काँग्रेस राष्ट्रवादीला सोलून काढीन : राज ठाकरे

शिवसेना कार्याध्यक्ष उद्धव ठाकरे शिवतीर्थावर कडाडत असताना राज ठाकरे ठाण्याच्या सेंट्रल मैदानावर गरजत होते. त्यांच्या भाषणात मराठी माणूस कसा नाडला जातोय. शिवतीर्थावरीव भाषणानंतर परप्रांतीयांचा शिरकावं राज्यात कसा होतोय. यावर त्यांनी ठाण्याच्या सभेत जास्त जोर दिला.
राज ठाकरे यांच्या ठाण्याच्या सेंट्र्ल मैदानावरील भाषणाचे काही महत्वाचे मुद्दे

राज्याच्या विकासाबद्दल कुणाला काही घेणं देणं नाही, माझ्या हातात 100 आमदार राहिले असते तर काँग्रेस- राष्ट्रवादीला सोलून काढलं असतं, अगदी केळासारखं.

सर्वात जास्त स्थलांतरीत ठाणे जिल्ह्यात आहेत. त्यामुळं जास्त प्रश्न उभे राहतायंत. जिल्हा परिषद, पंचायत समिती प्रत्येक ठिकाणी परप्रांतियांचा वावर वाढलायं, बाहेरून आलेले लोकं बस्तान बसवतायंत. त्यामुळे जास्तीत जास्त मराठीचा वापर करा तर ती टिकेल.

काँग्रेसवाल्यांना मराठीचे काही घेणे देणे नाही. पी चिदंबरम येथे येऊन इंग्रजीत बोलतात ते कसं चालतं?
सत्यजित रे यांनी आपले चित्रपट बंगालीत, रविंद्रनाथ टागोर यांनी आपलं साहित्य बंगालीत लिहलं तरी जगाने दखल घेतलीच ना.

उर्जा मंत्री तटकरेंवर कंदिलमध्ये भाषण करण्याची वेळ आली आहे.

महाराष्ट्रात रहायचं असेल तर मराठी माणसाच्या आदेशाप्रमाणे वागावं. हजारो किलोमीटरवरून येऊन दादागिरी करायची नाही. नाहीतर हा राज ठाकरे असाच वागेल.

हे आक्रमणच आहे, हा छुपा एजंडा आहे यांचा महाराष्ट्र काबीज करायचा डाव आहे.

तुम्हाला बाहेर काढतील हे हळूहळू. राज्यातलं एकेक शहर वेगळं करायचा यांचा डाव आहे. आघाडीने 1 कोटी रोजगार देण्याचं आश्वासन दिलं होतं.

रोजगार वाढविण्याच्या ऐवजी त्यांनी तो कमी केला.

मॉरिशसमध्ये बिहारींची संख्या जास्त आहे तरी मॉरिशसमध्ये एकही समुद्र किनाऱ्यावर छटपूजा होत नाही, दुबईतही छटपूजा होत नाही. ती फक्त मुंबईतच होते या माध्यमातून आम्ही किती पसरतोय हे त्यांना दाखवायचं असतं.

कितीही केसेस झाल्याना मला पर्वा नाही मी महाराष्ट्राच्या जे हिताचं आहे ना ते मी बोलत राहिन, महाराष्ट्रात जे काही उद्योग धंदे येतील त्यात शंभर टक्के भूमिपूत्रांनाच संधी दिली जाईल.


महाराष्ट्राच्या मुला-मुलींनी किती दिवस आई-वडिलांसमोर मान खाली टाकून बसायचं,  नोकरी नाही मिळत म्हणून. खोटी रेशनिंग कार्ड, निवडणूक ओळखपत्र बनावायचे कशासाठी?

अशोक चव्हाण रोज चिमटा काढून घेतात, सकाळी मी मुख्यमंत्री आहे की नाही याची खात्री करून घेण्यासाठी. खुर्ची मिळाल्यावर अशोक चव्हाणांची तब्बेत कशी सुधारलीय बघा.

