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Jayaswal Neco plans Rs 900cr expansionIn an exclusive interview with CNBCTV18, Ramesh Jaiswal, Joint Managing Director, Jayaswal Neco Industries, speaks about the company and his outlook going forward.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Dec 2009 | 8:19 am Promoters not open to any stake sale: PolarisIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Arun Jain, Chairman and CEO of Polaris spoke about the Citi stake sale and the road ahead for his company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Dec 2009 | 7:54 am Mahindra Systech looking at JV/buyout in aerospaceMahindra Systech is looking at a joint venture/buyout in the aerospace business, it said. We are in talks with an Australian company for a joint venture or buyout, Mahindra Systech said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Dec 2009 | 7:50 am November car sales surge; suppliers can\'t keep upSurging Indian car sales in November reinforced signs of recovery in Asia\'s thirdlargest economy, with the sustained strong demand after the peak of the annual festival season catching industry suppliers off guardSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Dec 2009 | 7:47 am RILRNRL case: MoU is a private matter, says govtThe government is obviously refering to RNRL\'s allegations that the Petroleum Ministry is biased towards RIL and that\'s why it has approved a higher gas price and an inflated capex for the Krishna Godavari D6 block.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Dec 2009 | 7:41 am \'Upside in Heineken brand sale will accrue to UB\'Ravi Nedungadi, Chief Financial Officer and PresidentFinance, UB Holdings says the upsides in the business including in the sale or distribution of Heinekens brands will accrue to United Breweries and in that Heineken is a 37.5% shareholder.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Dec 2009 | 7:30 am See FY10 EPS around Rs 1516: ManaksiaIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Basant Kumar, Managing Director, Manaksia Ltd, spoke about the latest happenings in the company and its growth plans.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Dec 2009 | 7:13 am United Breweries, Heineken ink deal for India plansEurope\'s largest brewery, Heineken plans to acquire APB India (Asia Pacific Breweries), reports CNBCTV18. This will be transferred to United Breweries In 2010.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Dec 2009 | 5:50 am ONGC to use Iran LNG facility for Farsi gas!Oil and Natural Gas Corporation plans to use the facility, that Iran LNG is creating on southern Iranian coast, to liquefy the gas it will produce from the Farsi fields in the Persian Gulf.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Dec 2009 | 5:37 am Too early to declare lasting recovery: Bernanke!Despite some economic improvements, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Monday it`s still too soon to declare that the budding recovery will last.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Dec 2009 | 5:37 am BSNL slashes roaming charges to 49 p/min or 1 p/sec!Joining the the telecom tariff war, state-run BSNL today slashed its national roaming charges and offered two options -- 49 paise per minute or one paise per second.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Dec 2009 | 5:37 am US bank bailout estimate cut by $200 bn!The projected long-term cost of the U.S. government`s bailout of the nation`s big banks is going to be at least $200 billion less than previously thought, a Treasury Department official said on Sunday night.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Dec 2009 | 5:37 am Domestic car sales jump 36.7%, bikes up 42.4% in Nov!Domestic passenger car sales jumped 36.7 per cent to 1,13,687 units in November, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said today.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Dec 2009 | 5:37 am Banks meet with Dubai World: Report!A group of international and regional banks met Dubai World (DBWLD.UL) for the first time on Monday as talks began on the company`s efforts to restructure $26 billion of debt, the Financial Times reported on Monday.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Dec 2009 | 5:37 am No loss to govt if gas valued at $4.2 but sold at $2.3:RNRLIn a new twist to the ongoing Reliance IndustriesReliance Natural Resources case, RNRL has filed an additional affidavit in the Supreme Court today, sources told CNBCTV18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Dec 2009 | 5:32 am Gujarat NRE coke unit raises A$50 mln via sharesGujarat NRE Coke Ltd said on Tuesday its Australian unit, Gujarat NRE Minerals Ltd, had raised A$50 million through a sale of shares to institutional investors.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Dec 2009 | 3:55 am Dubai World, creditors mull new date for Dec debtDUBAI (Reuters) - State-controlled Dubai World is discussing a new date with banks for $3.5 billion in debt falling due on Dec. 14, but with no deal yet announced, spooked investors sold Dubai shares down to 21-week lows.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 3:24 am Nifty closes near 5150; realty,metals,oil&gas up - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 8 Dec 2009 | 3:20 am RIL-RNRL case MoU is a private matter says govt - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 8 Dec 2009 | 3:15 am 6 months too short to restructure Dubai World, says finance chiefDubai, which has a programme to seek further sovereign loans, should be able to tap debt markets when it needs.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 3:15 am No need to borrow more for extra spend: Pranab MukherjeeThe government had said on Tuesday it would seek parliamentary approval to spend an extra Rs257.25 billion ($5.5 billion) for the fiscal year to end-March 2010.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 3:14 am Markets end 1.4% up led by Reliance, InfosysMumbai: Indian shares rose 1.4% on Tuesday, led by gains in energy giant Reliance Industries and Infosys Technologies. The 30-share BSE index ended up 244.54 points at 17,227.68, with only four components declining. The 50-share NSE index closed up 1.5% at 5,147.95. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 3:07 am BSE Sensex provisionally closes up 1.5 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex provisionally rose 1.48 percent on Tuesday, led by gains in energy giant Reliance Industries and Infosys Technologies.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 3:05 am L&T bags Rs.844 cr order from Nuclear Power Corp - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:56 am November car sales surge; suppliers can't keep up - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:55 am Assocham suggests setting up coal trading and infra firm New Delhi: Industry body Assocham on Tuesday suggested to the government to set up a coal trading company to import the dry fuel to bridge the demand-supply gap. The entity could be found on the lines of public sector MMTC and it should sell coal to user industries in the country through a long-term agreement, Assocham said, presenting a study it undertook jointly with global consultancy firm Ernst and Young to the finance and coal ministries. The study on domestic coal industry said the proposed company should also set up huge regional coal dumps located strategically to optimise procurement of both indigenous and imported coal with appropriate connectivity to mines and ports. Assocham president Swati Piramal in a statement said that the coal movement to and from the regional coal dumps could be done through a dedicated railway network, owned and managed by the suggested company. The government has said that the country faces a shortage of 70 million tonnes of coal this fiscal. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:53 am ANALYSIS - Why Shanghai needs new financial productsSHANGHAI (Reuters) - Last January, China's Pure Heart Asset Management Co took a radical step to guard itself against a possible crash in China's domestic A-share market, liquidating all of its five domestic funds.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:52 am India to step up hiring from 2010: Manpower - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:52 am India to step up hiring from 2010: Manpower:India has once again emerged as the most optimistic nation in terms of hiring plans for the next three months and the recruitment pace is expected to return to the pre-recession levelSource: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:45 am NDTV to sell stake in NDTV Imagine to Turner for $117mn - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:45 am OVL pulls out of exploration block in SudanNew Delhi: ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has pulled out of an exploration block in Sudan. “Not just OVL but the entire consortium has decided to exit the Block 5B,” Sudan’s minister of state for energy and mining Angelina Jany Teny said on Tuesday. OVL has written off investment of $90 million it had made in the block. The Minister said the consortium exited after it did not find oil or gas in the three wells it drilled on the block. The consortium may have also exited because of claims made by Sudan’s regional and federal government on the area where the block exists. The 20,000-sq-km block is in the southern part of the Muglad basin in an area claimed by the federal government based in Khartoum and by the regional government based in Juba, Southern Sudan. Ascom SA of Moldova was granted rights to one portion of Block 5B from the Southern Sudanese government and began drilling in January 2008, while the Khartoum government awarded the other part of the block to the White Nile Petroleum Operating Co (WNPOC). The WNPOC consortium included operator Petronas of Malaysia (39% interest), Lundin (24.5%), OVL (23.5%), and Sudan’s Sudapet 13 (%). Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:44 am Fiscal deficit to be around target - finmin officialNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's fiscal deficit for the current fiscal year ending in March will be around the targeted 6.8 percent of gross domestic product, a senior finance ministry official told reporters on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:41 am Pacnet gets LOI for NLD, ILD services New Delhi: Asia’s leading bandwidth provider Pacnet, which operates in India as an ISP on Tuesday said that it has got LOI from the government to offer national and international long distance services in the country. “We have recently received LOI from the department of telecom and are doing the paper work to complete licence formalities. We expect to receive the licence by the end of this month,” Pacnet chief executive officer Bill Barney said. He said that the company does not have any plan to enter the voice segment of NLD and ILD services and it will focus on offering the entire suite of data services to the Indian enterprises in telecom companies once it gets the licences. The company said that it will be investing about $200 million in building a submarine cable network—West Asia Crossing (WAC), which will have a landing station in Chennai. The WAC cable will be completed in 2012 and will provide direct connectivity between India and other Asian countries, and lower the cost of international bandwidth for Indian enterprises. Barney said that the WAC project will cost about $150 million and after completion reduce the cost of international bandwith by 70-80% for Indian corporate users. The company will also expand its points of presence in the country at a cost of $50 million. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:38 am Wipro sees growth in China, West AsiaBangalore: Wipro Ltd, India’s No. 3 software services exporter, is pursuing large outsourcing deals in Europe and is expanding operations in China that will help get more Japanese contracts, a top official said on Tuesday. The company also sees stronger demand for outsourcing in the West Asia East and Latin America, and has not been impacted by the Dubai debt crisis that has shaken global markets and confidence in the Gulf business hub, Suresh Vaswani, co-chief executive of IT business at Wipro, told reporters. “The contracts we have in Dubai are good contracts, they are sustainable contracts,” he said, adding most of its clients in the West Asia are from oil and gas and manufacturing sectors and it does not have large exposure to the financial sector. The West Asia along with India accounted for 8.2% of Wipro’s revenue in the quarter ended in September. The firm, headquartered in Bangalore, gets more than half its business from the United States. Wipro, which started operations at its second facility in China last month, is looking at China and Latin America as potential growth markets, Vaswani said. Expanding in China will help to tap business opportunities in that country as well as win clients in Japan, he said. “Japanese market has been a bit of a challenge for us and in general for the IT industry, but I think things are beginning to look up,” Vaswani said. Some of the large outsourcing deals that Wipro is pursuing are from continental Europe, which is a focus market for the company, majority owned by its billionaire chairman Azim Premji. Shares in Wipro, which the market values at $20 billion, were up 1.9% at Rs649.80 at 0918 GMT in the main market that was up 1.2%. The stock has nearly tripled this year. Fixed-Price Improving The company, which gets bulk of its revenue from telecoms and financial services clients, is looking to win more deals from the government and healthcare sectors as countries across the world look to trim costs, Vaswani said. He said Wipro had recently won an outsourcing deal from a government department in Australia, and is bidding for similar projects in the United States and Europe. On pricing, Vaswani said the company had seen a sharp jump in the contracts that had fixed-price component. Analysts say fixed-price deals give better revenue visibility and help mitigate the pricing pressure, unlike the so-called time and material pricing under which the value of a contract depends on the number of people deployed by an outsourcer for a project. India’s export-driven outsourcing sector has been on a roll in recent months following a brutal slide in demand at the end of last year as turmoil in the financial sector, software firms’ key client base, led to cancellation or postponement of contracts. Bigger rivals Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies, and Wipro, have announced deals in recent months from companies such as BP, mobile operator T-Mobile UK, brewer SABMiller and Volkswagen. “We do want to capitalise on the upturn that is taking place,” Vaswani said. “Things are looking better and, therefore, the outlook is positive.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:38 am Wipro says sees growth in Middle East, ChinaBANGALORE (Reuters) - Wipro Ltd, India's No. 3 software services exporter, is pursuing large outsourcing deals in Europe and is expanding operations in China that will help get more Japanese contracts, a top official said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:36 am RINL-MOIL JV to invest about Rs200 cr in ferro-alloy plant New Delhi: Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) and Manganese Ore India Ltd (MOIL)—two leading PSUs under the steel ministry—are looking at investing about Rs200 crore in setting up a ferro-alloy plant in Andhra Pradesh. “The proposed 50,000-tonnes plant will attract an estimated investment of Rs200 crore,” a senior steel ministry official said. Steel minister Virbhadra Singh, minister of state for steel A. Sai Prathap and other steel ministry officials are scheduled to visit the project site on 12 December for ground breaking ceremony for construction of the proposed plant. “Once construction is started, the plant is expected to go on stream in next two years,” he said. Steel maker RINL and ferro-alloy manufacturer MOIL had entered into a JV agreement earlier this year to set up the plant at Bobbili industrial town in Vizianagaram district of the state. The plant will have a ready consumer in RINL, which is doubling its annual steel making capacity to 6.3 million tonnes by next year. Ferro-alloys are used as inputs in making certain steel products. MOIL, which is sitting over about 31 million tonnes of manganese ore, would supply its raw material to the proposed plant to make ferro-alloys like. Earlier, the Nagpur-based ferro-alloy firm had also inked a similar pact with steel maker SAIL to set up a unit at Bhillai in Chhattisgarh. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:32 am Ranbaxy ends JV with Japanese firmMumbai: Pharma company Ranbaxy Laboratories today said it has exited from Japan-based joint venture company—Nihon Pharmaceutical Industry. Ranbaxy sold its stake to Nippon Chemiphar for an undisclosed amount after an agreement that allowed Nippon Chemiphar (NC) to buy Ranbaxy’s entire stake in Nihon Pharmaceutical Industry (NPI), Ranbaxy Labs said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Both companies — Nippon Chemiphar and Ranbaxy Laboratories — held equal shares in the joint venture. Following the transaction, NPI would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Chemiphar. Ranbaxy entered into an agreement with Nippon Chemiphar to form a joint venture company — Nihon Pharmaceutical Industry, in September, 2002. Nippon Chemiphar is a Japanese pharmaceutical company, involved in developing, manufacturing and selling generics, in addition to proprietary products. Shares of Ranbaxy were trading at Rs504.50 on the BSE, down 0.51% from its previous close. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:25 am No need to borrow more for extra spend - MukherjeeNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government does not need to borrow more than planned to fund its additional proposed expenditure, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:15 am Anand Rathi recommends to 'Apply' to JSW Energy IPO - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:14 am Public expenditure to go up by additional Rs25,727 cr New Delhi: The government on Tuesday came out with the first batch of supplementary demands for grants in the Lok Sabha seeking to raise public expenditure by an additional Rs25,725 crore during the current fiscal. The important expenditure proposal include Rs800 crore equity infusion into the ailing National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), the state-owned company which operates Air India, according to the supplementary demands tabled by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in the House. Besides providing funds to NACIL, the government has earmarked additional money towards Commonwealth Games, National Calamity Contingency Fund, metro projects and food and fertiliser subsidies. Although the government is seeking Parliament’s nod to raise public expenditure by Rs30,943 crore during 2009-10, the net impact would be Rs25,725 crore as Rs5,217 crore would be met through savings. The government comes out with several batches of supplementary demands for grants during the course of the financial year to modify expenditure proposals made in the budget and also seek Parliament’s approval for incurring additional expenses not anticipated at the time of formulation of the budget. For the current fiscal, the government in its budget in July had pegged the total expenditure at Rs10.20 lakh crore, which will now go up marginally by Rs25,725 crore. In view of the upcoming Commonwealth Games next year, the government proposed to provide Rs350 crore as loan and advances to the organising committee. The other proposals for additional expenditure include Rs1,080 crore towards Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Rs254 crore equity investment in Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited and Rs3,000 crore towards fertiliser subsidy. Food department has been provided an additional Rs3,459 crore, National Calamity Contingency Fund Rs1,200 crore and Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) Rs500 crore. The government has also earmarked an additional Rs1,675 crore for metro rail projects in Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai. According to the supplementary demands, Rs3,139 crore will be transferred to the National Investment Fund (NIF), set up to channelise the disinvestment proceeds into social sector schemes. The outgo towards pension is also likely to go up by an additional Rs4,533 crore during the fiscal to Rs15,500 crore. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:14 am Dubai: 6 months too short to restructure Dubai WorldDUBAI (Reuters) - Six months would be too short to restructure indebted state-controlled conglomerate Dubai World, the emirate's finance chief said on Tuesday, adding that it has enough assets to meet its obligations.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:07 am Rupee extends fall as UK bank buys dollarsMumbai: The Indian rupee extended its fall in afternoon trade on Tuesday on dollar demand from a UK bank for an offshore deal, dealers said. At 2:05pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.66/67 per dollar, off a low of Rs46.76, its weakest in the last two weeks and below Monday’s close of Rs46.56/57. A UK bank bought $500 million, which was responsible for the rupee’s fall, dealers said. The dollar index, a gauge of the US unit’s performance against six majors, was almost unchanged. Dealers also said they were monitoring the sharemarket for cues on fund flows. For stocks report see Rupee fell earlier after a firmer start as oil refiners bought dollars, following the US unit’s rise the previous day. Oil is India’s largest import item and the refiners are the biggest buyers of dollars in the domestic foreign exchange market. At 11:42am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.625/630 per dollar, its weakest in almost two weeks. It had closed at 46.56/57 on Monday. “There is some importer demand from oil companies because the levels are attractive,” said a foreign bank dealer. The rupee had started stronger at Rs46.52/53 after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the US central bank was not going to raise rates despite the strong job data there. “Bernanke’s comments were dollar bearish. But I expect the market to come down in the day as people have gone too short on dollar,” said Ashtosh Raina, head of forex, HDFC Bank. The rupee had fallen sharply against the dollar on Monday after the better-than-expected US jobs data. Traders said the Indian central bank chief’s comments late Monday on chances of control on capital flows if the inflows surge substantially did not have any impact as the comment was theoretical. Foreign portfolio flows of almost $16 billion into Indian equities this year have helped the rupee rise nearly 13 percent from a record low of 52.2 in early March. Last year, net outflows of more than $13 billion had pushed the rupee down by a fifth. In the non-deliverable offshore forwards, there was not much scope of arbitrage with one-month offshore non-deliverable forwards at Rs46.58/68, little changed from the spot rate. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 2:00 am GE Hitachi May Supply Reactor Parts From India to Europe, US - Bloomberg
