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Aided by strong growth in sales of unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips), new business premium income of life insurers went up by 75 per cent during December to Rs 12,201 crore against Rs 6,961 crore during the corresponding period last month.
The high level coordination committee (HLCC) on financial markets, which consists of financial sector regulators, is likely to opt for a phased reduction in the commission paid to insurance agents.
Bank of Maharashtra is planning to raise funds from the market, its Chairman and Managing Director Allen C A Pereira said today.
In an effort to promote Indian, art culture, music and fashion, the who"s who of the city came together today at the "Creative Conference" hosted at the House of Aman.
The consumption trend in rural areas has shown a paradigm shift from price-driven to quality-driven products, points out a recent study on rural marketing by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
India’s nuclear power generator, Nuclear Power Corporation (NPCIL) has projected an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore for nuclear capacity addition of 10,000 Mw by 2020. The cumulative funding for these projects would be on a 70:30 debt equity ratio.
The 13th Finance Commission today submitted its report to President Pratibha Patil on devolution of central tax receipts between the Union and the state governments.
The Karnataka Minority Development Corporation Ltd (KMDCL) has come forward to provide financial assistance to the tune of Rs 4.29 crore to members of minority communities affected by the recent floods. The assistance will be for rehabilitation and construction of houses.
Minister faces farmers’ ire
Ruias-led Essar Group has bid $150 million for taking over an Australian coal firm, Rocklands Richfields, bettering an earlier offer from Jindal Steel and Power.
Indian firm holds preliminary talks, Essar group also in the fray.
Move to be part of a global expansion plan
The government today cleared 10 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth over Rs 1,123 crore, a major share of which is expected to be brought in by the Essel Group promoted direct-to-home service provider, Dish TV India.
Leading DTH players such as Dish TV and TataSky have urged the government to rationalise the multiple taxes on the industry, saying these are affecting the growth of the nascent sector.
Tata Motors Ltd Chairman Ratan Tata had 500 engineers work for four years designing the world’s cheapest car, convinced cost-conscious Indian drivers could live without air-conditioning and cup holders. He was wrong.
A V Rajwade / New Delhi July 6, 2009, 0:54 IST
Railway stocks are on a roll on hopes of revival of dedicated railway freight corridor. Kalindee Rail Nirman, Titagarh Wagons, Texmaco, Hind Rectifiers, Kernax Microsystems and Stone India rose 5-20 per cent.
Cracking the whip to turn around ailing Air India, the government today announced an overhaul of its top management within 30 days by inducting seven independent directors with proven track record on the airline"s board.
The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), which started its summer placements process today, saw offers trickling in from the world’s leading finance and consulting firms on day one.
City-based Centurion Group of Institutions (CGI) will sign an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the University of South Queensland (USQ), Australia, for collaboration in education field.
Apex industry body Ficci has suggested that the government should encourage companies to invest in corporate social responsibility initiatives by giving tax incentives instead of making it binding.
The company needs to raise funds as it continues to report a loss at the consolidated level.
For the December 2009 quarter, SAIL saw net sales at Rs 9,880 crore up 11 per cent year-on-year, in line with market expectations, even as seasonal impact saw sales dip 2 per cent sequentially. The company’s steel sales was at 2.9 million tonnes (mt) in the recently concluded quarter against 3 mt in the September 2009 quarter and 2.4 mt in December 2008 quarter.
The much awaited Pune Metro rail project has inched forward with the civic body approving the Detailed Project Report (DPR) to be forwarded to Maharashtra and Central government for its clearance.
Haryana Cooperation Minister Paramvir Singh said that the central cooperative banks in the state would provide a loan of Rs 8,600 crore during the current financial year to the farmers. These banks had provided loans worth Rs 4,306.60 crore during the last financial year to the farmers under various schemes.
Public sector lender Bank of India (BoI) today said its net profit declined by 53.50 per cent to Rs 405.50 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, over the same period corresponding fiscal.
Telecom services provider Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (TTML) today announced a consolidated net loss of Rs 34.26 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2009.
American aviation giant Boeing today rolled out its first "P-8A Poseidon", claiming it to be the world"s most advanced multi-mission maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, with the Company saying that India would be its first buyer country.
JSW Energy ended Day 1 at Rs 101, a premium of Rs 1 to the issue price.
The country"s second-largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank, today reported a 30.21 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 687.46 crore for the second quarter ended September 2009.
ICICI Bank’s Global Head (Investment Banking) Kalpesh Kikani says the time for multi-billion dollar deals is over. “India Inc’s appetite for large deals has gone down. In any case, financing such deals would be tough,” he says.
