Public Company
Business Standard / New Delhi January 19, 2010, 0:34 IST
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh today ruled out withdrawal of his resignation from party posts, saying he would "not slog" for the organisation the way he used to.
Jyoti Basu remained as popular in death, as he was when alive. The Marxist leader"s far-reaching appeal ensured that the country"s political establishment, irrespective of party affiliations, paid their last respects to the CPI(M) patriarch on Tuesdsay, save Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
JSW Energy is planning to become an integrated power company by bringing in a partner for its transmission business and in its proposed distribution business. The company has shortlisted three companies for the proposed partnership in transmission.
The markets have extended losses in the last few minutes. The Sensex is now down 54 points at 17,561. The Nifty is down 15 points at 5,248.
Aditi Phadnis / New Delhi November 28, 2009, 0:00 IST
Finally, after all these years, the soul of Ruchika Girotra will get some rest. The Central government has stripped SPS Rathore of his police medal and the Haryana Police has slapped an abetment to suicide case against Rathore. Some action now needs to be taken against those policemen and other officials who aided and abetted him in his nefarious deals. The policemen who filed fake charges against Ruchika’s brother must have known they were fake charges, and yet they went along. If complete justice is to be done, these men must also be punished.
Uttar Pradesh’s main Opposition Samajwadi Party today opposed the division of the state into four smaller states as suggested by Chief Minister Mayawati.
The Congress’ ‘outside supporter,’ Samajwadi Party (SP), joined the Left protest against the disinvestment policy of the UPA government in the Lok Sabha. The Congress-led UPA also showed aggression. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharya, “Thank god we didn’t follow your policies. Otherwise, we would have occupied your position instead of leading the country today.” The Congress secured a record 206 seats in the 15th Lok Sabha while the CPI(M) recorded its lowest ever tally of just 16 seats.
Asian stocks fell, sending the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to an eight-week low, on speculation a US economic recovery will be delayed and as Japan’s Prime Minister called national elections.
A minor storm is brewing in Indo-Russian relations over Delhi’s refusal to transfer properties in the name of the Union Soviet and Socialist Republics (USSR) to the name of the Russian Federation, considered worldwide to be the inheritor state of the USSR.
Wiser from last year"s free-fall, realty firms discovered a new mantra in "affordable housing" and found help from banks who offered low interest home loans to build their businesses in 2009.
Business Standard / New Delhi August 27, 2009, 0:13 IST
Apollo DKV Health Insurance is planning to increase its capital base to Rs 400-500 crore by 2012-13, from the current Rs 220 crore.
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.
From September 1, 2009, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act 1969 has been laid to rest, and the Commission will not accept fresh filings. By now all readers are aware of the roadblocks involved, being various court cases, with challenges to the appointment of the chairperson, the status of pending cases and existing employees. Amendments to the Competition Act 2002, and its slow passage in the Houses of Parliament delayed the introduction of an effective anti trust law, a vital element in an open economy which aspires to be a global major.
A host of companies plan to cash in on the spending boom.
Construction work on complexes to provide rail users with facilities like shopping and food courts at 66 railway stations will begin in a month, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said today.
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.
National carrier Air India today said its passengers bookings in the last two days have regained the 26,000-28,000 level it had registered before the five-day stir by its senior pilots.
Credit offtake was expected to pick up in the coming months on the back of policy steps taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to boost credit growth, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said today.
ICICI, Kotak Mahindra announce fixed-cum-floating rate schemes.
The Orissa High Court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into the alleged Rs 25 lakh-crore derivative scam in the foreign exchange market of the country.
