The Indian Economy - Page 34

India's software companies are keen to diversify. This year has been painful proof of the problems of overexposure to the world financial industry. Outsourcers have seen their profits plunge because often more than 60% of their revenues come from the from the troubled financial industry. Japanese companies have been reluctant to use foreign companies. Still, some are slowly starting to experiment with sending information-technology work to India. Wipro engineers in India, for example, are helping design car-navigation systems and medical scanners. Infosys is designing software, and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. is designing the on-board systems for some cars. Japanese investment chose India's Tata Consultancy to build its international automated trading system. Tata had more experience in building this kind of software than its Japanese competitors, and charged half of what they were asking. There were concerns about using an Indian company, but we saw what they are already doing and that gave us confidence, says Masaji Harada. To survive, we must become more international. V. Sriram, the Tokyo-based head of Infosys' Japan business, says he started to look for customers in Japan in 1997 but there was little interest then. It wasn't until the past five years when Japanese companies noticed their competitors using Indian firms that some started to consider outsourcing projects. During the last fiscal year Infosys had sales of $88 million in Japan. It is expanding its Japan team this year even as it cuts back at home. Japan's interest in outsourcing is part global trend and part local demographics. As its population ages, it isn't producing enough computer engineers to keep up with demand. More than three million Japanese are expected to retire from the service sector alone by 2020, according to India's Nasscom, a software-industry lobbying group in India. The shortage is already so acute that Japanese businesses had to deal with what they dubbed the 2007 Cobol Problem, when a large batch of older engineers who programmed in the Cobol computer language which many Japanese companies still use for their internal systems retired. They are short of engineers for technology work, says Girija Pande, executive vice president in charge of the Asia/Pacific business at Tata Consultancy. They have to look to India. In pursuit of Japanese clients, Indian companies put their engineers through Japanese-language and business-culture courses. They also send their Japanese employees to India to learn how business is done there. While the language barrier is one of the reasons the outsourcing business isn't bigger, Indian companies say the biggest barrier is corporate culture in Japan. It can be difficult to persuade companies to trust part of their business to others, especially when that company's model is to do most of the work half way around the globe. Japanese companies also expect perfection, the Indian firms say, even if that takes time. The Indian software model, meanwhile, leans more toward delivering software quickly, testing it and fixing it along the way. They want absolute completion and absolute robust reliability,says Mr. Sriram of Infosys.

File photo of Indian actress Aishwarya Rai arriving for the opening ceremony of the 62nd International film festival in Cannes, May 13, 2009.

Aishwarya has taken ill and is down with chest infection and flu like symptoms. She had a high fever yesterday, but is settling down today, he posted on his blog from Singapore. It's worrying to be so far away from children and not be there to look after them. Yes, they are mature and married and responsible, but children will always remain children, he added. Ms. Aishwarya is married to Mr. Bachchan's son Abhishek. The 66-year-old veteran is in Singapore to look after his friend and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, who underwent medical treatment there. I stay back till he (Amar Singh) is sound enough to travel back, he wrote. Apparently Mr. Bachchan also is suffering from a strained back.

After shunning Afghanistan during the Taliban regime, India has become a major donor and new friend to the country's democratic government even if its growing presence here riles archrival Pakistan. From wells and toilets to power plants and satellite transmitters, India is seeding Afghanistan with a vast array of projects. The $1.2 billion in pledged assistance includes projects both vital to Afghanistan's economy, such as a completed road link to Iran's border, and symbolic of its democratic aspirations, such as the construction of a new parliament building in Kabul. The Indian government is also paying to bring scores of bureaucrats to India, as it cultivates a new generation of Afghan officialdom. India's aid has elevated it to Afghanistan's top tier of donors. In terms of pledged donations through 2013, India now ranks fifth behind the U.S., U.K., Japan and Canada, according to the Afghanistan government.

Afghanistan is now the second largest recipient of Indian aid after Bhutan. We are here for the same reason the U.S. and others are here to see a stable democratic, multiethnic Afghanistan, Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Jayant Prasad said.

Yet India's largess has stirred concern in Pakistan, a country that has seen its influence in Afghanistan wane following the collapse of the Taliban regime. India is seeding Afghanistan with a vast array of projects such as a completed road link to Iran's border and the construction of a new parliament building in Kabul. A view of the city, above.

The two countries have sparred repeatedly about each other's activities in Afghanistan. Indian officials say their Pakistan counterparts have claimed that there are more than the official four Indian consulates in Afghanistan, which support an extensive Indian spy network. For years, Pakistan refused to allow overland shipment of fortified wheat biscuits from India to feed two million Afghan schoolchildren. India instead had to ship the biscuits through Iran, driving up costs for the program. The World Food Program, which administers the shipments, said the Pakistan government gave its approval for overland shipment in 2008 six years after the first delivery from India. Mr. Basit didn't respond to a question about the Indian food assistance. India's aid has extended well beyond physical infrastructure to the training of accountants and economists. For a nation devastated by decades of war, these soft skills fill a hole, says Noorullah Delawari, Afghanistan's former central-bank governor and now head to Afghanistan Investment Support Agency, an organization that promotes private enterprise. The country shut down for 20 years, he said. We stopped producing educated people to run our businesses and government offices, he added. The aid efforts appear to be delivering diplomatic dividends far above what other countries are getting for their money in Afghanistan. A public opinion survey found that 24% believed Afghanistan had good relations with India. That compared with 19% for the U.S., 8% and 5% for Pakistan. India's warm ties with Afghanistan represent a break from the recent past. Under the Taliban regime, India cut ties to Afghanistan and backed the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. Pakistan supported the Taliban and some Indian analysts suspect the government has been slow to abandon its old allies at India's expense. What makes Afghanistan important to India is Pakistan, says Raghav Sharma, a researcher at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in New Delhi. Elements in Pakistan still see the Taliban as useful. Indian and U.S. officials blame Pakistan intelligence agents for orchestrating last year's bombing outside its embassy in Kabul, which killed at least 41. Mr. Basit, the foreign ministry spokesman, calls the charge absurd. In spite of these tensions, some believe there is room for cooperation between India and Pakistan in Afghanistan since both countries share an abiding interest in its stability. The opportunity is there, says Gen. Karamat, if we can get out of the straitjacket of the past.

