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European stocks stumble after Fed flicker
Sensex up by 161 points
Gold gains, crude declines
Weather-based Crop Insurance Scheme |
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Reliance Retail to buy fruits & veggies from local farmers
Six core infra sectors grow by 4.2 pc in Jan
World Bank lends $600
m to PowerGrid
Double taxation treaties under lens
3G Services
Vodafone to axe 450 jobs in UK
Ford’s small car in 2010
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European stocks stumble after Fed flicker
London, March 19 Strong results from US investment banking heavyweight Morgan Stanley took the edge off the losses but shares stayed in the red, while the dollar and sterling weakened on renewed concerns about the global financial system. The Morgan Stanley results also cut early gains in safe-haven European government bonds, but they remained elevated on talk of more stress in the banking sector as a global credit squeeze that started in August last year continues. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 1.12 per cent at 1,228.14 points, having risen earlier by as much as 1.1 per cent after the Fed rate cut and results from Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers on Tuesday that topped earnings forecasts. British mortgage lender HBOS fell as much 17 per cent before roughly halving its losses, while Societe Generale lost 7 per cent after BNP Paribas said it would not bid for the French bank. Royal Bank of Scotland lost almost 3.5 per cent. Stock markets in Asia had picked up the baton from Wall Street's searing rally after the US Federal Reserve's 75 basis point cut to 2.25 per cent proved just the tonic they wanted. The US central bank also lowered the discount rate at which it lends to other banks by 75 basis points in the latest of a series of extraordinary steps aimed at preventing the credit crisis from unravelling
further. But the post-Fed cheer fizzled out as worries about the impact of the credit crunch grabbed attention. "Obviously the banking sector is giving the most back," said Dresdner Kleinwort strategist Philip Isherwood. Meanwhile, the US stocks posted their biggest one-day gain in more than five years on Tuesday, while Japan's Nikkei rose 2.5 per cent. US futures were pointing however to a weaker Wall Street open on
Wednesday. — Reuters |
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Mumbai, March 19 The 30-share Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange had soared by more than 600 points in early trade on global cues such as interest rate cut and more-than-expected performance by top US investment banks, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. However, marketmen said, profit booking late in the day in some of the key counters curbed the gains and the BSE barometer came off from early highs, but it still closed on a higher note. The Sensex settled the day 14,994.83, a fad lower than the crucial 15k level but higher by 161.37 points, or 1.09 per cent, over its last close. The 50-issue S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also improved by 40.95 points, or 0.90 per cent, to 4,573.95 from its previous close. — PTI
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Markets closed
Mumbai, March 19 |
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Gold gains, crude declines
Singapore, March 19 Gold gained $8.36 to $990.60 an ounce, still 4 per cent below the record $1,032.70 set on March 17 and crude oil for April fell $1.30, or 1.2 per cent to $108.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The precious metal gained 0.8 per cent and crude dropped 1 per cent. The dollar fell 0.3 per cent today against the yen after its biggest rally in nine years yesterday. The Fed cut its main lending rate yesterday by three-quarters of a percentage point to 2.25 per cent as officials try to prop up the faltering economy and restore faith in the US financial system.
— Bloomberg |
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Weather-based Crop Insurance Scheme
Chandigarh, March 19 Official sources informed TNS here today that the wheat insurance scheme would now also be extended to farmers in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Patiala in Punjab and Rohtak in Haryana. With this, as many as nine districts would be covered under the wheat insurance scheme in these two states. This year, AIC has initiated a pilot project for including farmers cultivating barley in the weather-based crop insurance scheme, in association with Hafed. As many as 92 farmers, cultivating barley on 672 acres, from two blocks of Gurgaon- Farukhnagar and Pataudi have been included in the scheme. Officials informed that the scheme was launched at the last minute, so the total sum insured is just Rs 43.68 lakh, but they are hopeful of extending the scheme next year. “The maximum payout for barley is Rs 6,500 per acre (Rs 4,500 per acre for temperature and Rs 2,000 per acre for unseasonal rainfall),” they said. Last year, AIC had initiated the wheat insurance scheme in Jalandhar, Bathinda, Ferozepur and Kapurthala in Punjab and in Hisar, Bhiwani, Ambala and Karnal in Haryana. The wheat insurance covered crop vigour/biomass insurance, temperature insurance and for the first time also included the component of insurance against unseasonal rainfall. “The crop vigour is estimated in terms of Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI), through satellite imagery. The NDVI is measured in February, at the peak of crop vigour stage, providing indication of crop health and serves as an effective risk management aid to farmers suffering from poor crop growth caused by natural factors. The temperature insurance provides cover for loss in wheat production resulting from high temperature in March, while insurance against unseasonal rainfall is provided if rainfall is higher than the specified trigger level,” informed a senior official at AIC, while adding that the NDVI component was not included for Amritsar, Patiala, Ludhiana and Jalandhar this year. He added that wheat insurance also acts as collateral for crop loan lending agencies, thus protecting the interests of farmers and banks. |
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Reliance Retail to buy fruits & veggies from local farmers
Ludhiana, March 19 "Sourcing supplies from local farmers would remain a focus. While it adds to convenience, it also helps us strengthen our ties with the farming community here," said Amit Bedi, business head, Reliance Retail, while talking to The Tribune here today. Bedi said the share of local farmers was mainly dependant on factors like season. "In winters, for instance, their share rises due to easy availability of fruits and vegetables here. However, improving our relationship with them is definitely our focus." The company opened its third mini mart, Reliance Super, spread across 21,000 square feet area, here today. With 14,800 products, ranging from fresh produce, grocery to automotive accessories, consumer durables, lifestyle products, apparel and other categories, the mimi mart would soon include separate sections for jewellery, health and beauty products. "This is our second mini mart in the state after Amritsar and we would continue with expansion," he said. Apart from mini marts, more Reliance Fresh stores would be opened. Among key factors the company is banking on for generating high sales are pricing that suits the middle income group, store format and availability of maximum items of household use.
