New Delhi, November 8
The Eurozone crisis has begun biting Indian exports which grew year-on-year by 10.8 per cent to $19.9 billion in October, the lowest in the last two years, according to preliminary data released today.

Being pushed by expensive crude oils and vegetable oils, imports grew at a faster rate of 21.7 per cent to $39.5 billion leaving a trade deficit of $19.6 billion - the highest ever in any month in the last four years.

From a peak of 82 per cent in July, export growth has been slipping to 44.25 per cent in August, 36.36 per cent in September and 10.8 per cent in October.

"In any sector, it is the lowest in the last three months, deceleration is uniform," Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told reporters here.

But, for the cumulative April-October period, exports aggregated to $179.8 billion showing a handsome growth of 46 per cent, thanks to sterling trend witnessed in the previous months of the current fiscal.

"The picture is not going to be rosy for the next six months," he said.

Steady rise of 31 per cent in imports for the seven-month period to $273.5 billion has left trade gap widening to $93.7 billion.

"Balance of Trade is something to be very worried about because at this rate, it is going to breach $150 billion mark (for 2011-12)," Khullar said.

The sectors which depend heavily on the European markets have been hit hard. The electronic goods, bunch of which goes to Europe, have shown a deceleration of 18 per cent in October. "Clearly, that is where the growth has contracted ...effect of what is happening there". The export growth has been the lowest since October 2009 when it contracted by 6.6 per cent.

During October, several exporting sectors registered a decline in growth. Engineering and petroleum exports grew by only 2.6 per cent and 9.4 per cent to $4.4 billion and $9.4 billion, respectively.

Khullar said, "clearly you are having difficult autumn." Echoing his views, Director General of the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) Ajay Sahai said: "We are now getting to a tough situation...the dip (in growth) is quite sharp. We feel the challenge in Eurozone will bring difficult times." However, for April-October period picture looks better.

Engineering grew by 89.6 per cent, petroleum - 51 per cent, gems and jewellery - 31 per cent, electronics - 50 per cent, drugs and pharmaceuticals - 32 per cent and ready-made garments by 31 per cent.

During the period, imports expanded by 31 per cent. Under the influence of rising crude oil prices imports went up by 41 per cent to $81.9 billion. — PTI

Mumbai, November 8
India's No. 2 carrier Kingfisher Airlines, controlled by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, plans to cancel 31 flights daily till November 19, including four international flights to Bangkok, the Mint newspaper reported, citing an unnamed airline official.

The cash-strapped carrier, which has not reported a profit ever since it got listed and has undergone debt restructuring once, has decided to cancel 27 domestic flights, the paper said, without specifying a reason.

The cancellations include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad routes, the report said.

About a dozen of Kingfisher's aircraft are already out of service because of maintenance and other issues, the report said.

Kingfisher had cancelled around 20 flights from Delhi on Monday, due to lack of aircraft, a Delhi airport official who declined to be named, told Reuters.

Kingfisher Airlines officials and a spokesman were not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.

On October 13, the airline had faced a disruption in flights after state-run oil marketer HPCL temporarily halted fuel supplies, citing non-payment of dues.

Last week, Kingfisher said it has sought further cushion from banks to ease its debt burden, but denied it was seeking another debt restructuring. Shares in Kingfisher, valued at about $240 million, have lost 64 per cent of its value so far this year. — Reuters

New Delhi, November 8
Indirect tax collection in October dropped by 2.5 per cent to Rs 30,278 crore mainly on account of a slowing economy and cut in customs and excise duties on petroleum products a few months back.

Indirect tax revenue comprising customs, excise and service tax was at Rs 31,058 crore in October 2010.

Realisations from customs dropped by 11.6 per cent in October to Rs 11,357 crore, from Rs 12,849 crore in the year-ago period, Finance Ministry sources said.
The central excise collection dropped 5.3 per cent to Rs 10,527 crore from Rs 11,120 crore in October 2010.

In June, the government had slashed customs and central excise duties to provide a relief to consumers from the hike in petrol prices that month. The cut meant an annual loss of Rs 49,000 crore to the central exchequer.

The decline in the total indirect tax collection in October would have been much sharper but for the 18.4 per cent growth in realisation from service tax, the sources said.

Service tax collection during the month rose to Rs 8,394 crore from Rs 7,089 crore in October 2010.

However, during April-October period, the indirect tax collection showed 17.8 per cent increase to Rs 2.01 lakh crore from Rs 1.70 lakh crore during the corresponding period in the last financial year.

The increase during the first seven months of the current fiscal was on account of higher collection from customs, central excise and service tax which rose by 16.6 per cent, 10.6 per cent and 33.6 per cent, respectively. — PTI 

New Delhi, November 8
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power today posted a net profit of Rs 235.48 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, a marginal rise over a profit of Rs 234.80 crore in the same period last year.

Total income of the company jumped 46 per cent at Rs 751 crore, compared to Rs 512 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year, Reliance Power said.

New Delhi, November 8
Mukesh Ambani-owned Infotel has acquired 38.5 per cent stake in digital learning solutions firm Extramarks Education, a move that will help Reliance Industries (RIL) to strengthen its content pipeline as it looks to launch its broadband services soon.

