Business

Mumbai, August 30: The feud between the two Ambani brothers – Mukesh and Anil – seems to be an unending saga on the lines of television soap operas, with the story becoming increasingly complex by the day and the number of characters involved in each episode rising rapidly.

Initially, it was just a row between the companies controlled by the two brothers, with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources seeking gas supplies at $2.34 per unit from the fields of the Krishna-Godavari basin, off the Andhra Pradesh coast, that were awarded to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.

Shimla, August 30: Himachal Pradesh has received 53 deficit rainfall this year and there is not much hope of overcoming this shortfall as the monsoon in the state generally starts receding from Sep 15, weather officials said Sunday.

‘The overall monsoon situation in the hill state is still precarious. Almost the entire state has received less than the normal average rainfall,’ meteorological office director Manmohan Singh told IANS.

New Delhi, August 30: A recent revival of monsoon rains will help India’s cane crop but the world’s top sugar consumer will still need to import in the new season from October, the head of a trade body said.

“Recent rains will certainly have positive impact on the plantation for 2010/11 harvest and is likely to have positive impact on 2009/10 cane yield,” Samir Somaiya, president of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), said in an interview.

New Delhi, August 30: The full Planning Commission, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will discuss on September 1 the state of economy that is under pressure from drought and rising prices of food items.

Besides chalking out the strategy to combat the impact of drought, which has already hit 252 out of about 600 districts, which may pull down the economic growth to about 6 percent, the meeting will also review the implementation of the integrated energy policy.

Mumbai, August 30: Defending India’s stand on the Doha talks, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said it was wrong to blame India for the deadlock and on the contrary New Delhi was making an effort to re-engage in the multilateral global trade deal.

“There has been a deadlock for close to 14 months for various reasons. Sometimes, it has been projected that there was non-agreement and it was India which was responsible. No, that’s not correct. We took a position. Other developing countries took a position,” Sharma said at a function here last night.

Berlin, August 30: German Labour Minister Olaf Scholz expects unemployment to keep rising in the coming months but believes it will stay below four million, according to a magazine interview to be published Monday.

“The economic collapse will of course lead to a jump in unemployment in the coming months,” the Social Democrat minister told Der Spiegel magazine.

“But this year we will stay under the four million mark.”

Frankfurt, August 30: The roughly 370,000 employees of Volkswagen and Porsche are striving initially to acquire a stake of up to 5 percent in the automotive group, VW’s labor chief told a German newspaper.

“I don’t know how much we will end up with. It certainly won’t be 10 percent overnight, but between one and five percent to begin with,” Sueddeutsche Zeitung quoted Bernd Osterloh on Saturday as saying.

It was not clear yet how the employees would finance the purchase of their stake, the paper said.

Baghdad, August 30: A committee reviewing Iraq’s budget proposals for 2010 has recommended spending plans be based on average oil prices of USD 60 per barrel and average crude exports of 2.15 million barrels per day, a government spokesman said on Saturday.

Iraq’s approved federal budget for 2009 was based on income from oil prices averaging USD 50 per barrel.

Iraq hiked oil exports in July to 2.037 million bpd, their highest level since the 2003 US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Berlin, August 30: US auto giant General Motors wants Russian firms barred from taking over its German subsidiary Opel, but Berlin does not agree, according to the weekly Der Spiegel.

In its forthcoming issue the weekly, which cites no sources, says that the US government, which now owns 60 percent of GM, wants no Russian participation in the future control of Opel.

Mumbai, August 30: The government will electronically connect a total of 70 ports in the country by the end of next year, a move that will help embattled exporters to reduce transaction costs.

The Commerce Ministry is promoting the use of electronic systems with initiatives like EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) ports, electronic message exchange between Customs and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

New Delhi, August 30: Pulses traders are complaining of harassment by authorities briefed to crack down on hoarders and warned that they might stop importing the commodity compounding its shortage in the market.

“We have been informed by our members about serious harassment of importers in and around port areas, resulting in panic sales,” Pulses Importers Association President K C Bhartiya said in a statement.

Bangalore, August 29: Canara Bank will launch 34 branches across India on August 31, taking to 2806, the global network of the bank.

The 2800th branch will be inaugurated at Amritsar by the Chairman and Managing director of the Bank, A C Mahajan, a press release from the bank said here today.

Canara Bank has adopted a significant branch expansion plan for the current fiscal as a strategy to reach out to the masses and has also launched a mega ‘savings Utsav’ campaign to expand its clientele base and improve CASA deposit, it said.

Coimbatore, August 29: The cotton lint prices maintained a steady to easy trend during the first fortnight of the month, even as isolated monsoon in different parts continued to disturb the calculations of the cotton farmers, according to South India cotton Association (SICA).

