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Strides Arcolab to supply Tamiflu in 34 days; stock upAloka Sen Gupta, PresidentBusiness Development of Strides Arcolab, said the company should be able to supply Tamiflu doses in the next three to four days. We will be ready with two million doses of the drug. However, she added that the government was discussing the quantity required. Quantum of Tamiflu order will come by August 12.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 11 Aug 2009 | 8:36 am Will address airline industry\'s valid demands: Praful PatelThe man of the moment, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel speaks to Vir Sanghi on his CNBCTV18 show Tycoons With Vir Sanghvi on the recent turbulence that has crept up with private airlines.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 11 Aug 2009 | 8:05 am RBI cautions people against unincorporated loan providersThe Reserve Bank on Tuesday cautioned the public to verify the credentials before dealing with entities promising various loans, saying there were cases where such entities disappeared after taking the processing fees.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 11 Aug 2009 | 7:56 am Rupee depreciates by 22 paise in early trade!The Indian rupee Tuesday depreciated by 22 paise to 48.02 against the US dollar in early trade on expectations of more capital outflows and dollar demand from importers.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Aug 2009 | 6:24 am US recession seen ending in third quarter!The worst US recession since the Great Depression will probably end in the third quarter, but uncertainty exists over the speed and duration of the economic recovery, according to the most recent survey of private economists.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Aug 2009 | 6:24 am `Indian auto sector has revived; mfg boosts economy`!India has weathered the global economic downturn and is emerging as a globally competitive manufacturing hub for small, fuel efficient cars, a senior Indian official said last night.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Aug 2009 | 6:24 am Oil up in Asian trade but demand concerns linger!Oil rose in Asian trade Tuesday but gains are being capped by concerns over a glut in global crude supplies and weak energy demand, analysts said.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Aug 2009 | 6:24 am Boeing, US woo Brazil with technology for defence deal!US aerospace giant Boeing is proposing to transfer 1.5 billion dollars in fighter jet technology to Brazil in a bid to score a contract for 36 combat aircraft, a top company executive said Monday.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Aug 2009 | 6:24 am S Korea freezes key interest rate for sixth month!South Korea`s central bank Tuesday froze its key interest rate at a record low two percent for the sixth straight month in an attempt to nurture a nascent economic recovery.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Aug 2009 | 6:24 am Judge delays approval of BofA, SEC settlement!A federal judge said Monday he needs more information before he can decide whether to approve a $33 million settlement between Bank of America Corp. and the Securities and Exchange Commission over executive bonuses.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Aug 2009 | 6:24 am Lloyds bank shares dive on reports of GBP 15 bn rights issue!Lloyds Banking Group`s share price fell sharply on Monday in reaction to reports that the state-controlled British lender planned to raise 15 billion pounds (17.6 billion euros, 25 billion dollars).Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Aug 2009 | 6:24 am US stocks close lower on profit-taking!US stocks ended lower Monday on profit taking after four winning weeks and ahead of a meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers who could offer clues on the timing of any interest rate hike.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Aug 2009 | 6:24 am Russian economy hitting `dead end`: Medvedev!The Russian economy risks hitting "a dead end" unless it sees rapid reform, President Dmitry Medvedev has said, in his most damning assessment yet of the country`s economic prospects.Source: Zee News : Business | 11 Aug 2009 | 6:24 am Free cyber porn kills porn bizThe hardcore porn business in San Fernando Valley is facing a cut by a growing abundance of free content on the Internet. At least five of the 100 top websites in the US are portals for free pornography.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 11 Aug 2009 | 5:12 am GM says mercury pollution not its problem anymoreAs hundreds of thousands of clunkers head to the scrap yard, government-backed General Motors has dropped out of a partnership that collects toxic parts from recycled automobiles to prevent mercury pollution.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 11 Aug 2009 | 4:35 am Singapore to see 'sluggish' economic rebound: govtSingapore's economy performed better than estimated in the second quarter, but recovery will be "sluggish" on continued weak demand from the United States and Europe, the government said on Tuesday.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 11 Aug 2009 | 4:26 am Tata secures private loan for Jaguar Land Rover - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Aug 2009 | 4:25 am Nifty ends above 4450; Tata Motors, Jindal Steel up - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Aug 2009 | 4:12 am Tata secures private loan for Jaguar Land RoverLONDON (Reuters) - Tata Motors has secured a 175 million pound ($289 million) private sector loan for its luxury unit Jaguar Land Rover and no longer needs financial support from Britain, a UK government spokesman said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Aug 2009 | 4:10 am Talent building key challenge for firmsBANGALORE (Reuters) - Come June every year, and Infosys Technologies, India's second-biggest software services exporter, turns trainer for the nearly 30,000 students it recruits from top engineering colleges every year.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Aug 2009 | 4:08 am Sterlite confirms higher bid for miner Asarco - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Aug 2009 | 4:06 am BSE Sensex provisionally rises 0.4 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex provisionally rose 0.4 percent on Tuesday, as long-term investors took advantage of a 5.6 percent drop over the past three sessions to enter the market.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Aug 2009 | 4:06 am INTERVIEW - StanChart to hire 850 for priority bankingSINGAPORE (Reuters) - Standard Chartered plans to hire about 850 bankers over the next 12-18 months for its 'priority banking' arm that focuses on theSource: Reuters: Money News | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:52 am Schumacher scraps Formula One returnLondon: Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has cancelled his plans to return to Formula One because of fitness concerns, the German driver said on Tuesday. “I really tried everything to make that temporary comeback possible, however, much to my regret it didn’t work out,” he said in a statement on his website www.michael-schumacher.de. “Unfortunately we did not manage to get a grip on the pain in the neck which occurred after the private F1-day in Mugello, even if medically or therapeutically we tried everything possible.” The 40 year old had been expected to drive for Ferrari at the European Grand Prix at Valencia on 23 August with Felipe Massa recovering from a fractured skull. Schumacher hurt his neck in a motorcycle accident on a racetrack earlier in the year and had admitted he was still struggling with the injury. “The consequences of the injuries caused by the bike accident in February, fractures in the area of head and neck, unfortunately have turned out to be still too severe,” said Schumacher. “That is why my neck cannot stand the extreme stresses caused by Formula 1 yet. These are the clear results of the examinations we did on the course of the past two weeks and the final examination yesterday afternoon.” His surprise return to Formula One after retiring at the end of 2006 was seen as a major boost to the sport, which in recent months had been plagued by negative news headlines. “I am disappointed to the core,” Schumacher added. “I am awfully sorry for the guys of Ferrari and for all the fans which crossed fingers for me. I can only repeat that I tried everything that was within my power. All I can do now is to keep my fingers crossed for the whole team for the coming races.” Italy’s ANSA news agency reported that official reserve Luca Badoer would now drive for Ferrari in Valencia. The 38-year-old Italian started 49 races for Scuderia Italia, Minardi and Forti without scoring a point between 1993 and 1999. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:39 am Japanese investment in Indian equity market at $1 bnMumbai: Japanese corporates and retail investors see India as a major investment destination and already up to $1 billion has reached Indian equity markets. “The Japanese retail investment has touched $1 billion and they are mostly through mutual funds,” Mizuho’s deputy president, Yukata Endo, told reporters here on Tuesday. Mizuho Financial Group has an alliance with the Rs8,500 crore Tata Capital, the financial services arm of the Tata group. Tata Capital’s managing director, Praveen P Kadle, said it was likely to come out with a private equity fund shortly. He, however, declined to say what could be the size of the private equity fund. Indications are that initially the aim is to have a fund-size of $350-400 million. Japan offered tremendous opportunities for Indian companies to raise capital through equity as well as debt, Kadle said, adding the alliance with Mizuho provided the requisite platform for Indian corporates to tap the Japanese market. Endo said that the time is ripe for Japanese investors to invest in India, cashing in on the opportunities the market offers. Japanese were looking at India for big investments now as they feel the country along with China are poised for sustained high-growth. Besides, the outstanding performance of Japanese companies in India like Suzuki and Honda provided the right platform for investments into India, he said. Tata Capital has been growing rapidly and in the first four months of this current fiscal, it has recorded a growth of 12% which indicated it could touch the Rs10,000 crore mark by end-this fiscal, he said. Tata Capital which completes two years of its existence in September was poised to leap-frog in its businesses which are mainly in retail, corporate, construction and infra financing and securities business. Corporate financing accounted for nearly Rs5,000 crore, including part-funding of Tata Motors’ acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover. Kadle said that consumer finance accounted for Rs2,000 crore and it plans to expand its auto financing and real estate loans in a big way. Home loans now accounted for Rs400-500 crore, he said, adding in mortgage financing, the company was looking at Tier II and III cities. The company is now in the process of tying-up with some of the top auto companies for passenger car financing. Asked if Mizuho was looking at an equity stake in Tata Capital, Endo said, “We have not discussed this.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:38 am Cheaper home loans might not be the best - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:34 am Petronet LNG signs gas supply pact with Exxon, stk up - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:32 am Intercontinental Hotels report $29 mn net lossLondon: Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) said on Tuesday that it suffered a net loss of $29 million during the first half of 2009 and said the rest of the year would be tough for them. InterContinental, the world’s biggest hotel operator by number of rooms, said its net loss compared with profit after tax of $163 million in the first six months of 2008. The company said it was responding to the “challenging” environment by improving efficiency levels and reducing costs. “Trading was very challenging throughout the first half of the year and we expect the remainder of 2009 to be tough,” IHG chief executive Andrew Cosslett said in comments accompanying the results. “The outlook remains challenging, but we are confident that with our fee-based business model, substantially reduced cost base, strong financial position and the renewal and refreshment of our brands supported by our system scale, we will outperform the competition and be well positioned for the upturn,” he said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:32 am Swine flu | Panic-stricken IT firms ask staff to cut travelNew Delhi: With a spurt in cases of swine flu (H1N1), IT companies have advised their employees not to travel to flu-hit areas, besides, reducing travel to Pune, the city worst hit by the flu. IT bellwether Infosys, which has 20,000 strong workforce at the Pune development centre said the IT firm has reduced all inbound and outbound travel to their Pune centre and have limited it to essential business travel. An Infosys spokesperson said, “we are continuing efforts to educate our employees, monitoring health bulletins and taking necessary precautions. We are closely monitoring the situation and are in constant touch with public authorities to ensure the safety of our employees and continuity of operations.” IT and BPO major Cognizant, which has over 7,500 employees in Pune, has issued an advisory to their associates asking them to undertake only essential travel and defer all other types of travel to locations worldwide affected by swine flu. In the face of the pandemic, IT industry body Nasscom has also postponed its engineering services outsourcing summit scheduled to be held in Pune on 19 August to 18 November. After Bangalore, Pune is considered the IT and manufacturing hub of the country. Most of the technology firms have a considerable presence in Pune, which is worst affected by the deadly virus. 