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Govt reviewing tax rules on savings, capital gainsIndia Inc has some reason to cheer. The direct tax code draft may be modified, says sources.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am GVK Power unit buys 12% in Bangalore Int airportGVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd said on Thursday its unit GVK Airport Developers Pvt Ltd had bought a 12% stake in Bangalore International Airport Ltd for Rs 4.85 billion.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Nov 2009 | 6:42 am Govt may convert Rs 523cr debentures in IFCIThe government is exploring the possibility of converting its zerocoupon optionally convertible debentures worth Rs 523 crore in IFCI, reports CNBCTV18 quoting Newswire18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:54 am PNB extends lowrate home loans till December endStaterun Punjab National Bank on Thursday said it was extending an offer of cheaper rates on some home and car loans till endDecember.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:41 am Gold on record breaking spree, sets new peak at 1094.40 dlr!Gold prices on Wednesday rallied to a record high of 1,094.40 dollar an ounce in overseas markets on aggressive buying by traders, who are speculating that more countries would shore up their bullion reserves like India.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Panasonic begins tender offer for Sanyo takeover!Panasonic Corp said Thursday it has begun a tender offer to take over smaller rival Sanyo Electric Co for an estimated 402 billion yen (USD 4.4 billion), moving closer to create one of the world`s biggest electronics makers.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Two SC judges withdraw from Reliance cases!Two judges of the Supreme Court on Wednesday withdrew themselves from hearing cases involving Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries over possible conflict of interest.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Telecom Ministry to seek licence fee cut: Report!Telecom Ministry will seek a fast-track approval from the Finance Ministry to cut the annual licence fee paid by large operators by up to a third, a newspaper reported today.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Airfares in India will rise by up to 8% in 2010: Report!The airfares will rise by up to eight per cent in India next year on expectations of growth in positive sentiment in the Asia Pacific region, says an American Express Global Business Travel Forecast report.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am US Fed keeps interest rates at record low!The US Federal Reserve continues to keep interest rates at their historic low of near 0 percent.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Wipro to acquire Yardley for $45.5 mn!Wipro, India`s No 3 software services exporter, said on Thursday it had agreed to buy some personal care businesses of Yardley for about USD 45.5 million, adding to its consumer goods business.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Sensex down over a percent in early trade!Indian equities markets started weak on Thursday and Sensex was 1.11 percent in the red about ten minutes into trade.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am GM plans 10,000 job cuts at Opel!General Motors said Wednesday it wanted to cut around 10,000 jobs at its European division Opel a day after the US car maker stunned the auto sector by scrapping plans to sell the German-based unit.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Rupee edges lower on stocks drop; dollar rise!The Indian rupee eased on Thursday, weighed down by a 1 percent fall in local shares and the dollar`s gains against major units overseas.Source: Zee News : Business | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Eicherbranded vehicles Oct sales up 71% YoYVE Commercial Vehicles, the joint venture of Eicher Motors and Sweden\'s Volvo, on Thursday said Indian sales of Eicherbranded commercial vehicles rose 71% in October.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Nov 2009 | 4:43 am Wipro buys Yardley personal care businessesWipro, India\'s No 3 software services exporter, said on Thursday it had agreed to buy some personal care businesses of Yardley for about USD 45.5 million, adding to its consumer goods business.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Nov 2009 | 4:43 am Telecom ministry to seek licence fee cutTelecoms ministry will seek a fasttrack approval from the finance ministry to cut the annual licence fee paid by large operators by up to a third, the Economic Times newspaper reported, a move that could bring some respite to the firms fighting a price war.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Nov 2009 | 4:43 am Nissan Copper sees demand from electrical sector up 15%Domestic copper demand, mainly from the electrical industry, is seen rising 15% this financial year, Dinesh Wagh, chief marketing officer, Nissan Copper Ltd, told NewsWire18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Nov 2009 | 4:22 am LT Infotech in talks to buy Patni stake; stock up 5%The outsourcing unit of engineering and construction firm Larsen Toubro is in advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in software firm Patni Computer Systems, the Financial Express reported on Thursday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Nov 2009 | 4:22 am Govt proposes fresh bids for BSNL orderThe telecom ministry has suggested fresh tendering for a large GSMline order by state telecoms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd to help lower costs, the Business Standard newspaper reported on Thursday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Nov 2009 | 4:22 am Wipro buys Yardley's personal care biz for $45.5m - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:32 am Exxon-led group clinches Iraq's W.Qurna contractBAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Exxon Mobil-led consortium has beaten rival Russian, French and Chinese groups to bag initial rights to develop Iraq's West Qurna field, the oil ministry said, adding momentum to Iraq's bid to unlock its oil riches.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:23 am Bharti Axa to double gen insurance premium incomeMUMBAI (Reuters) - Bharti Axa General Insurance Co Ltd expects to double premium income to 2.3 billion rupees in the year to March 2010, its top official said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:18 am Nifty closes above 4750; Suzlon, rcap surge - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:16 am BSE Sensex provisionally closes up 1 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex provisionally closed 1 percent higher in volatile trade on Thursday, on bargain hunting by investors in select stocks after the main index dropped as much as 2.2 percent in the day.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:13 am Markets provisionally close up 1%Mumbai: Indian shares provisionally closed 1% higher in volatile trade on Thursday, on bargain hunting by investors in select stocks after the main index dropped as much as 2.2% in the day. The 30-share BSE index provisionally ended up 158.08 points at 16,070.21 with 25 components gaining. The 50-share NSE index provisionally closed up 1.2% at 4,769.20 points. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:09 am Jaipur IOC Blaze: Fire Still Raging in One Tank - Outlook
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:56 am Morgan Stanley's India ECM head quitsPuri, who joined Morgan Stanley in late 2007 from Merrill Lynch's India unit, was instrumental in Morgan Stanley's strong showing in India this year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:54 am Govt changes stake sale rule to cut fiscal deficitNEW DELHI (Reuters) – The government on Thursday changed rules on using stake sale proceeds and made it mandatory for all profit-making, listed, state-run firms to float at least 10 percent stake, in a move aimed at cutting its fiscal deficit.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:49 am JPMorgan hires Deutsche banker for India private bankingSINGAPORE (Reuters) - JPMorgan's private bank said on Thursday that it had hired Deutsche's Vinay Gandhi as head of its global India business, serving ultra high net worth Indian clients around the world from Singapore.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:45 am GVK enters into strategic alliance with Zurich airport - World News
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:42 am Govt reviewing tax rules on savings, capital gainsNew Delhi: The government is debating the need for changes in its tax laws including that on saving schemes, capital gains of non-residents and tax agreements with various nations, the finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The tax authorities are also considering changes in rules on the Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) based on gross assets, taxation of foreign companies operating in India, charitable firms and house property, it said. The government is also considering scraping exemptions on saving schemes and taxing them at the time of withdrawal. Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee briefed a newly set-up law-maker’s panel on Wednesday on a Direct Tax Code that was put up for public debate in August. The code proposed sweeping changes in tax laws and rates. “On the basis of interactions with the stakeholders, government has identified nine critical areas for further detailed examination,” said the statement quoting the minister. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:36 am Wipro buys some Yardley operations for $45.5 mlnBANGALORE (Reuters) - Wipro Ltd has acquired some businesses of Yardley for about $45.5 million from British personal care company Lornamead to boost its consumer care unit's presence in the overseas markets.