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Tata Motors April global sales rises 53% to 77732 vehiclesThe Tata Motors Group global sales were 77,732 numbers in April 2010, a growth of 53% over April 2009.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 7:48 am Need to be prepared to see crude at $100/bbl: Mukesh AmbaniMukesh Ambani, owner of oil and petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries (RIL), sees prices of crude at over USD 100 a barrel. It will stay in the USD 80100 range and we need to be prepared for it.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 7:09 am Will import duty levy arrest falling sugar prices?While the government has hinted at reimposition of import duty to provide support to domestic realisations in sugar, the government has been collecting information about sugar production and observing the progress of cane planting. However, experts vary in opinion on whether or not import duty on the product should be levied.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 5:02 am Strides Arcolab inks licence, supply pact with PfizerStrides Arcolab has signed two licencing, supply agreements with Pfizer for 38 oncology products. In an interview to CNBCTV18, Arun Kumar of Strides Arcolab said the new territories agreement with Pfizer will be over USD 7 billion.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 4:54 am Advanta plans to raise Rs 510cr via mix of equity, warrantsUnited Phosphorusowned seed development company, Advanta India is planning to collect Rs 510 crore though a mix of equity and warrants, says its Managing Director VR Kaundinya.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 4:35 am Government may scale down tax relief proposed in Direct Tax Code draftThe final draft expected by June 15 may propose slapping 30% tax on any income above Rs 10 lakh per annum, according to sources.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 4:08 am Oil prices may rise to $100 a barrel: Mukesh - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 14 May 2010 | 4:03 am Aban\'s rev to be hit by USD 120m in FY11: An analysisAban Pearl, an offshore natural gas exploration rig, owned by Aban Offshore, India\'s largest oil rig company, sank off the coast of northeastern Venezuela. It was leased to Venezuela\'s National Oil Company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 3:54 am Govt to consult mobile operators on new feesThe telecommunications regulator earlier this week called for companies to pay a one-time fee for 2G radio-spectrum with high bandwidth they won several years ago, a move that will hit established operators and has seen their shares skidding.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 3:53 am Sensex slips below 17100; Tata Steel, SBI down - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 14 May 2010 | 3:47 am Oil prices may rise to $100 a barrel: Mukesh AmbaniCrude oil prices may soon rise to $100 a barrel due to increasing costs of exploration and production, and businesses should be prepared for higher energy prices than what they were used to in the last 20 years, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Friday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 3:45 am Tata Motors' global sales grow by 53 per cent in AprilAuto major Tata Motors said its global sales increased by 53 per cent in April to 77,732 units on robust demand from both commercial and passenger vehicles.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 3:41 am State Bank of India Q4 net profit at Rs18.67 billionSBI, the country's largest lender, on Friday reported March quarter net profit of Rs18.67 billion ($414 million).Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 3:40 am Nigeria, China sign $23 bn refinery dealAbuja: Nigeria and a Chinese state firm have signed a $23 billion deal to build three refineries and a petrochemical complex in Nigeria, a world’s major oil exporter, an official statement said Friday. Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited (CSCEC) signed the deal Thursday to jointly seek $23 billion in financing and credits from the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation and a consortium of Chinese banks for the projects. “NNPC aims to accelerate the construction of new refineries in Nigeria to stem the flood of imported refined products into the country, currently estimated at $10 billion,” an NNPC statement said. CSCEC wants to “expand its presence on the African continent and establish its footprint firmly in the Nigerian oil and gas landscape,” the statement said. The refineries are expected to add some 750,000 barrels per day capacity in Nigeria and position NNPC in the international trading of refined petroleum products, it said. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 14 May 2010 | 3:37 am Annual inflation dips to 9.59 percent in April - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 14 May 2010 | 3:33 am Gold too hot for Indian buyers, but some investingNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Gold imports by India, the world's biggest market for the precious metal, could drop for a third straight year in 2010 as record high prices scare off traditional buyers.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 3:31 am SBI Q4 profit weaker than expectedKOLKATA, India (Reuters) - State Bank of India posted a worst-than-expected fourth quarter profit, falling 32 percent as India's largest lender was hurt by a sharp rise in bad loan provisions.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 3:24 am BSE Sensex extends fall to 1 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex extended losses to 1 percent on Friday afternoon, with Reliance Industries and State Bank of India leading the fall, taking cues from weak European markets.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 3:24 am Oil falls towards $73 on high U.S. stocksLONDON (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil prices fell to a three-month low near $73 a barrel on Friday, dragged down by swollen U.S. crude inventories and concerns that the European debt crisis will curb future energy demand growth.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 3:24 am India's State Bank Q4 profit weaker than expected - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 14 May 2010 | 3:22 am Gold prices scare off Indian buyers - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 14 May 2010 | 3:20 am Crude price could touch 3-digits in near future: Mukesh Ambani'I believe the petrochemical industry should reinvest and we have to reset our thinking and must innovate to tackle these issues,' Reliance Industries chairman, Mukesh Ambani, said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 3:18 am Oil can rise to more than $100 per barrel: Mukesh AmbaniMumbai: Crude oil prices can rise to more than $100 a barrel due to sluggish refinery growth and high costs of new discoveries and production, the chairman of Indian energy major Reliance Industries said on Friday. “By most analyst accounts crude oil prices are well above the $70 mark and in the foreseeable future in the worst case we have to be prepared to again see a three-digit oil price,” Mukesh Ambani told a conference. “$80-$100 is a norm in this everchanging global dynamics and we have to reset our thinking rather hoping that oil prices will go back, and energy prices and feedstock prices will go back to what we were used to in the last two decades,” he said. US crude oil fell to a three-month low below $74 on Friday on concerns the European debt crisis would curb global growth and energy demand, while a stronger dollar shrank buying power for other currency holders. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 May 2010 | 3:10 am Ssangyong Motor up for sale, Mahindra eyes bidSEOUL/MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's top utility vehicle and tractor maker, Mahindra & Mahindra, is considering bidding for South Korea's Ssangyong Motor, sources with knowledge of the development said, in a deal reportedly worth up to $500 million.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 3:08 am Oil falls towards $73 on high U.S. stocksLondon: US crude oil prices fell to a three-month low near $73 a barrel on Friday, dragged down by swollen US crude inventories and concerns that the European debt crisis will curb future energy demand growth. Stockpiles of crude at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery hub for the US contract, have risen for the last eight weeks to a record 37 million barrels, pushing front-month US crude down relative to both more distant futures contracts and the alternative global crude benchmark, Brent. US crude for June delivery fell $1.25 to $73.15 a barrel by 2:24pm, the lowest price for a front-month contract since 12 February. ICE Brent futures also fell more than $1 on Friday and were down $1.33 at $78.78 a barrel by the same time. The spread between front-month US crude prices and longer-dated futures, known as the contango, is now near 15-month highs. The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is also near the deepest discount to Brent crude since February 2009. “The spectre of large crude oil inventories seems to be weighing on markets much more than before, and has been instrumental in pressuring prices, widening the contangos and contributing to Brent’s expanding premium over WTI,” said Edward Meir of MF Global. Concerns that rigorous fiscal tightening in Europe following the Greek debt crisis could imperil the still tentative economic recovery also weighed on prices, analysts said. The euro hit a 14-month low against the dollar on Friday, dampening European buying interest for dollar-denominated commodities such as oil. “The European debt crisis has made us question the growth outlook for the global economy and therefore fuel demand,” said Toby Hassall, an analyst at CWA Global Markets in Sydney. Earlier this week, the International Energy Agency trimmed its 2010 global oil demand forecast by 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.62 million bpd. It said the Greek debt crisis could dent oil consumption if it spreads to other countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy. But this contrasted with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and US government unit Energy Information Administration which both raised their estimates for world oil demand growth in 2010. Earlier this week, oil rose sharply following the announcement of a rescue package of almost $1 trillion, led by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for debt-laden European economies. At one point in Monday’s session oil was up more than $3 since the previous close at a high of $78.51 a barrel but the market has since reversed, falling in the three subsequent sessions and now on track to fall for a fourth. The market will later look to US economic indicators set to be published on Friday, including industrial production and retail sales for April in the world’s top energy consumer. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 May 2010 | 3:01 am India to listen to all operators on 2G policy-minIndia will listen to all mobile operators before finalising any increase in second-generation (2G) spectrum fee, the telecoms minister said on Friday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 3:00 am India's govt to consult mobile operators on new fees - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 14 May 2010 | 3:00 am Standard Chartered Files for Indian Listing - Wall Street Journal
