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Govt spending on IT expected to grow by 40%: InfosysGovernment IT spending is expected to grow by 40% supported by a 20% growth of the Indian market this year says, leading information technology company, Infosys Chief Executive Officer, S Gopalakrishnan.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 7:12 am BSNL was procuring huge, unnecessary capacity: JS DeepakA few days after BSNL scrapped its tender of 93 million lines, the Govt nominee on BSNL\'s board, JS Deepak has said that the company was procuring huge, unnecessary capacity and was paying an exorbitant price for the GSM tender.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 6:53 am Only 2 divestments to close in Q1, FY11: Govt OfficialThe government has no immediate plans to sell stake in staterun Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Indian Oil Corp (IOC) , Oil Secretary S. Sundareshan told reporters on Wednesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 6:21 am Expect BSNL to retender GSM order: KEC IntlRamesh Chandak, Managing Director of KEC International, in an exclusive interview with CNBCTV18 said that he expected BSNL to retender the GSM order. We expect a Rs 2,500 crore order from BSNL, which would be executable in three years time.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 6:12 am Ford launches Figo priced at Rs 3.5-4.48 lakh!US carmaker Ford Tuesday launched its much anticipated global small car `Figo` in the Indian market, priced at Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 4.48 lakh.Source: Zee News : Business | 10 Mar 2010 | 5:11 am India most optimistic nation on hiring in Q2: Manpower!India continued to be the most optimistic nation in terms of hiring plans for the next three months, driven by strong job opportunities across all sectors, global staffing services firm Manpower said.Source: Zee News : Business | 10 Mar 2010 | 5:11 am Outlay for social sector spending adequate: RefexThe total outlay for social sector spending has been considerable. We should find all the vehicle to ensure that such considerable benefits reach the needy, says RifexSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 4:32 am Importers abandon deals as sugar prices fall - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Mar 2010 | 3:00 am Subscribe to DQ Entertainment IPO for long term: Swastika - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:55 am NTPC sees coal imports rising as demand spurtsBiggest power producer, NTPC Ltd, expects its coal consumption to rise rapidly as it expands capacity, encouraging the utility to raise imports and look for mines abroad, a top official said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:41 am Founders, Citi buy Tata Motors shares from Daimler: BSETata Sons, the holding entity for Tata Group firms, and Citigroup have acquired a 8.65 million shares in Tata Motors from Germany\'s Daimler AG.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:41 am ONGC to invest $5.8 bn in FY11: MinisterStaterun Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) plans to invest 265.23 billion rupees (USD 5.8 billion) in the 2010/11 financial year in exploration activities, a rise of 7.3% from the current year, minister of state for finance said on Tuesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:41 am Nifty rangebound; oil & gas, FMCG gain - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:33 am Thermax to float JV with US-based Babcock & Wilcox Power - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:31 am Coal India seeks equity, alliancesMumbai: State-run Coal India, the world’s largest coal miner, is moving swiftly towards signing strategic alliances to help fill India’s yawning coal supply-demand gulf, its director of marketing said on Wednesday. They would be in the form of equity or offtake deals with major coal mining firms in Indonesia, Australia and the United States and it has shortlisted 10 producers, A K Sarkar told Reuters on the sidelines of the Coaltrans conference in Mumbai. India’s coal shortages have affected a range of industries including aluminium smelting and caused power plant coal stocks to shrink to two or three days’ worth. “The thirst is for equity and we are going full steam ahead,” Sarkar said in an interview. “We would prefer not to sign purely offtake deals, we want security of coal supply.” Security of supply would best be guaranteed by owning all or part of existing or new mines, he added. To this end, Coal India has shortlisted 10 major coal producers and will take three months to carry out due diligence and decide which alliances to seriously pursue, he said. Coal India is looking at three alliance models: equity in existing mines; pure offtake deals and joint ventures to develop new mines and deals will be signed with producers “sooner rather than later,” Sarkar said. Some of the coal producers with whom Coal India is in talks will be able to supply coal this year and some next year, he said, stressing the urgency of getting coal flowing rapidly. India’s coal shortfall for 2010-2011 is 81 million tonnes but Coal India will fill only a portion of that as instructed by the Central Electricity Authority, Sarkar said. In February, Coal India subsidiary Western Coalfields said Coal India would import 6-10 million tonnes in 2010-11, up from around 1.5 million in the previous year. Imports to continue strong India has no choice but to import coal for the foreseeable future, at least five years, despite Coal India’s efforts to ramp up domestic coal output, Sarkar said. “Imports are a reality and will increase or decrease depending on how much we can increase our output but definitely imports will continue for the forseeable future, at least five years and will increase year to year,” he said. It is too early to discuss the structure of equity deals in exchange for coal or pricing for offtake agreements, Sarkar said, but the higher cost of imports would need to be reflected in domestic coal prices paid by end-users. “There is a cost component for imported coal - domestic coal is less than 50% the cost of imports - and also Indian coal is a depleting energy resource, this must also be taken into account,” he said. India has vast coal reserves in the east of the country but strict environmental laws and the difficulty of developing mines where there are towns and villages restricts Coal India’s ability to boost output, Sarkar said. “The fact is, in India, land is almost a raw material. People do not want to move but you need land to get at the coal,” he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:31 am Citigroup sells Japan ski resort to Malaysia s YTLCitigroup Inc has sold one of Japan's most famous ski resorts, Niseko Village, to Malaysia's YTL Corp, with the property and power conglomerate seeking to develop it into a world class summer and winter destination.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:26 am Tata Steel sees iron ore prices risingIron ore prices are headed as much as 35% higher this year and will likely pressure the profit margins of steel companies, Tata Steel Ltd Vice Chairman B. Muthuraman said on Tuesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:20 am S.Korea POSCO to raise steel prices in Q2 - execSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's POSCO, the world's No.4 steelmaker, said on Wednesday that it would raise major steel product prices in the second quarter of this year by at least 20 percent due to higher raw material costs.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:18 am INTERVIEW - Russia sees over $10 bln in deals with IndiaMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia plans to sign over $10 billion worth of deals with India during the visit of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin later this week, Putin's deputy, Sergei Sobyanin, told Reuters in an interview.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:16 am Tata\'s Jaguar Land Rover gets 340 m pound EU loanThe European Investment Bank said on Tuesday it had agreed a 340 million pound (USD 510 million) loan to the Jaguar and Land Rover brands of Tata Motors.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:14 am Govt has no plans now to sell stake in ONGC, IOC: Oil secretaryOil secretary S Sundareshan said, 'This is not the correct market time anyway.'Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:09 am BPTP plans Rs 1 500 cr IPO early FY 11Real estate developer, BPTP Limited, plans to raise around Rs 1,500 crore through an IPO early next-fiscal, a top company official said.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:04 am Fortis back in profit in 2009 and unveils new nameBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium-based insurance group Fortis returned to profit in 2009 and resumed its dividend, a year after its dramatic break-up, and announced it would be changing its name to ageas.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:02 am Importers abandon deals as sugar prices fallNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian sugar mills have backed out of import deals to the tune of 100,000 tonnes, and traders have diverted cargoes, as tumbling prices make overseas purchases unviable, sources with sugar firms and traders said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Mar 2010 | 2:00 am US minted more millionaires in 2009America's millionaires are on the rise again after their ranks thinned out during the 2008 market meltdown, according to a new survey.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 1:52 am INTERVIEW - Coal India says seeks equity, alliancesMUMBAI (Reuters) - State-run Coal India, the world's largest coal mining entity, is urgently seeking strategic alliances, its director of marketing told Reuters on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Mar 2010 | 1:51 am Infosys says outsourcing deal pipeline improvingMUMBAI (Reuters) - Infosys Technologies, India's No. 2 software services exporter, is seeing a rise in outsourcing deal flows due to a recovery in the global economy, a top official said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Mar 2010 | 1:46 am Rupee off highs as share turn negativeMumbai: The Indian rupee retreated from the day’s highs on Wednesday afternoon tracking a choppy domestic sharemarket but higher regional peers continued to underpin sentiment. At 2:15pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs45.445/455 per dollar, off a high of Rs45.3975 but still stronger than 45.6250/6350 at close on Tuesday. On Monday the rupee hit 45.38, its strongest since 12 January. Dealers said the market was expecting good foreign institutional buying at the NMDC follow-on share sale that opens on Tuesday. This is expected to attract dollar inflows and help the rupee. The government begins selling shares in state-run miner NMDC <NMDC.BO>, the country’s largest iron ore producer, to raise about $3 billion in an offer from 10-12 March. The Malaysian ringgit hit a 19-month high against the dollar on Wednesday amid expectations of further policy tightening, while gains in the South Korean won and Philippine peso prompted central banks there to intervene. Indian shares trimmed gains and were trading just marginally higher. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at Rs45.5225, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $3.9 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2010 | 1:37 am NMDC FPO premium over global peers justified RBS - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Mar 2010 | 1:21 am Thermax US Babcock in JV pactThermax and US based Babcock & Wilcox have agreed to form a joint venture to make super-critical steam boilers for the domestic market, the two companies said today.