Bollywood Muscle Man Salman turns 43

Bollywood’s naughty hottie Salman Khan turned 43 on December 27, 2008.

Salman, the most eligible bachelor in the Indian cinema, was born on December 27, 1965 in Indore.

Bollywood’s true muscleman made his acting debut in the 1988 film Biwi Ho To Aisi where he played a supporting role.

In 1989, Salman Khan played the lead actor in the flick 'Maine Pyar Kiya'.

Salman, with his youthful looks, well toned body and charisma has not only ruled many hearts but also he is the only bollywood actor who keeps his popularity ratings unchanged amid fans despite a slew of flops in recent times.

The indefatigable Sallu, in his 20- year-old film career, has given many super duper flicks to the Bollywood. Some of them are Maine Pyar Kiya, Saajan, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Tere Naam.

Among his hit flicks, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun is the first Bollywood movie to do well overseas.

Salman had also remained in the limelight for his torrid affair with model turned actress Aishwrya Rai, for black buck shooting case in Jodhpur and also a hit-and-run case in Mumbai.

But despite his over publicized bad side, Sallu, never responded to criticism. The unassuming khan has a lot to look forward in this new year.

Here is the latest on Britney Spears who is jodhpur currently with mumbai dance choreographer Sandip Soparrkar.

He, remember BT told you, had put the pop diva through her paces in her new music video Womanizer, and has now become her friend. Britney, who had heard enough about the attractions of Rajasthan from her father and friends to chuck all plans of spending New Year in
LA and fly down to India, is excited to be here.

Rajasthan is an amazing place,” she told BT, “and I feel like an Indian princess in this ghagra-choli with gold work that Sandip gifted me.” Plus, there’s the Rajasthani cuisine which has struck the right spot with Britney’s tastebuds. “I love the dal baati churma, I believe it’s typical Rajasthani, it’s also very oily... but I’m on a holiday — so let me enjoy my days.” As for speculation of the two being in a relationship, the singer was not very forthcoming. “Sandip and I have decided to spend New Year together. I wish the media would not probe our relationship till we wish to bring it out in the open,” she said. Which could mean anything. Or nothing at all if Jesse Randhawa, Sandip’s favourite dancing partner, is also with them in Jodhpur.

Asin sweeps kollywood

All stars in Kollywood made a beeline to watch A.R Murgadoss's Ghajani which has taken a gargantuan opening worldwide. In Chennai it has taken the best ever opening for a Hindi film.

Most of the top stars have seen the film at private shows or at multiplexes. Most of them have loved the film though a few of them say that the Tamil version is better. They say there was more chemistry between Surya and Asin than between Aamir and Asin. But all are unanimous that the Hindi version had more grandeur and the climax was awesome compared to the original.

Meanwhile everybody has been praising Asin's look and performance in the Hindi version. Asin's mobile has been ringing non-stop, and most of the calls were from Chennai. Surya was one of the first people to call her up and congratulate her profusely for her performance in the film. he told her “you are better in Hindi with a lot of improvisation”.

Priyadarshan, the top director of Bollywood who saw the film at his Four Frames preview theatre along with Surya said: " Asin is fabulous, she can act and has been beautifully photographed by Ravi. I think she is going to go places in Bollywood as she does not have a south Indian look."

Others who called her up from Chennai are IlayathalapathyVijay, his wife Sangeetha, Jyothika, Jayam Ravi, M.Raja, KS Ravikumar Kushboo, producer Mohan Natarajan, Brinda master and Harris Jayaraj.

Aamir-Shah Rukh friends now?

Much has transpired between Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, so much so that we’re a little confused about their Camaraderie Shah Rukh Khan. (TOI Photo)More Pics Quotient.

Every controversial comment made by one is quickly followed by a ‘respectful remark’. So when actress Koel Purie got talking with Aamir on a TV show

recently she asked him if the two were friends or foes.

And Aamir said, “Neither! I’m certainly not competitive as far as Shah Rukh is concerned. I’m certainly very ambitious, but only towards myself. However, Shah Rukh and I share a warm relationship.” Guess the ‘warm’ has become pretty ‘heated’ these days, eh?

GeForce 9300 Motherboard rolled out by XFX in India

XFX has come out with the availability of its GeForce 9300 motherboard in India. The features of GeForce 9300 motherboard are an integrated HDMI connector compatible with HDCP, HD DVD formats, security specifications for Blu-ray and DVI port for flat panel display.

It offers 192 kHz/32-bit quality for eight channels and is also compatible with various new audio formats. It also makes use of Hybrid Power technology that allows the GPU to turn off during non-resource-intensive applications and instead use the integrated GPU.

The motherboard is available with High Definition Audio (HDA) and consumes less power. It supports PCI Express 2.0 bus architecture with a full bandwidth x16 expansion slot and SATA II 3 Gbps.

The motherboard makes use of state of the art CUDA technology. The state-of-the-art DDR2 memory controller ensures high bandwidth and low latency data access to the CPU for passing the data and information through the system.

The motherboard has two years of warranty and can be purchased at the cost price of Rs.8,750.

Kingfisher to slash fares by 10-15%

Airlines are all set to woo back their customers who had given up flying in the recent past due to high fares. On sunday, Kingfisher Chairman Vijay Mallya promised to `slash' fares from January 1. While he did not quantify the cut, sources say it would be between 10% and 15%. Which means that in addition to last month's reduction of fuel surcharge by Rs 400, the fares could further drop between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

Jet Airways has decided to cut its basic fares by 15-40% to take on the competition with effect from Monday. So, overall fares of Naresh Goyal-promoted airline are expected to come down by 5-10%.

Air India is also about to announce a sizeable reduction in the first week of January as the aviation ministry has specifically asked it not to do a cosmetic farecut job. Low cost carriers like IndiGo and SpiceJet are also working on offering attractive schemes, including low advance booking fares to get the AC II tier train traveller back in air.

Mallya said: "Kingfisher will begin the new year on an aggressive note by slashing airfares. The current low prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) allow Kingfisher to pursue an opportunity to significantly increase market share by offering the finest five star flying experience at reduced fares."

