Economy

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities market opened in green Thursday mirroring strong Asian markets which were running higher. Realty and consumer goods stocks were in demand in the initial trade. The 30-share benchmark sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange opened with a gain of 127.66 points at 16,796.26. Ten minutes into trade, the Sensex was trading at 16,785.25 with a gain of 87.21 points or 0.52 percent. At the same time, S&P Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 5,052.75 with a gain of 29.95 points or 0.60 percent.

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 Fakir Hassen, IANS, Johannesburg : South African pharmaceutical major Adcock Ingram, which last month said it wants to take over rival Cipla Medpro, Wednesday said it has received no letter from the targeted company's Mumbai-based partner Cipla India opposing the acquisition bid. In its potential offer to acquire Cipla Medpro, Adcock said it wanted written confirmation from Cipla India that the supply agreement it has with its South African partner would continue, on no less favourable terms, until September 2025.

By IANS, Kolkata : State-run Coal India Limited (CIL) Thursday expressed confidence that it would be able to raise production by another 180 million tonnes during the 12th five year plan.

By IANS New Delhi : Corporate India is readying to cash in on the China challenge with top business honchos accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Beijing Sunday, putting the spotlight on burgeoning business ties between the two rising Asian powers.

By IANS, Sydney: Changes in a company's email traffic foreshadow a looming crisis, an analysis of now-dead Enron Corporation's electronic correspondence has revealed.

By IANS, Dubai : The United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based power company ETA Star International, a member of the ETA Ascon Star Group, has entered into an agreement with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) of India to explore areas of cooperation in sustainable development. The agreement was signed by Hameed Salahuddin, director of the ETA Ascon Star Group, and Rajendra Pachauri, director general of TERI and chairman of the Nobel prize-winning Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an ETA Star statement issued here said.

By IANS, New Delhi : Over 24,000 people have asked big manufacturers of processed foods in India, including Nestle, Britannia and Hindustan Unilever, not to use genetically modified (GM) foods after Greenpeace put up a list of companies that could be using GM products. The NGO put up a list on the internet 11 days ago mentioning firms that did or did not say they used such foods.

By Paras Ramoutar, IANS Port of Spain : Indian automaker Bajaj India Ltd's motorcycles have begun to roar on the roads of Trinidad and Tobago following their launch in this Caribbean nation this week. Indian businessman Ved Janwani has been appointed the exclusive distributor. Janwani said he got the idea of importing motorcycles while stuck in a traffic jam. "I was stuck in a traffic jam when a motorcycle whizzed past me. Motorcycles can play a greater role decreasing traffic jams since they occupy a smaller part of the road."

By IANS, Mumbai: Reliance Industries (RIL) Thursday said it will pay $1.3 billion for a 45 percent stake in US-based Pioneer Natural Resources' shale gas assets. "Reliance will acquire a 45 percent interest in Pioneer's core Eagle Ford Shale acreage position in two separate transactions. Reliance will pay $1.315 billion for its implied share of 118,000 net acres," the company said in a statement.

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS, Toronto : There was more cheering news from the world's ninth largest economy Tuesday. Continuing their positive streak for the sixth consecutive day Tuesday, Canadian markets were up two percent on rising financial and commodity stocks. Having sunk as low as 7,724 points in November from their historical peak of 15,000 last June, the markets have already gained five percent in the New Year.

By Arvind Padmanabhan, IANS New Delhi : The $130 billion French retail chain Carrefour has set up a 100 percent-owned arm to enter the wholesale merchandise business in India and will opt for the franchising route to open multi-brand retail stores in the country, senior company officials said Tuesday. The world's second-largest retail chain with presence in more than 30 countries, Carrefour intends to open the first cash and carry or wholesale store on its own by the second half of 2009, the officials added.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities markets that opened in the red Monday went on a further downslide in early trade, with selling pressure on realty, metals, consumer durables and oil and gas sectors. The 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, opened with a loss of 97.62 points at 16,641.45. Fifteen minutes into trading, it had dropped steeply to 16,571.83 points, a loss of 165.24 points or 0.99 percent from Friday's close. All major sectoral indices barring IT were in the negative zone.

By IANS, Mumbai: Shareholders of detergent manufacturer Nirma Monday voted for delisting the company from the stock exchanges.

By IANS, Kolkata : GPT Infraprojects Tuesday said it is expecting strong growth and has set a topline target of Rs.500 crore for 2010-11. "During FY 2009-10, we have also received a private equity investment, which has added to the strength of our balance sheet and reflects the confidence of the investor community in the inherent strength of our business. "Going forward, we expect to maintain the strong growth momentum, and have targeted a topline of Rs.500 crore for FY 2010-11," said Chairman D.P. Tantia in a statement.

By RIA Novosti Munich : Russia needs $1 trillion in investment to modernize its economy, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Sunday. Ivanov, who spoke at an international conference on security in Munich, said Russia would like to focus on private investment while state support was a catalyst for investment processes and a guarantee for financial investment by business, including foreign investors.

By IANS, Beijing : China's foreign trade posted a 44.4-percent growth in January year on year, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) announced Wednesday. Exports in January stood at $109.47 billion, up 21 percent from a year earlier, while imports rose 85.5 percent to $95.31 billion, Xinhua reported. The hefty increase was due to lower comparison bases a year ago when China's exports were hard hit by global financial crisis and less working days as the Lunar New Year holiday fell in January last year, the administration explained.

