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CBI looking into RNRL claims against DGH: SourcesOil Ministry sources have confirmed that the CBI was looking into Reliance Natraural resources Limiteds (RNRL) allegations against the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Oct 2009 | 8:15 am Godrej Ind to set up SPV Vikhroli Property in MumbaiGodrej Industries is going to set up SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) to develop Vikhroli Property in Mumbai, reports CNBCTV18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Oct 2009 | 7:40 am Open offer row: CEO says Zenotech at Rs 160 \'is a steal\'SAT has ruled in the favour of the Zenotech minority shareholders in the ongoing feud between Zenotech Labs and Daiichi Sankyo. SAT has told Daiichi Sankyo to make the open offer at Rs 160 a share. The Zenotech CEO said the deal was still \"a steal at Rs 160 per share\".Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Oct 2009 | 7:21 am RBI may raise interest rates by 50 bps in Q4: Deepak ParekhOn the sidelines of the Private Equity International India Forum 2009, Deepak Parekh of HDFC, said, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would likely raise interest rates by 50 basis points in the fourth quarter. The banking system, according to him, could invest far more but was constrained by RBI limits.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:59 am RIL asks SC to place RNRL\'s listing documents on recordReliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has filed a petition today in the Supreme Court asking for RNRL\'s GDR listing documents to be placed on record.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:49 am Violence racks protests against IMF in Istanbul!Police used water cannons, tear gas, and pepper spray on Tuesday to disperse hundreds of demonstrators protesting against the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, held in Istanbul.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:34 am Gold eases from record high, but sentiment stays bullish!Gold eased from record highs on Wednesday as investors took profits, but sentiment remained bullish and a fresh record was within sight as the dollar`s weakness and inflation concerns reinforced bullion`s appeal as a hedge.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:34 am Sensex surges 162 pts, regains 17k level!The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex on Wednesday shot up by over 162 points to regain 17,000 points mark in opening trade.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:34 am FDIC sells stake in Corus Bank assets !The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has agreed to sell a 40 percent stake in a portfolio of Corus Bank assets for USD 554.4 million to a private-equity consortium led by Starwood Capital Group.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:34 am `Asia becoming the new centre of global economy`!With the Asian economies doing relatively well even in the times of global recession, HSBC chairman Stephen Green termed Asia as the new focal point of global economy.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:34 am US still seen in recession, may last until 2010: Survey!US finance executives believe the American economy is still in recession, despite signs growth may have resumed in the third quarter, a survey showed on Tuesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:34 am RBS may outsource $2 bln projects to India: Report!Royal Bank of Scotland may outsource up to USD 2 billion worth of back office and application development projects over five years to Indian outsourcers.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:34 am Fannie, Freddie plan to aid mortgage banks: Report!US government-controlled mortgage finance companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are working on a programme to help independent mortgage banks get access to short-term credit needed to make home loans, a report said.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:34 am US panel to hear hybrid patent case against Toyota!A US trade panel that hears patent disputes said it would investigate allegations that Toyota Motor Corp, the world`s largest automaker, infringed patented technology to make its popular hybrid vehicles.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:34 am Boeing to take $1 bn charge on 747 production costs!Boeing Co, its reputation tarnished by the troubled 787 Dreamliner programme, said Tuesday that it would delay the first flight and delivery of its 747-8 Freighter and take a USD 1 billion charge because of high production costs.Source: Zee News : Business | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:34 am Aban Offshore may raise Rs 20002500cr via QIPAban Offshore is looking to raise between Rs 2,0002,500 crore via the qualified institutional placement (QIP) route. The companys QIP is likely to open in November, learns CNBCTV18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Oct 2009 | 6:29 am Tata Steel Q2 total sales up 19% to 14.56 tonnesTata Steel has announced its sales numbers for Q2FY10 and H1FY10. Its total sales went up 19% to 14.56 tonnes in Q2 and up 21% to 28.75 tonnes in H1.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Oct 2009 | 5:35 am Finally, airline companies may post improved earningsLow fares had stimulated traffic growth and airline companies may post improved earnings ahead because of increased passenger traffic numbers, says Sanjay Agarwal, CEO of Spicejet.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Oct 2009 | 5:30 am Maytas Infra may bag Rs 1000cr orderThe companys current order book was of Rs 7,500 crore and it could bag Rs 1,000 crore order soon, says Ved Jain, Government Nominated Director of Maytas Infra.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Oct 2009 | 5:15 am Omnitech to raise USD 50mn for capex, buyoutsAtul Hemani of Omnitech Info Solutions says that the company is enabling a resolution to raise USD 50 million for capital expansion (capex) and acquisitions. \"Omnitech is exploring various options for fund raising.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Oct 2009 | 5:09 am Nifty ends below 5000 on profit booking - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Oct 2009 | 4:34 am Govt to take considerate view of per-sec billing model: Pilot - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Oct 2009 | 4:19 am Reliance Cap eyes strategic investor for life unitMUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Capital, which is planning an IPO for its life insurance business, intends to bring in a strategic investor ahead of its listing, the company's chief executive told Reuters on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Oct 2009 | 4:15 am BSE Sensex provisionally closes down 1 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex erased early gains and provisionally ended down 1 percent on Wednesday, as a rising rupee hurt export-oriented outsourcers such as Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Oct 2009 | 4:12 am Gold spike gives Asian consumers pause, not feverSydney / Mumbai: Gold consumers across Asia greeted bullion’s run to a record high cautiously on Wednesday, with a few moving to cash in gains but the majority opting to wait for the rest of a rally they believe has only just begun. In contrast to a second day of busy trade on global gold markets, the scene at shops and jewellery merchants from Sydney to Hong Kong to Mumbai was marked by a distinct lack of occasion, suggesting that the wave of retail scrap selling that greeted gold’s record run in March 2008 may not be quick to recur. “Today’s been like any other day,” said David Carr, of KJC Coins Australia in Sydney, which deals in precious metal coins and bars. “No one’s coming in to sell gold because the price jumped overnight, it’s more wait and see, business as usual.” The Australian outback gold mining town of Kalgoorlie, home to a nearly Times Square-sized electronic ticker tape broadcasting up-to-the-minute bullion prices, also was quiet. “There’s nothing going on that’s out of the ordinary,” said John Horner, editor of the Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper. Profit taking -- read selling -- replaced gold purchases that in New York and across Europe on Tuesday had swept spot bullion more than $10 above its previous March 2008 peak, and carried through on Wednesday to a record $1,048.20 an ounce. The issue of scrap supply in the gold market -- generated largely from the resale of jewellery to merchants -- has taken on greater importance in recent years, as the advent of physically backed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) attracts new investors. The biggest such fund now holds more than 1,000 tonnes of gold, equivalent to the world’s fifth-largest central bank, and analysts had said that only the flow of scrap material into the market had prevented gold from soaring much sooner, much higher. While there was some evidence of retail sales, it wasn’t overwhelming. “It is simple, buy low and sell high -- I am making a 10% profit already so I am selling,” said Nguyen Duc Hung while waiting to sell five taels of gold at a shop on Hanoi’s Ha Trung street. Vietnam is Asia’s second-biggest gold buyer. To date, there have been no reports of gold hoarders burying stashes in secret spots as was the case in 1980, when gold zoomed above $800 an ounce for the first time, or about double today’s level when adjusted for inflation. “Both buyers and sellers are coming to the shop today, they are more or less evenly balanced,” said Osamu Ikeda, general manager at Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo, Japan’s top bullion retailer. Rival Tokuriki Honten Co. Ltd. saw a similar scene. “There are no queues outside our shops,” said general manager Fumio Yamamoto. “For the Japanese, the (yen-based) price is too high to buy, but too low to sell.” Dollar Effect One of the biggest reasons Asian consumers may not be rushing to sell is that gold’s record high is limited to those trading in the US dollar, whose steady decline since March has been the biggest factor in bullion’s rise. In the Australian dollar, gold prices are down 20% since March; in the yen, they’re still far from their peaks. The next focus for the market will be India, where consumer demand typically peaks next week for the Dhanteras and Diwali festivals, and the strong rupee kept the local price of gold under the psychological level of Rs16,000 ($342) per 10 grams. “Buying was very strong in the last couple of weeks, but it has been affected now even though the rupee has given a good cap to local prices,” said Pinakin Vyas, assistant vice president, treasury at IndusInd Bank, a private bank in Mumbai that imports gold to sell to local traders and jewellers. “Investors will not buy at these levels though need-based buying from jewellers will continue. People will wait for some time and then come back to the market.” Amid speculation about the long-term prospects for the dollar, the outlook for inflation, the economic recovery and the fate of the financial system, some of the smaller players in the global gold story had a much simpler view. “The price is high and I don’t wear them,” said a 60-year-old Hong Kong housewife standing outside a downtown jewellery store, who only gave her surname of Fung, after selling a gold ring and a gold pandan purchased more than 20 years ago. “So I sold.” Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 4:05 am Investors may take shine to silver after gold highSINGAPORE (Reuters) - With gold at last piercing a new high, investors may next turn their attention to silver, which now looks overdue for a rally even as it and other metals remain constrained by a halting global industrial recovery.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Oct 2009 | 3:53 am What's on new TCS CEO's agenda - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Oct 2009 | 3:45 am Gold at new highs, world equities gainLONDON (Reuters) - Gold hit another record high on Wednesday as the dollar slipped and global stocks rose for the third day running, erasing their losses in October.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Oct 2009 | 3:44 am Google, Microsoft, Palm rev up smartphone raceSan Francisco: Google Inc, Microsoft Corp and Palm Inc stepped up efforts to bolster their smartphone line-ups, as the tech industry’s key players increasingly move to challenge Apple Inc’s popular iPhone. In a flurry of announcements on Tuesday ahead of the holiday shopping season, the companies introduced new phones, wireless carrier partnerships and efforts to boost the availability of new applications for the phones. The moves underscore the extent to which the smartphone market has emerged as a prime battleground encompassing a variety of technology businesses and one of the few markets experiencing rapid growth in a rough economic environment. “Everyone wants to build up and bolster their smartphone portfolio, because that’s what drives more dollars for the carrier and that’s where the market is going,” said Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton. Google, the world’s largest Internet search company, said it was teaming up with Verizon Wireless to co-develop multiple phones based on its Android operating system. They plan to bring two phones to market this year, and Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said the partnership could result in the introduction of multiple devices per year going forward. The partnership with Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, is a boost for Google’s efforts to gain a foothold in the smartphone market. It caps a string of Android phone announcements, including Motorola Inc’s recent introduction of the Cliq phone and HTC’s Hero phone, slated for US release next week. Google does not charge a licensing fee for Android but hopes to benefit by serving highly targeted mobile ads to users. Microsoft, whose software is used in the majority of the world’s PCs, unveiled on Tuesday a new version of its smartphone software, Windows Mobile 6.5, and promised more than 30 new devices with the software would be available in more than 20 countries by year’s end. According to research firm IDC, smartphones running Microsoft software accounted for 11% of the worldwide market in the first half of 2009, compared to 11.7% share for Apple’s iPhone and 19.9% share for Research in Motion’s Blackberry. Nokia’s Symbian operating system had the largest share with 46.4% share. iPhone the one to beat But analysts say that Apple’s iPhone, despite its modest share of the market, is the product to beat. “It may not be reflected in the numbers, but everyone is playing catch-up” with Apple, said CL King analyst Lawrence Harris. In addition to the technological innovations ushered in by the iPhone, such as its multi-touch screen, Harris said that Apple is the clear leader when it comes to the software apps created by third-party developers to work with a smartphone. Apple has 85,000 apps available through its iPhone Apps store. “The fact that a particular app is available can help drive the purchasing decision,” said Harris. In a sign of how critical apps have become in the smartphone race, Microsoft also announced the launch of a new marketplace for Windows Mobile applications. And Palm announced it was making its “WebOS” smartphone software more open for outside developers to create applications. Google said there are more than 10,000 free and paid apps available for Android smartphones. Verizon Wireless and Google sought to play up the open nature of Android apps compared to the tight control that Apple exercises over its software. The first Android phones from Verizon Wireless will support the Google Voice software application, which allows consumers to make low-priced international calls and which Apple has yet to approve for its iPhone. “You either have an open device or not. This will be open and we expect to bring that application to market when we bring the first device out,” said Verizon’s McAdam, referring to Google Voice. Google has said that Apple rejected Google Voice, while Apple contends it is still evaluating the software, in a high-profile spat that has attracted the attention of the US Federal Communications Commission. On Tuesday, AT&T Inc, which has the exclusive rights to the iPhone in the US, said it will allow third-party Internet telephone calls to be on the iPhone using AT&T’s third generation network, reversing a previous position to ban such calls due to revenue concerns. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 3:38 am Google, Microsoft, Palm rev up smartphone raceSan Francisco: Google Inc, Microsoft Corp and Palm Inc stepped up efforts to bolster their smartphone line-ups, as the tech industry’s key players increasingly move to challenge Apple Inc’s popular iPhone. In a flurry of announcements on Tuesday ahead of the holiday shopping season, the companies introduced new phones, wireless carrier partnerships and efforts to boost the availability of new applications for the phones. The moves underscore the extent to which the smartphone market has emerged as a prime battleground encompassing a variety of technology businesses and one of the few markets experiencing rapid growth in a rough economic environment. “Everyone wants to build up and bolster their smartphone portfolio, because that’s what drives more dollars for the carrier and that’s where the market is going,” said Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton. Google, the world’s largest Internet search company, said it was teaming up with Verizon Wireless to co-develop multiple phones based on its Android operating system. They plan to bring two phones to market this year, and Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said the partnership could result in the introduction of multiple devices per year going forward. The partnership with Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, is a boost for Google’s efforts to gain a foothold in the smartphone market. It caps a string of Android phone announcements, including Motorola Inc’s recent introduction of the Cliq phone and HTC’s Hero phone, slated for US release next week. Google does not charge a licensing fee for Android but hopes to benefit by serving highly targeted mobile ads to users. Microsoft, whose software is used in the majority of the world’s PCs, unveiled on Tuesday a new version of its smartphone software, Windows Mobile 6.5, and promised more than 30 new devices with the software would be available in more than 20 countries by year’s end. According to research firm IDC, smartphones running Microsoft software accounted for 11% of the worldwide market in the first half of 2009, compared to 11.7% share for Apple’s iPhone and 19.9% share for Research in Motion’s Blackberry. Nokia’s Symbian operating system had the largest share with 46.4% share. iPhone the one to beat But analysts say that Apple’s iPhone, despite its modest share of the market, is the product to beat. “It may not be reflected in the numbers, but everyone is playing catch-up” with Apple, said CL King analyst Lawrence Harris. In addition to the technological innovations ushered in by the iPhone, such as its multi-touch screen, Harris said that Apple is the clear leader when it comes to the software apps created by third-party developers to work with a smartphone. Apple has 85,000 apps available through its iPhone Apps store. “The fact that a particular app is available can help drive the purchasing decision,” said Harris. In a sign of how critical apps have become in the smartphone race, Microsoft also announced the launch of a new marketplace for Windows Mobile applications. And Palm announced it was making its “WebOS” smartphone software more open for outside developers to create applications. Google said there are more than 10,000 free and paid apps available for Android smartphones. Verizon Wireless and Google sought to play up the open nature of Android apps compared to the tight control that Apple exercises over its software. The first Android phones from Verizon Wireless will support the Google Voice software application, which allows consumers to make low-priced international calls and which Apple has yet to approve for its iPhone. “You either have an open device or not. This will be open and we expect to bring that application to market when we bring the first device out,” said Verizon’s McAdam, referring to Google Voice. Google has said that Apple rejected Google Voice, while Apple contends it is still evaluating the software, in a high-profile spat that has attracted the attention of the US Federal Communications Commission. On Tuesday, AT&T Inc, which has the exclusive rights to the iPhone in the US, said it will allow third-party Internet telephone calls to be on the iPhone using AT&T’s third generation network, reversing a previous position to ban such calls due to revenue concerns. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 3:38 am Reuters Summit - Kotak's wealth arm eyes $3.5 bln in 12 mthsMUMBAI (Reuters) - Kotak Mahindra Bank said it added more than $200 million in client assets at its Indian wealth management arm in the last three months and aims to expand total assets by 25-30 percent to about $3.5 billion in a year.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Oct 2009 | 3:34 am RIL-RNRL row: DGH defends itself through ad campaign - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Oct 2009 | 3:23 am Railways earn over 6% during Apr-SeptNew Delhi: Railways have posted over 6% increase in earnings during the first half of the current financial year and registered a growth of over 4% in passenger bookings. The public sector enterprise behemoth, between April and September, earned Rs40,910 crore against Rs38,358 crore during the corresponding period last year, marking an increase of 6.65%. Of the total earnings, Rs27,631 crore came from the total goods transported, showing an increase of 5.84%, while Rs11,573 crore came from passenger traffic, which also went up 7.61%, a railway ministry official said. Revenue earnings from other sources amounted to Rs1,115 crore during this period as compared to Rs 956 crore during the same period last year, reflecting an increase of 16.6%. The total number of passengers who bought tickets during the period was 3685.03 million, up from 3526.31 million -- an increase of 4.5%. In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the number of passengers who bought tickets were was 1,888.51 million and 1796.52 million respectively. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 3:19 am Indian rupee off 1-yr high as stocks pare gains - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Oct 2009 | 3:08 am HDFC looking at selling silver barsMumbai: HDFC Bank, a large gold seller, is looking at offering silver bars for sale in some cities because of interest from investors, a bank executive said on Wednesday. A sharper rise in silver prices than gold over the past one year has sparked demand for the metal and could make it an additional item on investment portfolios. “Silver bars in select cities is an option we are considering,” Seshan Ramakrishnan, head of the bank’s retail liabilities product group, said in an emailed reply to questions. “As an investment option, silver was never accorded enough importance. However, off late it has started catching investors’ attention too,” he said. Silver has jumped more than half over the past 12 months to $17.3 an ounce, while gold has climbed 17.5% in the period to $1,041.8 an ounce. “The possibility of playing on the volatility of silver is much higher. The rise in prices is also sometimes higher,” said Nayan Pansare, an analyst who works for gold jewellery exporting companies. Ramakrishnan said new products were on the anvil and the market should see some of this in the coming months. HDFC Bank is one of India’s top sellers of gold coins and bars for investment, a segment which accounts for about 30 percent of sales in the world’s biggest gold market. In 2008, India imported 501.6 tonnes of gold for making jewellery and 211 tonnes for investment, data from World Gold Council showed. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 3:05 am Oil above $71 on recovery optimismPetrth: Oil prices rose for the third day and topped $71 a barrel on Wednesday, as an industry report showing a small drawdown in US crude stockpiles last week fed optimism for a recovery in energy demand. A second day of gains for Asian shares on growing confidence in a strengthening global recovery gave oil prices an extra lift. US crude for November delivery rose 52 cents to $71.40 a barrel by 12:25pm, adding to Tuesday’s gains of 47 cents. London Brent crude rose 61 cents to $69.17. Wednesday’s oil gains followed a report by the American Petroleum Institute saying crude stocks fell 254,000 barrels in the week to 2 October, defying forecasts for a 2.2-million-barrel increase in a Reuters poll of analysts. Distillate stocks fell 2.9 million barrels, countering expectations for a 300,000-barrel build, while gasoline stocks rose 544,000 barrels, against estimates for a 1.0-million-barrel increase. The API report is seen as a precursor to the more authoritative data issued by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), which will be released at 10:30 am EDT on Wednesday. The EIA also raised its global oil demand estimate by 170,000 barrels a day for the fourth quarter and said it expected consumption to rise by 1.1 million bpd next year, versus earlier expectations of a 910,00 bpd rise. Over the last two weeks, oil has rebounded from an 11-week low of around $66 in late September back towards the $70-level, but some analysts caution it could lose its footing in the near term. “Oil looks like it’s on shaky ground as we approach the US third quarter reporting season. A lot of near term price gains have been won off a rebounding equity market,” said Mark Pervan, a commodities analyst at the Australia & New Zealand Bank. “I suspect the third-quarter reporting card will struggle to match the impressive second-quarter results, which were mainly driven by one-off aggressive cost cutting.” After having jumped about 40% in the second quarter, oil prices have squeezed out a gain of only 1 pct in the September quarter, trading in a band of between $65-$75. While the global economy is healing from its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the economic recovery, along with energy demand, is still fragile, analysts have said. A US Federal Reserve official said on Tuesday that while the US economy was clearly rebounding, it was too soon to begin to withdraw the Federal Reserve’s massive support. The US dollar was again under pressure on Wednesday as investors added to long positions in commodity-linked currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars on renewed optimism about a global recovery. Separately, Chevron Corp told Reuters in an interview that global natural gas demand will begin to recover next year, but prices in the United States could remain under pressure in the medium term as ample supply weighs. Asian shares pushed up about 1.4% on Wednesday, with Taiwan’s benchmark index nearing a 16-month high, as growing confidence about the global economic outlook boosted resource and financial companies. However, the US dollar was again under pressure, with gold trimming some gains but still hovering near the all-time high of $1,043.45 hit on Tuesday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 3:03 am Tata Steel sales up 21% in first half of this fiscal - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:59 am EU launches excessive debt action against nine nationsBrussels: The European Union launched action against nine countries on Wednesday over excessive debt levels which have now engulfed 20 of the bloc’s 27 nations. Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Portugal were each charged with breaching commitments made to hold planned or actual budget deficits to within 3% of Gross Domestic Product. “In all cases the commission concludes that, although the deficit levels are exceptional in nature... they are neither close to the reference value nor temporary,” said a statement by the commission. The decision was taken by the commission after studying fiscal projections for coming years submitted by the countries themselves. “Now is also the moment to design coordinated exit strategies so that, when the moment is right, we can begin to roll back the soaring debt levels,” warned Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. He said the stability and growth pact under which the action was called “is sufficiently flexible to combine the fiscal stimulus in the short term with consolidation of the public finances in the medium term.” Brussels already launched action against Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Romania in July following earlier procedures against France, Greece, Ireland and Spain. Finance ministers from the 16 countries that use the euro agreed last week at a meeting in Sweden that countries would have to start taking action in 2011 against debt and public deficits. The pact “must not be interpreted as offering one-way flexibility,” eurogroup head and Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker has warned. However, ministers from the full 27 EU nations failed to match that commitment at subsequent talks with Britain’s Chancellor Alistair Darling adamant that it was too early to start implementing broad ‘exit strategies.´ Deficits and related projections for long-term debt have expanded sharply as governments spent heavily on crisis-driven stimulus measures and social welfare programmes. In Germany, negotiations over the incoming centre-right government have been complicated by the need to cut public deficits by €40 billion ($56 billion) between 2011 and 2013, according to a working paper leaked to the press. The business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) are demanding tax cuts of 25 billion euros. Despite a steady stream of encouraging economic data since the summer, the economies of the 16-nation eurozone and 27-nation EU as a whole each shrank in the second quarter by a greater margin than initially thought, EU data showed on Wednesday. Ireland’s battered economy produced a surprise result by returning to break-even point while the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland and Portugal also returned to growth. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:58 am Bharti Airtel continues to top combined value chart - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:55 am Gold demand freezes on record intl pricesMumbai: India gold demand weakened on Wednesday in the middle of the festive season, reversing last week’s trend, as international prices powered to a new record high, dealers said. “These are all psychological levels as demand is just not coming up. There was demand last week,” said Pinakin Vyas, chief manager-treasury with IndusInd Bank. “Traders are still cautious and closely following the price movements.” “Demand is totally zero, traders can’t digest these 1,040 levels,” said a dealer with a private bullion-dealing bank in Mumbai. International gold hit a record high on the spot and futures markets, with dollar weakness continuing to support sentiment by attracting fresh investment in the precious metal, traders said. Dealers said the underlying demand is strong, with traders seeking lower prices to stock for festive season. “We have orders lined up in the range of $1,025-1,030 an ounce,” said another dealer with a private bank. India, which accounts for more than 20 percent of the global demand for gold jewellery, is in the midst of a festival season which peaks with Diwali on 17 October, when weddings usually take place, pushing up the demand for jewellery. India’s gold imports in September provisionally fell 30%, the smallest year-on-year decline in five months, as steady prices and the festival season attracted more buyers. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:48 am HDFC Bank looking at selling silver bars - execMUMBAI (Reuters) - HDFC Bank, a large gold seller, is looking at offering silver bars for sale in some cities because of interest from investors, a bank executive said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:43 am Bharti considers bid for Millicom’s Sri Lanka assetsNew Delhi: Just days after an aborted deal for merger with South Africa’s MTN, Bharti Airtel today said it may bid to acquire Luxembourg-based telecom firm Millicom’s operations in Sri Lanka. “We are considering it... that much I can say,” Bharti Airtel Chief Executive Manoj Kohli told reporters on the sidelines of an AIMA event here. Bharti, which itself has mobile services running in Sri Lanka, is understood to be keen about acquiring 100% stake of Millicom’s operations in the island nation, but it was not known when it would start due diligence. Besides Sri Lanka, Millicom has put its assets in Laos and Cambodia for sale. Nasdaq-listed Millicom provides prepaid cellular telephony services to over 30 million customers in 16 emerging markets in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Asked if Bharti Airtel was also interested in Kuwait’s Zain Telecom, Kohli said, “We continue to explore international acquisitions.” A consortium comprising Indian telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL are in acquisition talks with Zain. Bharti group CEO Sunil Mittal has said that the company won’t engage in dialogue with MTN for a third time, after inconclusive talks twice. “No further talks with MTN and the current round is over,” Bharti had said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:42 am Family firms a big hurdle for Indian PE buyoutsMUMBAI (Reuters) - Global buyout giants such as Warburg Pincus and the Carlyle Group may have to wait a decade or more for Indian family business cultures to change before they can make big buyout deals, finance industry executives said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:31 am Watch/Listen: Mint in multimedia, 7 OctoberVideo Story: The Mint Report Telecom stocks fall over fears about margins; Parle plans more overseas factories; IMF could increase India’s growth forecast for 2011 ********* Video story: Coal India, Shipping Corp may form venture to import coal The venture may be on the lines of the firm that CIL plans with SAIL for coal imports in which both to hold 25% ********* Video story: Analysts downgrade telecom sector A tariff war and the suggestion to introduce per-second billing trigger fears of steep earnings fall for sector Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:28 am INTERVIEW - Jindal Steel plans power unit IPO by March - execNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Jindal Steel & Power Ltd plans to list its power unit by March, a senior official said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:25 am Julius Baer to buy ING Swiss private bankSINGAPORE/GENEVA (Reuters) - Julius Baer will buy ING's Swiss private banking assets for 520 million Swiss francs ($507 million), the European wealth management industry's biggest deal since the crisis began.