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Exclusive: RIL speaks out on the gas warPMS Prasad, Executive Director, Reliance Industries, says the company has not been able to scale up gas production due to delays in the formation of the new Empowered Group of Ministers.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Sep 2009 | 9:31 am Expect 20% revenue growth this year: Amara Raja BatteriesAmara Raja Batteries expect revenue growth of 20% this year, says its MD Jayadev Galla. He says current capacity stands at 4.2 million per yearSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Sep 2009 | 9:26 am Cement companies register strong sales growth in AugustCement companies have announced their August sales numbers. ACC\'s August cement sales were up 7.14% at 1.65 million tonne (MT) versus 1.54 million tonne, YoY.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Sep 2009 | 8:41 am Bajaj Auto 2wheelers Aug sales up 4% to 1.83,051The new Bajaj Discover received an overwhelming response enabling a sale of 48,000 units, possibly setting a new record for sales of a motorcycle in its first full month of launch.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Sep 2009 | 8:25 am Maytas open offer below market price; experts discuss whyMaytas Infra is currently trading well above the open offer price quoted by ILFS. Experts disuss why.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Sep 2009 | 8:00 am Wal-Mart recalls 4.2 mn Chinese DVD players on fire hazard!Retail major Wal-Mart has recalled a total of 4.2 million Chinese DVD players sold in the US, due to concerns of fire and burn hazards.Source: Zee News : Business | 2 Sep 2009 | 6:43 am Rupee hits 1-1/2 mth low; at 49.18 a dollar!The Indian rupee Wednesday fell by another 15 paise to hit one-and-a-half month low of 49.18 against the US currency in early trade, extending its slide for the third straight day.Source: Zee News : Business | 2 Sep 2009 | 6:43 am Sebi bars Austral Coke from raising fund, after fraud!Market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday barred metallurgical coke producer Austral Coke from raising any fresh equity.Source: Zee News : Business | 2 Sep 2009 | 6:43 am Asia stocks hit by Wall St; Aussie GDP upbeat!Asian shares pulled back on Wednesday after a sell-off on Wall Street prompted a round of profit-taking, even as upbeat Australian economic growth figures reassured on the health of recovery.Source: Zee News : Business | 2 Sep 2009 | 6:43 am Obama to unveil trade policy agenda ahead of G20 summit!US President Barack Obama is to unveil his administration`s trade policy agenda ahead of a meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 developed and emerging nations, his top trade envoy said.Source: Zee News : Business | 2 Sep 2009 | 6:43 am Tata Motors sales soar 14 pc in August!Automaker Tata Motors today posted 14.24 per cent jump in its total sales during August at 49,810 units, compared with 43,600 units the same month in 2008.Source: Zee News : Business | 2 Sep 2009 | 6:43 am Oil remains below $70 after overnight declines!Oil recovered in Asian trade on Wednesday but was still below USD 70 amid worries about energy demand, analysts said.Source: Zee News : Business | 2 Sep 2009 | 6:43 am Morgan Stanley cuts India 2009/10 growth forecast!Morgan Stanley said it had cut India`s economic growth forecast to 5.8 percent in 2009/10 from its earlier projection of 6.4 percent, in anticipation of a drop in agricultural output.Source: Zee News : Business | 2 Sep 2009 | 6:43 am New vehicle sales in Japan post 1st rise in 13 mths in Aug!New vehicle sales in Japan scored the first year-on-year rise in 13 months in August, backed by recent tax breaks and subsidies for purchases of eco-friendly vehicles, an industry body has said.Source: Zee News : Business | 2 Sep 2009 | 6:43 am MEA may back NHPC\'S Myanmar projectNHPC\'s power projects in Myanmar may get the backing of the ministry of external affairs (MEA). This as the government is mulling underwriting as much as Rs 70 crore of NHPC\'s expenses as part of Indias economic diplomacy initiative to engage Myanmar. Mints Utpal Bhaskar reports.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Sep 2009 | 6:19 am Power story to unfold in FY11; buy longterm: 3i IndiaAnil Ahuja of 3i India feels that NHPC and Adani Power are best viewed as longterm investments. He further said that the power demandsupply gap will increase further and that merchant power rates can surprise on the upside.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Sep 2009 | 5:55 am Sensex recovers by over 73 points in afternoon tradeThe Sensex, which had lost 158 points in early trade, bounced back to gain 73.51 points at 15,624.70 on emergence of buying by funds in blue-chip stocksSource: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 2 Sep 2009 | 5:46 am SCI an obvious disinvestment candidate, says chiefS Hajra, CMD, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) said, the company was an obvious choice for disinvestments. We do not plan to raise money via equity and prefer debt, he said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Sep 2009 | 5:36 am Dalmia Cement not considering stake saleThe Dalmia Cement stock has moved up 35% in 7 trading session. There was market talk saying that financial investors were picking stake in the company but Puneet Dalmia, Managing Director at Dalmia Cement, in an interview to CNBCTV18 clarified these rumours stating that the company was not in talks with any company for stake sale.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Sep 2009 | 5:16 am Qantas hails Mahindra Satyam's performance in trying periodAustralian airline Qantas has hailed the troubled outsourcing partner Mahindra Satyam stating that it maintained its level of service even during the tumultuous period.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 2 Sep 2009 | 4:41 am India's Maruti not worried by increas... - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Sep 2009 | 4:23 am BSE Sensex provisionally falls 0.5 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex provisionally fell 0.5 percent on Wednesday, as a slide on Wall Street overnight on concerns about the U.S. financial sector kept investors wary across Asia and Europe.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Sep 2009 | 4:17 am ACC August sales up by over 7% - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Sep 2009 | 4:17 am NTPC not signing gas deal: RIL to Pow... - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Sep 2009 | 4:17 am Sensex ends choppy session lower - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Sep 2009 | 4:13 am On thinning Arctic ice, UN's Ban urges climate dealARCTIC OCEAN ICE SHEET (Reuters) - Standing on increasingly vulnerable Arctic sea ice, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made an impassioned plea for politicians to seal a global climate pact this year.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Sep 2009 | 4:00 am India's Maruti not worried by increased competitionNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki India, the country's top car maker, is confident of maintaining profits and growth despite increasing competition, including from Tata Motors' Nano, the world's cheapest car.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:59 am Markets end 0.5% down on weak global stocksMumbai: Indian shares provisionally fell 0.5% on Wednesday, as a slide on Wall Street overnight on concerns about the US financial sector kept investors wary across Asia and Europe. The 30-share BSE index ended down 83.73 points at 15,467.461, with 20 stocks declining. The 50-share NSE index closed down 0.5% at 4,618.20. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:58 am Maersk eyes Q4 growth in container volumesSingapore: Maersk Line, a unit of the world’s top container shipper A.P. Moller-Maersk, said on Wednesday an economic recovery may lead to year-on-year volume growth in the fourth quarter for the industry. The growth would be the first in a year for an industry that has suffered major losses as a plunge in world trade hit freight rates and volumes, and forced shipping firms to cut capacity and reduce headcount. “We do see a recovery in shipping, but it is from an incredibly low level, so in my mind we have bottomed out,” Jesper Praestensgaard, Maersk Line’s CEO for Asia Pacific, told Reuters, referring to an image of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean. “We saw in the first few months of this year the market drop by close to 20% and we have seen an upturn since then but still a year-on-year decline. If we are lucky, we could see growth on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter,” he said in an interview. Praestensgaard said the industry needs to consolidate to become more efficient, but firms lacked money to buy out rivals and it was quite likely that some shipping firms could go bust. His remarks came as the parent company announced a plan to raise $1.8 billion through a share placement. A.P Moller Maersk’s CEO Nils S. Andersen said on Wednesday the company sees opportunities in oil production, rigs and supply ships, and terminals. Maersk shares traded 7.6% lower by 0945 GMT. Some analysts expect state-backed firms such as Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) and China’s Cosco Holdings to lead the way in the consolidation process. Praestensgaard, speaking from an office overlooking the port, said that container freight rates have started to rise as well, but the company and industry in general are still losing cash from some routes. Container shipping in Singapore, the world’s busiest port, has slowly improved this year but was still down nearly 19%in July from a year ago. Drewry Shipping Consultants estimate global volumes to fall by 10.3% in 2009 before growing by 1% in 2010, while IHS Global Insight sees growth of 6.8% next year. A.P. Moller Maersk swung into a bigger than expected first half loss in the first half of 3.02 billion Danish crowns ($577 million) as a result of the downturn, and has warned the second half could be as bad. Praestensgaard said the shipping industry may lay up more ships next year, and an massive overhang of ordered vessels means a balance between supply and demand may take years to achieve. He said the industry would have to get used to lower growth rates. “There’s this wonderful picture that I saw, the picture of the Titanic lying down at the bottom of the ocean and they come out with an announcement: we have good news ladies and gentlemen, we have bottomed out.