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Reliance not seen renewing Iran crude import dealReliance Industries will not renew a contract to import crude oil from Iran for financial year 2010, two sources familiar with the supply deal said on ThursdaySource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Apr 2010 | 5:29 am Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can PayThe book has a nice and easy explanation of the banking system, which was the epicentre of the crisisSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Apr 2010 | 5:29 am Food prices may come down after rabi harvest: FM - Oneindia
Source: Business - Google News | 3 Apr 2010 | 3:37 am Greek PM calls for end to cronyism, keeps supportATHENS (Reuters) - The worst of Greece's financial crisis is over but the debt-stricken country must tackle cronyism and cut back on waste to emerge a stronger nation, Prime Minister George Papandreou said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Apr 2010 | 3:19 am Professional line-sitter not to get the world's first iPad!Professional line-sitter Greg Packer, who was also the first American to get the iPhone at its launch in 2007, lost his front position in the line on Friday because he had not reserved his iPad.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 3 Apr 2010 | 3:10 am Sensex extends weekly gains for 8th week; closes up 48 ptsThe Sensex continued its northward journey for the eighth straight week ending higher by 48 points at 17,793.01 points on weekly basis after sustained buying by foreign funds.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 3 Apr 2010 | 2:32 am Food prices may ease after rabi harvest: Pranab MukherjeeThe finance minister said India needed 18 million tonnes of pulses while production was only 14 million tonnes.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Apr 2010 | 2:26 am Food prices may ease after rabi harvest: PranabBlaming the inflation on the supply bottleneck, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has said prices of food grains are expected to come down after the rabi harvest.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 3 Apr 2010 | 1:21 am Census will help govt plan development work: PMNew Delhi: Terming the census data as a “treasure house” of information, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said it will help the government plan its development work. Singh, who was enumerated for the Census here, requested each citizen to participate in the national endeavour and ensure that every person is included in the exercise. “This enumeration will constitute a treasure house of information for planning our development work,” he said. He said the Census of India is the most massive operation for compiling statistics anywhere in the world. “Some of this data forms an important base for planning the level of our economic and social activities and it constitutes an important input in the processes of planning and development.” The biggest Census exercise ever to be attempted in human history to cover India’s 1.2 billion population began on 1 April with President Pratibha Patil being the first to be enumerated in the decennial exercise. The 15th National Census, which will see over 25 lakh officials capturing the socio-economic-cultural profile of its citizens, will also seek information for the creation of the National Population Register. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Apr 2010 | 12:40 am Imports in Feb rise 66% to $25 bImports during February were $25 billion, up 66.4 per cent over $15 billion in the same month inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Compulsory education law is worth the paper it is written onWe may not know how children between 6 and 14 reacted when the law on compulsory elementary education took effect from April 1. But the thought of schools, application forms, loads of text-books, notebooks and exam papers has paper manufacturersSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am National Insurance cover for repeat cardiac surgeriesNow, you can get an insurance cover for redoing cardiac valve surgery in case of any failure in theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am PSU oil refiners' fuel loss may touch Rs 90,000 crPublic sector oil refining companies are bracing themselves for a tough 2010-11 with fuel losses expected to touch Rs 90,000 crore in the current crude oil priceSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Steel-makers raise prices the third time since JanuaryIt will be a lighter pocket for the common man as another price hike in the steel sector is poised to result in consumer products becoming more expensive. From cars to consumer durables, companies have announced or are in the process ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Direct tax mop-up exceeds Budget Estimate: PranabThe Finance Ministry may fall short of the Revised Estimate for direct taxes collections in 2009-10 even as the collection level is understood to have surpassed the Budget Estimate for the lastSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Taj Group may open more brands of hotelsThe Taj Group of Hotels is to further sharpen its brand focus, with more brands between its luxury and premium hotels, on the one hand, and the mid-market and budget offerings, on theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Mutual fund AUM down 5% in MarchThe mutual fund industry's average assets under management fell five per cent in March as banks and corporates withdrew from funds to feed their year-end liquidity needs, despite the Sensex rising 8.2 per cent during theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Trouble for sugar mills as molasses prices crashThe crash in sugar prices over the last month or so has impacted mills' realisations from molasses asSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Truck sales double in MarchTruck sales shot up by 99.3 per cent in March to 33,619 vehicles against 16,868 units during the same period inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am China's iPad look-alikes brace for the real thingApple's iPad has won rave early reviews but its US launch on Saturday is not welcome news for the Chinese maker of a similar-looking device that has already been on sale for nearly eight months.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Apr 2010 | 11:28 pm Japan's Kan expects China to make wise decision on yuanBEIJING (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister said on Saturday he told Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao he expects China to make a wise decision on the issue of its yuan currency amid international pressure for China to let its currency strengthen.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 11:03 pm Maruti raises prices of several carsAmong the models for which prices have been raised are the A-Star hatchback, which will cost about 1,000 rupees ($22) more, and the less-expensive Maruti 800, whose price will go up about 3,000 rupees.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 10:37 pm US has huge stake in closer ties with India: Timothy GeithnerThe US has huge mutual stake in closer economic ties with India and a key focus of treasury secretary Timothy Geithner's visit to New Delhi next week will be cooperation in the Group of 20.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 2 Apr 2010 | 10:34 pm Maruti raises prices of several carsMUMBAI (Reuters) - Top India carmaker Maruti Suzuki on Friday hiked prices of several models, saying it wanted to pass on to customers part of a rise in input costs and expenses related to complying with new emission norms.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 9:57 pm iPad still awaits the rushApple's iPad, the subject of frenzied industry speculation since its unveiling in January, has so far not drawn the hordes that ushered in the iPhone three years ago.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Apr 2010 | 9:31 pm Now, Air India faces hiring turbulence - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Apr 2010 | 9:07 pm JAL to cut more international routes - reportTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan Airlines Corp, which has filed for bankruptcy, expects to cut 29 international routes in the business year ending next March, more than an initially planned 16 routes, a newspaper reported on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 8:58 pm Feds oppose separate trials in insider trading caseNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Friday opposed a request by accused Galleon fund founder Raj Rajaratnam and his main co-defendant for separate trials in what prosecutors have described as the biggest hedge fund insider-trading case ever in the United States.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 7:07 pm No criminal charges seen in AIG's collapse - CBS News ExclusiveNEW YORK (Reuters) - CBS News reported late Friday that Joseph Cassano, the former AIG executive closely linked with the giant insurer's near collapse in September 2008, will meet with U.S. Justice Department attorneys next week in what will probably end the two-year criminal investigation into the company -- with no criminal charges likely to be filed.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 6:52 pm `40% employees plan to switch jobs in next 6 months`!A significant number of employees are planning to switch their current jobs within the next six months mainly due to prospects of higher salary in other companies, a survey by employment portal said.Source: Zee News : Business | 2 Apr 2010 | 5:46 pm Quote PAN, or else pay 20% tax: Taxmen to contractors!Not quoting the permanent account number (PAN) can cost the contractors and sub-contractors dear, as the budget proposal of taxing them at up to 20 percent instead of 1-2 percent comes into effect from Tuesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 2 Apr 2010 | 5:46 pm Wall St Week Ahead: Jobs, profit hopes may drive rallyNEW YORK (Reuters) - Optimism about an improving labur market and corporate profits could propel U.S. stocks higher next week as earnings season approaches.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 4:45 pm Summers: U.S. economy on path to growth - FTLONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is on the path to achieving self-sustaining growth, although the jobs outlook remains uncertain, White House economic adviser Larry Summers said in a newspaper interview to be published on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 3:30 pm Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act can apply retroactively tooThe amended law inter-alia grants coparcenary rights to daughters in a joint Hindu family governed by Mitakshara law.