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rakeshmalik · #**1861** 26th May 2008, 09:04 AM

E-ticketing to cover 90% of interline travel: IATA

Mumbai, May 24: Allaying fears of travel agents that interline travel would get adversely affected by the enforcement of 100 per cent e-ticketing, IATA on Saturday said e-ticketing agreements between airlines would cover about 90 per cent of such travel by May 31.

"We are over 95 per cent e-ticketing-enabled and on approach to rid the industry of the costly inconvenience of outdated paper tickets. Interline travel is about 10 per cent of the total business and we expect interline e-ticketing agreements to cover about 90 per cent of interline travel by May 31," IATA Communication Manager (APAC) Albert Tjoeng told PTI.

While travelling between two destinations when a person changes airlines on the way, it is referred to as interline travel.

International Air Transport Association (IATA) feels only one per cent of travel would be affected by lack of interline agreements.

Yesterday, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), had sought government`s intervention to stop the enforcement of 100 per cent e-ticketing from June 1.

TAAI President C Venkateshwara Prasad had sought deferment of the deadline, saying interline travel would take a hit as airlines globally, and India`s national carrier, Air India, were not 100 per cent e-ticket-enabled.

India`s e-ticketing penetration was 95 per cent in April and was approaching 100 per cent, the IATA spokesperson said, adding that the large majority of travellers in India have not had any problem with the use of e-tickets.

rakeshmalik · #**1862** 26th May 2008, 09:09 AM

SEBI asked to freeze Questnet`s Rs 150 cr investment

Chennai, May 24: Chennai police has written to SEBI asking it to conduct an inquiry and freeze purported investment of multi-level marketing company Questnet enterprises India in the stock markets.

The action followed after over 17,000 investors filed complaints of cheating against the company.

City Police Commissioner G Nanchil Kumaran told reporters here today that investigations into the company's investments revealed that the company had invested about Rs 150 crore in the stock market.

Following this, city police has written to SEBI to conduct an inquiry into Questnet's investments and freeze the same, he said, adding, steps were being taken to get the extradition of company owner Vijay Easwaran, who is presently either in Hong Kong or Malaysia.

He said steps would also be taken to freeze the mutual fund investment of Rs 50 crore made by Questnet in Deutsche Bank.

"We have already seized assets worth Rs 47 crore and steps are on to freeze assets owned by the company in Hyderabad and Mumbai." The arrested company managing director Pushpam Appallam Naidu has been booked under Goonda’s Act, he said.

Police raided Questnet's office here and arrested seven employees, including its managing director last month after several investors lodged complaints with police, stating that the company had defrauded people to the tune of crores of rupees.

rakeshmalik · #**1863** 26th May 2008, 09:21 AM

Banks to blame for sub-prime crisis: Buffett

Madrid, May 25: Blame for the sub-prime crisis lies at the feet of banks who took too many risks in mortgage lending, US billionaire investor Warren Buffett told newspaper El Pais in an interview published on Sunday.

"The banks exposed themselves too much, they took on too much risk.... It's their fault. There's no need to blame anyone else," he said.

Buffett, dubbed the world's richest person by Forbes magazine, said he believed the situation in financial markets would not deteriorate further.

"I don't think the situation will get worse in financial markets. General conditions in the business world will get worse, but it will only last a while," he said, adding he had no idea when an upturn would come.

Buffett gave the interview on a recent visit to Madrid, as part of a European tour including Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Spain on the look out for new investments.

He said the idea of the trip was to increase awareness amongst European businesses of his holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which holds stakes in businesses ranging from American Express Co to Coca-Cola Co.

He said he wanted business owners to think of him when they were looking to sell.

"We want to buy big companies that earn at least 50 million euros (USD 78.6 million) before taxes, and there's more of those in Europe than in other parts of the world," he said.

He would not be drawn on what companies in particular he was looking at, other than saying he was not interested in distressed businesses.

rakeshmalik · #**1864** 26th May 2008, 02:38 PM

Bajaj Auto lists at Rs 945 on BSE

Mumbai, May 26: Rahul Bajaj led-Bajaj Auto on Monday listed at Rs 945 while Bajaj Finserv at Rs 700 on the Bombay Stock Exchange following the demerger of Bajaj Group last year.

