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Seema Sindhu / October 31, 2009, 1:17 IST
The world"s largest chip maker Intel Corporation today withdrew its suit before the Delhi High Court against the government, trademark registry and the two small firms which have got registered its trademark till 2017.
Kalpana Pathak / New Delhi December 01, 2009, 1:30 IST
IT firm HCL Infosystems today said it has divided its channel partners to serve its small and medium enterprise (SME) customers in a better way.
Accountancy regulator Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) today agreed to withdraw disciplinary proceedings against the Delhi branch of the audit firm Price Waterhouse (PW) in the multi-crore Satyam scam.
ElectraCard Services today launched an electra loyalty management system for Barclays Bank.
Image spam has made an unwelcome comeback by contributing 16 per cent to all the spam messages recorded at the end of April 2009.
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.
The proceeds from disinvestment of NHPC and OIL will be allocated for capital expenditure in identified social sector schemes, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee informed the Lok Sabha today.
The World Trade Organization will remain in Geneva, Switzerland. That is what the voters of this city decided today in a special referendum.
Public sector Bank of Baroda (BoB) today said its consolidated net profit jumped 54 per cent to Rs 2,384.08 crore in the financial year ended March 31.
Come January and all mobile phone users will have 11-digit mobile numbers instead of their 10-digit numbers currently.
Making a u-turn, Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi today announced his decision to resign as MLA and support a united Andhra Pradesh, changing the party"s earlier line of support to separate Telangana state.
The Sensex finally ended (provisional) with a loss of 46 points at 16,867. The NSE Nifty settled at 5,036, down six points.
Voltas takes the social cause route to promote its air-conditioners.,
Two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto has set sight on securing the top spot in the world and a blueprint was being drawn, a top company official said today.
Leading global premium spirit manufacturer, Bacardi Ltd, today launched Bacardi "O", an orange-flavoured rum in the state and plans to focus on Tier II and III markets in the country.
Amid a spate of attacks on Indians here, the Victorian government today said it will provide all relevant details to New Delhi on these incidents.
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.
Owing to mounting losses, Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines has returned 19 leased aircraft to lessors in the past 10 months.
United Spirits, India’s largest spirits firm from the stables of UB Group, efforts to raise Rs 1,000 crore through the private equity route is unlikely to sail through. United Spirits, owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya has been in discussions with global private equity giants including KKR and Capital International to raise resources to largely settle the huge debt pile of the firm.
The economic recovery and a low base should help India Inc post robust profit growth for the December quarter.
Regulator may extend deadline after industry says it lacks Indian commanders
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will again consider a proposal of Vijay Mallya-promoted United Breweries Holdings (UBHL) to raise Rs 708 crore by issuing convertible equity warrants in its meeting to be held on July 24.
Merger and acquisition volume in the telecom space worldwide stood at $49.2 billion so far this year driven by the US-based Frontier Communications" $8.6 billion acquisition of Verizon Communications.
Indian automobile industry recorded an impressive 68 per cent growth in sales in December last year, thereby continuing with the push it had received from two stimulus packages since 2008-end and successfully beating the year-end blues.
Rising sugar prices are pushing biscuit manufacturers to plan a rise in their prices. The industry says commodity prices have reached a level beyond which it would be impossible to sustain the pressure and there is no other choice but to pass some of it on to consumers.
In my mind
The Uttarakhand High Court on Monday asked the newly-constituted Ganga River Basin Authority to set up an expert committee to decide the fate of the three key hydel projects on river Bhagirathi.
KPIT Cummins Infosystems Ltd, a global IT consulting and product engineering company, has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Sparta Consulting, a California, USA-based firm and a leading provider of high end SAP solutions. The all cash agreement is for a milestone based consideration of $38 million which includes a bonus of $4 million.
The commerce ministry has prohibited import of mobile phone handsets (classified under ITC (HS) Code ‘8517’) without International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number or with all zeroes’ IMEI, with immediate effect from October 14, 2009. Import of ‘CDMA mobile phones’ (classified under ITC (HS) Code ‘8517’) without Electronic Serial Number (ESN)/Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID) or with all zeroes as ESN/MEID is also prohibited with immediate effect from the same date.
