Business

New Delhi, July 01: Days before the general budget, the government today hiked petrol and diesel prices by Rs four and Rs 2 per litre, respectively, with effect from midnight tonight.

It, however, decided against decontrol of petrol and diesel prices, while leaving LPG and Kerosene prices unchanged.

Provisions would be made in the budget, to be presented on July six, to cover the loss on account of LPG and kerosene, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said.

The decision to increase the price was taken after Deora met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today.

Mumbai, July 01: Weak markets elsewhere in Asia and profit booking prompted a fall in a key index of the Indian equity markets, which dipped more than 35 points today from its last closing figure, after having risen in early morning trade.

Investors chose to book profits, resulting in the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, to fall sharply after opening higher at 14,506.43 points. It was at 14,426.8 points around noon – 35.51 points or 0.25 percent below Tuesday’s closing figure.

Mumbai, July 01: TVS Motor Co Ltd, India’s third largest two-wheeler maker, said on Wednesday vehicle sales in June rose 5.83 percent to 115,448 units from 109,082 units a year ago.

Domestic sales of the company registered a growth of 12 percent, clocking 105,361 units in June as against 94,072 in the year-ago period.

Sales of scooters jumped 21 percent to 25,945 units in June compared with 21,466 units, while total motorcycle sales stood at 46,048 units versus 51,409 units.

However, exports for the month slumped 32.8 percent to 10,087 units, the company said in a statement.

Mumbai, July 01: Reliance Industries Ltd has started its second crude unit at its 580,000 barrels a day new refinery in Gujarat this week ahead of planned maintenance shutdown at its old plant, trade sources said on Wednesday.

Reliance plans to shut almost half of its 660,000 bpd old refinery this month for maintenance for about two weeks.

The second refinery has two crude distillation units (CDUs) of equal capacity. The first CDU was commissioned in December and commercial production from the plant began from March 15.

New Delhi, July 01: Reliance BIG TV has entered into a strategic partnership with “Oxigen”, a premium recharge service provider to enable its customers to enjoy uninterrupted television viewing.

Under the tie up, Reliance BIG TV will offer its customers the entire portfolio of Oxigen’s easy recharge option. The deal is considered as a part of its customer service motto to offer convenient and user-friendly customer service experience.

Mumbai, July 01: A key index of the Indian equities market rose at the opening bell Wednesday, putting on 57 points within five minutes of start of trade.

The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, which opened higher at 14,506.43 points, was ruling at 14,551.24 points, 57.4 points or 0.4 percent above Tuesday’s close.

The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too moved up from the opening bell, rising 0.42 percent to rule at 4,309.2 points around the same time.

New Delhi, July 01: Patna is ahead of Mumbai but second only to New Delhi in terms of ease of starting a business, according to a World Bank ranking announced.

Of the 17 cities figured in the World Bank and International Finance Corporation’s “Doing Business In India 2009” report, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Bhubaneshwar are the other cities where it is easier to start a business.

Beijing, July 01: A California company that says its software was illegally used in Beijing’s new Internet filter threatened unspecified legal action as PC makers faced a Wednesday deadline to supply the system with computers.

Solid Oak Software Inc. of Santa Barbara says it has written to Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Inc. and other producers calling on them not to use China’s Green Dam software on the grounds that it contains illegally obtained intellectual property.

New Delhi, June 30: Prices of mobile handsets are likely to increase in Maharastra from tomorrow as the state government has hiked the sales tax on devices to 12.5 per cent from four per cent now.

The hike in value added tax (VAT), a kind of sales tax, on mobile phones to 12.5 per cent will come into effect from tomorrow.

According to analysts, the tax increase would push up the cost of a Rs 3,000 mobile handset by Rs 250.

New Delhi, June 30: With jet fuel prices being hiked by six per cent, domestic air carriers today said that they would study its impact on their operational costs before taking any decision to increase airfares.

“We will examine the impact of the latest hike and take a call,” Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson said.

Similar views were expressed by officials of other air carriers like Jet Airways and SpiceJet.

Fuel costs amount to almost 40-45 per cent of the total operational cost of the airlines in India.

Mumbai, June 30: Indian telephony and internet services provider Tata Communications Tuesday announced its partnership with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide to roll out its video-conferencing facility in the hotel giant’s properties.

Under the agreement, Tata will increase its network of public Cisco Telepresence rooms by opening 10 new facilities in Starwood’s hotels by the year-end, the company said in a regulatory statement.

New Delhi, June 30: For the fourth time in two months, state-run oil firms today hiked jet fuel or ATF price by more than 6 per cent on firming international oil prices.

Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum raised aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price by Rs 2,306 to Rs 38,558 per kilolitre in Delhi effective midnight tonight, an IOC official said.

The hike comes on back of over 12 per cent hike on June 15. ATF price on that day were raised by Rs 3,949 to Rs 36,252 per kilolitre in Delhi.

Mumbai, June 30: The Bombay Stock Exchange index Sensex fell by over 220 points at midsession today on profit selling by funds at existing higher levels.

The Sensex, which opened higher by 121 points, fell by 220.40 points to 14,565.34 at 1330 hrs with heavyweight stocks in realty, power and metal segments recording hefty losses.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 75.45 points at 4,315.50 points. Nifty had gained 35.80 points in early trading.

