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Solar Industries expects to grow at 20% per annumIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Manish Nuwal, Director Finance of Solar Industries, spoke about his outlook for the company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 8:19 am Biocon files IND for IN105 oral insulin with USFDABiocon has filed for an investigational new drug (IND) for IN105 oral insulin with the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and that happened in December. In an exclusive interview with CNBCTV, Vikas Dandekar of PharmAsia News.com, discusses what it means for the company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 8:10 am Current order book stands at Rs 200cr: Manugraph IndiaIndia\'s largest manufacturer of web offset presses, Manugraph India has recommenced operations at two of its units at Kolhapur. In an interview with CNBCTV18, Sanat Shah, Chairman of Manugraph India, spoke about the recommencement of operations at the units and gave a prognosis of the company\'s business going forward.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 7:55 am Maruti considering raising car prices in 2 weeksMaruti Suzuki, the country\'s top carmaker, is considering to raise prices of its vehicles in about two weeks time, a senior official said on Wednesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 7:00 am Bharti Airtel creates unit for foreign expansionThis is a clear signal that its growth ambitions are intact despite twice failing to reach a deal with South Africa\'s MTNSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 7:00 am Union Bank in talks to buy Indonesian bankCNBCTV18 learns that state lender Union Bank of India is in advanced talks to acquire an Indonesian bank. The potential bank has 34 branches and a forex dealer licence. The bank is predominantly into trade financing and retail and is listed on the Indonesian stock exchange, sources inform.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:53 am No stopping Shopper\'s StopShoppers Stops Govind Shrikhande talks of making the retailer a recession proof model.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:49 am Auto parts cos seen posting higher OctDec netAuto parts makers are expected to report higher earnings in OctoberDecember on the back of a recovering domestic market, which has seen vehicle sales jump to record levels, analysts said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:49 am Hotel Leela sees 8590% occupancy in Mumbai, Gurgaon aheadIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Vivek Nair, Vice Chairman and Managing Director at Hotel Leela Ventures spoke about the latest happenings in his corporation and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:45 am Govt may limit some private sector mining: Report!The government is considering a proposal to restrict mining in tribal areas by private sector companies, a financial daily reported on Wednesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:12 am China under fresh criticism over currency!China, which has emerged as the world`s biggest exporter, is coming under fresh criticism in the US and Europe for using an "undervalued" currency to shore up its economic and trade competitiveness.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:12 am German economy shrank 4.8 percent in 2009!The German economy shrunk by 4.8 percent last year as the global financial crisis engulfed Europe`s economic powerhouse, the nation`s statistics office is forecast to say on Wednesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:12 am Google to end China censorship after e-mail breach!Google may pull out of China following attacks on email accounts belonging to rights activists.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:12 am IVRCL gets road project worth Rs 15.5 bn !IVRCL Infrastructure and Projects said on Wednesday that it received a road project in Madhya Pradesh worth Rs 15.5 billion from the National Highways Authority of India.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:12 am Vedanta to invest another $1.5 bn in Zambia!Metals and mining major Vedanta Resources, promoted by non-resident Indian Anil Agarwal, plans to invest $1.5 billion in Zambia to expand its production of copper cathodes to half a million tonnes by 2013.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:12 am China taps brakes on growth, hopes to avoid tough steps!Global markets were rattled by China`s surprise increase of banks` required reserves, but investors should be thankful that Beijing is not asleep at the wheel of a very fast-moving car.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:12 am Cabinet meet on price rise concludes; petrol may get dearer!The Cabinet Committee on Prices (CCP) is scheduled to hold its meeting Wednesday to discuss the issue of rising food prices.Source: Zee News : Business | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:12 am Nectar Lifesciences to raise Rs 250cr via PE investorIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Dinesh Dua, CEO of Nectar Lifesciences spoke about the companys capital raising exercise and the road ahead.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 6:10 am Zambia keeps four suitors for stake in ZamtelIndia's Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Angola's Unitel, Libya's LAP Green Networks and Russia's Altimo all submitted bids for a slice of up to 75% in Zamtel in December.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:25 am Food prices will come down in 8-10 days: Pawar - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:23 am GTL Infrastructure to buy Aircel towers for $1.8 billionGTL Infrastructure will buy 17,500 telecom towers owned by Aircel, a unit of Malaysia's Maxis Communications.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:23 am Kyocera's Kazuo Inamori to take CEO post at Japan AirlinesInamori was asked by the government to lead the restructuring of JAL, which sources say could file for bankruptcy next week.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:20 am India to Sell Surplus Staples to Ease Food Prices - Wall Street Journal
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:19 am Indian shares provisionally close up 0.5 pct - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:14 am Food prices may moderate in 10 days: Sharad PawarHigh food price inflation may start moderating in seven to 10 days, following the measures unveiled by the government, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:09 am REC Q3 net up 48% to Rs 474 cr - Hindu Business Line
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:02 am Corporate India still cautious on hiring: TeamLeaseNew Delhi: Amid rising optimism for the future of their businesses, India Inc still remains cautious about hiring in the January-March period, a survey by leading staffing firm TeamLease Services said. According to the quarterly report, hiring sentiment saw a marginal improvement with the employment outlook index for the January to March quarter standing at 47 index points, one per cent higher than the previous quarter. On the other hand, indicating bullish expectations for the future of their businesses, the net business outlook index has shown an increase of 41 index points for Jan-March period. “Hiring sentiments have marginally improved this quarter, in line with the Industry’s positive outlook. Our estimates show that there would be a leap of faith during this current quarter and trends will not just hold out, they will be bolder and result in higher employment gains,” TeamLease Services vice-president Rajesh AR said. “That said, employers are cautious and are placing stronger emphasis on skill-gap and employability. It must be noted that the intention to hire is still weak this time around. The jitters have been shaken off, however, and the numbers are now likely to ramp up steadily,” he added. There has been a rise in employment outlook index points of all cities except Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Moreover, there has been a rise in hiring outlook across most of the sectors, except financial services and pharma. According to the TeamLease ’Quarterly Employment Outlook’ report, increase in hiring intentions has been the maximum for infrastructure sector, while telecom saw the least. The index points of most sectors are on the increase except telecom and pharma. The IT Enabled services sector increased the most (by 31 points). Besides, among cities the employment outlook index points of Pune rose the most (by 50 points), while it dropped the most for Delhi (by 24 points). In terms of outlook for their businesses, there has been an increase in all cities except Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad. The Business Outlook Index points of Pune increased the most by 63 points. The report noted that there was a decrease in the intention to hire at all managerial levels, while there was an increase in intention to hire in marketing and customer service functions. During the past three months as well as the last one year, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi had the highest attrition rates compared to other cities. Ahmedabad had the lowest attrition rate in both last 3 months as well as in last 1 year, the survey added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:01 am Euro-III grade fuel sale to be delayed by six monthsNew Delhi: The government on Wednesday said it is on track to supply cleaner Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel in 13 big cities from 1 April but sale of Euro-III fuel in rest of the country will be phased over six months. Currently, Euro-III grade petrol and diesel is sold in 13 big cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad while Euro-II emission norm- compliant fuel is sold over rest of the country. From 1 April, the 13 cities have to upgrade to Euro-IV and the rest of the nation to Euro-III but lack of planning has ensured that the programme is being implemented in phases. “We reviewed industry’s preparedness (to begin cleaner fuel supplies). Euro-IV petrol and diesel will be for sure supplied in 13 cities (by both private and public sector firms) from April 1 but Euro-III will be launched in phases to cover the entire nation by 1 October,” minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Jitin Prasada told reporters in New Delhi. He said since India is a vast country, Euro-III fuels cannot be supplied from day one at all the places, but industry watchers said the ministry should have begun rolling out the fuel from October 2009 so as to meet the Supreme Court mandated deadline of 1 April, 2010. The delay in Euro-III fuel supplies was because of some refineries have not upgraded their facilities in time, he said adding the implementation schedule would be drawn by the oil companies by 15 February. Petroleum minister Murli Deora evaded replying to questions on who was responsible for delay in commissioning facilities at refineries to produce cleaner fuel and for the lack of planning for introduction of the Euro-III and IV fuels. The cleaner fuel roll out programme was set in 2002. “You ask them (the oil companies)”, is all he said. Prasada said upgrading refineries was a mammoth task and there was delay in equipment supplies when all the units go to upgradation at the same time. Petroleum secretary R S Pandey said while there were no issues of availability of supplies for Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel for 13 cities, the same for Euro-III grade would be rolled out in phases between April and October. “Some places will get Euro-III fuel on 1 April but the entire country would be covered by 1 October, 2010,” he said. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) chairman Sarthak Behuria said his firm and other state retailers Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum have received commitment from private refiners Reliance Industries and Essar Oil to supply as much Euro-III and IV grade fuel as the requirement would be. “We have to assess the demand in 2010-11 and then we can say how much fuel we will need from them... in the starting we may have to import 2-2.5 million tonnes of fuel,” he said. The Euro IV standard specifies a maximum of 50 parts per million of sulfur in petrol and diesel. Euro-III fuel specifications call for a maximum of 350 parts per million of sulfur will be sold in the rest of the country. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 3:00 am Markets rebound to close 0.5% on Infosys, TCS rallyMubai: Indian shares rose 0.5% on Wednesday, with Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy rallying to all-time highs, a day after Infosys cheered investors with an upbeat sales forecast. The 30-share BSE index ended up 87.29 points at 17,509.80 , with 17 components gaining. The 50-share NSE index closed up 0.5% at 5,233.95. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:59 am Markets rebound to close 0.5% on Infosys, TCS rallyMubai: Indian shares rose 0.5% on Wednesday, with Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy rallying to all-time highs, a day after Infosys cheered investors with an upbeat sales forecast. The 30-share BSE index ended up 87.29 points at 17,509.80 , with 17 components gaining. The 50-share NSE index closed up 0.5% at 5,233.95. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:59 am Adam Haslett's new novel mixes finance and powerIn his novel, 'Union Atlantic', which will be released next month, Haslett tackles topics such as wealth, greed and power.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:55 am BSNL among four suitors for stake in ZamtelJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - All four suitors seeking a majority stake in Zambia's fixed-line phone operator Zamtel have been shortlisted for the next round of bidding due to start next week, Zambia said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:43 am Bharti Airtel creates unit for foreign expansionThe company has 119 million mobile users in India, about 23% of the world's fastest-growing mobile market.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:43 am Oil falls below $80 on US inventories, ChinaLondon: Oil fell to its lowest level this year on Wednesday, dipping below $80 a barrel after an industry report showed rising US distillate inventories despite the severe northern hemisphere winter. The American Petroleum Institute (API) said distillate stocks - which include heating oil and diesel - rose by 3.6 million barrels last week, in its weekly report late on Tuesday. Expectations had been for a 1.8 million barrel fall. Prices were also pressured after China surprised world markets by raising banks’ cash reserve requirements, the latest step towards tightening monetary policy, which some traders see potentially dampening rising energy demand. US crude for February delivery fell as much as $1.16 a barrel to $79.63, the lowest level since the first trading day of 2010, before paring losses to trade down 65 cents at $80.14 a barrel by 0937 GMT. Prices have fallen by almost $4 since hitting a 15-month high near $84 on Monday. London Brent crude for February, which expires on Thursday, fell 63 cents to trade at $78.67 a barrel. “The market is trading in the $75-$85 range, and if we are getting warmer weather, higher inventories and Chinese monetary policy is changing, then we should now try the lower side of that range,” said Keichi Sano, general manager of research at SCM Securities in Tokyo. China, the world’s second largest oil consumer, raised the proportion of deposits that banks must hold in reserve by 0.5 percentage point in a move to keep a lid on inflation. Concerns that Chinese tightening could moderate the global economic recovery unnerved financial markets, denting stocks, higher-yielding currencies and commodities. “The Chinese economy is an extraordinary buyer of commodities and energy, so people are very concerned about its growth pace,” Sano said. On top of higher US distillate inventories, crude and gasoline stockpiles in the world’s largest energy consumer also rose last week, the API said. Gasoline inventories soared by 6.8 million barrels, far surpassing expectations for a 1.2 million barrel build. Crude stocks rose by 1.2 million barrels, matching analysts predictions. Stocks of crude and oil products have bulged in the United States over the past 18-months as the economic crisis has cut the demand for energy. Very cold weather over the last two weeks was expected to have helped to draw down inflated inventories. Warmer weather across the central and eastern United States is expected to arrive in the next few days, DTN Meteorlogic said, reducing heating demand. Government inventory data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be closely watched when it is published at 1530 GMT to see if it confirms the API numbers. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:41 am China official says seeking more information on GoogleBEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities were "seeking more information on Google's statement that it could quit China", the official Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a government official.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:40 am India gold demand abates as traders await fallsMUMBAI (Reuters) - India gold demand abated on Wednesday as traders awaited a further fall in prices after physical offtake picked up late in the evening in the previous session, dealers said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:38 am Tata Docomo offers calls at 1p per 6 sec through BuddyNetTata Docomo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL), on Wednesday launched its 'BuddyNet' community, as part of which locals calls to members would be offered at one paisa for six seconds.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:34 am Economy to grow 7.75%; inflation a worry: FMNew Delhi: The government today pegged economic growth for the current fiscal at 7.75%, higher than all previous estimates, but said high food inflation remained a cause for concern. In a pre-Budget interaction with states finance ministers, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee pointed out that there was enough wheat and rice stocks and proposed open market sale for offloading of these stocks to increase availability in the market, which would in turn ease prices. “A major area of concern is high food inflation; WPI index increased by 19.79%, therefore collaborative efforts of the central and state governments are required to tackle this problem... Offtake of surplus stock by the state governments are not satisfactory. Therefore, all the state governments may cooperate in this regard to lift these surplus stock alloted to them,” Mukherjee said at the meeting. He also called for efforts to increase farm productivity. Mukherjee said that economic recovery will be a collaborative effort of the centre and the states. Economic growth stood at 7% during the first half of the current fiscal, Mukherjee said, pegging GDP growth for the whole fiscal at around 7.75% -- a number that exceeds the initial estimates of the government as well as the RBI. The Union finance minister asked the state governments to utilise the cash surplus for development activities. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:31 am China, disappointing earnings hit world equitiesLONDON (Reuters) - China's monetary tightening and disappointing corporate earnings put downward pressure on world stocks on Wednesday, combining to present investors with two of their biggest concerns.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:30 am Govt allows duty free sugar imports till Dec endNew Delhi: The government on Wednesday allowed import of refined sugar at zero duty up to 31 December this year in the wake of sweetener prices nearing Rs50 a kg in the retail market. The Cabinet Committee on Prices (CCP) also decided to permit UP mills to process imported raw sugar outside the state due to restrictions there. Two-three million tonnes of wheat would be released in the open market in the next two months to check prices, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar told reporters after the meeting. Import of white sugar was allowed till 31 March this year earlier. Expecting states to play more active role in containing rising food prices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will review the situation with the chief ministers later this month. Food inflation has reached near 20% while sugar is inching near Rs50 a kg in the retail market. The Prime Minister would also review the implementation of the Essential Commodities Act for reining in the food prices, Pawar said. The Mayawati government does not allow the mills to process the imported raw sugar in Uttar Pradesh despite repeated requests from the Centre. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:30 am Govt allows duty free sugar imports till Dec endThe govt allowed import of sugar at zero duty up to Dec 31 this year after sugar prices neared Rs 50 a kg. It also permitted UP mills to process imported raw sugar outside the state due to restrictions there.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:29 am Food prices may moderate in 10 days - farm minNEW DELHI (Reuters) - High food price inflation may start moderating in seven to 10 days, following the measures unveiled by the government, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:27 am Rejecting censorship, Google threatens to quit ChinaSHANGHAI/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc threatened to quit China, the world's biggest Internet market, warning it would no longer tolerate strict censorship of its Google.cn search engine.