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Purulia project entails Rs 16,000cr investment: Jai BalajiIn an exclusive interview with CNBCTV18 Aditya Jajodia, CMD, Jai Balaji Industries talks about the companys Purulia project. He said that the company was in talks with several global investors for a technical tie up for the Rs 16,000 crore project.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jul 2010 | 7:08 am Expect increase in public, pvt sector order book: BHELPower equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) is confident of maintaining its lead in the boilerturbinegenerator (BTG) Space. Speaking to CNBCTV 18, BP Rao, Chairman, BHEL said margins and market share are important and he expect public private sector order book to grow.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jul 2010 | 6:48 am Reliance Natural plunges after share swap dealReliance Natural shed more than a quarter of its value on Monday, after a deal to fold into sister firm Reliance Power valued the company at USD 1.5 billion, or 31% below its Friday closing price.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jul 2010 | 6:37 am Reliance Power, RNRL merger to happen in 90 daysJP Chalasani, CEO, Reliance Power, said the synergies between RNRL and Reliance Power will benefit both shareholders. \"RNRL shareholders will now benefits from the growth in Reliance Power.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jul 2010 | 6:13 am Where are RNRL, RPower stocks headed post merger?In an exclusive interview with CNBCTV18, SP Tulsian of sptulsian.com spoke about his reading of the RNRL and Reliance Power merger and how it would impact the companies\' shares in the long run.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jul 2010 | 5:53 am Will rebid for NTPC boiler tender: LTAM Naik, CMD, LT, said the company has not been disqualified from the NTPC tender. \"The tender has been refloated. NTPC will float bids for nine new boilers and turbines in the next few months. \"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jul 2010 | 4:37 am Orchid Chem gets US tentative nod for generic drugOrchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd said it has received tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for gemifloxacin mesylate tablets in the 320mg strength.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 4:08 am Reliance Power surges, RNRL falls after share dealShares in Reliance Power rose more than 8% on Monday, after the company said on Sunday it would absorb sister firm Reliance Natural Resources in a share swap deal valued at USD 1.5 billion.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:53 am MacquarieSBI fund to buy 10% in TataQuippoAn infrastructure fund set up by Australia\'s Macquarie and State Bank of India will buy a 10% stake in Indian mobile tower operator TataQuippo for USD 310 million, the Economic Times said on Monday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:45 am RBI may up rates by 125 bps over 12 months: HSBCThe Resrve Bank of India (RBI) may deliver an overall 125 basis points hike in policy rates over the next 12 months with a 25 basis point increase at the July. 27 policy review, HSBC said in a note.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:45 am Ruchi Soya board oks Sunshine Oleochem mergerRuchi Soya Industries Ltd said its board has approved the merger of Sunshine Oleochem Ltd, a manufacturer of soaps, with itself to expand its presence in the FMCG segment.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:45 am Satyam scam: CBI says it may or may not file fourth charge sheetSo far, the CBI has filed three charge sheets in Satyam case and said it would file the forth one on funds diversion to various countries.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:43 am What's next for interest rates after RBI rate hike? - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:34 am Monsoon arrives in Delhi - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:32 am Fortis revokes 39 mln pledged sharesMUMBAI (Reuters) - Fortis Healthcare, locked in a battle to take control of Singapore's Parkway Holdings, said on Monday the owners of the Indian hospital chain had revoked about 39 million pledged shares, or nearly 10 percent of total outstanding equity.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:28 am Lenovo says Apple losing out in ChinaThe Chinese PC company's LePhone is also placed well to compete with Apple's iPhone in China because it is customised for Chinese users.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:26 am India gold buying retreats; volumes hit by strikeMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's physical gold volumes retreated from a pick-up witnessed on Friday as a nationwide strike hurt demand, dealers said on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:23 am Monsoon advances to key grain-producing regionNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Monsoon rains have advanced into the country's key grain-producing states of Punjab and Haryana and is forecast to progress further, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:20 am Reliance May crude imports down 23 pct m/m - tradeNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd.'s daily crude oil imports fell about 23 percent in May from April due to a planned shutdown of a secondary unit, data from trade sources showed.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:19 am Rupee largely steady in lacklustre trade - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:18 am World stocks down for 4th day; dollar subduedLONDON (Reuters) - World equities fell for the fourth day running on Monday and the dollar traded close to two-month lows on growing concerns of slowdowns in the United States and China -- the two main pillars of global growth.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:07 am Strikes spread across India - CNN
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:06 am Indsil Hydro Power to up low carbon silico manganese capacityIt will set up a green field smelter in Chattisgarh that is expected to become operational by June 2011, the company informed the stock exchange.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 3:04 am In India, for India: medical device makers plug inBANGALORE (Reuters) - In a sleek glass and chrome building in Bangalore's software hub, the more than 1,000 young researchers and engineers at GE Healthcare could hold the keys to innovations that save lives in India's vast hinterland.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:49 am Opposition strike over high fuel prices bitesNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Opposition workers set buses on fire and burnt tyres as a nationwide strike over higher fuel prices shut down parts of India on Monday in a test of the government's efforts to cut subsidies and trim a budget deficit.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:41 am What's next for interest rates after RBI rate hike?MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India raised interest rates nearly a month earlier than expected on Friday, citing inflation worries while giving an upbeat view on economic growth.Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 2:14 am Sensex flat M M Rel Power Cipla SBI Tata Motors up - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:52 am Reliance Natural plunges after share swap dealReliance Natural shed more than a quarter of its value on Monday, after a deal to fold into sister firm Reliance Power valued the company at $1.5 billion, or 31% below its Friday closing price.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:49 am Four Soft wins contract from Aries GlobalFour Soft Ltd said on Monday it has won a contract from US-based Aries Global Logistics to implement its forward trading application '4S eTrans'.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:47 am Ahmedabad's gold import zooms 2.75 timesAccording to the figures given by GSEC Ltd, which handles air cargo in Ahmedabad, about 108 tonnes of gold were imported during the first half of the current year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:38 am Bharat Bandh: B'lore IT firms shut - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:37 am Shutdown affects rail, road services in Bihar - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:33 am Police, protestors jostle amid pan-India shutdownShutdown keeps Gujarat public transport off road Ahmedabad: The nation-wide shutdown called by the National Democratic Alliance over fuel price rise was effective in the state on Monday with most of the schools, colleges and business establishments remaining closed while public transport services were disrupted. The shutdown at large remained peaceful in most parts of the state, except a couple of stone pelting incidents in Surat city. Educational institutions remained closed in most parts of the city. Some college exams were also postponed due to the shutdown. Police were deployed in every part of the city to avoid any untoward incident. In Surat, the Bharatiya Janata Party workers stopped the staff buses carrying employees of various corporate houses like Laren and Toubro, Reliance Industries, NTPC and Kribhco in the Hazira industrial belt. ********************** Delhi suffers shutdown effect in pockets New Delhi: The nation-wide shutdown called by opposition parties to protest fuel price rise did not seem to have hit normal life in the capital on Monday though Bharatiya Janata Party workers blocked road, rail and metro services in some areas. Buses, autos and private vehicles were plying on the streets from the morning, while offices registered more than an average attendance. Operations at the Indira Gandhi International airport were reported normal. “Delhi Police has taken adequate security measures to ensure law and order during the protest. Policemen are on streets to ensure that no untoward incident takes place. No violence has been reported,” a senior police official said. BJP supporters entered metro stations in Rajiv Chowk, Karol Bagh, Tilak Nagar, Janakpuri West and Uttam Nagar stations posing as passengers and shouted slogans. Protestors also locked the gates of Patel Nagar station creating problems for commuters. DMRC officials, however, said services were not hit and trains ran as per schedule. Protesters also targeted the Indian Railways by blocking trains at Nangloi, Badli and Shakurpur stations. Party workers started assembling around 9am in various parts of the capital and blocked traffic in major intersections and roads like Laxmi Nagar, Vikas Marg, ITO, Preet Vihar, Akshardham and Madhuban Chowk. Protests were also witnessed at the Inter-State Bus Terminal in east Delhi’s Anand Vihar where BJP workers blocked the entrance of the depot preventing buses from coming in and going out. In Preet Vihar, some BJP activists entered into a scuffle with police during the protest. “We were trying to remove the blockade after arresting some leaders. They wanted all of them to be arrested and entered into a scuffle with us,” a senior police official said. In some localities like Uttam Nagar, protestors punctured tyres of DTC buses and some private vehicles. Police said traffic obstructions due to protest were reported from Lado Sarai, Mahaveer Murty towards Gurgoan, Devli Mode, MB Road, Sai Baba Chowk, Rohini and Janakpuri. Vehicular movement was also affected at Nizamudin-Ring Road T point, Tigri Khanpur, Apsara Border, Sindhu Border, Burari Chowk, Khajuri Chowk, Prashant Vihar and Paschim Vihar due to the protest. Police said personnel have been deployed across the city to manage the traffic. The shutdown had little affect on the operations of the Indira Gandhi International airport here though some flights to Mumbai, where the protest disrupted normal life, have been cancelled. “Most of the arriving and departing flights were on schedule. No services have been disrupted though some flights to Mumbai have been cancelled,” an airport official said. ********************** Goa observes shutdown, two held Panaji: Even as Goa had almost 100% shutdown as a part of nationwide protest against spiralling prices on Monday, police arrested two people including Goa Shiv Sena chief Upendra Gaonkar for unlawful activities. Superintendent of Police (North) Arvind Gauns said Gaonkar was arrested at Assnora village, 30 km away from Panaji. “He along with other group were deflating the tyres of the tanker,” Gauns said, adding, a local panchayat member has been arrested for unlawful activity. The private bus operators had also resorted for strike seeking hike in the ticket fare. All the major markets in the state remained closed. Police confirmed that stray incidents of stone pelting were reported at Borim village 50 km away from the state capital. State government-owned Kadamba Transport Corporation Ltd (KTCL) operated its full strength of 370 buses to make up for the absence of private buses on all the routes. “We are running full strength under police protection,” said KTCL chairman Dipak Dhavalikar. The schools were hit with major absenteeism in the cities as even school buses remained off the road fearing violence. Majority school had almost less than half of total students attending the classes. ********************** Shutdown stops Bihar Patna: Normal life was on Monday severely hit in Bihar as train and road services ground to a halt while shops and business establishment pulled down their shutters following the nation-wide strike called by NDA and Left parties to protest the fuel price hike. Several long distance and passenger trains, including New Delhi-Muzaffarpur Sampark Kranti Express were detained at different stations in Bihar following the agitation, East Central Railway (ECR) chief public relations officer Dilip Kumar said. The Rajgir-Danapur passenger train was detained at Karahdhi, Hatia-Patna express at Jehanabad, Gaya-Patna passenger train at Islampur besides over 10 mail express trains were detained at Sasaram, Vikarmganj, Dholi, Narahan, Motihari, Sitamarhi and Jainagar railway stations in Bihar by the agitators, Kumar said. Protestors cut hose pipes of some trains and squatted on the railway tracks to enforce the agitation. Private operators suspended their bus services for the day because of the shhutdown. Buses under the Bihar State Transport Corporation also did not ply, an official said. All private schools, colleges and other educational institutions were closed. Shops and major business establishments pulled down their shutters. Reports reaching the state headquarters from Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Biharsharif, Bhagalpur, Begusarai, Motihari, Bettia, Siwan, Gopalganj, Chapra, Darbhanga, Saharsa, Khagaria and Katihar said the shutdown evoked good response with markets remaining closed. ********************** Andhra Pradesh buses parked for the day Hyderabad: Bus services were disrupted in various districts of Andhra Pradesh following the day-long nationwide shutdown called on Monday by opposition parties over price hike. Workers of various opposition parties staged sit-outs in front of some bus depots in Khammam, Nalgonda, Ranga Reddy and Kadapa districts of the state