Economy

By IANS, New Delhi : The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has asked the central government to ensure that the additional grain allocated to states is at the same price presently charged under the public distribution system. The party, which has slammed the government for the spurt in food prices, has taken exception to the federal cabinet's decision to charge a higher price on the additional 10 kg allocated to each family under the targeted public distribution system.

By Amandeep Kaur, IANS, Hamilton (New Zealand) : Bank of Baroda is all set to expand its banking operations in New Zealand, an official said.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities markets that opened with a positive gap Wednesday turned choppy in initial trade. Power, auto, metal and capital goods sectors were under selling pressure. The 30-share sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, opened with a gain of 83.03 points at 16,358.62. Fifteen minutes into trading, it was at 16,335.92 points. At the same time the S&P Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 4,856.85 points with a loss of 2.95 points or 0.06 percent from its previous close. The Nifty had opened with a marginal gain.

By IANS Dubai : India's leading private airline Jet Airways will launch daily flights between Oman's capital Muscat and Mumbai effective April 22. Jet's Oman country manager Jay David told the Oman Tribune that the airline would operate Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the sector with 24 seats in business class and 120 in economy. Flights will depart Muscat at 50 minutes after midnight and arrive in Mumbai at 5:05 a.m. IST. The return flight will depart Mumbai at 10:30 p.m. IST and arrive in Muscat a minute before midnight, according to the report.

By NNN-PTI Dubai : Air India Express, the budget airline operated by national carrier Air India, is expanding its operations in Gulf by connecting more Indian destinations with the Middle East. Close on the heels of introducing a direct flight from Dubai to Nagpur on September 24, Air India Express is adding two more Indian destinations to its schedule, Jaipur and Lucknow, said Freddie Vaz, regional Director of Air India. The airline may soon add Goa by the year-end or next year, he added.

By IANS New Delhi : India's merchandise exports were up 21.7 percent during the first three quarters of fiscal 2007-08, growing to $111.05 billion from $91.20 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal. Official trade data released Friday, however, showed that in rupee terms the growth was significantly lower at 7.74 percent during the period under review, indicating the sharp appreciation of the Indian currency this fiscal.

New Delhi : Perceiving the union Budget 2015-16 as progressive, one which provides an enabling business environment for foreign investment, Corporate India feels it...

By IANS, Ranchi : The Jharkhand government Saturday reduced sales tax on diesel by 3.5 percent and announced a Rs.40 subsidy per cooking gas (LPG) cylinder. The decision follows a meeting Chief Minister Madhu Koda had with deputy chief ministers Sudhir Mahto and Stephen Marandi Friday night. Diesel will be now be available at Rs.35.66 a litre instead of Rs.36.76, while one LPG cylinder will cost Rs.316.75, as against Rs.356.75 following the central government price hikes announced Wednesday.

By IANS

Srinagar : A delegation of 100 top Indian industrialists will visit Srinagar in September and play golf to send the message that Jammu and Kashmir is now safe for investors too.

The delegation organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) will be led by Venugopal N. Dhoot, president of the trade body and head of the Videocon group.

By DPA, Hong Kong : Banking giant HSBC axed 450 jobs in Hong Kong Monday because of the impact of the global financial crisis, a government-run radio station reported. The bank blamed the cuts among the 20,000-strong Hong Kong workforce on the deteriorating global economy and a pessimistic outlook for 2009, according to Radio Television Hong Kong. Both front and back office staff have been affected by the job cuts, the radio station said.

Bangalore, May 17 (IANS) Intel India Development Centre (IIDC) of the world's largest chipmaker, Intel Inc, has played a major role in designing, developing, testing and validating the Centrino mobile platform for the consumer and enterprise markets worldwide. "The mobility group of the IIDC was involved in the development of the Centrino mobile platform, contributing about 70-80 percent of the new processor. Our development centres in Israel and the US chipped in to fabricate the chipsets for OEMs and ODMs," Intel India mobility group director Sandeep Shah told reporters here Thursday.

By IANS, Dubai : Leading Indian IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is planning to open new centres in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital Abu Dhabi, Egypt and Oman in order to focus more on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) market. "MENA has been active in the last couple of years as the infrastructure, energy, utility and alternative sources of energy are showing strong growth and there are robust opportunities for further growth," TCS chief executive and managing director S. Ramadorai told the Gulf News newspaper.

