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Small car project on track, branding talks on: Rajiv BajajBajaj Auto sold 50,000 discover 100 cc bikes in the month of August, said Rajiv Bajaj of Baja Auto. Small car project is on track and branding discussion is taking place, he said adding that the company will revamp three wheeler portfolio in few months.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 28 Aug 2009 | 8:27 am Gas field validation independent; no deals with RIL: MustangUnder criticism for its role in validating Mukesh Ambani-led RIL's $8.83 billion gas field costs, Mustang Engineering of the US said it did an "independent" evaluation and had never approached the firm for any commercial deals.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 28 Aug 2009 | 7:57 am Air New Zealand annual profit slumps 90 pctAir New Zealand said on Thursday its annual profit slumped 90 per cent in the year to June as the global economic crisis and intense competition took their toll.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 28 Aug 2009 | 7:30 am \'I didn\'t file tax returns for 7 yrs. What should I do?\'You not only need to file your returns to be on the right side of the law but also for other things like applying for a loan or visa.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 28 Aug 2009 | 7:24 am RCom inks infrastructure sharing pact with S TelAnil Ambani group company Reliance Communications said it has signed an infrastructure sharing agreement with S Tel, a new entrant in the telecom space which has received licence to roll out services across six circles.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 28 Aug 2009 | 7:04 am Direct Taxes Code Bill likely in Winter Session: FinminThe Direct Taxes Code Bill, which will replace the Income Tax Act 1961, is likely to be introduced during the Winter Session of Parliament, a Finance Ministry official said on Friday.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 28 Aug 2009 | 6:44 am RIL's KG-D6 gas comes to aid to drought-hit statesThe Petroleum Ministry has allocated additional natural gas from Reliance Industries' eastern offshore gas fields to three power plants to meet electricity deficit in northern states reeling under drought.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 28 Aug 2009 | 6:43 am Gold futures trade higher on firm global cuesGold futures price gained 0.19 per cent on the Multi Commodity Exchange on Friday as speculators indulged in creating fresh positions influenced by firming global trend.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 28 Aug 2009 | 6:24 am General Motors India to roll out mini-car by Jan 2010General Motors India will be launching its mini-car, developed on the concept Beat model, in India by January 2010 and hopes to export 8,000 such vehicles in the first year of production.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 28 Aug 2009 | 6:21 am Maruti Suzuki expects 10 per cent growth in first halfMaruti Suzuki, India's largest car maker, on Friday said it had overridden the downturn and expected to grow more in the first half of this fiscal than in the year-ago period when the global meltdown had not yet set in.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:52 am Dell profit drops 23% but beats expectations!US computer maker Dell reported a 23-percent drop in second-quarter profits Thursday as corporate spending continued to lag.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:41 am Nifty regains 4,700 level, Sensex up 90 pts!Continuing its winning streak for the seventh straight session, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex moved up further by 90 points in opening trade today as foreign funds pumped more money.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:41 am SC defers hearing on Ambani gas row to Oct 20!The Supreme Court on Friday deferred hearing on petition filed in regard to the Ambani gas dispute to October 20.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:41 am Oil prices rise above $72 in Asian trade!Oil prices were above USD 72 in Asian trade on Friday following an overnight rally which saw the market buoyed by strong performances on Wall Street and a weakening US dollar, analysts said.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:41 am NHPC shares to be listed on Sept 1!Shares in hydropower generator NHPC will be listed on September 1 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, the website of the exchange showed.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:41 am Jet to start new Mumbai-Dhaka daily flight!India`s Jet Airways will launch new daily direct flights on the Mumbai-Dhaka route beginning mid-September, the company announced.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:41 am Japan`s unemployment rate hits record high in July!Japan`s unemployment rate rose to an all-time high in July and prices fell at a record pace — both threatening to undermine a nascent recovery for the world`s No. 2 economy.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:41 am See under recovery in auto fuel at Rs 3K cr in Q2: IOCS Behuria of IOC sees Q2 under recoveries in auto fuels at Rs 3000 crore. The under recovery in diesel is seen at Rs 2.30 per litre while that in petrol at Rs 4.60 per litre, he said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:39 am Prakash Ind plans to raise Rs 500cr via FCCB/QIP next monthVP Agarwal, CMD, Prakash Industries said that the company was looking to raise Rs 500 crore via foreign currency convertible bond (FCCB)/qualified institutional placement QIP next month. We are looking to raise money for captive power plant, he added.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:35 am Toyota says it will end production at joint venture with GMToyota Motor Corp on Friday said it will end vehicle production at its 25-year-old joint manufacturing plant in California with General Motors Co next March 31.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:34 am RILRNRL gas row: SC defers hearing to Oct 20The Supreme Court has deferred the hearing of petition in the Reliance Industries (RIL)Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) case to October 20.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:33 am Car insurance: I paid 100% premium, got only 40% claimA third party policy, which is mandatory, will cover only your legal liability to pay compensation for the third party.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 28 Aug 2009 | 5:00 am Parsvnath Developers denies reports of QIP book openingParsvnath Developers has denied the reports of the QIP book opening yesterday. Pradeep Jain, Chairman of the company, said the company is working on fund raising, and that they have an enabling resolution.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:46 am Fiat India may consider price hikeCarmaker Fiat India Automobiles on Friday said it would consider raising prices of its products as the margins are under pressure.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:45 am Supreme Court will hear Ambani case O... - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:27 am CESC acquires majority stake in power firmKOLKATA (Reuters) - CESC Ltd has acquired a majority stake for 2 billion rupees in unlisted power plant developer, Dhariwal Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (DIPL), its Vice-Chairman Sanjiv Goenka said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:24 am L&T sees $2 bln order in next 1 mnth - chairmanMUMBAI (Reuters) - Larsen & Toubro, India's top engineering and construction firm, expects to win orders worth 100 billion rupees ($2 billion) in the next one month, Chairman A.M. Naik told shareholders on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:17 am CESC acquires majority stake in power... - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:12 am India's M&M seeks to buy US facility ... - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:04 am Tata Motors needs new equity to cut debt - analystsMUMBAI (Reuters) - Tata Motors Ltd, India's largest vehicle maker, needs to raise an estimated $1 billion in fresh equity and asset sales to deleverage its balance sheet and cut its debt-to-equity ratio to reasonable levels, according to analysts.Source: Reuters: Money News | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:01 am India sells 120 bln rupees of 2016, 2... - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:01 am Supreme Court will hear Ambani case Oct 20The Supreme Court Friday fixed Oct 20 to hear cross-appeals between the two squabbling Ambani brothers and the Union government on the issue of the supply of natural gas to a power firm owned by Anil Ambani, the younger sibling.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:00 am Govt to file for NTPC follow-on by Dec - officialMUMBAI (Reuters) - The government plans to file the draft prospectus for a follow-on offer by state-run utility NTPC by December, a senior government official said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:00 am Indians prefer online travel portals to plan holidays: StudyNearly 80 percent of Indians in metros prefer to use online travel portals to plan their holidays, a new study released Friday says.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Aug 2009 | 4:00 am Tata Steel nos disappoint; are global peers any better?Tata Steel has come out with a disappointing consolidated numbers for Q1 FY10. Net sales have come down 47% to Rs 23,180 crore. It reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 2,200 crore for the quarter. The company says costs have come done across the board but prices at Corus impacting margins.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:49 am UBI IPO to hit the market by JanuaryNew Delhi: United Bank of India (UBI), one of the few unlisted state-run lenders, today said it would mobilise up to Rs500 crore by diluting 15% of the government’s equity in an IPO by January 2010. “... we have sought the approval of the government, formal approval for IPO and that is being processed by the government... We are going to have issue in January only,” UBI chairman and MD Satish C Gupta told reporters here. He said the bank would file draft red herring prospectus with market regulator Sebi sometime in October after its accounts for the period till September 30, 2009 are audited. “We should be able to mobilise about Rs450 crore to Rs500 crore of funds,” he added. Face value of the total equity offloaded will be Rs50 crore, the CMD said, meaning Rs400 crore to Rs450 crore may be the total premium in the IPO. The government would offload 15% of its equity in the bank. Earlier, the government approved capital restructuring of the bank, which would reduce paid up capital in the bank from the current Rs1,532 crore to Rs266 crore. This would enable the bank to get better pricing for its IPO. UBI is the one of the few nationalised banks where the government holds the entire 100 per cent equity. The other lender is Punjab & Sind Bank. