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TT sees FY11 EPS around Rs 89, topline at Rs 500crIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Sanjay Kumar Jain, Joint MD, TT, speaks about the latest happenings in his company and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2010 | 8:38 am Vedanta\'s India unit to import 300,000T coal: SourceThe Indian unit of Londonlisted Vedanta Resources Plc has issued a spot tender to import 300,000 tonnes of steam coal, a company source said on Wednesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2010 | 8:21 am Technofab Engg to offer 2.99 mn shares in IPOTechnofab Engineering, an engineering procurement and construction firm, will offer 2.99 million shares in an intial public offering, which will open on June 29 and close on July 2, the company said in a statement.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2010 | 8:21 am TCS wins outsourcing deal from TelenorTCS wins outsourcing deal from TelenorSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2010 | 8:21 am Hero exploring options to extend JV with Honda: MunjalMunjalfamily promoted Hero Group is exploring options to extend the joint venture with Japans Honda Motor Company, says Sunil Munjal, Chairman, Hero Corporate Services.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2010 | 8:18 am See 1520% growth in domestic biz in FY11: Crompton GreavesIn an interview with CNBCTV18, SM Trehan, MD, Crompton Greaves, speaks about the latest happenings in his company and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2010 | 8:08 am Taxing capital gains fully a bad move: EYThe revised discussion of the direct tax code (DTC) has proposed significant changes to the application of minimum alternate tax, capital gains tax, among others. Tax treatment of investments made by foreign institutional investors and the common man may be tweaked.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2010 | 5:24 am DTC 2.0: How will new capital gains tax impact investors?In an interview with CNBCTV18, Ketan Dalal, Joint Head of Tax Regulatory Services at PwC, Dinesh Kanabar, Deputy CEO Chairman (Tax), at KPMG and Ramesh Damani, Member of BSE reacted to the development.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2010 | 5:12 am DTC stakeholders will be a happier lot: Sunil Mitra - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:55 am EGoM on fuel price unlikely to reconstitute: ParikhAs the future of fuel price hike is hanging by the flipflop attitude of the government, Economist Kirit Parikh, who headed the Kirit Parikh Committee on deregulation of fuel prices, and is currently a Member of the Planning Commission is disappointed.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:53 am RIL may acquire 26% stake in RCom: Sources - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:51 am Acummulate M&M; target of Rs 667: P Lilladher - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:47 am US distributor sues M&M for delay in launchAutomaker Mahindra & Mahindra's exclusive American distributor has filed a lawsuit against the company for taking too long to launch its pick-up truck in the country.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:46 am Reliance Comm, GTL could combine towers:PapersThe telecoms tower unit of India\'s Reliance Communications could combine its tower assets with smaller rival GTL Infra in exchange for Rs 15000 crores cash (USD 3.2 billion) and a significant stake in a new entity, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:39 am Obama to demand BP pay for oil spill damageWASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama, seeking to demonstrate strong leadership on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, will demand on Wednesday that BP set aside billions of dollars to pay damages from the catastrophe.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:39 am Nifty rangebound; RCap, M&M, Tata Motors up - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:37 am CPI-M demands withdrawal of higher licence fee for BSNL - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:32 am Gold futures decline on profit bookingGold prices drifted by Rs 11 or 0.06 per cent to Rs 18,736 per ten gram in futures trade on Wednesday on emergence of profit taking by speculators, amid fall in demand at existing higher levels.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:30 am Reuters Summit - IRB Infra looking at cement, power foray(For other news from the Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit, click http://www.reuters.com/summit/GlobalRealEstate10?pid=500)Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:29 am Food inflation appears high because of base effect: Montek Singh AhluwaliaFood inflation may see a further increase in the weeks to come, but that is no reason for alarm as the rise is more a result of low base effect, said the Planning Commission deputy chairman.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:23 am Markets at 1-½ month high; financials leadMumbai: Indian shares climbed to their highest in one-and-a-half months on Wednesday as investors focused on the rapidly growing economy, with concerns easing about the debt problems in Europe. The market has been underpinned by a revival in buying by foreign funds as risk appetite returned globally, traders said. Financials were among the big gainers after higher quarterly tax payments by companies reinforced expectations for robust earnings growth and greater demand for loans. Leading truck and bus maker Tata Motors (TAMO.BO), which also makes cars, raced 2.4% after the company said late on Tuesday global vehicle sales in May jumped 50% from a year earlier. By 10:42am, the 30-share BSE index was trading up 0.31% at 17,466.70, with 18 of its components gaining. The benchmark rose as high as 17,530.38 early, climbing past 17,500 for the first time since 3 May. The 50-share NSE index was up 0.1% at 5,227.40. “Mostly higher advance tax figures and firm global markets are driving our market higher,” said Surekha Joshi, senior dealer for institutional equities at SPA Securities. A government source told Reuters on Tuesday Reliance Industries and Tata Motors paid double the advance tax for the June quarter than a year before while Tata Steel’s payment was 30% higher. Foreign funds have moved about $439 million into Indian equities in June after pulling out nearly $2 billion in May. The revival in inflows has lifted the main index nearly 3%. Ambareesh Baliga, vice-president of Karvy Stock Broking, said foreigners were returning but there was still some worry about possible adverse newsflow from the euro zone. Leading lender State Bank of India was up 0.1% while rivals ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank rose 0.5% and 0.8% respectively. Export-focused software companies rose on improving order visibility, dealers said. Sector leader Tata Consultancy Services rose 1.2% while Infosys and Wipro climbed 0.7% and 1.3% respectively. Energy giant Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the Sensex, shed 0.3% after rising nearly 7% in the last five sessions. In the broader market, gainers were nearly double the number of losers on volume of 129 million shares. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:16 am Pramerica India fund arm eyes $3.2 bn by 2015Mumbai: Pramerica, the latest in a series of new foreign money managers to set up shop in India, hopes to manage Rs150 billion ($3.2 billion) by 2015, helping it break even in the fiercely competitive domestic fund market, a top executive said. Rapidly growing wealth and the booming economy coupled with low penetration of financial products bode well for asset management firms in the country, said Vijai Mantri, chief executive of Pramerica Asset Management, the Indian arm of US firm Prudential Financial. “This is a market for the next 50 years,” Mantri, who earlier headed the Indian fund arm of Deutsche Bank, told Reuters in an interview. “If you look at what will happen 20 years down the line, every third wealthy guy will be from India and China. So I think statistics speak for itself,” he added. Pramerica, which has presence across major Asian fund markets such as Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan, received regulatory approval last month to launch mutual funds in India. India is seen as a powerful long-term lure for global money mangers who are lining up to start operations with its large population, a booming stock market, rising income level and a savings rate of more than 30%. Opportunities still exists with less than 10% of India’s household savings invested in mutual funds and limited reach of the country’s Rs7.4-trillion funds industry with top-8 cities contributing over three quarters of its assets. Pramerica is preparing to offer its first fund early next month, and expand it to six products in the next two years. It joins the likes of Italian bank UniCredit’s arm — Pioneer Global, South Korea’s Mirae Asset and France’s Axa, who have started operations in the domestic funds market over the last three years. More than 20 firms, including German firm Allianz, BNY Mellon Asset, a unit of the world’s top custodian, Bank of New York Mellon, and South African financial services firm Sanlam, are considering an entry. Challenges and competition A raft of regulatory tweaks, including a ban on entry fees charged by funds from August, which cuts firms’ ability to pay advisors and makes it even tougher to tap clients in smaller cities are also a challenge for new entrants. Mantri said his firm was mindful of the stiff competition and willing to invest and wait. Pramerica’s promoters “understand that in a fiercely competitive market like India where there are 40 asset management companies and more to come by, they are not going to make money overnight,” the Mumbai-based executive said. Pramerica has a team of about 50 staff, including the investment management team of nine. The firm plans to double headcount in the next two years. Its head of equity Ravi Gopalakrishnan is a former fund manager of the Indian fund arm of US insurer and asset manager Principal, while Pramerica’s head of fixed income Mahendra Jajoo has come from Tata Mutual Fund. The firm operates from eight branches and plans to expand presence to 25 locations by the end of the year, Mantri said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:11 am NTPC may buy stake in Australian coal minesNew Delhi: NTPC Ltd, the country’s top power utility, is looking to buy stakes in coal mines in Australia, a senior company official said on Wednesday. “There are lots of coal assets in New South Wales and Queensland. There are quite good many assets of black coal and there is good port infrastructure,” chairman R S Sharma told reporters. He said a team of NTPC executives would shortly visit Australia to work out the details. The company plans to add 4,000-4,500 megawatts generation capacity in the current fiscal year to March. Separately, Sharma said the company planned to invest Rs6,000-8,000 crore in the next five years to generate 1,000 megawatts of renewable power. In April, Sharma had said the firm was looking to set up two coal-fired power plants in Kazakhstan, besides building a coal-based power plant of 500-1,000 megawatts capacity in Bangladesh. State-run NTPC aims to set up nuclear power projects with a capacity of about 2,000 megawatts by 2017. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:05 am Gold extends gains; deters physical buysMumbai: India gold extended gains on Wednesday afternoon, deterring physical buyers from making fresh purchases, even though the rupee acted in support, dealers said. “There are no buyers... it was the same yesterday,” said a dealer with a state-run bullion dealing bank. The most-traded August contract on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was 0.18% higher at Rs18,698 per 10 grams, after gaining 0.6% in the previous session. Gold prices held firm as the euro steadied near a two-week high against the dollar, but traders said rallying stock markets and receding risk aversion could cap the upside. The Indian rupee hit its highest level in four weeks tracking gains in the domestic sharemarket on the back of a return in risk appetite globally and also boosted by gains in other regional peers. A strong rupee makes the dollar-quoted asset cheaper. “We saw good buying below $1,220 (an ounce) levels... probably that’s when they will think of buying,” said another dealer with a private bank. The onset of monsoons have dented demand in the world’s key buyer as rural India, which consumes about 65 percent of the yellow metal, divert savings to buy seed and other farm imputs. Gold imports into India may fall to less than 15 tonnes from 29.9 tonnes a year earlier as near-record prices and the onset of monsoon dent demand, a trade body official said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:04 am Nifty trades with modest gains ADAG stocks most active - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 16 Jun 2010 | 3:03 am Rupee hits 4-wk high; stocks, euro gains helpMUMBAI (Reuters) – The rupee hit its highest level in four weeks on Wednesday afternoon tracking gains in the domestic sharemarket on the back of a return in risk appetite globally and also boosted by gains in other regional peers.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 2:57 am RCom offers unlimited mobile internet accessMumbai: Reliance Communications said on Wednesday it would offer unlimited internet access to subscribers through their mobile phones at Rs99 ($2) per month. The offering is part of the company’s plans to launch third-generation (3G) services in India, Reliance Communications, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, said in a statement. The company had won key licences to offer 3G services in several regions across India, including Delhi and Mumbai — the biggest markets in the country, at the end of a government auction in May. Last week, debt-laden Reliance Communications unveiled plans to sell up to a 26% stake in itself, after India sold licences for 3G wireless services at a price far higher than expected. On Monday, the company said its board approved a proposal to bring investors into its tower arm and help create an independent tower company. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2010 | 2:53 am Finmin finds tax exemption recommendation balancedNew Delhi: A day after releasing a revised draft of the direct tax code (DTC), the finance ministry on Wednesday said its recommendations on exempting retirement savings are balanced and would not entail loss of revenue. “EEE (exempt-exempt-exempt) is only for limited number of saving instruments. It (recommendation) is balanced,” said revenue secretary Sunil Mitra when asked about the rationale of watering down the original proposals. Under EEE mode, contributions in certain savings schemes become tax-exempt as it is deductible from income, the accumulations are also exempt from tax till it remain invested and withdrawals are also not taxed. However, in EET, the first two steps remain tax-exempt, but withdrawals are taxed. On the impact of the recommendations on revenue, he said, “Tax collection will increase or not it will all depends on rates. The rates we have not put just now. That will go in the legislation.” In the revised draft taxes code, which will replace the 50-year-old Income Tax Act, the finance ministry decided to drop its earlier proposal to tax the government provident fund or the public provident fund withdrawals. The first DTC draft had proposed to tax all savings schemes including provident funds at the time of withdrawal bringing them under the EET (Exempt-Exempt-Tax) mode. The revised draft also puts pensions administered by the interim regulator PFRDA, including pension of government employees who were recruited since January 2004, under EEE treatment. The government plans to introduce a draft legislation on the DTC in Parliament in the forthcoming monsoon session. “If Parliament procedure is complete and it becomes a law, it will be implemented from April 1, 2011,” Mitra said on Tuesday. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2010 | 2:50 am NTPC may buy stake in Australian coal minesNEW DELHI, June 16 (Reuters) - NTPC Ltd, the country's top power utility, is looking to buy stakes in coal mines in Australia, a senior company official said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 2:44 am RBI warns against overreaction on ratesMumbai: A top Indian central banker signalled it would continue to tighten monetary policy but warned against overreacting amid global economic uncertainty, casting doubt on the chances of an interest rate rise before a 27 July policy meeting. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Subir Gokarn told the Economic Times that rates were still too low given the fast pace of economic recovery and inflation, which touched double digits in March. “The current level of policy instruments is not fully aligned with the state of the economy,” Gokarn told the newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday. “The direction of policy is very clear and it is really a question of pacing. We have to be careful when we act, and there is a danger in overreaction. With the kind of uncertainty that we still see, we prefer to be more cautious.” A slew of comments from RBI officials this week may be a move to address criticism that the bank is behind the curve in tackling stubbornly high inflation, while also facing pressure from the government to preserve strong growth rates. However, caution stemming from Europe’s debt crisis, a concern voiced by several other Asian central banks such as Japan and Thailand, and tight liquidity in India should ensure the RBI takes a measured approach to tightening. “The bank is indicating that while the current numbers are torrid and it will continue to tighten, the outlook over the next 12 months makes it unclear that greater aggression is necessary at this point of time,” said Atsi Sheth, chief economist at Macro-Sutra in Mumbai. By 11:25 a.m., the 10-year benchmark bond yield was 5 basis points lower than its previous close, echoing the sentiment that the RBI was likely to keep rates steady until its 27 July quarterly review. The 5-year swap rate was at 6.88% from its previous close of 6.90%, after rising to a near two-month high of 6.95% on Tuesday in what would normally signal expectations of more aggressive tightening.. But traders said that the swap curve or bond yields may not accurately reflect those expectations, as heavy cash outflows from banks have effectively increased banks’ cash reserve ratio (CRR), another tool used to tighten policy. “I don’t think we will see inter-policy rate hikes,” said Pradeep Madhav, CEO of STCI Primary Dealer. “The fact is that Rs1 trillion of liquidity which has gone out ... itself amounts to a CRR hike of approximately 2.5%. “The near-end interest rates have moved up. Inflation is high and yes it needs to be tackled but the system has already dried up of liquidity. I don’t think the money is going to return for at least a month,” he added.%. A Reuters survey shows that most analysts do not see the RBI raising rates before the 27 July review, in line with the bank’s earlier stated preference for “baby steps” toward normalisation. However, it was still expected to raise rates at the meeting itself. Clearing the Air Gokarn’s comments follow remarks by another RBI deputy governor, K C Chakrabarty, who said on Tuesday that inflation is a bigger concern than the situation in Europe, and the finance minister, who toned down earlier remarks to back the bank over taming inflation. When asked whether the Indian central bank could raise rates ahead of the July review, Chakrabarty had replied “absolutely”. A senior official at a state-run bank, who declined to be identified, said Gokarn appeared to be trying to clear the air about the confusing remarks made earlier by policymakers. “I think it is correct to interpret it as the RBI is watching the situation, which in itself can be interpreted as measured tightening.” The RBI raised its key short-term lending and borrowing rates by 25 basis points each in March and April. The repo rate now stands at 5.25% and reverse repo is at 3.75%. Concerns of an off-cycle rate hike ahead of the 27 July review rose after stronger-than-expected factory output growth and a sharp acceleration in May wholesale price inflation. The newspaper also quoted Gokarn as saying the bank was well aware of the liquidity squeeze due to advance tax outflows and payments towards 3G auctions and wireless broadband spectrum and that the RBI would make sure that no undue pressure develops. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2010 | 2:35 am Rupee hits 4-week high; stocks, euro gains helpMumbai: The Indian rupee hit its highest level in four weeks on Wednesday afternoon tracking gains in the domestic sharemarket on the back of a return in risk appetite globally and also boosted by gains in other regional peers. At 2:10pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.38/39 per dollar, after hitting Rs46.2850, its strongest since 20 May and stronger than Tuesday’s close of Rs46.55/56. The rupee’s gain was in line with regional peers which also rose against the dollar. The euro briefly hit a two-week high on Wednesday, aided by improved risk tolerance after a strong rally in US equities, though the move lacked momentum required to tackle nearby resistance. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was up 0.3% and would be watched for cues, dealers said. Indian shares rose above 17,500 for the first time since early May in early trade, with financials leading the rise, taking cues from strong world markets. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both at Rs46.4425, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $3.7 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2010 | 2:32 am World stocks hit 1-month high as risk soughtLONDON (Reuters) - World stocks hit a one-month high on Wednesday and the euro briefly hit a two-week peak as strong gains on Wall Street and the relative success of this week's European debt auctions encouraged fresh risk-taking.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 2:26 am Fitch sees euro zone breakup as "remote risk"PARIS (Reuters) - Credit rating agency Fitch sees a break-up of the euro zone as a "remote risk" and not one of its most likely scenarios, a Fitch director said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 2:15 am Oil higher in Asian trade as investor mood improvesNew York's main contract, light sweet crude for July delivery rose 16 cents to $77.10 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for August delivery was 35 cents higher at $77.45.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 2:14 am Tata Nano available off the shelf now - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 16 Jun 2010 | 2:13 am RBI warns against overreaction on ratesMUMBAI (Reuters) - A top Reserve Bank official signalled the central bank would continue to tighten monetary policy but warned against overreacting amid global economic uncertainty, casting doubt on the chances of an interest rate rise before a July 27 policy meeting.