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:29 am Exports from SEZs likely to rise 15% this fiscalNew Delhi: Exports from the special economic zones (SEZs) are likely to grow by 15% in the current fiscal year over 2008-09, a senior government official said on Thursday. In the previous fiscal, exports from the SEZs was Rs99,689 crore. “In 2009-10, exports from SEZ are likely to increase by about 15% over the last fiscal...We are confident that exports growth will be there (despite the slowdown),” DK Mittal, additional secretary in commerce ministry, told reporters here. He said the shipments were at Rs1,01,264 crore in the first half of the current fiscal itself. “We have robust growth from the SEZs,” Mittal added. Exports from Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar refinery is likely to contribute substantially to the total shipments this fiscal, another official said. As per the industry experts, gems and jewellery, textiles, engineering and telecommunications SEZs were the major contributors to the exports. As on 30 September this year, 578 SEZs have got formal approval, 147 ‘in-principle’ approval, and 340 have been notified. Of this, 101 are functional. The total investments in SEZs were at Rs1,29,985.52 crore till September. The total employment in the tax free enclaves as on 30 September was 4,18,129 people. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:28 am Gold traders stay away on near-record pricesMumbai: The gold traders continued to refrain from taking fresh positions as prices stayed near record high and the flow of scrap eased, dealers said. “Demand continues to be slack even though we were running at a discount of 150 (rupees per 10 grams),” said Pinakin Vyas, chief manager-treasury, IndusInd Bank in Mumbai. “I have advanced orders at about $1,050 (an ounce). The most-traded December contract was 0.24% higher at Rs16,628 per 10 grams at 2:41 pm, after hitting a record high of Rs16,677 in the previous session. The flow of scrap eased as consumers waited for higher prices, they added. “About 100 kgs of gold must have landed in Zaveri bazaar in last two days, but now flows have slowed... they are now expecting Rs17,000 (per 10 grams),” said Jitendra Kantilal, partner, Jugraj Kantilal & Co. The futures trading on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) platform was halted for an hour between 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm due to a technical snag, an MCX spokesperson said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:15 am Wipro buys some Yardley operations for $45.5 mnBangalore: Wipro Ltd has acquired some businesses of Yardley for about $45.5 million from British personal care company Lornamead to boost its consumer care unit’s presence in the overseas markets. Wipro, which gets about three quarters of its revenue from IT services, said on Thursday it had bought Yardley business in Asia, west Asia, Australasia and some African markets. “These are developing countries and we wanted to have a stronger presence in these places and that’s why we looked at this acquisition,” Vineet Agrawal, president of consumer care and lighting unit of Wipro, told reporters. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-December and revenue from the acquisition would start flowing from the March quarter, he said, adding the acquired business currently has revenue of $24 million a year. The acquisition would be accretive to the Wipro consumer care unit’s profit margins, Agrawal said, without giving details. The unit contributes about 9% of Bangalore-based Wipro’s total revenue. “From margins perspective and revenue perspective, it’s a good buy,” he said. New York-listed Wipro, majority owned by billionaire chairman Azim Premji, had acquired Singapore’s Unza Holdings, which makes personal care products, for about $246 million in 2007 to expand its consumer care product portfolio. Analysts said the Yardley business purchase would not have a significant impact on Wipro’s financials in the near term. “It’s not that big an event for Wipro,” said Tejas Doshi, head of research at Sushil Finance in Mumbai. “But it clearly shows that they are focused on this business and want to increase its share within the overall business.” Shares in Wipro, which has a market value of $18 billion, were down 0.8% at Rs591 by 2.10 pm in the Mumbai market that was down 0.3%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:05 am Indian rupee trims fall in line with shares - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:01 am Lenovo Q2 net more than doubles, beats forecastsTAIPEI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Lenovo, the world's No.4 PC brand, on Thursday blew past market expectations for quarterly profit on strong China sales, recording its first profit after three straight quarters of losses as technology spending rebounded.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am MSE enter into partnership with NSEThe strategic partnership will facilitate members of MSE to trade on both cash and derivatives segments on NSE's platform.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:57 am Food inflation at 13.39% on 24 OctNew Delhi: India’s food prices rose 13.39% in the 12 months to 24 October, highlighting concerns that the index could stay high despite government efforts to keep a lid on prices. The fuel group index fell 6.2% from a year earlier, reflecting a comparison with last year’s spike in prices. The normal weekly wholesale price index (WPI) was not released on Thursday. The Commerce and Industry Ministry said it would now release that data monthly from 12 November. Last week, the government said the wholesale price inflation was 1.51% in the 12 months to 17 October. India’s worst monsoon rains in nearly four decades and floods in parts of the country have hurt farm output and pushed up food prices, hindering a faster recovery of the economy. “Bad summer crops will push up primary articles prices in the coming months,” said N R Bhanumurthy, economist at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. “The shortfall in summer crop will not be covered by expected high growth in winter crops.” The consumer price index (CPI), which has a heavy weight of food items, rose an annual 11.64% in September, lower than previous month’s level. On Wednesday, a top policy adviser said food price inflation was still a concern but it should moderate by the end of this year. The Union government last week increased the price at which it buys cane and rice from farmers to encourage higher domestic production, as it estimates an 18% decline in 2009-10 summer-sown grain output from a year earlier. Last week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised its inflation forecast to 6.5% for the end of 2009-10 fiscal year in March with an upward bias but left its policy rates unchanged. Rise in rates expected next year Last week, the RBI laid the groundwork for a rise in interest rates by tightening credit to the commercial property sector and removed some of the emergency liquidity support measures that were extended to protect the economy from the global downturn. After the policy review, a Reuters poll of 20 analysts found that nine of them expect an increase in the key repo rate by the end of January, when the RBI holds its next review, while all 20 expected a hike both in the repo and reverse repo rates by the end of April. On Tuesday, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said India will maintain its fiscal stimulus due to uncertainty arising from the poor monsoon and the global outlook. Policymakers have favoured continuation of fiscal stimulus and an easy monetary stance to help sustain growth and aid economic recovery. Last week, the central bank forecast the economy would expand 6% in 2009-10, below 6.5% predicted by the prime minister’s economic panel. It grew 6.7% last year, slowing sharply from 9% or more between 2005-06 and 2007-08. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:52 am SC begins hearing Reliance gas dispute case afresh - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:50 am UN child reporters to showcase films at international film festival“As a TV reporter I will show people everything. They will understand everything. I will report on news for my village. I will ask people about their problems and their hopes.” So announced 14-year-old Mohammed Akram, a boy from the Doulatabad village in Andhra Pradesh to a press gathering organized by UNICEF in New Delhi yesterday.  Mohammed Akram produced a short film entitled “This is how we study” Akram is one amongst 21 child reporters who have been trained by Dr Vasuki Belavadi, an associate professor of video production at the University of Hyderabad, as part of a UNICEF initiative called Children as Media Producers (CAMP), which trains children to report on local issues through the medium of broadcast. The underlying aim is to inspire social change by laying the groundwork for a dialogue with the local administration. “They ask inconvenient questions,” said Belavadi when describing how the children he trains approach village leaders. He explains that the initiative empowers them to approach the village heads: “They now ask the sarpanch why there are no dustbins in the village.” Now, UNICEF has struck up a partnership with the Mumbai based Children’s Film Society of India, which is chaired by actor/director Nandita Das. The partnership comes at an opportune time, as this year marks 20 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Children’s Film Society is sponsoring “The Golden Elephant”, its 16th international children’s film festival, which will run from 14 to 20 November in Hyderabad. Co-sponsored by the government of Andhra Pradesh, the festival aims to highlight 70 children’s films from around the world, including twelve from Asia, and will have panel discussions discussing issues like why children’s films are virtually invisible in India, whether they should be incorporated into schools’ curriculum, what the definition of a children’s film actually is, and whether the right to entertainment should be a fundamental right for children. Sixty delegates from across the world will attend, including Bollywood biggies like Vishal Bharadwaj and Gulzar, who have publicly expressed an interest in children’s film. Loading video... Additionally, the festival will showcase films created as part of UNICEF’s CAMP initiative, many of which highlight local problems pertaining to health and education, such as the lack of classrooms, toilets or water in schools village. It will also offer training workshops for children who want to learn how to be children’s reporters. While the CSFI largely focuses on fiction films for children, Das states that the organization is also conscious of social issues affecting children: “Particularly now, with our partnership with UNICEF, we are open to considering issues like child labour, sexual abuse and others.