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Swiss banking major Credit Suisse has said Neil Harvey will run its asset management business in Asia Pacific and emerging markets from February.
Saturday
Sobha Developers, the Bangalore-based publicly-held real estate developer, is understood to be in discussions to raise Rs 300 crore at project levels.
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Backed by government stimulus measures and a low base effect, growth in industrial output touched a two-year high in November 2009. The index of industrial production (IIP) grew 11.7 per cent, primarily due to growth in manufacturing (12.68 per cent in November as against 2.7 per cent last year), fuelling a debate on withdrawal of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India is open to discussions on a free trade pact with the US on the lines of the agreement New Delhi already has with the 10-nation South East Asian bloc.
A top diplomat of the Bush Administration who was its point man for negotiations on Indo-US nuclear deal, has accused President Barack Obama of being less attentive to the partnership between the two countries, saying the relationship has been stalled in some critical issues.
For a sign of how the mood has changed at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, consider the speakers at an invitation-only client lunch hosted by Paul Calello, who runs Credit Suisse Group AG’s investment bank.
Sales of commercial vehicles (CVs), which were on a decline for over a year, are showing signs of a recovery. Two out of the three CV makers reported an increase in sales last month.
As the world tries to get over the economic slump, commercial vehicle (CV) manufacturers like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Eicher, Volvo, Daimler and Mahindra-Navistar are preparing for a flurry of launches to cash in on the increased economic activity in the country.
The government has turned down the suggestion of the India Infrastructure Finance Co (IIFCL) to use its refinance facility for other lending. The Rs 10,000-crore facility was announced last year to support private partnership projects in the infrastructure sector. After seeing a lukewarm response to the facility, IIFCL had proposed that the funds lying idle could be utilised elsewhere.
The Supreme Court today did not pass any order on a petition filed by the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict quashing Uttar Pradesh Government"s notification to acquire land for the company’s 8,000 MW Dadri power project.
The country"s largest sugar producer Bajaj Hindusthan today posted a net profit of Rs 69.08 crore for the quarter ended September 30, and has announced 70 per cent dividend for the fiscal year 2009.
BMW and Mazda lead the way in cutting auto emissions, well ahead of their rivals in the hunt for cleaner cars as new European Union targets begin to bear green fruit, a report showed today.
Life science company NYSE listed Millipore Corporation is understood to have paid out Rs 270 crore to gain full control of its Indian arm. The company during November 2009 struck a deal to buy out the 60 per cent stake held by pharma entrepreneur Subhash Bagaria in the Bangalore-based joint venture of the firm.
India"s exports grew over 18 per cent to touch $13.2 billion in November, reversing the downtrend seen in the past 13 months in a row due to shrinking in demand in major western markets.
Two-wheeler maker Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India today said it is expecting its sales to grow by 18 per cent during the current fiscal on the back of several launches.
UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chief R K Pachauri today favoured a new legally binding treaty with essential features of equity enshrined in Kyoto Protocol, which are sacrosanct to India.
In the long run,” John Maynard Keynes had famously said, “we are all dead.” Keynes may not have been quite dead, but he had lived a ghostly half-life in the corridors of central banks and within the academia for decades. Now with the failures of unbridled capitalism on a global scale, he is back in fashion, along with Marx. John Cassidy, the finance correspondent for the New Yorker has come with How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities (Allen Lane/Penguin £25), which draws heavily on Keynes to recount the story of America’s housing boom and the failures of regulators and self-deception of bankers that led to the present financial crisis. The book is a sequel to Cassidy’s earlier book DotCon that dealt with the stupidities of the stock market bubble in the late 1990s, but both deal with one central idea: the belief that society is best served when individuals are left free to pursue their self-interest was “Utopian economics” and led to disaster because of “the crooked timber of humanity”, and the uncertainty that is inherent in any human enterprise.
Shilpy Sinha / Mumbai January 8, 2010, 0:47 IST
Seema Sindhu / December 7, 2009, 0:37 IST
India"s exports declined by 28.4 per cent in July over the same month last year, contracting for the tenth month in a row, as overseas shipments were hit by slowdown in major global markets like the US and Europe.
With the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tourney behind them, general entertainment channels are back in business, with as many as seven leading broadcasters having invested around Rs 100 crore in launching over 25 new television shows on the small screen.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will take up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the issue of appointment of a new governor for the state, after the completion of Gopalkrishna Gandhi"s term.
