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Spike in commodity prices won\'t derail mkts: MS BangaGrowing jobless list for over a year has now eaten American consumers ability to spend. With US consumption being the engine of global growth, the last two years recession has altered the equation forever.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Dec 2009 | 6:31 am US froze $2 billion held for Iran in CitibankA US court last year secretly froze more than USD2 billion allegedly held for Iran in Citigroup Inc accounts.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Dec 2009 | 6:31 am Have Travellers \'Chequed\' out?Travellers cheques (TCs) date back to the end of the 19th century with American Express and Thomas Cook as the first issuers. Thomas Cook had issued a precursor to the TC, Cooks Circular Note, in 1874 in New York.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Dec 2009 | 5:10 am Apple sues Nokia over cellphone technology!Apple has sued Nokia for allegedly infringing on 13 patents, less than two months after the Finnish cellphone giant charged in a lawsuit that Apple`s iPhone violated 10 of its patents.Source: Zee News : Business | 12 Dec 2009 | 5:10 am Tata Nano to be featured at New York design museum!The Tata Nano, designed to be the world`s most affordable car, will be on view at prestigious Smithsonian`s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York`s from February 18 through April 25 next year.Source: Zee News : Business | 12 Dec 2009 | 5:10 am Godrej Properties IPO subscribed nearly 4 times !Godrej Properties Ltd`s Rs 500-crore public offer has received good response from investors and the issue got subscribed nearly four times on the final day of subscription on Friday.Source: Zee News : Business | 12 Dec 2009 | 5:10 am US House passes Bill to fend off Wall Street failures!The House passed the most ambitious restructuring of federal financial regulations since the New Deal on Friday, aiming to head off any replay of last year`s Wall Street failures that plunged the nation deep into recession.Source: Zee News : Business | 12 Dec 2009 | 5:10 am Iraq oil auction: Shell wins giant field!Royal Dutch Shell and Malaysia`s Petronas on Friday won the rights to develop one of the world`s largest remaining untapped oilfields as Iraq staged its second auction of oil contracts since the 2003 US invasion.Source: Zee News : Business | 12 Dec 2009 | 5:10 am US pay czar caps 2nd-tier pay at bailout companies!The US pay czar on Friday expanded a crackdown on pay packages at bailout recipients, ruling that cash salaries will be mostly limited to $500,000 for a second-tier of top earners.Source: Zee News : Business | 12 Dec 2009 | 5:10 am Govt scouts for lead-managers for NMDC sell-off!Taking the disinvestment process in iron ore producer NMDC forward, the government today invited applications for appointment of lead managers to advise it on the timing of the public issue, among other aspects.Source: Zee News : Business | 12 Dec 2009 | 5:10 am US, Japan forge open skies agreement!The US and Japan have reached a landmark agreement to relax limits on flights between the two countries.Source: Zee News : Business | 12 Dec 2009 | 5:10 am Forex reserves up at USD 287.37 bn!India`s foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 651 million for the week ended December 4 to USD 287.374 billion from USD 286.723 billion in the previous week.Source: Zee News : Business | 12 Dec 2009 | 5:10 am Indian high tariffs cost US farmers millions: US study !American farmers and food product maker lose millions of dollars each year in lost sales to India because of high tariffs and non-tariff measures, an official US report has said.Source: Zee News : Business | 12 Dec 2009 | 5:10 am Marico to hold prices despite rise in input costsPersonal care products maker Marico Ltd has seen raw material costs rising since October, but the firm will hold its product prices for now, its chairman said on Friday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Dec 2009 | 4:11 am Cotton farmers cut sales on price rise hopesIndia\'s cotton supply is likely to be tight in the next few weeks as farmers in most states are stocking their produce, hoping that prices will rise further, growers and traders said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Dec 2009 | 4:11 am Reservoirs swell; crops and power to gainWater levels in India\'s main reservoirs rose above average on Thursday, the first time since end July, reducing the risk to the wheat and rapeseed crops from a failed monsoon and boosting hydro power supply.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Dec 2009 | 4:11 am IOC unit to reopen by year end: SourceStaterun Indian Oil Corp expects to reopen its 40,000 bpd crude unit by endDecember after a maintenance shut down at its Koyali refinery in western Gujarat state, a company source said on Friday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Dec 2009 | 4:11 am Indian barriers cost US farmers millions: US studyUS farmers and food manufacturers lose millions of dollars in sales to India each year because of that country\'s high tariffs and other trade barriers, a US trade panel said on Friday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Dec 2009 | 4:11 am Delhi Metro begins trial runs on Anand Vihar line - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 12 Dec 2009 | 3:23 am Volkswagen Aims to Capture 10% of India's Car Market - Bloomberg
Source: Business - Google News | 12 Dec 2009 | 3:07 am Reddy brothers in trouble; CBI raids mining co in Bellary - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 12 Dec 2009 | 2:25 am Apple hits back against Nokia in patent rowNew York: Apple, maker of the iconic iPhone, hit back in a legal row on 12 December with Nokia and countersued the Finnish telecoms giant, alleging it had breached 13 Apple patents. Apple accused Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, of infringing the patents held by the Cupertino, California company without specifying which technologies or appliances had been targeted. “Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours,” Apple vice president Bruce Sewell said in a brief statement. The move came after Nokia in October accused its US rival of infringing 10 Nokia mobile phone technology patents with the iPhone. According to Nokia, the patents cover “wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and are infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007.” Ilkka Rahnasto, deputy head of Nokia’s legal department, accused Apple at the time of “attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation.” Nokia filed the complaint against Apple with a federal court in the eastern state of Delaware. Apple did not say where it had countersued Nokia and did not immediately reply to a query from AFP about the venue. Nokia posted its first quarterly loss in a decade in October amid falling sales. Analysts said the poor results were partly due to the growing popularity of the iPhone and Research in Motion’s Blackberry over Nokia models. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Dec 2009 | 1:21 am Apple hits back against Nokia in patent rowNew York: Apple, maker of the iconic iPhone, hit back in a legal row on 12 December with Nokia and countersued the Finnish telecoms giant, alleging it had breached 13 Apple patents. Apple accused Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, of infringing the patents held by the Cupertino, California company without specifying which technologies or appliances had been targeted. “Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours,” Apple vice president Bruce Sewell said in a brief statement. The move came after Nokia in October accused its US rival of infringing 10 Nokia mobile phone technology patents with the iPhone. According to Nokia, the patents cover “wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and are infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007.” Ilkka Rahnasto, deputy head of Nokia’s legal department, accused Apple at the time of “attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation.” Nokia filed the complaint against Apple with a federal court in the eastern state of Delaware. Apple did not say where it had countersued Nokia and did not immediately reply to a query from AFP about the venue. Nokia posted its first quarterly loss in a decade in October amid falling sales. Analysts said the poor results were partly due to the growing popularity of the iPhone and Research in Motion’s Blackberry over Nokia models. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 12 Dec 2009 | 1:21 am Citigroup sued by Terra Firma over purchase of music businessBritish private equity firm Terra Firma accused Citigroup Inc of fraud and sued the bank for billions in damages in connection with Terra Firma's purchase of music business EMI Group in 2007.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Dec 2009 | 1:04 am Petronas, Japex wins Iraq's Gharaf oilfield dealBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Petronas of Malaysia and Japan's Japex won a deal to develop Iraq's Gharaf oilfield on Saturday, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said, in the country's second bidding round since the 2003 U.S. invasion.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 Dec 2009 | 1:01 am India’s high tariffs impedes agricultural imports from USWashington: American farmers and food product maker lose millions of dollars each year in lost sales to India because of high tariffs and non-tariff measures, which raise the cost or prohibit agricultural exports to the country, says a report. The report “India: Effects of Tariffs and Non Tariff Measures on US Agricultural Exports” was released by the US International Trade Commission (USITC), an independent, non- partisan fact finding federal agency, at the request of the Senate Committee on Finance. “Indian WTO bound tariff rates on agricultural products, averaging 114%, are among the highest in the world. The majority of rates are between 50-150%, much higher than the average bound rates for other major developing countries such as Brazil and China,” the report said. Noting that though average applied farm tariff rates have declined significantly from 113% in 1991, prior to Indian economic liberalization, to about 34% in 2007, USITC said they are still remain among the highest globally. The gap between high bound rates and lower applied rates allows India to vary its tariff rates frequently and substantially on some commodities, which creates uncertainty for US agricultural exporters, it said. USITC said despite the size of the Indian market, inefficiencies in its marketing and distribution system due to high government interventions, poor quality and inadequate infrastructure, make it less attractive for US farm producers. