New Delhi, March 4
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has pitched for relaxing curbs on gold imports as it is encouraging smuggling of the yellow metal.

“I have been of the consistent view that we have to have a balance. Over-regulation leads to another problem and that is smuggling. Therefore, some easing is essential,” Sharma said today.

Sharma said he has taken up the issue with the Finance Ministry and the RBI. “The Commerce Secretary and the Director-General of Foreign Trade will take it forward. We have to ensure adequate availability of gold for gems and jewellery industry. This is very important sector for exports,” Sharma added.

To contain rising gold imports, the government had increased customs duty on the yellow metal three times in 2013. The levy currently stands at 10%.

The RBI also linked imports of the metal to exports amid a widening current account deficit (CAD) and depreciation of the rupee. Gold imports, which touched a high of 162 tonnes in May, fell to 19.3 tonnes in November in the wake of the curbs by the government and the RBI.

According to the government, gold smuggling shot up last year on account of price fluctuations, import restrictions and high customs duty. In 2013, the value of gold bars and biscuits seized amounted to Rs 271.15 crore.

Sharma also said the Cabinet will soon take a view on liberalising FDI policy in railways and construction.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has proposed to allow 100% FDI in high-speed train systems, suburban corridors, high-speed tracks and freight lines connecting ports and mines.

In its comment on the proposal of the DIPP, the Home Ministry has said Chinese investments in such a sensitive sector should be viewed with caution.

The Home Ministry, they said, has pointed out that China is India’s main rival on the economic and military fronts, with unresolved border disputes between the two nations.

Rejecting US allegations on intellectual property regime, the Commerce Minister said India’s laws are fully compliant with international agreements and the country has never deviated from global practices.

"When it comes to intellectual property rights (IPR), I must firmly put on record that India is a signatory to Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and our laws are fully compliant with the agreement of the WTO. India has never deviated, never diluted its law," Sharma said.

Sharma was replying to a question that the US has alleged that India's IPR norms discriminates American companies particularly in the pharmaceutical sector.

New York, March 4
The technology boom has helped propel numerous fortunes lately, as the Forbes global rich list boasts of a record 123 billionaires, including six Indians, who derived their fortunes from technology ventures.

According to Forbes, the US once again leads the world with 492 billionaires, followed by China (152) and Russia (111).

There were six Indian billionaires in the Forbes rich list, who hailed from the technology sector led by Wipro's Azim Premji who was ranked 61 in the global list with a net worth of $15.3 billion.

Other Indian tech billionaires include Shiv Nadar (ranked 102), NR Narayana Murthy & family (1,046), Senapathy Gopalakrishnan & family (1,154), Nandan Nilekani & family (1,210) and K Dinesh & family (1,540).

The year's biggest dollar gainer was Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune jumped $15.2 billion to $28.5 billion, as shares of his social network soared.

Also, thanks to a $19-billion deal with Facebook, WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton also joined the ranks of Silicon Valley's wealthiest for the first time.

Bill Gates was the richest tech billionaire with a net worth of $76 billion, followed by Larry Ellison who retained the second spot with a fortune of $48 billion.

Meanwhile, business tycoon Mukesh Ambani may have retained his title as India's richest person for 7th year in a row, but his place among the world's richest people has dropped to lowest in eight years.

As per latest Forbes rich list, Ambani is ranked 40th globally with net worth of $18.6 billion — the highest for any Indian.

This is his lowest rank for Ambani since being placed at 56th position in the year 2006 with a net worth of $8.5 billion - the first year when Mukesh and his younger brother Anil Ambani were ranked separately by Forbes after their split. — PTI

New Delhi, March 4
The Indian Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry registered a growth of approximately 12% in calendar year 2013, according to the annual FICCI-KPMG report.

Overall growth remained muted, largely caused by the slowdown of the Indian economy. The slowdown impacted advertising revenue-dependent sectors such as TV and print. The depreciation in the rupee also affected print, cable and DTH companies adversely but helped export-oriented sectors such as animation and VFX to some degree. At the same time, this was countered by the impact of continued digitization of media products and services, and growth in regional media.

