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The proposed All India strike from tomorrow in different steel plants under Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has been postponed following an assurance by the authorities.
The Sensex is trading at 17,398 - up 38 points.
Fund-raising to the tune of Rs 8,500 crore underway.
Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group announced today it has successfully closed its fourth Asian growth capital fund, Carlyle Asia Growth Partners IV, a sector-agnostic growth capital fund which will invest in high growth private companies in China, India, Korea and other key Asian markets.
Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Infratel is looking to raise about Rs 5,000 crore (close to $1 billion) through sale of shares, for which it is in talks with a number of private equity firms.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) is understood to have decided to slap a total penalty of Rs 132 crore on some major telecom operators for not rolling out services on time after the award of licence and spectrum. The penalty, which will be in the form of liquidated damages (LDs), are for delays since 2005, for which show-cause notices had been issued earlier.
FMCG major Dabur, which is currently hunting for acquisitions in the African continent, is setting up its second manufacturing facility in Egypt as part of its expansion plan in the region.
JSW Steel, the country"s largest private sector steel maker by domestic capacity, today said its production rose 54 per cent to 15.39 lakh tonnes in the second quarter of this fiscal on robust demand.
The Rs 22.21 crore pipe water supply scheme for 41 villages of Talcher, being funded entirely by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), has got delayed.
The Centre today asked South Korean steel maker Posco’s Indian arm to apply afresh for permission to set up a 12-million-tonne-per-annum (mtpa) plant in Orissa, held up for four years over land acquisition.
Pantaloon Retail India, a part of Kishore Biyani-run Future Group, today said it has raised about Rs 500 crore through the issue of equities to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs).
Sical Logistics Ltd has received Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from the New Mangalore Port Trust for setting up an iron ore handling facility at the deep draft multi purpose berth on BOT basis at New Mangalore Port. The Concession Agreement was signed recently between the Board of Trustees of New Mangalore Port Trust and Sical Iron Ore Terminal (Mangalore) Ltd (an SPV arm of Sical).
Logistics and transport major VRL Logistics Ltd (VRL) is looking at exiting its 42.5 Mw wind power venture at Mundargi in Gadag district of Karnataka, because of delayed receivables from the sale of power as well as its high operational costs. The Hubli-based company had forayed into the wind energy business in 2007 by setting up the venture for Rs 250 crore.
Voicing concern over the challenge posed by proponents of extremist ideologies through intimidation and terror, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said steps need to be taken to tackle this "grave menace".
The Sensex today opened 55 points lower at 15,574 mirroring weak global vibes. The index slipped to a low of 15,423, down 206 points from the previous close.
Twenty years ago, at sixth place in the batting order, the 16-year-old Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar walked across the National Stadium in Karachi and straight into every Indian’s heart and history.
T N Ninan / New Delhi November 7, 2009, 1:34 IST
T N Ninan / New Delhi October 24, 2009, 0:20 IST
GM/Saab: Is General Motors about to pull an Opel on Saab? The sale of its Swedish subsidiary to Koenigsegg has fallen through, and directors are considering whether to keep it going. There may be some on the Detroit carmaker’s board who reckon GM should bring Saab back into its garage — just as the company did earlier this month with its main European operations. They should resist the temptation.
Barely a week ahead of the UN meet on climate change in Copenhagen, India today made it clear that there will be no compromise on its position on carbon emission cuts and will preserve its economic interest at all cost.
Business Standard / New Delhi November 02, 2009, 0:19 IST
The probe into the Rs 14,000-crore Satyam fraud, clean chit to Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors payoff scam and a number of high- profile cases kept the country"s premier investigating agency busy in 2009.
Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd (HDFC), the multi-faceted finance company, has decided to dilute a maximum 3.5 per cent equity to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) to raise over Rs 4000 crore.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has directed Glenmark"s US arm, Glenmark Generics Inc, and three other manufacturers to stop the marketing of unapproved codeine sulphate tablets in the US market. The drug is an old narcotics product widely used to treat pain.