95 fresh cases, half of which are from Pune, were reported across the country yesterday, taking the total number of flu-affected persons across the country to 960. The IT companies have also started educating their employees about the symptoms of the flu. Other than sharing elaborate information about the causes and symptoms of the flu and the recommended health practices to be observed in order to ensure protection, Cognizant has also set up a 24-hour toll free helpline number which is supported by qualified physicians and doctors. The country’s largest software exporter TCS which also has considerable presence in Pune has issued detailed internal mails with relevant information about the pandemic and known safeguards against it. Analysts tracking the sector feel that the IT companies are more vulnerable as their associates have to travel frequently. Moreover, since it is an industry that functions round the clock, absentism from work can hit the sector badly. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:28 am Strides Arcolab to supply Tamiflu in 3-4 days; stock up - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:22 am Swine flu likely to impact leisure travelNew Delhi: As the peak tourist season nears, people from abroad in large numbers are reported to be cancelling visits to India on account of swine flu, while hotels, worried about a prospective drop in occupancy, are taking steps to sanitise their premises. “We have seen a cancellation of 10-15% in the inbound tourists segment. Besides, in the short term, domestic tourism will be affected in states like Maharashtra where incidents of flu have been reported,” Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) president Rajji Rai said. He said that leisure tourism is likely to affected more, while business travel is likely to remain normal. “However, we have not seen any cancellations in outbound travel from Indian tourists. And nor have we received any advisory from the government or the ministries,” Rai said. Hotel chains are geared up to deal with any situation, although occupancy rates have not seen a decline so far. “We have taken precautionary measures and have doctors on call. We are taking precautions for our staff and for our guests ... we are also keeping a watch on our guests to check for any such symptoms,” a spokesperson of The Lalit Hotels said. The hotel group has seen no cancellation in room bookings. “There has not been any noticeable change in trends right now because of it (swine flu). In terms of our business, we cannot comment much right now,“ the spokesperson of Lalit Hotels said. Hospitality chain Phoenix Group has also taken steps to tackle the problem. “Our hotel staff are undergoing regular check-ups and we have in-house doctors for the guests,” Phoenix Group director (PR and communication) Preeti Chand said. She added that the flu might impact room occupancy in the short term. “The peak season starts from September-October. Last year, the Mumbai terror attacks spoiled the mood and this time it is swine flu. However, so far we have not seen any cancellations or decline in room occupancy,” Chand said. Premium segment chain Leela Group said that there has not been any effect on its business so far. “However, we have taken precautionary measures including having our in-house team of medical specialists. The main tourists season, specially of inbound travellers, starts from October and we hope the situation will improve by then,” Leela Venture Ltd vice-chairman Vivek Nair said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:18 am Tata Capital to launch private equity fundMumbai: Tata Capital, the financial services arm of the Tata group, is likely to come out with a private equity fund shortly. This was announced by Tata Capital managing director Praveen P. Kadle on Tuesday. Kadle declined to say what could be the size of the private equity fund, but according to early indications, the fund-size will initially be of $350-400 million. Tata Capital has an Rs8,500 crore alliance with the Japanese Mizuho Financial Group. Kadle said the alliance with Mizuho provided the right platform for Indian corporates to tap the Japanese market. He said Japan offered tremendous opportunities for Indian companies to raise capital through equity as well as debt. Yukata Endo, deputy president of Mizuho, said Japanese corporations and retail investors saw India as a major investment destination. “The Japanese retail investment has touched $1 billion and they are mostly through mutual funds,” Endo said, adding the time is ripe for Japanese investors to invest in India, cashing in on the opportunities the market offers. He said the Japanese were looking at India for big investments now as they felt the country along with China are poised for sustained high-growth. Asked if Mizuho was looking at an equity stake in Tata Capital, Endo said, “We have not discussed this.” Tata Capital completes two years of its existence in September. Its businesses are mainly in retail, corporate, construction and infra financing and securities business. Kadle said Tata Capital had been growing rapidly and in the first four months of this current fiscal had recorded a growth of 12% which indicated it could touch the Rs10,000 crore mark by end-this fiscal. Corporate financing accounted for nearly Rs5,000 crore, including part-funding of Tata Motors’ acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover. Kadle said consumer finance accounted for Rs2,000 crore and the company planned to expand its auto financing and real estate loans in a big way. Home loans now accounted for Rs400-500 crore, he said, adding in mortgage financing, the company was looking at Tier II and III cities. The company is now in the process of tying-up with some of the top auto companies for passenger car financing. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:16 am 20% decline in summer-sown crops; but no need to panic: FMDeficient rainfall will result in a 20% decline in sowing of summer crops, but finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said there was no need to press the panic button.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:13 am One-quarter of India's districts face drought riskNEW DELHI (Reuters) - More than a quarter of India's districts are facing the threat of drought and the sowing of crops nationally is 20 percent lower than in the previous year, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:07 am India sugar continues rally as consumers buy more - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:06 am PTC may divest 26% in its financial arm; IPO next fiscalNew Delhi: PTC Financial Services, a subsidiary of Power Trading Corporation, is mulling hitting the capital market next fiscal to raise about Rs1,500 crore by divesting 26% of the promoters’ stake. The initial public offering (IPO) of PTC Financial Services can be expected by the end of the next fiscal year, a company official said, adding that as per the shareholders’ agreement the company should come up with an IPO within three years of its formation. The present equity capital of PTC Financial Services is Rs600 crore, 77% of which is held by PTC India and 11.5% each by Goldman Sachs and Australian company Macquarie. PTC Financial Services, a diversified entity, was formed in 2008-09 for providing equity support to power projects in the country. PTC India chairman and managing director T N Thakur has said that PTC Financial Services is looking at acquiring coal blocks abroad and has shortlisted mines in Australia and Indonesia, where the fuel is available in abundance. The company will import the dry fuel from its overseas properties and sell it in India. PTC Financial Services recently sanctioned Rs521 crore for funding power projects in the country and the money includes Rs105 crore in the form of equity participation and Rs416 crore as long-term and short-term debt financing. The assistance will help seven 3,350 MW projects whose estimated investment is Rs16,750 crore. The company will invest in a power exchange, a wind turbine manufacturing unit, coal power projects and those involving non-conventional sources like biomass, wind and solar energy. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:06 am H1N1 toll in India rises, hits Bollywood, badmintonMumbai: Schools, malls and cinema halls in some cities in western India have shut and Bollywood shoots cancelled as the toll from the H1N1 pandemic rose to eight. More than 850 have so far tested positive for the virus, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said, with about 340 still undergoing treatment and the rest discharged from hospitals. “We need to work a little harder as the rate at which cases are being reported has gone up,” he said late on Monday. India was importing more supplies of flu drug Tamiflu and testing kits, asking private hospitals to help state-run hospitals cope with a surge in people rushing to get tested. The flu drug is still supplied only by the state and will not be made available in pharmacies, Azad said. Three Indian drug firms were working on a vaccine, although it could take 5-7 months to make one available, he said. In southern Hyderabad city, where the world badminton championships are being held, a Malaysian coach was quarantined on Tuesday with symptoms of the flu, a government coordinator said. In Maharashtra, which has six of the eight fatalities so far, schools, malls and cinema halls in Pune have shut and companies are restricting travel to and from the industrial hub, about 180 km from Mumbai. A team from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases was in the state to check the formation of clusters, the Indian Express paper said, citing a state health official. H1N1 swine flu is unstoppable, according to the World Health Organisation, which has given up on trying to keep a precise count of cases. Experts consider the pandemic to be moderate at this point, meaning it can kill people and put many in hospital, sometimes with severe illness. But most people get a mild illness and get better with little or no treatment. That hasn’t stopped wall-to-wall coverage in the local media. In Mumbai, commuters on crowded local trains wore face masks or handkerchiefs, and several pharmacies were selling swine flu masks and hand sanitisers at several times the regular price. Several schools have closed for a week, although Azad said simply closing schools would not help contain the virus if children chose instead to go to the mall or to parties. “Mere closing of schools is not going to solve the problem. But we’ve left it to the states to decide,” he said. The flu has also disrupted the business of Bollywood, with the shoot for film ‘Kurbaan’ in Pune cancelled. “There is no point taking a risk, especially because it is spreading so fast. It’s serious, and there’s no point taking such a huge crew,” Saif Ali Khan, who stars in the film, said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:01 am Sensex up 193 points in afternoonIndian equities were trading in the green Tuesday afternoon, with a key index ruling 193 points higher than its previous close.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 11 Aug 2009 | 3:00 am Indian rupee trims fall as shares rise over 1 pct - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:59 am Monsoon situation grim but GDP to grow at over 6%: FM - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:56 am ANALYSIS - Will trade lead or lag the recovery?GENEVA (Reuters) - As signs grow that the worst of the global slowdown is passing, fears are being voiced that world trade could hold back the recovery.