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Pipavav to raise $40m via debentures for acquisitionPrivate sector ship builder, Pipavav Shipyard is planning to raise USD 40 million via debentures to Valiant Fund at Rs 70 per share. This capital raising exercise will be carried out to part finance its acquisition target in Europe.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 8:26 am No significant deterioration in NPAs in Q4, says PNBIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Nagesh Pydah of Punjab National Bank, gave his outlook on the upcoming quarter and the quarter gone by.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 7:54 am Blackstone investment won\'t trigger open offer: JagranSpeaking to CNBCTV18 about the deal, Sanjay Gupta, COO, Jagran Prakashan was unwilling to divulge Blackstone\'s stake in Jagran entity. He, however, clarified there will be no open offer in Jagran Prakashan.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 7:42 am Delhi petrol pumps to remain shut on April 9Demonstrating protest the fuel outlet owners in the capital have decided to go on a oneday strike on April 9, reports CNBCTV18, quoting NewsWire18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 6:34 am 3i Infotech raises Rs 180cr via QIP at Rs 78.60/sh3i Infotech Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Amar Chintopanth, said through this QIP the company had raised Rs 180 crore. \"The major investors have been the domestic banks, with State Bank of India subscribing to 25% of the issue.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 5:50 am Rana Sugars expects Rs 2530cr PAT from power saleRana Sugars\' MD Rana Inder Pratap Singh said the average realization which the company would be getting from both the plantsin Punjab as well as Uttar Pradesh would be approximately Rs 5.50 a unit and the total revenue generated for the six months would cross Rs 100 crore.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 5:18 am India service sector growth slows in March: HSBCBusiness activity among Indian services companies grew at a slower pace in March, moving away from 17month highs touched in February, due to a slowdown in new work and employment and rising costs, a survey showed.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 5:02 am Lodha Developers to decide IPO time endAprilLodha Developers plans to decide the timing for its initial public offering worth about USD 650 million by the end of this month, a top company official said on Tuesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 4:55 am Godrej Consumer buys Indonesian firm MegasariPersonal care products maker Godrej Consumer Ltd said on Tuesday it will acquire Indonesia\'s PT Megasari Makmur Group, a household care company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 4:55 am Power Min to speed up UMPP process: SourcesThe Power Ministry has speeded up the process of awarding ultra mega power projects (UMPPs), reports CNBCTV18 quoting sources.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 4:55 am World's largest monitor maker plans to disrupt Indian PC, TV marketHit by slowdown in core market, Hong Kong-based TPV Technology plans a volume-based play on the Indian LCD TV and PC market.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:59 am Union Bank of India hires banks for dollar bondThe lender has picked Citigroup, Barclays Capital, Standard Chartered Bank and Deutsche Bank to also help arrange a series of meetings with investors in Singapore, Hong Kong and London.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:55 am Renault, Nissan, Daimler unveil partnershipDaimler will take 3.1% shareholdings in Renault and Nissan, who will both hold 1.55% of the German carmaker under the deal, the companies said on Wednesday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:53 am Patient Diplomacy Will Bring Yuan Reform - Wall Street Journal
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:51 am Sensex recovers from day's low - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:38 am DRDO launches Rs 100 cr project to fund R&D in jet engines - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:33 am Renault, Nissan, Daimler in small car, engine dealBrussels / Tokyo: Carmakers Renault, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Daimler said they would swap stakes and jointly develop cars in a tie up to gain scale and share costs. Daimler will take 3.1% shareholdings in Renault and Nissan, who will both hold 1.55% of the German carmaker under the deal, the companies said on Wednesday. Renault’s Nissan stake would slip to 43.2% from 44.3%. The French government pledged to support the partnership, and said the state would buy 0.55% of Renault to maintain its holding at 15.01%. Renault and Daimler have been discussing cooperation plans as carmakers worldwide seek to become more competitive by sharing technology investment costs and gaining scale. The automobile sector is scrambling to meet tightening emission rules as it emerges from a savage downturn that has highlighted the need for profit-chasing carmakers to boost scale, conquer new markets and increase efficiency. “Our skills complement each other very well,” Daimler chief executive Dieter Zetsche said in a statement. “Right away, we are strengthening our competitiveness in the small and compact car segment and are reducing our CO2 footprint.” Daimler, which along with the luxury Mercedes-Benz brand owns struggling Smart, is set to benefit from Clio-maker Renault’s small-car expertise, while Renault and Nissan will be able to make use of Daimler’s engine know-how. The three carmakers said they plan to cooperate on electric cars, passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, as well as jointly developing and sharing diesel and gasoline engines. Engine Sharing “Mercedes needs an ally in small vehicles -- for them it is vital. Renault needs to spread out development costs so the agreement is also important for their profitability,” a Paris-based analyst said. Specifically, the cooperation includes the next-generation Smart fortwo and Renault Twingo models, including electric versions, as well as expanding the smart and Twingo families. It also includes the sharing and co-development of diesel and gasoline engines from the Renault-Nissan alliance to be used in the new smart and Twingo. They will also be adapted and modified with Mercedes-Benz characteristics for its new generation of premium compact cars. The carmakers plan to share gasoline and diesel engines coming from Daimler to Infiniti, the luxury division of Nissan, providing the “opportunity for further collaboration”. They also plan to share a Renault-Nissan diesel engine and transmission for the Mercedes-Benz Vito. The Renault-Nissan alliance and Daimler added that they would set up a strategic committee to be chaired by alliance chief executive Carlos Ghosn and Daimler’s Zetsche. Shares in Renault were 1.2% lower at €36.42 by 0738 GMT, while Daimler shares were 0.6% firmer at €35.73 euros. The STOXX Europe 600 auto index was 0.3% softer. “We think that possible synergies from the cooperation with Renault-Nissan are limited and will only be realised mid-term,” DZ Bank analyst Michael Punzet wrote in a note, adding that he was sceptical about possible dilution of the Daimler brand. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:27 am Oil slips back from 18-month highLondon: Oil slipped back from 18-month highs around $87 on Wednesday, taking a breath after two weeks of gains. Reports of a larger-than-expected drop in US gasoline stockpiles helped bolster the market, suggesting fuel demand was rebounding as the economic outlook improves in the world’s biggest oil consumer. But technical charts indicated oil might be due for a period of consolidation after a rise of around 9 percent in seven trading days that left the 14-day relative-strength indexes (RSIs) around 70, suggesting markets were modestly overbought. US light crude futures for May were 30 cents lower at $86.54 by 1:50pm, down from Tuesday’s intraday peak of $87.09, the highest since October 2008. London ICE Brent fell 12 cents to $86.03. “We think the current rally in crude, although still looking formidable on the charts, is getting long in the tooth, and due for a modest pullback, especially if the dollar regains its strength in the wake of continued eurozone jitters,” said Edward Meir, senior commodities analysts at brokers MF Global. “We suspect that commodities will have a hard time avoiding the ‘blow-back´ that a stronger dollar would generate.” The dollar was slightly stronger against a basket of currencies in early European trade on Wednesday. Oil and commodities often move inversely to the dollar as they are priced in the US currency on international markets. Gasoline inventories in the US fell a larger-than-expected 3 million barrels last week, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday. US crude oil stockpiles increased less than expected, according to the API, adding 1.1 million barrels in the week ended 2 April. But inventories of distillates, comprising heating oil and diesel, rose unexpectedly as refineries processed more crude, the API said. Stock figures from the US government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), generally considered more reliable than industry data, are due at 10:30am EDT. Crude inventories were expected to have climbed 1.8 million barrels for their 10th consecutive weekly gain, a Reuters survey showed, while gasoline supplies probably fell 800,000 barrels. Tuesday’s release of minutes from the Fed’s last policy meeting indicated the US central bank could maintain ultra-low interest rates for even longer than investors have anticipated if the economic outlook worsens or inflation drops, boosting confidence that demand for commodities will continue to grow. European shares were flat in early trade on Wednesday after hitting an 18-month closing high on Tuesday, with gains capped by doubts about Greece’s ability to emerge from crisis. Oil prices traded in a range of less than $15 and below $84 a barrel in the first quarter, surpassing that level on 1 April for the first time since 2008. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have said they favour prices between $70 and $80. For a Reuters column on the challenges that Opec may face as prices surpass that level, click Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:22 am Blackstone to invest Rs 225 crore in Jagran Media - Hindu Business Line
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:20 am Geithner to meet China's Wang on ThursdayMUMBAI (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan in Beijing on Thursday on his way home from financial partnership talks in India, a U.S. Treasury spokesman said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:13 am Renault, Nissan, Daimler in small car, engine dealBRUSSELS/TOKYO (Reuters) - Carmakers Renault, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Daimler said they would swap stakes and jointly develop cars in a tie up to gain scale and share costs.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:01 am Gold demand retreats; traders seek lower pricesMumbai: India’s gold demand retreated on Wednesday afternoon after picking up in the previous several sessions as traders sought lower prices to stock for weddings and upcoming festivals, dealers said. “Today buying is not much, yesterday interest was seen at $1,123-1,124 (an ounce),” said a dealer with a private bank in Mumbai, adding “there was good demand seen even last week.” International gold, which guides the domestic markets, was trading $1,135-1,135.80 an ounce as against the previous close of $1,133.20/1,135.20. “They are looking for lower levels like $1125 to buy,” said another dealer with a state-run bank. A weaker rupee against the dollar also weighed on sentiment, they added. The Indian rupee was slightly weaker in mid-day trade, after hitting a fresh 19-month high early in the session, tracking local shares. Currently, the wedding season is underway in the world’s largest consumer of the yellow metal, with gold-buying festivals like Akshaya Tritiya slated in May. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:01 am RBI needs to take monetary action: Report - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:54 am U.S. Blackstone to invest $50 mln in JagranMUMBAI (Reuters) - Blackstone Group will invest about $50 million in the parent of media firm Jagran Prakashan, as the U.S. private equity group seeks to ride strong growth in India's print media market, the firms said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:44 am Goldman says did not "bet against" clientsREUTERS - Goldman Sachs Group Inc said it did not intentionally "bet against" securities in the mortgage market during the financial crisis, dismissing suggestions that it unfairly made money by placing bets against its clients.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:42 am World stocks near 18-mth highLONDON (Reuters) - World stocks inched close to 18-month highs on Wednesday on signs of improving global growth but the euro remained on the ropes due to festering worries about Greece's debt problems.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:33 am RBI needs to take monetary action: officialNEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will have to further tighten monetary policy on April 20 if prices continue to rise, as expected, from 9.89 percent headline inflation in February, the chief statistician said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:19 am Renault, Nissan and Daimler announce allianceFrench automaker Renault, Japan's Nissan and Germany's Daimler AG announced today a partnership to exchange capital and share technological know-how.