Economy

By IANS,

By IANS, Mumbai : Pantaloon Retail India Ltd has announced a consolidated net profit of Rs.1.25 billion during the fiscal 2008 compared to Rs.1.19 billion the previous year. The total income increased to Rs.50.52 billion for the year ended June 30, 2008 from Rs.33.28 million in the last financial year. For the latest quarter ending June, the company has posted net profit of Rs.325.30 million compared to Rs.186.70 million for the corresponding quarter last year.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Sensex, the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, opened with a negative gap Monday, tracking weak markets elsewhere in Asia. The Sensex opened with a loss of 181.32 points at 16,468.32, compared to its closing figure Friday. The S&P Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange opened at 4,953.60 points with a marginal gain of 7.05 points from its previous close.

By IANS/EFE,

By IANS, New Delhi : India's motorcycle maker Hero Honda Tuesday said that its sales increased 20 percent at 466,524 units during January 2011 as against 389,802 during the same period of 2010.

By IANS, Washington: The US Friday eased decade-old import restrictions on Myanmar goods just days before President Barack Obama sets foot on the Southeast Asian nation.

By DPA, Hamburg : Consumers should not base their decisions about buying cosmetics on the price and image of a brand, according to Paula Begoun, a cosmetics expert in the US who has spent more than two decades explaining the fine print on cosmetics product packages. Begoun, 55, says it's always better to read the fine print to find out what's in the creams and something about the companies that make them.

By IANS, New York : Goldman Sachs Group has named Indian-American executive Ashok Varadhan as a third co-head for its securities division, the largest and...

By IANS,

By IANS, Thiruvananthapuram : IBS Software Services, a provider of information technology (IT) solutions to the travel, transportation and logistics industry, has signed an agreement with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for providing a crew management solution. The company said here Thursday the airline will gradually replace the existing mainframe system with IBS crew management solution AvientCrew. AvientCrew will help KLM manage all aspects of their crew operations - from planning vacations and roster systems, to tracking performance.

By IANS, New Delhi : Concerned over the global economic slowdown and its impact on India's economic health, the government Friday constituted a committee to address the issue. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has given his approval for constituting the committee, which would have secretaries of the finance and commerce ministries, as well as secretaries of the Planning Commission and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. "The expert body will help government bail out India from the ongoing financial crisis," a government statement said.

By IANS, New Delhi : The overseas investment arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has secured the government's nod for an additional investment of $149.46 million in a gas block in Vietnam, as part of India's quest for energy security. The permission was given by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs during a meeting here Thursday presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, officials said.

By IANS, Mumbai : A key Indian equities index opened on a positive note Monday and was up 0.46 percent in morning trade. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened the day at 17,067.14 points, against Friday's close at 17,021.85 points and rose to 17,100.68 points, up 0.46 percent or 78.83 points in about 15 minutes of trading. Around the same time, at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was ruling at 5,083.75 points, against the previous close at 5,052.45 points, with a gain of 0.62 percent.

By IANS, Chennai : Former Reserve Bank of India employee S.R. Baskaran, convicted to five years' imprisonment for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income, was granted bail Friday by the Madras High Court upon furnishing a bond of Rs.2 million. Judge K. Mohan Ram accepted the plaintiff's plea of inability to deposit the fine levied upon him in cash and allowed the deposit of a property-based bond for a like amount.

By IANS, Lisbon : Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has signed an agreement to buy one million laptop computers from Portugal during a visit to the Iberian nation, the EFE news agency reported Sunday. The agreement was signed at a function Saturday following a meeting between Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates and Chavez, who praised his country's bilateral relations with Portugal.

New Delhi, Jan 24 (IANS) India's leading private steel manufacturer Tata Steel posted a net profit of Rs.54.83 billion ($1.37 billion) in the first half of the current fiscal, showing a 70 percent rise on the previous year, the company said Thursday. Tata Steel's total income rose by over 500 percent to Rs. 638 billion, thanks to a hefty contribution of Rs.498 billion from Europe-based Corus, the company's recent acquisition.

By DPA, San Francisco : Microsoft said Tuesday that it will debut its new operating system Oct 22 as it seeks to block a growing challenge from Google, Apple, and the open-source Linux operating system. The world's largest software company is releasing Windows 7 just 33 months after launching Windows Vista which has been widely panned for its demanding hardware requirements and slow response time.

