Economy

By Joydeep Gupta, IANS, Salzburg : The European Union has a 20-20-20 target to be achieved by 2020: cutting greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent, reducing energy consumption 20 percent by increasing efficiency and increasing the share of renewable energies to 20 percent. How is this to be achieved? The state of Upper Austria has the answer.

By IANS, Sharjah : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) based natural gas company Dana Gas and Emirates General Petroleum Corporation (Emarat) have announced the completion and inauguration of the Middle East's first common user gas pipeline here, WAM news agency reported Tuesday. The main pipeline of the project is a 48-inch (122 cm) gas pipeline that connects the Sharjah gas hub at Sajaa to the fast-growing industrial area at Hamriyah, and covers a distance of 32 km, with a transport capacity of one billion cubic feet per day.

By IANS, New Delhi : State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has extended the contract of California-based networking solutions provider UTStarcom for building its infrastructure network, the US company said Monday. BSNL has introduced Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) with video-on-demand (VoD) capabilities over its broadband infrastructure as part of its multi-play package. UTStarcom deployed 1.3 million broadband lines in the first phase and now plans to increase the number to 2.4 million.

By IANS, Mumbai : Gujarat Gas Company stock closed Tuesday 6 percent higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange, after it received board approval for a...

By IANS, New Delhi : Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal is likely to meet pilots, engineers and other officials Monday to discuss cost-cutting measures, including salary cuts up to 20 percent, an official said Sunday. “The Jet chief will meet pilots and other airline officials tomorrow (Monday) to discuss cost-cutting measures. The decision on salary cuts will be announced after the meeting,” the official told IANS requesting anonymity. However, A.K. Shivanandan, senior general manager of public relations of sister airlines JetLite, said he was not aware of the development.

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By Priyanka Sahay, IANS,

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By Eva Krafczyk, DPA, Nairobi : Nigeria's Akin Adesina, vice president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), sees the global food crisis as an opportunity as well as a challenge. "Over the medium and long term, the expansion of agriculture, not food aid, is the only solution," he remarked. Adesina said it was scandalous that Africa's agricultural output had declined over the past 30 years, with many African farmers producing too little to feed even their own families. "The agricultural sector in Africa has been neglected for decades."

By IANS Hyderabad : Intel Corporation, the world's biggest chipmaker, will launch its latest quad-core Xeon processor here Thursday. The chip-based server platform in the 7300 series has been code-named 'Tigerton' for the processor and 'Clarkboro' for the chipset with data traffic optimisation. Earlier, the platform was known as Caneland.

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By Xinhua, New York : Wall Street ended lower Thursday as investors weighed a series of mixed economic news. Energy, material sectors lost most as the oil prices plunged to a four-and-half-year low of $36 a barrel. Chevron Corp. fell $3.94 to $72.88, and Exxon Mobil Corp. dropped $4.13 to $76.93.

By IANS, Mumbai : Foreign funds were aloof during the trading week at Indian equities markets which ended Friday, even as stocks rose significantly for the first time in three weeks.

* Receipts in 2014-15 estimated at Rs.164,374 crore, expenditure at Rs.149,176 crore * Fare revision will bring in Rs.8,000 crore; need another Rs.9,000 crore for...

By IANS/EFE, Madrid : Spain's Repsol YPF is planning to begin exploring for oil in Argentine waters near the Falkland Islands late this year, CEO Antonio Brufau said. The Falklands, known to Latin Americans as the Malvinas, were the object of a brief war between Argentina and Britain in 1982. "We're now in the phase of contracting the oil rig," Brufau said, adding that the consortium will go ahead with its plans even though exploration in that area is not easy and the probability of success is very "low or limited".

By Arun Kumar, IANS Washington : As the world discusses a new agreement to fight global warming, the US says nuclear energy will be a "key piece of the equation" for the future of India's contribution to adjusting climate change. "There is no question that nuclear power has to be part of the solution," a key advisor of President George Bush told reporters Wednesday at a White House briefing on the UN conference on climate change underway at Bali, Indonesia.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's food grain production as per the fourth Advance Estimates of Crop Production for 2007-08 is estimated at 230.67 million tonnes. The total food grain production includes rice production at 96.43 million tonnes, wheat at 78.40 million tonnes, coarse cereals at 40.73 million tonnes, pulses at 15.11 million tonnes and oilseeds at 28.82 million tonnes, according to a report released Wednesday by Agriculture Secretary P.K. Singh.

