Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Chairman Deepak Parekh on Tuesday said that interest rates may rise owing to higher inflation, but lending rates are unlikely to change in the next one month.
The Finnish handset giant, however, has never been able to cope with the mystique that surrounds Apple CEO Steve Jobs' iPhone, which has been illegally imported and unlocked by hundreds of Indians -- corporate chiefs and celebrities included. Jobs has now announced a 3G version of the device with full global positioning system for just $199 (around Rs 8,400) for the 8GB model and $299 (Rs 12,600) for the 16GB version.
Adversity often brings out the best in companies, even state-owned ones. Faced with a bloated fuel bill, companies are busy devising new ways to control costs. These range from cut in travel to shift to cheaper fuels and even reduced recruitment. Power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has a brand new strategy in place -- it will set up onsite fabrication units rather than transport equipment over long distances.
Major IT firms Dell, Intel, Aricent, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Lenovo, Nokia and Tulip Telecom, among others, have realised that "going green" is profitable business. Not only does it require a low initial investment but it also earns them brownie points for helping in reducing e-waste.
Have you ever travelled on business and yearned for a quiet, memorable place to stay in, away from hordes of other business travellers? Or if on a vacation, have you longed for a unique experience? If you have, small, independently-owned boutique hotels are the answer. And these days it is not too difficult to find such properties, thanks to entrepreneurs like Mamta Sharma.
According to Jagdish Shettigar, chairman of BJP's economic cell and former member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, infrastructure, especially road building, will be a priority. It is now also certain that work on the controversial 111-km Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise connecting Bnagalore and Mysore will be accelerated. "We have always supported NICE," said a BJP leader.
Raman's hacking expertise is much in demand -- and not from criminal elements. Indian firms and multinationals like ABN Amro Bank, Aditya Birla Group, Bank of Maharashtra, Bombay Dyeing, HSBC, ICICI Bank, Indiabulls, Centurion BOP, Citibank, India Infoline, Ispat Industries and Kotak Group proactively seek his services. Raman's hacking expertise is much in demand -- and not from criminal elements.
By far the most awaited game of the year, Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) takes gamers on the streets of Liberty City, a dystopic version of New York City in 2008. What propels this violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire is the fun factor weaved into every scene. GTA IV has vehicles that look even more fantastic.
In what will be the first such comprehensive exercise in the IT industry, all the 91,000-odd employees of India's second-largest IT services provider, Infosys Technologies, will now have to pass certification programmes to get promoted. The certification programme, conducted every March, is now being extended across the board and will test the employees' domain expertise, and grade them accordingly to be eligible for promotion.
B K Modi-controlled Spice Mobile is all set to launch its GSM phone for Rs 800 this month. Branded as the 'People's Phone', the handset, a very basic model, doesn't have a display screen. Spice officials believe the company will sell around one million units in India and 10 million globally over the next 12 months.
Big retail is fine tuning its strategy to win over critics and corporate social responsibility drives are providing it with the means.ITC and Reliance have already launched projects to recruit street hawkers, the main adversaries of big retail. And now Bharti Mittal has opened a retail innings of its chain, Easy Day, in Ludhiana with something similar.
The rise in raw material costs has caused a 10 per cent increase in the retail prices of fast-moving consumer goods as companies are passing on the rise in costs.
Entertainment, Dhruva will be working with the company to produce games that could be marketed both in local and international markets. The company will also introduce the use of motion-sensing technology, made popular by Nintendo Wii, to PS2 game developers this year.
Datacom Solutions, promoted by consumer electronic goods maker Videocon Industries, is close to roping in South African telecom major MTN group as a partner for its GSM foray in the country. According to sources, Datacom, which was scouting for a partner to bring in investments and technology, has short-listed MTN. Discussions with the South African company are in the final stage and a deal is expected to be signed soon.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday the government has received a proposal from the Prime Minister's Council on Trade & Industry for setting up a $5 billion sovereign wealth fund. The council consists of industry captains. "The council has suggested that there is a need to create a sovereign fund of $5 billon to begin with for financing acquisition of companies abroad," Chidambaram told the Rajya Sabha.
Thanks to the development of power-efficient and smaller components, small form factor desktop PCs from Acer, Dell and HP have become quiet popular among home and professional users. SFF PCs are mostly sold with kits that include a motherboard, case, power supply, and central processing unit (CPU) cooler. This makes them cheaper when compared to professional PCs. Most of the SFF systems in the market are based around Intel processors, particularly the mobile CPUs.
India's tennis ace Sania Mirza would undergo surgery on her troublesome right wrist in Miami on Thursday which would put her out of action for at least four weeks. The injury had also forced Sania to pull out of the Sony Ericsson Open last month.
M&S may hold a majority stake in the venture and the final contours of the partnership are being finalised. India allows 51 per cent foreign direct investment in single-brand retail and 100 per cent in cash-and-carry operations. Multi-brand retail is barred for foreign companies and investors. M&S may hold a majority stake in the venture and the final contours of the partnership are being finalised.
Projectors seem to have come of age and there is no dearth of quality images, if you have the money .
Highlighting piracy as the main problem concerning the Hindi film industry, founder of Yash Raj Films, Yash Chopra, said Bollywood is losing Rs 16,000 crore annually to piracy. During Ficci Frames 08, he appealed to the I&B Ministry to work out a plan of action against piracy. YRF has digitised its distribution in a bid to combat piracy. They are also getting aggressive on the new media. He lamented industry does not have the legal authority to book the wrongdoers in piracy.
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