2001  पर्यंतची यादी माझ्याजवळ आहे. त्यात परप्रांतीय किती आहेत याची आकडेवारी आहे. ही फक्त कागदोपत्री आहे. यापेक्षा जास्त 25 पट ही संख्या असेल. मुंबई शहर 7 लाख, मुंबई उपनगर 24 लाख, पुणे 5 लाख 43 हजार, नाशिक 1 लाख 43 हजार परप्रांतीय या शहरात आले आहेत.

शहरांचं काहीही नियोजन नाही, रस्त्यावर पेव्हर ब्लॉक टाकायचे, रस्ता खराब झाला की पुन्हा पेव्हर ब्लॉक टाकायचे एवढाच उद्योग. बँकॉकमध्ये कायापालट होतो इथे का नाही?

आमचे पोलिस नक्षलवाद्यांकडून मारले जातात काही किंमत नाही, तरूण पोलिस शहीद झाले, कुणाला काही घेणं, देणं नाही. पोलिसांनी फक्त नाहक मरायचं, यांनी जमीनी घ्यायच्या, नातेवाईकांच्या तुंबड्या भरायच्या. हे कसाबलाही पोसतायत

सौजन्य स्टार माझा .

Lampard red card rescinded

London, Jan 03: The red card received by Frank Lampard in Chelsea's 2-0 defeat by Liverpool was rescinded on Tuesday after the Football Association upheld the England midfielder's appeal for wrongful dismissal. Lampard was ordered off for what referee Mike Riley saw as a dangerous challenge on Liverpool counterpart Xabi Alonso in Sunday's match at Anfield.

Television replays showed that Lampard had taken the ball cleanly. If anything, Alonso's approach to the 50-50 challenge was more reckless with the Spaniard's boot going over the ball with studs showing before catching Lampard on the lower shin. The incident happened just before the hour mark and Liverpool went on to claim all three points with two goals from Fernando Torres in the closing minutes.

The FA's decision will leave everyone at Chelsea deeply aggrieved given the damage that Sunday's defeat has done to the club's chances of winning the Premier League title. Chelsea are now five points adrift of leaders Manchester United , who have a game in hand, and manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has admitted it will be difficult to bridge the gap.

Bureau Report

Sehwag’s presence made batting easier: Yuvraj

Colombo, Feb 03: India decimated Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the third ODI played here on Tuesday to take an invincible 3-0 lead in the five match series.

The win also gave the visitors only their second bilateral series victory in Sri Lanka, and also extended their winning streak to eight. Addressing those present during the presentation ceremony, Yuvraj Singh, who was declared Man of the Match for his superb 117 off 95 balls, said that Virender Sehwag’s presence at the other end was extremely helpful.

"I share this Man of the Match award with Sehwag. He has been brilliant today and took pressure off my shoulder," he said."In a partnership, normally one guys works off the pace, nudging the ball around. But both of us were devastating today. We put bad balls to boundary," he said.Heaping praise on Sehwag, Yuvraj said, "I think it`s a big achievement to score a century ahead of Sehwag. He generally gets there within a blink."

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan skipper said that his team should have capitalised on the two early wickets they took. “Yuvi and Veeru batted really well, brilliant partnership took the game away from us, played some good shots put our bowlers under pressure. It was a disappointing day for us, we came in with a lot of hopes," said Jayawardene."We did have our chances but we could not capitalise on those. They really played good and put our bowlers under pressure. It was always difficult to come back after that," he said.Jayawardene admitted there were some grey areas for the team and felt it was important to win the next two matches even if the series was already lost."There are certain areas we need to tighten up. Against a good opposition like India, certain things were not upto the standard.”"We`ll definitely have a chat with the selectors now but we need our best team to win the next two matches, which is very important to get back the confidence. We have a lot of cricket ahead," he said.

India’s skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni praised the team for another outstanding performance and said that it was good to see the boys enjoying their game.Asked if the Indians were aiming to set a record for the maximum number of consecutive ODI victories, Dhoni said: We are not really looking at the record, we are looking to play the players who have not played so far, that`s the priority."We are 3-0 up and have already won the series. It gives us an opportunity to play those players. For us, this is the priority.”"The team is not looking at the record but giving chance to those players," Dhoni said.Looking at today`s match, Dhoni said the 221-run stand between Yuvraj Singh (117) and Virender Sehwag (116) made all the difference."They way they batted, it was just brilliant. They forced the Lankan bowlers to bowl in bad areas by scoring off the good deliveries," Dhoni observed.

