India News: January 2007

Tata wins Corus deal
Wednesday, January 31, 2007 | MP

In a whopping deal India's Tata Steel has won the take over auction for the Anglo-Dutch steel firm, Corus. This is India's biggest-ever foreign takeover which is also a reflection on the country's economic and fundamental strength. Tata who agreed a deal worth 455 pence a share initially has increased its bid to 608p-a-share bid while competing with its Brazilian rival CSN. Tata Steel's contribution to the bid would be around 4.1 billion dollars. With Tata acquiring the Corus group for a 11.3 billion deal, the new entity led by the Tatas will become the world's fifth largest steelmaker.

Indians more prone to heart attacks
Tuesday, January 30, 2007 | MP

A recent study conducted across five South Asian countries has indicated that Indias were more prone to heart attacks. The recent report on the reseach published in the Journal of American Medical Association study conducted on people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka pointed that people in these countries were more prone to heart attcks at a much younger age. This is at least 5 to 10 years earlier compared to people in countries of Europe, US and West Asia. The risk factors associated with heart disease included smoking, high cholesterol levels, hypertension and diabetes, which is generally seen among people in all countries. But the findings showed that more serious factors like cholesterol and history of diabetes were more common among the South Asians.

RBI likely to hike interest rates
Monday, January 29, 2007 | MP

In a move as seen to bring down the rising inflation, the Reserve Bank of India had indicated of a possible hike in the short-term interest rates. RBI in its Macroeconomic and Monetary Development report has warned of inflationary pressures in the economy which is likely to have an impact on the interest rates. This would mean that home and retail loans are going to get costlier. It also said that prices of primary food articles and manufactured products posed upward pressure on inflation which was 6 per cent by mid-Jan as compared to 4.1 per cent in end-March, 2006.

PM, Cong chief for poll campaign in Punjab
Monday, January 29, 2007 | MP

Ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to take part in four election rallies in Punjab during his two-day visit to the state. Mr Singh will be visiting Punjab from February 5th and will be addressing poll rallies at Amritsar and Jalandhar on the first day and later in Patiala and Ludhiana the following day. Besides Mr Singh, Congress Chief, Sonia Gandhi is also visiting Punjab as apart of the election campaign.

J-K witnesses over 4 lakh tourists in 2006
Saturday, January 27, 2007 | MP

Claiming that Jammu and Kashmir was always held an attraction for tourism, the State's Tourism Minister has said that over 4.12 lakh domestic visitors and more than 20,000 foreign tourists had visited Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2006. Around 43,000 people had visited Ladakh last year. The minister maintained that Jammu and Kashmir still stood as a safe tourist destination and there was no threat to visitors. He also assured that the government has taken every precaution to provide foolproof security to the tourists visiting the region.

India celebrates 58th Republic day
Friday, January 26, 2007 | MP

Amidst tight security the nation celebrates its 58th Republic Day today. There were unprecedented security in the capital city of Delhi along the venue of rajpath and R-Day parade routes and in parts of the country like J&K and Assam. Earlier the day, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, President A P J Abdul Kalam, took the salute of the impressive parade in the presence of Chief guest Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the country's top political and military brass. This was followed by marching contingents and bands of the Armed Forces and the paramilitary forces.

Nithari: Prime accused remanded further
Thursday, January 25, 2007 | MP

The prime accused in the Nithari serial killings, Moninder Singh Pandher and Surendra Koli were remanded for another 14 days after the special CBI judge granted fresh remand to keep them under CBI custody for more custodial interrogations. The CBI took them into custody on Jan 11th and had been questioning them in connection with the gruesome serial killings of women and children at Nithari near Noida. A total of 19 cases had been filed against them. The furious mob even attacked the two earlier on the day when the accused where being taken to the court.

Cricket: India lead series 2-0
Thursday, January 25, 2007 | MP

It was a close finish for India at their second ODI against West Indies at Cuttack on Wednesday. India managed to win the second match against the WI with a 20 run win. India who had batted first were all out for 189 in the 48th over. While most of the Indian batsmen fell for cheap scores, it was Dinesh Kaarthick's 63 which helped India put up a reasonable fight. Chasing a target of 189, the West Indians were bowled out for 169 in 48.2 overs. India now lead the four-match Pepsi cup series 2-0.