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:49 am Ambani fallout linked to dispute over whose wife will be next in lineA friend of the Ambani family has said the dispute between Mukesh and Anil has its roots in tensions between Anil and Mukesh's wife Nita.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:49 am Reliance July crude imports up 65.5%New Delhi: Crude oil imports by Reliance Industries, which operates the world’s biggest refining complex, jumped more than 65% in July versus June, including renewed Venezuela supplies and a rare cargo from Russia. Reliance imported about 1.08 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude last month, up from nearly 910,000 bpd the month before and around 650,000 bpd a year ago, before it had commissioned the second half of the complex, second shipping data compiled by trade sources showed on Tuesday. July’s imports showed a growing divergence in its crude slate, including a swathe of grades it has rarely—if ever—purchased, such as Cameroon’s Lokele, Venezuela’s Santa Barbara, Gabon’s Mandji, Egypt’s Ras Budran and Angola’s Cabinda. It also bought an unusually high 4.3 million barrels of Russian Urals crude, as well as trebling its intake of Egyptian and Qatari grades as it revs up operations at its expanded 1.24 million bpd Jamnagar plant. Reliance has been adding new grades in its portfolio since the start up of its new sophisticated refinery in December 2008 that allows it to process some of the heaviest grades. Limited supplies of costlier Middle East grades has strengthened flow of Urals to Asia compared to negligible volumes last year when Middle Eastern suppliers were showering refiners with as much crude as needed amid record-high oil prices. Recently the company commissioned alkylation unit at its 580,000 bpd refinery in Jamnagar in western Gujarat state, sited next to its old 660,000 bpd old refinery. The refiner bought 46% less crude from top oil producer Saudi Arabia with 121,000 bpd shipped in July compared to about 223,920 bpd in June. Crude imports from United Arab Emirates and Neutral Zone—a region whose production belongs to both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait—also declined in July compared with a year earlier, although imports from suppliers that were absent last year compensated, including Brazil, Angola, Iraq, Ecuador, Russia, Gabon and Cameroon. Following is the table of Reliance’s country-wise crude imports in barrels per day in July, based on tanker discharge information from industry sources. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:38 am Siemens to invest $15 mn in Israel’s Arava PowerFrankfurt : German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG said on Friday it will buy a 40% stake in Israeli solar company Arava Power for $15 million (€10.5 million). Kibbutz Ketura-Eilat-based Arava Power develops, builds and operates photovoltaic plants in Israel and is considered the Israeli market leader, Munich-based Siemens said in a statement. Arava Power is a subsidiary of Global Sun Power Ltd., a partnership between the Kibbutz Ketura and American Investors. The investment will contribute to Israel building the first commercial solar farms in the region between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, Siemens said. Siemens will handle project management, including engineering and construction of the photovoltaic plants. So far the two companies have a project framework agreement for a total output of 40 megawatts. The first project will be the construction of a plant with an output of about 5 MW at Kibbutz Ketura, in the south of the country, while additional photovoltaic plants are being planned for the Negev and Arava deserts. “This investment is another consequential step in further strengthening our green and sustainable technologies,” Peter Loescher, Siemens’ chief executive said in the statement. “Thanks to its intensive sunshine and steadily growing demand for energy, Israel is an ideal location for further developing our solar business.” Shares of Siemens were up about 1.2% at €60.94 in Frankfurt morning trading. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:38 am Compal Q2 beats forecast; analysts to up estimatesTaipei: Taiwan’s Compal Electronics, the world’s No.2 contract laptop PC maker, reported market-beating quarterly earnings, helped by robust demand for notebook PCs and LCD televisions. A key supplier to top brands such as HP and Dell, Compal did not offer any new outlook in its statement but analysts said they were likely to raise their estimates. In the statement released after close of trading hours on Friday, Compal reiterated its previous forecast of a 20% rise in second-half revenue from the previous six months. “We should see an upward revision in their earnings,” said Angela Hsiang, an analyst at KGI Securities. “There seems to be fairly good momentum, and we should be looking at raising Compal’s target price soon.” Compal and its crosstown rival Quanta together manufacture more than half of all the world’s laptop PCs, and their shipment numbers and results are closely watched as a barometer to global technology demand. Compal posted a net profit of T$3.237 billion ($98 million) in April-June, better than market expectations for a T$3.02 billion net profit. It was also slightly higher than T$3.2 billion reported a year ago. The company’s gross profit margin slipped to 4.7% from the previous quarter’s 5 percent, as clients put pressure on prices to help them maintain profit margins in a weak market. Compal’s revenue rose more than 40% in the second quarter from a year ago to T$121.9 billion. The company attributed this to better-than-expected shipments of its notebook PCs, flat-screen LCD televisions and effective cost controls. Local media reports have named Compal as the contract manufacturer for Nokia’s impending netbook PC launch, but neither company has confirmed this. Competition in the laptop PC contract manufacturing business has heated up in the past year, with new entrants such as Flextronics and Hon Hai entering the segment. Compal shares have jumped over 90% this year, outperforming a 48% rise in the benchmark TAIEX share index. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:35 am Hyundai to introduce Santa Fe 800cc car by 2011New Delhi: Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor plans to launch its sports utility vehicle — Santa Fe — in India by next year. The company is also planning to launch an 800cc small car in the country by 2011. “We will be bringing in the Santa Fe to India by next year and we also hope to bring our smaller car than Santro, which will be an 800 cc vehicle, by 2011,” Hyundai Motor India managing director H S Lheem told reporters on the sideline of the SIAM annual convention here. He, however, did not divulge details like price range of the two cars. Hyundai Motor India, the country’s largest car exporter, also plans to raise its sales in the overseas market this year. Last year, the company exported 2,45,000 units to over 100 countries from India. This year we are targeting an exports figure of 2.7 lakh units, Lheem said, adding that it is looking at increasing domestic sales to 2,80,000 units this year from 2,45,000 lakh units in 2008. The carmaker is also shifting the production base of hatchback i20 to one of its European plants. “This will be done to save logistics expenses and import duty in the European market,” Lheem said. The company is also planning to phase out its hatch-back Getz and focus on its other small car i20. “Getz is to be phased-out gradually. We will stop production of Getz at our Chennai plant,” Lheem said. He, however, did not give any specific time frame for the final phase-out of the car. “We will focus more on the i20 which will replace the segment of Getz,” he added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:35 am Gas hearing now set for Oct 20 - Reliance IndMUMBAI (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of India's hearing in the gas dispute case between Reliance Industries and Reliance Natural Resources will take place on Oct 20, according to a spokesman for Reliance Industries, after previously being set for Sept 1.Source: Reuters: Money News | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:33 am Hitachi to invest add Rs50 cr in next 2 yrs on expansionAhmedabad: Air-conditioner maker Hitachi Home & Life Solutions (HHLI) Friday said it is planning to invest Rs50 crore in the next two years to expand its production and increase its market share in the country. “We are planning to invest additional Rs50 crore in the next two years to expand our production capacity both in room and commercial AC segment,” HHLI Managing Director Shinichi Lizuka told reporters here. HHLI currently holds 7% market share in the country in room AC segment, while in ductable commercial AC company’s market share stands at 17% in the country. “We aim to increase our market share in the room AC segment to over 10% this year, even as our focus remains the commercial AC segment which has been hit by the downturn in the past year. But HHLI has fared better than the rest of the AC industry which has degrown by 35% in the last six months,” HHLI Assistant Vice-President Gurmeet Singh said. The company produced around 1,20,000 AC units combining all the segments in the January to June period this year as against 97,000 units in the same period last year. “We plan to increase our production to around 1.90 lakh units by the end of the current financial year with our expanded capacity. While in the current calender year we plan to produce about 1.75 lakh units,” Singh added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:23 am Water reservoirs at 42% capacity: govtNew Delhi: Water in India’s main reservoirs rose to 42% of capacity on 27 August, government data showed, and the slower-than-normal rise of 3 percentage points increases the risk a poor monsoon will hit the winter crop. The rise, smaller than a 10-year average of a rise of 5 percentage points for the week, indicates the net impact of last week’s monsoon rainfall was worse than the 5% deficit shown in the weather office data. “Water storage in reservoirs is a very good regionalised and robust indicator of realistic rainfall in the vast catchment. It is a much better and practical parameter as compared to point estimate measured by rain-gauges,” the farm ministry said in recent note. Reservoirs are important for hydropower, which accounts for a quarter of India’s generation capacity of about 150,000 megawatts. They also provide