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:15 am Geithner says yuan to have broader int'l role - TVMUMBAI (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday that China's yuan currency would take a broader international role, which he described as a "healthy, necessary adjustment," and said the United States was "very, very close" to sweeping financial reform.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:13 am Hyundai launches new i20 compact carHyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) today launched a new i20 car with two additional variants - Era and Sportz - priced in the range of Rs 4.51-5.31 lakh.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:05 am Indian rupee weakens tracking local shares - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:05 am India may miss 5-yr target for power generation - minNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will add only 61,000 megawatts of power generation capacity in the five-year period to March 2012, lower than the target of 78,000 megawatts, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told reporters on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:58 am Hyundai launches new i20 compact car - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:53 am No move to use Army in anti-Naxal operations: GovtJagdalpur: Cautioning against any “knee-jerk” reactions to Tuesday’s “savage” attack by the Maoists, Union home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the government may have to “revisit” the mandate on use of Air Force in the offensive against Naxalites. Maintaining that a “war” has been thrust on government, he told a press conference here that “at this moment we must remain calm and hold our nerves” in our campaign to rid India of the grave threat of Maoists and to save democracy. Timeline: Red Terror Chidambaram, who flew in here to pay respects to the 75 CRPF personnel and Chhattisgarh Police head constable who were killed by the Maoists in Dantewada forests on Tuesday, first ruled out any proposal to use army in the fight against the Naxalites. “There is no proposal to use army. We think the state police assisted by central paramilitary forces are sufficient to overcome the Naxalite threat. It is our present assessment of the threat,” he said. “This will be a long, drawn-out struggle. It will take two to three years but we must hold our nerve and remain on course,” he said. The government has repeatedly rejected suggestions that the Maoists can only be defeated militarily. However, answering another question, he said, “at present there is no mandate to use the Air Force or any aircraft. But if necessary, we will have to revisit the mandate to make some changes”. Chidambaram was accompanied by governor Shekhar Dutt and chief minister Raman Singh. IAF chief not in favour of use of air power Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik on Wednesday said he was not in favour of use of air power in anti-Naxal operations. As a stunned government took stock of the situation and mulled various strategies, Naik said the IAF will be ready to join the operations against the Naxals if a decision is taken in this regard. He said the military is trained for lethal operations to inflict maximum lethality. “The military--Air Force, Army and Navy--are not trained for limited lethality. The weapons that we have are meant for the enemy across the border.” “Therefore, I am not in favour of use of Air Force in situations like the Naxal problem,” the air chief said. Naik said it is the prerogative of the state when the Naxal situation reaches that level to involve the Armed Forces. “They can order us in at any time. At the present moment, we must leave it to the para-military forces because they are trained, they are slowly being equipped. They have the intelligence also to undertake these operations,” he added. Naik also visualised a scenario if the IAF is called in. “Let us say that Air Force is called in for attack in Naxal locality and it needs to fire a rocket, which is fired at a minimum distance from 1500-1800 metres ... from that distance we are not able to visualise what the target is,” Naik said. “Unless we have 120% intelligence that they (Naxals) are enemies, it is not fair to use Air Force within our borders. The basic thing is Naxals are our own citizens,” he said, when asked if it was time for the military to join the anti-Naxal operations. Home secretary Gopal K Pillai had also ruled out use of air power in the fight against Naxalites. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:46 am ESPN scores UK Premier League mobile rightsThe rights to all 380 Barclays Premier League matches were previously held by pay-TV rival British Sky Broadcasting and will allow ESPN to transmit in-match and post-match highlights.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:56 am US regulator plans to track high-frequency tradingUnder the new plan, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would give the trading firms unique identifiers, which would tag every high-frequency transaction.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:53 am Wipro to exit baby-care, vegetable oil businessThe two businesses account for less than 3% of the revenues of Wipro's consumer care division, which contributes about 8% to the company's total revenue.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:51 am Sensex tops 18,000, but techs dropMumabai: India’s main share index climbed above 18,000 points for the first time in more than two years on Wednesday, propelled by robust earnings expectations and firm global equities. Companies in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy are set to report strong quarterly earnings, but traders said stocks were pricey after rising more than 70% over the past one year. Export-focused software companies extended their losses for the third day as the rupee tested fresh 19-month highs, deepening concerns their margins could be impacted. By 11:24am, the 30-share BSE index was trading up 0.21% at 17,978.30, with 23 of its components gaining. It rose to 18,008.40 in early deals, which was its highest level since 27 February, 2008. The 50-share NSE index was up 0.3% at 5,379.20. “Global cues and earnings optimism are pushing the market higher,” said Ambareesh Baliga, vice-president of Karvy Stock Broking. “But stocks are overvalued. It is getting to be a liquidity-driven rally.” The 14-day relative strength index of the BSE benchmark was at 70, the upper limit that indicates the market was overbought. The market has been boosted by foreign funds who have bought around $4.9 billion of Indian equities so far in 2010, adding to $17.5 billion last year. Automakers raced ahead on expectations consumer demand for vehicles would remain strong on the back of rising incomes. “Volume growth is expected to continue, driven by strong economic recovery, pent-up demand, increase in availability of finance and new product launches expanding the market,” brokerage Motilal Oswal said in a note. Top vehicles maker Tata Motors was up 1.7%, while carmaker Maruti Suzuki rose 1.2% utility vehicle leader Mahindra and Mahindra climbed 0.7%. Banks continued to rise on the long-term prospects in a buoyant economy. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank climbed 0.1% and 0.4% respectively, while top lender State Bank of India was trading flat. Software services firms Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies that get most their revenue from exports declined 0.3% and 0.1% respectively on the rupee’s rise. Wipro shed 0.2%. Energy giant Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the Sensex, climbed 0.3% to Rs1,124.30. In the broader market, gainers led losers in the ratio of 2.6:1 on volume of 206 million shares. Baliga said investors were chasing shares in medium and small companies, driving them faster than the main index and possibly risking a bubble. The BSE midcap index and the BSE smallcap index have gained 5.4% and 8% so far in 2010, outperforming the main index that has risen around 3%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:50 am Hyundai launches new i20 compact carHyundai Motor India Ltd Wednesday launched a new i20 car with two additional variants - Era and Sportz - priced in the range of Rs.4.51-5.31 lakh.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:42 am AT&T to scale up operations in India, ChinaTelecommunication Services provider AT&T plans to invest about a billion dollars in 2010 to upgrade its services and products, besides expanding global network in countries like India, China and Japan.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:34 am Apple's iPad easier on airport screener's eyesApple's iPad tablet is friendlier than a traditional laptop when it comes to airport security.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:15 am BSE Sensex tops 18,000, but techs dropMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex climbed above 18,000 points for the first time in more than two years on Wednesday, propelled by robust earnings expectations and firm global equities.Source: Reuters: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:13 am India service sector growth slows in March: HSBCThe central bank raised rates last month, ahead of its regular April 20 policy review and is expected to act again this month to cool mounting inflationary pressures.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:09 am Day Trading GuideThe near-term outlook stays positive for the stock as long as it trades above Rs 323. We recommend a buy with stop at RsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Aditya Birla Chemicals (Rs 84.9): BuyWe recommend a buy in the stock of Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) from a short-term perspective. After encountering resistance at the long-term resistance around Rs 103 (early 2008 peak) in January 2010, the stock started to decline. However, theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Reasonable to expect more inflows: DaltonMr U.R. Bhat is the founding member and Managing Director of Dalton Capital Advisors (India). He was a former Director and Chief Investment Officer of Jardine Fleming India Asset Management and its successor JF Asset Management (India). Mr BhatSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am The Spice in the JetWhat is it about the Delhi-based low-cost airline SpiceJet, which completes five years of operations this May, that there is always a buzz aroundSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am SpiceJet gets to go globalThe Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, has cleared the proposal for allowing SpiceJet, the Delhi-based low-cost airline, to start internationalSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Expat Chief Operating Officer for Air IndiaAir India has appointed Captain Gustav Baldauf as its first Chief Operating Officer, the national carrier said, after its first board meeting with the four newly appointed independentSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am SEBI cuts listing time to 12 days after IPOMarket regulator SEBI has made it mandatory for companies to list shares within 12 days after the closure of a public issue. On Tuesday, the regulator said that this would be applicable to public issues opening on or after MaySource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am The advantage of being IndiaForget exact growth rates and statistics. To the ordinary eye, it's obvious the Indian economy is in a boom. The average Indian is doing well. Look no farther than Chennai's T. Nagar shopping area. The square mile is supposed to have sold RsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am India, US ‘build on finance ties'Giving Indo-US economic relations a fillip, the visiting US Treasury Secretary, Mr Timothy F. Geithner, and the Union Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, launched the India-US Economic and Financial Partnership in the Capital onSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Godrej Consumer buys Indonesian co for Rs 1,200 crGodrej Consumer Products (GCPL) has acquired Indonesia-based PT. Megasari Makmur Group for an estimated Rs 1,200 crore, its biggest buy so far. HSBC was the advisor to theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am World Bank raises east Asia GDP forecast; sees challengesBEIJING (Reuters) - The World Bank sharply raised its forecast for economic growth in East Asia to reflect reviving global demand, sustained fiscal and monetary stimulus in the region and a rapid rebound in consumer spending.