New Delhi, October 10
The manufacturing sector is still not out of the woods as industrial production growth slowed down to five-month low of 0.4% in August mainly due to contraction in manufacturing output and slowdown in consumer goods.

The factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had also grown at a dismal rate of 0.4% in August, 2013.

IIP for July was also revised downwards to 0.41% from the provisional estimates of 0.5% released last month, according to the data released by the Central Statistics Office today.

Industry said demand is yet to pick up in key sectors. “Negative manufacturing growth reinforces the belief that fall in manufacturing growth has not yet bottomed out. It is more worrisome to see negative growth in consumer and capital goods especially when we were hoping the demand to pick up.” said Didar Singh, secretary-general, FICCI.

“This requires bold reforms in the business regulatory environment and also certain specific interventions in those sectors that continue to reel under slowdown”, he added.

Commenting on the index of industrial production for August, Chandrajit Banerjee, Director-General, CII, said the IIP data shows that industrial production continues to be in the slowdown phase and a visible turnaround in industrial growth is still not happening.

“And if we factor in the base effect, the performance of industry shows that demand is yet to show distinct signs of a pick-up”, he added.

Industry said manufacturing is still under stress. “What is worrisome is the poor performance of the manufacturing sector which continues to be under stress as new orders are not forthcoming in a big way. The negative growth of the capital and consumer goods sector especially consumer durables need interventions”, said Banerjee.

Aditi Nayar, senior economist, ICRA, said the IIP growth print for August 2014 is disappointing, with three of the five use-based sectors, namely capital goods, consumer durables and consumer non-durables recording a contraction.

The relatively muted 4% growth of electricity generation in September 2014 (according to initial data released by the CEA) and the likely adverse impact of the Supreme Court ruling on coal production have cast doubts on the near-term sustainability of the healthy 9.6% growth of basic goods in August 2014.

This may also have consequences for GDP growth. “The marginal industrial expansion in July-August 2014, expected bleak agricultural production on the back of an erratic monsoon and weak credit growth suggest a considerable moderation in GDP growth in Q2FY15 as compared to the 5.7% growth recorded in Q1FY15”, Nayar added.

Bengaluru, October 10
Having earned a profit of Rs 3,342 crore during the quarter ending September 30 under his belt, Infosys’ CEO Vishal Sikka today gave a glimpse of the vision he has for the company. Sikka said besides making foray into new areas, Infosys would have a fresh approach to the traditional areas of its business.

“Everything we do will be renewed,” he said. He talked about teaching “design thinking” to Infosys employees at the company’s training campus at Mysore, setting up of $100 million fund for start-ups and acquisition of companies that would give Infosys an edge in one or more areas of its business.

The company also declared a 1:1 bonus issue of equity shares to increase liquidity of its scrip.

Mumbai, October 10
The Bombay High Court today ruled Vodafone is not liable to pay an income tax demand of Rs 3,200 crore in a case relating to transfer pricing, a verdict which comes as a big relief for the UK-based mobile service provider already locked in a big tax dispute with the Government.

The Income Tax Department had asked the company to pay additional income tax alleging that it had undervalued its shares in the subsidiary Vodafone India Services while transferring them to the parent company in Britain. The transaction took place in the Financial Year 10.

Transfer pricing is the practice of arm’s length pricing for transactions between Group companies based in different countries to ensure a fair price — one that would have been charged to an unrelated party — is levied. — PTI

New Delhi, October 10
World’s biggest social network Facebook wants to connect more people to internet in India which accounts for the third largest online user base globally after China and the US but has a very low internet penetration growth rate.

On his first visit to India, Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg today met Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to discuss expanding reach of internet, including by using alternate technology.

After an about hour-long meeting, Prasad told reporters that meeting was fruitful and Facebook has shown interest in joining Digital India programme of India.

“Connecting more than a billion people with internet is not only going to improve lives of people in India but helping innovation and imagination of Indian people will help turn around the world and we are very excited in opportunities in India,” Zuckerberg said. — PTI

New York, October 10
Satya Nadella, India-born CEO of Microsoft, landed in a soup for saying that women employees need not ask for pay hikes, for which he had to later apologise and admit that he was “completely wrong” with such “inarticulate” comments.

“It’s not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along,” Nadella had said when asked about his suggestion to those women who are not comfortable asking for a salary raise.

Nadella, who earlier this year became CEO of the world’s largest software maker with turnover of $87 billion, replied that not asking for a raise can in fact be “one of the additional superpowers that, quite frankly, women who don’t ask for a raise have.

“Because that’s a good karma. It’ll come back because somebody’s going to know that’s the kind of person that I want to trust.”

The comments created a furore, including on social media platforms, and Nadella had to later tweet and issue a memo to Microsoft employees to explain his position.

“(I) was inarticulate re(garding) how women should ask for raise. Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias,” tweeted Nadella, who is otherwise not very active on this social media platform and tweets only occasionally.

Later, he also tweeted a link to his email memo to staff members to explain his position. The comments were made by Nadella during an interview to a Microsoft director Maria Klawe last night at the Grace Hopper Conference of Women in Computing. — PTI

New York, October 10
Four Indians, including a Harvard University professor and the co-founder of India’s largest online marketplace Snapdeal, have been named by Fortune in its list of the 40 most powerful, influential and important people in business under the age of 40.

Other Indians on the list are Micromax CEO Rahul Sharma (ranked 21), Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl (ranked 25) and Twitter’s general counsel Vijaya Gadde (28). — PTI