Economy

By IANS, New Delhi : Car major Hyundai Motor sold 22.6 percent more vehicles in December 2009, compared to the like month of previous year, the company said in a statement Friday. Total sales for December stood at 47,217 units as against 38,502 units in the previous corresponding period. Sales in India alone accounted for 22,252 units as against 15,602 units in December, 2008. Exports grew 9 percent to 4,965 units in the month under review.

By Amjad suri for TwoCircles.net Indian prime minister has a penchant for playing political master-stroke. His sudden impromptu decision on demonetizing old currency...

By IANS, New Delhi : Research and development (R&D) programmes in science and technology were in focus in the union budget presented Monday, with special emphasis on nano technology and earth and atmospheric sciences. The government has allocated Rs.577 crore (Rs.5.77 million) for research and development programmes in emerging areas of science and technology, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in parliament. Overall, science and technology has been allocated Rs.2,133 crore.

By Aroonim Bhuyan, IANS, Dubai : Forget about the coding system that Mumbai's dabbawalas use to transport lunch boxes from homes to offices or the six-sigma and ISO certificates they have. The men who ensure workers in India's financial capital get their food on time credit their success to simple principles: stick to time and work is worship.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities market closed in red. The 30-share benchmark of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index (Sensex), which opened at 14,681.14 points, touched a low of 14,600.65 points before closing at 14,645.66 points. It went down by 78.52 points or 0.53 percent at the day's close. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S & P Nifty, which opened at 4,430.70 points, closed at 4,393.05 points. It went down by 37.65 points or 0.85 percent.

By IANS, Kolkata : Despite the present global economic slowdown, the country's largest steel producer Tata Steel expects 4-5 percent growth in domestic demand in 2009-10, a top company official said here Friday. "Impact of global recession is much less in India. We plan to produce and sell 20 percent more in the current year from our Indian operations," company managing director B. Muthuraman said. Tata Steel witnessed an 11 percent jump in saleable steel production to 5.3 million tonnes in 2008-09, as against 4.8 million tonnes the previous year.

By IANS, Mumbai : India's metal major Tata Steel Ltd has raised Rs.20 billion through private placement of redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) as part of its long-term financing plans. The NCD issue opened Monday with an initial size of Rs.7.5 billion and closed the next day. The deemed date of allotment for the NCDs, each with a face value of Rs.1 million issue at par, was Wednesday.

By IANS, New Delhi : India is expected to produce more than 250 million tonnes of foodgrain this fiscal, President Pranab Mukherjee said Thursday.

By IANS, Washington : Consumers do not end up always buying the product they really want, especially when their minds are preoccupied with other tasks, according to a new study. The research, conducted by Aimee Drolet of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Mary Frances Luce (Duke University) and Itamar Simonson (Stanford University) identified two factors that can lead consumers to use shortcuts (heuristics) when they make product choices.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Thursday launched an India Business Forum (IBF) in China, a lobby to promote bilateral trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. The IBF will act as a forum for promoting India-China trade through collective and consensual approach and will also work with the Indian embassy in Beijing and others towards "building brand India", the CII said in a statement released here.

By IANS, New Delhi : Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Saturday asked domestic airlines to cut fares as fuel prices had come down successively, but his suggestion was not well received by carriers like Jet Airways. "Now fuel prices have come down. You must match it with the perception or else you'll lose the people's sympathy," Patel told the HT Leadership Summit, flanked by Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal and Kingsisher Airlines chief Vijay Mallya.

Visakhapatnam: Violence broke out in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district on Sunday as thousands of protestors from Kapu caste set afire a train and...

By IANS, Beijing : More than 1,000 new electronic products will be launched at the International Consumer Electronics Show (SINOCES) to be held in China July 8-11, organisers have said. Up to 500 electronic goods manufacturers, including IT giants Microsoft, Intel, and Canon, will participate in the Asia's largest technology fair. The event in the east China's Qingdao city will witness a 10 percent increase in the number of vendors as compared to last year, Xinhua reported.

By Rajeev Ranjan Roy, IANS, New Delhi : Indian basmati rice will shortly enter the kitchens in China and Mexico. At present, basmati is exported to over 130 countries, and the government hopes to tap the huge markets of China and Mexico in a couple of years. "India's export of basmati is increasing 20 to 30 percent every year," said A.K. Gupta, advisor, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India's official agri-product export promotion agency.

By IANS Thiruvananthapuram : US Technology International Pvt Ltd, a California-based IT firm that has its Indian headquarters in Technopark here, will now be known as UST Global. In a statement to the press issued here Monday by Dan Gupta, chairman and CEO of UST Global, the company said that this reflects the company's mission to bring new standards of best offshore IT sourcing and delivery services to enterprises throughout the global marketplace.

