Business Line articles from April 2011

Business Line archives from April 2011

Spot rubber slips on selling pressure.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Aravindan Spot rubber finished lower on Thursday. According to sources, the market slipped in tune with declines on the National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE). There was no fresh demand from major consuming sectors and the commodity...

RPG Life starts division for hospital sales.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau To cater to the increasing and specialised needs of hospitals, drug-maker RPG Life Sciences Ltd has recently started a new division. Launched about 20 days ago, the hospital division would service the growing and...

Alfa Laval Q1 PAT up 52%.
April 29, 2011... Byline: -- Our Bureau Alfa Laval India Ltd has posted a 52 per cent rise year-on-year in its first quarter net profit with PAT for the quarter ending March 31, 2011, at Rs 37.8 crore against Rs 24.9 crore for the corresponding period in 2010....

Coming soon: Broadband @ Rs 99 a month for villagers.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Thomas K Thomas New USO scheme for funding broadband networks finalised Rural folks living in six lakh remote villages across the country will soon get high speed broadband services for just Rs 99 a month. Villagers won't have...

My Cinemas signs up 30 screens.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Inspire Multiplex Pvt Ltd (IMPL), which launched its first screen under the brand name My Cinemas in Mumbai in end-2010, has set a target of 300 screens by 2013. Besides India, where 30 to 40 per cent of the screens are...

ICICI Bank will maintain net interest margins.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Parvatha Vardhini C. On one parameter, the net interest margins, three private banking majors -- HDFC Bank, Axis and ICICI -- have performed in three different ways in the fourth quarter. While HDFC Bank managed to maintain it at 4.2...

Extra coach on Konark Express.
April 29, 2011... Byline: - Our Bureau Responding to passengers' demand, East Coast Railway has permanently added a sleeper class coach to 11020/11019 Bhubaneswar-CSTM (Mumbai) Konark Express, according to ECoR release. With this, the number of sleeper class...

Plea to convene meeting on demolition of North Over Bridge.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau The Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called upon the authorities to convene a joint meeting with the representatives of the trade and others concerned before going ahead with the demolition of North Over Bridge,...

Seafood exports may ride on temblor wave.
April 29, 2011... Byline: C.J. Punnathara Export enquiries from Japan up on fear of radiation in local seafood The earthquake and tsunami that struck northern Japan could prove to be a boon to the Indian seafood industry. After an initial hiccup...

JSW Energy net drops 30% on high coal prices.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau JSW Energy has reported a 30 per drop in net profit at Rs 220 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 as against Rs 315 crore logged in the same period a year ago. High coal prices impacted the margins, despite a 52...

VA Tech Wabag sees increase in order flows.
April 29, 2011... Byline: R. Balaji Focuses on China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Philippines Industrial orders and public-private partnerships in water management support VA Tech Wabag's order flow in the domestic markets. In the international markets, North...

HCL Info Q3 net dips 11% on lower sales, high interest expenses.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau A dip in revenues and higher interest expenses pulled down HCL Infosystems' profitability in its third quarter-ended March 2011. Consolidated profit growth for the quarter saw a decline of 11.3 per cent; while revenues...

Pepsi first quarter net declines 20%; India beverage volumes up.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Despite strong sales in key markets of Asia including India, PepsiCo's net profit declined by a fifth for first quarter ended March 19. PepsiCo Inc reported a net income of $1.144 billion on revenue of $11.93 billion,...

Savings rate de-regulation: Yet another uncertainty for banks.
April 29, 2011... Byline: M.V.S Santosh Kumar The Reserve Bank of India makes a strong case for de-regulation of savings bank deposit rates, going by the arguments presented in its discussion paper released on Thursday. While it does point out the...

State Govt cancels MoU with Moser Baer.
April 29, 2011... Byline: K.V. Kurmanath Deal signed in 2008 to set up 100-acre SEZ In a set back to Moser Baer Infrastructures Developers, the Andhra Pradesh Government has issued orders withdrawing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it had entered into...

Siliverline Hospital to open on May 1.
April 29, 2011... Byline: -- Our Bureau The City Mayor, Mr Tony Chammanny, will inaugurate Siliverline Hospital, the dedicated diabetes and endocrinology hospital here on May 1. Sliverline is a state-of-the-art 21-bed hospital with out patient facility,...