SEBI team in Hyderabad jail to interrogate Raju bros

Hyderabad, Feb 04: Nearly a month after Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju was arrested after confessing to over Rs 7,000 crore fraud in the IT company, market regulator SEBI on Wednesday finally got its chance to interrogate the tainted ex-chairman. A five-member Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) team this morning arrived at the Chanchalguda Jail in Hyderabad where Raju has been kept since his arrest by the Andhra Police last month.

SEBI will interrogate Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju for three days. The Supreme Court yesterday allowed the market regulator to interrogate the two Raju brothers. The SC granted permission to SEBI’s investigating officer to commence the questioning from today. The apex court also directed SEBI to intimate the jail authorities about the duration of the interrogation. SEBI’s investigating officer will question the two Rajus the presence of a prison official. According to sources, jail officials -- be it Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent or Jailer -- would remain along with the SEBI investigation team during the questioning.

A senior prisons official said a decision on providing a separate place for the interrogation or allow it to take place in the cell would be taken after reading the court order. The market regulator had on Monday filed a plea through Solicitor General GE Vahanvati and counsel Pratap Venugopal to the Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan to interrogate the Raju brothers.

With Raju continuing to elude SEBI even after spending weeks behind bars, the market regulator had moved the SC after the Andhra Pradesh High Court last week deferred to February 9, hearing on its request to quiz the tainted ex-chairman and his brother Rama Raju. SEBI had moved the High Court challenging a lower court order, which denied it permission to interrogate the Raju brothers, who were arrested by the state police on January 9 -- the day a SEBI probe team had summoned them to appear before it in Hyderabad. In its request to SC, SEBI had said that it was constrained to approach the apex court for urgent relief related to the most serious financial scam that had large-scale national and international ramifications. The Raju brothers, along with Satyam's former CFO Vadlamani Srinivas, are now in judicial custody.

A probe team from SEBI had landed in Hyderabad on January 8, a day after Ramalinga Raju disclosed the massive accounting fraud in the IT company. According to the market regulator, the High Court should have seen that the Raju brothers cannot use judicial custody as a shield to avoid probe by expert agencies. SEBI further said that just as police apply for custody, any other agency can also apply for access or custody and the same can be granted and the refusal to permit SEBI even to record the statements of the accused while in the custody was "arbitrary, unreasonable and perverse". According to SEBI, merely because investigations by different agencies like CID, Enforcement Directorate, Serious Frauds Investigation Office, Registrar of Companies etc may overlap, it cannot be said that they cannot investigate simultaneously pursuant to the power conferred on them under their respective statutes.

Tata Capital's Rs 500 cr bond issue to start tomorrow

New Delhi, Feb 01: Tata Capital's Rs 500 crore bond issue will start tomorrow, a move that will help the company fund various financing activities including lending and investing, repaying existing loans and business operations among others. Tata Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, proposes to enter the capital markets on February 2, 2009 with a public issue of Secured Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) aggregating to Rs 500 crores, a company statement said. The issue would also have an option to retain over-subscription of up to Rs 1,000 crores and has in this regard filed a prospectus with the Registrar of Companies, Maharashtra, the statement added.

The issue that opens tomorrow would close on February 24 or earlier or on such date as may be decided at the discretion of the Committee of Directors of Tata Capital subject to necessary approvals. Tata Capital would offer 12 per cent interest for the annual and cumulative interest payment options and 11.25 per cent for those opting for quarterly interest payment which will have an annual yield of 11.73 per cent. The tenure of all the NCDs would be of five years with varied put and call options and for each category of investors, over subscription allotment would be on a first-come-first-served basis. ICICI Securities, Citigroup Global Markets India and DSP Merrill Lynch are the lead managers for the issue while Tata Capital Markets would act as the advisor to the issue.

Bureau Report

SBI freezes home loan rates at 8%

Mumbai, Jan 31: Country's largest lender State Bank of India on Saturday announced freezing interest rates on new home loans at eight per cent for a period of one year. For its existing customers, SBI has introduced a scheme--SBI Lifestyle loan--under which customers can avail eight percent interest rate for a period of one year.

