Management
Simplex Infrastructures profit during the second quarter fell marginally to Rs 27.92 crore from Rs 28.07 crore during the same quarter last year.
Tata Power Company today said it will be able to supply electricity to an additional 30,000 consumers in the city by March next year.
Adani Enterprises today reported a 30 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 147.95 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2009.
If the early signs are right, then Network 18’s letting go of 200 people may just be an aberration. Across the Rs 80,000 crore Indian media and entertainment industry, hiring is picking up.
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.
Nilanjana S Roy / New Delhi September 29, 2009, 0:13 IST
Kolhapur based Ghodawat Energy Private Ltd (GEPL), part of Ghodawat Industries, is planning to invest around Rs 1,300 crore to increase its wind turbine production and to set up wind farms. To support the investment the company is planning to go public and initiated talks with private equity for fund raising.
Private equity (PE) investments in south India dropped 64 per cent between April and September 2009 to $626 million from $1,752 million during the same period last year. The number of deals too dropped 48 per cent, according to Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on PE and M&A
Nearly three decades after he co-founded Infosys Technologies with six others, N R Narayana Murthy has initiated the first step towards starting a venture capital (VC) fund focused on India. The Infosys Chairman, during the past two days, has offloaded 800,000 shares from his personal holding, to raise about Rs 177 crore.
N R Narayana Murthy, co-founder and chief mentor of India"s second-largest IT services provider Infosys Technologies, is planning to invest in US-based clean technology venture capital (VC) fund Siderian Ventures.
The promoters of Aegon Religare Life Insurance today infused fresh capital of Rs 70 crore into the company taking the total base to Rs 465 crore.
Aditya Birla Private Equity Fund, which is looking to raise Rs 1,250 crore, has finalised some investments, including 0.5 per cent in the country’s oldest exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange, said sources close to the development.
Kolkata Metro still in red, but DMRC is making operating profits
Business Standard / New Delhi November 30, 2009, 0:40 IST
The economy has developed a resilience beyond expectations.
Hinduja Group flagship company Ashok Leyland today reported a jump of 56.99 per cent in its commercial vehicle sales at 5,333 units in October as compared to the same month in 2008.
Hinduja Group flagship company Ashok Leyland is likely to increase prices of its commercial vehicles across all models by April 2010 to offset rising input costs.
Burdened with rising commodity prices, especially of steel and copper, the country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, has announced a marginal increase of up to 2 per cent in prices.
The JV was supposed to get at least 45 per cent stake
Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja group flagship company, would commission its Pantnagar plant in Uttarakhand by March next year. The unit for making medium and heavy vehicles is coming up at an outlay of Rs 1,300 crore, according to its director and chief operating officer Vinod K Dasari.
The Mayawati government’s decision to ban import of raw sugar into Uttar Pradesh has sent sugar prices soaring. Ex-mill sugar price in the state is at a record high of Rs 3,700 a quintal, up 7-8 per cent from a month ago, though crushing season is on.
MRF finally settled with 16.5% increase at Rs 4,454. The counter witnessed trades of 61,745 shares, as against its two-week average traded quantity of 9,607, which is a massive increase of 521,38.
Realty firm Omaxe today said it will develop four new housing projects at an investment of Rs 1,500 crore over the next three years and is mulling increasing prices of existing projects within three months.
Sliding down the popularity chart, the approval rating of US President Barack Obama has dropped down to a new low of 52 per cent, the Gallup Poll said in its latest national opinion poll.
The concept envisages the use of IT to make ‘smart grids’ all over the world, including India, in a bid to create an interconnected planet.
Euphoric over finding traces of water by a Chandrayaan payload, confirmed by NASA"s spacemate onboard the country"s maiden moon mission, India is mulling exploring lunar surface deeper for water in its next Odyssey.
A day after the path-breaking revelation by the international scientific community that India"s maiden mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-I has succeeded in tracking presence of water on the lunar surface, ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair today said that the mission was 110 per cent success.
Japan has stockpiled enough Tamiflu and Relenza drugs to treat 50 million influenza-infected patients, the health ministry has said.
The Anil Ambani group today asked the Oil Ministry to follow a uniform policy and become party to power PSU NTPC"s case against Mukesh Ambani-led RIL to save power consumers from paying additional Rs 30,000 crore for the benefit of "private monopoly" gas producer.
Delhi High Court upholds airport development fee charged by Delhi and Mumbai airports.
