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RPG Life plans Rs 600 million capex for new bizRPG Life Sciences plans to invest about Rs 60 over three years to enter specialised oncology and psychiatry drug segments, its top official said late on Monday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jul 2010 | 8:23 am RIL eyeing third shale gas deal in North AmericaRIL is said to pursuing a third shale gas deal in North America, which is pegged bigger than its earlier buys of Atlas and Pioneer, sources told CNBCTV18. Reliance had picked up 40% in Atlas Energy\'s shale asset for USD 1.7 billion and acquired 45% in Pioneer\'s Eagleford asset for USD 1.3 billion.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jul 2010 | 8:22 am NTPC to retender nine boiler units of 800 MW eachIn an interview with CNBCTV18, RS Sharma, Chairman and MD, NTPC, spoke about the latest happenings in his company and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jul 2010 | 7:10 am MM may buy Kirloskar Oil stake in Swaraj Engines: SourcesAuto major Mahindra Mahindra may buy Kirloskar Oil stake in Swaraj Engines, reports CNBCTV18, quoting sources. Swaraj Engines will become a holding company for engine business of MM post this stake buy.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jul 2010 | 6:23 am TVS Motor looking to buy LML\'s assets: SourcesTVS Motor Company is looking to buy the assets of LML India, a leading scooter manufacturer, reports CNBCTV18, quoting sources.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jul 2010 | 6:14 am Sore points for Infosys in coming quarterseurope remains the biggest worrycentre at this point for Infosys. This geography reported volumes that were lower sequentially even in constant currency.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jul 2010 | 5:17 am Inflation to dampen by Dec - official - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jul 2010 | 3:58 am Change in ULIP regulation brings cheer - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jul 2010 | 3:57 am Geojit BNP Paribas adds 15105 clients in Jun qtr - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jul 2010 | 3:57 am Markets choppy post Infosys Q1 results - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jul 2010 | 3:52 am Liquidity will be comfortable by July end: SBI Chief - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jul 2010 | 3:43 am BMW raises 2010 outlook as auto markets recoverFRANKFURT (Reuters) - BMW raised its 2010 pretax profit and sales outlook, citing improving conditions on international automotive markets.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jul 2010 | 3:35 am IEA forecasts slower oil demand growth in 2011LONDON (Reuters) - Global oil demand growth will slow next year, leaving the market with comfortable supplies until at least the middle of next year, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly Oil Market Report on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jul 2010 | 3:27 am IMF chief sees little risk of double-dip recessionDAEJEON, South Korea (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund's chief reiterated on Tuesday that strong growth in Asia and Latin America made it unlikely that the global economy would suffer a double-dip recession.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jul 2010 | 3:26 am BP oil spill: testing begins after installation of new containment cap - The Guardian
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jul 2010 | 3:20 am Nifty hits 5400 on RIL support; financials, infra gain - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jul 2010 | 3:06 am Moody's cuts Portugal, sees more austerity in 2011LISBON (Reuters) - Moody's Investor Service cut Portugal's debt rating by two notches to A1 on Tuesday citing rising debt and weak growth prospects, and said the country may need to come up with more austerity measures in its 2011 budget.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:57 am BP divestment talks on several assets "going well"LONDON (Reuters) - BP, which unveiled plans last month for about $10 billion in asset sales to help pay for costs from the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, said talks on the divestments were making progress.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:55 am World equities drifted lower; euro dips on Portugal downgradeLONDON (Reuters) - The euro fell on Tuesday after a two-notch downgrade of Portugal's sovereign debt rating and ahead of Greece's return to capital markets for the first time since late April.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:48 am Posco Q2 profit near 2-year high; slow H2 seenSeoul: Posco, the world’s No.3 steelmaker, posted its best quarterly profit in nearly two years thanks to solid demand from automakers, but higher costs and oversupply could weigh on second-half earnings. Posco, which kicks off April-June earnings reporting by major Asian mills, faces rising raw material costs and its failure to fully pass on soaring input costs to customers will slow profit growth, as China’s monetary tightening and Europe’s fiscal crisis weaken demand. The firm raised on Tuesday its 2010 sales target by 5% to 33.5 trillion won ($27.8 billion) to reflect two price hikes amounting to 32% so far this year, but expected operating profit at 5.6 trillion won, suggesting second-half profit would tumble by 30% from the first half. “As long as Posco reflects raw material price growth in a timely way through product price hikes, we think their earnings in the second half will not disappoint,” said Oh Seong-jin, head of research at Hyundai Securities. Posco earned 1.84 trillion won ($1.53 billion) in second-quarter operating profit, higher than a consensus forecast of 1.73 trillion won polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The profit jumped 11 fold from last year’s 170 billion won and marks the best result since it recorded a 1.98 trillion won profit in the September quarter of 2008. Second-quarter sales at Posco, which overtook Nippon Steel last year to rank just behind ArcelorMittal, and Baosteel , were 7.93 trillion won, versus a forecast 8.08 trillion won. Shares of Posco have lost around 20% so far this year amid increased earnings volatility, as global steel firms shift to a quarterly pricing plan of raw materials from the previous annually fixed scheme. Posco, Asia’s most valuable steelmaker by market value, counts billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway as a top shareholder. Prior to the result, Posco shares closed down 0.2%, versus a 0.06% rise in the wider market. Posco, which earns 70% of its revenue in Korea, raised domestic prices of benchmark steel products by only 6% from July, far lagging a more than 20% rise in raw material costs expected this quarter. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:47 am Govt sets up small savings fund panelMUMBAI (Reuters) - The government has set up a committee headed by Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Shyamala Gopinath to review the structure of National Small Savings Fund (NSSF), it said in a release on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:45 am RBI should adjust policy marginally - AhluwaliaNEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Reserve Bank of India should marginally adjust its monetary policy, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, told reporters on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:42 am Rupee weakens tracking local stocks, dollar gainsMumbai: The Indian rupee eased on Tuesday in line with a fall in local equities and the dollar’s strength versus the euro overseas underpinning sentiment. At 1.55pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.89/90 per dollar, weaker than Monday’s closing of Rs46.77/78 per dollar. It touched an intraday low of Rs46.95. The benchmark BSE share index was down about 0.2%, led by technology stocks, as investors ignored a guidance upgrade by Infosys Technologies and concentrated on a rare drop in its June quarter earnings. Infosys said on Tuesday its net profit in the June quarter fell to Rs1490 crore ($318 million) from Rs1,530 crore a year ago. The dollar’s rise against the euro also hit sentiment. The euro fell broadly on Tuesday after ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Portugal, exacerbating concerns over peripheral euro zone debt ahead of a Greek T-Bill auction. Moody’s cut Portugal’s debt rating by two notches to A1 with a stable outlook, saying the government’s financial strength was likely to weaken over the near-term. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at Rs47.05, 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 Rs47.0, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $2 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:34 am The World's Most Beautiful CarsLooks aren't everything. Given a rainy day on a pock-marked street, even a luxury roadster will look and feel less than stellar. But when it comes to attracting attention on a showroom floor, appearance does matter--a lot. Take, for instance, the case of Jaguar's new XJ sedan.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:21 am The World's Most Expensive BikesForget the Tour de France. Some of the priciest two-wheeled masterpieces are found off the race course."It's not about the bike," according to the title of Lance Armstrong's autobiography. Except, perhaps, when the bike costs half a million dollars. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:15 am Fast Retailing says to set up JV with Grameen BankJapan\'s Fast Retailing, the operator of the Uniqlo casualclothing chain, said on Tuesday it would set up a joint venture with Bangladeshi microfinance specialist Grameen Bank.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:10 am M&M special board to decide on SsangYong bid on ThursdayNew Delhi: Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra is understood to have convened a special meeting of its board on 15 July to decide its future course of action regarding acquisition of beleaguered South Korean firm SsangYong Motor. SsangYong Motor (SM), which is mainly into manufacturing of sports utility vehicles (SUV) and recreational vehicles (RV), has shortlisted six bidders, including Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), P K Ruia-led Ruia Group and a Nissan-led consortium, to carry out due diligence by 20 July. According to industry sources, homegrown M&M has convened a special meeting of its board of directors to consider the acquisition of the bankrupt SsangYong Motor. “The special board meeting has been called only to discuss on the bid for SsangYong, whether to go ahead with it, and if so then what should be the amount,” a person in the know of the development said. When contacted, an M&M spokesperson said: “We are undertaking the due diligence on SsangYong currently and will take a decision to bid at an appropriate time.” Last week M&M President (Automotive and Farm Equipment) Pawan Goenka had said that the company would take a final call on bidding the South Korean firm before 20 July deadline. “We are still doing the due diligence. We will decide before the 20 July deadline whether we should go ahead or not, and if we have to go ahead, how much should we bid for,” he had said. SM, which has SUV models like ‘Rexton’, ‘Kyron’ and ‘Actyon’ and sedan ‘Chairman´, has been estimated to be worth up to $500 million. It is undergoing a court-led restructuring from 2009 after suffering heavily due to the downturn in auto industry. Industry analysts had said M&M is interested in SM as the homegrown utility vehicle major can gain technological benefits from the range of SUVs that the South Korean firm has at its disposal. In 2008, M&M had lost out to Tata Motors in the bid to acquire the British marque Jaguar Land Rover from Ford. Meanwhile, the other Indian entity interested to acquire SM, the P K Ruia group, had sought more time to complete the due diligence. The Kolkata-based group had said a special purpose vehicle, including Dunlop India and Falcon Tyres, would be formed if it were to go ahead to bid for the automaker. China’s SAIC Motor Corp owns 10% in the troubled automaker and about 70% is held by creditors, led by state-owned Korea Development Bank. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:09 am Indians more interested in social networking than market trading - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jul 2010 | 2:04 am Gold buying turns weak; rupee weighsMumbai: India gold buying turned weak as traders sought lower prices to execute deals ahead of the festive season, and a weaker rupee also weighed on sentiment, dealers said. “It’s quiet today as there is no much change in prices... traders are unwilling to book new deals,” said a dealer with a state-run bullion dealing bank. International spot gold, which guides the domestic market, was trading $1,198.20/1,198.70 an ounce as against the previous close of $1,194.85/1,198.85 an ounce. “I have advance orders and all of them are below $1,190,” said another dealer with a private bank. Indian rupee weakened tracking a fall in domestic shares and Asian currencies and may fall further on negative sentiment in local and Asian shares. A weaker rupee makes the dollar-denominated yellow metal expensive. Traders have been stocking up the yellow metal for the upcoming festivals, when demand for bullion goes up. India, which accounts for more than 20% of global demand, will celebrate the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan on 24 August, and Janmasthami and Ganesh Chaturthi in September. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jul 2010 | 1:45 am Rupee falls tracking weak local shares - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jul 2010 | 1:27 am Infosys Q1 disappoints, Europe woes dampen outlookBangalore: Infosys Technologies’ improved sales outlook on a revival in outsourcing demand failed to cheer investors as a weak European economy curbed new orders. The company, a trendsetter in India’s $60 billion IT services sector, added 1,026 staff in April-June, its slowest pace of addition in four quarters-- indicating a nascent recovery in the sector may be bumpy. “There are still concerns lingering over Europe’s debts and if the economy there is weak, consumption should be weak too,” said Huey Yang, a fund manager with HSBC in Taipei. India’s No. 2 Indian outsourcer reported a surprise 2.6% drop in April-June profit and its sales contribution from Europe fell to about 20 percent from nearly 25% a year ago and 23 percent in January-March. The lower-than-expected quarterly profit and hiring triggered concerns of a slowdown in growth, sending its shares down as much as 3.3 percent in a flat market. Trading volume in the stock was nearly 5 times the daily average over the past 30 days. The stock hit a record high on Monday. Infosys, known for its conservative outlook, has raised its full-year revenue growth forecast in dollar terms in the last three consecutive quarters. “Europe is very important for us. We expect that Europe will be eventually about one-third of business in the long run. At the same time, we expect some challenges in the medium term,” S.D. Shibulal, Infosys’ chief operating officer said in a statement. Infosys and local rivals Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro have raised salaries by 10 to 20 percent on average to keep staff from being poached by global rivals in a strong market. Infosys, which counts Goldman Sachs, BT Group and BP among its more than 550 customers, forecast its 2010/11 dollar revenue to rise 19% to 21%, higher than 16-18 percent projected in April. “We see caution all around but mostly in Europe. The US clients have started spending. We are seeing traction in multiple segments,” Shibulal told reporters. Infosys, founded in 1981 with $250 borrowed from the spouses of their seven founders, and local competitors have been targeting Europe and Asia Pacific after a slowdown in the United States badly hit sales in their biggest market. Bangalore-based Infosys forecast full-year profit margins would drop 150 basis points on a decline in prices for its services and salary increases. The company raised its annual hiring forecast to 36,000 from 30,000 outlined in April and versus 27,639 staff hired last year. “While the global economic environment remains uncertain, we continue to see greater demand for services from our clients,” said Infosys chief executive S. Gopalakrishnan. “The challenge for the industry is to enhance the investment to grow the business, given the uncertainty in the environment.” In a report this month research firm Forrester said Europe’s volatile economic situation and uncertainty about corporate IT budgets would result in possible delays or cancellations of some outsourcing projects. “Despite what has been talked about globally, about euro and other regions, and the slowdown, I think clearly from our uptake perspective on the IT services, Infosys is very confident about growth and the overall industry is also very confident about growth,” said Nitin jain, principal investment manager at Kotak Mahindra in Singapore, which owns Infosys shares. Competition from IBM, Accenture and Hewlett-Packard also poses a risk to the sector, which manages complex computer networks and maintains technology operations for Fortune 500 customers. “The numbers are really bad at operating levels, they are 40-50 basis points down than what we had expected,” said Shradha Agarwal, analyst at Batlivala & Karnani Securities in Mumbai. “The numbers would not see a significant upgrade from these levels.” Infosys, known for its conservative outlook, has raised its full-year revenue growth forecast in dollar terms in the last three consecutive quarters. The company expects earnings per American depositary share to rise 5.2% to 9.6% for the year, up from its previous forecast of 4.3% to 8.6%. Nasdaq-listed Infosys said net profit in its fiscal first quarter ended 30 June fell to Rs1,490 crore ($318 million) from 15.3 billion rupees a year ago. A Reuters poll of brokerages had forecast a profit of Rs1,556 crore. Infosys reported under the International Financial Reporting Standards for the second successive quarter. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jul 2010 | 1:27 am Infosys Q1 disappoints, Europe woes dampen outlookBANGALORE (Reuters) - Infosys Technologies' improved sales outlook on a revival in outsourcing demand failed to cheer investors as a weak European economy curbed new orders.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Jul 2010 | 1:23 am Facebook fights New Yorker's claim of 84% stakeIn a civil lawsuit filed, Paul Ceglia said he signed a contract with Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2003 to develop and design a website.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:41 am Nissan may halt US, Mexico productionNissan Motor said today it might suspend production in the United States and Mexico due to a delay in the delivery of engine control units, after announcing it would interrupt output in Japan.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:39 am 'Naxal attack may have hit NMDC unit' - Hindustan Times
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:33 am Japan PM eyes policy tie-up with oppositionTokyo: Japan’s prime minister will seek cooperation with two swing-vote opposition parties on a policy-by-policy basis, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, as he faces political deadlock that could harm Japan’s credit rating. Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s ruling coalition suffered a major blow in Sunday’s upper house election, putting his policies to deal with the country’s massive debt at risk and prompting a warning by credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s that it could cut Japan’s sovereign ratings. Kan’s Democratic Party still control the powerful lower house. But it needs help from other parties to push bills through the upper chamber as they struggle to end decades of stagnation in the world’s No.2 economy and curb debt. Kan, who took over from his unpopular predecessor just last month, said early on Monday that the Democrats would ask opposition parties to cooperate on a policy-by-policy basis rather than invite them into a formal coalition right away. The Yomiuri newspaper, without citing sources, said on Tuesday the premier told people close to him that he would seek such cooperation from the New Komeito and pro-reform Your Party, and keep in mind the future option of seeking a formal coalition. The Buddhist-backed New Komeito, Japan’s third largest party, backs policies to fix the country’s social security system and social safety net. The party could agree to the DPJ’s proposal to discuss a possible rise in the 5 percent sales tax as long as the government first tackles the social security system. The tiny Your Party, which won 10 seats in Sunday’s poll, could cooperate with the DPJ on policies such as overhauling the country’s bureaucratic system or getting the Bank of Japan to do more to defeat deflation. Rocky road ahead But Kan is expected to face a tough road ahead as those two parties have rejected the idea of joining the government, opening the door to a period of political manoeuvring and likely policy paralysis. The parliamentary deadlock makes it difficult for the government to address key issues confronting Japan — such as tax reform including a higher sales tax to plug revenue gaps and a lower corporate tax to boost competitiveness, reform of the creaking pension and healthcare systems and crafting a growth strategy to end two decades of stagnation. Bills at risk in an extra parliament session expected in autumn include one to scale back postal privatisation, sought by Kan’s current small coalition partner, the People’s New Party, but opposed by the Your Party. Without a coalition upper house majority, it looks almost impossible for the legislation to be enacted any time soon. In a sign of a possible delay in promoting steps to fix the tattered state finances, the ruling party’s No.2, Yukio Edano, said on Monday that the Democrats would map out the size of a future sales tax at a pace that allows it to try and gain public support for the measures, rather than strictly sticking to a planned deadline of the end of March 2011. Many accept a sales tax rise is needed, with public debt about twice the size of the $5 trillion economy. But the election defeat suggested the DPJ did not convince voters it had a clear plan to cure Japan’s economic ills with the painful tax hike. Kan now faces a possible challenge from party critics including powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa — a critic of his sales tax hike proposal — ahead of a September party leadership vote. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:20 am Sensex recedes after hitting 18,000The Sensex crossed the 18,000-mark on Monday for the first time in three months and the Nifty touched a 52-week high as FIIs pumped money into Indian stocks. But the indices pared some of their gains later as Index of Industrial ProductionSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am RBI concerned over ULIP OrdinanceThe Reserve Bank of India has expressed certain reservations on the Government's recent ordinance with regard to regulatory jurisdiction on hybridSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideThe near-term view remains positive as long as DLF trades above Rs 297 levels. We recommend a buy with stiff stop at Rs 297Source: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Cartosat-2B will beam extensive land dataThe country's satellite imaging system got new eyes as ISRO lofted into the orbit its latest high-resolution spacecraft, Cartosat-2B, from Sriharikota spacepad on MondaySource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Cement firms in South see tough year aheadCement manufacturers in the South — the largest market in the country — are bracing for a tough year ahead, given the huge capacity that has gone on stream, more capacity additions planned and the fallingSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Kharif sowing picks up as monsoon intensifiesThe monsoon's general revival over the past 10 days or so has spurred kharif sowing in most States, barring Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which have received deficientSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am June quarter sees intense churning by FIIsForeign institutional investors (FIIs) have actively churned their holdings in Indian companies in the quarter ended June 30,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am At 11.5%, May industrial growth hits 7-month lowIndustrial production registered a year-on-year growth of 11.5 per cent in May — the lowest in seven months and below the 16.5 per cent forSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Finolex Industries (Rs 89): BuyInvestors with short-term trading perspective can consider buying the stock of Finolex Industries. It is evident from the charts of the stock that it is in uptrend in all time frames — long-, medium- and short-term. After taking supportSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am BPOs not really sweatshops, finds ILO studyContrary to labels that typecast business process outsourcing (BPO) jobs as ‘electronic sweatshops', a new book on the working conditions in the offshoring industry finds that in India, at least, they offer good qualitySource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Markets drag as Infosys disappointsMumbai: Indian shares were trading 0.1% lower on Tuesday, led by technology stocks, as investors ignored a guidance upgrade by Infosys Technologies and concentrated on a rare drop in its June quarter earnings. Weak Asian shares also added to the negative sentiment, led by Chinese stocks which fell 2% on reports Beijing will not ease tougher property measures any time soon. Shares in Infosys, which scaled new peaks in the last two sessions, were down 3.1%, after it said net profit in the June quarter fell to Rs1,490 crore ($318 million) from 15.3 billion rupees a year ago. “People will now adjust their expectations for other IT majors like TCS and Wipro,” said Tejas Doshi, head of research at Sushil Finance. “The share prices of IT companies had run up on a lot of expectations ... probably more than what was warranted.” By 11:14am, the 30-share BSE Index was trading down 0.12% at 17,915.33 points with 13 of its components declining. The benchmark which had rallied 81% in 2009, is up 2.6% so far in 2010. Investors will watch out corporate earnings for April-June for cues in the near term. “We expect a 22% to 25% growth in earnings for Sensex companies for the June quarter,” said Deven Choksey, managing director and CEO of KR Choksey Shares. “The direction for guidance is also likely to be positive.” Foreign funds have invested $7.1 billion in Indian equities so far in 2010, after a record inflow of $17.5 billion in 2009. Other software majors Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro were down 2.4% and 1.7% respectively. Leading mobile operators Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications dragged lower on continued concerns of margin erosion due to lower tariffs and growing competition. The stocks were down 1.7% and 1% respectively. Lenders continued to gain on expectations of better loan demand as the economy grows. Late last week, Trade Minister Anand Sharma told Reuters India’s gross domestic product growth is expected to return to “9% plus” this year, led by strong corporate performance and rising savings levels. Top lender State Bank of India was up nearly 1% while private sector rivals ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank rose 0.5% each. Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp climbed 1.7%. In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers in a ratio of 1.4:1 in a volume of 130 million shares. The 50-share NSE index was down 0.1% at 5,377.20 points. STOCKS CMC, which offers customer services like IT solutions and system integration, was up 2.4% at 1,520.05 rupees as it reported late Monday its June-quarter consolidated net profit was Rs464.5 million. Unichem Laboratories rose 2.3% to Rs480 after the drugmaker said on Monday said it will consider a stock split at its board meeting scheduled on 22 July. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:50 pm Infosys Q1 disappoints, Europe woes dampen outlookThe company, a trendsetter in the country's showpiece IT services sector, added 1,026 staff in April-June, its slowest pace of addition in four quarters.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:36 pm Monsoon’s revival spurs crop sowingNew Delhi: Revived monsoon rains in India accelerated the planting of rice, oilseeds and cotton last week, increasing the prospects of a strong harvest that should help calm soaring food prices. The area under rice cultivation jumped 56% to 7.2 million hectares on 9 July while cotton planting rose by half, during the week, compared with the previous week, as monsoon rains were 2% above normal, ending a two-week dry spell since 18 June, agriculture ministry data showed on Monday. Monsoon rains have been slightly below normal in the past two to three days but traders said heavy rainfall in the previous week had softened the soil, helping farmers plant crops. Rainfall was 16% below average in June, then the shortfall narrowed to 10% last week. While total rainfall since 1 June is now 13% below normal, key crop areas such as rice-growing Punjab and Haryana in the north and soybean-growing Madhya Pradesh in central India have received adequate rains. “What’s encouraging is that rainfall is uniformly distributed across the country rather than concentrated in specific areas, which bodes well for crop sowing,” Citigroup said in a report on Monday. Good rainfall leading to higher farm output should help Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government tame high inflation that has triggered widespread street protests including a nationwide general strike. Weather officials expect adequate rain in the coming days. “There will be good rainfall in the next 2-3 days over the cane-growing areas of north India. Rice sowing is at its peak,” L S Rathore, head of the agricultural meteorology division at the weather office, told Reuters. Rainfall in soybean-growing central regions may decline this week, weather officials said. Traders said soybean sowing would continue as widespread rain last week had softened the soil. On Friday, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said the revival in monsoon rains would result in strong farm output, which was badly hit by last year’s driest season in 37 years. The government is also considering levying an import tax on sugar, but is waiting to see how the June-September monsoon rains pan out. Last year’s drought helped turn India into a large sugar importer and this was a key factor that drove New York raw sugar futures to the highest in nearly three decades. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:28 pm Sensex opens 46 points down on dip in Infosys profitEmergence of profit-booking by participants also contributed to the fall in stock prices.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:24 pm Rupee weakens by 24 paise against dollar in early tradeForex dealers said apart from the weak trend on the stock markets, demand for the US currency from importers also kept pressure on the rupee.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:19 pm Offshoring creates good jobs in poor countriesGeneva: Offshoring and outsourcing in services from call centres to accountancy and medicine have created good jobs in terms of pay and working hours in developing countries, according to a study published on Monday. But the International Labour Organization (ILO) study found that improved work practices in the outsourcing industry could reduce excessive rates of staff turnover. The study gives the lie to claims that outsourcing of such work has created “cyber-coolies” or “electronic sweatshops”, said Jon Messenger, an ILO researcher and main editor of the study. “The jobs being created in offshore business services in developing countries are reasonably good quality jobs by local standards in terms of wages and working conditions,” he said. The book looks at outsourcing in the two biggest markets, India and the Philippines, and two growing Latin American centres, Brazil and Argentina. A study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) last year found the global market for information technology-enabled services was about $54 billion in 2008. The industry includes companies such as India’s Infosys Technologies and Wipro. 100% turnover Wages are below those for similar jobs in rich countries — one of the main motives for companies to outsource operations — but average pay in the sector in India is nearly double that in other areas of the formal economy, the ILO study found. In the Philippines they were typically 53% higher. The study found that average weekly hours were 46-47 hours in India and 45 in the Philippines, whereas one fifth of workers in developing countries work more than 50 hours a week. But negative factors such as frequent night work to handle customers’ different time zones, and demanding targets enforced by electronic monitoring resulting in a low level of worker autonomy, led to extremely high levels of staff turnover. Sometimes the turnover rate in the typically young and well-educated workforce could exceed 100% a year, and rates of 30-40% are not unusual. “A few key changes in policies and practices could actually make these good jobs even better while simultaneously helping to reduce staff turnover which would benefit businesses,” Messenger told a briefing. These could include steps to improve health and safety for night workers, such as regular check-ups, and more flexibility for workers to organise their time and to meet targets. Naj Ghosheh, an ILO researcher and the other editor of the book, said governments would want the industries to develop and innovate to move up the value chain rather than simply replicating imported processes. They would also want to retain skilled workers at home rather than encouraging them to emigrate. The industry is highly influenced by language skills, with India and the Philippines serving English-speaking countries, Argentina serving Spain and Mexico building up operations to serve Spanish-speakers in the United States. Africa is relatively underdeveloped although Nigeria’s computer-literate population gives it potential. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:18 pm Cadbury does not accept 30% premium for share priceCadbury is planning to buy back 2.5 per cent stake from its minority shareholders.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:06 pm Infosys net down 2.4 per cent in first quarterInfosys Technologies Ltd registered a net profit of Rs 1,488 crore for the first quarter of this fiscal, a decline of 2.4 per cent from same quarter of last fiscal at Rs 1,525 crore as per the Indian accounting standard.