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New IPO norms effective May 1The Sebi has said it mandatory for qualified institutional buyers (QIB) to bring in 100% of the application money (for IPO) as the margin against 10% from May 1, 2010, reports CNBC TV18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 27 Apr 2010 | 7:43 am IDFC to raise Rs 3500 cr in next 12 monthsIDFC) has informed the BSE that the Board of Directors of the company has approved a plan to raise Tier 1 and / or Tier 2 capital up to Rs 3500 crore for meeting future growth needs.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 27 Apr 2010 | 5:46 am Wipro, Tech Mahindra eyeing $1 bn contractIndian software firms Wipro and Tech Mahindra are in talks with New Zealand\'s Telecom Corp for an outsourcing contract potentially worth up to USD 1 billion, the Economic Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 27 Apr 2010 | 4:58 am Goldman Sachs boss Blankfein to defend bank's record - BBC News
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:56 am 20 million mobile users added in February - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:53 am New investors may pick up stake in SpiceJetAbout half a dozen fund houses have submitted proposals for a possible investment in India\'s second largest lowfare carrier SpiceJet Ltd, Mint newspaper reported on Tuesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:41 am Reliance Comm, US firm tie up for application storesReliance will offer GetJar's catalog of more than 65,000 free mobile applications to its GSM as well as CDMA customers, the Indian operator said in a statement.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:38 am No intervention needed in forex market: Trade minister Anand SharmaThe partially convertible rupee has appreciated nearly 4.8% in 2010. Sharma also said exports for the fiscal year that ended in March 2010 are seen close to $170 billion.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:38 am FDI stance on retail unchanged: Trade minister Anand SharmaThere is no change in India's policy on opening up retail sector to more foreign direct investment (FDI) as of now, trade minister Anand Sharma told reporters on Tuesday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:37 am Bank of China Q1 net rises 41 pct; meets expectationsSHANGHAI (Reuters) - Bank of China posted its biggest quarterly profit on China's strong economic recovery but the nation's third-biggest lender faces slowing growth as the government reins in lending and its fund-raising plans weigh on its shares.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:36 am Engineers India $270 million share sale in June: OfficialShare sale in state-run refiner Indian Oil Corp will take place in this fiscal year that ends in March, Sidhartha Pradhan, a joint secretary in the divestment ministry, which is in charge of stake sales, told reporters.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:36 am Mayawati’s BSP to help UPA govt defeat cut motionNew Delhi: The Union government is expected to have a smooth sailing in Lok Sabha in the trial of strength on cut motion with the 21-member Bahujan Samaj Party throwing its weight behind it. “We will support the Central government on the issue of cut motion,” BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati said at a press conference in Lucknow. Her statement, coupled with signals from 21-member BSP that they were against destabilising the Congress-led coalition, was welcome news to the UPA ahead of the cut motion on the demands for grants. RJD leader Lalu Prasad, who was part of the opposition parliamentarians protesting against price rise, was ambiguous on his party’s strategy on the cut motion. Asked whether his party has given whip to its members to vote against the government, he shot back, “Whip is issued on whom there is no faith on. How can we distrust our MPs. Now, we are standing on the battlefield. It is to be seen what we do or not do.” The guillotine will be applied to the debate on demands for grants at 6pm. Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said, “We are absolutely confident that all cut motions will be decisively defeated.” Mayawati said, “Though we should have voted against the government keeping in mind the issues of price rise and inflation, the party does not want communal forces to have an upperhand.” She said that the party MPs have been apprised of the decision. When asked whether the BSP’s decision was influenced by CBI cases against her, she said that the issue of supporting the UPA had nothing to do with it. “I would like to say that the cases relating to Taj corridor and on assets were lodged during the NDA regime and the UPA was not in the power at that time,” she said. Mayawati, however, said that her party’s agitation against wrong economic policies of the UPA government and rise in prices of essential commodities would continue. She said her party will also protest the attitude of the government on development in Uttar Pradesh. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:36 am RCI, Jindal Steel in pact for three projectsThe estimated total investment will be around $10 million for a capacity of 600,000 tonnes per year. The project will be financed on a 50:50 debt to equity ratio.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:35 am Gold traders stay away from fresh dealsMumbai: India gold traders stayed away from entering into fresh deals on Tuesday awaiting a further fall in prices, and a weaker rupee, which made the dollar-quoted asset expensive, also weighed on sentiment, dealers said. “People are shying away from new orders, they want sharper fall in prices,” said a dealer with a state-run bullion dealing bank in Mumbai. International gold, which guides the domestic market, was trading at $1,154.35/1,155.25 an ounce as against the previous close of $1,153.38/1,156.38. “They are expecting prices to fall to $1,140-1,145,” said another dealer with a state-run bank. Gold was steady near a one-week high marked the previous day, as a halt in the euro’s decline provided support, while worries about debt-laden Greece maintained the allure of gold to avoid sovereign risk. The Indian rupee dropped backing further away from a more-than one-week high touched in the previous session as a subdued start to domestic shares and month-end dollar demand from importers weighed. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:34 am Engineers India $270 mln share sale in JuneMUMBAI (Reuters) - State-run Engineers India Ltd is likely to launch its up to 12 billion rupees ($270 million) follow-on public offer in June, a government official said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:28 am Yes Bank targets loan growth of 40-45 pct in FY11MUMBAI (Reuters) - Private sector lender Yes Bank is targeting a loan growth of 40-45 percent in FY11, its Managing Director Rana Kapoor said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:26 am Can monetise 500m sq ft over 10-15 yrs: Jaypee Infratech - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:25 am Sensex sluggish; Maruti, DLF, SBI down - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:25 am India gold traders stay away from fresh dealsMUMBAI (Reuters) - India gold traders stayed away from entering into fresh deals on Tuesday awaiting a further fall in prices, and a weaker rupee, which made the dollar-quoted asset expensive, also weighed on sentiment, dealers said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:24 am Rupee steady; tracking shares, dollar movesMumbai: The Indian rupee trimmed its fall on Tuesday afternoon, closely mirroring moves in the local sharemarket with the dollar’s losses against major currencies also helping sentiment. At 2:30pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs44.40/41 per dollar, recovering from the day’s low of 44.48 reached in early trade. It had closed Monday at Rs44.39/40. Dealers said there were good inflows from initial public offerings by companies, but import payments that tend to peak towards the end of each month weighed on the market, preventing further gains. Oil is India’s biggest import and refiners are the largest buyers of dollars in the local currency market. Companies ranging from utilities such as Jindal Power, SJVN Ltd and miner Coal India Ltd and construction company Jaypee Infratech have lined up their equity issuances. Indian shares were trading down just about 0.1%. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was down 0.1% and dealers said they would watch the dollar’s moves for further direction. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at Rs44.49, weaker than the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both at Rs44.3950, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $4.6 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:17 am Rupee could fall to 47/dlr by FY11 end - expertMUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee has risen too sharply in real terms over the last 15 months on surging capital inflows, an influential official who served on the country's capital account convertibility panel said, calling on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to intervene.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:16 am Monsoon to dispel clouds over sugar - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:09 am Mazda, MMC forecast profit jump as sales recoverTokyo: Mazda Motor Corp and Mitsubishi Motors Corp, Japan’s No.5 and No.6 automakers, forecast a more than trebling in annual operating profit on Tuesday, counting on new models to ride a sales recovery in the United States and other markets. With Mazda bouncing back from the worst of the financial crisis, analysts are now looking at how quickly the Hiroshima-based company can turn its recent capital boost into sustainable profits. Late last year, Mazda raised about $1 billion in a share sale to invest in hybrid and other technologies to close the gap with rivals. It agreed with Toyota Motor Corp last month to license hybrid technology with the aim of launching a hybrid model in Japan by 2013 — still later than most. For the year to March 2011, Mazda, held 11% by Ford Motor Co, expects an operating profit of ¥30 billion ($319 million), short of the average ¥43 billion forecast from 16 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. It expects an annual net profit of ¥5 billion, against a loss of ¥6.48 billion in the year ended last month. Mazda’s operating profit forecast for the new business year is still just a fraction of the pre-crisis ¥162 billion posted in 2007/08, and puts its profit margin at just 1.3% — lower than the last two quarters. “The way things are going now, the rise in raw materials prices is going to be an issue,” Mazda chief executive Takashi Yamanouchi told a news conference. Mazda said, however, that it wanted to turn 2010/11 into a year of “product-led recovery”, forecasting a 6% rise in global vehicle sales to 1.27 million vehicles driven by double-digit rises in North America and China. Mazda is due to launch the Mazda2/Demio subcompact in North America in July, following rivals into a growing segment of customers looking for smaller, fuel-efficient cars. Announcing targets for the medium term, Yamanouchi said Mazda aimed to boost global sales to 1.7 million vehicles in the year to March 2016, with a near doubling in US sales to 400,000. He said the sales expansion would be achieved with existing production capacity. It aims to post a record operating profit of ¥170 billion in that year, with a return on sales of 5%, Yamanouchi said. He repeated Mazda’s stance that it would continue to seek further synergies with Ford to lower its cost structure. Mazda’s operating profit in the January-March, the business year’s final quarter, was ¥20.4 billion beating an average estimate of ¥17.7 billion in a poll of 16 analysts. Mitsubishi Motors Seals Another Deal With PSA Earlier, Mitsubishi Motors forecast a 2010/11 operating profit of ¥45 billion up 223%, counting on new models such as the RVR sport utility vehicle to drive sales volumes. It expects a 17% rise in global sales volume to 1.121 million vehicles this business year, with growth in all regions. Mitsubishi Motors has been looking to fill unused production capacity, most notably by sealing project-based supply deals with French partner PSA Peugeot Citroen. On Tuesday, the two companies said they had agreed a deal under which Mitsubishi Motors would supply compact SUVs based on the RVR — called ASX in Europe — to the Peugeot and Citroen brands from early 2012. Volumes are projected to reach 50,000 units for the two brands a year, they said in a joint statement. The partners, which last month dropped talks over a potential capital alliance, already have three joint projects, including the supply of an SUV based on the Mitsubishi Outlander, and electric cars based on the Japanese automaker’s i-MiEV. For 2009/10, Mitsubishi Motors reported an operating profit of ¥13.92 billion, short of its initial forecasts due to a drop in vehicle sales and the failure to fully meet its planned cost reduction. Shares of Mazda are the best performing among Japanese automakers in the year to date, soaring 28%. Mitsubishi Motors shares have gained 1.6%, while Tokyo’s transport sector subindex fell 1.8% in the same period. Before the results, Mazda ended up 1.4% at ¥281, while Mitsubishi closed down 0.8% after the results. