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Budget \'10: Feedback Ventures draws up infra wishlistVinayak Chatterjee, Chairman, Feedback Ventures has three big expectations on the taxation front from the government this budget.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 8:27 am Repro India expects to sustain operating margin of 20%In an interview with CNBCTV18, Mukesh Dhruve, Director and Chief Financial Officer, Repro India, speaks about the latest happenings in his company and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:59 am Land acquisition behind infra project delays: ExpertsInfrastructure remains a pivotal sector in Indias growth story. In an interview with CNBCTV18, Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman, Feedback Ventures and Parvez Umrigar, MD, Gammon Infra gave their perspective on the road ahead for the infrastructure sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:57 am Kilburn Eng expects 50% growth in topline next yearIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Supriyo Mukherjee, MD of Kilburn Engineering, spoke about the latest happenings in his company and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:45 am Telenor completes stake buy in Unitech WirelessTelenor has put Rs 20.22 billion in its fourth round of investment in Indian telecoms firm Unitech Wireless.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:39 am Key facts about India\'s steel industrySteel demand in India rose more than 8% in 2009, buoyed by the government\'s focus on infrastructure and revival in the automobile and consumer goods sectors of Asia\'s thirdlargest economy.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:39 am ArcelorMittal buys 28.8% in Uttam Galva via open offerIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Ankit Miglani, Uttam Galva, speaks about the latest happenings in his company and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:28 am Mastek sees flat revenue for JanuaryMarch quarterSoftware services firm Mastek Ltd sees flat revenue of Rs 1.881.95 billion for the JanMarch quarter.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:22 am Norways Opera to introduce browser for iPhoneOpera Software will introduce next week a version of its Mini browser for Apple\'s iPhone.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:10 am Honda India to sell 1.25 million twowheelers in 09/10Honda Motorcycle Scooter India (HMSI), a unit of Japan\'s Honda Motor Co, expects to sell 1.25 million twowheelers.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 6:32 am Honda to recall 379,000 cars for airbag risk!Honda Motor Co Ltd said on Tuesday it would expand a recall by nearly 379,000 vehicles in the United States to replace an airbag deflator that could rupture and send shards toward the driver during an accident.Source: Zee News : Business | 10 Feb 2010 | 6:01 am Sensex opens 99 pts higher on global cues!The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Wednesday rose nearly 99 points in early trade, extending its gains for the fourth straight session, on good buying in metal and IT stocks by funds, driven by firm global cues.Source: Zee News : Business | 10 Feb 2010 | 6:01 am Upbeat FM sees 7.75% growth for 2009-10!Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday said the economy could grow around 7.75 percent in 2009-10.Source: Zee News : Business | 10 Feb 2010 | 6:01 am Sensex ends below 16000 on profit booking - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Feb 2010 | 3:31 am Europe Weighs Rescue Plan for Greece - Wall Street Journal
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Feb 2010 | 3:26 am US envoy to Japan says Toyota recall does not harm Japan-US ties - Kyodo News
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Feb 2010 | 3:20 am Govt broaches fuel price hike with alliesThe Union Cabinet is likely to discuss on Thursday a Petroleum Ministry proposal for freeing petrol prices from government control and a moderate increase in diesel, cooking gas and kerosene rates.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:50 am Honda expands airbag recall as more Toyotas probedTOKYO/DETROIT (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co said it would recall another 440,000 cars around the world for faulty airbags as rival Toyota Motor Corp faced further probes over its largest-ever safety crisis.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:50 am Reliance Capital sells 1.03 mn shares of Inox - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:50 am Honda adds 437 000 cars to global air bag recallHonda Motor Co is adding 437,000 vehicles to its 15-month old global recall for faulty airbags in the latest quality problem to hit a Japanese automaker.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:46 am Reckitt sees good 2010 growth as Q4 meets forecastsLondon: Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser expects good growth in its core business this year to compensate for an expected loss of earnings from its Suboxone drug, after fourth quarter profits rose as expected. The British firm said it expected sales to rise 5% and operating profit 10% this year, excluding the pharmaceuticals unit whose main revenue generator is Suboxone, after what chief executive Bart Becht called a very good" 2009. Core sales at the group, which makes Finish dishwash products, Cillit Bang cleaners and Nurofen painkillers, grew 6% in 2009, driven by growth in developing markets, North America, Australia and New Zealand while Europe will remain difficult. “Our 5% target is still challenging given the level of consumer confidence, but we believe this is achievable. Based on the current market outlook, we are confident of achieving continued good growth in 2010,” Becht told a conference call. Reckitt shares rose 2.1% to £32 by 0925 GMT, having marginally underperformed rivals so far in 2010 on concerns about Suboxone, a heroin substitute drug for which the firm lost its exclusive licence in October. “With forecasts already reflecting the Suboxone hit, and with good progress likely to continue in the underlying business we reiterate our buy recommendation,” said analyst Graham Jones at brokers Panmure Gordon. The group reported fourth-quarter net profit of £448 million ($698 million), in line with consensus forecasts. Underlying sales rose 10% at constant currencies compared with a consensus of 6.3%. Outperformance Reckitt has outperformed its rivals Unilever and Procter & Gamble over the 10 years since its creation in December 1999 due to a string of innovative products backed by heavy marketing and supported by heavy cost-cutting, and Suboxone has helped boosted that growth. Reckitt now expects generic rivals to the drug to emerge and has warned 80% of Suboxone’s US profits — which make up 18% of group profits — will be lost following the launch of competition. Becht said there was no news on generics, but when launched the effect would be seen within weeks. Its less prominent Subutex drug — also a heroin substitute — saw sales fall 60% three months after a generic launch. Reckitt, which also makes Lysol disinfectants, Vanish and Woolite fabric cleaners and Airwick air fresheners, said its 2009 dividend rose 25% to 100 pence a share as it moved to pay 50% of its 194.7p of earnings back to shareholders. Reckitt shares trade on 16.4-times forecast 2010 earnings, well ahead of Unilever on 14.7 and Procter & Gamble on 14.7, but close to third rival Colgate Palmolive on 16.3. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:30 am Banks pitch for long term infra bonds, await cuesMUMBAI (Reuters) - Banks await cues from the budget to assess fund raising needs and have sought the nod to float long-term infrastructure bonds with tax breaks, a plea unlikely to be met due to its fiscal cost, analysts said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:27 am World stocks rise on Greek bailout hopesLONDON (Reuters) - World stocks rose on Wednesday and Greece's borrowing costs fell on the prospects of a Greek bailout, while safe-haven German government bond prices dipped and the euro eased after the previous session's hefty gains.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:21 am Telenor completes stake buy in Unitech Wireless - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:20 am Government broaches fuel price hike with allies - Daily News & Analysis
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:19 am FM sees FY10 GDP growth at 7.75%New Delhi: Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday pegged 2009-10 economic growth at around 7.75%, higher than the government’s forecast, and a top adviser said the coming budget could provide a map for exiting stimulus measures. Mukherjee said an annual 7.9% expansion in July-September, the fiscal second quarter, had boosted optimism. “The growth outlook for the next two quarters and for the whole year is expected to be in the upper bound range of most predictions for the Indian economy,” he said in a speech. Mukherjee’s projection is in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) growth forecast, but is higher than the Central Statistical Organisation’s (CSO) advance GDP growth forecast of 7.2%. Economists said the finance ministry and the central bank seem to be betting on better-than-expected growth in the final two quarters of the fiscal year. The CSO’s forecast, released on Monday, will be revised in June. Asia’s third-largest economy has been picking up momentum, powered by industrial output that is expected to have risen an annual 12% in December. The stronger growth is expected to allow the government to start rolling back fiscal stimulus measures that were put in place when the global economic crisis erupted in 2008. “The budget can attempt a roadmap for exit,” C Rangarajan, chairman of the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council, told reporters. The finance minister is scheduled to unveil the annual budget on 26 February. The debt market did not react to Mukherjee’s forecast as other policymakers, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have announced the number several times before. Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund forecast growth in 2009-10 of 6.75%. The markets have already priced in an increase in interest rates on or before the central bank’s scheduled policy review on 20 April, and dealers said the next big trigger would be the budget., Central bankers have said the government’s net borrowings for 2010-11 would be broadly in line with the current fiscal’s net borrowing. India had a record gross borrowing of Rs4.51 trillion ($97 billion) in 2009-10. Stronger economic growth could help the government fight a 16-year high fiscal deficit, thus lowering borrowing needs and easing pressure on bond yields. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:18 am FY10 GDP growth at 7.75 pct - Pranab MukherjeeNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Finance minister on Wednesday pegged 2009/10 economic growth at around 7.75 percent, higher than the government's forecast, and a top adviser said the coming budget could provide a map for exiting stimulus measures.