Economy

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the US has been deepening its engagement with emerging economic leaders like India, China and Brazil in a bid to expand access to the global economy. The Bush administration is working very closely with other countries and the international financial institutions to respond effectively to the current global economic crisis, she said at the World Steel Association's 42nd Annual Meeting here Tuesday.

By IANS, Chandigarh : Announcing an Independence Day bonanza for state government employees, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said Friday that his government will implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission on the lines of the central government. The announcement came within hours after the central government announced the implementation of the 6th pay commission recommendations for central government employees - a 21 percent hike in salaries - from Sep 1.

By IANS,

By IANS, Shimla : The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to get tough with leading winemaker Indage Ltd for its failure to procure apple and grape crop from within the hill state, a senior leader said Monday. "A notice has been issued to Indage Ltd as it's not procuring apples and grapes from the farmers here. It has not fully operationalised its two plants," state horticulture minister Narender Bragta told IANS.

By IANS, Ahmedabad : The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (Amul) has registered 22.9 percent growth to reach a record turnover of Rs.52.55 billion, an increase of nearly Rs.10 billion over the previous year. Announcing this at the 34th Annual General Meeting at Anand Tuesday, the GCMMF Chairman Parthibhai Bhatol said this was an extremely impressive growth when viewed from the perspective of 13.4 percent growth during 2006-07 and 29 percent in 2005-06. In global terms, the turnover is $1.3 billion at existing currency exchange rate.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets closed in the red Monday, with a key index ending trade 3.68 percent lower than its previous close. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed at 9,077.7 points, 3.68 percent or 346.54 points lower than its previous close. At closing, the S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was at 2,760.95 points, 3.96 percent down from its Friday close of 2,874.8 points. The BSE midcap index was down 1.47 percent, while the BSE smallcap index lost 1.54 percent over its previous close.

By IANS, New York : The terror attacks on India's financial capital Mumbai revealed several chinks in the country's emergence as an economic superpower, a French scholar has said. "The attacks exposed the weakness of the so-called Indian economic takeoff," Gilles Kepel, an analyst of the Islamic and Arab societies, said in an interview to Forbes.Com. "The aim of the attack was mainly political, but the economic dimension is still visible," he added. Kepel said India, Brazil, Russia and China may have double digit growth but most of the population lives in poverty.

By IANS, Hyderabad : Maytas Infra Ltd, a company owned by the family of former Satyam Computers chairman B. Ramalinga Raju, Tuesday sought more time for achieving financial closure for Rs.122-billion (Rs.12,200 crore) Hyderabad Metro Rail project. The infrastructure firm has requested the Andhra Pradesh government to grant it extension of time to achieve the milestones mentioned in the concession agreement, which include achievement of financial closure.

By IANS, Mumbai : The benchmark index of the Indian equities markets continued on a rising trajectory and extended gains to 3 percent during afternoon trade Wednesday. AT 2.13 p.m., the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 16,723.96 points, was ruling at 17,188.14 points, up 496.14 points or 2.97 percent from its previous close at 16,692 points at noon. Around the same time, at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was at 5,129.05 points, against the previous close at 4,985.85 points, a gain of 2.87 percent.

By IINA,

By IANS, Dubai : Bahrain's economy is safe from the global financial crisis because of the government's clear financial and economic policies, according to Bahrain Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa. In the course of a meeting in Manama, Bahrain's King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa and Shaikh Khalifa discussed the regional and global political and economic developments in the face of the global credit crunch, the state-run Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.

By IANS, Mumbai : India's largest private sector company, Reliance Industries (RIL), said Monday it has made its seventh oil discovery at a site in Cambay basin, off the Gujarat coast. RIL said it had informed the government and the directorate general of hydrocarbons about the discovery, named Dhirubhai-50. "The potential commercial interest of the discovery is being ascertained through additional data gathering and analysis," it said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

By IANS New Delhi : The Rs.60,000 crore (Rs.600 billion or $15 billion) loan waiver announced in the union budget 2008-09 will only help those farmers who have taken loans from government banks, leaving out a large number of them who have borrowed from private lenders, the Left said Friday.

