Economy

By Syed Zahid Ahmed,

By DPA, Taipei : More than 7,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs)have shut down in Taiwan in the past two years due to recession, a government agency said Monday. "At the end of 2006, there were 1.23 million SMEs enterprises in Taiwan. By the end of 2007, the number had dropped by more than 7,000," Lin Ping-pin, secretary-general of the National Association for Small and Medium Enterprises, said at a conference for smalland medium enterprises, which is held every third year.

By IANS Kolkata : Global learning solutions firm Aptech has garnered four awards for franchising at the prestigious Indian Franchising Awards 2008 in New Delhi, the company said here Wednesday. Bagging four awards at the event organised by the Franchising Association of India Sunday, Aptech has reinforced its standing as a premier franchiser with a network in more than 35 countries, a company official said.

By IANS, New Delhi : The government is setting up a Rs.2.45-billion food processing laboratory and upgrading existing facilities in a bid to improve quality standards and boost exports of processed food products. The "world-class laboratory" would soon start functioning at Sonepat bordering Delhi, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahay told the Economic Editors Conference Wednesday. Processed food products exported from India have often had to be destroyed in importing countries for failing to meet prescribed quality standards.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equity markets rose soon after the opening bell on the last day of 2008, with a key index gaining by 0.58 percent about 15 minutes into trade. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened the day at 9,806.64 points against Tuesday's close at 9,716.16 points and was at 9,772.45 points about 15 minutes into trading, 0.58 percent higher than its previous close.

By IANS,

By IANS, Kolkata : The West Bengal government may start rationing petrol and diesel, a senior official said here Friday on day-three of the crippling oil sector officers' strike. "We might consider rationing of petrol and diesel in the state if this panic situation prevails, people are procuring petrol or diesel more than actually required," Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty told reporters. The government is considering earmarking 10 litres of petrol for every car, 40 litres for mini-buses and 50 litres for private buses. A final decision will be taken during the day.

By Arun Kumar, IANS Washington : A US-India business lobby says New Delhi's leadership will be necessary to achieve a meaningful Doha agreement through the reduction of tariff barriers, domestic supports and non-tariff barriers to freer trade. The US-India Business Council (USIBC), representing over 250 of the largest US companies seeking broader trade and commercial ties with India, urged all World Trade Organisation (WTO) members to support a successful conclusion of the renewed world trade talks.

By IANS Mumbai : After selecting Brussels as its hub for Europe and US east coast cities, Jet Airways is now planning to choose Shanghai as the hub for its destinations to US' west coast, said a top company official. "We are finalising our route network to San Francisco and Los Angeles with Shanghai as hub. It is much shorter and cost effective to fly from China to the US west coast than from Singapore," said Saroj K. Dutta, executive director of Jet Airways.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs Thursday approved the Cruise Shipping Policy of India that envisages a zero-tax regime for cruise ship operators. Under the policy, cruise operators will be exempted from income-tax, excise duty, customs duty, corporate tax and service tax that accounts for almost a third of their total revenues. A mini-township on the high seas, cruise shipping is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing components of the leisure industry worldwide, fast emerging as a new marketable commodity.

By IANS Singapore : India announced Wednesday it was set to conclude a long-awaited free trade agreement (FTA) with Asean by early next year, with differences over preferential access confined only to a handful of products. Both sides have agreed to settle these issues by March 2008 with a view to concluding the FTA in goods by May 2008, Indian Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai told a news conference here on the sidelines of the India-Asean Summit. Pillai's comments came a day after economic ministers of Asean and India held informal consultations Tuesday.

By Jeevan Mathew Kurian, IANS Kozhikode (Kerala) : The advent of television in the 1980s virtually put a gag on the radio, but now its crackle is back in Kerala, especially with private FM stations reviving it in a big way. "Radios are now selling around 10 times the earlier figure. Two months ago I used to sell around two to three radios a day. Now, it has reached 25 to 30 units," P.M. Valsalan, a dealer in Philips radio sets here, told IANS.

By IANS, Mumbai : Conglomerate Birla Corp Tuesday announced it had decided to lay off employees at the company's Birlapur auto trim division. In a regulatory statement, the company said the decision was taken on account of shortage of power. The layoffs come into immediate effect. The auto trim division supplies automotive interiors to major Indian car manufacturers.

By Zainab Lakhani, TwoCircles.net

Google is currently the biggest search engine on the web, and considering the speeds at which it has grown beyond just that, we can very well predict a future world wide web that will be dominated by this ever growing giant.

By IANS Mumbai : Indian stock markets have not been affected by the mid-term review of monetary policy announced Tuesday, as it was largely in line with street expectations. It was a choppy day for the markets amid volatility. The markets ended in the red. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) hit an all-time high of 20,124 and slipped back into the red, ending the day by losing 193.45 points or 0.97 percent, closing at 19,784.

By IANS, New Delhi : Hilton Hotels Corp plans to add 300 hotels in Asia in the next decade in a bid to match its rivals, and take advantage of a business and leisure travel boom in India and China, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The value of those hotels would be in the tens of billions of dollars, Hilton chief executive and president Chris Nassetta told the Journal. Hilton already owns 47 hotels in Asia.

