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SBI car loans at 8 pc for first year, 10 pc for second, thirdState Bank of India said that it was launching a new car loan scheme for financing new cars called SBI Ezee Car Loan Scheme.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:10 pm Air India offers special monsoon faresTickets under this offer can be purchased between June 27 - July 3 for travel up to September 10, a company press release said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:04 pm Birla to raise promoters' stake in group firms - Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Jun 2009 | 11:59 am JLR makes Rs 1700 cr loss and drags Tata deep into the red - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Jun 2009 | 11:49 am Dewan Housing gets approval for equity issueMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Dewan Housing Finance Corp received approval on Saturday from its shareholders to sell equity up to 3 billion India rupees ($61.74 million) to qualified institutional buyers, the company told the stock exchanges.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Jun 2009 | 11:34 am Putin invites Shell to join Sakhalin 3, 4 projectsMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has invited Royal Dutch Shell to participate in Sakhalin-3 and Sakhalin-4 natural gas projects at a meeting with Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Jun 2009 | 11:23 am Chennai hospital hostage drama involving ex-Guyana First Lady ends - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Jun 2009 | 10:50 am Vodafone Zoozoos fail to impress at CannesIt may not be as big as last year but India so far has managed to get three nominations this year in the Film Lions category at the International Advertising Festival, Cannes.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 27 Jun 2009 | 9:42 am Kesoram plans further capacity expansionThe board of Kesoram Industries Ltd, a B K Birla group company, has decided to expand the capacity of its cement and tyre units located at Balasore (Orissa) and Sedam (Karnataka) respectively.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 27 Jun 2009 | 9:28 am Oriental Bank plans to cut lending ratesOriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) intends to soon bring down its prime lending rates by 2550 basis points. This will lower its prime lending rates from the current 12 per cent up to 11.50 per cent.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 27 Jun 2009 | 9:09 am Centre to monitor crude oil prices before petro hike: Deora"Unfortunately the international crude oil prices have gone up. We are watching the situation," Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Murli Deora said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 27 Jun 2009 | 8:55 am Mahindra Holidays IPO subscribed 9.74 times - India Infoline.com
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Jun 2009 | 8:44 am Japan, Korea debate exit strategy amid recoveryTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and South Korea agreed on Saturday on the need to start examining an exit strategy for their expansionary fiscal policies as they overcome the worst of the global recession.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Jun 2009 | 7:33 am Kumar Mangalam Birla to inherit Kesoram, CenturyKumar Mangalam Birla, head of Aditya Birla group that owns Grasim Industries Ltd and Hindalco Industries Ltd, will inherit three B K Birla-controlled firms.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 27 Jun 2009 | 6:56 am S.Kumars says acquires U.S. clothing firmMUMBAI (Reuters) - Textile manufacturer S. Kumars Nationwide has acquired U.S. clothing company Hartmarx Corp for about $120 million, the company said in a notice to stock exchanges on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Jun 2009 | 6:30 am Sensex gains 1.67% on global supportEquities continue to shine after it broke the longest weekly winning streak last week and gained 1.67% amid a forecast of below normal monsoon this year and negative FII activity in the week under review.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 27 Jun 2009 | 6:20 am BSNL launches desktop PC for Rs6,500The computers are made by Chennai-based company, Novatium Solutions which will sell these computers through BSNL in Gujarat.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Jun 2009 | 4:30 am Warren Buffett lunch sells for $1.68 mln on eBayNEW YORK (Reuters) - A bidder agreed to pay $1.68 million for a steak lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffett in a charity auction completed Friday night, according to eBay Inc's website, where the bidding took place.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Jun 2009 | 2:42 am U.S. prosecutors ask judge to imprison Madoff for lifeNEW YORK (Reuters) - Swindler Bernard Madoff should spend the rest of his life in prison, U.S. prosecutors argued on Friday, citing the "unique scope and duration" of his crimes as the leader of Wall Street's biggest fraud.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Jun 2009 | 1:37 am Wall St Week Ahead: Stocks eye jobs, other data in July 4th weekNEW YORK (Reuters) - For stock investors, June's job report could be a make-or-break factor next week in determining whether the recent rally has legs or not.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Jun 2009 | 1:12 am IBM loses injunction against Dell executiveBOSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge turned down a request from International Business Machines Corp to bar its former head of mergers and acquisitions from working at Dell Inc over allegations that he would disclose trade secrets.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:47 am MF distributors object to entry load in SEBI forumResearch Bureau With SEBI making public the responses received on its discussion paper inviting comments on mutual funds’ entry load issue, it becomes quite clear that distributors are strongly opposed to the suggestion.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Caraco’s FDA rap to hurt Sun PharmaMumbai, June 26 Sun Pharma may not have a time-frame by which it expects to dispel the regulatory shadow cast on its US subsidiary Caraco Pharmaceutical. The US authorities seized drug products made at the latter’s Michigan facilities onSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Oriental Bank plans to cut lending ratesNew Delhi, June 26 Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) intends to soon bring down its prime lending rates by 25-50 basis points. This will lower its prime lending rates from the current 12 per cent up to 11.50 per cent.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Kesoram plans further capacity expansionKolkata, June 26 The board of Kesoram Industries Ltd, a B K Birla group company, has decided to expand the capacity of its cement and tyre units located at Balasore (Orissa) and Sedam (Karnataka) respectively.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am 3G policy goes back to GoM on PMO ordersNew Delhi, June 26 The Prime Minister’s Office has asked the Communications and IT Ministry to refer the policy on third generation mobile services to a Group of Ministers on IT headed by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Sensex rebounds 419 pts, Nifty rises 3.15%Mumbai, June 26 After many days of relentless profit booking that dragged down stocks, the markets rose sharply on Friday as the Nifty introduced the free float method for computation of stock weightage. Positive global cues too providedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Jaguar Land Rover drags Tata Motors into the redMumbai, June 26 The acquisition of the UK-based Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has cost Tata Motors dearly, with the company posting a net loss of Rs 2,505 crore for 2008-09 on a consolidated basis. It had bought the company from Ford for $2.5 billionSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Gas production in May up 18%; crude oil dipsNew Delhi, June 26 While the domestic crude oil production continued its declining trend, natural gas output in May shot up by 18.3 per cent with production starting at Reliance Industries Ltd’s East Coast block, and coal bed methane outputSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am Low June rainfall may not affect eventual harvestNew Delhi, June 26 Even as the alarm bells are ringing over the poor progress of the South-West monsoon so far, there is very little evidence to show that lack of rains in June translates into a lower kharifSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am PSU general insurers improve market shareMumbai, June 26 Public sector general insurance companies collectively increased their market share in May. Three of them —Oriental Insurance, United India Insurance, and New India Assurance — reported a positive growth in terms ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Jun 2009 | 12:00 am BPTP launches housing project in Faridabad at Rs 18-26 lakh!Realty firm BPTP on Friday launched a housing project in its 1,500 acre township at Faridabad to be developed at an investment of about Rs 150 crore, excluding the land cost.Source: Zee News : Business | 26 Jun 2009 | 11:31 pm Tech Mahindra, WIN in strategic alliance!Tech Mahindra on Friday said it has inked a strategic alliance with UK-based interactive mobile information and entertainment services provider, WIN, to develop the company`s next generation mobile platform.Source: Zee News : Business | 26 Jun 2009 | 11:31 pm IFB Industries` Q4 net up over 15-fold!Consumer durables manufacturer IFB Industries Ltd on Friday announced a net profit of Rs 55.26 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2009, up more than 15-fold over the corresponding period a year ago.Source: Zee News : Business | 26 Jun 2009 | 11:31 pm FICCI wants Budget to state chambers will stay tax-exempt!Industry chamber FICCI wants government to clarify in Budget that the chamber, would continue to be exempt from paying tax as they are providing "pivotal" services in increasing the global competitiveness of domestic companies.Source: Zee News : Business | 26 Jun 2009 | 11:31 pm Japan`s consumer prices log record fall!Japan`s consumer price index tumbled at a record pace in May. The core nationwide CPI, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, fell 1.1 percent from the previous year in the third straight month of decline.Source: Zee News : Business | 26 Jun 2009 | 11:31 pm Spain announces 9-billion-euro banking fund!Spain on Friday announced a nine-billion-euro (USD 12.7-billion) fund to help revive the financial sector by buying stakes in banks hit by the global crisis and get them lending again.Source: Zee News : Business | 26 Jun 2009 | 11:31 pm Unitech to raise Rs 2,772 crore through private placement!The country`s second largest realty firm Unitech Ltd on Friday began the process to raise a little over Rs 2,772 crore through private placement of equity to fund projects and to service debt, sources said.Source: Zee News : Business | 26 Jun 2009 | 11:31 pm Max India to break even by 2011-12, says group CMD!Diversified group Max India, which reported a consolidated loss of Rs 333 crore for the financial year 2008-09 on Friday, said it expects to break even in next two years.Source: Zee News : Business | 26 Jun 2009 | 11:31 pm Tata Motors reports net loss of Rs 2,505 cr for FY`09!Tata Motors has reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 2,505.25 crore for the financial year 2008-09.Source: Zee News : Business | 26 Jun 2009 | 11:31 pm CII-SR to give thrust to eco, infra, corp governance!The CII-Southern Region would focus on setting in place modalities for revival of economy and address issues of infra and corporate governance in 2009-10.Source: Zee News : Business | 26 Jun 2009 | 11:31 pm ITC to take US tobacco tax ruling hitIt remains to be seen how the insurance industry reacts to the new instructions on mediclaims.