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 2:12 am BP faces tough future after oil spillLONDON (Reuters) - BP has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks, as estimates of the volume of oil leaking from its Gulf of Mexico well have risen and politicians blame corner-cutting for the accident.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 1:54 am Weather officials see revival this weekend as monsoon lagsNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's monsoon is running four to five days behind schedule and has yet to reach half of the country's territory though rains are expected by the weekend, senior weather department sources said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 1:37 am New direct tax codes to be tabled soon: Revenue Secretary - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 16 Jun 2010 | 1:33 am Weather experts hopeful of monsoon revivalNew Delhi: India’s monsoon is running four to five days behind schedule and has yet to reach half of the country’s territory though rains are expected by the weekend, senior weather department sources said on Wednesday. Monsoon progress is “behind schedule,” said a senior official of the India Meteorological Department, who did not wish to be named, adding “the monsoon is likely to revive in next two to three days.” He ruled out any cause for concern at this juncture, despite the delay in the monsoon progress which usually covers central and western India by mid-June. The monsoon, after an initial lull phase earlier this month, has entered the rice, cane and oilseed growing south-western region of India. But it has yet to enter the soybean growing areas of central India, or northern Uttar Pradesh, the country’s top cane growing state. Last year the weather department incorrectly predicted rains for the annual southwest monsoon which runs from June to September from south to north. “Rains occured a bit in some parts. But it does not look like monsoon rains,” said Rajesh Agrawal, spokesman of the Indore-based trade body the Soybean Processors Association of India. He said soybean sowing would start in the central India once the monsoon fully sets in by next week as forecast by the weather office. “Farmers will start planting soybeans from June last week,” he said. For the first fortnight of the four month season, overall rains were deficient as the super cyclone Phet over Arabian sea slowed the initial progress of the monsoon which had hit the country’s southern tip on 31 May, a day ahead of normal date of arrival over the southwest Kerala coast. Rainfall since 1 June, the start of the four-month season, was seven percent below a normal of 62.4 mm, sources in the weather office, who declined to be named, said. D. Sivananda Pai, director of National Climate Center in Pune said he was still forecasting a normal monsoon for this season. Heavy rains were expected over the central-western region later this week, said Pai, and ruled out any weak phase this week. Good rains, after last year’s drought, are crucial to calm high inflation that has triggered protests, can boost the country’s output of grain and oilseeds, and give room to the government to relax curbs on export of wheat and rice. Soaring inflation had been a key concern of an Indian government panel that was empowered to take a decision on easing state controls on fuel prices. The panel led by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee put off a decision at its meeting last week as it wanted to watch how the monsoon, vital for farm output in India’s trillion-dollar economy, shapes up amid high inflation. May’s inflation of 10.16%, driven by higher food and fuel prices, was the seventh straight monthly reading over 5%, the Reserve Bank of India’s perceived comfort level. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2010 | 1:21 am Shares at 1- mth high; financials leadShares climbed to their highest in one-and-a-half months on Wednesday as investors focused on the rapidly growing economy, with concerns easing about the debt problems in Europe.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 16 Jun 2010 | 1:12 am Oil tops $77, tracks rising equities, risk appetiteSingapore: Oil rose above $77 on Wednesday to reach the highest level since mid-May, tracking a recovery in global stock markets as risk appetite returns with easing concern about Europe’s economy. Japan’s Nikkei average rose 1.6% on Wednesday to top 10,000 for the first time in a month after successful debt sales by some of the weakest euro-zone members boosted the euro and Wall Street a day earlier. Traders shrugged off an industry report showing US crude and products stockpiles climbed last week, turning their attention to the implications of the US Gulf spill for future supplies after a speech by President Barack Obama on Tuesday. “Oil is basically moving with stock markets and the stock markets are moving with optimism and pessimism over the euro,” said Keichi Sano, general manager of research at SCM Securities in Tokyo. “Prices are getting into a higher range of $75-$85 for the coming two to three months.” ICE Brent crude oil for delivery in August gained as much as 39 cents to $77.49 a barrel, the highest since 17 May, and was up 15 cents at $77.25 at 0247 GMT. US crude for July reached $77.19, the highest level since 11 May, and was unchanged at $76.94. In a speech to the nation on Tuesday, Obama vowed to compel BP Plc to pay the price for its “recklessness” in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and sought to harness public outrage over the disaster for a “national mission” to cut US dependence on fossil fuels. But the speech came short of signaling changes in oil exploration and production, leaving market participants to wonder about the spill’s long-term implications on deepwater drilling after the U.S. ordered a ban on such exploration for six months. “Maybe for the long-term oil price it’s bullish, but for the nearby months I don’t see any reason to be bullish or bearish,” Sano said. Traders also awaited confirmation of stockpile increases last week across all fuel categories and crude in the US. The Energy Information Administration will publish government statistics on Wednesday at 1430 GMT. US crude inventories rose 579,000 barrels last week even as crude imports fell, the American Petroleum Institute (API) trade group said on Tuesday, contrary to analyst expectations for a 1.2 million barrel drop in the latest Reuters poll. Crude oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, pricing point rose 107,000 barrels, according to API data, putting pressure on the front month contract for US crude. Gasoline supplies rose 1.3 million barrels, above analyst expectations for a 200,000 barrel increase and distillates including heating oil and diesel climbed 2.1 million barrels, double the analyst forecast for a 1 million-barrel rise. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:15 am Ghazal: a Saudi answer to Arabian desertDubai: Saudi Arabia has launched its first indigenously made car Ghazal, designed by engineers of the King Saud University to suit the needs of the harsh Gulf climate. Ghazal, named after a desert deer which is one of the fastest animals that can survive a harsh environment, was launched by Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh. The car has been manufactured by engineers at King Saud University (KSU) and has been co-financed by the ministry of higher education. It is designed to match the climate of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. Higher education minister Khaled Al-Anqari said students of the university’s Faculty of Engineering had been working on the project for the last two years. “What is achieved today is a clear proof of the ability of Saudi youth to make innovations and inventions... if they are provided with adequate facilities and given opportunities,” the minister said. The car is 4.8 metress long with a width of about 1. 9 metres and there are plans to manufacture 20,000 cars annually. “This is a national strategic product and KSU holds its patent rights and intellectual property rights,” he said after the unveiling ceremony on Monday. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:15 am Game on: Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft wage warElectronics hardware makers on Tuesday showed off snazzy new devices enabling motion-sensing play and 3D effects, intensifying a battle to introduce video-gaming to a new generation of casual users.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:02 am Now, a veggie 5-star hotel!Surat, known for its diamonds and textiles, will soon boast of India’s first five-star wholly-vegetarianSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am MAT on book profits set to come back in revised Direct Taxes CodeTrue to his reputation as a business- and people-friendly Minister, the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee has conceded to most of the demands of stakeholders on the proposed Direct Taxes CodeSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 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 | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Advance tax collection surge points to sharp recoveryThe quantum jump in advance tax payment made by companies based in Maharashtra for the first quarter of this fiscal shows that the economy is clearly on the high growthSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Rich nations mulling sops to save the newspaperWith 2009 being “the worst year for newspapers” in the rich countries — the largest declines in the US, the UK, Greece, Italy, Canada and Spain — some of the developed countries have put emergency measures to financiallySource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Using principles of homeopathy and yoga to drive Bajaj AutoBajaj Auto has gone in for a revamp of its top management where Mr Pradeep Shrivastava has been elevated to Chief Operating Officer from CEO (Engineering). All other CEOs have been promoted to Presidents of their businessSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am New tax code may check hot money entryForeign institutional investors will have to classify income from capital market transactions as capital gains and not as business income, the revised discussion paper of the Direct Tax Code (DTC)Source: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Murdoch's BSkyB buy seen a safe betIt may seem surprising that with so many options at his fingertips, Mr Rupert Murdoch is going after British Sky Broadcasting, the satellite television network he began decadesSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Sintex Industries (Rs 296.6): BuyInvestors with short-term trading perspective can consider buying the stock of Sintex Industries. Since March 2009 low of Rs 70 the stock has been on an intermediate-term uptrend, forming higher peaks and higher troughs. However, the stock tookSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Nod for 10% divestment in Coal India, Hind CopperKick-starting another round of big-ticket disinvestment, which could fetch it Rs 17,500 crore, the Government on Tuesday decided to sell 10 per cent stake each in Coal India Ltd and Hindustan CopperSource: Business Line - Home Page | 16 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am How independent is RBI?New Delhi: Stubbornly high inflation is putting pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to raise interest rates ahead of a scheduled July review, and the finance minister is seen to be slowly coming around to the view. Many analysts now see a rate hike before 27 July after data showed May headline inflation unexpectedly accelerated and with signs of rising price pressures from strong demand in Asia’s third largest economy. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said he did not favour raising rates, noting inflationary pressures would ease from mid-July. A day later, Mukherjee said RBI would take appropriate steps to control inflation as and when needed. Here are some questions and answers about the independence of the RBI. What does the law say? The RBI is not constitutionally independent, as the 1934 act governing its operation gives the government power to direct it. The government appoints the central bank governor and four deputies. “The Central Government may from time to time give such directions to the Bank as it may, after consultation with the Governor of the Bank, consider necessary in the public interest,” the act says. Technically, the government is also permitted by the Act to supersede the central bank if it believes the RBI has failed to carry out its obligations. What happens in practice? Over the last quarter century, the RBI has been seen to be more independent as India’s economy has liberalised, although much consultation takes place between the central bank and the finance ministry, and the government has been known to exert its will, against the wishes of the RBI chief. “There is no legal act mandating autonomy of the RBI, but there is a growing convention that the RBI is allowed autonomy to do what it wants,” said Shankar Acharya, an economist with New Delhi-based think tank ICRIER and a former chief economic adviser to the government. Consultations between the RBI and the finance ministry, which Acharya described as “substantive,” are not unusual in India. Is “consult” just a polite word for “government order”? Not necessarily. The RBI and government have clashed over monetary policy in the past, notably during the tenure of the previous governor, Y.V. Reddy, and then-finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram. In 2007, global interest rates were softening but the central bank under Reddy maintained a hawkish stance, citing inflationary risks stemming from high oil prices. The government favoured lower interest rates to help sustain high growth and bring relief to borrowers. The RBI’s view prevailed and it hiked policy rates. In June of the following year, however, Reddy was prodded by the finance ministry to raise rates against his wishes, he revealed in an interview after he left office. But generally, the finance ministry and the RBI try to find common ground on issues concerning monetary policy. So what governs the RBI’s independence? Personalities to a very large extent. Reddy, for example, was “fiercely independent”, according to Surjit Bhalla, head of Oxus Investments in New Delhi. Subbarao is seen as more open to consultations with the finance ministry, although he has demonstrated independence with criticism of the government’s fiscal deficit and early warnings on inflation. What other influence can the government have? Appointments. The government appointed Subbarao, who was the top bureaucrat in the finance ministry, as central bank governor, bypassing Reddy’s deputy Rakesh Mohan, who had been seen as a strong candidate. This was a rare instance where the top bureaucrat in the finance ministry was appointed to the top job at the Indian central bank immediately after serving out his stint as finance secretary. The government can also issue directives on non-monetary policy matters such as foreign investment rules in the banks. Who should investors be watching for policy clues? Both the government and the central bank. Top officials, including the finance minister, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia speak frequently on matters of monetary policy, and their views influence policy decisions. It is Subbarao, however, who decides the timing, means, and degree of policy moves. “It’s kept grey,” said Acharya. “Fortunately, there is growing convention for autonomy. I don’t think the RBI is being dictated to.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 11:44 pm Reliance Comm, GTL could combine towersThe telecoms tower unit of India's Reliance Communications could combine its tower assets with smaller rival GTL Infra in exchange for 150 billion rupees cash, the Economic Times reportedSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 11:36 pm Rupee appreciates by 17 paise against dollarThe Indian rupee appreciated by 17 paise to 46.39 a dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange on Wednesday, helped by fresh inflow of global funds into the equity market.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 15 Jun 2010 | 11:05 pm Sensex gains further ground on bullish global trendThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today rose further over 111 points in early trade as funds remained net buyers in fundamentally strong shares amid a firming global trend.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 10:50 pm Sensex gains further ground on bullish global trendThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Wednesday rose further over 111 points in early trade as funds remained net buyers in fundamentally strong shares amid a firming global trend.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 15 Jun 2010 | 10:17 pm Sensex gains further ground on bullish global trendThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today rose further over 111 points in early trade today as funds remained net buyers in fundamentally strong shares amid a firming global trend.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 10:10 pm Cairn starts delivering crude via pipeline from Rajasthan - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 9:55 pm Cipla to acquire stake in 2 biotech co; stk gains - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 9:45 pm Asian stocks up, investors cheered by EuropeSingapore: Asian shares rose on Wednesday, led by electronics makers and resource stocks, after successful European debt auctions boosted hopes for global growth and lifted commodity prices. The euro steadied near its highest in two weeks, and easing fears about Europe’s debt crisis also fuelled gains for higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar. Industrial raw materials also gained, with copper up for a seventh day running, while crude oil extended its rally into a third day. Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 1.6% to top 10,000 points for the first time in a month, picking up steam after closing above its 25-day moving average on Tuesday. “The speculative sell-off in response to negative news, which we had seen up until now, might have come to a halt, and short-covering is now picking up momentum,” said Masaru Hamasaki, a senior strategist at Toyota Asset Management. Electronics makers were the biggest contributors, with Canon up 3.2% and Kyocera up 2.2%. The Philadelphia semiconductor index had jumped 5.5% on Tuesday after Taiwan’s big contract chip makers forecast growing demand. US stocks gained more than 2% on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 rising above its 200-day moving average for the first time in a month, as investors took heart from successful debt auctions in some of the euro zone’s weaker members. “From a technical perspective, the US market retested its 200-day moving average and managed to go through it, so the next few days will be very interesting,” said Matt Riordan, portfolio manager at Paradice Investment Management in Sydney. “I think it will remain volatile.” Euro relief The euro was up at $1.2315 having risen to as high as $1.2349, the strongest level since 1 June, in the previous session after debt auctions in Spain, Ireland and Belgium drew solid demand. The single currency has been battered for months as investors took fright at high euro zone sovereign debt levels and low growth prospects in several countries in the bloc. The bond auctions also helped the Australian and New Zealand dollars, higher-yielding currencies that tend to gain on heightened risk appetite. Some traders said a short squeeze on the euro -- with investors who had been betting on falls scrambling to cover their positions -- could push the currency higher. “The price action suggests that both the euro and the Aussie’s rally in the past few sessions have a bit to run,” said John Horner, currency analyst at Deutsche Bank in Australia. Japanese government bonds dipped, following a fall in US Treasuries as stock market gains dampened demand for safe-haven government debt, but losses were limited as traders cautioned the European crisis still had some months to run. “The significant rise in stock prices has been taken in stride as it is difficult for investors to become optimistic while worries over the euro zone’s debt situation continue to simmer,” said Makoto Noji, a senior market analyst at Mizuho Securities. September 10-year JGB futures fell 0.13 point to 140.29, pulling back from a two-year high above 141.00 struck the previous week. US crude futures edged up to near $77 a barrel, a day after spiking more than 2% on growing investor confidence in a global economic recovery. Hopes of improving demand for resources also boosted copper for a seventh straight day That, in turn, lifted shares in the resources sector, while Australian mining heavyweights Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, both of which rose nearly 2%, were also helped by signs the Canberra government was planning revisions to its proposed mining tax. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 9:18 pm Obama vows to make BP pay for its ‘recklessness’Washington: President Barack Obama lashed out at BP in his first address from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, accusing the British oil giant of recklessness and vowing to make it pay for the damage from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Eight weeks into the crisis, oil continues to gush from the broken wellhead off the coast of Louisiana, millions of gallons a day. Obama has been powerless to stem the leak, and many Americans are angry by what they see as the government’s slow response to their country’s worst environmental disaster. The President, in a prime-time speech that sought to reassure the country he was in command of the crisis, nevertheless warned there would be more damage before the spill is contained. He said the nation could be tied up with the oil and its aftermath for months or years. “We will make BP pay,” he promised. Obama has been scrambling to show he is doing everything he can. But the government does not have the technology to stop a spill at such depth, forcing Obama to rely on BP to fix it. “We will fight this spill with everything we’ve got for as long it takes,” Obama said. In a statement released immediately after Obama’s speech, BP said it shared the President’s goal of cleaning up the oil and helping those affected by the spill, which started 20 April when an offshore oil rig leased by BP exploded, killing 11 workers. The President’s address capped a two-day inspection tour of the stricken Gulf of Mexico region, and was lent new urgency as scientists announced the spill could be worse than previously thought. “Obama you are useless,” and, “Lead now!” said two of several spray-painted sign along the president’s motorcade route in Florida earlier in the day. Obama’s speech comes just ahead of his meeting in the White House on Wednesday with top BP executives. “I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company’s recklessness,” Obama said. In its statement, BP said it was looking forward to the meeting “for a constructive discussion about how best to achieve these mutual goals”. Still, it is not certain BP can be forced to pay, since