Business

Mumbai, August 26: Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) today said that it has extended a USD 20 million Line of Credit (LoC) to the Eritrea Government to finance agriculture and educational projects.

This is the first LoC extended by Exim Bank to Eritrea, a country in the north-east of Africa.

“Exim Bank will reimburse 100 per cent contract value to the Indian project exporter(s) upfront upon the shipment of goods / provision of services,” the bank said in a release here.

New Delhi, August 26: Telecom major Bharti Airtel Wednesday launched its m-Commerce service – “mChek on Airtel” – which will enable its customers to make payments on the voice platform.
Any Airtel subscriber can access the service by dialling 543219, the company said in a statement.

“There is a tremendous potential for voice-enabled m-Commerce services in India and we are giving a huge thrust in this area,” said Atul Bindal, president of mobile services, Bharti Airtel.

Puducherry, August 26: Following the footsteps of neighbouring Tamil Nadu, Puducherry Government today hiked the price of milk by Rs two per litre in the union territory.

The price of milk sold by Cooperative Milk Producers Union (PONLAIT) had been revised from Rs 18 to Rs 20 and the procurement price had also been hiked from Rs 14.50 a litre to Rs 16.50, Welfare Minister M Kandasamy announced in the assembly.

Initially he announced a Rs three hike to Rs 21 but modified it at the instance of Chief Minister V Vaithilingam.

Sydney, August 26: Australia Wednesday approved a massive energy project that will supply natural gas worth tens of billions of dollars to China and India, giving new impetus to its resources boom.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett imposed 28 conditions to protect wildlife but said he saw no reason to block the Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant off Western Australia, allowing it to clear the final regulatory hurdle.

New Delhi, August 26: Industrialist Shiv Nadar-promoted HCL Technologies on Wednesday announced a pact with Optimation, a top company in information and communication technology in New Zealand, to offer services to the government there.

The pact calls for the two companies to draw on each other’s strengths to also offer solutions to clients in optimising their business processes.

New Delhi, August 26: Indians spend a whopping 30,000 crore every year on fuel and maintenance cost on power back-up equipments to secure themselves against frequent outages.

According to a pan-Indian study commissioned by Wartsila India, The Real Cost of Power, the expenses on power generation using inverters, generators and other back-up equipments are almost 80 per cent more than what consumers pay on grid supply.

The operational expenses on generating back-up power in the country are estimated to be around Rs 30,000 crore every year, the study says.

Tokyo, August 26: Japan’s trade surplus soared for a second straight month as the world’s second largest economy limps out of its worst recession in decades, official data showed Wednesday.

Exports exceeded imports for a sixth straight month, aiding a tentative economic recovery from a severe slump triggered by a collapse in overseas demand for Japanese cars, electronics and other goods.

The trade surplus jumped more than four-fold to 380.2 billion yen (4.0 billion US dollars) in July, from 81.9 billion yen a year earlier, the Finance Ministry reported.

Washington, August 26: In a chilling forecast, the White House is predicting a 10-year federal deficit of USD 9 trillion — more than the sum of all previous deficits since America’s founding. And it says by the next decade’s end the national debt will equal three-quarters of the entire US economy.

But before President Barack Obama can do much about it, he’ll have to weather recession aftershocks including unemployment that his advisers said on Tuesday is still heading for 10 percent.

New York, August 26: The newly svelte US auto giant General Motors that emerged from bankruptcy reorganisation appears sufficiently confident to be willing to keep German unit Opel and a presence in the Europe market.

A Wall Street Journal article late Monday was not confirmed by GM but nevertheless hit like a bombshell: GM is trying to assemble USD 4.3 billion to keep its ailing subsidiary Opel.

Moscow, August 26: Russia’s auto production decreased by 61.4 percent in the first seven months of the year, a report said.

The production of vehicles – cars, trucks and buses – stood at 414,100 units in comparison to 1,071,000 in 2008, a report by ASM Holding, country’s automobile industry monitoring agency said.

Between January-July, production of Russia-designed cars dropped by 36.3 percent in contrast to 2008 and amounted to 185,020 cars, report said, adding that the output of foreign-brand cars in Russia went down by 46.9 percent.

Mumbai, August 26: Extending its winning streak for the fifth session in a row, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today rose by over 111 points in opening trade on heavy buying by foreign funds, driven by firming trends in global markets. The 30-share index shot up by 111.38 points, or 0.71 per cent to 15,799.85, with IT and realty stocks leading the rally.

The BSE barometer had rallied almost 880 points in the past four sessions. The wide-based National Stock Exchange”s index Nifty rose by 35.00 points to 4,694.35.

Mumbai, August 26: The Indian rupee today depreciated by seven paise to quote at 48.82 against the US currency in early trade on month-end dollar demand from importers and refiners.

Forex dealers said apart from demand from refiners and importers, a firming US dollar against some leading currencies also put pressure on the Indian rupee.

