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Tata says search underway for successor WSJTata conglomerate is looking around the world for a successor to Ratan Tata, the 71year old chairman of the sprawling salttosteel group said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Wednesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 18 Nov 2009 | 7:51 am BHEL to set up power plant in Madhya PradeshTop Indian powerequipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals said on Wednesday it has signed a jointventure pact to build a 1,600 megawatt (MW) thermal power plant in Madhya Pradesh.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 18 Nov 2009 | 7:01 am Union Bank aims to raise $500 mn in bonds by MarUnion Bank of India aims to raise USD 500 million through bonds under its mediumterm note programme by March, chairman and managing director M.V. Nair said on Wednesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 18 Nov 2009 | 7:01 am Telenor trims India capex view by $713 mlnNorwegian mobile operator Telenor said it had trimmed its accumulated capex guidance for the first five years of its operations in India by about 4 billion crowns (USD 712.6 million) while maintaining other targets.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 18 Nov 2009 | 7:01 am Exide Industries board approves QIPExide industries Ltd said on Wednesday its board has approved issuing 50 million shares or other securities convertible into shares, to qualified institutional buyers.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 18 Nov 2009 | 7:01 am Citi boosts base salaries for some senior employeesCitigroup Incorporation said on Tuesday it boosted the base salaries for its chief financial officer and a global markets cohead, but has left Chief Executive Vikram Pandit\'s salary unchanged.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 18 Nov 2009 | 6:44 am Downturn has shippers sailing for overhaulA slow recovery in global trade and tight finance could set the stage for a wave of consolidation in the trilliondollar shipping industry, as it gears up for a second straight year of turmoil in 2010.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 18 Nov 2009 | 6:17 am JP Associates to raise Rs 2500cr via Jaypee Infra listingJaypee Infratech is expected to file its DRHP in the next few days and is looking at raising Rs 3,000 crore via an IPO. Commenting on the issue, Exec Chairman of JP Assoc Manoj Gaur says, \"We plan to dilute 15% stake for Rs 2,500 crore in Jypee Infra.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 18 Nov 2009 | 5:26 am GM says 10,000 jobs could go in European shake-up!US carmaker General Motors could cut between 9,000 and 10,000 jobs as part of its restructuring of its European operations, Nick Reilly, interim head of GM`s European business, said on Tuesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 18 Nov 2009 | 5:24 am `BRIC countries represent fundamental global economic shift`!The rise of BRIC countries represents a fundamental shift in global economy and the developing world needs a legitimate seat at the table so that shared challenges are better addressed, a powerful US Senator has said.Source: Zee News : Business | 18 Nov 2009 | 5:24 am Goldman Sachs, Buffett to help small businesses!Goldman Sachs said Tuesday it is teaming with billionaire investor Warren Buffett to invest $500 million to provide thousands of small business owners across America with college scholarships and boost their access to capital.Source: Zee News : Business | 18 Nov 2009 | 5:24 am IPO processing time should be cut to 7 days: SEBI!Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Wednesday said it wants to bring down the time required for IPO processing to seven days from 20 days at present over the next one year.Source: Zee News : Business | 18 Nov 2009 | 5:24 am Swiss target Americans who hid 1mn francs at UBS!American clients who each hid more than 1 million Swiss francs in undeclared bank accounts with UBS AG between 2001 and 2008 could have their details turned over to the US government, Swiss officials said Tuesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 18 Nov 2009 | 5:24 am EU, GM to meet on Opel: Spokesman!The EU commission has invited General Motors and EU economic ministers to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the future the US automaker`s Opel and Vauxhall plants in Europe, an EU spokesman said.Source: Zee News : Business | 18 Nov 2009 | 5:24 am Deal with Tata Steel largest in 75 yrs for BOC IndiaIn an exclusive interview with CNBCTV18, Srikumar Menon, MD of BOC India, spoke about the major gas supply order that the company has bagged.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 18 Nov 2009 | 5:21 am Ratan Tata initiates search for successorRatan Tata is hanging up his boots. The legendary industrialist has been quoted by agencies as saying that a search process to find a successor for the Tata Group is on.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 18 Nov 2009 | 5:19 am China orders Microsoft to halt some Windows salesThe ruling, issued by Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court on Monday, may signal a new challenge for international and domestic software makers struggling with piracy in China.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:34 am Tata's successor may be an expatriate! - Press Trust of India
Source: Business - Google News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:28 am Nifty ends near 5050; rinfra, ICICI Bank, L&T down - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:24 am Govt says has tools to manage heavy inflowsNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India would have the tools ready to deal with an influx of foreign capital inflows if they become disruptive, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:22 am IPO processing time should be brought down to 7 days: SebiSecurities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today said it wants to bring down the time required for IPO processing.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:22 am Aban Offshore to raise Rs.697 cr via private placement - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:21 am Tata says search underway for successorTata conglomerate is looking around the world for a successor to Ratan Tata, the 71-year old chairman of the sprawling salt-to-steel group said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:21 am MUFG Q2 profit jumps 59 pct; to raise $11 blnTOKYO (Reuters) - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group posted a 59 percent rise in quarterly profit helped by stronger lending and said it would raise up to $11.2 billion by issuing new shares, as Japan's top bank leads a new round of fundraising in the sector.Source: Reuters: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:18 am Hyundai Motor to sell stake in Hyundai MobisHyundai Motor Co is planning to sell its stake in affiliate Hyundai Mobis, worth 231 billion won ($200 million), to comply with anti-trust rules, the carmaker said on Wednesday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:18 am RIL can't enter private pacts for gas supply: Oil ministry - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:16 am AIRSHOW - Airbus, Senegal Airlines in six aircraft dealDUBAI (Reuters) - Airbus has signed a letter of intent to sell four A320 and two A330 aircraft to Senegal Airlines, according to a statement on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:16 am BHEL, Madhya Pradesh Power to Form Joint Venture - Wall Street Journal
Source: Business - Google News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:14 am S.Korea gives nod for Apple's iPhone; sales to begin soonApple's iPhone is set to make its South Korean debut in a few weeks after the local regulator cleared the final hurdle for sales of the blockbuster phone.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:13 am BSE Sensex provisionally closes down 0.45 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex provisionally dropped 0.45 percent on Wednesday as resistance emerged after the market had climbed more than 7 percent this month.Source: Reuters: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 3:08 am Microsoft told to stop some Windows sales in ChinaBeijing: A Beijing court has ordered Microsoft Corp. to stop selling some versions of its Windows operating system in China in a licensing dispute with a local supplier. The order Monday said Microsoft exceeded its rights under licensing agreements with Zhongyi Electronic Ltd., a Beijing company that developed Chinese character fonts used in the software. Microsoft must stop selling versions of Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 with Zhongyi’s fonts, the Beijing People’s No. 1 Intermediate Court said in its ruling, a copy of which was released by Zhongyi. Microsoft said it would appeal. “Microsoft respects intellectual property rights. We use third party IPs only when we have a legitimate right to do so,” the company said in a statement. “We believe our license agreements with the plaintiff cover our use of the fonts.” Microsoft did not respond to a question about what proportion of its products sold in China use Zhongyi fonts or how many copies might be affected. Zhongyi said its agreement with Microsoft allowed the Seattle-based software producer to use its fonts only in Windows 95 and they were added to later products without permission. China is a leading source of pirated copies of software, movies and other goods and its government has long been accused of failing to do enough to stop the thriving underground industry. China’s small but ambitious technology companies say they are among the biggest victims of piracy and are turning to the courts to help defend their intellectual property. In December, a group of 11 people who were convicted of selling unlicensed copies of Microsoft software were sentenced by a Chinese court to up to 6 1/2 years in prison. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 18 Nov 2009 | 2:59 am Tata group plans to open 30 more Gateway Hotels by 2015On the investment part, the new hotels would be run on the management contract model in which private developers would invest and build hotels on Gateway's prototype and brand.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 2:59 am Nippon denies report of talks for stake in JSW SteelTOKYO/MUMBAI (Reuters) - Japan's Nippon Steel Corp on Wednesday denied a report that it was in talks for a stake in JSW Steel Ltd.Source: Reuters: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 2:56 am China orders Microsoft to halt some Windows salesSHANGHAI (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp has been ordered by a Chinese court to stop selling versions of its Windows operating systems that include fonts designed by a local company, citing a violation of licensing agreements.Source: Reuters: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 2:55 am Gold demand abates on record high pricesMumbai: India’s gold demand abated as prices struck a fresh record high on Wednesday afternoon, after offtake picked up slightly in the previous two sessions, while scrap flow eased on hopes of higher prices, dealers said. The most traded December gold contract struck a new record high of Rs17,163, before trading 0.66% higher at Rs17,134 per 10 grams at 2:36 pm. “On Monday and Tuesday, we did a few deals, though volumes were thin, but today it is quiet,” said a dealer with a state-run bullion dealing bank in Mumbai. The yellow metal has been on a record-breaking spree, with most record highs recorded this month, on the back of a weaker dollar overseas, enhancing the yellow metal’s appeal as an alternative investment. “My sheet contains some orders at $1,090-1,100 (an ounce),” said another dealer with a private bullion dealing bank. However, the flow of scrap eased as consumers sought higher prices, traders said. “They are simply not ready to sell, they feel that these prices are too low. They now want Rs17,500,” said Jitendra Kantilal, partner, Jugraj Kantilal & Co., a Zaveri Bazaar-based scrap dealer. Kantilal, who estimated 100-150 kgs of scrap gold had entered Zaveri Bazaar last week, offered to buy at Rs17,200 per 10 grams. Silver futures also hit a contract high of Rs28,484 per kg, tracking gold. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 18 Nov 2009 | 2:48 am 'Rice imports needed to meet kharif crop shortfall' - Hindu Business Line
