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No rights issue on cards; FY10 net to grow at 40%: SBIOP Bhatt, Managing Director of State Bank of India said that he did not see any possibility of interest rates raising till October or November. He said he hoped to maintain 40% growth in net profit in FY10. Bhatt added that and SBI rights issue was not on the cards immediatelySource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 19 Aug 2009 | 8:46 am Sees sales doubling by 201011 vz last year: Bombay RayonPrashant Agarwal, MD, Bombay Rayon Fashions, says revenue for 201011 should double versus last year. \"We have shifted to high volume clients.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 19 Aug 2009 | 8:38 am Coal India to divest govt stake via IPO within a yearCommenting on the companys initial public offer (IPO) plans, Partha S Bhattacharyya, Chairman, Coal India Limited (CIL) said, We see a oneyear timeframe for the IPO. It will primarily be a disinvestment of government stake. Further, on the possible coal price hike, he said, he saw a case for some hike in prices.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 19 Aug 2009 | 8:34 am Panacea Biotec bags $222mn order from UNICEFPanacea Biotec has received an Award Notification for supply of its EasyFive (pentavalent vaccine) from UNICEF for years 2010, 2011 and 2012, the company said. The total value of the award is around USD 222.37 million (over Rs 1,067 crore).Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 19 Aug 2009 | 6:48 am GVK Power relieved as Power Min says 80 IA benefit won\'t goPower Minister Sushil Kumar Shindes clarification to CNBCTV18 over the issue of merchant power tariff and income tax benefits \"came as a huge relief\", Isaac Geroge, CFO of GVK Power and Infrastructure, said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 19 Aug 2009 | 6:19 am Sensex falls over 200 points on profit-booking!Paring its early gains, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by over 200 points at 1115 hrs on Wednesday on profit booking at existing high levels.Source: Zee News : Business | 19 Aug 2009 | 6:09 am Asian economies outpace US and Europe on growth track!Asia is outpacing the United States and Europe in the rebound from the global economic slump, thanks to multi-billion dollar stimulus packages and robust demand from China, analysts said.Source: Zee News : Business | 19 Aug 2009 | 6:09 am Britain may default on debt: Opposition!Britain`s record level of borrowing during the recession could lead the government defaulting on its debt, media reports said on Wednesday quoting Conservative leader David Cameron.Source: Zee News : Business | 19 Aug 2009 | 6:09 am Microsoft seeks stay on Word sale ban!Microsoft Tuesday sought stay on a court injunction which bars it from selling its popular Word document creation software in the US for violating a patent belonging to a Canadian company.Source: Zee News : Business | 19 Aug 2009 | 6:09 am Global recovery has begun, says IMF!The global recovery from recession has begun, the IMF`s chief economist has said.Source: Zee News : Business | 19 Aug 2009 | 6:09 am Sony cuts price of PlayStation 3 by $100!After months of rumours and anticipation, Sony says it`s slashing the price of the PlayStation 3 by USD 100 to USD 299.Source: Zee News : Business | 19 Aug 2009 | 6:09 am Government clears 10 FDI proposals of Rs 1,123 cr!The government on Tuesday cleared 10 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals which will bring in Rs 1,123 crore.Source: Zee News : Business | 19 Aug 2009 | 6:09 am Australia inks huge energy deal with China!Australia touted itself as a "global energy superpower" after shrugging off diplomatic tensions with China to sign a record 41.3 billion US dollar resources deal.Source: Zee News : Business | 19 Aug 2009 | 6:09 am Reliance Comm in talks for Zain`s Africa ops: Sources!Reliance Communications is in preliminary talks to buy Kuwaiti telecoms firm Zain`s African operations, two banking sources with knowledge of the development said, in a deal reported to be worth USD 10 billion.Source: Zee News : Business | 19 Aug 2009 | 6:09 am Aluminium prices to stay in $1,9002,000/t range: NalcoCR Pradhan, CMD at Nalco said he expected aluminium prices to remain in USD 1,900 2,000 per tonne range and that he saw a shortage of alumina globally. He further said that the alumina longterm contracts are at 13% of the LME price and that he saw spot alumina contracts at USD 230 tonne.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 19 Aug 2009 | 5:25 am Sensex ends below 15000; Oil & Gas, metals drag - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Aug 2009 | 4:20 am INTERVIEW - Crisis slows emerging market sales - AllianzFRANKFURT/MUNICH (Reuters) - Allianz SE will reach its sales goals in Asia and eastern Europe later than planned due to the financial crisis, but is confident of the regions' growing role in the insurer's future earnings, a senior executive told Reuters.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 4:16 am BSE Sensex provisionally falls 1.4 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex provisionally fell 1.4 percent on Wednesday, weighed down by investor caution in the face of poor monsoon rains, disappointing U.S. housing data and mixed Asian markets.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 4:05 am Government looking at regulating food prices: PawarThe government Wednesday said it would not hesitate to regulate prices of food commodities as it expects rice production to fall by 10 million tonnes due to a weak monsoon this year.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Aug 2009 | 4:02 am Andhra Pradesh floats joint venture to enter oil and gas sectorThe Andhra Pradesh government has floated an exploration company to commercially tap the hydrocarbon resources in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin off its coast.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Aug 2009 | 4:01 am Planning big fat Indian wedding? Visit Bridal AsiaWeddings can defy recession. From the looks of it, that's what the Bridal Asia exhibition here next month is out to prove, bringing big names in couture and jewellery design along with mehndi artists, planners and travel companies under one roof.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Aug 2009 | 4:01 am India, Australia sign $20.5 bn gas dealIndia's Petronet LNG has signed a $20.5-billion gas purchasing agreement with Australia's ExxonMobil, the first long-term gas contract between the two countries.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Aug 2009 | 4:01 am Air France-KLM abandons bid for Czech Airlines Paris: Air France-KLM on Wednesday said that it has pulled out of the bidding for Czech Airlines, citing tough times for the airline industry. Air France-KLM said in a statement that it informed the Czech finance ministry of its decision Wednesday, and suggested that Czech Airlines focus on a recovery plan instead of a selloff. The current economic environment has significantly impacted the airline business. Under such circumstances, Air France-KLM believes that CSA might focus on developing and implementing a stand-alone recovery plan aimed at restoring its profitability, the statement said. Air France-KLM and the Czech consortium Unimex-Travel Service were picked by Czech government in April as candidates to take over the state-owned Czech airline. The Czech state aims to sell its 91.5% stake in the national carrier, also called CSA, in a public tender this year. The Czech finance ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that it has been informed about Air France-KLM’s decision but plans to go ahead with the public tender as scheduled. The Unimex-Travel Service consortium has until 30 September to submit a binding offer. The government will then decide whether the offer will be accepted, the ministry said. It was expected the government could get up to 5 billion koruna ($276 million) for CSA. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 4:01 am China factor weighs down SensexA fall in Chinese bourses weighed heavily on Indian equities markets with a key index ending trade Wednesday 209 points below its previous close.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Aug 2009 | 4:00 am No more disinvestment in Nalco, Hindustan CopperNew Delhi: The government is not considering further disinvestment in aluminium firms Nalco and Hindustan Copper even as operations of the copper producer are set to be revamped. Industry observers were anticipating further divestment in the two public sector companies. “I do not see any reason for further disinvestment, particularly in Nalco,” mines minister B.K. Handique. Handique said the ministry would revamp the operations of Hindustan Copper. “Hindustan Copper, we are going to revamp it. It is not doing very well,” he said. The government has already divested about 13% of its stake in aluminum producer Nalco and 0.41% in the copper firm Hindustan Copper. Both, the companies are listed on the bourses. Finance secretary Ashok Chawla on Tuesday had said the government would offload equity in six to seven public sector enterprises in the next 10-12 months. Among the companies identified for stake sale, NHPC completed its initial public offering earlier this month while Oil India Ltd is slated to hit the market in September. The government is working on divestment proposals of leading PSUs like Coal India, MMTC, among others. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:55 am Glenmark's research on lung disease treatment fails - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:52 am Sensex, Nifty set to end sharply lower @ 15:10 hrs - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:50 am Panacea gets Rs1,000 cr contract from Unicef New Delhi: Panacea Biotec on Wednesday bagged a three-year contract worth over Rs1,067 crore ($222.37 million) from UNICEF for supplying its EasyFive vaccine. EasyFive, a combination of five vaccines, is used in immunizing children against five diseases — Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hepatitis-B, Hemophilus Influenza. “This award is one of the growth drivers which would have a significant impact on our overall performance in the coming years,” Panacea Biotec joint managing director Rajesh Jain said in a statement. Pentavalent vaccines are used by United Nations agencies like United Nations Children’s Fund to vaccinate millions of children in the developing world. The company claims EasyFive is the world’s first fully liquid pentavalent vaccine. The drug was introduced in India by Panacea Biotec in January 2005. The company received the pre-qualification for EasyFive by World Health Organisation (WHO) in July last year. Under its overall strategy to garner a firm foothold in various immunization programmes across the globe, Panacea Biotec has partnered with WHO and UNICEF in their effort to maximize coverage of vaccines. Shares of Panacea advanced 5% to hit its upper trading limit of Rs174 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:41 am Asian electronics makers riding global turnaroundBangkok: Asian electronics makers are forecasting a turnaround in the second half of this year, citing a pick-up in global demand. Several companies say the worst is over for a sector at the heart of emerging Asia’s battered, export-reliant economies - from Thailand to Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan. “I think the weakness in electronic component demand has hit bottom in the second quarter because new orders are now increasing,” Anusorn Muttaraid, director of Thailand’s Delta Electronics, told Reuters on Wednesday. Delta, 24% owned by Taiwan’s Delta Electronics Inc, expects dollar sales to rise 11.7% in 2009, a rebound from just 1% growth in 2008, he said. In Taiwan, Hon Hai Precision Co Ltd, the world’s largest electronics contract maker, is aiming for revenue to grow by 30% this year as increasing numbers of companies cut costs through outsourcing rather than maintaining their own labour-intensive production lines. Other electronics manufacturers offer similarly bullish forecasts. Taiwanese contract laptop PC maker Compal Electronics Inc is revising up its forecast for total global PC shipments this year. Compal and crosstown rival Quanta Computer Inc together manufacture more than half of the world’s laptop PCs, and their forecasts are usually closely watched as an indicator to the overall health of the sector. In Japan, industry data released on Wednesday showed orders for Japanese equipment used to make semiconductors outpaced sales for the fourth straight month in July as the chip sector inches out of its worst-ever downturn. In South Korea, shares in Hynix Semiconductor, the world’s second-biggest maker of memory chips, jumped nearly 4% on Wednesday on rising chip prices. Hanwha Securities analyst Seo Do-won expects Hynix to report a modest operating profit for the current quarter following many quarters of losses. And in Malaysia, Unisem, which owns manufacturing plants in Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Europe, said last month it expected sales to grow 10-15% in the third quarter from the second as customers replenish inventories. Malaysian Pacific Industries (MPI), another contract electronics maker, is expected to report a smaller quarterly loss for the April-June quarter later on Wednesday, helped by higher sales, analysts said. The gains have started to show up in some trade data. On Monday, Singapore reported the smallest drop in electronics exports in four months. Electronics shipments dropped 14.5 percent in July from a year earlier, after falls of 21.6% in June, 21.8% in May and 25.6% in April. “The days of collapsing global demand seem to be fading in the rear view window,” said Vishnu Varathan, an economist at 4CAST, a market research firm. There are also anecdotal signs of a pick-up. Delta and other Thai electronics firms such as the local unit of hard-disk drive maker Western Digital have started hiring staff again in recent months to meet an increase in orders from clients. Delta, which produces power supply equipment used in telecommunications and computer products, planned to bring its workforce back to normal levels after cutting it to about 9,000 from 11,000, Anusorn said. Its main clients include IBM and Nokia. But some express caution, raising questions over whether demand is sustainable and highlighting the slow pace of the global economic recovery. ”We have to monitor whether demand is growing through next year or it’s just only because their clients want to replenish their inventories,” said Adithep Vanabriksha, deputy chief investment officer of Aberdeen Asset Management in Bangkok, which manages $676 million in Thai assets. Since the end of the second quarter, Delta shares have shot up 25%, outperforming a 5.7% gain in the overall Thai stock market. Unisem shares increased 25 percent over the same period, while MPI rose 16% in the Kuala Lumpur market, where the main index was up nearly 8%. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:40 am Asian electronics makers riding global turnaroundBangkok: Asian electronics makers are forecasting a turnaround in the second half of this year, citing a pick-up in global demand. Several companies say the worst is over for a sector at the heart of emerging Asia’s battered, export-reliant economies - from Thailand to Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan. “I think the weakness in electronic component demand has hit bottom in the second quarter because new orders are now increasing,” Anusorn Muttaraid, director of Thailand’s Delta Electronics, told Reuters on Wednesday. Delta, 24% owned by Taiwan’s Delta Electronics Inc, expects dollar sales to rise 11.7% in 2009, a rebound from just 1% growth in 2008, he said. In Taiwan, Hon Hai Precision Co Ltd, the world’s largest electronics contract maker, is aiming for revenue to grow by 30% this year as increasing numbers of companies cut costs through outsourcing rather than maintaining their own labour-intensive production lines. Other electronics manufacturers offer similarly bullish forecasts. Taiwanese contract laptop PC maker Compal Electronics Inc is revising up its forecast for total global PC shipments this year. Compal and crosstown rival Quanta Computer Inc together manufacture more than half of the world’s laptop PCs, and their forecasts are usually closely watched as an indicator to the overall health of the sector. In Japan, industry data released on Wednesday showed orders for Japanese equipment used to make semiconductors outpaced sales for the fourth straight month in July as the chip sector inches out of its worst-ever downturn. In South Korea, shares in Hynix Semiconductor, the world’s second-biggest maker of memory chips, jumped nearly 4% on Wednesday on rising chip prices. Hanwha Securities analyst Seo Do-won expects Hynix to report a modest operating profit for the current quarter following many quarters of losses. And in Malaysia, Unisem, which owns manufacturing plants in Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Europe, said last month it expected sales to grow 10-15% in the third quarter from the second as customers replenish inventories. Malaysian Pacific Industries (MPI), another contract electronics maker, is expected to report a smaller quarterly loss for the April-June quarter later on Wednesday, helped by higher sales, analysts said. The gains have started to show up in some trade data. On Monday, Singapore reported the smallest drop in electronics exports in four months. Electronics shipments dropped 14.5 percent in July from a year earlier, after falls of 21.6% in June, 21.8% in May and 25.6% in April. “The days of collapsing global demand seem to be fading in the rear view window,” said Vishnu Varathan, an economist at 4CAST, a market research firm. There are also anecdotal signs of a pick-up. Delta and other Thai electronics firms such as the local unit of hard-disk drive maker Western Digital have started hiring staff again in recent months to meet an increase in orders from clients. Delta, which produces power supply equipment used in telecommunications and computer products, planned to bring its workforce back to normal levels after cutting it to about 9,000 from 11,000, Anusorn said. Its main clients include IBM and Nokia. But some express caution, raising questions over whether demand is sustainable and highlighting the slow pace of the global economic recovery. ”We have to monitor whether demand is growing through next year or it’s just only because their clients want to replenish their inventories,” said Adithep Vanabriksha, deputy chief investment officer of Aberdeen Asset Management in Bangkok, which manages $676 million in Thai assets. Since the end of the second quarter, Delta shares have shot up 25%, outperforming a 5.7% gain in the overall Thai stock market. Unisem shares increased 25 percent over the same period, while MPI rose 16% in the Kuala Lumpur market, where the main index was up nearly 8%. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:40 am Stocks Fall as China Slumps; Commodities Drop, Yen, Bonds Rise - Bloomberg
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:38 am OilMin pledges support for NTPC in legal fight with RIL - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:33 am BSNL employees demand wage hike, go on strikeAround 270,000 employees of state-run telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) went on strike for two days starting Wednesday, demanding a bigger hike in wages than had been offered.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:32 am RIL looking to sell 15% stake in Rewas projectReliance Industries is looking to sell up to 15% stake in the ambitious port project in Rewas in Maharashtra. Mint learns that Reliance is looking to sell stake both to fund the project as well as to bring in specialists because it does not have expertise in handling cargo such as containers.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:31 am Look through the eyes of tourists, says tourism minister'We should look through the eyes of tourists about what they expect from us,' said Tourism Minister Kumari Selja while inaugurating a workshop on 'World Class Tourism Infrastructure' here Wednesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:31 am Narayana Murthy to join NPCI board as non-exec chairmanThough, Narayana Murthy will not be directly involved in the operations of the company, he will guide the board on crucial operations.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:30 am Sugar output prospects not bright: GovtNew Delhi: “The outlook for India’s sugar output in 2009-10 is not promising, and the government may ask mills to increase supply of low-priced sugar for public distribution,” Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday. Pawar informed during a conference of state food ministers that the government was worried about sugar supply and rising prices of farm commodities after weak monsoon rains hit crops and sowing. “Sugar production prospects for the next sugar season are also not bright,” Pawar said. He said that the government may raise the quantity of levy sugar that mills are required to sell to the government at cheap rates for distribution to the poor. Currently, mills are forced to sell 10% of their output at low state-set prices, and media reports say this may be raised to 20%. “The government is also considering increasing the percentage of levy sugar to make more sugar available through the public distribution system,” Pawar said. Prospects of large imports by India, the world’s largest consumer of the sweetener, has helped raise sugar futures to the highest in nearly three decades. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:24 am INTERVIEW - Infosys has bid for over 10 govt deals - execBANGALORE (Reuters) - Infosys Technologies, India's second-largest IT services exporter, has bid for more than 10 large government projects in India, an official said, as part of a drive to lower its dependence on the U.S. market.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:23 am Govt not to cap merchant power, more sops likelyMumbai: “India is not considering a cap on the sale price of merchant power and could instead add more incentives for the sector,” power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said on Wednesday, bringing cheer to the industry. Merchant power refers to surplus power with producers, which is not tied in any long-term power purchase agreements (PPA) with consumers and can be sold in the open market. The Economic Times had reported on Monday that the ministry was considering a cap on the sale price of merchant power since power producers already had tax concessions in place. “We do not want to cap it at this moment, because the country needs power and we want more and more capacity addition,” Shinde told news channel CNBC-TV18. “Investors and developers need not worry, they will be getting much more incentives in the future,” he added. India’s peak power deficit is likely to widen to 12.6% in the fiscal year ending March, while the government expects to miss its planned capacity addition target of 78,000 MW by 2012. Industry cheerful Power producers and analysts said that the move clears the ambiguity for investors in the power sector. “Definitely this will help companies which are into merchant power,” Girish Solanki, analyst at Angel Broking said. “It also makes it attractive for the investors,” an analyst at Sharekhan, who didn’t want to be named, said. A supply crunch has merchant power prices trading much higher than PPA prices, resulting in higher profits to merchant power producers, analysts said. “Last week, the premium on merchant power was quoting at Rs15 per unit, compared with PPA rates of Rs2-3,” an analyst said. “I think it’s a very positive development and very significant for people who are looking at merchant tariff to increase their bottomline from power projects,” Issac George, chief financial officer, GVK Power and Infra said. “Power producers with a significant proportion of merchant power element, like Jindal Steel & Power, GVK Power, Adani Power, Tata Power are likely to continue benefitting from the sale of merchant power,” analysts said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:14 am Afghan govt condemned over media banKabul: The Afghan government came under severe criticism Wednesday for attempting to ban media coverage of escalating Taliban violence in case it deters people from voting in Thursday’s elections. Fresh attacks hit Kabul Wednesday as Taliban gunmen stormed a bank building and fought pitched battles with police, making good on promises to instil fear among Afghans ahead of the vote. Afghan and international journalists, who have flooded into Afghanistan to cover the vote, have reported being harassed and even beaten by security forces while trying to cover violent incidents. Calling the ban unconstitutional, Rahimullah Samander, president of the Afghanistan Independent Journalists’ Association said, “Journalists will ignore the ban.” “It is a democratic day, a very important day for our independence, this type of ban does not sit well with democratic principles,” he said. The UN special representative in Afghanistan was looking into the ban to determine whether it was legal, and if not to get it rescinded, a UN official said on condition of anonymity. “We are trying to establish what, if any, legal basis there is for this, but it doesn’t look like it is enforceable,” he said. Kabul’s foreign ministry issued a statement on Tuesday in both English and local language Dari about coverage of violence on Thursday, when 17 million Afghans are due to vote in presidential and provincial council elections. The wording in Dari was much stronger than the English version, which simply “requested” media refrain from reporting violence from an hour before polls open until four hours after they close. The request was made “in view of the need to ensure the wide participation of the Afghan people... and prevent any election-related terroristic violence,” it said. In Dari, however, the statement released on behalf of the Afghan national security council, said “reporting on any possible terrorist attacks is strongly prohibited”. The statement referred to both domestic and international media outlets, though Afghan authorities have no power to influence foreign news outlets. Neither, said Samander, do they have power over Afghan media, as “we have nothing in our constitution, media law or election law about banning such coverage coming directly from the Afghan government”. “We are working according to our constitution. Every ctizien has the right to information, and we will fight this order,” said Samander, whose organisation has 2,500 members. The move also drew the ire of US-based Human Rights Watch, which accused the government of attempting censorship. Governments “have a right to place reasonable restrictions on the media on election day,” said HRW’s Afghanistan researcher Rachel Reid. However, “an attempt to censor the reporting of violence is an unreasonable violation of press freedoms,” she said in a statement. Security forces fanned out on high alert Wednesday in a bid to protect the capital, despite the bank building attack, as the Taliban said the siege was part of its pre-election attack gameplan. The media blackout order also escalated a propaganda war between the Taliban and the Afghan government and its international supporters, who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure the election goes smoothly. The government has a rolling series of press conferences scheduled Thursday, which journalists said appears aimed at directing positive coverage. The Taliban, meanwhile, have begun issuing email statements listing all attacks perpetrated each day. The attempt to limit turnout is significant as it is seen as a key gauge of the success of the election, only the country’s second presidential poll, and Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:08 am No stake sale in Nalco, Hindustan Copper: govt - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:07 am Pension scam in Uttar Pradesh grows biggerA scam in the withdrawal of old age pension that was unearthed last week in Uttar Pradesh has opened a pandora's box, with the fraud expected to touch Rs.120 million as investigations dig deeper.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:03 am Government not to sell stake in National AluminiumThe government has ruled out selling its stake in National Aluminium Co (NALCO) and Hindustan Copper Ltd.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:02 am HLL Lifecare enters herbal product marketContraceptives manufacturer HLL Lifecare Ltd Wednesday entered the herbal products market with the launch of an ayurvedic health product, 'Chyavanules-Chyawanprash'.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Aug 2009 | 3:02 am Asian electronics makers riding global turnaroundBANGKOK (Reuters) - Asian electronics makers are forecasting a turnaround in the second half of this year, citing a pick-up in global demand.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:57 am Left to launch campaign against Asean trade pact: Karat Kannur: Accusing UPA government of pursuing a ‘neo-liberal’ agenda, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat on Wednesday said that the Left would launch a campaign against India’s free trade agreement with Asean which he claimed had dealt a ‘mortal blow’ to farmers in the country. Addressing a party rally at Irutty near here, Karat said that a convention of the Left parties and their farm outfits would be held in New Delhi on 26 August to discuss the implications of the agreement and would work out the course of campaign. “The haste with which the Manmohan Singh government moved on the matter showed that the UPA was taking out its anti-people policies within three months of the Lok Sabha polls,” he alleged. Karat said that the government was now finding it convenient to go full steam ahead with its ‘liberal’ agenda which it could not do while it survived on the outside support of the Left. India on 13 August signed the agreement with 10 south-east Asian nations for duty free import and export of 4,000 products ranging from steel to apparels to sugar and tobacco over a period of eight years. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:54 am Haryana land bid: Unitech, Bharti Realty out; DLF in frayOn to the latest in the bids for Haryana State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation\'s 350 acres land. CNBCTV18 learns that bids of Unitech and Bharti Realty have been disqualified on technical grounds.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:52 am U.S. says building criminal cases against UBS clientsMIAMI (Reuters) - The United States is building criminal cases against more than 150 American clients of Swiss bank UBS as part of a crackdown on tax evasion now made easier by a deal over access to secret account information.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:52 am The Bharti saga, in Mittals wordsFrom his lateteens days in 1976 to 1981, says Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, there were only failures in life. Then, in an exhibition in Taipei, he saw a pushbutton telephone.