Economy

By IANS,

By IANS Mumbai : China has invited Indian IT and business process outsourcing companies to set up more units in its IT parks and build them up at par with those in cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. A delegation from Wuxi, an emerging economic zone in the Yangtze river delta, met representatives of software industries here and expressed a desire to convert their district into a "Bangalore of China".

By RIA Novosti, Moscow : Russian bourses Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange ( MICEX) and Russian Trading System (RTS) were partially closed Friday on instructions from the financial markets' regulator. Prior to their usual 10.30 a.m. Moscow time (0630 GMT) opening, both exchanges said they would remain closed and were awaiting further instructions, although an RTS spokesman said it would allow trading in repo contracts and bond repurchases. There was no immediate official word on when the two bourses will resume trading.

By DPA Los Angeles : The Walt Disney Company is planning to spend $1.1 billion to revamp its California Adventure theme park, which has been a disappointment to visitors since opening next to the famous Disneyland resort six years ago, the Los Angeles Times reported.

By Vinod Behl, IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : India and Norway will expand cooperation by signing an agreement on the development of the fisheries sector, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said here Friday. “The cabinet today gave its approval for the signing of a memorandum of understanding on bilateral cooperation in the field of fisheries between India and Norway,” Sibal told reporters after the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

By IANS, Kannur (Kerala) : Union Minister of Textiles Shankersinh Vaghela has said the central government will consider sanctioning projects like an integrated textile park in Kerala's Kannur district if adequate land is provided. Vaghela was speaking at a development seminar, Kannur Vision 2020, organised by the district committee of the Congress party here Sunday. Kannur district, around 300-km north of Kochi, is a major handloom textile centre in the state.

By IANS,

By IANS, Bhubaneswar : Birla Tyres, a unit of the BK Birla Group company Kesoram Industries, resumed production at its Orissa plant Monday, a company official said. The factory at Balasore town, some 200 km from here, was closed down temporarily Feb 16 for the third time on account of poor market conditions. "We resumed full production today (Monday) even though the market condition has not yet improved. We will review the situation after 10 days," a senior plant official told IANS on condition that his name should not be disclosed because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

By IANS, Mumbai : Bears once again had the last laugh Tuesday as Indian equities markets slipped into the red again late afternoon after being in positive territory for most of the day with a key index closing more than 200 points lower than its previous close Monday. Unrelenting selling pressure at the higher levels led to the markets finally going into the red, analysts said while explaining the market movements.

By V. Jagannathan, IANS, Chennai : Even as global auto majors went into reverse gear in 2009, the Indian industry largely bucked the trend, launching new models for the domestic market and registering significant growth in exports. The year saw the commercial rollout of the world's cheapest car, Tata Nano, as also some expensive models like the Rs.37.5-million (about $750,000) Phantom and the Rs.25-million ($250,000) Ghost (both from Rolls Royce), apart from Volkswagen's famed Beetle, priced at Rs.2 million ($40,000).

By DPA, London : The British government Tuesday approved a comprehensive rescue package to stabilize the banking system with a capital injection of an estimated 50 billion pounds ($87 billion), the BBC reported. In addition to the capital boost, aimed at shoring up the balance sheets of leading banks, the agreement includes the creation of a standby facility for the provision of any funds that might be needed to guarantee the day-to-day operations of banks.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Indian economy can expand as much as 7.75 percent this fiscal, says the country's Economic Survey for 2008-09, while calling for sweeping reforms in areas like foreign investment, divestment, taxation and the subsidy regime. "If the US economy bottoms out by September 2009 there would be good possibility for the Indian economy repeating its 2008-09 performance," said the country's annual economic report card tabled in parliament by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

By IANS, Shimla : The Himachal Pradesh government has inked an agreement with Tera Software Ltd and GNG Trading Pvt Ltd to establish 2,070 information kiosks in Shimla and Mandi divisions, a senior official said here Tuesday. "The kiosks would provide online services in rural areas and people would be able to access the services without visiting district and subdivision headquarters," Secretary of the Department of Information Technology B.K. Aggarwal told IANS.

By IANS, New Delhi : The government will come out with a "stimulus like package" by the end of this month to help the country's corporate sector tide over the impact of the current global financial crisis, Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai said Thursday. "I don't think it would be a stimulus package like we had earlier but will be like that," Pillai said here on the sidelines of the International Plastic Conference, referring to two packages announced since December to pump-prime the economy.

