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Haven\'t heard from Govt on consultants: IFCIAtul Kumar Rai, CEO and MD of IFCI in an interview with CNBC_TV18 talked about some of the possible developments with the company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 8:00 am India FY11 gem,jewellery exports seen rising: GJEPCIndia\'s gem and jewellery exports are expected to rise atleast 5% year on year in FY11 according to the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), a top official said on Thursday..Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 7:45 am Hyundai`s local car sales hit 10month lowSouth Korea\'s Hyundai Motor Co posted a third successive monthly decline in domestic sales to a 10month low on Thursday, hit by tough competition in the absence of new models, although the pace of decline moderated.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 7:45 am ING insurance unit to invest $51m in IndiaThe Indian insurance unit of Dutch financial services firm ING plans to invest Rs 240 crore (USD 51 million) in 2010/11 to fund expansion in the country, it said on Thursday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 6:35 am What do experts make of Fortis Healthcare\'s Parkway offer?Fortis had bought 24% stake in Parkway at S$3.56 per share. Trading in Parkway share have ben halted. The last traded price stood at S$3.80 per share.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 6:33 am Have 11 road projects worth Rs 12,000cr: Reliance InfraReliance Infrastructure is targeting Rs 5,000 crore revenues from the EPC division this year.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 5:54 am Trai\'s recommendations a big positive: Den NetworksCable and multiservice operator (MSO) have given a thumbs to the recommendation and regard that if approved the move will be a big boast for the industry.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 5:35 am Auto ancillary firms see 18% growth in FY11Most auto ancillary companies have asked original equipment manufacturers to hike prices. A price increase of 810% is likely.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 5:19 am Parabolic Drugs lists up 2.4% on BSE debutShares of Parabolic Drugs Ltd debuted on the BSE at Rs 76.8 on Thursday, up 2.4% against its issue price of Rs 75.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 5:19 am HSBC China June PMI slips to 14month low of 50.4HSBC\'s China Purchasing Managers\' Index fell in June to a 14month low of 50.4 from 52.7 in May as output and new orders dropped outright for the first time since the depths of the global downturn in March 2009.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 5:19 am Monsoon soaks India soybean area after June lag - Livemint
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Jul 2010 | 4:12 am Sensex ends down 189pts - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Jul 2010 | 4:03 am India Yamaha Motor sales up 32 pc in June - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Jul 2010 | 4:00 am Vijaya Bank base rate at 8.25 per cent - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:43 am Tate & Lyle announces sale of European sugar to US firmBritish firm Tate & Lyle said on Thursday it had agreed to sell its historic European sugar business to American Sugar Refining Inc, to cut debt and focus on speciality food ingredients.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:41 am Maruti reports 17.3 percent jump in sales - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:39 am ANALYSIS - Govt sees coal reform blueprint in oil and gasNEW DELHI (Reuters) – The government plans to steal a page from successful oil and gas exploration reforms to open its antiquated coal mining industry, raising hopes investors will be able to tap into a market where demand is expected to soar.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:30 am Ford India sales jump 267% in JuneThe company has sold 22,858 units from April-June this year, as compared to 6,184 units in the same period last year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:29 am ADAG becomes country's third most valued business houseAnil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's market valuation soared 14 per cent in June quarter, the most among India's top five business houses, making it the third most valued group in the country.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:28 am May exports jump 35%; European crisis may affect demandThe seventh straight month of rise was registered on a low export base of $11.95 billion in May 2009, when shipments had plunged by over 29% from the previous fiscal under the impact of the recession in the US and several other advanced economies.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:28 am Gartner trims global IT spend forecast on Europe woesMumbai: Global spending on technology in 2010 is likely to be lower than previously estimated because of the European debt crisis and the weakening of the euro against the dollar, research firm Gartner said on Thursday. Gartner now expects this year’s IT spending to total $3.35 trillion, growing 3.9% over last year, compared with its earlier forecast for a 5.3% growth. “The European sovereign debt crisis is having an impact on the outlook for IT spending,” Richard Gordon, Gartner’s research vice president, said in a note. The dollar’s rise against the euro in the second quarter was likely to continue in the second half of the year as well, pressuring dollar denominated IT spending growth, he added. Longer term, public sector spending in Europe would be curtailed as governments battle rising budget deficits and debt over the next 5-10 years, Gordon said. “Private-sector economic activity will also likely be hindered because of the direct impact of austerity measures on key government suppliers and the indirect impact caused by the ‘ripple effect,” he said. Spending on IT services would likely rise 2.9% to $786 billion, while software would show a 3.1% increase to $229 billion, Gartner said. Global spending on computing hardware was likely to rise 9.1% to $364 billion, as Gartner expects personal computer shipments to remain robust in 2010 and 2011. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:13 am Monsoon soaks India soybean area after June lagNew Delhi: India’s vital monsoon rains revived in the soybean-growing central region on Thursday, after a two-week lag that reduced June rainfall to 16% below normal, the second lowest in 15 years. Heavy showers in the central Madhya Pradesh state would accelerate soybean planting in the world’s top importer of edible oils and ease growing nervousness about monsoon rains. The weather office reaffirmed its prediction of a normal monsoon this year, in line with several forecasts from global agencies. “I stand by the forecast of normal monsoon. We are hopeful of a revival by 2 July or3 July,” Ajit Tyagi, director general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), told Reuters. The erratic behaviour of the June-September monsoon has often led to incorrect forecasts, with the most recent example being last year, when early forecasts were for normal rains but India saw the worst drought in nearly four decades. The shaky start to this year’s rainy season heightens concerns about food inflation, which soared to nearly 17% last month, having risen steadily after last year’s monsoon failure. Sluggish monsoon rains would discourage the government from lifting export curbs on wheat and rice although the country has massive stockpiles, analysts say. “Curbs on grain exports would continue until the monsoon ends,” said S. Raghuraman, an analyst with the Delhi-based consulting firm Agriwatch, IMD said adverse local weather conditions had weakened the monsoon winds, which reached the country’s southern coast on 31 May, a day ahead of schedule, but had not advanced beyond eastern and central India since 18 June. June rainfall was below normal but still 60% higher than a year ago, IMD data showed. In June 2009, rainfall was nearly half of normal, making it the driest month in 83 years. Crop planting The poor start of monsoon rains, the main source of water for 60% of Indian farms, had slowed planting of soybeans in central India, while farmers in the grainbowl states of Punjab and Haryana may delay rice planting if rains are delayed in northern India, traders and officials said. In the past week, rainfall was a quarter short of normal but farms in central India received good rains on Thursday. “Monsoon has revived in Madhya Pradesh,” D.P. Dubey, director of the regional office of the India Meteorological Department of Bhopal, told Reuters. This should help the soybean crop, industry officials said. “Sowing will pick up now,” A.S. Chandel, director at the Soybean Processors Association of India said from the central city Indore over the phone. India’s food prices were up an annual 16.90% in mid-June, while the overall inflation rate has risen above 10%, maintaining pressure on the central bank to tighten monetary policy. India’s inflation, which has already triggered several protests in the country, may rise further as the government last week lifted controls on petrol prices and raised the state-set rates of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene. Samiran Chakraborty, regional head of research, India, at Standard Chartered Bank said if rainfall remained weak in July also, it may hit economic growth. “It is too early to revise our GDP estimates based on just June rainfall. July is the crucial month and if this deficit rainfall trend continues in July, then we may see a drought-like situation and in that case, may have to revise our GDP estimates downwards and inflation upwards,” he said. “But as of now, there is no need to do so just based on June numbers,” he said. D. Sivananda Pai, director of the National Climate Center in the western city of Pune, said the La Nina weather phenomenon was likely to develop and catalyse monsoon rains. Last week, Australia’s weather office said the chance of a La Nina weather event developing in 2010 was now more certain. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:11 am SpiceJet CEO Sanjay Aggarwal quitsNew Delhi. SpiceJet’s CEO Sanjay Aggarwal has quit the firm marking the second exit from the company after media baron Sun Tv’s Kalanithi Maran brought over the company last month. Sanjay Aggarwal tendered his resignation after a board meeting on 30 June, three officials at the airline confirmed on condition of anonymity. The airline’s board member Kishore Gupta will be the acting CEO for the company till a new person is hired, one official said adding he will look at the day to day operations and most decisions will be taken by the board. Aggarwal could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts. Texts messages remained unanswered. SpiceJet’s senior vice-president (marketing) Anish Srikrishna has also quit the firm as Mint reported on 1 June. Media baron Kalanithi Maran’s Kal Airways Pvt. Ltd acquired a 38% stake in SpiceJet earlier last month and has made an open offer to buy another 20% from shareholders. Srikrishna joined SpiceJet in May last year after a stint with the Oberoi chain of hotels and was part of the several branding initiatives at the airline. The airline, which started operations in May 2005, has a fleet of 21 Boeing 737 aircraft running 137 daily flights to 19 cities in India. Five more Boeing 737 aircraft are set to join the fleet this fiscal. The carrier recently won rights to fly to international destinations in Bangladesh, Nepal and the Maldives. Its Boeing 737 aircraft can also help it tap profitable West Asian and South-East Asian routes. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:05 am India gold buying stays slack; rupee weighsMUMBAI (Reuters) - India gold buying remained weak on Thursday afternoon on seasonal slackness in offtake and as a weaker rupee made the dollar-quoted asset expensive, dealers said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:01 am Fortis battles Khazanah with $3.1 bln deal for Parkway - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:01 am Oil falls below $75 on China demand doubtsLondon: Oil fell below $75 a barrel on Thursday, beginning the second half of the year on a weak note after falling nearly 5% in the first half, as signs of slowing economic growth in China fuelled energy demand doubts. The pace of manufacturing growth in the world’s second largest oil consumer slowed in June as government steps to cool the property market and curb bank lending combined with a faltering global recovery. US crude for August delivery fell $1.01 to $74.62 a barrel by 2:27pm, declining for the fourth straight session and extending the 10 percent slide of the second quarter, the first quarterly drop since 2008. ICE Brent fell 1.07 on Thursday to $73.94. “I think oil is reflecting general negative commodity market sentiment after weaker-than-expected China PMI data overnight,” said Carsten Fritsch, oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. “Weaker equity markets are also weighing on sentiment,” he added. The China data, and Moody’s decision on Wednesday to put Spain’s credit ratings under review, got broader markets off to a weak start for the new quarter. Japanese stocks slid to a seven-month low, China’s to a 15-month trough and the dollar rising 0.2 percent against a basket of currencies. China’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to a weaker-than-expected 52.1 in June, the lowest since February, from 53.9 in May. The indicator remained above the 50 threshold that indicates an expansion. Adding to negative sentiment on demand, US gasoline stockpiles posted surprise gains last week, government statistics showed on Wednesday, raising doubts about the speed of consumption recovery in the world’s top consumer. Crude stockpiles fell 2 million barrels in the week to 25 June, compared to expectations for a decline of 900,000 barrels. Cushing, Oklahoma, crude supplies shed 795,000 barrels to 36 million barrels. The recent slip from record high storage at the Cushing hub has helped narrow the price spread between the front-month and near-month US crude contracts. The spread narrowed to 55 cents on Thursday, from $1.27 on Wednesday, which could signal an improvement in near-term demand. Traders were also looking to the nation’s weekly jobless claims later on Thursday and June’s employment report on Friday for further indications about the direction of the economy in the world’s largest fuel consumer. “The data in the next two days is particularly important and has the potential to move oil prices,” said David Moore, an analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Hurricane Alex drenched the Texas-Mexico border on Thursday as the powerful storm hit Mexico’s Gulf coast, spawning tornadoes and flooding towns, but it spared US oil wells. “Hurricane Alex made landfall and didn’t have an impact on oil production. I think some people are taking profits after prices rose on possible fears it would hit output,” Fritsch said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 3:01 am China strike wave persists, hits Japanese firmTIANJIN, China (Reuters) - A strike at a Japanese-owned electronics factory in north China crippled production on Thursday, extending the industrial unrest that has put manufacturers at odds with increasingly assertive workers.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:58 am India FY11 gem, jewellery exports seen upMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's gem and jewellery exports are expected to rise atleast 5 percent year-on-year in FY11, a top official with the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:43 am Fortis battles Khazanah with $3.1 bln deal for ParkwaySINGAPORE/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Fortis Healthcare and its founding family launched a bid valuing Singapore hospital operator Parkway Holdings at $3.1 billion (S$4.3 billion), topping a rival offer by Malaysian state fund Khazanah.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:43 am Monsoon rains 25 pct below normal in wk to June 30 - Met officeNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's annual monsoon rains for the week ended June 30 were 25 percent below normal, the India Meteorological Department said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:39 am Food inflation falls to 12.92% - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:39 am June WPI inflation could touch 11 pct: govt sourceNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's June headline inflation could rise to 11 percent as a direct fall out of the fuel price hike effected last week, a senior government official said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:34 am Hyundai's local car sales hit 10-month lowHyundai, one of the top global performers during the financial crisis and sales slump that followed, said June domestic sales edged down 1.2% from May to 48,643 units, the lowest since August last year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:33 am May exports jump 35 pc; European crisis may affect demandIndia's exports rose 35.1 per cent in May to $ 16.1 billion year-on-year, but the trouble brewing in some European economies may weigh on future demand.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:31 am Sachin is the new face of ToshibaIconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar was appointed as the new brand ambassador of electronic giant Toshiba Corporation in New Delhi on Thursday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:26 am Food inflation falls to 12.92 pcFood inflation fell sharply to 12.92 per cent for the week ended June 19 from 16.90 per cent in the previous week as cost of cereals and vegetables declined.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:21 am Sharad Pawar becomes new ICC presidentNew Delhi: A man who has earned his stripes as an astute politician, Sharad Pawar on Thursday became only the second Indian -- after his one time adversary Jagmohan Dalmiya -- to occupy the top post at the International Cricket Council. Pawar’s taking over as ICC president means it took 10 years after Dalmiya had quit as ICC chairman that another Indian rose to the coveted position. A seasoned politician, 69-year-old Pawar is not new to sports administration, being the president of the Maharashtra Olympic Association and Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), besides heading the state kho-kho, kabaddi and wrestling associations. Besides, his father-in-law Sadu Shinde was a leg-spinner for India who died at the age of 31, having played just seven Test matches for India. Pawar gained a toehold in cricket administration in 2001 when he beat former India captain Ajit Wadekar to take over the MCA reins and his rise to the top of the Board of Control for Cricket in India was not smooth either as it pitted him directly against the former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya. His first shot at BCCI president’s post led to his only defeat in an election when Dalmiya’s casting vote -- after the scores were tied -- helped Ranbir Singh Mahendra pip Pawar to the post. Pawar, however, had his revenge as he returned not only to oust Mahendra in the 2005 election but also cut Dalmiya to size, eventually leading to the Kolkata-based businessman’s expulsion from the board. Pawar headed BCCI from 2005 to 2008 even though detractors pointed to droughts and mass suicide by farmers to claim that he was more interested in running BCCI and could not do justice to the agriculture ministry portfolio. Subsequently Pawar found that former England and Wales Cricket Board chairman David Morgan stood in his way to occupy the top ICC post and they reached the agreement that Morgan would head ICC from 2008 to 2010 before paving way for Pawar. It suited Pawar as well since it ensured he would head ICC at the time when the sub-continent hosts the 2011 World Cup. Even after serving his term in the BCCI, Pawar remained the most influential cricket administrator in the country with Board president Shashank Manohar often turning to him for advice. Pawar is perceived to have allowed Lalit Modi a freehand when the Indian Premier League (IPL) was launched even if some of other board members were not comfortable with Modi’s way of functioning. Pawar chaired many a troubleshooting exercises at his New Delhi residence but he himself got involved in the IPL controversy with claims that his family made an unsuccessful bid for a franchise and kept the entire exercise secret. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:10 am China economy cools as tightening bites; markets swoonBEIJING (Reuters) - The pace of Chinese manufacturing growth slowed in June as government steps to cool the property market and curb bank lending combined with a faltering global recovery to dampen sentiment.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:04 am Asian growth coming off the boilBeijing: Growth in Asia’s factory output cooled further in June, with China hitting its slowest pace in 14 months, in the latest evidence that rapid economic expansion that has supported the global recovery is moderating. Asian stocks and commodity prices fell after surveys of Chinese purchasing managers added to concerns over the global outlook, although economists downplayed fears of a precipitous slowdown in the world’s third-biggest economy. “The moderation in the manufacturing PMI implies slower sequential growth in China’s manufacturing sector, partly due to the tightening measures taking effect,” said Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, referring to government steps to cool the property market and curb bank lending. “But fears about hard-landing are overplayed.” Qu predicted China would achieve around 9% growth in the second half, underpinned by massive investment and robust private consumption, after posting annual growth of 11.9% in the first quarter. Elsewhere in Asia, manufacturing growth in India eased from a two-year peak last month while the pace of growth for South Korean factories fell to a six-month low, similar surveys showed on Thursday. Similar surveys from the euro zone and the United States are due later in the day. The pace of output growth in United States is expected to have eased slightly in June while that in the euro zone likely held steady despite worries that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis will curb consumer and corporate demand. A flurry of weak US economic data in recent weeks and persistent worries about Europe have helped drag the MSCI world equity index down more than 10% since April. Though most economists do not expect a slide back into a global recession, they worry much of the developed world may see a prolonged period of only sluggish growth. Underscoring the uneven nature of the global recovery that is vexing investors, Russian manufacturing expanded in June at the fastest rate since April 2008. On Wednesday, a Nomura/JMMA survey showed