Economy

By IANS, Srinagar : Fruit growers and traders in the Kashmir Valley have decided not to send their consignments across the Line of Control (LoC) Tuesday due to lack of communication, banking arrangements and contact with traders across the border. "We have no knowledge about what happened to the 7,000 boxes of fruit we have already sent to Muzaffarabad since the LoC trade began Oct 21," Farooq Ahmad Malik, president of the Valley's fruit buyers' association, said here Monday. The LoC divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

By DPA, New York : US stocks posted strong gains Wednesday as most companies that reported profits for the first quarter beat estimates on the day, drowning out reports of a sharp contraction in the US economy over the first three months. Time Warner, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, DreamWorks Animation SKG and Hess Corp all beat analysts' expectations, offering some hope that the worst may be over and driving all major US stock indices up by more than 2 percent.

Mumbai, Oct 22 (IANS) A key Indian equity index moved further into the red an hour before closing bell Thursday and was ruling 1.06 percent lower than its previous close owing to widespread selling pressure. At 2.21 p.m., the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened higher at 17,031.54 points, was ruling below the 17,000-mark at 16,809.36 points -- 199.81 points or 1.17 percent down from Wednesday's close at 17,009.17 points.

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By IANS, New Delhi : The government is open to a fresh economic package if it was required to cope with the global financial crisis, acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said Thursday, but cautioned against pressing the panic button as the full impact of the meltdown on India was yet to be gauged. "After consulting the RBI (Reserve Bank of India), I am not making any commitment, if the situation requires, we may be in a position to do more," Mukherjee said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha.

By IANS, New Delhi : With two-thirds of India's billion-plus people living in its 650,000 villages, India's new government Thursday outlined a five-year agenda that promises a new deal for rural India, including improved agricultural practices,better roads, modern communication, access to drinking water, housing and overall improvement of its infrastructure.

By Aparajita Gupta, IANS, Kolkata : With prices of gold expected to shoot up during the Indian marriage season beginning November, portfolio strategists have begun to advise clients to invest in gold as most other asset classes are in trouble following the global financial meltdown. Every year, prices of gold shoot up in India during the marriage season, which starts in November, immediately after the end of the festival season.

By Xinhua, Beijing : Beijing government's top priority is to maintain a "steady and relatively fast" economic development, Mayor Guo Jinlong said here Monday, adding international financial crisis has affected its economy. Guo made the remarks while delivering a government report at the city's annual legislative session. He said the international financial crisis has affected Beijing's economy, as the city witnesses a continuing downturn in the real estate market, mounting pressures for businesses, and reduced growth rates in industrial output, export, fiscal income and economy.

By IANS, Dubai : A leading Saudi Arabian businessman and member of the country's Shura Council has called for the creation of women-only industrial zones to generate more jobs for Saudi women. "Many Saudi women are now involved in small-scale industries," the Arab News newspaper quoted Abdul Rahman Al-Zamil as telling the Al-Madinah Arabic daily. "Women can play a big role in light industries, such as gold, jewellery and foodstuffs," he said.

By Arun Kumar, IANS Washington : The US-India Business Council, an advocacy group of 250 of the largest US companies investing in India, has announced the appointment of Ian Thomas, president of Boeing India, to its Board of Directors. "I am honoured to accept this appointment on behalf of The Boeing Company - and to help represent our interests as well as those of US industry on the USIBC Board," said Thomas, who was appointed president of Boeing India in January 2007.

By IANS, Bangalore : Wipro chairman Azim Premji Wednesday said he was more optimistic now than a month ago about recovery in the Indian and the US markets after a huge amount of uncertainty. "Overall, we are feeling more optimistic today than we would have felt even four weeks back about the Indian and the US markets though it's too early to make a call on the European and Japanese markets, which are large markets for IT services," Premji told IANS here.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS Kathmandu : Protests started snowballing in Nepal Friday over the government's decision to hike fuel prices with the Maoists calling an indefinite closure and student groups beginning consultations for sustained opposition. The powerful student wing of the Maoists, the All Nepal National Independent Students' Union (Revolutionary), called an indefinite shutdown in Parbat district in western Nepal from Friday after clashes between security forces and protesters.