By Priyanka Sahay, IANS,

By IANS, Dhaka : Bangladeshi spinners have urged the government to scrap the decision to import yarn from India to 'protect' local producers. "The move to allow commercial imports of Indian yarns is shortsighted and it seems to be a success (for) traders' lobby," Bangladesh Textile Mills Association president Abdul Hai Sarker said. The textile ministry last week decided to allow yarn import from India through land ports to arrest rise of yarn price that affected handloom weavers and small weaving industries.

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By Sanjay Sharma, IANS, Bhopal : A Madhya Pradesh minister believes there is no difference between genetically modified (GM) crops and the East India Co, the British firm that began trading with India in 1600 but subsequently came to rule the country till 1858. And many farmers and activists agree with him. "GM crops are the latest version of the way East India Co colonised India," said Farmer Welfare and Agriculture Development Minister Ramakrishna Kusmariya. "Commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal (a GM crop) will not be allowed in Madhya Pradesh," Kusmariya told IANS.

By DPA Paris : Newly elected International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has said that reform of the organisation should include reducing its costs and integrating developing nations more profoundly in its workings. At a press conference in Paris, the former French finance minister said Monday that reducing IMF staff was one of the options to make it more cost-efficient. "There is no reason that this institution cannot be more efficient, more relevant and less costly," he said.

By IANS, New Delhi : MPs from all parties Wednesday demanded more compensation for loss or damage to baggage or death or injury of air travellers in accordance with the Montreal Convention, an international law governing civil aviation. During a discussion over Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill, 2007, in the Lok Sabha, moved by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, MPs sought a better compensation package for air travellers as per the Convention.

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : A US Congressional panel has approved a bill to triple US economic assistance to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year, but with stiff conditions requiring Islamabad to demonstrate a sustained commitment and progress towards combating terrorist groups.

By IANS Kolkata : Reliance Retail officials as well as the Forward Bloc (FB), one of the ruling Left Front partners in West Bengal that is opposed to Reliance Fresh outlets, chose to keep mum Wednesday, a day after the state government assured security to the firm's retail stores. "I don't want to add anything to the controversy now. We are holding a meeting with state government officials," Reliance Retail Ltd (RRL) regional head Kalyan Sarangi told IANS after apprehensions that the firm might walk out of the state or put its plans on hold.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the country's markets watchdog, Monday notified new norms for listing and raising of funds by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) but ruled out a new stock exchange for such entities. The minimum market capitalisation for follow-on public issues by large companies also stands reduced to Rs.5,000 crore, against Rs.10,000 crore earlier, said SEBI chairman C.B. Bhave after a meeting of the watchdog's board.

By Vishal Gulati, IANS, Shimla : Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN), the hydro-power generation company promoted by the Centre and the Himachal Pradesh government, plans to spread its wings abroad, a top official said. SJVN has signed a pact with the Nepal government to set up a 402 megawatt power project there, and is currently testing waters in Georgia and Bhutan, its chairman and managing director H.K. Sharma told IANS. Sharma said SJVN has been invited by a Georgian company to execute a 765 megawatt hydro-power project.

By IANS, Mumbai : Mobile services major Reliance Communications, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, Thursday launched a new prepaid CDMA pack which will enable customers to make free calls to other numbers on the network and limited free calls to other networks. Under the "Simply Unlimited CDMA" offer, RComm customers can make unlimited local calls to other customers on its network and limited free calls to other networks at a monthly cost of Rs.299, the company said.

By IANS, Kolkata : Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Investments Pte Ltd (Macquarie SBI) and State Bank of India (SBI) will invest Rs.125 crore in Adhunik Metaliks' power subsidiary, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd. Adhunik Metaliks has signed a pact with Macquarie SBI and SBI to this effect. Macquarie SBI and SBI would part finance Adhunik's ongoing 540 MW coal-based independent power project at Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. The project cost is Rs.2,650 crore and is being funded through a debt-equity mix of 3:1, a company statement said here Monday.

By Veturi Srivatsa, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is, perhaps, the first finance minister who paused during his "Super" budget speech to talk of the needs of Indian sport and also doled out fat sums to the youth affairs and sports ministry in his budget allocation.

By IANS New Delhi: India's import of military hardware and software is all set to reach $30 billion within the next five years as its armed forces lap up major defence deals, said a leading industry body. India's defence imports would also be propelled as it signs up big deals to acquire multi-role fighter jets, a variety of copters and long-range maritime spy aircraft, according to study - Avenues for Private Sector Participation in Defence - done by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham).

