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DB Realty expects Rs 820850 cr revenue in FY10Commenting on the road ahead for DB Realty, its Managing Director, Shahid Balwa, says that they will announce a large project, apart from the ongoing DB Tower project, in the next few days. The project will have a potential to develop eight million square feet area.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 7:35 am Will use Rs 100 cr to up machinery capacity: Mah SystechHemant Luthra, President of Systech, the auto components arm of the Mahindra group, said, of the Rs 175 crore raised, Rs 100 crore would be used to increase machinery capacity.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 6:00 am Budget 2010: What global investors wantPaul Beckett, the New Delhi Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, speaks about what global investors and observers would be expecting from the Budget this time around.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 5:48 am Steel sector to grow 69% in 2010Steel sector is expected to grow 69% in 2010 on higher demand from the real estate, construction and automobile sectors, the finance ministry said in a report on Thursday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 5:37 am Economic Survey: Govt optimistic on growth!The Finance Ministry Thursday tabled a cautious but optimistic Economic Survey 2009-10 in parliament.Source: Zee News : Business | 25 Feb 2010 | 5:33 am FM to table Eco Survey, Finance Commission report!A day before unveiling the Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will table the Economic Survey in Parliament on Thursday which will take stock of the economy and also the impact of stimulus on industry.Source: Zee News : Business | 25 Feb 2010 | 5:33 am Fitch places Bharti Airtel on watch negativeFitch Ratings has today placed Bharti Airtel Limited\'s (Bharti) Longterm Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of \'BBB\' on Rating Watch Negative (RWN).Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 5:09 am Dont expect another shock for sector in Budget: HDFC BkPutting forth his wishlist for the banking sector, Executive Director of HDFC Bank, Paresh Sukthankar, said, the market doesn\'t expect another shock for the sector. \"They anticipate net borrowing to be less than Rs 3.9 lakh crore.\" Further he said though crowding out was unlikely, some pressure on rates was probable.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 4:07 am Power Grid signs pacts with 37 power projectsPower Grid Corp of India on Wednesday signed pacts with 37 private project developers for evacuating power from their power plants on a long term basis, Business Line reported, quoting an unnamed government official.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 3:34 am Central Bank finalising bids for NPA saleStaterun Central Bank of India is in final stages of evaluating bids from asset reconstruction companies to sell non peforming assets worth 4 billion rupees, its chairman said on Wednesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 3:16 am American Tower to buy Essar`s telco towersA unit of American Tower Corp will buy India\'s Essar Group\'s telecoms tower business for an enterprise value of about 20 billion rupees (USD 432 million), the companies said in a statement on Wednesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 3:16 am Nissan, Suzuki, Daihatsu to recall cars in JapanSuzuki Motor will recall 432,366 units of two minicar models in Japan, while Daihatsu Motor will recall 60,774 units of four minicar models in Japan.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:53 am Larsen & Toubro sees $1.7 billion contract from utility joint ventureThe leading construction and engineering firm signed on Wednesday a joint venture with the state utility in southern Karnataka to build the coal-based power plant.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:50 am BEML, Titagarh, Texmaco likely to benefit from rail budget - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:40 am United Bank of India IPO subscribed 11.24 times - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:40 am Are farmers getting benefits of MSP doubts Eco SurveyEconomic Survey on Thursday expressed doubt whether small and marginal farmers are getting the benefits of a sharp jump in the support price of various crops.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:34 am FIIs back on track invests Rs 87 987 cr in 09 SurveyAfter a lull in 2008, Indian equities once again became the favourite bet for foreign funds, who pumped in nearly Rs 88,000 crore in domestic shares in 2009, the Economic Survey said on Thursday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:29 am Gold buying abates; price declines eyedMumbai: India gold buying abated on Thursday as traders waited for dips after offtake picked-up late in the previous session, when prices briefly moved below $1,100 an ounce, dealers said. “People are now waiting for $1,085 (an ounce), yesterday we did good business below $1,100,” said a state-run bullion dealing bank dealer. International spot gold, which guides the domestic markets, was trading at $1,092.45/1,093.25 an ounce against its previous close of $1,097.25/1,098.05. Gold struck a low of $1,085 in the previous session. Gold fell to near a two-week low as the dollar rose after Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s reaffirmation of an extended period of low US rates boosted risk-seeking but also raised some concerns about global growth. A weak rupee, which makes the dollar-quoted asset expensive, also weighed on sentiment, they added. The Indian rupee eased on Thursday afternoon, weighed down by a fall in local share prices and the dollar’s gains overseas, while traders eyed Friday’s federal budget for cues on foreign investment. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:29 am Toyota workers worry but back embattled boss - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:26 am India's L&T sees $1.7 bn contract from utility JV - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:26 am The Time Out-Mint PlannerBANGALORE Around town +91 Residences Exhibition Till 6 March  9am-6.30pm (Monday-Thursday), 9am-8pm (Friday-Sunday). Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, 716, CMH Road, Indira Nagar (25205305). Pecha Kucha Night 26 February Twenty slides a speaker, 20 seconds each. This isn’t a math problem. Turn up if you’re interested in hearing and seeing stories of innovation in India served up Pecha Kucha style. Speakers include home-grown entrepreneurs in fields such as telemedicine, social media, mobile applications and community libraries, among others. It takes place at Jaaga, an urban art-architecture community experiment. Look out for the tarpaulin and steel structure. 7pm (presentations begin at 8pm). Jaaga, Rhenius Street, off Richmond Road, opposite the Hockey Association Stadium, Shanthi Nagar. For details, call Nehal on 9980228963. Dance Mohiniattam Festival 27-28 February Sreedevi Unni, an exponent of Mohiniattam, started Nrityavedi (now known as Monisha Arts) in 1979 as a means to promote the art form from Kerala and provide a space for research. This festival will show off developments in the movement vocabulary and presentation of Mohiniattam. There will also be an attempt to meld the form with other dancing styles. 5.30pm. Seva Sadan, 14th Cross, West Park Road, opposite MLA College, Malleswaram (23347830). Photography Agni, Fire and Life 27 February Bangalore-based photographer Arjun Swaminathan’s show is part of his ongoing project to capture the folk rituals and cultural practices of Bhoota Kunitha, Kambala, Kola, Nagamandala, Thootadare and Yakshagana from the coastal regions of north and south Kanara, Karnataka. The series captures ritual festivals in celebration of the goddess Durga, and follows a 12-day Jatre (community festival), which ends in the grand finale of a battle enacted by two groups of men with blazing torches. “This is a celebration of the elements that sustains life,” said art critic and curator Suresh Jayaram, in a note about the series. “For Arjun, the landscape of the coast of Karnataka becomes his canvas; it his here that he indulges in his love for epic theatre and mythic narrations, and captures the flavour of regional culture.” 10.30am-7pm (Monday-Saturday). Basava Ambara, 93, Kanakapura Road, Basavanagudi (26561940). Music Pete Lockett 27 February Pete Lockett is a British multi-percussionist who has collaborated with both international and Indian artists, from Björk to Zakir Hussain. Lockett is counted among the world’s top percussionists and has also authored many books and tutorials on drumming. 7.30pm. Kyra, 2001, Katti-Ma Centre, 100 Foot Road, Indira Nagar (9632203333). For tickets, log on to www.bookmyshow.com or call Kyra. Hyderabad Brothers 26 February Nirantharam, the national-level music and dance festival organized by the Sangeetha Sambhrama, will conclude with a Carnatic vocal duet led by D. Seshachari and D. Raghavachari, accompanied by M. Surya Deepthi on violin, Bangalore Praveen on mridangam, and M.A. Krishnamurthy on ghatam. 6pm. Chowdiah Memorial Hall, 16th Cross, GD Park Extension, Vyalikaval (23443956). Bombay Sisters 27 February The 14th edition of the annual music festival organized by the Rajmahal Vilas Sangeetha Sabha will begin with a Carnatic vocal duet by C. Saroja and C. Lalitha. 5.30pm. Rajmahal Vilas Sangeetha Sabha, Ragothaman Memorial Building, Sanjaynagar, RMV Extension, 2nd Stage (9880384858). Art Khoj Project Till 5 March Lahore-based artist Imran Mudassar’s previous shows, which he created after a visit to Kabul, were deeply influenced by the sights of the war-ravaged city, resulting in a series of drawings of a bare-bodied man set against caches of weapons and armour. A graduate of the National College of Arts in Lahore, Mudassar is in the city to collaborate with local artist Bharathesh Yadav for this show. 11am-7pm. 1, Shanthi Road, Shanthi Nagar (9880227706). Theen Tamasha: Teen Taal Till 10 March Artists Kim Kyoungae, Malavika Rajnarayan and Sonatina Mendes from Vadodara are showing for the first time in Bangalore. Their individual painting styles are quite distinct, but they “share a certain resonance” in the realities they portray, and similarities of preoccupation and concern, explained a note from the gallery about the show, which is being hosted in collaboration with city-based art historian Lina Vincent. The note, which included a combined statement from the three artists, spoke of “a grid of interpolating energies” that many friendships lead to. 11am-7pm (Sundays closed). Gallery Time and Space, 55, Lavelle Road (22124117). Theatre Actor’s Nightmare 28 February and 2 March Having casually wandered on stage, George is informed that one of the actors, Eddie, has been in an auto accident and he must replace him immediately. Apparently no one is sure of what play is being performed but George (costumed as Hamlet) seems to find himself in the middle of a scene from Private Lives, surrounded by such luminaries as Sarah Siddons, Dame Ellen Terry and Henry Irving. As he fumbles through one missed cue after another the other, actors shift to Hamlet, then a play by Samuel Beckett, and then a climactic scene from what might well be A Man for All Seasons—by which time the disconcerted George has lost all sense of contact with his fellow performers. Yet, in the closing moments of the play, he finally says the right lines, whereupon make-believe suddenly gives way to reality as the executioner’s axe (meant for Sir Thomas Moore) instead sends poor George to oblivion, denying him a well-earned curtain call. 11.30am. Kyra, 2001, Third floor, HAL, 2nd stage, 100 Foot Road, Indira Nagar (9632203333). Tickets, Rs500. Time Out Bengaluru DELHI Around town  28 February Celebrate Holi with Jaikishan Maharaj, who gives a Kathak and contemporary dance recital in celebration of spring. This will be followed by a traditional “Holi” lunch and other performances related to the festival of colours. 12 noon onwards. Epicentre, Apparel House, Sector 44, Gurgaon (0124-2715000). Dance Indian Classical Music and Dance Festival 26-28 February The Ravi Shankar Centre is organizing a festival of Indian music and dance to commemorate the 67th birth anniversary of the quiet Beatle, George Harrison. The performance on 26 February is by Bharatanatyam dancer Divya Sivasundar, disciple of V.P. Dhananjayan and Shanta Dhananjayan. Odissi dancer Shalini Patnaik, a student of the Indian Odissi Academy, under gurus Gangadhar Pradhan, Aruna Mohanty and Manoranjan Pradhan—who was selected by Madonna to perform at the 1998 MTV music awards—performs on Saturday. Kathak dancer Saswati Sen, the foremost disciple of Birju Maharaj, is known for mixing the traditional Kathak style with contemporary creative techniques and will perform on Sunday. 6pm. The Ravi Shankar Centre, Plot 7, Chanakyapuri (23414666). Music Jahan-e-Khusrau Till 28 February The once annual festival of Sufi poetry, dance and music returns after almost three years. It was initiated by film-maker and designer Muzaffar Ali in 2001 to popularize Sufi philosophy and culture, and specifically the works of 13th-century poet mystic Amir Khusrau. This year is the eighth edition of the festival and highlights include performances by Sufi vocalist Abida Parveen, US-based Turkish flautist Omar Faruk Tekbilek and musician Rabbi Shergill, who blends Sufi poetry with a contemporary sound. Shergill performs on Friday, as do Pakistani vocalist Sanam Marvi with Samandar Khan and his troupe from Rajasthan. On 27 February, there are performances by Tekbilek and Radhika Chopra, who learnt thumri and dadra from singer Shanti Hiranand, a disciple of Begum Akhtar. On Sunday, the finale is the performance by the celebrated Parveen, a rare female vocalist in Sufi music, daughter and disciple of Pakistani vocalist Ustad Ghulam Haider. 6.30pm (some timings may vary). Arab ki Sarai, Humayun’s Tomb Monuments. For tickets, call 39895050 or log on to www.bookmyshow.com. For more information, contact the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Azad Bhawan, near ITO, Indraprastha Estate (23378742) or visit www.jahan-e-khusrau.org Theatre Kaliya Daman 27 February Directed by Subhas Dey, scripted by S. Gangopadhyay and starring members of Kolkata-based group Theatre of the Sightless, this Bangla production takes its tale from Krishna Leela, a corpus of traditional stories about the life of Lord Krishna. The play begins with his birth and ends with his marriage to Rukmini, with the defeat of the demon Kaliya as the climax. 7pm. Habitat World, India Habitat Centre. For details, call 9811763534. Big B 28 February Scripted and directed by M. Sayeed Alam and Niti Alam, Pierrot’s Troupe’s play begins with two “boys”—brothers Kamta Prasad and Samta Prasad—each sitting at his own little study table. While the older brother, Kamta, rocks to and fro and memorizes grammar with manic zeal, all Samta wants to do is go out for a quick game of gilli danda. The opening scene establishes the tone of the play, a light-hearted and humorous critique of our education system. 