Mysore, September 15
Infosys is a "stunning reminder" of what talent, ingenuity and hard work can accomplish, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi said today.

"You have shown to India and the world that an Indian company can not only be world class, but be ahead of the rest of the world", the Congress president said after inaugurating the company's Global Education Centre-II here.

She said Infosys' success, India's second largest software exporter, should not be measured in dollars alone, but in terms of the difference it makes in transforming the society.

On the Indian IT industry, Gandhi said the success of Infosys, Wipro and TCS and so many other companies has changed the lives of millions of Indians and propelled the country's economy to a record-breaking growth.

Gandhi also spoke of the enabling environment created by the Government to promote the growth of IT companies.

Recalling the groundwork laid down by her husband Rajiv Gandhi for the revolution in communication and IT, she said that Rajiv faced "bitter political opposition" to his vision, not just in introduction of computers; his greater challenge was on "mind-shift" of people in terms of accepting new ideas.

Gandhi said Infosys stands today as the embodiment of the climate of opportunity that was created earlier in India and was strengthened in recent years.

What was admirable was that Infosys' success carried with it an ethics of social responsibility and the firm was generous in sharing profits with its employees and the public at large, she said.

Infosys' Global Education Centre (both centres here) is the largest corporate education centre in the world, the company said, noting its infrastructure and size of operations.

Located in the 337 acre Infosys Mysore campus, the total capacity of the Centre has been enhanced to educate 14,000 employees.

Infosys' total investment in the Mysore campus is Rs 2,055 crore, of which Rs 350 crore has been invested in construction of software development blocks and related services and Rs 1,705 crore on education and training-related infrastructure, the Nasdaq-listed firm said.

"In 2008-09, more than 16,000 new entrants were trained, and this financial year around 16,000 more are expected to be trained through this (foundation) programme", the company's Chairman and chief nentor, NR Narayana Murthy said. — PTI

Chennai, September 15
Amid merger talks between Bharti and MTN, the government today said it is examining the issue of dual listing of the South African firm as per the Indian laws.

“There is a provision for dual listing of companies. But whether this can be done under the existing laws of India has to being examined,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here.

“The South African minister met me at the G-20 finance ministers’ meet and there I suggested to him that this arrangement is to be looked into in the Indian context,” he said.

Bharti and MTN are in talks since June this year in a share swap deal which will lead to a merger at a later stage creating a $23 billion entity with over 200 million subscribers.

When contacted, a Bharti spokesperson said the company had nothing to add beyond its earlier statement. Asked if Bharti would approach the Finance Ministry for clarity on dual listing of shares and if there was a possibility of talks being extended beyond September 30, the spokesperson said: “We are still in talks”.

According to sources, the South African telecom regulator has said there was no surety if the deal would be approved by it before the year ends. This, however, could not be confirmed. — PTI

Chandigarh, September 15
Telecom major Reliance Communications (RCom), an arm of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is at an advanced level of talks with Atom Technologies, a Financial Technologies’ group company, for payment gateway agreement.

According to sources, this is a part of RCom’s thrust to enable new revenue streams from mCommerce.

The pact with Atom Technologies will offer RCom a ready platform to offer mobile-enabled transactions across Indian and foreign banking institutions.

Through this agreement, RCom will offer a fast, secure, inter-operable and convenient platform to conclude payment transactions using Reliance Mobile. Atom will offer RCom multiple banks (Indian and foreign) as well as merchants on a common platform, thereby allowing its subscribers to make payments across all these merchandise. The subscribers will be able to purchase insurance services, DTH recharges, movie tickets, books and periodicals, consumer goods, holiday packages as well as bus and train tickets using their mobile.

Atom currently has over 100 merchants registered for mCommerce transactions. Reliance Mobile is designing its mCommerce service to support guest as well as registered users to conclude payment transactions. The transactions are secure and PIN protected.

RCom is currently developing a series of applications as part of its mCommrce thrust. It will leverage its agreement with Atom Technologies to drive mCommerce transactions across both its GSM and CDMA networks.

The company is eyeing a revenue of over Rs 800 crore over the next three years from mCommerce transactions. While mCommerce is in nascent stage in India, it is slated to boom over the next few years with growing sophistication and lower prices of mobile handsets.

Currently, users of mCommerce perform a variety of transactions via mobile ranging from paying for utility bill and movie tickets to shopping and holidays.

When contacted, a RCom spokesperson declined to comment.

New Delhi, September 15
Following fare reduction by Jet Airways, national flag carrier Air India has cut fares by 20-46 per cent on certain flights on select domestic routes for travel up to September 18.

Air India will charge an all-inclusive fare of Rs 2,729 on eight flights from Mumbai to Delhi and seven flights from Delhi to Mumbai till September 18. Similarly, the carrier will charge Rs 3,229 on two flights each on Delhi-Bangalore and Bangalore-Delhi routes.

The fare on three flights from Delhi to Chennai and two flights from Chennai to Delhi would be Rs 3,079.

The carrier will charge Rs 1,929 for all flights between Delhi and Srinagar and Rs 3,079 for all flights between Nagpur and Mumbai.

On two flights from Kolkata to Mumbai, the all-inclusive fare would be Rs 3,529 for the period.

For all flights between Delhi and Hyderabad, the fare would be Rs 3,329.

The bookings under the offer would continue till September 17, according to the airline.