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:44 am India gold demand to revive if prices fall 6 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's gold demand may revive if prices fall by another 6 percent from current levels even as it registered a 38 percent fall in demand in the second quarter of 2009, the World Gold Council said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:43 am Cairn to start producing oil in Rajasthan soonCairn India will soon start production of crude oil from Rajasthan. It is five years since the discovery of the Mangala field and it is now on the verge of producing its first oil, said Sir Bill Gammel, Chairman, at the companys annual general meeting here on Tuesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:39 am Gold demand to revive if prices fall 6%Mumbai: India’s gold demand may revive if prices fall by another 6% from current levels even as it registered a 38% fall in demand in the second quarter of 2009, the World Gold Council said. “Any dips in the price below the stubborn Rs14,000 level would be likely to encourage consumers back to the market,” the WGC said, adding there is considerable pent-up demand. “We expect consumers, investors and the trade to look for opportunities to buy following an exceptional period of profit-taking and de-stocking,” said Aram Shishmanian, chief executive of the World Gold Council. Consumers and wholesalers appear to be waiting on the sidelines for more sizeable dips to provide a more attractive buying opportunity, the association of gold miners said. The upcoming Diwali festival and wedding season should help underpin a seasonal improvement in the remainder of 2009, the WGC said. “There has been a good recovery from the previous quarter and the outlook for the upcoming festive season looks very positive,” said Keyur Shah, associate director, WGC. India’s gold demand had plunged by 83% to 17.7 tonnes in the first quarter. Gold on continuous chart was held steady at Rs14,862 per 10 grams, down about 7% from its all-time high of 16,040, struck on 20 February. India’s gold demand for the second quarter to June fell 38% to 109 tonnes as weak economic conditions and high prices continued to weigh on sentiment. Demand for coins and bars fell 56% to 21 tonnes in April-June from 48.1 tonnes a year ago. Jewellery demand fell 31% to 88 tonnes. Below-average rainfall in June was a further deterrent to gold demand as the rural population is heavily dependent on a good monsoon to boost their agricultural incomes, it said. The WGC said there has been a reversal in exports, which happened in the previous quarter. India had turned into a net exporter of value-added products of gold. India had exported 17.7 tonnes of gold in the first quarter to March. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:31 am Govt not to cap merchant power, more sops likelyMUMBAI (Reuters) - The government is not considering a cap on the sale price of merchant power and could instead add more incentives for the sector, the power minister said on Wednesday, bringing cheer to the industry.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:29 am Macquarie to buy Delaware Investment for $428 mnSydney: Macquarie Group Ltd, Australia’s top investment bank, agreed to buy US asset manager Delaware Investments for $428 million in cash, continuing a trend in consolidation in the fund management business. Macquarie, which has weathered the global financial crisis better than its global peers, has been on the lookout for acquisitions, taking advantage of the falling asset prices. The deal would boost Macquarie’s total assets under management to over $300 billion, Macquarie said in a statement on Wednesday. “The acquisition of Delaware is a demonstration to our clients of the ongoing commitment we have to developing a global asset management capability with significant scale, product depth, research and investment capacity,” said Shemara Wikramanayake, global head of Macquarie Funds Group said in a statement. Delaware manages about $125 billion in assets and the deal was subject to regulatory approvals, Macquarie said. Delaware was a unit of Lincoln National Corp. “Macquarie has still got a lot of surplus capital sitting there and they have a got a lot of powder. This is certainly a step in the right direction,” CLSA analyst Brian Johnson said. Industry experts expect a wave of consolidation in the fund management industry following BlackRock’s $13.5 billion deal to buy a asset management unit of Barclays. Bank of America has been trying to sell its Columbia Management unit, for instance. Macquarie has used the previous market declines to buy up distressed assets. In BT’s Australian operations in 1999 and ING Group’s Asian equities business in 2004. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:24 am Sugar output prospects "not bright" - govt - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:12 am Oil slips towards $69 after surge on US stock drawSingapore: Oil fell towards $69 on Wednesday, after surging more than 3% in the previous session on data that showed a surprise fall in US crude stocks, boosting hopes of demand recovery in the world’s top energy user. The release of the more closely watched US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data later in the day could confirm the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) bullish figures, and will determine the market’s trading tone for the rest of the week. By 1:45am, US crude for September delivery was up 2 cents at $69.21 a barrel, off an earlier session high of $70.50. London Brent crude for October was down 27 cents at $72.10. “What’s keeping the market down is high US inventories, which is a proxy for demand, so the bullish API report has turned sentiment around,” said Tony Nunan, risk manager at Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp. “If the EIA data confirms the API report, we could see the market head higher. The $76 level will be a top for the market in the medium term until we see further drawdowns in the inventories,” he added. API data released late on Tuesday showed that US crude oil stockpiles fell last week by 6.1 million barrels, against forecasts for a 1.3 million barrel build. US distillate stocks rose by 1.5 million barrels, more than double what analysts had expected, while gasoline stocks fell less than forecast. EIA figures will be released at 8:00pm. Further boosting sentiment was Wall Street’s strong performance on Tuesday, when US stocks rebounded from sharp losses in the previous session, as better-than-expected results from big retailers encouraged investors to return to the market. Earnings from major US retailers Home Depot and Target beat Wall Street expectations, offsetting government data that showed US housing starts and permits fell unexpectedly in July after increasing in June. Traders are also keeping an eye on storms in the Atlantic Basin, as any potential output disruption could boost prices, but there was no immediate threat seen to US oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico. The region is home to a quarter of US oil output and 15% of its natural gas production. Hurricane Bill, the first of the 2009 Atlantic season, grew quickly into a major Category 3 storm on Tuesday and could strengthen as it curves north, likely missing the eastern United States as it passes Bermuda. Bill is expected to remain a large and powerful hurricane for several days, said the US National Hurricane Center, but added that the storm posed no threat to oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, Kuwait sees no need for Opec to change oil supply targets at its meeting in September as the oil price is satisfactory, the country’s oil minister said on Wednesday. Opec, supplier of over a third of the world’s oil, meets on 9 September in Vienna to discuss supply policy. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:06 am No FDI for nuke plants, says KakodkarNew Delhi: India’s atomic energy chief Anil Kakodkar has ruled out foreign direct investment (FDI) in the nuclear power plants but said there are no restrictions for the private sector to carry out manufacturing of nuke equipment and construction. “FDI in Indian nuclear power plants is not envisaged,” said Kakodkar, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), when asked if there are any plans in this regard after India came out of its 34-year nuclear isolation. Kakodkar’s comments came close on the heels of economic survey making a pitch for greater private participation even in the sensitive sector of nuclear power generation. The survey called for allowing up to 49% FDI in nuclear power and amending the Atomic Energy Act to allow private companies in the sector. In an interview to Asian Nuclear Energy, a portal dedicated to nuclear commerce, he said India’s capability to independently design and build thorium-based Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) will make the country a global technological leader in this crucial area in the future. The small-sized Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), which India is capable of building, have considerable demand in developing nations, said Kakodkar, who is also secretary, department of atomic energy (DAE). Nuclear commerce in India has always been legitimate, he said, adding, India is well known for its responsible behaviour in conducting its nuclear business. Kakodkar said negotiations are already in progress with vendors from France, Russia and the US for setting up nuclear parks in different states across the country, each expected to provide for six to eight reactors of 1,000-1,650 MW. India’s three-stage nuclear energy programme comprises building uranium-fuelled PHWRs, development of FBRs and an advanced nuclear power system based on thorium-uranium-fuelled reactors. “With nuclear energy likely to become centre stage, FBRs are expected to be in considerable demand in future. With India having taken the lead in this crucial area, we could very well be the technological leaders worldwide,” Kakodkar said, adding the same thing could happen in the context of thorium systems a little later. Kakodkar believed India’s nuclear power generation programme, which offers immense potential for technology and equipment suppliers from across the globe through joint ventures will result in an additional installed nuclear power capacity of 40,000 MW by 2020. India has 17 operating nuclear power reactors and plans to increase the current capacity of 4,120 MW to 10,000 MW by 2012. He stressed Indian companies must maintain their technological competence and ability to tap emerging markets. “In so doing they should not allow themselves to be subjected to extraterritorial application of foreign laws that restrict their participation in the domestic development of India’s three-stage nuclear power programme which is the key to opening up of very large potential of nuclear power,” Kakodkar cautioned. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 2:00 am Global stocks stung by more China lossesHONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese shares slumped 5 percent on Wednesday and the rest of Asia and Europe followed on growing fears that global investors were pulling the plug on a 6-month rally amid doubts about a global economic recovery.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 1:51 am BJP expels Jaswant Singh over Jinnah bookShimla: Jaswant Singh, whose book eulogising Mohd Ali Jinnah has come under attack from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Sangh Parivar, was on Wednesday expelled from the party. The decision to expel Singh, a Lok Sabha member and a former Union minister, was taken at the parliamentary board of the party which met here during the opening session of the three-day brainstorming session of the top leaders here. BJP president Rajnath Singh, who had on Tuesday issued a statement totally distancing the party from Jaswant Singh’s book Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence, announced the decision to the media here. “I had issued a statement on Tuesday that the party fully dissociates itself from the contents of the book. Today I put up the matter before the parliamentary board which decided to end his primary membership. “So he has been expelled. From now onwards he will not be a member of any body of the party or be an office bearer,” he said on the expulsion of the 71-year-old party veteran. Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday he had told Jaswant Singh not to come to Shimla for participating in the chintan baithak. Jaswant Singh has been having an uneasy relationship with the party leadership ever since the Lok Sabha elections on which he had circulated a note demanding thorough discussion on the debacle. Singh, who had held the posts of finance, defence and external affairs under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was virtually declared a persona non grata when the entire BJP top brass and other leaders kept away from the function on Monday in the capital for the release of his book. Singh, who had served with the Territorial Army, was elected to Lok Sabha from Darjeeling in West Bengal with the support of Gorkhaland outfit. That things were not well with Jaswant Singh was clear on Wednesday morning when he did not stir out of his hotel even after the brainstorming session began in Peterhof, the venue of the session. His aides kept saying that he was not well and was resting. Rajnath Singh took a break from the brainstorming session to come and brief the media on the expulsion decision. The party was averse to Jinnah and even LK Advani had to backtrack on his comments about the founder of Pakistan after a visit to that country in 2005. He was made to step down as BJP president and the party adopted a resolution condemning Jinnah’s role in the partition. In the aftermath of the Lok Sabha debacle, Jaswant Singh had criticized Advani’s appointment of parliamentary office bearers and called for a link between “performance and rewards”. He was then considered to be a dissident along with leaders like Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie. However, the party sought to delink him from the other dissidents by nominating him the chairman of the prestigious Public Accounts Committee of Parliament. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 1:46 am Bharti's Mittal recalls his early days - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Aug 2009 | 1:35 am Blackberry maker tops Fastest Growing Firms listResearch in Motion, the Blackberry developer, has been named the world's fastest-growing company, by business magazine Fortune.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 1:31 am NTPC undecided on filing petition in gas row with RILNew Delhi: NTPC Ltd has not yet decided on filing a petition in Supreme Court on its dispute with Reliance Industries Ltd for sourcing of natural gas, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Wednesday. The state-run firm has been contemplating moving the apex court after RIL amended its petition in the Bombay high court to say that it cannot sell gas to NTPC at the price it had bid in the 2004 tender due to Government stand on the issue. “That is not yet decided, I think so,” he told CNBC TV18 when asked if NTPC was leaning towards filing a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court on this issue. NTPC had in December 2005 dragged RIL to the Bombay High Court seeking specific performance of the tender bid to sell 12 million standard cubic meters per day of gas at $2.34 per million British thermal unit to its Kawas and Gandhar expansion projects. “My corporation is capable to take a decision (on the issue)... it is the board of directors (of NTPC) will take decision on this account,” he said. Shinde said the power ministry did not want to get involved in the bigger dispute over the right of the government to approve the price at which RIL can sell gas to consumers and decide on the gas utilisation policy. “We do not want to come in the big dispute... we are concerned with only the NTPC problem,” he said. Shinde said gas from KG-D6 fields of RIL will not be used at NTPC’s Kawas and Gandhar expansion projects till the dispute is settled in the court. NTPC had yesterday informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it was consulting lawyers to approach the “relevant” forum on the issue of procuring gas from Mukesh Ambani-led RIL. The Power Minister had stated yesterday that his ministry was ready to advise NTPC on its legal battle with RIL if it was to approach them. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 1:25 am Frustrated tweets new headache for airlinesChicago: Indignant letters, e-mails and phone calls can still get results for unhappy airline travelers, but more are finding that if you really want to vent your frustrations, you can now be loud and fast and public. At least that’s the buzz on Twitter, where airlines are discovering that fuming passengers who have been stranded, delayed or just plain piqued are increasingly letting their undiluted rage fly around the Internet, often from the confines of their cramped airplane seat. Twitter and other fast-growing social networking websites like Facebook and YouTube have sprung up as yet another front in beleaguered airlines public relations battle. Although such sites have practical uses for airlines -- say, publicizing fare sales and flight information -- experts said the technology has put carriers on the defensive as they race to tame Twitter furies every day. “It’s almost an underground rage factory,” said Terry Trippler, at tripplersview.com, a travel opinion website. “Rarely, I see Twitter messages praising an airline. It’s usually attacking an airline.” Twitter, which lets people broadcast 140-character instant text messages to countless readers, has quickly been embraced as a powerful tool to counter censorship. Twitter messages, or “tweets,” from Iranian protesters after the recent disputed elections became a running part of the drama. On last Wednesday morning, Twitter’s featured posts about airlines included the following: “Screw american airlines. Every plane has Been broken. Gah. So done,” read one post from Twitter user sheissilenttoo. “Shame on you Continental Airlines,” read another post from user DiscoverU. “United airlines, you are the bane of my existence,” user elnodonle wrote. Continental Airlines and AMR Corp’s American Airlines declined to comment specifically on those posts. A United Airlines spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment. “We are monitoring tweets and are responding directly or publicly where appropriate,” said Continental spokeswoman Kelly Cripe. Billy Sanez, who manages social media for AMR, said social media enable better dialogue with customers. “Twitter and a lot of the other social media sites and tools are a way for people to create a conversation or say something,” he said. “If they want to chat and if they want to have a conversation, we’ll have a conversation. If they want to say something they have an opportunity to express it.” One more headache For overcrowded US airlines, battered by volatile fuel costs and economic recession and labour unrest, bad publicity has become a part of daily operations. But air carriers can ill-afford to lose the loyalty of their customers. “Airline industry issues seem to be more visceral. People can resonate immediately with them,” said Kevin Mitchell, head of the Business Travel Coalition, which represents business travelers. “Where there are options, it means booking away.” That’s why satisfying customers is more important than ever for airlines. In the last year, US airlines slashed the number of flights to control costs. Planes remain packed: load factors, measuring how full a plane is, were near 85% for the top nine US airlines in July. Despite the crowded planes, on-time performance has improved. US Transportation Department data for first-half 2009 show 78.9% of flights landed within 15 minutes their scheduled arrival. In 2000, that was at 72.6%. So by that measure, air travelers should have less to complain about these days. But don’t tell that to airlines. “A lot of people are upset, and they use these channels to vent,” said Christi Day at Southwest Airlines, who runs the carrier’s Twitter and Facebook profiles. “The main thing that our customers need to know is that we hear them.” But it is not just the flood of irate Twitter postings that can give an airline new bumps in their ride. Earlier this year, a Canadian musician recorded a song and video called “United Breaks Guitars” after he said United Airlines failed to take responsibility for damaging his instrument during a flight. The video, which was posted on Google Inc’s YouTube, became an Internet hit. United quickly apologized and made a contribution to a music charity in the man’s name. Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org, and a vocal airlines critic, said social networking has given voice to travelers who otherwise would have fumed in silence. “It creates an awareness for people that these things are happening all the time,” Hanni said. FlyerRights.org has lobbied Congress for legislation on passenger rights, spurred by well-publicized incidents that left passengers stranded on planes for many hours. “When I hear about a stranding event where someone is stranded right then, I tweet it,” Hanni said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 1:21 am Frustrated tweets new headache for airlinesChicago: Indignant letters, e-mails and phone calls can still get results for unhappy airline travelers, but more are finding that if you really want to vent your frustrations, you can now be loud and fast and public. At least that’s the buzz on Twitter, where airlines are discovering that fuming passengers who have been stranded, delayed or just plain piqued are increasingly letting their undiluted rage fly around the Internet, often from the confines of their cramped airplane seat. Twitter and other fast-growing social networking websites like Facebook and YouTube have sprung up as yet another front in beleaguered airlines public relations battle. Although such sites have practical uses for airlines -- say, publicizing fare sales and flight information -- experts said the technology has put carriers on the defensive as they race to tame Twitter furies every day. “It’s almost an underground rage factory,” said Terry Trippler, at tripplersview.com, a travel opinion website. “Rarely, I see Twitter messages praising an airline. It’s usually attacking an airline.” Twitter, which lets people broadcast 140-character instant text messages to countless readers, has quickly been embraced as a powerful tool to counter censorship. Twitter messages, or “tweets,” from Iranian protesters after the recent disputed elections became a running part of the drama. On last Wednesday morning, Twitter’s featured posts about airlines included the following: “Screw american airlines. Every plane has Been broken. Gah. So done,” read one post from Twitter user sheissilenttoo. “Shame on you Continental Airlines,” read another post from user