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NW18: Marg arm plans ninefold jump in capacity by 2017Karaikal Port (P) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chennaibased MARG Ltd, is planning to expand its handling capacity over nine fold to tap the growing demand from the thriving industrial environment in the region.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Oct 2009 | 8:33 am Rural job scheme turning wage seekers into entrepreneurs!What is common between a small farmer whose son is studying medicine, a smuggler of valuable wood who gave up the illegal activity and an agricultural labourer who raised a loan to buy a buffalo?Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Oct 2009 | 7:09 am New York Times to lay off 100 from newsroom!The New York Times is to slash 100 jobs in its newsroom as the largest and most prestigious newspaper in the US continues to struggle with the drop in advertising and readership that is bedeviling the newspaper business.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Oct 2009 | 7:09 am China, ASEAN trade solid against financial crisis!Trade volume is said to grow between China and the 10 ASEAN countries with the "blooming" of financial services between the two parties and a free trade agreement, a Chinese official said.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Oct 2009 | 7:09 am Invesco to acquire Morgan Stanley unit for $1.5bn!Stanley said Tuesday it will sell its retail asset management business, including the Van Kampen division, to money manager Invesco Ltd. for USD 1.5 billion in a move to focus on institutional clients.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Oct 2009 | 7:09 am NTPC rises 4% after govt`s nod for stake sale!Shares of state-run power producer NTPC on Tuesday climbed over four per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange in morning trade, a day after the government approved a 5 per cent stake sale in the company.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Oct 2009 | 7:09 am Developing nations should be careful with signing FTA: Mahatir!Developing nations should sign the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) only after properly studying its impact on the economy to avoid losing out, veteran Malaysian leader and former premier Mahathir Mohammad said.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Oct 2009 | 7:09 am IBM veteran exec put on leave after insider arrest!IBM placed senior executive Robert Moffat on leave of absence after he was arrested in the largest ever hedge fund insider-trading scheme.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Oct 2009 | 7:09 am Asia stocks at 14-month high as bull run persists!Asian stocks rose to a 14-month high on Tuesday after strong sales numbers from Apple Inc suggested US consumers are spending more and as the weak US dollar kept pushing commodity prices higher.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Oct 2009 | 7:09 am Supreme Court to hear Reliance gas dispute!The stage is set for the Supreme Court to start hearing from Tuesday one of the most-watched battles in India`s corporate history, involving Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources and elder Mukesh Ambani`s Reliance Industries.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Oct 2009 | 7:09 am Apple smashes forecasts, stock hits record!Apple Inc`s profits and sales streaked past Wall Street forecasts as iPhone and Mac sales hit quarterly records, sending its shares rocketing to all-time highs on Monday.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Oct 2009 | 7:09 am Walmart has big plans for India; do we have enough space?The worlds largest retailer has found a new growth engine in the holy city of Amritsar. Before we begin to tell this story, allow us a moment to put a few things into perspective. Walmart is the worlds second largest company after ExxonMobil.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Oct 2009 | 7:05 am NW18: BSNL signs tower sharing agreement with DatacomBharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has signed a tower sharing agreement with Videocon group\'s telecom arm Datacom. Datacom to get access to over 42,000 BSNL towersSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Oct 2009 | 6:26 am NW18: TRAI issues consultation paper on spectrum managementTelecom Regulatory Authority of India today issued the muchawaited consultation paper on issues concerning spectrum management, pricing and licensing norms.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Oct 2009 | 6:24 am NW18: MTNL seeks bids to buy 2G, 3G lines for Mauritius opsMahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd has invited bids for buying and implementing 150,000 2G and 50,000 3G lines for its Mauritius operations, according to a tender notice on the company\'s website.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Oct 2009 | 6:22 am Sensex closes in red; Reliance, ONGC weigh - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:30 am Tanla Sol signs 5yr Nokia deal; sees 125m in rev by 2012D Uday Kumar Reddy, CMD, Tanla Solutions said his company had signed a five year deal with Nokia, in an interview with CNBCTV18. He added that revenues from the mobile vertical would now go up from Euro 20 million to Euro 125 million by 2012.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:22 am Apollo Tyres ups FY10 outlook on improving economy - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:17 am Government approves divestment in power firmsThe Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a proposal to divest stake in state-run utilities NTPC Ltd and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN).Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:08 am Gurgaon factory tense after labour unrest claims lifeThe situation at a Gurgaon-based auto component factory in Haryana continued to be tense Monday, a day after after labour unrest there left one worker dead and at least six injured.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:07 am Hyderabad throws open India's longest flyoverAccess to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, about 30 km from the city, has now become smoother and faster with India's longest flyover thrown open to traffic Monday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:06 am Kerala urges Smart City Dubai to start work soonKerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan Monday said the government would look for 'other options' if Smart City Dubai, the developer of the proposed Rs.1,500-crore ($300 million) IT project, did not resolve its differences with the state and start construction soon.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:04 am Orissa to assess crop loss amid reports of farmer suicidesBowing to the demands of angry farmers, the Orissa government Monday decided to form a joint committee to assess the crop loss in those areas where farmer suicides have been reported.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:03 am Indian rupee off highs as shares fall; dlr watched - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:01 am JSW Steel Q2 profit seen modest; but outlook steadyMUMBAI (Reuters) - JSW Steel Ltd, India's No. 3 steel producer, may see a slight bump in profit in the second quarter on firm local demand but muted price and oversupply concerns cast a shadow over the year ahead.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:01 am 'India, SAARC not to move away from Kyoto Protocol' - Press Trust of India
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:01 am Sensex crawls up after brief slip into negativeA key Indian equity index Tuesday climbed up after slipping briefly into the negative and was ruling 0.3 percent higher than its previous close a little before noon.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:00 am Inflation, interest rate hike key concerns for Indian investorsRising inflation and a possible interest rate hike are key concerns for investors in India, with 40% of them willing to reallocate their investment portfolio to beat inflation.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:55 am World stocks hit new 12-month highLONDON (Reuters) - World stocks hit a new 12-month high on Tuesday, powered by strong results from Apple Inc and Texas Instruments and helping to push the dollar to a new 14-month low against a basket of currencies.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:49 am Class 12 will get the importance it deserves: Principal - Hindustan Times
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:46 am China Mobile Q3 net profit rises 2.8 pctBEIJING (Reuters) - China Mobile reported a disappointing quarterly profit, up 2.8 percent from a year earlier, underscoring rising pressure from a costly 3G rollout, intensifying competition and a recovering economy.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:45 am CCEA approves Unitech WirelessTelenor dealThe Commerce Ministry has said that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given clearance for the Unitech WirelessTelenor deal. Telenor has received a approval to hike stake in Unitech Wireless and will now to hold 67.2% in Unitech Wireless Tamil NaduSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:41 am Indian Stocks Fall, Led by Reliance Industries on Court Hearing - Bloomberg
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:36 am Indian car workers go on strike - BBC News