Source: Business - Google News | 14 May 2010 | 2:58 am 'Poor' students may get education loan at 4 per cent interestGovernment is planning to provide education loans at four per cent interest rate to help students from weaker sections of society to pursue higher studies.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 2:57 am Govt to consult mobile operators on new feesNEW DELHI (Reuters) – The government will listen to mobile phone operators' concerns before finalising plans to slap new fees on second-generation spectrum, the telecoms minister said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 2:57 am INTERVIEW - Jindal Steel says Bolivia encashed $18 mln guaranteeNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Jindal Steel & Power on Friday said the Bolivian government has encashed its entire $18 million bank guarantee for the El Mutun project in violation of the contract.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 2:56 am Criminal probe targets 6 Wall Street firms: SourceUS prosecutors are conducting a broad criminal investigation of six major Wall Street banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc, to determine if they misled investors.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 2:52 am Air India to launch fifth daily flight from Bangalore to DelhiNational carrier Air India will introduce a new flight between Bangalore and Delhi from tomorrowSource: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 2:52 am FACTBOX - Austerity measures around eurozoneREUTERS - Portuguese leaders agreed new austerity measures on Thursday, joining a coordinated euro zone push that has so far calmed the markets' worst fears of a Greek-style debt crisis spreading.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 2:40 am Govt to consult mobile operators on new feesNew Delhi: The government will listen to mobile phone operators’ concerns before finalizing plans to slap new fees on second-generation spectrum, the telecom minister said on Friday. The telecom regulator earlier this week called for companies to pay a one-time fee for 2G radio-spectrum with high bandwidth they won several years ago, a move that will hit established operators and has seen their shares skidding. India’s leading mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel, which could face paying $1.4 billion if the new fees were adopted, has said the regulator’s proposals were “shocking, arbitrary and retrograde” and urged government to reject them. Bharti and others, including Vodafone Essar, are locked in a multi-billion dollar bidding war for 3G spectrum that has exceeded forecasts. “If necessary, patient hearing will be given to all stakeholders,” Union telecommunication minister Andimuthu Raja told reporters. Raja also said he expected the ongoing 3G spectrum auctions to conclude in the next few days. Bids for one set of nationwide third-generation (3G) mobile spectrum licences in India reached Rs15,000 crore ($3.33 billion) as of Thursday, an indication the government could earn revenue of more than Rs60,000 crore from the sale. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 May 2010 | 2:30 am Tata Motors April global sales rises 53% to 77732 vehicles - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 14 May 2010 | 2:27 am Inflation may not hit double digits now: Advisor"It is very very unlikely that inflation will go back to double digits. In June it might increase slightly due to base effect," said Kaushik Basu.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 2:24 am Drugmaker Strides in licensing pact with Pfizer for 38 drugsThe two companies had announced a similar deal in January 2010 to deliver 40 products for the US market, it said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 2:22 am Tata Motors April global sales rise 53%Global sales include that of Jaguar and Land Rover brands, which rose 61% in the month to 17,909 vehicles, the company said in a statement.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 2:21 am Gold too hot for Indian buyers, but some investingNew Delhi: Gold imports by India, the world’s biggest market for the precious metal, could drop for a third straight year in 2010 as record high prices scare off traditional buyers. Traders expect to spot the first sign of this trend at next week’s Hindu festival of Askhay Tritiya, when demand usually jumps because it is considered an auspicious time to buy jewellery and coins. “Forget buying for the festival, on the contrary people are selling,” said Suresh Hundia, president of the Bombay Bullion Association in India’s financial capital. “There is a queue of sellers.” Gold is up 12.6% so far this year to record levels on investors’ fears that a $1-trillion rescue package to prevent a Greek debt crisis from spreading to other euro zone states would eventually fail, or stoke inflation. On Friday the metal was heading for its fourth consecutive weekly rise, matching a run that ended in late November. Gold stood at $1,234.40 an ounce by 12.05 P.M., up $2.57 from New York’s Thursday notional close, but off Wednesday’s record of $1,248.15. Traders say many Indians are responding by buying smaller quantities to maintain the same expenditure, or recycling old jewellery. Those who can afford to spend more may wait for prices to stabilize before they buy. “Demand has turned to zero in the last four days,” Hundia added. “Last year for the festival about 12 tonnes was sold. If prices stay like this, there will be very little sold.” After Akshay Tritiya, demand may spurt only for the festivals of Ganesh Chaturthi in September and Dhanteras in November. “If prices stay like this, near all-time highs, physical demand could take a hit and a lot of scrap could start coming in. Imports for the full year could fall by 25-30%,” said Abhishek Raval, a precious metals manager at IndusInd Bank. Gold Becoming Investment, Not Just Jewellery In India, where gold has long been considered auspicious, the bulk of demand is for jewellery. But a small and growing number of investors is turning to gold to diversify portfolios and protect themselves against inflation, which has driven prices higher and crowded out jewellery buyers. “People are allocating 20 to 30% to gold in their portfolios,” said Haresh Acharya, director of Parker Bullion Pvt Ltd, a large wholesaler in the western industrial city of Ahmedabad, noting that wealthy investors were buying the metal. “The risks involved in the stock market and high inflation are making them allocate more to gold.” Gold as an investment is a relatively new asset class in India, where headline inflation soared to a 17-month high of 9.9% in March. Last year India’s demand for gold jewellery was 405.8 tonnes, while that for investment was at 74.2 tonnes, data from the World Gold Council shows. Rajan Mehta, director of Benchmark Asset Management Co Pvt Ltd in Mumbai, which started India’s first gold exchange-traded fund in 2007, said total gold under exchange traded funds could rise as much as 50% within a year from 10.063 tonnes now. “If you look at gold, the returns in the last few years have been very high,” he said. “There is more and more realisation that this is an asset class that will give good returns.” On the other hand, a Mumbai-based fund manager said gold was not a compelling buy, because apart from price fluctuations, it was subject to currency risk, as India is a big importer. Investment in gold still pales in comparison to household demand, which accounts for nearly three quarters of sales in India, and most Indians do not consider it an asset class in its own right, but as a store of wealth. “The majority of households that buy gold in India don’t do that to sell at a higher value necessarily. It becomes a form of savings,” said Rajeev Malik, economist at Macquarie Capital, Singapore. “The two are not as substitutable as elsewhere.” Indian jewellers saw brisk sales from January to April, when imports rose 74% to 126 tonnes from the same period a year ago as demand bounced back, after a dip last year when prices were high and the monsoon failed, hurting rural incomes. Food shortages following last year’s poor harvest touched off inflation, drawing investors to gold, even though it pays no dividends and can incur storage costs. “Prices are at unbelievable levels,” said Rajesh Mehta, chairman of Rajesh Exports Ltd, one of India’s top jewellery makers and exporters. Trade officials have their fingers crossed for good rains in the monsoon period from June to September, vital to boost incomes in the rural areas home to two-thirds of Indians. Normal rains are forecast but predictions can often go awry. “If the monsoon is bad, it will be a crisis. Sales will fall more than they did last year,” said Haresh Kewalramani, director of the Bombay Bullion Association. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 May 2010 | 2:14 am Venezuela keen to set up refineries with Indian cosVenezuela keen to set up refineries with Indian cosSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 2:01 am Wipro wins tech contracts from three statesWipro Ltd, India\'s No. 3 software services exporter, said on Thursday it had won deals from three state governments to build and manage information data centres.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 1:58 am Improved refining margins, KG basin gas output may boost RILMumbai: India’s most valuable company, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is expected to post higher revenue and profit for the quarter ended March, benefiting from improved crude refining margins and gas output from the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin. Net profit is likely to increase 31% from a year earlier to Rs5,078.17 crore in the January-March period, according to the average of estimates by seven brokerages polled by Mint. Revenue is estimated to more than double to Rs59,780 crore. The Mukesh Ambani-led company, which has interests in sectors as diverse as oil, yarn and organized retail, will announce its earnings on Friday. The company’s gross refining margin (GRM)—earnings from turning crude into a variety of fuels—in the March quarter is estimated at $8.13 a barrel, sustaining the company’s lead over the Asian benchmark Singapore GRM, which averaged $4.9 (around Rs361) per barrel in the same period. “Sequential improvement in global GRMs is expected to have an amplified effect on RIL’s GRMs and refining segment profitability..,” wrote Rohit Nagraj, an analyst for domestic brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd, in a 6 April research note.  