Small Business
Titan Industries, a Bangalore-based watch and jewellery arm of Tata Group, today reported 41 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 46.04 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 compared to the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
The government"s revenue collection from central excise, service tax and customs is likely to fall short by Rs 15,000 crore from the target of Rs 2,68,000 crore set for the current fiscal due to continuation of the stimulus package, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said today.
Ship building firm ABG Shipyard is getting ready to counter the offer price of rival Bharati Shipyard to acquire offshore drilling company Great Offshore.
The Supreme Court today asked the Madras High Court to first hear on Thursday the amalgamation plea of cash-strapped retail chain Subhiksha Trading Services Ltd with its subsidiary Blue Green Construction and Investments Ltd. The retailer was forced to shut its network of supermarkets across India due to acute financial crunch.
Income Tax (I-T) authorities are carrying out search operations at various establishments of the ship- building and repairing firm, ABG Shipyard, for alleged tax evasion, an Income tax Department source said.
Banks’ association says the process needs a huge effort.
The extra freedom given to the 26 public sector banks from this year to choose their statutory auditors has auditing companies — both those chosen and those left out — restive.
As the takeover battle between Bharati Shipyard and ABG Shipyard for Great Offshore heats up, analysts feel it is the right time for retail investors to book profits, as the fundamentals of the target firm’s stock do not support sustainability of its current price. Ever since the bidding war between Bharati and ABG started in June, Great Offshore’s stock has jumped significantly.
India"s foreign exchange reserves rose by $0.962 million to $286.376 billion for the week ended November 13 from $285.414 billion in the previous week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said today.
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.
India"s foreign exchange reserves fell to $280.770 billion for the week ended September 18 from $280.978 billion in the previous week.
With the world applauding Chinese economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today contrasted it with India"s growth, which has been achieved in a democratic society and said he would stick to the Indian path.
As many as five Indian companies, including ICICI Bank and Infosys Technologies, rank among the top 12 companies in the Asia Pacific region for being instrumental in building leadership capability within their organisation.
The political differences between India and China notwithstanding, the two countries are working in unison at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
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.
It is "too premature" to talk about the extradition of US national David Coleman Headly to India for his alleged role in Mumbai terror attacks, a top Obama Administration official has said.
Government today said that in the next four to six weeks, investigations into David Headley and Tahawwur Rana"s links with 26/11 attacks will be completed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Creditors of Dubai World are likely to reject a standstill agreement proposed by the company, a move which might lead to further "wrangling", media report says.
A top official of the Dubai administration today said the six months is not enough to restructure the debts of the troubled Dubai World and has asserted that the government-owned conglomerate has enough assets to meet its obligations.
Plan panel aims at making data accessible in analytical format
The stock finally settled at Rs 44, up 10% from the previous close. The counter witnessed huge trades of 1.4 million shares as compared to the two-week daily average traded volumes of 66,261 shares on the BSE.
The global petrochemical industry’s centre of gravity is shifting to the feedstock-rich West Asia as dozens of new projects are coming up in the region while production falters elsewhere. According to Chemical Week, co-organiser of the Fourth Annual GPCA Forum, 19 million metric tonne ethylene, the key building block for petrochemicals, is scheduled to be added annually to the Gulf region capacity over the next five years, nearly doubling the current capacity and providing extensive raw materials for downstream industries.
Wockhardt has closed at Rs 181, higher by Rs 6 or 3.5%, on the BSE.
The Indian bourses continue to trade flat. The Sensex is now at 17,600, down 15 points.
IRB Infrastructure Developers today said it has emerged as the lowest bidder for a Rs 800-crore road project of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
Huge opportunities in the form of upcoming projects and robust revenue growth in existing businesses augur well for IRB Infrastructure.
The date for rolling out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) could be announced on January 8, Asim Dasgupta, chairman of the empowered committee of state finance ministers, said today.
Asia MotorWorks Limited (AMW), an Ahmedabad-based company specialising in design and manufacture of tractors, tippers and high-tonnage trucks, is contemplating foraying into bus manufacturing in the next two to three years.