Jaswant Singh, a BJP parliamentarian who previously headed India's defense, foreign and finance ministries, was booted from his party on Wednesday at the start of a three-day meeting. The conference was aimed at hashing out differences within the party, but when Mr. Singh appeared in Shimla to attend the meeting he was turned away at the hotel gates. I am saddened because I was among the first lot of members of the BJP, Mr. Singh told reporters. I think I have served the party to the best of my ability for the past 30 years. Mr. Singh, a 71-year-old party veteran, will continue to serve in Parliament, but won't be allowed to hold positions on any party committees or be a BJP office bearer, according to BJP president Rajnath Singh. The inner-party fracas reflects a much broader reality in India: the debate over who should be blamed for partition is still very relevant, and the wounds of the resulting communal riots still very fresh. Mr. Singh's expulsion has also brought unwelcome attention to BJP infighting. History has continued to weigh on and divide the party, even as it attempts to reach out to a younger generation of voters. At the meeting, BJP leaders remained adamant about the expulsion. I had issued a statement yesterday that the party fully dissociates itself with the contents of the book, Rajnath Singh told reporters gathered outside the hotel where party leaders were meeting to try and understand why they suffered heavy losses to the Congress party in May's parliamentary elections. Today I put up the matter before the parliamentary board, which decided to end his primary membership. So, he has been expelled. The offending book, entitled Jinnah India, Partition, Independence, questions the demonization of Pakistan's founder, Mr. Jinnah. The Muslim leader is often blamed by Indian nationalists for the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. But in his book, Mr. Singh is critical of India's founding father and first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, as well as the Congress party, saying that the two tragically assented to pressure from the British as well as the leadership and acumen of Mr. Jinnah. In a move to hold together its right-wing coalition, the party released a statement yesterday criticizing Mr. Jinnah's role in the partition of British India into majority Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. The partition led to a lot of dislocation and destabilization of millions of people, the BJP statement said, and was a part of history that they cannot wish away.

U.S. files case against 26/11 attackers: FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has told a Mumbai court that a case has been registered in the US regarding the 26/11 terror attacks, in which six Americans were killed. FBI has interrogated Pakistani nationals in connection with 26/11 attacks, an FBI agent told the Mumbai court, but he declined to reveal their names.

India conscious of Chinese presence in Indian Ocean region

India is conscious of the Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean region and is taking adequate measures to make sure that its neighbourhood is not threatened, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said. China being a regional power will make its moves and if we sense a threat to our internal security we will do some counter measures, he told on the sidelines of homeland security seminar.

Mercedes-Benz launches special edition in India

Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz India today launched its special edition C-Class priced between Rs 28.46 lakh and Rs 31.30 lakh ex-showroom Delhi in both petrol and diesel variants in the country. The company plans to produce only 60 units of this special edition vehicle in order to maintain exclusivity.

New challenges put reforms on ice in India

Rising food prices and a possible drought. Swine flu and a damaging corporate war. Even a diplomatic setback with rivals Pakistan. Three months into office, India's ruling coalition is besieged by a slew of crises, undercutting the momentum from a resounding election victory and making it harder to carry through bold promises of policy change and economic reforms.

Now, mutual funds switching to sell-mode

With markets remaining patchy due to concerns about poor monsoon and the strength of the global recovery, mutual funds MFs are slowly moving to the sell-mode. MFs have net sold equity worth Rs 756.7 crore in this month, data with SEBI shows. The volatility in markets has hurt performance with returns from diversified equity funds slipping in August. Only 23 out of the 280-odd equity MFs have managed to post gains in the month. The gainers too managed to deliver only single digit returns.

HAL to supply for Sukhoi fighters to Russia

The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd HAL will supply components to Russia for its Sukhoi range of combat jets for export to third countries, even as India's premier aviation giant prepares to roll out the first fully indigenous Su-30MKI multi-role fighter next year. India and Russia are expected to sign an inter- governmental agreement on supply on components by the end of this year.

BJP discusses usage of Hindutva as core issue

In a dilemma over usage of Hindutva as the core issue, Bharatiya Janata Party BJP's top leadership discussed the importance of ideology for the party on the second day of their three-day Chintan Baithak brainstorming introspective deliberations here. Against the backof the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha Lower House of Indian Parliament polls, the BJP leaders discussed at a Chintan Baithak as to what extent its ideology, particularly with regard to Hindutva, should be practised to boost its electoral prospects.

As the sun dips below the horizon, roll call begins at a boxing club in southeast Kolkata.

Standing tall, soldier-style in three lines, are 47 students some as young as 8 years old, a few as old as 23 who hold their positions in front of an outdoor boxing ring at the Khidderpore School of Physical Culture, a community sports center. Some girls in Kolkata, India, are casting off traditional gender roles and lacing up boxing gloves, they're punching for gold and to secure a better life.