Source: Business - Google News | 18 Nov 2009 | 2:42 am Tata says search underway for successor-WSJIndia's Tata conglomerate is looking around the world for a successor to Ratan Tata, the 71-year old chairman of the sprawling salt-to-steel group said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 18 Nov 2009 | 2:15 am India gold demand abates on record high pricesMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's gold demand abated as prices struck a fresh record high on Wednesday afternoon, after offtake picked up slightly in the previous two sessions, while scrap flow eased on hopes of higher prices, dealers said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 2:11 am China media praise Obama while rifts remainBEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese state media praised U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday for helping ease fears of China's rising strength, setting a guardedly upbeat tone at the end of a visit that exposed rifts over trade and currency policy.Source: Reuters: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 1:58 am Tata says search underway for successor: WSJMumbai: India’s Tata conglomerate is looking around the world for a successor to Ratan Tata, the 71-year old chairman of the sprawling salt-to-steel group said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Wednesday. Local and foreign candidates were being looked at to head the group, which includes Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Power among its 27 listed companies “We are in the process of formalising a successor to me. We have some outside consultants and a formal search process is on. There are no constraints,” Tata, who has steered the group for nearly two decades, said in the interview. The successor could be from within the group or outside, Tata said, adding he hoped the person would carry on the growth path that had been set. All but one of the group’s past chairmans have been Tatas, although at the moment no family candidate has been publicly identified to take over the role. “It would certainly be easier if that candidate were an Indian national. But now that 65% of our revenues come from overseas, it could also be an expatriate sitting in that position with justification now,” Tata said. Tata group’s 98 operating companies have annual revenues of $71 billion and 357,000 employees, its website shows. The group, founded in 1868, runs India’s top vehicle maker, top software services firm, top private sector power producer and the world’s eighth-largest steel maker by output. Ratan Tata has led the group’s international expansion. In 2007, Tata Steel paid $13 billion to buy Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus, and Tata Motors paid $2.3 billion to acquire Jaguar Land Rover in 2008. He said the group was still digesting those acquisitions, which had been made harder due to the global financial crisis and economic downturn. The downturn pushed Tata to ask his group companies to undertake a major cost-cutting drive. “Tata Motors was able to extinguish its borrowing of $3 billion through this difficult period, and most people don’t realize the magnitude of that task,” he said. Tata said the conglomerate model would continue to work reasonably well in India despite falling apart in other parts of the world, saying when the group had tried to shed some business it ran into strong objections from employees and the public. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 18 Nov 2009 | 1:56 am India may have to import rice this year: PranabExpecting a 14-15 million shortfall in paddy production and procurement this year, India may import rice to shore up its stocks, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 18 Nov 2009 | 1:44 am IPO funding seen hit by unsecured lending curbMUMBAI (Reuters) - A popular tactic used by Indian brokerages to raise money for rich clients is likely to be banned by the Reserve Bank's move to curb unregulated lending, potentially crimping funding for a long pipeline of planned IPOs.Source: Reuters: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 1:20 am BMW signs up as London 2012 Olympic sponsorLondon: BMW has signed up as the latest top-tier domestic sponsor of the 2012 London Olympics. The German carmaker was unveiled Wednesday as the official automotive sponsor of the games in a deal worth an estimated £40 million ($67 million) in cash and services. London organizers said BMW will provide about 4,000 vehicles to transport athletes, officials and other members of the Olympic community. BMW becomes the seventh top-level sponsor and 24th overall of the games. The deal brings London’s total revenues so far from domestic sponsors to nearly 600 million pounds ($1 billion). The overall target is 700 million pounds ($1.17 billion). Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 18 Nov 2009 | 1:16 am IPO processing time should be brought down to 7 days: BhaveMumbai: Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday said it wants to bring down the time required for IPO processing to seven days from 20 days at present over the next one year. “The listing time should come down to seven days... primary market is still somewhat inefficient compared to the secondary market,” Sebi chairman, C B Bhave said at a conference here. He said the timely settlement of transactions continue to be a challenge in the system. Also, there was a need to reduce the cost of mutual funds and the risk of investors. “We need to look at reducing the cost of mutual funds and risk of investors,” Bhave said. Noting that the worst (of the global financial crisis) is behind us, Bhave said the market should not get carried away with the euphoria. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 18 Nov 2009 | 1:11 am Orissa suspends work in 128 minesThe Orissa government has ordered suspension of work in 59 more mines, taking the total number of mines served such notices this month to 128, an official said Wednesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 18 Nov 2009 | 1:05 am Inbuilt checks on foreign funds if distortions arise: MukherjeeWith inflows from foreign funds exceeding $15 billion this year and hardening of the rupee, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday said India has a system of monitoring such flows and will take counter-steps if distortions emerge.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 18 Nov 2009 | 1:04 am India may have to import rice this year: MukherjeeExpecting a 14-15 million shortfall in paddy production and procurement this year, India may import rice to shore up its stocks, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Wednesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 18 Nov 2009 | 1:02 am Punjab farmers get Rs.12,800 crore for bumper paddy cropAt a time when the central government says its national target for paddy procurement may not me met, Punjab farmers have not only managed a bumper crop but received payments of some Rs.12,800 crore (Rs.128 billion/$260 million) in less than 50 days of the current procurement season.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 18 Nov 2009 | 1:02 am We're similar, yet a little different, say Pakistani exhibitorsIntricate carpets, ornate wall hangings, handprinted textiles...all in a melange of colours. Pakistani exhibitors are rolling out their best at an annual trade fair here and Indians are lapping it up.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 18 Nov 2009 | 1:00 am Hershey, Ferrero in talks over Cadbury: sourcePhiladelphia: Chocolate makers Hershey Co and Ferrero SpA are considering a joint bid for Cadbury Plc that could help the British confectioner fend off a hostile takeover by Kraft Foods Inc. A source familiar with the talks between US-based Hershey and Italy’s Ferrero said on Tuesday the discussions between the two sides were “very preliminary. Very early in the process.” The talks are the strongest sign yet of a possible rival bid to Kraft’s $16.7 billion offer, which Cadbury rejected and said was “derisory”. The Wall Street Journal said Hershey may weigh a bid with Ferrero or on its own. Hershey has been in talks with JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp to line up financing for a potential bid for Cadbury, the newspaper reported on its online edition. The newspaper said easing credit markets have emboldened Hershey that it could arrange the funding for a possible bid to counter Kraft’s offer. Ferrero and Cadbury both declined comment. Hershey and Hershey Trust officials could not immediately be reached. Cadbury has not been contacted by Ferrero but would consider any attractive offer, a second source familiar with the situation told Reuters. “Cadbury has heard nothing from Ferrero or people acting for it. Cadbury is not up for sale, but the company would give proper consideration to any offer that valued it properly and would be of interest to shareholders,” the person said. Although Cadbury’s assets are very attractive, “it doesn’t appear that either Ferrero or Hershey is in the financial position of taking on Cadbury all by themselves,” said Erin Swanson, an equity analyst with Morningstar. Hershey shares slipped 6 cents to $38.35 in extended trading on Tuesday following news of its talks with Ferrero. Earlier, the shares gained 1 cent to end at $27.64. Ahead of the news, Cadbury shares closed up 0.8 % at 788 pence on Tuesday. That was above Kraft’s cash and stock offer, which is currently valued at about 718 pence. Earlier on Tuesday, Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore said family-owned Ferrero, which makes Nutella chocolate spread and Ferrero Rocher chocolates, could join financial investors and private equity players considered friendly to Cadbury for a possible alliance. “We believe that if this scenario were proposed as a potential defence measure by Cadbury, the potential value the market might be prepared to award it would not be materially different to that of a revised Kraft offer,” at 820 pence per share, Nomura analyst Alex Smith said of a Cadbury-Ferrero combination. Another advantage for Cadbury shareholders is that they would continue to hold shares in a high-growth confectionery group -- with a potentially retained UK listing -- rather than being paid around 50 percent equity in a low-growth US-listed conglomerate, Smith added. Ferrero, which has annual sales of €6.2 billion ($9.3 billion), 18 factories and over 21,600 employees worldwide is also known for its Kinder chocolates and Tic-Tac candy. Cadbury is the world’s second-largest confectionery company after Mars-Wrigley, making brands such as Dairy Milk chocolate and Trident gum. It had full-year revenues of £5.4 billion ($9.1 billion) in 2008. Ferrero was founded in 1946 by Pietro Ferrero in Italy’s northwestern province of Piedmont. He invented Gianduja cream using local hazelnuts as an alternative to chocolate which was in short supply after World War II. His son Michele, named by Forbes magazine earlier this month as the richest man in Italy, took control in 1957 and the company is now run by his sons, Pietro and Giovanni, who are chief executives and live in Belgium. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:58 am Hershey, Ferrero in talks over Cadbury: sourcePhiladelphia: Chocolate makers Hershey Co and Ferrero SpA are considering a joint bid for Cadbury Plc that could help the British confectioner fend off a hostile takeover by Kraft Foods Inc. A source familiar with the talks between US-based Hershey and Italy’s Ferrero said on Tuesday the discussions between the two sides were “very preliminary. Very early in the process.” The talks are the strongest sign yet of a possible rival bid to Kraft’s $16.7 billion offer, which Cadbury rejected and said was “derisory”. The Wall Street Journal said Hershey may weigh a bid with Ferrero or on its own. Hershey has been in talks with JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp to line up financing for a potential bid for Cadbury, the newspaper reported on its online edition. The newspaper said easing credit markets have emboldened Hershey that it could arrange the funding for a possible bid to counter Kraft’s offer. Ferrero and Cadbury both declined comment. Hershey and Hershey Trust officials could not immediately be reached. Cadbury has not been contacted by Ferrero but would consider any attractive offer, a second source familiar with the situation told Reuters. “Cadbury has heard nothing from Ferrero or people acting for it. Cadbury is not up for sale, but the company would give proper consideration to any offer that valued it properly and would be of interest to shareholders,” the person said. Although Cadbury’s assets are very attractive, “it doesn’t appear that either Ferrero or Hershey is in the financial position of taking on Cadbury all by themselves,” said Erin Swanson, an equity analyst with Morningstar. Hershey shares slipped 6 cents to $38.35 in extended trading on Tuesday following news of its talks with Ferrero. Earlier, the shares gained 1 cent to end at $27.64. Ahead of the news, Cadbury shares closed up 0.8 % at 788 pence on Tuesday. That was above Kraft’s cash and stock offer, which is currently valued at about 718 pence. Earlier on Tuesday, Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore said family-owned Ferrero, which makes Nutella chocolate spread and Ferrero Rocher chocolates, could join financial investors and private equity players considered friendly to Cadbury for a possible alliance. “We believe that if this scenario were proposed as a potential defence measure by Cadbury, the potential value the market might be prepared to award it would not be materially different to that of a revised Kraft offer,” at 820 pence per share, Nomura analyst Alex Smith said of a Cadbury-Ferrero combination. Another advantage for Cadbury shareholders is that they would continue to hold shares in a high-growth confectionery group -- with a potentially retained UK listing -- rather than being paid around 50 percent equity in a low-growth US-listed conglomerate, Smith added. Ferrero, which has annual sales of €6.2 billion ($9.3 billion), 18 factories and over 21,600 employees worldwide is also known for its Kinder chocolates and Tic-Tac candy. Cadbury is the world’s second-largest confectionery company after Mars-Wrigley, making brands such as Dairy Milk chocolate and Trident gum. It had full-year revenues of £5.4 billion ($9.1 billion) in 2008. Ferrero was founded in 1946 by Pietro Ferrero in Italy’s northwestern province of Piedmont. He invented Gianduja cream using local hazelnuts as an alternative to chocolate which was in short supply after World War II. His son Michele, named by Forbes magazine earlier this month as the richest man in Italy, took control in 1957 and the company is now run by his sons, Pietro and Giovanni, who are chief executives and live in Belgium. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:58 am IPO funding seen hit by unsecured lending curbMumbai: A popular tactic used by Indian brokerages to raise money for rich clients is likely to be banned by the central bank’s move to curb unregulated lending, potentially crimping funding for a long pipeline of planned IPOs. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) this month proposed to stop borrowers from issuing non-convertible debt with a maturity of less than 90 days, part of a broader effort to remove excess liquidity as overseas funds pour into its markets. Brokerages have made such borrowings mostly from mutual funds, typically at twice the commercial paper market rate, and then turned around and loaned the funds to rich clients. The wealthy investors, in turn, used the cash to invest in a recent slew of IPOs, fuelling aggressive valuations. “The Reserve Bank of India is afraid of asset bubbles,” said Alex Mathews, head of research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services. “This will definitely be a hindrance for brokerages.” Analysts say the move will increase the costs associated with IPO fundraising in India, as brokers used the financing tactic to work around regulations and avoid hefty stamp duty. Brokers would issue a one-year secured non-convertible debenture (NCD) with a put/call option exercisable before 89 days. Under Indian law, a company has 90 days in which to place security for the paper or pay a higher stamp duty. The new rule, which is expected to take effect by the end of the month, eliminates that loophole. “It was a profitable business. People have made a good amount of money,” said an official at a local brokerage based in Mumbai, who declined to be identified and said his firm had made a few such deals. “However, it is a cycle that forms. Now that recent IPOs have not been performing well, sentiment has gone sour. So people will anyway not come to us with big demands for funds,” he added. The central bank move comes in the wake of recent heavily subscribed IPOs of state-run firms NHPC and Oil India, which together raised $1.8 billion for the government. Despite strong subscription levels, NHPC and private sector firms Adani Power and Indiabulls Power made muted IPO debuts in recent months, with analysts blaming high valuations fuelled in part by the unregulated IPO financing. Indian IPOs expected in the coming months include a $1.1 billion issue from power company Sterlite Energy, a unit of Sterlite Industries, and a $900 million sale by Reliance Infratel, an arm of Reliance Communications. “The intention of the Reserve Bank is to make IPO funding more scarce,” said Arun Kejriwal, whose investment firm advises wealthy clients. Heavy oversubscription has not resulted in strong market performance, as investors who took on leverage to subscribe to new listings sold shares quickly in order to repay their loans. Oil India, which was priced at a discount to its peers, is the only big recent Indian IPO now trading above its offer price. For the NHPC offering, the 10% of shares alloted to wealthy investors was oversubscribed 57 times. Fund managers said roughly $2.5 billion worth of NHPC IPO applications was funded through the soon-to-be-outlawed practice. Lower valuations? Other short-term funding options for brokers, such as commercial paper and bank loans, are less attractive because they are governed by stringent guidelines and have longer maturities. “When compared with a daily put/call instrument, (brokers) don’t really have an alternative,” said Kaustubh Kulkarni, director of capital markets at Standard Chartered in Mumbai. “CPs (commercial paper) have a minimum maturity and certain eligibility criteria, which will mean an increase in costs of borrowing. Corporates’ access to cheap short-end funds will reduce,” he said. The rule change is expected to lower margins for brokers and their clients and decrease the availability of IPO funding. “The RBI is being vigilant. This may help bring down IPO valuations, which anyway needed to go down,” said Geojit’s Mathews. Analysts say lower valuations could stoke larger retail subscription for planned IPOs. The removal of a key funding source, however, could cut down on subscription levels from high net-worth individuals. The crackdown comes as India readies a series of stake sales in government firms as Asia’s third-largest economy looks to help finance its stimulus plan without adding to its fiscal deficit. Meanwhile, easy money in the financial system due to government stimulus measures has led to froth in the market and the fear that asset bubbles could derail the recovery. At its monetary policy review in October, India’s central bank left key policy rates unchanged but tightened credit to the commercial property sector and lifted its inflation forecast. It also said there were signs excess liquidity is seeping into asset prices. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:54 am Tata says search underway for successor - WSJMUMBAI (Reuters) - Tata conglomerate is looking around the world for a successor to Ratan Tata, the 71-year old chairman of the sprawling salt-to-steel group said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:53 am IPO funding seen hit by unsecured lending curbThe RBI proposed to stop borrowers from issuing non-convertible debt with a maturity of less than 90 days, part of an effort to remove excess liquidity from its markets.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:39 am JAL court-led bankruptcy not ruled outTokyo: Japan Airlines Corp’s stock slid to a new low on Wednesday after the nation’s transport minister declined to rule out a court-led bankruptcy and despite a report that private equity firm TPG may invest as much as $1.1 billion. Japan’s transport minister Seiji Maehara told parliament that he had said that the struggling airline should not be allowed to fail or be liquidated, but he added: “I have never said a court-led bankruptcy is impossible.” Shares in JAL tumbled 7% to 94 yen after the remark, their lowest level since their 2002 re-listing although they ended the morning session at 96 yen. The stock fall came despite a report that US private equity firm TPG was prepared to invest as much as 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in JAL as part of a tie-up between the struggling carrier and American Airlines. “The best scenario for JAL is to rebuild itself with help from the government and foreign airlines,” said Kotaro Toriumi, an airline analyst. “But making a fresh start after a court-led bankruptcy could be an option too,” added Toriumi, who also teaches at the Faculty of Tourism at Josai International University. The chief financial officer of American Airlines parent AMR Corp said last week that American could partner with TPG on an investment in Japan Airlines, aiming to keep it from defecting to a rival airline group. AMR’s CFO, Thomas Horton, did not say how much the US carrier or TPG might be willing to invest. TPG would be willing to buy up to 100 billion yen worth of common and preferred shares from JAL, the Nikkei said. A source familiar with TPG’s thinking told Reuters after the Nikkei report that the private equity firm was still in the early stages of exploring a possible investment into JAL, and no decisions on the amount or other details had been made. It was also unclear if TPG would be able to make such an investment. Japan Airlines has a market value of about $3 billion, and under current laws the total stake by non-Japanese persons or entities in an airline is capped at one-third in terms of voting rights. American Airlines has outlined a separate offer to JAL that includes a 30 billion yen investment, the Nikkei said. American is keen to keep JAL as its partner in the Oneworld airline alliance and prevent it from joining hands with Delta Air Lines, which is holding separate talks with JAL on a capital investment and joining the rival Skyteam airline group. JAL, headed for its fourth loss in five years, is seeking a state bailout from a government-backed turnaround fund, which is expected to take until January to decided whether the carrier is worthy of an injection of public funds. JAL shares have lost 44% of their value compared to their mid-September peak of 178 yen. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:29 am Cox & Kings isn't expensive - Livemint
