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Tata Motors Sept total sales up 6% at 52,513 unitsAuto companies have announced its September sales numbers. Tata Motors September total sales stood up 6% at 52,513 units, YoY. Its domestic sales and domestic CV sales were up 10% each at 49,650 units and 31,474 units respectively, YoY.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Oct 2009 | 9:05 am ACC Sept cement sales down 2% at 1.63 mtCement companies have announced their September sales numbers. AV Birla Group September cement sales were up 15.8% at 2.77 million tonnes (MT), YoY. ACC September cement sales were down 2% at 1.63 MT versus 1.67 MT, YoY.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Oct 2009 | 8:43 am See Grasim, Samruddhi, UltraTech entity in 8 months: DSP MLGrasim could not engage with UltraTech board due to legal issues, says DSP Merrill Lynch.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Oct 2009 | 7:52 am IT to generate 5.8 million new jobs by 2013: IDC!Information technology will be an employment machine, generating 5.8 million new jobs in the coming four years, according to International Data Corporation (IDC) research released.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Oct 2009 | 6:01 am Oil lingers below USD 70 as traders eye earnings!Oil prices lingered below USD 70 as investors looked to third quarter company earnings reports this week for clues to the health of the US economy.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Oct 2009 | 6:01 am Prudential mulls sale of South Korean units!Prudential Financial Inc may sell its fund management businesses in SKorea, a deal which could fetch about $850 million and could trigger a wave of consolidation in the country`s brokerage and asset management sectors.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Oct 2009 | 6:01 am Rupee rises by 17 paise to 47.57 a dollar in opening trade!The Indian rupee Monday strengthened by 17 paise to almost a two-month high of 47.57 against the US currency, following dollar`s weakness against other currencies.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Oct 2009 | 6:01 am FDI inflow in India crosses USD 100bn mark!India has crossed the $100 bn milestone in FDI through equity since 2000 up to July this year testifying the country`s increasing profile as a safe and sound investment destination in the midst of the global financial crisis.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Oct 2009 | 6:01 am Sensex tanks 236 pts in opening trade on Asian cues!The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex Monday plunged by over 236 points to dip below 17,000 points level in opening trade today as foreign funds and investors sold shares amid weakening global trends.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Oct 2009 | 6:01 am Goldman owed USD 1bn if CIT fails!Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) would be due a payment of about $1 billion if troubled commercial lender CIT Group (CIT.N) were to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to a source familiar with the matter.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Oct 2009 | 6:01 am BofA to select emergency CEO this week: Report!Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) plans to select an emergency chief executive officer this week if legal issues force Ken Lewis to leave before year-end, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a person familiar with the situation.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Oct 2009 | 6:01 am BAE Systems could still reach deal on corruption case!Defence equipment firm BAE Systems rejected a deal to end an investigation into alleged corruption but could still restart talks on reaching a settlement, newspaper reports have claimed.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Oct 2009 | 6:01 am US-led consortium wants to buy Volvo from Ford: Report!A US-led consortium has entered the race to buy Volvo from Ford, the Financial Times reported, in a challenge to China`s Geely Automotive (0175.HK), which confirmed its interest in the money-losing Swedish carmaker last month.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Oct 2009 | 6:01 am Parsvnath raises USD 35mn via QIP, to repay debtReal estate company Parsvnath Developers has raised USD 35 million via a qualified institutional process (QIP), its Chairman and Managing Director Pradeep Jain told CNBCTV18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Oct 2009 | 5:25 am Jindal Stainless to lay out debt restructuring plan by OctJindal Stainless is planning to finalise a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) scheme by October end. In an interview to CNBCTV18, the companys Director Strategy and Business Development Arvind Parakh said the scheme would involve cutting its interest rates by 100 basis points (1%)Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Oct 2009 | 5:23 am CESC may sell 1520% in Spencer\'s to PE playersCESC is in talks with private equity funds to dilute 1520% stake in its retail subsidiary Spencers, its Vice Chairman Sanjiv Goenka told CNBCTV18 in an interview. The company sees FY10 retail revenues at Rs 1,000 crore, he added.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Oct 2009 | 5:22 am Nifty closes near 5000; realty, metals decline - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Oct 2009 | 4:25 am India's 3G telephony auction attracts int'l interest - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Oct 2009 | 4:16 am JAL to shelve talks with Delta, American - KyodoTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan Airlines Corp plans to put on hold tie-up talks it is holding separately with Delta Air Lines and AMR Corp's American Airlines, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Oct 2009 | 4:15 am BSE Sensex provisionally closes down 1.6 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex provisionally fell 1.6 percent on Monday, as investors turned cautious on mixed Asian markets and ahead of quarterly results.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Oct 2009 | 4:13 am ArcelorMittal not to quit India projects - TV - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Oct 2009 | 4:08 am France Tel names new deputy CEO amid suicides stormPARIS (Reuters) - France Telecom on Monday appointed a new leader of its French business to calm a political firestorm over a spate of employee suicides and extended its freeze on restructuring until the end of the year.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Oct 2009 | 4:08 am ArcelorMittal CEO sees bumpy ride in 2010 - paperBRUSSELS (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, expects steel demand to recover next year, but the industry is in for a bumpy ride in 2010, its chairman told the Financial Times in an interview.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Oct 2009 | 4:04 am Sensex ends near day's lows, down 1.62 percentA key index of the Indian equities markets Monday ended near the day's lowest levels, losing 1.62 percent from its last closing figure.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Oct 2009 | 4:01 am Remittances mean more than mere money: UN reportRemittances from Indian migrant workers, which are about 1.5 times more than the total foreign investments in the country, have far-reaching benefits such as pushing up school enrolment, according to a United Nations report.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Oct 2009 | 4:00 am ArcelorMittal not to quit India projects - TVMUMBAI (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal, the world's top steelmaker, has no plans to exit its planned steel projects in India, television channel NDTV Profit cited the company as saying on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:57 am Microsoft's Ballmer sees Web search buys unlikelyLONDON (Reuters) - Microsoft's Chief Executive Steve Ballmer does not expect to make acquisitions to help the company challenge Google's dominance in the Internet search market, he told Reuters on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:54 am India to contribute to World Bank facility for developing nationsIndia will actively contribute to the South-South Experience Exchange Facility, which promotes the idea that development in one country can pull people out of poverty in another.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:52 am Economy to grow at 6.3% as predicted: Montek Ahluwalia - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:51 am Sri Adhikari Brothers' Board approves warrants issue - MediaMughals