By IANS, Washington: Urging Congress to pass his $447 billion jobs bill without further delay, US President Barack Obama Thursday said the US economy needs an immediate "jolt".

By IANS, Chennai : Japanese auto major Nissan Motor Co will make next generation March model at its Orgadam plant near here, built in partnership with French car maker Renault, a top official said Saturday. The joint venture company Renault Nissan Automotive India Ltd (RNAI) is investing around Rs.40 billion ($833 million) in the plant, which has a total capacity of 400,000 units. "We will roll out the small car from our Chennai plant while the plant in Thailand is the mother unit for that model," RNAI managing director Shouhei Kimura told reporters.

By Groum Abate, IANS, Addis Aaba : India continues its sugar quest in Africa, with Delhi-based Uttam Sucrotech winning the $100 million contract for expansion of the Wonji-Shoa sugar factory in central Ethiopia. The Indian government has given a $640 million loan for three sugar factory projects: two expansion projects at Fincha and Wonji and a giant new factory at Tendaho in Afar Regional State. The money is to be released phase by phase from India's state-owned Import Export (EXIM) Bank.

By IANS, New Delhi : India is attracting more foreign travellers and is witnessing a consistently high growth in the tourism sector for the past three years, the Rajya Sabha was informed Tuesday. Minister of Tourism Ambika Soni, however, said Singapore received more tourists than India last year. Quoting the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), she said there were about 7.59 million international tourist arrivals in Singapore in 2006 as compared to 4.45 million foreign tourist arrivals in India.

By IANS, New Delhi : Reducing fiscal deficit is an imperative in the fight against high inflation, which touched 12.44 percent for the week ended July 26, a senior finance ministry official said here Wednesday. "There is a need to increase the share of direct taxes by eliminating incentives and step up measures against direct tax evasion," Revenue Secretary P.V. Bhide said. Bhide, who was speaking at a seminar on taxes organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), said fiscal deficit reduction had become important in view of rising inflation.

By IANS, Bangalore : IT bellwether Infosys Technologies has bagged a multi-billion-rupee IT project from the state's power distribution utilities, a top official said Thursday. "Since Infosys emerged as the lowest bidder for the IT project, it has been awarded the contract," Karnataka Power Transmission Corp managing director Latha Krishna Rau told IANS. Though Rau declined to give the value of the contract, a source at Bescom, one of the power utilities, said it was about Rs.390 crore (Rs.3.9 billion/$83 million). Top Infosys officials were not reachable to confirm the deal.

By IANS, New Delhi : India is the third most popular country for sourcing foreign talent after China and the US, a survey by global recruiting firm Manpower Inc released Tuesday said. The Borderless Workforce Survey conducted in 27 countries also showed India received the highest remittances ($27 billion) from nationals working abroad. It is closely followed by China ($25.7 billion), Mexico ($25 billion) and the Philippines ($17 billion).

By IANS New Delhi : The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), in order to take FM radio broadcasting to the next growth level by making it accessible to everyone, Friday recommended increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector. The FDI limit for FM Radio broadcasting permission holders, who want to broadcast news, should be enhanced to 26 percent from the present 20 percent, TRAI said in its list of recommendations to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

By IANS Chennai : City-based software services company Zylog Systems Ltd will soon offer voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) services by partnering with a leading US company. "We are contemplating to become a service provider and focus on the retail segment. The current players are catering to the enterprise segment," Sudarshan Venkatraman, chairman and CEO of the company, told IANS.

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By IANS, Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh government has directed its road transport corporation (UPSRTC) to install speed-control devices in all its buses, an official said here Wednesday. "The move intends to check overspeeding of buses that tend to cause road mishaps. Following the government directive, we will ensure fitting of speed-control devices in about 7,000 buses owned by the UPSRTC," Chief General Manager (Technical) A.K. Srivastava told IANS.

By IANS, Chandigarh : People in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh set aside a huge part of their annual income for health expenses, but spend very little on health insurance, according to a survey released Tuesday. The survey, jointly carried out by economic research institute National Council of Applied Economic Research and Max New York Life Insurance, found that "in Punjab, for an average household income of Rs.77,325, the annual health expenses are Rs.34,729, which is 44.9 percent of the income".

