Business

London, August 23:Turnabouts in European and Asian economies, along with recent gains in the U.S., are raising hopes that the worldwide recession is drawing to a close. That’s not to say the coast is clear.

The brightening outlook in Europe and Asia and the improvement in U.S. credit markets and indicators reflect heavy government stimulus spending. Many analysts question whether the top economies can sustain recoveries after stimulus measures and easy-credit policies have run their course — and in the absence of significant new consumer spending, especially among Americans.

New Delhi, August 23: Swiss banks may have turned over client details to the US, but they have said India is not welcome there on a name-fishing expedition.

“Swiss law and even OECD’s Model Tax Convention do not permit fishing expeditions, in other words, the indiscriminate trawling through bank accounts in the hope of finding something interesting.

“This means that India cannot simply throw its telephone book at Switzerland and ask if any of these people have a bank account here,” a top official at Swiss Bankers Association told a news agency from.

New Delhi, August 23: Reliance Mutual Fund, a part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, today announced dividends for three mutual fund schemes including its banking fund. The Reliance Banking Fund holders will receive 20 per cent dividend, while the investors of Reliance Pharma Fund will get 15 per cent, the company said in a statement.

Mumbai, August 23: Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Sunday ruled out any immediate hike in the prices of petroleum products and said that a call would be taken after the crude prices stabilise.

“Don’t talk about price revision at this point of time.

The prices keep going up and down every day. You can’t decide every day what happens. The prices have to be stablised. We will study for a month or six weeks….,” Deora told reporters at the sidelines of a function here.

New York, August 23: Four more American banks went belly up last week, pushing the total failures to a staggering 81 entities so far this year, even as the country’s economy is showing early signs of recovery.

In one of the biggest collapses this year, Guaranty Bank, which had assets worth USD 13 billion, was shut down by the regulators on August 21.

Reflecting the continuing financial turmoil, the count of failures so far in 2009 is more than three times that of just 25 bank collapses in 2008.

New York, August 23: Having found her to be the most powerful women in India after the country’s ruling alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, business magazine Forbes has also named ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar among four women from across the world to watch out for in the next 12 months.

In the latest edition of its ‘world’s 100 most powerful women’ annual ranking, Forbes has named Kochhar, CEO and MD of the country’s top private sector bank, at the 20th position.

New Delhi, August 23: General Motors India is working on increasing its used-car business 15-fold and will push its second-hand cars through existing as well as new dealerships across the country.

The company has 17 outlets of pre-owned cars — Chevrolet-OK — and plans to increase that to 50 by the end of this year.

Now, the company is working on extending the business to all its existing dealerships that have been dealing only with new vehicles so far.

New Delhi, August 23: The emerging Asian middle class is presenting an attractive market destination for products ranging from consumer goods to financial services, even though it still has a long way to go to matching up with the US consumption prowess, according to a report.

“In comparison to lower-income households, the middle class has a greater amount of discretionary income (income available after taxes and essentials such as food and shelter are taken care of) to use and it will be more diversified in its consumption choices,” according to a Deutsche Bank Research report.

New Delhi, August 23: Swiss banks may have turned over client details to the US, but they have said India is not welcome there on a name-fishing expedition.

“Swiss law and even OECD’s Model Tax Convention do not permit fishing expeditions, in other words, the indiscriminate trawling through bank accounts in the hope of finding something interesting.

“This means that India cannot simply throw its telephone book at Switzerland and ask if any of these people have a bank account here,” a top official at Swiss Bankers Association told a news agency from.

New Delhi, August 23: Inflationary pressure has started building up on the Indian economy on a deficient monsoon, expansionary stance of the central bank and the rise in oil prices, says the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG).

And food prices are going to rise further.

“The grim monsoon situation and the expansionary fiscal policy have already led to a rise in inflationary expectations for the coming months. Besides, a further rise in the world oil prices would also be pushing prices up,” says the research organisation in a report.

New Delhi, August 23: With various segments of the industry showing signs of recovery, a CII-Ascon survey on Sunday said the county’s economic growth could go up to 7 percent during 2009-10 against 6.7 percent in the previous fiscal.

Projecting a 6.5-7 percent growth rate for the current fiscal, the survey said, “the corporate results for the first quarter of 2009-10 showed some incipient signs of stablisation.”

Hyderabad, August 23: India has a huge potential to involve retail investors in the stock markets but they are not coming out to invest because they have learnt a lesson from the Satyam Computer fraud, feels Madhav Mehra, president of the London-based World Council for Corporate Governance.

‘The stock market participation of Indians is barely two percent while in the US it is 45 percent,’ Mehra told IANS during a visit here.

‘Indians have no problem with money. They are just holding it somewhere. They are not coming because they have learnt from Satyam,’ he added.

Port-of-Spain, August 23: Indian High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago Malay Mishra has announced that state-owned Caribbean Airlines and Air India are working on a project to reduce air fares between the two countries.

He told a meeting that when the programme become operational “an airline ticket purchased in Trinidad and Tobago will connect a Caribbean Airlines flight with Air India in New York.”

