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May MAs insignificant visàvis last year: Grant ThorntonCG Srividya, Partner, Specialist Advisor Services, Grant Thornton, said volumes on the MA front have been good. There have been about 20 deals in May. But if you look at the values reported, these are quite negligible and insignificant as compared to last year.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2009 | 7:00 pm RILRNRL verdict to impact NTPC case: Forbes IndiaCommenting on the RILRNRL case verdict by the Bombay HC, Cuckoo Paul of Forbes India said the judgement would speed up things in another related case pertaining to RIL that of NTPC.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2009 | 5:00 pm Revenue grew 25% despite recession: Country ClubY Rajeev Reddy, Chairman, Country Club said that the acquisitions made last year boosted the companys growth. We acquired about 25 companies last year. He believes that even in times of recession the company grew by almost 25%. We have grown from a revenue model of Rs 320 crore last year to Rs 400 crore this year.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2009 | 4:22 pm MET forecasts monsoon at 96% near normalMETAjit Tyagi, Director General, MET Deparment expected overall monsoon to be 96% of long period average (LPA). \"But by and large it will be 96% plus or minus 5%, so even if it lowers down it will be within this range,\" he added.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2009 | 3:17 pm Power Grid FY09 net up 17% at Rs 1691 cr - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:17 pm Essar Oil hikes petrol, diesel pricesPrivate sector refiner Essar Oil hiked prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 1-2.50 a litre and Rs 1-2 a litre respectively.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:13 pm Rupee ends lower at 47.74/75 against dollarThe rupee recovered part of its early losses but still ended four paise weaker at 47.74/75 against the American currency on Tuesday amid a bounce-back in local stocks and the dollar's retreat overseas.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:12 pm Power Grid FY09 net up 17% to Rs1,690.61 crMumbai: Power Grid Corporation of India on Tuesday reported 16.71% rise in its net profit to Rs1,690.61 crore for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2009, over the same period last year. The company had a net profit of Rs1,448.47 crore in the same period ended March 2008, Power Grid Corporation of India said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Total revenue from operations rose to Rs6,675.85 crore for the period ended March 2009, from Rs 4,702.47 crore in the same period a year ago. The board of directors of the company has proposed a dividend of Rs0.70 a piece. Shares of Power Grid Corporation of India settled at Rs122.50, up 0.29% on the BSE. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:05 pm Air India employees warn of indefinite strike from July 1Employees of Air India will go on an indefinite strike from July 1 if the management delays their salaries next month, a workers' union leader said Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:00 pm RBI, Sebi to jointly address regulatory gapsMumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to jointly work with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to address the regulatory gaps after the impact of inter-dependence of institutions on the financial system came to the fore in the post-Lehman brothers bankruptcy era. “While mutual funds are regulated from investor protection angle by the securities regulator (Sebi), the systemic implications of the inert-linkages became apparent in the post-Lehman scenario of severe risk aversion and liquidity crunch,” RBI deputy governor Shyamala Gopinath had said at an IMF-World Bank seminar in Washington. As redemption pressure increased on mutual funds after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, RBI had to announce a special 14-day repo for Rs20,000 crore to enable banks to meet the liquidity requirements of these funds, she said. The RBI deputy governor said the real issue was the over-reliance of the money market mutual funds on short-term funds placed by the large corporates and banks with redemption facilities on par with current accounts of banks. “It has now been decided to jointly work with the securities regulator to identify and address the macro-prudential concerns arising from the current framework,” she said. Gopinath further said the securities firms/investment banks are regulated by Sebi, but such regulation primarily focusses on transparency and discipline in market practices. As these entities are normally not doing fund-based business which would require prudential regulation, a decision had been taken that entities registered with Sebi need not normally be registered with RBI, Gopinath added. While these entities form part of a separate regulatory cluster, their inter-linkages with the other regulated clusters or other unregulated entities may need to be examined particularly if such entities also undertake fund-based business, she said. “Therefore a constant evaluation is required of the functioning of institutions under different regulators to address regulatory gaps,” the RBI deputy governor said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:56 pm BRIC draft communique does not mention dollar - sourcesYEKATERINBURG (Reuters) - The draft communique of Brazil, Russia, India and China urges international financial reform but does not mention the role of U.S. dollar or a supranational reserve currency, sources with knowledge of of the document told Reuters on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:50 pm Tea prices to rise on global shortage: CMIEMumbai: Tea prices are expected to rise by 10% on low supply and higher global demand in 2009, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its monthly review. The average monthly auction tea price rose by 36.6% to Rs106.8 in May 2009 compared to a 15.1% rise in the year-ago quarter, CMIE said. According to the Indian Tea Association, world tea production declined by 17.5% during the first quarter of 2009 and it is expected to remain low for the entire year. Low world tea production means more demand for Indian tea. CMIE expect India to capitalise on this opportunity and increase its tea exports in 2009. As expected, a dry spell hit the April crop in India, which declined by 21.8% to 62,590 tonnes. Tea production in North India declined by 28.6% to 39,684 tonnes with Assam’s output down by 18.2% to 30,852 tonnes. South India’s tea production also declined for the fourth consecutive month by 6.4% to 22,906 tonnes. “We believe that India’s tea production will recover from May 2009. Consequently we expect tea production in 2009 to rise by a meagre 0.6% to 986.9 million kilograms,” CMIE report said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:48 pm Developing world leaders show new power at summitsYEKATERINBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Leaders of emerging world powers discussed reducing their reliance on the United States, as well as boosting security and trade at two summits on Tuesday hosted by Russia but excluding the West.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:47 pm Sukhoi announces firm order for 24 SuperjetsLe Bourget, France: Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi said Tuesday it had received a firm order from Uzbekistan-based leasing company Avialeasing worth $715 million for 24 regional Superjet aircraft. The announcement came on the second day of the biennial Paris Air Show here. The Superjet 100 is marketed as cheaper than its rivals, Brazil’s Embraer and Canada’s Bombardier, with a catalogue price of $28 million. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:42 pm New hydrogen car gets backing from Porsche scionLondon: A new hydrogen car designed for use in cities and backed by a relative of the founder of German luxury sportscar maker Porsche was unveiled in London Tuesday. The two-seater Riversimple Urban Car can travel 240 miles (386 kilometres) without refuelling, weighs just 350 kilograms (770 pounds) and has a top speed of 50 miles per hour. In fuel efficiency terms, it can do the petrol equivalent of 300 miles per gallon and emits only water. Manufacturers hope it could go into production from 2013. The cars will be leased to owners for a reported £200 (€235, $330) per month rather than sold, as part of a package including maintenance, support and fuel. The project involves Sebastian Piech, a great-grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who founded the famous German car company in the 1930s. Piech said the car represented a “major step... towards the fulfilment of my great-grandfather’s ambitions for accessible personal transport but this time combining his other passions: light weight and high efficiency”. He is executive director of a firm which works on hydrogen fuel cells which has helped to develop the cars over the last three years. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:37 pm DoT puts on hold spectrum committee report till 3G auctionNew Delhi: The government is understood to have put on hold the implementation of report of the spectrum committee which suggested auction of radio waves beyond 6.2 MHz for existing 2G services. Since the committee, headed by additional secretary Subodh Kumar, suggested that the pricing of 2G spectrum should be related to the auction price of 3G, it may, therefore, be appropriate to consider the recommendations of this committee after 3G auction, highly placed sources said. The Department of Telecom (DoT) is likely to take the issue of 3G spectrum auction to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) this month and is expecting to hold auction some time in August. Going by this, the big telecom operators having spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz can breathe easy as any decision on pricing the extra frequency would be taken only after August. Earlier, the DoT had obtained the price of spectrum for those having it beyond 6.2 MHz at Rs267 crore per MHz plus indexing it by PLR from the date of assignment of spectrum. Due to strong opposition from certain quarters this could not be implemented. Currently, DoT has been allocating extra spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz on the basis of subscriber norms and charges fixed spectrum fee based on quantity held by a respective operator. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:36 pm BJP should abandon neither Hindutva nor RSS: JoshiAllahabad: Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Tuesday appeared to be taking potshots at the party leadership on its gag order on leaders but made clear it cannot give up its ideology or sever ties with the sangh parivar in the wake of electoral defeat. He, however, declined to comment on party leader Sushma Swaraj’s reported statement comparing the situation in BJP to a “volcano”. “Our party president has warned members against speaking on the situation inside the party before the media”, said Joshi, who is not not known to be on good terms with party chief Rajnath Singh or another senior leader L K Advani, at a press conference here. The former BJP president remarked that during his tenure “I am not making any public statement. During my days (as party chief) things like these used to happen. Then I told everyone not to speak about this outside. “Our colleagues always complied and I was never compelled to pass a gag order. Moreover, no one used to quit then.” About discordant notes within the party over its commitment to “Hindutva” and relationship with the RSS in the wake of defeat, Joshi said “we can neither give up our ideology nor sever ties with the sangh parivar”. Joshi said “Hindutva, as has been observed by the Supreme Court, is not a religion but a way of life. Our party has its ideological roots in this very ancient way of life which we can not give up just because our electoral performance was not up to the mark. Similarly, we can not distance ourselves from the sangh parivar.“ He said the erstwhile Jan Sangh had chosen to pull out of the Janata Party when controversy was raised over the issue of dual membership. The BJP, ever since its formation, has been unequivocal about maintaining close ties with the RSS”. The former Union minister claimed that it was the nation’s “intrinsic belief in the values of Hindutva”, that saved the country from an economic disaster of the magnitude which is being faced by the developed world. “Hindutva has always extolled austerity, which encourages people to save money instead of spending. It is this character of the Indians that has enabled the country to sail through at a time when spend-thrift economies are sinking”, he added. Joshi said the party’s central leadership was obtaining feedback from various state units on the performance in the respective areas “as the situation in no two states was alike”. The feedback will be taken up for “extensive review after the budget session of the Parliament”, he said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:31 pm Jubilant may hive off non-core biz - Hindu Business Line
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:22 pm BJP objects to Tharoor’s remark on racism in AustraliaAllahabad: The BJP on Tuesday slammed minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor for describing the recent attacks on Indian students in Australia as a “domestic matter” of Down Under, saying “It is not a simple law and order problem.” Referring to the minister’s remark on Monday in Kerala, saffron leader Murli Manohar Joshi said, “It is hard to understand how the minister could describe the attacks on Indian students as a domestic matter of Australia. It is not a simple law and order problem.” “Racial prejudice and violence resulting from there can not be dismissed as a country’s internal matter. He (Tharoor) needs to remember that even Mahatma Gandhi had begun his political activism by raising a banner of revolt against racial prejudice in a far-off land (South Africa),” he said. Tharoor, the Thiruvananthapuram MP, had told in his constituency, “I think that this (racial attacks) must be seen principally as a domestic issue for Australia to deal with, within their own society, rather than as a bilateral problem between Australia and India.” But at the same time, he had said, India wanted to make it clear that when its students go abroad for study, they were not in any way put under danger. “But, very much, the responsibility is the Australian Government’s”. Joshi also alleged that the new US administration seemed to “be less sympathetic towards Indian interests and drifting more in favour of Pakistan, where it has vested interests in the form of troops deployed for the counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan”. “The change in the US attitude towards India is also reflected in its silence over the attacks on students from our country in Australia. The indifference of the US is in stark contrast with its earlier vehement opposition to racial discrimination in any form,” he added. The former Union minister said the “Centre has so far failed to give a strong and effective response to the situation in Australia and the indifference of the US. We demand that the government expeditiously act on this front.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:22 pm ANALYSIS - Banks view regulation plans as just proposalsNEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. banking industry played down the Obama administration's proposals on Monday for the most wrenching regulatory changes since the Great Depression as just that -- proposals.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:17 pm U.S. housing starts jump in May, inflation mutedWASHINGTON (Reuters) - New U.S. housing starts and permits surged in May from record lows, while producer prices rose at a slower pace despite higher gasoline prices, boosting prospects for the economy's recovery from recession.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:09 pm Jagran Prakashan Q4 Net Up 40.89% On Ad Sales Growth - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:07 pm Bond yields up on borrowing concernMumbai: The yield on mostly traded bond rose on Tuesday as concerns about a possible increase in government borrowing lingered, with sentiment also weighed down by firmer global oil prices. The yield on the heavily traded 6.07% bond maturing in 2014 ended at 6.67%, higher than Monday’s 6.63%. The benchmark 10-year bond, which was not traded on Monday, ended at 6.88% against its previous close of 6.89%. Volume was a normal Rs67.5 billion ($1.4 billion) on the Reserve Bank of India’s electronic trading system. “State-run banks are selling bonds ahead of the auction,” a trader with a private bank said, referring to the weekly auction on Friday. The size of the auction was raised for the fifth straight week by 25% to Rs150 billion. Ahead of the sale, the central bank (RBI) will buy back 60 billion of bonds on Thursday. The RBI will sell Rs60 billion of treasury bills on Wednesday. Traders are worried the government will increase its borrowing plan in the annual budget on 6 July, from a record Rs3.6 trillion set initially in February for the fiscal year 2009-10 that began on 1 April. “Locally, despite comfortable liquidity, suspense over the borrowing programme continued to put pressure on bonds,” Citigroup economist Rohini Malkani said in a note. “We expect bonds to remain rangebound, with the budget and consequent RBI participation in the borrowing programme key factors to watch for,” she wrote. Higher oil prices also weighed on sentiment. Oil, India’s biggest import, traded above $72 a barrel. India’s wholesale price index fell to 0.13% in late May, a record low since the data was published from 1977-78. But higher global fuel prices has again raised concerns of it inching up in the coming months. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:06 pm Power Grid Corp net up 16.7 percentPublic sector electricity major Power Grid Corp of India Tuesday reported a net profit of Rs.1,690.6 crore for 2008-09 as against Rs.1,448.5 crore recorded the year before, an increase of 16.7 percent.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:01 pm Jaipal Reddy proposes cut in home loan ratesUrban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy Tuesday sought to boost affordable housing, proposing an interest rate of 7.5 percent on loans for houses costing between Rs.5 lakh and Rs.30 lakh.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:00 pm Gujarat wants 11 more towns under Urban Renewal MissionThe Gujarat government has sent a list of 11 industrial towns in the state to the central governmemt for their inclusion in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), an official statement said here Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:00 pm ADB approves $3.4 bn in additional loans for AsiaManila: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Tuesday it has approved $3.4 billion in new loans to help Asian nations overcome the global economic crisis. The Manila-based development bank said $3 billion in loans would be made available through a previously announced counter-cyclical facility, which will carry market-linked rates of interest. It said $400 million will be available for poorer nations on concessional rates of interest. Conditions for accessing the facility include a significant slowdown in growth, exports and remittances; fiscal constraints; and difficulty in sourcing finance from international capital markets on favourable terms, the ADB said. It gave no details on loans to individual nations. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 1:00 pm Rupee ends lower at 47.74/75 against dollar - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:55 pm Nomura, T&D among bidders for Citi Japan unit - sourcesTOKYO (Reuters) - Investment bank Nomura and insurer T&D Holdings are among five firms in the second round of bidding for Citigroup's asset management arm in Japan, in a deal likely to top $1 billion, five sources familiar with the matter said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:41 pm Protectionism, racist attacks to affect Indians’ dollar dreamsNew Delhi: The protectionist measures in the West and attacks on Indian students in Australia is likely to negatively affect the Indians’ overseas job dreams and the aspirants may prefer domestic offers, experts believe. The anti-outsourcing pitch has been gaining momentum in the US ever since the Barack Obama administration assumed office early this year and the government has been encouraging the companies there to hire local people. Besides, the recent attacks on some Indian students, allegedly on racism grounds, in Australia is also said to be affecting the Indians’ plans to go to the Asia-Pacific nation, which has been a favoured destination thus far. “People are apprehensive for overseas jobs after these recent attacks. Australia as a country will be somehow affected in attracting overseas talent,” executive search firm GlobalHunt India Professional Leader Sunil Goel said. Global staffing services major Manpower’s India managing director Naresh Malhan also said: “We should take cognisance about the recent incidents (attacks on Indian students) that have happened in Australia. “There would be an impact on Indian people looking for jobs abroad but it would be short lived as the need for Indian talent and its attractiveness is established beyond doubt across the world.” The recent attacks on Indian students Down Under has left both students as well as overseas job seekers shaken and apprehensive. Coupled with this, US President Barack Obama’s recent statement on the increased importance of Indian students and the growing concern that jobs are being offshored to places like “Bangalore”, have left the Indian community baffled. While unveiling plans for tax reforms recently, Obama said that his country would “stop letting American companies that create jobs overseas take deductions on their expenses when they do not pay any American taxes on their profits.” Nearly 60% of Indian IT-Business Process Outsourcing industry caters to the US companies, according to latest figures. India’s BPO industry employs over 17 lakh professionals. “We are advanced in technology and serving global market as back operation hub. Definitely, anti-outsourcing and racist attacks will encourage Indians to take up jobs in home country, which in turn will increase competitive edge for us,” Goel said. At a recent meeting, Obama urged the nation to hone their skills and become more competitive. “We have got to pick up the pace because the world has gotten competitive. The Chinese, the Indians are coming at us and they are coming at us hard, and they are hungry and they are really buckling down,” the US President had asserted. According to experts, India is one of the fastest growing economies of world and offers ample opportunities at competitive compensations. Goel noted that BPO industry in India has grown “because of cost effectiveness and skills availability. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:41 pm Rupee cuts losses as dollar falls, stocks gainMumbai: The rupee recovered some of its early losses on Tuesday, helped by a sharp fall in the dollar versus major currencies and a rise in the domestic sharemarket which raised hopes for more foreign fund inflows. The partially convertible rupee closed at Rs47.75/76 per dollar, off an early low of Rs47.95 and marginally weaker than its previous close of Rs47.72/73. “Stocks recovered after initial selling and some dollar inflows were also seen,” said Jai Prakash, a senior dealer at state-run Andhra Bank. Indian shares climbed 0.55%, led by State Bank of India, as some long-term investors saw value in the market after it shed almost 4% over three days. Foreign fund flows into shares have been a key driver for the rupee in recent years. Foreign investors have bought about $7.8 billion worth of shares since mid-March, helping the rupee climb 9.3% from its record low of Rs52.2 hit on 3 March. The dollar index, a gauge of the US unit’s performance versus major currencies, was down 0.9%, after what was seen as dollar-negative comments from Russia. Before a BRICs summit later in the day, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the world needs new reserve currencies, which traders took as signals that it may be looking to cut the share of US assets in its currency portfolio. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at 47.91/48.01, weaker than the onshore spot rate, indicating a slightly bearish outlook in the near term. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:40 pm IT to turn around in July qtr, BPOs to recover first: iGATEPhaneesh Murthy, CEO of iGATE, in an exclusive interview with CNBCTV18, said he was looking at a turnaround for the industry in the July quarter.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:32 pm Disinvestment of Coal India on cards, discloses ministerThe government is considering divesting up to 10 percent stake in the state-run Coal India Ltd, the country's largest coal miner, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said here Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:31 pm Disinvestment of Coal India on cards - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:24 pm Unitech Wireless earmarks Rs 10000 cr capex for three years - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:13 pm Home sales rising, says UnitechNew Delhi: Unitech Ltd, India’s second-largest listed developer, is seeing home sales picking up and is not under pressure for cash after raising about $550 million in the past two months, its managing director said. The company, which raised Rs1,617 crore ($338 million) in April by selling shares to institutions, has got more than Rs1,000 crore from asset sales since the fiscal year began on 1 April, Sanjay Chandra told a news conference on Tuesday. Unitech has sold two hotels and one office property in New Delhi, he said, to raise funds for projects and to cut debt. It also sold about 4,000 homes in the last two and half months. “Sales are very, very healthy. The market has definitely bottomed out. The volume of sales, which are happening right now, we have never seen before, though prices are down 25-30% from (2007) peaks,” Chandra said. In April, Unitech had said its net debt stood at Rs8,400 crore and it would have to sell stock and assets to cut debt. Chandra said most of the debt had been rescheduled and the position was now “comfortable”. “We are not under pressure to raise equity capital,” he said. The developer got shareholder approval on Tuesday for selling up to 1 billion shares to investors, but Chandra said this was an enabling resolution and there was no immediate plan for a sale. The shareholders also approved issuing 227.5 million convertible warrants to one of its founder group firms, and he said this would inject Rs1,150 crore into the company over the next 18 months, with a quarter of it coming this month. The founding family’s holding in the company would rise to 61% on full conversion from 51%, Chandra said. Unitech aims to build 20 million square feet of property in 2009-10, he said, adding the focus was on low-cost mass housing projects, a strategy larger rival DLF has also adopted. A senior official at DLF said earlier this month it was seeing signs of recovery in the beaten down Indian property market and prices should start rising from a crash that followed a three-year bull-run. Tight financing and high prices had kept away buyers of homes, offices and shops, while a global stocks slide last year forced DLF and Unitech to shelve fund raising plans from proposed listing of property trusts. Chandra said the market was still not ready for real estate investment trusts, and he did not expect a listing happening during the current year. Meanwhile, telecom arm Unitech Wireless, in which Norway’s Telenor is taking a 67% stake, hopes to start mobile services during the December quarter, Chandra said. He said the company had received wireless radio spectrum, life line for mobile firms, in 21 of 22 zones in the country. The government last week deferred decision on regulatory approval on Telenor’s investment but would again consider on Friday. “I am hopeful that it will be approved,” Chandra said. Shares in Unitech gained 2.1% to Rs88.90 in a Mumbai market that rose 0.6%. The stock has more than doubled this year, outperforming the broader market, after tumbling 92% in 2008. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:03 pm GM says reaches deal to sell Saab to KoenigseggSTOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's Koenigsegg, maker of some of the world's fastest and most expensive sports cars, has struck a deal to buy loss-making Saab Automobile from General Motors, the companies said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:48 am RCF Q4 net down 23% at Rs 39 cr - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:44 am Dr Reddy's pares gains; ends flat - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:40 am Pak must not be used for terrorism: ManmohanYekaterinburg, (Russia): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, holding his first meeting with Pakistan’s leader since last year’s attacks on Mumbai, asked him to ensure militants could not operate from Pakistani territory. “I am happy to meet you, but my mandate is to tell you that the territory of Pakistan must not be used for terrorism,” Singh told President Asif Ali Zardari ahead of a meeting on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO) in Russia. His tough words suggested there would be no major breakthrough in relations between India and Pakistan. Washington is keen to see a thaw between the two countries to ease tensions across the region, including in Afghanistan. India broke off talks with Pakistan after 10 gunmen launched multiple attacks on Mumbai last November, killing 166 people. It blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group. Pakistan wants to resume a 5-year-old peace process, but India has said it wants Islamabad to take further action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba first. Asked before the two leaders went into their bilateral meeting whether India and Pakistan would resume peace talks, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he was unwilling to prejudge their discussion. “The leaders have to decide that, but the only sensible course to me is talking and engaging with each other,” he told reporters in the Russian Urals city of Yekaterinburg. He denied the tough language from Singh had got the meeting off on a negative front, saying: “I would look at it differently, I think it is a positive development the fact that the two leaders are meeting for the first time, on the sidelines of the SCO summit, since the tragic Mumbai incident. I think it is a positive development.” Ahead of his meeting with Zardari, Singh urged regional cooperation against terrorism and other security threats. “The spectre of terrorism, extremist ideologies and illicit drug trafficking haunts our region. Terrorist crimes committed today are transnational in nature,” Singh said in the text of a speech prepared for the summit. “It is imperative that we genuinely cooperate with one another and on a global scale to resolutely defeat international terrorism.” India was incensed when a Pakistani court this month ordered the release from house arrest of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Islamabad says it has detained some terrorists, but needs more evidence from New Delhi for further action. The United States is keen to see the two countries improve relations so that Pakistan can concentrate on fighting Taliban militants on its western border with Afghanistan. India and Pakistan are both observer states in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which groups Russia, China and the former Soviet Central Asian republics. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:39 am Ahamed to oversee passenger amenities, complaints in railway ministryRailway Minister Mamata Banerjee has allocated work to her two junior ministers, E. Ahamed and K.H. Muniyappa, while herself overseeing important states like Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and her native West Bengal. Train punctualilty, cleanliness and passenger amenities would be looked after by Ahamed, who was earlier Minister of State for External Affairs.