Kanika Datta / New Delhi September 17, 2009, 0:42 IST
Finance Minster Pranab Mukherjee would interact with economic editors here tomorrow and provide them comprehensive view of the overall economy.
Consumer durable companies with a manufacturing base in India are planning a price rise by March this year due to rising domestic steel prices.
Can"t figure out which flat-panel television to buy? Priyanka Joshi gives you the dope you need before you go TV shopping.
Barely three months after emerging out of bankruptcy, General Motors has launched its luxury Sedan, the Chevrolet Cruze, in India. Built on a global platform called the 300 series, the Cruze will compete with the Honda Civic, Skoda Laura and Volkswagen Jetta for a space in the executive segment.
The country"s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India today reported a 32.45 per cent jump in total sales, at 85,415 units, in October compared to the same period last year.
Auto ancillary company Steel Strips Wheels today said it has received an order from European car maker Renault for supplying steel wheel rims, that would fetch the Indian company about euro 28 million (about Rs 195 crore).
General Motors India will launch its light commercial vehicles, popularly called minivans, in the domestic market in the medium future. “The launch of the light commercial vehicles in association with our Chinese partners would happen in the medium term,” says Karl Slym, President & Managing Director.
Subir Roy / New Delhi November 13, 2009, 0:03 IST
New government policy on biofuels may consider financial incentives.
Gammon India, the company in-charge of construction at the metro site where a mishap killed six people, today said it is carrying out the projects as per the highest standards of quality and safety and promised to help the families of the victims.
Leading engineering consultant, Consulting Engineering Services (India) Private Ltd (CES) looks for a total turnover of Rs 350 crore in 2009-10 by providing designing and consultancy services in several key infrastructure projects in the domestic and overseas markets.
India"s space agency has in its pipeline eight foreign satellites for launch and is scouting to acquire such spacecraft from abroad to expand capacity in the field of communication transponder back home.
In order to expand its edible salt production capacity, Tata Chemicals Ltd has decided to set up a new plant at its existing facility located in coastal area of Mithapur in Gujarat. The edible salt plant will have a production capacity of 600 tonnes per day (TPD).
Tata Sons Director R K Krishna Kumar today said the company should increase its holdings in Tata Group companies.
Cotton exports from India, the second-biggest grower, will more than double this crop season as China and Pakistan seek more fiber to make up for a shortfall in supplies from the US, a government official said.
Continuing the record-setting spree, gold prices today climbed to Rs 18,399 per ten gram for April delivery amid weak US dollar.
Drug maker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today reported 31 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit at Rs 80.88 crore for the second quarter ended September 2009.
Aim at closing inactive accounts and increase low-cost deposits
Over 12,000 non-teaching staff of the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) went on a day-long dharna today to protest anomalies in pay and promotion structure. The employees — technical staff, laboratory staff and office assistants — however, did not boycott work.
After much dilly-dallying, the ‘Passport Seva Project’, which aims at expediting the process of issuance of passport by digitising the passport services, would be rolled out by early 2010.
Speciality Restaurants Private Ltd, which runs restaurant chains like Mainland China, Sigree, Oh! Calcutta, Machan and Flame and Grill, is planning to dilute its equity by up to 30 per cent to raise money for its expansion plans, besides planning an initial public offer (IPO).
Reliance Retail looks at deep-discount stores, Spencer’s at franchisees
How S Ramadorai groomed Natarajan Chandrasekaran as his successor.
Tata Consultancy Services, a leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing firm, announced the opening of a new Global Delivery Centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina - the first company to officially inaugurate its facilities in the new Technology District of the city of Buenos Aires.
How S Ramadorai groomed Natarajan Chandrasekaran as his successor.
The Nordic region (Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Sweden), which is now opening up to offshoring as a viable option to sustain its long-established competitiveness, offers an untapped $10 billion outsourced services opportunity for Indian IT companies, said a Nasscom-PricewaterhouseCoopers report.
Advocacy group, USAsian has commended globally acclaimed author Vikas Swarup for receiving the US-India Business Council’s 34th anniversary award and for being invited to the Capitol Hill by the co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans.
In order to meet the demand for three million cubic metre of wood annually by approximately 5,000 wood-based industries in the state, Punjab Forest Minister Tikshan Sud has directed the department to work out on every possibility to plant thirty million plants for this purpose in the state.