Several are clad in identical athletic shorts and tanks; others wear faded T-shirts and knee-length shorts. As they stand in formation, they look past the yellow ropes of the ring, past the grill that fences the complex, past the open dirt field and crumbling construction at a park, where the neighborhood kids are laughing, screaming and playing cricket and catch. They look past the squalor. As a trainer eyeballs the lines, an assistant calls the students by their assigned numbers. Number 20, yells the assistant. Present, sir, responds a soft voice from the second line. The trainer, Sheikh Nasimuddin Ahmed, calls number 20, a 16-year-old girl named Sughra Fatma, to the front. Grabbing her ear firmly with a twist, the 31-year-old man berates her for snickering during roll call, and reiterates the importance of discipline. As punishment, Ms. Fatma must do a dozen squats. Everyone watches. Here, Ms. Fatma is one of the boys. She looks like them: Her hair is cropped short; she's lithe, has calves of steel and walks as if she's bouncing on springs. In the ring, she even spars with them. And if she makes a mistake, she's punished like them. Sughra Fatma shadowboxes during a warm-up at the Khidderpore School of Physical Culture.

Outside the club, however, Ms. Fatma's life is different. About 13 million people live in the predominantly city of Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta. Roughly a fifth of them are Muslim, according to the latest census in 2001. In Khidderpore, a mostly Muslim neighborhood near the Hooghly river where Ms. Fatma lives, many homes are mere shacks that each house seven to 10 family members. It isn't the poorest part of town, but it's decidedly poor. Ms. Fatma's father works as a crane operator in the port area, but his health is failing and there isn't much work these days anyway. Her mother tutors sometimes to earn a little extra pocket money. After boxing workouts that last from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day but Sunday, Ms. Fatma heads home where she freshens up, finishes leftover school work and then helps her sisters cook dinner a few pieces of beef in a curry and some bread at their family home, a tiny place that houses her parents, a brother and three sisters. After dinner she sleeps with her sisters on the floor; her parents and brother share an old wooden bed. As it is for many of the kids at the boxing club, life is hard. For girls unlike boys who have a few more options it's practically scripted: They stay home, help their mothers, and get married so they aren't a burden to their families anymore. Girls like Ms. Fatma, who dream of a better life with more options and opportunity, join the Khidderpore boxing club because it offers a potential way out.

The Khidderpore sports center's head coach Sheikh Mehradjuddin Ahmed

Boxing is one of several avenues that have opened up to poor Muslim women across a modernizing India, including careers with nonprofit organizations and in teaching. It reflects the changing role of women within their own communities, particularly in the past decade, says Sabiha Hussain, an associate professor who studies women's issues at Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi. They find boxing as a way of coming out from conservativeness. They have very limited role poor Muslim women in the public sphere. So these women, these boxers, they find a way to come out and this is an outlet for them to fight poverty, Ms. Hussain says. Sports in general, she says, are a good way for Muslim girls to achieve fame and break away from gender stereotypes. In sports, they are captured by the media. If they are in a simple thing small business they are not visible. It's a question about visibility. Everybody knows Sania Mirza, the world-class Indian tennis player who is Muslim, Ms. Hussain adds. Khidderpore community center, young Muslim women are liberated by the boxing ring, though few have yet achieved national standing. In sports, boys and girls are equal. Everybody is the same, says Ms. Fatma, who trains at the boxing club with her twin, Zainab, and her younger sister Bushra, 14. Sometimes there are as many as 14 other girls who work out with the Fatma sisters. An older Fatma sister, Ainal, now 23, used to train with them but quit two years ago following her marriage. Girls who compete and do well consistently at the national level might be able to parlay their success into a college education or a spot on a sports team and a job with the Indian railway or police force. That means a subsidized canteen, boxing trainers and facilities and a pension. But to join the boxing club, the girls have to overcome many obstacles, including lack of money and a hidebound Muslim community.

We are uplifting women, says D. Chandralal, national chief coach for youth women boxers, who has been coaching females since 2001. But, he adds, for girls to get to a competitive level, they need encouragement and financial support from their communities. They have to break all the barriers.

Just getting dressed for afternoon practices takes a bit of derring-do. Most of the girls are modest dressers: a salwar kameez, a traditional Indian outfit of a loose-fitting tunic over pants, to school; at home, track pants and a shirt. The first time Sir the coach said I would have to wear shorts, I felt ashamed because I had never worn anything like that, says Ms. Fatma. When Ms. Fatma and her sisters picked up the sport two years ago, some of the neighbors looked down on what they were doing, and made the girls father aware of their disapproval. But Ms. Fatma says, My father would tell them, I have allowed them to box because there is a life in boxing and I want them to become somebody. I think it's very good that the girls are interested in boxing, says Mohammed Kashif Raza, a 15-year-old boy who trains at the Khidderpore boxing club. They come from Muslim families and are not rich. They're poor. Their future is in sports only. In Khidderpore, Muslims are more traditional than conservative. A handful of women wear a burqa, the head-to-toe loose outer garment that has only a small opening for the eyes. Many older women wear a hijab, a head cover. But teenagers and young girls typically wear a salwar kameez with no head scarf. They go to school; a few go on to university. And some women own small businesses, perhaps doing sewing, or work as maids or as managers of grocery stores. Even so, gender roles remain strictly defined. Young girls slog through domestic chores, cook and clean for several family members and work odd jobs, such as operating private phone booths and helping customers at grocery stores, to supplement the household income, all while studying in school. By their teens, they're usually married off considered an essential achievement because then they will have someone to take care of them to men who are sometimes much older, in unions arranged by their parents.