By IANS New Delhi : The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Thursday ordered Vodafone-Essar, a leading telecom operator, to refund all money that it has charged for providing value added services to its subscribers without their approval. "The authority had received complaints from the subscribers of Vodafone-Essar Mobile Services Ltd regarding provision of value- added services without consent," TRAI said in a statement. The firm admitted to "technical error", it added.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities market was trading with huge loss at the early trade Tuesday following weak global cues. Banking, telecom and select technology stocks were under selling pressure. The 30-share benchmark sensitive index of Bombay Stock Exchange opened with a loss of 263.43 points at 13,067.08 points. Five minutes into the trade, the sensex was trading at 12,967.31 with a loss of 363.50 points or 2.72 percent.

By Matt Steinglass, DPA Hanoi : Developers are predicting another red-hot year for property in this Vietnam city, with retail rents rising to $200 per sq metre per month, new high-rise projects going up across the city, and the rice fields to the city's west and north transforming into suburban villas and shopping malls. This is good news for some, but bad news for others. With its cramped medieval Old Quarter, French colonial avenues, and scattered lakes and pagodas, this city of four million had long retained the feel of an overgrown village.

By IANS Sriperumbudur (Tamil Nadu) : Perlos Telecommunication and Electronic Components (India) Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Finnish mobile phone casings manufacturer Perlos Corp, has started production here Thursday. Inaugurating the Indian plant, Matti Virtanen, president and CEO of Perlos Corp, said the plant had sufficient space to double production. Built at an outlay of $30 million inside the Nokia Telecom Park, a special economic zone, Perlos' plant has a capacity to make six million instruments every month.

By Prensa Latina Havana : Twelve developing economies from Central America and the Caribbean will meet Friday in the Cuban city of Cienfuegos in a bid to work out a mechanism for energy cooperation. The fourth Petrocaribe Summit will review the implementation of agreements and exchange opinions on efforts to consolidate it as a mechanism of energy cooperation and integration in the region.

By IANS, Mumbai : Oil companies Monday hiked the price for aviation turbine fuel (ATF) by almost Rs.3,000 ($75) effective from Tuesday. This is the seventh price hike of ATF in the past six months. According to figures obtained from Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), ATF in Mumbai will cost Rs.71,630 per litre, up from Rs.68,626, whereas in New Delhi it will cost Rs.69,097 against Rs.66,226. With the new fuel price hike, most airlines are again expected to pass on the burden to the passengers.

New Delhi : Tens of thousands of anxious people massed outside banks and ATMs here on Saturday for a third day to deposit or...

By IANS New Delhi : The metre gauge railway line linking Ratlam-Mhow-Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh and Akola in Maharashtra will be converted to broad gauge. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday approved the railway ministry proposal. "The work would involve 472.64 km and entail an expenditure of Rs.14.21 billion," Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi.

By IANS, New Delhi : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday assured every step to tame inflation, which he feels may be higher than 8.5 percent by end-March, and said a 7.2-percent economic growth was not a fantasy given the industrial rebound. "A 7.2-percent growth is not my pipedream, even though I have given up smoking pipes," Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, replying to a debate on the federal budget for the next fiscal, which he had tabled Feb 26.

Mumbai, Sep 27 (IANS) A day after a key Indian equities index topped the 17,000-point mark, another broad based index scaled the 5,000-point level for the first time ever Thursday, as stocks registered gains for the seventh straight day. The 50-share index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), called the S&P CNX Nifty, saw a major rally in early hours of trading Thursday and surged 75.05 points to touch 5,015.55. It took the index 55 trading sessions to reach the 5,000-point mark from 4,000, compared with 203 sessions for breaching the 4,000-point level from 3,000.

By IANS,

* New governance structure required; more decentralisation and deregulation; accounting system to be revamped * Resources to be generated through public-private-partnerships * Suburban network in Mumbai,...

By Andrew McCathie, DPA, Berlin : The Group of 20 (G20) is likely to face a test next year of its new-found role as the world's top economic forum. Apart from its planned makeover of the world financial system, the G20 major industrial powers and the leading emerging economies will also begin rolling back the big fiscal stimulus packages launched by governments to counter the recession.

By Fakir Balaji, IANS, Panaji : It's time for a reality check for the Indian realty market, which is coming to terms with the downturn after riding on the economic boom over the last four to five years. "The economic slowdown, high interest rate, tight liquidity and the sub-prime crisis in the US are having a cascading effect on the Indian realty market," global realty consultant Cushman & Wakefield executive managing director (South Asia and Australia) Sanjay Verma said.

By IANS,

By IANS, Pune : Followers of the Varkari sect in Maharashtra Friday intensified their agitation against Dow Chemicals to press their demand for closure of the multinational company's unit near here for alleged pollution. The Varkaris staged a protest in Chakan, Alandi and Khed sub-districts. The Varkaris, known for their peace loving nature and devotion to Maharashtra's reigning deity Vithoba of Pandharpur, are up in arms against the infamous Union Carbide's sister concern setting up its Research and Development unit at Shinde Vasuli near Chakan, about 25 km from Pune.

