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Tata Mutual Fund today said it has announced a 30 per cent dividend for one of its schemes - Tata Tax Saving Fund.
He allegedly paid Rs 64 cr as commission in the Swedish Howitzer deal.
It was a classic case of the davids of the world outpacing the goliaths. While the Sensex touched a 22-month high of 17338 in the earlier part of the week, only to turn sideways, the broader indices were the outperformers of the week. The mid-cap sector appreciated by 3.4% and the BSE small-cap space gained 4%.
Higher prices of staple vegetables such as onion and potato pushed food inflation higher to 13.68 per cent in the last week of October.
I am 59 years old and wish to retire in February 2010. I want to create a pension fund and also seek regular tax-free returns from mutual funds. I own a house and don"t have any liabilities.
The Finance Commission, which makes recommendations on sharing of tax revenues by the Centre and States, has suggested a new path for fiscal prudence in its report submitted to President Pratibha Patil today.
KSK Energy Ventures today posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 4.91 crore for the third quarter ended December 31.
Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) today reported a decline of 53 per cent in its net profit at Rs 87 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2009.
Global steel giant ArcelorMittal today said it has raised $750 million (Rs 3,500 crore) through issue of convertible bonds by its wholly-owned arm based here.
Kerala chief minister to lay stone for the project on Nov 28
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare(GSKCH) has resumed operations at its plant in Dowlaiswaram, Andhra Pradesh, the company said in a statement posted on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday. Work at the plant was temporarily halted on December 11 following widespread unrest in the state.
Tata Group hospitality firm Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) today said it has acquired a controlling 85 per cent stake in Elel Hotels and Investments, which owns the Mumbai-based Sea Rock Hotel, for Rs 680 crore.
Tata Steel expects to resume construction work on its six million tonne per annum greenfield integrated steel plant at Kalinganagar in Orissa’s Jajpur district in the middle of August this year.
Tata Steel Global Mineral Holdings, a unit of Tata Steel, today said it has increased its stake in Australia-based Riverdale Mining Ltd to 19.38 per cent through market purchases.
Metal producers’ earlier plan to raise funds through equity issues may get delayed, as the flush of liquidity has slowed and the market has turned weaker. Sterlite Industries, JSW Steel, Hindalco and Tata Steel together plan to raise about $5 billion through different equity issues.
Steel-maker Tata Steel today launched its galvanised plain steel with "zero spangles" under the brand name "Galvano" for the Northern region market in the national capital.
Major revamp in Air India"s top management in next 30 days, says Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
After sitting over the proposal for several months, the government has finally appointed seven executive directors (EDs) in as many banks.
Retired, but not yet a senior citizen seems to be the plight of many. For instance, the Union ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment defines a senior citizen as someone who is 60, but the income tax department allows benefits for the category only after 65.
A major fire broke out at the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) in the wee hours today, severely hitting the hot metal production at the flagship entity of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).
The Union Government has given consent for setting up the centre of National Institute of Urban Development (NIUD) in the Chhattisgarh. Sources in the government said that after discussion with state officials, the union government had given consent for setting up the NIUD centre in the state. The centre had also sanctioned Rs 35 crore for the project.
American aviation giant Boeing today rolled out its first "P-8A Poseidon", claiming it to be the world"s most advanced multi-mission maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, with the Company saying that India would be its first buyer country.
JSW Energy ended Day 1 at Rs 101, a premium of Rs 1 to the issue price.
Patni net up 14 per cent
Moser Bear India, an optical storage manufacturer, posted a net proft of Rs 2.76 crore for the first quarter ended June 2009 as compared to net loss of Rs 103.98 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2008.
Anil Ambani group firms — Reliance Communications (RCom) and Reliance Power — today restructured their respective promoter holdings through transfer of shares among group companies.
Reliance Communications is in advanced talks to sign a technical alliance with Apalya Technologies to offer mobile television (MobiTV) on its recently launched GSM network.
Prices of key inputs up 44% to 74%; analysts expect earnings squeeze after a quarter or two.
A host of Indian companies are planning to develop projects across sectors in the island nation of Sri Lanka.
India Inc"s fund raising through private placement of debt surged 42 per cent to Rs 40,300 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal, with over half of the fund being mobilised by financial institutions.