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:55 am India gold traders continue to pick bargainsMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's gold demand picked up on Tuesday afternoon as traders sought to replenish stocks for festival demand as domestic prices stayed near a one-week low, dealers said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:53 am Sensex dips below 15k-mark, down 145 pointsThe BSE benchmark Sensex dipped below 15,000-point level by losing over 145 points in early trade today, as foreign funds and retail investors engaged in off-loading positions on worries over weak rains, crucial for the domestic demand-led economy.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:45 am Chennai IT, BPO companies on red alert modeIts Red Alert in information technology and BPO companies in Chennai to tackle the H1N1 Swine Flu. Doctors are available on call and masks are being stocked up in companies. For instance, the USbased Perot Systems has one lakh masks in stock. It is also about to procure a temperature scanner as a precautionary measure.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:44 am Mahindra in talks with Renault to trim LoganMahindra Mahindra is convinced that not all is lost with the Logan midsize sedan whose sales have been averaging barely 500 units over the last few months.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:40 am 20 m more Tamiflu pills to be procuredThe Government on Monday said it is taking a series of steps, including procuring an additional 20 million capsules of antiinfluenza drug Oseltamivir (Tamiflu), to contain swine flu.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:35 am Rupee trims fall as shares rise over 1%Mumbai: The Indian rupee trimmed its fall in afternoon trade on Tuesday as the sharemarket surged more than 1 percent reversing losses of over 1% earlier as some long-term investors booked profits. At 2:10pm, the partially convertible rupee was at 47.90/91 per dollar, off an early low of 48.04, its lowest since 31 July but still weaker than its previous close of 47.82/83. Dealers said a steady dollar overseas was weighing on he rupee. The dollar held firm against a basket of currencies on Tuesday with investors still unwinding short positions after last week’s better-than-expected US jobs report. Shares were trading up 1.3% as some long-term investors took advantage of a 5.6% drop over the past three sessions to enter the market. However, dealers said dollar demand from importers was preventing a further upside for the rupee. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contract on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX was quoting at 47.9675 and 47.9650 respectively, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $1 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:26 am Gold traders continue to pick bargainsMumbai: India’s gold demand picked up on Tuesday afternoon as traders sought to replenish stocks for festival demand as domestic prices stayed near a one-week low, dealers said. At 1:19pm, the most-traded gold October contract was 0.17% higher at Rs14,766 at 1:36pm, near its recent low of Rs14,721 reached on 4 August. The contract shed about 1% in the last session, when a strong dollar overseas pressured the yellow metal. “I did around 250 kg yesterday evening and still there is demand,” said a dealer with a state-run bank in Mumbai. India’s festival season is underway and gold traders are hopeful of a rebound in gold demand. “I have a lot of orders in the range of $930-935 (an ounce),” said another dealer with a private bank. The world’s largest consumer of gold will celebrate Janmasthami and Ganesh Chaturthi this month. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:21 am Suu Kyi held guilty, house arrest extendedYangon: A Myanmar court found democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty on Tuesday of violating her house arrest by allowing an ininvited American to stay at her home. The head of the military-ruled country ordered her to serve out an 18-month sentence under house arrest. The American, John Yettaw, was sentenced to seven years in prison, including four with hard labour. Suu Kyi has already been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, mostly under house arrest, and the extension will remove her from the political scene while the country holds junta-organized elections next year. The 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate had faced up to five years in prison for allowing Yettaw to stay for two nights after he swam across a lake to reach her. The court initially sentenced Suu Kyi to a three-year prison term. But after a five-minute recess, the country’s home minister entered the courtroom and read aloud a special order from junta chief Senior General Than Shwe. The order said Than Shwe was cutting the sentence in half to 18 months and that it could be served under house arrest. Than Shwe’s order, signed on Monday, likewise reduced the sentences of Suu Kyi’s two female house companions to 18 months. Than Shwe said he reduced the sentence to “maintain peace and tranquility” and because Suu Kyi was the daughter of Aung San, a revered hero who won Myanmar’s independence from Britain. Suu Kyi’s trial has sparked international outrage and calls for her release and that of Myanmar’s more than 2,000 other political prisoners. The 53-year-old Yettaw, of Falcon, Missouri, was returned to Insein prison, the site of the trial, on Monday night after hospitalization for epileptic seizures. The court sentenced him to three years in prison for breaching Suu Kyi’s house arrest. Yettaw was also sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor for an immigration violation and to another one-year term with hard labor for swimming in a restricted zone. It was not immediately clear if the prison terms would be served concurrently. Yettaw, a devout Christian, earlier told his lawyer that he swam to Suu Kyi’s residence to warn her of an assassination attempt that he had seen in a vision. Yettaw was hospitalized last Monday after suffering seizures. He reportedly suffers from epilepsy, diabetes and other health problems, including post traumatic stress disorder from his service in the US military. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:13 am Facebook buys social media start-up FriendFeedSan Francisco: Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, said it will buy FriendFeed, netting a group of prized ex-Google engineers in the fast-growing Internet business. FriendFeed, an up-and-coming social media startup, lets people share content online in real time across various social networks and blogs. The service is similar to, though less popular than Twitter, the microblogging site that Facebook tried to buy for $500 million in 2008, according to sources familiar with the matter. Terms of the deal were not disclosed on Monday, but Facebook said FriendFeed would operate as it has for the time being as the teams determine long-term plans. Facebook’s big gain in the acquisition is the engineering talent at FriendFeed, rather than the actual product, which has won critical praise, but lagged in popularity compared to Twitter, said Forrester Research analyst Jeremiah Owyang. “These guys know how to build scalable, social applications,” said Owyang. In a statement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he admired the FriendFeed team for having created a service he described as simple and elegant. “As this shows, our culture continues to make Facebook a place where the best engineers come to build things quickly that lots of people will use,” said Zuckerberg. FriendFeed’s four founders are former Google Inc employees who count well known products like Gmail and Google Maps among their accomplishments. Facebook said the founders will hold senior roles on its engineering and product teams. FriendFeed had talked with Facebook “casually” for a couple of months, and that it became clear that the teams were ”cut from the same cloths,” FriendFeed co-founder Bret Taylor told Reuters in an interview. He declined to say whether FriendFeed had been in talks with other companies. One bridge between Facebook and FriendFeed might have been Matt Cohler, Facebook’s former management vice president. He joined FriendFeed backer Benchmark Capital last year. Asked what role the connection played in the deal, FriendFeed’s Taylor said the decision to be acquired by Facebook was made entirely by the team at FriendFeed. Facebook has more than 250 million registered users. In May, the social networking company announced a $200 million investment from Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies that pegged the value of its preferred shares at $10 billion. Facebook has said its revenue is on track to rise 70 percent this year, and board member Mark Andreessen has said the company will bring in more than $500 million in revenue in 2009. But Forrester’s Owyang said that Facebook must make the content generated within the site more accessible to the public instead of only to closed networks of Facebook friends, so that the company can sell more ads. Earlier this year, Facebook announced changes to its privacy controls to allow people to make their status messages and posts viewable to a broader Internet audience. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:02 am Facebook buys social media start-up FriendFeedSan Francisco: Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, said it will buy FriendFeed, netting a group of prized ex-Google engineers in the fast-growing Internet business. FriendFeed, an up-and-coming social media startup, lets people share content online in real time across various social networks and blogs. The service is similar to, though less popular than Twitter, the microblogging site that Facebook tried to buy for $500 million in 2008, according to sources familiar with the matter. Terms of the deal were not disclosed on Monday, but Facebook said FriendFeed would operate as it has for the time being as the teams determine long-term plans. Facebook’s big gain in the acquisition is the engineering talent at FriendFeed, rather than the actual product, which has won critical praise, but lagged in popularity compared to Twitter, said Forrester Research analyst Jeremiah Owyang. “These guys know how to build scalable, social applications,” said Owyang. In a statement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he admired the FriendFeed team for having created a service he described as simple and elegant. “As this shows, our culture continues to make Facebook a place where the best engineers come to build things quickly that lots of people will use,” said Zuckerberg. FriendFeed’s four founders are former Google Inc employees who count well known products like Gmail and Google Maps among their accomplishments. Facebook said the founders will hold senior roles on its engineering and product teams. FriendFeed had talked with Facebook “casually” for a couple of months, and that it became clear that the teams were ”cut from the same cloths,” FriendFeed co-founder Bret Taylor told Reuters in an interview. He declined to say whether FriendFeed had been in talks with other companies. One bridge between Facebook and FriendFeed might have been Matt Cohler, Facebook’s former management vice president. He joined FriendFeed backer Benchmark Capital last year. Asked what role the connection played in the deal, FriendFeed’s Taylor said the decision to be acquired by Facebook was made entirely by the team at FriendFeed. Facebook has more than 250 million registered users. In May, the social networking company announced a $200 million investment from Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies that pegged the value of its preferred shares at $10 billion. Facebook has said its revenue is on track to rise 70 percent this year, and board member Mark Andreessen has said the company will bring in more than $500 million in revenue in 2009. But Forrester’s Owyang said that Facebook must make the content generated within the site more accessible to the public instead of only to closed networks of Facebook friends, so that the company can sell more ads. Earlier this year, Facebook announced changes to its privacy controls to allow people to make their status messages and posts viewable to a broader Internet audience. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:02 am Facebook buys social media start-up FriendFeedSan Francisco: Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, said it will buy FriendFeed, netting a group of prized ex-Google engineers in the fast-growing Internet business. FriendFeed, an up-and-coming social media startup, lets people share content online in real time across various social networks and blogs. The service is similar to, though less popular than Twitter, the microblogging site that Facebook tried to buy for $500 million in 2008, according to sources familiar with the matter. Terms of the deal were not disclosed on Monday, but Facebook said FriendFeed would operate as it has for the time being as the teams determine long-term plans. Facebook’s big gain in the acquisition is the engineering talent at FriendFeed, rather than the actual product, which has won critical praise, but lagged in popularity compared to Twitter, said Forrester Research analyst Jeremiah Owyang. “These guys know how to build scalable, social applications,” said Owyang. In a statement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he admired the FriendFeed team for having created a service he described as simple and elegant. “As this shows, our culture continues to make Facebook a place where the best engineers come to build things quickly that lots of people will use,” said Zuckerberg. FriendFeed’s four founders are former Google Inc employees who count well known products like Gmail and Google Maps among their accomplishments. Facebook said the founders will hold senior roles on its engineering and product teams. FriendFeed had talked with Facebook “casually” for a couple of months, and that it became clear that the teams were ”cut from the same cloths,” FriendFeed co-founder Bret Taylor told Reuters in an interview. He declined to say whether FriendFeed had been in talks with other companies. One bridge between Facebook and FriendFeed might have been Matt Cohler, Facebook’s former management vice president. He joined FriendFeed backer Benchmark Capital last year. Asked what role the connection played in the deal, FriendFeed’s Taylor said the decision to be acquired by Facebook was made entirely by the team at FriendFeed. Facebook has more than 250 million registered users. In May, the social networking company announced a $200 million investment from Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies that pegged the value of its preferred shares at $10 billion. Facebook has said its revenue is on track to rise 70 percent this year, and board member Mark Andreessen has said the company will bring in more than $500 million in revenue in 2009. But Forrester’s Owyang said that Facebook must make the content generated within the site more accessible to the public instead of only to closed networks of Facebook friends, so that the company can sell more ads. Earlier this year, Facebook announced changes to its privacy controls to allow people to make their status messages and posts viewable to a broader Internet audience. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:02 am H1N1 toll in India rises, hits Bollywood, badmintonMUMBAI (Reuters) - Schools, malls and cinema halls in some cities in western India have shut and Bollywood shoots cancelled as the toll from the H1N1 pandemic rose to eight.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Aug 2009 | 2:01 am Oil rises above $71 after record Chinese oil dataSingapore: Oil rose above $71 on Tuesday, ending a three-day losing streak as record Chinese oil imports and refinery production helped offset mixed economic data, while traders anticipated key reports on the state of global demand. China reported below-forecast growth in factory output and investment on Tuesday, but a further pick-up in exports and higher than expected retail sales, underlining why senior officials keep reminding markets that recovery in the world’s third-largest economy is not yet on solid ground. But oil data showed a brighter picture for the world’s No. 2 consumer, with imports surging 42% on the year in July to a record 4.62 million barrels per day as refiners boosted exports and cashed in on retail price hikes in June. “We believe the July (crude imports) figure is not a fluke,” said analyst Gordon Kwan of Mirae Asset Securties. “The record number is driven by strong fuel demand and commercial restocking.” US light crude for September delivery rose 46 cents to $71.06 a barrel by 10:00pm, having fallen 33 cents on Monday when it tracked Wall Street losses. Oil has more than doubled from this winter’s low $30s but high inventories worldwide have kept prices in check as they suggest still weak demand. London Brent crude rose 34 cents to $73.84 a barrel. With Tuesday’s deluge of China data out of the way, traders will now shift their focus to the pace of demand recovery in harder-hit Western economies, with a slightly brighter economic outlook possibly prompting the EIA to again raise its world oil demand forecasts when it releases its August report at 9:30pm. In its July outlook, the EIA raised its 2009 global oil demand projection to 83.85 million barrels per day from the previous forecast of 83.68 million -- still well below 2008 levels of 85.41 million bpd. Opec will also release its monthly oil report on Tuesday, followed by the International Energy Agency on Wednesday. The next set of weekly US oil stock data is expected to show steep 1.5 million barrels drawdown in US gasoline stocks, deeper than the previous week’s 200,000 barrels fall, but a bearish 800,000-barrels rise in crude stocks on higher imports and lower refinery utilization. The American Petroleum Institute will release a first set of data at 2:00am (IST), to be followed on Wednesday by data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Traders will also watch the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday for any signs of a plan to exit its ultra-loose monetary policy, although it is not expected to change interest rates. The worst US recession since the Great Depression will probably end in the third quarter, but uncertainty exists over the speed and duration of the economic recovery, according to the most recent survey of private economists. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 1:57 am Average inflation for FY10 to be modest at 0.5%: CMIEMumbai: The average inflation for this fiscal will be modest at 0.5%, higher than the earlier projection of 0.1%, a leading economic think-tank said in its latest report. The upward revision is mainly on account of a spurt in the prices of sugar, khandsari and gur, the report said, adding, the upward revision is sharp, yet negative as compared to the 8.3% average inflation recorded in FY09. “The wholesale price index (WPI) will start rising (after November) and inflation is expected to reach 3% by the end of March 2010. Average inflation for the year will be modest at 0.5%,” Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) forecast in its monthly report on the state of the Indian economy. The WPI was down in the past seven weeks, till July 2009 and the decline is expected to continue till October-November this year, CMIE said. The report said weak global growth prospects have kept company prices in check in the international market and the same sentiment was being reflected in the domestic market. According to CMIE, the prices of basic metal and metal products are projected to decline by 10.5% in the current fiscal. Likewise, the prices of chemical and chemical products and rubber and rubber products are also expected to decline by 2.5%, the report said, adding, inflation in groups other than these manufactured product groups is also expected to remain low in FY10. The only exception, however, is the manufactured food products group, which includes sugar, gur, khandsari and several other groups, the report said. “The rise in WPI of manufactured food products is now placed higher at 10.2% during the current fiscal as against the 4.5% projected earlier,” CMIE said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 1:43 am Asia stocks make little ground, yen climbsSource: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 1:41 am Sterlite confirms higher bid for miner AsarcoLONDON (Reuters) - Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of London-listed Vedanta Resources, on Tuesday confirmed an improved offer for the operating assets of bankrupt U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Aug 2009 | 1:33 am Sterlite hikes bid for bankrupt miner AsarcoLondon: Indian Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of London-listed Vedanta Resources, on Tuesday said it has raised its bid for the operating assets of bankrupt US copper miner Asarco LLC. Sterlite, battling Mexican miner Grupo Mexico for control of Asarco, said its revised offer included cash of $1.587 billion, up from $1.1 billion, and a $208 million copper price participation note, down from $770 million. The new bid reflected an increase in copper prices and the expectations of creditors, it said. Sterlite and Grupo Mexico are facing off in a Texan court in the final stage of a year-long tussle for the copper miner, which sought court protection in 2005 amid a worker strike and more than $1 billion of environmental damage and asbestos claims. Asarco lawyer Jack Kinzie said on Monday that Starlite’s revised bid was worth $1.67 billion, including a note to creditors with a net present value of $83 million. Grupo Mexico also upped its bid on Monday, increasing the cash portion by $260 million and bringing its value to $2 billion, a lawyer for Grupo Mexico told Reuters. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 1:28 am India sees drought prospects in 161 districtsNew Delhi: A quarter of India’s districts are facing the threat of drought and sowing of crops are 20% lower than the previous year, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday. India is heavily dependent on the June to September monsoon rains for farm output, to help rural income and to drive economic growth. Also See Met office forecast sign of drought After the driest June in 83 years, the annual rains have been more than a quarter below below normal this season. “Monsoon situation is still erratic,” Mukherjee told reporters. “One hundred and sixty one districts have been declared drought prone. So far as sowing is concerned, 20% would be down,” he said. India has 604 districts. The rain deficit since 1 June worsened to 28% at the weekend, raising fears that the season may turn out to be as bad as 2004 when summer crop output fell 12% after a drought. The rains are vital for sugarcane, oilseeds and other crops. Mukherjee said the government was ready to manage a drought and a contingency plan was also in place. “Of course, always there is a contingency plan,” the minister said. “There is no point of pressing the panic button because you will go and start chanting drought, drought, drought and it will have an adverse impact,” he said. Among measures the government could take to mitigate the situation are to raise imports and curtail exports. It has already stepped up efforts to buy more sugar and has banned wheat exports and restricted rice shipments. “Fortunately, Punjab and Haryana have extensively used the ground water. Bihar and certain other states, there are shortfalls,” Mukherjee said. Asked whether the shorfall in rains would affect India’s growth, he said he expected the economy to expand more than 6 percent in 2009/10, as predicted by the central bank. Asia’s third largest economy expanded 6.7% in the last fiscal year, sharply lower than the 9% or more it grew in the previous three years, as the global economic crisis took a toll. Mukherjee was also confident that direct tax receipts for the 2009/10 fiscal year would be surpassed. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 1:28 am Weak rains forecast in cane, oilseed regions - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Aug 2009 | 1:10 am Voltas bets big on West Asia for its future growthMumbai: Voltas, a Tata group company, is betting big on the West Asia markets for its future growth, a top company official said. “We are seriously contemplating setting up a subsidiary company in Saudi Arabia. We have also commenced operations at our Abu Dhabi factory,” Voltas chairman, Ishaat Hussain, told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) here on Tuesday. Countries like Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia are better placed to ride the global downturn and large-scale projects to develop their national economies continue to be undertaken, he said. Most of Voltas’ on-going international projects in Abu Dhabi and Qatar are expected to remain largely unaffected, Hussain said. In the face of economic adversity, the company demonstrated its fundamental strength by securing new international orders of Rs1,334 crore during FY09, including a large retail development project in Abu Dhabi. The company’s international electro-mechanical business had an order book position of Rs3,732 crore. The company’s overall carry-forward order book for the electro-mechanical project and services segment was Rs4,718 crore. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 1:06 am Himachal firm to invest Rs.130 crore in GujaratHimachal Pradesh-based frozen food manufacturer Himalya International has plans to invest Rs.130 crore in a new unit in Gujarat, a top company official has said.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 11 Aug 2009 | 1:01 am Dying Nortel's CEO steps down, board trimmedThe final curtain fell on dying Nortel on Monday when its president and CEO Mike Zafirovski stepped down even as the company trimmed its board of directors from nine to three.