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China\'s ZTE says blocked from supplying India gearChina\'s ZTE Corp said on Wednesday it had been told by operators that it had failed Indian security tests necessary to be able to supply network gear to the world\'s fastestgrowing mobile phone marketSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 8:32 am Bajaj Holdings seeks injunction in WMDC caseBajaj Holdings seeks injunction from Bombay HC in WMDC Case. The move follows after shareholders of MSL (Maharashtra Scooters Ltd) had written to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra to allow MSL to sell off its holdings in Bajaj Group companies.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 7:52 am Big oil to get more grilling as oil gushes in GulfTop oil executives face a second day of grilling by US lawmakers on Wednesday over a deadly well rupture that unleashed a huge oil slick and the specter of environmental disaster in the Gulf of MexicoSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 7:40 am ZTE India unit working to follow all security testsZTE Corp, China\'s No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker, said on Wednesday it was working with Indian authorities to follow all security tests for telecoms equipmentSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 7:40 am Govt to review sugar futures ban after monsoonThe government will review a ban on sugar futures after assessing production and the monsoon, farm minister Sharad Pawar said on WednesdaySource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 7:34 am India in talks with Japan, EU for free tradethe country was in advanced stage of talks with Japan, European Union for free trade agreement, the commerce minister said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 6:00 am TRAI recommendations to impact ind by Rs 15K cr: RCommThe slew of measures suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India seems to have found favour with Reliance Communications. Mahesh Prasad, its Group President, finds TRAI guidelines to be extremely progressive, forward looking, and good for competition.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 5:57 am Prefers longterm capital inflows: RBIThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) prefers longterm capital inflows to shortterm flows and was looking to gradually traverse towards capital account convertibility, its governor said in a speech delivered at Zurich on TuesdaySource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 5:23 am Infinite Comp sees FY11 PAT at Rs 99104crNewly listed IT services provider Infinite Computer Solutions sees FY11 net profit at Rs 99104 crore and revenues for the year are expected to stand at Rs 855877 crore, says its Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Upinder Zutshi. FY11 growth will be in line with FY10, he adds.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 5:15 am TRAI\'s spectrum cap: Impact on telecom cosThe Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suggested a 10 Mhz (GSM) spectrum cap for Delhi and Mumbai, and 8 Mhz cap for the rest of India. For CDMA players, the spectrum cap stands at 5 Mhz.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 4:52 am Sensex recovers on higher European markets - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 12 May 2010 | 3:59 am TRAI's 2G recommendations 'shocking': Bharti - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 12 May 2010 | 3:58 am Expect margins to stay at 20% next fiscal: Bajaj Auto - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 12 May 2010 | 3:40 am India Inc steps up hiring activity, job index rises 7% in AprilRiding on improving business confidence, Corporate India's online hiring activity rose for the fifth month in a row, leading recruitment services provider Monster India said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 May 2010 | 3:35 am March industrial output lower than forecastNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's industrial output grew lower than expected in March, weighed down by a partial withdrawal of stimulus measures and a rate hike, data showed on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 3:34 am Nissan echoes cautious outlook; eyes Micra boostYOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co expects growth in emerging markets and launches of new models such as its Micra compact to provide only a modest boost to profits this year, in a cautious view echoing its larger JapaneseSource: Reuters: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 3:33 am StanChart in talks to buy Nedbank - SkyLONDON/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Emerging markets focused bank Standard Chartered is in talks to buy South African bank Nedbank, Sky television reported on Wednesday, in a potential $10 billion deal.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 3:32 am ECB pledges euro survival, to hold on to govt bondsBERLIN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank vowed on Wednesday the euro would survive a battering inflicted by euro zone's debt crisis and one top policymaker revealed the bank would hold acquired government bonds until their end date.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 3:26 am Rupee extends gains tracking shares; dollar fallMumbai: The Indian rupee extended gains in afternoon session on Wednesday tracking the dollar’s losses against major currencies and boosted by gains in the domestic sharemarket. At 2:40pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs45.12/13 per dollar, after rising to Rs45.08 and stronger than Rs45.30/31 at previous close. It had opened marginally weaker at Rs45.33. Shares were trading up half a percent after starting down, tracking mixed cues from Asian markets. Foreign fund flows into and out of the sharemarket set the trend for the rupee. So far in 2010, foreigners have invested a net $6 billion in Indian equities, adding to record inflows of $17.5 billion in 2009. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was up more than 0.4%. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at 45.22, 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 45.1925, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $6.3 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 3:21 am Sensex erases early gains on profit sellingErasing early gains, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by 113 points at mid-session today on emergence of profit booking.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 May 2010 | 3:18 am China's ZTE says blocked from supplying India gear - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 12 May 2010 | 3:15 am China's ZTE says blocked from supplying network gearNEW DELHI (Reuters) - China's ZTE Corp said on Wednesday it had been told by operators that it had failed Indian security tests necessary to be able to supply network gear to the world's fastest-growing mobile phone market.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 3:14 am Big oil to get more grilling as oil gushes in GulfWASHINGTON/PORT FOURCHON, La. (Reuters) - Top oil executives face a second day of grilling by U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday over a deadly well rupture that unleashed a huge oil slick and the specter of environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 3:12 am RBI says it did not intervene in foreign exchange market in MarchThe rupee moved from around 46.09 per dollar levels at the start of March to 44.88 levels towards the end, helped by robust capital inflows of a net $4.4 billion.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 3:08 am Draft bill on UIDAI to be ready within a month: Nandan Nilekani - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 12 May 2010 | 3:00 am Nissan returns to the black with annual profitJapan's number three automaker Nissan Motor posted a return to the black Wednesday and forecast profit to more than triple this fiscal year on hopes for its new electric car and emerging market demand.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 2:56 am India gold trades near record high; traders at bay - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 12 May 2010 | 2:44 am India gold trades near record highMumbai: India gold traded near its record high on Wednesday afternoon tracking strong overseas leads, and traders were unwilling to get stuck with high-priced stocks ahead of a key gold buying festival, dealers said. “The feedback from customers is that they would wait rather than buy at current near-record levels,” said a dealer with a private bullion importing bank. International gold, which guides the domestic market, was trading at $1,228.55/1,299.55 an ounce as against the previous close of $1,232.05/1,233.05, after hitting an all-time high of $1,233.65 in the last session. “Nobody had expected such a sudden jump in prices, they are all waiting for below $1,200 (an ounce) levels,” said another dealer with a state-run bank. The most-traded gold futures on the Multi Commodity Exchange was trading 1.06 percent higher at Rs18,086 per 10 grams, after hitting a high of Rs18,222, nearing its all-time high of Rs18,294, struck on 3 December. The Akshaya Tritiya festival, which falls on 16 May, is one of the two most auspicious days of the year to buy the yellow metal in the world’s largest gold market, as Hindus believe they can get lasting prosperity by buying precious metals on the day. The other festival is Dhanteras in November. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 2:36 am Libya plane crash kills 103, one child sole survivorTripoli: All but one of the 104 passengers and crew of a Libyan plane that crashed at Tripoli airport on Wednesday were killed, a Libyan security source at Tripoli airport said. “All of the passengers and crew died except one child... There were 93 passengers and 11 crew on board,” the source said. An official at the airport said that the survivor had Dutch nationality. There were 22 Libyans, including passengers and crew, on board and the rest had several different nationalities, said the official. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 2:30 am Bharti, Idea shares drop; earnings seen hitNew Delhi: A new proposal to levy additional fees for mobile spectrum in India’s cut-rate telecom sector stoked earnings worries for Bharti Airtel, already caught in a vicious price war and a pricey acquisition. Shares in India’s top mobile operator, which reported its first profit fall in three years last month, dropped nearly 9% and were the biggest losers in a steady Bombay’s 30-share index. Smaller rival Idea Cellular lost 7.5%. On Tuesday, the telecom regulator recommended companies pay a one-time fee for holding 2G radio-spectrum beyond 6.2 mega hertz (MHz) based on 3G prices, a move that will hit established operators dominant on the GSM platform. “This has come at a time when Bharti is working on closing the Zain deal integration, 3G auction is acting as a burden and the local competition is not showing signs of stabilising,” said Sanjay Chawla, an analyst at Anand Rathi Financial Services. Analysts said the proposal would stretch the balance sheet of leading players such as Bharti, Vodafone’s India unit, and Idea Cellular, who are seeing a surge in capital expenditure due to an ongoing auction for the 3G spectrum. Bharti, controlled by billionaire Sunil Mittal and also 32% owned by Singapore Telecommunications, has been struggling in a margin-chomping price war with Reliance Communications and other rivals in the world’s fastest-growing and arguably the most competitive market. Call rates have slumped to as low as 0.7 US cents per minute. The Indian mobile sector has 15 operators and about 600 million mobile users, making it the world’s largest market after China. New subscriber additions of nearly 16 million a month have attracted overseas firms such as Norway’s Telenor, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo and Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat, but profit margins have taken a hit due to a tariff war. Bharti shares fell to their lowest level in more than five months. On Tuesday, Bharti fell 3.1% and Idea shed 5.3%. Reliance Communications shares lost 2.1%, and analysts said the No. 2 operator would be less impacted as it held less additional 2G spectrum than its rivals. “The proposal is going to be negative for the stocks in the near-term, more so because regulatory moves always create uncertainty in the market,” Chawla said. Bids for one set of all-India 3G spectrum licence have reached $3.1 billion as of Tuesday and the tender process, in which nine mobile carriers including Bharti are participating, is still on. Last month, Bharti said it expects to close its $9 billion deal to acquire Kuwaiti telecom Zain’s African assets by mid-May. The sector regulator’s recommendations have to accepted by the telecom ministry before they become law. Brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher expects Bharti to pay one-time 2G spectrum fee of Rs6,146 crore ($1.4 billion), while Idea would have to pay Rs2,481 crore if the regulator’s recommendations are accepted by the telecom ministry. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 2:29 am Anil Ambani calls on Prime Minister - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 12 May 2010 | 2:21 am British phone maker INQ to sell unlocked phones in IndiaNew Delhi: British phone maker INQ Wednesday said it has launched unlocked versions of its handsets, which were earlier only available with Aircel network, in the open market to tap the country’s burgeoning telecom market. Locked phones can’t be used with all telecom networks and usually come with the connection. However, after the handset is unlocked it can used for any telecom service. So, the launch of INQ’s unlocked handsets would enable user’s to go for any telecom operator’s network and not just Aircel. “All INQ phones in the market can be easily unlocked to any network. The new batch of phones are coming in the market over the coming days would be pre-unlocked,” INQ Co-founder Jeff Taylor said. The company had launched two phones — INQ CHAT 3G and INQ MINI — priced at Rs7,599 and Rs5,399, respectively, on the Aircel network, which will be available in the open market. The handsets offer one-click access to applications like Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Windows Messenger. “We will continue with our partnership with Aircel and our handsets would be available through the Aircel network and other retail outlets, which sell Aircel connections. We are in discussion with various partners for expanding our distribution network,” he said. INQ, a unit of Hutchison Whampoa, is based in London and has customers across 10 countries including the UK, Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Asked if the company would partner with other telecom operators, Taylor said, “Nothing like that is on the radar.” He declined to comment on details of its partnership with Aircel, or on the time period of the deal. The company will position its products as a fashionable social networking handset. “Our handsets are fashion-oriented and focus on social networking. The handsets available in India have been customised for localisation in terms of applications,” Taylor said. The company will also unveil a new advertising campaign this month, but Taylor declined to comment on the investment details. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 2:21 am US investigating Morgan Stanley mortgage deal: ReportUS federal investigators are probing whether investment banking major Morgan Stanley misled investors about mortgage-derivative deals, says a media report.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 2:18 am Wal-Mart steps up India rollout, hopes rules easeNew Delhi: Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world’s biggest retailer, will accelerate its rollout of wholesale stores in India, a crucial growth market that has long frustrated overseas operators with restrictive rules. Raj Jain, chief of Indian operations for Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, said the firm now expects to open 10-12 wholesale centres in India over two-to-three years, from an earlier target of five years, as real estate prices have become more attractive and it gains confidence in operating in the country. Food price inflation and the need for food security should spur the government to open the sector to foreign direct investment (FDI), he added. ”We will quicken the pace of expansion,” Jain said in a late Tuesday interview at his offices in Gurgaon, a fast-rising suburb of New Delhi that houses a host of multi-nationals. ”We have more confidence in running the stores, we feel more confident about real estate compared to two years ago,” he said. Retail rents fell by 30-40% from late 2007 peaks. Wal-Mart currently runs wholesale operations in India in an equal partnership with India’s Bharti Enterprises. India’s $450 billion retail sector is dominated by small local operators, a powerful constituency that has stood in the way of foreign multi-brand players such as Wal-Mart and No.2 Carrefour being allowed to operate their own retail stores. Instead, foreign players must operate through franchise tie-ups with local partners or operate cash-and-carry, or wholesale, outlets of the kind Wal-Mart is rolling out. While the government is yet to liberalise rules for foreign retailers in India, Jain said India has moved beyond the question of whether or not organised retail is positive for the country. ”Everyone realises this country needs organised retail and that it won’t overnight replace mom-and-pop stores,” he said, sitting at a conference table adorned by a small shopping trolley filled with candy. Food inflation is a nagging problem in India, eating into disposable incomes and prompting political protests. Some 40% of fresh produce in India, which has a population in excess of 1.2 billion, is wasted due to inadequate supply chains and lack of cold storage. Jain said opening retail to foreign investment would enhance food distribution and security, which the government realises. ”Now it’s a question of having the political will and the timing of the decision,” he said. ”I think the current government is focused on having a more open debate and the food inflation makes people understand that even when there is a good monsoon, food security and food distribution are serious issues. And so this is one of the levers the government is willing to use,” Jain said. Big, untapped market India’s potential for retailers is massive. With a 300 million-strong middle class and an economy set to grow at 8.5% this year, disposable incomes are rising quickly. Sales of cars and mobile phones are booming. But even in wealthy neighbourhoods of big cities, Indian shoppers are accustomed to buying rice and soap from tiny neighbourhood shacks that lack freezers and well-stocked shelves but often sell on credit and deliver at home for free. Real estate consultant Knight Frank said in a report this week that organised retail in India would grow to around 11% of the industry total by 2013 from 6% now. Organised retail is growing at an estimated 20% a year in India, which has also lured rivals such as Germany’s Metro and Carrefour of France, which this week said it will soon open its first cash-and-carry outlet in the country and unveil a local franchise partner. Cost-cutter Wal-Mart is legendary for driving down costs, which keeps prices low but also crowds smaller operators out of business, making it a magnet for criticism even in its home market. Its model has not thrived everywhere. In 2006 it pulled out of Germany and South Korea amid stiff competition and poor performance. Jain said Wal-Mart is stepping up direct sourcing in India, where it now procures 35-40% of produce directly from farmers, and is tapping regional suppliers such as dairy cooperatives to increase efficiencies in a fragmented market. ”The supply chain is one of the big challenges: maintaining quality, ensuring commitments are kept,” Jain said. Wal-Mart recently opened its second wholesale outlet in Chandigarh, and will open its next wholesale centres in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Hyderabad, he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 2:12 am US investigating Morgan Stanley mortgage dealNew York: US federal investigators are probing whether investment banking major Morgan Stanley misled investors about mortgage-derivative deals, says a media report. “Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Morgan Stanley misled investors about mortgage-derivative deals it helped design and sometimes bet against,” The Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. Morgan Stanley arranged and marketed to investors pools of bond-related investments called “collateralised debt obligations,” or CDOs, and its trading desk at times placed bets that their value would fall, the report said attributing to traders. Investigators are examining, among other things, whether Morgan Stanley made proper representations about its roles in the mortgage-derivatives deals, it added. According to the publication, two of the transactions that have been scrutinised were named after US Presidents James Buchanan and Andrew Jackson and were termed as “Dead Presidents” deals by traders. Morgan Stanley helped design the deals and bet against them, but did not market them to clients, the report noted. The company made money on the Dead President deals, although it lost $9 billion on mortgage bets in 2007, the daily said. The investigation grew out of an ongoing civil-fraud investigation launched by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)in 2009, examining the mortgage-bond business of more than a dozen Wall Street firms. “We have not been contacted by the Justice Department about the transactions being raised by The Wall Street Journal and we have no knowledge of a Justice Department investigation into these transactions,” the report quoted a Morgan Stanley spokesman as saying. Last month, Goldman Sachs was charged by SEC with defrauding and causing an alleged loss of over $1 billion to investors by misrepresenting facts about a financial product tied to sub-prime mortgages. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 2:11 am Bharti Airtel, Idea shares drop; earnings seen hitNEW DELHI (Reuters) - A new proposal to levy additional fees for mobile spectrum in India's cut-rate telecoms sector stoked earnings worries for Bharti Airtel, already caught in a vicious price war and a pricey acquisition.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 2:06 am Microsoft updates Office, vies online with GoogleNew York / San Francisco - Microsoft Corp launches an updated version of its Office software on Wednesday, aiming to keep its grip on the hugely profitable business application market while countering the challenge of free online alternatives from Google Inc. The world’s largest software company is upgrading its popular Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint applications, and rolling out its own online versions to keep up with the new class of mobile, web-connected users that have emerged since the last upgrade in 2006. Most are expecting the Office franchise — which Microsoft says has 500 million users — to retain its dominance in the business world. But Office could be facing the beginning of an erosion of its ”must-have” status. ”Every time Microsoft releases a new version of Office, they get a bump up in revenue,” said Toan Tran, an analyst at Morningstar. ”But how big of an upgrade is this? They might have a harder time getting people to update.” Microsoft is expected to trumpet a list of improvements on Wednesday, such as editing photos in Word, using video in PowerPoint, collaborating on documents and managing e-mail conversations in new ways. But the most interesting facet is Microsoft’s move into the ”cloud” — allowing users to manipulate documents stored on remote servers from anywhere — where Google has been setting the pace. ”They’re coming into our playing field,” said Dave Girouard, the Google executive leading the company’s charge into business applications. ”They (Microsoft) have conceded that this is the future and now we think our products and services will get a lot more consideration.” Google Docs — stripped down versions of Microsoft’s core programs — are available over the Internet with no need to download software. They are free for personal users and $50-per-user per year for companies. Google says it has picked up 25 million users since launching almost four years ago. That is only a fraction of Microsoft’s 500 million, but is growing quickly. ”Word and Excel are pretty secure — Excel is embedded in an uncountable number of business processes, so that would be pretty hard to rip out,” said Tran. But Microsoft faces more pressure in email and calendar programs, the areas most amenable to online and mobile use, where Google already has a strong foothold. ”Google has made a lot of inroads there. Microsoft is going to face pressure there over time. They are probably going to have to cut prices to some extent,” said Tran. That could put the brakes on one of Microsoft’s most formidable profit engines. Microsoft’s business division — which gets 90% of its sales from Office — averages around $2.8 billion profit per quarter. That is 47% of Microsoft’s total profit so far this fiscal year, second only to Microsoft’s core Windows franchise. Businesses account for the vast majority of that. According to the latest data from tech research firm Forrester, 81% of companies are running Office 2007, compared with only 4% using Google’s online equivalent. A Forrester poll indicates almost a third of existing Office users plan to upgrade to Office 2010 — which will be available to them from Wednesday — within 12 months. Ordinary consumers get the chance to buy Office 2010 next month, at prices ranging from $119 to $499, depending on the level of sophistication. It will take at least a year before it is clear whether Microsoft has a winner and the extent to which customers are migrating to online versions and lessening reliance on installed software. ”Google is not the threat that it will be once the ’virtual desktop’ becomes a no-brainer,” said Richard Williams, an analyst at Cross Research, referring to the practice of accessing software over the Web.” That’s the time Microsoft really has to worry about.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 2:05 am Microsoft updates Office, vies online with GoogleNew York / San Francisco - Microsoft Corp launches an updated version of its Office software on Wednesday, aiming to keep its grip on the hugely profitable business application market while countering the challenge of free online alternatives from Google Inc. The world’s largest software company is upgrading its popular Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint applications, and rolling out its own online versions to keep up with the new class of mobile, web-connected users that have emerged since the last upgrade in 2006. Most are expecting the Office franchise — which Microsoft says has 500 million users — to retain its dominance in the business world. But Office could be facing the beginning of an erosion of its ”must-have” status. ”Every time Microsoft releases a new version of Office, they get a bump up in revenue,” said Toan Tran, an analyst at Morningstar. ”But how big of an upgrade is this? They might have a harder time getting people to update.” Microsoft is expected to trumpet a list of improvements on Wednesday, such as editing photos in Word, using video in PowerPoint, collaborating on documents and managing e-mail conversations in new ways. But the most interesting facet is Microsoft’s move into the ”cloud” — allowing users to manipulate documents stored on remote servers from anywhere — where Google has been setting the pace. ”They’re coming into our playing field,” said Dave Girouard, the Google executive leading the company’s charge into business applications. ”They (Microsoft) have conceded that this is the future and now we think our products and services will get a lot more consideration.” Google Docs — stripped down versions of Microsoft’s core programs — are available over the Internet with no need to download software. They are free for personal users and $50-per-user per year for companies. Google says it has picked up 25 million users since launching almost four years ago. That is only a fraction of Microsoft’s 500 million, but is growing quickly. ”Word and Excel are pretty secure — Excel is embedded in an uncountable number of business processes, so that would be pretty hard to rip out,” said Tran. But Microsoft faces more pressure in email and calendar programs, the areas most amenable to online and mobile use, where Google already has a strong foothold. ”Google has made a lot of inroads there. Microsoft is going to face pressure there over time. They are probably going to have to cut prices to some extent,” said Tran. That could put the brakes on one of Microsoft’s most formidable profit engines. Microsoft’s business division — which gets 90% of its sales from Office — averages around $2.8 billion profit per quarter. That is 47% of Microsoft’s total profit so far this fiscal year, second only to Microsoft’s core Windows franchise. Businesses account for the vast majority of that. According to the latest data from tech research firm Forrester, 81% of companies are running Office 2007, compared with only 4% using Google’s online equivalent. A Forrester poll indicates almost a third of existing Office users plan to upgrade to Office 2010 — which will be available to them from Wednesday — within 12 months. Ordinary consumers get the chance to buy Office 2010 next month, at prices ranging from $119 to $499, depending on the level of sophistication. It will take at least a year before it is clear whether Microsoft has a winner and the extent to which customers are migrating to online versions and lessening reliance on installed software. ”Google is not the threat that it will be once the ’virtual desktop’ becomes a no-brainer,” said Richard Williams, an analyst at Cross Research, referring to the practice of accessing software over the Web.” That’s the time Microsoft really has to worry about.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 2:05 am Huawei considers India plant to ease security concernsNew Delhi: Huawei Technologies, China’s top telecommunications equipment maker, said on Wednesday it is considering building a factory in India, after its imports to the country were slowed over government security concerns. A Huawei spokesman in India said a facility could be set up soon if the company decided to go ahead with the plan, but did not provide further details. The possibility of a new factory comes as Huawei’s hometown rival, ZTE Corp, another major exporter to India, said it was also considering building a factory. Industry sources have said the Indian government is not approving equipment orders from Chinese vendors because of security concerns. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 2:01 am Huawei considers India plant to ease security concernsNew Delhi: Huawei Technologies, China’s top telecommunications equipment maker, said on Wednesday it is considering building a factory in India, after its imports to the country were slowed over government security concerns. A Huawei spokesman in India said a facility could be set up soon if the company decided to go ahead with the plan, but did not provide further details. The possibility of a new factory comes as Huawei’s hometown rival, ZTE Corp, another major exporter to India, said it was also considering building a factory. Industry sources have said the Indian government is not approving equipment orders from Chinese vendors because of security concerns. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 2:01 am Factbox: Chronology of Gulf of Mexico oil spill - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 12 May 2010 | 1:58 am Morgan Stanley CEO: no knowledge of U.S. investigationTOKYO (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley Chief Executive James Gorman said he had no knowledge of any U.S. federal investigation into the Wall Street firm as was reported by media.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 1:54 am Wal-Mart steps up India rollout, hopes rules easeNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's biggest retailer, will accelerate its rollout of wholesale stores in India, a crucial growth market that has long frustrated overseas operators with restrictive rules.