Online Business
Bhupesh Bhandari / New Delhi November 19, 2009, 0:17 IST
Emami may join the race to buy Simple, one of the largest skincare brands in the UK. Sources familiar with the development say the company is exploring all options and may approach the management of the UK-based company shortly.
The market turned weak on the cusp of settlement and made a partial recovery in the first session of the December settlement. The Nifty ended with a net week-on-week loss of 2.2 per cent, closing at 4,941.75 points while the Sensex was down 2.3 per cent at 16,632 points. The Defty lost 2.5 percent with the rupee losing ground.
A V Rajwade / New Delhi January 11, 2010, 0:50 IST
Internet search major Yahoo! today appointed Arun Tadanki as the managing director of its India operations.
Concerned over high density of population in the cities, Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy today said there was a need to go in for high rise buildings.
Goa government"s proposal to levy land replenishment cum green environment charges on mining firms state has received flak from the premier industrial body in the coastal state.
The seventh ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is scheduled next week (November 30-December 2) in Geneva. The meet comes four years after the Hong Kong conference, which failed to arrive at a consensus on key issues.
Nd Batra / October 25, 2009, 0:33 IST
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.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Praja Rajyam Party are in a fix over their stand on Telangana and the leaderships have dropped enough hints about a "re-think" in the wake of mounting pressure from within the ranks for a unified Andhra Pradesh.
Congress MPs from Telangana region today met senior party leader and Defence Minister A K Antony demanding disciplinary action against Y S Jaganmohan Reddy for joining a TDP protest in Lok Sabha against the decision to carve out a separate state from Andhra Pradesh.
Essar Oil’s recoverable coal-bed methane (CBM) reserve at Raniganj block in West Bangal has been pegged at 1 trillion cubic feet (tcf), 43 per cent higher than the earlier estimate of 700 billion cubic feet (bcf). The basin has 3.5 tcf reserves, a third of which are recoverable.
Noting that human resource development was critical to India"s development,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the dearth of quantity and quality of teachers is the main obstacle and invited US universities to forge partnerships with their Indian counterparts.
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.
Global investment firm Blackstone is planning to list up to eight of its firms and sell at least five others, a move that marks a shift in its pessimistic view about the world economy, media report says.
Canadian investment firm Urbana Corporation has said it is looking to buy a 5 per cent stake in India"s largest bourse National Stock Exchange (NSE), for an estimated Rs 600 crore.
The Shipping Ministry has sought a three-fold increase in budgetary allocations at Rs 1,055 crore for ports in the country in the next fiscal.
Real estate developers cannot be fined for late delivery of possession of a flat to an allottee if no specific date of its delivery is mentioned in the contract, the apex consumer body has held.
Owing to mounting losses, Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines has returned 19 leased aircraft to lessors in the past 10 months.
Cash-strapped Air India is focussing on cost reduction of Rs 1,500 crore and revenue enhancement of Rs 1,200 crore as per its turnaround plan and the government would infuse equity into the airline in the next few years, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
Cash-strapped airlines have been pounded on another front suffering a loss of at least Rs 7 crore this year on account of bird hits.
Brewing major SABMiller today said it has moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking its intervention on state beverage corporation"s decision not to procure to company"s beer.
With a sharp rise in bond yields in the third quarter, most banks have been saved mark-to-market (revaluing securities to reflect their current value) losses by a whisker.
The New Year may bring challenges for distributors of financial products who had found solace in unit-linked insurance products (Ulips) after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had banned entry load on mutual fund instruments from August this year.
MBL Infrastructure, which raised about Rs 102.6 crore through its initial public offer (IPO), will list its shares on the bourses tomorrow.
Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra today said it will launch its mini truck Maxximo-- the first product from its new facility in Chakan -- at the Auto Expo here during January 5-11.
Auto ancillary company Steel Strips Wheels today said it has received an order from European car maker Renault for supplying steel wheel rims, that would fetch the Indian company about euro 28 million (about Rs 195 crore).
Terror threat, swine flu scare and hike in air fares hit the tourism sector hard in 2009 with number of foreigners visiting the country dropping by over 6 per cent but the tourism ministry is now looking up to the Commonwealth Games to reverse the trend.
