Beckons ties up with US co for algae tech commercialisation

Beckons Industries Limited (BIL) has got into an agreement with US company Water Oil Technologies for algae tech commercialisation.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 8:29 am

LG appoints Redington as distributor of mobile phones in TN

In an interview with CNBCTV18, SV Krishnan, CFO, Redington India, spoke about the latest happenings in his company and sector.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 8:11 am

Global drug sales to top $1 trillion in 2014: IMS

Global pharmaceutical sales are expected to reach USD 1.1 trillion in 2014 as growth in emerging markets helps offset the impact of generic competition for many of the world\'s top selling drugs, according to a forecast by IMS Health
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 8:04 am

Lupin unit gets US FDA nod for Imipramine capsules

Lupin Ltd said on Tuesday its unit has received US FDA approval for Imipramine Pamoate capsules, an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA)
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 8:04 am

JK Tyre to raise prices by 35% from May 1

JK Tyre and Industries will increase tyre prices by 3 to 5% from May 1, but that still would not be enough to counter the sharp surge in rubber prices, a senior official told Reuters
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 7:57 am

Do not foresee any problems in Chhindwara plan: Adani Power

Ameet Desai, Director of Adani Power says the company does not foresee any problems its Chhindwara project due to green approval.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 6:37 am

Revised tariff to raise GAIL earnings by 10%: Macquarie

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) had announced provisional tariff for the GAIL pipeline, which is likely to positively impact the company\'s earnings by 10%, feels Jal Irani of Macquarie.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 6:25 am

Awaiting govt\'s final call on divestment: NALCO

The government is considering divesting 10% stake in the stateowned National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO). Post a 10% stake sale, the government will hold 77.15% in Nalco.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 5:50 am

Novartis sticks to FY goals as Q1 EPS beats forecast

Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG stuck to its 2010 goals as it posted forecastbeating quarterly figures after governments bought up its flu vaccine during the swine flu pandemic
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 5:49 am

Emami says to buy Egyptian firm in 34 weeks

Diversified Emami Group, which makes personal care and consumer care brands under Emami Ltd, plans to acquire an Egyptian personal care products maker in the next 34 weeks, a top official said on Tuesday
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 5:23 am

Essar Shipping to invest Rs5 billion in port project

Essar Bulk Terminal Paradip Ltd, part of Essar Shipping, has signed license agreement with Paradip Port Trust for a 16-tonnes per annum dry bulk cargo on India's east coast.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 4:07 am

RBI hikes repo, reverse repo rates & CRR by 25 bps - Economic Times


Business Standard
RBI hikes repo, reverse repo rates & CRR by 25 bps
Economic Times
20 Apr 2010, 1110 hrs IST, PTI MUMBAI: Aiming to tackle near double-digit inflation, the Reserve Bank today hiked key lending and borrowing rates, as also the mandatory cash reserves banks park with it, by 0.25 per cent. ( Watch ) But lenders said the ...
Credit policy: How far will the RBI go?Moneycontrol.com
Realty stocks up 4% after RBI rates hikeBusiness Standard
INSTANT VIEW - RBI raises rates, reserves by 25 bpsReuters India
Livemint -Reuters -Rediff
all 649 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 20 Apr 2010 | 4:04 am

BSNL staff call off strike after govt assurance - NDTV.com


Rediff
BSNL staff call off strike after govt assurance
NDTV.com
PTI, 20 April 2010 (New Delhi) Within hours of going on indefinite strike, the employee unions of BSNL on Tuesday called off the protest after the government assured that the issue of disinvestment in the telecom PSU will be referred to a Group of ...
BSNL employees strike hits services in northeast IndiaIndia Talkies
BSNL workers on strike against divestmentTopNews

all 7 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 20 Apr 2010 | 4:00 am

Gold Prices Track Gains in Equities - Wall Street Journal


BBC News
Gold Prices Track Gains in Equities
Wall Street Journal
LONDON—Spot-gold prices traded higher in Europe Tuesday as sentiment in financial markets recovered from the shock of the Goldman Sachs fraud case. The euro is firmer against the dollar, and equity and commodity markets are all showing ...
Support for Gold remains at 16509-16406/10 gm: Hem SecMoneycontrol.com
Oil rebounds above $82 as some Europe flights resumeReuters
UPDATE 1-Oil rebounds above $82 as some Europe flights resumeReuters India
Economic Times -Hindu Business Line -Reuters
all 878 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:50 am

AIG eyes action against Goldman over CDOs

Government-controlled AIG, which made a loss of about $2.0 billion over the deals, was reviewing transactions to insure $6.0 billion-worth of collateralised debt obligations.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:48 am

Nitesh Estates sets IPO band at 54-56 rupees/share

The proceeds of the public issue are to be used for funding upcoming as well as under-construction projects and to repay debt, the company said in its draft prospectus.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:46 am

Kuwait's Zain to restructure executive management

Zain has sold most of its African assets to India's Bharti AirTel Ltd for $9 billion and said it will concentrate on its profitable Middle Eastern markets.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:44 am

JK Tyre to raise prices by 3-5% from May 1

JK Tyre and Industries will increase tyre prices by 3 to 5% from May 1, but that still would not be enough to counter the sharp surge in rubber prices.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:43 am

Suspend Goldman Sachs as government adviser, says Clegg - BBC News


Telegraph.co.uk
Suspend Goldman Sachs as government adviser, says Clegg
BBC News
Goldman Sachs should be suspended as an adviser to the government until fraud allegations are investigated, Nick Clegg has said. The Liberal Democrat leader referred to US allegations that the investment bank had defrauded investors. ...
Goldman Sachs: Clegg demands actionThe Press Association
Royal Bank of Scotland holds fire on Goldman Sachs claimFinancialAdvice.co.uk
SEC sued Goldman Sachs to break an impasseWashington Post
Financial Times -BusinessWeek -CNNMoney
all 9 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:42 am

Lupin unit gets USFDA nod for Imipramine capsules

Lupin Ltd said on Tuesday its unit has received US FDA approval for Imipramine Pamoate capsules, an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA).
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:42 am

China Mobile first quarter net profit up 1%, missing forecasts

The company posted a profit of 25.48 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) for the first quarter, up slightly from 25.2 billion yuan a year earlier.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:40 am

Nitesh Estates fixes IPO price band at Rs 54-56 per share - Business Standard


Stock Watch
Nitesh Estates fixes IPO price band at Rs 54-56 per share
Business Standard
PTI / New Delhi April 20, 2010, 15:01 IST Realty firm Nitesh Estates today fixed the price band of its initial public offer at Rs 54-56 per share. The Rs 405-crore IPO of the Bengaluru-based real estate developer will open on April 23, ...
Nitesh Estates sets IPO band at Rs 54-56/shrEconomic Times
Nitesh Estates to enter capital market on April 23, 2010India Infoline.com
Nitesh Estates sets IPO price band at Rs 54-56/shMoneycontrol.com
Reuters -Stock Watch -NASDAQ
all 35 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:35 am

RBI lifts key rates, CRR; signals more tightening

MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday raised key interest rates by 25 basis points, as expected, to battle near double-digit inflation, signaling gradual tightening ahead to sustain growth and manage record government borrowing.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:34 am

India to take EU to WTO on generics seizures: source

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India plans to take the European Union to the World Trade Organisation over the seizures of generic drugs, a trade ministry source said on Tuesday.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:25 am

Stocks futures point to slightly firmer Wall St - Reuters


Boston Globe
Stocks futures point to slightly firmer Wall St
Reuters
* Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average DJc1, the S&P 500 SPc1 and the Nasdaq 100 NDc1 were flat to 0.1 percent higher, pointing to a slightly firmer start for equities on Wall Street on Tuesday. * Goldman Sachs (GS.N), which was charged by the ...
Strong Earnings Lift European StocksWall Street Journal
Stocks to open higher; RBI move eyedEconomic Times
Stock futures edge up ahead of Goldman reportMarketWatch
BusinessWeek -The Associated Press -Forbes
all 1,821 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:19 am

India gold remains weak as prices bounce

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India gold demand remained slack for a second day on Tuesday as prices bounced from their two-week low, after a slight pick-up in offtake on Friday, dealers said.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:13 am

Suprising profit growth at Mercedes pulls Daimler

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Daimler's Mercedes Benz cars unit is returning to its role as the company's cash cow.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 3:06 am

China Mobile Q1 net profit up 1 pct, missing forecasts

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator by subscribers, reported a 1 percent rise in quarterly profit, lagging expectations, as hefty handset subsidies and a maturing home market affected profits.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 2:58 am

HDFC Bank chief: No significant rise in rates near term

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Interest rates in India are not expected to rise significantly in the near-term, Aditya Puri, managing director of HDFC Bank said on Tuesday, after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised key interest rates and the cash reserve ratio by 25 basis points each.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 2:57 am

BSNL Nashik employees join indefinite strike

Nashik: Employees of BSNL went on indefinite strike from today as a part of nationwide strike oniof uns to protest against the proposed disinvestment in the telecom PSU, as also voluntary retirement.
Employees of BSNL’s main and other offices here did not turn up for work affecting the day-today business.
BSNL services like mobiles, internet and telephone are working as usual.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 2:46 am

Asia travellers get small respite from volcano chaos

BEIJING (Reuters) - A handful of flights left Asian air hubs on Tuesday for Europe, offering a glimmer of hope to thousands of people stranded after ash from an Icelandic volcano shut down swathes of European airspace.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 2:37 am

AIG eyes action vs Goldman over CDOs - FT

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. insurer AIG is considering pursuing investment bank Goldman Sachs over losses incurred on $6.0 billion of insurance deals on mortgage-backed securities, the Financial Times said.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 2:28 am

Time to phase out expat pilots extended: Praful Patel

New Delhi: The government has extended the time-frame for phasing out foreign pilots employed by Indian carriers by one year, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on 20 April.
The move came in the wake of demands by Air India and other airlines that the time be extended beyond 31 July 2010, he said during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha.
“The existing policy for validation of foreign (pilots) licences is valid up to 31 July 2010. Directorate general of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had requested airline operators to submit their plan for phasing out expatriate pilots along with net requirement of these pilots beyond that date,” he said.
Following the demand, the government has approved extension for one year beyond that date, Patel said, adding that the number of Indian pilots was bound to go up as the aviation sector is looking up post-recession.
He said that since 2008, the number of foreign pilots has considerably come down and gradually Indian pilots, who have mostly been co-pilots, would soon be elevated to the status of commanding pilots.
Overseas pilots were allowed to fly Indian aircraft initially as during 2004-05 there was stagnation in the aviation sector, he said. However, after the sector started looking up. In order to maintain the momentum, foreign pilots continued to be inducted.
The DGCA has started a programme for phased reduction of the expat pilots. In 2008 there were 944 such pilots, whose number fell to 686 in 2009 and till January 2010, there were only 562 foreign pilots.
“I am sure this number must have further gone down. Once foreign pilots are phased out, greater number of Indian pilots would gradually be elevated to the status of commanding pilots,” Patel said.
To a query about several Indian pilots currently without work, Patel said, “I understand the sentiments. It is a fact that many pilots were rendered jobless due to recession. We regularly receive requests for work from them.
“However, things are gradually improving in the aviation sector in the post-recession period. The growth of the sector in coming days will lead to greater opportunities for them,” he said.
Patel said Indian pilots are capable of flying under any condition and their training and qualification can be compared to the best in the world.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 2:21 am