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 1:37 am Nissan echoes cautious outlook; eyes Micra boostYokohama, Japan: Nissan Motor Co expects growth in emerging markets and launches of new models such as its Micra compact to provide only a modest boost to profits this year, a cautious view echoing its larger Japanese rivals. While top ranked Toyota Motor Corp and No.2 Honda Motor Co have benefited from their lead in fuel-efficient hybrid models in mature markets, Nissan has grown faster in China where drivers still prefer cheap, conventional cars. Last year, Nissan’s sales shot up 45% in China, the world’s biggest auto market, making it the best performer among Japanese automakers. However, a lack of hybrid offerings and increasing competition looked set to weigh on Japan’s No.3 automaker, said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments. “In comparison to the past, Nissan did pretty well. That’s mainly because it was strong in China and emerging markets, especially over this past year,” said Ogawa, who described the outlook as unsatisfying. “It’s done quite well up to now considering it doesn’t have any hybrids, but competition is likely to get tougher now and it’ll take some time before its electric car is ready.” After trailing Toyota and Honda in environmentally friendly technology, Nissan is looking to rebrand itself as a “green” automaker by becoming the first to market electric cars in big volumes from 2012 along with partner Renault SA. Renault-Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn has been the industry’s most aggressive proponent of electric vehicles and has said he expects one in every 10 new cars sold globally to be battery-run by 2020. Conservative forecasts For the year to 31 March, 2011, Nissan forecast an operating profit of ¥350 billion ($3.78 billion), up 12% from the ¥311.6 billion it made last year but lagging a consensus forecast of ¥411 billion in a poll of 22 analysts by Thomson Reuters . It expects net profit to more than treble to ¥150 billion and global sales to grow about 8% to 3.8 million vehicles. Japanese automakers are often conservative in their profit forecasts, particularly early in the year. Toyota on Tuesday projected an 80% rise in 2010/2011 operating profit to ¥280 billion , but that was little more than half what analysts were expecting. Honda last month said it expected operating profit to rise 10% to ¥400 billion , 20% below consensus. Nissan’s operating profit in the final, January-March quarter was ¥82.7 billion , compared with a loss of ¥230.4 billion a year earlier, when the economic crisis hammered sales, forcing the industry to scale back production. The result was in line with the consensus estimate of ¥90 billion. Nissan posted a fourth-quarter net loss of ¥11.6 billion versus a loss of ¥276.9 billion a year ago. This year, Nissan is looking to gain a foothold in India, another promising battleground for global automakers. Nissan will begin production in India for the first time, starting with the Micra hatchback later this month. The Micra, called March in some markets, is Nissan’s most important model in years and its main hope for expanding sales in emerging and developed markets alike. Seen the worst But the removal of government stimulus measures, Europe’s debt woes and related strength in the yen, along with the expensive bets on new, more environmentally friendly technology have prompted caution among many automakers. Ghosn said the problems stemming from Greece’s funding shortfall were unlikely to require any downward revision to Nissan’s already weak forecast for the European market. “We know the worst of the crisis is behind us and our plan of action is to emerge from the crisis completely in this fiscal year and start a new mid-term plan in fiscal year 2011,” Ghosn told a news conference. Shares in Nissan have lost around 7% in the year to date, about double the fall in Tokyo’s transport sector subindex. Before the results, Nissan ended up 1.1% at ¥745, while the transport sector rose 1.6%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 1:29 am British phone maker INQ to sell unlocked phones in IndiaNew Delhi: British phone maker INQ on Wednesday said it has launched unlocked versions of its handsets, which were earlier only available with Aircel network, in the open market to tap the country’s burgeoning telecom market. Locked phones can’t be used with all telecom networks and usually come with the connection. However, after the handset is unlocked it can used for any telecom service. So, the launch of INQ’s unlocked handsets would enable user’s to go for any telecom operator’s network and not just Aircel. “All INQ phones in the market can be easily unlocked to any network. The new batch of phones are coming in the market over the coming days would be pre-unlocked,” INQ Co-founder Jeff Taylor told PTI. The company had launched two phones — INQ CHAT 3G and INQ MINI — priced at Rs7,599 and Rs5,399, respectively, on the Aircel network, which will be available in the open market. The handsets offer one-click access to applications like Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Windows Messenger. “We will continue with our partnership with Aircel and our handsets would be available through the Aircel network and other retail outlets, which sell Aircel connections. We are in discussion with various partners for expanding our distribution network,” he said. INQ, a unit of Hutchison Whampoa, is based in London and has customers across 10 countries including the UK, Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Asked if the company would partner with other telecom operators, Taylor said, “Nothing like that is on the radar.” He declined to comment on details of its partnership with Aircel, or on the time period of the deal. The company will position its products as a fashionable social networking handset. “Our handsets are fashion-oriented and focus on social networking. The handsets available in India have been customised for localisation in terms of applications,” Taylor said. The company will also unveil a new advertising campaign this month, but Taylor declined to comment on the investment details. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 1:21 am Industry grows by 13.5% in March; 10.4% in FY 2010Industrial growth, as measured by the index of industrial production, was lower than 15.1% in February and 16% in January, as also the consensus forecast.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 1:17 am March IIP numbers lower than estimates - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 12 May 2010 | 1:17 am New circuit breaker for Standard & Poor single stocks: SourceThe US Securities and Exchange Commission, still searching for a cause of last week's sharp market plunge, has asked exchanges to consider revising or adding new circuit breakers that would curb such trading in the future.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 1:05 am AIG committee hires financial adviser: ReportThe four-member committee has hired investment-banking firm Rothschild as its independent adviser, citing a person familiar with the matter.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 1:04 am What does the Ambani verdict mean for Indian energy?The judgment brings clarity to India's exploration policy, which aims to provide gas, a scarce commodity, at affordable prices to priority sectors such as power and fertilisers.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 12:59 am India for gradual capital account opening: RBIMumbai: India will liberalize capital account gradually, keeping in mind lessons from the global credit crisis, and there are no plans to impose Tobin tax to curb currency speculation, the central bank head said. “Our position is that capital account convertibility is not a stand alone objective but a means for higher and stable growth,” Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Duvvuri Subbarao said in a speech, delivered at a conference hosted by the Swiss National Bank and the IMF in Zurich on Tuesday. “As regards a Tobin type tax, we have not so far imposed nor are we contemplating one. However, it needs reiterating that no policy instrument is clearly off the table and our choice of instruments will be determined by the context,” he said. The speech was posted by the RBI on its website on Wednesday. Tobin tax is a transaction tax on currency conversions intended to curb volatility and speculation. “We believe our economy should traverse towards capital convertibility along a gradual path — the path itself being recalibrated on a dynamic basis in response to domestic and global developments,” Subbarao said. Foreigners have invested a net $6 billion in Indian stock markets so far in 2010, adding to record capital inflows of $17.5 billion in 2009. The inflow has helped the rupee gain about 2.7% this year, after rising 4.7% last year. Subbarao said the central bank’s preference was for long-term equity inflows, rather than short-term debt flows. “Our policy has been quite stable,” he said, referring to emerging economies that had opened up and then tightened rules when flows became volatile. “Our policy on equity flows has been quite liberal.” Subbarao reiterated the exchange rate is not guided by a fixed or pre-announced target or band. “Our policy has been to intervene in the market to manage excessive volatility and disruptions to the macroeconomic situation. This volatility centric approach to exchange rate also stems from the source of volatility which is capital flows,” he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 12:58 am Cadila Healthcare gets nod for H1N1 vaccine in IndiaThe egg-based vaccine named 'VaxiFlu-S' will be marketed by Vaxxicare, a division of the company focusing on preventives.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 12:57 am RBI for gradual capital account opening - chiefMUMBAI (Reuters) - India will liberalise capital account gradually, keeping in mind lessons from the global credit crisis, and there are no plans to impose Tobin tax to curb currency speculation, the Reserve Bank head said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 12:53 am Bharti Airtel shares drop 6% on spectrum proposalThe telecoms regulator on Tuesday recommended companies pay a one-time fee for holding 2G radio-spectrum beyond 6.2 mega hertz (MHz) based on 3G prices, a move that will hit established operators that are dominant on the GSM platform.