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:32 am Markets come out of the red, end 82 points upIndian equities markets ended trade on a positive note Tuesday after having come under selling pressure for most of the day, with a key index coming out of the negative terrain to post sizeable gains.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:31 am Saraswat bank in talks with two to three lenders for take overCountry's largest urban co-operative lender, Saraswat Bank on Tuesday said it is in talks with two to three co-operative banks for possible acquisitions.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:22 am Sensex gains over 82 pts in volatile trade, banks move upIn volatile trade the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Tuesday ended higher by over 82 points on funds buying.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:15 am Oil PSUs may lose Rs38,700cr this yearNew Delhi: For the first time in seven months, state-run fuel retailers are making losses on selling diesel and together with negative returns on petrol, LPG and kerosene, the companies may lose Rs38,700 crore in revenues this year. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum from Tuesday are selling diesel at a loss of Rs 2.96 a litre, an industry official said. In the first half of this month, they were barely breaking even on diesel, the most consumed auto fuel in India. The firming international crude oil prices, which are ruling at seven-month high of $71 per barrel, have widened losses on petrol to Rs6.08 per litre from Rs3.68 a litre in the first half of June. “The three are currently losing Rs135 crore per day on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene,” he said. The government has been mulling decontrolling petrol and diesel prices for couple of months now but may be fast losing the window as the move would now result in steep rise in fuel prices. Freeing of fuel prices was idle when crude had fallen to below $40 a barrel earlier this year. The three firms are losing Rs69.49 per 14.2 kg LPG cylinder and Rs12.65 on every litre of kerosene, he said. The state-run firms were till last month selling diesel at Rs0.32 a litre profit which helped them partly neutralise the losses on sale of petrol, domestic LPG and kerosene. Since November, the three had been making profit on sale of diesel — the margin being as high as Rs6.19 a litre in first fortnight of March. On petrol, they made profits till second fortnight of March and loses thereafter. However, the rising global crude oil prices have eroded the margins and the three firms have seen revenue loss on fuel sale widen to Rs135 crore per day from Rs72 crore per day till Monday, the official said. For the 2009-10 fiscal, the three firms, which calculate desired retail end prices on 1st and 16th of every month based on the average of previous fortnight, are estimated to lose Rs38,700 crore on fuel sales. The official said IOC, BPCL and HPCL are currently losing about Rs22 crore per day on sale of petrol, Rs53 crore on diesel, Rs48 crore on kerosene and Rs11 crore on LPG. With the global economic meltdown leading to a sharp drop in international crude oil prices from September, state-run fuel retailing companies have been making neat profits on petrol and diesel. In the second fortnight of December, the oil firms made Rs11.48 a litre profit on petrol sales. Crude prices, which had dropped to below $40 a barrel from Rs147 per barrel in July 2008, have since risen to $68 per barrel, a seven-month high. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:15 am RNRL in race to hire LNG terminal adjacent to Dabhol plantAnil Ambani Group firm Reliance Natural Resources Ltd has joined the race to hire the LNG terminal adjacent to the Dabhol power plant to import liquefied natural gas cargoes.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:10 am Sensex gains over 82pts in volatile trade, banks move upThe Sensex, which moved between 15,022.19 and 14,621.97 during the day, closed higher by 82.39 points at 14,957.91 as banking stocks led by State Bank recorded handsome gains after Goldman Sachs raised their rating.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:08 am Markets halt 3-day fall, Sensex rise 0.55%Mumbai: Indian shares climbed 0.55% on Tuesday, led by State Bank of India, as some long-term investors saw value in the market after it shed almost 4% over three days. But trading was choppy as tepid US regional manufacturing data soured sentiment across markets in Asia. Reliance Industries fell for a second day after a court asked the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-controlled energy group to sell gas at half the government-approved price to his estranged brother’s firm. Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Infrastructure were among the major gainers as investors bet their order book would be boosted by government plans to repair the country’s ramshackle infrastructure. “Focus on infrastructure in India is legendary, and tales of woe abound. Improvements are taking place, as any foreign business visitor will be aware, but the need for more is paramount,” Goldman Sachs economists Jim O’Neill and Tushar Poddar said in a report. “Incremental demand for infrastructure will continue to increase due to economic growth and urbanisation.” The 30-share BSE index ended up 82.39 points at 14,957.91, with 23 stocks gaining, after falling as much as 1.7% at one stage. The 50-share NSE index rose 0.75% to 4,517.80. Government-run State Bank of India rose 4.4% to Rs1,714.10 after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral,” citing a strong earnings outlook and inexpensive valuations. A tax official told Reuters the country’s top lender had paid Rs10.68 billion in advance taxes in April-June, 61% more than a year earlier, indicating better earnings. Almost $8 billion in investments from foreign funds, as optimism grew the economy was picking up, have lifted the benchmark 86% from a 2009 low in early March. It also received a boost after the ruling Congress-led coalition was re-elected last month, raising hopes a stronger election mandate may encourage the government to accelerate investor-friendly economic and financial reforms. But concerns have emerged about expensive valuations, with niggling worries about the global economy and an uncertain outlook for corporate earnings growth weighing on investor confidence. Investors will be wary ahead of the annual budget in early July, when the government is expected to announce reform plans to boost sagging economic growth and tackle a yawning fiscal deficit, analysts said. “The market has held up very well recently, and so we could see some consolidation over the next few sessions. But there could be a recovery ahead of the budget in anticipation of the reforms the government could come out with,” Hitesh Agrawal, head of research at Angel Stock Broking, said. “The bulls are not likely to give up very easily.” Larsen gained 1.3% to Rs1,526.55, while Reliance Infrastructure advanced 6.1% to Rs1,268.55. Reliance Industries fell 1.8% to Rs2,141.60, after dropping 7.5% in the previous session. Non-ferrous metals producer Sterlite Industries dropped 4.4 percent to 634.10 rupees as copper prices in Shanghai fell for a fourth day. ICICI Bank fell as much as 2.6% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock, saying current valuations factor in potential upside from its operating fundamentals. The private-sector lender, which was downgraded to “neutral” from “buy,” later pared losses to end flat at Rs733.35, after almost tripling in value from early March. In the broader section, gainers led losers 1,654 to 1,017 on relatively heavy volume of 696.2 million shares. Most other Asian markets were lower on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei falling 2.9%, while MSCI’s measure of other Asian markets lost 1.2%. US equities marked their worst slide in a month on Monday after the New York Fed’s Empire State general business conditions index showed the factory sector shrank at a much more severe rate in June than the previous month. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:08 am Consumer court punishes finance companyA private finance company was found guilty of forcibly taking possession of a vehicle from a customer by hiring musclemen, by a Sundergarh-based district consumer.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:07 am BSE Sensex halts 3-day fall, rise 0.55 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex climbed 0.55 percent on Tuesday, led by State Bank of India, as some long-term investors saw value in the market after it shed almost 4 percent over three days.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:06 am Northeast on swine flu radar, pig import bannedAuthorities in the northeastern region have stepped up precautionary measures against the spread of swine flu, besides banning import of pigs and pork products from adjoining countries, officials said Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:02 am Japan Airlines cuts flights to DelhiJapan Airlines Tuesday announced reduction in the number of flights it operates on several international routes, including to Delhi, as part of its strategy to improve profitability by adjusting capacity.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:02 am Unitech: home sales rising, debt comfortableNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Unitech Ltd, India's second-largest listed developer, is seeing home sales picking up and is not under pressure for cash after raising about $550 million in the past 2-½ months, its managing director said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:01 am GSK to market Dr Reddy\'s products in emerging mktsSathish Reddy, MD and COO, Dr Reddy\'s Laboratories said the company has entered into a revenuesharing agreement with GSK and that the deal is a strategic alliance with GSK not a oneoff deal. He, however, added that there have been no further discussions with GSK for any other tieup as of now.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:01 am Markets fall from day's highs, but end in greenA key index of the Indian equities markets fell from the day's highs at close of trade Tuesday after making a comeback and registering significant gains Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:01 am Bankex helps Sensex recover, ends up 82pts - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Jun 2009 | 10:53 am Won\'t be affected by RILRNRL verdict: GSPLClarify doubts that GSPL may be affected post the decision in favour of RNRL in the RILRNRL gas tussle, DJ Pandyan of GSPL said they will continue to transport in Gujarat and will not get impacted post the RILRNRL deal. He added that RIL has given them an assurance that they will not be the affected party.