IT firm HCL Infosystems today announced its partnership with global chip maker Intel and state-run telecom operator BSNL to launch low-cost computing devices offering broadband wireless connectivity.
The country"s largest iron ore producer National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) is planning to file draft prospectus with the market regulator Sebi within a fortnight for its estimated Rs 14,000-crore disinvestment programme.
Car maker Fiat India is targeting sales of 50,000 units in the next financial year apart from planning a few variants of both its model — Grande Punto and Linea within the next two years.
Brace for short-term correction.
The slowdown in overseas markets persists, so it could be a while before the auto-parts maker is back on track.
The mutual fund industry has come for some serious criticism in the recent past. The reason: It has completely missed the stock market rally that started from early March and has given returns of over 70 per cent to investors. Madhusudan Kela, head (equities), Reliance Mutual Fund, which has the highest average assets under management and investor base, speaks to Palak Shah and explains why fund houses are being judged unfairly. Excerpts:
Media company UTV Software Communications today reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 23.33 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, against a net profit of Rs 19.88 crore in the same period 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.
Balrampur Chini has called off the deal it was looking to enter into with Bajaj Hindusthan after initial talks. In a communication to the stock exchanges, Balrampur Chini said “some discussions were held with Bajaj Hindusthan on future business strategies”. It said the promoters had not entered into any agreement with any party for sale of their stake.
The bidding for the Uttar Pradesh government sugar mills has again been put off until November.
Retail chain major Shoppers Stop today said it plans to raise Rs 250 crore to increase stake in its hypermarket chain, Hypercity to 51 per cent, a top company official said today.
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.
The government today said it is looking at steps to cut subsidy on fertiliser and oil sale with an aim to cutting non-Plan expenditure and contain fiscal deficit.
State-run power producer NTPC today said it has entered into an agreement with the Madhya Pradesh government and MP Power Trading Company for setting up a 2,640 MW thermal power plant in the Narsinghpur district of the state.
Experts see inflation at 7 % at the end of 2009-10, expect increase in CRR by December.
But, sugar firms want Rs 28 a litre.
Reliance Industries (RIL) today said its exploration arm has entered into an agreement with Columbian state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol SA for two deep water blocks.
Private snooping agents may be used to carry out special checks on violation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) on official trademarks and brand merchandise of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) next year to avoid monetary loss to the tune of crores of rupees.
The Orissa government today rejected the Opposition demand for an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the irregularities at high level in the alleged mining scam running into hundreds of crores.
The ambitious Solar Mission of India, which envisages to generate 20,000 Mw of solar power by 2020, would come as a boost for the solar plates and accessories manufacturing industry of the country.
Construction work on the onshore LNG terminal, coming up at Puthuvype, near here will be completed by December, next year.
India may be looking at Qatar for a ‘sweetheart’ gas deal, but Doha appears in no mood to sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) at anything less than $9-11 per mBtu — at more than double the domestic gas price.
India may be looking at Qatar for a "sweetheart" gas deal but Doha appears in no mood to sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) at anything less than $9-11 per mmBtu, rates which are more than double domestic gas price.
In a bid to salvage the ambitious ethanol-blended petrol programme, state-run oil firms have agreed to pay 25 per cent higher price at Rs 27 a litre for ethanol they will buy from sugar mills for doping petrol.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately issue oil bonds worth over Rs 20,870 crore to state-run firms to make up for losses they incurred on fuel sales.
From Shahrukh Khan who turned painter for the occasion to Amitabh Bachchan joining a chorus of singers, India"s film fraternity paid tribute to the heroes and victims of the 26/11 terror attacks.
The Sensex ended (provisional) at 17,533 - down seven points. The Nifty ended (provisional) up seven points at 5,252.
Fresh power capacity addition has fallen short of target by over a fourth in the current calendar year, owing to delays in supply of critical components for thermal projects, delayed forest clearances and non-availability of fuel for nuclear projects.
In a clear indication of an economic revival, the demand for power in India has jumped 6.3 per cent in the April-October period this financial year, compared with the same period of 2007-08 when it had increased by a mere 0.3 per cent, its lowest growth in the past five years, owing to the global financial meltdown.
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.
Hinting that a nexus between private and state-owned vaccine companies could have led to gradual decline in production capacity of state-owned units, the government today said the matter required in depth probe.
Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications and other private mobile telecom operators owe over Rs 603 crore to the government towards outstanding spectrum charges and licence fee for the last three years.
Telecom operator Reliance Communications (RCom) today announced the launch of its value-added service "mVDO", which will allow its mobile subscribers watch, share, search and upload videos online.
A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary has developed chemicals that can protect monuments.
The Nifty recovered sharply from its support of 4,820 to close at 4,900 on short-covering and positive global cues. It, however, faced strong upside resistance at 4,930 on profit-booking in key index heavyweights.
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.
The management of Tata Group-owned Jaguar Land Rover has offered a one-time payment of £200 to those of its salaried employees who are willing to push their salary receiving date by 15 days, starting from August this year. This is part of the car maker’s plans to manage its cash flow problems, pending fresh flow of funds from banks to manage its operations more smoothly.
Little Nano made a big splash last year. Not surprisingly, it tops the Brand Derby ranking as the most successful launch
About ayear and a half after unveiling the car, Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Motors, will hand over the ownsership keys of the Nano to its first customer here tomorrow, at the company showroom in the Prabhadevi area.
For the December 2009 quarter, SAIL saw net sales at Rs 9,880 crore up 11 per cent year-on-year, in line with market expectations, even as seasonal impact saw sales dip 2 per cent sequentially. The company’s steel sales was at 2.9 million tonnes (mt) in the recently concluded quarter against 3 mt in the September 2009 quarter and 2.4 mt in December 2008 quarter.
State-run telecom services provider Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) today announced a net loss of Rs 46.84 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2009.
Riding on several new products and increased investments in brands, biscuits major Britannia Industries has posted a 17.4 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 47.37 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2009.
Decrease in fuel prices in the Mumbai licence area pulled down Tata Power"s revenues in Q1 FY10 to Rs 2,015.62 crore as against Rs 2,026.13 crore.
- 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%
British banks fear their fragile recovery will grind to a halt over the next few months, according to a survey by employers" organisation the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Tata Docomo, the GSM mobile service of Tata Teleservices, has extended its per-second billing plan to roaming services. Its subscribers would be charged one paisa per second for outgoing and incoming calls while roaming, effective tomorrow.
Communications Minister A Raja has learnt it’s better to be safe than sorry. After the EGoM meeting on the 3G spectrum auction, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was surrounded by journalists. He refused to make any comment and then turned towards Raja and said, “Nobody should talk to the press about this meeting.” Even before Mukherjee could finish, Raja waved his hands and said, “Sir, I am not saying anything. I am not saying anything.” A few days ago, Mukherjee had summoned Raja and told him not to talk to the press about the 3G issue and to ensure that no inter-ministerial communication related to the 3G auction was leaked from his office — letters from Mukherjee to Raja and vice versa have all been leaked to the press in recent weeks.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the International Road Federation (IRF) find the social networking site twitter.com an innovative medium to bring down road fatalities.
The country added a whopping 3.55 crore wireless telephone users during the quarter ended on June 30 this year, taking the wireless subscriber base to 42.72 crore.
Mobile users who want to change their service providers while retaining their old number under the mobile number portability (MNP) feature will have to pay a maximum of just Rs 19 for availing the service. It would be introduced from December 31 in metros and by March next year in the rest of the country.
Business Standard / New Delhi December 23, 2009, 0:11 IST
Financial services major Goldman Sachs plans to expand a programme that would require executive and top managers to give a certain percentage of their earnings to charity, as it tries to soften criticism over bonus issue, says a media report.
Daiichi Sankyo, which has a majority stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories, today said it is going to launch some of Ranbaxy"s generic medicine in the Japanese market soon.
The upswing in Baltic Dry Index numbers recently to a 14 month high closing at 4661 on 19 November 09, raised hopes that a revival for the shipping sector is afoot sending shipping stocks zooming. Freight and tanker rates dropped sharply in July - September 09 quarter, but gained strength in October 09 which has sustained through November 09 as well. They hit 10 year lows in the December 08.
Kishore Biyani-led Pantaloon Retail (India) today said it will transfer its value retail business to its group company, Future Value Retail.
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
A three-member team of United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) exchanged information with CBI, which is probing the multi-crore accounting scam at Satyam Computers here.