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:51 am IOC’s losses fall on softening crude ratesNew Delhi: Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), the nation’s largest fuel retailer, has seen its losses on fuel sales this fiscal coming down by 5.6% to Rs21,825 crore on softening international oil prices. “We were till last month losing Rs79 crore per day on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government-controlled rates but this month the losses have come down to Rs67 crore a day,” a company official said. International oil rates were marginally lower in the second fortnight of September, based on which the current revenue loss have been calculated. The basket of crude oil India buys averaged $67.76 a barrel in the second half as against $68.58 per barrel in the first fortnight. “The daily losses on fuel sales are down from Rs90 crore in the first fortnight of September,” he said. IOC and sister public sector enterprises—HPCL and BPCL—which have been barred by the government from revising fuel prices to keep inflation under check, lose Rs2.23 per litre on petrol, Rs1.16 a litre on diesel, Rs204.51 per 14.2 kg domestic LPG cylinder and Rs16.14 per litre on kerosene, at present. “At current prices, IOC’s revenue loss on fuel sales for full fiscal is likely to be 21,825 crore (as against Rs23,510 crore estimate of last month),” the official said. For the industry—IOC plus BPCL and HPCL—the revenue loss is likely to be Rs38,600 crore compared to previous estimate of Rs41,440 crore. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:44 am 10,000 units of Linea sold since January : Fiat IndiaMumbai: Fiat India Automobiles Limited (FIAL), a 50-50 JV between Fiat Group Automobiles (Fiat) and Tata Motors Limited, has sold 10,000 units of its sedan, Linea, since its launch in January this year. The number assumes significance as Fiat had sold only 3,550 cars in this period last year. Fiat’s Grande Punto also witnessed a sale of over 5,000 units within three months of introduction. “Fiat has been deeply-rooted in the Indian psyche for many decades now and we want to see a lot many Fiat vehicles plying on Indian roads. The milestone achieved by Linea is a testimony that we are inching closer towards this goal,” FIAL CEO Rajeev Kapoor said in a press statement issued here. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:36 am Rupee extends rise on broad dollar weaknessMumbai: The Indian rupee rose to fresh two-month highs in afternoon session on Monday helped by broad weakness in the dollar versus major units but a further rise was limited by lower domestic shares. At 2:00pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs47.50/51 per dollar, its strongest since 4 August and above Thursday’s close of Rs47.74/75 per dollar. The market was closed on Friday for a national holiday. The dollar fell on Monday after a G-7 meeting at the weekend brought no surprises, which the market took as a signal policymakers are comfortable with a gradual dollar decline as part of global economic rebalancing. Gains in other Asian units also cheered. Indonesian rupiah hit a one-year high on foreign buying of local bonds and stocks, while the Philippine peso rose as overseas Filipinos sent money home after the devastating storms, prompting the central bank to intervene. Shares were trading down more than 1% as investors took a breather after the market rose to its highest close in more than 16 months last week and with sentiment across Asia subdued after weaker-than-expected US jobs data. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were quoting at Rs47.5850 and Rs47.5825 respectively, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $1.6 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:34 am Kuwait wealth fund: price offered for Zain "good"DUBAI (Reuters) - Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund considers the price offered to fellow shareholders for a stake in mobile telecom firm Zain as "good", the fund's managing director said in remarks aired on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:31 am Trading sluggish at Indian equities marketsIndian equities markets were trading on a dull note about an hour before the closing bell Monday with a key index ruling 1.3 percent lower than its previous close.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:30 am Mittal pullout: Jharkhand says it has no informationA day after a noted British paper said steel giant ArcelorMittal was close to pulling out of its proposed steel projects in Jharkhand and Orissa, the Jharkhand government Monday said it had not received any communication from the steel maker in this regard.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:30 am India rank poor 134 on UN's Human Development IndexThe quality of life in India continues to be appalling with the country ranked poorly at 134 among 182 countries on the Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) that was released globally Monday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:30 am Merrill says retains nearly all India clientsMUMBAI (Reuters) - The Indian wealth management arm of Merrill Lynch has retained nearly all its clients through the recent market turmoil and uncertainty created by a merger with Bank of America Corp, a top executive said on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:29 am Tech Mahindra’s Chandigarh unit commences BPO operationsNew Delhi: Tech Mahindra, the country’s fifth largest software exporter, today said it has opened a BPO facility in Chandigarh. The facility focuses on BPO operations at present, and will provide other IT services and end-to-end customer support to both international and domestic clients later, Tech Mahindra said in a statement. The campus will have 500 seats initially and another 900 seats are planned to be added by the end of November this year, it added. “Chandigarh is known for its exceptional BPO and IT culture, infrastructure, local support from the government, availability of skilled manpower and low rate of attrition,” Tech Mahindra vice chairman Vineet Nayyar said. The company has facilities across Noida, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai. “This fully operational facility is a new addition to Tech Mahindra’s operations in the northern region and we look forward to servicing our esteemed clients across the globe from this new campus,” he added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:29 am FIPB to consider Jet’s foreign fund raising plansNew Delhi: Private carrier Jet Airways’ plan to raise funds from international institutional investors will come up for approval by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board this week. According to finance ministry officials, the matter has been slated to be taken up for discussion at the FIPB’s meeting this Friday. When contacted Jet officials declined to comment on the specifics of the proposed fund raising programme. “We are only seeking permission from the government to get investments from foreign institutional investors. Once we get the approval we will take a decision accordingly,” a senior Jet Airways official said. The carrier had, however, announced on 24 September that it has got nod from its shareholders to raise an additional capital of up to $400 million. The proposal was approved by its board on 24 July. Hit by competition and a difficult market environment, Jet Airways reported a loss of Rs225.33 crore in the first quarter ended 30 June. Its total income also went down to Rs2,428.36 crore in the quarter Rs2,899.15 crore in the corresponding period previous fiscal. The airline had also suffered a significant hit on its bottomline when about 100 of the its nearly 500 pilots went on a five-day strike in September. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:25 am Indiabulls Power IPO to open 12 Oct Mumbai: Indiabulls Power Ltd, a unit of Indiabulls Real Estate, plans to open its initial public offering (IPO) from 12 to 15 October, a company official said on Monday. A senior group official had told Reuters in June the firm was targeting raising Rs15 billion ($315 million) in equity, and markets have strengthened since then. According to its draft prospectus released in July, the company plans to issue a maximum of 390.7 million equity shares, including a greenshoe option, constituting 19% of its post-issue equity. Indiabulls Power is currently developing three power plants in western and central India with total capacity of 6,600 megawatts and will use the issue proceeds to fund two of these, said the company official, who has knowledge of the plans but declined to be named. Indiabulls Real Estate currently holds 71.4% in the company. UK-based billionaire LN Mittal’s LNM India Internet Ventures holds a 10.7% stake, while private equity firm FIM Ltd holds the remaining 17.9%. In the past two months, state-run utility NHPC has raised $1.25 billion and private utility Adani Power raised $630 million through IPOs. Indian firms have raised about $15 billion through share sales in the past six months, encouraged by a share market that has risen 75% so far in 2009. India’s benchmark index hit a 16-month high last week. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:19 am Strong rupee stirs gold buying ahead of DiwaliSingapore: A strong rupee helped jewellers in India defy gold’s rebound to $1,000 an ounce, with more last-minute buying expected before Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, dealers said on Monday. Purchases from India, the world’s largest gold consumer, kept premiums for gold bars steady, at 70 to 75 US cents to the spot London price, in Singapore. Sales of scraps were limited in Hong Kong while Tokyo dealers saw liquidation from retail investors. “Demand is good since morning due to a strong rupee, I have struck deals for 150 kgs,” said a dealer with a state-run, bullion-dealing bank in Mumbai. Dealers said gold’s physical offtake would rise if prices head south, as traders sought to replenish stocks for the upcoming festivals and weddings. Spot gold added $3.10 an ounce to $1,004.40 after posting a weekly gain of 1 percent last week. It regained the $1,000-an-ounce level in volatile trade on Friday, when the dollar dropped after weaker-than-expected US jobs data. Gold was around 1.8% below an 18-month high of $1,023.85 struck in mid-September. “We’ve seen ongoing orders from the manufacturing side. Gold is over $1,000 but gold bars are still on a premium,” said Dick Poon, manager of precious metals at Heraeus in Hong Kong, adding that there was also demand from jewellers in Europe and the United States. Gold bars were quoted at a premium of 30 to 40 US cents to the spot London prices in Hong Kong, unchanged from last week. India, which accounted for more than 20% of global demand for gold jewellery, is in the midst of the festival season, which peaks with Diwali on 17 October. Weddings take place during the festive season and jewellery forms an essential part of the dowry basket. “The market is not flooded with scraps despite high gold prices. Demand from India is still quite good and that helps the premiums. People are just unwilling to offer premiums cheaply,” said a physical dealer in Singapore. Limited sales of scraps in Asia suggested that holders were waiting for more gains in price before they cashed in. In India, the rupee’s rise to fresh two-month highs ensured steady demand from jewellers. “If we can hold above the $990-$1,000 regions for the next few trading sessions, that’s going to be positive for gold for the longer term,” said Adrian Koh, an analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore. “Gold traded below $990 but went back up to settle above $1,000. It looks positive technically,” said Koh, referring to Friday’s choppy session. Gold bars remained at a discount of 50 cents in Tokyo, reflecting persistent sales from investors after gold regained $1,000. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:06 am Indian rupee extends rise on broad dollar weakness - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:04 am Economic growth, inflation to be as predicted: AhluwaliaIndia's economy will grow at 6.3 percent this fiscal as per prediction, while inflation would remain under 5 percent, according to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:01 am Altimo, Telenor end dispute with joint ventureMoscow: Norwegian telecom firm Telenor and Russia’s Altimo are to create a mobile operator to end a long-running feud over control of one of Russia’s main mobile service providers, the companies said on Monday. Telenor and Altimo will combine their common assets in VimpelCom and Kyivstar to create a new mobile operator, in a deal that means “resolution of all outstanding disputes” between the two firms, the companies said in a joint statement. “We have turned a five-year struggle into an exciting venture for the future,” Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president and chief executive of Telenor Group, said in the statement. Altimo is the telecoms arm of Alfa Group, one of Russia’s largest financial-industrial conglomerates, whose main shareholder is billionaire Mikhail Fridman. Telenor had been involved in a half-decade-long dispute with Alfa Group over control of Vimpelcom, Russia’s second largest mobile operator. Altimo and Telenor have now agreed to suspend all their ongoing legal proceedings and will move to withdraw or settle them before the deal is completed by mid-2010, the companies said. Under the deal, Telenor would receive 35.42% of voting shares in the new firm, while Altimo would get 43.89%. The new company will be called VimpelCom Ltd, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and incorporated in Bermuda. “The governance structure agreed for VimpelCom Ltd is designed to significantly reduce the potential for new disputes between the shareholders,” the companies said. The five-year battle saw numerous proceedings in the Russian court system which raised concerns about the business climate for foreign firms working in Russia. In June, Russian authorities ordered the sale of almost all of the 30 percent stake owned by Telenor in Vimpelcom, after seizing the Norwegian firm’s stake in a legal row. Alfa owns 44% of Vimpelcom. In a separate statement, Vimpelcom welcomed the deal, saying it would strength its global position. Kyivstar is the biggest mobile operator in Ukraine, in which Telenor has 56.52% and Altimo 43.5%. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:01 am Altimo, Telenor end dispute with joint ventureMoscow: Norwegian telecom firm Telenor and Russia’s Altimo are to create a mobile operator to end a long-running feud over control of one of Russia’s main mobile service providers, the companies said on Monday. Telenor and Altimo will combine their common assets in VimpelCom and Kyivstar to create a new mobile operator, in a deal that means “resolution of all outstanding disputes” between the two firms, the companies said in a joint statement. “We have turned a five-year struggle into an exciting venture for the future,” Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president and chief executive of Telenor Group, said in the statement. Altimo is the telecoms arm of Alfa Group, one of Russia’s largest financial-industrial conglomerates, whose main shareholder is billionaire Mikhail Fridman. Telenor had been involved in a half-decade-long dispute with Alfa Group over control of Vimpelcom, Russia’s second largest mobile operator. Altimo and Telenor have now agreed to suspend all their ongoing legal proceedings and will move to withdraw or settle them before the deal is completed by mid-2010, the companies said. Under the deal, Telenor would receive 35.42% of voting shares in the new firm, while Altimo would get 43.89%. The new company will be called VimpelCom Ltd, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and incorporated in Bermuda. “The governance structure agreed for VimpelCom Ltd is designed to significantly reduce the potential for new disputes between the shareholders,” the companies said. The five-year battle saw numerous proceedings in the Russian court system which raised concerns about the business climate for foreign firms working in Russia. In June, Russian authorities ordered the sale of almost all of the 30 percent stake owned by Telenor in Vimpelcom, after seizing the Norwegian firm’s stake in a legal row. Alfa owns 44% of Vimpelcom. In a separate statement, Vimpelcom welcomed the deal, saying it would strength its global position. Kyivstar is the biggest mobile operator in Ukraine, in which Telenor has 56.52% and Altimo 43.5%. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 3:01 am IBM unveils technology to help telcos analyse usage patternsNew Delhi: Technology giant IBM said on Monday it has launched two technologies that will enable telecom operators analyse usage patterns of their subscribers and accordingly design subscription plans. Social network analysis (SNA) technology, which has been developed at IBM’s India centre, will enable telecom operators analyse the calling patterns of its users and develop more attractive and useful subscriber plans. With more customer-friendly plans, telcos can reduce customer turnover and increase customer satisfaction, IBM said. “Mobile telephony is growing tremendously all over the world, especially in developing nations. The market is immensely competitive and companies are looking for tailored products to retain and attract customers and therefore, business intelligence through customer behaviour analysis is critical,” IBM India Research Lab director and chief technologist (IBM India/South Asia) Guruduth Banavar said. IBM Research (India), which leads IBM Research’s global mobile web initiatives, has been working on this technology for about two years now, he added. The other technology -- IBM Customer Analyst -- is under development by IBM’s lab in Israel. The technology focuses on understanding Internet users, particularly mobile telephone subscribers. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 2:50 am IBM unveils technology to help telcos analyse usage patternsNew Delhi: Technology giant IBM said on Monday it has launched two technologies that will enable telecom operators analyse usage patterns of their subscribers and accordingly design subscription plans. Social network analysis (SNA) technology, which has been developed at IBM’s India centre, will enable telecom operators analyse the calling patterns of its users and develop more attractive and useful subscriber plans. With more customer-friendly plans, telcos can reduce customer turnover and increase customer satisfaction, IBM said. “Mobile telephony is growing tremendously all over the world, especially in developing nations. The market is immensely competitive and companies are looking for tailored products to retain and attract customers and therefore, business intelligence through customer behaviour analysis is critical,” IBM India Research Lab director and chief technologist (IBM India/South Asia) Guruduth Banavar said. IBM Research (India), which leads IBM Research’s global mobile web initiatives, has been working on this technology for about two years now, he added. The other technology -- IBM Customer Analyst -- is under development by IBM’s lab in Israel. The technology focuses on understanding Internet users, particularly mobile telephone subscribers. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 2:50 am Canara Bank to have over 3,000 branches by MarchCanara Bank envisions joining the big league by March 2010, when it would have an estimated 3,000plus branches across the country, the Executive Director, Mr H.S. Upendra Kamath, said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Oct 2009 | 2:48 am Restructuring long-term positive for Grasim shareholders - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Oct 2009 | 2:40 am Essar Oil enters auto CNG, LPG businessPrivate sector oil major Essar Oil has tied up with Sabarmati Gas for auto CNG distribution in Gujarat.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Oct 2009 | 2:39 am CIL shortlists 10 companies for developing abandoned minesNew Delhi: State-run Coal India Ltd today said it has shortlisted 10 global companies, including steel giant ArcelorMittal, to develop its 18 abandoned mines, which have 1.6 billion tonnes of proven coal reserves. “We have shortlisted 10 global companies, including ArcelorMittal, to develop 18 difficult mines abandoned due to technical reasons in Jharkhand and West Bengal. These have 1.6 billion tonnes reserve of superior great coal, including 350 million tonnes of coking coal,” Coal India chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya told reporters on the sidelines of a summit here. He said that the production from these mines is likely to start by 2013-14. “Production from these mines will take three years from signing of contract. We are hopeful of signing contract with one or two companies in this financial year while the remaining will be signed next fiscal,” he said. Bhattacharyya said that clearance for signing of contracts is expected from the Coal Ministry soon. He said that the joint ventures with companies with a provision of giving 50 per cent coal to the joint venture partner is strictly not in line with the new coal policy. “New coal policy does not have a provision of joint venture partner picking up 50 per cent of coal and that is why the clearance is needed,” Bhattacharyya added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 2:38 am UltraTech board to consider merger proposal of Grasim cementMumbai: Aditya Birla group company UltraTech today said its board will meet tomorrow to consider a proposal from Samruddhi Cement to merge the cement business of group with itself. The group, which had acquired UltraTech from engineering giant L&T in 2004, had planned to hive-off Grasim cement into Samruddhi, a wholly owned subsidiary of Grasim Industries. The demerged entity would be listed and then merged with UltraTech. In a filing to the BSE, UltraTech Cement said it “has received a consolidation proposal from Samruddhi Cement Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Grasim Industries ....A meeting of the board of the company has been convened on 6 October to consider the aforesaid proposal.” Last week, Aditya Birla group company Grasim Industries said it would consolidate its cement businesses by merging Grasim cement with UltraTech, which together will have a capacity of 49 million tonnes per annum or 20% of the country’s cement production. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 2:33 am Chhattisgarh to add 50,000 MW thermal powerChhattisgarh has embarked on a plan to become a leading power producer in India, signing 61 deals with independent power producers (IPPs) to generate about 50,000 MW of electricity, an official said Monday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Oct 2009 | 2:30 am Private bank clients’ returns to slowSingapore: The rich in Asia should expect smaller annual returns in the next five years as the economic outlook remains challenging and the easy money has been made, Citigroup said on Monday. The US bank also said that while its private banking clients in Asia are not as risk-averse as they were at the end of last year, they continue to hold large amounts of cash and bonds and shun complex investment products. “There’s been a massive shift to simplicity,” Debashish Dutta Gupta told the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit in Singapore. Millionaires could see total annual returns to slow to 5-7% in the next five years from 8-10% in the past five years, he said. “Over the next five years, returns will be very challenging because broadly speaking growth rates will be much lower across global economies,” he said. Many wealthy investors suffered heavily when financial markets slumped in 2008. According to Capgemini and Merrill Lynch’s annual global wealth management report, the number of high net-worth individuals fell 15% last year, while their total worth declined by a fifth. Many rich investors also shifted their assets from riskier hedge funds and stocks to bonds and cash as well as moved their money closer to their home markets, the report said. Dutta Gupta said Citigroup private banking clients in Asia held, on average, about 20% of their assets in cash and another 30% in fixed income. About 40% of their assets were in equity, down sharply from the middle of 2007 when clients had about 70% exposure to equity through direct investments, funds and derivatives. “There’s still a large amount of liquidity on the sidelines,” he said. Dutta Gupta said clients have begun investing in hedge funds but were selecting large hedge fund managers with strong track records, and smaller funds were still having trouble raising money. As for structured products, “there’s been a massive shift to transparency,” he said. Dutta Gupta said the bull run in stock markets since early March appeared to be over and he is advising clients to be selective and buy stocks on dips. “Our big theme continues to be relatively overweight US and select Asian countries like Taiwan. We are neutral to underweight in other markets like India,” he said. Citigroup is also cautious on Asian residential property, particularly in Singapore following the strong run-up this year. “Property is another risk asset. It’s also a leveraged asset and less liquid... Given the speed of the recovery in the main markets of Hong Kong and Singapore, it has made us very cautious.” Singapore, he added, was riskier than Hong Kong because of the upcoming supply of new apartments in the next few years. Citi is the second-largest wealth manager in Asia-Pacific, according to research firm Calamander. The US bank says it has more than 500,000 priority banking clients and over 6,000 private banking clients, and that its clients include over one-third of the billionaires in Asia excluding Japan. Citigroup’s private banking clients have investments of $10 million and above, which makes them wealthier than the people surveyed in the Capgemeni-Merrill report which defined high net-worth individuals as people with more than $1 million in investible assets. Dutta Gupta, who was with Lehman Brothers in London at the time of the collapse of the US bank, said his personal portfolio is up 15% as he bulked up bonds earlier this year and only recently bought US and Chinese stocks. “The day Lehman happened I sold everything. I didn’t know what the future was holding for me. In hindsight that turned out to be a good decision because markets went much lower and things turned really ugly.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 1:15 am Salman Khursheed warns firms on "vulgar" top payNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The corporate affairs minister has warned firms against paying huge salaries to top company brass and said the government would keep a watch on executive compensation.