water to irrigate winter crops. The water level was one-third lower than last year’s 63% and one-quarter below the 10-year average of 57%, the data showed. Reservoirs in northern India were at 22.9% of capacity in the Ganga basin, well below the 10-year average of 37%, while those in the Indus basin had filled up to 36 percent of capacity, sharply lower than the usual 67.9%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:19 am China asks banks to curb month-end lendingShanghai: China’s banking regulator has given Chinese banks verbal instructions not rush into end-of-the-month lending, among several other loan-cooling steps, a move analysts said may further hit China’s weakening stock market and even investment in the economy. The China Securities Regulatory Commission used traditional government “window guidance”, in which the authorities told Chinese institutions how to act in line with official policies, to guide banks to avoid lending excessively as August drew to a close, several Chinese bankers said on Friday. The fresh controls came after a series of other steps, including tighter supervision on bank working capital, and contrasts with repeated official statements that China would keep ample liquidity in the system and maintain an easy monetary policy to support nascent economic recovery. Banking sources told Reuters that Chinese banks had lent about 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) so far this month, with the four biggest state-owned banks lending around 100 billion yuan. If lending in August continues at such levels, it will lag far behind the 360 billion yuan recorded in July and a monthly average of more than 1 trillion yuan for the first six months of this year. “Most banks have been very cautious in lending so far this month, and had hoped to lend more late in the month to compensate,” said a banker at a state bank. “But the regulator’s window guidance dashes hopes for an end-of-month rush.” Review lending patterns The regulator has also required China’s relatively small city commercial banks to review their lending patterns or even cut lending for the rest of the year and abide by a regulatory requirement that outstanding loans must not exceed 75% of total deposits. “The regulator particularly stresses that banks must not rush into end-of-the-period lending, proposing banks to monitor average daily lending as a way of supervision,” said another source, adding the regulator had made it clear it would punish rule violators severely. Chinese banks typically lend in extraordinary amounts at the end of each month, quarter and year in order to book better results. Analysts said August bank lending now appeared set to be lower than total new loans of 271.5 billion reported in August last year, and to be the first month this year that new loans record a year-on-year fall. If this happens, liquidity worries will become a huge negative psychological burden for the market, analysts said. “The market had expected lending to fall in August but not so sharply,” said senior economist He Zhicheng at Agricultural Bank of China in Beijing. “Such a drop will surely weigh on the stock market, with the index possibly testing a low (for this year) for a second time,” he said, adding that the drop would also hit the recovery of the real economy, with some new projects expected to be short of funds right after the start of their construction. On the weight of the lending news, The Shanghai Composite Index closed 2.91% lower at 2,860.688 points on Friday, posting a 3.38% loss for the week. On 19 August, it touched a low for the year of 2,761 points after a two-week market slump driven partly by worries over liquidity. Some analysts expect the index may test its 125-day moving average, now at 2,750 points, due to mounting worries over bank lending and consequently liquidity in the stock market. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:18 am China asks banks to curb month-end lendingShanghai: China’s banking regulator has given Chinese banks verbal instructions not rush into end-of-the-month lending, among several other loan-cooling steps, a move analysts said may further hit China’s weakening stock market and even investment in the economy. The China Securities Regulatory Commission used traditional government “window guidance”, in which the authorities told Chinese institutions how to act in line with official policies, to guide banks to avoid lending excessively as August drew to a close, several Chinese bankers said on Friday. The fresh controls came after a series of other steps, including tighter supervision on bank working capital, and contrasts with repeated official statements that China would keep ample liquidity in the system and maintain an easy monetary policy to support nascent economic recovery. Banking sources told Reuters that Chinese banks had lent about 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) so far this month, with the four biggest state-owned banks lending around 100 billion yuan. If lending in August continues at such levels, it will lag far behind the 360 billion yuan recorded in July and a monthly average of more than 1 trillion yuan for the first six months of this year. “Most banks have been very cautious in lending so far this month, and had hoped to lend more late in the month to compensate,” said a banker at a state bank. “But the regulator’s window guidance dashes hopes for an end-of-month rush.” Review lending patterns The regulator has also required China’s relatively small city commercial banks to review their lending patterns or even cut lending for the rest of the year and abide by a regulatory requirement that outstanding loans must not exceed 75% of total deposits. “The regulator particularly stresses that banks must not rush into end-of-the-period lending, proposing banks to monitor average daily lending as a way of supervision,” said another source, adding the regulator had made it clear it would punish rule violators severely. Chinese banks typically lend in extraordinary amounts at the end of each month, quarter and year in order to book better results. Analysts said August bank lending now appeared set to be lower than total new loans of 271.5 billion reported in August last year, and to be the first month this year that new loans record a year-on-year fall. If this happens, liquidity worries will become a huge negative psychological burden for the market, analysts said. “The market had expected lending to fall in August but not so sharply,” said senior economist He Zhicheng at Agricultural Bank of China in Beijing. “Such a drop will surely weigh on the stock market, with the index possibly testing a low (for this year) for a second time,” he said, adding that the drop would also hit the recovery of the real economy, with some new projects expected to be short of funds right after the start of their construction. On the weight of the lending news, The Shanghai Composite Index closed 2.91% lower at 2,860.688 points on Friday, posting a 3.38% loss for the week. On 19 August, it touched a low for the year of 2,761 points after a two-week market slump driven partly by worries over liquidity. Some analysts expect the index may test its 125-day moving average, now at 2,750 points, due to mounting worries over bank lending and consequently liquidity in the stock market. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:18 am Nifty hits 52-week high; realty, meta... - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:17 am State units to get Rs 8 crore each from IPL revenuesMumbai: The Cricket Board is set to distribute around Rs200 crore from the 2009 Indian Premier League revenues to 25 of its state associations that take part in the Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments conducted by the BCCI. “The earnings for the Board this time from IPL-2 conducted in South Africa are lower as compared to IPL-1 because of extra expenses incurred due to the shifting of the tournament overseas,” BCCI sources told PTI today. The IPL income and expenditure statement and detailed accounts for the 2009 edition would be finalised at its Governing Council meeting here on 2 September, the sources indicated. “Around Rs280 crore is the revenue earned from IPL this year out of which 70% would be distributed to the 25 state associations, which works out close to Rs8 crore for each,” they said. Normally the BCCI does not distribute its earnings to its affiliated government institutions—Services and Railways—that also take part in the Ranji Trophy, Board sources said. Also generally excluded from this list are three other BCCI-affiliated units—Association of Indian Universities, Cricket Club of India in Mumbai and National Cricket Club in Kolkata. The eight IPL franchises have shelled out sums ranging from $67 million to 111 million for buying the teams from the BCCI which are to be paid over a 10-year period. The BCCI has sold the IPL broadcast rights for a nine-year period for close to Rs8000 crore to Sony out of which a major portion goes to the franchises which also get a share of the ticket sales from the matches. Meanwhile, the IPL Governing Council had brought to the notice of its franchises, at its meeting held here on 26 August, that no player should be paid any extra money than what is due to him when they bought him. “The IPL Governing Council had taken this decision and it was approved by the BCCI’s Working Committee. This has now been conveyed to the franchises owners who have been warned that the franchises as well as the players would face action for any breach of this rule,” the sources said. “No such breach has taken place but this has been done to make sure it does not happen in future too,” they said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:17 am BSE Sensex extends gains to 1 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex extended gains to 1 percent on Friday afternoon as increased confidence the global economy was on the road to a sustainable recovery boosted equity markets worldwide.Source: Reuters: Money News | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:13 am Midsession: Markets extend gains to 1% on global optimismMumbai: Indian shares extended gains to 1% on Friday afternoon as increased confidence the global economy was on the road to a sustainable recovery boosted equity markets worldwide. At 2:31pm, the 30-share BSE index was up 0.9% at 15,920.14 points, with 19 stocks gaining, after climbing to 15,944.46 earlier. The 50-share NSE index was up 0.9% at 4,732. The US economic contraction in the second quarter was not as bad as expected, and gross domestic product actually grew if inventories were stripped out, raising hopes that pent-up demand for Asia’s exports would return slowly. Energy giant Reliance Industries rose 0.6% to Rs2,051.45 