Ashok K Lahiri / New Delhi November 30, 2009, 0:47 IST
The domestic exchange traded currency futures on Wednesday witnessed the highest turnover since its launch last year. The combined turnover on the MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the two exchanges where currency futures are traded, was a record Rs 29,194 crore.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is going to Kolkata tomorrow to see ailing former West Bengal CM Jyoti Basu. Singh would be leaving for the West Bengal capital in the morning and there was a possibility of the scheduled Union Cabinet meeting being postponed till the evening, official sources said.
Alleges infringement of patent for dermatology medicine.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today announced two significant agreements with US-based Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation.
Meet chaired by PM concedes suggestion for immediate sale.
Indian drug companies Wockhardt and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries have received final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market generic versions of Nicardipine, the hypertension drug.
Strong non-core income growth pushes revenues.
Two greenfield plants to come up at Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad.
India today said it was hoping for an outcome with "substantive and enforceable commitments" at the Copenhagen climate meet which are "equitable and supportive" of economic growth in developing nations.
Anil Ambani group firm RNRL today told the Supreme Court that the government"s approval was not required for sale of gas by RIL to it and alleged that the Mukesh Ambani-led company had "wrongfully and mischievously" sought to pass this off as a condition.
The tremors from the Dubai World crisis are unlikely to be felt by Indian information technology (IT) service providers, since they do not have a major exposure to the market in that region.
Having provided mobile internet solutions to 20 million customers worldwide, world’s third largest PC vendor, Acer, is targeting 6-7 per cent market share worldwide in the smartphone category.
- BofA likely to pay bonuses close to 2007 level - Future Group pulls the plug on "Bijli Ghar" - PowerMin wants gas at $2.34 for NTPC - Another RIL cash raising on anvil - RIL to drill six new wells in KG-D6 block this year - Reliance Industries: Filling its coffers
Fear of rising inflation dragged the Sensex into the red at the beginning of the trading day. However, Reserve Bank of India governor D Subbarao"s positive comments perked investor sentiments in noon trades.
Criticising the ban imposed on his book by Gujarat government, expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh today said it amounted to "banning thinking" and likened the step to the one taken against noted author Salman Rushdie for his controversial work "Satanic Verses".
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today held an all-party meeting to discuss an action plan for tackling deadly swine flu, which has already claimed two lives in the state.
Essar Oil net zooms 450%
When director Roland Emerich was looking for a image that would sum up the apocalyptic tone of his blockbuster 2012, he could only conjure up one picture, the Himalayas being flooded.
Some big boys disappoint, but India Inc’s Oct-Dec show has been impressive.
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.
Image spam has made an unwelcome comeback by contributing 16 per cent to all the spam messages recorded at the end of April 2009.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has entered into a strategic in-licensing agreement with Stratpharma AG, Switzerland to market and distribute the product Strataderm in India.
The High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) chaired by the state chief minister Naveen Patnaik today cleared seven new projects worth Rs 67,445 crore.
Laxmi Mittal pulling out his 12-million tonne steel plant from Orissa will be a big blow to the state. Ditto, if it happens, for the 12-million tonne plant from Korean giant Posco that was to cost Rs 54,000 crore. But it would be foolhardy to write off investment in Orissa.
With the number of hit-and-run road accidents seeing a sharp rise last year, non-life insurance companies have seen a three-fold rise in claims settled under the Solatium Fund.
The Orissa government is yet to form the Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory Committees (RPDAC) for 13 large projects in the state.
Corporate India today felt let down by the failure of the $23-billion proposed merger deal between telecom giants Bharti Airtel and South Africa"s MTN but said the south-south co-operation was still alive.
It wasn’t just ordinary passengers who suffered the brunt of the recent Air India strike. West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta came to Delhi to attend a meeting on Goods and Service Tax (GST) with finance ministry officials. After which, he met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. While Mukherjee’s office had kept an hour for the meeting, Dasgupta was in a hurry and spent just half the time since, with the Air India flight cancelled, he had no option but to leave on the earlier flight of a private airline.
The fate of the 1,320 megawatt (Mw) thermal power plant at Rajpura (Punjab) will be decided by next week. According to sources, the financial bids (related to power tariff) for the proposed project would be opened next week and sent to the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) for approval.
