Business News: General

Equities are expected to start higher on Thursday on soft global oil prices, but investors will be wary of weaker overseas markets and ahead of annual inflation data.

The exchange-traded currency futures (ETCF) market in India, launched on Friday in Mumbai, has already begun attracting corporate attention.

Who controls a company? Its management, its sharehol- ders, or the original founders of the company? Who owns what often determines the decisions a company makes and in whose interest it makes them? After every major downturn in the stock markets, there are calls for reforms to protect the investing public.

In a clear indication of its plans to list on the stock exchanges, the Bennett Coleman group (BCCL), arguably the largest media conglomerate in the country has started doling out Employee Stock Options (Esops) to the top rung officials of the company.

Kingfisher Airlines, one of only six 5-Star airlines in the world launched its debut international flight from tech hub Bangalore with a non-stop flight to London's Heathrow.

Tata Motors on Tuesday said it was looking for alternate options to manufacture its small car Nano from the company's other plants.

Starting from September 15, prepaid mobile subscribers in the country will not have to pay any processing fee for the recharge vouchers they buy.

SINGAPORE (AP) _ Singapore's economy will likely grow 4.2 percent this year, less than previously expected, as slowing global consumer demand cuts the city-state's manufacturing exports, according to a survey of economists.

Oil prices held below $110 on Wednesday and the dollar neared a 10-½ month high, raising hopes of an easier business environment for manufacturers and exporters, but rattling resource-focused stocks.

HONG KONG (AP) _ The Coca-Cola Co., the world's biggest beverage company, moved to expand its operations in the fast-growing Chinese market Wednesday with a US$2.5 billion bid for major juicemaker China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd.

SINGAPORE (AP) _ Oil prices dipped toward US$109 a barrel Wednesday as investors shifted attention to concern over slowing global demand for crude after Hurricane Gustav left oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico region largely undamaged.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ State-owned Korea Development Bank has made a proposal to acquire 25 percent of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers for as much as 6 trillion won (US$5.3 billion), a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The rupee declined 0.5% to 44.3975 per dollar, the lowest since March 6, 2007. It had ended at 44.17/18 on Monday.

The assets managed by mutual funds have rised by Rs 14,686.21 crore, or 2.77%, in August as compared to the previous month.

As crude prices tumbled below $106 a barrel, hitting a five-month low on Tuesday and easing fears of further damage by Hurricane Gustav to the oil & refinery facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, key Indian equity indices witnessed a short rally, surging nearly 4%.

Some of India's top vegetable-oil firms plan to lease or buy land in Paraguay, Uruguay and Myanmar to grow oilseeds and lentils as farmland shrinks in the South Asian nation, a top trade official said on Tuesday.

Declining availability of pepper is hindering exports and firming up the market, traders said. Pepper exports have dropped by more than 21% during April -July of 2008-09, when compared to the performance of the last fiscal. During April-July 2008, India exported of 9,500 tonne of pepper valued at Rs 160.55 crore, as against 12,050 tonne valued Rs 173.17 crore last year.

"The Centre has delivered yet another devastating and crippling blow to garment exporters by the reducing the duty drawback rate (DDR) from 11.2% to 8.8% effective September 1," said, Rahul Mehta, president, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI).

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) _ The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday all but killed a federal plan nearly seven decades in the making to build the world's largest water pump in the Mississippi Delta.

The benchmark Sensex on Tuesday surged by over 550 points to regain the 15,000 points level after 19 days on falling oil prices which eased concerns of high inflation and raised hopes of steady lending rates.