|
|
|
|
IMF chief warns of ‘Great Recession’
Satyam Saga
UN to terminate contract with Satyam
|
|
Idea to launch Blackberry service
KG Gas
Global M&A deals decline
35 per cent
|
|
IMF chief warns of ‘Great Recession’
Dar Es Salaam, March 10 ''The IMF expects global growth to slow below zero this year, the worst performance in most of our lifetimes,'' IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told African political and financial leaders in the Tanzanian capital. ''Continued deleveraging by world financial institutions, combined with a collapse in consumer and business confidence is depressing domestic demand across the globe, while world trade is falling at an alarming rate and commodity prices have tumbled,'' Strauss-Kahn added. As advanced countries focus on problems in their own economies, Strauss-Kahn called on the international community not to forget Africa, where regional growth is expected to slow sharply to 3 percent this year, half the rate of the past five years. That forecast may ''even be too optimistic'', he said. ''Even though the crisis has been slow in reaching Africa's shores, we all know it is coming and its impact will be severe,'' he said. ''We must ensure that the voices of the poor are heard. We must ensure that Africa is not left out,'' he added. The IMF chief warned that millions of people in Africa will be thrown back into poverty by the crisis, while fragile political systems will be tested. ''This is not only about protecting economic growth and household incomes - it is also about containing the threat of civil unrest, perhaps even war. It is about people and their futures,'' he added. He said the combined impact of economic and financial shocks on Africa's growth will be severe. Financial flows are becoming more scarce, trade financing even scarcer and more expensive and foreign investment in Africa's stock and bond markets has fallen, he added. Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete said the crisis posed the biggest threat to the region in recent history. ''So far, Africa's voice on this unnerving situation has been muted as witnessed in different global initiatives and processes, which have emerged to respond to the crisis,'' he told the 300 delegates at the conference. He said a meeting of the Group of 20 leaders in London on April 2 was an opportunity to send a clear message to the world on Africa's concerns about the crisis. The big challenge going forward he said was how to maintain and sustain the gains in economic stability in Sub-Saharan Africa. — Reuters |
|
Satyam Saga
Hyderabad, March 10 Armed with a court order, a multi-disciplinary investigation team of CBI, headed by its DIG V V Lakshmi Narayana, started quizzing the accused at the state-owned Dilkusha Guest House here. Following a local court order granting 7-day CBI custody, the accused were brought to the CBI’s camp office from Chanchalguda jail where they are presently lodged. A team of CBI officials went to the prison in the morning and brought the accused to the guest house. The designated court of CBI cases had yesterday allowed the CBI to take custody of Ramalinga Raju, his brother and former managing director B. Rama Raju, former chief financial officer V Srinivas and sacked PriceWaterhouse partners S Gopalakrishnan and T Srinivas. The investigation into the biggest scandal in the country’s corporate history was handed over to CBI last month, following pressure from the opposition parties who accused the Congress government of adopting soft approach towards Raju. The federal investigating agency will focus on how Ramalinga Raju manipulated the accounts for years without being noticed, the involvement of other company officials, diversion of Satyam funds to over 300 companies floated by him and his family members and purchase of lands and other property by the accused. There are allegations that Raju had diverted Satyam funds to real estate and infrastructure firms owned by his sons. The 16-member CBI team includes banking experts, chartered accountants and officials from SEBI, Registrar of Companies, Serious Fraud Investigation Office, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax.