By IANS Mumbai : Indian shares ended flat Friday, with the benchmark index making a marginal loss of 0.02 percent led by Associated Cements, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel. The key sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Sensex, closed 3.78 points or 0.02 percent down at 17,773.36. The Sensex had hit a record high of 17,979.18 during intra-day trade Wednesday. Twenty of its index components traded in the negative Friday.

By IANS, New Delhi : Petrol, diesel and cooking gas prices will be cut to the "maximum possible" extent soon, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said here Monday. “We will ensure that the reduction in prices is maximum and is implemented as soon as possible,” Patel said on the sidelines of the Petrotech India conference. Last week, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had said that the government is likely to cut petrol prices up to Rs.5 per litre, diesel Rs.3 a litre cooking gas up to Rs.25 per cylinder.

By IANS New Delhi : India and the US, being the world's two leading democracies, should try and find out ways to clinch a deal on the lines of a free trade agreement (FTA), Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said here Sunday. "This (US-India FTA) is something which we should examine. We are the world's two greatest democracies and if we both cannot have an agreement on trade then the world wonders why," Kamal Nath said in reply to a specific query while addressing the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

By IANS, Colombo : The launch plans of the Sri Lankan arm of leading Indian mobile operator, Bharti Airtel Lanka (Airtel), has reportedly been delayed as the Indian parent company "has still not granted sanction to start operations". Airtel, rated one of the best performing companies in the world, was awarded last year the licence to provide 2G and 3G mobile services in Sri Lanka. The company announced early this year its commitment to investing approximately $200 million in setting up and expanding its operations in the country over the next five years.

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By IANS New Delhi : Delhi-based fast-food restaurant chain Nirula's Thursday announced latest additions to its menu with the introduction of economically priced pizzas and burgers. Sudipta Sen Gupta, senior vice president marketing and sales, said: "Nirula's is known for offering a wide variety of choices to its consumers. Our new products will offer our customers a choice in terms of variety of food as well as prices." The chain introduced the aloo grill burger (grilled potato burger) and cheese onion tomato pizza priced respectively at Rs.19 and Rs.69, without taxes.

By IANS, London : Carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is in "advanced talks" with British ministers, a banking syndicate and owner Tata Motors on a 800 million pound loan that could help save 15,000 jobs, a newspaper reported Sunday. The Sunday Times quoted unnamed sources as saying negotiations were at a delicate stage, and hinged on whether JLR could provide sufficient loan security to the government and a banking syndicate led by the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB.

By IANS, Thiruvananthapuram : The Congress-led opposition in Kerala Thursday demanded a judicial probe into the tendering process of the proposed Rs.53.48-billion port at Vizhinjam, near the famed tourist destination of Kovalam. Opposition legislator P.C. George sought to move an adjournment motion, saying that the government has played spoil-sport and has awarded the contract to a consortium comprising the Hyderabad-based Lanco Kondapalli Power Ltd, Malaysia-based Pembinaan Redzai Sdn Bhd and Lanco Infrastructure Ltd.

By IANS New Delhi : The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Wednesday recommended guidelines for rolling out mobile television services to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on various issues related to licensing and technology. TRAI has suggested that the choice of broadcasting technology should be left to the service providers but should be recognised by an authorised body.

By IANS, Chennai: Complying with the central government's stipulation of bringing all the regional rural banks (RRBs) under the core banking solution net (CBS), city based Indian Bank announced Saturday that three such banks sponsored by it have been brought under the CBS. According to Indian Bank, the three RRBs - Puduvai Bharathiar Grama Bank in Puducherry, Pallavan Grama Bank, Salem (Tamil Nadu) and Saptagiri Grameena Bank, Chittoor (Andhra Pradesh) - are CBS compliant more than a year ahead of the stipulated time.

By IANS/EFE,

By IANS, New Delhi : National Aviation Co of India (NACIL), which runs the state-run carrier Air India, will go for a $6.5 billion insurance cover from Monday, the highest insurance coverage by any airline company in Indian sub-continent, said an airline official. All state-owned and private insurance firms are expected to bid for the business while some of them have already started discussions to forge alliances for the year long insurance period that will expire June 30, 2009.

By DPA, Seoul : Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp said Tuesday it was to recall 13,000 vehicles in South Korea, following an order by the Transportation Ministry. Hisao Nakabayashi, the head of Toyota's South Korean unit, offered an apology for the company's slow reaction to local concerns about potential safety risks involving floor mats and accelerator pedals. "There is an extremely slim chance that the floor mats in question could cause problems," Nakabayashi said. "We've still decided to recall our cars and take voluntary precautionary measures."

