Economy

By NNN-APP New Delhi : President SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tariq Sayeed said that SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) would be made more effective to revive economic co-operation for free trade in the region. Giving a detailed presentation on SAFTA at expert committee meeting here Sunday, he said SAFTA has to be implemented in letter and spirit for South Asia to become an integrated and strong economic bloc.

By IANS, Kolkata : Despite the economic slowdown, the Indian economy is likely to grow 7-8 percent in 2009-10, ICICI Bank chief executive K.V. Kamath said here Saturday. "The quarter-on-quarter growth should now start looking good. We will clearly grow between 7-8 percent in 2009-10," Kamath told reporters on the sidelines of the annual convocation of the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta.

By IANS, Mumbai : Traders seemed to ease the pressure on the selling pedal at the Indian equities markets Friday with a benchmark index paring some of the losses in the afternoon although it continued to rule about 62 points in the red. Around 1.34 p.m., the 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 16,253.82 points, was at 16,244.46 points, down 62.41 points or 0.38 percent from its previous close at 16,289.82 points.

By IANS, New Delhi : Leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel Friday said its mobile phone subscriber base had crossed the 100-million mark, making the company the third largest single country service provider in the world. "Bharti Airtel has achieved 100-million subscriber mark," said a beaming Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of the Rs.375 billion company. "This milestone reiterates the emergence of India as the world's top telecom markets," he told a press conference here.

By IANS, Mumbai : A benchmark index for Indian equities rose for the second straight day Thursday, ending 185 points higher than its previous close. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,067.67 points, ended at 18,442.46 points (provisional), 185.340 points or 1.01 percent up from its previous close at 18,257.12 points. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty shut shop 1.07 percent higher at 5,537.9 points.

By IANS New Delhi : Union Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan Thursday said strong measures would be taken if steel producers were found to have increased prices more than the input costs. "The government must first examine the ratio of pricerise between raw materials and steel," Paswan said. "If it is found that steel makers have increased prices more than the rise in input costs, then necessary steps would be taken."

By IANS New Delhi : Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday directed tax officials to accept returns on trust and devise less invasive methods to check evasion while calling for a non-discriminatory and non-discretionary tax system. The finance minister said e-filing of tax deducted at source would be made compulsory for some categories of taxpayers from Sep 1 and the number of banks that can collect e-taxes will be soon expanded from the current five.

By IANS Bangalore : Leading search engine and news and entertainment portal Yahoo! has set up a laboratory here to develop next-generation products for its global customers and users, a company official said Tuesday. "As an extension of our research and development (R&D) operations here, Yahoo! India Lab will initially have 100-member team of scientists and engineers. They will work on multiple projects to make the Web more relevant and simple for users and advertisers worldwide," Yahoo! India Research head Prabhakar Raghavan told reporters here.

By IANS, Phnom Penh: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen asked for $57 million concessional loan from India for two development projects and urged India to consider direct flights to Cambodia.

By IANS, New Delhi : The recent rate cuts by the central bank have not helped the corporate sector as banks have not lowered their lending rates, an industry lobby said Sunday. According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham), 78 percent of the 150 chief executives and managing directors polled in a recent survey said the liquidity crisis persisted despite the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reducing rates, as banks are not willing to lend money.

By IANS, Jammu : Parsvnath Developers Limited (PDL) has announced the launch of Parsvnath Premium, a group housing project in association with Mass House Building Cooperative Limited, at Sidhra, Jammu. Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Agriculture, Co-operatives, Fisheries & Sericulture Abdul Aziz Zargar was present at the ground breaking ceremony at the project site located on NH-1 at Sidhra Bye-pass.

New Delhi : With international crude oil prices going below $95 a barrel, petrol prices were cut by 65 paise a litre with effect...

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, New Delhi: Sales of personal computers, including desktops and laptops, saw a 18 percent rise in the last fiscal at over 8.03 million units, an industry lobby said Wednesday. The industry hopes that the overall PC sales will cross 9.35 million units in 2010-11, registering a 16 per cent growth.

By Aroonim Bhuyan, IANS Dubai : British defence and aerospace company BAE Systems has big plans for India, ranging from commercial aerospace to land defence systems. "We are looking at India keenly. India is an enormous market and is strategically very important for us," Guy Douglas, communications director of BAE Systems for Middle East, Africa and India, told IANS at the Dubai Airshow here. His comments came as the first two of BAE Systems' Hawk jet trainer aircraft, part of a 66-aircraft deal, left Britain for India.

By IANS Chennai : Shriram Life Insurance Company Ltd and New India Assurance Company Ltd have been fined Rs.500,000 each by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for not complying with stipulated norms. Shriram Life Insurance - a joint venture between Shriram Group, Chennai and Sanlam, South Africa - has been fined for failing to meet business obligations relating to social sectors. As per IRDA rules, life and non-life insurers have to cover a specified number of lives every year.