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:14 am Sanofi says vaccines to help lift 2010 earningsParis: French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis beat forecasts for fourth-quarter profit and expects earnings to rise 2 to 5% this year as growth areas such as vaccines offset stronger competition from generic rivals. But Sanofi’s forecast for business earnings per share (EPS) at constant exchange rates excludes the possible 2010 launch of a generic version of bloodthinner Lovenox, a blockbuster that made €3.04 billion ($4.2 billion) last year. Sanofi will take a hit this year from generic competition to blockbuster cancer drugs Eloxatin and Taxotere, as well as bloodthinners Plavix and maybe Lovenox. Sanofi said fourth-quarter adjusted net profit excluding one-time items rose 10.4% to €1.8 billion , above a Reuters poll average forecast of €1.68 billion. Sales rose 3.8% to 7.36 billion against expectations for 7.37 billion, bolstered by swine flu vaccines — a one-off benefit that should last until the end of this quarter. Sanofi beat its own EPS guidance of “around” 11% for the year with adjusted EPS excluding items up 13.1%. For this year’s forecast, analyst guidance ranged from a dip of 1% to low single-digit earnings per share growth. Sanofi’s outlook follows a downbeat forecast from AstraZeneca — the two firms are the most vulnerable to revenue being squeezed by generics — while rival GlaxoSmithKline cut more costs and refocused research. Sanofi, too, is reining in research and said spending on research and development fell 7% in the fourth quarter. Sanofi shares trade at a discount to many of its rivals, reflecting its generic exposure, at 8.2 times expected 2010 earnings. That is above Astra at 7.2 but below 10 times for Glaxo, 11 for Novartis and 13 for Roche. Changing tack In the past year Sanofi has been changing tack under CEO Chris Viehbacher, diversifying its business to expand in animal and consumer health, emerging markets and by striking drug development deals to bolster innovation in its pipeline. “There is a dynamic,” Viehbacher said at a news conference. “The growth platforms are already starting to offset patent expiries, they are like shock absorbers short term and growth pillars longer term.” In animal health, Sanofi said it was “highly probable” it would exercise its option to expand its Merial business to a joint venture with Merck’s Intervet/Schering Plough and decision would be made in the coming weeks. The pace of small to mid-sized acquisitions this year should continue at a similar pace as it did last year, when Sanofi did two to three deals a month, Viehbacher said. Sanofi has already faced copy-cat competition to several of its drugs but in the fourth quarter the effect amplified. U.S. sales of colon cancer drug Eloxatin eroded 97.4% following injectable generics from Teva and Hospira, while patients can buy cheaper Plavix copies in most major European markets, taking its sales down 11.6%. Sanofi aims to use its over-the-counter business, which it recently expanded with the acquisition of Chattem in the United States, to sell its own generics. On the bright side, sales of vaccines got a boost from H1N1 or swine flu shots contributing €362 million in the quarter which in October prompted Sanofi to raise its 2009 earnings forecast. As part of its €2 billion savings target in 2013, Sanofi made €480 million in savings last year and for this year expected to generate more savings than the rougly 30% of the total it had initially planned. Viehbacher said Sanofi’s “very significant change in culture” meant that over 60% of its product pipeline consisted of biological-based products and that more than half of all products were from external partnerships. Among its most promising new drugs is BSI-201 for its triple negative breast cancer candidate, which Viehbacher said could be filed for US marketing approval at the end of this year or early next. BSI-201 is in Phase III clinical trials but the FDA in December designated it a fast-track status, meaning the regulator will shorten the time to review. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:07 am Gold demand doused as prices edge upMumbai: India gold traders refrained from fresh deals on Wednesday afternoon as prices edged higher after a slight pick-up in sales late in the previous session, with a stronger rupee aiding sentiment, dealers said. “Today, the demand is not much as prices have moved higher, we did about 100 kg at about $1,069/1,070 (an ounce) late in the evening,” said a dealer with a state-run bullion dealing bank in Mumbai. International gold was trading $1,075.50/1,076.30 an ounce at 2:07pm, as against the previous close of $1,076.95/1,077.75. “We have sizeable orders in the range of $1,065-1,070 as jewellers want to stock for upcoming weddings,” said another dealer with a private bank. The Indian rupee moved back towards the day’s highs in afternoon trade as a reversal in the local sharemarket yet again eased nerves about the risk of foreign capital outflows. A strong rupee makes the dollar-quoted asset cheaper. India has imported 35-40 tonnes of gold during 1-27 January, up from 9.8 tonnes in the whole of the same month last year, the head of a trade body and bank dealers said. Traders are trying to stock up in anticipation of India’s wedding season, which begins in April, when demand for the yellow metal peaks. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:02 am Reliance Capital sells 1.03 mln shrs of InoxMUMBAI (Reuters) - Inox Leisure on Wednesday said Reliance Capital has sold 1.03 million shares in the firm, cutting its stake in the multiplex chain to 5.81 percent.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Feb 2010 | 1:58 am Telenor completes stake buy in Unitech WirelessNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Norway's Telenor has put 20.22 billion rupees ($434 million) in its fourth round of investment in Indian telecoms firm Unitech Wireless, taking its holding to an agreed total 67.25 percent.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Feb 2010 | 1:48 am Govt hopeful of economy growing by more than 7.2% this fiscal - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Feb 2010 | 1:42 am FY10 GDP growth at around 7 75 per cent PranabThe Indian economy could grow at around 7.75 per cent in the 2009/10 financial year ending in March, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 10 Feb 2010 | 1:32 am ArcelorMittal sees only slow steel recovery in Q1BRUSSELS (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal, the world's top steelmaker, cautioned its markets would only recover slowly as it forecast higher shipments but lower selling prices in the early months of 2010, putting pressure on core profits.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Feb 2010 | 1:18 am Airtel pays highest revenue among telcos to govt in Q3New Delhi: The country’s largest private telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, paid the highest revenue, both in terms of spectrum charges and licence fees, to the government for the quarter ending December 2009. As per the data compiled by telecom regulator TRAI, Bharti paid Rs570.17 crore as licence fees and Rs301.49 crore as the spectrum charge for the third quarter ended December 2009. Bharti had added 2.85 million new user in December. There has been constant debate among the incumbent GSM operators (like Bharti and Vodafone) and CDMA players (like Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices) that the former set of players were paying hefty spectrum charges compared with others. The GSM operators claim that they are being charged much higher for every unit of spectrum usage. Going by TRAI’s figures, Bharti’s total outgo on licence fees and spectrum charges together for the Q3 was more than double the amount paid by the two leading CDMA players RCom and TTSL together. Bharti paid Rs 871.66 crore to the government, while RCom and TTSL together paid only Rs 401.81 crore for the October -December period. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 1:08 am TCS to hire 30000 employees in FY-2011 - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:44 am Oilmin to submit fuel price review on WednesdayNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's oil ministry will send its recommendations on a proposal to review fuel pricing to the cabinet later on Wednesday, the oil minister, Murli Deora, told reporters.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:30 am ArcelorMittal sees only slow steel recovery in Q1Brussels: ArcelorMittal, the world’s top steelmaker, cautioned its markets would only recover slowly as it forecast higher shipments but lower selling prices in the early months of 2010, putting pressure on core profits. The firm, which has about 8% of the global market and capacity some three times greater than nearest rival Nippon Steel, said on Wednesday it expected core profit or Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of between $1.8 and $2.2 billion in the first quarter. The figure compared with an average forecast in a Reuters poll of $2.6 billion, albeit with a wide range of estimates, and with a fourth quarter result of $2.1 billion. Chief executive Lakshmi Mittal said 2010 would continue to be challenging, although capital expenditure would rise by 43% to $4 billion this year. “We therefore start the year in a good position to benefit from the progressive, albeit slow, recovery that is under way,” he said in a statement. ArcelorMittal said its shipments were expected to be higher in the first quarter of this year than at the end of 2009, but it would face lower average selling prices and increased costs. Net debt was expected to increase over the period. The mixed picture chimed in with results and comments from other major steel companies in recent weeks. The $500 billion steel industry took a heavy beating in the 2008-2009 downturn, with demand from key construction and auto consumers sharply down and destocking magnifying the negative effect. Producers cut output by as much as a half. Capacity utilisation increased to 70% in the last three months of 2009. It was set to rise gradually to 75% in the first quarter. ArcelorMittal is among the most exposed companies to spot steel prices, which should rise with expected restocking. Its Ebitda of $2.1 billion in the final quarter of 2009 missed the average $2.23 billion forecast of a Reuters poll of 21 analysts. The company had given a range of $2.0 to $2.4 billion in October. ArcelorMittal returned to net profit in the third quarter after three consecutive quarterly losses and was again profitable in the fourth. Cash Flow Good, Guidance Poor Hermann Reith, analyst at BHF Bank in Frankfurt said the company’s cash flow was good and net debt better than expected, meaning it would easily meet its loan covenants. Planned capital expenditure was higher than expected. “What is disappointing is the guidance. With that start, it will be tough to meet market estimates for the full year. I expect them to be revised down,” he said. In the United States, AK Steel topped market expectations and forecast higher prices with improved demand, but larger rival US Steel made a heavier fourth-quarter loss than expected and said it saw a similar first quarter. Nippon Steel forecast a first annual net loss in seven years, but world number eight Tata Steel more than doubled quarterly profit at its Indian operations. European steel body Eurofer said last week the sector in the region was recovering slowly on the back of an improving outlook for car and engineering companies, despite a continued slump in construction. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:30 am Murli Deora discusses fuel price hike proposal with political partiesDeora met A Raja, telecom minister and senior leader of UPA's ally, DMK, this morning as part of efforts to build consensus for freeing petrol and diesel prices.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:29 am Uttam Galva soars on Arcelor-Mittal plans to hike stakeMUMBAI (Reuters) - Shares of Uttam Galva Steel extended gains to more than 16 percent after Arcelor Mittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, said it expects to purchase an additional 4.9 percent stake in the company.