Recent Entries

• Maruti Suzuki increases focus to bigger cars like Ertiga to bui

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  Buoyed by the success of its first multi-utility vehicle Ertiga, the country's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki is increasing its focus on bigger utility vehicles and sedans to maintain its lead in the highly competitive Indian automobile market. The car maker plans to give its mid-size sed...

• Motorola may shut operations in India in drive to cut 20% jobs

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  NEW DELHI: US-based Motorola Mobility may shut operations in India as part of its global strategy to prune its near 20,000-strong workforce by 20% and close more than 30 sales offices and R&D units worldwide. The mobile phone maker will also give 'generous' severance packages and outplacement servic...

• IndiGo, Jet Airways charged highest fares in July; Kingfisher i

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  NEW DELHI: No-frills carrier IndiGo charged the highest fares on several sectors, while so-called 'first class' airline Kingfisher was the cheapest, latest official data for July shows, showcasing yet again some of strange ironies of India's aviation business. Data from the office of the aviation r...

• Promax buyout pays off as Wipro bags $10 mn outsourcing contrac

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  BANGALORE: Within months of being acquired by Wipro, Australian analytics company Promax Applications justified its price tag by helping the Indian software services provider bag a multi-million-dollar technology outsourcing contract. The deal, which will make use of Promax's technology platform, w...

• Decoding new MF expense rules: Fund houses now free to allocate

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  The decisions announced after the Sebi board meeting last week provide the much-needed breather to asset management companies (AMCs). There are three key decisions about expenses that impact investors and AMCs. The first is the fungibility in the total expense ratio. The maximum expense that an equ...

• Price-Fixing: Hefty penalties on big-biz cartels will provide l

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  Businesses form price-fixing cartels because market conditions allow the cartel to be profitable and because they judge the chances of paying large fines to be low. Cartels usually raise prices by over 20% on average, although of course the exact amount varies greatly from one product to another. Th...

• New book raises questions about bin Laden's death

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  WASHINGTON: A firsthand account of the commando raid by US Navy SEALs that killed Osama bin Laden contradicts previous accounts by administration officials, raising questions as to whether the terror mastermind presented a clear threat when SEALs first fired upon him. Bin Laden apparently was shot ...

• How ABB is tweaking products to make sustainability an integral

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  Bazmi Husain, MF of ABB in India has mustered genteel enthusiasm in addressing challenges of developing economies facing a peak power deficit of over 12% ABB is tweaking its products, systems and services to make sustainability an integral part of its business model, much like a Unilever or a GE....

• Don't blame slowdown of Indian economy on RBI

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  The Indian economy has slowed down more sharply than anybody could have imagined a year ago. Official forecasts peg growth for the current year in the range of 6-6.7%. Many private forecasts are more pessimistic: they project growth of below 6%. How to raise the growth rate is the big challenge for ...

• Presidential pardons could take anything from three to 20 years

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  NEW DELHI: A presidential pardon can be a fraught proposition with the waiting time for death row convicts ranging from three years to 20 years. Gurmeet Singh from Pipariya village in Uttar Pradesh has been on death row for the last 20 years after being convicted for the murder of 13 family members...

• 1800 series numbers can't be used for international calls: Depa

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  NEW DELHI: Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has informed telecom tribunal TDSAT that 1800 series numbers cannot be used for making international calls. In its affidavit filed before TDSAT, the DoT said that international call forwarding are not permitted in 1800 series Intelligent Network (IN...

• Indians are turning to genetics to assess likelihood of falling

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  BANGALORE: Juggling a hectic career as a software professional with the demands of bringing up her child left Deepa (second name withheld to protect identity) with little time for personal health concerns, until the day a colleague at work collapsed due to a heart attack. Deeply disturbed by the inc...

• Indian Army to buy 20 mini-UAVs for Jammu and Kashmir operation

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  NEW DELHI: Strengthening the capability of its troops in fighting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Army has issued a global tender for procuring 20 mini- UAVs for its formations deployed in the state. The tender for the 20 mini-UAVs has been issued soon after the Army and the Navy issued ...

• Indian drug companies like Glenmark, Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma bre

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  MUMBAI: In yet another instance of India Inc occupying a larger seat in the global league tables, three out of the top 10 fastest-growing generic companies globally are now from India . Besides being an indication of the acceptance of domestic pharmaceutical companies and their growing clout, this i...

• Poor starve as politicians steal Rs 80,649 crore worth of food

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  NEW DELHI: Ram Kishen, 52, half-blind and half- starved, holds in his gnarled hands the reason for his hunger: a tattered card entitling him to subsidised rations that now serves as a symbol of India's biggest food heist. Kishen has had nothing from the village shop for 15 months. Yet 20 minutes' d...

• CAG ready to make life more difficult for Congress; argues loss

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  NEW DELHI: Undaunted by sustained criticism from the government, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is ready to make things even more difficult for the Congress-led administration by arguing that the value of blocks given away to private companies can be pegged 10 times higher than t...

• For growth's sake, cut rate by 1%: KV Kamath, Chairman, ICICI B

  by Sindhuri G August 30, 2012
  "I would think that we need to head towards a 100-basis point cut soon," the chairman of the country's largest private lender ICICI Bank told ET in an interview. BANGALORE: The Reserve bank of India must go bold and big with a 100 basis-point reduction in its main policy rate to spur consumption,...

• Devgn confirms Diwali release for Son of Sardaar

  by Sindhuri G August 29, 2012
  Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Dutt are currently dubbing for the film in Hyderabad and the post production work is on a war footing to ensure a Diwali release. Ajay Devgn's highly anticipated film Son Of Sardaar (SOS) will hit theatres in India and worldwide this Diwali on November 13, 2012! Post producti...