Economy

By IANS, Mumbai : UTV Software Communications saw its operating revenue increase 138 percent to Rs.1,708 million for the quarter ended Sep 30, as against Rs.719 million in the corresponding period last fiscal, according to a company statement Monday. The net profit of the company stood at Rs.328 million, showing an 86 percent increase, as compared to Rs.176 million posted in the corresponding quarter last year, the statement added.

By IANS Bangalore : Bharat Forge managing director Baba Kalyani and two other directors of the company suffered minor injuries Friday when their chartered helicopter crash landed at the Infosys campus helipad in Mysore, police officials said. The Bell helicopter of Deccan Aviation took off from Bangalore around 9.25 a.m. with Kalyani and the two directors who were flying to Mysore, about 130 km from here, for a visit to the company's automotive axles plant.

Bangalore : A high speed train would be introduced from Mysore to Chennai via Bangalore by upgrading the present rail network, Railway Minister D.V....

Thiruvananthapuram : Both the treasury benches and the Left opposition in the Kerala assembly Monday agreed that the recent hike in rail passenger and...

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : Accusing India, China, Russia and six other nations of failing to protect American producers of pharmaceuticals, films, computer software and other copyrighted material from widespread piracy, the US has placed them on a "priority watch list". The nine on the watch list will be "the subject of particularly intense engagement through bilateral discussion during the coming year," US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said Friday in a Congressionally mandated annual report.

By IANS Mumbai : Maharashtra-based airline solutions provider Kale Consultants Ltd has announced it would be now focusing also on logistics and travel segments of the airline industry. "Kale Consultants, which has grown from $2 million to close to $30 million by the end of this financial year, will now be fully entrenched into the airlines, logistics and traffic (ALT) industry," said Vipul Jain, the company's managing director and CEO.

By IANS Beijing : Though India and China have different views on global and bilateral issues, there is nothing that cannot be sorted out through free and frank dialogue, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said here Saturday. Harking back on the 1954 Panchsheel principles founded by former Chinese president Zhou Enlai and India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress chief said: "Pragmatism and mutual self-interest offer a sound basis for the future development" of the relations between the two countries.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : Botswana Vice President Mompati Merafhe Thursday called for increased economic ties with India, adding that his government will facilitate investment by Indian companies in the southern African nation. "We recognise that trade is still firmly minimal... It is a wakeup call to all of us," he said at an interaction with the Confederation of Indian Industry, adding: "Significance of trade and investment cannot be over emphasised."

By IANS, Bangalore : A Tata Motors team visited Dharwad district Sunday to inspect the land offered by the Karnataka government for relocating the Nano small car project from Singur in West Bengal. Tata Motors managing director G. Ravi Kant and senior officials of the company met Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa ahead of the site visit to discuss the slew of promises by the state government for setting up the Nano plant. Tata Motors wants 1,000 acres of land for Nano as it is an integrated project. Karnataka has agreed to provide the land and other facilities.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities market opened with a positive gap Monday tracking strong Asian markets. The 30-share benchmark sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange opened with a gain of 148.82 points at 16,611.41. The S&P Nifty of the National Stock Exchange opened at 4,955.90 with a marginal loss of three points compared to its previous close.

By IANS, Mumbai : Air India Holiday sold 1,110 packages in first 20 days of May fetching the airline a revenue of around Rs.85 million, a company release said here Tuesday. In April 2008, around 400 travel packages were sold. In fiscal 2007-08, the airline earned revenue of Rs.741 million from the sale of 13,120 holiday packages, said the statement.

By IANS, New Delhi : Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev has been appointed the goodwill ambassador for Olive Telecom in India. "It is a pleasure to be associated with a brand like Olive because of its innovative cutting edge technology and the significant role that the company is playing in bringing innovative convergence devices for its users," Kapil Dev said in a statement.

By IANS,

By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS, Seoul : Heartened by a maturing Indian automobile market, Hyundai Motor has decided to launch at least one new model in the country every year even as moves are afoot to expand the rural marketing network and localise more components. "Our plan is to introduce more than one new model every year and refurbish more than one existing model to gain market share," the company's managing director Han Woo Park told a group of visiting Indian journalists at the company's headquarters here.

By Azera Rahman, IANS, New Delhi : Carpooling may not be a popular concept in India, but with the recent fuel price hike, the trend might just catch on. A day after the increase in prices of petrol and diesel, various carpooling websites have recorded an increase in the number of hits - some by as much as 100 percent! Yogesh Saini, founder of the carpool website www.carpool.in, said the number of hits on his website went up by a whopping 110 percent a day after the hike was implemented.