By IANS Raipur : Chhattisgarh's main opposition Congress Monday set up a panel to probe alleged irregularities in a 500 MW thermal power plant in the state that stopped production hours after its much-hyped inauguration this month. Congress legislator and former minister Bhupesh Baghel has been appointed convenor of the probe panel, which also includes Congress legislators and leaders. It will look into the "corruption" in the power plant at Korba, 220 km from here, and submit report to the party in 15 days.

By IANS,

By IANS New Delhi : India may soon announce concessions in the sensitive trade list for the least developed countries (LDC) in South Asia under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (Safta). Delivering the keynote address at a seminar on "Saarc: Towards Greater connectivity", Minister Of State For Commerce Jairam Ramesh said India was currently reviewing its list of 744 sensitive trade items, which are dominated by agriculture and textiles.

By IANS, Mumbai : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday said he expected a good rabi crop and added that the "worst is over" vis-a-vis the spiralling prices. Speaking here on the last day of campaigning for the Maharashtra assembly elections, Manmohan Singh said a good October-February rabi crop would positively influence the inflation scenario. "Prices of some things have risen... The rabi crop will be normal, I am hopeful, and it will have an affect on inflation. The worst is over it seems," he told reporters.

By IANS, Sydney : Australian stocks lost ground Monday following the heavy selloff last week on Wall Street. The benchmark ASX 200 gave up 155 points, or 3.3 percent, to close at 4,540. The rout took the index back to where it was in December 2005. Shares fell across the board, with mining stocks hit hardest because the financial crisis is slowing economies around the world and crimping demand for raw materials. A drop in commodity prices has had a knock-on effect on the Australian dollar, which on the cross rates has fallen to a two-year low of 75 US cents.

By IANS, Bangalore : India's third largest IT bellwether, Wipro, remained profitable in the first quarter this fiscal despite marginal revenue decline in its global IT services business sequentially and annually. Even for the second quarter, revenue from its flagship IT services business is expected to remain flat in the $1.03-$1.05 billion range, as against the $1.03 billion garnered in the first quarter this fiscal, but still less than the $.1.11 billion earned in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

By NNN-Bernama Kuala Lumpur : The master developer of Nusajaya in Johor, UEM Land Sdn Bhd has inked an agreement with Dubai World's unit, Limitless Holdings Pte Ltd, to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to undertake the development of the Residential North Precinct in Puteri Harbour, Nusajaya. The subscription and shareholders agreement (SSA) and development agreement (DA) signed today will see the SPV, Haute Property Sdn Bhd, undertake the 111 acres of development with an initial investment of RM241.8 million.

By IANS Bhopal : Madhya Pradesh is considering to buy electricity from other states to ensure adequate power supply to rural areas of the state, official sources said. While reviewing the power situation in the state Saturday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan asked officials to explore the possibility of purchasing power from other states and supplying single-phase power to rural areas for at least 12 hours a day. Officials were also asked to provide sufficient funds to Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board.

By IANS, Mumbai: Commercial banks will maintain a status quo on interest rates till such time the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reviews its monetary policy April 20, an umbrella organisation of the banks said here Monday. The Indian Bank's Association (IBA) conveyed this at a meeting with the central bank where the focus was on how to tame inflation while ensuring that the recovery of the country's economic growth is not hampered.

By NNN-PTI, New Delhi : A decision on raising retail fuel prices and partly compensating revenue losses of oil firms will be taken by Saturday, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assessed the problems caused by the spike in crude prices. "Hopefully, by day after tomorrow, we will have a solution," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters after a meeting with the Prime Minister and key ministers here. A meeting of the Cabinet, which was to have taken up the matter today, has been postponed, he said.

By IANS, Bangalore : Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, the FMCG arm of the IT bellwether, Thursday announced the acquisition of Yardley personal care business in Asia, Middle East, Australasia and some African markets from the British based Lornamead group for $45.5 million (Rs. 214 crore). "The acquisition of Yardley business is on run-rate basis of $24 million for this fiscal (FY 2010)," the company said in a regulatory filing. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-December.

By IANS, New Delhi : The free trade agreement that India and Gulf countries hope to sign will give Indian firms greater access to the $1-trillion market in the Middle East, apart from a cost-competitive route to western economies like the US, a senior executive of Bahrain's Economic Development Board has said. "The six GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries are a $1-trillion market. This region is going to contribute sizeably to global economic growth," said the board's chief operating officer Kamal Ahmed here Monday.