an independent third party and not the US government would control the proposed fund. Obama said his government also has directed BP to mobilize more equipment and technology and that stepped-up efforts in the coming weeks should result in the capture of 90% of the oil spewing out of the well. Completion of a relief well later in the summer is expected to “stop the leak completely,” the President added. The new Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday found 52% of those surveyed don’t approve of Obama’s handling of the spill, a shift from last month when a big chunk of people withheld judgment. But the public is directing most of its ire at the oil company. A stunning 83% disapprove of BP’s performance in the aftermath of the 02 April rig explosion, while Obama’s overall job performance rating stayed virtually the same at 50 percent. Obama said he had asked former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a former governor of Mississippi, to develop a long-term Gulf Coast Restoration Plan to be funded by BP in concert with local states, communities, fishermen, conservationists and residents “as soon as possible”. Obama did not detail what this plan should include, but noted that it would go beyond just repairing the effects of the crude on a unique, teeming ecology already battered by the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “We must make a commitment to the Gulf Coast that goes beyond responding to the crisis of the moment,” the President said. Earlier Tuesday, a government panel of scientists said the oil spill was leaking between 1.47 million and 2.52 million gallons a day, an increase over previous estimates that put the maximum size of the spill at 2.2 million gallons per day. Cleanup efforts were stalled for about five hours when a lightning bolt hit the ship siphoning oil from the leak. No one was injured. As of Tuesday, the maximum amount of oil that has gushed out of the well since the 20 April explosion is 116 million gallons, according to the estimates by scientists advising the federal government. The updated figures were released as lawmakers in Congress chastised chief executives from the largest oil companies—ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell and BPAmerica—for being no better prepared for the worst than BP. In sometimes-testy exchanges about the risks of seeking oil under a mile of water, the executives testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee that their companies would not have managed the Deepwater Horizon well in the same way, suggesting BP shortcuts led to the devastating outcome. In a show of action, Obama announced he had picked former Justice Department inspector general Michael Bromwich to lead the agency that regulates the oil industry, replacing Elizabeth Birnbaum, who has stepped down as director of the Minerals Management Service following accusations of lax oversight of drilling and cozy ties with the industry. The President also urged the country and Congress to get behind his goal of passing sweeping energy and climate change legislation, a key domestic priority of his presidency that had become a long shot. “Countries like China are investing in clean-energy jobs and industries that should be right here in America. Each day, we send nearly $1 billion of our wealth to foreign countries for their oil,” he said. “The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now.” Wednesday’s meeting with BP was to be followed by a presidential statement, Obama’s fourth planned remarks on the spill in three days. Later in the week, BP leaders take the Washington hot seat again, appearing before more congressional hearings. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 9:10 pm Good & bad news for the taxpayerThe revised discussion paper on the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has both good as well as bad news for the taxpayer.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:26 pm With no more 'business income', FIIs may be hitThe rate of capital gains tax would be decided on later, and on the basis of capital gains, the rate for securities transaction tax too would be decided.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:20 pm Cipla ups biotech play via stake buysThe Mumbai-based company will invest about $65 million in a phased manner over three years to acquire 40% in Mab Pharm, a biotech company in India.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:02 pm Rosebys eyes 300 retail points in 5 yearsRosebys Interiors India Ltd, a subsidiary of Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd and an emerging player in the home furnishings and decor business, is going all out to ensure retail growth.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 2:58 pm Omaxe sees orders doublingThe developer has Rs 1,000 crore of order book for its wholly owned subsidiary Omaxe Infra and Construction, which is expected to double to Rs 2,000 crore.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 2:55 pm 'Empower Indian cities to mobilize own resources'To meet the challenge of overstretched infrastructure in cities, mainly a result of rapid urbanisation, Deepak Parekh, chairman, HDFC, proposes to allow cities and towns to raise their own fund by levying taxes and also by directly tapping the market.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:59 pm Brokers line up for BSE membershipThe move by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to reduce membership deposit and fee requirements for new members in cash and equity derivatives segments has generated strong response from the investor community.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:58 pm Capital gains of FIIs are not business incomeIn what should be particularly good news for government officials, it clarified that the perquisite value of rent-free accommodation would not be calculated at market value.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:56 pm Cairn starts piping crude to private refinersAfter the government allowed private refiners to buy crude from Cairn's fields in Rajasthan, Essar Oil on Tuesday started receiving oil from India's biggest onland discovery in two decades through the world's longest heated pipeline.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:53 pm Advance tax payments rise sharplyMirroring the uptick in the economy, corporate India's advance tax payments have jumped sharply in the April-June quarter of this fiscal.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:49 pm Parkway fight: Fortis in talks with 3 banksLocked in a takeover tussle for Singapore's Parkway Holdings, Fortis Healthcare has said it is keeping its options open on the Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah's $835 million offer to acquire the Asia's largest hospital firm.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:47 pm Grob Aircraft targets 181 trainers for IAFGerman maker eyes HALs share of 106 trainers.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:13 pm CCEA clears CIL, Hind Copper divestmentIn what seemed a political understanding, Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee stayed away from a cabinet committee meeting where the government finally cleared two disinvestment proposals she had been opposing.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:03 pm Govt softens stand in new tax codeRules for FIIs, capital gains may cause pain.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:01 pm Caste in uniformNoted theatre director Arvind Gaur’s play “Court Martial” chronicles the lot of a low-caste soldier’s in the army. The play was performed at the India Habitat Centre last Sunday. With strong acting and mood enhancing music, it probes beneath the surface in its attempt to reveal discrimination that still exists, even in institutions like the army. Part of the ongoing Summer Theatre Festival being performed by Asmita, the Hindi theatre group, “Court Martial” will be performed again on 4 July at the same venue. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:01 pm SEZ units also to get sops under DTC: GovtThe government today said developers of special economic zones as well as units therein will continue to get incentives like income tax exemption under the proposed direct tax code (DTC). Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:41 pm Spain sells debt at premium, policymakers urge calmMadrid/Berlin: European policymakers sought to quash talk of a euro zone rescue for Spain on Tuesday as the country’s borrowing costs rose further in a debt auction ahead of an EU summit to discuss steps to fix the currency bloc. A German government official said he did not think Spain, which was forced to deny reports this week it may soon require a Greek-style bailout, would be on the agenda of the summit to discuss stricter fiscal rules and economic reform on Thursday. Germany’s ZEW economic sentiment indicator suffered its biggest monthly drop since the height of the financial crisis in October 2008 — right after the collapse of Lehman Brothers — partly due to rumours about debt problems in Spain. Chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jean-Claude Juncker said Spain’s economic fundamentals were different from Greece’s. “Financial markets shouldn’t make the mistake of establishing an equivalence between Greece and Spain,” Juncker told Reuters on a state visit to Norway. Markets would one day be convinced euro zone states were doing the right things to deal with the debt crisis, he said. International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will visit Madrid on Friday, after the EU summit, for talks with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapataero on Spain’s economic policies and reforms, an IMF spokeswoman said. A day after admitting that some Spanish banks were being frozen out of international credit markets, Madrid raised €5.2 billion in 12- and 18-month T-bills at an auction, but paid a significantly higher average yield than last month. The euro and European stocks rallied after the auction reassured investors that Spain was in no immediate financial danger and will be able to meet a €16.2 billion debt redemption due by the end of July. “This was another test, which they passed with flying colours,” said Eric Wand of consultancy 4Cast. “It’s costing more, but still at a vaguely palatable level.” The 12-month bill, which paid an average yield of 2.303% after 1.59% in the same auction in May, and the 18-month, which gave 2.837%, up from 1.951%, were seen as litmus tests for a more important 10- and 30-year bond auction on Thursday. Rating Dispute However, Marc Ostwald, bond strategist at Monument Securities in London, said the fact that Spain had paid far more than France called into question its top-notch rating from agencies such as Moody’s Investor Service. Moody’s shocked markets on Monday by abruptly downgrading Greece’s sovereign debt by four notches to junk status. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs commissioner Olli Rehn told the European Parliament the timing of Moody’s decision was “astonishing and unfortunate”, saying it had not taken into account latest developments in the country. The downgrade may force investors to sell billions of euros of Greek government bonds after Barclays Capital and Citigroup strip them from indices that determine the composition of index-tracking funds. The European Central Bank said it had started applying a 5% penalty, known as a “haircut”, when accepting Greek bonds as collateral in lending operations due to the Moody’s rating change. That means commercial banks will receive less money in exchange for Greek bonds than if they tendered government bonds of another euro zone nation as a security. Another credit watchdog agency, Fitch Ratings, said financial markets had overreacted to the euro area’s sovereign debt problems, though traders were likely to keep testing the region’s commitment to the single currency. Fitch analyst Brian Coulton told reporters his agency had no plans to follow Moody’s in downgrading Greek debt to junk. Sarkozy Bows to Merkel Ahead of Thursday’s EU summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy bowed to German demands for tougher European budget rules and dropped his call for a separate “economic government” of the 16-nation euro zone with a dedicated secretariat. After talks in Berlin on Monday, Sarkozy accepted a German proposal that euro zone states which persistently breach budget deficit limits should have their voting rights in the bloc suspended, even if that requires changing the EU treaty. He also yielded to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s insistence that closer “economic government” should involve all 27 European Union members and not just those that share the common currency. Amid persistent worries about the solvency of European banks, the Spanish daily El Pais quoted government sources as saying Madrid wants EU regulators to publish the results of stress tests of individual banks to restore confidence. The Spanish Banking Association said the stress test results should be made public. There was no comment from the government or the Bank of Spain, but a German official told reporters that publishing the data was a possibility among several options. Germany, France and the European Central Bank have so far opposed such a move, advocated forcefully by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, because they fear it could trigger more speculation against European banks. Economists say Europe could face prolonged economic stagnation with “zombie banks”, as Japan did in the 1990s, unless governments act decisively to force banks to resolve bad debts and recapitalise, merge or shut down those in trouble. France and Spain are both due to announce major structural economic reforms on Wednesday. An overhaul of France’s generous pay-as-you-go pension system is expected to raise the legal retirement age from 60 to 62 or 63, extend the contribution period for a full pension and introduce extra levies on higher earners. Spain’s minority Socialist government, fighting a 20% unemployment rate, is seeking opposition support for a major shake-up of the country’s rigid labour market to make it easier and cheaper to hire and fire. Unions called a general strike for 29 September in protest. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:39 pm Slow investment, poor infra adding to inflation: HSBCBanking major HSBC India country head Naina Lal Kidwai today expressed concern over the slow investment flow into capacity expansion by the industry and is partly adding to the high inflation the country is facing now.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:38 pm #@#@! Twitter crashes, tweets strangledThe world’s favourite bird was strangled into silence for two-and-half hours early on Tuesday. Microblogging website twitter.com couldn’t be accessed for several hours and outages on the site persisted.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:36 pm India Inc pleased with revised DTC draftIndia Inc today said the revised draft of Direct Taxes Code has well addressed its two demands -- tax exemption to pension and provident fund withdrawals and computing the Minimum Alternate Tax on profits.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:31 pm Quick Edit | The new old tax codeThis newspaper has always cheered the government’s efforts to enforce a new direct tax code and move to a goods and services tax (GST) regime from a value-added tax one. The direct tax code in particular promised to bring a certain stability to India’s tax rates, and make tax laws more rule-based than exception-based. At first sight, the second draft of the direct tax code that was released by the government on Tuesday, disappoints on this count. Many of the exemptions are back, as are some of the discretionary powers of the government to decide what is to be taxed and at what rate. With more iterations (read: more dilution) likely, the direct tax code, when it comes into effect, could well be as complex and nuanced as the tax regime it replaces. Worse still, it might not achieve its desired objective of bestowing India’s tax laws with some degree of permanence. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:19 pm The micro machines have arrived. Who’ll get them to market?Bangalore: One is a handheld explosive detector as good as a sniffer dog. Another is a cardiac disorder detector. From the functional point of view, there is nothing unique about either. Yet, the two mark a milestone in Indian science. They are among the first nanotechnology-based devices that have been licensed or are in the process of being licensed out to companies for commercial development. The devices are the output of two Centres of Excellence in Nanoelectronics (CEN), set up by the ministry of communication and information technology (MCIT) at a cost of Rs400 crore four years ago, partly in response to criticism that the government wasn’t doing enough to foster development of microelectronics in the country. Now, say scientists, the challenge is to commercialize the technologies, a task that is as big as the science they are based on is small. After four years of toil, the two CENs at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay funded primarily by MCIT under its various programmes, have a handful of technologies, particularly microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based devices, ready for licensing. The miniature machines—they range in size from 20 micrometres to a millimetre—behind sleeker and smarter phones today, MEMS are smart machines that convert inputs such as sound, light, motion and temperature into digital signals that are detected by a chip on-board. “From the platform technologies that we’ve built in the first phase, some sensors for automotive, biomedical, aerospace and other applications are being licensed to the industry,” says S. Mohan, chairman of CEN at IISc. For instance, the explosive detector and the cardiac disorder detector have been developed on a microcantilever-based nanomechanical sensing platform. The former is licensed to a biotechnology company in Bangalore, Bigtec Pvt. Ltd, which is producing 50 devices for a field test. For the latter, which will be ready for prototyping by the year-end, developers are in talks with three Indian companies, says V. Ramgopal Rao, chief investigator at CEN, IIT-B. “Our platform has the highest reported sensitivity in literature. That makes our explosive detection device as good as a sniffer dog,” says Rao. In cardiac disorders, experts say about 30-40% of cases go undetected in electrocardiograms. “In our handheld device, cardiac molecular markers like myoglobin and troponin can provide more accurate detection in just about 7-10 minutes,” he adds. A molecular marker is a sort of litmus paper that changes colour under certain conditions. In the automotive sector, Coimbatore-based Pricol Ltd, a global auto components supplier, is currently testing the manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor. MAP sensors are an integral part of new age internal combustion engines and make them more efficient by simply telling them what to do when. The Rs810 crore auto parts maker has been importing the sensing technology from Japan so far. “With this (CEN sensor) we will completely indigenize the technology; it will reduce the cost of MAP sensors by half,” says K. Udhay Kumar, president and COO of Pricol. And with the orders slated to pour in from the two-wheeler industry as they opt for fuel injection technology, Pricol says it’s worth going through the entire technology development cycle. It has also identified a couple of other CEN technologies, including an array of sensors for wireless emission check. Market pangs Still, it would appear that developing technologies is the easy part. Getting them to market is tricky. IIT-B’s Rao, who, in an earlier partnership with a large software firm developed a Web-enabled ECG monitoring system called Silicon Locket, but couldn’t commercialize it, now wants to avoid such collaborations. “We have decided that we’ll only approach small and medium companies whose survival will depend on commercializing these (CEN) technologies.” So when it was time for A.Q. Contractor, a co-chief investigator at CEN at IIT-B, to select a marketing partner for his “potability sensors”, he decided to jointly set up a company with a Bangalore diagnostic device maker Bhat Biotech Pvt. Ltd. Admittedly not a business-savvy academic, Contractor took the plunge after things didn’t quite work out with his earlier institutional partner, the MCIT-promoted MediaLab Asia. “I am convinced big partners or companies will not rock the boat,” he says, referring to their unwillingness to nurture breakthrough innovation that challenges the status quo. Already, his company, Polymeric Sensors Pvt. Ltd has launched onsite water sensors, branded Polyfin Aqua in the market; those for milk, soil, and healthcare are in the pipeline. The problem is systemic, says Rudra Pratap, a mechanical engineering professor who started India’s first MEMS lab at IISc in 2002 in collaboration with Cranes Software International Ltd. “On the technology readiness level of 0-10, labs typically work at levels 0-4. Unlike in the West, the industry here wants to enter at level 10; they want a ready-made product. Levels 5-9 are generally missing from Indian technology ecosystem,” he laments. “We don’t have a single success story in these new technologies. Much before Taiwan and Singapore came to limelight, we had lab leads in areas such as semiconductor, optical and wireless communication.” Pratap worries that if India doesn’t bridge the technology development gap soon, it will lag in nanotechnology too. That won’t happen for shortage of people, though, say scientists. With scores of projects under way, including those supported by companies such as IBM, Intel, Texas Instruments, Hitachi and Applied Materials, at least 400 students have been trained in these areas. The goal is to produce 150 PhDs every year between the two CENs. “People (overseas) are catching up, we need to move very fast,” says Kota Harinarayana, Raja Ramanna Fellow at the National Aerospace Laboratory and former programme director of the project to develop the light combat aircraft (Tejas). He is spearheading development of a set of MEMS-based systems for aircraft health and structure management which would totally eliminate unscheduled maintenance of aircraft and reduce the scheduled ones to minimum. “Even if the airlines are able to reduce maintenance time from two-three months to two weeks in a year, they’ll increase profitability due to enhanced operational time.” But translating technology to products isn’t routine in India. “The problem also lies at the level of scientific planning,” says Nalinaksh S. Vyas, head, department of mechanical engineering at IIT, Kanpur, which has developed several technologies now deployed by the Indian Railways. “We hardly do engineering in this country any more. Where are the people doing ruggedization and calibration of technologies?” asks Vyas, also an expert member in CEN. “We need to put right processes for calibration and packaging at the development stage itself.” His grouse: for a long time scientific enterprise in this country has been guided and shaped by people from pure science. “Developing technology is different from doing science but have you seen an engineer lead any big national programme?” Vyas’ call for engineering leadership comes at a time when the global science research lighthouse, the $6.9 billion (Rs32,223 crore) US National Science Foundation, is set to be led by the dean of engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also an IIT, Madras alumnus, Subra Suresh. CEN chairman Mohan says one way to nail the tech development issue is to set aside funds and incubate in-house technologies by encouraging students. Both the centres have already allocated space for it. “The government should set aside a sizeable fund for this, a few crores will not do. After all, Rs4-5 crores get wasted in the government in one day,” says Contractor. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:19 pm The micro machines have arrived. Who’ll get them to market?Bangalore: One is a handheld explosive detector as good as a sniffer dog. Another is a cardiac disorder detector. From the functional point of view, there is nothing unique about either. Yet, the two mark a milestone in Indian science. They are among the first nanotechnology-based devices that have been licensed or are in the process of being licensed out to companies for commercial development. The devices are the output of two Centres of Excellence in Nanoelectronics (CEN), set up by the ministry of communication and information technology (MCIT) at a cost of Rs400 crore four years ago, partly in response to criticism that the government wasn’t doing enough to foster development of microelectronics in the country. Now, say scientists, the challenge is to commercialize the technologies, a task that is as big as the science they are based on is small. After four years of toil, the two CENs at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay funded primarily by MCIT under its various programmes, have a handful of technologies, particularly microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based devices, ready for licensing. The miniature machines—they range in size from 20 micrometres to a millimetre—behind sleeker and smarter phones today, MEMS are smart machines that convert inputs such as sound, light, motion and temperature into digital signals that are detected by a chip on-board. “From the platform technologies that we’ve built in the first phase, some sensors for automotive, biomedical, aerospace and other applications are being licensed to the industry,” says S. Mohan, chairman of CEN at IISc. For instance, the explosive detector and the cardiac disorder detector have been developed on a microcantilever-based nanomechanical sensing platform. The former is licensed to a biotechnology company in Bangalore, Bigtec Pvt. Ltd, which is producing 50 devices for a field test. For the latter, which will be ready for prototyping by the year-end, developers are in talks with three Indian companies, says V. Ramgopal Rao, chief investigator at CEN, IIT-B. “Our platform has the highest reported sensitivity in literature. That makes our explosive detection device as good as a sniffer dog,” says Rao. In cardiac disorders, experts say about 30-40% of cases go undetected in electrocardiograms. “In our handheld device, cardiac molecular markers like myoglobin and troponin can provide more accurate detection in just about 7-10 minutes,” he adds. A molecular marker is a sort of litmus paper that changes colour under certain conditions. In the automotive sector, Coimbatore-based Pricol Ltd, a global auto components supplier, is currently testing the manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor. MAP sensors are an integral part of new age internal combustion engines and make them more efficient by simply telling them what to do when. The Rs810 crore auto parts maker has been importing the sensing technology from Japan so far. “With this (CEN sensor) we will completely indigenize the technology; it will reduce the cost of MAP sensors by half,” says K. Udhay Kumar, president and COO of Pricol. And with the orders slated to pour in from the two-wheeler industry as they opt for fuel injection technology, Pricol says it’s worth going through the entire technology development cycle. It has also identified a couple of other CEN technologies, including an array of sensors for wireless emission check. Market pangs Still, it would appear that developing technologies is the easy part. Getting them to market is tricky. IIT-B’s Rao, who, in an earlier partnership with a large software firm developed a Web-enabled ECG monitoring system called Silicon Locket, but couldn’t commercialize it, now wants to avoid such collaborations. “We have decided that we’ll only approach small and medium companies whose survival will depend on commercializing these (CEN) technologies.” So when it was time for A.Q. Contractor, a co-chief investigator at CEN at IIT-B, to select a marketing partner for his “potability sensors”, he decided to jointly set up a company with a Bangalore diagnostic device maker Bhat Biotech Pvt. Ltd. Admittedly not a business-savvy academic, Contractor took the plunge after things didn’t quite work out with his earlier institutional partner, the MCIT-promoted MediaLab Asia. “I am convinced big partners or companies will not rock the boat,” he says, referring to their unwillingness to nurture breakthrough innovation that challenges the status quo. Already, his company, Polymeric Sensors Pvt. Ltd has launched onsite water sensors, branded Polyfin Aqua in the market; those for milk, soil, and healthcare are in the pipeline. The problem is systemic, says Rudra Pratap, a mechanical engineering professor who started India’s first MEMS lab at IISc in 2002 in collaboration with Cranes Software International Ltd. “On the technology readiness level of 0-10, labs typically work at levels 0-4. Unlike in the West, the industry here wants to enter at level 10; they want a ready-made product. Levels 5-9 are generally missing from Indian technology ecosystem,” he laments. “We don’t have a single success story in these new technologies. Much before Taiwan and Singapore came to limelight, we had lab leads in areas such as semiconductor, optical and wireless communication.” Pratap worries that if India doesn’t bridge the technology development gap soon, it will lag in nanotechnology too. That won’t happen for shortage of people, though, say scientists. With scores of projects under way, including those supported by companies such as IBM, Intel, Texas Instruments, Hitachi and Applied Materials, at least 400 students have been trained in these areas. The goal is to produce 150 PhDs every year between the two CENs. “People (overseas) are catching up, we need to move very fast,” says Kota Harinarayana, Raja Ramanna Fellow at the National Aerospace Laboratory and former programme director of the project to develop the light combat aircraft (Tejas). He is spearheading development of a set of MEMS-based systems for aircraft health and structure management which would totally eliminate unscheduled maintenance of aircraft and reduce the scheduled ones to minimum. “Even if the airlines are able to reduce maintenance time from two-three months to two weeks in a year, they’ll increase profitability due to enhanced operational time.” But translating technology to products isn’t routine in India. “The problem also lies at the level of scientific planning,” says Nalinaksh S. Vyas, head, department of mechanical engineering at IIT, Kanpur, which has developed several technologies now deployed by the Indian Railways. “We hardly do engineering in this country any more. Where are the people doing ruggedization and calibration of technologies?” asks Vyas, also an expert member in CEN. “We need to put right processes for calibration and packaging at the development stage itself.” His grouse: for a long time scientific enterprise in this country has been guided and shaped by people from pure science. “Developing technology is different from doing science but have you seen an engineer lead any big national programme?” Vyas’ call for engineering leadership comes at a time when the global science research lighthouse, the $6.9 billion (Rs32,223 crore) US National Science Foundation, is set to be led by the dean of engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also an IIT, Madras alumnus, Subra Suresh. CEN chairman Mohan says one way to nail the tech development issue is to set aside funds and incubate in-house technologies by encouraging students. Both the centres have already allocated space for it. “The government should set aside a sizeable fund for this, a few crores will not do. After all, Rs4-5 crores get wasted in the government in one day,” says Contractor. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:19 pm DTC diluted; rate cut chances fadeNew Delhi: The revised draft of the new direct tax code dilutes proposals present in the earlier version. While this will significantly crimp the government’s ability to lower tax rates, it is likely to make companies and a few other categories of taxpayers happy. Foreign institutional investors, in particular, have reason to cheer because the revised version of the tax code allows them to continue to benefit from double tax avoidance agreements. Also Read FinMin reverses tax reform momentum Tax rates haven’t been specified in the proposals. These will be set only in the actual legislation, which is to be introduced in Parliament in the next session. The earlier version of the code had said its provisions would override these agreements. Many FIIs are registered in tax havens that have signed such agreements with India. The direct tax code was the result of India’s attempt to introduce some stability in its tax regime. Tax rates tend to change every year with Section B of the Union Budget typically dealing with such changes, although the extent of these has come down in recent years. The code was also expected to simplify the tax regime and address problems posed by a multiplicity of tax rates and various exemptions. Those attempts, evident in the first draft of the code released in August 2009, were not received well by most categories of taxpayers (other than individual taxpayers). The revised version released Tuesday was. “Overall it has a positive tone; it is a better revised version,” said Mukesh Butani, partner at tax advisory BMR Advisors. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:18 pm Calvinball works for 2, not 188 mnCalvin and Hobbes play this wonderful game called Calvinball. The key feature of the game is that it operates under rules, but these are “subject to be changed, amended, or deleted by any player(s) involved. These rules are not required, nor necessary to play Calvinball”. This game looks suspiciously like the Indian financial product intermediation space. All regulators can point to pages and pages of rules. But when you play the game, all these are ignored to form completely new ones as the game goes along. But what is a great game for two is a complete disaster for 188 million investors who are hit by the three million sellers of financial products. The number of buyers and sellers is probably larger since these numbers are about four years old and come from the survey carried out by IIMS Dataworks in 2007, called Indian Retail Finance Markets. The numbers will be larger despite one part of the market quitting vending mutual funds and beginning to grow coconuts. Ever since the rules on the sales-side began to tighten and the entry load went to zero, those sellers of funds, who were just collecting a fee for getting the signature of the customer, are struggling. The larger operators such as banks and national distributors are nimbler since they have a basket of products on offer and can move seamlessly between a fixed deposit and a sector fund. Also Read Monika Halan’s earlier columns But those looking at the smoke signals see the future of a sales side market with more rules than Calvinball. The atmosphere in the market reminds me eerily of a time almost 15 years ago when as a rookie reporter, I sat in front of one of the largest brokers of Delhi who had smoke coming out of his head. Literally. He was fuming at some new regulation that a nascent capital markets regulator was trying to push through. And he had just finished laughing at the ridiculous idea of a National Stock Exchange that would introduce the totally idiotic idea of online real-time trading. “Madum, this is India, all this online-shonline does not work here.” Of course the guy is no longer in the pecking order of any kind today. I think he is growing some coconuts. For as the regulatory regime tightened, that is what he had threatened to do if this “(expletive deleted) Saby (Sebi) continued to kill the market”. Which is what is happening today. As the regulatory regime shows signs of formalizing the sales-side of the retail financial products, the noise comes from the three million sellers of financial products who protest. The 188 million investors either are part of the smart investor set and continue buying their funds and insurance products by choosing the least cost (both in time and money—and that could mean paying a financial planner to manage their finances) method or by staying out of the market while Calvinball tries to transform into the Fifa World Cup, complete with the yellow and red cards. Both mutual funds and insurance products are showing signs of distress as investors are unsure of the market rules. In Calvinball, the only rule was trust. And that had different meanings for different people. In the new regulatory regime, there will be an institutionalized process and mechanism for selling the right financial products. While the banks and the large distributors have the ability to invest in processes and will mostly adjust to the new regulatory system, there are tears for the small distributor who will lose his livelihood and may have to take to coconut farming. These tears were shed for the local kirana shop owner when the malls began coming in with their array of food products. Once the newspapers got bored of the stories of the small kirana shop owner going under and people looked around, we found that the local Garg Store had done a makeover. He now sells pickled gherkins and decaf with the same panache as kassori methi and heeng. Yes, the small guy will be under pressure as he does not have the resources to play in a market with more rules. Some of them will quickly do a Garg Store and catch the next wave of business and move to an adviser-cum-seller role. For the others, there is trouble ahead. One idea coming from an ex-insurance senior manager is this—since less than 20% of the agents bring in more than 80% of the business, why not convert those into employees and use a system of salary plus incentives (like the rest of the organized workforce) to solve the problem? In fact, interesting experiments are already on in the mutual fund industry to see if the employee model will work. The next two years are years of new creation. Those walking to Parliament to protest the change in market rules would use their time better to learn the new rules of the game. Calvinball is about to get over as the whistle for endgame nears. Monika Halan works in the area of financial literacy and financial intermediation policy and is a certified financial planner. She is consulting editor with Mint. Send your comments at expenseaccount@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 11:40 am US nears deal on derivatives crackdownBanks looked increasingly likely to face some limits on swap trading, as a proposal to rein in risky business practices gained traction among US lawmakers. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 10:34 am Europe's parliament pushes for tougher rules on bank payEuropean lawmakers demanded on Monday that no banker be paid more bonus than salary, a radical position that could soon result in tighter pay controls for an industry blamed for triggering economic crisis.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 10:31 am BP's shortcuts led to spill: US CongBP's US chief faces accusations in Congress on Tuesday that it caused the worst oil spill in US history with a calculated strategy to cut costs, hours before President Barack Obama uses a televised address to defend his handling of the disaster.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 10:28 am Moody's punch rattles marketsA recovery in stocks and the euro fizzled out on Tuesday after Moody's downgraded Greece to junk status, reigniting anxiety about Europe's debt crisis.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 10:26 am Apple’s App Store success a hard act to follow: analystSingapore: Apple’s hugely successful applications store has spawned similar setups around the world but it will be tough to compete with the US technology giant, an industry expert said Tuesday. Even the world’s top mobile maker Nokia has found it tough matching up to the Apple App Store since launching its Ovi Store last year offering games, videos and other applications for its mobiles. “Everyone had apps but nobody did it in a big way,” said Amrish Kacker at telecoms consultancy Analysys Mason. “Apple has revolutionised it. It’s very difficult to replicate it,” he told AFP on the sidelines of CommunicAsia, one of the region’s largest telecommunications trade fairs that is taking place in Singapore. According to research firm Gartner, Apple accounted for at least 99.4% of the 2.516 billion downloads of mini-programmes, or apps, for multimedia phones last year. Apple has previously said more than three billion paid and free applications for the iPhone or iPod Touch had been downloaded from the California company’s App Store since it was launched in July 2008. Mobile phone applications are one of the growth areas for the telecom sector, thanks in large part to the success of the iPhone. Gartner estimated revenue from mobile phone applications would rise to $6.8 billion this year from $4.24 billion in 2009, and reaching $29.5 billion by 2013. Almost every mobile operator in the region now has an app store but they are finding it difficult to generate enough visitor traffic because of the lack of sustained developer interest. “Therefore, there is very little reason for people to keep coming back to these app stores so there is an issue around the ecosystem,” Kacker said. Apple’s success is due in large part to the company’s ability to sustain developer interest by giving them an easy operating platform, he said. Equally important is the fact that developers are able to earn revenues from their inventions. “The main thing is there are about 10,000 or 20,000 new apps coming in every month and as a result, what happens is there is a lot of variety, there is a lot of choice and there’s a lot of liveliness in that app store which is why people keep coming back.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 4:03 am Mobile video calls the next frontier, says Skype headSingapore: Making video calls from a mobile phone to TV sets or computers will be the next frontier for information technology, the head of Internet telephony pioneer Skype said Tuesday. Chief executive Josh Silverman told a technology conference in Singapore that communication was moving from a “hardware-based” industry to one driven by software allowing people to keep in touch using a wider range of devices. “What’s the next frontier? I believe it’s about ubiquity,” Silverman told delegates to the CommunicAsia 2010 technology conference and trade exhibition in Singapore. “It’s about allowing you to communicate whenever, wherever and however you like. At Skype, we envision a world where communication flows like water. “The basic idea is that any computing device becomes a communications device with the addition of our software and you can communicate however and wherever you want.” Skype’s free Internet video and audio calls using desktop and laptop computers have connected millions of people worldwide, from business executives to migrant labourers. Skype offers more sophisticated services to users for a fee, allowing it to generate revenues of 716 million dollars last year, up 30% over the previous year. Currently, mobile video calls using the system can only be made using certain handsets such as Nokia’s N900 smartphone and Apple’s iPhone, but the company said it plans to introduce more platforms. By next year, eight of the 10 leading personal computer manufacturers in the world will have their products pre-loaded with Skype software before they are shipped, Silverman said. The firm has also forged partnerships with some of the world’s leading electronics makers to put its software on their products, allowing people to make or receive video calls on a high-definition TV in the comfort of their living room, according to Silverman. “The future of communications is an emotional one — technology that helps bring families together, seal business deals, lends a voice and video to remote villages,” he said. “Innovation and technology is only worthwhile if it improves the human condition.” Skype’s booth at CommunicAsia was among the most popular for visitors, who were allowed to make free video calls. Chatpawee Trichachawanwong, 24, who hosts a Thai television programme on technology and calls herself a heavy Skype user, said she enjoyed having the free airtime offer at the booth. She made two calls from an iPhone, each lasting roughly a minute, one to her family in Thailand and the other to a friend. “I found it very impressive and best of all it’s free. They didn’t know I was calling from Skype because it was very clear,” she told AFP. Dan Neary, Skype’s vice president for the Asia Pacific, said 46% of mobile broadband users are based in the region and this was likely to grow further. “So clearly, Asia Pacific will be a growth engine for mobile over the next couple of years,” he said. While video calling technology has been in the market for sometime, “what made Skype successful is that we’ve made it simple and easy” and with little or no cost, said Silverman. A Filipino professional at the show said he talked to his brother in Abu Dhabi via Skype video call using his laptop for one and a half hours without cost this month. He said a similar call cost him about 90 Singapore dollars ($64) on a landline in April before he registered with Skype. Skype last year accounted for 12% of the world’s international calling minutes, up from eight% in 2008. “The best is yet to come,” Silverman promised. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:57 am Apple launches new version of Mac mini from $699Apple said it launched a new version of its lowest-priced computer, Mac mini, with twice the graphics performance and lower power usage, from $699. Apple said the product’s power consumption would be less than 10 watts when idle. The new Mac mini, which is 7.7 inches square by 1.4 inches, has an HDMI port and a new SD card slot to allow transfer of files from a digital camera. It has a Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics processor, a 2.4 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 320 gigabyte (GB) hard-disk and 2GB RAM. It comes with Mac’s Snow Leopard operating system. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:37 am
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