By DPA, New York : Wall Street took another tumble Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average spiralling down by more than 700 points amid renewed worries the US is already in the grip of a recession. US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned that the emergency action taken by the Bush administration in response to the financial crisis is unlikely to produce a swift economic recovery.

By IANS, Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh Power Corp Ltd (UPPCL) will rope in private detectives to trace power defaulters across the state, a senior official said Saturday. "As we have failed to locate the power defaulters, who have either sold their houses or shifted to other places, UPPCL has now decided to hire private detectives to trace them," UPPCL managing director Avaneesh Awasthi told IANS. According to officials, the defaulters in the state owe around Rs.80 billion to UPPCL.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities made marginal gains Tuesday amid volatile trading, with a key index ending 52 points higher than its previous close. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened lower 15,573.91 points, ended at 15,881.01 points (provisional), up 52.26 points or 0.33 percent. The broader-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed marginally higher at 4,656.95 points, up 0.3 percent.

By IANS, New Delhi : In its first response to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) waiver for India, China Monday hoped the decision will contribute to "peaceful use of nuclear energy" and international cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation.

By IANS, New Delhi : The government should at the earliest levy duty on refined sugar being imported into country as it will not only stabilise the sweetener's prices but also help the industry cut its losses, said a top official of a sugar company. "Due to speculation in the market that the government may impose tax, there is a great volatility in the prices. The imposition of import duty will not only help check excessive import of cheap refined sugar but will also lead to sugar prices stabilising," said Sunil Kakria, managing director of Mawana Sugars, in an interview to IANS.

By IANS, New York: With all three indexes rallying for the fifth straight day, Wall Street Friday finished its best week in nearly two years, Xinhua reported.

By IANS New Delhi : In another feather to the cap for India Inc, state-owned petroleum major Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd (ONGC) has become the first Indian company to feature in Fortune magazine's annual list of the world's most admired companies. "ONGC is the only company from India in Fortune's list for 2007," said a statement issued by ONGC Tuesday.

By IANS, New Delhi : Despite India's overall exports growth dipping considerably, exports from its special economic zones (SEZs) grew 50 percent during 2008-09, the government said Monday. "The value of exports made from SEZs during 2008-09 was Rs.99,689 crore against Rs.66,638 crore in the previous year, an increase over 50 percent," said Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya M. Scindia in the Lok Sabha Monday. During 2008-09, India's total exports registered a growth of 3.5 percent as compared to 29.1 percent during the previous year.

By IANS Kolkata : After billionaire L.N. Mittal of ArcelorMittal, the $12.4-billion Hinduja Group is considering investments in a proposed chemical hub in West Bengal. "We are interested in the chemical space in West Bengal. We have some big plans in India in the oil and gas sector," Hinduja Group India Ltd vice-chairman Subir Raha has said. The Hinduja group has communicated its interest to West Bengal Industry Minister Nirupam Sen. The minister met Ashok Hinduja and Subir Raha in Mumbai last week.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's annual food inflation dropped to 16.04 percent for the week ended April 24 from 16.61 percent a week ago due to fresh arrival of the winter crop. Data on the wholesale price index (WPI) released by the commerce and industry ministry showed the index for food articles fell by 0.1 percent during the week under review. The index for non-food articles and fuel remained unchanged. Taking into account the year as a whole, the prices of pulses, milk and cereals rose during the week and that of potatoes, vegetables and onions declined.

By IANS, New Delhi : The sharp depreciation in the value of the Indian rupee and large-scale exports have pushed up prices of tyres in the country, although there has been a decline in input costs, industry experts have said. The prices of natural rubber have fallen 41.5 percent in six weeks to the year's low of Rs.90 per kg from Rs.142 per kg, even as petrochemical inputs have also declined due to the sharp drop in crude oil price, says an industry lobby for tyre dealers.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equity markets touched their lowest point in the year so far in the week gone by, due to soaring inflation and rising global crude oil price. Three out of five trading sessions in the week ended deep in the red. As inflation touched 11.05 percent for the week ended June 7 - the highest since May 6 1995, when it was 11.11 percent - the market was caught unprepared.

By DPA, Tokyo : Toyota Motor Corp said Tuesday it is repairing more than 1.6 million vehicles around the world, including the Camry sold in the US and the sport utility vehicle Harrier in Japan, to fix oil hoses. The repairs are the latest in a series of quality problems with which the world's largest carmaker has been struggling. Toyota said the so-called "service campaign" to replace the oil hoses would affect about 1.6 million vehicles in about 90 countries and regions worldwide, Kyodo News Agency reported.

By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS London : In a major victory for India Inc., Britain's largest manufacturing union that represents Ford has backed a bid by India's Tata Motors to buy out the luxury car brands Jaguar and Land Rover. The important union decision, conditional on owners Ford Motors Co. going ahead with the sale, comes as a significant boost to Tata's successful strategy of global expansion and follows its landmark acquisition of the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus in January.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities markets that opened with a positive gap Wednesday turned choppy in initial trade. Power, auto, metal and capital goods sectors were under selling pressure. The 30-share sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, opened with a gain of 83.03 points at 16,358.62. Fifteen minutes into trading, it was at 16,335.92 points. At the same time the S&P Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 4,856.85 points with a loss of 2.95 points or 0.06 percent from its previous close. The Nifty had opened with a marginal gain.