Airlines had introduced fuel surcharge of Rs 200 in November 2005 when ATF was costing Rs 35,761 per kilo litre in Delhi. As ATF rose to its highest ever level of Rs 71,028 (riding on crude) in August, surcharge was in range of Rs 2,250 to Rs 3,100. But when ATF fell by more than half last month and is currently at a three-year low, airlines cited huge losses and effected a mere Rs 400 cut in surcharge and that too was forced by AI taking the lea

There was increasing pressure on the aviation ministry that had ensured huge benefits for airlines to force airlines to lower fares now. "Airlines must pass on the benefit of cheaper fuel and get passengers back in air. Saying that the dues of past few cost hostile months will not allow them to drop fares, will only mean a dramatic drop in passenger numbers in the lean travel quarter of January-March," said a senior aviation ministry official.

Interestingly, Mallya's statement of eyeing a bigger market share also indicates that the present cost environment is such that airlines are now close to break-even points and planning to begin the fight for leadership again. Last month, the Jet-JetLite combine led the market with a 26.7% share followed by Kingfisher (with Air Deccan merged in it) at 25%. AI (domestic) was at 18% and IndiGo led the LCC segment with 14.7% share, followed by SpiceJet at 11%.

Notebook Sales Outpace Desktop Sales

"Eweek reports that notebook sales have surpassed desktop sales for the first time in history. 'In the third quarter of 2008, notebook PC shipments rose almost 40 percent compared with the same period of 2007 to reach 38.6 million units. Conversely, desktop PC shipments declined by 1.3 percent for the same period to 38.5 million units. "Momentum has been building in the notebook market for some time, so it's not a complete surprise that shipments have surpassed those of desktops," said iSuppli principal analyst for computer platforms Matthew Wilkins. "However, this marks a major event in the PC market because it marks the start of the age of the notebook." ... The FBI's National Crime Information Center reported that the number of reported laptop thefts increased almost 48 percent over the last two years, to nearly 109,000 from 73,700.'"

Inflation drops to nine month low of 6.61%

Inflation touched a nine month low of 6.61%, a 23 basis point drop from 6.84% for the week before that. The drop in prices of manufactured items and food articles are major reasons for the fall in inflation. Annual inflation was at 3.84% during the corresponding week of the previous year.

The drop in inflation is giving more strength to demand further monetary measures from central bank to give a boost to the slowing economy.

The prices of food articles have eased for third consecutive week while the fuel index witnessed deflation for the first time in last 13 months. The prices of manufactured items also dropped over the week.

Analysts point out that with government considering possible duty cuts for more goods to stimulate the economy inflation will come down to 2% by March end.

Inflation moved into double digits territory in June after the government lifted state-set fuel rates and fast-rising commodity prices took it to 12.91 % on Aug. 2, forcing the central bank to raise its main lending rate to a seven-year high of 9%.

Though it has since aggressively cut the repo rate by 250 basis points as the global financial crisis and high borrowing costs have slowed growth in India eminent economists like Dr Arvind Virmani believes that the monetary measures should have been more aggressive.

South Africa storms back

Ricky Ponting, seeking to help Australia end a difficult year brightly, made a splendid century on the first day of the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but South Africa fought back to gain the edge.

Ponting overcame an uncertain period early in his stay on Boxing Day to score a rapid 101 — his fourth hundred at the MCG and 37th overall. But South Africa, looking to seal the three-Test series after the record win at Perth, restricted Australia to 280 for six in 90 overs.

Dale Steyn bowled a sharp, impressive spell in the middle session, finishing Friday with figures of two for 61 from 21 overs. Makhaya Ntini – who won the momentum for South Africa late in the day, having Brad Haddin caught at first slip for 40 – ended with two wickets as well.

Seamer Morne Morkel and left-arm spinner Paul Harris claimed a wicket apiece.

Earlier, South Africa lost the toss before Ntini broke through, forcing the out-of-form Matthew Hayden to slice to point. Ponting then added 107 with Simon Katich (54) for the second wicket in a partnership that stabilised the innings and also grabbed the initiative.

Nokia launches luxury Gold Arte 8800 phone

Leading mobile manufacturer, Nokia launched a new luxury mobile phone in the European market. Nokia 8800 Gold Arte Phone is designed with all general features and attractive looks. It comes with 109 x 45.6 x 14.6 dimensions and weighs around 150 grams. Its white leather encasing with 18 carat gold makes the product extremely attractive and luxurious as per modern trend.

The phone supports 2.0-inch QVGA OLED display with 240x320 resolution and 3.2-megapixel camera with auto-focus and 8x digital zoom for high quality images. It comes with Tri-band GSM (900 / 1800 / 1900) and WCDMA 2100 connectivity to experience internet and reliable downloading. It supports Opera Mini Web browser for efficient web support. It supports variety of file formats and multimedia functions.

Its other features includes-

4GB of internal storage

Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR support

Digital music player

CMOS sensor

The Nokia 8800 Gold Arte phone can be purchased at a price of around Rs 65,870

Post-Satyam, corp governance issues come to life at IIM-A

The satyam-maytas misadventure is turning into a case study for the country’s managers-to-be. Corporate governance — a mundane

course for students that was brought to life in classrooms only through international corporate case studies — now has an example closer home. And students seem all set to question and debate ethics and corporate governance in classrooms, showing a rising interest in the community to learn about their roles in similar crisis scenarios.

On campus, the critics of Satyam’s aborted deal are many. “This deal questions fundamentals, such as valuations, and the alleged approval processes. Who determined the figure? How did the board approve it?” Debananda Pari, a PGPX student at IIM-Ahmedabad, says. “As a future manager, I want to know what my role should be in a similar scenario.” An ex-IT professional, many like him see it as a looming challenge in their corporate careers.

There is a widespread angst on the campus, too. Many didn’t mince words and even went ahead in calling it a mini-Enron of sorts. “We primarily discuss cases based out of US, such as Enron, and the independent role of auditing firms. Now, this deal is sure to come up in class for debate. Our professors, who serve as independent directors on several corporate boards, are sure to discuss this live example at length and we have suggested it too,” added Arun Agarwal.

