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Dayanidhi Maran resigns
Union minister Dayanidhi Maran, named a suspect in the 2G scam case by the CBI, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and handed him over his resignation on Thursday. He earlier attended a cabinet meeting at Prime Minister's residence in Delh. Singh had called the meeting ahead of a proposed cabinet reshuffle.
According to sources, Maran seemed tense when he came to the cabinet meeting. He did not say something during the meeting. |
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Filing the status report in the 2G scam case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday said that early evidence hint that Maran misused his office when he was Telecom Minister to force the sale of Aircel to a Malaysian telecom firm Maxis Communication, close to the Maran family.
No decision on Maran has been taken till now after the CBI put him in dock on Wednesday. |
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TVS Motor June sales up 14%
Chennai-based TVS Motor company today reported a 14% increase in total sales to 182,456 units in June, 2011, as against 159,688 units in the same month last year.
During the month, total motorcycle sales grew by 5% to 69,859 units from 66,452 units in the same month last year, it said. Scooter sales grew by 21% to 44,281 units in June 2011, from 36,742 units in June 2010.Three-wheeler sales in June 2011, stood at 3,822 units, as against 3,003 units in the comparable month of the previous year, a growth of 27%. |
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Swiss Co to deploy TCS banking IT suite
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said Switzerland-based PostFinance would deploy its IT suite to overhaul part of latter's operations.
The banking suite -- TCS BaNCS -- comprising payments, core banking, securities processing for funds administration and compliance for fraud detection solution will be implemented as part of the modernisation drive of PostFinance, TCS said in a statement. |
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PostFinance, is a provider of domestic and international payment services, by deploying TCS BaNCS will enable flexible development and the adaptability to meet current and future market needs as well as regulatory requirements. The entire modernisation program will be accomplished over the next four years, the statement added.
TCS BaNCS is a market ready, component based customer centric, real time solution which ensures faster time to market for products and flexibility to integrate and support both, existing and future business. |
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WB lifts ban on Wipro
The India’s third largest IT firm, Wipro has now become eligible to take part in World Bank projects; a four-year ban on the company in 2007 has expired. However, the company has to reapply to become a vendor of the bank, which will be decided based on the eligibility criteria and other norms.
To a query if Wipro is reapplying to World Bank to become a vendor, the company said, “We have always been confident of our business practices. We are happy to know we are eligible to do business with the World Bank.”
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The World Bank had slapped a four-year ban on Wipro from doing business with the group under its corporate procurement programme for “providing improper benefits to the bank’s staff”.
The World Bank had also banned Satyam Computer Services for “breach of confidentiality” for eight years starting December 22, 2008. in addition, the Megasoft Consultants for “setting up a joint venture in China with a former bank employee” had to be faced similar kind of ban earliar. |
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Vodafone warns tax bill could double
Vodafone warned that a $2.5 billion tax bill it faces in India could double while the company fights it in the Supreme Court. The Indian authorities threatened to impose penalties for non-payment that could increase the tax bill to $5 billion.
India maintains Vodafone owes taxes related to its 2007, $10.9 billion acquisition of Hutchison Essar.
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| In April, India's Supreme Court asked the IT department to restrain from enforcing penalties on Vodafone until an order is passed after a case hearing in July, but allowed it to continue with its proceedings. |
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Google stops invitations to Google+
Google Inc stopped inviting users to join its new social network Google+ less than 48 hours after beginning a limited rollout of the service. Google wants it to do this carefully, and in a controlled way.
Google unveiled Google+ on Tuesday, marking the company's boldest move to take on Facebook . The new Google+ service follows a string of failed attempts by Google to crack the social networking market with products such as Google Buzz and Wave. |
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A Google spokeswoman declined to say whether Google had resumed inviting people to join Google+ on Thursday or to specify what caused the suspension of invitations.
"We launched Google+ in a Field Trial in order to test the product out and gather more feedback," Google said in a statement. |
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Exports jump 56.9% in May
India's exports grew by an impressive 56.9 per cent year-on-year to USD 25.9 billion in May due to a rise in demand from Western markets like the US and Europe. Imports also surged by 54.08 per cent to USD 40.9 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 14.9 billion, as per official data released by the Union Commerce Ministry today.