Mangalore emerges a major importer of Tanzanian cashew.
April 29, 2011... Byline: A.J. Vinayak LOGISTICS SUPPORT Mangalore has emerged as a major market for Tanzania in terms of raw cashew exports. Of Tanzania's exportable quantities of raw cashew, over 50 per cent are exported to Mangalore alone. This was...

Birla Corp net slips on price pressure.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Birla Corporation on Thursday reported a net profit of Rs 320 crore for the year to March 31, 2011, down from Rs 557 crore in the previous year. According to the Chairman, Mr H.V. Lodha, the profitability of the company...

Cabinet nod for TN's petrochem investment region.
April 29, 2011... Byline: M Ramesh The Tamil Nadu Government's proposal for creating a 'petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment region' near Cuddalore has received the 'in-principle' approval of the Cabinet Secretary. Disclosing this to Business...

Tata Comm Lanka opens 2nd international gateway.
April 29, 2011... Byline: R.K. Radhakrishnan Tata Communications Lanka Ltd has inaugurated its second International Gateway in Sri Lanka at the emerging IT Park, Orion City. The Gateway is part of a strategy to offer cutting-edge IP-leveraged solutions...

Today's Pick.
April 29, 2011... 3i Infotech (Rs 50.1) We recommend a buy in the stock of 3i Infotech. It is seen from the charts that they stock found support at its long-term base in the band between Rs 38 and Rs 40 in February 2011. After re-testing this significant...

Dena Bank, United India tie-up.
April 29, 2011... Chennai: Dena Bank has entered in to an agreement with United India Insurance for marketing the general insurance policies through their 1,300 branches. United India Insurance garnered a premium income of Rs 6,350 crore in 2010-11. -- Our Bureau

Bridgestone adds another store.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Tyre and rubber major, Bridgestone, has announced the inauguration of its exclusive 'Select' showroom in Hyderabad, its 218 {+t} {+h} in the country and plans to expand this further covering new areas. The showroom was...

New biological method to extract coir from husk.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau The National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST)-Thiruvananthaupram has developed a clean bioprocess for the extraction of quality coir fibre from coconut husk. This biological method carries...

Cabinet approves hike in benchmark import prices of fertilisers.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau The Centre has hiked the benchmark import prices of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MOP) used to determine the nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) rates on non-urea fertilisers. The decision, approved by the...

Kesoram posts loss in Q4.(Financial report)
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau BK Birla group outfit Kesoram Industries has slipped into the red, but maintained dividend. On Thursday it reported a Rs 210-crore net loss in FY 2011 against a net profit of Rs 237 crore in the previous year. The Q4 net...

Piramal Glass posts three-fold rise in net.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Piramal Glass, part of the Ajay Piramal Group, has posted a near three-fold rise in net profit at Rs 35.8 crore for the quarter-ended March 31, 2001, compared with Rs 12.2 crore logged in the corresponding period last year....

How embattled is my Valley.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Divya Trivedi If the recent writings in English on Kashmir by Kashmiris do not jolt readers out of their complacent reverie that continues to negate the mournful realities of the Valley, nothing else will. Three writers tell us...

Clients need to give written consent to get SMS tips.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau And declare they are aware of risks in equity trading Broking houses have now started obtaining written consents from their clients who wish to receive SMS alerts on stock recommendations. A customer of broking house...

Banks against savings rate de-regulation.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Abhishek Law Kolkata-based United Bank of India and Allahabad Bank are not in favour of deregulation of savings bank interest rates. Both feel that deregulation of interest rates will not work out as expected for the country and might...

Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank net profit rises 50%.(Financial report)
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Interest income, decline in NPAs boost growth Growth in net interest income and reduction in non-performing assets (NPAs) helped the Dharwad-headquartered Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (a regional rural bank sponsored by...

No differences among members, says Sai Trust.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Srividhya Sivakumar The Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust has said there are no differences of opinion among its members and scotched rumours and concerns of mismanagement of the trust money. A new Chairman of the Trust will be soon...

Motherson Sumi merges two arms with itself.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Auto-component firm Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd's board has approved the merger of MSSL Global Wiring Ltd and India Nails Manufacturing Pvt Ltd with itself. This is to reduce product development time and consolidate the...