Based on the recommendation of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the government has deferred a decision the proposals of Analjit Singh and Asim Ghosh to part-sell their minority stakes in Vodafone Essar.
Britain and France today joined India in making it clear that there should be no "double standards" in the fight against terrorism, a view that can be seen in the context of Pakistan.
- Ban, Gilani may have discussed Kashmir issue: UN - Darkness at dawn as solar eclipse envelops cities - Google adds Moon to online Earth map service - Obama honours first men to land on moon - The perfect storm - Over the moon
Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has bid for Venezuela"s Carabobo oil auction along with Spain"s Repsol YPF SA and Petroliam Nasional Bhd of Malaysia.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is working on using space applications to improve rural health infrastructure through telemedicine. Already 55 super specialty hospitals and 350 nursing homes have been connected and more will be added shortly, said Isro chairman K Radha Krishna.
Sees first sales decline in seven years at 6%, cuts year’s revenue forecast growth to 10%
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) today reported a growth of 5 per cent in net profit at Rs 2,364.9 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009, over the same period last year.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said monetary measures are not required to contain food inflation, amid speculations that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may squeeze money supply to rein in surging food prices.
Zooming inflation, a build-up of inflationary pressures and cues from global markets could impel the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to further tighten its monetary policy stance by hiking the cash reserve ratio (CRR) and policy rates, bankers said.
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.
After losing customer accounts to public sector banks at the height of the downturn, private sector banks seem to be on their way back.
To mark 10 years of its existence, Kurkure, FritoLay’s Indian innovation in the salted snack market, is changing tracks. It came out in December with a print campaign which told readers how Kurkure is made from what can be found in any Indian kitchen, underlining that the ingredients are as wholesome as what goes into home-made food. Kurkure now on will be less about flavours and more about ingredients. It will launch the first of its products towing this line, called Punjabi Kadai Masala, soon. The product contains rajma and ragi, staple Punjabi food, apart from the usual rice, corn, spices and lentil.
Trust Kishore Biyani, the founder of Future Group, to spot new revenue streams before anybody else. The latest from Biyani is Indian-style hotels and schools to train entrepreneurs and help understand consumer behaviour. Both initiatives are expected to go on stream in the next six to eight months.
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.
Public sector lender Bank of Maharashtra reported a 7 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 112 crore for the quarter ended December 2009 against Rs 120.6 crore in the year-ago quarter. Net interest income, or the difference between interest earned and interest paid, grew 5 per cent to Rs 361 crore from Rs 343 crore in the December 2008 quarter.
Markets have opened weak in line with global peers, ahead of the RBI policy review.
The Sensex ended at 16,330, higher by 40 points, and the Nifty closed at 4,876, up 22 points (provisional closing).
After successive debacles in the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections in Maharashtra, the beleagured Shiv Sena on Saturday received a much-needed boost when it won the politically-sensitive Bhiwandi seat, defeating the Samajwadi Party and Congress candiates.
Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray today lambasted Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan for backtracking on his statement on making knowledge of Marathi mandatory for renewing taxi permits in Mumbai and likened the political turnaround to Michael Jackson"s "moonwalk".
Kirtika Suneja / New Delhi January 3, 2010, 0:28 IST
Trust Kishore Biyani, the founder of Future Group, to spot new revenue streams before anybody else. The latest from Biyani is Indian-style hotels and schools to train entrepreneurs and help understand consumer behaviour. Both initiatives are expected to go on stream in the next six to eight months.
The semiconductor industry will post a revenue decline for just the sixth time in the last 25 years, with world-wide revenue totaling $226 billion in 2009, a 11.4 per cent decline from 2008, according to preliminary estimates by Gartner, Inc, an information technology research and advisory company.
Asian stocks rebounded from earlier losses after Dubai secured $10 billion of funding to repay its debt. Japan shares dropped as a measure of business confidence showed companies are scaling back investment plans.
Yahoo! announced partnerships with television and other device manufacturers as the Internet company joins others seeking to jump from the computer to the TV screen.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has again put the onus of deciding the number of slots to be auctioned for 3G spectrum on Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Global IT firm Apple is likely to make a major product announcement at San Fransico next month.
2009’s movers and shakers share with us the gadgets that set their hearts racing.