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 2:14 am High food inflation worries CentreThe Centre today expressed concern over high food inflation, which is nearing 20 per cent, and asked states to lift more wheat and rice stocks from its pool.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:58 am Murli Deora to discuss fuel pricing with PM Manmohan SinghThe Petroleum minister said he would broach the subject of fuel pricing with the PM later today when he meets him to discuss the health of oil companies.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:56 am Govt eyes 600 bn yen credit line as JAL nears bankruptcy - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:52 am Infosys, Tata Consultancy at all-time highsMumbai: Shares in leading Indian outsourcing firms Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy touched a record high, while Wipro rose to its highest level in nearly a decade, a day after Infosys raised its 2009/10 earnings forecast. The country’s top software services firm Tata Consultancy hit a record high of 774 rupees in the day, while rival Infosys scaled a new peak at Rs2,632. Wipro rose to as much as Rs712.80, its highest level since April 2000. HSBC Securities upgraded Infosys to overweight from neutral, and raised its target price on the stock to Rs3,100 from 2,950, after the IT firm raised its FY11/12 earnings per share estimates by 4-6%. “We remain confident that IT spending will accelerate in 2010/11 and that Infosys will remain a strong beneficiary,” HSBC Securities said in a note seen by Reuters. Infosys Technologies, India’s second-largest software exporter, raised its annual sales forecast as big financial services clients boost orders in an improving global economy, pointing to an industry recovery. The company’s results are generally a trendsetter for the sector peers and has raised expectations they may follow suit. At 12:38pm, Infosys was up 1.6% at Rs2,630, Tata Consultancy rose 3.2% to Rs773 and Wipro climbed 1.9% to Rs707.60. India’s main stock index was down 0.4% at 17,358.26 points. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:52 am High food inflation worries CentreThe Centre on Wednesday expressed concern over high food inflation, which is nearing 20%, and asked states to lift more wheat and rice stocks from its pool -- a move that will help increase foodgrain availability and eventually ease prices.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:42 am China tightening seen hurting property, resources firmsHONG KONG (Reuters) - Beijing's surprise decision to increase bank reserve requirements could signal an end to easy and cheap funding, putting pressure on the earnings of Chinese property and resources companies.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:31 am Bharti Airtel creates new unit for foreign expansionNew Delhi: Leading Indian telecom Bharti Airtel on Wednesday created a new unit to drive its foreign expansion, signalling its growth ambitions are intact despite twice failing to reach a deal with South Africa’s MTN. A day after agreeing to buy control of Bangladesh’s Warid Telecom, Bharti said CEO Manoj Kohli would head the new international business group that would focus on expansion in emerging markets beyond South Asia. “The next phase of our journey is set to be another game changer -- requiring superior thrust and focused leadership,” Bharti founder and Chairman Sunil Mittal said in a statement. “We continue to win in the Indian telecom market, which is going through a phase of hyper-competition. At the same time, we will be developing comprehensive plans for our journey to cover emerging markets beyond India and the South Asia,” Mittal said. At 1:27pm, shares in Bharti Airtel, India’s seventh-most valuable listed company with a market capitalisation of about $27 billion, were down 1.9% in a Mumbai market that was down 0.6%. Deputy CEO Sanjay Kapoor will become the CEO for India and South Asia when the changes take effect on 1 April. The company has 119 million mobile users in India, about 23 percent of the world’s fastest-growing mobile market. Bharti has been lookng for acquisitions in emerging markets where it can replicate its low-price, high-volume model, as its home turf becomes increasingly competitive. It held tie-up talks with MTN in 2008 and 2009 that would have catapulted it to top 10 of global telecoms, but could not seal a deal. On Tuesday, Bharti agreed to buy a 70% stake in Bangladesh’s No. 4 operator Warid Telecom. Bharti also has mobile operations in Sri Lanka. The company, owned more than 30% by SingTel South East Asia’s top phone firm, is scheduled to announce its December quarter results on 22 January. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:29 am Bharti rejigs top management - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:28 am Bharti Airtel creates unit for foreign expansionNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Leading telecom Bharti Airtel on Wednesday created a new unit to drive its foreign expansion, signalling its growth ambitions are intact despite twice failing to reach a deal with South Africa's MTN.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:16 am FY10 growth to be around 7.75 pct - MukherjeeNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Indian economy is expected to grow by around 7.75 percent in the fiscal year to March 2010, but food price inflation is a major concern, the finance minister said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:13 am Shares of Infosys, TCS touch year's high on BSEShares of IT majors TCS and Infosys Technologies on Wednesday touched year-high levels despite weak benchmark Sensex on signals of firm trend of sectoral revival after the country's second largest software company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:12 am Maruti considering raising car pricesKOLKATA (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki, India's top carmaker, is considering to raise prices of its vehicles in about two weeks time, a senior official said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:11 am Cross-border infiltration into J&K on the rise: AntonyNew Delhi: Voicing serious concern over rise in infiltration from Pakistan, defence minister A K Antony Wednesday attributed it to forces across the border which are “jittery” over return of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir. “In 2009, violence (in Jammu and Kashmir) came down, compared to 2008. At the same time, compared to 2008, last year attempts to infiltrate has gone up. It is a matter of serious concern to us,” Antony told reporters here. Giving his assessment of the situation in the border state, Antony said, “Inimical forces across the border are jittery” as they saw normalcy returning to Jammu and Kashmir. “If the situation continues like this, J&K will fast return to normalcy and peace. That, militant forces will not allow. “When they realised violence level has come down across the state and tourists are coming and normalcy is coming, they started making serious attempts to sabotage the situation. That is why there are more attempts at infiltration,” he said on the sidelines of a CII defence seminar. Antony held discussion with the chief minister and civil administration in the presence of Army chief Deepak Kapoor in Jammu yesterday and directed the security forces to be “more vigilant” against infiltration attempts this year, particularly at the end of this month. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:10 am India's Maruti considering raising car prices - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:06 am UPDATE1-PTC India sees more profitability on new trade margins - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jan 2010 | 1:04 am Google threatens to quit China, citing cyber attacks - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:56 am Facebook taps McAfee to shield users from attacksFacebook said its 350 million users can download a free six-month trial of McAfee's Internet Security Suite, which protects computer users from viruses and other Internet threats.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:55 am Sony postpones launch of PS3 game Gran Turismo 5It was due to be launched in March. Sony said a new launch date has not been set.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:53 am Bharti Airtel promotes deputy CEO as new chief execBharti Airtel, India's top mobile operator, on Wednesday promoted Deputy CEO Sanjay Kapoor as its new CEO for India and South Asia creating a new international business group.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:44 am Sensex down 146 pts in early trade on Asian cuesThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex lost 146 points in early trading on continued selling by funds, triggered by weak Asian cues.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:32 am Sensex trades weak M M Sterlite Inds DLF ICICI Bk down - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:31 am Ficci attracts South Africans to Commonwealth business meetJohannesburg: About 100 captains of South African business and industry have expressed interest in participating in an global business meet being planned by FICCI on the periphery of the Commonwealth Games 2010 to be hosted in Delhi in October. A delegation from FICCI explained the project to the businessmen at an India-South Africa Round Table here yesterday. “The Commonwealth Business Club of India (CBCI) was formed to develop vibrant business relationships between India and other Commonwealth countries, and especially with South Africa,” Joint Director-General and Organising Committee of CWG 2010 T S Darbari said . With 71 nations participating from October 3 - 14, and more than 5,000 media delegates and 100,000 tourists expected, Darbari pointed out the advantages for South African business to participate in CBCI. “We are looking at CWG 2010 as a larger opportunity to showcase our strengths within the Commonwealth nations”, said Ambika Sharma, Deputy Secretary General, of FICCI, as she explained FICCI’s efficacy as a mobilising force in Indian business as it sought global partnerships. Indian Consul-General Vikram Doraiswami said that South Africans wanting to invest in India should take advantage of the experience of Indian companies who have invested here in large measure in the past decade. “Corporate South Africa has done a lot in India, but it needs to contribute to India’s growth in a bigger way,“ Doraiswami said as he urged local business and industry to take advantage of the opportunity presented by CBCI. “There will be networking opportunities at multinational level as many countries will be participating. The unique selling point there is the sheer scale of opportunity,” Doraiswami said. The chairman of the FICCI Task Force of CWG 2010, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, made a plea to the South African government to finalise the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Preferential Trade Agreement as soon as possible so that its neighbours in the region could also benefit through better trade relations with India. PTI FH Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Tjewith Keith Brebnor commended FICCI for having taken a similar approach to what the local organisation was doing for the FIFA World Cup to be hosted in South Africa in June this year. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:17 am GMR to begin work on Chhattisgarh power project by MarchGMR Energy Ltd, a unit of GMR Infrastructure, will begin construction work on its 1,200 MW thermal power project in Chhattisgarh by March, a company official said on Wednesday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:03 am Bharti Airtel promotes deputy CEO as new chief execBharti Airtel, India's top mobile operator, on Wednesday promoted Deputy CEO Sanjay Kapoor as its new CEO for India and South Asia and created a new international business group to focus on expansion beyond these regions.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Infosys raises outlook for full year on higher Q3 netIT bellwether Infosys Technologies said on Tuesday that the worst is over for the company as it raised its outlook for the fiscal second time in twoSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Bajaj Auto posts 3-fold rise in Q3 profitsBajaj Auto posted a net profit of Rs 475 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009, which is nearly three times the Rs 164-crore profits posted in the corresponding quarter ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideNote: In a buy recommendation, the resistances would be the targets and the nearest support would be the stop loss; In a sell recommendation, the supports would be the targets and the nearest resistance would be the stop loss; The recommendationSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Industrial growth hits 25-month high in NovIndian industry continues to exhibit robust recovery, with growth touching a 25 month-high of 11.7 per cent inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am The business of (mis)managing moneyIt's going to be the fastest growing service in the coming years — looking after other people'sSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Export push gets Rs 500-cr duty sopsThe Government has announced duty benefits for 2,000 new products to sustain revival inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Sensex cos will shine this season, say brokeragesSensex companies may deliver a sales growth of over 20 per cent and profit growth between 16 and 23 per cent in the results season, says leading Indian brokerages in their “earnings previews” for the quarter ended DecemberSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Now, watch TV live as you cruise on the roadLuxury cars need lavish interiors and what's more luxurious than watching live TV in such aSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Days of multi-billion dollar deals are over: Infosys CFOInfosys Technologies believes that while fiscal stimuli have helped economies across the world recover faster than expected, there is still some amount of scepticism on the road ahead for companies. In an interview with Business Line, the InfosysSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am GMR Infrastructure (Rs 67.1): SellWe recommend a sell in the stock of GMR Infrastructure from a short-term perspective. It is evident from the charts that the stock has been on an intermediate-term downtrend since its June 2009 high of Rs 91, forming lower troughs and lowerSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Bharti adds 2.85 mn mobile users in DecNew Delhi: Bharti Airtel, India’s top mobile operator, added 2.85 million mobile users in December taking its total subscriber base to 118.9 million, data released by an industry body showed. The country’s third-largest mobile firm Vodafone Essar, controlled by Vodafone signed up 2.79 million mobile users in December boosting its total to 91.4 million, the Cellular Operators Association of India said on its website. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 11:52 pm Timeline | Google’s rocky road into ChinaShanghai: Google Inc has said it may pull out of China because it is no longer willing to accept censorship of its search results, in what would be a shock retreat from the world’s largest Internet market by users. Google’s troubles in China are not unique and have affected other companies seeking a foothold in the huge Internet market. Following are some key developments in Google’s bumpy foray into China: 2000 - Google develops Chinese-language interface for its Google.com website. 2002 - Google.com becomes temporarily unavailable to Chinese users, with interference from domestic competition suspected. July 2005 - Google hires ex-Microsoft executive Lee Kai Fu as head of Google China. Microsoft sues Google over the move, claiming Lee will inevitably disclose propriety information to Google. The two rivals reach a settlement on the suit over Lee in December. Jan 2006 - Google rolls out Google.cn, its China-based search page that censors search results in accordance with Chinese rules. Google says it made the trade-off to “make meaningful and positive contributions” to development in China while abiding by the country’s strict censorship laws. Aug 2008 - Google launches free music downloads for users in China to better compete with market leader Baidu Inc. March 2009 - China blocks access to Google’s Y video site. June 2009 - A Chinese official accuses Google of spreading obscene content over the Internet. The comments come a day after Google.com, Gmail and other Google online services became inaccessible to many users in China. Sept 2009 - Lee resigns as Google China head to start his own company. Google appoints sales chief John Liu to take over Lee’s business and operational responsibilities. Oct 2009 - A group of Chinese authors accuses Google of violating copyrights with its digital library, with many threatening to sue. Jan 2010 - Google announces it is no longer willing to censor searches in China and may pull out of the country. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 11:46 pm Timeline | Google’s rocky road into ChinaShanghai: Google Inc has said it may pull out of China because it is no longer willing to accept censorship of its search results, in what would be a shock retreat from the world’s largest Internet market by users. Google’s troubles in China are not unique and have affected other companies seeking a foothold in the huge Internet market. Following are some key developments in Google’s bumpy foray into China: 2000 - Google develops Chinese-language interface for its Google.com website. 2002 - Google.com becomes temporarily unavailable to Chinese users, with interference from domestic competition suspected. July 2005 - Google hires ex-Microsoft executive Lee Kai Fu as head of Google China. Microsoft sues Google over the move, claiming Lee will inevitably disclose propriety information to Google. The two rivals reach a settlement on the suit over Lee in December. Jan 2006 - Google rolls out Google.cn, its China-based search page that censors search results in accordance with Chinese rules. Google says it made the trade-off to “make meaningful and positive contributions” to development in China while abiding by the country’s strict censorship laws. Aug 2008 - Google launches free music downloads for users in China to better compete with market leader Baidu Inc. March 2009 - China blocks access to Google’s Y video site. June 2009 - A Chinese official accuses Google of spreading obscene content over the Internet. The comments come a day after Google.com, Gmail and other Google online services became inaccessible to many users in China. Sept 2009 - Lee resigns as Google China head to start his own company. Google appoints sales chief John Liu to take over Lee’s business and operational responsibilities. Oct 2009 - A group of Chinese authors accuses Google of violating copyrights with its digital library, with many threatening to sue. Jan 2010 - Google announces it is no longer willing to censor searches in China and may pull out of the country. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 11:46 pm Hewlett Packard CEO got 24M pay package for 2009Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd got a pay package in latest fiscal year the company valued at $24.2 million, according to an analysis of a company filing Tuesday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jan 2010 | 11:42 pm Google may quit China over censorshipShanghai / San Francisco: Internet giant Google Inc has made a shock threat to quit China, the world’s biggest Internet market by users, after hackers accessed human rights activists’ e-mail accounts. Google’s announcement on Tuesday comes amid growing tensions between China and the United States over Internet freedoms, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton set to announce a technology policy next week to help citizens around the world have access to an uncensored Web. China has over 350 million Web surfers and annual search revenue topping $1 billion. Despite its allure, anyone doing business there must adhere to strict Chinese censorship rules that ban discussion or display of pages on sensitive topics ranging from Tibetan independence to the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. Companies like Google and Microsoft, along with domestic giants Baidu and Sina, all adhere to such rules, though none likes to speak publicly about them. In its latest China roadbump, Google said it had uncovered a sophisticated attack on the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists using its Gmail service, and that more than 20 other companies were similarly attacked. “These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered — combined with attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the Web — have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China,” Google chief legal officer David Drummond said in a statement. “We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.” China is one of the few markets where Google is not in the lead, lagging Baidu which commands a 60% share of the Chinese Internet search market versus Google’s 30%. Shares of Google fell 1.3% in after-hours trading after the news that it might withdraw from China, while Baidu shares jumped 6.8%. Sina shares gained 1.3%. “This is definitely a big surprise and very sad news for users in China because now we have fewer choices,” said Edward Yu, chief executive of Beijing-based research firm Analysys. “Emotionally