Highlights of RBI's lifting key rates

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday raised key interest rates by 25 basis points, as expected, tightening policy for the second month in a row as it battles inflation near double digits.
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 2:17 am

Reserve Bank measures will cool inflation: Pranab Mukherjee

The central bank today hiked key short-term lending and borrowing rates (repo and reverse repo) and CRR, the portion of money banks park with it, by 25 basis points each.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 2:07 am

RBI pegs FY 11 GDP growth at 8% but also sees downside risks

The RBI's optimism about an 8% growth in FY 2011 is based on the fact that India's exports have been growing and industrial sector recovery has become more broad-based.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 2:05 am

RBI measures will cool inflation: Pranab Mukherjee

The rate hike by the Reserve Bank will gently tighten money supply and help moderate inflation -- which is hovering close to 10 per cent, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 20 Apr 2010 | 2:00 am

Banking stocks rise on key rates hike

Mumbai: Banking stocks edged higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Tuesday on fresh round of investments following the less-than-expected hike in policy rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
State Bank of India, the nation’s largest lender, was up 2.19% to Rs2,076.20 in the afternoon trade, while the country’s top private lender ICICI Bank surged 2.04% to Rs938.65. HDFC Bank rose 0.87% to Rs1,952.
Analysts said that markets reacted positively as the hike in rates by RBI was lower than expectations.
“There were fears that hike in rates would be higher than announced. Dalal Street felt relieved and rate sensitive stocks have gone up after the announcement,” Bonanza Portfolio assistant VP Avinash Gupta said.
The central bank hiked short-term lending and borrowing rates and the portion of money banks deposit with it by 25 basis points (bps) each, a move aimed at containing inflation without hurting growth.
Punjab National Bank was higher by 1.07%, whereas Bank of India zoomed 2.30%.
Other major gainers on the BSE include, Allahabad Bank (2.35%), Karnataka Bank (2.15%), Indusind Bank (1.76%) and HDFC (0.45%).
The BSE benchmark Sensex shot up 150 points in afternoon trade and was quoting at 17,551.02.
The apex bank hiked the repo and the reverse repo (overnight lending and borrowing rates) to 5.25% and 3.75%, respectively, while the Cash reserve ratio, or the portion banks park with the RBI, was increased to 6%.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:59 am

Sensex climbs above 17500; rate sensitives, infra stocks up - Moneycontrol.com


The Hindu
Sensex climbs above 17500; rate sensitives, infra stocks up
Moneycontrol.com
At 13.07 hours IST, NSE Nifty was hovering around 5250-mark backed by RBI's credit policy announcement, which came in inline with expectations. Realty and infrastructure stocks saw good buying after positive news flow trickled from the RBI policy for ...
Sensex stable ahead of the RBI announcementIndia Infoline.com
Nifty ends at 5200 as Goldman Sachs woes hurt sentimentsEconomic Times
Sensex slips 191 pts on global cues, RBI moveTimes of India
Myiris.com -NDTV.com -Hindu Business Line
all 140 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:56 am

IBM profit up 13% at $2.6 bn; revenue up 5% in Q1

New York: Computer services provider IBM has reported 13% growth in net income at $2.6 billion in the first three months of 2010 on account of increased technology spending by corporates.
Total revenues stood at $22.9 billion in the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 5% over the same period last fiscal, IBM said.
“In the first quarter, we drove significantly improved revenue growth rates from the fourth quarter across our businesses and geographies. We had strong results in strategic investment areas, including growth markets, business analytics and smarter planet solutions,” IBM chairman president and CEO Samuel J Palmisano said.
Revenues from IBM’s software sector increased 11% to $5 billion. In addition, the company’s system and technology revenue rose by 5% to $3.4 billion.
In terms of geographical perspective, the Asia-Pacific region has witnessed highest revenue growth at 10% from the year-ago period to $5.3 billion in the first quarter of 2010, while revenues from Europe/Middle East/Africa increased 5% to $7.6 billion.
Further, the company’s revenue from Americas stood at $9.5 billion in the January-March quarter of 2010, an increase of 2%.
IBM raised its outlook for the rest of the year, projecting 2010 earnings at $11.2 a share, up from $11 per share in its earlier forecast.
“Looking ahead, we are confident in our ability to grow revenue, and given our mix of higher-value business and productivity we will expand margins, grow profit, cash and EPS, and increase returns to shareholders. Thus, we expect full-year 2010 diluted earnings per share of at least $11.20,” Palmisano added.
Besides, IBM said it expects constant currency-revenue growth for the company and for its total services- software and hardware businesses in the second quarter.
The technology giant’s balance sheet remained strong with $14 billion of cash on hand. It generated free cash of $1.4 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2010.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:55 am

Inflation to ease; rate move complementary - Mukherjee

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's headline inflation has peaked and the Reserve Bank's modest rate tightening move on Tuesday complements government policy to control inflation and promote growth, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement on Tuesday.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:49 am

European shares rebound; Daimler gains after results

London: European shares rose in early trade on Tuesday, reversing losses from the previous session, with banks gaining and carmakers strong as Daimler rose after doubling its profit outlook.
By 0706 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 0.7% at 1,095.05 points.
“Q1 earnings are coming through on balance better than expected with strong results from Daimler in Europe and Citigroup, and there is a bit of relief on Goldman Sachs,” said Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB Stockbrokers.
Luxury carmaker Daimler rose 7%. The firm said it might earn twice as much as it previously forecast from its Mercedes-Benz passenger car business this year after lively demand for its flagship product in the first three months of the year.
Banks were among the biggest gainers, shaking off some of the previous session’s losses. Barclays, HSBC, Societe Generale , BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank rose 0.5 to 1.6%.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:43 am

Burberry profit to top hopes as rich spend again

London: British luxury goods group Burberry added to evidence the wealthy are spending again, forecasting 2009-10 profit slightly above market expectations after a stronger than anticipated finish to the year.
The 154-year-old maker of upmarket raincoats and handbags also said on 20 April it was confident of further progress in 2010-11 despite uncertainty over the pace and level of the global economic recovery.
Prior to the update, analysts were forecasting a consensus underlying pretax profit of 199 million pounds ($319 million) for the year to 31 March 2010, according to a company poll, versus 175 million pounds in the previous year.
The group, known for its camel, red and black check, said underlying revenue increased 6% to 707 million pounds in the six months to 31 March.
That compared with analysts’ consensus forecast of a rise of 5%, a third-quarter increase of 12% and a first-half decline of 5%.
Second-half retail sales increased an underlying 15%, driven by strong full-price sales of spring and summer ranges.
Underlying wholesale revenue fell a better-than-expected 6%, while underlying licensing revenue was also down 6%, in line with guidance.
Shares in Burberry, which have more than doubled over the last year, closed at 704.5 pence on 19 April, valuing the business at 3.06 billion pounds.
Luxury goods firms have been hit hard by the recession but Burberry has coped better than most because it reacted quickly by slashing costs and jobs as well as its stocks and ranges.
Evidence is growing that discretionary spending has returned.
Last week LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury goods group, beat forecasts for first-quarter sales, helped by a strong rebound in the US and Europe, while a study forecast growth in global luxury sales of over 4% in 2010.
Burberry also gave guidance for the 2010-11 year. It expects an increase in average retail selling space of around 10%, first-half wholesale revenue up “high teens percent” excluding Spain, and full-year licensing revenue down an underlying 5-10%.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:39 am

Markets surge as RBI meets expectations

New Delhi: Stocks surged after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced to hike repo, reverse repo and CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) by 25 basis points each, in line with the market expectations on Tuesday.
Realty sector gained by almost 2.5% as banking stocks surged significantly riding on the RBI’s positive outlook as stated in the annual policy statement. Moreover, PSUs, oil & gas and auto sectors gained by more than one percentage point during mid-day trading. On the other hand, technology segment witnessed selling pressure on the back of the rupee’s appreciation against the dollar.
The 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 130.34 points or 0.75% to 17,531.02. Realty is up 2.49%, banks up 1.64%, PSU up 1.57%, oil & gas up 1.31% and auto up 1.17% were the top gainers on the BSE.
DLF is up 2.75%, Reliance Infra by 2.49%, ICICI Bank by 2.31%, SBI by 2.23% and Mahindra & Mahindra up 2.06%, among the major gainers on the Sensex.
On the other hand, TCS is down 1.29%, Hero Honda 0.89%, Bharti Airtel 0.49%, Infosys 0.23% and Tata Power 0.18% were the major losers on the index.
RBI said in its annual monetary policy statement for FY11 that as long as monsoon comes out to be normal, gross domestic product (GDP) should expand by over 8% in FY11.
Asian markets were trading mostly in the positive terrain. Hang Seng advanced 0.79% and Nikkei 225 down 0.07%.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:36 am