SESA GOA
Domestic passenger car sales jumped 36.7 per cent to 1,13,687 units in November, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said today.
Auto component maker Bharat Forge today said it will seek shareholders" approval to raise $150 million (nearly Rs 720 crore) by issue of warrants or bonds.
She has been compared to Jhumpa Lahiri, and now author SELINA SEN has charmed European audiences as well. Sen’s debut novel, A Mirror Greens in Spring, has just been translated into French, Italian and Spanish and gathered significant international acclaim — two years after its release in India. In Italy, the pod-cast version of the story, about an immigrant Bengali family living in Delhi, is a hit, while, in France, a pocket-book version has just been formalised. Her European success has much to do with the readers’ curiosity about the subcontinent, she tells NEHA BHATT
Automobile major Mahindra & Mahindra today reported a net profit of Rs 400.85 crore in the first quarter ended June 30 against Rs 159.30 crore in the same quarter last year.
A better product mix, easing of cost pressures and better procurement helped consumer electronics and lightings manufacturer, Bajaj Electricals register a consolidated net profit increase of 64 per cent per cent for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, to Rs 16.4 crore, compared with Rs 10 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.
The country"s largest sugar manufacturing firm, Bajaj Hindusthan, today said its shareholders will meet on December 16 to consider and approve raising of Rs 2,000 crore from domestic and international markets.
BS Reporter / Mumbai October 28, 2009, 0:17 IST
The new Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms, which stipulate changes in the way foreign investment in a domestic company is calculated, have put a roadblock in the path of credit information bureaus, which are eager to rope in private sector banks as investors.
Shedding earlier reservations over some aspects of the controversial new FDI guidelines, the Finance Ministry now says it does not have any objection to new rules that changed the criteria for calculation of foreign ownership in a company and its downstream investment.
Amid the Maoist threat to take to the streets after resignation of Prime Minister Prachanda, the former rebels have attacked members of other political parties in some districts of Nepal. Prachanda resigned on May 4 after his Maoist government"s decision to sack the army chief Chief Rukmangad Katawal was scuttled by President Ram Baran Yadav, deepening the political crisis and raising the specter of renewed rebel unrest in the country.
Asian markets ended in the green today. The Hang Seng, dropped from its intra-day high to end with a gain of 115 points at 22,412.
Business Standard / New Delhi December 22, 2009, 0:28 IST
The expert committee examining the way financial products are sold, which is chaired by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Chairman D Swarup, will stick to its earlier proposal of banning payment of upfront commission by insurance policyholders.
Global commodities experienced a steep fall today, as investors and hedge funds across regions unwound their long positions after the news of Dubai’s debt crisis. Most commodities were down today between three and five per cent as the dollar strengthened. In late afternoon trade, however, prices recovered.
Given India’s large geographical spread and ready availability of sunshine, solar energy could be the answer to our energy shortage.
India was the UAE"s top trading partner last year with non-oil trade totalling $32.11 billion, the data by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs has showed.
Sports Minister M S Gill today disfavoured the suggestion that India should bid for Olympics even if the Commonwealth Games next year are organized successfully.
The water drawal by the industries from the Hirakud reservoir is much below the approved level, according to the state minister for industry and steel and mines, Raghunath Mohanty.
Fashion and lifestyle retail chain Shoppers Stop today said its board of directors has approved raising funds by allotting 40 lakh shares to qualified institutional buyers.
The state owned Industrial Development Corporation (Idcol) has asked the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur to take up geo-physical survey of the Tangarapada chrome ore mines.
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan and actress Katrina Kaif are the most downloaded celebrities by Indian mobiles users, a new survey says.
The country’s multiplex industry is likely to invest Rs 400 crore in setting up new properties, new genre movies (3D being one) and in at least two big-budget Bollywood releases lined up every month over the next one year.