Boys have more opportunities. They rarely do domestic work, though they often help their fathers earn money doing tailoring, mechanical work or selling items at nearby markets. When they become teenagers, they're expected to get jobs, get married and have children, or pursue a university education if their parents can afford it. Razia Shabnam knows the score. A decade or so ago, the 31-year-old Khidderpore native quietly swapped her salwar kameez for a pair of boxing shorts and gloves. Neighbors were afraid that their daughters would follow suit. When I used to go to the club, people would come to me in the road and try to stop me from boxing, she says. They made snide comments to pressure her father to keep her away from the game of punches, blows and knockouts, deemed fit only for men. But her father ignored them and gave Ms. Shabnam his blessing. After a short two-year stint as an amateur national boxer from 1997 to 1999, she became India's first woman international boxing referee and judge. The problem is people think that it's an injurious game, especially for girls, says Ms. Shabnam. If they break their noses and mar their faces, they can't get married. Ms. Shabnam, now married to a Muslim man who is supportive of her coaching career, is famous in the neighborhood as a boxing queen and has inspired many poor Muslim girls in the area who hope to get more control over their destinies and also gain respect from the community. The head coach of the Khidderpore boxing club, Sheikh Mehrajuddin Ahmed, 42, the brother of Ms. Fatma's trainer, introduced the boxing program for women at Khidderpore in 1998. He has coached 36 girls in the past 11 years, and has seen them overcome stigma and break traditional stereotypes. In the past decade, nine girls from the Khidderpore club have gone on to compete in national championships, and one has competed at an international championship. They've brought home gold, silver and bronze medals. A lot of Muslim households object to girls leaving the house to practice. But if the girl succeeds in becoming a good boxer and gets a good job, then all these problems disappear and the girls will be financially independent, says Coach Ahmed, who is also secretary of the Bengal Amateur Boxing Federation. No one at his club has succeeded in such feats so far. Even Ms. Shabnam, the amateur national boxer who became an international referee, has yet to parlay her success into a coaching job that actually pays. To cover her day-to-day expenses, Ms. Shabnam teaches physical-fitness classes at home, which earns her about 4,000 rupees, or $80, a month, roughly the same as a domestic helper or a driver makes in Kolkata.

Simmi Parveen throws a punch during practice.

Then there's Mary Kom. When she was 18, Ms. Kom, who is Christian, started boxing at a local community center in her home state of Manipur in northeastern India. Two years later, in 2002, she won her first of four gold medals at the the International Boxing Association's World Women's Championships. These days, Ms. Kom, now 26, who is an inspector for the Manipur police but trains full-time for boxing tournaments, has set her sights on the Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam at the end of the year. It is very difficult (for women) to get a job in boxing, says Ms. Kom, who is set to receive the highest honor for athletes in India, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. But if you win official tournaments Olympic tournaments, world championships, gold, silver or bronze government agencies like the police or the railway will approach you for a job and to be on their sports teams. At that level of competition, there's money, too. For Ms. Kom's last medal, in 2008, she received a cash award of about $20,500 from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. If a boxer wins a gold medal at the Olympics, the ministry gives him or her about $100,000. Medals won at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, or World Cup Championships come with a cash prize from the ministry of between $6,200 and $20,500. Girls like Simmi Parveen, 12, dream of being the next Mary Kom. This is an addiction for me. I will achieve something, says Ms. Parveen, the youngest girl at the Khidderpore club. When I'm somebody I wouldn't have to go and look for a partner. Suitors will come themselves to talk to my brother and father for my hand. That's why I want to stand on my own feet and do something. Ms. Parveen is lucky. Her family is supportive of her boxing. Now that many of her older siblings have started to work, the family's quality of life has improved in recent years. Her eldest brother, Mohammad Qutubuddin Khan, 30, who takes care of the household, graduated from college. I got a lot of inspiration from Aligarh Muslim University, where I found girls pursuing their education. So I feel that there should be no discrimination between my sisters and brother. They are all equal. Let them pursue their education and what they want to be, says Mr. Khan. But not all the girls have a brother like Mr. Khan, who can afford to buy the basic supplies needed for practice: proper running shoes, workout clothes and protective mouthpieces. At the Khidderpore School of Physical Culture, apart from the five-year-old outdoor boxing ring completed after a one-time club member, Mohammed Ali Qamar, became the first Indian national to clinch a boxing gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2002, everything looks like it's falling apart. There isn't enough equipment to go around. The club has 12 boxing gloves for 150 boys and girls. It costs about 40 U.S. cents for students under 17 and about 60 cents for those 18 and over to join the boxing club. Some students come without proper shoes, and after two hours of nonstop running, bag and pad punching, and sparring, they head home. Dinner is often a few pieces of baked bread and a bowl of dal, a lentil stew. If they're lucky, they get small chunks of meat or a glass of milk. Boxing, in the end, offers no guarantee of riches. Ms. Shabnam has spent the past 12 years of her life boxing, coaching, refereeing or judging and yet, she says, I'm sad that I did so many things but still I depend on my husband. Still, the girls at the Khidderpore boxing club are hopeful it will improve their lot. In the ring, Ms. Fatma hunkers close to a young man about a head taller. He paces forward and throws a couple of punches toward her left cheek. She manages to swerve to the side, swinging her right arm to his face and left fist toward his chest. They dance on stage, throwing definitive swipes, each trying to outlast the other. It's a game of agility, strength and stamina. Time will tell how long Ms. Fatma, and girls like her, will continue to fight on without more financial support from the local community. I've dreamt of competing at the national and international levels and even at the Olympics. But for this, one needs (equipment and better facilities), which I lack, says Ms. Fatma. Sometimes I wonder whether or not my dreams will come true. The sky is almost pitch black now it's nearing 7 p.m. and home beckons. But the girls at the Khidderpore school take no notice. They're busy bouncing, sliding on the illuminated pearly white ring outside the Khidderpore sports center. They listen attentively to their coach, Mr. Ahmed. He instructs them to circle him and to forcefully pound the punching pads attached to his palms.

