Business

Mumbai, June 16: The Bombay High Court ordered that Reliance Industries honour a 2005 family agreement to supply 28 million cubic meters per day of gas from its Krishna-Godavari basin fields at USD 2.34 per mmBtu for 17 years to Reliance Natural Resources Ltd.

The final price would reduce the outgo for Anil’s group firm by about 11.8 billion dollars during the period of the contract. As per USD 2.34 mBtu, the outgo for 17 years would work out to 14.79 billion dollars compared to 26.55 billion dollars on the basis of government-approved USD 4.2 mmBtu.

New Delhi, June 15: Concerned at the rise in international crude oil prices, the Government is looking at solutions to tackle the widening revenue deficit and one of the options on the table could be raising petrol and diesel prices.

“We are seriously concerned about the rise in crude oil prices … We have to look for solutions,” Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters after meeting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with his Budget wishlist.

Mumbai, June 15: Dismal global cues and a court ruling against heavyweight Reliance Industries Monday pulled down a key index of the Indian equities markets by more than 362 points.

Investors also sought to book profits in metal stocks, that contributed to the sharp fall in the Sensex, the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The Sensex, which opened lower than its Friday closing figure, dipped about 362.42 points or 2.38 percent to end at 14,875.52 points.

The Sensex had fallen to an intra-day low of 14,807.26 points and touched a high of 15,195.83 points.

New Delhi, June 14: Scam-hit Satyam Computer has entered again the elite club of the top 100 companies in terms of market valuation — a status it had lost after being hit by the country’s biggest corporate fraud.

Following a sharp rally seen in its share price last week on the back of disclosure about its profits, Satyam’s market capitalisation has grown to about Rs 7,800 crore, placing it among the 100 most-valued firms in the country.

New Delhi, June 14: BSNL has dropped its plans to bid for telecom licence in Tunisia as the PSU finds the returns not enough to enter that market through bidding of licence.

“We did not bid for Tunisia… we did not find returns on our investment,” a senior BSNL official told PTI.

Earlier the PSU’s CMD Kuldeep Goyal had said BSNL was planning to bid for telecom licence in Tunisia and get a footprint in the African market, which has immense potential.

New Delhi, June 14: The government has granted one-year extension to Satyam Computer Services for completion of three Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Andhra Pradesh, giving elbow room to the new management of the IT firm.

The Commerce Ministry has granted extension of time to Satyam’s two IT/ITeS SEZs in Hyderabad and the one at Thotlakonda in Visakhapatnam up to June 2010.

All the three tax-free enclaves were given formal approval, which would have lapsed by end of this month.

New Delhi, June 14: Gold prices extended losses for the third straight day in the bullion market on Saturday falling by Rs60 to close at Rs14,700 per ten grams as selling pressure picked up on the back of weakening global trend.

    
Silver also dropped by Rs 200 to Rs 22,800 per kg due to reduced offtake by industrial units. Selling pressure gathered momentum as the metal prices continued to slide in the international market as stronger dollar reduced demand as an alternative investment.

Mumbai, June 12: If quick to decide the destination, one can strike a deal which will save him 40 to 50 per cent of the regular air fare this July-September. A Mumbai-Goa-Mumbai trip, for instance, comes for an attractive Rs 2,600, just about Rs 900 more than the bus fare.

The no-frills airline Spicejet, for example, is offering a flight from Pune to Chennai for Rs 1,380, Pune-Delhi for Rs 1,730 and Pune-Bengaluru for just Rs 1,230! Similarly, GoAir is offering flights that would cost approximately Rs 1,350 and Jet Airways has a menu card of fares ranging from Rs 1,600 to Rs 2,100.

Hyderabad, June 12: The board of Satyam which met on Thursday has announced that to address the issue of excess employees, it is launching a Virtual Pool Program (VPP), an one-time programme, effective June 2009, which is aimed at addressing staff costs while retaining talent within the company.

Mumbai, June 12: Anil Agarwal’s shopping spree continues. Even as the pursuit for Arizona-based copper firm Asarco is on, Agarwal has sealed a deal back home.

Sesa Goa, a subsidiary of Agarwal’s Vedanta Resources, is buying the Dempo group’s oldest and most priced asset its mining business in Goa for Rs 1,750 crore in an all-cash deal. A few months ago, the Dempos separated the mining business and investment portfolio from the holding company, V S Dempo & Co (VSD), to make way for a new investor.

Washinggton, June 11: The Federal Reserve lost $5.25 billion in the first quarter on the securities it acquired with last year’s bailouts of Bear Stearns and insurer American International Group Inc., according to a report issued Wednesday.

The loss on the holdings, which include mortgage-backed securities, reflected a decline in their value as the recession stretched into the first three months of this year. The cumulative loss on the Bear and AIG holdings comes to $16.46 billion since they were taken over last year. Of that total, a loss of $9.18 billion went to the New York Fed.

Mumbai, June 10: Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd. (TKM) on Tuesday launched its internationally successful premium sports utility vehicle (SUV), the Toyota Land Cruiser.

Mumbai, June 10: The BSE Sensex rose 2.25 percent on Wednesday to its best close in 10 months, as markets across Asia and Europe were boosted by cash-flush investors buoyed by signs of revival in global economic growth.