The Imperial, Delhi, tries its best to turn you into a master chef.
UnitedHealth Group Inc, WellPoint Inc and smaller US insurers gained a year under Senate Democrats’ proposed health-care legislation before the start of a tax that industry lobbyists say will drive up premiums.
Irda panel moots each lender tying up with two life, two non-life and two health insurers.
Finnish handset maker Nokia Corp today reported a 65 per cent jump in net profit at euro 948 million for the period ending December 31, 2009, despite a slump in sales figures.
State-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) today said it has placed purchase order for mobile equipment for 20 million GSM lines for the south zone with Chinese firm Huawei and will not call for any fresh bids.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she had already altered the land acquisition template of the Indian Railways in a bid to ensure no land was forcefully acquired for projects undertaken by her ministry.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will spend Rs 26,000 crore on capital expenditure in the next financial year, its Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma said today.
Eight out of the 10-most valued firms saw their market capitalisation (m-cap) tumble by as much as Rs 85,000 crore till date in 2010, as the stock markets witnessed a down-slide.
Subir Roy / New Delhi October 14, 2009, 0:00 IST
Suzlon Energy unit REpower today said it has bagged an order to supply up to 954 MW wind turbines for five projects in Canada.
India"s largest cement maker ACC today reported a marginal dip in sales in December at 1.88 million tonnes.
Relying on an improved economy by later part of financial year 2009-10, Encore Hotels Private Limited is planning to invest around Rs 100 crore for expanding its hospitality operations. While on the hotel side, the company plans to add 320 rooms to the existing 420, on the restaurants side Encore is looking at taking up the total number to 100 outlets from current 32.
Indian handicraft exporters are gearing up to explore new markets in South Africa and Latin American countries as demand from major importers like the US and the European Union (EU) continue to suffer from the global economic downturn.
Max India ended at Rs 204, higher by Rs 13 or 6.9%, on the BSE.
The Bombay High Court has asked Delhi-based businessman Sanjay Dalmia to appear before the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in connection with a cheating case.
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.
Mysoreans will have the opportunity of witnessing for the first time thrilling aerobatic demonstration by the renowned Suryakiran team of the Indian Air Force (IAF) during this Dasara.
Ramping up the frantic search for missing helicopter of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Reddy, the IAF today deployed a Sukhoi fighter jet with on-board radar for high resolution ground mapping to locate it.
The Indian Air Force today began the flight evaluation and performance trials for the six foreign defence firms which are in race to bag an estimated $10 billion order for 126 Medium Multi Range Combat Aircraft.
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.
Regional differences in Andhra Pradesh Congress burst out in the open today when late YSR"s son Jaganmohan Reddy joined TDP protesters in Lok Sabha only to face demands for disciplinary action from party MPs from Telangana.
The MD of entertainment firm Pyramid Saimira, P S Saminathan, was today arrested by Haryana Police on a loan default complaint filed by Indiabulls, but the company claimed he was let out shortly after.
The last one year’s efforts of the IT companies in India in terms of increasing utilisation rates, effective use of the onsite-offshore model and new engagement models, have resulted in better margins despite the drop in the revenues. However, going forward, IT companies have to depend on volumes picking up, to see growth as there is little room for improving the utilisation rate, Som Mittal, president of industry body Nasscom, said here on Tuesday.
Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies) has identified 50 cities for the IT and ITES sector, by classifying them as leaders, challengers, followers and aspirants.
The West Bengal government had not sought return of the land at Singur from Tata Motors ‘formally’, said West Bengal commerce and industry minister Nirupam Sen, a day after Ratan Tata said the government had not approached for the land. Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar organized by Assocham in association with the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce, Sen said, though the government had not formally asked for the land, the company had been informed about the Bhel proposal and later the Railways proposal. Sen said, unless the Railways submitted a formal proposal, the government would not ask for the land back. With Sen’s comments, it appears that Singur was once again in limbo, as Railways has made it clear that it would not visit the land as it belonged to Tata Motors.
Infosys BPO is likely to get a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) by January 15, a top company official said.
Farm-to-fork model proves to be expensive, with prices higher than in neighbourhood stores.
He may not be playing head chef anymore but Heinz Egli continues to delight us with his unusual recipes.