A new battlefront has opened between multiplexes and big banner production and distribution houses. Ignoring the revenue concerns of the multiplexes, Reliance Big Pictures, Percept Pictures, UTV Movies and Dharma Productions want to release their new films on direct-to-home (DTH) television shortly after their release on theatre screens.
The Rs 130-crore Ganga Heritage River Cruise project in West Bengal may become a reality soon as the government has agreed to the demands of private investors and will issue new bids for it by mid-January.
The stock recovered some of its losses to finally end at Rs 258, down over 2% from the previous close. Around 691,753 shares were traded on the BSE as compared to the two-week daily average traded volumes of 698,158 shares on the BSE.
Granules India Limited (GIL), a Hyderabad-based active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and pharmaceutical formulations intermediates, reported a net profit of Rs 6.19 crore for the quarter ended June 2009, as compared with Rs 2.7 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, reflecting an increase of 129.25 per cent.
Delhi-based HCL Technologies expects to sign around five deals in the media and entertainment (M&E) space. Talks are on with four global companies and one Indian firm, and HCL plans to close these deals by the end of this year. Most deals will be in the range between $50 million and $200 million (Rs 240-950 crore).
The Supreme Court has issued notice to 11 parties, including Trai, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone Essar, on a petition by state-run BSNL challenging removal of Access Deficit Charge (ADC), a levy paid by private telecom operators for funding the PSU"s operations in rural and remote areas.
Asian markets surged to 17-month highs today. The Hang Seng jumped 456 points (2%) to 22,280. The Nikkei added 27 points to 10,682.
Check the expense ratio, performance difference and track record of the scheme
To also discuss Swarup panel’s suggestions on financial stability.
Stumbling blocks for resolving the gas row between the Ambani brothers can be removed by putting together the family MoU and the demerger scheme, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) told the Supreme Court today.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) today asserted in the Supreme Court that family MoU of 2005 was a "sacrosanct" document for resolving the gas row with Mukesh Ambani group Reliance Industries (RIL) and accused it of scuttling efforts to arrive at a bankable agreement for the supply of gas from KG Basin.
Asian markets have ended in the green today. The Nikkei surged 108 points (1%) to 10,655. The Hang Seng, however, slipped 49 points to 21,823.
The Anil Ambani group today accused the government of being a party to the "conspiracy" with Mukesh Ambani firm Reliance Industries (RIL) to "destroy" it but dropped its opposition to the Petroleum Ministry putting its stand before the Supreme Court.
Move to be part of a global expansion plan
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.
For probably the first time in 15 years of cable television, the business of paying carriage fees to cable companies by broadcasters for a prominent channel placement is expected to come down by 15-20 per cent (to under Rs 1,000 crore) this financial year, compared to last year.
Tata Group Chief Ratan Tata today termed the buyout of Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) as a "terrific decision" and hoped to bring back glory for the luxury brands.
Chodavaram Cooperative Sugar Factory expects a decline in sugarcane crushing this season as against the 350,000 tonnes crushed during the last season.
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) chairman Sushil Roongta was in Beijing in October for induction in the hallowed committee of the World Steel Association now chaired by Lakshmi Mittal. Being an astute business diplomat, he made use of the visit to find out what China was going to do with its rapid steel capacity build up and production.
- Parsvnath Q2 net up three fold to Rs 61.43 cr - Banco Products net up 99% at Rs 21-cr - Indusind Bank Q2 net zooms 131% at Rs 77.8 cr - HDFC Bank Q2 net jumps 30% at Rs 687.46 cr - Mid & small-cap firms to see single-digit growth - Geojit BNP Paribas Q2 net zooms 150%
Expressing concern over series of arrests of US nationals as terror suspects, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said much of the training and direction for terrorists comes from Pakistan and the border area with Afghanistan.
Airtel, Vodafone-Essar favour delinking; Reliance, Tata oppose.
Mobile services provider, Bharti Airtel, reduced its roaming rates by nearly 60 per cent. Customers who enroll into the Airtel Turbo plan will now be charged at 60 paise per minute for all incoming calls while on roaming. The new plan is available for both existing and new customers effective Friday.
