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Replying on the Finance Bill in Parliament Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday emphasised the need of working together to improve the fiscal situation of the country.

Admitting that India will be affected by International situation and crisis, the Finance Minister said, “Government is capable to respond to any challenge.”

He said that coalition consensus is necessary for reforms.

Mukherjee also emphasised that all stake holders should come together for development.

The BSE benchmark index Sensex fell sharply by 366 points to close at nearly four-month low level on heavy selling in IT, capital goods and banking stocks amid weak global trends.

The 30-share index, which had remained volatile in last few sessions on taxing foreign investors, plunged by 366.53 points, or 2.17 percent, to 16,546.18, a level last seen on January 18.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped 114.20 points, or 2.23 percent, to 4,999.95.

Growth in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to gain momentum over the course of 2012 and is projected at 6 percent during the year – barring downsides in the global economy. It will rise to about 6.5 percent in 2013, International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Monday.

The IMF’s 2012 Asia Economic Outlook was released by Anoop Singh, director of IMF’s Asia-Pacific department, in association with Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations.

A benchmark index for Indian equities markets Monday clawed back into green after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee deferred the general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR) by a year and said the burden of proving tax evasion will lie with the authorities rather than with overseas investors.

In a day of volatile trading the 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), after falling 318 points in early trade, closed 81.63 points or 0.48 percent higher at 16,912 from its previous close at 16,831.08.

India’s cyber woes claim fifth spot in a worldwide ranking of countries afflicted with cyber crime, claims a report by the Security and Defence Agenda (SDA) and McAfee.

The report, ‘Cyber Security: The Vexed Question of Global Rules’, states that premium on Internet privacy in the country is quite low.

Brussels-based SDA spoke to leading global security experts to ensure that findings would offer useful recommendations and actions.

The BSE benchmark index Sensex recovered from early lows to close higher by 82 points after the government deferred implementation of the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) by one year.

The 30-share barometer index had dropped by 317 points to intra-day low of 16,513.77 on fears that proposed provisions could lead to heavy tax burden for foreign investors investing through tax-friendly places like Mauritius.

Bowing to pressure, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday announced a slew of measures to provide relief to the jewellery sector and postponed implementation of the general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR) by one year, but offered no concessions to Vodafone involved in tax dispute.

Moving the Finance Bill, 2012 for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha, Mukherjee halved the capital gains tax for private equity investors to 10 percent and relaxed the norms for arrest of persons involved in violation of Customs Act.

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was Saturday elected chairman of the board of governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a year.

Mukherjee will hold the chair till the conclusion of the next board of governors’ meeting, which is scheduled to be held in New Delhi May 2-5 next year.

Dismissing all talk of policy inertia, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday asserted that the government is focussed on recovering the growth momentum in the economy and India will grow at a sustained 8-10 percent in coming years on the back of strong fundamentals.

“I am confident that the strong fundamentals of our economy will help us return to a sustained growth path of 8 to 10 per cent per annum in the coming years,” Mukherjee said at the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) here.

Gold prices rose by Rs 55 to touch fresh all-time high of Rs 29,750 per 10 grams in the bullion market here Friday on sustained buying from stockists and investors even though the metal declined in global markets.

Silver, on the other hand, remained under selling pressure and declined by Rs 300 to Rs 55,900 per kg on lack of buying support.

Traders said sustained buying by stockists and investors along with a weakening rupee pushed the gold’s prices to scale new height even though globally the yellow metal prices were down.

The Oil Ministry has hiked the penalty it wants to impose on Reliance Industries and its British partner BP plc for falling natural gas output from KG-D6 fields, by 18 percent to USD 1.46 billion.

The Ministry had previously wanted to disallow USD 1.235 billion expenditure that RIL had incurred on putting production facilities at the Bay of Bengal gas fields but in the 7-page notice it sent to the company on May 2, the cost to be disallowed was put at USD 1.462 billion, sources privy to the development said.

The slump in the global solar industry may be over soon due to industry consolidation and improving demand, the world’s leading solar cell maker has said.

Solar stocks were hit last year as manufacturers, mainly Chinese companies, ramped up production while governments in Germany and Italy, the traditional market, slashed subsidies for new installations, the Shanghai Daily reported Thursday.

Cao Min, chief financial officer of Nasdaq-listed JA Solar Holdings Co, said Thursday the bad times may end in the second half of 2012 or the first half of next year.

Over 41 million mobile subscribers have submitted requests till the end of March to port their number to a different network through mobile number portability (MNP) with 4.76 million requests made in the month alone, official data showed.

“By the end of March 2012, about 41.88 million subscribers have submitted their requests to different service providers for porting their mobile number,” said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in a statement Thursday.