Business Standard / New Delhi November 26, 2009, 0:32 IST
After receiving a lukewarm response from non-resident Indians, in spite of its various investors’ meets in the US and UK, the state government will now try to find out reasons as to why NRIs have turned hostile towards making investment in the state. On January 9, 2010, the state government will hold a special session with NRIs in ‘Prawasi Bhartiya Diwas” in Delhi, not only to interact with them but also to know about their issues that hinder investment in Madhya Pradesh. Later it will organise a “Prawasi Bhartiya Sammelan” in Bhopal on January 12.
Most are for regional languages.
The government said today the role and responsibilities of independent directors on the boards of companies would be fixed as also the number of firms they could represent once the Companies Bill, 2009, became a law.
If after 25 years of the Bhopal tragedy, just half the relief funds have been distributed to those affected, this is a matter of national shame. As “Night without end”, December 4, points out, this was after the compensation asked for was also very low — while the number of dead is 20,000 and those affected is 570,000, the compensation was fixed on the assumption that the figures were 3,000 and 105,000, respectively.
The 26/11 court has issued summons to Shashi Bhushan, Joint Secretary (Judicial) in the Ministry of Home Affairs, to appear as witness to throw light on sanction given to prosecute Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab and two others on charges of "waging war against the nation".
The US today said it was "doing everything" to make sure that Pakistan smashes terror groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba and denies them safe havens, as India remembered 183 people who fell to terrorists" bullets in attacks on Mumbai exactly a year ago.
Sunil Jain / New Delhi February 1, 2010, 1:24 IST
The Finance Ministry today said the financial crisis in Dubai, triggered by a slump in real estate, may not impact remittances sent by Indian expatriates in the Gulf.
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.
Brian Moynihan, Oswald Gruebel and Josef Ackermann, leaders of some of the world’s biggest banks, met during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to plot how to reassert their influence with regulators and governments.
Bijoy Kumar Y / Mumbai September 15, 2009, 0:08 IST
India"s growing share of pharma exports in Africa have caused "concern" among MNCs, which are campaigning against generic medicines from the country, Commerce and Industry minister Anand Sharma said today.
Last fortnight, Vancouver, British Columbia hosted the annual International Fiscal Association (IFA) Congress with over 1000 international tax experts representing large MNCs, international tax experts, academicians and tax administrators of several jurisdictions. Expectedly, the buzz centered on India’s Direct taxes code. Most participants expressed anxiety on DTC provisions impacting cross border investments, particularly on General anti-avoidance rules (GAAR) and were perplexed with a position that the Indian domestic law can override a double tax treaty (DTT).
Other high-profile meetings on agenda, too.
The budget may not mention the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from next fiscal as there are already voices expressing doubts about meeting the deadline.
CEOSPEAK: Sanjeev K Chaudhry, CEO, Super Religare Laboratories Limited
In line with the initiatives taken by some other state governments, the Orissa government is mulling to bring in a separate legislation governing the control, utilisation and management of ground water in the state.
India’s largest manufacturer of biscuits and confectionery, Parle Products is eyeing 15 per cent growth in turnover from Uttar Pradesh in the current fiscal.
The government today said in the Lok Sabha that though there were no signs of recovery in the global economic scenario, the sharp fall in Indian exports seems to have been arrested.
Millions of people from Sydney to Sweden are set to switch off their lights on March 27, as part of the global "Earth Hour" campaign to highlight climate change, organisers said today.
A day after revised schedule for the borrowing for the first half of the current fiscal was announced, the government today said it would raise Rs 12,000 crore from sale of two government papers.
A few days back, if you were at Mumbai’s Dadar Railway Station or at Delhi’s Rajiv Gandhi Chowk Metro Station, you could not have missed a man sprawled on a sofa with a cushion that read: “Reserved for Abhishek Bachchan classes”. Is Bachchan Jr preparing for an alternate career? Not really. This is on-ground activation aimed to create a buzz for the newest reality show on Colors, National Bingo Night. It will of course be anchored by Bachchan Jr.
A call to Airtel IPTV’s helpline number turns out to be a weird experience
The government today said it is considering part sale of its shareholding in the telecom PSU BSNL, a move that would help the company in getting Navratna status besides access to capital market for raising fresh funds.