Volcanic ash clouds Asian business

Hong Kong: Japanese sushi lovers are running out of prized Norwegian salmon and planeloads of goods from garments to mobile phones are piling up as Asian business counts the cost of Europe’s air chaos.
Thousands of factories in China’s Guangdong province, the workshop of the world, have seen air shipments of watches, jewellery and high-end fashions delayed while stranded executives are kicking their heels in frustration.
Bernard Pouliot, chairman of Hong Kong-listed financial services company Quam Ltd., is among the many Asia-based bosses stranded in Europe or unable to fly overseas to seal deals in person.
Pouliot headed to Stockholm last week to attend a business conference, but got stranded with a colleague as he tried to connect through London -- while two other Quam employees are now stuck in the Swedish capital.
“I never made it to Stockholm,” Pouliot told AFP when reached on his mobile phone, adding that his London hotel has now jacked up his room rate by 25%.
“So myself and another colleague decided to meet with several financial services firms in London. What else can we do?”
The asset manager is sure of one thing: the battered airline industry, just starting to recover from the global financial crisis, is a poor investment bet as it now reels from flight bans linked to the volcanic eruption in Iceland.
“I never invest in airline stocks -- that has been further confirmed to me now.”
Piles of clothing are sitting in Bangladesh’s main airport with about 350,000 kilograms (770,000 pounds) of the desperately impoverished country’s key garment exports stuck in limbo.
“The garments were already behind schedule, and now they are being held up because of the flight problems -- we are worried buyers will reject these shipments as they are so late,” said Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
In South Korea, electronic giants Samsung and LG said they are unable to air-freight about 200,000 mobile handsets valued at $30 million a day, or more than 20% of their total daily electronics exports.
Losses for South Korean microchip shipments stand at about five billion won ($4.5 million) a day, while some 15,000 South Koreans including businessmen have cancelled trips to Europe, officials say.
Premier hotels and restaurants in Hong Kong are staring at shortages of Belgian chocolates, Dutch fresh-cut flowers and French cheese, according to Dennis Yau, director-general of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries.
He said thousands of factory suppliers in Guangdong, over the border from Hong Kong, were getting more alarmed the longer the disruption continues.
“Fortunately the peak season for deliveries usually starts in May, but if this lasts beyond the end of this week, problems will arise,” Yau said.
Hong Kong’s swanky Peninsula Hotel may soon have to yank German asparagus and lamb off its menu if air supplies do not resume, a spokeswoman said, while Japanese fish markets and sushi shops are starting to feel the pinch too.
“Absolutely nothing is coming our way. I’m praying that the disruption ends soon,” said one seller in Tokyo’s massive Tsukiji fish market who usually imports salmon from Norway.
Only three wilting slices of the fish were displayed in his tiny store, and the seller said he would start receiving salmon from New Zealand on Friday, although the Norwegian variety is prized above all.
Some New Zealand firms say they are enjoying an unexpected windfall from the flight chaos as orders of chilled meat, flowers and fish from Asia and the west Asia (middle east) surge.
Organizers of a blue-riband banking conference in Singapore are striving to fill the slots of five speakers whose flights have been affected by the shutdown of European airspace.
Among the speakers for The Asian Banker Summit 2010 was Asgeir Jonsson, chief economist of the Arion bank in Iceland, who was due to give a keynote presentation on Tuesday.
Organizers said they may have Jonsson deliver the speech via videoconference.
“This kind of thing always gives a big boost to that (videoconferencing) business -- it did during SARS,” Quam’s Pouliot said, referring to a 2003 epidemic of the respiratory disease that paralyzed Hong Kong.
“But at the end of the day, people still want to meet face to face.”

Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:32 am

Volcanic ash clouds Asian business

Hong Kong: Japanese sushi lovers are running out of prized Norwegian salmon and planeloads of goods from garments to mobile phones are piling up as Asian business counts the cost of Europe’s air chaos.
Thousands of factories in China’s Guangdong province, the workshop of the world, have seen air shipments of watches, jewellery and high-end fashions delayed while stranded executives are kicking their heels in frustration.
Bernard Pouliot, chairman of Hong Kong-listed financial services company Quam Ltd., is among the many Asia-based bosses stranded in Europe or unable to fly overseas to seal deals in person.
Pouliot headed to Stockholm last week to attend a business conference, but got stranded with a colleague as he tried to connect through London -- while two other Quam employees are now stuck in the Swedish capital.
“I never made it to Stockholm,” Pouliot told AFP when reached on his mobile phone, adding that his London hotel has now jacked up his room rate by 25%.
“So myself and another colleague decided to meet with several financial services firms in London. What else can we do?”
The asset manager is sure of one thing: the battered airline industry, just starting to recover from the global financial crisis, is a poor investment bet as it now reels from flight bans linked to the volcanic eruption in Iceland.
“I never invest in airline stocks -- that has been further confirmed to me now.”
Piles of clothing are sitting in Bangladesh’s main airport with about 350,000 kilograms (770,000 pounds) of the desperately impoverished country’s key garment exports stuck in limbo.
“The garments were already behind schedule, and now they are being held up because of the flight problems -- we are worried buyers will reject these shipments as they are so late,” said Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
In South Korea, electronic giants Samsung and LG said they are unable to air-freight about 200,000 mobile handsets valued at $30 million a day, or more than 20% of their total daily electronics exports.
Losses for South Korean microchip shipments stand at about five billion won ($4.5 million) a day, while some 15,000 South Koreans including businessmen have cancelled trips to Europe, officials say.
Premier hotels and restaurants in Hong Kong are staring at shortages of Belgian chocolates, Dutch fresh-cut flowers and French cheese, according to Dennis Yau, director-general of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries.
He said thousands of factory suppliers in Guangdong, over the border from Hong Kong, were getting more alarmed the longer the disruption continues.
“Fortunately the peak season for deliveries usually starts in May, but if this lasts beyond the end of this week, problems will arise,” Yau said.
Hong Kong’s swanky Peninsula Hotel may soon have to yank German asparagus and lamb off its menu if air supplies do not resume, a spokeswoman said, while Japanese fish markets and sushi shops are starting to feel the pinch too.
“Absolutely nothing is coming our way. I’m praying that the disruption ends soon,” said one seller in Tokyo’s massive Tsukiji fish market who usually imports salmon from Norway.
Only three wilting slices of the fish were displayed in his tiny store, and the seller said he would start receiving salmon from New Zealand on Friday, although the Norwegian variety is prized above all.
Some New Zealand firms say they are enjoying an unexpected windfall from the flight chaos as orders of chilled meat, flowers and fish from Asia and the west Asia (middle east) surge.
Organizers of a blue-riband banking conference in Singapore are striving to fill the slots of five speakers whose flights have been affected by the shutdown of European airspace.
Among the speakers for The Asian Banker Summit 2010 was Asgeir Jonsson, chief economist of the Arion bank in Iceland, who was due to give a keynote presentation on Tuesday.
Organizers said they may have Jonsson deliver the speech via videoconference.
“This kind of thing always gives a big boost to that (videoconferencing) business -- it did during SARS,” Quam’s Pouliot said, referring to a 2003 epidemic of the respiratory disease that paralyzed Hong Kong.
“But at the end of the day, people still want to meet face to face.”

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:32 am

RBI measures to cool inflation, says FM

New Delhi: The rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will gently tighten money supply and help moderate inflation -- which is hovering close to 10%, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday.
He, however, also felt that inflation has peaked and would begin falling and be lower than the 5.5% projected by RBI for this fiscal.
Listen to Manas Chakravarty, Mint’s consulting editor analyze RBI’s credit policy and how markets have reacted to it
“These policies should have a gentle impact in tightening money in the economy and should dampen further inflationary pressures,” he told reporters here.
The central bank hiked key short-term lending and borrowing rates (repo and reverse repo) and CRR, the portion of money banks park with it, by 25 basis points each. These moves are aimed at tempering demand for loans and would, in turn, check consumer spending.
The hike is part of the steady exit from the easy money policy that the RBI unveiled in the wake of the global financial meltdown in 2008. RBI began rolling back monetary stimulus in January when it hiked CRR to 5.75% and later in March, it hiked repo and reverse repo by 0.25 percentage points each.
“If nothing untoward happens on the weather front, my belief is that overall inflation has peaked and should be on downward trajectory from now on,” Mukherjee said.
Wholesale prices-based inflation was 9.90% in March and is largely fed by food inflation, which is around 17%. Food prices are on a high due to supply side constraints.
“My own belief based on analysis done in my ministry is that inflation is now on downward trajectory and in 2010-11 will be less than 5.5% and in fact closer to 4% with an upward bias,” Mukherjee said.
The measures complement well the policies of the finance ministry aimed at controlling inflation and promoting sustainable growth, he said.
The RBI projected the economy to grow 8% this fiscal.
“The well balanced measures which involves raising the repo rate, reverse repo rate and CRR by 25 bps each reflect a mature and balanced view of the needs of our economy and I fully endorse the measures,” Mukherjee said.
India has now bounced back with growth seemingly back on track and inflation, though high, on a clear downward trend, he said.
“Hence I believe that it is time to move back towards ‘neutral’ policy rates that is rates should prevail when an economy is stable and on track,” he said.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:20 am

Day 5 of volcano disruption: industry impact

Airline industry group Iata called for steps to reopen European airspace, shut down by a volcanic ash cloud as the disruption entered a fifth day.
Below are some of the impacts on industries ranging from fashion and fish to car rentals to electronics.
Food/Restaurants
The world’s largest fish farmer, Norway’s Marine Harvest, said it would reduce salmon harvest volumes from Monday and that salmon exports to Asia, North America had been hit.
Iceland’s trade council said some fresh fish supplies were now being fed into frozen fish supplies, but most of Iceland’s fish exports are sea-based and so unaffected.
US grocer Whole Foods Market Inc said its stores on the east coast could see tighter supplies of fresh Atlantic salmon, which is sourced for those stores from Scotland.
Peter Grundhoefer, a top produce wholesaler in Frankfurt, said: “This affects all of us in the fruits business. We will lack beans and chilli peppers from Egypt and fresh herbs from Israel ... (and) exotic fruits like mango, kumquats and physalis (cape gooseberry) once stocks have been used up in the next one or two days.”
Thomas Kosmidis, a manager at Frankfurt restaurant supplier Venos, said: “We are running short of tuna from the Indian Ocean, Victoria perch from Africa, basil from Cyprus and other fresh herbs from Israel; lobster from Canada and green asparagus from California.”
Barbara Hennings, who works at Frankfurt sushi restaurant Iroha, said exotic vegetables were a bigger problem than fish.
“So far we’re not experiencing any supply bottlenecks and we’re not having to take dishes off the menu.”
She said tuna was delivered frozen once a month from Spain so there was no impact there.
Kenya’s horticulture industry is losing $3 million a day and it will take several weeks to recover even if flights resume now, its association of exporters said.
Belgian discount supermarket chain Colruyt said sales of cut flowers such as roses from Kenya and fresh fish from Iceland came to a standstill on Saturday.
Retail
IKEA AB only transports its goods by ship, rail and truck, so the Swedish furniture retailer is not experiencing any supply disruptions.
“The impact we are feeling is our co-workers who can not get home now from meetings in Europe,” a US spokeswoman said.
German fashion brand Hugo Boss AG expects a delay in showing its pre-spring collection to retailers such as Macy’s Inc and Nordstrom Inc, but a US spokesman said there would be no impact on stores since those clothes would not actually ship until the 2010 holiday season.
Logistics
Dutch mail group TNT NV said it had switched to road transport in Europe and was incurring higher costs.
Anita Gupta, Asia Pacific spokeswoman for rival DHL in Singapore, said the group had “increased its trucking capacity to minimize delays for shipments within Europe. A three to five day delay is expected for shipments moving between Europe and the rest of the world.”
Teleconferencing
Cisco Systems Inc said companies were turning to video conferencing to connect executives stranded by the flight ban in parts of Europe.
“The only evidence is anecdotal, but you will not get a demo room in any of the Cisco facilities,” said Fredrik Halvorsen, former CEO of Tandberg and head of the group’s TelePresence Technology Group. “We have seen a huge spike in usage.”
Hotels/Tourism/Car rental
“Many hotels have been booked out since Friday,” said Petra Winter, a spokeswoman for the Frankfort tourism office. Of 140 hotels with more than 34,000 beds in Frankfurt, only 20 still have vacancies.
Guests stranded at Marriott International Inc’s Grosvenor House, one of Europe’s largest hotels, are being treated to movie night & free cleaning of under-garments, according to the hotel chain’s Twitter feed.
Car rental companies are seeing a surge in demand as travellers try to find substitutes for flights.
“We are buying new cars for this” by taking on sooner than planned deliveries of cars the company already agreed to buy, a spokeswoman for Europcar in Hamburg said.
Rival Sixt AG is growing its fleet by keeping cars longer than the usual six months and recovering vehicles already moved to used-car dealerships.
Electronics
Japans’s Fujitsu Ltd said its notebook PC shipments to Europe have been halted temporarily due to the disruptions. It said there was enough inventory in the region to ensure there would be no impact on earnings at the moment. Sony Corp, Sharp Corp, Hitachi Ltd and Panasonic Corp said they were experiencing no impact.
In Seoul, Kim Seong-bong, a market analyst at Samsung Securities, said: “If the stoppage of flight services in Europe ... lasts more than a couple of weeks, it will be negative to technology exporters.”
Airlines/Air traffic control
Giovanni Bisignani, head of the International Air Transport Association (Iata), estimated airline revenue losses were now reaching $250 million a day, up from an earlier estimate on Friday of $200 million.
Iata said the economic impact on airlines would be greater than the 11 September 2001 attacks.
The global Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) said the air traffic control sector was losing up to €25 million ($35 million) a day due to the closure of European airspace and warned of a significant impact on future investments.
Some airlines in Europe are not going to be in business in the next week or two due to the volcanic ash cloud that has affected air travel, the Association of European Airlines said.
British airlines and travel companies are losing tens of millions of pounds a day, increasing pressure on officials to give the all-clear to fly again.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:11 am

