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Reliance Capital, the financial services arm of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (R-ADA) group, reported a 52 per cent fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 63 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, against Rs 132 crore in the same quarter the previous financial year.
Thirteenth Finance commission Chairman Vijay Kelkar today said the price of energy should be the same for everybody and subsidy should be directly given to the targeted beneficiary.
The Thirteenth Finance Commission has suggested the path of fiscal consolidation and sharing of tax revenues between the Centre and the states, in its report submitted to President Pratibha Patil today.
The markets struck positive notes at the beginning of the year with the benchmark indices touching their fresh 22-month highs. The Sensex scaled a high of 17,790, but eventually ended with a marginal gain of 75 points at 17,540 this week. Mid- and small-caps outperformed the benchmark with significant gains of 3.4 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively.
Engineering major Larsen & Toubro today said it is can build nuclear plants capable of producing 3,000-4,000 Mw of power every year.
Nationalist Congress Party"s (NCP) Maharashtra unit chief R R Patil today said that the party intends to fight forthcoming Maharashtra assembly elections in alliance with Congress.
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).
The stock soared to a high of Rs 429 and finally ended at Rs 421, up 5.5% from its previous close. The counter clocked volumes of 323,029 shares as compared to the two-week daily average traded volumes of 20,162 shares on the BSE. _________________________________________
Scale has always fascinated Paresh Maity, but now he’s experimenting with newer genres in paintings and sculpture.
I always suspected that the city was a falsification. But it was only on a foggy afternoon in early spring, when the air smells of atarch, that I discovered the nature of the fraud. We are living inside a cupboard, in the lowest depths of oblivion, among broken poles and shut boxes...” <P align="right> — Zbigniew Herbert, The Collected Poems
Global Software Solutions company Zylog Systems is planning to invest Rs 210 crore on Wi-Fi infrastructure for providing wireless broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services and aims to garner Rs 550-crore revenue from this over the next 5 years.
Kerala chief minister to lay stone for the project on Nov 28
VS Achuthanandan would, however, continue as the CM.
Mukesh Ambani group firm Reliance Industries (RIL) today told the Supreme Court that its directors have filed the affidavits in the gas row to counter Anil Ambani"s contention that the family MoU was approved by the RIL board.
Indian firm holds preliminary talks, Essar group also in the fray.
The government today said record invesments in the equities market by foreign investors was not a matter of concern, but it would act if it finds any distortions.
Brokers have discovered a golden opportunity in the positive market sentiment to add investor accounts, even if it means offering these services for free.
Business Standard / New Delhi July 22, 2009, 0:41 IST
Fire tenders were rushed to the iconic Taj Hotel and guests evacuated from its tower wing after smoke billowed from the building following a short-circuit today.
Pvt player to launch credit cards, education, personal loans in 3 yrs.
Reliance Power Ltd (R-Power), part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) group, is in talks with five leading global power companies to sell 15 per cent equity stake in the company.
Tata Motors will distribute all Nano cars from Pantnagar through its new subsidiary, Tata Motors Distribution
National carrier to induct seven independent directors and appoint a chief operating officer.
A major fire broke out at the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) in the wee hours today, severely hitting the hot metal production at the flagship entity of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).
BJP President Nitin Gadkari doesn’t believe in standing on ceremony. So, while the normal protocol is that meetings are held in the office/residence of the senior-most official in the meeting, Gadkari surprised most by attending a meeting on Bihar at party MP Shahnawaz Hussain’s Delhi bungalow. Gadkari is also quite corporate in the way he carries his visting cards and hands them over to visitors with a “Hi, I am Nitin Gadkari. You can call me Nitin.”
The country"s vibrant cultural heritage, its impressive achievements and military might were on a majestic display today as the country celebrated the 60th Republic Day.
Monster Worldwide, the parent company of global online employment solution provider Monster.Com, today reported a net loss of $1.37 million in the quarter ended June 30 this year.
Natco Pharma net up 13%
Sunil Jain / New Delhi July 27, 2009, 0:41 IST
Allianz Infratech, wholly-owned unit of Etisalat DB, will outsource its telecom infrastructure requirements to RCom.
ADAG firm Reliance Communications (RCom) has partnered with 3rd Space Services for advertising-funded videos on its mobile services platform .
Bajaj Auto is planning to set up an assembly plant in a free trade zone in Manaus in Brazil next fiscal.
A host of Indian companies are planning to develop projects across sectors in the island nation of Sri Lanka.
India Inc"s fund raising through private placement of debt surged 42 per cent to Rs 40,300 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal, with over half of the fund being mobilised by financial institutions.
Shyamal Majumdar / Mumbai December 22, 2009, 0:04 IST
This year"s Indian advertising rage will soon get audiences overseas to sit up and take notice.