Lately, the Indian government's borrowing has become a headache for the country's central bank. Soon, the debt may be a bigger pain for New Delhi itself. It's the Reserve Bank of India's job to ensure the $2.5 billion worth of bonds the government issues weekly, to fund its ambitious spending plans, doesn't overwhelm credit markets pushing interest rates higher, crowding out private investment, and nipping India's nascent economic recovery in the bud. It does this by buying already outstanding bonds from investors some $7.5 billion worth since April to free up capital for banks and others to invest in the newer bonds. But it won't be long before India's central bankers shift their focus to fighting inflation, and ease up on this buying. That'll put Delhi in a fix, pushing interest rates higher, raising the cost of servicing the debt, and pressuring the government to cut spending or risk widening an already-yawning fiscal deficit. The latter could unsettle ratings agencies and cost India its investment-grade rating status. It's a situation made worse by the government's already rosy assumptions about tax receipts. Since the government's tax collections are likely to be lower than it expects, it will either have to borrow even more, or spend less. Which means it's not going to be easy for the government to fund its deficit when RBI turns to focus on inflation, says Ramya Suryanarayanan. Cutting expenditure is politically unpalatable for a government that rode to power on a social spending platform. Borrowing more means finding willing buyers and paying even higher yields. Even with the RBI on its side, the borrowing's already become more expensive. The 10-year government bond is yielding 7.23%, around 200 basis points higher than at the start of the year, and a recent auction failed as investors sought even higher returns.Kotak Institutional Securities forecasts the 10-year bond yield to rise to 7.50% by March, and 9% a year later. The weather could make matters worse on both ends, with a drought pushing the government to borrow more than the $92 billion already slated for the current fiscal year, and as food prices climb simultaneously raising pressure on the RBI to start tightening sooner rather than later. Already investors in the government bond market are jittery trading volumes there have plunged. Surely, they won't be alone in their nervousness for long.

Big fish must not escape punishment: PM

Asking CBI and state anti- corruption officials to aggressively pursue high level corruption, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the perception that big fish escape punishment must change and they should act swiftly and without fear. Opening a conference of CBI and state anti-corruption bureaux here, he said there was no single remedy for fighting corruption which has to be combated at many levels, one of which was making existing systems less discretionary.

HCL Tech joins hands with New Zealand-based firm

Software exporter HCL Technologies today said it has partnered New Zealand-based Optimation for providing innovative and flexible software solutions. The company has signed a partnership agreement with IT firm Optimation to offer software solutions to the New Zealand Government and enterprise customers, HCL Technologies said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

India to unveil its foreign trade policy tomorrow

India will on Thursday unveil its foreign trade policy that is expected to eliminate or refund taxes and offer cheaper bank credit to recession-battered exporters, besides encouraging them to look beyond. The policy will outline the government's priorities over the next five years for resurrecting the sector that contracted by over 31% in the April-June quarter.

OilMin may file defamation suit against RNRL

The Petroleum Ministry is mulling filing a defamation suit against an Anil Ambani Group firm for persisting with false claims pertaining to government revenues from Reliance Industries KG-D6 fields. The ministry is contemplating seeking law ministry view on slapping the suit on RNRL over a claim that government share from KG-D6 initially will be just Rs 500 crore, while RIL will earn a super-normal profit of Rs 49,500 crore.

Raje defies Rajnath, holds meeting of party MLAs

Defying BJP President Rajnath Singh's warning not to indulge in a show of strength, senior party leader Vasundhara Raje chaired the meeting of the BJP's legislature party as Leader of Opposition. Singh warned her against doing so but Raje called a meeting of the party MLAs to discuss issues to be taken up in the assembly session

India's national space agency says all communication links with the country's only satellite orbiting the moon have snapped and they are unable to send commands to the spacecraft. The Indian Space Research Organization says radio contacts with Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft were abruptly lost early. Space agency said that the organization's monitoring unit near the southern city of Bangalore is no longer receiving data from the spacecraft nor is the satellite accepting commands. The launch of Chandrayaan-1 in October 2008 put India in an elite club of countries with moon missions.

India's leading opposition party, still reeling from its loss in parliamentary elections, is riven by infighting, leaving the government without a powerful opposition as it takes on economic reform and national security. Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has been divided since its resounding defeat in the May elections. Like many political parties absorbing a setback, the BJP has engaged in soul-searching, finger-pointing and shaking up its leadership. But profound divisions persist, threatening to cleave the BJP into one faction that wants to pursue the vision of a secular national party, and another that wants to go back to the BJP's Hindu nationalist roots. The latest upheaval came in the mountain town of Shimla, where BJP leaders gathered last week to brainstorm how to burnish the party's image. Instead, they expelled a party stalwart for including flattering comments about Pakistan's founder in his book. Recriminations and intense media coverage of the political fallout followed. BJP leaders, explaining the expulsion, warned the party will brook no dissent. We will stick to the political ideology on the basis of which the party was founded and will continue to do so in future,BJP President Rajnath Singh said after the Shimla meeting. The divisions have raised questions about the BJP's fate and its ability to continue to be a government watchdog. India's parliament is weighing national security and the economy issues that would normally play to the strengths of the right-of-center pro-business BJP. But these days, the party appears too enfeebled to fight. The BJP legislature party performed quite well in recent debates, said Mahesh Rangarajan. But now they are in crisis a crisis of confidence in leadership.