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:31 am BofA sought lower price for Merrill - documentsWASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp considered invoking a contractual provision allowing it to scrap its takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co as a means to negotiate a lower price rather than to back out, internal documents obtained by Reuters on Monday show.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:29 am Puma opens development center in VietnamFrankfurt: German sporting goods company Puma AG opened a new product development center in Vietnam on Tuesday, part of an effort to streamline the creation of new apparel and reduce costs. Puma said the center in Ho Chi Minh City pulls together suppliers, researchers and developers under one roof. The concept “will increase Puma’s speed to market, reduces our cost base and makes sure that our products are of excellent quality,” chief executive Jochen Zeitz said in a statement. “It underpins Puma’s current restructuring efforts to streamline our business operations throughout all steps of the value chain,” he added. Footwear and apparel will be developed at the new complex. Herzogenaurach, Germany-based Puma is the world’s third largest sporting goods company after crosstown rival Adidas AG and Nike Inc. of the US. Shares of Puma were up 1.6% at euro231.70 ($345.23) in Frankfurt morning trading. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:24 am Midsession: Sensex in the red on profit-sellingMumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark pared its early gains and fell by 121 points at midsession on Tuesday on profit booking in heavy-weight stocks. The Sensex fell by 120.71 points to 16,205.30 points at 7:30pm. The barometer had opened higher by 131.28 points. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 36.75 points at 5,105.05 at the same time. It rose to 5,181.95 in early trade. Shares tested fresh 17-month highs and were trading 0.3% higher at noon, mirroring the gains in global markets, but weakness in Reliance Industries ahead of a court hearing on its dispute with Reliance Natural Resources checked gains. Major lenders ICICI Bank and State Bank of India led the gainers and rose on expectations the central bank may hold rates steady at its policy meet next Tuesday. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on Sensex, slipped ahead of the Supreme Court hearing. Reliance Industries was down 0.6% at Rs2,211.10, while Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources climbed 3.1% to Rs89.55. “Investors have turned nervous about Reliance Industries. But it will be months before the judgement comes out. There’s no need to panic right now,” said R. K. Gupta, managing director of Taurus Mutual Fund. Foreign funds have poured $13.6 billion in Indian equities so far this year, driving the benchmark 80 percent higher since the end of 2008. “Some amount of profit booking may happen in sessions to come. But downside risks are not very high in the near term considering the strong global cues,” added Gupta. Private lender ICICI Bank climbed 1.2% to Rs960 while top lender State Bank was up 0.8% at Rs2,482. State-run power producer NTPC rose as much as 4.25% in early deals, after the government approved a 5 percent stake sale in the company on Monday. The stock was trading 1.2% higher at Rs216.55. Top software services exporter Tata Consultancy climbed 1.6% to Rs618.20, on a better-than-expected 29% rise in its September quarter net profit. “Given the impressive out-performance recorded by the software major on the volumes front and the tailwinds of deals won recently, we believe TCS is likely to record an improvement in its core business performance as the global economy gradually recovers,” Karvy Stock Broking said in a note. In the broader market, gainers led losers in the ratio of 1.1:1, in a volume of 179 million shares. Asian stocks rose to a 14-month high after strong sales numbers from Apple Inc suggested US consumers are spending more. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:15 am Gold buying cools off after festival pick-upMumbai: India’s wholesale gold demand abated as prices jumped on Tuesday after picking up in the previous few sessions due to Dhanteras and Diwali, dealers and traders said. “Consignments have dried up now, there is not much activity in the wholesale segment,” said a official with a large bullion dealing private bank. “There was demand until last week.” India, the world’s largest gold consumer, celebrated Dhanteras, the biggest gold buying festivals, and Diwali, the festival of lights, when gold buying picks up for auspicious reasons. Dhanteras accounts for 15-20 tonnes of gold sales, trade estimates show. The December gold futures contract rose about a 1 percent on Tuesday, hitting a high of Rs15,971 per 10 grams. Dealers said festival sales were lower compared to last year, but sentiment was boosted by a strong rupee, which made the dollar-quoted yellow metal cheaper. “Demand was in no way in comparison to the previous year, on month they were lower by 45 percent,” said a senior executive with a large foreign bank, which supplies gold to India. “ A strong rupee was aiding sentiment.” The rupee rose 0.24% over the week, and is now 12.8% above a record low of Rs52.2 per dollar hit in March. The currency has gained more than 5.5% this year. “Demand would have been much better if gold prices were at $1,000/1,020 (an ounce),” said the official. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:06 am Toyota launches new hybrid, Honda warms to electricTOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp is ramping up its push on gasoline-electric hybrids, launching a new model in Japan and taking on up-and-coming rival Hyundai Motor Co in its Korean home market with its flagship Prius.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:58 am Iran to go ahead with nuclear programmeTehran: Iran will never abandon its “legal and obvious” right to nuclear technology, foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Tuesday, adding that Tehran had no plan to halt its disputed uranium enrichment work. “The meetings with world powers and their behaviour shows that Iran’s right to have peaceful nuclear technology has been accepted by them ... Iran will never abandon its legal and obvious right,” Mottaki told a news conference. Talks between Iran and world powers on a deal to allay concerns about Tehran’s nuclear programme started on Monday in Vienna. They were due to resume at 1:30pm, on Tuesday, but the start was delayed as US, French and Iranian diplomats conferred in corridors outside the meeting hall. The reason for the delay was not clear. The meeting hosted by the United Nations nuclear watchdog offered the first chance to build on proposals raised at Geneva talks on 1 October to defuse a standoff over suspicions that Iran’s uranium enrichment programme is covertly intended to develop nuclear weapons. Mottaki praised the talks. Iran agreed in Geneva in principle to sending low-enriched uranium abroad for processing into fuel for a Tehran reactor producing medical isotopes. “We see serious development in the talks ... the continuation of talks can lead to a deal over supplying Iran with the 20% enriched uranium,” Mottaki said. “What we want is our right based on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It says the member countries should be supplied with nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes by those members that have the fuel.” The West hopes the step will minimise the risk of Iran refining the material to high purity suitable for bombs. Western diplomats say Tehran must ultimately curb the programme to dispel fears of a growing Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) stockpile being further enriched to produce nuclear weapons. LEU is used as fuel for nuclear reactors, while a nuclear bomb requires highly enriched uranium. The West fears Iran’s nuclear programme is a front to build bombs. Iran denies this. State-run Iranian television said on Monday Tehran would not deal directly with France since it had failed to deliver nuclear materials in the past. Mottaki said Iran did not need France for the fuel supply. “There are Russia, America ... I believe these countries are enough. Not too many countries are needed to provide Iran with the fuel,” Mottaki said. He said Iran had no intention to give up its disputed uranium enrichment activities, as demanded by the United Nations Security Council. “Iran will continue its uranium enrichment. It is not linked to buying fuel from abroad,” Mottaki said. Iran has been hit by three rounds of UN sanctions for refusing to halt its enrichment work. It said on Monday it would not hesitate to produce higher enriched uranium on its territory if nuclear talks failed in Vienna. Iran won a reprieve from harsher UN sanctions by agreeing on 1 October to inspections of a hidden nuclear site and to send low-enriched uranium abroad for further processing. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:56 am Karzai to accept ‘vote ruling’ to avert chaosKabul: “Afghan President Hamid Karzai will accept final results due later Tuesday from Afghanistan’s chaotic election,” officials said after frantic Western lobbying to resolve two months of political paralysis. The announcement from Karzai’s beleaguered camp came after a UN-backed investigation confirmed staggering levels of fraud in the 20 August vote, declaring more than one million ballots suspect—a quarter of the total cast. It was the first public statement from Karzai’s campaign team that the president would respect the law, and implied he would accept a second-round vote against chief rival Abdullah Abdullah if electoral authorities order one. After weeks of controversy at a time when Western forces are striving to pacify a bloody Taliban insurgency, Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) said it would announce the final results later Tuesday. “Our commissioners are currently in a meeting and when the meeting is finished we will make our announcement of the final results,” spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said. Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said: “We have to wait for the final announcement through legal channels, which is the Independent Election Commission.” “And once the IEC announces the results then we are bound to accept it, based on the law,” Omar said. The IEC was debating the report by the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), whose findings appeared to have pushed Karzai’s vote total below the 50% threshold he required for outright victory. The legal requirement then would be a run-off vote in two weeks between Karzai and Abdullah, the president’s former foreign minister who trailed in preliminary results with 28% of the August total. French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said it was very important for Karzai to face a run-off. “Having a second round seems to me to be very important, because it’s a proof of democracy, and for Afghanistan to take the path of democracy is a good thing,” he told France Info radio. But time is short for a new election before Afghanistan’s harsh winter sets in. Tribal leaders who hold sway over tens of thousands of voters have also warned of their disaffection with the political process. Another scenario touted in Western capitals is for Karzai and Abdullah to join forces in a government of national unity. Abdullah, who has long called for a second round, told CNN that at the same time the door is open to other options to resolve the crisis. He did not specify what those options were. There are signs that US patience with Karzai is wearing thin, as President Barack Obama wrestles with a decision on whether to deploy thousands more troops to Afghanistan. “It is going to be incredibly important for the world to see that Afghan leaders are willing to make this process legitimate,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. After a visit to Pakistan, powerful US Senator John Kerry diverted his plane back to Kabul for hurried talks with Karzai late Monday. The British and French ambassadors also reportedly joined the meeting. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said that she expected Karzai to reveal his intentions later Tuesday and voiced hope of a resolution in the next several days. A Western official close to the voting process said Karzai and his cabinet were bending towards accepting a run-off. “He can’t take on the international community and expect continued support. It’s just not going to happen,” the official added. An independent US observation mission said that the ECC report meant that 1.3 million votes would be thrown out, including nearly a million for Karzai, which would slash his vote to 48% from about 55% previously. The report would raise Abdullah’s share of the vote to 31.5% and remove around 200,000 of his votes due to fraud, Democracy International said. It was now down to the IEC to decide whether to certify the report. Abdullah says the nominally independent panel is in fact stacked with Karzai Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:54 am Emerging markets capture larger share in global PE activity in H1New Delhi: Emerging markets, including India, accounted for a larger share in the global private equity activity in the first six months of this year, despite a decline in the funds raised compared to the year-ago period, a report has said. Emerging Asia continued to lead and raised $11 billion in the first half of 2009, representing 69% of total new commitments during the period, but a 61% decline from the $29 billion raised relative to the previous year, the report by Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA) said. “Emerging markets continue to account for a larger share of the global private equity market, consistent with their contribution to global GDP and GDP growth,” EMPEA president Sarah Alexander said. “The slowdown in emerging market fund raising and investment is consistent with and generally less severe, than the decline in developed private equity markets. We are not seeing the sort of capital flight from emerging markets that followed past crises,” she added. China and India also continued to be the most active markets for investment, with 88 and 68 deals, respectively, in the period ending June 2009, versus 103 and 89 deals, in the same period the previous year, the report stated. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:45 am Car sales sparkle in Diwali weekendThis has been a heady Diwali weekend for carmakers which could pave the way for good sales numbers this month.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:41 am Etisalat DB Tele inks pacts with Tech Mahindra, Aegis, Conflux Mumbai: Telecommunicaton major, Etisalat DB Telecom on Tuesday said that it has signed over Rs750 crore worth end-to-end outsourcing agreements with BPO providers—Tech Mahindra, Aegis and Conflux. The move is to accelerate Etisalat DB Telecom’s forthcoming roll-out of telecom services in the country. Under the agreement, Tech Mahindra, Aegis and Conflux would set up state-of-the-art contact centres to provide a host of customer management services including billing, collections, customer service and retention amongst others, the company said in a statement here. “We are pleased to partner with Tech Mahindra, Aegis and Conflux who have the proven expertise in managing large customer support operations for telecom service providers such as Etisalat, both in India and internationally,” Etisalat DB’s official spokesperson said. The agreement would be for a period of five years. Etisalat DB Telecom is a joint venture between Etisalat and Dynamix Balwas Group. The BPOs safeguards would ensure seamless service and business continuity for Etisalat DB with all centres being linked to each other, thereby presenting the company with a single window to provide superior experience to customers, the statement said. Customers will also have access to the contact center via email, chat and sms besides inbound and outbound calls. While Tech Mahindra would be responsible for managing Etisalat DBs services in north and south India; west and central India will be managed by Aegis. Conflux would be responsible for servicing customers in Bihar. The BPOs multi-site centers would provide both inbound and outbound services in the respective regional languages, besides English and Hindi. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:40 am TVS set to launch Indias first autoclutch bikeTVS Motor Company is gearing up to launch the countrys first motorcycle with automatic clutch by the end of this calendar year.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:37 am Haryana industrial belt hit by autoworkers strikeNew Delhi: Workers’ unions in the Gurgaon- Manesar-Bawal belt in Haryana went on a day long strike on Tuesday to protest the death of a young worker on Sunday and the agitation was marred by violence that saw an angry mob beat up a senior official of an auto component maker. Auto component maker Rico Auto, whose worker was killed during a group clash on Sunday, reported zero attendance as did companies including Rico Auto and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI). Maruti Suzuki India said its operations were not affected. “Over one lakh workers are participating and over 70 factories have been affected,” claimed All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) Gurgaon district secretary Suresh Gaud, who is leading the agitation. The strike began on a violent note at Rico Auto, the epicentre of the worker’s unrest, when employees manhandled the company’s Deputy General Manager Sanjiv Arya at the entrance of the company’s facility in Gurgaon this morning. “The situation is volatile and lots of striking workers have gathered outside the gate. Arya was beaten up in the presence of the police,” Rico Auto vice president (Human Resources) S S Choudhary claimed. The one-day strike was called by the Trade Union Council, an umbrella group led by the AITUC. Among the major auto makers, HMSI’s factories have been affected by the strike, while Hero Honda officials could not be contacted. “Workers are boycotting work and have joined the procession, though the general office staff have reported for duty. The assembly lines are not working,“ a senior Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) official said. However, work has not been affected at the facilities of the country’s largest car maker MSI. “Our employees are not part of the strike. There is hundred per cent attendance and no downslide in production,” a MSI spokesperson said. Besides the big auto manufacturers and components makers, the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial belt also houses many textile producers and export houses. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:37 am Galleon founder's fate may help sink the group - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:33 am Raja seeks FM’s help to usher in 3G mobile servicesNew Delhi: Telecom minister A Raja has held the defence ministry responsible for the slippage in the auction process for 3G spectrum and sought finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s help to clear the decks. The defence ministry has decided to release only that 3G spectrum that is to be auctioned and that too in phases. In fact, the armed forces have not released spectrum already in use as envisaged in their agreement with DoT. “Because of the stand taken by the defence ministry, which is not plausible and against the decisions of the empowered Group of Ministers there has been slippage in the original schedule of auction,” Raja wrote to Mukherjee. “If this issue is not resolved quickly, I apprehend that the revenues anticipated from 3G auction may not be forthcoming this year,” he said. Auction of 3G spectrum or radio waves was to have been completed by this year end, but the telecom ministry has not yet issued the information memorandum that lists eligibility conditions, rules of auction and the details of spectrum for want for clarity from the defence ministry. “I request you to kindly intervene in this matter... so as to enable the 3G auctions to be completed during this year. You may also consider holding a meeting with the defence minister A K Antony on the matter,” Raja requested Mukherjee. While India struggles to embrace the next generation mobile telephony, or 3G, that offers high speed data and voice connectivity, the world has already moved to the next level of technology called ‘LTE’. The government had projected up to Rs 35,000 crore collection from sale of spectrum in the current financial year, mainly from the 3G auction. But, going by the current pace, the process is likely to be delayed by several months. The EGoM had decided to auction four blocks of spectrum in each circle (one block has already been allotted to two telecom PSUs) and had announced a reserve price of Rs3,500 crore for pan-India 3G spectrum. With the Ministry of Defence not releasing the radio waves, the DoT has been unable to issue a revised schedule of auctions and information manual. The DoT, Raja said in the letter, is anxious to ensure that these auctions take place at the earliest and certainly during the current year. The minister, who was in Geneva earlier this month, had said that the global players have shown keen interest in participating in the auction. But if this was delayed beyond a point they may lose interest, causing huge financial loss to the government. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:24 am Indian Panorama section to include mainstream Bollywood New Delhi: The ‘Indian Panorama´ section of the International Film Festival of India, 2009 will include mainstream Bollywood fare like Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Dev D´ and Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Kaminey´. The festival to be held in Panjim, Goa, from 23 November, will showcase six movies from Bengal, three from Karnataka, three from Maharashtra and two each from Kerala and Tamil Nadu, in the Panaroma section. There will also be five Hindi films, two English and one each in Rajasthani, Konkani and Tulu. In all there will be 26 movies of which five have been nominated by the Film and Television Producers Guild and the Film Federation of India. Thanks to the guild and the federation, mainstream films have found a place in the Indian Panorama, a section once specially envisaged to showcase the cream of India’s meaningful and artistic cinema. Other commercial films in the section are Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Oye Lucky-Lucky Oye´ and Pandi Raj’s ‘Pasanga´. Outside the mainstream arena, Nandita Das’s debut movie, ‘Firaaq´, Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s ‘Janala´, Shaji Karun’s ‘Kutty Srank´, M.S. Sathyu’s ‘Ijjodu´ and Rituparno Ghosh’s ‘Shob Charitro Kalponik´ are some of the entries. ‘Haat: The Weekly Bazaar´ by Seema Kapoor is a rare entry from Rajasthan. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:24 am Raja seeks FM’s help to usher in 3G mobile servicesNew Delhi: Telecom minister A Raja has held the defence ministry responsible for the slippage in the auction process for 3G spectrum and sought finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s help to clear the decks. The defence ministry has decided to release only that 3G spectrum that is to be auctioned and that too in phases. In fact, the armed forces have not released spectrum already in use as envisaged in their agreement with DoT. “Because of the stand taken by the defence ministry, which is not plausible and against the decisions of the empowered Group of Ministers there has been slippage in the original schedule of auction,” Raja wrote to Mukherjee. “If this issue is not resolved quickly, I apprehend that the revenues anticipated from 3G auction may not be forthcoming this year,” he said. Auction of 3G spectrum or radio waves was to have been completed by this year end, but the telecom ministry has not yet issued the information memorandum that lists eligibility conditions, rules of auction and the details of spectrum for want for clarity from the defence ministry. “I request you to kindly intervene in this matter... so as to enable the 3G auctions to be completed during this year. You may also consider holding a meeting with the defence minister A K Antony on the matter,” Raja requested Mukherjee. While India struggles to embrace the next generation mobile telephony, or 3G, that offers high speed data and voice connectivity, the world has already moved to the next level of technology called ‘LTE’. The government had projected up to Rs 35,000 crore collection from sale of spectrum in the current financial year, mainly from the 3G auction. But, going by the current pace, the process is likely to be delayed by several months. The EGoM had decided to auction four blocks of spectrum in each circle (one block has already been allotted to two telecom PSUs) and had announced a reserve price of Rs3,500 crore for pan-India 3G spectrum. With the Ministry of Defence not releasing the radio waves, the DoT has been unable to issue a revised schedule of auctions and information manual. The DoT, Raja said in the letter, is anxious to ensure that these auctions take place at the earliest and certainly during the current year. The minister, who was in Geneva earlier this month, had said that the global players have shown keen interest in participating in the auction. But if this was delayed beyond a point they may lose interest, causing huge financial loss to the government. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:24 am Reliance Infra gets $128 mn road projectMumbai: India’s Reliance Infrastructure said on Tuesday it has a got a Rs5.90 billion ($128 million) road project. The 53 km project in the north western state of Rajasthan is on a build, operate and transfer basis for a period of 18 years, it said in a statement. The firm said it was building seven road projects at a cost of Rs45 billion. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:21 am IT firms set to ride $2 bn India power reformMumbai: Technology firms are set to cash in on the Indian government’s push to reform the country’s power distribution network, as India lines up over $2 billion to help cap energy losses through use of information technology (IT), industry players said. The federal government has launched a $10.86 billion (Rs500 billion) plan to cut power distribution losses in the country, with a fifth of the funds devoted to using IT at state-run distribution companies. “It’s a massive opportunity. As a business opportunity IT companies are excited,” said Rajdeep Sehrawat, vice president, of IT body National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom). Several Indian IT firms have eyed state-funded projects to help tide over the global economic slowdown, which had put the brakes on the sector’s scorching pace of growth as their core overseas clients slashed technology spending. “This is the next wave. In the next 3-4 years the utilities will spend a lot of money, they don’t have a choice and the government is providing them a lot of money,” said Vilas Kanyal, business unit head at software firm Mastek, which is foraying into offering IT consulting for utilities. The opportunity Under the power reforms scheme—Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP)—many domestic and global IT firms have been empanelled to serve as consultants or act as implementation agencies to distribution companies. States like West Bengal and Rajasthan have already awarded IT projects, while others including Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are in the process of doing so, government officials said. “Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) bagged a Rs1.93 billion project in West Bengal covering 62 towns,” said Moloy Dey, chairman, West Bengal state electricity board. TCS has also been selected as lowest bidder for a project worth Rs2.93 billion in Madhya Pradesh, while HCL Infosystems won a project in Rajasthan worth Rs5.29 billion covering the entire state. Under R-APDRP, IT work will involve setting up data centres, disaster recovery back-ups, GIS mapping, and entail applications for reading meters, billing and collection, energy accounting and auditing and consumer grievance redressal. “About 30-plus distribution companies have identified IT consultants for R-APDRP,” said a federal power ministry official who declined to be named. Typically, IT implementation projects could be worth about Rs1-6 billion while IT consultants could earn a fraction of that range, industry players said. The challenge State-run power distribution utilities are trying to improve their operations, but the process is hampered by extremely low levels of efficiency, said a recent report from India Infoline. About 30% of the total power produced in India is lost in transmission and distribution each year due to pilferage and technical snags, compelling the federal government to invest in using IT to first identify the losses. Several large discoms (distribution companies) continue to report losses of over 30%, and some even as high as 50%, McKinsey said in a report. “The sector needs to cut losses to 15% in five years under R-APDRP with IT and non-IT initiatives together,” said Devtosh Chaturvedi, vice president of Feedback Ventures which, along with Mastek, is an empanelled IT consultant. “The challenge is now going to be—can IT companies provide solutions for an integrated distribution system, given the antiquated systems (of discoms), the crowd and the volume,” Nasscom’s Sehrawat added. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:17 am IT firms set to ride $2 bn India power reformMumbai: Technology firms are set to cash in on the Indian government’s push to reform the country’s power distribution network, as India lines up over $2 billion to help cap energy losses through use of information technology (IT), industry players said. The federal government has launched a $10.86 billion (Rs500 billion) plan to cut power distribution losses in the country, with a fifth of the funds devoted to using IT at state-run distribution companies. “It’s a massive opportunity. As a business opportunity IT companies are excited,” said Rajdeep Sehrawat, vice president, of IT body National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom). Several Indian IT firms have eyed state-funded projects to help tide over the global economic slowdown, which had put the brakes on the sector’s scorching pace of growth as their core overseas clients slashed technology spending. “This is the next wave. In the next 3-4 years the utilities will spend a lot of money, they don’t have a choice and the government is providing them a lot of money,” said Vilas Kanyal, business unit head at software firm Mastek, which is foraying into offering IT consulting for utilities. The opportunity Under the power reforms scheme—Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP)—many domestic and global IT firms have been empanelled to serve as consultants or act as implementation agencies to distribution companies. States like West Bengal and Rajasthan have already awarded IT projects, while others including Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are in the process of doing so, government officials said. “Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) bagged a Rs1.93 billion project in West Bengal covering 62 towns,” said Moloy Dey, chairman, West Bengal state electricity board. TCS has also been selected as lowest bidder for a project worth Rs2.93 billion in Madhya Pradesh, while HCL Infosystems won a project in Rajasthan worth Rs5.29 billion covering the entire state. Under R-APDRP, IT work will involve setting up data centres, disaster recovery back-ups, GIS mapping, and entail applications for reading meters, billing and collection, energy accounting and auditing and consumer grievance redressal. “About 30-plus distribution companies have identified IT consultants for R-APDRP,” said a federal power ministry official who declined to be named. Typically, IT implementation projects could be worth about Rs1-6 billion while IT consultants could earn a fraction of that range, industry players said. The challenge State-run power distribution utilities are trying to improve their operations, but the process is hampered by extremely low levels of efficiency, said a recent report from India Infoline. About 30% of the total power produced in India is lost in transmission and distribution each year due to pilferage and technical snags, compelling the federal government to invest in using IT to first identify the losses. Several large discoms (distribution companies) continue to report losses of over 30%, and some even as high as 50%, McKinsey said in a report. “The sector needs to cut losses to 15% in five years under R-APDRP with IT and non-IT initiatives together,” said Devtosh Chaturvedi, vice president of Feedback Ventures which, along with Mastek, is an empanelled IT consultant. “The challenge is now going to be—can IT companies provide solutions for an integrated distribution system, given the antiquated systems (of discoms), the crowd and the volume,” Nasscom’s Sehrawat added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:17 am Tata Motors ties-up with Andhra Bank for vehicle financing Mumbai: Tata group company, Tata Motors on Tuesday entered into an understanding with Andhra Bank for financing its range of commercial vehicles. Andhra Bank will offer loans for Tata Motors commercial vehicles up to 90% of the on-road cost (including vehicle cost, road tax and insurance), for a tenure ranging up to 6 years, at a competitive rate of 12.5%, the company said in a statement here. The tie-up would provide an added facility of finance to Tata Motors’ customers. This facility would be available at all the 1,550 branches of Andhra Bank and commercial vehicle dealerships of Tata Motors. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:10 am IOC shareholders approve 1:1 bonus issueMumbai: State-run refiner Indian Oil Corporation on Tuesday said its shareholders have approved a bonus issue of one share for every share held. In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange IOC said the shareholders, by way of postal ballot, has approved the issuance of bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1. The board of the company, last month, approved the bonus issue of equity share of Rs 10 each, for every share of Rs10 each held. Post bonus issue the paid-up equity capital of the company would stand revised to Rs2,427.95 crore, from the present level of Rs1,213.98 crore. Shares of IOC were trading at Rs636.55, down 0.46% in the afternoon trade on BSE. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:06 am IT firms set to ride $2-bln power reformMUMBAI (Reuters) - Technology firms are set to cash in on the government's push to reform the country's power distribution network, as India lines up over $2 billion to help cap energy losses through use of IT, industry players said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:01 am Oil Rises Above $80, Gold Near Record High on Dollar - Bloomberg
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Oct 2009 | 1:22 am BSE Sensex up 0.3 pct; Reliance Industries slipsMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex tested fresh 17-month highs and were trading 0.3 percent higher on Tuesday, mirroring the gains in global markets, but weakness in Reliance Industries ahead of a court hearing on its dispute with Reliance Natural Resources checked gains.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Oct 2009 | 1:04 am SC directs handing over of viscera of Ashutosh Asthana to CBI New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the CBI to take possession of the viscera samples of Ashutosh Asthana, prime accused in the multi-crore PF scam, who died mysteriously in Ghaziabad’s Dasna jail. A special bench headed by justice D.K. Jain ordered the CBI to forward the samples to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to ascertain the cause of his death on Saturday. The bench, also comprising justices V.S. Sirpurkar and G.S. Singhvi, further directed that the judicial magistrate inquiring into the circumstances leading to Asthana’s death shall submit his report to it within eight weeks. The apex court also asked the Uttar Pradesh (UP) police to provide adequate protection to all the accused and witnesses in the case in which some judges were allegedly involved. Asthana, who was a treasury officer at the Ghaziabad court, was arrested in April 2008 in connection with siphoning off provident fund of class III and IV employees. During interrogation, he had named 36 judges of various courts, including one from the Supreme Court, as alleged beneficiaries of the scam. The investigation in the case is being done by CBI under the directions of the apex court. Those names in the scam include seven Allahabad high court judges, six retired high court judges and 12 judges of subordinate judiciary in UP. The apex court, however, turned down the plea for a probe into the death by an impartial retired police officer as sought by Nahar Singh Yadav, president of Advocates Welfare Association, Ghaziabad. It was on Yadav’s petition that the CBI was ordered by the apex court in September 2008 to probe the case. “There cannot be a parallel inquiry, we will see later,” the bench observed when counsel Prashant Bhushan submitted that retired DGP Prakash Singh or former IPS officer Kiran Bedi should be entrusted with the investigation. Bhushan argued that such an inquiry was essential to inspire public confidence in the investigation since a number of judges were also allegedly involved in the scandal. The counsel submitted that inquiry by a judicial magistrate or by the Uttar Pradesh police may not inspire the same confidence as the local police itself had earlier gone on record that they would prefer a probe by the CBI into the scam. The Ghaziabad police had earlier requested the state government that the probe be conducted by an independent agency like the CBI, as the local police have to appear every day before the same accused judicial officers. The argument was that since the local police were vulnerable to possible pressure from the accused judicial officers, it would be better if the CBI took up the investigation. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 1:02 am Emirates to expand services in KeralaThe Emirates has also announced a Global Hotel offer for First and Business class passengers travelling to select destinations beyond Dubai.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:53 am India, China to hold joint workshop on climate change New Delhi: India and China will hold a joint workshop on National Action Plan on Climate Change here tomorrow to share experiences on scientific, technical and policy aspects of global warming in the two countries. The decision to hold the workshop ahead of the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change in December has been taken in view of the national action plans drawn by both the countries on almost similar lines such as energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable development. Experts from both countries will deliberate and share ideas on their plans, policy and action on mitigation, forests, adaptation and progress in climate change science. The event will also create an opportunity for a bilateral meeting between environment minister Jairam Ramesh and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua, according to a statement from the ministry. The meeting would discuss domestic initiatives, issues in multilateral negotiations (mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer and finance) and outlook for the Copenhagen meeting. India and China have a similar position that developed nations need to do more than developing nations to fight climate change as per Kyoto Protocol because they were historically responsible for the problem. The emerging superpowers in the sub-continent will also ink a pact on cooperation in various sectors such as technology development, renewable energies, forests and clean coal to address climate change, the statement added. China and the US each account for about 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas pollution from coal, natural gas and oil. The European Union is responsible for 14%, followed by Russia and India at 5% each. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:52 am Rupee appreciates 28 paise at 46.01 against dollarAt the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the local unit appreciated by 28 paise to 46.01 a dollar.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:38 am Rupee gains on dollar’s slide; stocks rise helpsMumbai: The Indian rupee on Tuesday rose past the Rs46 per dollar mark lifted by the US currency’s slide versus major units and high-yielders, while an early rise in shares also sparked expectations of more capital inflows. At 10:40am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs45.97/98 per dollar, 0.7% stronger than its Friday’s close of Rs46.29/30. The market was closed on Monday for a holiday. Last Thursday, the rupee rose to Rs45.80, its best since 24 September, 2008. “The dollar’s continuous fall and gains in global indices are playing havoc with the dollar/rupee,” said V. Kumar of State Bank of Travancore. Traders predicted a range of Rs45.90 to Rs46.10 for the rupee during the day. The dollar fell to fresh lows for the year on Tuesday as a cocktail of central bank comments fed into dollar-bearish sentiment, although options-related trade blocked the euro’s rise to $1.50. The dollar index, a gauge of the US units performance versus six majors, was down 0.5%. Shares were trading up 0.5%, tracking stronger overseas markets, after solid quarterly corporate earnings drove the Wall Street to its 12-month highs on Monday. Foreign funds which are key factor, fuelling the rise in local shares and the rupee, have invested a net $13.6 billion so far in 2009, reversing outflows of a little more than a net $13 billion last year. Dealers said there was demand from importers and oil refiners to meet import requirements at sub-46 levels, keeping in check a sharp rise in the local unit. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at Rs45.93/46.03, largely similar to the onshore spot rate. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:23 am Venture Capital firms invest US$77mn in India during Q3 '09 - India Infoline.com
