58 am Local court extends judicial remand of Raju by 14 daysThe XIV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate K Sudhakar extended the judicial remand of Raju brothers, Vadlamani Srinivas, two former auditors of Price Waterhouse and three employees of Satyam Computer till May 27.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2009 | 10:55 am EU fines Intel for a record $1.44 billionBrussels: The European Union fined Intel Corp. a record €1.06 billion ($1.44 billion) on Wednesday, saying the world’s biggest computer chip maker used illegal sales tactics to shut out smaller rival AMD. The fine exceeded a €899 million monopoly abuse penalty for Microsoft Corp. last year. Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, has about 80% of the world’s personal computer microprocessor market — and faces just one real rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The European Commission says Intel broke EU competition law by exploiting its dominant position with a deliberate strategy to keep AMD out of the market. It says the company gave rebates to computer manufacturers Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC for buying all or almost all their x86 computer processing units, or CPUs, from Intel and paid them to stop or delay the launch of computers based on AMD chips. Regulators said Intel also paid Germany’s biggest electronics retailer, Media Saturn Holding — which owns the MediaMarkt superstores — from 2002 to 2007 to only stock Intel-based computers. This meant workers at AMD’s biggest European plant in Dresden, Germany, could not buy AMD-based personal computers at their city’s main PC store. “Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years,” said EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. “Such a serious and sustained violation of the EU’s antitrust rules cannot be tolerated.” Kroes joked that Intel would now have to change its latest global ad campaign _ “sponsors of tomorrow” — to proclaiming “the sponsor of the European taxpayer.” “I can give my vision of tomorrow for Intel here and now: Abide by the law,” she added. EU regulators said they calculated Intel’s fine on the value of its European chip sales over the five years and three months that it broke the law. Europeans buy some 30% of the €22 billion ($30 billion) in computer chips sold every year. They could have gone even higher as EU antitrust rules allow them to levy a fine of up to 10% of a company’s annual global turnover for each year of bad behavior. Intel’s worldwide turnover was €27.9 billion ($38.8 billion) in 2007. Intel had no comment ahead of a news conference at 1 pm. European consumers group BEUC welcomed the fine and said Intel should be held to account to consumers through civil suits in European courts. “Intel should be liable to compensate the victims of its illegal practices,” said Monique Goyens, head of the group. “Consumers have been paying too much for their computers and they should be compensated.” The European Commission also ordered Intel “to cease the illegal practices immediately to the extent that they are still ongoing” and warned that it would check that the company was complying. The manufacturer rebates started in 2002, the EU said, with most ending in 2005 — apart from a 2007 deal for one unidentified company to only source notebook computer chips from Intel. Regulators said rebates that give discounts for large orders are illegal when a monopoly company makes them conditional on buying less of a rival’s products or not buying them at all. Manufacturers depend on Intel to supply most of the chips they need and faced higher costs if they lost most or all of a rebate by choosing AMD chips for even a small order. Hewlett-Packard buys a fifth of Intel chips with Dell taking 18%, according to market research from Hoovers. The discounts were so steep that only a rival that sold chips for less than they cost to make would have any chance of grabbing customers, the EU executive said. It said AMD offered 1 million free chips to one manufacturer — which could not accept because that would lose it a rebate on many millions of other chips. It only took 160,000 free chips in the end, regulators said. Intel’s payments to manufacturers ordered the company to delay the European launch of AMD’s first business desktop by six months. They were also paid to only sell the AMD line to small and medium companies and to only offer them directly to customers instead of to retailers. Other manufacturers were paid to postpone the launch of AMD-based notebooks by several months, from September 2003 to January 2004 and from September 2006 to the end of 2006 — missing the key Christmas market. The European Commission said Intel tried to conceal the conditions attached to these payments and details only emerged from e-mails that regulators seized in surprise raids on the companies. But the EU charges also cover a time when AMD managed to take market share from Intel by launching higher performance microprocessors for servers in 2003, previously an Intel stronghold. Intel fought back successfully by rolling out Core chips. More recently, it has grabbed more market share with Atom chips for netbooks. EU regulators are not the only ones chasing Intel — South Korea fined the company $21 million last year. And the US may be stepping up action. The Federal Trade Commission upgraded a probe into Intel last year — and as the Obama administration is set to take a more aggressive approach against monopoly abuse by reversing a strict interpretation of antitrust law that saw regulators shun such cases. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 10:53 am EU fines Intel for a record $1.44 billionBrussels: The European Union fined Intel Corp. a record €1.06 billion ($1.44 billion) on Wednesday, saying the world’s biggest computer chip maker used illegal sales tactics to shut out smaller rival AMD. The fine exceeded a €899 million monopoly abuse penalty for Microsoft Corp. last year. Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, has about 80% of the world’s personal computer microprocessor market — and faces just one real rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The European Commission says Intel broke EU competition law by exploiting its dominant position with a deliberate strategy to keep AMD out of the market. It says the company gave rebates to computer manufacturers Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC for buying all or almost all their x86 computer processing units, or CPUs, from Intel and paid them to stop or delay the launch of computers based on AMD chips. Regulators said Intel also paid Germany’s biggest electronics retailer, Media Saturn Holding — which owns the MediaMarkt superstores — from 2002 to 2007 to only stock Intel-based computers. This meant workers at AMD’s biggest European plant in Dresden, Germany, could not buy AMD-based personal computers at their city’s main PC store. “Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years,” said EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. “Such a serious and sustained violation of the EU’s antitrust rules cannot be tolerated.” Kroes joked that Intel would now have to change its latest global ad campaign _ “sponsors of tomorrow” — to proclaiming “the sponsor of the European taxpayer.” “I can give my vision of tomorrow for Intel here and now: Abide by the law,” she added. EU regulators said they calculated Intel’s fine on the value of its European chip sales over the five years and three months that it broke the law. Europeans buy some 30% of the €22 billion ($30 billion) in computer chips sold every year. They could have gone even higher as EU antitrust rules allow them to levy a fine of up to 10% of a company’s annual global turnover for each year of bad behavior. Intel’s worldwide turnover was €27.9 billion ($38.8 billion) in 2007. Intel had no comment ahead of a news conference at 1 pm. European consumers group BEUC welcomed the fine and said Intel should be held to account to consumers through civil suits in European courts. “Intel should be liable to compensate the victims of its illegal practices,” said Monique Goyens, head of the group. “Consumers have been paying too much for their computers and they should be compensated.” The European Commission also ordered Intel “to cease the illegal practices immediately to the extent that they are still ongoing” and warned that it would check that the company was complying. The manufacturer rebates started in 2002, the EU said, with most ending in 2005 — apart from a 2007 deal for one unidentified company to only source notebook computer chips from