By IANS New Delhi : Driven by the Indian Institute of Managament-Calcutta (IIM-C) and supported by a host of big names, a new contest for aspiring entrepreneurs offers Rs.10 million in seed money for starting new business ventures. The i2I-2008 contest "promises to provide a sustainable platform for budding entrepreneurs with access to Rs.1 crore (Rs.10 million) in equity apart from getting in touch with the people and ideas that matter," IIM-C said in a release Sunday.

By IANS, Bangalore : Infosys Technologies Ltd, including its subsidiaries, hired 6,069 people during the second quarter (July-Sep) of this fiscal (2009-10), increasing the total headcount to 105,453 employees, the IT bellwether said Friday. With the exit of 4,521 employees in the quarter under review (Q2), the net addition is 1,548 as against 5,927 in the same quarter year ago.

By IANS, Mumbai: A benchmark index for Indian equities Monday closed 292 points up with metals and realty scrips seeing substantial buys. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,654.81 points, shut shop at 17,863.15 points (provisional), 292.33 points or 1.66 percent up from its previous close at 17,570.82 points. It had touched an intra-day high of 17,919.62 points.

By IANS Hyderabad : City-based Maytas Infra Ltd, a leading infrastructure development company, Wednesday announced net profit of Rs.323.6 million ($8.22 million) during the third quarter ended Dec 2007. The company, which was listed on Bombay Stork Exchange and National Stock Exchange in October last year, achieved a turnover of Rs.5.27 billion and has reported an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of Rs.788.8 million. Its earning per share (EPS) was Rs.5.50. The number of employees during the quarter increased to 2,130.

By IANS, Chandigarh : In the first five days of procurement of paddy in Punjab, the government agencies have procured more than 1.57 million tonnes till Sunday, a government spokesman said. Five procurement agencies of the Punjab government and the Food Corp of India (FCI) are engaged in the procurement process. They have procured nearly 98 percent of the paddy arriving in grain markets across the state. Private rice millers have procured nearly 200,000 tonnes of paddy so far, the spokesman added.

By IANS, Mumbai : Jet Airways has launched its service to Hong Kong from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), to become the first private Indian carrier to fly to Hong Kong. Jet's inaugural flight to Hong Kong, 9W42, was flagged off by the airline's CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer Monday. "Hong Kong is the gateway to south China. Flying to Hong Kong means business as well as leisure traffic," Prock-Schauer told IANS.

By IANS, New Delhi, June 4 (IANS) Nokia's flagship touch-screen handset N-97 will be launched nationwide within two weeks at a likely price of around Rs.35,000, the company announced Thursday. "The handset is expected to begin shipping in India in the next two weeks," Vineet Taneja, director-marketing of Nokia India, told reporters here. The price of the high-end smartphone would be around Rs.35,000, Taneja said while refusing to give the exact price.

By IANS, Mumbai : Telecom operator Reliance Communications (R-Com), belonging to the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), Sunday launched its much-awaited GSM mobile telephone services here. This comes within days of the company announcing Dec 30 the launch of its GSM services across 11,000 towns in the country. R-Com also launched a plan that it says “offers up to 100 percent savings to sub-Rs.300 ARPU (average revenue per user) mobile customers in the city of Mumbai at a one-time subscription charge (including GSM SIM) of Rs.25”.

By IANS, Bangalore : The Communist Party of India (CPI) has urged the central government to adopt a massive public investment programme in the agrarian sector to enhance foodgrain production and ensure food security. "The government should take steps to strengthen farm infrastructure, including irrigation and power through a special package and implement the recommendations of the national commission on farmers," CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan told reporters Wednesday after the party's national council met here Dec 27-29.

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS, Toronto : Welcoming the nuclear agreement with India, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), the country's top nuclear regulatory body, said Monday it now views India not merely as a new market but also as a global partner in nuclear energy technology. AECL said the agreement will renew its cooperation with India after more than three decades of the Canadian embargo on India after its 1974 nuclear test. "The nuclear agreement means a great deal for us,'' AECL vice president (marketing) Ala Alizadeh told IANS in an interview.

By IRNA, Tehran : A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on educational cooperation was signed here Wednesday by managing director of Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) and regional director of Chinese " Hua-wy Company". In the ceremony, Saber Feyzi said the aim of the MoU is to transfer know-how and holding educational training courses in cooperation with the Chinese telecommunication company. Feyzi said, "Telecommunication college in Isfahan is an international center and Hua-wy company is also a well-known company in the field of telecommunication, too."