By IANS, Dubai : Bahrain has commissioned leading American provider of credit information on businesses and corporations Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) to conduct a detailed study of the Gulf nation's small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. Bahrain's Labour Fund has engaged D&B Research & Advisory Services to develop a customised business-scoring model in order to streamline financing support for SME development in Bahrain, according to a D&B statement. The scoring model will enable SMEs to identify growth opportunities and utilise feedback for improved business performance.

TwoCircles.net presents “Agenda for India”. Series editor is Charu Bahri. According to chartered accountant Abdur Rauf Shaikh, Founder of Shaikh A A & Associates, “Agricultural finance is one of the foremost challenges facing the Indian financial sector.”

By IANS, Hyderabad : Satyam Computer Services founder B. Ramalinga Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju and former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas were Friday sent back to jail for one more week by a court here, which, however, turned down a plea by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to record their statements. On the day of hectic developments, the plea of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), seeking permission to question the accused, was not admitted by the court on the ground that it was not filed under relevant provisions.

By IANS,

By IANS Chennai : The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) is studying the need for another commodity exchange in the country following applications from a host of interested companies, a top official of the panel said Friday. "We are studying whether there is space for some additional commodities futures exchanges," B. Khautua, chairman of FMC, who was here to discuss policy issues with commodity exchanges in the south zone, told reporters.

By IANS Mumbai : Indian equity markets ended deep in the red Friday, with the benchmark index shedding over 500 points, marching in step with downward global trends on the back of heavy selling in key sectors. The markets that opened in the red and within 15 minutes plummeted by more than 500 points continued to nosedive on reports that inflation had risen to 5.29 percent against 4.89 percent last week.

By IANS Hyderabad : Many farmers in Andhra Pradesh feel relieved as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's budget announcement of farm loan waiver will remove a "big burden" from their shoulders. "This announcement has brought happiness to us. This will remove a big burden," said Kumarri Mallaiah, in Kalanpak village of Nalgonda district. He had taken a loan of Rs.30,000 three years ago and was worried over its repayment.

By IANS New Delhi : A company that has developed India's first indigenous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be showcasing them at the DEFEXPO-2008 international defence exposition that begins here Saturday, pointing to their wide applications in the military and civilian sectors.

By Yoginder Sikand The Great Rann of Kutch, stretching over much of the northern part of Gujarat’s remote Kutch district and spilling over across the border in Pakistan’s Sindh province, is a fragile desert ecological zone. It consists of flat sandy and stony plains that stretch as far as the horizon, interspersed with small rocky hillocks, dotted, in some parts, with thorny, ankle-length bushes. Large parts of the area do not boast of any vegetation at all, being covered with massive sheets of salt.

By IANS, Dubai : Developers of the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Saudi Arabia Saturday unveiled the blueprint of the KAEC Sea Port designed to become the largest port in the Red Sea and one of the top 10 ports in the world. Emaar, the Economic City (Emaar E.C.), the consortium developing KAEC 100 km north of Jeddah, said in a statement that the new port would be a logistics hub and would have a capacity of handling 20 million TEU or twenty-foot equivalent container units.

By IANS, New Delhi: The country's telecom watchdog has sought the views of the industry stakeholders on mobile number portability (MNP) charges that will help decide what service providers and a customer should pay for switching operators. MNP once implemented will allow subscribers to retain their existing mobile number when they switch from one service provider to another or from one technology to another of the same service provider.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's industrial production expanded 4.8 percent in September, which was higher than the poor growth of 1.3 percent in the previous month, but sharply lower than the 7 percent registered during the like month of last fiscal. Data on the official Index of Industrial Production (IIP) released Wednesday showed that cumulative growth during the first six months of this fiscal was 4.9 percent, against 9.5 percent during the corresponding period of last fiscal.

By IANS, Bangalore : Leading integrated telecom services provider Bharti Airtel and IT bellwether Infosys Technologies Ltd Wednesday announced a strategic partnership to provide digital TV viewing on a DTH (direct to home) platform. The partnership envisages Infosys providing a suite of products, including devices, application servers and interactive applications to enhance digital lifestyle for Airtel customers. The alliance will also enable Airtel to offer lower iCity, iNet and tPortal services on Airtel digital TV.

By IANS, Bangalore : Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (WIE), the global hydraulics business of the IT bellwether, has tied up with Wujin hi-tech Industrial Zone (WIZ) to set up a manufacturing facility at Changzhou city in China's Jiangsu province, the company said Monday. The Chinese plant will be Wipro's ninth such global facility to manufacture high pressure precision hydraulic cylinders and tipping systems, using state-of-the-art machinery for operations like CNC machining, robotic welding, induction hardening etc.

