Another Identity Theft on Facebook
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, who was one of the many victims of identity theft on Facebook, revealed the fact that the managers of the social networking site did not help him in any way in closing the "fraudulent" account.
He shared that he never wishes to make an account on such a site where people use fake identities. An 'impostor' pretended to be Amartya Sen and he posted views which were contradictory to the Professor’s political as well as economic views.
He shared that he never had a Facebook account.
Panel to Meet Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh for 12-MTPA Steel Plant Project
The environment ministry has appointed a panel to look into the matter of 12-MTPA steel plant project. The Rs 51,000-crore project was proposed by the South Korea steel major Posco in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district.
The panel will be meeting with Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on August 18 and it would have to submit its report to Ramesh by September.
Ramesh said in a statement, “I want to make it amply clear that the provisions of Forest Conservation Act and Forest Rights Act have to be strictly adhered to”.
Government of India Has not Approved Vedanta Transaction Yet
The doubts around India’s approval on the deal between Vedanta Group and Cairn Energy are at their peak, as the government does not seem to be in favor of Vedanta taking acquisition of the majority of Cairn India’s stakes that fast, as the Government thinks this deal might have a negative impact on the national oil industry. Therefore, the deal is temporarily put on halt for it cannot be passed without the Government’s approval. The Government of India is the sole owner of all the gas and oil fields and their productions.
Nalco’s First-Quarter Profits Increase 125% to Rs 284 crore
One of the largest producers of aluminium, National Aluminium Company (Nalco) posted its first-quarter results, which showed an increase of 125%in its net profit, as compared to the last year’s performance in the same period. The profit rose to Rs 284 crore from Rs 127 crore a year earlier.
The surge in the net earnings has been contributed by greater sales, higher production volumes and upgradation in the regulations regarding the input consumption, as told by a Company’s spokesperson.
Mandatory emission for automotives coming soon
Under a major announcement made by the government in the Capital, it recently said that a mandatory fuel efficiency standard for auto makers will be brought soon in order to promote environment friendly technologies in the country.
As per the Environment and Forest Minister of State (Independent Charges) Jairam Ramesh, a conclusion will be arrived upon in a very short time. Moreover, the minister also said that it will be under Motor Vehicles Act or Energy Conservation Act, this will come in.
Alto K10: highly fuel efficient
For those who though that a bigger engine would mean a lower fuel efficiency, the new Alto launched by Maruti Suzuki surely comes as a surprise.
Apart from offering bold looks to the Indian consumer, the new K-series engine is ready to offer ever more to entry level buyers in terms of performance and fuel efficiency. One cannot show its back to the fact that the k-Series technology has been a success worldwide for Suzuki and the technology is doing similar wonders in the Indian market as well.
MTNL invites bids from telecom companies for 3G roaming in its network
An invitation for the bid of 3G spectrum has been send to the operators of Delhi and Mumbai who could not acquire one such .The invitation went from the state owned company, MTNL. The spectrum is used to provide roaming facilities to the subscribers in the PSU’s network.
According to the CMD MTNL, Kuldeep Singh, PSU from this business opportunity earns annual revenue amounting to Rs. 300 crore thus making the 3G operations commercially viable.
Only Bharti, Vodafone and Reliance communications succeeded in acquiring 3G spectrum in the two metro cities of Delhi and Mumbai.
Cloud Services Market to reach $68 billion by the end of this year
The cloud services market is expected to reach $68 billion by the end of this year. This has been estimated by the research firm, Gartner. Last year it was recorded to be of $ 58.6 billion in the country.
The research firm has also predicted that the cloud services market is expected to reach $ 148.8 billion by the end of 2014.
The research vice president at Gartner, Mr. Ben Pring has informed that now enterprises are looking forward to adopt cloud computing and cloud services. It provides excellent commercial opportunity and this technology is favoring supply-side activities.
FIFA with a deeper reach
The FIFA has been able to strike gold in the Indian market and the viewership has seen a surge in reach over the previous 2006 edition as the players continue to set their goals in South Africa.
However, the data released by the rating agency clearly show the fact that the ratings are dipping as the tournament is progressing.
With a jump of over 50% in viewership as compared to the 2006 championship, the FIFA World Cup 2010 is only 26-match old and has already reached out to 42.1 million viewers in the country.
Hero Honda relying on training
The Gurgaon plant of the market leader in the two-wheelers segment, Hero Honda has been relying heavily on the training factor to ensure its success in the Indian market.
