Hindalco mulls huge expansion
Mumbai : Aditya Birla Group flagship company Hindalco has drawn-up a Rs.21,000-crore capital expenditure plan for the next two years even as its promoters are looking at increasing their stake in the company in the current fiscal, company Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said here on Friday.
“We plan to invest Rs.10,000-crore in 2010-11 and Rs.11,000-crore in 2011-12 on account of our ongoing expansion programme, which should be commissioned between 2012 and 2014,” Hindalco Chairman Mr. Birla ... Read Full Story
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Hyundai Motor India announces price hike up to 1.2 per cent
Mumbai : Auto major Hyundai Motor India on Thursday said it would be increasing the prices of its products by up to 1.2 per cent across all models, from September 1.
This increase is because of the rise in input costs, the company said in a press release issued here.
Announcing the hike in prices, Hyundai Motor India’s Director (Marketing & Sales) Arvind Saxena said, “There has been an increase in the input costs for car manufacturers. We have tried to absorb as much of the cost as we ... Read Full Story
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Weak global trends drag Sensex down by 98 points
Mumbai : The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex ended lower by nearly 98 points on Tuesday, led by Sterlite Industries, with investors preferring to stay away from risky assets amid weak global cues.
In tandem with weak world markets, the 30—share barometer of the BSE closed lower by 97.76 points, or 0.53 per cent, at 18,311.59.
The National Stock Exchange’s 50—share Nifty index too shed 0.69 per cent to finish at 5,505.10 points.
Analysts said that worries of global economic ... Read Full Story
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Food inflation falls to 10.5 per cent
New Delhi : Annual food inflation fell for the second straight week, to 10.05 per cent for the week ended August 14, as prices of vegetables like potato and onion declined.
Food inflation had softened to 10.35 per cent for the week ended August 7 against 11.40 per cent in the previous week.
On an yearly basis, potato became cheaper by over 50 per cent, while vegetables overall saw a decline of 14.23 per cent. Onion prices also fell by 7.29 per cent, official data released on Thursday ... Read Full Story
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Centre toughens stand on RIM
New Delhi : Toughening its stand, the government has conveyed to the BlackBerry makers to install a server in India for tracking their messenger and enterprise mail service as the offer to provide data from their Canada-based server could be detrimental to national security.
Officials of BlackBerry maker RIM (Research In Motion) had offered to provide information on a deferred basis after it faced the threat of a shutdown of the core features by August 31 if security agencies cannot gain ... Read Full Story
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Rupee inches up; shares, euro moves watched
Mumbai : The rupee crawled higher on Wednesday as banks sold dollars on behalf of foreign portfolio investors, but shaky stocks and the U.S. unit's strength versus majors kept the market in a tight band.
At 10:05 a.m. (0435 GMT), the partially convertible rupee was at 46.88/89 per dollar, slightly stronger than 46.91/92 at close on Tuesday when it had hit 46.98 during trade, its weakest since Aug. 12.
The rupee traded in a band of 46.8450-46.90.
"There was some good dollar selling from ... Read Full Story
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IOB raises lending rate by 50 basis points
Mumbai : State-owned Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) on Saturday announced increase in its lending rate by 50 basis points in line with the industry trend.
The Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) of the bank will be 12.5 per cent effective from August 23, IOB informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The increase in interest would not lead to rise in housing loan, it said. However, auto and corporate loans linked to BPLR would become expensive for the existing borrowers.
The decision comes days after ... Read Full Story
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Oracle sues Google for patent infringement
California : Oracle Corp. said on Thursday it has filed a patent and copyright-infringement lawsuit against Google Inc.
Oracle said in a statement that Google?s Android system for mobile phones infringes on its patented Java technology.
Google spokesman Andrew Pederson said the company cannot comment because it has not yet reviewed the lawsuit.
Oracle, which makes database software and other technology, acquired the Java computer programming language and related technology when it bought ... Read Full Story
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Double digit food inflation matter of concern, says Pranab
New Delhi : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday expressed concern over rising prices as the food inflation, after a gap of two weeks, entered the double digits driven mainly by higher prices of essential items.
“Of course it (food inflating) is a concern,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with chiefs of PSU banks.
High food inflation, Mr. Mukherjee added, was also on account of “base effect”, which is the statistical impact of the level of prices in the ... Read Full Story
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Google to use wind energy to power data centres
Google Inc's energy unit has entered into a deal to buy wind power from NextEra Energy Inc for the next 20 years to power data centres.
The deal comes less than three months after the giant Silicon Valley Internet search company invested USD 38.8 million in two wind farms in North Dakota, developed by NextEra Energy Resources, that generate enough energy to power more than 55,000 homes.