Educomp Solutions surged 5.91 per cent to close at Rs 4,712 on finalising the record date for Stock split. The company at their Annual General Meeting held on September 26, 2009 approved of sub-division of each of the existing equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each fully paid-up into five equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each fully paid-up.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said here that India had increased its per-day construction of roads to 9 km and the target of developing 20 km daily would be accomplished by April.“We have reached 9 km per day of road construction and will hit our target of 20 km a day by April,” Nath, who was here to hold talks with the Malaysian government to invite them to enter the highway construction sector in India, said.Thirty-five Malaysian companies are already involved with various infrastructure projects in India.To construct 20 km of raods a day or 7,000 km a year, there had to be 20,000 km of work in progress, he said.
Not impressed by the ambitious plans announced by Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath, the Planning Commission has advised the ministry to fix a “reasonable target” for construction of roads this year. “...Fix a reasonable target for award of contracts in the rest of the current year and raise it subsequently as soon as possible,” the commission said in a communiqué to the highways ministry. The commission pointed out to the ministry that it would not be able to award road construction contracts for more than 3,794 km in 2009-10, against a target of 12,652 km.
Aditi Phadnis / New Delhi December 25, 2009, 0:03 IST
The finance ministry today said the tax burden on people will come down by 25-30 per cent with the introduction of the proposed Goods & Service Tax (GST), which seeks to subsume various levies like excise and VAT.
Disinvestment of public sector companies gathered steam in the first year of UPA-II that saw two PSUs-- Oil India and NHPC-- raising around Rs 8,600 crore from IPOs and the way was cleared for divestment in three more state-run power companies in the new year.
Bank of Baroda (BoB), Andhra Bank and Legal & General’s insurance joint Venture, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co, has received all regulatory approvals for its products, and would launch operations in the second or third week of December, P Nandagopal, chief executive officer, IndiaFirst Life Insurance, said.
Gujarat government has given its green signal to Nirma Ltd"s controversial cement plant in Mahuva. The company has been aiming to foray into cement production by setting up a 2.4 million tonnes cement plant in Bhavnagar district for an estimated investment of Rs 1000 crore, according to industry sources privy to the development.
Yash Chopra, the king of romance in Bollywood, is all set to paint the small screen ‘red’ from January 1. Chopra’s YRF TV has partnered with general entertainment channel Sony Entertainment Television exclusively to launch five shows which will be aired on Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm.
Here is our take on 10 market trends to watch out for in 2010.
Australia will ask New Delhi to crack down on the unscrupulous education agents in India who give misleading information to students willing to pursue studies in the private institutes Down Under.
An Indian man, whose partially-burnt body was found in Australia"s New South Wales (NSW) state last week, could be the victim of a labour dispute.
Leading Indian rock bands will perform today in New Delhi for spreading awareness about climate change
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today ticked off his junior minister Shashi Tharoor for publicly questioning new visa guidelines, saying if he had any "perceptions", those should be discussed within the "four walls" of the government.
T N Ninan / New Delhi January 9, 2010, 0:37 IST
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna arrived here today to attend the meeting of the seven-nation BIMSTEC that will focus on jointly combating terrorism and promoting free trade. "We have already identified 14 areas of cooperation which include health, energy, technology, human resource development, trade, tourism and culture," Krishna told reporters accompanying him to Myanmar.
The scene is New York City in 2025. Henry Poiret, a former FBI scientist, is a specialist in environmental balance sheets who tracks down energy wasters of all kinds for his clients. For the very first time, he allows a journalist to watch him at work — and to get an inside glimpse of his new lab.
The commodity futures market, which has a turnover of over Rs 50 lakh crore, will see more changes and a deepening of the market with the entry of two new exchanges in the second half of 2009.
International mergers and acquisitions are forecast to decline by 56 per cent this year compared with 2008, the largest year-on-year decline since 1995, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) today lauded India"s overseas investment policies but asked for relaxation in foreign direct investments (FDI) norms for banking and insurance sector.
Deepak Lal / New Delhi November 14, 2009, 0:05 IST
With a relative surge in world prices of natural rubber (NR) as compared to domestic ones, the hitherto heavy inflow of imports seems to have got arrested.