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:03 am Cognizant beats own guidance with 24% rise in net incomeCognizant Technology Solutions Corporation managed to beat its own guidance by reporting a 16 per cent increase in revenue to $3.279 billion for the fiscal ended December 31, 2009, against $2.816 billion inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Stolen data, stolen fundsThe Swiss Government is reported to have taken a dim view of the decision of the German Government to buy “stolen data” on around 1,500 tax evaders in Switzerland from someone who pilfered the information from official Swiss sources.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Court ruling allows Cipla to market generic cancer drugIn a major test of the five-yearold product patent regime, the Delhi High Court dismissed an appeal by multinational drug-maker Bayer Corporation regarding its advanced renal cancer drug Nexavar.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am USD-INR future faces resistance at 47Rupee spiked higher last week as fears sparked by mounting debt in Greece, Portugal, and Spain sent risk-aversion soaring. This made dollar strengthen against other currencies even as the euro plunged to eight-month low against the greenback.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Unveil your Dream Budget 2010Business Line invites you to tell the Finance Minister your Budget expectations. Send in your Budget wish list (in about 200 words) to , along with reasoning. Attach yourSource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am SBI hints at interest rate hike in AprilLending rates may go up only from the first quarter of the next fiscal, the state Bank of India Chairman, Mr O. P. Bhatt, hinted here today. SBI is likely to take a call on hiking the lending rates bySource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Govt puts Bt brinjal in cold storage, for nowThe Centre has put on hold commercialisation of the controversial Bt brinjal, while clarifying that the moratorium imposed is only for the "time-being".Source: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Feb 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 | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Lanco Infratech (Rs 49.2): BuyWe recommend a buy in Lanco Infratech from a short-term perspective. It is apparent from the charts that the stock has been on longer term uptrend since its all-time low of Rs 8.3 recorded in October 2008. However, the stock met with a keySource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Govt expects 13% export growth in JanuaryThe Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday that the merchandise exports in January would be around $14 billion, thereby maintaining positive growth for the third consecutive month after a 13-monthSource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am HCC bags 3 NHAI contracts in West Bengal - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 9 Feb 2010 | 11:40 pm Honda recalls another 438,000 cars for airbag riskThe move follows a separate recall of 646,000 cars less than two weeks ago for a faulty window switch that engulfed a Jazz subcompact in flames in South Africa, killing a child.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Feb 2010 | 11:29 pm BSE Sensex surrenders early gains and head lowerMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex edged lower on Wednesday morning, unable to hold on to opening gains after rising for the past three sessions as nervous investors worried about whether a return of risk appetite would be sustained.Source: Reuters: Money News | 9 Feb 2010 | 11:26 pm Kilburn Engg surges 7% on new order situation - Commodity Online
Source: Business - Google News | 9 Feb 2010 | 11:11 pm Markets surrender early gains and head lowerMumbai: Indian shares edged lower on Wednesday morning, unable to hold on to opening gains after rising for the past three sessions as nervous investors worried about whether a return of risk appetite would be sustained. Banks led the decline. The sector index was down 0.4% after gaining 1.7% over last three sessions. Leading lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank shed 0.7% and 0.3% respectively. At 10:10am, the 30-share BSE Index was down 0.3% at 15,993.28, with 21 components declining. The 50-share NSE index was down 0.2% at 4,782.25. “The sentiment is still affected and the mood is still not positive as the worries in Europe are not completely resolved,” said K. K. Mital, head of portfolio management services at Globe Capital. “Risk aversion is continuing and money is moving out of equities,” he said, noting that Asian markets had also come off their early highs. Reports of a rescue plan for debt-trapped Greece had eased concerns about global economic stability and boosted markets. Export-oriented software firms erased some of Tuesday’s gains. Tata Consultancy Services dropped 0.2 percent while Infosys Technologies and Wipro fell 0.1 and 0.6% respectively. “It is just some profit booking, after the brief pullback. Volatility will continue until the budget comes in,” said Daljeet Kohli, head of research for private client group at Emkay Global. The budget on 26 February could outline plans for an exit from fiscal stimulus, C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council told reporters. Tata Steel, world’s eighth-largest steel maker by output, climbed 0.9% to Rs538.30. Earlier this week, Goldman Sachs upgraded Tata Steel to “buy” from “neutral” and raised its 12-month target price to Rs702 from Rs496. Goldman Sachs said the upgrade was based on sustained strong profitability at its India business and a constructive outlook for the European steel sector. In the broader market, gainers were almost double the number of losers on a volume of 80 million shares. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 11:08 pm Sensex drops 54 points after good start in early tradeThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Wednesday dropped by 54 points after a firm start on profit -booking in select counters inspite of rising trend in global markets.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Feb 2010 | 10:39 pm Honda airbag recall adds to woes of Japan auto sectorTokyo: Honda, Japan’s second-biggest carmaker after crisis-hit Toyota on Wednesday recalled more than 400,000 vehicles to fix airbags that it said can explode and spray out potentially deadly metal shards. The recall, the third related to the defect since late 2008, includes Honda Accord and Civic cars sold in the United States and Canada as well as models marketed in Japan, Mexico, Taiwan and Australia, the company said. Honda said the defective air bag inflators could rupture, “resulting in metal fragments passing through the airbag cushion material and possibly causing injury or fatality to vehicle occupants”. It said it knew of 12 incidents involving the defect and one fatality, but added that there had been no new reports since last year. The latest safety recall adds to the woes of Japan’s auto industry, a key export earner of Asia’s largest economy, since Toyota has made global headlines over its faulty accelerator and brake systems. Toyota, the world’s biggest car maker by sales, on Tuesday expanded its global recall to over 400,000 of its Prius and other petrol-electric hybrid models and has now pledged to fix 8.7 million vehicles worldwide. The three top ratings agencies have warned they may downgrade Toyota, which has already been punished by investors. Its stock fell more than 20% in about two weeks and was trading at ¥3,410 ($38.00) on Wednesday. Company president Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the Toyota founder, has publicly apologised and plans to fly to the United States soon, where his company faces a congressional grilling and a host of lawsuits. Angry consumers and Congress members claim Toyota knew about the dangerous problem of “sticky accelerators” for years but was slow to respond until it was prodded into action by US transport safety authorities. In Japan too, the centre-left government - which took power last year promising to put the interests of consumers before those of big business - has ramped up pressure on Toyota, one of Japan’s most iconic companies. “I would like you to respect the viewpoint of drivers, and I wish you had taken measures earlier rather than simply saying it was not a major technical problem,” Transport Minister Seiji Maehara told Toyoda on Tuesday. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said: “Not just Toyota, but all manufacturers must take early action when they see incidents that could endanger safety.” Maehara was due to meet US ambassador John Roos later on Wednesday, hoping to prevent the mass recall from developing into a diplomatic problem, amid rumblings of ‘Japan-bashing´ in some sectors of the media in Japan. Toyota dealers in Japan on Wednesday started fixing the software problems that can make brakes slow to respond in its third-generation Prius cars, its green flagship model manufactured in the country. In a new headache for the auto giant, US authorities said Tuesday they were “reviewing” complaints about steering problems from Toyota Corolla drivers. No immediate comment was available from Toyota on the issue. Honda’s expanded recall of 437,763 vehicles worldwide - most of them in North America - is the third over the airbag problem that brings the total number of cars affected to more than 900,000. It includes 9,227 vehicles in Mexico, 1,361 in Taiwan and 703 in Australia. “We have concluded that we cannot be completely certain that the driver’s airbag inflator in the vehicles being added to the recall at this time will perform as designed,” Honda said in a statement. The affected models are 2000 and 2001 versions of the Honda Accord, Civic, TL, CR-V, Odyssey, Pilot and CL in North America and the Inspire, Saber and Lagreat models sold in Japan, the Tokyo-based company said. Last month Honda announced a global recall of some 646,000 Fit/Jazz and City cars after reports of fire breaking out in the models’ power-window switches. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 10:38 pm Honda airbag recall adds to woes of Japan auto sectorTokyo: Honda, Japan’s second-biggest carmaker after crisis-hit Toyota on Wednesday recalled more than 400,000 vehicles to fix airbags that it said can explode and spray out potentially deadly metal shards. The recall, the third related to the defect since late 2008, includes Honda Accord and Civic cars sold in the United States and Canada as well as models marketed in Japan, Mexico, Taiwan and Australia, the company said. Honda said the defective air bag inflators could rupture, “resulting in metal fragments passing through the airbag cushion material and possibly causing injury or fatality to vehicle occupants”. It said it knew of 12 incidents involving the defect and one fatality, but added that there had been no new reports since last year. The latest safety recall adds to the woes of Japan’s auto industry, a key export earner of Asia’s largest economy, since Toyota has made global headlines over its faulty accelerator and brake systems. Toyota, the world’s biggest car maker by sales, on Tuesday expanded its global recall to over 400,000 of its Prius and other petrol-electric hybrid models and has now pledged to fix 8.7 million vehicles worldwide. The three top ratings agencies have warned they may downgrade Toyota, which has already been punished by investors. Its stock fell more than 20% in about two weeks and was trading at ¥3,410 ($38.00) on Wednesday. Company president Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the Toyota founder, has publicly apologised and plans to fly to the United States soon, where his company faces a congressional grilling and a host of lawsuits. Angry consumers and Congress members claim Toyota knew about the dangerous problem of “sticky accelerators” for years but was slow to respond until it was prodded into action by US transport safety authorities. In Japan too, the centre-left government - which took power last year promising to put the interests of consumers before those of big business - has ramped up pressure on Toyota, one of Japan’s most iconic companies. “I would like you to respect the viewpoint of drivers, and I wish you had taken measures earlier rather than simply saying it was not a major technical problem,” Transport Minister Seiji Maehara told Toyoda on Tuesday. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said: “Not just Toyota, but all manufacturers must take early action when they see incidents that could endanger safety.” Maehara was due to meet US ambassador John Roos later on Wednesday, hoping to prevent the mass recall from developing into a diplomatic problem, amid rumblings of ‘Japan-bashing´ in some sectors of the media in Japan. Toyota dealers in Japan on Wednesday started fixing the software problems that can make brakes slow to respond in its third-generation Prius cars, its green flagship model manufactured in the country. In a new headache for the auto giant, US authorities said Tuesday they were “reviewing” complaints about steering problems from Toyota Corolla drivers. No immediate comment was available from Toyota on the issue. Honda’s expanded recall of 437,763 vehicles worldwide - most of them in North America - is the third over the airbag problem that brings the total number of cars affected to more than 900,000. It includes 9,227 vehicles in Mexico, 1,361 in Taiwan and 703 in Australia. “We have concluded that we cannot be completely certain that the driver’s airbag inflator in the vehicles being added to the recall at this time will perform as designed,” Honda said in a statement. The affected models are 2000 and 2001 versions of the Honda Accord, Civic, TL, CR-V, Odyssey, Pilot and CL in North America and the Inspire, Saber and Lagreat models sold in Japan, the Tokyo-based company said. Last month Honda announced a global recall of some 646,000 Fit/Jazz and City cars after reports of fire breaking out in the models’ power-window switches. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 10:38 pm Govt can attempt stimulus exit in budget: PM adviserThe government could provide a roadmap for exiting from the fiscal stimulus when it presents its budget on Feb. 26, C Rangarajan said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Feb 2010 | 10:34 pm Hero Honda denies buying stake in Kings XI PunjabNew Delhi: Two-wheeler giants and IPL associate sponsors Hero Honda on Wednesday rubbished media reports, which claimed that they have bought stake in Indian Premier League franchise Kings XI Punjab. The company said categorically that such a move was never discussed at any level. “The current media reports about Hero Honda buying stake in Kings XI Punjab is completely baseless and untrue. We have not had any discussion in this regard either,” Hero Honda, world’s largest two manufacturers, said in a statement. Media reports this morning claimed that Hero Honda have bought stake in Bollywood star Preity Zinta co-owned Kings XI Punjab. The Hero Honda also asserted that their association with the BCCI-floated IPL and Delhi Daredevils, one of the eight franchises in the Twenty competition, continue to be the same. “Hero Honda’s association with IPL as an associate sponsor and the main team sponsor of Delhi Daredevils team remain unchanged,” they said in statement. The third edition of the IPL will begin on 12 March with opening match between reigning champions Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 10:24 pm Rupee gains but share losses limit riseMumbai: The Indian rupee strengthened on Wednesday, in line with other regional currencies, but could not sustain its early highs as concerns of another decline in risk appetite in global equities pushed local stocks down. At 10:45am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.57/58 per dollar, off an early high of Rs46.5050 but still stronger than its close of Rs46.66/67 on Tuesday. “The rupee gained at open tracking the dollar’s fall, but then stocks turned negative which has pressured the unit a bit. Stocks will now wait for the European markets to open, trading would be rangebound till then,” said Sudarshana Bhat, head of foreign exchange trading, at state-run Corporation Bank. “46.62 is likely to be the topside for the dollar, but rupee may edge up later in the day. Relaxation of the external commercial borrowing norms is also positive for the rupee. It should hold in a 46.45-60 range today,” he added. India’s central bank said on Tuesday banks may allow changes in the repayment of foreign currency borrowings if the average maturity of such debt is maintained. It also said changes in the currency of borrowing may be allowed as long as the currency is freely convertible. Indian shares were down 0.1% after having risen 0.6% earlier. Shares are closely watched for cues on the direction of foreign fund flows, which are key in determining direction for the rupee. Most Asian units were stronger compared to the dollar. The euro fell on Wednesday, with investors awaiting details of a rescue package for Greece, keen to see how it could impact the euro zone economy. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts was quoting at Rs46.61/71, weaker than the onshore spot rate. “Rupee is likely to hold in a Rs46.20-90 range until the budget. European problems, U.S. recovery, upcoming initial public offerings and government’s disinvestment plans will all be crucial going ahead. But rupee is mostly seen edging up in the long run,” Bhat said. The budget is due to be presented on 26 February. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at Rs46.6125, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $1.1 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 10:17 pm Wall St rises on reports of help for GreeceNew York: The Dow posted its largest one-day percentage gain in three months on Tuesday, boosted by reports of an aid plan for heavily indebted Greece. A senior German ruling coalition source said euro zone governments have decided in principle to help Greece, comments that calmed investors worried about a threat to global economic stability. “There’s a relief that something can be worked out to prevent a collapse of their bond market,” said Ben Halliburton, chief investment officer at Tradition Capital Management in Summit, New Jersey. “The question is, will the other countries be willing to step in.” Gains on Wall Street were broad-based, but shares of commodity-related companies shot higher as a decline in the dollar lifted prices of oil and gold. Shares of Chevron gained 1.7% to $71.31. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 150.25 points, or 1.52%, to 10,058.64. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 13.78 points, or 1.30%, to 1,070.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 24.82 points, or 1.17%, to 2,150.87. The Dow saw its biggest daily percentage gain since 9 November. Concern over rising debt in Greece and some other euro zone countries have sapped confidence in equity markets in recent weeks, with the Dow average closing below 10,000 on Monday for the first time since November. Industrial shares also jumped after Morgan Stanley raised its rating on the sector, saying share prices should catch up to an improving business environment. Caterpillar Inc was up 5.4% at $53.53. Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp advanced 1.3% to $65.20, while oil futures gained $1.86 to $73.75 per barrel. In earnings news, shares of Coca-Cola Co rose 2.6% to $54.01 after the soft-drink company reported results. After the close, shares of Walt Disney Co gained 2.8% to $30.30 after the company reported earnings that beat expectations. ID:nN09114719 Total volume of about 9.49 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq were below last year’s estimated daily average of 9.65 billion. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 4 to 1 on on the NYSE and by 19 to 7 on Nasdaq. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 10:11 pm Google Gmail tweak challenges Facebook, TwitterMountain view, California: Google Inc is tapping its huge network of Gmail users and Web surfers to create a Buzz that it hopes will help it catch up with online social networking leaders Facebook and Twitter. The world’s No. 1 search engine launched Google Buzz, which allows users to quickly share messages, Web links and photos with friends and colleagues directly within Gmail, the company’s popular email product. Also, a new arsenal of products make the new social networking features compatible with mobile devices such as smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system. Google’s new technology mimics some of the key features of popular social networking services like Twitter and Facebook, which are increasingly challenging Google for Web surfers’ online time. By integrating Buzz directly into Gmail, Google hopes to jumpstart its social networking push by leveraging the large pool of Gmail users. “There’s always been a giant social network underneath Gmail,” said Google product manager Todd Jackson at a press event at Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters on Tuesday. Gmail is the third most popular Web-based email in the world, with 176.5 million unique visitors in December, according to comScore. Microsoft Corp’s Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo Inc’s Mail were No. 1 and No. 2, with 369.2 million and 303.7 million unique visitors, respectively. Google will roll out Buzz to Gmail users over the next few days, it said. Status messages that users publish on Buzz and flag as viewable to everyone will be automatically indexed by Google’s search engine and be available within Google’s recently launched real-time search results. Google said users can also keep messages private by sharing only with customized groups of friends and colleagues. Executives said users can easily share content from various Google online properties like photo-sharing service Picasa and video site YouTube. Content from certain third-party services such as Twitter can also be shared, although users can only view Twitter messages — or Tweets — within Buzz and cannot publish new messages to Twitter’s service. Executives said that Buzz is not currently able to display messages that originated on Facebook, the world’s No. 1 social network with 400 million active users. “The fact that Gmail did not connect and allow broadcasts out to Twitter and Facebook could be a real challenge to them,” said Forrester Research social media analyst Augie Ray. But he noted that Google’s experience serving Web surfers’ relevant search results could be a strength for the company in the social media segment as users are increasingly inundated with status messages. Google has tried to ride the social networking wave before, launching the Orkut social network in 2004. But while Orkut is big in certain overseas markets like Brazil, it has failed to attract as many users as social giants like Facebook and MySpace in the United States. In building a social network on top of an email product, Google is following in the footsteps of Yahoo, which has taken a similar approach in efforts to keep up with Facebook but has seen lackluster results according to analysts. Google co-founder Sergey Brin said he was not deterred by other companies’ experiences in melding email and social networking. “I wouldn’t discount something because it’s similar in the one sense ... to something else in the past that may not be that successful,” Brin said on the sideline of the event following the main presentations. Google appears to be putting a heavy emphasis on mobile and location-based capabilities, weaving Buzz technology into the mobile versions of its flagship website and its online maps products. The company also announced a special mobile application for Buzz that will run on smartphones based on Google’s Android software, Windows Mobile and the Symbian operating system. Google shares rose $2.97 to close at $536.44 on Nasdaq. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 10:09 pm Google Gmail tweak challenges Facebook, TwitterMountain view, California: Google Inc is tapping its huge network of Gmail users and Web surfers to create a Buzz that it hopes will help it catch up with online social networking leaders Facebook and Twitter. The world’s No. 1 search engine launched Google Buzz, which allows users to quickly share messages, Web links and photos with friends and colleagues directly within Gmail, the company’s popular email product. Also, a new arsenal of products make the new social networking features compatible with mobile devices such as smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system. Google’s new technology mimics some of the key features of popular social networking services like Twitter and Facebook, which are increasingly challenging Google for Web surfers’ online time. By integrating Buzz directly into Gmail, Google hopes to jumpstart its social networking push by leveraging the large pool of Gmail users. “There’s always been a giant social network underneath Gmail,” said Google product manager Todd Jackson at a press event at Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters on Tuesday. Gmail is the third most popular Web-based email in the world, with 176.5 million unique visitors in December, according to comScore. Microsoft Corp’s Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo Inc’s Mail were No. 1 and No. 2, with 369.2 million and 303.7 million unique visitors, respectively. Google will roll out Buzz to Gmail users over the next few days, it said. Status messages that users publish on Buzz and flag as viewable to everyone will be automatically indexed by Google’s search engine and be available within Google’s recently launched real-time search results. Google said users can also keep messages private by sharing only with customized groups of friends and colleagues. Executives said users can easily share content from various Google online properties like photo-sharing service Picasa and video site YouTube. Content from certain third-party services such as Twitter can also be shared, although users can only view Twitter messages — or Tweets — within Buzz and cannot publish new messages to Twitter’s service. Executives said that Buzz is not currently able to display messages that originated on Facebook, the world’s No. 1 social network with 400 million active users. “The fact that Gmail did not connect and allow broadcasts out to Twitter and Facebook could be a real challenge to them,” said Forrester Research social media analyst Augie Ray. But he noted that Google’s experience serving Web surfers’ relevant search results could be a strength for the company in the social media segment as users are increasingly inundated with status messages. Google has tried to ride the social networking wave before, launching the Orkut social network in 2004. But while Orkut is big in certain overseas markets like Brazil, it has failed to attract as many users as social giants like Facebook and MySpace in the United States. In building a social network on top of an email product, Google is following in the footsteps of Yahoo, which has taken a similar approach in efforts to keep up with Facebook but has seen lackluster results according to analysts. Google co-founder Sergey Brin said he was not deterred by other companies’ experiences in melding email and social networking. “I wouldn’t discount something because it’s similar in the one sense ... to something else in the past that may not be that successful,” Brin said on the sideline of the event following the main presentations. Google appears to be putting a heavy emphasis on mobile and location-based capabilities, weaving Buzz technology into the mobile versions of its flagship website and its online maps products. The company also announced a special mobile application for Buzz that will run on smartphones based on Google’s Android software, Windows Mobile and the Symbian operating system. Google shares rose $2.97 to close at $536.44 on Nasdaq. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 10:09 pm Asia stocks rise as Europe debt crisis fears easeBangkok: Asian stock markets mostly rose on Wednesday after Europe and Wall Street gained on hopes a government debt crisis in Europe can be quarantined to smaller economies. Investors turned optimistic on reports that plans are being developed in the European Union to rescue Greece. That raised hopes that policymakers will take bigger steps to contain debt troubles in other weak European economies including Portugal and Spain. Japan’s Nikkei stock benchmark gained nearly 1% as the dollar rose against the yen, boosting exporters, while oil prices fell after surging to near $74 a barrel on Tuesday. The dollar rose against the euro. Greece’s government has vowed wage and pension reform in an effort to gain credibility in its plan to drive down its debt load. However, nationwide strikes were planned for Wednesday, possibly undercutting any confidence in the country’s plan. Some experts believe the European Central Bank may come up with a form of support which would not require a bailout, such as guarantees for debt. Alternatively, big economies like Germany and France could offer support. Hong Kong stocks bucked the regional trend with the Hang Seng index falling 17.08 points, or 0.1%, to 19,781.31. South Korea’s Kospi was also lower, slipping 0.2% to 1,568.09. Gains elsewhere were moderate with Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average up 79.44, or 0.8%, at 10,012.34 and Australia’s benchmark gaining 0.1% to 4510. China’s Shanghai index advanced 0.6% to 2,967.03, helped by strong trade figures for January - indicating a recovery in both global demand and Chinese consumption is on track. “We can see China’s trade has entered a stable stage,” said Shanghai Securities economist Hu Xiaoyue. “Unless there’s another round of the financial crisis, China’s export recovery is well on track and won’t see a double dip.” Markets in Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia also gained. Singapore was lower. In the US on Tuesday, the Dow rose 150.25, or 1.5%, to 10,058.64, its steepest%age gain since 9 November. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 13.78, or 1.3%, to 1,070.52, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 24.82, or 1.2%, to 2,150.87. Oil prices fell in Asia with benchmark crude for March delivery down 51 cents at $73.24 a barrel. In currencies, the dollar rose to 89.73 yen from ¥89.63. The euro fell to $1.3744 from $1.3791. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 9:53 pm Sensex opens 99 pts higher on global cues, short-coveringThe Sensex today rose nearly 99 points in early trade, extending its gains for the fourth straight session, on good buying in metal and IT stocks by funds, driven by firm global cues.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Feb 2010 | 9:52 pm Google's Gmail tweak challenges Facebook, TwitterGoogle Inc is tapping its huge network of Gmail users and Web surfers to create Buzz that it hopes will help it catch up with Facebook and Twitter.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Feb 2010 | 9:42 pm Rupee gains 13 paise against dollar in opening tradeThe rupee on Wednesday appreciated by 13 paise to 46.52 a dollar in opening trade largely in line with other firming Asian currencies amid strong equities market.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Feb 2010 | 9:30 pm Rising budgets of media, publishing, entertainment fuelling IT growthHCL said Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) will continue to grow predominantly because it is a young industry with a greater headroom for growth.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Feb 2010 | 9:26 pm Oil eases to above $73 on US crude stockbuildSingapore: Oil hovered above $73 a barrel on Wednesday, giving up some of the previous day’s gains after data showed a large build in US crude stocks, signalling persistently weak demand in the world’s top energy consumer. Oil had settled more than 2% higher on Tuesday, buoyed by a weaker dollar, gains on Wall Street, and a huge snowstorm looming over the US Northeast, the world’s largest consumer of heating oil. The optimism was dashed by data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showing a surprisingly large rise in US crude and gasoline inventories last week, though developments in the financial markets will also affect prices, one analyst said. “The market should not get too bearish despite the rise in weekly inventories, because of the snowstorms sweeping across the Northern Hemisphere,” said Keiichi Sano, general manager of research at Tokyo-based SCM Securities. “Oil should not fall below $70. It will remain driven by the dollar’s movements and the mood in the financial markets.” US crude for March delivery fell 53 cents to $73.22 a barrel by 9:03am, after settling at $73.75 per barrel on Tuesday. London Brent crude was down 64 cents at $71.49. Crude prices are down nearly 8% this year to stand at about half their July 2008 high of more than $147 a barrel. US crude inventories jumped by 7.2 million barrels to 337.6 million barrels last week, against expectations of a rise of 1.5 million barrels, and despite a drop in crude imports and weekly crude runs. Gasoline inventories also rose more than expected, climbing 1.6 million barrels to 228.8 million barrels, exceeding analyst estimates of a 500,000 barrel build. Traders will await a report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) due on Friday for further clues on the rate of demand recovery in the world’s largest oil user. The EIA said Tuesday its weekly data, normally released on Wednesdays at 10:30am EST, will be delayed until Friday due to the snowstorm blanketing the US capital. US heating demand this week is seen 11.5% above normal, due to the storm sweeping across the US mid-Atlantic, weather services said. The blizzard, the second to hit the US East Coast in the past week, shut U.S. government offices in Washington for the second day on Tuesday. Further price support came from the weaker greenback, after investors unwound short positions in the euro on reports that a rescue package for Greece was in the works. A senior German ruling coalition source told Reuters euro zone governments had decided in principle to help Greece. Concerns about Greece’s public finances and the potential contagion effects have hit the euro and soured risk appetite in recent weeks. European Union leaders will hold a special summit on the economy on Thursday and speculation is swirling that a package will be hammered out soon for Greece. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the situation in Greece was difficult and a common concern for the EU. Oil tends to rise when the dollar falls, making crude and petroleum products cheaper for non-dollar buyers. Weakness in the dollar also encourages investors to move into more tangible investments such as commodities. Investors increasingly take trading cues from wider economic data, as they await signs of a recovery in the global economy and a potential rebound in flagging energy demand. Crude prices have been hit by data showing bulging fuel stockpiles in the United States despite cold weather, concerns about slower Asian demand if China further tightens its monetary policy, and more recently, jitters over Europe’s financial stability. Geopolitical tensions over Iran’s nuclear program could also help underpin oil prices. US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the international community was moving “fairly quickly” toward imposing broader sanctions on Iran, as the Islamic Republic defiantly expanded its nuclear program. Obama said Iran’s refusal to accept a UN-brokered atomic fuel swap deal suggested it was intent on trying to build nuclear weapons, despite its insistence that its nuclear program was only for the peaceful generation of electricity. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 9:22 pm Charges added in Rajaratnam insider trading caseProsecutors alleged Raj Rajaratnam and his co-defendant reaped $49 million from illegal insider trading, up from an earlier claim of $40 million.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Feb 2010 | 8:13 pm 'India doing well, doesn't need emergency policies'Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, who says "In the near term, I am more bullish on India", talked about the global as well as Asian economy in Mumbai on Tuesday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Feb 2010 | 3:37 pm 164 channels asked to register for downlinkingThe government has decided to ask old television channels, which were operational before December 2005, to register for downlinking in India.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Feb 2010 | 3:35 pm IT having second thoughts on export growth estimatesIn its recent report, Nasscom said IT export revenue growth, which is seen at 5.5% in the current fiscal, will achieve a growth rate of 13-15% in FY11.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Feb 2010 | 3:34 pm Reliance Media to seek action against FameReliance MediaWorks will seek action against Fame India promoters for selling there stake to Inox Leisure at a price much lower than they were offered.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Feb 2010 | 1:19 pm Vedanta, Amnesty fight over miningIn a report, Amnesty alleged that tribal population in Orissa's Lanjigarh, where Vedanta is setting up alumina refinery, suffered because of water pollution due to refinery.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Feb 2010 | 1:18 pm HUL retains WPP as partnerAs part of Unilever's global realignment of its media buying agencies announced on Tuesday, its Indian subsidiary Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has retained WPP Mindshare as its media buying partner.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Feb 2010 | 1:17 pm Auto sales up 45%, cars 32%Car sales in the domestic market raced to a record monthly high in January on easier retail financing, economic recovery and new model launches..Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Feb 2010 | 1:12 pm BSNL giving obsolete tech contract?Technology failed validation tests five times and has been declared obsolete by BSNL itself. Despite this, there is a renewed effort to award a contract for installation of technology to Midas Communication, allege officials.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Feb 2010 | 1:08 pm Renault to go solo, launch cars sans M&MIt will be a solo run for French car major Renault in India as it expands beyond its one-product joint venture with the Mahindra group that failed to impress buyers and ended up as a money-losing business for the two companies.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Feb 2010 | 1:06 pm Court rejects Bayer's appealIn a relief to generic companies and promoting consumers' access to affordable treatment, the Delhi high court dismissed an appeal by German MNC Bayer Corporation, which sought patent linkage linking regulatory approval of generic medicines with their patent status.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pm Rangarajan backs stimulus rollbackA day after commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma hinted at partial withdrawal of stimulus packages, the Prime Ministers economic advisory council (PMEAC) chairman, C Rangarajan, said the process of fiscal consolidation must start with the Budget.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Feb 2010 | 12:53 pm Good old PPF would still work for your kidsFor a long-term goal, such as investing for your child’s higher education or planning for your retirement, our advice remains bullish on equities. But one debt product that always remains a favourite to lend stability to your portfolio, without compromising on returns, is the state-guaranteed Public Provident Fund (PPF). However, some investors are finding it difficult to open a PPF account in the name of their minors. We asked India Post, that offers the product, if banks were notified to do so and this is what the official had to say: “An adult can open a PPF account in the name of his minor from either a post office, some nationalized banks like the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Syndicate Bank and private banks like HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.” Also See What’s Good What’s Not (Graphics) The reason that some banks are not happy about opening a PPF account for your child could be the extra work for a small amount. Says Harsh Roongta, CEO, ApnaPaisa.com: “It depends on the bank branch and is not a practice across banks. Some banks that do refuse say that opening an account in the name of the minor is unnecessary because an individual can only invest up to Rs70,000, including that of his minor’s.” Also See Savings Target (Graphics) With that bit out of the window, there is a good reason why you should hurry and open a PPF account in the name of your child. It is the only long-term debt instrument that offers a guaranteed risk-free return of 8% and the way it is structured makes for discipline investing. More on PPF You can open a PPF account in your name and in the name of each of your children individually. However, you cannot exceed an overall investment limit of Rs70,000 between you and the kids. This means that you need to apportion money so that the total does not exceed Rs70,000. Investment can only be made in multiples of Rs500. Investments in PPF also give tax deduction benefit under section 80C of the Income-tax Act. The proceeds are tax-free. PPF works like an annual or a monthly systematic investment plan (SIP). You need to invest some amount in the account every year (you can do so 12 times a year). It comes with a lock-in of five years. The option of partial withdrawal is available from the end of the fifth year. From the sixth year, you can withdraw up to 50% of the amount lying in the account at the end of the fourth year preceding the year of withdrawal or at the end of the year preceding the withdrawal, whichever is lower. If your bank refuses to open an account in the name of a minor, you can approach a post office or bump up your individual PPF account. But this would require discipline and a cultivated habit of refraining from dipping into your account for funds. If the account is in your name, you can nominate your child or spouse as the beneficiary. If the subscriber dies, the money in the PPF account would go to the nominees on or before maturity. What should you do? The power of compounding works magic and, therefore, we suggest you open a PPF account as soon as your child is born. Picture this. An MBA course that costs Rs6 lakh today will cost Rs15.92 lakh 20 years from now, assuming the rate of inflation is 5%. If you invest right away you will have to invest Rs34,788 every year, but if you wake up only when your child is five years old and joins school, you will have to invest Rs58,632 each year. Amar Pandit, a Mumbai-based financial planner, says: “PPF is the one of the best long-term debt products that we recommend to our clients.” Typically, there are two stages at which you will need a huge influx of funds: a good undergraduate college or a good masters. If you open a PPF account in the name of your child within the first year of his life, you will have a PPF account ripening when your child may be a couple of years from finishing school. You will need to take a call at that point. You can either withdraw your funds completely and park in a short-term debt instrument, such as a good income fund or maybe a fixed deposit to meet the need of your child’s higher education. If you don’t need the cash immediately, we would recommend you extend the term by another five years—PPF can be extended in five-year batches—if the rates are still favourable. This may help you meet the need of your child for higher studies. Says Pandit: “The return that PPF offers is by far the best. You must keep extending your PPF account if you do not have a pressing need and make partial withdrawals, if need be. A withdrawal of up to 60% of the maturity corpus is allowed during the extended tenure.” PPF is an excellent investment tool and we recommend that you park at least 40% of your funds earmarked for your child in this instrument. deepti.bh@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 12:45 pm Arunachal power project hit by Assam blockadesNew Delhi: State-run NHPC Ltd’s Subansiri Lower (2,000MW) hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh, the utility’s biggest project, is being hampered by blockades in Assam that have affected the movement of material to the site. NHPC has conveyed its concern about the disruption of supply lines to the Assam state government following a spate of bandhs in and around the Dhemaji and Lakhimpur areas, which have halted project activities. “Naturally our project is getting affected,” said S.K. Garg, chairman and managing director of NHPC. “We have been requesting the Assam government to take care of this issue.” The Rs6,400 crore project, which is expected to provide power to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, has already witnessed long delays because of environmental problems and border disputes between the two states as reported by Mint earlier. P.C. Sharma, Assam chief secretary, did not respond to questions sent by email to his office. NHPC plans to commission three units producing 750MW by March 2012 and the remaining five units totalling 1,250MW by December 2012. In addition, it plans to develop hydropower projects that will generate 6,500MW of power in Arunachal Pradesh. The utility is currently building 12 projects that will have a total capacity of 5,322MW. The utility has asked the Assam state government to “maintain healthy law and order conditions” in and around the project areas. The total hydropower generation potential of the North-East and Bhutan is about 58,000MW. Arunachal Pradesh alone, among the North-Eastern states, has a potential to generate 50,328MW of hydropower—the highest in the country, according to the Central Electricity Authority, India’s apex power sector planning body. “Hydro projects face these kind(s) of problems unlike thermal projects,” said Rupesh Sankhe, an equity research analyst at Angel Broking Ltd. “These problems will further delay the Subansiri project.” utpal.b@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 12:45 pm Who’s afraid of Barack Obama? Not Indian ITMumbai: Indian software firms are shrugging off proposed legislative measures in the US that are aimed at discouraging offshoring of jobs—the mainstay of the Indian IT industry, which derives as much as 60% of its revenue by delivering services to clients in that country. India is expected to close the year to 31 March with $49.7 billion (Rs2.3 trillion) in revenue from export of IT and back-office services. The industry lobby, Nasscom, says growth in exports for the next financial year would be between 13% and15%. India has a 12% share in the outsourcing market and a 51% market share in the offshored services