By IANS Chennai : Aiming to cash in on the explosive growth of the Indian automobile industry, Bangalore-based Faurecia Automotive Seating India Private Limited (FASI), a wholly owned subsidiary of euro 11.6 billion French auto component group Faurecia, is considering a seating mechanisms plant near New Delhi. The plant would primarily cater to the needs of Swift, SX4 and two new models of Maruti Suzuki India Limited.

By IANS, Mumbai : A key Indian equities index opened weak Friday and was ruling about 51 points lower, within five minutes of trade. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 16,855.91 points and was ruling at 16,842.72 points, down 51.53 points or 0.31 percent from its previous close at 16,894.25 points, within five minutes of trade. Around the same time, at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was at 5,024.1 points, against the previous close at 5,041.75 points, a loss of 0.35 percent.

By IANS, New Delhi : The following are the economic highlights of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's second tenure under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as spelt out in the 68-page "Report to the People" released here Tuesday: - Clear signs of recovery, upturn in growth rate - Foreign investment inflows robust - New draft unveiled to replace 60-year-old income tax act - India now third largest steel producer - Record capacity created for electricity generation - New thrust to spruce road and highway infrastructure

By IANS, New Delhi : Although the mood of the Indian industry is gloomy due to the global downturn, the Indian economy, powered by strong domestic fundamentals, will grow at least at six percent this fiscal, ICICI Bank chairman K.V. Kamath said here Sunday. "I am the first one to concede that there is a change of mood to the other end of the spectrum," Kamath, who is also the president of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum-India Economic Summit.

By IANS Abu Dhabi : The capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host the first Middle East Aviation Outlook Summit Feb 27-28 next year, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has announced. The summit, to be attended by more than 250 industry leaders and ministers from the Gulf countries, will discuss the growing influence of the Middle East on global aviation and tourism, WAM news agency reported Sunday.

By NNN-KUNA

Tokyo : Japan's second-biggest trading house Mitsui Co has said it has won a USD 1.3 billion order from the Kuwait government to build a power and desalination plant at Shuaiba, about 50 km south of Kuwait City.

Mitsui has received an unofficial notice from Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity and Water, the firm said in a statement, adding that a formal agreement will be sealed in July, with the facility slated to go into operation as early as 2010. The project is one of Mitsui's largest infrastructure orders in the Middle East.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's Bharti Airtel Tuesday denied any move for takeover of South African mobile network company MTN, terming media speculation on the matter as "incorrect and misleading". "Bharti would like to clarify that it has not made any offer to acquire the whole or part of MTN. Therefore, the speculation around a bid by Bharti in a section of the media is incorrect and misleading," Airtel said in a statement here Tuesday.

By Xinhua Dhaka : Bangladesh emerged as the largest supplier of denim clothes to Europe, commanding 27 percent market share during the first half of 2006, local newspaper The Financial Express reported Wednesday. Among the new textile items, denim fabrics and jackets are gradually becoming the flagship products for the local exporters. Industry insiders said during the last four years, production of denim has increased from 28 million metre per year to 200 million metre in 2006.

By IANS,

By IANS

New Delhi : India and Pakistan Wednesday decided to expand their trade basket to include cement and tea and to open bank branches in each other's country - key steps that are likely to help them achieve an ambitious trade target of $10 billion by 2010.

India also agreed to address trade imbalance by offering to relax its import regime for 20 Pakistani products and asked Pakistan to identify the products of export interest.

Mumbai, Jan 22 (IANS) Italian auto major Piaggio group is planning to produce two-wheelers in India by 2010 through its wholly owned subsidiary, Piaggio India. The firm already has a unit in Baramati near Pune to produce load-carrying three and four-wheelers. It is planning to set up the two-wheeler factory nearby. "We have acquired land near our Baramati factory to set up the two-wheeler plant," said Piaggio chairman Roberto Colaninno here Tuesday. Besides, the group will invest up to 65 million euros ($94 million) for developing engines.

By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net Srinagar: Mehboob Makhdoomi, an expert on Islamic Banking and alumnus of Harvard and Pennsylvania University, has...

By IANS, Bhubaneswar : Despite a virtual freeze on recruitment across industries, the city-based Xavier Institute of Management has achieved 100 percent placement of its rural management students with some top corporates like the Tatas, Monsanto and Deloitte handing them appointment letters. All the 59 students of the post-graduate diploma in rural management have been placed in various organisations even before the course ends in the middle of March, said Niraj Kumar, a member of the institute's placement committee.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, presenting the rail budget for 2009-10 in parliament Friday, said all railway zones have been instructed to ensure availability of 'Janata Khana' - national and regional cuisines - on trains. "National and regional cuisines will be introduced and priority would be given to provision of good quality food, drinking water and toilet facilities and ensure cleanliness on trains and stations," Banerjee said.

