Stock News
Mahindra & Mahindra interested in bankrupt Saab Automobile: report
India's biggest utility vehicle manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is reportedly interested in buying a part or the whole of the bankrupt Swedish carmaker Saab Automobile.
Two people familiar with the matter said that M&M is organizing meeting with the court-appointed administrators, viz. Hans Bergqvist and Anne-Marie Pouteaux, who are Saab Automobile's bankruptcy and finding potential buyers for the bankrupt manufacturer.
TCS overtakes RIL in market capitalization
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Friday surpassed Reliance Industries Ltd to become India’s largest company by market capitalization.
On the last trading day of 2011, TCS’ market capitalization stood at Rs 2.27-lakh crore, while market value of RIL slipped to Rs 2.26-lakh crore as shares in RIL fell a 52-week low.
Shares in RIL on Friday slipped to Rs 689. However, shares later recovered to close at Rs 693.10, but the figure was still down by 2.6 per cent from previous day trading.
It may be noted here that RIL shares have never traded below Rs 700 since March 2009.
Overall inflation may recede to 6% by March: Finance Minister says
Overall inflation may recede to 6 per cent and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may start cutting key rates by March next year, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said.
The government data released on Thursday revealed that prices of primary food articles, which accounts for 14 per cent of the wholesale price index, jumped merely 0.42 per cent over the week to December 17 from the year-ago period.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Mukherjee said, "If this trend continues then you will have (fiscal) year-end (headline) inflation around six per cent."
Godrej Properties raises Rs 45 cr by selling 49% stake in Gurgaon project
Godrej Properties Ltd has sold 49 per cent stake in its subsidiary Godrej Premium Builders to private equity firm Sun-Apollo India Real Estate Fund for Rs 45 crore, the Mumbai-headquartered real estate arm of Godrej Group confirmed.
Godrej Premium Builders is developing a project at sector 104 in Gurgaon, Haryana, called Manesar Urban Complex. It is the firm's second project in Gurgaon. Previously in 2010, the firm launched its first project, called Godrej Frontier, in sector-80 of Gurgaon.
Union Bank of India cuts rate by 10 basis points
While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is still brooding over plans to cut key rates, Union Bank of India on Thursday astonished the market by announcing a cut of 10 basis points in its lending rate.
State-owned Union Bank of India's lending rate now stands at 10.65 per cent.
Union Bank of India chairman MV Nair said that the cut in lending rate would boost loan demand and provide the bank with an edge over peers.
The lender's prime-lending rate is at 15.50 per cent.
Identity Finder report details extent of ‘Anonymous’ hack on Stratfor
In its recently-published report, New York-based data loss and identity theft prevention service Identity Finder has drawn attention to the extent of the recent hack of the Stratfor website, mentioning that AntiSec - which is a hacktivist group affiliated to `Anonymous' hacking group - has thus far released personal details of Stratfor clients whose first names begin with A through M.
Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace hits ’50,000 apps’ milestone
With the Microsoft Windows Phone Marketplace hitting the `50,000 apps' milestone this week, it is being reported that the app store managed to go past the mentioned landmark in a much lesser time than had been predicted.
According to All About Windows Phone, Microsoft's mobile app store has recently gone past the `50,000 apps' figure; within nearly a month and a half after having touched the `40,000 apps' mark on November 17.
Google+ may reach 400 million users by 2012 end
According to an independent analysis of the growth of the Google+ social-networking service, at least 625,000 new users are signing up for Google+ which appears to be on track to boast a total of approximately 400 million members by the end of 2012.
As per the information shared by Ancestry. com's founder Paul B. Allen, who is the "unofficial statistician" keeping track of the Google+ numbers, the recent weeks have witnessed a notable increase in the popularity of Google+, with nearly 25 percent of its total user base signing up for the service in December alone.
US strengthening alliances with Japan, India to creating anti-China axias: People’s Dily
Washington is strengthening its alliances with Japan and rising-power India to create an anti-China alignment in Asia, according to a commentary published in China's state-owned People's Daily.
Making a commentary on the US's security policy in Asia, the People's Daily said that Washington was trying to create Atlantic network-like model to in the Pacific region by strengthening its alliances with old allies like Japan and new partners like India to hold back China's growth.
Companies must conduct AGMs & send annual reports regularly: SEBI
The listed companies that do not conduct annual general meetings (AGMs) and are not sending annual reports regularly to its shareholders will face investigations, market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has warned.