By IANS Mumbai : Flawless Diamond India Ltd has bagged an export order of precious stones to the tune of Rs.380 million ($9.5 million) from Madrid Impex based in Dubai's free export zone. The company had recently launched a new series of designer diamonds, under the name AUM. This new series, according to the company's communication to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Thursday, has attracted a lot of attention in overseas markets. Company secretary Prem Kumar Uppal told IANS that the export order has to be executed within a span of three months.

By INAS,

Beijing : China's securities regulator will soon begin inspecting online equity financing platforms to address risks brought by illegal activities and help the platforms...

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : The growth of the Indian primary market will halve from the 20 percent registered during 2007-08, to 8-10 percent in the remaining period of the current fiscal because of adverse market sentiments, an industry lobby said Monday. According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), both retail investors and financial institutions including foreign institutions (FIIs), are gradually withdrawing from initial public offerings (IPOs).

By IANS, Kolkata: The West Bengal government is in talks with Tata Motors for getting back the land leased to the automobile major for its Nano small car project in Hooghly district's Singur, officials said Saturday. "They have taken the land on lease from us for a specific project, but as it will not come up over there, we have to think of alternate projects on the plot," state Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty told reporters at the state secretariat Writers' Buildings.

By Jeevan Mathew Kurian, IANS, Kochi : Global warming has added a new commodity to the Kerala farmers' basket - a virtual commodity called carbon credit - thanks to their use of biogas. The carbon credits, earned by around 16,000 farmers for their contribution towards controlling emission of greenhouse gases, are being traded now at Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) providing them a small amount annually. It was an NGO, Anthyodaya, which pioneered the idea of carbon credit for farmers in the state.

By IANS,

By IANS, Islamabad : The prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) fell by about Rs.3 to about Rs.128 per kilogram in the country.

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday inaugurated a Rs.300 crore bus manufacturing plant near here. Set up by Deccan Auto Limited, it...

By IANS, New Delhi : India's largest private air carrier Jet Airways took delivery of a new Airbus 330-200 Wednesday and said that it plans to employ the aircraft to fly to new destinations. Naresh Goyal, chairman of Jet Airways, in a statement here said: "The Airbus 330-200 aircraft delivered Wednesday would have 220 seats and has low operating costs." The plane is the seventh new aircraft inducted by Jet Airways in the last one year. The airlines had earlier ordered 15 new aircrafts. The company said the new fleet would be part of its expansion plan for Europe and West Asia.

By IANS New Delhi : The race for the top post in power utility major NTPC Ltd is hotting up, with incumbent head T. Sankaralingam set to retire April 30 next year after the government refused to extend his tenure. The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PSEB), the government agency in charge of selecting the person for the job, is currently in the process of conducting preliminary interviews to short-list candidates.

By Arvind Padmanabhan, IANS,

By DPA, Vienna : The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell to $49.94 Wednesday, reaching yet another record low for this year. One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC crude was priced $2.30 dollars lower than Tuesday, the Vienna-based cartel said Thursday. Oil prices fell as markets reacted to plans in the United States to shift some of its economic rescue package to consumer debts, away from buying up bad mortgage assets from finance firms, analysts at JBC Energy said in Vienna.

By IANS,

By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS, Chennai : Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC) policyholders have to brace up for a cut in bonuses as the insurer's surplus could take a hit of around Rs.80 billion (Rs.8,000 crore/$1.60 billion) if the Indian government hikes its share in the surplus to 10 percent. Currently, LIC divides its surplus between policyholders and the government in the ratio of 95:5, a formula once applicable to Oriental Assurance Co - a private life insurer that was nationalised in 1956.

By IANS, Kolkata : With the standoff over the Tata Motors' factory in Singur still stalling work, talks between the West Bengal government and the opposition Trinamool Congress-led farmers body to resolve the issue was deferred till 4 p.m. Friday following a request by the state's ruling alliance. The ruling Left Front led by Industries Minister Nirupam Sen and the Trinamool Congress delegation led by Partha Chattopadhyaya, who is the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, met Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who will chair the meeting at the Council Chamber of the Raj Bhavan.

By Ziaulla Nomani, India is the world's second largest single consumer of gold after China. The consumption of gold in India is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry.