By IANS Mumbai : The Indian stock market watchdog Monday cleared the doubts of all foreign institutional investors. Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairman M. Damodaran told a televised videoconference that steps to curb issuance of participatory notes were not aimed at curbing capital inflows. Sebi Monday approved 16 applications of foreign institutional investors and invited overseas investors to register as FIIs.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's annual rate of inflation crossed the 12 percent mark to 12.01 percent for the week ended July 26 as compared to 11.98 percent the week before, data released Thursday showed. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) released by the ministry of commerce and industry showed an increase in the prices of primary articles by 0.1 percent, while that of non-food articles rose by 0.4 percent.

By IANS, Chennai : India's insurance watchdog Friday offered life insurers, and more particularly the private life insurers, a mega New Year gift by easing solvency norms for the third time in recent days. Solvency margin is the excess of assets that a life insurer has to maintain over its liabilities. With capital becoming scarce, the latest move by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) will help insurers to conserve precious cash.

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By DPA, New York : US stocks reached a two-month high Friday, the first day of trading in 2009, buoyed by news that General Motors had received its first money lifeline from the US government. With Wall Street's three major indices adding 2.94 to 3.5 percent, the news took some of the sting out of the end-of-2008 headlines Wednesday, which dismally blared the market's worst annual drop since the Great Depression. The Dow Jones Industrial Average alone shed 34 percent over the year.

By DPA London : Reuters, the international news and financial information service, confirmed Friday that it had become a takeover target. The London-based company said it had received a "preliminary approach from a third party, which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the group." Shares in the firm soared by almost 19 percent as investors cheered the prospect of consolidation in the sector. But Reuters said there was no certainty that an offer would be made.

Bangalore : Leading energy producer Tata Power Solar has set up root-top solar panels at 62 sites across Gujarat with a cumulative capacity to...

By IANS, New Delhi : Public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) has lowered interest rates for car loans by 50 basis points, effective from Sunday. "The interest rate on car loan would come down from 11-11.5 percent to 10.5-11 percent, with effect from March 1," PNB said in a statement Saturday. Earlier this month, the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) announced that it would freeze interest rates for one year at 10 percent on car loans taken between Feb 23 and May 31.

By IANS Mumbai : Hong Kong's Dragon Air will launch services to India from May with a daily flight to Bangalore, the IT hub in southern India. The subsidiary of Hong Kong's carrier Cathay Pacific, Dragon Air will operate an Airbus A330-300 aircraft offering a two-class configuration. "We are excited at the prospects of our maiden step into the huge Indian market. The new service will open up new opportunities for people travelling between Hong Kong and the thriving southern regions of India," said Kenny Tang, Dragon Air's CEO, here Wednesday.

By IANS, Bhubaneswar : National Aluminium Co Ltd (Nalco), India's second largest aluminium manufacturer, has slashed its basic metal prices for the second time within a month to match international prices, a senior company official said Friday. “We have lowered the prices of standard aluminium products by Rs.4,000 a tonne that includes Rs.1,000 special discount,” the official told IANS. The discount will be withdrawn at the end of this month. The standard aluminium price per tonne would now be Rs.132,000, he said.

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By Reino Gevers, DPA Frankfurt : Carmakers are presenting a flurry of new drive concepts at the 62nd International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt Sep 13-23 aimed at making cars of the future cleaner and safer. Japanese, European and American car engineers are in a fierce competition on the best drive solution of the future as oil resources dwindle and the global number of vehicles are estimated to increase from 850 million to 1.2 billion in the next 15 years.

By Chris Cermak, DPA, Washington : A summit of leaders of the world's 20 largest economies, which will Saturday begin the process of rebuilding the global financial system, comes at the invitation of a humbled global superpower. Chastened by a global meltdown that began in the US mortgage market, the Washington summit of the Group of 20 nations represents an acknowledgement by the US that it cannot resolve the financial crisis on its own.