Source: Business - Google News | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:53 am Gold demand abates as prices recoverMumbai: India’s physical gold demand abated on Tuesday after picking up in the last session as prices recovered from a one-week low, and a weaker rupee weighed on sentiment, dealers said. “I did some bookings yesterday... but my clients are telling me that today that no one is asking for even a kilo from them due to recovery in prices,” said a dealer with a private bullion dealing bank. The most-traded February contract was 0.17% higher at Rs17,577 per 10 grams at 2:01pm, helped by a weaker rupee, recovering from the previous day’s one-week low of Rs17,210. The Indian rupee fell after a firmer start as oil refiners bought dollars, following the US unit’s rise the previous day. A weaker rupee makes the dollar-quoted asset expensive. Dealers say their sales have been good so far this month and have a positive outlook for December. “We must have booked at least 0.5 tonnes since December and this month is expected to be good in terms of sales,” said a dealer with a state-run bank in Mumbai. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:52 am 'Upside in Heineken brand sale will accrue to UB' - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:45 am Car sales surge 61% in NovemberNew Delhi: Surging Indian car sales in November reinforced signs of recovery in Asia’s third-largest economy, with the sustained strong demand after the peak of the annual festival season catching industry suppliers off guard. Car sales rose 61% to 133,687 in November from 83,121 a year earlier, with jump helped by an improving economy that has lifted consumer sentiment and the easier availability of loans, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data showed. Monthly car sales were stronger than in October and September, when sales were boosted by festival demand. “The demand has picked up in such a short time that the inventory is not there,” Vaishali Jajoo, autos analyst at Angel Broking said. “There is a shortage of cars at the retail level, the waiting period is longer,” he said, adding expectations of price increases could have contributed to the surge. After a downturn in 2008, sales have picked up since early this year and annual growth has been in double digits for the past five months. The recovery has now spread to commercial vehicles, seen as a sign of improving business confidence. Sales have been so strong, buoyed by stimulus measures, that auto part suppliers had been able to meet demand. “They’ve not been able to keep up pace with the growth in the industry,” Sugato Sen, SIAM’s senior director said. “Many companies have suffered. The down-the-line supply chain has not been able to match the capacity required for growth.” The head of Ford’s Indian operations, Michael Boneham told Reuters last month the industry got back on track so quickly that “everyone was caught napping”. The figures came a week after data showed the Indian economy grew an annual 7.9% in the September quarter, its fastest in 18 months and well above expectations. In April, SIAM had cautiously forecast sales of passenger vehicles -- cars, utility vehicles and multi-purpose vehicles -- to nudge up 3-5% in the year to March 2010, after ending the 2008-09 fiscal year flat at 1.55 million units. Between April and November, carmakers have sold 1.22 million passenger vehicles, a fifth more than a year ago, and SIAM said it would review its sales targets. Price Rises? Sales of trucks and buses, a gauge of economic activity, doubled from a year earlier to 40,847 units in November, although monthly sales were below September and October levels. Motorcycle sales an annual rose 42.5% to 614,274. The signs of strength are in stark contrast to a year earlier, when India was hit harder than expected by the global financial crisis and economic slowdown. Car sales, a barometer of consumer sentiment in the absence of other indicators, had plunged nearly a fifth in annual terms November 2008, the worst fall in eight years. With demand firmly on the upswing, some carmakers, including the Indian units of Toyota Motor Co and General Motors, are moving to lift prices to counter rising input costs and protect margins. “This is a time to increase sales rather than consolidate prices,” Sen said. “Things are still not well for the industry as originally anticipated.” India, along with China, is a shining spot for global automakers, with its strong demand amidst cheerless sales in developed markets like the United States and Europe. US auto sales have dropped more than 25% through October this year, while those in China during the same period rose an annual 45%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:43 am November car sales surge; suppliers can't keep upNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Surging Indian car sales in November reinforced signs of recovery in Asia's third-largest economy, with the sustained strong demand after the peak of the annual festival season catching industry suppliers off guard.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:34 am Markets extend gains to 1%; Reliance gainsMumbai: Indian shares extended gains to 1% on Tuesday afternoon, led by energy major Reliance Industries, No. 2 outsourcer Infosys Technologies and leading telecoms Bharti Airtel. At 1:52pm, the 30-share BSE index was up 0.9% at 17,141.76 points, with 24 stocks gaining, after rising to as much as 17,164.82. The 50-share NSE index was up 1.1% at 5,120.25. Markets pared some of their early gains in the afternoon as over 2% cuts in the Chinese market raised apprehensions among investors. But the market heavyweight Reliance Industries remained strong in trade after reports indicated that the company was likely to submit binding bid for LyondellBasell this week. At 12:46pm, the 30-share BSE index gained 62.97 points or 0.3% to 17046.11. The 50-share Nifty advanced 0.6% to 5091.95 from its previous close of 5066.70. In the BSE sectoral space consumer durables was up 1.31%, metal up 1.28%, oil & gas up 1.17%, capital goods up 0.56% and realty up 0.55% were the main gainers. On the other hand, Information Technology down 0.15% was the only loser on the BSE. The major gainers on the Sensex were RIL up 1.64%, Hindalco Industries up 1.58%, Tata Steel up 1.50%, Bharti Airtel up 1.03% and Sterlite Industries up 0.90%. Among the major losers were Reliance Communications down 1.02%, SBI down 0.40%, ITC down 0.27%, Grasim Industries down 0.21% and Infosys Technologies down 0.21%. Among Asian markets Hang Seng shed 0.62% and Nikkei dipped by 0.56%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:34 am New year hiring may return to pre-recession pace: ManpowerNew Delhi: India has once again emerged as the most optimistic nation in terms of hiring plans for the next three months and the recruitment pace is expected to return to the pre-recession level in the new year, global staffing services firm Manpower says. “There is no more ‘cautious optimism´ among employers anymore, it has given way to ‘definite optimism´. Besides, the pace of hiring will be back to the 2007 level in the next year,” Manpower India managing director Naresh Malhan said. According to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, India has a net employment outlook — a measure of recruiting plans — of 39% for the first quarter of 2010, the highest among 35 countries surveyed. India has been reporting the strongest hiring plans globally since the third quarter of 2008. India’s outlook has improved by 11 percentage points on a quarter-on-quarter basis and by 18% year-on-year. A sectoral analysis shows that hiring outlook has risen across all sectors. Job seekers in the services, public administration, education, mining and construction, finance, insurance, real estate, and the wholesale and retail trade sector, could look forward to the most favourable hiring environment in early 2010, the survey said. “The good news is that employer hiring expectations across all industry sectors are improving in the first quarter of 2010, and job seekers in key industry sectors can look forward to the most favourable hiring environment in over a year,” Malhan said. A regional analysis shows that employers in India’s four regions expect hiring plans to rise considerably over the next three months both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year basis. The hiring intentions of employers in the North is the most bullish as 44% said they would hire in the next three months time, followed by the Western and Eastern region where employment outlook was 40%. South had the lowest hiring intention of 36 per cent, Manpower said. Many of the world’s labour markets are also showing signs of recovery for the next three months. Employers in 25 of the 35 countries and territories surveyed are reporting positive hiring intentions for the first quarter. Hiring in the next three months is expected to return to the pre-recession pace throughout much of the Asia pacific region, while job prospects is likely to improve in the Americas and in some parts of Europe, the survey said. In the Asia Pacific region, hiring plans are strongest in India, Singapore, Taiwan and Australia. Japan reported the weakest and only negative outlook. The survey said hiring plans for the first three month of the new year are also strongest in Brazil, Singapore, Taiwan, Costa Rica, Australia, Peru and Hong Kong, and weakest in Ireland, Romania and Spain. Though employers in 19 countries and territories reported stronger year-on-year outlooks, employers in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania reported their weakest hiring plans to date, it added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:30 am Government seeks nod for extra $5.5 billion spendingThe gross additional expenditure would be Rs309.43 billion, of which Rs52.17 billion would be met through savings, the government said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:19 am Nodal Group soon for news flow during Mumbai like crisis New Delhi: The government is in the final stages of setting up an Empowered Nodal Group which could act as a single point authority for disbursement of news in the event of major crisis like Mumbai terror attack. “This group is being set up in response to a suggestion by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) considering the experience of 26/11 when the entire nation was angry on the way the attacks were telecast by news channels,” information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni told the Lok Sabha. “I would like to inform that the formation of the nodal group is in the final stage,” Soni said. The minister also said that since last couple of months news broadcasters have shown restraint without any notice or advisory. “The government is not in favour of censoring news, but, nevertheless, we have been able to talk to editors about the contents,” she said. Replying to a supplementary, the minister said that the Advertising Code under the Cable Regulatory Act has been violated by several channels and in the last six months the I&B ministry has issued 30 notices to them. On the issue of hike in foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in news and current affairs TV channels to 49% from the present 26% as recommended by telecom regulator TRAI, she said: “We are sensitive about it, we do not want too much of foreign investment in print, electronic media or radio.