Mumbai, April 9
The BSE Sensex extended losses for a fifth session on Tuesday with bluechips such as Infosys continuing to reel on concerns that foreign investors are paring their holdings ahead of what are expected to be lacklustre earnings reports this month.

Both the Sensex and the NSE Nifty are now at their lowest closing levels since September 13, 2012, when the government raised diesel prices, kickstarting bold reforms that included opening up the aviation and retail sectors further to foreign investors.

After strong purchases last year and much of this year, foreign funds have now sold Indian equities for four consecutive sessions as of Monday for a net total of $137 million, according to regulatory data.

India VIX, which measures the cost of protection via options and is seen by some investors as a "fear" gauge, added 0.3% to 16.82, marking a fifth session of advances and reflecting the rising volatility ahead of earnings.

"It is certainly looking weak as FIIs remain net sellers," said Paras Adenwala, MD & principal portfolio manager at Capital Portfolio Advisors, referring to inflows from foreign institutional investors. "There is no doubt about it. All attempts to recover are getting sold into. Today's selling was vicious, which indicates there is a lot of pressure at higher levels."

The Sensex declined 1.15%, or 211.30 points, to close at 18,226.48, its lowest close since September 13. The broader 50-share Nifty fell 0.86%, or 47.85 points, to close at 5,495.10, also its lowest close since Sept 13, although the Nifty had first reached that milestone on Friday.

Bluechips tend to fall the most during a period of worries about foreign investor selling given their higher relative share of overseas shareholdings.

Banks also fell ahead of key macroeconomic data later in the week, which will set the tone ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's May 3 policy review. — Reuters

Chandigarh, April 9
A number of big industrial projects involving investments totalling about Rs 1 lakh crore are in the pipeline in Haryana. They include a Rs 300 crore project of Lotte Co, a multinational food and shopping corporation active in Japan and South Korea, which has been allotted a 20-acre plot in IMT, Rohtak, while the Chinese company We-Fang is also keen on setting up its Rs 500 crore project there on a 20-acre plot.

While Nestle (Rs 250 crore) is headed for Samalkha and Manesar, Jaquar (Rs 200 crore), UIDAI (Rs 280 crore), Kyo Bearing (Rs 500 crore), Fujitsu (Rs 185 crore), EEL (Rs 120 crore), Kerry (Rs 100 crore) and SJN Cylinder (Rs 150 crore) will launch their projects shortly.

Denso (Rs 500 crore) and Panasonic (Rs 1,200 crore) have already come to Jhajjar and Reliance Retail is expected to get an investment of Rs 500 crore.

Investment to the tune of Rs 21,000 crore is expected to be made by more than 4,150 entrepreneurs/projects which have been allotted plots by the HSIIDC. Investments of Rs 5,500 crore is envisaged from Maruti Suzuki and Suzuki Motorcycles alone.

While the Reliance-METCO project involves an investment of Rs 15,000 crore, investments totaling Rs 12,000 crore are expected in various power projects.

The 135 kilometre Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway, planned on BOT basis at an estimated cost of Rs 1,200 crore for construction and Rs 630 crore for land, is under implementation. The economic corridor would be developed along this expressway where a number of townships/hubs would be developed. Extension of the Delhi Metro to Faridabad and Bahadurgarh involves investment of Rs 3,281 crore.

The three “early bird “projects in the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor would involve huge investments. These include an MRTS between Gurgaon, Manesar and Bawal (Rs 30,000 crore); Global City’s project in Gurgaon district (Rs 6,000 crore) and a logistics hub in Rewari district (Rs 3,000 crore).

An investment of Rs 63,764 crore has already been made since March 2005. This includes investments made in the plots allotted by the Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corp (HSIIDC) in various industrial estates (Rs 41,656 crore), assuming that 50% of the projected investment has already been catalyzed.

The various projects that account for these investments are Indian Oil Corp’s PX/PTA project and refinery expansion and a naptha cracker plant (Rs 24,000 crore); Maruti Suzuki’s projects in Gurgaon and Manesar (Rs 11,000 crore); RHSL/METCO in Jhajjar (Rs 4,500 crore); and SEZs that are already operational (Rs 3,436 crore)

Bangalore, April 9
Information technology major Tata Consultancy Services said Tuesday it will acquire France-based enterprise solutions provider Alti SA for 75 million euros (about Rs 533 crore) in an all-cash deal.

