RCom Special Audit: Govt may have lost Rs 250cr

The Telecom Ministry has said a special audit carried out by a government-appointed auditor has shown Reliance Communications under-reported its revenue.“Reliance Communications under-reported its revenue during financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08,” the ministry said, pegging the FY07 misrepresentation at Rs 1,000–1,500 crore.In April this year, the Department of Telecom (DoT) ordered a special audit on five telecom companies: Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Tata Teleservices, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communication, amid concerns of misreporting of revenue and evasion of tax and licence fee.In October, the DoT said the audit on Reliance Communications, conducted by a firm Parakh & Co, confirmed under-reporting, a claim questioned the company later. Reliance Communications slammed the special audit and accused it of being biased and said it conflicted with industry practices.The Telecom Ministry today said the government may have lost Rs 250 crore on account of under-reporting.

PM to attend Copenhagen summit on December 17

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the Copenhagen summit on climate change on December 17, days after India announced that it would consider an emission cut of 20 to 25% by 2020, but would not be coerced into accepting unilateral cuts decided by developed countries.Till now, speculation was rife that Dr Singh would not attend the summit and that India would be represented by its minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh and the Prime Minister's special envoy for climate change Shyam Saran. It was speculated last week that the Prime Minister had revealed that he would think of going if he thought the inking of a deal to reduce climate change was possible.

CAT schedule extended by one day

After the online Common Admission Test collapsed in several places, creating confusion among thousands of B-school aspirants, the CATauthorities on Friday extended the exam schedule by one day. "Prometric and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) have extended the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2009 till Dec 8. CAT 2009 was scheduled to run for 10 days from Nov 28 to Dec 7 2009," the US headquartered Prometric said in an official communique. "We understand and regret the additional stress and inconvenience caused to candidates who have not been able to test on their scheduled day due to technical difficulties," said Ramesh Nava, Prometric vice-president and general manager for Asia Pacific, Japan and Africa.

Assam ready for peace process, ULFA leader offered safe passage

It's official. The government has offered peace talks and safe passage to the top rung of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).The offers come a day after ULFA's Chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa, was found along the Triupara border by the Bangaldesh government. Rajkhowa was handed over to the Indian government and was later flown to Delhi on Tuesday night in a special plane. He now becomes a key player in any discussions for peace. That's rattled ULFA's military chief, Paresh Barua, who is underground in Myanmar. He has asked the group's militant cadres in Assam to unleash violence using bomb blasts. Barua's calls to his cadres were intercepted on Tuesday by intelligence officials. Gogoi said that peace talks should be held even without Baruah. However, he clarified that all negotiations are being supervised by the Home Ministry. 

India's economy continues to grow

India's economy grew at a faster-than-expected rate of 7.9% in the three months to September, compared to the same period last year. The growth was helped by government stimulus spending. A boost in manufacturing and services helped the country expand at the fastest pace for 18 months. Some analysts said this could give the central bank room to raise interest rates as early as December to combat rising inflation. "This data could be a green light for the Reserve Bank of India to hike rates, and there are greater chances of this by the end of the calendar year," said Robert Prior-Wandesforde from HSBC. "The exit from the fiscal stimulus by the government may also be earlier post-the GDP data," he added. However, a government official said he expected no change in stimulus policy for the current fiscal year. Farm output was up 0.9% in the third quarter but economists warned that the figures did notreflect the poor monsoon season. The central bank warned that the poor season was more likelyto drive food price inflation.

Senate report: Bin Laden was 'within our grasp

WASHINGTON – Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering

'Outrageous' Raju ranks high on CEO shame list

It's one Forbes list where none would want to figure, but Ramalinga Raju, the founder-chairman Satyam Computers (now Mahindra Satyam), has managed the feat of being among the world's ‘10 Most Outrageous CEOs’.Raju has been ranked as the world's fourth most outrageous CEO in 2009 on the list compiled by the Forbes, known for its rankings of the richest and the most powerful the world over.Giving Raju company are Sri Lankan-origin American hedge fund manager Raj Rajarathnam (third), former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain (2nd) and Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein (1st).Raju, the only Indian on the list dominated by Americans, owes his place on the list to his disclosure in January about committing the country's biggest ever corporate fraud.

