Economy

By IANS, New Delhi: Majority of the country's manufacturing industries registered double-digit growth in the first quarter of this fiscal, a survey conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and ASCON said. According to the report, out of the 110 industries covered, 30 recorded growth rates of more than 27.3 percent as compared to 10 industries which registered a growth of 9 percent during the like period last fiscal.

By Sanu George, IANS, Thiruvananthapuram : The global economic slowdown has taken its toll on the IT companies in Kerala, with some cutting salaries, while some others have already having informed stakeholders that they have no option but to cut operating costs. The IT sector in the state has reached an annual turnover of around Rs.1,500 crore (Rs.15 billion/$300 million), providing direct employment to 60,000 people, of which close to 30,000 are employed at the various Technopark campus here and Infopark campus at Kochi.

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By IANS, New Delhi : Armed with a comfortable victory in the trust motion, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government was Wednesday ready to push forward some major economic reforms, especially in the financial sector, which were so far blocked by Left parties. Legislations to allow a hike in foreign equity in insurance firms, higher voting rights for foreign banks operating in the country and entry of private pension funds are some of the key areas of focus, officials said.

By Arjun Sen and Himank Sharma, IANS, New Delhi : Mitsubishi Motors of Japan is looking forward to a free trade pact between India and the 10-nation Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to start production in the country and make it an export hub, a top official has said. "We still do not have enough volumes to set up a manufacturing base in India," said Tetsuro Aikawa, Mitsubishi's managing director in charge of product strategy and development, at the group's headquarters.

By Noor Mohammed, IANS New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) Wind power is emerging as a key factor in India's quest for energy as fossil fuel-based power generation has failed to keep pace with the growing electricity requirement of a surging economy. Wind power accounts for 7,230 MW of the country's 10,175 MW of renewable electricity generation capacity. The share of wind power in the country's total generation capacity stands at 7.5 percent.

By IANS, New York : Wall Street tumbled with the Dow and S&P 500 falling to a 12 year low after insurance giant American International Group reported the biggest quarterly loss in corporate history. The Dow Jones industrial average Monday lost almost 300 points, or 4.2 percent to end at 6763.29, its lowest point since April 25, 1997. The S&P 500 index lost 34 points, or 4.7 percent, ending at 700.82, its lowest close since Oct 28, 1996.

By IANS, Mumbai : A key index of the Indian equity markets opened lower Friday than its previous close but later rose to hover just above Thursday's closing figures. The 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 10,001.33 points, lower than its previous closing figure of 10,076.43 points. However, about 40 minutes into trading, the Sensex was ruling at 10,117.61 points, up 41.18 points or 0.41 percent from the previous close.

By Sarwar Kashani, IANS, Moscow: India and Russia Monday signed a $100 million credit line agreement and set a target of $20 billion by 2015 to boost bilateral trade. Visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev affirmed that the two countries were keen on enhancing mutual cooperation in IT, communication, hydro-carbon, oil and gas and pharmaceutical sectors.

By DPA, Kampala : Uganda's recently discovered oil reserves now stand at two billion barrels but may exceed six billion barrels as exploration continues, a government newspaper reported Friday. International firms have invested millions of dollars in the East African country, where they began exploration activities in the western and north-western region early this decade.

By IANS Raipur : Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), a unit of Steel Authority of India Ltd, has recorded its best-ever production, posting a growth of as much as 176 percent in some steel products, a BSP statement said Thursday. "BSP has recorded growth in all areas for April to Oct 2007. The growth in production of value-added special steel items, at a time when BSP needs to attune its production levels with market dynamics and increasing demand for steel in the country, is particularly significant," the statement said.

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By IANS Kolkata : The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has withdrawn its call for a 24-hour strike April 8 at Haldia Petrochemicals, West Bengal's largest petrochemical hub. The CITU is the state labour arm of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). The call for the strike was given Tuesday to press demand for permanent employment for 183 out of 1,500 casual workers. Since its inception in 2001, the $1.2 billion investment jewel of the state has not witnessed a strike.