By IANS, Lucknow : The country's largest telecom provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) announced Saturday that it has tied up with leading telephone sets manufacturer Beetel for launching low-priced handsets in Uttar Pradesh. "BSNL and Beetel jointly will launch mobile bundle offers in the state. The bundle offers would be available at a price range of Rs.1,043 and Rs.1,695 and the subscribers will also get free talk time of Rs.1,500," said BSNL chief general manager (UP East) Om Vir Singh.

By IANS,

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, Kuala Lumpur: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday said he would ask the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to look into what Malaysia was doing on Islamic banking practices.

By Peter Janssen, DPA, Chachoengsao(Thailand) : Thailand's rice farmers are happy this year. Rice prices have more than doubled on both the domestic and international markets, so paddy in the field means money in the bank, or at least fewer debts to pay off. Organic rice farmers have even more to smile about. Although organic rice farming is still miniscule in Thailand, where most farmers remain attached to their chemical fertilizers and industrial pesticides, those who have taken the green plunge are reaping double rewards this year.

By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS Guwahati : Tea coin is the latest fad in Canada - dip the coin in hot water and drink your steaming cup of tea, that too without any fears of pesticide residues. The latest value addition to the beverage is the tea coin - two grams of garden fresh organic tea packed in coin shape and then marketed in Canada.

By IANS, New Delhi : The IT industry has reasons to rejoice as Communication and IT Minister A. Raja Monday promised the extension of tax benefits under the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) scheme, which is due to expire by March 2010. The STPI scheme, which offers benefits like custom duty exemption and excise duty exemption, is popular among IT companies. "I will fight for the scheme in parliament so that it will be extended for a couple of years more," Raja told reporters here after taking charge of office.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday said status quo ante would be maintained on the sale of unit-linked insurance plans until an appropriate court decides on which regulator has jurisdiction over such instruments, popularly called ULIP. "Regulators have agreed to jointly seek a binding legal mandate from an appropriate court. But meanwhile, status quo ante is being maintained," Mukherjee told reporters here on the sidelines of an event to mark the foundation day of the markets regulator.

By IANS, Bangalore : German industrial equipment maker Mann-Hummel GmbH (M&H) is expanding its India operations to supply light weight filters to automobile and industrial manufacturers, a top official said here Wednesday. "As part of our expansion plans in India, we are setting up a second plant at Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh to manufacture a range of filter systems using plastics for automotive and industrial applications," M&H board member Manfred Wolf told reporters.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities markets which opened with a positive gap tracking strong global cues were trading strong early Tuesday morning. There was buying interest in consumer goods, metal and oil and gas sectors. The 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, opened at 16,454.75. At 10.45 a.m., it was at 16,442.00, still a gain of 93.50 points from Monday's closing figure. Ten minutes ino trading, the S&P Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was at 4,900.75 points with a gain of 25.70 points or 0.53 percent from its previous close.

By Xinhua New York : More than 116,000 US jobs and nearly $19 billion in investments could be lost in just one year if renewable energy tax credits are not renewed by the US Congress, a study has said. More than 76,000 jobs are at risk in the wind energy industry, and approximately 40,000 jobs in the solar energy industry, said the American Wind Energy Association and the Solar Energy Industries Association in the study released Monday.

By IANS,

By P.S. Anantharaman, IANS, Ahmedabad : US-based Pacifica Companies, founded by a non-resident Indian, is set to build its second five-star hotel in Gujarat even as construction for the first one is about to begin. The second hotel will be built with an estimated investment of Rs.1.5-2 billion along the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway on the western fringe of Ahmedabad. The SG Highway, as it is better known, is the new corporate address of the city.

By IANS, London : An Indian power project development company has announced plans to raise up to $500 million after a dual-listing on Aim and the Channel Islands Stock Exchange, making it the biggest float on Aim so far this year. Aim is the London Stock Exchange's international market for smaller growing companies. Dealings in KSK Emerging Energy Fund Limited (KEF), a subsidiary of KSK Power Ventur, are expected to begin early June. The Fund will be headed by non-executive director Tanmay Das, while Scott Bayman, a director of KSK, will also be a director of the Fund.