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 3:29 pm Handset market running out of steam?IDC numbers show sales static in 2009, even as new players took chunks away from biggiesSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 3:17 pm Steelmakers up prices Rs 2500/t, cite cost pushHowever, to pass on the full impact of the price rise, steelmakers will have to raise prices by another 6-7%.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 3:15 pm Steps that could help Air IndiaThe government has recently put forth a plan to offload 49% of its stake in Nacil, the holding company. There has also been much loose talk about privatisation being the only way to save the airline.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 3:12 pm Air India is sinking deeper into the redHaving four non-executive directors on the board who will meet briefly about half a dozen times a year will achieve little. It is mere window-dressing.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 3:10 pm Can Air India survive?The state-owned carrier is sinking deeper into the morass of debt and mismanagementSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 3:07 pm Govt lifts ban on new TV channelsThe information and broadcasting ministry is going to consider viability of plans and personnel experienceSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 3:05 pm Godrej aims pan-India presence in TVs this fiscalIn a month the company is rolling out its televisions in three states after which it will launch it in four other states over six months.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 3:03 pm Bhasin is CMD of Indian BankT M Bhasin has been appointed as the chairman and managing director of Indian Bank. He succeeds M S Sundarajan, who retired on Wednesday.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 2 Apr 2010 | 2:20 pm Toyota closes joint venture with GMToyota Motor Corp closed its joint manufacturing plant with General Motors Co in California after about 25 years of operation as a symbol of cooperation between the top US and Japanese automakers.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 2 Apr 2010 | 2:17 pm JSW Steel to invest $6bnJSW Steel on Friday said it plans to invest around Rs 25,000 crore in expanding the capacity of its Bellary plant in Karnataka by 6 million tonnes to 16 million tonnes in next three years.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 2 Apr 2010 | 2:12 pm SAIL hikes steel prices on input costState-owned steel major SAIL on Friday said it has increased prices of its products by up to Rs 2,500 a tonne mainly on account of rising input cost.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 2 Apr 2010 | 2:10 pm Get 30% subsidy for installing solar panelsTo encourage the use of solar energy, the government will soon announce a scheme by which it will bear 30 per cent of the cost of generating it on household rooftops, reports Chetan Chauhan.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Apr 2010 | 2:05 pm Statoil, Petrobras quit ONGC's KG gas fieldNorwegian oil major Statoil and Brazil's Petrobras have quit Oil and Natural Gas Corp's (ONGC) KG basin gas block over government delays in approving their participation in the deepwater acreage.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 2 Apr 2010 | 2:01 pm Air India runs 21 offices in cities it doesn’t fly toNational carrier Air India, with accumulated losses of Rs 7200 crore, maintains 21 overseas offices in cities to which it does not fly, reports Tushar Srivastava.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Apr 2010 | 2:01 pm U.S.' Geithner eyes improved odds on China yuan riseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday the Obama administration wants to "maximize the chances" that China will quickly lift the value of its yuan currency and expressed confidence Beijing would decide doing so was in its interest.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:57 pm Leg up for UP economy as cane payments pour in - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:54 pm Maruti hikes prices of some models - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:48 pm Investment norms for telcos easedThe RBI has liberalised investment norms for Indian telecom companies by allowing them to invest in international submarine cable consortia through automatic route.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:48 pm With talent shortage looming, IIM says no to faculty loan - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:47 pm Soul notesIn Indian classical music there is a concept of the true note—a place of divinity reached only by the most dedicated of exponents. Award-winning photojournalist Raghu Rai, the recipient of the Padma Shri and the prestigious French award Officier des Arts et des Lettres, has sought to document these spiritual journeys with his camera over the last four decades. Click hereto view a slideshow of some of India’s best known classical music maestros In 1998, when Rai had gone to California, US, to meet the virtuoso sarod player Ali Akbar Khan, he saw a soundproof room being constructed. Rai asked to hear the ustad perform there but was told: “Agar sachcha sur lag gaya to aap ko bhi sunaunga” (If I attain the true notes, I shall share them with you). It was this among other incidents that propelled Rai to continue on his mission to document musical greats from across India—including the four Bharat Ratnas, M.S. Subbulakshmi, Ravi Shankar, Bismillah Khan and Bhimsen Joshi. His photographs are part of a new 167-page book by Collins, India’s Great Masters: A Photographic Journey into the Heart of Classical Music. Sitarist Vilayat Khan had famously remarked that Indian classical music was meant for upliftment, not entertainment. The ustad’s words are reflected in Rai’s portraits of these pilgrims—in his close-ups of tense meditation, his stills of ecstatic release. Rai wanted to be a musician himself. But his father had the characteristic middle-class contempt for musicians. “You want to be a Mirasi?” he’d rebuked the young Rai, referring to the travelling community of musicians who performed at weddings. Rai’s dream of being close to the world of music died a temporary death, but it resurfaced in his work as a photojournalist, first with The Statesman in the 1960s and then with India Today in the 1980s. In his introduction to India’s Great Masters, Rai writes that he spent his first salary on a record player and subsequently, on several long-playing records. As a photo editor with India Today, Rai started a series of essays on the musical greats and those photographs form the bulk of his book. Over the years, he has profiled only 13 masters, the true nayaks (heroes) according to him: Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, M.S. Subbulakshmi, Mallikarjun Mansur, Kumar Gandharva, S. Balchander, Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain, Vilayat Khan, Bismillah Khan, Kishori Amonkar, Hariprasad Chaurasia and Bhimsen Joshi. Eight are not living now, making this documentation a definitive record. The book is accompanied by perceptive profiles on each maestro by poet-critic Ashok Vajpeyi. Through his career, Rai has always been known for shooting discreetly, epitomizing a brand of fly-on-the-wall photojournalism for which he has been felicitated greatly. His non-intrusive portraits of these musicians are in a similar vein. They document vulnerable, almost excruciating moments, capturing the very essence of musical devotion. Each of these images was taken after the exponents had been immersed in a raga for long hours. “Only then does one reach that euphoric, painful climax,” explains Rai. That his pictures are about soul and not music per se is reflected by a simple fact: His most prized images are the ones that document silence; that pregnant moment before a note parts the lips. anindita.g@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:45 pm Back to the beginningI have always liked The Bible. Before some comic-loving-right-wing-type decides to take offence at this statement, I also like the Hindu myths. And Greek ones. The fact that I had actually read the King James version of the good book when I was still in school stood me in good stead through my quizzing years. You’d be surprised at the extent to which quiz-setters depend on The Bible.  Crumb has a wry sense of humour and a wonderful style of drawing, one that would have probably fit into MAD magazine at its pomp (and I mean this as a compliment). Now, back to the book. I say produced and not created or written because Crumb hasn’t written The Book of Genesis. Instead, what he offers is, as the jacket blurb helpfully tells us, a “literal” graphical “interpretation assembled primarily from the translations of Robert Alter and the King James version”. So, the story, the plot, even the text, isn’t Crumb’s. Everything else though is, including, most probably, the blurbs on the cover. One says, “All 50 Chapters”. Another says, “The First Book of The Bible Graphically Depicted! Nothing Left Out”.  Divine inspiration: Crumb’s style could fit right into ‘MAD’ magazine. I enjoyed Crumb’s book—I must confess that this was one graphic novel I didn’t really read in a single sitting—for several reasons. His detailing—and this is as technical a comment on illustrations as you’re likely to find in Cult Fiction—is immaculate. And one can see that he has spent time and effort to interpret and understand Genesis. Although Crumb says in his introduction that he “approached” his five-year project as a “straight illustration job”, it is evident that The Book of Genesis is more than that. I may still pick American Splendor as Crumb’s best work, but if someone were to ask me to pick his most representative work, I’d choose The Book of Genesis. R. Sukumar is editor, Mint. Write to him at cultfiction@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:45 pm Maruti hikes prices of some modelsMaruti Suzuki on Friday announced minor price revisions on some of its models, including the Ritz and Swift compacts, to account for higher input costs.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:44 pm Corporate loan recast norms made tougherWith the economic turnaround now on a firm wicket, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made restructuring of debt by companies tougher.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:21 pm Dedicated Freight Corridors in super-slow laneThe light at the end of the much-hyped Dedicated Freight Corridor tunnel will take a long time to be lit.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:20 pm Local cellphone makers increase market share - Livemint