By IANS, Mumbai : National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), India’s first online spot trading platform that is scheduled to go live Aug 8, commenced mock trading on a pan-India basis in agriculture commodities here Wednesday. According to an announcement, NSEL has received license to commence online trading from the governments of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka. It has also signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the governments of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

By IANS, Mumbai : Orissa's Dharma Port project will not affect the nesting of the Olive Ridley turtles on the state's beach, claimed chief executive officer of Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DAPCL) Santosh Mohapatra here Monday. "The NEAA (National Environment Appellate Authority) after visiting the site upheld the clearance (to the project) with a clear finding that the place being muddy and silty is unsuitable for turtle nesting," Mohapatra told reporters here. The work on the port was stopped after objections raised by the international environmental activist group Greenpeace.

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By NNN-WAM Dubai : Burj Dubai, the iconic tower developed by global property developer Emaar Properties, has scaled 158 levels -- the most in any building in the world -- and is now 598.5m high.

By IANS Kolkata : After establishing its toehold in the European market, GEAR4, a Britain-based audio, iPod and accessories brand, is all set to hit the India market with its wide range of digital products from March this year. "We will launch all our 50 products in the Indian market from March this year. Our products would be available at retail chains and shops across the country," GEAR4 sales director Christophe Brisset told reporters here at the Pan India launch of its products Thursday.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's annual rate of inflation fell further to 5.91 percent for the week ended Dec 27, from 6.38 percent the week before, official data released Friday said. The inflation rate was 3.83 percent during the corresponding week the previous year. The wholesale price index (WPI) for all commodities declined 0.3 percent to 229.5 from 230.2 the previous week. Both figures are provisional. The index for primary articles declined 0.5 percent to 247.5 from 248.8 the previous week, while that for manufactured products fell 0.3 percent to 200.8 from 201.4.

By IANS, Shimla : The rupee's continued slide against the dollar is "a serious concern", Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said Wednesday.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Supreme Court is expected to conclude hearing the high-profile Krishna-Godavari gas dispute between Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) next week, sources in the registrar's office said Thursday. The hearing was called off Wednesday and Thursday owing to the indisposition of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan. The three-member bench, which has been hearing the case for eight weeks now, includes Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice P. Sathasivam.

By Fakir Balaji, IANS

Jaipur : Global chipmaker Intel Corp is all set to roll out its Classmate PC, a portable mini-notebook, in Indian schools from August to digitally enhance the existing teaching format.

The Indian subsidiary of the $39-billion silicon firm has tied up with HCL Infosystems to hard sell the novel educational tool in thousands of schools across India for empowering students and teachers with computer literacy.

By IANS, Colombo : Sri Lanka's currency depreciated by about 3.2 percent Wednesday for the second successive day on new government policy, the island's central bank said here.

By IANS New Delhi : It was a car rally with a difference as a group of Delhiites followed clues received on high-end Nokia cell phones to discover the city's "Soul of the Night", with the winners receiving an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas. Run over the weekend, the Nokia N82 Wireless Adventure saw 10 two-man teams utilise the gizmo to navigate through the streets of Delhi to discover the best hangout venues, nightspots and hidden landmarks that symbolize the spirit of the city's nightlife.

By IANS Mumbai : The Oberoi Group will re-brand its Trident Hilton chain of boutique hotels as Trident hotels and expand the brand in India and abroad, said chairman P.R.S. Oberoi here Monday. The group's existing Trident Hilton hotels located in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Kochi, Bhubaneswar and Chennai will be re-christened as Trident Hotels from Tuesday. The re-branding comes after the Oberoi Group terminated its association with Hilton International last September.

By IANS, Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Saturday signed a $100 million loan agreement with the government of India and the World Bank to support green initiatives in the state.

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By IANS, New Delhi: India is working out an arrangement through Deutsche Bundesbank (the German Central Bank) to pay Iran for crude oil purchases, an official statement said Friday.

By EuAsiaNews, Brussels : After having more than doubled in value between 2000 and 2008, EU trade in goods with India fell in 2009.

By IANS, Chennai : Integrated telecommunications major Reliance Communications Ltd Wednesday launched a new Motorola W362 handset here as part of its growth strategy. "The sleek made-in-India handset is priced at Rs.4199 and has rich features like MP3 ring tones, USB connect for Internet accesses, FM radio, camera and a large storage phonebook," said V.G. Somasekhar, hub head for Tamil Nadu and Kerala, at the launch. Initially, the new model will be available in 12 southern cities.

