International credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has given a ‘BBB’ rating to Reliance Industries’ latest move to raise funds in the United States to finance its shale gas activities in the country. Reliance plans to issue U.S. dollar denominated senior unsecured notes through its subsidiary Reliance Holding USA Inc, S&P said in a note. […]
The economic recession has impacted American consumer behavior — particularly their credit card, living, spending and saving habits, according to a survey in California by Citibank. In keeping with the recent uptick in consumer sentiment across the country, Californians too believe the conditions of both their own and the state’s finance will improve in the […]
Air Asia, credited with popularizing the low cost airline phenomenon in Asia announced special Rs 6,666 return tickets for its new flights from Chennai to Bangkok in Thailand. Tickets must be booked online at the company’s website between 9 to 14 February for travel during anyday between 23 March and 27 October 2012, it said. […]
Indian companies expect industrial growth, already slipping in the last 2-3 months, slow down further in the next six months, according to a pre-budget survey by the industry association FICCI. FICCI’s latest survey showed a fall in the overall business confidence index from 76.2 in the previous round to 63.8 in the current one. The […]
Nasscom, India’s national association of IT and BPO companies, has expressed worry over what it sees efforts to tap anti-outsourcing sentiment ahead of the US Presidential election next year. Nasscom’s comments came in the context of a bill in the US House of Representatives that seeks to make it mandatory for call centre employees to […]
The Internet now has 220 million (22 crore) domain names (web site addresses), according to the latest ‘Domain Name Industry Brief’ published by VeriSign, an online authentication and Internet services provider. That is about one domain for every 32 individuals on this planet, or about one for every six persons connected to the Internet. The […]
The government released the Review of the Economy 2010-11 that predicted a slower economic growth in the second half of the current year. Against 8.9% in the first half, it predicts full year growth to be around 8.6%, indicating a 8.3% growth during the second half. Agriculture expected to grow at 5.4% in 2010-11 and […]
India’s voracious appetite for gold — the biggest in the world — is threatening the health of its foreign trade balance, trade association Assocham said in a new report. It noted that India imported a whopping 33.8 billion dollars worth of gold last year in the year ended March last year — the biggest gold […]
Weeks after Environment minister Jairam Ramesh called for abolition of subsidy to gas-guzzling diesel cars, Sunita Narain’s Centre of Science & Environment has urged the government to introduce new taxes on diesel cars in the upcoming budget. India has low taxes on diesel to keep food prices down, but the policy has led to the […]
Hiring numbers in India bounced back to their ‘regular’ levels after setting off alarm bells with a steep dip in October, according to the Job Speak Index by Naukri.com. Hiring numbers had fallen more than expected in October as the usual festive lull in hiring combined with an overall cautious atmosphere in Indian economy to […]
Al Jazeera targets Indian market with Dish TV tie-up Al Jazeera, the news channel known as the voice of Middle East, has entered the Indian market through a tie-up with one of India’s biggest DTH platforms, Dish TV. The company had earlier announced its intention to beam its English language feed to the Indian market […]
The number of domestic air travelers dipped 5.3% in January to 49.4 lakhs, primarily due to the absence of festival and holiday travel witnessed in December 2010. However, Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines was the only domestic airline that did not see a decline in its occupancy level in January. It increased seat occupancy level from […]
Indians would end up buying five times as many media tablets this year as they did during the last, consultant and research firm Frost & Sullivan said. According to the firm, which conducts regular market surveys on products, Indians bought around 60,000 tablets in 2010. This year, however, that figure is likely to grow to […]
Worldwide spending on enterprise security software and services will grow 8.7% in 2012, technology market research firm Canalys said. The total enterprise market will be $22.9 billion in 2012, even smaller vendors such as Kaspersky Lab, Panda Security, F-Secure, ESET and AVG make gains in market share. “Smaller vendors are working to displace Symantec, McAfee […]
Reliance Industries Limited and BP announced BP taking a 30% stake in 23 oil and gas production sharing contracts that Reliance operates in India, including the producing KG D6 block, and the formation of a 50:50 joint venture between the two companies for the sourcing and marketing of gas in India. The joint venture will […]
The Centre for Science and Environment or CSE, the most vocal of India’s homegrown environmental organizations, has punched holes in a government move to set fuel efficiency and emission norms for cars. It accused the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), the Government body that came up with a draft proposal, of playing into the hands […]
Thanks to the combined effect of the festival season and overall caution about India’s slowing economic growth, hiring dipped to a year-low in October this year. According to the Job Speak Index compiled by India’s largest recruitment site Naukri.com, recruitment activity levels were at 921 points in October, a fall of 16% from hiring levels […]
India’s largest and oldest angel investor group, Indian Angel Network (IAN), has announced a program to fund 24 start ups in the mobile and Internet space with up to Rs 75 lakhs each. An ‘angel’ network is one that typically comes in even before the firm is in a position to seek venture capital. ‘Angels’ […]
Americans continued to buy more online during the September quarter despite the economic uncertainty and high unemployment rate, latest data from digital tracking agency comScore suggested. Total spending by American consumers online was $36.3 billion, up a healthy 13% compared to the same quarter of 2010. The growth, however, owed more to a higher acceptance […]
One of the world’s biggest trade unions, the Switzerland-based UNI Global Union has called the Indian government’s decision to allow foreign retail majors into the country a ‘sell out’. The Union, which has around 20 million (2 crore) members, said it is ‘appalled’ by the decision, particularly the lack of regulatory oversight, and will stand […]