Graphic: Paras Jain / Mint During the January-March quarter last year, RIL had neither started gas production nor was its 580,000-barrels-a-day Jamnagar refinery fully operational. In a 31 March note, Macquarie Research’s Jal Irani and Abhishek Agarwal wrote that they anticipate a strong March quarter for RIL “as it benefits from the upswing in GRMs” due to its refining facilities, which have doubled in capacity and improved quality of refining. The world’s largest refining complex in Jamnagar is capable of refining the lowest grades of crude to produce a high proportion of light and middle distillates such as diesel. On 13 April, rating agency Standard & Poor’s upgraded its outlook on the company from “negative” to “stable”, saying it reflected its “expectation of an improvement in RIL’s financial metrics”. The improvement over the past year is “sustainable”, it said. During Q4 of FY10, crude prices firmed in the range of $71-83 per barrel, after swinging from an all-time high of $147 a barrel in July 2008 to $30 levels by December of the same year. Still, the company’s shares underperformed the Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark Sensex index by 22% in the fiscal ended March—the first dip in five years and the largest this decade. Eroding refining margins and an ongoing legal tussle with an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group-owned company as well as with NTPC Ltd tempered investor sentiment. Anil Sharma and Ravikumar Adukia, analysts with Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd, said in a 5 April note that the stock slide followed “four straight years of outperformance ranging from 8% to 49% (an average of 26% for the last four years)”. RIL has been engaged in a nearly four-year-old legal fight with Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) controlled by Anil Ambani, the estranged younger brother of Mukesh Ambani, over 28 mmcmd of gas that RNRL wants from RIL’s KG D6 block at a price that is 44% lower than a government-set price. The Supreme Court verdict—one of the key overhangs on the share price last year—on the case is expected soon. Since the beginning of 2010, the company has seen two of its acquisition bids fail—for Netherlands-based LyondellBasell Industries AF, and debt-strapped Value Creation Inc. of Canada—but finally signed a joint venture in early April with Atlas Energy Inc. for the latter’s shale assets in a deal that will cost $5.2 billion. Macquarie’s Irani and Agarwal wrote in another 12 April note that the benefits to RIL from the large shale field, especially in a lucrative and nearby market like the US, could be substantial. “With RIL’s core existing refining business looking up...and incremental volume growth from the KG basin...,” they wrote, “we believe that the current transaction is the icing on the cake.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 May 2010 | 1:45 am Rupee weakens by 3 paise against dollar in early tradeThe rupee eased by 3 paise to 45.11 a dollar in early trade today on capital outflows by foreign funds from equities and the US currency's gain overseas.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 14 May 2010 | 1:26 am Larsen & Toubro bags highway order from NhaiThe engineering and construction firm said on Friday it had got an order from the National Highways Authority for a project whose estimated cost is Rs14.5 billion.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 1:24 am Six Wall Street firms face investigationWashington / New York: US prosecutors are conducting a broad criminal investigation of six major Wall Street banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Inc, to determine if they misled investors, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The others are Deutsche Bank AG, UBS AG, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc, the source said. The investigation, being conducted with the Securities and Exchange Commission, comes as Wall Street and major banks around the world are attracting scrutiny from regulators who are looking at transactions that occurred in the run-up to the subprime mortgage meltdown and financial crisis. The source said the investigation includes mortgage-bond deals, that it is in an early stage, and that it might not necessarily lead to criminal charges against all of the firms. The person spoke anonymously because the probe is ongoing. Separately, New York authorities opened an investigation into whether eight banks, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, misled rating agencies with regard to mortgage-derivative deals, a separate source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office served subpoenas on Wednesday to four US banks and four European lenders, the source said. Cuomo is also targeting Credit Agricole SA, Credit Suisse Groupe AG, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Merrill Lynch, now owned by Bank of America Corp, the second source said. The companies that rated the mortgage deals were McGraw-Hill Cos Inc’s Standard & Poor’s, Fitch Ratings, majority-owned by Fimalac, and Moody’s Investors Service, a unit of Moody’s Corp. The federal and state probes also come less than a month after the SEC charged Goldman Sachs with civil fraud in connection with its marketing of a subprime mortgage product. A federal criminal investigation of Goldman was first disclosed on 30 April, but it had not been previously known that other major Wall Street companies were under scrutiny as well. JPMorgan has not been contacted by the Department of Justice or any US attorney’s office on these matters and is unaware of any criminal investigation, a spokeswoman said. A spokesman for JPMorgan declined to comment on the SEC investigation. With regard to the Cuomo investigation, Citigroup spokesman Alex Samuelson said: “We are cooperating with the AG’s office.” On the criminal probe, Samuelson declined to comment and referred to the company’s most recent quarterly filing with regulators, which says the bank is cooperating with subpoenas and requests for information from the SEC and other government agencies regarding subprime and other matters. Credit Suisse spokeswoman Victoria Harmon said: “It is our practice to cooperate fully with regulatory authorities.” Morgan Stanley chief executive James Gorman said he had no knowledge of any such investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. A Credit Agricole official said it had received the Cuomo subpoena and was cooperating, but wouldn’t comment on the ongoing matter. Spokesmen for UBS and Deutsche Bank declined to comment. The other banks did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The Justice Department and the SEC declined comment. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 14 May 2010 | 1:16 am India to export sugar in 2010/11: Govt - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 14 May 2010 | 1:05 am Inflation cools to 9.59 pc in AprilInflation eased marginally to 9.59 per cent in April, but cost of some vegetables and metals remained high. The wholesale price-based inflation cooled from 9.90 per cent in March mainly on account of decline in prices of fruits, onions, wheat and cereals.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 14 May 2010 | 12:59 am Foreign investment in China up 25% in AprilBeijing: Foreign investment in China accelerated in April, suggesting growing interest in its rebounding economy, figures showed Friday. Foreign direct investment surged 24.7% in April from the same month last year to $7.35 billion, the said on its website. That was up from March’s 12.1% growth rate. FDI includes spending on factories, real estate and other assets but excludes investment in stocks and other financial instruments. The Cabinet said last month it will encourage foreign investment in high-tech and renewable energy industries but curb it in high-pollution industries or those where supply exceeds demand. China’s economic growth rose to 11.9% in the January to March quarter over the same period last year. But inflation, housing prices and bank lending also rose in April, prompting some analysts to worry about possible overheating. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 May 2010 | 12:59 am Oil can rise to more than $100 per barrel: AmbaniMUMBAI (Reuters) - Crude oil prices can rise to more than $100 a barrel due to sluggish refinery growth and high costs of new discoveries and production, the chairman of energy major Reliance Industries said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 12:58 am Inflation cools to 9.59% in AprilThe wholesale price-based inflation cooled from 9.90% in March mainly on account of decline in prices of fruits, onions, wheat and cereals.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 May 2010 | 12:55 am Inflation eases in AprilNew Delhi: India’s annual headline inflation in April eased in line with expectations, adding to the likelihood that the Reserve Bank will hold off on further monetary policy tightening ahead of a scheduled review in July. Wholesale prices rose 9.59% from a year earlier, data released on Friday showed, a tad above the median forecast for a 9.5% rise and compared with March’s pace of 9.9%. The data showed annual food inflation rose to 16.87% in April from 16.65% in the prior month. Fuel inflation eased to 12.55% in the same month from 12.7% in March. Manufacturing inflation cooled to 6.70% from 7.13% in March. Any rise in fuel prices runs the risk of stoking manufacturing inflation as companies may look to pass on any increase in their input cost, making inflation a more generalised phenomenon. The RBI, which has described inflation as ”worrisome”, has said manufacturing inflation would determine its future policy response. The bank raised key rates by a total of 50 basis points in two moves since March and analysts expect further tightening along the year. The central bank has not ruled out off-cycle policy action, but the possibility of any move before a scheduled July review has eased following a weaker-than-expected industrial data in March and uncertainties over euro zone debt problems. India’s five-year swap rate fell to a 5-½ months low of 6.47% on Thursday after central bank deputy governor Subir Gokarn reiterated that the RBI favours a gradual exit from loose monetary policy. Containing rising inflation has become a policy challenge in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy after China. Rapid economic growth is boosting consumer demand far ahead of what can be met by existing supply capacity. Rising cost pressures are dragging down the pace of manufacturing growth, the HSBC Markit Purchasing Managers Index in April has indicated. The RBI expects inflation to ease around mid-2010 and has forecast March 2011 WPI inflation of 5.5%. A strong rupee, which has appreciated over 13% since early March 2009 on capital inflows, is also seen helping in containing the crude import bill and thereby managing its impact on domestic inflation. However, any run up in global crude oil prices on the prospects of an improvement in the global economy has the potential of further widening India’s trade and current account deficits, which would be a negative for the rupee. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 May 2010 | 12:28 am Strides, Pfizer in agreement for 38 oncology drugsMumbai: Bangalore-based Strides Arcolab and the world’s largest drugmaker Pfizer Ltd have extended their partnership for generic drugs beyond the US market through a licensing and supply deal for 38 oncology products. Under the new agreement, Pfizer will commercialise the finished dosage products manufactured by Strides in the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Korea, Strides said in a statement, without disclosing financial details. The two companies had announced a similar deal in January 2010 to deliver 40 products for the US market. “The deal validates our strategic intent to be leader in the specific therapeutic segments like oncology,” Arun Kumar, group chief executive and vice chairman, Strides Arcolab, said in a statement. The first range of products under this agreement is expected to be commercialised in late 2010 or early 2011, it added. With these deals, the Strides-Pifzer collaboration now covers 45 generic products for key pharma markets globally, it added. The market size for these 45 products in the US and other covered geographies is about $18 billion. “The agreement with Strides reinforces our commitment towards the injectables market,” David Simmons, president and general manager, established products unit, Pfizer, said in a statement. In May 2009, Pfizer had signed licensing deals with Aurobindo Pharma Ltd and Claris Lifesciences Ltd that increased its generics portfolio by 60 products. At 11:32 a.m., shares of Strides Arcolab were trading at Rs343.75, up 0.07% while Pfizer shares were trading flat at Rs1,060 in a firm Mumbai market. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 May 2010 | 12:12 am Summary Box: Facebook rolls out security featuresUsers can request an alert when their account is accessed from a device they haven't used before. And when Facebook notices unusual activity, it requires users to answer some questions before the second login goes through. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 May 2010 | 12:05 am StanChart IDR issue opens on May 25The price of Standard Chartered PLC's Indian Depository Receipts (IDRs) will be fixed around the London stock price of the bank's stock, which currently hovers around £17 a share (RsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 14 May 2010 | 12:00 am Drug majors may get easier access to Japan's $60-b marketIn a big boost to drug majors such as Ranbaxy, Lupin and Zydus Cadila, Tokyo has given an in-principle nod to New Delhi's demand for according `national treatment' to Indian pharmaceutical companies on registration and approvals in Japan.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 14 May 2010 | 12:00 am Costlier vegetables drive up food inflation to 16.44%Food inflation bucked a two-week declining trend in late April as the food price index increased 16.44 per cent in week ended May 1, Government data released on Thursday showed. This was above the previous week's annual rise of 16.04 per cent,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 14 May 2010 | 12:00 am No shift from mutual funds to ULIPs?Ever since entry loads were abolished by the SEBI for mutual fund investments, there has been a perception that inflows intended for mutual funds were diverted to the unit linked insurance plans or ULIPs of insuranceSource: Business Line - Home Page | 14 May 2010 | 12:00 am Power Finance Corporation (Rs 289.1): BuyInvestors with short-term trading perspective can buy the stock of Power Finance Corporation. It is apparent from its charts that it has been on a long-term uptrend from its all-time low of Rs 86 in October 2008. Since then, the stock has beenSource: Business Line - Home Page | 14 May 2010 | 12:00 am SEs to open shop for Gold ETFs on Akshaya TritiyaStock exchanges are all geared up to snatch a few glitter from jewellers this Akshaya Tritiya. Both, BSE and NSE will keep the markets open from 9 am to 3.30 pm on Sunday for a special trading session in the seven Gold ETFs traded on theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 14 May 2010 | 12:00 am ‘Greece crisis will not impact RBI's pace of exit'The Greek debt crisis is unlikely to impact the Reserve Bank of India's pace of exit from the accommodative monetary policy, said Dr Subir Gokarn, Deputy Governor,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 14 May 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideNote: In a buy recommendation, the resistances would be the targets and the nearest support would be the stop loss; In a sell recommendation, the supports would be the targets and the nearest resistance would be the stop loss; The recommendationSource: Business Line - Home Page | 14 May 2010 | 12:00 am Kerala's rubber, cardamom growers on buying spreeIn the sun dappled plantation of rubber trees, the gleam of white is striking. Get a bit closer, you realise that the glint is coming off a large SUV, obviously foreignSource: Business Line - Home Page | 14 May 2010 | 12:00 am Power capacity addition may trip on Chinese gear issuesA high-level Government panel has warned of the possibility of an "energy security crisis" in the event of diplomatic differences with China arising in the future.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 14 May 2010 | 12:00 am Markets down 0.2%; Reliance, ICICI fallMumbai: Indian shares seesawed on Friday but were on course to notch their first weekly rise in three, with export-driven outsourcers climbing on robust results from Cisco CSCO.N and upbeat outlook from IBM. By 10:35am, the 30-share BSE index was up 0.23% at 17,306.30, taking gains so far this week to more than 3% Twenty-one of its components gained. The benchmark, which is down 0.9 percent so far this year, had started lower and initially fell as much as 0.4%. The 50-share NSE index .NSEI was up 0.1% at 5,184.60. “The market will trade sideways until we have positive news flow from the globe to boost investor confidence,” said K.K. Mital, head of portfolio management services at Globe Capital. IT bellwether Infosys Technologies rose 0.9%, while rivals Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro gained 1.4% and 0.4% respectively. The stocks were boosted after peers Cisco Systems Inc’s quarterly results topped Wall Street forecast as a global economic recovery encouraged companies to upgrade their networks, while IBM forecast roughly doubling its profit by 2015. Financials edged lower ahead of April inflation data due by 12:00pm. A Reuters poll of 21 economists showed the wholesale price index probably rose 9.5% in April from a year earlier. Private-sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank dropped 0.5% and 0.1% respectively. However, State Bank of India rose 0.5% ahead of its quarterly result. A Reuters poll showed the leading lender would likely report net profit rose 3% to Rs2,822 crore. Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp dropped 0.1%. Energy giant Reliance Industries which has the highest weight on the Sensex, was down 0.5% at Rs1,066.60. Metals makers edged lower as prices fell in Asia on investor worry about the economic health of the euro zone and China’s growth profile. Non-ferrous metals producer Sterlite Industries and aluminium maker Hindalco dropped 0.7% and 0.6% respectively. Tata Steel, the world’s eighth-largest steel maker by output, was down 1.4%. Bharti Airtel gained 2.8% after the leading mobile operator tumbled more than 12% over three sessions, on concerns about a proposal to impose new spectrum fee. In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers in a ratio of 1.1:1 on volume of 93 million shares. Aban Offshore fell as much as 20.2% after the oilfield services operator’s gas exploration rig sank in the Caribbean sea. The stock erased some of the losses and was down 16.4% at Rs850.35. Plethico Pharmaceuticals rose 2.9% to Rs375, after the maker of herbal and nutritional products said its net profit for the March quarter rose more than four Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 11:51 pm Mahindra to sell first Indian-made vehicle in US: reportNew Delhi: Auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra is set to become the first company to sell an Indian-made vehicle in the US market, a report said Friday. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra’s auto and farm-equipment operations, said the company would launch a compact diesel pickup truck in the United States by the end of the year. The 2.2-litre, four-cylinder vehicle will be assembled in India before being exported and is being promoted as a “no-nonsense” truck for work and play, Goenka said. He added that the model had been road-tested in line with US government requirements and should be certified by the US Environmental Protection Agency no later than July. The truck is currently sold in Europe, Africa and South America. For the first four months of this year, US sales of small pickups have been flat, but Mahindra expects growth in the compact-truck segment from 240,000 sold last year to at least 300,000 by 2011. Goenka said Mahindra expected to capture between five and seven percent of the market in its first year of full production. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 11:48 pm Rupee erases early losses, in tight rangeMumbai: The Indian rupee pulled back from early lows but was stuck in a tight range on Friday, as the euro stayed near 14-month trough against the dollar and a choppy stock market provided little direction. At 10:25am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs45.06/07 per dollar, after opening weaker at Rs45.21, and little changed from Thursday’s close of Rs45.08/09. The euro remained under pressure against the dollar on worries that rigorous fiscal tightening and austerity measures in Europe would hurt recovery efforts. The dollar index against six majors traded about 0.1% higher. “A weak euro triggered banks to go short on the rupee at the opening. But as sentiment calmed, some of these positions got unwinded,” said a senior trader with a foreign bank. “45.0 to 45.15 is the range is see for today,” he added. A choppy stock market kept sentiment cautious. The benchmark BSE share index turned positive after opening weaker, taking cues from other Asian markets. Foreign funds have so far in 2010 bought shares worth a net $6 billion, helping the rupee rise 3.2%. In 2009, the rupee had firmed 4.7% on record portfolio inflows of $17.5 billion. There was demand for dollar from refiners, traders said. Oil is India’s biggest import and refiners are the largest buyers of dollars in the local currency market. On the watchlist was inflation due around 12:00pm. A Reuters poll showed the wholesale price index probably rose an annual 9.5% in April, compared with 9.9 percent in March. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at Rs45.05/15, near the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX both traded at 45.0950 with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at $1 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 11:31 pm Sensex erases early losses, up 46 pointsSensex rose by over 46 points in early morning trade today on emergence of buying by funds at existing lower levels.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2010 | 11:18 pm Internet running out of addressesThe world will soon run out of Internet addresses as the number of devices connected to the Web explodes unless organisations move to a new Internet Protocol version, the head of the body that allocates IP addresses said.