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2009 | 10:46 am No salary: How netas and babus bled AIThe tribe of babus and netas is squarely responsible for bringing Air India to this state that it would not be able to pay its employees salaries on time.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2009 | 10:32 am Titan sets USD one bn revenue target for current fiscalTitan Industries, which sells jewellery and watch among others, has set a goal of crossing the USD one billion-mark turnover in the current fiscal.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 10:05 am Titan sets $1 billion revenue target for current fiscalMumbai: Titan Industries, which sells jewellery and watch among others, has set a goal of crossing the $1 billion mark turnover in the current fiscal. “Nearly 65% of the target is expected to come from gold ornaments,” Tata Group said highlighting the innovation and innovativeness of the company. Titan Industries, a joint venture between the Tata Group and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, had recorded Rs3847.72 crore revenue in 2008-09. Jewellery contributed Rs2763.2 crore to the total revenue, watch segment Rs908.49 crore and other products like eyewear, accessories and precission engineering components the remaining. Titan Industries is one of the premier players in India’s Rs80,000 crore jewellery market. Semi-urban and rural areas account for nearly 60% of the total market. Titan sells jewellery through its GoldPlus and Tanishq retail chains. While GoldPlus addresses the rural and semi-urban mass market and focuses on plain gold jewellery, Tanishq focuses on the metros. GoldPlus expects to record Rs2,000 crore turnover over the next four-five years. “By the end of 2008-09, the company expects that GoldPlus turnover will be close to Rs400 crore and in the next four-five years, it could be Rs2,000 crore,” a Tata Group’s report on its innovations said. GoldPlus, which stated with Rs13 crore worth of business in 2005-06 through two stores at Erode in Tamil Nadu and Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, has added nearly 30 stores to its chain and notched up an income of Rs200 crore in 2007-08. anishq, which comes out with a new range of jewellery once in every six months, had clocked Rs2,143 crore in sales in 2007-08. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 10:03 am Tata Motors to build electric, hybrid cars on Nano platformAfter stunning innovation of the cheapest car Nano, Tata Motors plans to build electric and hybrid vehicles using this platform.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 10:02 am Yahoo expands mobile presence in AsiaSingapore: Internet giant Yahoo! on Tuesday expanded its mobile platform in the Asia-Pacific region in a bid to attract users who prefer to access the web from their phones instead of computers. Yahoo! Mobile is now available in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan as well as Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Mexico and Spain, company officials announced at the CommunicAsia 2009 trade fair in Singapore. Featuring customisable home pages and localised content, Yahoo! Mobile can now be accessed on over 400 mobile devices, a company statement said. “With products like the new Yahoo! Mobile, we’re invigorating the mobile industry and creating consumer demand for compelling Internet services across a variety of mobile platforms,” David Ko, senior vice-president of Yahoo! Mobile, told a news conference. Matthias Kunze, managing director for Yahoo! Mobile Asia-Pacific, said that in Asia, “it’s more likely that new users of the net will be on the mobile phone instead of the PC.” Yahoo! Mobile is now available in 17 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas, and additional localised versions are expected to be launched over the next several months, the company said. It was earlier rolled out in the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 9:48 am Railway revenue earnings up 3.34% during April- May 2009 - India Infoline.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 16 Jun 2009 | 9:45 am Unitech raised $209 mn from asset sales: MDUnitech Ltd, India's second-largest listed property firm, has raised more than Rs 10 billion from asset sales this year and is not under pressure to raise further capital, its managing director said on Tuesday.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2009 | 9:40 am Govt asks Reliance to sell gas to Essar, IspatThe government has asked Reliance Industries Ltd to sell natural gas from its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields to steel firms like Essar and Ispat to help the country's most prolific gas field to produce at an optimum level.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2009 | 9:31 am LG says mobile market holding up, launching Android phonesSingapore: LG Electronics Inc. said on Tuesday that the mobile phone market was holding up despite the global slump and announced plans to launch three models powered by Google’s Android operating system this year. “The market is actually holding up versus last year... I think the recession impact is less than what we expected last year,” said Chang Ma,the Korean giant’s vice president of marketing strategy for mobile communications. In an interview with an agency, Ma said that LG, the world’s third largest mobile phone maker in shipment terms, was eyeing 10% market share this year. “If you figure the market is about 1.1 billion, then our sales volume is supposed to be 110 million,” he said. In 2008, it shipped 100.7 million handsets worldwide and its operating profit margin from the business was 11%. According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, LG’s market share in the first quarter was 9.2%, up from 8.6% a year earlier. The company trails Nokia Corp. of Finland and Samsung Electronics Co., also based in South Korea. LG is planning to launch three different Android-powered devices in the third or fourth quarter this year, with more due out in 2010. Android is Google’s open-source operating software for mobile phones with Internet capabilities. US telecom operator T-Mobile began selling the first Android-based Google phone known as the G1 last year. The global mobile phone market has been hit hard by the broad economic downturn. ABI Research said in a report that worldwide handset shipments fell 11.9% during the first quarter from a year earlier to 255.6 million units. LG’s Ma said the company was expecting a gradual improvement in demand during the second half of this year. Global handset sales this year will likely remain flat or fall slightly compared with 2008, instead of analysts’ forecasts of an 8-15% decline, the executive said. LG will not cut prices for the sake of expanding its market share in handsets, he said. His comments came after rival Samsung said Monday that it expected the global handset market to remain weak for the rest of 2009 but expressed confidence of hitting its shipment goal of 200 million units this year. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 9:28 am HSBC India insurance JV partners to expand capitalNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Indian insurance joint venture of HSBC Holdings, Europe's biggest bank, will expand its capital by 2 billion rupees ($42 million) this year to meet growing business needs, its partners said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 9:12 am Tesco reports best UK sales growth for 2 yrsLondon: Tesco, the world’s third-biggest retailer, posted its best quarterly sales rise in Britain for two years and said it was closing the gap on recent stronger growth rates at its main domestic rivals. Britain’s biggest retailer said on Tuesday first-quarter sales at UK stores open at least a year rose 4.3%, excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, in line with forecasts and up from 3.7% in the previous quarter. Group sales rose 9.7% including petrol, in the 13 weeks to 30 May, with strong growth in international markets fuelled by new stores, currency moves and the benefits of an acquisition in South Korea last year. Tesco, which makes about 70% of sales and three quarters of trading profit in Britain, has been losing market share for months to British rivals like Wal-Mart’s Asda, J Sainsbury and Wm Morrison. The group, which takes almost one in every three pounds spent in a British supermarket, has said this is due mainly to customers switching to its cheaper discount range, which has boosted sales volumes but meant it has not benefited from food price inflation as much as competitors. “The relative performance is closing,” finance director Laurie McIlwee told Reuters, adding rivals were also growing strongly after fixing some “real fundamentals” in their businesses around price and availability. McIlwee said Sainsbury, which is forecast to report a 7.3% rise in first-quarter sales on Wednesday, was also benefiting from shoppers switching out of upmarket food retailers like Marks & Spencer as well as strength in south England. “An encouraging statement,” said Shore Capital analyst Clive Black. “Tesco is a growth company and we see scope for it to benefit from improving economies as low ticket discretionary spend improves,” he added, keeping a ‘buy´ rating on the stock. At 1:05pm, Tesco shares were up 1.7% at 362.3 pence, topping a 0.6% rise on the DJ Stoxx European retail index. Tesco expected full-year underlying growth in Britain to be towards the bottom of its long-term 3-4 percent target range, as food price inflation eases, and was comfortable with analysts’ consensus annual profit forecast, McIlwee said. Analysts expect Tesco to make profit before tax and one-off items of £3.23 billion ($5.3 billion) in the year to February 2010, up from 3.13 billion in 2008-09, according to Reuters Estimates. Tesco, which employs around 470,000 people in over 4,300 stores in 14 countries, said first-quarter international sales rose 20.1% rise at actual exchange rates, or 11.4% at constant rates, with a strong performance in Asia offsetting tougher trading in many continental European markets. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 9:10 am GAIL to invest Rs 5,558 cr in 200910GAIL (India) Ltd has plans to invest Rs 5,558 crore in 200910. Of this, a major portion will be earmarked for the pipeline projects, the company said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2009 | 8:45 am TVS to ride on new bikes towards doubledigit growthTVS Motor Company will introduce a scooter and a motorcycle in the executive segment to achieve a sales growth of 1214 per cent this fiscal.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2009 | 8:38 am Infosys eyes buys in Mexico, Brazil to improve operationsInfosys Technologies Ltd is eyeing acquisitions in Mexico and Brazil to expand its delivery capability and grow business from local organisations in these geographies.