Gold and silver sparkled and logged an all-time peak in Mumbai"s Zaveri Bazar on Wednesday on heavy stockists buying and firm global guidance.
Commercial banks would come out with a plan for financial inclusion by the end of the financial year, RBI Governor D Subbarao announced here during a bankers’ meet on financial inclusion and promotion of financial literacy.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today said it would reassess its soft policy stance amid food inflation soaring past 17 per cent even as the the PM"s advisory panel and others called for tightening money supply.
For six years I had lived in Beijing, the constantly churning capital of a dynamic country on the ascent. But I was now to move again, this time to Brussels, the bureaucratic centre of old world Europe. There were many counts on which this was a change I wasn’t looking forward to. But the one positive I did anticipate was an escape from the paroxysm of construction that was emblematic of Beijing’s remorseless embrace of modernity.
As per our company’s policy, the officers in our grade and above are provided with car, for their official and personal use. The eligible officers are given a choice to select model and colour of car, from the makes identified for their grade. The available car models (only petrol) are: Hyundai Verna Xi, Ford Fiesta ZXi, Maruti SX4 VXi and Chevrolet Aveo 1.4. We are requested to choose only one of the vehicles mentioned above. After the expiry of five years, the officer can buy the car originally provided at five per cent of the purchase cost. What would you advise?
The country"s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, today reported a 33.36 per cent jump in sales at 78,074 units in July.
After taking a two-day break, bulls re-entered the market today buoyed by good results from Maruti Suzuki India and ITC.
Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India Limited is testing its cars on the CNG platform before launching them commercially in the next 2-3 years.
Jagdish Khattar wants to fill the gap in the service infrastructure for cars. Will he succeed?
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has raised Rs 413 crore through its recently concluded Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP), which will be used towards its debt reduction plan, a top company official said.
Jagdish Khattar wants to fill the gap in the service infrastructure for cars. Will he succeed?
Maruti Suzuki will expand its passenger vehicle production capacity at Manesar by around 2 lakh units over the next 2 years.
In my mind
Advice: Earn juniors’ respect, so that your looks cease to matter so much
Consumers in India appear to be shifting their focus from camcorders to digital still cameras. Camcorder sales remained flat in 2008, recording single-digit growth rates, according to industry estimates.
Mumbai, Nov 28 (PTI) The bullion market bounced back today from its overnight sell-off regaining its lost ground on fresh buying by stockists and traders at current attractive levels.
Brushing aside government"s stand that Formula One is not a sport, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone today said the foundation stone of the race track in India would be laid in October for the showpiece event next year.
Barely a day after Force India’s historic podium finish at the Belgian Grand Prix, a war of words broke out between Sports Minister M S Gill and Vijay Mallya on the government’s refusal to acknowledge Formula One as a sport.
Home grown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra today said its passenger car business will decline in the current fiscal, but the slump would not affect its plans to launch three new products under different categories by March 2011.
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland is quick to admit that he doesn’t “particularly enjoy heights”. So why would he climb into a cherry picker to be lifted 40 feet in the air?
Apart from the cityscapes, the Commonwealth Games provide the opportunity to improve the mindscapes of the people of Delhi. The Delhi Government has embarked on a civility campaign, Come on Delhi, to make the city a good host for the upcoming event.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the Rs 18,919-crore Bhatinda refinery project, being set up by the LN Mittal group, would become functional by June 2011.
India and Pakistan"s decision to carry on with the dialogue process drew mixed response in Kashmir today with mainstream parties welcoming it and separatists insisting that the Sharm-el-Sheikh meeting was "inconclusive" without the participation of Kashmiris.
Novartis has ended the day at Rs 572, stronger by Rs 14 or 2.6%, on the BSE.
The Sensex has erased some of its gains and is now at 17,666, up 109 points. The NSE Nifty is at 5,267, up 34 points.
A body of urban cooperative banks has appealed to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to restore the income tax exemption they enjoyed till 2006.
Contribute a daily trading turnover of around 10 per cent.
Russian IT security software firm Kaspersky is eyeing a revenue of $12-16 million over the next two years from its Indian operations, with the launch of new products and upgrades for its existing product-line.
Major Russian aircraft manufacturer famous for its fighters, Sukhoi has been listed amongst the most rapidly growing companies of Russia by the Economic News Agency rating.
Notwithstanding the high voltage overseas road shows and Incredible India campaign, the decline in foreign tourist arrivals in the country continues.