By IANS, Vienna : The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would further reduce output if oil prices remain low, a top official of the Vienna-based cartel has said. OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri made the remarks at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos Friday, IRNA reported. Al-Badri expressed hope that the global oil demand would pick up by the end of this year or beginning next year.

By Priyanka Sahay, IANS, New Delhi : Yamini Panth, 24, was hoping to buy a BlackBerry phone with her first salary. A part of computer major Dell's corporate communications team, she saw in the device all the services she needed -- e-mail, messenger, SMS and voice. Now she is confused like many others, after the government set Aug 31 as the deadline to access the security features of this smathphone, developed by Canadian Company Research in Motion, from those offering its services in the country.

By IANS, Kolkata : State-run oil companies will review fuel prices Friday and consult on a probable price hike, Indian Oil Corporation chairman R.S. Butola said Thursday.

By Vatsal Srivastava, Prior to the finance minister’s budget speech, Currency Corner had argued that Indian equities are all set for a short-term correction irrespective of what Arun Jaitley delivers on the reform front. Markets have had an almost parabolic up move since April and profit booking around these price levels was inevitable. Markets still look overbought as current valuations are pricing in a substantial earnings upgrade in coming quarters. However, one can look at adding quality mid-cap and small-cap names as well as PSU banks which have witnessed a deep correction due to their higher betas in the last week while the Nifty has just fallen only a couple of percentage points.

By IANS Bangalore : Wipro Ltd. has projected $955 million revenue from its global IT services and products business for the fourth quarter (January-March) of this fiscal (2007-08) under the US accounting system (US GAAP). In a notification to the stock exchanges here Friday, the IT bellwether said the guidance for Q4 was based on the robust performance of its flagship division during the third quarter (October-December 2007) when the projected revenue of $95 million was exceeded by $5.1 million to $910 million under the US GAAP.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's annual rate of inflation inched up to 0.57 percent for the week ended April 18 from 0.26 percent the week before, official data showed Thursday. Among the three main commodity groups, the indices for manufactured products and primary articles rose 0.3 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. The index for fuel, power, light and lubricants rose 0.1 percent to 323 (provisional) from 322.6 (provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of aviation turbine fuel (8 percent) and furnace oil (2 percent).

By IANS, Agartala : Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar Thursday demanded that the central government immediately withdraw the hike in petrol and diesel prices while the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) announced mass demonstrations Friday to protest the hike. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora Wednesday announced a hike of Rs.4 per litre for petrol and of Rs.2 for diesel. "Was petroleum price hike in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's 100-day programme?" asked Sarkar, who is also a CPI-M politburo member.

By IANS, Kolkata : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday threatened to hit the streets if the centre did not withdraw its decision to hike petrol and diesel prices.

By IANS, Mumbai : A late buying spree Thursday helped a benchmark index of Indian equities end trade above the 20,000 mark and 97 points higher than its previous close.

By IANS New Delhi : Indian telecom officials and the makers of BlackBerry will meet again April 15 to discuss security concerns raised here over the services provided by the company, an official said Thursday. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) official said after Thursday's meeting lasting several hours that "the talks turned out to be somewhat successful and all the stakeholders have decided to meet again" next week.

New Delhi : With the rise in advertisement spending by the e-commerce, telecom, fast moving consumer goods and consumer durables sectors in India, the...

By IANS New Delhi : India must protect the interests of its auto industry from the impact of free trade pacts with other countries that allow imports at zero or reduced tariff, Heavy Industry Minister Sontosh Mohan Dev said Thursday. "We have to see that a lot of free trade agreements that are being signed by India should not stand in the growth path of our automobile industry, as it is only 15-year-old," Dev told the inaugural event of Auto Expo 2008 here.

By IANS, Moscow: Russia will deliver ammunition, including tank and artillery shells, worth $1 billion to India, a media report said.

By IANS, Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying that his government had no problems with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) taking over the investigations into the Rs.70 billion (Rs.7,000 crore) fraud in Satyam Computer Services. "Our government would welcome the CBI taking over the case, if deemed appropriate," the chief minister wrote in the letter, copies of which were released to the media.

