Business

Eight Indian companies have made the cut in the list of world’s 500 largest companies compiled by Fortune magazine, with Indian Oil and Reliance Industries finding a place in the top 100.

Out of the eight, five are state0run entities. With an annual revenue of $86,016 million, Indian Oil has cornered the 83rd spot up from 98th place last year.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is the first Indian private firm to made into the top 100 list. With an annual revenue of $76,119 million, RIL, has improved its ranking to 99 from previous year’s 134.

Amid instances of counterfeiting of notes, the Reserve Bank Monday said it is working on launching plastic currency and will soon launch a pilot project for the same.

“Counterfeiting of plastic notes is very difficult. So we are planning to launch some plastic money on pilot basis in 4-5 centres. Like Jaipur, Shimla, Bhubaneshwar and other centres. We are working on it,” RBI Deputy Governor H R Khan told reporters here.

Under the pilot project for issue of plastic currency notes, notes of Rs 10 denomination would be distributed through the central bank’s five regional offices.

Amidst rising complaints about misuse of the railway’s Tatkal scheme of booking tickets, a revised scheme with additional measures to check the lacunae will come into effect from tomorrow under which passengers can book Tatkal tickets from 10AM instead of 8 am.

The revised scheme comes in the backdrop of increased number of complaints from train passengers about the misuse of the scheme and involvement of touts in cornering bulk of tickets to sell them at a premium.

The BSE benchmark Sensex fell by almost 108 points in early trade today as funds and retail investors indulged in selling amid a weakening trend on Asian bourses.

The 30-share index, which had lost 17.55 points in the previous session, moved down by 107.99 points, or 0.61%, to 17,413.13 with stocks of metal, power, capital goods and banking sectors under pressure.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty declined by 32.25 points, or 0.63%, to 5,284.25.

New Delhi, July 08: An Indian company in Uganda keen to promote hygiene among children is set to create a world record by spreading one lakh pieces of medicated soap on a vast ground.

According to Kiboko Enterprises, the Limca Book of Records is sending a judge from India to view the proposed event July 20.

“Our aim is to give back to the country that gives us so much love and affection,” Kiboko’s representative Rajesh Kalra told IANS over telephone from Kampala.

The Income Tax department, which is at the forefront of cracking down against black money, has been the largest consumer of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) generated by the elite financial intelligence unit, an official data has revealed.

The I-T department, with a total of 26,488 STRs in the last six financial years (2006-12), has been reported as the biggest consumer of these classified reports, as compared with other enforcement agencies like the ED, DRI and Customs department which consumed just over 3,000 of such reports.

After losing most of the initial gains in last few trading sessions, the rupee is likely to trade in the 54.50-55.30 range this week due to renewed risk aversion globally after more stimuli by three leading central banks last week, according to experts.

“The rupee is likely to trade in range of 54.50-55.30 this week with an appreciating bias,” IDBI treasury head N S Venkatesh told PTI.

The FII inflows and policy announcements will be crucial to provide direction to the rupee, he said.

Yahoo and Facebook have reached a strategic deal as part of a final settlement of their patent infringement lawsuits, according to US media.

The agreement will include a major expansion of their ongoing partnership, including a joint advertising sales effort, as well as cross-licensing of some key patents between the two companies, Xinhua reported citing technology news website AllThingsD’s report.

With the prices of potato soaring, the West Bengalgovernment Saturday started selling the tuber from ration shops in the city and satellite town of Salt Lake.

“We have started selling potatoes from ration shops at Rs.12 per kg in Kolkata and Salt Lake as in the prices have steeply risen in these areas,” state Food and Supplies Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick told IANS.

Mallick said the shops were selling two kg of potatoes to every buyer.

“We will sell two kgs to a person per day,” he said.

Chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu Saturday hoped that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will give a nod for FDI in retail trading.

It was under intense pressure from Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress that the central government put the plan to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail trading on hold.

“When it comes to some of the intricate economic policy making, it is easy to fall in the trap of thinking that I know what is best,” Basu said to a question at an event organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here.

Soon the popular social networking site Facebook will become a recruiter, as per knowledgeable sources, by launching its own job board after teaming with existing job-posting companies, the sources said.

Citing anonymous sources, media reports said that BranchOut, Jobvite and Work4Labs will be at least three of the companies that will pair with the platform.

With the rise of LinkedIn — and its aggressive moves into social-networking functionality — having Facebook enter the fray is an obvious play for them.

Whether or not the job posts will display in the news feed is unclear.

The BSE benchmark Sensex ended in green for the fifth consecutive week on persistent buying mainly in realty, banking and metal counters, on the back of good capital inflows.

Expectations of measures from the government for reviving a slowing economy also boosted the market sentiment.

Continued buying in small-and mid-cap shares by retail investors played a major role in extending the rally. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose by 2.60 percent, while BSE Small Cap index gained 4.26 percent, outperforming the Sensex.

The Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG) has accused Air India management of retracting on its commitment and failing to reciprocate the “goodwill gesture” of the pilots who called off their nearly two-month long strike and joined back duties Wednesday.

