Economy

By IANS, New Delhi : The global meltdown has impacted the Indian sports goods market with export orders going down by more than 30 percent in the last two months. According to a report by the Sports Goods Export Promotion Council (SGEPC), there has already been a loss of Rs.450 million in the business and if the situation continues in the next two months, then more than 50,000 workers will lose their jobs. The sports industry provides employment to weaker sections of the society including women and is scattered in and around Jalandhar and Meerut.

By NNN-PTI New Delhi : Pakistan has sought a level- playing field for its farm produce in India as it feels that the agriculture subsidies given by New Delhi is depriving it of the benefits of free trade in the subcontinent. While reduction in farm subsidies is a common refrain of India in the WTO, New Delhi got a taste of its own medicine when Islamabad raised the issue of trade distorting subsidies during the meeting of Joint Study Group at Commerce Secretary level here last week.

By Noor Mohd, IANS New Delhi : Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) cannot be blamed for India's failure to achieve its power generation targets in the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-07) by more than 50 percent, says the top executive of the state-owned power equipment maker. "The shortfall in the 10th plan capacity addition programme has been on various accounts, most of which are not attributable to BHEL," the company's chairman and managing director Ashok K. Puri told IANS in an interview.

By IANS, Bangalore : Free software and open source tools are helping a range of Indian entrepreneurs to build software solutions that enhance the potential of computing for millions. With names like Hindawi, Zmanda and Dhvani or KDE Hindi, these products are helping an entire new generation of software developres. Hindawi (hindawi.in) is a suite of open source programming languages. It allows people to write computer programmes in languages other than English.

By IANS, New Delhi : A day after the central government announced 2-percent excise duty cut, some of India's commercial vehicle manufacturers Wednesday slashed prices across their trucks and bus line-ups to pass on the benefit to consumers. "We are passing on the full benefits of the excise duty reduction," a spokesman for Ashok Leyland said, adding that this would "bring prices down on average slightly more than Rs.16,000".

By IANS,

By Vatsal Srivastava, Janet Yellen gave a classic US Federal Reserve talk when she addressed a press conference after a globally-awaited meeting of the policy committee on Wednesday. "Just because we removed the word patient from our statement doesn’t mean we will be impatient," the chairwoman said.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who holds the finance portfolio, should come out with a statement to restore investor confidence after the disclosure of massive financial fraud at Satyam Computers. "All the regulatory agencies and ministries had failed to check the fraud and the prime minister must make a statement to restore investor confidence," senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters.

By Arjun Sen, IANS, Hyderabad : Global defence and aviation major, the $21.3-billion Raytheon of the US, sees a $1 billion business potential in the Indian civilian sector alone over the next 5-10 years. The company is currently leading the race to bag a $196-million contract to supply technology for India's first satellite-based global aviation navigation system, called Gagan.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Friday hiked the cash reserve ratio (CRR) for commercial banks by an unexpected 75 basis points, in a clear bid to curb inflationary expectations in the economy. All other policy rates were left unchanged. The CRR, presently at 5 percent, will be hiked in two stages -- 50 basis points from Feb 13 and another 25 basis from Feb 27, RBI Governor D. Subbarao told the chief executives of commercial banks here.

By Devirupa Mitra, IANS New Delhi : As India and Africa discover each other anew, they already have a ready channel through which to route their newfound trade ties - successful Indian origin business leaders in the continent. The Africa-India business conclave held in New Delhi last month demonstrated as much, with the official African delegation filled with top Indian origin business people. Not only was the official booklet of participants from Africa abound with Indian surnames but speakers also trumpeted the presence of a significant Indian minority in their countries.

By NNN-PTI, London : Foreign Direct Investment into India has surged to over USD 25 billion in 2007-08 and the country's Foreign Exchange Reserve crossed USD 341 billion as of today, Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry has said.

By IANS, Mexico City : The Mexican government has said it will buy back up to 40 billion pesos ($3.15 billion) in bonds in a bid to boost liquidity and promote stability in financial markets in the wake of the global recession. The measure is consistent with earlier steps to ensure orderly markets sideswiped by the global financial crunch, EFE quoted a finance ministry communique as saying.

By IANS, Hyderabad : Luxury car-maker BMW Wednesday said it may look at manufacturing its MINI brand in India but that would depend on the market potential for the premium small car.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's per capita income increased by 4.7 percent to Rs.38,037 in 2011-12 as compared to Rs.36,342 in the previous year, the government data showed Thursday.