ICICI Bank’s Global Head (Investment Banking) Kalpesh Kikani says the time for multi-billion dollar deals is over. “India Inc’s appetite for large deals has gone down. In any case, financing such deals would be tough,” he says.
Port and Dock workers’ unions call for a nationwide strike after December 15 to protest at lack of wage revision may be averted, as the port authorities have expressed willingness to hold talks before the end of this month.
The FBI has charged 14 people, out of which five have already pleaded guilty, in a case related to the $20 million hedge fund insider-trading scam, the largest ever such case in the US.
The weather office today sounded a cyclone alert for the coastal regions of south Gujarat and north Maharashtra, where it is expected to make a landfall in the early hours of Thursday.
Shobhana Subramanian / Mumbai July 31, 2009, 0:55 IST
Media and entertainment firm UTV Software today said it plans to acquire the remaining 23.18 stake in its UK subsidiary UMP Plc in a move to consolidate its motion picture business and enhance shareholders value.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will soon move a court in Jharkhand for obtaining custody of former chief minister Madhu Koda, who was today arrested by the vigilance commission of that state and was sent to 14 days judicial custody.
Bharti Airtel Direct to Home (DTH) service, Airtel digital TV, added nearly 1.5 million customers across India in first seven months of the current financial year. Majority of the customers were added during October.
Mobile player Tata DOCOMO today launched per second billing for roaming across the country to take on rival Airtel, which announced a major cut in roaming charges last week.
Business Standard / New Delhi November 18, 2009, 0:21 IST
India urgently needs coherent policy and regulation
Reason: Few issues have enabled investors to make listing gains.
Famed micro-blogging site Twitter has acquired location tracking firm Mixer Labs for an undisclosed amount.
Among all the political parties in Jharkhand, former chief minister Babulal Marandi"s Jharkhand Vikash Morcha (Prajatantrik) scored the highest winning percentage.
SANDEEP DHAR, CEO, Tesco HSC, credits the Apple iPod Touch as the coolest music device and believes that the multi-touch user interface on iPods can revolutionise the gadgets of tomorrow. The corporate honcho also prefers LCD technology as it saves energy
The Nielsen Company and Facebook have announced a multi-year, strategic alliance to help marketers better use the Internet to develop and market new products.
If Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) is aggrieved at Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd for not proceeding with the private agreement between the two brothers on gas supply from the latter’s fields, it should instead blame the Union government, said RIL’s senior counsel, Harish Salve, at the Supreme Court today.
Even as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi hopes to see the state, alongwith Japan and Singapore dominate the Asian economy, a delegation of 95 real estate developers from Gujarat will be visiting Japan and Korea to study and imbibe technological know-how of infrastructure in these Asian economies.
Young India is patriotic but being “stylish” is a growing priority, too. “Chocolate” remains the first craving of Indians and “MTV” Youngistan’s most loved space. And the stock market is growing in appeal for young traders, while football catches up with cricket.
Low viewer interest following India"s early exit from the ICC T20 World Cup, plus the absence of star cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag from the team have brought down average spot rates on Ten Sports over 50 per cent against what advertisers paid on STAR Cricket, the host broadcaster for the T20 World Cup, and SET Max, broadcaster for the Indian Premier League (IPL). Ten Sports is the host broadcaster for India"s upcoming tour of the West Indies starting June 26. India is scheduled to play four One Day Internationals (ODIs) from June 26 to July 5.
French governance:  The press release reads like a statement from the politburo of a Soviet-era communist dictatorship: the ruling elite’s decision to back the great leader was “unanimousâ€ü. That’s the way it goes at Veolia, where directors of the French environment services group have bowed down to the wishes of the chairman and chief executive, Henri Proglio.
India and Russia are expected to sign a number of key agreements during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh"s December 6-8 visit here, including those on extension of the long-term defence cooperation programme beyond 2010 and construction of four more nuclear reactors at Kudankulam.
Shyamal Majumdar / Mumbai December 22, 2009, 0:04 IST
Madhukar Sabnavis / New Delhi December 04, 2009, 0:34 IST
Business Standard / New Delhi December 03, 2009, 1:34 IST
Reliance Industries, which had declared an intention to seek inorganic growth opportunities, confirmed a preliminary offer for a controlling interest in global petrochem major, LyondellBassel. The timing is prime for acquisitions in the space as there has been a steep decline in replacement cost and asset value given the plummeting of margins in the petrochemical space.