Price ruled steady in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, were J-34 Saw ginned quoted at Rs 2370 to Rs.2400 per maund spot, SICA in its market report for the period, said.

Mumbai, August 29: Prices of castorseed bold and castoroil commercial declined in the oils & oilseeds market here today on good offering, while castorseeds futures continued to drop in the absence of export enquiries.

However, groundnut oil and refined palmolein remained stable.

In the non-edible section, castorseed bold declined by Rs 15 to close at Rs 2,810, while castoroil commercial moved down by Rs 3 to Rs 592.

Linseed oil continued to rule steady at Rs 575.

Berhampur, August 29: Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today announced that farmers who have taken loans and repaid them on time will pay one per cent less interest than the market rate.

Such farmers will pay interest at the rate of 6 per cent against the existing 7 per cent rate. The remaining one per cent will be borne by the Centre, he said.

The Finance Minister, who was inaugurating a branch of the United Bank of India at Jangipur near here, said within a year 3.25 crore farmers will get Kisan Credit cards and will be eligible for agricultural loans.

Hyderabad, August 29: A high-level disciplinary committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) will soon visit Hyderabad to study issues relating to the corporate governance, non-adherence to the accounting practises, role of independent directors and other stakeholders in the Satyam Computers case, according to ICAI president Uttam Prakash Agarwal.

Bangalore, August 29: Drought may prevent India from achieving seven per cent growth this year but a “reasonable six to six-and-a-half per cent” economic expansion is more likely given the current scenario, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said today.

“Seven per cent growth rate this year is unlikely. People are talking about six and six-and-a-half per cent growth, which we agree and I think is reasonable,” Ahluwalia said speaking at a function organised by Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry chamber here.

Sivaganga, August 29: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said there is no prescribed rule stating that students in different areas should approach specified banks to avail of educational loans.

Inaugurating a bank educational loan mela here, he said he had received information that bank branches have been divided and allotted service areas to provide loans for students in different areas. But Indian Bankers Association had verified there was no rule which said students should approach a particular bank for loans.

Bangalore, August 29: The new planning commission is preparing to submit the report on the mid-term appraisal of the 11th Plan by end of the year, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, said today.

The appraisal, which would also act as inputs for the next budget, would be an opportunity to reflect on the success of the 11th plan and corrective steps needed to be taken in the changed global circumstances,he said.

Asked whether it would be a course correction, he said it was always open to an idea of course correction if needed in the changed circumstances.

Rajasthan, August 29: The government Saturday sought to allay the fears of Cairn India, which started pumping oil from its Rajasthan fields, that it may not find enough refiners for its crude once the production reaches peak levels.

“The production sharing contract had enough contingency measures to cover all such issues,” Director General of Hydrocarbons V.K. Sibal told reporters at the launch of a new oil field here.

“We will ensure the crude is refined.”

Mexico City, August 29: Mexico will receive some USD 4 billion in special drawing rights, or SDRs, from the International Monetary Fund to bolster its reserves and liquidity, the country’s central bank said.

Banco de Mexico said the funds are part of some USD 250 billion in payments approved for IMF member countries at an April G-20 meeting to inject more liquidity into the global financial system.

Barmer (Rajasthan), August 29: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday formally inaugurated Cairn India’s Mangala oil fields in Rajasthan, site of the country’s largest oil discovery in two decades.

At a function at the site, Manmohan Singh dedicated the fields to the nation. Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot were present on the occasion.

Mangala’s peak production of 125,000 barrels per day (bpd) will be reached in the first half of 2010.

Chicago, August 29: Home appliances manufacturer Whirlpool Corporation today said it will close its manufacturing facility in neighbouring Indiana by next year, resulting in approximately 1,100 job cuts, as it seeks to cut costs and trim excess capacity. The company will shift production of top freezer refrigerators, which were made at the Evansville, Indiana plant, to one of its existing manufacturing facilities in Mexico.

Kolkata, August 28: Electronics major Samsung India Friday said it expected its mobile phone business to contribute 25-30 percent of its $2.5 billion turnover this year.

“We have targeted a total (consumer home appliances, information technology business and mobile) turnover of $2.5 billion this year of which 25-30 percent will come from mobile business, we expect,” Samsung India Country Head Sunil Dutt said during the launch of the world’s first open market handset (OMH) phone.

New Delhi, August 28: Nokia 5030 XpressRadio GSM candy bar mobile phone. This low range mobile is equipped with a lot of features.

This mobile phone is best for the radio lovers as the company has cared a lot on the FM featureas the Nokia 5030 XpressMusic is outfitted with an inbuilt FM antenna and dedicated one-touch radio keys so the users would directly enjoy the FM radio.

Nokia 5030 XpressRadio maesure107.7 x 44.6 x 14.55 mm in size and weight about 82 grams.