Australian mobile phone retailer Crazy John"s is reportedly offshoring about 150 jobs to Mumbai where its parent company Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) operates a call centre.
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.
At the height of the dot-com boom of the 1990s, several executives at McKinsey & Company, the world’s most prestigious management consulting firm, launched what they called the War for Talent. After extensive research, they concluded that the best companies had leaders who were obsessed with “the talent issue”. They recruited ceaselessly, finding and hiring as many top performers as possible. They singled out and segregated their stars, rewarding them disproportionately, and pushing them into ever more senior positions. The “talent mind-set” became the new orthodoxy of American management — the intellectual justification for why a high premium was placed on degrees from first-tier business schools, and why the compensation packages for top executives had become so lavish.
Surajeet Das Gupta & Mansi Taneja / New Delhi December 15, 2009, 0:25 IST
The Customised Connectivity Tracking tool can be installed in the catchment area of a cable network and track frequencies.
Jet Airways today received clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) to raise $400 million (Rs 1,850 crore) from foreign investors through Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP). The proposal was made to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), which referred it to the Cabinet as the QIP was for over Rs 600 crore. The airline has raised Rs 1,000 crore by selling its land in Mumbai.
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is set to buy the majority stake in Bangladesh"s fourth-largest mobile phone operator Warid from its Abu Dhabi-based owners.
IT security solutions major Symantec today said it has partnered with technology major Hewlett Packard (HP) for providing online backup to HP"s consumer desktop and notebook PCs globally.
Suven Life Sciences Limited, a Hyderabad-based biopharmaceutical company specialising in central nervous system (CNS) diseases, has received patents corresponding to three new chemical entities (NCEs) for the treatment of disorders associated with neuro-degenerative diseases.
Atul Sobti took over as the chief executive officer and managing director at Ranbaxy Laboratories, six months ago. He wants to make Ranbaxy (now owned by Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo) the largest drugseller in India, a market that is price-controlled, but growing. This focus on the domestic market is not due to the problems that the company has been facing in the US, he tells Vandana Gombar and Joe C Mathew in an interview where he also makes a case for direct subsidy for medicines instead of price controls. Excerpts:
India is not facing any shortage in onion supplies and prices of the key vegetable have now started easing, Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma said in the Lok Sabha today, replying to a member"s query.
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.
BS Reporter / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar October 12, 2009, 0:30 IST
Work on checking oil spill from MV Black Rose, the sunken vessel, has taken off a day after the visit of the high-level expert team from the Centre.
Work on the Rs 1,230-crore expansion project of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), among the country’s largest naptha-based petrochemical facilities, came to a grinding halt after a Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU)-backed union called an indefinite strike over wage revision of contractual workers.
Lender have agreed to fund Haldia Petrochemicals" expansion plan, which had suffered cost and time overrun, as a study has found the project viable.
Three contract workers died in a mishap at a unit of the Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) in East Midnapore district of West Bengal.
Energy firm Shell today ruled out huge capital investments in India and said it would rather improve upon on its competitiveness in the market.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services, is keen to forge partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on supersonic and hypersonic aeroplane technologies, a top company official said.
Though the Centre announced that it had “initiated the process” for forming a separate Telangana state, many in the ruling Congress party feel this might be easier said than done.
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.
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.
Ch Prashanth Reddy / September 27, 2009, 0:07 IST
Welcoming the Indian government"s move to infuse equity in Air India, the IATA today said such support should be a "one-time shot" that should be followed up by an effective restructuring programme to ensure that the airline comes out of red.
Oil India Ltd (OIL), the country’s second-largest state-owned explorer, has posted a 23 per cent increase in net profit for the quarter ended December 2009 on the back of higher price realisation due to a reduced subsidy outgo.
The Imperial, Delhi, tries its best to turn you into a master chef.
Newbie restauranteur Rajyasree Sen of Brown Sahib gives the humble mishti doi a new twist.
Huawei, Samsung, Alcatel-Lucent, Hitachi may also bid.