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:16 pm PepsiCo working on reducing targets for salt, sugar in IndiaMumbai: US-based food and beverage maker PepsiCo Inc., which has committed to reducing sugar, sodium and fat content in its products by up to a quarter, is preparing to size up how much of a cut Indian consumers can take, given their partiality for both the sweet and the savoury. India-born chairman and chief executive Indra Nooyi told an investors’ meeting last month that PepsiCo plans to cut sodium in its key brands by one-fourth in five years. In 10 years, the company aims to reduce sugar content by 25% and saturated fat by 15%.  Health concern: Indra Nooyi, chairman and chief executive of PepsiCo. The firm plans to remove sweetened drinks from schools worldwide by 2012. Jamie Rector / Bloomberg “It’s not a given yet...it doesn’t mean necessarily that India will reduce by 25%, we might reduce (it) by 50%! We have to see what the consumer is ready to take, we will certainly push the pace. We will now start the work as to what will be the onus of every country,” said Punita Lal, executive director of marketing at PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd. Government efforts to promote nutritional quality and what Nooyi described as greater consumer focus on value and health are prompting food and beverage makers to cut the salt, sugar and fat content of their products. PepsiCo plans to remove sweetened drinks from schools worldwide by 2012. “We will also be consistent with global PepsiCo commitments for 25% reduction in sodium levels for all our key foods brands by 2015 and are in the process of working out its implementation in India,” said Deepika Warrier, director of marketing at Frito-Lay India, which makes popular snack brands, including Kurkure, Lay’s and Cheetos. PepsiCo India, whose products are categorized as “Good for You”, “Better for You” and “Treat for You”, is already ahead of the parent company in implementing health and nutritional initiatives. Health and so-called wellness products currently make up 30% of the company’s Indian portfolio versus 18% globally. The global target is 50%, which would apply to India as well. The share of estimated revenue from health and wellness products in India is 20% of which non-carbonated drinks such as Tropicana, Nimbooz, Gatorade and Aquafina contribute close to 18%, with the rest coming from food products such as Quaker Oats and Aliva (baked crackers). PepsiCo India is the country’s largest food and beverage company with annual retail revenue of at least $1.5 billion (Rs6,765 crore) and recorded a 20% volume growth and 30% revenue growth in calendar 2009—its highest in a decade. The food and beverage industry’s potential for growth is vast. According to market research firm Nielsen, packaged beverages account for only 1% of the beverage market in India. Branded salty snacks make up only 4% of the market. The health and wellness foods market in India is estimated to grow at 33% to be a Rs55,000 crore segment by 2015, up from a Rs10,150 crore in the fiscal ended March 2009, according to a study released in March by the Tata Strategic Management Group, a Mumbai-based consulting firm. “Indian consumers are far more aware today. Everyone is counting their calorie intake,” said Richa Anand, chief dietician at Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital in Mumbai. “If you look at kids, they too are far more educated about their choices.” There’s a flip side, too. “While consumers want healthy foods, they tend to be a little wary of products that claim to be sugar-free or baked or fat-free. The perception is that the ill-effects of these substitutes, such as aspartame (sugar substitute) far outweigh the benefit. The challenge (for companies) will be to change that perception,” Anand said. Not all products that claim to promote health and wellness are working in India. For instance, PepsiCo’s Diet Pepsi makes up just 1% of its beverage sales in India, compared with 20% in the US. India has 50.7 million diabetics, or patients with high levels of blood sugar—a potentially fatal condition, according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), which represents nearly 200 diabetes associations from more than 160 countries. Mass urbanization, changing diets and increasingly sedentary lifestyles of people living in fast developing countries such as India and China are making them susceptible to diabetes, said David Whiting, public health specialist with IDF. sapna.a@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:13 pm Debt plans boost mutual funds' asset base in FY10 - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:09 pm The Week in Review for 02 April 2010Troubled carrier Air India is carrying out a fiscal revamp that could make it eligible for more government money. Mint has learnt its revamp involves getting a government guarantee that will help it negotiate interest rates. The plan will also allow it to replace some existing loans with new ones that have lower interest. An Air India official has told Mint the airline expects the process to save Rs750 crore in interest costs every year. Until recently, Air India’s borrowings stood at Rs16,000 crore on an equity capital of Rs145 crore. The government has already infused Rs945 crore into Air India. On Thursday, Wockhardt said its deal with health company Abbott was dead. Wockhardt was supposed to sell it nutrition business to Abbott for an estimated Rs650 crore. But the agreement fell through because Wockhardt could not resolve some of its debt restructuring issues. A new army of mutual fund sellers could change the face of their industry. Mint has learnt that State Bank of India has put 18,000 of its employees through a training programme that will make them eligible to sell mutual funds. There are currently more than 100,000 eligible sellers across India. But informal estimates put the active sales force at 30,000-40,000 people. India’s mutual fund industry is worth Rs781,000 crore. On Tuesday, Standard Chartered filed a draft prospectus for its issue of Indian Depository Receipts or IDRs. It plans to raise some $750 million in India by issuing some 220 million IDRs. On Tuesday, the department of telecommunications published a list of pre-qualified bidders for the 3G spectrum auction. Out of a total of nine bidders, six have applied for spectrum in all 23 telecom circles in India. They are Bharti Airtel, Aircel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and Vodafone Essar. The auction for both the 3G and broadband spectrum are expected to take place on 9 April. Manufacturing output has slowed down in March. The Purchasing Managers’ Index stood at 57.8 in March compared to 58.5 in February. Any figure above 50 on the index indicates a gain. Harley-Davidson is revving up for the Indian market. On Wednesday, the company announced it had appointed its first five domestic dealers. Harley will offer 12 models in India and bookings will start on 20 April. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 1:09 pm Obama: U.S. starting to 'turn the corner' on jobsCHARLOTTE, N.C. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hailed new signs of an improving U.S. labour market on Friday as proof that "we are beginning to turn the corner" but warned it would still take time to achieve sustained job growth.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Apr 2010 | 12:59 pm Pietersen’s 66-run takes Bangalore to 6-wicket win over PunjabMohali: Kevin Pietersen (66 not out) got three lives before notching up his maiden Indian Premier League half century and helping Royal Challengers Bangalore score a comprehensive six-wicket victory over Kings XI Punjab on Friday night. Pietersen, who was dropped thrice while on 36, 47 and 50, played sheet anchor with two crucial partnerships -- 71 off 51 balls for the third wicket with Virat Kohli and 40 from just 15 balls for fourth wicket with Robin Uthappa as RCB romped home with five balls to spare in chase of 182. Uthappa played a stunning cameo of 22 from just eight balls with two sixes and a four to take the score near finishing line at the PCA Stadium. Pietersen, who hit seven fours and one six in his 44-ball knock in his second match for RCB, smashed the winning runs, a four off Irfan Pathan, to take his side to 184 for four. Earlier, Kumar Sangakkara top-scored with a 27-ball 45 as Kings XI Punjab posted a challenging 181 for five after electing to bat.  Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Kevin Pietersen celebrates his team’s victory over Kings XI Punjab during their IPL3 match in Mohali on Friday. Aman Sharma/PTI For Kings XI, who slumped to their seventh loss in eight matches and faced a lot of flake for their performance, their chances for a last four berth virtually ended with their fourth home defeat. Their bowlers leaked runs and fielders put a woeful performance. S Sreesanth, Ravi Bopara and Sangakkara dropped Pietersen in succession. Shalabh Srivastava, Bipul Sharma and Irfan Pathan took a wicket apiece for Kings XI. Brett Lee continued his woeful form in the IPL3 as he bled 48 runs from his four overs without taking any wicket. Royal Challengers made a steady start in their run chase with Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey not finding too many boundaries. Kallis, IPL3’s most run-getter so far, fell cheaply for just nine in the fifth over, edging Shalabh Srivastava’s first delivery to Manvinder Bisla. Run rate dropped down again after a freak dismissal of Pandey (25-ball 29) in the seventh over. Bipul Sharma got a deflection in his follow through and the ball hit the stumps after Kevin Pietersen had hit it down the pitch and Bisla was short of his crease after backing up. Bisla earlier got a life in the third over when on 15 after Yuvraj Singh made a diving attempt of the bowling of Brett Lee but could not hold on to the ball. Needing 60 from the last five overs and with eight wickets in hand, Royal Challengers stepped up the tempo but lost set batsman Virat Kohli off the first ball after the 15th over for a 26-ball 52. Kohli hit four boundaries and a six before Irfan Pathan took an easy catch at deep midwicket. Next ball, Kings XI could have tightened the screw on Royal Challengers but Ravi Bopara dropped Pieteren at long-on. But the 17th over off Lee swung the match towards Royal Challengers with 25 runs coming from it with Robin Uthappa hitting the hapless fast bowler for two sixes and a four. Earlier, Sangakkara shared 63 runs from 44 balls for the second wicket with opener Manvinder Bisla (28) after Shaun Marsh (2) was out cheaply in the second over, to provide the platform for the challenging total of 181 for five. Bopara (42 not out), who has been Kings XI’s most prolific run-getter in IPL3, and Yuvraj Singh, who made a 20-ball 36 which contained three fours and two sixes, chipped in as the home side added 62 runs in the last five overs. For Royal Challengers Bangalore, Vinay Kumar, Dale Steyn, Anil Kumble and Jacques Kallis took a wicket each. Kings XI, who have won just once in seven matches, though began on a disastrous note with their previous match half centurion Marsh out in the second over for two and the scoreboard reading three runs, Vinay Kumar being the successful bowler. Bisla and Sangakkara were unperturbed by the early loss and hit some boundaries off Dale Steyn and Vinay Kumar before the former fell in ninth over for a 26-ball 28 which contained four fours. Bisla fell while attempting a risky scoop shot off Kumble and the straighter delivery uprooted the stumps left exposed but after sharing a 44-ball 63 with Sangakkara. Brief Scores Kings XI Punjab: 181 for 5 in 20 overs (Kumar Sangakkara 45, Ravi Bopara 42 not out, Yuvraj Singh 36; Dale Steyn 1/31). Royal Challengers Bangalore: 184 for 4 in 19.1 overs (Kevin Pietersen 66 not out, Virat Kohli 42; Shalabh Srivastava 1/21). Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 12:57 pm Taking stock for 02 April 2010Monday, 29 March 2010 The Sensex advanced for a fourth day on Monday, March 29th, closing at its highest level in more than two years. Metal companies led the rally as commodity prices rose. Investors remained optimistic that global demand for commodities would increase as supplies continue to fall. Tuesday, 30 March 2010 The BSE benchmark index snapped its 4-day winning streak on Tuesday, led by HDFC Bank, on concern that this month’s market gains outpaced prospects for earnings growth. IT services provider Infosys fell after the rupee reached an 18-month high against the dollar, lowering the value of its earnings overseas. Other IT services providers followed suit. The industry generates 40% of its revenue from the US. Wednesday, 31 March 2010 Stocks fell again on Wednesday, led by IT service providers, on concern that the stronger rupee will cut into the value of their overseas earnings. Thursday, 01 April 2010 The benchmark index advanced the most in 2 weeks on Thursday, breaking its 2-day fall, on speculation that earnings growth and a rising economy would attract more investment in equities. Markets regulator Sebi reported that overseas investment into Indian stocks rose to a record in dollar terms on 30 March. Tata Motors advanced as the country’s manufacturing grew for a 12th straight month. BHEL also gained after posting a 40% increase in fourth-quarter profit. Friday, 02 April 2010 Markets were closed on 02 April for Good Friday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 12:53 pm Wockhardt needs to clear rumblings from overseas lenders - Hindu Business Line
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Apr 2010 | 12:47 pm Illegal coal mining in Meghalaya has to stop: SC panelNew Delhi: A Supreme Court committee on forests has asked for an end to unauthorized coal mining near protected areas in Meghalaya. The central empowered committee appointed by the apex court has, in a recent letter, asked Meghalaya’s chief secretary to ensure that no mining or laying of roads takes place in violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. Mint has reviewed a copy of the letter. The Supreme Court had directed the committee to examine the matter in January after the Garo Students Union, an activist students’ group, filed a petition before it in November. The illegal coal mining is taking place in South Garo Hills, bordering the Balpakram National Park, which also covers the Siju Bird Sanctuary. “Ecologically, this area is one of the seven hotspots in the world with a viable population of elephants of 1,000,” said Sanjay Upadhyay, counsel for the petitioners against the illegal mining. Balpakram National Park spans more than 200 sq. km and is home to an estimated 550 species, including seven species of primates, more than in any other part of the country. It is also the sole habitat of the Hoolock Gibbon, the only ape found in India. V.K. Nautiyal, principal chief conservator of forests for Meghalaya, said none of the coal mines in the area were authorized. He explained that due to the provisions of the sixth schedule of the Constitution, land laws are different in Meghalaya and most of it is controlled by autonomous district councils and their chieftains. “The land tenure system is strange here, with overlapping jurisdiction. Many different groups might have jurisdiction and we don’t have clear jurisdiction,” Nautiyal said. “Everywhere else, mining is nationalized. Here, we don’t interfere as local people extract coal for their own use, but now it has become much larger in scale.” Coal mining in the region had been stopped once earlier by the forest department, but was restarted in 2009. Upadhyay said the problem is symptomatic. “This sort of rampant illegal coal mining is there not just in Meghalaya, but many parts of the northeast.” According to the Meghalaya government, the state has around 39.6 million tonnes of coal deposits. This isn’t the only mining-related problem in Meghalaya. In February, the Supreme Court had stayed the mining of limestone in the state by Lafarge Umiam Mining Pvt. Ltd after hearing a petition filed by 21 local tribals and the Shella Action Committee, a not-for-profit group. The petitioners had claimed that Lafarge Umiam had obtained environmental clearance by falsely declaring forest areas as wasteland and non-forest areas. padmaparna.g@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 12:47 pm Irda may allow exit option for policyholdersMumbai: Policyholders may be allowed an exit option in case of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving insurers, a committee appointed by the industry regulator to draft rules for such deals has recommended, said two people familiar with the development.  The move assumes significance as prospects for consolidation have risen, with at least three firms knocking on the doors of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) with M&A proposals. Existing M&A norms for insurers need to be altered to protect the interests of policyholders, according to the committee’s report, which is likely to be unveiled by June, said one of the people cited above. Both spoke on condition of anonymity. The six-member panel was appointed by Irda last month to suggest comprehensive guidelines for M&As in the insurance industry. Although the Companies Act covers the basic norms governing such deals, mergers of insurance companies bring an added dimension since they affect millions of policyholders. The insurance industry has been transformed after being opened to private companies in 1999-2000. With new firms coming in and the market freed up, there is no uniformity in pricing even among policies with similar terms. With pricing even more diverse in non-life insurance, the merger of companies offering products in this segment could give rise to greater complications for policyholders. Mint had reported on 29 March that Reliance Capital Ltd-owned non-life insurance subsidiary Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd may merge with RSA Insurance Group Plc (formerly known as Royal Sun Alliance), as the latter is likely to exit its joint venture with Chennai-based partner Sundaram Finance Group in Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Co. Ltd. In 2006, Reliance Life Insurance Co. Ltd had acquired AMP Sanmar Life Insurance Co. Ltd. “When two entities merge, policyholders may not be comfortable with the changed terms and conditions the merged entity may offer,” said the first person cited above. “So, the committee is proposing to allow policyholders to continue with the original terms and conditions. If they are not comfortable with the change of ownership or any other terms offered by the merged entity, they should be allowed an option to exit.” The move is in line with similar provisions laid down by capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India in the case of M&As among asset management companies. M&As involving insurers are presently governed jointly by the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, and the Insurance Act, 1938, which according to many industry experts are outdated. Irda currently does not have the power to frame regulations for M&As. The Insurance Act Amendment Bill, which is pending in Parliament, if approved, will confer such powers to the regulator. There haven’t been many M&As in the insurance industry in the past six decades. The provisions of the Companies Act are inclined more towards protecting the interest of investors, shareholders and creditors, and not policyholders. “The policyholder base has grown manifold since the formation of LIC (Life Insurance Corp. of India) and the entry of private players in 2000,” said the second person cited above. “The existing laws would have worked fine with a small customer base, but as the base increases it is critical to protect policyholders’ interest when two companies merge.” There are at present 23 insurers each in the life and non-life space in India. The total assets of life insurers are estimated at more than Rs10 trillion, with LIC being the largest. Another key recommendation seeks to ensure that the acquirer has enough assets and re-insurance to adequately cover the potential liabilities of the target company towards its policyholders for at least 10 years. The new guidelines are likely to specify minimum net worth requirements to cover such liabilities, and if they do not, the regulator may prescribe a time frame to comply with the same. Existing laws do not recognize the interests of policyholders as being different from that of investors or creditors of the company. Factors such as customer profile, pricing of policies and mortality rates need to be examined for this purpose, according to the first person quoted above. The committee will also recommend guidelines so that unfair competition or monopoly is not created in the industry due to an M&A. “When two companies merge or an acquisition takes place, the combined entity may get the single largest monopoly, which may stifle competition and affect the pricing of products adversely,” said the second person quoted above. “A recommendation will examine this issue.” The committee will also draft the rules and provisions governing mergers following moratorium orders by Irda, in line with that of the Reserve Bank of India. A moratorium is an order staying the start or continuance of all actions and proceedings against a company that may be considered to be ailing. A regulator can direct a company under moratorium to be acquired or to merge its businesses with a stronger firm. The Irda committee will explore the conditions that might necessitate regulatory action against certain companies under this condition. The committee will also recommend rules for appointing an official liquidator in certain special situations arising out of mergers. In such cases, the liquidator is required to realize the assets and dispose of the company’s liabilities. The licensing system of insurers, which at present follows a three-stage process, is also likely to be relaxed, according to another recommendation of the committee. “At present, the board is involved in all the three stages of the registration process, which is cumbersome and time consuming,” said the second person cited above. “The recommendation is to make this a two-stage process and reduce the involvement of the board or shareholders of the company that seeks a licence from Irda.” anirudh.l@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 12:35 pm Local cellphone makers increase market shareMumbai: Indian mobile phone makers have taken a giant-sized bite of the local market in the span of about two years at the expense of established global manufacturers such as Nokia Oyj and LG Electronics Inc., latest data from research firm IDC India shows.  