Google Energy LLC will begin buying wind power from July 30 from NextEra's facility in Iowa at a ... Read Full Story
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20 % drop in Maruti's first quarter profit
New Delhi : Maruti Suzuki India on Saturday reported a 20.25 per cent decline in its net profit at Rs. 465.36 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2010. However, the carmaker's income during the quarter increased by 27 per cent to Rs. 8,231.53 crore.
“The drop in net profit is due to higher commodity prices, increase in royalty and lower other income. In addition, income from exports to Europe fell due to weakening of the euro,” the company said in a statement. Cost of raw materials went ... Read Full Story
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Low Cost access-Cum-Computing Device Unveiled by Shri Kapil Sibal
New Delhi : The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Kapil Sibal unveiled a low cost computing-cum-access device, here today. The price of the device exhibited today is expected to be around $35 per piece, gradually dropping down to $20 and ultimately to $10 a piece. Since this effort of continuous reduction in price and enhancement in capabilities would require a constant endeavour for R&D, IIT Rajasthan and some other IITs and technical institutions are setting up research ... Read Full Story
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Economy to grow 8.5 p.c; inflation to ease to 6.5 p.c., says PMEAC
New Delhi : The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council on Friday said the economy will grow by 8.5 per cent, up from a projected 8.2 per cent, and inflation will come down from double digits to 6.5 per cent by the end of 2010-11.
The growth projection has been revised upwards on account of prospects of good monsoon, PMEAC Chairman C. Rangarajan said while releasing the economic outlook for the current fiscal.
It forecast a growth of 9 per cent for 2011-12.
In February, the Council had ... Read Full Story
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Tata motors to hike Nano prices
New Delhi : Tata Motors on Friday said it will raise the prices of its small car Nano by up to four per cent after it completes the delivery to first one lakh customers.
The company said it has begun intimating customers, who had retained their booking but are not among first one lakh, that their cars are coming up for delivery albeit at higher prices.
“Despite a steep increase in input prices, their (retainee-customers) Tata Nanos are being priced only three-four per cent higher, depending ... Read Full Story
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Rupee gets a new symbol
Mumbai : India has finally got a symbol for the Rupee and joined a select club of countries whose currencies have an unique identity.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the design, which includes both the Devnagiri 'Ra' and the Roman capital 'R' and has two parallel lines running at the top. The parallel lines symbolise the equal to sign.
"With this India will join an elite group of countries which have a distinct currency symbol. It denotes the robustness of Indian economy. I will now ... Read Full Story
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Sensex opens 181 points up on strong global cues
Mumbai : The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose by 181 points in the opening trade on Wednesday, tracking a firm trend in overseas markets.
The 30-share index, which gained nearly 515 points in the previous four sessions, added another 181.32 points, or 1 per cent to 18,167.22 points, a level last seen in February 2008.
The wide?based National Stock Exchange index Nifty surged 52.80 points, or 0.97 per cent, to 5,453.45 points.
Market sentiment remained firm in tandem with a strong ... Read Full Story
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RNRL to decide on merger with R-Power
Mumbai : The boards of two energy firms belonging to the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) – Reliance Natural Resources and Reliance Power – will meet Sunday to consider a merger, the comapanies said in identical regulatory filings with the stock exchanges over the weekend.
The two companies had a market capitalisation of Rs.10,394 crore and Rs.41,979 crore respectively at closing bell Friday. The statement issued by the two companies did not specify the reason behind the ... Read Full Story
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Centre hikes fuel prices
New Delhi : After much deliberation, the Centre on Friday announced an across the board fuel price hike petrol by Rs.3.50 a litre, diesel by Rs.2 a litre, kerosene by Rs.3 a litre and liquefied petroleum gas-LPG (cooking gas) by Rs.35 a cylinder. The move will help the government cut its deficit and generate funds for social schemes but will also push inflation up.
Effective from Friday midnight, the government has decided to completely deregulate petrol, which will now be linked to ... Read Full Story
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Sensex falls by 127 points on profit-booking
Mumabi : The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today fell by 127 points as investors encashed the massive gains after a recent surge, amid weak global cues.
The 30-share index dropped 126.86 points to 17,749.69 points. The barometer had surged 306 points to over 10-week high levels in the previous session.
Among the 30-index components, 27 stocks closed lower. Selling pressure gathered momentum on the bourses across the globe as investors withdrew funds from riskier assets after Fitch ... Read Full Story
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RIL plans to add more space for retail venture
New Delhi : Cash-plush Reliance Industries, headed by Mukesh Ambani, has asked property owners to take part in the ambitious growth plan for its retail venture by renting or selling real estate space across the country.
The company has invited applications from property owners as it wants commercial space between 3,000 and 30,000 sq ft and above for Reliance Retail, according to information posted on its website.
This is part of RIL’s plans to expand its retail venture tenfold in the next ... Read Full Story
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