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Six core infra sectors grow by 4.2 pc in Jan
New Delhi, March 19 During April-January 2007-08, the
growth rate of these core industries declined to 5.5 per cent, against
8.9 per cent during the same period last fiscal. According to official
data released today, the crude oil production registered a negative
growth of 0.2 per cent in January, compared to 4.7 per cent last
year. Growth in coal production also declined to 4.8 per cent as
against 9.9 per cent in 2007. Meanwhile, the electricity sector
witnessed a growth of 3.3 per cent in January, against 8.3 per cent last
year and cement sector registered a growth of 5.2 per cent, compared to
7.2 per cent. |
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World Bank lends $600
m to PowerGrid
Washington, March 19 Announcing the loan backed by Government of India guarantee, the bank said in a statement that the Fourth Power System Development Project (PSDP IV) would aim to reduce transmission losses and cut the cost of energy through further investments in its systems. The project is part of the bank's long-term partnership with Power Grid, initiated when the firm was formed in 1989. "Despite a booming economy, India's growth potential is constrained by inadequate electricity services and limited power generation and supply infrastructure... The power sector has improved in recent years, albeit in an environment where demand for electricity continues to outstrip supply," the bank said. The bank has made three direct loans to Power Grid since 1993. During this period, the company has nearly tripled its transmission network, its assets have grown more than eight-fold to $7.3 billion and revenues have increased more than six times to over $1 billion, it said in a statement.
— PTI |
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Double taxation treaties under lens
New Delhi, March 19 India, now is feeling the heat and this concern extends to Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) that enjoys somewhat the same status as the tax havens. The government, after repeated concerns from the national security adviser, is relooking at the DTAA. The concerns raised repeatedly by the NSA has been that the money coming in through tax avoidance routes could be tainted money and that some companies that may follow the registration norms may still be of questionable origins. Corporate lawyers, elaborating on the issue, say that once a company uses Mauritius route to park funds in India, which is the most preferred DTAA agreement to route funds, they repatriate funds back to tax havens. Lawyers say that after making handsome profits in India, especially on bourses, the company in many instances has changed hands in Mauritius and the funds have flown to tax havens. Government officials say that there is every possibility that the Indian government is under severe pressure from international security agencies to relook at these treaties. The concern of revenue loss and legality of the Mauritius DTAA has been already addressed by the Supreme Court earlier, besides at a time of tax buoyancy, revenue loss is not such an area of concern, especially when a treaty has been in existence since mid-80s. The action of the Indian government of annulling tax treaties with the UAE and Cyprus last month has been a big step in this direction. In addition to this, the government clamped down on P-Notes, making the know-your-customer norms more stringent. The concern for this clampdown was to seal money laundering and establish the identity of who is investing in India. Besides this, Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam on his recent visit, promised freedom to Indian tax authorities to investigate any company with questionable credentials located in the island nation. Officials in the investigating agencies say that there is a pressure of international investigating agencies on tracking down of offshore funds held by Indians. Besides, India being a signatory to the International Organisation of Securities Commission (IOSCO), requires it to have effective surveillance of international securities transactions and in turn at DTAA route. |
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3G Services
New Delhi, March 19 "If operators do not achieve their roll-out obligations, they would be given one year within which to fulfill their roll-out obligations. Within this one year, the operators would be fined a spectrum cess of 2.5 per cent of their winning auction per quarter," Department of Telecom (DoT) said in its proposed guidelines for auction and allotment of spectrum for 3G services. "If operators do not complete their roll-out obligations even within the one year grace period, their spectrum assignment would be cancelled and the spectrum would be allocated via an auction to a new operator," the DoT said. Moreover, no entity related to the defaulting operator would be permitted to participate in the subsequent auction. The operators would be allocated spectrum (radio frequency) in 2.1 GHz band through a process of auction. The successful bidder would get a Unified Access Service (UAS) licence for 3G services (by paying the required entry fee) and the operators would not be eligible for 2G spectrum on this licence, the proposed guidelines said. The bidders/service providers can make bids for spectrum up to a maximum of two blocks of 2x5 MHz each in 2.1 GHz band for various telecom service areas. All the existing Unified Access Services Licence holders, cellular mobile and basic service licensees can bid for 3G spectrum along with new players. On the mergers and acquisitions, the DoT is of the view that no merger would be allowed, if the number of operators in a service area comes down to below four. This is to ensure adequate competition, the DoT said. The two telecom PSUs — BSNL and MTNL — would also be allowed to take part in the auction/bidding process.
— PTI
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Vodafone to axe 450 jobs in UK
London, March 19 Vodafone is to dismiss a fifth of its senior head office managers even as the firm would be recruiting about 500 sales and retail staff, The Times reported. "The middle management cuts, which will result in 450 job losses from its UK operations, reflects a shift of emphasis away from administration to sales," the newspaper said in an article published in its online edition. According to the report, the move comes as the company attempts to increase its share of the mobile internet and broadband market. Vodafone, which is led by India-origin CEO Arun Sarin, plans to hire 330 retail staff for its stores to sell "data services such as music products and mobile broadband". "A further 130 persons will be taken on in sales roles in its enterprise business and 30 in its online sales and customer service division," it
said. — PTI |
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Ford’s small car in 2010
Bangalore, March 19 The firm plans to increase the installed capacity of its manufacturing facility in Chennai from the present one lakh units to 2.5 lakh units by 2010. "We are investing $500 million for the expansion initiative, which includes the small car programme and engine plan," he said.
— PTI |
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