By Xinhua Moscow : France's Societe Generale said it was about to complete Monday a deal to gain a controlling stake in a leading Russian bank, the president of the bank's Russian subsidiary said Monday. "The purchase of Rosbank will most likely proceed according to schedule, and 30 percent of shares will be transferred to Societe Generale, Mark-Emmanuel Vives, president of Societe Generale Vostok, said. "We already own 20 percent of Rosbank's shares and we will, in this way, possess 50 percent plus one share in mid-February," he said.

By IANS, Mumbai: A benchmark index for Indian equities Wednesday noon moved further up from its opening trade highs and touched the 18,000 mark amid stable cues from other Asian markets. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,873.92 points, was ruling at 18,000.78 points, 122.64 points or 0.69 percent up from its previous close at 17,878.14 points. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was trading at 5,404.95 points, up 0.69 percent from its previous close at 5,368 points.

By IANS, Thiruvananthapuram : The proposed Rs.15-billion Smart City project at Kochi had its first marketing event at Outsource World London, a premier business trade platform, the company said here Friday. Outsource World London brought top executives, who are looking to outsource business services, face-to-face with exhibitors. The expo was held in London Wednesday and Thursday.

By IANS, New Delhi : Exports of agricultural products from India will more than double to top Rs.1 lakh crore (Rs.1 trillion or $20 billion) in the next five years, says an official export promotion agency of the commerce ministry. According to estimates by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), the share of India's farm product exports in the global trade will also grow from 2 percent now to over 5 percent.

By IANS, Kolkata : People who get their water from municipal authorities here should start paying for it so that there was no unnecessary use, says Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya. In an interactive session with the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) Wednesday on how to make the City of Joy more liveable, Bhattacharyya stressed on the need to preserve water. "Water levy should be imposed to reduce unnecessary water consumption in the city," he said.

By Xinhua Beijing : China's economic growth is estimated to be 10.5 percent in the current year, slightly lower than in 2007, a report released by the Bank of China said Thursday. Inflation pressures would still exist in 2008, but would gradually flatten over the year, said the report. The annual consumer price index would stay around 4.5 percent, down from 4.7 percent in 2007. Imports and exports would continue to grow rapidly, but the fast pace of exports would slow. With a stable rise in imports, the growth in trade surplus would gradually narrow.

By IANS, Mumbai : Construction and engineering major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has bagged a Rs.10.47-billion order from the Indian Railways to set up a wheel manufacturing plant in Bihar, the company said Tuesday. In a regulatory statement, the company said the plant, with a capacity to manufacture 100,000 wheels annually, will be set up at Saran in Chhapra district in two years. The turnkey project will have no foreign collaboration, the statement added.

By Sujeet Kumar, IANS, Lohandiguda (Chhattisgarh) : Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh says the Tatas will get all his support to set up a $2-billion new steel unit in the state given the benefits it will bring to one of India's most backward areas, even as the project is facing rough weather over acquisition of farmland. Tata Steel had signed an agreement in June 2005 with the state government to set up the project in Bastar district, one of the country's most impoverished areas, with an annual capacity of five million tonnes at a cost of Rs.10,000 crore (Rs.100 billion).

By IANS, New Delhi : Eighteen years after it started opening up its economy, India, for the first time, has replaced China as the most promising destination for foreign direct investment in the medium-to-long term, says a UN agency. The World Investment Report (WIR) prepared by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) released here Wednesday said that in the short term, however, China again ranked at the top, followed by India. The report quoted a survey by the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) for its remarks.

By IANS, Washington : Indian outsourcer HCL Technologies has acquired its first data centre in the US from one of its customers, a report here said. HCL actually acquired the data centre in October but delayed announcing it until this month pending the upgrade of the facility. HCL also took over the data centre's staff and other operations, R. Srikrishna, senior vice president for sales for the North America business of HCL's Infrastructure Services Division, was quoted as saying by PC World.

By Alkesh Sharma, IANS, Jalandhar (Punjab) : Bharti Walmart is planning to open 10 to 15 cash-and-carry wholesale stores over the next three years and hoping that the government will open up multi-brand retail to foreign investment. "We are committed to building a strong and efficient supply chain that would benefit consumers. This process can be strengthened if we are also allowed to invest in front-end retailing. Talks are on. We are very optimistic the government will open up FDI for multi-brand retailing," Chairman Rajan Bharti Mittal told IANS in an interview.

By IANS,

By IANS New Delhi : Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and his Sudanese counterpart Awad Ahmed Al-Jaz Tuesday discussed ONGC Videsh Ltd.'s (OVL) investment in Sudan ahead of the two-day India-Africa Hydrocarbon Conference. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Al-Jaz said: "Besides the three blocks ONGC already has in Sudan, it has shown interest in two more blocks. The doors are open for Indian investment in Sudan."

By IANS,

By IANS,

By DPA, Washington : The International Monetary Fund has sought to put a positive spin on the current financial turmoil in the US, predicting the world's advanced economies will stage a slow recovery by 2009 even as financial firms face potential bankruptcy. "While the events of the past week underscore the seriousness of the situation, my message today is straightforward: this storm can be weathered without a damaging global recession," IMF Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky said Thursday in Washington.

