New Delhi, April 23
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma during his ongoing Bangladesh visit said private sector investment from India to Bangladesh to the tune of $3.5 billion is in the pipeline.

He said increased Indian investments in Bangladesh will provide employment and value addition for Bangladesh exports to the rest of the world.

Trade between the two countries has gone up in recent years. Bangladesh exports have increased six times in the last few years. In the first three quarters of the current year, it has reached the level of $359 million, which is higher than the exports of $304 million last year.

India and Bangladesh agreed to take further steps to promote trade and economic cooperation. India has offered a tariff-free quota of 10 million pieces of apparel exports from Bangladesh, marking an increase of 25 per cent over previous years. Countervailing duties was lifted on all jute exports from Bangladesh.

On the anvil is strengthening of infrastructure at the Borders, including construction of land custom stations and integrated check posts, particularly at Petrapole and Agartala, such that trade is facilitated. A working group on infrastructure will coordinate implementation.

India welcomed the submission of DPRs by the Bangladesh side for infrastructure projects under the $1 billion LOC.

These projects are expected to be implemented shortly. India has offered assistance in the construction of the bridge over river Feni, including the 
construction of the connecting road on the Bangladesh side.

The Indian side renewed its offer to export 3,00,000 tonnes of par-boiled rice to Bangladesh and finalise options for lifting of the grain at the earliest.

It has also welcomed the offer of use of Chittagong and Mongola ports and noted that this will provide tremendous benefit for trade and development of Bangladesh and the North-East of India. India is awaiting Bangladesh’s response to the draft modalities that have been proposed. 

Washington, April 23
As many as 57 Indian companies, including Reliance Industries, State Bank of India and Oil & Natural Gas Corp. figure in The Forbes Global 2000 list of public companies based on their rankings for sales, profits, assets and market value.

Reliance with sales of $45.3 billion is ranked 121st in the list with three public State Bank of India Group (136, $29.1 billion), Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (172, 22.6 billion) and Indian Oil (243, $52.1 billion) taking the next three places among the Indian firms.

Other companies in India's top ten were ICICI Bank (288, $13.2 billion), NTPC (348, $10.8 billion), Coal India (418, $10.4 billion), Bharti Airtel (453, $9.3 billion), Larsen & Toubro (499, $9.8 billion) and Tata Motors (512, $20.2 billion).

JP Morgan Chase is in the top spot for the second consecutive year as the world's largest company followed by HSBC, up six spots fuelled by a 121 percent growth in profits in the past fiscal year.

In total, the Global 2000 companies now account for $32 trillion in revenues, $2.4 trillion in profits, $138 trillion in assets and $38 trillion in market value. These firms also employ 80 million people worldwide.

The Asia-Pacific region led The Global 2000 again this year with 701 companies, including the most additions (11) to the list of the regions - Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa-EMEA, the Americas and the US - with doubled profits, by far the biggest increase.

The biggest profit centre was China, as 121 companies, including PetroChina, ICBC and Sinopec, returned an aggregate profit of $168 billion. Japan and South Korea also showed impressive gains in profits and assets.

With the US economy back on its feet, growing at a steady 3 percent clip over the past 12 months, American firms on The Forbes Global 2000 are growing far faster.

Total sales were up 12 percent in 2010 over 2009, and profits continue to rise-up 69 percent, versus 56 percent for the S&P 500.

Still, the US grip on The Global 2000 has been slipping since 2004, when the number of US constituents was 751. It's now 536. The US still accounts for the most firms among the top 100 with 28. — IANS

* Reliance with sales of $45.3 billion 
* State Bank of India Group with $29.1 bn
* Oil & Natural Gas Corp. with $22.6 bn
* Indian Oil with $52.1 bn
* ICICI Bank with $13.2 bn 
* NTPC with $10.8 bn
* Coal India with $10.4 bn
* Bharti Airtel with $9.3 bn
* Larsen & Toubro with $9.8 bn
* Tata Motors with $20.2 bn

Panaji, April 23
Portugal is looking to boost its trade relations with India and is particularly keen on improving trade ties with its former colony Goa.

“Portugal is trying to work on the trade ties with India and especially Goa to make up for the existing trade deficit,” Portugal Ambassador Jorge Roza de Oliveira told PTI. He clarified that when he talks of trade deficit, he is pointing towards Portugal and not India. The trade between India and Portugal is expected to be around 500 million Euros, bulk of which is accounted for by exports from India.