Edge for hedgies: You can’t take the edge out of hedge funds. Along with other investors, most of them are looking for that extra insight. There’s no excuse for illegally trading on inside information, as Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam is alleged to have done. That aside, getting an edge is their job – and their clients check up on them the same way.
The Indian team of intelligence officials, which went to the US in connection with probe into Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley"s terror designs, has come back with "good information", Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said today.
Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer My Name is Khan, directed by Karan Johar, is set to create a record ahead of its release early next year with Fox Star Studios reportedly buying its marketing and distribution rights for around Rs 100 crore.
Acknowledging that India is a big player in the region, a top US military leader has said that the relationship between India and Pakistan is critical for the stability in the region.
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.
New Delhi, Oct 25 (PTI) The non-stop Duronto trains will no longer have old coaches with side-middle berth, known as AC economy class.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today conducted search operations at offices of real estate company Emaar-MGF, a joint venture between MGF India and the Dubai-based Emaar. These operations were of a routine nature and were not linked to the investigation into the dealings of the former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, the company said in a statement. Some news reports said the search operations were triggered by the directorate finding documents that showed Koda’s associates on the boards of some Emaar group companies.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will soon move a court in Jharkhand for obtaining custody of former chief minister Madhu Koda, who was today arrested by the vigilance commission of that state and was sent to 14 days judicial custody.
Users are increasingly taking to dual-SIM handsets, which enable two connections on a single device.
Aditya Birla Private Equity Fund, which is looking to raise Rs 1,250 crore, has finalised some investments, including 0.5 per cent in the country’s oldest exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange, said sources close to the development.
India today ruled out taxing capital inflows to the stock market on the lines of Brazil and said markets have been functioning normally.
SANDEEP DHAR, CEO, Tesco HSC, credits the Apple iPod Touch as the coolest music device and believes that the multi-touch user interface on iPods can revolutionise the gadgets of tomorrow. The corporate honcho also prefers LCD technology as it saves energy
Freebies are no longer catching the fancy of prospective home buyers; instead they are seeking cash discount, as the real estate market shows signs of revival.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has lost an oilfield in Algeria to a consortium led by a Chinese oil firm.
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
Google Inc, seeking new ways to make money from internet-search advertising, is dressing up its plain-text search ads with movie and TV previews.
Low viewer interest following India"s early exit from the ICC T20 World Cup, plus the absence of star cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag from the team have brought down average spot rates on Ten Sports over 50 per cent against what advertisers paid on STAR Cricket, the host broadcaster for the T20 World Cup, and SET Max, broadcaster for the Indian Premier League (IPL). Ten Sports is the host broadcaster for India"s upcoming tour of the West Indies starting June 26. India is scheduled to play four One Day Internationals (ODIs) from June 26 to July 5.
The annual maintenance charges for subscribers of the New Pension System (NPS) may come down by Rs 70 from April. National Securities Depository (NSDL), the record-keeper for NPS, expects over one million people to join the scheme in the next six months, leading to a reduction in the account maintenance fees from Rs 350 to Rs 280.
IT company HCL Infosystems today said it will raise funds to the tune of Rs 847 crore by private placement of shares with qualified buyers and issuing warrants.
Courier service provider Gati today said it will raise Rs 78.91 crore by issue of warrants to different promoters and the Infrastructure Fund of India LLC.
BS Reporter / New Delhi November 22, 2009, 0:37 IST
Business Standard / New Delhi November 11, 2009, 0:27 IST
With entry load on all mutual funds banned from August 1, fund houses are finding different ways to pay distributors for promoting their schemes.
India Inc is likely to post a whoping 63 per cent growth in net profit in the second quarter, thanks to four oil marketing companies which are expected to post a combined net profit of Rs 2,730 crore in the quarter ended September. If one excludes these four from the sample of 235 companies studied, net profit is expected to only increase marginally, around 1 per cent.
What does TV broadcast major Star’s shift of operations from Hong Kong to India suggest? What does it mean now that the Star India CEO Uday Shankar will report directly to James Murdoch, the head of Europe and Asia for parent News Corporation, instead of reporting to the regional boss in Hong Kong? In the answers to these questions lie the story of the growth of Indian media.
From now on, ministers will be able to take "any number of companions or relatives" along by air for free with Parliament giving nod to a bill providing for such facilities to them.
Extending support for Gujarat government"s move to make voting compulsory in local body polls, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad today said it should be extended to Lok Sabha and assembly polls too.
It makes you wonder about India’s ‘vibrant democracy’
The US-brokered deal with India and three other emerging economies went down to the wire with a personal push by President Barack Obama, even as developing nations appeared to have staved off attempts to subject their voluntary mitigation actions to international review.