Intel. Regulators said rebates that give discounts for large orders are illegal when a monopoly company makes them conditional on buying less of a rival’s products or not buying them at all. Manufacturers depend on Intel to supply most of the chips they need and faced higher costs if they lost most or all of a rebate by choosing AMD chips for even a small order. Hewlett-Packard buys a fifth of Intel chips with Dell taking 18%, according to market research from Hoovers. The discounts were so steep that only a rival that sold chips for less than they cost to make would have any chance of grabbing customers, the EU executive said. It said AMD offered 1 million free chips to one manufacturer — which could not accept because that would lose it a rebate on many millions of other chips. It only took 160,000 free chips in the end, regulators said. Intel’s payments to manufacturers ordered the company to delay the European launch of AMD’s first business desktop by six months. They were also paid to only sell the AMD line to small and medium companies and to only offer them directly to customers instead of to retailers. Other manufacturers were paid to postpone the launch of AMD-based notebooks by several months, from September 2003 to January 2004 and from September 2006 to the end of 2006 — missing the key Christmas market. The European Commission said Intel tried to conceal the conditions attached to these payments and details only emerged from e-mails that regulators seized in surprise raids on the companies. But the EU charges also cover a time when AMD managed to take market share from Intel by launching higher performance microprocessors for servers in 2003, previously an Intel stronghold. Intel fought back successfully by rolling out Core chips. More recently, it has grabbed more market share with Atom chips for netbooks. EU regulators are not the only ones chasing Intel — South Korea fined the company $21 million last year. And the US may be stepping up action. The Federal Trade Commission upgraded a probe into Intel last year — and as the Obama administration is set to take a more aggressive approach against monopoly abuse by reversing a strict interpretation of antitrust law that saw regulators shun such cases. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 10:53 am INVESTOR RADAR - What to watch for in India's electionMUMBAI (Reuters) - The fifth and final stage of polling in India's month-long national elections finished on Wednesday and the results will be announced on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 10:52 am WHO raises swine flu tally to 33 countriesGeneva: The World Health Organization says 33 countries have reported confirmed human cases of swine flu. Finland, Cuba and Thailand are new to the list. WHO said on Wednesday the total of cases is 5,728, with 61 deaths. The United States has reported 3,009 cases, including three deaths. Mexico has 2,059, with 56 deaths. Canada has 358 and Costa Rica eight, with one death each. Spain has 98, Britain 68, Panama 29, France 13, Germany 12, Italy nine, Brazil eight, Israel and New Zealand seven, Colombia six, and Japan and El Salvador four. Guatemala, Netherlands and South Korea have three. China, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Thailand have two. Argentina, Australia, Austria, Cuba, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland have one. WHO numbers generally lag behind those announced by national health bodies. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 10:49 am Jeera futures down on reports of better global crop - Hindu
Source: Google News India - Business | 13 May 2009 | 10:48 am DLF ends down 1.5%; promoters sell stake - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 13 May 2009 | 10:45 am Intel says it will appeal against EU antitrust rulingBrussels: Intel said on Wednesday it would appeal against a European Commission decision to fine the US computer chip giant €1.06 billion ($1.45 billion) for abusing its dominant market power. “Intel takes strong exception to this decision,” Intel president and chief executive Paul Otellini said in a statement after the commission ordered the Santa Clara, California-based company to pay the record fine. “We believe the decision is wrong and ignores the reality of a highly competitive microprocessor marketplace — characterized by constant innovation, improved product performance and lower prices.” “There has been absolutely zero harm to consumers. Intel will appeal,” he added. The European Commission accused Intel of using rebates to squeeze rivals out of the market for computer processing units — the brains inside personal computers. EU antitrust regulators also accused Intel of paying computer manufacturers to halt or put off the launch of products containing microchips competiting with Intel’s x86. Intel also allegedly paid a major electronic retailer to stock computers with its chips. “Intel never sells products below cost. We have however, consistently invested in innovation, in manufacturing and in developing leadership technology,” Otellini said. “The result is that we can discount our products to compete in a highly competitive marketplace, passing along to consumers everywhere the efficiencies of being the world’s leading volume manufacturer of microprocessors,” he added. The Intel boss said that, despite the appeal, the company would work with the commission to ensure that it complies with its decision, pending a final judgment on the appeal. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 10:42 am Intel says it will appeal against EU antitrust rulingBrussels: Intel said on Wednesday it would appeal against a European Commission decision to fine the US computer chip giant €1.06 billion ($1.45 billion) for abusing its dominant market power. “Intel takes strong exception to this decision,” Intel president and chief executive Paul Otellini said in a statement after the commission ordered the Santa Clara, California-based company to pay the record fine. “We believe the decision is wrong and ignores the reality of a highly competitive microprocessor marketplace — characterized by constant innovation, improved product performance and lower prices.” “There has been absolutely zero harm to consumers. Intel will appeal,” he added. The European Commission accused Intel of using rebates to squeeze rivals out of the market for computer processing units — the brains inside personal computers. EU antitrust regulators also accused Intel of paying computer manufacturers to halt or put off the launch of products containing microchips competiting with Intel’s x86. Intel also allegedly paid a major electronic retailer to stock computers with its chips. “Intel never sells products below cost. We have however, consistently invested in innovation, in manufacturing and in developing leadership technology,” Otellini said. “The result is that we can discount our products to compete in a highly competitive marketplace, passing along to consumers everywhere the efficiencies of being the world’s leading volume manufacturer of microprocessors,” he added. The Intel boss said that, despite the appeal, the company would work with the commission to ensure that it complies with its decision, pending a final judgment on the appeal. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 10:42 am Third Front continues to be strong: KumaraswamyKochi: Refuting reports that the Third Front was on the verge of a split, JD(S) leader and former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said the front continued to be strong and united and none had deserted it. Talking to reporters at the airport here, Kumaraswamy said ‘we will sit together to discuss the issues in Third Front and take appropriate decisions unitedly’. Reports that certain parties had left the front were totally false, he said. On his meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi at Delhi on Wednesday, he said it was only to discuss the developments in Karnataka politics. Kumaraswamy, along with his wife, later left on a two-day private visit to Guruvayoor. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 10:40 am Indian Oil's Gujarat wind power project is readyPublic sector refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has completed its 21 MW wind power project near the port town of Kandla, a top official said Wednesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 13 May 2009 | 10:31 am Suzlon Founders Sell 2% Stake - Wall Street Journal