By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS Davos (Switzerland) : Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath Wednesday became the first political leader at the World Economic Forum (WEF) to warn of an impending US recession, but said strong growth in India and other Asian markets can help weather the storm of a global economic crisis.

By IANS, New Delhi : Reliance Communications Wednesday said it has launched mobile banking services for its GSM subscribers in collaboration with the State Bank of India (SBI).

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : India Sunday proposed a three-point action plan, including a substantial increase in the World Bank's lending, to enable the developing world to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression. "Emerging market economies were not the cause of this crisis, but they are amongst its worst affected victims," Ashok Chawla, secretary of the department of economic affairs, told the Development Committee of the Bank.

By DPA Tokyo : Financial leaders from seven world economic powers vowed Saturday to take both individual and joint action to stabilize financial markets, which had suffered turmoil owing to the US subprime mortgage crisis. Finance ministers and central bank governors from Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Tokyo released a joint statement at the end of a one-day forum pledging to secure stability of the global economy.

By IANS, Ranchi : Several mining companies, which have been allotted mining blocks in Jharkhand, are not able to start operations in the state as the projects are yet to be cleared by the forest department. According to sources in the mines and geology department, 22 companies have been allocated iron ore mines and coal blocks in the state. But none of them is able to start mining. "Several companies got approval for mining in the state from the central government. But the mining work can start only after forest clearance is accorded to them," a department official told IANS.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Indian economy is well on its way to achieving once again a 9 percent growth in the coming years, while expanding at over 7.5 percent this fiscal, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Wednesday. "The target of growth of 9-10 percent has been there for a very long period. It is now within our reach and we shall achieve it," Mukherjee told the 104th annual session of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.

By IANS, Bhubaneswar : The state-owned National Aluminium Co (Nalco) is focusing on diversification, including setting up a nuclear power plant and moving into other metals, to meet the economic meltdown. As part of its plans, the company has begun talks with the Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) to set up a nuclear power plant of 1,000 MW capacity, said Nalco chairman and managing director C.R. Pradhan. "We are in talks with NPCIL. We have plans to become an independent power producer," Pradhan said after the company's 28th annual general meeting here saturday.

By IANS Mumbai : The Indian equities market opened with a sharp fall Monday, in line with its Asian peers. The slide was led by consumer durables and banking stocks, which saw heavy selling in early trade. The 30-share benchmark sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange opened with a loss of 291.18 points at 15,684.24. Fifteen minutes after the start of trading, the Sensex was at 15,630.03 points, down 345.49 from its close Friday. At the same time the S&P Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was at 4685.25 points, down by almost 87 from its close Friday.

By IANS Mumbai : iflex Solution Ltd, a leading provider of technology solutions to the global banking and financial services industry, Wednesday announced it will provide banking software solutions to Europe's Volkswagen Bank for the Netherlands region. In a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Thursday, iflex said the solution would also allow Volkswagen Bank to deliver web-based services to its dealers and customers.

By Tejinder Singh, IANS, Brussels : European Union leaders have agreed that next week’s emergency summit in Washington must lead to a reformed international financial system, declaring: “We cannot fail". Meeting ahead of the Nov 15 summit, leaders of the 27-nation EU agreed to “defend the common vision for restructuring the financial system”, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, current holder of the rotating EU Presidency, told journalists.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets rose further into the green Thursday afternoon, with a key index ruling 264.72 points higher about 30 minutes before the closing bell. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 10,841.57 points, rose 264.72 points or 2.45 percent from its previous close to rule at 11,082.26 points. Similarly, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) gained 2.41 percent from the previous close to trade at 3,410.4 points.

Beijing: China's economy posted a seven percent growth year-on-year in the second quarter of 2015, unchanged from the first quarter, the National Bureau of...

By NNN-IRNA Tehran : Iran and Kuwait have signed agreements on economic cooperation between the two countries at the end of a two-day meeting of the first Iran-Kuwait Economic Commission. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Kuwaiti counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah, signed Wednesday documents for bilateral cooperation in the field of avoidance of double taxation. The first Iran-Kuwait Economic Commission session kicked off in Tehran on Monday.

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Brussels : India is seeking 100 percent FDI in new and renewable energy projects that would promote biofuel plantations on government, community and private land, India's New and Renewable Energy Minister Vilas Muttemwar said here.