Marketmen said selling pressure gathered momentum as funds indulged in booking profits at existing higher levels.

New Delhi, June 30: Seeking to get edge over private telecom operators, the public sector telecommunication company of India – BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) has come up with new service plans for the customers of its CDMA platform-based data services.

Under the new offers, using BSNL NIC Cards or BSNL EVDO Cards, the subscribers can get wireless internet surfing speeds of up to 144 Kbps, and up to 2.4 Mbps respectively. What is more, BSNL is providing roaming facility on these cards.

Mumbai, June 29: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) today remained net purchaser for the second day in a row, and made an investment of Rs 292.44 crore in the Indian stock markets, pushing the benchmark indices into positive zone.

FIIs were the gross buyer of shares worth Rs 2,390.09 crore, while they sold equities valued at Rs 2,097.65 crore, resulting in a net buy of Rs 292.44 crore, the provisional data available with the Bombay Stock Exchange shows.

Domestic institutional investors also made a net purchase of Rs 143.844 crore in the local stock markets.

New Delhi/Mumbai June 29: Air India employees today called off their proposed strike tomorrow after the management decided to pay the June salary of lower level staff by July 3.

“There will be no strike tomorrow. The management showed their seriousness over the issue and has decided to pay salaries to about 70 per cent of our workers,” V J Deka, Regional General Secretary of Aviation Industry Employees Guild, told PTI here.

Kolkata, June 29: The Calcutta Stock Exchange today gained ground sharply on the opening session with the benchmark index, CSE-40, gaining 212.23 points.

The index opened at 6392.66 and gained to close at 6604.89 points after touching an intra-day high of 6607.44.

The trading volume was at Rs 2.53 crore from trading of 23 scrips.

ACC was trading at 794 at end of the day. Blueprint Securities was at Rs 303.75. Bolton Properties was at Rs 390.60.

Oasis Cine Communication was at Rs 288.80 at end of the trading session. Reliance Industries was at Rs 2070.

Tokyo, June 29: Japan’s industrial output rose for the third straight month in May, the government said Monday, as manufacturers encouraged by signs of improving demand rushed to replenish inventories.

Industrial production in the world’s second-biggest economy increased 5.9 percent from the previous month, matching a rise in April that marked the biggest jump since March 1953. Output continued to fall from a year earlier though the rate of decline eased.

Mumbai, June 29: Three months after launching Nano, the world’s most inexpensive family vehicle at the Rs.1 lakh, Tata Motors Sunday launched here the iconic Jaguar and Land Rover cars, to cost between Rs.63 lakh and Rs.92 lakh in India.

Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata said initially, three Jaguar and two Land Rover models would be available in the country.

While Jaguar models will be available in the price band of Rs.63-92 lakh, the Land Rover will be in the Rs.63-89 lakh range. They will be available in five-six cities after checking out the response in Mumbai.

Washington, June 29: The Obama White House left open the possibility Sunday that the president would break a campaign promise and raise taxes on people earning less than $250,000 to support his health care overhaul agenda.

White House adviser David Axelrod said the administration wouldn’t rule out taxing some employees’ benefits to fund a health care agenda that has yet to take final form. The move would be a compromise with fellow Democrats, who are pushing the proposal as a way to pay for the massive undertaking without ballooning the federal deficit.

Mumbai, June 28: Two of Britain’s most luxurious and elegant auto brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, were on Sunday launched here at prices as rich as their features, although their Indian owner Tata Motors swallowed a Rs 2,500 crore loss on account of them.

Tata will sell the Jaguar, which had its origins in a motorcycle sidecar company, XF and XKR series for between Rs 63 lakh and Rs 92 lakh, while Land Rover’s Discovery and Range Rover would be priced between Rs 63 lakh and Rs 89 lakh.

Ahmedabad, June 28: Believe it or not. Here is a desktop computer for just Rs1,900 and Rs6,500. The state owned telecom company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) launched Novatium’s netPC in Gujarat on Friday. The computers are made by Chennai-based company, Novatium Solutions which will sell these computers through BSNL in Gujarat.

Both the companies believe that this PC is probably the country’s cheapest computer.

Ahmedabad, June 28: Believe it or not. Here is a desktop computer for just Rs1,900 and Rs6,500. The state owned telecom company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) launched Novatium’s netPC in Gujarat on Friday. The computers are made by Chennai-based company, Novatium Solutions which will sell these computers through BSNL in Gujarat.

Both the companies believe that this PC is probably the country’s cheapest computer.

Shimla, June 27: The Himachal Pradesh government today approved six industrial proposals entailing investment of Rs 167.55 crore.

The proposals were cleared at the meeting of State Single Window Clearance and Monitoring under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, an official release said here.

At the meeting the government also accepted seven expansion proposals of existing industrial units with an additional investment of Rs 174.76 crore, it added.

Mumbai, June 27: M&M signs two MoUs with State Bank of Hyderabad for ‘Vehicle Finance’Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), a leading automobile manufacturer, has signed two MoUs with State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) for vehicle finance.

As a result of these MoUs, SBH will now become a preferred financier for Mahindra vehicles, encompassing both commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles.

The lender quoted in an official release that for commercial vehicles, customers can avail of loan up to 85 per cent of the on-road price of the vehicle, with tenure of 3-5 years.