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:18 am NDTV sells stake in NDTV Imagine to Turner AsiaNew Delhi Television (NDTV) said on Tuesday it sold most of its indirect stake in NDTV Imagine Ltd to Turner Asia Pacific Ventures Inc in a deal worth $117 million.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:15 am Reliance MediaWorks teams up with In-Three for 3D filmsReliance MediaWorks Ltd has joined hands with US-based company In-Three to establish a facility to convert 2D films and videos into 3D.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:00 am Tunnel vision 2014 - to Ladakh by road in sleet and snowWork on the strategic Rohtang Tunnel that will ensure all weather road connectivity to Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir will begin early next year and be completed by 2014, more than three decades after it took shape on the drawing board.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:00 am 'India Inc will step up hiring next quarter'India Inc is all set to step up hiring in the last quarter this fiscal as employers are more optimistic than their counterparts in other nations, said an industry survey released Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Dec 2009 | 1:00 am Volkswagen gains control of 49.9% of Porsche AGThe acquisition of the (car) retail business of Porsche Holding Salzburg is planned for 2011.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:54 am Share sale in 3 state firms by March: Pranab MukherjeeDivestment of 5% each in NTPC and Rural Electrification Corp and 10% in unlisted Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd is under implementation.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:52 am NDTV sells stake in NDTV Imagine to Turner AsiaThe deal involves sale of 76% stake held in NDTV Imagine via its unit, NDTV Networks Plc, for $67 million.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:51 am US pay czar to exempt some American International Group executivesLast week, five senior executives at AIG told the company they may quit if their compensation was cut significantly by the US pay czar.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:48 am Dubai World, creditors mull new date for December debtDubai World met the main creditors on Monday to discuss its request to delay repayment of $26 billion.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:22 am Demand outlook positive: Wipro executiveWipro Ltd, India's No.3 software services exporter, sees a positive outlook for outsourcing demand.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:20 am Dubai World, creditors mull new date for December debtDubai: State-controlled Dubai World is discussing with its bank creditors a new date for $3.5 billion in debt maturing on 14 December, a Dubai newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing British bankers. Dubai World met the main creditors on Monday to discuss its request to delay repayment of $26 billion that shook global markets and confidence in the Gulf business hub. “The talks aim at finding a final solution and how to reschedule the debt due, the matter at hand now is a date of the debt maturing this month,” al-Bayan newspaper reported, citing the unidentified sources. London-listed Standard Chartered, HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, along with local lenders Emirates NBD and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank are on the creditors panel. The UAE central bank told local banks to report any exposure to Dubai World in a circular dated 6 December, bankers said on Monday. Dubai’s finance chief said on Monday that while Dubai World might sell some assets to finance its commitments, the government, which borrowed to transform the emirate from a desert backwater into the a major trading and tourism centre, would not make any disposals of its own. He said that Dubai’s government and Dubai World were not the same, suggesting the emirate’s most valuable firms like Emirates, Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) or its 21% London Stock Exchange stake would not be involved in a firesale. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:13 am Diamond hub Surat sparkles in India’s climate fightSurat: Vipul Tejani runs a small factory in Surat, the diamond capital of India which in the past 15 years has been hit by massive floods, rising sea levels, and even the plague. His workshop is tucked in a warren of small diamond cutting businesses and textile mills employing thousands of workers. Like three-quarters of the city, it was flooded by muddy waters reaching two storeys high in 2006. But in Surat, someone like Tejani does not see himself as another disaster statistic. With a smile on his face, he says: “I am not planning to shift from here.” Just next to India’s west coast, Surat is learning to live with big upheavals and now wants to become a front-runner in preparing for the impact of climate change in a country with fast-rising emissions but generally low environmental awareness. GPS technology is being used to map the city of 4 million, which will enable rescuers to pinpoint where relief should be sent and whom to evacuate first if the flood waters come rushing. Flood warnings appear on LCD screens on the streets. Every year, an action plan is prepared ahead of monsoon season. Rescue boats are kept at the ready at fire stations. Families are trained on basics such as what medicines to keep in the house or where to take vulnerable people like pregnant women. “Whether it’s in government or in the business community, there’s a remarkably high level of engagement,” said Ashvin Dayal, the Asia managing director for the Rockefeller Foundation. “The 2006 flood really consolidated in the minds of the citizens of the city the need for action. That’s not something you see commonly across most cities in India”, he added. TEST CASE The US-based foundation chose Surat as one of a handful of Asian cities in which to fund adaptation studies. Successful projects could then inspire other cities at risk. It joined hands with a local business lobby, the consulting film TARU in a climate umbrella group that has its own website and Facebook page. The stakes on adaptation are high for India, seen as one of the nations most at risk from a warmer planet. But change may not be easy with its rowdy democracy of more than 1.1 billion and daunting development statistics despite India’s global economic rise. Around 40% live on less than $1.25 a day and more than half are dependent on agriculture. Suruchi Bhadwal of the New Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute, said that the country must top up existing government schemes to keep pace with escalating climate risks. “In terms of climate change adaptation, there’s not much happening in India,” she said, adding: “Implementation and hardcore active research is missing.” Who should foot the bill for adaptation became a global debate ahead of the December global climate talks. Climate change will likely increase the intensity and frequency of extreme events the likes of which hit Surat, and leave India more vulnerable to floods, heatwaves, disease and erratic monsoon rains upon which its farmers rely. A government report said a 1 metre sea-level rise would flood nearly 6,000 sq km of India, which could cause significant population movements among 63 million people in low-lying areas—roughly the population of Britain. Surat could become a test case for India, the world’s fourth largest emitter. Jyoti Parikh, who sits on the prime minister’s climate change council, visited the city to scout out what lessons can be applied on a national level. “In some sense, it could become a laboratory or a best practice model for us,” she said. Surat’s highest tide on record came in 2008, and rainfall on its flood plain is predicted to increase in the coming decades. Tidal pulls cause creeks in Surat to surge in areas populated by slum dwellers unable to live elsewhere. One such slum is Kamrunagar, built on a sloping hill down to a filthy pool. On one small shop, one can see a faded red line and a date, one of many such markers dotted around the city which record the water level rise of particular floods. “We want to shift over there to protect ourselves from the floods,” said Sheikh Afsana Sheikh Yusuf, as children run around her in the slum and a small fire burns in a nearby skip. Over there is a government-funded block of flats next to the slum, built on stilts as a first defence against water level surges, one of many to shift thousands from flood-prone areas. Surat has come a long way from 1994, when poor flood cleanup caused a global health scare with an outbreak of deadly pneumonic plague that prompted hundreds of thousands to flee the city. Favourable comparisons are now made between the handling of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005 and the 2006 flood in the much more populous Surat, where seven times as many people, 3.5 million, were affected according to the Surat government. “The city was brought back to normal in two weeks’ time, where it took months to bring back New Orleans,” said Kamlesh Yagnik, the group chairman of the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, part of the climate group. “It tells us we are equal for flood management,” Yagnik said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:05 am SKF India (Rs 329.6): BuyWe recommend a buy in the stock of SKF India from a short-term horizon. It is apparent from the charts that in December 2008 it found long-term support around Rs 120 and changed its trend. Since then the stock has been on a steady long-termSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am India, Russia sign expanded N-pactRussia and India on Monday signed an agreement to expand nuclear cooperation. They also signed three militarySource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am ADAG group shares face rough weatherAnil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) stocks took a beating on the bourses on Monday as negative news regarding some of the group companies continued to pileSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Beware fraudsters on the prowl“Work for just three hours a day. You can earn up to Rs 15,000 a month. For details contact xxxxx. Mobile numberSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Booth-capturing at CA Institute pollsThe elections to