B S Reporter In Kolkata, Bhubaneswar

Stories by B S Reporter In Kolkata, Bhubaneswar

Nano project: Farmers cry foul over land price

Nano project: Farmers cry foul over land price

Rediff.com   4 Nov 2008

Farmers say they are paid lesser by Rs 110 per sq meter for road project. A day before the announcement of Nano project at Northcote farm in Chharodi village in Gujarat, the Ahmedabad district collector along with revenue department officials had assured the farmers that they would be duly compensated for the amount of land they given for four lane road project.

Power Grid, 13 IPPs to sign sale deals soon

Power Grid, 13 IPPs to sign sale deals soon

Rediff.com   24 Oct 2008

Power Grid is supposed to set up two (2) high power transmission towers costing over Rs 16,500 crore (Rs 165 billion) for evacuating a bulk of the 16,000 Mws of electricity generated within the state by 2011-12 to western and northern India.

Ranbaxy to strengthen US business

Ranbaxy to strengthen US business

Rediff.com   15 Oct 2008

"We are responding to all queries from US FDA and will emerge as a stronger player in the world's biggest pharmaceutical market," Ranbaxy Chairman and Managing Director Malvinder Singh said. The US, which accounts for 20 per cent of Ranbaxy's $1.5-billion annual turnover, has an import restriction on 30 of its medicines by the US Food and Drugs Authority.

Breather for Posco after arrest of five

Breather for Posco after arrest of five

Rediff.com   15 Oct 2008

The Jagatsinghpur district administration, under whose jurisdiction the site falls, has decided to convene a meeting of the Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory Committee next week to finalise land valuation, compensation and rehabilitation packages. Even after three years of signing of MoU with the state government, the Posco project was a non starter due to stiff opposition by the locals led by PPSS activists.

Bharti in tech pact with Infy for DTH rollout

Bharti in tech pact with Infy for DTH rollout

Rediff.com   15 Oct 2008

Infosys already works with a communication services provider major in Western Europe in the digital TV space. The company has a solution called modular content accelerator which serves as an interface between stakeholders of consumer marketing and IT. The solution provides an operator the means to efficiently manage content catalogue, bundled offers and pricing, apart from providing interactive services through multi-media content storefront.

HCL Tech purchases 6.71 mn Axon shares

HCL Tech purchases 6.71 mn Axon shares

Rediff.com   14 Oct 2008

On September 26, HCL Technologies announced the terms of a cash offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Axon at a price of 650 pence per Axon share. On October 8, HCL EAS, the indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of HCL Technologies, acquired 3,01,623 Axon shares which represent approximately 0.47 per cent of the current issued share capital of Axon.

Do-not-call registry fails to enthuse subscribers

Do-not-call registry fails to enthuse subscribers

Rediff.com   13 Oct 2008

According to the Trai latest report, only around 18 million telephone subscribers out of the total subscriber base of more than 344 million have opted to register in NDNC. Of these, urban areas like Delhi and Mumbai constitute around 40 per cent along with states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa.

Boomtime: GSM operators add record 7.7 mill users

Boomtime: GSM operators add record 7.7 mill users

Rediff.com   13 Oct 2008

Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel retained the top rank with a market share of 33.21 per cent and a total user base of 77.48 million. Vodafone-Essar added 1.87 million and maintained a market share of 23.41 per cent. COAI, which does not include Reliance Telecom, estimates RT added at least 370,000 subscribers in the month,

Rs 230k cr investor wealth lost in September

Rs 230k cr investor wealth lost in September

Rediff.com   8 Oct 2008

On the contrary, the fall in the US markets was lower with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones both declining by around 9 per cent and 6 per cent respectively, while emerging markets lost around 18 per cent during the month. Pessimism in the financial markets following the filing for bankruptcy by Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch's sell-off, the AIG bailout and perceived uncertainty around the US bailout package added to investor fears.

VC funds invest $11 mn in SMS GupShup

VC funds invest $11 mn in SMS GupShup

Rediff.com   8 Oct 2008

The service, which enables users to form communities and blog using their mobile phones and has a user base of 12 million, has received the investment from venture capital funds Helion Ventures and Charles River Ventures. The funds will be used to fund business growth, product development and increased sales and marketing, said Rakesh Mathur, CEO and co-founder of SMS GupShup.