Indian stocks trading on the American bourses $5.33 billion to their cumulative market capitalisation, with the IT bellwether Infosys Technologies and private sector lender ICICI Bank accounting nearly half of the gain.
State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman O P Bhatt today said that excess liquidity available with the bank would be a matter of concern for the next two quarters.
After losing customer accounts to public sector banks at the height of the downturn, private sector banks seem to be on their way back.
The Sensex finally ended (provisional) at 16,242, down 538 points. The Nifty shed 171 points at 4,837.
Asian markets ended weak. The Hang Seng closed down 234 points at 20,121 and the Nikkei dropped 216 points to 10,198.
The US markets ended in the negative. The Dow Jones closed at 10,120, weaker by 115 points or 1.1%, Nasdaq ended at 2179, lower by 42 points or 1.9% and the S&P shut at 1084, down 12 points or 1.1%.
The Supreme Court will hear Swiss drug maker Novartis AG"s plea against denial of patent for its blood cancer drug, Glivec, next week.
The Madras High Court today directed Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila (Cadila Healthcare) not to sell its anti-depressant drug, Venz (venlafaxine), in the domestic market for the time being, based on a trademark complaint from Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceutical industries.
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.
Although Smart Portfolios kicked off on September 1, 2009, it feels good to end the calendar year on a cheerful note. The net returns in the second season are at the highest point currently. The benchmark S&P CNX 500 portfolio value has appreciated by 12.73 per cent to Rs 11.27 lakh as against its starting corpus of Rs 10 lakh. Ajay Parmar and Amar Ambani continue to outperform the benchmark with a wide margin. While the former"s return has zoomed 20.46 per cent, the latter"s portfolio value has soared nearly 19 per cent. Phani Sekhar has reported gains of 6.72 per cent so far, and Praveen Panjwani"s net worth is up by 6.3 per cent.
FMCG major Emami today said its realty arm Emami Infra will be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in the next three-four months.
Private sector lender ICICI Bank today reported a 26.36 per cent drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,148.66 crore for the third quarter (Q3) ended December 31, 2009.
India"s exports surged by 39 per cent in value terms to Rs 1,366 crore during the first four months of this fiscal on better price realisation and higher demand, the Tobacco Board said.
The markets have held on to their gains in the past one hour. The Sensex is now quoting at 17577, higher by 91 points and the Nifty is at 5251, up 25 points.
The Indian markets continue to languish in the red and the Sensex is now at 17, 592, down 50 points. The NSE Nifty is at 5,258, down 16 points.
The Sensex fell 0.88 per cent, or 155.02 points, at 17,486.06, as weak global markets encouraged investors to lock in profits in outsourcers such as Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies.
The Sensex and Nifty closed near their trendline support of 17,400/5,220 on the back of weakness in world stocks and lack of buying interest in the futures and options (F&O) segment in the last couple days.
South Korea"s economy is expected to grow at a faster clip than most other advanced nations in 2014, a report showed today, suggesting that the Asian country will stage a swift recovery from the worst downturn in more than a decade.
The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 17,458, down 28 points.
The markets have opened in the positive, mirroring the gains in the US and firmness across Aia. The Sensex is quoting at 17589, higher by 103 points and the Nifty is at 5254, up 29 points.
People in India swear by the success of the real estate sector, understandably so, for it is the country’s second largest employer and contributes to approximately 5 per cent to its GDP. The sector received foreign direct investment (FDI) of about Rs 21,370 crore between April 2007 and March 2009, second only to the services sector.
Ten years ago, a survey had projected that the life insurance industry would see its premium income grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.9 per cent.
The affordable housing segment will offer business opportunities worth over Rs 500,000 crore as India requires more than 10 million houses to be built by 2013-14.
Bharti Airtel"s proposed acquisition of 70 per cent stake in Warid Telecom of Bangladesh may marginally lower the Indian company"s liquidity and increase its business risk, leading rating agency Standard & Poor"s (S&P) said today.
Dhabi group, the company which has agreed to sell 70 per cent of its stake in Bangladesh"s Warid Telecom to Bharti Airtel, today said it would not exit the venture and hoped that all approvals for the deal comes within the next 10 days.