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:41 am India not to budge on basic climate positions: RameshCopenhagen: India will not compromise on its basic positions on climate change while playing a constructive role for evolving an effective and equitable global pact on emission cuts, environment minister Jairam Ramesh has said. On his first day at the climate meet here, Ramesh also said India’s national voluntary domestic measures to tackle global warming were not up for international scrutiny and progress on these would be checked by country’s Parliament. Ramesh told journalists here that his discussions were focused on the various drafts of potential treaty from the Working Groups on Kyoto, the African group and Alliance of Island States (AOSIS) that have been circulating at the climate meet here. “In all these discussions I have had ... the basic objective was to highlight not only what India has done in recent weeks pro-actively, voluntarily but also to underscore the basic positions India will not compromise on even as it engages in constructive negotiations,” he said. While ruling out any dilution of previously-stated “red lines” drawn by India, the minister also made it clear that it will not agree to the concept of “peaking” year as it will adversely impact the development of rural electricity in the country which is already facing a huge backlog in this area. India has asserted that every individual has a right to an equal atmospheric space and feels the rich countries are trying to deny this to poorer populations of Asia and Africa. It says there cannot be an international treaty which creates a group of haves and have-nots. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:33 am US froze $2 bn held for Iran in CitibankWashington: A US court last year secretly froze more than $2 billion allegedly held for Iran in Citigroup Inc accounts, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing legal documents. The US district court for the southern district of New York, acting in part on information provided by the US treasury department, ordered Citibank to freeze the money in June 2008, the newspaper said. The money is in accounts held by Luxembourg’s Clearstream Banking AG, a subsidiary of Germany’s Deutsche Boerse AG, the newspaper said. Citibank, Clearstream and the Iranian government declined to comment, the Journal said. Clearstream has denied holding funds for Iran according to court documents cited by the newspaper, and is fighting to get the funds released. US firms are forbidden from doing business with Iran. There is no indication Citibank knew the funds could have belonged to Iran, the newspaper said. The money is part of a battle between the families of US marines killed or injured in a 1983 bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that a US court ruled was organized by Iran. In 2007, a judge ordered Tehran to pay the victims’ families $2.7 billion in compensation. Lawyers for the families seeking compensation subpoenaed the Treasury Department to find information about Iranian assets held in the United States, which led to a secret court order to freeze Clearstream’s accounts at Citibank, the newspaper said. “I was stunned when this money popped up in New York,” Steven Perles, a lawyer representing the victims’ families, told the Journal. The case comes as Obama administration weighs whether to pursue more sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:24 am US froze $2 bn held for Iran in CitibankWashington: A US court last year secretly froze more than $2 billion allegedly held for Iran in Citigroup Inc accounts, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing legal documents. The US district court for the southern district of New York, acting in part on information provided by the US treasury department, ordered Citibank to freeze the money in June 2008, the newspaper said. The money is in accounts held by Luxembourg’s Clearstream Banking AG, a subsidiary of Germany’s Deutsche Boerse AG, the newspaper said. Citibank, Clearstream and the Iranian government declined to comment, the Journal said. Clearstream has denied holding funds for Iran according to court documents cited by the newspaper, and is fighting to get the funds released. US firms are forbidden from doing business with Iran. There is no indication Citibank knew the funds could have belonged to Iran, the newspaper said. The money is part of a battle between the families of US marines killed or injured in a 1983 bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that a US court ruled was organized by Iran. In 2007, a judge ordered Tehran to pay the victims’ families $2.7 billion in compensation. Lawyers for the families seeking compensation subpoenaed the Treasury Department to find information about Iranian assets held in the United States, which led to a secret court order to freeze Clearstream’s accounts at Citibank, the newspaper said. “I was stunned when this money popped up in New York,” Steven Perles, a lawyer representing the victims’ families, told the Journal. The case comes as Obama administration weighs whether to pursue more sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:24 am U.S. froze $2 bln held for Iran in Citibank - reportWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. court last year secretly froze more than $2 billion allegedly held for Iran in Citigroup Inc accounts, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing legal documents.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:22 am Market flat at the weekend set to consolidate above 17KThe market is set to consolidate above the 17,000 psychological-level in stock-specific trade in the next few days as the Sensex and Nifty ended flat after hitting 8-week intra-trade high in the week under review.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:16 am Infosys sets up US unit to bid for govt dealsInfosys Technologies, India\'s secondlargest software services exporter, has set up a wholly owned unit in the United States to win outsourcing deals from government departments, a senior official said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:04 am China-made modems to run Railway officials' computersTeracom Ltd, backed by Chinese equipment maker ZTE, has bagged a contract for supplying equipment for offering broadband services to 30,000 Railway officials across theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Shipping stocks stare at correction as benchmark swings downShipping stocks are in a correction mode as the global spot rate benchmark, Baltic Dry Index, underwent a sharp downwardSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am The Telangana Game as Kuhn's PokerThe Centre has surprised everyone with its startling new Telangana strategy. It has suddenly, and without any warning, conceded the demand for carving out the new state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. To understand what it is up to one mustSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Govt starts process to divest 8% in NMDCThe Government has initiated the process of divesting a further 8.38 per cent stake in National Mineral Development Corporation through a fresh public offering in the domestic market. The Government holds about 98.38 per cent shareholding in theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Industrial growth crosses 10% in OctIndian industry registered a growth rate of 10.3 per cent in October, providing further evidence of a sustained recovery under way since the second quarter of the currentSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am No proposal to impose tax on capital inflows: PranabThe Government on Friday said that there was no proposal to tax capital inflows into the stock markets just as Brazil had doneSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am No new skyscrapers in Mumbai till water project is completedThe Mumbai real estate market, which is just about getting back on track after the economic slowdown, is now headed for a biggerSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Kerosene, LPG losses may hit oil majors badly in Q3Mounting losses on kerosene and cooking gas (LPG) are threatening to sink IndianOil, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation in the third quarter of thisSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Post office deposits surge on interest, safety scoresAt a time when banks are cutting deposit rates to protect their margins, the prospect of rock steady interest rates coupled with assurance of safety of the principal is leading the common man to park a chunk of his surplus as deposits with theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am Govt looks at direct taxes to offset excise lossThe Government is betting on higher direct taxes collections to offset the expected shortfall in certain indirect tax components this fiscal.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 12 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am India s high tariffs impedes agricultural imports from USAmerican farmers and food product maker lose millions of dollars each year in lost sales to India because of high tariffs and non-tariff measures, which raise the cost or prohibit agricultural exports to the country, an official US report has said.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:49 pm SEBI to AMCs No investor documentation no commission - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:45 pm Citigroup sued by Terra Firma over EMI dealLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British private equity firm Terra Firma accused Citigroup Inc of fraud and sued the bank for billions in damages in connection with Terra Firma's purchase of music business EMI Group in 2007, court documents filed on Friday in New York showed.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:08 pm Craigslist CEO: EBay's Whitman turned back on usWILMINGTON, Del./SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Craigslist's chief executive said on Friday he was so alarmed by a "condescending" attempt by his counterpart at eBay to reassure him about their relations that he started maneuvering to remove the online auctioneer from his board of directors.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 7:18 pm Industry output up, but fails to delight - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Dec 2009 | 4:31 pm Obama complains about 'fat-cat bankers'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama complained about "fat-cat bankers" and sharply criticized Wall Street banks for paying out big bonuses to executives in a television interview to air on Sunday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 4:25 pm Bharti Retail to enter new zone next yearBharti Retail, a 100% subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises, is looking to enter a new zone by 2010 end, which could either be the western or southern part of the country.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 3:52 pm 'Industrial growth below expectation'The growth figure of industrial production 10.3% in October could not enthuse research houses like Goldman Sachs, Nomura and Edelweiss.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 Dec 2009 | 3:51 pm Samsung bets big on touchscreens for larger pieThe current size of the handsets market in India is pegged at 8-9 million units per month. The Korean major is betting big on its touchscreen range, in which it is the market leader.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 3:50 pm Tamilnad Mercantile Bank targets Rs 50,000 crore business by 2013Tuticorin-based TMB, which opened its seventh branch in Mumbai on Friday, currently has 215 branches and 2,300 employees.