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:32 am Rupee trims fall in line with sharesMumbai: The Indian rupee trimmed its fall in afternoon session on Thursday in line with the domestic sharemarket but the dollar’s gains versus majors overseas prevented a further uptick. At 2:12pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs47.14/15 per dollar, off a low of Rs47.25, but still below its Wednesday’s close of Rs47.05/06. Shares were trading down just about 0.3% after having dropped more than 2% earlier. Net purchases of $14.2 billion of shares by foreigners so far in 2009 have been a key factor helping the rupee rise from a record low of Rs52.2 in early March. Last year, the rupee had fallen by nearly a fifth on portfolio outflows of more than $13 billion. The dollar index, a gauge of the US unit’s performance versus six majors, was up 0.4%. The dollar and the yen edged up on Thursday as short-term investors and Japanese exporters sold into a rally in the euro and higher-yielding currencies which followed a repeated pledge by the US Fed to keep rates low for a while. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at 47.1875 each, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $2.3 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:26 am Father of Bollywood stars in India’s Oscar entryMumbai: When Dhundiraj Govind Phalke decided to make a movie in 1911, he faced ridicule and a severe shortage of funds. Undeterred, he sold most of his belongings to create India’s first feature film, “Raja Harishchandra”, sowing the seeds for what is today the world’s largest film industry. Nearly a century later, when Mumbai-based theatre artist Paresh Mokashi decided to make his first film, he chose to tell Phalke’s story, but he found his own plight wasn’t very different from that of his subject. “I mortgaged my house, pulled out every penny that I had in my pocket. A lot of people weren’t sure of the script and the subject,” Mokashi, who completed “Harishchandrachi Factory” (Harishchandra’s Factory) in 2008, told Reuters. Mokashi’s story has a happy ending: “Harishchandrachi Factory” is India’s entry to next year’s Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. And UTV Motion Pictures, one of the country’s biggest production houses, has acquired its rights. “My aim was to tell the story of the man who started what is now the world’s largest film industry. Phalke faced a great deal of problems while making the film,” Mokashi said. “He had no previous experience, no money and a family to feed. Yet, he faced all these hurdles with a smile and a devil may care attitude,” he added. Phalke, known as the father of Indian cinema, released “Raja Harishchandra” in 1913, going on to make 95 full-length movies and 26 short films in a career that spanned 19 years. He died in 1944, but his name lives on in the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, instituted in his honour by the government in 1969 and which is, until today, the highest award in Indian cinema. In the 2008 film, Phalke almost loses his eyesight from staring at miniscule cinema prints in the dark, and convinces friends and family to act in his film, based on the ancient Hindu tale of the king Harishchandra. Mokashi says Phalke’s life inspired him while making his debut film, on a budget of just $600,000. “My family was absolutely supportive of me mortgaging our house. Everyone in the unit was happy to make do with whatever was available, because we all took a lesson from Phalke’s life,” he said. The film, which was made in Marathi, a language spoken in the western Indian state of Maharashtra where Phalke lived, has been drawing rave reviews in India since its release, and was the closing film of the South Asian International film festival in New York. Siddharth Roy Kapur, of distributors UTV, says the company aims to get it screened all over the United States ahead of next year’s Oscars in a bid to better its chances. “This is a gem of a film that almost didn’t get made. Now, our aim is to see that it gets as many screenings as possible, so that members of the Academy can watch it,” Kapur said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:19 am Vedanta H1 down, beats f'casts; sees recovery signsLONDON (Reuters) - India-focused mining group Vedanta Resources Plc said it saw early signs of global recovery as it posted a 44 percent fall in first-half earnings per share due to weaker metals prices.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:17 am Telecom ministry to seek licence fee cutThe move could bring some respite to the firms fighting a price war; the ministry would also propose full licence fee exemption for fixed-line services.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:13 am Toyota surprises with Q2 profit; halves loss outlookTOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp's surprise quarterly profit and halving of its annual loss forecast were not enough to convince investors that the world's No.1 carmaker had escaped the worst, as government subsidies peter out and a strong yen takes its toll.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:11 am Vedanta H1 down, sees recovery signsLondon: India-focused mining group Vedanta Resources Plc said it saw early signs of global recovery as it posted a 44% fall in first-half earnings per share due to weaker metals prices. “We appear to be witnessing the early signs of economic recovery globally,” chairman Anil Agarwal said on Thursday. “We expect that the economic and industrial growth in India will help underpin the demand for our products.” London-listed Vedanta said earnings per share (EPS) for the six months to end September fell to 68.5 cents from 121.4 cents last year, beating a consensus forecast of 57 cents from eight analysts polled by the company. Interest income was the main reason for better than expected EPS, while other figures were in line with forecasts, Cazenove said. “No fireworks from VED -- solid numbers,” it said in a note. “The balance sheet looks if anything overcapitalised, which suggests plenty of capacity to continue growing aggressively.” Vedanta said it had net debt of $969 million with cash and liquid investments of $6 billion. The group -- which has operations in India, Australia and Zambia -- said its strong balance sheet allowed it to continue investing in new mines and expanding operations as other companies cut back due to the economic downturn. “Expansionary capital expenditure in the period was $1.79 billion, in what we anticipate will be the peak year for the current organic growth programme,” Agarwal said. Vedanta shares, which have outperformed the UK mining index by 40% this year, dipped 3.3% to 2,214 pence by 0807 GMT. Dividend up The group proposed an interim dividend of 17.5 cents, up from 16.5 cents last year, and said it remained committed to its progressive dividend policy. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 41% to $746 million, while revenue declined 25% to $2.98 billion. The price of metals were hit hard last year amid the global financial crisis, but have recovered some of that lost ground this year. The price of zinc -- Vedanta’s most profitable metal accounting for half of core earnings -- has bounced 85% this year, but it is still 23% below its peak last year. Earlier this month, Vedanta forecast higher production in the second half after it posted strong output gains for most metals in its fiscal second quarter. Refined zinc output gained 12.5% in the first half to 280,000 tonnes, while production of iron ore, its next most profitable product, climbed 15.1% to 8.2 million tonnes. On 29 October, Vedanta iron ore unit Sesa Goa said it was being investigated by the Indian government for financial and other irregularities. Sesa Goa, India’s largest iron-ore exporter, said it was under investigation by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office and the probe had to be completed in six months. Another Vedanta unit, Sterlite Energy, said on 30 October it planned a $1.1 billion IPO to help fund two thermal power plants with a combined capacity of 4,380 megawatts. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:00 am GM plans 10,000 job cuts at OpelBerlin: General Motors has said it wanted to cut around 10,000 jobs at its European division Opel a day after the US car maker stunned the auto sector by scrapping plans to sell the German-based unit. GM wants to slash costs by 30% at Opel, which would mean the elimination of about 10,000 jobs from a workforce of 55,000, GM vice president John Smith told European journalists during a telephone news conference. General Motors said Tuesday it was abandoning a project to sell Opel to Canadian auto parts manufacturer Magna International and state-owned Russian bank Sberbank, saying it would implement its own restructuring at the unit. The decision sparked outrage in Germany, where half of Opel’s workforce is employed and where the government had backed the Magna-Sberbank deal in hopes of preserving as many jobs as possible. Reaction was more subdued in Spain, Belgium, Poland, Austria and Britain, where GM also has Opel operations. Smith acknowledged that “the German government had a very strong appetite for the Magna proposal, so I can well imagine and well understand” the German reaction. “I am hopeful they will find merit in our plan.” Smith contended that there had been very little difference between the offers put forward by Magna and a rival bidder, the Belgian investment firm RHJI, and what GM has in mind for Opel. “There is very little daylight between what RHJI proposed, what Magna proposed and what GM will propose,” Smith said. But he added: “We continue to believe that we can restructure Opel with less money than any other investor.” GM’s decision to hold on to Opel came against an improving European economic backdrop but left open questions that could decide Opel’s ultimate fate, such as whether its ability to build good compact cars is enough in a turbulent, crowded marketplace. Some German auto analysts said the decision made sense from an industrial viewpoint while others warned GM was making a huge bet as the sector came to a crossroads and as it pinned its hopes on electric cars and strategic alliances. As GM struggled with bankruptcy, it initially agreed to sell a 55% stake in Opel and its British sister brand Vauxhall to Magna International and Sberbank. But GM said in a statement Tuesday it would hold on to the European unit owing to “an improving business environment for GM over the past few months, and the importance of Opel/Vauxhall to GM’s global strategy.” European auto sales have climbed in recent months, with small cars chalking up the most deliveries, but analysts warn the market will slump again next year as government support schemes are wound down. Meanwhile, the global market for fuel-efficient models is expected to be stronger than for GM’s classic gas-guzzlers. Bolstered by billions of dollars in state aid, it decided to keep Opel, a critical small-car asset. “The strategic importance of Opel is enormous,” Metzler Bank analyst Juergen Pieper told AFP. But analyst Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer said GM “took the biggest risk possible.” US rival Chrysler made the same choice when it agreed to a takeover by the Italian group Fiat. But Germany pushed for Opel’s sale to Magna and Sberbank, and on Wednesday, Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle slammed GM’s turnaround as “totally unacceptable.” Britain said it would work with GM to secure the future of British plants, while Polish Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak quickly welcomed the GM decision, calling it good news for what he said was an efficient site there. Russia and Spain expressed “surprise” at the news, with Moscow saying it would be checking to ensure the decision was legal. Magna said it accepted GM’s decision. German chancellor Angela Merkel returned Wednesday from a high-profile visit to Washington and headed into a cabinet meeting to discuss the news as Bruederle demanded details of how GM would restructure Opel. Germany had spent months haggling with GM, the European Union and Magna over terms for €4.5 billion ($6.6) in German state aid for the mooted sale. Merkel’s spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said the chancellor would be in contact with US President Barack Obama in the next few days. But the White House insisted it had nothing to do with GM’s decision. Britain called for talks with the US manufacturer. “I have always said that if the right long-term sustainable solution is identified, then the government would be willing to support this,” business minister Peter Mandelson said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:57 am GM plans 10,000 job cuts at OpelBerlin: General Motors has said it wanted to cut around 10,000 jobs at its European division Opel a day after the US car maker stunned the auto sector by scrapping plans to sell the German-based unit. GM wants to slash costs by 30% at Opel, which would mean the elimination of about 10,000 jobs from a workforce of 55,000, GM vice president John Smith told European journalists during a telephone news conference. General Motors said Tuesday it was abandoning a project to sell Opel to Canadian auto parts manufacturer Magna International and state-owned Russian bank Sberbank, saying it would implement its own restructuring at the unit. The decision sparked outrage in Germany, where half of Opel’s workforce is employed and where the government had backed the Magna-Sberbank deal in hopes of preserving as many jobs as possible. Reaction was more subdued in Spain, Belgium, Poland, Austria and Britain, where GM also has Opel operations. Smith acknowledged that “the German government had a very strong appetite for the Magna proposal, so I can well imagine and well understand” the German reaction. “I am hopeful they will find merit in our plan.” Smith contended that there had been very little difference between the offers put forward by Magna and a rival bidder, the Belgian investment firm RHJI, and what GM has in mind for Opel. “There is very little daylight between what RHJI proposed, what Magna proposed and what GM will propose,” Smith said. But he added: “We continue to believe that we can restructure Opel with less money than any other investor.” GM’s decision to hold on to Opel came against an improving European economic backdrop but left open questions that could decide Opel’s ultimate fate, such as whether its ability to build good compact cars is enough in a turbulent, crowded marketplace. Some German auto analysts said the decision made sense from an industrial viewpoint while others warned GM was making a huge bet as the sector came to a crossroads and as it pinned its hopes on electric cars and strategic alliances. As GM struggled with bankruptcy, it initially agreed to sell a 55% stake in Opel and its British sister brand Vauxhall to Magna International and Sberbank. But GM said in a statement Tuesday it would hold on to the European unit owing to “an improving business environment for GM over the past few months, and the importance of Opel/Vauxhall to GM’s global strategy.” European auto sales have climbed in recent months, with small cars chalking up the most deliveries, but analysts warn the market will slump again next year as government support schemes are wound down. Meanwhile, the global market for fuel-efficient models is expected to be stronger than for GM’s classic gas-guzzlers. Bolstered by billions of dollars in state aid, it decided to keep Opel, a critical small-car asset. “The strategic importance of Opel is enormous,” Metzler Bank analyst Juergen Pieper told AFP. But analyst Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer said GM “took the biggest risk possible.” US rival Chrysler made the same choice when it agreed to a takeover by the Italian group Fiat. But Germany pushed for Opel’s sale to Magna and Sberbank, and on Wednesday, Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle slammed GM’s turnaround as “totally unacceptable.” Britain said it would work with GM to secure the future of British plants, while Polish Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak quickly welcomed the GM decision, calling it good news for what he said was an efficient site there. Russia and Spain expressed “surprise” at the news, with Moscow saying it would be checking to ensure the decision was legal. Magna said it accepted GM’s decision. German chancellor Angela Merkel returned Wednesday from a high-profile visit to Washington and headed into a cabinet meeting to discuss the news as Bruederle demanded details of how GM would restructure Opel. Germany had spent months haggling with GM, the European Union and Magna over terms for €4.5 billion ($6.6) in German state aid for the mooted sale. Merkel’s spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said the chancellor would be in contact with US President Barack Obama in the next few days. But the White House insisted it had nothing to do with GM’s decision. Britain called for talks with the US manufacturer. “I have always said that if the right long-term sustainable solution is identified, then the government would be willing to support this,” business minister Peter Mandelson said. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:57 am Primary inflation declines 0.11%; new monthly index next weekAs per the new system, the weekly wholesale price index data would cover only primary articles and commodities in the broad group - fuel, power, light and lubricants.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:55 am Koda moved from ICU to general ward, ED set for arrest - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:54 am Annual food price inflation up over 13% - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:31 am Food inflation at 13.39 pct on Oct 24NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's food prices rose 13.39 percent in the 12 months to Oct. 24, highlighting concerns that the index could stay high despite government efforts to keep a lid on prices.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:23 am Wipro acquires Yardley businessThe transaction is expected to complete by mid December.