A reduction of the logistics costs by 1 per cent of the GDP means a saving of over $7.5 billion, according to a report on ‘Competitiveness Through Efficient Logistics’ released by KPMG in association with CII Institute of Logistics.
Gold traded near the lowest this month on speculation that the dollar will continue to advance on data pointing to a recovery in the US jobs market.
Gold futures today rose by 0.29% on sustained buying by traders and speculators on the back of a firming global trend.
Coca-Cola launched its energy drink brand Burn in the Indian market a few days ago, targeting high-spending, young, urban consumers. Positioned as an after-hours drink, Burn is setting its sights on pub-goers and the clubbing crowd.
French car maker giant Renault today said it will launch two models in India in 2011 that will be rolled out from the company"s upcoming Chennai plant.
Gains in global markets and foreign buying helped Sensex move past 17,000 mark after 15 months. In a truncated week, BSE Sensex rose 440 points or 2.6 per cent to 17,135 and Nifty rose 125 points or 2.5 per cent to 5,083. Broader indices performed better than BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices, each delivering 1.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively. The market was buoyed by IMF"s statement that India’s GDP would grow at 6.4 per cent for CY09 and that the world economy would contract less than expected.
Business Standard / New Delhi October 05, 2009, 0:32 IST
Biotechnology firm Transgene Biotek today said it has signed a pact with Dr Reddy"s Lab to manufacture a drug named, Orlistat used in treating obesity.
SRF, a diversified company active in textiles, refrigerant gases, packing films and pharmaceutical intermediates, has said that it will consider a proposal to buy back the fully paid equity shares of the company in the forthcoming board meeting next week.
Reliance Industries Executive Director R Ravimohan is no more. He died Monday night due to a severe cardiac arrest. He was 52. Ravimohan is survived by wife Madhuralakshmi, daughter Hridaya and son Jagad.
The government is committed to financial sector innovations and reforms, a senior government official said.
India’s cotton exports are likely to rebound to 1.4 million tonnes in 2009-10 (October-September) at the cost of exports from the US, which are forecast to fall 20 per cent to 2.3 million tonne on year, according to International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).
Finance ministers from the United States, China and other Asia-Pacific powers today rejected an early end to the huge stimulus packages they implemented to fight the global economic crisis.
Cotton prices seems to have started moving upwards following sustained buying of exporters and reduction in arrivals of the commodity due to festive season of Diwali. The prices in both spot as well as forward market have surged in the range of Rs. 500 to Rs. 600 per bale in last week.
Spurt in prices to be driven by dollar weakness, rise in demand and low supplies.
Infrastructure major Punj Lloyd today said it will bid for up to 25 national highway projects, valued at an estimated Rs 40,000 crore, in the next one year.
The paper industries in Orissa have urged the state government to roll back its move to raise the selling price of the bamboo.
Inflation proved to be the market"s Archilles heel this week. The Sensex traded in a narrow range of 582 points before ending weaker by 399 points at 16,719 and the Nifty closed at 4987, lower by 129 points. Dalal Street closed below the dotted line on four out of the five trading sessions.
Conservation, metering, end-use languish under deficit-ridden Board.
Denied the chance, by a beady-eyed weight-watching travel friend, to carry with me into the heights of Uttarakhand Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther, I revenged myself by purchasing, at the highest (and wettest) place on our itinerary, a copy of Bill Aitken’s Touching upon the Himalaya: Excursions and Enquiries (Indus, 2004). Now that I am back at sweat level in Delhi and have actually read the Goethe, I realise that Young Werther would have made poor company.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the government would like to ‘take forward’ financial sector reforms like insurance and pension, but added caveats that suggested the road ahead was not smooth.
BJP MLAs from North Karnataka, particularly those loyal to Assembly speaker Jagadeesh Shettar, are in a dilemma. They do not know whether to support the candidature of Shettar as an alternative leader or to continue supporting CM Yeddyurappa.
The Punjab region registered its first swine flu death today after a 12-year-old school girl from Ambala fell victim to the virus.