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:07 am I-T department, UIDAI agree ‘in-principle’ to roll out PAN cardsNew Delhi: The Income Tax department and the Unique Identification Authority of India have agreed “in-principle” to come together for rolling out PAN cards with unique 16 digit Aadhaar number. Official sources said both the UIDAI headed by Nandan Nilekani and the finance ministry has held series of meetings on the subject and are now in the process of working out the modalities. The Aadhaar, earlier known as Unique Identification Number, will be issued after collection of prints of all ten fingers, iris and face. This collaboration might pave the way for the delayed biometric PAN cards, an initiative proposed by the then finance minister P. Chidambaram in 2006 to counter the problem of duplicate PAN cards which were uncovered during IT searches and raids by police and other enforcement agencies. It could also, however, cap the plan as the UID number itself will cut out the duplicates. “Yes, the IT department has in principle agreed for UID based PAN cards,” Nilekani said when asked. Incidentally, sources said the I-T department had put on hold the proposal to issue biometric PAN cards to avoid duplication with the UID numbers. The proposed biometric PAN cards would have carried the income tax assesses’ fingerprints (two from each hand) and the face. Such a card, it was hoped, would be difficult to duplicate or manipulate. But after the UIDAI was set up last year, the I-T department’s plan has been put on hold. A senior finance ministry official said, “The biometric PAN card project of the department has been kept in abeyance till the UID is rolled out.” In the meantime, the suspension will allow the I-T department to understand and analyse whether after a biometric UID, a PAN with similar features would be necessary or not.” The Aadhaar number is expected to roll out by February, 2011. Officials are hopeful that if the UID is made mandatory for issuing PAN cards in the future, the present cases of certain people having more than one PAN card would be curbed. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 3:00 am D.Bank, Lloyds profits revive as bad debts improveFRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank delivered record investment bank earnings and European peers Lloyds and Swedbank swung to surprise profits on Tuesday as an economic recovery picked up to aid the embattled industry.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 2:59 am Volkswagen-Suzuki may use Maruti models in India - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Apr 2010 | 2:58 am IT and UIDAI tie up for PAN cards - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Apr 2010 | 2:52 am Indian M&A space hots up, 54% cos upbeat on acquisitionsNew Delhi: An Ernst & Young study to measure confidence in the global economy said over half of the Indian companies surveyed were optimistic about making acquisitions in the next 12 months due to the improving business climate. According to E&Y’s ‘Capital Confidence Barometer’, optimism is growing in the Indian merger and acquisition (M&A) space, with focus shifting again from divestments to acquisitions. “About 54% of (Indian) businesses state they are likely or highly likely to acquire other companies in the next 12 months, almost double that of the number six months ago,” the study stated. “With greater liquidity, we are seeing companies more willing to make acquisitions that they had previously deferred. With the current environment, we are now observing that there are more potential buyers than willing sellers,” Ernst & Young India partner and national director (Transaction Advisory Services) Ranjan Biswas said. Confidence in the global economy as a whole is also improving. Forty per cent of respondents globally expect the downturn to end within 12 months, compared to 30% last November, it added. The survey also revealed that 91% of the respondents from India are more optimistic about the local economy, making India the second most optimistic country after Australia (93%). Interestingly, some of the Western developed markets were the least confident -- France (44%), US (56%) and UK (57%), it found. In the global study, India had close to 60 respondents, and posted the fourth highest response rate at a country level. The study also said credit conditions in Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries have improved significantly over the past six months compared to developed markets, which have experienced a marginal improvement. Around 86% of businesses in India are now focused on growth, compared to 76% six months ago. Furthermore, 22% of Indian respondents said funding major capital projects and acquisitions was not a problem for their firms, while 76% of them were expecting it to become available in the next 12 months, the survey added. Refinancing was a sought after method, with close to 40% of the respondents likely to take this route in the next 12 months, it added. “Cash and debt were primary sources of funding deals for the past 12 months. While this will continue to be so, dependency on bank loans is expected to decline and equity will be more likely used as a source of funding,” Biswas added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 2:49 am Nationwide shutdown hits railways hard; many states affectedWest Bengal Kolkata: Road and rail services were hit and normal life disrupted in the Left-ruled states of West Bengal in the wake of 12-hour nationwide strike called by CPM and some other non-BJP opposition parties on Tuesday to protest Centre’s “failure” to check inflation. Violence in a small scale also erupted in Bengal’s Hoogly district as two train passengers were injured in a clash that broke out between the passengers of Ganga Sagar Express and shutdown supporters at Pandua station. Abdul Razzak and Shanti Devi were injured when they along with other passengers tried to stop shutdown supporters from stopping the train and putting up a banner. The shutdown also affected air traffic in Kolkata with many air travellers stranded in the airport. However, metro railways spokesperson said their services were normal. Airport sources said 10 out of 25 domestic and international flights took off this morning. While fights of Air-India, Jet Airways and Jetlite took off as scheduled in the morning, services of other private airlines were badly hit. In Kolkata, CPM’s workers’s union CITU affiliated-Airports Authority of India Employees Union office-bearers had said that they would impose strike in the airport. An Eastern Railway spokesperson said due to obstructions put up by the shutdown supporters at several stations, train services were disrupted at Howrah and Sealdah division. The streets in Kolkata wore a deserted look with state-run buses, private vehicles, taxis, auto-rickshaws remaining off the road since 6am as the shutdown began. Shops and educational institutions were closed, officials said. The shutdown will also cost the state a whopping Rs500 crore loss due to an estimated fall of 60-61% in production. “According to a rough estimate by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the total loss due to a 12-hour bandh in West Bengal would be approximately Rs496 crore of the Gross State Domestic Product,” ICC senior vice-president P. Jayanta Roy said. “Annually the percentage loss per bandh to gross and net SDP stands at 0.21% and 0.2% respectively. Quantification of non-economic loss is, however, not feasible,” Roy said. “This mainly includes loss of investors’ interests, damage to state’s impression to prospective investors, damage to industrial climate, socio-political unrest etc,” he added. Left Front chairman Biman Bose said the shutdown has been a spontaneous protest against price rise. Leader of the Opposition and senior Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee said the Left Front government itself had failed to control price rise and take action against hoarding and black marketing in the state. State transport minister Ranjit Kundu said buses and trams would run if drivers and conductors report for duty. “I cannot give any assurance. It depends on the employees and do not feel any extra arrangement needs to be made,” he said. The nationwide shutdown has been called by 13 non-UPA and non-NDA parties, including the Communist Party of India (CPI), Biju Janata Dal, Communist Party of India (M), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Samajwadi Party (RSP), over price rise. Kerala Thiruvanathapuram: Very much like in West Bengal, the 12-hour shutdown affected the southern state of Kerala with protestors stopping trains and vehicles both private and public preferring to stay off the road. Educational institutions in the Left-ruled state were forced to reschedule examinations because of the shutdown. Uttar Pradesh Lucknow / Allahabad: Uttar Pradesh too suffered a business day loss and commuting problems with three buses torched in the state capital and business establishments closed during the shutdown. Scores of Samajwadi Party (SP) activists were detained in Allahabad while trying to disrupt rail traffic.More than 50 SP workers gathered at the Prayag railway station at around 5am in the morning and squatted on the tracks, obstructing the movement of Lucknow-bound GangaGomati Express, police said. The agitating SP workers were detained by GRP personnel following which the train could leave the station at 6am, half-an-hour behind schedule. In the state capital, three buses were set ablaze allegedly by SP workers. While the SP workers torched two buses in Krishna Nagar and Ashiyana areas in the wee hours, another was set ablaze in front of Vidhan Bhawan building, they said. The SP workers also stopped trains at several places in the state including Lucknow and Pratapgarh, the source said, adding some people were detained in this connection. RLD and CPI workers took out a procession and staged dharna at Hazratganj crossing in Lucknow disrupting traffic movement. In Ghaziabad, SP workers stopped the Lucknow-bound Shatabdi at the