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Oct 2009 | 1:02 am Grasim board meets Tuesday to consolidate cement businessThe board of UltraTech Cement will meet Tuesday to take a call on the proposal to consolidate all cement units and divisions of the Aditya Birla group into one entity, named Samruddhi.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 Oct 2009 | 1:01 am Stocks to watch: Grasim, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:49 am Recovery concerns weigh on Asia stocksSingapore: Asian stocks fell to a three-week low on Monday as soft US jobs data heightened investor caution ahead of the third-quarter corporate results season, while speculation of an early interest rate hike boosted the Australian dollar. The US dollar lost ground, drawing scant support from a weekend meeting of G-7 ministers, and crude oil prices held below $70 a barrel as the weak data showed the pace and scope of economic recovery remained uncertain. US employers cut 263,000 jobs in September, more than in August and the 21st straight monthly decline, Labour Department data on Friday showed. European shares, which ended at a four-week closing low on Friday after the US data, were set for a largely steady start on Monday, helped by a survey showing British finance firms reported their first growth spell in two years in the last quarter. Investors, banking on a solid bounce from the world’s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, had pushed MSCI’s All Country World index to a 12-month high earlier this month, up as much as 70% from its March low. “While the (US jobs) data was bad and optimism about the US economy may have receded, I do not think market players think that this means that the outlook for the US economy is ruined,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro, supervisor at Okasan Securities’ investment strategy department in Japan. “I think it just means market sentiment has returned to neutral for the time being,” Ishiguro added. Investors were also wary ahead of the start of the third-quarter corporate earnings season, which kicks off in the United States this week. Cost cutting helped second-quarter results largely beat expectations, but analysts are now looking for more sustainable signs of improving revenues. Tokyo’s Nikkei average ended down 0.6% at its lowest close in 11 weeks, with exporters leading declines on worries about US demand. MSCI’s index of stocks elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific fell 0.4% by 11:35am, touching its lowest since 16 September. South Korea stocks fared worst, sliding 2.2%, while Taiwan outperformed, rising 0.1%. Shanghai markets were closed for a holiday. With growing jobless numbers putting further pressure on consumer spending, US interest rates were expected to remain low for the foreseeable future, weighing on the US dollar. In contrast, the Australian dollar rose ahead of a meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday after two influential columnists wrote that there was a real chance of an interest rate rise this week, sooner than many have been expecting. “We don’t see the urgency for a move and still think they’ll wait, but it sounds like it could be a close call,” said Annette Beacher, a senior strategist at TD Securities in Singapore. The Aussie traded around $0.8740, recouping most of Friday’s sharp losses. The dollar index, a measure of its performance against six major currencies, fell 0.3%, while the euro climbed to $1.4634 after ending at around $1.4575 on Friday. The greenback, down 14% from its March high, got no fresh support from the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers. After a weekend meeting in Istanbul, they broke no new ground on currencies, urging China to strengthen the yuan to help correct global imbalances and saying too much foreign exchange volatility tended to threaten economic stability. Commodity markets tracked equities, as they have for much of the year. “The market is cautious after the poor US jobs data on Friday. But the overall trend of an economic recovery hasn’t changed and I think investors are using such weaker-than-expected data as an opportunity to take profits,” said Ben Westmore, a commodities analyst at the National Bank of Australia. US light sweet crude was 5 cents weaker at $69.90, while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose $16 to $5,895 a tonne, bouncing from a two-month low on the back of a weaker dollar. Doubts about economic recovery and profit-taking on riskier assets has boosted government bonds in recent sessions but looming supplies in the United States and Japan stalled the advance on Monday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:28 am ArcelorMittal may drop Jharkhand, Orissa plans, looks elsewhere in IndiaLondon: World’s largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal may pull out of its $20 billion plan to build steel plants in Indian states of Jharkhand and Orissa, due to delays in land acquisition process, and look elsewhere in the country for the projects, its chief Lakshmi Mittal has said. “If we cannot make progress in these two sites we will have to abandon the idea of starting the projects there and look for other places in India for our expansion,” ArcelorMittal chairman and CEO Mittal told British daily Financial Times. The newspaper quoted Mittal as saying that the delays in persuading farmers and others to sell the land required for building the plants were “unacceptable” to the company. Though the preparatory work has been under way for two years, the financial effect of abandoning the plants would be “negligible” since no land had so far been acquired and no building work has been done, Mittal added. ArcelorMiital, which last month striked a deal to acquire 35% stake in Indian steel firm Uttam Galva as a co-promoter, had proposed to set up two large steel plants with capacity of 12 million tonnes a year in Jharkhand and Orissa. Mittal told FT that the people in India had to be “educated” into supporting gradual industrialisation, including the need to build new steel plants on agricultural land. “Although Mittal said he was still committed to building at least one steel plant in India, abandoning his plan to have two sites producing between them about 24 million tonnes of steel a year by around 2015 would be a big blow,” the newspaper said. The decision to abandon the said plants would delay by several years Mittal’s plans to have a sizeable presence in India. Mittal, whose company has been working on its planned Indian plants for more than two years, thinks that by 2020 India will be making four times as much steel as it does now. An ArcelorMittal spokesperson, last week, said that the company would look out for opportunities to expand its operational presence in India. At the same time, the steel giant, which has been created through a slew of takeovers, is also gearing up to re-examine selected M&A opportunities. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:14 am IT to generate 5.8 million new jobs by 2013San Francisco: Information technology will be an employment machine, generating 5.8 million new jobs in the coming four years, according to International Data Corporation (IDC) research released Sunday. IDC predicts that the IT industry will be an engine powering economies out of economic doldrums, creating more that 75,000 new businesses in the next four years and adding jobs at a rate of 3% annually. “Countries that foster innovation and invest in infrastructure, education and skills development for their citizens will have a major competitive advantage in the global marketplace,” said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer. “In this fundamental economic reset, innovative technologies will play a vital role in driving productivity gains and enabling the creation of new local businesses and highly skilled jobs that fuel economic recovery and support sustainable economic growth.” US software colossus Microsoft sponsored the IDC research into the impact of IT in 52 countries that represent 98% of the global IT spending. “IT spending growth is a good sign as we come out of the recession,” Microsoft corporate affairs communications manager Scott Selby said. Employment growth in IT related jobs will be three times that of overall job growth in what Selby said is a “good driver of economic growth.” While the world has been in the gripes of a recession, it has also been in the midst of a “technology renaissance” flush with advances in software, devices, and Internet-based services, according to IDC. IDC expects IT spending in the countries studied to grow at slightly more than three percent annually, three times as fast as the gross domestic products between now and the year 2013. In what is good news for software powerhouse Microsoft, spending on software is predicted to grow faster than overall IT spending, rising 4.8% annually. “Software