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:23 am US Fed sees rates near zero for “extended period”Washington: The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday expressed growing confidence that an economic recovery was building, even as it stuck to its commitment to keep borrowing costs near zero for “an extended period.” As expected, the central bank closed out a two-day meeting with a decision to keep benchmark overnight interest rates in a range of zero to 0.25%. The vote was unanimous. In a statement, the Fed said the US economy had “continued to pick up” since its last meeting in September, but it expressed concern the recovery was likely to be muted. “Household spending appears to be expanding but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, sluggish income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit,” it said. While still emphasizing risks, the Fed was a bit more upbeat than in September, when it had simply said spending was “stabilizing.” The Fed cut interest rates to near zero last December and has pumped more than $1 trillion into the economy to tame a severe financial crisis and the deepest recession since the 1930s. Now that the economy is starting to recover, financial markets are increasingly wondering when the Fed and other central banks around the globe will begin to remove the extraordinary economic support they have provided. The US central bank was more explicit than it had been previously on why it expects to be able to keep rates “exceptionally low” for a long time, citing the slack that has built up in the economy and the lack of an inflationary threat. By citing “low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations,” analysts said the Fed was providing a road map to follow to determine when it may finally begin to tighten policy. Testing the waters? In another shift, the Fed said it would buy only about $175 billion of debt issued by federal housing agencies. It had planned to buy up to $200 billion to help keep mortgage costs low. Some analysts saw the move as a baby step away from the Fed’s “quantitative easing” policy of flooding the financial system with money, but the Fed said it curtailed purchases because the supply of the debt was scarce. US stocks wavered after the Fed’s decision, but gave up most of their earlier gains by the end of the day, with the broad S&P 500 index closing up only marginally. Prices for US government debt fell on worries about massive debt supply, while interest rate futures turned higher as traders cut bets the Fed would soon step back from its easy money policy. The US dollar weakened. “If there is any surprise, it sounds like there is not even any hint that they are going to raise rates soon,” said Robert MacIntosh, chief economist at Eaton Vance Corp in Boston. “We’ve got a number of Fed meetings to go before we will get any kind of increase.” Top Fed officials, including chairman Ben Bernanke, have said the US recession has left a legacy of high unemployment and idle factories that should keep price pressures in check. A private report on Wednesday showed US companies cut payrolls at the slowest pace in more than a year, adding to a sense that the economic numbers are moving in the right direction. The government on Friday also is expected to report that employers are cutting fewer jobs, but the jobless rate is forecast to rise to a fresh 26-year high of 9.9% and unemployment is expected to keep climbing into next year. The world’s largest economy grew at a faster-than-expected 3.5% annual rate in the third quarter, which effectively signaled the end of the downturn. Suggesting further momentum, data on Monday showed manufacturing activity hit its highest level in 3-1/2 years last month, though a report on Wednesday showed the nation’s vast services sector was growing only modestly. Wrestling with an exit The budding recovery has started to lift the spirit of some investors. Billionaire Warren Buffett demonstrated his faith in the economy’s prospects with an announcement on Tuesday that his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc, would spend $26 billion to buy the nation’s largest rail company, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. Still, worries linger. The banking system remains under pressure from loan losses, and credit remains tight. Most analysts at top US banks have been expecting the Fed to keep interest rates on hold until mid-2010 or later. Before it raises rates, it is expected to begin to withdraw some of the cash it pumped into the economy to keep credit flowing. Other central banks also are wrestling with how best to spur economic growth and when to withdraw extraordinary measures to support their economies. The European Central Bank is expected to keep rates on hold at a record-low 1.0% on Thursday, while there is a good chance the Bank of England will expand its large asset purchase program at a meeting the same day. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:18 am Asian shares dip on Fed outlook, dollar recoversHong Kong: Asian shares fell on Thursday, while the dollar recovered most losses made after the US Federal Reserve vowed to keep rates near zero for “an extended period” and saw a sluggish recovery in the world’s biggest economy. European shares were set to fall at the start, with futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 down 1.2%. US equity futures were 0.4% lower. The euro drew profit taking ahead of a European Central Bank meeting later on Thursday. The ECB is expected to keep interest rates at a record low but may give clues on when it will start weaning banks off cheap funds. The euro fell to $1.4818, from $1.4865 in early trade. Sterling also slipped before a Bank of England meeting, with policymakers set to decide whether to inject more stimulus into the British economy. Asian share markets fell as investors gained little encouragement from the Fed, which vowed to maintain a very loose monetary policy in the absence of inflation pressure, and said US economic recovery, though building, would be muted. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks traded outside Japan fell 1% while the Thomson Reuters index of regional shares was 1.5% lower. All eyes now are on US job data on Friday for more clues on the state of US economic recovery, analysts said. “Investors were pushing the market lower, preparing for more selling by investors such as hedge funds in case US jobs data raises a disturbance,” said Tsuyoshi Segawa, an equity strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo. Japan’s Nikkei share index slid 1.3% to a one-month closing low. Shares of exporters were hit by early gains in Asian currencies although the dollar recovered ground. It was up 0.2% against a basket of currencies at 75.9 by mid-afternoon. Dealers said it remained vulnerable as the Fed statement did not signal a change in monetary policy. Toyota shares, however, could be poised to rebound on Friday after the world’s biggest carmaker by sales sprung a surprise quarterly profit and slashed its annual loss forecast by more than half. Toyota shares fell 0.8%, closing before the earnings announcement. Hyundai Shares Slump In Seoul, shares tumbled 1.8% with trade volume hitting a 14-month low. That was despite upbeat economic data, including double-digit department store sales growth and a further rise in exports to China last month. Hyundai Motor shares slumped 4.2% after analysts said Korea’s top car maker, which specialises in small and mid-sized cars, could lose market share in the United States. Asian currencies were mixed by mid-afternoon. Indonesia’s central bank intervened to support the rupiah as investors took profits on a recent rally. Thailand’s central bank governor Tarisa Watanagase, in an interview with Reuters, said she was not worried about appreciation of the Thai baht, which is up 4% this year, saying it remained competitive for trade. Shares in Australia slid 0.7%, but toll-road operator Transurban Group rallied nearly 20% after the company rejected a takeover offer by two Canadian pension funds but said it was open to talks. Japanese government bond futures fell, tracking a slide in longer-term US Treasuries on investor fears of excessive government debt supply after the Fed’s statement and a weak 10-year bond auction. Gold, buoyed this week by India’s 200-tonne purchase from the IMF, slipped to $1,085 an ounce after hitting another record high overnight, at $1,097.25. In New Zealand, the kiwi dollar fell after weak job data there and the central bank said economic recovery was more vulnerable than in Australia and the jobless rate hit a nine-year high. “New Zealand has had a recession, and the pick-up is slower and more vulnerable -- a difference financial markets do not appear to appreciate,” Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Alan Bollard said in notes prepared for a business group. The kiwi fell to as low as $0.7179, from around $0.7270 before Bollard’s comments. Weak equity markets pushed the oil price down 0.9% to $79.7 a barrel, after its more than $3 gain in the past three days. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:13 am RCF forays into cement distributionOver 6,000 dealers of public sector undertaking Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers are likely to double up as cement stockistsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am PM’s advisory panel ‘surprised’ by Ministry’s kharif estimatesNew Delhi, Nov. 4 The Agriculture Ministry’s projection of a 21.07 million tonne (mt) dip in this year’s kharif foodgrain output (from 117.70 mt to 96.63 mt) has taken the Economic Advisory Council to the PrimeSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideFresh long position can be initiated only if DLF exceeds Rs 380, with stiff stop-loss. The outlook stays positive as long as ICICI Bank trades above Rs 810 and SBI trades above Rs 2132. WeSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Phone subscriber base crosses 500-m markNew Delhi, Nov. 4 The number of telephone subscribers in India has increased to 509.03 million at the end of September with nearly 15 million subscribers being added in the month. This beats the Government’s target of 500 million users bySource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am 24% fall in indirect tax revenues worries GovtNew Delhi, Nov. 4 With revenues from indirect taxes recording a 24 per cent decline in the first-half of the current fiscal, the Centre is now betting on economic growth in the second-half and the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am New premium likely to see less equity exposureKolkata, Nov. 4 From next fiscal, some life insurance companies are likely to cut down their stock market investments by 10 to 15 per cent in respect of new businesses.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am GMR Infrastructure (Rs 63.35): BuyWe recommend a buy in GMR Infrastructure from a short-term perspective. It is apparent from the charts the stock has been on a long-term uptrend from its October 2008 low of Rs 22.75. However, after encountering resistance around Rs 90 in June itSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Godrej Properties IPO in two months: Adi GodrejMumbai, Nov. 4 It was an eventful second quarter for the Godrej Group which also saw its Indian joint venture partner, Sara Lee Corporation, sell a part of its US business to Unilever Plc. Though Godrej Industries reported a fall inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Judge recuses from Reliance caseThe withdrawal of Mr Justice R. V. Raveendran on Wednesday on moral grounds from a Bench of the Supreme Court hearing the gas dispute involving the Ambani brothers, is unlikely to cause a major delay in the case.