Business News: General

India, now under scrutiny due to rice export curbs and growing consumption that have helped drive grain prices to record highs, could help ease global food security fears, M S Swaminathan, the country's most revered rural economist, said.

Bottlenecks continue to delay the Sipat project with NTPC now having reservations on giving a fresh application to the Chhattisgarh government for restoring water supply to the project.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's appeal to all political parties not to politicise the inflation issue and not to indulge in "scare mongering" had the Left fuming today as it launched an attack on him.

Yahoo Inc is working to rewire the dozens of services across its site so that users can manage all information about themselves in a single place and share it with friends across the Web.

Concerns about food security mounted on Thursday, as rice prices hit records in Asia and the United Nations warned that staples for the world's hungry were getting much more expensive.

Microsoft Corp gave Yahoo Inc no hope of a higher takeover price, saying it was ready to go hostile or even call off its bid if Yahoo maintains 'unrealistic expectations' of a better deal.

Britain's advertising watchdog has rapped an Indian channel for telecasting an advertisement that breached the standards code by promoting the occult, psychic practices and exorcism.

Having survived the boardroom rumpus and a slew of shareholder dissent and with a masterstroke-like entry into Indian market, British mobile giant Vodafone's India-born CEO Arun Sarin has been named the most powerful businessperson in the UK's technology and telecom industry.

The Reserve Bank of India carried forward the government's war on inflation by raising the cash reserve ratio (percentage of deposits banks have to keep with the RBI) by 50 basis points to 8% to suck out Rs 18,500 crore from the system.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram warned cement and steel companies today of tough administrative measures if they did not mend what he called their cartel-like behaviour.

India's economy is expected to expand by 9.5 per cent in the current 2008/09 fiscal year, driven by large capacity additions, a Mumbai-based think-tank said on Tuesday.

Much to the chagrin of the government, unabated rising prices of vegetables, food articles and steel pushed the inflation to a 40 month high of 7.41 per cent, casting a shadow on economic growth.

The wholesale price index rose 7.41 per cent in the 12 months to March 29, accelerating from the previous week's annual rise of 7.0 per cent, the government data showed on Friday.

What are the implications of the new income tax laws on your personal finance? A panel of experts demystify what Budget 2008 means to your wallet and your money on CNN-IBN's special show Budget and Personal Finance .

As a part of our award-wining campaign, Axe The Tax, CNN-IBN went to the Finance Ministry to present a proposal on five tax laws that should be amended. But balancing the views of people could be a difficult task for the Finance Minister in what will be his last full term budget in the UPA , ahead of the general elections.

There is good news for borrowers. Home and car loans are set to get cheaper after SBI and three other public sector banks cut interest rates, raising expectations that private banks will now follow suit.

The house rent allowance is non-uniform across the country. Residents of metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkota - get a higher tax benefit than those in cities like Bangalore or Hyderabad. However, the rents of Bangalore and Hyderbad are often steeper. Many want a change in this outdated tax law.

Tax exemption on conveyance allowance has not been keeping up with the times. Thanks to a decade-old provision, the amount exempt is a pittance compared to the cost of travel today. For most salaried persons, the exemption is to the tune of Rs 800 a month on conveyance allowance.

Unattached business travelers know that when the meetings end and the hotel bars open, lonely business travelers are up for lingering over a meal with a stranger.

It has been a tough year for banks, with credit off-take slowing down. home loans are now becoming cheaper, for after HDFC slashed its rates, two more banks are softening theirs. State-run Canara Bank has become the first PSU bank to cut home loan rates by 25 basis points across all tenures. The quarter percentage cut will be applicable for both existing and new customers.