Source: Business - Google News | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:11 am Govt to revisit class action suit provision in Cos BillNew Delhi, Nov. 17 Apprehending the misuse of the concept ‘class action suit’, the Government is considering a proposal to change the norms on such a suit specified in the Companies Bill, 2009.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Believe markets or economies?It’s one of the puzzles of the last several weeks. Stock markets the world over are up 50 per cent and more from their troughs. In China and India, the rise is even higher – the Sensex hasSource: Business Line - Home Page | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Reliance plans big push for gas, oil explorationMumbai, Nov. 17 Reliance Industries’ gas production will increase substantially with the development of nine more discoveries in the Krishna-Godavari D6 block.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am MindTree (Rs 639.3): BuyWe recommend a buy in MindTree from a short-term perspective. It is evident from the charts of MindTree that since the March low of Rs 187 (52-week low) the stock has been on an intermediate-term uptrend shaping higher peaks and bottoms. In lateSource: Business Line - Home Page | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Jharkhand agrees to renew Chiria mine lease, says SAILKolkata, Nov. 17 In a written communication to Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), the Jharkhand Government has agreed to renew the lease for 1,000 million tonnes (mt) of iron ore deposit in Chiria, according to Mr S.K. Roongta, Chairman ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Cos may soon earn ‘credit’ for doing goodNew Delhi, Nov. 17 Companies may soon be able to trade in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) credits, akin to trading in Certified Emission Reductions (CERs or carbon credits, in common parlance).Source: Business Line - Home Page | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Hyundai too joins compact car raceChennai, Nov. 17 Hyundai Motor India has said that it will continue to be aggressive with its product launches to protect and grow its market share, in the face of increasing launches in the compact car space in theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Stuff of legendsNot many, at least in India, would have heard of Eilean Righ, a picturesque island in the Lake Loch Craignish, west of Scotland, about 100 miles from Glasgow. Jet-set traders in currency and derivatives may have heard of Christian Siva-Jothy, aSource: Business Line - Home Page | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideUtilise rallies to sell the stock of DLF with tight stop-loss at Rs 387. Fresh long position can be initiated if ICICI Bank surpasses Rs 930 and SBI exceeds Rs 2374, with stiff stop-loss.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Public sector banks loosen strings on personal loans againHyderabad, Nov. 17 If you are in need of money, now may be the right time to apply for personal loan from a public sector bank (PSB). After keeping purse strings tight for quite some time, banks are now turning positive on personal loans.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Noon: Shares edge up in choppy trade; techs gainMumbai: Indian shares were stronger on Wednesday after a choppy opening, with software companies up on hopes of an improving business environment, with overall momentum was capped by caution with the index above 17,000 points. Sector leader Tata Consultancy was up 1.9% and rivals Infosys and Wipro climbed 1.8% and 2.1% respectively, helped by a view that conditions in major economies were picking up. At 12:41pm, the 30-share BSE Index was up 0.2% at 17062.98, with 16 components gaining. The 50-share NSE index was up 0.3% at 5071.05. The index has risen more than 11% from a 2-month low hit on 3 November, and is edging back towards 1-year highs hit last month. “You can’t make a clear case for market direction at high valuations like these,” said Neeraj Dewan, director of Quantum Securities. “There is a tussle going on as people are booking profits and at the same time there is also more liquidity coming in,” he added. Energy giant Reliance Industries was down 0.7% at Rs2,119, extending Tuesday’s fall after chairman Mukesh Ambani did not unveil any specific major acquisition or project plans at the annual shareholders meeting. “There is always speculation about big takeaways from the Reliance AGM. But nothing big came up and stock is coming off,” Dewan said. Banks edged lower. The sector index was down 0.3%, but was still up more than 10% this month. Top lender State Bank of India fell 0.4% to Rs2,340.80 and ICICI Bank was down 0.3% at Rs915.80. In the broader market, gainers were more than double the number of losers in a volume of 87 million shares. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 11:46 pm Govt not worried about rise in capital inflowsNew Delhi: Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday the country is monitoring foreign capital inflows and the current higher inflows are not a matter of concern. “It is not a matter of concern we have a system of monitoring. Whenever we find that there are some distortions we have the arrangement to counter it therefore it is not disturbing,” Mukherjee told reporters here on the sidelines of Union Bank event. FIIs have put in a whopping over Rs71,900 crore so far this year in the country’s bourses, the highest ever investment made in rupee terms in a single year. The huge inflow has led to appreciation of rupee. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 11:33 pm Intel's Otellini worries about PC 'pinch points'Otellini told Intel Capital's CEO Summit that the industry may face a component shortage in the face of a forecasted rise of 12% to 18% unit growth.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 17 Nov 2009 | 11:10 pm China court rules against Microsoft in IPR caseMicrosoft's use of two Chinese fonts developed by Zhongyi Electronic, a Beijing-based software company, was not covered by a licence agreement between the two.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 17 Nov 2009 | 11:07 pm India may import rice from Thailand, Vietnam - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 17 Nov 2009 | 11:06 pm Lakshmi Mittal pulls out of oil block JV with ONGCONGC Mittal Energy was to have acquired a 25% stake in Satpaev block from state-owned KazMunaiGaz.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 17 Nov 2009 | 11:05 pm Gold hits new record but falls back to $1,140Tokyo: Gold prices inched up to touch another record high on Wednesday but then succumbed to profit-taking and fell back to $1,140 per ounce on the view that recent rises had gone too far too fast. Although technical charts suggest bullion is overbought, market players said the precious metal’s long-term strength is seen intact, with the dollar expected to remain weak and amid worries about inflation and an uncertain economic outlook. Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke made a rare comment on Monday about the value of the dollar, drawing a link between its current weakness and inflation risks. Some said buying momentum for gold was likely to slow ahead of next week’s Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, and also now that prices have neared the $1,150 level, a key technical target seen likely to pave the way for $1,200. “I think we will see the market taking a break with Thanksgiving almost here,” said Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Tokyo’s Fujitomi Co Ltd, adding that it could be next month before another solid rally takes place. Spot gold was at $1,137.70 per ounce at 10:42am, down 0.3% from the New York notional close of $1,141.50. It earlier touched a record $1,143.95 per ounce. The dollar index hovered at around 75.26 after striking a 15-month low of 74.679 on Monday. Gold has pierced record highs on eight of the past 12 sessions, during which it has risen more than 7 percent. Bullion has gained about 30% in the year to date. US December gold jumped as high as $1,144.70, a record, on Wednesday after settling up 20 cents at $1,139.40 in New York. It drifted lower to $1,138.30 in late Asian trade. The precious metal inched up in New York on Tuesday as worries about long-term inflation more than offset a stronger dollar. In news closely monitored by the market, the International Monetary Fund said it sold two tonnes of gold to the central bank of Mauritius at prevailing market prices on 11 November. The report follows news early in November that the IMF had sold 200 tonnes of gold to India, a factor that helped drive gold prices to record highs above $1,100. The focus has now shifted to the remainder of 403.3 tonnes that the IMF has said it plans to sell. The world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust said its holdings stood at 1,113.833 tonnes as of 17 November, unchanged since 13 November. In news on other precious metals, Johnson Matthey said platinum prices could top recent 14-month highs to hit $1,550 an ounce in the next six months if investment demand adds to a recovery in car sales. Spot platinum stood at $1,446.50 per ounce, down 0.5% from New York’s notional close of $1,453. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 11:04 pm Indian equities open lower despite strong cuesIndian equities opened lower Wednesday and fell further within a few minutes into trading, even though sentiments remained positive on account of positive cues both in the domestic domain and from overseas.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 17 Nov 2009 | 11:02 pm India gold futures steady near record Rs17,000 levelMumbai: India gold futures steadied near their previous day’s record highs on Wednesday morning as pressure from a slightly higher rupee was offset by inflationary concerns stoked by rising crude oil, analysts said. The most-traded December contract was 0.04% lower at Rs17,015 per 10 grams at 11:02am, after hitting a record high of Rs17,040 in late session on Tuesday. Gold may face some resistance at Rs17,120, Abhishek Chauhan, technical analyst with Angel Commodities said. The Indian rupee nudged higher as traders unwound long dollar positions, with the US unit easing against majors. A strong rupee makes the dollar-quoted asset cheaper. Oil rose towards $80 a barrel, supported by an industry report that showed crude stocks in the U.S. fell steeply last week, but limited by US economic data that painted a picture of a slow recovery. Rising crude oil enhances gold’s appeal as an inflation hedge. Analysts said the outlook is still positive for the yellow metal. “People are ready to buy at any dip. Gold may distinctly move on the upside till 17,185 later today,” said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, director, Commtrendz Research. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 10:57 pm US firm Gilbarco acquires L - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 17 Nov 2009 | 10:54 pm Online stores make gifting easierNRIs generally like to pamper their loved ones back home with a lot of gifts. Gifting is probably one of the best ways of displaying affection for someone you care about.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 17 Nov 2009 | 10:31 pm Sensex recovers early losses, IT stocks surgeLed by a fresh surge in IT shares, the benchmark Sensex recovered early losses and traded in the green at 1015 hours today amid mixed Asian cues.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 17 Nov 2009 | 10:29 pm Sensex slips below 17k level, down 60 pts in opening tradeThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today fell by about 60 points to trade below 17k level in opening trade, after witnessing three-session winning streak, as funds and retail investors preferred to book profits amid weak Asian markets.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 17 Nov 2009 | 10:10 pm Rupee up on unwinding of long dollar positionsMumbai: The Indian rupee nudged higher on Wednesday as traders unwound long dollar positions, with the US unit easing against majors. At 9:40am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.27/28 per dollar, off a high of Rs46.22 and marginally above its previous close of 46.30/31. “There are no major cues on either sides today and the rupee is likely to be held in a range of Rs46.15-46.35,” said Madhusudan Somani, head of foreign exchange trading at Yes Bank. “Today morning’s selling was due to the squaring off of overnight small long dollar positions. There were good oil bids at the lower levels,” he said. Oil is India’s biggest import and refiners are the largest buyers of dollars in the local currency market. Dealers said they would be watching the dollar’s moves versus majors and domestic shares for further direction. The dollar index, a gauge of the US unit’s performance versus six majors, was down 0.1%. At 9:30am, the MSCI index of Asian stocks ex-Japan was almost flat while the Nifty India stock futures traded in Singapore were down 0.5%, suggesting a flat to lower start to the local sharemarket. Foreigners have bought $15.1 billion worth of shares so far in 2009, after selling more than $13 billion last year. The inflows have helped the rupee recover from a record low of 52.2 in March. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at Rs46.26/29, slightly stronger than the onshore spot rate, suggesting a bullish near-term outlook. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 10:03 pm Oil rises after big US crude stocks drawPerth: Oil extended gains above $79 a barrel on Wednesday, supported by an industry report that showed crude stocks in the US fell steeply last week, but limited by US economic data that painted a picture of a slow recovery. US crude inventories fell a much sharper than expected 4.4 million barrels in the week to 13 November, according to weekly data from the American Petroleum Institute released on Tuesday, following storm-related disruptions to supplies in the Gulf of Mexico. “Oil is getting a modest lift this morning after the API data showed a larger than expected drawdown in crude stocks,” said Michelle Kwek, an analyst at Informa Global Markets in Singapore. US crude for December delivery rose 24 cents to $79.38 a barrel by 9:46am, adding to Tuesday’s gains of 24 cents. London Brent crude gained 32 cents to $79.29. Investors now await weekly inventory data from the Energy Information Administration due out later on Wednesday, and any disappointment could send oil prices markedly lower. They will also scrutinise a raft of US economic data to gauge the pace of the recovery, after numbers showing US industrial output barely rose last month and wholesale inflation was tame, painting a picture of a slow-moving recovery from recession with ample slack to cool inflation. Indicators due include the consumer price index, real weekly earnings and housing starts for October. “Oil looks overbought and the outlook appears dovish; the demand fundamentals are weak, inventory levels are still building, and the economic data are not pointing to a big V-shaped recovery that the market was expecting,” said Kwek. Commercial crude inventories in Japan fell 3% to hover around multi-decade lows hit in September, while gasoline stocks rose to near a four-month high as demand slowed. Gold hit another all-time high on Wednesday on worries about future inflation and economic uncertainties, while Asian stocks rebounded as the generally bearish dollar kept riskier assets in demand. The dollar extended gains on Wednesday, as investors trimmed short positions after euro zone economic policymakers followed US Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke in commenting about the merits of a strong dollar. But dealers said that the trend of a long-term dollar decline has not changed. The greenback, which fell to 15-month lows against other major currencies this week, has been driving commodities higher for most of this year as investors sought hard assets to hedge against the depreciating currency. Oil has rallied from below $33 last December even though global demand fell year-on-year for the first nine months of 2009, according to the International Energy Agency. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 9:57 pm Wall St gains on broker views, but retailers sinkNew York: US stocks rose to fresh 13-month highs on Tuesday as upbeat broker views on improving prospects for two Dow components offset disappointing holiday spending outlooks from Target and Home Depot. Even so, the underlying tone was negative as investors fretted about the strength of the recovery and the recent rally, and more stocks fell than rose. Weak outlooks for the key holiday season weighed on investor psychology since consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of US economic activity and is a key factor in corporate profits. “The news from retailers wasn’t particularly good,” said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at NorthStar Investment Management Corp in Chicago. “It seems to me the major flavor for today is once again, the market participants questioning the strength of the recovery.” The Dow Jones industrial average rose 30.46 points, or 0.29%, to close at 10,437.42. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index edged up 1.02 points, or 0.09%, to 1,110.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 5.93 points, or 0.27%, to 2,203.78. The three major US stock indexes initially started lower and then spent the bulk of the session near breakeven until the last half-hour of trading, when gains in the technology and energy sectors helped spur some upward momentum. In Nasdaq trading, shares of software maker Microsoft Corp gained 2% to $30 - an 18-month closing high - after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock and said it was upbeat on the prospects for Windows 7 and the company’s holiday season. Shares of Exxon Mobil rose 0.8% to $75.03 after Barclays raised its recommendation on the stock to “overweight” from “equal-weight.” Both Microsoft and Exxon are components of the 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average. But shares of Home Depot fell 2.4% to $26.99 after the leading US home improvement chain gave a forecast that suggested weaker results at the end of the year and predicted no meaningful recovery until the second half of 2010. Target Corp, the No. 2 US discounter, forecast a holiday quarterly profit that could fall short of Wall Street’s estimates, saying early November results showed tepid consumer demand. The stock dropped 3% to $48.77, while the S&P consumer discretionaries index shed 0.7%. The S&P retail index dropped 1.4%. “The consumer is a bit restrained. We’re still in a very tough economy, with a 26-year high in unemployment and consumer credit being reduced. So retailers have to work really hard to get through this holiday season in a profitable fashion,” added Kuby at NorthStar. Data showing that US industrial output rose less than expected in October was another headwind, overshadowing news that the Producer Price Index, a gauge of wholesale inflation, was tame last month. With Tuesday’s slim gain, the S&P 500 is up 64.1% from its 12-year closing low of March 9. Volume was anemic, with only about 972 million shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange, sharply below last year’s estimated daily average of 1.49 billion. On the Nasdaq, about 1.92 billion shares traded, below last year’s daily average of 2.28 billion. On the NYSE, declining stocks outnumbered advancers by a ratio of about 6 to 5. On the Nasdaq, about seven stocks fell for every six that rose. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 9:47 pm Hyundai to launch new small car - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 17 Nov 2009 | 9:35 pm Drive pays off, vaccine price may fall moreBangalore: Almost a decade after the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) was set up, the grouping meant to immunize children globally and prop up the floundering vaccine industry has not only revived the sector by financing 130 million doses so far—including vaccines worth about $45 million (Rs208 crore today) in India between 2002 and 2007—but also driven down costs, enabling even non-member nations to benefit. At the GAVI Partners Forum in Hanoi on Tuesday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), which buys most of the vaccines financed by GAVI, said it would purchase 148 million doses of pentavalent vaccine—which provides protection against five major childhood diseases—in 2011 and 150 million in 2012. The average price per dose has fallen below $3 and will reduce further to $2.94 in 2010 and 2011, and $2.83 in 2012. In 2004, the vaccine had cost $3.65 per dose. A reason for the drop in prices, according to GAVI and Unicef, is the entry of two Indian manufacturers of pentavalent vaccines in 2008—Shantha Biotechnics Ltd, recently acquired by French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA, and Panacea Biotec Ltd. Two more Indian companies, Serum Institute of India Ltd and Bharat Biotech International Ltd, are ready to enter the pentavalent vaccine market next year, said Krishna M. Ella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech, which will apply to the World Health Organization (WHO) for a pre-qualification approval, which is required for drugs to be purchased by Unicef. The current fall in price will create about $55 million in savings in 2010 and enable GAVI to finance the immunization of 6.3 million more children. GAVI, set up by a start-up grant of $750 million by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 1999, is a global partnership reaching out to 72 countries, including India. “This is the GAVI effect at work: encouraging and pooling growing demand from countries, attracting new manufacturers, and increasing competition to drive down prices,” said GAVI chief executive Julian Lob-Levyt. “The price drop has come later than we had hoped and it needs to fall further. But this is a clear indication that our market-shaping efforts work.” Indian vaccine companies, which have in many ways thrived due to Unicef and other agencies’ advance purchase policy as the Indian government hardly formulates such agreements, say the increase in sales due to global programmes has brought down the domestic prices as well. “We (Indian companies) sell vaccines in the local market or to government programmes either at Unicef or slightly lower prices,” said Ella. “So, as volume builds in the global immunization programmes, prices will be lowered locally too.” He, however, added that the price of combination vaccines such as pentavalent can drop only to a certain extent as “the combination chemistry is complex technology”. GAVI, bolstered by the earlier success of its tetravalent vaccine price reduction, where a savings of $27 million allowed 22 million more children to be vaccinated, is now planning to bring some forthcoming new vaccines for diseases such as rota virus, human papillomavirus (cervical cancer), pneumococcal and malaria under its ambit, said Jeffrey Rowland, media and communications director at GAVI. But experts say the issue shouldn’t be about cheap vaccines, but about vaccine security so that developing country manufacturers, like other stakeholders, including the payers, get adequate returns. Panacea Biotech continues to be sensitive to the cost, said Rajesh Jain, its managing director. Along with developing country manufacturers, we’d want to remain competitive so that we are profitable and continually invest in research and development, he added. “We want to partner with GAVI, Unicef and WHO as stakeholders, not as suppliers,” Jain said. Unicef says additional quantities of pentavalent vaccines could be awarded over the next three years, and “should Indian manufacturers have their vaccines pre-qualified, they could be considered for awards like all other new manufacturers, which have their vaccines pre-qualified”. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 9:08 pm Gold funds give double digit returnsEven as prices of gold continue to scale new highs on a regular basis, gold funds that have their underlying exposure to stocks of gold mining companies have sizzled delivering double digit returns in 15 days.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 17 Nov 2009 | 1:36 pm Yellow metal sizzles to Rs 17kOn Tuesday, prices of standard gold (per 10 grams) in the Mumbai market crossed the Rs 17,000 mark for the first time in its history, with most industry analysts expecting it to rally for some more time.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 17 Nov 2009 | 1:35 pm Satyam gets notices from 37 companiesMahindra Satyam has received legal notices from 37 companies staking claim to a refund of Rs 1230.4 crore that was allegedly given as a temporary advance to the then Satyam Computer Services.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 17 Nov 2009 | 1:34 pm Board should decide CEO pay: KhurshidGovernment on Tuesday said it has no intention to regulate managerial remuneration but would rather leave it for company shareholders to decide.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 17 Nov 2009 | 1:33 pm Hyundai plans to invest Rs 800cr for small carBuoyed by the success of Santro first and i10 next, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on Tuesday said that it was now developing another small car by investing around Rs 800 crore for the Indian market.