Economy

By Nayanima Basu, IANS Mumbai : Having traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) for decades, Brijmohan Sagarmal Agarwal, 85, recalls how the 132-year-old bourse has grown to epitomise corporate India's development since independence. "The BSE at that time was housed in a four-story building and the trading ring was on the ground floor," recalls the resident of suburban Mumbai who has seen the trading system transform from loud cries by brokers to the sophisticated computer deals.

By IANS, Chennai : The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) announced Sunday it was setting up a task force on food to look into the soaring prices of food items in the country. CII said in a statement issued here that the rising food prices were a matter of concern and "a global platform for dialogue and action to manage the (food) crisis" and an "immediate global response" were required. The Indian industry's response came a day after the US said India's growing middle class fuelled greater demand for food.

By IANS, New Delhi : Chandra Shekhar Verma has taken over as the chairman of the state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL), the country's largest producer of the commodity. Verma, who was earlier working as the director-finance with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), has taken over from S.K. Roongta who retired last month, the company said in a statement. The 51-year-old new chairman is a cost accountant and company secretary by training and also has a degree in law and legislatures.

By IANS, Shimla : Indian food processing major Himalaya International Ltd has signed an agreement with the US-based grocery chain ALDI to sell its products under 'Himalaya Fresh' brand name in that country. "As per the agreement, the ALDI stores will sell frozen vegetables, baby potatoes, breaded appetisers and Himalaya Fresh products through nation-wide chain of 1,000 retail stores in the US," HIL chairman Manmohan Malik said Wednesday.

By IANS, Dhaka: The one billion-dollar credit line India pledged to Bangladesh last month will be "costlier" than what Bangladesh gets from elsewhere, a newspaper Sunday claimed. It also said the "supplier's credit" will "force" Dhaka to purchase Indian goods. The newspaper quoted unnamed officials, experts and past advice from multilateral donors like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund against a supplier's credit.

By Anil Sharma, IANS Jaipur : They've lent sparkle to Jennifer Lopez and the Hollywood film "Troy", and now ornaments by Jaipur-based jewellery house Amrapali are making heads turn at red carpet events in the West. Oscar winner Halle Berry created quite a stir at the BFI London Film Festival in October when she attended the screening of "Things We Lost in the Fire" with gold hoops, earrings and bangles from India.

By IANS, Mumbai : A benchmark index for Indian equities Friday closed flat, having pared its intra-day losses. Trading was volatile amid negative cues from other Asian bourses.

By IANS Gurgaon : Humour was in abundance at the Partnership Summit here Thursday, with one Indian minister saying he would have been termed a "congenital idiot" if he had spoken of nine percent growth a quarter of a century ago. Another minister said the US should give visas to 10,000 Indian farmers who will lose their livelihood if Washington did not scale down subsidies for American farmers.

By IANS Mumbai : Indian equities ended lower for the fourth consecutive day Thursday despite improved results announced by market leader Reliance Industries. After a cautious start, benchmarks continued to slide in fear of more tolls on the sub-prime account in US markets after CitiGroup and Merrill Lynch were affected. According to Vidyut Devendrakumar, a member of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the market had been looking forward to results of the Reliance group firms for revival of sentiment.

By IANS, Mumbai : As fears over the impact of the global financial crisis on the Indian economy escalated Friday, a key Indian equities index closed with one of its steepest losses in recent months, with interventions by the government, the central bank and the markets watchdog having little impact to lift the battered sentiments. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange, which at one point was down 1,088.60 points, made a marginal recovery to end at 10,527.85 points - but still down 800.51 points, or 7.07 percent, over the previous close.

By Xinhua, Kuala Lumpur : Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Wednesday signed a code-sharing agreement with Jet Airways and plans to seal a deal with it for a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) joint venture in Hyderabad, India, by February end, its chief executive officer Idris Jala said here. The airline, which is also Malaysia's national carrier, was hopeful that India's Jet Airways would become its anchor tenant, Jala said after signing the code-sharing agreement with the Indian airline .

By IANS, New Delhi : The Chennai-based TVS Motor Co, manufacturer of two-wheelers, expects to grow at 15 to 20 percent this financial year after the negative growth the company experienced last fiscal, a senior official said here Monday on the sidelines of a bike launch. "Last year was bad with the two-wheeler industry experiencing a negative growth of 34 percent," TVS marketing head H.S. Goindi told reporters. "Expect the industry to grow by 10-15 percent this fiscal, TVS alone will grow by 15-20 percent." Goindi said his company was looking at growing faster than the industry.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's textile exports grew 8 percent in November following a surge in demand from Europe and new markets in Africa and Latin American countries, a textile ministry official said Sunday. Exports grew by over 11 percent during first two quarters of last fiscal, but started falling during the third and the concluding quarter with a decline of 10 percent at $20 billion (Rs.100,000 crore) in wake of the global slowdown.

By IANS, Mumbai : Tata Tea Ltd has announced a net profit of Rs.377.1 million during the first quarter this fiscal, compared to Rs.412.3 million in the same period the previous year, reflecting a decrease of 8.5 percent. For the latest quarter ending June 30, total income was Rs.3.27 billion, as against Rs.2.94 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.