On this day, one hundred and fifty years ago, the publishing house of John Murray brought out a condensed and abridged treatise on The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, in a first printing of 1,250 copies.
Most of these families are looking at private equity funds as a way to earn fee-based income.
Commercial vehicle maker Eicher Motors reported 4.12 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 15.83 crore for the third quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared with Rs 16.51 crore in the year-ago period.
Gurgaon-headquartered DuPont India, a science-based products and services company, plans to double headcount to 3,000 employees in the next two to three years. This is in line with the company’s plans to focus on emerging markets like India in the coming years. The expansion in headcount will come across nearly 13 of its business verticals including agriculture and nutrition, construction, automotives, renewable energy, textiles and chemicals. The company has 1,500 employees in the country at present. Under the hiring drive, the company plans to recruit scientists for its R&D centre in Hyderabad, engineers for its technical team and personnel for sales and marketing.
The Hinduja Group will invest up to Rs 350 crore in increasing capacity of its hospital in Mumbai by 350 beds in the next four years through expansion of existing facility and setting up of a new unit.
Bharat Biotech, a leading manufacturer of vaccines and biotherapeutics, expects its Anti-Rabies vaccine INDIRAB to more than double its sales within the next two years as sales crossed the one crore doses sales mark.
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.
Swiss drug major Novartis has approached the Supreme Court against a decision of the country’s apex patent complaint redressal forum, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), to deny patent protection for its cancer medicine, Glivec. The court is expected to take up the case for hearing on August 31.
UK-based news magazine, The Economist, today named Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata as the winner of the eighth edition of its annual ‘Business Process Innovation Award’ for the successful development and launch of the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano. In a statement, the magazine said Tata was selected for “...forging a company that is shaping businesses across the globe and changing the way Indian companies conduct business. The company is also responsible for inventing the Tata Nano, the world’s lowest-cost car. Innovative methods through which the car is designed and manufactured enable Tata Motors to offer a more affordable, safe and efficient form of mobility to families in emerging markets.”
Kolkata-based Emami Ltd, which acquired Zandu Pharmaceuticals in October 2008 for Rs 750 crore, has decided to merge the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) business of Zandu Pharmaceuticals with its counterpart in Emami.
Emami Ltd, the Rs 2000 crore FMCG major, is currently recording zero sales of biodiesel, following a circular issued this month by the ministry of petroleum, virtually banning the sale of bio-diesel.
Israeli drug maker Taro Pharmaceutical Industries has reported a profit of $12.49 million for the three months ended June 30, a decline of 4 per cent over the same period a year ago.
The central government’s invitation to global pharmaceutical companies to conduct clinical trials here of their H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine candidates has evoked only a limited response. Only two companies, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, have come forward to seek regulatory approval for such trials in India, it is learnt.
Notwithstanding the presence of global steel giants like ArcelorMittal and Posco in the country, domestic steel firms are still "better placed" to grow in the lucrative Indian steel market, global research firm Macquarie says.
Reactions to the caste question are fairly predictable in India. The average (upper caste) response is that the policy of reservations has gone on far too long and that discrimination is very much a thing of the past. As to why certain social groups remain extremely poor and backward despite the legal safeguards, the usual explanation is that Dalits are either not well educated or do not have the merit to make it to good jobs.
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.
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG)’s flagship company Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (R-Infra) has won a Rs 1,000-crore road project from the Gujarat government, within a week after winning the Rs 1,725-crore Pune-Satara Road project from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
Nearly 60 vendors will move to the vendor park at Tata Nano’s Sanand plant by March next year. The rollout of the car is set for the January to March quarter, and vendors will feed the plant at existing locations till they shift.
Agricultural growth in the third quarter (October-December) of the current financial year might be negative, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today.
Business Standard / New Delhi December 11, 2009, 0:05 IST
"Power" seems to be the buzzword when it comes to big-ticket IPOs.
30 companies in queue for Cabinet nod in Jan
The Allahabad High Court today quashed UP government"s notification for use of emergency powers to buy land for Anil Ambani group firm"s Dadri power project, side-stepping a provision for inviting objections from land owners.
India’s largest soap maker has implemented technology that resulted in significant carbon dioxide reduction in its manufacturing process.