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 17 Nov 2009 | 1:32 pm IT stocks: from record lows to record highs Investor sentiment towards information technology (IT) stocks has indeed turned around rapidly. Early this year, it seemed like the industry would be the worst affected because of the global slowdown. Now, the outlook seems to be getting better by the day. TCS’ shares are not alone in reflecting this. Infosys Technologies Ltd’s closing share price of Rs2,398.30 was within striking distance of its all-time high of Rs2,421. Leave alone Wipro Ltd’s absurd valuations during the technology boom of 2000 and it turns out that its shares, too, are near record highs last seen in early 2007.  Graphics: Yogesh Kumar / Mint TCS, which has taken over from Infosys as the leader in terms of past price-earnings multiples among IT companies listed in India, trades at a trailing price-earnings multiple of 23 times. Infosys isn’t far behind with a valuation of about 22 times past earnings. This is far lower compared with valuations of well at least 30 times trailing earnings these companies have enjoyed in the past. In early 2007, for instance, Infosys traded at a past earnings multiple of at least 35 times. But things have changed, and although the fall for Indian IT hasn’t been as bad as anticipated, growth rates from here on are likely to half of what they used to be prior to the crisis. India Infoline Ltd’s earnings estimates suggest that TCS’ earnings will grow at a compounded average growth rate of 15-16% in the three years between FY09 and FY12. In terms of the PEG ratio (price-earnings divided by growth), therefore, valuations of IT stocks do look stretched. But then, valuations of almost the entire market is stretched, and given the lack of quality alternatives, investors are likely to latch on to these stocks given the turnaround in business fundamentals. The September quarter results demonstrated that the worst is clearly over. A recent note by India Infoline points out that there are strong signs of a recovery in demand. “Lateral hiring, a leading indicator of volume growth, is picking up. After a lull of about 12 months, Indian and MNC vendors had full-page job advertisements in a popular newspaper,” it said. What’s more, thanks to the slowdown, most companies had tightened their belts and should be able to protect margins despite a rise in the rupee and the salary hikes and bonuses paid to employees. It may be a bit too early to say IT firms are in a sweet spot, but one can’t refute the fact that things have turned around smartly, and this is what their stocks reflect. Write to us at marktomarket@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 12:45 pm Cox & Kings isn’t expensive Cox and King’s revenue has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of at least 65% to Rs294 crore in the three years till FY09. Competitor Thomas Cook (India) Ltd registered a more modest CAGR of around 32% for the three years until 2008 (revenue of Rs326 crore). The company has enjoyed a consistent operating profit margin of around 42-44% and net profit has grown at a three-year CAGR of 80%. But along with the impressive growth in revenue and profit, even the company’s debt has risen at a fast pace. In FY08, debt stood at Rs130 crore, which ballooned to Rs430 crore by end-FY09. The company has made some acquisitions which have also caused a drain on operating cash flow, resulting in higher debt. Not surprisingly, the company will use about one-fifth of the IPO proceeds to repay debt. This is expected to bring the debt-equity ratio down from 1.6:1 to 1:1. It plans to use the remainder of the Rs600 crore or so for acquisitions and infuse funds into some subsidiaries, besides capital investments into refurbishing the existing centres. At first look, Cox and King seems to have an extremely high proportion of sundry debtors. For example, during FY09, sundry debtors’ position was Rs232 crore, which works out to 80% of revenue of Rs294 crore. But it must be noted here that while the debtors’ position is stated on a gross basis (reflecting value of total package procured by customers), revenue is stated on a net basis (reflecting only the fee earned by the company from the package). A better measure of receivables would be to compare them with gross revenue, but this figure is not available. While Cox and King’s revenue and profit growth have been impressive in the past few years, whether this will endure depends on the state of the economy. As things stand, the outlook for tourism looks good with the improvement in business and consumer sentiment. As far as valuations go, the issue is priced at a little less than 15 times trailing earnings, a 33% discount to market valuations of at least 22 times trailing earnings. To some extent, the discount reflects investor concern about the vagaries of the tourism business. Having said that, there also seems to be money left on the table for IPO investors. Write to us at marktomarket@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 12:45 pm Gilbarco buys L&T’s fuel dispenser business Mumbai: India’s largest engineering and construction firm Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has sold its fuel dispenser business to US-based Gilbarco Inc. Fuel dispensers are machines used to pump petrol, diesel or any other fuel at filling stations. The companies did not disclose the amount. Mint had in July reported that L&T was in the final stages of signing an agreement to sell this business to the US firm for nearly $50 million (Rs243 crore). Gilbarco had completed due diligence of L&T’s fuel dispenser business in June. L&T shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange closed 0.34% higher at Rs1656.20 on Tuesday, while the benchmark Sensex rose 0.11% to close at 17,050.65 points. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 12:45 pm Cricketers lose their edge in brand endorsement stakesThe heat from the cricket endorsement pitch is cooling, with rates falling between 25 and 50 per cent as advertisers shy away from new deals.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 17 Nov 2009 | 12:03 pm IMF chief reiterates stand on reserve currencyBeijing: The imperative of greater global currency stability means the world can no longer rely, as it has done since the end of the gold standard, on a currency issued by a single country, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday.  Money talk: Strauss-Kahn at Tsinghua University in Beijing on Monday. He says an undervalued currency yields some advantages, but China needs to look further ahead to long-term stability. Jason Lee / Reuters Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of IMF, restated his view that a new global currency might evolve out of the special drawing right (SDR), the fund’s in-house unit of account. “That probably has to be a basket,” Strauss-Kahn said of the eventual replacement for the dollar. “In a globalized world there is no domestic solution,” he told a forum. Speaking later at a news conference, Strauss-Kahn reiterated the message that has been a constant refrain during his visit—that China needs a stronger yuan as part of a package of policies to help rebalance its economy by promoting domestic demand. “For us, because it just is consistent with the new economic policy in China, the sooner the better. How fast? It will take time. It is not something which will change in one step overnight,” Strauss-Kahn said. China has kept the yuan, also known as the renminbi (RMB), pegged around 6.83 per dollar since July 2008, following a 21% rise over the previous three years, to help its exporters weather the global economic crisis. “We do believe firmly in the IMF that the RMB is undervalued and that it is not only in the interests of the global economy but also in the interests of China to have a revaluation of the currency,” he said. An undervalued currency introduces economic distortions, which might confer certain advantages but at a cost to other parts of economy, Strauss-Kahn explained. “So China has a trade advantage, but it also has the wrong prices, leading to wrong decisions about investment in the long run. It is now time for China, having accumulated a lot of advantages from an undervalued currency, to look more forward to investment and long-term stability, and this long-term stability goes with getting rid of this distortion,” he said. The US in particular has argued that an undervalued yuan is exacerbating economic imbalances that were a root cause of the global financial crisis. However, visiting US President Barack Obama referred only fleetingly to the issue after talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao. “I was pleased to note the Chinese commitment made in past statements to move toward a more market-oriented exchange rate over time,” Obama said. Strauss-Kahn expressed concern that political willingness to overhaul the international monetary system will falter if, in a year’s time, the visible signs of the economic crisis have faded. He said the momentum to cooperate had already eased somewhat, six months after the London summit of the Group of Twenty agreed on a need for change to ensure a more stable global financial order. A former IMF chief, Michel Camdessus, said time was of the essence to embark on reform of the global monetary system. “This favourable window of opportunity is there. It will not stay open forever,” he said. Camdessus gave broad backing to a recent proposal by Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan that an expanded SDR could eventually replace the dollar as the global reserve currency. “Our Chinese friends mean business,” he said of Zhou’s plan. As a corollary of a strengthened role for the SDR, governance changes were needed at the fund to shift power to big emerging economies, Camdessus said. To that end, the SDR basket must be modified to include the yuan and perhaps the Indian rupee and Brazilian real as well. “The RMB must be there. Period,” Camdessus said. feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 12:03 pm Government may drop tax on religious trusts from codeThe finance ministry is likely to drop the proposal to tax religious trusts. The proposal formed part of the direct taxes code and had raised eyebrows both within and outside the finance ministry.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 17 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pm India Inc discovers the power of twoWhen US-based drug major Merck bought Schering-Plough early this month, it decided to go off the beaten track. Instead of having one managing director (MD) for the merged entity, it decided to retain both: Naveen A Rao will continue to head Mercks subsidiary MSD Pharmaceuticals in India and K G Ananthakrishnan will retain his position as MD of Schering-Ploughs subsidiary Fulford India.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 17 Nov 2009 | 11:59 am Unions scout for members among job guarantee scheme workersTrade unions often struggle to enlist workers in the so-called informal sector, who by the nature and orientation of their occupations, are a scattered and divided mass. But in recent times, union leaders have discovered a new avenue of comradeship to enrol members: by appealing to the country’s rural employment guarantee job card holders.  