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:59 pm Murdoch to limit Google access to News Corp. papersWashington: News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said on Tuesday that Google and Microsoft’s access to his newspapers could be limited to a “headline or a sentence or two” once he erects a pay wall around his titles’ websites. Murdoch, in an interview with journalist Marvin Kalb for The Kalb Report, also said he believed most US newspapers would eventually end up charging readers online, like he does with The Wall Street Journal and plans to do with his other properties beginning with The Times of London. “You’ll find, I think, most newspapers in this country are going to be putting up a pay wall,” he said. “Now how high does it go, does it allow (visitors) to have the first couple paragraphs or certain feature articles, we’ll see. “We’re experimenting with it ourselves,” he said. The News Corp. chief said “we’re going to stop people like Google and Microsoft and whoever from taking our stories for nothing.” Search advertising had produced a “river of gold” for Google, he said, “but those words are being taken mostly from the newspapers. And I think they ought to stop it, the newspapers ought to stand up and make them do their own reporting or whatever.” Murdoch said he did not expect search engines would pay for access to newspapers. “We’ll be very happy if they just publish our headline or a sentence or two and that’s followed by a subscription form,” he said. Murdoch dismissed concerns that readers used to getting news on the Internet for free would be reluctant to pay. “I think when they’ve got nowhere else to go they’ll start paying,” he said. Murdoch was also asked about the rivalry between The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, which has announced plans to launch an expanded New York edition later this month. “I’ve got great respect for the Times, except it does have very clearly an agenda,” he said. “You can see it in the way they choose their stories, what they put on Page One -- anything (President Barack) Obama wants. “And the White House pays off by feeding them stories,” he said. Murdoch also said he reads The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post each day “because I’m going to be responsible for them.” He said he reads “a lot” of the New York Times,” but rarely reads The Washington Post although he “probably should.” Murdoch also praised the Apple iPad calling the newly released tablet computer a “glimpse of the future.” He predicted the iPad would have eight or nine competitors in the next 12 months and said the devices could save newspapers. “There’s going to be tens of millions of these things sold all over the world,” he said. “It may be the saving of newspapers because you don’t have the costs of paper, ink, printing, trucks. “I’m old, I like the tactile experience of the newspaper,” he said, but “if you have less newspapers and more of these that’s ok.” “It doesn’t destroy the traditional newspaper, it just comes in a different form,” he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:49 pm Leaders pay last respects to jawans killed in Naxal attackJagdalpur (Chhattisgarh): Central and state government leaders on Wednesday paid their last respects to the 76 CRPF personnel killed in the deadliest Naxal attack on security forces on Tuesday in jungles of Dantewada district. Home minister P Chidambaram, who flew in here from New Delhi via Raipur, placed a wreath in front of the bodies of the slain jawans, 75 of whom belonged to the CRPF. One head constable of the state police deputed with the paramilitary unit was also killed in the attack. Timeline | Red Terror Chidambaram also met some of the family members of the dead jawans. State governor Shekhar Dutta, chief minister Raman Singh and senior state police and paramilitary officers also paid their homage to the personnel. The home minister is expected to review the Maoist menace at a high-level meeting with the state authorities. The personnel, who appeared to have walked into the naxal’s “trap”, were killed when they were literally caught sleeping in the Mukrana forests of Dantewada district, one of the strongholds of the Naxals. The personnel were returning to the base camp as part of a joint operation when they came under fire from hill features just about four kilometres away. Virtually an entire company of the CRPF was wiped out when 75 of its personnel including deputy commandant Satyawan Singh Yadav and assistant commandant B L Meena were killed. The attack shook the Centre and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a meeting with Chidambaram and assessed the situation. Both of them expressed shock over the attack and grief over the loss of lives. Prime Minister had called it a “horrific” incident. Chidambaram, rattled by the “very high” casualty, said something must have gone “drastically wrong” in the joint operation as the personnel seemed to have walked into a trap. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:48 pm India's 3G auction set to start FridayIndia's mobile firms will be bidding billions of dollars in an auction this week to provide superfast third generation (3G) service in the country's booming cellular market.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:40 pm Service sector growth slows in March: HSBCMumbai: Business activity among Indian services companies grew at a slower pace in March, moving away from 17-month highs touched in February, due to a slowdown in new work and employment and rising costs, a survey showed. The HSBC Markit Business Activity Index, based on a survey of 400 firms, fell to 58.1 in March from 60.9 in February, which was its highest since September 2008. “As with the March manufacturing PMI, the main news here relates to the price balances,” said Robert Prior-Wandesforde, senior Asian economist at HSBC. Manufacturing growth had slowed down in March, dropping from a 20-month-record in February, as mounting cost pressures weighed on expansion in output, a HSBC Markit survey showed last week. “Although not as strong as those in manufacturing, input prices and prices charged in the service sector both increased in March, with the latter hitting a new high for the current upswing,” Prior-Wandesforde said. “This further reinforces the message that underlying inflationary pressures continue to build in India and the RBI is behind the curve,” he said, referring to the Reserve Bank of India. The central bank raised rates last month, ahead of its regular 20 April policy review and is expected to act again this month to cool mounting inflationary pressures. The index has been above the 50 point level that separates expansion from contraction for 11 months as the economy shakes off the impact of the global slowdown. Before that, it shrank for six months, hitting a trough of 40.3 in February 2009. The business expectations sub-index fell to 70.3 in March from a 4-month-high of 73.1 in February. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:24 pm Rupee firm but off fresh 19-month highMumbai: The Indian rupee was trading firm on Wednesday but off a 19-month-high as mild profit-booking offset a rise in local shares, and traders said state-run banks were not actively buying the dollar. At 10:25am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs44.37/38 per dollar after hitting Rs44.31, its strongest since 8 September, 2008. It had ended at Rs44.45/46 on Tuesday. “The rupee movement seems flow specific ... the market seems oversold to me and over the next two days you should see a pullback to Rs44.80,” said a trader with a foreign bank. Dealers said state-run banks were not actively buying the dollar, implying the central bank was not currently looking to intervene to prevent further appreciation despite the rupee’s recent rally. The rupee climbed 2.7% in March, its biggest monthly gain since May 2009, on the back of foreign portfolio inflows of about $4.4 billion, and has strengthened a further 1.3% since then. Latest data from the Reserve Bank of India showed it had not intervened in foreign exchange market in December and January. Stronger Asian currencies also supported the rupee. India’s main stock index climbed above 18,000 points for the first time since February 2008 and rupee traders said they were positive on stocks in the near term, indicating they expected foreign portfolio inflows to remain robust. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at Rs44.37/47, near the onshore spot rate. 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 44.4675. Meanwhile the index of the dollar against six major currencies was up 0.1%. The euro struggled, plagued by fresh worries about debt-laden Greece, while commodity currencies like the Australian and Canadian dollars held gains on the back of expectations of higher interest rates. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:37 pm Renault, Daimler set to announce partnership plansParis/Tokyo: French car maker Renault SA, its Japanese alliance partner Nissan Motor Co. and Germany’s Daimler AG are likely to announce partnership and cross-shareholding plans as early as Wednesday, said people aware of the development, who declined to be named.  New alliance: Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn may make the announcement. Ramesh Pathania/Mint Renault’s board is due to hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the plans on Tuesday afternoon, a Renault official said last week on condition of anonymity. Nissan is also expected to be involved in the agreement, and the three companies will likely cement the partnership with small cross-shareholdings. Renault already owns 44.3% of Nissan, while the Japanese company has a 15% stake in its French partner. Any equity exchange as part of a Renault-Nissan-Daimler partnership is expected to be on a much smaller scale, and represent a symbolic participation rather than a step towards the level of integration Nissan and Renault have achieved in the course of their 11-year alliance. Daimler—the maker of luxury Mercedes-Benz cars, which also owns the struggling Smart small-car brand—wants to tap into Clio-maker Renault’s small-car expertise, while Renault and Nissan could benefit from Daimler’s engine know-how. The announcement— which may be made at a press conference with Renault and Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn—will come the day after an extraordinary meeting of Renault’s board of directors due to take place on Tuesday afternoon, the Renault official said. The board is due to discuss the different elements of the agreement, including the size of possible stakes and the structure of the deal, he said. “Renault has decided on a communication plan for 7 April. It will be a press conference with the CEO (Carlos Ghosn), I think,” he added. A second person said on Monday that the three companies would make a joint announcement, and that this could happen on Wednesday after the Renault board meeting. A Renault spokeswoman declined to comment. A Nissan spokesman also declined to comment. Daimler could not immediately be reached for comment. Both companies have said they are discussing closer ties with each other as well as with other car making peers. feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:37 pm Renault, Daimler set to announce partnership plansParis/Tokyo: French car maker Renault SA, its Japanese alliance partner Nissan Motor Co. and Germany’s Daimler AG are likely to announce partnership and cross-shareholding plans as early as Wednesday, said people aware of the development, who declined to be named. New alliance: Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn may make the announcement. Ramesh Pathania/Mint Renault’s board is due to hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the plans on Tuesday afternoon, a Renault official said last week on condition of anonymity. Nissan is also expected to be involved in the agreement, and the three companies will likely cement the partnership with small cross-shareholdings. Renault already owns 44.3% of Nissan, while the Japanese company has a 15% stake in its French partner. Any equity exchange as part of a Renault-Nissan-Daimler partnership is expected to be on a much smaller scale, and represent a symbolic participation rather than a step towards the level of integration Nissan and Renault have achieved in the course of their 11-year alliance. Daimler—the maker of luxury Mercedes-Benz cars, which also owns the struggling Smart small-car brand—wants to tap into Clio-maker Renault’s small-car expertise, while Renault and Nissan could benefit from Daimler’s engine know-how. The announcement— which may be made at a press conference with Renault and Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn—will come the day after an extraordinary meeting of Renault’s board of directors due to take place on Tuesday afternoon, the Renault official said. The board is due to discuss the different elements of the agreement, including the size of possible stakes and the structure of the deal, he said. “Renault has decided on a communication plan for 7 April. It will be a press conference with the CEO (Carlos Ghosn), I think,” he added. A second person said on Monday that the three companies would make a joint announcement, and that this could happen on Wednesday after the Renault board meeting. A Renault spokeswoman declined to comment. A Nissan spokesman also declined to comment. Daimler could not immediately be reached for comment. Both companies have said they are discussing closer ties with each other as well as with other car making peers. feedback@livemint.com Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:37 pm Rupee scales new peak, up 12 paise against dollarThe rupee on Wednesday appreciated by 12 paise to a fresh 19-month high at 44.33 a dollar in early trade on continued capital inflows by foreign funds in stock markets.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:36 pm Godrej Consumer soars 8 pc on BSE - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:26 pm Sensex regains 18,000 points level after 2 yearsThe BSE benchmark Sensex today regained the 18,000-points level after almost 25 months on aggressive buying by funds expecting good fourth quarter results by corporates. The Sensex moved up by 67.03 points to 18,008.40, the highest since February 2008.