By IANS, London : Scottish cash machine manufacturer NCR is facing accusations of paying its Indian workers less than the national minimum wage. Dundee West MP Jim Mcgovern claimed workers from India at the multinational company's Dundee plant were being paid 2.80 pounds ($5.57) per hour, equivalent to their wages back home. The national average is 5.52 pounds. Mcgovern also said the company transferred 10 workers from India to Scotland before announcing plans to cut 51 jobs at the plant. Even the jobs of the foreign workers are now under question, reported the BBC.

By DPA, Vienna : The price for crude oil produced by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell by another $0.77 Monday, OPEC said Tuesday. One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC crude stood at $56.80 Monday, compared with $57.57 at the end of last week. Since the end of September, the basket price based on 13 brands produced by cartel members has dropped by $33.52.

By Francis Kokutse, IANS,

By IANS,

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities market ended Wednesday with a marginal gain for the second consecutive day amidst extreme volatility. Strong global cues triggered a gaining rally in early trade. However, profit booking by investors erased most of the early gains and by afternoon, the market turned flat but ended the day in the positive zone.

By Joydeep Gupta, IANS New Delhi : The global carbon market grew by 80 percent in 2007, says a report by Point Carbon, a firm that analyses the international trade that has developed in an effort to address climate change. India has become the largest beneficiary of the trend since 2006.

New Delhi: Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will on Thursday inaugurate a two-day conference on business, technology and leadership, Infocom, here...

By IANS, New Delhi: With a growing global interest in India's engagement with Africa and China's surge in the region, experts and officials Wednesday pitched for imparting a strategic vision to the burgeoning economic and diplomatic ties between New Delhi and the resource-rich African continent. Gurjit Singh, joint secretary in charge of East and South Africa in the external affairs ministry, outlined key features of India's Africa policy that revolves around increased trade and investment, capacity building and training.

By DPA, New York : Major US stock market indices halted a three-day slide after the price of oil fell Thursday. The price of crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) dropped 4.75 dollars per barrel to close at $131.93 per barrel. The oil market moved after the Chinese government announced a hike in subsidized petrol prices. China, the world's most populous country, has one of the fastest growing economies and is the second- largest consumer of oil, trailing only the United States.

By IANS,

By DPA, Harare : Zimbabwe's central bank Friday issued a 10-billion-Zimbabwe-dollar banknote, as inflation drove the value of the currency to new depths, according to state radio. A bulletin said the 10-billion-dollar note, issued simultaneously with 1-billion and 5-billion-Zimbabwe-dollar notes, "would go a long way in improving workers' access to cash." Only a week ago new notes of up to 500 million Zimbabwe dollars in value were issued in a bid by the Reserve Bank to ease mammoth queues at banks around the country caused by acute cash shortages.

By IANS, Agartala : The opposition Trinamool Congress Wednesday held a demonstration here against Tata Motors' Nano project at Singur in West Bengal. "We are with those unwilling farmers whose land had been taken forcibly to set up Tata's Nano car project," said Arun Chandra Bhowmik, chairman of the Trinamool Congress Tripura unit.

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, Agartala : The Kolkata-based private airline Northeast Shuttles Ltd (NSL) Thursday announced that it has launched a chartered flight service in the northeast region. "The civil aviation ministry has given approval to operate this non-scheduled and charter passenger service, first-of-its-kind in the northeast," NSL managing director Sheba K. Mani said. "Our motto is to boost tourism and also to promote regional development in the northeast and to provide access to the small cities, towns, and remote areas of the region," she added.

By Xinhua Washington : The global economy will slow its continued expansion due to the recent financial turmoil trigged by the US sub prime mortgage difficulties, according to the World Economic Outlook released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "Credit conditions have tightened as increasing concerns about the fallout from strains in the US sub prime mortgage market led to a spike in yields on securities collateralised with such loans as well as other higher-risk securities," said the report released Wednesday.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's third party business process outsourcing (BPO) services exports in 2007-08 grew 21.4 percent to Rs.264.23 billion, up from Rs.217.60 billion in the previous fiscal, according to a new study. In dollar terms, the growth was even more impressive at 36.6 percent to $6.6 billion, up from $4.8 billion last fiscal, said the study by Dataquest, the flagship publication of the CyberMedia group.

By Shyam Pandharipande, IANS Nagpur : More than two months after winning a racial discrimination case against a British telecom firm, an Indian management student in the University of Northampton is still waiting for a formal apology from the company. Talk Talk Direct Ltd., the call centre arm of leading landline service provider Carphone Warehouse Group, had called back Chetankumar Meshram in the middle of a training assignment in Delhi because his accent was not 'English enough'.

