Economy

By IANS, Chennai : The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX) will resume futures trade in four banned items - soya oil, potato, channa and rubber - in September, said a top official. "The four-month futures trading ban on these four items issued May 7 this year automatically ceases Sept 6. We would allow futures trade in these four commodities," R. Ramaseshan, managing director and CEO of NCDEX, told reporters here Saturday. However he said the earlier ban on food commodities like wheat and rice would stay as it was not restricted to any specific time period.

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : A rapidly expanding middle class with high aspirations and a growing appetite for quality goods make India an attractive investment destination for consumer goods companies, says Amway chairman Steve Van Andel. "The sheer size of the market, its relatively young population and economic and social stability all work in India's favour," Andel, who has been running America's leading $8.2 billion direct selling company since 1995, told IANS in an e-mail interview.

By IANS, Bhubaneswar : State-owned National Aluminium Co (NALCO) Wednesday said its third quarter net profit was down 33.38 percent to Rs.2.19 billion (Rs.219 crore), and attributed it to the falling prices of its products in the international market. In the same period last fiscal, NALCO had posted profits of Rs.3.29 billion (Rs.329 crore). "The fall in the product price in the international market has eroded our profit," NALCO chairman C.R. Pradhan told IANS.

By IANS, New Delhi: The cost of generating clean energy should be brought down to make it "affordable" for developing countries, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said Friday after his interaction with the visiting UAE foreign affairs minister. The minister, during his interaction with Abdullah Bin Zayad Al-Nahayan, the minister for foreign affairs of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said the developing countries were more in need of renewable energy.

By IANS, Dubai : Exhibitors from India are among those from 20 countries participating in a global gem show taking place in Dubai. Over 100 exhibitors from the coloured stones industry have gathered here for the International Gem Show Dubai 2008 that started Monday. The three-day exhibition, under the patronage of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), is being organised by the International Coloured Gemstone Association (ICA) and supported by the Middle East GemBureau.

By IANS, New Delhi : Auction of third generation (3G) spectrum for telecom operators is on schedule and will not be delayed on account of a funds crunch following the global meltdown, Communication and IT Minister A. Raja said here Wednesday. “We are not delaying the 3G auction process as of now,” Raja told reporters on the sidelines of a conference. “We are looking at the liquidity crunch in the market, we will discuss the matter with the finance minister.” Emphasising that “no changes have been planned", Raja added: “The timeline remains the same”.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets slipped marginally into red shortly before noon Monday, after positive global bourses had helped a key index start trade in the green. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensitive Index (Sensex), which opened at 8,793.89 points, higher than its 8,756.61 point close Friday, was at 8,737.93 points late in the morning, 0.21 percent or 16.48 points lower than its previous close. At the same time, the S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was at 2,714.85 points, 0.16 percent down from its last close of 2,719.25.

By DPA, Hong Kong : A 101-carat colourless diamond the size of a squash ball sold for a record $46.2 million at Christie's auction in here, a radio report said Thursday. The gem, the biggest colourless diamond ever sold in Asia and one of only three colourless diamonds over 100 carats sold to date, was bought by a private buyer Wednesday. Government-run radio station RTHK said Thursday the buyer's identity was not being revealed but he would have the option to name the diamond, the most expensive single piece of jewellery sold in Asia.

By IANS/EFE, Rio de Janeiro : Venezuela, which has implemented a nationwide power-rationing plan, has cut sales of electricity to Brazil by 20 percent, Brazilian officials said. Venezuela cut electricity sales Tuesday to Roraima state, which depends on the neighbouring country for nearly all its power since it is not connected to Brazil's national grid, from 100 MW to 80 MW, a spokesman for the state-owned Eletronorte utility told EFE.