railway station for around 20 minutes. Some trains on way to Delhi were also blocked, a railway source said. Daily commuters between Meerut and Delhi were stranded as private buses were not plying on the stretch. Additional director-general of police (law and order) Brij Lal said around 2,700 PAC personnel have been sent to different districts to ensure law and order. Orissa Bhubaneswar: The ruling BJD supported the day long shutdown against inflation forcing normal life to go out of gear in Orissa. Vehicular movement was paralysed across the state as bandh supporters blocked national highways, state highways and other roads, putting a halt to plying of passenger buses, trucks, taxis and auto-rickshaws, police sources said. Rail services were also affected as trains were stopped at different stations for a brief period, they said. Security was tightened throughout the state with deployment of about 2,000 security personnel in various places to deal with any eventuality during the strike called by seven non-Congress and non-BJP political parties in the state. In the state capital, shops, business establishments and commercial outfits remained closed during the shutdown. The strike affected work in Central government offices, public sector units including Nalco, post offices and banks as protestors resorted to picketing and prevented staff from entering their offices, sources said. Work was also affected in East Cost Railway (ECoR) headquarters due to picketing by protesters, but emergency arrangements had been made by railway authorities to maintain basic functioning, an official said. The shut-down also affected normal life in various places like Cuttack, Berhampur, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Balasore, Puri, Balangir, Baripada and Khurda. Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad; The TDP-Left-sponsored nationwide shutdown began in Andhra Pradesh with opposition activists holding protests across the state. Leaders and workers of opposition parties staged sit-ins in front of depots of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) at Vijayawada, Visakhpatnam, and several other places. Passengers had a tough time as APSRTC suspended its services at various places as a precautionary measure. In Hyderabad, activists of TDP, CPI and CPI-M and their allies held protests in the city and urged the people to take part in the shutdown voluntarily. APSRTC suspended some of its services in the city also causing inconvenience to many commuters and office-goers. TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, CPI state secretary K. Narayana and his CPM counterpart B.V. Raghavulu would participate in the protest later in the day. No untoward incident has been reported so far from any part of the state. Arunachal Pradesh Itanagar: Roads displayed an empty look in Arunachal Pradesh during the 12-hour shutdown while banks, Central government offices, markets and educational institutions remained closed. State transport department office said not a single bus plied causing much inconvinience to commuters in the hilly state. Tripura Agartala: Shops had their shutters down while vehicles remained off road in Tripura in the so far peaceful 12-hour nationwide strike called by the Left and non-BJP opposition parties to protest Centre’s alleged “failure” to check price rise. Financial and educational institutions also remained closed during the shutdown. The state secretariat had hardly registered any attendence, a source said. Train and air service were also hit. Haryana Chandigarh: Haryana saw a mixed response to the nationwide shutdown on Tuesday and no incidents of violence were reported so far. The shutdown evoked partial response in Panchkula district, while several shops and other commercial establishments were closed in Ambala city. Naraingarh and Barara towns of Ambala district observed complete shutdown. In Hisar, a complete closure was observed by the traders and shopkeepers to protest the price rise. While, there was partial response to the bandh in Kurukshetra district, while in Bhiwani, it evoked good response. In Sirsa, shops were closed, while in Karnal there was mixed response. Rail and road traffic in the state was plying normally though private transport was off the road at some places. Government offices and other establishments were also functioning as per routine. No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere so far, officials said. Assam Guwahati: Even as no incident of violence was reported from the main northeastern state, offices, markets and educational institutions remained closed during the shutdown period. Attendance in the state secretariat and other government offices was thin, an official said. Vehicles remained off the roads with long-distance buses and city service buses not plying. Train services have been affected with Rajdhani Express, Saraighat Express, North East Express, Kamrup Express and some other trains rescheduled. Air services have been also affected with several incoming flights from Delhi and Kolkata not arriving. Return flights have been either cancelled or rescheduled consequently. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 2:26 am Punjab & Sind Bank plans IPO to raise Rs 400-500 cr - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Apr 2010 | 2:25 am FDI stance on retail unchanged - Anand SharmaNEW DELHI (Reuters) - There is no change in India's policy on opening up retail sector to more foreign direct investment (FDI) as of now, Trade Minister Anand Sharma told reporters on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 2:19 am RIM unveils rejigged BlackBerry models ahead of WESResearch in Motion is launching variations of two existing BlackBerry smartphones, the company said on Monday, and its cochief executive hinted that muchanticipated announcements on a new operating system and browser are also on the way.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 27 Apr 2010 | 2:17 am Rajesh Exports to roll out 300 retail storesRajesh Exports Ltd, one of India\'s top jewellery makers and exporters, plans to open 300 retail stores in India over the next three years, and has lined up a capex of Rs 3000 4000 crore, a top official said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 27 Apr 2010 | 2:17 am Monsoon to dispel clouds over sugar, grainNEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A good monsoon forecast strengthens prospects for India to cut sugar imports, free up grain exports and buy more gold as rains boost supplies in the world's leading consumer of most farm commodities.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 2:09 am Uproar in Parliament over price riseNew Delhi: Opposition uproar over rising prices of essential commodities paralysed the proceedings in Parliament on Tuesday, with the Rajya Sabha adjourning for the day at noon and the Lok Sabha witnessing two adjournments. The Bharat Bandh called by the 13-party grouping, including the Left, on the issue of price rise cast its shadow in both the Houses with Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav leading the RJD and SP members into the well of Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, members of the Left, AIADMK, SP, RJD and the BJP protested against price rise. BSP, which announced its support to the government on the opposition-sponsored cut motions to the Demands for Grants, did not join the protests in both Houses. Food prices have remained high with the index of these items hovering over 17%. Even the general inflation, based on the wholesale price index, is almost touching the double-digit figure. Even as the protests against price rise continued in the Lok Sabha, the BJP protested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s refusal to set up a joint parliamentary committee to probe allegations of phone tapping of political leaders. After paying tributes to two former members who recently passed away, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj said she was surprised to see media reports quoting the Prime Minister as saying there would be no JPC to investigate the phone tapping issue. “This is a disrespect of the House. The Prime Minister should give a statement in the House,” she said. BJP has also demanded a JPC probe into the IPL scam. Rajya Sabha, which witnessed uproar right from the word go, was adjourned during the Question Hour minutes after it met. Similar scenes were witnessed when the House re-assembled, leading to its adjournment for the day. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 2:06 am BCCI yet to log off Modi from IPL websiteNew Delhi: Country’s top cricket authority BCCI may have suspended Lalit Modi as IPL commissioner, but the suave former chief of 20-20 cricketing extravaganza can still be seen smiling on the website of Indian Premier League. Moreover, the official website of IPL still mentions Modi as the chairman and commissioner of IPL Governing Council and lists out his achievements despite having been suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). “Lalit Kumar Modi is one of the most accomplished cricket administrators in the world... He is one of the driving forces behind the board’s commercial activities and has been instrumental in pushing its revenues over the $4 billion mark,” the website reckons. “But for future generations, his biggest legacy would be the Indian Premier League. He is the man behind the spectacularly successful franchise-based cricket league that has captivated audiences globally,” it adds. On its homepage, the IPL continues to have a ‘Modi Tweets’ column, which continuously updates all the twitter messages of the suspended IPL commissioner. These messages include Modi mentioning that he “had a restful day (after the finals). (He has) been in the spa all day. (He had the) much needed rest.” In other messages Modi thanks his fans and supporters and declares he is “still the chairman of IPL. Just suspended.” Modi has not elaborated, but his message, “wait-we have just begun”, is being widely interpreted as a threat to expose his detractors. In one of his earlier tweets, Modi had threatened to expose all the people who have tried to bring the game into disrepute. Yesterday, the BCCI president Shashank Manohar charged Modi with serious financial irregularities in the bid documents of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab and rigging the IPL bids of the two new franchises -- Pune and Kochi. The other charges included irregularities in the broadcast and internet deals and his behavioral patterns for which he has been given 15 days to respond. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 1:54 am Asian stocks fall as Greece, China worries weighHong Kong: Most Asian stock markets dropped on Tuesday as worries about Greece’s rescue plan and China’s measures to slow its economy held investors back. Chinese stocks led the decline with a 3% loss. The dollar weakened against the yen and rose against the euro, while oil prices traded below $84 a barrel. Initially cheered by this week’s news of Greece’s bailout, investors were once again fretting about the country’s debt crisis after Germany insisted Athens push through more austerity measures before receiving any financial help. Also denting confidence was ongoing anxiety about China, where the government has taken a series of steps in recent months to bring down property prices and avert asset bubbles. Some analysts expected the heavy selling in China to abate in the coming days. “I think this is an overreaction,” said Peter Lai, investment manager at DBS Vickers in Hong Kong. “The Chinese government wants to stop asset bubbles from developing, but they also don’t want to kill the market or the economy either.” Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 1.3% to 21,310.16 and China’s main Shanghai benchmark tumbled 2.9% to 2,883.27. Elsewhere, South Korea’s market was off 0.1% despite data showing that the country’s economic growth accelerated sharply in the first quarter of 2010. Gross domestic product expanded 1.8% in the January-March period from the fourth quarter last year. Taiwan’s index lost 0.1%, India’s benchmark was down 0.1% and Australia’s index was little changed. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index reversed early losses to add 46.87 points, or 0.4%, to 11,212.66. Investors in Tokyo were also cautious ahead of earnings reports from Japanese big companies over the next few weeks. Due out Tuesday are financial results from Sharp Corp., mobile carrier Softbank Corp. and automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Oil prices fell in Asia with benchmark crude for June delivery down 58 cents at $83.62 a barrel. In currencies, the dollar slipped to 93.91 yen from 93.98 yen late Monday. The euro was trading at $1.3364 from $1.3394. In New York on Monday, trade was lackluster after strong earnings reports overshadowed questions about financial regulation. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.75 point, or less than 0.1%, to 11,205.03. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 5.23, or 0.4%, to 1,212.05. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 1:50 am Lloyds returns to profit as Q1 bad debts improveLondon: Lloyds Banking Group returned to profit in the first three months of this year, earlier than expected for Britain’s largest retail bank, and expects to deliver a profit in 2010 as losses on bad debts fall. Bailed-out Lloyds, 41% state-owned, said on Tuesday it expects to deliver a profit on a combined basis at both the half-year and full-year. “This is far earlier than expected,” said Andrew Lim, analyst at Matrix. “Consensus was pointing to a return to profitability for full year 2010, with second half profits more than offsetting losses in the first half. This will be taken as very good news indeed.” Its shares opened 3.9% higher. The trend of impairments has “slowed significantly” and is performing better than its guidance two months ago in both its retail and wholesale divisions, helped by management of problem loans and economic improvement, the bank said. “Impairments have slowed significantly in the first few months of the year, giving us confidence that we will achieve a better financial performance than previously guided,” Chief executive Eric Daniels said in a statement. Losses on commercial real estate in Ireland remain a problem and impairments in the international division remained at a high level in the first quarter, although below the fourth quarter of 2009, Lloyds said. Positive guidance on profits and bad debts from Lloyds last month boosted its shares, which have since climbed over 26 percent to close on Monday at 70.24p, above the average price of 63.2 pence paid by the government for its stake, net of fees already received. Lloyds was saddled with billions of pounds of losses from its controversial purchase of mortgage lender HBOS in January 2009, but it said it is on track to deliver cost savings of 2 billion pounds from that deal by the end of next year, on a run-rate basis. Its net interest margin is running in line with guidance and should be about 2 percent for 2010 and customer deposits grew by over 5 billion pounds ($7.73 billion) in the first quarter, mainly in retail. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 1:09 am BP Q1 profits up 135% on higher oil priceLondon: Oil major BP Plc reported a 135% jump in first-quarter net profits, compared to the same period in 2009, and beat all forecasts, thanks to higher crude and gas prices. BP said replacement cost net profit, which strips out unrealized gains related to rises in the value of inventories, was $5.65 billion in the quarter, after Brent crude rose 72% to average over $76/barrel. One dealer said the stock was likely to open up 2%-3% on the results. BP managed to outperform expectations partly because it also managed to achieve much higher prices for its gas, despite a drop in European benchmark gas prices compared to the first three months of 2009. Higher throughput at its refining unit also allowed the company to outperform expectations in this business, although a halving of margins compared to the first quarter of 2009 meant the overall result was sharply lower. The world’s third-largest Western oil major by market value said oil and gas production was broadly flat compared to the same period of 2009, at 4.01 million barrels of oil equivalent per day -- just ahead of forecasts. BP said it had agreed to buy a 15.7% interest in Valhall and a 25% interest in Hod, both located in the southern part of the Norwegian continental shelf, from France’s Total for $991 million in cash. It was the latest in a string of acquisitions by the oil major in recent months, after it agreed to pay Devon Energy $7.0 billion for assets in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the Gulf of Mexico. The London-based company also said it would pay $900 million for a 75% stake in the oil sands assets of unlisted Canadian company Value Creation. The tie-up was announced last month but no details on price or stake size were revealed then. Excluding one-off items, which amounted to a net charge of $49 million, BP’s replacement cost result was $5.65 billion, ahead of an average forecast of $4.78 billion from a Reuters poll of nine analysts. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:49 am Pressured yields can lead to crowding out: RBI - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:31 am Stimulus rollback is in best interest of economy: RBIAsserting that the withdrawal of stimulus is in the best interest of the economy in the current scenario of high inflation, the RBI said that it has started unwinding the emergency measures plugged in during the financial crisis.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:29 am IDFC to raise Rs 3500 cr in next 12 months - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:25 am Religare Enterprises Q4 net profit at Rs 31.7 croreFinancial services firm Religare Enterprises on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 31.7 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:07 am Pressured yields can lead to crowding out - RBIMUMBAI (Reuters) - Upward pressure on yields of government securities and the consequent pressure on interest rates make "crowding out" a potential possibility, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor said in a speech.Source: Reuters: Money News | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:04 am Samsung SDI profit up; sees Q2 demand growthSeoul: South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co. Ltd on Tuesday reported a forecast-beating spike in quarterly operating profit, with a boom in smartphones and other mobile gadgets sparking demand for rechargeable batteries. Demand for lithium-ion batteries and plasma display panels (PDP) is expected to pick up through the third quarter as improving economies boost spending on smartphones and portable computers such as Apple’s iPad tablet PCs. The maker of lithium-ion batteries and PDP posted a 64.6 billion won ($58.5 million) consolidated operating profit in the first quarter, a 72% surge from a revised 37.5 billion won operating profit a year ago. The results beat a consensus forecast of 55 billion won from 22 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, and compared with a revised 55.6 billion won profit three months earlier. SDI said in a statement that the lithium-ion battery market would expand by about 10% in the current quarter, led by notebook PCs, including tablet PCs, and expanding smartphone lineups. Apple’s iPhone and iPad should aid Samsung SDI’s outlook and if Apple adopts AM-OLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) for its flagship products, SDI would gain a further boost, analysts say. Samsung SDI sells AM-OLED displays and rechargeable batteries used in smartphones from Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Apple. The company also expects PDP display demand to grow 6% in the April-June period from three months before, with the portion of big screens seen up as demand from 3D TV makers is on the rise. PDP makers are pinning high hopes on the emerging 3D TV market, which usually uses large screens where PDP scores on pricing and boasts wider viewing angles and quicker response times than liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. However analysts warn increasing supply of lithium-ion batteries would lead to price cuts and lower battery margins, posing a near-term risk to the company. Sales at SDI increased to 1.2 trillion won from 1.0 trillion won a year ago, but decreased from 1.4 trillion won in the last quarter of 2009 due to a seasonal slowdown in electronics products. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:04 am Rupee depreciates by 5 paise against dollar in early tradeThe rupee eased by 5 paise to 44.44 a dollar in early trade on Tuesday on capital outflows by foreign funds and the US currency's gain against other Asian currencies. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:01 am PSU general insurers make large investment profitsPublic sector general insurers offset underwriting losses in 2009-10 with large profits from sale of theirSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am First take: Banks' profits growing at healthy paceA first take on banks' March 2010 quarter results suggests that the net profit of the banks that have declared their results so far grew at a healthy pace of 32 per cent. Private banks contributed the most to the profitSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Foreign investors hike stake in India IncIndian companies continued to remain attractive for foreign institutional investors (FIIs) with more than half the companies surveyed by Business Line reporting an increase in their FII holdings as of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009-10 comparedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Jay Shree Tea enters AfricaJay Shree Tea & Industries Ltd, belonging to the B K Birla Group, has acquired three tea gardens in East Africa – two in Rwanda and one inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Modi vs BCCI: Clues from game theoryEconomists and mathematicians have for long tried to figure out seemingly inexplicable human behaviour. Thus, for all intents and purposes, IPL was in what in game theory is called a Nash equilibrium which describes a situation where in a gameSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Making ULIPs more investor-friendlyThe turf war between SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) and the IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) may have hit a temporary pause, but some damage has already been done. At least for the short term, investors may beSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Nile Ltd (Rs 142): BuyInvestors with a short-term trading perspective can buy the stock of Nile Ltd. The stock spiralled to the dizzy height of Rs 346 towards the end of the 2007 bull-market. But the fall from that peak was severe and the stock declined to Rs 41 bySource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Maruti net profit vrooms on surge in fourth quarter salesWith customers advancing car purchases to escape the price increase, car market leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd's net profit more than doubled to Rs 656.55 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Amin's appointment lifts AlembicAlembic Ltd stock gained in Mumbai trading after news of Mr Chirayu Amin, Chairman and Managing Director of the company, taking over as the interim head of the Indian Premier League.