In a statement late Friday, the IPG said that in their talks with the conciliating officer and Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) N.K. Prasad, and other officials, the Air India management expressed its “inability” to make any commitment on reinstating pilots or addressing issues raised by the pilots.

Yahoo and Facebook have reached a strategic deal as part of a final settlement of their patent infringement lawsuits, according to US media.

The agreement will include a major expansion of their ongoing partnership, including a joint advertising sales effort, as well as cross-licensing of some key patents between the two companies, Xinhua reported citing technology news website AllThingsD’s report.

The boards of Facebook and Yahoo have approved the deal and it will be announced later Friday, said the report, adding that no actual cash payment would change hands over the patent dispute.

Mobile value added services (MVAS) are expected to create a Rs.48,000 crore business opportunity by 2015 owing to increasing mobile Internet penetration. All that is required is innovative and affordable content generation, industry leaders said Friday.

Indian economy could see a slower growth at 5.6-6 percent in the current fiscal if the monsoon remains poor, global financial services major Citi has said.

The estimate is much lower than Citi’s earlier growth projection of 6.4 percent for India, which saw its economic expansion touch a nine-year low of 6.5 percent last fiscal.

“A poor monsoon could result in GDP coming in at 5.6-6 percent,” Citi said in a report yesterday. The cumulative rainfall in June was about 30 percent lower than normal.

Global banking major Standard Chartered on Friday said the possibility of a sovereign rating downgrade to the junk status is unlikely given the recent revival in sentiment.

“We do not see a high probability of an immediate downgrade but rating agencies will closely monitor the appetite for corrective action,” a report by the bank’s economists said.

Policymakers will have to show concrete steps to help restore growth and consolidate the fiscal balance in the next few months, it warned, saying no action on the twin fronts can result in adverse action.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food price index fell to its lowest level since 2010, the Rome-based UN agency said in a statement.

The food price index in June fell to 201 points, dipping 1.8 percent from May to its lowest level since September 2010, the statement said, adding that it marked the third consecutive month of downward trend, reported Xinhua.

FAO said the average prices of all commodity groups in the index were below May levels, with the largest drop registered for oils and fats.

Europe’s debt crisis has the nature of protracting and consistently existing due to the failure to tackle the region’s fundamental structural problems, South Korea’s finance minister said Friday.

“If we can call the 2008 global financial crisis a one-time thunderstorm, then the current crisis is like a seemingly incessant rainy season we are being encountered now,” Strategy and Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told foreign correspondents in Seoul.

Despite the ongoing eurozone crisis, global foreign direct investment (FDI) increased by 16 percent to $1.536 trillion in 2011, a UN report said.

According to “World Investment Report 2012” conducted by UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), global FDI is expected to increase at a slower rate in 2012 due to slower global economic growth, to $1.6 trillion, Xinhua reported.

FDI inflows in the US in 2011 totalled $227 billion, marking a 15-percent increase. The 27-member European Union saw a surge by 32 percent to $421 billion.

Air India’s pilots, who called off their 58-day strike over career progression issues two days ago, would hold negotiations with the airline management as part of the conciliation proceedings before the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) here on Friday.

The conciliation proceedings before the CLC have been scheduled after the Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the pilots to call off their agitation and asked the management to sympathetically consider their grievances, including reinstatement of 101 sacked pilots.

US stocks wobbled around the breakeven line Thursday, as rate cuts in both China and Europe failed to ignite the market.

The European Central Bank cut its deposit rate to 0 percent from 0.25 percent, the lowest in history, Xinhua reported.

The People’s Bank of China cut its interest rates, lowering the benchmark lending rate by 31 basis points and the benchmark deposit rate by 25 basis points.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England launched another round of quantitative easing, adding 50 billion euros to its asset purchase programme.

The Indian government has scope to reduce its borrowings while it is waiting for the right political atmosphere to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail, said a senior official Thursday.

Speaking to reporters here after attending Reserve Bank of India’s Board meeting, union Economic Affairs Secretary R. Gopalan said: “We still think there is some scope for reduction. We are trying to reduce borrowing.”

The government had earlier indicated that it would raise Rs.5.69 trillion (around $103.45 billion) through market borrowings this fiscal.

Exuding confidence of a rebound in the Indian economy, union Home Minister P. Chidambaram Thursday said the country will return to the above 8 percent growth soon.

“The year 2011-12 has been a difficult year when our growth declined to 6.7 percent. We think we are identifying the causes for the decline and will take a number of steps to address those causes. I am confident that in 2012-13, the rebound will start and soon we will be back to the 8 percent plus growth rate,” said Chidambaram.

He said the high propensity of the Indians to save will catalyse the growth of the economy.

The rupee on Thursday breached the 55-level again and fell sharply by 56 paise, or over one per cent, to 55.05 against the US dollar in early trade, due to increased demand for the American currency from banks and importers amid a weak opening in the equities.

Dealers said besides increased demand for dollar from banks and importers, weak euro in the global markets ahead of the European Central Bank policy meeting, mainly put pressure on the local unit.

The rupee had lost 11 paise to close at 54.49 against the dollar on Wednesday