Business News

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the largest Indian software exporter, is planning to enter the third generation (3G) and next-generation telecom communication software business in a big way. The company is in talks with at least two service providers as well as equipment makers for deployment of its solutions in India and abroad.

The war between the Ambani brothers has derailed what could have been the biggest merger in Indian corporate history. On Friday, Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications (RCom) and South African telecom giant MTN called off merger talks due to 'legal and regulatory issues'.

An anxious government, struggling to keep prices under control, has asked state-owned companies to adopt strict austerity measures. They are also asked to make expenditure control initiatives a regular board-review exercise.

Poaching is on a high among auto makers in the country, despite a slowdown in the sector due to rising cost of finance and sluggish sales. Global auto companies are either entering India, or expanding their operations here, fuelling demand for high-ranking executives. In the last six months, almost a dozen high and medium level officials at several companies have jumped ships.

There could be hope for the retail investors yet. A turnaround in the Indian and global stock markets may mean that liquidity could be on its way back, provided crude prices maintain a sustained downtrend. With crude prices falling for the second day in a row, the benchmark BSE Sensex closed up 536.05 points at 13111.85 on Thursday.

The rate of inflation inched up again, rising to 11.91 per cent in the week ended July 5, but the government said prices of most essential commodities have stabilised and that the worst may be over.

Gujarat State Petroleum Corp plans to invest about Rs 4,000 crore in developing its block in the Krishna Godavari basin, a government minister said on Thursday, as the company reported significant gas find from the KG-22 well.

Bangalore-based drug biotech company Biocon reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 15.02 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, a 71.66 per cent drop as compared to the same period in the previous year. The company attributed the lower profits to exchange-rate fluctuations, mark-to-market provisions and absence of licensing income.

Maxwell Industries, which owns and markets the VIP brand of undergarments, is undergoing a management change. Set up in 1971 by J K Pathare (chairman) and L J Reddy (managing director), the company has now seen an amiable exit of the Reddy family as it has divested its stake to the Pathare family.

Low-income households can now get some help to augment their incomes and create assets. This, thanks to a market-based funding model, that is being initiated by the ICICI Foundation for micro finance institutions (MFI) and other such firms.

The tremors of a global economic turmoil that hit the Indian shores early this year is likely to worsen in the days to come. About four months after the US-based financial services giant Lehman Brothers shut down its mortgage capital division in India, UK-based Dawnay Day International's Indian arm Dawnay Day AV has started feeling the pinch.

Reliance Capital Asset Management and ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company are among the 10 players that have qualified the technical round of the selection process for managing the provident fund money.

Prohibitive oil prices that have forced most of the airlines to reduce capacity or curtail number of flights, seem to have had no impact on the UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya whose expansion programme and acquisition of latest aircraft for his commercial air operations continue.

HCL Technologies, India's fifth largest software exporters has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Liberata Financial Services (LFS), a leading UK-based BPO provider and wholly owned subsidiary of Liberata Ltd.

Realty major Parsvnath Developers has joined hands with Sabeer Bhatia, co-founder of Hotmail, to develop an 11,138 acres knowledge city-Parsvnath Nano City-near Chandigarh involving a total project cost of Rs 50,000 crore.

With the equity markets looking one way down in the year-so-far, India's affluent class is taking an unconventional route to investments in stocks. Following a 40 per cent drop in benchmark equity indices till date in the calendar year, high networth individuals (HNIs) and non-resident Indians (NRIs) are now increasingly parking their funds with venture capital and private equity funds.

After being pressured by the government to reduce and hold its priceline on three occasions this year, India's largest private sector steel company Tata Steel on Wednesday hit back, saying government is not doing its bit to help industry keep prices in check.

India is hopeful of making progress in the stalled World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations that commence in Geneva next week, but said it had the option of walking out if its concerns were not addressed.

A sliding economy and rising inflation rate have forced companies to cut costs. They plan to do this by resorting to video conferencing, value engineering of products, manpower review, reducing travel expenses and better management of supply chain. They are also giving value offers to consumers.

As the stock market tanked again on weak global cues, banking stocks led the fall, plunging 7.75 per cent on Tuesday amid signs of new pressures on the US financial system. Reports of widespread credit card defaults in the US heightened fears that the financial turmoil in the world's largest economy, triggered earlier by a housing mortgage crisis, was getting worse.