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 10:27 pm BP puts well cap in place; US issues new drilling banNew Orleans / Washington: BP said it had installed a cap meant to halt the flow of oil from its ruptured Gulf of Mexico well on Monday and the Obama administration issued a new moratorium on deepwater oil drilling. The British energy giant said it had installed the 40-ton containment device on the sea floor a mile (1.6 km) beneath the ocean surface and said “the stack completes the installation of the new sealing cap.” BP said it would test the integrity of the well and the ability of the device to completely seal off the flow of oil on Tuesday. If it works, it would mark the first time since the well blow-out on April 20 that BP has managed to halt the leak, if only temporarily. But BP said success was not certain. “The sealing cap system never before has been deployed at these depths or under these conditions, and its efficiency and ability to contain the oil and gas cannot be assured,” it said in a statement. Depending on tests of the device, BP will either keep it closed entirely or use it to resume siphoning oil to ships on the surface. If it works effectively, the cap should either hold all the oil in or allow it to be safely captured and funneled to the surface. BP said it will permanently block the oil flow in August with a relief well being drilled deep beneath the seabed which will intercept the original well and plug it. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar unveiled the new deepwater drilling moratorium, worded differently from an earlier drilling ban after a US appeals court struck down the original moratorium last week. Shares in BP surged and sources said the British energy giant is in talks with US energy concern Apache Corp and others to sell assets worth up to $10 billion. Announcing the new moratorium, Salazar said: “I am basing my decision on evidence that grows every day of the industry’s inability in the deepwater to contain a catastrophic blowout, respond to an oil spill and to operate safely.” The new ban will extend until 30 November and affects the same drill rigs as before, although it is based on types of drilling technologies rather than on water depths as the old one was. President Barack Obama is under pressure to make offshore drilling safer and hold BP accountable as the spill hurts multibillion dollar tourism and fishing industries across all five states along the Gulf of Mexico. The oil industry reacted to the new drilling ban by saying it would make matters worse. “It is unnecessary and shortsighted to shut down a major part of the nation’s energy lifeline while working to enhance offshore safety,” said American Petroleum Institute CEO Jack Gerard. “It places the jobs of tens of thousands of workers in serious and immediate jeopardy and promises a substantial reduction in domestic energy production.” The White House was confident the new moratorium would stand up in court, spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Lengthy legal battles Analysts said the oil industry was likely to contest the new ban in court, but drilling was not expected to resume any time soon given the prospect of lengthy legal battles. Fear of new rules and regulations has already led many drillers to slow their exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, and some energy analysts have said the hesitation could last longer than six months. In New Orleans, Obama’s independent oil spill commission held its first hearings on the impacts of the spill and of the drilling ban. Michael Hecht, of the development agency Greater New Orleans Inc, told the hearing a drilling freeze threatened 24,000 jobs in Louisiana alone. The panel of seven engineers, environmentalists and former politicians is investigating decisions by oil companies and government regulators that may have led to the disaster. Its findings will be crucial to any new regulations put in place and an eventual relaxation of the drilling ban. BP shares surged more than 9% in London and nearly 8% in New York on Monday, driven by potential asset sales and hopes for a new system to capture almost all the oil. “It’s probably worth more than what it’s trading for right now if they can ever get this well capped and get the clean-up effort really going,” said Ted Parrish, a co-portfolio manager at Henssler Equity Fund in Georgia. The asset sale talks are at an exploratory stage and it was uncertain whether any plans would be advanced enough to be disclosed before BP announces second-quarter earnings this month. BP owns a 26% stake in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, the largest oilfield in North America and one of the 20 largest ever discovered. BP and Apache declined to comment on reports of the talks. BP, which said the cost of the spill was now about $3.5 billion, expects its first relief well to reach the blown-out well late this month, a first step in finally plugging the gusher by the first half of August as planned. As several previous attempts to contain the oil have failed, BP is preparing a backup if the relief wells do not succeed. BP said it could install a new permanent oil-capture system by late August or early September. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 10:23 pm China stocks slide on property, weigh on AsiaHong Kong: Chinese stocks fell 2% on Tuesday on reports that Beijing will not relax tougher property measures any time soon, weighing on the Australian dollar and curbing early gains in Asian shares. China’s banking regulator left few doubts that efforts to rein in real estate speculation will remain in place despite media reports of easing restrictions in some cities. That touched a nerve among investors, who are already sensitive to how much China’s economy is slowing. Alcoa, the largest US aluminum producer, lifted its outlook for global consumption of the metal and posted surprisingly strong quarterly results, lending Asian markets some initial support. But the focus soon turned squarely to volatility in China’s stock markets. The Shanghai composite index fell 2%, bringing year-to-date losses to 25%, the poorest performing equity market in Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was nearly unchanged on the day, with strength in financial stocks offset by weakness in utilities and energy shares. Japan’s Nikkei share average fell 0.4%, surrendering early gains. It has had difficulty rising above its 25-day moving average, a technical gauge used by domestic investors. Many investors were anticipating earnings forecasts to be revised downward given expectations for slowing economic activity in the United States and China. The US results season officially starting on Monday, with the focus now on quarterly reports from JPMorgan on Thursday and General Electric on Friday. “Although there’s a sense of selling fatigue, investor sentiment is still bearish, and the market is looking for a catalyst. Corporate earnings could be one,” said Naoki Koga, a senior fund manager at Toyota Asset Management in Tokyo. Despite the reversal in major Asian bourses, Southeast Asia remains a bright spot among the region’s equity markets. Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand were No 2, 3 and 4 in terms of performance so far this year. The benchmark index for the Philippines was at the highest in 2-years, while Thai stocks were just below a 2-year high hit on Monday. A greater reliance on intra-Asian trade and attractive valuations have been largely behind the outperformance of Southeast Asia. In currency markets, caution was key. The Australian dollar and Korean won, two of the usual targets of risk tolerant investors looking for higher returns, were down on the day and institutional investors maintained a cautious approach. “The way they are positioned, there is still a feeling that a a double-dip recession could happen,” said Jonathan Cavenagh, a currency strategist at Westpac, Sydney. “I think they could be in for a major surprise if a majority of US corporate results beat expectations. That should see the US dollar stage a comeback and hence investors are a bit cautious about going too short.” The Australian dollar slid 0.4% to US$0.8735, having stalled in the last three sessions below $0.8800. The US dollar was up 0.5% to 1209.40 won <KRW=>, up 9% since May. The turnaround in Chinese equity markets also weighed on commodities, offsetting Alcoa’s more bullish outlook for global aluminium demand. Three-month copper futures traded on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.3%, resting right on top of the 14-day moving average. US crude futures shed early gains and was down 0.4% at $74.68 a barrel, down 13% since May. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 10:06 pm Wall St ekes out gain as caution rules before resultsNew York: Caution prevailed in the US stock market on Monday, with indexes edging higher as investors kept bets to a minimum in front of earnings. Volume was among the lightest of the year with investors wanting to see if corporate outlooks validate last week’s surge, the strongest week in a year. Dow component Alcoa Inc reported its second-quarter results after the closing bell. Earnings are “going to be the test to the durability of the bounce that started last week,” said Scott Marcouiller, senior equity market strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors in St. Louis. The aluminum producer reported a second-quarter profit as sales rose 22%. Alcoa slipped 0.6% to $10.87 during the session, but jumped 3.9% after the bell. “It was better than expected. We were hoping that Alcoa would have at least numbers that would match expectations, and obviously they did better, and that’s comforting,” said Charles Lieberman, chief investment officer of Advisors Capital Management, LLC in Paramus, New Jersey. “This clearly gives us a good start for tomorrow.” The Dow Jones industrial average added 18.24 points, or 0.18%, to end at 10,216.27. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index edged up just 0.79 of a point, or 0.07%, to 1,078.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.91 points, or 0.09%, to close at 2,198.36. Resource companies’ shares were the biggest drag overall, with the S&P materials index sliding 1.1% after Chinese data over the weekend showed the country’s copper demand dropped. Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc lost 4.2% to $63.22. US-listed shares of BP Plc jumped 8% to $36.76 with the British company in talks with US oil and gas company Apache Corp and others to sell assets worth up to $10 billion. In addition to Alcoa, other Dow components set to report earnings this week include Intel Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and General Electric Co. For the second quarter, analysts see earnings growth of 27% for companies in the S&P 500, according to Thomson Reuters data, up from previous readings in the past three quarters, which hovered around 22%. This would also exceed the 22.4% analysts were predicting at the beginning of the year. The market got some support from M&A activity after Aon Corp said it will buy Hewitt Associates Inc for $4.9 billion to create the world’s largest human resource services company. Hewitt surged 32.2% to $46.79, while Aon sagged 7.1% to $35.62. Also on the upside, Qualcomm Inc climbed 3.5% to $35.10 after Goldman Sachs added the company to its conviction buy list, saying the cellphone chip maker is a key beneficiary of accelerating smartphone growth. About 6.34 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, well below last year’s estimated daily average of 9.65 billion, and making this the second-lowest volume day of the year. Despite the stock indexes’ slim gains for the day, the market’s breadth was decidedly negative. Declining stocks beat advancers by a ratio of almost 2 to 1 on the NYSE, while on the Nasdaq, more than two stocks fell for every one that rose. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 9:12 pm Gifts from specified relatives are tax exemptMy son's school gives me a receipt for only about 80% of the total tuition fee. Does that affect the tax benefit I enjoy on the fee?Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Jul 2010 | 5:07 pm Industry remains in high growth orbitWith a revised figure of 16.5% for April, the cumulative growth during the first two months of the current fiscal stood markedly higher at 14% than 1.6% during the same period of 2009-10.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Jul 2010 | 4:29 pm BGR Energy eyeing Rs 350cr via 56% stake sale: VCCircleChennaibased BGR Energy Systems is looking to raise around Rs 350 crore by diluting 56% stake, reports CNBCTV18 quoting VCCircle. The company it is learnt is in talks with FIIs for fund raising and is exploring stake dilution at a slight premium to the current market price. Edelweiss, it is believed, is advising BGR Energy on the proposed sale.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 4:26 pm Bhushan Steel board OKs 5for1 stock splitSecondary steel maker Bhushan Steel Ltd said on Monday its board has approved a 5for1 stock split.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 4:19 pm Dalal Street braces for Infy's dollar revenue fireworksBut could take margin hit; analysts expect firm to raise FY11 earning guidance.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Jul 2010 | 4:12 pm Well-moulded SintexOn a standalone basis, the textile division posted a 68% jump in operating profit to Rs 11.41 crore, riding on a nearly 30% surge in revenues to Rs 98.68 crore.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Jul 2010 | 4:06 pm Code jockey finds her flow chart in giftingMeet Jyoti Ramnath, the software engineer who made a business of customised gifts.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Jul 2010 | 4:05 pm Tata Tele quits COAITata Services has quit the cellular operators association of india (COAI), expressing disgust over the functioning of the GSM lobby group which is dominated by the incumbent GSM players Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea cellular, reports CNBCTV18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 1:36 pm Nurturing an entrepreneurial streakNew Delhi: Tucked away in the middle of a nondescript village on the Capital’s northern edge, streams of loopy noodles hang loose over steel poles inside a home. Men and women in sky-blue uniforms and tissue-thin disposable masks whisk eggs in buckets and transfer flour into kneading machines. At the entrance, above a basin, a poster guides visitors to scrub hands up to their elbows and shut the tap by elbow when done: “Hand wash is not rocket science, but saves lives.” This miniature noodle factory isn’t easy to find, and just as it’s odd to find men in aprons in the middle of a dusty rural outpost. But the fame of Amdo Food Co. Pvt. Ltd—an enterprise launched by a Tibetan father-son team, Chodak Bhutia and Tenzing Wangchuk—and of its air-dried noodles is spreading swiftly among the 130,000-strong community of Tibetan exiles. Small consignments even travel to Europe, as a band of loyal customers there place orders and reorders. Amdo’s venture is not big, by any measure: The 1,000 sq. m unit is an extension of a home in Punjab Khore, a rustic conclave within the city’s urban sprawl. It produces only around 800kg of five different kinds of noodles every day, more than half of which is retailed in select stores and hotels around Delhi and Jaipur. It employs just 15 people. And as many small businesses are run, father Bhutia controls production, and son Wangchuk handles marketing. But for all its modesty, this nine-year-old venture inspires as much as represents a new kind of dynamism within the Tibetan community, and a new willingness to take part in India’s growing economic opportunities. Tibetans in India have primarily depended on the sales of traditional handicrafts such as carpets and incense sticks for income. Others have opened travel agencies and restaurants, spurred by the tourism economy in Dharamsala, the seat of the exiled leadership. Some migrate to the West. As for any refugee community, the road of struggle has been long and hard, traversing more than five decades. When waves of refugees began crossing over to India following China’s annexation of Tibet in 1951, they first lived in tented camps in the northern foothills, scraping together a living by doing hard labour, often building high mountain roads along the very border they had crossed. Later, as they gradually moved to settlements, many undertook countrywide expeditions to sell sweaters, a thriving seasonal trade for a majority of Tibetans even today. Bhutia arrived in the eastern hill town of Kalimpong, desperate for a job, in 1959, the same year the Dalai Lama escaped into India seeking political refuge. Bhutia constructed homes and loaded goods on trucks. His wife, Tsamcho Dolma, accompanied by a young Tenzing, sold woollens at a nearby town. Their small three-room home, which they shared with their three children, turned into a noisy guest house; for extra income, they took in 12 children from neighbouring Nepal who arrived there to study. Opportunity knocked when Bhutia found work at a noodle factory that had been set up to employ Tibetan youth by the Dalai Lama’s brother Gyalpo Dhondup. “Making noodles was the only thing I knew,” says Bhutia, who worked in the factory for two decades before moving to Delhi in the early 1990s. While many educated Tibetan youth are becoming a part of India’s professional class, raising resources for new ventures has been difficult, since many continue to hold documents certifying them as foreigners of Tibetan origin. Amdo Food, for example, relied on a Rs2 lakh loan from the Tibetan Central Administration, which governs the three dozen-odd Tibetan settlements in India. Assistance also came from its buyer, the Netherlands-based Fair Trade Organization, to procure air conditioners and blowers. But a new wave of Tibetan entrepreneurship is in the making. The Welfare Society of Tibetan Chamber of Commerce, an industry lobby set up four years ago to raise investment and support business, has recently released a handbook on how to do business in India. Targeted at Tibetan youth, the slim yellow book contains step-by-step information on how to set up a firm, and it is intended to be distributed free in refugee settlements. With a first print run of 1,000 copies, it offers details on how to obtain factory licences and tips on setting up small businesses such as cab services or dance schools. Perhaps unintentionally—or perhaps to infuse competitive spirit—it also acknowledges China’s bottle-blowing prowess. Until recently, members of the Tibetan lobby group could only afford sponsored luncheon meetings at the New Delhi restaurant Berco’s. A month ago, however, the lobby group moved into its own office—a basement in south Delhi. Around 200 members, some of whom run businesses in other parts of the world, are already on its rolls. The group is primarily focusing its energy on raising funds—$15,000 (around Rs7 lakh) has already come in from a US-based non-governmental organization, National Endowment for Democracy—and on gaining recognition among business and government entities around the world. Its first action plan is to take a batch of 40 Tibetan youths for a European tour this year to look at opportunities of setting up new businesses in settlements. “The chamber is meant to bring all Tibetan businessmen on a single platform,” says Dorjee Shewatsang, a member of Tibet’s Parliament-in-Exile and an architect by profession. Shewatsang, who runs a real estate development firm with an Indian partner, started his career building monasteries around the country, some replicating the old monuments destroyed in Tibet. Like many second generation Tibetans, Shewatsang, the son of a former guerrilla member, feels at home in India, but finds it important, as a member of the exiled community, to pursue its political interests collectively before his individual business interests. India is home, but not a permanent one. In early 2000, when the Tibetan administration decided to “privatize” (to fund its burgeoning deficit) some of its many businesses, from hotels to handicrafts, Shewatsang bought its publication business for Rs20 lakh. “I knew it was not a cash-generating business,” he says. “But I thought it was important to carry on.” Sonam Tobgyal, who is the lobby group’s chairman, runs a travel business. He’s also launched a media company called Bodgyalo Media Ltd to disseminate information through “video news”. “I find there is a huge gap between what the Tibetan government normally likes to communicate and a big mass of people who are illiterate,” he says. Bodgyalo, which means “Hail Tibet”, sells 500 DVDs a month on subscription; for wider appeal, he includes the teachings of the Dalai Lama as content material. In a way, the lobby group’s emphasis on entrepreneurship is also inextricably linked with the functioning of the Tibetan administration. While the larger goal is to create employment through new enterprises, the group also wants to channel more chatrel—voluntary tax—to the government as businesses grow, a small step towards achieving economic power and towards fulfilling the bigger dream of a free Tibet. All administrative expenses are currently met by contributions from the community, amounting to close to Rs100 crore a year, according to two estimates. The idea of Tibet is never far from the mind. Tobgyal’s media venture, he says, is to preserve Tibetan heritage, and that includes spreading the message of doing business the Tibetan way. “One way is Ratan Tata’s, who says: ‘I am giving you a job, and that’s where it starts’,” he says. “The other is the theory of interdependency, which says, ‘I exist because of others’. It makes a big difference...[it] helps to avoid worker troubles.” In the modern rat race, 36-year-old Tenzing of Amdo Foods concedes that one can strive for such visions, but they are difficult to attain. Last year, however, four long-time Amdo workers were rewarded with a 4% equity stake in the company. The impulse to get workers onto the company’s board has largely been influenced by standards outlined by its biggest buyer, the Fair Trade Organization. Under fair-trade guidelines, workers are also entitled to development bonuses. Desert coolers were given to employees, by popular demand, a year ago. Amdo now has other plans for next year. “We want a fridge,” says Tempa Bhutia, one of the workers who holds a stake in the company. The secret of success is all about fairness, concludes Bhutia. “When I say I put three eggs in my noodles, I mean three, not two.” Every year, many people from neighbouring countries arrive in India to pursue ambitions, both personal and universal. In four parts, “Neighbours at Home” will track a few lives among these hundreds of thousands, examining the hopes that brought them to India, and the hopes that they take with them when they leave. Tomorrow: Hazara students, victimized among the victimized in Afghanistan, find opportunity in India. maitreyee.h@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 1:23 pm Railways records mere increase in freight traffic in JuneNew Delhi: The Indian Railways in June posted a mere forty five basis point increase in freight traffic over the year ago period, following lower than expected industrial growth in May, according to data released on Monday. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. In the month of June, the railways loaded 71.58 million tonnes of freight, up 0.32 tonnes over the year ago period. Sequentially, revenues fell 3.5% from the 74.24 million tonnes the national transporter carried in May this year. The index of industrial production, or the IIP grew at 11.5% in May compared with 2.1% a year ago, the eighth straight month of double-digit growth. The Central Statistical Organisation, which releases the data, revised growth rates for February and April downward. Freight is the railways’ main revenue earner. The national transporter loses money through it’s heavily subsidized passenger fares. In 2009-10, the railways earned some Rs88,355 crore (according to provisional data) from it’s freight business. For the quarter ended June 2010, the national transporter carried 218.25 million tonnes, a 2.42% increase over the previous year. In an earlier interview, a senior railway official had talked about bad conditions for the national transporter. The railways failed to meet internal revenue generation targets despite posting a healthy increase in the amount of freight it carried. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 1:09 pm Falling through the cracks in the state healthcare systemMumbai: The anti-retroviral treatment centre (ART) for HIV patients at the government-run King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEM) in the city is at some distance from the main reception area. In early May, it turned away a 30-year-old widow infected by her husband, who had been undergoing treatment at the centre for the past four years, after it was discovered that she had a secondary infection in the form of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). The centre is not equipped to provide the medication required to deal with this turn in the complexity of the infection. The patient, who did not want to be identified, will now have to rely on the help of a non-governmental organization to take her treatment forward. “I am not alone. Many people get turned away from government ART centres either because they can no longer survive only on first-line treatment or because they have developed some co-infection. They are not even adequately diagnosed for their problems,” she says, as she makes her way down the dingy flight of steps that lead back to the hospital reception.  Poor and vulnerable: A six-year-old boy, infected with TB, sleeps in his mother’s arms in Gujarat. Eradicating infectious diseases remains a challenge in developing countries such as India. Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint In an era where communicable diseases, such as avian influenza, SARS and swine flu have become a serious challenge to policy planners, the ability to treat complex secondary infections poses different questions. While government-sponsored hospitals do not possess the wherewithal, the options available in private medical care are prohibitively expensive. Some non-profit groups have started repositioning themselves in these circumstances. Recently, the Mumbai office of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF, doctors without borders), an international medical aid agency, transferred all those HIV-positive patients who need the first line of treatment to government ART centres. The agency now wants to focus on people who either need second-line treatment, are co-infected with TB or hepatitis or have a different strain of HIV infection that is not treated by the government. “There is an accessibility issue when it comes to second-line treatment. The main place where MSF works is to cover the gaps of the government. The access to second line in the government set up is not very sufficient,” says Tiago Dalmolin, field co-ordinator, MSF Mumbai. The worrying aspect of communicable diseases is not so much the numbers as the damage it does to the productivity of the workforce once it reaches a critical mass. According to data compiled by WHO, only three infectious diseases figure in the top 10 causes of mortality. Diarrheal diseases (sixth), tuberculosis (seventh) and HIV/AIDS (eighth) together account for 11% of mortality—compared with 45% caused by non-communicable diseases. Also Read | Previous stories in the series If not dealt with swiftly, this could pose a serious challenge to an already overloaded health service and will require substantial fiscal support from the government. Many diseases, such as TB and malaria, can be cured if detected and treated in time. Others, such as HIV/AIDS and polio, are incurable. While developed countries have achieved success in either significantly reducing or eradicating many infectious diseases, this remains a challenge in developing countries such as India. Another challenge for HIV-positive patients in India is that those who begin treatment in the private sector are not taken in by the public sector. The side effects of first-line ART medicines are not addressed at the government centres either. “TB without HIV wasn’t so urgent. But now, with co-infection, we will lose everything,” says Blessina Kumar of the organization Rahein —Health and Development Consultancy Services. “The HIV work will get undone...if it is not urgently handled.” Field workers also believe that India’s official numbers for multi drug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant forms of TB are under-reported—one of the reasons being inadequate diagnosis. “Normal TB diagnosis is with smear sputum. But in HIV-positive people, and particularly in children, the sensitivity is not so good, So you get a false negative. We need to do smear and culture analysis. Also, one of our concerns is MDR TB. Public healthcare only relies on smears even in HIV-positive people and if these people want to get a culture test done, then they have to pay for it... and that is very expensive,” adds Dalmolin of MSF Mumbai. Kumar says the government should not only redesign its national TB programme but also push large pharmaceutical companies to come up with new drugs. “We can’t have a drug that is 40 years old.” This is the last of a five-part India Agenda series on health. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 1:00 pm Incredible India: A private initiative to rural tourismIndians believe in holidays. But for years the most common reason given for getting away was to visit ones native place or on a pilgrimage.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 12:43 pm Nifty breaches 5,400 after 29 monthsThe National Stock Exchanges benchmark index, the Nifty, crossed the 5,400-mark for the first time in more than 29 months on Monday on expectations of good corporate earnings, but pared some of the gains due to lower-than-expected industrial output data for May.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 12:40 pm Stability council to focus on financial sector reformsMumbai: A finance ministry discussion paper on the proposed Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) is set to invoke sharp reactions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) because the Indian central bank is of the opinion that the paper, prepared by the department of economic affairs of the ministry, has gone beyond its brief and is too critical of the existing regulatory regime. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), too, has found the paper focusing on many things, beyond financial stability. Apart from financial stability, financial literacy and financial inclusion, FSDC also plans to focus on next-generation financial sector reforms—an agenda that was not explicitly stated in the Union Budget that mooted the idea of the council—and many believe it will substantially dilute the role of the existing regulators. The paper was circulated among financial sector regulators in end-May, before the promulgation of the ordinance by the President of India that sought to resolve the face-off between the stock market and insurance regulators. The 18 June ordinance—The Securities and Insurance Laws (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2010—will empower the finance ministry to resolve all future regulatory disputes, including those involving RBI. Going by the ordinance, any of the four regulators—RBI, Sebi, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority—can make a reference to the joint committee headed by the finance minister, and the committee’s order will be “binding” on all regulators. The combination of FSDC and the new arrangement, many say, will weaken RBI’s position substantially and dent its autonomous status (see Banker’s Trust on RBI governor’s letter to finance minister Pranab Mukherjee). Mukherjee, in his February Budget speech, spoke about the establishment of FSDC “to strengthen and institutionalize the mechanism for maintaining financial stability”. He also said, “Without prejudice to the autonomy of regulators, this council would monitor macro prudential supervision of the economy, including the functioning of large financial conglomerates, and address inter-regulatory coordination issues. It will also focus on financial literacy and financial inclusion.” The discussion paper emphasizes that FSDC “will not be a super-regulator” and that it will achieve “its mandate without undermining the autonomy of the regulators”. Chaired by the finance minister, FSDC will have two committees under it—the financial sector regulatory coordination committee (FSRCC) and financial sector stability committee (FSSC). Modelled on the current high-level coordination committee on financial markets (HLCCFM), the regulatory committee will be headed by the RBI governor and will meet at least once in three months while the stability committee will be headed by the finance secretary. All regulatory heads will be on both the committees, and in addition to them, an RBI deputy governor will be a member of the stability committee. Unlike the HLCCFM, FSDC will have a permanent secretariat to ensure smooth functioning of both the committees and the sub-committees that the regulatory coordination committee may have. “A road map for next generation of financial sector reforms has been charted out by various government-appointed committees. This agenda needs to be driven in a coordinated manner to achieve results. There is a need for an institutional mechanism that can coordinate and oversee the reform and development agenda for the financial markets as a whole,” the paper said. The 30-page discussion paper has questioned the efficacy of HLCCFM mechanism and blamed “developmental lethargy” for the slow progress of financial sector reforms. Ineffective HLCCFM According to the finance ministry’s paper, the record of discussions and decisions taken by HLCCFM are not in the public domain and, hence, they cannot be evaluated properly. Indeed the forum has discussed issues related to capital markets, regulations related to mutual funds and the controversial unit-linked insurance products (Ulips) among others, but “the actual facilitation by HLCCFM in these developments” is “not clear”. It also mentioned that the forum took two-three years to clear exchange-traded currency futures and failed to resolve the issues related to Ulips and foreign venture capital investments in real estates. “The forum has not achieved as much success with regard to inter-regulatory coordination as it potentially could have.” Developmental lethargy While some of the regulators have been active in their “own