|
|
UN to terminate contract with Satyam
Washington, March 10 The Fox News in an online report quoted a spokesman for the UN Secretariat as saying that "one direct contract it (UN Secretariat) had with Satyam is to be terminated". However, the report did not have details of the particular contract. Satyam has been in the doldrums following its founder B Ramalinga Raju's confession in January that he cooked company's account books and inflated profits for many years. "... in light of the developments with Satyam, the UN has also asked a little-known UN agency called the International Computer Centre, which has served as an intermediary in hiring Satyam indirectly, replace its contract with Satyam as soon as possible," the report published on Monday said. Earlier in January, the UN had suspended Satyam from the the Secretariat's vendor database and placed all ongoing contracts with the company under review. "Satyam has been suspended from the UN Secretariat vendor database. The information has been communicated to the UN procurement system and the UN Global Marketplace. "Ongoing contracts with Satyam are currently under assessment," UN Procurement Division's Integrated Support Service Chief Kiyohiro Mitsui had said. —
PTI |
|
Idea to launch Blackberry service
Chandigarh, March 10 Talking to TNS here today, Anish Roy, chief operating officer, Idea Cellular (Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir), said they were currently in the process of doing trials for the Blackberry and the data card. “The Blackberry will be launched in the next six weeks. Though we have not decided on the rates, it will be quite competitive,” he said. With a major chunk of subscribers being post-paid subscribers, Idea is hoping that they will be able to have a huge market for its Blackberry connections. Almost 35 per cent of the company’s subscribers are post-paid subscribers. Roy said ever since Spice had been taken over by Idea Cellular, they had managed to increase their subscriber base. “Our subscriber base has increased by almost 2.21 lakh in the past four months to reach the level of 23.68 lakh connections. In order to strengthen our position further, we have launched a number of innovative tariff plans, which have helped us increase our market share in this telecom circle,” he added. He said the company would focus on expanding its network, upgrade its technology, IT systems and call centers.
|
|
KG Gas
New Delhi, March 10 Reliance has offered liberal take-or-pay terms in the revised Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement that is being sent to nine fertiliser units this week for possible signing along with Gas Transportation Agreement this month. Sources said fertiliser units will necessarily have to pay for 90 per cent of the volumes allocated to them in a year even though they may not draw even a single cubic meter. But they will have the liberty to take the quantities not drawn, in the next year. Reliance would extend the five-year supply contract by three months to enable companies to draw the volumes they may not have taken previously. The company will refund money for volumes remaining even after this three-month period. — PTI
|
|
Global M&A deals decline
35 per cent
New Delhi, March 10 "Global M&A volume reached $384 billion via 5,227 deals in 2009 year-to-date (YTD), down 35 per cent from $591.7 billion via 7,662 deals in 2008 YTD," says global deal tracking firm Dealogic. There has also been a significant drop in large-sized deals of over $10 billion. "There have been nine deals valued over $10 billion announced in 2009 with the total volume of $183.7 billion, accounting for 48 per cent of volume in 2009 YTD compared with 21 per cent in 2008 YTD," it said. The United States has been ranked as the most targeted nation with total deals worth $165.8 billion, down 27 per cent from $227.8 billion in 2008 YTD. The US was followed by Germany with $33.6 billion, up almost four-fold from $9.1 billion, however the number of deals decreased from 279 in 2008 YTD to 250 in 2009 YTD. "German M&A volume is driven by the $13.6 billion acquisition of Commerzbak by Federal Republic of Germany, the fifth largest M&A deal globally, and the acquisition of Volkswagen by Porsche Automobil for $11.7 billion, the ninth largest M&A deal globally in 2009 YTD," Dealogic added. A sector-wise analysis shows that finance is the most targeted sector in 2009 YTD with deals worth $101.1 billion, followed by healthcare with $80.2 billion and utility and energy with $52.1 billion, the report said. It added that the volume of these top three sectors have increased more than 30 per cent in 2009 YTD compared to the same time last year. Citi leads the Global M&A advisory ranking in 2009 YTD with $125.5 billion, followed by JPMorgan with $122.3 billion and Morgan Stanley with $116.6 billion. —
PTI |
Malaysia unveils $16.2-b
stimulus plan Sodexo’s buyout PVR to invest Rs 100 cr Tata Motors pact Max New York Life in J&K O P Munjal awarded Central Bank CMD
|
|||||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