The government has written to telecom operators, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone and Tata Teleservices, asking them to be punctual in sharing information with special auditors looking into revenue leakage.
India and China are on the same page as far as negotiations are concerned but not on the emissions front, said Environment and Forests minister Jairam Ramesh. He was speaking on the sidelines of the CII Sutainability Summit held here today.
Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire hedge-fund manager accused of insider trading, started an investment firm in 2006 with partners including Rajat Gupta, former head of McKinsey & Co, and Mark Schwartz, ex-chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s Asia business.
Priyanka Chopra has had a successful 2009 so far. Will her reign continue?
Hyderabad-based drug maker Natco Pharma Limited will be releasing into the market over 1 million doses (10 million tablets) of Natflu, its medicine for treatment of swine flu, by the end of next month.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown today pledged to curb the entry of doctors and other professionals from outside Europion Union (EU) into the UK in a new crackdown on immigration, a move likely to adversely impact thousands of Indians.
In a bid to popularise Duronto trains, the Railways have showcased the non-stop super fast train in the trade fair.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has found and took action against 17 cases of irregularities by companies that raised foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) since April 2005, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said today.
Retail investors’ response to initial public offers (IPOs) from the power sector have been tepid. The Adani Power IPO, subscribed 21.64 times in all, was subscribed 2.97 times by retail investors. Indiabulls Power was subscribed 21.84 times overall, but only 1.09 times by retail investors. JSW Energy saw retail investors place bids for 32.7 million shares of the 81 million reserved for them.
Network quality remains the top priority for consumers when choosing an operator, even as most telecom operators are busy lowering call rates to outdo rivals, according to research firm Nielsen.
Displays no eagerness on DoT suggestion to retender.
State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) will appoint a consultant to enhance shareholder value, its Chairman and Managing Director Kuldeep Goyal said today.
Media company Si Adhikari Brothers Television Network will issue 10.1 million warrants carrying an option to subscribe equivalent number of equity shares to promoters on a preferential basis to promoters and private bodies corporate to fund its expansion plans, the company said in a statement to the Bombay stock Exchange.
Japanese corporates and retail investors see India as a major investment destination and already up to$1 billion has reached Indian equity markets.
A record addition of 15 million wireless telephone users in August has catapulted the total subscriber base in the country to 494.07 million, closer to the government’s 2012 target.
Most of these families are looking at private equity funds as a way to earn fee-based income.
The government’s proposal to set up an independent regulator for the coal sector is in its final stages, with the coal ministry having completed the groundwork for the initiative.
A 20 per cent share sale proposal in PSU steel maker SAIL will be taken to the Cabinet by mid-January next year, Steel Secretary Atul Chaturvedi said today.
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Young India is patriotic but being “stylish” is a growing priority, too. “Chocolate” remains the first craving of Indians and “MTV” Youngistan’s most loved space. And the stock market is growing in appeal for young traders, while football catches up with cricket.
Seven days after it was launched, Isro’s answer to Google Earth gets nearly 23,000 downloads a day
Vinod Kambli"s claims that he got a raw deal in Indian cricket due to his caste and colour are questionable.
BPO services provider Caretel, a Dalmia group company, has bagged a two-year contract from state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) to manage the latter’s call centre. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The instruments will be listed on BSE, NSE.
India and Russia are expected to sign a number of key agreements during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh"s December 6-8 visit here, including those on extension of the long-term defence cooperation programme beyond 2010 and construction of four more nuclear reactors at Kudankulam.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked asset management companies (AMCs) not to compel investors to get no-objection certificates (NoCs) from their existing distributors for shifting their investments.
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan and actress Katrina Kaif are the most downloaded celebrities by Indian mobiles users, a new survey says.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that 3G telephony spectrum would be auctioned soon, thus ending the uncertainty generated by reported differences between ministries of telecom and defence on vacation of airwaves.
State-run power producer NTPC today signed agreements with GAIL, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) for sourcing gas for its power project at Kayamkulam in Kerala.
State-owned defence and aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) said today that it was not trying to monopolise the aerospace sector in the country.
With improvement in the global credit markets and narrowing of spreads, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided today to reintroduce the ceiling on interest rates that Indian companies pay for external commercial borrowing.
The Trident Group company Abhishek Industries today said it is planning to enter into a joint venture with the Portugal-based Mundotextil Industrias to produce luxury linen and other home textile products.
Ten years ago if you had compared the film and television broadcasting businesses in India, you wouldn’t have given films a second chance. Today the film industry looks attractive while the TV business seems to be falling apart.