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Tata Motors sales marginally down
Tata Motors reported a marginal 0.70% decline in total sales during June, 2011, to 66,358 units from 66,824 units in the same month of 2010.
This company's total passenger vehicles sales in the domestic market stood at 21,993 units in June, a fall of 20.91% from 27,811 units in the same month last year, the company said in a statement.
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Sales of the company's latest offering, the Nano, stood at 5,451 units during the month, down 29%. The 'Indica' range reported sales of 8,188 units, down 9% from June, 2010. The 'Indigo' family recorded sales of 4,882 units, a decrease of 35% vis-a-vis the same month last year. Sales of 'Sumo', 'Safari' and 'Aria' fell by 4% to 3,472 units.
In the commercial vehicles segment, the company sold 39,271 units in the domestic market during the month compared to 34,791 units in the same month last year, up 12.88%. |
| The uptrend in the stock is because the deal hangover which was there for the last 10 months is finally over and the uncertainty and regularity hurdles are now all clear. |
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Google suffers in Nortel patent loss
Google, which initiated the bidding war for precious Nortel patents in April, has suffered a huge blow with an Apple-led consortium walking away with 6,000 patents for $4.5 billion last week.
The bidding process for 6,000 patents and patent applications began in April, with Google offering a $900-million stalking horse bid.
Apart from Apple, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM), Microsoft, Ericsson, Sony |
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According to analysts, the patent auction is a big blow to Google as the search engine was willing to pay any price to beef up its bank of patents - which is the smallest among major wireless players.
As Google is also involved in more than 45 patent lawsuits - the biggest against any major player - it wanted Nortel patents badly to protect itself against such lawsuits in the future.
Since Nortel-patented technology is used in RIM's BlackBerry, Apple's iPhone and Google Android smart phones, the buyer of these patents now get the rights to license this technology to secure royalties and gain market influence in the multi-trillion-dollar technology field.
So with these patents now in the hands of its rivals Apple and RIM, Google could be in trouble in the smart phone market where its Android-powered devices are becoming very popular. |
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Nalco extends discounts
State-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO), India's third-largest producer of aluminium, has extended a discount of Rs 2,000 ($44.8) per tonne on rolled products until the end of July.
Last week, the company had offered the discount until June 30 across all products in the domestic market following a drop in world prices. NALCO has decided to extend the discount only on rolled products. |
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Reliance Retail hires former WM Exec
The retail subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries has appointed two former Wal-Mart executives to run the operations, ahead of an expected opening up of the retail sector.
Rob Cissell has been named chief executive and Shawn Gray as chief operating officer. The executives were formerly with Wal-Mart China.
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A panel of top Indian officials is likely to meet this month to decide on allowing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, an indication the union government wants to move ahead on a long-delayed reform initiative.
The company is sharpening its focus on consumer businesses including retail, telecom and insurance because it wants to balance its portfolio and lower its dependence on core business and will see many senior-level hires across these three businesses. |
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Huge rare deposits found in Pacific
Vast deposits of rare earth minerals have been discovered on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean amounting to 1,000 times those on land, media reported on Monday citing a study by Japanese researchers.
The deposits are estimated to amount to 100 billion tonne, a Japanese business daily said.
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They are believed to lie at a depth of 3,500 to 6,000 metres and cover an area of over 11 million square metres, the reports said.
China, which produces 97% of global rare earth supplies, has been tightening trade in the strategic metal, which is used in high-tech electronics, magnets and batteries, causing concerns globally about supply and triggering jumps in prices.
Japan's imports of rare earths from China fell 3% in May from April, the first month-on-month drop in three months, as the price of the metal surged, Japan's finance ministry said last month. |
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UK co reverts outsourced work
A British company is bringing back its outsourced work to the UK after it realised that outsourcing it to India is no longer cheaper than doing the same work here.
Many British companies outsourced work to India where costs were low.
But in recent years, increasing prices in India have made it a less attractive option than retaining the work in the UK.
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New Call Telecom, which competes with BT and Sky to offer home telephone services, broadband and low-cost international calls, is opening a call centre in Lancashire after being attracted by low commercial rents and cheap labour costs, according to a report in a British daily.
