The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has provided a breather to banks by revising the method of calculating the current value of restructured loans as banks' margins are under pressure due to the global economic slowdown.

As per the new formula, the erosion in the fair value of the advance should be computed as the difference between the fair value of the loan before and after restructuring. The existing formula has resulted in higher provisioning due to rise in the rate of interest during the last few years. It has been decided to modify the formula for computing diminution in the fair value of restructured loan, the central bank said in a notification.

The existing treatment compares the post-restructuring fair value of the loan with the book value. In a falling interest rate scenario, the difference is too low while in a rising interest rate the difference is too high, the RBI said.

HYDERABAD: The stage is set for the multi-crore Satyam fraud case to go to trial with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing its charge sheet against nine accused persons including the company's former chairman B Ramalinga Raju and his two brothers Rama Raju and Suryanarayana Raju in the local CBI court on Tuesday.

The others accused in the case are former CFO Vadlamani Srinivas, PW auditors S Gopalakrishnan and Talluri Srinivas, Satyam vice president G Ramakrishna, senior finance manager D Venkatapathi Raju, and assistance finance manager Ch Srisailam.

All the nine accused have been charged with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, impersonation, forgery of valuable security, forgery for the purpose of cheating, showing forged documents as genuine, falsification of accounts and causing disappearance of evidence. The sections it invoked for this are 120-B read with 420, 419,467, 468, 471, 477-A and 201 of IPC. If proven, the charge under section 467 alone would impose a life imprisonment on the accused while the punishment for remaining charges may vary between two to seven years in jail.

New car models have continuously brought excitement into the already suffering Indian auto sector in the last one-quarter. They have been successful to an extent as more customers have walked into showrooms and gone out with a car.

Since car sales started sliding from mid 2008, the industry had delivered new models at regular intervals.

Maruti launched the ‘A Star’ in November 2008 and has managed to sell 22,000 units so far. Hyundai's premium hatch the i20 has sold 6,000 units since its December debut.

Even in these times of recession, women can be big spenders.At a time when most people are cutting costs on leisure, travel companies are wooing women by offering special "women only" group tours and interestingly, women in rural India have taken to this rather keenly.

‘If madam wishes, she can pay just over Rs 50,000 to tour the Orient for ten days,’ say travel companies. That's the trend now with many offers of value packages for single women.

Daniel'D Souza, Business Head, Group Series at SOTC, said, “Our research suggests that a lot of our customers were single women wanting to travel but afraid to do so alone, so we launched tour packages only for women—our target group being women aged 45 and above.”

MUMBAI: After a tough fight for the Indian Premier League (IPL), broadcaster Sony Entertainment Television, now known as Multi Screen Media(MSM), has managed to keep the IPL rights after entering into a fresh deal. It has signed up with the World Sport Group (WSG) in a $1.6 billion deal, valid for the next nine years through 2017.

The earlier 10-year contract, which MSM couldn't protect, was worth $918 million for telecast and $108 million for promotion of the tournament.

BCCI had terminated the contract with MSM and inked a fresh deal with WSG Mauritius on March 15. MSM had then moved the Bombay high court, which held that the cricket board could open talks with other broadcasters for the IPL telecast rights. MSM then bid more than its original contract to bag the rights, all over again.

Come April 1, the RBI ruling to throw open the usage of ATMs owned by a particular bank to the customers of another bank free, will come into force.

Just a few hours before the entire ATM network numbering over 40,000 of the domestic banking industry being available to customers from any bank for transactions for no fee at all, irrespective of the banks in which they have their accounts, commercial banks are waiting for an intimation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about charges that banks will collect from each other for having other customers use their networks. Bankers also mention that the new regulation would not come in the way of their ATM network expansion plans

However, going by the RBI directions, the bank whose ATMs are being used may not charge anything to the users who is a customer of another bank, but will be able to charge a fee to the banks which maintains the account of that customer.

China’s central bank has called for the creation of a new global currency as an alternative to the dollar, in the latest sign of that country's growing assertiveness on the international stage. But would the idea even work?

Economists said the proposal is feasible, at least in the long run, but faces a number of hurdles, such as getting private companies to accept it. Two key US economic policymakers appeared to dismiss the idea during a congressional hearing Tuesday. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were asked by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., if they would "categorically renounce the United States moving away from the dollar." Both said they would.

