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IDBI asks Kingfisher to repay Rs 900cr loanStaterun IDBI Bank has asked Kingfisher Airlines to repay loans worth Rs 900 crore after the latter failed to stick to its repayment scheduleSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 17 May 2010 | 5:43 am Founders offer to buy stake ABB via share buyPromoter of ABB Ltd on Monday offered to buy 48.51 million shares, or 22.89%, in the firm from shareholders at Rs 900, a 34% premium to Friday\'s closing price.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 17 May 2010 | 5:43 am Patni brothers to ink stake sale pact this week: SourcesThe Patni brothers are likely to sign an agreement to sell stake this week, reports CNBCTV18, quoting sources. The bids for the Patni stake are likely to open by next month. The brothers are seeking a sale price of Rs 650per share.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 17 May 2010 | 4:59 am Import duty on white sugar likely: Balrampur ChiniVivek Saraogi, Managing Director, Balrampur Chini Mills feels that import duty on white sugar is on the cards, but there is a low likelihood of import duty on raw sugar in sugar year 2010. It is logical for the government to go for import duty, he adds.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 17 May 2010 | 4:31 am ABB shares surge on voluntary open offer - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 17 May 2010 | 3:57 am Sensex above 16700; L&T, Bharti, HUL, Hindalco up - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 17 May 2010 | 3:51 am L&T Q4 net up 44% - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 17 May 2010 | 3:50 am Chana steady;guar falls on monsoon forecast - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 17 May 2010 | 3:43 am AI, Kingfisher cancel London-bound flightsAir India today cancelled two London-bound flights while Kingfisher cancelled all its flights to Heathrow after drifting volcanic ash from Iceland forced closure of two European airports.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 17 May 2010 | 3:41 am UK's Pru prices $21 bln cash call, woos investorsLONDON (Reuters) - British insurer Prudential launched its long-awaited $21 billion cash call and a delayed offensive to woo wary shareholders to back its takeover of rival AIG's Asian unit.Source: Reuters: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 3:35 am Tata Power to respond to Maha govt\'s letter todayThe Maharashtra State Load Dispatch Centre (MSLDC) has written to Tata Power regarding power supply in Mumbai, reports CNBCTV18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 17 May 2010 | 3:30 am Gold demand drops after Tritiya on record prices - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 17 May 2010 | 3:26 am China's growth passes peak and more tightening fearedBEIJING (Reuters) - A leading Chinese economic indicator showed that growth may have already peaked in the world's third-largest economy with the stock market falling on investor worries about the government's campaign to rein in property prices.Source: Reuters: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 3:25 am ANALYSIS - Goldman eyes redemption road, despite potholesNEW YORK (Reuters) - The rest of Wall Street's pain is Goldman Sachs Group Inc's gain, but Wall Street's dominant firm is not off the hook just yet.Source: Reuters: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 3:22 am Hyundai to launch one new car model in India every year - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 17 May 2010 | 3:21 am Monsoon reaches Andaman islands - Met office - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 17 May 2010 | 3:17 am L&T Q4 net beats forecast, shares rallyMUMBAI (Reuters) - Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro beat forecast with a 44 percent jump in quarterly profit and said its large order book would boost growth in the medium term, sending its shares up in a weak market.Source: Reuters: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 3:16 am ABB aims to raise Indian unit stake to 75 pctZURICH (Reuters) - ABB plans to raise its stake in its Indian subsidiary in a deal worth up to $965 million, a move that would strengthen its position in the fast-growing Indian market.Source: Reuters: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 3:15 am GAIL India March qtr net profit rises 45 pct(versus the same period a year earlier, in billion rupees unless stated)Source: Reuters: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 3:10 am Volcanic ash grounds 1,000 European flightsLONDON (Reuters) - Volcanic ash from Iceland caused widespread disruption at airports in Britain and other parts of northern Europe on Monday, grounding 1,000 flights and delaying hundreds of thousands of passengers, aviation officials said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 3:08 am Monsoon reaches Andaman islands - Met officeNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Monsoon rains, vital for farm output in India's trillion-dollar economy, have reached the Andaman and Nicobar islands, the first landmark in its four-month journey across the subcontinent, a senior weather official told Reuters on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 2:58 am Indian shares under pressure amid depressed global cuesIndian equities markets continued to be depressed in afternoon trade on Monday, after falling sharply in the morning, taking cues from a global sell-off triggered by fears that the Euro zone financial woes could derail economic recovery.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 17 May 2010 | 2:54 am ABB aims to raise Indian unit stake to 75%Zurich: ABB plans to raise its stake in its Indian subsidiary in a deal worth up to $965 million, a move that would strengthen its position in the fast-growing Indian market. The seller of power equipment to utilities and oil and gas companies said on Monday it intended to raise its stake to 75% from 52% and offered shareholders Rs900 ($19.7) per share -- a premium of about 34% to Friday’s closing price. The news lifted shares in ABB Limited India, which rose 22.5%, but shares in ABB slipped 1.6% at 2.3o p.m., underperforming the STOXX 600 industrial goods and services index, and some analysts said the deal was rather pricey. “ABB pays 3 times sales for the increase in its stake in India, which is not cheap but probably justified by its growth potential,” Julius Baer said in a research note. The Swiss group tapped its war chest earlier this month to buy US software company Ventyx for over $1 billion, its first billion-dollar deal in more than 10 years and the first major buy under chief executive Joe Hogan. Analysts have been watching the company closely over recent years to see how it will deploy its cash pile of more than $7 billion. Vontobel analyst Fabian Haecki said ABB had a realistic chance of getting the shares tendered given the 34% premium and said the deal made sense. “We think that the Indian market is of great strategic importance for ABB given its superior secular growth potential,” Haecki said in a note. ABB India had revenue of $1.4 billion and profit before tax of $117 million in 2009, ABB said. The open offer will be managed by HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Private Limited. The offer is expected to begin on 8 July and end on 27 July, while payment for the shares is expected to take place on 10 August, ABB said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 May 2010 | 2:54 am India to add 20,359 MW of power in FY11Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of India's Planning Commission, told a news conference that the private sector would fund 40% of the 2007-12 infrastructure funding.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 2:52 am Sebi panel to discuss select MF products on 31 MayNew Delhi: A committee of market regulator Sebi will consider the issue of restricting mutual funds (MFs) from selling an equity product that involves betting on future prices. The Sebi Mutual Fund Advisory Committee is concerned that this is not mutual funds’ core activity and may take a decision on 31 May. Equity options is a derivative product where investors bet on future value of stocks or their indices and Sebi is against mutual funds getting into the hedging business, as it could suffer losses. In a letter sent to all fund houses recently, Sebi had sought proposals from asset management companies (AMCs), regarding selling of equity options and an increased disclosure of their investment in this segment, sources in fund houses said. Mutual funds have already submitted their view to Sebi and they may be reviewed at the Sebi’s Mutual Fund Advisory Committee meeting scheduled on 31 May. “MF industry body Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI) has already submitted its views in consultation with industry players. The proposal would be discussed on 31 May,” a Sebi source said on condition of anonymity. The market regulator on its part wants the fund houses to control the risk exposure and clearly demarcate their risky exposure, he added. Industry players said, “Sebi has been looking at ways and means of regulating distribution of MF products and also MFs investment in derivatives.” The steps are part of Sebi’s move to control the risk taken by MFs, analysts said. Selling an option usually involve huge losses as the underwriter gets exposed to unlimited risks when market becomes volatile or collapses or hits the upper circuit. “The objective of Sebi could be to ensure that MFs can hedge by buying options, but they should not underwrite the option as it is not the core business of MFs to take risk this way,” an analyst at a brokerage house said. In order to increase accountability on the part of fund houses, the market regulator had last week asked AMCs to disclose the details of investor complaints on websites, as well as in annual reports. Now all AMCs will have to put up the data for the bygone fiscal by 30 June 2010, and for each new fiscal within two month of the close of the fiscal year. In order to increase investor interest in MFs, the market regulator had last year abolished entry load and asked fund houses not to deduct marketing and distribution charges from the investment made by customers. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 17 May 2010 | 2:52 am Some countries should tighten 2010 spending: IMF spendingSome countries should tighten spending this year, but some, especially larger ones, can wait until 2011, Carlo Cottarelli, representative of the International Monetary Fund's fiscal affairs department, said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 2:48 am India physical gold sales dip; investment demand upMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's gold traders and retailers recorded sharp falls in the second-busiest gold buying day in the world's top market, in an indication demand may remain subdued this year if global prices continue to stay firm.Source: Reuters: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 2:47 am NTPC Q4 net profit falls 4.5 pctNEW DELHI (Reuters) - NTPC Ltd, India's top power producer, said on Monday its quarterly net profit fell 4.5 percent.Source: Reuters: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 2:41 am L&T Q4 net beats forecast, shares rallyMumbai: Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) beat forecast with a 44% jump in quarterly profit and said its large order book would boost growth in the medium term, sending its shares up in a weak stock market. At the end of March quarter the company’s order book stood at more than Rs1 lakh crore ($21.9 billion), the leading construction company said in a statement. L&T, which operates in industries as diverse as engineering, shipbuilding and software, has gained in the past few years from a building boom as India revamps airports, roads and expands industrial capacity. Net profit rose to Rs1,438 crore ($315 million) in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March from Rs999 crore a year ago. L&T’s shares, valued at $20.4 billion, rose as much as 2.9% after the results to Rs1,573.75, while the BSE index Sensex was down 1.4%. Net sales rose to Rs13,375 crore from Rs10,470 crore. A Reuters poll of 11 brokerages had estimated net profit of Rs1,190 crore on net sales of Rs12,990. Sizeable orders in its engineering and construction segment bolstered sales, the company said. Operating profit margins for the division, which contributes about 80% of revenue, rose 60 basis points to 13.6% in the year to March. Its order inflow for this segment rose 41% during the year to Rs63,900 crore, it said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 May 2010 | 2:39 am India to add 20359 MW of power in 2010-11 - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 17 May 2010 | 2:32 am Samsung doubles 2010 capex to record $16 billionSamsung said 2010 capex would rise to 18 trillion won ($15.93 billion) due to indications that global consumer electronics and IT industry markets were improving.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 2:31 am India to add 20,359 MW of power in 2010-11The Planning Commission on Monday set targets to augment the country's infrastructure this fiscal, including adding 20,359 MW of power generation capacity and 2,500 km of highways, its deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 17 May 2010 | 2:25 am Reliance Comm shares fall after qtrly results - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 17 May 2010 | 2:16 am Gold demand drops after festival on record pricesMumbai: India gold demand dwindled on Monday, a day after the biggest gold-buying festival as record high prices deterred buyers, dealers said. India’s gold traders and retailers said late Sunday they saw large falls in Akshaya Tritiya festival sales, in an indication demand may remain subdued through the rest of the year if global prices continue to stay firm. “There is no respite from high prices...these are straight reflections of a global trend but our physical market has to bear the brunt,” said aa dealer with a private bank. MCX gold for June delivery was trading 1.04% higher at Rs18,352 per 10 grams, after hitting a high of Rs18,424. International gold rose towards its record high on Monday as investors piled in, worried about Europe’s debt crisis and sovereign default in the euro zone. The festival, which is more popular in south India, is the second-largest gold buying day in the world’s largest market for gold. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 17 May 2010 | 2:08 am India to add more than 20,000 MW of power in FY11India plans to add 20,359 megawatts of power to its present capacity in the financial year 2011, a top adviser said on Monday, helping ease a big electricity shortfall.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 17 May 2010 | 2:02 am Hindustan Motors to double Tamil Nadu plant capacity by 2012 end'The Thiruvallur plant has a capacity of 12,000 units and this year the company should be reaching close to 5,000 units,' Hindustan Motors India executive-vice president Y V S Vijay Kumar said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 1:58 am MCX launches futures trading in four agri productsThe Multi Commodity Exchange(MCX) today launched futures trading in four agricultural commodities for delivery in August and September.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 17 May 2010 | 1:55 am Prudential to raise $21 bn to fund AIG’s Asian arm buyLondon: British insurance giant Prudential said on Monday it will raise £14.5 billion (€17 billion , $21 billion) from the sale of new shares to help fund a record takeover of Asian insurer AIA. “Prudential today announces further details of the proposed combination of the Prudential Group and the AIA Group, including the terms of its fully underwritten rights issue to raise approximately £14.5 billion,” a statement said. The British group had delayed by almost two weeks details of the record rights issue needed to fund the insurance sector’s biggest ever takeover, as regulators voiced concerns about the enlarged company’s capital strength. Prudential announced in March that it had agreed to buy AIA -- the Asian arm of troubled US insurer AIG -- for $35.5 billion (€29 billion). It expects to complete the takeover in the third quarter of 2010 while reports suggest Prudential may have to sell its British operations to fund the rest of the deal. “We are creating the leading life insurer in the fastest growing region in the world, giving us greater exposure to the highly attractive long-term growth offered in Asia,” Prudential chairman Harvey McGrath said on Monday. “We believe this opportunity will deliver substantial long-term value for our shareholders.” The takeover will give Prudential about 30 million customers in Asia and see the Asian operation become by far the group’s biggest division -- contributing some 60% of new business profit. Regarding the rights issue, Prudential said it was offering almost 14 billion new shares, each priced at 104 pence. According to analytical group Dealogic, the rights issue is the biggest ever launched to fund a takeover. Current Prudential investors will be offered 11 new shares for every two shares they own. The sale price represents an 80.8% discount to the insurer’s closing price of 542.5 pence on Friday. Prudential’s share price dropped 2.67% to 528.5 pence at the start of London trade. The AIA deal and the rights issue need 75% backing at a shareholders’ meeting due on 7 June. “The combined business will be a fast growing and highly profitable company, with a leading position in many of the most attractive markets in the world,” Prudential chief executive Tidjane Thiam insisted on Monday. “We believe that, through capital management and portfolio rationalization, there will be opportunities for the combined entity to create additional shareholder value over and beyond the revenue and cost synergies identified,” added the Frenchman who put together the mega-deal. Reports have suggested however that some of Prudential’s biggest shareholders are opposed to the tie-up. The rights issue is meanwhile set to raise about £13.8 billion net of fees and transaction related expenses, while it is being fully underwritten by Credit Suisse, HSBC, J.P. Morgan Cazenove plus by a syndicate. These groups will take up any shares not bought by existing shareholders. Alongside the rights issue, London-listed Prudential has said it plans to begin trading existing shares in Hong Kong and Singapore on 25 May. The listings are seen as a move to garner support from regional investors for the rights issue. The Hong Kong and Singapore listings will be done by way of introduction, which means adding trading venues without issuing new shares. The acquisition of AIA will double the size of Prudential and transform it into the world’s top non-Chinese insurer by market capitalization, ahead of major competitors Allianz and AXA. Sales in Asia already make up half of new contracts for Prudential across a number of countries including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The company also has a strong presence in Britain and the United States. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 17 May 2010 | 1:51 am Volcanic ash grounds hundreds of European flightsLondon: Volcanic ash from Iceland caused widespread disruption at airports in Britain and other parts of northern Europe on Monday, delaying or grounding hundreds of flights. Britain’s two biggest airports reopened after overnight closures, but passengers were warned to expect long delays and cancellations through the day. Airports in Ireland and the Netherlands were also closed over fears that drifting ash could damage jet engines and bring down aircraft. The same Icelandic volcano’s ash last month prompted a number of European countries to close their airspaces for nearly a week and travel chaos ensued in Europe and beyond. A spokesman for Europe’s busiest airport Heathrow, in west London, said it had reopened at 11:30am. “However, delays and cancellations are likely due to restrictions being applied,” the spokesman said. Gatwick, London’s second biggest airport, will remain closed to flight arrivals until 5:30pm. Nearly 150 arrivals and departures will be cancelled on Monday morning, about half the scheduled total. Britain’s air traffic control body said a no-fly zone was imposed over much of Britain because the ash cloud was changing shape and drifting. “Heathrow and Gatwick airports will be clear of the no-fly zone,” it said in a statement. However, “restrictions will have to be applied due to their close proximity to the no-fly zone.” It is due to issue an update at 1:30pm, a Gatwick spokesman said. Airports in Amsterdam and Rotterdam would be closed for at least eight hours from 6:00am on Monday, Dutch state television reported, effectively halting most air traffic in and out of the Netherlands. Other, minor Dutch airports were not be affected. Amsterdam Schiphol is Europe’s third-largest cargo airport and fifth-largest passenger hub. In a statement on its website, Dutch airline KLM said: “We are currently working on a diversion plan for all affected flights to Amsterdam.” More than 100,000 flights were cancelled across Europe last month because of the volcanic ash forming a cloud over the continent. Millions of people were stranded and airlines, already battered by the global economic downturn, lost $1.7 billion, the International Air Transport Association has said. At the weekend, North Atlantic flights through Irish-controlled airspace were unaffected by the latest cloud of ash, with Shannon - an important stopover for flights to and from the United States - remaining open. But information notices at Schipol airport on Monday showed some flights from the United States had been cancelled. The volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland has been erupting for weeks and the ash plume has reached heights of 25,000 feet (7,620 metres), according to Britain’s Meteorological Office. “The ash cloud is expected to clear the UK during Tuesday as southwesterly winds become established during Monday,” it said. Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of glass and pulverised rock that can damage engines and airframes. In 1982 a British Airways jumbo jet lost power in all its engines when it flew into an ash cloud over Indonesia, gliding towards the ground before it was able to restart its engines. The incident prompted the aviation industry to rethink the way it prepared for ash clouds. Railway companies laid on extra trains to cope with increased passenger levels resulting from the closure of airports. Channel tunnel rail operator Eurostar said an extra 3,500 seats would be available for passengers. British rail firm Virgin Trains said it would provide an extra 7,000 seats on Monday, mainly on the Birmingham to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and London to Glasgow routes. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 17 May 2010 | 1:50 am Oil falls below $70, lowest in over 3 monthsSingapore: Oil fell below $70 a barrel on Monday, to its lowest in more than three months, extending a loss of nearly 17% over the past two weeks on fears over Europe’s debts, the weak euro and swollen US oil inventories. The euro sank to four-year lows as angst over Europe’s debt crisis led investors to pull more money from stocks in favour of havens such as gold and Asian bonds. US crude for June delivery fell more than $1.00 on Monday to as low as $69.82 a barrel, its weakest since 5 February. It was trading at $70.00 by 12:15am, down $1.61. The contract settled down $2.79 on Friday, bringing a two-week tumble to $14.54, or 16.9%, the biggest two-week percentage loss since the period ending 16 January, 2009. The contract is expected to face volatility ahead of Monday’s June crude options expiry and the 20 May June crude contract expiry. London Brent crude dropped $1.39 to $76.54 a barrel. “At the moment all of the markets are on the way of declining further on the euro crisis. I think euro against dollar is possibly to go down to about $1.20, triggering another round of rectification in the market,” said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivatives manager at brokerage Newedge in Japan. “Inventories of crude oil and oil products have increased in recent weeks and that’s another factor of the bearish mood in the market. Inventories are likely to increase again this week,” he added. Stockpiles of crude at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery hub for the US contract’s West Texas Intermediate benchmark crude, have risen in the last eight weeks to a record high 37 million barrels, pushing front-month US crude down relative to both more distant futures contracts and the alternative global crude benchmark, Brent. Qatar expects further pressure on oil prices from the uncertainty engendered by the European debt crisis, its oil minister said on Saturday. “The oil price is not reflective of demand and supply, but psychological (factors) and uncertainty, especially in Europe (and due to the Greece) bailout,” Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told reporters. “All this put a lot of pressure on the world economy and the oil price,” he said. The tense mood also hammered Asian stocks on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei shed 2.25, South Korea’s stock index lost 2.6 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.6%. But the dollar rose 0.69% against a basket of currencies. Gold priced in sterling hit an all-time high at 867 pounds on Monday after the British currency struck a fresh one-year low against the dollar. A strong U.S. currency makes dollar-denominated commodities, such as oil, more costly for holders of other currencies and tends to damp prices. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 May 2010 | 1:27 am ABB seeks to raise stake in Indian subsidiaryABB wants to raise its stake in its Indian subsidiary <ABB.BO> in a deal worth up to $965 million, the Swiss engineering group said, in a move that would strengthen its position in the fast-growing Indian market.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 17 May 2010 | 1:23 am India to add more than 20,000 MW of power in FY11New Delhi: India plans to add 20,359 megawatts of power to its present capacity in the financial year 2011, a top adviser said on Monday, helping ease a big electricity shortfall. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of Planning Commission, told a news conference that the private sector would fund 40% of the 2007-12 infrastructure funding. India aims to spend $500 billion in the five years to end-March 2012, to overhaul its creaky infrastructure that is a drag on plans for Asia’s third largest economy to grow at double-digit rates and catch up with peer China. India has an installed power capacity of about 160,000 megawatts. China adds about 100,000 MW of power every year. It is considering doubling the investment figure in the five years from 2012 onwards, and expects much of the funding in both periods to come from private sources. But the country has consistently missed its targets for building roads, ports and power plants and private interest has been lukewarm, with bureaucratic red tape and difficulties in acquiring land holding up projects. Neither will India achieve a road building target of 20 kilometres (12 miles) a day, nor add 78,700 megawatts of power generation capacity in the five years to 2012, targets set and then slashed by the government. India will reach only 12-13 km per day in the current year, and add only 61,000 MW by 2012, ministers have said. India’s underdeveloped bond market, with few takers for long-term debt, and restrictions on pension and insurance funds have further choked the flow of funds for infrastructure. To help remedy this, India plans to launch an $11 billion infrastructure fund that will go to develop the domestic bond market and refinance high-cost debt. But most critics point out the bigger problem is not availability of funds but of land and little can move forward till the government resolves local resistance and archaic laws that have often stalled building of roads and power plants. India’s economy will grow 8.5% in the fiscal year that began 1 April, after probably expanding 7.2% in the previous year, the government has estimated, making it the world’s second-fastest growing major economy after China. The Planning Commission charts the Five-Year-Plans for the economy and is headed by the Prime Minister. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 May 2010 | 1:23 am India tops list of exporting countries to the UAEIndia, China, US and Japan have topped the list of exporting counties to the UAE in March 2010 with a total export value of 24.6 billion dirhams-- 60 per cent of the total value of the country's imports.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 17 May 2010 | 1:13 am Patel Engineering lowest bidder in Rs30 billion projects: MDAt the end of March quarter, the firm had an order book of close to Rs100 billion, said Rupen Patel, managing director of the company.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 1:01 am Founders offer to buy stake ABB Ltd via share buyPromoter of ABB Ltd on Monday offered to buy 48.51 million shares, or 22.89%, in the firm from shareholders at Rs900, a 34% premium to Friday's closing price.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 1:00 am Nalco Q4 net more than quadruplesNalco's results for three months ended March 31. (Versus the same period a year earlier, in billion rupees unless stated).Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 12:59 am Markets at 2-month low on weak global cuesMumbai: Indian shares fell to their lowest in two-and-a-half months on Monday morning and were trading 2.5% lower, as world markets plunged on concerns over Europe’s sovereign debt crisis which saw investors opting for safer bets over riskier assets. Financials and energy giant Reliance Industries led the declining stocks, with only one component of the main stock index trading in the green. By 11:49am, the 30-share BSE index was trading down 2.5% at 16,571.19 points. It dipped as much as 16,563.70 earlier, its lowest level since 2 March. The 50-share NSE index was down 2.4% at 4,971.30 points. “Our economy is strong. But, the market is driven by money, which is not coming in for now,” said Arun Kejriwal, director of research firm KRIS. Foreign funds have pulled out around $500 million from Indian equities so far this month, with the Sensex dropping 5.6% in the period. They have still invested a net of nearly $6 billion in Indian stocks so far this year, after a record $17.5 billion in 2009. “When the big economies which are major investors in our country are worried over the woes in Europe, do they have the time and inclination to look at an economy like us?,” said Kejriwal. Top-listed firm Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the Sensex, was down 3% to Rs1,013. Top lender State Bank of India dropped 3.5%. Local brokerage Anand Rathi said it retained “sell” rating on the stock as high employee pension liabilities and accelerated provisions are likely to keep the bank’s return on equity lower than its peers. Leading private lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were down 2.7% and 1.9% respectively. Metals stocks were trading sharply lower as base metals extended losses with Shanghai copper slipping to three-month lows and its London equivalent at its weakest in almost two weeks. Tata Steel, the world’s eighth-largest steelmaker, was down 4%. Non-ferrous metals producer Sterlite Industries and aluminium maker Hindalco were down 1.5% and 1,4% respectively. Reliance Communications was down nearly 2%. The No. 2 mobile phone operator reported a 16% fall in quarterly profit over the weekend, hit by a call price war, but the fall was smaller than expected due to higher net interest income. Top-listed real estate firm DLF was down 5.3% at Rs282.95. Improved demand for real estate helped the company to more than double its quarterly net profit from last year, when an economic slump had hit demand, but its earnings came below some analysts’ expectations. In the broader market, losers were nearly four times the number of gainers in a volume of 112 million shares. Elsewhere in Asia, the MSCI’s measure of Asian markets other than Japan was down 3.6 while Japan’s Nikkei shed 2.2%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 May 2010 | 12:44 am Agni-II missile successfully test-firedBalasore: After two successive setbacks, India’s nuclear capable Agni-II missile, with a range of 2000 kms, was on Monday successfully test-fired during a user trial by the Army from the Wheelers Island off the Orissa coast. “The trial of the missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) was successful and met all parameters and mission objectives,” ITR director S P Dash said. The sleek surface-to-surface intermediate range ballistic missile was launched at around 09:15am from a rail mobile system in Launch Complex-4 of ITR. The trajectory of the missile, which has a payload capacity of 1000 kg, was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and naval ships stationed near the impact point in the Bay of Bengal, defence sources said. The launch was carried out by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Army with logistic support from laboratories and personnel of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), they said. Data generated during the test-fire was being analysed, they said. The successful launch followed two earlier user trials on 19 May, 2009 and the night of 23 November, 2009 which could not meet all mission parameters. The 20-metre long Agni-II, which has been inducted into the services, is a two-stage, solid-propelled ballistic missile with a launch weight of 17 tonnes. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 17 May 2010 | 12:22 am Spice Mobiles March qtr net jumps three-fold to Rs 23 crMobile service provider Spice Mobiles today reported a three-fold jump in net profit at Rs 23 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, over the same period last year.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 17 May 2010 | 12:12 am No doosra for Harbhajan Singh right nowThe cricketer's joint venture with his Team India colleague Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been put on hold for the time beingSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 17 May 2010 | 12:07 am Gold to test support, riseComex gold futures rose to record highs on Friday before slipping in the day in volatile trade, stock market trade and Europe jitters. Investors continue to show a preference for gold as opposed to the leading fiat currencies of the world. OverSource: Business Line - Home Page | 17 May 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideInitiate fresh long position only if the stock moves above Rs 923 with stiffSource: Business Line - Home Page | 17 May 2010 | 12:00 am Jyothy Laboratories – BuyInvestors with medium-term perspective can consider buying the stock Jyothy Laboratories (Rs 180.2). The stock has been on a steady long-term uptrend since it touched the life-time low of Rs 42, recorded in October 2008. However, after marking anSource: Business Line - Home Page | 17 May 2010 | 12:00 am RIL, Russian firm in pact to make synthetic rubberReliance Industries Ltd proposes to set up a joint venture with Russian petrochemical firm SIBUR to make synthetic rubber inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 17 May 2010 | 12:00 am NTPC gets notice to stop work on Rs 5,500-cr Nagpur projectUncertainty looms over NTPC's 1,000 MW, super-thermal power project under construction at Mauda near Nagpur, following a stop-work notice issued by the State Government over the rehabilitation of affectedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 17 May 2010 | 12:00 am 18 equity schemes treble assets despite poor net inflows last fiscalFiscal 2009-10 was not a great year for the mutual fund industry with net inflows into equity funds drying up to a measly Rs 595 crore. But, not all fund houses or equity schemes struggled to attract investorSource: Business Line - Home Page | 17 May 2010 | 12:00 am Gold at record high on safe haven buyingVolatility in the commodity markets continues to be heightened by apprehensions over an enduring solution to the European sovereign debt crisis. There is huge risk aversion, especially in what are perceived as risky assets, even as safe havenSource: Business Line - Home Page | 17 May 2010 | 12:00 am Companies offer equity support to bag power project contractsEquity for business is emerging a favoured model in the power generationSource: Business Line - Home Page | 17 May 2010 | 12:00 am Europe and euro are immortalExtraordinary meetings, emergency summits, speculative attacks, bailouts, panic sell-offs — it would be difficult to surpass the drama of recent days inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 17 May 2010 | 12:00 am Mercator Lines likely to see narrow movementI bought Mercator Lines May futures at Rs 54.25. What strategy do you think I should adopt? – Ms S. Bhuvaneswari,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 17 May 2010 | 12:00 am Euro crash, economic worries may cloud Indian IT sectorEconomic uncertainty and a weakening currency in Europe are twin worries for Indias export-focused IT sector, which has only just recovered from the fallout of the US slowdown.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 May 2010 | 11:52 pm Apple's iPhone replaces Blackberry for some bankersBritish bank Standard Chartered is replacing the Blackberry, currently its standard corporate communication device, with the iPhone, a move that could eventually result in thousands of its bankers switching to the Apple device for business communication on the go.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 16 May 2010 | 11:38 pm Rupee drops to over 1-week low as shares fallMumbai: The Indian rupee fell to its lowest in more than 1 week on Monday, weighed down by the euro’s losses against the dollar and a sharp fall in the domestic sharemarket. At 10am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs45.67/68 per dollar after hitting Rs45.73, its weakest since 7 May. It was down 1% from Friday’s close of Rs45.21/22. “The rupee has dropped as expected tracking shares and the dollar’s gains versus the euro,” said Ashtosh Raina, head of foreign exchange trading at HDFC Bank. The main stock index shed more than 2% early as world stocks dropped on worries over euro zone debt concerns. Foreign fund flows into and out of the stock market are a crucial determinant of the rupee’s fortunes. The funds have pulled out $498 million so far this month, lowering the net inflows since the start of January to just under $6 billion. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was up 0.8%. Most Asian currencies were also weaker compared to the dollar. The euro slumped to a four-year low on Monday, as investors dumped the single currency on sovereign debt worries and fears that recent belt-tightening measures would hurt a recovery in the euro zone area. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at Rs45.80, 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 45.6825, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $1.2 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 11:34 pm Sensex tanks on European debt concernsThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex tanked almost 362 points in opening trade today in line with the meltdown in overseas markets on concerns over Europe's sovereign debt crisis.