DiscoverU. “United airlines, you are the bane of my existence,” user elnodonle wrote. Continental Airlines and AMR Corp’s American Airlines declined to comment specifically on those posts. A United Airlines spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment. “We are monitoring tweets and are responding directly or publicly where appropriate,” said Continental spokeswoman Kelly Cripe. Billy Sanez, who manages social media for AMR, said social media enable better dialogue with customers. “Twitter and a lot of the other social media sites and tools are a way for people to create a conversation or say something,” he said. “If they want to chat and if they want to have a conversation, we’ll have a conversation. If they want to say something they have an opportunity to express it.” One more headache For overcrowded US airlines, battered by volatile fuel costs and economic recession and labour unrest, bad publicity has become a part of daily operations. But air carriers can ill-afford to lose the loyalty of their customers. “Airline industry issues seem to be more visceral. People can resonate immediately with them,” said Kevin Mitchell, head of the Business Travel Coalition, which represents business travelers. “Where there are options, it means booking away.” That’s why satisfying customers is more important than ever for airlines. In the last year, US airlines slashed the number of flights to control costs. Planes remain packed: load factors, measuring how full a plane is, were near 85% for the top nine US airlines in July. Despite the crowded planes, on-time performance has improved. US Transportation Department data for first-half 2009 show 78.9% of flights landed within 15 minutes their scheduled arrival. In 2000, that was at 72.6%. So by that measure, air travelers should have less to complain about these days. But don’t tell that to airlines. “A lot of people are upset, and they use these channels to vent,” said Christi Day at Southwest Airlines, who runs the carrier’s Twitter and Facebook profiles. “The main thing that our customers need to know is that we hear them.” But it is not just the flood of irate Twitter postings that can give an airline new bumps in their ride. Earlier this year, a Canadian musician recorded a song and video called “United Breaks Guitars” after he said United Airlines failed to take responsibility for damaging his instrument during a flight. The video, which was posted on Google Inc’s YouTube, became an Internet hit. United quickly apologized and made a contribution to a music charity in the man’s name. Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org, and a vocal airlines critic, said social networking has given voice to travelers who otherwise would have fumed in silence. “It creates an awareness for people that these things are happening all the time,” Hanni said. FlyerRights.org has lobbied Congress for legislation on passenger rights, spurred by well-publicized incidents that left passengers stranded on planes for many hours. “When I hear about a stranding event where someone is stranded right then, I tweet it,” Hanni said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 1:21 am Noon: Markets extend fall to 2%; banks lead lossesMumbai: Indian shares extended their fall to more than 2% on Wednesday afternoon, as worries poor rains will hit economic growth, downbeat US housing data and tepid Asian peers weighed on sentiment. At 12:17pm, the 30-share BSE index was down 2.3% at 14,689.28 points, with 28 stocks declining. The 50-share NSE index was down 2.3% at 4,356.30. Leading lender State Bank of India, private-sector lender HDFC Bank and rival ICICI Bank led the losses in the main index. Engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro and outsourcer Infosys Technologies were among the other major losers. “Yesterday the market bounced only because we had a huge fall on Monday. Today, I am not surprised the market is resuming its downward slide because valuations are still stretched,” Gajendra Nagpal, chief executive of Unicon Financial, said. “The market still has not discounted the impact from the weak monsoon.” Glenmark Pharmaceuticals fell as much as 17.4% to its lowest in more than a month after the company and partner Forest Laboratories said their lung drug failed in a mid-stage trial. Shares later pared some losses to trade down 10.5% at Rs234.15. By 12:04pm, the 30-share BSE index was down 1.6% at 14,791.50 points, with 28 stocks declining. The 50-share NSE index was down 1.5% at 4,392.35. The market is running out of steam after nearly doubling in five months and may be poised for a correction as investors grow wary of high valuations, a bad monsoon and looming inflation. Doubts about the pace of a global economic recovery have emerged in the wake of a slew of recent downbeat data, pushing down equity markets worldwide on fears about stocks having risen ahead of fundamentals. Weak monsoon rains - crucial for India’s domestic-demand-led economy - have added to the gloom. Deficient rainfall has pushed the country to the brink of drought, putting pressure on food prices and energy supplies and imperilling economic growth. Some private economists have said poor rains could shave as much as 2 percentage points off growth in the fiscal year that ends in March. Traders say the market will be choppy until clarity emerges on the government’s response to the weak monsoon. Larsen & Toubro shed 1.8 percent to Rs1,451, and HDFC Bank declined 1.5% to Rs1,420. No. 2 outsourcer Infosys fell 1% to Rs1,952 rupees. In the broader market, losers led gainers 1,364 to 985 on relatively moderate volume of 175.3 millions shares. Asian shares were lower on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei down 0.8% while MSCI’s measure of other Asian markets fell 0.7 percent. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:51 am No plan to sell Nalco, HCL stakes - minNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government has no plans to sell stakes in state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) and Hindustan Copper, Mines Minister B.K. Handique said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:44 am Worried CWC meet on drought woesNew Delhi: Concerned over drought conditions likely to affect its electoral prospects in the forthcoming assembly polls in four states, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Wednesday met to explore ways and means to deal with the situation. The meeting, chaired by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh among others, will ask the government to speed up measures to tackle the problem. The meeting comes at a time when assembly elections in four states—Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh—are expected soon. Of these, Maharashtra and Jharkhand have declared drought, partly or wholly. The meeting was attended by chief ministers of Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Goa, Rajasthan, Delhi and Assam besides Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, A.K. Antony, P. Chidambaram and Veerappa Moily. The country has witnessed rainfall deficiency of 29% and the number of districts reeling under drought or drought-like condition has gone up to 207. The CWC had discussed the issue of price rise at its meeting in June when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had explained to the members the international economic scenario vis-a-vis the status of economy in the country. With summer crops being affected because of deficient rains, the party apprehends that prices of foodgrains could rise further if winter crops too are hit. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:44 am Sensex falls over 200 points on profit-bookingThe 30-share barometer was quoted at 14,829.82 points, a loss of 205.44 points, or 1.36%, over the previous close. The Sensex had added 61 points in early trade.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:43 am Cipla to sell generic version of Bayer cancer drug; Stk dwn - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:30 am Sensex falls over 200 points on profit-bookingParing its early gains, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by over 200 points at 11:15am on Wednesday on profit-booking at existing high levels.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:24 am Management students fare better this placement seasonNew Delhi, Aug. 18 Engineering students are still suffering the after-effects of recession even as their management peers are getting good placements this year. The healthy numbers of pre- placement offers at most management colleges do seem toSource: Business Line - Home Page | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am ‘There’s tension in the world economy now on who’s going to pull whom’Eswar Prasad is the Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy at Cornell University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he holds the New Century Chair in International Economics, and a Research Associate at the NationalSource: Business Line - Home Page | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Power Ministry wants more gas to generate additional 15,000 MWNew Delhi, Aug.18 The Power Ministry will ask for more natural gas for additional power generation capacity of around 15,000 MW to offset the coal shortage and to cut emissions.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideThe outlook remains positive as long as DLF trades above Rs 365. We recommend a buy with tight stop at Rs 365. Desist trading in ICICI Bank as the stance is cautious. We re-affirm our sell recommendation inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am RBI plans sweetener for banks to park funds with GovtMumbai, Aug. 18 In order to push through the gargantuan Government borrowing programme, the Reserve Bank of India may have to throw-in a sweetener by allowing banks higher headroom for parking securities in the ‘held-to-maturity’ orSource: Business Line - Home Page | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am IT cos in hiring modeBangalore, Aug. 18 The downturn has done little to stop Indian IT vendors from spending on new sales and marketingSource: Business Line - Home Page | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am NCDs popular on retail investor interestKolkata, Aug. 18 Why relatively costly non-convertible debentures (NCDs) compared with other routes to raise funds have recently become popular among large and small companies?Source: Business Line - Home Page | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Madras Cements (Rs 105.4): SellWe recommend a sell in Madras Cements from a short-term perspective. It is evident from the charts that the stock was on an intermediate-term uptrend from its March low of Rs 57 till July high of Rs 123. However, the stock met with a significantSource: Business Line - Home Page | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am IBM readies for tough battle in India marketBangalore, Aug. 18 It might no longer be a cake walk for multinationals such as IBM in the Indian IT market.