Holds an order book of 10-12 crore from Gujarat
The government is likely to clear a proposal tomorrow suggesting release of inflation data on monthly basis and not every week for most items tracked by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI).
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, the manufacturer and supplier of consumer durables, posted 167 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 93 crore for the quarter ending September 30, 2009 as compared to Rs 34.73 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Investments to be company-specific; infrastructure to remain in focus.
The stock ended flat at Rs 410 and clocked volumes of 201,186 shares at the counter on the BSE. __________________________________
The trading pattern in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment suggests that the Nifty could breach its immediate support of 4,820 and find support at 4,750. Daily technical indicators are currently oversold but without any backing from other studies. According to a technical analyst at JM Financial, the chart set-up remains weak and hence positive surprises are unlikely.
Top officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are in Mauritius as part of the investigation into the multi-crore Satyam scam, which its founder B Ramalinga Raju confessed to in January. The CBI team will question several people there on the possible diversion of funds from the company to Mauritius.
Commerce ministry recommends extending industrial package till 2013.
The Nifty closed above the resistance level of 4,350 on the first day of the new F&O series on short covering by foreign investors and long build-up in key stocks futures. If the Nifty could maintain support around this level, then we may see the index crossing the 4,500 levels during the coming week. Trading in the Nifty options suggests that the index can move above 4,400 with strong support at 4,300.
An intermediate reversal could mean net losses over the next 4-6 weeks.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Rs 478.80 crore (provisional) today, according to data released by BSE.
The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Rs 297.99 crore in futures and options segments on Friday.
The Union budget for 2010-11 is likely to be presented on February 26, two days ahead of the conventional date.
Concern over surge in capital inflows making dollar stronger led to the fall.
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries was not responding positively in connection with the contract awarded to it for revival of a closed sugar mill at Motipur in Bihar’s Muzaffapur district, state industry minister Gautam Singh said.
The Orissa government has sought Rs 5,000 crore grant from the Thirteenth Finance Commission (TFC) to upgrade its power infrastructure.
To encourage foreign portfolio investment, the Finance Ministry has set up a working group for suggesting changes in the existing policy on foreign capital inflows by FIIs, NRIs and venture capital funds.
Anil Ambani’s radio business, Reliance Media World, which operates radio station BIG FM 92.7, will list on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday, December 4. This makes BIG FM 92.7 the second radio station to be listed on the stock exchanges.
IRB Infrastructure Developers is all set to raise further funds to the tune of Rs 1,200 crore through various instruments.
Bombay Rayon Fashions is planning to raise funds through a GDR issue. In a communication to the exchanges, the company said that its board has approved issue of upto 1,90,00,000 Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) representing equivalent underlying equity shares at a par value of Rs 10 at an issue price of $ 5.11 per GDR. The GDR will be open for subscription to persons resident outside India, on November 11, 2009.
The Sensex has soared to a high of 17,270 and is now moving strong at 17,259, up 127 points. The NSE Nifty is at 5,127, up 37 points.
Exchange to launch mutual fund trading platform; BSE set to follow.
The markets have held on to their gains in the past one hour. The Sensex is quoting at 17,239, up 108 points, and the Nifty is at 5,122, up 32 points.
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) is targeting a business of Rs 50,000 crore by 2012-13 for which it would require around Rs 1,000 crore capital.
Along with Subir Gokarn’s appointment as the fourth deputy governor, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today reshuffled some of the key portfolios of its deputy governors and executive directors.
IBM has established Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in 10 colleges in Karnataka to create a platform for the development of software skills among students. The CoEs will teach students skillsets on DB2, WebSphere, Lotus, Rational and Tivoli - as well as help them develop tech business solutions.
Faced with the threat of closure, metal scrap traders have appealed the government to reshuffle taxation structure to volume-based from value-based.
The bandh call given by the Telangana Sadhana Joint Action Committee in support of a separate state passed off peacefully barring sporadic incidents across the Telangana region.