The Nifty faced strong resistance above 5,300 and closed in a Doji pattern, indicating indecisiveness among participants.
Newly-inducted Karnataka minister for excise M P Renukacharya today said that government was well on its way of meeting its excise collection target of Rs 7,000 crore for financial year 2009-2010.
Cadbury: Kraft Foods’ $19 billion acquisition of Cadbury creates an unstable dynamic in the global confectionery sector. Almost one third of the market will be split equally between the enlarged Kraft and US rival Mars. That raises some tricky strategic questions for the industry"s smaller players like Italy’s Ferrero, Hershey of the US and even for Switzerland’s Nestle .
HSBC Holdings Chairman Stephen Green said proposals to separate retail and investment banking are “unrealistic” and will slow economic growth because larger firms are needed to finance big companies.
Private sector lender, IndusInd Bank has presented its roadmap to the Reserve Bank, to bring down the promoter stake to the mandatory 10 per cent over the next 2-3 years, its CEO said.
The government is likely to appoint investment bankers and advisors soon for the disinvestment of additional 8.38 per cent stake in iron ore producer NMDC, official sources said today.
FMCG firm Jyothy Laboratories today reported a 24.92 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 16.84 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, as compared to the same quarter year ago.
US President Barack Obama"s ambitious health care reform now appears to have been put on hold for the time being after the shocking Democratic party defeat in the Massachusetts Senate polls this week, which has denied the ruling party of a filibuster majority in the Senate.
Public sector lender Union Bank of India (UBI) today said its net profit declined by 20.48 per cent to Rs 534.13 crore for the third quarter ended December over the same period in the previous fiscal.
A 20-member delegation from Karnataka today met Union mome minister P Chidambaram and demanded special incentives for its five districts.
The Sensex has recovered partially and is now at 17,167, down 20 points.
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) has signed an agreement with aircraft engine manufacturer, CFM International (CFM), to establish a new CFM56 maintenance training centre to support its customers in the South Asian region.
Land in Navi Mumbai to be used for building Bollywood theme park.
Private airline Jet Airways today posted a profit of Rs 105.80 crore for the third quarter ending December 31, 2009, the company said in statement here.
Regulator charges the firm with allotting employee quota shares to others.
Entertainment firm Pyramid Saimira Theatre today said it will demerge two of its subsidiaries — Pyramid Saimira Content Distribution and Pyramid Saimira Production International — from itself.
The Delhi High Court today dismissed an application by ITC Ltd for grant of an injunction against the use of a device mark by Philip Morris in relation to its Marlboro brand of cigarettes in India.
Suzlon Energy, India’s largest and one of the top five wind energy turbine makers in the world, is on a comeback trail after turbine blade cracking issues, foreign exchange and net losses.
We all have a variety of multimedia content on our computers. From the photos you have clicked on your digital camera to your ever-expanding collection of MP3 songs to movies and television shows, wouldn’t it be nice if there was an easy way to send all this to your TV for easy viewing in your living rooms?
Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), the industry body of fund houses, today hinted that it may drop the plan to launch its own mutual funds transaction platform, as others have already launched similar facilities.
India’s largest wireless service provider, Bharti Airtel is expanding its international operations by buying a majority stake in Bangladesh’s fourth largest wireless telephony service provider, Warid Telecom. This is the second major geography Bharti Airtel has ventured into after Sri Lanka where it launched its 2G and 3G service a year ago. Seychelles, Jersey and Guernsey (Channel Islands) are the other geographies where Bharti has a presence. To increase its international focus, the company recently announced that its current CEO Manoj Kohli will take charge as the head of the international business division.
General Motors Co agreed to sell its Saab unit to Dutch sports-car maker Spyker Cars NV in a deal that would save the 72-year-old Swedish brand that’s being wound down.
While the recovery in sales volume is positive for Tata Motors, the gains are priced in
Tata Motor’s future profitability hinges on its ability to scale up JLR volumes and execute a slew of cost-reduction measures.
General Motors India unveiled the all new Chevrolet Cruze diesel model in Chandigarh. The car will be available in two variants - LT & LTZ. With the launch of this model, it expects that by the end of this year, it would be able to achieve a growth of 11-12 per cent over the previous year.