However, this facility would be available to the extent of 10 per cent of their home loans but up to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh, an SBI release said. The new scheme of eight per cent interest rate will be offered for loans taken during February 2 and April 30, 2009, the bank said. The bank would reset the interest rate after the freeze period to the same rate as originally applicable under the respective schemes, a press release issued here said. SBI's existing borrowers under the two home loan schemes- loans upto Rs 5 lakh and Rs 5-20-lakh bracket--would also be given loans at eight per cent for a period of one year, the bank said. Here as well, after one year of freeze period the originally contracted rate will be applicable, it said.

The bank has also introduced a new package for SME borrowers--SME Care--under which an additional working capital facility of 20 percent of the fund based limits to customers, the release said. "The loan will be given to take care of inventories of raw materials, finished goods as also delayed payments from their buyers in the current downturn at an interest rate of 8 percent," SBI said. The loan will be repayable in one year, it said. Besides, country's largest lender has also introduced SME Help--under which term loans will be offered to purchase fixed assets including generator sets with concessionary interest rate of eight percent for the first year, the bank said. After the first year, the applicable rate will be charged for the loans, it said.

Japanese agency to lend over $2.25 bn to India

New Delhi, Feb 01: Japan International Cooperation Agency, which lends for development projects in emerging economies, has said it would disburse more than its targeted USD 2.25 bn loans to India in the remaining part of this fiscal. Despite the economic downturn, the agency does not foresee any fall in its lending activities for India and rather expect the actual receivables by the projects in India in terms of US dollar to also benefit from the appreciation in the Japanese currency yen.

"We have planned to provide loan of around USD 2.25 bn under various Officials Development Assistance (ODA) programmes in India. But we are expecting to disburse slightly more than this amount," JICA's Chief Representative in India Irigaki Hidetoshi told reporters. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is an organisation established by the Japan government for implementing its Officials Development Assistance programmes. Under ODA programmes, JICA gives loans for various development projects to developing countries.

Hidetoshi said, "We do not have any plan to reduce our planned loan target for India. Since we are government agency, we are required to pump more money for various development projects in the developing countries to reduce the impact of recession..." He further added that "India would eventually get even more money than we disburse because of yen appreciation and weakening of dollar due to recession. A US dollar was available for 120 yen last year which is now trading near 90 yen." JICA is to disburse 225.13 billion Yen during this financial year which comes to around USD 2.25 bn at an exchange rate of one USD for 100 yen. But since a USD is selling at around 89 yen, India would be benefited from the Japanese currency appreciation.

Bureau Report

Realty pinch: Delhi, Pune see more vacancy in malls

NEW DELHI : IT’S a problem of plenty. While rents in glitzy malls dropped over the last quarter, prime markets continue to see high rates of vacancy even in well-heeled cities like Delhi and Mumbai. An extensive study of this conducted by real estate consultancy Cushman and Wakefield (C&W) for SundayET revealed that mall vacancy rates have remained at an average of 16% across 7 major cities in 2008. Delhi and Pune had the highest ratio of vacancies in malls at 24% and 15% respectively, with the financial hub of Mumbai not too far behind at 10.2%. Chennai seemed to be the only one to beat the empty-quotient with approximately 1% of its mall space being left vacant.

“From the retailers’ point of view, the preference is still largely for premium high streets over malls, further aggravating the situation,” says Rajneesh Mahajan, executive director, retail services, C&W India. “In cities like Delhi and Pune where the distribution of malls is fairly equitable, high vacancy levels are a result of inadequate quality of development which have deterred major retailers from venturing into these malls.”

Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group feels that retailers are in a period of transition. “There is a higher degree of cautiousness at this time. Everyone is discovering what works best,” he says. “They are deciding where to invest right now so that they can get the best return.” No wonder then that in certain markets, more mall space has not led to increases in occupancy levels. Take the case of Delhi NCR, which has the highest amount of mall space in India and notched up another 12% increase in supply last year with 4.73 mn sq ft opening up across 18 mall projects. However, vacancy levels are also the highest at 24% of the existing mall stock of 14.6 mn sq ft being unutilised.