There are possibilities that swine flu could engulf a large part of the US ending up in hospitalising two million people this winter and killing as much as 90,000 in the country, a White House report said today.
Aurobindo Pharma Ltd, a manufacturer of generic pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), is planning to acquire the entire stake in Trident Life Sciences Ltd (TLSL), a city-based clinical research organisation (CRO).
Pharma majors Ranbaxy and Aurobindo Pharma today said that they have received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration(USFDA) to manufacture and market Sumatripan Succinate.
The Rs 15,000-crore steel pipes industry is set to grow 20-25 per cent in the next 3-4 years following massive investment laid out on energy security by the governments of developing economies. Developed economies require a change in existing pipelines that were installed over 25 years ago and demand is likely to emerge from various sectors of global economies.
Future Brands, a subsidiary of the Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group, will focus on the FMCG segment as part of a plan to increase the share of private labels in the company"s retail formats.
The Orissa government today approved 16 investment proposals worth about Rs 30,000 crore, including the expansion plan of domestic major Aditya Alumina.
As is now well known, the Task Force appointed by the Thirteenth Finance Commission, Government of India, has issued a report on December 15, 2009 detailing the recommendations on various issues relating to the design and implementation of the proposed GST in India.
As crude oil prices touched a fresh one-year high, trading at above $75 a barrel on Thursday, analysts and oil sector executives said underrecoveries could rise and become a cause of concern.
Jyoti Mukul / New Delhi October 16, 2009, 0:11 IST
Indian companies to feel added pressure.
For the Americans (and some Europeans) it’s “that pesky section”. And the US government is throwing its weight behind an industry campaign to discredit this section if not get it removed from India’s Patent Act. Yes, of course, it is Section 3(d) that is under attack from big pharma which has lost no opportunity in pointing out that this law will stifle the growth of India’s own drug companies and also choke off foreign investment in the sector. In recent weeks, this campaign has picked up in tempo both here and abroad.
The Uttar Pradesh government is keen on having an Information Technology/IT Enabled Services (IT/ITeS) Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Lucknow to give a major boost to the sector.
The Nordic region (Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Sweden), which is now opening up to offshoring as a viable option to sustain its long-established competitiveness, offers an untapped $10 billion outsourced services opportunity for Indian IT companies, said a Nasscom-PricewaterhouseCoopers report.
TRS today said it is confident that the UPA leadership will fulfill the announcement it made for the formation of a separate Telangana state despite vehement opposition from other regions of Andhra Pradesh over the issue.
TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao was today discharged from a hospital here after being admitted for 13 days during his fast for a separate Telangana state.
Telugu Desam Party MLAs from Telangana region have decided to walk out of the newly-formed Telangana Political Joint Action Committee and carry out the agitation for a separate state on their own.
Pharma major Ranbaxy Laboratories today said its US-based subsidiary, Ranbaxy Laboratories Inc Priceton NJ, is recalling capsules used in the treatment of acne (a type of skin disease) from the US market.
Drug firm Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today said it has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an ointment used in treating skin problems.
Premvir Das / January 31, 2010, 0:16 IST
Drug maker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today said it was facing a lawsuit in a US District Court for a patent infringement case of an anti-malaria product.
Eleven Congress MPs from Telangana today decided to resign from the House in protest against the Centre"s decision that appeared to put the separate state issue on the backburner.
The Indo-US strategic relations deepened further in 2009 which saw installation of Barack Obama as the first black President, who attached high importance to bilateral ties and invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his first State Guest.
British state-controlled bank Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) said today it will axe nearly 400 jobs at a call centre in the south of England.
In a setback to Indian Air Force"s (IAF) plans to expand its capabilities, the Defence Ministry has cancelled a tender worth around Rs 6,000 crore for procuring six air-to-air refuelling aircraft.
Broadcasting regulator Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today sought views of stakeholders in the sector on issues such as raising limits on foreign direct investment (FDI) and on whether there is need for modifications in uplinking and downlinking guidelines for television channels.