By IANS, Lucknow : Vegetable and fruit sellers, barbers and cobblers, who set up make-shift stalls on roadsides, will soon get their own space in shopping centres in this Uttar Pradesh capital. Aiming to provide a "respectable place to street vendors", the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) has come up with a project of setting up shopping centres for shopkeepers not having deep pockets.

By IANS, New Delhi : Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the premium luxury car brand of the Tata group, Thursday hoped to reach a sale-figure of about 250 units by this month-end as it opened its second showroom in the country here. "We hope to end up selling close to 250 vehicles, both Jaguar and Land Rover. In the 9 months since we opened our first store in Mumbai, we have seen an encouraging response from customers," said Rajiv Dube, president, passenger car business unit, Tata Motors.

On Board the PM's Special Aircraft, Oct 1 (IANS) Advocating economic reforms with a “human face”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday said his topmost priority was to insulate India from the ill effects of the international financial crisis. “The first and foremost challenge is to insure that India is insulated to some extent from the ill effects of international financial crisis,” Manmohan Singh told reporters when asked about the three top challenges his government will be addressing in the remaining months of his tenure.

Bengaluru : About 15,000 women garment workers on Monday staged a massive demonstration on the outskirts of Bengaluru, protesting change in the Provident Fund...

By IANS, New Delhi : Dryland farmers in Andhra Pradesh may see their incomes decline by 20 percent, the sugarcane yield in Maharashtra may go down 30 percent, and there may be much more flooding in the Orissa coast, says a new World Bank report.

By IANS, Raipur : India's leading coal producer South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) has curtailed coal supply to private parties in nine states to help the state-run power plants tide over the present coal supply crisis, a company official said Saturday. "Following the order of the union government, SECL has curtailed coal supplies to the private parties up to 30 percent to ensure reserves for the state-run power plants that are reeling under severe coal crises," SECL spokesperson Alok Sinha told IANS.

By IANS New Delhi : State-owned National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) is still awaiting the mining lease for the Utkal captive coalmine in Orissa allocated to it by the coal ministry in 2004, parliament was informed Tuesday. "The ministry of mines has taken up the matter with the state government," Minister of Mines Sis Ram Ola told the Lok Sabha in a statement. "Meanwhile, the ministry of environment and forests has also been asked to expedite clearance for the project," he said. "The coal ministry allocated the Utkal mine to Nalco in 2004," he added.

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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.

New Delhi : The petroleum ministry is considering a new price for domestic gas that would be lower than the $8.4 per unit reached...

By Xinhua, Beijing : China's entrepreneur confidence index plunged to 123.8 points in the third quarter this year down 11 points from the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday. The confidence index, a gauge of the understanding, views and projections of the business community, has been declining all year, NBS said and added that in the second quarter it was 5.8 points lower than the first quarter.

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By IANS, New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee wednesday said that economic growth would pick up in the last quarter of this fiscal and the dip in the third quarter was because of the steep fall in agricultural output. "The third quarter growth rate of 6 percent reflects the sharp decline in agricultural growth rate due to drought and negative rate of government spending," Mukherjee said at a function of the national council of CII. "I do expect that in the fourth quarter the GDP will pick up again," he said.

By IANS Ahmedabad : "Inadequate infrastructure" is one of the principal risk factors the companies face while doing business with India, according to the latest annual survey on the international operations of Japanese firms, conducted by the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro). The survey was conducted between November 2007 and January 2008. Jetro received replies from 733 firms in manufacturing and trading sectors, or 27.9 percent of the 2,626 companies to whom the questionnaires were sent.

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By IANS Dhaka : Bangladesh will lobby with the US Congress for the passage of an apparel-related bill with the hope of increasing its export of readymade garments. Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed assured the government's full support to the move. The embassy in Washington is lobbying -- along with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) -- for smooth passage of "The New Partnership for Development Act of 2007", now before the US Congress.