Source: Google News India - Business | 13 May 2009 | 10:21 am Sensex ends 153 points downIndian markets ended in the red Wednesday on a volatile note ahead of the exit polls in parliamentary elections, with a key index shutting shop 153 points below its last closing figure.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 13 May 2009 | 10:02 am TV18 board approves rights issue of Rs 510 crThe Board of Television Eighteen India Ltd (TV18) today approved a Rights Issue of Rs 510 cr. The cash raised in this issue will primarily be used to repay debt.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2009 | 9:55 am Subhiksha assets worth Rs 800 cr: LawyerSubhiksha\'s lawyer said the company has assets worth Rs 800 crore. He said the crisis ridden retail major has submitted accounts up to November 2008, but declined to give any further details.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2009 | 9:50 am India adds 8.9 mln GSM mobile users in AprilReuters - Indian GSM mobile operators added 8.93 million subscribers to their networks in April, taking total GSM subscribers to 297.7 million, according to data released by the Cellular Operators' Association of India.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 9:50 am Oil PSUs may suffer Rs 15,000 cr revenue loss in FY'10Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum may suffer over Rs 15,000 crore revenue loss on fuel sales this fiscal.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 9:50 am European shares advance on drugmakers gainLondon: European equities advanced in choppy morning trade on Wednesday, with investors taking refuge in defensive drugmakers and energy companies, but financial stocks retreated after recent heavy gains. At 2:41pm, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.5% at 856.49 points after falling as low as 849.26. The benchmark, which slumped 45% in 2008, is up more than 32% from its March 9 lifetime low. Energy stocks tracked crude oil prices, which rose 1.4% to trade near $60 a barrel. Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group , Tullow Oil, Repsol, Total and StatoilHydro added 0.6-2.7%. Drugmakers were also in demand. AstraZeneca rose 2.7%, Sanofi-Aventis gained 3.5% and Novartis was up 3.7%. “The nadir that was March 2009 has been long forgotten, as talk of ‘green shoots´ replacing ‘credit crunch´ as the phrase of the moment,” said Chris Hossain, senior sales manager at ODL Securities. “Whether realistic or not, more and more people are buying in to the recovery play, looking for undervalued stocks.” Financial stocks fell, however, after recent gains as investors took profits. The DJ Stoxx banks index, which hit a six-month high last week, has doubled from a trough in early March. HSBC was down 3.7%, Barclays fell 4%, Lloyds slipped 2.9% and UBS declined 4%. Dutch banking and insurance group ING fell 5.6 percent after it reported a much-bigger-than-expected first-quarter net loss, hurt by a sharply weaker insurance business. “There has been some consolidation after a sharp move in the past weeks as people are waiting to see whether the upward move is sustainable,” said Koen De Leus, economist at KBC Securities. “There are some indicators that justify an improvement in optimism. Recent data has come better than expected and has rebuilt market confidence, but it still has to be confirmed by more consumer spending,” he added. MINERS DOWN Miners also retreated. BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Antofagasta, Xstrata and Eurasian Natural Resources were down 1.4 to 3.2 percent. Rio Tinto fell 5 percent on growing speculation the global miner is set to launch a rights issue instead of selling $19.5 billion in stock and assets to China’s Chinalco aluminium group. Belgian-French financial services group Dexia jumped 7 percent as it declared it was “on the mend” after first-quarter profit beat expectations due to keen cost control. J Sainsbury Plc, Britain’s third-biggest grocer, posted an 11 percent rise in annual profit and said it was pressing ahead with expansion into convenience stores and non-food ranges despite the recession. But its shares were down 0.3 percent. Telefonica rose 1.5 percent as it beat market expectations with a 9.8 percent rise in first-quarter net profit, as strong Latin American business helped offset Spanish weakness and allowed it to stick to full-year forecasts. (Editing by Simon Jessop) REUTERS Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 9:27 am Sensex moves back into positive territoryMarkets crawled back into the green about an hour before closing bell Wednesday with a key index moving up 310 points from the day's low to rule about 66 points above its previous close.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2009 | 9:20 am DLF founders raise $783 mln in share saleNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The founders of fund-starved DLF Ltd on Wednesday raised $783 million through a share sale in India's top listed property firm. Two banking sources said the shares were sold to about 30 institutional investors.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 9:16 am Punjab registers 30-35% voting till 1 pmChandigarh: An estimated 30 to 35% voters exercised their franchise till 1 pm in Punjab amid stray incidents of violence. “Voters are turning up at polling booths braving hot and torrid conditions to exercise their franchise. Polling till 1 pm was between 30 to 35%. It was brisk in rural areas as compared to urban,” the election officials said. Between 30 to 40% of around six lakh voters exercised their franchise for the lone Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat where polling has been peaceful, the officials said. They said that polling was by and large peaceful barring stray incidents of violence. At Duneke village on the outskirts of Moga city, 200 km from here, two scribes from different private channels were allegedly assaulted by supporters of ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for clicking pictures of Akali workers purportedly carrying fire arms in vehicles. While the scribes alleged that workers owing allegiance to former SAD minister Tota Singh’s son Makhan Singh threw a chemical on one of them and also fired a shot in air, Moga SSP Ashok Kumar Bath denied the accusations, but police registered a case against unknown persons. Polling remained suspended for few minutes at about 11 polling booths in Moga district due to technical faults in the electronic voting machines (EVMs). Voting was disrupted for about 15 minutes after a polling officer Raj Kumar died due to heart attack at a booth in Bhent Pattan village in Gurdaspur district. The polling station is, however, part of Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency. A report from Phagwara said that an electronic voting machine developed a snag at polling booth no 49 at village Sangatpur, which stopped polling for about fifteen minutes. As many as 51 votes had been cast when the EVM developed snag, official sources said adding the EVM was replaced and the polling resumed. The 51 votes polled in the now out-of-order EVM would be counted on 16 May alongwith other votes that are being polled in the new EVM, the sources said. Meanwhile, in another incident a Congress worker was allegedly attacked by SAD activists at Akalsar road in Moga district when he was going in his car, police said adding that it had registered a case against five persons, but no arrests were made. Polling is being held in nine seats of Punjab — Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar (reserve), Fatehgarh Sahib (reserve), Hoshiarpur (reserve), Anandpur Sahib, Ludhiana and Faridkot (reserve). An estimated 1.16 crore voters will seals the fate of 139 candidates in Punjab, including ten women and 65 independents. Prominent among those whose fate will be sealed include Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu of BJP from Amritsar, actor-turned-politician Vinod Khanna of BJP from his traditional bastion Gurdaspur, Lok Sabha deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal of SAD from Fatehgarh Sahib seat, sugar baron Rana Gurjit Singh of Congress from Khadoor Sahib and singer-turned-politician Hans Raj Hans of SAD from Jalandhar. Sidhu on Wednesday commenced his day by paying obeisance at the Golden Temple. Since morning various national and regional TV channels have been camping in Saroop Rani Government College for Girls where Sidhu cast his vote in the afternoon. Atwal, who is contesting as SAD nominee from Fatehgarh Lok Sabha constituency cast his vote in Ludhiana where he is registered as a voter. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 9:12 am DLF founders raise $783 mn in share saleNew Delhi: The founders of fund-starved DLF Ltd on Wednesday raised $783 million through a share sale in India’s top listed property firm. Two banking sources said the shares were sold to about 30 institutional investors. DLF, which has been hit by high debt and declining profits amid a property market downturn, had been seeking funds after a planned Singapore listing of its property trust was shelved last year following a global equities slide. The company said its founders would use the proceeds from the sale of 168 million shares to inject capital into property trust DLF Assets Ltd (DAL) and also to buy private equity D E Shaw’s stake in DAL. The DLF holding of the founders, K P Singh and family, will drop to 78.6% from 88.5% following the deal, which was managed by Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan. Analysts said the deal was a positive for the company and the sector as it showed that fund raising was possible, boosting DLF shares as much as 7.9% in a weak Mumbai market. “DLF had been struggling to get private equity investment into DAL,” said R K Gupta, managing director at Taurus Asset management in New Delhi. “If they are getting close to $1 billion from this, it will help them clear DAL’s dues to DLF and eventually they can merge DAL with DLF,” he said. DLF joins other firms such as rival Unitech, wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy and software maker Tata Consultancy, whose founders recently raised funds through share sales. Unitech raised $325 million through share sales, while the founders ofSuzlon got $47 million by selling 2% equity. Exchange data showed 168.1 million shares changed hands at Rs237 each in a block deal for a total Rs39.8 billion ($808 million), but DLF later said in a statement its founders got 38.6 billion rupees from the transaction. The deal was done at less than half the price DLF commanded when it raised $2.25 billion in its IPO in July 2007 offering 175 million shares at Rs525 each. DLF’s market value is now about $8 billion, down from a January 2008 peak of $23 billion. At 1:37pm, shares in DLF were up 3.3% at Rs244.15 in a Mumbai market down 0.5%. Propert trust Privately-held DLF Assets Ltd buys commercial real estate from DLF at market price and then leases it out. Media reports have said Symphony Capital was the other PE investor in DAL, along with D E Shaw and the company’s founders. DLF has not disclosed details of the holdings. DLF said in April its board was “reviewing strategic relationship” with DAL and an independent committee of directors was evaluating the “most value accretive” transaction for DLF shareholders, which analysts and media reports have said could lead to DLF taking over DAL. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 9:03 am 'Regulation insulated India from economic crisis'The current global financial crisis, the worst in six decades, is expected to bottom out from the end of this year even as India has managed to emerge largely unscathed, former central bank governor Y.V. Reddy has said.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 13 May 2009 | 9:02 am Sensex moves back into positive territoryIndian markets crawled back into the green about an hour before closing bell Wednesday with a key index moving up 310 points from the day's low to rule about 66 points above its previous close.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 13 May 2009 | 9:01 am Govt may levy cess on natural gas: Petroleum SecretaryThe government may levy a cess on domestically produced natural gas to fund construction of gas pipeline network, Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said on Wednesday.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2009 | 9:00 am TCS bags 5-year contract from Volkswagen UKTata Consultancy Services said it has bagged a five-year contract from Volkswagen Group UK Ltd to deliver IT transformation and support services to the vehicle manufacturer.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2009 | 8:37 am Cognizant enters into global services partnerhip with SAP New Delhi: IT and business process outsourcing firm Cognizant has said that it has entered into a global services partnership with business software provider SAP AG to expand its global reach. With this agreement, Cognizant joins a select group of companies that are a part of the SAP global services partnership programme. As a global services partner, Cognizant would continue to make investments in developing SAP platforms, enhancing its SAP consulting practice, creating SAP sales resources and supporting marketing activities across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, Cognizant said in a statement. Cognizant already has a relationship with SAP. The SAP Touchstone Centre, set up in 2008 at Cognizant’s facility in Bangalore is already working in coordination with SAP Co-Innovation Labs worldwide. “The expanded partnership underscores our commitment to innovative SAP solutions in line with our vision of enabling businesses to meet the challenges of the changing global economy,” Cognizant president and CEO Francisco D’Souza said. SAP AG executive vice president (Global Ecosystem and Partner Group) Zia Yusuf said: “This expanded partnership is a testament to our collaborative relationship and an important part of our strategy to expand our ecosystem.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 8:20 am BigAdda among Dataquest's top 25 Indian Internet start-upsBigAdda, the social networking website belonging to the Anil Ambani group, Fropper, a dating site and Indyarocks, an entertainment-based social network, are among the top 25 Indian Internet start-ups ranked for the first time by leading technology magazine Dataquest.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 13 May 2009 | 8:00 am DLF promoters sell 10 percent stake for Rs.38.6 bnStrapped for cash, Delhi-based realty major DLF Wednesday said its promoters have sold a 10 percent stake in the firm for Rs.3,860 crore (Rs.38.6 billion) to meet their contractual obligations and infuse money into another subsidiary.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 13 May 2009 | 8:00 am Orange to sell Nokia music package in BritainHelsinki: Top mobile phone maker Nokia has said that France Telecom’s Orange would sell its top model 5800 and exclusive music-package deal in Britain. Nokia unveiled its music-bundle ‘Comes with Music’ last October in Britain — seen as the acid test market for new mobile services in Europe — but so far it has lacked operator support and has gained little traction. “It’s undoubtedly a positive development for Nokia, but they still need to address the bigger problem of communication — the market simply doesn’t understand it,” said CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber. ‘Comes With Music’ offers unlimited music from major music labels and a number of independents and the music can be kept after the contract has expired. The individual tracks can be downloaded to a phone and a single computer and are free, though the cost of the music is reflected in the price of the phone or subscription itself. Nokia introduced the 5800, its first touch screen phone, late last year, and it sold 2.6 million of them in the first quarter, making it the top revenue and gross margin contributor in the lineup. Apple sold 3.9 million iPhones in the quarter. Orange offers a free Nokia 5800 if clients sign up for packages, with monthly prices starting from £24.47 ($37.13). Its closest rival iPhone, without free music access, is free at rival O2 on contracts starting from £34.26. The music industry hopes Nokia’s ‘Comes with Music’ phones and music service, and similar packages from other hardware vendors, will help make up for falling CD sales and cut illegal downloads. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 7:59 am Chrysler bankruptcy may take up to 2 years - reportReuters - Chrysler LLC's bankruptcy may take as long as two years, instead of the two months that U.S. President Barack Obama suggested as a target, Bloomberg said, citing an administration official.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 7:38 am Gold remains higher on better global cuesNew Delhi: Gold prices gained 1.09% on the Multi Commodity Exchange on Wednesday on constant buying by speculators in tandem with better global trend. On the MCX, at 11:45am gold for the most active October month contract rose by 1.09% to Rs14,750 per ten gram in trading of single lot. The metal for delivery in August gained 0.16% to Rs14,718 per ten gram with trading volume of 206 lots. The continued rise in gold mostly attributed on sustained buying by jewellers to meet the current marriage season demand. The rising trend in overseas market where gold prices touching a $925 an ounce in New York last night also supported the uptrend. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 7:37 am Pawar hails Congress’ appeal to secular parties New Delhi: NCP chief Sharad Pawar described Congress’ appeal to all secular parties to join its endeavour for the formation of the next government, a good sign. “It is good that the Congress has realised that the Left parties are part of the secular grouping. The Congress has started having a realistic approach. It is a good sign. We are happy,” Pawar said. He stated this when asked about senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi’s statement that the UPA was intact and it has not left any of its allies and all secular parties are welcome in its endeavour to form the next government. NCP is part of the UPA and Pawar has been pleading for long that the Congress should reach out the Left parties which had supported its government for over four years. “After the elections, the UPA leaders will be meeting to assess the situation and decide the future course of action,” he said. Pawar dismissed as ‘table news’, reports that he had a telephonic talk with Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray recently. “This is all wrong. I am told he has gone abroad and I do not even know where he has gone,” he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 7:26 am Sensex on the reverse gear, loses 138 pointsMetal, IT and FMCG counters bore the brunt of selling as the benchmark Sensex ended 138 points lower despite good institutional buying.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 May 2009 | 7:21 am Gold remains higher on better global cuesGold prices gained 1.09% on the Multi Commodity Exchange today on constant buying by speculators in tandem with better global trend.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2009 | 7:19 am Suzlon promoters sell 2 percent stakeWind energy major Suzlon Energy Wednesday said its promoters had sold about 30 million shares of the firm, representing two percent of the paid-up captial.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 13 May 2009 | 7:00 am Markets move southwards, Sensex down 125 pointsIndian equities were trading volatile in a tight range a little before Wednesday noon with most analysts keeping their fingers crossed over which way the markets would swing given the uncertainty surrounding the election results. Around this time, a key index was down 124.82 points from its previous close.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 13 May 2009 | 7:00 am IMI launches music licencing initiativeThe Indian Music Industry today launched an initiative, Music Mobile Exchange (MMX), to issue licences to mobile store owners offering music downloads in a bid to curb music piracy.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2009 | 6:33 am DLF promoters to offload 9.01% stakeIndia's largest real estate firm DLF Ltd on Wednesday said its promoters will offload their 9.01% stake in the open market.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2009 | 6:27 am Rupee up 5 paise against dollar in early tradeThe Indian rupee on Wednesday appreciated by 5 paise against the US currency on expectations of fresh capital inflows.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2009 | 5:31 am Honda to lift Japan output to meet extra demandTokyo: “Honda Motor Co. is taking steps to raise output in Japan in preparation for a likely uptick in demand if a bill to offer consumers cash to replace old cars becomes law,” its chief financial officer said today. Japan’s parliament is deliberating legislation to encourage consumers to ditch cars that are more than 13 years old in favour of fuel-efficient models with a ¥250,000 ($2,500) reward, and is widely expected to pass the bill in the next month or so. Like most of its rivals, Honda did not include the extra demand into its domestic sales forecast of 555,000 units in the year to March 2010, but chief financial officer Yoichi Hojo said that preparations were already underway to lift production. “We’re in the process of finding out what we need to do in terms of people and components to make a production expansion possible,” Hojo said. The auto industry lobby has forecast a sales boost of about 690,000 vehicles this year from the incentive, of which Honda reckons its share to be around 70,000 to 100,000 units. “Honda is also looking to slightly boost production of the new Insight hybrid due to robust orders in Japan so far,” Hojo said adding: “The car, which became the first hybrid model to top the best-sellers’ list in Japan last month, was selling roughly in line with plans in the United States.“ Credit crunch easing While overall demand in the US was showing no signs of recovery yet, Hojo said that there had been an improvement in credit availability for consumers and used-car prices were bottoming out. Underscoring the further easing of the credit crunch, Hojo said that Honda’s US finance unit was planning to launch $1.5 billion in asset-backed securities in the April-June quarter. “American Honda Finance is also negotiating a loan of ¥100 billion with the state-backed Japan Bank for International Cooperation,” he said. “I would say fund-raising concerns have diminished substantially,” Hojo said. He added that Chrysler’s bankruptcy filing last month had had little impact on that situation. Honda last month forecast a small profit for this financial year as it cuts costs to counter plunging car sales and a strong yen. Hojo said that much of the restructuring costs, including those arising from early retirement packages in North America and Europe, would be booked in the first half to 20 September, adding that Honda was not considering any further steps to shrink its operations. “The current pace of sales in the United States is not going to continue for five, 10 years,” he said. Honda slapped on an average $1,849 in incentives per vehicle in the US last month to work down inventory, up $666 from the year before, helping it limit its April sales decline to 25% compared with the market’s 34%. Hojo said April was likely the peak for Honda’s incentives spending, adding that for the full year, the automaker planned to lower its per-unit outlay by around $150 from $1,200 last year. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 4:37 am Google unveils new search featuresWashington: Google rolled out new Web search features on Tuesday and an update to its “Sky Map” that can allow users of its mobile phones to figure out which constellations they are looking at in the night sky. Google’s new “Search Options” lets users “slice and dice” search results, narrowing them down in time to results from the past 24 hours, the past week or the past year, for example. “Search Options” also allows users to confine their search results to videos, product reviews and forum posts on a particular topic. Search results can also be viewed on a timeline displaying their popularity over time. “We want to help our users find more useful information, and do more useful things with it,” Marissa Mayer, a Google vice president said in a blog posting about the new features unveiled at Google’s California headquarters. She described “Search Options” as “a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your results and generate different views to find what you need faster and easier.” Google also previewed a new tool called “Google Squared” which is to become available later this month. “Unlike a normal search engine, Google Squared doesn’t find webpages about your topic — instead, it automatically fetches and organizes facts from across the Internet,” Google said. Google also showed off an update to “Sky Map,” an application for the T-Mobile G1 phone which uses Google’s Android software. The application uses global positioning system and compass data and the date and time to figure out what celestial objects the device is facing at a given moment. “If it is pointed towards Venus, for example, users will see a labeled map of the sky with Venus and the objects surrounding it on their screens,” Google said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 4:27 am GM plans China-made vehicles for US market Shanghai: General Motors Corp plans to export vehicles made at its joint ventures in China to the United States in the coming years, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday. GM aims to ship about 50,000 China-made vehicles to the United States annually in 2014, the report said, without identifying the source of the information. The move will make GM’s two China vehicle manufacturing ventures the first among Chinese producers to export passenger cars to the United States, the newspaper added. GM has a car venture in Shanghai with SAIC Motor Corp, and it also produces mini vans and pick-up trucks in south China through SAIC-GM-Wuling. A GM China spokeswoman declined comment. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 3:21 am Freddie Mac seeks $6.1 bn in US aid after lossWashington: Mortgage giant Freddie Mac is looking for $6.1 billion in additional government aid as the cost to taxpayers from the housing market bust keeps growing. The McLean, Virginia-based company, seized by federal regulators in September, on Tuesday posted a loss of $9.9 billion, or $3.14 per share, for the quarter ending 31 March. That compared with a loss of $149 million, or 66 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The results were driven by $8.8 billion in credit losses due to soaring delinquency rates and falling home prices, and $7.1 billion in writedowns of the value of its mortgage-backed securities. More than $63 billion of Freddie Mac’s loans were either 90 days overdue or in foreclosure at the end of March, nearly triple year-ago levels. The request for federal aid is Freddie Mac’s third since the takeover, for a total of about $51 billion. Sibling company Fannie Mae last week requested $19 billion in additional government aid, bringing the total for both companies up to $85 billion out of a potential $400 billion government lifeline. “This was another difficult quarter for Freddie Mac, as declining home prices and the weak economy continued to take a toll on our results,” Freddie Mac’s interim chief executive, John Koskinen, said in a statement. But he said there were “preliminary signs of slowing in home price declines as low mortgage rates and high affordability take hold.” The White House budget office estimates the tab for rescuing the two companies will reach $173 billion. But even that number could wind up being optimistic, especially as Fannie and Freddie are called upon to put in place the government’s plans to refinance or modify up to 9 million mortgages. Freddie Mac said it helped around 40,000 borrowers stay in their homes in the first quarter, through refinancing and loan modification programs. “We will bear the full cost of these modifications for loans we own or guarantee and will not receive a reimbursement” from the government, Freddie Mac said in a regulatory filing. “It is difficult for us to predict the full extent of our activities under these initiatives and assess their impact on us.” Freddie Mac’s quarterly loss was far smaller than that of Fannie Mae, which last week posted a loss of more than $23 billion in the same quarter. Fannie Mae was “much more conservative in its assessment of future credit losses,” wrote debt analyst Jim Vogel of FTN Financial in Memphis, Tennessee. Washington-based Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play a vital role in the mortgage market by purchasing loans from banks and selling them to investors. Together, the companies own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about $5.5 trillion. That’s about half of all US home mortgages. Freddie Mac has been coping with the loss of several key executives. The company’s acting chief financial officer, David Kellermann, died last month in an apparent suicide. David Moffett, the company’s first government-appointed CEO, resigned in March, but is returning as a consultant after Kellermann’s death. The two companies lowered their standards for borrowers during the real estate boom and are reeling from the bust. High-risk loans in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida have come back to haunt the companies. Worse still, the recession is causing reliable homeowners with good credit to default. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 3:13 am NASA downplays shuttle damage, eyes Hubble rendezvousHouston: NASA was assessing damage found Tuesday on the underside of the shuttle Atlantis, but downplayed any threat to the astronauts or their mission as the craft raced toward a risky high-orbit rendezvous with the Hubble telescope. During a marathon 10 hour survey of fragile heat shielding, the seven member Atlantis crew found a string of gouges stretching 53 centimeters across four heatshield tiles on the underside of the forward portion of the shuttle’s right wing sustained during the craft’s launch into orbit. The US space agency characterized the damage, which will undergo at least two days of evaluation by imagery experts in Mission Control, as minor. “The same amount of damage in another area might be more critical,” LeRoy Cain, who chairs the NASA mission management team said. “The damage itself appears to be relatively shallow, and it’s not a very large area,” he said. Mission Control ruled out the need for a second and more focused inspection of the damage site on Friday, freeing up more time for Hubble’s overhaul. “The preliminary assessment is that it does not look too serious,” shuttle communicator Dan Burbank told Atlantis commander Scott Altman from Mission Control. Atlantis lifted off with seven astronauts on Monday, initiating an 11 day mission to give the 19-year-old Hubble Space Telescope an optical makeover, equipping the observatory to carry on operations for at least another five years. The shuttle crew was on course to rendezvous with the 560 kilometer high galactic observatory on Wednesday shortly after noon. In what will be a nail-biting operation, Altman will steer his ship close to Hubble, as astronaut Megan McArthur reaches out with the shuttle’s robot arm to grab the 13.2-meter long telescope. With the observatory in the arm’s grasp, McArthur will mount the telescope upright atop a circular platform in the shuttle’s cargo bay, establishing the work site for the overhaul. The first of five grueling hours-long spacewalks by the astronauts to upgrade the observatory will then get under way on Thursday. During the mission, the spacewalkers aim to install a pair of new science instruments and make unprecedented repairs to the electronic circuitry within an older camera and spectrometer. “NASA experts believe the damage to the shuttle may have occurred about 103 seconds into the space craft’s climb to orbit, the time at which a sensor in the right wing recorded an impact,” Burbank said. Neither the source nor the size and mass of the debris had been identified, but NASA said a camera positioned on the underside of Atlantis and aimed at the shuttle’s external fuel tank may have recorded the source of the impact debris. However, a power cable problem prevented the astronauts from retrieving and transmitting the electronic imagery to Mission Control following the launch, and they were to make another attempt to retrieve the photos later Tuesday. NASA has characterized the mission as riskier than the dozen shuttle visits to the International Space Station (ISS) since the 2003 Columbia tragedy that claimed the lives of seven astronauts. That disaster was blamed on an undetected breach of the protective heat shields caused by a launch day collision with a breakaway chunk of foam fuel tank insulation. In the aftermath of the explosion, NASA made heat shield inspections a part of every mission and made plans to mount a rescue mission if the astronauts on future missions found damage that could not be repaired. Circling Earth much higher than the space station, Hubble is exposed to an accumulation of space debris from a satellite collision earlier this year as well as the fragments left from previous spacecraft breakups. While the space station offers weeks of refuge for the crew of a stricken shuttle, Hubble is not equipped to house astronauts. To address that concern, NASA has readied another shuttle, the Endeavour, for an emergency rescue mission if need be. “We have not seen anything in our early assessments that makes us think that in any way will be necessary,” said Cain. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 13 May 2009 | 3:00 am PR firms find it tricky to sell political partiesNew Delhi, May 12 The Congress and the BJP are both very unhappy with their PR agencies. Party apparatchiks have been heard grumbling that in spite of the crores that have been spent on PR and advertising, the image of RahulSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 May 2009 | 12:00 am Reliance gas sales: Exchange rate changes may not help boost profitNew Delhi, May 12 Despite the favourable movement in the exchange rate, the likely windfall revenue gain for Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) may not amount much in terms of the bottom line.