as oil prices rose further above $72 on Friday after snapping a two-day fall from 10-month highs a day ago. Engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro, which climbed 1.1% to 1,617.40 rupees, and private-sector lender ICICI Bank, which advanced 1.5% to 761.90 rupees, were the other major gainers. Top telecoms firm Bharti Airtel, which is in exclusive merger talks with South Africa’s MTN, added 4.1% to Rs433.60. MTN wants to conclude the proposed tie-up with Bharti quickly to end any doubt about the deal, but doesn’t rule out interest in part of Kuwaiti firm Zain. Bharti and MTN hope to finalise by mid-September a deal that could lead to a full merger, with the Indian firm adding another adviser and getting closer to lining up loans, three sources have told Reuters. “The underlying economic conditions in countries around the world are certainly improving, so I am not surprised that liquidity is chasing stocks once again,” Deven Choksey, chief executive of K R Choksey Shares & Securities, said. The index has risen 0.7% in August, after it fell earlier in the month on worries about a weak monsoon, high valuations and looming inflation. While the global equity rally that has lasted since March sputtered a bit in August, a rush liquidity pouring into emerging markets has propped up shares across Asia. However, having already priced in an upturn in the global economy, investors are looking for more signs that growth can be sustained once the impact of massive global government stimulus spending fades, traders say. There are also worries stocks may have moved ahead of economic fundamentals and could be due for a correction. In the broader Indian market on Friday, gainers led losers by more than 1.5 to 1 on relatively heavy volume of 169.1 million shares. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:10 am CESC acquires over 50% stake in Dhariwal InfraKolkata: Power producer CESC Ltd has acquired just over 50% stake in Dhariwal Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (DIPL) for Rs200 crore, its vice-chairman Sanjiv Goenka said on Friday. “Now we have just over 50% holding in the company but going forward it is our intent to acquire 100% stake in the next 5 months,” Goenka told reporters at a press conference. Dhariwal is setting up a 600 MW thermal power generating station in Chandrapur, Maharashtra, and has got 450 acres of land from local authorities, he said, adding that coal linkages for the project has also been secured. DIPL is now a unit of CESC, he added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:02 am Delhi-Mumbai corridor will put Gujarat on global map: ModiThe upcoming Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) will expedite Gujarat's industrial development and help it emerge as a financial hub in Asia, said Chief Minister Narenda Modi here Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Aug 2009 | 3:00 am Grupo Mexico woos ASARCO workers to thwart Sterlite bidMexican miner Grupo Mexico has said that it has offered to extend, for two years, the collective bargaining agreement of workers at ASARCO, who have supported a rival\'s bid for control of ASARCO.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:59 am RIL’s KG-D6 gas comes to aid to drought-hit statesNew Delhi: The Petroleum Ministry has allocated additional natural gas from Reliance Industries’ eastern offshore gas fields to three power plants to meet electricity deficit in northern states reeling under drought. Oil Minister Murli Deora this week approved a ‘fall-back´ or temporary allocation of about 3.7 million standard cubic meters per day of KG-D6 gas to Lanco’s Kondapalli power plant in Andhra Pradesh, Utran plant in Gujarat and Pragati Power in Delhi and supplies are likely to begin in a week to 10 days. “We raised the issue of additional gas to power plants at a meeting called by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee (on 25 August), and Deora that very evening called a meeting of officials at his residence and approved the additional allocation,” Power Secretary HS Brahma said here. The gas would help generate about 800 MW of additional electricity and help bridge the shortfall in hydro power generation caused by insufficient rains. Brahma said in all 10 mmscmd of gas is needed at power plants operating below capacity or about to be commissioned. Of this 3.7 mmscmd has been allocated. “If we get another 7 mmscmd, we can generate 900 MW of additional power.” KG-D6 gas would help the Power Ministry meet its 100-day agenda of adding 5,200 MW generation by mid-September. “We have added 4,000 MW already and we will definitely meet the target,” he said. Brahma said the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) had allocated 18 mmscmd to the power sector, of the initial KG-D6 output of 40 mmscmd. “Currently, power plants are getting about 17 mmscmd (of KG-D6 gas),” he said. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the technical arm of the Ministry of Power, had recommended 1.37 mmscmd of gas to Lanco’s 366 MW Kondapalli extension project. It sought 1.21 mmscmd for the 374 MW Utran plant in Gujarat, which will go on stream shortly, and 0.82 mmscmd for the 220 MW Tanir Vavi plant before its commissioning in March 2010. For the 108 MW Tithalia and 250 MW Bawana power plants in Delhi, the CEA recommended 0.40 mmscmd and 0.93 mmscmd of gas from KG-D6. The CEA has recommended these allocations considering a maximum power capacity of 70% and if these plants operate at full capacity, the requirement would be 6.33 mmscmd, an official said. RIL produces 36-37 mmscmd gas from KG-D6, half of which goes to power plants. The firm has the capacity to produce 60 mmscmd but is constrained to produce less as the government is yet to identify customers for buying gas beyond the initial 40 mmscmd, allocated primarily to fertiliser and power producers in accordance with the Gas Utilisation Policy. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:50 am China’s Unicom to sell Apple’s iPhonesHongKong: China Unicom Ltd. announced a deal Friday with Apple Inc. to sell iPhones in mainland China, the world’s most populous mobile phone market. The phones are expected to go on the Chinese market in the final quarter of this year, Unicom said in a statement released in Hong Kong. It gave no financial details and did not say how much the iPhone would cost. Unicom, one of three major state-owned phone carriers, would be the first Chinese phone company to formally support the iPhone, though thousands of unlocked iPhones brought in from other markets are in use in China. China has the world’s most populous mobile phone market, with some 650 million accounts. The industry has closely watched Apple’s drawn-out talks with potential Chinese partners. Chinese news reports earlier this month said Unicom had secured a three-year exclusive deal to carry the iPhone and agreed to buy 5 million handsets for 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion). Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:49 am Direct Taxes Code Bill likely in Wint... - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:48 am NTPC to float bulk tender for supercritical power equipmentThe Government on Thursday cleared a proposal to allow stateowned NTPC Ltd to invite tenders for 11 units of 660 MW each over the next 45 days.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:42 am Maruti Suzuki aims to double exports to 1.5 lakh unitsNew Delhi: The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) plans to more than double its exports this fiscal to 1.5 lakh units and is also exploring adding the CNG option on more small cars from its stable. “We are planning sales up to 1.5 lakh units in the overseas market this fiscal, besides registering a 10% growth in the domestic market,” Maruti Suzuki India chairman R C Bhargava told reporters on the sidelines of the SIAM annual convention here. “We are working on having the CNG option in some of our small cars. This will allow us to sale factory fitted CNG cars,” he said, without disclosing further details. The car major exported 70,000 units last fiscal. Regarding the domestic market, in which the company sold 7.22 lakh units last fiscal, Bhargava said MSI is on track to register a 10% growth in fiscal year 2010. MSI’s annual general meeting will be held on 2 September and it will be attended by Suzuki Motor Corporation chairman Osamu Suzuki. “We will discuss issues relating to investment and production capacity, besides on how to handle European export market... “We will also discuss matters like reducing the waiting period for some of our brands like Swift and Dezire during the meeting,” he added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:34 am Hitachi opens second plant in Gujarat, to invest moreHitachi Home and Life Solutions, the Indian unit of Japan's Hitachi Appliance Inc, Friday flagged off a new plant near Ahmedabad to manufacture air-conditioners and chillers and promised to invest more in the unit to expand operations.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:31 am Namibian president coming to India, business high on agendaSignalling deepening engagement between India and Africa, Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba will be here on a five-day trip Sunday - the first visit by a foreign head of state in the second term of the Manmohan Singh government.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:30 am Disrupted rail services hit supply to northeastRail services in the north-east continued to be disrupted for the ninth day Friday following landslides and derailment of a goods train affecting the supply of essential items, including food grains, to southern Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur, officials said.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:30 am Underground mine fire now threatens Jharkhand rail linesAn underground mine fire that has been raging for nearly six months in Jharkhand now poses a threat to railway tracks after it led to the closure of the Ranchi-Patna National Highway earlier this month, officials said.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:30 am Maoists threaten iron ore mining in BastarThe growing activities of Maoists in Bastar in Chhattisgarh are threatening iron ore mining in a sprawling forested region that accounts for a fifth of all iron ore deposits in India. Businessmen and politicians fear that the authorities might end up ceding control of Bastar's ore reserves in five to seven years if the dominance of the area by the insurgents is not checked urgently.