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By IANS, London : Any takers for a seaside bungalow in Norfolk costing just a British pound? One note of caution though: the sea is eating away at the earth under it. A whole new controversy over coastal erosion and the government's reported indifference to the consequences has erupted after a couple was told that their three-bed home on the cliff on the Norfolk coast was valued at just about a loaf of bread.

By IANS Mexico City : German automaker Volkswagen has announced it plans to invest $1 billion in its plant in Puebla in central Mexico between 2008-2010, Spains' EFE news agency reported Sunday. The money will be earmarked for the manufacture of the Jetta and Bora models and to increase the plant's capacity, the company's chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, said Friday in a ceremony attended by Mexican President Felipe Calderon. "I think this is an important signal for the future," Winterkorn said, according to a communiqué issued by the Mexican presidency

By IANS, Mumbai : A key Indian equities index, which had managed to make gains soon after an early opening bell Monday, was ruling about 40 points higher than its previous close, about an hour after trade started. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 17,473.45 points and was ruling at 17,505.28 points, up 40.47 points or 0.23 percent from its previous close at 17,464.81 points, an hour into trade.

By IANS Chennai : For the first time, there will be a separate pavilion dedicated to the Indian entertainment industry at the world's biggest entertainment business fair, the NABShow 2008. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has been showcasing technology for cinema, television and radio for 80 years in the US. The business fair showcases the industry from 163 countries and has 27,000 foreign participants. It generated revenue of over $51 billion last year.

By IANS, Surat : Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) will soon start drilling three exploration wells at a depth of 2,500 to 4,500 metres in the Gulf of Khambhat off northwest Gujarat, officials said. The company has got the clearance from the ministry of environment and forests Feb 22 to start drilling the wells in the CB-ONN-2004/1/2 blocks, they said. The Gulf of Khambhat, formerly known as Gulf of Cambay, is known for its high currents and high tides round the year, which require extreme care in drilling operations.

By IANS, Lucknow : Legislators cutting across party lines Tuesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to slash Value Added Tax (VAT) on diesel.

By IANS Lucknow : The shutting of Reliance Retail within 24 hours of its launch in Uttar Pradesh has led industry leaders to ask why the company was singled out by Chief Minister Mayawati, who has openly given the nod for similar other ventures, including Spencer's of the RPG group.

By IANS Chandigarh : Most parts of Punjab and Haryana experienced widespread rainfall Saturday raising concerns among the farming community and agriculture experts about the threat to the ripe wheat crop. Even though there were no reports of major damage to the standing wheat crop from both states due to the light to moderate rainfall in the last 48 hours, farmers are hoping that the rains stop and the situation does not aggravate.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday directed officials to expedite implementation of the government's promise for housing for all as also to...

By IANS Washington : The Tata Group North America has joined First Book, a non-profit organisation, in a programme to distribute 65,000 new books to children from low-income families across the US. Second grade students from Dodge Park Elementary School in Maryland were the first students to receive the brand new books Wednesday with the support of the Tatas. The students participated in reading circles with Tata company representatives to celebrate First Book's mission to provide new books to disadvantaged children.

By IANS, New Delhi : The country got its first e-commerce site in Hindi Wednesday. Ezeego1.com, the country's first meta search travel site, launched its new Indian langauge window for the vast Hindi-speaking travel market so that customers in the tier II and tier III cities can book flight tickets on domestic circuits. Unveiling the new vertical, hindi-ezeego1.com, here, the chief operating officer of Ezeego1.com, Neelu Singh, said there was a huge market in north India that was comfortable with both English and Hindi, but preferred transacting their business in Hindi.

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 IANS New York : India will appeal the decision of a US court that upheld imposition of $42.4 million tax on its property in New York. The appeal will be filed in a higher court within the stipulated one month's time, a spokesperson of Permanent Mission of India (PMI) to United Nations told IANS Thursday. The PMI building across the United Nations headquarters in mid Manhattan is being put to both official and diplomats' residential use.

By IANS, Washington : Add one enzyme, and corn plants will be able to stand the cold much better, scientists have found. The finding is crucial in a situation where the price of corn - the world's number one feed grain - is going up. If corn's intolerance of low temperatures could be overcome, then the length of the growing season and yield could be increased wherever they are cultivated.

By IANS New Delhi : A pipeline stretching from Russia, moving through the Central Asia to South Asia and finally to China - this concept may be only a pipedream but a meeting of business leaders from India, Russia and China here Saturday brainstormed on the concept. A group of business leaders from India, China and Russia attended a Trilateral Conference on "Strengthening Economic Cooperation" organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), two leading business lobbies.

By IANS New Delhi : Indian biotechnology firm Biocon Ltd Wednesday said they would spend Rs.1 billion ($25.4 million) in the current fiscal ending March 2008 towards strengthening its research and development. "We plan to invest Rs.1 billion and it has already crossed the halfway mark," Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, managing director, told reporters here on the sidelines of Fortune Global Forum meet here.