And while the Satyam-Maytas deal may have brought to light the stark irregularities in corporate boardrooms, experts believe corporate governance always emerges as a hot topic and a crucial lesson during a recession.

“Corporate governance, an integral part of the finance module, is usually discussed throughout the course. However, during an economic downturn, it becomes a much-debated issue in classrooms. This was the case also during the early ‘80s, ‘90s and early 2000s,” says professor Ajay Pandey, chairperson of IIM-Ahmedabad’s flagship programme.

Hasung Jang, corporate governance expert and dean and professor of finance, Korea University Business School, agrees. “Global recession has highlighted the importance of the practice. Corporate governance ensures transparency, efficient allocation of resources, maximising stakeholders’ value and ploughing back of business capital to the society, an essential lesson that future managers need to learn.”

Apart from the lessons learnt, Satyam’s dubious transaction seems to have also left some disillusioned about the corporate honchos. “Our heroes have fallen. Satyam’s Ramalingam Raju was our role model. It is unfortunate that a company that was among the top-four IT companies in India could have actually fallen this way,” says Sanjay Kumar Chaturvedi.

Fund mop-up through IPOs, FPOs hits new 5-year low

Fund mobilisation through public offers in India have hit a new five-year low this year. This year saw companies raising Rs 16,927 crore through initial public offers (IPOs

) and follow-on public offers (FPOs), a decline of 63% compared with Rs 45,137 crore that was raised last year, says research firm Prime Database. The last time Indian companies raised less than Rs 20,000 crore in a single year was in 2003 when firms mopped up Rs 2,179 crore through 14 issues.

“The year began with an impressive line-up of offerings. But the global meltdown triggered a market collapse and sentiment reached such a low that there was no investor interest at any price,” said ICICI Securities senior vice-president Ravi Sardana.

Following the poor show of public offers and low-investor sentiment in the stock market, several Indian companies have withdrawn their plans to raise funds through new public issues.

The only significant factor in 2008, was the issue of Reliance Power, the largest ever IPO in India, which raised Rs 10,123 crore. This single IPO accounted for 60% of the year’s total fund mobilisation through public offers. As per the data compiled by Prime Database, there were only two issues of over Rs 1,000 crore each compared with six in 2007. In 2008, 22 of 38 issues raised less than Rs 100 crore, with 14 raising less than Rs 50 crore.

There was a significant decline in also the number of public issues this year. As against 106 public equity issues in the previous year, 2008 recorded only 38 issues, a drop of 64%.

This was partly due to the response from the public to the issues of the year, unlike 2007. Only six of the 37 IPOs received oversubscription of more than 10 times, compared with 50 out of 101 IPOs in 2007. Moreover, as many as 14 issues barely managed to get a one-time subscription. Worse, three IPOs had to be cancelled because of lack of response, including the Rs 5,436 crore issue of Emaar MGF and the Rs 564 crore issue of Wockhardt Hospitals.

According to Prime Database CMD Prithvi Haldea, “Unlike the preceding year, which had seen the real estate sector cornering 33% of the total mobilisation, this sector had only a 7% share in 2008. Power sector dominated 2008, which through two issues, cornered 65% share of the total fund raised. Among other sectors, banking had a 10% share raising Rs 1,639 crore.”

Apple launches new range of Ipods

APPLE HAS launched a new range of iPods in India to celebrate the on-going festive season. The new collection of Apple varies from 1GB iPod Shuffle to 32GB iPod Touch. While 1GB iPod would cost Rs 2,300, the 32GB iPod Touch would cost Rs 21,100.

Those, who love colourful models will now have a wide arena to choose their iPod Nano from, as it will be available in eight different colours, including silver, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, pink and black. It also features a curved aluminum enclosure. The 8GB or 16GB flash drive of the device can hold up to 2,000 or 4,000 songs in 128-Kbps AAC format.

The new Apple wonder will offer music playback time up to 24 hours in its full-charge mode.

The video playback time is up to four hours. Smaller in size, the second generation iPod Touch features a thin contoured metal design, a 3.5-inch widescreen glass display, 802.11 b/g wi-fi wireless networking, integrated volume control buttons, built-in speaker and accelerometer, etc. It also has some advanced sensors.

As it has 8GB, 16GB or 32GB flash drive, it can easily hold up to 1,750, 3,500 or 7,000 songs, respectively, in 128-Kbps AAC format. It can even hold up to 10 hours, 20 hours or 40 hours of video when it is fully charged.

The Touch offers its users a music playback time of up to 36 hours and a video playback of up to six. The 120GB iPod Classic will give 36 hours of audio playback time and has a 2.5-inch colour display. It has the ability to store up to 30,000 songs, 150 hours of video and 25,000 photos.

Reliance Petroleum commissions `only-for-export' refinery at Jamnagar

Reliance Petroleum Ltd, a subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd, on Thursday brought on stream the world's largest single-location refinery complex by cranking up a new exports-only refinery next to its existing unit at Jamnagar in Gujarat. Together, the two units will have a combined capacity to process 62 million tonne of crude a year, or 1.24 million barrels a day.

The new refinery, completed in a record 36 months at an investment of $6 billion, has been switched on at a time when demand for petroproducts is down in major global markets such as the US, Europe and Africa it wants to feed. It will be some time -- which could stretch upto 3-4 months -- before the unit starts running at full capacity. US major Chevron has a 5% stake in the refinery which deploys state-of-the-art technology capable of producing Euro-IV and Euro-V grade fuels even from the poorest quality crude.

Ability to process poorer quality crudes, called heavy or sour in industry parlance, helps refineries earn more from refining as such crudes are cheaper than sweeter or lighter grades. Though the existing unit mostly processes heavy crudes, the new refinery may initially use lighter sweet crude (low sulphur) for up to two months before using higher-sulphur crude when it becomes fully operational.

In the first phase, it would produce diesel, naphtha and jet kerosene. Petrol production may start by February or the beginning of March.