By DPA, San Francisco : Thirty-three years after he founded what has grown to become the richest and most powerful tech company in the world, Microsoft's Bill Gates Friday is relinquishing control of his baby to concentrate on philanthropy. Gates will give up his full time role at Microsoft and his title as executive chairman. But he will retain the title of chairman and plans to work for Microsoft one day a week. But though Microsoft can boast of unparalleled earnings and profits, its future is open to doubt as a gaggle of new competitors takes aim at its dominance.

By KUNA London : The Bank of England (Britains Central Bank) said Wednesday it faces a "difficult balancing act" as the UK economy experiences slower growth and the risk of accelerating inflation. In a new report, the Bank predicted that growth would slow sharply to less than two percent by the end of 2008, from about three percent at present. But the Bank also said it expects inflation to remain above the British Government's target of two percent, and forecast it could rise as high as three percent.

By IANS, Vienna: Global financial crisis would cause stagnation of Austrian economy, said the country's central bank Austrian National bank (OeNB) Friday.

By IANS/EFE, Madrid : Home sales fell 17.7 percent year-on-year to 27,198 units in Spain in October, hitting the lowest level since January 2007, authorities said.

By NNN-PTI New Delhi : A sharp rise in prices that has accompanied an impressive economic growth rate is causing concern to the Congress-led UPA government as it enters its fourth year in office with calls from allies and even within for a mid-course correction in policies. Except for a dinner for UPA MPs to be hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 22, the third anniversary of the Congress-led coalition is expected to be a low-key affair.

By IANS, Lucknow : Meerut's sugarcane farmers say they will stop supplies to Bajaj Hindustan Ltd. at Kinauni in the next crushing season. The threat comes after the mill management Wednesday cleared their dues for the 2007-08 crushing season following a Supreme Court directive. Agitating farmers said dues of the previous 2006-07 season still remained unpaid. "We will enforce this ban in the next sugarcane crushing season later this year," leader of the local farmers cooperative society Pritam Singh told IANS by telephone from Kinauni, about 450 km from here.

By DPA Manila : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday it will provide up to $1.16 billion in loans for expansion of roads and public sector reforms in Pakistan. The Manila-based bank said up to $900 million would be used to rehabilitate and expand key sections of the country's main highway network, including upgrading the highway from Karachi to Peshawar City.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities markets which opened with a positive gap Wednesday were trading flat early afternoon. At 12:30 p.m. the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, was trading at 16,346.59 with a gain of 71 points. It touched a high of 16,370.23 and a low of 16,217.78 points. At the same time, the S&P Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 4,863.65 points with a marginal gain of 3.85 points. The market breadth turned negative. On BSE 1,051 stocks advanced, 1,401 declined and 77 remained unchanged.

By IANS,

By IANS/EFE, Sao Paulo : Brazil's coffee exports fell 15 percent in volume terms in February, compared to the same month in 2009, the exporters council, known as Cecafe, said. The report released by Cecafe Monday shows that nearly 2.23 million sacks, worth $361 million, were exported last month. The figures were affected by the crop's two-year cycle, which yielded smaller production numbers than in the previous year, Cecafe said. Brazil's main export markets are Germany, which buys nearly 1 million sacks annually, and the US, which purchases just under 800,000 sacks.

By IANS New Delhi : Indian equities lost ground Thursday after opening on a strong note for the second successive day as investors sought to book profits on the gains made a day earlier following an impressive rally. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened higher by 326.91 points at 17,920.98 points, against the previous day's close at 17,594.07 and rose higher to 18,096.31 points within minutes.

By IANS, * Improvement of passenger amenities at a cost of Rs.1,112 crore; regional cuisines to be introduced.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equity markets suffered huge losses by early Thursday afternoon, with metal, realty, power and capital goods stocks under heavy selling pressure. At 12:30 p.m., the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, was down by 666.50 points or 4.88 percent at 12,998.12, compared to its closing figure Wednesday. It had touched a low of 12,965.89 earlier. At the same time, the broader based S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was down by 188.00 points or 4.84 percent at 3,895.35.

By IANS Pune : Cola giant PepsiCo has launched a contest to tap young talent from the country's top management schools. "The contest is an attempt to bring out some fresh and out-of-the-box ideas from the best brains of the country," Mrinall Dey, general manager, corporate communications, PepsiCo India, told IANS. The "Taste the Success - Become Indra's Advisor" competition requires participating teams to submit a case study of business strategies to unlock the latent demand for beverages in India.

By IANS, New Delhi : The national capital is last on an entrepreneurial confidence perception survey that was released Tuesday. The evaluation, prepared by global consultancy KPMG and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a Silicon Valley-based non-profit network of entrepreneurs that aims at fostering entrepreneurship, was based on a survey of over 1,000 entrepreneurs in 15 states. On a scale of one to five, Andhra Pradesh, known for its IT services sector, has the highest confidence score of 4.14 for existing ventures, followed by Goa and Rajasthan.

By IANS New Delhi : The central government Thursday decided to increase by Rs 50 a quintal the minimum support price for paddy to help farmers during the current kharif season. The increase is over and above the bonus of Rs.50 announced earlier, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters after a meeting of the cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The minimum support price determines the remuneration central agencies like the Food Corporation of India (FCI) give farmers for their produce.