For the uninitiated, the Gurgaon plant stands for close to 1.8 million bikes a year that is contributing a significant chunk to the company's overall tally of 5.4 million units, the plant that works on three assembly lines, produces over 6,000 motorcycles a day, or a bike every 19 seconds.
Rise expected in fuel efficient cars
While the recently announced fuel hike is expected to dent the high growth momentum of the Indian automobile industry, experts are of a view that it will drive the love for small cars in the Indian market to the next level.
In fact, it is to be mentioned here that a similar scenario is working in the western countries that came in the wake of the recessionary winds and keeping in mind the fact that currently, small and compact cars constitute over 61 per cent of the total monthly sales out of the total passenger car sales, there will be all the more reasons to take it to the next level.
Mumbai taxis to get a new color in three months
By the end of the next three months, the currently running black and yellow taxis in the Mumbai region will get a new colour. Transport Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil recently said that the government has short-listed four combinations for the taxis in the Mumbai region.
It is to be mentioned here that Patil has been interested in changing the colour of the cabs in Mumbai for quite a long time now.
Goodyear’s delisting attempt fails
The leading Tyre-maker Goodyear India, has recently said in a filing to BSE that its attempt to delist from the bourses has failed due to a poor response from shareholders.
Notably, the company said in the filing that since the number of offer shares tendered in the reverse book building process at or below the discovered price are less in number as compared to the requirement. It is deemed that its delisting attempt has failed in the Indian market.
While the bid started form May 8, the company had fixed Rs 340 per share as the discovered price.
Lawsuit is groundless: Anand Mahindra
While the auto firm Mahindra & Mahindra is seeking to break ground in the US market for quite a long time now, under a recent development, the distributor of its product in the US market has filed a lawsuit against the company.
However, Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman of M&M, has termed the charges and the lawsuit as groundless in his tweet at the micro-blogging site Twitter. While the dynamic entrepreneur termed it as legal matter, so declined to comment anything further but it as in reply to when someone asked about the suit filed by US dealer, Global Vehicles.
Atul Auto to set up a new plant
According to a top official familiar with the matter, Rajkot-based Atul Auto (AAL) is looking at setting up a new plant in the southern region of the country. While the investments are expected to be over Rs. 60 crore, it is expected that the demand for three-wheelers is increasing in the country and the scenario will be the same even for the coming months.
Atul Auto's Director, Vijay Kedia said that the company currently has close to 16 models in the offering and it will be investing Rs. 60 crore for setting up a new plant.
Tata Autocomp plans Rs. 3 billion capex in FY11
Tata AutoComp Systems Ltd recently said that the company has lined up Rs. 3 billion as capex for FY11 wherein a large chunk will be invested in expanding the production capacity of the company.
Trouble at Ford India
While the success of the Indian automobile market may have bought many big names into its geographies in the past couple of years, but the labour issues with the sector are taking its own time to get back on track.
After companies like Hyundai, Apollo, Hero Honda have suffered from the labour issues in the past months, it is now the turn of Ford India to test the rough waters.
In fact, the newly-formed employees union at Ford India has sought the government's intervention to begin negotiations with the company.
Volkswagen to launch New Jetta by March 2011
The world's leading German auto major, Volkswagen has been planning aggressive moves in the domestic circuit for the many months now after it launched the compact Polo in the Indian market.
In fact, the company has recently said that it will be launching the all new, next-generation version of its mid-size saloon, the Jetta for the Indian market by March 2011.
AOL Sells Bebo to Criterion for Less Than $10 Million
Time Warner Inc. owned by AOL Inc. will sell its social networking website Bebo for less than 2% of the price it paid for the company to Criterion Capital Partners LLC. AOL bought the site for $850 million and sold it for $10 million. The move gave AOl a tax benefit and saw its benefits increase this quarter from $275 million to $325 million.
“Criterion Capital Partners are specialists in facilitating growth plans and turnarounds,” AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong said. “For AOL, the transaction will also create a meaningful tax deduction.”
Airline-Merger Plans get go from Regulators
UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and Continental Airlines Inc’s merger was approved by the United States Antitrust Regulator said Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. The Justice Department which can reject or approve the merger will now give the merger the gren signal. "I do think it's going to pass regulatory muster, but I do think it's going to be tough," Republican of Texas Hutchison said.