the 21st Central Council and the 20th Regional Councils of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) ran into rough weather after a booth capturingSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Shortage of molasses hits alcohol-based chemical unitsA huge domestic molasses shortfall, combined with high global spirit prices, has rendered the operations of alcohol-based chemical manufacturersSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am United Breweries, Heineken bury the hatchetPutting an end to the long-standing dispute with its joint venture partner, United Breweries Ltd (UBL), Dutch beer-maker Heineken N.V. on Monday said it will acquire Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) India from its partners in Singapore and transferSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideThe near-term outlook is bearish for DLF. We recommend a sell with stop-loss at Rs 380. Initiate fresh short position only if ICICI Bank slips below Rs 849 and SBI dives below Rs 2,308 with tight stop-loss. Utilise rallies to sell Infosys withSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Advertisers not enthused by Team India's markThe Indian team's feat in bagging the No.1 slot in Test cricket after 77 years is unlikely to change the way advertisers view Test matches vis-à-vis other money-spinningSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am ‘Govt not forcing public sector banks on consolidation'The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, on Monday said that although mergers and acquisitions are needed in the interest of the economy, the Government was not forcing public sector banks (PSBs) to go in forSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Mahindra to roll out heavy truck in January - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Dec 2009 | 11:58 pm Carlyle, Apax Partners eye ICICI stake in 3i InfotechThe acquisition will require the buyer to launch a mandatory open offer for a further 20%from other shareholders.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 7 Dec 2009 | 11:47 pm NDTV sells stake in NDTV Imagine to Turner AsiaMumbai: New Delhi Television (NDTV) said on Tuesday it sold most of its indirect stake in NDTV Imagine Ltd to Turner Asia Pacific Ventures Inc in a deal worth $117 million. The deal involves sale of 76% stake held in NDTV Imagine via its unit, NDTV Networks Plc, for $67 million and also fresh issue of equity shares worth $50 million to Turner, NDTV said in a statement. The transaction is pending approval from board of Turner’s parent, Time Warner Inc, and regulatory approvals, it added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 11:28 pm ONGC to use Iran LNG facility for Farsi gas New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to use the facility, that Iran LNG is creating on southern Iranian coast, to liquefy the gas it will produce from the Farsi fields in the Persian Gulf. ONGC and its overseas subsidiary ONGC Videsh Ltd along with Hinduja Group and Petronet LNG last week agreed to take 20% stake in the $4.35 billion liquefied natural gas export facility Iran LNG is building at Tombak Port. “Though this plant is to turn gas produced from South Pars Phase-12 (SP-12) into liquid (LNG) for exports, we are looking at using it also for turning gas from the Farzad-B gas field in the Farsi block into LNG,” a company official said. OVL is the operator of the Farsi block with 40% interest, where it along with Indian Oil (40%) and Oil India (20%) has submitted a $5.5 billion plan to bring to production the Farzad-B gas find. “Our stake in Iran LNG can go up to 40%,” he said adding ONGC wanted to ship backhome 6-8 million tonnes a year of LNG to be produced from Farsi and SP-12 fields. OVL and Hinduja firm Ashok Leyland Projects Services (ALPS) last week signed agreements to take 40% stake in SP-12. Phase 12 is the largest of the 28 Phases in which the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf has been divided and will cost $7.5 billion. So far, Iran has agreed to give India up to 6 million tonnes per annum of LNG for its efforts in SP-12 and Farsi gas field. Iran does not give foreign firms ownership of oil and gas and instead pays a fixed fee on the investment made. The Indian company would, however, get LNG in return. The SP-12 field is to produce 3 billion cubic feet per day of gas, two-thirds of which is to be converted into LNG for exports. Gas from the SP-12 field would go to Iran LNG, which is building a $4.35 billion plant at Tombak Port by 2011, to turn it into liquid state so that it can be shipped in cryogenic vessels. The official said OVL had in April submitted a master development plan for gas discovery in the Farsi offshore block. The discovery, which was subsequently named Farzad-B gas field, has in-place reserves of up to 21.68 trillion cubic feet gas of which recoverable reserves may be 12.8 Tcf. The development of both SP-12 and Farzad-B fields would take 7-8 years. In the SP-12 field, Petropars—a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Co—would hold 40% while the remaining 20% would be with Sonangol of Angola. At 35 tcf, it contains almost 7% of reserves in the South Pars gas field. Iran LNG plant is being built at Tombak Port, about 50 km north of Assaluyeh in the Bushehr province. Work on the LNG plant started in 2007. The project includes two LNG trains each with 5.4 MT of LNG per annum capacity. The project is expected to be operational by January 2011. The liquefaction plant will be developed in two phases, each projected to produce 10.5 MT of LNG annually. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 11:21 pm US charges David Headley in 2008 Mumbai attackChicago: A Chicago man previously accused of plotting to attack a Danish newspaper was charged on Monday with scouting targets for a militant Pakistani group for the 2008 attack on Mumbai that killed 166 people. US prosecutors accused David Headley, the first American charged in the Mumbai plot, of performing surveillance for the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for the November 2008 Mumbai rampage on hotels and a Jewish centre. Among those killed were six Americans. He traveled to Mumbai five times between September 2006 and July 2008, taking pictures and video of some places hit in the attacks as well as the port where the attackers landed by boat, according to court documents. Headley, who is cooperating with prosecutors, was born in the United States but spent much of his childhood in Pakistan, where he was raised by his Pakistani father. A trial of seven Pakistanis accused of involvement in the Mumbai attacks is pending in a case that has strained India-Pakistan relations. The case also highlights recent concern expressed by some US officials about Americans who may want to carry out attacks while enjoying the freedom of movement US citizenship provides. FBI director Robert Mueller said in a statement the case represents the “global cooperation” evident in efforts to combat terrorism. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago said in a statement that the investigation could yield further suspects. “The team of prosecutors and agents will continue to seek charges against the other persons responsible for these attacks,” Fitzgerald said. Subsequent Plot Headley, 49, was arrested in October with a Pakistani-born Chicago man on charges they plotted to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and its employees over the 2005 publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. That incident outraged Muslims and sparked violent protests. In Headley’s luggage were surveillance videos taken in Denmark and an address book containing contact numbers. Among the contacts was a retired major in the Pakistani military, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, who US prosecutors accused of being Headley’s contact with Lashkar and another militant group to help plot the attacks against the newspaper, which were never carried out. Abdur Rehman was arrested earlier this year by Pakistani authorities and released. It was not immediately clear if US authorities will seek to extradite him on charges of conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country and providing material support for terrorism. After his trips to India, Headley traveled to Pakistan to turn over the results of his surveillance and, in early 2008, he took boat trips into the Mumbai harbor at the direction of his Lashkar contacts, according to court documents. In November 2008, 10 attackers launched their assault on various targets in Mumbai, including several where Headley had conducted surveillance, according to the documents. Targets scouted out by Headley included the Taj Mahal hotel, the Oberoi hotel, the Leopold Cafe, the Nariman House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station. He also scouted out a military school in India. In India, Headley opened a branch of the travel and immigration business owned by his accused co-conspirator in Chicago as a cover for his extensive travels, according to court papers. He also changed his name in 2006 from Daood Gilani so as not to appear Muslim or Pakistani. Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, who recently returned from an interfaith conference in Mumbai, said Headley was believed to have carried a book, “To Praise a Jew,” to ease his entry into the Jewish centre. “It would have been a clever move because they have extensive outreach. It’s a place where Jews come together,” Cooper said. A lawyer for Headley said the government’s filing spoke for itself and declined further comment. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 11:17 pm L&T Infra bags Rs844 cr order from NPCIL Mumbai: Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Tuesday said that its infrastructure arm has bagged a contract worth Rs844 crore from Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) for construction related works at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Project in Gujarat. L&T Infrastructure Operating Company, a part of company’s construction division, has secured contract for construction of buildings for reactors at atomic power project from NPCIL, L&T said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). “This is country’s first 700 MW pressurised heavy water reactor plant being developed by NPCIL and the company is proud to be associated with this prestigious project,” L&T president (construction) K.V. Rangaswami said. The scope of work includes construction of reactor building, waste management building and structural steel works. The project is to be completed in 49 months, the filing added. Shares of L&T were trading at Rs1,649 on BSE, up 0.69% from its previous close. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 11:10 pm Now, incentives for keeping tourist sites cleanMunicipality and village heads will soon have ample reason to keep tourist sites in their area spic and span. The government is planning to offer them incentives as it strives for 'a culture of clean destinations'.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2009 | 11:04 pm Sensex up 0.37 percent in early tradeA key Indian equities index rose 0.37 percent in early trade Tuesday with heavy weight stocks gaining.