By IANS, New Delhi : Import of sensitive items into India, ranging from automobiles and alcoholic beverages to edible oil and vegetables, rose 34.5 percent during the first four months of this fiscal, despite a 32.5 percent dip in the overall import of merchandise goods. The total import of sensitive items stood at Rs.18,061 crore during the period under review compared to Rs.13,424 crore in the like period of last fiscal, as per data released by the commerce ministry Thursday.

By Sushma Ramachandran, IANS, The economy seems to be looking up since last week with some positive gains for stock markets and moderation in inflation, giving the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sufficient confidence to take more steps to infuse liquidity into the system. The cuts in the cash reserve ratio and the statutory liquidity ratio are expected to bring about an additional Rs.1,200 billion (around $25 billion) into the market. Hopefully this should pep up commercial banks to reduce lending rates and give a spur to demand growth.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets opened in the red Thursday, thanks to a fresh high in international crude oil prices. Oil touched $122 a barrel Wednesday. The market sentiment was also hit hard by the results of UBS Switzerland, which made a provision for sub-prime losses of $17 billion. The fact that other Asian markets were trading weak did not help either.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : India will raise the 26 percent cap on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the defence manufacturing sector to enable the co-development with Russia of a multi-role transport aircraft (MRTA), parliament was informed Wednesday. "There is a proposal to relax foreign direct investment cap of 26 percent to facilitate co-development of a multi-role transport aircraft," Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. "The matter is under process to get approval of the competent authority," he added.

By IANS, New Delhi : Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Wednesday launched here a new sedan, Verna Transform, priced at Rs.6.5-7.5 lakh. The petrol variant of the car starts at Rs.6.55 lakh and goes up to Rs.7.31 lakh, while the diesel version is priced between Rs.7.87 and 9.02 lakh. "The Verna Transform will boost Hyundai's already superior line-up of products," said Arvind Saxena, sales and marketing director, HMIL.

By IANS, New Delhi : Nestle India, a leading multinational food company, reported a standalone net profit of Rs.1,318 million for the third quarter ended Sep 30, as against Rs.1,161 million in the same quarter last year, up 13.53 percent. Net sales for the quarter rose 22.46 percent to Rs.11,104 million over the corresponding period last year. Total income for the quarter rose by 22.29 percent to Rs.11,157.90 million, against Rs.9,124 million in the corresponding quarter last year. The company also announced the second interim dividend for this year at Rs.14.80 per equity share.

By DPA, Washington : The global economic crisis has encouraged a rash of government reforms that should make it easier to start, run and close businesses around the world, according to a World Bank report released Tuesday night. The annual "Doing Business" survey recorded more regulatory business reforms in more countries than any time since the report began in 2004. In total, 287 reforms were adopted in 131 countries from June 2008 to May 2009.

By Xinhua Beijing : China's biggest financial leasing company, a joint venture between China Construction Bank (CCB) and Bank of America, was officially established here Friday. CCB, one of the four big state-owned commercial banks, has 75.1 percent stake in the $616-million (4.5 billion yuan) venture, while Bank of America owns 24.9 percent. "In addition to airplanes and ships, the new company will lease facilities for rail transport and power generation," a CCB official said. The venture will also issue bonds and provide inter-bank loans.

By Paras Ramoutar, IANS Port of Spain, Feb 26 (IANS) ArcelorMittal's plant in Trinidad and Tobago has run into trouble with many companies in the multi-billion industrial estates at Point Lisas accusing the steel major of violating environmental laws. According to reports, the Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corp Ltd (Plipdeco) has filed a formal complaint with the Environmental Management Authority (EMA).

By Abinash Verma, IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : Jet Airways has agreed to pay 3 percent of airfare to travel agents as commission, and Kingfisher Airlines too is expected to sign a similar deal this week. "We signed a deal with Jet Airways last (Sunday) night, and we will be paid 3 percent commission on air tickets that we book," Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) president Rajender Rai told IANS Monday.

By Xinhua, Gaza : Palestinian people on Monday waited in queues outside bakeries in the Gaza Strip which is running out of flour due to Israeli blockade. To overcome the crisis, Abdel Dayem Awad, owner of al-Salam grinder, said Israel must provide Gaza Strip with 5,000 tons of wheat every day to enable most of the bakeries and the mills to run. The crisis started as six flour mills announced they have shut down since last Thursday.

By KUNA, New Delhi : India Tuesday identified three challenges facing the world today -- food, fuels and fertilisers.

By IANS, Shimla : Authorities in hydropower major Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL), who are upbeat over the central government's decision to divest 10 percent stake through public offer, Tuesday said disinvestment will help in branding and creating identity of the company. "This (Disinvestment) will help us in branding our company. It will create our identity as shares will be floated in the market," company Chairman and Managing Director H.K. Sharma told IANS. Sharma said SJVNL will invest more than Rs.23,000 crore (Rs.230 billion) in the power generation sector.

By Sujeet Kumar

IANS

Raipur : Chhattisgarh is keen to transform itself into a tourist hub and plans to offer sops for those investing in the tourism sector in the state, including tax relief for land use and free power to set up hotels, said Tourism Minister Brijmohan Agrawal.