Japanese manufacturing growth slowed in June for the first time in five months, with the pace of new export orders, a leading indicator of Japanese exports, easing for the second straight month. Steady slowdown HSBC’s China Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to a 14-month low of 50.4 -- just above the 50 mark that divides expansion from contraction -- from 52.7 in May, with both output and new orders dropping outright for the first time since the depths of the global downturn in March 2009. The official PMI for April, produced for the National Bureau of Statistics and released earlier on Thursday, fell to 52.1 from 53.9 in May. The reading, the weakest since February, fell short of the median forecast of 53.1 in a Reuters poll of economists. Commenting on the official PMI, government economist Zhang Liqun spoke of a “steady slowdown” in the broader economy. “China’s growth is at a critical stage of levelling off after the climb,” he said. Convinced that a sustained recovery from the global downturn will fuel inflationary pressures, central banks in Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand and Taiwan have already begun to raise interest rates. The surveys pointed to a slight slowdown in inflation but economists said it was not enough to ease worries of policymakers that prices will continue to rise. Commenting on the Indian PMI, Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian Economics Research at HSBC, said: “Both activity and price components are easing from very elevated levels, suggesting that it is too early to worry about growth and let down our guard on underlying price trends.” India’s wholesale price inflation shot up to a higher-than-expected 10.2% in May, raising some speculation the central bank may lift rates before its scheduled policy review on 27 July. In South Korea, which saw its headline PMI slip to a six-month low of 53.28 from 54.61 in May, growth in output prices eased but not as much as the slowdown in input prices, suggesting domestic demand remained resilient. “Thus, the Bank of Korea is likely to begin its exit from extreme accommodation with a rate hike in the third quarter,” said HSBC economist Song Yi Kim. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 2:03 am China has no direct comment on GoogleForeign ministry spokesperson Qin Gang referred questions about Google to "relevant agencies", adding only that "Internet operators in China should abide by Chinese laws and regulations."Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 1:52 am ING insurance unit to invest $51 million in India'We have a huge opportunity in this market and we are committed to see this business grow,' ING Insurance management board member Tom McInerney said in a statement.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 1:50 am Hindustan Media IPO price band at Rs162-175 per shareHindustan Media Ventures, a unit of newspaper publisher HT Media, plans to raise Rs2.7 billion through the IPO.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 1:46 am Elcoteq declines comment on impact of Kin rollbackFinnish electronics company Elcoteq would not comment on Thursday on the impact of Microsoft's decision to scrap the sale of its ''Kin'' smartphone in Europe this autumn.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 1:46 am Canada's Bengal Energy gets Cauvery hycrocarbon blockCanada-based Bengal Energy has been awarded a contract by India for a hydrocarbon drilling and exploration block in the Cauvery basin, which spans Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 1:35 am Trai's recommendations a big positive: Den Networks - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Jul 2010 | 1:30 am Infosians get shares as b'day treat - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Jul 2010 | 1:28 am Food inflation falls to 12.92% for the week ended June 19Prices for pulses fell by 0.47% on a weekly basis. However, on an annual count, prices soared by 31.57%.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 1:20 am Fortis Healthcare surges 3 pc on Parkway offerFortis Healthcare Ltd on Thursday rose over 3 per cent on BSE after it made a counter offer to acquire Singapore-based Parkway Holdings Ltd's entire stake for SGD 3.80 a piece.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 1:09 am Government further delays mobile number portabilityMobile number portability (MNP), which allows users to retain their number even if they switch operators, was to be introduced in all telecoms zones by March 31.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:55 am Hindustan Media fixes IPO price band at Rs 162-175 per shareHindustan Media Ventures Ltd, the publisher of Hindi daily Hindustan, today fixed the price band of its initial public offer (IPO) at Rs 162-175 per share.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:52 am Toyota says 270,000 vehicles have faulty enginesTokyo: Toyota Motor Corp. said on 1 July about 270,000 cars sold worldwide including luxury Lexus sedans have faulty engines, the latest quality lapse to hit the automaker following massive global recalls. Japan’s top-selling daily Yomiuri said in its evening edition that Toyota will inform the transport ministry of a recall on Monday. The paper cited no sources. Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said the company was evaluating measures to deal with the problem of defective engines that can stall while the vehicle is moving. He would not confirm a recall was being considered. The automaker has been working to patch up its reputation after recalling more than 8 million vehicles worldwide because of unintended acceleration and other defects. Of the 270,000 vehicles with engine problems, some 180,000 were sold overseas and the rest in Japan. They include the popular Crown and seven models of luxury Lexus sedans. Toyota said it has received around 200 complaints in Japan over faulty engines. Some drivers told Toyota that the engines made a strange noise. Homma said there have been no reports of accidents linked to the faulty engines. The automaker’s shares dropped 2.3% to close at 3,010 yen in Tokyo on Thursday. US authorities recently slapped Toyota with a record $16.4 million fine for acting too slowly to recall vehicles with defects. Toyota dealers have repaired millions of vehicles, but the automaker still faces more than 200 lawsuits tied to accidents, the lower resale value of Toyota vehicles and the drop in the company’s stock. In the aftermath of the recalls, Congress is considering an upgrade to auto safety laws to toughen potential penalties against automakers, give the US government more powers to demand a recall and push car companies to meet new safety standards. Toyota said last week it will recall 17,000 Lexus luxury hybrids after testing showed that fuel can spill during a rear-end crash. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:52 am Toyota says 270,000 vehicles have faulty enginesTokyo: Toyota Motor Corp. said on 1 July about 270,000 cars sold worldwide including luxury Lexus sedans have faulty engines, the latest quality lapse to hit the automaker following massive global recalls. Japan’s top-selling daily Yomiuri said in its evening edition that Toyota will inform the transport ministry of a recall on Monday. The paper cited no sources. Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said the company was evaluating measures to deal with the problem of defective engines that can stall while the vehicle is moving. He would not confirm a recall was being considered. The automaker has been working to patch up its reputation after recalling more than 8 million vehicles worldwide because of unintended acceleration and other defects. Of the 270,000 vehicles with engine problems, some 180,000 were sold overseas and the rest in Japan. They include the popular Crown and seven models of luxury Lexus sedans. Toyota said it has received around 200 complaints in Japan over faulty engines. Some drivers told Toyota that the engines made a strange noise. Homma said there have been no reports of accidents linked to the faulty engines. The automaker’s shares dropped 2.3% to close at 3,010 yen in Tokyo on Thursday. US authorities recently slapped Toyota with a record $16.4 million fine for acting too slowly to recall vehicles with defects. Toyota dealers have repaired millions of vehicles, but the automaker still faces more than 200 lawsuits tied to accidents, the lower resale value of Toyota vehicles and the drop in the company’s stock. In the aftermath of the recalls, Congress is considering an upgrade to auto safety laws to toughen potential penalties against automakers, give the US government more powers to demand a recall and push car companies to meet new safety standards. Toyota said last week it will recall 17,000 Lexus luxury hybrids after testing showed that fuel can spill during a rear-end crash. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:52 am BSE Sensex drops 1.1 pct; Maruti falls, Fortis upMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex got off to a shaky start to the new quarter, falling 1.1 percent on Thursday as doubts resurfaced about the global economic recovery and a slower manufacturing growth at home.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:30 am Food inflation eases in mid-JuneNew Delhi: India’s food price inflation eased to its lowest annual growth this year, dampened by a weakening base effect, while the fuel price rise was slightly lower than the previous week, government data on Thursday showed. The food price index rose 12.92% in the year to 19 June, lower than the previous week’s annual rise of 16.90%. The fuel price index climbed 12.90% compared with last week’s annual rise of 13.18%, data on Thursday showed. High prices, particularly of food, have emerged as a policy headache for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government in a country with hundreds of millions of poor. “It (the slower rise) is because of a weakening base effect. We have been saying that food price inflation will come down from July because of the base effect,” said N R Bhanumurthy, economist at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, a Delhi-based think tank. The government is hoping that a normal monsoon will cool down food prices and will also bring down headline inflation that is in double-digits. However, a shaky start to the rainy season is heightening doubts over the forecast of a normal monsoon this year. Monsoon rains were 16 percent below normal in June, the second-lowest since 1995, data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed on Thursday. The latest monsoon data comes days after the government decided to free up state-subsidised petrol prices and raised the prices of other fuels. The decision to hike fuel prices has sparked protests from political allies and opposition parties and is also expected to push up wholesale price inflation, which stood at 10.16% in May, by 0.9 percentage point. Chief statistician Pronab Sen last week said inflation was spreading, an assessment that was backed by a 13.91% annual rise in Consumer Price Index (CPI) in May. The index measures price pressures in the economy at the retail level. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has forecast headline inflation to ease to 5.5% by March 2011. But RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao last month said the bank would revisit that forecast at its 27 July review. Pressure has been mounting on the RBI to raise rates at a faster pace, but central banker K C Chakrabarty on Monday said the probability of an off-cycle rate hike was “very low”. The RBI is widely expected to increase interest rates at its 27 July policy review. It raised rates by 25 basis points each in March and in April. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:28 am Parabolic Drugs lists up 2.4% on BSE debutThe drugmaker has raised Rs2 billion through its 26.6- million-share initial public offer (IPO) that closed on June 17.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:24 am Maruti's June sales soar 17 pcThe country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, today reported a 17.28 per cent jump in June sales to 88,091 units over the same month last year.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:15 am Amazon launches new, cheaper Kindle e-readerAmazon.com Inc is launching an improved Kindle electronic reader and cutting the price, in a move to address the threat from Apple Inc’s iPad tablet computer. Amazon’s new Kindle DX will sell for $379, down from $489, and have free 3G wireless connection with no monthly bills or annual contracts, the company said. Apple’s iPad, launched in April, can also function as an e-reader. It sold more than 2 million units in its first 60 days and its own e-bookstore has quickly won market share, putting pressure on rival readers like Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:15 am Amazon launches new, cheaper Kindle e-readerAmazon.com Inc is launching an improved Kindle electronic reader and cutting the price, in a move to address the threat from Apple Inc’s iPad tablet computer. Amazon’s new Kindle DX will sell for $379, down from $489, and have free 3G wireless connection with no monthly bills or annual contracts, the company said. Apple’s iPad, launched in April, can also function as an e-reader. It sold more than 2 million units in its first 60 days and its own e-bookstore has quickly won market share, putting pressure on rival readers like Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:15 am Manufacturing growth eases in June on slow productionBangalore: Indian manufacturing growth cooled in June after a surge in activity the prior month, mainly due to slowing production and rapidly easing input price pressures, a survey showed on Thursday. The HSBC Markit Purchasing Manager’s Index, based on a survey of 500 companies, slipped to 57.3 in June from 59.0 in May, which was the highest in more than two years. Still June was the 15th consecutive month that the index has been above the 50 mark that divides growth from contraction. “India’s economy is stepping back a little, with output growth easing into June,” said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian Economics Research at HSBC, in a release. New orders growth ebbed slightly from last month. But the most notable decline in the sub-components of the survey in June was the fall in the input price index to 53.6 from 63.8 the previous month, marking the lowest level in a year. But this was more due to competition amongst suppliers rather than a fall in demand for raw materials and semi-finished goods, according to the release. “Both activity and price components are easing from very elevated levels, suggesting that it is too early to worry about growth and let down our guard on underlying price trends,” said Neumann. Indian wholesale price inflation still remains stubbornly high in the double-digit region but many speculate it will cool due to a forecasted drop in food inflation with the onset of the monsoon. But the extent of the recent fuel price hikes beat expectations and many fear that it will further increase wholesale price inflation, compelling the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to tighten monetary policy before its scheduled meet on 27 July. Despite an increase in workloads and outstanding business, manufacturers did not add new jobs to their payrolls in June, leaving the employment index stagnating. Official figures showed Indian exports rose on a year-on-year basis for the seventh straight month in May, and by 35%, as demand picked up from India’s biggest export markets, including the United States. But the euro area debt crisis could hurt exporters in the coming months. The latest export figures are due on Thursday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:07 am Parabolic Drugs debuts marginally up on BSE - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:06 am Soon, oil firms to choose blocks for explorationOil exploration companies may soon be able to choose the blocks they want to take up for their hydrocarbonSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am IBN18 Broadcast (Rs 100.5): BuyInvestors with short-term trading perspective can consider buying the stock of IBN18 Broadcast. The stock has been consolidating sideways in a broad range between Rs 75 and Rs 120 from July 2008. In late May 2010, the stock took support from itsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Coffee Board estimates record crop next seasonThe Coffee Board has estimated a bumper crop of 3.08 lakh tonnes the next season starting November, up 6.35 per cent or 18,400 tonnes over the estimates of 2.89 lakh tonnes made for thisSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am BlackBerry, Skype, Gmail come under the scannerAfter banning Chinese telecom equipment, the Government has now put Blackberry devices, Skype services and Gmail under the securitySource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Oil price deregulation: Auto, transportation sectors could bear the brunt, say analystsMarket experts feel that the oil price deregulation is a welcome step given the fact that it enables a reduction in fiscal deficit. They also feel that most of the price rise will be passed on the end consumer and that the economy will absorbSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am HDFC Bank pegs base rate below SBI'sHDFC Bank and Dhanalaxmi Bank are among the few private sector banks that have pegged their base rate below State Bank of India's rate of 7.50 perSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Kotak Mahindra sells 4.5% stake to Sumitomo Mitsui for Rs 1,366 crKotak Mahindra Bank will be raising Rs 1,366 crore through a preferential issue of 1.64 crore shares to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Foreign investment limit may be hiked for DTH, FM RadioTelecom and broadcast regulator TRAI has suggested an increase in foreign direct investment limits for broadcast carriage services like Direct-to-Home (DTH) and FM Radio, while retaining the cap for news and current affairs televisionSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am India's external debt rises 16.5% to $261 billionIndia's external debt was at $261.4 billion as at end-March, recording an increase of $36.9 billion or 16.5 per cent over that in end-MarchSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideUtilise rallies to sell the counter while maintaining tight stop-loss at Rs 294Source: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Parkway battle hots up as Fortis eyes $3.1 bn dealSingapore/New Delhi: India’s Fortis Healthcare launched a bid valuing Singapore hospital operator Parkway Holdings at $3.1 billion (S$4.3 billion), topping a bid by rival suitor Malaysian state fund Khazanah. Fortis, which controls just over 25% of Parkway, had intended to build a controlling stake in the firm before Khazanah made a surprise $835 million partial offer to lift its stake to 51.5%. Controlled by Indian billionaire brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, Fortis is offering to buy shares it doesn’t already own in Parkway for S$3.80 a share, or 2 Singapore cents more than the S$3.78 offered by Khazanah. The offer price is a slim premium to Parkway’s last traded price of S$3.57. Parkway shares are suspended from trading. The offer is conditional on Fortis getting at least 50% of the Singapore firm. Fortis shares rose as much as 3% on Thursday morning after an initial drop. Both Fortis and Khazanah want to use Parkway, which runs 16 hospitals across Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, India and China to spearhead their regional expansion in healthcare. Parkway’s prized assets are Singapore hospitals, Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth, whose patients include many wealthy businessmen and politicians. An adviser for Fortis said the Indian firm has already lined up financing for the bid. With a combined fortune estimated at $3 billion by Forbes magazine -- good for 17th place on its India rich list -- the Singh brothers could have the means and access to capital to take on the Malaysian fund. Khazanah declined comment on Fortis’ offer. Khazanah’s $28 billion in assets are mostly concentrated in Southeast Asian financials, healthcare and telecoms. The fund already owns stakes in healthcare firms across Asia, including in Apollo Hospitals, a rival to Fortis in India. In its offer document, Fortis said its long-term vision is to manage and operate Parkway and Fortis as a single entity. “With Parkway as the flagship of the combined group, a Parkway and Fortis combination will create an integrated pan-Asian healthcare services provider, significantly increasing the Parkway Group’s regional footprint and presence,” it said. ($1=1.398 Singapore Dollar) Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 11:59 pm Rupee hits 3-week low, weak shares weighThe Indian rupee dropped to its lowest level in more than three weeks on Thursday, weighed down by falling stocks and the dollar's gains versus major currencies.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 30 Jun 2010 | 11:54 pm PMI eases from 2-year high in June - surveyBANGALORE (Reuters) - Indian manufacturing growth cooled in June after a surge in activity the prior month, mainly due to slowing production and rapidly easing input price pressures, a survey showed on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jun 2010 | 11:12 pm Asian stocks slide on poor Chinese data, Wall StreetTokyo: Asian stocks slid on Thursday on weaker than expected economic data from China and losses on Wall Street, despite growing business confidence in Japan. Japan’s Nikkei index was down 182.22 points, or 1.94%, at 9,200.42 by noon, after sinking below the 9,200 level for the first time since November. Tokyo was weighed by the declining euro, which hurts Japanese exporters, following concerns about Spain’s long-term government bonds and weak data from China. Toyota also fell 1.13% to 3,045 yen after it warned of a possible recall due to an engine fault in its top-of-line Lexus and Crown sedans. The downbeat Japanese mood came despite a central bank announcement that business confidence had reached its highest level in two years, as the world’s number two economy continues to recover from its worst slump in decades. The index of sentiment among major manufacturers rose for a fifth straight quarter to one point in June from minus 14 in March, according to the closely watched Tankan survey. In Shanghai, Chinese shares were down 0.36% in early trade after data showed that China’s June manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace compared to May, dealers said. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, was down 8.75 points at 2,389.62. China’s Purchasing Managers Index fell to 52.1 in June from 53.9 in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said. “The index could be taking a breather after the recent large falls in the past two sessions,” Qian Qimin, analyst from Shenyin Wanguo Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires. In Sydney, stocks plunged almost 2% in the morning session on the weaker than expected Chinese economic data and the soft lead from Wall Street. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 81 points, or 1.88%, to 4,220.5, while the broader All Ordinaries was 79.8 points lower at 4,245. “The (Chinese) manufacturing data is just not as robust as we would like, so it has taken a bit of the wind out of the market,” said CMC Markets analyst David Taylor. “The market is looking for very decent economic news that pins people’s hopes back on a reasonably solid global economic recovery, and we haven’t had that for quite some time.” Singapore was also lower, easing 0.48% to 2,822.00. Hong Kong’s stock market was closed for a public holiday. Regional markets were also affected by losses on US stocks caused primarily by poor employment data and jitters about Europe that capped Wall Street’s worst quarterly performance in more than a year. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 96.28 points (0.98%) to end Wednesday at 9,774.02, a day after Wall Street shares slipped more than 2% and below the psychologically sensitive 10,000 level. The Dow has fallen 3.5% in June and for the quarter it fared even worse -- losing 10% -- the worst quarterly loss since its 13% drop in the first quarter of 2009. It came after US payrolls firm ADP said US non-farm private employment had increased by a much-less-than-expected 13,000 in June, an ominous prelude to Friday’s non-farm payrolls report. Oil fell further in Asian trade as concerns lingered over rising US gasoline stockpiles and weaker than expected US jobs data. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, dropped 77 cents to $74.86 a barrel. Gold opened at $1,241.00-$1,242.00 an ounce in Hong Kong. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 11:04 pm Markets extend losses to 1%; Fortis reboundsMumbai: Indian shares extended losses to 1% on Thursday morning, with financials leading the fall, as risk appetite dampened sending Asian stocks lower. At 9:30am, the 30-share BSE index was down 1.05% at 17,515.21 points, with 29 components declining. The 50-share NSE index was down 1.1% at 5,251.80. Shares of Forits Healthcare were trading 1.6% higher after falling as much as 3.4%. Fortis Healthcare has offered to buy all of Parkway Holdings for S$3.8 a share, higher than Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah’s earlier offer of S$3.78 a share, two TV channels reported. Shares dropped 0.7% in early trade with Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank leading the decline, taking cues from weak Asian markets as risk appetite deteriorated. At 9:01 am, the BSE 30-share index Sensex was down 0.73% at 17,571.97 points, with 28 components declining. The NSE 50-share index Nifty was down 0.8% at 5,270.60. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 10:56 pm Rupee hits 3-week low, weak shares weighMumbai: The Indian rupee dropped to its lowest level in more than three weeks on Thursday, weighed down by falling stocks and the dollar’s gains versus major currencies. At 10:46am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.70/71 per dollar, after hitting Rs46.78/79 that was its weakest since 11 June, and compared with Rs46.45/46 at close on Wednesday. “The rupee is weak due to (dollar) buying in the NDF (non-deliverable forwards) apart from global stocks and Asian currency weakness,” said Sudarshana Bhat, chief dealer at state-run Corporation Bank. One-month offshore NDF contracts were quoted at Rs46.84/94, weaker than the onshore spot rate. The rupee fell 3.3% in the June quarter, its worst drop since the first quarter of 2009, when it had shed 4%. The main stock index dropped more than 1% as risk appetite dampened across global markets as doubts resurfaced about the health of the world recovery and fresh concerns regarding Europe’s financial strength. Indian manufacturing growth cooled in June after a surge in activity the prior month, mainly due to slowing production and rapidly easing input price pressures, a survey showed on Thursday. “I expect the rupee to move in a range of Rs46.65 to Rs46.80 today. Selling (of dollars) should come at 46.80 levels,” Bhat added. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was up 0.1% and would be watched, dealers said. The euro hit a lifetime low against the Swiss franc on Thursday, as weaker-then-expected Chinese data added to doubts about the strength of the global recovery, while jitters about funding strains in the euro zone lingered. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both at 46.82. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 10:53 pm The Wall Street wrapMarkets ended in the red, closing the lowest they have since late 2009. Investors reacted to news of a report that showed that the private sector added fewer jobs than expected. The US government will be releasing their employment report on Friday which will include information on both private sector and government jobs. The Dow is down 10%, while the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ have both plunged 12% in the second quarter. Prices of gold were up slightly higher as investors repositioned their investments in gold on the last day of the quarter. Oil prices slid, losing 9.7% for the quarter. Investors reacted to a supply report that showed weak demand for crude oil. In corporate news, shares of Ford rose after the auto maker said it’s on track for solid profits this year and has paid off close to $4 billion in debt. AstraZeneca won a patent dispute brought against its cholesterol drug Crestor by generic drug makers, causing a number of analysts to raise their view of the company, including Morgan Stanley and UBS. Finally, shares of Tesla, the luxury electric-car maker, dropped slightly with the broader market in the last hour of trading after jumping 40% on its first day of trade on Tuesday. Its IPO raised more than $200 million on Monday. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 10:23 pm Wall St tumbles to worst quarter since Lehman fallNew York: US stocks staggered to the end of a dismal second quarter on Wednesday in another low volume session as investors found little reason to take on risk after conflicting economic data. Wednesday’s session ended like many during the quarter, with a late-day sell-off as buying interest waned and investors sold underperforming stocks in the worst quarter since the market meltdown triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. “Just pushing all the garbage off the side of the ship,” Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey, said of the late sell-off. The S&P 500 fell below the 1,040 level that it had held since February, breaking out to the downside from what chartists call a very bearish “head and shoulders” price pattern and suggesting a major fall could come in the next five months. To make matters worse, leveraged short ETFs, widely blamed for a portion of Tuesday’s losses, were also cited for the late sell-off as managers piled on bets the market will fall. Those funds shorted the market to keep up with customer demand. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 96.28 points, or 0.98%, to 9,774.02. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 10.53 points, or 1.01%, to 1,030.71. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 25.94 points, or 1.21%, to 2,109.24. For the second quarter, the Dow fell 10%, the S&P 500 lost 12% and the Nasdaq dropped 12% as worry about Europe’s sovereign debt and the sustainability of the US economic recovery caused investors to pull back from the most recent closing highs hit in late April. These losses put Wall Street in correction mode as the second quarter ended. Technology shares were among the hardest hit, with Google Inc off 2.1% at $444.95 and Apple Inc down 1.8% at $251.53. Data on Wednesday showed Midwest business activity grew slightly more than expected in June, but a private-sector report showed weakness in employment, a critical part of the economic recovery. The PHLX Oil Services Sector index was among the few bright spots, inching up 0.02%, aided by a 1.8% gain in Baker Hughes Inc to $41.57. The index has fallen 20.3% for the quarter and 22.4% since the BP Plc oil spill. “If you want to go bottom fishing, you do it in the oil services sector. There is going to be consolidation in that group,” said Cliff Draughn, president and chief investment officer of Excelsia Investment Advisors in Savannah, Georgia. “With this moratorium on offshore drilling, they are a dead business.” Even with the accelerated volume heading into the close, volume was tepid, with about 9.21 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, slightly below last year’s estimated daily average of 9.65 billion. Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones on the NYSE by a ratio of about 2 to 1, while on the Nasdaq, about nine stocks fell for every five that rose. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 9:24 pm Govt moots retail sector watchdogThe Centre is mulling over creation of an independent body to regulate the countrys vast retail sector. The retail regulatory authority would ensure a level playing field for indigenous retail traders if the government opens the sector to more foreign participation. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Food has convened a meeting on July 8 in Delhi to discuss this and other proposals and chart a comprehensive plan for the sector, according to the agenda paper of the meeting.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 30 Jun 2010 | 2:12 pm Fall out of a fascination for the foreignIt’s that time when national coaching spots are up for grabs, with a coaching vacancy in one country triggering a global domino effect. In Africa, the coaches of all five teams to be eliminated so far have resigned; ditto the men in charge of Italy and France. In England, Fabio Capello’s job is in the balance. Also See World Cup Quiz The debate, cutting across continental lines, is this: Why do we need a foreign coach? In South Africa, the debate has extended to the larger issue of a lack of leadership in Africa, brought into sharp perspective by the fact that the Mo Ibrahim Prize, the continent’s highest award recognizing any national leader practising transparency and ethics in governance, has been without a winner for two years. The complaints are obvious: the incumbent’s refusal to spend any time in his adopted country, or to learn the language, his inability to assimilate local cultures, his overall mercenary attitude. The hand-wringing is not without justification but it works both ways, with national federations adopting a myopic view for quick-fix results rather than allowing the incumbent coach to settle and improve the system. Nigeria and Ivory Coast were both guilty of this before the World Cup, appointing foreign coaches in February and March, respectively, with the specific aim of guiding their teams through the tournament. In the case of Ivory Coast, Sven-Goran Eriksson was their fifth coach since 2008.  