By IANS, New Delhi : Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar Thursday said the prices of essential commodities, including sugar, were coming down. "The situation on rising prices of sugar, potato and other essential commodities have improved. The situation is definitely changing and it is a good sign," Pawar told reporters after inaugurating a conference on the Kharif Campaign. Driven by increasing food prices, India's annual rate of inflation, based on the wholesale price index, rose to 9.89 percent in February from 8.56 percent the previous month.

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : India is down by 11 places to the 75th in the Forbes 'Best Countries For Business' list with Denmark and the US rated the top two nations "better equipped to bounce back". India's ranking among the world's 127 economies slipped as it lost ground in areas like trade freedom (125), technology (64), corporate tax rate (118) and corruption (71), according to the list compiled by the US magazine.

By IANS, New Delhi : The government Tuesday approved 10 percent divestment of its shares in Coal India and allowed another state-run firm Hindustan Copper to issue 10 percent equity to the public. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs that was presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said the money raised by Hindustan Copper would be used by it towards its capital expenses, while that from the sale of 10 percent equity in Coal India will accrue to the government.

By IANS New Delhi : In a bid to popularise the 'bread and breakfast' scheme and enhance the number of rooms available to travellers, tax sops will be given to such establishments, Tourism Minster Ambika Soni said here Saturday. "India needs to develop tourism infrastructure. The bread and breakfast scheme will get tax exemptions and guest houses will be given rebates," Soni said at the annual convention of the Indian Association for Tour Operators (IATO).

By IANS London : The British Broadcasting Corp (BBC) has teamed up with a Kerala-based firm for an animation series with a budget of more than 10 million pounds ($20 million). The animation, called Freefonix, is co-produced by Britain-based Cinnamon Entertainment and the BBC, and has been made in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. Described as a high-energy adventure series following three musical renegades, the scripts for Freefonix were written in Los Angeles and New York, voices recorded in Ireland and the animation modelled by Cinnamon on the Isle of Man.

New Delhi : The government is planning to sell part of its stake in the Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and the issue...

By IANS Pune : Cummins India's power generation business Thursday inaugurated its manufacturing unit capable of making small generator sets of 15-150 KVA capacity here. Launching the facility at Pirangut, Anant Talaulicar, chairman and managing director, Cummins India Ltd. said: "The new unit will specialize in manufacturing small generator sets of 15-140 KVA capacity for original equipment manufacturers and distributors within and outside India." The Pirangut facility is comprised of two plants - Export Oriented Unit (EOU) and Domestic Tariff Area (DTA).

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets moved up a few notches during the week even as there was no clear indication of a positive breakout happening. A key index ended trade Friday 3.59 percent above its previous weekly close. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended at 9,634.74 points, registering a 3.59 percent or 333.88 points increase from last Friday's close of 9,300.86 points. Similarly, the broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shut shop at 2,948.35 - a 3.7 percent rise from last week's close.

By Neena Bhandari, IANS, Sydney : Indians have become the second largest group of skilled migrants arriving on Australian shores under the temporary skilled migration programme during 2007-2008, according to new data released Tuesday by Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Evans. While almost a quarter of the temporary workers came from the UK, India came second with 14 percent followed by the Philippines at nine percent and South Africa at six percent.

By NNN-PTI, New Delhi : The government is likely to take a decision Thursday to sell up to six million tons of wheat in the open market for bringing down prices of the food grain in the country. "I am going to take a decision tomorrow to enter in open market because I have kept about six million tons exclusively (for this purpose)," Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar said on the sidelines of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research foundation day function here. Pawar pointed out that wheat prices have increased marginally in some pockets.

By IANS,

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities were trading in the red Monday afternoon as investors continued to offload stocks across sectors. About 90 minutes before close, a key index was ruling about 2.1 percent lower than its previous close. The 30-scrip Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index (Sensex), which opened at 8,259.22 points, was at 8,150.81 points - a fall of 175 points or 2.1 percent from its previous close. Similarly, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) lost 1.98 percent from its last close to rule at 2,568.15 points.

By IANS, Mumbai : A key index of the Indian equities markets closed lower than the day's highs Friday, shutting shop 276 points higher than its previous close. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 15,425.86 points, ended at 15,674.88 points (provisional), up 276.55 points or 1.8 percent. It had closed Thursday at 15,398.33 points. The broader-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) followed the Sensex to end at 4,679.2 points, up 1.86 percent.

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By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS Kathmandu : Indian joint venture United Telecom Ltd (UTL), the first foreign player to have entered Nepal's telecom sector, has run up a loss of 4.54 billion Nepali rupees ($70 million or Rs.2.85 billion) due to government policies and an ongoing labour standoff. UTL headquarters in Kathmandu and its service centres in the valley have remained closed since Feb 6 due to an indefinite strike called by a labour union affiliated to Nepal prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala's Nepali Congress party.