By Nayanima Basu, IANS New Delhi : ExlService Holdings Inc, one of India's leading integrated business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, plans to invest $8 million for a new unit in Hyderabad even as it eyes overseas markets. "We are looking at expanding to Hyderabad, which would typically be a 1,000-seater with the option of ramping it up in the future," said Rohit Kapoor, president and co-founder of EXL, who is also its chief operating officer. EXL has three units in Gurgaon, Pune and Noida. The Hyderabad unit is slated to open by mid-2008.

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, Kathmandu: Senior police officers in the Kathmandu Valley have warned that Nepali capital has been turned into a hub for illegal trade of small arms and guns.

By IANS, Beijing : The personal wealth of the rich in China has continued to expand despite the global economic downturn, and a new study says their number could cross 450,000 by the year-end. The phenomenal growth comes despite the global economic slowdown, said a report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Thursday. Assets under management have hit $1.73 trillion, China Daily quoted the report as saying.

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow: Russia increased its uranium reserves by 70,000 tonnes in 2009, the Federal Agency for Natural Resources (Rosnedra) said Tuesday. "We have good results for uranium - about 70,000 metric tonnes of growth in reserves," Vladimir Bavlov, deputy head of Rosnedra, said. With more than one million tonnes of stock, Russia has the world's second-largest uranium reserves and ranks fifth in terms of producing uranium output.

By IANS, Mumbai : Private carrier Jet Airways has posted a net loss of Rs.406.7 crore ($90.38 million) for the quarter ended Sep 30 as compared to a loss of Rs.384.5 crore reported during the like period last year. The airline's total income during the quarter under review was Rs.2,381 crore, down from Rs.3,258.4 crore a year earlier, Jet said in a regulatory statement Tuesday. The airline has undergone losses due to high operational costs and global economic turmoil which has hit hard the aviation industry worldwide. It also faced strike after its move to downsize manpower.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities markets, which opened with a loss Wednesday, were flat in early trade. Capital goods, banking, power and gas sector stocks were under selling pressure. The 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, opened with a loss of 204.07 points at 17,366.05. Ten minutes into trading, it was at 17,089.06 with a loss 141.12 points or 0.82 percent from Tuesday's close. At the same time the S&P Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 5,061.45 points with a loss of 43.50 points or 0.85 percent.

By DPA, Moscow : Russian automaker GAZ Tuesday officially confirmed its interest in forming a joint venture with German-based Opel and the Austrian-Canadian auto-parts supplier Magna International. "The GAZ group is hoping for further cooperation with Opel and Magna in the building of a competitive passenger car for Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)," said Yelena Matveyeva, deputy chairwoman of GAZ's board of directors. The GAZ concern is to make use of its new complex built in 2008 in Nishni Novgorod on the Volga river for the production.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets, which opened higher Thursday, fell as trade progressed, with a key index down 1.07 percent over its previous close around noon. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was at 9,103.77 points, 1.07 percent or 98.08 points lower than Wednesday's close. It had opened at 9,241.56 points, higher than its previous close at 9,201.85 points. At the same time, the broader-based S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was at 2,784.3 points, 0.67 percent down from its previous close of 2,803.05.

By IANS, New Delhi : There is enough onion stock available and production of the crop has also not reduced -- but its prices are still making people shed tears. Why? Onion prices in Delhi's retail markets are around Rs.30 a kg and even higher in other major Indian cities. "This may be because of speculation," Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma told the Lok Sabha Monday. "Speculation of low production" following delayed monsoon and then heavy rains this year had led to fears that agricultural produce would be low, he said.

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By IANS, Mumbai : A benchmark index of the Indian equities markets Friday, dragged down by heavy selling in blue chip stocks like Reliance, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank, plunged to end at its intra-day low and 201 points lower than its previous close. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) -- which opened at 16,855.91 points -- fell sharply in the last 30 minutes of trade to 16,693.06 points (provisional), down 201.19 points or 1.19 percent from its previous close at 16,894.25 points.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Reserve Bank of India hiked the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 25 basis points to 8.25 percent in its monetary policy announced Tuesday morning, while keeping the repo rates and reverse repo rate unchanged, in an effort to keep inflation down to 4-4.45 percent.

By IANS, Casablanca (Morocco) : United Arab Emirates (UAE) will give Morocco $300 million in aid to help the northwest African kingdom tackle the impact of rising energy costs, WAM news agency reported Sunday. UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has granted the aid to help ease the impact of rising energy prices, Morocco's ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation said in a statement Saturday.

