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  <title>Ahmedabad.com</title>
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  <modified>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</modified>
<entry>
  <title><![CDATA[More steps on cards to ease inflation: Govt]]></title>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.ahmedabad.com/blogs/post/index/1392/More-steps-on-cards-to-ease-inflation-Govt"/>
  <issued>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</issued>
  <modified>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</modified>
  <id>tag:www.ahmedabad.com,2008-05-09:/archives/1/1392</id>
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  <![CDATA[A day after banning futures trade in four food commodities and persuading steel producers to slash prices, the government on Thursday said more measures were in the offing to curb inflation, which should ease in 8 weeks.

&quot;Government is not helpless and has means to ensure prices are brought down. More measures - both administrative and fiscal - are in the offing to control inflation,&quot; Minister of State for Industry Ashwani Kumar said.

He said iron ore, steel and cement would continue to remain under the government scanner.

He said a series of calibrated measures would ensure that inflation is brought down by at least one percentage point in the next two months.

Prices of wheat, rice and edible oils have already come down between March 1 and May 6, Kumar said. Wheat prices have declined by 1.6 per cent, wheat by 9.1 per cent and edible oil by over 18 per cent, he said.

The government on Wednesday suspended futures trading in gram, refined soya, potato and rubber for four months - a move aimed at arresting speculation-driven price rise to cool inflation that is over 7.5 per cent now.

Besides, steel producers announced cut in prices by up to Rs 4,000 a ton after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday.
	
Courtesy : FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM]]>
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<entry>
  <title><![CDATA[Citi mulls up to $400 billion asset sales: Source]]></title>
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  <issued>2008-05-09T11:59:36+00:00</issued>
  <modified>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</modified>
  <id>tag:www.ahmedabad.com,2008-05-09:/archives/1/1391</id>
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  <![CDATA[Citigroup Inc will present as much as $400 billion of &quot;non-core&quot; assets that can be sold by the bank when it meets investors and analysts on Friday, a person familiar with the situation said.

Newly-installed Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, scrambling to slash costs and assets hard hit by the credit crunch, also intends to reaffirm his promise to cut annual expenses by around a fifth, the source said on Thursday.

Citigroup declined to comment.

Since taking over in December from Charles Prince, who resigned under pressure after years of disappointing results, Pandit has presided over a bank reporting $15 billion of losses, one that raised more than $40 billion of new capital and cut its dividend by 41 percent.

Pandit has faced demands from investors to slash costs, shed poorly performing businesses and even split up the largest US bank.

Yet in a four-hour presentation to analysts and investors on Friday, Pandit and other top executives are expected to fend off calls for a break-up, instead touting Citi's combination of consumer and institutional businesses.

Citi's balance sheet currently weighs in at more than $2.2 trillion, though much of that comprises businesses and trading positions outside its key businesses: commercial, consumer and investment banking.

Actual asset and business sales will take place over a period of years, according to the Financial Times which first reported the asset sales scope on its website on Thursday.

Pandit already has sold the bank's stake in CitiStreet benefits servicing venture, commercial leasing business CitiCapital and the Diners Club charge card business.

The Wall Street Journal this week reported Citi may sell Primerica, a consumer sales network for life insurance and investments.

Another highlight of the meeting will be plans to slash as much as $15 billion off operating expenses. Last Year, Citi's costs totalled more than $61 billion.

The bank has announced 13,200 job cuts in 2008, though analyst ..]]>
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<entry>
  <title><![CDATA[UBI Q4 net jumps two fold to Rs 521 cr]]></title>
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  <issued>2008-05-08T11:29:55+00:00</issued>
  <modified>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</modified>
  <id>tag:www.ahmedabad.com,2008-05-09:/archives/1/1390</id>
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  <![CDATA[Union Bank of India on Wednesday announced a net profit of Rs 521.13 crore for the quarter ended March 31, an over two fold increase from the corresponding period last year.

The bank had reported a net profit of Rs 228.58 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, the bank said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Total income of the bank increased to Rs 2,913.10 crore for the fourth quarter this fiscal from Rs 2,336.72 crore a year ago.