Complete arguments by Oct 27: HC to Ambanis

Complete arguments by Oct 27: HC to Ambanis

Rediff.com   8 Oct 2008

During the arguments in the court, Justice J N Patel remarked that the court would like to spend the Diwali vacation writing out the order and would like the parties involved to finish their arguments before that. "We are not hearing the matter because Reliance Industries is a big company. We are hearing it because it is in the nation's interest," remarked Justice Patel.

August trade deficit up 94% at $ 14 billion

August trade deficit up 94% at $ 14 billion

Rediff.com   3 Oct 2008

Exports of goods during August rose 27 per cent to $ 16 billion, from $ 12.61 billion in the same month last year. Imports rose sharply by over 51 per cent at $ 29.94 billion due to the increase in the value of crude oil imports. The government is worried about the rising trade deficit. "It is a cause of concern. But the fundamentals of the economy are strong and we will be able to absorb it," said a commerce ministry official.

Mahindra Holidays to raise Rs 4 bn through IPO

Mahindra Holidays to raise Rs 4 bn through IPO

Rediff.com   1 Oct 2008

The company plans to sell 92,65,275 equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash at a price to be decided entirely through a book-building process. The issue would constitute 11 per cent of the fully diluted post-issue paid up capital of the company. Club Mahindra Holidays plans to raise Rs 400-450 crore (Rs 4-4.5 billion) from the IPO, sources said.

RCom soft launches GSM services

RCom soft launches GSM services

Rediff.com   29 Sep 2008

The Anil Ambani group company has soft-launched the service in Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab Bangalore and Chennai. The company has provided GSM phones to its employees for testing the service, according to sources.

Karat 'alerts' against finance reforms

Karat 'alerts' against finance reforms

Rediff.com   29 Sep 2008

CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat called all 'non-Left' parties to resist Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's financial sector reforms plans. In a recent article in People's Democracy, Karat wrote, 'After the burst of the real estate bubble and the financial crisis in the United States, one would have expected this ardent advocate of financial sector reforms to rethink. But that has not happened.'

Global finance crisis: Indian BPOs will benefit

Global finance crisis: Indian BPOs will benefit

Rediff.com   26 Sep 2008

The current sub-prime crisis, in the medium-to-long term period, will accelerate global sourcing adoption as financial institutions are exercising the option to cut costs. The institute predicts that outsourcing from the financial services sector have the potential to increase 40-45 times the current market size over the next five years, with key drivers of growth coming from cost pressures and the timely advent of more vertical-specific offerings by offshore suppliers.

IMF favours tighter monetary policy

IMF favours tighter monetary policy

Rediff.com   26 Sep 2008

The fund said oil prices are still at double the levels recorded in end-2006, even after the 40 per cent fall in prices from the peak they reached in July this year. Food prices too are still above end-2006 levels. Because of this, fuel importing low-income countries will see their import bill increase by 3.2 per cent of their GDP, while food importing countries will spend additional amount equivalent to 0.8 per cent of GDP on food.

Indian retail market to reach $ 450 bn by 2015

Indian retail market to reach $ 450 bn by 2015

Rediff.com   26 Sep 2008

A McKinsey & Company report also said organised retail was expected to grow from the current 5 per cent to 14-18 per cent of the total retail market in 2015. It added that retail in India could be profitable but not with 'cut and paste' global formats. The greatest challenge would be to maintain the organisation's focus on profitability while cultivating flexibility.

Deutsche Bank is top I-bank in India

Deutsche Bank is top I-bank in India

Rediff.com   25 Sep 2008

With a market share of 16.6 per cent in mergers and acquisitions and 14.2 per cent in fund raising through the equity route, the investment banking arm of the German financial behemoth has become the numero uno investment bank in the country.

Wage payment to NREGS workers in 15 days

Wage payment to NREGS workers in 15 days

Rediff.com   25 Sep 2008

The latest measure assumes importance as it has come to the notice of the Orissa government that the payment of wages to some NREGS workers is not made within a fortnight. In some districts, the wages are not paid to the workers for months together. It is reportedly causing resentment among people prompting them to abstain from work.