By Joydeep Gupta, IANS, Salzburg (Austria) : Seventy percent of the Netherlands is below the sea, making it more vulnerable than any other country to climate change-triggered rising sea levels. The Dutch plan to deal with this national threat in a unique way - by adapting to the rise rather than trying to halt it.

By IANS, New Delhi : Tata Teleservices has teamed up with ECI Telecom, an Israel-based networking infrastructure solutions provider, to offer India's fastest broadband access network till date, the Indian telecom operator said Wednesday. In a statement, Tata Teleservices said ECI's network solution would support a connectivity speed of up to 18 megabit per second (Mbps), a unit to measure broadband speed. This would make it the fastest connectivity on offer in the country so far. In April, Airtel launched broadband services supporting a speed of 16 Mbps.

By IANS, Mumbai : For the second consecutive day, the Indian equities market notched a decent gains Wednesday with IT stocks leading the gaining rally. Positive cues from the global markets boosted the domestic bourses in the early trade. The market, after trading in a narrow range through the day, eased from early highs and ended with gains during mid-week.

By IANS, New Delhi: The government Tuesday allowed the cash-strapped Maytas Properties to surrender its biotech special economic zone (SEZ), known as Maytas Ventures. The Board of Approval (BoA), under the commerce ministry, also asked Maytas to refund Rs.31 lakh, which was offered to the company as service tax exemption. The Hyderabad-based company, promoted by the family of B. Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced former chairman of the scam-hit Satyam Computers, had earlier asked the government to "denotify" the project due to weak market conditions.

By Radha Venkatesan, IANS Hosur (Tamil Nadu) : Come Valentine's Day and thousands of lovers around the world will convey their feelings with the never-withering symbol of love - a rose - albeit with a 'Made in India' tag. A month ahead of Feb 14, orders are pouring in from around the world for roses grown in southern India's floral corridor that spreads from Hosur in northwestern Tamil Nadu to neighbouring Bangalore.

By Vishnu Makhijani, IANS Ashgabat : India and Turkmenistan, a country with vast hydrocarbon resources, Saturday signed a "significant" memorandum of understanding (MoU) to engage in the oil and gas sector, a move aimed at boosting New Delhi's efforts toward ensuring energy security. "This is a significant step. We are getting a sense that this is an area they would like to engage with us in," a senior official of the Indian external affairs ministry who is accompanying Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari on his visit here, told reporters after the signing ceremony.

By IANS, New Delhi : Contrary to popular belief, tax expenses of companies with the infrastructure status have gone up by 90.3 percent, a survey released here Sunday said. According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry's (Assocham) Financial Pulse study, tax expenses for companies under the infrastructure status have gone up because of improved realisations. This has contributed to better margins and improved bottomlines of such companies, thereby increasing their tax liabilities.

By IANS, Mumbai : State-run thermal power generator NTPC Thursday said its board had approved investment plans of Rs.18,346.59 crore ($3.44 billion) for two power projects in India.

By IANS Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh will be a leader in human development and in quality of life and will have world-class infrastructure by 2025, says a vision document released by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here Tuesday. The study reveals the state is poised to make significant progress on various fronts and that the younger generation is eager to make progress and is upbeat about the future.

By Joydeep Gupta, IANS, New Delhi : Industrialised countries are not making greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction commitments "to match the scale of reductions being put on the table" by developing countries, a senior UN official has said, as the negotiating text for a crucial climate treaty is put on the table this week.

By IANS, New Delhi : State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is set to launch third generation (3G) mobile services in Gangtok by Aug 15, the government has said. Announcing this in Gangtok Monday, Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said the 3G services would be extended to three more districts in the state within 100 days of its launch, a government statement said here.

By DPA, New York : US stocks extended their rally to a fifth day with the Standard & Poors 500 Index capping its biggest weekly advance in 34 years. As US shoppers swarmed stores on Black Friday - traditionally the nation's biggest annual shopping day as consumers rush out to make use of bargains - experts were bracing for a disappointing outcome amidst the financial crisis. Target Corporation shares slumped 3.9 percent as retailers extended deep discounts, Bloomberg financial news service reported.