Here are some questions and answers about China's proposal for a new global currency. Q: Does China want to get rid of the dollar and other currencies? A: No, Americans wouldn't be expected to give up the dollar, nor would China give up its yuan, for that matter. The idea is to create an international currency that China and other countries could use to hold trillions of dollars in reserves. China has more than $1 trillion in U.S. Treasuries and other government securities, analysts estimate — and the country doesn't keep all of that money in its own currency because that would cause inflation. Also, by buying assets in dollars, China keeps the yuan from strengthening too much against the U.S. currency — which would make its goods more expensive to American consumers and hurt Chinese exports. But as the U.S. government ramps up spending to stimulate the economy and assist the battered financial sector, Chinese officials are worried that inflation will result — and that would erode the value of their dollar holdings, economists said.

After almost half a decade of anticipation, Ratan Tata’s dream is a reality. The Nano is real — for everyone to sample in flesh and bone. Just watching the little car roll around on its own power brings a feeling like none that we’ve experienced hitherto when looking at a car. It’s more than a sense of joy. It’s a big sense of pride. Critics said it couldn’t be done. They said it wouldn’t run. Heck, they even said it wouldn’t even be a proper car.

And here it is — more than just a basic car too. In fact, it is probably the cutest thing we’ve seen on Indian roads yet. Sharp design features coupled with subtly curved surfaces make the Nano stunning to look at.

It may be cheap (as the world was promised), but it certainly is by no means inferior. The Nano is a feel-good car — just being around it makes you happy. And if you’ve spotted her in that enticing bright yellow paint job, there’s no way you wouldn’t want one.

US software company iGate Corp on Friday pulled out of the bidding process for a controlling 31% stake in troubled software firm Satyam Computer Services (SATYAM.BO : 42.65 -1.25), citing a lack of updated financial and legal information on the company. The high-profile suitor had submitted its formal expressions of interest (EoI) on March 12.

However, other firms that are still in the race engineering major Larsen and Toubro (the largest stakeholder in Satyam, with 12.04%), BK Modi's Spice Group and Tech Mahindra Ltd (TECHM.NS : 277.55 +1.7) (TML) on Friday confirmed they had submitted detailed EoIs, including proof of having Rs 1,500 crore in cash.

"We have submitted our detailed EoI to the Satyam board today," said an LandT official. However, he was unwilling to divulge any further information. Spice Group, which has revenues of around Rs 20,000 crore, said, "The detailed EoI has been submitted to the Satyam board today. It is up to the board now to do due diligence and provide further information regarding the company to us."

New Delhi: Facing stiff competition from corporate retail outlets, hawkers and small shopkeepers are not only witnessing decline in business but also increased harassment and eviction drives, a survey has said.

Of the 400 hawkers and 100 shopkeepers surveyed across five cities by India FDI Watch and Action Aid, about 85 per cent of them said their business was on a slide.

"Competition (from corporate retail outlet) was the number one reason cited by the respondents for the decline of their business," the study said.

NEW DELHI: India is staring at deflation, or negative inflation, with the official inflation rate this week falling to 0.44% — the lowest since 1977. Food prices, however, continued to be high, with food grains roughly 9% costlier than a year ago, reinforcing a cruel paradox for consumers that they hear about zero inflation but face high prices when they buy their groceries.

With the wholesale price index (WPI) falling by one point to 226.7 for the week ending March 7, 2009 — the same level at which the index was on March 29, 2008 — it now means the year-on-year inflation rate will become zero by the last week of March even if the index for the current year falls no further. TOI had pointed this out last Friday.

As most commodities are becoming cheaper with every successive week in the recent past, deflation is expected to set in even before that. The rabi harvest should see a drop in foodgrain prices too, and that will only accentuate the trend.

Hemendra Kothari who straddled the investment banking and the securities market like a colossus for 40 years has seen the transformation of the Indian economy from control raj to the current liberalised regime. In an interview with George Mathew, Kothari, who is retiring from DSP Merrill Lynch later this month, spoke about the state of the economy, recovery, capital market, interest rates and foreign inflows. Excerpts:

When do you see a turnaround in the economy? Is it linked to the recovery in the US?

