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.'
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.
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.
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.
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.
Airlines have been conducting fuel efficiency analysis, which involves fuel calculations on a daily basis, based on the availability of optimum routes in terms of wind, flight levels and overflying charges, route rationalisation to prune the number of flights and increase utilisation. They also want the Centre to grant ATF a declared goods status, which would result in a uniform levy of 4 per cent sales tax at the state level.
"Land is limited, land is precious, land holds a special value to farmers and their families. We have to be sensitive to those who lose land to the industry knowing fully well that the industry also needs space. Emprical evidence shows that options other than compulsory land acquisition are also possible," said West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi. Without mentioning Singur even once, his speech at the ICC highlighted the farmers' interest.
The Kerala State IT Infrastructure Limited is planning to set up an IT city and IT parks across the state, which would have a seating capacity of 200,000 people by the year 2015. KSITI will promote these projects through the public-private partnership model. N Radhakrishna Nair, director, KSITI and chief executive officer, Trivandrum Techno Park, said that Kerala, which was promoting tourism as 'God's own tourism country', now want to promote it as 'God's own e-state.'
The new package put together by intermediaries includes higher compensation for land to land losers and more compensatory wages for registered tenant farmers (called bargadars), unregistered tenant farmers and agricultural labourers, and involvement of Tata Motors in the Singur resolution process, said sources close to the development.
"These are unforeseen events and we do not see any further impact from other clients. We are in talks with both the seller and the purchaser, as the seller has mentioned our name in the list of critical services suppliers. The situation will be clear in a week," said P D Mundhra, executive director, eClerx Services.
ICICI Securities, Daiichi Sankyo's offer manager, has indicated that there will be a delay in payment for Ranbaxy's accepted shares as the acquisition of the country's largest drug maker is yet to clear all regulatory and procedural hurdles. Daiichi has agreed to accept Ranbaxy shares from the open market as well as its promoters for Rs 737 a share. The company's scrip closed at Rs 347.2 at the Bombay Stock Exchange on September 22.
Mukesh Ambani gave a fascinating account of how the company, which will soon account for around 40 per cent of the country's oil & gas production, can change the energy landscape of the country. It can also potentially lead to a new gas-based economy, he said. Terming natural gas as the 21st century fuel, Ambani said India now has the opportunity to leapfrog the use of clean energy and directly benefit the people.
The investment would be spread over manufacturing capacity, market infrastructure, environment sustainability initiatives, R&D and agriculture. Pepsico Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi said the new investment will generate 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in India. PepsiCo has invested $ 700 million since its entry into the country in 1989, employing 4,000 people directly and some 60,000 others indirectly.
Vijay Bhatnagar, chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal India, said, "The move is aimed to ensure that these people, who have never handled large sums of money, do not get misguided by unscrupulous elements and end up losing their money. The objective is to figure out ways for these people, who have very little or no education and financial knowledge, to get the highest possible returns through the safest possible investments."
While end-users in big cities such as Mumbai and Delhi are postponing buying houses due to a number of reasons such as unaffordable prices, rise in interest rates and increase in their monthly pay-outs among others, investors have sold off their properties to pay for losses suffered in the stock and property markets, consultants said.
About 64 per cent of the total outbound Indian tourists had sightseeing on the agenda; others travelled to explore new places, seek a change from daily routine, destress and visit family and friends, the report stated. Nature, safety and hygiene are among the important factors considered when selecting a travel destination. Singapore emerged as the most common travel destination for Indians (24 per cent) in the next 12 months, followed by Dubai, Australia, and Malaysia.
Online bus booking started in India around 18 months ago. It is estimated to be a 15,000-crore market and is growing at 20 per cent a month. Currently, bus booking is less than 0.01 per cent of the total online travel booking segment. On an average, portals charge 10-20 per cent commission on ticket value from bus operators. On an airline booking, it is below 5 per cent.
The expansion into nuclear is part of the group's plan to invest as much as $ 50 billion by 2014 to expand its business in the world's second-most populous nation. The group has already concluded talks with overseas companies which can offer technological and related support to enter the business. "There will be a flood of American investments in the country once the deal is concluded," S P Hinduja said.
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