Captains of Indian industry have urged the government to continue the stimulus package till the middle of the next financial year (2010-11) to help the economy achieve robust growth.
The next time you call up Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s Delhi mobile, you could well get to hear “services to this number have been temporarily disconnected”. A few days ago, while Mukherjee was holding a meeting with his top bureaucrats, he got a call from a Vodafone customer service executive who said that since the bill, of a fairly large amount, had not been paid, the company would have no option but to disconnect the phone in another day or so.
The Nifty traded in the positive territory for most part of the day. The index made an intra-day high of 5,167 but closed at 5,103, indicating caution at higher levels. This means the 5,182 level has acted as a strong resistance for the last four days with crucial support remaining at 5,080. It is difficult to predict when the market will move out of the current trading band as indecisiveness has now spread to stocks futures — most traded Nifty components, such as Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Unitech, DLF, Tata Motors and Suzlon Energy, closed in a Doji pattern today.
Shree Cement today reported 17.66 per cent increase in sales for January 2010 at 8.82 lakh tonnes.
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.
J K Lakshmi Cement today clocked a 38 per cent increase in sales at 5.06 lakh tonnes for the month of January, 2010.
During the last few weeks of the year, accounts departments of companies start asking employees to give documents to back up their section 80C declaration made at the beginning of the financial year.
Mahesh Vyas / New Delhi January 2, 2010, 0:54 IST
Oil prices were back above $83 in Asian trade today as a cold snap across the northern hemisphere powered higher demand for heating fuel, analysts said.
The gem and jewellery industry has sought enhanced dollar liquidity, lower lending rates, a 2-year tax holiday and turnover tax and import duty reductions as part of budgetary relief, a top industry official said.
Tata group-owned Jaguar Land Rover on Thursday said it is recalling 40 Land Rover vehicles from India to fix a technical fault as part of an ongoing global process that started in July. The company is globally recalling all the vehicles of two diesel models — Discovery 3 and Range Rover Sport TDV6 — which were manufactured between November 2005 and April 2007.
Business Standard / New Delhi October 27, 2009, 0:41 IST
The CBI today recorded the statement of Buta Singh, Chairman for the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), in connection with a bribery case involving his son.
The first thing that our government did in 2004 was to implement a large number of programmes to immediately reach out to the farmers and other rural artisans who were in serious distress. These included waiver of the power dues of farmers, supply of seven hours free power to farmers, reschedulement of loans and interest, etc.
Pyramid Saimira today said N Narayanan has been appointed as Chairman on board of the firm.
Trades between FIIs generated a volume of Rs 43 crore on the BSE Thursday-an decrease of 34.61% from Rs 66 crore clocked on Wednesday. As many as four stocks witnessed trades of 8.12 lakh shares on Thursday.
Here’s a list of the show’s snazziest and sleekest as you breeze through the event.
Private sector life insurer Max New York Life today launched Shiksha Plus, a Unit Linked Plan, to facilitate a child’s aspirations and goals over different phases of student life.
Farm-to-fork model proves to be expensive, with prices higher than in neighbourhood stores.
Leisure bike maker Firefox today said it will launch around 10 to 12 new models during the next fiscal as it aims to clock sales of 30,000 units in 2010-11.
The Planning Commission has constituted a 20-member expert group to look at low carbon growth strategies for India. The group will be headed by Planning Commission member Kirit Parekh, senior sources disclosed late this evening.
The year 2009 was a difficult year for Indian merger and acquisition (M&A) deals. However, it established the supremacy of Indian investment bankers (i-bankers) by catapulting them to the top of the league table, leaving their international peers far behind.
Housing finance companies step in to provide loan to customers turned away by banks.
Alpari Forex (India) Private Limited, a Mumbai-headquartered online foreign exchange trading services provider, is targeting to achieve Rs 200 crore daily trading volume by the end of calendar 2009, of which about 40 per cent is expected to flow in from Andhra Pradesh, according to its chief executive Pramit Brahmbhatt.
Keisuke Uno proves that language is no barrier when it comes to cooking.