The crisis comes at an urgent time for India. Economic growth slid to around 6% this year from 9% in recent years, and since June a drought has hit nearly half of the nation. Looking ahead, many wonder who if not the BJP will hold a microscope to the nation's new $210 billion budget, a 16% increase from a year earlier. The Indian National Congress party, led by the Gandhi family, has proposed big spending increases on job creation and social-welfare programs, such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Typically, said S. Chandrasekharan, the BJP would certainly raise questions about how the money is being disbursed, and whether it's reaching the right people. Some analysts question whether the BJP can maintain a united stand on other issues, such as national security and ties with rival Pakistan. The public is still angry over numerous security lapses that led to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which killed at least 170. The lapses sparked criticism of the Congress party-led government before the parliamentary elections. The BJP has opposed talks with Pakistan until its neighbor brings those allegedly involved in the attacks to justice, compared with the Congress party's position of opening talks if Pakistan shows sufficient progress in its own investigation. Many of the BJP tensions stem from the party's poor showing in the parliamentary elections. The BJP, which was founded in 1980, won only 116 parliamentary seats compared with 206 for its main rival, the Congress party, which easily formed a new government. What followed was a search for scapegoats. The BJP's more conservative members blamed the lack of ideological discipline and clear vision for the party; moderates complained the party excluded non-Hindus. The ideological flashpoint for the BJP has been the political party's relationship to its parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a religious and cultural organization with conservative stands on social issues. The recent expulsion of one of the party's leaders, Jaswant Singh, showed the continued sway of ideological hard-liners within the BJP. Mr. Singh, a 71-year-old parliamentarian from West Bengal who has headed key Indian ministries, wrote a book about Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founder, that irked many in the party because he questioned India's demonization of the Muslim leader. Mr. Singh learned of his dismissal from the party by telephone at the Shimla meeting, where he held forth at a tearful news conference about his decades of loyalty to the party.

India has had just over 1,000 confirmed cases of swine flu so far that's roughly one case per every million people in the nation. And despite the fact that there are doubtless many unconfirmed cases as well, public health officials are suggesting that the nation's worry over the disease is disproportionate to the threat. The country confirmed its first swine flu death. schools were closed and people rushed to get tested and buy face masks, which rose in price from 5 rupees (10 cents) to 150 rupees ($3). The total number of people swine flu has killed worldwide is lower than the number of Indians who die in a single day from tuberculosis and diarrhea-related diseases. India itself has had 23 confirmed deaths from swine flu (aka H1N1 flu). The amount of frenzy or hysteria is totally disproportionate to the overall reality of the disease, a public health official told. There do seem to be some parallels with what happened in this country earlier this year, though the rate of confirmed cases and deaths was higher here. As a WHO official told there's a basic human tendency to worry too much about things like swine flu: People intuitively overestimate the risk of rare events and underestimate the risk of common events, he said.

India's light combat aircraft to phase out Russian jets

India will begin deploying its first locally made supersonic combat aircraft next year and gradually phase out its ageing fleet of Russian fighters. Five Light Combat Aircraft LCA costing about $31 million each have already been manufactured by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited HAL and undergoing trials, while eight more will be ready by mid-2010.

Global energy majors flock to roadshows on oil blocks auction

More than two dozen global energy majors, including Exxon Mobil and Conoco Philips of the US, UK's BP Plc and BG Group and French giant Total, lined up at roadshows in Houston and Calgary to promote India's largest ever auction of oil and gas exploration blocks under NELP. Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada, who led the roadshows in the US and Canada, said the roadshows for 70 blocks offered in NELP-VIII and 10 coal bed methane blocks received overwhelming response from investors.

Food, Water, Energy Shortages Threaten India Security

India's future is threatened by shortages of food, water and energy and these should be addressed on a priority basis, the Prime Minister's security adviser said. These are part of a broad national security plan, and defense is only one aspect of it, Shekhar Dutt, India's deputy national security adviser, said in New Delhi yesterday. We think water is going to be a very severe determinant of prosperity and well-being.

Satyam was India Inc's biggest fraud, it won't be the last

If it is a fraud to conceal fraud, consider this a sincere effort to shed some light. With 697 cases of fraud filed under the Companies Act and 70 complaints logged in with Indian Penal Code, corporate India is under a cloud. The slowdown has only turned the canter to a trot, with more and more cases of fraud being reported as companies tighten their purse strings and resort to cutting costs.

Govt to invite bids for three mega road projects by yr-end

The government will invite bids by this year-end for three mega projects worth around Rs 14,500 crore in the road sector, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said. We will invite bids for three mega projects by the end of this year, we are looking at mega projects in which each project for building 500 km of road will be worth $1 billion,Nath told on the sidelines of the SIAM annual convention here.

Jaswant moves SC challenging Gujarat govt ban on his book

Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party BJP leader Jaswant Singh moved the Supreme Court of India challenging the Gujarat government's ban on his book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah Singh, along with a representative of Rupa and Co, publisher of the book Jinnah India, Partition, Independence, filed a petition in the apex court against the ban imposed by the Narendra Modi government on August 19, two days after the book's launch.