This fascination with foreign coaches is fairly complex but it should be easy for Indians to understand—the national teams in our three main sports have foreign coaches and, like the Africans, we have persevered with them despite mixed results. In Feet of the Chameleon, his excellent documentation on African football, Ian Hawkey describes what he calls the “whirligig” of Africa’s top management jobs, which began in the 1950s when the first foreign coaches came from behind the Iron Curtain, a sign of defiance by countries newly liberated from Western powers—again, a similarity with India. Why did these coaches work? Part of the reason is colour—a black player will try and exploit fraternal ties with a black coach but not a man from outside; part of it is an outsider’s immunity to the influence of local political bosses; and part of it, especially recently, is owing to the refusal of the stars to play under a home-grown coach. The Nigerian Celestine Babayaro sums it up. He tells Hawkey: “For us, it’s important the boss has a big car.”  Swede touch: Nigeria’s coach Lars Lagerback (left) could not turn around the team’s fortunes. AP It’s not only African teams, of course, that have a fetish for foreign: England’s travails are well-chronicled. One reason why England favour foreign coaches is that there is no successful English club coach—the last one to win a league was Howard Wilkinson, and that was the season before the Premier League was born. Since then, the top prize has been won by two Scotsmen, a Frenchman, an Italian and a Portuguese. It is a complex relationship between their national pride and an acceptance of reality, though at times maintaining that balance is a tricky job. That leads to the venting and blood-letting—and you only have to read the tabloids to feel the pulse of what the people really think—every couple of years when the team undergoes its regular brush with serial underachievement. In South Korea in 2002, I saw the reverence with which locals held Guus Hiddink, the man who took their team to the semi-finals. One of the more disarming explanations for his popularity was the pun on his name—it’s the way Koreans pronounce “he think”, and that’s what Hiddink did, and very differently. That’s what the best coaches do; often, though, not long enough or not in the same language. Jayaditya Gupta is executive editor of Cricinfo and is covering the World Cup for their sister website Soccernet. He is writing for us through the tournament. Write to Jayaditya at extratime@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 1:45 pm Trai now seeks lower FDI cap in FM, TV news uplinkIn a reversal of its recommendations made in April 2008, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today whittled the increase it had suggested then in the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap for companies set up to uplink television news channels, as well as in FM radio.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 30 Jun 2010 | 1:17 pm Private banks undercut PSU lenders; analysts see no immediate warMumbai: Some Indian private sector banks on Wednesday announced base rates that were a tad lower than those of their public sector counterparts, but banking analysts don’t as yet see a rate war on the horizon.  Going steady: SBI chairman O.P. Bhatt. PTI HDFC Bank Ltd, the second largest private bank, has pegged its base rate at 7.25%, a quarter percentage point lower than that of the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI). Dhanalakshmi Bank Ltd, a private bank, has pegged it even lower, at 7%. ICICI Bank Ltd, India’s largest private sector lender, and Axis Bank Ltd, another major private sector bank, have announced base rates on a par with SBI’s 7.5%. The base rate will replace the benchmark prime lending rate or BPLR of banks from 1 July. From now on, it will be the minimum lending rate below which no bank will be allowed to lend. Analysts said instead of teasing public sector banks with a low rate, private sector banks are keeping an avenue open for deploying their funds when there is excess money in the system. It doesn’t, however, mean that their final applicable rate will be much different from their public sector peers. Even now, private sector banks give short-term loans to the highest-rated customers at a lower rate than public sector banks. However, given their balance sheet size, private banks cannot meet all the demands from corporations and eventually corporate borrowers will have to come to the public sector banks, which control about 70% of India’s banking system, for their short-term needs. “More than 70% of the banking system is telling you that you will not get loans below 7.5-8%. How much will the rest 30% pull through the demand of a cheaper loan,” asked a banking analyst with a local brokerage who did not want to be named. Corporations will, however, continue to have the option to raise short-term cheap money from the commercial paper market. In fact, SBI chairman O.P. Bhatt said on Tuesday that banks will encourage corporations to raise money through these instruments, by actively buying them. Commercial paper are short term promissory notes issued by companies for short-term funds. Banking analysts point out that a corporate borrower first gets a sanction from the bank and it pays interest only after the money is disbursed. But in case of commercial paper, a borrower needs to pay interest from the day the paper is purchased. Besides, when liquidity is tight, the rates of such paper go up. Another analyst with a local brokerage said the private banks have been offering short-term loans at a cheaper rate than public sector banks to the highest-rated customers. This practice will likely continue even after the base rate kicks in. However, the amount disbursed at lower interest rates will not be too much to hurt their profitability. “We understand that implementation of the base rate would not materially impact the lending rates and NIM (net interest margin) of the banks,” said Alok Shah, research analyst with India Infoline Ltd, a domestic brokerage. Net interest margin is a key profitability parameter of a bank’s performance. SBI’s Bhatt said loans below 7.5% constitute only 3% of the bank’s corporate loan book. Meanwhile, SBI extended its cheap home and auto loans till September with terms unchanged. Under the scheme, home loans will be available at 8% for the first year and 9% for the next two years, irrespective of the loan amount. From the fourth year onwards, the rate will be linked to its base rate. As per the latest base rate of 7.5%, the effective rate will be 9.25% for loans up to Rs50 lakh and 9.75% for loans above that. For new cars, the interest rate will be 8% for the first year and 10% for next two years. From the fourth year, the rates will be linked to the base rate. “The rate of interest on other home loan, car loan, educational loan and personal loan products will also be linked to the base rate for all new disbursements,” with effect from July, the bank said in a release. SBI had on Tuesday pegged its base rate at 7.5%, while Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and a few others pegged their rate at 8%. On Wednesday, Indian Overseas Bank, Syndicate Bank Ltd and Dena Bank said their base rates will be at 8.25%, while IDBI Bank Ltd pegged its base rate at 8%. The only foreign bank to announce its base rate is DBS Bank, at 7%. Among private banks, Karnataka Bank Ltd has pegged its rate at 8.75%, the highest among peers, while Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd has fixed it at 8.25%, Federal Bank Ltd at 7.75% and South Indian Bank Ltd at 8.10%. anup.r@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 1:00 pm Quick Edit | Spies in the coldIt might seem a strange thing to say in a week when the FBI cracked down on a spy ring, but as The New York Times (NYT) put it, “The Russian spy ring...had everything it needed for world-class espionage... The only thing missing...: actual secrets to send to Moscow.” Indeed, the information age may mean that intelligence gatherers are better off surfing the Net for information, or, at worst, hacking computers from afar. Spy rings and spies may still be required when information is needed on opaque regimes, but drones and spy satellites can do even that better than Mr Bond. So what explains Russia’s ring? The answer could be hubris, because as a former CIA official put it to NYT, “What in the world do they think they were going to get out of this, in this day and age?” That may explain why none of the 11 accused in the US case faces charges of espionage. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 12:52 pm Sumitomo to buy 4.5% stake in Kotak BankMumbai: Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. (SMFG), the second largest Japanese bank by market value, will acquire 4.5% stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd for $296 million (Rs1,380 crore).  War chest: Kotak Mahindra Bank MD, vice-chairman Uday Kotak. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint The bank will issue fresh shares to SMFG in August or September, pending approval by its shareholders and regulatory authorities. Following this, the stake of promoters in Kotak Mahindra Bank will come down to around 49%, in sync with the regulatory requirement. Currently Uday Kotak and his family hold around 48% stake and Anand Mahindra owns a little over 3%, taking the overall promoters’ stake to around 51%. The private placement will be made at Rs833 a share, a premium of around 12% to Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Tuesday close. The deal was announced before market hours on Wednesday. Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank ended the day up 3.23% to close at Rs770.65 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange even as the bourse’s benchmark index Sensex rose 0.95% and the banking index rose 0.76%. In Tokyo, SMFG shares fell 1.4%. Kotak, vice-chairman and managing director (MD) of the bank, said: “Sumitomo Mitsui could increase their stake (in the bank) if they wish.” Going by the local regulation, a foreign bank that does not have a branch presence in the country can acquire 10% stake in an Indian bank, added Kotak. As part of the deal, SMFG plans to team up with Kotak Mahindra in asset management, stock broking and investment banking operations. “With this tie-up, we will explore new business opportunities in the infrastructure and the project finance,” Kotak said. “We will grow this partnership step by step. SMFG is big in the insurance and brokerage space which presents a huge opportunity for us. Many Japanese companies are looking to list in India.” SMFG’s 100% Indian subsidiary SMBC Capital India Pvt. Ltd focuses on providing advisory services to clients in sectors such as infrastructure. In the past, Kotak Bank had a partnership with Goldman Sachs to offer investment banking services. A few years back they parted ways, paving the path for Goldman Sachs to set up independent operations in India. Kotak plans to use the money raised for growth and does not rule out acquisitions in the banking space. “This is like a war chest which can be used for organic and inorganic growth options. We will grow our branch network to 500 by December 2012,” he added. The deal gives SMBC a toehold in India and may also help it win commercial-banking business from Indian companies, said Barclays Plc analyst Shinichi Tamura. “Sumitomo Mitsui has long-term relationships with some of India’s big consortium, but in order to expand that business they need the help of a local bank,” said Tokyo-based Tamura. “We’ll likely see more alliances by large Japanese banks in Asia as there is no growth in domestic financial markets.” A 30 June report of Mumbai-based brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd said the transaction is strategic as SMBC is looking to expand its overseas operations through this partnership. Recently, ING Bank NV Singapore sold its 3.1% stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank at Rs750 per share but that was a distress sale, the report added. anita.b@livemint.com Bloomberg contributed to this story. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 12:42 pm New xxx registry has companies worrying over brand poachingNeew Delhi: Imagine searching for a corporation, famous brand name or personality on the Internet and being led instead to a pornographic website of that name. That could well happen when the authority that oversees Net domain names approves the .xxx suffix for porn websites. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) voted last week to begin contract negotiations over the coming weeks with the applicant for the porn-dedicated domain name, ICM Registry, making it easier for Internet users to block porn sites. Domain names are extensions of a website address that indicate the type of content it carries. Some of the most popular domain names are .com, derived from commercial, .org, from organization, and .edu, which indicate education-related portals.  Illustration: Shyamal Banerjee / Mint The first quarter of next year is when ICM Registry expects a rush by porn sites to register themselves under the new domain name. It is also expecting a flurry of applications from firms around the world to block their brand names from being misused by porn sites that seek registration under the .xxx domain name. They will have to pay a price, which ICM Registry says will be a small one, to do that. ICM Registry will invite popular brands and celebrities to apply during the launch to protect their names from being registered with the .xxx suffix, for a “low one-time fee”, ICM Registry chairman Stuart Lawley told Mint. ICM Registry had in the past applied for the .xxx domain name for adult content, but was turned down. According to some statistics, 12% of all websites on the Internet are pornographic and the industry generates nearly $5 billion (Rs23,300 crore) in revenue each year. “There is a possibility that the number of applications for blocking particular names could outnumber the number of actual registrations received by ICM,” said a technology expect, who didn’t want to be named. “There are thousands of companies, each with several brands, that would want to block themselves.” He added that blocking names could prove to be a lucrative revenue stream for the company, which plans to charge $60 for registering each site with the suffix .xxx. It is targeting $30 million a year from registrations. “Companies will have no option but to pay to get their names blocked, if they have to protect their brand’s image,” said Jasjit Sawhney, chairman and managing director of Net4 India Ltd, a domain name registration company. Deepak Kumar, an information and communication technology consultant, said companies that do not take the precautionary step of blocking names will expose themselves to the risk of disputes over brand defamation. “Any company would want to avoid getting involved in legal battles over defamation issues, which could lead to more negative publicity,” he added. With the growth of the World Wide Web, several Indian companies have put in place special units to cater to their consumers online and also track what is being said about the company on social networking sites such as Twitter. “Companies are becoming very careful about their online image and this is something that they should definitely worry about,” said Rajesh Chharia, president of Internet Service Providers Association of India. According to Sawhney of Net4India, companies are registering multiple domain names, most of which they never use, just to make sure that others don’t infringe on their brand names. Some 1.2 million domain names are registered in India, but only 270,000 websites are hosted out of the country; the rest are domain names that are registered, but never used. A spokesperson for Vijay Mallya-owned United Breweries Ltd (UBL) said the company would not allow its brand names to be misused. UBL would “do whatever is necessary to maintain the sanctity of their brands and brand names”, the spokesperson said. In the past, the Tata group filed a lawsuit against online travel agency Makemytrip.com for its portal titled Oktatabyebye.com. The World Intellectual Property Organization decided in favour of the Tata group; Makemytrip.com is still contesting the decision. In a recent case, a Web portal that once belonged to the Indian embassy in Bahrain turned into a porn site after the mission migrated to a new service provider and a new address. A very famous example overseas is of the White House, the official residence and principal workplace of the US president. Though the official website is hosted at www.whitehouse.gov, there are two more websites by that name— whitehouse.com and whitehouse.org. While the former was created as a platform for political dialogue and later also started hosting adult content, the latter was a parody of former US president George W Bush. Though both the websites had their share of controversies, neither was taken down as the owners cited their right to freedom of expression. A lawyer with a leading intellectual property rights firm said he expects litigation around domain names to increase. “Domain registrations happen on a first-come-first-serve basis, and it would be difficult for a company to block all possible combinations that could be made by its associate brands,” said the lawyer, who didn’t want to be named. Policies will have to be tightened to strengthen the role of arbitrators in deciding if there’s a likelihood of confusion or deception when it comes to disputes over domain names, he added. surabhi.a@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 12:06 pm After two setbacks, Isro set to launch five satellites on 12 JulyBangalore: After two setbacks this year, India’s space agency is set to launch five satellites on 12 July, including one that can shoot pictures of small objects on land and compress the time needed for building high-resolution maps by half. In April, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) lost its fourth-generation communication satellite GSAT-4 when its heaviest rocket yet—the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV), powered by a home-grown cryogenic engine—plunged into sea within five minutes of launch. The rocket was to put India in an exclusive club of nations capable of hurling communication satellites and offering space launches commercially.  New journey: A file photo of PSLV taking off from the launch pad in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Isro deferred a scheduled May launch of its workhorse PSLV after it found leaks in the rocket’s second stage. ISRO The same rocket will be fired now, following repairs and further tests, said an Isro official from Sriharikota. He did not want to be named. “Even if the leak is minor, it takes many days to rectify and certify it fit,” said U.R. Rao, a former chairman of Isro. “In space, you don’t take risks.” The rocket will also launch Alsat-2A, a remote sensing satellite from Algeria and India’s first African customer, two nano satellites from the University of Toronto, and Studsat, a small satellite built by engineering students in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Isro’s commercial arm, Antrix Corp. Ltd, has already signed a second satellite launch from Algeria for next year. So far, PSLV has launched 39 satellites, nearly half of them from India, in 16 missions. Isro expects Cartosat-2B to join two other satellites that are already in orbit—the Cartosat-2 and 2A—and return more high-resolution images to earth and provide complete coverage of the subcontinent, said S. Satish, director, Isro. Cartosat-2B has a high resolution of 0.8 metre, allowing it to photograph objects the size of a typical bicycle. Typically, satellites that can snap high resolution images can cover a small width or swath of 10km. To cover a larger area, a satellite would have to come back to a specific spot repeatedly, which would take a long time as it would have to complete one orbit of the earth to do this. A constellation of three satellites, on the other hand, can cover the entire country. “It is like a camera; you want sharp images you need to be closer. You can go farther to cover a larger area, but you won’t get minute details,” said Rao. As for the GSLV, Satish said a panel that’s studying what led to its crash is set to announce its report next week. raghu.k@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 8:24 am Will it lead to confusion or champagne?Lindau, Germany: After the world’s largest atom smasher restarted in February, physicists in particular, and science buffs in general have been waiting for indicators from the mega machine if it’s any closer to solving some of the mysteries of the universe. It’s likely that the early results will be discussed at the International Conference of High Energy Physics in Paris in July. But watching six Nobel laureates, each having contributed to the discipline of particle physics and cosmology, agreeing to disagree about their expectations from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on Tuesday in Lindau, it became apparent that the world of particle physics is as much dominated by subatomic structures as by gigantic personal perspectives.  Step closer: An employee works on the LHC particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Adrian Moser/Bloomberg The LHC has been built to examine some of the theories and observations about the universe, the most puzzling being the presence of dark matter and dark energy which constitute 96% of the universe, and which astronomers have managed to discover, but failed to describe. It appears their description may not be coming anytime soon. “Dark matter is a magnificent discovery of astronomers,” said David Gross, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize. He thinks the accelerator even has a good chance of producing it if it’s out there in the universe but “LHC will not be able to detect it because these particles are so small they will escape the detector”. But John C. Mather, who along with George F. Smoot won the 2006 Nobel Prize for providing the first conclusive evidence that the universe originated from the hot, dense medium of the Big Bang, isn’t perturbed. He thinks very soon the astronomers in the US will have an opinion on how to pursue measurement of dark matter after an ongoing survey on some of these issues is completed in August. “But if David (Gross) is right then we are not going to get anything, whatever we may try to measure,” he said wryly. Not quite as sceptical as Gross, Gerardus ’t Hooft, winner of the 1999 Prize, said there’s just a remote possibility of the LHC telling us anything about dark energy, which is 100 orders of magnitude smaller than anything what we now know of. “If nothing but only Higgs (Boson) particle comes out of the LHC, it’d be great,” said Hooft. Although his wish centres around the particle accelerator “substituting the Standard Model”. The Standard Model of particle physics describes the rules by which 12 elementary particles, four forces and 12 field particles that transmit these forces, work in unison. Developed in the mid-1970s, it has elegantly withstood the rigours of experimentation over time. But there are gaps in the model. For instance, it is unable to explain how elementary particles obtain