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PSU banks asked to lend more
Indo-Russian trade to double by 2010
Industrial growth dips to 7.6% in Dec
Buffett bond offer lifts global markets
‘MoD may soon release spectrum’
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Vodafone ready to buy spectrum
Sistema to roll out pan-India services
AI eyes US for further growth
MS to pursue Yahoo! bid
TCS rejigs set-up
Focus on technology, innovation: Ashwani
Reliance Money enters UAE
Doha Round
$5-b forex investment fund by month-end
Kingfisher swap ratio by April
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PSU banks asked to lend more
New Delhi, February 12 “Credit flow has partly been affected to housing and consumer durables sectors, and we have asked state-run banks to ensure adequate loans to these areas of the economy” finance minister P Chidambaram said today. The finance minister said these issues came to the fore during the discussion he had with the bankers and they have been advised to pay attention to the requirement of credit for home seekers and to those who would like to buy consumer durables and non-durables. Some banks have already begun moving in that direction, he said, expressing hope that banks will pay attention to credit delivery as well as credit quality to these sectors over the next few days. SBI, HDFC, Canara Bank, PNB Housing Finance and Bank of India have already announced a cut in lending rates. However, the finance minister has said that slowdown in credit growth has not affected flow of advances to productive sectors of the economy. When asked whether banks will further cut interest rates, he said, "You ask bankers. All I said is there is a feeling that adequate credit is not flowing to these sectors for one reason or another, so you must pay attention to these sectors because these sectors are drivers of economic growth also." To another query on rates cuts, he said, "Government does not want this or that, government simply sensitises the banks to the demands of the consuming public. So the banks have to respond to the situation.” |
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Indo-Russian trade to double by 2010
New Delhi, February 12 "The trade between the two countries last fiscal has grown by 30 per cent… If we grow by 30 per cent per year, we could achieve the trade figure of $10 billion by 2010," Russian Prime Minister Victor A. Zubkov said at the meeting of the India-Russia Forum on Trade and Investment (IRFTI) here. Zubkov also discussed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the potential to double bilateral trade within the next three years by enhancing cooperation in areas of oil, gas, mining, technology, transport and energy. Asserting that “high-tech quality projects” could be supported by the State, Zubkov told the meeting, organised jointly by industry chambers Ficci and CII, that Russian rupee debt funds are being utilised for the newly launched titanium project in Orissa. "We are investing Russian rupee debt in the Indian economy," Zubkov said. A joint task force is considering the market opening to a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement between the two of the four fastest growing BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies. "The task force will study the complex economic arrangements between the two countries," Russian minister of economic development and trade E.S Nabiullina said. Commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said his interaction with the IRFTI revealed that the Russian firms were interested in a host of Indian sectors, including engineering, metallurgy, automobile, aircraft building and infrastructure development. "We are taking steps to build cooperation in the production of titanium oxide," Nath said, adding that Russian entrepreneurs were also interested in India’s growing telecom market. |
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Industrial growth dips to 7.6% in Dec
New Delhi, February 12 The cumulative industrial growth rate for April-December 2007 also dipped to 9 per cent from 11.2 per cent a year ago. The decline in the index of industrial production (IIP) in December 2007 was mainly on account of the manufacturing sector growth rate, which decelerated to 8.4 per cent from 14.5 per cent in the corresponding period last financial year. According to the government data released today, the mining and electricity sectors too performed poorly during the month, recording growth rates of 3 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively as compared to 6.1 per cent and 9.1 per cent in December 2006. The nine-month growth rate for manufacturing sector declined to 9.6 per cent from 12.2 per cent in the previous fiscal. Similarly, the growth rates for mining and electricity sectors worked out to be 4.9 per cent 6.6 per cent respectively, compared to 4.4 per cent and 7.5 per cent during the corresponding period of 2006-07. The industrial growth rate for November 2007 has been revised downwards to 5.1 per cent from 5.3 per cent reported earlier. |
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Buffett bond offer lifts global markets
