India witnessed an increase in demand, but even then the growth in the manufacturing sector slowed to the lowest in three months because of bottlenecks like power cuts and raw material shortage, the HSBC purchasing managers&rsquo; index (PMI) showed on Monday.

Manufacturing PMI slides in March to lowest in 2011-12

Business Standard

India&rsquo;s trade deficit widened to a record $166.8 billion in the first 11 months of this financial year, as growth in exports slowed to a three-month low in February, owing to the fragile recovery in the global economy. Imports grew faster, due to high oil prices and gold &amp; coal imports.

Ballooning trade deficit may put more pressure on CAD 

The Justice M B Shah Commission of enquiry appointed by Government of India to probe illegal mining in states, is set to visit Orissa yet again later this month.

Shah Commission to visit Orissa again

The Orissa government has paid interest to the tune of Rs 20,694.50 crore during 2005-06 to 2011-12 on loans taken by it from Government of India (GoI) and other institutions as its debt burden has mounted to Rs 38,090.61 crore by the end of 2011-12.
&ldquo;The state government has paid interest of Rs 3,697.10 crore in 2005-06, Rs 3,188.43 crore in 2006-07, Rs 3,169.48 crore in 2007-08, Rs 2,889.81 crore in 2008-09, Rs 3,044.17 crore in 2009-10, Rs 3061.46 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 1,644.05

State pays Rs 20,694 cr interest on loans in last 7 yrs

The Orissa government has bagged the &lsquo;Gold Icon Award&rsquo; under the &lsquo;Best Government Portal&rsquo; category at the National Awards for e-governance for 2011-12, organized recently by the department of administrative reforms and public grievances under Government of India. The portal adopted by the Orissa government is based on Oracle Fusion Middleware including Oracle Webcenter and Oracle WebLogic server. &ldquo;I would like to congratulate the Orissa government for winning this coveted recognition and I am delighted that Oracle was able to support them in this endeavour,&rdquo; Bikram Bedi, Vice President, Oracle Fusion Middleware (Oracle India) said in a release.

Orissa govt portal bags Gold Icon award

Compensation structures of India Inc will increase by 11.2% on an average according to a study by Ma Foi Randstad. The Salary Survey Guide prediction for this year is lower than 2011 figure of 12.4% average increase.

India Inc compensation to rise by 11.2 %: study

In a first-of-its kind initiative, a bilateral agreement between India and Germany has led to a product launch in the home appliances segment. Godrej Appliances has launched Godrej EON Green Balance, range of five star air conditioners, which is an outcome of a bilateral treaty between both the countries.

Indo-German tie up gets a Godrej push

As a precautionary measure, the commodity markets regulator, the Forward Markets Commission (FMC), has suspended the launch of lean season contracts in soybean. This means, all soybean contracts scheduled to be launched for delivery until September would not be made available for hedging on the exchange platform.

FMC suspends launch of soybean contracts

Visakhapatnam Cooperative Bank (VCB) has achieved a 25 per cent growth in total business during the fiscal ending March 2012. The bank&rsquo;s total business increased to Rs 2,084 crore (deposits Rs 1,210.95 crore and advances Rs 873.96 crore) from Rs 1,686 crore (deposits Rs 972.69 crore and advances Rs 723.75 crore) in March 2011. &ldquo;We have been achieving around 40 per cent growth year-on-year during the last three years, but in 2011-12, the growth was hit because of the

Vizag co-op bank sees 25% growth in business

State-owned equipment maker BHEL reported a 14.6% increase in net profit at Rs 3,208 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2011. In the same quarter a year ago it was Rs 2,798 crore.

BHEL Q4 net jumps 14.6% to Rs 3,208 cr

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 332.47 crore (provisional) today, according to data released by BSE.

FIIs net buy Rs 332cr, DIIs net buy Rs 200cr

Amid high inflation woes, Indian housewives would have to shell out a few extra bucks for their daily milk requirement. Gujarat Milk Cooperative Federation Ltd (GCMMF), which owns Amul brand, is set to increase milk prices in the range of five-seven per cent for different category of milk anytime this month, informed top GCMMF official on Monday. The federation may invest Rs 3,000 crore towards capacity enhancement and new product development, a senior official informed.

Amul milk to get costlier by 5-7% 

Days before the crucial meeting of chief ministers on setting up of a National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), most non-Congress ruling states have demanded the decision be put on hold, arguing such an anti-terrorism organisation was against the federal structure.

Storm against NCTC builds up

State-run Coal India Ltd (CIL) has posted a one per cent growth in production to 435.84 million tonnes (mt) during the financial year 2011-12, as against 431.32 during the previous fiscal. It also comes out with a target for 464.1 mt in 2012-13. In absolute terms, the firm&rsquo;s production saw a rise of 4.52 mt over the corresponding period last year.

CIL posts minor growth in production

The upgraded version of Aakash tablet, which is supposed to be the world&rsquo;s lowest priced tablet computer, will be launched on a pilot basis in May, said Union telecom and information technology (IT) minister Kapil Sibal on Monday. &ldquo;Aakash version 2 will be a fabulous version. The processor would be 700 mhz. the life battery will be TR and uninterrupted. You will have a capacity increase.

Sibal sets May date for Aakash-II launch

The state government expects to implement recommendations given by the Hota committee, an expert panel constituted to suggest revenue enhancement measures, within three years.

Hota panel report to be implemented in three years

At least five Kingfisher Airlines flights out of Mumbai and Delhi were cancelled on Monday as a section of staff did not report for duty to demand immediate payment of salary and allowance backlog. As some pilots and other staff did not report for work to press for their demands, a meeting between the protestors and the airline's top management was urgently convened at a hotel in suburban Mumbai to resolve the situation.

Five Kingfisher flights cancelled 

This is despite the fact that the government has parked more than 80 per cent of its total investments of Rs 10,224.98 crore during 2005-06 to 2010-11 in the power sector.

Gridco, OPTCL post heavy losses in 2010-11

The first step towards strengthening the Bharatiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance for the crucial presidential election is being taken as Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, is scheduled to meet Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday morning. Although Jaitley is in Chennai to attend the marketing committee meeting of Board of Control for Cricket in India, senior leaders of the BJP confirmed he would also meet Jayalalithaa to discuss possible support of AIADMK for Presidential elections and the upcoming chief ministers meeting on NCTC.

Arun Jaitley to meet Jayalalithaa 

State-run power producer NTPC has added a record capacity of 2,820 Mw during the year 2011-12, surpassing its earlier record of 2,490 Mw during 2010-11. The company has a total capacity of 37,000 Mw now. During 2011-12, the company commissioned two units of 660Mw at Sipat (Chhattisgarh), 500 Mw units each at its power stations in Jhajjar (Haryana), Simhadri (Andhra Pradesh) and Vallur(Tamil nadu). With this addition, the company has also surpassed the 11th plan target of 9,220 Mw by achieving total capacity addition of 9,610 Mw.

NTPC adds 2,820 Mw in 2011-12

Global private equity firm Advent International will invest $105 million (Rs 512 crore) equity capital in Hyderabad-based Care Hospital, a multi-specialty hospital chain in south India.

BS Reporter