After SRK episode, Salman cancels his US trip

Learning lessons from Shah Rukh Khan episode, Bollywood star Salman Khan has cancelled his upcoming trip to New York to promote his latest movie Wanted, besides participating in the auction of his personal paintings to raise funds for his charity. Organisers and promoters associated with the event cited Shah Rukh Khan's episode at Newark Airport early this month, where he was questioned by immigration officials and taken for a second screening, as a major reason for Salman to cancel his New York trip scheduled in early September. The event was scheduled for September 3 in New York.

Kasab trial: Key 26/11 witness reported missing

A key witness in the 26/11 attacks case who had deposed against accused Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed at the trial failed to appear before the court on Friday with the prosecution saying that he was missing. The witness, Nurudin Shaikh, told the court that the accused Faheem and Sabauddin had met him in Nepal and in his presence they discussed about the maps of some locations in Mumbai, which were later targeted by militants during the November 26 attacks last year.

RCom partners China Telecom for terrestial cable link

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications today said it has partnered China Telecom for launching the first direct terrestrial cable link between India and China.

The cross-border cable would provide telecommunications connectivity between India, China, Hong Kong and Far East Asia and has been laid between Siliguri (India) and Yadong (China) via Nathula Pass, RComs said in a statement.

Source: Press Trust of India

India Inc raises USD 2 billion in July

Overseas borrowings by India Inc increased marginally to USD 2 billion in July against USD 1.9 billion during the previous month. The total overseas loans raised by over 40 companies through external commercial borrowings ECB and foreign currency convertible bond FCCB moved up from USD 1.94 billion in June to USD 2 billion in July, according to the ECB data, released by the RBI.

Alstom plans metro rail coach facility in Sri City

French transportation major Alstom is planning to set up a metro rail coach factory near Chennai. Alstom is looking to put up the facility at the upcoming industrial township, Sri City, some 40 km north of Chennai, within the borders of Andhra Pradesh.

Ambani dispute hurts markets, says Pranab

The ongoing spat between the Ambani brothers over the pricing of natural gas will negatively impact domestic capital markets and the larger interests of industry and government, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said. Speaking at an Idea Exchange programme organised Mukherjee said the controversy between Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd RIL and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group ADAG has also been unfortunate for the larger interests of the economy.

USE in talks with BoA, Goldman, StanChart

United Stock Exchange of India Ltd USE is in talks with Bank of America BoA Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered Bank Plc. StanChart to sell stakes in the bourse, said its managing director and chief executive officer T.S. Narayanasami. We are informally in talks with them, Narayanasami said. We hope to finalize our shareholding pattern by 10 September.

Global auto cos bet on small car market here

Global car makers such as Volkswagen, Toyota, Nissan and Ford are rushing with new launches in the compact car segment to increase their presence in India, which is widely considered to be the world's fastest-growing automobile market. The compact car segment the category above the entry-level hatchback which accounts for more than three-fourths of India's total car sales, is the fastest-growing segment at 20-25% annually.

Govt to ban Chinese telecom products near borders?

In view of intelligence reports on threat to national security from terrorist attacks, the government is likely to restrict deployment of Chinese equipment by private service providers in border states and states facing Naxalite problems. The Department of Telecommunications DoT has called a meeting of Chief Executive Officers of telecom service providers with Telecom Secretary, Siddharth Behura.

KM Birla exits entertainment business

Kumar Mangalam Birla has pulled the plug on Applause Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, a movie and television software production company he promoted in April 2003. The closure of Applause Entertainment, personally funded by Birla, highlights the perils of the entertainment business

UPA's 100-day agenda lagging

With other economic ministries lagging behind on the UPA government's 100-day agenda, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Mumbai to announce the commissioning of ONGC's Rs 5,260 crore mega projects and a new Rs 6,325 crore project on Saturday has been cancelled. The government's 100 days end on August 29.

Their lordships agree: Assets public

Under pressure from within and outside the judiciary to declare their assets and wealth, judges of the Supreme Court today took a historic step by agreeing to make these details public via declarations on the court's website.This comes two days after Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan said that in the absence of a law to make public the disclosure of assets, a consensus had to be developed among judges in this regard.

Khanduri, Raje keep crisis pot boiling in BJP

The crisis-ridden BJP faced more problems on Wednesday, with former Uttarakhand chief minister B C Khanduri questioning his removal from the post and Vasundhara Raje, party leader in the Rajasthan assembly who has been refusing to quit her post, holding a fresh meeting of her supporters. In a letter reportedly sent to the BJP president before the chintan baithak introspection meeting last week, but which became public knowledge only on Wednesday, Khanduri is understood to have questioned the reason for his ouster despite the fact that he enjoyed the support of over two dozen of the party's 35 MLAs in the Uttarakhand assembly.

Delhi arrest casts light on Lashkar training operations

Late in the evening of May 30, 2006, Indian soldiers raided a Lashkar-e-Taiba safe-house on the outskirts of Tral in southern Kashmir. Hours later, after a fierce gun battle, two men in the house were killed. The Jammu and Kashmir police soon identified one of the two as local resident Asif Jamil. The other, dark skinned, his features distinct from those of ethnic Kashmiris, was at first assumed to be a Pakistan national.

India disappointed over Pak claim of Indian evidence on Saeed

India today expressed disappointment over Pakistan's continued claim that it was not being given evidence about involvement of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed in Mumbai terror attacks and said the material given to Islamabad was more than enough to arrest him. I was disappointed when I heard him Pakistan's Interior Minister Rahman Malik say that evidence was still not being presented to Pakistan and what is worse when he said we Islamabad are not responsible if something happens in the future, Home Minister P Chidambaram told here.