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 16 May 2010 | 11:06 pm Rupee drops on shares fall; dollar's broad gainsThe Indian rupee dropped on Monday morning weighed by a sharp fall in the local sharemarket which raised concerns about foreign capital outflows and also hurt by the dollar's gains against major currencies.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 16 May 2010 | 10:54 pm Sharp fall in India gold festival sales as prices biteMumbai: India’s gold traders and retailers said late Sunday they saw large falls in Akshaya Tritiya festival sales, in an indication demand may remain subdued through the rest of the year if global prices continue to stay firm. The festival, which is more popular in south India, is the second-largest gold buying day in the world’s largest market for gold. ”Sales are down compared to last year as prices have jumped in the last 10 days,” said Lokesh Kumar Agarwal, chairman of Brijwasi Bullion, a large trader in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state in the north. ”People who bought 10 gram last year, bought only 2 gram this time,” said Agarwal. Prices have hardened tracking the international markets, where weakening currencies and fears of a European bailout package have spurred investor buying. On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX), front month gold hit a new record high on Monday at 18,416 rupees ($403.6) per 10 gram, breaking the previous record of Rs18,339 hit on last Friday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 10:52 pm Gold glitter dims by 20%Gold prices have risen steeply to reach Rs18,500 per 10 gram from Rs17,000 per 10 gm three weeks back.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 May 2010 | 10:48 pm Oil down, New York crude briefly falls below $70New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June tumbled to an intra-day low of $69.82 a barrel.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 May 2010 | 10:43 pm Rupee falls 48 paise to 45.69 a dollarRupee depreciated by 48 paise to 45.69 a dollar in early trade on Monday on capital outflows by foreign funds from equities and the dollar's gain overseas.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 May 2010 | 10:34 pm Children for Hire: Bid Now The site, which “auctions” off children, offers discounts on older children, and claims to be a “one stop destination for all your child labour needs” was dreamed up as part of Save the Children’s 45-day anti-child labour campaign that began April 30--Anti Child Labour Day in India-- and runs until June 12--International Child Labour Day. The biggest challenge to addressing the issue of child labour is the social and cultural acceptance that allows the scourge of child labour to continue,” says Priya Subramanian, a spokesperson for Save the Children. “We conceived of this idea to shock and provoke people into thinking.” While according to the 2001 census there are about 13 million children under the age of 14 engaged in child labour, Subramanian, estimates this number as being closer to 40 million. Child labour is permitted in India under the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act (CLPRA). “The act makes quite an arbitrary distinction between what constitutes hazardous child labour and is hence banned and what is not hazardous and not banned. But you really can’t make this distinction for any category of child labour under 14,” says Subramanian. She points to the contradictory coexistence of the Right to Education (RTE) act, which guarantees free and compulsory education to all children upto the age of 14, with laws that regulate, rather than ban, child labour. “The CLPRA is in direct conflict with the RTE Act. It needs to be amended. The ‘regulation’ part of the CLPRA needs to be done away with. No child under 14 should be working in any form of child labour.” The microsite asks people to sign a pledge that they will play an active role in ending child labour in India. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 10:33 pm Sensex opens over 300 points down on European debt concernsThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex tanked almost 362 points in opening trade on Monday in line with the meltdown in overseas markets on concerns over Europe's sovereign debt crisis.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 May 2010 | 10:17 pm Euro extends losses to hit 4 yr low on debt woesTokyo: The euro slumped to a four-year low on Monday, as investors dumped the single currency on sovereign debt worries and fears that recent belt-tightening measures would hurt a recovery in the euro zone area. The euro extended its losses after falling below $1.2300, where option barriers were said to lurk, and fell as far as $1.2234 on trading platform EBS, its lowest since April 2006. It has dropped more than 7% against the dollar this month, and is about 14% lower for the year, making it the worst-performing major currency. The euro’s next major trough on charts lies at $1.1640, a low hit in November 2005. “Technically, the euro has been oversold but since the market is not showing substantial short-covering, players have no choice but to sell the euro,” said a trader at a Japanese bank. “Risk aversion stemming from the euro zone fiscal crisis will likely keep investors shifting their funds into safer assets such as the dollar, the yen, U.S. Treasuries and gold.” There are worries about the health of European banks which have exposure to sovereign bonds in Greece and some other euro zone nations with high fiscal deficits, the trader added. On Friday, the euro had plunged to its lowest level against the dollar since late October 2008 with losses deepening after European Central Bank policymaker Axel Weber saying that it was important not to underestimate lingering dangers to financial stability.. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on the Sunday the $1 trillion rescue plan stitched together by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund only bought time to sort out the yawning gap between the euro zone’s strongest and weakest economies.. Last week the currency had briefly rallied towards $1.31 after the rescue package was announced before worries about the euro zone’s growth outlook came back into focus. Traders fear that the austerity measures announced by Greece, Spain and Portugal would hurt growth in the near term and force the European Central Bank to keep rates low in the medium term. An analyst said the euro looked to have further to fall given the relative weakness of the EU’s growth outlook compared with the United States. “This suggests EUR/USD should be trading below, or at least closer to, its long-run fair-value, which we estimate at around $1.2100,” said Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Mike Jones. Data released Friday showed speculative bets against the euro hit a record high in the week to May 11.. Against the yen, the euro fell 1.4% to 112.74 yen, heading closer to an eight-year low of 110.49 yen hit earlier this month. Sterling slid to its lowest level since March 2009 at $1.4249 before edging back to $1.4300, down 1.7% on the day. The pound fell on stop-loss selling and data suggesting that the past year’s rise in British house prices may be cooling. British newspaper reports saying Britain’s new government was critical of the previous Labour-Party administration’s fiscal policies, weighed on sterling, market players said. Britain’s new government has inherited “fiddled” public finances, new Finance Minister George Osborne told the Financial Times in an interview published on Monday. Separately, the Sunday Times online edition reported that the British government has accused Labour of pursuing a “scorched earth policy” before the general election, leaving behind billions of pounds of previously hidden spending commitments. All the weakness in the euro and the pound were helping the dollar index, which rose above 87.00, the highest since March 2009. Yen crosses broadly fell with the Australian and the New Zealand dollars dropping more than 1%.. Dollar/yen dropped 0.6% to to ¥91.92. There was little market impact from comments by Fitch ratings saying it had not taken any action on Japan’s sovereign rating on Monday and that the outlook for the rating is stable, or from earlier rumours that Fitch may downgrade Japan’s rating. “We have not taken any rating action on Japan this morning. The foreign currency rating is AA, and its outlook is stable. The local currency rating is AA-minus and the outlook is stable,” said Vincent Ho, sovereign rating analyst at Fitch ratings. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 9:59 pm Sensex falls 1.7 pc; Reliance Comm down 2.4 pcBSE Sensex fell 1.7 per cent early today, with Reliance Industries and Infosys Technologies leading the decline, as world stocks dropped on worries over euro zone debt concerns.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 16 May 2010 | 9:40 pm One-offs dent SBI’s January-March profitThe March quarter results of State Bank of India (SBI) came as a negative surprise, with net profit falling 32% to Rs1,867 crore from a year ago. While some analysts were expecting profit to decline, the actual drop was sharper than estimates, prompting a 4% drop in the bank’s share price on Friday. SBI’s operating profit declined by 1.6% during the quarter from a year ago. The bank estimates its profit took a hit of Rs3,500 crore due to a combination of factors.  