A V Rajwade / New Delhi September 26, 2009, 0:41 IST
The Sensex opened at 17,204 owing to negative global cues. The disappointing economic numbers from Japan had a negative impact on the Indian bourses. The index tried to recover but could only manage to rebound in green for a brief while. The benchmark index then slipped to a low of 17,057 following profit booking in the banking and metal stocks.
To add 8,000 professionals in Q3.
Continuing their association with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), the institute"s alumni picked up students for the ongoing summer placements through their companies. The alumni"s firms that returned to the campus included Edelweiss Capital and Feedback Ventures.
Four companies including IFCI Venture, Capital 18 have submitted their proposals to become the strategic investor of state-owned Punjab Infotech Venture Fund (PIVF).
Kolkata-based United Bank of India (UBI) has filed draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), for an initial public offering (IPO), with the issue size of Rs 50 crore.
Business Standard / New Delhi December 30, 2009, 0:34 IST
Naveen Jindal-led Jindal Power today said it will invest Rs 65,000 crore in new power projects and part of the financing for these would be done through its up to Rs 10,000-crore Initial Public Offer.
Attacks dissidents of trying to destabilise his govt.
Palak Shah / Mumbai December 29, 2009, 0:02 IST
Consequent to the sharp run up in markets in 2009, investors will have to be careful in picking stocks while lowering their return expectations
The miming operations at the mega Bhubaneswari open cast coal project of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) may come to a grinding halt unless the villagers of Jilinda provide the land as per the agreement.
Should I buy the Maruti Suzuki Swift or the Ritz? I’d like to go for the petrol VXi model of either of these two. My daily travel is not more than 30 km maximum. Do you think I should go for a diesel instead?
Cost pressures due to rising input prices may hit profitability.
Intel Corp agreed to pay Advanced Micro Devices Inc $1.25 billion as part of a legal settlement that ends a four-year dispute between the world’s two largest computer-processor makers. AMD stock rose as much as 27 per cent.
The European Commission (EC) has objected to Oracle Corp"s proposed $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems, saying that the deal could threat competition in the market.
Indian stocks trading on American bourses gained about $11 billion in one month, with IT bellwether Infosys and private sector lender HDFC Bank accounting almost half of the gains. For the month ended September 30, Indian entities listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq added $10.61 billion to their market-cap, with Infosys and HDFC Bank together contributing $5.82 billion.
Realising that their two-way trade did not match the potential, India and Japan today decided to give push the negotiations on the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, with an aim to conclude it by next year.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has set aside charges of insider trading against Dilip Pendse, former managing director of Tata Finance, and his wife Anuradha Pendse and Nalini Properties.
John Paulson disclosed that his hedge-fund group acquired 300 million shares of Citigroup during the third quarter, while selling its entire stake of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Business Standard / New Delhi December 22, 2009, 0:30 IST
With almost all the proposed IT projects in the city being non-starters, the emergence of Bhubaneswar as one of the most sought after IT destinations among the Tier-II cities in the country is under a cloud.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 92.21 crore (provisional) today, according to data released by BSE.
Bilcare ended at Rs 512, lower by Rs 2 or 0.3%, on the BSE.
The most probable directional movement in the rest of the settlement appears to be sideways.
Chennai-based software company Zylog Systems posted a 21 per cent dip in its net profit for the second quarter ended Septmeber 30, 2009 to Rs 20.91 crore as against Rs 26.48 crore in the same quarter last year.
The promoters of Aegon Religare Life Insurance today infused fresh capital of Rs 70 crore into the company taking the total base to Rs 465 crore.
Low economic activity and unwillingness by insurers to underwrite loss-making portfolios led to a fall in business for segments such as marine cargo and health.
To cash in on the festivity, the world"s largest handset maker, Nokia, today said it will launch new version of its flagship smartphone N97 in the Indian market by Diwali or middle of October this year.
Softdrinks major PepsiCo is scaling up the distribution of "Nimbooz" by entering the South and East Indian markets by the end of this month, making the product available across the country.
India today announced it has designed a new version of Advanced Heavy Water atomic reactor which will use lesser low enriched uranium along with thorium as fuel and having next generation safety requirements.
Quick service restaurant chain Domino"s Pizza is now aiming to tap ready-to-eat pasta market to increase footprints in the estimated Rs 2,500 crore Indian organised food business.