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:53 am Strong China trade data make case for firmer yuanBEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese exports and imports grew faster than expected in February, underlining the momentum behind the world's third-largest economy and reinforcing the case for a rise in the yuan.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:51 am Thermax, US Babcock in JV pactMumbai: Thermax and US based Babcock & Wilcox have agreed to form a joint venture to make super-critical steam boilers for the domestic market, the two companies said on Wednesday. Thermax will hold 51% and Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group Inc will own the rest in the venture, which will also manufacture sub-critical boilers of more than 300 megawatt capacity, the firms said in a joint statement. The two companies plan to invest a total Rs700 crore, split equally between debt and equity. Thermax will pump in a little more than Rs175 crore into the venture, its managing director MS Unnikrishnan told a media briefing. The super-critical boilers will be produced at a proposed new unit that will have an initial annual capacity of 3,000 megawatt equivalent, they added. Thermax already has a technology partnership with Babcock & Wilcox to make boilers of up to 300 megawatt. Thermax shares, which rose as much as 4% in the session ahead of the news, were trading 2.4% higher at Rs671 in a firm Mumbai market at 12:47. p.m. Super-critical boilers are high-end heat equipment that has attracted the attention of the country’s power sector planners for its ability to produce more heat per kilogram of coal burnt, saving costs and causing less harm to the environment. The government is planning to add capacity of 100,000 megawatt between 2012-17, a majority of which will be super-critical technology, fuelling demand for such high-end equipment. In August 2009, Thermax formed a joint venture with diversified US manufacturer SPX Corp to provide air pollution control systems for power plants above 300 megawatts and energy efficiency equipment. Thermax also has technology tie-ups with Japan’s Kawasaki Thermal Engineering, Germany’s Balcke Durr, Canada’s Eco-Tech and US’ Georgia Pacific. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:51 am Franklin prefers India to China for equitiesSingapore: India offers better opportunities for equity investors compared with China as the growth potential is stronger and there are more quality Indian companies to choose from, Franklin Templeton’s international chief investment officer said on Wednesday. India offered a larger investment universe of about 5,000 firms whereas foreigners hoping to tap the China growth story are restricted to a smaller number of Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks, Stephen Dover told reporters in Singapore. “India is investible in a very broad range of companies and also a broad range of industries... (but) most investors have not really been able to participate in the big growth in China since 1982,” Dover said. Besides the wider choice of stocks to invest in, Franklin Templeton also said India’s growth trajectory was higher because of its younger population and the expected lift from large-scale infrastructure spending that had only began recently. Dover oversees investments at Franklin Templeton’s local asset management units around the world, which have about $25 billion in assets under management, including bonds. The local asset management group’s funds mostly carry the Franklin brandname unlike the emerging markets group headed by Mark Mobius whose funds use the Templeton prefix. According to Franklin Templeton, its Franklin India fund gained 81% in dollar terms in the 12 months to end-January, underperforming the benchmark MSCI India index which rose 96% over the same period. The Franklin fund’s three-year return was, however, higher at an annualised 7.7% versus 4.7% for the benchmark. The Franklin Asian Flex Cap Fund, which invests in Asia ex-Japan, has a one-year return of 64% compared with a 71% rise in the MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan index. Sukumar Rajah, Franklin Templeton’s CIO for Asian equities, said the firm’s top picks in India included Infosys, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel, which had high growth and good margins and a track record of funding their expansion from free cash flows. He said that while there were concerns that Bharti, India’s largest mobile operator, is paying too much to buy the African operations of Kuwait’s Zain, Franklin Templeton will stay invested because of management’s good track record. “Our view is that management is sensitive to adding value to shareholders. Our experience with Bharti has been very good,” he said. Franklin Templeton owns about 23.2 million shares in Bharti, according to Thomson Reuters data. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:37 am Franklin prefers India to China for equities - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:24 am Govt has no plans now to sell stake in ONGC,IOC - secyNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government has no immediate plans to sell stake in state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Indian Oil Corp (IOC) , Oil Secretary S. Sundareshan told reporters on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:10 am Low-pressure likely over north-west next weekThe European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (Ecmwf) has maintained the outlook for an incoming western disturbance that will induce a low-pressure area to spin up over north-west India nextSource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am No Indian petrol for Iran since May; Govt denies US pressureIndia has not supplied gasoline (petrol) to Iran since May 2009. This information was given by the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Jitin Prasada, to the Rajya Sabha onSource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am Emkay Global Financial Services (Rs 83.4): BuyWe recommend a buy in the stock of Emkay Global Financial Services from a short-term perspective. The stock has been on a longer-term uptrend since March 2009 low of Rs 25, shaping higher peaks and troughs. Moreover, the intermediate andSource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am GSK back to differential price for drugs in mid-income nationsIf high medicine prices have been the Achilles heel for drug majors in developing countries, GlaxoSmithKline has sought to tackle the challenge through “customised” pricing in middle-income countries such asSource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am New tax code should retain exemptions to SEZs: Commerce MinistryThe Commerce Ministry has proposed that the Direct Taxes Code should bring in “grandfathering provisions” exempting Special Economic Zones from its purview so that the developers and units of these tax-free enclaves can continue toSource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am Daimler confirms sale of Tata Motors stakeDaimler, the German maker has finally confirmed it had sold all of its 5.34 per cent ordinary shares of Tata Motors to various investors, bringing it in a tidy cash inflow of €300Source: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am NMDC shares plunge on FPO pricingNMDC shares plummeted close to 9 per cent on Tuesday, a day after the price band for its follow-on public offer was fixed at a discount to its marketSource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideInitiate fresh short position if DLF dives below Rs 305, with tightSource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am SEBI cracks whip on BoR promoter group entitiesShare price of Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) tumbled after a late Monday night interim ex-parte order by SEBI barred 100 promoter group entities from dealing in the market with immediateSource: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am Cinema halls to seek liquor licence for IPLYou may get to cheer your favourite cricket team with a mug of beer, as cinema halls are set to apply for liquor licences during the IPL season from March 12 to April 26,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 10 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am Double digit inflation unlikely by end-March - officialNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's wholesale price inflation is unlikely to touch double digits by end-March, M. Govinda Rao, a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, told reporters on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 9 Mar 2010 | 11:39 pm Texmo Pipes listed, FY10 EPS to be over Rs 5, says mgmt - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 9 Mar 2010 | 11:35 pm Toyota, US officials investigate runaway PriusLos Angeles/Detroit: US safety regulators and Toyota dispatched teams on Tuesday to inspect a Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway a day earlier, as the automaker struggled to reassure consumers shaken by its recall crisis. US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said two investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration were sent to San Diego “to be part of the investigation” of Monday’s incident, which left the driver of a runaway car rattled but unhurt. “NHTSA is reminding owners of all recalled vehicles to contact their dealers immediately if they are experiencing problems,” NHTSA spokeswoman Olivia Alair said in a statement. Toyota Motor Corp said its own inspectors were working on Tuesday to try to find out what caused the 2008 Prius to surge uncontrollably to over 90 miles per hour as it was being driven by its owner, James Sikes, 61. The incident, involving a dramatic pursuit by a highway patrol car, came at a bad time for Toyota, which has struggled in recent weeks to reassure a jittery public it has turned a corner in dealing with safety issues that sparked a recall of 8.5 million vehicles worldwide. Seven weeks into the crisis, Toyota has begun trying to reverse a slump in its new car sales by offering buyers aggressive discounts. Just hours before news broke of the San Diego mishap, Toyota held a news conference seeking to discredit an external study critical of its computerized safety systems and denying again the existence of a flaw in its electronic engine throttles that could cause sudden, unintended acceleration. Adding to Toyota’s woes, the company said on Tuesday it was expanding a repair campaign for 2002-2003 model Tundra pickup trucks. Separately, the Japanese automaker asked a Michigan appeals court to intervene to keep its top two U.S. executives from being questioned under oath by lawyers for the family of a woman killed while driving a Camry in 2008. Toyota has insisted that cases of unintended acceleration, when not caused by human error, were rooted in mechanical problems - namely ill-fitting floor mats, a sticky accelerator pedal, or both, although some motorists have reported the problem after going through with repairs. Sikes told police his car surged out of control when he deliberately accelerated to pass another vehicle on the road and the engine seemingly jolted into higher speed by itself. “I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny,” Sikes told reporters. “It jumped and it just stuck there. As it was going, I was trying the brakes ... It wasn’t