IPL showcase: An IPL season 3 match. Micromax and Karbonn have sought to use the tournament to advertise their emergence. Aman Sharma / PTI Homegrown firms, which entered the market in early 2008, captured a 17.5% share of the 100-million handset market at the end of 2009, from a meagre 0.9% at the end of March 2008, IDC said on Friday. The number of local makers grew to 28 from five during the period. In a market that remained flat at around 100 million units, Nokia fell from a 56.2% share in 2008 to 54.1% in 2009. Similarly, LG’s market share dipped from 7.2% to 6.4%, while Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd’s share rose marginally to 9.7% from 9.5%. Leading the Indian pack, which IDC refers to as “emerging vendors”, was the Gurgaon-based Micromax Informatics Ltd, which had a market share of 4.8% in 2009, making it the fourth largest handset seller. For the three months to September, IDC had said that Micromax had a market share of 5.7%. Micromax, which has been advertising heavily during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament, is seeking to build on its rural success and gain traction in urban markets. Karbonn Mobiles, another local brand, has also sought to showcase itself during IPL with ads featuring Delhi Daredevils’ Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Other local emerging vendors include Spice Mobiles Ltd, Videocon Industries Ltd and Lava International Ltd. Micromax said its sales have been progressively climbing over the year and that the quarterly figures ended December or March would reflect a share higher than those reported by IDC. “Our own sense was that LG’s share would be in the range of 5% to 5.5%, and that Micromax would end the year with about 7-8% market share,” Vikas Jain, one of the four co-founders of Micromax, told Mint on Friday. IDC declined to disclose the quarterly market share data for Micromax for those two quarters. In February, Jain had told Mint that his firm had sold 700,000 handsets in December and one million in January. Nokia also expressed reservations about the IDC numbers. “IDC does not take into account the output from our Chennai plant,” said a Nokia spokesperson. Nokia’s Chennai handset factory, which mostly makes cheaper mass-market phones, was set up in 2006 at a cost of around $150 million (Rs677 crore today). At the end of April 2009, according to Nokia, the plant had produced a total of 250 million handsets, of which half was meant for the Indian market while the rest were exported. Samsung could not offer its views for this story as its spokesperson was travelling. Mint was not able to reach LG for comments. Emerging vendors will make further inroads into the market, IDC said. “The mobile handsets market got even more crowded and fragmented at the lower and mid-market segments with the rise of copycat models that have looks and aesthetics resembling those of high-end smartphones,” wrote Naveen Mishra, lead analyst (mobile handsets research) at IDC India. “These copycat lookalikes are often available for as little as one-10th of the average sales value of a smartphone.” Younger buyers will opt in greater numbers for the locally branded handsets, he said. “The adoption of these lookalikes is expected to be higher among the student and young executive segment, whose purchase decisions are often driven by peer group and lifestyle influences as well as affordability,” he added. The Indian market is also fertile ground for manufacturers that cater to its peculiarities, such as users with multiple SIM (subscriber identity module) cards. Phones with dual-SIM capability allow a user to subscribe to the services of two cellular operators without having to use separate handsets. For Micromax, dual-SIM models have been a big volume driver. Among the larger firms, Nokia is the only one yet to introduce such a phone. That situation isn’t going to be changing soon, the firm said. “As of now, we are not looking at the segment,” Nokia’s official spokesperson said. Mint had reported on 8 February about Micromax challenging Samsung and LG for the third slot. A 14 December report was about Indian handset makers challenging multinational firms. lison.j@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 12:35 pm IPL merchandise scores big in third seasonMumbai: Just three weeks into the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament and the Mumbai Indians have already crushed last year’s champions, the Deccan Chargers, in at least one important category: merchandise.  Top team: An IPL-3 photo of Mumbai Indians celebrating their win over Deccan Chargers. The team’s merchandise heads the sales table. Shashank Parade / PTI While experts may not have expected the Mumbai Indians to top the charts following their not-so-stellar performance in the second season of the Twenty20 tourney in South Africa—of the eight teams, it was seventh on the league table in 2009—their performance this year has made them and their merchandise popular. “The league table is a very good indicator of how popular the team is and how well their (merchandise) sales are,” said Saumitra Srivastava, director for Yog Sports Pvt. Ltd, the official distributor for all IPL merchandise. While he refrained from commenting on how much each team had sold individually, Srivastava said on the whole the firm sold anywhere between Rs2-5 lakh worth of merchandise at each match. The amount varied due to factors such as the size of the stadium and the city in which a match was played. After failing to launch merchandise themed after the league in a big way in the first two seasons, the Board of Control for Cricket in India was keen to set the ball rolling in time for the third season. The deal with Yog Sports, announced on 30 March, a good two weeks after the launch of the tournament, meant that spectators would have access to products ranging from watches, apparel and accessories to toys. The effort seems to be paying off, as audiences swathed in their favourite team colours and armed with some heavy-duty cheering equipment throng stadiums. “Typically, merchandise sales depend a lot on how the team performs. This year Mumbai Indians has performed really well, and we’re seeing a huge increase in sales,” said a spokesperson for the Mumbai team. This year the team has 31 different pieces of merchandise over the 20 items in previous seasons. In the Chennai Super Kings camp, T-shirts bearing captain M.S. Dhoni’s name and his number seven team number are flying off the shelves. The team currently has 28 branded items, which include T-shirts, binoculars, caps, wallets and belts, among other things. “We’ve sold nearly 30,000 to 40,000 units of all items, except clothes and apparel, which could be more,” said Rakesh Singh, head of marketing at Chennai Super Kings. The team had clocked in over Rs1 crore in merchandising during the first IPL season and over Rs2.5 crore last year. “This time we expect an increase over Rs2.5 crore because the series is being held in India and it’s a much more concerted effort,” he said. Some teams are actively looking to tap into a wider and more lucrative segment of consumers in the next season. “While we’ve already launched turbans, flip-flops and tees (for kids) this year, we need to launch something more for this segment,” said Raghu Iyer, chief marketing officer at Rajasthan Royals. Beyond this, the team will also look to engage with fans in other regions. “We were really surprised to see that we had a fair amount of support from audiences in Punjab as well,” Iyer said, adding that the team expected merchandise sales to be in “excess of $1 million (Rs4.5 crore today)” it made in season 2. For manufacturers, too, this season has been a bit of a relief after last year. Some of them were burdened with large quantities of unsold goods as the league moved to South Africa last year. “There is a visible increase in footfalls in Puma outlets, by 25%, due to the association (with IPL),” said Rajiv Mehta, managing director for Puma. Value for money is key to successful IPL merchandising. “Everyone wants cheap and cheerful cheering equipment,” said Srivastava of Yog Sports. Trumpets, branded team flags and glow horns—a headband with devil horns that glow—are selling well. “I always thought that these glow horns were restricted to bachelorette parties,” he said. “But their popularity is unbelievable. We’ve even had some 60-year-olds who bought them for themselves. A consumer is a child in that environment.” Products need to be priced right to make them impulse purchases. “In a Twenty20 match, there is just no time. You really don’t have 30 minutes to sell them a piece of merchandise. Consumers just want to make that impulse purchase and get back to the action,” he said. “The Rs300 and below is the meaty price band to churn out the sales required.” No surprise then that practically all the teams have flooded the stadiums with branded items that come at affordable price points, from the simple trumpets and flags at Rs50 to caps at Rs75 and T-shirts at Rs200 onwards. While it has the potential to become a huge business, merchandising still occupies only a small part of franchisees’ overall revenue. “We get margins of only 10-12% of overall sales on merchandise,” said Singh of Chennai Super Kings. IPL’s recent deal with Google Inc. to screen matches live on the YouTube website has meant that the event is reaching out to more audiences across the globe, many of whom may want to access branded merchandise through the online IPL shop. “It’s not just international customers (who log on), but also local customers who may want to buy their merchandise before they go to the venue,” said Vishal Mehta, chief executive for Infibeam.com, an e-commerce company that manages the sale of branded merchandise on www.iplshop.com. Mehta said the initial inventory of merchandise, which was “in the thousands”, had been sold out. One thorn in the side for manufacturers and distributors are the knock-offs. “While we haven’t put a number on it, it would be safe to assume that we would have lost 15% of our revenues to counterfeit products,” said Srivastava of Yog Sports. gouri.s@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 12:35 pm Quick Edit | Numbers make a countryOne of India’s biggest decennial events for the past 140-odd years has just got under way, and in less than a year, will generate an astounding mass of data about this country and its people. Much has changed since the first national Census in 1872, and the enormity of the exercise now is compelling: 2.5 million officials will fan out across more than 7,000 towns and 600,000 villages in an effort to capture the lives of 1.2 billion people. There have been qualitative changes too, and this Census will, for the first time, take into account the penetration of the Internet, mobile telephony and banking services, providing valuable insights into the country’s socio-economic growth. The benefits are palpable— from facilitating public policy to addressing internal security concerns to formulating corporate marketing strategies. But there is also a more abstract fallout: In the debates over regionalism, secessionism, political fractures and economic inequities, we often lose sight of basic unifying processes. The Census is a useful reminder of the idea of India. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 12:33 pm Steel-makers raise prices the third time since January - Hindu Business Line
