Business

Questioning Trinamool Congress-led government over the bottlenecks that have forced IT major Infosys to rethink its West Bengal project, CPI-M leader and former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Sunday said it has failed to attract new investments.

“The new state government has failed to bring in any new investments in the state in last 14 months. Rather than attracting investments, the investors who had invested during our tenure are going away,” said Bhattacharya.

A handful of initiatives that have brought big business houses to promote visual art with incentives and new platforms is trying to open an alternative door for Indian art in the face of shrinking government support and a market slump.

Two new ventures – the Skoda Prize and the Avani GenNext Award 2012 – are trying to tap into the creative potential of young artists below 45 with cash awards and opportunity for foreign residency to hone their art practice in a global environment.

National flag carrier Air India, which was forced to scale down its international operations massively following the recent two-month strike by a section of pilots, will resume most of its international operations by the end of the month.

“We will be ready to restart our full international operations by the end of August. We will restore New York, Chicago and Paris flights by then…Also resume flights to Hong Kong and Shanghai,” an airline official said.

The airline will also add more services to the busy Southeast Asian regions by mid-August.

Reserve Bank of India Governor D. Subbarao Saturday said the Indian banks will have to raise an additional capital of Rs.1.6 trillion to Rs.1.75 trillion by March 2018 to conform to the Basel-III capital adequacy norms.

“Our own estimate show that after accounting for whatever banks will generate by way of internal accruals and interest earnings, the banks should raise an additional capital of 1.6 to 1.75 trillion rupees,” he said while speaking on risk management at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies here.

The state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) can heave a sigh of relief, with signs of a truce, at least in oil, between Sudan and South Sudan raising hopes that India’s $3 billion investment in the world’s newest nation is safe.

“It’s an (oil) agreement about all of the matters. The issues that were outstanding were charges for transportation, for processing, transit,” former South African President and African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki told reporters here.

Poverty in the country has come down to 26 per cent as per the latest data of household expenditure prepared by the NSSO for 2011-12, the Planning Commission said on Friday.

“Many of the academicians…said that poverty in 2011-12 using the Tendulakar line would probably be around 26 per cent or little more than that which is much lower than what it was in 2000, ” Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.

He said this while commenting on the latest data on household expenditure compiled by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) for 2011-12.

Unfazed by China’s objections, India is re-evaluating a Vietnamese offer for oil exploration in the South China Sea and will go ahead if ONGC Videsh Limted, the overseas arm of the Indian oil major, finds a viable partner.

In June, OVL conveyed to Vietnam that it can’t meet the June 15 deadline for exploring in oil Block 128 offered by Hanoi as it could not find a suitable partner which had made the project unviable. At that time, OVL had cited techno-commercial reasons for pulling out of Block 128, saying it unwilling to participate in the block which was not economically viable.

India’s historic blackout has not only prompted inevitable calls from the United States for much needed reforms in India’s energy sector, but also a great deal of introspection about America’s own ageing infrastructure.

Persis Khambatta, an expert at the Centre For Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank, considers the failure of supply and distribution of power to keep up with India’s rapid economic growth as perhaps the most important reason for the power failure.

India’s services sector growth rate saw a slight fall in July but remained in the positive terrain for the ninth month in a row, amid rise in new orders and employment levels holding up, an HSBC survey says.

The HSBC’s services purchasing managers index (PMI) for July stood at 54.2, tad lower from 54.3 in June.

Despite a 10 basis points dip, the index has kept above the 50 mark, indicating growth, since November 2011.

The rupee on Friday again fell below the 56-mark by losing 31 paise to 56.15 against the US dollar in early trade to hit a fresh one-week low, due to strong demand for the American currency from banks and importers.

Besides, the euro stayed bearish against other currencies in overseas markets after taking a hit from the European Central Bank’s announcement of no immediate measures to fight the debt crisis, dealers said.

The rupee had lost 37 paise to close at a one-week low of 55.84 yesterday against the US currency following fresh dollar demand.

With the aim of developing railway stations to match global standards by leveraging commercial utilisation of land, Railways on Thursday joined hands with Belgium to carry out its modernisation plans.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by visiting Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium Didier Reynders and Railway Minister Mukul Roy on bilateral co-operation for effective development and modernisation of railway sector of both the countries here.

Apple has applied for a patent on iPad Smart Cover with an embedded secondary display designed to enhance the functionality of the tablet computer.

“Thin flexible display technology can be integrated into the cover without affecting the overall form factor of the cover or tablet device,” Apple said in a patent application.

“Adding the integrated display to the flexible cover greatly enhances the overall functionality of the tablet device,” Xinhua Thursday quoted the document as saying.

Unlike India’s northern, eastern and northeastern power grids which collapsed this week, the state-run Karnataka Power Corp Ltd (KPCL) Thursday said the southern power grid was safe from tripping.