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Jun 2009 | 10:29 pm With aircraft-on-ground, DHL takes a new gambitIt's a service that will reduce revenue loss of airlines due to an aircraft being grounded every time there is a technical fault.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Jun 2009 | 10:29 pm 'The days of big banks are gone'Yes Bank, founder and MD, Rana Kapoor tells DNA that the bank is now poised to shift gears.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Jun 2009 | 10:20 pm BK Birla daughters to inherit four group firmsKumar Mangalam will get Kesoram Industries, Century Textiles, Century Enka and Century Extrusions.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Jun 2009 | 10:18 pm Kesoram draws up Rs 1,550 cr expansion planKesoram Industries, the flagship of the BK Birla group of companies, will invest Rs 1,550 crore over the next 15 on expansion.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Jun 2009 | 10:16 pm United Spirits may look at QIP, stake sale in W&MDelay in stake sale to Diageo forcing Vijay Mallya to look at other options for deleveraging balance sheet.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Jun 2009 | 10:15 pm Some balm for chronic achesWhat concessions will the government would provide for medications and the kind of spending it would go in for in healthcare.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Jun 2009 | 10:12 pm R&D needs a strong pushIndian pharmaceutical industry has to develop ability and expertise for drug discovery and development in its own right.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Jun 2009 | 10:10 pm Monsoon still subdued in Pune - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 26 Jun 2009 | 9:42 pm Mineral water for all villages, says Chief Minister - Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 26 Jun 2009 | 9:26 pm SC to hear petitions challenging the SEZ Act: An analysisCome July, the Supreme Court may be taking up a petition that challenges the SEZ Act of India. This comes on the back of a slew of petitions that were filed against various SEZ projects including the Maha Mumbai SEZ promoted by Anand Jain, a close associate of Mukesh Ambani.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 26 Jun 2009 | 9:13 pm India determined to complete Doha trade deal - SharmaPARIS (Reuters) - India is determined to reach a deal in the long-running Doha round to free up world trade and believes that patient negotiation can narrow the remaining gaps, the country's new trade minister Anand Sharma said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 26 Jun 2009 | 8:50 pm Housing min seeks easy loansWith the President making an ambitious announcement of slum-free India in five years, the housing ministry, which is finding it difficult to manage resources, has knocked the doors of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 26 Jun 2009 | 8:40 pm UIC designed in AhmedabadThe Rs 150,000 crore biometric Unique Identification Card project, headed by Nandan Nilekani, has a piece of Gujarat in it.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 26 Jun 2009 | 8:39 pm Sensex climbs 419 pts as fiis pick stocks with high Nifty weightage - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 26 Jun 2009 | 8:32 pm B K Birla won't split KesoramThe Birla patriarch Basant Kumar Birla on Friday set aside all the speculations about splitting group flagship Kesoram Industries (KIL) by telling the shareholders of the company that it will go to his grandson Kumar Mangalam Birla.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 26 Jun 2009 | 8:14 pm IFCI may not get strategic investorThe finance ministry may abandon the move to rope in strategic investor in the development of financial institution IFCI, as its financial condition has improved and it does not require capital infusion in the near future.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 26 Jun 2009 | 8:14 pm Sensex rises 419 pointsThe stock market rallied on Friday to its best close in two weeks on the back of institutional buying that emerged at lower levels.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 26 Jun 2009 | 8:10 pm BEL may be big player in UID projectNandan Nilekani may not be the only major Bangalore connection to the Unique Identification Number project.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 26 Jun 2009 | 8:09 pm Books List | Musharraf Ali FarooqiMusharraf Ali Farooqi is a Toronto-based author, novelist and translator whose translation of the Islamic epic The Adventures of Amir Hamza by Ghalib Lakhnavi and Abdullah Bilgrami was acclaimed in 2008. On the eve of the release of his next major translated work, Hoshruba: The Land and the Tilism, a fantasy epic about a magical land of fairies, dragons and talismans, Farooqi tells Lounge about his favourite books in Urdu. “I have chosen these books for the beauty of their language, their intense storytelling, and their breathtaking scope. They include novels, short stories and dastans,” Farooqi says.  Photo: Courtesy Random House India by Syed Muhammad Ashraf This is a novel about a village administrator who creates an instrument of terror that ultimately turns on him. Its narrative is uniquely constructed, almost like a mathematical equation. Simia by Naiyer Masud This novel, a cosmic fable, is important because it’s penned by Urdu’s greatest contemporary master of the short story. Kai Chand Thay Sar-e Aasman by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi It is one of world literature’s greatest masterpieces. Faruqi brings his scholarship of Indo-Islamic society to recreate that lost world through the tale of, as the publisher says, “Wazir Khanam, mother of the famous poet, Dagh Dehlavi, who takes a series of lovers and husbands, including Metcalfe and a Mughal prince, Mirza Mughal.” Savar aur Doosray Afsanay by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi This is a collection of short historical fiction about the literary figures and culture in 19th and 20th century India. Mitti ki Kaan by Afzal Ahmed Syed Syed commands both the nazm and ghazal genres. This collection is representative of the finest Urdu poetry in modern times. Sanjukta Sharma Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:45 pm Sensex lifeline: high beeps and pratfallsSun Pharma (11.6% down) Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd slides 11.6% after USFDA seized 33 drugs at its Detroit facility of Caraco Pharma, which is 76% owned by Sun. Caraco’s manufacturing business had sales of $ 112 million. ********** ICICI Bank (8% up) ICICI Bank Ltd was up 8% as Nifty moved to free-float methodology from Friday. ICICI Bank will benefit the most after this change in Nifty calculation. ICICI bank weight goes up nearly 3.6% from 2.95% to 6.6%. ********** Sterlite Tech (10% up) Sterlite Technologies Ltd gained 10% after the board approved Rs250 crore capex for increasing optical fibre capacity to 20 million km from 12 million km. Board also approved issue of up to 73 lakh warrants to promoters. ********** DCB (10% up) Development Credit Bank Ltd up 10% as the management has been looking for strategic partners in the bank. They are not looking for merger or be taken over by any other bank. ********** CMC Ltd (13.5% up) CMC Ltd was up 13.5% and touched a 52-week high of Rs812 in Friday’s trade. The stock is excited on prospects of national identity card order. TCS Ltd holds a 51% stake in the company. ********** Lupin Ltd (5.7% down) Lupin Ltd lost 5.7% on cascading effect of Sun Pharma. Lupin’s Mandideep facility is under USFDA scanner. As of now, the manufacturing at Mandideep facility remains uninterrupted. ********** Rallis India (18.5% down) Rallis India Ltd gained 18.5% on expectations that the budget is accommodating a special package for rural economy due to deficient monsoon. Budget could support farmers via input credit or farm loan waiver. ********** Tata Steel (2.8% down) Tata Steel Ltd lost 2.8% on back of poor numbers. Q4 consolidated net sales were down 31% at Rs24,788 crore. Operating loss was at Rs1,610 crore. The firm reported a net loss of Rs4,385 crore. ********** Source: Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:45 pm Budget unlikely to have additional farm grantsNew Delhi: Even though India’s met department has predicted a below normal monsoon, the finance ministry may not respond to it in the forthcoming budget, people close to the matter said. The budget is unlikely to contain any additional allocation of funds for agriculture to provide for deficient rainfall, they said on condition of anonymity. The ministry wants to wait till 15 July before deciding on whether to allocate additional funds, the people said. The budget is scheduled to be presented in Parliament on 6 July. The ministry wants to wait till 15 July before deciding on earmarking extra funds India currently has adequate stocks of wheat and rice. The finance ministry, however, has asked the agriculture ministry to hasten the disbursement of existing allocations and already sanctioned farm loans, particularly in central, northern and north-western parts of the country, which are yet to receive rainfall. If the rainfall is indeed deficient, the finance ministry may have to exceed its borrowing target of Rs2,41,000 crore for the first half of the fiscal year to March. “We are trying to front load some more borrowings into H1 (first half of the fiscal), so we may have to exceed the H1 borrowing target somewhat. But we are trying to keep borrowing for the entire fiscal under control so that interest rates are not impacted in the economy,” said another official familiar with the government’s borrowing exercise. The finance ministry has signalled its intention to keep fiscal deficit under 6% this fiscal year. The budgeted estimates of fiscal deficit, as set out in the interim budget, is 5.5%. cnbctv18@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:45 pm Environment ministry to get stricter with clearancesNew Delhi: The ministry of environment and forests would like to see a higher rejection rate in environmental and forest clearances, said Jairam Ramesh, who holds independent charge of the ministry. “That will mean we are doing a good job,” the minister said. “We have already returned a few projects where diversion of good forest land was required and a few involving mining in hill states,” he said. All mining and industrial projects in the country need a nod from the ministry before proceeding. The current rate of approval is around 98%, which the minister termed as “unnatural”. He also promised a much faster and more transparent process of clearance.  