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:30 am Gold demand abates as prices cross Rs15,000Mumbai: India gold demand abated on Friday after picking up for two continuous session as the yellow metal was quoted above the keenly-watched Rs15,000 mark, dealers said. “We haven’t struck any deals since morning, traders don’t want to enter at these Rs15,000 levels,” said a dealer with a state-run bank in Mumbai. The most-traded gold October contract was 0.22% higher at Rs15,060 per 10 grams at 1:30pm, helped by strong crude oil, enhancing the yellow metal’s appeal as a hedge against oil-led inflation. Oil climbed towards $73, after snapping a two-day fall a day ago from 10-month highs, boosted by better-than-expected GDP and jobs data in the United States that signal the economic recovery is on track. Dealers said traders, who intend to stock the yellow metal for festivals, had taken to the sidelines. “I have many orders in between $930-940 (an ounce),” said another dealer with a private bank. “If prices move below $890 (an ounce) internationally and if rupee helps, there may be scramble for gold,” said another dealer with a state-run bank. India is celebrating the ongoing Ganesh festival, the first in this season, which is expected to revive physical offtake of gold. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:27 am British economy shrinks 0.7% in second quarterLondon: Britain’s recession-hit economy contracted by a better-than-expected 0.7% in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the first three months of the year, revised official data showed Friday. The Office for National Statistics said in a statement that the economy contracted by 5.5% in the second quarter on a year-on-year basis, which was the biggest drop since records began in 1955. The latest readings were slightly better than initial estimates given last month for a quarterly drop of 0.8% and an annual decline of 5.6%. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:25 am M&M seeks to buy U.S. facility for assembly opsNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra is looking at options to buy a U.S. facility for assembling its pickup trucks that would save it an import penalty, a senior official said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:13 am Deficient rains: MET says northwest I... - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:11 am No more roadblocks, Kamal Nath tells auto sectorRoad Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath Friday assured the automobile industry he would build roads if it manufactured vehicles.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:01 am Price rise, food insecurity mar UPA II's 100 daysPrime Minister Manmohan Singh's second stint may be bristling with plans to mitigate poverty, disease and illiteracy, but most Indians remain unimpressed. Spiralling food prices, along with the handling of the swine flu pandemic, have offset gains like the enactment of a landmark right to education bill.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 28 Aug 2009 | 2:00 am Hyundai plans to increase i20 export ... - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 28 Aug 2009 | 1:57 am Mobiles key to web connectivity in Africa: TataNairobi: Mobile phones will be the key driver of Internet connectivity in Africa in coming years as there are more people with handsets than computers, an official at global telecoms player Tata Communications said. Most of east Africa has been starved of cheap and quick broadband connections which enable an array of new applications because they have relied solely on satellites links, which are unable to support some applications. Countries on the east African coast have in the last few weeks been finally linked to other continents through the region’s first undersea cable known as Seacom. Another link called Teams is expected to go live in coming weeks. “Mobile phones essentially have the ability to deliver the Internet into everybody’s hand. It is therefore going to be a huge driving factor for the demand for IP connectivity,” said Steven Van Der Linde, Tata Communications’ data sales director for Africa. The highest growth rate of mobile phone subscriptions is in Africa, where a quarter of the population had a handset as of March 2009, compared with just 1 in 50 Africans in 2000, according to the UN’s International Telecommunications Union. The Internet is the underlying technology for most voice and data communications presently, Van Der Linde said, adding that more and more people are buying web-enabled phones that support VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) and other Internet-based applications. Increasingly, more applications around the world are based on the Internet and the web will soon be a household requirement throughout Africa, he said. With the launch of Seacom on the east African coast, Tata Communications alone has increased capacity delivered to Kenya to 5 Gigabits per second in the past one month. “What (providers) have been building up over the last decade has been doubled in the last 30 days,” he said. Tata Communications is a global provider of telecommunications services, operating cable systems around the world and carrying 25 billion international voice per minutes annually, according to Van Der Linde. The Indian firm has bought capacity on the 1.28 terabit Seacom cable and won a contract to oversee the day-to-day operations of the 17,000 km Mauritius-registered link. Tata also owns a majority stake in South Africa’s second largest operator Neotel and is in partnership with Telecom Egypt. It is also in negotiations for a stake in the West African Cable System. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:53 am Toyota shuts California plant it ran with GMTokyo: Toyota is shutting the California factory it ran with General Motors for 25 years — the first time the Japanese automaker is closing a major auto assembly plant ever. The decision from Toyota Motor Corp., announced Friday, drew fire from US unions, even as company officials and analysts defended it as unavoidable for money-losing Toyota, following General Motors Corp.’s decision in May to withdraw from the 50-50 joint venture. Under the decision, Toyota will stop production at its Fremont, California-based New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., or NUMMI, in March 2010, and will move production to its other plants in the U.S., Canada and Japan. Production of the Corolla subcompact will be moved to its plant in Cambridge, Ontario, as well as Japan, and Tacoma pickups will be produced at its plant in San Antonio, Texas, it said in a statement. But hopes had been great in California that the historic JV launched in 1984 between two major American and Japanese automakers could stay open. The plant, which employs about 4,600 workers, will be closed unless another company steps in to keep it going. Executive Vice President Atsushi Niimi said Toyota studied other options but couldn’t keep the plant open. “It just would not be economically viable to continue the production contract with NUMMI. This is most unfortunate, and we deeply regret having to take this action,” he said. Niimi said details on what will happen to the factory, including its workers, still need to decided in the months ahead. Toyota may hire any interested NUMMI workers at its other North American plants, but they won’t be given preferential hiring over other applicants, he said. He said Toyota carefully considered support offers from the California state government, but they weren’t enough to make it a sound business decision without GM. Toyota hopes to move Corolla production back to North America from Japan “as soon as possible,” Niimi added. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger promised to work with the US and Japanese governments, GM and Toyota to support those who lose their jobs and to change the site toward other uses. “Today is a sad day in the history of Fremont as California joins the ranks of states adversely affected by the bankruptcy of General Motors and the worldwide collapse in demand for automobiles,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement. The California Labor Federation, which groups the state’s unions, criticized Toyota’s decision as aggravating the slowdown and hurting workers in the state, and urged the company to reconsider. “It’s appalling that the company plans to abandon its workers, the community and commitment to the environment now,” said executive secretary-treasurer Art Pulaski. Ron Gettelfinger, president of United Auto Workers, also criticized the decision. He said Toyota had benefited from the U.S. government “Cash for Clunkers” program, which offered consumers rebates to trade a gas-guzzler for a new car. Toyota models like the Corolla have been snatched up by American buyers. “They deserve better than to be abandoned by this company, which has profited so richly from their labor, their productivity and their commitment to quality,” Gettelfinger said of the workers. Hit hard by the global auto slump, Toyota has been struggling to achieve a turnaround. It racked up its worst loss ever of 436.9 billion yen ($4.6 billion) for the fiscal year ended 31 March, and is expecting more red ink for the fiscal year through March 2010. Toyota is more dependent on the North American market than are other major Japanese automakers, and has suffered the worst fallout from the U.S. recession that sent car sales tumbling since last year. Tsuyoshi Mochimaru, auto anlayst with Barclays Capital Japan in Tokyo, said Toyota’s decision was reasonable after GM pulled out because it would have been difficult to go at it alone. “But many uncertainties remain, including what will happen to the facility and what will happen to the workers,” he said. Toyota said it remains committed to the North American market and will make production changes to ensure a steady vehicle supply for its dealers and customers. GM emerged from bankruptcy and its NUMMI stake has become a part of Motors Liquidation Co. _ also known as Old GM — where it will be liquidated under court supervision. The end of NUMMI marks a closure for a landmark cross-Pacific tie-up between two industry greats that had competed — and cooperated — over the decades. Toyota executives say the Japanese company learned a lot from GM, especially in Toyota’s early years as it was trying to become a global automaker. But the exchange was mutual, and one of the main purposes of NUMMI was to allow GM workers to learn from Toyota’s production methods. “NUMMI has been a groundbreaking model of Japan-US industry collaboration and we are proud of its achievements,” said Niimi. “Toyota has learned much about automobile production in the US through NUMMI, and these have been an invaluable 25 years.” Toyota, founded in 1937, became the world’s biggest automaker in 2008, replacing GM, which had the honors for 77 years. GM sold nearly 8.4 million cars and trucks around the world in 2008, falling short of Toyota’s nearly 9 million. But Toyota has been sharply scaling back production globally lately because of its financial troubles. Toyota has said recently that it is expecting to sell 6.6 million vehicles in the fiscal year through March 2010. Kunihiko “Kent” Ogura, President and CEO of NUMMI, promised to try to work for a smooth transition for the workers at the plant. “NUMMI has enjoyed a very positive and mutually beneficial relationship with our suppliers, customers and community for the past 25 years,” he said. “We can all take great pride in the substantial achievements of this pioneering venture.