By IANS, New Delhi : Rising school expenses are forcing young parents in India to have only one child, a study by a business chamber says. The study by the social development foundation of the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) found the average tuition fee for a child at private schools in large cities to be around Rs.35,000 annually. In India, more than 30 million children are now educated in private schools. And their parents are being bled financially, Assocham said.

By IANS,

By IANS, Kolkata: B.K. Birla group company Kesoram Industries Ltd has posted net profit of Rs.36.83 crore for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2009, against Rs.39.15 crore for the corresponding quarter of 2008-09, a company statement said here Thursday. It is a diversified B.K. Birla flagship conglomerate having interest in tyres, cement, rayon yarn and transparent paper with a focus on two core business segments - tyres, which accounted for 57 percent, and cement 38 percent of the turnover in nine months ended Dec 31, 2009.

By IANS, Kolkata : The Tata Motors' small car plant at Singur in West Bengal remained closed for the eighth day Tuesday as confusing signals continued to emerge over the so-called deal between the state government and the dissatisfied farmers over a part of the land acquired for the project. A day after the Tata group sought more clarity in the deal and said the factory and its ancillary units cannot be separated, the state government also sought to make it clear that no land will be returned from the project area, some 40 km from the state capital.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets fell at the start of the week with a key index falling 1.38 percent over its close Friday. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was down 1.38 percent or 129.94 points Friday and was trading at 9,276.53 points about 15 minutes into trade. The Sensex opened at 9,316.33 points lower than its previous close of 9,406.47. The broader S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) performed similarly and was trading at 2,827.75 points, 1.58 percent lower.

By IANS, New Delhi : Telecom major Bharti Airtel Thursday reported a 30 percent increase in its cash profits to Rs.37.55 billion ($767 million) in the third quarter ended Dec 31 as against Rs.28.82 billion a year ago. The consolidated total revenue for the quarter under review grew 38 percent to Rs.96.33 billion. The net income was reported at Rs.21.59 billion, a growth of 25 percent over last year. “It's our belief that this growth is sustainable, and is not by accident,” Bharti Group deputy chief executive Akhil Gupta told reporters here.

By IANS, New Delhi : Asserting that his ministry had nothing to do with hiking milk prices, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar Monday said it was the state milk federations that had decided to raise the prices. "It is the decision of state (milk) federations," Pawar told reporters when asked about the milk price hike particularly in major cities like Delhi. Pawar did not say whether his ministry was planning to control the rise in price of milk.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi: India Inc. seems split on capping foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence manufacturing with a leading lobby asserting Monday that this should remain at the present 26 percent while another body had said previously that this should be raised to 49 percent.

By IANS, New Delhi : The New Year started with some disheartening news for India's exporting community with the latest trade data showing a 9.9-percent drop in outbound merchandise shipments in November - the second straight month of decline. Exports during November were valued at $11.505 million, which was 9.9 percent lower than the $12.768 million during the like month of last fiscal, as per data released by the commerce and industry ministry Thursday.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) has received approval in-principle from the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to start currency futures trading. "MCX has received SEBI's in-principle approval for its subsidiary, MCX Stock Exchange Ltd, which had applied for currency derivatives," MCX promoter Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) said in a filing at the Bombay Stock Exchange. The MCX Stock Exchange will commence membership enrolment from Tuesday, it said.

By IANS, Toronto : With Canadians becoming increasingly apprehensive about the quality of imported food items selling under the grab of `Made in Canada' or `Product of Canada' labels, the government has decided to introduce new stringent guidelines for the use of these labels. The current food labelling guidelines, unchanged since the 1980s, do not clearly reflect the actual Canadian content in foods sold in Canada. Under them, any food item can carry these labels if 51 percent of its production cost is incurred in Canada and it goes through its final production stages in Canada.

By IANS New Delhi : Citing ethical reasons, Norway has directed its government pension fund to sell shares of metals and minerals major Vedanta Resources Plc, owned by an Indian-born, and not to invest in it further. The ministry has also decided to exclude Vedanta's two listed subsidiaries, Sterlite Industries Ltd and Madras Aluminium Co, from the investment universe.