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am ArcelorMittal eyes alternative sites for plantsNew Delhi, Nov.4 The world’s largest steel maker ArcelorMittal is looking at alternative sites to set up its steel plants in India after its proposed Orissa and Jharkhand plants got delayed. Land acquisition problems led to delaysSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Russian govt concerned over GM decision not to sell Opel - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:52 pm Asia shares dip; dollar shaky on cautious FedThe Fed's pledge to stick to a very loose monetary policy was expected and gave investors little new to trade on.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:42 pm Oil prices down in Asian trade on demand concernsPrices eased after breaking through the $80 mark in New York on Wednesday, reflecting concerns over weak demand.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:34 pm 'Golden Chariot' domestic package for corporatesThe Golden Chariot, the luxury train by KSTDC has seen a rush of corporates, as KSTDC has launched a sales blitzkrieg to woo them with an attractive three-day package.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:32 pm Nikon Q2 beats consensus on cameras, steppers weakTokyo: Japanese precision equipment and camera maker Nikon Corp fell to a smaller-than-expected quarterly operating loss as strong sales of digital cameras offset sluggish sales of chip-making equipment. The world’s No.2 maker of chip steppers after Netherlands-based ASML is trimming its stepper operations as it awaits a recovery in spending by major chipmakers, who have emerged from a prolonged downturn. The company, which also competes with Canon Inc in both steppers and in digital cameras, cut its stepper outlook by 3 units to 33 units in the year to March. Steppers are multimillion dollar machines used to scan circuitry onto silicon wafers to make semiconductors. But it nudged up its digital SLR camera sales target by 100,000 units to 3.55 million units, and lifted its compact digital camera sales forecast by 1 million units to 11.5 million units. For the full financial year to next March, Nikon, which also makes digital single-lens reflex cameras and compact cameras, kept its recently revised forecast for an operating loss of ¥18 billion ($199 million), in line with the average forecast of five analysts for a ¥19.5 billion loss. Its operating loss came to ¥20.3 billion for July-September, down from a profit of ¥25.4 billion last year and beating an average estimate for a loss of ¥25.4 billion by six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Elpida Memory Inc, which pitted ASML against Nikon last year to get a lower price on steppers, reported a quarterly operating gain of ¥800 million on Thursday, turning a profit for the first time in 8 quarters. Elpida said it expects bit growth -- a measure of output in terms of memory capacity -- to hit 10 to 15% in October-November, and to reach an annual 40% in the year to March, up from a previous forecast for 20% growth. Shares of Nikon closed down 0.2% ahead of the announcement, while Elpida closed down 0.6%. Tokyo’s electrical machinery sub-index fell 1.4%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:25 pm As they say, this too shall passHR experts look at a survey to find out why corporate employees are unhappy.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:06 pm Passengers stranded as airline suspends Himachal flightThe decision of MDLR Airline authorities to suspend their operations in Himachal Pradesh without any notice has left many passengers stranded.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:03 pm India shows bull market for gold intact: Forbes - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:03 pm Indian enterprises face data loss risk: StudyIncreasing use of IT infrastructure by Indian enterprises to enhance productivity and expand operations in a competitive environment has led to growing security risks such as loss of critical data, a study by the intelligence marketing firm IDC (India) Ltd. has revealed.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:03 pm Sensex down over a percent in early tradeA key index of the Indian equities markets started weak Thursday and was 1.11 percent in the red about ten minutes into trade.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm Sensex plunges 347 points on funds sellingThe wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 100.20 points to 4,610.60.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Nov 2009 | 10:41 pm Microsoft CEO eyes Yahoo partnership outside USTokyo: Microsoft Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday the company could look to extend its search engine partnership with Yahoo outside the United States, if it gets regulatory approval. Earlier this year Microsoft and Yahoo signed a 10-year Web search partnership to challenge Google Inc, a pact that US and European antitrust regulators are evaluating. “It’s possible that we will extend that partnership (with Yahoo) outside the US,” Ballmer told reporters at a news conference. “We will have to wait and see if we can get approval and consummate that partnership inside the US first.” Microsoft has said it believes the deal will close in early 2010, and that they can make significant progress on integration in one or two major markets next year. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 4 Nov 2009 | 9:42 pm Microsoft CEO eyes Yahoo partnership outside USTokyo: Microsoft Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday the company could look to extend its search engine partnership with Yahoo outside the United States, if it gets regulatory approval. Earlier this year Microsoft and Yahoo signed a 10-year Web search partnership to challenge Google Inc, a pact that US and European antitrust regulators are evaluating. “It’s possible that we will extend that partnership (with Yahoo) outside the US,” Ballmer told reporters at a news conference. “We will have to wait and see if we can get approval and consummate that partnership inside the US first.” Microsoft has said it believes the deal will close in early 2010, and that they can make significant progress on integration in one or two major markets next year. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Nov 2009 | 9:42 pm Wall Street slips from day’s high post Fed’s commentNew York: US stocks rallied but lost steam on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it would keep rates near zero for “an extended period” even as it expressed confidence in the economic recovery. Stocks pushed higher in the hour following the FOMC statement, after the Fed kept its benchmark federal funds rate unchanged in a range of zero to 0.25%. The S&P 500 rose as high as 1,061.00 and the Nasdaq touched 2,081.00. But the market was unable to hold those gains as it succumbed to selling pressure in the last half-hour of trading. “This doesn’t change much. It’s hard to figure out how this could be helpful for the upside, though it easily could have been negative,” said Jordan Posner, portfolio manager at Matrix Asset Advisors in New York. “The good news is more an absence of anything bad.” The Fed’s closely watched policy statement was somewhat more upbeat than its statement in September. However, it was also more explicit about why it expects to keep rates low, citing “low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations.” After the closing bell, Cisco Systems Inc gained 3.1% to $24.02 after the network equipment vendor said quarterly revenue rose more than expected from its previous quarter. The company also said its board authorized up to $10 billion in additional stock buybacks. The healthcare sector jumped on hopes the Obama administration’s healthcare reforms may be slowed after Republicans scored some key election victories. The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index jumped 4.7%, while the S&P Healthcare index added 1.3%. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 30.23 points, or 0.31%, to end at 9,802.14, after rising as much as 156.13 points, or 1.6%, in the hour after the FOMC statement to touch a session high at 9,928.04. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index edged up 1.09 points, or 0.10%, to finish at 1,046.50. But the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 1.80 points, or 0.09%, to close at 2,055.52. Healthcare stocks also got a boost from Wellcare Health Plans Inc, which climbed 6.7% to $28.09 after the managed care company posted a quarterly profit above analysts’ estimates even as membership fell about 8% from a year earlier. Intel Corp rose 1.3% to $18.59 even after it was sued by New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo, who accused the world’s largest chipmaker of threatening computer makers and paying billions of dollars in kickbacks to maintain its market dominance. Wall Street opened higher after ADP’s private-sector report showed signs of improvement in the labour market. The three major US stock indexes extended gains following a strong reading on the US services sector from the Institute for Supply Management. Volume was below average on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1.35 billion shares changing hands, shy of last year’s estimated daily average of 1.49 billion. On the Nasdaq, about 2.25 billion shares traded, roughly equal to last year’s daily average of 2.28 billion. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 8 to 7, while on the Nasdaq, about eight stocks fell for every five that rose. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Nov 2009 | 8:23 pm Singh deals himself in to solve crisisNew Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to get involved in the effort to get the Capital ready for next year’s Commonwealth Games, seeking to avert a potential national embarrassment on account of shoddy preparations for the country’s biggest sporting event in 27 years.  