Better transparency: Environment minister Jairam Ramesh. Kamal Singh / PTI “The promise of higher rejection rate is a beginning. But the more important points than 10 projects being rejected is whether they are in eco-sensitive areas in terms of conservation and livelihood,” said Ritwick Dutta, an environmental lawyer with Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment, a public interest law group. “Also, whether the projects being rejected are public or private companies, as closing down private enterprises in much harder. And lastly, do the rejections also take into account past non-compliance of pollution norms?” Dutta asked. The environment minister also accepted the resignation of P. Abraham as chairman of the ministry’s expert appraisal committee for river valley and hydroelectric projects on grounds of conflict of interest. Abraham sits on the boards of a number of companies with interests in hydropower. The environment ministry announced four conditions that will have to be met for environmental clearances. All project proponents will now have to make public their clearance letters and status of compliance with environmental norms, including results of monitoring data, and an annual environmental statement. Ramesh said that the trend of laying foundation stones for projects before environmental and forest clearances have been obtained will have to stop and so will the use of in-principle approvals to start projects. “This tendency to treat environmental and forest clearances as a mere formality will no longer be acceptable,” the minister said. padmaparna.g@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:45 pm The good get goingThe causerati have hit the trails this summer and the agenda stretches from saving the world to, well, saving electricity. More grown-up than gap-year volunteering and offering many more options, VolunTourism—as the trend was just crying to be labelled—is a phenomenon that can’t be ignored.  Helping hands: Mongolian women. Elevate Destinations (www.elevatedestinations.com) says it promotes “responsive travel” by giving a percentage of its profits to promote pet causes in destination countries. Banish thoughts of hard living and bucket loos, though: Wherever possible, Elevate chooses eco-luxury accommodation that segues perfectly well with its “making a difference” philosophy. In July, August and September, travel to Uganda on the Great Apes of Africa tour (cost: $3,800, or around Rs1.8 lakh per person on a twin-share basis), which benefits the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. The eight-day trip includes two chimpanzee-tracking expeditions in the Kibale forest, one gorilla-tracking expedition in the “impenetrable” Bwindi forest and overnight stays at the Gorilla Forest Camp and Mihingo Lodge. Or sign up for fall trips to Easter Island and Mongolia. Easter Island, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean—the nearest island is 1,900km away—is a six-day tour (cost: $6,000 per person), inclusive of walks that take you close to the mysterious moai, the gigantic sculptures that have stood guard over the island for hundreds of years. Also, meet the descendants of this ancient culture and spend an evening in the home of a local artisan family. We’d put our money, though, on the Mongolia trip. The 13-day visit (cost: $5000 per person) benefits three charities, including the Mongolian Women’s Fund, and takes a limited number of visitors from the Gobi desert to Lake Hovsgol, via Ulaan Bator, and includes interactions with local cultural groups and philanthropists. All Elevate prices are exclusive of international airfare, passport and visa fees, and insurance. Fifty per cent of the tour cost needs to be paid up at the time of booking and the rest 90 days ahead of departure. To book a trip, drop them an email at info@elevatedestinations.com. Write to lounge@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:45 pm Pate, Chettinad styleI’m not sure how much of it was the undoubtedly excellent food or how much the sheer magic of the place: The Taj Group’s real star property has got to be Gateway Pasumalai in Madurai. It is never talked about, let alone hyped. But enter the gate, drive up the one-and-a-half-kilometre-long driveway, dodging wild hare and mongoose, and enter the porch of this erstwhile Madura Coats bungalow, and you’ve left the present-day world behind and entered the British Raj. Since it’s built at a slight elevation from the rest of the town, you can see all the way to the Meenakshi temple while strains of devotional music are carried to its gardens by gusts of wind. You can feed peacocks with crumbs from your table.  Browning glory: This brain stir fry is flavoured with fried onions. Raj Sekhar Chef Raj Sekhar’s local menu revolves around the food of Madurai which, according to him, is a melting pot of Chettinad food overlaid with influences from as far away as Kerala. The six or seven messes in the city are run by members of an extended family who reportedly hail from the Chettinad region. Amma Mess and the others have influenced local tastes to such an extent that Madurai is now more or less synonymous with Chettinad food, though Karaikudi (a prominent town in the Chettinad region) is an hour and a half away. Dhabas specialize in kothu poratta—a flaky paratha shredded and griddle-cooked with pieces of meat and fistfuls of spice. Sekhar is of the opinion that their provenance is Kerala. You’ll encounter all this and more in the turn-of-the-century dining hall at the Gateway, where I shared a gigantic table with the chef’s enchanting three-year-old daughter, dressed up as a fairy as compensation for having fractured her arm. Sekhar’s efforts to build a bank of home-style Chettinad cooking have resulted in periodic food festivals where he invites Karaikudi housewives to cook their specialities in the Taj kitchen. Unusual dishes that he has encountered have included raktam curry—a preparation made from lamb’s blood that, he claims, has the appearance of scrambled eggs! The single dish that stands out in my memory has to be Mulla Poriyal—lamb’s brain stir-fry. It had the elegance and subtlety of a French pâté, except that in the background was a melange of spices. Sekhar himself had never before encountered a brain preparation that was not a curry. In north India, all you’ll get is brain broken up or served in chunks, but always part of a flowing sauce that contains onions and/or tomatoes, plus enough spices to distract you from the principal ingredient. On the other hand, though Mulla Poriyal did not have the texture of brain, the pale brown colouring came more from the fried onions than heavy spicing. None of which answers the question: Did I enjoy the meal because of its quality or because of the unmatched experience? Mulla Poriyal Serves 2 Ingredients 250g lamb brain 2 tbsp refined oil 1 star anise 1inch cinnamon stick 1 tsp urad dal 1 tsp whole cumin seeds 1 onion (medium size) 3 garlic cloves (sliced) 2 green chillies (sliced) 10-12 curry leaves A pinch of turmeric powder ½ tomato (sliced) Salt to taste 3 tbsp fresh coconut (grated) 1 egg 1tsp coriander leaves (chopped) Method Wash the brain under running water and dice. Heat oil in a pan, add the star anise, cinnamon stick, cumin seeds, urad dal and saute lightly. Add the garlic, onions, green chillies and curry leaves. Sweat the mixture on slow fire. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and the diced brain to the mixture. Keep stirring until the brain combines with the mixture. Add the tomato slices and beaten egg. Continue cooking for 5 minutes. Lastly, add the coconut. Check for seasoning and garnish with coriander leaves. Recipe courtesy Raj Sekhar, executive chef, Gateway Pasumalai, Madurai. Write to Marryam at travellingtiffin@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:45 pm The golden liningIt began as a horrible holiday. Lucky for us, we were in Amritsar. And if there’s one place where everything can go wrong and yet the world can still seem strangely right, it is this spiritual and cultural capital of Sikhism. And because the city’s showpiece, the Golden Temple, is open 24 hours, ultimately there’s little harm if the schedule doesn’t go according to plan.  Majestic: At the Golden Temple, cleanliness is one expression of devotion. Narinder Nanu / AFP See, we had a Plan. We were to make a day trip to Amritsar and then head to McLeodganj to satisfy one lover of hikes (my husband) and another of Buddha and the Dalai Lama (my father). We were to take a 6.40am train to arrive in Amritsar in time for a dhaba lunch, catch a quick glimpse of the Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh, watch the retreat ceremony at the Wagah border. And then drive straight to the hills. Instead, by 6.42am, my BlackBerry had gone missing from my purse, just after we’d fought our way into the train and I’d had to grab my screaming daughter or risk losing her forever. In 30 seconds, I had lost the numbers of every car, taxi and hotel that we had booked. The train was more than an hour late, pulling into Amritsar just before 3pm. We found a taxi driver willing to take us around the city for Rs600, which sounded like a bargain. He would be the umpteenth dampener on our Plan, though. “Madam, you cannot tour the city now. If we don’t leave for Wagah now, you will miss the ceremony,” he said. “I don’t believe him,” I said to my husband. “He just doesn’t want to waste petrol.” “Well, do you want to risk it?” “No, I want to eat.” So we did. The driver said a recommended joint would be too crowded and suggested we eat along the way. When he pulled into an empty parking lot attached to a water park, I groaned. But the succulent Patiala chicken, the crisp naans and a creamy dal makhni shut me up (for the record, the restaurant’s name is Waves, and it is just a few kilometres before Wagah). By the time we arrived at Wagah at 5pm, the crowds had gathered. To the strains of Rang de Basanti, we found seats to watch the action. The sight was at once comical and emotional. The soldiers were decked out in boots, suits and feathers, and my daughter and I would go on to copy their goose stepping that night to giggles. The Indian side was a sea of pomp and patriotism; the Pakistani side an ocean of austerity and men in white. Their guy with the mike who said “Jiye jiye” to the crowd’s “Pakistan!” was deep-throated and dignified. Ours was less military, more deejay: “Hindustan!” he’d squeak to our roaring “zindabad!” I just didn’t expect to get so emotional over the whole thing. “That’s where Dadi was born. It’s where Dadu was born,” I told my daughter about my in-laws. “It’s where Saba aunty comes from.” A million images of the way Pakistan has been a part of my life flashed through my mind. The day we filed for our marriage certificate, and my husband was asked his parents’ birthplace. He said, “India.” And then corrected himself, “Pakistan.” The New Jersey clerk sighed. “You don’t know where your parents were born?” “Lady, even they don’t know the answer to that,” I snapped back. On the border, those questions and emotions grow increasingly complex. They can crescendo into louder chants of “zindabad” and more flag-waving or, if you are like me, into quiet appreciation of how our raucous party and their stoic celebration can co-exist. From Wagah, I made the driver speed back to the city, fearful that Jallianwala Bagh would close. We got there just in time, the darkness even making the place seem holy. My daughter was amazed at how General Dyer got his troops in through such narrow spaces. We peered down the well from which 120 bodies were reported to have been retrieved. Few others were around—a shame, because the place is lit up beautifully, yet eerily, in a fitting tribute. Before we had even made it to the Golden Temple—really the reason to visit Amritsar—everyone was dragging. After resting in bargain rooms (Rs300 at the NRI guest house across the temple), we headed to the temple at 9pm. We had really saved the best for last. As soon as you wash your feet and walk up the steps to catch a glimpse of the gold, you cross a threshold from the ordinary to the majestic. At night, the dome is reflected in the waters, which dance and sway and give the whole place a surreal feel. But the best part about visiting the temple at night is that there are no lines and few outsiders (read non-Sikhs). It is a glimpse of cleanliness and pure devotion, and how the two have everything to do with each other. Sikhs scrub the marble floors at midnight. More dangle from the bejewelled chandeliers inside, dusting. The whole place smells of Brasso. It is divine. We opted