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:08 am Sensex turns negative, IT, telecom stocks dragA key Indian equities index turned negative after a strong opening Wednesday as IT and telecom stock came under selling pressure.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:01 am Air Arabia announces low-fare festive bonanza for IndiansFlying to the Arabian Gulf during Diwali or Christmas? You can do it for as low as Rs.3,037 ($60) per head with Air Arabia, the Sharjah-based low-cost carrier.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Oct 2009 | 2:00 am Apollo Group to invest Rs1,800 cr; add 2,000 bedsNew Delhi: Hospital chain Apollo Group would be investing up to Rs1,800 crore over the next two years as part of its plan to add 2,000 beds to its inventory, besides expanding its existing facilities. “We are currently working on a project to add 2,000 beds across the country which will entail an investment of Rs1,500-1,800 crore over the next two years. We have already added about 500 beds in the last six months,” Apollo Hospitals Group chairman Prathap C Reddy told reporters on the sidelines of a CII medical summit here. The group would be opening at least one hospital every three months for the next one year, he added. When asked about the resources for funding the expansion, he said, “We have arranged the entire funding. The group currently has internal accruals to the tune of Rs 400 crore and for the rest we have tied up with various financial institutions.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 1:52 am Gold’s record price rise finds tepid responseSydney: Gold received a lukewarm reception a day after racing to a record high, with consumers in Asia more likely to be cashing in than panic buying. Profit taking -- read selling -- replaced gold purchases that in New York and across Europe on Tuesday had swept spot bullion through the March 2008 record to hit $1,043.45 an ounce. “It is simple, buy low and sell high -- I am making a 10% profit already so I am selling,” said Nguyen Duc Hung while waiting to sell five taels of gold at a shop on Hanoi’s Ha Trung street. Hung said he bought the gold in early July. To date, there have been no reports of gold hoarders burying stashes in secret spots as was the case in 1980, when gold zoomed above $800 an ounce for the first time, or about double today’s level when adjusted for inflation. Gold was last quoted at $1,042.20 an ounce, just shy of Tuesday’s peak. “Today’s been like any other day,” said David Carr, of KJC Coins Australia in Sydney. “No one’s coming in to sell gold because the price jumped overnight, it’s more wait and see, business as usual.” The Australian outback gold mining town of Kalgoorlie, home to a nearly Times Square-sized electronic ticker tape broadcasting up-to-the-minute bullion prices, also was quiet. “There’s nothing going on that’s out of the ordinary,” said John Horner, editor of the Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper. In Tokyo, gold’s ascent barely caused a flutter. “Both buyers and sellers are coming to the shop today, they are more or less evenly balanced,” said Osamu Ikeda, general manager at Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo, Japan’s biggest bullion retailer. With Chinese markets closed for a week-long holiday, Japanese investment sentiment was centre stage in Asia. “Importantly, gold does not appear to be finding support from Tokyo, the key region in our time zone,” said Nigel Moffatt, head of treasury for Australia’s Perth Mint. In India, where consumer demand typically peaks next week for the Dhanteras and Diwali festivals, the strong rupee kept the local price of gold under the psychological level of Rs16,000 ($342) per 10 grams. “Buying was very strong in the last couple of weeks, but it has been affected now even though the rupee has given a good cap to local prices,” said Pinakin Vyas, assistant vice president treasury at IndusInd Bank, a private bank in Mumbai that imports gold to sell to local traders and jewellers. “Investors will not buy at these levels though need-based buying from jewellers will continue. People will wait for some time and then come back to the market.” Even Jim Rogers, one of the biggest bulls during this decade’s commodities rally, said he would stay clear of buying gold for now, although he predicted prices will continue to go up over the long term. “Gold has hit a new high and I don’t like to buy something at record prices unless there are extremely strong fundamental reasons,” he said. Gold’s gains comes in step with a fall in the US dollar, which has been battered by low interest rates and worries about the state of the world’s largest economy. The dollar index was at 76.384 on Wednesday, near a 13-month low hit in September. “The driving force for gold’s rally is the declining confidence in the dollar, which helped elevate gold’s stature, along with the explosive growth in gold-backed exchange-traded funds which broadened the investor base for bullion,” said Shuji Sugata, a manager at Mitsubishi Corp Futures & Securities. For a 60-year-old Hong Kong housewife standing outside a downtown jewellery store, who only gave her last name of Fung, her foray into gold was much simpler. “The price is high and I don’t wear them, so I sold,” she said of a gold ring and a gold pandan purchased more than 20 years ago. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 1:48 am KS Oils to invest 3.8 bln rupees in Indonesia - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Oct 2009 | 1:47 am Markets turn negative on export concernsMumbai: Indian shares briefly turned negative on Wednesday afternoon, weighed down by export-led outsourcers that fell as the rupee rose to its highest in more than a year. At 12:21pm, the 30-share BSE index was up 0.21% at 16,993.54 points, with 20 components advancing, after dropping to 16,946.87. Indian shares climbed 0.7% around noon led by banks after markets across Asia rose on hopes for a world economic recovery. Metals stocks such as Sterlite Industries and Hindalco Industries rallied as a shaky dollar boosted resource stocks in Asia. Traders said they expected the market to move cautiously until quarterly earnings, which will be kicked off by software services bellwether Infosys Technologies on Friday, come through. “For market to continue upwards, the numbers this time will have to exceed expectations,” Neeraj Dewan, director of Quantum Securities said. “Good earnings are already being factored in, as expectations of decent quarterly numbers have been there for a while.” The benchmark has risen 77% so far this year, fuelled by foreign portfolio inflows of $12.7 billion in the period. Top lender State Bank of India climbed 0.4% to Rs2,167.90 while private sector ICICI Bank was up 0.4% at Rs942.15. Non-ferrous metals maker Sterlite firmed 5.2% while leading aluminium producer Hindalco Industries added 3%. Outsourcers, which get more than half their revenue from the United States, fell as the rupee shot up to its highest in more than a year taking its gains to over 11 percent against the dollar from a record low in March. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 1:30 am HDFC sees RBI rate hike in March quarterMumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to hike interest rates marginally in the fourth quarter of this fiscal to rein in the steady rise in prices, a top financial sector expert said. “To give a signal that the government is concerned about inflationary pressures, there is a chance of a marginal hike in interest rates in the January-March 2010 quarter,” HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh told reporters here. The hike in interest rates could be by at least 0.5%, he said, adding, however, that any hike in rates was unlikely to happen in the current quarter. On liquidity Parekh said, at present it was sufficient. With a revival in the economy and pick-up in construction activities, banks could witness a growth in their wholesale loans going forward, he said. However, any pick-up in loans to the commercial real estate sector is unlikely, he said. “I don’t see commercial real estate loans picking-up ... there are a large number of commercial real estate properties that are ready to be occupied,” he said. Banks have seen an increase in their housing loans portfolio in recent months, Parekh said. Parekh observed that housing prices have started inching up in the recent months. HDFC has seen a sequential growth of 30% in its loan approvals in the July-September quarter of this fiscal and expects growth to pick-up further in the coming months, he said. Companies, he said, have to be cautious while pricing their Initial Public Offers (IPO) as failure of large IPOs could dent investors’ confidence. “We must learn to leave money on the table. Investors are there to make money. If large IPOs fail, then there is a huge repercussion in the market,” he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 1:14 am Asia shares up, confidence in recovery growsHong Kong: Asian shares pushed up for a second day on Wednesday, with Taiwan’s benchmark index nearing a 16-month high, as growing confidence in a strengthening global recovery boosted resource and financial companies. European shares, however, were set for a sluggish start, with futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 index little changed in early trade. Gold trimmed some gains but hovered near the all-time high of $1,043.45 hit on Tuesday, highlighting the dollar’s woes after the US currency was hit the previous day by a report that major countries were looking at alternatives to the greenback for settling oil trades, including gold and other currencies. The report was later denied by some of the countries said to be involved. US crude oil prices rose 59 cents a barrel to $71.46 adding to gains scored the previous day as commodities surged on hopes that global demand was picking up. Australian miners and Japanese trading houses were among the big winners, with shares of Rio Tinto and Mitsubishi Corp both jumping more than 5%. Some investors also took heart from Australia’s central bank lifting interest rates the previous day, the first of any Group of 20 nation to do so in a sign that the emergency measures put in place to stem the financial crisis are gradually being unwound. The Australian dollar hit a 14-month high above $0.892 as investors bet on more rate rises later this year after the surprise quarter-point hike to 3.25%. The rate increase was seen as a sign the global economy was on the mend and fueled gains of more than 1% on Wall Street. “The RBA set the cat amongst the pigeons by becoming the first G-20 central bank to hike rates. The move likely accelerated the issue of yield re-emerging as a key currency driver the coming months,” said analysts at Calyon in a note to clients. “The hike is unlikely, however, to be quickly followed by the US, Japan or Europe.” Some economists noted that Australia is a special case because its economy and banking system were mostly sheltered from the global crisis and has benefitted from China’s aggressive efforts to stockpile resources and kick start growth. Many major central banks are unlikely to raise rates for some time, trying to ensure there is no dip back into recession. Federal Reserve officials remain cautious about unwinding emergency measures. Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig said late on Tuesday that the U.S. economy is clearly recovering but that it is too soon for the Fed to withdraw its massive support. The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1.4%, with the material sector the biggest gainer on the day. The Thomson Reuters index of regional shares edged up 1%. Japan’s Nikkei average gained 1.2%, with financials getting a boost from a rise in US counterparts the previous day after Goldman Sachs upgraded the sector. The banking sector on the Tokyo Stock Exchange first sector rose 3.6%. But South Korea’s KOSPI index lagged the region with a rise of just 0.2% as investors fretted the country’s central bank could follow Australia and lift rates from a record low as soon as a policy meeting on Friday. Many market players are now expecting the Bank of Korea to lift rates in November from the current 2%. Trading volumes were about average across the region, and short-covering in some sectors such as financials played a role in the rise. The dollar edged up after being hit the previous day by the combination of a surging Australian dollar, gold and commodities. The dollar index, a gauge of its performance against six major currencies, drifted down 0.1% to 76.262 but is still near a 13-month low of 75.827 hit in September. The dollar edged down 0.3% against the yen to ¥88.55 and has slid back near an eight-month low of ¥88.23 hit last month. Those levels are seen as painful to Japanese exporters by slashing the value of their overseas revenue. Japanese finance minister Hirohisa Fujii told the Wall Street Journal that current yen levels were consistent with acceptable market activity and were not “extremely abnormal,” the latest signal Japan’s new government is taking a more hands-off approach on currency policy. Fujii and other officials have made remarks suggesting they could intervene to stem yen strength, though many market players believe such intervention is unlikely unless the yen’s rise becomes more volatile. Government bonds were mixed as traders reassessed interest rate prospects. Korean bond futures erased earlier losses and drifted up 3 ticks to 108.78, bouncing back from Tuesday’s slide after Australia’s rate hike was seen as paving the way for a move in South Korea, where the central bank is worried about a rebounding property market. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 1:13 am Police question Chinese engineers in Balco mishapChhattisgarh police have interrogated several Chinese engineers employed by Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO) at Korba town to probe the Sep 23 collapse of an under-construction power plant chimney that killed 45 workers.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Oct 2009 | 1:00 am RBI likely to hike interest rates in Q4 FY 10: ParekhThe Reserve Bank is likely to hike interest rates marginally in the fourth quarter of this fiscal to give a signal to the market.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:45 am Google search widens lead over Bing and YahooSan Francisco: Experian Hitwise on Tuesday reported that Bing and Yahoo! online search engines lost ground in the United States in September while Google inched ahead slightly. Google handled 71.08% of all US Internet searches in the four weeks ending 3 October, while Yahoo! and Bing accounted for 16.38% and 8.96% respectively, according to Hitwise. Ask.com was the biggest winner, with its share of US searches climbing 8 % to 2.56% in September as compared with August. Microsoft’s Bing saw its share of the US online search market dip 5% in the month-to-month comparison, while the number of searches at Yahoo! was down 3%, Hitwise reported. Google last week rolled out search engine refinements as Microsoft continues an aggressive campaign to lure people to Bing. The Internet giant’s modifications include tools that let people limit online searches to only serve up results from the past hour, or by specific date ranges. Google users can choose to be shown search only results from blogs, news, or Web pages that they have visited or those they haven’t visited. The Bing search engine Microsoft launched in May was designed to intuitively understand what people are seeking on the Internet and challenge online king Google. The US software colossus described Bing as a “Decision Engine” aimed at online shoppers trying to make buying decisions, plan trips, research health matters or find local businesses. Bing posted a slight increase in its share of the US search market in August, a third month in a row of modest gains, according to online tracking firm comScore. Yahoo! and Microsoft, after months of negotiations, unveiled a 10-year Web search and advertising partnership in late July that set the stage for a joint offensive against Google. Under the agreement, Yahoo! will use Microsoft’s search engine on its own sites while Yahoo! will provide the exclusive global sales force for premium advertisers. Microsoft is integrating messages from prominent users of wildly popular micro-blogging service Twitter into results generated by Bing. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:31 am Google search widens lead over Bing and YahooSan Francisco: Experian Hitwise on Tuesday reported that Bing and Yahoo! online search engines lost ground in the United States in September while Google inched ahead slightly. Google handled 71.08% of all US Internet searches in the four weeks ending 3 October, while Yahoo! and Bing accounted for 16.38% and 8.96% respectively, according to Hitwise. Ask.com was the biggest winner, with its share of US searches climbing 8 % to 2.56% in September as compared with August. Microsoft’s Bing saw its share of the US online search market dip 5% in the month-to-month comparison, while the number of searches at Yahoo! was down 3%, Hitwise reported. Google last week rolled out search engine refinements as Microsoft continues an aggressive campaign to lure people to Bing. The Internet giant’s modifications include tools that let people limit online searches to only serve up results from the past hour, or by specific date ranges. Google users can choose to be shown search only results from blogs, news, or Web pages that they have visited or those they haven’t visited. The Bing search engine Microsoft launched in May was designed to intuitively understand what people are seeking on the Internet and challenge online king Google. The US software colossus described Bing as a “Decision Engine” aimed at online shoppers trying to make buying decisions, plan trips, research health matters or find local businesses. Bing posted a slight increase in its share of the US search market in August, a third month in a row of modest gains, according to online tracking firm comScore. Yahoo! and Microsoft, after months of negotiations, unveiled a 10-year Web search and advertising partnership in late July that set the stage for a joint offensive against Google. Under the agreement, Yahoo! will use Microsoft’s search engine on its own sites while Yahoo! will provide the exclusive global sales force for premium advertisers. Microsoft is integrating messages from prominent users of wildly popular micro-blogging service Twitter into results generated by Bing. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:31 am Sugar mills farm out work to smaller rivalsMumbai: Big sugar refiners in North India are now farming out work to smaller mills in the south and west of the country after robust imports in the world’s largest consumer touched off an international price rise. India had contracted imports of about 5 million tonnes of raw sugar in 2008/09, of which 2.4 million tonnes have already landed, but only about a million tonnes have been refined and the remainder will be processed in 2009/10 season that started on 1 October. Large trading houses and mills were importing raws despite higher prices to feed the roaring demand at home, stretching capacities. Smaller players, who cannot afford expensive imports, are cashing in this paucity. “A few mills in the state are negotiating deals with private traders for refining. This will benefit both the sides,” said a senior official at Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation Ltd. Maharashtra is India’s No. 1 sugar producer. In northern Uttar Pradesh state, India’s biggest cane producer, output is likely to contract on patchy rains and lower area but southern and western states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, are set to harvest higher crops. Officials at India’s major refiners based in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka said smaller mills were picking refining contracts but refused to discuss their own plans. Indian sugar mills power plants using bagasse, a fibrous waste generated in plenty during crushing season, and prefer to let plants idle rest of the year to save on expensive power. “Energy is a big component,” said Ashwini Bansod, a senior analyst at MF Global Commodities India Ltd. “It may force companies to approach mills in cane rich areas for processing.” India, the world’s second largest producer after Brazil, consumes about 23 million tonnes of sugar a year, but it produced only about 15 million tonnes in the year ending September and output is seen at 16 million tonnes this year. Arranged marriage Karnataka-based GMR Industries plans to refine close to 50,000 tonnes raws for “another party” in November-April, Managing Director R Ramakrishnan said, while Oudh Sugar is still negotiating refining contracts. Bihar-based Riga Sugars has signed an agreement to refine 5,000 tonnes raws, Managing Director OP Dhanuka, said. “We will try and take more such orders. Current prices are not feasible to import,” GMR’s Ramakrishnan said. New York raw futures jumped to 28-1/2-year high last month and were hovering near highs due to Indian demand. Domestic sugar prices have soared by more than half in 2009 to touch an unprecedented Rs3,177.25 per 100 kg on 5 September. High logistics cost is another import deterrent for small millers from the hinterland, analysts and officials said. While refining costs differ from mill to mill based on capacity and location, analysts estimate a mill far from ports will have to spend about three times more than India’s largest refiner Shree Renuka Sugars. Refining costs of Shree Renuka, which has operations in coastal states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal, is a little over $30 per tonne, a company official had said. Though small mills refuse to divulge details of their refining contracts, analysts say their earnings will rise. “It is a novel concept and though it is difficult to ascertain in numbers of how much these companies will make, I can say for sure it will help their margin,” a sector analyst with a foreign brokerage said. “It’s a win-win situation.