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Chirayu Amin made interim chief of IPLThe Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed Mr Chirayu Amin as the interim Chairman of the Indian PremierSource: Business Line - Home Page | 27 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Markets trade choppy on profit-bookingMumbai: Indian shares seesawed on Tuesday as investors locked in profits after a five-day rally, with weak global markets clouding the outlook. Financials, energy major Reliance Industries and carmaker Maruti fell. By 11:05am, the 30-share BSE index, or Sensex, was trading up 0.04% at 17,752.70, with 18 of its components gaining, after initially falling 0.3%. The 50-share NSE index was barely changed at 5,322.40. The bank sector index shed 0.4% after rising 5.9% over five sessions. The coming expiry of monthly derivatives contracts on the National Stock Exchange on Thursday and shaky world markets were weighing on the market, R.K. Gupta, managing director of Taurus Mutual Fund, said. Maruti Suzuki extended losses and fell 3.5 percent as the top carmaker missed forecasts for fourth-quarter net profit and warned of margin pressure and slower sales growth this year in the fiercely competitive compact car market. “We expect the competitive intensity to rise from here on, given that the new launches by the competition have received an encouraging initial response,” JPMorgan analysts said in a note. “We reiterate our cautious stance on Maruti.” Taurus’s Gupta said investors should use price dips to accumulate as robust economic growth, strong foreign portfolio investment and the forecast of normal monsoon rains would eventually drive stocks higher. “I would say it is a good opportunity to buy,” said Gupta, who expects the Sensex to touch 20,000 by the end of June. The benchmark has gained 1.6% so far this year with foreign investors pumping in $6.1 billion, adding to an 81 percent jump in 2009 on the back of a record $17.5 billion portfolio inflow. State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp was up nearly 2% after the Business Standard newspaper reported India plans to more than double the price of gas produced by the oil and gas explorer to $4.2 per million British thermal units. ICICI Bank, the country’s second-largest lender, eased 0.4% after its quarterly earnings on Saturday failed to match street expectations. HDFC Bank, which hit a record high Monday, shed 0.5 percent. Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the Sensex, fell 0.9 percent to Rs1,060.50, extending losses after its quarterly profit rise of 30 percent lagged forecasts. “Slower upstream growth and weak downstream margins will lower returns which could erode RIL’s valuation premium,” Sanford C. Bernstein analysts said in a note. “Moreover non-value adding acquisitions as highlighted by the Atlas deal remain a concern to us,” they wrote, downgrading the stock to marketperform from outperform. Non-ferrous metals producer Sterlite Industries shed 0.9% as base metal prices declined in London. In the broader market, gainers led losers in a ratio of 1.3:1 on volume of 151 million shares. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 11:58 pm Kingfisher commences two new flights between UAE, IndiaIndia's leading private air carrier Kingfisher Airlines has launched two new international flights connecting the UAE to New Delhi and Mumbai. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 11:57 pm Wipro, Tech Mahindra eyeing $1 billion contract: ReportWipro and Tech Mahindra are competing with IBM and Hewlett-Packard to bag the infrastructure management contract, which is due to expire later this year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Apr 2010 | 11:28 pm Oil dips below $83 in Asian tradeTraders were also waiting for the results of a meeting today and tomorrow of the US Federal Reserve and the release of a weekly US report indicating energy demand in the world's biggest economy.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Apr 2010 | 11:27 pm Former rivals eBay, Alibaba tie-up on new platformShanghai: China’s largest e-commerce firm Alibaba.com said it will offer e-payment services on its new online commerce platform from eBay’s PayPal, in the first such tie-up between the former arch-rivals. Alibaba.com said in a statement on Tuesday that PayPal services will be offered on AliExpress, its new wholesale website now in beta-testing. PayPal allows customers to safely conduct monetary transactions across borders. The tie-up is the first for the former rivals, which once waged a bitter war in China’s online auction space that later saw eBay largely withdraw from the market by putting its business into a joint venture run by Hong Kong’s Tom Group. Both companies were chasing a piece of China’s booming 1.5 billion yuan ($219.7 million) e-commerce market. Alibaba.com’s parent, in which Yahoo Inc owns a 40% stake, runs China’s largest e-payment service Alipay and its largest online retailer Taobao, which still competes with the Tom Group-operated EachNet service. Alibaba.com told Reuters earlier this month that it expects revenue growth to accelerate this year as it expands, pressuring margins that should start to improve in 2011. The firm competes with Global Sources in China’s business to business (B2B) marketplace industry. Web commerce in China has surged in recent years, as buyers look to the Internet for better deals from more reliable suppliers in the nation’s highly fragmented e-commerce sector. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 11:27 pm Former rivals eBay, Alibaba tie-up on new platformShanghai: China’s largest e-commerce firm Alibaba.com said it will offer e-payment services on its new online commerce platform from eBay’s PayPal, in the first such tie-up between the former arch-rivals. Alibaba.com said in a statement on Tuesday that PayPal services will be offered on AliExpress, its new wholesale website now in beta-testing. PayPal allows customers to safely conduct monetary transactions across borders. The tie-up is the first for the former rivals, which once waged a bitter war in China’s online auction space that later saw eBay largely withdraw from the market by putting its business into a joint venture run by Hong Kong’s Tom Group. Both companies were chasing a piece of China’s booming 1.5 billion yuan ($219.7 million) e-commerce market. Alibaba.com’s parent, in which Yahoo Inc owns a 40% stake, runs China’s largest e-payment service Alipay and its largest online retailer Taobao, which still competes with the Tom Group-operated EachNet service. Alibaba.com told Reuters earlier this month that it expects revenue growth to accelerate this year as it expands, pressuring margins that should start to improve in 2011. The firm competes with Global Sources in China’s business to business (B2B) marketplace industry. Web commerce in China has surged in recent years, as buyers look to the Internet for better deals from more reliable suppliers in the nation’s highly fragmented e-commerce sector. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 11:27 pm Sensex 62 pts down in opening tradeThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by nearly 62 points in opening trade today on emergence of profit-booking by foreign funds and retailers amid weak Asian cues.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 10:58 pm Government eyes part of telcos’ dealer marginsNew Delhi: India’s telecom companies, caught in the middle of a tariff war and faced with the prospect of having to stump up cash for 3G licences, may soon have to deal with another drain on their resources as the government gets set to ask them for more revenue. The department of telecommunications (DoT) is likely to take a view that the dealer-distributor margins that auditors have found on the books of phone companies should be counted as revenue, a part of which is paid to the government as licence fee and revenue share, according to two officials close to the development. The margins refer to the difference between the cost at which a coupon, such as a recharge card, is sold to the dealer or distributor and what the consumer pays for it. For instance, a coupon with a retail price of Rs100 would generally be sold to the dealer or distributor at a discount. The telcos, referring to the distributor margins, have said that this was notional revenue. “They are discounts that are given by the telecom companies, so why should the government lose revenue. The company decided to give the discount, so the company only should take the hit in its revenue,” said one of the officials cited above on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media. “The TDSAT (Telecom Disputes and Settlement Appellate Tribunal) order does not cover this.” TDSAT had decided in a landmark judgement in 2007 that the operators were liable to pay revenue share to the government only for that accruing directly from telecom services.  Photo: Rajkumar/Mint “The revenue is not realized revenue and, therefore, should not be counted as part of AGR,” a senior executive with one of the audited telcos said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. “The TDSAT order contends that only revenue from realised revenue should contribute to AGR,” he said, reflecting the views of top officials in all the companies involved. Such a move could squeeze the telecom companies further as they cope with declining tariffs amid intense competition. “All the taxes and fees paid by the operators as well as the competition and falling tariffs are making it difficult for the operators to post healthy profits as we will see in this quarter’s results,” a Mumbai-based brokerage analyst with an international brokerage firm said asking that he not be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media. “But if they have to pay as per the law of the land then they have to pay.” Early last year, DoT ordered audits into the books of the major telecom operators, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone Essar Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltd and Tata Teleservices Ltd, after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) suggested it be done every three-five years to make sure that there was no under-payment of revenue to the government. The suggestion was made after a special audit of the books of Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) was ordered owing to two brokerages, Kotak and UBS, finding discrepancies in the accounts of the Anil Ambani-promoted telco. The report on RCom was submitted in October while the rest of the reports have been submitted to DoT in March. In its report, auditors SK Mehta and Co., which audited Vodafone, said that the telco’s liabilities include Rs120 crore as licence fee and Rs68 crore as spectrum charges, totalling Rs188 crore. The auditor added that Vodafone saved Rs93 crore in spectrum charges and licence fee on “discounts to distributors” and Rs32 crore by not paying levies on reimbursement on cell site expenses. Vodafone also saved Rs21 crore by not paying levies on imputed interest on interest-free loans and Rs9 crore on forex earnings, the report said. In the second week of March, Contractor, Nayak and Kishnadwala, the auditors for Bharti Airtel, cleared the company of any wrongdoing and said its books were in order, but added that the service provider had failed to add the margin it paid dealers for selling recharge coupons as part of its revenue and, hence, had not paid licence fee amounting to about Rs98 crore on it. The auditors also said Bharti has a liability of Rs76 crore due to earnings from foreign