|
|
|
|
McCain shadow over bailout?
JPMorgan Chase buys Washington Mutual
JP Morgan plans $800-m investment in India
After US, it may be Euro-zone: Expert |
|
Tina Ambani on Peabody Essex Board
Punjab not a hot destination for industry: Report
RGPPL to double output by Oct
3G Spectrum
Kingfisher to revise fares from Oct 1
Rs 256-cr notice to Microsoft India
|
|
McCain shadow over bailout?
Washington, September 26 As negotiations over an unprecedented bailout plan to restore credit markets degenerated into chaos, the largest US savings and loan bank was taken over by authorities and its deposits auctioned off. The US stock futures fell by more than 1 per cent, the dollar weakened and share markets in Asia fell. The third-largest US bank JPMorgan Chase & Co said it bought the deposits of Washington Mutual Inc, which has seen its stock price virtually wiped out because of massive amounts of bad mortgages. The government said there would be no impact on WaMu's depositors and customers. JPMorgan said it would be business as usual on Friday morning. Had a bailout deal been reached in Congress, it may have helped the savings and loan, founded in Seattle in 1889. Efforts to find a suitor to buy WaMu faltered in recent days over concerns about whether the government would reach a deal to buy its toxic mortgages. Earlier on Thursday, the US lawmakers had appeared close to a final agreement on the bailout, lifting world stock markets and sending the dollar higher. But an emergency White House meeting between Congressional leaders with US President George W. Bush ''devolved into a contentious shouting match,'' according to a statement from the McCain campaign. In advance of that meeting, which included the two men battling to succeed him, Democrat Barack Obama and McCain, a compromise bipartisan deal seemed imminent. After the session, Congressional leaders said an agreement could take until the weekend or longer. Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, who has played a key role in talks over the Bush administration proposal, said negotiations would continue on Friday, but with no sign that House Republicans would take part. Republican US Sen. Richard Shelby bluntly told reporters, ''I don't believe we have an agreement.'' He later said the deal was in ''limbo.''— Reuters
|
|
JP Morgan plans $800-m investment in India
Bangalore, September 26 Speaking on the sidelines of a CII-organised event on women leadership, Morparia said the company had no plans to start retail banking operations in India and that it would focus on existing lines of services like corporate banking, asset management and investment banking. In India, the firm was looking at growth opportunities, both organically and inorganically, she added. To a question on the domestic stock market outlook, Morparia said the stock market outlook appeared bright in the mid and long-term scenario. — PTI |
|
|
After US, it may be Euro-zone: Expert
Chandigarh, September 26 In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, Udayan Mukherjee, economist, and managing editor of CNBC TV18, said though it was an underestimation to say that India was entirely dependant on the US for its growth, further slowdown could not be ruled out. "Even as the news flow from the global front is getting grimmer and grimmer, the worst is yet to come. After the US, it is the Euro-zone countries which might come in with bad news since their economy, too, is in a bad shape, and in 2009, several countries might see complete breakdown of its financial system. And this would make things even more difficult for the emerging economies like India," Udayan said. "Many of our industries, especially in the services sector, which depend on the markets in the US and Europe, will be adversely affected," he added. On being asked about the biggest challenge India faces domestically, he said,"There are a lot of issues. It is not just inflation, there are concerns over high interest rates and drying up of capital flows, all this coupled with earnings compression of India Inc pose a serious challenge to our economy". Regarding the Indo-US N-deal, he said, "If it goes through, it would not help the cause of the economy, not in the near term at least. There is still a long way to go to actually reap the results of the deal". On revision of external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms, Udayan said the easing of the ECB norms for infrastructure companies to borrow higher amounts would not serve any purpose, given the current global scenario. “It may only provide a partial relief to the cash-strapped sector,” he added. Udayan expressed hope that the new RBI Governor D. Subbarao would at least maintain status quo, if not ease the interest rates, during the monetary policy review scheduled on October 24. "In the recent past, with a view to curb inflation, the government has been imposing restrictions on the corporate India to raise capital in order to reduce liquidity into the system. This, coupled with global meltdown has resulted in reversal of foreign money. All this has led to the slowing of investment growth, with companies putting off their expansion plans". "It is high time that the government shift its stance from inflation to growth rate. And the time has come for policy action to ease restrictions," he added.