Hunger grows as corruption eats into welfare schemes

Madhoun: The government is spending billions of dollars on welfare schemes, and plans even more this year. But that is news to Poona, whose daughter may soon die from that stain on India’s growth story -- malnutrition.
Poona, who married at 14 and breaks quarry stones for a living, shielded her daughter’s sunken face from a harsh summer sun with her blue sari. She does not know Urmila’s weight, but the whimpering 18-month child looked more like a new born baby.
“She eats nothing,” said Poona, a lower caste woman from a northern Indian tribal community in Uttar Pradesh state. “I feel scared of losing my child.”
Since helping the Congress party win re-election last year, welfare has fast become the government’s knee-jerk answer to policy dilemmas as it tries to ease food inflation, help growth trickle down to the poor, and win hearts and minds in a Maoist insurgency, many experts say.
But these often corruption-ridden and badly-run programmes may add to deficit spending and hinder India from following rival China by broadening an economic boom to transform millions of its population from poverty to well-fed middle class consumers.
In Madhoun village, a mobile phone tower stood near. But, while symbols of modernity seep in, welfare lags. Villagers complain no officials come here, and that upper castes siphon off pre-school porridge meals to fatten their buffalo.
Sonia Gandhi, Congress party head, has drafted a food Bill to give each poor family 35 kg of grains a month, as the government provisionally upped its estimate of the poverty rate from 27.5% to 37.2% of the 1.2 billion plus population.
It also comes after Congress introduced a “revolutionary” programme to ensure 100 days of jobs for villagers each year.
But these schemes’ foundation stones may be built on sand, many experts say, threatening India’s ability to narrow a yawning income gap that may endanger its economic success story despite Congress promises of “inclusive growth” since its 2004 election.
Growth Not Evenly Spread
Welfare programmes can help millions in a country that has a third of the world’s poor. Some schemes work well in states like Tamil Nadu which has a tradition of better governance.
But ridden by graft and often ill-conceived, welfare may have become an easy populist tool that is a second best solution to government reluctance to embrace difficult policies, like freeing up agriculture to markets -- that may make deeper inroads.
Sonia Gandhi’s assassinated husband, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, famously said that out of every rupee spent on welfare, only 15% reached recipients.
“There are areas where these schemes certainly work,” said political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan. “They are blunt instruments. It is easier to hand out a kilo of rice than reform agriculture.”
India’s growth is slow at lifting poverty, in contrast to China where child malnutrition, a key poverty indicator, is at 7%.
Malnutrition in India has fallen only six percentage points, to roughly 46%, since economic reforms began in 1991. GDP per capita boomed by 50% during the same period.
“There has been no improvement here,” said Shreevai, a social worker in Bahuri, a cluster of villages near Lalitpur. “We want to be like the rest of India, but we don’t have the income.”
India ranked 65th out of 84 countries in the Global Hunger Index of 2009, below countries including North Korea and Zimbabwe -- hindering India’s ambitions to channel its demographic dividend to fuel its global economic ambitions.
“I’ve never seen a country with such fast economic growth with such pathetic levels of nutrition,” said Lawrence Haddad director of the UK-based Institute of Development Studies.
It is a stain that riles many in Congress after hopes its re-election would see it take on difficult issues like agricultural reform needed to boost incomes and productivity in the countryside where still half the population lives.
It has sparked pressure for more welfare after Congress won several elections helped by promises of cheap food as expectation of improved infrastructure and broader economic dissipate.
Welfare counts for a growing part of the Budget, worrying investors that it will make cutting a 16-year-high deficit from last year hard. The rural employment scheme now costs 1% of GDP, while the food bill would cost an added $2 billion.
“People like (Sonia) Gandhi see their future is tied to how the under class and poor see them,” said Rangarajan.
No Aid For Months
But in Madhoun, a village of some 80 families, inhabitants said they had not received government aid for months. A health worker appeared once a week, signed attendance papers, and left.
Children stood aimlessly, many with potbellies and lighter-than-normal hair, malnutrition tell-tale signs. Few children go to school, spending instead days in quarries. Seven children recently died in one week in a bout of diarrhoea.
Poona said doctors asked for a Rs1,000 ($22) bribe for treatment -- a charge echoed across several villagers.
“I cannot afford to eat. How can I afford that?” Poona asked.
In theory, there is no end to welfare schemes. There is a midday school meal scheme, a pre-school scheme as well as the rural employment scheme. But few are felt on the ground.
“These programmes have not been successful at targetting those that need it most,” said one senior UN official, who asked to remain anonymous. Another UN aid worker estimated that only about 65% of pre-school foods reached the children in Lalitpur.
The schemes have also done little to alleviate food inflation at an 11-year-high. Prices of lentils, mainstay of India’s diet, jumped by around 40% last year. So valuable are they that quarry owners paid villagers in lentils rather than cash.
“Kids here just eat stale bread. We can’t get dal, prices have doubled. We just cannot afford it,” said Shreevai.
In one of the few child nutrition centres in Uttar Pradesh, there were only six beds, three filled in a sign of the lack of awareness and distrust of government doctors by many villagers.
Kranti Sitaram said she has food. She can even afford a mobile. But her 7-month daughter Kirti lay listlessly, ill since the mother had fed her cow milk mixed with water from a well.
“For the rest of her life she will have problems,” said Shipli Sahariya, a health worker.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:11 am

European flights resume, ash cloud still disrupts

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Flights from large parts of Europe were set to resume on Tuesday under a deal to free up airspace closed by a huge ash cloud, but strengthened eruptions from an Icelandic volcano threatened to unravel the plans.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 1:02 am

ASEAN Tour granted seven places at Singapore Open

Thailand's Namchok qualified for the co-sanctioned event, which last year offered $5 million in prize money, courtesy of winning the 2009 ASEAN Tour order of merit.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:58 am

Sensex up 150 points after RBI rejigs key rates

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex shot up 150 points at midsession on Tuesday as investors snapped up stocks after a less than expected hike in policy rates by the Reserve Bank.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:56 am

RBI lifts rates, CRR by 25 bps

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday raised key interest rates by 25 basis points (bps), as expected, tightening policy for the second month in a row as it battles inflation near double digits.
The RBI also raised its cash reserve ratio (CRR) requirement for banks by 25 bps, as expected, in a move to drain further liquidity from the financial system.
Listen to Manas Chakravarty’s, Mint’s consulting editor, analysis on RBI credit policy and how markets reacted to it (Download here)
India last month became the second Group of 20 economy after Australia to lift policy interest rates as it recovers from the global downturn, when it surprised markets with a 25 bps increase in key rates.
Asia’s third-largest economy is set to grow at 8.5% in the current financial year and 9 percent the following year, and inflation is spreading beyond food to fuel and manufactured goods such as cars. March inflation reached 9.9% year-on-year, its fastest pace in 17 months.
The RBI said its baseline scenario for economic growth in the current year is 8%, with an upside bias.
Only China is growing faster among major economies, and analysts expect the central bank to continue increasing interest rates throughout the year to bring them back towards pre-crisis levels.
“With the recovery now firmly in place, we need to move in a calibrated manner in the direction of normalizing our policy instruments,” RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao said in the policy statement.
Indian bond markets had priced in a 25 bps rise in key rates, while some investors and analysts had expected the central bank to take bolder action to tame inflation.
The central bank lifted the reverse repo rate, at which it absorbs excess cash from the banking system, by 25 bps to 3.75%. It increased the repo rate, at which it lends to banks, by 25 bps to 5.25%.
It raised the CRR requirement for banks by 25 bps to 6.00%, which will drain Rs12,500 crore ($2.8 billion) from the system. rising to an 18-“ month high of 8.13% last Thursday.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:47 am

Sensex up 150 points after RBI rejigs key rates

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex shot up 150 points at midsession on Tuesday as investors snapped up stocks after a less than expected hike in policy rates by the Reserve Bank.
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:41 am

AI, Jet, Kingfisher flights to Europe remain cancelled

Flights to the UK and other European destinations of Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines remained cancelled for the sixth consecutive day on Tuesday.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:35 am

RBI hikes short term rates and CRR by 25 basis points

The RBI hiked its repo, reverse repo to 5.25% and 3.75% respectively, while the Cash Reserve Ratio, or the portion of deposits banks park with RBI, to 6%.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:08 am

RBI lifts rates, CRR by 25 bps, matching forecasts

Reserve Bank of India today raised key interest rates by 25 basis points, as expected, tightening policy for the second month in a row as inflation heads towards double digits. Highlights
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am

Credit growth in 2009-10 surpasses RBI estimate

Credit growth surpassed the RBI's projection of 16 per cent in fiscal 2009-10 mainly on account of public sector banks reporting robust growth in
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am