for the langar (free kitchen at temples), which the husband initially resisted. He wanted the dhaba. My thrifty father told him to give it a shot. Papa ate five rotis, husband ate six, I had two, daughter had one. The pickle and the kadha prasad were fabulous. Stuffed, we rolled back to the hotel. We woke at 5am to catch our hired taxi to McLeodganj—one that would stand us up. We tided over the delay with chole bhature, paneer parathas and steaming cups of coffee at Bubby Vaishno Dhaba. Unbeknown to us at the time, our holiday of errors would only continue: The next driver would have no insurance and would get ticketed on the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. A flat tyre would leave us stranded. The train back would be 5 hours late. We looked on the bright side as we waited. The lag allowed us to walk over and view the temple in the daylight, after all. Every cloud has a silver lining, the saying goes. In Amritsar, ours glistened in gold. Write to lounge@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:45 pm Freshwater catchCurio Cottage : Kundan necklace with pearl beads, at Colaba, Mumbai, Rs4,000. (Photograph by Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint) Aldo : Glass pearl necklace at Atria mall, Worli, Mumbai; Ambi Mall, Gurgaon and Select Citywalk mall, Saket, New Delhi, Rs1,650. (Photograph by Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint) Bungalow 8 : Shell and pearl bracelet, at Colaba, Mumbai, Rs1,900. (Photograph by Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint) Bungalow 8 : Shell and pearl necklace, at Colaba, Mumbai, Rs6,900. Jaipur Gems : Bracelet in yellow gold with round diamonds, coloured pearls, pink sapphires, iolites and green tourmalines, at 50, Cathedral Road, Chennai; and Hughes Road, Mumbai, Rs6,25,000. Zoya : Pearl and diamond ring set in gold, at Dhun Abad building, Warden Road, Mumbai; and M-Block Market, Greater Kailash-1, New Delhi, Rs39,600. Amrapali : Unfinished natural pearl cuff set in silver, at Collage, Wood Street, Bangalore; Phulwari Cottage, Juhu Road, Mumbai; and Khan Market, New Delhi, Rs6,500. (Photograph by Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint) Lucea by Bulgari : 18K white gold ring with Akoya and Tahiti cultured pearls with pave diamonds, at the Bulgari boutique, Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai; and the Oberoi, New Delhi, Rs2.18 lakh. Montblanc : Ring in white gold with black Tahiti and white freshwater pearls from the Magie en Blanc et Noir collection, at the Montblanc Jewellery salon, Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai, Rs1.36 lakh. h.ajoomal : Gold cuff with round diamonds along with off-white cultured button pearls, at Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai, Rs3 lakh. Miasma by Zoya : Marquise-cut citrine earrings with black diamond and black Tahitian pearls from the Raghavendra Rathore collection, at Zoya, Dhun Abad building, Warden Road, Mumbai; and M-Block Market, Greater Kailash-1, New Delhi, Rs1.46 lakh. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:45 pm Irda not keen on FDI hike, prefers public issue routeMumbai: The legislation on the insurance sector may be pushed back yet again. The Bill is currently being examined by a standing committee, which is yet to make its recommendations before it is tabled in Parliament. The committee has raised questions about the proposed raising of foreign direct investment in the sector, people familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity. The people also said Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda) is not in favour of stake sale among promoters in the event of FDI going up to 49%. It instead wants insurance companies to go public, they said. “Another suggestion being discussed is that both parties (local and overseas) keep the stake to 26% each and offer balance 48% to the market,” said Ashvin Parekh of consultancy firm Ernst and Young. cnbctv18@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:45 pm RIL, NTPC to sign new gas deal despite legal disputeReliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is likely to sign a gas sales and purchase agreement (GSPA) with state-owned power major NTPC to supply gas at the government-mandated price of $4.2 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu).Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:24 pm Microfinance needs active clients and skilled, efficient workforceIn the current economic slowdown, it is relevant to talk about creating avenues for those who struggle for the basics. For a country such as India, with 850 million people living on less than $2 (Rs97) a day, this question may hold the key to greater insights. Foreseeing the need for structural change, Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh popularized the concept of microfinance, and the world today beholds a Grameen Bank serving over 7.34 million people with a recovery rate of 98.35%. MFIs’ overall reach in India is 15-20 mn clients with only 35% of the 60-70 mn poor families being served The success of microfinance can be attributed to the principle of solidarity lending, which happens through solidarity groups. Solidarity lending lowers the cost to a financial institution related to assessing, managing and collecting loans. The need for microfinance gains magnitude owing to the wide gap between its demand and supply. Despite the success of microfinance institutions (MFIs), their overall reach in India is 15-20 million clients with only 35% of the 60-70 million poor families being served. The absence of a lending product to serve the needs of the very low income group can be attributed primarily to the perceived risks of lending to this sector. A large number of small loans are needed to serve the poor, but lenders prefer dealing with large loans in small numbers to minimize transaction costs. Bankers also tend to consider low income households a bad risk, imposing exceedingly high information monitoring costs on operation. So, MFIs start where the formal sector ends and substitute the informal source of financing. Also Read More on Budget 2009 A study that included data from 62 self-sufficient MFIs showed that the average return on assets was 5.5%, which compared favourably to commercial-bank returns. In India, 38% of the sample MFIs is turning a profit, though only 15% earn more than 3%. There are grounds for hope that microfinance can become attractive to mainstream retail bankers.  There is also a need for constructive collaboration between the formal sector finance institutions and MFIs, in which the former provides funds and the latter extends savings and loan facilities to the urban poor. On the demand side, focus must be to organize and make clients more participative. They must be made accountable to the use of the credit given. Savings must be encouraged. On the supply side, the concentration must be to transform MFIs into professionally managed, externally regulated entities. There must be uninterrupted supply of services to clients. The profitability and viability of the service must be given importance. All MFI credit models lack an appropriate legal and financial structure and so there must be a more formal environment to regulate and coordinate the activities of MFIs. Government should provide an enabling legal and regulatory framework which encourages the development of a range of institutions and allow them to operate as recognized financial intermediaries subject to simple supervisory and reporting requirements. The Indian MFI sector is among the fastest growing and most efficient in the world. The sample institutions had an average of 326 staff members with a ratio of 231 borrowers being served per staff member. This is two-thirds more than other surveyed South Asian countries. The future of microfinance in India is bright and promising. Microfinance will continue to develop into an important delivery mechanism to reach out to the poor and achieving financial inclusion and empowerment of women. Its role in enhancing human capital is considerable. The objective of microfinance initiatives must be to evolve the bankable clients to creditworthy clients, thus making concerns about poverty irrelevant. Shanto Ghosh, Piyush Gupta, T. Shraddha Rao and Abhiram V. are with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:23 pm US FDA seizes drugs at Sun unitSays Caraco Pharma has not complied with manufacturing standards after warnings.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:23 pm First loss for Hyundai’s India unitNew Delhi: Almost a decade after it began operations in India, Hyundai Motor Co.’s Indian subsidiary suffered its first ever annual loss in the year to December, investor filings made by the company in South Korea show. Click here to watch video The losses have continued this year with its Indian operations, the country’s second largest car maker by units sold, losing money in the first quarter of this calendar year. Hyundai Motors India Ltd, the local unit, attributes this to currency fluctuations. “On the operating level, our profits were about the same level as a year earlier,” a spokesman for the company said in an email message, quoting his press relations counterparts in Korea. “However, on the non-operating level, when translating our US dollar-denominated debts into the Indian rupee, we incurred a loss as the rupee weakened in the quarter.” Hyundai, over some eight weeks, declined to answer further queries sent by Mint. Since the Indian unit is not listed on the stock exchanges, Hyundai is not required to publish its financial results but offers some details of its Indian business, such as profits, as part of its global results. It also files its balance sheet and profit-loss statement with the registrar of companies in India. In the year to December, the company lost Rs55.9 crore in India. During that time, the Indian rupee depreciated by 11.5% versus the Korean won from 22.6 to 25.2, making imports—the Indian unit imports components such as airbags and anti-lock brakes from Korea—that much more expensive. High raw material prices and discounted car prices are also likely to have taken a toll on the company’s profitability.  