Under criticism for its role in validating Mukesh Ambani-led RIL"s $8.83 billion gas field costs, Mustang Engineering of the US today said it did an "independent" evaluation and had never approached the firm for any commercial deals.
The Tamil Nadu government will set up swine flu test centres in major towns of the state. The move comes after a four-year-old boy died in Chennai due to the flu on Monday.
As the Obama Administration gears itself to "strengthen" its bilateral relationship with India, a top American business leader has said the Indo-US partnership, though now more confident than ever, requires nurturing.
Travel and tour company Cox & Kings today said one of its overseas arm has acquired Australia-based MyPlanet Australia Pty Ltd and Bentours International Pty Ltd for an undisclosed amount.
Healthcare services provider Zydus Cadila has filed an application before the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for its anti-diabetic drug.
The Supreme Court today decided to commence the final hearing on the high-profile gas dispute between the group firms of Mukesh Ambani and his younger brother Anil from October 20.
The Supreme Court today declined to pass an interim order to stay the Delhi High Court verdict legalising gay sex among consenting adults.
Jaguar-Land Rover cars are now officially here. We drive the Range Rover Sport to celebrate it ROHIN NAGRANI
NMDC, the country"s largest iron ore producer, is set to restart mining at the Panna diamond reserves in Madhya Pradesh in the next three months with the Supreme Court giving conditional nod to such activities at the site.
As part of its Phase-II plan, the Tamil Nadu government is planning to construct 17,000 disaster-resistant houses in rural areas. Each house would cost Rs 3 lakh, which is likely to be funded by the World Bank.
Advance tax collections in the first quarter of fiscal 2009-10 have remained at the same level as last year, at around Rs 23,000 crore. These collections had showed a 20 per cent growth in June 2008.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today said it has received the final approval from the US drug regulator for the marketing of its anti- hypertension tablets.
The government today said in the Lok Sabha that recommendations of the Committee on Content Code would be implemented after reaching a broad consensus after consultations with stakeholders.
Raising finance for companies eyeing renewable energy projects would no more be a tough task as banks and consultants are working on innovative solutions to help these companies.
Government today downplayed comments by White House senior adviser David Axelrod that the Copenhagen Accord had bound India to cutting emissions and said the remarks were that of a "spin doctor" aimed at domestic consumption.
Copenhagen: The world’s best spin-doctors couldn’t put much of a glow on the Copenhagen summit. Representatives of 120 countries gathered in the Danish capital with solemn pledges to draft an international treaty to fight man made climate change, but all that emerged was a vague text with a few good intentions and no firm commitments. It"s not much comfort to think that no treaty might be better than a hastily composed bad one.
India"s concerns on non-binding emission cuts have been met at the Copenhagen summit though the climate deal does open a window for a new legal treaty that may kill Kyoto Protocol based on principle of equity, a top government climate expert said today.
OPEC oil producers gathered in poverty-stricken Angola today said they would hold output firm amid comfortably high prices at their first ever meeting hosted by Africa"s new crude-pumping giant.
Swiss drugmaker Novartis has begun injecting its swine flu vaccine into people in the company"s first human tests, a spokesman said today.
Consumer healthcare products maker Johnson & Johnson today reported a 3.6 per cent drop in profit at $3.20 billion for the three months ended June, mainly on account of overall fall in sales.
The Energy Department is lending money to the Ford Motor Co and two other automakers from a $25 billion fund to develop fuel-efficient vehicles, congressional officials said.
Posco India has sought more time from the Centre for implementing Rs 54,000 crore SEZ project at Jagatsinghpur in Orissa, as the South Korean steel giant could not get land due to protests by tribals.
In its efforts to revive ailing public sector units under the steel ministry, the government today decided to hand over management control of three sick units to steel major Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL).
While the deal looks beneficial for Uttam Galva as well as ArcelorMittal, the former’s stock has captured most of the positives making valuations expensive
Essar Oil has approached the Nepal government for supplying petroleum products. If the proposal is accepted, it will break the monopoly of Indian Oil Corporation, which retails petroleum products in the land-locked country along with the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). Nepal is not a very big market and is estimated have an annual demand of 720,000 tonnes of diesel and 1,40,000 tonnes of petrol. Essar currently supplies only small quantities of fuel oil to Nepal.
Hinting at the recovery of the economy from the impact of the economic slowdown, the collections of commercial taxes in Orissa surged by 18.73 percent in November 2009 compared to the same month in the previous fiscal.