Goldman Sachs' holdings will not see pressure, say analysts

Kolkata, April 19 Trouble for Goldman Sachs, one of the Wall Street's top investment bankers, other than influencing the market sentiment, is unlikely to cause any material impact on Dalal Street and the local companies in which it stands
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am

Taxis cash in on volcano woes

While European airlines are losing millions of euros a day as the volcanic cloud continues to cling at just the wrong altitude for jet planes, the continent's taxi industry is doing a roaring
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am

ULIPs: Finance Ministry told to resolve spat

In a thinly veiled criticism of the Finance Ministry, a Parliamentary Panel has asked it to “immediately intervene” in the deadlock between SEBI-IRDA on the ULIPs regulation
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am

Nagarjuna Construction Company (Rs 168.7): Sell

Investors with a short-term trading perspective can sell the stock of Nagarjuna Construction Company. The stock faces strong medium-term resistance at Rs 185 and it has failed to move past it despite multiple attempts to breach this level since
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am

UK, Germany may also probe Goldman Sachs

The pressure on Goldman Sachs is mounting after British and German regulators confirmed that they were looking into whether or not to start a formal probe, following the suit announced by the US Securities and Exchange Commission on
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am

RBI sounds caution on rising realty, stock prices

On the eve of the announcement of its Annual Policy, the Reserve Bank of India has sounded a note of caution on rising asset
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am

Creating structure from complexity

April 17, 2010 was a very sad day for India, the man who envisioned India@75 would not live to see the day. C. K. Prahalad, one of India's most prolific thinkers, was no
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am

TCS net rises 50% in Q4 on all round rebound in demand

Tata Consultancy Services has reported a 50.1 per cent rise in net profit, thanks to the continuing rebound in demand for technology services across verticals, service lines and geographies.
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am

Day Trading Guide

The near-term outlook is bearish for DLF. We re-affirm our sell recommendation in the
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am

Tech companies fear implications of trade pact

Washington: Companies across the technology industry from Internet access providers to social networking sites to video-sharing services are bracing for this week’s release of a draft of a trade agreement that they fear could undermine all sorts of online activities.
The agreement, being negotiated by the United States and nearly a dozen trading partners, is intended to create an international framework to crack down on counterfeiting, copyright violations and other intellectual property theft. But skeptics warn that it could chill free speech and other online expression by making technology companies liable for the misdeeds of their users.
“If online platforms themselves are held liable in a way that is overly broad, the platforms themselves will start screening and censoring or scaling back how open to user participation they are,” said David Sohn, senior policy counsel for the Center for Democracy & Technology, an interest group that advocates for civil liberties online. “They will have to exercise really tight control.”
The Bush administration began negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, in the fall of 2007 in an effort to harmonize intellectual property protections across different nations. The far-reaching agreement would encompass everything from counterfeit pharmaceuticals to fake Prada bags to online piracy of music and movies. Once ratified, trade agreements take full effect and a country can face complaints for noncompliance.
Since early on, the talks have been mired in controversy. For one thing, countries that are considered the biggest sources of intellectual property theft such as China and Indonesia are not participating. Nations taking part include the European Union member states, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and Australia.
The negotiations have been held behind closed doors, with no opportunity for public comment or outside input. Earlier versions of the trade agreement have been leaked, but the first official draft won’t be released until 21 April even though last week’s talks in New Zealand marked the eighth round of negotiations. The next round will take place in Switzerland in June.
Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in Internet and electronic commerce issues, argues that because the agreement could reshape intellectual property laws in so many countries, the proper forum for such negotiations is the World Intellectual Property Organization. WIPO negotiations are more open to public scrutiny and include countries where much of the counterfeiting takes place, he noted.
“Anyone in a democratic country should be uncomfortable when governments go behind closed doors to negotiate an agreement that will ultimately have a significant impact on domestic law,” Geist said.
Many technology companies fear that ACTA could undermine existing legal precedent and intellectual property laws in the United States, including the landmark 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The current US legal framework includes important protections for Internet service providers and other technology companies when their users are accused of copyright infringement. Although current law requires companies to remove infringing content, it limits their liability.
Most big technology companies are hesitant to comment on the record about ACTA until they see an official draft, but privately they say that immunity is critical not just for Internet service providers such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., but also for any online company that hosts user-generated content. That includes social networking sites such as Facebook, video-sharing sites such as Google Inc.’s YouTube and even the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
The darkest fear of the technology companies is that ACTA contains provisions that would require them to cut off access to users who violate copyright protections and possibly would hold the companies liable for violations.
The dangers of such “secondary liability” were underscored by a recent court ruling in Italy, which held three Google executives criminally responsible for hosting an online video of an autistic teenager being bullied, said Sohn of the Center for Democracy & Technology.
Sohn also said he worries that the trade agreement will exclude another “safeguard” in US law the “fair use” doctrine, which allows limited use of copyright-protected material for commentary, criticism, research, teaching and news reporting.
“While this is being characterized as an anti-counterfeiting agreement, it is really a copyright deal with rules that will affect the daily lives of millions of people both online and in the digital realm,” Geist said.
ACTA skeptics aren’t only worried that it will bring more-restrictive rules to the US Sherwin Siy, deputy legal director for Public Knowledge, another public interest group, fears that ACTA could also export strict, punitive copyright enforcement measures that exist in US law to other countries. That could include high statutory damage awards, he said.
To be sure, ACTA has plenty of defenders. In November, a long list of media companies and trade groups, including the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, sent a letter to Congress expressing support for the agreement.
ACTA, they wrote, has the potential to “preserve high value American jobs, and create new ones” and “buttress our country’s leading position in the creation, publishing and distribution of software, video games, films, music, books, television programs, journals, visual materials and other works protected by copyright.”
The office of the US Trade Representative, which is negotiating ACTA on behalf of the US, said in a statement that it is working to implement “President Obama’s commitment to aggressively protect American intellectual property overseas” and is “respecting the balance struck by the US Congress on these issues.”
The trade representative added that secondary liability for copyright infringement already exists in US and foreign laws. ACTA, it hopes, would “protect Internet intermediaries from secondary liability if they play by the rules.”

Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 11:52 pm

Tech companies fear implications of trade pact

Washington: Companies across the technology industry from Internet access providers to social networking sites to video-sharing services are bracing for this week’s release of a draft of a trade agreement that they fear could undermine all sorts of online activities.
The agreement, being negotiated by the United States and nearly a dozen trading partners, is intended to create an international framework to crack down on counterfeiting, copyright violations and other intellectual property theft. But skeptics warn that it could chill free speech and other online expression by making technology companies liable for the misdeeds of their users.
“If online platforms themselves are held liable in a way that is overly broad, the platforms themselves will start screening and censoring or scaling back how open to user participation they are,” said David Sohn, senior policy counsel for the Center for Democracy & Technology, an interest group that advocates for civil liberties online. “They will have to exercise really tight control.”
The Bush administration began negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, in the fall of 2007 in an effort to harmonize intellectual property protections across different nations. The far-reaching agreement would encompass everything from counterfeit pharmaceuticals to fake Prada bags to online piracy of music and movies. Once ratified, trade agreements take full effect and a country can face complaints for noncompliance.
Since early on, the talks have been mired in controversy. For one thing, countries that are considered the biggest sources of intellectual property theft such as China and Indonesia are not participating. Nations taking part include the European Union member states, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and Australia.
The negotiations have been held behind closed doors, with no opportunity for public comment or outside input. Earlier versions of the trade agreement have been leaked, but the first official draft won’t be released until 21 April even though last week’s talks in New Zealand marked the eighth round of negotiations. The next round will take place in Switzerland in June.
Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in Internet and electronic commerce issues, argues that because the agreement could reshape intellectual property laws in so many countries, the proper forum for such negotiations is the World Intellectual Property Organization. WIPO negotiations are more open to public scrutiny and include countries where much of the counterfeiting takes place, he noted.
“Anyone in a democratic country should be uncomfortable when governments go behind closed doors to negotiate an agreement that will ultimately have a significant impact on domestic law,” Geist said.
Many technology companies fear that ACTA could undermine existing legal precedent and intellectual property laws in the United States, including the landmark 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The current US legal framework includes important protections for Internet service providers and other technology companies when their users are accused of copyright infringement. Although current law requires companies to remove infringing content, it limits their liability.
Most big technology companies are hesitant to comment on the record about ACTA until they see an official draft, but privately they say that immunity is critical not just for Internet service providers such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., but also for any online company that hosts user-generated content. That includes social networking sites such as Facebook, video-sharing sites such as Google Inc.’s YouTube and even the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
The darkest fear of the technology companies is that ACTA contains provisions that would require them to cut off access to users who violate copyright protections and possibly would hold the companies liable for violations.
The dangers of such “secondary liability” were underscored by a recent court ruling in Italy, which held three Google executives criminally responsible for hosting an online video of an autistic teenager being bullied, said Sohn of the Center for Democracy & Technology.
Sohn also said he worries that the trade agreement will exclude another “safeguard” in US law the “fair use” doctrine, which allows limited use of copyright-protected material for commentary, criticism, research, teaching and news reporting.
“While this is being characterized as an anti-counterfeiting agreement, it is really a copyright deal with rules that will affect the daily lives of millions of people both online and in the digital realm,” Geist said.
ACTA skeptics aren’t only worried that it will bring more-restrictive rules to the US Sherwin Siy, deputy legal director for Public Knowledge, another public interest group, fears that ACTA could also export strict, punitive copyright enforcement measures that exist in US law to other countries. That could include high statutory damage awards, he said.
To be sure, ACTA has plenty of defenders. In November, a long list of media companies and trade groups, including the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, sent a letter to Congress expressing support for the agreement.
ACTA, they wrote, has the potential to “preserve high value American jobs, and create new ones” and “buttress our country’s leading position in the creation, publishing and distribution of software, video games, films, music, books, television programs, journals, visual materials and other works protected by copyright.”
The office of the US Trade Representative, which is negotiating ACTA on behalf of the US, said in a statement that it is working to implement “President Obama’s commitment to aggressively protect American intellectual property overseas” and is “respecting the balance struck by the US Congress on these issues.”
The trade representative added that secondary liability for copyright infringement already exists in US and foreign laws. ACTA, it hopes, would “protect Internet intermediaries from secondary liability if they play by the rules.”