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:49 am Noon: Markets extend gains to 1% on fresh buyingMumbai: Indian shares extended gains to more than 1% in midday trade on Tuesday as some long-term investors took advantage of a 5.6% drop over the past three sessions to enter the market. Energy giant Reliance Industries, which has the most weight in the main index, rose 2.6% to Rs2,038.05, after dropping 4.3% over the past three sessions. Top utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra gained 5.1% to Rs797 after sliding 17.6% over the previous three sessions. At 12:05pm, the 30-share BSE index was up 0.9% at 15,144.13 points, with 20 stocks gaining, after rising to as high as 15,174.53. The benchmark had fallen almost 1% earlier. The 50-share NSE index was up 1% at 4,481.20. Markets were choppy in the morning, as worries over a shortfall in crucial monsoon rains, pricey stocks and mixed Asian markets kept investor confidence in check. Energy giant Reliance Industries, consumer-goods firm Hindustan Unilever and leading utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra rose as some long-term investors looked to enter the market after it dropped 5.6% over the past three sessions. Top mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp, engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro and diversified cigarette maker ITC were among the major losers. By 11:19am, the 30-share BSE index was up 0.8% at 15,133.54 points, with 21 stocks advancing, after falling as much as 0.97% earlier. The 50-share NSE index was up 1% at 4,481.20. “It certainly looks like some buying at lower levels is happening. The market needs to take a breather from its recent downfall,” Gajendra Nagpal, chief executive of Unicon Financial, said. “There was a case for the market to find some support at these levels, but one can’t attribute too much of credibility to this support.” India’s monsoon shortfall worsened to 28% at the weekend, raising fears that the June-September season may turn out to be as bad as 2004 when summer crop output fell 12% after a drought. Rains are crucial to India’s domestic-demand-led economy, and a dry weather - in a country where a majority of the 1.1 billion people live in villages - has stoked concerns about a nascent economic recovery. Indian shares slid 3.25% last week after jumping 16% over the previous three weeks, when it rode a worldwide equities rally on better-than-expected corporate earnings and improving signs of a global economic recovery. The main index has leapt 87% from a 2009 low in early March, and is still up more than 55% this year after slumping by more than half in 2008. This has raised concerns about rich valuations, but analysts say a rush of liquidity pouring into emerging markets will help offset those concerns in the near term. Reliance Industries, India’s biggest listed firm with the most weight in the main index, gained 2.6% to Rs2,037.20. Hindustan Unilever rose 1.7% to Rs264.85, and Mahindra & Mahindra climbed 4.8% to Rs794.70, after falling 10.3% and 17.6%, respectively, over the past three sessions. Housing Development Finance Corp fell 1.7% to Rs2,289, while ITC slid 0.9% to 222 rupees. Larsen & Toubro eased 0.2% to Rs1,436.25. In the broader market, gainers led losers 1,203 to 889 on relatively moderate volume of 106.7 million shares. Asian shares were mixed on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei up 0.6%, while MSCI’s measure of other Asian markets was flat. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:42 am When Infosys steps out to trainWith an objective to create a global platform for bright youngsters, the Instep programme was started in the year 1999.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:32 am Lack of quality education hindering India’s growthBangalore: Come June every year, and Infosys Technologies, India’s second-biggest software services exporter, turns trainer for the nearly 30,000 students it recruits from top engineering colleges every year. Its training campus in Mysore, a two-hour drive from its sprawling headquarters in Bangalore, can house about 15,000 people. New recruits spend up to six months honing their skills as Infosys attempts to fill the gaps left by inadequate college education. Goldman Sachs counts the lack of quality education as one of the 10 factors holding India back from rapid economic growth. Analysts say it raises costs, including salaries as firms vie for the best IT recruits, and reduces firms’ competitive edge. “Ideally, education should happen in colleges, it should not be happening on company campuses,” said Srikantan Moorthy, head of education and research at Infosys, whose Campus Connect programme in 430 colleges is aimed at “industry ready” recruits. “But a gap does exist, and we can’t wait for the government to put in place an education system that addresses our needs.” There are growing cries to revamp India’s education system, which focuses on learning by rote. The calls for reforms include opening up primary and secondary education to private investment, easier entry of foreign universities seeking to establish campuses in India and better monitoring and evaluation systems. Nasdaq-listed Infosys, which develops software applications, spent $175 million on training and education in the year to March 2009, at a time when an economic downturn crimped margins. It is not the only one: rival Tata Consultancy Services has a faculty development programme in 150 engineering colleges, while Wipro founder Azim Premji has set aside some of his personal wealth for primary education and Anil Agarwal, chief of Vedanta Resources, has committed $1 billion to a university. India’s Tata Group and Aditya Birla Group set up colleges years ago as acts of social responsibility. Now, multinationals such as SAP, IBM and Cisco are designing curriculum and training faculty to meet their needs. “The talent gap is compromising their growth big time,” said Janmejaya Sinha, managing director of Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which estimates there was a 30 percent rise in IT salaries from 2004-06 because of a war for talent between firms. “It is one of the biggest operational risks they face.” Demographic disaster More than half India’s billion-plus population is below the age of 25, a section referred to as its demographic dividend. But about 40% of its work force of about 400 million people is illiterate and another 40% comprises school dropouts, said BCG in a recent report. Demand for graduates over the next five years is likely to be 13.8 million. But with only 13.2 million students graduating over the same period, India will face a shortfall of 600,000 graduates. About 1.3 million unskilled and unqualified workers will also weigh on the economy over the same period, BCG estimates. “More than 1 million people lacking the ability to participate in the workforce has the makings of a potential demographic disaster,” Sinha said. “We will have an army of young people left behind and increasingly frustrated with their lot. They not only have the potential to derail India’s growth prospects, but also challenge the basic fibre of our society,” he said. With a literacy rate of 61 percent, India scores poorly compared to other Bric nations in terms of average number of years in secondary education. Rival China already produces more than three times the number of PhDs every year. Home to one of the world’s oldest universities, now only 10% of the roughly 20 million who enrol in the first grade every year finish high school. Female participation is abysmal. With the education sector deemed “not for profit”, and limits on private investment in primary and secondary education, there is a thriving cottage industry of coaching centres and tutors. Hundreds of private tertiary colleges charge high fees. Yet, according to critics, many students graduating from these expensive colleges are practically unemployable. The best colleges, including Indian Institutes of Technology and Management were set up more than 50 years ago. “Without hundreds of millions of Indians receiving a better basic education, it will be virtually impossible for India to achieve its “dream” potential,” the Goldman Sachs report said. Right to education For the new Congress party-led government, education is a priority: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (universal education programme) helped bring 20 million children into school. It also plans to quadruple the number of universities to 1,500 in 10 years. A Right to Education Bill, passed by the parliament this month, provides children aged 6-14 years the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school. These are vital but inadequate measures, companies say. “Of all the big issues challenging corporates, education is the starting point,” said Dilep Rajnekar, chief executive of Azim Premji Foundation, which plans to set up a university. “If we manage to get the education bit right, then a lot of things can go right in this country.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:28 am Car sales vroom in July on stimulus, new launchesNew Delhi, Aug. 10 Passenger cars reported the highest-ever growth in the recent past, with domestic sales up 31 per cent in July on the back of new launches and cheaper loans.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am India goes on high alert as swine flu grips MaharashtraThe swine flu scare has begun to grip the country with Pune, the worst hit, accounting for 221 of the 327 cases reported in Maharashtra thusSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am 20 m more Tamiflu pills to be procuredNew Delhi, Aug. 10 The Government on Monday said it is taking a series of steps, including procuring an additional 20 million capsules of anti-influenza drug Oseltamivir (Tamiflu), to contain swine flu.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am LIC keen on funding public sector units’ power, infrastructure projectsBangalore, Aug. 10 Faced with a shortage of high-yielding, long-term Government securities, the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has switched to funding projects of State-owned power sector and infrastructureSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Union Bank of India (Rs 219.35): SellWe recommend a sell in the stock of Union Bank of India from a short-term perspective. It is evident from the charts of the stock that it had been on an intermediate-term uptrend from its March low of Rs 115 to its July high of Rs 264. However,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideThe near-term outlook is bearish for DLF. We recommend a sell in this counter. Initiate fresh short-position if ICICI Bank dives below Rs 706 and SBI tumbles below Rs 1692, with tightSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Paddy, groundnut main casualties of poor rainNew Delhi, Aug. 10 The drought-like conditions, with the monsoon turning out 25 per cent below normal, has affected plantings of paddy and groundnut theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am New trade policy to focus on labour-intensive exportsThe forthcoming Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), to be announced by the end of this month, would have a long-term vision with the focus on helping labour-intensive export segments in this downturn time, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, MrSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Pharma sector in good health in June quarterStrong domestic demand, growing preference for generics worldwide and favourable rupee-dollar exchange rate helped the pharmaceutical sector post 11 per cent sales growth for the quarter ended June 2009, compared with the same period a yearSource: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Vacant rooms hit hotels’ profitsMumbai, Aug.10 Sluggish demand led to a fall in the average room rates and occupancies in hotels across India, and this has a cascading impact on the profitability of hospitality majors in the first quarter ended June 30,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 11 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Sensex dips below 15,000-mark, down 145 pts in early tradeThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex dipped below 15,000-point level by losing over 145 points in early trade today.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Aug 2009 | 11:52 pm Sensex back in positive zone, recovers 143 points After falling by over 145 points in early trade, the Sensex, staged comeback to quote in positive zone with a rise of 143 points.