Jet Airways, in an effort to woo back passengers after an agitation by its pilots, has slashed airfares by 50 per cent on Sunday for travel up to September 18. — PTI

New Delhi, September 15
The Reserve Bank today said the soft monetary policy adopted by it to counter the impact of the global financial meltdown on the country will continue till the economic recovery is secured.

"Especially on monetary policy, we will not exit unless we are sure that recovery is secured ...but soon thereafter when we make the judgement that the recovery is secured, we have to unwind the accommodative monetary policy," RBI Governor D Subbarao said here.

However, the Governor added, the government and the RBI will have to take a call on exiting from stimuli given for perking up the slowing down economy sooner than most of the countries.

He said RBI will look at number of factors like WPI inflation, CPI inflation, components within inflation, industrial growth and credit expansion while unwinding the soft monetary policies.

"This question of exit will be upon us much sooner than most of the country. We have to take a call on supporting the recovery and stemming inflationary pressure," he said.

Pointing out that negative WPI inflation is statistical in nature, Subaarao said, "there are inflationary pressure this fiscal ...and CPI inflation is in double digit".

Subbarao said he expects WPI inflation at 5.2 per cent plus by the end of the current fiscal.

Earlier, Finance Minister Pranab Mukerhee had said time has not yet come to withdraw stimulus packages provided to industries to combat the impact of the global crisis.

Even Finance Ministers and central bank governors at the recent G-20 meeting in London had agreed to continue the stimulus meaures. — PTI

Ludhiana, September 15
In the absence of buyers for the yellow metal and because of direct selling and purchase of gold in commodity market, jewellers in the region have begun floating lucrative offers to woo customers.

Not only small-scale jewellers but also several big brands have had to close down their outlets in the recent past due to the ongoing slump in demand.

To overcome the losses, several jewellers have started offering discounts on labour and polish charges of gold ornaments.

Amit Dhanda of Krishna Sons Jewellers here said as gold has touched an all-time high rate of Rs 16,030 per 10 grams (24 carat), it has become to find any buyers. “I have decided to do away with labour and polish charges, which otherwise is between Rs 60 and 70 per gram. This offer will continue after the navratras also,” he said.

On the same sentiment, Jatin Kanwar of Janak Raj Kanwar Saraf Jewellers, Gurdaspur, said the business had seen a decline of up to 40 per cent in the past few months. “There are virtually no buyers in the market. These days, gold ornaments are purchased for wedding purposes only. Customers demand sets weighing between 20 and 30 gram as even a lightweight set costs about Rs 55,000. Selling and purchase of gold in commodity market has added to the setback to jewellers,” said Kanwar.

Anand Sekri, president of the Ludhiana Jewellers Association, said many big brands had already closed their outlets in city and many jewellers in various cities had switched over to other businesses. He feared that a handful of people wanted to take over the business in a cartelised manner and the retailer had become the major sufferer.

BRIEFLY

Oil PSUs get Rs 10k cr bonds
NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday issued bonds worth over Rs 10,000 crore to three oil marketing PSUs to compensate them for the losses incurred on account of selling petroleum products below market price. While bonds worth Rs 6,207.06 were issued to Indian Oil Corporation, Rs 2,033.99 crore worth bonds were given to Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Rs 2,065.28 crore bonds were given to Bharat Petroleum Corp. The Government of India Special Bonds carry coupon rate of 8.20 per cent and would mature in 2024. — PTI

ATF prices slashed by 3.2 pc
NEW DELHI: State-run oil firms have slashed jet fuel prices by 3.2 per cent in line with the softening international rates. “The average reduction works out to Rs 1,285 per kl and will be effective midnight tonight," an official in Indian Oil Corp said on Tuesday. ATF in the Capital will cost Rs 37,897 per kl against Rs 39,118 per kl currently. — PTI

Max Life pension plan
Chandigarh: Max New York Life on Tuesday launched a unit-linked pension plan 'The Smart Invest Pension Plus'. It offers accelerated accumulation option through limited pay and no allocation charges from the first year onwards and all subsequent years, the company said in a statement here. The plan also gives up to 300 per cent of the premium as maturity bonus depending upon the term of the plan. — TNS

SC notice to Tata Tele
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to Tata Teleservices on a TRAI plea challenging a TDSAT order that had allowed the telecom company to utilise more than Rs 1.73 crore it had allegedly collected in excess from consumers to repay its acess deficit charges to BSNL. A bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir also restrained Tata Tele from withdrawing the amount, lying in an escrow account. — PTI

Unitech Wireless raises Rs 5,000 crore
NEW DELHI: Unitech Wireless, joint venture between realty major Unitech and Norway’s Telenor, has raised Rs 5,000 crore as loan from SBI to finance the roll-out of its network, as the firm will be launching mobile services in next three months. The company is gearing up for launch in December and has more than 900 employees on board with more than 1,200 shortlisted distributors. — PTI

Avaya to buy Nortel's biz
Toronto/New Delhi: The US-based Avaya Inc has agreed to acquire the troubled Canadian equipment maker Nortel's enterprise business unit for $915 million. Internet protocol-based communication company Avaya beat out Siemens Enterprise Communications for the Toronto-based telecom equipment vendor's enterprise business. — PTI

Children's heart centre
Chandigarh: Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute has launched Children's Heart Centre in Mumbai. This is the first of its kind centre with the most advanced tertiary care facility. It is designed to raise India's global standing as a healthcare hub, with emphasis on excellence in clinical services, diagnostic facilities and research. — TNS