Lakshman Menon / December 02, 2009, 0:13 IST
Kishore Biyani-promoted Pantaloon Retail today reported a jump of 51.07 per cent in its third quarter net profit at Rs 50.67 crore.
The government today said economic growth rate could decline to 6 to 6.5 per cent in the third quarter (October-December 2009) on account of the impact of drought and floods on agriculture production.
Chennai-based bicycle and tubes manufacturer Tube Investments (TI) has posted a net loss of Rs 4.43 crore in fourth quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared with a net profit of Rs 9.14 crore recorded during the same period a year ago.
In its hope to see electric two-wheeler sales rising in Gujarat, Chennai-based BSA Motors, a business unit of Tube Investments of India (TII), part of the Rs 15,646 crore Murugappa Group, has submitted a memorandum with the state government seeking eight per cent waiver in road tax, reduction in VAT as well as provision of subsidy for the products. Once implemented, BSA Motors hopes to achieve 15 per cent of its total sales target from Gujarat.
Sunil Jain / New Delhi January 04, 2010, 0:20 IST
Hospitality major Hotel Leelaventure today said it will raise up to $130 million (about Rs 600 crore) from share sale to part finance its expansion plans.
T N Ninan / New Delhi October 24, 2009, 0:20 IST
T N Ninan / New Delhi September 26, 2009, 0:39 IST
Home minister says the January 5 meeting of political parties is to devise a roadmap on resolving the statehood issue.
Home minister says the January 5 meeting of political parties is to devise a roadmap on resolving the statehood issue.
A revival in the US financial services sector and better cost management would help TCS sustain profitable growth.
Devika Banerji / New Delhi December 6, 2009, 0:28 IST
The Nano is a small car from a big idea. The people’s car attained immortality the moment it was unveiled at the Auto Expo in New Delhi, causing a seismic shift in the automotive world. The rest of the world’s automakers drew in their collective breaths when it was announced that Tata was going ahead with producing the car. Then they all scrambled to go into that unknown territory that Tata Motors has already bravely ventured into.
Vedanta Group company Sterlite Energy is believed to have bagged the country"s first ultra mega power transmission project, breaking the decades old monopoly of state-run PowerGrid Corporation.
Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (RBEI), the engineering and IT services subsidiary of Bosch in India, has launched the Reliability Testing Centre that it said would help enhance the reliability of automotive components like Electronic Control Units (ECU), in varied environmental conditions.
Kailash Nautiyal / January 2, 2010, 0:45 IST
IN MY MIND
Will use funds to finance operations of group firms; to have a total war chest of Rs 10,500 crore.
The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) today strongly objected in the Supreme Court to the grounds raised by the Mukesh Ambani Group to counter its contention on the supply and pricing of gas from the KG Basin.
United Spirits, India"s largest spirits firm, has posted a 25 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 69.6 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2009 where as the same was at Rs 94 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2008.
The government is likely to take a decision soon on granting the "Maharatna" status to a few central public sector enterprises, which may include PSU heavyweights like ONGC, SAIL, BSNL, NTPC and CIL.
Improved passenger numbers in the last three months helped low-cost carrier SpiceJet post a profit of Rs 108.9 crore in the third quarter ending December 31, 2009. The airline had incurred losses of Rs 17.96 crore during the same period last year.
Ajit Ranade / January 26, 2010, 0:35 IST
The country"s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), reported a 8.40 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 3,304.59 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009.
I am planning to buy a car, which most probably will end up with my father. My budget is in the range of Rs 10-13 lakh. Which one would you suggest — the Honda Civic or the Toyota Corolla Altis? He normally prefers a petrol, but if you think the new Chevrolet Cruze is much better than the rest, then I can convince him for the diesel also. I am also looking at a used, last generation 2007 Audi A4 diesel. It is working out to be more expensive even in terms of finance. What will you suggest?
State-owned IDBI Bank is believed to have zeroed in on Kerala-based private sector lender Federal Bank for acquisition.
Flagging investor segment ensured that merger and acquisitions, and private equity (PE) activity paled in 2009 in comparison with 2008. PE deal value took a 65 per cent knock in 2009 with deal volumes barely crossing $4 billion as compared to $11.96 billion in 2008. Harish H V — partner, National Management at investment advisory Grant Thornton, shares his views to Ravi Menon on what lies ahead.