stopping.” California Highway Patrol spokesman Brian Pennings said police have no reason to doubt Sikes’ account, based on officers’ own observations and evidence of heavy brake use. “There was heavy brake dust on the inside of the wheels and the brakes were smoking when the officer finally caught up to him,” Pennings told Reuters. Pennings said Sikes also appeared genuinely shaken by the incident and complained of chest pains, prompting police to call paramedics, who evaluated him at the scene and managed to calm him down without taking him to the hospital. Because there was no crash or injuries, the highway patrol did not conduct its own inspection of the car, he said. The Prius has been a “halo” car for the world’s top automaker and dominates the market for fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles, though 2004-2009 models were recalled due to concerns that loose floor mats could entrap the accelerator pedal. Sikes told reporters he received a recall notice for his Prius and brought it into a dealership, but was turned away and told the vehicle was not on recall lists. Sikes’ brush with unintended acceleration lasted about 20 minutes and covered about 30 miles of freeway at high speeds before he managed to regain control of his car. A highway patrol officer sent to assist Sikes after he called emergency dispatchers pulled alongside the Prius and used his loudspeaker to tell him to apply foot brakes and the emergency brakes together and turn off the engine. Once the Prius slowed to around 50 mph, Sikes turned off the ignition and the car rolled to a stop with the trooper’s car in front of it. Monday’s incident, which attracted widespread media coverage, occurred a short distance away from the site of a similar incident in August 2009 that ended in a fiery crash of a Lexus sedan, killing the off-duty highway patrol officer who was driving and three members of his family. That wreck played a major role in renewing government scrutiny of unintended acceleration complaints leading to Toyota’s huge recall. “While all of the facts surrounding the latest incident have yet to be fully known and investigated ... it certainly does have great potential to erode whatever consumer confidence was rebuilding for Toyota,” said Geoff Sundstrom, a spokesman for the American Automobile Association. Toyota shares closed down 1.6% at $76.67 in US trading on Tuesday. The stock has lost about 15% since 21 January, when the company announced a recall of 2.3 million vehicles to fix sticky accelerator pedals. Unintended acceleration in the company’s Toyota and Lexus vehicles has been linked to at least five US crash deaths since 2007. Authorities are investigating 47 other Toyota crash deaths over the past decade. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:57 pm Toyota, US officials investigate runaway PriusLos Angeles/Detroit: US safety regulators and Toyota dispatched teams on Tuesday to inspect a Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway a day earlier, as the automaker struggled to reassure consumers shaken by its recall crisis. US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said two investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration were sent to San Diego “to be part of the investigation” of Monday’s incident, which left the driver of a runaway car rattled but unhurt. “NHTSA is reminding owners of all recalled vehicles to contact their dealers immediately if they are experiencing problems,” NHTSA spokeswoman Olivia Alair said in a statement. Toyota Motor Corp said its own inspectors were working on Tuesday to try to find out what caused the 2008 Prius to surge uncontrollably to over 90 miles per hour as it was being driven by its owner, James Sikes, 61. The incident, involving a dramatic pursuit by a highway patrol car, came at a bad time for Toyota, which has struggled in recent weeks to reassure a jittery public it has turned a corner in dealing with safety issues that sparked a recall of 8.5 million vehicles worldwide. Seven weeks into the crisis, Toyota has begun trying to reverse a slump in its new car sales by offering buyers aggressive discounts. Just hours before news broke of the San Diego mishap, Toyota held a news conference seeking to discredit an external study critical of its computerized safety systems and denying again the existence of a flaw in its electronic engine throttles that could cause sudden, unintended acceleration. Adding to Toyota’s woes, the company said on Tuesday it was expanding a repair campaign for 2002-2003 model Tundra pickup trucks. Separately, the Japanese automaker asked a Michigan appeals court to intervene to keep its top two U.S. executives from being questioned under oath by lawyers for the family of a woman killed while driving a Camry in 2008. Toyota has insisted that cases of unintended acceleration, when not caused by human error, were rooted in mechanical problems - namely ill-fitting floor mats, a sticky accelerator pedal, or both, although some motorists have reported the problem after going through with repairs. Sikes told police his car surged out of control when he deliberately accelerated to pass another vehicle on the road and the engine seemingly jolted into higher speed by itself. “I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny,” Sikes told reporters. “It jumped and it just stuck there. As it was going, I was trying the brakes ... It wasn’t stopping.” California Highway Patrol spokesman Brian Pennings said police have no reason to doubt Sikes’ account, based on officers’ own observations and evidence of heavy brake use. “There was heavy brake dust on the inside of the wheels and the brakes were smoking when the officer finally caught up to him,” Pennings told Reuters. Pennings said Sikes also appeared genuinely shaken by the incident and complained of chest pains, prompting police to call paramedics, who evaluated him at the scene and managed to calm him down without taking him to the hospital. Because there was no crash or injuries, the highway patrol did not conduct its own inspection of the car, he said. The Prius has been a “halo” car for the world’s top automaker and dominates the market for fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles, though 2004-2009 models were recalled due to concerns that loose floor mats could entrap the accelerator pedal. Sikes told reporters he received a recall notice for his Prius and brought it into a dealership, but was turned away and told the vehicle was not on recall lists. Sikes’ brush with unintended acceleration lasted about 20 minutes and covered about 30 miles of freeway at high speeds before he managed to regain control of his car. A highway patrol officer sent to assist Sikes after he called emergency dispatchers pulled alongside the Prius and used his loudspeaker to tell him to apply foot brakes and the emergency brakes together and turn off the engine. Once the Prius slowed to around 50 mph, Sikes turned off the ignition and the car rolled to a stop with the trooper’s car in front of it. Monday’s incident, which attracted widespread media coverage, occurred a short distance away from the site of a similar incident in August 2009 that ended in a fiery crash of a Lexus sedan, killing the off-duty highway patrol officer who was driving and three members of his family. That wreck played a major role in renewing government scrutiny of unintended acceleration complaints leading to Toyota’s huge recall. “While all of the facts surrounding the latest incident have yet to be fully known and investigated ... it certainly does have great potential to erode whatever consumer confidence was rebuilding for Toyota,” said Geoff Sundstrom, a spokesman for the American Automobile Association. Toyota shares closed down 1.6% at $76.67 in US trading on Tuesday. The stock has lost about 15% since 21 January, when the company announced a recall of 2.3 million vehicles to fix sticky accelerator pedals. Unintended acceleration in the company’s Toyota and Lexus vehicles has been linked to at least five US crash deaths since 2007. Authorities are investigating 47 other Toyota crash deaths over the past decade. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:57 pm Govt has no plans now to sell stake in ONGC IOC secyThe government has no immediate plans to sell stake in state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Oil Secretary S Sundareshan told reporters today.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:52 pm Job scenario at IIM-B: 100% recruitment in 5 days - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:31 pm Rupee falls by 12 paise against dollar in early tradeAt the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the rupee fell by 12 paise to 45.50 a dollar. The rupee closed lower by 10 paise at 45.62/63 a dollar in the previous session.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:28 pm Oil down in Asian trade ahead of energy reportNew York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, dropped 16 cents to $81.33 a barrel. London's Brent North Sea crude for April delivery was down 20 cents to $79.71 a barrel.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:27 pm Oil edges up towards $82 on China import surgeSingapore: Oil reversed earlier losses to gain a few cents towards $82 on Wednesday after China said imports jumped in February, boosting evidence that emerging Asian economies will lead global demand back into growth this year. China imported 18.5 million tonnes of crude in February, up 8.2% from January, the country’s General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday. Fuel imports rose almost 14%, while fuel exports tumbled almost 41%. “It’s a strong reading, particularly because February was a short month and you had the Chinese New Year holiday,” said David Moore, commodities strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. “These numbers will provide short-term support for the oil price, while people will be watching the EIA data,” Moore added, referring to government data on US inventories to be published by the Energy Information Administration at 9:00pm. US crude for April delivery advanced 10 cents to $81.59 by 10:20am, within $1 of Monday’s peak of $82.41, the highest level since prices jumped to a 15-month high of $83.95 on 11 January. London ICE Brent for April gained 16 cents to $80.07. Top crude oil exporter Saudi Arabia will keep supply at full contracted volumes in April to at least six of its Asian term buyers, industry sources said on Wednesday except for a major buyer who will receive 10% less than nominated volumes. The news was in line with most industry expectations. Before the Chinese trade data, oil fell as low as $81.05 a barrel on Wednesday, sapped by an industry report showing US crude stockpiles jumped more than expected last week, dampening hopes of a strong demand recovery in the world’s top user. “The market has been strong on the belief that the economy is slowly getting better, but it’s probably gone too far,” said Tony Nunan, a risk manager with Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp. US crude inventories rose by 6.5 million barrels in the week to 5 March, against analysts’ forecasts for an increase of 1.9 million barrels, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday. The API also said US gasoline stockpiles fell 3.2 million barrels, after a Reuters poll of analysts forecast a gain of 200,000 barrels. “The crude market seems to have been driven by gasoline on the way up,” Mitsubishi’s Nunan said. “It’s a seasonal thing; as we go into spring, there is usually a gasoline-driven rally.” Inventories of distillates - which includes diesel and heating oil -- showed a 2.8 million barrel draw, compared with forecasts for a 900,000 barrel draw. Oil demand declined in 2008 and 2009 during the biggest recession of the post-war era. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:27 pm Sensex bounces back by 120 pointsThe BSE benchmark Sensex bounced back by more than 120 points to 17,172.04 in early trade today, on renewed buying in oil & gas, auto and realty sectors amid mixed Asian cues. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:17 pm Markets rise 0.7%; automakers on top gearMumbai: Indian shares climbed 0.7% on Wednesday morning, with auto makers and Reliance Industries topping the list of gainers, as most Asian markets edged higher. Automobiles stocks raced ahead on expectations of robust sales growth. Tata Motors reversed some of Tuesday’s losses and climbed 2.3%. It had shed 3.2% on Tuesday as German carmaker Daimler sold all of its 5.34% stake in India’s top vehicle maker Top car maker Maruti Suzuki India and top utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra rose 0.7% and 0.9% respectively. By 10:20am, the 30-share BSE Index was trading up 0.73% at 17,176.84, with 25 of its components gaining. The 50-share NSE index was up 0.6% at 5,133.65. “We are chugging along, as global cues are not that bad,” said Arun Kejriwal, director of research firm KRIS. “The next driver would be quarterly earnings which start coming in next month. There should be no problem on that and we should fare better,” he added. Energy giant Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the Sensex, rose 2.5% to Rs1,015.25. It had shed more than 3 percent over the last four sessions. IT bellwether Infosys Technologies shed 0.1% as traders locked gains after the stock rose more than 2% over previous three sessions. In the broader market, gainers outnumbered decliners in the ratio of 1.8:1, while 123 million shares changed hands on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 9:45 pm Sensex rises 44 points in opening trade on firm Asian marketsSensex recovered by nearly 44 points in opening trade on Wednesday on fresh capital inflows from foreign funds amid firming Asian markets.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Mar 2010 | 9:34 pm Rupee falls by 12 paise against dollar in early tradeThe Indian rupee depreciated by 12 paise against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday, following the American currency's gains overseas.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Mar 2010 | 9:32 pm Sensex rises 44 points in opening trade on firm Asian marketsThe 30-share index was up by 43.39 points, or 0.25% at 17,095.93 in the opening trade. The Sensex closed 50.06 points down at 17,052.54 points in yesterday's trade.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Mar 2010 | 9:12 pm Toyota, U.S. officials investigate runaway PriusLOS ANGELES/DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. safety regulators and Toyota dispatched teams on Tuesday to inspect a Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway a day earlier, as the automaker struggled to reassure consumers shaken by its recall crisis.Source: Reuters: Money News | 9 Mar 2010 | 9:01 pm Asia stocks near 6-week highs, eye China dataHong Kong: Asian stocks hovered near six-week highs on Wednesday as Chinese data showed exports and imports in February were better than expected, while the euro and the pound suffered on renewed concerns about Europe’s fiscal problems. Foreign buying, which has been one of the key drivers of stock markets in South Korea, Japan and India, continued unabated in the region with data showing emerging market equity funds posted a third straight week of inflows. “Foreign investors were risk-averse in January and February due to worries about major uncertainties like Greece’s sovereign debt problems and China’s (policy) tightening moves,” said Seoul-based Lee Sun-yub, a market analyst at Shinhan Investment Corporation. “But those have eased significantly and thus foreign buying has made a strong return. We are seeing money flow not only into South Korea but markets around the region,” he said. The MSCI index of Asian shares outside Japan were up 0.2% after rising as much as 0.3% to a fresh six-week high. Gains were retained after data released in Beijing showed China’s imports and exports last month were better than expected. But Shanghai’s main index was down 0.5%, little changed after the data, with economists wary of reading too much in the way of policy implications into the figures because of the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday and a low base of comparison in 2009. “The trend remains positive for risky assets and gains will continue throughout March,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets Ltd in Hong Kong. “There is still some life left in the equity market rally,” he said but added there could be concerns in the second quarter about a double-dip recession as the stimulus packages run out. The Nikkei stock average was flat, also having hit six-week highs in recent sessions. But recall-hit Toyota Motor Corp fell 1.3% after a report that a Prius had sped out of control in the United States. “Money from overseas has been flowing into the Japanese market since late last year and that’s providing solid support,” said Hajime Nakajima, deputy general manager at Cosmo Securities. “But given the global macro situation, including credit worries in Europe, it’ll take a while until investors actually place Japan above ‘neutral´ in their portfolios,” Nakajima said. Those worries have hurt the euro and pound in Asian trade. The common currency had come under fresh pressure after Fitch ratings agency said it still has a negative outlook on Portugal’s credit rating. That fed concerns that peripheral euro zone economies may face debt problems similar to those of Greece, where a fiscal crisis has led investors to flee the euro in past weeks. The euro fell to a low of $1.3588, before bouncing back marginally but continues to trade just below $1.36. The pound was struggling at $1.5000, having been hit by weak data, and fears around its sovereign rating as well as credit ratings of its banks. Sterling has lost more than 7 percent this year on concerns Britain will be stuck with a political deadlock after the May election. Oil prices eased, extending overnight, after industry data showed a sharp build in US crude inventories. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 8:54 pm Tatas make a comeback in Assam - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 9 Mar 2010 | 8:45 pm US, Europe eye free-trade pacts with rising AsiaSingapore: The United States, fearful of being sidelined as China and other fast-growing Asian economies speed up their integration, is banking on a new trade pact to shore up its Pacific influence. Talks opening Monday in Melbourne will focus on a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement linking the US market with Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Officials hope the TPP will form the nucleus of a wider Asia-Pacific trade zone that would eventually rope in China, Japan and South Korea as well as key Southeast Asian nations. The talks will follow the launch of negotiations on a free-trade agreement between Singapore and the European Union, which is also keen on expanding trade ties with Southeast Asia. The United States and Europe have been shut out of a growing web of Asia-centric trade pacts spurred by the region’s 1997 financial crisis and by a lack of progress in the Doha round of global trade talks, analysts said. While the United States is “unquestionably” a Pacific power, it “lacks a comprehensive Asia strategy”, said Ernest Bower, a Southeast Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. “The lack of consistent US focus in the region has enabled the ascendance of Chinese power,” Bower said, adding that it could slowly undermine US business interests and eventually degrade US security capabilities. The new trade attention from the West comes as Asian countries lead the rest of the world in recovering from the global economic downturn. “That the US and the EU are knocking on Asia’s doors is a recognition that the centre of economic power is shifting, or has shifted, to our region,” an Asian diplomat closely involved in trade issues told AFP. “They know very well that ignoring Asia will be at their own peril. China is already a major trade partner for many Asian countries and is leading efforts toward regional economic integration,” he said on condition of anonymity. Deputy US trade representative Demetrios Marantis warned that Washington “faces the daunting prospect of getting locked out” by Asia-specific trade pacts. A study by the US-based Peterson Institute for International Economics showed that discriminatory policies under an East Asia free trade zone could cost the US economy at least 25 billion dollars of annual exports and lead to the loss of “about 200,000 high-paying jobs”. The United States has free-trade accords with Australia and Singapore and has also negotiated a trade pact with South Korea, but this has yet to be implemented due to fierce disputes over cars and beef. China has been more aggressive in wooing regional partners. An agreement between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) covering nearly two billion consumers went into effect this year, creating the world’s biggest free-trade area in terms of population. There are also efforts to form a larger, all-Asian free-trade zone spanning China, Japan, South Korea and the 10 ASEAN states. C. Fred Bergsten and Jeffrey Schott of the Peterson Institute hailed Washington’s decision to join the trans-Pacific talks in Australia. “Deepening US engagement with countries in the Asia-Pacific region is crucial for the advancement of both US economic and foreign policy interests,” Bergsten and Schott said in a recent paper. “Within the next few years, it is likely that the East Asian countries will deepen their economic ties and conclude both a regional trade agreement and a monetary agreement,” the authors said. Such a bloc would “draw a line” in the middle of the Pacific Ocean by discriminating against US exporters and investors, and excluding the United States from major regional economic and security forums, they said. Marantis acknowledged that overcoming crisis-hit Americans’ opposition to free-trade agreements is a key challenge. Surveys suggest that only about one in 10 Americans think that trade pacts create jobs, while more than half believe the accords lead to job losses at home, he said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 8:30 pm Airlines say no to costly snoop techAirlines, said sources, have told DGCA that the installing the cockpit door surveillance system in each aircraft costs upwards of $50,000.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Mar 2010 | 4:15 pm Keep off turf, finance ministry tells road panelAbout 75% of issues for second report pertained to the ministry.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:59 pm Microfinance rates may see big fallFormation of umbrella body will lead to cut in costs.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:58 pm Cairn sees Rajasthan reserves rising 25%Enhanced oil recovery techniques seen adding to output.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:56 pm NMDC may go in for monthly contractsHopes to benefit from likely increase in prices in coming months.