GAIL
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today allyed concerns about capital inflows building an asset bubble and said it is keeping a vigil on these.
With improvement in the global credit markets and narrowing of spreads, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided today to reintroduce the ceiling on interest rates that Indian companies pay for external commercial borrowing.
The Supreme Court collegium has decided to drop its recommendation for elevating Karnataka Chief Justice P D Dinakaran, facing charges of land grabbing, to the apex court, bringing to end months of controversy over the move.
Extending support for Gujarat government"s move to make voting compulsory in local body polls, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad today said it should be extended to Lok Sabha and assembly polls too.
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.
The deal to integrate two of the country’s largest lease-rental entities, DLF Cyber City (a subsidiary of DLF) and Caraf Builders (majority owned by DLF promoters), hasn’t gone down well with the markets.
Indian automobile majors Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) have shown interest in taking over the Termini Imerese plant owned by Italy’s largest car maker Fiat.
This will enable the firm to tap the defence offset market.
A proposal of Jet Airways to raise $400 million (about Rs 2,000 crore) from foreign investors may come up before the Union Cabinet when it meets here tomorrow, official sources said today.
The ongoing fare war and the launch of wireless services by new players will only worsen the profitability of mobile service providers.
Business Standard / December 16, 2009, 0:44 IST
The stock market was volatile and moved in a narrow range during the week. Global cues were mostly subdued, and news flows were largely positive, resulting in limited downsides on weak days. However, the indices failed to give a clear breakout on the upside as well.
The Hang Seng slipped 174 points to 22,324. The Nikkei advanced 145 points or 1.5% to 10,167.
Business Standard / New Delhi November 03, 2009, 0:43 IST
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.
Latha Jishnu / New Delhi November 20, 2009, 0:40 IST
Sreelatha Menon / New Delhi November 15, 2009, 0:32 IST
Minority shareholder says he is willing to revise ‘open offer’ - Pramod Jain makes open offer for Golden Tobacco - Pramod Jain makes offer for 25% in Dalmia"s Golden Tobacco - GHCL ex-director, chief trade charges on share deals - WEEKLY UPDATE: Markets make a strong statement on positive cues - FII-TO-FII TRADES: PNB traded at 6% premium - Exchanges get free hand to fix derivatives expiry
The government today said exports from Software Technology Parks (STP) increased 15.1 per cent to Rs 2,07,358 crore in 2008-09.
Slamming the government for what they called siding with sugar mill owners on the cane pricing issue, the Opposition in the Lok Sabha today urged the government to protect the interest of growers.
The government has no immediate plans to import rice as it has enough stocks to manage the demand, the Lok Sabha was informed today.
To promote transport of goods along the coastline of the country and on national waterways, the Ministry of Shipping has written to the Ministry of Finance to exempt goods transported through such routes from service tax.
Reliance Industries (RIL), today said the bonus shares allotted by the company last month have been listed on stock exchanges and will be traded from tomorrow.
Tuticorin-based Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) has set a target of Rs 20, 000 crore business by March 2010 from the present Rs 16,000 crore.
Janta Roadways, a Chennai-based logistics services provider in the car transportation segment, launched its luxury taxi service in the city on Tuesday. The service will cover Greater Chennai, which includes Sriperumbudur.
BS Reporter / December 8, 2009, 0:19 IST
Persistent Systems, providing software product development services, set up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) around the Android open mobile platform.
A day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightened norms governing external commercial borrowings (ECB), Governor D Subbarao said the capital flow into India was in line with the requirement and current account deficit.
The Union ministry of environment and forests has directed the Orissa government to take legal action against the Paradeep Port Trust (PPT) authorities for violating the Wild Life Protection Act, Environment (Protection) Act and Water Pollution Act.
India"s forex reserves declined by $144 million to $283.499 billion in the week ended December 25 as compared to $283.643 billion in the previous week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its weekly report.
Coal India today said it has initiated dialogues with the government for its initial public offer and the navratna PSU could be listed soon as the market scenario has turned favourable.
As part of enhancing production of oil and gas, public sector undertaking Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has decided to install Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESP) in 26 Well Head Platforms (WHP) in Western Offshore of the coast of Mumbai.
Almost 50 per cent of all the 350 million-odd active users on the social networking site are members of regional networks.