London, February 12 His announcement boosted already stronger stocks which took heart from stronger-than-expected results from GM and a firmer German economic survey. Buffett told CNBC his Berkshire Hathaway offered to take over liabilities of “monoline” insurers, which provide cover against default in securitised debt, in a plan that would cover $800 billion in municipal bonds. These insurers have been facing imminent credit ratings downgrades due to their exposure to subprime mortgages. The downgrades were threatening to trigger a wave of forced selling of debt and prompt banks to take further writedowns — thus starting a whole new cycle in the global credit crisis. “Investors are taking this extremely positively, that this would be a boon for the bond insurers and that we are now avoiding the doomsday scenario,” said T.J. Marta, fixed income strategist at RBC Capital Markets in New York. The FTSEurofirst 300 index hit the day’s highs, rising 2 percent on the day. MSCI main world equity index was up 0.8 percent, having hit a 2-1/2 week low on Monday. U.S. stock futures were up around 0.9 percent. Earlier, GM reported fourth-quarter results which were higher than expected and also reached an agreement with the United Auto Workers Union. In Europe, the ZEW survey showed German investor morale improved in February for the first time since May 2007. Financial stocks underperformed earlier as speculation intensified of a large writedown at Dutch group ING and investors fretted about Credit Suisse’s remaining exposure to the financial crisis. Credit Suisse trimmed full-year subprime writedowns to 2.0 billion Swiss francs and reported a 49 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit. — Reuters
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‘MoD may soon release spectrum’
Barcelona, February 12 "We are in touch with the ministry of defence... as soon as adequate spectrum is vacated we shall simultaneously distribute to new players," telecom secretary Sidharth Behura said here. Asked how much spectrum was expected to be vacated by the ministry of defence and how many players would be accommodated, Behura said: "we shall try to accommodate all of them.... But one thing is very clear that we are not going to starve the defence from spectrum they are using, so whatever can be vacated without hurting their operations we will get." He also indicated that if extra spectrum was available after meeting the demands of applicants till September 25, 2007, then firms who applied after September 25 would be considered. To be given against all LoIs
The government today submitted before telecom tribunal TDSAT that it would allot spectrum to all players, which have received letters of intent (LoI) for starting telephone services, but a lot depends on defence services vacating radio frequencies for civilian use. Appearing for the Department of Telecom, additional solicitor general Vikas Singh informed TDSAT that the government would allot spectrum to all operators, which had applied by September 25. — PTI |
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Vodafone ready to buy spectrum
Barcelona, February 12 "... if it is not possible to get spectrum from the government, we will have to buy it from the market though our first priority will be to get it from the government," Vodafone chief Arun Sarin told reporters at GSM Mobile Congress.
— PTI |
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Sistema to roll out pan-India services
New Delhi, February 12 “We will be rolling out a pan-India mobile service. The decision on whether to go for CDMA or GSM based services will be done only after we know what frequencies (spectrum) we get,” company president and CEO Alexander Goncharuk said. Sistema also plans to borrow $10-14 billion for its worldwide operations.
— UNI |
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AI eyes US for further growth
New York, February 12 Air India expects to increase its revenue by 26 per cent on the India-US sector during the current fiscal by adding more capacity to the US cities in ensuing months, a top official of the airline said. Jitender Bhargava, the airline’s executive director (commercial), said: “The India-US sector has emerged as the largest revenue earner for AI and offers us enormous potential for growth, as we add more aircraft to our fleet.” San Francisco would be the next US city on the national flag carrier map with a non-stop flight from Bangalore with effect from August. “This would connect India’s silicon valley with the silicon valley of the USA, which has a sizeable Indian population,” he added. Divulging the airlines’ plans for the US sector he said: “Our revenues from the India-US sector are expected to grow to Rs 33 billion (about $832 million) in the current fiscal, with a 26 per cent growth over the Rs 26.15 billion that we earned in the previous fiscal”. Following the commencement of daily, non-stop flights between New Delhi and New York from February 8, Air India offers a total of 12,536 seats per week on the India- US sector on its 38 weekly flights to four destinations. At present, European carriers meet a significant portion of the traffic between India and the US over the Atlantic and by Southeast Asian airlines over the Pacific, using sixth freedom traffic rights. He said: “The scenario will gradually change as Air India and other Indian carriers mount more capacity. Air India, though, will maintain its leadership by enhancing its capacity, introducing more new flight and ensuring a superior product”. |
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New York, February 12 Yahoo! had said its board rejected the offer as it undervalued the company. Replying to it, Microsoft said in a statement that it was offering shareholders of Yahoo! a superior value and the opportunity to participate in the upside of the combined company. According to the statement, the combination would create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising. "It is unfortunate that Yahoo! has not embraced our full and fair proposal to combine our companies. Based on conversations with stakeholders of both the companies, we are confident that moving forward promptly to consummate a transaction is in the best interests of all parties," Microsoft said. "The Yahoo! response does not change our belief in the strategic and financial merits of our proposal. As we have said previously, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo! shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realise the value inherent in our proposal," it said. — PTI