Taking "serious" note of internet giant Google"s allegations that Chinese authorities indulged in e-mail hacking and censorship, the Obama administration has sought explanation from Beijing on the issue.
Retail brokerage firm IL&FS Investsmart was On Thursday renamed as HSBC InvestDirect to align it with the HSBC brand following its takeover by the foreign lender last year.
Economists were "slightly surprised" by the extent of hike (75 basis points) in mandatory cash reserves of banks held by the Reserve Bank, but felt that the apex bank"s move was strongly influenced by rising inflationary pressures.
In a surprise move, the government has postponed to the next fiscal auction of spectrum for 3G telephony which was expected to bring in Rs 35,000 crore to the exchequer.
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel has managed to declare a profit but its results show a real problem in even the top line. This underscores the need for these market leaders to find other ways to monetise customers. The plain vanilla voice market is no longer profitable, but these companies haven’t done much by way of value added services apart from the caller tunes, which is now an old story.
India is clearly showing strong growth, as outlined by the RBI which stated that the output gap is narrowing with economy operating close to potential and raised its baseline projection for GDP growth in FY10 to 7.5 per cent from 6 per cent forecast in October 2009 in the monetary policy announced today.
India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank on Sunday ruled out overseas acquisitions, but said it is open to buying local banks to increase presence and business within the country. “We are not looking at global mergers or takeover or anything.
India today said it is disappointed with the outcome of the recent WTO ministerial in Geneva as "nothing" substantive was done to resolve the differences to free global commerce.
UBS AG said it aims to reach 15 billion Swiss francs ($14.9 billion) in annual pretax earnings in three to five years, as Chief Executive Officer Oswald Gruebel rebuilds Switzerland’s largest bank after record losses.
Concerned over the continuous assaults on Indians in Australia, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today spoke to his Australian counterpart asking him to expedite the investigations in these incidents.
Most of the business leaders surveyed across the world sounded optimistic about growth prospects and are planning to raise headcounts this year, indicating that fears of world financial meltdown have receded, said a survey.
K Santhanam, a retired DRDO scientist, today accused former AEC chief Anil Kakodkar of "ignoring facts" about the yield of the nuclear tests done at Pokhran in May 1998, calling him "a liar" motivated by institutional loyalties.
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.
The Ministry of Shipping is nearly doubling the initial cost estimates of the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project, which aims to dredge a navigable channel through the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka.
Indian musician A R Rahman"s first Hollywood film "Couple"s Retreat" has won him a place in the Oscar shortlist yet again for "Best Original Song".
Hungry for growth, companies such as Godrej Appliances and LG Electronics are set to debut in the sub-Rs-7,000 refrigerator range.
The unemployment rate in the OECD region — a grouping of 27 developed and developing nations — stood at 8.8 per cent in November 2009, amid the global labour market slowly witnessing signs of stabilisation.
LG Electronics Inc, South Korea"s second-largest electronics maker, said today it has stopped the production of personal computers and is fully outsourcing it to local and Taiwanese companies.
In order to expand its edible salt production capacity, Tata Chemicals Ltd has decided to set up a new plant at its existing facility located in coastal area of Mithapur in Gujarat. The edible salt plant will have a production capacity of 600 tonnes per day (TPD).
Global rates of the yellow metal jump 38.4% compared with 34% at home in 2009.
Hit by poor availability of scrap, expensive raw gold imports.
BS Reporter / Mumbai September 5, 2009, 0:48 IST
Celebrity restaurateur Bill Marchetti is settling down after a wildly experimental life, discovers Kishore Singh
The steel ministry is planning to set up a special arm under Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to spearhead overseas acquisitions, particularly in the mining sector.
Jagdish Khattar-led Carnation will start selling vehicle spare parts under its own brand by next year, even as the company plans to expand its used car business.
Arena Animation — the animation and multimedia training business arm of global learning solutions company Aptech — is seeing greater growth from overseas markets as compared with the domestic market.
Global cues put pressure but market breadth remains positive.
Demand for gold waned by 49 per cent in the third quarter this year over the corresponding period last year, thanks to a surge in its prices, the World Gold Council (WGC) said today.
With seven of the 16 initial public offers (IPOs) launched this year trading below their issue prices, 2009 has been a mixed year for primary market investors.
ICICI, Kotak Mahindra announce fixed-cum-floating rate schemes.
Mutual fund houses are aiming to raise money at a time when the existing equity funds are finding it tough to cope with low inflows and redemption pressure. Should you subscribe?