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:56 am Maruti considering capacity expansion at ManesarNew Delhi: The country’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today said it is considering increasing the production capacity at its Manesar facility, and a decision on this is likely in a day or two. “We are considering a capacity expansion at our Manesar plant... The decision on capacity expansion will be taken in one or two days,” MSI chairman R.C. Bhargava told reporters on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting here. The company would decide on increasing the capacity and investment needed for the same in presence of its parent Suzuki Motor Corporation’s chairman Osamu Suzuki, who has come to India to attend the AGM. Last week, Bhargava said the company would have discussions with Suzuki on a range of issues such as further investment in the country, ramping up production capacity and handling the European export market. The Manesar facility of the company, which manufactures A-Star, SX4, Swift and Swift DZiRE, has a capacity of three lakh units a year and last month crossed five lakh units mark in production within 35 months of its commercial operations. MSI also has a diesel engine plant, located inside the Manesar facility, that produces 2.4 lakh units a year. Speaking in the AGM, Bhargava said: “The worldwide recession which started in 2008 has taught us many lessons and also confirmed the validity of our strategies... we have weathered the recession much better than others.” ”We are debt free and have a healthy cash balance. We By 09021443 DELHI have financed all growth from internal resources,“ Bhargava said. The company’s efforts at cost cutting and improving productivity, even in the good times, helped in making “reasonable” profits despite the impact of higher commodity prices and a weaker rupee, he added. “We have recruited about 300 engineers in this period, all other reqruitments were stopped,” he said. On MSI’s R&D capabilities, Bhargava said, “With strong support from Suzuki, we are on course to develop our ability to design and manufacture small cars.” The company is investing up to Rs 1,500 crore in building test tracks and an R&D centre in Rohtak, Haryana. Earlier last week Bhargava said the company had planned to increase its exports over two-fold this fiscal to 1.5 lakh units from about 70,000 units during Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:49 am Finolex Industries mulls raising Rs50 crMumbai: Finolex Industries on Wednesday said it is planning to raise Rs50 crore through issue of debentures on private placement basis for funding its proposed power plant. The board has approved the issue of secured redeemable non-convertible debentures of Rs1O lakh a piece aggregating to Rs50 crore on private placement basis, Finolex Industries said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). According to the company, it is raising funds for setting up a coal based 43 MW captive power plant at Ratnagiri. Axis Bank is the sole arranger of the issue. The company has interests in various areas such as power, communications, petrochemicals and agriculture. Shares of Finolex Industries were trading at Rs52.95, down 1.03% in the late afternoon trade on the BSE. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:44 am Dhanalakshmi Bank plans brand transformation, logo changeMumbai: Dhanalakshmi Bank is planning a brand transformation initiative which will include changing the logo and related branding treatment across all its customer touch-points. The private sector bank has hired London-based FITCH to roll out a new brand identity and retail design, a release issued on Wednesday said. FITCH is part of the WPP group and is one of the world’s leading branding and design consultancies with clients like Microsoft, Vodafone, Dell, P&G and Nokia, among others. While the name Dhanalakshmi Bank will be retained. “The new identity will keep pace with the changing market dynamics in context of organisation’s growth aspirations,” the release said. The bank’s head, marketing and corporate communications, Sheran Mehra, said, “Retaining the name, existing core strengths and values, revamped brand identity will enable establishing deeper connect with our rapidly increasing customer base spread across geographies and varied age groups.” “The brand transformation exercise is part of the bank’s customer-centric initiatives towards developing a superior value proposition for our customers,” Mehra added. FITCH’s South Asia managing director David Blair said, “FITCH has plenty of experience in branding and design for financial services sector around the world, but working with Dhanalakshmi Bank represents our first such project in India.” “We are delighted to have the oppurtunity to work with Dhanalakshmi Bank along side their highly experienced team and to play an integral part in their ambitious expansion plan,” Blair said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:38 am BP makes "giant" oil find in Gulf of MexicoLONDON (Reuters) - London-based BP Plc said it had made a "giant" oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, reaffirming the area's importance to Western oil majors who are barred from investing in the world's richest oil prospects elsewhere.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:37 am Rupee ranged as choppy stocks fail to provide cuesMumbai: The Indian rupee was little changed in afternoon trade on Wednesday as a choppy sharemarket failed to provide clarity on the direction of capital fund flows, but mostly weaker regional peers weighed on sentiment. At 2:15pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs49.07/08 per dollar, from its previous close of Rs49.05/06. In early trade, the rupee had dropped to Rs49.21, its lowest since 13 July. Shares were choppy as uncertainty about the US financial sector dragged down Wall Street overnight and hit investor confidence across Asia. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at Rs49.16/26, little weaker than the onshore spot rate. Most Asian currencies were trading lower compared to the dollar. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contract on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were quoting at Rs49.13 and Rs49.1325 respectively, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $1.3 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:37 am Sensex trading flat, down 20 pointsIndian equities markets continued to languish Wednesday as trading remained dull about an hour before closing bell, with a key index ruling 20 points down from its previous close.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:31 am India set to host two-day global trade talks from ThursdayTrade ministers of nearly 40 countries will meet over two days here from Thursday to try and draw a roadmap that can put the derailed Doha Development Round of multilateral trade negotiations back on track.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:30 am Small, mid-caps help equity funds beat benchmark in AugMUMBAI (Reuters) - Most Indian equity funds gave a positive return in August, beating a small decline in the Sensex, helped by a jump in their small and mid-cap holdings and bets on software and capital goods firms.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:25 am Government may sell 15% stake in Coal IndiaNew Delhi: The government is planning to increase its disinvestment target in Coal India from 10% proposed earlier to 15% as it wants to put a sizeable number of shares in the market and also offer them to employees and farmers displaced by its mines. “The company wants to offer a chunk of shares in the market so that there is an adequate floating stock for trading,” a Coal Ministry official said, adding that it would be only through enough offering that Coal India Ltd would be able to discover its valuation. The official said the CIL’s initial public offering of about 15% would be done in one go and not in bits and pieces. The company, which has a paid-up equity capital of about Rs6,316 crore, clocked a pre-tax profit of Rs8,738.46 crore in the last fiscal. It plans to offer stock options to over 4 lakh employees. Besides, it would also offer shares to the displaced farmers as part of the compensation. CIL has mines spread in Chattishargh, orissa and Jharkhand on land acquired from farmers. While the officials did not specify any time-frame on the IPO, the company and the ministry is in touch with market regulator SEBI on the proposal. CIL Chairman P S Bhattacharyya had met Disinvestment Secretary Sunil Mitral last month to discuss the stake-sale proposal. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:16 am Hyundai introduces all-new Santro - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:11 am Drought not as bad as in 2002-03, say... - Press Trust of India