Ruling out any bailout package for Maytas Properties, the government today assured the NRIs of working a solution to non-delivery of flats sold by the firm promoted by kins of disgraced Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju.
Steel magnate L N Mittal is today believed to have proposed setting up a Rs 30,000 crore integrated steel plant in Karnataka when he called on the southern state"s Chief Minister B S Yeddyyurappa.
The new Companies Bill, 2008, which lapsed after the 14th Lok Sabha was dissolved, is likely to be re-introduced in Parliament this week, official sources said.
India has said that there is now better understanding of its position on climate change in the US, which recognises that emission cuts is not the only way for countries to reflect their domestic obligations globally.
Sunita Narain / New Delhi December 04, 2009, 0:50 IST
Acquisition of Rs 5,440-cr German major will make Ahmedabad firm a global textile-chemical giant
The European Union is holding its collective breath going into Thursday, when a conclave of the heads of its 27 member-states is expected to decide once and for all on the first ever European president.
The Insurance Brokers Association of India (IBAI) today demanded implementation of a mechanism to reduce delays in renewal of licences and dubbed the recommendations of the Swarup Committee as being “unpractical” and “misconceived”.
Sunil Jain / New Delhi February 1, 2010, 1:24 IST
Government-owned India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) expects to disburse close to Rs 11,500 crore this financial year.
With no takers for the sponsorship of the Indian cricket team, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now looking at alternatives — either to go for re-tendering with a lower base price or renegotiate a contract with the Sahara group, which currently holds sponsorship till December.
India signed the multi-million dollar deal of decommissioned Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov merely on “visual examination in as-is condition” and Navy “thought” the ship could be repaired.
India and Russia have finalised a new price for the aircraft carrier "Admiral Gorshkov" after months of protracted negotiations and the refitted warship would be delivered to the Indian Navy by 2012, top Russian officials said today.
Jai Arjun Singh / New Delhi October 10, 2009, 0:51 IST
The late Swedish journalist/author Stieg Larsson was the man behind Lisbeth Salander — the undeniably twisted and talented female protagonist of his “Millennium” trilogy. The second part in the series, The Girl Who Played With Fire, translated from Swedish by Reg Keeland, continues from where the first book left off — asocial heroine Salander once again back to her punch-throwing, expert computer hacking ways that she honed as a former security analyst in Stockholm, spinning yet another edge-of-the-seat crime thriller. Interestingly, Larsson’s father Erland Larsson, while receiving an award for his late son last year, revealed in an interview that the character of Salander seems to have been inspired by his son’s niece Terese, to whom the author had been very close.
Ahead of the Budget, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said the country should further liberalise its financial sector to play a bigger role on the global landscape.
Reliance Industries (RIL) held Petroleum Trust has sold 10.5 million equity shares of the company today. Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL, is the sole beneficiary of the Trust.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and its troubled US subsidiary, Caraco Pharmaceuticals, plan to together file 30 Abbreviated New Drug Applications with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market generic drugs, despite regulatory issues for the US company.
Students can bid for, and work with, a corporate chief for a day
About 50 foreign universities, including Duke University from the US, have evinced interest in setting up campuses in India, as the government is set to introduce a Bill to allow entry of such institutions into the country.
Silver futures prices today rose up to 2.92 per cent on the Multi Commodity Exchange as traders engaged in creating fresh positions, tracking firming global trend.
A crucial test to gain admission in business schools in the US has seen a fall in aspirants for the first time in five years. Applications for the graduate management admission test (GMAT), administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), have dipped 9 per cent from around 6,260 in 2008 to 5,700 in 2009.
The retail sector in Kolkata has adopted a wait and watch situation with retailers still wary of what lies ahead. What started as a big set-back for the retail industry in end-2008 with several malls and retailers shutting shop, the year 2009 was particularly bad for the industry with several cancellations of booked spaces and deferment of sanctioned projects.
Other high-profile meetings on agenda, too.
