At present India is exporting soya extracts, green chillies and potatoes.
Banks and staff unions had settled on a 17.5 per cent salary hike, to benefit about 702,000 public sector employees, besides agreeing to make 332,000 serving and retired employees eligible for pension.
Nissan Motor India is planning to launch its sports car 370Z in India by January 2010. The company has drawn up an aggressive plan for India which will see a business model comprising five locally-made cars and four imported models by 2012.
The bank has made a budgetary provision of Rs 50-60 crore for the proposed 100 branches. Of these, 50 per cent would be in the northern region. According to B K Mahajan, general manager-HRM, "The Chandigarh region comprising Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir registered a business of Rs 1,904 crore as on March 31, 2009. Of this, deposits stood at Rs 600 crore and advances Rs 1,304 crore."
Real estate majors, who had lined up projects in Punjab to woo non-resident Indians, have put on hold their plans indefinitely with most NRIs no longer keen to invest in these properties.
Bosch Ltd, the flagship company of Bosch Group, plans to open 230 multibrand Bosch Car Service (BCS) centres by 2010 across the country, taking the total number to 500.
The airline will be running the fight on a daily basis from the Rajasansi International Airport. The flight currently runs thrice a week. The proposed move is expected to provide a relief to perishable exporters and farmers of Punjab who were affected after Jet Airways and Singapore Airlines withdrew their services last year stating it was not feasible for them to continue anymore.
In the absence of buyers, projects have either slowed down or have been delayed. Punjab Colonisers and Builders Association finance secretary HS Lamba said people in Ludhiana are bottom fishing and awaiting further correction in prices. "Though prices of construction material like steel and cement have come down, builders are unable to reduce the price owing to the high land costs," Lamba said.
The company plans to consolidate its position in the existing markets in the north, west and eastern region, and foray into the southern states by the end of this year. Hina Nagarajan, country manager, Mary Kay, told Business Standard that the brand was launched in India in September 2007 and has a sales force of over 3,000 women.
According to Puneet Gupta, general secretary of the Ambala Scientific Instruments Manufacturers' Association, the frequent variations in the value of the rupee against the dollar have hit the already squeezing margins. He added that the value of exports of individual units is not large enough to resort to the modern banking instruments like hedging.
The Indus Entrepreneurs, a non-profit organisation that promotes entrepreneurship, has taken a step forward in spreading awareness on the legal issues related to small industries.
As work on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme gathers pace in the villages of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, paddy farmers of Punjab are faced with an unprecedented shortage of farm hands to sow the crop.
The biggest farm loan waiver in India's history to win over the rural masses may not have struck a chord with farmers in Punjab and Haryana.
Paramjit Singh from Chunni Khurd in District Fatehgarh Sahib procures about 300 litres of milk every day from 30 farmers of his village. He shows off an electronic equipment to measure milk, given to him by Reliance, which has opened 400 milk collection centres in as many villages of Punjab as part of its milk procurement and retail marketing programme. For Punjab dairy farmers like Paramjit, there is a range of choices opening up so far as buyers are concerned.
For the first time in India, Chandigarh-based Compact Disc India Ltd (CDIL), an integrated media and entertainment company, will animate a true love story titled Eternal Love in English which will revolve around the Taj Mahal. The company has secured an animation outsourcing contract worth $15.70 million from a Los Angeles-based firm through its arm Mediaone Ventures Ltd for the film which is slated to be released in December 2009.
Haryana Urban Development Authority had to defer the auction of an eight-acre plot earmarked for a five-star hotel in the city centre as only one bidder turned up on the day of auction. The authorities told that a quorum of three bidders was a must for the auction to take place.
McDonald's India is setting up a food processing plant in the North. Though the location is yet to be finalised, the proposed plant is likely to be set up either in Punjab or Haryana with an investment of Rs 100 crore. Also, it has plans to set up a distribution centre in this region in addition to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Banglore.
Wedding planners are thriving on the designer wedding trends prevalent in affluent Punjabi families.
According to its promoter, Hirji Kanji Patel, this would be equivalent to the Pentium 4 technology but will be ultra low on voltage. The company also plans to start 20 level 3 multi-brand chip-level laptop service centres across India by April 2008.
An area of 150 acres has been earmarked for the Education City, in which, 75 acres has been reserved for private institutions in phase one and 75 acre for an institute of design and other professional colleges. This would include a 30-acre area for common facilities like market, gym, sports facilities etc.