Those hoping for a respite from deficit-driven high sugar prices next year have a long wait ahead, as tight supplies, high cane prices and expensive imports leave little scope for any substantial price correction.
Special Economic Zones are nothing but special exemption zones and there is no reason to exempt these from all law. Hence, scrap these, is the recommendation of the Committee on Land Reforms and Agrarian Relations set up by the Union government to advise it on issues ranging from land reforms and land acquisition to measures to stop conversion of farm lands.
The Indian sugar industry, which is reaping the fruits of better prices, has made a fresh appeal to the Centre to reduce the present weight of 3.62 of the commodity in the wholesale price index (WPI).
Domestic air traffic in April was 14.8 per cent less compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, passenger load factors for all carriers rose significantly compared to the previous month, as a result of smarter pricing and cuts in capacity.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Wednesday agreed for restructuring the government hospitals in the state in tune with the requirements of the Aarogyasri scheme, which provides cashless treatment to the poor.
The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) is preparing to call tenders in a month for construction of various facilities for the specific pathogen-free (SPF) shrimp seed (Penaeus monodon – black tiger prawn) multiplication centre at Mulapolam village in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh.
Eyes 20% growth in cryogenic engineering business in 2010-11
The Delhi High Court has upheld the right of Godrej Sara Lee to advertise the virtues of its mosquito repellent cream marketed under the Good Knight brand.
IT firm Mahindra Satyam (formerly Satyam Computer) today appointed Deloitte as auditors, within days of CBI charging Price Waterhouse of complicity in the Rs 14,000-crore accounting scam.
Business Standard / New Delhi December 1, 2009, 0:09 IST
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is leaving for Saudi Arabia today to attend a meeting of the joint commission formed by the two countries to promote bilateral ties.
Amid allegations of black money being stashed in Swiss banks, India and Switzerland have advanced their talks on amending the taxation treaty by a month to the second week of November.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today did not rule out the possibility of delay in introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from scheduled date of April 1, 2010.
Ajai Shukla / New Delhi October 20, 2009, 0:37 IST
The indigenous Kaveri aircraft engine, soon to make its debut flight, lacks the muscle needed by India’s Tejas light combat aircraft, which the engine was designed to power. In its present form, the Kaveri will never power a modern fighter.
State-owned defence and aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) said today that it was not trying to monopolise the aerospace sector in the country.
Six global vendors have been shortlisted.
Half of Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL’s) KG-D6 additional gas production will go to the power sector. The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, has finalised consumers for the 50 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd) of gas that RIL would produce beyond the initial 40 mscmd for which customers had been decided earlier. The fertiliser sector has been allocated 15.3 mscmd out of the initial 40 mscmd gas production.
RIL Director PMS Prasad addresses the many charges laid at the company’s door
Sunil Jain / New Delhi September 7, 2009, 0:19 IST
Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group-controlled Reliance Mutual Fund, today annnounced the launch of its Reliance Infrastructure Fund.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has reacted strongly to media reports regarding the central government decision of making 80 per cent marks in intermediate level as cut-off for the IIT entrance test.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India today said it has tied up funds for its Rs 33,000 crore nuclear power project in Maharashtra to be set up under the Indo-French civil nuclear cooperation.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) is pressing for top management reshuffle in trouble financial institution Citigroup, a move that may threaten Chief Executive Vikram Pandit"s position in the company, a media report says.
The IT industry today asked the government to extend the income tax benefits to software exporters beyond this year to sustain growth and overcome the downturn challenges.
It was another lacklustre day of trade. The markets oscillated between either side of the dotted line before ending virtually unchanged. The Sensex closed at 16,894,lower by 18 points and the Nifty ended flat at 5041. Realty and energy stocks were in the doldrums, while consumer durables and pharma stocks looked up.