The crude distillation unit (CDU), the front end of a refinery which extracts various products like naphtha, kerosene, diesel and petrol, was started on Thursday and it normally takes 8-10 days for the first product to be ready for delivery, sources said, adding that it (the first product) would be in the market by early January.

Initially, the refinery will produce Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel and will upgrade to Euro-V once more complicated units like the desulfurisation unit are fully operational. The company is likely to produce 31,000 tonnes of diesel per day, and 25,000 tonnes of petrol, sulphur, pet coke and naphtha per day. It will, however, put off producing fuel oil and polypropylene till February-end.

"This refinery has been built with a significant capital cost competitive advantage," the statement said, adding: "This record has been achieved in spite of the significant shortfall in engineering and construction resources that has impacted most other refinery projects globally."

VAT war may cost liquor lovers dear

The proposal to hike value-added tax (VAT) on liquor in the UT might have been shot down once but with Himachal Pradesh (HP) endorsing what the Punjab Liquor Lobby has been saying for long, the next excise policy - to be drafted in January - may make liquor in Chandigarh somewhat costlier.

It would anyway not be an easy task as despite the excise and taxation departments of HP and Punjab recently writing to UT to rationalize its excise policy - by hiking VAT from 4 to 12.5% to stop inter-state smuggling - a section of the UT top brass still believes that it is not for Chandigarh to find solutions to the problem of illegal liquor sale in other states.

''The excise policy depends on a host of factors and the percentage of tax is only one of these. UT has to look at the broader picture before taking any decision. It remains to be seen if the excise and taxation department puts up a proposal in this regard,'' said a senior UT official.

A futile attempt to increase VAT on liquor from 4 to 12.5% was made earlier this year but it sparked off a controversy as the then excise and taxation commissioner Roshan Sunkaria put up the proposal straight to the UT administration without referring it to finance secretary Sanjay Kumar.

Later, when the finance department was asked to furnish a report on the issue, it ruled out any increase in VAT on the ground that the excise policy had already been notified for the year and this would amount to breach of contract. The report added that though UT can do so in extraordinary circumstances, there was no such pressing need.

The document presented by the excise departments of neighbouring states point out that in 2007-08 Chandigarh sold a quota of about 85 lakh proof litres (PL) of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). Chandigarh has a population of 4 lakh and per person consumption per annum of IMFL is 21.31 PL, whereas Himachal, with a population of 60 lakh, has an annual per person consumption of 1.08 PL. For Punjab and Haryana, it is 1.17 PL and 1.06 PL, respectively.

A senior UT official, however, questioned the pressure on UT to change its policy when Haryana charges no VAT on liquor. An official said no decision had been taken on the issue as yet but a change in percentage of VAT would definitely be examined.Punjab 'liquor lobby' has been saying for long, the next excise policy - to be drafted in January - may make liquor in Chandigarh somewhat costlier.

It would anyway not be an easy task as despite the excise and taxation departments of HP and Punjab recently writing to UT to rationalize its excise policy - by hiking VAT from 4 to 12.5% to stop inter-state smuggling - a section of the UT top brass still believes that it is not for Chandigarh to find solutions to the problem of illegal liquor sale in other states.

sensex choppy, Tata Motors,DLF gains

Equities were choppy on Monday with positive bias due to lack of positive global cues and ahead of F&O settlement later this week. Secondline stocks continued to outperform benchmarks while realty and metals provided support for benchmarks. “After registering marginal gains on Friday, market is expected to remain subdued following the mixed global cues. The market may witness sideways movement during intra-day trades. However, the current net inflows from FIIs may help the sentiment to turn positive. The Nifty could test 3,000 on the downside and may test higher levels at 3,130 and on breaching this level may test the short-term target of 3,180, while the Sensex has a likely support at 9,950 and may face resistance at 10,200,” said Sharekhan market report. At 10:20 am, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 10136.51, up 36.60 points or 0.36 per cent. The index touched a high of 10148.74 and a low of 10070.56. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 3076.65, down 0.03 per cent or 0.85 points. The broader index touched a high of 3101.90 and a low of 3058.20. “Trend deciding level for the day is 10,092 / 3,074 (Sensex/Nifty). If the market trades above these levels during the first half-an-hour of trade then we may witness a further rally upto 10,196 / 3,111. However, if it trades below 10,092 / 3,074 for the first half-an-hour of trade then it may correct up to 9,995 / 3,040,” said Angel Broking report. Second rung stocks were in demand. BSE Midcap Index was up 1.96 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index was 1.37 per cent higher. Tata Motors (4.85%), DLF (4.49%), Jaiprakash Associates (2.63%), Reliance Communications (2.11%) and Tata Steel (2.10%) were the top Sensex gainers. ICICI Bank (-2.32%), Wipro (-2.13%), HDFC (-1.51%), Infosys Technologies (-1.47%) and Sterlite Industries (-1.14%) were amongst the major Sensex losers. Market breadth was negative on the BSE with 1197 declines and 525 advances.

Chidambaram’s farewell gift to Indian carriers!

Before leaving office, former finance minister (now the home minister) P. Chidambaram had announced that North Block was willing to introduce a bill in Parliament to make jet fuel a declared good, if the government could muster enough political support to see it through the legislature. On becoming a declared good, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) would attract a uniform sales tax capped at the rate of 4 per cent across all states.

Domestic carriers are reeling under losses from high fuel costs even though global crude has reversed its steep rise quite dramatically. Indian airlines, by and large, are more vulnerable to oil shocks as Indian states milk ATF, levying sale tax at rates of up to 40 per cent on domestic airline companies. The rates of the tax are ad valorem, meaning they rise progressively as the cost rises. Delhi, for instance, collected about Rs 3,300 crore in sales tax on jet fuel last in 2007-08. ATF in Delhi is 72 per cent more expensive than comparable hubs in Singapore and Dubai mainly catering to Indian passengers.

International airlines pay the tax at 4 per cent. Hard-to-trim fuel costs thus make up more than half of the cost of operations for Indian carriers, making it tough for them to cut fares, attract more fliers and hope to fly out of near-bankruptcy.