By IANS,

By Sujit Chakraborty Agartala, (IANS) The 90-year-old tea industry in Tripura has created history of sorts by exporting the beverage for the first time. "We recently exported 58,000 kg of tea named Jewel Tips to Iran and also got orders from Russia as well. This is the first time ever that Tripura's tea has been exported," said D.C. Das, manager of the Manu Valley Tea Estate. The first lot of tea exported from Tripura to Iran was grown in the Manu Valley gardens, which has seven plantations in the state.

By IANS Ahmedabad : Year 2008 has dawned on a cheerful note for Gujarat's edible oil industry, with Europe again importing groundnut oil from India. The first beneficiary is city-based Gujarat Ambuja Exports Ltd (GAEL), an agro-process company, which celebrated the new year with fresh export orders worth Rs.2 billion ($50 million) for groundnut oil. This is the second time India will be exporting groundnut oil to European destinations, said Kaushik Khona, chief financial officer of the company.

By Nayanima Basu, IANS Jaipur : Mahindra and Mahindra's $3-billion special economic zone coming up near Jaipur has roped in Deutsche Bank for a 200,000 sq ft offshore facility, a top official of the company said here Friday. "Deutsche Bank is setting up their 200,000 sq ft facility at our special economic zone. They will start their operations by June 1 next year," Arun Nanda, executive director of Mahindra and Mahindra, said.

By Anindita Ramaswamy, DPA, Washington : The widening global financial crisis has created a development emergency, preventing many countries from achieving targets on reducing hunger, child mortality and major diseases, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)and World Bank have warned in a report. The Global Monitoring Report, released Friday on the eve of IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington, said it was unlikely that the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), an ambitious programme adopted by governments in 2000, would be met by the target year of 2015.

By IANS,

By IANS, Noida : Despite being a virtual extension of India's national capital, this industrial hub, software centre and leisure destination still laments over poor power supply and roads, making the hunger for such essentials as well as the closure of industries major election planks. Close to 10,000 industrial units dot this city, technically in Uttar Pradesh but bordering New Delhi. Just a fourth of them function. Rising crime and poor infrastructure have only fanned the angst of the 250,000-strong electorate.

By IANS Kolkata : Sharpening his attack on the "retrograde" opposition stymieing the progress of West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Sunday said the state still has a lot to achieve in agriculture and big industries are as important to provide employment to thousands of educated youths seeking jobs.

By DPA, Washington : Azerbaijan made more pro-business reforms than any other country over the last year, while Singapore remains the best place in the world to run a business, the World Bank said Wednesday. Azerbaijan helped Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia make more progress than any other region - more than 90 percent of countries made improvements that made it easier to run a business. Africa was another bright spot, implementing the most regulatory reforms since the World Bank's Doing Business survey began six years ago.

By IANS,

By NNN-KUNA, Doha : Qatar and China have signed here several economic agreements to boost cooperation in the oil and investment sectors as well relating to the employment of Chinese workers in Qatar. The deals were signed by visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and Qatar Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani Monday. China and Qatar agreed on the construction of a new oil refinery and plant to manufacture petrochemical products in China.

By DPA Washington : US stocks rallied Thursday and gold reached $1,000 per ounce as analysts predicted that write downs related to sub-prime loans were nearing an end. Financial shares were helped by a Standard and Poor's prediction that banks had nearly finished their write downs on securities tied to the loans to borrowers with poor credit that have helped push up defaults and hurt the US economy, Bloomberg financial news reported.

By IANS, Mumbai : A benchmark index for Indian equities started the week in the green, rising 228 points during morning trade. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Monday opened at 16,494.61 points, and about 90 minutes later was ruling at 16,674.27 points, 228.66 points or 1.39 percent up from its previous close at 16,445.61 points. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was ruling at 4,996.45 points, up 1.32 percent from its previous close.

By IANS Mumbai : The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has given a green signal to Punjab-based Venus Remedies Ltd for the launch of its latest antibiotic drug, which it says has a $2.5-billion global market. Announcing this here, the company in its statement said that this drug is used in the life threatening infections caused in cystic fibrosis, a disease that affects the lungs and the digestive system.

By IANS New Delhi : India's power generation major NTPC Ltd and state utility Uttar Pradesh Rajya Utpadan Nigam Ltd (UPRUNL) will together set up a 1,320 MW capacity coal-based power plant at Meja near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, the company said Thursday. "The company and UPRVUNL have signed a joint venture (JV) agreement for implementing a 1,320 MW coal-based thermal power plant at Meja," NTPC said in a statement Thursday. Both partners will have 50 percent equity in the proposed JV, the statement said.