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 11:52 pm

Big issue facing world economy is inflation: Policy expert

The big issue facing the world economy is inflation, which is especially true for the emerging markets, former US President financial market advisor Philippa Malmgren has said.
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Apr 2010 | 11:37 pm

Emami to buy Egyptian firm in 3-4 weeks

Mumbai: Diversified Emami Group, which makes personal care and consumer care brands under Emami Ltd, plans to acquire an Egyptian personal care products maker in the next 3-4 weeks, a top official said on Tuesday.
“Its a personal care company in Egypt whose manufacturing facilities we are acquiring..Most of Emami’s skincare products will be manufactured there,” Prashant Goenka, director, international business told Reuters.
“We will take about a month to finalise it...in the next 3-4 weeks,” he added.
He did not provide the name of the firm or the deal size, but said the buy will add 60-70% to Emami Ltd’s international revenues.
The deal will be funded by a mix of internal accruals and term loans from lending institutions, Goenka said.
The firm also plans to begin manufacturing its products in Egypt by the end of the current fiscal, Goenka added.
“A regional manufacturing base will help us become a leading player in that market,” he said.
Emami is also looking at Nigeria and South Africa next to acquire assets, in a bid to boost its presence in the African continent, he said.
The firm may also look at various fund raising options going forward for funding its expansion plans, he added.
At 10.55am, shares of the firm were up 2.32% at Rs676 in a firm Mumbai market.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 11:16 pm

BSNL employees go on indefinite strike

Employees are protesting Sam Pitroda panel's recommendations, which suggested voluntary retirement (VRS) to one lakh staff and 30 per cent disinvestment as part of improving the financial health of the PSU.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Apr 2010 | 11:09 pm

Citi reports $4.4 billion profit for first quarter

As Citigroup announced a profit of $4.4 billion in the first quarter, its biggest in almost three years, the banking giant's Indian American CEO Vikram Pandit expressed cautious optimism about the future.
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Apr 2010 | 10:59 pm

Market bounces back on global cues, Sensex 94 pts up

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex, which lost over 714 points in the previous five trading sessions, rose by 94.36 points, or 0.54 per cent cent to 17,495.04 points.
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Apr 2010 | 10:52 pm

Google cyberattack hit password system: NYT

New York: A December cyberattack on Google Inc computers hit the company’s password system that millions of people worldwide use to access almost all of the company’s Web services, The New York Times said, citing a person with direct knowledge of the investigation.
The closely-guarded program is considered a crown jewel at Google, enabling users and employees to sign in with their password only once to operate various services including e-mail and business applications, the newspaper said in its 20 April edition.
Code-named Gaia for the Greek goddess of the earth, and still in use under the name Single Sign-On, the program was described publicly only once at a technical conference four years ago, the newspaper said.
The intruders do not appear to have stolen passwords of Gmail users, and Google quickly started to bolster security, the newspaper said.
But the theft leaves open a possibility, perhaps faint, that the intruders may find weaknesses that Google might not know about, the newspaper said, citing independent computer experts.
Google disclosed the hacking on 12 January, when on its website it reported having detected “a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.”
The Mountain View, California-based company said the attack appeared to target Chinese human rights activists, and that only two Gmail accounts appeared to have been accessed.
“We’re not going to comment beyond our original blog post,” Jay Nancarrow, a spokesman for Google, said on Monday night. “That remains our statement of record on the issue.”
When it revealed the attack, Google said it would stop censoring search results on Google.cn.
In March, it closed its China-based Web search service and began redirecting users to an uncensored portal in Hong Kong. That decision came amid heightened tensions between China and Washington, DC.

Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 10:50 pm

Google cyberattack hit password system: NYT

New York: A December cyberattack on Google Inc computers hit the company’s password system that millions of people worldwide use to access almost all of the company’s Web services, The New York Times said, citing a person with direct knowledge of the investigation.
The closely-guarded program is considered a crown jewel at Google, enabling users and employees to sign in with their password only once to operate various services including e-mail and business applications, the newspaper said in its 20 April edition.
Code-named Gaia for the Greek goddess of the earth, and still in use under the name Single Sign-On, the program was described publicly only once at a technical conference four years ago, the newspaper said.
The intruders do not appear to have stolen passwords of Gmail users, and Google quickly started to bolster security, the newspaper said.
But the theft leaves open a possibility, perhaps faint, that the intruders may find weaknesses that Google might not know about, the newspaper said, citing independent computer experts.
Google disclosed the hacking on 12 January, when on its website it reported having detected “a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.”
The Mountain View, California-based company said the attack appeared to target Chinese human rights activists, and that only two Gmail accounts appeared to have been accessed.
“We’re not going to comment beyond our original blog post,” Jay Nancarrow, a spokesman for Google, said on Monday night. “That remains our statement of record on the issue.”
When it revealed the attack, Google said it would stop censoring search results on Google.cn.
In March, it closed its China-based Web search service and began redirecting users to an uncensored portal in Hong Kong. That decision came amid heightened tensions between China and Washington, DC.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 10:50 pm

Rupee gains 16 paise against dollar

The Indian rupee appreciated by 16 paise to 44.57 a dollar in early trade on Tuesday on the back of fresh capital inflows by foreign funds into equities.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Apr 2010 | 10:40 pm

European flights resume, new ash cloud on horizon

Amsterdam: Flights from large parts of Europe were set to resume on Tuesday under a deal agreed by the European Union to free up airspace closed by a cloud of ash hurled into the sky by an Icelandic volcano.
But British air traffic controllers warned a new ash cloud was headed for major air routes, though plans to reopen airports in Scotland remained in place for 0600 GMT.
Others in northern England were to follow later, though there were no plans to reopen London’s international hubs.
Details remained sketchy of how the authorities would split European airspace into areas where aircraft could fly or not and other countries were adopting a more cautious approach.
“The volcano eruption in Iceland has strengthened and a new as cloud is spreading south and east towards the UK,” NATS, Britain’s National Air Traffic Services, said in an overnight statement.
“This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in which we are working.”
EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas said on Monday, after a ministerial video conference, that more flights would leave on Monday, easing days of disruption for millions of passengers. A handful of flights left Amsterdam and Frankfurt late on Monday.
The deal offered hope to frustrated airlines losing $250 million a day from the shutdown and seeing their shares tumble. The global freight supply chain is also beginning to sag.
“I’m so happy,” said one man with tears in his eyes as he ran for his flight from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Monday, one of three bound for New York, Shanghai and Dubai with almost 800 passengers on board.
Dutch transport minister Camiel Eurlings promised that the Netherlands was “taking a lead” in getting Europe moving, but said its airspace could be closed again if ash levels rose.
Neighbouring Germany will mostly maintain its no-fly zone until 1200 GMT.
Some areas open to flights
Under the deal, which Kallas said would take effect from 0600 GMT, the area immediately around the volcano will remain closed.
But flights may be permitted in a wider zone with a lower concentration of ash, subject to local assessments and scientific advice, the European aviation control agency Eurocontrol said.
Airlines had declared numerous test flights problem-free over the past days, but experts disagree over how to measure the ash and who should decide it is safe to fly. A British Airways jet lost power in all four engines after flying through an ash cloud above the Indian Ocean in 1982.
France said it was reopening some airports to create air corridors to Paris. Italian airspace will open from 0600 GMT.
Eurocontrol said it expected up to 9,000 flights to have operated in Europe on Monday, a third of normal volume.
“The scale of the economic impact (on aviation) is now greater than 9/11, when US airspace was closed for three days,” International Air Transport Association (IATA) head Giovanni Bisignani said.
“We must move away from this blanket closure and find ways to flexibly open air space, step by step.”
Industry losses worldwide for passenger airlines and cargo companies could reach as much as $3 billion from the cloud, Helane Becker, an analyst with Jesup & Lamont Securities, told Reuters Insider on Monday. For US airlines, she estimated the impact at $400 million to $600 million.
Firms dependent on fast air freight were feeling the strain.
Kenya’s flower exporters, which account for a third of EU imports, said they were losing up to $2 million a day.
Disruption extended far into Asia.
South Korea’s Incheon International Airport, the world’s fourth-busiest cargo handler in 2008, suffered 3,216 tonnes of lost shipments to Europe from 16-19 April, the country’s customs agency says.
Twenty inbound and 25 outbound cargo flights had been cancelled. Among those suffering were computer chip and electronics suppliers such as Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor.
Japan Airlines said it had cancelled 55 European flights, affecting 14,277 passengers. All Nippon Airways (ANA) has cancelled 33 flights, affecting about 8,500.
Showers, hamburgers, bus tours
Tokyo’s Narita airport offered stranded passengers free showers, hamburgers, access to rest areas and bus tours of the city. About 140 passengers spent last night at the airport.
The China Daily said the bar on flights to Europe remained in effect and quoted a civil aviation spokeswoman as saying that “the situation might last for a few more days.”
It also reported European executives might be unable to attend a series of conventions and exhibitions, including the Beijing auto show that opens with a media day on Friday.
“I don’t know how many of the European auto giants will finally show up on the media day,” the paper quoted Zhang Hengjie, a manager at the exhibition centre, as saying.
In Singapore, a hub for travel throughout Asia, France’s ambassador urged French residents of the island state to take in compatriots stranded at the airport.
Millions of people have had travel disrupted or been stranded and forced to make long, expensive attempts to reach home by road, rail and sea, as well as missing days at work and school at the end of the busy Easter holiday season.
British businessman Chris Thomas, trying to get home from Los Angeles since Thursday, flew to Mexico City and then aimed to fly to Madrid and spend $2,000 to rent a car for the 14-hour drive to Paris. He was booked on the Eurostar Channel tunnel train to London, and then planned to drive four hours to Wales.
“It’s all a bit crazy but you have to err on the side of caution,” Thomas said. “Nobody wants to be on the first plane to go down in a volcanic cloud.”
In sport, soccer’s European Cup holders Barcelona set off on a two-day road trip of nearly 1,000 km (620 miles) on Sunday to play Inter Milan in a Champions League semi-final on Tuesday.
Businesses have had to find alternative ways of operating. Communications provider Cisco Systems said companies were turning to videoconferencing to connect executives.
Britain was deploying three navy ships, including an aircraft carrier, to bring its citizens home from continental Europe. The British travel agents’ association ABTA estimated 150,000 Britons were stranded abroad. Washington said it was trying to help 40,000 Americans stuck in Britain.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 10:38 pm