Indian airlines, including Jet Airways, are expected to end this year with combined losses of around $2 billion, almost twice as much as they lost last year. ATF in Delhi is 72 per cent more expensive than comparable hubs in Singapore and Dubai mainly catering to Indian passengers.

International airlines pay the tax at 4 per cent. Hard-to-trim fuel costs thus make up more than half of the cost of operations for Indian carriers, making it tough for them to cut fares, attract more fliers and hope to fly out of near-bankruptcy. Indian airlines, including Jet Airways, are expected to end this year with combined losses of around $2 billion, almost twice as much as they lost last year.

What are declared goods?

Decades ago, the Parliament had prepared a list of declared goods to deal with just such a problem. The list includes among other items, rice, cotton, iron, steel, LPG, oil seeds and jute. It prevents states from heavily taxing these critical raw materials for revenues. The goods in the list attract a uniform value-added tax capped at 4 per cent. Parliament had legislated the list of declared goods to prevent states from exporting taxes to other states, says Satya Poddar, Partner (Global Tax Advisory Services), E & amp;Y, India. He doesn't recall additions to the list in the last two decades.

What will making ATF a declared good do?

ATF is mostly bought and sold at airports in the metros, where states make a killing on the taxes. Last fiscal, Maharashtra, for instance, mopped up Rs 30,000 crore in total taxes. If ATF is enlisted as a declared good, the state will lose nearly Rs 900 crore, which airlines will save. Private airlines such as Liquor baron Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher and India's largest private carrier Jet Airways, have been lobbying hard with the government for a fair tax regime for ATF, which was traditionally a high-tax item owing to the categorisation of aviation as a highend service. The low-cost carrier model changed this notion forcing the Centre to rationalise taxes on the fuel earlier this year. Airlines have welcomed Chidambaram's announcement.

Nifty ends below 3K; RIL, Satyam, R-Com, Bharti, L&T drag

Sell-off in metal, telecom, power, capital goods stocks as well as in Reliance Industries and sharp cut in Satyam Computer has pushed the benchmark indices sharply lower. Downtrend in European markets and US futures also added some fuel to the negative sentiment.

The markets had started the day with gap up but immediately indices turned extermely volatile. In the second half of session, both the benchmark indices slipped into red following weak European markets and US futures. The Nifty went below 2950 in late trade.

The Sensex has touched an intraday low of 9,682.91, before closing the day at 9,715.29, down 261.69 points or 2.62% from previous close. In the beginning, it tested 10,000 mark.

The 50-share Nifty slipped 2.87% or 87.40 points, to settle at 2954.35, after touching an intraday low of 2943.50. It was hovering around 3000 mark for major part of the day, but profit booking pushed below the same level.

Midcap and small cap indices broke five days winning streak and closed weak. BSE Midcap Index slipped 108.04 points or 3.33% at 3,136.17 and Small Cap Index was down 98.09 points or 2.6% at 3,678.56.

Draggers in today's trade were Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communication, Satyam, BHEL, SBI, L&T and Reliance Infrastructure. However, ICICI Bank, Infosys, ONGC, HUL, HDFC Bank, Grasim and Wipro were on buyers' radar throughout the session.

Satyam Computer was the biggest loser, went down 30.22% or Rs 68.45 to close at Rs 158.05 on the BSE. The company had announced a deal to buy 100% stake in Maytas Properties and 51% stake in Maytas Infra for USD 1.6 billion from its internal accruals, but the deal had raised serious questions of corporate governance. Big foreign financial firms downgraded the stock and asked to switch from the stock to big IT players. Satyam's ADRs fell 55% on Tuesday but managed to recover half of the loss. Finally, the company took decision to call off the deal after all this fiasco.

Satyam Computer has touched a new 52-week low of Rs 153.80 and traded with huge volumes of 33,368,270 shares, a jump of 4,141.36% compared to its 5-day average of 786,736 shares.

Maytas Infra locked at 20% lower circuit at 388.25. There were pending sell orders of 7,151 shares, with no buyers available. It traded with volumes of 247,957 shares, a jump of 16,349.32% compared to its 5-day average of 1,507 shares.

ADAG stocks took huge beating on the bourses today. Reliance Communication, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Capital and Reliance Natural Resources tumbled 11.5-16%. Adlabs Films fell 9.25%.

BSE Realty Index underperformed other indices; fell 169.18 points or 7.36% to 2,129.21. Unitech and DLF lost 8.6-9.1%.

Huge selling was seen in telecom stocks as well. Reliance Communication plunged 13.36%, Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel lost 4.7-7.6%.

Power stocks like Reliance Infrastructure slipped 13.63%. Suzlon Energy, Reliance Power, Tata Power and GMR Infra fell 3.7-9.4%. Power Index was down 81.07 points or 4.44% at 1,743.64.

Metal Index plunged 4.36% or 242.63 points, to settle at 5,323.44. SAIL, Jindal Saw, JSW Steel, Sterlite Inds, NALCO, Hindalco and Tata Steel fell 2.6-8.7%.

IT Index lost 94.65 points or 4.04% to 2,245.93, due to big fall in Satyam. TCS was down 0.76%. However, Infosys and Wipro gained 1.5%.

Capital Goods stocks like BHEL and L&T tumbled 3.3-4.37%. BSE Capital Goods Index tumbled 274.46 points or 3.86% to 6,835.42.

Profit booking was also seen in oil stocks like Reliance Industries plunged 2.64% and Reliance Petroleum fell 8.35%. Oil & Gas Index slumped 189.85 points or 2.9% at 6,364.34. However, ONGC gained 0.39%.

Healthcare Index lost 48.23 points or 1.64% at 2,891.22. Biocon, Sun Pharma, Wockhardt, Dr Reddys Labs and Ranbaxy Labs lost 2-7.5%.

FMCG Index closed with a loss of 16.59 points or 0.83% at 1,973.20. Tata Tea, ITC, United Spirits, Marico and GlaxoSmith Consumer tumbled 1.15-2.4%.