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 May 2010 | 11:09 pm Sensex slides, pressure on RIL, SBIA benchmark Indian equities index slid into the red in afternoon trade on Friday due to selling of heavyweights Reliance Industries and the State Bank of India.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 May 2010 | 11:02 pm 65,000 Android phones shipping every day: GoogleAt least 65,000 mobile phones powered by Google's Android operating system are being shipped every day, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said on Thursday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 May 2010 | 10:59 pm Obama says Indians buying more carsWashington: Visiting Buffalo in upstate New York, a city that has been badly hit by the current economic crisis, US President Barack Obama did not repeat his ‘Buffalo to Bangalore’ rhetoric but did say the act that Indians and Chinese are buying more cars would put a lot pressure on fossil fuel. Arguing in favour of public transportation system instead of depending on cars for commutation, Obama at a rally in Buffalo said mass transit system would be good for the environment. “Because one of the things, obviously, that we have to recognise is, is that no matter what we do, oil prices are going to be going up over the long term. I mean, year to year, they may vary. Sometimes it’s four bucks a gallon at the pump, sometimes it drops back down to two-and-a-half,” he noted. “You’re not always clear what’s going on, but the long-term trend is just because countries like China — they’re starting to buy cars and countries like India are starting to buy cars, and so the demand on petroleum and fossil fuels are going to be greater and greater — we’ve got to get a first-class transit system,” Obama said. “We don’t have one right now. We used to be at the top. Now you’ve got China — they’re building multiple high-speed rail lines all across the country, leaving us behind,” he said. “But it’s not just transit. It’s our ports, our airports, our sewer systems, our water systems. We’re going to figure out how do we make those kinds of long-term investments, but do so in a way that doesn’t increase our deficit, and that’s going to be a challenge, but I think it’s going to be a priority,” said the US President. About a year ago, Obama had raised the rhetoric of ‘Buffalo to Bangalore’ when on 4 May, 2009 he announced end to years of tax incentives to those US companies which create jobs overseas in places like Bangalore. “It’s a tax code that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York,” Obama had said as he announced end to years of tax incentives to those US companies which create jobs overseas. Instead the incentives would now go to those creating jobs inside the US, in places like the Buffalo city, he said. This was Obama’s first visit to Buffalo after he became the US President. Obama said the economist might have juggled with the figure to declare that recession has ended; and the stock market might have bounced back, but he believes that recession is far from over as still a lot of people are unemployed. “Economists have all kinds of fancy formulae and mathematical equations to measure the exact moment that the recession ended. It’s great that the stock market has bounced back, but if you’re still looking for a job out there, it’s still a recession. If you can’t pay your bills or your mortgage, it’s still a recession. No matter what the economists say, it’s not a real recovery until people feel it in their own lives, until Americans who want work can find it, and until families can afford to pay their bills and send their kids to college,” he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 10:53 pm Facebook adds security tools, holds privacy meetingWashington: Facebook has added new security tools to prevent hacking and held a staff meeting at its California headquarters amid a growing storm over privacy at the social network. The new security features, unveiled Thursday, include giving members the ability to approve which devices they commonly use to log on to Facebook — a home computer or a mobile phone, for example — through an “Account Settings” page. “Once you’ve done this, whenever someone logs in to your account from a device not on this list, we’ll ask the person to name the device,” Facebook software engineer Lev Popov said in a blog post. Facebook members would receive an email notification or a text message if someone tries to access their account from a device that has not been approved. “This notification will provide steps on how to reset your password and remove the device, so you can quickly secure your account if it’s being accessed from a device you don’t recognize,” Popov said. He said Facebook had also built in controls to “block suspicious logins before they happen” by asking for proof of identity, such as a birth date. The new security tools were unveiled as Facebook comes under fire from US privacy and consumer groups, lawmakers and the European Union over new features that critics claim compromise the privacy of its more than 400 million members. Amid the criticism, Facebook held a staff meeting at its Palo Alto offices to discuss its privacy strategy. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the meeting in a statement to several technology blogs but said details of the internal discussions would not be released. “We have an open culture and it should come as no surprise that we’re providing a forum for employees to ask questions on a topic that has received a lot of outside interest,” the spokesperson said. The new features introduced last month include the ability for partner websites to incorporate Facebook data, a move that would further expand the social network’s presence on the Internet. A European Union group slammed the recent changes this week, saying “it is unacceptable that the company fundamentally changed the default settings on its social-networking platform to the detriment of a user.” The EU group, known as the Article 29 Working Party, said user profile information “is limited to self-selected contacts” and any further access “should be an explicit choice of the user.” Last week, over a dozen US privacy and consumer protection groups filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission accusing Facebook of “unfair and deceptive” practices. “Facebook continues to manipulate the privacy settings of users and its own privacy policy so that it can take personal information provided by users for a limited purpose and make it widely available for commercial purposes,” they said. And four US senators, in a letter to Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg last month, said they worried that personal information about Facebook users is being made available to third party websites. The senators expressed concerns about privacy ramifications saying “Facebook now obligates users to make publicly available certain parts of their profile that were previously private.” Sharing personal information should be an “opt-in” procedure in which a user specifically gives permission for data to be shared, they said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 10:40 pm Facebook adds security tools, holds privacy meetingWashington: Facebook has added new security tools to prevent hacking and held a staff meeting at its California headquarters amid a growing storm over privacy at the social network. The new security features, unveiled Thursday, include giving members the ability to approve which devices they commonly use to log on to Facebook — a home computer or a mobile phone, for example — through an “Account Settings” page. “Once you’ve done this, whenever someone logs in to your account from a device not on this list, we’ll ask the person to name the device,” Facebook software engineer Lev Popov said in a blog post. Facebook members would receive an email notification or a text message if someone tries to access their account from a device that has not been approved. “This notification will provide steps on how to reset your password and remove the device, so you can quickly secure your account if it’s being accessed from a device you don’t recognize,” Popov said. He said Facebook had also built in controls to “block suspicious logins before they happen” by asking for proof of identity, such as a birth date. The new security tools were unveiled as Facebook comes under fire from US privacy and consumer groups, lawmakers and the European Union over new features that critics claim compromise the privacy of its more than 400 million members. Amid the criticism, Facebook held a staff meeting at its Palo Alto offices to discuss its privacy strategy. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the meeting in a statement to several technology blogs but said details of the internal discussions would not be released. “We have an open culture and it should come as no surprise that we’re providing a forum for employees to ask questions on a topic that has received a lot of outside interest,” the spokesperson said. The new features introduced last month include the ability for partner websites to incorporate Facebook data, a move that would further expand the social network’s presence on the Internet. A European Union group slammed the recent changes this week, saying “it is unacceptable that the company fundamentally changed the default settings on its social-networking platform to the detriment of a user.” The EU group, known as the Article 29 Working Party, said user profile information “is limited to self-selected contacts” and any further access “should be an explicit choice of the user.” Last week, over a dozen US privacy and consumer protection groups filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission accusing Facebook of “unfair and deceptive” practices. “Facebook continues to manipulate the privacy settings of users and its own privacy policy so that it can take personal information provided by users for a limited purpose and make it widely available for commercial purposes,” they said. And four US senators, in a letter to Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg last month, said they worried that personal information about Facebook users is being made available to third party websites. The senators expressed concerns about privacy ramifications saying “Facebook now obligates users to make publicly available certain parts of their profile that were previously private.” Sharing personal information should be an “opt-in” procedure in which a user specifically gives permission for data to be shared, they said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 10:40 pm Sensex 62 pts down in opening trade on profit-takingThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by nearly 62 points today, as funds and retail investors booked profits amid weak global markets.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2010 | 10:16 pm Govt will pay brokers to sell PSU sharesMumbai: In a bid to ensure higher retail participation in the share sales of public sector units (PSUs), the government has decided to offer commissions to brokers.  