The print sector continued to buck the global slowdown trend. The sector grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5% this year to reach Rs 243 billion. Regional markets performed exceedingly well on the back of steady advertiser spends, state election impact and new launches.

Digitisation of cable saw progress of television industry moving in the right direction, with the mandatory digital access system (DAS) rollout almost complete in phase II cities.

The film industry recorded a double-digit growth, albeit slower than in 2012, with multiple movies scoring big on box office collections. The total Internet user base in India grew to approximately 214 million by end of the year with almost 130 million going online using mobile devices. 

New Delhi, March 4
The government today hiked the interest rate on small savings schemes by 10-20 basis points on small duration deposits. The rates apply to post office saving schemes and the return on 1-2 years deposits has been hiked by 20 basis points from 8.2% to 8.4%.

The deposits on 3-year maturities have been raised from 8.3% to 8.4% while for 5-year deposits, it has been raised to 8.5%. The rates have been left unchanged for NSCs, MIS and PPF.

New York, March 4
A month after taking over as Microsoft chief, Satya Nadella today announced a major top-level reshuffle, which saw the heads of marketing and business development resigning.

In a letter to employees of the US software major, Nadella said executive vice- president Business Development and Evangelism Tony Bates has resigned and his role will be taken over by Eric Rudder as interim head.

Executive VP and marketing head Tami Reller has also resigned and her role will be handled by Chris Capossela, who will be executive VP and chief marketing officer of the Redmond, Washington-headquartered firm.

Microsoft also appointed Mark Penn as chief strategy officer.

"Tony Bates has decided this is the right time for him to look for his next opportunity. Tony came to the company via the Skype acquisition, where he was CEO of Skype, and did a great job of successfully landing that team and continuing to build the service in a high impact way," Nadella said.

Rudder will serve as interim leader responsible for Business Development and Evangelism, while continuing in his current role, Hyderabad-born Nadella said. — PTI

New Delhi, March 4
Mahindra Defence Naval Systems (MDNS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mahindra Defence Systems and part of the $16.7 billion Mahindra Group, today inaugurated its new underwater systems and naval applications manufacturing facility near Pune.

Anand Mahindra, chairman, Mahindra Group, after inaugurating the plant said: “We are proud of our Defence business which plays an increasingly critical role in protecting the nation”.

BRIEFLY

Reliance Jio, Bharti Infratel sign tower-sharing pact
New Delhi: Reliance Jio Infocomm on Tuesday signed an agreement with Bharti Infratel to utilise the latter's tower infrastructure. "Under the agreement, Reliance Jio would utilise the telecom tower infrastructure of Bharti Infratel to launch its services across the country," the statement said. — TNS

BlackBerry Z10 out of stock post price slash
New Delhi: BlackBerry has run out of stock of its touchscreen smartphone Z10 in India in about a week's time after it slashed the handset's price by about 60% to Rs 17,990 in two steps from its launch price of Rs 43,490. — PTI

Jet launches B’lore-Abu Dhabi daily flight
Mumbai: Jet Airways on Tuesday launched its maiden flight from Bangalore to Abu Dhabi, the city where its partner airline Ethihad is based. The new daily service will enhance connectivity to multiple destinations in the Gulf, North America, Europe and Africa from the Gulf city. — PTI

Maruti-Suzuki deal: MFs plan to approach SEBI
New Delhi: Standoff between Maruti Suzuki India and its mutual fund investors seems to be worsening as these institutional shareholders are now planning to approach SEBI after the carmaker failed to address their concerns. The seven fund houses may again approach Maruti Suzuki India and Suzuki Motor Corporation over the proposed Gujarat project, sources said. — PTI

Essar Telecom to sell Kenya biz for $100m
New Delhi: Essar Telecom is in talks to sell its Kenya business to Airtel and Kenya's operator Safaricom for about $100 million. "Airtel Networks Kenya Ltd has sought an approval from the Communications Authority of Kenya to acquire the licences and subscribers of Essar Telecom Kenya Ltd., which operates under the brand name 'yuMobile," Airtel said. — PTI