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 13 May 2009 | 12:00 am As Election 2009 comes to a close, political manoeuvrings beginNew Delhi: Wednesday’s elections in 86 constituencies spread across seven States and two Union Territories will mark the end of the nearly month-long polling process to the 543 Lok Sabha seats of the country. The resultsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 May 2009 | 12:00 am Industrial output contracts 2.3% in March; poor show by manufacturingNew Delhi, May 12 Industrial output in March 2009, compared with the same month the previous year, contracted by 2.3 per cent.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 13 May 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideNote: In a buy recommendation, the resistances would be the targets and the nearest support would be the stop loss; In a sell recommendation, the supports would be the targets and the nearest resistance would be theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 May 2009 | 12:00 am Tribunal upholds TRAI order to scrap access deficit chargeNew Delhi, May 12 The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has rejected petitions by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd challenging abolition of the access deficit charge (ADC) by the telecom regulator.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 13 May 2009 | 12:00 am Suzlon Energy (Rs 80.85): BuyWe recommend a buy on Suzlon Energy from a short-term trading perspective. It is apparent from the charts of Suzlon Energy that after recording a lifetime low of Rs 33 on March 12, the stock changed its trend. Since this low, the stock has beenSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 May 2009 | 12:00 am Microsoft hints at more lay-offs if downturn worsensMumbai, May 12 Microsoft Corporation will be compelled to lay off more employees if the economic downturn worsens further, a top company officialSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 May 2009 | 12:00 am FIIs inflow crosses $1 b in seven trading sessionsMumbai, May 12 Inflows from FIIs appear to have accelerated in May, with the net equity investment crossing $1 billion in seven tradingSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 May 2009 | 12:00 am Centre raises foodgrain, oilseeds output estimateThe Agriculture Ministry has revised upwards its estimates of the country’s foodgrains and oilseeds output forSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 May 2009 | 12:00 am DLF promoters to sell 9.9% stakeThe promoters of DLF Ltd, will sell 9.9% stake in DLF to raise about Rs 3,750 crore, or $760 million.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2009 | 10:08 pm FII cash lifts equities, but signal is amberContinuing global inflows and hopes of emergence of a stable government pushed stocks to a seven-month high on Tuesday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2009 | 10:06 pm Distance learning cos forced into online spaceWith technology companies increasingly encroaching upon the distance learning space, traditional distance learning companies are being forced to shift online.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2009 | 10:05 pm March IIP shrinks 2.3%, the worst show in 15 yearsIndustrial output during March 2009, as gauged by the index of industrial production, declined by 2.3% on a year-on-year basis.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2009 | 10:03 pm Tata Steel to put £200 m into Corus equityTata Steel said it will infuse £200 million into Corus, its UK subsidiary, for the prepayment of Europe's second-largest steelmaker's debt.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2009 | 10:00 pm Big Pharma outsourcing scaling upTo bring down costs by about 30-40%, they are now majorly outsourcing high-end pre-clinical research work to Indian companies.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2009 | 9:55 pm St sees tide turning for beleaguered SuzlonWith signs of revival in the wind energy market, analysts feel the tide is turning for the better for Suzlon Energy from next year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2009 | 9:53 pm Tata Steel UK to prepay 200 mn pounds non-recourse debtNew Delhi: As part of a restructuring exercise, Tata Steel UK on Tuesday informed its lenders that it would prepay at least £200 million (around Rs1,500 crore) of its debt. The prepayment would be funded through additional support from Tata Steel Ltd, which has a significant liquidity buffer, the company said in a statement  Layoffs loom: The Corus Redcar steel plant in Cleveland, UK. Corus may shut a plant in Teesside, UK, threatening around 10,000 jobs. Mark Pinder / Bloomberg Non-recourse debt is a secured loan that is availed of by pledging collateral, but there is no personal liability on the part of the borrower. Tata Steel UK has appointed Citigroup Inc., Royal Bank of Scotland Plc. and Standard Chartered Bank as coordinating banks to facilitate the process. The banks, with significant interest in the debt, have expressed strong support towards the covenant reset proposal, Tata Steel said. The company said it has not sought any additional funding as it has sufficient liquidity for its operations. Meanwhile, a report in a UK daily said nearly 10,000 jobs in the country could be under threat as Tata Steel Ltd’s European arm Corus Plc. weighs closing one of its mills after a group of buyers terminated a contract to buy 80% of the unit’s production for 10 years. “Not only did the consortium’s decision spell the end for an estimated 3,000 steel workers in the area, but a further 7,000 jobs in the supply train are also threatened,” the ‘Daily Mail’ newspaper reported in its online edition. Corus did not respond to an email query sent to it. However, a senior company official said that direct and indirect job losses are imminent with closure of industrial operations, though he did not confirm any figure. The official, who didn’t want to be named, added that Corus is looking at legal options to avert the closure of its Teesside Cast Product unit in north-eastern England after the consortium of buyers backtracked from the deal. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 12 May 2009 | 6:47 pm DLF promoters up stake for sale on good responseBid process started late Tuesday evening; to be concluded on Wednesday.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 12 May 2009 | 6:44 pm Tata Steel plans Rs 3,000 cr non-convertible debenture issueTata Steel, the worlds sixth largest steel-maker, will raise Rs 3,000 crore through non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to prepay the debt of its UK subsidiary, Tata Steel UK. The issue is Rs 1,000 crore higher than originally planned.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 12 May 2009 | 6:43 pm RIL may repay Rs 15,000 cr debt this fiscalCombined debt of RIL and its subsidiary RPL will be brought down to around Rs 57,000 cr from Rs 72,000 cr at present.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 12 May 2009 | 6:42 pm Markets shrug off poll, IIP data bluesPlayers keep fingers crossed as Sensex gains 4% to end at an over seven-month high.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 12 May 2009 | 6:40 pm Marston Allen | We expect to grow in high double digits in IndiaMumbai: He is executive vice-president and director of new business development at global media specialist Starcom MediaVest Group, or SMG, which launched the Indian unit of its media agency MediaVest Worldwide last month. Marston Allen’s job is to tap growth opportunities and help the network expand.  