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 10 Aug 2009 | 11:32 pm StanChart to hire 850 relationship managers for priority bankingSingapore: Standard Chartered said on Tuesday it plans to hire about 850 relationship managers for its priority banking service over the next 12-18 months, to gain a larger market share of wealthy customers in Asia. “Priority has outperformed the market in the last few years,” StanChart’s global head of premium banking Foo Mee Har told Reuters in an interview. “We have aspirations to double the industry growth rate and double our customer numbers in three years.” Foo said household wealth in Asia excluding Japan is expected to grow by 12% per annum between 2008 and 2012, and Asia-focused StanChart hoped to expand its priority banking business at twice the pace. Foo said about 430 of the new hires will be in Greater China, while Singapore and Malaysia will each add over 100 relationship managers in the next 12-18 months. The new hires will make an increase of 65% from around 1,300 priority banking relationship managers currently. The bank has already relaunched its priority banking service in Hong Kong and Singapore and plans to do so in China, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, India and the United Arab Emirates in coming months. Priority banking services are aimed at owners of small and medium enterprises as well as senior executives who typically can invest assets of more than $100,000 with the bank. The perks include access to personal relationship managers, separate queues at bank branches, access to loans at preferential rates and help in setting up new accounts in different countries. Banks that currently cater to this customer segment on an Asia-wide basis include Citigroup, HSBC and Singapore’s DBS Group. StanChart, which has emerged relatively unscathed from the global financial crisis, completed the acquisition of Cazenove Asia in January and its corporate bank has been hiring top executives from rivals. MORE MORTGAGES Singapore-based Foo, who was previously CEO of StanChart Thailand, said the British bank has benefitted from the financial crisis and was attracting new deposits amid a “flight to quality” as customers moved their savings towards stronger lenders. While sale of investment products had fallen over the past year, StanChart’s priority banking service has benefitted from a growth in mortgage loans, and it is winning market share in Hong Kong and Singapore where home sales have soared in recent months. “We have been able to capture increased market share in the mortgage area where we have seen, in the first half, strong property transactions in Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea,” she said. The bank estimates its share of new mortgages in Hong Kong at 19% currently, up from 13% last year. In Singapore, its share of new home loans has grown to 22%. Foo declined to reveal the number of priority banking customers at Stanchart. StanChart said earlier this year that it was reorganising its consumer banking operations away from product sales to focus on customer segments, and identified priority banking as a key area. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 10 Aug 2009 | 11:17 pm Auto rickshaws all set to paint Chandigarh pinkChandigarh is all set to be pink and pollution-free with newly launched radio auto rickshaws.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Aug 2009 | 11:02 pm Sensex starts in the red on indecisive Asian cuesA key index of the Indian equities markets opened in the red Tuesday, and slipped further soon after to be 73 points in the red about five minutes into trade.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Aug 2009 | 11:01 pm Sterlite revises bid for bankrupt US copper firmSterlite Industries, a leading metals major and part of Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Group, has revised its offer to purchase the assets of Asarco, the Texas-based bankrupt miner, smelter and copper refiner.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Aug 2009 | 11:00 pm Fin Secy: new bills to provide flexibilityNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla said on Tuesday the move to introduce cash-management bills maturing in less than 91 days would provide more flexibility to the government to manage short-term funding mismatches.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Aug 2009 | 10:53 pm Rupee depreciates 22 paise against dollar in early tradeThe Indian rupee depreciated by 22 paise to 48.02 against the US dollar in early trade on expectations of more capital outflows and dollar demand from importers.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 10 Aug 2009 | 10:44 pm Good news for IT/BT business in KarnatakaKarnataka's IT industry has something to cheer about. Karnataka plans to set up an IT/BT development authority which will function as a true single-window to ensure speedier clearance of business proposals.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 10 Aug 2009 | 6:02 pm Nokia smells moolah in the sound of musicNokia plans to be a game changer in the Indian handset market. The change will be by moving from a la carte mobile music offering to an all-you-can eat buffet experience.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Aug 2009 | 4:29 pm EMI spurs Nano cancellationsBecause EMIs on the booking amount (between Rs 95,000 and Rs 140,000, depending on the model, and the interest paid thereon @10%-10.5%) start a month after allotment.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Aug 2009 | 4:08 pm Stop that SIP, and start againBeginning August 1, 2009, Sebi has said, there will be no entry load for any mutual fund scheme and the upfront commission to distributors will be paid directly by the investor.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Aug 2009 | 4:07 pm Centre devises new debt paperThe Reserve Bank of India has introduced a special short-term instrument to help the government borrow money for tenures less than 91 days.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Aug 2009 | 4:06 pm Of China, Ponzi scheme and the Panda putWith western economies collapsing, Chinese exports have also collapsed. In the month of June, Chinese exports fell by 21.4% in comparison to the same period last year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Aug 2009 | 4:02 pm Truant rains dash FMCG's rural hopesThe abnormally weak monsoon is taking a heavy toll on the rural consumption-fuelled hopes of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Aug 2009 | 3:46 pm Airlines flash SOS sign againUnion civil aviation minister Praful Patel lent a patient ear to the airline chiefs who met him on Monday evening.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Aug 2009 | 3:46 pm ‘Policy lacks a long-term vision’Captain GR Gopinath feels that the prime minister can make it happen and the low cost airlines are here to stay. Excerpts of the interview with Lalatendu Mishra. Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 10 Aug 2009 | 2:52 pm Air policy biased towards airportsWith various stake holders of Indian aviation — airlines, private airports, oil companies and the government — blaming one another for the current mess, Captain GR Gopinath, the pioneer of low-cost air travel in the country, has decried India’s aviation policy as one that lacks a long -term vision. Lalatendu Mishra reports.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 10 Aug 2009 | 2:47 pm A Y2K for chemical research?Is REACH —Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals — going to do for Indian chemicals research what the Y2K did for its IT? Falaknaaz Syed finds out.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 10 Aug 2009 | 2:43 pm Car sales driving in fast lane Car sales jumped 31% in July, showing growth for the sixth consecutive month, riding on new models and easier retail financing.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 10 Aug 2009 | 2:41 pm Tata Motors secures 75m loan for JLRTata Motors has managed to secure a debt facility of 75 million for its Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) operations, by mortgaging stock (inventories) and receivables of Land Rover.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 10 Aug 2009 | 2:40 pm Swine flu: Companies issue advisories to staffWhile business continued as usual, corporates issued advisories to employees on Monday exhorting them to stay home if sick with influenza.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 10 Aug 2009 | 2:38 pm Govt likely to lift ban on drug saleConsumers may soon be able to buy anti-flu drug oseltamivir from retail stores across the country.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 10 Aug 2009 | 2:37 pm Direct tax collection shows marginal riseDirect tax collection has not picked up as anticipated with the net direct tax mop-up being Rs 73,990 crore during the first four months of the current fiscal up to July 2009, an increase of nearly 3% over the same period last year.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 10 Aug 2009 | 2:36 pm Carbon credit prices looking up againOptimism seems to have returned to the carbon credits market, with spot prices of certified emission reductions (CERs) or carbon credits testing the euro 13-levels.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 10 Aug 2009 | 2:35 pm Social networks can get you jobsGreet ,tweet, meet? Social networking is no longer just to hook up with friends and fellow hobbyists. Online employment portals could feel the heat if trend catches on. Ruchi Hajela reports.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 10 Aug 2009 | 2:34 pm Petronet, Exxon ink deal for LNGThe companies did not give the total value of the deal but sources said gas from Australia would be mixed with domestic supplies to keep prices affordable through pool-pricing'.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 10 Aug 2009 | 2:33 pm As rivals branch out, SAP is content sticking to softwareWalldorf / San Francisco: Leo Apotheker wants you to know that he is content to run a straightforward software maker that focuses on what it has always done well: Writing programs that help companies manage their operations, including payroll, sales and inventory.  Business strategy: SAP’s chief executive Leo Apotheker argues that the company’s software-only strategy positions it as a more neutral player than Oracle and IBM, which sell software, services and hardware. Hannelore Foerster / Bloomberg Giants such as Oracle and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) have been on a relentless mission to persuade companies to buy as much of their computer infrastructure as possible from one place. It is a strategy that has them encroaching on the turf of specialists such as SAP. Many in the technology industry say businesses would prefer to deal with fewer vendors. But Apotheker does not agree. “I have never, ever heard a customer expressing the faintest wish for having everything delivered out of one hand,” he said in an interview. “Someone is probably trying to imagine wishes that they would like to hear.” It is not clear, however, that SAP has a firm grip on what customers really want, either. The company has fallen well behind rivals in efforts to offer a “cloud computing” product, in which customers essentially rent applications and use them online instead of buying the software and maintaining it on their own machines. SAP also got an earful from customers when it tried to raise prices in the mid of the recession, and it had to temper its stance. The battle, which played out in the news media, left a normally focused SAP looking clumsy and stubborn, said China Martens, who covers SAP for The 451 Group, an independent technology research firm. “That would have never happened in the past,” she said. Apotheker, a sharp-tongued manager who took the helm of SAP in May, has the challenge of trying to buff his company’s tarnished image. SAP is still the leader in the market for business applications. In 2007, SAP led with 10% of the $88 billion market, well ahead of Oracle’s 6.6%. In crucial segments, such as enterprise resource planning, SAP had 22% of the market or almost twice of Oracle’s 12%. And the numbers should hold relatively constant for 2008, according to IDC, which is still working on its tally. Still, the worldwide recession forced Apotheker to lay off employees for the first time in SAP’s history. Revenue from software sales tumbled 37% for the first six months of 2009, compared with the previous year. And a stock worth nearly $60 (priced as an American depository receipt) lost half its value during the downturn and has yet to fully recover. “The real question is whether SAP can put something on top of what we already expect it to do in its core business,” said Knut Woller, an analyst at UniCredit in Munich. Instead of the big acquisitions beloved by Oracle, Apotheker said, SAP will focus on smaller deals and in-house development. The company also plans a 2010 release of its much delayed effort in cloud computing called Business ByDesign. Apotheker argues that SAP’s software-only