Cost advantage draws electric vehicle makers to copper rotor motors.
April 29, 2011... Byline: V. Rishi Kumar Global electric vehicle makers are gradually adopting copper-based rotar motor technology instead of the magnet-based motors to power the new breed of vehicles, according to Mr Hal M. Stillman, Director of Technology at...

Warm tribute to icy Siachen.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Shyam G. Menon Harish Kapadia could easily be introduced as a famous mountaineer. But with his several books, lectures, longstanding editorship of the Himalayan Journal, Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographic Society and...

7.8 lakh small investors exit Coal India.
April 29, 2011... Byline: M.V.S. Santosh Kumar & Pratim Ranjan Bose FIIs stake increases to over 6% since IPO The shareholding pattern of Coal India Ltd, whose stock was a stellar performer on Wednesday and Thursday, has undergone a sea change since the...

State Bank of Hyderabad gears up for merger with SBI.
April 29, 2011... Byline: G. Naga Sridhar State Bank of Hyderabad, the first subsidiary of State Bank of India, is gearing up for a merger with parent. Expressing the intention for consolidation of the group, the SBI Chairman, Mr Pratip Chaudhuri, announced...

Mangalore varsity convocation.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau The 29th annual convocation of Mangalore University will be held on April 30. Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, Prof T.C. Shivashankara Murthy, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said that Mr Justice M.N....

High Court strikes down Gujarat Cotton Seeds Act.
April 29, 2011... The Gujarat Cotton Seeds Act has been struck down by the State High Court. The Act has been termed invalid as, according to the court, it was in conflict with a Union legislation. The State Act took away the Centre's control over pricing of...

Anand Sharma promises to look into small tea growers' problems.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Santanu Sanyal A delegation of small tea growers that met the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, on Wednesday received assurance that various problems facing the country's small tea growers would receive the attention of the...

Nagarjuna Fertilisers net up 24%.
April 29, 2011... Byline: -- Our Bureau Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (NFCL) has posted a 24 per cent rise in its net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2001, at Rs 28.48 crore, up from Rs 23.04 crore in the corresponding period of the previous...

Problems continue for passengers as more flights cancelled.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau With the Air India pilots' strike entering its second day passengers continued to face the problem of flight cancellations. Air India reduced its daily flight operations by 45 flights as part of the contingency plan...

Cops and dons in Bollywood.
April 29, 2011... Corporate funding is here, but the underworld still lurks in the shadows of tinsel town. It's guaranteed: every time there's a story about the underworld's latest bit of drama in Bollywood, those stock phrases will have the mafia 'rear its...

Way2Wealth eyes acquisitions in institutional broking.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Ties up with Karnataka Bank to offer online trading service Investment consultancy firm Way2Wealth Brokers, a Coffee Day venture, is looking for acquisitions in institutional broking. It also hopes to get into asset...

A strange savings instrument.
April 29, 2011... A simple reform measure has been doing the rounds of debate for quite a while -- the freeing of interest rates on savings bank deposits (SBDs) and suitably rationalising these accounts. Introduced essentially as an instrument for inculcating...

Food tech institute cost estimate.
April 29, 2011... Byline: - Our Bureau A revised cost estimate of Rs 479.91 crore to set up the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management at Kundli, Haryana, was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday....

How companies are tackling shrinking margins.
April 29, 2011... The squeeze on margins thanks to surging input costs and zooming interest rates is forcing companies to work overtime to shore up their bottomlines. Across sectors the belt tightening is being achieved through focussing on supply chain...

Cashew trade mellows on waning demand.
April 29, 2011... Byline: G K Nair The cashew market was subdued last week with some stray business for W240 at around $4.40 and W320 between $3.85 and $3.95 (f.o.b) by a few processors. However, there were offers and even some sales from large processors...

CIL-BEML spar over gear quality.
April 29, 2011... Byline: M Ramesh Coal India has 'quality issues' with BEML's equipment, mainly 100-tonne dumpers, according to the coal mining company's Chairman and Managing Director, Mr N.C. Jha. Talking to Business Line, Mr Jha, who was here to...

India battles non-food inflation amid food price scare across Asia.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Anil Sasi Further rate hikes likely, may hurt recovery: ADB report India is the only major Asian economy where non-food items have edged out food products as the bigger contributor to consumer-level inflation. Despite the RBI...