By IANS, New Delhi : Use of farm waste can lead to generation of 18,000 MW of electricity every year, the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science has estimated. The National Biomass Resource Atlas recently prepared by the institute estimates that there are 120-150 million tonnes farm waste that can be used for this purpose every year, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah informed the Rajya Sabha Monday.

By IANS,

By IANS, Abu Dhabi : Propelled by privatization and diversification, Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), posted an annual growth of more than eight percent, WAM reported Thursday quoting official records. A report released Wednesday by the emirate's Department of Planning and Economy (DPE) said the economy "continued to perform strongly throughout 2007, thanks to the judicious privatization policies and diversification programme”.

By IANS,

By Rajat Rai, IANS, Lucknow : Keeping the general elections due next year in mind, the Congress in Uttar Pradesh has already started the process of converting the beneficiaries of the central government's farm loan waiver scheme into solid vote banks for the party.

By Francis Kokutse, IANS,

By IANS New Delhi : Leading investment bank Jefferies announced its foray into India Thursday with the opening of its representative office here. "Throughout the world, we work with growth companies to realise their business goals. It gives us tremendous pleasure to be setting up an office in new Delhi which will allow us to be closer to our clients in India," Edward Males, head of Jefferies' Indian operations, said at a press conference here.

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By V. Jagannathan, IANS,

By Xinhua, Manila : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Tuesday said developing Asian economies will revert to a more moderate growth outlook of 7.5 percent this year and experience a high inflation rate of 7.8 percent. In its latest report, ADB said economic growth would further drop to 7.2 percent next year after Asian economies posted fastest growth of nine percent in nearly two decades in 2007.

By IANS, New Delhi : The profit after tax (PAT) of public sector giant Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) was Rs.23.77 billion in the last quarter of fiscal 2007-08, a rise of 24.97 percent from the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal. The company announced here Friday that its net profit in the entire fiscal 2007-08 also rose 21.53 percent from the 2006-07 to Rs.75.37 billion.

By Frederick Noronha, IANS Bangalore : Six decades after its birth, the global IT industry has grown into a trillion-dollar behemoth. But while India has played a stellar role in shaping the sector, its share in the pie is a minuscule three percent, say the authors of a new book. "India showed that the characteristic of on-time and within-budget delivery is something that can be expected as the norm," said Priya Kurien, who has co-authored "Blind Men and The Elephant: Demystifying the Global IT Services Industry" with Was Rahman.

By IANS, Raghunathpur (West Bengal) : In a bid to help companies by ensuring their downstream units are set up on contiguous land, the West Bengal government has chalked out a new land acquisition strategy for allotting land to industrial parks rather than to individual units. The new strategy has been put into operation for the first time in Purulia district, where three new large steel plants with a total production capacity of seven million tonnes are set to come up.

By IANS Mumbai : The Union Bank of India (UBI) will install an anti-money laundering software provided by IT solutions company 3i Infotech, it was announced Wednesday. Declining to reveal the cost of the deal, a 3i Infotech spokesperson said: "It is a non-disclosure agreement." Anirudh Prabhakara, CEO of 3i Infotech, said that banks nowadays have heightened awareness on matter relating to money laundering. Most of the banks have started focusing on the anti-money laundering systems, he added.

By IANS New Delhi : As the imbroglio over how the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) allocates the much-needed spectrum to telecom operators continues, both the DoT and the telecom tribunal have postponed a decision on the matter till Nov 13 at least. Communications and IT Minister A. Raja said DoT would come up with specific guidelines regarding the allocation of spectrum only after Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), the technical arm of DoT, comes up with a proper framework.

By IRNA, New Delhi : India`s foreign exchange reserves rose by $ 482 million to $ 312.367 billion for the week ended April 11 from $311.885 billion in the previous week. Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs) shot up to $ 301.820 billion during the period, up $ 426 million from $ 301.394 billion, PTI reported quoting Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as said in its report in Mumbai. The FCAs expressed in US dollar include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as Euro, sterling and yen held in reserve, RBI said.

New Delhi : State-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is poised to finalise the field development plan of its Krishna Godavari basin...

By KUNA, PARIS : Industrial production in France last December declined a provisional 2.8 percent on an adjusted basis, following a finalized 3.6 percent fall in November, the National Statistics Institute (INSEE) said Tuesday. The confirmed figure for November was higher than an original estimate of a 3.1 percent fall off in industrial production, INSEE noted. In energy, automobiles and aviation products are excluded from December's calculations; as INSEE remarked that the drop in industrial production is gauged at around 1.8 percent for that month.

By IANS,

By DPA, Washington : Honda has recalled nearly 400,000 vehicles in the US because of a defect that could lead cars to roll away when parked, the Japanese manufacturer said Monday. The safety recall was related to a defect in the ignition mechanism. Honda in a statement reported "several complaints about such failures" and "a small number of related incidents, including one that resulted in a minor injury." Honda was recalling 197,000 'Accord' and 117,000 'Civic' models from 2003, as well as 69,000 Element models from 2003-04.