The declining trend in engineering exports from India has prompted domestic export promotion body EEPC India to seek the Centre"s support for the sector. Engineering exports, which grew by 18 per cent last year touching $40 billion, have declined by 22 per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal year.
Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday vented his ire on the legislators engaged in “political games” and said the party was seriously viewing the activities of “some legislators who are on jolly trips” at a time when they should be providing relief to the flood-affected.
While housewives across the country are complaining about high inflation levels, Mother Dairy has come up with a great advertising idea. It has put out advertisements saying it has not hiked prices of its toned milk and full cream milk. The move comes at a time when some of its competitors (like Amul) have raised prices. Mother Dairy says the advertisement has been issued in the public interest.
The oldest brand in the non-salt biscuits segment is fighting back to regain market share
Entrepreneurs in Mandi Gobindgarh blame the state government for not taking concerted steps to support industry.
It’s no longer just a war over prices. ‘Health’ appears to be the new proposition from snack makers. PepsiCo recently added a ‘health’ proposition to its bevy, with Aliva. Now Parle Products is performing a similar act with ‘Smart Chips’.
For most consumer product players in the country, the upcoming festive season is being looked upon as the best platform to return into the black. However, for the biscuit and confectionary makers, the customer preference of traditional sweets over packaged items is expected to affect business. To counter this, companies are devising strategies to hold their profits through gift hampers and customised products.
The Australian government today gave green signal to the construction of the Gorgon gas project on Barrow Island worth $50 billion off the West Australian coast on few conditions.
Outlining its stand on the negotiations for finalising the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks, the government today said any new approach proposed for discussions would not be acceptable to India.
NRI billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources today said it will not offer more than the already announced $1.87 billion to buy bankrupt American miner Asarco but is confident that it can clinch the deal with the support of the US government and the trade unions.
Eases regulatory hurdles for Bharti-MTN deal.
Clinton Foundation"s proposed "Solar Integrated City" project may come up in a special economic zone. The Central government has recently approached the state to consider setting up a solar SEZ in Gujarat.
Government today said it was mulling to give preferential shares for employees of BSNL as and when the consensus is reached on the Initial Public Offer from the state-run telecom operator.
Poor quality mobile services of state-run BSNL today came under sharp attack in the Lok Sabha, even as the government said it was the only operator which has taken maximum load for providing connectivity to rural areas.
Paul Samuelson had a Nobel Prize in economics to his credit, a large and faithful following who venerated him for his resurrection of Keynesian economic theory, the ear of several US Presidents and a tradition of fruitful, running battles with the likes of Milton Friedman and Alan Greenspan. But when he died this Sunday, at the age of 94, the legacy he left behind him was to be found in college classrooms across the world.
Nilanjana S Roy / New Delhi December 1, 2009, 0:39 IST
Kolhapur based Ghodawat Energy Private Ltd (GEPL), part of Ghodawat Industries, is planning to invest around Rs 1,300 crore to increase its wind turbine production and to set up wind farms. To support the investment the company is planning to go public and initiated talks with private equity for fund raising.
One of the largest contracts for thermal power.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today said it has decided to include 25 scrips in thw BSE mid-cap index with effect from January 11.
Hinduja Group"s flagship company Ashok Leyland"s Rs 1,300-crore Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) plant is likely go on stream within the next few months.
Korean consumer durables maker LG Electronics today said it will hire around 4,000 people in India in next three months to enhance its after-sales services in the air conditioner segment.
The Mayawati government’s decision to ban import of raw sugar into Uttar Pradesh has sent sugar prices soaring. Ex-mill sugar price in the state is at a record high of Rs 3,700 a quintal, up 7-8 per cent from a month ago, though crushing season is on.
Keeping in mind the panic created by swine flu and its adverse impact on academic activities across the country, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), is preparing recommendations to be issued to various schools and colleges in the country. Once ready, the management institute, which has witnessed four cases of swine flu on its campus, will submit the recommendations to the state and central governments for further dissemination to academic institutes.
Novartis India surged over 4% to Rs 447. The scrip touched a high of Rs 450 and a low of Rs 434 during the day. The counter witnessed a volume 13,914 shares, which is more than two-fold increase in its two-week average traded quantity of 5,919 shares.