The core committee constituted by the Indian Banks Association (IBA) to calculate the modalities involved in the proposed nationwide pay revision is likely to give its report within 90 days.
2009 was a bumper year for bullion investors as both gold and silver reached record highs in domestic and international markets.
The government today said selling 10 per cent of coal through e-auction by the Coal India Limited has helped checking malpractices, corruption and black marketing.
The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 694.71 crore in futures and options segments on Tuesday.
As BJP grappled with dissidence among its MLAs, opposition Congress today fielded T B Jayachandra as its candidate to contest the post of assembly Speaker to be held tomorrow.
Providing a sovereign guarantee to the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI’s) borrowings will be decided on a case-to-case basis by the finance ministry.
The stock jumped 2.3 per cent to Rs 1,204.55 after the company said Phase-III clinical trial for its anti-diabetic molecule balaglitazone achieved the set parameters.
Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Labs plans to launch new generic drugs in various therapeutic segments to push domestic operations and get back on the list of top 10 companies in the country. The company, ranked 13th with a 2.7 per cent share in the Rs 55,000-crore domestic pharma market, is working to increase domestic sales.
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.
Life Sciences technology firm, Opto Circuits, a wholly-owned subsidiary Eurocor has received Communite European (CE) approval to market and sale its Drug Eluting Stent- Taxcor Plus in the world markets.
Healthcare major Zydus Cadila has bought the remaining 30 per cent stake in South Africa-based Simayla Pharmaceuticals for an undisclosed sum, making it a 100 per cent subsidiary of the group.
Reliance Industries" Executive Director and Crisil former Chairman, R Ravimohan passed away last night here due to cardiac arrest.
The stock slipped to a low of Rs 478 and finally settled at Rs 483, down around 4% from the previous close. The counter clocked volumes of 3.17 million shares as compared to the two-week daily average traded volumes of 1.81 million shares on the BSE.
After a massive 387 points fall on the Sensex yesterday. The index today opened on a weak note at 16,699 owing to negative cues from the global markets. The index then started slipping further into the red and is now at 16,229, down 123 points.
Admittedly, Nehru was there at the start of things, the end of an age, the awakening of a nation, that tryst with destiny. So he and others of his generation were better placed than we are to think laterally, to explore all of history for models towards which to incline the path of our future. He also spent years in prison, an enforced separation from the bustle and fire of the freedom movement which enabled him to look beyond the constrained present to the past and future, all in the service of his country. In other words, he used his time in prison to think big for India.
The Sensex opened in the red at 16,772, mirroring negative global cues. Follow-up selling saw the index slip to a low of 16,636 - down 150 points from the previous close.
Sensex ends up 35pts
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries’ US subsidiary Caraco Pharmaceutical is facing more trouble in the US. A law firm, Izard Nobel LLP, has initiated a lawsuit seeking class action status against the company in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of its investors.
Seven out of the top 10 companies lost nearly Rs 46,000 crore from their market capitalisation past week, while companies including state-run MMTC, Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) saw their valuation surge.
September proved to be fruitful for investors as they grew wealthier by Rs 4.33 lakh crore in the period, with the benchmark index Sensex gaining over 10 per cent.
Education and placement company EdServ Softsystems today said it plans to raise $25 million through Global Depository Receipts or Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds to fund its expansion in the school and online tuition services markets.
Sunanda K Datta-Ray / New Delhi December 05, 2009, 0:48 IST
The global economic slowdown forced corporate India to look largely within the country for merger and acquisitions in 2009, accounting for about 60 per cent of the $10-billion worth of deals.
Former deputy director general of Telecom department Runu Ghosh was today sentenced to three years rigourous imprisonment by a court here for amassing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 20.94 lakhs.
The Commerce Ministry will announce sops for select exporters in the next few days, contrary to the Finance Ministry pitching for a roll-back of the stimulus packages to the industry.
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.
Mahindra Satyam, the new brand identity of Satyam Computer Services, has embarked on international expansion and as part of this, is expanding its global solution centre (GSC) operations at its 15-acre campus in Cyberjaya, Malaysia.
Mahindra Satyam is reportedly on the verge of finalising a deal to payback an undisclosed sum to the Victorian government following the collapse of a $75 million IT project in Geelong.
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.
Indian Overseas Bank today reported 51 per cent decline in its net profit at Rs 176.04 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2009.