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:19 am TVS set to launch India’s first auto-clutch bikeMumbai, Oct. 19 TVS Motor Company is gearing up to launch the country’s first motorcycle with automatic clutch by the end of this calendarSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Rei Agro (Rs 50.1): BuyWe recommend a buy in Rei Agro from a short-term perspective. It is apparent from the charts of the stock that from June high of Rs 103 it was on a medium-term downtrend till its late August low of Rs 45. Subsequently, the stock began toSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am New monthly WPI series to replace weekly inflation dataNew Delhi, Oct.19 The Centre, on Monday, cleared a proposal to shift to a monthly Wholesale Price Index (WPI) series instead of the current weekly one, with the base year to be changed to 2004-05 from 1993-94 at present.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Cement cos to add 31 m tonnes capacity in second halfMumbai, Oct. 19 Additional cement capacities of nearly 31 million tonnes (across 33 projects) are expected to be commissioned in the second half of this fiscal at an investment of Rs 7,963Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Air India funds demand may be decided tomorrowNew Delhi, Oct. 19 Air India is moving closer to getting Rs 3,000 crore from the Government for paying pre-delivery payments for some of the 111 aircraft that it has ordered. In all, it requires Rs 9,000 crore over the next three years.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Global imbalances: Remarkable reversalAn important feature of the global monetary regime of the last three decades is the imbalance in the distribution of current account balances across countries and country groupings. Recently, the most glaring discrepancy is the fact that a huge USSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Shipping cos' Q2 report card may not make wavesShipping companies are likely to report lower earnings for the second quarter of the current fiscal, with the global freight markets remaining lacklustre during theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Gurgaon auto belt unrest turns violentManesar (Haryana), Oct. 19 The continuing workers’ stir in the Gurgaon-Manesar auto belt came to a head on Sunday when one worker of Rico Auto was killed in a clash among the employees.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Centre clears 5% stake sale in NTPC, follow-on offer by DecThe Centre has cleared partial sale of its stakes in state-run power major NTPC Ltd and an unlisted hydro-electric firm Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL) through the book-building route in the domesticSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am Farmers stage road blockade in Orissa to protest suicidesFarmers staged a 12-hour road blockade on a national highway in Orissa Monday to protest farmer suicides in Jharsuguda district, bringing vehicular traffic to a halt.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:53 pm Auto unions' strike affects work in Gurgaon factoriesAbout 80,000 workers from 60-odd companies in this industrial hub stayed away from work Tuesday to protest the death of a worker in an automobile firm here.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:53 pm Rural job scheme turning wage seekers into entrepreneursWhat is common between a small farmer whose son is studying medicine, a smuggler of valuable wood who gave up the illegal activity and an agricultural labourer who raised a loan to buy a buffalo?Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:52 pm Invesco to acquire Morgan Stanley unit for $1.5 bnNew York: Morgan Stanley said Tuesday it will sell its retail asset management business, including the Van Kampen division, to money manager Invesco Ltd. for $1.5 billion in a move to focus on institutional clients. The deal, which includes $500 million in cash and 44.1 million shares, will make Morgan Stanley Invesco’s largest shareholder, with a 9.4 % equity stake. It boosts Invesco’s assets under management by $119 billion to about $536 billion. New York-based Morgan Stanley said the sale allows it to focus on institutional clients such as pension plans, endowments, sovereign wealth funds and central banks, among others. “By taking a minority interest in Invesco, Morgan Stanley will be able to realize significant value in partnership with a world-class player,” said Morgan Stanley co-president James Gorman, in a statement. “In addition, this transaction will mitigate certain affiliated product sales restrictions faced by Van Kampen portfolio managers since the closing of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture.” The transaction, which has been approved by the boards of both companies, is expected to close in mid-2010. At closing, Invesco will have about 700 investment professionals across all major global markets. Chief financial officer Loren Starr said the company expects the deal to add 11% to profit in the first 12 months after closing. Despite the recent market rebound, Atlanta-based Invesco has continued to be hurt by sharply falling markets in 2008 and early 2009 that reduced the value of the assets it manages for retail, institutional and wealthy clients around the world. The company’s second-quarter profit shrank by nearly 54%, as the value of the assets the company manages declined, eroding investment-fee revenue. As of 30 Sept., assets under management totaled $417 billion, up slightly year-over-year. Invesco is slated to report results for the third quarter on Tuesday before the market opens. In the second quarter, Morgan Stanley’s asset management operations reported a slightly wider pretax loss of $239 million. Assets under management at 30 June tumbled to $361 billion from $579 billion a year earlier. The decline reflected net customer outflows of $121.5 billion over the course of the year, mainly in the company’s money market and long-term fixed income funds. Going forward, Morgan Stanley said its investment management group will include several institutional-focused businesses, including a long-only business (equity and fixed income), a direct hedge fund business, and a fund of funds business. It also will include a liquidity business and a merchant banking business, with the bank’s real estate, private equity and infrastructure units. In Japan, Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s (MSIM) equity management operations will be sold to Invesco as part of the transaction, but the bank will retain its fixed income investment team and a sales and client service team to serve Japanese investors. The deal marks the latest in a string of money manager takeovers of bank assets. Bank of America Corp. last month sold the long-term asset management business of its Columbia Management unit to Ameriprise Financial Inc., a financial planning services firm based in Minneapolis, for up to $1.2 billion in cash. And in June, British bank Barclays PLC agreed to a $13.5 billion offer from U.S. investment manager BlackRock Inc. for its asset management arm, Barclays Global Investors. Van Kampen president and CEO Jerry Miller said in a statement on the Van Kampen Web site that Invesco and Van Kampen Investments will operate separately until the deal closes. Invesco will be counting on Van Kampen clients to stick with the firm through the transition, and Miller’s statement sought to reassure investors of the firms’ shared investment strategies. “Our organizations have complementary investment strengths, product line-ups, business capabilities, firm cultures and shared values,” Miller said. “We anticipate a fruitful partnership with a common goal to even better serve our mutual clients.” Shares of Atlanta-based Invesco Ltd. closed Monday up 37 cents at $23.12, and jumped $1.08, or nearly 5%, to $24.20 in aftermarket trading. Morgan Stanley shares gained 12 cents to finish at $33.11 and rose 22 cents after-hours. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:45 pm Apple net profit soars on record iPhone, Mac salesSan Francisco: Apple posted stellar quarterly profit but could have its fortunes tested when Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system and a heralded Droid smart phone debut this month. Apple on Monday reported quarterly net profit of $1.67 billion on record sales of iPhones and Macintosh computers. Apple recorded $9.87 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, which ended 26 September, compared with $7.9 billion in revenue in the same period last year. Apple’s quarterly profit amounted to $1.82 per share, a jump from the same quarter last year when it reported profit of $1.14 billion, or $1.26 per share. “We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter,” said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. “We’ve got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010.” Rumors of Apple gadgets being readied for market include an “iTablet” computing device akin to a magazine-sized iPhone that could be used for reading digitized books as well as watching videos or surfing the Internet. Apple reported that it sold 3.05 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, a 17% increase from the same period last year. The Cupertino, California-base company saw sales of its popular iPhone smartphones climb seven percent to 7.4 million while sales of iPods sagged eight percent to 10.2 million units. “It just turned out to be a stunning quarter,” said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley. “With Windows 7 stalled the PC (personal computer) side of the market and Apple got a free ride back to school.” Microsoft launches its new Windows 7 operating system on Thursday, about two months after Apple’s Snow Leopard operating system hit the market. Many people considering buying new computers have likely put off getting PCs to wait for the latest software, leaving Apple ample time to entice those customers with Macintosh machines. Apple retail stores brought in record-high revenue during the recently-ended quarter, and about half of the people buying Macintosh computers were reportedly getting the Apple made machines for the first time. “When Windows 7 hits on Thursday, Apple is going to get hit with a tsunami and it will be tough in the face of a feeding frenzy on the PC side,” Enderle said. With Windows 7 launching after the back-to-school computer shopping season and at the cusp of the year-end holiday season, hardware makers will “hit the ground running” with well-equipped PCs at tempting prices, Enderle said. Apple’s revenue for the full fiscal year grew 12% and net profit rose by 18% despite “extraordinarily challenging times,” according to Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer. Apple has teamed with China Unicom to start selling iPhone 3GS smartphones in the China on 30 October. “We are eager to get started,” Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook said of selling iPhones in China. “It is a huge market.” Apple could “take it in the shorts” if a Droid mobile telephone due to hit the US market at the end of this month lives up to the hype ricocheting about the Internet, according to Enderle. Motorola is making the Droid smartphones, which are based on Google-backed open-source Android operating software and linked to telecom service from Verizon. Cook said Apple isn’t worried about the growing ranks of smartphones trying to dethrone the iPhone in the market. “We have significant momentum, and look at the ecosystem with iTunes and the App Store,” Cook said. Apple projected its earnings in the current quarter to range from $1.70 to $1.78 per share based on expected earnings of from $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:30 pm Reliance Ind eyeing refineries in U.S., Europe - reportNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian energy giant Reliance Industries is in preliminary talks with U.S.