US car maker General Motors today launched its luxury sedan Chevrolet Cruze in India at an introductory price ranging from Rs 10.99 lakh to Rs 12.45 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
India"s largest wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy has said it completed the worldwide programme for strengthening and reinforcing a certain set of blades, which suffered cracks.
Barter and exchange services provider BBX India is awaiting Reserve Bank of India"s (RBI) approval to start international trading in the country, a top company official said.
In a sprawling factory south of Shanghai, Li Shufu, the self-made Chinese billionaire who is poised to buy Volvo Car Corp from Ford Motor Co, is presiding over a new-model launch party. If he has any concerns that his Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd’s rising sales and surging stock price could falter, he’s not showing them on that summer day.
Aggressive selling in rate sensitive stocks, couple of days ahead of the RBI policy review, saw the markets tank heavily. The RBI is scheduled to review its monetary policy on January 29. Markets fear hike of Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), which in turn could affect these sectors.
Personal and oral care products maker Colgate-Palmolive today reported a 50 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 116.39 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2009 over the same period last fiscal.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Rs 1,002.60 crore (provisional) today, according to data released by BSE.
In a short-list bereft of Indian writers, this year"s Man Booker prize has gone to British novelist Hilary Mantel for her gripping 16th century tale titled "Wolf Hall".
Life insurers have begun to spend big money on brand promotion. The market, after all, is crowded. At last count, there were 22 companies in the fray for a market estimated at Rs 55,355 crore. SBI Life, the 74:26 venture of State Bank of India and BNP Paribas Assurance, has been not as aggressive as its rivals so far as brand promotion is concerned. Where others rolled out campaign after campaign, SBI Life stuck to its old campaigns. It is only now, after a two-year hiatus, that it has come out with a brand new advertising campaign.
The central bank may hike CRR by 50 bps; some economists expect a rise in policy rates too.
If you think your money in savings bank account will be automatically converted into fixed deposits (FDs), think again. It may just happen that while you are thinking the idle cash may earn 6-6.5 per cent a year, the prevailing fixed-deposit rate for one-year funds, it may actually continue to fetch only 3.5 per cent.
Burdened with rising commodity prices, especially of steel and copper, the country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, has announced a marginal increase of up to 2 per cent in prices.
Wholesale prices-based inflation leaped to 7.31 per cent in December, shooting past RBI"s forecast of 6.5 per cent-level by this fiscal end, as food items such as sugar, potatoes and pulses turned costlier. Overall inflation in November was 4.78 per cent.
The ripple effects of the fall of Lehman Brothers in September last year is evident in the field of global mergers and acquisitions (M&A), which shrank by nearly 40 per cent in the 12-month period since then.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today announced to co-host a high-level international conference along with South Korea on Asia in Seoul later this year.
At a time when merger and acquisition (M&A) activity is still recovering, companies are finding solace in private equity (PE) funds for acquisitions. And, PE funds seem keen to participate in such deals.
An expected recovery in the bank credit in the next few months may push up interest rates in the later part of the current fiscal, a top foreign banker today said.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) expects its annual earnings to grow by Rs 100 crore once it receives approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to charge user development fee (UDF) at nine airports. “We will annually earn around Rs 100 crore by charging UDF at eight of our airports. We have sent our request and will start charging as soon as we receive the approval,” said a senior AAI official who did not wish to be named.
Madhukar Sabnavis / New Delhi January 1, 2010, 0:19 IST
The expression “Fees for Technical Services” is defined in Explanation 2 in section 9(1)(vii) of the Income -tax Act as under:
Energy-starved Karnataka has deferred a decision on purchasing power from cogeneration sugar mills in the state.
Contrary to popular perception on interest rate movement, expected to head north following a likely central bank action on monetary tightening, banks may actually end by cutting rates in the below-prime lending rate region for at least their corporate clients.
After marginal moderation for three weeks in a row, food inflation inched up to 17.4 per cent for the week ended January 16.
After implementing the UPA government"s disinvestment plans for the past six months, Sunil Mitra today took over as the Revenue Secretary, less than a month before the Budget presentation in Parliament.