India, Russia set for defence, space deals
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 | MP

India and Russia is all set to strengthen bilateral ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting the country on a 2 day visit, starting on Thursday. As many as 10 deals are expected to be made during Putin's visit which will includejoint production of multi-role transport aircraft and development and launch of satellites like GLONASS (Global Navigational Satellite System). Russia also had shown interest to coperate with India to meet its civil nuclear energy needs and expressed its willingness to build 4 more reactors at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu apart from the already existing 2 nuclear reactors build by them.

DD to telecast Ind-WI series with 7-min delay
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 | MP

Breaking the row over the telecast rights, Delhi High Court has asked the public broadcaster Doordarshan to provide telecast feed of the ongoing India-West Indies cricket series on DD with a seven-minute delay. Nimbus Communications which has bagged the 4 year BCCI telecast rights had earlier refused to share the feed of the cricket matches with DD owing to rigid conditions put up by the public broadcaster. Reacting to the court order Nimbus Chairman said: "We welcome the court order and look forward to working with Doordarshan." The All-India Radio would be also provided with live telecast commentary.

Safe return for India's space vehicle
Monday, January 22, 2007 | MP

India has successfuly tested the re-entry of the space vehicle back to the earth's atmostphere which the country's space organisation, ISRO has launched on January 10th. Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1) as expected splashed down into the Bay of Bengal, about 140 km east of Sriharikota coast at 9.46 am,on Monday, confirmed ISRO. Its the first time India has actually tested the re entry and recovery phases which is considered most crucial for India's proposed manned moon mission.

Nagpur ODI: Ganguly makes a point
Sunday, January 21, 2007 | MP

Former Indian Captain and left hand batsman Sourav Ganguly who made a return to the Indian ODI team has proved a point on Sunday making a strong comeback to the team with a mighty 98 runs on India's first ODI against West Indies at Nagpur. Ganguly who opened the Indian side along with Gautam Gambhir gave India a fine solid start putting on 144 runs patnership. However the Kolkata Prince fall short of 2 runs on the way to an impressive hundred when he was run out while taking a single. West Indian captain Lara who earlier won the toss had elected to field first and India put an impressive score of 338 for 3 in 50 overs.

Top IT firms on recruiting swing
Sunday, January 21, 2007 | MP

Recruiting seems to be in full swing among IT sectors with top IT companies of the country reported to to have added over 23,200 employees to their staff count in the last quarter of 2006. This includes IT majors like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and HCL Technologies together recuring a total of 23,265 people in the 3 month period ended December 31. Among these firms TCS hired the maximum people of 7,835 and also maintains the lowest attrition rate in the industry at 10.8 pc. With this the total headcount of thse top 5 Software companies now stands at around 2,92,000.

Putin Chief Guest for R-Day celebrations
Friday, January 19, 2007 | MP

Russian President Vladimir Putin who will be visiting India from January 25th will be the Chief Guest for India's republic Day celebrations this year. Putin who is on a 2 day official visit to New Delhi will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President A P J Abdul Kalam and various other Indian leaders. The visit is also expected to boost bilateral relations between the two countries including areas of trade, energy, investment, defence and space.

Rlwys to offer budget packaged tours
Thursday, January 18, 2007 | MP

In an effort to boost rail bound tourism in the country, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is planning to offer cost effective budget packaged tours for travellers. The packages will be introduced initially for travel to the Southern states. This includes operations from Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata (Howrah) and New Delhi to Kerala and Tamil Nadu that would cover torist spots like Kochi, Munnar, Kumarakom, Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Kodaikanal, Thekkady, Chennai, Mamallapuram, Puducherry, Tiruchi, Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari. The package would include food, accomodation, ticketing and other value added services. The packages will be available in different segments to suit the budget, standard and luxury travellers. Budget packages will be offered sleeper class accommodation on trains while the standard and deluxe packages will get to travel on A/C III tier coaches.