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:48 am Oil rebounds towards $73 on US economic optimismSingapore: Oil climbed towards $73 on Friday after snapping a two-day fall a day ago from 10-month highs, boosted by better-than-expected GDP and jobs data in the United States that signal the economic recovery is on track. Crude oil prices were also given a lift by a weaker US dollar versus the euro and the commodity-linked Australian dollar, as well as by a late rebound on Wall Street, but were tempered by falls in Chinese stocks. US crude for October gained 34 cents to $72.83 a barrel by 6:07am, rising further after jumping $1.06 on Thursday. Prices had fallen as low as $69.83 earlier the previous day on worries about high U.S. crude and heating oil stocks and weak demand, retreating from a high of $75 this week. London Brent crude rose 22 cents to $72.73. “People are still looking at the stock markets and the weaker US dollar against the euro, but the market still lacks clear direction,” said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivatives sales manager at broker Newedge in Tokyo, adding that it would take up to a month for a clearer direction to emerge. “A lot of people are expecting the economy to go well and the stock market to rise further, but I cannot be so optimistic about the economy. Though it has reached a bottom, real recovery will take two to three years - I don’t see a “V”-shaped recovery.” Analysts expect oil prices to hold in the $70-75 range for some time but not any higher. The less-than-expected contraction in the US economy in the second quarter, despite a record drop in inventories, and fewer workers filing new claims for jobless benefits, also cheered other commodities, including industrial metals such as copper. Traders will now watch the Michigan business sentiment survey on Friday for signals that the economy is truly healing, and eye British, French, Swedish and Italian data for clues on how the Eurozone recovery is developing. In Asia, investors continued to watch any moves by China to clamp down on lending and curb overcapacity, which is still causing chills among equities investors, sending Shanghai stocks down 3% and Hong Kong 0.8% lower. The Chinese market has surged more than 90% from the start of the year to early August, but fell by more than 15% since, sparking concerns over speculation. This prompted a senior finance ministry researcher to say on Friday that rising Chinese property and share prices mainly reflect economic fundamentals rather than a reappearance of asset bubbles. On the supply side, Opec seaborne oil exports, excluding Angola and Ecuador, will fall 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the four weeks to 12 September, an analyst who tracks future shipments said. Exports from the group will drop to 22.53 million bpd on average, from 22.67 million bpd in the four weeks to 15 August, due to a sharp decline in eastbound shipments, UK consultancy Oil Movements said in its latest weekly estimate. Oil also has yet to receive much support from the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical Storm Danny weakened in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday and was no longer expected to become a hurricane, but edged closer to the US coast on a path that could take it to Canada’s Atlantic provinces by Sunday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:28 am ‘Govt has the grit to support SMEs, labour-intensive exporters’New Delhi, Aug 27 Against grim global trading milieu and falling markets, the five-year foreign trade policy (FTP) unveiled by the Government on Thursday is “a bold statement to reassure small and medium enterprises and labour-intensiveSource: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Trade policy’s first target is 15% export growthNew Delhi, Aug. 27 Against persistent export contraction, the Government on Thursday announced a slew of relief measures for exporters.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Weak monsoon could stoke inflation, dampen growth: RBIMumbai, Aug. 27 The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday set the alarm bells ringing that a deficient monsoon could affect the inflation outlook for the country more than growth prospects for theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Bombay Rayon Fashions (Rs 205.25): BuyWe recommend a buy in Bombay Rayon Fashions from a short-term perspective. It is apparent from the charts of the stock that it has been on medium-term up trend from July low of Rs 140. Moreover, the stock has been on an intermediate-term uptrendSource: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideThe data in these columns are based on the technical analysis of the past price behaviour.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am 4 lakh SIP accounts closed in recent monthsMumbai, Aug. 27 Over four lakh systematic investment plan (SIP) accounts have been closed during the last few months, the RBI said in its annualSource: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Monsoon deficit shrinks to 25%Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 27 The seasonal rain deficit has come down by another percentage point to 25 per cent as on August 26 as a freshly active monsoon dropped rains mostly over peninsular India through the week.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Earnings from foreign currency assets dropBangalore, Aug. 27 The Reserve Bank of India’s annual report for the last financial year showed a drop in earnings from deployment of foreign exchangeSource: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Diamond bourses for trading hubNew Delhi, Aug. 27 The Government will establish diamond bourses to make the country an international trading hub and boost the gems and jewellerySource: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am Corus fuels Tata Steel’s Q1 meltdownTata Steel on Thursday posted a consolidated first-quarter net loss of Rs 2,239 crore as sales at its European operations (Corus group) dipped and steel prices dropped in India and South-East Asia.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 28 Aug 2009 | 12:00 am SC defers hearing on Ambani gas dispute to October 20The cross appeals filed by Reliance Industries and Anil Ambani group firm on the petition filed by the government was to come up for hearing on September 1.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 11:45 pm India's light combat aircraft to phase out Russian jetsNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will begin deploying its first locally made supersonic combat aircraft next year and gradually phase out its ageing fleet of Russian fighters, defence officials said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 11:43 pm Rupee edges up on stocks; month-end demand hurtsMumbai: The Indian rupee rose on Friday, boosted by an overnight weakness in the dollar versus major units and early gains in local shares, but a sharp rise may be prevented by month-end dollar demand from refiners and importers. At 11:00am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs48.85/86 per dollar, 0.1% stronger than its previous close of Rs48.91/92. The unit fell to Rs49.05 in the previous session, its lowest since 13 July. “I think the rupee will be rangebound between Rs48.75 and Rs48.95 today. Month-end dollar buying has been taking place this entire week, so that should not be so much of a pressure,” a senior dealer with a state-run bank said. “Even yesterday exporters came to sell around Rs49. Around Rs48.75 the residual month-end buying would be there, so both the topside and downside are well protected,” the dealer said. India imports more than two-third of its oil needs. Refiners, who are the largest buyers of dollars in the local currency market, tend to pump up dollar purchases at the end of each month when they have to make import payments. Shares were trading up 0.3% as higher markets across Asia lifted investor appetite for risk. The main index had briefly turned negative on profit taking after a 6.5% rally over the last six sessions. Foreign fund investments which have been a key force behind the rise in domestic shares and the rupee, have pumped in $7.8 billion into local shares so far in 2009, after having pulled out more than a net $13 billion last year. Dealers said a sharp sell-off in the dollar in the previous session was helping the rupee. The dollar was hurt by heavy selling late in New York on Thursday, dropping 0.8 percent on a basket of currencies in just one hour. The dollar index, a gauge of the dollar’s performance versus six majors, was up 0.1% on Friday. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at Rs48.90/49.00, weaker than the onshore spot rate. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 27 Aug 2009 | 11:41 pm SBI chief sees rates stable for next 6 mthsNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Interest rates in India will remain stable for the next six months, but it is difficult to say whether they have bottomed out, State Bank of India chairman O.P. Bhatt said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 11:38 pm Boeing 787 to finally make first flight this yearAtlanta/New York: Boeing Co said on Thursday its 787 Dreamliner would finally make its first flight by the end of this year, with initial delivery expected in the fourth quarter of 2010, and its shares shot up 8%. Shares of the Chicago-based company rose to a five-month high as the statement helped answer questions that have surrounded the lighter, more fuel-efficient 787 aircraft, said Alex Hamilton, an analyst with Jesup & Lamont Securities. “There was a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of the chatter on the street was ‘Would this aircraft ever fly?