exchange fluctuations, interest on money or mutual funds, among others, which are not from telecom services and, therefore, had not been included for purposes of calculating the licence fee payment to the government. On 18 March, Chhajed and Doshi, the special auditor appointed by DoT for Idea Cellular, also gave the firm a clean chit while adding that the telco may have to pay an additional Rs74 crore to the government. But the auditors also pointed out that if the TDSAT ruling were to be applied, Idea’s liability would be far less. DoT is at present looking into the applicability of the various laws that govern revenue reporting and the impact of various cases. One such case is that of the way the income-tax department treats the discounts. In a case that is being fought by Idea in the apex court after the high court ruled in favour of the tax department, Idea Cellular has to make tax deductions at source for the discounts. Both Idea and Vodafone are contesting such cases. “We have to see the applicability and treatment of the various transactions that the auditors have reported. We are having to look into precedents of cases dealt with by the courts as well as the applicable laws that have dealt with such things as the Income-tax Act,” another senior DoT official said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media. “There is no direction in the telecom licence conditions and rules to deal with this so we have to see if this is to be treated as an expenditure or the company has to take the hit.” The official is on an internal DoT committee looking into the reports submitted by the auditors of the telecom operators. Mint reviewed copies of the audit reports. In October, Jaipur-based Parakh and Co., the auditor appointed by DoT to examine the books of RCom, said in its report that the telco failed to show revenue of Rs2,799.19 crore, causing a loss of Rs315 crore to the government in licence and spectrum fees. shauvik.g@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 10:48 pm Kingfisher commences two new flights between UAE, IndiaIndia's leading private air carrier Kingfisher Airlines has launched two new international flights connecting the UAE to New Delhi and Mumbai.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 26 Apr 2010 | 10:43 pm Sensex 62 points down in opening tradeThe 30-share index, which gained nearly 345 points in the previous five trading sessions, edged lower by 61.71 points, or 0.34% cent to 17,683.57 points.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Apr 2010 | 10:27 pm New investors may pick up stake in SpiceJet: ReportAbout half a dozen fund houses have submitted proposals for a possible investment in India's second largest low-fare carrier SpiceJet Ltd.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Apr 2010 | 10:21 pm Rupee depreciates by 5 paise against dollar in early tradeThe rupee eased by 5 paise to 44.44 a dollar in early trade today on capital outflows by foreign funds and the US currency's gain against other Asian currencies.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 26 Apr 2010 | 10:14 pm Body’s own “heat messenger” offers new painkillerWashington: Researchers have discovered the body’s own “heat messenger”, which helps nerves feel pain, and said they hope to use it to design a new, safer class of painkillers. They found heat activates basic fatty acids similar to capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their kick, and found two potential ways to block the sensation. “For the first time we have the opportunity to try to block pain at its source,” Kenneth Hargreaves of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who led the study, said in a telephone interview on Monday. He said his team is now working to develop either a pill that people could take to block the effects of these natural “heat messengers,” or engineered immune system proteins called monoclonal antibodies that could be infused to mop them up. Such an approach should work on any kind of pain caused by inflammation, he said -- arthritis, cancer or injury. He is uncertain about its effects in other types of pain called neuropathies. Most painkillers mask pain but do not affect its source. Narcotics or morphine are examples and are addictive and deadly. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin can help ease the inflammation that causes arthritis pain or a headache but have side-effects. Aspirin can cause deadly bleeding, related drugs called COX-2 inhibitors sometimes cause heart problems, acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol, can damage the liver. None are highly effective. Writing in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Hargeaves and colleagues said they first looked for the basic cause of the pain and narrowed it down to the capsaicin receptor, a molecular doorway on nerve cells. “The capsaicin receptor is like the master lock in our pain neurons,” Hargreaves said. “We have mice now with a genetic deletion of this master lock. Those without it show almost no pain from inflammation or cancer or burn injuries, so that we know that this receptor is critically important in terms of how the body responds to injury.” The capsaicin in red hot chili peppers unlocks this master lock, Hargreaves said. He wanted to find a way to block the keyhole, which is called transient potential vanilloid 1 or TRPV1. Tests on mouse tissue showed heat did not directly activate pain neurons. Instead, in response to heat, cells create their own natural capsaicins called oxidized linoleic acid metabolites or OLAMs. In a commentary on the findings, David Brown and Gayle Passmore, at University College London, called the newly discovered pain compound a “heat messenger”. Hargeaves said his team has some candidates for both a pill and an antibody but “I am not at liberty to discuss them.” The university has a patent application for both potential routes. While researchers can design drugs that will fit like a puzzle piece into a cell receptor, or screen libraries of existing compounds to see if one might work, Hargreaves said his team did neither. “We did it the old fashioned, stupid way. We got lucky,” he said. “Our findings are truly exciting because they will offer physicians, dentists and patients more options in prescription pain medications. In addition, they may help circumvent the problem of addiction and dependency to pain medications, and will have the potential to benefit millions of people who suffer from chronic pain every day.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 10:11 pm Body’s own “heat messenger” offers new painkillerWashington: Researchers have discovered the body’s own “heat messenger”, which helps nerves feel pain, and said they hope to use it to design a new, safer class of painkillers. They found heat activates basic fatty acids similar to capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their kick, and found two potential ways to block the sensation. “For the first time we have the opportunity to try to block pain at its source,” Kenneth Hargreaves of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who led the study, said in a telephone interview on Monday. He said his team is now working to develop either a pill that people could take to block the effects of these natural “heat messengers,” or engineered immune system proteins called monoclonal antibodies that could be infused to mop them up. Such an approach should work on any kind of pain caused by inflammation, he said -- arthritis, cancer or injury. He is uncertain about its effects in other types of pain called neuropathies. Most painkillers mask pain but do not affect its source. Narcotics or morphine are examples and are addictive and deadly. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin can help ease the inflammation that causes arthritis pain or a headache but have side-effects. Aspirin can cause deadly bleeding, related drugs called COX-2 inhibitors sometimes cause heart problems, acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol, can damage the liver. None are highly effective. Writing in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Hargeaves and colleagues said they first looked for the basic cause of the pain and narrowed it down to the capsaicin receptor, a molecular doorway on nerve cells. “The capsaicin receptor is like the master lock in our pain neurons,” Hargreaves said. “We have mice now with a genetic deletion of this master lock. Those without it show almost no pain from inflammation or cancer or burn injuries, so that we know that this receptor is critically important in terms of how the body responds to injury.” The capsaicin in red hot chili peppers unlocks this master lock, Hargreaves said. He wanted to find a way to block the keyhole, which is called transient potential vanilloid 1 or TRPV1. Tests on mouse tissue showed heat did not directly activate pain neurons. Instead, in response to heat, cells create their own natural capsaicins called oxidized linoleic acid metabolites or OLAMs. In a commentary on the findings, David Brown and Gayle Passmore, at University College London, called the newly discovered pain compound a “heat messenger”. Hargeaves said his team has some candidates for both a pill and an antibody but “I am not at liberty to discuss them.” The university has a patent application for both potential routes. While researchers can design drugs that will fit like a puzzle piece into a cell receptor, or screen libraries of existing compounds to see if one might work, Hargreaves said his team did neither. “We did it the old fashioned, stupid way. We got lucky,” he said. “Our findings are truly exciting because they will offer physicians, dentists and patients more options in prescription pain medications. In addition, they may help circumvent the problem of addiction and dependency to pain medications, and will have the potential to benefit millions of people who suffer from chronic pain every day.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 10:11 pm Sensex 62 points down in opening tradeThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by nearly 62 points in opening trade today on emergence of profit-booking by foreign funds and retailers amid weak Asian cues.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 26 Apr 2010 | 10:05 pm US says protecting IP rights a top trade priorityWashington: US officials welcomed a new study showing the importance of innovation to US economic growth and promised vigorous action to curb the huge international trade in fake and pirated goods. “Let’s be clear: IP (intellectual property) theft in overseas markets is a job killer, and it’s an export killer,” US trade representative Ron Kirk said in a speech on Monday to mark World Intellectual Property Day. As the US encourages companies to pour more money into the development of environmentally friendly green technologies, “we must remain vigilant that the investments that American inventors make are not undermined by lax enforcement of intellectual property rights,” Kirk said. Trade in counterfeit goods costs tens of billions of dollars to the US alone. A study done for the US Chamber of Commerce estimated that industries including chemicals, petroleum, computer equipment, communications, semiconductors, autos, medical equipment and aerospace technologies which rely heavily on patents and other forms of intellectual property pay their workers about 60% more than non-IP-based industries. IP industries also account for about 60% of total US exports, rising to $910 billion in 2007 from $665 billion in 2000, and about 65% of US employment in sectors involved in trade, the NDP Consulting study found. Meaningful reforms sought “The study clearly demonstrates the impact that IP has on our productivity and competitiveness, and it emphasizes the need to protect IP rights both in the US and internationally,” said Mark Esper, executive vice president of the Chambers’ Global Intellectual Property Center. US software, music, film and book companies estimate they lose billions of dollars in sales each year because of piracy in China, Russia, India and dozens of other countries. The United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland and other countries with big creative industries and other innovative sectors have been negotiating an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement aimed at stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights. Deputy US trade representative Miriam Sapiro told reporters the US hoped to finish those negotiations soon. But she evaded a question about what charter members of the pact could do to persuade countries with poor records on intellectual property rights to join. On Friday, the US trade representative’s office will issue its annual list of countries with the worst records on combating pirating and counterfeiting. “This is not just a once-a-year report card, but rather the foundation for a year-round process used to secure meaningful reforms,” Sapiro said, adding the US would not hesitate to bring cases at the World Trade Organization if necessary to enforce intellectual property rights. China and Russia are expected to top the list due out on Friday, as they have for a number of years. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 9:50 pm India may grow still faster; inflation a 'big worry': RBI chiefIndia's economic growth this year may be "slightly higher" than the currently estimated 7.2% but faster inflation is a "big worry", according to Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 26 Apr 2010 | 9:38 pm U.S. financial sector frets reform may hit businessBEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (Reuters) - Financial services executives are apprehensively watching regulation reform make its way through Washington, worried measures such as a bailout fund and restrictions on derivatives would hurt business.Source: Reuters: Money News | 26 Apr 2010 | 9:27 pm US Senate stalls financial reform billWashington: The most sweeping overhaul of US banking rules since the Great Depression stumbled in the Senate on Monday as Republicans united to prevent action on the bill. The vote gives Republicans leverage to extract more concessions from Democrats on a measure that could ban banks from several lucrative types of trading and subject them to greater oversight. Needing 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate to begin debate on the bill, Democrats fell three votes short. The setback is not likely to be permanent. Lawmakers in both parties said they are close to agreement and the Senate could take up the bill later this week. As Wall Street reels from a fraud case against Goldman Sachs Group Inc, lawmakers from both parties are eager to crack down on the financial industry before the November congressional elections. The vote came a day before Goldman executives were due to appear before a Senate panel. “All of us want to deliver a reform that will tighten the screws on Wall Street. But we’re not going to be rushed on another massive bill,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said ahead of the vote. More than two years since the near-collapse of Bear Stearns ushered in the worst US banking and capital market crisis in generations, both sides in the Senate were locked in negotiations toward a possible bipartisan compromise. President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats want tighter rules to prevent a repeat of the 2008-2009 crisis, which tipped the economy into a deep recession. Republicans see a need for reform, but say the Democrats’ bill is a government overreach. The future shape and profitability of the banking industry hangs in the balance. The bill would form a consumer watchdog, bar banks from trading unrelated to clients and devise a new process for dismantling troubled financial firms. It also would crack down on the unpoliced $450 trillion derivatives market that helped ignite the financial crisis. Democrats, who control 59 votes in the Senate, needed to hold their ranks and garner at least one Republican vote to begin debate on the bill. But they came up short when conservative Democrat Ben Nelson joined Republicans to block the bill by a vote of 57 to 41. According to the Wall Street Journal, Nelson had sought to modify the bill to protect home-state investor Warren Buffett. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also voted no, a tactical move that allows him to bring up the measure again once he secures the needed Republican support. “The only thing Republicans stand for is standing together,” Reid said. Republicans have struck a conciliatory tone and said they expect a final bill to pass by a wide margin. The stakes are high for Obama. Since the passage of his landmark healthcare restructuring, he has sharply criticized Wall Street in speeches backing the Democratic bill. Obama said he was “deeply disappointed” by the vote. “Some of these senators may believe that this obstruction is a good political strategy, and others may see delay as an opportunity to take this debate behind closed doors, where financial industry lobbyists can water down reform or kill it altogether,” Obama said in a statement. Roughly two-thirds of Americans want stricter financial regulations, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released on Monday. Hundreds of lobbyists for banks and Wall Street, sometimes working closely with Republicans, have been working for months to block or weaken the reform plans, which threaten bank profits, particularly in the lucrative derivatives market. Bank stocks fell on Monday, with the KBW Banks index down 3.1%. The financial crisis hit bank stocks hard, but they are up 30 percent so far this year. Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley told the Reuters Global Financial Regulation Summit on Monday that the bill Democrats were offering would require banks to spin off swap-trading units. Swaps are a type of financial contract implicated in the downfall of bailed-out insurer AIG and other firms that bet heavily in the derivatives market. Obama administration officials have declined to say whether they support that approach, though officials have praised the broader bill. Republicans have focused their criticism on an element of the bill that would aim to end bailouts of “too big to fail” firms like Goldman. Democrats want an “orderly liquidation” process. As proposed, the bill aims to protect taxpayers from costly bailouts, like that of AIG, while shielding the economy from shock bankruptcies like Lehman Brothers’ 2008 collapse. Senator Richard Shelby, the lead Republican negotiator on the issue, has said it does not sufficiently ensure that taxpayers won’t be on the hook for future bailouts. “I am hoping that we can get a bill. I would like to get a bill this week, or next week, as soon as we can,” he said after meeting with Democratic Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd a few hours before the vote. The US House of Representatives approved a reform bill in December. Whatever the Senate produces would have to be merged with the House bill before a final measure could go to Obama to be signed into law. Analysts expect that by mid-year. The reform debate has intensified amid the high-profile fraud case brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission against Goldman, a titan of Wall Street. Goldman released three-year-old emails over the weekend that showed bond trader Fabrice Tourre wrote of the impending collapse of the subprime mortgage market and how he was masterminding ways at Goldman to make money from it. Tourre is the only individual charged by the SEC in its case. Goldman released the e-mails as it readies for its appearance before a Senate panel on Tuesday. Goldman Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein and Tourre are slated to testify, with other former and current executives. Goldman Sachs and Blankfein were hit with a shareholder lawsuit on Monday claiming they hid key details about a risky transaction that resulted in the SEC charges. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 9:04 pm Vijay Mallya sure Lalit Modi has answers to BCCI chargesRemaining tight lipped on the issue, Owner of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Vijay Mallya, said the issue was between the board and Modi. However he was glad the Modi had been given time to answer specific set of charges. I am sure Modi has answers to BCCIs charges, he said, adding that he would like to see a free and fair trial for him.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 4:48 pm ONGC group\'s FY10 oil output down 1.52%Staterun Oil and Natural Gas Corp\'s (ONGC) annual oil output from local and foreign blocks fell 1.52% in the last fiscal ending March 31, while gas output rose 1.16%, it said in a statement on MondaySource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 3:36 pm Red flags over liquidity flood to emerging countriesCapital glut could end up in real estate, equity, adding to inflationary pressures.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 26 Apr 2010 | 3:14 pm NR Narayana Murthy on life after InfosysNR Narayana Murhty is gearing up for the life after Infosys. He will start his second innings as an entrepreneur with Catamaran Fundwhere the Infosys founder will be essentially playing the role of an advisor.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 3:11 pm Competitive pressures hurting India telecoms companiesBharti Airtel and its smaller Indian telecoms rivals are set to report that quarterly earnings were hit by a vicious price war that has sent call tariffs tumbling in the world\'s fastestgrowing mobile services marketSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 2:17 pm India gains more say in World BankWashington, DC: India saw its say in the World Bank increasing a bit after member nations approved a shift in voting rights, while China’s voice in the agency grew louder than that of Germany, France and the UK. Both India and China had till now enjoyed an identical 2.77% voting rights. While India’s voting power stands increased to 2.91%, that of China leaped to 4.42%—placing it third overall. India is now the seventh largest member in terms of voting power. Ahead of it are the US with 15.85%, Japan (6.84%), China (4.42%), Germany (4%), France (3.75%) and the UK (3.75%). Membership of the financial institution gives certain voting rights that are the same for all countries, but additional votes are granted depending on a country’s financial contributions to the organization. Since 2008, emerging economies have overall gained 4.59% in voting rights. “The change in voting power helps us better reflect the realities of a new multi-polar global economy where developing countries are now key global players,” said World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick. The member nations also agreed to raise more funds for global aid at the annual spring meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The change gives emerging nations more say in how the bank is run and how its funds are disbursed. “This change in voting share, giving developing countries over 47%, is a significant step,” Zoellick told reporters here, adding that he hoped shareholders would review the approach in 2015. Zoellick said this accord was all the more significant at a time when multilateral agreements between developed and developing countries have proved elusive. This increase fulfils the development committee commitment in Istanbul in October to generate an increase of at least three percentage points in developing and transition countries’ voting power. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 1:45 pm Cloning God: Tirumala temple to get replicasThe Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the Lord Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh, plans to set up four replicas of the temple across the country.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 12:55 pm IPL council launches operation clean-upAfter days of turbulence, some calm seems to have returned to Indian cricket. The Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council today named not only an interim chairman and commissioner for the league, but also launched an extensive fumigation process to remove the stink from IPL.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 12:53 pm 'We'd like to be in the top 10 in the next 3-5 years'Christopher Spelman, CEO, JP Morgan Asset Management Company, spoke to HT on his plans to build JP Morgan AMC as a retail brand in India.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 12:06 pm EID Parry makes open offer for GMR IndSugar manufacturer EID Parry, part of Chennai-based Murugappa Group, on Monday made an open offer for 20 per cent stake in GMR Industries at Rs 111 per share.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 12:03 pm Govt to revisit FDI norms soonThe government will next month initiate discussions on liberalising foreign direct investment (FDI) in sectors ranging from defence to agriculture and even retail.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 12:00 pm Businessweek toes 'Bloomberg Way'When Bloomberg L P bought Businessweek in December, a group of the magazine's writers, who were being transferred to the Bloomberg newswire, attended a two-week training session.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 11:55 am Sterlite profits up 131% in Q4 on higher volumes, metal pricesAnil Agarwal's Vedanta Resources-owned Sterlite Industries on Monday reported a 131 per cent surge in profit for the last quarter of 2009-10 at Rs 1,381 crore against Rs 598 crore in the same period in 2008-09. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 26 Apr 2010 | 11:50 am Analog Devices set to drive new tech from IndiaBangalore: Fifteen years after setting up its India design centre that developed five generations of a leading digital signal processor for Analog Devices Inc., the Indian arm of the speciality semiconductor company is close to repeating the feat of driving a new technology from its Bangalore centre. “Unlike many semiconductor companies, we at Analog believe in (regional) centres taking responsibility for a product family,” said Jerald G. Fishman, president and chief executive of Analog Devices. “That concept is attractive to creative people.” On his first visit to India, Fishman said the India products development centre (IPDC) is poised to take ownership of yet another new product. Though he refused to elaborate on the specific technology that has been developed here, he said Indian engineers’ technical skills span a wide band—analog, digital signal processing and software. “This is unique compared to other centres,” Fishman added. Since 1995, when Analog started its India operation with a core focus on its Sharc (super Harvard architecture single-chip computer) digital signal processor design, the centre has delivered five generations of this processor that are targeted towards consumer audio applications, DVD players, home theatre equipment and in-car entertainment. “Analog Devices India is one of the few (semiconductor) companies to be involved in all stages of product development—from concept to silicon to production,” said S. Karthik, engineering director at IPDC.  Regional responsibility: Analog Devices’ Jerald G. Fishman. The 40-year-old Analog Devices, with $2.5 billion (Rs11,075 crore) in revenue, has had a mixed growth story. After a turbulent phase in the 1980s, the company managed a second coming of sorts when it built a tiny sensor that triggered an automobile airbag in case of an accident. First commercialized in 1994, the sensor was the first automotive technology for Analog that not only drastically reduced the cost of an airbag system, but added a strong business segment to its technology portfolio. Incidentally, in India it’s the automotive industry, along with healthcare, consumer and defence sectors that are the best bets for its low-cost, low-power conversion technologies. Given the consumer electronics boom in India, Analog is counting on its most recent high-performance audio signal processing technology that is deployed in its new MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) microphones that enable sophisticated audio functions for portable electronics. But with the world going digital, does Analog see itself morphing in future? “As long as the real world is analog and we need to measure signals like voice, video, image, pressure, temperature…and the laws of physics do not change, we will be in the analog business,” said Fishman. seema.s@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 10:29 am Isro to launch Cartosat-2B on 9 MayBangalore: India’s advanced, high-resolution remote-sensing satellite Cartosat-2B would be launched on May 9 at 9.23 am from Sriharikota spaceport, Isro said on Monday. “It will be launched at 9.23 am on May 9 by PSLV-C15,” Indian Space Research Organisation spokesperson S Satish told PTI. The highly agile satellite is expected to give a boost to the tasks of infrastructure and urban planning. The on-board camera would provide scene specific spot imageries for cartographic and a host of other civilian applications. Satish said the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle would carry onboard four more satellites along with the Cartosat-2B — an Algerian satellite weighing 117 kg, one nano satellite each from Canada and Switzerland, and StudSat, a pico satellite (under one KG) developed by engineering students from Bangalore and Hyderabad. Weighing around 700 kg, Cartosat-2B is designed for an operational life of five years and would give pictures of 0.8 metre resolution. Meanwhile, Isro has constituted a failure analysis committee to probe the recent failure of the GSLV-D3 mission whose main objective was to flight-test the indigenous cryogenic engine and stage for the first time. S Ramakrishnan, Isro’s director (Projects) at Thiruvananthapuram-based Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, would chair the committee, which has been asked to submit the report within two months, sources in the space agency said. The national panel of experts which included former chairmen of Isro and eminent personalities, would then look into the report and the recommended corrective measures. This panel, after a thorough review, had given the go-ahead for the GSLV-D3 mission. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 7:56 am RIM unveils rejigged BlackBerry models ahead of WESToronto: Research in Motion is launching variations of two existing BlackBerry smartphones, the company said on Monday, and its co-chief executive hinted that much-anticipated announcements on a new operating system and browser are also on the way. RIM is unveiling both devices on the eve of its annual Wireless Enterprise Symposium, a three-day event that runs from 27-29 April in Orlando, Florida. A CDMA version of the high-end BlackBerry Bold device will ship in May to both Verizon and Sprint Nextel — two of North America’s largest wireless carriers that run CDMA networks, the company said in a statement. The BlackBerry Bold is already available to carriers that operate GSM networks. GSM and CDMA are the two main types of mobile technology used by wireless carriers across the world. CDMA lost the battle for global dominance but it still has a strong position in certain markets. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company is also taking the wraps off a new 3G version of the Pearl, which is the smallest of its range of BlackBerry devices. The new GSM device will allow for faster data downloads on newer 3G networks. “We think what this does is it really rounds out the family of products, though we are far from done this year with new products,” said Jim Balsillie, RIM’s co-chief executive, in an interview. RIM’s shares typically jump ahead of the WES event, in anticipation of new product launches, and this year is no exception, with shares having risen more than 4% since the start of the year. The buzz surrounding this year’s WES is particularly intense, with the company expected to also make announcements about a new BlackBerry operating system and browser. Analysts hope software improvements will allow RIM to compete more effectively against Apple’s iPhone, Motorola’s Droid and a slew of other smartphone devices that have been nibbling away at RIM’s market share. Balsillie, who co-heads RIM along with Mike Lazaridis, stopped short of commenting directly on any new software upgrades for navigating BlackBerry functions and browsing the Internet via the device. “We will have more announcements, so I am not going to comment on further announcements. Mike will be doing a keynote ... So I would tune into his keynote and see what he has to say,” said Balsillie, in response to a query about the new OS and browser. Lazaridis will address the company’s analyst meeting on Monday and he is also expected to speak at the symposium later this week. “I won’t steal any of Mike’s thunder,” said Balsillie. A growing number of analysts argue that rival smartphones could keep taking market share from the BlackBerry unless RIM delivers an improved operating system and browser. RIM also announced an upgraded version of its mobile voice system (MVS) technology, which allows for the seamless integration of one’s office landline and BlackBerry device. The technology currently allows the two devices to work as one and a user can route all outgoing calls through his office landline device. The latest upgrade to the MVS technology will allow users to make and receive phone calls from their BlackBerry devices over a Wi-Fi connection. RIM’s shares, which closed Friday at C$70.58, are up 4.6%r year-to-date on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 6:15 am Yahoo expands offering on Samsung phonesHelsinki: Yahoo Inc has struck a deal to expand the role of its services on cellphones of the world’s second-largest handset maker Samsung, as the two battle larger rivals on the wireless market. The role of mobile services and software has increased sharply since Apple and Google entered the industry, forcing traditional phone makers like Samsung and Nokia to hurry to build up their offerings. Weak services and software offerings are seen as a potential stumbling block for the ambitious plans of Samsung and its domestic peer LG Electronics in their plan to win a bigger share of the smartphone market. Samsung and Yahoo, who have partnered since 2007, said the expansion of their contract will give millions more Samsung phone owners easy access to Yahoo’s services, starting from May. The new contract includes phones running Samsung’s own Bada platform and Google’s Android platform, which will have better access to a wide range of Yahoo services including mail, messenger, search, news and calendar. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 26 Apr 2010 | 5:55 am Sensex closes 51 points upThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose for the fifth straight day on Monday adding over 51 points on sustained buying interest wheted by attractive corporate earnings so far.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 26 Apr 2010 | 5:16 am
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