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2G auction: SC warns govt but moves deadline to Jan
Samsung loses $12 bn market value after Apple’s legal victory
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Suzuki chief visits Maruti’s violence hit Manesar plant
Rupee falls to one week low; reform worries weigh
India, China to set up joint working group to resolve trade related issues
Gold hits all-time high of
Rs 31,400, may lose glitter
Senior RBI official ticks off SBI chief on CRR
Videocon plans to make Punjab its IT hub
Stocks tank, politics exacerbate economic fears
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2G auction: SC warns govt but moves deadline to Jan
New Delhi, August 27 A bench comprising justices G.S. Singhvi and K.S. Radhakrishnan also allowed the telecom operators, who had got the 122 licenses, to continue their services till January 18 in the interest of mobile phone users. The Supreme Court passed the order after telecommunications secretary R. Chandrashekhar gave a “firm and irrevocable undertaking” that the February 2 verdict would be implemented “fully, faithfully and as expeditiously as possible.” This is the second time the Supreme Court has extended the time limit for the exercise. While canceling the licenses, it had asked the government to auction these within four months, but subsequently extended it by 90 days — till August 31. The court had cancelled the licenses on public interest litigations challenging the first-come, first-served method adopted in 2008 by the by former telecom minister A. Raja for issuing these at 2001 prices, instead of opting for auction to realize the prevailing market prices. At today’s hearing, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy and advocate Prashan Bhushan, who appeared for the government for PIL (CPIL), took strong exception to the delaying tactics adopted by the government at the behest of the telecom companies who were the “beneficiaries” of the 2008 allocation. Swamy said the government was losing heavily on account of the delay in the auction. “If the auction had been completed within the four months given by the Supreme Court at the first instance, the government would have got the enhanced revenue long back and also earned interest on it or utilized it for people’s welfare”, he argued. “In view of this, the cellular service providers that were allowed to continue their services should be asked to compensate the loss. Otherwise, the government will continue to delay the process under some pretext or the other, including possible midterm general elections”, Swamy contended. Bhushan said the government was not interested in auctioning the licenses and this was evident from the fact that it had virtually challenged the 2G verdict through the presidential reference that was being considered by a five-member Supreme Court constitution bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia. At this, the bench clarified that the answer of the constitution bench to the reference “does not have the effect of undoing this (February 2) judgment.” “In fact, the government had made it clear in the reference that it only wanted to know whether it was bound by the 2G verdict to auction other natural resources also”, the bench added. In Monday’s order, the bench also restrained all courts other than the Supreme Court from entertaining any plea relating to the auctioning of the 122 2G cellular licenses in order to prevent any delays. |
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Samsung loses $12 bn market value after Apple’s legal victory
Seoul, August 27 "There are still too many variables including the final ruling to come at least a month from the recent verdict, and whether there will be a sales ban on Samsung's main sellers such as the Galaxy S3," said a fund manager at a Korean asset management company that was one of the biggest institutional holders of Samsung's stock as of end-March. Shares in Samsung — the world's biggest technology firm by revenue — tumbled as much as 8%, its biggest daily percentage drop in nearly four years. FRIEND AND FOE: While Samsung Electronics is reeling from a patent pounding by its smartphone rival Apple Inc, this is unlikely to damage the other part of their relationship —where Samsung is the sole supplier of Apple-designed chips that power the iPhone and iPad. Apple's triumph was also seen as a blow to Google, whose Android software powers the Samsung products that were found to infringe on Apple patents. But it could help Microsoft. — Reuters
Nokia looks to gain from Samsung setback
Shares in mobile phone firm Nokia leapt 10% on Monday on hopes it can benefit from a setback to rival Samsung, which has lost a high-profile court case to Apple that could lead to an injunction against some of its products. "In addition to Apple, we name Microsoft and Nokia as the main beneficiaries from this outcome," said Nordea analyst Sami Sarkamies. Shares in Nokia were 10.2% higher at 2.746 euros by 0835 GMT. Microsoft's European-listed shares were 1.6% higher. Nokia and its software partner Microsoft have been struggling to win ground from Samsung's Android-powered smartphones which lead the market. Nokia has been fighting for survival after losing vast ground to Apple and Samsung. |