Yum Brands, the operator of Pizza Hut and KFC, today said it will introduce its Mexican-style fast-food restaurant chain "Taco Bell" in the Indian market later this year, besides continuing to make investments to grow its business in the country.
I am 59 years old and wish to retire in February 2010. I want to create a pension fund and also seek regular tax-free returns from mutual funds. I own a house and don"t have any liabilities.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 885.65 crore (provisional) today, according to data released by BSE.
400 firms to shift to new system in first phase.
In what would be the second biggest initial public offer (IPO), Naveen Jindal-promoted Jindal Power Ltd (JPL) plans to raise up to Rs 10,000 crore in this financial year.
Iron ore exports jumped 13 per cent in the first half of the current financial year due to a sudden spurt in Chinese offtake as steel mills build their inventory.
India is unlikely to achieve the $200 billion export target this fiscal due to the continuing global financial crisis, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket tournament is expected to see renewed high-stakes bidding with two new teams up for grabs from the fourth season starting 2011.
Prices collapsed in settlement week with the Nifty dropping 5.7 per cent to close at 4,711.7 points. The Sensex was down 5.5 per cent, closing at 15,896 points. The Defty was down 6.8 per cent with the dollar bouncing from over-sold levels.
The Nifty closed above the crucial resistance level of 5,080 on strong buying in index stocks such as Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Tata steel and Cipla. Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Jaiprakash Associates and State Bank of India closed in the red on shorts build-up on the F&O segment. The Nifty November and December futures closed at a premium to the spot on intraday short-covering and fresh long build-up.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Tuesday said it would launch a trading platform for mutual fund (MF) units on December 4. The move comes a day after the National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched a similar platform. Central Depository Services Ltd will be the BSE’s depository partner.
The government today approved road projects worth Rs 6,152 crore in five states for upgrading nearly 562 km of four-lane highways into six lanes.
India has requested the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) not to impose any fine on Mahindra Satyam, formerly Satyam Computer Services Ltd (SCSL), as this will impede the new entity’s rehabilitation.
A local court posted the petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) asking it to start the hearing in the Satyam case to December 23. The CBI said it was ready to handover the documents to the accused so that the court could begin the hearing of framing of charges.
Taking its “In India, for India” initiative further, GE Healthcare today launched MACi, a low-cost portable ECG device.
Wipro, India’s third largest IT services provider, is seeing an improvement in the prospects for the IT sector. The company expects IT spends in the US to go up in 2010.
Mahindra Satyam, the new brand identity of Satyam Computer Services, has embarked on international expansion and as part of this, is expanding its global solution centre (GSC) operations at its 15-acre campus in Cyberjaya, Malaysia.
Magma Fincorp has picked up 7 per cent stake in Experian Credit Information Company of India, the proposed Indian arm of global information services company Experian.
The shareholders of the country"s most valued company Reliance Industries (RIL) today approved the 1:1 bonus issue for which the company fixed November 27, 2009 as the record date.
The Bombay High Court today asked the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) not to arrest Delhi-based businessman Sanjay Dalmia after senior counsel Ram Jethmalani said that he was trying to negotiate an out-of-court settlement with Indiabulls Financial Services (IFS).
Commodity exchange ICEX made a business of Rs 2,559 crore in just four days after it went live on November 27, the market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) said today.
Sanjay Dalmia-owned Gujarat Heavy Chemicals (GHCL), a major producer of soda ash, has postponed its board meeting scheduled for today.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has replaced Reliance Industries with Repsol YPF SA, Spain"s biggest oil company, and Malaysia"s Petronas to bid for Venezuelan oil blocks next month.
Major steel makers are facing inordinate delays in acquiring land in the east.
Sugar stocks have run up significantly triggered by higher sugar price outlook based on tighter supply side conditions. Earnings estimates for FY10 have been upgraded by about 75-200% depending upon the individual company’s profit-gearing to higher sugar prices, according to HSBC research.
Mahindra & Mahindra gave all its gains and slipped to a low of Rs 813. The scrip finally settled flat at Rs 820. The counter clocked volumes of 239,425 shares as compared to the two-week daily average traded volumes of 277,548 shares.
State Bank of Mysore today announced that it plans to raise Rs 100 crore of Tier 1, or core capital, through Perpetual Debt Instruments.
Balrampur Chini ended flat at Rs 133, Around 410,679 shares were traded as compared to the two-week daily average traded volumes of 1.04 million shares.