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Apr 2010 | 12:26 pm Quest Diagnostics quits race for majority stake in ThyrocareMumbai: Quest Diagnostics Inc, one of the world’s largest diagnostics services firms, has quit the race for a majority stake in Mumbai-based Thyrocare Technologies Ltd, officials from the Indian firm told Mint. New Jersey-based Quest, which had set up its Indian subsidiary in 2008, had been considering Thyrocare as a strategic acquisition. Wendy H. Bost, director, media relations, Quest Diagnostics, said in an email to Mint: “Quest Diagnostics is not currently contemplating an India acquisition.” “The foreign company has informed us that it is withdrawing from the race as the valuation seems high,” a senior Thyrocare executive said on Tuesday. He did not want to be named as the information is still confidential. A divestment at a valuation of Rs600 crore is expected for the assets and brand equity that Thyrocare has built up over the past 14 years, this executive said. Thyrocare, a privately held company, had posted net profit of about Rs35 crore on revenue of Rs60 crore for the year ended March 2009, according to the same executive. One of the largest organized diagnostics laboratory chains in India, Thyrocare had appointed Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd, the local arm of US-based audit and consultancy firm Deloitte Llp, to scout for potential buyers in October 2009. Earlier this week, Mint had reported that at least seven potential private equity investors, mostly foreign funds, were in talks with Thyrocare. At that time, promoter and chief executive A. Velumani had said that some foreign private equity (PE) firms and a few diagnostics companies had shown interest in the company. “It could be a deal for divestment of a majority stake, or even a complete exit if the buyer can match our valuation,” he had said, without giving details of the talks. The decision to look for a strategic partner was mainly on the back of Thyrocare promoters’ desire to pursue growth in the local market as well as outside India, said the executive quoted earlier. A banker familiar with the development, but who was not involved in the talks, had earlier said that Thyrocare had been seeking investment partners for the last three years before engaging Deloitte a few months ago. High valuation expectations on the part of Thyrocare’s management had put off potential investors who had looked at the company earlier, the banker said. Apart from Quest, Indian diagnostics player Super Religare Laboratories Ltd was also in talks with Thyrocare. “We had evaluated the company, but didn’t go ahead,” a Religare spokesperson had said last week. Diagnostics services is a fast-growing segment of the Indian healthcare sector. The segment, largely unorganized, has about 100,000 laboratories. Large organized laboratory chains such as Super Religare and Piramal Diagnostics Services Ltd are also currently exploring opportunities to consolidate the business. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 11:54 am Cargo at state-owned ports rises 5.56% in fiscal 2010Bangalore: Cargo volumes at India’s dozen state-owned ports grew 5.56% in 2009-10, faster than the 2.13% rise in the previous year, as the global economy recovers from a slowdown. In the year to 31 March, these 12 ports handled 560 million tonnes (mt) of cargo such as crude oil, petroleum products, iron ore, coal, containers and fertilizers, according to A. Janardhana Rao, managing director of the Indian Ports Association, a body representing the 12 ports. In fiscal 2009, the 12 ports handled 530.37 mt of cargo.  Trade movement: The 12 state-owned ports together handle one-third of India’s external trade shipped by sea. Ashesh Shah/Mint For the third year in a row, Kandla port retained the tag of India’s biggest cargo handler by volume. The port, located in Gujarat, handled 79.49 mt of cargo, up from 72.22 mt in the previous year. The cargo handled by the 12 ports is close to its combined capacity of 576 mt. The lack of adequate capacity is hurting India’s trade. India’s maritime trade lost more than Rs1,400 crore a year due to a lack of navigable depth and specialized berths for quick handling of cargo, leading to congestion of ships and entailing extra costs for exporters and importers, according to a recent performance audit of the 12 ports by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). The shipping ministry recently admitted that port capacity addition projected for the five years to March 2012 would fall short of the target by around 40%. India had planned to double the cargo handling capacity of the 12 ports to 1,016 mt by 2012 as economic growth strains existing facilities. The additional 440 mt capacity would require an investment of close to Rs55,804 crore, of which Rs36, 868 crore is expected to come from the private sector. The performance audit by CAG revealed that the capacity addition programme was hit by delays at various stages. p.manoj@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 11:42 am EGoM to meet on 5 April on draft food security BillNew Delhi: An empowered group of ministers (eGoM) is to meet on 5 April to discuss certain aspects in the draft food security Bill it had cleared last month. The eGoM, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, is meeting to discuss the draft food security Bill, persons familiar with the development said, adding that the finance ministry has sought clarifications, including adjudication of complaints. After the eGoM meeting on 18 March, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had said that the panel had cleared the draft Bill and it would be taken to the cabinet for approval. He had also said that the number of below poverty line population to be covered under the Act would be on the basis of the Planning Commission’s estimate. Currently, 65.2 million families are covered under the public distribution system, which may go up to 81.4 million if Planning Commission approves the Tendulkar formula. A committee under Suresh Tendulkar was set up to arrive at a methodology to estimate poverty in the country. It submitted its report in December. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 11:41 am Recent rally in the 10-year bond is expected to reverseMumbai: With the lot size of government borrowing tending towards the heavier side, the recent rally in the 10-year bonds is expected to reverse. As a result, investors who want to buy bond funds should sit tight till a clearer picture emerges in October, Amandeep Chopra, head of fixed income at UTI Asset Management Co. Ltd, said in an interview. Edited excerpts:  Graphic: Yogesh Kumar/Mint The borrowings were expected to be front-loaded so the borrowing calendar has not thrown up a major surprise on that front. The higher percentage of issuance in the five-nine year segment can be taken a bit positively as its acceptability due to lower duration and hence relatively lower mark to market will be better in the SLR (statutory liquidity ratio) books of banks. However, the frequent issuance in our view could fatigue the gilt markets. This time around, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) looks like it doesn’t have enough room to manoeuvre. Last year, it had market stabilization scheme buyback and open market operations. How can RBI manage this borrowing programme? Broadly, the twin overhang of gilt supply and inflation will continue to dominate market sentiment. The calendar for the first half of financial year 2011 points towards constant weekly issuance, which may lead to a sort of fatigue in the markets and keep yields under pressure. We expect most of the recent rally in the 10-year bond to reverse and the 10-year bond to broadly inch towards the 8% mark. However, we do not expect it to breach that level just as yet. The last couple of days we have seen a sudden fall in yields. Is that sustainable? What year-end level are you looking at for 10-year bond yields? The markets are going to look towards RBI for direction and support for borrowings. With policy rates trending towards a neutral level, it will be negative for the gilts unless RBI comforts the markets with open market operation support, which will clearly be required for the borrowings to go through without any disruptions. However, the outlook from a 12-month perspective makes us believe that the 10-year bond should largely trade between 8% and 8.5% thereafter for most of the year. Liquidity is expected to tighten after a few months, but the supply of paper will continue. Any thoughts? RBI is clearly wary of rising inflation and after highlighting the risks will not like to step back from its intent to tighten liquidity and neutralize policy rates, so the overall tone will remain hawkish. We do not see any major global event in the focus of the domestic debt markets. However, yields at the short end of the money market are expected to revert to end-February, early March levels with the liquidity in the system returning to those levels next week. Banks will again have comfortable liquidity while credit offtake will remain relatively weak. Do you think this is the right time for investors to buy bond funds? Bond funds may not perform in this environment and mostly would look to trade or sit on a low duration. A clearer picture for the bond (and gilt) funds to increase duration in our view will emerge around October. anup.r@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 11:35 am Govt invites