With no clarity on availability of third-generation (3G) mobile spectrum, the government is considering, among others, restricting the number of private players to just two to avoid a situation where it would need to pay damages to operators.
Join race with KKR to invest Rs 465-700 crore in Bangalore firm.
The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 16,393 - up 35 points. The Nifty ended (provisional) at 4,916 - up 34 points.
No one can repair the BJP, former party ideologue K N Govindacharya tells Sreelatha Menon
Rajat Roy / New Delhi November 22, 2009, 0:36 IST
Jyoti Malhotra / New Delhi December 8, 2009, 0:43 IST
Pakistan"s intelligence agency ISI was behind the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul which killed 17 people and wounded more than 60 others, Afghan envoy to the US has claimed.
Mahesh Kulkarni / Bangalore November 17, 2009, 0:30 IST
Bhupesh Bhandari / New Delhi November 17, 2009, 0:13 IST
Sreelatha Menon / New Delhi November 8, 2009, 0:13 IST
Last decade’s unthinkables become this decade’s symbols.
Takes decision after Delhi High Court’s objections.
The win-win deal between United Breweries and Heineken opens up a window of growth opportunities for the duo.
Trades between FIIs generated a volume of Rs 100 crore on the BSE Wednesday-an increase of 51.54% from Rs 66 crore clocked on Tuesday. As many as 10 stocks witnessed trades of 22 lakh shares on Wednesday.
The prices of flat steel — used in automobile and consumer durables — are set to increase by Rs 700-1,500 a tonne from January 1, after showing a soft-to-downward trend in the last five months.
National Trust’s insurance scheme and a legal guardian programme gives hope to millions for parents who worry about the future of their mentally-disabled children.
With the world"s largest economy climbing out of recession, US President Barack Obama has said there are clear signs that his government"s efforts to stimulate the economy were moving in the right direction, though there are challenges ahead.
After the near-flat growth in the first two quarters quarters, the third-quarter earnings of the 30 Sensex companies are expected to increase by 20 per cent, indicate analysts from Angel Broking, IDFC-SSKI and Motilal Oswal.
Bike maker Royal Enfield, a part of Eicher Motors, today said it will shift entire production to a new engine platform from April this year to make products compliant to stricter emission norms "Bharat Stage III".
Company files tariff proposal for 2010-11 with GERC.
Torrent Power, the private sector power company that distributes power to Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Surat has reduced fuel surcharge by only 1 paise per unit. This means there will be no significant relief in power bills of consumers in the third quarter of 2009-10.
Lanco group, through its newly formed special purpose vehicle Lanco Solar is planning to invest close to Rs 4,000 crore for setting up solar projects in the state.
The Prime Ministers" Office (PMO) has convened a meeting with the Telecom Ministry on January 6 to discuss the issues plaguing the state-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), including its declining revenues and market share.
JSW Bengal Steel, the 10-million tonne steel project from the JSW Steel stable, is one of the few mega greenfield projects in the country — which would add 67 million tonnes in two years — to be sitting on 4,800 unencumbered acres.
Expressing concern over the rising food prices, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today said its move to ask banks to keep more cash with it was a carefully weighed decision to strike a balance between growth and inflation as it will not put an immediate pressure on interest rates.
Chhatisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today said Maoists are hindering acquisition of land for Tata Steel"s proposed five million tonne integrated greenfield steel plant in the state.
With the availability of the 3G spectrum, about 275 million Indian subscribers will use 3G-enabled services, and the number of 3G-enabled handsets will reach close to 395 million by 2013-end, estimates the latest report by Evalueserve, a provider of knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) services.
Three states, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal, don’t have governors. ND Tiwari resigned and vacated the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad recently. Gopal Krishna Gandhi quit the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata and Jaipur is vacant after the death of former foreign secretary SK Singh. The result is that various people in the race are making rounds of politicians they think will give them a leg-up to the post. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s residence is obviously one pilgrimage centre. Watch this space for more on this front.