The scrip of Bajaj Auto opened at Rs 945, which was also its intra-day high, while the shares of Bajaj Finserv opened at Rs 700 and rallied further to touch a high of Rs 999 in the early morning trade on the BSE.

Similar movements were witnessed on the National Stock Exchange where Bajaj Auto scrip opened at Rs 898 while Bajaj Finserv opened at Rs 600.

The scrip of Bajaj Auto was later trading at Rs 653.80 on the BSE and at Rs 661.70 on the NSE. While the shares of Bajaj Finserv were trading at Rs 599 on the BSE and Rs 597 on the NSE at 1030 hrs.

Over 17.87 lakh shares of Bajaj Auto and 11.79 lakh shares of Bajaj Finserv changed hands on both the bourses.

Last year, the Bajaj Group was demerged into three separate entities -- Bajaj Auto Ltd, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Holdings and Investment Ltd.

While Bajaj Holdings & Investment Ltd would administer the two and three wheeler manufacturing business, Bajaj Finserv Ltd would be responsible for the company's financial services business including insurance and auto finance.

Further, for 2007-08, Bajaj Auto Board has declared a dividend of 200 per cent at the rate of Rs 20 on shares with a face value of Rs 10, while Bajaj Finserv has declared a dividend of 20 per cent on shares which have a face value of Rs 5.

rakeshmalik · #**1865** 26th May 2008, 02:45 PM

Eicher Motors approves JV with Volvo

Mumbai, May 26: Commercial vehicle manufacturer Eicher Motors on Monday said its board has approved the draft agreement to form a joint venture with Swedish truck major AB Volvo.

The board of directors has approved the draft of definitive agreement with AB Volvo to carry on commercial vehicles business through EML's step down subsidiary Eicher Motors India Ltd, Eicher Motors Ltd (EML) said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Earlier, the company had announced that the combined entity would have an equity value of 768 million dollars and the joint venture is expected to start operations by July this year. The Indian partner will hold a 54.4 per cent stake in the joint venture.

Further, the board has authorised Siddharta Lal, EML managing director, for execution of the aforesaid agreement.

The JV would focus mainly on distribution of commercial vehicles in India and overseas markets, where the partners have interest like research and development and manufacturing.

Besides, the partners are also mulling to get into the financial services business through the joint venture.

The shares of Eicher Motors were trading at Rs 327 at the BSE, up 2.11 per cent from the previous close.

rakeshmalik · #**1866** 26th May 2008, 03:22 PM

RCom close to acquire Vanco

New Delhi, May 26: Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Communications is likely to emerge a front runner to acquire UK-based Global Virtual Network Operator Vanco, a move that would bring under Indian company's fold a virtual network in various parts of the world.

According to sources in the know, the negotiations are in the last stage and the deal could be closed by the end of this week.

Although the final price of the deal is not known, at its peak the market cap of Vanco stood at 800 million dollars.

Virtual network operators are companies, which lease infrastructure and bandwith from others but provide and manage the communication needs of their clients.

According to sources, 12 international players are in the fray including AT&T, BT, T-System, NTT and private equity firms like Platinium and Oakley.

Vanco has over 750 million dollars worth long-term contracts from its customers.

Reliance Communication is offering CDMA and GSM services in India and is the only player who has been offering the services on both platforms.

rakeshmalik · #**1867** 26th May 2008, 06:19 PM

RIM expresses inability to hand over `master key` to govt

New Delhi, May 26: Blackberry vendor Research-In- Motion (RIM) on Monday said it cannot hand over the message encryption key to the government as its security structure does not allow any 'third party' or even the company to read the information transferred over its network.

"The Blackberry security architecture for enterprise customers is purposefully designed to exclude the capability for rim or any third party to read encrypted information under any circumstances," the company said in a statement.

The Department of Telecom (DOT) and the security agencies had asked the Canadian company to provide the master key to it so that it can access the contents transferred over the handheld device.

Assuring lakhs of customers, who were concerned over the fate of Blackberry services, RIM said, "We regret any concern prompted by incorrect speculation or rumours and wish to assure customers that rim is committed to continue serving security-conscious business in the Indian market."