disrupting services of the Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corp., causing heavy inconvenience to commuters, police said. In Rajahmundhry, services of over 700 buses in nine depots have been cancelled as protestors stopped buses and organised agitations, a APSRTC official said. However, train services in the state remained unaffected. “No disruption has been reported so far. We have neither rescheduled nor cancelled any of the train services in the region,” the official spokesperson of South Central Railways said. Meanwhile all schools, colleges and universities in the city remained closed. While banks will continue to function normally, petrol stations and cinema halls will remain shut till evening. Hyderabad City police commissioner A.K. Khan said the situation in the city is normal and peaceful and no untoward incidents have been reported so far. ********************** Orissa comes to a standstill Bhubaneswar: Protestors picketed various Central government and PSU offices in Orissa to prevent employees from reporting for duty and disrupted road and rail traffic in the state on Monday due to the shutdown called by NDA to protest fuel price hike. Vehicular movement on roads was virtually paralyzed throughout the state as buses, trucks and other vehicles stopped plying, leaving a large number of passengers stranded, police sources said. Rail services were also affected as protestors stopped trains for a brief period at several places. Shops, business establishments and trading outfits downed their shutters across the state though some chemist shops remained open for sometime at a few places, according to reports coming in. In the state capital Bhubaneswar and commercial nerve-centre Cuttack, roads wore a deserted look with buses and autorickshaws keeping off the roads while police made elaborate arrangements to prevent any untoward incidents during the hartal. While the ruling BJD and supporting parties like CPI, CPI(M), Forward Bloc, RJD, SP and JMM enforced the 12-hour hartal, BJP is separately observing a country-wide shutdown demanding roll-back of the hike in fuel prices. Banks and educational institutions remained closed. ********************** West Bengal comes to a halt Kolkata: Normal life was thrown out of gear in West Bengal on Monday with air, rail and road services disrupted due to the nationwide shutdown called by Left and BJP-led NDA to protest hike in fuel prices. Though metro rail services were operating, long distance train services were hit and many trains were stopped at various stations. At the NSC Bose International Airport, only Air India operated its flights since morning. Five domestic flight including Kolkata-Delhi and Kolkata-Mumbai had taken off besides the Kolkata-Singapore international flight. However, private airlines did not operate their flights, airport sources said. In the city, roads wore a deserted look in the absence of any traffic. Shops and most of the markets were closed. This was the second shutdownin the state after the hike in price of petro products. Earlier on 26 June, CITU had give a strike call in the state to protest fuel price hike. ********************** Maharashtra struggles to keep moving Mumbai: Senior BJP leader Kirit Somaiya along with many party workers was detained on Monday when they were staging a rail blockade even as protestors indulged in stone pelting at several places and damaged 12 buses in Pune to enforce the nationwide strike called by the opposition NDA and Left parties to protest fuel price hike. The BJP workers were detained at Mulund station when they were staging sit-outs to block rail traffic. Minor incidents of stone pelting on local trains were reported from suburban Borivali and Kandivali. In Pune, 12 city buses were damaged. The buses plying in Kothrud and Pimpri area were stopped and stoned, damaging window panes, a spokesman of the Pune Municipal Corporation said. In view of the shutdown, very few people ventured out in the early hours and several educational institutions in Mumbai were closed. Authorities have deployed about 40,000 police personnel on the streets of Mumbai to avert any incidence of violence. Opposition parties, which have called for the shutdown, have described the hike in petroleum products as “unjustified” and demanded a rollback. Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena, MNS and other smaller non-Congress-NCP parties in Maharashtra are supporting the bandh called by the NDA and Left parties. BJP state unit president Sudhir Mungattiwar will lead the protests in Mumbai while Leader of opposition in the legislative assembly Eknath Khadse will be in Pune. Leader of opposition in the Legislative council Pandurang Phundkar will take part in the protests at Aurangabad. The state government has said adequate security personnel have been stationed at railway stations, bus stops airports and important roads. “I appeal people to come out. We have taken all security measures to ensure no untoward incident takes place. Anyone who takes law into their hands and attempts to paralyse the city shall be dealt with strictly,” warned Mumbai Police commissioner Sanjeev Dayal. In Mumbai, additional BEST buses will be plying on the roads while elsewhere in the state, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses will be pressed into service. Essential services like water, milk, electricity and hospitals have been excluded from the shutdown. ********************** Deserted streets in Kerala, people remain indoors Thiruvananthapuram: Normal life was disrupted in Kerala on Monday due to the nation-wide strike called by the NDA and Left parties to protest hike in fuel prices. This is the second shut-down being observed by the state over the same issue in a span of 10 days. Shops remained closed and buses, taxis and autorickshaws kept off the roads throughout the state, seriously affecting the mobility of people. Police said no violence was reported from anywhere. The ruling LDF had observed a day-long hartal on June 26 against increase in prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG. ********************** Shutdown makes Monday a holiday in Jharkhand Ranchi: Normal life was hit in Jharkhand on Monday following the opposition-sponsored nationwide shutdown with most educational institutes remaining closed and many buses going off roads, while 200 strike supporters were arrested from various areas. Leaders and workers of Left and BJP separately hit the streets across the state to enforce the shutdown against spiralling prices. The strike is being observed peacefully, police said. Passengers were stranded at bus stands after private bus operators suspended their services while non-operation of trucks affected mining activities in several districts. Two trains were halted at Jamtara station as bandh supporters squatted on the tracks, police said. Security forces have been deployed in strength at strategic points including railway stations, bus stands and airport to keep bandh supporters at bay, a senior police officer said. CPI-M Central Committee member J.S. Majumdar, who was leading a protest by partymen, said, “The bandh is spontaneous because price rise has hit the common man the most.” BJP’s state unit spokesman Sanjay Seth said the party is holding demonstrations at various places, including near Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL). CCL’s deputy manager (public relations) Deepak Kumar said the public sector unit was working in full attendance without any demonstrations in or around its premises. RJD’s state unit president Girinath Singh said the party was not supporting the shutdown but would observe a protest day against price rise on 13 July in Jharkhand. ********************** Shutdown hits normal life in Chhattisgarh Raipur: The nation-wide shutdown called by opposition parties over spiralling price rise on Monday badly affected the normal life in the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh. People responded to the call given by the BJP-led NDA and the Left parties over the price hike which has badly affected the common man in the state, a top BJP leader said. Roads wore a deserted look as buses, auto-rickshaws, trucks and cars joined the bandh, as they were the worst affected due to the recent petroleum products hike. Educational institutions, cinema halls and petrol pumps also remained closed in the state. BJP national vice president Karuna Shukla and party general secretary Thavar Chand Gehlot led the protesters in Raipur, appealing the traders to join the nationwide shutdown. The shutdown was a total success in other parts of the state including Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon, Raigarh, Durg and Jagdalpur districts, said BJP state president Ramsevak Paikra. “The Bharat Bandh is a big success and the common man has expressed their anger on the Union Government’s policy, which has badly affected,” Paikra said. BJP MP’s will raise this issue in the Parliament in the coming days, he said. ********************** Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:32 am Macquarie-SBI fund to buy 10pct in Tata-Quippo: ReportAn infrastructure fund set up by Australia's Macquarie and State Bank of India will buy a 10% stake in Indian mobile tower operator Tata-Quippo for $310 millionSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:25 am BSNL to outsource 3G mobile services: ReportThe company will invite expressions of interest by the end of this month, the newspaper quoted BSNL chairman Kuldeep Goyal as saying.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:23 am Reliance Power, RNRL merger to happen in 90 days - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:22 am Lenovo says Apple losing out in China: ReportThe Chinese PC company's LePhone is also placed well to compete with Apple's iPhone in China because it is customised for Chinese users, the newspaper cited chairman Liu Chuanzhi as saying.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Jul 2010 | 1:19 am Asia stocks drift up but growth outlook cloudyHong Kong: Asian stocks inched higher on Monday, with investors taking profits on defensive plays and buying back other beaten down shares, though selling could resume shortly as the US and Chinese economies are slowing in tandem. Financial bookmakers expected major European stock markets to open slightly lower, with slowing economic growth likely to cause profit expectations to come down. The US labour market shrank in June for the first time this year, adding to fears of a sharp global slowdown in the second half, especially with Chinese manufacturing activity shifting down and property prices at risk of falling. “Double-dip fears are the pervading influence on market psychology at present even as European sovereign concerns appear to be easing,” said Mitul Kotecha, global head of foreign exchange strategy at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong. Financial markets reflect a big decrease in risk taking as a result of perceptions of the global economy. World stocks have fallen 13.1% in the last two months, the Australian dollar slid 8.7% and emerging market bond yields have risen around 75 basis points over U.S. Treasuries. This week the focus will be squarely on how central banks will address signs of a coming global slowdown, with the European Central Bank and the Bank of England both holding policy meetings and the Reserve Bank of Australia and Bank of Korea meeting as well. Meanwhile investors are being bombarded by talk of a double dip recession. The number of news articles with the phrase “double dip” trebled in June, Factiva showed. Japan’s Nikkei share average rose 0.7%, though remained within spitting distance of a seven-month low hit last Thursday. After it fell 5.5% last week, some short-term indicators pointed to oversold conditions, but incoming economic reports could dictate where the market heads next. “We’re seeing a bit of short-covering now that we’re past the jobs data, but the market is going to want to see a lot of the other indicators coming up this week, including those linked to consumer spending,” said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1%, with gains in resources and technology shares mostly offset by declines in consumer staples, financials and telecom stocks. In the last two months, telecom and utility stocks -- two sectors resilient to changes in business cycles -- have fared the best. Commodity-related shares and technology were the poorest performing. Mainland Chinese stocks were Asia’s biggest decliners. The Shanghai composite was down 0.7%, bringing year-to-date losses to 27%. China’s fourth-largest lender Bank of China saw its shares slip 0.9%, the biggest drag on the composite index, after the firm raised $8.8 billion in a rights issue over the weekend. The company’s shares were down 1.8% in Hong Kong helping drive the Hang Seng index down 0.2%. With the issue of Australia’s mining tax largely settled last week, it appeared some takeover deals were resurrected, showing the economic uncertainty was not stopping mergers and acquisition activity. Australia’s Centennial Coal Co Ltd agreed to a $2 billion takeover offer from Thailand’s Banpu Public Co Ltd while Singapore’s Wilmar International Ltd struck a surprise deal to buy Australian conglomerate CSR Ltd’s sugar business for $1.47 billion. U.S. markets will be closed for a public holiday, probably keeping trading volumes light for the rest of the global session. In currency markets, the euro edged down 0.2% to $1.2533 after it gained last week with the help of the dollar’s losses in the wake of the June U.S. employment report. Short-term investors cut their net long dollar positions by $2.7 billion to $9.5 billion in the week ended June 29, according to data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The decrease in long dollar positioning coincided with poor US housing data and slowing in factory activity. US crude futures rose 0.7% to $72.66 a barrel after bargain hunters emerged with oil closer to $72. Indeed, oil prices fell 8.3% last week compared with a 3.9% fall in world equity prices, so rebalancing of portfolios is inevitable. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:43 am Troubled Toyota recalls some 92,000 cars in JapanToyota started recalling more than 90,000 luxury Lexus and Crown vehicles today in Japan over defective engines, the latest setback for the automaker beset with quality problemsSource: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:42 am Reliance Natural plunges after share swap dealMumbai: Reliance Natural shed more than a quarter of its value on Monday, after a deal to fold into sister firm Reliance Power valued the company at $1.5 billion, or 31% below its Friday closing price. The companies, both controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, said on Sunday Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) shareholders would receive one Reliance Power share for every four they hold. Reliance Natural lost a May ruling by Supreme Court in a gas supply dispute with Reliance Industries, controlled by Anil’s elder brother, Mukesh Ambani, the world’s fourth-richest man. Analysts say there was no reason for Reliance Natural to exist independently following the court’s verdict as it would not receive gas at a cheaper rate than the government-approved price. “The merger was a given, it was just a matter of time,” said Sonam Udasi, head of research at IDBI Capital. “RNRL was just a shell company, and after the court verdict, it couldn’t have sold gas at a lower price, so it had to be absorbed,” he said. Based on Friday’s closing price of Reliance Power and the number of outstanding shares of Reliance Natural, the deal values Reliance Natural at about $1.5 billion, or about Rs43.80 a share, compared with its closing price of Rs63.65 on Friday, according to Reuters calculations. By 0609 GMT, shares in Reliance Natural were down 27.3% at Rs46.25, after falling to 45.50, their lowest since 21 May. Reliance Power was up 2.5% at Rs179.60, after climbing to 189.80, its highest in more than a year. About 5.6 million shares were traded in Reliance Power, more than double the stock’s average trading volume over the past 30 days. About 10.9 million shares of Reliance Natural were traded versus with their 30-day average trading volume of 12.9 million. Reliance Natural had wanted Reliance Industries to honour a private deal between the brothers, struck when the Reliance empire was split, to supply it with 28 million standard cubic metres of gas for 17 years at $2.34, about half the government-set price. Supreme Court ordered the companies to renegotiate the agreement at the government-approved price. Late last month, Reliance Natural and Reliance Industries said they signed a revised gas supply agreement, but did not disclose details. The gas is critical for Anil Ambani’s power business, including projects being built by Reliance Power. Reliance Power went public in early 2008 in a $2.9 billion IPO — India’s biggest — but has never risen above its issue price. “RNRL’s share in CBM (coal-bed methane) blocks, and proposed coal supply logistics and shipping business plans, are still nascent and will not contribute materially to earnings of the merged entity in the medium term,” JPMorgan analysts said in a note. The merger would dilute earnings at Reliance Power, the note said. Reliance Industries operates the country’s biggest gas find, in the D6 block of the Krishna Godavari basin. The government determines who gets the gas from the field and at what price. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:34 am Airport frills vs economic theoryMost big cities in the world have just one airport. This means that the airport has a monopoly and, therefore, if economic theory is right, it need not provide anything but the most basic passenger amenities. The Indian Railways is an excellentSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Gold to test resistance, fallComex gold futures were marginally higher on Friday on bargain hunting and a recovering Euro. Gold was supported by a stronger euro against the dollar ahead of the US Independence Day long weekend, even as crude oil was on track to fall almost 10Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am RNRL share price set to declineGoing by Friday's share prices, the 4:1 swap ratio for the merger of RNRL with RPower works out to a notional loss of Rs 20 a share for RNRLSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am RNRL, RPower boards clear 4:1 swap for mergerShareholders of Reliance Natural Resources Ltd will get one share of Reliance Power for every four shares held by them, the board of directors of both the companies decided on Sunday, while approving the merger of RNRL withSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideMake use of rallies to sell the stock while maintaining stiff stop-loss at Rs 290Source: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company – BuyInvestors with medium-term perspective can consider investing in the stock of Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company (Rs 114.2). In late 2008, the stock found support at Rs 50 and started to trendSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Benchmarks may lose some ground in short termLocal key indices, after staying at the upper end of a narrow band, seem to be in a mood to cede some ground in the short term. However, the band's lower end support will remain as itSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Monsoon likely to mimic 2006 patternWill this monsoon be a repeat of 2006 (normal) pattern or will it end up in a disaster like lastSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am India Inc relies less on debt in 2009-10Indian companies managed to lighten their debt burden, a perusal of the latest balance sheets (2009-10 and 2009) of a sample of nearly 300 companiesSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Base Rate: Much the same for retail borrowersThe switchover to Base Lending Rate (BLR) from the hitherto Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) with effect from July 1 is turning out to be a quibble if not aSource: Business Line - Home Page | 5 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Nadal back on top at WimbledonWimbledon: Queen Elizabeth II had the right idea coming to Wimbledon during the first week. That’s when this year’s tournament produced most of its drama, while the final weekend stuck with a predictable script, thanks to Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams. Nadal cemented his status as the world’s No. 1 player Sunday, winning his second Wimbledon trophy, eighth Grand Slam championship and second major title in four weeks. He dismantled first-time Grand Slam finalist Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. The top-ranked Williams, who won Wimbledon for the fourth time Saturday, eased through seven rounds without losing a set. Nadal had the more arduous journey, being pushed to five sets in rounds two and three while battling soreness in his right knee that subsided for his later matches. He made the final look routine, deftly defusing Berdych’s power and dominating pivotal points. Nadal celebrated with perhaps the first Centre Court somersault in the history of a tournament that dates to 1877. Later, cradling the trophy under that talented left arm, he signed autographs outside the members’ entrance to the All England Club. The victory extended Nadal’s winning streak at Wimbledon to 14 matches. The Spaniard won the title in 2008, then missed last year’s tournament because of tendinitis in his knees. “One of the toughest moments in my career, no?” he said during the trophy ceremony. “Amazing for me after a difficult year last year that I can be here.” While the final weekend went as expected, with a sweep by tennis’ No. 1 players, the first week generated plenty of surprises to go with the queen’s first Wimbledon visit since 1977. Besides Nadal’s close calls, there was a narrow escape for top-seeded Roger Federer, who was three points from defeat in the opening Centre Court match, and there was the longest match in tennis history. John Isner needed three days to beat Nicolas Mahut, winning the fifth set 70-68, creating such a sustained buzz Nadal was still talking about the match after his final. “Unbelievable,” he said. “They show amazing good spirit for the crowd, for the young people, because the attitude was very positive and fighting a lot every point, like for 10 hours or 11 hours. Just amazing.” Nadal’s title run on the heels of his fifth French Open championship was impressive, too. In 2008, Nadal became the first player since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to sweep both majors. Federer pulled off the sweep last year, and now Nadal has done it twice. “It didn’t happen since Borg,” Nadal said. “Now last three years it happens. How crazy is the life?” While Spanish players were long considered clay-court specialists who couldn’t adapt to faster surfaces, Nadal spoke from the start of his career about wanting to do well at Wimbledon. Two years ago he became the first Spanish man to win Wimbledon since Manuel Santana in 1966, and now he’s the first Spanish man to win it twice. “To play here for me was all my life a big goal,” Nadal said. “If you really want to play well on one surface and you are a good player, I think in the end you’re going to find a way.” Nadal’s zeal was evident before the final began. He walked onto the Centre Court lawn holding a racket, eager to start swinging. The No. 12-seeded Berdych upset Federer in the quarterfinals but couldn’t duplicate that performance, and a handful of points were his downfall. Nadal converted four of six break-point chances, and saved all four break points he faced. “The biggest difference between us was that when he got a chance, he just took it,” Berdych said. “That just shows how strong he is.” The gap between Nadal and the rest of the men’s tour widens. This week Novak Djokovic supplants Federer at No. 2 in the rankings, but the Serb hasn’t reached a Grand Slam final since winning his only major title at the 2008 Australian Open. Federer, now No. 3, has gone five months without a tournament title since winning this year’s Australian Open. Nadal, meanwhile, is 31-1 with five titles since mid-April. As the winner of eight major championships, he’s tied with such greats as Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl, but Nadal still seeks a breakthrough at the US Open. He has won other hard court tournaments, including the Australian Open, but his grinding style of play takes a toll on his body, especially his troublesome knees, and he has never been at a peak for the year’s final major tournament. He lost in the semifinals the past two years and has yet to reach a final. Barely two hours after his latest London win, he wasn’t quite ready to start thinking about New York. “For sure the US Open is going to be one of my goals for rest of my career,” he said. “But right now it’s to enjoy the beach, fishing, golf, friends, party and Mallorca.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:57 pm Services growth at two-year high in JuneBangalore: India’s services sector expanded at its fastest clip in two years last month, led by increases in business expectations and new orders. After dipping slightly in May, the HSBC Markit Business Activity Index, based on a survey of 400 firms, rose to 64.0 in June from 58.2 last month, pointing to a substantial rate of growth. Any figure above 50 indicates expansion. The survey also showed that Indian services companies raised their charges for the seventh month running but that charge inflation rate was still weaker than the 20-month peak in April. The Reserve Bank of India raised its key short-term lending and borrowing rates by 25 basis points each after the market close on Friday, citing worries over inflation. The move came almost a month ahead of its scheduled review. Official data last month showed the wholesale price index rose an annual 10.16% in May up from 9.59% in April, driven mainly by higher food and energy prices. Policymakers expect inflation to ease on better prospects for crops from good monsoon rains, but rise in fuel prices could drive it higher. The government which had been mulling a fuel price hike for a while, last month freed up state-subsidised petrol prices and raised the prices of other fuels. HSBC said its input prices index fell further to a three-month low in June from a 20-month high in April, signalling an easing of price pressures. All six sub-sectors covered by the survey recorded a rise in new business since May, with post and telecommunications registering the fastest expansion. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries made a dramatic return to the telecom business in June by buying Infotel Broadband, the only company to win a nationwide license in the broadband wireless spectrum auction. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:32 pm India’s BSNL to outsource 3G mobile services-reportState-run telecoms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd plans to outsource its third-generation mobile services and is working on details for a franchisee agreement, the Business Standard reported today.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:28 pm Sensex down 20.86 points in early tradeThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex dipped by 20.86 points in early trade today on fresh selling in banking sector stocks after a hike in interest rates.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:21 pm Services growth at two-year high in June - surveyBANGALORE (Reuters) - India's services sector expanded at its fastest clip in two years last month, led by increases in business expectations and new orders, a survey showed.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:12 pm Markets choppy after rate rise; RNRL tumblesNew Delhi: Indian shares seesawed on Monday after an earlier-than-expected rate rise by the central bank, while disappointing US jobs data added to fears of a sharp global slowdown in the second half of the year. Reliance Natural shed more than a quarter of its value after a deal to fold into sister firm Reliance Power valued the company at $1.5 billion, lower than its market capitalisation on Friday. Shares in lenders such as State Bank of India and ICICI Bank were slightly positive after falling in early deals. The banking sector index was trading 0.3% up after falling as much as 0.5% early. The real estate sector index was down 0.1%. The Reserve Bank of India raised interest rates late on Friday, almost a month earlier than expected, and analysts said it would likely follow up the quarter point hike with another move on 27 July, due to concerns about inflation above 10%. At 10:39 am, the main 30-share BSE index was up 0.06% at 17,472.48, with 11 of the components falling. The index opened higher before turning negative. The 50-share NSE index was up 0.12%. The benchmark had dropped 0.6% last week, its first weekly loss in three. “Global cues are not great and the markets are not cheap at this level,” said Gajendra Nagpal, Chief Executive at New Delhi brokerage Unicon Financial Intermediaries. “But the positive thing is the market seems to have taken the interest rate increase in its stride and is willing to move on,” he said. India’s services sector expanded at its fastest clip in two years last month, led by increases in business expectations and new orders, a survey showed. After dipping slightly in May, the HSBC Markit Business Activity Index, based on a survey of 400 firms, rose to 64.0 in June from 58.2 last month, pointing to a substantial rate of growth. Any figure above 50 indicates expansion. Macquarie analysts wrote in a note rising interest rates may not immediately translate into higher lending rates due to large differential between deposit growth and credit growth, and would likely curb margins of lenders. High risk sectors like real estate and retail loans could be the first ones to see an increase in rates, they said. Shares in Reliance Natural were down 26% at Rs46.85, after falling to 45.50, their lowest level since 21 May. Reliance Power shares were up 3.1% at Rs180.65, after climbing to 189.80, their highest in more than a year. Reliance Natural Resources shareholders will receive one Reliance Power share for every four they hold, the firms, both controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, said on Sunday. In the broader market, 1,475 gainers were ahead of 931 losers on moderate volume of about 89 million shares. STOCKS Ashok Leyland rose 2.5% after the firm reported late on Friday its June commercial vehicle sales more than doubled from a year earlier. Power Grid Corp of India were down 1.3% after the company said its board approved a follow-on public offer of 20% of existing equity. Ankit Metal & Power rose by the 10% upper limit on news the company would consider an issue of rights shares. Media firms Television Eighteen India Ltd, IBN18 Broadcast and Network18 Media rose after the companies said their boards would meet on 7 July to consider a restructuring proposal. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:08 pm Opposition strike over fuel price hike disruptsNew Delhi: Many flights were cancelled and trucks stayed off the roads in India on Monday in response to a day-long strike called by opposition parties to protest fuel price hikes they say will add to double-digit inflation. The strike, called by the main Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and leftist parties, is seen as a test of opposition strength as the ruling Congress party attempts to push ahead with key reforms in Asia’s third largest economy. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday there was no question of rolling back the hike in fuel prices even though it would exacerbate inflation. The hike helped prompt the central bank on Friday to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, nearly a month ahead of a scheduled policy review. India freed up state-subsidised petrol prices late last month and raised the prices of other fuels as pressure to trim a budget deficit outweighed concerns about the political impact. The increase in fuel prices will add nearly one percentage point to wholesale price index (WPI) inflation, which hit 10.16% in May, the government has said. On Monday, many schools, colleges and offices were shut across the country and markets were deserted. The strength of the strikes varied from state to state, generally depending on whether the opposition or Congress controlled the state governments. Airports in Mumbai and Delhi were open, but some flights were cancelled in response to low passenger loads, a spokesman said. The airport in Kolkata, a leftist bastion, was shut and the city of Bangalore in the BJP-ruled Karnataka state was practically shut down, with all software firms closed. In Mumbai, taxis stayed off the streets, and security was tight at train stations and bus stops. The national truckers’ union said more than 600,000 trucks would stay off the roads to express their “solidarity with the people of India, who are already suffering immensely due to heavy dose of inflation, which (is) going to be further aggravated by this unwarranted hike in the price of motor fuels”. For Chandra Bai, a domestic helper in Mumbai, the strike was not quite the show of support for the common man that the opposition claimed it is: “On one hand, all prices have sky rocketed. On the other hand, they call a strike and trouble us even more. Where is the relief of us?” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 11:07 pm India’s nuclear ambition runs up against China’sSingapore: A 2008 civilian nuclear energy pact between the United States and India was meant to lift a 34-year-old embargo on nuclear trade despite New Delhi’s longstanding weapons programme, a move seen as bolstering it as a counterweight to China. It was also aimed at unlocking the energy-starved country’s nuclear industry market, estimated at $150 billion, at a time when nuclear power is undergoing a nascent renaissance worldwide as a more environment-friendly alternative to fossil fuels. But China and Pakistan are threatening to disrupt India’s nuclear aspirations by stepping up collaboration of their own, a prospect that has raised international misgivings and revived concern about the wisdom of making a special case for India. The renewed risk of nuclear proliferation in one of the world’s most unstable regions is the latest hurdle for companies including U.S.-based firms GE-Hitachi and Westinghouse Electric, a subsidiary of Japan’s Toshiba Corp, trying to enter India’s nuclear energy sector. “We would like to provide good material, but we cannot think about that unless peaceful use (of nuclear power) can be assured,” said Takahisa Okuyama, a spokesman at Japan Steel Works, which would be a key player in the construction of nuclear reactors. “If the agreement goes through, the range of supply for our good materials would widen, and it (India) is attractive as a market,” Okuyama said, referring to talks that the governments of Japan and India opened late last month to explore the possibility of nuclear commerce. Japan, having suffered the world’s only nuclear attack, is sensitive to any dealings with states that possess nuclear arms. India and Pakistan have both refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that bars nuclear trade with states that have developed weapons. Both have built a modest nuclear arsenal with India believed to hold about 100 warheads and Pakistan 70 to 80, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association. But while Washington brought India out of nuclear isolation with a bilateral deal, and then strong-armed the 46-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) into following suit, it baulked at Pakistan’s request to be given the same privileges. Pakistan, tainted by revelations that disgraced top scientist A.Q.Khan had run a nuclear smuggling ring that helped Iran, North Korea and Libya, turned to long-term ally China for help. Deals for friends China is now proposing to build two reactors at Pakistan’s Chashma complex, a move based on the logic that if the United States can secure a deal for India, then China should be allowed to do the same for Pakistan. “We all knew at the time that an agreement such as the India-US one would have consequences for the non-proliferation regime and that’s what you are seeing now,” said Brad Glosserman, executive director, Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The India-US deal was a bad, troubling example to set, for proliferators, however justified the desire in Washington to improve ties with India.” Under the ground-breaking accord, India won access to US nuclear technology and fuel that had been denied to it since it first conducted a nuclear explosion in 1974. In return, it accepted international inspections of some of its facilities. While 14 of India’s 22 reactors as well as new plants built to generate power will be opened for inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, military facilities and stockpiles of nuclear fuel that it has produced up to now will be exempt from inspections or safeguards. In effect, India can enjoy the privileges that members of the NPT enjoy without accepting the conditions attached to it - the main one being a renunciation of nuclear weapons, say experts. Indeed, both the India-US deal and Chinese nuclear help to Pakistan help the two rivals expand their weapons programme by providing vital fuel, says Daryll G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a Washington-based think tank. “Nuclear trade with either country would indirectly contribute to their weapons programs by freeing up domestic uranium reserves for the production of enriched uranium and plutonium for weapons purposes.” India is believed to use plutonium for its weapons, while Pakistan is thought to have taken the uranium route. Stop transfers Kimball called for a renewed push by individual members to stop nuclear trade with India even if the NSG, the suppliers’ group, had been railroaded into giving its seal of approval. While Russia, France and Britain strongly backed nuclear transfers to India, several countries such as Austria, New Zealand and Ireland had protested against such special treatment. “Notwithstanding the 2008 NSG exemption for India, states such as Australia and Japan should resist commercial and political pressures for engaging in nuclear trade with India,” Kimball said, adding India must be compelled to sign the nuclear test ban treaty as well as stop producing fissile material. Rhetoric of this sort is likely to be shrugged off by India’s security establishment, but could further delay the entry of foreign players into the Indian market, already weighed down by a row over a nuclear liability legislation that US firms insist must be in place to give them immunity from third-party lawsuits. “In the long term, the US-India nuclear reactor-related commerce is surely a possibility. In the short term, it is not,” said Ramtanu Maitra, a US-based independent nuclear expert. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:59 pm Oil rebounds from 3-week low, stays above $72Singapore: US crude prices on Monday rebounded from their lowest in more than three weeks, staying above $72 as the market assessed the implications of a slowing global economic recovery on energy demand. Rising stock markets in Asia also prompted participants to cover short positions in a trading session where volumes were expected to be thin because of the US independence day holiday, said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager at Tokyo-based Astmax Co Ltd. “Market participants are thinking that around $70 prices are quite cheap,” Emori said. US crude for August climbed 39 cents to $72.53 a barrel by 7:08am. The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) will combine Monday’s and Tuesday’s trading sessions because of the holiday in the United States, with a single settlement price on 6 July. Prices fell every day last week for a cumulative decline of 8.5% in their steepest weekly drop since early May. They touched $71.62, the lowest intraday level since June 8, after a report showing a larger-than-expected drop in US nonfarm payrolls for June of 125,000. “The downside has already been priced in the oil market and into stocks,” Emori said. “The important thing now is what kind of sentiment will emerge in the market and how investors could be holding positions against the negative market conditions.” The dollar and US equities fell on Friday after the weak US jobs report rekindled doubts about the strength of recovery yet failed to confirm widespread fears the economy was dipping back into recession. US data on Friday also showed factory products orders fell more than expected in May, the first decline in nine months and the steepest drop since March 2009. But Friday’s jobs report also showed the US unemployment rate fell to 9.5% from 9.7% in May. ICE Brent crude for August rose 38 cents to $72.03. A weather system located between Jamaica and Honduras in the Caribbean Sea had a 30% chance of developing over the next two days into a tropical cyclone, a category that includes tropical storms and hurricanes, the US National Hurricane Center said late on Sunday. The system’s location and expected course are similar to those that Hurricane Alex followed during its formation stage in late June, before moving into the Gulf of Mexico, forcing Mexican oil terminals to shut down and U.S. producers to curb output. Gulf of Mexico oil operations continued to restart on Friday after being shut as a precaution before Hurricane Alex hit Mexico last week. Money managers cut net long crude oil positions on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the week through Tuesday, reducing bets that prices will rise, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:44 pm Rupee flip-flops tracking shares; dollar eyedMumbai: The Indian rupee flip-flopped in early trade on Monday as the positive sentiment following the central bank’s surprise rate hike was offset by a choppy session in local shares and the dollar’s gains versus major currencies. The Reserve Bank of India raised interest rates almost a month earlier than expected on Friday, and analysts said it would likely follow up the quarter-point hike with another move on 27 July, when it reviews its monetary policy, given concerns about inflation hovering above 10%. At 10:23am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.78/79 per dollar, slightly weaker than its Rs46.77/78 close last Friday. It has traded in a range of Rs46.71 to Rs46.83 so far in the session. “Rupee is a tad weaker as stocks are likely to take the rate-hike-related beating. Even the (fiscal) first-quarter results may not be great, so some amount of position squaring should naturally see stocks in red and rupee weaker,” said R.K. Gurumurthy, head of treasury at ING Vysya Bank. Indian shares turned negative after opening higher on Monday, led by losses in banking stocks after the central bank raised interest rates earlier than expected. Foreign fund moves into and out of the stock market have a large influence on the rupee’s fortunes. So far this year, foreigners have bought a net $6.8 billion, in addition to last year’s record $17.5 billion inflow. Dealers said volumes may be slightly lower than average due to the nationwide strike called by India’s main Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and leftist parties. The strike, to protest against the hike in fuel prices effected last month, is seen as a test of opposition strength as the ruling Congress party attempts to push ahead with key reforms in Asia’s third largest economy. India’s finance minister on Sunday ruled out a roll back of the fuel price hike move. “Due to the strike liquidity may be less, reducing the upside for the rupee,” the head of desk for trading in non-deliverable forwards at a foreign bank said, adding that overall, there was interest in buying the dollar-rupee at lower levels. Dealers said they would continue to watch the dollar’s moves versus majors for direction during the day. The dollar index against six major currencies was up 0.1%. The dollar held at its lowest in nearly two months on Monday and the euro paused after last week’s boost from unwinding of short and leveraged positions, with traders and analysts seeing scope for it to squeeze a bit higher. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at Rs46.98, weaker than the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both at Rs46.9250, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $820 million. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:42 pm Lenovo says Apple missing huge opportunities in ChinaBeijing: The founder of Chinese IT giant Lenovo said in an interview published Monday that Apple is missing huge opportunities in the world’s most populous nation because it does not understand mainland consumers. “We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn’t care about China,” Lenovo chairman Liu Chuanzhi told the Financial Times. “If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble.” Lenovo holds about 30% share of the Chinese market, which is one of the fastest-growing globally, and is expected to become the world’s largest within a year, the newspaper said. Chinese consumers are as keen on Apple’s sleek gadgets as their international peers, but official channels for their sale are extremely limited, the report said. The company has a flagship store in Beijing and a handful of authorised resellers in the country’s largest cities. Apple is due to open a store in Shanghai on Saturday. The iPhone has been legally available only via China Unicom, the country’s second-largest mobile operator, and sales have been sluggish partly because the price tag for the phone is much higher than for those sold on the grey market. Another reason has been that previous rules required Apple to disable the Wifi function in phones sold on the mainland, making them less attractive to increasingly Internet-savvy consumers in China. The latest version of the smartphone — the iPhone 4 — will be sold in China with Wifi, state media reported previously. Liu said the LePhone, Lenovo’s first signature product in its push into mobile devices, was well placed to compete with the iPhone in China because the device, launched earlier this year, was customised for Chinese users. “This is a very practical thing. The iPhone has more than 100,000 content providers, and we have no more than 1,000,” Liu said. “But our Chinese customers feel our applications are very convenient to use.” Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:35 pm Lenovo says Apple missing huge opportunities in ChinaBeijing: The founder of Chinese IT giant Lenovo said in an interview published Monday that Apple is missing huge opportunities in the world’s most populous nation because it does not understand mainland consumers. “We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn’t care about China,” Lenovo chairman Liu Chuanzhi told the Financial Times. “If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble.” Lenovo holds about 30% share of the Chinese market, which is one of the fastest-growing globally, and is expected to become the world’s largest within a year, the newspaper said. Chinese consumers are as keen on Apple’s sleek gadgets as their international peers, but official channels for their sale are extremely limited, the report said. The company has a flagship store in Beijing and a handful of authorised resellers in the country’s largest cities. Apple is due to open a store in Shanghai on Saturday. The iPhone has been legally available only via China Unicom, the country’s second-largest mobile operator, and sales have been sluggish partly because the price tag for the phone is much higher than for those sold on the grey market. Another reason has been that previous rules required Apple to disable the Wifi function in phones sold on the mainland, making them less attractive to increasingly Internet-savvy consumers in China. The latest version of the smartphone — the iPhone 4 — will be sold in China with Wifi, state media reported previously. Liu said the LePhone, Lenovo’s first signature product in its push into mobile devices, was well placed to compete with the iPhone in China because the device, launched earlier this year, was customised for Chinese users. “This is a very practical thing. The iPhone has more than 100,000 content providers, and we have no more than 1,000,” Liu said. “But our Chinese customers feel our applications are very convenient to use.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:35 pm Lenovo says Apple missing huge opportunities in ChinaBeijing: The founder of Chinese IT giant Lenovo said in an interview published Monday that Apple is missing huge opportunities in the world’s most populous nation because it does not understand mainland consumers. “We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn’t care about China,” Lenovo chairman Liu Chuanzhi told the Financial Times. “If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble.” Lenovo holds about 30% share of the Chinese market, which is one of the fastest-growing globally, and is expected to become the world’s largest within a year, the newspaper said. Chinese consumers are as keen on Apple’s sleek gadgets as their international peers, but official channels for their sale are extremely limited, the report said. The company has a flagship store in Beijing and a handful of authorised resellers in the country’s largest cities. Apple is due to open a store in Shanghai on Saturday. The iPhone has been legally available only via China Unicom, the country’s second-largest mobile operator, and sales have been sluggish partly because the price tag for the phone is much higher than for those sold on the grey market. Another reason has been that previous rules required Apple to disable the Wifi function in phones sold on the mainland, making them less attractive to increasingly Internet-savvy consumers in China. The latest version of the smartphone — the iPhone 4 — will be sold in China with Wifi, state media reported previously. Liu said the LePhone, Lenovo’s first signature product in its push into mobile devices, was well placed to compete with the iPhone in China because the device, launched earlier this year, was customised for Chinese users. “This is a very practical thing. The iPhone has more than 100,000 content providers, and we have no more than 1,000,” Liu said. “But our Chinese customers feel our applications are very convenient to use.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:35 pm India's nuclear ambition runs up against China'sSINGAPORE (Reuters) - A 2008 civilian nuclear energy pact between the United States and India was meant to lift a 34-year-old embargo on nuclear trade despite New Delhi's longstanding weapons programme, a move seen as bolstering it as a counterweight to China.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:10 pm Toyota recalls over 91,000 cars in JapanTokyo: Toyota started recalling more than 90,000 luxury Lexus and Crown vehicles on Monday in Japan over defective engines, the latest setback for the automaker beset with quality problems. Toyota Motor Corp. said recalls in overseas markets will follow soon. Toyota told the Japanese government on Monday it was recalling 91,903 vehicles for flaws in the valve springs, a crucial engine component, that could make the automobile stall while in motion. The quality problem affecting top-of-the-line products comes as Toyota struggles to move on from massive global recalls that started in October. It already has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles for various problems, including sticking gas pedals, braking software glitches and defective floor mats. The world’s top automaker was fined a record $16.4 million in the US for responding too slowly when the recall crisis erupted. The company announced the latest quality problems last week, estimated to affect about 270,000 vehicles around the world. Some 180,000 of the defective automobiles were sold overseas, 138,000 of them in the US. No accidents or injuries have been reported because of the defect. About 220 complaints have been reported. Toyota said it was replacing the valve spring in the recalled vehicles, produced between July 2005 and August 2008 Lexus models GS350, GS450h, GS460, IS350, LS460, LS600h, LS600hL and Crown models. Toyota also faces more than 200 lawsuits in the US tied to accidents involving defective automobiles, the lower resale value of Toyota vehicles, and a drop in its stock value. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 9:58 pm Komorowski wins cliffhanger Polish electionWarsaw: Moderate conservative Bronislaw Komorowski won Poland’s presidential election on Monday after a cliffhanger vote that saw his right-wing rival Jaroslaw Kaczynski perform much better than expected. Komorowski’s narrow victory, which must be confirmed by final results later on Monday, will bring relief to investors who feared Kaczynski, leader of the main opposition party, would veto reforms needed to repair Poland’s battered public finances. Komorowski, who hails from Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s ruling market-oriented, pro-euro Civic Platform (PO), won 52.6% of the vote in Sunday’s election, based on 95% of the ballots cast, the election commission said. Kaczynski, the identical twin brother of President Lech Kaczynski whose death in a plane crash in Russia in April precipitated the election, received 47.4% of the vote, the commission said. Final results are due on Monday afternoon. Kaczynski, head of the Law and Justice party (PiS), briefly nudged ahead of Komorowski during the vote counting, hours after he had conceded defeat. But as results rolled in from bigger cities, mostly PO strongholds, Komorowski regained his lead. In Poland, the government led by the prime minister sets policy, but the president can propose and veto laws, appoints many key officials and has a say in foreign and security policy. Lech Kaczynski vetoed several government bills before his death. Komorowski’s victory could boost the zloty currency on Monday, but economists caution that Tusk’s government is unlikely to risk radical fiscal steps before next year’s parliamentary election, especially after Kaczynski’s strong election showing. Spending cuts mooted “The positive reaction on the financial markets (to a Komorowski victory) could be short-lived,” said Maciej Reluga, chief economist at Bank Zachodni WBK in Warsaw. “It is clear, however, that the government will not be able to blame the president’s potential veto from now on for preventing it from passing important legislation.” Tusk signalled late on Sunday that some public spending cuts may now be in the pipeline. “From Monday we need to start working harder than in the past,” Tusk told reporters after Komorowski claimed victory. “We want to spend money in a reasonable way and this will require the support of politicians and citizens. I will ask my political partners and the parliament to help impose some discipline in our public finances,” Tusk said. The European Union’s largest ex-communist member is the only economy in the 27-strong bloc to have avoided recession last year, but a sharp slowdown has hammered tax revenues and driven up the budget deficit to 7% of gross domestic product. Public debt, though low by west European standards, is creeping towards the 55% of GDP threshold which, if breached, would by law trigger painful spending cuts. Despite overcoming the risk of a presidential veto, PO faces other hurdles in the way of reforms. It is locked in a coalition with the small Peasants’ Party which is opposed to any attack on the pension privileges of farmers and other occupational groups. Diplomatic relations Komorowski, a gently-spoken father of five grown-up children, will be Poland’s fourth democratically elected president since the fall of communism 1989. Two predecessors, Lech Walesa and Aleksander Kwasniewski, had both backed his bid. As speaker of Poland’s lower house of parliament and second ranking official in the state hierarchy, he automatically became acting president on Lech Kaczynski’s death in the plane crash. His election to a five-year term will be welcomed in other EU capitals and in Moscow because Komorowski backs Tusk’s efforts to improve foreign ties that came under strain during Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s short stint as prime minister in 2006-7. “Komorowski’s win bodes well for Poland in Europe. His presidency will enable Poland to integrate with the European Union,” said Kazimierz Kik of Kielce University. “I think there is a high possibility for Poland to cooperate with Germany and to adopt Berlin’s viewpoint on some important issues, for example concerning more open ties with Russia.” Tusk, who has fostered strong ties with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, also wants to take Poland into the euro zone as soon as possible, though given the bloc’s woes that is now unlikely to happen before 2015 at the earliest. Conceding defeat on Sunday evening, Kaczynski told supporters his good result in the election boded well for local elections in the autumn and next year’s parliamentary poll. “We have to win them and we will,” he said. Kaczynski’s blend of Catholic piety, opposition to some free market reforms and distrust of big business, EU bureaucrats and Poland’s historic foe Russia strike a deep chord, especially among older, poorer and provincial voters. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 9:47 pm New terminal to begin operations from I-Day - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Jul 2010 | 5:28 pm New set of ULIP guidelines - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Jul 2010 | 5:15 pm Signs of the timesCorporate headquarters are more than just buildings, they are emblems of a company’s aspirations, its work culture, and its standing among peers. Crisil House is a classic example. The completed facility, formally inaugurated in March, is the new headquarters of financial analysis company Crisil, located in the Hiranandani Business Park in suburban Mumbai. Its construction, design and layout speak volumes about the company’s approach to its business and its employees. Yet Crisil House stands for more. Click hereto view images of the new Crisil’s new headquarter It symbolizes three important trends shaping contemporary urban Indian architecture: the green building movement, the popularity of mixed-use real estate development, and a neoclassical architectural style. For many architecture and construction professionals, all three are controversial. Coming together Crisil House grew out of a desire to consolidate 14 existing offices into one location, says Roopa Kudva, managing director and chief executive officer. Rapid growth over the last decade had resulted in scattered offices, necessitating an independent building for its 1,200 employees, with adequate room for future expansion. Management was understandably keen that the space should reflect the company’s reputation for independence and credibility, and showcase “that we are more than a ratings company, we are a diversified analytical platform”, says Kudva. It was also an excellent opportunity to enhance employee well-being. The building’s design reflects these concerns. A careful balance has been struck between providing opportunities for employees to mingle, without compromising on the privacy that is necessary for a ratings and research company. A 10,000 sq. ft central atrium visually connects the building’s nine floors. It is accompanied by strategically placed indoor terrace gardens where employees can take a coffee break, notes Arun Panicker, senior director, operations, who enjoys being able “to walk out on to any of these floors, make eye contact and wave out to someone from the other part of the business”. At the same time, individual floors have strict access control to ensure that firewalls are maintained between the different arms of the business (such as ratings, research and advisory services). Crisil House has generous amenities—nearly half of its built-up area comprises common facilities, including a cafeteria, gym, recreation centre, library and parking space. Workspaces are egalitarian—desks in the open-plan offices are sizeable, at 4.5 x 5ft, and only the top echelon have private cabins. Shades of green  Belying its contemporary interiors, the decorative facade of Crisil House takes its cue from the neoclassical architectural style of Hiranandani Gardens. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint Despite these efforts, it may not satisfy local definitions of a green building. The building is currently awaiting a platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating, and in many ways, aptly illustrates some of the controversy surrounding LEED in India. Few of the building’s energy needs are generated by solar panels (a mandatory criteria for Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment, or Griha, a home-grown green building rating system). Much of its LEED-compliant materials and equipment are imports, including workstations, glass for its facade, air conditioning and forestry-certified wood, adding to the building’s carbon footprint. Hafeez Contractor, Crisil House’s architect, himself dismisses LEED as a “fad”. “We’ve been doing green buildings all along, without a rating system,” he says. More notable are the company’s visible efforts to be green in spirit, rather than just in letter. This represents a significant lifestyle change for employees. For example, there are just two printers on every floor to minimize paper consumption, requiring some people to walk as much as 400ft to get a printout, says Panicker. To ensure segregation between dry and wet garbage as per LEED rules, employees can no longer drink tea or coffee at their desks and must gravitate to common areas for beverages. Mixed-use development Crisil’s new home also captures the ubiquitous trend of mixed-use, often high-end, real estate development across the country. Kudva states that the location was chosen for its land availability, proximity and affordability. Hiranandani Gardens, which began life in the late 1980s, was the first integrated township of its kind in India, offering housing, commercial spaces, a school, hospital and parks. Since then it has attracted praise and criticism in equal measure, for a number of reasons. Partha Mukhopadhyay, urbanization expert and senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, feels that while every city has high-end housing, it is important for such developments “to carry their load in terms of contributing to the demands they make on the city’s infrastructure”. This township’s self-contained model has been replicated by developers across the country. Niranjan Hiranandani, co-founder and managing director of the Hiranandani group, cites the township’s numerous awards, describing in particular “the largest sewage treatment plant in Asia” and efforts to re-develop neighbouring slums to make it more inclusive. Conflicting styles Crisil House’s imposing facade was designed to integrate with Hiranandani Gardens’ neoclassical architectural style. Contractor says he was the first to adapt classical architecture to modern, residential, high-rise buildings, spawning a national trend. “It is a timeless design which will never age,” agrees Hiranandani. The design is purely decorative. While Crisil House appears to be inspired by stone-clad, colonial-era buildings, its pillars and walls are merely painted concrete. Its stately, old-world exterior is also aesthetically disconnected with its entirely contemporary interior. However, although Hiranandani Gardens’ aesthetic can be construed as superficial, its makers have successfully sensed the pulse of urban India. The township remains one of Mumbai’s most aspirational suburbs, aided by its grandiose style. As the symbol of a mid-sized company’s efforts to unify itself in a green, employee-oriented facility, Crisil House is laudable. As an example of modern Indian architecture’s ability to carve its own identity in a post-colonial, globalized world, its success is less apparent. Fact File Location: Mumbai Interior designer: Architect Hafeez Contractor Tenant: Crisil Owner: Hiranandani group Built-up area: 211,000 sq. ft Cost of interior fitout: Approx. Rs65 crore Project duration: Approx. 18 months Completion: January 2010 Accommodates: 1,600 people Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 1:40 pm Growing industry has component makers targeting merger dealsMumbai: The Indian auto component industry could be in for some hectic mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity as global firms look to enter or enhance their presence in a country that has, over the past 18 months, emerged a sweet spot in the global auto market. And while foreign auto component firms are looking for joint ventures, alliances, or outright buys in India, Indian firms are looking for the same overseas—despite the state of most global markets, although this has meant assets are now available at lower prices. Investment bankers say that they know of five global component firms looking to enter or expand in India and three domestic firms seeking to purchase assets or form an alliance overseas.  Graphic: Ahmed Raza Khan/Mint On Wednesday, Japan’s Denso Corp. announced a joint venture with domestic auto air-conditioner maker Subros Ltd for a product development centre. The Japanese firm will hold 74% stake in the venture, Denso Subros Thermal Engineering Centre. “This move has been congruous with the influx of global OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). We are looking to cater to new entrants including Renault, Nissan, Volkswagen and General Motors in India in addition to supplying to Maruti, M&M (Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd) and Tata,” said Ramesh Suri, chairman, Subros, which ended 2009-10 with a revenue of Rs984 crore. Denso has appointed a research and development (R&D) executive to head this venture in India, he added. Renault India is already in talks with its global component suppliers to operate out of its supplier park in Chennai. “We would like them to bring in their expertise as they are competent in terms of design,” said Ashish Sinharoy, vice-president, corporate affairs, Renault. Some analysts say that the Forrester effect is playing out in the Indian auto market, where higher demand for cars, bikes and trucks has forced car makers to expand, resulting in a corresponding demand for components. India saw sales of 1.24 million passenger cars, 7.4 million two-wheelers, and 384,122 commercial vehicles (CVs) in 2009, compared with 1.20 million passenger cars, 7.2 million two-wheelers, and 490,494 CVs in 2008, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. The bankers listed Johnson Controls Inc., Valeo SA, Magna International Inc., and GKN Driveline among the multinational firms looking to expand their presence in India. While some of these firms are present here through joint ventures, others have subsidiaries. Mint couldn’t immediately establish whether Johnson, which has a joint venture with the Tata group, will expand existing partnerships or seek new ones. Paul Dinwiddy, global communication director for GKN Driveline, a company that supplies drive-shafts and side-shafts, said that the firm currently has three facilities in India. “The fourth will definitely be a greenfield as that is our focus,” he said, adding that the company is open to acquisitions. Scott Worden, manager, corporate communications and public relations of Magna International, said that the company would not be able to provide any information about possible acquisitions or greenfield developments in India. Magna, which ended 2009 with revenue of $17.4 billion (Rs81,258 crore), currently has joint ventures in India for the manufacture of components such as flex plates, seating and mirrors. The Tata group declined to comment. Emails sent to Valeo remained unanswered. There is enough reason for a foreign auto component firm to look at acquisitions in India, said one investment banker. Foreign firms are not comfortable with a complete technology transfer, according to Preet Mohan Singh, executive director, and head, industrials group, at investment bank Avendus Capital. Interestingly, technology is the motive behind the global moves of several Indian auto component makers. Foreign companies have the competency when it comes to hi-tech components, said Tarang Jain, managing director at the Ahmedabad-based Varroc Group that makes a range of products such as handle bars, lamps, starter motors and fly-wheel magnets for bikes. “We should be closing a couple of deals on the technology front and alliances in the R&D space in about three-four months,” he added. Seema Chaturvedi, managing director of US-based investment bank Accelerator Group Llc said that her bank has been in talks with some global players looking to enter India in niche component categories. “The trend appears to be that the global makers seem to be preferring either the acquisition route or the greenfield route.” Further, Indian companies are also looking at acquisitions in the North American market to establish an overseas presence and for technological capabilities, she added. Amtek Auto Ltd, which has assets in Europe, has appointed bankers to look for more overseas acquisitions or partnerships. Santosh Singhi, Amtek’s chief financial officer, said that his company was expected to complete one or two cross-border deals in the next six months. “All our partnerships are joint ventures for the specific purpose of transfer of technology,” he added. Amtek reported a consolidated net profit of Rs1.9 billion for the year ended June 2009. Investment bankers add that Sundaram Auto Components Ltd and Autoline Industries Ltd are also looking for overseas buys. An Autoline executive, who did not want to be named, said that the company was looking at acquisitions. Queries emailed to Sundaram on Wednesday remained unanswered. harini.s@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 1:15 pm The liberalization fix to Delhi’s demonic trafficThe Commonwealth Games in New Delhi are just four months away, and residents of India’s capital city are bracing for more traffic nightmares as players and guests from at least 40 countries pour into town. The city already contends with crumbling public transportation and mind-numbing traffic jams. National and state governments have opened their wallets to meet the growing costs, arguing this will help realize the Capital’s long-term infrastructure needs. This is the triumph of hope over experience, especially when it comes to the wisdom of the government’s urban planners. Take Delhi’s Metro rail system, built over the past five years with the help of Japanese contractors. It is being completed mostly on time, and within budget. Yet demand always exceeds capacity, because of perpetual shortfall in coaches. Many admirers have resumed use of their own vehicles. The public sector bus system isn’t much better. Delhi Transport Corp. reportedly makes more money idling buses than running them. It is acquiring a glittering fleet of modern vehicles, but the process is slow, and no one knows how the fleet will be maintained. Privately licensed operators are mostly in the hands of small-time mafia bosses. Those buses make headlines more for their accidents and fatality rates than their service. Then there are examples from the theatre of the absurd. Take, for instance, a one-way flyover on a route that connects one of the highways to the international airport. Its opening led to such chaos that the authorities had to reverse the direction of traffic, with the explanation that the traffic pattern on that stretch of road had changed drastically in the two years the flyover was under construction. This is by no means an isolated incident. Two years ago, a 20km stretch of highway connecting Delhi to Gurgaon was expanded to eight lanes and opened with a 32-gate toll plaza. The day the road was inaugurated, the traffic flow exceeded the projection for 2014. Today, on a typical working day, it takes more time to queue up and pay the toll than to drive through that stretch of highway. Urban planners brush off these problems by blaming unrestrained population growth and an explosion in unlicensed private transportation. They focus on limiting the supply of vehicles. In a city of 15 million, there are around 10,000 permitted taxis, 50,000 three-wheeled automobiles and a few thousand cycle-rickshaws. Unofficially, there are around 38,000 taxis, 75,000 three-wheelers and 100,000 rickshaws, thanks to the high costs of running legal transportation. The vehicle density is around 10 per 100 people—high compared with the rest of India, at one per 100 people. But congestion on the road is not just a function of the number of vehicles, but also of the quality and amount of road space and the efficiency of road use. Delhi’s streets are no more congested than main streets in small towns across India. The misguided focus on the number of vehicles has meant that every transportation policy seeks to restrict the entry of vehicles. Consequently, the supply of transportation falls much short of demand. There are layers of licences and permits regulating the operation of private buses, taxis and automobiles, which apart from breeding corruption, perpetually restricts supply. What’s more, taxes on petrol, and vehicles are among the highest in the world, all aimed at reducing personal forms of transport. This has retarded the technological innovation and added to pollution and congestion. So citizens turn to the private sector. Thousands of vehicles ply Delhi each day, without authorization, to meet the demand, while contributing millions of rupees to the kitty of road transport officials and the traffic police, whom they have to pay to be allowed to operate. There has been one small step in the right direction: A few months ago, the Delhi high court, in a landmark judgement, nullified the licence raj that had hobbled the cycle-rickshaw industry in the city. By licensing its numbers to absurdly low levels, municipality officials, traffic police and the rickshaw mafia ruled the streets, depriving citizens of an affordable means of transport. The decision to liberalize the cycle-rickshaw trade should be extended to all forms of public transport. Even better, Delhi’s authorities could ditch the idea of regulating tariffs for licences altogether. Entry barriers should be drastically reduced, if not eliminated. The government could privatize the traffic police, who are rewarded for their number of bookings, rather than quality of work. These moves would have several advantages. First, they would legalize existing informal service providers. Second, they would allow more organized operators to benefit from scale of operations. This may incentivize many individual operators to merge and compete for clients on the basis of price and quality of service. Third, they would improve the policing of the system, too. These suggestions aren’t as radical as they may seem. With the advent of private radio taxis, there has been a marked improvement in the service of many small and informal taxi operators. The Commonwealth Games are the biggest event India has hosted in years. Rather than asking people to stay at home during the celebrations, or forcing those who can afford to leave town to do so, simple changes in traffic and transportation rules could help improve the quality of life for all of Delhi’s residents. The Wall Street Journal Barun Mitra is director of the Liberty Institute, an independent thinktank in New Delhi. Edited excerpts. Comments are welcome at views@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 1:14 pm The lady in the chair makes the differenceThe National Advisory Council (NAC), meant to be an advisory body to the Union government, has two members who had resigned from the body in its previous avatar under the first Manmohan Singh government, having used many harsh words against the latter.