By IANS Mumbai : India's key stock market index Tuesday posted a record closing high as investors hoped a US Federal Reserve rate cut would lead to more capital inflows into the country's markets. The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange closed at 20,290.89 points, gaining 360.21 points or 1.81 percent. The broader 50-stock CNX Nifty index on the National Stock Exchange rose 136.65 points, or 2.29 percent, to close at 6,097.25 points.

By Gyanendra Kumar Keshri, IANS,

By IANS, Mumbai : All round selling saw a benchmark index of Indian equities falling into the red Monday, although broader market indices maintained to hold on to early gains.

By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS London : The three main bidders for the British cars Jaguar and Land Rover, including India's Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, made their presentations to union officials Tuesday as the unions declared they will oppose any outsourcing of jobs after the sale. The sell-off by owners Ford Motors has generated much interest in Britain, particularly because the two British iconic brands account for up to 40,000 jobs. Apart from the two Indian bidders, also in the running is One Equity, a private group owned by a former Ford chief executive.

By IANS, Dubai : Leading Indian equity fund manager Sundaram BNP Paribas Asset Management has entered the Gulf region, offering Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) customers access to its products in the Indian market. “Thanks to our partners in India, one of the top 10 equity fund managers, Sundaram BNP Paribas Asset Management, we offer our clients unique opportunities to access the Indian market,” Muneer Fulayfil, director for Middle East and Africa of BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP), said in a statement here Saturday.

By IANS, New Delhi : The meltdown-hit travel trade and hospitality industry will have to weather another storm, thanks to the terrorists's siege of two hotels in Mumbai since Wednesday night. But industry watchers and captains predict that it will only be a short-term assault on business.

By DPA, Hong Kong : The benchmark Hang Seng index surged 8.66 percent Monday to its highest level in seven weeks amid investor confidence of stimulus moves by China and the United States. Turnover topped 63.87 billion Hong Kong dollars ($8.19 billion), following Friday's turnover of 37.3 billion Hong Kong dollars. Among the biggest gainers was Cosco Pacific, the Chinese ports operator, which surged 22.8 percent to close at 7 Hong Kong dollars. Local property company Henderson Land closed at 28 Hong Kong dollars, a 16.18 percent increase on the day.

By Xinhua Beijing : Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi Thursday hailed the outcome of the third US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) as an important driver of the trade relations of the two countries. Addressing a press conference at the end of the economic meet, Wu said the dialogue was "of strategic meaning, mutually beneficial and is bound to exert important influence on future business and trade ties between China and the US". He said that agreements were reached on food safety, environment, energy and investment.

By IANS, Chennai : The Rs.550-million Raj Television Network Ltd Monday launched its first Tamil news channel, called Raj News 24x7. The channel will cover stock market, business, current affairs, health, food, education and other subjects, said Raj Television director M. Raveendran. "We feel there is scope for another news channel.” The Rs.50-million free-to-air news channel will be the company's fourth after Raj TV, Raj Digital Plus and Raj Musix.

By IANS Mumbai : Bulls were on the rampage on Indian bourses during the week ended Friday, buoyed by a sharp fall in inflation rate to five-year highs and the lowering of interest rates announced by the US Fed. The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) saluted the developments with a whopping 960-point rise, or as much as 6.16 percent, to close at 16,564.23 points, over previous week's close at 15,603.80 points.

New Delhi : The government Tuesday signed an agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a $60 million loan to improve urban services, including...

By IANS/EFE, Quito : Ecuador's oil exports rose almost 74 percent in the first half of 2010 compared to the same period last year, although that increase was due entirely to higher prices, the Central Bank said. Between January and June, the value of the country's oil exports totalled almost $4.67 billion, up from $2.68 billion for the first six months of 2009, when international demand plunged amid the global recession. A total of 73,600 tonnes of oil was shipped out of Ecuador in the first six months of 2010, down 0.5 percent from the same period of last year.

By IANS Abu Dhabi : Etihad Airways has been voted the "airline with best first class service in the world" by the readers of the monthly consumer magazine, Business Traveller USA, news agency WAM reported Monday. The magazine's "Best in Business Travel" award is based on a comprehensive survey of readers' opinion about airlines, hotels, cruise lines, car rental firms, and other travel services.

By IANS, Beijing : China may overtake Germany to become the world's largest exporter though its exports in 2009 had fallen 13.9 percent from a year earlier, according to figures released Sunday by the General Administration of Customs (GAC). But Chinese experts and officials said the country was far from being a real trade power if measured by exports structure, technological innovation and industry competitiveness.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi: Automobile major Maruti Suzuki Thursday reported a 25.3 percent increase in net profits to Rs.583.5 crore for the quarter ended June 30 compared to Rs.465.9 crore it earned in the corresponding period the previous fiscal. Net sales grew 34 percent to Rs.6,340 crore in the quarter under review compared to the year-ago period. "Net profit growth was helped by an easing of commodity prices, sales mix moving in favour of higher end models and favourable foreign exchange realisations," the company said in a statement.

