New Delhi, October 25
A day after FIPB cleared the Tata-Singapore Airlines' (SIA) airline venture, Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata and SIA chief Goh Choon Phong today met Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh exuding confidence of launching flights by May-June next year.

"We are looking at very fast clearances. We hope we will be able to launch by May-June," Tata SIA Airlines chairman Prasad Menon, who accompanied Tata and Goh, told reporters after the meeting with Singh here.

Maintaining that the entry of Tata-SIA Airlines would benefit the Indian aviation sector, the minister said SIA was globally known for its expertise in technical and managerial matters and was one of the best airlines in the world.

Asked by when the Civil Aviation Ministry would give the necessary clearances to the new carrier, Singh said, "I don't see any problems. DGCA will have to be satisfied. There are issues relating to fleet, parking space, slots and routes. It depends on how fast they (Tata-SIA) provide all those data and documents."

Complimenting the minister for "opening up the aviation sector in a really global manner", Tata said "It is our responsibility to make him proud" and the Tata Sons' airline venture with SIA was "a great opportunity" towards that end.

The meeting came a day after the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) gave its green signal to their proposal to start a full-service airline entailing an initial foreign investment of $49 million. Tata Sons will invest $100 million in the joint venture.

To a question on what kind of aircraft would the proposed airline consider flying, SIA CEO Goh and Menon said no fleet plan has yet been drawn up. "We are working on it," said Goh.

Maintaining that "the new airline will provide premium (full-frill) service", Tata said he was excited about FIPB approval and added that a lot of hard work needed to be put in to start the airline.

Asked whether they would start the airline with a few aircraft from the SIA fleet like AirAsia India was planning to do, Goh said, "We will consider it (operating flights with SIA planes till new fleet is inducted). That is a possible option." Goh and Menon said SIA would pump in money for equity infusion into the new airline joint venture.

Earlier in the day, Tata and the delegation met Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram. Yesterday, Tata and Goh had also met Finance Minister P Chidambaram after the FIPB cleared the venture. — PTI

Mumbai, October 25
ICICI Bank today reported a 13% rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,698 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2013.

The bank's net profit was Rs 2,390 crore in the same period last fiscal, ICICI Bank said.

The total income in the July-September period of the current fiscal increased to Rs 19,015.58 crore, from Rs 18,609.43 crore in the second quarter of 2012-13.

On standalone basis, ICICI Bank's net profit rose by 20 per cent to Rs 2,352 crore as compared to Rs 1,956.11 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

Bangalore, October 25
Debt-ridden liquor baron Vijay Mallya slipped into further trouble today as an FIR was filed against him and his bankrupt Kingfisher Airlines on a complaint lodged by the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) for non-payment of user development fee and passenger service fee to it.

Responding to the development, the Kingfisher Airlines expressed anguish regarding the criminal complaint but said it would cooperate with the probe. “We are not aware of the purported proceedings filed by the BIAL as we have not been served with copies thereof to date. At any rate, it is apparent that what is at best a civil dispute is being given the colour of criminality solely with a view to compel us to submit to the demands of BIAL, notwithstanding that we have a legitimate defence. Be that as it may, in the event that the police authorities have been ordered to investigate the matter, we will co-operate with them,” Kingfisher spokesman Prakash Mirpuri said.

The FIR has been registered at BIAL police station on a direction by a magistrate court here, where BIAL had filed the complaint on October 21.

In its private criminal complaint, BIAL has sought action under IPC sections including 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 418 (cheating) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) with a direction to police to probe the matter.

According to BIAL, Kingfisher Airlines owes them about Rs 208 crore.

Mumbai, October 25
With the government tightening gold imports and the price of the yellow metal going through the roof due to a weak rupee and higher duties, jewellers across the country are pushing jewellery made of the cheaper 14-carat variety of gold.

Jewellers say the cheaper variety of gold is finding traction among younger buyers who prefer lighter jewellery for evening wear. "We are encouraging jewellers to diversify into 14-carat jewellery to cater to price-conscious customers," says Haresh Soni, president, All-India Gems and Jewellers Federation.