By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS, Chennai : Insurance companies may soon have to publish their annual reports in newspapers to bring more transparency. They have also been asked to furnish details of investments made in stock markets between September and November, a senior member of the country's regulatory authority said. "We'll soon stipulate that insurers publish their annual reports," said R. Kannan, member-actuary with the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority of India (IRDA), the watchdog.

By Groum Abate, IANS, Addis Ababa : Indian project development firm Overseas Infrastructure Alliance (OIA), involved in diverse projects in Africa's second-most populous nation, will build an eye care centre in the premises of the Zewditu Memorial Hospital here as part of its community partnership programme. The project has been lauded by Ethiopia's President Girma Woldegiorgis.

By Gyanendra Kumar Keshri, IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : Greenhouse gas emissions in industrialised countries are continuing to rise, the UN Climate Change Secretariat has reported. Data submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) shows that emissions of 40 industrialised countries rose by 2.3 percent between 2000 and 2006, the secretariat said in a statement issued from its Bonn headquarters. The statement comes two weeks before the start of the next UNFCCC climate change summit at Poznan, Poland.

By Jeevan Mathew Kurian, IANS Kozhikode (Kerala) : Kerala may be one of the greenest states in India with about 28 percent of its total area covered by forests but it is dependent on imports, especially from Southeast Asia, for timber. The imported timber is popularly called Malaysian wood. But according to timber traders, it is mostly sourced from Myanmar.

By Xinhua, Washington : The Obama administration said Friday it was not trying to take over Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., the two ailing financial institutions. "This administration continues to strongly believe that a privately held banking system is the correct way to go, ensuring that they are regulated sufficiently by this government," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. "That's been our belief for quite some time, and we continue to have that," he said, rejecting rumours of impending nationalisation of troubled banks.

By Arun Kumar, IANS,

New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices in Delhi will go up by Rs.2.78 and Rs.1.83 per litre respectively from Thursday as the AAP government...

By DPA Kuala Lumpur : World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general Pascal Lamy said Friday that current trends in the Doha Round of trade talks assured poor and developing nations of having a greater say in trade deals. "There will be no completion of the negotiations without poor and developing countries getting satisfaction in at least some of their demands," Lamy said at a trade conference in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur.

By IANS,

By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS London : A quarter of a century after Japanese car companies boosted Britain's economy under Margaret Thatcher, India is being seen as the country that could do an "encore", with Britain's minister for trade and investment saying that the next generation of investment wouldn't be powered by a Nissan, "it's going to be a Tata".

By IANS New York : Seven Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs), the highest for a country, feature in the first ever list of world's top 50 MFIs compiled by Forbes magazine. Bangalore-based Bandhan is ranked at the second position, while the top slot is taken by Bangladesh's ASA. Bangladesh's Grameen Bank, which along with its founder Mohammed Yunus was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for 2006, comes lower down at 17th position. But the country has a total of seven of its MFIs on the list.

By Azera Rahman, IANS New Delhi : Dubai is eyeing Indian tourists, especially those from second rung cities like Chandigarh, Nagpur and Coimbatore, and intends to push up the number of visitors from India by 32,000 this year. Carl Vaz, the director of Dubai tourism in India, is going all out to make Dubai one of the most sought after destinations for Indians.

By IANS,

By EuAsiaNews, Brussels : The number of dangerous products removed from the European Union market rose by 53% in 2007 compared to 2006, according to the European Commission's annual report on the Rapid Alert System (RAPEX) to spot risky goods . This rise from 1.051 notifications in 2006 to 1.605 last year shows that EU member states' surveillance capacities are improving year on year, and that European consumers are better protected today than ever before, said the EU's executive body in a statement Thursday.

By IANS,

By Arun Kumar, IANS Washington : Expressing concern over the rising value of the Indian rupee, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said this had posed a major challenge to the country's exports and tax revenue and hoped the central bank would intervene if the movement gets disorderly. "The depreciation in the value of the dollar versus the rupee has thrown up unexpected downside risks," Chidambaram said in a lecture at the Peterson Institute for International Economics here Tuesday.

By IANS New Delhi : Passengers flying with GoAir can change their travel plans without paying any penalty and can rebook under a flexible pricing plan, GoFlexi Fare, the airline announced Wednesday. The airline has also slashed its cancellation charges to Rs.200 on all bookings under the new plan, Managing Director Jeh Wadia said in a press release. He said a passenger booked under the GoFlexi Fare scheme would not be charged any transaction fee. But this would be applicable for rebooking a confirmed GoAir ticket.