For the year ended March 31, the bank reported a net profit of Rs 1,387.03 crore as against Rs 845.39 crore in the last fiscal and its total income grew to Rs 10,534.27 crore to the same period against Rs 8,068.72 crore last year.

Shares of the bank were trading at Rs 175.80, up 2.06 per cent on BSE in the afternoon trade.
	
Courtesy : FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM]]>
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<entry>
  <title><![CDATA[India's debt at 41.7% of GDP in FY08]]></title>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.ahmedabad.com/blogs/post/index/1389/Indias-debt-at-417-of-GDP-in-FY08"/>
  <issued>2008-05-08T11:19:42+00:00</issued>
  <modified>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</modified>
  <id>tag:www.ahmedabad.com,2008-05-09:/archives/1/1389</id>
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  <![CDATA[ India's total debt was estimated at 19.57 trillion rupees or 41.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the fiscal year ended March, a junior finance minister said on Tuesday.

In a written reply to parliament, Pawan Kumar Bansal said the internal debt of the federal government was estimated at 18.44 trillion rupees while external debt was at 1.13 trillion rupees at the end of 2007/08.

&quot;While the internal and external debt of government has been increasing in absolute terms, as a percentage of GDP, it has gone down from 43.1 percent in 2003/04 to 41.7 percent in 2007/08,&quot; he said.

India's GDP, which is estimated to have grown by 8.7 percent in 2007/08, has crossed the $1 trillion mark.

Bansal said external debt rose to 2.4 percent of GDP in 2007/08 from 1.7 percent in 2003/04, while internal debt declined to 39.3 percent from 41.4 percent during the same period.

The federal government has to borrow large amount from domestic and overseas sources to fund its budget deficits as its spending continues to outpace revenue receipts.

&quot;The government has been following a comprehensive strategy to moderate growth in public debt through a policy of fiscal rectitude, recourse to sources of lower cost of borrowings, debt restructuring measures, pursuing appropriate tax policies that result in higher tax-GDP ratio, in order to facilitate the process of fiscal consolidation,&quot; Bansal said. 

Courtesy : FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM]]>
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<entry>
  <title><![CDATA[L&amp;T bags Rs 344-cr order from PGCIL]]></title>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.ahmedabad.com/blogs/post/index/1388/LT-bags-Rs-344cr-order-from-PGCIL"/>
  <issued>2008-05-05T15:30:53+00:00</issued>
  <modified>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</modified>
  <id>tag:www.ahmedabad.com,2008-05-09:/archives/1/1388</id>
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  <![CDATA[Engineering firm Larsen and Toubro Ltd has bagged orders worth Rs 344 crore from Power Grid Corporation of India for construction related works.

L&amp;T secured the order for construction of 755 km of transmission lines associated with Western Region System Strengthening Scheme-II expected to be completed in 30 months, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The project would be executed by L&amp;T's engineering construction and contracts division and would involve survey fabrication and supply of towers and erection of 400 kv direct current transmission lines from Bhadrawati - Umarkhand – Parli &amp; Raipur - Sakoli - Wardha in Maharashtra.

Shares of the company were trading at Rs 3,239, up 3.12 per cent on the BSE in morning trade.
	
Courtesy : FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM]]>
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<entry>
  <title><![CDATA[India close to clinching ASEAN free trade deal]]></title>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.ahmedabad.com/blogs/post/index/1387/India-close-to-clinching-ASEAN-free-trade-deal"/>
  <issued>2008-05-05T15:28:33+00:00</issued>
  <modified>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</modified>
  <id>tag:www.ahmedabad.com,2008-05-09:/archives/1/1387</id>
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  <![CDATA[India is close to clinching a free trade deal with Southeast Asian nations, spurred on by a bleak global economic outlook and rising food prices, Trade Minister Kamal Neth said on Saturday.

&quot;We are on the last mile and in the final stage of conclusion,&quot; Kamal Nath said after meeting his counterparts from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the the resort island of Bali.

&quot;We hope it could be concluded in the next three months -- there is no major obstacle,&quot; he said, adding that a dispute with Indonesia over palm oil would be resolved.