Individual jewellers say, the 14-carat variety is growing at a rapid clip. "We are getting good demand for jewellery made of 14-carat gold and this is expected to grow at a rapid clip in the coming years," said Hasit Jain, a jeweller at Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar.

The 14-carat gold is priced 45% less than the regular 22-carat gold jewellery preferred traditionally by Indians. The jewellery trade is also pushing 14-carat gold to price-conscious customers after costume jewellery emerged as a major threat to the gold trade.

In cities like Mumbai several new costume jewellers who have opened shop are reporting good response from customers who are looking for inexpensive accessories to evening wear. "People are choosing costume jewellery to wear at parties as it can be disposed off after a few uses," adds Jain.

On the other hand, 14-carat jewellery too does not command market prices during resale unlike jewellery made of 22-carat. However, the buzz is that several prominent jewellers in Mumbai are offering to buy back 14-carat jewellery at prevailing prices in order to drum up demand during the current downturn.

New Delhi, October 25
IT spending in India is projected to reach $71.3 billion in 2014, a 5.9% increase from the $67.4 billion forecast for 2013, according to the research firm Gartner.

IT services will record the strongest revenue growth at 12.1%, software revenue will grow 10% and the telecommunication services segment that accounts for 42.1% of the Indian ICT market, is set to grow 2% in 2014.

As per Peter Sondergaard, senior vice-president and global head of research at Gartner,“ "The digital world is here and this results in every budget being an IT budget. Every company is being a technology company, every business is becoming a digital leader and every person is becoming a technology company. This is resulting in the beginning of an era of the digital industrial economy.”

“The Digital Industrial Economy will be built on the foundations of the Nexus of Forces (which includes a confluence and integration of cloud, social collaboration, mobile and information) and the Internet of Everything by combining the physical world and the virtual,” Sondergard said.

The IT market in India is the third-largest among emerging economies and the fourth-largest among developing and mature Asia/Pacific countries.

The telecommunications services market which includes fixed and mobile, data and voice services will continue to be the largest IT segment in India with IT spending forecast to reach $30 billion in 2014.

The devices market, which includes mobile phones, PCs, tablets and printers is expected to total $23.5 billion in 2014, a 6% increase from 2013. IT services will record the fastest growth among the various segments, and it is projected to grow 13% to reach $11.2 billion in 2014. Software will account for $4.1 billion in revenue.

The Indian devices market will emerge as the largest segment of IT spend in India by 2017. Growth within this segment will be driven by the sale of mobile phones which will be among the fastest growing sub segments within the Indian IT industry.

New Delhi, October 25
Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Jio Infocomm, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, today announced that it has received a unified licence for all 22 service areas across the country.

Looking to revolutionise the Indian telecom market all over again, after the undivided Reliance had come out with low-cost telephony concept with the launch of Reliance Communications, the Mukesh Ambani’s company has also become the first telecom operator to get a pan-India licence under the unified licence regime.

The Unified Licence would allow RJIL to offer all telecom services, including voice telephony, under a single licence, the company said.

With the grant of unified licence, Reliance Jio has managed to migrate its existing ISP licence along with Broadband Wireless Access spectrum to unified licence with authorisation for all services except satellite phones services.

New Delhi, October 25
The Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) on coal today continued with their review of the coal blocks allocated to various companies, including the public sector undertakings.

After reviewing the progress of 16 new coal blocks allocated to various companies, including the state-owned NTPC and Damodar Valley Corporation yesterday, the IMG took up the cases of 14 coal blocks today.

Sources said the IMG may issue show-cause notices to some of these captive coal block holders and seek explanation from others for missing the key milestones set for the development of allocated mines.

The companies had been asked to make their presentations as regards the development work carried out on the coal blocks that had been allocated to them over the past few years.

The government had formed the IMG last year to review the progress of coal blocks allocated to firms for captive use and recommend action, including cancellation of allocation.

Some of the companies whose progress on coal blocks was reviewed today included Birla Corporation Ltd, Jaiprakash Associates, APMDCL, JSPL and Monnet ispat, among others.