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 3:23 pm Madoff feeder Chais in criminal probe - court recordsNEW YORK (Reuters) - Hollywood money manager Stanley Chais is under investigation in the criminal case of imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff, court records showed on Friday, the first anniversary of disclosure of the multibillion dollar investment fraud.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 3:19 pm Model optimisation key to retailer profitabilityMost retailers have initiated activities such as store closures, rental renegotiations and strategic cost management to maintain and improve overall profitability.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 3:16 pm Electronic mart booms, without local producersThe taskforce warned that the import bill of electronic items could zoom from the current $25 billion to $83 billion in three-and-a-half years and to nearly $300 billion in 10 years.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 3:13 pm Tejas engine offset offers come inAn offset obligation is expected to be discharged through direct purchases or by executing export orders for defence products and components manufactured by or services provided by Indian defence industries.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 3:04 pm P&G buys Sara Lee's Ambi Pur. So Godrej?Of Sara Lee Corp's divisions -- personal care, food and household care -- Unilever in September bought the personal care division for $1.88 billion.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 3:02 pm Industry continues recovery marchFactory output, as reflected in the representative index of industrial production, soared by 10.3% in October.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 2:56 pm Pak link may delay portabilityMobile number portability, which is scheduled for takeoff in January 2010 across metros and some of the big cities, may now get delayed over national security reasons.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 2:55 pm Indian barriers cost U.S. farmers millions - U.S. studyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. farmers and food manufacturers lose millions of dollars in sales to India each year because of that country's high tariffs and other trade barriers, a U.S. trade panel said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 1:39 pm December 12: Events to watch out forDecember 1214: Events to watch out forSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 1:00 pm The week in review for 11 December 2009There was a new twist in the Satyam fraud case on Monday. The CBI accused PriceWaterhouse auditors of intentionally failing to apply appropriate audit standards to Satyam. It claims this allowed Satyam’s founder B. Ramalinga Raju and others to carry out their accounting fraud. On Tuesday, Volkswagen announced it would acquire a 20% stake in Suzuki Motor in a deal that could be a game changer for India’s car market. While Volkswagen’s Indian subsidiary is relatively new, Maruti Suzuki accounts for half the auto sales in India and fifth of Suziki’s global sales. And analysts say the deal could also push Maruti to switch to Volkswagen’s diesel engine technology from its current supplier Fiat. In another major deal this week, Japanese company Panasonic has bought a 50.2% stake in Sanyo Electric for $4.6 billion. Sanyo Electric is the world’s largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries and a major manufacturer of solar cells. A division of Reliance Industries has received global safety and quality certifications for about 20 photovoltaic modules. Testing and certification help confirm the reliability of Reliance’s product and enables it to access funds. Suzlon Energy says it has received an order for 15 wind turbines from a state-run company. The 15 turbines will be installed near Jaisalmer for Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals Limited. Cutting emissions could be harder than expected for India. A yet to be released report from the World Bank analyses three scenarios of fuel use in India between 2002 and 2032. It concludes that unless the carbon-neutral technologies required for reducing emissions intensity are cheap, the overall costs will be huge. Earlier, India announced it would strive to reduce its emissions intensity by 20-25% by 2020. Royal Bank of Scotland, or RBS, has finally found a buyer for some of its businesses in India, China and Malaysia. HSBC will now acquire RBS’s retail and small and medium enterprises in all three countries. The two firms have approached the RBI for approval of the deal in India. The Department of Telecommunications has lowered its revenue expectations for the fiscal year. The move has been sparked by the continuing tariff war between telecom firms. Another reason for the lower expectations is the ban on phones without IMEI numbers. India’s telecom firms pay the government a percentage of their adjusted gross revenues as part of their license and spectrum fees. India’s job market could be looking up. The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the first quarter of 2010 is out. And it indicates India has an adjusted net employment outlook of 39% for the period from January to March. This is the highest figure for India in five quarters. The Manpower survey concludes Indian companies are the most optimistic out of the companies in 35 countries that were surveyed. The results also confirm anecdotal evidence that Indian IT companies are preparing to hire in the coming months. The food price index rose 19.05% in the week ending the 28 November, the highest it has risen in 11 years. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India needs to increase public spending on agriculture. He said investment in irrigation and technology was crucial for increasing food output. Scientists from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research announced that they had, for the first time, decoded the entire DNA sequence of a person. India is now the sixth country in the world to be able to map a human’s genetic code by using local expertise. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 12:40 pm New rule raises number of poor by 100 million - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Dec 2009 | 12:33 pm Testing momentsFor a side with brilliant individuals but seldom known for sustained team effort, it has taken India over 75 years since it started playing Test cricket to become the world’s No. 1 team. The ranking system itself started only in 2001, and since then Australia and South Africa are the only teams to end a year on top. But those who have been following Indian cricket over decades will readily agree that, rankings or no rankings, the team has never been good enough to even arguably claim to be the best in the world. Click here to view slideshow From C.K. Nayudu through Vinoo Mankad, Vijay Merchant, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, to name a few, several talented players have worn the Indian cap. Gavaskar and Dev, at different points, have held world records for the highest aggregate of Test runs and wickets, respectively. Anil Kumble is one of only two bowlers to have taken 10 wickets in a Test innings (the other being Jim Laker), while Virender Sehwag came close to becoming the only batsman with three career Test triple centuries. Sachin Tendulkar holds more records than can be mentioned in a sentence. But those achievements have not translated into cumulative success when different players of unquestionable class have formed a team. It took India 20 years, after it started playing internationally in 1932, to win a Test; the first series win abroad took another 16 years to come—in New Zealand. India’s 100th Test win came in the current series against Sri Lanka, after playing 432 matches. It has also lost 136, drawn 195 and tied one. The transformation of the team started under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly nearly 10 years ago. But the team still had greater success at home than abroad. The culmination of Ganguly’s efforts, through Rahul Dravid, and the gently firm, if brief, leadership of Anil Kumble provided the bedrock for the success of the current side under M.S. Dhoni’s leadership. This team, with a mix of experience and youth, some of the world’s best players in Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dravid, a competent blend of pace and spin bowling, and with controlled egos, has come together under a confident leadership that has encouraged many to call it the best Indian side ever. The reign on top may not last long given next year’s limited schedule of matches, but reaching the summit itself is cause for celebration for India’s No. 1 sport. arun.j@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 12:25 pm Digital NativesBack in 1997, the instructions to DJ Arjun Vagale were clear—he could play half an hour of electronic music at the Delhi club where he worked, but that was it. After that he had to go back to the usual repertoire of Bollywood songs. Today, Vagale, a founding member of the electronic group Jalebee Cartel, is helping organize the third year of the Sunburn festival in Goa—three days of unadulterated blips, beeps and beats of what is called electronic dance music (EDM).  Electric version: (clockwise from top) Jalebee Cartel playing live in Singapore; Avinash Kumar of Basic Love of Things (B.L.O.T.); Gaurav Malakar (in the foreground) of Qilla Records. Most EDM is produced on laptops and synthesizers, and usually played at nightclubs. While some EDM compositions are intended purely for dancing, and played as part of “sets” that last hours, many electronic artists also write songs—often with the use of multiple instruments (actual or mimicked) and digitally enhanced vocals. “The EDM scene in India is growing really fast,” says Vagale. “In any given week you can catch a big international act playing in one of the metros.” When Western rock bands go on an “Asian tour”, it usually means stops in Japan and Singapore before flying to Australia. But when it comes to electronica, the trend’s changing: An India stop is fast becoming mandatory for most DJs and groups.  