“In the month of March 2012, total number of subscribers who have submitted their request for MNP is 4.76 million,” it added.

This is one fine print of a high in India-Pakistan ties. A consignment of 10 tonnes of newsprint from India was Thursday sent to Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah land border, and could actually help reduce the price of newspapers there.

The consignment was sent by the Amritsar-based Khanna Paper Mills for Pakistan’s leading media houses – the Dawn and Jang groups.

This is the first time ever that Indian newsprint has been sent to Pakistan via the Attari land border, 30 km from here.

Restaurant chain Subway Tuesday said it is targeting to raise the number of its outlets in India from the existing 263 to 1,000 by 2015 with an investment of $58 million.

The US-based company, present in 50 cities, will be targeting smaller Indian towns.

It aims to generate employment opportunities for another 15,000 people through this expansion in India.

The unemployment rate in 2012 will increase up to 202 million and it is on an upward trend for 2013, the International Labor Organization (ILO) reported on Monday.

In its 2012 World of Work Report, the organization describes as alarming the trends in Europe, where unemployment rates have been increasing to almost two-thirds since 2010.

ILO notes that labor markets suffered in 2011 the effects of the world cos slowing down due to the economic crisis, considering unlikely that economy will grow at a sufficient pace in the next few years.

Border trade at Nathula, one of the three open trading border posts between China and India,in Sikkim’s East district resumed this morning and will continue till 30 November.

District Collector, East, D Anandan said that his office received 301 applications from traders, which were sent
to the Intelligence Bureau office for clearance.

He said that out of the 301 applicants, 50 received clearance from the IB office and the remaining 251 were likely
to get clearance within a week.

The DC said that receiving 301 applications at the start of the season was a good sign. Last year 360

The cost of air travel from the city will go up by Rs 600 for those flying to overseas destinations and by Rs 100 for domestic travellers with the levy of development fee from Tuesday.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed all the air-carriers to collect development fee from passengers and subsequently deposit the same with Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), which is managing the airport, a Aeronautical Information circular issued today said.

Gold on Monday surged to an all-time high of Rs 29,590 per 10 grams on brisk buying by stockists on sustained buying by jewellers to meet the marriage season demand amid a firming global trend.

The precious metal, which has gained Rs 650 in the last eight trading sessions, advanced further by Rs 50 to Rs 29,590 per 10 grams, a level never seen before after consumption of the precious metal rose for the ongoing marriage season.

The Punjab government Monday announced its decision to abolish octroi on petrol and diesel in the state. This will lower prices of the fuel by up to Rs.2.

A state government spokesman said that the decision was taken in a meeting of the Punjab cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, here.

The abolition of octroi will reduce prices of petrol and diesel by Rs.1-2 per litre, officials said here.

The spokesman said that the state government had already abolished octroi on all items except electricity, petrol and diesel with effect from Sep 1, 2006.

Kishore Biyani-led Future Group said Monday it will spin off its branded apparel business Pantaloons into a separate entity, in which Aditya Birla Nuvo will infuse Rs.800 crore to acquire controlling stake.

On completion of the demerger process, subject to necessary and statutory approvals, the demerged entity will be automatically listed at the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange, Future Group said in a statement.

The rupee Monday dropped by 19 paise to close at nearly four-month low of 52.73/74 against the US currency on continued capital outflows and month-end dollar demand from importers.

Firm dollar overseas also weighed on the rupee while rally in local equities capped the fall to some extent, a dealer said.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened higher at 52.45/46 a dollar from last weekend’s close of 52.54/55 and immediately touched a high of 52.43 on firm local stocks.

The government on Monday decided to allow further cotton exports in 2011-12 marketing year ending September as production estimates have been revised upwards.

“A decision has been taken to remove suspension of cotton exports registration. Registration of cotton exports will be allowed by the government,” Commerce and Textiles Minister Anand Sharma told reporters here after meeting Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

Moving up for the third day in a row, the BSE benchmark Sensex Monday gained nearly 132 points on funds buying in bluechips led by IT stocks amid a weak rupee and renewed expectations of US Fed easing monetary policy to boost growth prospects.

The Sensex, which had gained 57 points in last two sessions, advanced further by 131.47 points, or 0.76 percent to 17,118.81 on back of steep rise in Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services which notched up smart gains in the 2.75-3.5 percent range.

Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and his family retained their top spot as Britain’s richest for the seventh year in succession while the combined worth of the country’s 1000 wealthiest individuals defied double-dip recession to reach record levels during the last year.

Mittal, 61, and his family’s worth came down by 4,814 million pounds, but they were still the richest in Britain with a net worth of 12.7 billion pounds, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, which annually releases the worth of Britain’s wealthiest individuals.