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2009 | 11:02 pm Japan govt unveils $81 bln economic stimulusTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government agreed on a 7.2 trillion yen ($81 billion) stimulus package on Tuesday, aiming to prevent the economy from tipping back into recession as deflation persists and a strong yen threatens exports.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Dec 2009 | 10:59 pm Sensex up 78 pts in opening tradeThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose 78 points in opening trade today on fresh buying by funds and retail investors in heavy-weight stocks led by Reliance Industries.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 10:40 pm Sensex regains 17,000-level in early tradeThe domestic stock market regained the 17,000-level in morning trade on Tuesday after market leader Reliance Ind led a smart rally.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 7 Dec 2009 | 10:31 pm AOL ends ties with Time Warner San Francisco: AOL is shaking loose from Time Warner Inc. and heading into the next decade the way it began this one, as an independent company. Unlike the 1990s, though, when AOL got rich selling dial-up internet access, it starts the 2010s as an underdog, trying to beef up its Web sites and grab more advertising revenue. Despite a few bright spots in its portfolio of sites, such as tech blog Engadget, AOL has a long way to go until web advertising can replace the revenue it still gets from selling dial-up internet access. One especially popular property, entertainment site TMZ, is a joint venture with a Time Warner unit that will keep TMZ and its revenue after AOL splits off. Now investors are getting a chance to place bets on AOL. On Wednesday, Time Warner shareholders as of 27 November will get one share of AOL for every 11 of their Time Warner shares. The next morning, AOL chief executive officer Tim Armstrong is set to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and AOL will begin trading under the ticker symbol of the same name the one it had when it was known as America Online and used $147 billion worth of its inflated stock to buy Time Warner in 2001. The parent company was even known as AOL Time Warner in the heyday. At the time, Time Warner thought its movie, TV and magazine content would benefit from ties with AOL’s Internet access business. The media conglomerate announced AOL’s spinoff in May after years of trying unsuccessfully to integrate the two companies. AOL will initially be worth about $2.5 billion, based on the value of preliminary AOL shares that have been trading ahead of the formal spinoff this week. AOL will have no debt, and the company is profitable, though falling perating income dropped 50% to $134 million in the third quarter compared with last year. In the past year, AOL hired Armstrong, a former Google advertising executive, to engineer a turnaround that eluded the company while it was part of Time Warner. In those years, AOL struggled to complete its transition away from relying on its dial-up business. The service peaked in 2002 with 26.7 million subscribers, and has declined steadily as consumers switched to broadband. In the third quarter, AOL had 5.4 million dial-up subscribers, who paid an average of $18.54 per month. Even with the decline, this business brought in $332 million during the quarter, or 43% of AOL’s total revenue. But that’s down from $1.8 billion, or 82% of revenue, during its peak quarter seven years earlier. Overall third-quarter revenue dropped 23% from last year to $777 million. AOL has tried to offset the fading service by moving away from its origins as a ‘walled garden’ with subscriber-only content to a network of online destinations with free material, supported by ads. AOL even began giving away AOL.com e-mail accounts. The results have been mixed. After initially showing promise, AOL’s ad revenue fell last year and in each of the first three quarters of this year. AOL’s advertising shortfall in the third quarter an 18% decline from the same period a year ago was much worse than the 5.4% drop in overall Web ad market, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Another problem, AOL’s more than 80 web sites are struggling to keep their viewers. In the third quarter, AOL’s network had 102 million unique visitors in the US, according to comScore, a 7% drop from 110 million a year ago. By contrast, Google and Yahoo both showed gains of more than 10%. AOL has responded partly with plans to shed up to 2,500 jobs, or more than a third of its employees, in an effort to save $300 million a year. That comes on top of thousands of other cuts in recent years and will leave the company at less than a quarter the size it was at its peak in 2004. The cost-cutting has allowed AOL to stay profitable despite shrinking revenue. AOL also is trying to produce online material far more cheaply. It plans to launch dozens of new sites next year and populate much of them with work done by freelancers. These freelancers will be paid by the post some with a flat rate, some with a share of revenue based on the amount of traffic the post generates. Ned May, an analyst with Outsell Inc., believes AOL can use this low-cost method to experiment with building lots of new sites and see what sticks with viewers. To stimulate the process, AOL is counting on a content-management system it calls Seed. It shows information about the kinds of things people are searching for online so that writers and editors can quickly create material people presumably want to read. “For example, a site might traditionally write about Halloween costumes in mid-September, but search data showed that people were looking for costumes in August,” said Bill Wilson, AOL’s head of media. “There was this whole window we were missing,” Wilson said. Gabelli & Co. analyst Christopher Marangi believes AOL will have to figure out how to better integrate social networking into its sites. AOL owns a social site called Bebo, which is popular overseas but gets about 6% as many visitors as Facebook does in the US, according to comScore data. Being its own company again means AOL will regain the freedom to use its resources solely for its own benefit, rather than worrying about how they fit into the Time Warner empire. If the stock performs well, it could become a currency AOL can use to snag employees and acquire other companies. Of course, now the world also will be able to more closely follow whether AOL is making progress on its strategy. “That may be a challenge, but I think it’s a challenge we knew we were signing up for whether we were public or private,” Armstrong said. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 9:43 pm Yahoo launches online consumer privacy tool Washington: A new online tool from Yahoo Inc. will let users see and edit the personal profiles that the internet company compiles about them to target Internet advertising. Yahoo’s new Ad Interest Manager, released in test form on Monday, is part of a broader industry push toward self-regulation amid mounting concerns about online privacy in Washington. The new tool allows consumers to see a summary of their online activities, including a list of the web-pages they visit and online services they use, such as e-mail and personal finance channels. It also lists a consumer’s areas of interest, with categories such as consumer packaged goods, debt consolidation and automotive. Consumers can modify their preferences and decline particular types of targeted pitches. It also lets consumers turn off targeted advertising altogether with the click of a bright yellow ‘Opt Out’ link. Users won’t be rejecting ads altogether, though; at most, behaviorally targeted ads would be replaced with others that aren’t tied to personal surfing habits. In the past, users were able to rejected targeted ads, but they weren’t able to edit and modify their personal preferences, for instance, saying ‘no’ only to ads for video games or ads with a health focus. “Up until now, it has been an all-or-nothing choice,” said Amber Allman, a Yahoo spokeswomen. “But now consumers can see the different choices have and it gives them context and more transparency,” Allman said. The launch coincided with a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) conference on Monday about behavioral advertising, a practice used by Internet marketers to target ads by tracking where people go and what they do online. The FTC released a set of self-regulatory guidelines for the internet advertising industry this year. Those guidelines urge online marketers to give consumers clear notice of the information that is being collected about them and how it is being used, as well as the opportunity to remove themselves from data collection. Congress, meanwhile, is drafting legislation that would mandate such privacy obligations for web sites and online advertisers. But many Internet publishers and advertisers argue that self-regulation offers a better approach for managing an industry evolving as quickly as online advertising. Yahoo’s new tool offers one such model for self-regulation. The rollout of the new tool follows last week’s launch by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) of an online campaign to educate consumers about how Internet advertising works. The IAB represents many leading Internet publishers and digital marketing services, including Yahoo and Google Inc. Among other things, IAB’s ‘Privacy Matters’ web site offers explanations of demographic targeting, interest group targeting and data-tracking files known as cookies. The site also informs consumers how they can control the information collected about them by changing their cookies settings. A number of IAB members, including Yahoo, are running banner spots on their web-pages linking back to the page. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 9:26 pm EXCLUSIVE - Citi, U.S. disagree over capital for TARP exitNEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc and the U.S. government disagree over how much the bank should raise to repay taxpayers and talks may not finish for weeks or even months, people briefed on the matter said on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Dec 2009 | 8:56 pm Google upgrades search technologyGoogle unveiled new features for its signature search tools on Monday, including an ability to search by sight, a mobile translator and a real-time search of more than 1 billion new social media pages created every day.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 7:47 pm Cheaper bank bail outs lead Obama to weigh job spendingUS President Barack Obama is mulling whether to inject more public funds into the struggling jobs market in the US, taking advantage of the less-than-expected cost of financial bail-outs over the past year.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 7:45 pm No direction to nationalised banks about merger: PranabPranab Mukherjee on Monday rejected suggestions that mergers and amalgamation between nationalised banks at different levels were happening at the instance of the government.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 7 Dec 2009 | 2:34 pm Chinese power equipment imports rising: GovtMinister of state for power Bharatsinh Solanki on Monday told the Rajya Sabha that import of power generation equipment from China has increased.