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 12:47 am RBI prefers long-term cap inflows: Duvvuri SubbaraoRBI prefers long-term capital inflows to short-term flows and was looking to gradually traverse towards capital account convertibility, its governor said in a speech delivered at Zurich on Tuesday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 12:46 am Asian stocks fall on EU debt fear, euro dipsSingapore: Asian stocks fell on Wednesday as investors shunned riskier bets on nagging worries about euro zone debt woes despite a $1 trillion rescue package, and such jitters weighed down the euro. MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell just over 0.4%, a day after falling just over 1%, following modest losses on Wall Street. European stock index futures fell, signalling weakness for a second straight session. Futures for the STOXX Europe 50, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 shed 0.4 to 1.3%. Britain’s FTSE 100 was seen opening as much as 0.6% lower, financial spreadbetters indicated. South Korean shares shed just over 0.4%, reacting little to the Bank of Korea’s widely expected decision to keep interest rates steady, while Samsung Life Insurance trimmed gains in its debut. “Sentiment is broadly cautious right now as concerns about southern European debt problems still linger. It could take some time before investors feel compelled to buy again,” said Kim Young-june, a market analyst at SK Securities. The Bank of Korea left its interest rate at record-low 2.0% for a 15th consecutive month on Wednesday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei average was down 0.2%, reversing earlier gains as foreigners continued to sell Japanese stocks on concerns that the euro zone relief package did little to resolve the region’s longer-term debt problems. “Since the start of this month, foreigners have really been selling Japanese stocks, partly because Japanese markets were closed for holidays and foreign markets fell during that time, and partly because the Greek debt crisis really worsened,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a strategist at Okasan Securities. “At this point, I don’t think a lot of this money is flowing into other Asian share markets. It’s probably going into U.S. Treasury bonds and gold as part of a shift from riskier assets.” Benchmark indexes in Hong Kong fell 0.5% while Shanghai shares were virtually flat, but Australia advanced 0.6% as its federal budget boosted banks. On Monday, the MSCI ex-Japan index climbed 3.6% - its biggest single-day%age gain since May 2009 -- fuelled by hopes that the massive rescue package would prevent Greece’s debt crisis from spreading to other countries in the euro zone and possibly sparking another global credit crunch. But the global rally quickly fizzled on Tuesday as worries resurfaced that Greece and other heavily-indebted euro zone members will not be able to deliver on promises of deep spending cuts. The euro held steady near $1.2636, down 0.2% from late US trade, but off a 14-month low of $1.2510 hit last week. One near-term downside target for the euro may be around $1.2580, near Friday’s low, a trader said. Sterling held its overnight gains after Conservative party leader David Cameron took over as British prime minister after securing a power-sharing agreement between his centre-right party and the smaller Liberal Democrats. Sterling hovered near $1.4910 after rising above $1.5000 on Tuesday. The Conservatives and the smaller Liberal Democrat party agreed on Wednesday to form Britain’s first coalition government since 1945, ending uncertainty over who would take power after inconclusive elections last week. US crude futures fell 0.7% to above $75.82 a barrel, while spot gold hit another record high above $1,230 an ounce. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 12:37 am Industry grows by 13.5% in March, 10.4% in FY'10Industrial output maintained its double digit growth for the sixth consecutive month at 13.5% in March, but was lower than expected.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 May 2010 | 12:33 am Gold slips but holds near record; ETF unchangedJewellers in Asia cashed in on Tuesday's rally to a record $1,233.65 an ounce and dealers said the metal was likely to consolidate at current levels.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 12:29 am Glaxo settles hundreds of Avandia suits: LawyerPhiladelphia lawyer Sol Weiss of AnapolSchwartz law firm said he had settled with the drugmaker for 189 individuals, and that the amount that Glaxo would pay was confidential.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 May 2010 | 12:28 am US stocks drift after posting biggest gain in a yearNew York: US stocks drifted in quiet trading on Tuesday, a day after major indexes posted their biggest gains in more than a year on relief over the European Union’s bailout program for its weaker members. Major indexes edged higher but kept in a tight range after excitement faded about the nearly $1 trillion rescue program to support debt-burdened countries such as Greece. The bailout helped reassure investors that European countries would act decisively to protect the euro. However, several weaker countries will still have to make deep spending cuts in order to rebuild confidence in the euro, which could slow down a recovery in Europe’s economy. A day after posting huge gains on the bailout package, major stock indexes edged down in Europe. “The market has reflected on the details and they see that it’s not all going to be roses,” said Mike Shea, managing partner at Direct Access Partners LLC in New York. Asian markets retreated after a report showed inflation in China accelerated last month. China has already spooked markets by clamping down on bank lending to cool its economy, and investors worried that the inflation report could lead Chinese authorities to tap the brakes on its huge economy again. That could impact US and other companies that do business with China. Global economic indicators, such as the US government’s monthly jobs report, had been overshadowed recently as investors feared debt problems in Greece would spread through Europe. Traders were also concerned about how much European debt woes would hurt the euro, the currency used by 16 European countries. In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 20.18, or 0.2%, to 10,805.32. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.96, or 0.2%, to 1,161.69, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 10.60, or 0.5%, to 2,385.27. The Dow jumped 405 points, or 3.9%, on Monday. The S&P 500 surged 4.4%, while the Nasdaq composite index jumped 4.8%. It was the market’s biggest jump since March 2009 and followed a tumble late last week. Treasury prices were mixed after plunging on Monday as investors dumped safe investments following news of the European bailout. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.56% from 3.54% late Monday. The dollar rose and hovered near its strongest levels in 14 months against the euro. Four stocks fell for every three that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 520.1 million shares, compared with 784 million traded at the same point Monday. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 4.28, or 0.6%, to 693.89. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 12:14 am Opel's fate hangs on Berlin meeting on WednesdayThe last major European country to approve keeping the car company Opel afloat with money backstopped by taxpayers could make a preliminary recommendation on Wednesday affecting as many as 120,000 jobs in Germany alone.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 May 2010 | 12:13 am Cadila gets nod for H1N1 vaccine in IndiaMumbai: Cadila Healthcare Ltd said on Wednesday it has received approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to market its H1N1 vaccine in the country. Used to prevent the infection of swine flu, this egg-based vaccine named ‘VaxiFlu-S’ will be marketed by Vaxxicare, a division of the company, it said in a statement. Indian drumakers such as Panacea Biotec and Pune-based unlisted vaccines maker Serum Institute are also close to launch an H1N1 vaccine in the country. Out of the 139,466 people tested for swine flu symptoms in India since the outbreak of the pandemic in the year 2009, about 23% have tested positive for swine flu, Cadila said in a statement. “The development is positive for the company as India has a huge population of people aged above 60 years and below 15 years,” a pharma sector analyst told Reuters over the telephone. “While Panacea Biotec is looking to sell the vaccine to the government, Cadila has a focus on direct domestic market. This would help company make early in-roads,” another analyst said. The market size for H1N1 vaccine in India in case of high-risk population was about 4-5 million doses, Pankaj Patel, chairman and managing director of Cadila had told Reuters. Cadila also plans to develop more vaccines against bacterial, viral and protozoal infections at its vaccine technology centre, it said in the statement. At 11:32 a.m., shares of Cadila Healthcare were trading at Rs586, up 1.97% in a flat Mumbai market. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 12:10 am Touchy, feely, tweety| The playcast 2.0Given all that has happened in the world of cricket and the controversy surrounding Lalit Modi, the team behind Livemint’s tech podcast, ‘the playcast’, has decided to completely restructure the format of the show in the interest of greater credibility and trustworthiness. For one, the show will now have three hosts instead of the usual two. Samanth Subramanian joins Sidin Vadukut and Krish Raghav in a new ‘panel’ format that will, (in their own words) ‘intelligently and sophisticatedly’ discuss new and interesting tech, gadgets and other geeky and time-passy topics. Secondly, the format of the show will now include two or three wider ‘general’ topics that will be discussed by all three hosts, followed by a segment in which the panelists will each bring up one topic of personal interest. This week, we begin by examining the influx of sub 10,000 rupee touch phones in the Indian market this year. LG’s “Cookie Pep”, and Samsung’s “Corby” have been doing exceptionally well for their respective companies, with Samsung announcing that touch screen phones now constitute about 15% of their overall mobile sales in India. There are also a number of smaller players introducing touch screen phones. But how good ARE these touch screen phones? In their rush to introduce low-end touch screen models to the market, are mobile phone companies jumping on the touch screen bandwagon before they are ready to do it? We then move on to Sachin Tendulkar’s debut on Twitter. Twitter tracking site “Twitter counter” indicates that Tendulkar is adding followers at the rate of 1 every 6 seconds, (an admirable feat for someone who has tweeted just 22 times) and may be set to overtake Twitter heavyweight Ashton Kutcher very very shortly. But what can we expect to see from Tendulkar on Twitter? Why has he not been discouraged from joining the service in the wake of the Modi- Tharoor controversy? What is his mysterious link to Atul Kasbekar? Kicking off our three ‘shorter’ segments, we have Krish Raghav talk about the “HP Swing”, a mysterious phallic device that claims to be a motion-sensing game controller’.  