Reliance Industries (RIL) has increased LPG supplies to Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum from its twin refineries at Jamnagar, forcing the state-run firms to sell cooking fuel cargoes that they had contracted from overseas suppliers.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has bowed to the diktat of the Petroleum Ministry and approved higher investment in Cairn India"s Rajasthan oilfields.
The markets succumbed to Dubai debt repayment crisis in the latter half of the week. The Smart Portfolios benchmark, the S&P CNX 500 index swung in a range of nearly 6 per cent - from a weekly high of 4,217 the index tumbled to a low of 3,967. The index finally ended the week with a loss of 1.9 per cent (79 points) at 4,069.
Essar Oil is in talks with Royal Dutch Shell to buy two of its refineries in Germany and one in the UK.
Seven months into the trial of the 26/11 terror attacks, the prosecution today winded up its case before a special court which fixed December 18 to record the statement of lone surviving Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab.
When it comes to on-line booking of air-tickets, travellers from Mumbai take the lead with as many as 77 per cent opting for these facilities compared to travellers at six other leading international airports globally.
Two senior Congress MLAs and former ministers J C Diwakar Reddy and D L Ravindra Reddy today resigned from their post in protest against the party’s decision to carve out a separate state of Telangana.
The flood situation eased in north Karnataka as the week-long rains showed signs of abating but the toll mounted to 194 today with the recovery of 26 more bodies.
The Arogyasri building, being constructed by the state government, will be named as ‘YSR Bhavan’ after former chief minister, YS Rajasekhara Reddy. A proposal to this effect was approved by chief minister K Rosaiah on Thursday.
IT, consulting and business process outsourcing services company, Cognizant Technology Solutions, on Wednesday signed an initial five-year, multi-million contract with UK-based railway control and communications systems provider Invensys Rail to serve the global product research and development (R&D) needs of its group companies located in the UK, Australia, Spain and the US.
Walmart has selected three IT vendors in India — Infosys Technologies, Cognizant Technology Solutions and UST Global — for multi-year contracts worth over $600 million (around Rs 2,750 crore).
In the biggest financial scam of the nine-year-old state of Jharkhand, “dial M for money” didn’t only mean mining leases for Madhu Koda and company, but megawatts too.
A second chargesheet in the multi-crore Satyam scam will be filed soon as the CBI team probing the case has returned from Mauritius with some bank details from the island nation.
Mumbai-based HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company today said the various cost saving measures adopted by the company would lead to less need for capital infusion during the current financial year. The company’s original plan was to invest about Rs 350 crore in the current financial year, which now may come down to Rs 250 crore.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister, K Rosaiah, has agreed to hand over the land already allotted for a new shipping technology unit at Visakhapatnam as and when required. He gave this assurance to shipping secretary, APVN Sharma, who called on him on Saturday.
Think of what can go wrong — insurance companies have a list and the answer.
The district administration has decided to deploy the Global Positioning System (GPS) at Paradip to assess illegal encroachment of the revenue land by the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) under Kujang tehsil in Jagatsinghpur district.
The country’s second largest public lender, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has offered to grant home loans at floating interest rates up to 2.5 percent below the prevailing Public Lending Rate (PLR) till the end of 2009 under its flagship scheme.
Punjab National Bank (PNB) has sold 26 per cent stake in its wholly owned housing subsidiary, PNB Housing Finance, to financial services firm Destimoney Enterprises for Rs 79.17 crore.
Business Standard / New Delhi December 02, 2009, 0:34 IST
- Devangshu Datta: Dropping a bomb">Devangshu Datta: Dropping a bomb - Devangshu Datta: Brave new world (contd)">Devangshu Datta: Brave new world (contd) - desi-version/08/55/367045/" class="textMost" title="Devangshu Datta: Google Earth's desi version">Devangshu Datta: Google Earth's desi version - Devangshu Datta: Search for market share">Devangshu Datta: Search for market share - Devangshu Datta: Imagine a ban on lefties">Devangshu Datta: Imagine a ban on lefties - Devangshu Datta: China"s Great (Fire)Wall">Devangshu Datta: China"s Great (Fire)Wall
Despite being in the Opposition in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee is ‘setting’ the agenda for the state government.
Aditi Phadnis / New Delhi December 25, 2009, 0:03 IST
Awards its 3G management franchise to Virgin.