“This is largely due to the fact that most of the new space is concentrated in specific locations, creating an excess in that micro market,” says Mahajan. “The concentration has been largely in satellite towns to Delhi like Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida etc. where a large number of projects have been completed but are yet to see a corresponding uptake of space by retailers.” Some people, however, also believe that since many malls have not been able to attract enough footfalls, big retailers are cautious about taking up space there. “People have come out of the mall culture. That charm and craze is over,” says Ambeek Khemka, group president of Vishal Retail which has been operating successfully in the standalone format. “Moreover, the drop in rental retail values haven’t been across the board, so these rates are still not attractive enough. Also, a lot of mall developers don’t look at the right product mix which again acts as a deterrant for many top retailers.”

The story is similar in other cities too. Pune, for instance, has recorded the second highest vacancy level of 15.23% of the existing stock of 1.5 mn sq ft. The reason ascribed is that besides having restricted entry of mall space, the market also does not have very high retailer confidence on the overall quality and performance of the new mall space. In Mumbai, approximately 2 mn sq ft (seven malls) entered the market by the end of Q4, increasing supply by 30% but vacancy levels stood at 10.2%. It is being said this was due to a misalignment in tenant expectation vis-a-vis the profile of the catchment area. So while the mall owners expected an overwhelming response from retailers, the customer profiles did not enthuse potential tenants. The general slowdown in expansion by retailers also contributed to the overall vacancy level in the city.

Southern markets such as Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, however, tell a different tale. Vacancy levels haven’t been as high primarily due to the supply and size of malls, both being restrained in these markets. In 2008, no major malls opened in these southern markets while retailer activity remained stable, keeping vacancy levels in the manageable range of 1%-5%.

Global outsourcing to take back seat

Houston, Jan 31: A US-based law firm, in its recent report, has pointed out that demand for global outsourcing will take a backseat in coming years as the economic troubles has hit the industry hard worldwide. The report from law firm 'Morrison Foerster's Sourcing Practice' points out that firms that negotiated outsourcing contracts in the past five years "could not have possibly anticipated economic upheaval on the scale that we are witnessing today".

As a result, those outsourcing contracts may need to be re-structured to better match desired costs and services levels, the report says. There may be opportunities to relax certain service levels in those deals in the current market that could provide cost savings or in some cases, there may be some services that could not be handled in-house during a busy economic time, but during a recession could easily be taken back in-house. Various services and functions within companies will continue during the ongoing global recession, but for US companies, the rate of outsourcing may slow slightly and more companies may take a closer look at their existing outsourcing deals for cost reduction opportunities.

The report also says that as threats of terrorism remain a concern in many global markets, companies will re-visit their outsourcing decisions with an eye towards risk management and business continuity, which could also lead to the adoption of more on-shore solutions. On the flip side, extending the length of the outsourcing contract, if it is a service your company plans to continue, could provide leverage for price reductions as outsourcing providers see shorter contract terms from many customers.

"Much of the increase in outsourcing in the early part of 2009 will involve off-shoring aimed at reducing costs," the report says. "Most of these agreements will be short-term transactions intended to produce immediate improvements to the bottom line, given the cost drivers likely to be underlying most customers' decision to outsource," the report says. 2009 may also see an increase in the provision of commoditised services by suppliers, whereby the customer must conform its business processes to receive services from the supplier in accordance with the supplier's processes, not the customers. "When selecting an outsource service provider in the current market, the providers with a wide diversity in both industry base and geography are most secure. Smaller, more nice providers could be more vulnerable," the report added.

Bureau Report

Sensex gains 750 points amid uncertain global markets

Mumbai, Jan 31: Indian equities markets were on a roll in the week ending Friday with a key index closing 8.64 points higher than its close the previous week. The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended Friday at 9,424.24 points, 8.64 percent or 749.89 points higher than its previous weekly close, and 2.04 percent up over Thursday's close. Similarly, the broader S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) gained 7.32 percent over its previous weekly close to end the week at 2,874.8 points.

Broader market indices like the BSE midcap index gained 91.28 points, 3.2 percent up than its previous weekly close while the BSE smallcap index was up 83.51 points or 2.57 percent. “These are occasional spurts; the overall market sentiment is very much bearish as there are no encouraging signs across the globe,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of the capital markets arm and director of India's fourth largest share brokerage firm, the Delhi-based SMC Group.