market. Still, neither Nasscom nor large Indian firms are willing to take any chances and have employed specialized lobbying firms to highlight to the US legislators the benefits of outsourcing and offshoring. An executive at India’s largest software services firm, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), said that the proposed legislation, which will withdraw tax incentives to companies that offshore jobs, will not have any impact. “I don’t think so,” said TCS chief executive N. Chandrasekaran. He added that TCS would be monitoring the situation closely and develop its own strategy. The anti-outsourcing and offshoring law, in its present form, pertains to the operations of overseas subsidiaries of US companies and the profits they make overseas, said Nasscom president Som Mittal. The Obama administration argues that because the US tax laws offer firms incentives to invest and keep income abroad, American companies tend to reinvest their earnings in foreign locations such as India—expanding there, and depriving Americans of jobs and the US of tax income. The business logic of outsourcing outweighs tax disincentives, added Mittal. “Tax rebate does not change the fundamental advantages gained by outsourcing and off-shoring,” he added referring to the cost arbitrage that off-shoring provides. “Business sense will prevail, not political rhetoric.” Surjeet Singh, the chief financial officer of Mumbai-based IT outsourcer Patni Computers Ltd, seconded Mittal’s opinion and said the proposed legislation is hardly a threat and that the current outsourcing model is mature and can handle minor bumps such as a tax rebate being withdrawn. “Does it fundamentally introduce a threat to the Indian IT companies? No. If there is a new tax factor introduced, then the model will adjust to the new regime, if there is one, but ultimately the way things are done will not change,” Singh told Mint. New Jersey-based Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., which does most of its work for Western clients out of India said the proposed legal measures will only reduce the competitiveness of the US firms. “US companies are likely to only increase the volume of their outsourcing and offshoring activities as they try to reduce their overall cost structure”, said the firm’s vice-chairman Lakshmi Narayanan. IBM, which employees at least 70,000 people in India for delivering services globally, declined to comment saying it wouldn’t respond because the issue was “political”. venkatesha.b@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 12:45 pm Air India to consider Dublin for European hub this fortnightNew Delhi: India and Ireland are likely to expand their air services pact to allow their flag carriers—Air India and Aer Lingus, respectively—to start flying to the two countries, said a civil aviation ministry official familiar with the development. The move comes as Air India is set to consider Ireland’s Dublin airport as a potential new hub in Europe for its one-stop flights between India and the US, he said. Air India, run by National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, has been scouting for an airport in Europe that’s cheaper to operate than its current hub in Frankfurt, Germany. The airline’s chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav and senior civil aviation ministry officials will inspect the airport in the Irish capital this fortnight, the ministry official said. The airports at Copenhagen, Denmark and Vienna, Austria are also likely hubs. But Dublin offers an advantage as the only European airport where passengers can clear immigration for the US, and avoid long queues at congested airports such as New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Another ministry official said it was too early to take a decision on moving to a new hub in Europe, given that Air India is fighting for a government bailout to remain afloat. Questions sent by email to Dublin Airport Authority Plc., which manages Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports in Ireland, remained unanswered. A London-based aviation analyst said the facility of US immigration clearance was drawing even European airlines to Dublin. “British Airways(BA) recently started an all-business A318 service from London City Airport to New York JFK with a fuel stop in Dublin on the outbound only,” he said. “BA has added the benefit of pre-clearing US immigration in a dedicated queue, so the stop actually doesn’t delay passengers, particularly non-US passport holders, as it can take up to an hour to clear immigration in JFK,” the analyst said. He too didn’t want to be named. Besides Ireland’s Dublin and Shannon airports, only some Canadian and Caribbean airports offer US immigration clearance outside US territory. The analyst, however, said Air India needs to look at its options carefully “as there is no India-Ireland traffic”. Though airports like Frankfurt charge a higher fee, they attract more business class fliers, which can partly offset the costs for a carrier, he added. “It would be better to stop/hub in Manchester or Birmingham (both in the UK), where there are sizeable Indian communities,” he said. “The catchment area of these cities is also much larger.” tarun.s@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 12:45 pm Cost and innovation: The fig leaf argument Also Read | Monika Halan’s earlier columns India is moving from a central command economy to free markets. We’re experimenting with a variety of regulatory structures as we go. There are regulators in sectors including telecom, electricity, aviation and drugs, to name a few. The financial sector has five. Regulators for microfinance, real estate and municipal services are on their way. Free markets move towards equilibrium only in textbooks. The real world sees painful and expensive blowouts of free markets gone awry. Effective regulation protects the interests of all the participants in the market—the firm, the consumer and the investor. Writes Rick Bookstaber, the author of A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation on his blog, “Capitalist regulation forces the producers to recognize all of their costs.” Two popular arguments used in the US against regulation have been around costs and innovation—that regulation raises costs and crushes innovation. Again good in textbooks and big firm funded conferences, but we know that innovation on Wall Street led to products that took a legal and advanced math degree to decipher. Which need not have been bad if the products had worked. We know that the only people they worked for were the bankers and the top management of the Wall Street firms and not the consumers or employees—both paid. Before the innovation argument is used against tighter regulation in India, there needs to be discussion on what this “innovation” means and what its aim is. “Innovation” in life insurance polices in India is mainly in designing products that hide costs and this “innovation” will lead to a blowout, creating deep fissures in trust people have in insurance. We can live without such “innovation”. The second myth is around cost. Tight regulation raises costs so that the poor can’t afford products and services. A top official at the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) told me while arguing against zero commissions in financial products: “Zero commissions will make products and service more expensive for those at the far end of the consumer chain.” It is a refrain I am hearing in India as well. The bleeding heart argument for that old retired couple, as it is turned away from the full-regulatory cost bearing financial institution and is snared by unregulated sharks. Maybe we need more work on the unregulated entities than to reduce the regulatory cost for those that anyway act like unregulated sharks. The Indian experience with regulators has been mixed and we’re muddling along, deciding as we go with each regulator in isolation. There is no shared regulatory philosophy in India so that some micromanage and clear advertisement texts, others look the other way when a blowout happens. Still others complain that the firms they regulate don’t listen. And some are busy fighting among themselves over turf or with their boss, the ministry. The good part is that it is still early days on the free-market road since the socialist overhang has ensured that every two steps forward were followed by a step back. This means that we can still do some core thinking about how India needs to look at regulation as more and more sectors get freedom. A good place to look for ideas would be in the smallest unit that needs some rules in order to function. The home. Quite surprisingly the micro lessons of a home tend to work well at the macro level as well. As a commentator on Bookstaber’s blog wrote: “Do we scold or praise the mother who restricts her son from eating like there is no tomorrow? Do we scold or praise the father who, when teaching his son/daughter how to drive, admonishes them when they get reckless? Do we scold, or praise the teacher who sets clear rules of discipline in the classroom, so everyone has a chance to begin to learn? The answer is obvious, isn’t it? Therefore, pray tell why this basic common sense logic, shouldn’t apply to Wall Street? I rest my case.” 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 | 9 Feb 2010 | 12:45 pm Govt mulls Rs 50,000-cr debt fund for infra projectsThe government is considering a proposal to set up Rs 50,000-crore India Infrastructure Debt Fund to meet the long-term needs of public private partnership projects by tapping foreign and domestic pension and insurance funds, sovereign funds and multilateral institutions.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 9 Feb 2010 | 11:45 am Jairam puts Bt brinjal on holdEnvironment Minister Jairam Ramesh today imposed a moratorium on the commercialisation of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) brinjal until such time as long-term scientific studies could establish its safety impacts on human health and the environment.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 9 Feb 2010 | 11:42 am BSNL mulls pvt placement as IPO hopes fadeMay divest 5-10% to get around union objections.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 9 Feb 2010 | 11:40 am Govt puts Bt brinjal in limboNew Delhi: India’s environment minister Jairam Ramesh announced an “indefinite moratorium” on the release of transgenic brinjal, effectively ruling out the entry of other genetically modified food crops that could have come in through the door opened by Bt brinjal. By doing so, Ramesh also raised questions about the regulatory process surrounding approvals for genetically modified (GM) crops in India. The genetic engineering approval committee (GEAC), a body of experts created by the government to approve GM crops, had cleared Bt Brinjal for commercial cultivation. Although India is the world’s second largest producer of brinjals (or eggplant), the real impact of Bt brinjal would have been not on commercial production of the vegetable or on other non-transgenic varieties of it, but in terms of opening a regulatory window for other GM crops—maybe rice or wheat, staples in the diet of most Indians.  