Mahindra Satyam recovers after a steep slide

Mahindra Satyam rose 1% to Rs 91.45 at 14:00 IST on bargain hunting after the company's top official told media that customer attrition has stopped and the firm is not resorting to price cuts to bag new deals.Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 126.81 points, or 0.74%, to 17072.14.On BSE, 2.17 crore shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 78.23 lakh shares in the past one quarter.The stock hit a high of Rs 93.80 and a low of Rs 83.05 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 251 on 1 December 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 11.50 on 9 January 2009.The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 25 November 2009, falling 18.24% as compared to the Sensex's 2.31% rise. It underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 16.12% as against 9.63% increase in the Sensex.The large-cap software company has an equity capital of Rs 235.13 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.Mahindra Satyam's president, global operations, Atul Kunwar was quoted by the media as saying on Wednesday, 25 November 2009, that Mahindra Satyam has added about 36 clients since July and currently has about 420 customers. It has renewed over 50 deals in the last three months.Mr Kunwar said the company is working on reviving contracts with customers who left in the wake of the scandal, and is in talks with the World Bank to lift an eight-year ban imposed last December.The company, which is looking at expanding its board with independent directors, is not seeing any payment delays, he said.The stock slumped 10.92% to Rs 90.55 on Wednesday, 25 November 2009, after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) found evidence of an additional Rs 4739 crore corporate fraud in the company, perpetrated by its founder R Ramalinga Raju and his associates.

India ready to discuss Kashmir with Pakistan: Singh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while addressing the council of foreign relations in Washington on Monday said that New Delhi is ready to pick up the threads of the dialogue with Islamabad, including issues related to Jammu & Kashmir. Singh also reasserted of better relations with Pakistan if Pakistan acts to curb terror networks operation from its soil.

Anil present in apex court for gas row hearing

Anil Ambani was on Tuesday present in the Supreme Court for the ongoing hearing of the gas row between his group RNRL and his brother's RIL."My presence in the Hon'ble Supreme Court today reflects my deepest regard for our judiciary," Anil said in a brief statement to the media."I have come here today not just on my own behalf but on behalf of nearly 11 million shareholders of the Reliance ADA Group-the largest shareholding family in the world-whose interests will be directly affected by the outcome of this case," he said.The Ambani brothers are locked in a bitter battle over the supply and price of the gas from KG basin.

While RNRL is seeking gas at a committed price of $2.34 per unit, RIL says it cannot honour the commitment made in the 2005 family agreement due to government's pricing and gas policies.

Maruti Suzuki to launch van to replace Versa

The country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), today said it will launch a new van within this fiscal to replace its MPV versaVersa, whose production has been stopped. "We will be launching a new van by the end of this fiscal. This vehicle will replace the Versa, whose production has already been stopped," Maruti Suzuki India Managing Executive Officer (Engineering) I V Rao told reporters on the sidelines of the Fourth Environmentally Friendly Vehicle Conference here. He, however, did not give the price point of the soon-to-be launched vehicle. MSI is also looking to produce one million vehicles by the end of this fiscal. "Hopefully, we will have one million units in production by the end of this financial year by utilising our full capacity," Rao said. He added the company is working on making all its models Bharat Stage-IV compliant as required under the government norms. "We have not completed BS-IV compliance norms on all our models but we are working towards that direction.

Airtel slashes cell roaming rates by 60 per cent

Bharti Airtel has launched a new mobile phone tariff plan with 60 per cent lower roaming rates, opening a new front in the ongoing price war that has impacted the profitability of the country’s telcos.The country’s largest telecom firm on Friday said that the new plan will bring down the roaming rates to 60 paise per minute forcalls within its network and 80 paise per minute for calls to other networks. Reliance Communications, the country’s second largest cellular operator, is already offering a lower roaming rate of 50 paise per minute for all its customers on all networks. Other GSM operators such as Vodafone Essar, BSNL and Idea Cellular are also expected to launch new billing plans that offer lower roaming rates within the next couple of days. Bharti Airtel president for mobile services, Atul Bindal said that this is an attempt to join the price war scenario currently prevailing in the industry. “Our primary aim is to bring the advantage of our network to our customers. Recent research has shown that customers need benefits while travelling and are not satisfied with just local calling benefits and our network is uniquely positioned to offer similar benefits on roaming all across the country.

Sachin completes 30,000 runs in internationsl cricket

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar has reached another milestone in his career by completing a phenomenal 30,000 runs in international cricket during the ongoing Ahmedabad Test against Sri Lanka on Friday.Tendulkar, who completed 20 glorious years in cricket on Sunday (November 15), needed 35 runs to reach the landmark at the start of India's second innings in the Ahmedabad Test against Sri Lanka.Next in line for the feat is is Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who had recently crossed 24,000 runs.Tendulkar has 17,178 runs in ODI cricket, 10 runs in the only T20 International he's played, and 12,812 Test runs at the time the landmark was reached.He holds the record for most ODI and Test runs and centuries.Tendulkar is clearly widening the gap between him and his contemporaries and it is certainly going to be difficult for anybody to catch up with the great batsman.