7.30pm. Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts. Tickets, Rs100-500 (available at the venue). For details, call 9810255291. Time Out Delhi MUMBAI Photography The Artful Pose Till 21 March The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts and the Bhau Daji Lad Museum bring together a collection of rare 19th-century photographs in The Artful Pose: Early Studio Photography in Mumbai (c.1855-1930). The photographs depict the evolution of studio photography, while highlighting the role of studios such as the Indian Art Studio and Hamilton, venerable institutions that still survive. 10.45am-5.45pm (Thursday-Tuesday). Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Veermata Jijabai Bhonsle Udyan, Byculla Zoo, Ambedkar Road, Byculla, East (65560394, 32499155). Tickets available until 5pm. Entry free for children from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation schools and NGOs, physically challenged children, and children under five years. School groups, Rs2 per head. 5-18 years, Rs5; Adults, Rs10. Foreigners—5-18 years, Rs50; adults Rs100. Around town De Bono 26 February You don’t need to stand on your head to think laterally. Participate in “The Think Series” of lectures by Edward de Bono. The 77-year-old Maltese-born physician and writer is the man behind the phrase “lateral thinking”. 10am-3pm. ITC Maratha Hotel, Sahar, near Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Andheri, East (28303030). Tickets, Rs21,940 (available at www.bookmyshow.com). The Detective and the Criminal Mind 2 March Part of the British Council’s Lit Sutra series of literary events, the talk features novelist China Mieville in discussion with Scottish crime writer Denise Mina, comic book writer Andy Diggle and novelist Mark Billingham. 6pm. Venue yet to be decided. For details, call 67484775. Music Goa Gil 28 February Gilbert Levey, or Goa Gil as he is known, grew up in San Francisco in the 1960s, but left to learn yoga in the Himalayas before settling down in Goa, where he’s lived since 1985. This week, the original hippy and father of the psychedelic trance scene in India, Goa Gil, takes over the decks at Blue Frog. 10.30pm. Blue Frog, New Mahalaxmi Silk Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel (40332300). Entry, Rs700. Art Sigmar Polke Till 27 March Celebrated contemporary artist Sigmar Polke’s Music from an Unknown Source, a set of 40 gouaches made in 1996, explores the relationship between art, depictions of reality and everyday routines. Despite the fact that they’re all works on paper, in a number of them, Polke is able to create an almost three-dimensional effect. The collection is beautiful, frequently weird and great fun. This travelling show has been brought to India by the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (IFA), Stuttgart, and the Max Mueller Bhavan, in collaboration with Galerie Mirchandani+Steinruecke. 10am-6.30pm (Monday-Friday), 11am-4pm (Saturday). Galerie Mirchandani+Steinruecke, 2, Sunny House, 16/18, Mereweather Road, behind Taj Mahal Hotel, Colaba (22023030). Time Out Mumbai CHENNAI Theatre Witness for the Prosecution 26-28 February To mark the 120th birth anniversary of author Agatha Christie, the Madras Players bring one of the writer’s most-acclaimed plays to life. Directed by N.S. Yamuna, the plot is set in a courtroom and has all the elements that make for perfect drama—murder, mystery, cross-examination and ample twists and turns, ending in a fresh corpse and the promise of a fresh case before the court. 6.45pm. Museum Theatre, Pantheon Road, Egmore (9381911977). Tickets, Rs300, Rs200 and Rs100 (available at the venue). Art Santosh Andadre Till 27 February Artist Santosh Andadre’s latest collection draws inspiration from different facets of poverty and penury, the darkened faces of labourers and workers in rural areas, as well as the rural women and holy men who bring light to their lives. 11am-7pm. Apparao Galleries, 7, Wallace Gardens, 3rd Street, Nungambakkam (28332226). Japanese arts Till 3 March The exhibition Passage to the Future: Art from a New Generation in Japan focuses on contemporary art being produced in Japan, through the work of 11 young artists. The show features paintings, sculpture, installations, photographs and videos that document and represent various art forms and cultural aspects of Japan, as well as reflecting the artists’ own personal realities. Demonstrations of Japanese life arts such as playing the koto, a stringed musical instrument; the martial art judo; the paper-folding craft of origami; the Japanese art of calligraphy called Shodo; and plant-based arts such as ikebana and bonsai. 11am-7pm. Lalit Kala Akademi, 4/170, Greams Road (28290804) Around town Seeing the Divine, Living the Miracle 26-27 February Spiritual teacher and clairvoyant Michael J. Tamura, a pioneer of healing and psychic development, will conduct a two-day seminar on being able to see life more clearly and heal yourself. He offers simple yet powerful psychic tools to awaken the mind, freeing it from illusions and fears, and healing the mind and heart. 10am-5pm. The Savera, 146, Dr Radhakrishnan Road (28114700). Fees, Rs7,500 (includes lunch and refreshments). Kebab and Biryani Fest Till 28 February Get Grilled, the Deccan Plaza’s speciality vegetarian kebab restaurant, has made up a hearty menu of welcome drinks, soup, six varieties of salad, eight kinds of kebabs, six biryanis and five desserts, not to mention Indian breads rice and sides. Noon-3.30pm and 7-11pm. Hotel Deccan Plaza, 36, Royapettah High Road (66773333). Charges, Rs350 (inclusive of taxes), per person . By Karuna Amarnath KOLKATA Art Affordable Artwork Till 8 March This is the Tejas Gallery’s year-end sale. The collection includes small- to medium-sized instances of acrylic on canvas, Kalighat patachitras done with natural colours on handmade paper, charcoal and pastel on paper, mixed media on board, and watercolours from various artists, including Bhaskar Chitrakar, a young artist from a family of Kalighat patua artists, as well as Viraag Desai, Nitai Saha, Sajal Mukherjee, Debasish Sen Gupta and Ashok Ganguly. 12.30-7.30pm (Sundays closed). Tejas Art Gallery, 11, Mayfair Road (PHONE NUMBER TO COME). Prices, Rs500-Rs15,000. Music Walls and waves 26 February Vocal artist Bettina Wenzel is no mere vocalist—she uses her voice as another musician might play an instrument, pushing the limits of human speech and vocal chords. She also puts together compositions of vocal pieces with video, a play juxtaposing reality and illusion. So in fresi.son, walls start to move and turn into waves; a virtual dialogue between light and voice is the subject of neon.son. The choir on tape is an illusion, produced by a single voice. 6.30pm. Max Mueller Bhavan, 8, Ballygunge Circular Road, Pramathesh Barua Sarani (24866398/6424/6602). Ananda Basanta Samagame 26 February An evening of Rabindra sangeet celebrating the season of spring will feature singers Manoj Murali Nair, Srabani Sen and Achin Mukherjee. 6pm. EZCC, Bharatiyam Cultural Multiplex, IB 201 Salt Lake City (24619551). Around town Through a Peephole 2 March “How to approach contemporary Indian art as a European curator”—this is the theme of the lecture by Barbara J. Scheuermann, curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Berlin, formerly a curator at the Tate Modern in London and now a freelance curator and author. 6.30pm. CIMA Gallery, Sunny Towers, 43 Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue (24748717) Rajasthani Food Promotion Till 1 March Chef Kailash Chand Meena, a specialist in Marwar-style barbecues, has laid on a lavish Rajasthani buffet at the Eden Pavilion. On the menu are classics such as gatte ke sabzi, mangodi, vegetable dishes using ker and sangri, an assortment of spicy chutneys, a variety of rotis, khichdi, laal and safed maas, and charcoal-grilled mutton sula, as well as rarer gems such as maas makkai ka soyta (mutton cooked with grated corn). The dessert selection from the desert state includes malpuas from Pushkar, the famous laddoos of Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, Dil Jani from Udaipur, mishri mawa and ghewar from Jaipur, sohan halwa from Ajmer and mawa from Alwar. 7.30-11.45pm. Eden Pavilion, ITC Sonar, JBS Haldane Avenue (23454545). Rs1,300 (plus taxes) per person. By Indranil Bhoumik Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:26 am Nissan, Suzuki, Daihatsu to recall cars in JapanTOKYO (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co will recall 76,415 cars across 10 models in Japan due to a possible defect that may cause engine failure, a filing with the transport ministry showed.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:23 am Excl: How experts view the Economic Survey - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:20 am Govt allows 3 private operators for 3G services in most circlesThe government today invited applications from mobile operators to participate in the auction of 3G spectrum and allowed three private players in most of the circles while four in five states including Punjab and Bihar.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:16 am GDP growth seen at 8.25-8.75% in 2010-11: Economic SurveyNew Delhi: The government should start rolling back its economic stimulus and impose a cap on government debt in coming years, a finance ministry report said on Thursday, making the case for fiscal discipline a day before the annual Budget. While results often fall short of official targets in India, the finance ministry gave an optimistic economic growth forecast and called for reforms to more than halve the fiscal deficit to 3% of GDP by the financial year ending in March 2014. Watch videos, play the budget game, and find out how the Budget affects you. All that and more on Livemint.com’s exclusive Budget 2010 microsite “It’s ambitious, but it’s possible. I think it’s all about structural reforms, things which economists find very easy to propose but politicians find very difficult to accept,” said Brian Jackson, senior emerging markets analyst with the Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong. A show of fiscal discipline in Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s Budget will be heartening to investors and the Reserve Bank of India, which manages the government’s borrowing and has called on New Delhi to rein in its deficit. “The government has recognised arguments that support fiscal consolidation. Obviously they have got political considerations. Tomorrow we’re going to see how they balance the two,” Jackson added. Bond yields, however, were unmoved by the report and stocks were off by 0.32%. The finance ministry’s report called for efforts to remove hurdles to infrastructure funding. Inadequate electricity, roads and urban infrastructure have long hindered India’s economic growth. The ministry’s economic survey for the 2009-10 financial year urged a calibrated exit from fiscal stimulus, which cushioned India’s economy from the worst of the global downturn but pushed the fiscal deficit to a 16-year high of 6.8% of GDP. Strong growth along with supply-side inflationary pressures are pushing up inflation, and high food prices could spill over into general inflation, the report said. India’s food prices rose 17.58% in the 12 months to 13 February, a touch slower than previous week’s 17.97% rise, data released on Thursday showed. The fuel price index was up 9.89%. Growth Ahead The report, presented ahead of Friday’s general Budget, forecast economic growth at 8.25-8.75% in 2010-11, accelerating to over 9% the year after, compared with projected growth of 7.2-7.5% in the current year that ends on 31 March. “It’s good to see recommendations on consolidating government finances. Medium-term targets for both growth and debt levels can be attained provided strong policy push and fiscal prudence is maintained,” said Vivek Kumar, economist at ICICI Bank in Mumbai. Double-digit growth is possible within the next four years, the report said. The report also said a top government panel had recommended capping total federal and state debt at 68% of GDP by 2014-15. Now, combined central and state debt runs at 80% of GDP. With the economy picking up steam, the finance minister is widely expected to start phasing out fiscal stimulus in his budget for the new financial year and reduce the fiscal deficit to 5.6% of GDP, a recent Reuters poll showed. The government is financing its fiscal gap for the current fiscal year with a record Rs4.51 trillion ($97 billion) of market borrowing and analysts fear high government borrowing in the next fiscal year runs the risk of crowding out private credit demand and hurting the economic recovery. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:07 am India gold buying abates; price declines eyedMUMBAI (Reuters) - India gold buying abated on Thursday as traders waited for dips after offtake picked-up late in the previous session, when prices briefly moved below $1,100 an ounce, dealers said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:03 am Toyota workers worry but back embattled bossTokyo: Anxious Toyota workers in the automaker’s hometown rallied behind their president after he faced a grilling from US lawmakers over the company’s safety problems, but many fear the crisis is far from over. Thousands of miles away in Washington, Toyota Motor Corp’s chief Akio Toyoda appeared before a sometimes hostile congressional panel, where he apologised for any accidents Toyota drivers have experienced. The panel appearance of Toyoda, the 53-year-old grandson of the company’s founder, was a dramatic turn in a safety crisis that broke a month ago with a series of recalls over unintended acceleration and braking problems that now includes more than 8.5 million vehicles globally. Hours before Toyoda appeared before the congressional panel, some residents spent a nervous evening at a bar in Toyota City, located in Japan’s industrial heartland in central Japan. “We are not just drinking. We are drinking while being worried about what’s happening. We cannot help drinking because we are worried,” said Hidemi Miyaji, who as a sales manager at Aicello Chemical works closely with Toyota. Many of the city’s 420,000-plus residents rely directly or indirectly on Toyota for jobs. It has nearly 26,000 people working at seven Toyota plants and more than 1,400 industrial plants, more than 30% of which are auto-related. “There were some tough questions, but I think he answered them earnestly,” Shingo Mori said of Toyoda’s panel appearance. Mori works at Toyota’s Kamigo Logistics Center, which handles parts for export to the United States. “He took responsibility for what happened. Now we all need to work together to meet our customers’ needs and try to regain the trust that we’ve lost,” said Mori, who has worked at Toyota factories in several states in the United States. One Toyota subcontractor said criticism of the company had gone too far, putting businesses like his own at risk. “Not just Toyota, but everything made in Japan, seems to be under attack and the situation seems to be a bit hysterical,” said the head of the firm, who declined to give his name. “I had some hope for the future of our business, but now I am very concerned.” Others also backed Toyoda’s decision to go to Washington, but agreed with their company chief that the automaker had allowed quality standards to slip during a period of fast growth. “Each of us needs to be more careful and improve our quality,” said Hiromi Kawae, a 34-year-old Toyota factory worker, adding that the series of recalls has disgraced Toyota’s brand. “I am worried what’s going to happen to us from now on,” said the uniform-clad Kawae as he spoke outside a Toyota factory. He wasn’t alone in his fears. “This city became big because of Toyota and without Toyota’s revival, our economy won’t recover,” said 53-year-old city council member Masatoshi Hieno. While some critics have questioned whether Toyoda was up to the job, loyal Toyota fans in the city also said the challenge he faces would make him a stronger leader. “The pinch is the chance. With this incident, Toyota’s cars will become even safer,” said Kazutoshi Kamiya, a Toyota City council member who runs a business hotel in the city. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:03 am Govt panel: govt can raise $82 bln from stake salesNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government can raise 3.81 trillion rupees ($82 billion), equal to 0.88 percent of GDP every year, in stake sales in state firms and banks in the next five years, a top government panel said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:56 am Media Roundup: 25 February 2010Business Standard: Railway budget satisfactory, say industry bodies The industry chambers have welcomed the Railway Budget 2010-2011 announced by Minister of Railways Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday. Some of the proposals announced by the minister will lead to modernisation of Railways and propel economic growth, Bangalore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCIC) said. Business Standard: T N Ninan: It’s not the stimulus, stupid! It is extraordinary how much of the pre-Budget speculation has focused on whether (and if so, by how much) the “fiscal stimulus” will be rolled back in the Budget for next year. Even as this debate shows little understanding of what a stimulus is, it ignores more important issues that should be the focus of debate. Business Standard: Mamata takes Railway finances off track Hindi couplets, shrill notes, political correctness (a coach factory at Rae Bareli, drinking water plant at Amethi) and a bagful of projects for West Bengal (over half a dozen factories and workshops, two museums, one cultural centre and much more) — nothing that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said today while presenting the Railway Budget 2010-11 in the Lok Sabha could hide the rot in finances. Little wonder, she made an impassioned plea to the private sector for investments. Business Standard: India Inc hails Mamata’s rail budget India Inc has reacted positively to the Railway Budget, as freight and passenger fares were left unchanged. Industry lobbies were also enthused over possible private sector investment in railways. Business Standard: Net profit of railway PSUs dips 32 per cent Income up 15 per cent to Rs 13,641 crore from Rs 11,880 crore in 2007-08. The combined net profit of the 11 PSUs under the ministry of railways fell 32 per cent to Rs 1,328 crore in 2008-09 from Rs 1,950 crore in the previous year. Business Standard: Budget may bring some cheer to taxpayers Higher basic exemption, 80C limit likely. The Budget is likely to bring some cheer to the average taxpayer in a year of rising inflation by increasing the basic exemption limit for all income levels. Financial Express: Wagon factory spree worries pvt players With the railway minister Mamata Banerjee announcing at least five wagon manufacturing factories, private players went into a tizzy, pointing out that they apprehended a decline in railway orders. Financial Express: Wagon owners want exclusive use, not rlys meddling Railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s proposal to introduce a modified wagon investment scheme is likely to be successful if investors are allowed to exclusively use the wagons they pay for. Financial Express: Mamata puts green technologies on track Railway minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday proposed a number of measures to fulfil the “common and collective responsibility to take care of mother earth.” Financial Express: Didi’s infrastructure plans to boost construction industry Railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s idea of building diverse infrastructure facilities, which includes cultural complexes and houses for staff and super-fast passenger rail corridors, promises to fuel construction growth but sector experts said the outcome would depend on how quickly these projects grind their way through the bureaucratic process. Financial Express : Steel firms cheer, cement players peeved The Railway Budget presented by Mamata Banerjee has brought cheer to the steel industry but has failed to impress cement players who were hoping for more incentives this year. The Financial Express: FE Editorial: A little off-track Railway minister Mamata Banerjee presented a white paper and a bold Vision 2020 document just two months ago, which ostensibly planned to restore Indian Railways’ global ranking to second position over the next decade. Financial Express: Column: Why railways needs to watch its fisc For an economy coming out of a turbulent year, the role of the railways has to be assessed by how much additional investment it will create in 2010-11. Economic Times: Mamata too helps check inflation! PDS consumers may not benefit significantly but railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s appears to have done her tokenist wee bit towards the farm and food sector. Economic Times: Passenger sops, wage bill derail Didi’s maths Only a third of the railways’ annual plan of Rs 41,000 crore will come from its own funds, as mounting losses on account of subsidised passenger fares has dented its profitability in a big way. Economic Times: It’s a win-win situation for railways & passengers A few IT-centric announcements on SMSes and nuggets to do with RFIDs, anti-collision systems and GPS-based optimised driver guidance systems thrown in, this railway budget might appear low-fi on the face of it, but a closer look reveals it can ring in genuine savings for both railways and its users — industry as well as passengers. Economic Times: Private participation would improve railway finances: Industry experts Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s so called ’Aam Admi budget’ has fuelled industry expectation for economic growth. Although, there has been a sense of skepticism about availability of funds for railway infrastructure and socially desirable projects, some believe that private participation would improve railway finances in the future. Economic Times: Railway Budget: Mamata rolls out a slow coach Railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision to leave tariffs unchanged for the next year brought smiles to the faces of commuters and companies, but raised questions about how she can find the money to fund the sprucing up of a 157-year-old rail network which is bursting at the seams. Times of India: Using dormant landbanks this budget’s USP Till a couple of years ago, Mamata Banerjee had been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The violence in Nandigram and sustained agitation in Singur that led to axing of two projects, including the prestigious Nano plant, branded her investor-unfriendly. Times of India: Reformist Cong runs into populist Mamata A day after she burst into tears to get 18 new railway projects past the prime minister’s reservations, Congress was feeling the jitters about the rail budget which Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee will present in Parliament on February 24. Times of India: Mamata’s train tribute to Tagore It was a railway budget that not only left Bengal better connected to the rest of the country, but also touched a chord with the literary-minded people of the state. Sticking to her ”ma-maati-manush” approach, the railway minister left the masses pleased as well with 16 trains connecting Howrah to pilgrimage destinations around the country. The Hindu: A catalogue of good intentions As expected, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has presented her second budget without any increase in passenger fares or freight tariff. In fact, she announced a marginal reduction in service charges for sleeper and air-conditioned class tickets, as also a cut of Rs.100 per wagon in the freight of food grains and kerosene as a response to rising prices. Otherwise, the 2010-11 budget will be remembered for its intentions and policy pronouncements rather than for specific budgetary measures. The Hindu: For West Bengal, budget is on the poll track Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee may have told journalists, after presenting the Railway budget for 2010-11 on Wednesday, that “all States are my motherland” but there is no arguing that West Bengal accounts for a chunk of the slew of proposals she announced in Parliament. The Hindu Business Line: Pranab faces tough choice between growth and deficit The Budget for 2010-11 has three main macroeconomic objectives. One is to bring down the fiscal deficit, the second is to keep the growth momentum going, and the third is to keep the borrowing down. The Hindu Business Line: Projections scaled down for incremental freight traffic Indian Railways’ incremental freight traffic of 54 million tonnes (mt) as projected for 2010-11 will be lower, marginally though, than the 57 mt projected for 2009-10.In 2008-09, the originating revenue-earning freight traffic was 833 million tonnes (mt) and the throughput in the current fiscal (2009-10), according to the Railway Minister in her Budget speech for 2010-11, will be 890 mt, up from the targeted 882 mt. The target for 2010-11 has beet set at 944 mt. Hindustan Times: Lay tracks for tomorrow It is tempting in 2010 to set out a 2020 vision for the Indian railway network. Mamata Banerjee’s white paper last December was a realistic assessment of how the railways need to morph in a competitive environment; some of that sobering analysis finds place in her budget for 2010-11. Hindustan Times: Railways joins 2010 Games bandwagon ndian Railways will be the lead partner of the Commonwealth Games organising committee, Rail Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday in her rail budget speech. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:55 am Royal Bank of Scotland loss shrinks, calls bad debt peakRBS posted a net loss attributable to shareholders of £3.6 billion, from 24.3 billion a year ago, the largest ever UK corporate loss.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:54 am Govt to auction 3-4 3G slots across telecom zones - govtNEW DELHI (Reuters) – The government will auction between 3 and 4 third-generation wireless spectrum slots in most of its telecoms zones beginning April 9, the telecoms ministry said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:51 am Growth in applications biz due to inorganic growth: MphasiS - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:50 am 3G auction to open doors for foreign players: Economic SurveyNew Delhi: The government on Thursday said the upcoming auction of radiowaves for the third generation mobile services will open the doors for foreign players to make an entry into fast growing Indian telecom market. The Economic Survey 2009-10 tabled in Parliament on Thursday said that “... This (launch of 3G technology) will provide existing operators a good opportunity as also foreign players to make an entry into the Indian market and bring in new technology and innovation.” There is no cap on the number of service providers in each circle. For the 3G telephony, the government is planning to allow three to four private players in each circle depending upon the spectrum availability. The auction of 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum scheduled to be held on 9 April. The government had earlier indicated that interested foreign entities could take part in the auction directly. The Survey said that the introduction of BWA services will enhance the broadband penetration in the country. The broadband subscriber base stood at 7.98 million by the end of December 2009. Terming the growth of wireless mobile telephony in the country “spectacular”, the Survey said the target of having 600 million subscribers by the end of 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12) has been achieved before the end of 2012. At the end of October 2009, the total telephone subscriber figure was 562 million. Though the wireless connections grew at a compound annual growth rate of 60% since 2004, the wireline connections had declined in recent years. Teledensity, an important indicator of telecom penetration, increased from 37% in March 2009 to 47.9% in December 2009. While the urban teledensity crossed 110.7% the rural teledensity stood at only 21.2% at the end of December 2009. The Survey proposed to achieve rural teledensity of 25% by means of 200 million rural connections by the end of 11th Five-year Plan (2012). About telecom manufacturing, the Survey said that favourable factors such as facilitative policies, large talent pool in research and development and low labour cost can provide an impetus to the industry in the country. The production of telecom equipment in value terms increased from Rs48,800 crore during 2008-09 to Rs 57,584 crore during 2009-10. The Survey said that the opening of the telecom sector has not only led to the rapid growth in the subscriber base but also helped a great deal towards maximisation of consumer benefits, particularly in terms of price discovery following a forbearance approach in tariffs. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:46 am FII back; invests Rs87,987 cr in ’09: Economic SurveyNew Delhi: After a lull in 2008, Indian equities once again became the favourite bet for foreign funds, who pumped in nearly Rs88,000 crore in domestic shares in 2009, the Economic Survey said on Thursday. How will the budget impact sectors? Where should you invest? Find out on Livemint.com’s Budget 2010 microsite. Click here While foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equities worth Rs7.36 trillion in gross and recorded a gross sale of Rs6.48 trillion in 2009, resulting in a net purchase of Rs87,987 crore at the end of the year. FII inflow so far this year has broken the previous high of Rs80,915 crore parked by foreign fund houses in domestic equities in 2007. The FII inflow of Rs87,987 crore in 2009 is the highest ever in the country in rupee terms in a single year. This comes a year after they pulled out over Rs41,216 crore, from the domestic bourses -- a trend triggered with the collapse of global financial services icon Lehman Brothers in the middle of September 2008. This selling trend continued till the first two months of 2009. However, with the sign of revival in global economies, the trend turned positive during March and overseas investors started betting big on the domestic bourses. The trend of strong FII inflows to the tune of Rs31,000 crore (about $6.3 billion) witnessed during April-June quarter of 2009 gained further during the September quarter and the period witnessed an infusion of hefty Rs34,313 crore. In the December quarter, foreign fund houses made a net investment of about Rs25,000 crore in the stock market, amid a period that witnessed the Dubai debt crisis. Buoyed by FII inflow during 2009, the stock market barometer Sensex gained over 70%, one of the best performer among leading global bourses, to 17,464.81 points. During the year, the number of registered FIIs increased by 112 to 1,706, while the tally of registered sub-accounts rose by 459 to 5,331, the Survey said. The FII inflow in spot market increased to Rs83,424 crore in 2009, as compared to withdrawals of Rs52,987 crore in 2008. However, foreign fund investment in debt market dropped to Rs4,563 crore n 2009, from Rs11,772 crore in 2008, the survey added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:46 am 3G auction to open doors for foreign players: Economic SurveyNew Delhi: The government on Thursday said the upcoming auction of radiowaves for the third generation mobile services will open the doors for foreign players to make an entry into fast growing Indian telecom market. The Economic Survey 2009-10 tabled in Parliament on Thursday said that “... This (launch of 3G technology) will provide existing operators a good opportunity as also foreign players to make an entry into the Indian market and bring in new technology and innovation.” There is no cap on the number of service providers in each circle. For the 3G telephony, the government is planning to allow three to four private players in each circle depending upon the spectrum availability. The auction of 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum scheduled to be held on 9 April. The government had earlier indicated that interested foreign entities could take part in the auction directly. The Survey said that the introduction of BWA services will enhance the broadband penetration in the country. The broadband subscriber base stood at 7.98 million by the end of December 2009. Terming the growth of wireless mobile telephony in the country “spectacular”, the Survey said the target of having 600 million subscribers by the end of 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12) has been achieved before the end of 2012. At the end of October 2009, the total telephone subscriber figure was 562 million. Though the wireless connections grew at a compound annual growth rate of 60% since 2004, the wireline connections had declined in recent years. Teledensity, an important indicator of telecom penetration, increased from 37% in March 2009 to 47.9% in December 2009. While the urban teledensity crossed 110.7% the rural teledensity stood at only 21.2% at the end of December 2009. The Survey proposed to achieve rural teledensity of 25% by means of 200 million rural connections by the end of 11th Five-year Plan (2012). About telecom manufacturing, the Survey said that favourable factors such as facilitative policies, large talent pool in research and development and low labour cost can provide an impetus to the industry in the country. The production of telecom equipment in value terms increased from Rs48,800 crore during 2008-09 to Rs 57,584 crore during 2009-10. The Survey said that the opening of the telecom sector has not only led to the rapid growth in the subscriber base but also helped a great deal towards maximisation of consumer benefits, particularly in terms of price discovery following a forbearance approach in tariffs. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:46 am Toyota faces tough road to redemption after grillingTOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp's president apologised to U.S. lawmakers and ended the day in tears, marking a potential climax to his company's safety crisis but leaving it with a long road to rebuild its reputation.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:44 am US asks India to raise cap FDI in defence to 49%The Obama administration also wants India to undertake more sweeping reforms to attract new investments, saying this will propel New Delhi to a higher growth rate.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:39 am Coca Cola nears deal to buy bottler ReportIn a strategic about-face driven by significant changes in consumer tastes, Coca-Cola Company is nearing a deal to buy North American operations of its bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises for about $12-13 billion, including debt, says a media report.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:37 am After HDFC Bank, ICICI hikes deposit ratesSignalling hardening of interest rates in the industry, India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank today hiked deposit rates in select tenures by up to 0.50% with immediate effect.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:34 am Visible improvement in Railways performance SurveyDynamic pricing policy and better resource management has improved performance of the Indian Railways, the world's fifth largest rail network, the Economic Survey said today.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:33 am IMF approves $3.6 billion loan for IraqThe International Monetary Fund on Wednesday approved a USD 3.6 billion loan program for Iraq to cover balance of payments needs.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:32 am Govt accepts 13th Finance Commission recommendationsThe government on Thursday said it has accepted recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission, which called for greater share of states in central tax proceeds, despite strains on its finances.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:29 am Retail prices rising 10-times faster than wholesale's - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:22 am Microsoft wins court approval to topple 'botnet'A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, granted a request by Microsoft to deactivate 277 Internet domains, which the software maker said is linked to a 'botnet'.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:17 am India rupee weakens tracking lower shares, dlr gains - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:14 am India Inc wants continuation of stimulus in next fiscalQuestioning the Economic Survey's recommendation for rollback of stimulus measures, India Inc today asked the government to continue with these incentives in the Union Budget to ensure high growth.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:10 am Over 4 crore households get jobs under employment schemeWith a budgetary outlay of over Rs 70,000 crore on various poverty alleviation and employment generation schemes, nearly four and half crore households have availed job opportunities, the Economic Survey said today.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 1:09 am Sensex erases early gains to fall at mid-sessionThe BSE benchmark Sensex fell at mid-session today losing over 73 points as funds indulged in squaring up their pending positions on the last day of the current month derivate segment.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:59 am S&P says Greek rating cut possible "within a month"ATHENS (Reuters) - Standard and Poor's may downgrade Greece's BBB+ rating by one or two notches within a month, the agency said on Wednesday, citing downside risks to growth that could hinder the country's deficit-cutting plan.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:58 am Food inflation falls to 17.58%The wholesale price-based inflation fell after rising for four consecutive weeks. Inflation was at 17.97% in the previous week.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:57 am Finance panel for ‘calibrated’ exit strategy from stimulusNew Delhi: The 13th Finance Commission has asked the government to adopt a “calibrated” strategy for withdrawing stimulus measures provided to spur the economy in the wake of the global economic crisis. Although the Economic Survey has favoured providing further stimulus to the exports sector, the economic document also factors in the recommendations of the Finance Commission and said that the suggestions have to be taken on board in shaping the fiscal policy for 2010-11 and medium term. Can Pranab present a magical budget? Find out on Livemint.com’s Budget 2010 microsite The Commission recommended “a calibrated exit strategy from the expansionary fiscal stance of 2008-09 and 2009-10.” Both the Survey and the Finance Commission’s report were tabled in Parliament on Thursday. The Commission also recommended increase in states share to 32% of Central tax proceeds from the current level of 30.5%. “The share of states in net proceeds of shareable Central taxes shall be 32% every year for the period of the award (2010-11 to 2014-15),” said the Commission, headed by former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar. The Commission also proposed that a new Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management (FRBM) Act should have a space for relaxing targets of deficits on account of economic shocks. “The FRBM Act needs to specify the nature of shocks that would require relaxation of the targets thereunder,” the commission recommends. The overall approach of the recommendations is to foster “inclusive and green growth promoting fiscal federalism,” said the Survey. The Commission’s recommendation assumes significance since the deficit targets in the previous legislation went awry after the government cut taxes and stepped up expenditure to provide stimulus to the economy. The previous FRBM Act prescribed reduction of fiscal deficit to 3% of GDP and eliminate revenue deficit by 2008-09. However, fiscal deficit went up to 6.2% of GDP and is projected to widen to 6.8% this fiscal and revenue deficit rose to over 4.5% and is estimated to further go up to 4.8%. The Commission recommended that the new FRBM Act should mandate the Centre to progressively reduce and eliminate the revenue deficit so that surplus emerges by 2014-15. The Commission expected the states to get back to their fiscal correction path by 2011-12 and amend the FRBM Acts to that effect. With the combined debt (of the states and the Centre) to GDP ratio shooting to 82 per cent in 2009-10 against previous Commission’s recommendations of 75%, the 13th Finance Commission suggested that the ratio be brought down to 68% by 2014-15 with the Centre’s ratio at 45%. Terming the proposed Goods and Service Tax as “a game-changing tax reform measures, which will significantly contribute to the buoyancy of tax revenues”, the Commission recommended Rs50,000 crore as compensation for the states for revenue loss on account of GST. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:51 am Finance panel for ‘calibrated’ exit strategy from stimulusNew Delhi: The 13th Finance Commission has asked the government to adopt a “calibrated” strategy for withdrawing stimulus measures provided to spur the economy in the wake of the global economic crisis. Although the Economic Survey has favoured providing further stimulus to the exports sector, the economic document also factors in the recommendations of the Finance Commission and said that the suggestions have to be taken on board in shaping the fiscal policy for 2010-11 and medium term. Can Pranab present a magical budget? Find out on Livemint.com’s Budget 2010 microsite The Commission recommended “a calibrated exit strategy from the expansionary fiscal stance of 2008-09 and 2009-10.” Both the Survey and the Finance Commission’s report were tabled in Parliament on Thursday. The Commission also recommended increase in states share to 32% of Central tax proceeds from the current level of 30.5%. “The share of states in net proceeds of shareable Central taxes shall be 32% every year for the period of the award (2010-11 to 2014-15),” said the Commission, headed by former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar. The Commission also proposed that a new Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management (FRBM) Act should have a space for relaxing targets of deficits on account of economic shocks. “The FRBM Act needs to specify the nature of shocks that would require relaxation of the targets thereunder,” the commission recommends. The overall approach of the recommendations is to foster “inclusive and green growth promoting fiscal federalism,” said the Survey. The Commission’s recommendation assumes significance since the deficit targets in the previous legislation went awry after the government cut taxes and stepped up expenditure to provide stimulus to the economy. The previous FRBM Act prescribed reduction of fiscal deficit to 3% of GDP and eliminate revenue deficit by 2008-09. However, fiscal deficit went up to 6.2% of GDP and is projected to widen to 6.8% this fiscal and revenue deficit rose to over 4.5% and is estimated to further go up to 4.8%. The Commission recommended that the new FRBM Act should mandate the Centre to progressively reduce and eliminate the revenue deficit so that surplus emerges by 2014-15. The Commission expected the states to get back to their fiscal correction path by 2011-12 and amend the FRBM Acts to that effect. With the combined debt (of the states and the Centre) to GDP ratio shooting to 82 per cent in 2009-10 against previous Commission’s recommendations of 75%, the 13th Finance Commission suggested that the ratio be brought down to 68% by 2014-15 with the Centre’s ratio at 45%. Terming the proposed Goods and Service Tax as “a game-changing tax reform measures, which will significantly contribute to the buoyancy of tax revenues”, the Commission recommended Rs50,000 crore as compensation for the states for revenue loss on account of GST. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:51 am India 10th largest gold holding country SurveyFrom a nation that pledged its bullion two decades ago to pay for imports, 2009-10 saw India becoming the world's 10th largest gold-holding country, the Economic Survey noted.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:48 am Finmin urges fiscal discipline ahead of budgetNEW DELHI (Reuters) – The government should start rolling back its economic stimulus and impose a cap on government debt in coming years, a finance ministry report said on Thursday, making the case for fiscal discipline a day before the annual budget.