They said, however, expectations of more capital inflows by foreign funds as stock markets may continue its upward journey today in line with other firm Asian markets, capped rupee’s losses to some extent.

Mumbai, August 25: Paving the way for a greener environment, Tata Power plans to sensitise one million citizens across India next year as part of its energy conservation campaign.

‘Tata Power Energy Club’, which comprises schools and schoolchildren seeking to curb energy wastage, has sensitised one lakh citizens across Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Ahmedabad, the company said in a press release here today.

“The Tata Power Energy Club is racing towards its eventual goal of sensitising one million by 2010,” it said.

New Delhi, August 25: Maruti’s new estilo is going to be released soon. It comes in a good look and curvy structures and increase in length make it more contemporary.

The new estilo is powered by 3cylinder, k10B engine displacing 998cc. It’s being said that this new estilo looks better than the older one. It is more sleek and attractive.

Dimensions of the new estilo are 3600mm (length), 1475mm (breadth) and 1595m (height). The wheelbase of new estilo is 2360mm.

All the dimensions remain the same except the length. The new estilo is 105mm longer than the older zen estilo.

Washington, August 25: Personal information, shared by half a billion people on social networking sites, might be leaked to companies wanting to take advantage of their browsing habits and even specific identities, says a new study.

“When you sign up with a social networking site, you are assigned a unique identifier,” said Craig Wills, professor of computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), who conducted the study with an industry colleague.

New Delhi, August 25: State-run energy utility NTPC will soon file a petition in the Supreme Court regarding its legal battle with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries for getting gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin at $2.34 per unit.

“We will be filing our special leave petition within the next six-seven days,” Power Secretary H.S. Brahma told reporters, on the margins of a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.

Jakarta, August 25: BEML Limited, India-based second largest heavy equipment producer in Asia, will invest $44 million in Indonesia to support its business expansion in the country, the business daily Bisnis Indonesia quoted the company’s top official as saying today.

The expansion move was supported by promising heavy equipment demand in Indonesia for coal mining and construction sectors. To support the expansion, BEML Limited established PT BEML Indonesia.

Mumbai, August 25: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Tuesday fell by 154 points in opening trade as foreign funds and retail investors preferred to book profits amid weak Asian markets.

The 30-share index, Sensex, which had gained nearly 820 points in the past three session, moved down by 153.92 points, or 0.95 percent to 15,474.83 in opening trade.

Similarly, the Nifty index on the wide-based National Stock Exchange lost 44.85 points to 4,597.95.

Stocks of oil and gas, realty, banking and metal sectors succumbed to profit-taking, dragging the Sensex down.

New Delhi, August 25: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said the Indian economy seems to have weathered the global financial storm and mitigating the impact of deficient monsoon is a “top priority” for now.

“Despite the global economic crisis, we grew by 6.7 percent last year…This year, we are getting mixed signal,” Mukherjee said, while noting that indicators are coming good from industrial production data and in terms of business demand and investor confidence.

New Delhi, August 25: The government is considering strict laws for scrutinising foreign direct investments to thwart security risks, officials said on Tuesday, a move experts say could further slow FDI inflows into the country.

The National Security Council (NSC) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants to arm the government with powers to cancel or suspend FDIs over fears of terror funds entering India and stop any acquisition or mergers that could be against New Delhi’s strategic interest.

New Delhi, August 25: A panel of ministers will meet on Tuesday to review the impact of patchy monsoon rains and discuss if there is a need to modify some of the steps initiated to manage drought, a media report said.

The paper did not cite sources for the information.

Annual monsoon rains, a key factor in determining the country’s farm and overall economic growth, are 26 percent below normal so far in the season from June, threatening oilseeds and sugarcane crops.

–Agencies

Mumbai, August 25: The BSE Sensex erased losses of as much as 1.3 percent and briefly turned positive in midday trade on Tuesday, led by outsourcer Wipro and diversified Grasim Industries.

Top vehicle maker Tata Motors gained 1.8 percent to 465.80 rupees after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “neutral.”

At 12:23 p.m. (0653 GMT), the 30-share BSE index was down 0.1 percent at 15,607.56 points, with 15 stocks declining, after rising to as much as 15,650.76.

The 50-share NSE index was down 0.1 percent at 4,638.60.

—Agencies

New Delhi, August 25: The economy is expected to grow between 7-8 percent in the 2010-11 fiscal year, a top policy adviser said on Tuesday.

C Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister’s economic advisory council, was speaking at a gathering at a TV channel.

–Agencies

New Delhi, August 25: Public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) today said it has no plan to increase the lending rates in the next six months.

”We have no plan to increase the lending rates in the next six months,” Bank Chairman O P Bhatt told reporters here today.

—-Agencies

Singapore, August 25: Oil fell below USD 74 a barrel on Tuesday, down for the first time in six days on softer Asian shares as renewed concerns over the economic recovery emerged, after reaching a 10-month high a day earlier.

Investors are looking to oil inventories in the United States for direction, with analysts calling for a draw in crude and gasoline stocks and an increase in distillates.