The Hindu Business Line : Friday, May 01, 2009

For buyers, gold continues to glitter on Akshaya Tritiya
Sales up 14% at Rs 7,280 cr, but quantity down 8%. Mumbai, April 30 High prices are not a deterrent when it comes to people’s faith in ...

RCom net dips on higher costs
Mumbai, April 30 Reliance Communications has reported a 3.2 per cent dip in consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 2009, impacted by increased costs and several ...

High power: (From left) M... Cement majors post better than expected profit growth
Improved realisations, lower fuel costs aid margins. BL Research Bureau After reporting profit declines for two quarters in a row, cement majors ACC, UltraTech Cement and Ambuja Cements have returned to growth in the March quarter, with results ...

Credit card losses higher in India than in US
Mumbai, April 30Credit losses on credit cards in India are relatively high at Rs 3,420 per active card per year vis-À-vis Rs 3,070 in the US and Rs 1,220 in Australia, according to a study commissioned by MasterCard’s India ...

First-timers drive up Maruti, Hyundai sales
IN TOP GEAR. New Delhi, April 30 The downturn has failed to nip the spirits of first-time car buyers. The depressing economic outlook and the credit crunch notwithstanding, industry leaders Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motors are seeing a surge in ...

Siemens bags Rs 1,380-cr order from Adani Power
High Voltage Direct Current transmission system in Mundra, Mohindergarh. Mumbai April 30 Siemens Ltd and its parent company Siemens AG of Germany together bagged a Rs 1,380-crore order from Adani Power Ltd, part of the Adani Group, for ...

Inflation rate rises on costlier food items
Wholesale Price Index for all commodities at 230.2. New Delhi, April 30 The annual Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rose 0.57 per cent for the week ended April 18, above the previous week’s annual rise of 0.26 per cent, government ...

A reformer speaks out
Like a wine that matures slowly, Dr Shankar Acharya, former Chief Economic Advisor, is turning into a person who, in an earlier age, would be called a savant. During the first few months of the current crisis, the Prime ...

Lower basmati prices posing risk to lending banks
Rs 2,000-cr outstanding against warehouse receipts exposure. New Delhi, April 30 Abnormal price movements have rendered financing of farm produce against warehouse receipts (WR) a risky proposition. The best example of this is basmati rice, in ...

IT majors tighten their grip on receivables
Cut overdues, improve liquidity to tide over the slowdown. Bangalore, April 30 Indian IT majors have cut overdue and improved liquidity despite the challenging economic environment by tightening their grip ...

Skoda Auto sees India sales ‘multiplying’
Mumbai, April 30 When Skoda Auto entered the Indian market in 2001 with the Octavia, cynics wondered how this Czech company would fare in a predominantly compact car market. Eight years have passed since and Skoda can take the credit for ...

Sharp drop in ECBs in 2008-09
Indian cos raise $18 b from overseas markets. Chennai, April 30 External commercial borrowings (ECBs) by Indian companies fell sharply in 2008-09 amidst global economic turmoil and reduced appetite for funds. ECBs dropped 42 per cent in 2008-09 ...

Vodafone’s ZooZoos, stars of IPL ad breaks
Merchandise, bags, T-shirts to be available soon. It is not for nothing that Indian advertising is seen as coming into its own. And Vodafone advertising campaigns have been at the forefront of ...

Slowdown hits life insurance cos’ new premium income
Chennai, April 30 For the first time, the life insurance industry’s new premium income from regular policies (non-single premiums) reported a negative growth since the industry was privatised in 2000. Pan industry non-single ...

Mercury may soar further
Thiruvananthapuram, April 30 The mercury crossed the 47 degree Celsius mark at Nagpur in the Vidarbha region, prompting some international weather models to scale up the expected highs by another notch as early as on ...