Graphic: Naveen Kumar Saini / Mint Excess liquidity, due to low credit demand, caused a hit of Rs273 crore. Staff hiring and new branch openings saw operating costs rise by Rs923 crore. Investment income was 72% lower in the March quarter due to weak market conditions and a relatively high base with Rs1,400 crore in profit on government securities in the year-ago quarter. Provisioning for non-performing assets (NPAs) was Rs674 crore, though this figure has been steadily declining since September. The bank’s core metrics did show an improvement, however. Its net interest income was up by 39% year-on-year, and its net interest margin, though lower compared with a year ago, improved sequentially. The bank has lowered interest rates and is getting rid of high-cost bulk deposits and increasing the proportion of lower cost current account deposits, savings account deposits and term deposits. Total advances as of March were 17% higher while deposits grew by 6.2%, and its credit-deposit ratio went up to 73.56% compared with 71.48% as of December. The news on the NPA front was mixed. Fresh NPAs at Rs2,500 crore were lower than the December quarter figure. Of the Rs1,000 crore of corporate loans that turned bad, nearly half will be restructured or will turn standard by September. Despite lower NPAs, higher provisions led to its provision cover ratio rising to 59.2% from 56.2% in the December quarter. Going forward, the bank expects the current fiscal year to be a year of consolidation. The focus will be on cost control. Credit growth is expected to improve from the second quarter and the liquidity overhang will be less of a problem. Recruitments will continue but at around half of earlier levels. SBI’s yield on advances has been falling because a higher proportion of loans are being given at below its prime lending rate, especially for home loans. But its cost of deposits has been falling, too, due to lower interest rates and a higher proportion of low-cost deposits. Its incremental branch and employee strength will take some time to reflect in growth in business. Till then, a higher cost-to-income ratio (at 53.75% versus 44.8% a year ago) could affect its performance. If credit growth recovers as expected, the incremental addition to its profits will be significant because of better net interest margins. Write to us at marktomarket@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 9:29 pm Oil falls below $70, lowest in over 3 monthsOil fell below $70 a barrel on Monday, to its lowest in more than three months, extending a loss of nearly 17 percent over the past two weeks on fears over Europe's debts, the weak euro and swollen US oil inventories.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 16 May 2010 | 9:25 pm BP reports limited success in containing oil spillHouston/Galliano: Energy giant BP reported a limited success at containing the oil that is gushing unabated into the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday but a skeptical US government said it was “not a solution.” Reports of huge oil plumes in the Gulf, including one as large as 16 kms long, three miles 5 kms wide and 91 metres thick, underscored the drama’s gravity. Crude oil has been flowing unchecked from a ruptured well about 1.6 kms under the ocean’s surface, threatening an ecological and economic calamity along the US Gulf Coast. After other attempts to contain the spill failed, BP Plc succeeded in inserting a tube into the leaking well and capturing some oil and gas. The underwater operation used guided robots to insert a small tube into a 21-inch (53-cm) pipe, known as a riser, to funnel the oil to a ship at the surface. “It’s working as planned and we are very slowly increasing the rate that is coming from the riser tool up to the surface,” BP senior executive vice president Kent Wells told reporters at BP’s US headquarters in Houston. Not all of the oil was being trapped, however. Wells said it was too early to say how much had been siphoned. “This is a good step forward,” said Satish Nagarajaiah, professor in civil and mechanical engineering at Rice University in Houston, but he said the siphon tool is unlikely to capture more than 15-20% of the oil. US government officials and lawmakers downplayed the significance of BP’s latest breakthrough. “This technique is not a solution to the problem, and it is not yet clear how successful it may be,” secretary of homeland Security Janet Napolitano and secretary of the interior Ken Salazar said in a joint statement. “I don’t think we should get our hopes up until we know for sure that all of the oil is staying down,” said Edward Markey, a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts. “With reports of miles-long undersea clouds of oil floating around the Gulf of Mexico, and the very real possibility that more oil has been spilled than previously estimated, this crisis is far from over,” he said. Preparations for a maneuver to inject mud into the well to stop the leak for good were ongoing and would be completed in seven to 10 days, Wells said. Undersea robots are preparing pipes and hoses around the well to pump up to 40 barrels (1,680 gallons) per minute of mud into the well. BP’s best near-term hope of stopping oil from pouring from the well is “kill mud,” a heavy mixture of synthetic materials that technicians will attempt to shoot into the well to form a barrier to prevent oil and gas from escaping. “Ultimately it is a winning game that we outpump the well,” Wells said. If the mud fails to seal the well, BP will try to inject golf balls, tire fragments and other materials into the well to clog it up -- known in the industry as a “junk shot.” The limited success on Sunday followed a previous setback, when a cord taking the oil to the surface became entangled. BP’s earlier attempts to contain the leaking well have been stymied by the technical difficulties of working in the sea floor’s cold, dark conditions. On 7 May, BP tried to lower a containment dome over the leak, but the 100-tonne device was rendered useless by a slush of frozen hydrocarbons that clogged it. The spill began after an 20 April explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers. It threatens to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill off Alaska as the worst US ecological disaster. BP, under heavy political pressure as a result of the spill, has a “systematic safety problem” at its oil refineries, a US Labour Department official told the Financial Times. “BP executives, they talk a good line. They say they want to improve safety,” Jordan Barab, a senior official at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration told the paper. “But it doesn’t always translate down to the refineries themselves. They still have a systematic safety problem.” Last year US safety regulators hit BP with a record $87.4 million fine for failing to fix safety violations at its Texas City refinery after a deadly 2005 explosion. So far, winds have pushed the giant slick westward and toward shore. But according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the southern edge of the spill could make its way into a powerful ocean current that could carry oil eastward toward the Florida Keys and up the US Eastern Seaboard. “The southern edge of the plume could begin moving more to the southwest and potentially into the Loop Current,” NOAA said, referring to the stream that transfers heat from the tropics to higher latitudes and becomes the Gulf Stream. Officials have stressed the spill has had minimal impact on the shoreline and wildlife, but oil debris and tar balls were washing up on barrier islands and outlying beaches in at least a dozen places in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. Scientists and residents of the Gulf Coast say a greater concern is the anticipated encroachment of oil into the environmentally fragile bayous and marshes teeming with shrimp, oysters, crabs, fish, birds and other wildlife. The New York Times and other media reported scientists had detected huge oil plumes -- large columns of concentrated oil moving beneath the ocean surface -- in the Gulf, indicating the leak could be worse than estimates by BP and the government. Estimates of the rate of escaping oil range widely from the official BP figure of 5,000 barrels per day (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters), adopted by the government, to 100,000 barrels (4.2 million gallons/15.9 million liters) per day. BP said it had no confirmation of such undersea oil plumes and its spokesman, Andrew Gowers, appeared to dismiss the reports as scientifically unlikely. “It is my observation as a layman that oil is lighter than water and tends to go up,” Gowers told reporters. BP also faces growing political pressure to prove it will pay for all of the costs related to the spill. Salazar and Napolitano demanded in a letter to BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward that the company make clear its commitment to “redress all of the damage that has occurred or that will occur in the future as a result of the oil spill.” The letter was released on Saturday and amid concerns about the implications of a US law that limits energy companies’ liability for lost business and local tax revenues from oil spills to $75 million. BP spokesman David Nicholas said: “What they are requesting in the letter is absolutely consistent with all our public statements on the matter.” The Obama administration wants to raise the limit retroactively. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 8:49 pm DLF Q4 net doubles, sees more growthNew Delhi: DLF on Friday reported its quarterly net profit more than doubled, as demand for homes revived in the country’s property market after being hit hard by an economic downturn. Prices in India’s $50 billion property market have moved up by a third in some key cities from last year’s lows after a series of interest rate cuts and pent-up demand from a large urban middle class revived home sales. The commercial property segment had also started showing early signs of improvement with leasing volumes going up, DLF’s vice chairman Rajiv Singh said after the results. “With the Indian economy projected to grow at a higher pace, we expect the real estate sector to further strengthen which will inturn strengthen DLF’s growth across all segments,” he said in a statement. India’s economy is expected to grow 8.5% in the fiscal year to next March, at a faster clip than an estimated 7.2% in the year to March 2010. Investors are also waiting for a possible revival of a planned Singapore-listing of DLF’s property trust, which was expected to raise $1.5 billion but was put on hold in 2008 due to the global financial crisis. But high debt and a possible rate increase are concerns for real estate firms including DLF. The Reserve Bank of India has already raised its key policy interest rates twice this year in 25-basis-point increments as the economy and inflation picked up following the global economic crisis, and another rate hike is seen in July. New Delhi-based DLF said consolidated net profit rose to Rs426 crore ($94 million) in its fourth quarter ended March from Rs159 crore a year ago. Revenue rose an annual 59% to Rs2,146 crore Ahead of the results, shares in DLF, valued at about $11 billion, closed 2.4% lower at Rs298.75 rupees in a Mumbai market that fell 1.6%. DLF stock is down about 17% so far this year, underperforming a 2.6 percent drop in the broader market. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 8:41 pm Asian stocks fall on worries over Europe debt woesTokyo: Asian stock markets tumbled in early trading on Monday as fresh worries over debt woes in Europe dampened sentiment across the region. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 207.50 points, or 2%, to 10,255.01. South Korea’s Kospi lost 2.1% to 1,660.85. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was also down 2% at 4,549.60. Benchmarks in mainland China and Taiwan declined, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index losing 1.6% to 19,832.03. Asian investors’ mood turned downbeat on growing concerns that cost-cutting fiscal measures being taken by Greece, Portugal and Spain could hamper a recovery in the eurozone economy. On Wall Street on Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 162.79 points, or 1.5%, to 10,620.16 on fears that such austere measures in Europe would slow economic activity on the continent and elsewhere. In an interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel to be published Monday, the European Central Bank president said Europe’s economy “is in its most difficult situation since World War II or perhaps even since World War I.” Jean-Claude Trichet said the eurozone’s debt crisis has provoked a market reaction similar to that at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. In currencies, the dollar edged down to 92.15 yen in Tokyo from 92.45 yen in New York late Friday. The euro stood at $1.2358 from $1.2360. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 8:18 pm RIL, Russian firm sign MoU on butyl rubber production - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 16 May 2010 | 1:50 pm Indian Railways running on deficit trackThe Indian Railways is on the verge of running into a cash deficit with its gross traffic earnings for 2009-10 showing a fresh shortfall of Rs 1,700 crore.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 16 May 2010 | 1:32 pm World Cup 2018, 2022 hosting race heats up at FIFAZurich: Nine candidates hoping to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 have begun delivering their bid books to FIFA. Australia made the first presentation to FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Friday. Four bidders from Europe, four from the Asian confederation plus the United States will file through in alphabetical order to present technical documents on how they would stage the world’s biggest sporting event. Europe is favored for 2018, with England and Russia competing against joint bids from Netherlands-Belgium and Spain-Portugal. Australia and the US also are in both contests. Japan, Qatar and South Korea have focused solely on 2022. FIFA will choose the two hosts in December. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 1:11 pm England upset Australia for first world titleBridgetown: England won the Twenty20 World Cup in magnificent style with a 111-run partnership from South Africa-born batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Craig Kieswetter setting them up for a seven-wicket win over Australia on Sunday. At a sun-blessed Kensington Oval, England restricted Australia to 147 for six before knocking off the runs with little trouble to claim their first world title in limited overs cricket after 35 years of trying. Skipper Paul Collingwood struck the winning runs with 18 balls to spare and his team raced on to the field to hug him in scenes of wild celebration. David Hussey’s intelligent 59 had helped Australia recover from a dreadful start where they lost their opening three wickets for just eight runs. Australia, the current 50 overs World Cup and Champions Trophy holders, were searching for a unique treble of limited overs world titles. Australia were favourites but England responded well to losing opener Michael Lumb early, as Pietersen and Kieswetter set about destroying Australia’s bowling. Even when both lost their wickets, Eoin Morgan and Collingwood kept their nerve to see England to glory without any of their customary nerves. In their barren years England lost three times in World Cup finals, in 1979, 1987 and 1992 and also were defeated on home soil in the 2004 Champions Trophy final. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 1:02 pm Key infra sectors missed targetsAmid renewed efforts to give infrastructure projects a push and closer monitoring of ongoing projects, a government report card has shown key sectors such as railways, power and oil production as having missed targets during 2009-10.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 May 2010 | 12:55 pm SAIL plans Rs 60k cr unitState-owned SAIL is mulling over setting up a steel project, at an estimated cost of Rs 60,000 crore, in Jharkhand.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 May 2010 | 12:54 pm 'Employ backward class for inclusive growth'India Inc needs to do more to employ from the underprivileged and socially-backward sections in order to effect an inclusive growth, Hari S Bhartia, newly-elected President of industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry, has said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 May 2010 | 12:51 pm Taking Computing To The CloudTotal Environment, one of Bangalore's luxury property developers, has just gone live on Salesforce.com's CRM (customer relationship management) solution. The company will pull the solution from Salesforce's data centre in Singapore through an internet line and pay Salesforce on a monthly basis for a limited number of users.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 May 2010 | 12:49 pm A mobile movement empowering many South Asia is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing mobile markets, but still suffers from a significant digital divide. Mobile phones are surpassing all other media in terms of penetration in the region: television, radio, Internet, newspapers, magazines and landlines. Mobile platforms are becoming the natural choice for extending essential and innovative digital services to the broadest section of the population. From humble SMS and basic voice to smartphones and enterprise workflow, mobile is the choice for new content and services. Mobile phones are not just convenient and fashionable, but liberating and empowering for hundreds of millions of South Asians previously locked out of the digital movement. From cricket news and music ringtones to agricultural price information and tsunami alerts, mobiles have become the “first screen” of choice for millions of South Asians. The mobile phone is improving the marketing reach of consumer brands— while also providing vital connectivity to “bottom of the pyramid” users in remote parts of South Asia. The mobile revolution has triumphed in South Asia, and now needs regular industry-driven peer-acknowledged awards to highlight the best successes and point the way towards even more benefits. The mBillionth Award brings together the best mobile experts in South Asia as jurors, to deliberate and decide on the award-winning mobile applications and entrepreneurs in the region. The nomination and jury process is transparent and fair, and has drawn support from leading corporate and government players in the region. The annual awards and the accompanying South Asia Mobile Congress promote cross-border exchange of ideas, policy strengths and mobile advocacy. Awards will be given in 10 categories, covering the entire breadth of the mobile ecosystem: platform, business, culture, education, entertainment, government, health, inclusion, environment, news, heritage and travel and tourism. Osama Manzar is founder and director of Digital Empowerment Foundation and chairman of the mBillionth awards. Mint is a partner of the mBillionth awards. Click here for more details on nominees, nominee profiles and the mBillionth awards, log on to Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 12:46 pm The first multilingual keypad is set to bring changeNew Delhi: A new virtual keyboard for mobile phones that aims to enable users to text quickly and conveniently is beginning to attract attention from telecom firms, venture capitalists and local mobile operators. Named “Panini Keypad” in tribute to the Sanskrit grammarian, the mobile phone software has been created by an Indian firm called Luna Ergonomics founded by Abhijit Bhattacharjee, previously an engineer with the Indian Army. Promoted as “clever texting” outside India, the so-called “statistical predictive texting” technology has been dubbed the “first ergonomic keypad for the mobile phone” by the UK-based Ergonomics Society. Having “crunched” exhaustive content for particular languages, and using an indigenous algorithm, Bhattacharjee’s team has designed an interface that places characters in a 3x4 grid (mimicking the phone’s keypad) and displays them ergonomically from the top left (most used) to the bottom right (least used). Depending on what a user types, the algorithm predicts the next list of characters in another 3x4 grid and so on. Because the interface displays one character per button, it facilitates “texting” for the visually impaired, and—owing to its ease-of-use—for technophobes as well.  “India is home to more than 500 million mobile phone users, growing at 15%,” says Bhattacharjee. “In India many people don’t know English, hence texting becomes a challenge for them. Faster connections, mobile Internet, etc., won’t affect their lives directly. The challenge before us was to develop a texting technology that does not require knowledge of the English language. A technology that gives people the freedom to communicate in their own language, seamlessly.” Also Read | A mobile movement empowering many The Devnagari script, used to write Hindi, has at least 70 characters—as is the case with most other Indian scripts. To print them on a keypad alongside the English character set and the digits is not a viable option. Besides, it takes multiple tapping, rather than one character per tap, to write, a daunting problem Bhattacharjee and his team claim to have cracked. “Having mined languages extensively, our algorithm predicts subsequent characters, allowing for non-dictionary words which technologies like T9 do not,” he says. T9 is a widely used predictive texting technology in India, which enables users to type faster in English. Other similar technologies include iTap (Motorola), SureType (RIM), Letterwise (Eatoni) and WordWise (Intelab’s Tauto). “Although this technology will benefit handset manufacturers because they won’t have to clog the keypads with multi-lingual characters, the biggest beneficiary will be the telecom operators. Technologies such as 3G and 4G will make sense and will generate greater revenues for the operators only when the end-user is able to avail them,” says Bhattacharjee. Only Java-enabled phones can run this software at the moment. Bhattacharjee and his team have come up with four different packages for different types of users, ranging from “Basic” for callers using low-end mobile phones to “Touch” for those using touch-screen mobile phones. Luna Ergonomics is in talks with Finland-based mobile phone maker Nokia Oyj for integrating the software with its handsets. After developing applications for foreign languages such as English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Russian, Hebrew, Swahili and Finnish, Bhattacharjee is currently working on developing software for Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Panini Keypad was the winner of the Judge’s Choice Award at the Nokia Innovations 2009 contest for being among the top 10 mobile innovations in the category of emerging markets and mobile necessities. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 12:45 pm Adi Godrej: The passionate philanthropistThe Godrej Group has been around for more than a century. Its group of businesses range from FMCG to appliances, to industrial engineering and even real estate.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 May 2010 | 12:16 pm Reliance and Russia\'s Sibur in rubber ventureThe energy giant Reliance Industries Ltd and Russian petrochemical firm Sibur have agreed to set up a joint venture to make butyl rubber in India amid rising demand from the auto industry, the firms said on Sunday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 May 2010 | 10:36 am Oman\'s Galfar posts $2.78mn loss in Q1Oman\'s Galfar Engineering and Contracting Co reported a 843,000 rials (USD 2.78 mln) loss in the firstquarter mainly due to a project cost increase, but forecast improved results for the second half of the year.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 May 2010 | 10:27 am Dubai Holding unit delays 2009 results againDubai Holding Commercial Operations Group (DHCOG), a unit of the conglomerate owned by Dubai\'s ruler, said it was delaying its fullyear results again due to complexities in consolidating results of its units.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 May 2010 | 10:17 am Will focus on spending cuts than on tax rises: New UK PMBritain\'s new government will need to publish a fuller coalition agreement covering a broad range of policies in the next two weeks, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Sunday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 May 2010 | 10:04 am Ranbaxy, Lupin to benefit most from Japan’s push for genericsMumbai: Two of India’s top drug makers, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd and Lupin Ltd, would reap the maximum benefits from a significantly large generic drug opportunity opening up in Japan, the world’s second largest single drug market. Also See Cost-Effective Drugs The direct link that these two firms have established in the Japanese market through cross-border equity deals will likely help them gain a significant market share in the emerging cheap drug segment in that country. Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd, Japan’s third biggest drug maker, acquired a 34.8% controlling stake in Ranbaxy in 2008 in a $4.6 billion (around Rs20,750 crore today) deal. Lupin acquired 80% of Kyowa Pharmaceutical Industry Co. Ltd in 2007. Many other Indian companies including Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, Torrent Pharma Ltd and Cadila Healthcare Ltd are still struggling with their marketing set-ups and business strategies in Japan’s tightly regulated, $80 billion drug market. Ahmedabad-based Cadila Healthcare and Dishman Pharmaceuticals Ltd have set up subsidiaries in Japan. The Japanese government is encouraging the use of cheap generic drugs as a large population of the elderly strains public finances by causing it to spend more on social security. The government plans to convert at least 30% of the country’s drug prescription to low-cost generics by 2012. Currently, generic or off-patent drugs have only a 17% market share in Japan. “The Japanese market holds immense potential for global generic pharmaceutical companies like ours,” said Nilesh Gupta, group president of Lupin, who expects the generic drug market in Japan to grow at a “very fast clip”. “The Japanese market is a market of strategic focus for Lupin and we are the only Indian company and one of the few global generic pharma companies to have built significant on-shore presence in Japan through our subsidiary, Kyowa Pharmaceuticals, which is now the fastest growing (among top 10 generic companies) in the Japanese market,” Gupta said in an email response to a query from Mint. Email queries sent to Ranbaxy were not answered over the weekend. Pankaj Patel, chairman and managing director of Cadila Healthcare, could not be contacted because he was travelling. According to a report prepared by Elara Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd, while the new generic drug focus of the Japanese government is expected to bolster Indian generic drug firms in general, the Daiichi connection and Kyowa’s established network would ensure easier market access for Ranbaxy and Lupin. A pharma analyst associated with a foreign brokerage present in India said that the help of a locally established parent or a subsidiary is very important for a foreign drug maker in the Japanese generics market as drug regulations continue to be stringent. “Low-cost generic drugs are still considered inferior in this strictly regulated, patented and branded drug market,” said this analyst, who didn’t want to be identified. According to Elara, while the Japanese government plans to encourage the use of generic drugs, regulations have not been changed to speed up their approvals. Currently, Indian drug makers’ revenues from the Japanese market are tiny compared with their sales in other regulated markets such as the US and Europe. The strict regulatory regime and a low level of trust in foreign generic drugs among patients and doctors have been key obstacles for Indian pharmaceutical firms in penetrating the Japanese market. ch.unni@livemint.com Graphic by Robert Gilhooly/Bloomberg Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 9:18 am Now, 3D skin cancer diagnosis!London: British scientists claim to have developed a 3D test for malignant melanoma, which can identify problems not easily spotted in a standard two-dimensional view of the pattern on the skin. Malignant melanoma is one of the most aggressive and life-threatening skin cancers. Successful treatment relies on early diagnosis. Now, a team, led by Lyndon Smith of Bristol Institute of Technology at the University of the West of England, have developed a computer assisted diagnosis system which could improve outcomes significantly, the International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control reported. The system could quickly and automatically reveal changes in the 3D surface texture of skin that occur in malignant melanoma, which are much greater than in benign lesions, such as moles and freckles, say the scientists. The team used a handheld six-light stereo device connected to a laptop computer to scan the skin surface. This device produces a 3D model of the skin texture patterns. The information is then analysed by the laptop, which compares it with patterns recorded from known cases of melanoma, used to “train” the software, according to the scientists. Preliminary studies on a sample set including 12 malignant melanomas and 34 benign lesions have given 91.7 per cent sensitivity and 76.4 per cent specificity from analysis of the 3D skin surface normals, the team says, which is more accurate than results obtained from 2D pattern recognition. “Diagnosing malignant melanoma accurately is a very difficult task. However, based on these results a simple and non-invasive 3D test could improve the accuracy of diagnosis and so save lives but avoid unnecessary surgery and treatment in people with benign conditions,” the scientists said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 16 May 2010 | 6:11 am
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