Save our soil.
April 29, 2011... Bearing fruit with natural farming. Travelling on the NH8 from Mumbai to Umbergoan, located on the southernmost tip of coastal Gujarat close to the Maharashtra border, we wondered what new things the octogenarian Bhaskar Save, one of the...

Malaria control project for N-E.
April 29, 2011... Byline: - Our Bureau The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday approved a Rs 417.22 crore intensified malaria control project-II for North Eastern states, except Sikkim. The project, under the National Vector Borne Disease Control...

RBI favours freeing savings bank rates.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Says decontrol will aid in policy transmission Your savings bank (SB) accounts could soon start earning anywhere between 4 per cent and 6 per cent per annum. That is much more than the 3.5 per cent per annum that you...

Food inflation rises on dearer fruits, eggs, meat.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Fuel Price Index increases 13.53%; pulses cheaper Food prices continued to remain high, increasing expectations that the central bank will hike its policy rates at a review next week. Food inflation, based on the...

Wipro's energy and utilities vertical may cross Rs 2,500 cr this year.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Balaji Narasimhan The recent acquisition of the global oil and gas information technology practice of SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation) and the growing demand for oil exploration could help the Energy and Utilities...

Govt support boosted print media growth: Ambika Soni.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau The newspaper industry in India grew despite the recession, albeit with some help from the Government, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting said here today. Ms Ambika Soni said Government support enabled the...

The foothills are alive with tourists.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Preeti Mehra For a quick break over a long weekend, Nainital beats many overseas favourites. If Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are beckoning the upwardly mobile Indian traveller for long holidays, it is the extended weekends...

BROKER'S CALL.
April 29, 2011... BP Equities TCS (Buy) CMP: Rs 1,160.05 Target: Rs 1,320 Management is pretty optimistic about the overall demand environment and expects growth to be broad-based. It has guided to hire 60K employees in FY12E, while maintaining...

Tasks before the Sathya Sai Trust.
April 29, 2011... Byline: B.S.Raghavan From the dawn of history, the passing of a potentate of any description had invariably been followed by rumblings and feuds, often bloody. Religious orders were no exception; there are many accounts of the fights to...

SCC - contribution towards the industrial development.
April 29, 2011... Sourashtra Chamber of Commerce was established in March 2007 and registered under the Societies Act by the coordinated efforts of many industrialists and businessmen of Sourashtra Community. SCC was formed with a view to bring innovation and...

India prefers European fighter jets to American.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Boeing and Lockheed Martin, both US-based manufacturers, have not made the final shortlist for India's $11-billion medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal. One of the largest defence deals in the country seeks to...

Eggs prices move up on hopes offtake will rise.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Gayathri G. After ruling flat at Rs 2.10 a piece last week, prices for eggs have been raised to Rs 2.25 on increase in consumption with the end of the Lent season. Sources told Business Line that with the Lent season coming to an...

Coal India may not hike price.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Pratim Ranjan Bose Contrary to widespread speculation, Coal India Ltd (CIL) may not resort to another round of coal price hike in 2011 to provide for the anticipated increase in wage cost in the forthcoming National Coal Wage...

PAC's image takes a beating after 2G draft report leak.
April 29, 2011... Byline: G. Srinivasan The unseemly happenings in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting that is probing into the 2G spectrum allocation scam on Thursday with as many as 11 members of the 21-member PAC, excluding the Chairman Dr Murli...

ringing laughter!
April 29, 2011... A Berlin church aims to challenge the notion that religion is no laughing matter by replacing its bell chimes with peals of laughter. The Emmaus Church, in the culturally diverse Kreuzberg district, has been resonating with the hearty sound...

Online MF investors surf for NAVs: Study.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau UTI Mutual, Moneycontrol attract more traffic There is a growing interest in mutual funds among the online community, says a study conducted by ViziSense, an online audience measurement platform. The aim of the study was...

Getting the fee right.
April 29, 2011... The Supreme Court's order in the Airport Development Fee (ADF) case once again underlines a problem that has become endemic in the Government: When it suits, it does not follow the law and the proper procedure. The Supreme Court's order in the...

