From April 1, 2010, 13 cities will switch to Euro IV. Earlier, industry experts said that the Euro IV emission norms, to be effective from April 2010, would force an upward revision of prices as carmakers were making significant investments to upgrade vehicle engines to make them Euro IV compliant.
The testing track for high speed vehicles (having speeds between 250 kmph and 350 kmph) at the Indore centre would be operational by 2012.
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.
According to various manpower outsourcing firms, more and more companies are resorting to temporary staffing. Rakesh Joshi, regional manager -- operations, IKYA Staffing Solutions, said permanent staffing had seen a slow growth in the recessionary phase. He said companies were not only going for temporary staffing in the junior level recruitments, a few of them were also opting for temporary staffing in middle management.
Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj regional director Manoj Kashyap feels the cash flow that is readily available with the senior citizens is one of the reasons why real estate companies are looking at this untapped market. According to Gurinder Bawa, business head, International Travel House Limited, availability of time and money with senior citizens is driving the interest of travel houses towards them.
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.
Troubles for the textile industry, which has been grappling with financial blood-letting both in international and home markets, are likely to deepen further. While there are fears of half-a-million more job losses, exports from the sector are likely to take a hit of about Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion), according to industry estimates.
According to industry leaders, the ongoing strike is also going to dampen production and also hit the timely delivery of goods to the customers. The transporters are mainly demanding that diesel prices be reduced by at least Rs 10 per litre, a uniform VAT of 4 per cent on the fuel, withdrawal of service tax on truck operators and rationalisation of tyre prices.
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.
With profit margins of companies being hit, the firms are taking a host of measures including closing down the unprofitable stores. The stores promoted by REI Agro recently closed 30-odd discount stores that were running into losses.
Group Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) Sudhir Gulati said Canton Greens, which is spread over an area of 100 acres near Amritsar, would offer a comprehensive modern city infrastructure. The group is investing Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) on this project, which is likely to be completed in three years.
The whole country broke into an impromptu celebration and by the evening, four state governments had announced cash rewards that added up to Rs 1.4 crore. Cash-rich BCCI also announced a reward of Rs 50 lakh for Bindra and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad issued him a lifetime AC first-class travel pass. Not to be left behind, budget carrier SpiceJet gave him free unlimited travel for life.
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.