Athens : Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras thanked Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Monday for his "ceaseless efforts" to defend the interests of...

New York, Nov 11 (DPA) The world of financial and business media currently finds itself in a state of upheaval comparable to almost nothing it ever experienced. Financial information giants Reuters and Thomson have announced plans to join forces, and media mogul Rupert Murdoch has purchased Dow Jones, the venerable US media company for financial news. At the same time, countless websites have revolutionized access to financial information.

New Delhi, Oct 2 (IANS) In order to pump liquidity into the market, an industry lobby Thursday requested the central Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reduce cash reserve ratio and repo rate by 1 percent. In its recommendation, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has requested RBI to permit banks to borrow against government securities and provide dollars directly to oil companies, rather than routing them through the market for buying crude.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equity markets stayed flat early afternoon Monday. There was buying interest in banking, metal, FMCG and auto stocks but oil and gas stocks were under selling pressure. At 1:30 p.m., the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Sensex, was at 14,637.61 points, down 19.08 points or 0.13 percent from its closing figure last Friday. It had touched a low of 14,503.51 earlier Monday. At the same time the broader based S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was down by 1.85 points or 0.04 percent to 4,411.70.

By IANS Mumbai : State-run Syndicate Bank Monday announced reduction in lending rates on housing loans, consumer credits and loans to women entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) ranging from 0.25 percent to 1.50 percent. According to an official release, the interest rate on housing loans has been reduced by 25 basis points for loans up to Rs.2 million ($50,299). To increase the flow of credit to small-scale industries (SSI) and SMEs, the rate of interest has been revised from 25 basis points to one percent depending upon rating of the clients.

By IANS, New Delhi : Petronet LNG Ltd, the Indian government's chief importer of liquified natural gas, has posted a drop in profits of 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2008-2009, compared to the same period last year, the company said Monday. In a regulatory statement, Petronet announced a net profit of Rs.1.05 billion in the quarter ending June 30, compared to Rs.1.09 billion in Q1 of 2007. The total income in the same quarter has, however, risen 6.3 percent - from Rs.15.62 billion in 2007 first quarter to Rs.16.62 billion.

By IANS, Raipur : Chhattisgarh Saturday observed its eighth anniversary with a host of companies like Tata Steel, power major NTPC and SAIL participating in events to mark the celebrations. Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh Nov 1, 2000. A seven-day long function 'Chhattisgarh Rajyotsava' organised at the Science College Ground here saw participation of Tata Steel, Essar Steel, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and a dozen state-based steel companies.

By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS New Delhi : As the Indian economy continues to surge ahead, Oxford University Vice Chancellor John A. Hood Monday said the institution wants to learn lessons from India's growth for a better world. "Oxford University wants to learn the finer nuances of India's growth, its vibrant economy, the growing innovations and knowledge society," Hood told IANS. "We want to learn lessons of India and tell the whole world and our students from across the globe how you guys have made it to the top," said the 56-year-old professor.

By Arun Kumar, IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : Digital technology major Samsung India Friday announced its foray in the portable personal computer (PC) segment with a lineup of Notebooks and Netbooks. Netbooks are ultra-compact laptops that have come into the mainstream in the past two years followed by the success of Asus EE PC. The products are priced between Rs.28,000 and Rs.115,014.

By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS, London : India is to invest up to $10 billion in the International Monetary Fund as part of a major thrust to wrest a greater say in the running of international financial institutions, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced Friday. "India has decided to invest up to $10 bn of its reserves in notes issued by the IMF," Mukherjee said after a meeting of the finance ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) in London.

By IANS, New Delhi : Following are some of the key components of economic reforms, which the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was unable to push ahead, primarily because of opposition from Left parties: - Divestment of government equity in public sector undertakings - Privatisation of state-run companies - Liberal labour policies for corporate sector - Foreign equity in multi-brand retailing - Higher equity for foreign companies in single-brand retailing - Higher foreign equity for foreign companies in insurance sector

By IANS, New Delhi : India-based business process outsourcing (BPO) firm HeroITES Monday said its Scottish subsidiary has created a new 110-seat facility near Glasgow.

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By IANS,

By IANS, Mumbai : A benchmark index for Indian equities Thursday gained for the second straight day, ending 1.68 percent higher than its previous close, tracking global markets which rose on positive US car and home sales data. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 16,786.28 points, ended at 17,022.33 points, 280.49 points or 1.68 percent up from its previous close at 16,741.84 points.

By IANS/EFE,

By IANS

New Delhi : A by-election in Madurai is creating ripples in Tamil Nadu's troubled political waters, with Chief Minister and DMK leader M. Karunanidhi threatening to go on an "indefinite strike" if the Election Commission defers the date by even a week.