By IANS New Delhi : In crucial steps that can counter China's growing clout in Africa, India Tuesday announced preferential market access to exports from 34 least developed African countries and agreed to more than double financial package for development of the resource-rich continent. At the first India-Africa Summit Tuesday, which began with drum beats welcoming leaders from 14 African countries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for working closely with Africa to build a "more equitable global economy and polity" and turning the 21st century into a "century of Asia and Africa".

By Joydeep Gupta, IANS, New Delhi : A global warming of two degrees Celsius -- the minimum the world is likely to experience -- could result in permanent GDP reductions of four-five percent for South Asia, warns a new World Bank report. But if developed countries act now, a 'climate-smart' world is feasible, and the costs for getting there will be high but still manageable, says the report, adding that high-income countries also need to act quickly to reduce their carbon footprints and boost development of alternative energy sources to help tackle the problem of climate change.

By IANS, Kolkata : A week after Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata's warning that he may move out of West Bengal, the situation at his Tata Motors' small car factory at Singur looked grimmer Friday with employees refusing to report for work after they were held up at the factory Thursday evening by protesting anti-land acquisition activists. "Our workers are not attending work today. We are assessing the situation as of now," the global auto major Tata Motors said in a statement.

By IANS Sagar (Madhya Pradesh) : The Madhya Pradesh government Friday succeeded in attracting investment proposals worth nearly Rs.295.5 billion at a state sponsored investors' meet here. Inaugurating the meet, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called upon the investors to come forward and take advantage of the state's industry-friendly policies.

By IANS Mumbai : A key market index opened on a cautious note at 20,903 points Wednesday morning. The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay stock Exchange remained range bound between 20,908.38 and 20,790.31 points till mid-morning, a decline of 24 points over Tuesday's close. The broader 50-shate S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 6,287.55 points and hovered between 6,296.75 and 6,240.65 till mid-morning, showing a loss of 46 points from Tuesday's close.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets were back in the green after falling in the morning session, with a key index gaining 1.11 percent over its previous close about an hour before close. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was at 9,339.19 points, 1.11 percent or 102.91 points higher than its previous close. At the same time, the S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was at 2,861.4 points, 1.33 percent up over its last close of 2,823.95.

By DPA, Vienna : The price for crude oil produced by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has dropped below $115, to its lowest price since early May, figures released by OPEC showed Thursday. One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC-produced crude stood at $114.64 a barrel Wednesday, $1.58 lower than $116.22 on the previous day. Wednesday's price was the lowest since May 6, when a barrel cost $177.310. OPEC calculates an average basket price based on 13 important brands produced by cartel members.

By IANS, Washington : The global economy is poised to grow 2.7 percent this year, but the recovery will be slow as the impact of fiscal stimulus wanes, the World Bank has said in a report. The Global Economic Prospects 2010 report released Wednesday said the recovery "that is now underway will slow later this year as the impact of fiscal stimulus wanes." It said the global economy shrunk 2.2 percent in 2009. Financial markets remain troubled and private sector demand lags amid high unemployment. However, the economy is expected to grow 3.2 percent in 2011, Xinhua reported.

By Neena Bhandari, IANS, Sydney : ArcelorMittal has increased its shareholding in Australia's Macarthur Coal Limited to 19.9 per cent by purchasing a further 5 per cent interest from Talbot Group Holdings, owned by Ken Talbot. ArcelorMittal said the shares were purchased at $AUD20 bringing the company's total investment in Macarthur Coal to AUD$843 million. Macarthur Coal Chairman Keith De Lacy said in a statement Monday: "We are pleased with ArcelorMittal's continued support and look forward to continuing our long term relationship with them as a major customer."

By IANS, Kolkata : Tyre maker Ceat is not considering lowering prices of tyres despite a cut in excise duty in the central budget 2010-11, a company official said Wednesday. "We do not see the excise duty cut going to impact tyre prices as prices of raw material like rubber are spiralling up," said Subrata Basu, head of specialty, truck and bus radial tyres. Most tyre makers had raised prices by 7-10 percent in December after a rise in rubber prices.

By IANS New Delhi : Indian biotechnology major Biocon is eyeing acquisitions in the US and European markets by the end of current fiscal (2007-08), its chairman said Monday. "We are looking at US, Europe and some of the emerging markets," Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told reporters on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit currently underway here. "With the rupee appreciating, you are going to be able to acquire companies," she said.

By Shafiq Mir, NAK, Rajouri: Rajouri labor union alleged that the officials of Rural Development Department Rajouri were demanding commission from them for the payment of the amount they have worked for under NREGA scheme. The union has lodged a complaint with labor officer Rajouri saying that they have not been paid a single penny for the past eight months under the NREGA scheme they had worked.

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 Xinhua Abu Dhabi : Quality Energy (QE) Petro Holding International, an energy firm of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will set up an oil refinery and petrochemical complex worth $4.5 billion in Russia's Chelyabinsk Oblast, Khaleej Times reported Monday. The QE has signed a memorandum of understanding to set up the complex with the government of Chelyabinsk Oblast, the report said adding that the Abu Dhabi energy firm will hold 75 percent stake and Oblast, 25 percent.

