May 16: Rupee falls to all-time low

May 16: Rupee falls to all-time low

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee speaks at the BRICs finance ministers' news conference

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke about the sliding rupee at the Parliament today and said that the government is on top of the situation. He attributed the market slide to the Euro crisis and other international difficulties

He said that the government will be taking some austerity steps to convey that it is responding to the situation

"Concerned over slowdown in economic growth and government taking steps to address it," Pranab Mukherjee assured

A Greek Orthodox priest walks in front of the parliament in Athens' Syntagma (Constitution) square

Greece's political leaders meet on Wednesday to form a caretaker government to take it to a second election in just over a month, with its euro membership at stake and its president speaking of "fear that could develop into panic" at its banks

President Karolos Papoulias was forced to call a new vote after failing to cobble together a coalition government. An election on May 6 saw leftist opponents of Greece's EU/IMF bailout deprive the parties that ran the country for generations of a majority

Polls suggest the radical left are poised to win the re-run

That prospect has shaken faith in Greece's ability to remain in the single currency and stay solvent, sending the euro and European shares lower, and raising the bond yields that reflect the risk that other European countries will be hurt

Ajay Piramal is seen in Mumbai

Drugmaker Piramal Healthcare has agreed to buy a US-based healthcare data provider for Rs 3,440 crore ($635 million) to boost research and development, the company said on Wednesday, a month after it acquired the new molecules division of Germany's Bayer's

Mumbai-based Piramal has been looking to expand its R&D portfolio after it sold its formulations business to US-based Abbott Laboratories for $3.72 billion in 2010

The company aims to close the acquisition of Decision Resources Group (DRG), based in Burlington, Massachusetts, by the end of June 30. The unit, with a team of about 300 analysts, is expected to bring in revenues of $160 million in 2012

An investor holds literature explaining the Facebook stock after attending a show for Facebook Inc's IPO

Facebook Inc will increase the size of its initial public offering by 25 percent to raise about $15 billion, a source familiar with the matter said, as strong investor demand for a share of the No.1 social network trumped ongoing debate about the company's long-term potential to make money

Facebook, founded eight years ago by Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room, will add about 85 million shares to its IPO, floating about 422 million shares in an offering expected on Friday

The expanded size, coupled with Facebook's recently announced plans to raise the IPO price range, would make Facebook the third-largest initial share sale in U.S. history after Visa Inc and General Motors