Auto stocks like Tata Motors and Hero Honda were losers. Index was down 19.92 points or 0.81% at 2,441.77. However, M&M, Bharat Forge and Maruti Suzuki were gainers.

Bankex fell marginally by 8 points to 5,249.38. SBI lost 2.98%. However, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank rose 1.8-2.4%.

Among the midcap stocks, Maytas Infra, Thermax, Thomas Cook, Welspun Gujarat and Bombay Rayon slipped 13-20%.

In the small cap space, Prime Focus, Hind Dorr-Oliver, Deep Industries, ETC Networks and Astra Microwave plunged 11-19%.

Market breadth was weak due to negative broader indices; about 1074 shares advanced while 1681 shares declined. Nearly 445 shares remained unchanged.

Volumes were huge in today's trade; total traded turnover was at Rs 67,104.59 crore. This includes Rs 12,860.45 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 49,360.05 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 4,884.09 crore from BSE cash segment.

On the global front, European markets were trading weak, fell around 1.5% each during the day. FTSE was down 8.19 points to 4,300. CAC lost 16 points to 3,235 and DAX down 26 points to 4,703, at 4:42 hours IST.

US futures were also trading lower. The Dow Jones Futures was down 146 points at 8,768 and Nasdaq Futures fell 16 points at 1,225.

However, Asian markets closed higher. Hang Seng surged 2.18% and Jakarta up 1.57%. Nikkei, Straits Times, Taiwan and Kospi gained 0.5-0.71%. Shanghai was up just 0.09%.

Nintendo breaks records with Wii sales in America

November sales of Wii, the games console produced by Nintendo, more than doubled in the United States from the same period last year to a record-breaking two million units.

The figure was a record for any console in any month excluding last December, and eclipsed rival machines, according to NDP Group, the market researcher. Microsoft sold 836,000 units of its Xbox 360, up 8.6per cent on November last year. Sony's PlayStation 3 sales totalled 378,000, down nearly a fifth. The figures will silence critics who dismissed the cheap and cheerful Wii, which costs much less than PlayStation 3, as a novelty with limited appeal.

Rather, the Wii's developers, who broke new ground by building “a video games console for people who don't like video games” — women and older audiences — appear to have hit on a hardy winning formula. The console's relatively low price, in particular, looks well suited to an economic downturn, analysts say.

The sales pitch of Nintendo, the Japanese video game company, now appears to be hitting a familiar note: the company is giving warning that it cannot guarantee adequate supplies of the Wii to meet demand, a message it also gave out last year.

Reggie Fils-Aime, the head of Nintendo's operations in America, said: “It's clear that the consumer demand is exceptionally strong. With all our activity and effort, we can't commit that the product will be available up until Christmas Day. We're in uncharted territories when it comes to demand.”

Other video games companies approach the key Christmas period in less festive moods. Electronic Arts, the largest games publisher, gave warning this week that it would miss earnings targets because of weak sales. THQ, the company behind the Wall-E games based on the animated Pixar character, said it would close five of its studios, eliminating 250 jobs.

Nintendo is also leading in sales of hand-held game players. Consumers bought 1.57 million DS machines, compared with 421,000 units of Sony's PSP, NPD said. The PSP sales are down 26 per cent from last year.

According to NPD, the video games industry in America achieved $2.9 billion in sales last month, up 10 per cent from a year earlier.

Final Chrome Version Boosts Speed, Compatibility

PC Magazine has performed follow-up tests of Google Chrome to see how much progress the browser has made since coming out of beta. The results show that its already fast JavaScript performance on the respected Sunspider benchmark has gotten even faster and compatibility with popular sites such as Facebook has improved.

The retest shows a 24 percent speed improvement, bringing this released browser to the same level of performance as Firefox's second beta 3.1 version. The new numbers far outstrip what Microsoft's Internet Explorer was capable of, by a factor of nearly 100, and even bested the released version of Firefox 3.0's results more than threefold.

However, there are still sites that kick back an "unsupported browser" message when a user attempts to view them using Chrome, such as Microsoft's Office Live site. Chrome has added a separate bookmarks window, though it still lacks many capabilities found in the competition, such as bookmarking multiple sites at once (also known as tabbed groups) and tagging.

In memory usage, Chrome still holds up the rear, using somewhat more RAM than Internet Explorer, and more than double what Firefox consumed in testing with the same set of ten content rich sites. In standards support, Opera is still the leader, garnering 85 out of 100 possible points on the Acid3 Browser Compatibility test from the Web Standards Project.

Nifty pauses after rally; may hit 3100

It was a day of consolidation for benchmarks after a stupendous rally of over 5 per cent in previous trade. Broader indices ended a choppy session on a flat note.

Market found support in rate sensitives like realty and banks following the financial stimulus. Shares of metal companies rallied after global commodity markets gained momentum on expectations of bailout of US auto industry.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended 0.1 per cent or 9.44 points lower at 9,645.46, bouncing back from a low of 9,441.97. The high of the day was 9,746.01.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 2920.15, down 0.28 per cent or 8.1 points. The broader index touched a high of 2945.30 and a low of 2861.55.

“Markets are in a rally backed by renewed FII interest. We have bounced from the lows and 3100 is expected on the Nifty. In the short-term basis, market outlook is positive,” said Amitabh Chakraborty, President-Equities, Religare Securities.

The government is likely to come out with a second stimulus package to propel economic growth. The second stimulus package would be aimed at generating employment and ensuring that the credit needs of the companies are met, said Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath.

While the benchmarks were lacklustre, the day belonged to second rung stocks. Buying momentum was seen in shipping stocks and shares of Reliance group stocks both Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani surged. Reliance Petroleum, Reliance Communication and Reliance Natural Resources ended higher.

BSE Midcap Index up 1.86 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index up 1.42 per cent.

“Some of the beaten down sectors like metals and real estate are under-owned and may see some buying coming in,” he added.

In an unusual development, the government on Thursday withdrew its affidavit in the Bombay High Court, wherein it had asserted Reliance Industries cannot sell its Krishna-Godavari basin gas to anyone without its approval to the pricing formula. This led to a bounce back in shares of Reliance Industries and a surge in RNRL.