The acquisition will help transform TCS into a major player in France, the third-largest IT services market in Europe, and provide the firm access to bluechip French and European clients in banking, luxury, manufacturing and utilities sectors.

TCS in a release said: “...It has signed definitive agreements for the acquisition of 100 per cent equity shares in Alti SA, an IT services company in France, for a value of 75 million euros in an all-cash transaction.

"The acquisition will strengthen TCS's ability and footprint to service its customers in France and other regions in Europe, it added.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, the release said.

"This acquisition underlines our long-term, strategic commitment to France, which is the third largest IT services market in Europe. The acquisition of Alti SA will help us serve our clients in France and across Europe more comprehensively with an expanded set of services and solutions," TCS managing director and CEO N. Chandrasekaran said.

Assessed at over 30 billion euros, the French IT services market is the largest in Europe, after the United Kingdom and Germany. TCS has been operating in France since 1992 and has over 50 clients in the country.

Alti SA is a leading French technology services firm with expertise in IT services including enterprise solutions, assurance and CRM (customer relationship management) solutions.

It is a privately-held company owned by its management and two private equity funds, CM-CIC LBO Partners and IDI, which supported its growth from a revenue base of 64 million euros in 2007 to 126 million euros in 2012.

Regarded as one of the top five system integrators of enterprise solutions in France, Alti's key customers comprise several top French corporations in the banking, financial services, luxury, manufacturing and utilities sectors.

The firm has 1,200 employees based in France, Belgium and Switzerland. — PTI

San Francisco, April 9
Microsoft is skewering Google again with scathing ads that say as much about the dramatic shift in the technology industry's competitive landscape as they do about the animosity between the two rivals.

The missive being launched Tuesday marks the third phase in a 5-month-old marketing campaign that Microsoft Corp derisively calls ``Scroogled.'' The ads, which have appeared online, on television and in print, depict Google as a duplicitous company more interested in increasing profits and power than protecting people's privacy and providing unbiased search results.

This time, Microsoft is vilifying Google Inc for sharing some of the personal information that it gathers about people who buy applications designed to run on smartphones and tablet computers powered by Google's Android software. Earlier ads have skewered Google's long-running practice of electronically scanning the contents of people's Gmail accounts to help sell ads and attacked a recently introduced policy that requires retailers to pay to appear in the shopping section of Google's dominant search engine.

“We think we have a better alternative that doesn't do these kinds of nefarious things,'' said Greg Sullivan, Microsoft's senior manager for Windows Phone, the business taking aim at Google's distribution of personal information about buyers of Android apps.

Microsoft's advertising barbs could potentially backfire. Even as they help draw attention to Google practices that may prod some consumers to try different services, they also serve as a reminder of Microsoft's mostly futile — and costly — attempts to trump its rival with more compelling technology.

``It's always the underdog that does negative advertising like this, and there is no doubt that Microsoft is now the underdog,'' said Jonathan Weber, who has been following Microsoft's ``Scroogled'' campaign at search consulting firm LunaMetrics.

On the flip side, Google has evolved from an endearing Internet startup to an imposing giant running Web and mobile services that vacuum intimate details about people's lives. Despite repeated management assurances about respecting personal privacy, Google has experienced several lapses that have resulted in regulatory fines, settlements and scorn around the world.

Microsoft's latest ads revolve around concerns already raised by privacy watchdogs. Critics argue that Google hasn't adequately disclosed that customers' names, email addresses and neighborhood locations are routinely sent to the makers of apps sold in Google's online Play store. — AP

Jaipur, April 9
Vedanta group firm Cairn India Tuesday said it has made the 26th oil discovery in its RJ-ON-90/1 block in Rajasthan's Barmer district.

Technical evaluations indicate nearly 10 metres of gross oil column within Dharvi Dungar sands in Raageshwari-Tukaram area, the company said in a statement.

"We are delighted with the 26th discovery in the block. This reaffirms our belief that an aggressive exploration drilling programme will help harness the full potential of the Barmer basin in Rajasthan," said board member Elango P.

The discovery was made after the government allowed oil firms to conduct exploration activities in development blocks.

"The management committee approved the exploration work programme for the RJ-ON-90/1 block on Feb 14 , 2013, post which Cairn India, the operator of the block, commenced the drilling of its first exploration well, Raageshwari-South-1, on Feb 25, 2013 located in the southern part of the block," the company said.

Cairn India is primarily engaged in the business of oil and gas exploration, production and transportation. The company sells its oil to major refineries in India and its gas to both PSU and private buyers.— IANS