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:47 am India 2010/11 fiscal deficit seen at 5.7 pct - panelNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is projected to have a fiscal deficit of 5.7 percent in the year to March 2011, falling to 4.8 percent the following year, a top government panel said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:42 am Food inflation falls to 17 58 pcFood inflation fell to 17.58 per cent for the week ended February 13 as prices of pulses and vegetables eased during the week.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:41 am Jan infrastructure output up 9.4 pct y/y - govtNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's infrastructure sector output grew 9.4 percent in January from a year earlier, higher than an upwardly revised annual growth of 6.4 percent in December, government data showed on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:37 am Economic Survey hits out at poor food management policiesNew Delhi: Concerned over the sluggish performance of agriculture sector, the Economic Survey hit at food management policies that have led to very high inflation and asked the government to take serious policy initiatives for a targeted four per cent farm sector growth. Pointing out that farm sector, which is still the mainstay of Indian population, continues to be a cause for concern, the survey said there is a need for serious policy initiatives to reach the 4% growth target. How will the budget impact sectors? Where should you invest? Find out on Livemint.com’s Budget 2010 microsite. Farm sector growth is estimated to decline by 0.2% in 2009-10. “It could be argued that the excessive hype about kharif crop failure, not taking into account the comfortable situation in respect of food crop and the possibility of an improved rabi crop, may have exacerbated inflationary expectations encouraging hoarding and resulting in higher inflation in food items... “... in the case of sugar, delay in market release of imported raw sugar may have contributed to the overall uncertainty, thereby allowing prices to rise to unacceptably high levels in recent months,” the Survey, tabled in Parliament, said. It called for reversing the decline in private sector investment in agriculture, saying “consistent decline in the share of private sector investment in the agriculture sector is a matter of concern.” Although agriculture provides livelihood to over 60% of India’s workforce, it accounts for less than 20% of the country’s GDP. ”This trend needs to be reversed through creation of a favourable policy environment and availability of credit at reasonable rates on time for the private sector to invest in agriculture,” the survey prescribed. However, according to the Central Statistical Organisation data quoted by the survey, the private sector investment in “agriculture and allied sectors” has increased to Rs1,14,145 crore in 2008-09 from Rs86,967 crore in FY’08. But the share of public sector investment in “agriculture and allied sector” has declined to 17.6% from 20.9% in the period under review. Renewed attention needs to be paid on improving farm output and yield, better utilisation of agricultural inputs, proper marketing infrastructure and steeping up of investment in agriculture, the report said, adding that coordinated efforts were required to address these challenges. Although the Survey acknowledged that record procurement of wheat and rice has helped in building up buffer stock and strategic reserve, it pointed out that there is a huge cost involved in the process which is met through food subsidy. “This puts a lot of stress on the fiscal system. The issue of efficient food stocks management and offloading of stocks in time needs urgent attention,” it said. Stating that though foodgrains yield has been improved, the survey said that a lot has to be done to cater to the needs of the rising population. “Production and productivity in pulses and oilseeds are of growing concern. A sizable proportion of these items is met through imports,” the survey said. Since farm productivity is not showing desirable growth there is urgent need to focus on research as well as better agricultural practices to ensure productivity levels are increased in the shortest possible time, it said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:37 am Economic Survey for freeing food, fertilizer, diesel pricesNew Delhi: The Economic Survey on Thursday asked the government to decontrol prices of food, fertilizer, diesel and kerosene, saying subsidies given to these sectors have a “questionable” impact. Freeing prices from government control could help deploy large resources for financing other vital activities in the economy that could promote productivity and eradicate poverty. All the media coverage. On one easy-to-use website.BrowseLivemint.com’s Budget 2010 microsite “The impact of these (food, fertilizers, kerosene and diesel) subsidies, using the yardstick of poverty mitigation is, however, questionable”, the survey said. The high level of subsidies “now constitutes a major fiscal burden and tends to crowd out the government’s ability to finance other vital activities in the economy that could promote productivity and eradicate poverty,” it added. Already, the government’s resources are strained due to various fiscal stimulus and the survey has separately noted that high growth environment creates scope for partial rollback of these stimuli. Pointing out it is a ‘mistake’ to assume that a subsidy scheme has to be coupled with price control, the survey said: “If we want to ensure that poor consumers are not exposed to the vagaries of the market, the best way to intervene is to help the poor ‘directly´ instead of trying to control prices”. Once the government becomes involved in setting the price of a commodity, the Survey said, this becomes a matter of politics and lobbying, which cumulatively adds to the distorting and hence prices are best left to the market. ”On agriculture sector policy and price control, there is a need to go the way India did with industry in 1991,” the survey prescribed. Like last year, the survey has again suggested reform in the public distribution system through direct transfer of food subsidy to poor through ‘food coupons’. “An altered system (food coupons) will be no more costly to run than the existing one and is likely to be much more effective...eventually there will be no need to have separate PDS outlets,” it noted. In 2009-10 fiscal, food subsidy is estimated to be about Rs60,000 crore, while the outgo on fertilizers is estimated at Rs70,000 crore. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:30 am Economic Survey HighlightsEnthused by reforms and the strong fundamentals, the Economic Survey on Thursday predicted that India would bounce back to a high nine per cent growth in 2011-12 on the way to becoming world's fastest growing economy in four years.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:15 am Google under EU spotlightThe algorithms that Google uses to rank its search results has come under scrutiny, as the California-based search engine giant said it had been contacted by the European Union competition regulator over three newSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Last season's sponsors cut ad spend for IPL 3The erstwhile sponsors of IPL in its second season have decided to cut back on their spends for the third season as prohibitive ad rates are hampering their investmentSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Rei Agro (Rs 51.8): BuyInvestors with a short-term trading perspective can buy Rei Agro. This stock was one of the underperformers of 2009 and declined from Rs 103 to Rs 39.8, between June and November last year. The weak uptrend since the November low, could not takeSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am PowerGrid inks pacts with 37 private developersIn a big push to private power generation capacity, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) on Wednesday signed long-term transmission pacts with 37 private developers, entailing a gross generation capacity of over 42,000Source: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Mamata goes on like a RajdhaniWhen the Railway Minister is Ms Mamata Banerjee, the presentation of the Railway Budget can hardly be dreary. The day started off with white roses for the Railways Minister but by mid-day the Bengal tigress was roaring at theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Pranab faces tough choice between growth and deficitThe Budget for 2010-11 has three main macroeconomic objectives. One is to bring down the fiscal deficit, the second is to keep the growth momentum going, and the third is to keep the borrowingSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am SBI may raise up to Rs 20,000 cr via rightsState Bank of India plans to raise Rs 10,000-20,000 crore in the next fiscal through a rights issue and is in discussion with the Government, its principal shareholder, said Mr O.P. Bhatt,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Maruti's total cost of A-Star recall to be around Rs 30 crMaruti Suzuki, which has recalled more than one lakh units of the A-Star hatchback due to a fuel tank problem, said on Wednesday that it expects the total cost to be around Rs 30 crore. The Gurgaon-based automaker will bear around 40 per cent ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Mamata spares fares, freight even as surplus shrinksWith Assembly elections in her home State, West Bengal, due in little over a year — and to be preceded by municipal-level polls in May-June as well — the Railway Minister has predictably refrained from raising passenger fares orSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Manmohan proposes, Mamata disposesThe Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh's exhortations to the Rail Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, to reduce the Indian Railways' excessive dependence on freight for garnering revenues have seemingly had littleSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am India, Pakistan hold talks, seeking to repair tiesNew Delhi: India and Pakistan held their first official talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks on Thursday, a meeting that is unlikely to lead to an immediate breakthrough but may help thaw relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Any progress made by the two nations’ top diplomats may also help Western efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, where India and Pakistan have engaged in a battle for influence. Pakistan foreign secretary Salman Bashir and his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao met in a former princely palace in a heavily-guarded New Delhi neighbourhood that also houses the parliament and the presidential palace. Rao, wearing a black and red sari, and Bashir in a dark suit shook hands in front of the camera before walking into a sprawling room for a one-on-one meeting followed by delegation-level talks. The two countries have to agree which subjects should be covered in the talks -- India wants to focus on terrorism while Pakistan eyes the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir that has been the cause of two of their three wars. “Terrorism is a regional, global concern. It’s our concern as well,” Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told reporters shortly before talks began. “But Kashmir issue is the core .... It is an issue that continues to bedevil our relationship and not discussing this issue will not do justice to this meeting.” On Wednesday, Indian border guards in Kashmir came under fire from Pakistan, an Indian official said, the latest in a spate of clashes in the Himalayan region. India accuses Pakistan of cross-border firing to help militants cross the heavily militarised frontier to join a 20-year revolt in its only Muslim-majority region. Pakistan says it only gives moral support. The talks in New Delhi also come amid a foreboding sense in India that the bombing of a popular bakery in the western city of Pune this month, which killed at least 16 people, may herald more attacks. If that happened, it might make it politically difficult for India to build on whatever progress is made on Thursday. A second attack like Mumbai could shake what has so far proved to be a resilient Indian economy, analysts say. It could also snuff out prospects of a revival in trade between the two countries, which rose almost four-fold to $2.25 billion between 2004 and 2008. Police out in force Hundreds of police guarded the capital New Delhi where the meeting between the two foreign secretaries almost coincided with a hockey World Cup tournament this month that Islamist militants reportedly have threatened to disrupt. Police kept vigil from behind sandbag pillboxes and controlled traffic around the talks venue. India broke off official talks after the Mumbai attacks, saying dialogue could resume only if Pakistan acted against militants on its soil that New Delhi blamed for the carnage. Re-engaging Pakistan was a politically fraught move for New Delhi, given strong Indian public opinion against talks, but a nudge from Washington and dwindling diplomatic options saw India reaching out to Islamabad. Expectations from the talks were modest, and a simple pledge to continue the dialogue may be the best officials can hope for. Washington sees better India-Pakistan relations as crucial so lslamabad, not having to worry about its eastern border with India, can focus on fighting the Taliban on its western border with Afghanistan. US pressure apart, India’s willingness for dialogue with Pakistan now could be aimed at boosting the credibility of the civilian government in Islamabad in the face of military hawks in the army and its military intelligence, Indian analysts say. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 11:47 pm Virgin Media signs video Web deal with BrightcoveThe two firms said in a statement that Virgin Media would use the Brightcove platform to carry its online news, music and entertainment content alongside adverts.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 24 Feb 2010 | 11:38 pm FM to consider tax relief plea of urban cooperative bankersThe delegation, which was led by CPI(M) MP Basudeb Acharia, told Mukherjee that the urban cooperative banks have been put to 'extreme hardship' due to the hefty 30% tax on profits.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 24 Feb 2010 | 11:37 pm Food price index up 17.58 pct y/y on Feb 13NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's food price index rose 17.58 percent in the 12 months to Feb. 13, while the fuel price index was up 9.89 percent, the government said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 24 Feb 2010 | 11:37 pm 3G spectrum auction to open doors for foreign players in India - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 24 Feb 2010 | 11:33 pm Economic Survey: India must free grain stocks if food prices riseFood prices rose 18% in the first week of February, weighing heavily on overall inflation which has crossed the central bank's forecast of 8.5%.