strategy positions it as a more neutral player than Oracle and IBM, which sell software, services and hardware. Indeed, consolidation has its downside, said Karl Liebstuckel, head of DSAG, an association of German SAP customers. “It would be desirable enough to get all these services in one place,” he said. “The negative side is that the big companies get a certain pricing power.” However, some industry players say SAP may eventually be forced to merge with another company as the consolidation trend creates closer ties between software and hardware. “If Oracle can really make a fast, full package for customers, it will put SAP at a disadvantage,” said Seth Ravin, chief executive of Rimini Street, a start-up in Las Vegas that services SAP software. “I think it will be harder and harder for SAP to remain independent.” Though SAP entertained an acquisition overture from Microsoft Corp. six years ago, Apotheker is having none of it today. “It is in the best interests of our customers, shareholders, our employees and all of our stakeholders for SAP to remain a strong, growing, profitable, independent software company,” he said. He added that the board supported him fully. The founders of SAP, who include the company’s chairman, Hasso Plattner, own a 28.7% stake, which is large enough to block a hostile deal. Apotheker is a German citizen, born in Aachen. Within SAP, he earned his stripes by beginning to turn around the company’s foundering American operations in 2002. Slowly, he stopped a staff haemorrhage and increased the focus on Internet-based products, while also running SAP’s global sales and marketing. A top agenda item now is to finally release Business ByDesign, SAP’s attempt to expand its market to smaller companies through the cloud computing model. SAP has been late to the field, allowing companies such as Salesforce.com, Inc. and NetSuite Inc. to carve out significant positions. “They have bungled the whole cloud computing trend,” said Patrick Walravens, co-director of technology research at JMP Securities Llc. “It has been one mistake after another.” Apotheker disputes the notion that SAP is acquisition-shy, and he points to its purchase of Highdeal SA, a French designer of billing technology for the telecommunications industry, as a case in point. But Apotheker says SAP prefers to develop products in-house. “We focus on engineering our stuff to the best extent humanly possible,” he said. ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES feedback@livemint.com Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 10 Aug 2009 | 1:21 pm JLR gets 75 million pounds financing facilityLondon: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) received a three-year financing facility of as much as £75 million (Rs597.75 crore) from Burdale Financial Ltd, a member of the Bank of Ireland Group. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 10 Aug 2009 | 1:19 pm Govt open to retail of Tamiflu in 15 days; Cipla cheersGhulam Nabi Azad, Ministry of Health Family Welfare, says the government is open to retail sale of Tamiflu in 15 days. \"We are raising the stock of Tamiflu from one crore to two crore tablets.\" Amar Lulla, CEO, Cipla, says retail supply of Tamiflu will be a wise move.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Aug 2009 | 1:08 pm A decade on, Indian blogs remain mostly urban, nicheNew Delhi: It started as a joke. Two lines of black text on a yellow box, pinioned in a corner of Peter Merholz’s personal website. “I’ve decided,” the user-interface designer from San Francisco wrote in 1999, “to pronounce the word weblog as ‘wee-blog’, or blog for short.”  Also See A Decade of Blogging (PDF) In India, the blog has grown steadily, if unspectacularly, from a handful at the dawn of the country’s Internet era in the early 2000s to an estimated 3.2 million, according to JuxtConsult’s India Online 2008 report. JuxtConsult is a Delhi-based market research firm. The exact number of active Indian blogs, however, is hard to pin down, and the size of the Indian blogosphere could be “roughly between 200,000 and half a million active blogs today”, says Gaurav Mishra, chief executive of social media research and strategy company 20:20 Web Tech. “When I started in June 2003, the Indian blogging scene was mostly personal blogs commenting on each other’s posts,” says Patrix, the founder of DesiPundit.com, a popular Indian blog aggregator. The prominent bloggers were so few, he says, “You could count them on your hand.” Kiruba Shankar, now chief executive of Business Blogging Pvt. Ltd, a social media consultancy firm and one of India’s earliest bloggers, remembers trying to organize a bloggers’ meet in Chennai in late 2002. Shankar was then a senior executive for Sify Technologies Ltd, an IT services company. “It took me three weeks to find five people to attend, and back then it was just relief that there actually were other people in this strange new pursuit with you,” he says. Technorati, a search engine for blogs, in its annual State of the Blogosphere report indexes 133 million blogs worldwide since 2002. The 11 September attack in 2001, and the 2003 Iraq war saw the emergence of a large number of personal and political blogs. In 2004, the first year Technorati published its report, it tracked four million blogs. By October 2005, that number had risen to 19.6 million. But in Indian blogging, there were no such tipping points. “Indian blogs have always grown organically, steadily through word of mouth. They’ve never suddenly exploded onto the scene in terms of numbers,” says Shankar. There have, however, been sporadic incidents that made existing bloggers the centre of attention. In the wake of a telecommunications breakdown following the 2004 tsunami, the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog (SEA-EAT) published text messages sent from affected areas by the people on the ground, enabling bloggers to provide useful information from around the region. The now defunct SEA-EAT blog became one of the world’s top ranked blogs—at one point more popular than the BBC website—in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami. Patrix found a similar trajectory with DesiPundit. “It evolved slowly but there were a few watershed moments like the whole IIPM brouhaha (when, in 2005, the Indian Insitute of Planning and Management sent legal notices to bloggers who’d featured a story on the institute), the Blog Quake Day (when, after the Pakistan earthquake in 2005, nearly 100-125 bloggers pooled in money to donate to relief funds) and regular events that result in collective anger among bloggers...who expect(ed) DesiPundit to lead the charge and collate posts on the topic,” he says. The Indian blogosphere’s growth has also been stymied by technical factors: low Internet penetration, estimated at 60 million people, or 5.22% of the total population, and the only recent arrival of regional language blogging. As a result, it remains a small, urban-centric, niche community. “A blog with a daily readership of 1,500-2,000 would be considered fairly successful in India; in the US, in contrast, the superstars measure their readership in hundreds of thousands,” says Rohit Pradhan, who’s associated with Pragati: The Indian National Interest Review, a current affairs publication, and blogs at Nationalinterest.in. But more than technical limitations, it is the idea of the blog, some bloggers say, which people find difficult to conceptualize. The maturing of the blog from a personal publishing medium to a veritable alternate medium has not yet happened in India. Most people unfamiliar with the medium, says Krish Ashok , an IT professional who runs a Chennai-based blog, look at blogs merely as a way of making a quick buck, or a lazy short cut to instant fame. “A lot of the questions I get are: ‘How do I get readers?’, ‘What do I write about?’ It’s a very ‘exam’ attitude, like asking ‘what can I write to get the most marks?’” says Meenakshi Madhavan Reddy, who writes the popular blog Compulsive Confessor and also authors a column on blogs in the Hindustan Times newspaper. Blogospheres have always been scattered, disorganized communities, and in the statistical bell curve of blog popularity, at least 90% are confined to the infinite recesses of Internet obscurity. But blogs in countries such as the US are organized on subject lines, with a cluster of popular and influential blogs acting like hubs. From cooking advice to Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom, there are blogs and hubs for every occasion and purpose. That variety in subject matter is a strength the Indian blogosphere does not enjoy yet. A few topics —Humour, Bollywood , Cricket, opinion on breaking news—work. The personal blog, unperturbed as it is by the need for readership, works. But this unbalanced importance for a few kinds of blogs does not mean the rest don’t exist, says Priyanka Sachar who blogs as Twilight Fairy. Without the cushion of a large readership, their influence, and consequently, their impact, is reduced. “In the US blogosphere, you would find a lot of academics with solid expertise—the economic and law blogs there are fantastic—the commentary they are able to drum up after an important Supreme Court judgement, for example, is phenomenal,” says T.A. Abhinandan, professor of materials engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who writes a blog called Nanopolitan. “That is yet to catch up here. We have some good law blogs, but there is really no economics-oriented blog worth its salt here—run by an academic economist who can make some comment on the RBI policy or the finance ministry.” But the drought in variety is not just in expert, academic opinion. “Some of the best-followed blogs in India are by people who are in some way already writing for a living. But where are the amateurs and the common people who have other passions?” asks Vinayak Razdan, who writes a blog called At The Edge. The rise in importance of the so-called amateur, a well-established norm in blogging communities elsewhere, is much more muted in India. “Indians are traditionally careful about self expression. Very few companies allow employees to blog. So with this permission culture we naturally have in place, blogging—which is such a basic do-it-yourself, self-expression, write-what-you-want, don’t-care-what-people-think medium—only a small percentage will take to that,” says Ashok. It’s still early days for the blog in India, however, and change, says Pradhan, will come with a greater critical mass. “Unless the blogosphere grows sufficiently large, its influence would be limited,” he says. The beginnings of that change are already being felt by some bloggers. “There is quite a bit of diversity now —simply because a lot more people have entered blogging,” says Abhinandan. “The diversity is reflected in what is being blogged about—for example politics—very leftist to very libertarian. A lot of blogs that talk about Dalit issues and so on—these voices were not that prominent in the early days.” “The blogosphere has definitely given space to a lot of marginalized voices—for example, support for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) communities,” adds Pradhan. And in small but sure ways, says Razdan, the blog is beginning to assert itself as a space for political opinion. “During L.K. Advani’s Adsense blitzkrieg during the 2009 election,” he says, “some bloggers did block his ads from displaying on their blogs, even though it was one on the best money making ads at the time. I don’t think the mainstream media could have afforded such ideas.” ayeshea.p@livemint.com This is the first in a four-part series. Tomorrow: The blog as a publicity tool. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 10 Aug 2009 | 1:00 pm DTH operators may have to offer inter-operable boxesCompetition panel finds merit in consumer body complaint.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 10 Aug 2009 | 1:00 pm Rains may be weakest in seven years: IMDAfter being in denial mode, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) today pared its forecast for a second time in three months and said state governments were free to announce drought. This came amid widespread concerns that the monsoon rains, the main source of irrigation for farmers, may, in fact, be the weakest in more than seven years.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 10 Aug 2009 | 12:55 pm GMR eyes London listing for holding companyVedanta-style move aimed at building $10 bn global asset portfolio.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 10 Aug 2009 | 12:53 pm From blog basics to ‘whatay smart boy!’It happened one day in Chennai in October 2002. I normally ate lunch at my office workstation. And simultaneously read articles on the Web, checked personal email and, ever so often, wrote up one of my mega-long email newsletters to a list of friends from college.  