By IANS, New Delhi : Fiscal 2008-09 began on a positive note for India's merchandise exports, growing 31.5 percent in April to $14.4 billion, against $10.95 billion for April 2007, latest trade data showed Monday. Imports, on the other hand, were valued at $24.27 billion, to register a growth of 36.6 percent over $17.77 billion during April 2007, as per data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics.

By IANS,

By IANS, Ahmedabad : Banks in developed nations have many things to learn from the Indian banking institutions that have remained insulated from the mortgage crisis, Gujarat Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas said here Saturday. Speaking at the inaugural function of the 31st All India Accounting Conference, Vyas said: "In the present scenario, banks of the developed nations ought to take lessons from Indian banking institutions, which have avoided the pitfall arising out of the mortgage crisis."

By Manish Chand, IANS,

By IANS,

By IANS Raipur : Chhattisgarh stood third in overall production of mineral wealth in India during the fiscal year that ended March 2007, an official statement said Thursday. The state earned revenue of Rs.8.32 billion during the fiscal year from the production of iron ore, coal and bauxite, the statement from state's Mines and Geology department said. It said the main focus during 2007-08 would be on finding new deposits of coal, iron ore, bauxite and limestone.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Tuesday projected the country's economic growth in the range of 8-8.5 percent for the current fiscal year and said its estimate was realistic and consistent with global developments. Announcing the monetary policy for the current fiscal, the apex bank said the growth in aggregate deposits would be around 17 percent or Rs.55 billion, consistent with the projected money supply growth.

By KUNA,

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets opened with a steep crash Thursday, following similar precipituous slides in other east Asian markets and a major fall in New York. The major indices had stablised in the first 10 minutes, but were still way down. The 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Sensex, opened at 10,284.90 points, way below Wednesday's closing figure of 10,809.12. Then it slid further to 10,150.54 points before starting to stabilise just before 10 a.m., when it was at 10,165.88 points, still down 643.24 points or 5.95 percent.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Delhi High Court has ruled that the landlords governed by the rent control act can't approach civil courts to raise rents in line with the inflation or cost price index.

By IANS Kozhikode : With a majority of government-owned industries in Kerala sick, the state is trying to form joint ventures (JV) with central public sector companies for their revival. "The companies under the central government have got good technology and financial strength. The companies here have out-of-date machineries. We need huge sums to revive these units," Kerala Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem told reporters Thursday.

By IANS, Mumbai: Buying interest returned to Indian stock markets this week, with a benchmark index rising 3.44 percent from its previous weekly close and foreign investors pumping in almost $1 billion during the truncated four-day trading week. The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) moved up 564.94 points or 3.44 percent to end Friday at 16,994.49 points. The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too posted gains to end the week at 5,088.7 points, up 166 points or 3.38 percent.

By IANS, Ahmedabad : Vitrified tile maker Asian Granito India Ltd (AGIL) has marked an impressive performance in 2007-08 fiscal. The company posted a growth of 26.27 percent in its total earnings of Rs.2.4 billion ($60 million) in the period, said the unaudited figures released Monday. The ánnual growth is close to 30 percent, forecast by the Ceramic World Review for the next five years. AGIL also expressed the hope that the turnover would increase to Rs.4 billion in 2008-09, as new marble projects will be operational from September this year.

By IANS, Washington : The World Bank Group committed US$6.6 billion in fiscal year ended June 30 to South Asia, where India is the largest borrower, much of it focused on helping the countries there cope with the impact of the global economic crisis. Key to the Bank's strategy in South Asia is scaling up existing programmes that are delivering results, the group said Thursday.

Chennai : With failure of the wage talks in the banking sector, around one million bank employees will go on strike Nov 12 bringing...

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) Less than five percent of an estimated Indian urban population of 350 million takes more than a cursory look at the maximum retail price (MRP) printed on goods, says an industry survey. "There is a total lack of awareness even amongst urban customers about the maximum retail price of food, grocery, toiletry, cosmetics and other FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) products before buying them," the survey conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said.