Congress party leader Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy greeting supporters after his swearing-in-ceremony as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh state in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, May 20, 2009.

Officials say a helicopter carrying a powerful Indian politician has disappeared in bad weather as it flew over a forested region infested with Maoist rebels. K. Roshaiah, finance minister of southern Andhra Pradesh state, says air force helicopters have rushed to the area to search for the aircraft carrying Y.S.R. Reddy, the 60-year-old chief minister of the state. He spoke to reporters Wednesday afternoon about six hours into the search, saying authorities had few clues. Our helicopters are still searching, says Ramakant Reddy. Mr. Roshaiah says the helicopter took off from Hyderabad, the state capital, and lost contact with air traffic controllers about 45 minutes into the flight.

Smoke billows from the chimneys of Badarpur power station in New Delhi. India said that per capita greenhouse emissions will be lower over the next two decades than global per capita emissions in 2005.

India is digging in against legally binding caps on carbon emissions, ahead of December's climate change talks with the U.S. and Europe in Copenhagen. The Indian government released a report that showed the country's per capita greenhouse-gas emissions the cause behind global warming will be lower over the next two decades than the global per capita emissions in 2005. These levels will also be lower than those of Western countries for about the same period. The findings aim to rebut concerns that India's quest to become a global economic power will transform it into a leading emitter of greenhouse-gasses. Still largely agrarian and poor, India has bristled at suggestions from industrialized countries, that it should do more to cap emissions even if it means curbing growth.

Still, the release of study also demonstrated India's eagerness to justify its pro-growth stance before it heads into global climate change talks. Indian officials have said the government remains focused on eliminating poverty through aggressive economic growth and industrialization. Jairam Ramesh, India's minister for environment and forests, has led India's fight against legally-binding caps. He's also opposed such caps for other developing countries. There is lot of commonality and cooperation when it comes to Copenhagen, Mr. Ramesh told at the release of the study. We want a fair and equitable agreement in Copenhagen. In December, countries meeting in Copenhagen will try to forge a pact on carbon emission reduction targets beyond 2012, when the existing international agreement expires. Mr. Ramesh said India won't be an obstacle to any accord. The Indian government has pledged that it won't allow per capita emissions to surpass the average per capita emissions of developed countries. By 2031, India's per capita emission of greenhouse gasses would stay under 4 tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent, four of the five studies in the report showed. That level is under the global per capita emissions of 4.22 tons in 2005, according to the report, which was compiled by five different research agencies, including the Energy and Resources Institute, a research group based in New Delhi.

The helicopter carrying a powerful south Indian politician that disappeared in heavy rains was found Thursday on a densely forested hilltop, an air force official said. It was not clear if there were any survivors.

Andhra Pradesh State Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy is seen during a meeting in Hyderabad.

Two army helicopters were circling the scene where the aircraft was found, but had not yet been able to find a place to land, said Air Commodore Sagar Bharti. The helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh state Chief Minister Y.S.R. Reddy, 60, lost contact with air traffic controllers Wednesday morning as heavy rains pelted the region. A massive search was quickly launched, focusing on a densely forested area infested with Maoist rebels about 170 miles 275 kilometers south of the capital, Hyderabad. The helicopter was eventually found in that area. It's not clear if there are any survivors, Mr. Bharti said, adding he could not say if the helicopter had crashed or if it had tried to land on the hilltop. The privately owned helicopter took off from Hyderabad, the state capital, and lost contact with air traffic controllers about 45 minutes into the flight Mr. Reddy, who was on an inspection tour of various rural social welfare programs, was accompanied by a bodyguard, two officials and a photographer. The rebels, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting for more than three decades in several Indian states, including Andhra Pradesh, demanding land and jobs for agricultural laborers and the poor. While the militants have a great deal of power in parts of rural India, they have little day-to-day control outside of isolated forests and villages. More than 6,500 people have been killed in the violence.

A powerful Indian politician and four other people were killed when their helicopter crashed in the dense jungles of southern India during a pounding rainstorm, the government announced.

Andhra Pradesh State Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy is seen during a meeting in Hyderabad.

The helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh state Chief Minister Y.S.R. Reddy lost contact with air traffic controllers Wednesday morning as heavy rains pelted the region, setting off a frantic 24-hour search operation involving the army, air force and police in an area infested with Maoist rebels. Commandoes and police finally reached the site of the crash after hacking through the jungles and found the bodies of all five people who had been on the aircraft, including 60-year-old Reddy. We are in deep mourning. We have a deep sense of grief, shock and loss at the passing away of the chief minister, and a tall leader of the Congress Party, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said. Rescue teams crossing dense jungle and hilly terrain on foot reached the crash site on a hill five miles eight kilometers from the nearest village and about 170 miles (275 kilometers) south of the state capital, Hyderabad. It is not possible to say why it crashed, Mr. Chidambaram said.The privately owned helicopter took off from Hyderabad and lost contact with air traffic controllers about 45 minutes into the flight. Mr. Reddy, who was surveying drought conditions in some of the remote parts of the state, was accompanied by a bodyguard, an aide and two pilots. Mr. Reddy, who belongs to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ruling Congress Party, won a second term in office in May elections. A devout Christian in Hindu-majority India, Mr. Reddy worked his way into the Congress leadership over the past three decades by taking up the cause of poor farmers and landless laborers. This is a huge loss for the Congress Party, said Jayanti Natarajan.