At a typical EDM concert in a Delhi club, Jalebee Cartel plays to crowds of over a thousand people—the “band members” stand crouched over laptops, faces shrouded in smoke and reflections from the psychedelic light shows that accompany their music. An EDM “concert” follows a certain arc: The music builds over time, with the DJs layering new elements on top of a basic beat and bassline; once at a crescendo, the songs break down into skeletal elements like a stack of building blocks—the beat disappears, a discordant guitar line plays on repeat—and the pieces are rejoined in different combinations. Every hour or so, the music is put on autopilot while the group takes a break, sometimes even joining the dance floor. “India is a new hub,” says Vagale. “It is often compared to the burgeoning underground scene in Europe 10 years ago. Everything is raw and fresh and edgy, and the audience welcomes experimentation and isn’t judgemental.” In the last two years, the Sunburn festival has attracted names such as the Dutch trance duo Growling Mad Scientists (GMS) and Armin van Buuren, both electronic artists with large international fan bases. Local talent has also come to the forefront. “We have loads of Indian DJs who can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best international artists and play incredible music,” says the former MTV veejay Nikhil Chinapa, who now runs Submerge, an event management firm that organizes EDM concerts. A telling sign of shifting trends is Global Groove, a second EDM festival starting this month in New Delhi. Its main sponsor? That venerable institution of rock-and-roll journalism in India—Rock Street Journal. In 2009 alone, three Indian electronica acts have gone on national tours to promote their new albums—Delhi-based MIDIval PunditZ, Goa-based TaTvA Kundalini and Jalebee Cartel. Electronica-centric record labels such as Mocha Musica, ChillOM Records and Qilla Records have emerged to scout for new talent. Jalebee Cartel tracks appear in Nokia advertisements, and Indian artists are now regulars on the international circuit. But electronic music has also had to face uncertainties along the way—from unsure audiences and wobbly access to technology, to Bollywood’s dominance over club culture. In the mid-1990s, when electronic music in India was nothing more than “a few parties on the beach in Goa”, artist and producer Ma Faiza remembers selling cassettes at the Anjuna flea market in north Goa. “No one here had access to this kind of music,” she recalls. “You only heard new songs when ‘aunty’ went to America and bought you a Michael Jackson CD.” At first, only some foreign tourists were interested, but then Faiza began to notice a lot of Indian youth trying out electronica—first as “a cool new tape they could put in the car” and later as dedicated, discerning listeners. Around 1995-96, childhood chums Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj of the group MIDIval PunditZ began to throw EDM-focused parties in Delhi. “The parties were called Cyber Mehfil, where we’d play some DnB music (short for ‘drum and bass’, a subgenre of EDM characterized by fast beats and heavy basslines) we’d gotten from the West,” says Raina. The mehfils (gatherings) initially attracted small crowds of 20-30 people who, Raina recalls, “listened to the music more than dance”. Gradually, the fan base started growing. “That following became a lot. Cyber Mehfil started attracting people in three figures. Our gigs become larger, and bigger,” he adds. At the turn of the century, clubs in the metros began to get interested in EDM, and the demand for DJs grew. On certain days of the week, most clubs would take a break from Bollywood music to give electronic music a chance. “At the time, it didn’t matter what genre you played. You could be playing alongside a tech house artist (an EDM genre that mixes ethereal, ambient sounds with prominent beats) and a DnB person and it would just be called ‘Electronic Night,’” says Vagale. With the divisions between genres becoming clearer, it would be musical sacrilege to put them together today. It was the arrival of cheap broadband Internet access that catalysed that change. Electronic musicians now had easy access to sounds, inspiration, and the chance to promote their own music online. “Compared to, let’s call it the ‘pre-broadband’ era, a lot more original ideas are coming out of Indian electronica. Acts have been creating their own original sounds,” says Arjun S. Ravi, editor of online music magazine Indiecision. Indian EDM is now spread across the genre spectrum—from trance music (driven by artists such as DJ Sanjay Dutta and Pune band Lost Stories), tech house (Jalebee Cartel) and techno (artist Madhav Kohra, band Bhavishyavani Future Soundz). Festivals, says PunditZ’s Raina, are the culmination of this long, steady, and now rapid growth—from advertisements and websites to even the background music for news, EDM is “one of the most prevalent genres today”. For Vagale, the the surest sign is in omnipresent Bollywood finally taking notice. “Electronica has always been the anti-Bollywood. Now, they’re taking influences from us—the remix culture, the production techniques,” he says. Faiza found affirmation from another unlikely source. “I was watching a Godrej advertisement the other day, and the background score was, like, full-on 135 beats per minute, pounding dance music,” she recalls, “and I’m thinking, c’mon, Godrej is using electronica?!” krish.r@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 12:25 pm Oct industrial output grows by 10.3%Significant growth in the manufacturing sector pushed the industrial output up by 10.35 per cent in October, higher from the revised growth rate of 9.6 per cent the previous month, fuelling expectations that the economy is firmly on the path of recovery.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 12:16 pm Centre in favour of GST on alcoholThe Centre has turned down the proposal of the empowered group of state finance ministers to keep alcohol out of goods and services tax (GST).Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 12:14 pm As Mamata wields knife, Pranab has a cakewalkJyoti Basu, the 95-year-old communist, has lost touch with many of his comrades.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 12:12 pm Vodafone looks to list Indian armVodafone Group Plc Chief Executive Vittorio Colao today said the company could list its Indian arm and was open to acquisitions when opportunities are available in the country.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 12:11 pm Essar Power ties up funding for its Gujarat plantEssar Power has achieved financial closure for its Rs 4,800 crore power project at Salaya in Gujarat.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:51 am Manufacturing grows at 11%Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia was more optimistic about industrial output.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:49 am GSK Consumer arm halts operations in AP unit - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:48 am NHAI relaxes bidding normsThe highway developers and financing institutions had been making this demand and claimed that this single condition resulted reducing the number of qualified bidders.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:46 am MF investors can change distributor without NOCMarket regulator Sebi said investors should be allowed to move freely to a different mutual fund distributor without a no objection certificate from the present distributor.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:43 am Forex losses eat into profits of India IncForeign exchange derivatives contracts, which a large number of Indian companies entered into in 2007 and 2008, have taken a heavy toll on India Inc's finance.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:41 am P&G buys Sara Lee's Ambi Pur for $470mProcter & Gamble on Friday announced the signing of a binding offer with Sara Lee to acquire brand Ambi Pur for euro $470 million.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:37 am Business struggles to sway U.N. climate talksCOPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Industry has struggled to sway U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen because of a remote negotiating process and a lobby split between climate policy winners and losers, executives said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:27 am Tata Power wins Mumbai Reliance usersMumbai: Amit Narsana, a businessman in the Mumbai surburb of Andheri, is relishing the prospect of exercising a rare power in India—the choice of changing the firm that supplies electricity to his home. He plans to switch to Tata Power Co. Ltd from Reliance Infrastructure Ltd as soon as he can. The reason—his power bills.  Graphics: Ahmed Raza Khan / Mint Narsana and his fellow occupants of the Navshilpvani housing society at Lalubhai Park Road in Andheri (West) have already kicked off the process of switching suppliers. The company has lost 1,700 consumers to Tata Power since October, according to a Reliance Infrastructure official, who didn’t want to be named. This is the first time that consumers anywhere in India have the option to choose their power company, said Sudhir K. Nair, head of Crisil Research. “This option is unique to Mumbai suburban consumers as both distributors have a fair share of good quality transmission and distribution infrastructure in the area,” he said. “As other cities do not have multiple distributors, such an option is not available to consumers there.” Suhas Amberkar, another Andheri resident, said at least four cooperative housing societies in his area have already written to the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, a consumer body, for permission to switch their provider. “I expect a 25% reduction in my monthly electricity bills when I shift to Tata,” he said. Narsana and Amberkar are among thousands of consumers in Mumbai who may shift their allegiance to Tata Power to save on cost, thanks to a court ruling that allows the firm to sell power directly to homes. Reliance Infrastructure cannot match the rival’s prices because it buys most of its power from bulk sources. “We generate 500MW of power in Dahanu for about Rs2.45 per unit, which is among the lowest,” said the Reliance official cited above. “However, we need 1,450MW of power, so we buy 500MW from Tata at Rs4.83 per unit and have to also buy another 450MW from the open market at Rs8.96 per unit.” Reliance Infrastructure, a Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firm, supplies power to suburban Mumbai from Bandra to Bhandup, covering an area of 384 sq. km. It is one of the three companies that supplies power in Mumbai, besides the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking ( BEST) and Tata Power. The largest generator of electricity in Mumbai, Tata Power, uses 447MW of its 2,025MW capacity for supplying large companies and commercial establishments such as malls and multiplexes. It supplies 800MW to BEST and 500MW to Reliance, besides Mumbai’s rail network and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. The surplus means that Tata can afford to sell electricity at lower rates thanks to a July 2008 judgement by the apex court that allows the firm to supply consumers in Mumbai with a requirement of 1,000 units or less. Typically, a domestic consumer in Mumbai consumes around 300 units of power per month. Tata Power charges Rs1.30 per unit for 0-100 units of power compared with Rs1.72 per unit charged by Reliance and Rs1.80 per unit charged by BEST. For 100-300 units, Tata charges Rs2.70 per unit compared with Rs4.02 per unit charged by Reliance. BEST charges Rs3.70 per unit. Besides the per-unit charges, all residences regardless of their electricity supplier have to pay a fixed amount of Rs30 per month if they consume 0-100 units of power, Rs 50 per month if they consume 101-500 units of power and Rs100 per month if they consume over 500 units of power. Power distributing companies in Mumbai have to get their tariffs approved by the regulator—the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC). Reliance Infrastructure has around 2.9 million customers, 90% of them residential, which consume 300 units of power or less per month. The shift to Tata Power may not have a big impact on Reliance’s profits because any loss in revenue could be curtailed by charging Tata for