Business

New Delhi, September 01: The coal sector will soon get a regulator of its own, like the ones for insurance and telecom, to oversee key issues such as price for long-term fuel supply and e-auctioning.

“A cabinet note for appointment of a coal regulator has been approved by the Ministry of Coal…It is planned to send the same to Cabinet along with concerned Bill, which will then, after approval, be introduced in Parliament shortly,” a Planning Commission presentation before the full Plan panel chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

New Delhi, September 01: Life has changed for Deepika Chatterjee. She plans to buy a house, travel in a chauffeur-driven car and no longer hesitates before buying expensive airline tickets.

Chatterjee is among millions of government employees in India who are enjoying a substantial hike in pay after the central government last year approved a larger-than-expected wage hike.

New Delhi, September 01: Two-wheeler manufacturer India Yamaha Motor has registered a 63 percent sales growth in August, as compared to the like month last year, the company said Tuesday.

“The economy is finally emerging out of the woods and showing signs of recovery, signalling growth in automobile industry,” said India Yamaha chief executive and managing director Yukimine Tsuji.

The company sold 19,508 units last month as against 11,974 units sold in August last year.

Mumbai, September 01: A key index of the Indian equities markets fell sharply in afternoon trade Tuesday, wiping out a 1.6 percent gain garnered in previous sessions.

At 2.12 p.m., the 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 15,691.27 points, was trading at 15,535.84 points, down 107 points or 0.68 percent.

Around the same time, the Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too was ruling in the red at 4,627.15 points, down 0.75 percent.

Kolkata, September 01: Tata Motors group chairman Ratan Tata Tuesday said the company was prepared to return the land it was given at Singur for its Nano car factory to the West Bengal government provided it was repaid the money it had spent to develop the plot.

“If they compensate the total investment we put into the land, we may return it,” Tata told newspersons when asked about the group’s plans around the plot, now abandoned after the Nano project was shifted out of the state following protests from villagers and the Trinamool Congress party.

New Delhi, September 01: India’s merchandise exports fell for the 10th straight month in July and were valued 28.4 percent lower at $13.62 billion against $19.04 billion during the corresponding month last year, latest trade data showed Tuesday.

Cumulative value of exports for the first four months of this fiscal (April-July) was $49.65 billion – 34.1 percent lower than the $75.29 billion that was logged during the year-ago period, as per the data released by the commerce ministry.

New Delhi, September 01: Riding on the back of the highest ever monthly export in the company’s history, country’s leading four wheeler manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Ltd today said its sales for the month of August-09 increased to 84,808 units as compared to 59,908 units sold in the corresponding period last year.

This also includes exports of 14,847 units, the auto manufacturer said in a statement.

New Delhi, September 01: Passenger car leader Maruti Suzuki India Tuesday reported sales of 84,808 vehicles in August, registering a growth of 41.6 percent over that in the corresponding month last year.

The sales include 14,847 units exported, Maruti said in a regulatory statement.

The company had sold 59,908 vehicles in August 2008.

Maruti Suzuki’s volumes in the domestic A2 segment comprising Alto, Wagon R, Estilo, Swift, A-Star and Ritz grew 39.3 percent to 52,473 units. The company had sold 37,667 units in August last year in the same segment.

Mumbai, September 01: A key index of the Indian equities markets opened on a positive note Tuesday, moving up 0.82 percent within five minutes of start of trade.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 15,691.27 points. It soon rose to 15,794.39 points, moving up 127.75 points or 0.82 percent from the previous day’s close at 15,666.64 points.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE) the broader S&P CNX Nifty was ruling at 4,698.8 points, against the previous close at 4,662.1 points, a gain of 0.79 percent.

Tokyo, August 01: Sony Corp. has agreed to sell its main television factory in North America to a Taiwanese company, the Japanese electronics maker said Tuesday, as it struggles to cut costs and stem massive losses.

Sony said it would sell 90 percent of its stake in Sony Baja California, which is located in Tijuana, Mexico, to Hon Hai Precision Industry. The company said in a news release that the move is not expected to affect its balance sheet, but is part of continuing efforts to cut costs by outsourcing manufacturing.

Chennai, August 31: The Mumbai-based Alliance Foods, which became the first company to launch ready to cook breaded prawns in India this month, will be expanding operations in South India before going national, the company says.

Having launched the product in Bangalore Aug 15, the Rs.100-crore Alliance Foods will introduce its Cambay Tiger brand in Hyderabad and here next month and later in Cochin.

New Delhi, August 31: Nikkei’s Global Eco-Business Forum, a conglomerate of government and private sector business enterprises from Japan and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), will organise a seminar on Kyoto Protocol Sep 5.

The seminar, to be held in Delhi, will explore setting up of partnerships and collaborations in India for introducing energy technologies aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions.