High Court sets aside Tribunal ruling on 'infancy' protection.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Legal Correspondent The ruling of the Employees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi, that if a unit having its registered office at a particular place set up a number of units in other locations, the provisions of Sec 2-A...

ICICI Bank Q4 net jumps 44% on interest income.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Lower provisioning and a healthy growth in net interest income enabled ICICI Bank to report a 44 per cent growth in the fourth quarter net profit. The largest private sector bank in the country reported a net profit of...

Profit-booking drags jeera futures.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Correspondent Spot prices for jeera increased on Thursday on lower arrival and stockists demand. But prices on the futures market dropped as market participants resorted to profit-booking. Arrivals of jeera were around 16,000...

Bosch Q1 profit rises 35.4%.(Financial report)
April 29, 2011... Byline: -- Our Bureau Auto parts maker Bosch Ltd has posted a 35.4 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 274.4 crore during the first quarter of its fiscal year which is the calendar year. A press statement from the company said net sales and...

TAPI members to conclude gas sales pact by end-July.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau No decision yet on pricing, transit fee The member countries of the $7.6-billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project have decided to conclude the gas sales purchase agreement (GSPA) by...

Retreat to rejuvenate.
April 29, 2011... Byline: & When mind and body are tired of the fast-paced life, take a break. Sometimes, all you need is to get on to life's slow lane, cruise at minimum miles per hour and park at a scenic spot. The mind tires of planning, playing...

corporate news.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Jyothy Laboratories Ltd has said that it had purchased 14.9 per cent stake in Henkel in March and has also participated in the bid to acquire Henkel AG and Co's 50.97 per cent stake in Henkel India Ltd. However, as of date,...

Economic worth of PPPs.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Srivatsa Krishna There is no book in recent times with a sweep as comprehensive and vast, insights as rich and thoughtful, data as recent and authentic, and production as lavish and well-done as the International Handbook on...

Indian Bank, Madurai gets new Zonal Manager.
April 29, 2011... Madurai: Mr N.P. Rajan has joined as Zonal Manager of Indian Bank, Madurai Zone. Mr M. Kathiresan, the erstwhile Zonal Manager, has been transferred as General Manager, Indian Bank, Bangalore Zone, according to a bank release. -- Our Correspondent

Religare arm lays off 300 employees.
April 29, 2011... Byline: K. Raghavendra Rao Religare Enterprises' distribution arm Religare Insurance Broking Ltd has retrenched close to 300 employees in the eastern region, mainly in Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The company, which has a headcount of...

Mixed trend in rice market.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Correspondent The rice market witnessed a mixed trend on Thursday after seeing some upward movement at the start of the week. Prices of Pusa-1121 varieties rose further, pure basmati rice dropped, while other aromatic and...

Passenger minivans create the 'magic' in metros.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Murali Gopalan An extra wheel is all it takes for automakers to create new opportunities. Take the Tata Ace as a case in point. One of the reasons for its success was that it conferred a sense of ownership pride in the mini goods...

Govt for consensus on commercial coal mining.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau The Government is trying to evolve a consensus on commercial mining of coal as a part of the energy sector reforms, Such a move will not only promote development of coal sector, but also spur competition and bring better...

Kitchen alert for gas leaks.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Kavitha Srinivasa A device that 'smells' a leakage and sends a mobile alert -- a Bhubaneswar entrepreneur's life-saving innovation. A tragic incident of an LPG (liquid petroleum gas) leakage changed the course of Gautam Kumar's...

Muthoot Capital to extend loans against gold ETFs.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau Muthoot Capital Services Ltd is all set to introduce a new product providing loans against Gold Exchange Traded Funds. Modalities in this regard will be worked out and the product will be launched shortly. Mr Thomas...

A step towards nuclear safety.
April 29, 2011... Byline: M.SOMASEKHAR The Government's move to create a Nuclear Regulatory Authority of India with statutory powers is a bold and pragmatic one. For nearly half a century, the Atomic Energy Department has exercised control over all...

Free trade pact set to open doors for more tie-ups with Japan.
April 29, 2011... Byline: Our Bureau The bilateral Free Trade Agreement signed between India and Japanis expected to increase the business opportunities for both countries, said the new Consul-General of Japan in Chennai, Honourable Mr Masansori Nakano. ...