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:15 pm Sensex regains 18,000-points level after 2 yearsThe Sensex, which was on an upward march in the last three trading sessions, moved up further by 67.03 points or 0.37% to 18,008.40 in opening trade, the highest since February 2008.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:10 pm Asian stocks near 22-month highs; euro softSydney: Asian stocks neared 22-month highs on Wednesday as regional investors largely shrugged off festering worries about fiscal problems in Europe and focused on a recovery in the world economy. The upbeat mood about global growth was also reflected in commodity markets, with copper prices hovering near 20-month highs and oil prices near 18-month peaks. While worries about Greece’s ability to cut its mountain of debt continued to weigh on the euro, those concerns scarcely caused a ripple in Asian markets, with some investors citing profit-taking as the biggest near-term threat to the regional rally in stocks, bonds and currencies. “Both domestic and US economic fundamentals have been showing signs of improvement, and sentiment is solid,” said Kim Yong-kyun, a market analyst at Daishin Securities in Seoul. “Appetite to redeem funds is ripe at the index’s current level. But after a brief redemption spree the market will be ready for a further gradual upward run,” Kim said. The S&P and the Nasdaq saw modest gains overnight, while the Dow slipped 0.3% but continued to eye the psychologically important 11,000-point level. The MSCI’s broad measure of shares in the Asia-Pacific outside Japan rose 0.8% on Wednesday, nearing levels last seen in June 2008. It has gained nearly 5% so far this year and an impressive 73% since the end of 2008, more than double the 30% jump in the US S&P 500 over the same period as Asia rebounds from the global crisis far faster than major Western economies. But the Asia ex-Japan index looks increasingly ripe for a pullback, with the 14-day relative strength index reading 83, well above the 70 mark which points to a market being overbought. Hong Kong shares were the strongest risers, with the Hang Seng Index up 1.3% as traders returned from a five-day holiday weekend and caught up to gains elsewhere in the world that have been fueled by upbeat US economic data. Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.4% as the Bank of Japan concluded its policy meeting by keeping interest rates steady at 0.1%, as expected. Copper was strong under $8,000 a tonne after touching a 20-month high of $8,010 the previous day. If copper is indeed a barometer of industrial activity, as many analysts believe given its wide usage in construction and telecommunications, its surge since the global credit crisis suggests the world economy is healing well. Copper prices have bolted over 2.5 times since December 2008 and now stand just 10% under a record peak hit in July 2008. The struggling euro took another knock from worries around Greece’s fiscal problems. The common currency was soft at $1.3388, within sight of an 11-month trough of $1.3265 hit late in March. Hourly charts show if the euro breaches $1.3342, which marks the 76.4% retracement level of its ascent from $1.3265 to $1.3591, it may force it to retest levels around $1.3260. The latest wave of selling, which traders said was led by macro hedge funds, was set off by reports that Greece wants to amend an EU-IMF safety net deal set up late last month to help pay for its debts in an emergency. Although Greece denied the reports, the market paid no heed and continued to bet on Athens having troubles cutting its debt burden, even as its borrowing costs mount. Investors demanded a yield of close to 7.5% for buying 10-year Greek bonds. That is nearly 100 basis points above levels seen last week, and over 400 basis points above German Bunds, the biggest premium since Greece joined the euro in 2001. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:10 pm Nissan recalls over 25,000 cars in Japan over gas pedalsCarmaker Nissan is to recall more than 25,000 vehicles in Japan due to accelerator pedal defects, the company said today.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:07 pm Sensex hits 18,000 after 2 yearsThe Sensex, which was on an upward march in the last three trading sessions, moved up further by 67.03 points or 0.37% to 18,008.40 in opening trade today, the highest since February 2008.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:57 pm India's main share index rises past 18,000India's main stock index rose past 18,000 early on Wednesday for the first time since February 2008, with Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank leading the rise on strong global markets.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:49 pm Malvinder Singh on rationale behind his exit from Religare - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:33 pm Rlys to lease real estate assets, eyes Rs 600 crWith a view to exploit its real estate assets, Indian Railways plans to lease out some of them and aims to rake-in Rs 600 crore through this move this fiscal, a senior Railways official said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:07 pm Wall Street mixed on profit-takingNew York: US stock markets ended mixed as investors sought to lock in market gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 3.56 points (0.03%) at 10,969.99 in closing trades. The tech-rich Nasdaq composite was up 7.28 points (0.30%) to 2,436.81 and the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 1.99 points (0.17%) at 1,189.43. After weeks of solid, if not dramatic, gains, investors seemed to cash in on profits. On Monday, the Dow had come within striking distance of the symbolic tally of 11,000 points. Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com said there was “a general sense that the market is due for a breather and may be subject to some normal profit taking.” Yesterday the Federal Reserve published broadly positive minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting in March. The FOMC sets key US interest rates. Although Fed members said the economic outlook was improving, it delayed any decision on its exit strategy from massive economic support measures. The Fed’s outlook was enough to help stocks recover from early losses. Stock in Massey Energy Company sank over 11% by late trade on news that a methane explosion at one of its mines in West Virginia had killed at least 25 people. The accident, the worst US mining accident since 1984, hit Monday afternoon as miners were changing shifts at the mine, located about 50 kilometres south of Charleston, West Virginia. Shares in US telecommunications firm AT&T were also down, trading at $26.26, down 0.15%, after it announced it would spend one billion dollars to improve services for business customers. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:05 pm Frivolous pharma patents risingStudy shows about 86 patents were for minor variations of existing drugs.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:46 pm Unitech hires advisors for rejigFirm to demerge non-core units.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:37 pm Godrej acquires Indonesian firmGodrej Consumer Products (GCPL), the FMCG arm of the Godrej group, has entered into an agreement to acquire the $120-million Megasari Makmur group and its distributor, Intrasari Raya, in Indonesia.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 Apr 2010 | 2:07 pm Fierce fight in store for spectrum shareThe upcoming 3G auctions, which will be held online through a secure website from April 9, promises to be fiercely competitive with as many as six of the nine bidders nurturing pan-India spectrum ambitions.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 Apr 2010 | 2:05 pm Unitech set to hive off non-core biz and list itIn order to unlock shareholders' value, realty major Unitech is all set to hive off its investment in non core activities like telecom, special economic zones (SEZs) and hotel, into a separate company and list it on the bourses.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 Apr 2010 | 2:04 pm Malvinder, Shivinder resign from ReligarePromoters of Religare Enterprises Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh resigned from the board of the company on Tuesday "to devote more time in their healthcare business".Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 Apr 2010 | 2:02 pm The Mint Report for 6 April 2010New Delhi: The old hands at Religare are letting go. On Tuesday the company’s chairman, Malvinder Mohan Singh announced his resignation. He also said he’s quitting Religare’s board and now plans to focus on family’s business interests in healthcare. Malvinder brother, Shivinder also announced he resigning from the board of directors. Last month, the Singh family’s hospital chain, Fortis, said it would buy a nearly 24% stake in Singaporean healthcare company Parkway. And in 2009, Fortis bought ten hospitals from Wockhardt. A new survey claims companies consider white-collar crime the biggest threat to their operations in India. The survey, from consulting firm KPMG, concludes that 81% of companies feel financial statement fraud by their own employees represents the greatest danger. It says 75% of Indian firms think cases of fraud have increased in the last two years. And it adds that 87% of companies have lost more than a million rupees because of frauds. KPMG’s report suggests poor internal controls, the absence of legal action and poor ethical values are the main culprits. KPMG conducted its survey by questioning top officials at a thousand companies based in India. US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner called for greater cooperation between his country and India on Tuesday. Geithner said the two countries would need to work closely if they want to create a more stable global financial system. He also praised the way India handled the fallout from the financial crisis and said the prospects for both the US and Indian economies are good. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:51 pm Food Bill | How 3 pages changed govt approachNew Delhi: The government’s effort to draft a seminal law to fight hunger is flawed, inadequate, opaque and “not in the spirit of the election promises” in the Congress manifesto, says a confidential note circulated to top ministers at a late-evening meeting on Monday.  The criticism in this note was at the centre of discussions in Monday’s meeting. Its contents clearly set the agenda for the government: more subsidies, greater recognition of “most vulnerable sections”, wide-ranging reforms of anti-poverty programmes, and greater transparency in their administration. “The National Food Security Act must ensure food for all, addressing the concerns of availability, access and absorption,” said the note. “The present draft addresses none of these sufficiently.” Seven of the eight eGoM ministers, except railway minister Mamata Banerjee, and “special observer”, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, attended Monday’s meeting. With government spending on key food-security related programmes set to exceed Rs1.18 trillion for 2010-11, the highest ever, the note points to the piecemeal approach of the version first cleared by the eGoM on 18 March, before being shot down by Gandhi. Also Read Previous stories in the series “The draft Bill does not cover any of the other food-security related schemes that were meant to be brought under a single umbrella, including mid-day meals, integrated child development services, pensions (old age, widow and disability), maternity benefits etc.,” said the note, adding that “vulnerable groups” such as urban homeless and migrants “have not been covered in the present Bill”. The Planning Commission has now been given three weeks to prepare a note that widens the scope of the Bill. This is a difficult task, to redraw India’s official poverty line—which considers an ability to spend Rs12 per day per person for rural areas and Rs17 per day per person in urban areas—and take the number of poor beyond the current 280 million. The note spends the most of the space on reform of the public distribution system (PDS), the nationwide network to provide subsidized food through 0.5 million “fair-price” shops. It says PDS reforms must focus on: locally bought grain “to the extent possible”; ensure that PDS documents be made public and provided on demand within seven days, at costs prescribed by the Right to Information Act (RTI); shop management by village councils and women’s groups; include coarse grains such as jowar and bajra, beyond wheat and rice. The note makes a special note of “weak accountability and grievance redressal” in the draft Bill cleared by the eGoM.  Mukherjee, home minister P. Chidambaram, commerce minister Anand Sharma, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, defence minister A.K. Antony and rural development minister C.P. Joshi were present in the meeting. The Hunger Project is a joint effort of the Hindustan Times and Mint to track, investigate and report every aspect of the struggle to rid India of hunger. If you have any suggestions, write to us at thehungerproject@livemint.com feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:45 pm Quick Edit | Fighting Chinese hackersGeorge Smiley had to be called out of retirement to flush out a Soviet mole who had burrowed deep into the British intelligence system, in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John Le Carre’s nail-biting novel on Cold War intrigue. India now needs to call in some young network security experts to fight a cyberwar. A new report published on Monday by Canadian experts should make the Indian defence establishment sit up and take notice. The report claims that hackers based in China—though there is little evidence to link them to the Chinese government—broke into our national security databases, and got access to information on important projects such as the Iron Dome missile system and the Project Shakti artillery combat system. This is intolerable. The Indian government has been in denial mode overall. Experts say India should enact a critical infrastructure protection policy under the Prime Minister’s Office and integrate all islands of networking— defence forces, research labs, universities—so we can have a coordinated response when the hackers strike next. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:37 pm Social networking pushes sales of smartphonesMumbai: Sanjay Sawant splurged Rs12,000 on a SamsungCorby smartphone recently, and signed on with telecom firm Aircel Ltd for a Rs99 a month plan that allows him to access the Internet on his phone.  Always connected: Cheap Internet plans and the comfort of qwerty keypads can be attributed to this surge. Ramesh Pathania/Mint “I want to make new friends and I can now do that on my phone,” says Sawant. Sawant’s purchase and the motivation behind it mark a new trend in India, of the social networking phenomenon driving demand for smartphones, mostly with qwerty (or full) keypads, among segments once not considered as markets for such phones: teenagers still in school and college and young people in large cities; and young people (under the age of 25) in small cities and towns. According to Mahesh Narayanan, country manager, India, at AdMob Inc., one of the world’s largest mobile advertising networks, the number of people accessing the Internet on mobile phones, and those using smartphones to do so, have both doubled over the past year, the first to 25 million and the second to around 7.5 million. Narayanan doesn’t have the numbers, but says he believes that a significant proportion of such users are people between 15 and 25 years. And companies taking advantage of this phenomenon include Research In Motion Ltd (RIM, the makers of BlackBerry) which once targeted corporate customers, and Micromax Informatics Ltd. RIM has reduced prices, launched new models and even coloured variants and a variety of accessories, even started advertising in mainstream newspapers and television channels to attract so-called retail customers. Micromax has smarphones with qwerty keypads on offer for prices as low as Rs3,750. And telecom firms such as Bharti Airtel Ltd and Aircel Ltd have data (or Internet access) plans starting at Rs99 a month. Together, these have ensured that the demand for smartphones—pushed by the need and urge to use social networking sites—has been met by a supply of products and services that are priced within the reach of most of the people. “In our view, it is the typical college and office going crowd in A, B cities, in the 16 to 35 age group, with high usage of social networking sites such as Facebook or Orkut and instant messaging applications such as Google or Yahoo, that’s driving the sales (of qwerty phones),” said Vikas Jain, one of the co-founders of Gurgaon-based Micromax Informatics. “Currently, qwerty keyboard phones constitute about 25% of our sales.” RIM has also expanded its reach from nine cities to 60 and more than doubled its partnership with telecom firms from four to nine in the past one year. “We are targeting a larger audience and looking at youth and young professionals in the age group of 16-20 and 20-plus, whose feature-based usage will be higher, as an important segment for us,” said a spokesperson at RIM India. Some telecom firms, too, think similarly. Aircel, for instance, has sharply focussed its advertising, featuring cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, on mobile Internet access and social networking. A telecom industry analyst, who did not want to be identified, claimed that the telco “has become the second largest mobile Internet operator with 85% of its subscriber base using the Internet.” According to numbers provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Aircel had 34.6 million subscribers as of February 2010. The number of people accessing the Internet over phone may appear steep, but it rings true, according to an executive at a search marketing firm. “The new generation (12-17 year olds) are all connected on the Net. They are a data-led generation as versus the older generation, which was voice-led,” said Mahesh Murthy, founder and chief executive officer, Pinstorm. Murthy should know. He pays the phone bills for his son, Agni, 12, which are “96% data” and “4% use”. It isn’t just cellphone makers or telecom firms, but even companies in businesses such as consumer goods, education and consumer durables are paying a lot of attention to how young people are using the mobile Internet, said Prashant Mehta, chief operating officer at Komli Media India Pvt. Ltd, a digital advertising and technology company. “They are already on Facebook, Orkut and that is their style of communication.” Lison Joseph contributed to this story. sapna.a@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:29 pm Godrej Consumer Products buys Indonesian MegasariAfter months of pursuing PT Megasari Mamsur, the Indonesian household product maker, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) today announced it has sealed the deal to acquire Megasari, as well as its distribution arm, PT Intrasari Raya. The deal is valued at around Rs 1,000-Rs 1,200 crore, according to analysts.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:24 pm Singh brothers surprise againRelinquish Religare board positions.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:22 pm CSK win by 24 runs after Mumbai batting collapseChennai: Sachin Tendulkar’s (45) departure due to exhaustion led to a sensational batting collapse of Mumbai Indians as Chennai Super Kings thrashed them by 24 runs in an Indian Premier League match at Chennai on Tuesday night. Chasing a modest target of 166, Mumbai were cruising all along before Tendulkar left the field in the ninth over at 62 for one after making a 28-ball 36 which contained six fours. But once he left, Mumbai lost way with wickets falling like nine pins and they could make just 141 for nine in 20 overs as their five-match winning streak was snapped at the packed M A Chidambaram Stadium. Chennai produced a superb bowling and fielding display and turn on the heat on the Mumbai Indians once Tendulkar left the field under hot conditions. All the CSK bowlers took wickets with Thilan Thushara and Ramachandran Ashwin being the most successful with two wickets apiece by conceding 16 and 22 runs respectively. Sudeep Tyagi, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati and Suresh Raina chipped in with a wicket each.  Chennai Super Kings’ Mathew Hyden plays a shot during the IPL T20 match against Mumbai Indians at the MAC stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. R Senthil Kumar/PTI Earlier, electing to bat, Chennai made 165 for four with Matthew Hayden top-scoring with a 31-ball 35, while captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (18-ball 31) and S Badrinath 22-ball 30 not out) making useful contributions. With Tuesday’s win, their third on the trot, CSK are now at fourth spot with 10 points in 10 matches while Mumbai retained the top spot with 14 points from nine matches. Except for 45 by Tendulkar, who could add just nine runs after his return in the 15th over, and a late flourish of 23-ball 33 by Harbhajan Singh, the remaining Mumbai batsmen came a cropper with five of them failing to reach double figures.  Tendulkar returned in the 15th over but could add just nine runs after facing seven balls. His 35-ball 54 contained six fours. Harbhajan Singh made a late charge scoring a 23-ball 33 but it was too little too late as Mumbai Indians could score just 141 for nine. Mumbai made a steady start with Tendulkar continuing his sparkling form and finding boundaries at regular intervals. But once the Mumbai captain left the field in the ninth over, the visitors simply crumbled. From 66 for one just before wicket-keeper batsman Ambati Rayudu was out in 9.5 overs, Mumbai were reduced to 89 for seven in 14.2 overs. They lost five wickets in the space 27 balls and addition of 23 runs. Rayudu fell five balls after Tendulkar left the field as he was foxed by a Suresh Raina delivery and Mahendra Singh Dhoni affected an easy stumping. With the asking rate over 10, Dwayne Bravo tried to force the pace but perished in the fourth ball he faced holing out to Thilan Thushara while trying to hoist Tyagi for just two. By then, Mumbai were 69 for three. Saurabh Tiwary, who has been consistent in the tournament, did not last long as he holed out to Matthew Hayden while trying a slog sweep off Jakati in the 12th over. Mumbai Indians’ run chase almost ended in the next over with West Indian Kieron Pollard perishing for just five of six balls. Pollard, who has been disappointing with the bat in the tournament much against expectations, holed out to Murali Vijay off Ramachandran Ashwin while trying a big hit and MI were 85 for five when he was out. R Sathish and Ryan McLaren were out in the space of five balls which forced Tendulkar to come back in the 15th over. But the Mumbai captain did not remain long at the field as he fell to Thushara in the 17th over to virtually end his side’s hopes with Vijay taking a fine catch at long-on. Thushara was stopped from bowling further for bowling his second above waist-high ball in the innings. Harbhajan then struck three sixes off Doug Bollinger only to be dismissed clean-bowled by the same bowler in the last ball of the match. Earlier, Mumbai Indians produced a disciplined bowling and fielding performance to restrict Chennai Indians to 165 for four. The table toppers, who have lost just one out of their earlier eight matches, did not allow the Chennai side to replicate their brilliant batting show in their earlier match in which they made 246 for five — the highest IPL total. Most of Chennai batsmen got the start but failed to convert them into big scores. Mumbai bowlers got support from their fielders who did some fine work to deny runs to CSK batsmen. Chennai top order made a subdued start and last match centurion Murali Vijay was back at the pavilion by the fourth over as he dragged a Harbhajan Singh delivery on to his stumps for 14. The other opener Matthew was unusually quiet as Mumbai bowlers did not give him much chance to swing his bat and that meant Chennai were 35 for one at the end of fifth over. The home side picked up the tempo with one-down Suresh Raina forcing the pace. He hoisted Dwayne Bravo for a huge six in the ninth over but perished two balls later holing out to Shikhar Dhawan at deep midwicket for a 18-ball 23. After the halfway mark, Chennai were 85 for two and with wickets at hand they were looked set for a bigger total only to be pegged back by two wickets in two balls from Mumbai bowler Kieron Pollard. Dhoni, who came in at the fall of Raina, raised the scoring rate with some lusty blows but he was the third man to go as he mistimed a slow ball from Pollard who took a return catch. Dhoni’s 18-ball innings contained four boundaries. Next ball, Hayden’s uneventful innings ended as R Sathish took an easy catch at the long on to reduce the home side to 119 for four at the end of 14th over. Hayden’s 35 came form 31 balls with the help of just two fours and a six. Badrinath (22-ball 30), who denied Pollard a hat-trict, and Australian Michael Hussey (15-ball 14), playing in his first IPL III match, failed to provide the final thrust, adding just 41 runs from the last five overs. Pollard, who has not been doing much with the bat much against expectations, was the most successful Mumbai bowler with two wickets for 27 runs from his four overs. Bravo and Harbhajan took a wicket each. Score Board Chennai Super Kings Murali Vijay b Harbhajan 14 Matthew Hayden c Satish b Pollard 35 Suresh Raina c Dhawan b Bravo 23 M S Dhoni c & b Pollard 31 Michael Hussey not out 14 S Badrinath not out 30 Total: 165/4 in 20 overs Mumbai Indians S Dhawan b Thilan Thushara 16 18 2 - 88.89 46/1 S Tendulkar ct Murali Vijay b Thilan Thushara 45 35 6 - 128.57 105/8 S Tiwary ct Matthew Hayden b Shadab Jakati 14 A Rayudu st MS Dhoni b Suresh Raina 3 4 D Bravo ct Thilan Thushara b Sudeep Tyagi 2 3 K Pollard ct Murali Vijay b R Ashwin 5 6 R Sathish runout (Subramaniam Badrinath / MS Dhoni) 4 5 R McLaren lbw R Ashwin 1 3 Total: 141/9 in 20 overs Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:21 pm Healthcare focus leads to Religare recastNew Delhi: In a repositioning of business strategy, Malvinder Mohan Singh stepped down as the chairman of financial services firm Religare Enterprises Ltd to push for a bigger global footprint for his healthcare business under hospital chain Fortis Healthcare Ltd.  