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Govt committed to ‘own and run’ Air IndiaNew Delhi, Aug. 18 The Government will continue to both “own and run” Air India and do everything possible to help the state-owned carrier, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, said here on Tuesday.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 19 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am HP profit, revenue top estimates slightlySan Francisco: Hewlett-Packard Co reported slightly better-than-expected third-quarter results on Tuesday, helped by strong server sales, but the company expressed caution about business demand, and shares fell 2% in extended trading. HP’s business is stabilizing, chief executive Mark Hurd said on a conference call with analysts, but when asked whether enterprise demand is picking up, he said, “I think what we’ve seen so far this year is what we’ll see for the rest of year.” Hurd said he was encouraged by the stability, but was not yet ready to “call it a turn.” The company took share in personal computers and servers in the quarter, and made positive comments about its services business, said Edward Jones analyst Bill Kreher. Nevertheless, he said, “investors may have been looking for a little more bullish commentary on the macro level. So while HP was willing to say business is stabilizing, they don’t yet have the conviction to call an uptick.” HP’s business touches on many parts of the technology sector, from personal computers and services to servers and printers, and its results are an indicator of industry health. There were positive signs in the results, but Europe is dragging on the company, said Jane Snorek, senior technology analyst with First American Funds, which owns HP stock. “Europe is their problem. It’s still weak,” she said. For the fourth quarter, HP forecast earnings excluding items to be $1.12 a share -- ahead of Wall Street estimates -- and revenue to be up roughly 8% sequentially. HP expects fiscal 2009 revenue and earnings to be at the midpoint of its previous outlook. In May, HP forecast earnings per share of $3.76 to $3.88 before items. On a net basis, it forecast earnings per share of $3.02 to $3.16. At the same time, the company said it expected revenue to decline between 4% and 5%. Beating Expectations HP reported net earnings of $1.6 billion, or 67 cents a share, in the fiscal third quarter ended 31 July, down from $2.03 billion, or 80 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding items, HP posted a profit of 91 cents a share, beating the average analyst estimate of 90 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue fell 2% to $27.5 billion, versus the average Wall Street estimate of $27.2 billion. HP is the world’s leading PC maker, capturing roughly one-fifth of the market. Shipments in the third quarter rose 2%, but average selling prices declined and revenue fell 18%. The company said it saw strong demand for the latest generation of its ProLiant servers. HP continues to gain share in PCs and x86 servers, but it said it is now modelling for “more modest” share gains. HP is the world’s second-largest tech services company behind IBM, following last year’s acquisition of EDS. Services was HP’s largest revenue segment in the quarter. The company might sell or shut parts of its outsourcing business to focus on higher-margin areas of its technology services offerings, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters. Its services unit houses some of the businesses that could come up for sale. Shares of Palo Alto, California-based HP closed at $43.96 on the New York Stock Exchange, and fell to $43.09 in extended trading. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 18 Aug 2009 | 11:43 pm HP profit, revenue top estimates slightlySAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co reported slightly better-than-expected third-quarter results on Tuesday, helped by strong server sales, but the company expressed caution about business demand, and shares fell 2 percent in extended trading.Source: Reuters: Money News | 18 Aug 2009 | 11:30 pm Mint in Multimedia - 19 AugustVideo story: Fly low to soar Civil aviation minister Praful Patel says both private and public airlines need to transform their business models to cater to the low cost market. Video story: Ruskin Bond on writing, reading, and the Internet Ruskin Bond on his new collection of essays, his next humorous character and the effect of technology on writing Slideshow: India faces drought click here to view slideshow India’s vital monsoon rains have been 29% below normal since the beginning of the June-September season, hurting crops such as rice and sugarcane and triggering a sharp rise in food prices Video story: Retail strategy Ram Chadra Agarwal, managing director of cash-strapped Vishal Retail, talks about the company’s plans for surviving the tough times Video story: The Mint report NTPC officials to knock on the doors of the Prime Minister on RIL gas dispute; RCom talks to Kuwait’s Zain about buying its Africa operations Source: Home - Livemint.com | 18 Aug 2009 | 11:00 pm Sanyo batteries for Toyota hybridsTokyo: Toyota Motor Corp. will buy batteries for hybrid cars from Sanyo Electric Co. to keep pace with growing demand for cleaner vehicles, a source familiar with the matter said, sending Sanyo shares up 17% at one stage. Shares of Sanyo were up 13% at 253 yen in afternoon trade, while Toyota rose 1.7%, mirroring a rise in other auto stocks. Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, will first use Sanyo’s lithium-ion batteries from around 2011, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is not yet public. The maker of the popular Prius hybrid will first procure about 10,000 battery units per year from Sanyo, the world’s biggest rechargeable battery maker, the source said. A Toyota spokeswoman said nothing had been decided about procuring lithium-ion batteries from Sanyo. A Sanyo spokesman declined comment, citing company policy on deals with potential and existing customers. Demand for gasoline-electric vehicles has surged in Japan, helped by tax breaks and subsidies under a government initiative to promote fuel-efficient automobiles, with the Prius ranking as the country’s best-selling car in July for a second straight month. But customers placing orders for the Prius have to wait about eight months before delivery due partly to a shortage of batteries. Toyota also said this week it had received about 10,000 orders for the Lexus HS250h sedan, the premium brand’s first dedicated hybrid car, in its first month of sale in Japan. It aims to sell an average 500 units a month. Toyota now procures its nickel-metal hydride batteries from Panasonic EV Energy Co, a joint venture with Panasonic Corp. Panasonic plans to take control of Sanyo, and is awaiting regulatory approval. Panasonic EV Energy has said it plans to double production capacity to around 1 million units a year by the middle of 2010. To further ease the supply bottleneck, Toyota has said it is considering a wide range of options, including procurement from a second source and further capacity expansion at the battery venture. Sanyo, which has a battery tie-up with Volkswagen AG, told Reuters in June that it had secured customers for its lithium-ion batteries in the US, Japan and Europe as it seeks a 25% share in the global market for auto-use rechargeable batteries by 2015. Other battery makers such as Toshiba Corp and the joint venture between Nissan Motor Co. and NEC Corp. are also looking to supply their batteries to a broad customer base to bring costs down. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 18 Aug 2009 | 10:01 pm Swine flu favours CSL profitsSydney: Australian pharmaceutical company CSL on Wednesday reported a 63% jump in annual net profit as demand for a swine flu vaccine boosted its immunisation business. CSL posted a profit of $1.15 billion (Aus) for the year to June, with underlying operational profit -- which strips out currency movements and other one-off items -- up 45% to $1.02 billion. “This is a powerful result for CSL, derived in an extraordinary period of foreign exchange volatility and global economic upheaval,” managing director Brian McNamee said in a statement. He said favourable movements in foreign exchange and sales and royalties from its cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil had underpinned growth, along with “robust” global demand for plasma therapies. McNamee said CSL’s seasonal influenza vaccine business grew 60% in the period to $124 million, while massive orders for an A(H1N1) vaccine were likely to provide a “strong contribution” to future earnings. “Over the last few months we received significant orders from the Australian and US governments for swine flu vaccine,” he said. “CSL has vigorously pursued the development of a vaccine and commenced manufacturing in order to meet demand for this important medicine.” McNamee said Australia had ordered 21 million courses of the swine flu vaccine and the US had placed an initial order for doses, to be trialled there, worth $180 million (US). CSL expected a net profit of $1.16-1.26 billion in 2009-2010, McNamee said, as the swine flu orders were filled and royalties continued to flow from the local rollout of cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 18 Aug 2009 | 9:46 pm As govt keeps out Tamiflu, Virenza hogs the countersZanamivir, the only other swine flu cure, finds its way into retail market. Currently, oseltamivir and zanamivir are the only treatments available for swine flu.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Aug 2009 | 3:41 pm Satyam to sack chunk of seniorsSatyam categorises its employee pool into three segments -- billable, non-billable support and non-billable bench.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Aug 2009 | 3:38 pm When should you buy life insurance?Life insurance is a necessity, not an investment. But it is required only if the demise of the breadwinner will put immense financial pressure on family members.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Aug 2009 | 3:22 pm Move towards EET is good, but handle retirement savings with careThe draft direct taxes code unveiled earlier this month makes a beginning towards the EET (exempt-exempt-taxation) treatment of savings, including those relating to retirement.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Aug 2009 | 2:56 pm DreamWorks locks up financing for its filmsRaises $875 m from ADAG, Walt Disney Co and loans from a syndicate of banks.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Aug 2009 | 2:54 pm United Spirits on course to raise $300 millionBillionaire Mallya is looking to reduce debts on his books to Rs 4,000 crore from the current Rs 6,500 crore.