While the new rules for brokers’ commissions will start with the initial public offering, or IPO, of Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL) that hits the market on Thursday, the zero commission system for investment bankers will be scrapped by Coal India Ltd’s IPO, expected in July. “Retail participation has been poor in the past issues. We have decided to pay a commission of 35 basis points for retail and 15 basis points for HNIs (high networth individuals) to ensure higher participation,” said Sidhartha Pradhan, joint secretary in the disinvestment department in the ministry of finance. This means, for every Rs100 worth of allotment of shares to retail investors, a broker will get 35 paise. Retail response has been poor in the case of the past few large public issues of state-owned firms. While NTPC Ltd’s follow-on offer was barely 16% subscribed by retail investors, Rural Electrification Corp. Ltd gathered 25% subscription from them. The public issue of NMDC Ltd was 21% subscribed by retail buyers. Typically, 35% of a public float is kept for retail investors and another 15% for HNIs. The brokerage will be first paid by the appointed book running lead managers of public issues and on successful completion of the share sale the managers will be reimbursed by the government. Currently, the government does not bear the brokerage expenses incurred by the investment bankers who handle such issues. Expectedly, these bankers do not show much enthusiasm to sell shares to the retail investors through brokers. This should change once commissions are paid to brokers. “This will encourage brokers to sell IPOs of public sector companies,” said Girish Dev, executive director and chief executive, Networth Stock Broking Ltd, a Mumbai-based retail brokerage. “The lead managers typically pay between 10 and 20 paise for private issues. But on PSU issues, they pay nothing. Now the brokers will have an incentive to sell,” Dev said. The government wants to raise Rs40,000 crore through share sales in 7-8 state-owned firms in the current fiscal—the biggest and most ambitious target in the history of the disinvestment programme that started in 1992. After SJVNL, Engineers India Ltd will enter the market with a Rs1,100 crore public issue. “We will not have any issues in May. EIL will hit markets in June. This will be followed by Coal India in July, the largest ever float in the Indian capital market,” Pradhan said. According to him, Hindustan Copper Ltd, Steel Authority of India Ltd, Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd and Indian Oil Corp. Ltd have got cabinet approval for public issues this year. “There is a large pipeline of issues and it would have been difficult to work without incentives,” said Prashant Shetty, managing director, IDFC-SSKI Ltd, the bank handling the SJVNL IPO. Pradhan said the zero-fee system has been abolished as it is inconsistent with the contracts law. “A new bidding system with 70% emphasis on technical expertise and 30% on financial parameters will be in place, starting from the Coal India issue,” he added. Currently, the government selects investment bankers on the basis of financial bids. In almost all cases, the lowest bid quoted by the lead banker has been zero. This is because share sales of state-owned companies gives them access to people in government and boosts their image. Under the new norms, the lead banker will be judged on a scale of 1-100 on the basis of technical parameters such as past experience in handling public issues, research capabilities, distribution strength. Once the technically best equipped bankers are shortlisted, the lowest fee quoted would be shared equally by all investment bankers mandated to sell a particular issue. Atul Mehra, co-CEO, JM Financial Consultants Pvt. Ltd, said: “We would have been happier if it was based on 100% technical expertise. They have said, 70% technical and 30% financial, so the 30% pain remains.” Some brokers also said the changes may not be enough to push the issues to retail investors. Dinesh Thakkar, chairman and managing director, Angel Broking Ltd, is one of them. “The cost of selling shares to retail investors is very high. One needs at least 200 bps (commission) to create a dedicated sales channel. This doesn’t mean I am asking for so much commission. But with 35 bps, I will not be able to create or set up a dedicated sales team,” he said. He said he would not be able to increase the subscription substantially or even proportionately. “Brokers will be happy to make the additional commission with no extra efforts.” Raamdeo Agrawal, managing director of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, a listed brokerage, said the measures will help, but the key to the success of share sales of state-owned firms will be listing gains. “The government needs to offer huge discounts for retail investors if these moves have to bear fruit.” According to Agrawal, even a 50% discount for retail investor won’t be too much. anirudh.l@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 10:15 pm April wholesale inflation seen at 9.5%New Delhi: Wholesale price index probably rose 9.5% in April from a year earlier. forecasts from 21 economists ranged from +9.2% to +10.6%. The index rose an annual 9.90% in March, its highest in 17 months. Factors to watch: Focus will be on price pressures in manufacturing as this will determine the quantum of monetary tightening in coming months. Subir Gokarn, a deputy governor at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has said high manufacturing inflation would be considered for policy making as it was more worrisome than food prices. “Core inflation will be closely tracked as in recent months it has accelerated, though it remains below 5%. Rising core inflation suggests that demand conditions are improving and the pricing power has returned,” said Shubhada Rao, chief economist at Yes Bank. Market impact: Expectations for a rate increase by the central bank ahead of the next policy review in July have receded following the euro zone debt problems and shaky global sentiment. The RBI had twice raised policy rates in 2010, by a combined 50 basis points, to rein in inflation pressures as the economic growth picks up momentum. The yield on the most-traded 8.20% 2022 bond , which climbed to an 18-month-high of 8.32% on 16 April ahead of the last policy meeting, has since dropped 43 basis points in a relief rally, according to Reuters data. Traders say any policy tightening will be gradual as keeping market conditions calm is a priority for the central bank to help the government borrow Rs287 crore ($64 billion) in the six months through September. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 10:12 pm Aban Offshore rig sinks in Caribbean, no leaksCARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan natural gas exploration rig -- owned by Aban Offshore in alliance with Singapore-based Petromarine Energy Services Ltd -- sank in the Caribbean sea on Thursday, less than a month after a deadly explosion in the Gulf of Mexico destroyed a BP-owned oil rig and created a natural disaster.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 May 2010 | 10:05 pm Phone media brings news to Maoist heartlandRaipur: When Samir Xalxo has a story to tell he makes a phone call and within hours people across one of India’s least developed and most violent states will be able to catch up on the news. The system, developed by Microsoft Research India, allows trained amateur journalists in Chhattisgarh state to call their reports in to a central number where they are recorded and checked by moderators. A text message then goes out to everyone on the service’s contacts list and they can phone in to hear the story at normal phone charge costs — less than Rs5 (10 US cents). Such simple and cheap technology is a boon in Chhattisgarh, which is beset by an increasingly violent Maoist insurgency. State television and radio are the only sources of news and not widely trusted, literacy is low and many people are cut off from all communication except by mobile telephones or landlines. “We report on whatever affects ordinary people,” said Xalxo, one of 33 trained volunteers working unpaid for CGNet Swara (Chhattisgarh Net Voice). “We do not target the state government nor are we supporting the Maoists. We are interested in issues which are ignored by Chhattisgarh’s regular media,” the 32-year-old told AFP. One of the most active Swara journalists is Bhan Sahu, whose specialist subject is the plight of families rendered homeless by a dam in her home district of Rajnandgaon. “I am reporting on the dam on CGNet Swara and I will go from village to village to tell people the benefits of this service. People are listening. The word is spreading,” she said. Swara reporters are now teaching others because the technology is easy to use, said Bill Thies, one of the project designers working for Microsoft Research in India’s software hub of Bangalore. “We are trying to be creative,” said the 31-year-old Pennsylvanian. “People have the option to either listen to a news report or record one. Next we want the service to be free which will widen participation.” Thies and freelance journalist Shubhranshu Choudhary set up the service after training the reporters in February in Chhattisgarh, where most regions are affected by fighting between government troops and Maoist rebels. Indian laws do not permit private FM radio stations to broadcast news, and in many insurgency-riven states national broadcasters All India Radio and Doordarshan TV are seen as government propaganda tools. Since the new phone-news project was launched just a few months ago, 250 stories have been uploaded, and nearly 3,000 calls to hear them have been made. The languages used are Hindi and Gondi, an ancient tribal tongue which does not have a written script. Chhattisgarh’s bureaucracy appears wary of CGnet Swara and its use in the worst insurgency-hit areas such as Dantewada district, where 76 policemen were massacred by the left-wing rebels last month. “We cannot afford a loose cannon like this service in a state which is at war with insurgents,” a senior police officer in the state capital Raipur said on condition of anonymity. CGnet Swara’s “citizen journalists”, however, insist they are not part of the conflict in Chhattisgarh, where about 1,300 well-equipped insurgents are fighting security forces. “Whatever is happening in Dantewada (district) is because of a huge communication gap in the Maoist-held areas. If we had representatives there on the ground then we would know their problems, and solutions might come,” Xalxo said. Elisa Tinsley, a programme director with the International Center for Journalists who helped train the Swara reporters, said the Washington-based organisation wanted to help the service expand. “That means finding ways to overcome any financial and technical barriers that may exist (but) despite these barriers, the number of people using the new system continues to grow,” she said in an email to AFP. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 9:59 pm Twitter takes to the airwaves, at least in SpainMadrid: Just when you’ve learnt how to tweet on Twitter, it’s time for Twision. Twitter Television is the latest twist on the microblogging phenomenon to have captured people’s imagination, at least in Spain. Combining Twitter with TV, the new programme on the country’s Veo7 channel allows twitterers to interact with the presenters and their guests. Thousands of people have been logging in to post tweets, or messages, on any given subject which pop up in real time on the bottom of the TV screen during the hour-long weekly show. US-based Twitter itself said Twision appeared to be the first show of its kind in the world, although it has no official connection to the social networking site. “It’s not backed at all by Twitter, which is what makes the show even more compelling,” said Twitter’s vice president for communications, Sean Garrett. “Anyone can do something like this completely on their own with Twitter’s open and public network,” he told AFP. The programme also has recorded features and interviews, as well as the latest news on Internet technology and social networking sites. The first show in March included Spain’s NBA basketball star Rudy Fernandez, who answered questions in a “Twitentrevistado”, or Twinterview. Another programme focused on the newly launched iPad, and included an interview with a Spanish hacker based in Houston, Texas. The web version, at www.veo.es/twision, features a “Twitterulia” which shows tweets alongside the broadcast. Veo7’s director Melchor Moralles, one of the two hosts, said some 659,000 people had tuned in for at least part of the first show in March. Two months later, this had slumped to 350,000, although a repeat of the programme is shown the next day. The figures “prove that there is room for a programme like this,” Moralles said in a blog. “Twision is going to succeed, there’s no doubt.” But one analyst said he doubted the Veo7 show ever would catch on in the long-term. “Whenever a new technology comes along, older forms will try to interact with it,” said Joshua Benton of Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab. “There used to be a lot of TV shows about web sites. When television first came along, there were programmes that just showed radio disc jockeys playing records,” he told AFP. “I think it’s a natural thing for a television producer to want to bring the latest hot topic to his medium. But I wouldn’t say I’m optimistic about Twision lasting on air for 20 years.” Twitter itself, which has broadcast billions of tweets since its launch in 2006, last year signed what was described as a “lightweight, non-exclusive, agreement” with US TV producers to develop a show based on the social networking site. But Garrett said the reports “were exaggerated in the media.” “There was a passing thought, but then it was quickly agreed that there would be no reason for us to be involved in a ‘Twitter Show’ because media everywhere could do it on their own.” He said the Veo7 show “was brought up in our weekly all-employee meeting and everyone enjoyed hearing about it.” Twitter executives are “constantly surprised by how people use and integrate Twitter in creative ways,” he said. Tweets shown on the programme itself were largely enthusiastic. “What’s amusing is to see this live, and to try to follow 3,000 tweets there were tonight,” said one. “Thank you (to you and all the team) for doing something different and innovative,” said another. But at least one viewer was disappointed. “The only thing new is the format. In terms of the content, I don’t see anything different from conventional television,” Natalia, a 43-year-old teacher, told AFP. “In short, I think there are many programmes like this already on TV.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 9:56 pm Twitter takes to the airwaves, at least in SpainMadrid: Just when you’ve learnt how to tweet on Twitter, it’s time for Twision. Twitter Television is the latest twist on the microblogging phenomenon to have captured people’s imagination, at least in Spain. Combining Twitter with TV, the new programme on the country’s Veo7 channel allows twitterers to interact with the presenters and their guests. Thousands of people have been logging in to post tweets, or messages, on any given subject which pop up in real time on the bottom of the TV screen during the hour-long weekly show. US-based Twitter itself said Twision appeared to be the first show of its kind in the world, although it has no official connection to the social networking site. “It’s not backed at all by Twitter, which is what makes the show even more compelling,” said Twitter’s vice president for communications, Sean Garrett. “Anyone can do something like this completely on their own with Twitter’s open and public network,” he told AFP. The programme also has recorded features and interviews, as well as the latest news on Internet technology and social networking sites. The first show in March included Spain’s NBA basketball star Rudy Fernandez, who answered questions in a “Twitentrevistado”, or Twinterview. Another programme focused on the newly launched iPad, and included an interview with a Spanish hacker based in Houston, Texas. The web version, at www.veo.es/twision, features a “Twitterulia” which shows tweets alongside the broadcast. Veo7’s director Melchor Moralles, one of the two hosts, said some 659,000 people had tuned in for at least part of the first show in March. Two months later, this had slumped to 350,000, although a repeat of the programme is shown the next day. The figures “prove that there is room for a programme like this,” Moralles said in a blog. “Twision is going to succeed, there’s no doubt.” But one analyst said he doubted the Veo7 show ever would catch on in the long-term. “Whenever a new technology comes along, older forms will try to interact with it,” said Joshua Benton of Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab. “There used to be a lot of TV shows about web sites. When television first came along, there were programmes that just showed radio disc jockeys playing records,” he told AFP. “I think it’s a natural thing for a television producer to want to bring the latest hot topic to his medium. But I wouldn’t say I’m optimistic about Twision lasting on air for 20 years.” Twitter itself, which has broadcast billions of tweets since its launch in 2006, last year signed what was described as a “lightweight, non-exclusive, agreement” with US TV producers to develop a show based on the social networking site. But Garrett said the reports “were exaggerated in the media.” “There was a passing thought, but then it was quickly agreed that there would be no reason for us to be involved in a ‘Twitter Show’ because media everywhere could do it on their own.” He said the Veo7 show “was brought up in our weekly all-employee meeting and everyone enjoyed hearing about it.” Twitter executives are “constantly surprised by how people use and integrate Twitter in creative ways,” he said. Tweets shown on the programme itself were largely enthusiastic. “What’s amusing is to see this live, and to try to follow 3,000 tweets there were tonight,” said one. “Thank you (to you and all the team) for doing something different and innovative,” said another. But at least one viewer was disappointed. “The only thing new is the format. In terms of the content, I don’t see anything different from conventional television,” Natalia, a 43-year-old teacher, told AFP. “In short, I think there are many programmes like this already on TV.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 9:56 pm China gets big foothold in Canadian oil sectorThe Chinese got another major foothold in the Canadian energy market on Thursday with a billion-dollar cash deal with the energy major Penn West Energy Trust.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 May 2010 | 9:40 pm Asian stocks down on disappointing US jobs dataTokyo: Asian stock markets fell in early trading Friday as disappointing US jobs data sparked fresh concerns over a recovery in the world’s biggest economy. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average tumbled 170.73 points, or 1.6%, to 10,449.82. Among Japanese blue chips, Sony Corp. plunged 6.7% to ¥2,954 after its operating profit forecast fell short of economists’ expectations. Investors also dumped banking shares in Tokyo after the New York attorney general launched a probe into eight banks to determine whether they misled rating agencies about mortgage securities. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.5% to 1,686.37. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.9% at 4,638.30. China’s benchmark index in Shanghai slipped 0.6% to 2,694.63. Shares in Taiwan and Singapore also fell in early trading. Sentiment in Asia turned downbeat after a US Labor Department report Thursday showed US claims for jobless benefits were not falling fast enough to signal steady job growth. High unemployment remains a primary obstacle to a US economic recovery. The US government said first-time claims for jobless benefits dipped to 444,000 last week from an upwardly revised 448,000 the previous week the consensus in the markets was for a drop to 440,000. The disappointing job report triggered selling on Wall Street on Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 113.96 points, or 1.1%, to 10,782.95. In currencies, the dollar edged up to 92.80 yen in Tokyo from 92.75 yen in New York late Thursday. The euro stood at $1.2543 from $ 1.2519. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 9:37 pm UltraTech to buy 51% in Dubai cement firmMumbai: Aditya Birla Group, India’s largest cement maker, is set to acquire a 51% stake in Dubai-based Star Cement Co. Llc for an undisclosed sum, two people familiar with the development said. Star Cement owns cement plants in Dubai, Sudan, Bangladesh and Bahrain with a total capacity of 3.8 million tonnes. The $24.5 billion (Rs1.08 trillion) diversified Indian conglomerate with interests ranging from aluminium to mobile services will acquire majority control of the Dubai-based company through its cement company UltraTech Cement Ltd, which plans to absorb Grasim Industries Ltd’s cement business. The group is awaiting a court nod for the merger. Star Cement and UltraTech have agreed to enter into an agreement for the deal and lawyers are working on this, one of the two persons said. Officials of the Dubai firm did not respond to phone calls and email queries. The Birla group spokeswoman declined to comment on the development. The buy will allow the Kumar Mangalam Birla-controlled conglomerate to access growing markets in Bangladesh, Bahrain and Sudan. It will ferry clinker, the main raw material for making cement, from India, and grind it into the building material to sell in the UAE market. The Birla group recently hired Jose Domene, former chief executive officer who managed the international operations of Mexico-based Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V., to benchmark its Indian cement plants against international ones. “We want our cement companies to do things differently, benchmarked to global companies in energy savings, sourcing raw materials and marketing the product,” Santrupt Misra, a director of Birla Management Corp., the group’s apex think tank that decides on business strategies, told Mint over the phone last week. Shares of UltraTech on Tuesday closed 0.51% lower at Rs1,092.20 on the Bombay Stock Exchange in line with the benchmark index Sensex, which fell 0.31% to 17,690. Star Cement, a part of ETA group, one of Dubai’s largest conglomerates that has interests from real estate to trading, had wanted to expand its capacity to 8 