By IANS, New Delhi : The job market in India made a significant recovery during the second quarter of this fiscal with employment up by 500,000 against a cut of 131,000 in the country's employed workforce between April and June 2009, says the Economic Survey tabled Thursday. The survey covered eight sectors such as textiles, leather, metals, automobiles, gems and jewellery, transport, IT and business process outsourcing and handloom and powerloom with the information being collected from 2,873 units from 21 centres spread across 11 states.

By IANS, New Delhi : In another sign of robust recovery in the Indian economy, the country's industrial output is projected to have expanded 10.3 percent in October, as per the latest official data released Friday. The significant growth in the index for industrial production has come on the back of a 9.6 percent expansion in September and 10.4 percent the month before, shows the new data released by the Central Statistical Organisation.

By IANS, Kolkata : The IDBI Bank Ltd is planning to enter the mutual fund business, a top bank official said here Friday. Talking on the sidelines of a Banking Conclave here, Yogesh Agarwal, the bank's chairman and managing director, said: "We are talking to a few foreign companies for setting up an asset management company, where we would have the majority holding." It is expected that the bank would post a 25 percent credit growth in the current fiscal.

By IANS, Patna : An initial survey has been conducted to study the possibility of introducing monorail service in Patna, for the first in the country. It is a dream project of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad. On the minister's directions, the consultancy arm of Indian Railways, RITES, conducted the survey, said A.K. Chandra, chief public relations officer of East Central Railway. Chandra said the monorail will be a part of a larger railway project in Patna.

By IANS, Bangalore : India's leading biotechnology firm Biocon Ltd has introduced a new drug delivery system with two of its life-saving products in pre-filled syringes for kidney and cancer patients. "We have tied-up with the US-based Safety Syringes to market Erypro Safe for treating renal failures and Nufil Safe for cancer treatment in pre-filled syringes, which are less painful and safe to be self-injected by patients," Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told reporters here Wednesday at a preview of the product.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets closed in the red Wednesday, with a key index ending trade 167 points lower than its previous close. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 12,100.69 points, lost 167.47 points or 1.38 percent from the previous close to end trade at 11,963.61 points. Similarly, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) lost 0.95 percent to close at 3,627.25 points.

By IANS, New Delhi : Thinking of how to battle escalating fuel prices? www.Indimoto.com, a carpool website and probably the first of its kind in India, offers an opportunity to commuters to find suitable carpool partners and in the process reduce their fuel expenses. The website, which has been functioning the since past two years, offers its services in 130 cities across the country, including Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and its neighbouring areas. According to Udit Bhandari, founder and CEO of the website, the free-of-charge services have helped over 1,500 commuters till date.

By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net, Hyderabad: India may have the third- largest concentration of Muslims around the world and 10% of total world’s Muslim population,...

By RIA Novosti, Washington : The global financial crisis has yet to peak and individual governments must now take appropriate measures to deal with its effects, Russia's finance minister Alexei Kudrin has warned. Kudrin led the Russian delegation in Washington at the Oct 10-13 meetings of world finance leaders. The Group of Seven (G7) industrial countries comprising the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada, met Friday before participating Saturday in a meeting of the Group of 20, a wider group of developing-emerging markets that includes Russia.

By Xinhua, Tokyo : Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso Friday unveiled a new 23 trillion yen ($256 billion) package to stimulate economy amid global recession, bringing the government's total stimulus package to more than $550 billion. Aso said the new package involves 10 trillion yen of fiscal measures, including 1 trillion yen for housing and other support for temporary workers who have lost accommodation provided by their previous employers. The government will also add 1 trillion yen to the local allocation tax to facilitate local governments create new job opportunities.

By IANS, New Delhi : IDFC Private Equity has picked up 17 percent stake in SE Forge Ltd, a subsidiary of Suzlon Energy Ltd (SEL), for Rs.4 billion, the company announced Monday. The fund would be utilised for capacity expansion and operational expenses for two SEL facilities - a 120,000 million tonne foundry in Coimbatore and a 42,000 rings per annum ring-rolling foundry unit in Vadodara. Both the units are already commissioned and commercial production is expected to start from November 2008.