New Call's chief executive, Nigel Eastwood, said, "In India in the past decade, as call centres have grown, real-estate prices have gone up massively, while salaries have also crept up." |
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Telangana issue: 37 Cong MLAs resign
The pro-Telangana campaign assumed new dimensions with 37 ruling Congress MLAs, including four ministers, and 28 TDP MLAs from the region resigning their membership of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
In Delhi, seven Congress MPs, who had planned to resign from the Lok Sabha, did not keep their scheduled meeting with Speaker Meira Kumar who waited for some time before leaving her chamber.
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Four Andhra Pradesh ministers K Jana Reddy, J Geeta Reddy, Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy submitted resignations from the membership of state Assembly demanding immediate creation of Telangana state.
The Congress has 50 MLAs from the region in the 294-member assembly.
As many as 28 Telugu Desam Party MLAs from Telangana submitted resignation from their posts demanding creation of a separate state. |
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RIL looks to sell gas pipeline biz
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is looking to sell Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure Ltd, a business that builds pipelines to carry natural gas across the country. RIL has contacted bankers to help him sell the business and the process is at an early stage.
In May, Reliance was producing 48 million standard cubic metres per day of gas from the key D6 block of Krishna-Godavari basin.
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| In February, BP Plc agreed to buy a 30-per cent stake in 23 oil and gas blocks owned by Reliance Industries, for $7.2 billion. |
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N. Korea's trade dependency on China grows
North Korea's reliance on China for trade deepened last year after South Korea severed most ties with Pyongyang, accusing it of torpedoing of one of its warships, a think-tank said on Wednesday.
The state Korea Development Institute said in a report the North's trade with China was worth $3.47 billion last year, up 29.3 percent from a year earlier. |
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Such trade accounted for 56.9 percent of its total trade of $6.09 billion last year, up from 52.6 percent in 2009.
The trend intensified this year, with the value of North Korea-China trade nearly doubling to $1.43 billion during the first four months from the same period a year earlier.
This was mainly due to a sharp rise in the North's coal exports, the institute said.
In contrast, the North's exports to South Korea plunged from an average $40 million per month in January-May last year to a mere $1 million per month in the first four months of this year. |
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India, US vital market for each other
India and the US remain "vital" markets for each other, a top official here has said, refuting reports that American investment in India has dropped.
"We just had a significant deal, if you will, for transport aircraft that's going to significantly boost India's air transport capabilities," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said at his daily news conference.
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He was referring to the Indian government's decision to buy 10 C-17 heavy-lift military aircraft from the US at a cost of $4.1 billion, the biggest defence deal between the two countries
"Look, India remains a vital market for the US and vice versa. That goes without saying," Toner said.
His remarks came when asked about reports that claimed the American investment in India has dropped.
India remains an attractive business climate for the US, Toner insisted. |
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Apple pushes RIM to third spot
There is more bad news for slipping BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM). According to the latest smartphone market data, BlackBerry is at third place as Google Android and Apple iPhone have further increased their share in the US.
A market research reported on Tuesday that Google Android devices have carved out as much as 38.1 percent of the market share during the past three months. |
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During this period ending May, Google Android ranked as the top operating system with 38.1 percent of US smartphone subscribers, up 5.1 percent.
Apple bumped BlackBerry from number two position with 26.6 percent of the market share, up 1.4 percent.
BlackBerry was relegated to the third rank with 24.7 percent, slipping 4.2 percent during the period.
The share of Microsoft also shrank to 5.8 percent, down almost two percent, the report said.
In its precipitous fall in the American smartphone market, BlackBerry has lost its top position in a matter of months. Just last October, it was the top-seller with a market share of more than 33.5 percent. |
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Lafarge gets SC nod in Meghalaya
The Supreme Court allowed French cement giant Lafarge to mine limestone in the forests of the East Khasi hills in Meghalaya.
A special forest bench headed by the Chief Justice S H Kapadia allowed the plea of Lafarge to mine in the forests of Meghalaya.
The apex court also upheld the revised environmental clearances given to Lafarge by
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| the Ministry of Environment and Forest and said, "We are satisfied with the MOEF as it has taken a due diligence exercise." |
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The special bench further said there was no reason to go into the two environmental clearances given by the MOEF.
The court had on May 10 reserved its judgement after hearing all the parties over the revised environmental clearance given to Lafarge for mining in the forest.