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:55 pm Japanese partner drags Prithvi Info to courtAlleges criminal breach of trust and cheating by Hyderabad firm in BSNL deal.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:52 pm JSPL set to lose Al Mutun rightsBolivia moves to scrap JV deal, may encash co's $18m performance bond.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:50 pm India Business The Times of India - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:35 pm Investors richer by Rs 34L cr in a yearThe stock market witnessed a lacklustre trend on Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of the current rally, with the BSE sensex ending 50 points lower at 17,053 and turnover taking a dip.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:29 pm After 52 years, Daimler sells stake in Tata MotorsThe over fifty-year-old association between Daimler and Tata Motors came to an end as the German carmaker sold its entire 5.34% stake (2.56 crore shares) in India's largest automobile company for Rs 1,861 crore on Tuesday.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:27 pm Companies set to hire 10 lakh in '10-11It's official. Jobs are back. The organised sector in India is set to create close to a million new jobs in 2010-2011, according to a Ma Foi Employment Trends Survey.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:26 pm Ford brings Figo at Rs 3.49LFord launched its first small car Figo in the big-volume compact car segment with an aggressive pricing of Rs 3.49 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), significantly below rivals like Maruti Ritz and Hyundai i10.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:25 pm AB Minacs buys UK-based BPOThe Aditya Birla Group's BPO/IT arm Aditya Birla Minacs has acquired UK-based Compass BPO, a pure-play finance and accounting (F&A) services provider.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Mar 2010 | 1:21 pm Did the UPA government play its trump card? Push gender budgeting The 50% increase in allocations for the ministry of women and child development, the nodal ministry for women, in Union Budget 2010-11, is indeed welcome, given that the ministry has suffered from paltry allocations for most of its schemes. The challenge now would be to ensure that these better outlays result in better outcomes for women. But while analysing allocations for women, it is important to look beyond this ministry as several other ministries allocate and spend on women and this is where the gender budgeting statement (GBS), which compiles allocations on women from across different ministries and departments, gains significance. While as a first step, the current efforts towards gender budgeting are welcome, it has now been five years since it was first introduced in the budget and there is an urgent need to take it beyond an exercise largely limited to paper to one that translates to better outlays and outcomes for women. Analysing the figures reflected in GBS since 2007-08—as the methodology of GBS seems comparable and more consistent from 2007-08 onwards—allocations for women across various ministries and departments after stagnating last year at 5.5% of the total expenditure, has gone up to 6.1% in 2010-11. Though this is welcome, it is important to remind ourselves that at a per capita level, this still translates to an allocation of approximately Rs1,200 per woman per annum, which is low by any standards. Analysing GBS alone gives an incomplete picture. While, it is important to acknowledge the new initiatives for women, including the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana, which could go a long way towards providing maternity benefits to women in the unorganized sector, and Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojna for women in agriculture, several burning issues are still crying for attention, such as adequate provisioning for the domestic violence law, minimum wages for front-line workers such as anganwadi workers and helpers and accredited social health activists in the flagship schemes such as Integrated Child Development Services and the National Rural Health Mission. Dalits still at margins? Budgets are symptomatic of the deeper malaise in society and the one figure that says it all is the unit costs for the Centrally sponsored scheme for pre-matric scholarship to children of those scheduled castes (SCs) engaged in unclean occupations, which stood at a meagre Rs40 per month, to Rs75 per month. The finance minister’s admission of this in his speech and a clear commitment to “…revise rates of scholarship under its post-matric scholarship schemes for SCs and OBC (other backward classes) students, which is long overdue”, is welcome. The promise of implementation of the special component plan for SCs and tribal sub-plan (16% of Plan allocations for SCs and 8% for STs), though, remains elusive even after 30 years of the promise being made, as we are still only half-way round the mark (7.2% for SCs and 4.3% for scheduled tribes in Union Budget 2010-11). Bottleneck for minorities In response to the Sachar committee recommendations, several development programmes and schemes were launched to address the development deficit that minority communities face. This year’s Budget has brought about an increase of 50% in the Plan allocations for the ministry of minority affairs. However, a closer look at these initiatives shows that these have yielded limited deliverable outputs. Actual expenditure as a percentage of Budget estimates for the ministry of minority affairs has been as low as 39% and 62% for 2007-08 and 2008-09, respectively. Bottlenecks in implementation plague most of the schemes of the ministry. In particular, evidence from across India seems to suggest that the Prime Minister’s 15-point programme has remained largely on paper as there is very little or no awareness about it either in the community or among the officials who are supposed to implement them. A survey done by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan across several states shows that the response of officials ranged from “hamey koi information nahin hai (we have no information)” to “why should there be special schemes for Muslims?” Bias among implementing agency officials needs to be addressed if the government is serious about effectively implementing these schemes. The columnist is, director, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability Send your comments to feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 12:45 pm Quick Edit | The daughters of IndiaIt is tough being a woman in India. Girls get murdered in the womb, daughters are usually the first to be pulled out of school, legal rights that are on paper are often denied to wives in practice, some have to face violence at home and on the streets, work is given based on gender stereotypes, and even professional firms have glass ceilings. The noisy debates on the proposed law to keep aside one-third of parliamentary seats for women centre on an imperfect way to give women more voice in decisions. But it is also time to be aware of the stark economic inequalities between Indian men and women. A new report released on Monday by the United Nations Development Programme shows that the average Indian male earned more than three times the average Indian female did in 2007—$4,102 versus $1,304, based on purchasing power parity. One possible reason is that women tend to get trapped in low-value work because it is deemed to be more suitable for them, including farm work in the villages and household work in the cities. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 12:45 pm Six sources of limitless energy?We’re surrounded by inexhaustible clean-energy sources—the sun, the wind, the ocean, plants, atoms, the earth’s core—but the technology and economic rationale for tapping them have lagged behind our imaginations. The world’s insatiable and destructive appetite for energy is now making some of the more far-fetched clean-energy concepts seem increasingly plausible and necessary. Here we survey six innovative energy technologies in various stages of development. Some of these ideas have been tinkered with by scientists and entrepreneurs for decades; others moved from drawing boards to pilot projects only recently. All have serious backing and profound potential—and none are a sure bet. Also See (Graphic) 1. HIGH WINDS The idea: Conventional wind turbines stop when the wind dies. Turbine-bearing balloons or rotors could intercept powerful, reliable winds 1,000 to 15,000 feet up. Key players: Ottawa-based Magenn Power expects to ship the world’s first commercial high-altitude turbine—a 60-foot-diameter helium-filled blimp—by 2010. In fact: There’s potentially enough high-altitude wind energy to power the planet 100 times over. Whether technology hurdles can be overcome and the energy can be economically exploited remain to be seen. 2. GREEN CRUDE The idea: Biofuels made from plant oils require multistep harvesting and processing. Genetically engineered algae could streamline production by continuously secreting oil to be refined into transport fuel. Key players: Synthetic Genomics, led by human-genome entrepreneur J. Craig Venter, and Sapphire Energy, backed by Bill Gates, are engineering algae to produce a “biocrude” precursor to gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. In fact: Algae fuel exists but can’t yet be economically produced. Still, scores of companies, including aerospace firms and oil majors, are investing heavily. The U.S. government earmarked $50 million for algae-fuel work this year. 3. NEXT WAVE The idea: Wave-motion energy can be captured to run electrical generators. Key player: At least three dozen companies are developing wave-energy technologies. Scotland’s Pelamis Wave Power makes the device that drives the world’s first commercial wave farm, commissioned in 2008 off the coast of Portugal. Each 13-foot-diameter machine can supply enough electricity to power 500 homes. In fact: Though wave power isn’t yet competitive, a Greentech Media/Prometheus Institute analysis put the market for ocean power of all types at $500 million annually in five years, growing 100-fold to a gigawatt of capacity. 4. STAR POWER The idea: Nuclear fusion—the atomic reaction that powers stars—could be used to generate clean energy. Key player: In 2010, the U.S. National Ignition Facility will focus 192 lasers on a tiny hydrogen-filled capsule to ignite a fusion reaction expected to yield more energy than it consumes—a critical first on the road to fusion power. In fact: Scientists have pursued this goal for 50 years; the U.S. government alone has spent more than $20 billion on fusion research. Even so, the first experiments using fusion as a power source may be at least 15 years off. 5. DEEP HEAT The idea: Conventional geothermal plants can tap heat only near the earth’s surface. Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), which inject cool water two miles or deeper into the earth for superheating, can work nearly anywhere. Key player: Dozens of R&D projects on EGS are under way internationally. Australian company Geodynamics Ltd expects to switch on a one-megawatt pilot plant, among the world’s biggest, in early 2010. In fact: With readily achievable technology improvements, EGS could become a major sustainable and economical source of power, says the U.S. Department of Energy. 