By IANS, Sydney : Manufacturing activity in Australia remained flat in November, a monthly survey of manufacturers in the country showed Thursday.

By Vishal Gulati, IANS, Shimla : Poor rainfall this monsoon and poorer snowfall last winter have hit apple production in Himachal Pradesh. But the farmers are not complaining, as the fruit's prices are shooting north. Every day, trucks carrying hundreds of apple-filled crates from Shimla, Kullu, Mandi and Chamba districts head for Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Lucknow.

By IANS, Hyderabad : The work on a Rs.35 billion industrial park, including a luxury bus building unit of the Britain-based Caparo group of Lord Swraj Paul, began Thursday in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district. Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy laid the foundation stone for the mega project at Menakur village of Naidupeta mandal in Nellore district, about 150 km from Chennai. The luxury bus manufacturing plant, in collaboration with Hyundai Motors of South Korea, will roll out 2,000 buses annually from next year. It will be one of the units to come up on 2,000-acre park.

By IRNA Riyadh : OPEC members, most of whose currencies are pegged to the US dollar, will jointly consider a revaluation in December in a bid to combat inflation, Secretary General of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) said in Riyadh on Sunday. Falling US dollar's effect on oil revenues overshadowed Saudi Arabia's promises to fight global warming at this weekend's OPEC summit in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia committed dlrs 300 million to research climate change, while OPEC leaders pledged to cut emissions from oil and gas production.

By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS, London : Optimism that climate change can be managed has fallen more sharply in India than in any other major economy of the world, according to an annual index published Monday. The Climate Change Monitor's measure of optimism that climate change can be managed fell by six percent globally since 2007.

By Pupul Dutta, IANS, New Delhi : Hit by a demand slowdown and meltdown in the global economy, India Inc has its wish list ready for the next government, with sector-specific policy reforms and tax sops on top of the agenda to tide over the crisis. The ailing export sector, which in October witnessed a decline for the first time in a decade due to the contraction in global trade, has sought an exemption from paying income tax for some five years to deal with the turmoil.

By IANS Islamabad : In what has been described as a "poverty driven measure", the Pakistani government will introduce ration cards from next month to provide essential food items at subsidised rates to people of low-income groups. The decision was taken at a meeting convened Wednesday by caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro to review the performance of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC), which is meant to provide clean and hygienic food and non-food items to people especially to poor section of the society at cheaper rates.

By IANS, Hyderabad : The three-member board appointed by the central government to bring back financial order to the fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services began its meeting here Monday. A Satyam spokesperson said the meeting began at the company's headquarters in Hitec City at 11 a.m. The new board comprises former chief of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) Kiran Karnik, chairman of Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC) Deepak Parikh and former member of markets watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) C. Achuthan.

By IANS, Bangalore : The booming Indian information technology (IT) sector is set for a slower growth in the current fiscal due to global economic slowdown, surge in crude oil prices and lower technology spending in the US, a top industry official said here Monday. "The Indian IT industry is projected to grow at 23-24 percent this fiscal as against a robust growth of 29 percent in the last fiscal in dollar terms," National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) chairman Ganesh Natarajan told reporters here at a technology event.

By IANS Mumbai : The Indian equities market ended in the red Friday on reports of surge in inflation to a three-year high. The Sensex ended nearly 500 points down. Banking stocks fell after concerns of possible Reserve Bank of India intervention to rein in inflation. Capital goods and power stocks declined. With mixed cues from other Asian markets, Indian equities started the day with a positive gap but soon slipped into the red. Then the negative news of an inflation surge further dampened investor sentiment.

By IANS,

By DPA, Vienna : The price for crude oil produced by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has dropped below $115, to its lowest price since early May, figures released by OPEC showed Thursday. One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC-produced crude stood at $114.64 a barrel Wednesday, $1.58 lower than $116.22 on the previous day. Wednesday's price was the lowest since May 6, when a barrel cost $177.310. OPEC calculates an average basket price based on 13 important brands produced by cartel members.

By IANS, New Delhi : The government Monday approved additional fee of Rs.200 on all domestic passengers and Rs.1,300 per head on those going abroad from the airport in the national capital as access development charges to its developer. The development fee will be paid to the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), which has the Bangalore-based infrastructure major GMR and the state-run Airports Authority of India as principal promoters.