The apex court had on February 5, 2010, stopped Lafarge from carrying out limestone mining in Meghalaya for its cement plant, saying mining in the environmentally-sensitive zone could not be allowed.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) had given revised environmental clearance to Lafarge last April on the directions of the Supreme Court after finding the mining project fell in forest land. |
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Luxury car sales go up in Gulf
The Gulf region has become a leading market for luxury cars and wealthy individuals are set to buy a record number of vehicles from the likes of BMW's Rolls-Royce, Fiat's Maserati and Porsche SE this year.
According to data released recently, sales of high-end cars in Gulf countries, including the UAE, will probably grow by 20 per cent this year, more than double the overall rate of 9.7 per cent in the segment last year. The sales spurt will probably continue and the |
| market is expected to more than double from 2010 to 2015, comparable to the estimated 51 per cent increase globally. |
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| Porsche is asking UAE buyers of its Cayenne SUV to wait at least three months to get delivery, while a 911 sports car may take as long as seven months to arrive. The growth is predicted of at least 10 per cent in the second quarter. |
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India requires 1,320 aircraft by 2030
Boeing on Wednesday said it expects India's commercial airplane market to reach $150 billion over the next 20 years driven by double digit growth and economic prosperity amongst a massive Indian population.
In its outlook for India's commercial airplane market through 2030, Boeing said India will need 1,320 new passenger airplanes over the next 20 years.
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Robust growth with new economic prosperity amongst a massive Indian population, discretionary incomes, business progress and access to airports will increase airplane demand.
India had 53.6 million domestic passengers and 13.1 million international passengers during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011.
Boeing said passenger traffic in India is expected to grow at 8.1 per cent annually over the long-term, while globally it is expected to grow at 5.1 per cent.
Boeing predicts that India-based airlines will also grow by responding to passenger preference for more flight choices, lower fares and direct access to a wider range of destinations. |
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Facebook launches video calls
Quick on the heels of Google's launch of its latest social-networking venture; Facebook said that its 750 million users will now be able to make video calls on the site.
The feature will be powered by the Internet phone service Skype. Facebook also redesigned its chat feature, so that a user messages the most often show up first.
To make video calls, Facebook users with webcam-equipped computers have to select |
| the friends they want to chat with. In the chat window that pops up, clicking on a small blue video icon brings up the video chat feature. Currently there is no option to video chat more than one person. That feature is available on Google Plus, a social service that Google began testing last week with a small number of invited users. |
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| Facebook is also adding a group chat option. This works much the same way as the group chat on Google Plus. Once you are chatting with one friend, you can click an icon to add more people to the conversation. |
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Bangladesh keen on Saudi investment
Bangladesh government officials have been travelling through Saudi Arabia trying to secure public and private investment in oil and gas, power and transportation projects, it has been reported.
Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said Bangladesh is seeking more than USD 9 billion in foreign investment to build electrical power plants to address its growing demand. |
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He discussed the possibility of Saudi investment in the Bangladesh power sector with a group of local businessmen, led by Asharqia Chamber Secretary-General Abdulrahman A Al-Wabel, an Arab News report said.
Bangladesh has finalised a roadmap to generate around 9,426 megawatts of electricity by 2015. Some 571 megawatts could be added to the national grid within a year-and-a-half.
At present, the power generation capacity in Bangladesh stands at more than 5,000 MW.
Muhith said Dhaka is devising ways and means to attract capital from both external and domestic sources for investment in the next two decades, adding that there are a number of domestic and international initiatives aimed to attract investment in the power sector. |
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Domestic hurdles push to invest abroad
With land frustratingly hard to get at home, India's largest rubber producer decided to make its next investment, and its first overseas, a continent away, in Africa.
Harrisons Malayalam, which is also a major tea grower, is joining a surge in outbound investment by corporate India. It plans to spend up to $112 million somewhere in Africa to buy about 10,000 acres.
The overseas investment push by Indian companies, often seen as the assertiveness
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At home, rising interest rates and inflation, fierce competition in several industries, and policy gridlock amid a spate of corruption scandals that have put India's government on the defensive have deterred investment, slowing economic growth and prompting many Indian firms to seek opportunity elsewhere.
While doing business abroad diversifies risk and opens new markets, the export of capital even as inflows slow deprives the Indian economy of investment that could add capacity and ease bottlenecks that drive inflation and crimp growth. |
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