speaking, this is negative for foreign players trying to develop in the Chinese market, but from a rational point of view, it is still to be seen whether Google pulls out.” At odds with the West China’s tough stance on Web censorship has put it at odds with Western technology firms in recent years. The latest dispute had pit personal computer makers against a Chinese government intent on keeping pornography out of the hands of China’s youth, though many believe the move involved censorship and invasion of privacy. In June, Beijing ordered Google to block overseas sites with “vulgar” content from being accessible through the Chinese language version of its search engine. Google said then that it met with Chinese government officials and was taking necessary steps to ensure search results on its Chinese site complied. Google said the hackers in the recent attack had tried to break into Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, but only managed to access two unidentified accounts, and could only see subject headings and other data such as when the account was created. It did not say what information the hackers tried to access from other companies, nor which they were. Google said it was now notifying the other affected corporations, adding it was working with the US authorities. A Google spokesperson said the company was still investigating the attack and would not say whether Google believed Chinese authorities were involved. Microsoft, whose rival Hotmail e-mail service is also available in China, said it had no indication that any of its mail properties had been compromised in China. The attack on Google was disclosed a day after Baidu’s site was hacked briefly by people calling themsleves the Iranian Cyber Army. The Google attack implies that the government may somehow be responsible, said RBC Capital Markets analyst Stephen Ju. “This is a complete 180 (degree) turnaround (for Google). Just about every earnings call recently has been that they are focused on the long-term growth opportunities for China and that they are committed.” Rocky road Google generated 53% of its $5.9 billion in revenue in the third quarter outside the United States. It does not disclose the size of its business in China. Many of Google’s primary services, such as Gmail and Google.com, became briefly inaccessible to many Chinese users last year, and its YouTube video site has been inaccessible there since March. “We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all,” Drummond said. Human rights have been a frequent source of tension between the United States and China, which is the largest holder of US Treasuries, with total holdings of $798.9 billion. Last week, Clinton dined with tech heavyweights such as Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Microsoft research and strategy chief Craig Mundie, and Cisco Systems Inc executive vice president Sue Bostrom. It was not clear if the meeting was related to Google’s revelation, and the companies had no immediate comment. According to JPMorgan, China’s search market hit $1 billion in 2009 and will grow to $1.5 billion this year. But search advertising is still less than 50 percent of the total online ad market in China, compared with 67% in the United States. “What makes Google the largest search engine and one of the leading Internet companies is that they care about users’ privacy, and if that privacy comes under challenge it may impact their global business,” said Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal. “They obviously did not appreciate the attack ... We should not take the Google threat lightly.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 11:38 pm Google may quit China over censorshipShanghai / San Francisco: Internet giant Google Inc has made a shock threat to quit China, the world’s biggest Internet market by users, after hackers accessed human rights activists’ e-mail accounts. Google’s announcement on Tuesday comes amid growing tensions between China and the United States over Internet freedoms, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton set to announce a technology policy next week to help citizens around the world have access to an uncensored Web. China has over 350 million Web surfers and annual search revenue topping $1 billion. Despite its allure, anyone doing business there must adhere to strict Chinese censorship rules that ban discussion or display of pages on sensitive topics ranging from Tibetan independence to the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. Companies like Google and Microsoft, along with domestic giants Baidu and Sina, all adhere to such rules, though none likes to speak publicly about them. In its latest China roadbump, Google said it had uncovered a sophisticated attack on the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists using its Gmail service, and that more than 20 other companies were similarly attacked. “These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered — combined with attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the Web — have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China,” Google chief legal officer David Drummond said in a statement. “We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.” China is one of the few markets where Google is not in the lead, lagging Baidu which commands a 60% share of the Chinese Internet search market versus Google’s 30%. Shares of Google fell 1.3% in after-hours trading after the news that it might withdraw from China, while Baidu shares jumped 6.8%. Sina shares gained 1.3%. “This is definitely a big surprise and very sad news for users in China because now we have fewer choices,” said Edward Yu, chief executive of Beijing-based research firm Analysys. “Emotionally speaking, this is negative for foreign players trying to develop in the Chinese market, but from a rational point of view, it is still to be seen whether Google pulls out.” At odds with the West China’s tough stance on Web censorship has put it at odds with Western technology firms in recent years. The latest dispute had pit personal computer makers against a Chinese government intent on keeping pornography out of the hands of China’s youth, though many believe the move involved censorship and invasion of privacy. In June, Beijing ordered Google to block overseas sites with “vulgar” content from being accessible through the Chinese language version of its search engine. Google said then that it met with Chinese government officials and was taking necessary steps to ensure search results on its Chinese site complied. Google said the hackers in the recent attack had tried to break into Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, but only managed to access two unidentified accounts, and could only see subject headings and other data such as when the account was created. It did not say what information the hackers tried to access from other companies, nor which they were. Google said it was now notifying the other affected corporations, adding it was working with the US authorities. A Google spokesperson said the company was still investigating the attack and would not say whether Google believed Chinese authorities were involved. Microsoft, whose rival Hotmail e-mail service is also available in China, said it had no indication that any of its mail properties had been compromised in China. The attack on Google was disclosed a day after Baidu’s site was hacked briefly by people calling themsleves the Iranian Cyber Army. The Google attack implies that the government may somehow be responsible, said RBC Capital Markets analyst Stephen Ju. “This is a complete 180 (degree) turnaround (for Google). Just about every earnings call recently has been that they are focused on the long-term growth opportunities for China and that they are committed.” Rocky road Google generated 53% of its $5.9 billion in revenue in the third quarter outside the United States. It does not disclose the size of its business in China. Many of Google’s primary services, such as Gmail and Google.com, became briefly inaccessible to many Chinese users last year, and its YouTube video site has been inaccessible there since March. “We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all,” Drummond said. Human rights have been a frequent source of tension between the United States and China, which is the largest holder of US Treasuries, with total holdings of $798.9 billion. Last week, Clinton dined with tech heavyweights such as Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Microsoft research and strategy chief Craig Mundie, and Cisco Systems Inc executive vice president Sue Bostrom. It was not clear if the meeting was related to Google’s revelation, and the companies had no immediate comment. According to JPMorgan, China’s search market hit $1 billion in 2009 and will grow to $1.5 billion this year. But search advertising is still less than 50 percent of the total online ad market in China, compared with 67% in the United States. “What makes Google the largest search engine and one of the leading Internet companies is that they care about users’ privacy, and if that privacy comes under challenge it may impact their global business,” said Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal. “They obviously did not appreciate the attack ... We should not take the Google threat lightly.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 11:38 pm Infosys Tata Consultancy at all time highsInfosys Technologies shares touched a record high of 2,632 rupees today, a day after the IT bellwether raised its 2009/10 earnings forecast.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jan 2010 | 11:28 pm Playcast: Waging wikiwars, tech behind golf balls and tweepleToday we start by talking to the organisers of the “Wikiwars”conference currently underway in Bangalore. The conference aims to look at the various philosophical and academic ramifications that Wikipedia has had in terms of how knowledge is generated, and how the Internet can be used to deal with issues of language, accessibility and communication. We speak to Nishant Shah of the Centre for Internet Research for more details. We then take a look at the tech behind a golf ball, following a discussion with CallawayGolf Company CEO George Fellows. And in the final segment of the show, Sidin Vadukut returns with another three “twindividuals” to follow on Twitter. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 11:04 pm Hundreds feared dead in Haiti quakePort-Au-Prince: A major earthquake struck the capital of impoverished Haiti on Tuesday, toppling many buildings and burying hundreds, possibly thousands, of people under the rubble, witnesses said. The magnitude 7.0 quake, whose epicenter was inland and only 10 miles (16 km) from Port-au-Prince, sent panic-stricken people into the streets as clouds of dust and smoke from falling buildings rose into the sky. As offices, hotels, houses and shops collapsed, people were screaming “Jesus, Jesus” and running in all directions. The gleaming white presidential palace lay in ruins, its domes fallen on top of flattened walls. Bloodied and dazed survivors gathered in the open and corpses were pinned by debris. Numerous powerful aftershocks rattled Port-au-Prince into the night. The United Nations said a large number of its personnel in Haiti were unaccounted for after a five-story building at the headquarters of the UN mission collapsed. “The whole city is in darkness. You have thousands of people sitting in the streets with nowhere to go,” said Rachmani Domersant, an operations manager with the Food for the Poor charity. “There are people running, crying, screaming.” In the hillside neighborhood of Petionville, Domersant said he saw no police or rescue vehicles. “People are trying to dig victims out with flashlights,” he said. “I think hundreds of casualties would be a serious understatement.” Witnesses said they saw homes and shanties built on hillsides come tumbling down as the earth shook. “The car was bouncing off the ground,” Domersant said. UN officials said normal communications had been cut off and the only way to talk with people on the ground was via satellite phone. Roads were blocked by rubble. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has a history of destructive natural disasters. Some 9,000 UN police and troops are stationed there to maintain order. The quake prompted a tsunami watch for parts of the Caribbean but this was later canceled. US promises help US President Barack Obama said his “thoughts and prayers” were with the people of Haiti and pledged immediate aid. The United States would provide military and civilian disaster assistance to the Caribbean country, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Hawaii. The US Coast Guard in Miami said it had mobilized cutters and aircraft to positions close to Haiti to give humanitarian assistance as needed. Clinton’s husband, former US President Bill Clinton, who is the UN special envoy for Haiti, also pledged assistance. The Inter-American Development Bank said it would provide $200,000 in immediate emergency aid. The World Bank, which said its local offices were destroyed but that most staff were accounted for, plans to send a team to help Haiti assess damage and plan a recovery. UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said the main UN building in Port-au-Prince had collapsed. “We don’t know how many people were in the building,” he told reporters. Le Roy’s deputy Edmond Mulet said 200 to 250 people work in the building during normal hours. Since the earthquake struck after 5 p.m. local time — after working hours — it was not clear how many people would have been inside. There were more houses destroyed than standing in Delmas Road, a major thoroughfare in Port-au-Prince, another Food for the Poor employee said. The Hotel Montana, where many foreigners stay, was also damaged. “Within a minute of the quake ... soil, dust and smoke rose up over the city, a blanket that completely covered the city and obscured it for about 12 minutes,” Mike Godfrey, who works for USAID, told CNN. Experts said the quake’s epicenter was very shallow at a depth of only 6.2 miles (10 km), which was likely to have magnified the destruction. Dale Grant, a US Geological Survey geophysicist in Golden, Colorado, told Reuters there had been no quakes this large in Haiti for more than 200 years. “There were two major quakes there in 1751 and 1770 but, since then, there has not been a quake of this magnitude,” Grant said. Cuba also rattled Speaking to CNN from Port-au-Prince, Ian Rogers of the charity Save the Children said he could hear cries of anguish and mourning rising up from around the city in the darkness. A group of 12 US students from Lynn University in Florida were visiting Haiti with Food for the Poor and some were able to send text messages to say they were fine, said the charity’s spokeswoman Kathy Skipper. The powerful quake was felt in southeastern Cuba, about 160 miles (257 km) from the epicenter. Cuban authorities evacuated coastal residents because of the initial tsunami threat. Sailors at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in eastern Cuba felt the quake but there was no damage to the base or the detention camp where the United States holds 198 foreign terrorism suspects, said Chief Petty Officer Bill Mesta. “It just shook a number of the buildings,” Mesta said. Cruise line Royal Caribbean said initial reports indicated no damage to its Labadee beach resort on Haiti’s north coast. No ships were in port when the quake hit, the line’s spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 10:52 pm Rupee steady, local tightening expectedMumbai:The Indian rupee was little moved on Wednesday, wedged between weaker regional leads after China tightened policy and bargain buying following its sharp drop in the previous session and as domestic shares pared an early fall. At 10:55am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs45.69/70 per dollar, close to its previous close of Rs45.71/72. It had risen to 45.2850 on Monday, its strongest since 22 September, 2008. “The rupee dropped yesterday following China’s reserve requirement ratio hike. There is an expectation that the Reserve Bank of India may follow and hike CRR and also the reverse repo,” said Ashtosh Raina, head of foreign exchange trading at Yes Bank. China on Tuesday raised the reserve requirement ratio, the proportion of deposits that banks must hold in reserve, by 0.5 percentage point, effective from 18 January. Dealers said fears that tighter policy in China could hamper its growth weighed on markets in Asian economies that had benefitted from its strong recovery. Most Asian units were weaker compared to the US dollar. The index of the dollar against six majors was up 0.1%. However, dealers said most of the rupee’s reaction to China’s move was seen in a sharp fall in late trade on Tuesday, when the currency ended down 0.8%. India’s central bank is scheduled to review its policy on 29 January, and signs of strengthening growth and inflation pressures have the market factoring in tighter policy. “We believe that strong incoming growth data and increasing inflation risks warrant at least a 25 basis points hike in the reverse repo rate,” Morgan Stanley economists Chetan Ahya and Tanvee Gupta said in a note. “In addition, we do not rule out the possibility of a 25 basis points hike in the repo rate and/or 50 basis points hike in Cash Reserve Ratio,” they added. Data on Tuesday showed industrial output <INIP=ECI> rose an annual 11.7 percent in November, beating forecasts and traders are waiting for December inflation data on Thursday for more cues. See [ID:nSGE60A0FX] for related story. Wholesale price inflation is seen at 7.31 percent in December from a year earlier, the median forecast in a poll of 22 economists showed. [ID:nSGE60A0IW] The yen held broad gains on Wednesday while commodity currencies such as the Australian and the New Zealand dollars were subdued as investors unwound short-yen positions following China’s step toward tighter policy. [USD/] Indian shares <.BSESN> fell as much as 0.8 percent in early trade, recovered most losses. [.BO] Foreign fund investments into the local sharemarket are a key driver for the rupee. Foreigners have bought about a net $1.7 billion worth of shares so far in 2010, adding to the more than $17 billion invested in 2009. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 45.64/74, little changed from the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at Rs45.7325 each, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $1.7 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 10:30 pm Gold extends losses on dollar, China moveMumbai: India gold futures extended losses on Wednesday on strong dollar overseas coupled with China’s monetary tightening, which is expected to drain appetite for risky assets, analysts said. The most-active February gold contract was 0.58% lower at Rs16,780 per 10 grams at 10:51am, after losing 0.9% in the last session. The dollar index was 0.10% higher at 77.029 at 10:44am. A strong dollar dims the dollar-quoted yellow metal’s appeal as an alternative investment. China’s central bank on Tuesday said it was raising banks’ reserve requirements by 0.5 percentage points, effective 18 January, in the clearest sign yet that it has begun to tighten monetary policy. “Gold is expected to move in a range, top could be seen at 16,975, and then it could inch lower to 16,700,” said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, director, Commtrendz Research. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 10:13 pm Infosys sacks techie, suspends two for criminal actsInfosys has sacked a software engineer for making a hoax bomb call to an airline at Delhi airport to avoid missing his Bangalore-bound flight. The firm has also suspended two staffers arrested for alleged criminal actions.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Jan 2010 | 9:55 pm Sensex down 146 pts in early trade on Asian cuesThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex lost 146 points in early trading on continued selling by funds, triggered by weak Asian cues.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Jan 2010 | 9:27 pm Rupee gains 2 paise against dollar in early tradeThe rupee on Wednesday appreciated by 2 paise to 45.69 a dollar in early trade in line with other firming Asian currencies.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Jan 2010 | 9:21 pm Nifty slips below 5200; realty, metals downIndian markets opened in the negative territory Wednesday taking cues from Asian peers. Realty, metals and banks continued to reel under pressure while IT space showed some resistance.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Jan 2010 | 9:01 pm JAL shares dive 81 per cent in early tradeShares in ailing carrier Japan Airlines plunged by more than 81 per cent to just seven yen in early trade on Wednesday, hit by a flood of sell orders amid fears it will be delisted from the bourse.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jan 2010 | 7:07 pm At 11.7%, IIP posts highest rise in 2 yrsIndias factory output expanded 11.7% in November year-on-year, marking the fastest growth in two years.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Jan 2010 | 6:38 pm Motorcycle sales see Bajaj Auto profit surge 189% in Dec quarter Mumbai: Pune-based auto maker Bajaj Auto Ltd, India’s second largest motorcycle maker, posted a record 189% growth in net profit to Rs475 crore in the three months ended 31 December compared with the year-ago period, riding on robust bike sales.  Speeding up: Bajaj Auto’s assembly plant in Chakan near Pune. The firm’s bike sales rose 72% to 711,911 units in the December quarter. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint “The performance is the best in the company’s history,” chief financial officer Kevin D’sa said. Operating margin grew to 22% from 14.5% a year earlier as sales increased 57% to Rs3,165 crore from Rs2,004 crore a year earlier, driven by surging motorcycle and three-wheeler sales. Bike sales in domestic and export markets rose 72% to 711,911 units, and three-wheeler sales rose 25% to 96,167 units. The earnings took analysts by surprise, beating a Mint poll of five analysts who had projected net profit of Rs458 crore. “I am really impressed by the margins,” said Umesh Karne, an analyst at Mumbai-based brokerage Brics Securities Ltd. Karne was not among the analysts Mint had polled in its earnings preview earlier this week. Bajaj Auto shares on Tuesday closed 1.77% higher at Rs1,698.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange while the bellwether index, the Sensex, fell 0.59% to 17,422.51 points. The quarterly results were released after the markets closed.  Graphic: Sandeep Bhatnagar / Mint Bajaj’s materials cost as percentage of operating income rose from 66.2% in the three months ended 30 September to 68.5% in the December quarter. In a 7 January report, CLSA Asia Pacific had said that raw material contracts of most auto companies would start being re-priced from the third quarter of fiscal 2010 due to rising metal prices. Indian steel makers, led by the country’s largest, Tata Steel Ltd, have increased spot-market prices of auto- and appliance-grade steel by as much as Rs1,500 a tonne early in the new year. Prices of rubber, aluminium and copper have also risen 15%, 13% and 23%, respectively, in the quarter ended December sequentially. Rubber prices have risen 29.6% from Rs138 to Rs140 a kg over the preceding quarter. However, a strategy of focusing on sportier and bigger bikes has helped Bajaj improve market share without compromising on margins, the company said in a statement. Higher volumes, which brought down fixed costs, along with effective cost management, helped it maintain the margins, it said. Helped by brisk sales of its Discover DTS-I motorcycle, of which 350,000 units have been sold since 1 April, Pulsar 135cc, which has been averaging 50,000 units a month, and a greater contribution of higher powered motorcycles, Bajaj has been able to offset increased costs to guard its margins.  “They have been offset by the operating leverage,” he said, adding that he expects the volumes momentum to continue. “It doesn’t look like the volumes will come off the peak.” In the 75-250cc range, Bajaj sold 21,65,591 motorcycles in the December quarter, a growth of 35% over the same period in 2008, according to data from industry lobby group Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Volumes have also been helped by exports, which account for one-third of Bajaj’s production. In the December quarter, the company exported 273,902 units, or 33% of its volume. The two-wheeler maker in December announced that it was exiting the scooter segment, in which it was once an iconic company, and, currently, has only one product in that category. Analysts also said Bajaj’s focus on higher displacement, more profitable motorcycles has helped it return better margins than rival and market leader Hero Honda Motors Ltd in the first two quarters of the current fiscal. Kaushal Maru, an analyst at Religare Capital Markets Ltd, said he expects the company to gain market share at the cost of Hero Honda. “While Hero Honda will continue the good run, the growth at Bajaj will be faster,” he said but declined to give any numbers. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 12:45 pm Movies show new ways to deal with scarcitiesI remember a school principal lecturing my husband and me during school admissions many years ago. She asked how many schools we had applied in. Three, we said, as we frowned on the parallel attempts of another teacher to make our kid jump through some mental hoops. Shocked, she said that most others applied to 10 or 12.  Luckily, our kid got into an alternative school called Mirambika that fixed first-year goals (at age four-plus) at personal hygiene, balance and climbing trees. Happiness. So when we watched 3 Idiots recently, it resonated deeply. But the movie is more than a mirror of a belief system. The reaction to the movie in rupees crore tells me that India has hit another inflection point. While cinema showcases the narrative of a country and society, there is always that iconic movie which will document an inflection point of a transient nation. After the big political changeover of the 1940s, the dominant theme of transition has been economic. In the 1950s, even as the nation struggled to make sense of its freedom and the accompanying poverty, lack of jobs, scarcities, cinema gave us a fig leaf. Of a past that was rich and wonderful. Of having morals that compensated for being desperately poor. Think Manoj Kumar. Heroes were jingoistic, abjectly poor, but morally superior. Money was the villain and the rich were all hoarders. Think Jeevan. Also Read Monika Halan’s earlier columns Up until the 1990s, movies spoke about an India riddled with scarcities (the empty food pots), hoarding (smirking villains with their warehouses full of grain and sugar, the starving masses), smuggling (Ajit and his cohorts always brought in gold biscuits) and elusive jobs (the hero always rejected since he did not have a sifarishi chitthi, or letter of recommendation). The last part of the 1980s and first half of the 1990s saw a shift in the underlying economic reality. The stifling closed economy and society began to see drafts of openness. Hope that lurked in dark corners began to show up in unexpected places. And money began to lose the villain status. Reflecting a shift in the economy, the post-1990s cinema moved very quickly to reflect the new India. The value judgement about money began to blur, the hero stopped starving, became middle class. The villain was now a drug peddler, a policeman, a don, a bureaucrat and the politician, and the reason for his evil was sometimes money, not always. The backdrop moved from a sense of hopelessness to more control over lives. The epochal movie to document this shift was Dil Chahta Hai (DCH) in 2001. “The apology was gone from having money. This is also an Indian life, was the message,” said film critic Shubhra Gupta. Yes, poverty existed, but so did the 100-million-strong emerging middle class. DCH was their collective voice saying: “Yes, I am.” So while urban mass affluent India began to take money in its stride, the access to money still remained tightly linked to higher education, which led to aspirational jobs. Conventional lenses showed both to be in short supply. Middle India moved up the scarcity value chain. From empty food bins in kitchens and thin wallets to a scarcity of opportunity in higher education, to which were linked the well-paying jobs. The desire shifted from getting any job to getting a job that was “steady” and well-paid. The scarce seat in the Indian Institute of Technology or the medical school was hard fought for. And once got, jealously guarded. As was the job that came after the aspirational postgraduate degree. Hence the ubiquitous low-level politicking in most offices. For lower middle-class urban informal sector, small town India (Bunty and Babli took to crime due to lack of opportunity faced by two bright young people) and Bharat, education and a “settled” job with either the government or a large firm remained tickets out of a bleak future. This reduced the luxury of errors. To have a personal choice about your own career was naïve. “This is not how it is,” (aise nahin hota) is something every young person would have heard when he/she tried to do something different. But some parts of the country now lived another reality. It began in the infotech sector and spread to the financial. Work that was global in nature told the workers of another way of looking at education. Jobs morphed “work”. The pressure of an education system out of sync with the burgeoning opportunity of a resurgent nation got heavier and heavier to bear. Two movies in the last year of the first decade of a new millennium, Rocket Singh Salesman of the year and 3 Idiots, are again in the epochal space. They offer a new way to deal with the two scarcities that still tie us down. Of education and work. “Study and do what you love to do, money has no choice but to follow,” a dialogue from 3 Idiots, I predict, will be the mantra for the next decade. Monika Halan works in the area of financial literacy and financial intermediation policy. She is consulting editor with Mint and can be reached at expenseaccount@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 12:45 pm Give infrastructure status to hotelsThe tourism ministry has sought inclusion of hotels as infrastructure under Section 80-IA of the Income Tax Act in the forthcoming Union Budget.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Jan 2010 | 12:32 pm Exports get Rs 500cr sopsThe government has offered a Rs 500-crore stimulus to select exports to give much-needed boost to the dwindling sector and sustain positive growth. Incentives have been announced to promote exports to China and Japan, too.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 12 Jan 2010 | 12:17 pm Industrial growth at 2-yr high on durable stimulusBacked by government stimulus measures and a low base effect, growth in industrial output touched a two-year high in November 2009. The index of industrial production (IIP) grew 11.7 per cent, primarily due to growth in manufacturing (12.68 per cent in November as against 2.7 per cent last year), fuelling a debate on withdrawal of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 12 Jan 2010 | 12:14 pm Goldman Sachs still glitters for MBAs despite negative image New York: Nicole Zenel, an MBA (master’s of business administration) student, has read the negative stories about Goldman Sachs’s role in the financial crisis, its subsequent record profits and its decision to set aside $16.7 billion (around Rs76,000 crore) for pay and bonuses after receiving $10 billion from the US Treasury.  Strong reputation: Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York. Business school students aspire to work with the firm for its financial success and attractive pay despite its criticism in the wake of the credit crisis. Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg That didn’t stop Zenel from applying there for an internship. “I’m not looking at it for that $20 million bonus,” said Zenel, 24, who is pursuing a master’s degree in business administration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management in Cambridge. “I’m more looking at it as an opportunity to work for a solid firm that has a track record of success.” Shareholders are suing New York-based Goldman Sachs over its bonuses, and publications from The New York Times to Rolling Stone have criticized the company for selling securities backed by subprime mortgages and trading in financial instruments that helped trigger the US government bailout of American Insurance Group Inc. The critics blame Goldman Sachs for contributing to the worst credit squeeze since the Great Depression, which has cost financial firms $1.7 trillion in losses and writedowns worldwide since 2007. The bank’s reputation remains strong among aspiring MBAs. It was ranked the fourth most desirable place to work in a survey of 6,207 MBA candidates at 67 business schools from December 2008 through March 2009 by Universum Group, a Stockholm-based marketing company. Goldman Sachs, which was rated third the previous five years, trailed No. 1 Google Inc., based in Mountain View, California, and the consulting firms McKinsey and Co., in New York, and Bain and Co., in Boston. Goldman Sachs hasn’t seen any decline in job enquiries from MBA students since last year, Sandra Hurse, vice-president for global recruiting, wrote in an email. “Our applications numbers remain on par with previous years, and attendance at our recruiting events on campus this year were high,” Hurse said. The events leading up to the financial meltdown were “deeply humbling” for the investment banking industry, Goldman Sachs chairman and chief executive officer Lloyd Blankfein said last year in an 7 April speech to the Council of Institutional Investors. In June, Goldman Sachs repaid with interest the $10 billion it received in October 2008 from the US government. The company’s share price has at least doubled during the past 12 months. Goldman Sachs is scheduled to report fourth quarter financial results on 21 January. The bank is expected to post earnings of $5.38 a share, the most in two years, according to the average estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Business school students, especially those interested in investment banking, said in interviews they want to work at Goldman Sachs because of its financial success, its influence on Wall Street and its high-energy, lucrative workplace. The money is attractive, especially for students incurring debt to pay for business school, said Jackie Wilbur, director of career development at MIT’s Sloan. “In broader society, ‘investment banking’ is a bad word,” said Simon Johnson, an economist at Sloan who is writing a book about the history of the finance industry. “Among MBAs, to them, money is money and Goldman Sachs pays a lot of money. And they’re not dumb. They know that Goldman Sachs won big in the latest boom-bust-bailout cycle.” Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 10:19 am GM India launches Chevrolet BeatGM India on Tuesday launched the Chevrolet Beat, a new offering from the 300 series after the Cruze. Karl Slym, President and Managing Director, GM India speaking on the occasion said the experts took 27 months to develop the Beat. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jan 2010 | 10:09 am NTPC revving up eyes foreign gasTo ensure fuel security and meet its ambitious gas-based power generation targets, the country’s largest power producer, NTPC Ltd, is eyeing stakes in overseas gas fields, reports Anupama Airy & Sandeep Singh.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jan 2010 | 9:27 am 7 200 ArcelorMittal workers go on strike in AlgeriaSome 7,200 workers at the ArcelorMittal steel factory near Annaba in eastern Algeria launched an indefinite strike on Tuesday, shutting the plant down, the main union and the management said.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jan 2010 | 9:27 am A380 slowdown blots record Airbus outputSeville, Spain: Airbus confirmed forecast-beating sales and record deliveries for 2009 on Tuesday but admitted disappointment over a fall in A380 output and pledged to speed up production of the world’s largest airliner. Company officials also renewed pressure on European governments to make concessions in a nine-month row over missed budgets and deadlines on the A400M military transport plane, which Airbus insists it cannot build without more resources. Airbus, part of aerospace group EADS, has been grappling for years with delays on its star civil and military aircraft developments, two of Europe’s largest industrial projects. But although A380 output fell in only its second full year of production, Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said an internal audit had found ways of making it more efficiently. Airbus delivered 10 superjumbos compared with 12 in 2008 and an initial 2009 target of 18. Enders said half of this shortfall of eight planes stemmed from airline requests for delays due to the weak economy and the rest from a year-end production logjam. Delivery delays exacerbated already galloping costs. “I am not at all happy with the (A380) cost situation, which still needs significant improvement,” Enders told reporters attending an annual company presentation in Spain. “The A380 will still be a financial liability for some years to come, but it is an investment for the long term,” he said. Shares in EADS were 3.7% lower by 0950 GMT. Airbus delivered a record 498 planes last year, up from 483 in 2008. It beat Boeing for the seventh year running. Enders said Airbus planned to keep overall 2010 deliveries at “roughly” the same levels seen in the past two years. But despite higher Airbus plane deliveries, EADS said group revenue fell 3.6 percent to about €41.7 billion in 2009, €1 billion below market consensus forecasts. The world’s second-largest aerospace group after Boeing had forecast “roughly stable” revenue compared with the previous year’s record 43.27 billion. Airliner deliveries, which have an immediate impact on financial performance, have carved out new records despite the recession, which led to a 60% drop in new plane orders. Output is sustained by a lag in production from an order boom peaking in 2007, as well as publicly backed export credits and efforts to ensure those with financing can jump the queue so that aircraft are not left out on the tarmac without a buyer. Airbus beat its forecast for up to 300 new orders with a tally of 310 sales in 2009. But these came in at just a third of the 900 gross orders seen a year earlier. Airbus data suggested some pick-up in demand towards the end of the year, however. After adjusting for order cancellations, Airbus sold almost twice as many planes as its US rival in 2009 with net sales of 271 aircraft compared with Boeing’s 142. Boeing has been hit by cancellations of its delayed 787 Dreamliner. Airbus predicted new orders would again fail to keep up with deliveries in 2010 but said it felt adequately cushioned by a backlog of 3,488 aircraft, or six years’ of production. Enders reiterated that Airbus was seeking a “very significant contribution from governments” in Europe to shore up the loss-making A400M military plane project. Talks among seven nations backing the project are due to resume later this week. EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said it was in everyone’s common interest to keep the €20 billion project alive. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 3:40 am Cadbury rejects Kraft, reports robust tradingLondon: Britain’s Cadbury showcased robust 2009 results and an upbeat outlook on Tuesday in its last move to rebuff US food giant Kraft Foods’ £10.5 billion ($17 billion) hostile takeover bid. Analysts said the strong trading was generally positive for Cadbury’s valuation and Kraft needed to come back with a higher offer over the next seven days of the bid timetable to succeed. “We continue to think that Kraft will need to come up with an offer north of £8 and with a significantly enhanced cash component to take over Cadbury,” said analyst Martin Deboo at broker Investec Securities. In a final defence document, the Dairy Milk chocolate and Trident gum maker said Kraft’s “derisory” offer valued it lower than any comparable deal in the sector and that its standalone value had risen since the Kraft bid emerged last September. “Today, the view of the Kraft offer is pretty universal, and derisory is not an unreasonable view,” Cadbury chairman Roger Carr told a conference call. He added the choice for shareholders is between the excellent track record of Cadbury’s management and Kraft’s management which he said had overpromised and under delivered. Cadbury has been fighting off Kraft’s cash and share bid, currently worth 762pence a share, since early September, with investors and analysts saying a winning bid needs to be 800pence or above. Cadbury shares were unchanged at 781pence by 0942 GMT. “We suspect that an increased offer in the range of 825-850pence could well be sufficient to clinch the deal,” said analyst Graham Jones at brokers Panmure Gordon. Kraft now has until 19 January to change its bid while Cadbury shareholders have until 2 February to accept. Cadbury says Kraft’s offer values it at a lowly 12 times 2009 core EDITDA profits, and the majority of the offer is in Kraft shares which have underperformed its rivals by 42% since Kraft’s flotation in June 2001. Cadbury said its 2009 underlying sales rose 5% with the second half accelerating to 6%. It achieved an operating margin of 13.5% against a previous forecast of 13.3% and said its 2009 dividend would rise 10%. “Our performance in 2009 was outstanding. We generated good revenue growth despite the weakest economic conditions in 80 years,” CEO Todd Stitzer said. Stitzer and Carr in dismissing Kraft’s offer have questioned the ability of Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld to raise her bid after Kraft’s top shareholder Warren Buffett last week warned the company not to overpay and issue too many new Kraft shares. They are confident of meeting Cadbury’s longer-term targets which include annual sales growth of 5-7% from 2010, lifting operating margins to 16-18% by 2013 and achieving double-digit dividend growth for 2010 and beyond. Meanwhile, some Cadbury shareholders have rejected a meeting with Kraft’s Rosenfeld, with Cadbury’s Carr saying that he was amazed it had taken Kraft so long the reach out to them. “I do understand some are (meeting them) and some have rejected a meeting from Kraft, Carr said. Last week, Swiss food group Nestle ruled itself out of a Cadbury auction. Sources told Reuters on Monday that Italian chocolate maker Ferrero was very close to deciding on whether to make a counterbid in tandem with US giant Hershey. Cadbury’s labour union was set to warn British lawmakers on Tuesday that a potential bidding war for the confectioner would undermine workers’ rights. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 12 Jan 2010 | 3:28 am
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