Infotel Broadband Services has acquired 38.5 per cent stake in Extramarks Education and the investment has been made through an affiliate company Reliance Strategic Investments for an undisclosed amount. According to sources, there will be no dilution of equity in Extramarks and RIL will infuse fresh capital.

The investment by Infotel will enable Extramarks to pursue its aggressive growth plans in further developing services and deepening market penetration. The funds will be used for executing computer-aided learning projects and new technologies.

Extramarks' digital distribution model provides students with education support and study help at affordable prices.

"The relationship with RIL is the start of an exciting phase for Extramarks. Over the last two years, we have progressed on our journey of revolutionising the domestic education sector through technology enabled smart solutions and active participation in infrastructure development," Extramarks chief Atul Kulshreshta said. — PTI

New York, November 8
Internet giant Google Inc has decided to extend its social networking service, Google Plus, for businesses and brands also, in addition to the individual users being tapped till now.

With its latest initiative, the US-based firm is looking to bring large global brands, as also local businesses, on its Google Plus platform to promote their products.

To start with, about 20 businesses such as Pepsi, Toyota and Barcelona Football club have already set up special pages on the Google Plus social network, the company said.

Dubbed as 'Google Plus Pages', the new service would help businesses create a presence on the social network platform for connecting with their users locally and worldwide.

"So far Google Plus has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about-from local businesses to global brands - So today we' re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide," Google senior VP (engineering) Vic Gundotra, wrote in a blog post.— PTI

New Delhi, November 8
Riding high on increased profits from India, world’s largest mobile phone operator Vodafone today announced that the group revenue was up 4.1 per cent to £23.5 billion, or 2.2 per cent on an organic basis.

An 18.4 per cent service revenue growth in India also helped Vodafone to improve its full-year outlook.

Announcing the half-yearly results, Vodafone said while service revenue grew by 18.4 per cent, there was a 25.5 per cent increase in the customer base in India.

While there was a 66.1 per cent growth in data revenue, growth also benefited from operators starting to charge for SMS termination.

As of September, Vodafone in India had 27.5 million subscribers, a year-on-year increase of 142 per cent.

Vodafone said whilst the market remains highly competitive, the effective rate per minute is stabilising as operators increase headline voice tariffs and focus on promotional offers.

Its EBITDA in India grew by 14.8 per cent driven by the increase in revenue and economies of scale, partially offset by higher customer acquisition costs and increased interconnection costs.

Besides India, Vodafone results were also boosted by robust performances in Germany and Britain. Growth in Turkey inevitably slowed but remained solid.

Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao said, "Although we remain mindful of the uncertain economic outlook, we are confident that we have the right strategy and capabilities to continue to perform consistently through top line growth, cost efficiency, investment and cash generation".

Vodafone moved its outlook for full-year adjusted operating profit to the top end of its range, predicting profits of between £11.4 billion and £11.8 billion compared with an earlier forecast of £11 billion to £11.8 billion. The group posted first half revenue up 4.1 per cent to £23.5 billion and core earnings up 2.3 per cent to £7.5 billion.

The group however, was still facing tough conditions in Italy, where service revenue fell three per cent in the second quarter from -1.5 in the first, and Spain, where it has struggled in a weak economy for several years.

San Francisco, November 8
A German court granted a preliminary injunction against Apple Inc in a patent infringement case that banned the California company from selling some devices in Germany.

But the ruling should not impact Apple's sales in Germany as the company sells all its product there through a local subsidiary, which was not covered by the injunction. The district court in Mannheim, Germany, said on Friday Apple may not sell certain mobile devices in Germany that infringe on two Motorola Mobility patents related to wireless technology. If Apple does sell the devices, it has to pay a fine of up to 250,000 euros, according to the court.

"This is a procedural issue and has nothing to do with the merits of the case," Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said on Monday. "It does not affect our ability to sell products or do business in Germany at this time." Motorola Mobility is in the process of being acquired by Internet search giant Google Inc, which is also a major player in the mobile market through its Android operating system.

Apple is already embroiled in multiple patent infringement battles with rival mobile handset makers - primarily against Samsung Electronics - in the US and other countries.

Apple has scored preliminary injunctions against some Samsung products in Germany and the Netherlands, and is seeking to block sales of Samsung models in the US, the key smartphone battleground — Reuters

Chandigarh, November 8
A unique cost-effective water purification plant run on solar energy and installed by a Canadian company would be formally commissioned at Saila Khurd in the Doaba region of Punjab tomorrow.

Though the technology used in the plant has been developed by a Swiss scientist, it has been brought to India by Quick Water Solutions, a Canadian company that has business partnership with the Switzerland-based manufacturing group, Aqua Infinitum.

“We are providing an economical, free from power grid, easy to maintain water purification system that has five filters, four for ridding the water of all its biological impurities and the fifth for providing taste and smell to the purified end product,” says Jennifer Beresford, CEO of the company.

Equipment is tailored according to the individual water contamination conditions - parts per million of total dissolved solids and requires virtually no maintenance.

The Saila Khurd plant installed in collaboration with the Village Improvement Plan (VIP) of the Indo-Canadian Village Improvement Trust, will produce 10,000 litres of purified water every day.

For the first two years, she says, the plant needs no maintenance. But in the third year, it will need replacement of its filters.

Talking about the cost, Hjennifer Beresford said it would cost around 6.5 paise to produce a litre of purified potable water against much higher cost of other technologies being used in Punjab.