The Blackberry issue came into the open earlier this year when DoT asked Tata Teleservices to delay its launch till security mechanisms are in place.

DoT is understood to have proposed an interim solution through which all data between blackberry users are stored on the servers of the telcos for a year.

But the talks between the government and RIM have not produced any solution to the monitoring problem so far. Blackberry data traffic is at present not accessible by Indian security agencies.

DoT has been demanding RIM to set up servers in India so that its traffic could be monitored by the security agencies, a demand RIM has not agreed to so far.

rakeshmalik · #**1868** 26th May 2008, 06:22 PM

Security deposit for LPG hiked

New Delhi, May 26: State-run oil marketing companies on Monday raised the security deposit for new cooking gas (LPG) connections to Rs 1,250 from the existing Rs 850 per cylinder, as also the price of cylinder regulator due to increase in input costs.

The hike comes in the wake of increase in prices of input items such as steel. The regulator would now cost Rs 150 against Rs 100 per piece earlier, official sources said.

Indian Oil sells cooking gas under the brand name 'Indane', Bharat Petroleum under 'Bharat Gas' and Hindustan Petroleum 'HP Gas'.

rakeshmalik · #**1869** 27th May 2008, 08:10 AM

Solo deal struck at Rs 3,950 in firm trend on cotton market

KARACHI (May 27 2008): Dullness prevailed on the cotton market on Monday as buyers were conspicuous by their absence, apparently because of higher trend in the prices, experts said. The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) official spot rate was inert at Rs 3600, dealers said.

According to the market sources, a number of buyers were interested in fresh deals but they preferred to stay on sidelines due to upward trend. In the meantime, timely rain in the cotton growing areas may help in achieving the target for the new season, which is likely to stabilise the prices in the local market, they said.

But it is expected that the fine type prices my go up sharply as exporters are likely to take interest in preparation of contamination-free products to win competitive world markets, they added. A deal of 1000 bales from Harapa was reported at Rs 3950, they said.

================================================== =========
The KCA Official Spot Rate for Local Dealings in Pak Rupees
-----------------------------------------------------------
FOR BASE GRADE 3 STAPLE LENGTH 1-1/32"
MICRONAIRE VALUE BETWEEN 3.8 TO 4.9 NCL
================================================== =========
Rate Ex-Gin Upcountry Spot Rate Ex-Karachi
for Price Sales Tax @ 15%
================================================== =========
37.32 Kgs 3600.00 50 3650.00
-----------------------------------------------------------
Equivalent
-----------------------------------------------------------
40 Kgs 3858.00 50 3908.00
================================================== =========

rakeshmalik · #**1870** 27th May 2008, 08:22 AM

Petrol prices may be hiked by Rs 17

New Delhi, May 26: The government is believed to be considering decontrolling petrol prices, a move that may see rates being hiked by Rs 16-17 a litre, but diesel will continue to be sold at a subsidised price.

The relentless rise in international oil prices that last week touched an all-time high of 135 dollars a barrel has forced the government to mull options to save state-run firms, which expect a revenue loss of Rs 200,000 crore this fiscal on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.

"One of the options being considered is deregulating petrol prices," an official said. "The country`s preferred auto fuel diesel will, however, continue to be subsidised even though a marginal Rs 2-3 a litre hike in prices may be announced."

Petrol is currently being sold at a loss of Rs 16.34 a litre and diesel at Rs 23.49 per litre.

Deregulating petrol price would mean that its prices would move in tandem with international prices.

He said the move is being considered after Finance Ministry declined Petroleum Ministry`s request for lowering customs duty on crude oil to zero from 5 per cent and that on petrol and diesel to 2.5 per cent from current 7.5 per cent.

Oil Ministry had also asked for lowering of excise duty on the two fuels but Finance Ministry is not obliging.

Petrol has negligible impact on inflation and so even if it is deregulated it would not contribute the 3-and-half year high inflation rate of over 8 per cent, he said.

Diesel on the other hand is used by transport industry and replicating the same for the fuel would have cascading effect on inflation.

However, deregulating petrol would lower the revenue losses by just Rs 20,000 crore. Half of the current estimates are on account of diesel rates.

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