By IANS, Chandigarh : To expand its global coverage and speed up delivery, India's state-owned postal services company, India Posts, launched 'WorldNet Express' Thursday in partnership with German postal services company Deutsche Post. "India Posts has tied up with Deutsche Post's courier service DHL. Till now our Speed Post service was transporting packages and parcels to only 97 countries but after this association we can deliver packages to over 224 countries," the chief postmaster general of Punjab, P.R. Kumar, told media persons here Thursday.

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net

Bhopal: The preparations are underway on a war-footing for the Global Investors Summit to be held at Indore on October 26 and 27.

The preparations were reviewed during a meeting by the Bharatiya Janata Party ruled Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at Indore.

According to sources the upcoming Global Investors Meet of the State Government got a boost with around 340 investors giving the nod to attend the meet. Of them, 90 investors would be from abroad.

By IANS, Shimla : The priority of his ministry would be to help steel majors set up their stalled projects, Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh said here Sunday. "The priority of our government is to enable steel majors like Mittal Steel, Essar Steel, the Jindal group and Posco set up their units in the country," Singh told IANS in an informal interaction at his residence. At the same time, the minister said, efforts would be made to ensure that the expansion of state-run units to double their production was completed on time.

By KUNA London : Gloom on Wall Street, in New York, seen last Friday spread to world markets Monday as the Financial Times Index of the top 100 company shares on the London Stock Market followed Asian counterparts by opening more than one percent lower. Investors dumped shares after a series of poor economic and corporate reports in the United States sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 2.5 percent ahead of last weekend, traders said.

By IANS New Delhi : The government should further clarify the vexed issue of allowing foreign investment in the retail trade, the Planning Commission said in a report Wednesday. Currently, India allows 51 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail joint ventures and 100 percent in cash-and-carry wholesale trading. It has no provision of FDI in multi-brand retailing. "Hundred percent equity is allowed for cash-and-carry wholesale trading but there is no dividing line between this activity and retail trading," the report said.

By IANS, Chandigarh : A 100-member delegation of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will leave for Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah...

By IANS, Chennai : Joining hands with Rajakkamangalam Thurai fishing folks near Kanyakumari, the city-based Marg Limited will build a fishing harbour with an outlay of Rs.450 million, said a top company official Thursday. The harbour will be built by a three-way joint venture company, in which Marg will hold 39 percent stake, Consolidated Constructions 10 percent and the balance would be with a trust with the 8,500-member fishing community as its member.

By NNN-KUNA, Kuwait : The First China-Kuwait Investment Forum got underway on Sunday with participation of more than 70 Chinese figures representing the Chinese private and public sectors. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Faisal Al-Hajji, in a statement inaugurating the event, affirmed that the holding of the two-day forum in the country was in line of desire of the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah of transforming Kuwait into a financial and commercial hub.

By IANS, Mumbai : Selling pressure on frontline stocks Tuesday pulled down a benchmark index for Indian equities 120 points lower than its previous close. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 17,534.1 points and ended trade at 17,406.71 points (provisional), down 120 points or 0.68 percent from Monday's close at 17,526.71 points. Banking majors ICICI and SBI, along with ITC and Tata Steel, were among the major contributors to the slump.

By IANS, Ahmedabad : Suzlon Energy Ltd, the fifth largest wind turbine maker globally, Monday announced it has successfully completed a 51 MW wind power project for Oil and Natural Gas Corp of India (ONGC). In a communication to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company said the project is located at Motisindholi in the Kutch district of Gujarat. With this, ONGC, which produces 84 percent of the country's crude oil and natural gas, becomes the first public sector company to enter the wind energy sector.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets dipped in the afternoon trade Tuesday amid profit booking. Nearly 90 minutes before the closing bell, a key index was trading 0.38 percent lower than its previous close. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 9,589.95 points, was trading at 9,547.34 points, down 0.38 percent or 36.55 points. However, the BSE midcap index was trading 0.29 percent higher, while the BSE smallcap was up 0.15 percent.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's annual rate of inflation, based on wholesale prices, rose sharply to 7.31 percent in December from 4.78 percent in the previous month, official data showed Thursday. The annual inflation rate was 6.15 percent in December 2008. In December, prices of food articles jumped 19.17 percent, as per data released by the commerce ministry. During the month under review, the index for primary articles was up 1.2 percent, while that for fuel, power, light and lubricants rose 0.1 percent. The index for manufactured products was up 0.2 percent.