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:25 am SAIL to get half of Chiria mine - paper - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:23 am Bharti considers bid for Millicom's S.Lanka assetsNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel, India's leading mobile operator, is considering a bid for Millicom's assets in Sri Lanka, Chief Executive Manoj Kohli said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:12 am Day Trading GuideUtilise rallies to sell DLF with stiff stop at Rs 427. Fresh long position can be initiated if ICICI Bank exceeds Rs 950 and SBI moves above Rs 2174, with tight stop-loss. Avoid trading inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am A prison turns a liberator via satellite linkAhmedabad, Oct. 6 Sabarmati Jail has become the first prison in India to own a satellite link for tele-medicine and tele-education centre at its campus. This has been done in collaboration with the Space Applications Centre of ISRO, ApolloSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Rupee strengthens to four-month high at 46.88The rupee on Tuesday breached the psychological level of 47 to the dollar on robust dollar inflows and the greenback’s weakness against the euro.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Corporates prop up direct tax collectionsNew Delhi, Oct 6 Corporate tax collections grew 5.55 per cent during April-September 2009 at Rs 1,00,572 crore, up from Rs 95,283 crore in the same period last fiscal, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement here on Tuesday.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Surge in equity fund offers in SeptemberNearly a dozen equity-based fund offer documents were filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India during September, according to the regulator’s Web site.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am ITC (Rs 246.9): BuyWe recommend a buy in the stock of ITC from a short-term perspective. It is perceptible from the charts of ITC that the stock has been on a long-term uptrend since its October 2008 low of Rs 132, forming higher peaks and bottoms. After recordingSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Rupee gains from dollar weaknessRupee strengthened to a four-month high against the dollar to test the 47-mark as the greenback continued to be buffeted by sudden bouts of selling. The deluge of overseas inflow hitting our shores and arbitrage traders taking advantage of theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am IT cos expected to post sequential growth in Q2Bangalore, Oct. 6 The worst seems to be over for the Indian IT industry as analysts predict a return of sequential growth in the second quarter of fiscal 2010 helped by improvement in business sentiments and favourable cross currencySource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Why India does not need the World Bank loanAn institutional loan must meet three requirements: It should come cheap; it should meet a genuine requirement; and its conditionalities, if any, should be acceptable. On September 22, the World Bank signed a $4.3-billion loan for capitalisation ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Insurance brokerage firms see sharp decline in revenueHyderabad, Oct. 6 Insurance brokerage firms are finding themselves in a spot due to a sharp drop inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Renault, Mahindra venture faces hurdlesMumbai: French car maker Renault is looking to replace its Indian partner Mahindra & Mahindra in their struggling Logan joint venture, the Economic Times said on Wednesday, a report refuted by the French firm. “Renault very strongly denies the rumour/speculation that there is any move to ask anyone, Bajaj Auto or otherwise, to take over the M&M stake in Mahindra Renault,” the French car maker said in a statement. “Renault’s commitment to the Indian market remains undiluted and we are continuing to work together with M&M to determine the appropriate product portfolio and the way forward for Mahindra Renault,” it said. The Economic Times, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter, said the joint venture, in which M&M owns 51%, was struggling to sustain volumes due to uncompetitive pricing. Mahindra is unhappy with the venture and is seeking greater control on product re-engineering, the newspaper said. Data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers showed that Logan sales in the first five months of 2009/10 fell 68% from a year ago and production dropped 63%. The newspaper said Mahindra Renault had failed to price the Logan competitively because of a 20% excise duty on the car that is more than 4 metres in length. Duty on cars measuring up to 4 metres is 8% and Mahindra’s demand to reduce the car’s length was turned down by Renault, the paper said. “I totally deny the way it has been reported. We are working at the moment on the way forward,” Mahindra Renault’s chief executive officer, Nalin Mehta, told Reuters. “There are no plans to end the venture ... at least nothing that I am aware of.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 11:59 pm Rupee hits its highest since Sep 2008Mumbai: The Indian rupee leapt to its highest level in more than a year on Wednesday, buoyed by the shaky dollar and a stronger stock market that boosted the outlook for foreign equity inflows. At 11:00am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.75/77 per dollar, off a high of Rs46.49, its strongest since 26 September, 2008 and 0.3% stronger than its previous close of 46.89/90. “The rupee gained after it broke strong resistance at 46.75 early,” a senior dealer with a private bank said. “There was all-round stop-loss dollar selling, but then some short-covering also came in pulling up the dollar again.” Dealers expected a range of Rs46.50 to 46.75 for the day. The rupee has risen for four sessions in a row and has gained 11.9% from its record low of 52.2, hit in early March, thanks rising foreign equity inflows. Foreign funds have pumped in nearly $4 billion in the past 11 sessions, nearly a third of total inflows of $12.7 billion so far this year. Last year, they had dumped stocks worth more than $13 billion. Shares rose nearly 1% early tracking their global peers that rose on optimism about world economic recovery, and expectations for robust corporate earnings. The dollar was on the defensive on Wednesday while higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar held near their 2009 highs, buoyed by investors´ search for returns. One-month offshore non-deliverable rupee forward contracts were quoting at 46.69/79, higher than the onshore spot rate. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 11:41 pm Rupee rises by 5 paise against dollar in opening tradeContinuing its rally for the fourth straight day, the Indian rupee strengthened by another 5 paise to hit four-month high of 46.83 in opening trade today.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Oct 2009 | 11:23 pm Sensex surges 162 pts, regains 17k level on global cuesThe Sensex shot up by over 162 points to regain 17,000 points mark in opening trade, extending yesterday's gains on firming trends.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Oct 2009 | 11:19 pm Tata Steel India sales up 19% in Sept quarterMumbai: Tata Steel Ltd, the world’s eighth-largest steel maker, said on Wednesday steel sales from its Indian operations rose 19% in July-September from a year earlier to 1.46 million tonnes. Sales for the first half of the financial year that began in April rose 21% from a year ago to 2.88 million tonnes, the company said in a statement. The Indian operations account for about a quarter of the group’s total annual global capacity of 30 million tonnes, which includes unit Corus, Europe’s second-largest steelmaker. Sales of long products, used in construction, jumped 49% in April-September from a year earlier, the company said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 11:14 pm Money Market updateG-sec Market: The 10-year G-sec 6.90% GOI 2019 opened at a yield of 7.25% compared to previous close at 7.24%. The 10-year US Treasury yield hardened from 3.24% to 3.27%. The 3-month Interest Rate Future is trading at a level of 8.00%. The 10-year G-sec 6.90% GOI 2019 is likely to be volatile and trade between 7.22% to 7.30%. Money Market: The Call Rate and CBLO rate opened at 3.28% and 2.35%. The money market rates are expected to remain range-bound. Swap Market: The 5Y OIS swap rate is trading in the range of 6.84% - 6.89%, compared to previous closing levels of 6.85%. The OIS swap rates are expected to trade range-bound tracking G-sec yields. §Forex Market: The INR opened at Rs46.82 against the USD compared to previous closing level of Rs46.89. Rupee is expected to trade in the range of 46.50 – 47.00. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 10:39 pm Sensex opens firm, up 122 points in early tradeA key Indian equities market index opened on a firm note Wednesday and was ruling 122 points higher than its previous close, about five minutes into trade.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 Oct 2009 | 10:30 pm Amazon.com debuts international Kindle e-readerCalifornia: Amazon.com on Tuesday announced it is releasing an international version of the Kindle and trimming prices of the coveted electronic book readers. Kindle models designed to synch with telecom networks in countries around the world are priced at $279 and basic Kindles tailored only for use in the United States had prices trimmed $40 to $259. “For the first time ever, Kindle is available for sale outside the US,” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos told AFP as he provided a glimpse of the international model in Cupertino, California. “Now, Kindle will work in a hundred countries. With Kindle you can be in France and get an English-language book within 60 seconds.” International Kindles can be ordered online at amazon.com/kindle but shipping won’t start until 19 October. “We have millions of customers around the world that buy English-language books from us,” Bezos said. “Our vision for Kindle is every book ever printed, in print or out of print, in every language available within 60 seconds. For now, it is English.” Amazon has teams working on digitizing books in languages other than English, so its stock of works for electronic reading is “really like 99% English,” Bezos said. Kindle has become the top selling item at Amazon.com since its US launch two years ago. It is also the most “gifted and wished for” thing on Amazon’s virtual shelves, according to Bezos. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 9:55 pm Wall St extends for rally 2nd day on recovery confidenceNew York: Wall Street shares extended their rally for a second day on Tuesday as Australia’s decision to raise interest rates boosted confidence that a global economic recovery is taking root. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lifted 131.50 points (1.37%) to 9,731.25 in final trades, a day after jumping by more than 100 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite added 35.42 points (1.71%) to 2,103.57 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index increased 14.26 points (1.37%) to a provisional close of 1,054.72. The market opened on a bullish note after Australia on Tuesday became the first advanced economy to raise interest rates since the financial crisis. The central bank announced a rise of 25 basis points to 3.25%, lifting rates off a 49-year low. Although the United States is unlikely to raise rates in the near future as it still undergoes the painful transition of emerging from recession, investors saw the move as a key indication of global recovery. “It is clear that there is a psychological bid in the market as the symbolism of the first rate hike from a G-20 nation is trumping any negative considerations that go hand-in-hand with higher rates,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com. “That symbolism shines through in the fact that most equity markets around the globe have gained at least 1.0 percent in the wake of the rate hike announcement,” he said. The rate hike is being interpreted as “another confirmation that the world is back from the brink of economic disaster,” O’Hare said. Analysts at Charles Schwab & Co said the market also notched gains from a weakening dollar which lifted energy and commodity prices. “Stocks are solidly higher again today, with energy and commodity issues leading the way after concerns over the dollar put the US currency under pressure,” they said in a note to clients. Economic recovery has prodded investors to pump their investments into riskier assets such as stocks and move away from the safe-haven dollar. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 9:18 pm Canadian currency at record levels against US dollarThe Canadian dollar hit the highest level in 2009 against the US greenback Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 Oct 2009 | 8:30 pm Sibal gets unlucky the fourth timeCVC's three previous attempts to seek a probe into charges against the DGH were shot down by the petroleum ministry.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Oct 2009 | 5:14 pm Emaar MGF under ED scanner for FDI diversionEmaar MGF Land Ltd, which plans to hit the market with an Initial Public Offer soon, might be carrying a jinx of sorts.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Oct 2009 | 5:10 pm Bharti Airtel says against tariff warBharti Airtel Ltd, the largest mobile phone operator by subscribers said it will not give in to competitive pressures and slash its call rates.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Oct 2009 | 5:06 pm Sector stocks tumbleThe market gave telecom stocks a thrashing on concerns that the ongoing tariff war and impending regulatory changes would eat into the profitability of these firms.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Oct 2009 | 5:02 pm Ultratech to get financial muscle - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 6 Oct 2009 | 4:56 pm Maruti Suzuki to relaunch SX4Maruti Suzuki India Ltd would relaunch its SX4 sedan on October 13 with cosmetic changes and a new engine configuration to meet the mandatory BS-IV emission norms.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Oct 2009 | 4:48 pm Is the ODI format dead for the advertising fraternity?Some cricketing soothsayers went on to the extent of saying that "if the sixth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy failed, it would be the final nail in ODIs' coffin."Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Oct 2009 | 4:43 pm War of contraceptive pills raises issues of controlCipla and Mankind Pharma are engaged in a big battle for supremacy in the Indian oral contraceptives market.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Oct 2009 | 4:41 pm L may exit Satyam next week as lock-in expiresAims to book profit of Rs 250 crore from open market sale.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 6 Oct 2009 | 1:18 pm Onion prices on fireTo stay high for next fortnight at least: APMC.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 6 Oct 2009 | 1:14 pm Govt to split Chiria mines, SAIL gets halfArcelorMittals hopes for entire allocation dashed.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 6 Oct 2009 | 1:12 pm Zain halts talks to sell African assetsKuwait: Kuwait’s biggest phone carrier, Zain, halted talks to sell its African operations at the request of potential buyers of 46% of Zain, chief executive officer Saad al-Barrak said. “Yes, Zain’s negotiations have been suspended. This was at the request of the potential buyers,” al-Barrak told reporters at an Arab Media Forum in Kuwait on Monday night. Zain was in talks with three international telecommunications companies over the sale of its African operations, al-Barrak said on 31 August. Kuwait’s Khorafi group, one of Zain’s largest shareholders, signed a preliminary agreement last month to sell a majority stake in the carrier to India’s Vavasi group and Malaysian billionaire Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary. The buyers would gain 72 million customers across 24 countries in West Asia and Africa. On 16 September, the Khorafi group invited smaller shareholders in Zain to sell their shares to gather enough stock to sell a majority stake in the company. Al-Barrak said the Indian-Malaysian group still hasn’t started looking at the books. He wouldn’t comment further on the stake sale. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd have expressed interest in joining in the proposed purchase of 46% of Zain, Khorafi group’s vice-chairman Bader al-Khorafi said on 4 October. Al-Barrak on Monday said Zain’s Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation and amortization) grew 33% in the first eight months of the year. The company’s forecast calls for 30% growth in Ebitda this year, he said. “We don’t have any losses in the company. We’re doing very well,” al-Barrak said. “In 2010, we will have lucrative profits.” feedback@livemint.com Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 11:28 am Orissa cracks down on striking bus owners, 12 arrestedThe Orissa government Tuesday cracked down on the striking bus owners and arrested some of them under the stringent provisions of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), which the administration has invoked to deal with the situation.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am BSA Motors unveils electric scooters in DelhiBSA Motors, part of the Chennai-based Tube Investments, Tuesday unveiled five models of its electric scooters here.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am HP may get acquisitive to ramp up growthSan Francisco: Information technology (IT) firm Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) may get acquisitive again despite its recent absence from the technology sector’s merger and acquisition (M&A) scene, analysts said, and Brocade Communications Systems Inc. may be a prime target.  Sprawling portfolio: A file photo of Hewlett-Packard headquarters in Palo Alto, California. The firm has a formidable war chest of $13.7 billion in cash should it decide to acquire information technology companies. Kimberly White/Bloomberg Brocade makes routers and switches for blade servers, as well as software to help companies manage data efficiently. It has been expanding its partnerships and already sells equipment to HP, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and Dell Inc. Analysts say HP’s sprawling portfolio has cushioned it against the shock of the IT spending downturn, but that investors now want to see the world’s largest computer company move to ramp up growth. Some say one way to do that is through acquisitions. Aaron Rakers, analyst with financial services firm Stifel Nicolaus, said HP is likely looking to acquire in areas such as software and networking, to complement its ProCurve networking product. HP has been relatively quiet on the M&A front, Rakers said, given that the firm is still working through last year’s blockbuster $13 billion (around Rs61,360 crore) acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Ltd. “As we roll out into the next couple of quarters, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them do something,” he said. Shaw Wu, analyst with investment banking and advisory company Kaufman Bros Lp, said HP and its rivals are focused on offering customers an end-to-end suite of products. Cisco Systems Inc. recently began selling computer servers targeted at data centres, pitting the company against HP and IBM. “It makes sense for HP to add to its portfolio in two areas: one is networking, the other is software,” Wu said. “The more software and the more networking that they do, the better the margins.” Wu said Brocade would be a good fit for HP, noting that an offer for Juniper Networks Inc.—another tie-up much speculated on in markets—the No. 2 networking equipment maker after Cisco, would be a bolder and more expensive move. Juniper’s market capitalization of roughly $13.8 billion is more than three times that of Brocade. F5 Networks Inc. is another networking name that crops up in acquisition talk. As the IT sector has stabilized, the economy steadies and credit loosens, M&A has been picking up. Last week, Cisco agreed to acquire Norwegian videoconferencing company Tandberg ASA for $3 billion, leading analysts to wonder whether HP would respond. There were also major deals in an IT services sector that analysts say is ripe for consolidation: Dell’s $3.9 billion bid for Perot Systems Corp. and Xerox Corp.’s $5.5 billion play for Affiliated Computer Services Inc. HP has a formidable war chest of $13.7 billion in cash should it decide to deal. It has made at least 45 acquisitions since 2001. Besides EDS, major deals in recent years include the $4.6 billion acquisition of Mercury Interactive Corp. in 2006, and the $1.5 billion purchase of Opsware Inc. in 2007—two of the more than two dozen software deals HP has made since 2001. The company wages battle on many fronts in the IT sector, from Dell and Acer Inc. in PCs, to IBM in services and servers, to printers. Brent Bracelin, analysts at technology investment banker Pacific Crest Securities, said last week that HP has been in “digesting mode” with EDS but added: “I would expect them to get back into an environment where they become much more aggressive as they enter 2010.” “HP isn’t in a position where they’re going to be left out of the consolidation race,” Bracelin said. HP has been tightly managing costs as it works through the EDS deal. It expects to generate $3 billion in savings by the time the integration is complete. Rakers said the services sector deals in recent weeks provide more evidence that HP’s purchase of EDS was a smart one. “The EDS stuff was validated, if you look at the multiples that Dell’s paying for Perot,” he said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 8:59 am In US, bloggers will have to disclose gifts or paymentsFor nearly three decades, the US Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) rules regarding the relationships between advertisers and product reviewers and endorsers were deemed adequate. Then came the age of blogging and social media. On Monday, FTC said it would revise rules about endorsements and testimonials in advertising that had been in place since 1980. The new regulations are aimed at the rapidly shifting new-media world and how advertisers are using bloggers and social media sites such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. to pitch their wares. FTC said that beginning 1 December, bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including, in most cases, the receipt of free products and whether or not they were paid in any way by advertisers, as occurs frequently. The new rules also take aim at celebrities, who will now need to disclose any ties to companies, should they promote products on a talk show or on Twitter. A second major change, which was not aimed specifically at bloggers or social media, was to eliminate the ability of advertisers to gush about results that differ from what is typical—for instance, from a weight loss supplement. For bloggers who review products, this means that the days of an unimpeded flow of giveaways may be over. More broadly, the move suggests that the government is intent on bringing to bear on the Internet the same sorts of regulations that have governed other forms of media, such as television or print. “It crushes the idea that the Internet is separate from the kinds of concerns that have been attached to previous media,” said Clay Shirky, a professor at New York University. Richard Cleland, assistant director of the division of advertising practices at FTC, said: “We were looking and seeing the significance of social media marketing in the 21st century and we thought it was time to explain the principles of transparency and truth in advertising and apply them to social media marketing. Which isn’t to say that we saw a huge problem out there that was imperative to address.” Still, social media websites as well as blogs, have offered companies new opportunities to pitch products with endorsements that carry a veneer of authenticity because they seem to be straight from the mouth—or keyboard—of an individual consumer. In some cases, companies have set up product review blogs that appear to be independent. Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School and co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said “the rules are looking ahead to a quite possible future when there is a market to buy ‘authentic’ public endorsements”. The new guidelines were not unexpected—the commission gave notice last November that it would take up the matter. They will affect scores of bloggers who began as hobbyists only to find that companies flocked to them in search of a new way to reach consumers. About three-and-a-half years ago, Christine Young of Lincoln, California, began blogging about her adventures in home schooling. It led to her current blog, FromDatesToDiapers.com, about mothers and families. The free products soon started arriving, and now hardly a day goes by without a package from Federal Express or DHL arriving at her door, she said. They are mostly children’s products, but sometimes not, she added. She said she recently received a free pair of women’s shoes from Timberland Co. Young said she had always disclosed whether or not she received a free product when writing her reviews. But companies have nothing to lose when sending off goodies: if she doesn’t like a product, she simply won’t write about it. “I think that bloggers definitely need to be held accountable,” said Young. “I think there is a certain level of trust that bloggers have with readers, and readers deserve to know the whole truth.” ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 8:59 am IBM joins pursuit of $1,000 personal genome sequencingOne of the oldest names in computing is joining the race to sequence the genome for $1,000 (Rs47,200). On Tuesday, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) plans to give technical details of its effort to reach and surpass that goal, ultimately bringing the cost to as low as $100, making a personal genome cheaper than a ticket to a Broadway play.  Cheap technology: A simulation of the ‘DNA transistor’ that IBM hopes will sequence genomes by reading DNA pulled through a nanopore. J. Michael Loughran / NYT IBM already has a wide range of scientific and commercial efforts in fields such as making supercomputers designed specifically for modelling biological processes. The company’s researchers and executives hope to use its expertise in semiconductor manufacturing, computing and material science to design an integrated sequencing machine that will offer advances both in accuracy and speed, and will lower the cost. “More and more of biology is becoming an information science, which is very much a business for IBM,” said Ajay Royyuru, senior manager for IBM’s computational biology center at its Thomas J. Watson Laboratory in Yorktown Heights, New York. DNA sequencing began at academic research centres in the 1970s, and the original Human Genome Project successfully sequenced the first genome in 2001 and cost roughly $1 billion. Since then, the field has accelerated. In the last four-five years, the cost of sequencing has been falling at a rate of tenfold annually, according to George M. Church, a Harvard geneticist. In a recent presentation in Los Angeles, Church said he expected the industry to stay on that curve, or some fraction of that improvement rate, for the foreseeable future. At least 17 start-up and existing companies are in the sequencing race, pursuing a range of third-generation technologies. Sequencing the human genome now costs $5,000-50,000, although Church emphasized that none of the efforts so far had been completely successful and no research group had yet sequenced the entire genome of a single individual. The IBM approach is based on what the firm describes as a “DNA transistor,” which it hopes will be capable of reading individual nucleotides in a single strand of DNA as it is pulled through an atomic-size hole known as a nanopore. A complete system would consist of two fluid reservoirs separated by a silicon membrane containing an array of up to a million nanopores, making it possible to sequence vast quantities of DNA at once. The firm said the goal of the research was to build a machine that would have the capacity to sequence an individual genome of up to three billion bases, or nucleotides, “in several hours.” A system with this power and speed is essential if progress is to be made toward personalized medicine, IBM researchers said. Despite the optimism of the IBM researchers, an independent scientist noted that various approaches to nanopore-based sequencing had been tried for years, with only limited success. “DNA strands seem to have a mind of their own,” said Elaine R. Mardis, co-director of the genome center at Washington University in St Louis, noting that DNA often takes a number of formations other than a straight rod as it passes through a nanopore. Mardis also said previous efforts to create uniform silicon-based nanopore sensors had been disappointing. ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 8:59 am Rohit Bal to do WIFW grand finale in flamboyant styleHe is known as the master of fabric and fantasy. Given this, flamboyant designer Rohit Bal is all set to present his opulent collection at the grand finale of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) here Oct 28.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 Oct 2009 | 8:31 am Net tax collections up 3.69 percent this fiscalNet direct tax collections during the first half this fiscal grew 3.69 percent from the corresponding period last year, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 Oct 2009 | 8:31 am Bharti Airtel partners with US firmTelecom major Bharti Airtel has partnered with US-based network equipment maker Cisco Systems to offer services for small, medium and large enterprises.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 Oct 2009 | 8:30 am Microsoft vs Google Internet war to benefit media: AP chiefHong Kong: Microsoft’s Internet search engine war with Google will revitalise the ailing media industry by helping it profit more from online news, the head of US news agency the Associated Press said Tuesday. Microsoft’s move in July to team up with Yahoo! and challenge Google’s dominance of the online search market is a turning point in the traditional media’s efforts to adapt to the Internet, AP president and CEO Tom Curley said. Newspaper executives have complained that Google reaps the benefits from its popular news aggregation site Google News, while the industry gains little revenue from the service which readers access for free. “We stand at an enviable moment where Microsoft and Google have decided to go to war,” Curley said in an address to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong. “And we who produce content can begin to figure out whether there’s an opportunity for us to help that sharing in a way that reverses the outflow of money from media and takes it back.” Curley said that increased competition from the turf war, and Microsoft’s plans to improve the reliability of news sources, would all benefit the media industry. While he declined to criticise Google, the AP boss told reporters that Microsoft has proved keener to collaborate on how to improve the profitability of online news. Curley said AP was in talks with the software giant about its new Internet search technology, which includes a feature allowing Web surfers to search using image galleries instead of text links. He expected new strategies to improve readers’ experience of online news to bear fruit in the next three to fifteen months. “I think you’ll see a lot more effort and a lot more announcements that are a lot more bullish from media companies than you have in the last decade,” he said. The AP is owned by 1,400 US newspapers but declining circulation, a drop in advertising revenue and Internet competition has decimated the industry with seven major companies in bankruptcy and 30,000 jobs lost since 2007. Earlier this year the AP launched an industry initiative to protect news content from unauthorized use online, including a “news registry” to track the use of its stories on the Web. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 6:10 am Apple quits US Chamber, citing climate policyWashington: Apple Inc on Monday became the latest company to quit the US Chamber of Commerce because the technology company disagrees with the business group’s climate change policy. “We would prefer that the chamber take a more progressive stance on this critical issue and play a constructive role in addressing the climate crisis,” Catherine Novelli, a vice president of government affairs at Apple, wrote in a letter dated Monday to the business group. Novelli wrote that Apple resigned its membership in the business group “effective immediately.” Last month three big power utilities, Exelon Corp, PG&E Corp and PNM Resources Inc, said they were leaving the chamber over the group’s stance on climate. Other companies have offered critiques of the Chamber, which has pushed for public hearings to challenge the scientific evidence of manmade climate change. These critics say the chamber’s views fail to reflect the broad views of its members on climate. After Exelon announced its departure last month, the chamber said in a statement it favors “mainstream, common sense views” on climate change but opposed a climate bill that the House of Representatives narrowly passed in June. Senate Democrats unveiled their version of the bill last week that built on the House legislation, though the future of the bill is uncertain. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 5:50 am Suzlon to supply wind turbines to Turkish firmMumbai: Wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy today said it has bagged an order from Turkey-based Ayen Enerji to supply and install 27 units of turbines to generate 57 MW of energy, in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The turbines would be installed at the Seferihisar and Mordogan projects in east Turkey, the filing added. In 2007, Suzlon had forayed into the Turkish wind energy market with an order from Ayen Enerji for supplying turbines. Shares of Suzlon Energy were trading at Rs86.50 on the BSE, down 0.69% from previous close. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 Oct 2009 | 4:01 am
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