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:09 am Maruti unfazed by growing competitionNew Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s top car maker, is confident of maintaining profits and growth despite increasing competition, including from Tata Motors’ Nano, the world’s cheapest car. Chairman R.C. Bhargava also said Maruti, 54.2% owned by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp, had been well served by its conservative fiscal policies and prudent cash management through the auto sector downturn and would not abandon them as the market picked up. “We are fully aware of the competition that is coming. But despite the competition we will maintain margins, profitability and growth. Don’t worry,” he told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday. Apart from the Nano, which hit the roads in July, Toyota, Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen are all set to launch small cars in India next year. On Tuesday, Maruti said sales in August rose 42% from a year earlier, with exports rising 156%, sending its shares up as much as 8.7% to a record high. At 1:33pm, on Wednesday, its shares were down 1.4% at Rs1,523.80, after rising to a record high of Rs1,571.95 earlier in the day. The main index was down 0.3%. The company expected exports to nearly double to 130,000 cars in the fiscal year ending March 2010 form about 70,000 in 2008/09, Bhargava said, and rise further to 150,000 in 2010/11. Its A-star hatchback has been a success, with more than 50,000 sold since exports started in January. Management, including Suzuki Chairman Osamu Suzuki, was considering whether to expand production capacity, Bhargava said. “Nothing has been decided so far... it will be known in a day or two,” he told reporters. If Maruti were to expand capacity, a leading candidate would be its plant in northern Haryana state, which currently produces 300,000 cars and 200,000 diesel engines a year. Suzuki is investing $310 million in a research and development unit in India that should be ready in about two years, and Bhargava said Suzuki wanted Maruti to be able to design and manufacture cars entirely on its own. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:08 am DMK's labour wing gets leg up in expansion plansAt a time when multinationals with manufacturing bases in India are unwilling to recognise worker unions, the labour wing of Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK has got a leg up over its rivals in its expansion srategies.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:02 am Mortgage industry seeking overhaul of Fannie Mae, Freddie MacNew York: The US mortgage-industry trade group is calling for Congress to transform the government controlled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into several smaller private held companies, says a report. According to The Wall Street Journal, Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), mortgage-industry trade group is calling for Congress to transform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into several smaller private held companies that would issue mortgage securities carrying an explicit government guarantee. The proposed framework, to be released today by the MBA, would give successor entities to Fannie and Freddie the authority to create securities backed by certain types of mortgages, the report said. The new companies would guarantee securities against defaults on underlying mortgages and will also pay fees to a federal insurance fund, which would guarantee interest and principal payments to bondholders if the companies were unable to make them, the report noted. Attributing to MBA chief executive officer John Courson the daily said restoring and maintaining investor’s confidence requires an explicit guarantee. “If we’re going to restore and maintain investor’s confidence and...consistent liquidity, that is going to require an explicit backstop,” quoting Courson the report said. The Wall Street Journal noted that MBA’s plan calls for government agencies, rather than new companies, to assume the “mission” of promoting affordable housing that Congress has long assigned to Fannie and Freddie. “The new companies would not be allowed to hold large amounts of mortgages and securities under the proposal ” the report said. However, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hold large investment portfolios in mortgages, it added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:01 am Jayalalithaa bats for casual workforce in Tamil Nadu NewsprintFormer Tamil Nadu chief minister and the current Leader of the Opposition J. Jayalalithaa has demanded regularisation of 1,600 casual workers at Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd (TNPL), the country's second largest paper maker.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:00 am Behind counter: More women breaching gender 'bar'Glamorous Sani Rijal never feels out of place behind the counter tossing drinks for her customers. She is an ace bartender at the happening Jouk pub in Hyderabad.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 2 Sep 2009 | 3:00 am India rupee ranged as choppy stx fail... - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:57 am Gold demand weakens on price spikeMumbai: India gold demand remained slack on Wednesday, as prices stayed at a five-month high, with traders reluctant to enter into fresh deals ahead of an inauspicious period to buy the yellow metal, dealers said. “The demand has dried up after yesterday’s price spike. Traders are enquiring, but nothing is materialising,” said Pinakin Vyas, chief manager-treasury, IndusInd Bank in Mumbai. The most-traded October contract was almost steady at the previous day’s high of Rs15,209 at 2:28pm, a level last seen on 30 March. The contract had gained 0.5% in the previous session, when safe haven buying supported the yellow metal. “Typically volumes are down during the shradh, retail segment is quiet,” said another dealer with a state-run bank in Mumbai. Shradh, a period of paying homage to ancestors, is from 5-19 September. Meanwhile, gold imports in August slumped to 12-14 tonnes from 98 tonnes in the same month last year, according to provisional figures released on Tuesday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:51 am Govt not to impose service tax on goods sent by railNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government has withdrawn a proposal to impose service tax on goods transported by rail, a government official said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:46 am India for ‘genuine reform’ in the UN Security CouncilUnited Nations: Describing the “genuine reform” in the UN Security Council as essential, India has strongly favoured the G-4 proposal of expanding the prestigious body by including six new Permanent Members having veto powers and four additional non-permanent members. “We remain convinced that this is the optimum expansion that meets both the tests of representativeness and manageability,” the Indian Ambassador to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri, said in his address to the informal meeting of the UN General Assembly on start of the third round of inter-governmental negotiations on Security Council reforms. G-4 comprising of India, Brazil, Japan and Germany had made such a proposal in 2005. “New permanent members would have the same rights and responsibilities as existing permanent members, including that of the veto. Nevertheless, recognising the complexity of the issue, the G-4 proposal offered to defer its utilisation until a review is undertaken,” he said. “Looking back at the first two rounds, two messages emerged loud and clear: first, that an overwhelming majority of member states believe that the status quo is untenable, in response to which genuine reform of the UN Security Council is essential,” Puri added. “Second, substantive reform requires an expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership, and significant improvement of the Security Council’s working methods,” Puri said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:46 am Bomb damages Athens stock exchange, one hurtATHENS (Reuters) - A powerful car bomb blew up outside the Athens stock exchange on Wednesday, slightly wounding one woman, in what Greek police suspect was the latest attack by leftist or anarchist groups.