is a driving force behind this IT growth,” Selby said. “IT allows us to do more with less.” New technologies are also ushering in a new “cloud computing” paradigm in which applications are provided online as services instead of as software bought and installed on home or office machines, according to IDC. Money saved by using software as needed “in the cloud” instead of buying, maintaining, and updating applications will likely be devoted to bringing new products or services to market faster and cheaper, according to Selby. IDC estimates that cloud services could add $800 billion in net new business revenues between the end of 2009 and the end of 2013. “Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen transformative power in how investments in IT innovations foster economic growth,” said Robert D. Atkinson, founder of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington DC. “Continued innovation and investment in information technology will help jump-start recovery from the current recession and will significantly contribute to the growth of employment and new businesses.” Emerging markets will reap the greatest economic gains from IT, according to Selby. “Emerging markets are really going to take advantage of IT for years to come,” Selby said. “One reason is they will be able to leapfrog and enjoy benefits of innovations like cloud computing much more quickly.” Microsoft played up the prime role its software is playing in IT systems worldwide. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:13 am IT to generate 5.8 million new jobs by 2013San Francisco: Information technology will be an employment machine, generating 5.8 million new jobs in the coming four years, according to International Data Corporation (IDC) research released Sunday. IDC predicts that the IT industry will be an engine powering economies out of economic doldrums, creating more that 75,000 new businesses in the next four years and adding jobs at a rate of 3% annually. “Countries that foster innovation and invest in infrastructure, education and skills development for their citizens will have a major competitive advantage in the global marketplace,” said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer. “In this fundamental economic reset, innovative technologies will play a vital role in driving productivity gains and enabling the creation of new local businesses and highly skilled jobs that fuel economic recovery and support sustainable economic growth.” US software colossus Microsoft sponsored the IDC research into the impact of IT in 52 countries that represent 98% of the global IT spending. “IT spending growth is a good sign as we come out of the recession,” Microsoft corporate affairs communications manager Scott Selby said. Employment growth in IT related jobs will be three times that of overall job growth in what Selby said is a “good driver of economic growth.” While the world has been in the gripes of a recession, it has also been in the midst of a “technology renaissance” flush with advances in software, devices, and Internet-based services, according to IDC. IDC expects IT spending in the countries studied to grow at slightly more than three percent annually, three times as fast as the gross domestic products between now and the year 2013. In what is good news for software powerhouse Microsoft, spending on software is predicted to grow faster than overall IT spending, rising 4.8% annually. “Software is a driving force behind this IT growth,” Selby said. “IT allows us to do more with less.” New technologies are also ushering in a new “cloud computing” paradigm in which applications are provided online as services instead of as software bought and installed on home or office machines, according to IDC. Money saved by using software as needed “in the cloud” instead of buying, maintaining, and updating applications will likely be devoted to bringing new products or services to market faster and cheaper, according to Selby. IDC estimates that cloud services could add $800 billion in net new business revenues between the end of 2009 and the end of 2013. “Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen transformative power in how investments in IT innovations foster economic growth,” said Robert D. Atkinson, founder of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington DC. “Continued innovation and investment in information technology will help jump-start recovery from the current recession and will significantly contribute to the growth of employment and new businesses.” Emerging markets will reap the greatest economic gains from IT, according to Selby. “Emerging markets are really going to take advantage of IT for years to come,” Selby said. “One reason is they will be able to leapfrog and enjoy benefits of innovations like cloud computing much more quickly.” Microsoft played up the prime role its software is playing in IT systems worldwide. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:13 am Highways Ministry analysing impact of new tax codeThe Road Transport and Highways Ministry has started discussing the implications of the proposed new Direct Taxes Code on the road construction industry, with various stakeholders including State governments, Finance Ministry and highwaySource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Banking funds outperform SensexIf you had to pick a sector to bet on just after the Lehman Brothers collapse in September 2008, you might not have chosen the banking sector.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideThe analysis and opinion expressed in these columns are based on the technical analysis of the past price behaviour. The stop-loss level provided with the recommendation is important. The original view would stand negated if the stop-loss levelSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Joint development of Ambe, North Tapti gas fields likelyNew Delhi, Oct. 4 Cairn India, along with its partners ONGC and Tata Petrodyne, may get to develop the discovered Ambe field in Cambay Basin along with ONGC’s North Tapti fields.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Venus Remedies (Rs 240.6): SellWe recommend a sell in the stock of Venus Remedies from a short-term perspective. It is perceptible from the charts of the stock that it was on an intermediate-term uptrend between April and early September, from Rs 145 to Rs 312. EncounteringSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am US-bound transactions by companies down in 2009Kolkata, Oct. 4 US-bound transactions from India have dropped significantly this year over the previous year, according to a report by Virtus Global Partners, USA, and ICRA Management Consulting Services Ltd (IMaCS).Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Listed PSU stocks can help pay off close to 50% of Govt debtThe rise in the share prices of public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the current year can help the Central Government pay off close to a fifth of its debt, an analysis of the trend in share price movements in PSU stocks relative to theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Saint-Gobain’s Rajasthan plant will be delayed by a yearChennai, Oct. 4 Saint-Gobain Glass India’s new float glass plant in Rajasthan, which was to have gone on stream in the first quarter of 2010, will now come up a yearSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Correction could be around the cornerThere is a possibility of correction in Dalal Street in the short term. Word is doing the rounds that the market is looking for an excuse to correct by5 to 10 per cent. There is a consensus of sorts that the market is reasonablySource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Inflation concerns may drive gold prices upThere is a growing confidence in global business circles that the worst may be over as far as recession is concerned. One of the indicators is that commodity prices have been looking up in recent months. The positive relationship between globalSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Fresh attack in Oz on IndiansMelbourne: In a fresh incident against Indians, a group of Australians racially abused community members coming out from a Kabaddi match and damaged their car, prompting them to retaliate. The incident took place at a carpark outside Meadowglen International Athletics Stadium in Epping when a local skateboarder damaged the rear window of a car belonging to an Indian. The skateboarder also used abusive language against some Indians who were leaving the stadium where a Kabaddi match had ended last night. “Associates of the person, whose car was damaged, came to his assistance. Two men were assaulted and hit with sticks in the brawl. These two injured men were from the group outside who had allegedly started to verbally abuse the people from the vehicle,” police said in a statement. The two Australians — aged 25 and 42 — were taken to Northern Hospital with minor injuries, they said. However, no arrests have been made and the incident was being investigated, police told PTI. Around 30 Indian students were attacked in various cities from June to August. Last month, three Indians were “brutally bashed” by a group of around 70 youth while playing here. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Oct 2009 | 11:49 pm Morning: Markets shed 1%; Grasim slides on spin off planMumbai: Indian shares shed more than 1% on Monday as investors paused for breath after climbing to their highest close in 16 months last week, with weak US jobs data denting sentiment across Asia. Shares in diversified Grasim Industries slid nearly 8%, before paring losses after it decided on the weekend to spin off its cement business and said it planned to consolidate the group’s cement business within 8 to 10 months. Heavyweights energy major Reliance Industries, State Bank of India and Bharti Airtel also trailed as investor sentiment turned cautious ahead of quarterly results due from later this week. “Today is a case of global weakness. At the same time, people are turning cautious as far as results are concerned, since we have already seen two quarters of good growth,” said Ambareesh Baliga, vice president at Karvy Stock Broking. “Quarter-on-quarter, we could fall short on expectations.” By 11:23am, the 30-share BSE index was down 0.98% at 16,967.36 points, with 24 stocks declining. The benchmark has more than doubled from a 2009 low in early March and is up 76% this year, boosted by foreign portfolio inflows of more than $12 billion in that period. The 50-share NSE index was down 0.89% at 5,037.95. “It will be healthy if the market corrects by a 1,000 points over the next couple of weeks,” said S.P. Tulsian, an independent investment analyst. Grasim was down 5.7% at Rs2,546 after falling as low as Rs2,492. Analysts said the Aditya Birla group’s consolidation of its cement business was expected, but they were disappointed by the lengthy process it was likely to involve. “They could have directly merged one into the other, it would have taken 3-4 months then. Instead, it will now take at least a year,” said Tulsian. Shares in UltraTech, a unit of Grasim whose board is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to consider the consolidation proposal, was down 1.3% at Rs838 after initially rising. Among other major stocks, Reliance Industries, which has most weight in the main index, fell 1.6% to Rs2,135.50. Largest lender State Bank of India shed 1.8% to Rs2,169, while ICICI Bank lost 1.2% to Rs913.20. Diversified ITC Ltd bucked the trend, rising 1.5% to Rs236, while outsourcers Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro added about 0.8% each. In the broader market, losers led gainers 1,351 to 917 on relatively light volume of 123.7 million shares. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Oct 2009 | 11:48 pm Sensex tanks 236 pts in opening trade on Asian cuesThe Sensex plunged by over 236 points to dip below 17,000 points level in opening trade today.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Oct 2009 | 11:48 pm BofA to select emergency CEO this week - WSJReuters - Bank of America Corp plans to select an emergency chief executive officer this week if legal issues force Ken Lewis to leave before year-end, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a person familiar with the situation.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Oct 2009 | 11:47 pm Bank of America to select emergency CEOBank of America Corp plans to select an emergency chief executive officer this week if legal issues force Ken Lewis to leave before year-end, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a person familiar with the situation. The banking company began working on its contingency plan began before Lewis announced his retirement, the person told the paper. The person said a five-person board committee led by the bank’s chairman Walter Massey, which was formed earlier this year to respond to concerns raised by US banking regulators, is leading the process. The board committee plans to submit its choice to the bank’s full board for approval, the person told the paper, adding that the regulators would be approached next. The contingency plan would then be halted until needed, the Journal said, citing the person. Bank of America could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters outside regular US business hours. Last week, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank, created a six-member committee to find a new CEO, after Lewis announced he would leave by year-end in the wake of criticism from prosecutors, politicians and some investors. The committee led by Massey is separate from the one that was formed last week to find a new CEO, according to the paper. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Oct 2009 | 11:21 pm Motorola to launch 7 new phones in next 3 monthsNew Delhi: In a bid to garner a bigger pie in the world’s fastest growing cellular telephony market, US-based handset maker Motorola on Sunday said it will launch seven new handsets in the next three months in India. The new phones are in the low-end to mid segment in the price range of sub Rs3,500 and Rs8,000. Six of these are in Motorola’s Yuva series, considered as entry level phones. “The ZN 300 and the MotoYuva WX generation were created in response to the need to stay connected and the variety of ways in which we do it today. The result is seven handsets with a range of features that provide an option affordable to everyone,” Motorola India Country head (Mobile Devices) Faisal Siddiqui said in a statement. The launch of new phones has been timed in tandem with the festival season ahead. Motorola has also introduced video editing features on the ZN 300 for the first time. Equipped with a 3.1 megapixel (MP) camera and LED flash, it enables the user to edit videos, add customisable or preloaded transitions and sound effects over the handset. India is witnessing the highest addition of new mobile subscribers month after month and this provides a lot of room to handset makers to innovate and come out with new handsets. Most of these phones have expandable memory of up to 2GB. Motorola is one of the country’s largest handset makers with a manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Oct 2009 | 11:03 pm Sensex opens weak, slips 0.89 percent in early tradeA key Indian equities market index opened weak Monday and fell 1.11 percent from its previous closing figure, about 15 minutes into trade.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Oct 2009 | 11:00 pm Rupee rises by 17 paise to $47.57 in opening tradeThe Indian rupee today strengthened by 17 paise to almost a two-month high of 47.57 against the US currency, following dollar's weakness against other currencies.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Oct 2009 | 10:53 pm PowerGrid to partner West Asian firms to bid for overseas contractsNew Delhi: State-owned electricity transmission company Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd (PGCIL) will jointly bid for contracts in West Asia and North Africa along with Qatar’s Venture Gulf Group (VGG) and Kuwait’s Real Estate Construction and Fabrication Co. (Recafco). A PGCIL delegation will be leaving for West Asia shortly to sign memoranda of understanding, or in-principle agreements, with the two firms, which are engaged in civil engineering and construction, on 7 October and 8 October respectively. S.K. Chaturvedi, chairman and managing director of PGCIL, confirmed the development. “We will be signing the MoUs shortly and will quote (bid) together in those geographies,” he said. “In order to get projects in those economies, having a local partner is a must. We will execute the contracts on a partnership basis for which the percentage share will be decided later. PGCIL will provide supervision, engineering support and technology and project management skills for the contracts.” Questions emailed to VGG and Recafco on Friday remained unanswered at press time on Sunday. PGCIL’s plans are part of a larger strategy aimed at establishing its foreign presence. It has had global aspirations for some time, but hasn’t been able to make much headway and is looking at entering Africa, Central Asia and West Asia. The company is also pursuing projects in Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar for engineering and consulting contracts. PGCIL is also looking aggressively to expand its overseas footprint as the planned separation of key power management functions will leave it with only the task of setting up transmission links. “We are also willing to take equity stake in projects, where it involves setting up a transmission link and maintaining it. We are open to all options across concept to commissioning contracts,” said another senior