Energy giant Reliance Industries and state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp were among the leading gainers as oil topped $71 a barrel, a day after settling above $70 for the first time in seven months.

Mumbai, June 10: A key index of the Indian equities markets soared at opening bell today, rising more than 332 points within five minutes of trade.

The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, which opened at 15,168.18 points was ruling at 15,502.63 points, 336.87 points or 2.23 percent higher than Tuesday’s close.

The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too gained ground, moving up 1.94 percent to rule at 4,639.25 points around the same time.

Mumbai, June 10: Fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services Ltd, now controlled by Tech Mahindra Ltd, on Tuesday declared profits between October 2008 and February 2009.

Satyam said its profit rose 13-fold between January (Rs 4 crore) and February (Rs 52 crore). The company’s consolidated net profit was lower at Rs 160 crore. The firm said it made a net profit of Rs 181 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2008.

On the BSE, shares of Tech Mahindra rose 25.4 per cent to Rs 744.20 per share, while Satyam rose 9.9 per cent to Rs 66.85.

–Agencies

Munich, June 10: BMW has no plans for forming a partnership with other manufacturers on battery powered electric vehicles and has its own plans to mass-produce “megacity” e-vehicles by the year 2015, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer has announced.

The car maker will decide by the end of the year whether to establish a subsidiary for the “megacity vehicles” alongside the current BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce labels, according to Reithofer.

In contrast to other big car makers BMW has not undergone a partnership with a battery maker for electric vehicles.

Mumbai, June 08:The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday suffered the third-biggest fall of the year and ended below the 15,000 level by losing nearly 438 points on weak Asian and European trends, as investors booked profits on an 88 percent rally since early March.

The Sensex, after completing 13 successive weeks of gains, suffered a loss of 437.63 points to 14,665.92 as metal, banking and realty stocks suffered hefty losses. The fall was the third-highest after those of January 7 and March 30.

New Delhi, June 08: The country’s top IT firm, TCS, has enhanced total pay packages of its top management personnel and board members by over Rs 1 crore in the process giving a better hike to its incoming CEO than his predecessor.

The Tata group entity paid a total remuneration of Rs 12.80 crore to its key management personnel and board members during 2008-09, up from Rs 11.08 crore in the previous fiscal.

In terms of total package, CEO S Ramadorai was the highest paid executive with a total remuneration of Rs 4.1 crore in the fiscal, according to TCS’ annual report.

Ranchi, June 07: Bokaro Steel Plant has planned to shave off up to Rs.225 crore in expenditure this fiscal on account of rising input costs and declining profits, according to a top company official.

“Profits came down as we had to bear an additional Rs.1,864 crore outgo because of rise in coal prices. It could have crossed Rs.3,000 crore if international prices had remained stable,” company managing director V.K. Srivastav told reporters in Bokaro today.

The company imports 80 percent of its coal requirement.

Mumbai, June 05: Bajaj Auto, the country’s second largest two-wheeler manufacturer, has reported 8.1 percent fall in its motorcycle sales last month.

The company said in a statement Thursday that it sold 165,049 motorcycles last month as against 179,649 vehicles in May 2008.

Cumulative sales, including exports and three wheelers, stood at 185,341 units, 8.02 percent down from 201,511 units sold in May 2008.

Exports last month declined 2.5 percent to 58,682 units from 60,215 exported in the corresponding month last year.

Mumbai, June 05: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose by 133 points in initial trade today, extending yesterday’s rally, on sustained buying by funds and retail investors buoyed by hopes that the Government will revive the economy by boosting investment and accelerating reforms.

Buying activity also picked up on firming global markets as renewed hopes that the economy is reviving.

The 30-share index, which had gained 137.78 points in yesterday’s highly-volatile session, shot up by another 133.08 points to 15,141.76, as metal, PSU and capital goods sector stocks rose.

Mumbai, June 02: A key index of the Indian equities markets soared soon after the opening bell today, rising over 133 points within 15 minutes.
The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, opened at 14,942.2 points, above Monday’s close of 14,840.6. Within 15 minutes, it had risen to 14,974.3 points, 133.7 points or 0.9 percent above the last close.

At the same time, the S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) stood at 4,558.55 points, 28.65 points above its last close.

Mumbai, June 01: As the wheels of fortune roll on, winners turn losers and losers, winners. With the gush of foreign money chasing stocks, the worst performers have beaten the odds and mutual fund schemes, which were blamed for destroying investor wealth, have doubled their wealth (or whatever was left of it) in less than three months.

Infrastructure, mid-cap, and banking are the three prominent categories of funds among the top return-earners in the post-March rally.

New Delhi, May 30: The Government will consider deregulating petrol and diesel prices, Mr Murli Deora, said on Friday after taking over as Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas for a second term.

“The issue of deregulation is being discussed and it will be put up to the Cabinet for a decision,” he said, adding that a decision on the issue would be taken in about six weeks.

Mumbai, May 26: The possibility of an affordable home not only eludes the vast middle class in the private sector, but also the Central public sector employees across the country, reflecting the gross shortage of houses.