The fruits of economic progress will reach all sections of the society only when developmental intiatives are reinforced with policies of social justice, Defence Minister A K Antony said here today.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the Bangalore-based firm which operates under the Ministry of Defence, has signed an agreement with Boeing to work together with the US plane maker for the production of flaperons for the Boeing’s 777 series commercial jetliner.
The proposal to divest government"s stake in SAIL and NMDC is final and would be sent to the Union Cabinet next month for approval, Union Steel minister Vir Bhadra Singh said today.
The board plans to reduce the period for laying city gas pipelines.
ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), may pick up a stake in the $1.95 billion gas pipeline that China is building for ferrying natural gas found off the Myanmar coast.
The Delhi High court today dismissed a petition filed by Mumbai-based Man Industries challenging GAIL"s decision to re-bid for the Dahej-Vijaipur gas pipeline project.
Drug maker Zenotech Laboratories today said reported Rs 3.41 crore loss for the quarter ended June 30, against a net loss of Rs 2.66 crore in the same period previous fiscal.
A mark-to-market (MTM) loss of Rs 284.4 crore caused drug major Wockhardt to post a net loss of Rs 54 crore in the third quarter ended September as against a net profit of Rs 62.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year. Consolidated sales revenues stood at Rs 922.7 crore, a growth 2.23 per cent over the Rs 902.5 crore posted in the year-ago period. The MTM loss has been accounted for as an exceptional item and negotiations are in progress in respect of hedging instruments outstanding.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries scrip rose Rs 32 or 2.3 per cent to close the day at Rs 1,429.20 on reports of US Food and Drug Administration’s (USFDA’s) nod for a generic drug.
Sun Pharma"s US-based subsidiary Caraco Pharmaceuticals has agreed to undertake a series of measures as per requirements of the US health regulator Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to get a ban on its manufacturing units lifted.
Government’s security concerns about Chinese equipment makers not a deterrent.
Drug firm Sun Pharma today said it has received the US regulator"s approval for the generic version of Acular, used to treat pain and swelling after eye surgeries.
That the market for jobs has improved is fairly well known by now. What is perhaps not so well known is that the improvement has been good enough for headhunters (they like to call themselves executive search firms) to get back in business. Some of them say business has rebounded to the pre-crash levels of 2008. Most of them are hiring at senior levels — people who can get business. Korn/Ferry has restored salary cuts for all partners. EMA Partners is in the process of opening an office in Hong Kong.
Purists will tell you that celebrity endorsement is nothing but lazy advertising. Instead of working on the brand, companies use a celebrity to create awareness and get the message across in a jiffy. The cost of creating the campaign may go up, but the money and time required to rub the brand in get reduced by a huge margin.
It was a day of consolidation. The markets ended flat after trading in a narrow, albeit choppy range, as they attempted to digest the gains of the past two days. The Sensex closed below the dotted line at 17,169, down 28 points, and the Nifty ended at 5,123, up a point.
The Dow Jones industrial average advanced to its highest close in 14 months on Tuesday as a weak dollar boosted natural resource companies" shares and economic data reinforced hopes for a sustainable recovery.
India could be among the first markets to see a recovery in the initial public offer (IPO) space, according to a survey by Ernst & Young (E&Y), a global financial advisor. The survey’s findings point out that recovery is expected by the end of 2009 in emerging markets which include China and Brazil.
Department of Telecom (DoT) proposes to levy Rs 135.6 crore penalty from telecom operators for missing network roll-out obligations. Tata Teleservices faces penalty of Rs 37.6 crore, Aircel Rs 28.85 crore, Bharti Airtel Rs 31 crore and RCom Rs 19.45 crore, among others.
Latha Jishnu / New Delhi December 24, 2009, 0:55 IST
Infosys BPO, the business process outsourcing subsidiary of Infosys Technologies, today announced that it has secured a five-year contract with T-Mobile UK.
Infosys BPO Ltd, the business process outsourcing (BPO) operation of Infosys Technologies, is looking at raising its headcount in the Americas through inorganic growth. The company is understood to be scouting for a strategic acquisition in the $40-60 million range either in Canada or the US, according to industry sources.
Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) would develop a biotech special economic zone (SEZ) at the Industrial Growth Centre in Hindupar in Anantapur district of the state. The SEZ would come up in 70 acre and would be developed by Benguluru-based Salarpuria.
Kuwait"s Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah today ruled out any production increase by OPEC this year and predicted that oil prices would remain at between $60 and $80 a barrel.
Industry body Assocham today said the Reserve Bank"s panel suggestion to have base rate for lending would ensure transparency and efficiency in pricing loans, which the current system of BPLR does not provide.
The Reserve Bank of India"s (RBI"s) panel on revamping the existing benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) will meet tomorrow for further deliberation with bankers.
Ahmedabad-based Prudent Corporate Advisory and Brokering Services is targetting 100,000 Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) by March 2011.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has hired an ultra deep-sea drill rig from Reliance Industries for four years at close to Rs 3,915 crore.
A K Bhattacharya / New Delhi December 30, 2009, 0:02 IST
Facing allegations of approving Reliance Industries" (RIL) inflated gas field costs, that could hurt government revenue, oil regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) today launched an advertisement campaign saying the exchequer would get $16.57 billion compared to $9.5 billion for the company.
Amid a continuing legal battle between the Ambani brothers over gas supply, the elder of the two, Mukesh Ambani, is believed to have met Law Minister Veerappa Moily.
The Malaysian arm of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) player Marico has acquired hair-styling brand Code 10 from Colgate-Palmolive for an undisclosed sum. The buyout marks the company’s entry into the Malaysian hair-styling market. It is also the company’s first since the acquisition of Durban-based Enaleni Pharmaceuticals in late 2007.
Provided they have all the details, shareholders are best placed to do this.
A hundred and fifty years after photographer James Waterhouse charmed Nawab Sikander Begum of Bhopal to sit for him, an illustrated tome on the encounter, and other Indian trysts, enthralls Gargi Gupta.
Air India has convened a meeting of foreign pilots" recruitment agencies on Wednesday to discuss its proposal to slash wages by 10 per cent, in its bid to reduce costs and the differences between the pay packets of Indian and foreign pilots.
Business Standard / New Delhi December 24, 2009, 0:39 IST
Pepe Jeans India plans to open 50 more stores pan-India in the next 12 months which would give it a stronger market presence.
Apparel maker Arvind Brands is planning to expand its offerings by introducing more international brands this year, besides ramping up its retail presence across the country.
Armed forces today intensified search and rescue operations using 13 helicopters and over 100 boats in flood-hit states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, reeling under one of the heaviest floods in the last century.
Andhra Bank, whose insurance venture with Bank of Baroda and Legal & General was launched today, has approached the regulator to protect the trail commission it stands to earn from its distribution tie-up with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
The Rs 1,12,000 crore domestic gems and jewellery industry has urged the government to modify tax deduction at source (TDS) structure suitably in the proposed Direct Tax Code (DTC).
The scrip zoomed to a high of Rs 94 and finally ended at Rs 93, up 2.5% from the previous close. The counter clocked volumes of 30.16 million shares on the BSE as compared to the two-week daily average traded volume of 14.87 million shares .
K Rajani Kanth / September 18, 2009, 0:18 IST
Claim repayment of ‘temporary advance’ worth $265 million
BHARTI AIRTEL
The Sensex is gyrating between zones and is now flat at 17,066, up 15 points.The Nifty is now at 5,067, up three points.
Financial services firm India Infoline today said it plans to begin mutual funds operations in the first quarter of the next fiscal, after securing final approval from capital market regulator Sebi.
Business Standard / New Delhi November 11, 2009, 0:27 IST
A K Purwar, former chairman of the State Bank of India has been appointed as the chairman of India Infoline Investment Services, the NBFC arm and a material subsidiary of India Infoline.
To invest Rs 1,750 cr in 3 years.