Advance tax collections in the first quarter of fiscal 2009-10 have remained at the same level as last year, at around Rs 23,000 crore. These collections had showed a 20 per cent growth in June 2008.
Gold prices fell by Rs 280 to Rs 18,270 per ten gram in the bullion market today on emergence of widespread selling by stockists in the face of a weakening global trend.
Healthcare services provider Zydus Cadila has filed an application before the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for its anti-diabetic drug.
Men’s fashion will no longer be the neglected child of the Indian fashion world. While women’s fashion has almost two events every year, men’s fashion shows are showcased on the periphery. All this will soon change with the announcement of the Van Heusen Men’s Week by Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) in September this year.
Global rates of the yellow metal jump 38.4% compared with 34% at home in 2009.
Viacom Inc today said that its second-quarter profit tumbled 32 percent as revenue fell amid a weak advertising market, slower video game sales and lower box-office results.
The country"s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, today said it has roped in Bollywood actor R Madhavan as the brand face for its popular hatchback WagonR as it aims to increase sale of the car in South India.
While the deal looks beneficial for Uttam Galva as well as ArcelorMittal, the former’s stock has captured most of the positives making valuations expensive
The government has granted one year extension to Satyam Computer Services for completion of three special economic zones (SEZ) in Andhra Pradesh, giving elbow room to the new management of the IT firm.
India was the most promising market but obstacles could impede the speed at which India reached the full extent of the promise, said Sudhir Maheshwari, member of group management board responsible for corporate finance, M&A and business development (including India) and risk management of ArcelorMittal. Addressing the 47th National Metallurgists’ Day Celebration of the Indian Institute of Metals, Maheswari clarified, “We remain fully committed to our announced greenfield projects in Jharkhand and Orissa. We are looking for other alternatives of land acquisition to accelerate realisation of our plans.” ArcelorMittal’s two 12 million tonne steel plants in Jharkhand and Orissa were running behind schedule on account of problems with land acquisition.
Passing by the florist’s yesterday, I had to restrain myself from buying tuberoses — not for decoration, but for consumption. Tucked away among the many treasures in the Virago Book of Food is this gem, marrying the domestic art of flower arrangement with an opulent exoticism: “Put an ounce of tuberoses in a vase, having removed the leaves of the plant. Pour six quarts of (lukewarm) water on top, in which you have already dissolved 12 ounces of sugar…” and so on, until you have made tuberose ices.
Even as Union Home Minister P Chidambaram appealed to political parties in Andhra Pradesh to restore peace, transport across the state was crippled on Tuesday.
Tata Steel today said its sales for the October-December quarter surged 49 per cent to 1.5 million tonnes, driven by robust demand from sectors like automobiles and consumer durables.
Russian gas exports dropped by 37.7 per cent to 69.5 billion cubic meters in January-July 2009, as compared to the previous year, the Federal Customs Service has said.
The Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) will execute projects worth Rs 2,000 crore for improvement of the power infrastructure in the state on a priority basis.
Anil Ambani’s direct-to-home company, Reliance BIG TV, has formed a marketing alliance with Fox STAR Studios for its forthcoming movie, Avatar. The deal, according to source, has been struck for Rs 20 crore.
Business Standard / New Delhi December 11, 2009, 0:05 IST
Showing the rift in the Hamara Bajaj-famed two wheeler giant Bajaj Auto, group Chairman Rahul Bajaj today differed with his son and Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj"s decision to exit production of scooters saying he was not only not convinced but was "hurt" by it.
FIIs back in the game, buy shares worth Rs 769 crore.
The Centre, in a bid to help the Indian plastic industry increase economies of scale to take on the US, China and other countries, plans to set up plastic clusters or parks across the country.
Toshiba Corp has said it has started test operating a pilot plant to develop a commercially viable technology to separate and capture carbon dioxide from flue gas generated in the process of thermal power generation.
Merchant power becomes attractive, as business evolves into end-to-end model.