Private airlines in the country owe Rs 274.19 crore to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) as of October-end, with Kingfisher being ahead of Jet Airways and SpiceJet leading the pack of low-cost carriers.
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 minimum ticket size and the tenure for unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) are set to be higher from the New Year.
Suven Life Sciences net down 48%
India"s largest retailer, Pantaloon Retail (India), today said it will raise Rs 500 crore by way of private placement of shares with qualified institutional buyers.
Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo, which holds 64 per cent stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories, today reported a 45 per cent drop in net income for the April-September this year. The company has a net income of ¥18.69 billion for six months ended September compared with 33.97 billion yen in the same period last year, Daiichi Sankyo said in a statement.
Mahesh Kulkarni / Bangalore November 17, 2009, 0:30 IST
Sayantani Kar / Mumbai December 8, 2009, 0:28 IST
To promote transport of goods along the coastline of the country and on national waterways, the Ministry of Shipping has written to the Ministry of Finance to exempt goods transported through such routes from service tax.
Two firms have bid for offering consultancy services to Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) for the development of tourist beaches at Sarkeshwar in Amreli and Shivrajpur in Jamnagar. The architecture consultancy firms, who bid for tourist beaches development, are Hiren Gandhi & Associates and Wapcos India, a flagship company of union ministry of water resources.
The mumbai-based Blue FRog is more than just a club with live music acts. it’s in fact an experience, a record label and to its fans, a way of life.
Betting big on the growing India-related M&A deals, private-sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank today entered into a pact with Russian investment bank, Renaissance capital, to advise cross-border transactions.
Asset financier Shriram Transport Finance bought the commercial vehicles and construction equipment portfolios of two GE Capital units for about Rs 1,100 crore, the company said in a statement today.
TransCare Logistics India Private Ltd, part of the TransCare group of companies based in Germany, has forecast a traffic handling of 100 million tonne for Paradeep Port Trust (PPT) by 2016-17.
Domestic steel producer Ispat Industries today said it has earmarked a capex of about Rs 2,600 crore for two years in major projects.
Madhukar Sabnavis / New Delhi December 04, 2009, 0:34 IST
Business Standard / New Delhi July 3, 2009, 0:54 IST
The markets succumbed to Dubai debt repayment crisis in the latter half of the week. The Smart Portfolios benchmark, the S&P CNX 500 index swung in a range of nearly 6 per cent - from a weekly high of 4,217 the index tumbled to a low of 3,967. The index finally ended the week with a loss of 1.9 per cent (79 points) at 4,069.
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.
Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said India will forward its domestic goals on climate change as its action plan under the Copenhagen Accord to the Conference of Parties (COP) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Under the Accord, nations have to submit their action plans by January 31.
In the last month of 2009, the Hindi film industry promises lots of fun, drama and action.
Ajai Shukla / New Delhi December 29, 2009, 0:19 IST
Business Standard / New Delhi July 1, 2009, 0:30 IST
The Centre"s decision to carve out a separate state of Telangana today created ripples in political parties in Andhra Pradesh with as many as 60 legislators and three MLCs from the Congress, TDP and Praja Rajya Party submitting their resignation to the Speaker.
Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke is travelling to Europe to consult with leaders in Germany, France and Russia, before traveling to Kabul to attend the inauguration of Hamid Karzai for his second term as the Afghan President.
Sanjaya Baru / New Delhi October 21, 2009, 0:16 IST
Aditi Phadnis / New Delhi August 8, 2009, 0:48 IST
Even as its US business has been impacted by the recession, Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest information technology services provider, expects its India revenues to double to $1 billion in the next three-four years, majorly coming from the government sector. India currently contributes 10 per cent to TCS’ total revenues.
Infosys Technologies, India’s second largest information technology services company, which is an early bird on campuses this year, says it will offer jobs to 13,000 freshers for 2010-11. This is despite the fact that the number of engineering colleges it visits every year for campus recruitment is expected to drop by half as compared with 2007.
Nasdaq listed IT company Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp today announced the acquisition of Pepperweed Advisors, the IT consulting services division of US-based Pepperweed Consulting, for an undisclosed sum.
Engineering giant Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is selling a third of its 6.9 per cent stake in Mahindra Satyam, formerly Satyam Computer Services. The transaction is expected to fetch Rs 304 crore for the company, said banking sources.
Meanwhile, park spare cash in short-term debt.
The Finance Ministry today said the surge in foreign capital inflow in the country, powered by initial recovery in the global economy, is not a cause for concern at present and no specific action is required to arrest it.
Sreelatha Menon / New Delhi September 20, 2009, 0:08 IST
Income category added highest number of new investors
Former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash two days ago, was laid to rest on Friday by the side of his parents at his private estate at Idupulapaya in Pudivendula, his hometown. The embalmed body, which was kept in a wooden coffin, was buried at 5.30 pm.