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:42 am Bombers target Athens bourse, 1 hurtAthens: A powerful car bomb blew up outside the Athens stock exchange on Wednesday, slightly wounding one woman, in what Greek police suspect was the latest attack by leftist or anarchist groups. The Athens bourse opened normally despite suffering extensive damage. Eight vehicles nearby were set ablaze. Leftist and anarchist groups have staged attacks against business and police targets since December 2008, when the police shooting of a teenager sparked Greece’s worst riots in decades. Police said they suspected one of these groups had planted the bomb, which blew out windows on several floors of the stock exchange and hurled debris hundreds of metres (yards) away. “All evidence shows it was a terrorist attack,” said Greek police spokesman Panayiotis Stathis, adding anti-terrorist police were gathering evidence from the area, which was cordoned off. “We have no claim of responsibility yet.” An anonymous caller warned a Greek newspaper of the attack, apparently aimed at damaging the building but not people. Police said the makeshift time-bomb was made up of about 15 kilos of explosive material, planted in a white van on a side street of the exchange. A nearby car dealership, other businesses and four apartments were also damaged. They said the make-up of the bomb was similar to others planted by the leftist Revolutionary Struggle, Greece’s most militant group, which emerged in September 2003 after the capture of the 17 November group. In 2007 it fired a grenade at the US embassy in Athens, hitting its facade, and seriously wounded a police officer outside the culture ministry in a 2009 shooting. Police said a homemade bomb exploded at the same time outside a government building in the northern city of Thessaloniki, causing minor damage but no injuries. It was not immediately clear if the two attacks were connected. The chairman of the Athens Stock Exchange, Spyros Kapralos, said the damage to the building was substantial but officials worked hard to open for trading. “Despite the huge material damages caused to the building by today’s explosion, both the Athens and the Cyprus stock markets will operate normally,” he said. The Athens stock exchange opened at 0730 GMT and stocks were trading down by 2.4%. Athens and Nicosia share a trading platform. Leftist and anarchist guerrilla groups have claimed responsibility for several attacks against businesses, cars and police this year, culminating with the assassination of a policeman in his car in June by the Rebel Sect group. Imitating the 17 November group, which killed 23 Greeks and foreigners in 27 years but avoided hurting bystanders, Greek guerrilla groups usually strike at night when businesses are closed to avoid alienating the public. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:41 am Talk endlessly and still pay just Re 1Now talk on your mobile as much as you like without having to worry about per minute charges.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:40 am Banks knock Europe stocks down to near 2-week lowParis: European stocks fell in early trade on Wednesday, losing ground for the third straight session and mirroring sharp losses on Wall Street and in Asia, with financial shares among the hardest hit. At 1:42pm, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 1.1% at 944.05 points. The benchmark index, which shed 1.8% on Tuesday, is up 46% since reaching a floor in March. The DJ STOXX European banking index was down 2.1% on Wednesday, with Banco Santander down 3%, UniCredit down 2% and Barclays down 2.8%. Insurers also got hit, with Aegon down 5.2%, Swiss Re down 5.3% and ING down 5%. US stocks dropped 2% on Tuesday, dragged lower by renewed worries over the health of US financial institutions, as well as concerns that the sharp stock market rally since early March has got ahead of the global recovery. “The rebound from March has been remarkable. Year-to-date gains for most of the indexes are strong, although we are still below pre-Lehman Brothers levels,” said Valerie Plagnol, chief strategist at CM-CIC Securities in Paris. “But the glass is still half empty. Macro data has improved, but we’re in a pattern of destocking-restocking, and the outlook for consumer spending is still grim.” Defensives inch higher Stocks seen as defensives such as pharmas and telecoms eked out gains as investors’ risk appetite fell. Sanofi-Aventis gained 1.5%, Vodafone rose 0.2% and GlaxoSmithKline added 0.7%. The VDAX-NEW volatility index, a measure of investor risk appetite or aversion, was up 2.9% after a 5.5% rise in the previous session. The US CBOE Volatility Index jumped 12% on Tuesday, hitting its highest level since early July. “It shows how fragile sentiment can still be as the market was awash with rumours about various US institutions,” said Arifa Sheikh-Usmani, equity trader at Spreadex in London. Resource-related shares felt the pinch from lower commodity prices, with Rio Tinto down 2 percent, Xstrata down 3 percent and Repsol down 1.9%. Around Europe, UK’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.8%, Germany’s DAX index down 1%, and France’s CAC 40 down 1%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:40 am NTPC not to implead in RIL-RNRL case: BrahmaNoida: A day after the Government moved an application in the Supreme Court with the twin aims of protecting its own and NTPC’s interests in the Ambani gas row, the power ministry on Wednesday said the state-run firm will not file a separate plea. “Since Petroleum Ministry has come in the support of NTPC, there is no need for NTPC to go to Supreme Court,” Power Secretary H. S. Brahma told reporters here. The interlocutory application filed on Tuesday made it clear that $4.20 per mmBtu price approved by the government for RIL’s KG-D6 gas was without prejudice to the state-run firm’s case seeking the fuel from the Mukesh Ambani-run company at $2.34 per mmBtu price committed in 2004. It clarified that NTPC’s case against RIL was different from the dispute between Mukesh Ambani firm and that run by his brother Anil Ambani as $2.34 price was based on arms-length international competitive bid. In contrast, Anil Ambani Group was seeking gas by virtue of a private family agreement. Brahma said NTPC will not implead itself in the ongoing RIL versus Anil Ambani Group firm RNRL court case but was free to appeal in the apex court on any aspect of its case against RIL in the Bombay High Court. The High Court had allowed RIL to amend its petition to state that its 2004 bid would get frustrated because of the Government’s stand that the sale price has to be first approved by it. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:40 am Sensex plunges 158 points in opening tradeThe BSE benchmark index fell further by 158.51 points at 15,392.68 in opening trade on increased capital outflows by funds, triggered by weakening trends in global markets.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:25 am Investors fret 2009 stocks rally is overLONDON (Reuters) - World stocks fell close to 1 percent on Wednesday after an overnight sell off on Wall Street, with both Asia and Europe rattled by concerns over the sustainability of this year's equity rally.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:20 am Nokia launches phones, announces Facebook dealSTUTTGART (Reuters) - The world's largest mobile phone maker Nokia launched new phones on Wednesday and announced a location-based service deal with social networking site Facebook.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Sep 2009 | 2:15 am Ensure power supply to drought affected areas: UP CM to UPPCLLucknow: In a move to improve power situation in drought affected areas, Uttar Pradesh Government has asked the UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) to ensure power supply to such districts as per the roster. “Power in drought affected areas of the state should be supplied as per the roster and defunct transformers should be replaced immediately,” chief minister Mayawati said during a meeting with the energy department officials last evening. Directing the officials to check power pilferage, she asked them to initiate stern action against those who indulge in power theft. “Complaints of the farmers should be disposed of at the earliest,” she said. Holding the previous state governments responsible for the present power crisis in Uttar Pradesh, she said, they did not do anything to increase the generation. “The present government has taken steps to implement extensive power reforms in the state and owing to short and long term schemes UP will become a power surplus state in the next few years,” she claimed. Stating that measures were being taken to ensure 10 hours power supply to drought affected areas, the energy department officials claimed “an additional power supply of about Rs 1,000 crore had been provided to the farmers so far and it would touch Rs2,000 crore mark by month end”. They said that 62 new sub-stations were being constructed and 53 ones were being upgraded at a cost of Rs1,050 crore. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 1:52 am CBEC exempts service tax on essential commoditiesNew Delhi: The government has exempted a number of goods like food grains, fertilizers and farm inputs from paying service tax for transportation through railways and waterways. According to the notification issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), the list of exempted goods includes - edible oil seeds and edible oils; food grains (cereals and pulses) and flour, petroleum and petroleum products and Hank yarn made wholly from cotton. “The central government, on being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, exempts the taxable service provided to any person in relation to the transport of goods, through rail, national waterway, inland water and coastal shipping, from the whole of service tax leviable thereon,” the notification said. The list of exempted goods also includes raw jute and jute textile, seeds for food crops and fruits and vegetables, seeds for cattle feed, jute seeds, medicine/pharmaceutical products, relief materials meant for victims of natural or other disasters, defence or military equipments. Among other items the list also includes consignments like personal luggage, postal mail, mail bags booked for shipping. Registered newspaper and magazines, kerosene oil meant for supply through public distribution system, petroleum products including LPG cylinders (filled and empty) booked by public sector oil marketing companies transported by Indian railways have also been exempted. Earlier transportation of goods through ports, railways, as well as inland waterways attracted a service tax of about 10%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 1:47 am Ranbaxy, Strides gains on winning Tam... - India Infoline.com