—Agencies

New Delhi, August 31: Life insurance firm Max New York Life on Monday announced the appointment of actor Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador for Max Vijay, a product targeted at the poorer sections of society.

“Max Vijay is a unique product that has been designed keeping in mind the savings and protection needs of the common people,” the company said in a statement.

—Agencies

New Delhi, August 31: The following are some comments by experts and representatives of Indian industry on India’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the first quarter of this fiscal, which expanded 6.1 percent: Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission: It is consistent with what we have been maintaining. This definitely shows the worst is finally over. We expect to see improved performance in subsequent quarters.

New Delhi, August 31: The government is mulling a uniform licence fee for various services offered by telecom operators, a top official said here on Monday.

“The DoT (Department of Telecommunications) is considering implementing a uniform licence fee,” said Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura at a conference organised by the Internet Service Providers Association of India.

Telecom operators currently pay between 6 percent and 10 percent of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to the government as licence fees for the right to offer telephony and related services.

Bangalore, August 31: Infosys mentor Narayan Murthy’s daughter Akshata Murthy has tied nuptial knot wit classmate of Stanford business school.
Earlier, relatives and friends congregated at a prominent city hotel to attend the wedding reception of Akshata.

Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy’s daughter, who entered into wedlock with her classmate from Stanford Business School.

The 29-year-old Akshata Murthy married to Rishi Sumak, an Indian based in the US.

The reception at the Leela Palace was attended by relatives and family friends.

New Delhi, August 31: The dispute between the Department of Space (DoS) and Department of Telecommunications (DoT) over vacation of broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum can delay WiMax rollout, a senior official said here on Monday.

WiMax or wireless Internet is essential for increasing broadband penetration in the country-especially in rural areas. However, its rollout will be hampered as a result of the differences between the two departments over vacation of spectrum by DoS.

New Delhi, August 31: Telecom majors Reliance Communications (RCom) and Aircel are on the verge of signing a $300-million agreement for sharing telecom infrastructure like towers, sources close to the deal said on Monday.

“The deal will offer RCom a revenue upside of over Rs.1,500 crore. It will cover end-to-end telecom infrastructure agreement for towers, voice carriage and bulk bandwidth,” said a person privy to the talks.

New Delhi, August 31: India and Namibia Monday signed five agreements, including one on civil nuclear energy which allows for supply of uranium from the African country.

This was decided at the start of President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s five-day visit to India – which is the first state visit by a foreign head of state in the second term of the United Progressive Alliance, which was re-elected to power in May 2009.

New Delhi, August 31: Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines Monday said it planned to raise $100 million (about Rs.500 crore) in Global Depository Receipts (GDRs).

In a regulatory statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), it said the funds would be raised subject to shareholders’ approval.

It also apprised the BSE of a decision taken July 28 to induct up to $100 million by way of a rights issue.

The board also approved raising the company’s authorised share capital to Rs.1,000 crore from Rs.500 crore, subject to shareholders approval, Kingfisher said.

New Delhi, August 31: The government is mulling a uniform licence fee for various services offered by telecom operators, a top official said here Monday.

“The DoT (Department of Telecommunications) is considering implementing a uniform licence fee,” said Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura at a conference organised by the Internet Service Providers Association of India.

Telecom operators currently pay between 6 percent and 10 percent of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to the government as licence fees for the right to offer telephony and related services.

Mumbai, August 31: The high-priced acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and dipping volumes have taken their toll on Tata Motors, which reported a loss of Rs.328.78 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, as compared to a profit of Rs.719.69 crore logged in the same quarter the previous fiscal.

The company’s consolidated gross revenue for the first quarter of the current fiscal stood at Rs.16,953.63 crore, while it was Rs.15,496.28 crore in the year-ago period.

New Delhi, August 31: India’s sports minister MS Gill on Monday snubbed Force India F1 owner Vijay Mallya’s snide that F1 was indeed a viable sport in India. He stuck to his stand and refused to acknowledge it as nothing more than an expensive entertainment of the western world.

He told reporters, “F1 is the most expensive entertainment in the West.”

He reverberated his previous stand on the issue saying, “I will stand by my earlier comment that F1 is not a sport.”

Mumbai, August 31: Snapping a seven-session winning streak, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell over 225 points in opening trade on Monday on emergence of profit booking by funds and retail investors amid weak Asian markets.

The BSE-30 share benchmark Sensex, which had gained nearly 1,112.73 points, or 7.5 percent in the past seven sessions, fell by 225.68 points at 15,696.66 points in opening trade with most of the sectoral indices falling up to 1.65 percent.

Shimla, August 31: Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh Monday said the National Mining Development Corporation (NMDC) will sign Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with steel companies to sell limestone mined in Himachal Pradesh.

“The NMDC will soon sign MoUs with end-users, especially steel plants, as the limestone to be extracted in the Arki region is a vital raw material for making steel,” Singh told reporters.

He said the limestone would also be used by state-owned steel plants.