When compared to the US and other countries, we are relatively better off. We're not in recession. There's only a slowdown. We have to thank the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry for not hurrying up in liberalising the financial sector. I complement them for this. I think the RBI wanted Indian institutions to become stronger before opening up the segment. We have come a long way since the country started opening up the economy in 1991. India is on a march. I won't be surprised if the turnaround takes two or three years to happen. Of course, it's linked to the recovery in the US.

US Senator Charles Grassley wants AIG executives to apologize for the collapse of the insurance giant — but said on Tuesday that "obviously" he didn't really mean that they should kill themselves.

The Iowa Republican raised eyebrows with his comments Monday that the executives — under fire for passing out big bonuses even as they were taking a taxpayer bailout — perhaps should "resign or go commit suicide."

But he backtracked Tuesday morning in a conference call with reporters. He said he would like executives of failed businesses to make a more formal public apology, as business leaders have done in Japan.

New Delhi: To better reflect contribution of various kinds of savings and investments to the national economy, the high-level C Rangarajan committee today asked the government to explore gathering of data on employment from companies.

"The HLC (the high-level committee) suggests MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) to explore collection of information on different types of employment from companies," the Committee said in its report submitted to the government today.

Various people had expressed doubts of late over the reliability of employment data in the backdrop of adverse impact of global financial crisis, but the committee's terms of reference did not include data on employment. As such, its recommendations also stopped at merely a one line sentence.

HORSHAM, England (Reuters) - More money from G20 governments will give the world economy no more than a "sugar high" if banks are not stabilised, the head of the World Bank said on Friday as financial policymakers gathered to seek ways of battling the crisis.

That struck at the heart of a rift between Washington, which is pushing for governments to spend more, and European capitals, which want the response to the crisis to now focus on rapid moves on regulation in addition to doling out public cash.

G20 finance ministers and central bankers headed for the talks in southern England on Friday and Saturday under growing pressure to resolve their differences and show progress on the road to a broader summit of world leaders in London on April 2.

Some progress is being made: the leaders are expected to back a call this week to double International Monetary Fund resources to help emerging economies hit by a collapse in global demand for their exports and the severing of credit lines.

Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges that he carried out an epic fraud that robbed investors around the world of billions of dollars, turning a revered moneyman into an overnight global disgrace whose name became synonymous with the economic meltdown.

Madoff entered guilty pleas to all 11 counts he was charged with, including fraud, perjury, and theft from an employee benefit plan and two counts of international money laundering.

Prosecutors say the disgraced financier, who has spent three months under house arrest in his $7 million in Manhattan penthouse, could face a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison at sentencing.

As the proceeding began, Madoff asked if he could have some water. Judge Denny Chin swore Madoff in and asked him for his plea. After Madoff said he was pleading guilty, Chin explained that he would ask a series of questions before deciding whether to accept the plea.

NEW YORK: US tycoons are back on top with Microsoft founder Bill Gates again the world's richest man in a year when even billionaires felt the heat of the global recession, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday.

The wealthy few did not escape big shocks this year, with net worth on the list of 793 billionaires — down from 1,125 billionaires in 2008 — plummeting to 2.4 trillion dollars from 4.4 trillion, Forbes said.

"The biggest news today is that we are here and there still are billionaires," Forbes spokeswoman Monie Begley joked at a press conference.

The much-watched annual rich list put Gates back on top with a net worth of 40 billion dollars, although he saw his bank balance lose 18 billion over the last 12 months.

French global food and facilities management company Sodexo has taken over India's largest food and support services company, Radhakrishna Hospitality Services (RKHS), in an all-cash deal worth more than Rs 400 crore.

The deal was clinched after RKHS's attempts to rope in financial investors failed to materialise due to differences over pricing. The deal, however, does not include RKHS's other businesses, including its retail arm or logistics and supply chain. The new entity will function under Sodexo's ownership.

RKHS promoter Raju Shetty will be non-executive chairman of the combined entity, sources said. The Sodexo group has two subsidiaries in India. Its range of services is clubbed under food and facilities management services that maintain institutions, while the other provides service vouchers and card services.