Market discounted moderating inflation figure which dipped to 8 per cent for week ended November 29 from 8.4 per cent previous session.

This may come as welcome news as far as interest rates are concerned but on the macro economic front, India's infrastructure sector grew 3.4 per cent in October as compared with year-ago period, but was lower than the growth rate in September, which was 4.8 percent. The infrastructure sector accounts for 26.68 per cent of the total industrial output.

“Market has already factored in low October IIP data and is expecting it to dip to 2 per cent. Any surprise on the upside may lead to an upmove. Apart from this, a lot depends upon the year-end results by US financial companies like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and. It will drive the sentiments and global markets,” he added.

Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy in its monthly report has said that India’s Industrial output is expected to grow by 6.3 per cent in FY 09 as against the earlier estimates of 8.3 per cent.

US companies will start announcing year-end results beginning December 16.

Biggest Sensex gainers were Jaiprakash Associates (10.63%), Sterlite Industries (8.43%), Reliance Communications (4.8%), ACC (2.81%) and Reliance Industries (2.58%).

Technology biggies dragged the most in the Sensex pack. Tata Consultancy Services lost 6.24 per cent, Satyam Computer declined 5.18 per cent, Wipro fell 4.45 per cent and Infosys Technologies slipped 3.23 per cent. Other losers in the 30-share index comprised Hindalco Industries down 4.38 per cent, BHEL down 2.75 per cent and ONGC down 1.77 per cent.

BSE IT Index was down on fears of spending slow-down in the sector and appreciation of rupee against the dollar. Indian rupee was at 48.33, up 65 paise against the dollar over the previous close of 48.98 following renewed FII interest in domestic stock market.

State-owned banks are planning to cut rates on small-ticket home loans by up to 300 basis points by Friday, as RBI separately considers ways to help the banking sector make small home loans available at cheaper rates and relaxed norms. It lifted sentiments in realty and banking stocks. BSE Realty Index closed 2.12 per cent higher and BSE Bankex ended 0.89 per cent up.

Owing to the broader market participation, market breadth on BSE remained healthy with 1557 advances against 911 declines.

Meanwhile European markets were mixed and US stock futures were pointing towards a positive open. Dow Jones futures were up 0.14 per cent, S&P 500 futures moved 0.07 per cent higher and Nasdaq 100 gained 0.68 per cent.

England were too defensive: Harbhajan

Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh felt that England were far too defensive and wasted a good opening stand on the first day of the first Test on Thursday. Harbhajan said Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma bowled extremely well to restrict the visitors to 229 for five after Andrew Strauss (123) and Alastair Cook (52) put on a century stand. "England won a good toss and today was the best day to bat on this pitch. But for some reason, they were too defensive. They scored some 60-odd runs in the first session and 229 the entire day. Had we batted, we would have scored more than 300," Harbhajan said. "England were all but strokeless on a flat pitch. "Except for the odd ball that spun, turned and bounced, the wicket was good to bat on. You could play your shots if you wanted to," he said. On the post-tea session when India took four wickets to pull back England, the off-spinner said: "I thought we bowled well today, and we knew that things would happen in the last session. As I said, England did not look to score runs." Looking ahead, Harbhajan felt that Andrew Flintoff, who is batting on 18, could be the key man. "We will be hoping to get Freddie (Flintoff) first thing in the morning tomorrow," he said. As for India's response, Harbhajan asserted that the team has quality batsmen to put up a big total against a team that has just one quality bowler. "Flintoff is the only quality bowler. He hits the deck hard and can get wickets. Of course, England do have other bowlers, but then we have quality batsmen to play their spinners Monty (Panesar) and (Graeme) Swann," he said. Harbhajan felt that the pitch will increasingly assist spin. "I feel, spinners will have a big role to play in this match." On the tight security and gunmen manning the perimeter of the ground, Harbhajan said: "It was most unfortunate what happened in Mumbai and hats off to the security men (for the way they handled the situation). But it is great to be back to playing cricket and especially for England to return to India after all that happened."

Maradona trains his guns on Pele

Diego Maradona's dislike for Pele is well-known and the Argentine again minced no words in saying that the Brazilian never had the respect of players that he commands.

"The biggest and main difference between Pele and Maradona is I have the respect of all footballers, which Pele does not have. Pele is a friend of those who manages football. I am not friends with them. I am with the players," Maradona told a private TV channel Kolkata TV, on the last day of his two-day trip here on Sunday.

"I do not have anything against Pele, but Pele has against me. Because he was second to Ayrton Senna (triple Formula One World Champion), and second to Maradona as well," he said. During a FIFA poll to judge Footballer of the 20th century, Pele came second to Maradona. But later FIFA declared both as the best footballers of the 20th century.

Maradona also recalled his friendship with former Cuban President Fidel Castro and described the Communist leader as a bright man. "You get enriched every moment you spent with him, even when you say hello. We talked about football, politics, baseball. We talked of the USA as well. We talked about the dark sides of imperialism," he said.

Describing imperialism and its policies as the root cause of world economic problems, Maradona came down heavily on the US.

"The problems have been mainly created by the US. They say they are big, others small. They decide, and then we have to go by their decisions. But now, after what has happened to the US (economy), the time has come for every nation to take their own decisions," he said.

Maradona regretted terrorist strikes in the world, saying they were awful. "We have to stop this because there are many innocent people, innocent kids, paying the price. They should not be paying the price," he said.

Nokia 2605 Mirage now available from Verizon Wireless in US

Verizon Wireless is now offering Nokia 2605 Mirage for its customers in US. It is available through the official Verizon Wireless site for a price of $49.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year contract. Apparently, the phone can also be purchased sans any contract for $220.

The mobile phone will be available across Verizon Wireless Communications Stores from January 23, 2009 onwards.

Nokia 2605 is a low end flip phone; however, it packs in it a VGA camera, Bluetooth 2.0, voice recognition feature, text and picture messaging, mobile web and support for Verizon services like Verizon Chaperone, VZ Navigator for assisted GPS.

