Britain advises tourists to adopt local dress in Goa
Panaji, March 9 (IANS) Britain has begun advising its nationals to "observe and respect local dress and customs" while visiting Goa.

In a travel advisory uploaded on the foreign Commonwealth office website in late February, female British citizens visiting Goa have been advised to: "Observe and respect local dress and customs and to take particular care," in view of a "series of high-profile incidents in Goa of alleged rape against foreign nationals, including Britons."

With ... Read More

Kerala may start sea plane service for tourists
Thiruvananthapuram, March 9 (IANS) Kerala may have a sea plane service to boost tourism if a study suggests that such a project is feasible, Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said Tuesday.

"The proposed project will become a reality only if the feasibility study looks into areas of pollution and whether inland water transport and fishing will be affected by the service," he said.

The minister was replying to a calling attention motion moved by Communist Party of ... Read More

Israeli drug dealer arrested in Goa
Panaji, March 9 (IANS) An Israeli drug dealer surrendered to the Goa police Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

Atala, alias Yaniv Banaim, a drug dealer operating in north Goa, was captured on spy camera speaking about his links to the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the state police which had triggered the suspension of five policemen, including a senior police inspector, last week.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ravinder Singh Yadav said he was detained and would be handed ... Read More

First generation woman entrepreneur of IPL merchandise
By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai, March 9 (IANS) She wanted to start a kennel for dogs in Gurgaon but changed her mind and is now selling merchandise of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), one of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket teams.

Thirty-year-old Gayathri Venugopalan, a first generation entrepreneur, is gung-ho about doing handsome business, selling CSK merchandise like key chains, binoculars, wallets, sports bottles, caps, T-shirts, mugs, fridge magnets, wrist bands, flag horns and other things with the ... Read More

Corporate honchos pledge to invest in Assam
Guwahati, March 9 (IANS) Leaders of corporate India Tuesday pledged to invest in Assam and explore opportunities for business in agriculture, tourism and rural infrastructure and setting up of power plants, IT parks and bio-diesel facilities.

"I would say my visit to Assam is a real eye opener. The potentials here are enormous. We are keen to aggresively participate in the agro-industry sector, mainly the tea industry, by adding value to the existing products," Ratan Tata, ... Read More

Ford launches small car Figo with four variants
New Delhi/Chennai, March 9 (IANS) The Indian arm of Ford Motor company Tuesday launched four variants of its small car Figo, priced aggressively to take on existing and emerging competition.

Ford has priced its entry level Figo petrol at Rs.3,50,000 and the diesel variant at Rs.4,48,000 which are cheaper than Hyundai Motors' i10 and Maruti Suzuki's Swift.

"We have kept our promise and priced all four Ford Figo models very competitively to emphasise Ford's commitment ... Read More

Sensex ends 108 points up, auto, bank stocks gain
Mumbai, March 8 (IANS) A benchmark index for Indian equities closed 108 points higher Monday, shedding some of its intra-day gains.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,034.92 points, closed at 17,102.6 points - 108.11 points or 0.64 percent higher than its previous close at 16,994.49 points.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was ruling at 5,124 points against the previous ... Read More

India proposes further stake cut in State Bank
New Delhi, March 8 (IANS) The government Monday moved a bill seeking parliament's nod to reduce its equity in the State Bank of India (SBI) to 51 percent by allowing the country's largest lending institution to raise money from the market.

The government currently holds 59.41-percent stake in the commercial bank and already has parliament's approval to bring down its stake to 55 percent.

The latest move will help the state-run bank raise more money ... Read More

Food inflation to fall in two months: Montek
New Delhi, March 8 (IANS) The deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Monday said that food inflation would fall in the next two months.

"I expect food and aggregate inflation to trend down over the next two months," Ahluwalia told reporters here.

India's annual food inflation rose to 17.87 percent for the week ended Feb 20. The government claims that prices have started easing and would fall further following a good winter crop. ... Read More

GDP to be Rs.61 lakh crore this fiscal, says Mukherjee
Kolkata, March 7 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee expects the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to be Rs.61 lakh crore in the current fiscal (2009-10).

"In the current fiscal the country's GDP is likely to be around Rs.61 lakh crore," he said here Sunday.

He said this while addressing people at a programme for laying the foundation stone for a company's housing complex in the city.

Last fiscal (2008-09) GDP growth was to the tune ... Read More

LIC expects Rs.176,000 crore premium income this fiscal
Kolkata, March 7 (IANS) Insurance major Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) expects to post a total premium income of Rs.176,000 crore in the current fiscal (2009-10), its chairman said here Sunday.

"We are expecting to collect around Rs.176,000 crore by the end of March this year and hope to increase it by 18 percent next fiscal (2010-11)," LIC chairman T.S. Vijayan told reporters.

Last fiscal (2008-09), the LIC's premium income was Rs.153,000 crore.

Vijayan was ... Read More

DMK job fairs attract both firms and people
By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai/Tiruchirapalli, March 7 (IANS) A "job fair" begun by Tamil Nadu's Minister for School Education Thangam Thennarasu as a one-off event has now provided employment to around 95,000 people in just one and a half years.

The DMK may be the first party in the country to organise such job fairs that are now being conducted under the guidance of DMK MP Kanimozhi, daughter of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. The series is named after ... Read More

Licenses for new banks under RBI guidelines: FM
Mumbai, March 6 (IANS) Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday said licenses for opening new banks would be issued under the norms and criteria laid down by the Reserve Bank of India.

"We have assured RBI that government borrowings will not affect access to private credit," he said at a function organised by the RBI, adding that the process of consolidating government-run regional rural banks was underway.

The finance minister, in the budget for 2010-11 he presented ... Read More

Fiscal consolidation must for sustainable growth: Pranab
Mumbai, March 6 (IANS) Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday said the current economic growth would not be sustainable without fiscal consolidation.

“Without fiscal consolidation the growth which we have achieved will not be sustainable,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function organised here by the Reserve Bank of India.

He hoped that Indian economy would grow at 9 percent during the next fiscal.

After growing at 7.9 percent in the second quarter of 2009-10 ... Read More

Sensex rides high after budget, gains 3.44 percent
Mumbai, March 6 (IANS) Buying interest returned to Indian stock markets this week, with a benchmark index rising 3.44 percent from its previous weekly close and foreign investors pumping in almost $1 billion during the truncated four-day trading week.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) moved up 564.94 points or 3.44 percent to end Friday at 16,994.49 points.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too posted ... Read More

Kerala presents please-all budget as local body polls near
Thiruvananthapuram, March 5 (IANS) There are sops galore in the Kerala budget for the year 2010-11 as polls to the local bodies are round the corner.

Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, who presented his fifth straight budget Friday, set aside Rs.500 crore to provide rice at Rs.two per kg to all labourers in the unorganized sector and to families who have completed a minimum of 50 days of work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Welfare ... Read More