Playing a hand: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Vipin Kumar / HT After naming a former civil servant as chief executive officer (CEO) of the Games organizing committee, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Wednesday seconded two more bureaucrats to the panel, said a senior government official familiar with the development, who didn’t want to be identified. Jiji Thomson, a joint secretary in the agriculture ministry, and Sudhir Mittal, Punjab government’s resident commissioner in New Delhi, will join CEO Jarnail Singh in the 500-member committee to oversee the preparations. The government official added that the officials have been asked to firefight to “save the Games”. Thomson said he had not yet received the order deputing him to the organizaing committee. Mittal couldn’t be contacted. Both Thomson and Mittal have had separate meetings with cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar in the last two days. An official in PMO said the apointments had been made in consultation with sports minister M.S. Gill, who had discussed the matter with Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the Games’ organizing committee. A second official in PMO said the Prime Minister was “deeply concerned” about preparations for the Games.  Singh was concerned that if the Games prove to be a fiasco because the Capital isn’t ready in time, it would hurt the country’s prestige and damage its image in the eyes of investors, this official added. Both officials didn’t want to be identified. The government official mentioned in the first instance said the Centre had considered other options to complete construction of Games facilities and city infrastructure projects that are way behind schedule. “There was a suggestion to hand it over to the Armed Forces to complete the projects on a war footing, but it was ruled out as the Commonwealth Games is a people’s event and getting the Armed Forces to do it would invite criticism. Another suggestion was to dissolve the existing committee, which was also rejected because it has too many elected representatives,” this official said. This isn’t the first time that the country’s leadership is stepping in to rescue a sporting event from the risk of disaster. In 1982, then prime minister Indira Gandhi asked her son Rajiv Gandhi, who was then a general secretary of the Congress party, to oversee the organization of the 1982 Asian Games when preparations fell behind schedule. The success of those Games was credited to the organizational ability of Rajiv Gandhi, who became prime minister after his mother’s assassination in 1984. The Commonwealth Games, scheduled for October, will feature 71 nations and territories that once formed part of the British empire, and will be the biggest multi-sport event to be hosted by India since the Asian Games. Commonwealth Games Federation head Michael Fennell had sent an urgent letter to the local organizing committee in September citing the lack of progress. Fennell warned that Delhi faced “an enormous challenge” to be ready for the Games, which will involve 6,000 top-class international athletes competing in 17 sports. Mint had reported on 29 October that an evaluation by the Comptroller and Auditor General of Delhi’s preparation for the Games found that out of 40 projects, 10 were at high risk and 15 at medium risk of not being completed on time. Vijay Goel, a member of the organizing committee during whose term as sports minister in the National Democratic Alliance government the Commonwealth Games were allotted to Delhi, is still not hopeful about the smooth conduct of the Games. “I do not think even the Prime Minister’s intervention would make much difference, though it may help in some areas,” he said. Goel is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress, the party’s rival, rules Delhi and heads India’s United Progressive Alliance government. With time running out, the government may need to spend more money to get infrastructure ready on time, Goel added, citing the risk of projects being awarded without proper procedures being followed and inadequate security arrangements being made. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Nov 2009 | 12:45 pm Summer placements start off well for IIM CalcuttaKolkata: At least 30 first-year students at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) will intern at three investment banks next summer, signalling a turnaround in the financial sector, the premier business school said on Wednesday. The first day of summer placements saw Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) selecting 11 students for internship. “As many as three leading investment banks made offers in double digits,” IIM-C said in a statement. It declined to name the recruiters. Summer placements are important for management students because many of them are eventually offered full-time jobs by the companies with which they intern at the end of the two-year course.  Job offers: The auditorium at IIM Calcutta. The first day of summer placements saw RBS selecting 11 students for internship. Indranil Bhoumik/Mint “Markets are turning around,” the IIM-C statement said. “The absence of Lehman Brothers wasn’t felt.” The institute declined to specify the total offers made on Wednesday. India’s business schools were hit by the global financial crisis and the absence of Wall Street recruiters in the final placement season of 2009, when graduating students find full-time jobs, despite a good summer placement season in 2008. “Placements have been good and students are very happy,” said Rohan Mahajan, an IIM-C student who interacts with the media. On Wednesday, 80% of the offers were made by financial services firms, he said. The remaining offers were made by consulting firms such as McKinsey and Co., Bain and Co., Boston Consulting Group and AT Kearney, which made three-five offers each. Average stipends offered this year “should go up, but we don’t have the figures yet”, Mahajan said. At least 400 students are trying to secure internships and it would take about a week to place them, IIM-C professor and chairman for placements Prafulla Agnihotri had earlier said. The summer placements at IIM Ahmedabad have started off well, it said in a statement on Monday. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Nov 2009 | 12:45 pm Mercator Lines aims to become a $5 billion companyMumbai: It all started with an idea floated by a co-passenger in a flight. Harish K. Mittal, owner of India’s second largest private shipping line, does not remember the passenger’s name, but his suggestion on starting a shipping firm way back in the early 1980s stuck in his mind. Mittal, then running a chemical factory in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, mentioned this idea to Atul Agarwal, who is married to his wife’s sister. Agarwal was at the time auditing some companies that included a few shipping firms. In 1988, Agarwal mentioned that Mumbai-based Mercator Lines Ltd was on the block. Mittal, then also into the business of buying ship scrap, did not hesitate. He bought the firm for Rs1.2 crore from the Ramchandani family. Click here to see all of Mint’s coverage on the WEF India summit From Rs65 lakh in 1988, the firm’s revenue increased to Rs2,200 crore in the year ended 31 March. Mercator Lines today runs a fleet of 28 vessels, up from three barges in the year Mittal bought the firm.  The 59-year-old entrepreneur now wants to make his firm a $5 billion (around Rs23,550 crore) company, an “ambitious dream,” but not impossible for a shipping line that reported a revenue of just Rs60 crore just five years ago. From a traditional tanker company, Mercator today has a presence in bulk shipping, tanker shipping, dredging, offshore oil exploration and coal mines. “We have already acquired four coal mines in Indonesia and one in Mozambique. We are now looking for acquiring one more in Indonesia. This will enable us to offer a complete logistics package including coal, ship and local logistics,” says Mittal, who holds a 1973 postgraduate degree in technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, then known as the University of Roorkee. A majority of new Indian power projects are eyeing imported coal, mainly from Indonesia, to run their plants. Mittal attributes his success to his management team. An analyst agrees. “Mercator Lines management was always aggressive to grab every opportunity that came before them, be it dredging, coal mines, offshore or dry bulk ships,” says Kapil Yadav, an analyst with domestic brokerage Dolat Capital Market Pvt. Ltd. Yadav tracks the firm’s scrip. “The business model of Mercator Lines is to diversify to several segments to derisk, while locking in its vessels for long-term contracts to mitigate the volatility of freight rates,” he says. Mercator Lines has acquired four dredgers and plans to add six more to its portfolio. Indian ports continuously require dredging to keep their shipping channels deep. State-run Dredging Corp. of India Ltd is unable to meet the entire requirements of the country’s ports. Some international dredging companies have set up shop in India to tap the market potential. “We are very serious about dredging,” says Mittal. “Apart from dredging, we are also upbeat about the offshore sector.” Mercator Lines, as part of a strategy to derisk the cyclical nature of its core shipping business, entered the offshore drilling business with the delivery of a Rs1,000 crore jack-up rig. The rig was immediately deployed on a three-year contract with state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd through Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd. “We are constantly looking for other areas of offshore business, exclusive offshore support vessels. This could be anything, high specification rigs or other areas,” Mittal says. “Mercator was contracted two oil blocks under the seventh round of the new exploration licensing policy,” Mittal said. In December 2007, Mercator Lines listed its Singapore-based subsidiary on the Singapore Stock Exchange and raised over Rs500 crore. Last year, shipping firms were hit by the global economic downturn that led to a steep decline in world trade and caused freight rates to fall. “Though there are some signs of revival, I think the next two years are going to be tough for the shipping sector,” Mittal says. “Our diversification model is going to save us during this crisis.” “Though Mercator has done everything to de-risk by diversifying, as a shipping company it will be exposed to volatility since it is a cyclical industry,” Dolat’s Yadav says. Mittal, however, remains optimistic. He says all the business segments of his firm are growing and he would continue to invest in these. “Nothing stops us from aiming at being a $5 billion company.