By IANS Bhopal : Madhya Pradesh Governor Balram Jakhar said here Monday his government was committed to the welfare of farmers and was working to create an atmosphere favourable to development works. Addressing the legislative assembly on the opening day of its 40-day budget session, Jakhar said the state government has made special provision for providing relief to the landless farmers and appropriate price of farmer's produce. "It also organised an agro-business meet to promote agriculture sector," he said. The annual budget of the state for 2008-09 will be presented Feb 27.

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS, Toronto : Thanks to soaring global oil prices, the Canadian dollar has once risen against the US dollar, closing at $1.06 against the greenback at the weekend. Having reached parity with the greenback in 31 years on September 20 last year, the Canadian dollar, known as the loonie, has just about retained parity with it since then.

By IANS, New Delhi: The government's Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu Friday saw a silver lining in the new benchmark Wholesale Price Index (WPI).

By Fakir Hassen, IANS, Johannesburg : If it can manage to get just half a percent of the $2 trillion held as savings in banks by Indian investors, its new joint venture with Indian share broker SMC will be profitable by 2015, South African insurance giant Sanlam Investments chief executive Johan van der Merwe said here. Van der Merwe was commenting on the granting of a licence to Sanlam Investments to start a portfolio management company in India with SMC, the third largest share broker in India. SMC is a distributor of financial products for about 50 other companies.

By IANS,

By IANS, Mumbai : For the second consecutive day the Indian equities markets ended deep in the red Friday, on the back of heavy selling pressure across key sectors once the government announced a 7.82 percent weekly inflation rate for the week ending May 10. Realty, oil and gas and metal sectors were the worst hit. With mixed cues emerging from global markets, the domestic markets started the day with a positive gap but by mid afternoon slipped into the red and continued the sliding trend till the end of the trading session.

By Joydeep Gupta, IANS, Poznan (Poland) : The climate crisis is much bigger than the current economic crisis and will lead to a far worse recession, the UN and international NGOs warned here Friday.

By IANS Dubai : The global homeland security business is flourishing and governments and businesses worldwide are expected to spend some $178 billion by 2015 to counter terror threats, according to security experts and industry sources, WAM news agency reported Thursday. "International expenditure on homeland security now surpasses established enterprises like movie-making and the music industry in annual revenues," said Angela Schierholz, senior show manager at Epoc Messe Frankfurt GmbH, organizer of Intersec Middle East exhibition to be held in Dubai Jan 13-15, 2008.

By IANS,

By IANS New Delhi : India will attain a growth rate close to nine percent in the current financial year 2007-08, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said Friday. "The Indian economy is growing at about 8.6 percent and that has been the growth rate for the past four years now. In 2007-08, we will achieve a growth rate close to nine percent," he said while addressing a business delegation from Iceland here at a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

By IANS, New Delhi : Tata Teleservices, the country's leading CDMA telecom services provider, and Kolkata-based Quippo Telecom Infrastructure, Monday announced the merger of their infrastructure businesses to create an independent telecom infrastructure company. Under the terms of the partnership, the Tata group firm and Quippo will swap 51 percent and 49 percent stake respectively in the infrastructure business held by them.

By IANS New Delhi : India has assumed the chair of the Kimberly process that has 74 countries as members and seeks to ensure that all rough diamonds traded internationally are conflict-free. As the new chair, India will consolidate efforts to ensure active implementation of the process, ensure the growth of only legitimate trade, and protect the livelihoods of millions across the globe, an official statement said.

By IANS Mumbai : The Indian equities market Thursday opened in the green in line with its Asian peers. The 30-share benchmark sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange opened with a gain of 55.23 points at 15,805.63. Thirty minutes into trading, the Sensex was at 15,833.79 points, up by 83.39 compared to its previous close. At the same time the S&P Nifty of National Stock Exchange was at 4,757.25, up by a marginal 4 points from its previous close. The market breadth was positive with low volumes. In the initial trade 980 scrips advanced, 790 declined and 40 remained unchanged.

By IANS, Mumbai : A benchmark index for Indian equities ended flat in a day of volatile trading Monday. FMCG stocks weighed the markets down, while consumer durables shot up handsomely and PSU scrips made robust gains. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,400.33 points, closed at 18,398.91 points, almost unchanged from its previous close at 18,401.82 points. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty shut shop 0.19 percent higher at 5,540.9 points.

By IANS, Mumbai : A benchmark index for an Indian equities market Wednesday edged lower, closing 0.5 percent down in a largely lacklustre trading day.