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Suzuki chief visits Maruti’s violence hit Manesar plant
New Delhi, August 27 "He (Suzuki) also visited the powertrain facility at the Manesar unit apart from meeting the employees who were injured in the violence," the source said. Top officials of Maruti Suzuki India, including MD & CEO Shinzo Nakanishi and COO (production) M.M. Singh, are understood to have accompanied Suzuki during his Manesar plant visit. During his week-long trip in India, Suzuki has already met employees at the Gurgaon plant apart from calling on the Gujarat and Haryana chief ministers. — PTI |
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Rupee falls to one week low; reform worries weigh
Mumbai, August 27 on overseas investors and measures to attract foreign direct investments. Both are seen key to narrow India's record annualized current account deficit. But opposition lawmakers have stalled parliament over the state auditor's report over coal block allocations to private companies, preventing passage of any legislation. Trading volumes were muted as London markets were closed for a public holiday. Dealers said month-end oil demand from refiners kept the dollar bid, with some short-covering pushing the rupee lower in late trading. |
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India, China to set up joint working group to resolve trade related issues
New Delhi, August 27
Addressing reporters after the consultations, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma announced India and China will set up a joint working group soon to address all their trade related issues including trade data reconciliation. Sharma said that given the tough global economic situation there is a need for India and China, two of the largest economies to work together. He said manufacturing and investments on both sides should be increased and added that the there has been a positive response from the Chinese side on investing in the National Investment & Manufacturing Zone. He stated the joint working group will be established soon and it will give its recommendations and assessments in 90 days. It has also been agreed to work on a five-year plan on economic ties, which was proposed by his Chinese counterpart, Chen Deming. Deming said as the global economy was slowing down there was a need for strengthening India-China economic relationship. He also expressed hope of achieving the US $100 billion bilateral trade target by 2013. The two countrues also raised several issue on either side that are hampering trade and investments. While Sharma raised concerns over widening trade deficit in favour of China and restricted market access in areas such as IT, pharmaceuticals and agricultural products, Deming raised issues pertaining to visas and the recent import duty hike on power equipment by India. According to the provisional data, the trade deficit of $39.65 billion was in China's favour. Clarifying on the issue of import duty on power equipment, Sharma said the Planning Commission had recommended that there should be a level playing field for the non-mega power projects and the mega power projects. “This had been done also to address the issue of domestic manufacturers in this sector, who have to higher duties and higher interest rates”, he added. However, he added that substantial orders have gone to Chinese companies nad out of the overall power generation orders for more than 44,300 megawatts have been placed for the Chinese equipment manufacturers. Deming also asked Indian businessmen to participate in the fairs and exhibitions in China in order to increase their exports and also said Indian companies should be more proactive in investing in China.
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Gold hits all-time high of
Rs 31,400, may lose glitter
New Delhi, August 27 In global markets, gold rose to a four-month high on speculation that central banks from the US to China will act to spur economic growth and investment holdings in the metal climbed to record, supporting its rally here. Back home, gold of 99.9% and 99.5% purity rose by Rs 100 each to Rs 31,400 and Rs 31,200 per 10 grams, respectively. Sovereign rose by Rs 100 to Rs 24,800 per 8 gms. Meanwhile, Indian gold prices are likely to touch a new high this week, but could witness a correction in the next couple of sessions, giving traders in the futures market a good buying opportunity. "Gold and silver both could first correct lower in the initial part of the week. But, could resume higher after the correction towards the end of the week when some Federal Reserve members are expected to speak again on quantitative easing," said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, director with Commtrendz Research. — PTI/Reuters |
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Senior RBI official ticks off SBI chief on CRR