It comes in the colour scheme of blue on the outside of the clamshell design. However, also offered with the phone is a pack of three Nokia Xpress On-snaps’, with patterns of flowers, stripes or animal prints to change the look of one’s Nokia 2605 Mirage as per the occasion or mood.

Britney Spears beats Barack Obama

Maybe John McCain should be taking lessons from Britney Spears.

The oft-troubled pop star did something this year that the Republican nominee for President failed to do — beat Barack Obama.

Oops, President Spears?

No, don’t panic, Spears did not win the presidency in any weird Florida-like hanging chad business. But she did top the President-elect this year in terms of overall online search — at least at Yahoo anyway.

Amazingly, Britney Spears was the most popular search term on Yahoo for the fourth year in a row. Get this — she’s been the top searched term in seven of the last eight years.

Zero to Hero

Why? Vera Chan, senior editor of Yahoo Buzz, told the BBC it’s all about redemption. The diva was a disaster in 2007 and has tried to overcome her monstrosity of troubles in 2008 — thus the continued interest.

“She was number one last year for all the wrong reasons, and this year for all the right reasons,” Ms Chan said.

“People like redemption tales. You can’t have a public meltdown that big and not have people follow you.”

There was buzz that Obama might top the charts this year. Nope. He came in third — sandwiched between WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and Miley Cyrus.

Filling out the top ten: the online game RuneScape in at number five, actress Jessica Alba (six), the cartoon series Naruto (seven), actresses Lindsay Lohan and Angelina Jolie (eight and nine), and reality TV talent show American Idol (ten).

Political searches

In terms of political figures, Obama was number one. Got a guess for number two?

Correct. The thrilla from Wasilla — Sarah Palin.

Now, Yahoo isn’t giving out specific figures so we don’t know how close Palin was to Obama, but we do know order of the top ten political figures searched:

1. Barack Obama
2. Sarah Palin
3. John McCain
4. Hillary Clinton
5. George Bush
6. Ron Paul
7. John Edwards
8. Mike Huckabee
9. Arnold Schwarzenegger
10. Mitt Romney

Pop love

Why does pop culture dominate search terms? Yahoo Buzz explains it this way:

“Britney or Runescape is not in the news everyday, so people go online for updates. George W. Bush, on the other hand, is in the news quite often, so people need fewer updates. Also, as a past spokesperson once explained, after you get to a level of fame, you don’t even have to do anything to maintain it.”

Happy Birthday: The Computer Mouse turns 40...

Invented by a team of researchers led by Doug Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute in California in 1968, computer’s most dynamic input device, the “mouse”, has entered into its 40s on Monday.

The first-ever mouse was made from a wooden block with wheels mounted on its base, and featured a red button on top of its case, and a cable at its back, which probably made one of the researchers to nickname it as “mouse”.

Recollecting his memories on its name, Engelbart said, “We thought that when it had escaped out to the world it would have a more dignified name. But it didn’t.”

Though Engelbart proposed the idea in early 1960s, while studying the correlation between computers and humans, the first prototype of the device was developed in 1964, and a full-fledged working mouse was demonstrated in Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco in 1968.

The first commercial version of the mouse was launched by Xerox in 1981, but the device gained recognition after Apple launched it with its Macintosh computer systems in 1984.

Since then the device has been a prominent input device for computers, but today, it is facing stringent competition from touch screen interfaces and gesture control, as offered by devices like Apple’s iPhone and Nintendo Wii.

Playing the Number Games

With a string of impressive on-field performances, including victory in the ICC World Twenty20, India has risen to become one of the world’s leading limited-overs sides.

But its recent success, first in Australia earlier this year and at home against England before last week’s terror attacks led to the cancellation of the remainder of the one-day series, may not just be down to the skills with the bat and ball. The figures may also be tilted in its favour.

Players including captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and in-form batsman Yuvraj Singh have turned to a leading Indian numerologist to determine which squad numbers they should wear on their blue uniforms.

In numerology, numbers are keys to predicting and explaining human behaviour. Each number is assigned a characteristic of certain cosmic powers and linked to planets. Birth dates are also considered auspicious.

Sanjay B. Jumaani, a Mumbai-based numerologist, said about half a dozen members of the team have come to him to help get a psychological edge over the opposition.

“In cricket, fortune is a very important aspect, from a ball that can take a wicket or be sent to the other side of the field. That can turn the fate of the game,” says Jumaani.

Jumaani, a newspaper columnist who is also consulted by leading Bollywood stars, said the trend was set by former India captain Sourav Ganguly and spread through the team by word of mouth as his form improved.

Among those playing the numbers game is Dhoni, born on the seventh day of the seventh month of 1981. He wears No. 7 — symbolic of dynamism and communication.

Left-hander Yuvraj, who smashed England bowler Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over in the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, was born on the 12th day of the 12th month in 1981. He wears 12.

One plus two adds up to three, representing not only strong Jupiter and Singh’s zodiac sign, Sagittarius, but also ambition and success.

Opener Gautam Gambhir, born on October 14, 1981, is a five in numerology, which governs his zodiac sign of Libra, and symbolises dynamism. His squad number is five.

Middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma wears 45, adding up to nine — one of his three lucky numbers. Nine also represents Mars, the planet of energy and aggression.

All-rounder Irfan Pathan was advised on his squad number (63) for the same reason.

Seamer Zaheer Khan is a seven in numerology as he was born on the seventh day of October, 1978. His squad number, 34, adds up to seven.

And young seamer Ishant Sharma was told to choose 29, the first two numbers of his birth date.

No number please

Yet aggressive opener Virender Sehwag dispensed with his squad number, 44, altogether as it was “pulling him down,” said Jumaani. He has since recovered his form.

“He’s the only player in the world who does not wear any number,” said Jumaani.

Sehwag explained: “I do not believe in astrology but my family members do. Many people used to pester me and my family to use different numbers.

“I was so fed up that I decided not to take their advice. We play Test matches without numbers and hence I do not use any number on my T-shirt,” he said.