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.
Finance Ministry is understood to have supported Anil Ambani group"s plans to raise $1.1 billion of overseas loans for power business and suggested to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that entities should not be denied a nod on account of alleged violations by end use of funds by other group firm.
Engineering products manufacturer, Forbes Marshall is expecting a lower growth rate during 2009-10 at around 15 per cent due to slowdown in the economy, a top official said.
The government today said the postal department is expected to have a deficit of Rs 5,632.46 crore in the current fiscal, which has increased substantially over the past few years following implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations.
The country’s second largest public lender, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has offered to grant home loans at floating interest rates up to 2.5 percent below the prevailing Public Lending Rate (PLR) till the end of 2009 under its flagship scheme.
Encouraged by the success of a pilot to implement the smart card-based electronic benefit transfer (EBT) system on “one district, many banks” model in three districts of the state, Karnataka has shown interest in implementing the scheme in another three districts on a “one district, one bank” model.
Claiming that the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) was in its expansion mode and would open at least 200 new branches every year in the next three fiscals, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Bank T Y Prabhu said the bank had sought capital support of Rs 1,000 crore from the government to implement its expansion plan.
The rapid conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural uses is not the best way to food security. That is what the government-appointed panel on land reforms and agrarian relations says in its report, currently under the consideration of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It blames the conversion both on absence of land use policies, “opening up of economy’’ and also on the non-remunerative nature of farming.
Sudheer Pal Singh / New Delhi November 23, 2009, 0:51 IST
Punjab National Bank plans to acquire a majority stake in a Kazakhstan-based bank to expand its presence in Central Asia, its Chairman and Managing Director K R Kamath said here today.
Leslie D"Monte / New Delhi October 20, 2009, 0:49 IST
Multiplexes may push for an embargo of up to two weeks on Bollywood producers releasing their films on Direct-to-Home (DTH) television platforms, after the films hit the theatres.
Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Power (R-Power) today said it plans to become over 3,300-Mw company by the end of the Eleventh Five-year Plan (2007-2012).
Business Standard / New Delhi November 03, 2009, 0:48 IST
Can deliver revenue by February if auction goes smoothly, he tells FM in letter.
The prevailing situation in West Bengal does not warrant invoking of Article 355 as demanded by the opposition, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told the assembly today which witnessed noisy scenes over law and order situation in the state.
The will enable smaller units in the region to overcome problems posed by inadequate power supply.
The old problem of talent exodus may come to haunt companies once again when the economy recovers, if they do not take steps to attract top talent and retain employees now, a study says.
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.
Italian auto maker Fiat today said it is taking help from its partner the Tatas in developing the small car, which it plans to launch in India by 2012.
The Asian markets have ended in the green.
Abhilasha Ojha goes shopping for bed linen and finds that the branded market is flooded with incredible options, including limited edition collections, zany motifs and quality that redefines comfort.
Asian markets are trading in red this morning. The Hang Seng has dropped 80 points to 21,419. The Nikkei, after touching a four-month high, has dropped 27 points to 10,611 on continued concerns of Japan Airline"s debt.
In many cases foreign companies grant access to Indian companies for using their data base and other copyr-ighted material. The question for consideration is whether the amount received by the foreign company for permitting use of such copyrighted material constitutes consideration which could be treated as royalty under the provisions of the tax laws.
India today favoured a legally binding climate change agreement from the developed countries saying a political pact will not be "enforceable", even as it asserted that its voluntary reduction of carbon emission intensity was not announced under pressure.
As delegates at the Copenhagen summit discuss a new climate treaty, green activists here are hoping that it would focus on emission cuts and safeguarding of biodiversity.
A group of Muslim MLAs of the Samajwadi Party today demanded expulsion of senior leader Amar Singh from the party, accusing him of damaging the interests of the organisation.
The Nifty has opened at 4,570, up 46 points. The Sensex meanwhile is up 96 points at 15,327, in opening trades.
Ambuja Cements finally ended at Rs 95, down 2% from the previous close. Heavy volumes of 1.57 million shares were traded on the BSE as compared to the two-week daily average volumes of 916,782 shares.
PROFILE
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.
Strides Arcolab ended the day at Rs 254, stronger by Rs 19 or 8.2%, on the BSE.
Indian companies engaged in discovery of new drugs have twisted the model as many molecules licensed to foreign collaborators failed to reach the market. This so-called outlicensing strategy has been revised and the domestic companies are conducting a larger part of the initial trials themselves, choosing to license out the molecules much later than they used to.
The Tatas" acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) had woken up Britain to growing Indian strength, UK Secretary of State for Business and Innovation Peter Mandelson today said.