licensees for first homegrown cholera vaccineNew Delhi: The department of biotechnology has invited applications from drug companies to license India’s first indigenously developed cholera vaccine. Though a key large-scale trial is set to begin later this year, the government’s effort reflects its confidence in the efficacy orally administered drugs. The vaccine is the result of a combined effort by several publicly funded labs, including the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Institute for Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, affiliated to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Other institutions involved include the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology and the Society for Applied Studies, an independent research organization. If effective, the vaccine could be a key shield against the most virulent strain of cholera that’s a major scourge of India’s poor and a drain on the national health budget. Cholera is one of the key culprits behind diarrhoeal diseases in India, which account for an estimated 600,000 deaths each year in children aged under five years. “We’ve invited applications from private companies and given a manufacturing contract to Shantha Biotechnics Ltd for further trial studies,” said M.K. Bhan, secretary, department of biotechnology. “In about six weeks we should have a better idea about interest from the private sector.” According to the World Health Organization, cholera kills about 120,000 people globally every year. In the past 10 years alone, there has been a 70% increase worldwide in cases of the disease, which is rife in India and sometimes leads to death within 24 hours when left untreated. India, the epicentre of six of the last seven cholera pandemics in the last century, had an average 3,700 cases a year between 1996 and 2005, based on the most recent data available. The true number of cholera-related deaths in the country is, however, under-reported as these cases are often attributed to other infections. Though the mortality rate from cholera is low (less than 0.1%), it causes severe morbidity and affects the productivity of citizens, besides significantly adding to public health expenditure. India has no immunization programme for cholera because the existing vaccines, mostly used today by western travellers, are prohibitively expensive and not licensed for use in the developing world. Last April, Hyderabad-based Shantha Biotechnics, which is controlled by Sanofi-Aventis, launched an oral cholera vaccine developed by the International Vaccine Institute, Seoul, South Korea, which costs Rs295 in stores. Government officials say the newly developed vaccine could be cheaper and it’s important that more than one company manufactures such drugs against the disease as part of effective public health policy. “Only phase 3 trials will determine the efficacy and cost of this vaccine, but there should be more than one vaccine option for tackling cholera,” Bhan said. “That could facilitate public accessibility and distribution.” The most salient feature of this vaccine is that it’s administered in a single dose and hence will be more effective in any outbreak, say scientists associated with it. “We’ve seen that in containing an epidemic, single-dose vaccines are far more effective than regimented multiple doses,” said Dilip Mahalanabis of the Society for Applied Studies, Kolkata, and among the key scientists involved with the drug. He also pointed out that the disease was not confined to just some pockets of the country. “It’s a mistake to think that only Kolkata and West Bengal suffer from cholera. There are several other states that aren’t tracking this malaise. So a cheap, affordable vaccine is all the more important.” The perception that cholera is dying out is incorrect, Balkrish Nair, director, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, had said in a previous interview with Mint. “We do see epidemics and 2007 was particularly bad when India and many other countries saw a huge burden of cholera,” he had said. While there’s been a decline in infections, the number of outbreaks has increased due to the collapse in the infrastructure that allows drinking water to mix with sewage as pipes laid next to each other deteriorate. All the same, experts said the oral cholera vaccine was not a complete remedy by itself but an additional tool alongside better water quality and improved sanitation. “Cholera strains evolve rapidly. So there can’t be a better alternative than providing clean water, though without doubt, a cheap vaccine could be valuable during outbreaks,” said C.R. Pillai, ICMR emeritus professor. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 11:33 am Slowdown teaches retailers to renew business modelsAfter last year’s big squeeze, both on consumer spending and store numbers, retailers should be complaining about the slowdown. Instead, they say the downturn was good for the industry. “The slowdown was the best thing that could have happened to modern retail in India,” says Kumar Rajagopalan, chief executive of industry body Retailers Association of India. “Suddenly, retailers stopped talking about the number of stores and began concentrating on consumers, positioning, space utilization, etc.”  Learning curve: Kishore Biyani of the Future Group. Hit by the downturn, the group focused on retail, allied businesses and financial services. Ashesh Shah / Mint Though the retail industry saw the closure of more than 2,500 stores last year, Damodar Mall, director of customer services at Future Group—the operator of large retail chains such as Big Bazaar, Pantaloon and Food Bazaar—says his company is better prepared to do business today. Kishore Biyani, managing director of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd and promoter of Future Group, echoes the sentiment: “We have renewed ourselves.” Pantaloon Retail took advantage of the downturn last year to cut out intermediaries in the supply chain. To reduce its reliance on wholesalers, it approached oil mills, rice mills and other suppliers directly so it could save costs. Customers became a priority again, with several retailers squeezing their margins to offer better prices. Some introduced cheaper consumer goods, especially through private labels. “Earlier, many of the entry-level products such as detergents, oils and staple cereals were missing from our stores. (In the downturn) we added more and more entry-level products,” says Vineet Kapila, president for the RPG Group-owned Spencer’s Retail Ltd. The retail chain saved 12-15% in cost by reducing wastage in the supply chain and stores. Kapila says the company started saving on rentals and staff, and brought down the overall capital expenditure on opening new stores by one-fifth. Similarly, Pantaloon integrated some of its departments such as management, human resources, marketing and information technology. The company resorted to other cost-cutting measures too, from reducing electricity bills to slashing the advertising budget. “Costs build up in the system so you can always cut...it is not a big learning,” says Biyani. “The real learning was strategic that taught us to focus, focus, focus on our core businesses.” Hit by the downturn, Future Group decided to concentrate on retail, allied businesses such as logistics and consumer products, and financial services. “The industry has learned that we need (a) clear model for retail and growth has to be backed by the right capital structure,” says B. S. Nagesh, vice-chairman of the department store chain Shoppers Stop Ltd. The company went on a restructuring that returned it to profits in June after several quarters of losses. Retailers found savings in other quarters as well. Shubhranshu Pani, managing director for retail at real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, say store rents as a percentage of a retailers’ total revenue used to be 20-25% before the downturn compared with a global average of 10-15%. Last year, rents fell by 25-40%, bringing down rentals as a percentage of total revenue to 15-20%, he said. “Rent is one of the largest cost components for retailers,” says Pani. “As the rentals fell, the rent-to-revenue ratio fell and retailers benefited.” Before the slowdown began, the hype around the retail sector had attracted major corporate groups such as Reliance Industries Ltd, Aditya Birla Group and Bharti Enterprises, who opened thousands of new stores. This pushed up the cost of retail real estate and staff salaries. Analysts say retailers in India can sustain rents of Rs150 per sq. ft per month if they do business of about Rs15,000 for the same space in that time. However, rents had topped Rs650 per sq. ft per month in New Delhi, Rs478 in Noida and Rs385 in Gurgaon, according to real estate consultancy Cushman and Wakefeild. “People were signing up unviable locations from the rent-to-revenue ratio point of view. It basically meant that given the gross margins in their business, they would fundamentally never make money,” says Pankaj Gupta, practice head for retail and consumers at consulting firm Tata Strategic Management Group. Gupta says retailers expanded many times more than their balance sheets could have allowed. For example, Subhiksha Trading Services Ltd rolled out 1,600 stores on a low equity base of Rs32 crore and hundreds of crores of debt, which finally caused the Chennai retailer to go bust early last year. Now, with the new learnings and consumers opening their wallets again, same-store sales, a vital indicator to map growth in stores that have existed for at least a year, are increasing after flat or negative growth for a year, say retailers. “In March, we made the highest sales ever in our history,” says Damodar Mall. rasul.b@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 11:32 am Ekta Kapoor | Movies can’t kill the TV starAndheri Link Road, where Balaji Telefilms is located, is the cacophonous heart of this Mumbai suburb. It has malls and multiplexes, TV and film production companies, a variety of restaurants, even some quaint photo studios whose windows display portraits of vintage Hindi film stars. The lane in which the Balaji office stands also has the Fun Republic multiplex, Yash Raj Films and Barry John’s acting studio—and many gaping potholes and open drains.  