I would like to invest in gold via Systematic Invest Plan (SIP ). Please name some schemes.
Pankaj Chandra, director of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B), says it’s time now to take on the INSEAD and IMDs of the world.
Raghavendra Kamath / Kolkata November 27, 2009, 1:30 IST
The Nifty opened gap-down on Friday and broke many crucial supports in the process, indicating that its further decline will be quite intense. Technical analysts are cautious about its upside, as the index is trading around 20 of its daily moving average (DMA). For any upside, benchmark indices need to cross the immediate resistances of 16,720/ 5,000 convincingly, else we could see selling pressure emerge once again, which could take the main indices towards the Friday low of 16,210/ 4,800.
Swinging into action, the government today sought a report from the convener of Common Admission Test (CAT) Satish Deodhar on the ongoing disruption of the computer-based entrance test for admission into Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).
Benchmark plans Hang Seng as underlying; Reliance looks at MSCI.
IT firm HCL Infosystems today reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 58.97 crore for the second quarter ended September 2009, a 10.77 per cent drop over the same period a year ago.
The Planning Commission today expressed optimism that economic growth during the current year will exceed 7 per cent, up from 6.7 per cent recorded during 2008-09.
Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan has finally been served a notice by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to vacate the plush bungalow at 15, Janpath. Paswan — as a minister since 2002 —occupied the Type-VIII bungalow near Parliament. But in 2009 elections, his party couldn’t win a single seat. Still, Paswan didn’t show any sign of moving out of the bungalow which served as his residence as well as the party office. As many new MPs are waiting with allotment letters for the current occupants to move out, NMDC finally decided to move out Paswan.
Shahana Joshi / New Delhi November 11, 2009, 0:34 IST
Kirtika Suneja / New Delhi November 11, 2009, 0:29 IST
Decision to allocate 725 hectares comes after a long delay.
The serene Thai beach resort here is expected to provide an ideal setting for tomorrow"s meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao to lower temperatures built over recent weeks on border and other issues.
Insurgency seems to have affected efforts for tiger conservation in the country as wildlife protection activities for the striped cats have become difficult in the Naxal-hit areas.
At least a dozen Britons have offered to sell their kidneys for 25,000 pounds or more each to beat credit crunch and pay off their debts, a media report said today. Their advertisements offering kidney have appeared on the internet and five of them corresponded with undercover journalists, who posed as friends and relatives of sick patients to negotiate sales, The Sunday Times claimed.
Tourists will now be able to revisit the country’s colonial past from Kolkata to Varanasi through the 1,280 km cruise on the river Ganga with West Bengal Tourism launching the service from tomorrow.
Bank of Baroda (BoB) is planning to raise about Rs 1,500 crore in the next seven months from bonds to meet capital requirement.
Backed by healthy interest income and trading profits, Bank of Baroda has posted an 84.8 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 685.38 crore for the first quarter ended June 2009 as against 370.86 crore in April-June 2008.
Bank of Baroda (BoB) today said it will raise Rs 3,500 crore by various debt instruments during the current financial year to fund its expansion plan.
Voting to elect 90 legislatures in Haryana began early this morning amid tight security, officials said.
Elections to 57 seats in the 60-member Arunachal assembly began early this morning amidst tight security.
Amid high security, polling began this morning to elect the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
Polling to elect new assemblies in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh began early this morning, in the first crucial test of popularity for major political parties after the Lok Sabha polls six months ago.
TDP members today vociferously opposed the creation of Telangana leading to a brief disruption of the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha.
Business Standard / New Delhi December 17, 2009, 0:58 IST
A V Rajwade / New Delhi December 07, 2009, 0:32 IST
Parliament today passed a bill that introduces new sugarcane price regime, after government allayed concerns of Opposition that the states will not be required to pay the difference between the Central and the State Advised Price to farmers.
Bajaj Group promoted sugar major, Bajaj Hindusthan, has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it would raise long-term funds up to Rs 2,000 crore from the domestic or international market in one or more tranches.