Most auto makers in India have had a tough time dealing with currency fluctuations in the past year. Sandeep Bhatnagar / Mint In the first quarter of this year, as the rupee’s decline continued, the losses accelerated to Rs87 crore, another investor presentation by the company shows. The rupee depreciated by 17% against the won in the first quarter of this year. Filings released by the company’s Korean parent report the losses under a head termed “equity income”. Analysts who have looked at the filings say that as the Indian subsidiary is 100% owned by its Korean parent, a loss would be directly reflected on its statements. “I assume that the so-called ‘equity income’ is the net income realized in India, which in 2008 and 2009 Q1 is a loss. Given the big increase in net sales, this comes as a surprise,” Julie Boote, an Asian auto analyst at Pali Research, said in an emailed message late in May. Hyundai, which set up shop in India in 1999, stood above other car makers as it had been able to post a profit right from its first full year of operations. The Santro, Hyundai’s flagship model, had quickly gained acceptance in India, allowing the company to post Rs59.3 crore as profit after tax in 2000, according to a Reuters report in August 2001. The firm has been profitable every year since then, a senior Hyundai executive said, asking that he stay anonymous. Analysts point to low utilization levels—a determinant of profitability—for the India plant as a key reason for the loss. As sales crashed, the company in December used just 50% of its installed capacity at its plant in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, Ethan Kim, a Seoul-based Citigroup analyst, said over the phone, quoting company insiders. That has increased to 83% in May, Kim said, adding that he expects Hyundai’s Indian operations to return to profitability by the second half of this year. “I don’t see any problems on the operations side,” he said. “The worst is probably behind them,” he added. Both sales volumes and revenues have been growing at a healthy clip for the company in India. In the past year, the company reported a 22.5% increase in cars made for the Indian market. Hyundai, which has made India an export hub for its small cars, nearly doubled the number of cars it shipped to Europe to almost quarter of a million units. Sales revenue was up 82.9% to 3,898 billion Korean won, or Rs15,468 crore, according to company filings. But rising sales haven’t resulted in increased profits for Hyundai in India. Company filings with the registrar of companies here show net profits have fallen from Rs525 crore to Rs135 crore in the three years ended March 2008. Most auto makers in India have had a tough time dealing with currency fluctuations in the past year. The rupee has depreciated by 31% against the dollar in the past twelve months. This, coupled with rising input costs, have prompted them to raise prices in the last six months. Analysts say low utilization levels for the India plant were a key reason for the company’s losses in 2008 Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country’s largest car maker, lost Rs121 crore in the fourth quarter last fiscal on account of currency fluctuations. In a press conference to announce the firm’s annual results, chief financial Ajay Seth had indicated that the company would consider hedging its currency requirements. Maruti plans to work aggressively towards increasing localization of its models to reduce dependence on imported components, which amounted to 12% of net revenues in the past fiscal. Car makers have also had to resort to aggressive discounting for sales traction in a sluggish marketplace. Car sales fell by nearly one-fifth in November and, though they’ve begun to recover, analysts say companies are finding it hard to withdraw the freebies and discounts they had set in place to get sales going. Hyundai had offered its Santro model for Rs2.99 lakh in December, the same price as 10 years ago when the car was launched. Maruti Suzuki spent Rs62 crore more on discounts in the first quarter compared with the year before, the company had said while announcing its annual results. Again, General Motors Corp.’s small car Spark is selling at a Rs45,000 discount, which the company has found hard to withdraw. samar.s@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:19 pm Quick Edit | Death, debt and MichaelThe death of pop singer Michael Jackson is a huge loss to the music world. Less easy to understand is another type of loss: in the music icon’s personal worth. Associated Press reports that he died with $400 million in debt. What gives? Jackson’s debts are just the latest examples of similar trysts with bankruptcy for many other celebrities. Think Elton John and Mike Tyson. We offer four very tentative explanations. One, entertainment and sporting stars hit gold at an age when they do not have the maturity to handle millions. Two, they earn fortunes through talent rather than hard work and intellectual ability. Three, celebrity earnings tend to be volatile: Windfalls are followed by sudden ends to careers. Hence, they find it hard to estimate life earnings and then take sustainable spending decisions. Four, celebrityhood has to be maintained by lavish lifestyles that keeps stars in the public eye. Else, their market value declines. Take your pick. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:18 pm Michael Jackson | He inspired legions in India to danceNew Delhi: When he was 10 years old, growing up in the Mumbai suburb of Nallasopara, Amit Rokade was installed in front of a television by his uncle Rohan, a choreographer, and introduced to the craft of Michael Jackson. “I don’t remember now which video it was that I saw,” Rokade says. “But like my uncle, I was inspired by Jackson to dance, by his style and his energy.” Click here to watch video Early on the day he turned 19, Rokade learnt that Jackson had died, reportedly of a cardiac arrest at his home in California. “I didn’t sleep at all after that,” Rokade, now a dancer in his uncle’s troupe, says. “Practically everybody in my troupe started dancing because of Michael Jackson. So everybody’s sitting around crying here, calling each other for support.” By the time Rokade watched his first Jackson music video— the first of many that he would carefully collect—his idol’s career had already spiralled into decline, the towering successes of Thriller, Bad and Dangerous well behind him. As a creator of pop music magic, Jackson was practically defunct; but as a creative influence, on dancers and musicians as well as on non-dancing, non-musical teenagers, Jackson was surprisingly potent in India, well into this century.  Top of the pops: Michael Jackson, 50, died at his California home late Thursday. Despite a declining following elsewhere and a string of scandals, he remained the undisputed king of pop for his fans in India. Megan Lewis / Reuters “Most of the time, it was that outfit from Thriller,” remembers Yohann Arya, chief operating officer of Archies Ltd, the chain of gift shops, which stocked licensed Jackson posters right until the poster craze itself died out. “When he was around, he was the ultimate poster that we’d sell. Every single print run would be a sell-out. In fact, those big sizes of posters really took off only because of him. Otherwise I recall only small, poor-quality pictures torn from magazines—including those of somebody else who died today, Farah Fawcett.” And inevitably, from bedroom walls, Jackson worked his way indirectly into the higher echelons of the Indian entertainment industry. In Chennai, like Rokade, a young Prabhu Deva used to watch Jackson on television and practise his steps alongside. “When Thriller released, that was when I decided to become a dancer,” he says. “People may call me the ‘Michael Jackson of India’, but there can really be no one like him.” In a statement on his web site, A.R. Rahman, who collaborated with Jackson on a track titled Ekam Satyam in 1999, celebrated his “uncompromising music”. “He pushed the milestone of Pop music to unbelievable levels through the ’80s and ’90,” Rahman wrote. “I am yet to find an artist with that energy, perfection and vision.” Given his immense performer’s charisma on video, it was no coincidence that Jackson’s popularity in India grew side by side with the spread of television; national broadcasts and colour television began in India in 1982, the year of Thriller’s release. Curiously, while his music reached Indian shores in intact enough condition, the depth of his personal deterioration and the seriousness of his alleged misdemeanours never percolated down quite as efficiently. Indeed, Jackson’s Indian fans could always be relied upon for plentiful supplies of sympathy. “When he was facing those cases of child molestation in 2003, I composed an anthem of support and uploaded it on my website, expecting probably 10,000 downloads,” says Nikhil Gangavane, a Pune-based photographer who helped found the official Michael Jackson fan club in India, with a current enrolment of roughly 13,000 members. “So far, though, it has had over a million downloads.” When Gangavane was in the eighth grade, he heard Black Or White and Thriller, and he told his parents that he wanted to become Michael Jackson. “Of course, they said it was an absurd idea—you know what a middle-class Indian family is like,” Gangavane says. “But I do perform music now, and I perform a lot of his music.” Hearing that an upcoming series of concerts in London would be Jackson’s curtain call, Gangavane had bought tickets to a show on 28 August. “This was my final chance,” he says. “When he performed in Mumbai in 1996, I had my XIIth grade board exams, and my parents said I couldn’t go. That was the most disappointing thing.” Jackson would perform in India just that one time, as a part of the HIStory World Tour, in a concert organized with the oddest of partners, the Shiv Sena. (“We would like to accept that part of America that is represented by Jackson,” Bal Thackeray was quoted as saying at the time.) Rokade was too young to attend that concert, but he insists that he knows what the energy and electricity of a live Jackson show must feel like. “He’s the god of dance, after all,” he says. “Even today, when I get on a stage to perform, I think first of him.” Vidhya Sivaramakrishnan in Chennai contributed to this story. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:17 pm Yahoo chief promises new momentumSanta Clara (California): Yahoo Inc. chief executive Carol Bartz echoed the turnaround promises of her predecessors as she presided over the first shareholder meeting since her hiring, yet left little doubt the slumping Internet company’s new boss isn’t the same as the old ones.  In style: Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz. But her message resonated with more flair and spunk than the more circumspect styles of Semel and Yang. And Bartz made it clear she didn’t want to hear any questions about Microsoft Corp., whose convoluted courtship of Yahoo began while Semel was still CEO in 2007 and intensified while company co-founder Yang was in charge last year. Bartz, a Silicon Valley veteran who joined Yahoo six months ago, left little doubt who is calling the shots now as she seized the podium on Thursday to set the meeting agenda instead of Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock. At last year’s meeting, Yang deferred to Bostock, who didn’t even talk at this year’s meeting. During the question-and-anwer session, she often gave blunt responses. As part of a makeover of Yahoo’s home page this fall, Bartz indicated the company might include a “fluff-o-meter” to let Web surfers signal whether they wanted more hard-hitting news. Bartz didn’t mince words when two shareholders wondered why Yahoo isn’t doing more to protect human rights and free speech in China, where the company has previously faced harsh criticism for turning over e-mails that help convict government critics. “Yahoo was not incorporated to fix China,” Bartz said. Most of the time, though, Bartz spiced her remarks with predictions of better times. Bouncing back is something that Yahoo has been trying to do for years. Thursday marked the fourth straight annual meeting that Yahoo has held with its stock price lower than it was in the previous year. Yahoo shares fell a penny Thursday to close at $15.44 (Rs748.84) nearly 60% below the stock’s price when shareholders met in May 2005. Since then, Yahoo has fallen further behind rival Google Inc. in the lucrative search market. Google shares are worth nearly twice as much since Yahoo held its 2005 annual meeting. But Bartz told shareholders on Thursday that they shouldn’t compare Yahoo to Google, which she described as a “pure search” company. In her mind, Yahoo is more of an “online home” for people trying to make sense of the world around them. As for whether Yahoo might ever get together with Microsoft to challenge Google, Bartz told shareholders she doesn’t plan to publicly discuss any negotiations unless a deal eventually gets done. She didn’t say so Thursday, but Bartz has been downplaying chances of Yahoo teaming up with Microsoft. The companies have been discussing an Internet search partnership. Last year, Microsoft offered $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, to buy Yahoo