By IANS Patna : Bihar is the best place to invest in agriculture and horticulture -based industries, said Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president and Bharti group chairman and managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal here Wednesday. "I can say that Bihar is the best place for agriculture and horticulture based industries, there is plenty of potential for investment in this sector," Mittal said.

By IANS,

By IANS, Dubai : The Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait (BBK) has entered into an agreement with leading Indian financial group Religare to provide portfolio management services (PMS) to expatriate Indians in Bahrain and Kuwait. The agreement was signed between the Bahrain-based BBK and Religare at Manama, according to a BBK statement. "With Religare, we saw a window of opportunity for our NRI (non-resident Indian) relationships to be able to invest back home," said Ashish Sarkar, BBK's assistant general manager and head of PMS.

By Sanjay Singh and James Jose, IANS, New Delhi : Alpana Singh, a homemaker in north Delhi, should be rejoicing that India's annual rate of inflation has fallen to a six-year low. Instead, she is ruing that her household budget has hit the roof. If the galloping prices of groceries were not enough, she is having to face a double whammy - the fee charged by her daughter's school has been hiked by Rs.8,000 a quarter.

By Xinhua, United Nations : The world economic growth will drop steeply to 1.8 percent this year, from 3.8 percent in 2007, the UN said in a mid-year economic report. Growth in developing countries is expected to reach five percent, as compared to a robust 7.3 percent in 2007, and is projected to decline further to 4.8 percent in 2009, the report said Thursday. If monetary and fiscal stimuli recently instituted in the US take hold, the world is likely to experience only a moderate slowdown, it added.

By IANS, New Delhi : Latest data on industrial output has left India Inc worried as the official index showed a two percent drop in December, after a small recovery the previous month, indicating that a demand slowdown continued in the economy. Data on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) released Thursday also showed that the index for manufacturing, that has the maximum weight, fell 2.5 percent, versus 8.6 percent in the similar month of previous fiscal. Among other sectors, the index for electricity expanded one percent, while that for mining was up one percent.

By IANS, Mumbai : A benchmark index for Indian equities markets Wednesday closed 112 points lower as selling intensified in the last hour of trade.

By IANS, Mumbai : A benchmark index of Indian equities Wednesday moved up from opening lows, but was ruling flat about 30 minutes into trade.

By IANS New Delhi : Leaders of various political parties, including those from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI), will come together at a meeting here Wednesday to find ways to block entry of corporate houses into retail trading. The meeting will be hosted by the Confederation of All India Traders, said Praveen Khandelwal, the secretary general of the traders' body.

By IANS, Chennai : The Tamil Nadu government should take steps to promote industrialisation in the southern districts of the state instead of staying focused only on Chennai and its surroundings, union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers M.K. Alagiri said here Monday. "The chief minister should show the way for industrial development in the southern districts," Alagiri said after laying the foundation stone for a high learning centre at the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology.

By Fakir Balaji, IANS Bangalore : Burgeoning growth in the manufacturing sector over the last four years has pitchforked the Indian machine tool industry into the global market. According to a study by Feedback Ventures for the Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association (IMTMA), the boom in automobile and auto ancillary sectors has resulted in huge consumption of die-moulds and cutting tools, accounting for 50 percent of the total production last year.

New Delhi: India is projected to have 236 million mobile internet users by 2016, with the figure reaching 314 million by 2017, a report...

By IANS, New Delhi: The Indian IT industry managed to limit the impact of global recession last fiscal and maintain the growth momentum, albeit lower than that in the boom times, says tech publisher Dataquest. "Export firms did better in recession-hit developed markets than those whose business is limited to the Indian market," Dataquest editor Prasanto K. Roy said. Though the business of top 20 firms led by Indian IT bellwethers TCS, Infosys and Wipro, and multinationals such as HP and IBM, grew by an average 19 percent, seven of these posted single-digit revenue growth.

By Aroonim Bhuyan, IANS, Doha : India and Qatar signed two deals on ramping their defence and security cooperation and discussed means to enhance their economic and energy ties during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit here. The two agreements - one on security and law enforcement and another on defence cooperation - were signed Sunday evening after Singh's arrival here on the first visit by an Indian prime minister to this Gulf nation.

By IANS

Hyderabad : The government of Andhra Pradesh, home to a number of software and BPO firms, is considering imposing sales tax on IT exports from the state, on the lines of neighbouring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.