By IANS, Hyderabad : With its huge gas reserves the Krishna-Godavari basin would be the next North Sea and transform the economy of Andhra Pradesh and possibly the economy of India, the US-India Business Council (USIBC) president Ron Somers said here Thursday. Somers was addressing a session on India-US Economic Cooperation organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on the occasion of the visit of USIBC executive mission.

By IANS, New Delhi: In a bid to ensure realisation of revenue targets for this fiscal, revised upward to Rs.4,000 billion ($80 billion), the government Thursday asked the corporate sector not to defer payment of advance tax and ordered a close scrutiny of collections. India's direct tax collections have been just Rs.2,500 billion in the first nine months of this fiscal, growing at 8.5 percent over the corresponding period of the previous year. In fact, personal income tax has actually seen a decline of 0.41 percent.

By IANS,

By IANS New Delhi : Indian telecom operators Tuesday decried the industry regulator's move to impose monetary penalties for unsolicited telemarketing calls and SMSs made to the subscriber. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Monday announced the amendment of the Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) Regulations.

By IANS Mumbai : The Indian capital markets closed feeble on the expiry of the derivative segment despite some good Asian cues. The benchmark sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) shut shop at 19,003.26, up by 64.39 points or 0.34 percent. The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) went up by 17.05 points or 0.30 percent at 5,635. The BSE mid-cap index lost its sheen by shedding 20.94 points or 0.25 percent at 8,362.55. The BSE small-cap index gained 14.45 points or 0.14 percent at 10,389.75.

By F. Ahmed, IANS, Srinagar : The Valley's fruit industry faces a serious crisis with agitators blocking the Srinagar-Jammu highway in the Jammu region in protest against the revocation of forest land allotment to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. “Ripe fruit worth Rs.600 million will rot unless immediate arrangements are made for its transportation to markets outside the Valley,” Bashir Ahmad Beg, president of the North Kashmir Fruit Growers' Association, told IANS here Friday. Kashmir has no cold storage facility, which aggravated the problem, he said.

By IANS,

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS Toronto : Harinder Takhar, the first Indo-Canadian cabinet minister in Canada's biggest province of Ontario, has left for India to hold talks with Indian car makers for collaboration in the automobile sector. Ontario, where Takhar is minister for small business and entrepreneurship, is the leader in the automobile sector in North America. However, the ongoing downturn in the US economy has hit this sector in Canada, with car manufacturers announcing cuts in jobs.

By IANS, Mumbai : A probable second round of financial stimulus, coupled with banks cutting lending rates and falling inflation figures had a rub-off effect during the week on Indian equity markets with a key index Friday closing 4.1 percent higher than last weekend's close. The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) hit an intra-week high of 10,188.54 but closed at 10,099 points Friday, 408.93 points higher than the Dec 12 close of 9,690.07.

By DPA Hong Kong : Surging gambling revenue and investments in luxury hotels and the entertainment industry has made the former Portuguese enclave of Macau Asia's richest territory, a media report said Saturday. Macau has overtaken other locations such as Singapore, Brunei and Japan to take the top spot after gross domestic product (GDP) per capita surged 27 percent to $36,357 last year, according to Macau government figures.

By IANS, New Delhi : Allahabad Bank Friday announced a hike in its benchmark prime lending rate from 13.5 percent to 14 percent, with immediate effect. In a regulatory statement, the bank said the hike will not be applicable to customers who have already taken housing, personal, education and car loans. This will also not be applicable to new housing loans up to Rs.3 million.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide India a $2 million technical assistance grant to help develop public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the areas of urban development, transportation, water, health and education, it was announced Tuesday. The assistance will cover all aspects of project structuring - including institutional, financial, commercial, legal, social, environmental and technical structuring - leading to a competitive bid process to attract private sector participation.

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS, Toronto : As India's deadline of Aug 31 over access to its ultra-encrypted messenger and email services approaches, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) said it has no "master key" or "back door" to accommodate requests for access to encrypted data. In a bid to dispel what it called three "misperceptions" about its smart phone Thursday, the Canadian company said misperception number one is that "RIM has the keys to decode or decrypt the encrypted data that flows through the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution."

By DPA Singapore: The banking sector in developing economies led by China and India is likely to overtake the banks in the currently richest countries by 2050, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report said Thursday. The emerging economies including Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey are forecast to see their banking sectors surpass those of the G-7 countries - the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada. China and India show the greatest growth potential through organized growth and merger and acquisition activities, PWC said.