in its entirety and then withdrew the bid when Yang sought even more money. Yang’s handling of the negotiations upset so many shareholders that activist investor Carl Icahn led a revolt aimed at dumping him as chief executive officer. feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:15 pm Yahoo chief promises new momentumSanta Clara (California): Yahoo Inc. chief executive Carol Bartz echoed the turnaround promises of her predecessors as she presided over the first shareholder meeting since her hiring, yet left little doubt the slumping Internet company’s new boss isn’t the same as the old ones. In style: Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz. But her message resonated with more flair and spunk than the more circumspect styles of Semel and Yang. And Bartz made it clear she didn’t want to hear any questions about Microsoft Corp., whose convoluted courtship of Yahoo began while Semel was still CEO in 2007 and intensified while company co-founder Yang was in charge last year. Bartz, a Silicon Valley veteran who joined Yahoo six months ago, left little doubt who is calling the shots now as she seized the podium on Thursday to set the meeting agenda instead of Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock. At last year’s meeting, Yang deferred to Bostock, who didn’t even talk at this year’s meeting. During the question-and-anwer session, she often gave blunt responses. As part of a makeover of Yahoo’s home page this fall, Bartz indicated the company might include a “fluff-o-meter” to let Web surfers signal whether they wanted more hard-hitting news. Bartz didn’t mince words when two shareholders wondered why Yahoo isn’t doing more to protect human rights and free speech in China, where the company has previously faced harsh criticism for turning over e-mails that help convict government critics. “Yahoo was not incorporated to fix China,” Bartz said. Most of the time, though, Bartz spiced her remarks with predictions of better times. Bouncing back is something that Yahoo has been trying to do for years. Thursday marked the fourth straight annual meeting that Yahoo has held with its stock price lower than it was in the previous year. Yahoo shares fell a penny Thursday to close at $15.44 (Rs748.84) nearly 60% below the stock’s price when shareholders met in May 2005. Since then, Yahoo has fallen further behind rival Google Inc. in the lucrative search market. Google shares are worth nearly twice as much since Yahoo held its 2005 annual meeting. But Bartz told shareholders on Thursday that they shouldn’t compare Yahoo to Google, which she described as a “pure search” company. In her mind, Yahoo is more of an “online home” for people trying to make sense of the world around them. As for whether Yahoo might ever get together with Microsoft to challenge Google, Bartz told shareholders she doesn’t plan to publicly discuss any negotiations unless a deal eventually gets done. She didn’t say so Thursday, but Bartz has been downplaying chances of Yahoo teaming up with Microsoft. The companies have been discussing an Internet search partnership. Last year, Microsoft offered $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, to buy Yahoo in its entirety and then withdrew the bid when Yang sought even more money. Yang’s handling of the negotiations upset so many shareholders that activist investor Carl Icahn led a revolt aimed at dumping him as chief executive officer. feedback@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:15 pm Subhiksha stakeholders agree on revival, debt restructuringNew Delhi: Discount retailer Subhiksha Trading Services Ltd, which closed stores after it ran out of cash, is confident its debt recast will be completed well before the end of next month after negotiations with stakeholders. “The contours of the revival plan of the company have been agreed,” R. Subramanian, founder of Chennai-based Subhiksha, said in an emailed statement late on Thursday. “The entire revival will be equity financed so as to put the company on a sound footing.” The entire recast will be equity financed so as to place it on a sound footing Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, one of Subhiksha’s smallest lenders, has approached the courts, he said. Subhiksha on 30 January said its business was at a near standstill and it needs Rs3 billion to resume operations. The retailer, founded in 1997, ran out of cash in October after relying on a high level of debt, according to the company. The corporate debt restructuring cell, a voluntary organization backed by the Reserve Bank of India that assists lenders and borrowers, began working on recasting Subhiksha’s debt on 31 January. Billionaire Azim Premji, who owns a stake in Subhiksha, has sent a legal notice to the retailer’s directors for allegedly failing to perform their duties, The Economic Times reported on Friday, without saying where it obtained the information. feedback@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:14 pm Highways authority revives proposal to change funding method of projectsNew Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India has revived a proposal to change the financing method for highway projects that are not attracting private investment. The proposal, put up on the authority’s website for public discussion, suggests allowing highway developers to collect toll from the public and also collect annuities from the government. This is currently not permitted.  Different strokes: Road construction on NH202 in Warangal, Andhra Pradesh The proposal suggests allowing highway developers to collect toll from the public and also collect annuities from the government. Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint Under the proposed model, the government would pay annuities only for the funding requirement in excess of the 40% VGF. The developer collects the rest through toll charges. Currently, all highways that are being widened to four lanes under phase III of the national highway development programme have VGF capped at 40%, while for phase V projects, the VGF cap is 10% of the cost of the project. In effect, the model is a hybrid of the two existing highway financing models: the build-operate-transfer toll model where the developer finances and builds the highway and generates revenues by collecting fees, and the build-operate-transfer annuity model where the government pays the developer annual sums of money in exchange for financing and developing the highway. Projects in the annuity model are currently not eligible for VGF. Stake holders will have to submit comments by 1 July, the Web post said. An analyst said the hybrid model was a positive move, especially when developers were staying away from bidding for projects because of perceived difficulty in raising finances. “A market at a particular point is what the Indian and the global (financial) situation is. We can’t always simulate the ideal conditions,” said Siddhartha Das, national public-private partnership practice leader for consulting firm Ernst and Young Pvt. Ltd. The annuity model is one of several methods that the authority is considering to kickstart the highway sector, which was affected by lagging bidder interest last year. Only some 22 of 60 projects offered by the authority last year have been bid out so far. “They have been talking about the hybrid model in the past also. It was even discussed in the (prime minister’s) economic advisory council headed by C. Rangarajan and it was rejected,” said a highway authority official, who didn’t want to be named. The official, however, said that rather than adhere strictly to one model, it would make more sense to be flexible to meet with new challenges. Planning commission officials are not in favour of the annuity model because it would entail budgetary outflow over a number of years at a time when the government is trying to rein in the fiscal deficit and ensure that scarce resources be reserved for social sector spending. The highway ministry has recently asked for more autonomy in deciding which projects could be offered under the toll route and which ones under the annuity route. The authority suggests that projects be put through an internal benchmarking process, through which it would decide whether the project would be amenable to public-private partnerships or would have to be done through the annuity mode. Currently, all projects have to be auctioned under the toll system before they are considered under the annuity route. In practice, the authority offers the bids several times under the toll method before considering the annuity route, a method that some analysts say builds lag into the system. rahul.c@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:14 pm Gas deal after all issues are resolved, says NTPCNew Delhi: Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has expressed its willingness to sign the gas sales purchase agreement (GSPA) with NTPC Ltd for 2.67 million standard cu. m of gas per day (mscmd) at the $4.2 (around Rs200) per million British thermal unit (mBtu) price set by the government for the utility’s projects other than Kawas and Gandhar. However, the state-owned utility said it would sign the agreement only if the other issues raised by it are resolved.  Tough stand: NTPC unit at Shaktinagar, Uttar Pradesh. Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint NTPC and RIL are fighting a lawsuit in the Bombay high court over the price at which the latter will supply 12 mscmd of gas to the former’s Kawas and Gandhar facilities for 17 years. NTPC claims the two agreed to $2.34. RIL wants to sell at $4.20. “They have sent us a response to our letter dated 12 June, where we had raised certain critical issues such as take or pay clause and marketing margin of $0.12 per mBtu among others. They have agreed to supply gas for our projects other than Kawas and Gandhar,” said a top NTPC executive who did not want to be identified. “However, the letter is silent on the other critical issues raised by us. We are sending a response today asking them to come for discussions as per their convenience. We will only sign the GSPAs once the issues raised by us are resolved.” A RIL spokesperson had not responded to questions emailed by Mint till the time of filing this story. The decision to allocate 18 mscmd of gas produced by RIL from its KG-D6 block to power generating firms, including NTPC, was done by a five-member empowered group of ministers, headed by then stand-in finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, on 9 April. RIL is also fighting a separate case with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) in the Bombay high court. On 15 June, the court directed it to sign a “suitable arrangement” with RNRL for supplying 28mscmd for 17 years at $2.34 per mBtu—44% lower than the government specified price of $4.20 per mBtu. utpal.b@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:13 pm SC verdict on SEZs may be turning pointMumbai: The Supreme Court, or SC, will hear together at least half a dozen cases in July that could change the contours of India’s policy on SEZs, or special economic zones, and even require a change to the SEZ Act of 2005. Leading the clutch of petitions is one against Mumbai Special Economic Zone Ltd, or MSEZ, promoted by billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani and his business associate Anand Jain. Experts say the outcome of the hearing could set a precedent for SEZ projects, irrespective of which way the court’s decision goes.  