Travel for trade, cultural and religious reasons between both countries continues to escalate, but there could be a higher number of visits if the air fares are reduced.

Coimbatore, August 23: Asking Textile industries to venture into manufacture of ‘technical textiles’, Union Minister for Textiles Dayanidhi Maran today said such textiles had huge potential and demand for it was growing.

The country produced only four per cent of technical textiles while the remaining was being imported to meet the domestic requirements, he said, inaugurating the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) at the Sitra auditorium here.

Kochi, August 23: Leading computer manufacturer, Lenova India, was eyeing to double its sales turnover during the Onam festival season in Kerala.

The company had recorded a 70 per cent growth during last Onam season and was hoping it would double it this time, Lenova India’s consumer sales and distributor director, P Yathindranath, told reporters here.

To woo more customers, new models in notebooks and desktops segments have been launched, he said.

Rajkot, Augsut 23: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) group president today laid the foundation stone at Dwarka town for various development work to be taken up by the company.

Parimal Nathwani, the group president today laid foundation stone for various development works to be taken up at a cost of rupees 2.68 crore was laid, the release said.

The works include well-equipped resting rooms for pilgrims, cloak rooms, drinking water facility and also a museum based on the life of Lord Krishna.

Besides, Dhirubhai Ambani Marg will be refurbished at a cost of another Rs 50 lakh, it said.

New Delhi, August 23: The Honda after creating the market of Scooter and normal bikes this time landed with totally new CBF Stunner.

CBF Stunner is a 125cc sport bike based on 11bhp engine which is available in three different versions in the Indian market.
Firstly Honda has roll out a Self Disc Alloy model, self drum alloy model, kick drum alloy model.

When we look after the features of Honda CBF Stunner then the bike weights 129KG, wheelbase of 1271mm, Fuel capacity of 10lits, tubeless rubber tyres, Front brake 240mm disc and 130mm drum, rear 1300mm brake, 5 speed transmission.

Jaipur, August 22: The Rajasthan High Court today upheld that decision of National Council for Teachers Education to put check on mushrooming of teachers training colleges saying this cannot be casually put to judicial review even if the colleges have erected huge infrastructure and employed staff.

New Delhi, August 22: Samsung India this time plan out the world’s first solar mobile phone which is tagged as “Solar Guru” Guru E1107 in the Indian market.

The handset is equipped with dual charging mode via sun shine and adapter so that the user would able to charge his cell phone whenever the sun shines.

The phone would able to offer about 5-10 min of battery life after 1hr solar charging.

While coming to its features then the Samsung has jam-packed Samsung Guru E1107 with FM radio, MP3 ringtones, games, torch light, Mobile Tracker, Mobile prayer.

Jamshedpur, August 22: Leading doemstic major Telco construction equipment company Ltd (Telcon) has announced 16.67 per cent bonus for its employees for the year 2008-09.

As per the agreement reached between the company management and the Telcon Workers’ Union (TWU), the average payment of bonus to its employees will be Rs. 22,789, with the maximum being at Rs.23,942 and the minimus at 20,648, according to a company release issued here yesterday.

Kochi, August 22: Bangalore based Central Institute of Coir Technology (CICT) under Coir Board has successfully designed and developed a technology for making moulded coir composite table tops as an effective substitute for wood and wood products.

The aesthetically attractive product, made out of coir woven and non-woven matting, which meets Bureau of Indian Standard specifications,was fit for any wood application in building construction including in furniture and was very much comparable in cost as well, the board said in a release here.

New Delhi, August 22: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not intervening or mediating in the Ambani brothers’ gas dispute, though he believes that the two top industrialists should patch up in national interest, an official in Prime Minister’s Office said.

The official, who did not want to be named, said that the reports in a section of media were not true that Singh has suggested the two brothers to follow a middle-path to resolve their ongoing dispute over natural gas from Krishna-Godavari basin.

New Delhi, August 22: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not intervening or mediating in the Ambani brothers’ gas dispute, though he believes that the two top industrialists should patch up in national interest, an official in Prime Minister’s Office said.

The official, who did not want to be named, said that the reports in a section of media were not true that Singh has suggested the two brothers to follow a middle-path to resolve their ongoing dispute over natural gas from Krishna-Godavari basin.

Toronto, August 22: General Motors Friday postponed its decision on whether Canada’s Magna International was the winning bidder for its Opel brand.

Magna, which is the world’s third largest part maker, and the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation (called Sberbank), had jointly submitted a bid in July to acquire a 55 percent stake in the troubled General Motors’ Opel.

Brussels-based financial investor RHJ International is the rival bidder. Two other bidders – Italy’s Fiat and China’s Beijing Automotive – opted out of the fray.

New York, August 22: American chat show queen Oprah Winfrey will file a lawsuit against more than 500 firms for using her name and images without permission to sell beauty products and dietary supplements.
Oprah and doctor Mehmet Oz, who frequently appears on her chat show, claim the public is being deceived into thinking the two have endorsed products like acai berry, a fruit touted as a miracle weight loss supplement, reported mirror.co.uk.