The mysterious phallic shaped HP Swing The Playcast team would love to get feedback on its new avatar. Also if you would like our ‘expert’ panel to talk about, break apart or decode any tech related issue, write in to us at sidin.v@livemint.com, or leave us a comment on our twitter account (@livemint) and/or on our blog “http://blog.livemint.com/play-things Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 May 2010 | 12:10 am Day Trading GuideFresh short position can be initiated if the stock fails to exceed Rs 926 with tightSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 May 2010 | 12:00 am Growth in key markets lifts Ranbaxy Q4 net to Rs 931 crRanbaxy Laboratories Ltd has reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 931 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 as against a loss of Rs 26.2 crore in the previous quarter last year. Consolidated net sales were at Rs 2,490 crore, a growth ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 May 2010 | 12:00 am Watch out, volatility index is on the riseIndia VIX or volatility index has been rising since start of May and currently ruling near its three-month high level. This clearly reflects the nervousness and fear among traders. NSE's volatility index captures the expected movement - upside orSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 May 2010 | 12:00 am Glenmark settles up with Merck for ZetiaDrug-maker Glenmark is set to benefit from the settlement of its patent litigation with Merck on ezetimibe, the cholesterol-modifying drug sold by the latter asSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 May 2010 | 12:00 am Kotak Mahindra Bank Q4 net profit zoomsKotak Mahindra Bank's net profit zoomed 97 per cent to touch Rs 203 crore for the March 2010 ended quarter, from Rs 103 crore in the corresponding quarter lastSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 May 2010 | 12:00 am TRAI wants 2G spectrum price pegged to 3GThe Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Tuesday dealt a Rs 35,000-crore blow to existing GSM players by recommending that they be asked to pay a one-time fee for 2G spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz. The fee to be paid will be calculated on a pro-rataSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 May 2010 | 12:00 am One-time levy to hurt Bharti the most; RCom, Tata Tele to be impacted lessAmong the telecom regulator's (TRAI) recommendations, two key points hold important immediate financial implications for telecom players. The first – levy of a one-time charge on excess spectrum (licensed airwaves) held by mobile operatorsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 May 2010 | 12:00 am Idea Cellular (Rs 59.7): SellWe recommend a sell in the stock of Idea Cellular from a short-term trading perspective. The stock has been on a short-term downtrend since it encountered resistance at Rs 69 in late March 2010. While trending down, the stock conclusivelySource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 May 2010 | 12:00 am BT waiting for Satyam merger to exit Tech MahindraTelecom conglomerate BT may wait for Tech Mahindra to merge with Mahindra Satyam before it offloads a large portion of its stake in the Mumbai headquarteredSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 May 2010 | 12:00 am Crunch time in UK as Brown offers to resignUncertainty alongside electoral reforms that would benefit their party in the long term, versus certainty but no guarantee of those changes – that is the choice facing Mr Nick Clegg, the leader of Britain's Liberal Democrat party after theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 12 May 2010 | 12:00 am A major power upA new emission norm calls for a new engine for the Jetta. And the new engine brings along better performance, great handling, a smooth drive and swanky exteriors.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 May 2010 | 11:48 pm Sensex erases early gains on profit sellingErasing early gains, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by 113 points at mid-session on Wednesday on emergence of profit booking.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 May 2010 | 11:42 pm Two strokes fight fourIt’s only when a motorcycle from the past jostles with a modern one that you realise how rapidly biking is advancing.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 May 2010 | 11:21 pm The gull has landedLong stretches of sweeping corners, tight twisting bits and even patches of poorly laid roads — the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and me fly over everything.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 May 2010 | 11:17 pm Justice Kapadia sworn in as Chief Justice of IndiaNew Delhi: Justice S H Kapadia, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, was today sworn in as the 38th Chief Justice of India by President Pratibha Patil. The swearing-in of 62-year-old Justice Kapadia at Rashtrapati Bhawan was attended among others by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his cabinet colleagues, outgoing Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and other dignitaries. Justice Kapadia, who wants all judges to keep themselves abreast with commercial laws, would remain at the helm of Indian Judiciary till 29 September, 2012. He was associated with a historical judgement in which a five-judge Constitutional Bench had held that the law put in the Ninth Schedule was open for judicial review. Justice Kapadia’s deep knowledge on wide ranging issues, particularly tax laws, has earned him accolades from the bench and the bar in equal measure. The judge, who is known for maintaining strict judicial discipline, assumes the office at a crucial time when Indian judiciary is hit by a corruption controversy and perceived failure of in-house mechanism on appointment and elevation of judges. For the judge, who during his tenure in the apex court since 18 December, 2003 has been associated with 771 judgements, his 28-month term as the CJI would be a challenging one against the backdrop of the need to reducing the mounting pendency of the cases not only in the top court but in high courts and trial courts. However, the real test for Justice Kapadia would be to take a stand on whether or not the office of CJI comes under the ambit of the Right to Information Act as Justice Balakrishnan had consistently maintained that it has to be kept out of the purview of RTI. The issue assumes importance as the Delhi high court had dismissed the stand of Justice Balakrishnan after which the Supreme Court Registry appealed to the apex court. In a letter to former Supreme Court Judge V R Krishna Iyer on 3 May, Justice Kapadia had said the only asset he possesses is integrity and hoped to fulfil the Constitutional obligations to achieve the goal of “inclusive growth.” “I come from a poor family. I started my career as a class IV employee and the only asset I possess is integrity”, he had said. Justice Kapadia had said, “Even as a judge of the Supreme Court, I have used my knowledge of accounts and economics for the welfare of the downtrodden including tribals and workmen... ”... I hope to fulfil my obligation to the Constitution in the matter of achieving the goal of inclusive growth”, he had said in his letter, replying to a congratulatory message from Justice Iyer following his new appointment as CJI. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 May 2010 | 11:04 pm China Mobile interested in bringing Apple iPad to ChinaChina Mobile, China's dominant mobile carrier, is interested in selling Apple's iPad tablet computer in China, the company's chairman said.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 May 2010 | 11:01 pm MS loses as Toronto firm wins claim over Word patentRuling against Microsoft, the US Patent and Trademark Office confirmed a patent held by Toronto-based i4i Inc. The tiny Canadian company had taken the software giant to court in 2007 over violations of its patent in Word applications and won the case and got $290 million in damages last December.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 May 2010 | 10:25 pm Rupee gains 12 paise against dollar in early tradeThe Indian rupee appreciated by 12 paise to 45.18 a dollar in early trade today on the back of fresh capital inflows by foreign funds.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 May 2010 | 10:24 pm Film world masses for topical Cannes festCannes: Stars, fans and industry suits massed in the palm-lined city of Cannes for Wednesday’s launch of its glitzy film festival, a mix of big-money and arthouse with a heavy topical tone this year. As rain clouds gave way to bright sunshine, celebrity-spotters set up deck-chairs opposite the waterfront palace, the main hub of a festival which this year will probe subjects such as the financial crisis and the Iraq war. Diggers shifted sand on the beach where industry reps set up tents to flog their films and workers prepared the palace steps to roll out the red carpet for the likes of Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. The two star actors of “Robin Hood”, which starts the 63rd festival Wednesday night, are among forces summoned to draw financial clout for the huge film fair, though critics judged this year’s line-up less A-list than usual. Instead, besides “Robin Hood” and Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street 2” which screen out of competition, major arthouse and independent names dominate the billing, such as Iran’s Abbas Kiarostami and Britain’s Ken Loach. Loach, who scooped the Golden Palm top prize at Cannes in 2006, made a late entry on Monday into this year’s race with “Route Irish”, a movie about security contractors in the Iraq war. The only US film in competition for the Palm this year, “Fair Game” by “The Bourne Identity” director Doug Liman, looks at the former US government’s bid to smear CIA agent Valerie Plame during the fallout from the invasion. Out of competition, American Charles Ferguson examines the financial meltdown in his documentary “Inside Job”. He made his mark in 2007 with “No End In Sight”, a scathing post-mortem of the US occupation of Iraq. Among offerings from Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe, several others take on big topical themes — not least Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”, which sees Michael Douglas reprise his 1987 role as corporate raider Gordon Gekko. “Cleveland vs. Wall Street”, a documentary by Swiss film maker Jean-Stephane Bron, meanwhile stages a mock trial in which victims of the US subprime crisis confront bankers and mortgage brokers. Kiarostami — considered one of the world’s finest directors — presents his first film