Client bonding: Starcom MediaVest’s Allen says a bad economy accentuates a bad relationship and solidifies a good relationship. Ashesh Shah / Mint What are the new business projections for SMG globally and in India? Globally, revenues for SMG is over $27 billion ending 2008. Projected growth for 2009 globally changes every day, based on the leaky bucket syndrome. We expect India to grow in high double digits this year, as it has done for the past four years. Roughly 15% of our global revenues come from Asia Pacific. In digital, we have more revenues than any other group—as much as 20% comes from digital. We have certain goals and the vast majority of it comes from new business (in developed markets), versus organic growth. In established markets, organic growth is not even half of overall growth. Emerging markets are different though and organic growth is much higher because clients are growing exponentially here. What are your plans to grow new business for SMG? The hardest part of new business is resourcing it. New business takes a lot of time and energy... Starcom MediaVest has created a global resource where everyone reports to me globally. It’s not just a strategy group, it is also a design group. Design in terms of professional materials/creative material (for the pitch) so that we have the right kind of collateral. We are creating regional teams and in our most important markets, we have dedicated resources. So we have global resource, regional resource and in our biggest and most important markets, we have dedicated resources. In Latin America, we can have one regional resource for many countries and plus they speak the same language. Asia’s different because it’s a big place. We have sub-regional assets here in India and China and Singapore (for South-East Asia). The more companies globalize, the more they need to capture and cascade their best practices. The way to do that is to have alignment of their marketing resources across borders. A good network needs to be a good agency everywhere. Will your global clients align with the newly formed MediaVest India? Very possibly—those which are relevant. There are two or three of our clients that will want to do business in India and do it well. Those companies are familiar and comfortable and confident with the MediaVest brand. And so they will help build the MediaVest brand in India and in China as we make MediaVest a real second brand. Have there been more new business pitches and account attrition worldwide over the past year? In a bad economy, two things will happen. If there is a stressed relationship that already exists, some clients will use that opportunity to say, “you know what; I will go and look at something else.” A bad economy accentuates a bad relationship and solidifies a good relationship. New business is expensive in time, money and effort on the part of the client. It’s one of those value questions clients have to ask themselves: Is it worth disrupting my operations for two-three months to make this change? The market is in such a state of flux that the agency that was a great partner three years might not be a great partner today. We have had relationships with some of our clients for 34 years. I think if you last five years with a client, that’s good, but not great. Do pitch consultants help in the pitch process for new business? Consultants are important, though most are very average. There are just one or two that do a really good job. Running a pitch if you are a client is very distracting and takes a lot of time. So you hire a pitch consultant. But a lot of time, pitch consultants affect relationships because they say you (agency) cannot speak to the client. I absolutely believe that’s a disservice to the client. The best pitch consultants get their clients involved in the process and make the process for the media agency clear, if not simple, and with firm dates. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 12 May 2009 | 5:52 pm Corporate | Aspen to buy Strides’ Latin American unitJohannesburg: Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd will exercise an option to buy the stake it doesn’t already own in the Latin American unit of Strides Arcolab Ltd. We will exercise that option by the end of June, Aspen chief executive officer Stephen Saad said in an interview in Johannesburg on Tuesday. ********* Suzlon shareholders may sell 2% stake in company Mumbai: A shareholder in Suzlon Energy Ltd is selling 30 million shares in the company, equivalent to a 2% stake, according to a person familiar with transaction. Shares in the Ahmedabad-based company are being offered to investors for between Rs75.5 and Rs79 a piece, the person said, requesting anonymity. Suzlon closed at Rs80.85 on Tuesday on BSE. ********* Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 12 May 2009 | 5:47 pm ArcelorMittal workers attack HQ, protest temporary layoffsLuxembourg: Steel workers attacked ArcelorMittal’s Luxembourg headquarters on Tuesday during the company’s annual shareholders meeting, setting off smoke bombs and breaking through the front door to protest temporary layoffs during the economic slump. Some of the 1,000 workers from Belgium and France hurled cobblestones and steel fencing at the building, smashing windows and tearing off a steel molding from the ornate 1920s exterior. Riot police lined up to protect the head office of the world’s biggest steel maker. One protester broke into the building and was immediately captured by police. Between 20 and 30 others fought police at the entrance, waiting several hours for him to be released. Journalists were told to leave the ground floor and leave from a back entrance as smoke filled the halls. But the protest did not affect the shareholder meeting and lunch, which continued on an upper floor. Buses had brought the workers from plants in northern France and from Charleroi and Liege in southern Belgium. ArcelorMittal has cut production by half as the steel industry rapidly went from boom to bust late last year. The company has so far avoided major permanent layoffs but is offering voluntary redundancy to 9,000 of its 315,000 staff around the world. Salaries are frozen and board members have volunteered a 15% pay cut. Some senior staff are also taking a 10% pay cut. It expects global steel demand to sink by 15 to 20% this year with growth in India and China failing to compensate for a major US and European recession. It has shuttered plants across the world, laid off temporary workers and put full-time workers on reduced pay during the output freeze. ArcelorMittal chief executive Lakshmi Mittal said the cutbacks were a “temporary suspension of production in view of the market conditions” and that he expected sales to recover in the second half of this year. “Customers have stopped buying steel and are using up their current inventory,” he told shareholders. “There is absolutely no point continuing to produce what we know we cannot sell.” Deciding which plants would reopen first would depend on how cost-competitive they are, he said. European trade unions warned Monday that tensions among workers were high because the company won’t give firm details on when shuttered plants would restart. It said ArcelorMittal management walked out of talks this month on restarting a blast furnace in Liege. Germany’s largest steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG said on Friday it plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs at its seven plants in Germany by 2011. It employs nearly 200,000 people worldwide. The European steel federation says that one in six steel workers in the region have lost their jobs or are working shorter hours since the start of the economic crisis. It claims some 72,000 jobs or 17% of the European Union’s 440,000-strong steel work force have been hit by the downturn. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 12 May 2009 | 2:27 pm Bank of America sells $7.3 bn CCB stakeHong Kong: Bank of America sold about $7.3 billion worth of shares in China Construction Bank to a group of investors, a source said on Tuesday, as the struggling US bank seeks to raise cash. A unit of China Life Insurance Co Ltd, Singapore state investment agency Temasek Holdings, and China’s Hopu Investment Management Co, were part of the consortium, the source said. The source was directly involved in the deal but not authorised to speak on the record about it. The source said the sale involved 13.5 billion Construction Bank shares sold at HK$4.20 each, a 14.3% discount to their closing price on Monday. CCB’s Hong Kong-listed shares ended up 1.6% at HK$4.96 in a broader market up 0.4%. The shares fell nearly 7% on Monday in a weaker market on concerns Bank of America might sell a stake. A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment and an official with Beijing-controlled China Construction Bank could not be immediately reached for comment. The 6% chunk of BofA shares sold was the maximum stake it was allowed to sell after a recent lock-up lapsed. The sale cuts Bank of America’s stake in CCB to around 10.6%. Bank of America had been expected to sell shares in Construction Bank since the US government ordered it to find $33.9 billion worth of capital following its “stress test” of 19 large US banks. The discount is wider than when Bank of America offloaded $2.83 billion worth of shares in Construction Bank in January at 12% below the Chinese bank’s last trading price. That same month, Royal Bank of Scotland sold a $2.4 billion stake in Bank of China at a 7.6% discount. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 12 May 2009 | 11:23 am
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