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Sep 2009 | 1:33 am Nuke deals' first gains, power from i... - Press Trust of India
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Sep 2009 | 1:00 am Watch/Listen: Mint in multimedia- 2 SeptemberVideo story: Medium more important than message WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell talks to Mint about the changing economic climate, the newspaper business and the disruptive impact of new media. Video story: The Mint report for 1 September 2009 Economy on the revival path but drought could play spoilsport; exports slide for ten months in a row but manufacturing rises. Video story: Auto sales zoom as important festivals coincide in August Market leaders Maruti Suzuki and Hero Honda led the growth; firms push inventory ahead of festivals, say analysts. Slideshow: Freshwater farce A photofeature on how the Ganga has been affected by Varanasi’s sewage issues. Audio story: Class Monitors A podcast on what LCD monitors are and what to look for when buying one Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:52 am Accor says to have 50 hotels in India by 2012NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Accor, Europe's largest hotel group, will have 50 hotels in India with 10,400 rooms by 2012, the company said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:49 am Sensex trading dull, weak Asian cues dampen sentimentsDepressed cues from Asian markets continued to impact Indian equities Wednesday with a key index trading on a dull note after having opened lower.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:30 am Noon: Markets seesaw; Reliance Ind, Bharti dropMumbai: Indian shares were choppy on Wednesday, as a slide on Wall Street overnight on concerns about the US financial sector kept investors wary across Asia. Private-sector lender ICICI Bank fell 1.3% to Rs735 and engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro dropped 0.9% to Rs1,536.20, leading losers in the main index. Energy giant Reliance Industries, which has the most weight in the main index, was down 0.9% at Rs1,963.85. Top telecoms firm Bharti Airtel, which is in exclusive merger talks with South Africa’s MTN, eased 0.5% to Rs419.70. “The market is trying to find its feet after the recent rally,” Sonam Udasi, vice president of research at BRICS Securities, said. “Definitely now there are signs of fatigue, but longer term, the prospects are still in place.” No. 2 telecoms firm Reliance Communications gained 3.5% to Rs273.10, after it said on Tuesday it had repaid early more than $1 billion of loans, about one-fifth of its outstanding loans, and could repay more debt ahead of schedule. The company’s telecoms tower unit has revived its initial public offer plan and is looking to raise up to Rs5,000 crore ($1 billion), the Business Standard reported. By 11:20am, the 30-share BSE index was down 0.2% at 15,517.79 points, with 18 stocks declining, after rising as much as 0.3% earlier. The 50-share NSE index was down 0.1% at 4,620.55. The benchmark has fallen 2.3% over the past two sessions, after rising for seven straight days for the first time in 4-months, as profit-taking emerged in equity markets worldwide after a recent rally. Morgan Stanley said it had cut India’s economic growth forecast to 5.8% in 2009/10 from its earlier projection of 6.4%, in anticipation of a drop in agricultural output. Analysts say a rush of liquidity pouring into emerging markets will support stocks in the near term as investors look to buy on dips even though worries about a weak monsoon, high valuations and looming inflation weigh. “World over economists seem to be in a dilemma. On the one side, it looks like conditions are improving, but on the other hand there are those who say we are headed for much worse,” Udasi said. Manufacturers from several countries including the United States produced some upbeat news on Tuesday, indicating that a recovery from the deepest global downturn since World War Two is slowly gaining traction. Some fretted, though, that the recovery leans too heavily on expensive government efforts - from the popular US “cash for clunkers” auto sales incentives to a pre-election propping up of Germany’s labour markets. And the reports were not enough to support global equities, which fell heavily on worries that investors have gotten ahead of themselves in pricing in a recovery. In the broader market, losers led gainers 1,369 to 961 on relatively moderate volume of 158.3 million shares. Most Asian markets were lower, with Japan’s Nikkei down 2.6%, while MSCI’s measure of other Asian markets fell 1.5%. The S&P 500 fell 2.2% on Tuesday to 998.04 as scepticism that stocks can add to a nearly 50 percent rally over the last six months prevailed in the market. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:21 am Credit offtake set to riseMumbai, Sept. 1 Banks can achieve the 20 per cent credit growth projected by the Reserve Bank of India in its Annual Policy, as corporate demand is expected to gather steam in the second half of the financial year, according to Mr M.V. Nair,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:00 am Gas row: Anil Ambani welcomes Centre’s amendments to apex court petitionMumbai, Sept 1 The Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) Chairman, Mr Anil Ambani, on Tuesday welcomed the amendments proposed by the Centre in the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by it before the Supreme Court in the gas dispute with RelianceSource: Business Line - Home Page | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:00 am Rupee under pressureRupee moved in a narrow band against the dollar in August, first appreciating to 47.1 and then declining towards the 49 mark. Relatively placid movement in equities contributed to this range-bound movement in rupee. Foreign institutional investors,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:00 am Mills contract two-thirds of raw sugar import needs for 2009-10Mills have contracted more than two-thirds of their raw sugar import requirements for the ensuing 2009-10 season (October-September), according to Mr Narendra Murkumbi, Managing Director of Shree Renuka SugarsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:00 am Modi Tyres’ revival to ride on ContinentalNew Delhi, Sept. 1 After eight years of lifelessness, Modi Tyres is readying to get back its lost position in the tyre industry, but it will not be doing that under the Modi brand.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:00 am Tata to shed tea tag for beverage bagKolkata, Sept. 1 Tata Tea Ltd will be renamed to reflect its changing profile, said the Chairman, Mr Ratan Tata, while addressing shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting here on Tuesday.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:00 am Jindal Saw (Rs 533.5): SellWe recommend a sell in Jindal Saw from a short-term perspective. It is apparent from the charts that the stock was on a medium-term uptrend from its July low of Rs 318 to August peak of Rs 591. The stock breached its medium-term uptrend-line lastSource: Business Line - Home Page | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:00 am Car cos not dampened by deficit monsoonBL Research Bureau Concerns about the poor monsoon impacting sales growth have weighed on automobile stocks in recent weeks, with the BSE Auto Index declining 1 per cent in August.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:00 am Maruti powers car sales into fast lane in AugustMumbai, Sept. 1 Easier availability of credit coupled with higher consumer confidence and the festive season did wonders for car sales in August.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideThe near-term stance is cautious for DLF, desist trading in it for the day. Initiate fresh short position if ICICI Bank drops below Rs 730 and SBI tumble below Rs 1715, with tightSource: Business Line - Home Page | 2 Sep 2009 | 12:00 am Morgan Stanley cuts India’s 2009-10 GDP forecast to 5.8%Mumbai: Morgan Stanley said it had cut India’s economic growth forecast to 5.8% in 2009-10 from its earlier projection of 6.4%, in anticipation of a drop in agricultural output. The figure is lower than a government estimate of 6.3% for the current fiscal year that ends in coming March, and a central bank projection of 6% with an upward bias. The US bank said weak monsoon rains and drought in some parts of the country would likely see farm output falling 3% in 2009-10, compared with its earlier expectation for 1.5% growth. However, higher government spending in the hinterlands and a drop in the share of farm produce on rural incomes will offset the impact on industry and services sector growth, analysts Chetan Ahya and Tanvee Gupta said in a note dated 1 September. “We expect non-agriculture GDP growth to be largely unchanged,” they wrote. Data released on Monday showed Asia’s third-largest economy expanded by 6.1% in April-June, largely along expected lines. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Sep 2009 | 11:57 pm Google says Gmail outage resolvedGoogle said it had fixed a problem that caused its email service Gmail to suffer a widespread outage which the Internet giant said affected a 'majority' of its users.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 1 Sep 2009 | 11:40 pm Sensex plunges 158 points in opening trade on global cuesThe Sensex fell further by over 158 points in opening trade today on increased capital outflows by funds.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Sep 2009 | 11:11 pm Sensex opens weak, tries to crawl upA key index of the Indian equities markets opened weak Wednesday and was trying to crawl up into the green within about ten minutes of start of trade.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Sep 2009 | 11:01 pm LG Electronics to boost sales in EuropeSeoul: South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc aims to boost its appliance sales in Europe by 10 percent annually in the coming years and become the global no.1 in refrigerators and washing machines by 2012. LG, which competes with bigger rivals Whirlpool Corp of the United States and Electrolux of Sweden, also said on Wednesday it planned to increase its European market share in refrigerators and high-end washers to 10% by 2012. In Europe, LG currently has 7% of the refrigerator market and 4% of the overall washing machine market. Lee Young-ha, chief executive of LG’s appliance unit, said the firm was optimistic on the business outlook for the rest of the year, despite concerns that the recovery in the South Korean won currency may weaken its price competitiveness. “I can see signals that the global economy is recovering and I don’t see any sharp decline (in the business), although benefits from the (weak) won are decreasing,” he said. Lee’s comments, made at a news conference in Seoul, were embargoed until Wednesday for the IFA consumer electronics trade show in Berlin. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Sep 2009 | 10:46 pm Gmail knocked offline for ‘majority’ of usersSan Francisco: Google Inc.’s Gmail service was knocked offline on Tuesday in an outage that the company said affected a “majority” of its millions of e-mail users, including consumers who get Gmail for free and businesses that pay for a version for their employees. The disruption, which lasted under two hours, was a reminder of the growing dependence on Google’s technology. The free version of Gmail is the world’s third most-popular e-mail program with some 149 million users worldwide in June, ranking behind the free e-mail services offered by Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., according to data from comScore Inc. Tuesday’s disruption led tens of millions of Gmail users to get an “Unable to reach Gmail” error message as their computers tried repeatedly to reconnect to the service. Google said it had taken some of Gmail’s servers offline for routine maintenance, and underestimated the load that would place on other computers responsible for directing traffic to the appropriate Gmail servers. Google said it was alerted to the failures within seconds. It said it has added capacity and made other changes to prevent similar incidents in the future. A separate outage on Monday had wiped out e-mail to a “small subset” of users. Though occasional disruptions are common, widespread outages involving Google’s services are rare. They are becoming a bigger threat to Google as it tries to sell more of its services to businesses. Businesses are increasingly leaning on Google’s services because they are delivered over the Internet instead of being managed in-house. That can save companies money and buy them more storage than they could otherwise afford. But many corporations are skeptical about outsourcing such critical tasks. Google argues that Web-based services are more reliable than those handled in-house, but big outages like Tuesday’s add another challenge to selling to reluctant businesses. Google says more than 1.75 million businesses use Gmail as part of Google Apps, which is Google’s answer to business software from Microsoft Corp. It’s a key part of Google’s strategy to inject its brand deeper into corporations. Google Apps costs $50 per user per year. As usually happens with hiccups in popular Web-based services, the Gmail glitch touched off a flurry of posts to social-networking Web sites from frustrated Gmail users wondering if others were having the same problem. “Omg thank God I was at work!!! I wouldve gone mad!” one Twitter user wrote. Some favored snark. “Minute 30 of Gmail outage. The cities are in flames and people eating pets to survive. To future generations: we meant well,” another user tweeted. The last major outage at Google happened in May, when millions of people were cut off from Google’s search engine, e-mail and other online services after too much traffic was routed through computers in Asia. About 14% of Google’s users encountered problems with the Internet’s No. 1 search engine. Those outages lasted about an hour. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 1 Sep 2009 | 10:43 pm EBay sells 65% stake in Skype for $2.75 bnWashington: EBay ended its troubled marriage with Skype on Tuesday, agreeing to sell a majority stake to a group of investors in a deal that values the Web communications service at $2.75 billion. The online auction giant, which will retain a 35% equity investment in Skype, said it will receive $1.9 billion in cash upon the completion of the sale and a note from the purchasers for $125 million. The buyer group, which will control a 65% stake in Skype, is led by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, whose portfolio includes Ameritrade, Intelsat, Nasdaq, Travelocity and Seagate Technology. Its other members are London-based Index Ventures, an early investor in Skype, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm founded by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen. Andreessen, whose investments include LinkedIn and Twitter, is a member of the boards of eBay and Facebook and is chairman of the board of Ning, an online platform for creating social networks. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of the year. EBay purchased Skype in 2005 for a price tag that eventually exceeded $3.1 billion, including payouts to Web entrepreneurs Niklas Zennstrom of Sweden and Janus Friis of Denmark, who founded the company in 2003. But eBay has acknowledged that Skype was not a good fit with its core auction and online payments business PayPal and announced plans in April to spin off the company with an initial public offering in 2010. At the same time, the San Jose, California-based eBay said it would entertain offers for Skype. “This deal achieves our goal of delivering short- and long-term value to eBay and its stockholders, without the possible delays and market risk of an IPO,” eBay president and chief executive John Donahoe said in a statement. “Selling Skype now at this great valuation, while retaining an equity stake, makes sense for the company,” he said. “This is a great deal, unlocking both immediate and long-term value for eBay and tremendous potential for Skype. “We’ve acted decisively on a deal that delivers a high valuation, gives us significant cash up-front and lets us retain a meaningful minority stake with talented partners,” Donahoe said. “Skype is a strong stand-alone business, but it does not have synergies with our e-commerce and online payments businesses,” he said. “As a separate company, we believe that Skype will have the focus required to compete effectively in online voice and video communications and accelerate its growth momentum,” Donahoe said. Silver Lake managing director Egon Durban said the transaction “benefits all parties involved and will allow Skype the opportunity to accelerate the growth of its business.” Skype, which has its headquarters in Luxembourg, bypasses the standard telephone network by channeling voice and video calls over the Internet. Its allows users to call others free of charge and provides the ability to connect with land lines or mobile devices at low rates. Skype’s revenue rose by 44% in 2008 to 551 million dollars and its number of users increased by 47% to 405 million. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 1 Sep 2009 | 10:01 pm Tata Tele to charge per call, no matt... - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Sep 2009 | 9:46 pm Unique Nilekani unveils his unique ID plansNandan Nilekani, chairperson of India’s unique identification (UID) number authority, hopes to get UIDs issued to around 600 million Indians in the next five years. Join the man himself in an exclusive interview with Gautam Chikermane. Watch interview with Nandan NilekaniSource: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 1 Sep 2009 | 6:06 pm How to make Rs 21 crore in 20 daysIf you are a very large global fund, it's necessary to have your communication wires well-lit. Else, chances are you will run into Reliance Capital, the epitome of local market savvy.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Sep 2009 | 4:21 pm Tamiflu at your neighbourhood chemist? Not yetOfficials of Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma and Mumbai-based Cipla said they were yet to receive any official communication on allowing retail sales of the drug.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Sep 2009 | 3:57 pm Stocks are too volatile. Should I invest in ULIPs?Jayant Roy’s investment philosophy can be described in two words: safety first.