By IANS, Mumbai : Despite staying in positive territory throughout the morning, Indian equities markets Wednesday again came under selling pressure to end the day in the red with a key index shedding more than 160 points to stay below the psychologically important 9,000 mark. The 30-share benchmark sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) finished at 8,773.78, down 163.42 points or 1.83 percent from its previous close Tuesday at 8,937.20 points.

By Fakir Balaji, IANS, Bangalore : Swedish transport solutions major AB Volvo is gearing up to emerge as the preferred choice of public transport in Indian cities. Having become a popular vehicle on inter-state and inter-city routes across the country for private operators as well as state-run transport corporations, Volvo says its air-conditioned buses will change the way millions of commuters are ferried in the cities on chaotic roads.

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : Heading into this weekend summit of world's 20 largest industrialised nations and emerging economies, the US says it shares some "common ground" with European Union leaders on how to address the financial turmoil. US President George W. Bush has invited the Group of 20 (G20) leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a summit here Nov 15, but his aides have been cautious about the prospects of concrete reforms emerging from the meeting.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets Wednesday closed lower with a benchmark index ending in the negative for the third consecutive day this week. Broader indices slipped a bit more.

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : With the world in the grip of the most severe recession since World War II, the global economy is projected to shrink by 1.3 percent in 2009, with a slow recovery expected next year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). While the rate of contraction should moderate from the second quarter of 2009 onward, output per capita is projected to decline in countries representing three-quarters of the global economy, the IMF said in its April World Economic Outlook (WEO).

By Prensa Latina Beijing : China's Three Throats Hydroelectric Plant, built at the world's largest dam, will reach full capacity this year and, among other positives, will rid the area of the deadly floods occurring every ten years. Manager Li Yongan says the giant project will generate 88.1 billion kW/h upon completion, which is slightly higher than the original design. Construction began in 1993 with a 22.5 billion dollar budget and involves a reservoir and 26 generators.

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By IANS Mumbai : UK-based telecom giant Vodafone and Indian partner Essar Wednesday announced that the Vodafone brand would be officially launched on Sep 21. Vodafone acquired Hong Kong-based Hutchison International's Indian telecom arm Hutch's stake in Hutch-Essar for $11 billion in May this year.

By IANS, New Delhi : Representatives of the ailing export sector sought a slew of sops including a Rs.5,000-crore market development fund when they met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and top officials Tuesday as part of pre-budget consultations. The exporters' wish-list, apart from the bailout package in the form of a market development fund, also includes elimination of the fringe benefit tax, income tax exemption, reduction of interest rates, and speedier insurance and service tax refunds.

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net Bhopal: A total number of 61 Memoranda of Understandings, (MoUs), worth Rs. 56829.48 crore (about US $ 14.207 billion) were signed at the conclusion of two-day International Investors' Meet here at Jabalpur, a historic town in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. On Friday, the first day of the Investors’ Meet five MoUs were signed to the tune of Rs. 10,310 crore (about US $2.5775 billion). While on Saturday 56 MoUs were signed worth 46519.48 crore (about US $11.379 billion).

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By Xinhua, Beijing : China and the United States Friday concluded their Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), agreeing to make available $20 billion to help emerging economies boost their global commerce. "The two export-import banks (in United States and China) will make available an additional $20 billion for trade finance, particularly for creditworthy importers in developing countries," US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told a press conference after the meeting.

By DPA Washington : Developing countries are well placed to weather the current economic crisis despite growth in the US coming to a virtual halt, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Thursday. The IMF also said industrial nations with more developed mortgage and financial markets have been struck harder by a correction in housing prices than poorer countries, where fewer people have access to credit.

By IANS, New Delhi : Sales of cars grew 40.3 percent in December owing to a low base, improved credit and customer appetite, said the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) Friday. In December, companies sold 115,268 cars compared to 82,174 units in the same month of 2008, according to data released by SIAM. Sale of commercial vehicles -- buses and trucks -- rose 171.6 percent at 48,614 units in the month under review from 17,897 units in the previous corresponding month.

By IANS, Hyderabad : Global clients of the beleaguered Satyam Computer Services will engage the scam-tainted IT bellwether for its software services, the company's interim chief executive Ram Mynampati said Thursday. “We have received support from our key customers. They assured us they will remain with the company in these challenging times. About 100 clients account for about 80 percent of the revenue,” Mynampati said at a press conference here.