“We have excellent relationship with India. We have history and culture, but there is not much trade and investment happening,” he added. He believes Portugal’s expertise in the fields of infrastructure, water and waste management and alternate energy could be shared with India.

“The trade should be above the normal things like I sell and you buy. We can come with the projects due to which social conditions are benefited. These are areas which tend to benefit everyone,” he commented.

Oliveira has already started discussion with the forums like Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) on this front. Portugal has good trade ties with its former colonies such as Brazil and Angola and is now looking at better ties with Goa in the form of trade and commerce.

Portugal has trade presence in places such as Delhi, Haryana, UP, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Karnataka and Kerala in sectors like cement, electric transformers, equipment for petrol stations, health, textile and shoe components while in Goa, it intends to trade in wine and olive oil.

“The Five Star hotels in Goa have wine from all over the world but not from Portugal, although tourism in the state benefits from symbol of Portugal and its history,” he added. Goa was ruled by Portuguese for almost 450 years, till it was liberated by Indian Army in 1961. — PTI

New Delhi, April 23
Continuing their record setting spree for the seventh straight day, silver surged by Rs 2,000 to Rs 72,000 per kg, while gold jumped by Rs 230 to Rs 22,320 
per 10 gm on speculative trade driven by an overseas rally.

Trading sentiment in the domestic market was bullish after gold advanced to $ 1,512.47 in global markets, as a weaker dollar and European debt concerns boosted the metals appeal as an alternative investment. Silver moved up by 2.1 per cent to $ 47.25 an ounce, its highest since 1980.

The dollar slid to its lowest level since August 2008 against a basket of six major currencies this week on speculation that the US Federal Reserve will be slow to raise borrowing costs.

Standard and Poor's this week cut its debt outlook for US to negative from stable. On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity jumped by Rs 230 each to Rs 22,320 and Rs 22,200 per 10 gm, respectively. Sovereign followed suit and rose by Rs 100 to a record level of Rs 18,100 per piece of eight gram.

Continuing its rally, silver ready surged by Rs 2,000 to Rs 72,000 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 2,640 to Rs 70,640 per kg. Silver coins, too, sky-rocketed and added Rs 3,000 to Rs 78,000 for buying and Rs 79,000 for selling of 100 pieces. — PTI

Mumbai, April 23
Private sector Dhanlaxmi Bank has clocked nearly 100 per cent growth in net profit for the January-March period of the past fiscal at Rs 11.20 crore.

Its profit the same period of the previous fiscal was Rs 5.6 crore. The total business during in the fourth quarter grew by a robust 78.4 per cent to Rs 21,595 crore from Rs 12,105 crore . For the whole fiscal, the profit grew 11.8 per cent growth at Rs 26.1 crore against Rs 23.3 crore in the year-ago period.

The total income rose to Rs 1,05,319 crore against Rs 62,556 crore in the previous fiscal, the bank said in a release here today. The asset-book increased by 76.4 per cent to Rs 14,268 crore as on March 31, 2011 from Rs 8,087 crore as on March 31, 2010. “FY 2011 was a year for consolidation for us. On all parameters, including important ones such as business growth, net interest margin and NPA control, it was a good year for us,” Dhanlaxmi Bank CFO Bipin Kabra told PTI. Net interest margin for the year was around 2.7 per cent which is “satisfactory”, he said.

On the outlook for FY 2012, Kabra said, “We will continue to grow,” he said, without revealing any figures. Asked if the bank is planning to raise funds soon, Kabra replied in the affirmative but without giving details. However, it is understood the bank is eyeing the GDR route to raise around Rs 500-600 crore. The bank’s loan-book witnessed a sharp growth largely on account of a greater thrust on the retail segment and diversification across regions, the release said.

The bank’s total income increased from Rs 182.4 crore in Q4 FY 10 to Rs 342.2 crore, recording a growth of 87.6 per cent. Non-interest income rose from Rs 31.9 crore to Rs 46.1 crore in Q4 FY 11, an increase of 44.3 per cent as a result of a focused thrust on fee-based business. — PTI

Helsinki, April 23
Nordic carrier Finnair Saturday said it has decided to invest, as a minority shareholder, in a new cargo airline based out of Finland to augment its current cargo capacity and to meet rising demand.

"This shareholding will provide us with additional, cost-efficient cargo capacity, thus enabling continued growth in the steadily increasing Asian freight markets," says Antero Lahtinen, Finnair's senior vice president (Cargo). — IANS