By IANS, Chennai : In the distributor-driven Indian insurance market, Aegon Religare Life Insurance plans to toy with direct sales as part of its strategy to break even in three years. On an experimental basis, the company - a joint venture between the Religare group (44 percent stake), Bennett Coleman and Co. (30 percent), and the Netherlands-headquartered Aegon (26 percent) - intends to open four direct sales branches.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has bagged four electrical projects worth Rs.6.35 billion (over $145 million) from the UAE and Oman in the Gulf region, the firm announced Tuesday. Giving details of the projects, the company said two of these orders valued at Rs.5.21 billion were granted by Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) for the construction and erection of five power sub-stations, including the laying of cables for power supply.

By IANS, Lucknow : The Indian Industries Association (IIA) of Uttar Pradesh has announced that it has applied for empanelment in the Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana (RGUMY), under which the body would assist young entrepreneurs to set up industries in the state. RGUMY, which was launched earlier this year by the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises for promoting micro industries, had invited applications from industry bodies to train and monitor small enterprises under the scheme.

By IANS Foreign Exchange Derivatives Market to be set up Coal regulator to be set up Textile upgrading funding to get Rs.10.9 billion National highways to get Rs.129.7 billion Rs.440 million to improve infrastructure at 22 Sainik schools

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities market Thursday opened with a positive gap tracking strong Asian cues. The 30-share benchmark sensitive index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened with a gain of 90.35 points at 16,288.76. At the same time, the S&P Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 4,890.60 with a marginal gain of three points compared to its previous close.

By NNN-PTI, New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's maiden three-day visit to energy-rich Gulf nations from on Saturday is expected to feature discussions on sourcing natural gas to address India's food and energy security needs. Singh's discussions with the heads of state in Oman and Qatar are likely to be on sourcing feedstock for the joint venture fertiliser company in Oman as also liquefied natural gas for use back home, officials said.

By IANS,

By James Jose, IANS, New Delhi : What do fitness chains and life or health insurance companies in India have in common? The answer: Consumer apathy. Wellness companies and life insurers had started wooing the Indian middle class thanks to its rising income levels and dramatic changes. But much to their surprise, they have realised that Indian consumers don't always care enough about being fit or ensuring contingency funds for the future.

New Delhi : The Lok Sabha on Monday discussed a bill that provides for declaring certain inland waterways as national waterways. The National Waterways Bill,...

By IANS, New Delhi : The high government borrowing targets will leave very little room for interest rate cuts, Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar said Friday, adding that the troubled time is yet to come for the Indian Economy. "The high borrowing will leave little fiscal headroom for interest rate cuts," Chandrasekhar, the country's highest-ranked bureaucrat, told reporters on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). At the same time, he said, private banks were not doing enough to bring down interest rate.

By IANS, New Delhi : The government has decided to release inflation data on Thursdays instead of the current practice of announcing it on Fridays to avoid the leakage of the sensitive information. The decision was taken in the wake of a few instances where the sensitive data was leaked before the official announcement, creating unnecessary hype and panic in the market, a commerce ministry official said Wednesday.

By IANS, London : Workers unions were seeking urgent talks with Corus Monday after the Tata-owned steelmaker was said to be considering shedding up to 3,500 jobs. Although none of its plants will close down, unattributed media reports over the weekend and Monday said up to 10 percent of Corus's 24,000 workforce in Britain could be cut, raising fears of a general wave of British redundancies this week.

By IANS Jaipur : The Rajasthan government has offered a host of concessions to Honda Siel Cars India Ltd (HSCI), which is setting up a new manufacturing facility in Alwar district with an initial investment of over $230 million. While providing sops to the company, the state government said in various notifications that it has decided to offer a 50 percent exemption on electricity duty, a lower central sales tax of 0.05 percent with respect to the sales of cars, sub-assemblies, spare parts and components manufactured by the company in Rajasthan.

By DPA, New York: US stocks ended the week mixed as a key gauge of the US economy's performance released Friday suggested the country's recovery was beginning to gather steam.

By IANS Mumbai : Realty major Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd (IREL) will acquire the entire stake of realty investment firm Dev Property Development for Rs.10.9 billion ($270 million). In a communication to the Bombay Stock Exchange Thursday, the company said the board of directors has approved the purchase of 100 percent of ordinary shares in the firm. Dev Property is listed at the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.

By IANS,

By IANS

New Delhi : India's revenues from corporate tax, income tax, custom and excise duties, and service taxes will touch Rs.580,816 crore (Rs.5.80 trillion or $143 billion) by 2009-10, according to a study.