Indonesia, the world's top palm oil producer, has been insisting on having wider access to India's palm oil market as a condition of removing its opposition to a free trade agreement with India, according to media reports.

&quot;We are going to resolve that, because with the world food situation and the global economic outlook in the United States and Europe which is bleak, it's therefore even more important for regional integration,&quot; Nath said.

The issue of rocketing rice prices and food security has overshadowed the meeting of ASEAN economic ministers, which aims to deepen regional economic integration and spur long-delayed world trade talks.

Nath said India's bumper rice harvest this year would boost supply and he sought to defend the country's move to curb rice exports, which has been blamed for contributing to soaring global rice prices.

&quot;We have a very large domestic population -- we have banned exports of the certain type of rice but we have allowed exports of other types,&quot; he said.

&quot;The region's rice-growing countries must look at increasing productivity and having better storage and less wastage.&quot;

Turning to the domestic Economy, he conceded it would be a tough battle to tame inflation as food and energy costs soar.

&quot;We hope that we will be able to contain inflation, but inflation is a major challenge,&quot; he said, adding that the authorities have to curb money supply while trea ..]]>
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<entry>
  <title><![CDATA[Birds of India - A Photogallery]]></title>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.ahmedabad.com/blogs/post/index/1386/Birds-of-India--A-Photogallery"/>
  <issued>2008-05-05T10:38:20+00:00</issued>
  <modified>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</modified>
  <id>tag:www.ahmedabad.com,2008-05-09:/archives/1/1386</id>
  <content type="text/html" mode="escaped" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.ahmedabad.com/blogs">
  <![CDATA[Gujarat is known as a bird lovers paradise. It is a haven for migratory birds. 
I have started a blog showcasing some of the amazing birds that I have been able to photograph.

You can find images of birds in flight, birds feeding, preening of just doing their thing at
http://umangdutt.blogspot.com or you could also check out my photogallery at
www.flickr.com/photos/snapflickr.

Both these sites have some amazing pictures along with details of the birds including scientifc names and other details.

Check them out and please feel free to leave your comments / suggestions.

Happy birding ! <img src="http://www.ahmedabad.com/blogs/smilies/icon_lol.gif" alt="icon_lol" /> ]]>
  </content>
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    <name>umang dutt</name>
    <url>http://www.ahmedabad.com/blogs/profile.php?id=341</url>
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</entry>
<entry>
  <title><![CDATA[Industry must 'introspect' on prices: CII]]></title>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.ahmedabad.com/blogs/post/index/1385/Industry-must-introspect-on-prices-CII"/>
  <issued>2008-05-02T10:36:56+00:00</issued>
  <modified>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</modified>
  <id>tag:www.ahmedabad.com,2008-05-09:/archives/1/1385</id>
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  <![CDATA[Responding to charges of cartelisation against the industry, newly-elected CII President K V Kamath on Thursday said corporates must ask themselves whether their actions in a demand-driven market was causing distress to others.

&quot;The government is sending a clear signal. We have to respond,&quot; he said when asked to comment on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's veiled warning against cartelisation.

Kamath said his predecessor Sunil Bharti Mittal has already said that CII abhors cartelisation. &quot;That's our response.&quot;

However, industry must respond to the call given by the government to join it in the fight against inflation, he said at CII press conference o Thursday.

The Prime Minister, while addressing the CII annual session on Wednesday, had said that the industry, &quot;particularly in sectors characterised by significant market power in the hands of a few producers have a societal obligation to assist the government in moderating inflationary expectations&quot;.

Few sectors like cement and steel are facing charges of forming cartels to make profits from high demand. Steel prices have gone up by close to 50 per cent in the last 12 months forcing the government to take several administrative and fiscal measures to rein in prices.

Responding to the Prime Minister suggestion of sober compensation for the industry leaders, Kamath said sharp wage increase was responsible for corporate lifestyles. He said the increase in salaries, particularly of white collar personnel, would not be sustainable if India has to maintain its competitive advantage.

&quot;We cannot have 12-15 per cent wage inflation. This has happened because we have not been able to create enough skilled workforce.&quot;

Kamath said the industry has to take this message, which will increasingly come under the corporate governance norms.