made outside his native Iran, where censorship has curbed his success. “Certified Copy” stars French actress Juliette Binoche and was shot in Italy. Cannes 2010 will see premieres of films by Mexico’s Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Japan’s Takeshi Kitano. US comic film-maker Woody Allen, 74, and New Wave icon Jean-Luc Godard, 79, add to the largely veteran line-up. Critics have noted the lack of women directors. “I think that’s a pity,” said British actress Kristin Scott Thomas, host of Wednesday’s gala opening. But she added: “You don’t choose a film because it’s made by a woman, you choose it because it’s good.” In the race for the Palm award on 23 May, Asia has a strong showing, with two entries from South Korea — “Poetry” by Lee Chang-dong and Im Sang-soo’s “The Housemaid”. China and Thailand are also represented. “The Cannes film festival is about big-budget films but also remarkable films made in different political regimes by film-makers with little resources,” Scott Thomas told AFP on Tuesday. The prestigious Directors’ Fortnight sidebar competition promises some lively fare, with documentaries on disabled Congolese street musicians and ageing rockers The Rolling Stones — both groups due to make an appearance. Around 10,000 movie industry types, 4,500 press and thousands of film lovers and celebrity watchers are due at the festival, whose heady cocktail of commerce, glamour and art makes it the top film event of the year. A volcanic ash cloud that threatened to keep visitors away appeared to have passed over by Tuesday after disrupting flights at nearby Nice airport. Cannes had also recovered from a freak storm last week that lashed the beachfront. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 May 2010 | 10:14 pm Sensex makes unsteady startA benchmark index for Indian equities on Wednesday was slightly up than its previous close in early trade.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 May 2010 | 10:03 pm Intel CEO confident of return to sales, PC growthSanta Clara, California: Intel Corp expects to double its earnings growth in the next few years and on late Tuesday night raised its long-term margin outlook, as the world’s top microchip maker spreads its chips beyond PCs to gadgets like smartphones and televisions. Chief executive Paul Otellini told investors on Tuesday that Intel is eager to establish a footprint in fast-growing — but intensely competitive — markets, diversifying beyond a PC market it now dominates. “We are poised to take smart computing into whole new segments where it hasn’t been before,” Otellini said at the company’s annual investor meeting at Intel’s Santa Clara, California, headquarters. The company also said it remains “highly confident” that it will achieve its financial goals for the current quarter despite rising concerns about European economies amid Greece’s financial crisis. Otellini said on Tuesday he sees annual revenue and earnings growth reaching the low double-digit percentages over the next few years after shrinking in 2009, a year that marked the worst economic and tech spending downturn in decades. He noted that the compound annual growth rate of its earnings per share during the past five years was roughly half of the low double-digit growth rate that the company is now expecting. “So we’re essentially committing to forecasting to double the growth rate of earnings, and double-digit growth rate on revenue for the company as a result of all these initiatives,” Otellini said. Intel said it now viewed its “normal” gross margin target level for the next few years to be within the range of 55 to 65% of revenue. Intel had previously defined a range of 50 to 60% as its typical range, though it delivered a 63.4% gross margin in the first quarter. Intel, which makes the microprocessors used in more than three-quarters of the world’s PCs, gave investors a bullish assessment for the PC market in coming years, even as consumers increasingly snap up new breeds of gadgets like Web-connected smartphones and tablets like Apple Inc’s recently released iPad. Tablet Erosion? Otellini said he does not expect tablets to eat into sales of PCs. Including tablets, Otellini expects the PC market — now led by Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc and Acer Inc globally — to grow between 15% and 16% during the next four years. “My personal belief is that tablets, like netbooks, are additive,” Otellini said. “I don’t think that they will take market share away from other devices.” Unlike in the PC market, where Intel’s microprocessors are dominant, the mobile device market is crowded with strong competitors like Texas Instruments Inc and Qualcomm Inc, which make chips based on ARM Holdings Plc designs and architecture. Intel has developed the new Atom processor in recent years to compete in the mobile market. To date, Intel’s Atom has been widely adopted in no-frills netbook PCs but has yet to gain favor among phone-makers. This month, Intel began shipping a version of the Atom that is more power-efficient and — according to the company — better suited to smartphones, though the company has not yet announced any customers for the chip. Intel executives said the new Atom chip would be shipped in tablet PCs before making it onto smartphones. They added that the chip would now be compatible with Google’s Android operating system software, which is fast expanding its market share. Executives also hinted at a new line of consumer retail products based on Intel silicon that will bring interactive capabilities to televisions and set-top boxes. “We are gearing up for a massive, major retail launch for later this year,” said Eric Kim, senior vice president of Intel Architecture. He would not elaborate. According to media reports earlier this year, Intel is working with Google and Sony to develop a new generation of TV set-top boxes. Intel’s Kim told analysts at Tuesday’s meeting he would not address those reports. Shares in Intel slid 1.2% on Tuesday. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 May 2010 | 9:55 pm Intel CEO confident of return to sales, PC growthSanta Clara, California: Intel Corp expects to double its earnings growth in the next few years and on late Tuesday night raised its long-term margin outlook, as the world’s top microchip maker spreads its chips beyond PCs to gadgets like smartphones and televisions. Chief executive Paul Otellini told investors on Tuesday that Intel is eager to establish a footprint in fast-growing — but intensely competitive — markets, diversifying beyond a PC market it now dominates. “We are poised to take smart computing into whole new segments where it hasn’t been before,” Otellini said at the company’s annual investor meeting at Intel’s Santa Clara, California, headquarters. The company also said it remains “highly confident” that it will achieve its financial goals for the current quarter despite rising concerns about European economies amid Greece’s financial crisis. Otellini said on Tuesday he sees annual revenue and earnings growth reaching the low double-digit percentages over the next few years after shrinking in 2009, a year that marked the worst economic and tech spending downturn in decades. He noted that the compound annual growth rate of its earnings per share during the past five years was roughly half of the low double-digit growth rate that the company is now expecting. “So we’re essentially committing to forecasting to double the growth rate of earnings, and double-digit growth rate on revenue for the company as a result of all these initiatives,” Otellini said. Intel said it now viewed its “normal” gross margin target level for the next few years to be within the range of 55 to 65% of revenue. Intel had previously defined a range of 50 to 60% as its typical range, though it delivered a 63.4% gross margin in the first quarter. Intel, which makes the microprocessors used in more than three-quarters of the world’s PCs, gave investors a bullish assessment for the PC market in coming years, even as consumers increasingly snap up new breeds of gadgets like Web-connected smartphones and tablets like Apple Inc’s recently released iPad. Tablet Erosion? Otellini said he does not expect tablets to eat into sales of PCs. Including tablets, Otellini expects the PC market — now led by Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc and Acer Inc globally — to grow between 15% and 16% during the next four years. “My personal belief is that tablets, like netbooks, are additive,” Otellini said. “I don’t think that they will take market share away from other devices.” Unlike in the PC market, where Intel’s microprocessors are dominant, the mobile device market is crowded with strong competitors like Texas Instruments Inc and Qualcomm Inc, which make chips based on ARM Holdings Plc designs and architecture. Intel has developed the new Atom processor in recent years to compete in the mobile market. To date, Intel’s Atom has been widely adopted in no-frills netbook PCs but has yet to gain favor among phone-makers. This month, Intel began shipping a version of the Atom that is more power-efficient and — according to the company — better suited to smartphones, though the company has not yet announced any customers for the chip. Intel executives said the new Atom chip would be shipped in tablet PCs before making it onto smartphones. They added that the chip would now be compatible with Google’s Android operating system software, which is fast expanding its market share. Executives also hinted at a new line of consumer retail products based on Intel silicon that will bring interactive capabilities to televisions and set-top boxes. “We are gearing up for a massive, major retail launch for later this year,” said Eric Kim, senior vice president of Intel Architecture. He would not elaborate. According to media reports earlier this year, Intel is working with Google and Sony to develop a new generation of TV set-top boxes. Intel’s Kim told analysts at Tuesday’s meeting he would not address those reports. Shares in Intel slid 1.2% on Tuesday. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 11 May 2010 | 9:55 pm Wall St hires army of Washington insiders: studyWashington: Wall Street banks and allied interest groups have spent $600 million and hired 243 political insiders to represent their interests before Congress and US policymakers since early 2008, a study said on Tuesday. The labour-backed study, which tracks the lobbying and campaign spending of major banks from the 2008 government-brokered buyout of Bear Stearns to the Senate’s current financial reform debate, said Wall Street’s lobbyists include former top aides to Senate Democrats Harry Reid, Christopher Dodd, Charles Schumer and Tim Johnson. During the 2008 presidential race, securities and investment firms gave Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign nearly $14.9 million and Republican John McCain about $8.7 million, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Researchers found 28 former legislative directors and 33 former chiefs of staff among Wall Street’s army of lobbyists, as well as 54 former staffers to the House Financial Services Committee, the Senate Banking Committee or current members of those panels. Former aides to Republican Senator Richard Shelby and former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt have also been working to represent Wall Street’s interests, the study said. The list of lobbyists also includes former officials from the White House, Treasury Department and government agencies. “The big banks have employed an unrivaled network of in-house lobbying teams, hired guns, industry associations, front groups and behind-the-scenes influence peddlers,” said the authors of the 11-page study, titled: “Big Bank Takeover -- How Too-Big-To-Fail’s Army of Lobbyists Has Captured Wall Street.” The six biggest Wall Street institutions -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo -- have accounted for a disproportionate share of the lobbying and campaign activity. Interest groups such as the Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association, the American Bankers Association and the US Chamber of Commerce have also been at the forefront. The study was released by three left-leaning groups -- the Campaign for America’s Future, the Public Accountability Initiative and the Service Employees International Union, one of the largest US labour groups. The SEIU has spent $5.4 million lobbying Congress since the start of 2008, according to disclosure records filed with the Senate. The union has also donated $3.5 million to federal election campaigns since the start of the 2008 election cycle, the Center for Responsive Politics said. More than 95 percent of those donations went to Democratic candidates. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 11 May 2010 | 9:37 pm Greenhouse emission numbers out and we're clean compared to West - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 11 May 2010 | 7:01 pm Trai rings gains for new telcosThe Trai on Tuesday gave operators a huge reprieve by recommending that they pay market rates or a benchmark price linked to 3G auctions for all 2G spectrum holdings beyond 6.2 MHz.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 May 2010 | 2:08 pm Euphoria short-lived, sensex dips 189 pointsThe BSE index closed 189 points, or 1%, down at at 17,142 against a 561-point rally on Monday.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 May 2010 | 2:05 pm High 3G bids pull stocks downThe rising bids for 3G spectrum which has gone past Rs 56,000 crore on aggregate level by Tuesday evening is good news for the government that had estimated Rs 35,000 crore to come from this route.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 May 2010 | 2:03 pm From 'Do Not Call' to 'Do Call'Trai on Tuesday acknowledged the failure of its attempt to regulate unsolicited commercial calls (UCC) by issuing a consultation paper to explore the benefits of moving from a Do Not call Registry to a Do Call Registry.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 May 2010 | 2:02 pm Hindalco Q4 net increases 146%Hindalco Industries more than doubled its net profit during the quarter ended March 2010 to Rs 664 crore, against Rs 269 crore during the same period in 2009.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 11 May 2010 | 2:00 pm India rescues Japanese carmakersThe global meltdown may have left automobile companies battered but Japanese companies Toyota, Honda and Suzuki found growth solace in India. In 2009-10, this troika posted its highest growth in car sales here, even as sales fell in US and Europe. Sumant Banerji reports.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 11 May 2010 | 1:21 pm Beetle mania: The bug bites Indian deep pockets, price no barThe iconic Volkswagen Beetle has caught the imagination of well-heeled Indians who do not mind forking out a fortune to buy the bug. After all, it has a steep price tag of Rs 20.45 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). One could buy a Merc or the sporty BMW by throwing in few more lakhs.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 11 May 2010 | 12:42 pm Company law forum hits SC wallThe creation of a National Company Law Tribunal may be further delayed, as a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court today held several provisions of the Company Law Amendment Act of 2002 as unconstitutional.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 11 May 2010 | 12:40 pm New 2G norms to make Govt richer by rs 11,200 crOperators Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Aircel, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Idea Cellular might have to fork out over Rs 11,200 crore for having spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz, if the government accepts the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommendations.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 11 May 2010 | 12:39 pm Answer that callTake My Call is probably the most succinctly named service we’ve come across in recent times. It does exactly what its name suggests—it takes your mobile phone calls if you’re busy. For a price. Setting it up is simple. You call Take My Call’s customer care service at 011-47127998, and a “relationship manager”, who will handle all the specifics of your account, will be sent to meet you. The service requires a one-time activation fee of Rs1,000, which is non-refundable. On activation, within an hour, you’re given what is called a DID number, a dubious abbreviation whose expanded form even the company was not sure of. It’s a dedicated landline number for your account—every time you’re busy, or in a meeting, it requires you to divert calls from your mobile (after a few simple trawls through the “advanced settings” menu on your mobile) to this number. The Take My Call representatives answer all your phone calls, and send you an SMS with the details of each caller. The service is fairly reliable, and mostly accurate, although the use of flamboyant Tamil names resulted in some hilarious spelling mistakes. Calls cannot be filtered at their end in any way. That means the needless reminders to pay your bill and the important call from a supplier have the same significance. The service costs Rs499 a month, and is valid for 150 calls. Additional calls are charged at Rs2.99 per call. It’s an expensive solution for a simple problem when, by comparison, voice mail services on mobile service provider Vodafone cost Rs50 a month (valid for any number of calls) plus local call charges for checking your messages. If you believe that having a person, rather than a machine, answer your phone is a good idea, then by all means go ahead. Else, stick with the services your phone company offers. Take My Call works only between 8am and 8pm, so relying on the service for some transatlantic call diversion is not recommended. The service is currently only available in Delhi, but will soon expand to other cities. krish.r@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 11 May 2010 | 7:25 am Samsung to spend $20 billion on green energy, healthSeoul: South Korea’s largest business group Samsung announced plans Tuesday to invest $20.3 billion in healthcare and green energy over the next decade as it moves to diversify into new growth engines. Lee Kun-Hee, chairman of group flagship Samsung Electronics, said it was time to seize the opportunity created by worldwide spending on sustainable energy. The new plan “shows a shift in future business concepts to the environment, energy and health,” said spokesman Rhee In-Yong. Samsung said the new businesses are expected to create around 45,000 jobs and generate 50 trillion won in annual revenue for affiliate companies by 2020. It said its 23 trillion won ($20.3 billion) investment would focus on solar cells, rechargeable cells for hybrid electric vehicles, light emitting diode (LED) technologies, biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. The group accounts for 20% of the country’s exports. Samsung Electronics alone is the world’s largest maker of memory chips and flat screen televisions and the second largest mobile phone manufacturer. But Lee stressed the need to innovate when he returned as its chairman in March, almost two years after stepping down following a probe into his business dealings. “This is a time of real crisis. Global companies are crumbling. We don’t know what will happen to Samsung either,” he said at the time. “Within 10 years, all Samsung products may disappear. Now we have to start anew.” Samsung said the investment plan was agreed during a meeting Monday attended by Lee and heads of the group’s affiliate firms. “Governments around the world are now investing in green industries to address the issues of depleting energy resources and the protection of our planet’s environment,” Lee was quoted as telling the meeting. “When other global companies hesitate, we must move ahead decisively to take this opportunity, and this will also benefit the country’s economy.” Moody’s Economy.com economist Alaistair Chan said the government in Seoul seemed to be following up on a pledge to boost growth through green tech manufacturing and this was filtering into private investment decisions. “Given that Samsung is such a big player in electronics manufacturing it was highly likely that some sort of research and development initiative in terms of energy-efficient products would be enacted at some stage,” he told AFP. If Samsung could achieve innovations in biomedical research, “they could do well as all those baby boomers around the world reach retirement age and medical spending goes up”. Kim Woon-Ho, an analyst with Prudential Investment and Securities, said Lee had outlined “rice bowls” for the next generation. “The themes he has selected are all hot items whose growth potentials are all remarkable and I think he opted for the right direction,” Kim said. “Other South Korean groups have been talking loudly about their interest in next-generation industries. But this is the first time that a large-scale investment programme in those fields has been announced in concrete form.” The group said key investments include 6 trillion won to develop and manufacture solar cells; 5.4 trillion won in rechargeable cells for hybrid electric vehicles; 8.6 trillion won in LED technology for uses including backlit displays, lighting and car electronics; 2.1 trillion in biopharmaceuticals; and 1.2 trillion to develop and make electronic healthcare equipment. Samsung Electronics alone employs about 188,000 people in 185 offices across 65 countries. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 11 May 2010 | 5:02 am
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