using infrastructure, said an analyst from a domestic brokerage. “It will have a sentimental impact because consumers are migrating to its competitor. But Tata will have to use the existing infrastructure of Reliance for the last mile and, therefore, the charges for open access and wheeling will accrue to them, because unlike the telecom sector, here you cannot have duplication of the network till the last mile,” said the analyst from the domestic brokerage, who declined to be quoted as he is not authorized to speak to the media. Wheeling charge is the fee paid by a utility to transmit power using another utility’s infrastructure (transmission towers, electrical cables, etc.). The Reliance Infrastructure official concurred: “We add 75,000 consumers every year and expect to continue to do so. Of course the loss of consumers matters to us, but with increasing number of people moving to the suburbs, we will continue to add new consumers.” The issue dates back to the early 1990s when the erstwhile public sector firm Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES) accused Tata Power of poaching consumers in the suburbs, by wooing housing societies and commercial complexes. BSES, acquired by Reliance in 2002, took the matter to MERC arguing that Tata Power’s licence issued in 1910 gave it permission to only sell bulk power of over 1,000 units and not to retail users. In July 2003, MERC restrained Tata from selling power to retail consumers. However, the Electricity Act, 2003, allowed firms to compete for consumers, paving the way for Tata Power to enter the retail segment. The bid was contested in the courts and Tata Power won a favourable judgement. Tata Power currently has 30,397 consumers with most of its generated power going to bulk consumers, mainly the railways. It has targeted another 40,000 (switchover consumers and new applicants) by March 2010. In an email reply, Tata Power said it has received 7,500 completed applications for the switchover till date. “As on 10 December 2009, 2,713 consumers were shifted from their earlier distributor to Tata Power. Where Tata Power will be using other distributors’ infrastructure (open access), the residential consumers will be charged a nominal fee for the wheeling charges i.e, Rs0.88 paise/unit less Tata Power’s wheeling charges i.e, 37 paise,” a spokesperson said via email. Open access is a positive for Tata, said Citigroup Global Markets analysts Venkatesh Balasbramaniam, Deepal Delivala and Atul Tiwari in a research note in September. “MERC has allowed distribution open access in Mumbai and 45,000 retail consumers have applied to move,” they wrote. “From April 2010, the company will stop supplying 500MW to R-Infra and this capacity will be free.” Crisil’s Nair says replicating the Mumbai model in other cities would be difficult because a new entrant would need to set up the infrastructure. “But there is the franchisee route in which the distribution assets continue to be owned by the state utility. This model is currently operational in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra, and is under implementation in other cities like Agra and Kanpur,” he said. BEST is almost more or less immune to consumer shifts because the Electricity Act, 2003, protects state-run companies from competition. The law doesn’t allow private companies to use BEST infrastructure, forcing them to re-lay cables and other equipment, making acquisition of new consumers unviable. joel.r@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:26 am New PE firms hedge bets with pledge fundsMumbai: A fund without a fund is an oxymoron—but not in the increasingly crowded world of private equity (PE) and venture capitalism. Financiers are using so-called fundless structures as their calling card to enter India, where an estimated 350-400 PE funds are already jostling for space. Jaganath Swamy, a former McKinsey and Co. consultant and a Wharton MBA, has used one such structure when he headed back to India after a short stint with a large PE fund in New York. He chose to launch a pledge fund after he saw that a number of limited partners (LPs) in the US were unhappy with India-focused funds. LPs are investors in a PE fund, while general partners (GPs) are the managers who make deals on behalf of LPs for a fee. “Many Indian GPs have not been cash conscious and invested in firms when valuations were at a peak. At the other end, there were people who were over-cautious and not done any deals at all, but were earning fees on capital for doing nothing,” said Swamy. “The second big grievance was the lack of transparency in deal structures. LPs wanted more clarity on what deals are done and why they are done,” he added. Eight or nine months ago, Swamy and his friends started Ananta Capital Advisors as a pledge fund, a financing vehicle that came on the scene in the US in the late 1980s. A pledge fund is an amalgam of a traditional venture fund and a loose grouping of individual angel investors who invest in start-ups. Investors provide capital to the fund on a deal-by-deal basis rather than putting up money upfront as is traditionally done: a fundless structure, in other words. In a pledge fund, the management fee and the “carry” is calculated on the amount invested and not on the capital committed, as in the case of a regular PE firm. The “carry” is the fund manager’s share of the profits made on an investment. LPs are unhappy at the way things have turned out after the financial crisis, said Swamy, managing director of Ananta Capital. “They are looking at models where they have more control where their money is invested,” he told Mint. “A pledge fund model fits their bill perfectly.” Besides pledge funds, quasi-hedge funds and warehousing are some of the others models that LPs are using to market their funds. “It is not just deals that are scarce, but the funds are also scarce,” said Vijay Sambamurthi, founder of Lexygen, a law firm that advises PE firms. “People who managed to raise funds in the heyday of 2007 are fine, they need to only worry about where to put their money and how to protect themselves. But people who are fund-raising in this kind of market need to be innovative on both fronts.” LPs are the primary source of funds for PE firms, typically a mix of institutions such as insurance firms, pension funds, university endowments and high networth individuals. “A pledge fund’s structure from an LP’s perspective is fairly convenient,” said Gopal Jain, a partner at PE firm Gaja Capital Partners. “They retain the discretion whether or not to participate in a particular investment.” “Fundless sponsors do exist, especially in the US, and have been known to operate for years,” said Srinivas Chidambaram of Jacob Ballas Capital India Pvt. Ltd. “This is an opportunistic model of intermediation. It is a hit or miss model, but in a free and creative world they will always exist.” Seth R. Freeman, chief executive and chief investment officer of EM Capital Management, Llc, agrees such models are common in the US, adding that the practice is actually a reversion to the way things worked before funds became popular. The entry barriers for setting up such firms are low, he points out. “It takes little fixed infrastructure and overhead for the pledge fund or “fundless” sponsors. It doesn’t require much more than a telephone number and email address until a deal is found and funded. So, just about anyone who can get out of bed in the morning is a potential PE fundless sponsor.” Also, managers don’t need to invest a lot of time and money into drafting complex offering documents, regulatory compliance and filings as this can wait until a deal is found and indications from investors are positive. “Small funds are also exploring with other models such as quasi-hedge funds,” said Swamy. A quasi-hedge fund, much like a hedge fund, has a smaller time horizon than a traditional PE fund, and make quick entries and exits. “Big funds like ChrysCapital had followed pre-IPO investments, now an entire fund class is emerging which concentrates on such short-term investments,” he said. Another variant of the pledge fund structure is the warehousing model, in which the investor allocates a corpus, but does not release the money. Instead, the GP has to source the deal and execute it before more funds can be allocated. According to Lexygen’s Sambamurthi, the pledge fund structure has evolved because investors are unwilling to commit capital, given the financial environment. In the boom days, people were doing deals faster than the market could produce them, leading to some burning of fingers, he said. The rapid rise of the equity markets has also made it harder for PE investors. The bellwether stock index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Sensex, has more than doubled since March. Also, GPs sometimes choose to work with greater flexibility; a pledge fund as opposed to a regular fund structure enables this. And if GPs share a close relationship with their LPs, it is plausible that the investors will give them the capital for deals when they need it without being locked into a fund. However, pledge fund mangers do face handicaps. “There is competition for the best deals and a fundless sponsor may not be perceived to be as credible as a buyer or investors with a fund, where the seller knows that the funded sponsor could close the deal immediately while the fundless sponsor needs to raise the money,” Freeman of EM Capital points out. This, he said, may result in the fundless sponsors getting mediocre deals or having to pay higher prices to be able to control the deal long enough to raise funds. To be taken seriously by most sellers, particularly on large, complex deals, it is necessary to show available funding. For the fundless sponsor, the challenge is finding and successfully promoting a deal before they run out of working capital. Also, pledge funds are currently not covered by any law and are off the radar of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, leaving such funds open to potential abuse. Traditional fund houses, however, say these structures will remain on the fringe. “If an LP can do deal sourcing, execution and exit, why should he be an LP, he should rather be a GP,” said Shailesh Vickram Singh, director at 2i Capital India Pvt. Ltd. He also pointed out that not all investors are savvy enough to deal with the intricacies of deal-making, since the fund manager for a fundless fund must keep going back to the LP. Freeman also said that most such deals will largely remain in the small- and mid-market space. Larger deals, requiring larger investors, and by extension institutional investors, are not suited for pledge funds, he said, because an institutional investor needs a certain level of comfort and level of assurance that comes with an investment management firm. shraddha.n@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:25 am Quick Edit | Many states, one marketThere are two contradictory forces at work in India today. On the one hand, efforts to create a single national market by ushering in a coherent goods and sales tax have gained momentum in the last one year. On the other hand, within days of the move to create the state of Telangana, many similar statehood demands have mushroomed. Internal political divisiveness has gathered steam. What would it be to do business in an India with more political jurisdictions, but with a semblance of a unified market? The costs of running a business would rise greatly. Small states with poor to non-existent revenue bases would find it hard to resist imposing taxes and levies on existing businesses. There are many ways to do this. Cesses on existing taxes, raising tariffs on simple things such as electricity, water and fuel are pretty easy. Businesses are helpless against that. Many states have tried to do away with them to create a business-friendly environment. More states will ensure a movement in the opposite direction. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:25 am Industrial production growth falls short; RBI may hold off rate riseNew Delhi: India’s industrial production grew less than forecast, suggesting the central bank may wait for more signs of economic recovery before raising interest rates. Output at factories, utilities and mines rose 10.3% in October from a year earlier after gaining a revised 9.6% in September, the statistics agency said in New Delhi on Friday. That was less than the median 12% estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 20 economists.  Graphics: Ahmed Raza Khan / Mint The rupee pared gains and stocks fell after the report on investor concerns that India’s rebound from the worst global recession since the 1930s may not be as strong as expected. That presents a challenge to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor D. Subbarao, who earlier this week said the central bank may need to act if high food price inflation persists. The Indian currency traded at 46.58 against the dollar compared with the day’s high of 46.49. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive index fell almost 1%. Bonds rose, rebounding from an earlier decline, with the yield on the benchmark 6.90% note due July 2019 falling to 7.52% from 7.57% earlier. Policymakers in India are considering whether they can keep interest rates near record lows without fanning inflation. Wholesale food prices soared 19.05% in the week ended 28 November from a year earlier, the fastest pace in 11 years. RBI deputy governor Usha Thorat had said on 3 December that India’s exit from a loose monetary policy will be difficult as the economy’s expansion remains dependent on government stimulus. October’s output growth shows the “stimulus measures are taking effect” and the “recovery is gaining ground”, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, said in New Delhi on Friday. “I hope the double-digit growth momentum will be maintained in the coming months.” Manufacturing grew 11.1% in October from a year earlier, compared with a 10% gain in September, mining rose 8.2% from 7.4% in September and electricity increased 4.7%, compared with a 7.9% growth, Friday’s report showed. Consumer goods production rose 11.8% in October, from 9.4% in the previous month. “The reason for less-than-expected growth is due to fewer working days in October due to festive holidays and should not be read as a demand slowdown”, said Sonal Varma, a Mumbai-based economist at Nomura Securities Co., Japan’s largest brokerage. “Double-digit growth shows robust consumer demand compared with last year and I think RBI will raise rates in January.” October had the Hindu festival of Diwali and other holidays, resulting in around 11 non-working days. Other Asian economies are reporting stronger manufacturing growth as the region benefits from stimulus worth close to $1 trillion (Rs46.5 trillion) and interest rates cut to record lows earlier this year. China’s industrial production climbed 19.2% in November from a year earlier, according to government figures released in Beijing on Friday. Malaysian factory output rose 0.7% in October, the first increase in 14 months. “Asian economies continue to strengthen,” said Duncan Wooldridge, chief Asia economist at UBS AG in Hong Kong. “We expect Asia to grow 4.5% this year and 7.6% in 2010, with growth taking off on a year-on-year basis in the next few months.” India’s $1.2 trillion economy is also recording accelerating growth. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 7.9% in the three months to 30 September from a year earlier, the fastest pace in six quarters. Economic recovery has been aided by tax cuts and salary increases by the government, as well as interest rate cuts by the central bank. RBI governor Subbarao has reduced the reverse repurchase rate by 2.75 percentage points to 3.25% from December to April and cut lenders’ reserve requirements. The government stimulus is projected to push the budget deficit to 6.8% of GDP this year, the most in 16 years. A strengthening economy is boosting Indian demand for products such as cars, plasma screens and refrigerators. India’s passenger car sales leapt 61% in November to 133,687 units, the most in at least five years, on rising demand for Maruti Suzuki India Ltd hatchbacks and Tata Motors Ltd’s Nano. The prospect of higher consumer spending is inducing overseas companies such General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG to increase bets on India as demand dwindles back home. Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest car maker, had said on 8 December that it plans to double the number of workers at its new factory in India to 2,500 by the end of next year. “India is a fast growing and big-volume market”, said Takakiyo Fujita, general manager of the Indian unit of Sony Corp., the maker of Bravia televisions. “We plan to expand our operations in the coming years considering the always better-than-expected results.” feedback@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:25 am FIIs go on BSE stake buying spreeKolkata: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been loading up on shares of the Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd (BSE), driving the price up to Rs300 from around Rs180 apiece in the last six months, as the bourse prepares to list itself.  Going strong: A file photo of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). MD and CEO Kannan says only 7-8% of BSE’s shares are currently available for sale and that it won’t take long for the bourse to list its shares. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint Some foreign funds are willing to pay up to Rs350 a share if they get a large chunk at one go, according to the head of a private equity (PE) firm that recently acquired a substantial stake in the exchange. “Only 7-8% of BSE’s (102.9 million) shares are currently available for sale,” he said. “Investors expect BSE to list its shares and that shouldn’t take long.” Kannan, however, said there was “no clarity” on regulations governing listing of shares of stock exchanges, and so he couldn’t immediately indicate a time frame. “We are receiving a lot of orders from high networth individuals who are buying BSE shares, expecting listing to result in substantial capital gains,” said Narottam Dharawat, a Mumbai-based trader of illiquid shares, who said BSE’s shares were currently trading at Rs310-325 apiece. Those selling BSE’s shares are embattled foreign institutions and brokers who have shut shop or need cash immediately, according to the PE firm official quoted earlier. Some government-owned Indian banks are also selling BSE shares through auctions, he added. Under demutualization, or separation of trading rights and ownership, the exchange sold 51% of its shares to investors who had no trading interest, and issued 10,000 shares to each of its 700-odd brokers. BSE completed demutualization in May 2007 by placing shares with 21 investors. The ownership of trading members was pared to 49%, but BSE says they held 47.42% of its shares at the end of October. In February-March 2007, Deutsche Börse AG and Singapore Exchange Ltd bought 4.98% each of BSE’s shares. They paid Rs189 crore each for the stake, or Rs5,200 a share, valuing the bourse at Rs3,780 crore. BSE has since issued 12 bonus shares for each held, and the expansion of capital resulted in Deutsche Börse and Singapore Exchange’s acquisition price going down to Rs400 a share.  Equity gains: Madhu Kannan, BSE managing director and CEO. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint A little over 62% of BSE’s shares are widely held. Among the key Indian shareholders are firms such as Bajaj Holdings and Investment Ltd—a firm controlled by industrialist Rahul Bajaj—which owns 2.94%, Infosys Technologies Ltd’s CEO and MD S. Gopalakrishnan, who owns 1.04% and Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd—the publishers of The Times of India and The Economic Times newspapers—which owns 1.04%. “BSE currently has around Rs2,000 crore in cash reserves, which translates into cash per share of at least Rs190,” said the PE firm official. Investors are also impressed with the new initiatives of the management, he added. “For instance, from January, settlement in BSE’s derivatives segment will take place on the middle Thursday of every month instead of the last one,” he said. This is “disruptive thinking. It’s a nice attempt to infuse life into its derivatives segment”. In the quarter ended 30 September, BSE posted a net profit of Rs55.48 on revenue of Rs140.48 crore. In the six months till September, BSE’s net profit at Rs112.75 crore on revenue of Rs256.2 crore was a tad lower than last year. “Though net profit for the quarter and the first half (of fiscal 2010) was lower than last year, it was largely because BSE is investing in technology, which is crucial for stock exchanges,” said the PE firm official. aveek.d@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:24 am Congress on damage control in APNew Delhi/Hyderabad: The ruling Congress party on Friday embarked on a damage control exercise as emotions ran high in Andhra Pradesh, with political turmoil continuing in the wake of the Centre’s approval of its break-up and the carving out of a separate state of Telangana. The party sought to paper over the sharp divisions that have emerged and asked its leaders in Andhra Pradesh to stop projecting the move as a victory or a defeat for any one side. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured members of Parliament (MPs) from the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of the state, who met him in New Delhi on Friday, that nothing would be done in haste. The MPs asked the Prime Minister as well as finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, whom they met later, that there was no consensus on the issue and that the decision needed to be reviewed. With 130 MLAs and one MP—L. Rajagopal from Vijayawada—submitting resignations in protest against the Central government’s decision, the party leadership held several meetings to defuse the crisis. According to a senior Congress leader, the party would delay a final decision and buy more time to resolve the issue. Home secretary G.K. Pillai’s remark in Jammu—denied late in the evening—that Hyderabad would be the capital of Telangana, added to the volatility, with MPs reacting sharply to the purported comments. A Congress MP, who did not want to be named, said the Prime Minister has said that the views of the two regions—coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema—will be taken into account. The MPs admitted that a carve-up is inevitable, but that a “consensus would have to be evolved from discussions with representatives from all regions”. “We are aware that there is no going back on what the Central government has promised, but this is not the way,” said one MP from Rayalaseema, who did not want to be identified. The developments in Andhra Pradesh have posed a fresh challenge for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre. Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister Mayawati renewed the demand for the trifurcation of UP, while the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) threatened hunger strikes for a separate Gorkhaland, split away from West Bengal. Mayawati held a press conference in Lucknow on Friday to raise the demand for the creation of Harit Pradesh (western UP) and Bundelkhand (southern UP), while Darjeeling MP and former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh supported the GJM demand. However, Union railway minister and West Bengal’s main opposition Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee ruled out breaking up West Bengal. The state’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) also doesn’t favour the creation of smaller states. Some Congress leaders in Delhi said the developments in Andhra Pradesh had helped the party “expose” the state opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), whose chief N. Chandrababu Naidu made a U-turn on Telangana. Others said the ruling party was the one that had come under pressure. “The Central leadership’s decision was questioned by the state unit. They said in clear terms that unilateral decisions cannot be accepted by them,” said Rama Brahmam, professor of political science, University of Hyderabad. In Hyderabad, more MLAs submitted their resignations to the Speaker, taking the total to 130 out of 294 members of the assembly. Of this, 76 belonged to Congress, 40 to the TDP and 14 to the Praja Rajyam Party of actor Chiranjeevi. With the MLAs shouting rival slogans in the assembly, the Speaker adjourned the House till Monday. The coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions were hit by violence following a shutdown call. Tension prevailed in the two regions comprising 13 districts, with mobs damaging public property and bringing public life to a standstill. The government has made heavy police deployments in the two regions, particularly in the four universities there, even as elected representatives cutting across party lines called for the withdrawal of security forces from educational institutions. Asking Congress MLAs not to quit, chief minister K. Rosaiah said the Bill on Telangana would need majority approval. He said the state government was yet to receive either oral or written communication from the Centre on initiating the process of carving out the state. “What home minister P. Chidambaram told me on Wednesday night was that I will be asked to introduce a resolution in the assembly to begin the process. I cannot give the time frame for introducing the Bill,” said Rosaiah at a press conference immediately after the Speaker adjourned the assembly. He said the Speaker was yet to take a call on the resignations. An emergency meeting of state cabinet held on late Thursday evening ended in heated exchanges among ministers from the various regions. MLAs belonging to Congress and Praja Rajyam formed a joint action committee under the leadership of Congress MLA Shailajanath to represent the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. In an another development, MLAs from the Rayalaseema region under the leadership of T.G. Venkatesh, who had on Thursday called for a “Greater Rayalaseema” state, withdrew their demand. BJP MLA Kishan Reddy criticized the Congress leadership for “playing games with the issue of Telangana”. Nannapaneni Rajakumari, a senior TDP leader and member of the legislative council who was among those who resigned, said businessmen from the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, who had invested heavily in and around Hyderabad, are concerned over the safety of their investments. GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare Ltd, a unit of GlaxoSmithkline (GSK), has decided to suspend operations at one of its units in Dowlaiswaram, in the interests of safety, according to a release to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday. Still, industry does not foresee any major disruptions, although prolonged turmoil will affect productivity. Some industrial units are concerned over losing orders from foreign customers following the ongoing unrest. “The US government has already issued a caution note to its citizens on visits to Andhra Pradesh, which has impacted the scheduled visits of our customers, who generally close their budgets by the month-end,” said Venkat Jasti, managing director of pharma company Suven Life Sciences Ltd. “This has resulted in companies like us losing expected orders.” Stressing on the need to understand the apprehensions of settlers in Hyderabad and the Telangana region on the safety of their assets and jobs, C. Ramachandraiah, social scientist with the Centre for Economics and Social Studies, suggested that the city should continue as the common capital for at least 15 years till the transformation process was completed. liz.m@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 11:22 am Manjunath murder: accused gets life termLucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Friday commuted the death sentence of the main accused, Pawan Kumar Mittal, in the Manjunath murder case to life imprisonment. The court also acquitted two others, Harish Misra and Sanjay Awasthi. The division bench pronounced this judgement on the appeals of these convicts against a Kheri sessions court judgement on 23 March 2007. Manjunath, a sales officer of Indian Oil Corporation and an IIM lucknow graduate, was killed in 2005 allegedly after he brought to light the adulteration racket at the Mittal petrol pump in Kheri. Reacting to Friday’s judgment, Anjali Mullati, an IIM-Lucknow alumnus who is the founding member of Manjunath Shanmugam Trust, said ” It has sent a powerful message to corrupt elements and law breakers. We feel vindicated by the judgement and it has reaffirmed our faith in the system. We have fought hard and clean. We would not appeal against the death penalty being commuted to life imprisonment, as we want justice, not vengeance. I.B.Singh, lawyer for the Manjunath Trust, told Mint, ”We will read the judgement to know the grounds on which the decision of a death sentence was commuted to life term . Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:49 am Apple countersues Nokia for patent infringementNEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc said it filed a countersuit against Nokia, claiming that the Finnish cellphone maker has pursued anti-competitive business practices and infringed on more than a dozen of its patents.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:40 am ONGC to refinance $1 bn Imperial takeover loanNew Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corp., India’s biggest energy explorer, plans to raise $1 billion (around Rs4,650 crore) in a month to refinance debt its unit incurred in the purchase of U.K.-based Imperial Energy Plc amid current low interest rates. ONGC has tied-up a dollar-denominated $200 million loan and plans to raise an additional $800 million by issuing bonds and selling commercial paper, D.K. Sarraf, director of finance, said in a telephone interview from New Delhi on Friday. feedback@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:38 am Indraprastha Gas gains; 2.8% of shares tradedMumbai: Indraprastha Gas Ltd, an Indian retailer of natural gas and fuels, rose as much as 6.2% and traded at Rs189.85 in Mumbai. About 2.8% of equity, or 3.98 million shares, changed hands in three transactions. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:34 am Broadcasting business has become unviableNew Delhi: It might not be easy for Subhash Chandra, chairman of the Essel Group that operates its media business under the Zee brand, to admit that his wife watches a couple of shows on Colors, the Hindi entertainment channel of his rival Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd. But he quickly adds that she watches serials on Zee as well. With Colors having beaten Star Plus to the top slot, Zee is now fighting hard to edge out News Corp.’s entertainment channel from the second position as well. As Time Warner Inc. enters the Hindi GEC (general entertainment channel) segment through NDTV Imagine, Chandra shares his views on India’s broadcasting industry and his plans for other businesses. Edited excerpts: Zee’s ratings went ahead of Star Plus a couple of times recently. Who is behind the channel’s improved performance? It is a team led by Punit (Goenka). Zee’s strength is in its being completely Indian. Others have adapted international programming formats for Indian audiences. We also tried, but gave up. Dance India Dance is our own format. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is also our own hugely popular show that will air its 1,000th episode soon. But the battle will intensify with Time Warner entering the Hindi GEC space. Nothing changed when Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting came to India through Alva Brothers and launched Real. In India, Zee and Turner are joint venture partners in cable distribution. Turner has now approached us to carry NDTV Imagine in the Zee-Turner bouquet. So it is very early to say how this battle will pan out. How do you view the TV industry today with falling yields? The number of players in broadcasting has increased but the business hasn’t grown. Yields have declined. In that sense, the broadcasting industry has become unviable. If you get to look at the balance sheets of all the broadcasters in India and sort out profitable and unprofitable companies under different heads, you’ll see that broadcast (in) India is in the red at least by about Rs500 crore. The industry is bleeding because we deliver (to) 90 million homes, but we get paid only for 40 million. The rating system does not cover all the TV viewing homes, affecting advertising rates. Also, cable operators under-declare their subscribers and pay less. But the programming and human resource cost has shot up. We pay carriage fees through our nose. The broadcasting business has become unviable because of the structural deficiencies in the industry. But isn’t Zee a low-cost operator? Call us what you may, but in the year 2000, human resource was 5% of our total cost. Today it is 9%, though probably still lower than other channels. I have a thumb rule for programming cost—it should be one third of the advertising revenue it can make. If the advertising revenue is Rs100, programming cost should be Rs33. Another 33% is for other expenses and 33% is the Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margin. So, after paying taxes, you save 15-20%. It’s been drilled into the company that if you are spending Rs20 lakh on a programme, you have to earn Rs60 lakh in advertising. Even today, my best-performing serial is 30-40% cheaper than serials on other channels. Why did you launch an English language wellness channel in the US? We