In what could be an embarrassment for India at the ongoing Copenhagen climate change negotiations, government data reveal that the rate at which Indian power plants emit carbon dioxide (CO2), which has been on a decline for many years, has increased.
At a time when cities are looking at improving transport and residential properties for urban development, the Asian Planning Schools" Association (APSA) concluded on the first day of its 10th International Congress held at Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) University that the key lies in reducing number of slums as well.
The trickle has turned into a deluge. India Inc’s order book has more than doubled to an all-time high of Rs 73,320 crore in the second quarter of the current financial year, compared to the first quarter. On a year-on-year basis, the increase is 21 per cent.
Students of the joint action committee (JAC) at Osmania University, the nerve centre of pro-Telangana protests, on Sunday said they would block all the entry points to Hyderabad, including national highways, in a bid to prevent leaders of Seemandhra (Rayalseema and Andhra) from entering the state capital on January 5.
The Sensex opened marginally lower this morning.
In many cases foreign companies grant access to Indian companies for using their data base and other copyr-ighted material. The question for consideration is whether the amount received by the foreign company for permitting use of such copyrighted material constitutes consideration which could be treated as royalty under the provisions of the tax laws.
The spinning mill owners of Punjab are concerned over the delay in rollback of the mandatory registration of spinning mills under the Punjab Agriculture Produce Marketing Act and entry tax on ginned cotton.
Asian stocks climbed, lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to its best year since 2003, as commodity prices rose and China pledged to maintain a “moderately loose” monetary policy.
Reliance Power ended with a loss of 3.3% at Rs 145 on the BSE.
Subir Roy / New Delhi July 22, 2009, 0:51 IST
REpower, the German subsidiary of Suzlon Energy, has posted a 21.5 per cent increase in net profit at ¤17.5 million (Rs 121.9 crore) for the first half of 2009-10, from ¤14.4 million (Rs 100.3 crore) in the previous year, thanks to its healthy order book position.
The Asian markets are trading flat to positive.
Markets have continued to gain. The Sensex is at the day"s high of 15,418, up 183 points. The Nifty is at 4,572 - down only six points from the day"s high. The index is up 48 points from the previous close.
The markets are now exhibiting sideways movement, after initial volatility.
Markets have recovered after a brief drop into the red.
With a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet President Pratibha Patil to stake claim to form the new government.
- Mulayam plays down Amar resignation as "nothing big" - Amar Singh quits as SP general secretary - Mum"s the word for Mulayam on Amar"s resignation - Amar Singh quits SP posts - Aditi Phadnis: Back to the future">Aditi Phadnis: Back to the future - Aditi Phadnis: Testing times for Telangana">Aditi Phadnis: Testing times for Telangana
The BSE metal index tops the sectoral gainers list with an appreciation of 233 per cent.
Allahabad Bank is restructuring its financial services subsidiary, AllBank Finance Ltd, to widen its operations, currently limited to merchant banking services and allied fee-based activities like distribution of mutual funds.
I had invested in ELSS (equity linked savings scheme) funds one year before, but I have not claimed this investment while filing for return. Can I withdraw from the ELSS, though the three-year lock-in is not complete?
Quant funds should be used only for portfolio diversification, and are suited for high net worth investors.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said intensified international action to tackle ship seizures off the Somali coast is forcing pirates further afield into the Indian Ocean and more recently closer to the Seychelles.
The Indian Navy would undergo infrastructural development in the next few years, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, Chief of the Naval Staff, said today.
Indian companies engaged in discovery of new drugs have twisted the model as many molecules licensed to foreign collaborators failed to reach the market. This so-called outlicensing strategy has been revised and the domestic companies are conducting a larger part of the initial trials themselves, choosing to license out the molecules much later than they used to.
The markets staged a recovery after a steep correction during the first half of last week. The trading was characterised by bouts of sharp intra-day volatility, especially in the last three trading sessions. The BSE Sensex managed to cross the 16,000 level during the last sessions of the week. During the week, the Sensex rose 262 points or 1.65 per cent to 16,158, while Nifty rose 84 points or 1.79 per cent to 4,796. However, mid-caps outperformed the broader indices during the week, whereas small-caps underperformed. FIIs were net sellers initially, but started buying during the second half of the week.
The Maharashtra government has deferred the submission and opening of financial bids for Dharavi Redevelopment Projects for a further date, a key government official said. The new date has not been fixed yet, he said.