The company rolled out its India operations in 1997 and became a Rs 1,000-crore entity last year. The global turnover of its business is $13.6 billion. Sodexo's market cap is estimated to be $18-20 billion.

Telecom regulator TRAI on Monday slashed termination charges by 33 per cent, a move that would result in bringing down the mobile tariffs for consumers. Termination charges are paid by one operator to another on whose network the call ends

The regulator has reduced the termination charges on local calls to 20 paise a minute from existing 30 paise.

The new operators such as Datacom, Unitech, Shyam-Sistema and Loop Telecom among others were demanding 0-10 paise per minute termination charge whereas the existing GSM operators were opposing any reduction in the charges, fearing there revenue would take a hit.

The international calls made overseas to India are going to be costlier as the regulator has increased the termination charge for incoming international call to 40 paise from existing 30 paise per minute.

NEW DELHI: Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd appears to be in a spot over efforts to unlock gas trapped in layers of coal, or CBM(coal bed methane) projects in two acreages. In the absence of statutory state clearances, the company faces the prospect of being fined for failure to stick to the promised timelines for exploration unless the Centre allows its request for more time.

The company has sought time extension from the Centre for one acreage each in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In the Rajasthan acreage, identified as Block BS (II) CBM 2003, it is unable to start the second phase of work as the Rajasthan Pollution Control Board (RPCB) is dragging its feet in renewing clearance.

The company faces a similar situation in the MP acreage Sonhat which also spans some areas in Chhattisgarh.

Two days after the Reserve Bank of India pared the benchmark lending rate, ICICI Bank (ICICIBANK.NS : 269.15 -0.9), the country's largest private sector lender, has cut its floating rates on new home loans by 0.25-0.50 basis points from Friday.

A spokesperson for the bank said the new interest rate on priority sector home loans below Rs 20 lakh is 9.75% against 10% before. For loans in the range of Rs 20-30 lakh, the interest rate is cut to 10% from 10.50% earlier.

For loans of above Rs 30 lakh, the interest rate has been reduced to 11.50% against the earlier 12%.

Singapore: Fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services said it has received approval from SEBI to sell a 51% stake in the company in a global bidding process.

As part of the two-phased sale process, a chosen investor would acquire newly issued equity shares representing 31% of Satyam's share capital and then make a mandatory minimum public offer to buy a further 20% stake, the company, which has been mired in country's biggest corporate scandal, said in a statement.

Satyam has wanted to bring a strategic investor into the company to restore the confidence of its roughly 50,000 staff and more than 600 customers, including General Electric, Cisco and Qantas Airways.

BEIJING: China expects to achieve 8 percent economic growth this year, Premier Wen Jiabao told the National People's Congress, the country's rubber stamp parliament, on Thursday.

As Wen delivered his annual work report, the Ministry of Finance released China's 2009 budget and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) outlined this year's economic plans.

KEY POINTS
- No new stimulus package unveiled - Projected 5 trillion yuan in new lending in 2009 - CPI should rise about 4 percent in 2009 - Fixed-asset investment seen up 20 percent this year
- Retail sales seen up 14 percent this year - Central government to invest 908 billion yuan in 2009, in everything from infrastructure to education and health care.

Tata Motors, India's largest vehicle maker, is in talks to raise about $100 million by selling a stake in a group firm, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the situation.

Buyout firms, including General Atlantic Partners, were eager to pick up equity in Tata Technologies, an unlisted engineering and design group company and provides software for industries including automotive, the newspaper said.

Tata Motors, which bought marque brands Jaguar and Land Rover for about $2.3 billion last year, has been battling a cash crunch due to falling vehicle sales in a slowing economy and has said it aimed to raise up to $250 million from divestments of its holdings in various group companies.

The Board of Directors of Reliance Industries and its refinery subsidiary RPL today approved the merger of the two firms, creating one of the world's largest petrochemical entity and offered the shareholders of RPL, one RIL share for every 16 shares held by them.

Both the companies in two separate filings said that the shareholders of RPL would receive one equity share of RIL for every 16 shares held.The merger would create one of the world's top 50 companies on profitable basis and would make RIL one of the largest refiners of the world.

The appointed date of the merger is April 1, 2008, and the "scheme shall be subject to approvals of shareholders and creditors and sanctions" of the Bombay High Court.