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Jul 2010 | 1:01 pm RNRL, Reliance Power merger swap fixed at 4:1The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Groups (ADAGs) gas transportation company, Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL), will merge with sister firm Reliance Power (R-Power) in a Rs 50,000-crore, all-stock deal.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 4 Jul 2010 | 1:00 pm We want to see the first objects that were formed after Big Bang: John C. MatherFrom the story of the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize to the ultimate fate of the universe—John C. Mather’s career as a Nasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) astronomer couldn’t have been more exciting. Reviving his failed PhD thesis idea, he designed and built the first satellite—COBE—to measure cosmic microwave background radiation, which, after its launch in 1989, provided the first conclusive evidence that the Big Bang theory of the origin of universe was right. Mather’s team also tested the idea that the early universe had an exponential expansion called inflation. The only Nasa employee to have won a Nobel Prize, he says his public life has since changed, but not his professional life. His research projects undergo the same internal processes as before. At the 60th Nobel laureates meeting in Lindau, he spoke about some of the milestones before astronomers and physicists that would eventually tell us where the universe is headed. Edited excerpts: Why is the story of the Big Bang so important for physics? It gives us the starting conditions. If we understand physics, we’ll be able to understand the present day nature of the universe just as you are able to predict the weather tomorrow by if you are able to measure what the air is doing today. We have computer programmes today that simulate the present universe pretty well based on starting conditions. Is the Big Bang one of the few grand challenges left for the physicists?  Scientific milestone: Mather is the only employee of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration to have won a Nobel Prize. Seema Singh/Mint There are different theories about the future of the universe. What is the most accepted view? The most popular view is that it is accelerating and will continue to accelerate. In around 100 billion years, all the galaxies will go away. All the stars would have burnt up their hydrogen fuel and we won’t be able to see them at all, however sensitive our equipment may be. Another view is that it won’t accelerate forever. Yet another view says that we might have an additional Big Bang. The wonderful thing is that we don’t know, a conceptual breakthrough is needed. We hope that sometime we will have a theory of quantum gravity that would definitely tell us what people ought to work on. Right now, people are not happy with quantum gravity. How soon do you expect that conceptual clarity to emerge? It’ll be at least after one generation. Then it might turn out that when we finally have it, we’ll know somebody already had the answer but we didn’t really know if it was the right answer. Perhaps then people will look back and say—See, those ancients were so smart. Why do you believe that we have a couple of billions of years before we need to move on? The sun is getting brighter. In about one billion years, it’ll be too hot for us to live here. In about two billion years, it’ll be really too hot and in five billion years, the sun’s diameter will reach the size of the earth’s orbit. So far we have talked lightly about space travel. Nature has not given us hints about how to get to another star. It’s difficult enough to travel within the solar system. You spoke about the acceleration of the universe and astronomers have also showed that it’s dark energy that’s causing this acceleration. Do we just have a name or is there a theory to explain dark energy? There’s no theory popular enough to be recognized as theory, though there’s a suggestion that there is a law of nature that is requiring the universe to be as it is. Experimentally, our objective is to measure the history of this acceleration since we now know that this acceleration has been operating for five billion years. When did it start? We don’t know. Is it governed by Einstein’s constant or by something else? That, too, is unclear. You are leading the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mission slated for 2013 launch. What results do you expect from it? We want to see the first objects and stars that were formed after the Big Bang, how galaxies are assembled from small particles. By looking at the dust clouds, we hope to see how stars are made locally. We hope to understand how earth comes to support life. Is there any exciting possibility beyond this? It’d be a great surprise if someone tells us what’d be the right place to look for an earth-like planet with signs of life. We know we’ll find an earth-like planet as the Kepler Mission is already making a catalogue (of such places). What is unlikely so far is that our equipment is incapable of doing the chemical analysis of the atmosphere of the planet. So probably that’s for the next generation of telescope. COBE gave you the Nobel. Do you think JWST will lead to a few more Nobel prizes? It’s hard to guess. It won’t be for me. So far, we have two Nobels for cosmic microwave background radiation—for its discovery and its measurement. I think another will be when gravitational waves are detected. The hunt for dark matter will probably lead to a Nobel when it succeeds. I don’t think it’ll go to an astronomer. It’s more likely a particle physicist, theoretical or experimental. If we could find it (dark matter) in the lab, it’ll be so informative. Astronomers can tell you how much of it is there but won’t tell anything about the particles themselves. Carlo Rubbia (1994 Nobel Prize winner) has a list of 20 such particles, but we don’t have a good favourite yet. As the space exploration gets bigger and more expensive, do you think international collaborations will increase? India has just begun exploration of outer space... It’ll happen not just because projects are expensive but because there is a lot of interest. Space science is a cultural phenomenon driven by human curiosity, and curiosity is worldwide. Canadian and European space agencies are collaborating in JWST. When a mission is designed to measure dark energy, it is also likely to be an international project. Did the Nobel Prize change your life as a civil servant? Yes, my responsibility to speak to the general public is much more now than I had before. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 12:45 pm We want to see the first objects that were formed after Big Bang: John C. MatherFrom the story of the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize to the ultimate fate of the universe—John C. Mather’s career as a Nasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) astronomer couldn’t have been more exciting. Reviving his failed PhD thesis idea, he designed and built the first satellite—COBE—to measure cosmic microwave background radiation, which, after its launch in 1989, provided the first conclusive evidence that the Big Bang theory of the origin of universe was right. Mather’s team also tested the idea that the early universe had an exponential expansion called inflation. The only Nasa employee to have won a Nobel Prize, he says his public life has since changed, but not his professional life. His research projects undergo the same internal processes as before. At the 60th Nobel laureates meeting in Lindau, he spoke about some of the milestones before astronomers and physicists that would eventually tell us where the universe is headed. Edited excerpts: Why is the story of the Big Bang so important for physics? It gives us the starting conditions. If we understand physics, we’ll be able to understand the present day nature of the universe just as you are able to predict the weather tomorrow by if you are able to measure what the air is doing today. We have computer programmes today that simulate the present universe pretty well based on starting conditions. Is the Big Bang one of the few grand challenges left for the physicists? Scientific milestone: Mather is the only employee of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration to have won a Nobel Prize. Seema Singh/Mint There are different theories about the future of the universe. What is the most accepted view? The most popular view is that it is accelerating and will continue to accelerate. In around 100 billion years, all the galaxies will go away. All the stars would have burnt up their hydrogen fuel and we won’t be able to see them at all, however sensitive our equipment may be. Another view is that it won’t accelerate forever. Yet another view says that we might have an additional Big Bang. The wonderful thing is that we don’t know, a conceptual breakthrough is needed. We hope that sometime we will have a theory of quantum gravity that would definitely tell us what people ought to work on. Right now, people are not happy with quantum gravity. How soon do you expect that conceptual clarity to emerge? It’ll be at least after one generation. Then it might turn out that when we finally have it, we’ll know somebody already had the answer but we didn’t really know if it was the right answer. Perhaps then people will look back and say—See, those ancients were so smart. Why do you believe that we have a couple of billions of years before we need to move on? The sun is getting brighter. In about one billion years, it’ll be too hot for us to live here. In about two billion years, it’ll be really too hot and in five billion years, the sun’s diameter will reach the size of the earth’s orbit. So far we have talked lightly about space travel. Nature has not given us hints about how to get to another star. It’s difficult enough to travel within the solar system. You spoke about the acceleration of the universe and astronomers have also showed that it’s dark energy that’s causing this acceleration. Do we just have a name or is there a theory to explain dark energy? There’s no theory popular enough to be recognized as theory, though there’s a suggestion that there is a law of nature that is requiring the universe to be as it is. Experimentally, our objective is to measure the history of this acceleration since we now know that this acceleration has been operating for five billion years. When did it start? We don’t know. Is it governed by Einstein’s constant or by something else? That, too, is unclear. You are leading the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mission slated for 2013 launch. What results do you expect from it? We want to see the first objects and stars that were formed after the Big Bang, how galaxies are assembled from small particles. By looking at the dust clouds, we hope to see how stars are made locally. We hope to understand how earth comes to support life. Is there any exciting possibility beyond this? It’d be a great surprise if someone tells us what’d be the right place to look for an earth-like planet with signs of life. We know we’ll find an earth-like planet as the Kepler Mission is already making a catalogue (of such places). What is unlikely so far is that our equipment is incapable of doing the chemical analysis of the atmosphere of the planet. So probably that’s for the next generation of telescope. COBE gave you the Nobel. Do you think JWST will lead to a few more Nobel prizes? It’s hard to guess. It won’t be for me. So far, we have two Nobels for cosmic microwave background radiation—for its discovery and its measurement. I think another will be when gravitational waves are detected. The hunt for dark matter will probably lead to a Nobel when it succeeds. I don’t think it’ll go to an astronomer. It’s more likely a particle physicist, theoretical or experimental. If we could find it (dark matter) in the lab, it’ll be so informative. Astronomers can tell you how much of it is there but won’t tell anything about the particles themselves. Carlo Rubbia (1994 Nobel Prize winner) has a list of 20 such particles, but we don’t have a good favourite yet. As the space exploration gets bigger and more expensive, do you think international collaborations will increase? India has just begun exploration of outer space... It’ll happen not just because projects are expensive but because there is a lot of interest. Space science is a cultural phenomenon driven by human curiosity, and curiosity is worldwide. Canadian and European space agencies are collaborating in JWST. When a mission is designed to measure dark energy, it is also likely to be an international project. Did the Nobel Prize change your life as a civil servant? Yes, my responsibility to speak to the general public is much more now than I had before. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 12:45 pm M&M, Adani in race to buy DLF’s stake in insurance firmMumbai: DLF Ltd’s 74% stake in the life insurance firm, DLF Pramerica Life Insurance Co. Ltd is on the block and the Mahindra group and Adani Enterprises Ltd are among the interested buyers, two people familiar with the development independently said. Mahindra’s deputy general manager, corporate communications and DLF Pramerica’s Kapil Mehta declined comment because they said the news was speculative. Adani’s chief financial officer Devang Desai denied that the company was interested in the business. Prudential International Insurance Holdings Ltd has the remaining 26% stake in the venture. Under current Indian laws, a foreign firm can have a maximum of a 26% stake in the insurance business. A third person, also familiar with the development, said that audit and consulting firm Ernst and Young is an adviser to the intended transaction. None of the three people familiar with the development wanted to be identified. DLF’s intent to exit the business comes a mere three years after it entered it. In January, it sold its entire 39% stake in an asset management venture it had formed with the same partner. This is now fully owned by Prudential and has been renamed Pramerica Asset Managers Pvt Ltd. DLF’s exit from this business came after it decided to focus on its core business, real estate development. “Pramerica is looking for a well-established local brand to form a new life insurance joint venture. DLF is looking for a good valuation for its stake,” said one of the persons familiar with the development. Mint could not immediately ascertain the valuation of DLF’s 74% stake because there is no standardized regulatory norm to evaluate the value of an insurance company though some research and consulting firms put out embedded values of top Indian insurers periodically in their reports. Embedded value is calculated on the basis of expected premium collection, profit and loss, associated risks, solvency, retention ratio, expenses and over-runs, claim settlement strengths, liabilities and capital efficiency. “DLF Pramerica Life has not been able to grow its policyholder-base much, while other players have recorded an aggressive growth over the past three years. An exit is a better decision rather than continuing to incur losses. Mahindra or Adani are well-established names to carry on with the life insurance business,” said another of the three persons familiar with the development. Mahindra’s intention to enter the financial space is well known. It already has a non-banking finance arm and its application to float an asset management firm has been awaiting the regulator’s approval. “DLF is conducting the valuation exercise, but it may end up selling its holding below par, as it has not been able to grow their product portfolio adequately,” the second person added. The company has a capital base of Rs221.3 crore. It collected premiums of Rs38.44 crore during the fiscal year ended 31 March. Its agency distribution network operates in 22 cities across Delhi and the national capital region, Haryana and Punjab, with at least 550 employees and 450 associates. Since its inception, the private life insurer has not been able to grow its business much except in Punjab and Haryana. Punjab alone accounts for nearly 70% of the policies sold by the company. The company posted a net loss of about Rs93 crore in 2010. With recent capping in commissions and surrender charges in insurance policies by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda), insurers are likely to underwrite more losses in the coming days. This, in turn, will force the life insurance firms to consolidate their operations. “The company’s inability to grow is one of the key reasons for DLF to exit the life insurance business,” said the second person. There are 23 life insurers in India with Rs11 trillion in assets between them. According to a recent research report by Edelweiss Securities Ltd, a Mumbai-based brokerage, Indian life insurers collected Rs1.1 trillion of new business premium during the last fiscal year. Close to 30% of this was collected by private life insurers. anirudh.l@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 12:44 pm Analysts don’t expect a big surprise in resultsMumbai: Analysts expect the coming earnings season to be business-as-usual, with good, but not outstanding growth in both revenue and earnings (or profit) that would result in no change in how the market rates the stocks of companies. If, however, earnings grow at a lower-than-anticipated rate, the market could see some re-rating—downward. Earnings season kicks off next week—on 13 July—when Infosys Technologies Ltd, one of India’s largest software services firms by revenue, and a bellwether for the equity markets, declares its results for the April-June quarter, the first quarter of 2010-11 for most Indian companies whose financial year ends on 31 March. According to analysts, earnings of the Sensex companies will grow by 16-20% for the quarter, over the corresponding quarter of the previous year, on the back of economic growth, and the resulting increase in sales. That number marks a slowing from the 22% at which the Sensex companies grew their earnings in the January-March quarter (over the January-March quarter of last year). “We expect 17-18% growth in aggregate earnings of Sensex companies,” said Raamdeo Agrawal, joint managing director of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. Thirty stocks constitute the Sensex, India’s bellwether equity index. Earnings growth is easing, said a 25 June note of Citigroup Global Markets, estimating that Sensex companies (excluding oil firms) will report a profit growth of 16.2%. Profits for 3,867 listed companies grew 15% in the previous quarter, ending March, over the year-ago period. The Sensex companies’ 22% rise in net profit in that quarter was a nine-quarter high while their revenue grew 35%, the best in at least 20 quarters. Just as in the previous two quarters, automobile firms and information technology companies are likely to lead growth. In the quarter ended March, Hero Honda Motors Ltd posted a 49% gain in profits while Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s profits grew by 170%. Stronger domestic consumption also means that consumer goods companies are expected to perform relatively well, said analysts. The oil and gas sector, which is subjected to crude price volatility, and the telecom sector, where companies are facing a bruising price war, are the sectors likely to receive earnings downgrades, said Motilal Oswal’s Agrawal. In the last quarter, Bharti Airtel Ltd’s profits saw a small rise of 2.6% (over the corresponding quarter of previous year) while rival Reliance Communication Ltd’s net profit dropped 77%. Revenue growth, helped by inflationary pressures in some instances, is the likely driver for earnings growth in this quarter, said analysts. “Overall sales growth should remain high—32% ex-oil, and 19% ex-metals, but this is lower than in the previous quarter (and in a more inflationary one),” wrote Aditya Narain and Jitender Tokas of Citi in their report. Though inflation remains a key risk to earnings growth, economic indicators remain strong in the world’s second fastest growing major economy. A more successful than expected telecom spectrum auction and partial deregulation of oil prices is likely to ease the government’s fiscal deficit. Manufacturing, too, has put up a strong show in recent months with factory output registering a 17.6% rise (over the corresponding month last year) in April. “Sales growth should be better this quarter, but margins might be affected because the advantage of low-cost inventory (raw materials), which was available in the December and March quarters would not have been available this time around”, said Deepak Jasani, head of research at HDFC Securities Ltd. “A rise in prices in the last quarter could have a lagged impact this quarter,” he added. Prices of key industrial inputs such as steel, aluminium and rubber have increased in the last fiscal year, although they softened in the quarter ended June due to the turmoil in Europe and fears of overheating in China, the largest consumer of many commodities. Indeed, analysts are divided on the impact of volatile commodity prices with most companies tying up supplies using forward contracts as a hedge against volatility. Both R. Sreesankar, head of research at Tata Securities Ltd and Harindra Kumar, head of institutional broking and global research at Elara Capital Plc said that companies would have taken advantage of the softer raw material prices in the quarter. The former estimates earnings to grow at least 20% this quarter. Still, there are unlikely to be major earnings upgrades in the quarter that will boost market, momentum. This could be a major let-down for the market which had expected some sort of fillip from the earnings season. Despite foreign institutional investors buying some $6.3 billion (Rs29,421 crore) worth of Indian stocks this year, the Sensex has traded in the range of 15,790.93 to 17,970.02 this year. “I see no major upgrades in earnings from any of the large sectors post the current quarter,” said Girish Pai, head of research at Centrum Capital Ltd. “We are cautious on the markets and have been so for a while, largely based on the view that the growth we have seen in the past few quarters has been driven by fiscal and monetary stimulus both in India as well as globally,” he added. Conversely, in an environment of global uncertainty replete with Europe’s debt woes and some overheating in the Chinese economy, a lower than expected earnings might cause the equities market to react adversely. The Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy tightening will also have an adverse impact on the equity market. The central bank has raised its key policy rates by a quarter percentage point thrice this year, and may go for another increase in end-July to fight the rising inflation. While the market might have already priced in the positive steps towards fiscal consolidation, it might not have factored in the slowing in earnings growth, wrote Clive McDonnel, Ryan Tsai and Gautam Mehta in a 21 June note from BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking, downgrading India to underweight. The report notes that the earnings revision index, which had peaked at 1.6 in October 2009, has come down to 0.2 in May and “is at risk of turning negative”. This means that while there were 2.6 companies receiving earnings upgrades for every company receiving a downgrade earlier, that number has slipped to 1.2 by May and is expected to decline further. Still, adjusting for currency fluctuations, India has performed better than most other major markets, gaining 2.5% since January. In comparison, China fell 21.5% while the US fell 2%. Ashwin Ramarathinam contributed to this story. pramit.b@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 12:34 pm RNRL, R-Power agree to mergeMumbai: Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL), the gas trading arm of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-Adag) will be merged with Reliance Power Ltd (R-Power), with shareholders of the former receiving one share of R-Power for every four shares of RNRL. At the current market value of the two companies, the merged entity could have a market capitalization of at least Rs50,000 crore, though this depends on how the market reacts to the news on Monday. The boards of RNRL and R-Power met on Sunday to approve a scheme of amalgamation. According to a statement issued by R-Adag immediately after the board meeting, the 4:1 swap ratio was based on independent valuations of both companies done by audit and consulting firm, KMPG.  Graphic: Ahmed Raza Khan/Mint The merger will expand the equity base of R-Power by 14.6% and reduce the holding of the promoters in the company by 4.36 percentage points to 80.42%. The dilution in promoters’ equity in R-Power implies that the promoter group led by Anil Ambani need to offload only half of what it needed to before the merger to meet the new listing guidelines issued by stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India. The regulator has mandated that public shareholding in any listed company should not be below 25%. “The dilution in equity would be compensated by the value that RNRL brings into the company,” a R-Adag official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. News of the merger has been in the air for some time and on Friday, R-Adag told the Bombay Stock Exchange that the matter was on the agenda for a Sunday meeting of the boards of the two companies. On the same day, shares of R-Power closed at Rs175.15 each and those of RNRL at Rs63.65 apiece. At these levels, RNRL and R-Power had market capitalizations of Rs10,394 crore of Rs41,979 crore, respectively. Analysts say that the swap ratio may lead to a downside in RNRL’s stocks when trade opens on Monday. “The current share swap ratio does not give any benefit to RNRL shareholders. If the share price of R-Power does not move beyond Rs175, RNRL’s market capitalization could see an erosion of Rs3,200 crore,” said Rupesh Sankhe, power sector analyst at Angel Broking Ltd. Sankhe’s views were echoed by V.K. Sharma, head of private broking and wealth management, HDFC Securities Ltd who said that he expected RNRL’s shares to fall by around Rs20 when trading opens on Monday. “However, the merger was necessary as the government’s gas utilization policy had made it clear that a gas trading company would not be favoured while allocating gas, and the entity receiving the gas should have power generation capacities, which R-Power has,” Sharma added. The merger will help R-Power’s net worth improve by Rs1,900 crore to at least Rs16,000 crore. The R-Adag statement also added that R-Power is likely to benefit from RNRL’s equity interests in four coal bed methane blocks and an oil and gas block in Mizoram, though Sankhe said that the benefit would be only marginal. The proposed amalgamation would facilitate the accelerated implementation of R-Power’s plans for setting up at least 8,000MW of gas-based power generation capacity with gas coming into the company through RNRL’s gas supply master agreement with RIL, the statement added. The R-Adag official quoted earlier said that R-Power might not have to sign a new agreement with RIL, as the benefits of the agreement signed by RNRL is likely to flow naturally to the company. The proposed merger is widely seen as a result of a Supreme Court ruling passed on 7 May that overruled a family agreement between the Ambani brothers giving RNRL access to gas from RIL’s KG basin at lower price than what was subsequently fixed by the government. The two companies subsequently revised the agreement and submitted it to the Bombay high court for approval on 30 June. aveek.d@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Jul 2010 | 12:06 pm Coffee chains to spread the brew’s aromaIndia’s per capita coffee consumption, at a nascent 75-80 gm stage, is set to see a push from coffee retail chains that are looking at rapid expansion in the face of 35-40 per cent annual growth.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:45 am Low price, high impactWhen you are the 14th entrant in a fast growing but highly competitive product or service category, how do you stand out? Or when you are almost the last to introduce a new product or service that competition is already pushing hard, what can you do differently?Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Jul 2010 | 10:43 am Get more out of your free Google accountSo you have a Google account? While the search engine and the free Gmail account by now are common, the Internet giant also offers picture sharing through Picasa, blogging through Blogger, videos through YouTube and social networking through Orkut. But that is not what I want to focus on today.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Jul 2010 | 9:58 am US, BP assess oil spill effectThe Obama administration and BP are working hand-in-hand to assess how badly the oil spill has harmed the Gulf of Mexico and how much it will cost to restore the Gulf to its pre-spill state.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Jul 2010 | 9:54 am India tea exports rise over 14.5 pct in MayIndia's tea exports rose by more than 14.5 per cent to 11.20 million kgs in May, while production also rose by 1.7 per cent to 72.63 million kgs, data from the Tea Board showed on Friday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Jul 2010 | 9:52 am Market bubbles go back farThe advertisement warns of speculative financial bubbles. It mocks a group of gullible Frenchmen seduced into a silly, 18th-century investment scheme, noting that the modern shareholder, armed with information, can avoid the pitfalls of the past.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Jul 2010 | 9:50 am Nutraceutical product sales gain on swine flu scareThe rise in swine flu cases has given the nutraceutical sector segment a reason to cheer. Nutraceuticals include food products that provide health and medical benefits such as dietary supplements.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Jul 2010 | 9:48 am
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