ear-marked space”, HLCCFM has failed in piloting collective action, the paper said, citing the instance of repurchase or repo of corporate bonds. “… Even though the (R.H.) Patil committee recommended introduction of the repos in corporate bonds in 2005, it was not until March 2010 that repos in corporate bonds were allowed, that too with guidelines so stringent to retard vibrancy in this market,” it said. The paper blamed “rigid and stringent norms” for “lethargic development of the corporate bond market”, the lacklustre performance of interest rate derivatives and non-existence of credit default swaps. According to the paper, policymakers need to focus on four critical areas—the bankruptcy process of large and complex financial institutions, capital requirements of various financial intermediaries in boom and bust, treating the entire financial system as one piece and not in silos governed by different regulators, and resolution of crises as and when they arise. Referring to the 2001 crisis in the erstwhile Unit Trust of India, the country’s oldest mutual fund, and the liquidity crisis faced by the mutual fund industry in late 2008 after the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. led to an unprecedented credit crunch, the paper said, “In both these cases, (the) crisis management was led by the finance minister.” The key to crisis response, the paper said, was “the unique ability of a finance minister to secure acceptance of decisions across all government agencies in finance, and the potential use of public resources”. When the mutual fund industry was reeling under the liquidity crisis, “the finance minister coordinated the analysis of the problem (involving mutual funds, banks, Sebi and RBI), and led the policy response where lines of credit of Rs20,000 crore were made available to mutual funds”. Among other things, the finance ministry paper is also in favour of bringing in all financial instruments that are traded such as government as well as corporate bonds, currencies, equities, and commodity derivatives under one regulator and establishment of a national treasury management agency or a separate debt management office to manage the government’s annual borrowing programme. Currently, the government bond market as well as other derivatives which are traded over the counter are governed by RBI, while Sebi oversees the exchange-traded products. RBI also manages the government’s money raising programme, an annual exercise to bridge the country’s fiscal deficit. “Separation of debt and monetary management is an accepted practice all over the world and is an essential part of the much needed next generation financial sector reforms in India,” the paper said. The exact contours of FSDC will be framed after the regulators send their reactions to the paper to the finance ministry. It would appear that RBI has strong reservations about some of the proposals outlined in the paper, circulated among all regulators. The Indian central bank has been discussing this paper internally and is yet to send in its formal response to the ministry. tamal.b@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 12:37 pm RBI wants debt recast for airlinesNew Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked 13 of the country’s top banks to frame a common policy for restructuring debt at airlines to provide relief to the ailing sector. The regulator has also censured banks for not following prudent norms before lending to airlines and putting themselves in a tight spot. It has recommended that banks take tangible securities as collateral for future loans instead of depending on promoter guarantees and brand value. The move is likely to provide relief for the debt-laden companies and directly help the country’s three biggest carriers—Jet Airways (India) Ltd, Air India and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd—which together control 65% of domestic passenger traffic and have a combined debt of $13.5 billion (Rs63,045 crore). RBI wants the banks to form consortiums for restructuring debt instead of providing one-time relief to individual companies, such as Kingfisher Airlines. The Vijay Mallya airline has sought the recast of Rs2,000 crore of debt through SBI Caps. In an 18 June meeting with executives of the 13 banks, the central bank noted it would be “a moral hazard for RBI to give any regulatory forbearance for any specific company”, according to the minutes of the meeting reviewed by Mint. According to the minutes of the meeting, RBI observed: “This short-term perspective for restructuring the debts of a company which had negative net worth for the last two years had now pushed the banks into a situation seeking extensive regulatory forbearance.” “It was made clear that any regulatory consideration of banks’ requests regarding restructuring guidelines can only be for the aviation sector—and not for any airlines in isolation—in view of the difficulties faced and provided the banks came together in a consortium arrangement and took a long-term and holistic view on the restructuring,” according to the minutes. The banks will form a consortium and draw up debt restructuring proposals for the carriers, starting with Kingfisher, according to the record of the meeting. Kingfisher’s debt was Rs7,413 crore at the end of December, of which Rs2,099 crore is short term and the rest is long term. SBI had approached the banking regulator with a proposal to restructure the Rs2,000 crore debt. Other banks such as IDBI have already recalled some of the loans given to Kingfisher six months back due to “non-adherence to the loan covenants like issuance of equity, creation of agreed security, etc.” and not meeting its commitment of “equity infusion of Rs1,000 crore each in 2010 and 2011 by way of GDR/rights issue/promoters infusion but nothing had come in till date”, according to the minutes. Besides, IDBI has classified the account of Chennai-based carrier Paramount Airways Pvt. Ltd as a non-performing asset. The central bank’s concern has been heightened by the banks’ view that it will take at least two more years for airlines to recover financially, a sentiment echoed by consulting firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, or Capa. “Despite the improved environment for the large three airline groups—Air India, Jet Airways/JetLite and Kingfisher—a complete recovery from the turbulence of the last couple of years will still take time, largely due to the stress experienced on their balance sheets,” Capa said in a report last week. “Indian financial institutions have a high exposure to the aviation sector, and a number of banks have approached the government to seek a one-off restructuring of airline debt in order to avoid an increase in non-performing assets.” Civil aviation minister Praful Patel said the aviation ministry has been pushing for assistance from the finance ministry for the airlines, given the phase they have gone through. He welcomed any central bank move on airline debt. “It is not a write-off. Every industry goes through a bad phase, some financial restructuring is necessary,” Patel said in an interview on Monday. “It happened in the case of steel and cement (sectors) in the past. It would be desirable for the sector. One of the major beneficiaries would be Air India.” In October 2008, the government eased the immediate financial concerns of loss-making domestic carriers by allowing them to pay dues of Rs2,962 crore to oil retailers in six equal instalments. That arrangement was brokered at a meeting attended by petroleum minister Murli Deora, Patel, senior officials of both ministries, executives of the oil marketing companies and the airlines, including Kingfisher Airlines chairman Mallya, Jet’s executive director Saroj Dutta and then Air India chief Raghu Menon. A civil aviation ministry official who did not want to be named said it was up to the airlines to generate more funds through better passenger yields and cost-cutting, instead of seeking government bailouts. “All we expect is Rs1,200 crore for Air India as equity after restructuring,” this official said. “Another package for the airlines cannot be sought.” Kingfisher Airlines rose 1.49% to Rs51 and Jet Airways rose 5.78% to Rs596.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday, while the benchmark Sensex rose 0.58%. tarun.s@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 12:34 pm Industrial output grows at slower-than-expected 11.5%New Delhi: India’s factory output showed signs of moderation, growing slower than expected in May as companies dissolved their inventory amid capacity constraints. With the favourable base effect having ended in May, growth in industrial production may see further moderation in the June figures.  Graphic: Paras Jain/Mint The index of industrial production (IIP) grew at 11.5% in May compared with 2.1% a year ago, the eighth straight month of double-digit growth. The median forecast in a Reuters poll was for 16% growth. The Central Statistical Organisation, which releases the data, revised the growth rates for February and April downward. “Nobody should expect that industrial manufacturing sector will continue to grow at abnormally high numbers for a long time to come,” finance secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters. “There are capacity constraints. Whatever output lag there was in the economy has been filled.” While there was slowing across most sectors, the most dramatic was that of capital goods to 34.3% from 69.9% in April. The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index (Sensex) rose for the third session in a row, closing at its highest in more than three months on Monday, riding a wave of earnings optimism as the season kicks off this week. The 30-share index closed 0.58% or 103.66 points higher at 17,937.20 points. “IIP grew at a lower-than-expected rate due to relatively slower growth in capital goods. This is due to its lumpy nature,” said Shubhada Rao, chief economist with Yes Bank Ltd. “However, there is no cause of worry at this point of time as IIP is only undergoing correction and underlying growth fundamentals remain strong.” Rao expects IIP to grow 9.5-9.8% in the current fiscal ending March 2011. CitiIndia economist Rohini Malkani echoed this sentiment. “We see no need for undue concern as data trends both at the macro (loan growth, non-oil imports) and sectoral front (auto, cement, diesel consumption) are healthy,” she said in a research note. “We were expecting the numbers to moderate from June due to a fading base effect, but May data indicates that the moderation has already begun. This is reflected across segments though it is more prominent in capital and consumer goods,” she added. CitiIndia maintained its earlier gross domestic product growth forecast of 8.4% for the current fiscal. While the government expects growth to remain within 8.5% for the fiscal, the International Monetary Fund last week said that India’s economy would accelerate at 9.4% in 2010 on the back of robust corporate profits and favourable financing conditions. Sectors such as manufacturing, mining and electricity grew at 12.3%, 8.7% and 6.4%, respectively, significantly decelerating from their April levels. Fifteen out of the 17 industry groups showed positive growth, except wood products and beverages. While the production of consumer non-durables remained sluggish in May, growing at 2.4% due to high inflation and weak agricultural production, consumer durables continued to be robust, surging at 23.7%. “Low interest rates, high consumer confidence and improving labour market conditions have supported strong growth in consumer durables,” Nikhilesh Bhattacharyya, associate economist at Moody’s Economy.com, said in an advisory note. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to change its monetary tightening course, economists said. “The central bank at present is focusing on inflation management and it will continue to do so,” said Yes Bank’s Rao. “RBI will continue to tighten monetary policy though the extent of increase will be gradual. We expect another 25 basis points of rate hike in the policy review later this month.” A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. “We maintain our view of further rate hikes of 50 basis points in 2010, and given our expectations on June inflation (10.2%), we expect a 25 basis points hike in the (RBI) policy meeting on July 27,” said Malkani of CitiIndia. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry secretary general Amit Mitra said in a statement that RBI should be cautious before announcing any measure that would “further hurt or discourage sentiments in manufacturing sector”. RBI raised its key policy rates on 2 July for the third time this year by a quarter percentage point three weeks ahead of its quarterly policy review to fight rising inflation, citing strong underlying growth momentum. Monthly wholesale price inflation crossed 11% in March and stood at 10.16% in May, according to provisional data released by the government. Reuters contributed to this story. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 12:31 pm NII scientists develop ultra long-lasting insulinBangalore: In the almost 90 years that insulin has been used for treating diabetes, scientists and businesses alike have strived for its long-lasting analogue that could control blood sugar, relieving the patient from frequent pricks. But the longest that the prevailing insulin types last in the body is 16-18 hours. In a development that could significantly extend the life of insulin in the body, a team of researchers at the National Institute of Immunology (NII) in Delhi has demonstrated a new “prodrug”—precursor of a drug—that releases just about the right amount of insulin in the body in a sustained manner. Reporting in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, director of NII, Avadhesha Surolia, and his team show that by using this prodrug, which they call supramolecular insulin assembly-II (SIA-II), in various animal models, near-normal blood glucose level is maintained for as long as 120 days. “This is an extremely exciting piece of work,” said Nikhil Tandon, endocrinologist at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. The gradual release of SIA-II leads to good sugar control in fasting as well as fed state, he added. “Hopefully after completion of the requisite large animal studies, it should be available for testing in humans also.” For researchers, it’s promising as there’s no chemical modification of the human or bovine insulin used in the prodrug, nor is there any device or patch used. Surolia has licensed the technology to Life Science Pharmaceuticals (LSP) in Connecticut, US, in an agreement that he claims “to be one of the biggest licensing deals from any academic institution in India”. “We will demonstrate our technology to LSP in the next three weeks, following which its subsidiary, Extended Delivery Pharmaceuticals, will undertake further trials,” said Surolia. Using his lab’s extensive work on protein folding, a physical assembly process that is linked to several diseases, but remains an unsolved problem in biology, Surolia and his team “misfolded”, or packaged, the existing genetically engineered human as well as bovine insulin in a manner that provided protection from the enzymatic action in the body. In the new form, the insulin, when injected in the body, sits like a depot with millions of molecules which get released for weeks or, as shown in animals such as rats, mice and rabbits, for months. The challenge now lies in replicating this success in humans. “Personally speaking, SIA-II can straight away go to human trials. It is pretty safe as we have not modified the insulin, nor is any additive used,” said Surolia. Moreover, say Tandon and Surolia, there are no signs of side effects, including cancerous growth. Experts argue that the excellent blood sugar control achieved in the studies suggests that it’s not only basal insulin, or SIA-II, that has done the trick, but there’s some recovery of beta cells—insulin producing cells in the pancreas. And if that’s the case, then the insulin will not be as long acting in humans with type I diabetes as seen in the animals, argues Steven Russell of the diabetes centre at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, US. “Nonetheless, it is a very long-acting insulin—far beyond what is commercially available.” But the desired period of sugar control in humans, says Surolia, is certainly not several weeks. “We will first test if it works as once in 10 days injection and then extend it to once a month.” Even if it lasts for 10 days, it would mean it’s 30 times more beneficial, given that in most cases people inject insulin thrice daily. Russell, on the contrary, thinks “an ultra long-acting insulin such as this is much more likely to be used for type II diabetes where often only basal insulin is needed, than in type I diabetes”. “That suggestion is also welcome,” say researchers given that India will have 50.8 million diabetics, mostly type II, by the year end. According to International Diabetes Federation, the poorest diabetics in India spend an average of 25% of their family income on private care. “Our motivation was to reduce the burden of diabetes, doesn’t matter whether it’s type I or II,” said Surolia. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 12:22 pm Higher cultivation may ease inflationNew Delhi: Farmers are cultivating more land for summer, or kharif, crops compared with last year on the back of a healthy monsoon, raising hopes that a good harvest will ease food inflation. Sowing by 9 July was 12% up compared with the same period last year, says an agriculture ministry report. “Higher acreages at this stage means that farmers are confident that their standing crop won’t be destroyed,” said N. Bansal, adviser, ministry of agriculture. “A good output is likely to depress food inflation trends.” Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had said on Friday food inflation would fall as improved rains would boost harvest. Last year, India saw its worst drought in 33 years; rainfall in June 2009 alone was short by 45%. This had discouraged farmers from sowing rice and maize, crops that require large quantities of water. The two cereals are the staple diet in many parts of the country and usually contribute around 65% to the national crop output. Summer crop cultivation last year, as a result, went down by nearly 15%. The monsoon has been better this year. As a result, nearly 31.8 million ha were sown by 9 July, compared with 28.4 million ha as of 9 July 2009. This is still well below the 38.7 million ha sown by 10 July 2008, which contributed to the decade’s highest grain output. A second agriculture ministry official said sowing would peak over the next three weeks and could beat the 2008 output. “From the trends so far, I’m confident that the next fortnight will contribute to one of India’s biggest harvests ever,” the official said, requesting anonymity. An analyst said the trends are positive but need more time to be borne out. “Last year, by this time, nearly 68 lakh (6.8 million) hectares were under rice cultivation and this year it is 72 lakh (7.2 million),” said P.N. Shastri, a former adviser to the Andhra Pradesh government on agricultural policy. “That’s not a great gain. But it’s positive in that farmers are planting sugar cane and oil seeds, as opposed to leaving their land fallow like last year. The next two weeks would be the right time to pass verdict,” he said. Land under cane cultivation in Uttar Pradesh, India’s biggest cane producing state, has risen 15% to 2.5 million ha for the next season beginning October, B.S. Bisht, an official at the government’s cane development department, told Reuters news agency. Reuters contributed to this story. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 12:22 pm If Exxon bids for BP, Obama won't say noBP was at the centre of fresh takeover speculation after weekend reports suggested the Obama administration has told ExxonMobil — the world's largest oil firm — that it would not stand in the way of a takeover bid for the stricken British rival.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:56 am Insurance broker Aon agrees to buy HR firm Hewitt for $4.9 bnInsurance broker Aon Corp. said on Monday that it had agreed to buy human resources company Hewitt Associates for $4.9 billion (Rs 22,932 crore) in cash and stock to expand its consulting operations.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:52 am World Cup whets Satyam's appetite for sporting gloryMahindra Satyam is eyeing mega-sporting events as its major revenue driver and intends to aggressively bid for IT services contracts of global sporting tournaments in the coming months. The company has also chalked out plans to recruit around 10,000 people in the current financial year. Vivek Sinha reports.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:45 am Sensex, Nifty stumble after milestonesStock markets on a roll touched new highs on Monday but took a knock as industrial output data showed a slowdown that raised fears on the surge of optimism on the bourses. HT reports. See graphicSource: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:40 am Domestic oil majors vie for shell's 47 pumpsReliance Industries Ltd and Essar Oil, besides state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) are vying for the 47 petrol pumps offered by Royal Dutch Shell in India.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:36 am Liquidity crunch to ease by July-end, say Indian bankersA cash crunch in the country's banking system, which drove the one-year overnight indexed swaps to a 20-month high on Friday, should begin to ease by the end of July, bankers said on Monday after meeting Reserve Bank of India officials.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Jul 2010 | 11:31 am Facebook launches panic button for child safetyLondon: Social networking website Facebook has agreed to adopt a panic button aimed at improving the online safety of its younger users, a child protection group said on Monday. The launch of button, which follows a long campaign by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), will allow children and teenagers to report suspicious behaviour and get help, advice and support about staying safe online. The application is particularly aimed at users aged 13 to 18 and will appear on their profile page when they add or bookmark the button, CEOP said. “We know from speaking to offenders that a visible deterrent could protect young people online,” said Jim Gamble, chief executive of CEOP, adding that the button should provide reassurance to parents whose teenagers use the site. Pressure to introduce such measures intensified towards the end of last year after 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a man posing as a teenager whom she had met through Facebook. “Together we have developed a new way of helping young people stay safe online,” Joanna Shields, Facebook’s vice president for Europe, Middle-East and Africa, said of the link-up. “It is only through the constant and concerted efforts of the industry, police, parents and young people themselves that we can all keep safe online.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 12 Jul 2010 | 3:55 am
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