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 1 Sep 2009 | 3:24 pm Beware the dividend of a mutual fundWhat's being paid to you is not return on capital, but return of capital.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Sep 2009 | 3:24 pm Sebi says Austral Coke in Rs 1000 cr a/c scamThe scam was unearthed in Ahmedabad by the Income Tax Department following searches conducted on June 23, 2009.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Sep 2009 | 3:18 pm China's output hits top gearChina's manufacturing index, considered the heartbeat of its economy, rose in August at its fastest pace in 16 months.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Sep 2009 | 3:10 pm IL&FS will take a year to steady Maytas"Maytas is still going through difficulties. It would a year at least to restore stability in the company," Ravi Parthasarathy, chairman, IL&FS, said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Sep 2009 | 3:07 pm PSU reconstruction board backs listing of profitable cosThe Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) feels any PSU "with a record of profitability" should get listed on stock exchangesSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Sep 2009 | 3:06 pm Yahoo India to replace SpotM with GuruYahoo! seems to be making it a habit to junk India focused social networking projects only to start new ones, that too every September.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Sep 2009 | 3:02 pm Airline firms still grappling with overcapacityAir India and Kingfisher too would be able take care of their working capital needs by hawking more seats at the lower end of the fare segment.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Sep 2009 | 2:59 pm 'The medium is more important than the message'Mint spoke to Martin Sorrell, founder and chief executive officer of WPP group, one of the largest communications services companies, on the economic climate, the newspaper business and the disruptive impact of new media. Edited excerpts:Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 1 Sep 2009 | 1:38 pm Tata's new plan: Talk endlessly for Re 1There is a reason to rejoice for those people who love to spend hours talking on the phone. Telecom operator Tata Teleservices has introduced a new tariff plan that allows CDMA subscribers unlimited hours on local calls for just Re 1.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 1 Sep 2009 | 1:08 pm Indian Oil enters nuclear powerAided by the Indo-US nuclear deal, public sector giants are eyeing new fortunes in nuclear power. Indian Oil Corp has joined the fray with a plan to enter nuclear power generation, reports Anupama Airy.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 1 Sep 2009 | 1:01 pm We'll return Singur land if state compensates us: TataIn the first faint signs of rapprochement since Tata Motors withdrew its iconic Nano small project from West Bengal last year, Chairman Ratan Tata said he would return the land in Singur if the West Bengal government compensated the company for the investment it made at the site and was open to considering an alternative project there.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 1 Sep 2009 | 12:59 pm Big blow for Sterlite in Asarco bidBankruptcy court in US favours rival Grupo Mexicos offer.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 1 Sep 2009 | 12:58 pm Exports dip again, down 28.4% in JulyIndia’s exports contracted for the 10th successive month, plunging by 28.4 per cent in July as order books continued to dry out from two of the biggest growth regions—the US and the European Union (EU)—which are still in the throes of a recession, reports HT Correspondent.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 1 Sep 2009 | 12:56 pm Govt delinks gas row from Ambani disputeAmends special leave petition in Supreme Court, says NTPC will not fight case.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 1 Sep 2009 | 12:55 pm Medium more important than messageNew Delhi: WPP Group Plc is one of the world’s largest communications services companies, with £7.4 billion (nearly Rs58,900 crore today) in revenue in 2008. Companies in the group include JWT, Burson-Marsteller and Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide. Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the group, spoke to Mint on the economic climate, the newspaper business and the disruptive impact of new media. Edited excerpts: Is the economic climate getting better? Well, it depends on what you mean by better. I think clients feel better. Chief marketing officers feel better, CEOs feel better. But this is not translating into people signing cheques. Also, I am puzzled by people thinking that things are improving because sequential GDP (gross domestic product) numbers are getting better. For instance, France and Germany showed GDP growth quarter- on-quarter. The key issue should be how these match up to last year, not last quarter. But even relatively speaking, are we better off now than we were in November and December of 2008?  New media: WPP Group chief Sir Martin Sorrell says that with the contours of the media changing, people will have to charge for digital content and that there will be a lot of consolidation in the industry. Ramesh Pathania/Mint In fact, somebody in the UK asked me recently what is the one thing that has surprised me most in the last 12 months. I thought about it for a second and said “quantitative easing”. Which is really just a posh phrase for “printing money”. Every central banker has been just printing money. The real big issue is not how we get through things in the short term, but how we deal with these massive deficits later. What are the three things that worry you the most about the future? And three things that give you the most hope? I’ll list the last three first. It’s WPP’s mantra: new markets, new media and consumer insight—all of which will be accelerated by this current crisis. What worries me is what is going to happen after the short-term crisis. Next year should be good for advertising. You have the Vancouver Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup, Asian Games, Shanghai Expo and last, but not least, the mid-term elections. But what will happen after that? Coming to new media, do you think the demand for business newspapers is dead in the US and Europe? I don’t think dead is the right term. But this has been on the cards for a long time. I see it my own reading habits. I read newspapers less and depend more on so-called electronic media. I do use my BlackBerry, the Kindle, I had a look at the new Sony e-reader. I think there still will be newspapers. But the way you define a newspaper will change. Is (a newspaper on) Kindle a newspaper or not? This change will take longer in faster growing countries such as India where newspapers are still revered. Eventually, two things will happen: First, people will have to charge for digital content. Second, as a result of all this, there will be a lot of consolidation. The big problem that a lot of media owners have in India is that there is no clarity on digital advertising. How much money is there to be made when it is now so minuscule? I wouldn’t call it minuscule any more. It is around 12-13% of worldwide advertising budgets. In the old days, if you went to a market, you’d see one-third of advertising budgets for print, one-third for TV and one-third for everything else. Now, it will probably get to around 20-25% in new media, 20-25% in TV, 20-25% in print and then (the rest in) everything else. How is WPP’s growth in India? Second quarter was tough for us in India. I think there was a realization that even India could be affected by global trends. Up until the end of the first quarter, it didn’t (it wasn’t affected). In the second, it did (was affected). Locally, there are concerns over the monsoons and, less so, on inflation. So, if you were to look at your business geography, India still looks attractive? Very attractive. The Indian economy is growing at over 6%. India is attractive to us because of growth, increasingly because of new media, and thirdly, consumer research. Going back to digital, a big challenge for people is that digital advertising is not about being creative, but about the delivery and the technology. We’ve always proselytized that technology is important. So, a software engineer is as important as someone in creative. The medium has become, in a sense, more important than the message. Which is something that so-called creative people are increasingly sensitive about. Is Google still a ‘frenemy’? (Sir Martin had come up with the term to describe Google—part friend, part enemy.) It is friendlier. I think now the “fren” part is more important than the “nemy”. I think Google is now more focused, especially on huge opportunities such as mobile search. They have become more potent than they were before. But still, it is remarkable what they have achieved in 10 years. You spoke about the Kindle. How soon do you think before we see an advertising model for the Kindle? Very soon. I think James Murdoch was absolutely right over the weekend when he spoke about the BBC (editor’s note: on 28 August, in a speech, Murdoch lashed out at BBC. Among other things, he said that it was easy for BBC to create new verticals and businesses because it was not focused on cost or profit). Not to take anything away from the BBC, but if you or I had a billion pounds in taxpayers’ money, we could start a strong digital channel. As far as digital delivery is concerned, models must be based on subscription. sukumar.r@livemint.com Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 1 Sep 2009 | 12:41 pm South Africa govt backs MTN, Bharti dealJohannesburg: South Africa’s government backs a proposed tie-up between domestic telecom operator MTN Group Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd. The two firms have been working to conclude a $23 billion (Rs1.12 trillion) cross-ownership deal since 25 May. They have extended talks for a second time to 30 September. The government in principle supported the proposed transaction, said Tiyani Rikhotso, a spokesman for the communications department. “It appears to be a good proposal, especially given it (is)... within the framework of South-South cooperation,” he said. “If all the prerequisites of mergers and acquisitions (rules)...are met, I don’t see any reason why anybody will want to stand in the way of what will benefit the people of the two countries.” Under the proposal, an initial cash-and-shares tie-up would see MTN take a 36% stake in Bharti Airtel and Bharti 49% of MTN, but the deal has been delayed by differences over valuations and management rights. A combined entity would be the third biggest mobile operator based on subscribers, behind China Mobile Ltd and Vodafone Group Plc, although its annual sales of $20 billion would be dwarfed by China Mobile’s $60 billion and Vodafone’s $65 billion. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 1 Sep 2009 | 12:35 pm Deshmukh against pre-poll alliance with NCPThe Congress should go alone in the Oct 13 Maharashtra assembly elections and can explore a post-poll alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said here Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm Rajeev Suri named Nokia Siemens CEOHelsinki: Nokia Siemens Networks, the world’s second biggest maker of telecommunications equipment, named Rajeev Suri chief executive officer (CEO) of the joint venture between Nokia Oyj. and Siemens AG.  Right values: Rajeev Suri. Suri, 41, will succeed Simon Beresford-Wylie on 1 October, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said in a statement to the Helsinki Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Suri brings the right values, experience and industry expertise to take Nokia Siemens Networks forward, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia’s CEO, said in the statement. Nokia Siemens was created in 2006 as a joint venture to take on market leader Ericsson AB. The business has posted operating losses on restructuring charges as it removed overlaps and built up the higher margin managed-services business. Nokia on 16 July forecast the market for Nokia Siemens products and services to contract about 10% this year and sees its market share declining moderately. Suri, currently the head of services at Nokia Siemens Networks, joined Nokia in 1995 and has served in several positions, including heading the Asia-Pacific region. He will relocate to Finland from India for the job. Nokia reports the unit’s sales in its results and then settles profits and losses with Siemens as a minority shareholder. feedback@livemint.com Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 1 Sep 2009 | 11:55 am Top state-run firms to get Maha Ratna statusThe government proposes to award Maha Ratna status to state-owned companies for greater functional autonomy to make higher investments, form joint ventures and expand capacity, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said here Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Sep 2009 | 11:01 am 'All profitable PSEs should be listed on stock exchanges'All profitable public sector enterprises (PSEs) should be listed on the stock exchanges to realise their true worth and raise funds for the social sector and infrastructure projects, according to the chief of the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE).Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 1 Sep 2009 | 11:00 am World airlines lose $2 bn in Q2: IATAGeneva: More than 50 global airlines lost $2.021 billion during the second quarter, bringing industry losses for the first half to over $6.0 billion, airline industry association IATA said on Tuesday. But while European and Asian-Pacific carriers were worse off than a year ago, North American airlines managed to trim their losses while Latin American and Middle Eastern carriers reported a rise in profits, IATA said. The International Air Transport Association had earlier forecast that losses for the full year would reach about $9 billion. Sixteen Asian-Pacific carriers posted losses of $1.29 billion during the second quarter, compared to losses of $958 million a year ago. Twelve European airlines recorded $1.101 billion of losses during the period, slipping into the red from a profit of $439 million a year ago. Twenty North American airlines however trimmed their losses from $419 million a year ago to $134 million for the second quarter this year. Latin American carriers also improved profits from $5 million in the second quarter last year to $485 million this year, while Middle Eastern carriers saw profits rise from $7 million to $20 million. The association warned jet fuel prices were rising and had reached over 80 dollars a barrel—a level last seen in 2007, adding pressure to earnings. Pointing to improving passenger and freight volumes, IATA said however that they were still below levels recorded last year. “Travel only began to stabilise at the end of the first quarter. There was a material improvement in July but the future path is likely to be volatile and weaker than normal recoveries,” it said. IATA had said in August that international air passenger traffic showed an improvement in July but the industry remains in “intensive care.” Passenger traffic fell 2.9% in July compared to the same month last year, a “relative improvement” from the 7.2% fall recorded for June. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 1 Sep 2009 | 4:17 am Sony PCs to offer Google Web browserSan Fransisco: Google Inc is shipping its Chrome browser with Sony Corp PCs, sealing the Internet company’s first such deal since it introduced the Web browser last year to compete with Microsoft. The deal could expand the reach of Google’s fledgling product which lags behind browsers offered by Microsoft Corp and the Mozilla foundation in market share. Google spokesperson Eitan Bencuya said the deal with Sony went into effect this summer, but declined to discuss terms of the deal, such as which Sony PC models come pre-installed with the Chrome browser, or any financial terms. Google said the company was now exploring ways to make Chrome accessible to more people. “We are in the process of testing one such channel with Sony,” according to a statement. The deal with Sony was first reported by the Financial Times. Sony trails PC giants like Hewlett-Packard Company and Dell Inc , and did not rank among the top five PC vendors by worldwide shipments in the second quarter, according to research firm IDC. But Bencuya said Google was looking at striking similar deals with other PC makers. Google introduced the Chrome browser in September 2008 and remains a distant number four player in the browser market, with a 2.59% worldwide share in July according to market research firm Net Applications. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer dominates the browser market with 67.7% market share, followed by the Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox, with 22.5%, and Apple Inc’s Safari, with 4%. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 1 Sep 2009 | 4:15 am US online giant eBay to sell Skype: reportWashington: US online auction giant eBay will announce on Tuesday a plan to sell its Web communication service Skype to an investment group, The New York Times reported. The group of private investors would likely include Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm headed by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, the newspaper said, citing two people briefed on eBay’s plans. London-based venture capital firm Index Ventures, an early investor in Skype, and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners were also involved in the arrangement, whose value was not disclosed. But the Times noted that eBay has said it wants about two billion dollars for Skype, which could take in over $600 million in revenue this year. eBay purchased Skype in 2005 for a price tag that eventually exceeded $3.1 billion, including payouts to Web entrepreneurs Niklas Zennstrom of Sweden and Janus Friis of Denmark, who founded the company in 2003. But eBay found it difficult to integrate the company with its core auction business and later wrote down $900 million of Skype’s value. The auction company said in April it had planned an initial public offering for the Skype division next year, but the Times noted eBay has since been in talks with companies and investment groups interested in making the purchase. Last month, eBay negotiated with Internet giant Google over Skype, which bypasses the standard telephone network by channeling voice and video calls over the Web, the newspaper said. But Google walked away from the deal. Since the sale to eBay, the number of Skype users has exploded from 53 million to 405 million. Skype allows users to call each other free of charge and to connect with land lines or mobile devices at low rates. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 1 Sep 2009 | 3:05 am
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