India, China begin border talks
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 | MP

India and China had begun fresh round of talks to settle on the differences on the decade old border issues between the two nations. 'The talks have started,' stated External Affairs Ministry without going into the deatils. The Chinese team that has arrived in New Delhi for the territorial talks is led by Vice Foreign Minister and Special Representative Dai Bingguo. This is the ninth round of talks that have been going on since the mid-1980s.

Sania climbs up in WTA rankings
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 | MP

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza had moved up 13 places to reach the 53rd positon in the latest WTA rankings. Sania's fine performace at the recent Hobart International tournament had helped her climb up the ladder. However he went one place down to be listed 25th in the doubles ranking. In doubles, India's Asian Games gold medalist Leander Paes stands at 10th position while Mahesh Bupathi is listed at the 29th position.

Bharti- Walmart pact conforms to FDI norms: Govt
Monday, January 15, 2007 | MP

The retail business deal between the Bharti and global retailer Wal-Mart has been said to have got the government's support with the government saying that the venture conforms to all FDI policy norms. "We have examined the Bharti-Wal-Mart joint venture and everything is in conformity with the existing policy on FDI in retail," said sources in Commerce and Industry Ministry. The Bharti- Walmart patnership which was announced in November was opposed by many including the CPI(M) after which the Commerce and Industry Minister said that the govt would examine whether the permissible limits have been adhered to.

Over 450 Spl trains for Ardh Kubh mela
Saturday, January 13, 2007 | MP

To meet with the rush in view of the ongoing Ardh Kumbh mela season, Indian Railways has announced to operate over more than 450 special trains. "A total of 286 special trains would be running in the north central railway (NCR) zone, 66 in the northern zone and 103 in north-eastern zone," said NCR senior official. On the rush days of 'makar sankranti' and 'mauni amavasya',there are special trains each for Mumbai and Howrah and one for Delhi. Besides special security arrangements are being made to monitor the travellers movements.

Ganguly in, Sehwag out for ODI team against WI
Friday, January 12, 2007 | MP

Finally Sourav Ganguly had found a place back in the Indian one day team announced for the forthcoming India's first two ODI matches against the West Indies that is to be played in Nagpur (Jan 21) and Cuttack (Jan 24). However India's opening batsman and Virendar Sehwag was dropped from the team owing to the players poor performances. Sachin Tendulkar has been appointed as the Vice Captain instead. Irfan Pathan, Kaif, Dinesh mongia and Anil Kumble too have been left out of the 15-member squad for the ODI.

BSNL to offer multi-system phone
Thursday, January 11, 2007 | MP

BSNL is coming up with a multi system telephone that would enable users to surf the internet and watch Tv simultaneously using the telephone. The work on the project is already on and the telecom major expectes to launch this by March. Bharti had earlier announced to offer video content through its telephone lines with launch of commercial IPTV service in the country. In an effort to target more customers, BSNL has come out with new offers in broadband and also planning to increase its base in high speed Internet service.

PSLV-C7 launched successfully
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 | MP

India's ISRO has successfully launched its tenth Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7)into space today morning from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. PSLV C-7 has put four satellites into the earth's orbit. The launch will boost India's futuristic manned missions to space. The mission is also vital for the re-entry technology, to demonstrate the capability to recover an orbiting space capsule and associated technologies.

Cold wave grips N India
Tuesday, January 9, 2007 | MP

The country's national capital, Delhi reported on Monday the coldest day of the season at 2.6 degrees. Several parts of Northern India gripped under the cold wave with Jammu Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Himachel Pradesh dipping temperatures below the normal levels. Amritsar recorded minus 1 degree while Haryana was coldest at 0.2 degrees. The Met Dept has forecasted that the minimum temperature will hover around 5 degrees Celsius and partly cloudy days over the next few days in Delhi.

Govt proposes advisory agency for NRIs
Monday, January 8, 2007 | MP

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while inaugurationg the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2007 in New Delhi had announced the government's move to set up an Inidan overseas facilitation center to direct with investment advisory services to the overseas Indian community. The agency will be established in partnership with industry representatives and would operate independent of the govt. PM who called upon the NRIs to invest on the country's growing economy also also revealed out on the government's plans to open up a university for the People of Indian Orgin (PIOs).

