Inflation rate remains unchanged

Marginal fall in prices of primary food articles helped to keep the inflation rate unchanged at the previous level of 3.50 per cent for the week ended December 29., reports PTI from New Delhi. The low rate of inflation is expected to give a headroom to the Reserve Bank to move towards soft interest rate despite high crude oil prices, when it reviews its monetary policy later this month.

Industrial growth rate dips to 5.3 pc

The country’s industrial growth nosedived to 5.3 per cent in November 2007 from nearly triple in the same month a year ago after higher interest rates curbed consumer spending and slowed down manufacturing sector, reports PTI from New Delhi.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) fell from 15.8 per cent in November 2006, while manufacturing output during the same month slipped to 5.4 per cent from 17.2 per cent, according to official data released on Friday.

SC asks Reliance to launch IPO despite court order

In a sweeping order, the Supreme Court Friday said in New Delhi the initial public offer (IPO) of Reliance Power Ltd, slated to open on January 15, will go ahead even if any court in the country passed stalling the initiative. A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said, “The IPO of Reliance Power will continue despite any interim order passed against it by any court.”  

Senior Advocate Harish Salve appearing for Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Power submitted that a person had filed a law suit in a Bombay High Court to restrain the launch of the IPO on 15 January. The IPO is expected to be the country’s biggest sale of shares and raise more than Rs 11,500 crore. The purpose of filing the writ petitions of similar nature before different courts is to somehow to harass the petitioners and to keep the companies busy in litigation so that the IPO floated by the petitioners are unduly harmed, said Mr Salve.

Citizen watches names the winners of lucky draw

Citizen Watches on Friday announced the 10 winners of their “License to Drive” lucky draw contest. Each winner will get a brand new Maruti Suzuki Swift car. 

This is the grand culmination of the nation wide consumer promotion during the period November 1 to December 31, 2007. The contest involved answering a simple skill question related to the Brand, the eligibility being the purchase of any Eco-Drive watch model during the promo period. 

The consumers were also assured gift of an exclusive Rahul Dravid, Kareena Kapoor (both the celebrities are Citizen’s Brand Ambassadors for the Eco-Drive range) Citizen 2008 wall calendar.

Wipro Infotech wins nine year contract from Aircel

Aircel on Thursday announced in Bangalore that it has awarded a long term next generation business transformation contract to Wipro Ltd. Aircel currently operates in 10 circles across India and has an estimated 9.5 million subscribers. Aircel is expanding operations in the remaining 13 circles to position itself as a leading full services telecom operator.

As an integral part of its technology initiatives, Aircel has partnered with Wipro in a 9 year outsourcing contract.

The contract will see Wipro deliver next generation business transformation through Business-IT alignment, implementing a future ready IT architecture in accordance with industry standards and deployment of global best practice & tools. The platform will allow launch of next generation services including WiMax, Mobile TV and 3G services.

Country Club to raise $86.90 mn thru GDR issue

The Country Club of India on Thursday said in Mumbai it is planning to raise $86.90 million (around Rs 347.6 crore) through the issue of global depository receipts (GDRs). A proposal to this effect was okayed by the board of directors of the company at its meeting held on January 9, 2008, the company said. Further, it said that the company intends to allot over 2.21 crore GDRs with five GDRs representing one equity share of Rs 10 each.