By IANS, Kolkata : The Rs.135 billion RPG Enterprises' retailing arm Spencer's has tied up with Britain-based Woolworth to sell Chad Valley branded toys in India. Sanjiv Goenka, vice-chairman, RPG Enterprises, said: "It is the first global tie-up of Spencer's, and there will be many more. This year, we will tie up with three more international brands." Simon Brown, international head of Woolworth, said: "This is our first venture into Asian market."

By IANS, New Delhi : Both houses of parliament were adjourned for the day Tuesday as agitated opposition members disrupted the proceedings by protesting against the rising prices of essential commodities. While the Lok Sabha was adjourned without conducting any business, the newly elected and re-elected Rajya Sabha members took oath before the opposition disrupted the proceedings. Rajya Sabha Chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari also announced that former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Jai Narain Prasad Nishad had been disqualified from the house under the anti-defection law.

By IANS, New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday chaired an all-party meeting to arrive at a consensus over allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's annual rate of inflation dipped further to 6.38 percent for the week ended Dec 20 from 6.61 percent the week before, official data released Thursday said. The inflation rate was 3.74 percent during the corresponding week the previous year. The wholesale price index (WPI) for all commodities declined 0.2 percent to 230.2 from 230.7 the previous week. All the figures in the index are provisional. The index for primary articles declined 0.2 percent to 248.8 from 249.2 the previous week.

By IANS, New Delhi : Flag carrier Air India Thursday said it has received an e-mail threatening to blow up Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA). "The matter was reported to the police for investigation. We received the e-mail threat on a few of our mail Ids," an airline spokesperson said in New Delhi. The e-mail, which was received Monday, was apparently sent from Rawalpindi, sources said. "We have forwarded the e-mail to the Mumbai police for investigation," the spokesperson said, declining to share details of its contents.

By IANS New Delhi : Given the potential microfinance holds to lift the lives of the rural poor, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Tuesday said two funds would be set up to extend loans to the needy and provide them access to technology. "We have decided to set up two funds, Financial Inclusion Fund and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund of Rs.5 billion each," Chidambaram said at a conference on microfinance.

By IANS, Kolkata : Lubricant manufacturer Tide Water Oil will appoint a consultant this week to start the process of disinvesting the 27 percent stake that parent firm Andrew Yule holds in it, a top company official said here Wednesday. "The process of appointing the consultant got delayed due to a legal hurdle, which is now over," Tide Water managing director Kallol Datta told reporters after the company's annual general meeting. The consultant will help Tide Water finalise the tendering process to invite bids for Andrew Yule's stake, Datta added.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities market which opened in the green Tuesday ahead of the monetary policy announcement of the Reserve Bank of India recorded a marginal gain in early trade, with buying interest in metal stocks. The 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, opened with a gain 29 points at 17,050.87. Ten minutes into trading, the Sensex was at 17,043.93 with a gain of 27.97 points or 0.16 points.

New Delhi, Jan 24 (IANS) The Boeing Company Thursday announced that Naveed Hussain will serve in India as its vice-president of engineering and technology. "Naveed will strengthen our efforts to develop and implement engineering and technology strategies in this important and dynamic market that are mutually beneficial to India and Boeing," said John Tracy, Boeing senior vice-president of engineering, operations and technology and chief technology officer.

By DPA, Bangkok : The United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) warned Wednesday of a looming food crisis in North Korea because of a poor harvest and escalating food prices. "The food security situation in the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is clearly bad and getting worse," said Tony Banbury, the agency's regional director for Asia. The UN's Food and Agricultural Organization has forecast North Korea would suffer a food shortfall of 1.66 million metric tons this year because of last year's heavy floods, which destroyed much of the country's rice and corn harvests.

By IANS Mumbai : President Pratibha Patil has appointed a woman officer to head the Central Railway (CR), the country's oldest and second largest zonal railway network headquartered here. Sowmya Raghavan created history as she stepped into the 154-year-old World Heritage building Central Railway headquarters at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly known as Victoria Terminus, Wednesday evening to take her new charge.

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Ranchi : India's private sector behemoth Reliance Industries has sought land and tax benefits to expand its retail business and promote the rural "haat" market of Jharkhand.