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 24 Feb 2010 | 11:27 pm Must free grain stocks if prices rise: Economic SurveyNew Delhi: India’s state-run grain procurement agencies must free some grains in the open market if food prices accelerate, the finance ministry said in a report on Thursday. Food prices rose 18% in the first week of February, weighing heavily on overall inflation which has crossed the central bank’s forecast of 8.5%. The finance ministry, in its annual survey of the economy for fiscal year to March 2010, said state-run Food Corp of India and other firms should release wheat and rice from its warehouses when the gap between food and non-food inflations goes above a certain “critical level.” The government, facing mounting criticism from opposition parties, in its Railway Budget on Wednesday cut freiwght rates for grains to tame inflation. The survey said a 44% drop in sugar output to 14.7 million tonnes in the year to September also contributed to rise in food prices. Edible oil imports by India is seen at 10.1 million tonnes in the year to October 2010, the survey said. The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India, a leading trade body, has estimated 2009-10 imports between 9.0 and 9.5 million tonnes. India, the world’s top importer of edible oils, allows tax-free overseas purchases of crude vegetable oils and imposes 7.5% duty on the refined varieties of the cooking fat. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 11:05 pm Hathway Cable to list on Feb 25 - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 24 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pm Markets turn negative; trade choppyMumbai: Indian shares seesawed on Thursday, driven by adjustments on the last day for monthly derivatives contracts and as investors remained wary ahead of the national budget on Friday. By 10:47am, the 30-share BSE index was down 0.3 percent at 16,207.80, with 22 of its components declining. It had started higher. The 50-share NSE index .NSEI was down 0.3% at 4,845.55. Banks were among the losers as the market awaited a government report card on the economy around noon (0630 GMT), which should give an insight into the finance ministry’s views. State Bank of India was down 0.6%, while smaller rivals ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank dropped 0.6% and 0.1% respectively. “People want to be light before the budget,” said Sanjeev Patkar, director of research at Almondz Global. “The key issues for the finance minister this time are fiscal deficit and GDP growth, without compromising on monetary variables.” Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will present the national budget for the fiscal year 2010/11 against a backdrop of strong economic rebound, which should set the stage for withdrawal of stimulus measures and fiscal consolidation. “We see very high chance of the government being able to fulfil market expectations in the budget,” Morgan Stanley said in a note earlier this month. “We believe it will not be difficult for the government to cut fiscal deficit target for F2011, considering that pickup in growth will ensure higher tax revenues and absence of one-off expenditure items will mean lower expenditure growth.” Auto makers were mostly lower on expectations a rollback of excise duty cuts could dampen demand. Top vehicles maker Tata Motors and leading car maker Maruti Suzuki India shed 2.2 and 0.1% respectively. In the broader market, losers almost equalled the number of gainers on volume of 82 million shares. Trade was choppy ahead of expiry of the monthly derivatives contracts on the National Stock Exchange. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 10:15 pm Rupee depreciates by 4 paise against dollar in early tradeThe rupee depreciated by 4 paise against the dollar in early trade today following the US currency's gains overseas.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Feb 2010 | 10:08 pm Rupee drops on import payment, firm dollarMumbai: The Indian rupee weakened on Thursday, weighed down by import payments and a firmer dollar overseas. Activity was light ahead of the national budget on Friday and seesawing shares. At 10:27am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.40/41 per dollar, after opening flat at Rs46.32/33. “There is not much activity now as everyone is looking at the budget. If there is a large increase in excise duty and corporate tax, stocks may fall sharply which may push the rupee down to Rs46.80,” said a dealer at state-run Union Bank of India. Dealers said there was demand for dollars from importers who usually settle their payment at the end of each month. “There are no flows in the market really to move the rupee. So traders are looking at the US dollar overseas,” said a trader at a foreign bank. The rupee touched a low of Rs46.44 early mostly on the dollar’s strength overseas. The dollar index against six majors was up 0.33%. Most Asian currencies were flat or lower against the dollar. Sterling extended its losses on Thursday to hit a nine-month low against the dollar after Bank of England policymakers this week left the door open to more asset purchases under quantitative easing. Dealers expect the rupee to move in Rs46.30-46.50 band until the budget. There was little direction from shares. The 30-share BSE index was down 0.2%, after opening up 0.2%. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at Rs46.44/54. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both at Rs46.2525. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 9:40 pm Sensex rises 73 points on firm overseas trendThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose by over 73 points, or 0.45%, in the opening trade today on fresh capital inflows by foreign funds amid firming trends in global markets.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Feb 2010 | 9:27 pm Samsung launches 3D TVs with 2 mn sales targetSeoul: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world’s No. 1 TV brand, launched 3D TV sales in South Korea on Thursday, with an aggressive target as it seeks to defend flat-panel margins and gain an early lead in the emerging market. TV brands are aggressively promoting 3D TVs in search of ways to raise blended selling prices and improve their product mix after millions of households over the past years bought flat-screen TVs for households’ living room, bedroom and even kitchen and bathroom. Samsung, which competes with home rival LG Electronics Inc and Japanese makers such as Sony Corp and Sharp Corp, introduced three series of 3D models using light emitting diode-backlit LCD display for sale in the domestic market. Global launches are due next month and Samsung plans to sell at least 2 million 3D TVs this year. “Even at 2 million, it’s a conservative target and we are planning to create the market with aggressive marketing,” Kim Yang-kyu, senior vice president of Samsung’s visual display sales and marketing team, said at a news conference. 3D is a big bet for a television industry looking for the next big thing, but lack of 3D content, high pricing and the required use of glasses remain big hurdles for the new technology. Research firms’ forecasts for the global 3D market vary between 1 million and 6.5 million TVs in 2010. That is a sliver of a total TV market expected to top 200 million units this year, according to data from DisplaySearch, but still the biggest growth area as prices fall sharply in the overall flat-panel TV market. Samsung said it was in an exclusive 3D content deal with Dreamworks Animation SKG and was talking to other studios, broadcasters and game developers for similar deals to boost offerings of 3D content. “We have also developed technology that converts 2D content into 3D, and that will enable consumers to experience watching TV with an extra visual dimension even when 3D content is somewhat less available,” said Yoon Boo-keun, president of the visual display division. The models introduced on Thursday are less than 3 centimetres thick, premium versions of its hot-selling LED-backlit LCD TVs with a 3D function that can be switched on and off. Samsung is offering a 46-inch high definition LED-LCD TV at 4.2 million won ($3,642) and a 55-inch model at 5.8 million won in the domestic market, excluding the cost of viewing glasses. For comparison, its 46-inch regular LCD TV that does not use LED backlight costs about 1.5 million won. It plans to introduce super-slim 10 millimetre sets in the first half of this year and boost line-ups to support all displays including plasma display panels. Digital 3D TVs, which use double layered images and special glasses to give viewers the sensation of seeing the depth of three dimensions, are set to become the next battlefield for top TV makers. Samsung aims to sell 35 million LCD TVs this year, including 10 million TVs using LED backlights. LG, which plans to unveil a full line-up of 3D TV models with new technology improvement in the second half, said late last year it aimed to sell 400,000 3D TVs in 2010 and 3.4 million in 2011. LG currently offers one 47-inch 3D TV, which is sold mostly to businesses due to the high price tag. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 9:23 pm Samsung launches 3D TVs with 2 mn sales targetSeoul: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world’s No. 1 TV brand, launched 3D TV sales in South Korea on Thursday, with an aggressive target as it seeks to defend flat-panel margins and gain an early lead in the emerging market. TV brands are aggressively promoting 3D TVs in search of ways to raise blended selling prices and improve their product mix after millions of households over the past years bought flat-screen TVs for households’ living room, bedroom and even kitchen and bathroom. Samsung, which competes with home rival LG Electronics Inc and Japanese makers such as Sony Corp and Sharp Corp, introduced three series of 3D models using light emitting diode-backlit LCD display for sale in the domestic market. Global launches are due next month and Samsung plans to sell at least 2 million 3D TVs this year. “Even at 2 million, it’s a conservative target and we are planning to create the market with aggressive marketing,” Kim Yang-kyu, senior vice president of Samsung’s visual display sales and marketing team, said at a news conference. 3D is a big bet for a television industry looking for the next big thing, but lack of 3D content, high pricing and the required use of glasses remain big hurdles for the new technology. Research firms’ forecasts for the global 3D market vary between 1 million and 6.5 million TVs in 2010. That is a sliver of a total TV market expected to top 200 million units this year, according to data from DisplaySearch, but still the biggest growth area as prices fall sharply in the overall flat-panel TV market. Samsung said it was in an exclusive 3D content deal with Dreamworks Animation SKG and was talking to other studios, broadcasters and game developers for similar deals to boost offerings of 3D content. “We have also developed technology that converts 2D content into 3D, and that will enable consumers to experience watching TV with an extra visual dimension even when 3D content is somewhat less available,” said Yoon Boo-keun, president of the visual display division. The models introduced on Thursday are less than 3 centimetres thick, premium versions of its hot-selling LED-backlit LCD TVs with a 3D function that can be switched on and off. Samsung is offering a 46-inch high definition LED-LCD TV at 4.2 million won ($3,642) and a 55-inch model at 5.8 million won in the domestic market, excluding the cost of viewing glasses. For comparison, its 46-inch regular LCD TV that does not use LED backlight costs about 1.5 million won. It plans to introduce super-slim 10 millimetre sets in the first half of this year and boost line-ups to support all displays including plasma display panels. Digital 3D TVs, which use double layered images and special glasses to give viewers the sensation of seeing the depth of three dimensions, are set to become the next battlefield for top TV makers. Samsung aims to sell 35 million LCD TVs this year, including 10 million TVs using LED backlights. LG, which plans to unveil a full line-up of 3D TV models with new technology improvement in the second half, said late last year it aimed to sell 400,000 3D TVs in 2010 and 3.4 million in 2011. LG currently offers one 47-inch 3D TV, which is sold mostly to businesses due to the high price tag. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 9:23 pm Oil below $80 on US crude stock build, firmer dollarSingapore: Oil edged down below $80 on Thursday, after surging a day earlier, as the dollar recovered and the euro slid, while the surprise rise in US crude stocks offset the fall on gasoline ahead of the driving season. The euro fell to a one-year low against the yen and was down versus the dollar on nagging fears over Greece’s fiscal woes, while the dollar’s trade-weighted index recovered. This countered the dollar’s weakness versus the yen and the commodities-linked Australian dollar after Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday interest rates will stay low in view of a weak job market and low inflation. “Comments from Bernanke reiterated the fact the interest rates will remain low, and demand will therefore stay high,” said Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services. US crude for April delivery fell 15 cents to $79.86 a barrel at 9:26am, after rising by $1 on Wednesday. London Brent crude lost 5 cents to $78.04 a barrel. Bernanke’s testimony on Wednesday to Congress calmed investors’ concerns over interest rate after the Fed said last week that discount rates will be raised to 0.75% from 0.5%, triggering an immediate rise in the dollar. US crude oil stockpiles rose by 3 million barrels to 337.5 million barrels in week ended 19 February week, data from the Energy Information Agency show, countering industry group American Petroleum Institute’s (API) figures on Tuesday showing a large crude inventory fall. US gasoline inventories fell 900,000 barrels to 231.2 million barrels, versus analysts estimates of a 400,000-barrel build. “The build is a result related to summer drive time. There are expectations that (gasoline) supplies won’t be enough.” US refiners normally start stockpiling in April for the start of the driving season in end-May and peaks in June-July. China imported 17.1 million tonnes of crude in January, up nearly 33.4% from a year ago, official data showed. “The market appears to be US-centric ...but one hard evidence is the demand we are getting from China, where it has continued to grow,” said Barratt. Operating rates in Chinese refineries have been high, with 30.14 million crude processed in January, or 7.1 million barrels per day (bpd), up 29% from a year ago, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association (CPIA) said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 8:50 pm Asia