By IANS, Mumbai : Benchmark indices for Indian equities markets Friday shot up smartly as traders bought stocks which were battered for a majority of the week.

By IANS, Kolkata : Yes Bank is planning to raise its investment in the educational infrastructure sector 10 times to Rs.5,000 crore by 2015, a top official said here Saturday.

By IANS Mumbai : Indian shares jumped to a new high Wednesday with Sensex surging past the 16,000 mark buoyed by a positive global trend in the backdrop of a larger than expected interest rate cut overnight by the US federal reserve. The Indian rupee also hit a nine-year high following the rate cut, increasing investor appetite for enhancing increasing assets. The rupee closed at 40.20 per dollar.

By IANS/EFE, Sao Paulo : Brazil's coffee exports fell 15 percent in volume terms in February, compared to the same month in 2009, the exporters council, known as Cecafe, said. The report released by Cecafe Monday shows that nearly 2.23 million sacks, worth $361 million, were exported last month. The figures were affected by the crop's two-year cycle, which yielded smaller production numbers than in the previous year, Cecafe said. Brazil's main export markets are Germany, which buys nearly 1 million sacks annually, and the US, which purchases just under 800,000 sacks.

By IANS, Mumbai : After months of buzz, Italian lifestyle brand Diesel has entered the Indian market with two stores stacked with apparels, accessories, footwear, fragrances and shades here. "I have always admired Indian people, they are very passionate about what they do and they have an innate fashion taste...We are very excited to be here," said Renzo Rosso, president and founder of Diesel, at the launch of the stores Wednesday. Diesel has partnered with Reliance Brands, a part of the Reliance Industries group.

By Bernama, MANILA : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday said it will hold its 42nd annual meeting early May in the Indonesian tourist island of Bali to discuss issues such as the Asian response to the global financial crisis, climate change and regional integration, China's Xinhua news agency reported. Around 3,000 delegates including government leaders, central bank governors and finance ministers as well as representatives from academia, the media and civil society groups are expected to attend the four-day gathering starting from May 2.

By IANS, New Delhi : The government Thursday sanctioned over Rs.9.12 billion for implementing the Indian Leather Development Programme (ILDP). A cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sanctioned the amount to be spent during the 11th Plan period or 2007-12. "The scheme will lead to the development of infrastructure for the leather sector, and will address environment concerns specific to the industry," Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters after the meeting.

By IANS, Mumbai : Jan A benchmark index for an Indian equities market Wednesday was trading in a tight range even as broader markets saw moderate buying activiy.

By IANS, New Delhi : India is expected to produce more than 250 million tonnes of foodgrain this fiscal, President Pranab Mukherjee said Thursday.

By IANS New Delhi : Mumbai-based Murjani group, a leading global brand development firm, which owns the franchise for the US-based company Build-A-Bear Workshop is set to close all its retail-entertainments stores that sell customised stuffed toys.

By IANS New Delhi : A courier company has been fined Rs.150,000 for poor service after it lost a package containing share certificates of a consumer in Kerala. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission fined Blaze Flash Couriers Pvt Ltd, Kozhikode, after it failed to courier the packet to the destination, causing loss to the consumer. Rohit Poladiya, partner at Mahavir Enterprises, Kozhikode, sent a package containing share certificates March 7, 1992, to be delivered at Mumbai through the courier firm.

By IANS New Delhi/Nagpur : Conservationists and wildlife department officials across India have welcomed Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's announcement Friday to allocate Rs.500 million to help the critically endangered tiger. "We welcome this announcement by the minister, though the government has already committed to us Rs.6 billion in the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012) for tiger conservation," Rajesh Gopal, director of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) told IANS.

By IANS, New Delhi : Finance Secretary Duvvuri Subbarao has been named as the next Governor of the central Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it was announced here Monday. An alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Subbarao takes over from incumbent Y.V. Reddy Friday. The announcement was made by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram amidst speculation that Reddy may be given a three-year extension. The present Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank Rakesh Mohan was also a strong contender for the post.

By IANS,

By IANS

Chennai : Sundaram Infotech Solutions Ltd (SISL), the software development and implementation arm of Sundaram Finance, has negotiated a deal with Microsoft for Axapta ERP training in Saudi Arabia.