On Monday, SEBI chairman UK Sinha stressed that he would ask his team to launch probe into all cases where annual general meetings haven't been called and annual reports haven't been sent.
Indian varsities should be allowed to hire foreign faculty: Montek
Indian varsities should be allowed to hire foreign faculty to ensure international flavour, the Planning Commission said on Friday.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, suggested that the government should lift restriction on recruiting foreign faculty in varsities.
Mr. Ahluwalia He added that it would be difficult for Indian varsities to make it to the top grade unless these educational institutions are permitted to hire international faculty.
Railway ministry reduces ‘tatkal’ bookings period to 24 hours
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Friday announced the decision to reduce the `tatkal' scheme's reservation period from current 48 hours to 24 hours.
Mr. Trivedi said the `tatkal' scheme's reservation period was reduced to fight off its misuse. He added that there no refund would be made on confirmed tatkal tickets.
The new rule will take effect within next ten days.
India to ‘pitch strongly’ for sovereign rating upgrade with Moody’s
During the course of US' Moody's ratings agency's forthcoming visit to India from November 14 to 16, the Indian government will reported pitch strongly for an upgrade of its sovereign rating, especially after Moody's has downgraded its outlook for the banking system in the country from "stable" to "negative."
The fact that another leading US rating company, Standard & Poor's, has already made an upward revision to India's economic risk score to `5' from `6', has seemingly lent notable credence to the country's pitch for sovereign ratings' upgrade with Moody's.
Crisis at Kingfisher Airlines worsens
The crisis at Kingfisher Airlines has apparently taken a turn for the worse, with the disruption of the services of the airline continuing for the fourth day in a row on Thursday - resulting in either the cancellation or the clubbing of as many as 30 flights.
The disruption of Kingfisher's services on Thursday largely resulted from the fact that nearly 30 pilots and cabin-crew members continued to avail their sick leave, thus not reporting for their duties.
Tata Steel’s Q2 net income plunges 89%
In what clearly was a dismal quarter for Tata Steel - the largest steel-producer in India -, the company has reported a rather disquieting 89 percent plunge in its consolidated net profit for its fiscal second quarter.
Cisco’s quarterly results beat analysts’ estimates
Cisco Systems’ recent reporting of its fiscal first-quarter results revealed that the company’s earnings - stock compensation and other nonstandard accounting practices excluded – were 43 cents per share; marking a 2 percent rise year-on-year. The revenue of the company witnessed a 5 percent increase to $11.3 billion.
India, Qatar disagree on LNG pricing
India's talks with Qatar, for an additional 3-4 million tonnes liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year - over and above the current imports of 7.5 million tonnes of LNG a year by Petronet LNG Ltd -, reportedly came to a standstill on Friday over the crucial question about the pricing of the fuel.
According to the information shared by `inside' sources, the India-Qatar LNG negotiations - which were being held during Qatar Energy Minister Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada's India visit - got stuck when Qatar said that it wanted a price of $16 per million British thermal unit.
Yield on 11-yr govt bond nears 9%
With the cut off yield on 11-year government securities (G-secs) during the Friday auction climbing up to 8.95 percent per annum, from 8.86 percent on Tuesday, there were few buyers for a small fraction of the total bonds which were being auctioned.
Meanwhile, the yields on the benchmark 10-year G-sec treasury papers - which were not part of the Friday auction - closed at 8.84 percent; thereby marking an increase over the 8.75 percent figures from the preceding close.
Central govt payments to go electronic from March 31 next year
With the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), under the Finance Ministry, having developed a secured government e-payment system for directly disbursing subsidies, all the payments that the central ministries make to state governments as well as individuals will be via e-payment gateways, from March 31 next year.
The secured government e-payment system - to be inaugurated by Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee - which has been developed by the CGA will essentially facilitate the credit of governmental dues directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries.
Diwali 2011: Cheaper silver dominates festival sales
The commencement of the five-day Diwali festival in India, with the celebration of `Dhanteras' on Monday, witnessed the `precious metal' sales being largely dominated by silver bars and coins of small sizes.
Hit by inflation, most of the Indian consumers apparently preferred silver more than gold for the Diwali 2011 celebrations, and rather went in for the cheaper white metal to celebrate the occasion of Dhanteras - a day which is believed to be auspicious for purchasing precious metals.