´” he said. “It sort of ends the uncertainty.” Standard & Poor’s Equity Research upgraded Boeing shares to “buy” from “hold”. Boeing, the No.2 plane maker behind EADS unit Airbus, said it expects its 787 programme to be profitable eventually, but also plans to take a third-quarter charge to write off the cost of the first three test-flight planes, which it says have no commercial value because of extensive modifications. The date of the first test flight has been put off repeatedly because of production problems and a two-month labour strike, hurting Boeing’s credibility as it grapples with the commercial aerospace slump. The latest delay was in June, when Boeing said the plane would not fly as scheduled during the second quarter so it could reinforce a side-of-body section. The June delay was the 787 project’s fifth, with the first coming in 2007. “Risk remains the new schedule could slip given the current challenge of re-fitting the wing-body join, the possibility of changes to the electrical and environmental control systems and simply the poor 787 track record,” Credit Suisse analyst Robert Spingarn said in a note to clients. Boeing told analysts on a conference call that it had “a high degree of confidence” in the fix for the structural problem that caused the latest 787 delay, and had done a thorough analysis. The third-quarter charge will be a result of reclassifying costs from the first three test planes as research-and-development expenses versus programme inventory. The change will create an estimated non-cash pretax charge of $2.5 billion, or $2.21 a share, against third-quarter results. Analysts were expecting a profit of $1.21 a share for the third quarter, according to Reuters Estimates. “This is money that was already spent and this is money that they’re reclassifying as an R&D expense ... The message should be clear - it’s still an economically viable aircraft,” Hamilton said. Fitch Ratings said the 787 programme has potential long-term credit benefits if Boeing successfully executes the updated plan. “But Fitch is still concerned about the program given that (Boeing) still needs to achieve first flight, certification, and a successful production ramp-up,” the agency wrote. The revolutionary carbon-composite 787 has been lauded for its fuel-efficiency. About 850 of the planes have been ordered. The Dreamliner’s delivery delays are making some customers dissatisfied, however, with Japanese airlines including launch customer All Nippon Airways mulling a possible compensation claim. “We understand the need to make the best and safest aircraft possible and appreciate that delays due to engineering issues of the current nature must be solved in order to move forward,” All Nippon, which has 55 of the planes on order, said in a statement. “However, as a launch customer and future operator of the 787, the length of this further delay is a source of great dismay, not to say frustration,” All Nippon said. An ANA spokesman said the company will look into the possibility of compensation once it knows the actual delivery schedule and can assess the effect of the delays on its business. Japan Airlines (JAL), Asia’s biggest carrier by revenues, has ordered 35 of the planes. It said it will look into every option including a compensation claim against Boeing once the delivery schedule and the effect on its business plans is clear. Boeing said it projects achieving a production rate of 10 Dreamliners per month by late 2013, and was evaluating where to locate a second production line. While it is not selling the first three test flight 787 planes, Boeing said it still expected to market three other test-flight 787s. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 27 Aug 2009 | 11:33 pm Sensex up 90 points in opening trade, Nifty regains 4,700-levelContinuing its winning streak for the seventh straight session, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex moved up further by 90 points in opening trade today.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 11:24 pm Honda Siel postpones completion of Ra... - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Aug 2009 | 11:05 pm Industry disappointed with high base ... - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Aug 2009 | 10:28 pm China, India drive Dell's revenue growth in 2010TAIPEI (Reuters) - Dell, maker of the world's No. 2 PC brand, said on Friday it hopes to see revenue grow on an annual basis from 2010, driven by increasing demand from China and India.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 10:21 pm Nissan's Made-in-India car next yearNissan will launch Micra by June 2010 from its Chennai facility. All supplies of the hatchback to Europe will be done only from India.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 4:01 pm 'No saying when market will revive'Speaking to DNA after announcing the Foreign Trade Policy, Sharma skillfully skirted the issue of scrutiny of FDI from some countries.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 3:47 pm 'At times you must stand up, even if alone'In this series, DNA and CEB are attempting to delve into the minds of top executives from India's top companies.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 3:45 pm IIP whirr revives heavy vehicle salesThe index of industrial production (IIP) which was -0.20% in December 2008 zoomed to 7.80% in June 2009.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 3:41 pm Silver offers a golden opportunityAn extremely bright future for silver jewellery is one of several reasons to be extremely bullish about silver.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 3:30 pm MTN chief's answers raise many questionsAccording to the presentation made by Nhleko, MTN's vision "is to be the leader in telecommunications in emerging markets".Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 3:03 pm Flying may pinch 5-10% more from October onwardsDomestic airlines are considering a 5-10% increase in fares in the October-December quarter in view of rising prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF).Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Aug 2009 | 2:59 pm Harley-Davidson to launch today, sales to start 2010The iconic US cult bike maker Harley Davidson is set to enter Indian markets tomorrow, two years after it was first granted permission to start operations in the country. Sales will, however, begin only by 2010, the company said in a statement.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 27 Aug 2009 | 12:43 pm Trade policy offers exporters more sopsThe government today allowed duty-free import of capital goods, extended the duty refund scheme for exporters, and cut transaction costs for them in a bid to reverse the decline in exports and double outbound sales of goods and services in five years.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 27 Aug 2009 | 12:41 pm RBI report puts damper on green shoots of recoveryAmid the green shoots being sighted the world over, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today painted a grim picture and laid bare the dilemma of low growth and high inflation that it faced in the months ahead.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 27 Aug 2009 | 12:41 pm Industrial output exceeds expectations, up 7% in JulyThe government today announced that industry output, as measured by the index of industrial production (IIP), grew 7 per cent in July, the same as the corresponding period in 2008, taking analysts by surprise as much for the magnitude of the growth as the early data release.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 27 Aug 2009 | 12:40 pm No more changes to Press Notes 2, 4: Finance ministryEases regulatory hurdles for Bharti-MTN deal.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 27 Aug 2009 | 12:37 pm The Conficker worm vaults ahead of efforts to destroy itIt is still out there. Like a ghost ship, a rogue software program that glided onto the Internet last November has confounded the efforts of top security experts to eradicate the program and trace its origins and purpose, exposing serious weaknesses in the world’s digital infrastructure.  Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint Alarmed by the program’s quick spread after its debut in November, computer security experts from industry, academia and government joined forces in a highly unusual collaboration. They decoded the program and developed anti-virus software that erased it from millions of the computers. But Conficker’s persistence and sophistication has squelched the belief of many experts that such global computer infections are a thing of the past. “It’s using the best current practices and state-of-the-art to communicate and to protect itself,” Rodney Joffe, director of the Conficker Working Group, said of the malicious program. “We have not found the trick to take control back from the malware in any way.” Researchers speculate that the computer could be employed to generate vast amounts of spam; it could steal information such as passwords and logins by capturing keystrokes on infected computers; it could deliver fake antivirus warnings to trick naive users into believing their computers are infected and persuading them to pay by credit card to have the infection removed. There is also a different possibility that concerns the researchers: That the program was not designed by a criminal gang, but instead by an intelligence agency or the military of some country to monitor or disable an enemy’s computers. Networks of infected computers, or botnets, were used widely as weapons in conflicts in Estonia in 2007 and in Georgia last year, and in more recent attacks against South Korean and US government agencies. Recent attacks that temporarily crippled Twitter and Facebook were believed to have had political overtones. Yet, for the most part Conficker—theories about its name differ—has done little more than to extend its reach to more and more computers. Though there had been speculation that the computer might be activated to do something malicious on 1 April, the date passed without incident, and some security experts wonder if the program has been abandoned. The experts have only tiny clues about the location of the program’s authors. The first version included software that stopped the program if it infected a machine with a Ukrainian language keyboard. There may have been two initial infections—in Buenos Aires and in Kiev. Wherever the authors are, the experts say, they are clearly professionals using the most advanced technology available. The program is protected by internal defence mechanisms that make it hard to erase, and even kills or hides from programs designed to look for botnets. A member of the security team said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had suspects, but was moving slowly because it needed to build a relationship with “non-corrupt” law enforcement agencies in the countries where the suspects are located. An FBI spokesman in Washington declined to comment, saying that the Conficker investigation was an ongoing case. The first infections, on 20 November, set off an intense battle between the hidden authors and the volunteer group that formed to counter them. The group, which