By IANS, Mexico City : Mexican steel giant Altos Hornos has said it would cut 12,000 jobs as part of "austerity measures" in the wake of the global recession, EFE reported Wednesday. The firm said an upgradation project worth $287 million of its iron mines has been postponed indefinitely. The plan was expected to boost the company's annual production capacity by 40 percent to 4.6 million tonnes of liquid steel. The firm said further retrenchment was possible if the economic situation did not improve.

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net Bhopal, May 17: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan visited Silicon Valley at San Jose during his U.S. visit on Wednesday. According to an official Press release the Bankers Club of San Francisco organized a road show and interactive meeting on investment potential in Madhya Pradesh with the cooperation of U.S.-Indo Business Council and FICCI on the occasion.

By IANS Mumbai : The Indian banking industry expects a decline in interest rates during the first quarter of next financial year(2008-09), Deepak Parekh, chairman of Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC), said here Friday. This, however, would happen only if the central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), did not hike the cash reserve ratio (CRR), he added. "Interest rates could go down by 25 basis point if RBI does not hike the CRR," Parekh said, addressing a global trade conference organised by Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC) as part of its centenary celebrations.

By IANS, London : Most Londoners will benefit from fibre broadband by spring 2011, British Telecom has announced in a statement. The communications giant has announced it will be rolling out the technology to 87 per cent of the Greater London area. Following BT's proposals earlier this year to add 114 exchanges to the few already on the schedule, the firm now says it hopes to complete by March next year. That means around 2 million homes and businesses will be able to use Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) or Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTC) technology.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : India has approached the World Bank for a $1-billion loan to fund urban development projects, Minister of State for Urban Development Saugata Roy told the Lok Sabha Friday. "The ministry of urban development has taken initiative to get World Bank assistance for urban sector projects," Roy said in a written reply in the lower house. "The department of economic affairs has already recommended a proposal to the World Bank for a loan assistance up to $1 billion", he said.

By IANS, Mumbai : A key index of Indian equities markets recouped most of the day's losses Wednesday to end 54 points below its previous close even as major Asian markets tumbled as much as 3 percent Wednesday. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened lower at 14,953.44 points, ended trade at 15,020.16 points, down 54.43 points or 0.36 percent. The index plunged to a low of 14,701.05 points in intra-day trading, but recovered most of the losses in the afternoon.

By IANS,

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets, which opened higher Wednesday, rose further by midday, with several stocks looking attractive at current valuations, and a key index gaining 2.99 percent over Tuesday's close just before noon. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was up 271.2 points or 2.99 percent little before noon Tuesday and was trading at 9,342.56 points Wednesday. The Sensex opened at 9,207.52 Wednesday, higher than its previous close of 9,071.36.

By IANS,

By DPA, Riyadh : Saudi Arabia would increase oil production by 300,000 barrels a day, Saudi officials said Friday, handing a diplomatic boost to US President George W. Bush during his official visit there. The decision was made on May 10 in response to requests by 50 customers worldwide, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi in Riyadh was quoted as saying Friday by Bloomberg financial news service. The announcement came after a meeting between Bush and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah.

By IANS Helsinki : Finnair's total traffic measured in passenger kilometres grew 16.2 percent in 2007, with Asian traffic up by a staggering 32.6 percent, Finland's national carrier said Tuesday. Finnair's Asian flights carried more than 1.1 million passengers, of the 8.6 million passengers transported by the airline during the year. The passenger load factor was at 75.5 percent, with nine percent of all Finnair long-haul passengers travelling in business class, the airline said.

By IANS,

By IANS, Mumbai : The Indian equities market Thursday opened in green. The 30-share benchmark sensitive index of Bombay Stock Exchange opened with a gain of 80.65 points at 14,300.72 points. The S&P Nifty of National Stock Exchange opened at 4,252.60 points with a marginal loss of 0.5 points compared to its last close.

By IANS, New Delhi : The seventh round of auction of India's hydrocarbon assets Monday received 181 bids from 96 companies for exploration in 45 blocks, the government announced. Indian petroleum officials termed this round as the "most successful round ever", there being every indication that investments would top $3 billion. This was also the highest number of bids received in block auctions so far. The sixth round in 2006 received 165 bids for the 52 blocks put on auction.

By IANS, New Delhi : India produced record food grain in 2008-09 but the situation could become a cause for concern due to erratic monsoon in several parts of the country, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said Monday. Between July 1 and now, there has been a significant improvement in monsoon rain, with the deficit based on long-term average coming down from 46 percent to 27 percent, the minister said during a debate in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament.

By IANS, Ahmedabad : People of Ahmedabad as well as tourists would be able to enjoy a boat ride on the Sabarmati river from next year, as a firm plans to invest Rs.7.5 million (Rs.75 lakh) to start the service. Akshar Travels Pvt Ltd, an Ahmedabad-based travel firm, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government to introduce river cruises and to develop tourism infrastructure along the river. In the first phase of the project, the company would launch five cruises with a capacity to carry 300 tourists each.

New Delhi : The BJP had in 2014 opposed the then Congress government's move to demonetise all pre-2005 currency notes, calling the decision "anti-poor". Then...