stocks rally falters after BernankeSingapore: A tepid rally in Asian shares faltered early on Thursday and the dollar rose after Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s reaffirmation of an extended period of low US rates boosted risk-seeking but also raised some concerns about global growth. Japan’s Nikkei average rose initially, helped by exporters such as Canon Inc and as Toyota Motor Corp reversed most of the losses of the past two days after its chief apologised to consumers and pledged reforms to sceptical lawmakers at US Congressional hearings. Toyota’s US-listed shares jumped 3.9%. But a more than 2% slide in Denso Corp weighed on the broader Tokyo market after authorities said the FBI has raided three Detroit-area Japanese auto parts makers for a sealed federal antitrust investigation, including Toyota suppliers Denso and Tokai Rika “The market welcomed a rebound in US stocks after news that the country will continue its low rate policy,” said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities. “But we’ve seen a series of worse-than-expected economic data from America lately and uncertainty about the outlook for the US economy is increasing.” The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index fell 0.43%, and sectors that fell the most were industrials and technology. The Nikkei was down 0.2% at 10179.79. A report on US new home sales on Wednesday highlighted the Fed’s predicament. Sales slumped more than 11% to a record low, suggesting the sector at the epicentre of the financial crisis had yet to fully heal. Bernanke’s assessment of the economy was also grim, further curbing the speculation of quicker policy tightening that had been spurred by last week’s raising of the discount rate. He also said a weak job market and tame inflation warrant low interest rates for “an extended period”, making clear policy tightening is some time away and boosting the Dow Jones Industrial average by 0.89%. The dollar fell initially in Asia but the trade-weighted index soon recovered to 80.96, reaching for Monday’s highs. Gold was at $1,096 an ounce, far from Wednesday’s high of 1,107.95 and down 3% from Monday’s peak above 1,130. Oil prices also hovered just above the $80 mark but were also off Wednesday’s highs at $80.45, a level hit when stock markets rallied on the back of Bernanke’s remarks despite a bearish report showing a build up in US crude stockpiles. The euro stayed weak at $1.3483, paring further the gains it had made soon after Bernanke’s remarks and heading closer to a nine-month low of $1.3442 struck last week. Worries about a possible downgrade of Greece weighed on the European single currency, pushing it down from above $1.36 on Wednesday. Standard and Poor’s said it may cut Greece’s BBB+ rating by one or two notches within a month, citing downside risks to growth that could hinder the country’s deficit-cutting plans. “The Greek situation remains fluid. So acrimonious discussions between Athens and Brussels could easily result in further near term euro slippage,” Citi said in a note. But Citi also said that with euro net short positions at a record high, any positive news from Greece in the coming weeks could lead to a bounce in the single currency. The euro has lost over 10% since late November as fiscal woes in Greece intensified in the past few months leading to a huge sell-off by investors. The currency hit its lowest level in a year against the yen, hitting ¥120.62 on trading platform EBS, as hedge funds liquidated positions in yen crosses. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 8:31 pm Mamata takes Railway finances off trackNo rise in fares, freight rates; West Bengal corners investments.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 24 Feb 2010 | 3:26 pm Govt to hold 3G auction on Apr 9After several postponements and indecisiveness over the availability of spectrum and therefore the number of slots to be placed for auction, the government has identified April 9 as the new date for 3G auctions.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Feb 2010 | 1:43 pm Wadia sells Mumbai bldg to Axis for Rs 640 croreA new four-storey commercial building at Worli is being sold for Rs 640 crore, pitching it as one of the costliest in the country.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Feb 2010 | 1:41 pm Mallya plans to raise $400m via GDR issueKingfisher Airline's chairman Vijay Mallya said he is planning to raise $400 million through global depository receipts (GDR) in international markets within the next two weeks.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Feb 2010 | 1:39 pm British Gas man joins GAILIn a reversal of market trend, head of BG India's upstream business development and strategy divisions Prabhat Singh has left the multinational to join as marketing director of GAIL on Thursday.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Feb 2010 | 1:34 pm Govt set to spend $10bn on e-governanceThe government plans to spend $10 billion on the national e-governance programme, a senior government official on Wednesday said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Feb 2010 | 1:32 pm SBI plans Rs 20,000cr rights issueState Bank of India, country's the premier lender, may again approach the market to raise funds through rights issue of share.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Feb 2010 | 1:32 pm DoT sets new deadline for 3G auctionsTo start on April 9 for three slots instead of the original four.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 24 Feb 2010 | 12:30 pm The Mint Report for 24 February 2010Railway minister Mamata Banerjee presented the railways budget for 2010-11 in a two-hour long speech on Wednesday. Large portions of the speech were taken up in reading out the names of new stations or trains. But the railway minister also laid out ambitious plans for future expansion. These include building more than 1,000 kilometres of new track by March 2011 as well as acquiring 18,000 rail cars during the same period. To help fund this and other projects, the railways plans to borrow Rs9,120 crore from the market in coming fiscal year and also increase income from non-core activities to Rs1,000 crore from the current Rs150 crore. Wednesday’s railway budget also listed avenues for private involvement. These include allowing private operators to invest in rail infrastructure and run special freight trains. The government also plans to bring in public private partnership investments worth Rs858 crore in the coming fiscal year. While Mamata Banerjee talked about streamlining the railway’s operations, its finances have worsened over the last year. The railways are expected to generate just Rs951 crore in surpluses in 2009-10 against an earlier expectation of Rs2,642 crore. And the amount the railways spends to earn every Rs100 in revenue increased from last year’s budgeted figure of Rs92.50 to Rs94.70. Another problem for the Indian Railways is that adding new lines could be expensive. One railways official told Mint every new kilometre of track would cost an average of Rs7 crore. The department of telecommunications has announced yet another time-table for the auction of 3G spectrum. It will issue a new notice inviting applications or NIA by Thursday describing the details of the auction including the frequencies it will put on the block. Bidders will have to file their applications by 19 March while the actual auction will begin on 9 April. Before that, a mock auction will also be held on 5-6 April. Also in telecom, Aircel plans to invest $1.4 billion this year on expanding its operations nationwide. The expansion will increase the number of telecom circles it operates in from 18 to 23. Reports say Bharti Airtel may be getting a $7 billion, five-year offshore loan from banks to help fund its acquisition of Zain Telecom’s Africa assets. The remaining $2 billion is expected to come from the rupee market. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 12:26 pm Post-26/11, unmanned vehicles ignite interestNew Delhi: Not very long ago, in the Afghan theatre of war, the US Army’s method of clearing caves of bombs was so low-tech that it was practically no-tech: A young soldier with a stick, a gun and a flashlight. “Oh, and he’d have a rope tied around his waist,” Joseph Dyer, a division president of iRobot Inc., says wryly. “So that, you know, if anything went wrong, they could haul him back out.” In 2004, though, the soldier began to be taken out of the equation. That year, 162 robots were deployed to find and dispose of explosive devices, iRobot’s PackBot among them. It was the start of an unmanned battle thrust that reached its technological apogee in the targeted strikes of armed Predator drones. Last August, a drone strike killed Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban leader in Pakistan; the drone’s images were so clear, according to one report, that they captured Mehsud’s intravenous drip, from a height of two miles (3.2km), as he rested on his terrace. The publicity accorded to the US drones—as well as the realization, in hindsight, of how valuable robots could have been during the terrorist attacks of 26/11—ignited interest in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) at the 2010 Defexpo last week. At the previous Defexpo in 2008, one participant recalls, there were only two or three exhibitors talking about any unmanned vehicles at all. This year, however, scaled-down replicas of UAVs stood on pedestals in nearly every hall, and UGVs conducted demos for surprisingly well-informed visitors. The philosophy of war, experts agree, is shifting rapidly. Robots, used until recently just to neutralize bombs, are now incorporated into infantry. Last year, in his book Wired for War, a defence scholar Peter Singer outlined a future in which “our wars are…handed over to machines”. Even with present-day technology, casualty rates can be brought down significantly. “We hear a statistic like: 52% of the US Army’s deaths are in the first contact with the enemy,” Dyer says. “And we think: What a great job for robots!” In front of Dyer’s stall, two of his robots do their thing. The PackBot, which looks like an overhead projector on steroids, has an arm that extends out many feet, ending in a grip that can handle and dismantle bombs. The Negotiator, a flat creature with a glass dome full of circuitry, is a reconnaissance robot that can crawl on its treads into suspicious rooms and send back images. “It would have been ideal for 26/11, in the hotels,” says Guptha Sreekantha, iRobot’s managing director in India. The National Security Guard is currently testing a PackBot model out, Dyer says. He is one of several exhibitors at the Defexpo to claim that the Indian defence forces have expressed keen interest in unmanned vehicles, a trend that M.M. Pallam Raju, the Union minister of state for defence, confirms. “Our services and intelligence agencies have suddenly realized the value of (UAVs and UGVs),” Raju said on the sidelines of Defexpo. Analysts such as Bharat Verma, a retired captain and the editor of the Indian Defence Review, cite the same internal and external uses of UAVs that Raju does. “That kind of intelligence is crucial,” Verma says. “We can look inside enemy territory and even see a guy drinking a glass of milk in his house.” None of the unmanned vehicles being pitched to India is armed, mostly because such sales are restricted by the governments of these foreign manufacturers. Instead, the UAVs at Defexpo were purely surveillance machines. Sepp Dabringer, Schiebel’s area manager for India, sits next to what he calls his “camcopter”—a white helicopter, not quite as long as a Tata Nano, capable of flying for eight hours within a 50km-radius and returning to land on any flat surface. “We’ve sold 130 of these to 15 countries in the last four years,” Dabringer says. “The German and French navies have bought it, and Boeing sources it from us, paints its name on it, and sells it to the US forces.” Recently, the Indian Navy tested Schiebel’s camcopter, and Dabringer is sounding out the Border Security Force, for whom he insists it is ideal. More tireless than rotor-winged aircraft such as the camcopter are fixed-wing UAVs, of which the Predator drone is an example. The Defence Research and Development Organisation is, at present, developing its own fixed-wing UAV, the Rustom. The first flight of the Rustom prototype, last November, did not go well; it crashed, after a “misjudgement of altitude”, in an airfield near Hosur, Tamil Nadu. Elsewhere in the world, UAV development has progressed “in leaps and bounds”, says Woolf Gross, a corporate director at Northrop Grumman Corp. Prices have dropped —into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for UAVs like the camcopter—and the capacity of technology has improved. With Northrop Grumman’s Fire Scout, a rotor-wing UAV, “we could increase the payload from 250 pounds (112.5kg) to 600 pounds just by adding a fourth rotor blade”, he says. Gross calls the growth of the UAV market over the last five years “exponential”, and like other firms, he admits that Northrop Grumman’s marketing efforts in India accelerated after 26/11. The option to take personnel out of danger is, he says, attractive, but it is only a secondary driving force. The primary appeal of UAVs is their sheer efficacy. The ease of waging such war has invited some criticism. In his book, Singer worries that such devices can give the impression that war is “costless”. Dyer of iRobot, however, doesn’t think an army’s human presence can ever be entirely replaced on the battlefield. “In economic terms, this is just a classic technology-for-labour trade,” he says. There are still plenty of tasks robots cannot perform in the near future, “but they can definitely put distances between our soldiers and harm’s way”. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 12:25 pm Kingfisher to go slow on new aircraft inductionNew Delhi: Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, India’s second biggest carrier by passengers flown, is taking a cautious road to expansion and refraining from adding aircraft to its fleet of 66 this year. The airline will instead use its existing aircraft and raise money through global depository receipts (GDRs) and a rights issue over the next 8-10 weeks, chairman Vijay Mallya said on Tuesday evening.  