-based Valero Energy, Sunoco and Flying J to buy refineries, the Business Standard newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:18 pm Reliance Ind eyeing refineries in US, EuropeIndian energy giant Reliance Industries is in preliminary talks with US-based Valero Energy, Sunoco and Flying J to buy refineries.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:18 pm Tata-Quippo in talks to buy Aircel towers: reportMumbai: Indian tower operator Tata-Quippo, is in talks with New York-based private equity firm Apollo Management to finance the acquisition of mobile services operator Aircel’s tower assets, the Economic Times said on Tuesday. Tata-Quippo had emerged as the front-runner for the acquisition of Aircel’s 12,000 towers valued between $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion, the report said. “We are in discussions with a few global private equity players. We will zero in on a PE partner if we win the bid,” the paper quoted Tata-Quippo director Sunil Kanoria as saying. Aircel chief operating officer Gurdeep Singh refused to comment while Apollo could not be reached for comments, the paper said. Malaysia’s Maxis Communications, which owns 74% of Aircel, has appointed Standard Chartered, Nomura and Rothschild as advisors to sell the tower assets of its Indian arm, the report said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:09 pm Asia stocks at 14-month high, bull run persistsHong Kong: Asian stocks rose to a 14-month high on Tuesday after strong sales numbers from Apple Inc suggested US consumers are spending more and as the weak US dollar kept pushing commodity prices higher. Oil topped $80 a barrel and gold neared a record high, with the dollar locked in a steep downtrend as investors searched for higher returns elsewhere. Portfolio flows into emerging market assets have been torrential, leading Brazil to slap a 2% tax on foreign investment in domestic stocks and bonds to try to cool its real currency, which has surged 36% this year. Japan’s Nikkei share average rose 1.1%, supported largely by a mixture of stocks in the technology sector. “These (US) results are inevitably providing a bit of a boost, particularly for parts suppliers and chip makers, while a whole range of China-linked shares are also doing well,” said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments in Tokyo. Shares of Komatsu Ltd, the world’s second-biggest maker of construction equipment, rose 2 percent after a report the company had made ¥10 billion in operating profit for the July-September quarter on demand from China and other developing markets. The benchmark MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose more than 1%. US stock futures rose 0.4% after profits at Apple Inc, released after the closing bell, exceeded market forecasts on record quarterly sales of iPhones and Macs. Shares of Apple jumped 7.5% in after-hours trading to a record high. During the regular session, US stocks gained about 1% to fresh 12-month highs as investors cheered a wave of solid quarterly earnings. Investors have been anxiously awaiting earnings season for signs that consumer demand is improving, which would reinforce the chances of a sustainable global economic recovery and give new legs to a seven-month equity rally which has been showing signs of flagging. Company earnings in the last quarter were largely bolstered by cost cutting as opposed to a true pick-up in demand for their products. Dollar weakness The dollar fell to its lowest in 14 months against a basket of currencies on persisting views that policy makers in the United States will stick to a low interest rate policy for some time while they await signs that an economic recovery is on solid footing. The dollar index, a gauge of its performance against six major currencies, fell as far as 75.150, its lowest since August last year. The euro was up 0.1% at $1.4986 but was meeting selling pressure by dealers protecting positions at the round figure of $1.50. By contrast, minutes from a Reserve Bank of Australia policy meeting earlier this month pointed to more interest rate increases ahead and said the stronger Australian dollar was a sign of improving sentiment that would help contain inflation. The Australian dollar briefly rose above US$0.93 to the highest in 14 months before easing to $0.9293 even on the day. US crude for November delivery rose more than half a percent to a one-year high of $80.05 a barrel its strongest since 14 October, underpinned by the ailing dollar, global recovery hopes and bullishness in equity markets. Gold also firmed on dollar weakness, climbing 0.3% to $1,066.60 an ounce in the spot market, just shy of a record $1,070.40 hit last week. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 10:55 pm Rel Cap in alliance talks with Japan’s Daiwa: report Mumbai: Reliance Capital through its unit Reliance Securities, is entering into a strategic alliance with Japan’s Daiwa Securities to set up an investment banking business in India, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday. The deal will enable the two firms to share clients in their domestic markets. With Daiwa, Reliance Capital will be able to tap Japan’s pool of high net worth individuals, the report said quoting an unidentified official involved in the deal. The two companies were in an advanced stage of negotiations to finalise the deal, the report said, attributing it to two other unidentified officials involved in the negotiations. A Reliance Capital spokesman declined to comment for the story. Reliance Capital is the financial services firm controlled by the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and Daiwa Securities is Japan’s No. 2 brokerage. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 10:50 pm Government approves proposal on monthly inflation dataThe government Monday approved a proposal to release inflation data on a monthly basis instead of week-wise as is done currently.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Oct 2009 | 10:44 pm Toyota unveils new hybrid luxury sedanTokyo: Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday unveiled a new hybrid luxury sedan, the ‘Sai’, aiming to keep its pole position in environment-friendly vehicles. The new vehicle, which will go on sale only in Japan from 7 December, is a compact sedan with a 2.4-litre engine and fuel economy of 23 kilometres per litre, against 38 kpl for the third-generation ‘Prius’. It is the second Toyota-brand vehicle that is available only as a hybrid, after the ‘Prius’. “If it does not carry a hybrid engine, a sedan of this size would require twice as much fuel,” said Shigeru Nakagawa, Toyota’s project manager. “When people driving a luxury car want to be more environment-friendly, they may want a slightly more upscale vehicle than the Prius,” he said. The Sai will have a price tag starting from ¥3.38 million ($37,225), against ¥2.05 million for the Prius, the company said. Toyota aims to sell some 3,000 Sai vehicles a month. It sold 31,758 Prius vehicles in September, helped by government tax breaks and subsidies for fuel-efficient vehicles. The world’s largest automaker is a pioneer in hybrids, which run on a combination of petrol and electricity and are in strong demand because of worries about global warming. Toyota said last month that global sales of its hybrid vehicles had topped the two-million mark since their launch in 1997. It also sells a Lexus sedan that is available only as a hybrid. The company announced Tuesday that it had begun selling the new Prius hybrid in South Korea, along with its best-selling Camry and the RAV4 sports-utility vehicle. Until now Toyota has sold only Lexus brand models in South Korea, where the car market is dominated by domestic producers such as Hyundai Motor. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 10:26 pm Oil surges higher on weak dollar, equity gainsNew York's main contract light, sweet crude for November delivery rose nine cents to $79.70 a barrel.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Oct 2009 | 9:48 pm Hong Kong shares open 0.42% higherHong Kong share prices were 0.42% higher in early trade this morning.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Oct 2009 | 9:41 pm Japanese shares open higherJapanese share prices opened higher today, with the benchmark Nikkei-225 index gaining 92.79 points.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Oct 2009 | 9:38 pm U.S. poised to bring more insider trading casesBOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fresh from laying charges in the largest hedge fund insider trading case in history, U.S. federal investigators are poised to bring further "significant" cases.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Oct 2009 | 9:28 pm Apple smashes Street forecasts, stock hits recordSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's profits and sales streaked past Wall Street forecasts as iPhone and Mac sales hit quarterly records, sending its shares rocketing to all-time highs on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Oct 2009 | 9:19 pm Welter of inflation rates confuse moreThe technical report of the working group headed by Abhijit Sen has been with the government for quite some time but only now, the Cabinet nod has been forthcoming.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:52 pm DLF may scrap Bangalore row house projectWith the luxury market showing signs of running out of steam in the Garden City, realtors are hedging their bets with higher play in the low-margin, but high-volume game.