Chennai, August 27 Answering a question on SBI chief Pratip K. Chaudhuri’s recent comments on phasing out the cash reserve ratio, RBI deputy governor K.C. Chakrabarty said: "If the SBI chairman isn’t able to do business as per our regulatory environment, he has to find some other place." Chaudhuri had said CRR — a percentage of deposits that banks have to maintain with RBI — has been unfairly imposed on the banks while so such restriction is there on insurance firms, NBFCs and mutual funds. He had also said the RBI did not pay any interest on the CRR maintained by the banks. Chakrabarty was at the Great Lakes Institute of Management to participate in the financial conference on systemic risks. — IANS
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Videocon plans to make Punjab its IT hub
Chandigarh, August 27 Videocon plans to invest Rs 1000 crore in its operations across Punjab. Besides the call centre and IT hub, these funds would also go for strengthening its telecom business here. It plans to add 1,200-1,500 new BTS sites across Punjab to strengthen its telecom network, especially in the rural areas. Videocon MD R.N. Dhoot said the firm’s IT hub will be set up in Mohali as it was convinced of the good human resources in the IT sector there. “We’ll be moving the entire IT operations of the Videocon group here. Though we’ve a IT hub in Chennai we’re setting up the new hub in Mohali and all future expansions will be done here, and all service delivery platforms and MNP network will be here,” he said. The company will also be setting up a multilingual call centre in Jalandhar. “Being the educational hub in Punjab, we’re assured of a good manpower. The integrated centre will have Tamil, Punjabi, Hindi, English speaking people to support its millions of telecom customers. Initially, the call centre will have 500 seats but will expand as the need arises,” Dhoot added. Answering querries about the company’s proposal to set up a power plant in Punjab, he said the project could not take off because of nonavailability of both land and coal linkage. “Our application to get a 1,000 acre land is pending with the state government for the past five years. Our application for coal linkage is also pending with the coal ministry," he said, adding that for the time being this project was shelved. The firm had announced its plan to set up a coal based power project in 2010, having a generation capacity of 1,000 MW. Earlier, during a seminar organized by industry chamber Assocham, Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal urged Videocon to raise its investments in the state from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1,500 crore.
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Stocks tank, politics exacerbate economic fears
Mumbai, August 27/REU
Growth is weakening at a time when controversy over coal concessions has paralysed parliament, leading to increased calls for action via executive decisions, although the government also faces steep disagreements within its own ruling coalition. The RBI has also pushed the government to cut spending and pass policy reforms, as the central bank is reluctant to cut interest rates given its concerns about inflation. "We’ve lost any hope on any reform measures being implemented through the current monsoon session of Parliament due to political impasse," said G. Chokkalingam, executive director & CIO of Centrum Wealth Management. "However, we’re still living on the last leg of hope that the government will implement whatever it can do once the current monsoon session of Parliament is over." The Sensex fell 0.59% to 17,678.81, marking its third losing session in four. The 50-share Nifty declined 0.68% to 5,350.25. — Reuters
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Samsung Electronics shares slumped 7.5 per cent on Monday, wiping more than $12 billion off the South Korean giant's market value, as a sweeping victory for Apple Inc in a US patent lawsuit raised concerns about its smartphone business — its biggest cash cow.
Chairman of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp Osamu Suzuki on Monday visited the violence-hit Manesar plant of the company's Indian arm.
According to a company source, Suzuki inspected the plant, which was damaged during arson and violence on July 18 in which one senior Maruti Suzuki India official was killed and 100 others injured, in the afternoon.
The partially convertible rupee closed at 55.69/70 per US dollar as per the SBI closing rate, compared to its 55.4950/5050 close on Friday, marking its second consecutive fall and its lowest close since August 20. — Reuters
At the ninth session of the India-China Joint Group on economic relations, trade, science and technology here, the two countries also agreed to work on a five-year plan for furthering economic cooperation. 
The metal has gained Rs 860 in the last six trading sessions. However, silver lacked necessary buying support and declined by Rs 100 to Rs 57,700 per kg.
Silver ready fell Rs 100 to Rs 57,700/kg, while weekly-based delivery spurted by Rs 1,000 to Rs 58,200/kg on speculative buying. Silver coins plunged by Rs 1,000 to Rs 72,000 for buying and Rs 73,000 for selling per 100 pieces.
India is due to report April-June growth numbers on Friday as analysts, including Citigroup and CLSA, have recently cut their growth estimates for the fiscal year ending in March to a decade low of around 5.5 percent.