By IANS, Bangalore : Wipro Ltd Friday projected $1.33 billion from its global IT services business in the third quarter (October-December) of fiscal 2010-11.

By IANS, Mumbai : Strong global sentiments, the positive weekend numbers on industrial output and cues from the government on its divestment plans helped Indian equities make handsome gains Monday, with a key index rising 183 points to close above the 17,000-mark. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened higher at 16,893.11 points against Friday's close at 16,848.83 points and ended trade at 17,032.51 points, up 183.68 points or 1.09 percent. The index had seen an intra-day high of 17,083.2 points, but shed some gains in the last 30 minutes.

By IANS, Gurgaon : Software exports from Haryana were to the tune of Rs.21,000 crore (Rs. 210 billion/$4.5 billion) in 2008-09, a rise of about 17 percent against last year's figure of Rs 18,500 crore (Rs.185 billion/$3.95 billion), despite recession in the developed world. Gurgaon has contributed the most to the output of the Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services (IT &ITES) industry in the state as more than 90 percent of the units are located there.

By IANS, New Delhi: Technology infrastructure company Spanco Ltd. Thursday said it had bagged an infotech (IT) project worth Rs.85 crore from Goa State Electricity Board.

By IANS, New Delhi : The lingerie business remains thriving despite the economic crisis, said organisers of the Bodywear International Trade Fair (BITF). "It was a bit difficult this time to get all manufacturers together. There were lesser participants compared to the last time but we have managed to generate good business," Sanjay Manocha of Niksan Info Media told IANS. This three-day trade fair was held here Feb 15-17 at the NSIC grounds, Okhla.

By IANS, Hyderabad : The national gas grid proposed in the union budget by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday triggered fears in the Andhra Pradesh industry that the gas found in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin might go out of the state, starving the local units. An industry leader urged the state government to ensure the requirements of the local industry were met while building a national gas grid.

By IANS,

By TCN News North America is home to more than 29% thinktanks in the world and a bulk of them is located in Washington, DC. While these think tanks are focused on a wide variety of issues, they play a vital role in shaping policy at the national and international level.

By IANS, New Delhi : It was a dream come true for Kolkatans with the central government Thursday approving a Rs.46.76 billion, 13.77 km east-west corridor for the Kolkata Metro, a part of which will run under the Ganges river. "I am very happy because now one can go straight from Howrah to Salt Lake to watch football," a beaming Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters after a meeting of the cabinet here presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

By IANS, New Delhi : Following are the highlights of the interim rail budget for next fiscal presented by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in Lok Sabha Friday: * Two percent reduction in fares for virtually all classes * Feasibility studies progressing well to start 'bullet trains' in India * Plan outlay for 2009-10 kept at Rs.379.05 billion (Rs.37,905 crore) * Railways will create record surplus of Rs.900 billion (Rs.90,000 crore) this fiscal * Rs.700 billion (Rs.70,000 crore) surplus ploughed back to improve efficiency

By IANS, New Delhi : The $600 billion farm loan waiver announced in the budget for 2008-09 will be applicable only to loans taken from banks and not to debts from moneylenders, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told the Lok Sabha Monday. "Those who took loans from moneylenders will not be covered by the farm loan waiver scheme. Some states and sections have asked for this but we would first strive to implement the proposal made in the 2008-09 budget," Pawar told the lower house of parliament in reply to a supplementary question by Gurudas Dasgupta of the Communist Party of India (CPI).

By IANS, New Delhi : India's ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) Wednesday signed a deal with Angola's national oil company, Sonangol, for cooperation in exploration even as both countries agreed to work towards an umbrella bilateral deal for the hydrocarbon sector. Murli Deora, India's minister for petroleum and natural gas, met Angolan Minister for Petroleum Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconeles at Luanda, where the former had gone as part of his four-nation African tour. Deora has already visited Sudan and Nigeria and will end his journey in Uganda.

By IANS, Mumbai: A benchmark index of the Indian equities markets slid into the negative around Tuesday noon as other Asian markets were depressed. At 12.27 p.m., the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) -- which opened at 17,150.59 points -- was ruling at 17,051.02 points, down 46.53 points or 0.27 percent from its previous close at 17,097.55 points. It had risen more than 102 points during early trade.

By IANS, Mumbai : Indian equities markets continued their downward movement Tuesday morning on dismal cues from global markets, and around noon a key index was ruling 2.09 percent below its previous close. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was at 9,111.39 points at this time, 2.09 percent or 194.06 points lower than Monday's close. It had opened at 9,213.4 points, lower than its last close of 9,305.45 points.

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, Mumbai : A benchmark index for Indian equities Monday shut shop 124 points in the red as telecom heavyweight Bharti Airtel lost more than five percent on news of its global acqisition plans. Bharti Airtel lost heavily after the company said it was in talks to buy African assets of Kuwait based telecom firm Zain for $10.7 billion. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 16,186.9 points, closed at 16,028.27 points(provisional), down 124.32 points or 0.77 percent from its previous close.

By DPA

Singapore : Increasing numbers of Singapore companies want to enter India or expand their business in the country, a survey said Friday.