their mass or why three families of such particles exist when only one seems to be required. While everybody debated the hidden forces and material that pervade a large part of the universe, Martinus J.G. Veltman, winner of 1999 Prize, came up with a contrarian stand: “All hypotheses about dark matter are crazy.” As if giving up on LHC, he added, “Even Higgs particle is unlikely to come out of the accelerator.” Theoretically, the Higgs particle exists to explain how elementary particles gain their mass. Such varying views notwithstanding, CERN’s Bertolucci is very optimistic: “We are at the end of the Standard Model and (are) starting to put up some ground for that.” Tall claim it may sound to the outsiders, but this comes two days after the atom smasher beat all records for the most particle collisions. It doubled the previous rate to reach 10,000 particle collisions per second. Smoot, who is credited with providing the evidence for dark matter and dark energy, summed it up: After 13.7 billion years of existence, the universe has become “a key lab for studies of new fundamental physics”. The LHC, according to Smoot, is going to propel scientists in new directions. “We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that this is our Columbus and we’ve been sailing for 50 years.” seema.s@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 8:05 am Nayla Hayek new chair of watchmaker SwatchGeneva: Swatch Group AG, the world’s largest watchmaker, said Wednesday it appointed Nayla Hayek to succeed her late father, Nicolas, as chair of the company. Nicolas Hayek died unexpectedly of heart failure Monday at his office in Biel, Switzerland. He is credited with reinventing Swiss watch-making in the 1980s by introducing radical cost-saving moves after he was asked to help close the company down. Nayla Hayek was previously vice chair of the company’s board. Swatch earlier this year reported 763 million Swiss francs (US$713 million) in net income for 2009, compared with 838 million francs the previous year. The company said it was confident that sales and margins would improve in 2010, citing an “excellent start” to the year. Shares were up 0.2% at 307.80 francs ($283.63) on the Zurich exchange. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 8:05 am Barclays overseas growth plan could see dealsLondon: British bank Barclays Plc plans to boost profit at its retail banking business with targeted expansion in key overseas markets such as Spain, Portugal and Italy, possibly including deals. Antony Jenkins, head of global retail banking (GRB), said he is aiming for strong annual profit growth and “mid-single digit” annual income growth under a strategic plan for the next four years unveiled on Wednesday. Overseas markets contribute 27% of retail banking profits, and Jenkins said that will rise, but he declined to say by how much. Barclays will spend about Rs£250 million ($376 million) annually on improving customer service across its retail operations, which span 21 countries. “Our plans are based on organic growth, though we would consider in-fill deals if they meet our strict financial hurdles,” Jenkins told reporters on a conference call. He would look at “more significant opportunities” if they boosted scale, generated attractive returns and enhanced liquidity, he said. Barclays has expanded aggressively in southern Europe and some other markets in recent years and will focus on building up in the countries it has a presence, rather than enter new markets. That includes becoming a top five bank in Spain and Portugal “over a reasonable time frame”, Jenkins said. The bank ranks eighth in Portugal and sixth in Spain, excluding cajas. In Italy, he wants to get a top five presence in 10 key cities, mainly in the north where affluent customers are. Jenkins was speaking before presenting his strategy for the retail business to analysts. He was promoted to oversee all retail operations in a restructuring in November, which included the surprise ousting of Frits Seegers. Barclays has added more than 10 million retail customers in the last four years by building up in southern Europe and elsewhere, including entering new markets such as India, Pakistan, Russia and Indonesia. But the bank has admitted its expansion in some markets was too aggressive at the wrong point in the cycle. It suffered a big rise in retail bad debts last year in several countries and took a 100 million pound charge in March to quit retail banking in Indonesia and scale back operations in several other countries built up under Seegers. “We have learned lessons from the past, principally about pacing investment for return and building scale and leveraging capabilities,” Jenkins said. Jenkins, who has previously worked at Citigroup and ran credit card business Barclaycard before taking the GRB helm, said he aims to deliver “strong annual compound profit growth”, increase deposits at a faster rate than loans and deliver a post-tax return on equity of 13-15%. Barclays has been on the lookout for a retail bank in the United States, according to reports earlier this year, to build on its successful investment bank build-up there, although that is not expected to be a priority. By 1200 GMT Barclays shares were up 3%, outperforming a 1.2% rise by Europe’s bank sector. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 7:08 am Sony warns its VAIO laptops may overheat, cause burnsTokyo: Japan’s Sony issued a warning to customers worldwide on 20 June that a system glitch affecting more than half a million of its VAIO laptop computers may cause overheating and possible burns. The electronics giant said a heat-monitoring chip in some of its VAIO F and C series models that were launched in January this year could be defective, leading to possible overheating, a company statement said. Although the defect has not been known to cause personal injuries, the firm said it received a total of 39 complaints from overseas customers saying that the shape of their computers became distorted from overheating. The glitch affects a total of 535,000 laptops worldwide, of which nearly half is in the United States and the remainder in Japan, Europe and China. Sony said it is offering consumers a software application download with which to correct the malfunction. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 5:07 am EU fines steel producers 518 mn euros for cartelBrussels: The European Union executive fined 17 producers of prestressing steel a total of €518 million ($634 million) on Wednesday for operating a cartel covering most EU states over a period of 18 years. The European Commission said the firms, including world number one steel maker ArcelorMittal, operated the price-fixing and market-sharing cartel from 1984 to 2002 in all the countries that then formed the EU except Britain, Ireland and Greece. The largest fine — €276 million — was imposed on ArcelorMittal, a Commission statement said, adding that any person or firm affected by the anti-competitive behaviour could seek damages in member-state courts. “It is amazing how such a significant number of companies abused nearly the entire European construction market for such a long time and for such a vital product. This was almost as if they were acting in a planned economy,” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in the statement. “The Commission will have no sympathy for cartelists; recidivists will be fined more and inability-to-pay claims will be accepted only when it is clear the fine would send a company into bankruptcy, which is rare even in the current difficult times”. The Commission said that over the 18-year period, the companies fixed individual quotas and prices, allocated clients and exchanged sensitive commercial information. In addition, they monitored price, client and quota arrangements through a system of national co-ordinators and bilateral contacts. It said companies involved in the cartel usually met in the margins of official trade meetings in hotels all over Europe and the Commission had evidence of over 550 such meetings. The statement said the first pan-European cartel meetings took place in Zurich, and were referred to as “Club Zurich”. Later the cartel was dubbed “Club Europe” and had two regional branches — in Italy, “Club Italia”, and in Spain and Portugal, “Club Espana”. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 4:43 am EU fines steel producers 518 mn euros for cartelBrussels: The European Union executive fined 17 producers of prestressing steel a total of €518 million ($634 million) on Wednesday for operating a cartel covering most EU states over a period of 18 years. The European Commission said the firms, including world number one steel maker ArcelorMittal, operated the price-fixing and market-sharing cartel from 1984 to 2002 in all the countries that then formed the EU except Britain, Ireland and Greece. The largest fine — €276 million — was imposed on ArcelorMittal, a Commission statement said, adding that any person or firm affected by the anti-competitive behaviour could seek damages in member-state courts. “It is amazing how such a significant number of companies abused nearly the entire European construction market for such a long time and for such a vital product. This was almost as if they were acting in a planned economy,” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in the statement. “The Commission will have no sympathy for cartelists; recidivists will be fined more and inability-to-pay claims will be accepted only when it is clear the fine would send a company into bankruptcy, which is rare even in the current difficult times”. The Commission said that over the 18-year period, the companies fixed individual quotas and prices, allocated clients and exchanged sensitive commercial information. In addition, they monitored price, client and quota arrangements through a system of national co-ordinators and bilateral contacts. It said companies involved in the cartel usually met in the margins of official trade meetings in hotels all over Europe and the Commission had evidence of over 550 such meetings. The statement said the first pan-European cartel meetings took place in Zurich, and were referred to as “Club Zurich”. Later the cartel was dubbed “Club Europe” and had two regional branches — in Italy, “Club Italia”, and in Spain and Portugal, “Club Espana”. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 4:43 am Mitsubishi, Peugeot in electric commercial vehicle tieTokyo: Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp and France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen said on Wednesday they have agreed to work together to develop electric vehicle powertrains, initially focusing on light commercial vehicles. “This new step results from continuing discussions between the companies to expand their existing collaboration on electric vehicles,” the two car makers said in a joint statement. Mitsubishi Motors said the deal was aimed at developing a commercial vehicle to be sold by PSA. The Japanese and French partners last September signed a contract under which Mitsubishi Motors will supply electric cars to the Peugeot and Citroen brands based on the egg-shaped i-MiEV model. In the past few weeks, the two companies have also started discussions on possibly sharing Mitsubishi Motors’ low-cost “Global Small Car” to compete in emerging markets, a Mitsubishi Motors spokesman said. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 30 Jun 2010 | 2:47 am
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