High salaries of CEOs has become a subject of debate and it is for the second time in a year that the Prime Minister has touched upon the issue.
	
Courtesy : FINANCIALEXP ..]]>
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<entry>
  <title><![CDATA[Oil prices rise above $115 on Fed cut]]></title>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.ahmedabad.com/blogs/post/index/1384/Oil-prices-rise-above-115-on-Fed-cut"/>
  <issued>2008-05-02T10:32:35+00:00</issued>
  <modified>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</modified>
  <id>tag:www.ahmedabad.com,2008-05-09:/archives/1/1384</id>
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  <![CDATA[ World oil prices on Thursday rose by over one dollar in Asian trading, dealers said, after previous sharp falls overnight in response to a bigger-than-expected rise in US crude reserves.

In morning trade, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for June delivery surged 1.57 dollars to 115.03 dollars per barrel from 113.46 dollars at the close of floor trading during US hours on Tuesday.

At current levels, New York oil prices are down nearly five dollars from the record trading high of 119.93 dollars struck on Monday.

The latest price surge may be short-lived if the dollar continues to recover against the major currencies and worries over energy demand flare up again, dealers said.

&quot;I imagine anyone who is bullish is looking at this opportunity to buy but I expect it to be short-lived,&quot; said Rowan Menzies, head of research at investment firm Commodity Warrants Australia.

&quot;I think the dollar will firm and people will start getting more and more concerned about demand,&quot; he said. The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut the fed funds rate by a further quarter-point, as expected, to 2.0 per cent.

The US central bank also decided to lower the discount rate it charges banks by 25 basis points to 2.25 per cent.

The dollar was generally stable after the widely expected rate cut.

The US currency fell to a record low of 1.6019 to the euro on April 22 but has since recovered, changing hands at around 1.5634 in Asian trading on Thursday.

Courtesy : FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM]]>
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<entry>
  <title><![CDATA[Air India executive wins libel case against UK newspaper]]></title>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.ahmedabad.com/blogs/post/index/1383/Air-India-executive-wins-libel-case-against-UK-newspaper"/>
  <issued>2008-05-01T09:43:53+00:00</issued>
  <modified>2008-05-09T12:02:32+00:00</modified>
  <id>tag:www.ahmedabad.com,2008-05-09:/archives/1/1383</id>
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  <![CDATA[ A senior Air India executive has won a libel case against a British eveninger over false accusations that he sexually harassed a female colleague and was a 'serial sex pest'.

Captain Ashwini Kumar Sharma, an army captain and former aide-de-camp to the Indian president who is now an executive director of the airline at its Mumbai headquarters, has been awarded 85,000 pounds in damages and 500,000 pounds in cost.

However, the High Court judge granted a &quot;stay&quot; on payment, pending a possible application by the newspaper for permission to appeal.

Hailing the verdict Capt Sharma said, &quot;I am delighted to have been totally vindicated. There was not a shred of truth in any of the allegations made against me. This is exactly what I said on the day the article was published.&quot;

&quot;I am extremely grateful to my legal team and to the jury and the justice process in this country,&quot; he said.

During the eight-day trial, Capt Sharma, who was the Regional Director of Air India in charge of UK and Ireland, said: &quot;the grossly defamatory and fundamentally false&quot; front page article in The Evening Standard headlined Sex Shame of Airline Chief, damaged both his reputation and health.

His lawyer Ian Winter told the court, the August 2006 article led to his client being shunned in Britain, where he had wanted to make his home with his wife and two grown-up children.

&quot;In short, his world fell apart. He was unable to sleep or eat properly and fell into depression. In the following six months, he lost 10 kilograms in weight and was prescribed Diazepam (Valium) for anxiety and insomnia,&quot; Winter told the court.

The article appeared shortly before the end of Capt Sharma's four-year tenure in London.

Police told Sharma, that a female ground services employee had made a complaint against him, but an investigation saw no charges brought, Winter told the court.

Yet The Evening Standard article inferred he was guilty of harassment of such seriousness that it led to his dismiss ..]]>
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