million tonnes in three countries—Sudan, Bahrain and Bangladesh—in next five years. Currently, it has a 2.3 million tonne capacity through two plants in the UAE along with 0.4 million tonne in Bahrain and 0.6 million tonne in Bangladesh. The company’s bulk cement terminal in Sudan has a 0.5 million tonne capacity, according to the company’s website. The Indian cement industry is expected to see a lot of churn in 2010, with large firms losing market share to smaller regional companies and margins coming under pressure, Fitch Ratings India Pvt. Ltd said in a report in January 2010. Domestic cement makers are likely to add 50 million tonnes of manufacturing capacity this year and take the nation’s installed capacity to 300 mt, the report said. Analysts say a significant amount of the additional capacity will flow from factories located in southern India, owned by smaller firms with annual capacities of two-three million tonnes. Smaller companies will control at least 51% of the market by the end of 2010, up from 40% in March 2009, according to Fitch analyst Himanshu Nayyar. The Aditya Birla group has already announced that it will invest up to Rs16,000 crore in the cement business over the next five years to add 25 million tonnes of capacity and maintain its current market share of 19%. It is also merging UltraTech and Samruddhi, a newly created cement subsidiary, which will make the group’s cement company the largest cement producer in the whole country, with 49 million tonnes in capacity. ETA group which had interests in aviation in India recently sold its scheduled licence to the Chennai-based Sun Networks Ltd. It recently invested in Star Health Insurance. baiju.k@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 9:07 pm StanChart eyes rapid India growth through listingStandard Chartered hopes its upcoming India share sale to raise up to USD 750 million will boost growth in one of the British bank\'s fastest growing markets, its chief executive said on MondaySource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2010 | 5:36 pm IT Dept initiates search action against ParsvnathThe Income Tax Department sleuths have initiated search action against real estate company Parsvnath, reports CNBCTV18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 May 2010 | 5:15 pm Govt lays ground for Rs 50K crore push to infrastructure - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 13 May 2010 | 4:03 pm NSE arm offers algo trade toolAlgorithmic trading, the technology-driven mathematical model-based stock trading that currently accounts for about half the average daily turnover on some of the bourses in developed countries, is expected to gain momentum over the next few years.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2010 | 1:28 pm Microsoft brings latest Office 2010Promising its customers a unified productivity experience across personal computer, internet and smartphone, MS India launched the latest version of its productivity suit, Microsoft Office 2010, along with SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 for business customers on Thursday.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2010 | 1:26 pm Promoters' appetite for pledging shares increasesValue of stocks pledged twice of last years.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 13 May 2010 | 1:26 pm New Merc has an Indian touchThe new petrol version of Mercedes Benz C-class model comes with an Indian touch. The man who oversaw the introduction of state-of-the-art CGI technology is Bharat Balasubramanian, a Chennai-born IIT Mumbai alumnus.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2010 | 1:20 pm Asim Ghosh in talks to sell Vodafone stakeFormer managing director of Vodafone Essar, Asim Ghosh, is in talks with Max India founder and chairman Analjit Singh to sell his 2.39 per cent stake in the mobile phone operator.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 13 May 2010 | 1:15 pm Nissan to make India a hub for small carsIndia's strength in manufacturing world class compact cars and its cost-effectiveness in the production process, will help the country to be the hub of small cars for Japanese car major Nissan, feels the company's global COO Toshiyuki Shiga.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2010 | 1:13 pm Maruti helps vendors sort out HR issuesNew Delhi: The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, which had to put up with at least seven supply disruptions last year, has started working with vendors to help them improve their human resource (HR) policies and prevent labour strife. The company sources 92% of its components locally with most of its vendors located at Gurgaon and Manesar in Haryana, where its plants are located. Both auto component hubs saw strikes and go-slow agitations by workers last year seeking union representation and better wages. In April, a strike by workers at an Exide Industries Ltd unit at Bawal in Haryana resulted in Hero Honda Motors Ltd delaying dispatches. The company’s April sales fell 0.27% to 362,390 units. In October, a strike at Rico Auto Industries Ltd resulted in Ford Motor Co. shutting down a plant in Ontario, Canada, for a week due to a shortage of drive shafts. Maruti has traditionally worked with vendors to get them up to speed on parent Suzuki’s lean manufacturing and quality practices. “Last year, when we saw so many industrial relations issues cropping up, we realized this is also an area where we had to hand-hold our vendors,” said S. Maitra, executive director and managing executive officer, supply chain, at Maruti. Car sales in India rose 25% to 1,526,787 units last year. This rapid and sudden growth resulted in vendors having to ramp up quickly in order to meet demand as companies struggled to meet back orders. “This (human resources) was one area neglected by chief executives during the growth phase when we were more focused on meeting back orders, looking for new markets and so on,” said Surinder Kapur, chairman of the Sona Group, a key Maruti supplier. As a first step, Maruti asked all chief executives to communicate with workers directly and regularly. Most of the human resources problems cropping up were due to a lack of communication, according to the company. Maruti also suggested a solution for a persistent source of labour unhappiness. Unsure whether the sudden spurt in growth was permanent, vendors mostly hired temporary staff at the Rs4,200 minimum wage in Haryana and gave them no benefits. Meanwhile, these contract workers were put on jobs that were not temporary in nature. Discord would break out when new recruits were paid the same as contract workers who’d been doing the same job for several years, according to Maitra. Maruti asked vendors to put in place a hierarchy among contract workers similar to systems already in place for permanent staff. Vendors were also asked to give increments in a phased manner, given that most have the tendency to merely offer the minimum wage. Vendors have also started communicating with each other so that wage increases can be decided in line with each other. During the strikes last year, Maruti had, at times, placed its own personnel at vendor factories to make sure supply lines ran smoothly. In some cases, parts for the Swift were airlifted from Suzuki’s factories in China and Japan. Vendors are also being asked to resolve other potential areas of conflict. For instance, temporary workers are being given uniforms and the same canteen facilities as permanent workers. “On Maruti’s suggestion we are also introducing training programmes for contract workers,” said Nishant Arya, executive director of the JBM Group, which has 30 facilities across the country, and makes axles and exhaust systems for Maruti. “This year, the plan is to work one-to-one with certain vendors and extend this to our suppliers across the country,” said Maitra, who stresses the point that Maruti can’t afford a repeat of last year. For the time being, the firm has left the tricky issue of unionization to each vendor to tackle separately. samar.s@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 1:08 pm Govt plans Rs 50,000cr infra fundTo give a boost to investment in "troubled" infrastructure, the UPA government is considering setting up a Rs 50,000 crore infrastructure fund to support private sector investment in the sector.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2010 | 1:06 pm With economy soaring, people take to skies againThanks to the economic resurgence, domestic travellers are flying again. Last month saw 41.9 lakh people flying within the country, 24.7% higher than April 2009's figure of 33.6 lakh.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 13 May 2010 | 12:51 pm Microsoft unveils Office 2010New Delhi: Microsoft Corp on Thursday announced the India launch of its software Office 2010, which incorporates the popular Word, Excel and Powerpoint applications. While the products will be available to business users from Thursday, the retail (consumer) editions would be launched on 15 June this year. “The excitement in India for Office 2010 is very high. The beta version has seen over 1.3 million downloads and over 2,000 companies like TCS, Lowe Lintas, Virgin Mobile, Mindtree Consulting and Infosys are already moving to the latest version,” Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan told reporters here. He, however, declined to comment on sales targets. The company will also make available its Office Mobile 2010 on Windows 6.5 phones on Nokia smart phones, starting with the business range (E-series). While the professional version of the software would be available at Rs20,000, the consumer and SMB versions would be available at Rs5,000 and Rs10,000, respectively. “Existing corporates, under the service assurance programme, would be upgraded free of cost along with consumers who have bought previous Office versions before 15 March. Others would have to buy a new license,” he said. “Microsoft Office 2010 is designed to help professionals on the move so that business is not hampered while the executive is travelling and the communication is seamless,” Venkatesan said. The new edition of Microsoft Office 2010 has introduced many new features as well. For example, users can now embed videos in PowerPoint presentations, have voice-to-text conversion for voice mails on Outlook or see trends for a select set of information (and not the entire document). It also allows co-authoring of documents on different machines simultaneously, that is, different people can connect simultaneously view documents and make changes in real-time. Microsoft will also offer Office Web Applications, which allows users to access their documents over the ‘cloud´ while they are on the move. While it would be free for volume licensing customers (mostly enterprises), others can subscribe also to the service. With cloud computing, companies tap their data and applications over the Internet or Intranet instead of local servers, which reduces operating cost. Globally, over 8.6 million people are already using Office 2010. Currently, there are about 500 million licensed users of Microsoft Office. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 13 May 2010 | 8:27 am
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