By IANS,

By Arun Kumar Washington, Sep 27 (IANS) Led by India, South Asia picked up the pace of regulatory reform over the last year to become the second-fastest reforming region in the world, according to the World Bank's "Doing Business 2008" report.

By IANS, New Delhi : India has set a target of exporting organic food worth $1 billion in the next five years with its produce receiving wide acceptence in many mature markets of the US and Europe, a top official said Saturday. "Through more capacity building and bilateral agreements, India's organic exports can be enhanced to $1 billion in the next five years," said Asit Tripathy, chairman of the Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (Apeda).

By Frederick Noronha, IANS, Panaji : Free software and open source solutions offer a huge potential to link your computer to the mobile phone and the inexpensive Skype networks -- that allows you to make international calls over the internet -- and for sending out SMSes too. This could help significantly narrow the digital divide "at the social level between rich and poor and geographical levels, between city and village", says Giovanni Maruzzelli, an Italian expert in the field currently touring India.

By IANS, Ahmedabad : Vadodara-based Gujarat Industries Power Co Ltd (GIPC) will set up two more lignite-based thermal power projects, each with 250 MW capacity, taking its total power generation capacity to 1,000 MW, a top official said. The project includes development of a captive lignite mine, said S.L. Bose, GIPC executive director, responsible for the execution of lignite-based thermal power projects. The power stations are expected to come up at a site close to the existing Surat Lignite Power Plant (SLPP) at Nani Naroli, in Surat district.

By DPA, Dhaka : Bangladesh Sunday announced an economic stimulus package worth over $500 million to offset the fallout of global economic meltdown, officials said. Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith announced the package amounting to $500 million for the fourth quarter of the current fiscal to increase subsidies in power, agriculture and export sectors.

By IANS Bangalore : As India's silicon hub, Bangalore's dominance in offering highest compensation to software product engineers is being challenged by Pune, where average wages have gone up 15-20 percent in the same category since 2007, a study by a consulting firm revealed. The annual compensation and benefits study, conducted by Bangalore-based management consulting firm Zinnov LLC, found software product firms in Pune increased salaries by eight percent more than their counterparts in Bangalore over the last 12 months.

By IANS Bangalore : Leading IT firm Wipro Ltd Thursday opened its global service management centre in Malaysia to cater to infrastructure and application management service requirements of customers across the Asean region through a remote service delivery model. This state-of-the-art remote service delivery centre will provide seamless integrated services on heterogeneous technology environments ensuring high availability of the business applications.

Mumbai, March 25 (IANS) With new FM stations mushrooming by the dozen in India, a study says radio advertising industry will gross Rs.18 billion ($450 million) by 2012 from the present Rs.6.2 billion ($155 million). Radio advertising was a mere Rs.5 billion industry in 2006, said the report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Ficci) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) released Tuesday.

By IANS New Delhi : State-run refining company Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) has reported a net loss of Rs.157 million ($3.99 million) in the Oct-Dec quarter of the current financial year (2007-08) compared with the corresponding period last year, the company said Monday. However, HPCL's total income rose by 22.5 percent to Rs.273.8 billion ($6.96 billion) on a year-on-year basis, the company said.

By DPA, Washington : US President Barack Obama met with Republican and Democratic lawmakers Friday urging both parties to get behind his economic stimulus package. Obama wants legislation authorising the $825-billion package that includes tax cuts and spending to pull the US aimed at ending the recession and creating jobs. Republicans have balked at the size of the measure. "I know that it is a heavy lift to do something as substantial as we're doing right now," Obama said during the White House meeting.

Agartala/Guwahati : Banking services were badly affected in the northeastern region of the country Wednesday as most of the major banks remained closed in...

By IANS, Chennai : Brakes India Ltd, a leading manufacturer of braking systems and ductile castings, will invest $16 million to expand the production capacity of its foundry facility in Oman, a top official said. "We intend to double the capacity to 36,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) at an outlay of $16 million to be funded with a mix of debt and internal accruals," Brakes India executive director V. Narasimhan told IANS. According to him, the expansion is warranted as the plant that started commercial production this April is already working at 70 percent capacity.

By Xinhua

Vienna : The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says it will not hike production in the coming months because the global oil market is currently well supplied.