New Delhi, February 29
There are now serious concerns on the slowdown in the Indian economy as the GDP growth figures for the September-December 2011 quarter came in a paltry 6.1 per cent, the lowest since the Lehman crisis that shook the global economy in 2009.

The economy has given mixed signals in the last few months with some green shoots being seen on inflation, foreign institutional investor inflows, stock markets, the rupee and policy action picking up.

However, the figures come as a dampener as they are well below estimates. It is clear the lag effect of problems seen last year of low investor confidence resulting in low investment, high inflation and high interest rates and policy inaction are playing out. The surprise is that GDP growth is now at the level seen during the Lehman crisis when the world economy was in a reset mode though the situation has improved since.

According to Crisil Research, GDP growth decelerated to a low of 6.1% in the third quarter of fiscal 2012, raising fresh concerns about the growth slowdown. Industrial sector continues to be the main laggard and grew at an anemic rate of 2.6% due to falling domestic demand and faltering global recovery.

It said the magnitude of moderation has been a bit of surprise because advance estimates released earlier had pegged FY12 growth at 6.9%.

According to FICCI, it would be ironical if GDP growth in 2011-2012 goes below 6.8%, would be lower than in the crisis that was achieved in 2008-09 — the year of the post Lehman crisis.

“Growth in gross fixed capital formation has now been negative for the last two quarters year-on-year. This is a particularly disturbing trend as it indicates the loss of investor’s confidence”, FICCI said.

The growth would have been even lower, the chamber said, but for the remarkable high rate of growth of the services sector which has achieved nearly 9% growth in this quarter. This is unlikely to continue as underlying trends in manufacturing, industry and agriculture have weakened considerably.

ICICI Bank’s treasury research division said in a note the Indian economy was on the brink of registering one of the slowest growth rates since the Lehman crisis in FY2009. It said this slowdown was on expected lines as most of the leading indicators such as cellular connections, cargo traffic and vehicle sales — both commercial and passenger — were showing a sharp decline in growth as compared to last year.

The note said the Indian economy is staring at a significant growth moderation over this fiscal year and attainment of a close to 7% year on year growth looks to be a challenge unless the last quarter growth executes a strong rebound.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said excise duties should not be raised in the upcoming FY13 budget. Without yielding any extra revenue for the government, such a step would further hurt the manufacturing sector.

New Delhi, February 29
Tata Teleservices Ltd has moved the Supreme Court seeking a review of the judgment canceling its cellular licenses allotted for the 2G spectrum in three circles in 2008 when A. Raja was the telecommunications minister.

The company had earlier contended that it had applied for these licenses more than 18 months before the licensing process had begun.

In its February 2 judgment, the court cancelled as many as 122 licenses granted in 2008 and directed the government to auction these.

The Supreme Court had clarified that the cancellation of the 122 licenses embedded with the 2G spectrum “shall become operative after four months” by when the proposed auctions would have been through.

The court had delivered the judgment on public interest litigations filed by three NGOs — the Centre for PIL (CPIL), Lok Satta and Common Cause — and Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy.

Tata Teleservices was granted licences for three telecom circles in Assam, the northeastern region and Jammu & Kashmir. 

New Delhi, February 29
The government will not challenge the Supreme Court decision to cancel 122 2G cellular licences, telecom secretary R. Chandrashekhar said Wednesday .

While reports had been floating that the government was looking to make a presidential reference in the public interest on the cancellation of the 122 licences issued during the tenure of former telecom minister A. Raja, the official announcement from the telecom secretary came at the sidelines of a industry function here.

When asked specifically about the government’s move on the cancellation of the licences which has affected the working of some of the startup firms, Chandrashekhar said: “We aren’t looking at challenging the cancellation of the licences per se. “By the end of this week we expect to be able to take key decisions on.all the legal options that are on the table at this point,” he added”.

The government has one month from the date of the Supreme Court’s judgement, which came on February 2, to file a review petition. If it does not, then it will seek a presidential reference on the ruling.

New Delhi, February 29
Beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines cannot be closed down just because it is making losses and banks are not helping it out with funds, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said Wednesday.

"You can't close down a company because it’s making losses or banks aren’t giving it money. As long as passenger safety isn’t jeopardized, as long as it keeps its schedule, why should we close down any airline?" Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters.

He was responding to a question from reporters whether the government would take stringent action against Kingfisher if it flouted rules. His comments came even as the Vijay Mallya-owned carrier was asked by its bankers to infuse fresh equity on its own before they lent it additional funds. — TNS/Agencies

San Francisco, Calif., Feb 29
Yahoo Inc demanded licensing fees from Facebook for use of its technology, the companies said on Monday, potentially engulfing social media in the patent battles and lawsuits raging across much of the tech sector.

Yahoo has asserted claims on patents that include the technical mechanisms in the Facebook's ads, privacy controls, news feed and messaging service, according to a source briefed on the matter.

Representatives from the two companies met on Monday and the talks involved 10 to 20 of Yahoo's patents, said the source, who was not aware of what specific dollar demands Yahoo may have made for licenses.

Yahoo did not elaborate in an emailed statement on details of its discussions with Facebook, but indicated it would not flinch at taking the social networking giant to court over its patents.

Yahoo said other companies have already licensed some of the technologies at issue, and that it would act unilaterally if Facebook refused to pay for a patent license. "Yahoo has a responsibility to its shareholders, employees and other stakeholders to protect its intellectual property," the company said. The meeting between the two companies was first reported by the New York Times.

A Facebook spokesman said: "Yahoo contacted us at the same time they called the NYT and so we haven't had the opportunity to fully evaluate their claims."

Should Yahoo wind up suing Facebook, it would mark the first major legal battle among technology giants in the social media sphere and a major escalation of patent litigation that has already swept up the smartphone and tablet sectors and high-tech stalwarts such as Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Motorola Mobility.

Yahoo's patent claims follow Facebook's announcement of plans for an initial public offering that could value the company at about $100 billion.

Several social networking companies, including Facebook, have seen an uptick in patent claims asserted against them as they move through the IPO process. — Reuters

Chandigarh, February 29
Small and medium enterprises in India will continue to fuel the growth story for Bangalore-based business management software provider Tally Solutions Ltd. Buoyant about the Indian growth story, the company is looking at increasing its presence across all small markets so as to reach out to all businesses — manufacturing, retail and services sector.

By expanding its reach across all geographies, the company is also hopeful of curtailing the largely unlicensed and unauthorized use of its software. By keeping its prices constant, Tally is aiming at gaining acceptance for its original software, and weaning away users from using the unlicensed versions.

Tally Solutions president Avinash Gupta told The Tribune for the past three years the firm had been using a two pronged strategy of increasing its presence and remaining cost effective to bring down unlicensed usage of its software. “We’ve managed to bring it down from 10: 1 (for every one licensed user, there were 10 unlicensed users) to 7: 3. As part of this strategy, we’ve engaged 20,000 Tally partners across the country,” he said.

The company claims to have 2 million users in 103 countries. “We hope to end this fiscal with a turnover of Rs 450 crore against Rs 220 crore last year. In the coming fiscal we;ve targeted a growth of 300 per cent,” he said, adding while 4 million SMEs had adopted IT solutions, the number is expected to double in the next three years.

Gupta said other than the domestic market the firm was also working on strengthening its presence in the Middle East and Africa.