Rural activism: Villagers working under NREGS in Rajasthan’s Dilwara district. Around 25.3 million have got jobs under the scheme across India. Madhu Kapparath / Mint With complaints of non-payment of minimum wages on the increase among workers employed under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), trade unions of all stripes and colours are attempting to gain the goodwill of the rural working class, who often lack an outlet to ventilate their grievances. For example, the Indian National Trade Union Congress (Intuc), which is affiliated to the ruling Congess party that launched NREGS in 2005 with the support of coalition partners, has announced plans to address problems of workers who get jobs under the nation’s flagship employment guarantee programme. In its plenary meeting held in Kochi, Kerala, last month, Intuc decided to form trade unions solely dedicated to rural workers eligible for NREGS, which promises at least 100 days of employment a year to one member of every rural household. The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu), affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has gained the membership of at least 15,000 rural workers in Punjab alone during the last three years. Also See Mobilizing Support (Graphics) The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, widely regarded as an affiliate of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, although it doesn’t formally acknowledge the relationship, has set up both associations and trade unions at the local level in the last one year, according to Sukumaran N.M., its secretary. He did not provide any statistics. “We will form unions in both Congress- and non-Congress-ruled states,” Intuc national vice-president Ashok Singh said. Intuc plans to demand the Rs25,000 stipulated compensation that workers’ families are entitled to in case of death at work, but which, according to him, nobody ever receives. Around 25.3 million households across the country have been provided jobs under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or NREGA. Until July, nearly 870 million man days of work have been generated under the scheme, for which the government has set aside Rs39,100 crore in the current fiscal year. Under the law, every rural household can volunteer for 100 days of unskilled work in a year. Rural workers can also demand a fraction of the stipulated daily wage in case employment is not provided within a fortnight of applying for a job. Trade unions say that these guidelines are routinely violated and full minimum wages promised by states rarely get paid to workers. According to Raghubir Singh, secretary of Lal Zhanda Kaumi Rozgaar Guarantee Mazdoor Union, which is mobilizing NREGS workers in Punjab, and is affiliated to Citu, no job-card holders have received the full pay of Rs136.79 in the state and no one ever receives unemployment wages. Singh said union membership will reach 30,000 this year in the districts of Mansa, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar, where it currently operates. Not-for-profit organizations have generally been the ones to champion rural workers’ causes. But with regular employment declining in the formal sector, trade unions, which fund themselves with membership fees, are spreading their nets wide to call on unorganized workers as a survival strategy. At present, only around 9% of India’s estimated 400-million-strong workforce is unionized. The informal sector includes all economic activities that are neither taxed nor regulated by the government, and is not included in the government’s gross national product, as opposed to a formal economy. But organizing this splintered class of workers is easier said than done. “Unlike a factory where workers are found in the same place, informal workers are scattered. They have to work long hours for less pay. They fear about job security. They fear to form unions,” said K. Hemlata, a secretary of Citu. Mobilizing support in opposition-ruled states has not been easy for some. According to R. Chandrasekharan, Intuc president in Left-ruled Kerala, unionizing NREGS workers in the state has been a problem because “the state does not appreciate the scheme introduced by the Congress government”. The state unit of Intuc has mobilized 25,000 rural workers across 14 Kerala districts, including Thiruvanathapuram and Ernakulam. Not all unions believe forming exclusive NREGA unions will work in their best interest. Hind Mazdoor Sangh, which claims to have 5.4 million members of which 35-40% belong to the unorganized sector, said it has no plan to form or embrace new unions. “We are, however, spreading information about the rights of these workers and how to access the benefit in Bihar and Rajasthan,” said Ram Autar Mittal, secretary of Hind Mazdoor Sangh. Experts say the unorganized sector holds the key to trade union activity in the coming years and competition is likely to grow to win new members. “This is the future of unionism,” said C.S. Venkata Ratnam, director of New Delhi-based International Management Institute. “It will continue to go this way as informalization of the formal sector grows. And, trade unions will have to continue to look for non-traditional and atypical forms of employment to find new members.” Graphics by Sandeep Bhatnagar / Mint maitreyee.h@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 11:56 am Coca-Cola eyes emerging middle class for growthAtlanta: Soft-drinks maker Coca-Cola Co. seeks to double its business in the next decade as it caters to the expected billion people worldwide who will join the middle class by 2020. The world’s largest soft-drink maker told analysts and investors at a meeting on Monday that its system-wide revenue will reach $200 billion (Rs9.26 trillion) by 2020. The firm hopes to make more money off those sales as it sells more soft drinks in emerging markets and reduces costs.  Global thrust: Coca-Cola’s plant in Atlanta, US. The firm hopes global growth can make up for weak US sales, which have been declining as consumers cut their spending in recession and switch to juices and teas. Chris Rank / Bloomberg The company hopes global growth can make up for weak US sales, which have been slipping as consumers limit their spending in recession and switch to juices and teas. Kent said the company must pay attention and react to changes in the world, which it didn’t do from 2000 to 2004. “We were too busy looking at the dashboard in front of us and not sufficiently paying attention to the world outside our windshield,” he said. The company believes that the world will be a different place in the next decade, with more consumers in the middle class and more living in urban areas. Coca-Cola said people—many of them young consumers the company will target—will also want their brands to show that they have values, such as being environmentally responsible. “Consumers now value and are defining themselves more and more by their identity, their values and their beliefs, and they are insisting that companies do the same,” said chief marketing and commercial officer Joe Tripodi. For example, the company plans to highlight its environmental efforts, he said, such as the PlantBottle. On Monday, the company said it is using the new bottle, which is partially made out of plants, in some markets such as Denmark and western US. Coca-Cola plans to have two billion of the bottles in production by the end of next year. Coca-Cola plans to focus on its namesake brand, which Kent calls the “oxygen” of the company. Key markets such as China and Russia have low consumption rates, meaning there will be room for Coca-Cola to grow. But it also plans to have more big brands. It currently has around a dozen brands worth $1 billion each, such as Coke Zero and Fanta, which both grew to that size in the last decade. In the next decade, Coca-Cola expects to have 30 brands worth that much as it sells more of its brands to the rising middle class around the world. The company said because it operates in at least 200 countries, it will be better able to grow in these new markets while still keeping its costs down. It eyes annual savings of $500 million from general and administrative costs by 2011. Coca-Cola’s comments come as the company faces a rapidly changing industry, as its main rival—PepsiCo Inc.—buys up its two largest bottlers. PepsiCo announced the $7.8 billion deal to buy Coke’s bottlers over the summer, saying the move will allow it to react more quickly to changing consumer tastes by being faster to market with new products because it will control distribution. The move can also help PepsiCo save on costs. But Kent said Coca-Cola remains committed to its franchise system, which sells concentrate to bottlers who make and distribute Coca-Cola products, rather than the firm selling them itself. Kent said the system allows the firm to focus on its brands while also giving it the benefits of scale. The company will be able to keep growing if the emerging markets it’s targeting do keep growing and people have more disposable income, said John Sicher, editor of trade publication Beverage Digest. “As consumers get wealthier, Coke becomes more and more affordable and the growth becomes more achievable,” he said. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 10:16 am Facebook’s unfriend is word of the yearNew York: Unfriend has been named the word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary, chosen from a list of finalists with a tech-savvy bent. Unfriend was defined as a verb that means to remove someone as a “friend” on a social networking site such as Facebook. “It has both currency and potential longevity,” said Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary programme, in a statement. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for word of the year.” Other words deemed finalists for 2009 by the dictionary’s publisher, Britain’s Oxford University Press, came from other technological trends, the economy, and political and current affairs. In technology, there was “hashtag”, which is the hash sign added to a word or phrase that lets Twitter users search for tweets similarly tagged; “intexticated” for when people are distracted by texting while driving, and “sexting”, which is the sending of sexually explicit SMSes and pictures by cellphone. Finalists from economy were “freemium”, meaning a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, and “funemployed”, referring to people taking advantage of newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests. In the political and current affairs section, finalists included “birther”, meaning conspiracy theorists challenging President Barack Obama’s US birth certificate, and “choice mom”, a person who chooses to be a single mother. feedback@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 9:47 am Is doomsday coming? Maybe, but not in 2012Nasa said last week that the world was not ending—at least anytime soon. Last year, CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, said the same thing, which is good news for the habitually jittery. How often do you have a pair of such blue-ribbon scientific establishments assuring us that everything is fine?  In spotlight: A wallpaper from the movie 2012. On the other hand, it is kind of depressing if you were looking forward to taking a vacation from mortgage payments to finance one last blowout. CERN’s pronouncements were intended to allay concerns that a black hole would be spit out of its new Large Hadron Collider and eat the earth. The announcements by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in the form of several website postings and a video posted on YouTube, were in response to worries that the world will end on 21 December 2012, when a 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count in the Mayan calendar supposedly comes to a close. The doomsday buzz reached a high point with the release of the new movie 2012, directed by Roland Emmerich, who previously inflicted misery on the earth from aliens and glaciers in Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. In the movie, an alignment between the sun and the centre of the galaxy on 21 December 2012, causes the sun to go berserk with mighty storms on its surface that pour out huge numbers of the elusive subatomic particles called neutrinos. Somehow the neutrinos transmute into other particles and heat up the earth’s core. The earth’s crust loses its moorings and begins to weaken and slide around. Los Angeles falls into the ocean; Yellowstone blows up, showering the continent with black ash. Tidal waves wash over the Himalayas, where the governments of the planet have secretly built a fleet of arks in which a select 400,000 people can ride out the storm. But this is only one version of apocalypse out there. In other variations, a planet named Nibiru crashes into us or the earth’s magnetic field flips. There are hundreds of books devoted to 2012, and millions of websites, depending on what combination of “2012” and “doomsday” you type into Google. All of it, astronomers say, is bunk. “Most of what’s claimed for 2012 relies on wishful thinking, wild pseudoscientific folly, ignorance of astronomy and a level of paranoia worthy of ‘Night of the Living Dead’,” Ed Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, and an expert on ancient astronomy, wrote in an article in the November issue of Sky and Telescope. Personally, I have been in love with end-of-the-world stories since I started consuming science fiction as a disaffected child. Scaring the pants off the public has been pretty much the name of the game ever since Orson