Ambanis, Mittal in Forbes' list of richest Indians

Mukesh Ambani has emerged the wealthiest person in India with a net worth of $32 billion, as the number of Indian billionaires in Forbes' ‘India Rich List’ this year has nearly doubled to 52, thanks to the rebound in stock markets. London-based Lakshmi N Mittal with $30 billion, Anil Ambani with $17.5 billion, Azim Premji with $14.9 billion, Shashi and Ravi Ruia with $13.6 billion and K P Singh with $13.5 billion make up the top five billionaires on this year's list. "The combined net worth of India's 100 richest people is $276 billion - almost a quarter of the country's gross domestic product," the magazine said, adding the number of Indian billionaires has also nearly doubled from 27 last year.

TVS to launch 110-cc clutch less motorcycle

The country’s third largest two-wheeler manufacturer, TVS Motor Company, is set to launch a 110-cc clutch-less motorcycle, a first in the world's second-largest two wheeler market.The bike will be unveiled to the company's 600-strong dealer network in Macau on Wednesday and would be launched in the country later this month. It will be powered by a 110cc engine with four gears, comparable to most other vehicles in its category, but will have an auto clutch system coupled with an anti-stall mechanism, which make the bike almost gearless.“The bike will be launched in India shortly and it will be an answer to stressful driving in the cities," said a senior company official who did not wish to be named. "Despite the break through in technology, it will not have a premium price tag."

Nokia N97 Mini Arrives in India

Nokia has launched the younger sibling of the N97, the N97 Mini, in India just a few months after the bigger, better endowed Nokia N97 was announced. Positioned as the cheaper alternative to the N97, the phone comes with a slightly smaller screen and unlike the N97, this device does not have the navi-pad on the keyboard.

The N97 Mini, on all other fronts, is visually similar to the N97 and is at par with its larger sibling in terms of features as well. The device will be on sale by the last week of November and will be available in Cherry Black, Garnet and White colors. The phone is priced at Rs. 30,939 - which is slightly lower than the price of the N97. Along with the phone, Nokia has also launched a new contest wherein four winners will be shortlisted by a panel of judges and two stand to win Nokia N97 mini for free every week.

The N97 Mini, just like the N97, supports Nokia's Ovi range of services. It also comes with the Lifecasting application from Nokia that allows users to publish location and status update directly to their Facebook account from the mobile device.

You can prebook the N97 Mini starting November 23.

Taj launches tough task of back-to-glory mission

Tata Sons are at work on Taj Palace Hotel to live up to Gregory Peck’s dream. Peck, one of Hollywood's greatest stars, had checked into the Taj by the Gateway in 1980, his return to Mumbai after 28 years. What he saw around surely impressed him.
“The old Taj is the same-like a jewelled crown,” he famously remarked. Almost three decades and a devastating terrorist attack later, Ratan Tata & Co have now deployed an army of engineers and designers to lift up the old Heritage Wing of this showpiece hotel and make it India’s crown jewel once more, an earshot from the Queen’s Necklace Nariman Point drive way.
It’s not an easy task to rebuild what Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata had crafted by painstakingly collecting the best jewels from Europe during his personal trips, whether it was a soda and ice-making factory, silver polishing machines, a laundry, elevators, an electric generator or even pillars of soft iron that held the famous ballroom up.

PVR snaps up DT in Rs 62 crore deal

Movie theatre chain PVR on Friday acquired DLF-owned DT Cinemas —seven cinema halls in NCR and one in Chandigarh, 29 screens in all -- in a stock-cum-cash deal of Rs 62.2 crore. PVR will run all these multiplexes under PVR Cinemas brand; DT Cinema will now cease to exist.In the deal to acquire DT Cinemas, PVR paid Rs 20.2 crore cash to DLF Ltd. Besides this, it also gave 25.57 lakh new shares, which constituted 10% of the post diluted equity capital of PVR. According to the deal, PVR will also have exclusive rights to operate as a key anchor multiplex partner in all future malls developed by DLF.

HP TO BY 3 COM

HP that's mean Hewlett Packard Co is making a move into the network equipment market by striking a $3.1 billion deal for 3Com Corporation in a major challenge to Cisco Systems Incorporation.

HP acquires IBRIX

HP has announced a definitive agreement for the company to acquire IBRIX, a leading provider of enterprise-class file serving software that includes data protection, high-availability features and data management services for extreme scale-out, cloud and high-performance computing deployments.Customers with large-scale, data-intensive application environments find that storage performance often becomes a bottleneck for their workflows. IBRIX's solutions allow enterprises to easily and cost-effectively store massive amounts of user-generated data."Customers need highly scalable storage solutions that efficiently and cost-effectively manage massive amounts of information," said Jim Wagstaff, Vice President & General Manager StorageWorks Division,Enterprise Storage, Servers and Networking, HP Enterprise Business."This acquisition expands our portfolio to better support the needs of this market segment. In addition, IBRIX's highly scalable software leverages industry-standard hardware allowing customers to fully maximize their existing investments."IBRIX's software is currently available with HP StorageWorks storage area networks (SANs), HP ProLiant servers, HP BladeSystem, and HP ProCurve Ethernet switches and management software.