Sach ka samna is a gripping show. It asks perfectly ordinary people 21 intimate questions. These could be around their deepest thoughts and feelings — about partners, family, spouse, society or just anything. The participant’s ability to answer these truthfully could win them some money. The show, a licensed version of the American Moment of Truth, has been aired in 23 countries. It is known for its corrosive impact. In one instance, a marriage broke up on air.
Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the proposals for diluting stake in two state-run companies SAIL and NMDC will soon be taken to the Cabinet for its approval.
Another son is rising at India Inc. Anant Goenka, son of RPG Group Chairman Harsh Goenka, will take over as deputy managing director, a post created at tyre major Ceat. Anant will take over on January 4.
Former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde was today made Deputy Leader of the BJP in Lok Sabha in place of Sushma Swaraj who has been elevated as Leader of the Opposition.
Infrastructure company C&C Construction Ltd today said it is developing a four-star hotel near Mohali entailing a total investment of Rs 60 crore and is in talks with international and domestic hospitality groups for its management.
Sensex pares gains; Hindalco up 4%
Jet Airways restructuring exercised started last year resulted in a 33 per cent increase in its domestic passenger traffic last month as compared to November 2008. The airlines international passenger traffic also registered a 19 per cent growth on a seat factor of 81.9 per cent.
Six out of the top 10 companies added over Rs 24,000 crore to their market capitalisation last week with telecom giant Bharti Airtel alone contributing one-third of the gain.
The stock market was volatile and moved in a narrow range during the week. Global cues were mostly subdued, and news flows were largely positive, resulting in limited downsides on weak days. However, the indices failed to give a clear breakout on the upside as well.
The Sensex ended at 17,088, lower by 31 points and the Nifty shut at 5,102, down 15 points (provisional closing).
The government has said that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) was empowered to take action against Reliance Industries (RIL) if a probe established irregularities in share allotment by the company in 2000, and wanted to know what exactly the market regulator expected from it.
The markets are trading marginally weak, with the Sensex quoting at 17,084, lower by 17 points, and the Nifty down 13 points at 5095. Metals, energy and pharma pack are weighing down on the indices.
Bharati Shipyard said its open offer to acquire 20 per cent stake in Great Offshore was being revised, and it was now under Section 10 of the Takeover Code as advised by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
Ajit Rangnekar has been appointed the dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB) for a five-year term. The Executive Board unanimously named Rangnekar as the new dean in Mumbai on January 8.
Bharati Shipyard (BSL) today said it would abide by the guidelines issued by the market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on the Great Offshore open offer.
Bhupesh Bhandari / New Delhi November 17, 2009, 0:13 IST
Crisis-hit Maytas Infra today said the Company Law Board (CLB) had allowed the company to report its accounts for the quarter ended September by December 31.
An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today allocated bulk of the additional natural gas from Reliance Industries" KG-D6 fields to power plants.
Gammon Infrastructure Projects today said it has entered into an agreement with the Spain-based Dragados for acquiring the firm"s stake in Indira Container Terminal Pvt Ltd (ICTPL) in phases.
The Railway Board is likely to utilise the undisputed 600 acres for setting-up a coach factory at Singur, the erstwhile site for the Nano project.
Paradeep Port Trust (PPT) is likely to sign the concession agreement for the proposed new deep draught coal berth with back up facilities by the middle of September.
The authorities of Paradeep Port Trust (PPT) have finally transported 175 tonnes of furnace oil evacuated from Black Rose, the sunken vessel to Kolkata and Ranchi through lorries after getting the clearance from the Customs officials.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves fell $1.13 billion in the week up to September 11 to $284.4 billion on the back of portfolio investments and revaluation of currencies.
Reliance Industries (RIL) has increased LPG supplies to Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum from its twin refineries at Jamnagar, forcing the state-run firms to sell cooking fuel cargoes that they had contracted from overseas suppliers.
After a sharp correction at the start of the week which saw Smart Portfolios slip into the red, the markets bounced back sharply and recouped losses.
The markets rose steadily for the better part of the week on news of robust GDP numbers and allaying of fears on the Dubai repayment crisis. The S&P CNX 500 index rose over 4 per cent to 4,239, thereby taking the benchmark’s portfolio value higher to Rs 11.04 lakh as against Rs 10.60 lakh in the preceding week.
With markets moving up on the disinvestment buzz, Smart Portfolios too registered steady gains last week. It was after a while that all fund managers participated in the markets. While Phani Sekhar and Praveen Panjwani were seen re-building their portfolios, Amar Ambani and Ajay Parmar continued with their churning process.