6. ETERNAL SUNSHINE The idea: Terrestrial solar cells are hampered by clouds, dust, and nightfall. Orbiting cells could capture the sun’s energy 24 hours a day, nearly every day of the year, and then beam it in radio waves to Earth. Key player: Start-up Solaren has a contract with California’s Pacific Gas and Electric to deliver the first electricity from space starting in 2016. In fact: NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy have spent about $80 million over the past 30 years sporadically studying the concept, concluding that it’s technically feasible but tough to make competitive. Gardiner Morse is a senior editor at Harvard Business Review. Extracted from Harvard Business Review, September 2009. ©2010 Harvard Business Publishing Graphic by Bryan Christie Design Content provided by Harvard Business Publishing Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 12:45 pm India tops Manpower survey on hiring growth in next quarterBangalore: India has topped a survey of 36 countries predicting the job market for April-June 2010 as companies across sectors look to increase their headcount. The study by human resources firm Manpower Inc. pegs India’s seasonally adjusted net employment outlook for the three months at 39%, or four percentage points higher than for January-March.  Graphic: Yogesh Kumar/Mint The net employment outlook is the difference between the number of employers who expect to raise their headcount and the number who intend to reduce it, adjusted for seasonal variations. “Employers remain optimistic on account of strong domestic growth,” said Sanjay Pandit, managing director of Manpower’s Indian arm, in a statement on Tuesday. “We are witnessing improved opportunities for job seekers across all industry sectors, with employers indicating that hiring in India’s services and finance, insurance and real estate sectors will accelerate in the months ahead,” he added. The survey had a sample size of 61,000 employers, including 5,381 from India. It is carried out in the last month of every quarter, predicting the hiring trend for the next. In December, Manpower had predicted India’s net employment outlook for January-March at 39%, but this was reduced to 35% after the latest round of data collection and seasonal adjustment. The latest outlook has climbed 16 percentage points over the same period last year, when the country was battling an economic slowdown, marking a substantial recovery in the job market. India’s economy is forecast to grow 7.2% in the fiscal ending 31 March, according to advance estimates by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO). Priya Chetty-Rajagopal, vice-president at executive search firm Stanton Chase International, says hiring has picked up and will be sustainable. “In terms of fundamentals, there is an upsurge in engineering and manufacturing. IT (information technology) has also shown a surprisingly robust upturn,” she said. Firms across sectors expect to increase their headcount over the year-ago period. The services sector, which includes IT, telecom and hospitality, leads the way with a net employment outlook of 48%. Hiring plans have strengthened in finance, insurance, real estate and manufacturing compared with January-March. Employers in most major labour markets around the world intend to hire in the second quarter at a pace equal to or stronger than the same period last year. poornima.m@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 12:45 pm Do you really need all that data? Four questions to ask yourselfOrganizations love data: numbers, reports, trend lines, graphs, spreadsheets—the more the better. And, as a result, many organizations have a substantial internal factory that churns out data on a regular basis, as well as external resources on call that produce data for onetime studies and questions. But what’s the evidence (or dare I say “the data”) that all of this data is worth the cost and indeed leads to better business decisions? Is some amount of data collection unnecessary, perhaps even damaging by creating complexity and confusion? Let’s look at a quick case study: For many years the CEO of a premier consumer products company insisted on a monthly business review process that was highly data-intensive. At its core was a “book” that contained cost and sales data for every product sold in the company, broken down by business unit, channel, geography, and consumer segment. This book (available electronically but always printed by the executive team) was several inches thick. It was produced each month by many hundreds of finance, product management, and information technology people who spent thousands of hours collecting, assessing, analyzing, reconciling, and sorting the data.  Photo: iStockphoto Obviously different CEOs have different needs for data. Some want their decisions to be based on as much hard data as possible; others want just enough data to either reinforce or challenge their intuition; and still others may prefer a combination of hard, analytical data with anecdotal and qualitative input. These preferences at the top of the company often influence the “data culture” that is created. In all cases, though, managers would do well to ask themselves four questions about their data process as a way of improving the return on what is often a substantial (but not always visible) investment: 1. Are we asking the right questions? Many companies collect the data that is available, rather than the data that is needed to help make decisions and run the business. So the starting point for simplifying and improving data processes is to be clear about a limited number of key questions that you want the data to help you answer—and then focus the data collection around those rather than everything else that is possible. 2. Does our data tell a story? Most data comes in fragments. To be useful, these individual bits of information need to be put together into a coherent explanation of the business situation, which means integrating data into a “story”. While “enterprise data systems” have been useful in driving consistent data definitions so that things can be added and compared, they don’t automatically create the story. Instead, managers should consider in advance what data is needed to convey the story that they will be required to tell. 3. Does our data help us look ahead rather than behind? Most of the data that is collected in companies tells managers how they performed in a past period—but is less effective in predicting future performance. Therefore it is important to ask what data, at what time frames, will help us get ahead of the curve instead of just reacting. 4. Do we have a good mix of quantitative and qualitative data? Neither quantitative nor qualitative data tells the whole story. For example, to make good product and pricing decisions, we need to know not only what is being sold to whom, but also why some products are selling more than others. Clearly business data and its analysis are critical for organizations to succeed—which is underscored by the fact that companies like IBM are investing billions of dollars in acquisitions in the business intelligence and analytics space. But even the best automated tools won’t be effective unless managers are clear about the questions raised above. What’s your assessment of data in your company? Ron Ashkenas is a managing partner of Robert H. Schaffer & Associates and a co-author of The GE Work-Out and The Boundaryless Organization. His latest book is Simply Effective (HBS Press, 2009). This article was published on www.hbr.org (http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2010/03/do-you-need-all-that-data.html) on March 1, 2010. ©2010 Harvard Business Publishing Content provided by Harvard Business Publishing Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 12:45 pm The Mint report for 09 March 2010After two days of uproar and chaos, the Rajya Sabha finally passed the Women’s Reservation Bill on Tuesday. Support for the bill was overwhelming, with 186 votes in favour of it and just one vote against it. The passage of the bill represents a major political victory for the ruling Congress party even though it has lost the support of parties like the RJD and the Samajwadi Party in the bargain. The Women’s Reservation Bill provides 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha, and in state Assemblies. Because the bill was a constitutional amendment, it needed at least half the members of the house to be present and at least two-thirds of those present to support it. Tata Consultancy Services may have won a major contract from the UK government, but politics could put it in jeopardy. The UK’s opposition Conservative party has promised to review the contract if it comes to power after elections in June. The party has criticized the UK government for awarding the long-term contract just months before the country goes to the polls. The contract in question is a Rs4,150 crore agreement to administer a pension programme called the National Employment Savings Trust. Ford is hoping its new vehicle will help it break into India’s small car market. On Tuesday, the company unveiled its new global small car, the Figo. Petrol versions of the Figo will cost just Rs350,000 while diesel versions will cost about Rs488,000. Also in auto news, Hero Honda is planning a major expansion in its production capacity. It says it’s going to build a second factory that will be able to churn out 600,000 vehicles. Hero Honda’s new factory will cost Rs470 crore and will become operational in the second half of 2011. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh says India will now associate itself with last year’s climate accord in Copenhagen. The move adds India to a list of more than one hundred countries other than China that are party to the agreement. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 12:20 pm So, where do you house consumer protection? No, that’s not a trick question. The American Bankers Association and its lobbying brethren, including the Financial Services Roundtable, sent a letter last week around Capitol Hill pressing their case that the US Federal Reserve should supervise them. On Monday night, they seemed to have lost part of that battle as senators tentatively agreed to limit the Fed’s regulatory power over just the biggest banks. Now the debate is going to move to the much-discussed consumer protection agency should also end up under the Fed’s purview. Their preference for the Fed in itself raises a question about its ability to regulate the banks for the benefit of the system. And it points to a larger debate over where a consumer protection agency should be housed. Should such an agency have true independence—in effect, its own street address—as many Democrats believe it should, so that it has real power to act on its own? Or should it be given the equivalent of a room in the basement of the Fed, next to the janitor’s closet—as the bankers themselves and many Republicans would prefer? That the debate has devolved into an issue of location, location, location is yet another reminder of how the urgency of the financial crisis now feels like a mud-slog. This week, senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the senate committee on banking, housing and urban affairs, is expected to finally unveil the Senate’s version of a financial reform bill. It may address some of the big-ticket items that are supposed to avoid another financial fiasco on a global scale— such as higher capital requirements for banks to reduce risk, some version of a resolution authority to wind down failing investments banks (such as Lehman Brothers) and insurance giants (such as American International Group Inc.), and perhaps a say-on-pay plan. But the fate of the proposed consumer protection agency remains the biggest question mark. The US administration