soft-launched Veria in the US four weeks ago. We are serving the South Asian diaspora very well through Zee and are actively marketed in about 80 countries. The idea was to do something for the mainstream global population. We couldn’t have fought Hollywood in entertainment. But we know how to live in harmony with nature. So that’s the theme for Veria—how to live healthy and happy without consuming or using chemicals. How’s the experience been? America is a very difficult broadcast market. Even for a cookery show on the channel we need the recipes to be cleared, signed and sealed by the lawyers. All the staff and anchors are American. But it’s moved beyond television. Yes, we have the website Veria.com where you can interact with doctors. Cosmetics based on ayurveda have been launched. Medicinal products will follow. Our research and development is in Lucknow and the products are being manufactured in and around Delhi. The cosmetics part is not very big. But if it succeeds, the television venture will be big. We have already sunk in about $140 million (around Rs651 crore). But Zee already makes money in the overseas market. We are watched in 20 million homes outside India. Of these, the seven million in Pakistan pay us nothing as the signals are pirated. ARPUs (average revenue per user) are very low in the Middle East but we’re okay in the US and the UK. What are the plans for ‘DNA’? Your presence in the ‘DNA’ office in Mumbai sparked a rumour about the newspaper joint venture with DB Corp. Ltd. Are you increasing your stake in ‘DNA’? We are okay as equal partners. Actually, we were equal partners and then we gave Bhaskar 3% for management, ESOP (employee stock options) kind of thing. So, currently the ratio is 47:50 with Zee at 47%. At best, we will go back to the 50:50 scenario. The problem with DNA is that there is no single management. Sometimes Sudhir (Agarwal) would take a call on editorial aspects. Then there’s a CEO K.U. Rao. Girish Agarwal, who was handling marketing, was pulled out for Bhaskar’s own power projects. So I said that I will look after the paper for a while. You are said to be taking editorial decisions at ‘DNA’ and pushing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) agenda. People can say anything they want. But first the BJP has to adopt me. The BJP government didn’t spare us… (when the party was in power) How much money has been lost in ‘DNA’? We have invested Rs600 crore already—Rs300 crore each. But now, as of November-December, we have stopped making losses. So it’s time to come to Delhi? Not yet. Delhi is a very difficult newspaper market. But to be a national daily, we will eventually launch there. Any progress on your SEZ (special economic zone) plan and infrastructure projects? In infrastructure, Essel Infravest already has an order book of about Rs8,000 crore. We are largely making sports complexes and roads. We are working on an SEZ for entertainment. The SEZ land is next to our amusement park. Today Esselworld is a one-day affair. We need to make it a destination where people come and stay for 2-3 days like they do at all Disneyland properties. We are looking at a theme park and residential facilities at these places. Is your online lottery business growing? It made a profit of about Rs20-30 crore but the business has now shrunk. Online lottery has been banned in many Congress states. It is running only in Maharashtra and (West) Bengal. But paper lottery continues. There is so much hera-pheri in paper lottery, some operators print duplicate tickets, others do not deposit remaining tickets in the treasury after the close of the day’s sale. It is a huge scam. Hope it gets exposed some day. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:30 am GE Energy, Brookfield pull out of power dealNew Delhi: GE Energy Financial Services and Brookfield Renewable Power Inc. have withdrawn from a green energy joint venture with India’s largest power producer. Toronto-based Brookfield and GE Energy Finance, a unit of General Electric Co., based in Fairfield, Connecticut, pulled out of the venture with NTPC Ltd. because of unfavorable market conditions, Bharatsinh Solanki, the junior power minister, told parliament on Friday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:29 am Deora says losses not sustainableA clear indication of the shift in the thought process of the policy makers to align the prices of domestic fuel--petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene—with international crude oil prices came after petroleum minister Murli Deora on Thursday evening said that the subsidy support by the government is “not sustainable in the long run.”Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:28 am Jindal Steel in bid to buy Zimbabwe firmNew Delhi:Jindal Steel and Power Ltd has bid to acquire a majority stake in Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Co., Jindal Steel director Sushil Maroo said on Friday in an interview in New Delhi. Jindal Steel is also looking for coal mines in Zimbabwe and aims to tap steel demand in the region. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:25 am Planning Commission moves to help BPOThe Planning Commission, usually more in the news on investments, savings and a host of policy issues on trade and manufacturing, is turning its eyes towards human capital as the subject becomes critical to nurturing high economic growth and attracting foreign investors.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:24 am China industry output soars inflation backChinese industrial output surged in November to its fastest pace since June 2007, underlining the economy’s brisk recovery from the global downturn and accompanying the return of consumer inflation and import growth.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:21 am Govt to strengthen PDS to control rising pricesThe government on Friday said it would take appropriate steps, including strengthening the public distribution system (PDS), to control the prices of essential commodities.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:18 am India asks US to reduce nuclear power costsIndia has asked the US to reduce the cost of the nuclear power technology it is offering to India. The cost of the US nuclear power technology is Rs15-16 crore per MW against Rs7-8 crore per MW in India, said a senior official at the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India’s apex power sector planning body. “We have asked them to reduce it. Let us see how they do it,” the official said. He didn’t want to be identified. The US was instrumental in getting India out of its nuclear isolation, but the country is yet to sign a deal with US utilities such as GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Inc. or Westinghouse Electric Co. Llc. GE-Hitachi and Westinghouse plan to develop one site each in India, both rated for 10,000MW.  Costly power:Tarapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra. The cost of the US nuclear power technology is Rs15-16 crore per megawatt. Separately, Rakesh Nath, chairman, CEA, told reporters at an industry event that “European and American costs are higher than the indigenous manufacturers. Russian prices seem to be ok”. His comments came after the visit of a US nuclear industry delegation to India that included members from GE-Hitachi, Westinghouse and Babcock and Wilxcox Co. These and other overseas nuclear power generation equipment companies such as France’s Areva SA and Russia’s Atomstroyexport have plans to supply reactors to state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd (NPCIL). These companies are eyeing Indian orders potentially worth $14 billion (Rs65,000 crore) after the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in September allowed the country’s entry into nuclear commerce, from which it had been shut out for 34 years. NPCIL plans to create additional generating capacity of 3,160MW by 2012 and achieve 20,000MW of installed nuclear power capacity by 2020. Of India’s installed power generation capacity of nearly 150,000MW, nuclear energy accounts for only 4,120MW. utpal.b@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:17 am We are trying to convert non users into usersDays after the launch of Tata Swach, an ultra-cheap water purifier for rural masses, R. Gopalakrishnan, executive director, Tata Sons, who plays a vital role in providing direction and impetus to the group’s new forays, spoke to Hindustan Times from his native town of Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, on the group’s strategy in consumer products.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 10:13 am Govt plan to create Telangana state hits businessesMUMBAI (Reuters) - A unit of global drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline temporarily halted operations in Andhra Pradesh on Friday as the fallout from a government plan to carve up the state mounted.Source: Reuters: Money News | 11 Dec 2009 | 8:28 am Oil firms will suffer loss of Rs 45 478 cr this year DeoraPublic sector oil marketing companies will incur a loss of Rs 45,478 crore in 2009-10, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has told the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of his ministry.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 8:26 am India industrial output up 10 3 pct in OctoberIndia's factory output rose 10.3 per cent in October from a year earlier as stimulus measures and domestic demand pushed Asia's third-largest economy into its 10th straight month of industrial expansion.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 8:17 am Rupee rises as Asian peers up; outlook firm - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Dec 2009 | 7:48 am Sensex ends lower even as IIP grows over 10% - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Dec 2009 | 7:48 am Bharti Retail to increase number of outlets to 200 by Dec 2010Bharti Retail today said it will expand the number of its retail stores to 200 from 70 at present by end 2010. Bharti Enterprises Vice Chairman and Managing Director Rajan Mittal today said most of these will be Easyday stores.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 Dec 2009 | 6:41 am India requires over 520 lakh tonnes of fertiliser: GovtThe government on Friday said the country is not self-sufficient in meeting fertiliser requirement of over 520 lakh tonnes during 2009-10.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 Dec 2009 | 6:19 am India's Richest Woman Plans Power IPO as Rivals Wane - Bloomberg
Source: Business - Google News | 11 Dec 2009 | 6:00 am GlaxoSmithkline shuts down unit over Telangana stirConsumer healthcare company GlaxoSmithkline Friday said it had "temporarily" suspended operations at one of its factories located in Dowlaiswaram, Andhra Pradesh on account of disturbances over the proposed division of the state.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 Dec 2009 | 5:24 am Sensex closes 70 points lowerThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today shed early gains to close lower by over 70 points as profit-selling emerged after the industrial growth for September failed to meet market expectations.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 Dec 2009 | 4:13 am
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