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Nov 2009 | 12:24 pm Small, medium enterprises seek simpler labour lawsRepresentatives of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are seeking a simpler labour law exclusively for the sector, saying it’s not feasible for small firms with minimal resources to comply with multiple laws. An expert group of government and industry officials set up by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is looking at ways to streamline labour laws. At least seven expert groups have been recently set up by a task force led by T.K.A. Nair, principal secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to address various issues, including labour and its impact on the SME sector that contributes 45% of India’s manufacturing output. There are 44 Central Acts governing labour. Under the law, SMEs have to implement at least 15 of them, including those covering social security, minimum wages and payment of gratuity and bonus. Industry representatives say most small units are one-man operations and they lack the infrastructure to implement labour laws. “We need a single law to reduce the burden of inspections and compliance costs,” said Anil Gupta, president of Indian Industries Association, which has some 7,000 members from plastic to paint manufacturers. The sector, which was hit by delayed payments from customers and tight credit flow owing to the global economic slowdown, employs an estimated 42 million workers, according to government data. Emphasizing the sector’s importance in India, Singh had said in August that “good health of these enterprises” is crucial not just for the economy, “but for protecting the livelihood and well-being of a very large section of our people”. The SME sector has been lobbying with the government on the issue of labour, which has divided the industry and trade unions, and been the subject of friction between ministries. The MSME ministry, for example, has been opposing the labour ministry’s move to bring establishments employing 10 people under the Central health insurance plan, the Employees’ State Insurance, without simplifying overall implementation norms. “Compliance should be simplified and there must be changes in how returns are filed and inspections are done. Unless this is done, it will not be appropriate,” Madhav Lal, development commissioner at the MSME ministry, said. The labour ministry, according to a note being prepared for submission to the PMO, says it has already simplified several filing norms. Firms employing up to 40 workers will be exempted from maintaining registers and filing information required by various government agencies; firms employing up to 19 are exempt now. The note also mentions that its revised policy plans to make an annual inspection mandatory for only large firms employing over 250 workers. Trade unions, however, oppose these moves. “We want the procedures to be simplified, but there’s no justification on why filing should be completely stopped,” said M.H. Mahadevan, deputy general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress. maitreyee.h@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Nov 2009 | 12:18 pm Free trade, climate change to top India-EU summitNew Delhi: India and the European Union (EU) will focus on pushing for a free trade pact and narrowing differences over climate change at the 10th India-EU Summit on Friday, a European diplomat said on Wednesday. The two sides have held seven rounds of talks since 2007, and Daniele Smadja, EU’s ambassador to India, said the leaders must now “bring political momentum into the discussions”. Asked to spell out a timeline for the deal, Smadja said the EU does not want to sacrifice substance for a timeline but “everybody would like to conclude the agreement next year”. Among the hurdles faced by the planned pact are intellectual property rights disputes, high Indian taxes on wines and spirits from Europe, and EU concerns over social issues such as human rights and child labour in India. “We have the mandate from our member countries to address these issues under the framework of the FTA (free trade agreement). However, the result has to be mutually acceptable,” Smadja said. Later, when asked on these issues, commerce minister Anand Sharma said: “India is not a banana republic. We have rules and regulations in place to address these issues.” On the progress achieved so far on the trade agreement front, Smadja said, “We have to get into exchange of concessions, and these are difficult and need time.” Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden, which holds the rotating EU presidency, EU commissioner for external relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will attend Friday’s meeting. India will be headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Sharma will also hold talks with his EU counterpart, Catherine Ashton, regarding the seizure of Indian generic drugs consignments in European countries. India has threatened to take the EU to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the issue. “If the issue is resolved bilaterally, it is better. Otherwise, India is ready to take all necessary action,” Sharma said. The EU will also raise the issue of high state duties on wines and spirits imported from European nations. “We are running out of time. We expect the issue to be resolved at the earliest possible. Otherwise, we may have to go to WTO. However, we need to understand that India is a federal state,” Smadja said. The EU is India’s largest trade partner with annual bilateral trade totalling around €77 billion (Rs5.34 trillion). India ranks ninth in EU’s list of major trading partners. Climate change will also be a priority with just weeks to go before the UN climate change meet in Copenhagen in December, Smadja said. The EU has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 1990 levels and has said it could increase that to 30% if an agreement is reached in Copenhagen. India is resisting any binding emission cuts and demanding finance and technology support from rich countries to help reduce emissions. feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Nov 2009 | 12:18 pm Cricket sponsorship keeps some biggies in the pavilionBCCI almost doubles base price; stiffer cut-off for bidders.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:45 am After 12 years, credit grows in single digitsFor the first time since April 1997, growth in bank credit has dropped to single-digit levels, an indication that demand is yet to pick up. For the year up to October 23, bank credit flow grew by 9.65 per cent. This is the slowest pace of increase since April 25, 1997 when the growth rate was 9.61 per cent.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:43 am Stock markets bounce backStimulus assurance, global cues pull back Sensex, Nifty.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:39 am Supreme Court judge steps out of RIL-RNRL gas caseDaughter with firm advising RIL; Bench reconstituted, fresh hearings to begin.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:36 am CordLife targets India as potential stem cell marketCordLife, one of the leading stem cell banking groups in the Asia Pacific region, is targeting expansion of its network in India and China, considering the huge birth rate in these two Asian nations, a top official said Wednesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Nov 2009 | 11:02 am Residents, police move against IOC, fires rage onFurious residents around the burning Indian Oil's depot near here filed police complaints against the company as fires raged on Wednesday in two of its tanks after having killed 11 people.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Nov 2009 | 9:06 am Andhra assures support to World Newspaper CongressAndhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah Wednesday promised all possible help to the organisers of the World Newspaper Congress-2009 beginning here Nov 30.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Nov 2009 | 9:06 am No CBI request for probing charges against oil regulatorThe Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not sought the petroleum ministry's permission to investigate allegations of corruption against oil regulator V.K. Sibal, according to Petroleum Secretary R.S. Pandey.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Nov 2009 | 9:05 am Uttar Pradesh bans import of raw sugarThe Uttar Pradesh government Wednesday banned import of raw sugar into the state as well as its movement in the wake of protests by farmers against the government fixing 'non-lucrative' prices for sugarcane.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Nov 2009 | 9:04 am Swine flu, economic downturn hit tourist arrivals: SeljaSwine flu and the economic downturn impacted foreign tourist arrivals in India for a while, but it is picking up again, Tourism Minister Kumari Selja said here Wednesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Nov 2009 | 9:02 am Two apex court judges quit hearing Reliance lawsuitsTwo judges of the Supreme Court Wednesday withdrew themselves from hearing cases involving Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries over possible conflict of interest.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 4 Nov 2009 | 9:02 am
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