Business

New Delhi, August 09: Embarking on its journey 25 years ago with just over 800 units, country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, has driven past the milestone of producing 80 lakh cars.

Since the rollout of the first ‘Maruti 800’ from its Gurgaon plant on December 14, 1983, the company has so far produced a total of 81,05,228 cars of its 14 s as on July 31 from its Gurgaon and Manesar in north India facilities.

Maruti 800 alone accounts for over 27 lakh units, of which more than 25 lakh units were sold in the domestic market and the rest exported.

New Delhi, August 09: The Supreme Court has issued a notice to Moser Baer India Ltd why it should not be asked to pay income tax to the tune of Rs 2,978 crore.

A bench headed by Justice S H Kapadia sought the reply from the manufacturer of computer-related products, including floppies and compact discs, on the income tax department’s plea alleging that the company had evaded tax in 2000-01.

The department said that the company was not entitled to deduction even though the value of export of CDs was less than 75 per cent of the total sales made during 2000-01.

–Agencies

New Delhi, August 09: Religare Macquarie Private Wealth is planning to quadruple its head-count to close to 900 in the next three years in a bid to tap the increasing growth opportunities in the wealth management business.

“We have aggressive growth plans and are looking at increasing our relationship and advisory team significantly. At present the head-count at Religare Macquarie Private Wealth stands at 220, which would be ramped up to close to 900 in the next three years,” Religare Macquarie Private Wealth Chief Executive Officer Vikas Agnihotri said.

New Delhi, August 09: Embarking on its journey 25 years ago with just over 800 units, the country’s largest car maker ,Maruti Suzuki India, has driven past the milestone of producing 80 lakh cars.

Since the rollout of the first ‘Maruti 800’ from its Gurgaon plant on December 14, 1983, the company has so far produced a total of 81,05,228 cars of its 14 models as on July 31 from its Gurgaon and Manesar facilities.

Maruti 800 alone accounts for over 27 lakh units, of which more than 25 lakh units were sold in the domestic market and the rest exported.

Mumbai, August 09: Dalal Street may see small bouts of buying early this week amid volatile trade and look for directions towards global markets, analysts believe.

“Volatility would continue in the stock market this week. Profit booking would continue at the higher levels while some buying might emerge as the market falls,” Taurus Mutual Fund Managing Director RK Gupta said.

New York, August 09: India has invested in US debt securities worth USD 38.8 billion till May this year, nearly four-fold rise when compared to the same month in 2008.

Even as the world’s largest continued to reel under one of the worst recession in 80 years, India has been steadily increasing its exposure to American debt since May last year, when the holdings were worth just USD 10.3 billion.

According to data available with the US Treasury Department, India bought American debt worth USD 38.8 billion till May 2009.

New Delhi, August 09: Soaring prices have forced households to cut down the intake of pulses, a study by industry body Assocham said.

During 1960’s, per capita consumption of pulses was around 27 kg per year which has slipped to less than 11 kg a year during January-June 2009, it said.

“Rising prices of pulses has forced common households to curtail their pulses consumption,” Assocham said, adding, the per capita consumption has now come down to less than 11 kg in the first half of this calendar year.

New Delhi, August 08: Buffalo a computer accessory manufacturer has revealed a16GB USB microSD card reader.

Buffalo USB Card Reader has made a well portable, handy and compact USB card reader.
This USB card reader offers a wonderful of 16GB storing capacity which is the latest innovation among the card readers category.

The gadget can be used to transfer a variety of data such as photos and movies captured from the mobile phone or PC.

Vadodara, August 08: The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC), a Government of India undertaking, will invest more than Rs 9,000 crore in its two new expansion projects located at Jhanor and Kawas in Gujarat, Union Minister of State for Power Bharat Solanki said.

Talking to media persons after his visit to NTPC’s plant at Jhanor in neighbouring Bharuch district, about 100 kms from here today, Solanki said “NTPC has planned the expansion of its power stations at Kawas and Jhanor by adding 1,300 mw of capacity (nominal) at each location in Stage II expansion of these projects.

Mumbai, August 08: India’s second largest IT Company Infosys is looking to spend D 450-500 in places like Europe, West Asia, Latin America, Australia and Japan. Infosys want to inflate its Client base which has so far depended on Retail, Manufacturing Sectors, Finance, Banking and security.

India third largest IT Company Wipro is also looking to follow same route. Wipro is planning to expand their services in North America and Europe. No doubt Wipro is growing tremendously in West Asia, Australia and Brazil.

New Delhi, August 08: The LOOT India’s leading discount retail chain has more then 110 retail stores across the Nation in which customers can find many International and National brand under one roof.

Loot inks deal with Tata Consultancy Services for the ERP solution in which TCS help Loot in managing of all data integrity, coordination of resources and function to shared data stored. All these facilities not only help company but customers are also benefited.

Toronto, August 08: Air Canada, the world’s ninth largest airline, has reported a second quarter profit of USD 155 million — 27 percent up from the same period last year.

During this period, the airline also reported foreign exchange gains of USD 355 million as against USD 48 million during the same period last year.

However, the struggling national carrier, which was on the verge of seeking second bankruptcy protection in six years, still posted an operating loss of USD 113 million as against a profit of USD 7 million during the same period last year.

Mumbai, August 08: India today relaunched its largest ever auction of oil and gas exploration areas, aiming to attract USD 3-4 billion investment towards boosting energy security.