|
|
Tina Ambani on Peabody Essex Board
New York, September 26 Tina, founder of the Harmony Art Foundation and wife of industrialist Anil Ambani, has been relentlessly working toward the promotion of art, and through her foundation has showcased the work of nearly 1,500 artists. "Tina Ambani's passionate commitment to traditional, modern, and contemporary Indian art makes her an ideal person to serve as PEM's first international trustee," said Richard Carlson, chairman of the Board, which met in Boston today. The Peabody Essex Museum began collecting Indian art in 1799. — PTI |
|
Punjab not a hot destination for industry: Report
Chandigarh, September 26 This was the gist of the study made by industry body Ficci to assess the investment environment in Punjab. The report, released by the Punjab industries minister, Manoranjan Kalia, says that while individual policy interventions may have led to some spurts in growth, a holistic approach for coordinated development of small, medium and large industries has been lacking. Inspite of the well-developed agriculture base in Punjab, the state has failed to tap the potential offered by agro-based industry. The Punjab government may love to pat its back over the huge investments coming to the state through its Super Mega and Mega Projects, but an astounding 94 per cent of respondents for the study felt that the state government was not offering anything substantial in terms of incentives and 67 per cent felt that the poor power supply was a major spoilsport for industrial development. The report is based on field investigation and questionnaire survey conducted by Ficci and Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF) from sectors like machine tools, hand tools, auto parts, oil mills machinery, sports good industry, knitwear, textiles, food processing and casting units. This study also talks about the “passive attitude of government officials towards industrial development and procedural hassles and delays, faced by industry in government departments”. Over 71 per cent of respondents felt that the attitude of the government officials was bad. Not only are the fresh/new investments in the state hard to come by, but several existing units are also moving out of Punjab and undertaking expansion in other states. “This is a disturbing trend and clearly indicates that entrepreneurs of Punjab are low on confidence with regards to attractiveness of their state as an investment destination. Though several incentives like capital subsidy scheme, modernisation subsidy scheme etc have been announced by the state, these, by and large, remain on paper only. Though the government has announced fiscal support to industry, benefits never came to the industry due to non-availability of funds,” it says. Meanwhile, Manoranjan Kalia and principal secretary, Industries, S S Channy, denied that Punjab was not an attractive destination for industrial development. “We have managed to get the top global industrial players like LN Mittal and Anil Aggarwal to invest in Punjab. The huge concessions given to mega projects is now making Punjab a hot destination. For speedier clearance of industrial projects, we have initiated a deemed approval scheme, wherein all projects have to be cleared within a specified time,” they added. |
|
RGPPL to double output by Oct
New Delhi, September 26 This will ease the shortage of power situation in the state of Maharashtra. One gas turbine each of power block I and II are expected to be revived by the end of this year, when all six gas turbines and three steam turbines would be on stream. “Construction of marine and non-marine works of LNG terminal is in progress. Pre-commissioning activities of various systems has commenced. Tank 300 is ready to receive LNG and Tank 400 is in the advance stages of completion,” he said. All major marine-related contracts, except break water and capital dredging, have been awarded and RGPPL is targeting to bring commissioning cargo of LNG in the early part of 2009. The LNG terminal without breakwater would be operational soon. It is expected that the breakwater would be commissioned by 2011. The sourcing of LNG and execution of a long-term fuel supply agreement still remains a matter of concern. Efforts for a long-term tie-up are being made by the Government of India, ministry of petroleum & natural gas through GAIL and Petronet LNG Ltd. (PLL). In the meantime, GAIL has commissioned the pipeline project from Panvel to Dabhol for transportation of regassified LNG from PLL’s Terminal at Dahej. During the year 2007-08, the company has achieved a turnover of Rs 10,840 million and operating profit before interest and depreciation was Rs 3,862 million. |
|
3G Spectrum
New Delhi, September 26 The companies that have been shortlisted are N. M. Rothschild & Sons, which has bid along with DotEcon, Sai Info System and mJunction as the eligible bidders for e-auction of spectrum for 3G and broadband wireless services. However, public sector company MSTC seems to have lost out in meeting the criteria. Metal and Scrap Trade Corporation (MSTC) is a PSU under the steel ministry with strong expertise on e-auction services for different government departments and PSUs. The e-auction agency will initiate and supervise the entire auction process on behalf of the DoT. According to DoT guidelines, all firms bidding to be the agency to conduct the e-auction, will have to declare their shareholding pattern — both Indian and foreign firms, if any. Besides, the DoT has said potential bidders cannot have more than 10 per cent stake in any telecom or Internet Service Provider in India. Under the guidelines, only those companies which have a paid-up capital of Rs 25 million, a net worth of at least Rs 100 million, and have conducted similar auctions earlier will be eligible. These companies will now make a presentation on September 29, before DoT and the technically qualified bidders will be announced on October 1. Two days later on October 3, the financial bids will be opened and the agency will be selected on October 6.
|
|
Kingfisher to revise fares from Oct 1
New Delhi, September 26 "With the advent of the festive season, the special off-peak fares that were being offered by our airlines will now revert back to their original levels. This will apply to basic fares and will be applicable from October 1,” a spokesperson of the airlines said. The airline, however, did not quantify the increase in the statement but it is understood that fares would go up by 5 per cent. The hike will vary from sector to sector depending on the off-peak fares that were being offered, but it will not be more than 5 per cent, an airline official said, adding that this should not be considered as a hike. |
|
Rs 256-cr notice to Microsoft India
New Delhi, September 26 The department found that Microsoft India's Gurgoan unit carried out marketing activities for its India operations and not for the Singapore unit as it had claimed in its reply to a show-cause notice served by the department earlier. "We have finalised the notices which would be served very soon. The tax evasion pertains to the period from June 19, 2006 to December 12, 2007," a senior service tax official said. "The evasions and the penalty have been confirmed after departmental investigations. We had earlier served them a show-cause notice in April this year," the official said. However, when contacted Microsoft officials said they have not received any official communication from the tax department in this regard. The tax department has slapped a tax demand of Rs 128 crore and has fixed another Rs 128 crore as the penalty on the evaded amount. In another case, Microsoft had to pay about Rs 700 crore as income tax, including interest on royalty income of Rs 2,240 crore generated from sale of software in India for six years from 1999 to 2005. — PTI
|
Nabard funds for Pb, Hry NIIT in pact with BA Investor camp Kribhco profit
|
|||||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
‘India faces tough economic challenges’