Exclusive talks between Essar Oil and Royal Dutch Shell over the sale of three European refineries — Heide and Harburg in Germany and Stanlow in Britain — will continue for an unspecified period beyond today’s earlier deadline, Essar Oil said in an emailed statement.
Ajai Shukla / New Delhi December 29, 2009, 0:19 IST
Police have made elaborate arrangements to prevent any untoward incident in the light of the various students organisations and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)’s proposed rally to the state Assembly on Thursday demanding separate statehood for the Telangana region.
When it comes to on-line booking of air-tickets, travellers from Mumbai take the lead with as many as 77 per cent opting for these facilities compared to travellers at six other leading international airports globally.
Pakistani-origin US national David Coleman Headley, a LeT operative charged with criminal conspiracy in the 26/11 terror attacks, now appears to have turned into informant to FBI to avoid death penalty.
The six largest lenders to the debt-ridden Dubai World have started discussions with the government-owned conglomerate prior to the firm"s creditors" meeting scheduled for December 21, says a media report.
A three-member team of United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), America"s federal agency to regulate the securities industry in that country, exchanged information with the CBI probing into the multi-crore accounting scam at Satyam Computer here.
Shilpy Sinha / Mumbai December 25, 2009, 0:41 IST
Rajesh Bhayani / Mumbai September 18, 2009, 0:02 IST
The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to seek Rs 10,000 crore from the Centre to undertake drought relief measures in the state. A memorandum will be submitted to the Union government shortly. A decision to this effect was taken at a review meeting held by chief minister, K Rosaiah, on Sunday.
Chief minister K Rosaiah said steps were being be taken to ease the shortage of masks in Hyderabad. The government is making efforts to procure more ventilators and provide additional beds to treat swine flu.
Wipro Technologies has accepted the West Bengal government’s offer of 45-50 acres at New Town in Rajarhat, but wants to pay less.
New Year resolutions are common. Every year, during this time, a lot of people decide that they would do a number of things to improve their lifestyle, careers and finances. However, many times things do go awry and the best-laid plans fail to fructify.
The Indian bourses opened in the positive at 17,604 but soon slipped into the red owing to lack of buying activity and no major trigger to boost the sentiment. The index exhibited lacklustre movement for major part of the trading day. The benchmark index towards the end slipped deeper into the red to touch a low of 17,509, down 149 points from the day"s high.
State-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) today said it has placed purchase order for mobile equipment for 20 million GSM lines for the south zone with Chinese firm Huawei and will not call for any fresh bids.
The total telecom subscriber base in India crossed 500 million at the end of September, taking the overall teledensity to 43.5 per cent. India is the second-biggest and fastest market for wireless services, behind China, which has over 600 million users.
Direct-to-home service provider Dish TV today reported a net loss of Rs 56.13 crore for the second quarter ended September, narrowing down from its loss of Rs 154.11 crore of the year ago period.
Can deliver revenue by February if auction goes smoothly, he tells FM in letter.
The crisis-hit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka went into a huddle today to dicuss whether reversal of some of the administrative decisions taken by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa’s confidante, Shobha Karandlaje, would help win back the controversial Reddy brothers, mine owners and MLAs from Bellary in north Karnataka, who had been spearheading a campaign against the chief minister.
Tata Motors commenced trial production of the first batch of the Nano at the new mother plant at the Sanand facility last week. The company will start commercial production of the ‘People’s Car’ from March onwards.
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The government today ruled out appointing an ombudsman to redress the complaints of poor mobile telephony services, like call drops, saying state-run BSNL and MTNL were taking effective steps to upgrade technology.
Disapproving the grant of parole to Jessica Lall murder convict Manu Sharma, Congress leader Sachin Pilot has said that he might not have recommended parole to the lifer had he been the chief minister of Delhi.
In what could be an embarrassment for India at the ongoing Copenhagen climate change negotiations, government data reveal that the rate at which Indian power plants emit carbon dioxide (CO2), which has been on a decline for many years, has increased.
Hinting at Pakistani link to the Kabul Embassy attack, India today said Afghanistan faced threat from terrorists and their "patrons residing across the border" and that the blast was the handiwork of those who wanted to undermine Indo-Afghan friendship.
For most companies, hiring women employees at an entry level has never been a problem. However very few of them make it to the higher levels. This has been a concern for recruiters.
Support at 5,150, resistance at 5,300.
Tata Motors, the third biggest player in the passenger car market in the country, is aiming to double its market share in the utility vehicles (UVs) segment in Orissa from eight per cent at present to 16 per cent in the next few months.