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Mumbai, February 12 The units will address new growth opportunities, provide sharper accountability and groom new leadership, its COO and executive director N Chandrasekaran said. The units have been organised as Industry Solution Unit, Major Markets Group, New Growth Market Group, Strategic Initiative Group and Organisation Infrastructure Group. All these units will be run by empowered group heads with access to all resources of TCS and with growth and profit responsibility. "TCS has 105,000 plus employees and given the market momentum we need manageable and nimble organisation," TCS CEO S Ramadorai said. The Industry Solution group will have multiple industry verticals of manageable size. Every industry vertical will have a head who will be accountable to the overall unit head. The second unit - Strategic Initiative Group - will have three sub units, including the TCS Financial Solution and two new units dedicated to Small and Medium Business Solutions and BPO Solutions. These three strategic growth businesses will operate as independent units that will leverage TCS sales, delivery and customer relationships in specific areas. The Major Markets Unit will be focused on geographies, including the US, the UK and Europe. The fourth unit - New Growth Market - will have three sub-units for India, Asia-Pacific and emerging markets. The fifth unit will support process excellence, technology excellence shared services and resource management in four different sub-units. The new structure becomes operational from April 1. — PTI
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Focus on technology, innovation: Ashwani
New Delhi, February 12 Speaking at an international conference on ‘Technology & innovation for knowledge management’ organised by the National Productivity Council (NPC) here, Kumar emphasised that these two factors supplement and complement each other and provide complete solutions to many problems encountered by the knowledge managers. “In the 21st century, paradigms of global economies are changing and creation of wealth is dependent on knowledge assets as compared to the material assets of the previous years. India is blessed with both natural material wealth as well as knowledge assets in its people,” he said. “In order to face global competition and simultaneously evolve to reach our targets of becoming a developed country by 2020, it would be essential to harness our assets to attain maximum productivity levels,” the minister said. “In order to make substantial gains out of the intellectual wealth which is natural embodiment of our people, the government is also consciously promoting knowledge-based development in all forms of economic activities,” he stated. The government has constituted ‘knowledge commission’ to identify priority areas of action to promote knowledge based wealth creation and the commission has already provided many action plans for development and implementation, he added.
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Reliance Money enters UAE
Dubai, February 12 "This is our first initiative to offer financial services outside India and we plan to tap over 20 million NRIs and resident Indians in West Asia with this initiative. Our business model is to offer cost-effective, secure products and services to a larger section of population and we replicate that model in UAE as well, " Reliance Money director and CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay told reporters here. The brokering firm announced it would start offering its brokering services at 'competitive rates', which could start off a rate war in the UAE financial market.
— PTI |
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Doha Round
New Delhi, February 12 Union commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath commended the Chairs of the two negotiating groups for their efforts in seeking convergence and for putting together the complicated texts, brought out on February 8. Kamal Nath clarified that a final view on the two texts would be possible only after holding consultations with other ministries, domestic stakeholders, and India’s partner countries in Geneva. The minister stated that the agriculture text distils the progress made in negotiations between September 2007 and January 2008. He expressed satisfaction at the fact that the original G-20 proposal of a minimum 54 per cent cut in agricultural tariffs for developed countries and a maximum tariff cut of 36 per cent for developing countries was back on the table. He was firm that the livelihood of Indian farmers and the food security of the nation are of paramount importance and must be protected at all costs. |
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$5-b forex investment fund by month-end
New Delhi, February 12 “As a first tranche of $5 billion forex funds, we will be borrowing $250 million from the RBI, and this will be lent to Indian companies to import infrastructure development. We are awaiting government clearance on guarantee for bonds which are likely to be issued by the end of the month,” said IIFCL chairman and managing director S.S Kohli.
The government would initially guarantee $250 million bonds with tenure of 10 years, at LIBOR (London interbank offered rate). According to the plan, IIFCL plans to borrow $5 billion forex reserves from the RBI to invest or lend to Indian companies engaged in infrastructure. IIFCL has recently set up an investment vehicle in London to fund infrastructure projects at home, which has received the UK regulatory approval. |
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Kingfisher swap ratio by April
Kolkata, February 12
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M&M tie-up Roche pact McNally Ltd GoAir PVR pact Wipro MoU |
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