United Breweries Holdings (UBL) has forged an alliance with Heineken to distribute the Heineken brand in India. The partnership in India is expected to drive growth in one of the world"s fastest growing beer markets. As part of the agreement, Heineken will acquire Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) India -- Asia Pacific Breweries (Aurangabad) and Asia Pacific Breweries-Pearl -- for Euro 25 million (Rs 174 crore). Following completion of this transaction in the first quarter of 2010, Heineken intends to transfer these businesses into UBL during 2010. APB is a joint venture partnership between Heineken and Fraser and Neave.
A major tax reform like goods and services tax (GST) is a challenge and considerable preparation is necessary before implementing it. There is a need to bring in legal/constitutional changes, reforms in central tax system and state tax systems, said M Govinda Rao, director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP).
Portfolio flows are continuing their buoyant run in the new year. Investment by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the Indian capital markets – including debt and equity – have touched $2.6 billion so far in 2010.
Country"s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has sold its points of sale terminals that accept the debit and credit card payment to First Data Corporation for $80 million (about Rs 400 crore).
- GST rates within 15 days: Dasgupta - FMCG firms to be hit if hill state tax benefits withdrawn - GST to reduce tax burden on industrial sector - GST to subsume more taxes than envisaged, says Asim - "GST will be a major breakthrough in the history of tax reforms" - GST may provide for rate changes outside Budget
Last week, the Supreme Court pronounced a landmark ruling in the case of Oracle India holding that the process of duplication of software from master copy tantamount to ‘manufacture’. The Apex court allowed Oracle much awaited relief with respect to a tax holiday claim available for new undertakings engaged in manufacture and processing of articles and things.
Finally starting the process to auction 3G spectrum to potential telecom operators, the government is likely to issue guidelines giving details about the number of blocks to be sold and other related information.
Some big boys disappoint, but India Inc’s Oct-Dec show has been impressive.
Most observers gag at the thought of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) auditing Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects since, they argue, the very things that bedevilled public sector projects will now apply to PPPs as well. The argument is that public sector projects take forever since, apart from the fear of Central Vigilance Commission and CBI probes, managers also live in mortal dread of the audit objections raised by the CAG (the dreaded 3Cs!) — so, public sector managers concentrate on going by the book, even when it comes to buying a pin, never mind if there are greater losses due to project delays. A good example of this is the ongoing furore over the latest BSNL tender — even though BSNL has managed to reduce Ericsson’s quote by a third, it is being accused of violating the CVC rule of not negotiating with suppliers after a bid has been received!
Growing competition and declining revenues in India have prompted state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) to revive plans to enter overseas markets.
Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) today reported growth of 3.30 per cent in net profit at Rs 25 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009, over the same period last year.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has suggested strengthening of connectivity framework in North-East to provide an impetus for economic development of the region. In its survey report, PwC has suggested that North-East empowers people through inclusive governance. Grassroots plans that are prepared and implemented at the grassroots levels and are consolidated at the district level, could help in the provision of public services according to the needs of people.
System integration firm Teracom today said it has bagged a Rs 12.6 crore broadband services deal from the Indian Railways.
The market opened weak and sustained selling pressure saw the benchmark indices, the Nifty and Sensex, lose their crucial support levels of 5,150 and 17,300, respectively. The spot Nifty closed at 5,094 while January futures closed at almost 10 points discount on profit-taking and short build-up.
Public sector lender, Allahabad Bank today posted 6.52 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 345.37 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009 as compared to Rs 369.46 crore for the corresponding period last year mainly due to higher provisioning and lower other income.
Dismissing Australian suggestions that Indian reaction on the issue of attacks was "hysterical", External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today said India expects that its citizens, whether they are students or otherwise, should be safe in that country.
After losing customer accounts to public sector banks at the height of the downturn, private sector banks seem to be on their way back.
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Bank has posted over 19 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 139.99 crore for the third quarter of 2009-10 on the back of high non-interest income. The bank had registered a net profit of Rs 120.67 crore in the same quarter last year, a J&K Bank spokesman said today. Operating profit increased by 31 per cent during the same period.
State-run Bharat Electronics (BEL) today said its net profit rose nearly two-fold to Rs 223.87 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, over the same period last fiscal.