Photograph by Ramesh Pathania; graphic by Yogesh Kumar/Mint The airline is expecting the first lot of new deliveries from January. Two of Kingfisher’s five wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft, which have stayed on the ground for around six months, now waiting for ministry approvals for the London-Delhi and Hong Kong-Delhi routes, will start flying this summer, while its A320 aircraft will tap the Bangkok, Colombo and Dubai routes. “We are utilizing only three of them. We have two A330 idle and we have been incurring a fairly significant standing cost,” Mallya said. “These two A330 will now operate on the Delhi-London Heathrow sector and Delhi-Hong Kong sector, so we will have better utilization and more revenue from these two planes,” he added. The Mumbai-based airline, saddled with at least Rs6,000 crore in debt and Rs1,075.32 crore in losses in the nine months ended 31 December, is taking a measured approach to growth and profitability after going through a rough patch last year, when it defaulted on payments to suppliers and saw a slew of top management exits. “Basically, we don’t need more aircraft,” Mallya said after launching G.R. Gopinath’s book Simplify Deccan. “Getting aircraft to add to our fleet is something I will think of, perhaps, towards the end of the year if this upturn is fully sustained.” The low-fare carrier Air Deccan launched by Gopinath is now part of Kingfisher after it was bought over and later merged in 2008. Mallya is also hoping Seabury Group Llc, the US-based aviation consulting firm Kingfisher recently hired, will help the airline raise funds from the market, something it has been seeking to do for over a year. “A Seabury sign-off on any airline brings a lot of credibility amongst international investors and so we thought we could bring Seabury in particularly before we launch an issue where we will seek foreign investment as well,” he said. Mallya said the size of Kingfisher’s GDR issue is being worked out. Both the GDR and rights issues are being “fast-tracked”, Mallya said. Mint reported earlier in February Kingfisher was appointing Seabury, which has helped secure funding for several bankrupt airlines in the US, ahead of it raising funds. Kingfisher, which has signed a pact with Oneworld Alliance, a global grouping of airlines, to be a part of it by 2011, will look to use the alliance’s hubs for its international operations—unlike rivals Jet Airways (India) Ltd, which has its international operations based out of Brussels in Europe, and Air India, which operates abroad from Frankfurt. Airline alliance membership will, however, have a cost attached to it, which the carrier has so far not disclosed. Besides, “the costs of integration from a process and systems perspective run into several millions of dollars”, Vikram Krishnan, an analyst with US-based aviation consultancy Oliver Wyman, said in an email. Air India has paid $10 million (Rs46.3 crore) so far to Star Alliance but is still to join it. For passengers, the alliance would mean they can earn and burn their frequent flier miles not just on Kingfisher but also on member carriers, depending on the agreements. tarun.s@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 12:20 pm US firm agrees to buy Essar’s tower unit for Rs2,000 croreNew Delhi: Telecom tower firm American Tower Corp. will buy Essar Group’s tower unit for Rs2,000 crore in equity and assumed debt, to expand in the world’s fastest growing mobile market. American Tower has agreed to buy the share capital of Essar Telecom Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd in an all-cash deal, the companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday. This would be the third acquisition in India in about a year for US-based American Tower, which has earlier bought firms Xcel Telecom and Transcend. Last month, Essar’s competitor GTL Infrastructure Ltd agreed to buy mobile firm Aircel’s telecom towers for $1.8 billion (Rs8,334 crore today), adding 17,500 towers to its existing 14,500. Essar Telecom Infrastructure has about 4,450 wireless communications tower sites, the companies said. American Tower owns about 2,000 tower sites in India, and more than 26,000 globally, according to its website. The Economic Times reported the deal earlier on Wednesday and cited a total $450 million valuation, that included $300 million in equity and assumption of $150 million of debt held by Essar’s tower unit. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 11:37 am Bharti eyes $7 bn offshore loan for Zain offer Hong Kong: Banks are discussing a $7 billion, five-year, offshore loan to back Bharti Airtel’s $9 billion offer to buy Zain’s African cellular assets, sources told Reuters Basis Point. Sources informed that the remaining $2 billion equivalent will come from the rupee market, adding that the currency mix was yet to be finalised. Separately, State Bank of India (SBI) chairman O.P. Bhatt in Mumbai said that Bharti had shown interest in obtaining funding from the bank for the Zain assets deal and was in talks with them. “Bharti is interested,” he said without elaborating. “During its tie-up talks last year with South Africa’s MTN that were aborted, Bharti had approached State Bank of India for dollar and rupee loans totalling about $2 billion,” a government minister had said last August. Shares in Bharti fell 1.4% on Wednesday in a slightly weak Mumbai market, taking losses to more than 12% since the company confirmed its talks with Zain, triggering concerns the deal may put pressure on earnings in the near term. Bharti’s market value has lost $3 billion to $22.6 billion. The firms are in exclusive talks until 25 March for the proposed deal, which would give Bharti access in 15 African countries with about 42 million subscribers. Loan pricing talks People familiar with the deal said that Bharti may finalise by Friday its financing details in what could be the largest acquisition loan for an Indian borrower. The Basis Point report also said pricing talks had emerged for the offshore loan with some bankers saying Bharti can achieve an all-in of below 300 basis points, lower than 315 basis points it was supposed to pay for $3-4 billion loan lined up last year for the thwarted MTN deal. Some bankers, however, think because of the mammoth size of the present Zain financing, pricing will have to be more than 315 basis points. Standard Chartered and Barclays are advising Bharti in the deal. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 4:38 am Google scraps China leg of Nexus One eventBeijing: Google Inc has scrapped the China leg of a regional event to show software developers its first smartphone, the Nexus One, in Beijing, its second such move following its threatened pull-out from the country. Google will introduce the sleek touchscreen phone to software developers in Hong Kong and Taiwan next week, but will not stage a similar event in Beijing as developers were originally expecting, said a source close to the company, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the situation’s sensitivity. “If Google did not have such an issue with the Chinese government, they would have conducted a similar event in China too,” the source said. Google’s Beijing-based spokeswoman could not be reached for comment. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 3:53 am Intel, venture capital firms to invest $3.5 bn in USNew York Chip maker Intel has joined hands with two dozen of leading venture capital firms to invest $3.5 billion in the US-based growth-oriented industries over the next two years to avail jobs in the economy. The investments include $200 million contribution from Intel Capital, Intel Corporation’s global investment organisation, in technology fund, Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini said in a statement on Tuesday. Intel Capital and 24 leading venture capital firms are set to invest $3.5 billion in US-based technology companies over the next two years, Otellini said. The investments would be targeted on clean technology, information technology and biotechnology. Intel is a part of the group that would double their hiring of college graduates in 2010, creating about 10,500 jobs. “Venture capital investments have played an important role in creating jobs at home and keeping America at the leading edge of technology globally,” Intel executive vice- president and Intel Capital president Arvind Sodhani said. Venture capital firms involved in the investment are Advanced Technology Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, Bridgescale Partners, Canaan Partners, DCM, among others. At the same time, Intel and some other tech companies have made commitments to increase their hiring of college graduates. Those companies include Accenture, Adobe Systems Dell, eBay, GE, Google, HP, Microsoft and Yahoo. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 3:33 am Govt to hold 3G spectrum auction on 9 AprilNew Delhi: The government will hold the much-awaited auction for third generation mobile spectrum on April 9 and will start inviting applications from the prospective bidders from tomorrow. Announcing the schedule of 3G auction, a government notification said the notice inviting applications would start tomorrow and the last date for submitting the applications is 19 March. The government is expecting Rs35,000 crore from the auction. While the pre-qualification of bidders would take place on 30 March, mock auctions would be held on the 5th and the 6th of April. The auction date for 3G spectrum is 9 April 2010, it said. In the past, 3G auctions have been deferred twice even after the date of announcements of the auction. All big telecom majors Bharti, Vodafone, Rcom and Tatas have readied their plans for the auction. When contacted, most of the operators expressed relief at the announcement of the dates, but said they would wait for the NIA to for more clarity. The auction has been delayed over differences between government departments over pricing wireless radio spectrum and on the availability of spectrum to be auctioned. However, the issues were later resolved, telecom minister A Raja had said. Though the quantum of the spectrum available for auction is still not clear, sources indicated that three slots may be put on the block in most circles while a few areas may have enough air waves to accommodate four players. The move comes after the law ministry gave its approval to the NIA last week, paving the way for the government to go ahead with the auction. DoT has, however, dropped a clause in the NIA, which stated that the Government will refund the bid amount in case the auctioned spectrum was not allocated by 1 September 2010. In an emerging economy like India, there would be a lot of unexplored possibilities in value added services after the introduction of 3G, thus resulting in increased revenues to telecom companies. With 3G, users will be able to access high-end data services, including ultra-fast internet and video-conferencing, by next year when the operators roll out their commercial 3G services. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 2:44 am 3 Google executives convicted of privacy violationsMilan: Three Google executives were convicted of privacy violations Wednesday in allowing a video of an autistic boy being abused to be posted online — a case that has been closely watched for its implications on Internet freedom. Judge Oscar Magi sentenced the three to a six-month suspended sentence and absolved them of defamation charges. A fourth defendant was acquitted altogether. The trial had been closely watched since it could help define whether the Internet in Italy is an open, self-regulating platform or if content must be better monitored for abusive material. Google, based in Mountain View, California, had said it considered the trial a threat to Internet freedom because it could force providers to attempt an impossible task — prescreening the thousands of hours of footage uploaded every day onto sites like YouTube. Prosecutors insisted the case wasn’t about censorship but about balancing freedom of expression with the rights of an individual. The charges were sought by Vivi Down, an advocacy group for people with Down syndrome. The group alerted prosecutors to the 2006 video showing an autistic student in Turin being beaten and insulted by bullies at school. In the footage, the youth is being mistreated while one of the teenagers puts in a mock telephone call to Vivi Down. Google Italy, which is based in Milan, eventually took down the video, though the two sides disagree on how fast the company reacted to complaints. Thanks to the footage and Google’s cooperation, the four bullies were identified and sentenced by a juvenile court to community service. The events shortly preceded Google’s 2006 acquisition of YouTube. All four executives denied wrongdoing. None was in any way involved with the production of the video or uploading it onto the viewing platform, but prosecutors argued that it shot to the top of a most-viewed list and should have been noticed. Convicted of privacy violations were Google’s senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond, former chief financial officer George Reyes and global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer. Senior product marketing manager Arvind Desikan was acquitted. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 2:10 am 3 Google executives convicted of privacy violationsMilan: Three Google executives were convicted of privacy violations Wednesday in allowing a video of an autistic boy being abused to be posted online — a case that has been closely watched for its implications on Internet freedom. Judge Oscar Magi sentenced the three to a six-month suspended sentence and absolved them of defamation charges. A fourth defendant was acquitted altogether. The trial had been closely watched since it could help define whether the Internet in Italy is an open, self-regulating platform or if content must be better monitored for abusive material. Google, based in Mountain View, California, had said it considered the trial a threat to Internet freedom because it could force providers to attempt an impossible task — prescreening the thousands of hours of footage uploaded every day onto sites like YouTube. Prosecutors insisted the case wasn’t about censorship but about balancing freedom of expression with the rights of an individual. The charges were sought by Vivi Down, an advocacy group for people with Down syndrome. The group alerted prosecutors to the 2006 video showing an autistic student in Turin being beaten and insulted by bullies at school. In the footage, the youth is being mistreated while one of the teenagers puts in a mock telephone call to Vivi Down. Google Italy, which is based in Milan, eventually took down the video, though the two sides disagree on how fast the company reacted to complaints. Thanks to the footage and Google’s cooperation, the four bullies were identified and sentenced by a juvenile court to community service. The events shortly preceded Google’s 2006 acquisition of YouTube. All four executives denied wrongdoing. None was in any way involved with the production of the video or uploading it onto the viewing platform, but prosecutors argued that it shot to the top of a most-viewed list and should have been noticed. Convicted of privacy violations were Google’s senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond, former chief financial officer George Reyes and global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer. Senior product marketing manager Arvind Desikan was acquitted. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 24 Feb 2010 | 2:10 am
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