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:46 pm 'MY FM has given local advertisers a peek into the benefits of radio'While radio stations operating in smaller towns and cities are finding it hard to survive, MY FM has defied the trend by reporting growth this year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:43 pm Govt okays stake sale in power firmsThe government's disinvestment programme made a muted re-start with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approving the part-sale of its stake in two power companies NTPC and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVNL) but postponing a decision on the overall disinvestment policy.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:29 pm FIIs overweight on India, but valuations may be a concern laterPowered by strong fund flows from foreign institutional investors, Samvat 2065 saw the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange rise 92 per cent. And the party looks set to continue in Samvat 2066, with most FIIs saying liquidity flows to emerging markets such as India will only improve in tandem with the stronger economic recovery across the globe.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:28 pm US set to target wave of insider-trading casesFederal investigators are gearing up to file charges against a wider array of insider-trading networks, some linked to the criminal case against billionaire hedge-fund manager Raj Rajaratnam that shook Wall Street last week, people familiar with the matter said.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Oct 2009 | 12:30 pm Telcos likely to report muted profitsNew Delhi: Increased competition from new mobile phone operators launching services across India and a drop in tariffs have analysts expecting telecom operators to post flat or marginal increase in revenue and profits for the quarter ended 30 September. The second quarter of the fiscal that began on 1 April saw aggressive rollouts by Tata Teleservices Ltd, with their GSM services branded Tata DoCoMo, and Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd with their CDMA services branded MTS.  The new operators have entered the market with aggressive billing plans such as charging on number of seconds rather than minutes, and a million minutes of free talk time, albeit on the same network. Tariffs from most operators have dropped to 50-60 paise per minute, from the earlier average of Re1 per minute. Other factors such as higher taxes and impact of the monsoon rains are expected to cause a muted performance in the September quarter for India’s telecom companies, according to five brokerages polled by Mint. Many sectors, including telecom, typically post muted earnings due to the monsoons. A report published by Nishna Biyani, telecom research analyst for Mumbai-based brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd, said that while net subscriber additions were buoyant in the quarter, they were a result of Tata launching its GSM services with aggressive tariffs. This rise in net addition has resulted in increase of dual-SIM subscribers and may result in flight of paid minutes from incumbents such as Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone Essar Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd to the freebies offered by new entrants, the report said. A SIM, or subscriber identity module, card is used to identify a subscriber on mobile telephony devices such as computers and mobile phones. “We expect the MOU (minutes of usage) for operators to be under pressure considering seasonally Q2 has the monsoon impact,” the report added.  Looking down: Factors such as higher taxes and impact of the monsoon rains are expected to cause a muted performance in the September quarter for India’s telecom companies, say brokerages. Rajkumar/Mint On regulations, the government finalized the so-called third generation, or 3G, policy, but auctions for radio waves required for such services is likely to get postponed by a month to January 2010. Auctions of 3G telecom licences will allow phone companies to offer high-speed Internet and video downloads on handsets. The thinking behind the postponement is that bids might be low if the auction is held around Christmas. But, according to DoT officials, the auction cannot be held later than January as the finance ministry wants the money accruing from the auction to come in within this fiscal that ends on 31 March. The officials declined to be named given the sensitive nature of the issue. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications Ltd are expected to post a fall in the growth of net profits in the second quarter due to higher tax rates. A report by IDFC-SSKI Securities Ltd on the earnings expectations of the telecom sector predicted that there would be an approximately 3.5% drop in mobile revenue per minute in the three months ended September, compared with the same quarter last year. This which would lead to a 3.7-4.4% drop in average revenue per user (Arpu) in the quarter compared with the year-ago period. The second quarter is also likely to be muted for the Indian telecom sector despite buoyant subscriber additions as subscriber duplication would put pressure on Arpu and MOU, Shobhit Khare, telecom analyst with Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd, said in a 25 September report. Khare said he expected a significant fall in net profits in comparison with the first quarter of the current fiscal due to a difference in the gains in foreign exchange in the three months ended June. There were significant foreign exchange gains in the first quarter of the fiscal as the rupee strengthened against the dollar, whereas such fluctuations were virtually absent in the second quarter, he said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 10:40 am Indian outsourcers shy of blockbuster M&ABangalore / Singapore: In an industry where size matters, India’s showpiece software services firms need to be bold and acquire firms or risk playing second fiddle as bigger IT players emerge as one-stop shops for cost-conscious clients. Oracle and Dell have snapped up targets to grow beyond their core areas, while Xerox is buying Affiliated Computer Services for $5.5 billion to jump into the outsourcing sector. By acquiring players with a wide client base, India’s top three IT firms—Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies and Wipro—can leapfrog in size and clout, helping them win multi-million dollar deals. So far, India’s near $60 billion IT sector has shied from blockbuster deals and instead focused on acquiring smaller IT divisions to tap opportunities in areas such as utilities and healthcare. “For good measure these companies have been conserving their resources and as competitive pressure grows now is the time to fill up some of their skill gaps through acquisitions,” said Ved Prakash Chaturvedi, managing director at Tata Asset Management. India’s top three IT firms each has a market value of between $18-27 billion and boasts a global footprint. These exporters individually employ about 100,000 staff, mostly in low-cost India centers with manicured lawns, pizza and Subway outlets, auditoriums, fitness centres and golf carts to move around the sprawling campuses. IBM, Accenture and Hewlett-Packard have also expanded their India-based workforce, enabling them to move more of their overseas work to these lower-cost centres. IBM stole a march in 2004 when it swooped on Daksh, an early local backoffice outsourcer, for $170 million, and now employs over 70,000 staff in India. Accenture has over 40,000. India’s two-decade-old IT sector already faces cut-rate competition from the bigger players and is struggling to retain experienced staff, usually lured away by global rivals. “What might happen in the long-term is customers might work with large all-services-under-one-roof kind of vendors, which Indian vendors do not offer,” said Gartner India’s principal research analyst Diptarup Chakraborti. Global clients are increasingly keen to partner vendors offering an array of IT services—from managing complex computer networks and call centres to software coding. Infosys and Tata Consultancy shares have doubled in 2009, versus a 45% rise in IBM and 19% in Accenture. Infosys trades at 20 times forward earnings versus 14 for IBM. Firms such as Citibank, General Electric, BT, Ferrari and British Airways count on Indian firms to help keep their operations ticking. This month, Infosys´ improved outlook failed to cheer markets, suggesting a recovery will take time. Radar on small buys For now, Indian IT firms are content with smaller buys. “Looking for strategic buys that allows them to play on the grand global stage, that’s really the next step that these Indian companies are in the process of taking,” said Mark Mayo, partner and president at advisory and research firm TPI. Analysts see them as potential acquirers in Europe as local firms look to expand sales in markets other than the United States to cut their big exposure to the world’s largest economy. However, they are unlikely to be keen to swoop on large European IT players such as Capgemeni and Atos Origin due to the potential risks arising from adding large headcount to their existing base of low-cost staff. Instead, they may be keen to buy Indian backoffice operations of banks such as BofA-Merrill Lynch and American Express. Firms that specialise in consulting or offer services to healthcare and energy firms are also targets. Cognizant Technology last week bought the Indian backoffice unit of UBS for about $75 million. Infosys, which walked away from a bidding war with a smaller local rival to acquire British IT firm Axon last year, has built up a cash pile of $2.8 billion and is now looking for buys to establish its presence in new markets and add new service lines. HCL Technologies paid about £440 million ($720 million) for Axon, marking the biggest overseas acquisition by an Indian IT firm. Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan said: “Our focus on acquisitions is very different and that’s a reason why we are looking at an acquisition typically 10% of our revenue—that’s about $400 million.” Cultural and integration risks associated with large M&A are also a barrier and Indian firms are unlikely to shed their cautious approach. “They do not want to acquire a big-ticket player and maybe they feel the integration issues will be too tough a challenge to manage in the short to medium term,” Gartner’s Chakraborti said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 4:47 am
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