Welles broadcast “War of the Worlds,” a fake newscast about a Martian invasion of New Jersey, in 1938. But the trend has gone too far, suggested David Morrison, an astronomer at the Nasa Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, who made the YouTube video and is one of the agency’s point people on the issue of Mayan prophecies of doom. “I get angry at the way people are being manipulated and frightened to make money,” Morrison said. “There is no ethical right to frighten children to make a buck.” Morrison said he had been getting around 20 letters and email messages a day from people as far away as India scared out of their wits. In an email message, he enclosed a sample that included one from a woman wondering if she should kill herself, her daughter and her unborn baby. Another came from a person pondering whether to put her dog to sleep to avoid suffering in 2012. All of this reminded me of the kinds of letters I received last year about the putative black hole at CERN. That, too, was more science fiction than science fact, but apparently there is nothing like death to bring home the abstract realms of physics and astronomy. In such situations, when the earth or the universe is trying to shrug you and your loved ones off this mortal plane, the cosmic does become personal. Morrison said he did not blame the movie for all this, as much as the many other purveyors of the Mayan prediction, as well as the apparent failure of some people, reflected in so many arenas of our national life, to tell reality from fiction. But then, he said, “my doctorate is in astronomy, not psychology”. In an email exchange, Krupp said: “We are always uncertain about the future, and we always consume representations of it. We are always lured by the romance of the ancient past and by the exotic scale of the cosmos. When they combine, we are mesmerized.” A Nasa spokesman, Dwayne Brown, said the agency did not comment on movies, leaving that to movie critics. But when it comes to science, Brown said, “we felt it was prudent to provide a resource”. If you want to worry, most scientists say, you should think about global climate change, rogue asteroids or nuclear war. But if speculation about ancient prophecies gets you going, here are some things Morrison and others think you should know. To begin with, astronomers agree, there is nothing special about the sun and galactic centre aligning in the sky. It happens every December with no physical consequence beyond the overconsumption of eggnog. And anyway, the sun and the galactic centre will not exactly coincide even in 2012. If there were another planet out there heading our way, everybody could see it by now. As for those fierce solar storms, the next sunspot maximum will not happen until 2013, and will be on the mild side, astronomers now say. Geological apocalypse is a better bet. There have been big earthquakes in California before and probably will be again. These quakes could destroy Los Angeles, as shown in the movie, and Yellowstone could erupt again with cataclysmic force sooner or later. We and our works are indeed fragile and temporary riders on the earth. But in this case, “sooner or later” means hundreds of millions of years, and there would be plenty of warning. The Mayans, who were good-enough astronomers and timekeepers to predict Venus’ position 500 years in the future, deserve better than this. Mayan time was cyclic, and experts such as Krupp and Anthony Aveni, an astronomer and anthropologist at Colgate University, say there is no evidence that the Mayans thought anything special would happen when the odometer rolled over on this Long Count in 2012. There are references in Mayan inscriptions to dates both before the beginning and the ending of the present Long Count, they say, just as your next birthday and 15 April loom beyond New Year’s eve, on next year’s calendar. So keep up those mortgage payments. ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 8:54 am RNRL objects to oil ministry being party to gas disputeReliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) Tuesday opposed the oil ministry's plea to the Supreme Court to join the Krishna-Godavari gas dispute as a party and said cross-examination of officials must be allowed if the request is granted.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 17 Nov 2009 | 7:01 am 40 percent Indian households still powerless: GreenpeaceDespite India's growing electricity generation and increasing carbon emissions around 40 percent of households -- a majority of which are in villages -- do not have electricity, says a Greenpeace report released here Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 17 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am Lehman estate sues Barclays for $5 bnNew York: The bankrupt estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and a trustee for its brokerage both sued Barclays Plc, seeking the return of a $5 billion (Rs23,150 crore) windfall. Lehman seeks a trial to recover the money, along with damages, according to the lawsuit, filed as an adversary proceeding in Lehman’s main case in a US bankruptcy court in Manhattan. Undisclosed features of the sale included $5-7 billion in excess collateral under a repurchase agreement, $2.7 billion added while a sale hearing in court was in progress, and $2.3 billion in margin deposits added after the sale was approved, lawyers for Lehman said. The sale transaction was secretly structured from the outset to give Barclays an immediate and enormous windfall profit, lawyers for Lehman said, claiming some Lehman executives knew the information without revealing it to the company’s management, board or attorneys. Barclays also failed to pay about $500 million in bonuses and paid only $238 million of $1.5 billion in other obligations, according to the lawsuit. Separately, James Giddens, the trustee liquidating Lehman’s brokerage on behalf of the US Securities Investor Protection Corp., filed a lawsuit alleging cash and other assets worth $6.7 billion weren’t sold to Barclays. He also seeks to recover all other undisclosed benefits that Barclays obtained at the expense of the Lehman estate. In a third lawsuit filed, Lehman creditors seek a ruling that the transaction that gave Barclays the $5 billion was never approved by the court. They say a clarification letter, dated 20 September, wasn’t presented in court when US bankruptcy judge James Peck approved the sale on 19 September. The letter crystallized Barclays receipt of a secret, undisclosed, $5 billion block discount on the assets it bought from Lehman, creditors said in the complaint. Lehman previously said in court documents that executives including Ian Lowitt, Paolo Tonucci and Bart McDade knew that Barclays was getting securities valued at about $50 billion for $45 billion in cash. Lehman’s $1.75 billion sale to London-based Barclays was approved following the biggest bankruptcy in US history. Peck overruled creditors’ objections that the sale was moving too quickly. He said it was clear there were no other purchasers, and that the deal was needed to help stabilize global financial markets. Harvey Miller, Lehman’s bankruptcy lawyer, said at the time that the Barclays deal needed to close as soon as possible or employees would flee and there wouldn’t be anything left to sell. Michael O’Looney, a Barclays spokesman, declined to comment. feedback@livemint.com Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 5:48 am Shareholders must fix corporate salaries, says ministerHigh salaries in the corporate sector is not a 'dogmatic' or an ideological issue with the government, according to Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Salman Khurshid.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 17 Nov 2009 | 5:06 am Air India to continue with incentives for employeesThe National Aviation Co of India Ltd (NACIL) that runs national carrier Air India Tuesday decided to continue with the present performance linked incentives (PLI) as passenger load has picked up.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 17 Nov 2009 | 5:05 am Time Warner to spin off AOL on 9 DecemberNew York: Media conglomerate Time Warner Inc said on Monday it will spin off its AOL unit to shareholders on 9 December, nine tumultuous years after one of the most disastrous corporate mergers in history. Time Warner shareholders of record on 27 November will receive an AOL stock dividend for every 11 shares of Time Warner common stock they hold. Based on the closing price of Time Warner’s stock at $32.35 and its 1.17 billion outstanding shares, the ratio would effectively value AOL’s market capitalization at around $3.44 billion. When AOL’s plan to merge with Time Warner was announced in January 2000, the Internet company was valued at $163 billion. The combination was meant to herald the future of content distribution via the Internet, but the promised benefits were never achieved and Time Warner executives gradually regained control of the business. Time Warner, which owns media brands such as CNN, HBO and Warner Bros, said back in May it planned to spin off AOL as it focuses on being a content company. Last year, it spun off its cable distribution unit, Time Warner Cable Inc. In March, Time Warner appointed former Google Inc sales executive Tim Armstrong chief executive of AOL to prepare the company for life as an independent business. Armstrong will spend most of the next few weeks on a road show speaking with Time Warner shareholders and Wall Street analysts about the prospects for AOL in Web advertising, online content and communications, where he sees the company’s future. “This is a chance for Tim to show he truly excels at sales,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst at Brigantine Advisors. “He needs to sell to investors that AOL can recover and be relevant.” Armstrong has been been cutting staff and restructuring the company ahead of the spin. On 12 November, AOL said in a regulatory filing that it expects to take $200 million in additional restructuring charges between the current quarter and through the first half of 2010. New stock AOL common stock will begin trading on a ‘when-issued´ basis on the New York stock Exchange on 24 November and will start trading under the ‘AOL’ symbol on 10 December. Time Warner said fractional shares of AOL will not be distributed to stockholders. Instead, they will be aggregated and sold in the open market, with the net proceeds distributed pro rate in the form of cash payments to Time Warner holders who would otherwise have been entitled to fractional shares. The AOL spin-off has been structured so shareholders will receive the AOL stock as a tax-free dividend, but cash received in lieu of fractional shares will be taxable. Separately, Time Warner said it will pay a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.1875 per share on 9 December. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 4:51 am Nasa launches space shuttle AtlantisFlorida: The shuttle Atlantis has blasted off carrying vital supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station to push its life past the 2010 retirement of the aging shuttle fleet. Atlantis launched at 2:28am on Monday from the Kennedy Space Center near Florida’s Cape Canaveral carrying six astronauts and some 27,000 pounds (12,300 kilos) of gyroscopes, ammonia tanks and other equipment. “A perfect launch, right on time,” said a Nasa spokesman after the shuttle reached orbit about eight minutes into its flight, hurtling at a speed of more than 24,000 kilometers per hour, Nasa said. Moment before the lift-off, launch director Mike Leinback wished the crew godspeed, declaring: “All the vehicle systems are outstanding today, the weather is near perfect for a good lif-toff today.” Space agency officials said the mission was crucial as just five more shuttle launches remain before the planned September 2010 retirement of the fleet and the spare parts will add years to the space station’s life. “You’ll see this theme in some of the flights that are going to come after ours as well,” said mission director Brian Smith. “This flight is all about spares, basically, we’re getting them up there while we still can.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 17 Nov 2009 | 4:10 am
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