New Delhi : Describing the AAP government's maiden budget as one for the poor and middle classes, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday...

By IANS, Ahmedabad : GRUH Finance Limited, a housing finance company and a subsidiary of HDFC Ltd, has expanded its reach to two more states and is aiming to achieve disbursement of Rs.10 billion by 2009-2010. The company's current disbursement is Rs.6.7 billion. GRUH managing director Sudhin Choksey told IANS that the projected expansion of business is based on the fact that the company has forayed into two new states - Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu - taking the total to seven states with 87 offices.

By IANS, New Delhi : Bharati Shipyard plans to acquire 51 percent equity stake and management control in south India-based Tebma Shipyards for Rs.75.75 crore, the company said Tuesday.

By IANS, Bhopal : The Madhya Pradesh government Wednesday announced improving the Chambal canal system under its water restructuring project with an expenditure of Rs.4.25 billion. "Improvement of main canal of Chambal canal system would bring 273,000 hectare area of 756 villages in Morena, Bhind and Sheopur districts under irrigation and would lead to considerable increase in the yields," said an official of the water resources department.

By IANS, Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala's 2006 per capita debt stood at over Rs.14,300 - the highest among states in south India - against the national average of around Rs.9,000. This was stated in the Economic Review 2008 tabled in the Kerala Assembly Thursday. Among the south Indian states, Kerala is followed by Andhra Pradesh with a per capita debt of around Rs.9,300, Tamil Nadu with about Rs.8,600, and Karnataka with about Rs.8,500.

By IANS, Lucknow : A recently disinvested sugar mill in Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh was Tuesday handed over to industrialist Ponty Chadda amid tight security. Kundan Sugar Mill in Amroha, about 400 km from here, was formally handed over to Wave Industries, owned by Chadda. Chadda's representatives came in a motorcade of 40 vehicles surrounded by private gunmen and a heavy police contingent to keep protesting employees of the mill at bay.

By IANS, New Delhi : Indian IT hardware industry has called for parity in the countervailing duty (CVD) and service tax, levied on IT hardware products, in a pre-budget memorandum submitted to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. "It is strongly recommended that the rate of service tax be aligned to that of the excise duty/CVD to avoid structural anomalies," the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) said in a statement Wednesday. Currently, the Service tax is pegged at 10 percent while the rate of excise duty/CVD is 8 percent.

By IANS, New Delhi : Hours after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the interim budget for 2009-10, India Inc. said Monday that the budget failed to live up to expectations, but welcomed the higher spending in social and infrastructure sectors, saying it will become the "main source of demand generation".

By DPA, Hong Kong : Hong Kong Tuesday was ranked the world's freest economy for the 15th consecutive year in a survey by the US think-tank the Heritage Foundation. Singapore was again ranked second in the annual study, followed by Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. The US was ranked sixth, one place lower than last year. At the opposite end of the survey, North Korea was ranked the world's most restricted economy, followed by Zimbabwe, Cuba, Myanmar and Eritrea.

By IANS, Mumbai : A benchmark index of Indian equities Wednesday ended 141 points lower Wednesday with profit booking kicking in during what was a very choppy day of trade. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 16,042.18 points, closed at 15,900.82 points (provisional), down 141.36 points or 0.88 percent from its previous close. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty shut shop at 4,754.7 points against the previous close at 4,792.65 points, a loss of 0.79 percent or 37.95 points.

By IANS, New Delhi : The government Tuesday said it would connect 5,000 blocks through wireless broadband soon after the allocation of the third generation spectrum. In a statement, the Department of Telecom (DoT) said this will be done with support from DoT's Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) after allocation of spectrum through an auction later this year. Private players contribute five percent of their earnings to the USOF, which is aimed at promoting rural telephony.

By IANS, New Delhi : Japan's leading mobile telecom operator NTT DoCoMo will pick up a 26-percent stake in Tata Teleservices for $2.7 billion (Rs.13,070 crore/Rs.130.7 billion), it was announced Wednesday. DoCoMo will also make an open offer to acquire at least 20 percent of the outstanding equity shares of Tata Teleservices Maharashtra, part of the $62-billion Tata group, India's largest industrial house.