Kolkata: Attributing "years of neglect" and "lack of investments" for the railways poor performance, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday compared the national carrier...

By IANS,

By Arun Kumar, IANS Seattle : Home to international industrial giants Boeing and Microsoft, as also to Starbucks, the world's largest coffee chain, the boom town of Seattle is preparing to celebrate the anniversary of a great fire that burnt it down completely 118 years ago. Thursday June 6, 1889 may have been a catastrophic day for its 20,000 residents when a fire started by an overturned glue pot in a carpentry shop that hot afternoon destroyed almost the entire business district, all railway terminals, and most of the wharves. But today it's a day of celebration.

By Xinhua Dhaka : Japan will provide $1 million, under an Asian Development Bank (ADB) lending programme, to design road and rail networks that will connect Bangladesh to India and Nepal, The Financial Express daily reported Tuesday. The move is aimed at bringing the three south Asian countries closer in trade and services, the newspaper quoted a statement of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as saying. Japan is the largest shareholder of the bank.

By Shweta Thakur, IANS New Delhi : Long before McDonald's or Pizza Hut, they popularised pizzas, burgers and ice cream sundaes in the Indian capital. And now restaurant chain Nirula's Group is spreading its branches to smaller cities. People in Meerut, Pathankot, Ludhiana and Moradabad are among those who can now look forward to Nirula's food in their home ground.

By DPA, Karachi : Pakistani stocks maintained an upward momentum Wednesday, mainly due to strong measures the government introduced to stem a prolonged sharp slide, traders said. The benchmark KSE-100 Index leaped by another 2.5 percent, or 307 points, to close at 12,430 after rising an historic 8.6 percent Tuesday, following emergency stability actions taken by the state watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

By IANS, New Delhi : India's annual rate of inflation, based on the wholesale prices index, rose to 8.56 percent in January from 7.31 percent in the previous month, driven by increasing food prices, official data released Monday showed. The annual inflation rate was 4.95 percent in January 2009. The latest data released by the commerce ministry showed prices of food articles jumped 17.4 percent last month, while those for primary articles rose 14.5 percent, and manufactured products was up 6.55 percent.

By DPA, New York : Major US stock indices posted mild gains Tuesday, led by troubled financial firms bailed out by the US government in the past year. Boeing, General Electric, AT&T and United Technologies also saw their shares rise during the trading day. Boeing's gains came after rivals EADS and Northrop Grumman late Monday pulled out of a bid for a lucrative Air Force contract to build aerial refuellers.

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net Bhopal: A.K. Jain, GM (Corporate Quality), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, (BHEL), visited various shop floors of BHEL Bhopal unit and suggested improvements.

By IANS, Raipur : India's largest private sector steel maker, Tata Steel, will invest Rs.2,000 crore on environment conservation at its Rs.19,500-crore plant coming up in Chhattisgarh's militancy-hit Bastar district. "Tata Steel officials made a presentation at a public hearing on Monday for environmental clearance and committed to invest Rs.2,000 crore on environment conservation," Bastar district collector M.S. Paraste, who presided over the meeting, told IANS.

By IANS, Kolkata : State-run Allahabad Bank Thursday reported a 44.46 percent dip in net profit to Rs.311 crore for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2012.

By IANS, New Delhi : Highlights of the budget for 2013-14 presented by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the Lok Sabha on Thursday:

By RIA Novosti, Moscow : Russia's largest diamond producer Alrosa [RTS: ALRS] said on Tuesday its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards fell 37.5%, year-on-year, in the first quarter to 1.156 billion rubles ($49 million). Alrosa, which accounts for 97% of Russian and 25% of global diamond output, attributed its first-quarter net profit decline to planned decreases in sales, the sharp depreciation of the U.S. dollar to the ruble, traditionally low demand for crude diamonds at the beginning of the year and increased production costs due to rising inflation.