Money wise: Kapoor feels producing reality shows for TV would not be a smart choice for her company. Jayachandran/Mint Kapoor apologizes as soon as she arrives, half an hour after the appointed time. The trademark red smear of puja teeka on her forehead is missing. In harem pants, a black Tee and Osho chappals, the 34-year-old media magnate looks more LSD than the title she has ungrudgingly—and as I discover later, quite smugly—worn ever since the mid-1990s: the queen of television soap operas. “The overwhelming response to LSD is yet to sink in,” she says, before I ask what made her choose a film that so blatantly flouts all the rules of classical film-making. The idea was to create a small but radical brand for the banner she launched LSD with: ALT Entertainment. “Just as with TV, we broke the clutter by introducing something that nobody had seen before. I wanted to introduce ALT with a small film with a large concept. The production should scream, I thought.” Dibakar Banerjee, the director of the film, had her convinced the first time he narrated the story to her. “The dog-eat-dog world that it dealt with; where the victim, as well as the victimizer are in it for something; it appealed to me a lot,” Kapoor says. Later, when she watched a rough cut, she was shell-shocked, almost hysterical: “I thought, my god, what did I get into? But I realized that for the first time a film challenged me to change my mindset. The bloody attitude got me.” By the time I met her, LSD had done its first weekend at the box office and a new set of posters were plastered on the roads, screaming “SUPERHIT!”. Trade analysts were reporting that the film had already clocked Rs5 crore (it was made with a production budget of Rs2 crore). But Kapoor seems flabbergasted by what she says are exaggerated reports. “The way it is going, it’s 90% likely that we will break even in the next three days,” she says, with cautious confidence (the net box office collections of LSD, inclusive of its second weekend, are around Rs8.5-9 crore). ALT Entertainment’s next big project is Shor, a film to be directed by Raj and D.K. Nimodru, with her brother Tusshar Kapoor in the lead. Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, with Ajay Devgn and Kangana Ranaut, releases on 30 July, and later this year, Golmaal 3 goes on the floor. “You have to go radical sometimes. There are risks inherent in the most formulaic film too, but there has to be a balance to create a brand,” Kapoor says. Kapoor’s gaze is unflinching. She gestures with her hands only occasionally, and when she does, the astrological stones she wears flash across your eyes: a garnet, a yellow sapphire, a diamond-studded white stone. She says she owes her mental balance to astrology: “Some stones attract positivity,” she says. “I also believe in some rituals; my way to connect with God, it’s not just for material gains as people perceive.” It’s common knowledge that an additional “K” was added to the titles of some soaps on the advice of her astrologer. Kapoor has a knack for pop spirituality babble: “The biggest sin you can commit is if you hurt another human being”; “You have to trust your instinct”. She believes “that everything happens for a reason”. Her transition from being actor Jeetendra’s daughter to a television mogul in the late 1990s was propelled largely by calculated decisions. Balaji Telefilms, set up in 1994, had a shaky beginning. The first two serials, produced by the company for around Rs25 lakh, were rejected by every satellite channel; the first serial to be aired was Mano Ya Na Mano on Zee TV in 1995. The company hit the jackpot with Hum Paanch in the late 1990s. Thereafter, Kapoor and her writers hooked a generation of TV audiences—mostly women in the age group of 25-60—with family sagas that hinged on petty domestic conflicts. Towards the end of 2000, the company went public. In 2008, when Colors launched with Balika Vadhu, Balaji changed the milieu of its serials to the rural poor and the small-town middle class. Serials such as Bairi Piya (Colors), Pavitra Rishta (Zee), Pyaar Ka Bandhan (Sony) and Bandini (NDTV Imagine) have not topped the charts, but they are key drivers in the volatile TRP wars. The latest TAM ratings for these serials are 3.37, 4.75, 0.4, 1.67, respectively, all below the 5-6 average rating of Balika Vadhu in the past one year. In the most recent quarter (October-December), Balaji’s revenues declined 22.4% to Rs39.3 crore because it made less money from projects it commissioned or outsourced to other production houses. Tax provisions allowed the company to double its net profits, but investors didn’t take too kindly to the poor numbers, despite the increase in number of programming hours. According to Bloomberg estimates, Balaji’s stock has declined 16.17% since the beginning of this year, compared with an average 3.36% fall for the broadcasting and entertainment industry in general. Kapoor remains unabashedly proud that she changed the taste for television content in a newly globalized country (Kyunki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu thi ran for about eight years and went off air in November 2008 owing to falling popularity). “The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts are crucial to TRPs whether we like it or not. In those days, the fight was in the kitchen, now it’s outside of the kitchen, about other issues which are important in a rural setting,” she says. The laurels crowd a shelf in her office—Telly Awards statutes she has received in the past decade. “What I am concerned with primarily is profitability. That’s why I have not got into reality TV. I have the infrastructure and the resources for making serials. Every leading entertainment channel has a successful TV serial made by us.” For reality shows, Kapoor is exploring the virtual world. “An online talent show maybe, which I am exploring very seriously at the moment,” she says. “I will also get into hyper-reality, something like what LSD is, on the Internet.” By the time we wrapped up the interview, the bells at the office temple had started ringing. I nudged myself out on to the road, where hundreds of mosquitoes were swarming above the open drains.  Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 10:50 am BHEL learning super critical boiler technology - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Apr 2010 | 10:38 am Spirited sherbets Manoj Janjid, assistant manager, China House Lounge, Mumbai Sweet and milky with bits of dry fruit in every mouthful, this cocktail could even be had as dessert. The fragrance of vanilla hits you first as you bring the glass to your lips and the first taste is that of the Rooh Afza. Even as you swallow the drink and wonder where the thandai is, you feel the peppery tickle of the thandai mix in your throat. Ingredients: 60ml Absolut Vanilla 45ml thandai (prepared with milk) 10ml Rooh Afza Method Shake all the ingredients with ice and serve in a martini glass. Garnish with almonds, pistachio and shredded rose petals.  Manoj Janjid While common combinations of sweet lassi are with mango and kesar, Janjid matches the acidity of yogurt with the citrus flavour of Orange and Passion Fruit instead. Lots of ice makes sure that the lassi isn’t too thick and rich, making it easy to sip. The result is a fresh, citrusy summer drink. The Passion Fruit is the ingredient that you will be able to taste, although it’s not instantly identifiable. Ingredients 60ml Smirnoff Orange 60ml sweet lassi 15ml Monin Passion Fruit Syrup Method Shake the ingredients together with ice and serve in any old fashioned glass garnished with spiralled orange peel.  Vijay Prakash Kondapalli, general manager, Valhalla, Mumbai Since sugarcane juice is perishable and is best had fresh, making this drink is a bit tricky. The orange juice adds some zing to the sweet sugarcane juice, while the dark rum makes the flavours intense as the drink travels down your throat. Prakash added the Grenadine syrup to give it a “wicked look”. The good-looking cocktail is just as cool to hold as it is tasty to drink. Ingredients 60ml dark rum 90ml sugarcane juice 60ml orange juice Few drops of Grenadine syrup Method Shake sugarcane and orange juice in a shaker. Pour it in a Burgundy wine glass and add the rum and Grenadine syrup. Garnish with an orange peel.  Vijay Prakash Kondapalli Jaljeera and lemon paired together is a no-brainer. While a jaljeera mojito would be predictable, Prakash gives the cocktail another Indian twist with the kalakhatta flavour. Sipping this slushy drink is like having a spiked kalakhattagola from a glass. Tastes delicious and saves you the after-effects of frozen, bright red lips. Ingredients 10 mint leaves 60ml Bacardi 90ml black currant crush Dash of freshly squeezed lime juice Pinch of jaljeera powder Crushed ice Dash of thick sugar syrup Method Muddle the sugar syrup, mint leaves and lemon juice in a shaker. Pour the mix in a Hurricane glass and top it up with jaljeera, Bacardi, black currant crush and crushed ice. Garnish with grapes and mint leaves.  Manoj Janjid The tall glass of this pink drink, garnished with a flower, will remind you of beaches and shacks. The sweet and sour cherries perfectly complement the coconut. We were just glad that Janjid didn’t go with the predictable pineapple-coconut combo. The fresh fruit makes it delicious and the ginger adds a dash of spicy surprise. If you want to stay sober, stay away from it. Ingredients 60ml Bombay Sapphire gin 30ml cherry puree 15ml ginger lime cordial Coconut water to top up Method Shake the ingredients together with ice and serve in a Colin glass with an orchid flower garnish. rachana.n@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Apr 2010 | 10:20 am A really big ipod touchThe iPad, whose arrival has been awaited with near religious zeal, finally hits stores in the US today. It’s beautiful, and great for consuming stuff — but not for creating it.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Apr 2010 | 10:09 am Maruti hikes prices of all its carsFollowing an increase in input costs and introduction of new emission norms, India's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, hiked prices of its vehicles by up to Rs 10,000 on Friday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Apr 2010 | 9:42 am Maruti, Toyota hike car prices, others to followThe country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd on Friday revised prices across all its models citing rising cost of inputs like steel and rubber and upgradation of engines due to stricter BS IV emission norms that came into effect in thirteen cities since Thursday. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Apr 2010 | 9:03 am Mumbai gets first of 29 revamped holiday innsHotel chain Holiday Inn has made a new beginning in India by opening its first up-graded hotel in Mumbai and 28 such ‘refreshed’ hotels would be added soon. All the hotels would be run through management contracts.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Apr 2010 | 8:59 am MFs track stocks to log 51% growthIf the equity markets revived handsomely in 2009-10, can the mutual funds be far behind? The average AUM for the industry as a whole rose by 51 per cent to Rs 745,422 crore at the end of March, 2010, from Rs 493,634 crore in March 2009.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Apr 2010 | 8:57 am
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