India Inc"s staff cost went up by 11.2 per cent during January-March last fiscal growing at a lesser pace than the previous three quarters of 2008-09, reflecting the economic slowdown, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) study.
The Sensex after rebounding into green touched a high of 17,226, and is now up 77 points at 17,196. The NSE Nifty is up 15 points at 5,132.
The markets have firmed up after a soft start this morning. The Sensex opened a point lower at 17,118, and soon touched a low of 17,089 owing to weak cues from the global markets.
The Dubai government said today neighbour Abu Dhabi has agreed to give $10 billion in emergency funds that will go toward paying debts owed by its Dubai World conglomerate.
The Government today said that it has approved the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission with an aim of setting up 20,000 MW grid solar power and 2,000 MW off-grid solar power by 2022.
A new body seeks to integrate scattered R&D to meet the needs of a growing export and domestic market.
India’s highest broad gauge rail station at Qazigund, about 80 km from Srinagar, at an altitude of 1,722 metres would become operational on October 28 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurates the Anantnag-Qazigund section of the ambitious Kashmir rail link project.
MLAs of Punjab’s ruling Akali Dal and Opposition Congress on Tuesday entered into a scuffle in the Assembly over the recent violence in Ludhiana. The scuffle started when Congress legislators moved towards deputy chief minister and home minister Sukhbir Singh Badal when he was replying to a call-attention motion on the state’s law and order situation.
Asian stocks climbed, lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to its best year since 2003, as commodity prices rose and China pledged to maintain a “moderately loose” monetary policy.
Bilcare ended at Rs 512, lower by Rs 2 or 0.3%, on the BSE.
The markets are now exhibiting sideways movement, after initial volatility.
The Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) is taking ing various measures to increase the number of subscribers under its New Pension Scheme (NPS). It is in discussions with the General Insurance Council, various industry bodies and companies to offer the plan to their employees. Under the recent deal between the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the pension regulator, all new recruits of banks will join the defined contribution system from April 1, 2010. Already 20 nationalised and 12 private sector banks have joined the new system.
Government today said the Delhi and Mumbai airports achieved service quality ratings of 4.24 and 4.05 respectively on a scale of five in third quarter of the current fiscal and were aiming at reaching 3.75 at the end of stage II of their development.
The BSE metal index tops the sectoral gainers list with an appreciation of 233 per cent.
The transaction values XTO at $51.69 a share, 25 per cent higher than its last closing - MCL decision on coal transport to help land oustees - UBI likely to float IPO by early February - 25 suspended workers reinstated at Dunlop"s Sahaganj unit - Elder gets bolder - Ruia Group acquires 60% stake in Henniges Automotive Grefrath - "Declare oil palm a plantation crop"
Arnav Pandya / Mumbai September 27, 2009, 0:28 IST
Cost pressures due to rising input prices may hit profitability.
Famed British toy retailer Hamleys will make its India debut with a 22,000-square-feet store at the popular Phoenix Mills in Mumbai, by February next year.
The year 2009 is likely to be remembered as a year of several milestones in the e-book space, according to Gartner, Inc, an information technology research and advisory company. However, Gartner said that while the number of electronic readers sold is likely to increase in 2009, it expects 2010 to be the year when e-book readers become popular consumer electronic devices.
Hit by the economic slowdown and low spending by the government on the information technology sector prior to the assembly elections, the personal computer (PC) shipments in the country fell by 19 per cent during the January-March quarter this year.
Semiconductor capital equipment spending worldwide will grow 47.3 per cent in the second half of 2009, but the market is projected to decline 47.9 per cent this year, according to IT research and advisory firm Gartner Inc.
The market watchdog Sebi today said intermediaries who undertake investor education programmes must make the pitfalls of investment clear.
State-owned Hindustan Shipyard (HSL) plans to build a large shipyard to accommodate very large crude carrier ships (VLCC) at an estimated project cost of Rs 3,000-4,000 crore, a top official said. The proposed shipyard, which will be built on a public-private-partnership model, is expected to receive cabinet approval by the end of this fiscal, HSL"s Chairman and Managing Director, Naresh Kumar said on the sidelines of SMM India"s shipping trade fair.
American aviation giant Boeing today rolled out its first "P-8A Poseidon", claiming it to be the world"s most advanced multi-mission maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, with the Company saying that India would be its first buyer country.
The government has formulated a draft national consumer policy with an aim to ensure that goods, services and technology are available to the consumers at reasonable prices and good quality.
Troubled insurance giant American International Group is in advance stages to list its Asian life insurance unit on the Hong Kong stock exchange next year, in a move to raise up to $20 billion, says a media report.