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Aug 2009 | 2:47 pm RRBs set to get fresh capital this fiscal: FM - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 18 Aug 2009 | 2:05 pm Travelocity Global buys TravelguruTravelocity Global, the US based online travel firm, has acquired Travelguru, one of India's largest online hotel distribution networks, for an undisclosed sum.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Aug 2009 | 1:49 pm Code threatens taxing time for M dealsThe draft Direct Taxes Code aims to make tax administration simpler, but tax experts are unanimous that it would make life much more complicated for companies planning restructuring or mergers and acquisitions.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 18 Aug 2009 | 1:08 pm Court invalidates Eli Lilly cancer drug patentSan Francisco: Eli Lilly and Co.’s method of use patent for its cancer drug Gemzar was invalidated by a federal court in Michigan, the drug maker said on Tuesday. The court ruled in a lawsuit filed by generic drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, said Mark Taylor, a spokesman for Lilly. The patent at issue deals with methods of use for Gemzar, which was set to expire in 2013. The decision has no bearing on Lilly’s compound patent for Gemzar, a medicine for lung, breast, pancreatic and ovarian cancer with 2008 worldwide sales of $1.7 billion, Lilly said in a statement. Sun is seeking to market a generic version of the drug before Lilly’s patent expires, court documents say. Lilly claimed Sun’s generics infringe on its Gemzar patents. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 18 Aug 2009 | 12:36 pm Jet expects profit on UK route this winterMumbai: London operations of Jet Airways (India) Ltd will become profitable this winter schedule, which lasts October through March, a top company official forecast earlier this week. The firm will also introduce a larger aircraft on that route in October. “Jet Airways claims a market share of 37% in the India-UK market. We are expecting our India-UK operations to be profitable in winter season,” Anita Goyal, executive vice president, network planning and revenue management, told Mint on the sidelines of its 17th annual general meeting on Monday. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 18 Aug 2009 | 11:50 am Essar bids for Shell refineries in Europe: report London: Indian conglomerate Essar has made a bid to buy one British and two German refineries from Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday without citing its source. Energy-to-telecoms group Essar has bid for the British-based Stanlow refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and two German refineries, according to the daily business newspaper. The newspaper added that US company Valero Energy, Libya’s National Oil Corporation and an investment vehicle controlled by the Saudi royal family have also expressed an interest. A Shell spokesman declined to comment on the story. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 18 Aug 2009 | 5:47 am Tweet your prayers to GodJerusalem: An Israeli university student has opened a Twitter site, twitter.com/thekotel, where prayers can be sent for placement in the crevices of Jerusalem’s Western Wall, a Jewish holy site that faithful believe provides a direct line to the Almighty. “I take their prayers, print them out and drive to Jerusalem to put them in the Western Wall,” said Alon Nir, a resident of Tel Aviv. He said he hoped his initiative on the popular Internet social networking service, where users post brief messages known as tweets, would be “beneficial to people all over the world”. Nir promises to deliver the prayers - each no longer than a tweet’s maximum 140 characters - on a regular basis. Prayers, which are sent via a direct message link on Nir’s Twitter site, cannot be viewed by the public. At the Western Wall, where he placed some 1,000 rolled-up papers, Nir told Reuters: “People trusted me with their innermost feelings and secret thoughts ... and it’s my duty to provide them with what I promised.” Several services deliver prayers sent by email, text message or fax to the wall. Israeli postal authorities say prayers also arrive from overseas by regular mail, some in envelopes addressed “Dear God”. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 18 Aug 2009 | 5:01 am Dell, China Mobile join hands to develop smartphoneShanghai: Dell has teamed up with China’s largest mobile operator to develop a smartphone, a spokeswoman for China Mobile said on Tuesday, in a deal that would mark the US computer giant’s debut in the market. The Dell device will support China Mobile’s online application store Mobile Market, a website allowing the company’s smartphone users to download applications for mobile phones, the spokeswoman told AFP. The online store, unveiled on Monday currently supports 10 smartphone models, including handsets from Nokia, Samsung Electronics, LG, Dopod and Dell, the spokeswoman said, adding it “will definitely support more brands in future”. A Beijing-based spokeswoman for Dell China said she could not give any further details about the smartphone, or say when it would be ready for purchase. A Dell smartphone could help the PC maker tap China’s burgeoning 3G market. China Mobile, tasked with operating a 3G network based on the nation’s TD-SCDMA technology, had more than 493 million subscribers in the world’s largest mobile market as of the end of June. The company’s smaller rival, China Unicom, is in talks with Apple Inc about selling the iPhone in China. China’s Lenovo, the world’s fourth largest maker of personal computers, is reportedly developing the oPhone, an iPhone lookalike. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 18 Aug 2009 | 4:49 am Dell, China Mobile join hands to develop smartphoneShanghai: Dell has teamed up with China’s largest mobile operator to develop a smartphone, a spokeswoman for China Mobile said on Tuesday, in a deal that would mark the US computer giant’s debut in the market. The Dell device will support China Mobile’s online application store Mobile Market, a website allowing the company’s smartphone users to download applications for mobile phones, the spokeswoman told AFP. The online store, unveiled on Monday currently supports 10 smartphone models, including handsets from Nokia, Samsung Electronics, LG, Dopod and Dell, the spokeswoman said, adding it “will definitely support more brands in future”. A Beijing-based spokeswoman for Dell China said she could not give any further details about the smartphone, or say when it would be ready for purchase. A Dell smartphone could help the PC maker tap China’s burgeoning 3G market. China Mobile, tasked with operating a 3G network based on the nation’s TD-SCDMA technology, had more than 493 million subscribers in the world’s largest mobile market as of the end of June. The company’s smaller rival, China Unicom, is in talks with Apple Inc about selling the iPhone in China. China’s Lenovo, the world’s fourth largest maker of personal computers, is reportedly developing the oPhone, an iPhone lookalike. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 18 Aug 2009 | 4:49 am Reader’s Digest to file for bankruptcy protectionNew York/New Delhi: The publisher of the world’s largest-circulated magazine, Reader’s Digest- sold across dozens of countries including India, has decided to file for bankruptcy in the US, but its operations in rest of the world would remain unaffected. The filing for bankruptcy protection by Reader’s Digest Association (RDA), the company said in a statement, is aimed at reducing its debt burden by 75% and to strengthen its future financial position. RDA, a global multi-brand media and marketing company based in the US, has offices in 44 countries and sells books, magazines, music, video and educational products reaching a customer base of 130 million in 78 countries. It publishes 94 magazines, including 50 editions of Reader’s Digest, the world’s largest-circulated magazine and sells approximately 40 million books, music and video products across the world each year. The company said it has reached an in-principle agreement with its lenders to reduce its debt from $2.2 billion to $550 million and its ‘Debt-for-Equity Restructuring Plan´ is supported by a majority of the lenders. The restructuring agreement provides that the company’s senior secured lenders will exchange a substantial portion of the company’s $1.6 billion in senior secured debt for equity and provide for a transfer of ownership of the company to the lender group. As part of the agreement, RDA anticipates implementing the restructuring under court supervision through a voluntary pre-arranged bankruptcy filing under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which it expects to complete on an expedited basis while operating business as usual. “The Chapter 11 filing will apply only to the company’s US businesses...its operations in Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia-New Zealand will not be affected. RDA’s international operations are expected to have adequate funding based on continuing operations and access to proceeds from the DIP (debtor in possession) financing,” the company said. Earlier in March 2009, Indian Software exporter HCL Technologies had announced a seven-year IT operations and management engagement with RDA. As part of the engagement, HCL Technologies would provide application development and infrastructure support across the application stack of Oracle, open technologies, main frame, infrastructure support for network, security, storage, end user computing and data centres. In a separate statement HCL said the latest developments at its end do not affect its relationship and engagement with RDA. “HCL is at the very core of our global operations, and we value the relationship today and going forward,” RDA senior vice president IT, Global Operations and Business Redesign Albert Perruzza said. “Our underlying business operations are strong, and we are undertaking this initiative with the banks so we can significantly reduce our debt and free up cash for use in building our business. Our creditors are supportive and are working with us to ensure a smooth process with no disruptions to business operations,” Perruzza added. RDA ‘s business operations remain strong, with anticipated fiscal 2009 revenue declining in the low single digits, currency neutral, despite the global recession. RDA’s president and chief executive officer Mary Berner, said the company would continue to operate normally throughout the restructuring process. “This agreement in principle with our lenders follows months of intensive strategic review of our balance-sheet issues to financially strengthen the company,” she said. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 18 Aug 2009 | 2:43 am
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