SC has not yet announced a date for the commencement of the hearing. Sandeep Bhatnagar / Mint SC has not yet announced a date for the commencement of the hearing. Some of the cases challenge specific SEZ projects while others, such as the public interest litigation against MSEZ by half a dozen farmers from Raigad district and led by the Maha Mumbai Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti (MMSSS), a regional farmers’ activist group, question the constitutional validity of the SEZ Act itself. Last year, the apex court had transferred these cases to itself from across various state high courts to be able to hear the issue in its entirety. Lawyers and experts agree that the cases will test the SEZ Act as well as the government’s will to stick to its legislation. “This is a test case. There are other petitions, too, but nothing like this that puts the law to test,” said Sunil D. Dighe, a lawyer for MMSSS, who represented the group in the Bombay high court. Mumbai-based independent SEZ consultant C.S. Sanghavi said the legal process will tread new ground as nothing like it has come up before the Indian courts yet. “It will be a trial by fire (for the act) since you are questioning the basic law itself,” he said. MSEZ counsel Shanti Bhushan admitted the lawsuit is crucial but said he didn’t think the arguments of the SEZ Act violating Constitutional provisions would stick. He added that this argument seemed to be targetted at delaying the development of a “very important SEZ”. Nationally, 568 formal approvals have been granted for SEZs; of this, 315 have been notified, meaning the projects have been able to acquire land needed, according to data from the “SEZ(s) in India” website. The site is maintained by the department of commerce. Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have the most formal approvals, at 109 and 101 SEZs, respectively. Ambitious appeal The MMSSS petition is ambitious, going beyond opposing the 10,000 hectare project and questioning the very rationale behind SEZs. The group has alleged that the SEZ Act is “discriminatory, arbitrary”, and wants the court to declare it as “illegal, unconstitutional and null and void as being (in) violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution”. Article 14 of the Constitution guarantees every person “equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India”, while Article 19 provides citizens freedom “to move freely throughout the territory of India...(and) to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India”. Article 21 provides “protection of life and personal liberty” to all Indians. The petition claims that the area approved for MSEZ will be a “sovereign island” under the Act, “having special economic laws, civil and criminal laws empowering them with special powers...in respect of running and managing such SEZ, which is unconstitutional”, and adds that such enclosed zones have restricted entry, violating the spirit of Article 19. The petition also alleges that special provisions under the SEZ Act effectively deprive workers in SEZs of the protection and equality in wages and service conditions available to workers outside SEZs. An emailed questionnaire to an MSEZ spokesperson about the status of the project and the allegations against it remained unanswered. Earlier this month, SC set aside a special leave petition from MSEZ asking for a stay on the land acquisition deadline that was set to expire 8 June. The project, envisaged with an initial investment of Rs40,000 crore to create at least 2 million jobs over the next decade, was approved in June 2005 and has had its land acquisition deadline extended twice. An industry official familiar with developments at MSEZ, who declined to be named because the matter is before the court, said that since notifications on land acquisition for different villages had been issued at different dates going as far back as August 2007, the two-year deadline varied for each location. bhuma.s@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:04 pm Action against Caraco to hit Sun revenuesMumbai/New Delhi: Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd’s overall revenue will be significantly hit in 2009-10 following the US drug regulator’s seizure of medicines from its US subsidiary’s Michigan facility, effectively barring the manufacturing of drugs there until the firm complies with mandatory quality practices. The US subsidiary, Caraco Laboratories Ltd, which operates three plants in the Michigan facility, accounted for 33% of Sun’s $337 million (Rs1,618 crore) US sales in fiscal 2009. Sun’s overall sales during the year were $950 million.  Indian drug firms have had regular brushes with FDA in the past year. Sandeep Bhatnagar / Mint “Caraco contributes about 12% to the total business of Sun Pharma,” said Ranjit Kapadia, pharma analyst at HDFC Securities Ltd. “We can expect a topline impact of about 12%, though we have to wait and watch now when they (Caraco) will be able to restart production.” “It could have a negative impact of about $18 million to the bottomline on recurring profit,” said Hemant Bakhru, a pharma analyst with CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. “Sun may also have to write off some part of (its) inventory.” On Thursday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seized drugs and raw materials from Caraco’s Michigan plants. FDA inspectors who visited the facility in May found serious violations of manufacturing standards and quality control, Deborah Autor, director of the office of compliance at FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said on Thursday in a statement on the regulator’s website. On Friday, Sun Pharma shares dropped 12% to close at Rs1,140.45 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), while the benchmark Sensex climbed nearly 3% to 14,764.64 points. A person close to Sun Pharma said on Friday the real impact of the FDA action would be seen in the following quarters of the current financial year. “The entire $112 million worth (of) sales that Caraco generates through its own manufacturing will be lost during this year as there is no certain time limit that the company could envisage for resolving the issue so far,” this person said. He did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. Indian drug firms have had regular brushes with FDA in the past year. In September, the US regulator pulled up Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd for deviations from good manufacturing practices at its Paonta Sahib plant in Himachal Pradesh and Dewas facility in Madhya Pradesh. Cipla Ltd and Lupin Ltd, too, have faced similiar problems in recent months. Caraco, which manufactures 33 drugs in multiple strengths at its Michigan plants, had failed to meet FDA’s good manufacturing practice standards, which are laid out as an assurance of the quality of drugs manufactured at facilities approved by the regulator. FDA, through its seizure, seeks to immediately stop the firm from distributing drugs from the Michigan plants until these standards are met, the regulator said in a statement. As to drugs already distributed from Caraco’s Michigan facilities, FDA will issue alerts to the public and take regulatory action if it finds potential risks to patient safety from these medicines. Responding to a query on whether there is a time frame by when Caraco has to correct the deviations observed by FDA, a Sun Pharma spokesman said on Friday, “There is no timeline at the moment.” Sun has been aware of the deficiencies for at least a year. The US regulator had in October warned Caraco that its inspection during May-June 2008 had revealed significant deviations from good manufacturing practices. These deviations were notified to the company in FDA 483 form at the closure of the 2008 inspection. FDA 483 is a standard form the regulator uses to notify its observations to a violator of manufacturing standards. Following this warning, Caraco initiated a voluntary recall of some its drugs since January. These recalls were due to manufacturing defects, including oversized tablets and possible formulation error, Caraco had said then. Sun Pharma’s fiscal 2009 earnings reflected a marginal revenue loss from the product recalls. “Caraco has reported regularly all the corrective actions that it has taken over the last year, and it has also made significant efforts to correct (the deviations), wherever required, as per the FDA observations,” the company spokesman said. He added that Sun Pharma is awaiting a statement from Caraco on whether it has any alternative options to remain in the market with its own products while the problem is being resolved, and on the estimated revenue loss. Caraco sells products from its own manufacturing portfolio as well as from Sun Pharma’s Indian facilities that have FDA approvals. ch.unni@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 7:04 pm Tata Docomo invests Rs 350 crore in state GSM operations - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 26 Jun 2009 | 6:56 pm Hyundai Motors posts its first ever loss in IndiaHyundai Motors has posted its first ever loss in India. Hyundai India reported a Rs 55.9 crore loss in 2008 which the company says is due to currency fluctuations.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 26 Jun 2009 | 6:49 pm Game changer in retailing, the ubiquitous bar code turns 35The design was straightforward—59 black and white bars. And the inventors’ objectives were simple enough, too—to speed up the grocery checkout line and give supermarkets a new tool to track their stock.  New technologies: A bar code is scanned by an application for the iPhone during a demonstration in San Francisco on 16 May 16 2009. Friday marks the 35th anniversary of the bar code system. Peter DaSilva / The New York Times But the bar code has become much more than that since it was first used to read the price on a 10-pack of Juicy Fruit gum (67 cents) on the morning of 26 June 1974. Now, they are used to board airplanes and track packages. Bar codes help people with diabetes calibrate glucose meters and researchers study the pollination habits of bees. They inspired a hand-held video game, Barcode Battler, in 1991. They even played a role in the 1992 presidential race, when then-President George H.W. Bush, at a campaign stop, seemed surprised by what had already become a technological staple of everyday life. Today, bar codes are scanned at least 10 billion times a day around the world. And after 35 years, they are both the mundane minutiae of modern life and cultural icons of cold efficiency, identification and control. “It was cheap and it was needed,” said George J. Laurer, who was already a veteran engineer at International Business Machines Corp. in 1970 when he was asked to lead a team assigned to devise a checkout system for grocery stores. “And it is reliable. Those three things probably contributed more than anything else.” Now 84 and retired, Laurer continues to be a cheerleader for his invention even as the bar code is challenged by newer and much more sophisticated competitors. Radio frequency identification, or RFID, is one such technology. RFID uses the same technology as dashboard toll collectors and building access key cards and allows businesses to identify and track specific items without a direct line of sight. But even as big players such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Procter and Gamble Co. have pushed ahead with the RFID technology, the cautious retail business, in particular, has pushed back, in part because of concerns about price. Bar codes, after all, cost just half a cent each, while the electronic tags used in RFID cost more than 5 cents each. As a result, a significant portion of Wal-Mart’s suppliers rejected its mandate to adopt the newer technology. “The technology took a bit of a black eye,” said Bob Sanders, a Motorola Inc. executive who once led a company that developed the first hand-held bar code scanner. A Wal-Mart spokesman, John Simley, acknowledged that “we hit realism” after the initial surge of “media-generated hype” for RFID in 2003. But he said Wal-Mart continued to introduce the technology. Bar codes have evolved to respond to the competition. In recent years, two-dimensional matrices, which resemble jumbled chequerboards and carry much more information than bar codes, have come into use in Japan and have gained a foothold in America. Cellphones equipped with technology for scanning those patterns can read them and display bar codes that could, for instance, be used instead of a ticket for a concert or board a plane. Laurer recalled that several designs, including a circular symbol, were considered before the team settled on what is now recognized as the Universal Product Code, the name of the familiar format that uses 30 black and 29 white lines to convey 12 bits of data in binary code. The 12 digits give nothing more than “an address to look up information” in a database, Laurer said. When the initial design was proposed to a committee of reviewers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972, he said, it was returned with only one recommendation: that the font of the “human readables”, the numbers found below the bar code, be changed to another font that was soon expected to become readable by machines and to supplant the striped pattern. “They were absolutely sure that within a few years no one would be reading the bar code,” Laurer said. “Well, they were wrong.” Laurer said neither IBM nor any of its developers ever patented the bar code, though manufacturers pay a minimal annual fee to a nonprofit group, GS 1, to cover the administrative costs of overseeing the international standards. Sharon Buchanan was a 31-year-old cashier at the Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, the day the bar code made its debut. One or two other clerks were working that day, but she was chosen to work the checkout, she said on Thursday in an interview. “I was a little bit nervous at the time,” she said. “I mean what if this doesn’t work? Everybody was there taking pictures, the photographers, the local press, people from around town. But it worked just fine. It was quite my 15 minutes of fame, I suppose.” For all the excitement that day, the adoption of the bar code was gradual. For years, businesses were hamstrung by shoppers who refused to buy bar-coded products, worrying that they might be cheated at the checkout counter without price labels. At the time, “the vision of the bar code as some sort of surveillance device with ominous social implications was quite resonant,” said T.J. Jackson Lears, a cultural historian at Rutgers University. But with the advent of Google Earth and global tracking devices, “it now seems comparatively innocuous”. The bar code “has almost acquired a certain antique appeal as an early expression of the sorting and categorizing impulse in computer-driven marketing and sales,” he added. It seems, he said, “in some ways a charmingly archaic icon”. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 6:49 pm Game changer in retailing, the ubiquitous bar code turns 35The design was straightforward—59 black and white bars. And the inventors’ objectives were simple enough, too—to speed up the grocery checkout line and give supermarkets a new tool to track their stock. New technologies: A bar code is scanned by an application for the iPhone during a demonstration in San Francisco on 16 May 16 2009. Friday marks the 35th anniversary of the bar code system. Peter DaSilva / The New York Times But the bar code has become much more than that since it was first used to read the price on a 10-pack of Juicy Fruit gum (67 cents) on the morning of 26 June 1974. Now, they are used to board airplanes and track packages. Bar codes help people with diabetes calibrate glucose meters and researchers study the pollination habits of bees. They inspired a hand-held video game, Barcode Battler, in 1991. They even played a role in the 1992 presidential race, when then-President George H.W. Bush, at a campaign stop, seemed surprised by what had already become a technological staple of everyday life. Today, bar codes are scanned at least 10 billion times a day around the world. And after 35 years, they are both the mundane minutiae of modern life and cultural icons of cold efficiency, identification and control. “It was cheap and it was needed,” said George J. Laurer, who was already a veteran engineer at International Business Machines Corp. in 1970 when he was asked to lead a team assigned to devise a checkout system for grocery stores. “And it is reliable. Those three things probably contributed more than anything else.” Now 84 and retired, Laurer continues to be a cheerleader for his invention even as the bar code is challenged by newer and much more sophisticated competitors. Radio frequency identification, or RFID, is one such technology. RFID uses the same technology as dashboard toll collectors and building access key cards and allows businesses to identify and track specific items without a direct line of sight. But even as big players such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Procter and Gamble Co. have pushed ahead with the RFID technology, the cautious retail business, in particular, has pushed back, in part because of concerns about price. Bar codes, after all, cost just half a cent each, while the electronic tags used in RFID cost more than 5 cents each. As a result, a significant portion of Wal-Mart’s suppliers rejected its mandate to adopt the newer technology. “The technology took a bit of a black eye,” said Bob Sanders, a Motorola Inc. executive who once led a company that developed the first hand-held bar code scanner. A Wal-Mart spokesman, John Simley, acknowledged that “we hit realism” after the initial surge of “media-generated hype” for RFID in 2003. But he said Wal-Mart continued to introduce the technology. Bar codes have evolved to respond to the competition. In recent years, two-dimensional matrices, which resemble jumbled chequerboards and carry much more information than bar codes, have come into use in Japan and have gained a foothold in America. Cellphones equipped with technology for scanning those patterns can read them and display bar codes that could, for instance, be used instead of a ticket for a concert or board a plane. Laurer recalled that several designs, including a circular symbol, were considered before the team settled on what is now recognized as the Universal Product Code, the name of the familiar format that uses 30 black and 29 white lines to convey 12 bits of data in binary code. The 12 digits give nothing more than “an address to look up information” in a database, Laurer said. When the initial design was proposed to a committee of reviewers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972, he said, it was returned with only one recommendation: that the font of the “human readables”, the numbers found below the bar code, be changed to another font that was soon expected to become readable by machines and to supplant the striped pattern. “They were absolutely sure that within a few years no one would be reading the bar code,” Laurer said. “Well, they were wrong.” Laurer said neither IBM nor any of its developers ever patented the bar code, though manufacturers pay a minimal annual fee to a nonprofit group, GS 1, to cover the administrative costs of overseeing the international standards. Sharon Buchanan was a 31-year-old cashier at the Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, the day the bar code made its debut. One or two other clerks were working that day, but she was chosen to work the checkout, she said on Thursday in an interview. “I was a little bit nervous at the time,” she said. “I mean what if this doesn’t work? Everybody was there taking pictures, the photographers, the local press, people from around town. But it worked just fine. It was quite my 15 minutes of fame, I suppose.” For all the excitement that day, the adoption of the bar code was gradual. For years, businesses were hamstrung by shoppers who refused to buy bar-coded products, worrying that they might be cheated at the checkout counter without price labels. At the time, “the vision of the bar code as some sort of surveillance device with ominous social implications was quite resonant,” said T.J. Jackson Lears, a cultural historian at Rutgers University. But with the advent of Google Earth and global tracking devices, “it now seems comparatively innocuous”. The bar code “has almost acquired a certain antique appeal as an early expression of the sorting and categorizing impulse in computer-driven marketing and sales,” he added. It seems, he said, “in some ways a charmingly archaic icon”. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 6:49 pm Videocon chief to sell Great Offshore stake to ABG Ship?Videocon\'s Venugopal Dhoot will sell his entire 3% personal stake in Great Offshore to ABG Shipyard, reports Mint. Interestingly, in a late evening development, after we broke the story, Venugopal Dhoot declined this stake sale to Newswire18 and on the contrary indicated that he might up the stake instead.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 26 Jun 2009 | 4:58 pm Air India staff to stop work if wages delayedNewDelhi: The employees of national carrier Air India have decided to proceed with their plan to strike work if their salaries for June are not paid by the last day of the month. “If salaries are not paid by the due date (30 June), we will go on a ‘no pay, no work’ agitation,” J.B. Kadian, general secretary, Air Corp Employees’ Union, said on Friday. The airline had earlier said it would delay salaries for June by a fortnight due to the resource crunch faced by the company. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 26 Jun 2009 | 4:55 pm Co closely associated with national ID proj: BartronicsCommenting on the National ID project, Sudhir Rao, MD and COO, Bartronics, said, they have been closely associated with the project for almost a couple of years. He added they have been a part of the committee at the Ministry of Commerce level to define certain specifications.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 26 Jun 2009 | 4:27 pm After Nilekani, Infosys to decide if it needs co-chair - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 26 Jun 2009 | 4:11 pm Govt projects have huge potential for IT industry: MindTreeRostow Ravanan, CFO of MindTree, said he wouldnt want to comment on the one specific project but added that the company had, in the past, worked with governments. He said government projects had a huge potentialSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 26 Jun 2009 | 4:11 pm Gemini Communications acquires 51% in SanathT Ratinam, COO, Gemini Communications, said the company has acquired 51% stake in Sanath.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 26 Jun 2009 | 3:57 pm Air India holds talks with employees again - Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 26 Jun 2009 | 3:38 pm Tata Motors hit by Jaguar Land Rover lossMUMBAI (Reuters) - Slumping demand drove Tata Motors into its first annual loss in eight years and India's top vehicle maker warned of more job cuts and plant shutdowns at the loss-making Jaguar and Land Rover unit.Source: Reuters: Money News | 26 Jun 2009 | 3:32 pm US FDA seizes 33 drugs of CaracoThe US Food and Drug Administration has seized 33 drugs of Caraco. Commenting on the same, Vikas Dandekar of PharmAsiaNews.com said last year there was a warning letter issued to Caraco. On the list, he said, is Tramadol. Sun Pharmas Caraco has grown to a good extent on the back of Tramadol.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 26 Jun 2009 | 2:53 pm
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