Markets, which were closed Monday on account of Republic Day, opened Tuesday on a positive note with short-covering by traders sending the Sensex up 3.8 percent to 9,004.08 points. Nifty followed the Sensex closing Tuesday at 2,771.35 points, 3.46 percent higher than its previous close. With Future and Options contracts expiring Thursday, traders scrambled to cover their positions, resulting in continued upward movement of key indices Wednesday. The Sensex ended Wednesday at 9,257.47 points, up 2.81 percent or 253.39 points, while the Nifty pulled down its shutters at 2,849.5 points, 2.82 percent higher than its Tuesday close of 2,771.35 points.

A cut in fuel prices did not help market sentiments much, as the Sensex dipped a marginal 0.23 percent Thursday to close at 9,236.28 points, down 21.19 points. The Nifty closed at 2,823.95 points, 0.9 percent lower than its previous close of 2,849.5. But despite weak global cues, Indian equities ended Friday on a high as the Sensex climbed back into green territory, closing 2.04 percent or 187.96 points higher at 9,424.24 points. The Nifty also closed higher at 2,874.8 points, 1.8 percent up over its last close of 2,823.95. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) made net sales of $70.3 million during the week as compared to net sales of $572.30 million the week earlier.

Government may issue more oil bonds, says Petroleum Minister Deora

Mumbai, Jan 31: Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Tuesday said the government may help public sector oil companies by issuing more oil bonds in case oil price rises. "In case the oil price goes up and in case the subsidy (to oil PSUs) increases, there may be issuing of more oil bonds," Deora told reporters here.

He was replying to a question whether there would be further issuance of bonds to oil marketing companies (OMCs) after Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey had said on January 29 that more bonds may be issued. To help oil PSUs tide over under-recoveries on sale of subsidised fuel, the government has approved issuance of oil bonds worth Rs 60,967 crore.

Deora said it was unlikely that there would be yet another price cut on petroleum products. "I cannot say (if there would be further fuel price cuts), but I do not think it will happen." The second round of fuel price cut in less than two months has brought down rates of petrol, diesel and domestic LPG to less than rates prevailing in June 2006, the minister said.

Admitting to a delay in implementing a fuel price cut, Deora said, "Yes, I agree, there was a delay of 4-5 weeks, but we have succeeded in keeping our commitment of reducing fuel prices in spite of the opposition we were facing." He , however, clarified that the two tranches of price cuts had nothing to do with the elections.

Bureau Report

Gold hits record high of Rs 14,407/10 gms

Mumbai, Jan 30: Gold prices reached its all-time high on Friday deterring buyers from fresh purchases in the midst of a wedding season. Consumers cashed in on the price rise by selling scrap gold, traders said. "There is no demand, but there is scrap coming in," said Prithviraj Kothari, director with Riddhisiddhi Bullions in Mumbai.

Gold futures on the continuation chart on the Multi Commodity Exchange touched a high of 14,407 rupees per 10 grams at 2:14 pm. The price gap between the local gold and bank gold widened due to lack of demand and profit taking by investors. Traders said consumers took advantage of near-record prices by selling scrap gold, thereby limiting demand for new bars. Buyers are awaiting a fall to purchase gold bars, said Kishore Zaveri, director, Zaveri and Co in Ahmedabad, a retail gold jeweller.

Bureau Report

38% recruiters anticipate new jobs in 2009: Survey
Bangalore, Jan 29: Thirty percent of recruiters anticipated new jobs to be added in 2009 while 9.5 percent predicted layoffs, according to a recent survey. Over 40 percent recruiters in pharma, IT, ITes, retail, telecom, banking feel that there will be creation of new jobs in 2009, the survey, covering over 1500 recruiters and conducted by Naukri.com, a leading job website, said.

According to the survey, 37.8 percent expected replacement hiring while 14.3 percent expected freeze on recruitment procedure. The real estate industry expected a 16 percent layoffs in the sector in the coming months. As per the survey, the overall job index fell from 776 in November to 697 in December 2008, a drop of 10 percent in new jobs. Overall, it implied a 31 per cent decline in new jobs since July 2008.