Top-level shuffle: Malvinder Mohan Singh, who stepped down as the chairman of Religare Enterprises, will focus on the healthcare segment. B.Mathur/Reuters The top-level management shuffle at Religare is a signal of Malvinder Mohan Singh’s intention to step back from the day-to-day running of the financial services business to focus on the healthcare segment, building on recent acquistions. As the largest shareholders in Religare, with a majority stake, he and his brother would however retain oversight. Fortis Healthcare last month bought a 23.9% stake in Singapore-based Parkway Holdings Ltd from TPG Capital, valued at Rs3,118 crore. In August, it purchased 10 hospitals owned by Wockhardt for Rs909 crore; in 2005, it acquired Delhi-based Escorts Heart Institute for Rs650 crore. “There is a huge opportunity in the healthcare sector. While the financial services sector has a model to follow for global expansion, healthcare doesn’t,” Malvinder Mohan Singh, who plans to move to Singapore to consolidate and build the healthcare business, said in an interview. “So, this decision was more about revisiting reponsibility between the three of us,” he said, referring to his brother, Godhwani and himself. In addition to Nath, group chief financial officer Anil Saxena was also inducted into the board of directors at Religare, along with three new members, all of whom are expatriates. ”We are looking at other opportunities—both organically and inorganically,” Godhwani said. “For our investment banking platform, we would look at emerging markets such as Indonesia and Malaysia.” Religare’s two focus areas will be investment banking and asset management. The company has set aside a sum of $1 billion (Rs4,450 crore) for creating an asset management platform, begining with the acquisition of a 65% stake in US-based Northgate Capital for an estimated Rs900 crore. Religare in March applied for an asset management licence in Japan. The Financial Times has reported, citing a London placement firm, that Religare is trying to employ I-bankers in London. New acquisitions will be primarily in the US and Europe, according to a company spokesperson. For the investment banking business, Religare will opt for both organic and inorganic growth, said the spokesperson. Malvinder Mohan Singh, however, categorically ruled out any stake sale in Religare. “This is a process and not an end by itself. Our aspiration is to be at the forefront on a global level and step by step we are getting there,” he said. He added that their focus is on creating a global model for healthcare, with Shivinder Mohan Singh handling the domestic business while he would concentrate on the global businesses. This is not the first time that the Singh family has handed over running of businesses to professionals. In 1999, the Singhs’ father, Parvinder Singh, handed over charge of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd to D.S. Brar. Ranbaxy was sold in 2008 by the Singh brothers to Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd, which paid Rs10,000 crore for the 34.82% stake owned by the two brothers. The acquisition of Parkway was the most expensive overseas by an Indian healthcare services firm. Parkway, with a network of 16 hospitals offering 3400 beds—in Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, China, UAE along with one hospital in Kolkata in partnership with Apollo and a greenfield project in Mumbai—takes Fortis’ count to 62 hospitals with a capacity of 10,000 beds. “Parkway was clearly tne biggest investment we have made, making us the fourth largest healthcare network - the top three are in the US - with a geographical footprint across eight countries,” said Singh. “There is no global healthcare company today and we are working to create one,” he added. While Asia will continue to be the focus of Fortis’ overseas exapnsion plans in the near term—the group already has a presence in Mauritius—Singh has said in the past that the next phase of expansion will be outside the region. Analysts sounded a note of caution. “One gets a feeling that they are trying to grow too fast,” said the head of research at a Mumbai-based brokerage who requested anonymity as REL directly competes with his company in the broking and financial services space. The Singh brothers’ ambitious expansion plans could in the short run be a prescription for stock volatility, he said. “But we are asking people to hold on to the shares as despite the short term hiccups, the group has strong growth prospects,” the research head said. “Some of the recent acquisitions, both in healthcare and financial services businesses augur well for the long-term growth, but have not come cheap.” Religare Enterprises rose 1.66%, or Rs6.45, to Rs395.80 at the close of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange even as the Sensex ended little changed at 17,941.37. Fortis Healthcare lost 1.42%, or Rs2.50, to Rs174. N. Sundaresha Subramanian contributed to this story. tejeesh.b@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:19 pm AI hires COO; sets date for revival planNew Delhi: The new board of Air India set a 30-day deadline for preparing a turnaround plan for the loss-making state-owned airline on a day when it also appointed Gustav Baldauf as its chief operating officer.  New course: Air India chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav. Harikrishna Katragadda/Mint The new turnaround plan will effectively replace a previous one proposed by the airline in August. The government has already infused Rs945 crore into Air India, most recently through two infusions totalling Rs800 crore in February and March, but has said that further help will depend on the ability of the airline to put its finances in order and cut costs. Air India, until recently, had a low equity capital of Rs145 crore and has lost in excess of $2 billion (Rs8,900 crore today) over the past two years. Baldauf, a former employee of Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Austrian Airlines, whose appointment will have to be approved by India’s cabinet committee on appointments, was chosen by the board that includes Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry general secretary Amit Mitra, industrialist Harsh Neotia and Air Chief Marshal (retired) Fali H. Major. The airline’s chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav made a presentation on the state of the airline to his fellow members on the board. One of the members of the board struck an optimistic note after Tuesday’s meeting. “With the new board, I am pretty sure (of a turnaround),” said Major, who described the challenges facing the airline as not insurmountable. “It’s not going to happen tomorrow. Our aim is to do our very best to offer our experience and see that it turns into one of the finest. I am personally very hopeful. Its our national carrier.” The four new board members will each head a committee overseeing a key function. The four committees were set up by the board on Tuesday. Mitra will be in charge of the human resources (HR) committee, Mahindra will have to look after finance, Neotia will take care of audit, and Major will look after strategy and HR. Major said that the board’s participation in running the airline would increase. “We listened to everybody, we have given a clear cut timeline of what we want and the feedback that we need,” he added. “Our business is to advise the airline; we will have to meet more often than boards normally do.” The government needs to sign off on the airline’s turnaround plan. This will come after the civil aviation ministry prepares a note on the basis of the turnaround plan prepared by the new board and send it to the Union cabinet, said an employee of the airline who did not want to be identified. Air India’s revenues declined from Rs15,252 crore in 2007-08 to Rs13,479 crore in 2008-09 fall. Its passenger load factor (or proportion of seats sold on its flights) fell from 63.8% in 2007-08 to 59.5% in the same period. tarun.s@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:08 pm List within 12 days of closing IPO: SEBI - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:58 pm Directors kick-start AI’s revivalAir India’s revival has gained momentum with the reconstituted board taking firm steps for a possible turnaround of the national carrier.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:57 pm Godrej Consumer acquires Indonesian insecticides firmMumbai: Consumer goods maker Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) has acquired the $120-million Indonesian insecticides and personal care products firm PT Megasari Makmur Group and its distribution company.  Focused approach: Adi Godrej, chairman of Godrej Group. Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd was the adviser for the transaction. “GCPL has paid two to two-and-a-half times for the company at $240-$280 million,” an analyst said, quoting market reports. He spoke on condition of anonymity. The buyout comes less than a month after GCPL announced purchasing Nigeria-based personal care products firm Tura. In the past two years, it has also acquired Rapidol and Kinky in South Africa. GCPL has said it has also placed a bid for acquiring a 51% stake in Sara Lee. “This (Megasari) acquisition is an important step in our global 3-by-3 strategy: Presence in three continents, Asia, Africa and Latin America, through three core categories, home care, personal wash and haircare,” chairman Adi Godrej said in a statement. “Over the last few years, we have been following a very disciplined and focused approach to identifying acquisitions that represent a strong fit with our business, both strategically and operationally. We have also developed strong processes to manage and integrate these acquisitions.” With the latest acquisition, the group also expects its international revenues to go up by three times in the next financial year. “Our international revenues are currently 10% of our overall revenues and by next fiscal this will be 30%,” A. Mahendran, director of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) portfolio cell for the Godrej Group, told Mint. “We will pay for the acquisition partially through debts and internal accruals,” Mahendran said. Last year, GCPL had received board approval to raise Rs3,000 crore to fund expansion plans. “Mid-sized Indian FMCG companies are doing well by catering to the large middle-of-the-pyramid population of India,” said Debashish Mukherjee, principal consultant at AT Kearney India. “These acquisitions in emerging economies show a confidence to be able to leverage their expertise and look at synergies for growing faster through inorganic growth,” he said. Shares of the firm rose 2.2%, or Rs5.95, to Rs277.6 on a day the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex index was little changed at 17,941.37 points. sapna.a@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:34 pm Citigroup’s chief shrinks the bank, with an eye on growthCitigroup Inc. is getting smaller, and maybe even better. Just 13 months ago, Citigroup’s chief executive, Vikram Pandit, was facing the unthinkable. After bailouts worth $45 billion (around Rs2 trillion), the US government had become the largest shareholder of a bank that was once among the biggest on the planet. Citigroup’s shares were selling at barely $1 each, having fallen from about $20 a year earlier and $50 a year before that.  Recovering giant: Citigroup chief Vikram Pandit has reduced the bank’s balance sheet to $1.86 trillion, down about 21% from its pre-crisis peak. Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg Fittingly, New York magazine called Pandit the “Most Powerless Powerful Man on Wall Street”. Today, Pandit is still at the helm, and through a series of small but important moves, he is quietly asserting his influence. Piece by piece, he is shedding complex businesses such as the insurance and retail brokerage units, shrinking the bank’s balance sheet and stabilizing its finances. Slowly, Citigroup is breaking with its troubled past. Indeed, when the Financial Inquiry Crisis Commission begins hearings this week on Citigroup's near collapse, the panel will focus not on Pandit but on his predecessors: the former chief executive Charles Prince III and Robert Rubin, an influential board member and adviser. Pandit, who is accepting only $1 a year in pay until his bank is consistently profitable, still would not make anyone’s short list of powerful Wall Street executives. But his stock is rising steadily along with that of Citigroup, which climbed 2% on Monday to close at $4.26. Some of Pandit’s most trusted advisers notice a new bounce in his step and say he is more energetic at meetings. “Vikram is looking and sounding a lot more confident and secure,” said one top lieutenant. “He has a smile on his face. He sees the day when he is going to earn more than a $1 a year.” That day, of course, may still be months away. With unemployment still high, losses tied to Citigroup’s mortgage and credit card businesses have continued to climb. New financial rules, still being determined in Washington, could dampen profits further. Even so, with the markets and the economy overall on the rebound, Citigroup could beat Wall Street’s break-even consensus estimate and turn an operating profit for the first quarter. It reports on 19 April. What is more, the government will soon begin selling off its 27% stake to private investors—welcome news to taxpayers who stand to turn a multibillion-dollar profit. “He inherited a huge hole and is doing the best he can,” said Charles Peabody, a longtime banking analyst at Portales Partners in New York. “But he has had to mortgage the future earnings power of the bank to repair the balance sheet.” “That is what I am having a hard time envisioning—when will that earnings momentum emerge?” he added. That question has been posed from the day Citigroup was forged by the blockbuster merger of Citicorp and the Travelers Group in 1998. At the time, Sanford Weill, its co-chairman and founder, vowed that the bank would become an earnings juggernaut with operations all over the globe. Weill promoted the idea of a financial services supermarket that could offer customers “one-stop shopping” among businesses as varied as retail banking, credit