The government will soon have "star" ratings for its commercial buildings to keep a tab on their power use and to ascertain consumption by various appliances.
Agreements between former President Bill Clinton"s foundation and two drug companies will lower prices on medications for patients with drug-resistant HIV in the developing world.
Buoyed by the diplomatic success of former US president Bill Clinton in securing the release of two American journalists from North Korea, a top Senator has asked Pyongyang and Washington to now resume dialogue on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
Arvind Subramanian / July 29, 2009, 0:41 IST
With India having reservations on putting a cap on emissions, the United States today said it is willing to have discussions on climate change rather than dictating terms.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today announced the launch of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) that aims at training about 500 million people by 2022 to meet the growing demand for skilled workforce in the country.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today pitched for monthly release of inflation data as it is more sensible than the current practice of coming out with weekly figures.
Eveready Industries India has recorded a profit after tax of Rs 16.05 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, an increase of 415 per cent on the back of a four per cent gain in margins and excise duty benefit. Profit before tax increased 444 per cent to Rs 15.14 crore.Net sales increased six per cent to Rs 232.37 crore. Deepak Khaitan, executive vice chairman and managing director, Eveready said, the outlook for the next quarter was good. The company plans to reduce debt by Rs 50-60 crore this year through internal accruals and has also put up for sale its battery factory closed at Hyderabad.
The country’s second-largest public sector lender, Punjab National Bank (PNB), has bet big on rural customers in the Indo-Gangetic plains of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Keeping in sync with its target, the bank unveiled its plans to open 100,000 biometric Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in rural areas by the year 2013 for providing easy access to the illiterate and semi-literate customers.
The week-long political crisis that paralysed the BJP government in Karnataka blew over today following a compromise between the warring sides under which a coordination committee will be formed, a woman minister may be removed and the Speaker inducted into the Cabinet.
Pollution level in 10 major industrial hubs in the country, including some in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh has reached to a "very alarmingly" level, according to a study.
Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh’s ambitious plan to redesign the institutions of environmental governance has come up against serious resistance from environmental experts who say the concept does not address fundamental problems. Most have given it the thumbs down.
Accepting slippages in capacity augmentation targets in the power sector during the first two years of the 11th Plan, the government today said bottlenecks in road transportation and movement of utilities led to delays.
Financial services provider HSBC InvestDirect (India) today said its subsidiary IL&FS Investsmart Insurance Brokers Ltd will discontinue the insurance broking business.
The government today said credit growth from banks has slowed down to 9.8 per cent till November 6 in the current fiscal against 27.7 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago.
Somik Raha / November 26, 2009, 0:38 IST
Agitation hits livestock delivery to other places
State-run BHEL today said it has bagged another Rs 640-crore order from Adhunik Power and Natural Resources for supplying equipment for the company"s thermal power project in Jharkhand.
The government today ruled out additional borrowing in the current fiscal.
The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, had its worst week since October as Chinese demand for shipments of coal and iron ore slowed.
US carmaker General Motors today launched its global mini car "Chevrolet Beat" in India priced between Rs 3.34 lakh and Rs 3.94 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
Mines Minister B K Handique today said the Rs 4,402-crore expansion project of the National Aluminium Corporation (Nalco) will be completed shortly.
Swiss cement maker Holcim today said its strong presence in emerging markets, including India, has helped the company balance the fall in earnings in other regions.
Even as legal experts refuse to buy government’s claim that 350 tonnes of waste is no source of pollution and factory premises pose no health risk to humans, a study is going on to incinerate the waste in some cement kiln. According to sources, a final report would come by end of this month or in January. If a well placed government source is to be believed, the Central Pollution Control Board and National Council for Cement and Building Material are in dialogues over the issue.
The Madras High Court today ordered issuance of notice to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on a petition from his AIADMK rival challenging his election from Sivaganga constituency in the May Lok Sabha elections.
To encourage sales of tractors abroad, the government has announced a four per cent duty incentive on export of the vehicle.