So I’d been shipping out these emails sporadically for about a year when, that October, during one of my lunch-browse sessions, I happened upon this service called Blogger.com run by a company called Pyra Labs. (Sadly I remember nothing of the details: did someone recommend Blogger.com, or did I stumble upon it by accident? Alas, this was before Gmail.com and its limitless memory.) Blogger.com had a nice catchy tag line, “Push button publishing for the people” and the sites on it seemed clean and uncluttered. (As against the prevalent Bappi Lahiri design aesthetic of most free website services of the day.) Best of all it was free to do the bare essentials: type and post. No code knowledge necessary at all. This meant no more spamming inboxes with my occasional missives. I signed up and on 30 October 2002, I wrote my very first post titled “Of Rains And Vaastu” on http://sidin.blogspot.com. There were still a year or two to go before the terms “blog” and later “blogger” really became part of the Indian social zeitgeist. So I just called it “my website”. People were suitably impressed. When I went for family functions, my father proudly said “He has his own website you know?” “Oh, whatay smart boy!” Of course those were innocent times. Innocent and thankless times. Traffic peaked at 30 visits a week, most of which was me showing it off to other people. I didn’t have a commenting system for one and a half years. I didn’t even know what a commenting system was for one and a half years. Oh and there wasn’t a blogroll either. In fact, I remember there were start-ups, such as Blogrolling.com and Sitemeter, that purely focused on trivial things such as blogrolls, link lists and hit counters. Hundreds and thousands of hit counters in all shapes and sizes. (Most of them would get obliterated as blogging platforms got sophisticated, and Google Analytics became the standard for analytics.) Innocent, thankless but polite times. Bloggers would actually ask you for your permission to add your URL to their blogroll or to quote you. And readers actually sent detailed feedback on your posts via email and you replied politely in return. The only agenda, really, was to write and publish. Blogs truly were the cheapest, easiest way to get people to access and read your writing. And I doubt if, in 2002 or 2003, anyone had an agenda for their blogs, besides that. And then something happened in 2004. I can’t pinpoint when it happened. But I’d say somewhere around the summer of 2004. Blogging lost its geeky, polite virginity. Suddenly bloggers began to take themselves more seriously and blogs began to have a purpose: social causes, authors desperate for book deals, antisocial psychopaths seeking like-minded companions and so on. Comments and blogrolls were now serious business. As some bloggers became stars and the others not so much, factions and feuds developed. And finally mainstream media picked up the blogging phenomenon. Cue undue hysteria. (And in an interesting role reversal of sorts, while things such as blogrolls and meters became a default element of blogging platforms, today we have start-ups that focus purely on commenting systems, forums and so on. You can rest assured this won’t be the last turn of the blog start-up dice.) Then, with platforms such as Blogger.com, Wordpress.com, LiveJournal.com and others becoming ever more easier to learn and use, thousands of people signed up, wrote a post or two and then gave up blogging forever. (For instance, the mysterious http://chang.blogspot.com that has only one entry dated 28 January 2001. Which is complete gibberish. Spooky.) And there were others who couldn’t handle the negative commenting and bitching and simply made access to their posts password enabled. Or gave up on blogging altogether. (Many of the leading lights of blogging from 2002-2005 disappeared without trace.) A far cry from the innocent days of yore. Personally speaking, May 2004 was an inflexion point for my blog. After posting an oft-emailed blog post, traffic jumped around 200-300 times the usual. Thankfully, much of that fresh traffic kept coming back and another three years later, in May 2007, I moved my blog from Blogger.com to a much more professional Wordpress platform. (The exact antithesis of why I went to Blogger in the first place.) By then the blog had already helped me move to a full-time writing job. When the time came to send out resumes to potential recruiters the blog served me valiantly. Nowadays no one calls it a “website” anymore. Websites are for losers. “My boy has a blog you know?” “Oh, whatay smart boy!” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 10 Aug 2009 | 12:51 pm Only partly ready for new role in HCL: Roshni NadarRoshni Nadar, daughter of HCL founder Shiv Nadar took over as the CEO of the company in July. She is now ready to take on new roles and shoulder big responsibilities. However, Nadar feels she is only partly ready for the new roles and responsibilities.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Aug 2009 | 11:46 am Datawatch: 25 momentum stocks that fell more than the indexThe Nifty lost nearly 300 points while Sensex lost nearly 900 points or 6% in the last 3 days. The monsoon deficiency was the key culprit for the downfall. However, the momentum stocks saw a sharper cut compared to the major indices.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Aug 2009 | 11:05 am Scanty rains to boost basmati production: Kohinoor FoodsGurnam Arora, Joint MD, Kohinoor Foods, said, the Basmati crop is going to be more this year because of slightly drought like conditions in Northern India. He added that most of the farmers have gone for Basmati because it doesnt need too much water as compared to other nonBasmati crops.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Aug 2009 | 11:04 am Will sell Nyle shares in mkt post transfer: GMM PfaudlerAshok Pillai, COO of GMM Pfaudler maker of equipment which is used for processing in pharmaceuticals, said he saw an upsurge in both the orders coming in as well as the increase in offers.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Aug 2009 | 10:54 am Swiss firm moves apex court against CiplaMumbai: Swiss drug maker F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd has petitioned the Supreme Court against a Delhi high court order in a patent violation lawsuit regarding its cancer drug Tarceva with Indian pharma firm Cipla Ltd. An executive at Roche’s Indian subsidiary, Roche Scientific Co. (India) Pvt. Ltd, confirmed that the company’s lawyers had been instructed to go ahead with the appeal. The official declined to be named. Basel, Switzerland-based Roche’s appeal questions the decision of a higher bench of the Delhi high court, which said the drug maker suppressed facts related to its Tarceva patent and there was no case of patent infringement against Cipla. Roche has paid a fine of Rs5 lakh imposed by the higher bench as penalty for suppressing facts and not making full disclosure to the court. Roche had in April appealed to a higher bench of the high court against a lower bench ruling that allowed Cipla, a manufacturer of generic medicines, to continue selling a generic version of Tarceva despite it having been granted a patent in India. In March, a single-judge bench of the Delhi high court refused Roche’s plea for an injunction to restrain Cipla from selling the drug on the ground of public interest. The higher bench of the high court upheld the interim ruling. Roche’s appeal to the apex court asks for a reversal of the high court’s finding that it suppressed facts, as well as the lower court’s decision to not grant a interim injunction against Cipla, said a lawyer familiar with the development, on condition of anonymity. The Tarceva lawsuit started after Cipla launched a generic version under the brand name Erlocip in the domestic market in December 2007. In January 2008, Roche asked the Delhi high court for an injunction to prevent Cipla from selling Erlocip. A final judgement on the petition is awaited. “Given that Cipla has been selling the drug for more than a year now, it is unlikely that the Supreme Court will now grant an injunction in favour of Roche. More so, the final trial is now proceeding in the trial courts,” said Shamnad Basheer, professor of intellectual property law at the National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata. “At best, the Supreme Court may order that the trial be expedited...” Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 10 Aug 2009 | 10:36 am More stimulus for export sector on cards: Anand SharmaTo support the export sector, the foreign trade policy (FTP) to be announced later this month is likely to contain stimulus packages, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said here Monday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Aug 2009 | 10:31 am Kashmir budget seeks additional taxes on petrol, dieselIn its first budget proposal since it came to power early this year, the National Conference-Congress alliance government proposed additional taxes on petrol, diesel, poultry, mutton and liquor while providing for pay parity for its employees with those of the central government.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Aug 2009 | 9:31 am Acreage of paddy is lower than last year: governmentIndia's rice production, hit by erratic monsoon, is facing another crisis with official data revealing that acreage of paddy is lower than last year.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Aug 2009 | 9:30 am India seeks foreign investors for $20.6 bn road projectsIn order to attract foreign investment for road projects in India, the government will hold a road show in Zurich, Switzerland, Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Aug 2009 | 9:02 am Widespread rainfall in India by ThursdayThere will be 'fairly widespread rainfall' in many parts of India by Thursday, the Indian meteorological department said Monday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 10 Aug 2009 | 9:01 am Small businesses expect economic recovery in 2010: surveyNew York: Emerging from the challenges presented by the recessionary condition, more than half of the small and mid-sized businesses in the US expect an economic recovery in 2010, a survey says. More than 58% of small business owners expect an economic turnaround in 2010, while 14% anticipate a rebound by the end of 2009 and rest 14% think the recovery would be in 2011 or later, as per the survey conducted by HR solutions provider Administaff. The business confidence survey found that 83% of the business owners said their biggest concern for 2009 is economy, followed by 53% citing government healthcare reform. Besides, about 44% said controlling operating costs is their concern while 33% said rising health-care costs are the other business worries, the survey, which was carried out across small and medium-sized businesses in the US, revealed. “However, for 2010 and later, concern about the overall state of the economy fell to 36%, when the largest number of survey participants expressed a 55% tie-vote for being ‘ very concerned´ about both potential tax increases and the effect of government expansion on business, and 50% listed the federal deficit,” the report said. Business houses are also anticipating an increase in sales and many of them said they would meet or exceed their 2009 performance plans. On the pipeline for new business to balance the rest of the months in 2009, 41% responded said that they expect a sales increase, 35% predict it would stay the same, while only 15% anticipate decreasing sales and 9% weighed in as unsure. In addition, 60% of the owners and managers of small and medium-sized businesses said that they are either meeting or exceeding their 2009 performance plans, with the remaining 40% reporting that they are doing worse than expected. “Throughout America’s history, the entrepreneurial spirit has overcome obstacles and capitalised on opportunities, and our current economic setting is no exception,” Administaff chairman and chief executive officer Paul J. Sarvadi said. “Small and medium-sized businesses are battling through the challenges of recession and appear to be preparing for recovery in 2010,” Sarvadi added. The survey was conducted in July, 2009 among chief executive officers, chief financial officers and other executives in a variety of industries throughout the US. According to the report, respondents said that they are continuing to be cautious in managing current staffing and compensation plans. About 60% of the people surveyed said they are maintaining current staffing levels, while 23% are adding new positions, layoffs were named by 16% as a current management strategy. The report also revealed that majority of the participants expect to maintain employee compensation at current levels for the remainder of this year. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 10 Aug 2009 | 3:39 am
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