card lending, investment banking and insurance. The poor performance of one business or region could be offset by stronger results in others, helping to reduce risk. But those benefits never materialized. Instead, the bank’s vast size and complexity made it difficult to manage—and all of its businesses were devastated at once by the financial crisis. Today, Pandit is peeling off pieces of the financial conglomerate and slowly but surely turning it back into a global bank modelled after the original Citicorp. “We are breaking it up,” he told the Congressional Oversight Panel last month. Pandit is hesitant to boast about his successes, a humility that many long-time colleagues attribute to his Indian heritage. (He would not be interviewed so close to the bank’s earnings announcement.) But his results are starting to speak for themselves. Indeed, Pandit has substantially shrunk Citigroup’s giant balance sheet. It now stands at $1.86 trillion, down about $500 billion, or 21%, from its pre-crisis peak. Much of that reduction has come from Citi Holdings, a unit set up in early 2009 that contains the businesses and assets that Pandit hopes to sell. Even in a buyer’s market, he has reduced its size to $447 billion, from $662 billion last year—without having to sell at steep discounts. Part of the shrinkage has come from the normal churn of residential mortgages and riskier private-label credit cards, which together make up about 60% of Citi Holdings. Another chunk has come from the sale of billions of dollars of steeply marked-down subprime mortgage bonds, giant buyout loans and other assets—often at a profit. Pandit has also divested the bank of 30 or so businesses as varied as the prized Smith Barney brokerage unit and an investment in a Japanese ski resort. Pandit has even begun convincing regulators that he is making progress. Although tensions remain between Citigroup and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., some of the bank’s other regulators recently raised their regulatory rating on the bank’s management, according to people briefed on the situation. Even so, Pandit and the board have a long slog ahead. In the near term, Citigroup must contend with tougher oversight from Washington, including new credit card regulations and new accounting rules that will require the bank to bring tens of billions of dollars of off-balance-sheet assets back onto its books. There will also be more red ink. For example, Citigroup has already marked down some of its commercial real estate holdings to 94 cents on the dollar, and more markdowns are certain. Over all, he must set a course for growth even as he shrinks the company. And with nearly 28 billion shares outstanding—a side effect of the government’s extraordinary intervention—it will remain difficult to move the stock price higher. This may be Pandit’s most vexing problem yet—and one that could take another few years to get his arms around. ©2010/THE NEW YORK TIMES feedback@livemint.com Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:17 pm Indian secrets fall prey to Chinese hackersToronto/Shanghai: Turning the tables on a China-based computer espionage gang, Canadian and US computer security researchers have monitored a spying operation for the past eight months, observing while the intruders pilfered classified and restricted documents from the highest levels of the Indian defence ministry. In a report issued Monday night, the researchers, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, provide a detailed account of how a spy operation it called the Shadow Network systematically hacked into personal computers in government offices on several continents.  Spy network: Members of a Canadian research group that uncovered a computerized intelligence breach, (from left) Ronald Deibert, Greg Walton, Nart Villeneuve and Rafal Rohozinski at the University of Toronto. Tim Leyes/NYT The intruders even stole documents related to the travel of Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) forces in Afghanistan, illustrating that even though the Indian government was the primary target of the attacks, one chink in computer security can leave many nations exposed. “It’s not only that you’re only secure as the weakest link in your network,” said Rafal Rohozinski, a member of the Toronto team. “But in an interconnected world, you’re only as secure as the weakest link in the global chain of information.” The spy operation appears to be different both from the Internet intruders identified by Google and from a surveillance ring known as Ghostnet, also believed to be operating from China, which the Canadian researchers identified in March of last year. Ghostnet used computer servers largely based on the island of Hainan to steal documents from the Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of Tibet, and government and corporations in at least 103 countries. The Ghostnet investigation led the investigators to this second Internet spy operation, which is the subject of their new report, titled Shadows in the Cloud: An investigation into cyber-espionage 2.0. The new report shows the India-focused spy ring made extensive use of social networks such as Twitter, Google Groups, Blogspot, Baidu Blogs and Yahoo Mail, to automate the control of computers once they had been infected. The Canadian researchers cooperated in their investigation with a volunteer US group of security experts at the Shadowserver Foundation, which focuses on Internet criminal activity. The researchers said the second spy ring was more sophisticated and difficult to detect than the Ghostnet operation. By examining a series of email addresses, the investigators traced the attacks to hackers who appeared to be based in Chengdu, which is home to a large population from neighbouring Tibet. Researchers believe one hacker used the code name lost33 and that he may have been affiliated with the city’s prestigious University of Electronic Science and Technology. The university publishes books on computer hacking and offers courses in “network attack and defence technology” and “information conflict technology”, according to its website. The People’s Liberation Army also operates a technical reconnaissance bureau in the city and helps fund the university’s research on computer network defence. A spokesman for the university could not be reached Monday because of a national holiday. The investigators linked the account of another hacker to a Chengdu resident whose name appeared to be Li. Reached by telephone on Monday, Li denied taking part in computer hacking. Li, who declined to give his full name, said he must be confused with someone else. He said he knew little about computer hacking. “That is not me,” he said. “I’m a wine seller.” The Canadian researchers stressed that while the new spy ring focused primarily on India, there were clear international ramifications. Rohozinski noted that civilian personnel working for Nato and the reconstruction mission in Afghanistan usually travel through India and that Indian government visa issuing computers were compromised in both Kandahar and Kabul in Afghanistan. “That is an operations security issue for both Nato and the International Security Assistance Force,” said Rohozinski, who is also chief executive of the SecDev group, a Canadian computer security consulting and research firm. The report notes that documents the researchers recovered were found with “Secret”, “Restricted”, and “Confidential” notices. “These documents,” the report says, “contain sensitive information taken from a member of the (Indian) National Security Council Secretariat concerning secret assessments of India’s security situation in the states of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura, as well as concerning the Naxalites and the Maoists.” Other documents contained personal information about a member of India’s military intelligence agency. The researchers also found evidence that Indian embassy computers in Kabul, Moscow, Dubai and the high commission of India in Abuja, Nigeria, were compromised. Also compromised were computers used by the Indian Military Engineer Services in Bengdubi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Jalandhar; the 21st Mountain Artillery Brigade in Assam; and three air force bases. Computers at two Indian military colleges were also taken over by the spy ring. Even after eight months of watching the spy ring, the Toronto researchers said they could not determine exactly who was using the Chengdu computers to infiltrate the Indian government. “But an important question to be entertained is whether the PRC (People’s Republic of China) will take action to shut the Shadow network down,” the report says. “Doing so will help to address long-standing concerns that malware ecosystems are actively cultivated, or at the very least tolerated, by governments like the PRC who stand to benefit from their exploits though the black and grey markets for information and data.” ©2010/THE NEW YORK TIMES feedback@livemint.com Vikas Bajaj from Mumbai contributed to this story. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:06 pm Isro set to test first indigenous rocket engine on 15 AprilBangalore: After nearly two decades of research, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will test its locally developed rocket engine when it launches its most advanced communication satellite on 15 April, a move expected to reduce dependence on Russian technology. India’s geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-D3) will have a home-grown cryogenic stage engine, powered by liquefied oxygen and hydrogen, placing it in the league of five nations—along with the US, Russia, Japan and China—that own this restricted technology. GSLV-D3 will hurl a 2.2 tonnes fifth-generation communication satellite, GSAT-4, which will be a test-bed for India’s satellite navigation programme and electric propulsion technology for powering deep space missions. The launch will help Isro compete in the global commercial satellite launch market and reduce its dependence for rocket technology on Russia, which in 1993 went back on an agreement to supply rocket engines under US pressure. Six years later, in 1999, Russia sold seven cryogenic engines to India. Isro launched three development flights using the Russian engine, of which one plunged into the sea in 2006. “Ever since it started its space programme, India has always wanted to learn how to do everything itself,” said Brian Harvey, an Irish author who has written books on the Chinese, Russian and European space programmes. “This is the hardest way to do things, but it ultimately pays off and enables India to build up its own engineering know-how.”  Home-grown: The GSLV-D3 has a locally developed engine, placing India in the league of five nations. India plans to build a constellation of seven satellites that would help in accurately giving directions for vehicles and aircraft. The satellite will have electric motors or propulsion to keep it in orbit at 36,000km over the earth. Most Indian satellites have motors powered by liquid fuel stored in a tank. The electric propulsion will also reduce the weight of a satellite. “All these are being tested for the first time (by India). It will be a big leap for us,” said Isro spokesman S. Satish. Euroconsult, a Paris-based consultant for the satellite and space sector, said testing the Ka-band transponder would help Isro reuse the frequency several times across different places and use bandwidth much more efficiently. “As of today, Ka-band is used mostly in the US. India will be the next country that is looking at larger use,” Rachel Villain, director (space and communications) at Euroconsult, said over phone from Paris. Euroconsult sees around 1,185 satellites, including 115 communication ones, to be launched globally by 2018. Of this, governments are expected to launch 770 satellites. Market revenue generated from the manufacturing and launch of these satellites is forecast to reach $178 billion (Rs7.9 trillion) for 2009-18, according to Euroconsult’s just-released Satellites to be Built and Launched by 2018, World Market Survey. “The market for small (two-tonne) satellites is small. It is not growing so much,” said Villain. “Most of the satellites are more than four tonnes.” India is building a successor rocket GSLV-MkIII, which has capability to launch satellites of up to four tonnes. Isro aims to launch this rocket in 2011-12. raghu.k@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:27 am ArcelorMital welcomes iron ore licenceArcelorMittal on Tuesday welcomed the government decision to grant it licence to prospect iron ore in the Karampada region of Jharkhand.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:26 am Indian Bank may reopen Jaffna branchThe Sri Lankan government has urged Chennai-based Indian Bank to reopen its branches in the island nation. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:21 am Jet gears up to secure its futureWith a long-term vision for commercial aviation, Naresh Goyal’s Jet Airways is adopting a multi-pronged strategy to secure its future. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:18 am The simplest way to reboot your brainOn a day off, taking a nap is a small but heavenly pleasure. Dozing at your desk isn’t—especially if a colleague walks in on you—but sometimes exhaustion just takes over. The 2008 Sleep in America poll, conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, found that nearly one-third of adults who work at least 30 hours a week have fallen asleep or become extremely drowsy on the job—behavior that employers often frown upon. Should they lighten up? Perhaps. In a knowledge-based economy that depends on sharp minds, a few minutes of shut-eye could be good for business. A report in the June 2009 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that a nap with REM (or “dream”) sleep improves people’s ability to integrate unassociated information for creative problem solving, and study after study has shown that sleep boosts memory. If you memorize a list of words and then take a nap, you’ll remember more words than you would without sleeping first. Even micronaps of six minutes—not including the time it takes to fall asleep, which is about five minutes if you’re really tired—make a difference. My colleagues and I have found evidence that important memory processing occurs as you’re falling asleep, during the hypnagogic phase. That’s when the brain appears to be “tagging” memories of unresolved problems for subsequent processing. We’ve also discovered that naps can help people separate the gist of new information from extraneous details, and that catching some REM sleep makes them better at finding connections between weakly related words—a good indication that napping gets the creative juices flowing. When you’re in need of sleep, though, certain skills start to slide. Visual discrimination, which allows you to sort out what you see, can fade over the course of a day. (For more about negative effects of too little sleep, see “Sleep Deficit: The Performance Killer,” HBR, October 2006.) A 30-minute nap can stop the burnout, and 60 to 90 minutes that include some REM sleep will improve visual discrimination. The evidence that sleep aids memory, learning, and mental acuity comes from real-world situations as well as from carefully crafted experiments. For instance, in a recent New Zealand study, air traffic controllers working the night shift scored much better on tests of alertness and performance if they took a planned nap of 40 minutes during the shift. Another example: A consultant (and retired Harvard Business School professor) I met on a flight “confessed” that the most productive way to sort his thoughts after he spent days talking with executives was to deliberately set himself up to fall asleep, pen and notepad within reach, and wait for a solution to pop into his head. How does an organization implement a pro-napping policy? Some companies have nap rooms; others, like Google, offer nap pods that block out light and sound. Google says its pods are an extension of the company’s flexible schedule policy—people work in ways that best suit them. If all that sounds expensive, you can institutionalize napping without spending a dime. Simply announce that it’s OK to take quick naps because they make people more productive. Try it out in one division and see what happens. Given the millions of dollars spent on programs to increase productivity, this small, low-cost experiment is worth doing. Robert Stickgold is an associate professor of psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. This article was created in partnership with Harvard Health Publications. Extracted from Harvard Business Review, October 2009. © 2010 Harvard Business Publishing Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:13 am From social media to social strategyMarshall McLuhan once famously said, “The medium is the message.” Here’s what he meant: “The ‘message’ of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs.”  Illustration: Shyamal Banerjee / Mint And that’s never mattered more. Industrial era business was “meaningless” because it was antisocial. Here’s how the DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition) defines antisocial personality disorder: “...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood.” It fits most organizations to a T — from Wall Street to Detroit to Big Pharma to Big Food to Big Energy. Our research suggests that 95% of organizations are unable to offer socially useful stuff that creates meaningful value for people, communities, and tomorrow’s generations. Yet, most “social media” strategies have one or more of three goals: to “push product,” “build buzz,” or “engage consumers.” None of these lives up to the Internet’s promise of meaning. They’re just slightly cleverer ways to sell more of the same old junk. But the great challenge of the 21st century is making stuff radically better in the first place — stuff that creates what I’ve been calling thicker value. Organizations don’t need “social media” strategies. They need social strategies: strategies that turn antisocial behavior on its head to maximize meaning. The right end of social tools is to help organizations stop being antisocial. In fact, it’s the key to advantage in the 2010s and beyond. Here are seven social strategies that are turning yesterday’s zombieconomy upside down. They’re what I look for when evaluating investments, innovations, and ideas across the social mediascape. Character. Most organizations have no character, in the traditional sense of the word. They’ll never stand up for what’s right, noble, or true. If they were a hyper-Dickens character, they’d be Ebenezer Scrooge squared. The character strategy utilizes social tools to help an organizations develop a moral compass, often via ethical accelerators. One of my favorite examples is Gwilym Davies’ disloyalty card, which rewards coffee-drinkers for trying out other local cafés. Now that’s a coffeeshop with character. Control. Most organizations are run by bosses. By contrast, an organization with a social control strategy radically decentralizes decision-making, giving the control that was formerly vested in echelons upon echelons of managers directly to people, communities, and society. Think Threadless, whose corporate anarchy is upsetting the tired, increasingly profitless clothes market. Creativity. Most organizations are, from an economic perspective, brain-dead: they are unable to come up with newer, better ideas consistently and reliably. The result is that they defend old ones tooth and nail: a formidable source of antisocial behavior. The creativity strategy hinges on utilizing social tools to explode how imaginative organizations are. Lego’s social approach to toy production and consumption—textbook awesomeness — has turned the table on its rivals, by giving Lego the capacity to be more imaginative than they can be. Culture. Culture is how an organization makes sense of the world, a set of assumptions internalized by all its members. Most organizations are the cultural equivalent of stone age tribes: focused on “the hunt,” “the kill,” and what’s for dinner today. Like stone age tribes, they’re fractious, unproductive, and easily broken. In the culture strategy, social tools are used to help an organization make better sense of the world. Accountability, roles, tasks, processes, incentives—that’s what shapes culture, and in the culture strategy, social tools are utilized to reconceive them. Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Index is a radical example of a culture-changer, altering all of the above, helping Wal-Mart’s entire ecosystem make sense of the world anew. Clarity. The clarity strategy is perhaps the simplest. Most organizations are flying blind: they have limited visibility about changes in the marketplace. Social tools are a powerful way to gain clarity: better, faster information about what’s happening not just in the boardroom, but in the real world. My favorite example of clarity is Google’s rapid, frequent, consistent experimentation. Because of it, Google always has more clarity about what really creates meaningful value—and what really doesn’t — than rivals. Cohesion. Relationship inflation is the most visible sign of social media decay. The cohesion strategy says: in relationships, seek quality, not quantity. One of my favorite recent examples of cohesion is “Tummling” — the art of social engagement. It’s a form of moderation pioneered by Heather Gold, Deb Schultz, and Kevin Marks. The Tummler’s job, Kevin says, is “setting the tone and establishing the norm,” deciding who speaks where and when, summarizing, and synthesizing. The goal of Tummling is to help dialogue happen—and make relationships not merely inflate, but cohere, thicken, blossom, and mature. Choreography. Most organizations seek “high performance.” Today, performance is no longer enough: excelling in yesterday’s terms is excelling at the wrong things. This is downright self-destructive (just ask Wall Street). Today’s radical innovators aren’t merely mute performers, precisely executing the empty steps of a meaningless dance: they’re more like choreographers. Choreographers define the steps of a better dance — they lay down better rules for interactions between supply and demand to take place. Yelp’s getting its choreography wrong, failing to build a better dialogue between buyers and sellers (instead of just isolated, drive-by “reviews”). Etsy’s still on the brink of greatness, pioneering highly productive relationships between buyers and sellers. My favorite example is M-Pesa, which lays down a new choreography for finance: from person to person, instead of bank to bank. Using the social to “build buzz” and “push product” is about as smart as using a warp drive to visit your local Wal-Mart. Social tools today are used mostly as a new “channel” to push the same old useless stuff of the industrial era at hapless “consumers.” That’s meaninglessness at it’s finest. It’s the least productive — and most soul-deadening — use of a formidably powerful tool. Social media strategy fits inside a marketing (business, corporate) strategy, and is shaped by it. Social strategy fits outside business and corporate strategies, and shapes them. Social strategies are about rewriting the logic of the industrial era entirely, shifting gears in how we think, envisioning a broader, more powerful, more challenging use of social tools. They are about developing the capacity to understand an organization’s role in society, and how to play a more constructive one, wielding sociality as a source of advantage — by acting radically more meaningfully than rivals. Social strategies are about reinventing tomorrow. Their goal is nothing less than changing the DNA of an organization, ecosystem, or industry. Want to get radical? Stop applying 20th century principles (“product,” “buzz,” “loyalty”) to 21st century media. The fundamental change of scale and pace that social tools introduce into human affairs — their great tectonic shift — is the promise of more meaningful work, stuff, and organization. Start with “the meaning is the message” instead. Umair Haque is Director of the Havas Media Lab. He also founded Bubblegeneration, an agenda-setting advisory boutique that shaped strategies across media and consumer industries. © 2010 Harvard Business Publishing Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:05 am Govt OKs iron ore prospecting licence for ArcelorMittal!India`s federal government has approved an iron ore prospecting licence for ArcelorMittal in Jharkhand state, the Mines Minister said Monday.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 Apr 2010 | 6:06 am Sensex surges to two-year high !Markets soared Monday with Sensex gaining an impressive 243-point gain to scale a fresh two-year high.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 Apr 2010 | 6:06 am Apple sells 3,00,000 iPads on first day of saleNew York: Apple Inc has sold over 3,00,000 iPads in the US on its first day of sale and the IT giant’s CEO Steve Jobs termed the new product as a ‘game changer´. “These sales included deliveries of pre-ordered iPads to customers, deliveries to channel partners and sales at Apple Retail Stores,” Apple said in a statement on Monday. “It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world. It’s going to be a game changer,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said. However, media reports stated that sales of the much- hyped multimedia tablet computer fell short of expectations of analysts. According to The Wall Street Journal, “analysts on average had expected first-day iPad sales of 400,000 to 500,000 units. Some analysts, such as Piper Jaffray and Gene Munster, had even higher sales projections of 600,000 to 700,000 units.” Apple said in the statement that iPad users downloaded over one million applications from Apple’s App Store and over 250,000 e-books from its iBookstore during the first day. “iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad,” Jobs said. Meanwhile, few reports have also claimed that some users had problems connecting to wi-fi networks. “New owners posted comments on Apple forums saying that their iPad had little or no wi-fi signal, where other devices worked fine,” UK daily The Times said in a report. Another daily, the New York Times quoted an analyst as saying that, “because Apple is hoping to popularise a new kind of computing device, one that combines elements of a laptop and smartphone, acceptance among consumers is likely to be slower than with previous Apple devices.” The report also stated that some buyers may be waiting for future versions of the iPad, perhaps with a camera or other new features. The WSJ stated that Apple has also said that it would hold a special event on Thursday for “a sneak peak” of the next-generation iPhone operating system, which runs on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Apple watchers expect the new operating system to offer new features and more closely integrate iPad functions, the report said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:44 am
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