Inflation likely to rise over 5.5pc
Sunday, January 7, 2007 | MP

Acording to forecasts by Institute of Economic Growth, inflation is likely to rise over the RBI's target of 5.5 pc for this fiscal and also hinted on an eventual hike in the interest rates. Inflation had already surged to 5.48 per cent during the week ended December 23. "As inflation is going to be above the targeted level of RBI and growth of money supply is well above 20 per cent, we expect further hike in interest rates in the next review of the credit policy," said the Institute report. It also pointed out that the future inflation rates would depend mainly on two factors like future monetary policy stance of RBI and the performance of the kharif crop.

Sonia slams UP Govt
Saturday, January 6, 2007 | MP

Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi who visited Nithari in Noida attacked on the Mulayalam led UP government for inefficiency in maintaining the law and order in the State. This comes in view with the way in which the case on the Nithari serial killings situations were handled. Sonia also claimed that the CBI inquiry was ordered by the UP government only after pressure mounted on him, especially from her party. Meanwhile Mulayam had said he was never opposed to the CBI inquiry and ordered a CBI probe in view of the governor’s letter to him.

India set for PSLV-C7 launch
Friday, January 5, 2007 | MP

India's ISRO is set to launch its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) which is scheduled for launch on January 10 from Sriharikota Space Center. The vehicle will be carrying the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) on board along with three other satellies. The SRE will return to earth after 12 days of orbit in space. PSLV also carries Indian mapping satellite Cartosat 2, a 56- kg Indonesian microsatellite (Lapan-Tubsat) and a 6-kg Argentinian nanosatellite (Pehuensat). The experiment will test the reusable launch vehicle technology and is expected to demonstrate the technology of successful re-entry into orbit and subsequently develop a 500-kg recoverable satellite.

Cape Town test: SA all out for 373 on day 3
Friday, January 5, 2007 | MP

Indian bowlers made a comeback in day 3 bowling South Africa all out for 373 in their first innings in the third and final cricket Test against India in CapeTown on Thursday. With this India make a 41 run lead to take on to their second innings. Indian spinner Kumble took four wickets for 117 and pace man Sreesanth took two wickets. For SA, shipper Smith and Amla put on 159 runs for the second wicket while Mark Boucher took 69 runs.

Ardh Kumbh Mela starts
Wednesday, January 3, 2007 | MP

The famous Hindhu pilgrimage festival, Ardh Kumbh Mela has taken off at Prayag today with thousands of devotees taking bath and performing rituals at the river banks. Early in the morning, pilgrims take bath at the Sangam (confluence of the Rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythological Saraswati) on the auspicious day of 'Paush Poornima' as per Hindu calendar. Security has been heightened at these holy places in view with the terror threats. Lakhs of people are expected to stay for the month long Ardh Kumbh to do the Kalpvas or the ritual pilgrimage.

US B-schools inspired by Delhi's Metro rail
Tuesday, January 2, 2007 | MP

Delhi's Metro Rail system has caught the attention of the US business schools. Students from top management schools from US universities are inspired by the India's hi-tech rail network especially the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's execution of the metro rail project in a busy and congested city like Delhi. The techniques being used to meet the project ahead of the scheduled timeframe, and within budgeted cost is what is being appreciated by many. As many as 36 students from the Wharton School of Pennsylvania Unvsty had visited the Delhi Metro as a part of their conducted study tour and more students from other top business schools of the US are expected to visit Delhi Metro over the coming days.

CAS comes functional in metros
Monday, January 1, 2007 | MP

Conditional Access System CAS has been introduced in parts of the three metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata in India from Jan 1st. With this customers can avail of the option to choose the channels they want to pay for and view, rather than receiving the whole set of channels that the cable operator makes available to them. Consumers need to install a set-top box which will inturn decodes signals from the cable operator and allows consumers to view a pay channel. However there is still shortage of set-top boxes and confusion over new cable TV delivery system. Most of the consumers complainted of not being aware of the differences between CAS and DTH.

Links: News Archives: 06 | 05 | 04 | 03 | 02 | 01