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2009 | 8:30 am Oil pauses above $70 as dollar weakensSingapore: Oil steadied above $70 a barrel on Tuesday as the dollar slid after Russia said the world needed new reserve currencies, while stock market declines weighed on sentiment for economic recovery. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the world needed new reserve currencies a day after the finance minister said the dollar’s status as the world’s main reserve currency would unlikely change in the near term. US crude inched down 3 cents to $70.59 by 1:54pm, after falling below $70 earlier in the day when the dollar was stronger. London Brent crude fell 1 cent to $70.23. Optimism over an economic recovery drove crude prices to a near eight-month high above $73 a barrel last week. The Bank of Japan held its interest rate at 0.1% and upgraded its economic assessment for the second straight month as rising exports and output raise expectations the worst of the recession is over. Australia’s central bank too saw no “pressing need” to cut interest rates given signs of stabilisation at home and abroad. But Asian stock markets painted a bleaker picture, with Japan’s Nikkei down 2.9% and a broad measure of regional shares down 1.4%, as investors worried a strong rally from March lows had run ahead of corporate prospects. Traders will look out for weekly US government inventory data on Wednesday, which is expected to show a 1.8 million-barrel fall in crude oil stocks, a 600,000-barrel rise in gasoline stocks and 900,000-barrel rise in distillate stocks, based on a preliminary Reuters poll. The American Petroleum Institute (API) will issue its report later in the day. With oil rising almost $20 since the end of April, there were concerns that speculation in the market had pushed oil prices up too high, too fast. Opec secretary general Abdullah al-Badri said a too-quick rise in oil prices could harm a global economic recovery, though a price of $80 a barrel would not stem growth. The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, also sounded a cautious note, saying the worst of the global crisis was not yet over. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 8:24 am GM says reaches deal to sell Saab to KoenigseggStockholm: US automaker General Motors has signed a peliminary agreement to sell its loss-making unit Saab Automobile to Swedish luxury sports car maker Koenigsegg, GM said in a statement on Tuesday. “General Motors Corp. and Koenigsegg Group AB, a consortium led by Koenigsegg Automotive AB, today confirmed the details of a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of Saab Automobile AB that secures Saab’s future,” GM said. GM, now in bankruptcy protection in the United States, put Saab up for sale in February as it bids to slim down its range of brands and become profitable again. Koenigsegg, founded in 1994 by Swedish businessman Christian von Koenigsegg, has just 45 employees and produces 18 high-end sports cars a year for more than a million euros ($1.4 million) each. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 8:07 am Samsung, Nokia heat up smartphone contestLondon/Seoul: The world’s two largest cellphone makers, Nokia and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, unveiled new phones on Monday, offering features comparable to iPhone and Pre, but at lower prices. In the last two weeks Apple Inc’s launch of an updated version of iPhone and Palm Inc’s Pre model have heated up competition in the sweet-spot of an otherwise shrinking industry. “What is clear is that we are heading to one of the most competitive fourth-quarters we have had,” said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. The holiday fuelled fourth quarter is usually the strongest sales season for handsets and vendors launch their top models in time to reach the sales peak in October-December quarter. The cellphone market volume is expected to fall about 10% this year as recession dampens consumer demand, but the market for so-called smartphones is expected to rise 10 - 20%, boosted by new and attractive models from many of the top vendors. “Consumer demand for more capable devices seems to be accelerating despite the general economic doom and gloom,” said Ben Wood, a research director at CCS Insight. “Samsung and Nokia are playing smart by offering these sorts of products at punchy price points.” Samsung revamped in one go its smartphones portfolio, unveiling four new models to its Omnia range — the Omnia II, the OmniaLITE and two OmniaPRO models, all using Microsoft Corp’s Windows Mobile software. Samsung also launched a new mass-market “Jet” model on Monday, which differs from some 150 phones Samsung launches per year with its full touch screen, a next-generation display and improved processor to deliver fast mobile Internet access. The company said it will reach new, untapped markets of consumers who want smartphone functionality at a “reasonable price.” It did not reveal the price of the phone, but analysts said it was comparable to most mid-range models. Top cellphone maker Nokia launched three new handsets on Monday, including a new touch-screen model, the 5530 Xpressmusic, which would sell for $280 before subsidies and taxes, starting next quarter. “Nokia is trying to address the very competitive mid-range space given the prices of the Pre and the new iPhone,” said Gartner’s Milanesi. “Nokia can also benefit from a lower contract tariff than these two devices have, which will make the products more competitive, but certainly not offering a comparable user experience.” Rays of light The cellphone industry saw its worst-ever quarter in January-to-March, with the market shrinking 14% from a year ago and Nokia reporting its first-ever quarterly pretax loss. Several companies and analysts have said the worst could well be over for the industry because the fall was partly caused by retailers selling stockpiles of older phones, but only a few have seen any improvement in demand. The head of sales and marketing at Samsung’s mobile unit said he was hopeful phone sales would fall 8-9% this year across the industry, slightly less than the company’s official expectation of a 10% drop, as the global economy begins to recover. “In the second half ... I do not see any special surge in demand. However, there is a small sign of recovery of the general economy. Hopefully, the mobile industry also will recover some,” Lee Donjoo told the agency. “Currently, we’re focusing on around 10% lower. I’m expecting a little less, eventually -- minus 9, minus 8, hopefully.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 8:07 am Sensex rebound on revival of buying, gains 48 ptsWiping off early losses, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex gained over 48 points at noon today on revival of buying in blue-chip stocks at existing attractive levels.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2009 | 8:05 am Top cos advance tax payments in April-June mixedMUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Industries, paid less tax than a year ago, while tax payments by State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, rose, according an income tax official who declined to be named.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2009 | 7:56 am Bank Muscat to sell remaining stake in HDFC BankBank Muscat on Tuesday said it will sell its remaining holding in India's second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank within a month.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2009 | 6:32 am Boeing, Airbus shut out of orders at Paris Air ShowParis: Boeing didn’t score a single jet order and its competitor Airbus didn’t fare that much better on the opening day of the Paris Air Show, where the mood among the world’s aviation industry leaders was as damp as the weather. Worries about the unexplained crash of Air France Flight 447 hung in the air as airlines and planemakers gathered at the 100th anniversary of the world’s first and largest air show. Pouring rain at the Le Bourget air field, combined with plunging revenue, layoffs and unprecedented losses in the industry, set the stage for a modest gathering. While defiant Boeing Co. executives said the overall prospects were robust, the Chicago-based aviation giant reported no new orders Monday. Airbus announced just one, from Qatar Airways, for 24 jets from the A320 family worth $1.9 billion. At the opening day of the industry’s last major show, in Farnborough, England, a year ago, airlines from oil-rich Middle Eastern countries booked orders for about 150 planes worth more than $25 billion. Gulf-based carriers were among the few pulling out their checkbooks this year. Qatar Airways’ head, Akbar al-Baker, announced firm orders for 20 single-aisle A320s and confirmed a commitment for four A321 jets announced last year at the Farnborough Air Show. He said the deal announced Monday is worth $1.9 billion, which is about the same as the list price. Airlines, however, usually negotiate steep discounts to catalog prices, particularly during grim economic times. Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce PLC signed a $1.5 billion order with Gulf Air to supply engines for the Bahrain-based airline’s new Airbus A330 long-haul aircraft. The British aircraft engine manufacturer will supply Trent 700EP engines to power 20 Airbus A330 aircraft, with deliveries beginning in 2012. Russian planemaker Sukhoi, peddling its SuperJet 100 at the air show, netted promised orders from Hungary’s Malev for 30 jets worth up to $1 billion. But it was a commercial sleight of hand, since Malev was bought by Russian state-owned bank Vnesheconombank in a high-profile deal earlier this year. The SuperJet 100, seen as key to Russia’s attempts to revitalize its civilian aircraft industry, is designed to fly both regional and medium-haul routes. SuperJet International is a joint venture between Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica and Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft. Canada’s Bombardier announced it had won, confirmed or converted a total of 35 firm orders for its CRJ1000 NextGen jets by Spanish regional carrier Air Nostrum, in deals worth a total of $1.75 billion. Boeing warned last week not to expect a flurry of orders. Its defense business is hoping to make up for lagging commercial sales and weakening US military sales - through rising international exports. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) announced on Monday the launch of a new Unmanned Airborne Systems division, which will group all the company’s drone projects to better compete for military contracts. The formation of the new division reflects the growing interest by various air forces in unmanned aerial vehicles for everything from high-altitude surveillance and coastal patrols to tracking natural disasters. Boeing’s commercial aircraft chief sought Monday on to strike a positive tone. Boeing recently cut its outlook for the commercial aircraft market for the first time in at least a decade, which Carson said was mainly driven by the drop in freight traffic due to the global recession. So far this year, Boeing which is cutting 10,000 jobs has taken orders for 73 planes, but with cancellations of 66, the net order intake is only 7 jets. Airbus’ order tally advanced to 56 on Monday after the Qatar Airways order. After cancellations, net orders to date total 35. Both planemakers are cushioned by order backlogs of around 3,500 planes. Already reeling from the global recession, the industry gathering near where Air France Flight 447 should have landed only two weeks ago has been shaken by the still-unexplained crash. Investigators have only two more weeks to find the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the Airbus A330 jet before the signals emitted by small beacons on the so-called black boxes start to fade. Without them, the cause of the 31 May accident may never be fully known. “We are supporting the investigation as much as we can and we very much hope that the recorders will be found soon, so that we find out what really happened,” Airbus CEO Tom Enders said Monday. He defended the A330’s record as “very, very impressive.” He said they have “more than 16 million flight hours, more than 3 million flights and this is so far one of the safest commercial aircraft built.” The Paris Air Show is marking its 100th anniversary. It opened to industry on Monday, and then to the public Friday to Sunday. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2009 | 6:29 am World Cup exit may see Brand Dhoni take a hitWith Indias exit from the T20 World Cup, talk of an erosion in Dhonis brand value is being discussed, though industry trackers say this will be transient in nature.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2009 | 4:56 am Losing jobs, Satyam staff weigh legal optionsSatyam employees who have been moved to the virtual pool may move the court to challenge the company's decision to force a huge chunk of workforce to sit at home.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2009 | 4:13 am Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to hire 1,300 this yearHyderabad, June 15 Pharma major, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd will hire 1,300 employees in various categories this year.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Reliance Natural stock soars, RIL tumblesMumbai, June 15 The share prices of Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) reacted strongly to the long-awaited Bombay High Court ruling in the RIL vs RNRLSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Signs of a global recoveryFinance Ministers of the G8, meeting at Lecce in Italy during the latter part of week ending June 14, were cautiously optimistic. The final communiqué noted that in the aftermath of efforts at financial stabilisation and fiscal stimulationSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Pranab to present Budget on July 6The Union Cabinet on Monday decided to recommend to the President, Ms Pratibha Patil, that the Budget session of Parliament be convened from July 2. The Budget session is expected to end on August 7. Accordingly, the Finance Minister, MrSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am RIL-RNRL dispute: Await more twists in the taleChennai, June 15 Did the markets over-react to the Bombay High Court judgment in the Reliance Industries – Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) case? It does appear so, especially in the case of the 24 per cent mark-up in the stock of RNRL.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Infosys eyes buys in Mexico, Brazil to improve operationsBangalore, June 15 Infosys Technologies Ltd is eyeing acquisitions in Mexico and Brazil to expand its delivery capability and grow business from local organisations in theseSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am BSNL’s GSM project faces further delayNew Delhi, June 15 Finnish telecom equipment-maker Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has shot off a fresh letter to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd’s two-member integrity panel alleging that it has been unfairly singled out of the bidding process forSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Court directs Reliance to sell gas to RNRL at $2.34Mumbai, June 15 The Bombay High Court has asked Reliance Industries to supply 28 mmscmd (million metric standard cubic metres per day) of gas from its Krishna-Godavari basin to Reliance Natural Resources Ltd for $2.34 per mmbtu (million metricSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Reliance Petroleum (Rs 136.45): SellWe recommend a sell in Reliance Petroleum stock from a short-term trading perspective. It is evident from the charts of Reliance Petroleum that it was on an intermediate-term up-trend from its 52-week low of Rs 68 (recorded in early March) tillSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideThe near-term outlook is bearish for DLF. We recommend a sell. ICICI Bank is constantly testing the key resistance at Rs 750 for past two weeks. Utilise rallies to sell the stock with tight stop at Rs 750. WeSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Axis closes Rs 2,000-cr bond issue 2 days early!India`s third-largest private sector bank Axis Bank has decided to close its Rs 2,000-crore lower Tier-2 bond issue on Monday, two days prior to the earlier scheduled closing date on June 17.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Jun 2009 | 11:04 pm Raja to meet Mukherjee tomorrow to discuss 3G reserve price!Telecom Minister A Raja will meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tomorrow seeking a consensus on the issue of reserve price for 3G spectrum auction.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Jun 2009 | 11:04 pm Comply with debt investment cap in 3 months: SEBI to MFs!Market regulator SEBI today asked mutual funds to bring down their investment in money market instruments of a single entity to within 30 per cent limit by Sept 5.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Jun 2009 | 11:04 pm Dr Reddy`s enters into strategic pact with GSK!Dr Reddy`s Labs on Monday announced a "strategic" partnership with GlaxoSmithKline by which the multinational branded drug maker will sell the domestic generic firm`s products.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Jun 2009 | 11:04 pm FIIs pull out shares worth Rs 411 cr from domestic markets!Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on Monday pulled out a net Rs 411.54 crore from the Indian stock markets, dragging the benchmark indices into negative zone.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Jun 2009 | 11:04 pm Housing finance arms of LIC, GIC to sell stake in LIC MF!Housing subsidiaries of state-owned insurers will sell their stake in LIC Mutual fund (LICMF) for a total consideration of Rs 227 crore.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Jun 2009 | 11:04 pm Mukesh Ambani led firms lose Rs 32,574 cr after Court verdict!The court ruling on RIL-RNRL gas dispute on Monday spelled bad news for the Mukesh Ambani led group companies wherein investors lost a whopping Rs 32,574 crore in just a single trading session.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Jun 2009 | 11:04 pm Shipping Corporation net drops 19% at Rs 200.76 cr!Shipping Corporation of India on Monday reported a 19.27 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 200.76 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2009.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Jun 2009 | 11:04 pm Overseas investors upbeat about India recovery: Barclays!Investors in countries like the UK, US and China are more confident about growth of the Indian economy compared to Indian HNIs, a report by Barclays Wealth said on Monday.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Jun 2009 | 11:04 pm RBI relaxes guidelines for issue of dividends by UCBs!The Reserve Bank on Monday allowed urban cooperative banks (UCB) to declare dividends without seeking its permission provided they have followed the prudential banking norms.Source: Zee News : Business | 15 Jun 2009 | 11:04 pm Runaway Satyam rattles TechMThe sharp run-up in the Satyam stock price in recent weeks has left the Tech Mahindra management in a quandary over the second preferential allotment offer.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2009 | 10:29 pm Softpro buys S African co for $19mSoftpro Systems Ltd has acquired Johannesburg-based Cura Risk Management Software for a structured consideration of $19 million.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2009 | 10:22 pm TVS targets double-digit growth this yrTVS Motor Co is eyeing a double-digit growth this fiscal on the back of new product launches. The company unveiled 180 cc Apache in the premium bike category.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2009 | 10:21 pm RIL earnings seen unhit till FY2011Morgan Stanley analysts Vinay Jaising, Parag Gupta, Mayank Maheshwari & Saumya Srivastav said RNRL will take at least two years to build a gas-based power plant.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2009 | 10:16 pm ESPN STAR, advertisers on a sticky wicketAt least a dozen advertisers, including Reliance Communications, Nokia, Pepsi, Hero Honda, Maruti and Visa among others, and host broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports may find themselves on a sticky wicket with Indias exit from the current world Twenty20 cricket tournament.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 15 Jun 2009 | 6:37 pm Finance ministry mulls re-entry of investment allowanceIndustry argues for reintroduction saying no cut in tax rates likely; others say no need since capacity use is still low.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 15 Jun 2009 | 6:33 pm Court tells RIL to supply gas to RNRL at lower priceAmbani brothers given one month to come up with bankable agreement or approach their mother.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 15 Jun 2009 | 6:31 pm In troubled times, even Forbes magazine is pinching penniesNew York: With its yearly list of the most fabulously wealthy and legion of articles lionizing business leaders, Forbes magazine has long been a synonym for riches, success and a belief that business, left to its own devices, will create a better world. That last part has not worked out so well lately. If there ever was a bad time to be named Forbes—and there probably is not—now might qualify. The signature magazine, founded on the words of Bertie Charles Forbes, “Business was originated to produce happiness,” is struggling in an age of financial misery.  