Cautious approach: Environment minister Jairam Ramesh. Ramesh Pathania / Mint The brinjal in question, which contains a gene, artificially introduced into its genome, mainly from a soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis, has been developed by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, University of Dharwad, under a free licence from the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co. Ltd (Mahyco). Among other companies, Monsanto Inc., which owns a 26% stake in Mahyco, also has technologies for introducing the Bt gene in other food crops including rice, maize and wheat. Independent scientists, and experts involved with the approval process, seem unhappy with the decision. “If there were more tests needed, you should have got them prescribed 10 years ago, when Bt brinjal first came for an approval,” said a GEAC official, who didn’t want to be identified. “ No technology can take root if ad hoc tests are prescribed randomly.” G. Padmanabhan, a former director at the Indian Institute of Science and an expert recommended by Ramesh for designing new tests, said: “ I am disappointed and surprised at this decision. Open-ended moratorium has no meaning. I had thought he would say one or two years of study. I don’t buy the safety concern argument. They say do chronic feeding (to rats) but how long can this feeding last? For a lifetime? What would be the control for such studies? All the existing protocols have been followed (by GEAC). I have read the report and I think they have analysed all comments very well...” Mahyco said in a statement that it “respects the decision of the environment minister on insect-protected Bt brinjal.” While promising to follow the prescribed rules, the statement added that the company “is confident that sound science based on evidence obtained over nine years of rigorous testing will prevail and the country’s farmers, consumers and farm labour and the environment will benefit from agriculture biotechnology”. DuPont India, which is planning preliminary trials of its own forms of transgenic rice, using the Bt gene, said the minister’s decision wouldn’t affect their long-term plans. “It would be disappointing, but over time biotechnology and that includes transgenic technology, is inevitable to ensuring a food-secure country. So our plans are on track,” said Balvinder Kalsi, president, DuPont India, a few hours before Ramesh’s press briefing. He couldn’t be reached for comment after Ramesh’s conference. Acknowledging stiff opposition from state governments, lack of consensus in the scientific community and negative public sentiment, largely drummed up by farmer- and activist groups, Ramesh said: “It is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary, principle-based approach and impose a moratorium... till such time independent scientific studies establish, to the satisfaction of both the public and professionals, the safety of the product from the point of view of its long-term impact on human health and environment, including the rich genetic wealth existing in brinjal in our country.” India, has 4,000 genetic varieties of brinjal. Ramesh added that there is no over riding food security argument involved in the case of brinjal. Ramesh had earlier, on 16 October, over ruled GEAC’s decision and said he would decide on Bt brinjal only after more consultations with farmers, scientists and citizens at the state level. He then embarked on a roadshow through January and early February across Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Almost 8,000 people attended these consultations. The ministry had written to 50 Indian and foreign scientists for comments and three rounds of discussions were held between Ramesh and eminent scientist M.S. Swaminathan. The raucous, at times combative, consultations saw several states express their apprehensions on the release of Bt brinjal. Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said in a statement on Monday that GM crops would be “prohibited” in the state. Meanwhile, differences had surfaced between Union ministers over who clears Bt brinjal. Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and science minister Prithvi Raj Chavan publicly stated that GEAC had the final word on GM crops. Ramesh disagreed. “Pawar has not said anything to me,” said Ramesh on Tuesday. Though several scientists say that GM brinjal poses no danger to the environment, animals and humans, others stress that not enough tests have been done to validate it. Also, environment activists add, Bt brinjal is a threat to plant biodiversity. Currently, Bt cotton is the only genetically modified crop allowed for commercial cultivation. Ramesh reiterated that these two are very different as brinjal is edible. “Tests and trials for food products must be more stringent than drugs but this has not been the case for Bt brinjal,” he said. The use of Bt cotton in India has increased yield from 308kg per ha in 2001 to 508kg per ha in 2006, according to Cotton Corp. of India Ltd, a state-owned company that helps in marketing of the commodity. jacob.k@livemint.com Seema Singh in Bangalore contributed to this story. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 11:31 am Fiat to announce Russia joint venture: reportMoscow: Italian auto giant Fiat is due to announce a new joint venture in Russia on Thursday at an event attended by Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, Russia’s main business daily reported. Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne is also set to attend the event in Naberezhnye Chelny in southwest Russia, where Fiat models are already being produced by its Russian partner Sollers, Vedomosti reported. The plant currently produces the Fiat Albea and Doblo models. Citing an official and a banking source, the newspaper said the factory in Naberezhnye Chelny would also start producing the Fiat Linea and stop making jeeps for troubled South Korean car maker SsongYang. Fiat and Sollers have been partners since 2005. The Russian car market, once considered one of the most promising in Europe, fell by 49% last year compared to 2008. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 4:04 am Google may add social networking features to Gmail: reportNew York: Internet giant Google is looking to add new social features to its e-mail service, Gmail, in its bid to compete with popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, a media report says. “Google Inc is taking a swipe at Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc with a new feature that makes it easier for users of Gmail to view media and status updates shared online by their friends,” The Wall Street Journal said. Attributing to people familiar with the matter, the report stated that Google could announce the new Gmail features as soon as this week. The change adds a module to the Gmail screen that would display a stream of updates from individuals a user chooses to connect with, it added. It is a format popularised by Facebook and Twitter. Last year, another internet major Yahoo Inc has added a similar feature to Yahoo Mail which allowed users to see whether friends have uploaded a photo to a site like Flickr. The new stream would eventually include content that a user’s connections share through Google’s YouTube video site and Picasa photo service, WSJ said citing a person familiar with the matter as saying. Google’s move comes after Facebook last week rolled out a new design with a message inbox that more closely resembles an email inbox like Gmail’s. The social-networking company said it had roughly 400 million users. Gmail had 176 million unique visitors in December, as per comScore data. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 2:02 am Politics at play in Toyota woes; no trade wars seenTokyo: US politics look to be playing a role in Washington’s harsh responseto safety problems battering Toyota’s reputation, but no one expects a replay of the bitter trade wars that frayed ties and jolted currencies decades ago. That’s in large part because while Toyota Motor Corp as No.1 seems an easy target, Japan firms overall are no longer seen as the competitive threat that once rocked US confidence. “It is part of a US protectionist mood basically against foreign firms,” said Takuji Okubo, chief economist at Societe general Securities in Tokyo. “But it is different from the 1980s or the first term of (US president Bill) Clinton, when there were trade spats and the exchange rate moved according to political noise,” he said. “So far, it’s a Toyota problem. I think the US’ main target is still China and the Chinese exchange rate.” Toyota’s troubles deepened on Tuesday as the carmaker recalled its flagship Prius hybrid in Japan for braking problems, one day before a top executive was to testify to Congress at a hearing in front of the House Oversight Committee in Washington. US safety authorities and members of the administration have accused Toyota of responding too slowly to problems related to uncontrolled acceleration that have been linked to up to 19 deaths in the United States over the past decade. No one is suggesting a US conspiracy to topple Toyota. But many in Japan do see more than a hint of US domestic dynamics at work — from last year’s bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler and charges that lax bank regulation led to the financial crisis, to the tough spot President Barack Obama’s Democrats are in ahead of November mid-term elections. “Of course Toyota has some problems, but I feel like it is getting beaten on,” said Kazuo Akatsuka, who works at a factory making Prius hybrids in Toyota City, central Japan. “In the US, two car makers have gone under and I feel like some people might be using this as an opportunity. I might not go so far as to call it malicious, but there is something there,” said Akatsuka, who has worked for Toyota for 35 years. Fear Of Fraying Japanese media and analysts have been critical of Toyota’s handling of its quality problems, but have also pointed to signs of US protectionism that some fear could further fray ties already soured by a feud over a US airbase on Okinawa island.’ “For the Obama administration, which is worrying about its falling support rates, the best way of letting off steam about the jobless situation is to target Toyota, which has overtaken the Big Three,” wrote Kazutaka Oshima, president of Rakuten Investment Management. The US government now owns 60% of General Motors and nearly 10% of Chrysler. “This is a kind of show, so to speak,” said Koji Endo, managing director of Advanced Research Japan, referring to the Congressional hearings. “So it’s going to be a very, very difficult situation. We’re not talking about the pure recall-related business situation here. We’re probably talking about something else, and that’s not necessarily friendly political consideration against Toyota.” Tough talk by US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last week, including a pledge to “hold Toyota’s feet to the fire”, also fanned speculation that US regulators were trying to deflect criticism that they, too, had dropped the ball. Some analysts warn that assumptions of politically motivated Toyota bashing are overdone. “Secretary of Transportation LaHood’s inappropriate comments created an adversarial political climate that will take time to recede,” said Michael Auslin at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. “However, there is no evidence that the US government would be so reckless as to try to intentionally harm Toyota to benefit the car company it now owns, GM,” he said. A huge imbalance in US auto trade with Japan is a longtime irritant that has received more attention of late. But few foresee a return of the mid-1990s friction, when Tokyo’s huge trade surplus sparked yen-boosting jawboning by US officials. Nor do they expect the sort of “Japan Bashing” symbolised by members of Congress smashing a Toshiba radio-recorder on Capitol Hill in 1987. Toyota’s status as a major employer in America could also dampen some of the fuss. “It’s not going turn into scenes of beating a Toyota Prius with a sledge hammer on Capitol Hill,” said Brad Glosserman, director of research at think tank Pacific Forum CSIS. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 9 Feb 2010 | 1:41 am
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