“As a precaution, we have conducted a reality check on our state and southern grids to prevent a repeat of the tripping the other grids faced. We have also reviewed the procedures and systems to ensure the grids operate normally,” a KPCL official told IANS.

Software service provider Mahindra Satyam Thursday posted a 56 percent increase in net profit at Rs.352 crore for the quarter ended June 30 against Rs.225 crore during the like period of the previous financial year.

The Mahindra group company’s revenue stood at Rs.1,880 crore during the quarter under review against Rs.1,434 crore during the year-ago period, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Mahindra Satyam’s total headcount stood at 35,996 as of June 30, 2012, with a net addition of 2,643 people during the quarter under review.

Police investigating suicide case involving India’s leading leisure travel service provider Raj Travels’ owner Lalit Sheth believe that financial problems might have led him to take the extreme step.

Reportedly, Seth had a debt of around Rs 5 crore which he had to pay to SBI.

Police sources also said that when Sheth failed to pay dues of another other two banks—HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, an official liquidator was appointed.

State Bank of India on Wednesday slashed lending rates on car and home loans by up to 0.5 percent, a day after one percent cut in SLR by the Reserve Bank.

SBI has reduced interest rate on home loans of up to Rs 30 lakh to 10.25 percent from existing 10.50 percent (after 0.25 percent concession over the card rate), a senior bank official said.

On the home loans of beyond Rs 30 lakh but less than Rs 75 lakh, the new rate will be 10.40 percent against the existing 10.75 percent, down 0.35 percent.

The new rates will be effective from August 7, the official added.

The US manufacturing sector shrank for the second consecutive month in July, a survey showed Wednesday.

The US Institute of Supply Management (ISM) manufacturing index, also known as the purchasing managers index (PMI), stood at 49.8 percent in July, slightly higher than the estimate of 49.7 percent in June, Xinhua reported.

A reading above 50 percent indicates that the manufacturing sector is generally expanding, while a reading below that ratio indicates contraction.

BASF India Ltd today said its profit after tax jumped by 36 per cent at Rs 71.7 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2012.

The company announced improved sales and earnings for the first quarter of FY 2012-13, a company statement said
here.

Total sales stood at Rs 1,288.8 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012 as compared to Rs 1,013.8 crore in the
corresponding quarter of the previous year, an increase of 27 per cent.

The company’s profit before tax grew to Rs 106.3 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012 as compared to Rs 78.1

In a major step towards normalising economic relations, India Wednesday announced changes in regulation to allow investment from Pakistani firms and individuals.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) issued a circular making changes in the Consolidated FDI Policy to allow investments from the neighbouring Pakistan.

The government of India has reviewed the policy and “decided to permit a citizen of Pakistan or an entity incorporated in Pakistan to make investments in India, under the government route,” the ministry of commerce and industry said in a statement.

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets rose for the third day Wednesday and was trading around 38 points up in afternoon trade.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,244.44 points, was ruling at 17,274.12 points, 0.22 percent or 37.94 points up from its previous day’s close at 17,236.18 points.

The BSE realty index was up 21.96 points, followed by capital goods, up 98.68 points and health care, up 68.63 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was ruling 0.28 percent up at 5,243.40 points.

The lockout at its Manesar plant notwithstanding, the country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday reported 9.2 percent increase in sales for July at 82,234 units as against 75,300 units in the same month last year.

The company said its domestic sales during the month stood at 71,024 units, compared to 66,504 units in July last year, up 6.8 percent.

The sales were driven mostly by its compact sedan Dzire, which clocked 11,413 units posting nearly four-fold increase.

The lockout at its Manesar plant notwithstanding, the country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday reported 9.2 percent increase in sales for July at 82,234 units as against 75,300 units in the same month last year.

The company said its domestic sales during the month stood at 71,024 units, compared to 66,504 units in July last year, up 6.8 percent.

The sales were driven mostly by its compact sedan Dzire, which clocked 11,413 units posting nearly four-fold increase.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Tuesday kept key policy rates unchanged for the second time since June, saying lowering them would raise the inflationary pressure.

In the first quarter review of monetary policy, the central bank kept the repo rate, the rate at which it lends to commercial banks, unchanged at 8 percent. The reverse repo rate, the rate at which the apex bank borrows money from commercial banks, was also stayed unchanged at 7 percent.

the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), the amount of funds that the commercial banks have to keep with the RBI, stands steady at 4.75 percent.

The rupee gained 15 paise to 55.43 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Tuesday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange as the American currency weakened against euro overseas.

Dollar selling by exporters and banks amid a higher opening in the domestic equity market also supported the rupee, dealers said.

Euro rose against the American currency overseas ahead of the European Central Bank meets on August 2, 2012 they added.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday referred the issue of implications of amendment to taxation of portfolio investment on FIIs and portfolio investors to the Expert Committee on general anti-avoidance rule or GAAR.

The amendment to the Income Tax Act relates to the taxation of non-resident transfer of assets where the underlying asset is in India.