By IANS, Mumbai : Shares of Tech Mahindra, the IT arm of automobile major Mahindra and Mahindra shot up over 12 percent Monday after Satyam's board announced it had emerged as the highest bidder to take over a strategic 31 percent stake in Satyam. Tech Mahindra's bid would infuse Rs.1,756 crore ($351 million) into Satyam's equity base. At the Bombay Stock Exchange, shares of Tech Mahindra soared 12.31 percent to close at Rs.359.45, after having risen almost 25 percent to touch an intra-day high of Rs.400.

By IANS, New Delhi : State-run gas major GAIL India Monday reported a net profit of Rs.2,804 crore ($585 million) for 2008-09 as against Rs.2,601 crore recorded the year before, an increase of 8 percent. In a regulatory statement, the company said its turnover during the period increased 32 percent to Rs.23,776 crore from Rs.18,008 crore in 2007-08. According to GAIL, this rise occurred despite an increase in the subsidy burden for liquefied natural gas (LPG) to Rs.1,781 crore. If there had been no burden, the net profit would have increased by 14 percent, the company said.

By IANS, Raipur : A 250 mega watts (MW) unit of the 500 MW coal-fired power plant, being built in Chhattisgarh by the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), will begin functioning April 20, an official said here Friday. "We are all set to begin the synchronization of the first unit of 250 MW based at industrial city Bhilai from April 20 while synchronization of second and final unit of remaining 250 MW will begin in 3-4 months from now," Roy Thomas, chief manager of the company, told IANS.

By IANS Mumbai : Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Y.V. Reddy Monday said the inflation rate was unexpectedly high and the central bank "if necessary after due assessment, will take immediate action to contain it". Reddy, in an impromptu talk to the media at the state government headquarters, said the apex bank was really concerned about the rising prices. "It is connected to the rise in the prices of oil, metal and food grains," he said.

By Rehan Ansari, Mumbai: “Unless there are amendments in the Banking Regulation Act of India, 1949, Islamic Banking system can be introduced in India,” said Abdul Hasib, former Director, Reserve Bank of India. The Islamic Banking system will be helpful for underprivileged and marginalized people, he said.

By DPA, Munich : Hypo Real Estate (HRE), the German company caught up in the wave of western bank failures, said Saturday a government-backed bail-out it was seeking had collapsed. The mortgage lender said assurances of loans from several other financial institutions had expired. Newspaper reports said leading German banks had discovered that HRE's troubles were more serious than first thought. HRE, which mainly lends to commercial projects and to build public facilities, is the first German casualty of the crisis that has spread from New York in the past month.

By IANS, Mumbai : Barely a fortnight after getting a new airport, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's home district Latur will now be directly connected to Mumbai with a new broad guage railway line, officials said Friday. Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde is set to flag off the inaugural Latur-Mumbai service at Latur station Sunday morning, an official said here. The daily service, apart from boosting the development of the state's backward Marathwada region, will result in reduction in travel time between Mumbai and Hyderabad.

By IANS, Agartala/Guwahati : Banking services have been severely affected in the northeastern region for the second day Tuesday as most of the major banks...

By IANS,

By IANS Mumbai : Mumbai-based Uttam Galva Steels Ltd has won the Star Performer trophy for the ninth consecutive year from the Engineering Export Promotion Council. The company has also crossed a new landmark by exporting 2 million tonnes of value-added steel to different countries. These exports are not for generic products but for high-end products tailor-made to specific requirements.

By Aparajita Gupta, IANS, Kolkata : The economic downturn has affected almost every sector in the country with realty being no exception. Though the city proper has avoided a steep fall in prices so far, realtors in Kolkata's suburbs have begun to feel the heat of depressed prices. "Sales are definitely down in the city but there is no price cut yet. But there is a drop in prices by at least 25 percent in Rajarhat," Pradip Chopra, chairman and managing director of infrastructure developer PS Group Realty Ltd, told IANS, referring to the fringe township to the north east of Kolkata.

By IANS, New York : Citigroup has decided to close a hedge fund that its chief executive Vikram Pandit co-founded, and which the banking behemoth bought for more than $800 million. Citigroup plans to shut Old Lane Partners and buy what is left of its assets, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The fund has been dogged by mediocre returns and the loss of top managers. Pandit personally made at least $165 million when Citigroup bought Old Lane at a time when hedge funds were considered a lucrative new business.

By IANS,

By IANS, Mumbai : Commuters had a harrowing time as auto-rikshaws across Maharashtra went off the roads Tuesday, commencing a three-day strike against a government proposal to install electronic meters. "We have launched the protest against the state government's decision to make electronic meters compulsory in all auto-rickshaws. Auto-rickshaw drivers and owners across the state have confirmed their participation in the strike," Thamty Kurian, working president of the Mumbai Autorickshaw Union, told IANS.

By IANS

New Delhi : Organised crime such as money laundering, terrorism and drug-peddling is hurting the economy more than petty thefts, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said Thursday, and warned of dire results if it were left unchecked.