By DPA Ingolstadt (Germany) : German luxury carmaker Audi said Thursday it has started production of its A6 family saloon in India. Some 300 vehicles are expected to be assembled at the plant at Aurangabad in the western state of Maharashtra this year, with the number increasing to 2,000 by 2015, the company said. Audi said it plans to start producing a new version of its best-selling A4 model in India at the end of 2008. The company plans to invest more than 30 million euros ($44 million) in its Indian operation by 2015.

By IANS,

By IANS Chennai : The Madras Management Association (MMA) is set to hold its annual convention here Feb 15-16 that would discuss issues like the talent crunch faced by India Inc and the rupee appreciation against the dollar. The two-day event will also deliberate on issues like cost competitiveness of Indian companies, innovation and entrepreneurship, S. Gopal, MMA president and deputy managing director of Chemplast Sanmar Ltd told reporters here Wednesday.

By KUNA, Kuala Lumpur : The Group of Eight Islamic Developing Countries (D-8) summit concluded here late Tuesday on a high note with leaders agreeing to practical projects in efforts to increase trade and investment. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said to this end, the private sector must be deeply involved in the programmes outlined in the roadmap agreed to by the leaders for the next 10 years (2008-2018).

By IANS Bangalore : World's leading chipmaker Intel designed the smallest processor with tiny transistors for low-cost personal computers (PCs) and mobile internet devices (MIDs), the company said here Monday. Known as Intel Atom processor, the new chip is built on a micro-architecture for small devices and low power. Its design can support multiple threads for better performance and quick system response.

By IANS,

By IANS, Bhubaneswar : Private bus owners in Orissa Wednesday said they want the government to hike the fares by four to seven paise per kilometre in view of the recent increase in fuel prices. Prakash Mishra, president of the bus owner's association, told IANS: "The state has around 6,000 private buses that run on four categories - ordinary, express, deluxe and super deluxe. The present fares per kilometre are 41, 43, 56 and 69 paise, respectively. We have sent a letter to the chief minister demanding that the prices be correspondingly revised to 45, 47, 61 and 76 paise."

By IANS, Chandigarh : Software and services exports from Chandigarh and its surrounding towns of Panchkula and Mohali are expected to grow by 32 percent in 2008-09 fiscal, according to the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). "In 2008-09, we have projected combined software exports of Rs.11 billion ($262 million) with Rs.9 billion from STPI units and Rs.2 billion from special economic zones (SEZs)," STPI joint director Ajay Srivastava said.

By IANS Hong Kong : Acker Merrall & Condit, a well-known wine shop and auctioneer in the US, will be holding its first-ever wine auction here worth $5 million, marking its foray into Asia. The auction will be held in Hong Kong's swish Island Shangri-La Hotel May 31. It will be the city's first wine auction in 10 years. The vintage wines on display will include Chateau Lafite, Imperial of 1982, Haut Brion, Latour, Margaux and Mouton Rothschild, Chateaux Petrus, Cheval Blanc and Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Wines.

By IANS, Bangalore/New Delhi : Every one in four Indians has a phone now, thanks to the scorching pace at which the burgeoning telecom services sector grew in the last fiscal, says an annual survey . With the total wireless subscriber base crossing 261 million as on March 31, wireless connectivity forms 22 percent of the total tele-density at 25 percent across the country, the survey adds. The annual survey by Voice and Data of CyberMedia group revealed that the Indian telecom subscriber base zoomed by 66 percent year-on-year (YoY) in the fiscal under review over the previous year.

By IANS

London : In yet another Indian acquisition of a British company, the Swindon-based engineering company Sauer-Danfoss has been purchased by the Bangalore-based Dynamatic Technologies Ltd.