By IANS, Kolkata : Kolkata-based Allahabad Bank Monday said it would increase its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 50 basis points to 13.50 percent from July 1 to increase its cash reserve ratio. The bank also decided to hike simultaneously the term deposit interest rates of various maturities. The maximum term deposit interest rate would now be 9.50 percent per annum for deposits of one year to less than three years. For senior citizens, the rate of interest for the same period would be 10 percent.

By K.S. Jayaraman, Bengaluru : Diesel, which is normally used in automobiles, buses, trucks and even railway engines and is considered "dirty", has been turned...

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : The US government Friday announced a deal with Citigroup that will give it control over as much as 36 percent of its common stock and replace a majority of its independent directors. But Indian American CEO Vikram Pandit and Chairman Richard Parsons will retain their positions at one of America's three largest bank holding companies. In a call with investors, Pandit said the decision was difficult because of what it would do to current investors, but that the bank had little choice.

By IANS Mumbai : Brushing aside fears that the rising rupee could dent a hole in the growth of Indian software industry, the sector is set to achieve a healthy 33 percent growth in the fiscal year 2008. The industry is also on fast-track to achieve the target of $75 billion in overall software and services revenues by 2010, Nasscom, an umbrella body of the Indian IT industry, said here Monday.

By IANS Kozhikode (Kerala) : The announcement by Air Arabia, the Middle East's first low-cost airline, that it would be starting a Kozhikode-Sharjah air service is being welcomed here. "We have been fighting for a foreign airline service from Kozhikode for the last three years. This is a moment of achievement for us," P. Zakir, president of the Malabar Chamber of Commerce, told IANS.

By IANS, New Delhi : Talks between Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and representatives of the striking employees of public sector oil companies ended late Wednesday night without any positive result. The Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA), an umbrella organisation representing nearly 45,000 public sector oil employees, called for the strike demanding pay hike. Deora, accompanied by Petroleum Secretary R.S. Pandey and chiefs of Indian Oil Corp and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), started talks with the OSOA representatives in the GAIL India Ltd headquarters here around 6.30 p.m.

By IANS, Bangalore : Infosys Technologies Ltd. posted a net profit of Rs.12.5 billion for the fourth quarter (January-March) of fiscal 2007-08, registering a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 9.2 percent over the previous fiscal under the Indian accounting practice. In a notification to the stock exchanges Tuesday, the IT bellwether said its consolidated revenue for the quarter under review (Q4) grew by 20 percent YoY to Rs.45.42 billion over the previous fiscal (2006-07) under the Indian accounting practice.

By IANS, New Delhi : Private sector power and automation company ABB India Friday reported a 54.17 percent decline in net profit at Rs.38.31 crore in its second quarter of 2010 as against Rs.83.60 crore in the like period of 2009. "The results of the company were adversely impacted in the second quarter on account of continued costs on the exit from rural electrification business and increasing price pressure in the market," it said in a statement. The total revenue fell by 3.88 percent at Rs.1,446.6 crore from Rs.1,505 crore in the like period of previous year.

By IANS, Chennai : The city-based Sundaram Business Services (SBS), the business process outsourcing arm of non-banking finance company Sundaram Finance Ltd, has formed a 51-49 joint venture company with Paris-based BNP Paribas Securities Services to provide securities services in India. The new company, Sundaram BNP Paribas Securities Services, will be headquartered in Chennai and will offer services such as fund accounting and transfer agency to both domestic and offshore investors.

By IANS New Delhi : India will continue to witness a flurry of mergers and acquisitions, valued at $42.92 billion in the first four months of this year, against $35.62 billion for the whole of 2006, experts told a seminar Thursday. In fact, India has emerged as the second most targeted nation for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the Asia-Pacific banking industry with deals worth $10.3 billion in 2007 so far, they told the seminar, organised by Dun and Bradstreet.

By DPA, Manila : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Saturday it was extending a rupee-denominated loan worth $113 million to a private Indian firm that will develop two wind power projects. The Manila-based ADB said the wind energy facilities would be built in the states of Gujarat and Karnataka by a wholly Indian-owned subsidiary of CLP Holdings of Hong Kong. "The project will help India's economic growth and energy diversification in an environmentally sustainable manner," said Shantanu Chakraborty, an investment specialist at the ADB.

By IANS Bhubaneswar : Hundreds of protestors in Orissa Thursday prevented the police and officials from entering the site of a proposed mega steel plant of Posco-India, a subsidiary of Pohang Iron and Steel Co. The protestors prevented the team of officials, led by district police chief B.K. Sharma, from entering the proposed Posco plant site at Balitutha village in Jagatsinghpur district, some 120 km from state capital Bhubaneswar. Two groups, one opposing the project and the other supporting it, organised rallies near the site Thursday.

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By IANS New Delhi : State-owned power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) will supply equipment worth Rs.40 billion ($1 billion) to power utility major NTPC Ltd's projects in Assam and Maharashtra. NTPC's board of directors granted both the contracts to BHEL at agreed prices during their meeting Monday, a well-placed source in NTPC told IANS. "BHEL emerged as the single bidder for both the projects in the international competitive tendering held earlier."