PGCIL executive, who did not wish to be identified. PGCIL posted a net profit of Rs1,691 crore on revenue of Rs7,029 crore in 2008-09. Of this, consultancy accounted for around Rs125 crore. The state-owned company has set for itself a target of achieving 5% of revenue through consultancy work. “Qatar is an extremely progressive country, which has seen the successful completion of several dynamic projects, particularly in the past decade and a half since its economy opened up. Similarly, Kuwait too, though on a different scale and complexion vis a vis Qatar, has been open to attractive forward-looking business ventures,” said Monish Chatrath, executive director at consultancy Mazars India. The two nations “provide attractive business opportunities, despite the current relatively depressed global business environment. The laws in these countries require a certain degree of involvement of locals, who can and generally do, play an active support role in establishing and conducting businesses with overseas partners in these countries,” Chatrath said. PGCIL also plans to set up a subsidiary along the lines of ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of oil and gas explorer and producer Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd, as reported by Mint on 9 February. PGCIL operates around 71,500 circuit km of transmission lines and 120 substations. While India has an inter-regional power transfer capacity of 20,800MW, PGCIL plans to increase it to 37,000MW by 2012. The public sector unit has a capital expenditure plan of Rs55,000 crore for the 11th Plan (2007-12). Of this, Rs16,500 crore has already been spent. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Oct 2009 | 10:24 pm HSBC to delay expansion on fears of second slump: reportHong Kong: HSBC head Michael Geoghegan plans to delay any rush to expand the bank because of concerns there will be a second economic downturn in the coming months, a report said Monday. “Is this a V recovery or a W?” the HSBC chief executive officer said in an interview with the Financial Times. “(I think) it’s the latter. (If I’m right), we have to be very careful we don’t grow the balance sheet so far before the recovery has come only to write it back into the impairment line later on. I’m cautious about growing too fast.” His comments come after HSBC recently highlighted its ambitions for expansion in Asia by announcing that Geoghegan would move from London to Hong Kong. The lender is expanding its branches in China and has expressed interest in a public listing in Shanghai. Geoghegan was also bearish on the outlook for bank earnings. “I’m not as convinced we’re through the worst as others are. The reality is that profits will be quite reduced,” he said. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 4 Oct 2009 | 10:09 pm Scientists develop rice that requires no cookingIndian scientists claim to have developed a rice variety that requires no cooking, only soaking in water.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Oct 2009 | 10:00 pm Oil steadies near $70 on sluggish demandPerth: Oil was little changed at just below $70 on Monday, pausing from the previous session’s losses, as concerns about a halting US economic recovery and sluggish energy demand continued to cast a pall on crude prices. Oil prices fell more than 1% on Friday as doubts over an economic recovery resurfaced after data showed the US unemployment rate had soared to a 26-year high. US crude for November delivery dipped 3 cents to $69.92 a barrel by 7:56am. The contract settled down 87 cents at $69.95 a barrel on Friday. London Brent crude inched down 2 cents to $68.09. “The market is cautious after the poor US jobs data on Friday. But the overall trend of an economic recovery hasn’t changed and I think investors are using such weaker-than-expected data as an opportunity to take profits,” said Ben Westmore, a commodities analyst at the National Bank of Australia. US employers cut a deeper-than-expected 263,000 jobs in September, lifting the unemployment rate to 9.8%, the highest since June 1983. The Labour Department said payrolls had now dropped for 21 consecutive months. Analysts said a further decline in the US dollar could lift oil prices, while all eyes will be the US manufacturing data for September due later on Monday. The US service sector is thought to have been on the verge of growth in September after 11 months of contraction, according to a Reuters’ poll of economists. The US dollar index fell 0.28% against a basket of currencies to 76.79 points on Monday, amid expectations that US interest rates will stay near zero for some time. With a thin economic calendar in the United States, the oil price is likely to take its cue from equities markets, leading some analysts to caution that it could hit more speed bumps this week if the start of the third-quarter earnings season provides little evidence the economic recovery is gaining strength. Oil gained nearly 6% last week, largely bolstered by a US government report mid-week showing a surprise drop in gasoline inventories as well as tensions between key oil exporter Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear programme. However, analysts said, crude prices are likely to lose some support from geopolitical tensions, after Iran and the US described recent talks as productive, with Iran allowing inspectors from United Nations into a uranium enrichment plant. Still, crude prices are still trading in the $65-$75 range of seen over the past two months and some analysts said prices are unlikely to break out of the $75 mark until energy demand worldwide start to show more convincing signs of a rebound. The amount of crude oil held at sea on tankers is likely to fall as consumption grows in the fourth quarter, the chief executive of the world’s biggest independent oil tanker group Frontline said on Friday. Money managers cut net long crude oil positions on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the week to 29 September, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a report on Friday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Oct 2009 | 9:02 pm Punjab beats slowdown with luxury cars - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Oct 2009 | 7:43 pm Air India comes to face with harsh realities - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm Triple play will cement Grasim turf, add valuePlan to demerge business, list it and then merge it with UltraTech offers several benefits.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Oct 2009 | 3:23 pm Agri prices likely to rise on flood situation, tsunami in Southeast AsiaLower turnover seen this week due to festival season and decline in values.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Oct 2009 | 3:21 pm L&T defers tech SEZ plansWill also go slow on residential projects to mitigate risk.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Oct 2009 | 3:20 pm Realty, auto stocks near bottomThe increase in trading interest was evident from the churn, with profits being booked in outperforming sectors like realty, auto, cement and infrastructure.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Oct 2009 | 3:16 pm 'Gift' packs a punch for FMCG playersNew products, extra-grammage and discounts should help boost offtake this festival season.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Oct 2009 | 3:14 pm Bearishness seen as 4 planets change signsRare occurrence does not bode well for the markets.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Oct 2009 | 3:13 pm Essar Oil forays into auto gas retailingThe first rollout will be in the form of auto LPG stations by the year-end.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Oct 2009 | 3:10 pm PMK quits AIADMK-led alliance in Tamil NaduThe Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) today decided to exit from the AIADMK-led Opposition alliance in Tamil Nadu. The party, led by its founder S Ramadoss, also father of former Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss, had jumped from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance to the AIADMK once before this Mays Lok Sabha election.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Oct 2009 | 1:02 pm Fixed-rate home loans are historyWith interest rates close to bottoming out, Amit Pandey, a young executive with a multinational firm, is looking for a fixed-rate home loan. But he is unable to do so in a market flooded with combo offers.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Oct 2009 | 12:34 pm A year on, Singur picks up the piecesIt's an anniversary Singur would like to forget. On October 3 last year, Tata Motors pulled the massive Nano car project out of Bengal, leaving behind the rubble of dashed hopes and falling real estate prices.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Oct 2009 | 12:32 pm
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