first called itself the “Conficker Cabal”, changed its name when Microsoft, Symantec and several other companies objected to the unprofessional connotation. Eventually, university researchers and law enforcement officials joined forces with computer experts at more than two dozen Internet, software and computer security firms. The group won some battles, but lost others. The Conficker authors kept distributing new, more intricate versions of the program, at one point using code that had been devised in academia only months before. At another point, a single technical slipup by the working group allowed the program’s authors to convert a huge number of the infected machines to an advanced peer-to-peer communications scheme that the industry group has not been able to defeat. Where before all the infected computers would have to phone home to a single source for instructions, the authors could now use any infected computer to instruct all the others. In early April, Patrick Peterson, a research fellow at Cisco Systems Inc. in San Jose, California, gained some intelligence about the authors’ interests. He studies nasty computer programs by keeping a set of quarantined computers that capture and observe them—his “digital zoo”. He discovered that the Conficker authors had begun distributing software that tricks Internet users into buying fake antivirus software with their credit cards. “We turned off the lights in the zoo one day and came back the next day,” Peterson said, noting that in the “cage” reserved for Conficker, the infection had been joined by a program distributing an antivirus software scam. It was the most recent sign of life from the program, and its silence has set off a debate among computer security experts. Some researchers think Conficker is an empty shell, or that the authors of the program were scared away in the spring. Others argue that they are simply biding their time. If the misbegotten computer were reactivated, it would not have the problem-solving ability of supercomputers used to design nuclear weapons or simulate climate change. But because it has commandeered so many machines, it could draw on an amount of computing power greater than that from any single computing facility run by governments or Google. It is a dark reflection of the “cloud computing” sweeping the commercial Internet, in which data is stored on the Internet rather than on a personal computer. The industry group continues to try to find ways to kill Conficker, meeting as recently as Tuesday. Joffe said he, for one, was not prepared to declare victory. But he said that the group’s work proved that government and private industry could cooperate to counter cyber-threats. “Even if we lose against Conficker,” he said, “there are things we’ve learnt that will benefit us in the future”. ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 27 Aug 2009 | 9:59 am Google your book collectionNew Delhi: No self-respecting book lover can ever have enough books. One trip to the local bookstore and chances are you’re going to come back with a bagful of books all of which will immediately go into the shelf-ful of unread ones. The months and years pass by and suddenly you have no idea how many books you have. Or indeed which ones they are. It is only when you find four unread copies of Catch 22 while shifting houses or changing rooms, that you realize the situation. Now there are several commercial library management software applications out there. But why not use a little-known library function in Google Books for your databasing, sorting and sharing needs? With Google Books, you can bulk upload your list of books in the form of ISBN numbers and the website will automatically fill in all the details for you: Title, Cover image, year of publication and so on. You can then categorize your books, rate them and even little notes. This not only helps sort your books, but you can also share all of them, or just sections, with RSS feeds. It is a great way to sjare lists with friends and know when someone has bought a book you might enjoy. See this week’s Playstream video for a quick demo. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 27 Aug 2009 | 9:08 am Microsoft slashes rate of high-end Xbox by $100San Francisco / London: Microsoft Corp is slashing the price of its high-end Xbox 360 model by $100 in the United States and £50($71) in Europe, upping the stakes in the game console fight this holiday season. Microsoft will drop the price of the Xbox 360 Elite to $299.99, it said on Thursday, just days after Sony cut the rival PlayStation 3 to $299. In Europe, it will cost £249.99, or £199.99 ($324) in Britain. The price on the entry-level Xbox Arcade model will stay at $199.99, and Microsoft will phase out its mid-range Pro console, leaving it with two models. The Pro will sell for $249.99 until supplies run out. The global price cut is effective Friday. The Xbox is the no. 2 console in the United States, behind Nintendo’s Wii, which sells for $249. But Xbox sales have showed strength this year, up 17% in the US, the only console in positive territory. Chris Lewis, head of Xbox Europe, said the cut would help Microsoft match or beat its 2008 performance, when it increased unit sales of Xboxes by more than 80% in Europe. “We expect them to be at least as good if not better,” he told Reuters by phone. “I do believe there will be a higher level of economic confidence than was the case last year.” Microsoft spokesman David Dennis said the price cut has been in the works for some time, and was not a response to Sony’s move last week. Rather, he said, the company hoped the price reduction would attract new buyers and simplify its product mix. “It really makes the decision for consumers a lot easier. They’re either price conscious and they gravitate towards the Arcade or they the want the full Xbox 360 experience.” Game publishers such as Activision Blizzard have been clamouring for console price cuts, which help boost sales of software by increasing the installed base. They are now getting their wish, as the industry remains mired in a months-long slump brought on by a lack of big-name releases and a recession that has pinched consumer spending. Nintendo said it had no plan to cut the price of its top-selling Wii console. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 27 Aug 2009 | 5:54 am Fragile air traffic recovery under way: IataGeneva: A recovery in air traffic is under way, according to latest data from a global industry body, in another sign the world economy is clawing its way out of recession. But the recovery will be “volatile and weak”, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said on Thursday, indicating the turbulence that has buffeted an industry facing another year of multi-billion dollar losses is not at an end. Airlines carried 11.3% less cargo and 2.9% fewer people in July than a year earlier, Iata said in its latest monthly reading of cross-border traffic, a leading indicator for the health of world trade. The figures represented an improvement from June, when the year-on-year declines were 16.5% for cargo and 7.2% for passengers. Air freight is a good leading indicator of world trade movements, since shippers tend to switch to air when speed is more important than cost -- at the start of an upturn -- and switch to ocean transport in a recession, Iata says. As a result, air freight is first into recession but usually is first out, it said in a recent analysis. So far this year, freight volumes have fallen 19.3% and air travel is down 6.8%, according to Iata, whose data exclude domestic flights. And compared with June and adjusted for seasonal factors, both freight and passenger travel grew by more than 3% in July, it said. “The data can be rather volatile but this does confirm earlier signs that a recovery in demand for air transport has begun, though there are good reasons for expecting the path of further recovery to be volatile and weaker than recoveries from previous recessions,” Iata said. Iata said there was a varied regional pattern, with passenger traffic in the Asia-Pacific remaining weak but improving, with a strong rebound in air freight reflecting recovery in several Asian economies. Airlines in Europe and North America are seeing less improvement in freight, but a stronger improvement in passenger volumes which could reflect earlier cuts in fares. Passenger capacity was more in line with demand in July, with passenger load factors averaging 80.3%, but excess capacity continued to emerge in the freight sector, it said. “Downward pressure on freight rates and revenues continues to increase,” said the Geneva-based body, which represents 230 carriers including British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates and United Airlines. Iata has estimated airlines will lose $9 billion in 2009 after an $8.5 billion loss in 2008, when high oil prices hit profits and then the global credit and financial crisis slashed demand for business and leisure air travel. Iata estimated last year that $3.5 trillion of goods were transported by air in 2006, representing 35% of international trade. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 27 Aug 2009 | 3:59 am NaqaTube is Saudi answer to YouTubeDubai: Sick and tired of profanities and explicit nature of some video clips on YouTube, a group of Saudis have developed a “clean” alternative called NaqaTube (Naqa being the Arabic word for ‘pure’). The aim, as they put it, is to prevent the youth from watching sexually explicit video clips online, an Arab News report quoted a moderator of the website as saying. With millions of youth logging into YouTube each day, the group launched NaqaTube, which is simply an amalgamation of “clean” clips from YouTube. Abu Ibraheem, one of the moderators of the website, said that clips on NaqaTube are religiously safe and often edited prior to being uploaded. The website’s logo is “Participate With Us In a Clean Website”. The site also censors clips that are against the government, individuals and scholars, or which mock people in general, the report said. Women’s images are totally forbidden, along with music. “Our dream is to decline the number of visitors to YouTube. Our website has received from 5,000 to 6,000 visitors since its launch two months ago,” Ibraheem said. Much of the material on the site is religiously inclined and the site’s front page displays links and screenshots to over 10 channels mainly featuring scholars, preachers, children and other Islamic-related material. The site also hosts clips of scholars from the Arab world delivering lectures and Islamic discourse. “We are promoting a moderate Islam, nothing extreme,” he said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 27 Aug 2009 | 2:59 am
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