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 7 Dec 2009 | 2:32 pm The quest is to create enhanced lifestyle not develop cheap productsRatan Tata speaks to HT on Swach, the new water purifier from his group.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 1:22 pm A Rs 749 water purifier from TatasSmall is truly beautiful for the Tatas. After launching the world’s cheapest car, the Nano, they are set to launch Swach, a Rs 749 water purifier that blends environment-friendly material such as paddy husk ash with germ-fighting nanotechnology to offer affordable potable water, reports Lalatendu Mishra.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 1:09 pm UB, Heineken resolve disputesUnited Breweries (UB) and Heineken announced jointly on Monday that the two had resolved the differences that had emerged between them following the Dutch brewer getting a 37% stake in Vijay Mallya's company early last year.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 7 Dec 2009 | 12:44 pm BSNL slashes roaming rates to 1 paise/secJoining the the telecom tariff war, state-run BSNL on Monday slashed its national roaming charges and offered two options - 49 paise per minute or one paise per second.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 7 Dec 2009 | 12:42 pm Satyam effect? Chairman of PwC India steps downAlmost a year after it was rattled by the Satyam scam, auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers on Monday announced a sudden change of leadership of India operations as its chairman Ramesh Rajan stepped down prematurely to make way for Gautam Banerjee, who takes over from Singapore with immediate effect.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 7 Dec 2009 | 12:40 pm OVL eyes stake in Ghana fieldOil minister Murli Deora made a renewed push to open doors for Indian state-run firms in the African oil industry by offering to invest in building new refineries in return for gas and equity in oil fields, even as ONGC Videsh is vying for a stake in a lucrative acreage in Ghana.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 7 Dec 2009 | 12:38 pm Rs 20,871cr oil bonds soughtThe oil ministry has sought special bonds worth Rs 20,871 crore to make up losses suffered by state-run retailers on fuel sales in the three quarters of the ongoing fiscal.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 7 Dec 2009 | 12:36 pm After Nano, Tatas' water purifier at Rs 1kTata Chemicals on Monday unveiled a water purifier named 'Swach' under the Rs 1,000 price tag.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 7 Dec 2009 | 12:34 pm Essential drugs list to be expandedThe government closely monitors the prices of these essential medicines and is in the process of bringing them under price control.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 12:27 pm UB, Heineken toast a tie-upEnding an almost two-year-long dispute over partnership with the Vijay-Mallya owned United Breweries Ltd (UBL), Heineken NV, the world's third-largest brewery firm, today agreed to permit UBL to brew and market the Heineken brand in India.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 12:25 pm L 'sensors' climate changeGameplan simple: Aim for higher reduction than the government has committed.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 11:44 am ONGC planning to build refinery in NigeriaONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of India's state-run oil exploration major Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), is planning to set up a greenfield refinery in Nigeria.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2009 | 11:03 am Nokia to fund four Indian software developersFinnish mobile handset major Nokia will fund four Indian software developers under its $10-million joint open screen project fund with Adobe for developing multi-screen infotainment applications, a company official said Monday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2009 | 11:02 am IOC to invest Rs 1 500 croreIndian Oil Corporation (IOC) will settle for a stake of 26 or 49 per cent in the Rs 10,000 crore nuclear power project it will set up in collaboration with the Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL).Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 10:57 am R MediaWorks ropes in US partner for 3DReliance MediaWorks, earlier known as Adlabs Films, has partnered the Los Angeles based In-Three to set up a facility in Mumbai dedicated to the conversion of 2D films and videos into 3D.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 10:54 am PNB bid to buy out Principal in 2 JVsState-owned Punjab National Bank is in talks with US-based partner Principal Financial to buy out the latter’s stake in two of their joint ventures, PNB Principal Insurance Broking and Principal Financial Planning. But PNB has decided to continue a third JV, Principal PNB Asset Management Company.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 10:51 am Consolidation has to take place in telecomWhile new telecom service providers have kicked off a price war in the competitive market, established players are feeling the pinch. Sanjay Kapoor, the deputy Chief Executive Officer of Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest telephone service firm, spoke to Hindustan Times on the charged scenario.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Dec 2009 | 10:48 am UB set to brew and market HeinekenBangalore: Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries Ltd (UBL) and Heineken NV, the world’s third largest brewer, unveiled an agreement on Monday under which UBL will brew and sell the Dutch company’s brands in India, marking the end of a prolonged dispute. In a complicated series of transactions, Heineken will buy APB India Ltd from Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd, its joint venture with Singapore-based Fraser and Neave Ltd, and transfer it in 2010 to UBL, in which it has a 37.5% stake. That will remove the sticky point of Heineken being present in India through two entities. Under the agreement, UBL will brew and market the beer brands Heineken and Cannon 10000 in India, and Heineken will make and sell the Indian company’s largest selling beer brand, Kingfisher, in overseas markets. “Kingfisher and Heineken will be a potent combination,” said Mallya, chairman of the UB group, in a conference call from London. Heineken took its stake in UBL when it and Carlsberg A/S jointly bought Scottish and Newcastle Plc for £7.8 billion (Rs59,826 crore now) in April 2008, but Mallya and the other UBL joint venture partners contested the move in legal proceedings. UBL said on Monday that it will withdraw the legal cases against Heineken over shareholder rights. “It will be good for UB to have an international brand like Heineken in its portfolio and Heineken will benefit greatly through UB’s distribution network,” said an analyst from an international brokerage who didn’t want to be named citing his company policy. UBL shares closed on Monday 4.73% higher at Rs191.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Mallya hopes to sell Heineken in India by the summer of 2010. He added that UBL would receive a standard brewing and licensing fee from Heineken, declining to disclose specifics. The arrangement will have no bearing on the shareholding pattern of UBL. Asia Pacific Breweries, a 78-year-old joint venture between Heineken and Fraser and Neave, is Heineken’s arm in the Asia-Pacific region. APB India sells beer brands Tiger, Cannon 10000 and Heineken in India and has brewing facilities in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh with a capacity to brew 460,000 hectolitres a year. UBL will also have the option to review whether it wishes to brew and sell the Tiger brand in India; this is yet to be finalized as Asia Pacific Breweries owns the brand. The two breweries will be integrated into UBL in 2010 and Asia Pacific Breweries has agreed not to re-enter the Indian market. UB, which sold at least 82 million cases of beer in the year to March, owns 15 breweries and has contract arrangements with seven more. The arrangement has also given Heineken more say in running UBL. Heineken nominee Guido de Boer has been appointed chief financial officer and executive director at UB and two more members from the Heineken top management, René Hooft Graafland and Siep Hiemstra, have become non-executive directors on the UB board. This is on a par with the rights enjoyed by the previous shareholder, Scottish and Newcastle. Heineken, which has 125 breweries in more than 70 countries has a negligible presence in India, selling mostly through duty-free retail. But the company sees potential for growth in the Indian beer market, where annual per capita consumption is just around 1.3 litres, compared with more than 50 litres in developed markets. “For us, India is the last frontier for beer growth. The market will grow for the next 10-20 years,” said Jean-François van Boxmeer, chairman of the executive board and CEO of Heineken, in the conference call. UBL, which has a 48% market share in the Indian beer market, has a small presence overseas with brewing facilities in the UK, US and New Zealand. “UB’s international revenues are small and growing. We seek to ramp it up significantly through exports and local brewing arrangements in Heineken’s facilities,” said Mallya. Reuters contributed to this story. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 10:25 am Big paydays for rescuers in the crisis The white knights that came to the rescue of banks during the financial crisis are going home, with their pockets full of bounty from their good deeds.  Profitable avenue: A file photo of pedestrians passing by Citigroup’s headquarters, New York. The Kuwait Investment Authority said on Sunday it had netted a $1.1 billion profit on its stake sale in Citigroup Inc. Jeremy Bales / Bloomberg In the latest announcement, Kuwait’s SWF said on Sunday that it had booked a $1.1 billion (Rs5,104 crore today) profit on the stake it took in Citigroup Inc. in January 2008. That equals a 37% annualized return on its initial $3 billion investment, which was converted into common stock from preferred shares. Other SWFs—including those backed by the governments of Singapore, Qatar and Abu Dhabi—have also recently cashed out stakes in foreign banks for comparably large gains. The hefty returns highlight how some savvy government funds have been able to profit from the financial crisis, even as most ordinary investors have been pummelled by billions of dollars of losses. It also calls into question whether such funds will act as long-term investors, as many initially suggested, or merely short-term profiteers. Many SWFs invested in the early days of the crisis as banks scrambled to find investors willing to plough in money and exacted lucrative terms. (Swings through Asia and West Asia were so common that bankers coined the phrase “Shanghai, Mumbai, Dubai, Goodbye” to describe their fund-raising tours.) But as financial stocks continued to plummet last year, the so-called smart money supplied by foreign governments no longer looked so sure. Now, as bank shares have rebounded faster than most analysts had projected and governments face internal political pressure at home, the funds are racing to lock in gains. The Government of Singapore Investment Corp. Pte Ltd (GIC), an investment arm of Singapore’s government, had said in September that it turned a $1.6 billion profit by selling about half of its stake in Citigroup. In June, the International Petroleum Investment Co., which is wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi government, had said it would sell a big part of its investment in British bank Barclays Plc, making a profit of roughly £2 billion (Rs15,340 crore today) on a £2 billion investment. In October, the Qatar SWF had said it was selling a part of its stake in Barclays, also at a healthy profit. The great unravelling by foreign governments may put additional pressure on the US government to begin exiting its bank investments, too. Bank of America Corp. had said last week that it expected permission from regulators to soon repay the $45 billion in taxpayer money it received. Citigroup, in which the government holds $20 billion of preferred shares and nearly a 34% ownership stake, has made paying back the government a priority, but has not reached a deal with the US treasury department for repayment. Of course, not every bank investment has been a winner. The China Investment Corp. lost $2 billion from an ill-fated stock investment in Bear Stearns Companies Inc., and its $3 billion investment before the initial public offering of the Blackstone Group Lp quickly turned south. Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, another SWF backed by the Singapore government replaced its leadership team and overhauled its investment strategy after big bets on Barclays and Merrill Lynch and Co. Inc. did not do well. Mohamed El-Erian, chief of Pimco, said the big SWFs have rebounded strongly this year as the markets and banks, and hence their portfolios, have recovered. He said the funds’ large size meant they did not have to sell when the value of their stakes was falling and are now taking advantage of better markets to sell their investments. “They didn’t panic into selling at the bottom of the market,” he said. “And now they can sell.” “Being long-term investors with stable capital, they are much less subject to the risk of forced sales,” El-Erian said by email message. “Accordingly, they have both the ability and willingness to ride out large market volatility.” He said data was limited on the specifics of how the big SWFs have fared through the crisis. Norway, one of the few such funds that provides regular data and has invested in financial firms through its general financial investments, has reported that it is having a strong year. Still, the decision by the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) to sell its stake in Citigroup came as somewhat of a surprise. It invested about $3 billion in Citigroup in January 2008 alongside other prominent investors, including Adia, GIC, the New Jersey Division of Investment, and Citigroup’s founder Sanford I. Weill. Around the same time, the authority put $2 billion into Merrill Lynch, the troubled brokerage house taken over by Bank of America last year. In September, KIA had said that it had no immediate plans to sell its investments in Citigroup or Bank of America because its financial strategy was based “on a long-term vision”. ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES Graham Bowley contributed to this story. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 9:50 am Bangalore firm gives digital life to cookie monster and friendsBangalore: Muppets of the American television series Sesame Street will come alive in digital books in the US on Tuesday, their format and technology driven by a little-known Bangalore-based publishing outsourcer, Impelsys Inc. The company will also sell the e-books based on the popular kids’ series online, marking its debut as an e-retailer in a fast-growing industry. That’s a big jump for a firm that started off in 2001 making compact discs, or CDs, to go with textbooks—by scanning hardbound copies on to a storage device for textbook publishers—at its Bangalore technology centre.  Business model: Impelsys team-members Kiran Kishan Singh,Vipin Chandran, Ulhas Anand and Sachin Nayak at its technology centre, Bangalore. The firm earns annual revenue of $10 mn from publishing. Hemant Mishra/Mint “The effort is to create our own IP (intellectual property), not just be a service provider,” said Sameer Sharif, chief executive of Impelsys, in a telephone interview. “There is a huge shift globally from print to electronic; we can leverage this transition.” Impelsys currently earns nearly $10 million (Rs46.4 crore) a year in revenue from just publishing. Other publishing firms such as Aptara Inc., which has development centres in India, too, have built technologies for delivering digital content online as well as for e-readers, hand-held devices for reading e-books. A spokesperson for Aptara could not be reached on Monday. “Producing e-books is just a natural extension of their capabilities,” said Vivek Shenoy, an analyst with ValueNotes Database Pvt. Ltd, a research firm. “E-books are emerging as a new revenue channel for publishers worldwide.” Indian service providers, however, need to offer peripheral services such as digital rights management and online distribution services to augment their current e-book offerings, Shenoy said. The Indian publishing outsourcing industry, which remotely designs and lays out textbooks, legal publishing and other material such as corporate brochures, is expected to grow to $1.2 billion by 2012 from $660 million in 2008, according to a May note by the Pune-based ValueNotes Database. It did not have an estimate specifically for e-books. India currently employs around 35,000 professionals in the publishing outsourcing space and the number is expected to grow to 55,000 by 2012, it said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 9:43 am 'India, US close to settling nonproliferation assurance issue'India and the US are near to settling differences over certain contentious regulations of the US Energy Department, which sought 'nonproliferation assurance' from New Delhi to take forward the civil nuclear trade.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2009 | 9:00 am Facebook forms advisory board for online safety issuesNew York: Social networking site Facebook has formed an advisory board comprising five internet safety organisations for consultations on online safety issues. The five entities from North America and Europe would act as a consultative group to the networking site on issues related to online safety. “Facebook plans to regularly meet with board members to review the existing safety resources it provides its users, develop new materials, and seek advice on general safety best practices on an ongoing basis,” the networking site said in a statement on Sunday. The five entities are Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, Childnet International and The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI). Facebook said that it might increase the number of members, to broaden international representation on the board. “The formation of a board to advise specifically on safety issues is a positive, innovative and collaborative step towards creating a more robust safety environment,” Elliot Schrage, vice-president of Global Communications and Public Policy at Facebook said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 8:12 am High prices in Kerala kick off political blame gameWith prices of essential items sky rocketing in Kerala, rival political fronts in the state have started blaming each other for it.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2009 | 7:06 am No plans to import rice immediately, says governmentThere is no immediate need to import rice as the country has enough stocks to manage demand, the government said Monday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 7 Dec 2009 | 7:04 am Cadbury to post formal response to Kraft’s offer on 14 DecLondon: Cadbury PLC said Monday it plans to publish its formal response to a £9.8 billion ($16.3 billion) hostile takeover offer from Kraft Foods Inc. on 14 December. Kraft, the maker of Oreo cookies, Nabisco crackers and its namesake cheese, took the offer straight to shareholders of the British candy company on Friday. In doing so, it bypassed the Cadbury board, which had already rejected an almost identical offer last month as “derisory.” London-based Cadbury noted that it is prohibited under US securities law from making any further statement until it issues its formal response, which it said will be released alongside its previously scheduled trading update next Monday. Kraft’s move to take the offer, which includes 300 pence in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share, directly to shareholders started the clock on a series of regulatory deadlines to get the majority support it needs. It may also flush out rival bids and gives the US company some wiggle room to increase its own offer should competition emerge. Cadbury, the maker of Dairy Milk chocolate and Dentyne gum, is an attractive acquisition. As one of the world’s largest confectionary companies, it has strong international reach with a key presence in emerging markets. US chocolate maker The Hershey Co. and Italy’s Ferrero International SA have said they are considering an offer, but have not yet shown their hand. Analysts have also suggested that Nestle SA may be interested, although the Swiss company has made no comment. Bidders face some strong opposition to the potential loss of the 195-year-old company’s independence. At least one member of Cadbury’s founding family has spoken out against it and the country’s leading labor union is yet to be appeased about potential job losses. Kraft has said it wants to get the majority shareholder votes by 5 January, but it can take until February to complete the process under regulations. Shares in Cadbury, which have shot up in recent weeks on the prospect of a bidding war, were down 0.6% at 790 pence on Monday. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 5:02 am Dubai World may sell assets to part finance debtDubai: Dubai World will sell some of its assets to part finance its $26 billion debt, a senior city-state official said amid a sharp fall in the main stock exchanges in the United Arab Emirates on Monday. The director-general of Dubai’s department of finance, Abdul Rahman Al Saleh, told the Al Jazeera television channel that the government will not sell any of its assets to bail out the conglomerate. He said the company will overcome its credit problems by restructuring the debts and selling its own assets. Al Saleh said the Dubai Financial Support Fund could extend support to Dubai World if needed. He said Dubai World’s and Nakheel’s problems originated from short-term lending on long-term projects. “It doesn’t work, especially in a volatile market situation. Most of Dubai World’s and Nakheel’s projects are of strategic importance and long-term. You can’t develop them through short-term borrowing,” Al Saleh said. The Dubai Financial Market slumped by more than 5% and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange dropped by 1.73% after yesterday’s rise from last week’s gains. Kuwait’s stock market was also down 0.79%. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 7 Dec 2009 | 4:25 am
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