Dwindling riches: Steve Forbes (in picture) and Tim Forbes conceded that the last year had been a difficult one for the magazine. Ashesh Shah / Mint Out of its 1,000 employees, it has laid off about 100 since November, including 20 people in January, and has announced an unpaid five-day furlough for employees. In 2006, 40% of the enterprise was sold to Elevation Partners, a private equity firm, for a reported $300 million, setting the value of the enterprise at $750 million. According to Mark M. Edmiston of AdMedia Partners, “It’s probably not worth half of that now.” Forbes’ misery certainly has plenty of company among its competitors. Ad pages have declined even more at Fortune and BusinessWeek. Revenue figures from the Publishers Information Bureau, a generally inflated index, listed revenue of at least $338 million for Forbes, $276 million for Fortune and $236 million for BusinessWeek. Forbes’ competitors have had significant layoffs as well. Many magazine industry experts expect that Portfolio, Conde Nast’s costly and abortive effort to gain a foothold in the category, will not be the last business magazine felled by the current recession. Dennis Kneale, a former managing editor at Forbes who now works at CNBC, suggests that the magazine will be tested as it never before has been. The brothers Steve and Tim Forbes, the third generation to run the magazine, “have never been through anything like this, and they will find out if they have the management talent on hand to publish a magazine in this environment”, Kneale said. In a conference room in their Manhattan headquarters, Tim and Steve Forbes conceded that the last year had been a difficult one for a magazine marketed as the “Capitalist Tool”. But, sitting side by side in room dappled with all the iconography of wealth—pictures of a yacht, several estates and the men who acquired them—they also said that, while the economy may cycle, what it means to be a Forbes does not. “On many occasions, we’ve been materially out of sync with the prevailing wisdom of the moment and where the world was,” said Tim Forbes, the president and chief operating officer of the company, which is privately held. “The tide seemed to be going the other way, but we don't change our fundamental view.” But the downturn—both in the economy and in the Forbes philosophy—is felt particularly sharply here. Often thought of as a wealthy family that happens to own a magazine, the family is actually wealthy precisely because it owns a magazine, and the business decline of the magazine comes right out of the family’s pockets. And there is another generation that expects to inherit more than a once-gilded family name. So while the Forbeses’ view on making money may not have changed, their view on spending has. Until his death in 1990, the brothers’ father, Malcolm S. Forbes, embodied living large. There were hot-air balloons, a palace in Tangiers, an island in the Pacific, Faberge eggs, an extensive art collection, a Boeing 727 (also christened the “Capitalist Tool”) and a 151-foot yacht named “The Highlander” as homage to the family’s Scottish roots. As young men, his four sons would play the bagpipes to welcome guests—mainly prospective advertisers—aboard. In the last few years, the palace and island have been sold. A collection of tin soldiers was put on a forced march, $27 million worth of Victorian art was peddled, the eggs were bought by a Russian oligarch, and the jet is gone. They still have the yacht, but the crew has been let go and it has been docked in Miami. “We thought it would be inappropriate in this environment to run around in the boat,” said Tim Forbes. “So it seemed like a natural thing to put it on hiatus.” In 2007, the family even tried to sell the company’s ornate headquarters on Fifth Avenue and move to a less fancy address, but the souring real estate market stopped them. Malcolm Forbes made working at the magazine seem like a kind of mad caper. His sons share the congenital optimism, but the magazine was deeply invested in the dot-com boom. After that burst and now the credit crisis, working at Forbes could seem more like a grind. “Everyone here likes the magazine, the people who run it, and most of us believe in the mission,” said one editorial employee who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak with a reporter. “But that sense of mission is sort of hard to sustain when most of the news is bad. Capitalism is a less sexy topic for everyone, including us.” Leonard Lauder, chairman of Estee Lauder Co., has known the family for some time and said that the Forbeses are a reflection of a shift in the culture. “Malcolm Forbes lived life to the fullest and took obvious pleasure in his wealth and influence, but the sons are living in very different times,” he said. It is not as if the family's back is against the wall financially, even after having divested many of the assets. The company is still expanding aggressively internationally through licensing agreements that export the Forbes way. Steve Forbes recently returned from opening up a Forbes magazine in India, bringing the number of foreign editions to 10. In addition, this year the company began publishing ForbesWoman, a quarterly magazine with a companion website. Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the owner of The Daily News in New York, thinks the franchise and the aspiration that drives it will survive, as long as the market rebounds. “There is still a lot of aspiration out there, which the Forbeses have tapped into. The question for them, for a lot of people in publishing, is can we last until things turn around?” ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES feedback@livemint.com Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2009 | 6:27 pm IBM to help clients fight costs, complexityIn 2000, the Linux operating system was hot technology, but it had not spread much beyond scientists, researchers and computer programmers. Then International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) declared that it would back Linux with investment, research and marketing, and the technology moved swiftly into the corporate mainstream. The same thing happened with the personal computer in the early 1980s, when IBM endorsed that upstart technology and entered the market.  New plan: IBM’s corporate headquarters in New York. After the company helped create the personal computer industry, lower-cost competitors ended up dominating the business. Cloud computing—in which vast stores of information and processing resources can be tapped from afar, over the Internet, using a personal computer, cellphone or other device—holds great promise in the corporate market. The cloud model, analysts say, has the potential to cut the costs, complexity and headaches of technology for companies and government agencies. Already, Amazon.com Inc., Google Inc. and Salesforce.com Inc., among others, offer cloud-based Web services to companies, including email, computer storage and customer management software. But many big companies and government agencies have been reluctant to get on board because of traditional corporate-computing concerns such as the security of data, reliability of service and regulatory compliance. “IBM knows how to do all of those things,” said Frank Gens, chief analyst for IDC, a technology research firm. “Its strategy is all about making cloud computing safe for enterprise customers.” Even if IBM succeeds in its bid to make cloud computing more palatable for big corporations, there is no guarantee that it will be the main beneficiary of the trend. After IBM helped create the PC industry, lower-cost competitors ended up dominating the business. In the cloud market, IBM plans a tailored approach. The hardware and software in its cloud offerings will be meant for specific computing chores. Just as Google runs a computing cloud optimized for Internet search, IBM will make bespoke clouds for computing workloads in business. Its early cloud entries follow that model. One set of offerings is focused on streamlining the technology used by corporate software developers and testers, which can consume 30% or more of a company’s technology resources. The second set is virtual desktop services, in which personal computer software, either from Microsoft or open-source alternatives, is run on remote servers and piped to simple desktop machines equipped with screens and keyboards. IBM found in tests with clients that such virtual PCs, with little desktop processing or storage, can use 70% less power than conventional PCs and reduce technical support costs by up to 40%. Both software development and desktop services are being offered as an integrated bundle of hardware and software for a cloud running inside a corporate or government data centre, or as a cloud service hosted in an IBM data centre. IBM calls its approach of fine-tuning hardware and software for specific jobs hybrid computing. And it will open a Hybrid Computing Research lab later this year, inviting industry and university scientists to work cooperatively on new application-specific designs that improve performance by 100-1,000 times compared with today’s systems. IBM had an initiative, begun in early 2008, called Blue Cloud, which involved adapting its server computers for cloud technology. Most major technology suppliers have cloud-related hardware and software products, including Cisco Systems Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Dell Inc. But IBM, analysts say, is going further by offering simplified, integrated stacks of hardware and software, as well as cloud services. IBM’s cloud strategy, the company said, is the culmination of 100 prototype projects with companies and government agencies over the last year, and its research partnership with Google. One of IBM’s test beds for cloud computing has been the Interior Department’s National Business Center, a service centre that handles payroll, human relations, financial reporting, contracting services and other computing tasks for federal agencies. The centre runs two large data centres, one in Northern Virginia and another outside Denver. Douglas J. Bourgeois, the centre’s director, said he is introducing several cloud-style applications over the next nine months. And in tests with financial and procurement software, the cloud-computing environment has delivered efficiencies of 40-60% in productivity and power consumption, he said. “For us, like other data centres, the volume of data continues to explode,” Bourgeois said. “We want to solve some of those problems with cloud computing, so we don’t have to build another $20 million data centre.” ©2009/The New York Times feedback@livemint.com Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2009 | 4:10 pm
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