first proposed the idea of an independent watchdog for consumers to safeguard the citizenry from predatory lenders and fine print. Its impact would be limited, truth be told. It would do virtually nothing to change the undergirding of Wall Street and its risky products, such as derivatives and collaterized debt obligations, that helped put the system at risk. Worse, at least according to the latest reports about drafts of the Bill, the agency may not have any oversight of nonbanks such as wholesale lenders—such as Ameriquest and Thornburg—which were largely responsible for some of the worst subprime loans to people who could not afford them. Nonetheless, it is hard to argue against the notion of consumer protection. Democrats have made the agency a requirement of any reform legislation. Republicans have argued that it is unnecessary given that regulators already have the power over banks‘behaviour (even though regulators didn’t use those powers when they needed to). So the debate has turned to the question of who should run this agency. The Democrats want it to be run independently; Republicans and most of the banks want it inside Federal Reserve, where they say it will be free of political influence. “We haven’t seen the details yet, but believe that consumer protection and bank supervision should be housed under the same roof,” said Scott Talbott, senior vice-president for government affairs for the Financial Services Roundtable. Edward L. Yingling, president of the American Bankers Association, differs somewhat with Talbott. He says, “We don’t care where you put it,” adding that their position has always been “we're totally against it”. Word is that Dodd’s reform proposal, which seems to get more watered down by the day, would make the agency part of the Fed, an idea that has Rep. Barney Frank up in arms. “After all the Fed bashing we’ve heard? The Fed’s such a weak engine, so let’s give them consumer protection? It’s almost a bad joke,” Frank told Politico last week. In fairness, if everyone were to agree that the agency is not going to be independent, the Federal Reserve may be the best place for it, given that it is one of the few places in Washington with an understanding of the banking system and markets. The Securities and Exchange Commission would seem like a natural place for a consumer protection group because part of its mission is, ostensibly, to protect consumers in the stock market. But its recent track record is not stellar. What’s so interesting about the battle over the proposed consumer protection agency is that Republicans have painted the Obama administration as being in the tank with Wall Street. But now they are the ones that seem to be helping Wall Street this time around. ©2010/THE NEW YORK TIMES Respond to this column at feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 12:18 pm SBI prefers to go for rights issue: BhattSBI might not go for a dilution in government stake to about 51% as proposed in the SBI (Amendment) Bill 2010, which was placed in Parliament on Monday.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Mar 2010 | 12:11 pm 'India most optimistic'India continued to be the most optimistic nation in terms of hiring plans for the next three months, global staffing services firm Manpower said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 9 Mar 2010 | 12:10 pm Kerala govt to enlist children to cut power consumptionKochi: The Kerala government is looking to enlist children in a novel proposal to reduce electricity consumption. As part of his budget proposal, finance minister Thomas Isaac has suggested a scheme in which tradable stamps, or coupons, will be awarded to households that cut back on power consumption. “Though the exact value of the dividend (stamps) is yet to be finalized…, it will be for a certain amount of units reduced, say, Re1 for every 10 units reduced,” Isaac told Mint. Kerala has a power deficit of about 500MW. The scheme is aimed at children, who typically collect stamps. They can exchange them for books, or even among themselves. Some discussions have already been held with publishers and bookstores in the state, Isaac said. “It will create such awareness among them, which will also result in their enthusiasm to collect stamps,” he added. The base value for measuring cutbacks will be the average household electricity consumption in the previous year. “Stamps of various denominations will be issued to the consumer on a monthly basis,” the minister said, adding that such stamps could also be used to buy goods from state civil supplies corporation stores. ajay.m@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 12:08 pm GE launches CT system manufacturing facility Bangalore: Following General Electric Co. (GE) chief executive Jeffrey Immelt’s October announcement that in five years 50-75% of GE Healthcare products would be made in India, the latter inaugurated its CT (computed tomography) system manufacturing facility on Tuesday and rolled out its first locally made high-end imaging machine.  Strategic leap: GE Healthcare president and CEO John Dineen. Hemant Mishra / Mint For GE Healthcare, the $17 billion (Rs77,350 crore) healthcare division of GE, this is a strategic leap as it becomes the only company manufacturing new CT imaging systems in India. “We are happy to lead this transformation of made-in-India solutions for India and the world. It is possible because we made an early start,” said John Dineen, president and chief executive, GE Healthcare. “This is an important year when the rest of the market dropped, Indian market grew.” The low-cost, dual-slice CT system, HiSpeed Dual, sells for about $200,000 globally and will be 10% cheaper in India due to local manufacturing; the company hopes to lower the cost further in the future. However, the 5% increase in excise duty announced in this year’s Budget will result in passing on the cost reduction to the customer to the desired extent, said V. Raja, president and chief executive of GE Healthcare, South Asia. The CT system has so far been manufactured only in Beijing in a facility that produces about 200 units. Given local demand, GE will manufacture 40 units, doubling it within a year. The facility also becomes the exclusive manufacturing site for Gold Seal products, the GE brand for refurbished products, and will supply single and dual-slice CTs to the global market. With three manufacturing facilities and a research and development centre in India, GE says it is “very impressed with the progress” it is making in conceiving new products that require cost-effective architecture to make them affordable. As the company expands its manufacturing capacity, it is also looking beyond its 150-strong network of dealers. “We’re looking to add direct feet on the street as well as tie up with partners, such as pharmaceutical companies, who have wider reach,” said Raja. seema.s@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 11:58 am India Inc faces higher gratuity provisioningOver 50 per cent of Indian companies will have to make higher provisions in their balance sheets as gratuity expenses. This follows last weeks Union Cabinet decision to raise the tax-free ceiling of gratuity payable to private sector employees from Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 9 Mar 2010 | 11:49 am RBI to amend rules to control NBFCs turning LLPsThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to amend its rules to pre-empt non banking finance companies (NBFCs) from misusing the liberal rules governing limited liability partnership (LLP) firms.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 9 Mar 2010 | 11:47 am States in one-upmanship on crop loan ratesIn their efforts to show that their hearts bleed the most for farmers, several state governments are turning competitive in providing crop loans at concessional or even zero rates of interest.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 9 Mar 2010 | 11:46 am Now, nuclear liabilities bill under a cloudBJP says no quid pro quo as SP, RJD withdraw support over womens Bill.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 9 Mar 2010 | 11:44 am We are actively looking at growing organically and inorganicallyNashik: The world’s second-largest drug maker by sales, Glaxo SmithKline Plc., is actively looking at acquisition opportunities in India as part of its growth strategy, its chief executive Andrew Witty said in an interview.  Growth strategy: Witty says the firm will always have its key focus on the branded business and will also look at external research collaboration.Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint As part of an overall change in your global strategy, are you emphasizing a major shift in the business model in India? India continues to be a critical market for GSK. Our Indian model was always a combination of branded generics and innovative brands and it will continue to be so...We tried different approaches and the success has been phenomenal. We have introduced several new vaccines, a few even produced here, and there will be more from our development pipeline. GSK India is sitting on a cash reserve of more than Rs1,500 crore. What are the strategies to leverage this money to enhance shareholder value? We continue to look at opportunities to use cash on our books. As part of our strategy, we are actively looking at growing organically and inorganically. These opportunities will be evaluated based on a variety of factors, including the strategic nature of the fit. There were reports that GSK was in talks with some Indian drug makers to acquire them. I will be dishonest if I say that the company is not looking for acquiring assets in India. But we are not interested in pure generics play and such models followed by Ranbaxy (Laboratories Ltd) and Dr Reddy(’s Laboratories Ltd). We may look at opportunities including brands in pharmaceuticals and consumer healthcare that would offer real value-for-money. Many top drug makers have few products in the pipeline and there aren’t many high-value molecules coming out of their drug discovery activities. Will GSK face similar difficulties by focusing mainly on its branded business? We are confident that our current research spend of $3.95 billion (Rs18,000 crore) a year is capable to support our branded business portfolio. The company has at least a dozen late-stage molecules coming up for the market. GSK will always have its key focus on (the) branded business. We will also look at external research collaboration. Many of your rivals have initiated separate generic business model in India. Almost all pharmaceutical companies have adopted a slightly varying model to approach (the) branded generic business. GSK’s strategy is about access and making high-quality medicines available to the maximum number of patients. And this strategy is here to stay. How do you perceive the regulatory and intellectual property regime in India? We are very positive about the transformation that India is now pursuing on the intellectual property as well as drug regulatory regime. One should have patience to wait for the real convergence of any new legislative regime and should not expect any overnight changes. With the WHO programme, GSK offers albendazole free in countries where filaria is prevalent. Will you also reduce prices of more high-cost drugs for widely prevalent diseases across markets? We support (the) filaria eradication project and have programmes for many other tropical diseases under our CSR (corporate social responsibility). In India itself, we have 8-9 such projects going on. But reduced or differential pricing may not be always a solution, though we have adopted such plans in many countries according to their economic conditions, in addition to joining the free patent pool, which is open for generic manufacturing. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 11:16 am Figo breaks the price barrier New Delhi: Auto makers are resorting to aggressive pricing to race ahead in India’s increasingly competitive small car market. Price announcements are now as closely watched as the cars themselves, prompting analysts to wonder how profitable these ventures would be in the short term. Ford launched its small car, the Figo, on Tuesday at its lowest priced version just below the psychologically important Rs3.5 lakh mark—at Rs3.49 lakh. The company said low price levels are here to stay. “We’re all learning to compete at lower price points,” said Joseph Hinrichs, president (Asia-Pacific and Africa) at Ford Motor Co. “We will make money on this product.” Click here to view a slideshow on India’s most affordable cars Local sourcing of parts has helped Ford keep the price low. The company said 85% of the Figo will be made of parts manufactured in India. This will also reduce maintenance costs for customers—a key barometer of competitiveness in this segment. Ford is not alone. A number of companies in the segment of small cars—defined as cars under 4m in length with an engine capacity below 1200cc—are enticing consumers with teaser prices. Small cars make up 70% of car sales in India. Ford’s rival General Motors Co. (GM), which launched its Beat model in January, started pricing at Rs3.34 lakh. The firm says it has received 17,000 orders in the last two months. GM expects it to help realize its target of cornering a 10% market share by next year. In February, German car maker Volkswagen AG’s (VW) Indian subsidiary entered the small car segment with the Polo hatchback. Pricing starts at Rs4.34 lakh and the company has received 1,500 orders. “I don’t think they’ll make money initially. They’re all playing the market share game,” said Jatin Chawla, an analyst at IIFL Capital. Unlike Ford, GM and VW are circumspect in replying to questions about the profitability of recently launched small cars. “That’s difficult to answer,” said Neeraj Garg, director at Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt. Ltd. But he said the company would hold firm on these prices in the foreseeable future. The Polo has only 50% local content. Analysts say the company could reduce its price as it adds more parts made in India. GM points out the price announced for the Beat was for a limited period and should be revised soon. “The aim is to gain market share and gradually increase prices,” said P. Balendran, vice-president of corporate affairs at GM India. However, India’s top three car makers—MarutiSuzuki India Ltd, Hyundai Motor India Ltd and Tata Motors Ltd—are staying out of the price war. Analysts say they have high brand recall and a dealer network that the newer entrants cannot match. The next round of small car launches is expected towards the end of the year, when Honda Motor Co. Ltd and Toyota Motor Corp. launch hatchbacks designed and engineered for the Indian market. Honda has already said it won’t play the price game, while Toyota is tightlipped. samar.s@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:23 am NMDC FPO in Rs 300 350 price bandIron ore producer NMDC on Tuesday announced its follow on public offer of shares from March 10.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:10 am Apollo to open 20 hospitals this yearApollo Hospitals Group will set up 20 hospitals this year at a cost of Rs 1,800 crore, its chairman, Dr Prathap C Reddy, told Hindustan Times.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:07 am Govt plans Educational Finance CorpThe government is planning several legislative amendments to encourage private participation in the field of higher education.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:05 am Sony carves out India marketConsumer electronics giant Sony sees India as a major market, and to pursue rapid growth here it will hive off its India operations into a new geographical division.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 9 Mar 2010 | 10:02 am Sony to launch 3D TVs in June, rivals SamsungTokyo: Sony Corp will launch 3D televisions in June, entering an increasingly crowded market that is betting the revolutionary TV will become the next hot product in the electronics industry. The maker of Bravia flat TVs hopes 3D models to make up 10% of more than 25 million LCD TVs it aims to sell in the next financial year. Sony’s chief executive Howard Stringer holds high hopes of a shift to 3D as it will likely give a boost to many of its business operations, which range from TVs, digital cameras and Blu-ray DVD players to video games. “Sony is a formidable competitor to Samsung because it is leading the game industry. It will likely be ardent game players who will first buy 3D TVs as an early adopter,” said Alex Oh, an analyst at Hanwha Securities in Seoul. “In that sense, Sony, which is envisioning a comprehensive entertainment company, will take advantage of its game business, contents and movies, compared with Samsung and LG which remain focused on hardwares.” Behind industry leader Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Sony is vying with LG Electronics Inc for the position as the world’s No.2 flat TV maker. The maker of the PlayStation 3 game console plans to release 3D game software around June in time for TV launch. Last month, Samsung started offering 3D TVs in South Korea and said it would launch them globally this month with the aim of selling at least 2 million 3D TVs this year. Panasonic Corp, the fourth-largest, plans to launch its 3D TVs in the United States on Wednesday and says it will cooperate with top US electronics retailer Best Buy Co in promoting them. Many TV makers hope the new technology will be as big a boost for the industry as the transition to color TVs from black and white. However, some analysts noted many consumers have only just unboxed new high-definition TV screens, making them unwilling to spend on another upgrade any time soon. From Theatre To Living Room Sony will begin selling 3D TVs in Japan on 10 June and plans to launch in the overseas market around the same time. The electronics and entertainment conglomerate expects a model with a 46-inch screen to sell for ¥350,000 ($3,875) including two pairs of 3D glasses, a 52% premium over its latest regular LCD TV with a comparable screen size. Following the midday announcement in Tokyo, shares of Sony extended recent gains and ended up 1.1% at ¥3,330, a 17-month closing high. The benchmark Nikkei average fell 0.2%. Sony shares have been on an uptrend in recent weeks after its TV operations posted a quarterly profit for the first time in two years in October-December, raising hopes the business could book a first annual profit in seven years in the new year from April. The more than 25 million LCD TVs Sony aims to sell in the next financial year compared with its own forecast of 15 million it plans to sell in the financial year ending this month. “We at Sony will liberate 3D from the confines of movie theatres and make it something that people can enjoy at home,” Sony senior vice president Yoshihisa Ishida told a news conference. The sci-fi blockbuster Avatar and other recent titles have sparked massive interest in 3D movies, and electronics makers are now rushing to get flat panel TVs with three-dimensional visual effects to the market. Global demand for 3D TVs will likely reach 15.6 million units in 2013 from an estimated 1.2 million units this year, according to research firm DisplaySearch. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 5:01 am BMW global February sales up 14% to 91,758 carsFrankfurt: German carmaker BMW AG says its global February group sales increased 14% from a year earlier to 91,758 cars for the month. The Munich-based company said Tuesday it delivered 78,248 cars of the BMW brand, up 13%. The Mini brand is up 16% to 13,443 cars and the Rolls Royce brand is unchanged over February 2008 at 67 cars sold. BMW is the world’s largest luxury carmaker. It says its motorcycle division also saw a near 25% increase in deliveries for the month to 5,485 vehicles. BMW says it is seeing “a definite upturn” in almost all markets and that group sales for the first two months of the year are more than 15% higher than a year earlier. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 4:55 am Audi sees rise in 2010 profit, not out of the woodsIngolstadt, Germany: German luxury carmaker Audi contributed the bulk of earnings and cash in 2009 to parent Volkswagen and expects better results this year as it launches a dozen new models, including the A1 subcompact. “The worst of the crisis appears to be behind us, but we are not yet able to give the all-clear for 2010,” Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler said on Tuesday. “It would be a classic case of counting our proverbial chickens if we were to claim now that we had survived the global financial and economic crisis. There are signs that this is going to take much longer to improve than is widely being assumed.” VW’s entire warchest of €10.6 billion ($14.42 billion) at the end of last year — which it will dip into to pay for an acquisition spree — would have effectively been zero were it not for Audi’s net cash position. Despite a severe slump in car markets that particularly hurt premium carmakers last year, Audi slimmed down its inventories to help boost net cash flow by 21% to €2.32 billion. Audi finance chief Axel Strotbek forecast higher revenue and operating profit as the brand exceeds the one-million mark in vehicle sales this year. In its annual report, the Ingolstadt-based carmaker expected retail volumes, turnover, earnings and margins to improve next year as well. Although operating profit slumped by 42% last year, income from interest on its huge cash pile as well as financial currency hedges lifted its earnings to €1.93 billion before tax — exceeding even that of parent VW by nearly 670 million. By comparison, Daimler’s luxury arm Mercedes posted an operating loss of half a billion euros last year and BMW has said only it was profitable. “Times have changed. We are no longer the hunter, we are the hunted,” Stadler said, reaffirming Audi’s goal to be the number one premium carmaker in the world in the next five years. That would help VW achieve its goal of dethroning Toyota Motor Corp as the world’s top carmaker before the decade is out. Moving Downmarket Unlike rivals Mercedes and BMW, Audi can share development and production costs for its fleet with over 5 million other vehicles built elsewhere within the massive Volkswagen empire. This becomes increasingly important as premium carmakers are forced to move downmarket, offering smaller models and engine families to cut their carbon footprint and boost fuel efficiency ahead of ever-stricter emission regulations. Audi expects to produce around 50,000 A1 subcompacts in 2010, which it also hopes will rejuvenate the brand by targeting younger customers when it arrives at dealerships in August. It has hired US popstar Justin Timberlake to help ensure it sells 80,000 to 100,000 units of the car in its first full production year. Mercedes and BMW by comparison are looking for larger partners such as Renault and Peugeot Citroen to help cut costs for their compact car models. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 9 Mar 2010 | 4:50 am
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