Asian stocks rebound, markets await earnings

Hong Kong: Asian stocks rebounded on Tuesday, a day after suffering their biggest percentage fall in 10 weeks, as Citigroup’s best results since 2007 raised investor optimism about corporate earnings and risk aversion receded.
A flurry of good results from Wall Street and easing fears about the potential fallout from fraud charges against Goldman Sachs helped whet appetite for risk, which also pulled down the dollar and the yen.
The Australian dollar surged after minutes of a central bank meeting hinted that more interest rate rises were in the pipeline, while tame inflation data pressured the New Zealand dollar as it made a case for a delay in monetary tightening.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan was up 0.8%, reversing some of Monday’s 2.3% fall that followed news of the charges filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission against Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs.
Regional energy, financial and material stocks were among the big gainers after risk aversion ebbed and investors focused on corporate earnings.
“We think earnings have been good, valuations are in the middle of the historical range of the last 15 years,” said Khiem Do, head of the Asia multi-asset group at Baring Asset Management which oversees $50 billion.
“The Goldman concerns had an impact on US financials but I don’t know what that has to do with Asian financials,” he said while adding the previous day’s fall was sentiment-driven.
A report the SEC had split 3-2 along party lines to approve an enforcement case against Goldman Sachs showed it was not a clear-cut decision and triggered a rally on Wall Street that was also inspired by upbeat earnings from Citigroup.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.67%, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.45%. And ironically, the market is now shifting its attention to Goldman’s blowout earnings that are expected to give the rally a fresh leg-up.
The Australian dollar jumped and the New Zealand dollar eased as investors took opposite views on the monetary policy direction for the currencies’ respective economies.
The Aussie rose as high as $0.9275 from around $0.9256 before the minutes that showed the central bank felt it was not prudent to delay a hike given an expected boom in the country’s terms of trade.
The kiwi was down at $0.7089/94, after falling more than a third of a cent from around $0.7125 before the inflation data, which backed views the central bank would be in no hurry to hike rates before the middle of the year.
On the other hand, inflation was a cause for concern for two of the biggest economies in the region, and central bank actions to contain rising prices were likely to hurt performance of stocks, HSBC said in a report.
“The combination of slowing momentum, rising rates and structural worries on China and India will not be helpful for equities,” it said in a report.
“We expect Asian equities to rise over coming quarters as long as growth comes through but to continue to lag global equities,” it said, while adding that markets such as Australia, Malaysia and India, where the central banks have raised rates, had underperformed the region.
Greece will also be in focus as the debt-stricken country aims to raise 1.5 billion euros ($2.0 billion) via an auction of 3-month T-bills on 20 April amid stubbornly high borrowing costs that may force it ask for aid from its euro zone peers and the IMF.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 10:36 pm

Sensex up 94 points on global cues

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex recovered by over 94 points in opening trade on Tuesday on emergence of buying by foreign funds and retailers amid firm global cues.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Apr 2010 | 10:21 pm

Rupee retreats from 2-week lows on shares

Mumbai: The Indian rupee strengthened on Tuesday recovering from two week lows hit in the previous session as a higher start to the domestic sharemarket and stronger regional peers boosted sentiment.
At 9:15am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs44.58/59 per dollar, stronger than its Monday’s close of Rs44.73/74, when it hit Rs44.7450 during trade, its weakest since 5 April, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Most Asian currencies were stronger compared to the dollar.
Indian shares climbed 0.4% early on Tuesday, supported by firmer Asian markets. [.BO] Dealers said they would closely watch the RBI’s monetary policy statement for 11:15pm, for directin.
The RBI, which until recently had focused monetary policy largely on encouraging economic recovery, said on Monday the weight of policy balance may have to shift to containing high inflation.
A Reuters survey showed most economists expect an increase in both the repo and reverse repo rates. Among those expecting a rise, roughly two-thirds predicted a 25-basis-point increases and one-third foresaw 50-basis-point hikes.
The index of the dollar against six major currencies was little changed and would be watched for direction, dealers said.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 9:43 pm

Independent valuer appointed for Cadbury shares, investors relieved

Mumbai: In a relief to over 8,000 investors, the Bombay high court has appointed Ernst & Young as independent valuer to evaluate shares of Cadbury India whose promoters have proposed to acquire 2.5% minority shareholding.
Hearing an intervention application filed by Investors Grievances Forum, a body for protection of small investors, justice SJ Kathawala, in an order on 15 April, asked Ernst & Young to independently value the shares of Cadbury India and submit a report in a sealed cover within six weeks.
Cadbury shareholders opposed valuation of shares based on the report prepared by Independent Valuers M/s Bansi Mehta and Co and M/s SSPA and Co, which arrived at Rs1340 per share, IGF Counsels Chandu Mehta and Darshan Mehta told PTI.
According to IGF, the company has proposed share capital reduction scheme whereby 97.4% majority promoter shareholders plan to acquire 2.5% minority shareholding at a price fixed by the valuers.
Cadbury’s Counsel, Janak Dwarkadas, said the exercise of valuation of Cadbury shares by M/s Bansi Mehta and Co and M/s SSPA and Co was in conformity with the law laid down by the apex court, pertaining to value of shares, in many judgements.
However, the company is agreeable to get the valuation done by an independent valuer appointed by the court. But this valuation should be treated as final and binding on all the objectors and shareholders of Cadbury who would not be allowed to pursue their objections later, he said.
According to IGF, Cadbury has 8088 shareholders in and outside India. Of them, 800 are minority non-promotor shareholders. At an extra ordinary general body meeting of the Company, only 79 out of over 8,000 shareholders were present.
Considering that resolutions to be passed at EGBM would result in total loss of ownership of shares by the minority shareholders, the company ought to have invited votes by postal ballot instead of expecting all shareholders to remain present and vote on such a crucial issue, IGF argued.
This compulsory acquisition of shares without even being heard is completely in violation of constitutional right of minority shareholders conferred to them under article 300A of the Constitution, IGF contended.
IGF argued that the reason given by Cadbury to reduce share capital was that the global policy of the parent company has always been to operate in all the jurisdictions across the world through a wholly owned subsidiary or as a branch.
IGF contended that in February 2010, Cadbury investors had accepted the bid of Krafts Food to take over the company and hence Cadbury has ceased to exist and decision whether to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary in all jurisdictions or to issue fresh shares and get relisted in all jurisdictions will now be decided by Krafts Food and not Cadbury.
IGF argued that proposed share reduction will result in substantial increase in value of shares of the Company which will be more than Rs1340 per share, now sought to be foisted upon small shareholders. By reducing capital only promoters would benefit at the cost of small shareholders.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 9:39 pm

Oil rebounds above $82 as some Europe flights resume

Singapore: Oil rose past $82 on Tuesday, rebounding from three-week lows as jet fuel demand increased, with European planes taking back to the skies after the threat from volcanic ash receded.
Flights from large parts of Europe are set to resume on Tuesday under a deal agreed by the European Union to free up airspace closed after a volcano erupted in Iceland last week. The disruption to air travel cut jet fuel use by at least 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in the past few days.
US crude for May delivery rose to as high as $82.38 and was up 65 cents at $82.10 a barrel at 8:25am. The June contract, which will become the front month on Wednesday after May expires on Tuesday, climbed 42 cents to $83.55.
In the previous two trading sessions, oil fell almost 5% because of the flight ban and after US government action against Goldman Sachs soured risk appetite across asset classes.
“The market reacted to the disruptions to air traffic in a kneejerk fashion, but now flights are increasing especially from southern Europe and there is a big push to try to allow more,” said Tony Nunan, a risk manager with Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp.
“Although the Goldman Sachs issue has of course changed the sentiment of the market, it really doesn’t change the fundamentals. The overall feeling is that we are in a V-shaped recovery and oil demand will rise. For people concerned about having missed the rally, this is a good time to get back in.”
US crude hit an 18-month high above $87 a barrel two weeks ago and had been hovering above $85 until the Goldman suit was announced.
ICE Brent crude on Tuesday gained 54 cents to $84.77, trading at a premium of more than $1 to the equivalent contract for US crude.
The dollar was nearly unchanged against a basket of currencies.
US crude oil inventories probably rose by 200,000 barrels last week due to higher imports, following a surprise dip the week before, a Reuters poll of analysts ahead of weekly inventory reports showed on Monday.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel, could have risen by 800,000 barrels on average, while gasoline stocks may have gained 500,000 barrels, the poll showed.
The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly inventory report on Tuesday at 2:00am, followed by US Energy Information Administration statistics on Wednesday at 8:00pm.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 9:34 pm

Toyota to fix 34,000 vehicles worldwide

Toyota will offer the same fix for stability control programming it has announced for the Lexus GX 460 in North America to vehicles in other regions, affecting 34,000 vehicles worldwide, the Japanese automaker said.
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Apr 2010 | 9:22 pm

Toyota’s safety recall totals 34,000 units worldwide

Tokyp: Toyota said on Tuesday that the safety recall of its sports utility vehicles the Lexus GX 460 and some models of the Land Cruiser Prado will total 34,000 units worldwide.
The Japanese car giant promised to fix problems with the vehicle stability control system that increase the risk of rollover accidents.
Toyota has been hit by the biggest crisis in its history as it has issued recall notices for more than 10 million vehicles globally for defects with accelerator and brake systems in the past seven months.
In the latest blow, Toyota announced a mass recall Monday after US magazine Consumer Reports gave the Lexus GX 460 SUV a rare “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk” rating because of a rollover danger.
On Tuesday Toyota said that “approximately 34,000 units worldwide are involved,” raising the total from the less than 20,000 units previously announced for the United States, Canada and Europe.
It said it would recall 13,000 units of the GX 460 - including about 9,400 units in the United States, 1,000 units in Russia and 1,000 units in Oman.
It also said it would recall 21,000 left-hand drive models of the Land Cruiser Prado, including 4,400 units in Oman, 4,000 units in Russia, and 1,500 units in the United Arab Emirates.
Toyota overtook General Motors in 2008 as the world’s top automaker. But the safety issues that have plagued it have raised questions about whether it sacrificed its legendary quality to become number one.
On Monday Toyota agreed to pay a record $16.4 million fine in the United States for hiding its gas pedal defects from regulators for months.

Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 9:04 pm

Rajasthan's land deals at the centre of IT probe on Modi - Economic Times


Zee News
Rajasthan's land deals at the centre of IT probe on Modi
Economic Times
NEW DELHI: IPL commissioner Lalit Modi is embroiled in numerous land deals in Rajasthan involving many prominent developers and business houses during the regime of the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in that state, according to a ...
No hidden stake in Rajasthan Royals, says ChairmanZee News
Modi's BJP ties now an embarrassmentExpress Buzz
IT probe to find if Lalit Modi holds benaami stake in Rajasthan RoyalsDaily News & Analysis
Deccan Herald
all 6 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 19 Apr 2010 | 5:53 pm

Tharoor's 'mentorship' may even cost MPship - Economic Times


Rediff
Tharoor's 'mentorship' may even cost MPship
Economic Times
NEW DELHI: Mr Shashi Tharoor's troubles may not have ended with his resignation from the Manmohan Singh government. The former minister of state for external affairs' position as a MP, too, could come under threat if he is found to be guilty under the ...
Tharoor might still be cuplable under PCATimes of India
Pushkar has to pay us: IT DeptBusiness Standard
Delhi HC dismisses plea for CBI probe in Tharoor IPL rowIndlaw.com
The Hindu -Daily News & Analysis -Calcutta Telegraph
all 80 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 19 Apr 2010 | 4:59 pm

Ash stays, some flights resume

Despite reports of a F-16 fighter aircraft’s engine having been damaged while flying through the volcanic ash cloud spread across Northern Europe for five days, a few airports in the affected region opened on Monday, while others announced plans of doing so HT reports. See graphics
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Apr 2010 | 2:21 pm

ArcelorMittal eyes stake in Ferro Alloys Corp

ArcelorMittal, the worlds largest steel maker, is eyeing another strategic buy in India.
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Apr 2010 | 1:17 pm

Managing inflation to be policy focus: RBI

In the Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments in 2009-10, RBI said the growth outlook for the economy remains positive in the near term, though recovery in private demand needs to be stronger.
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Apr 2010 | 1:15 pm

FM for thorough probe into IPL

There will be a thorough probe into the funding of the countrys most popular cricket event the Indian Premier League T20 (IPL) and no guilty party will be spared, the government announced today.
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Apr 2010 | 1:13 pm

RBI likely to increase key rates

Containing runaway inflation, not economic recovery, is expected to be the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) main focus when the central bank announces its annual policy statement on Tuesday.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Apr 2010 | 12:54 pm

JSW acquires South African coal mining co

Indian investment company JSW has beaten two South African bidders to acquire a majority stake in South African Coal Mining Holdings (SACMH) at a price of 85.4 million rand (approximately Rs 51.16 crore).
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Apr 2010 | 12:51 pm

French co buys 51% in Bharathi

In a bid to cement its presence in the Indian market, French cement biggie Vicat is acquiring a 51% stake in Bharathi Cement Company Ltd, promoted by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, MP from Kadapa and son of the Late former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Apr 2010 | 12:49 pm

Hike in ethanol prices bad economics

With no pricing policy behind it, the recent decision by a group of ministers (GoM) to increase ethanol prices by 26 per cent — to Rs 27 per litre from Rs 21.50 per litre — for sale to oil companies may not quite serve its purpose.


Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Apr 2010 | 11:53 am

3G auction: Govt set to get Rs 24K cr; bid price up 73 per cent

Ensuring a minimum of Rs 24,620 crore to the government's kitty, the price for all-India 3G spectrum rose to Rs 6,068 crore on Day 8 of the auction and the bidding is still going strong.
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Apr 2010 | 11:22 am

HMIL to enter new export markets - The Hindu


The Hindu
HMIL to enter new export markets
The Hindu
Hyundai Motor India is planning to enter new export markets later this year, according to HW Park, Managing Director. In his inaugural address at a function, after opening a new showroom, V3 Hyundai, in Adyar here on Monday, Mr. Park said the company ...
Hyundai to bring SUV Santa Fe in India by 2010-endTimes of India
Hyundai to Introduce Santa Fe SoonCarTradeIndia.com
Hyundai will introduce its 'Santa Fe' in Indian market soonTopNews
Economic Times -mydigitalfc.com -TechWhack (blog)
all 25 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 19 Apr 2010 | 11:18 am

Cloud computing providers gain traction among big companies

San Francisco: This year, Netflix Inc. made what looked like a peculiar choice: The DVD-by-mail company decided that over the next two years, it would move most of its Web technology—customer movie queues, search tools and the like—over to the computer servers of one of its chief rivals, Amazon.com Inc.
Amazon, like Netflix, wants to deliver movies to people’s homes over the Internet. But the online retailer, based in Seattle, has lately gained traction with a considerably more ambitious effort: the business of renting other firms the remote use of its technology infrastructure so they can run their computer operations. In the parlance of technophiles, they would operate “in the cloud”.
Cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. aim to persuade other firms to give up building and managing their own data centres and to use their computer capacity instead.
Led by Amazon, most cloud services have largely been aimed at start-ups, such as the legion of Facebook and iPhone applications developers.
Although most large companies have taken their first cautious steps into the cloud, many are anxious about data failures and slow delivery of data over a network.
To alleviate those concerns, Google held a daylong conference last week at its headquarters in Mountain View, California, selling its cloud computing services—such as email and business software—to executives of large corporations.
Employees of the Amazon Web Services subsidiary are currently on a multi-city tour to persuade even those companies that might compete with Amazon to stop building their own data centres and move their data onto Amazon’s servers instead.
Kevin McEntee, Netflix’s vice-president of engineering, said Netflix switched in order to “focus our innovation around finding movies, rather than building larger and larger data centres”. As for tethering Netflix’s future to a rival, McEntee said, “It’s in their interest to make us successful in the cloud. That’s why we felt comfortable.”
In Amazon’s model, firms pay only for the computing cycles they use. Customers eliminate the upfront cost of hardware and can then buy more time on Amazon’s data centre as needed. Companies have also used Amazon as a backup system.
In another cloud model, advocated by firms such as International Business Machines Corp., tech companies help large businesses develop “private clouds” in their own data centres, so that various departments and employees can rent computing capacity as they need it without making big budget commitments.
Though Amazon characteristically releases few statistics about its Web Services effort, Citibank Inc. estimates that it will generate between $500 million (Rs2,230 crore) and $700 million this year. That’s less than 3% of Amazon’s annual revenue.
Still, Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, has predicted that its cloud computing division will one day generate as much revenue as its retail business does now. For that to happen, Amazon and other cloud providers will have to convince big business.
Almost every big company is cautiously testing the waters these days. 3M, the St Paul, Minnesota, conglomerate, is using Microsoft’s new Azure cloud service to allow thousands of advertisers to tap into a service that mathematically analyses promotional images and evaluates how visually effective they are likely to be. “It took a lot of the risk out of whether to commercialize it or not,” said Jim Graham, a technical manager at 3M.
But most big organizations say they are wary of placing more critical software and business operations on another company’s computers.
“We are no different than anybody else. We are concerned about privacy and security and compliance,” said Dave Powers, a senior systems engineer at Eli Lilly and Co., the pharmaceutical giant based in Indianapolis, which uses Amazon’s cloud services for some research and development efforts. “We are very careful about what we are putting out there today.”
©2010 / THE NEW YORK TIMES
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Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 11:12 am

Nasa delays shuttle Discovery’s return to Earth

Houston: Shuttle Discovery astronauts prepared Monday for a second attempt to descend to Earth, after rain at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida forced them to wave off the first of the day’s landing opportunities.
Rainy conditions remained in the outlook for the day’s final Florida landing opportunity, at 10:23 am EDT (1423 GMT).
If waved off for a second time, Nasa planned to make Edwards Air Force Base in California available to the Discovery commander Alan Poindexter and his six crewmates.
Tuesday’s forecast for Florida shows an improved weather outlook, but still included a chance of rain showers within 30 miles (50 kilometers) of the shuttle’s runway.
The outlook at Edwards in California was favorable, but the Discovery commander still held out hope that the Sunshine State would live up to its name long enough to permit a landing there Monday.
“We are looking forward to landing today in Florida if the weather works out,” Poindexter told Mission Control after his crew was awakened with only a small chance of making the planned 8:48 am EDT landing there.
Discovery lifted off on 5 April and docked with the International Space Station two days later, overcoming a communications antenna failure that crippled their rendezvous radar.
The link-up united 13 US, Russian and Japanese astronauts from the two spacecraft for 10 days.
Astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson replaced a bulky external coolant tank during three spacewalks. The ammonia reservoir circulates a coolant through an outstretched radiator to disperse the heat generated by the station’s internal electronics, including the life support systems.
Nasa intends to retire the shuttle program after three more flights, just enough to complete the 12-year-long assembly of the space station.
Until President Obama’s space policy address at Kennedy on 15 April, many of Nasa’s shuttle workers had been holding out hope that the 29-year-old shuttle program might be extended.
Instead, the president re-emphasized his strategy to rely on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the space station until a US commercial space taxi service is available.
“We are heads down focused on the mission, trying to make sure it’s safe and successful for the crew,” said Bryan Lunney, the Nasa flight director who supervised Discovery’s landing attempts from Mission Control.
“I haven’t gotten too philosophical or concerned about the future — just taking care of business.”

Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 6:18 am

US sees 50 bank collapses in `10; eight fold up in one day!

Pushing the total count of American bank failures to 50 so far this year, eight entities collapsed in a single day last week.
Source: Zee News : Business | 19 Apr 2010 | 6:15 am

Tata, RIL among world`s 50 most innovative companies!

Two Indian corporate giants, Tata Group and Reliance Industries, have made to a new list of world`s 50 most innovative companies, but it is US-based Apple Computer sitting on the top.
Source: Zee News : Business | 19 Apr 2010 | 6:15 am

Lenovo looks to mobile internet for growth

Beijing/Hong Kong: Lenovo Group, the world’s No.4 PC brand, said mobile Internet products will account for 10-20% of revenue in five years, as it embarks on a new drive into wireless computing.
The company hoped to sell millions of its new line of smartphones in one to five years, and tens of millions in the future, said president and chief operating officer Rory Read at a media briefing on Monday.
He added that mobile Internet devices, which include popular low-cost netbooks, currently accounted for only a low single-digit percentage among of Lenovo’s annual sales.
“The market in the smartphone space is just emerging in China,” Read said. “It’s just the beginning.”
The mobile Internet devices market would overtake traditional PCs in the next five years, chief executive Yang Yuanqing, said as the company launched new mobile Internet products at an event in Beijing.
After selling off its cell phone unit to focus on its core PC business, Lenovo bought back the unit last year as part of its aim to become the Chinese market leader in mobile communications, as the sector starts to converge with PCs.
However, the company does not expect mobile communications to make a meaningful contribution to its bottom line for the next two years at least, as it competes with more established players.
Lenovo, like rivals Acer and Dell, joined a growing list of traditional handset makers when it introduced a thin, touchscreen smartphone in January that runs on Google’s Android operating system.
Most market research firms such as IDC and Gartner expect growth in smartphones to outpace PCs in 2010, leading to a flurry of new entrants into the sector once dominated by cellphone makers such as Nokia and Blackberry maker Research in Motion.
The smartphone sector also offers fatter profit margins than the PC sector, with net margins often in the low single digits for the heavily commoditised laptop and in the teens for smartphones.
Corporate refresh this year
Lenovo, heavily reliant on corporate demand as a result of its purchase of IBM’s laptop PC arm, expects a corporate refresh cycle this year as companies that put off buying new PCs during the financial crisis consider doing so now.
“I’m optimistic that the economic environment will continue to improve,” said Read. “I also see that the key business accounts - corporate and large enterprise, which are an important part of our business, are also improving and their activities are getting better.”
Lenovo and Dell were both hard hit during the global financial crisis compared with rivals such as Acer, which offers more consumer products, and HP, which has a more diversified product offering.
Global personal computer shipments rose sharply in the first quarter, research firms IDC and Gartner said on 14 April, helped by business spending on technology equipment.
The global PC market is expected to grow by more than 9% to about 310 million units in 2010, IDC said, partially due to a corporate refresh cycle brought about by Microsoft’s launch of its Windows 7 software in 2009.

Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Apr 2010 | 4:14 am