Petroleum Minister Murli Deora kick-started the offer of 70 oil and gas exploration areas in the 8th edition of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and 10 coal bed methane (CBM) blocks with the first roadshow here.

“NELP can be portrayed as India’s success story in our endeavour to achieve self-sufficiency in hydrocarbons,” he said at the promotional roadshow.

Mumbai, August 08: Below the normal rainfall so far this year has halted a strong bull run on the bourses pulling down the key indices Sensex and Nifty by more than three percent amid a sudden pullout by foreign institutional investors.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer ended the week at 15,160.24, at a net a fall of 510.07 points or 3.26 percent from its last weekend’s close.

The sensex crossed 16,000 level for the first time in 14 months to touch a trading high of 16,002.46 on August 4.

New Delhi, August 08: Indian manufacturing and service sector firms laid off a net 1.31 lakh employees during April-June period, mainly in textiles, gem and jewellery sectors as the exports continued to shrink, a labour ministry report said.

During the April-June, as many as 1.54 lakh employees lost jobs in textile sector followed by about 34,000 persons losing jobs in IT and BPO sectors.

However, there was slight increase in employment in leather, automobiles and handloom, powerloom sectors during the quarter, it said.

New Delhi, August 08: The government today announced that Bharti Airtel has approached the State Bank of India (SBI) for two different loans.

The Bharti Airtel has requested for two different loans of 1 billionD and Rs 5,000 crore which has not yet been confirmed.

Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena in written said; “Bharti Airtel has called up SBI for loans of 1 billionD and Rs 5,000 crore.”

On the other hand the Minister further told about the present status of the appealed loan by Bharti Airtel and clears that the loan has not been finalized by the bank.

Vadodara, August 08: Gas leakage is reportedly continued from the well No. 33 of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) situated at village Raipura in Padra taluka as a blow out occurred in the ONGC Cambay rig while the drilling work over operations was underway.

According to the ONGC officials the gas is not harmful for human being. But the people living around the nearby areas of the well have been advised not to light any kind of inflammatory materials till everything is brought under control.

Toronto, August 08: Air Canada, the world’s ninth largest airline, Friday reported a second quarter profit of $155 million — 27 percent up from the same period last year.
During this period, the airline also reported foreign exchange gains of $355 million as against $48 million during the same period last year.

However, the struggling national carrier, which was on the verge of seeking second bankruptcy protection in six years, still posted an operating loss of $113 million as against a profit of $7 million during the same period last year.

Mumbai, August 08: Tata Communications today said it has earmarked Rs 10,000 crore capital expenditure over the next three years to enhance capabilities in core areas of operation.

“Our capex plan for the next three years is Rs 10,000 crore,” Tata Communications Chairman (Independent) Subodh Bhargava said at the company’s annual general meeting here.

Company Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer N Srinath said the company would invest in voice and data solution out of its proposed capex plan, but did not give further details.

New Delhi, August 08: PSU bank employees are expected to call off their strike, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha.

“The bank strike is expected to be called off today. I am being told that talks are on between the bank associations and worker unions,” he said replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour.

Banking operations across the country have been impacted severely with employees of public sector banks going on a two-day strike yesterday demanding wage revision.

–Agencies

Shillong, August 07: Underscoring the need to improve banking facilities in rural areas, RBI today asked the banks to open more branches in the villages.

“There should be greater money supply to the hands of the rural people so that they can avail the services in the priority sectors,” RBI deputy governor KC Chakraborty said after a State Letel Bankers Committee meeting here.

Mumbai, August 07: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today dipped by over 353 points as investors pulled out money to invest in issues in primary markets.

The Sensex, which had lost 390 points in the previous day’s trading, dropped further by 353.79 points at 15,160.24, after touching the day’s low of 15,104.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty went below 4,500 and settled with a huge loss of 104.10 points at 4,481.40. It touched the day’s low of 4,463.95.

New Delhi, August 07: The government on Friday said IT firm Satyam Computer Services, its founder B Ramalinga Raju and his family-promoted firm Maytas Group along with its other group companies owe Rs 541 crore in income-tax dues.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance SS Palanimanickam said, “As of now, the outstanding demand pending for recovery in the entire group is Rs 541 crore.”

Out of the total dues, Satyam Computer, which has now been re-branded as Mahindra Satyam, alone owes a hefty Rs 532 crore to the income-tax department.

Mumbai, August 07: Private utility Tata Power on Thursday said it has planned a capital expenditure of Rs 23,600 crore for the next three years to expand its generation capacity.

The company, which has so far installed 2,875 MW of capacity, currently has projects to the tune of 10,000 MW in different stages of development, Chairman Ratan Tata said.

“Our capex over (next) three years is 23,600 crore, both debt and equity,” Tata told shareholders at the company’s Annual General Meeting here. This includes Rs 1,500 crore raised through a GDR issue last month, he said.

New Delhi, August 07: Navratna PSU Coal India on Friday sought a hike in coal prices on the back of a decline in its retained earnings.

“Coal India has reported a sharp drop in retained earnings because of wage built annual impact. A profit of Rs 300 crore on a turnover of Rs 45,000 crore is low. We see the scope for moderate increase in coal prices,” Coal India CMD P S Bhattacharya told reporters here.

He further said there is no shortage of coal for the thermal power plants.