City wise, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata witnessed a decline in new jobs. Most of the cities saw a decline in jobs, notably Delhi - NCR, registering a drop from 841 in November to 697 in Decmber. Mumbai moved up marginally from 692 in November to 717 in December. Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Cochin, Baroda, where jobs grew or declined by a small margin, remained less affected. Across most industries, there was a decline in new jobs.

The job index for the automobile sector slipped by almost 28 percent in December, as compared with November 2008. Construction and Engineering and Real Estate continued to witness a slowdown in hiring, the survey revealed. Pharma remained an exception and continued to see an increase in new jobs with the index at 1031. Sales and Business Development professionals saw a growth in demand as the index climbed up for a second month from 786 in November to 819 in December 2008.

Demand for Security Services and Pharma and Biotech professionals improved during the month. A break up of jobs available for various 'experience bands' reveals that professionals with 4-7 years of experience are at a higher demand than younger professionals. Thirtysix percent of the jobs available cater to this experience band.


Bureau Report

Spice Group ready to invest $408 mn in Satyam

New Delhi, Jan 30: Spice Group is ready to invest about 20 billion rupees (USD 408 million) in Satyam Computer Services and wants to buy a 51 percent stake in the fraud-scarred outsourcer, Spice chairman B K Modi said. "That is our desire," Modi said on Friday. "We want the money to go inside the company. For that they will have to make a preferential issue. If I buy shares from the market, the money will not go into the company."

Modi said the group had submitted on Thursday its proposal to the government-appointed new board of Satyam. "We have also talked to two, three board members informally." Spice Group has diversified operations including mobile handset manufacturing, mobile software development, back-office operations, entertainment and retail. Last year, it sold its mobile telecoms services business to Idea Cellular for 21.76 billion rupees. "That is one of the sources (for funding). But we have other channels," Modi said, adding that the group was capable to fund a possible deal internally.

Bureau Report

SC grants bail to Ansal brothers
The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to the Ansal brothers -- Sushil and Gopal -- who were convicted and sentenced to one-year imprisonment in the Uphaar fire tragedy case.A bench, headed by Justice S B Sinha, also issued notices on the cross appeals filed by the Ansals and Association of the Victims of the Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) challenging the one-year sentence imposed on the accused by the Delhi High Court.The bench ordered that the Ansal brothers be released on the personal bond of Rs 10,000 each.While the Ansals had challenged the sentence imposed by the High Court, the victims' association had sought enhancement of the punishment on the ground that the offence fell under the purview of section 304 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).The High Court had earlier reduced the sentence to one-year prison term from the two years imposed by the Sessions Court.

Mendis no longer a threat to Indian batsmen: Harbhajan
Jalandhar, Jan 29: Star off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Thursday said Ajantha Mendis is no longer a threat to Indian batsmen and claimed victory against Sri Lanka in yesterday`s first one-dayer is a major step as Mahendra Singh Dhoni`s men attempt to become the number one team in the world.
"During last year`s tour, no doubt Mendis was really a threat for the Indian team. But the Indian batsmen have now learned how to tackle him, which was proved in the first match of the ODI series, where Mendis proved a flop," said Harbhajan, who missed out on the tour of the Emerald Islands owing to a hamstring injury.
"Our team can handle anyone under any condition and it was a great work done by captain Dhoni and all the bowlers, who restricted Sri Lanka to 246 despite Jayasuriya`s century," Harbhajan said appreciating the contributions made by Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina in the match, besides Dhoni himself.
Harbhajan said the first job for India in their quest for the number one team in the world would be to defeat Sri Lanka in the ODI series and then beat New Zealand in their own backyard.However, he conceded defeating Sri Lanka in the second ODI at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo will be a challenging task for India."Sri Lanka have a very good winning record on that ground where they have bounced back from seemingly difficult position in the past," said Harbhajan, who was here as chief guest in a cricket tournament organised in the memory of his late father Sardev Singh.On the possible induction of England players in the second edition of the Indian Premier League, Harbhajan said, "The inclusion of England players like those of Andrew Flintoff in the IPL will definitely make the tournament more competitive and tough."
He, however, chose to be diplomatic when it came to the question of Pakistan players missing out on the IPL."It is up to the government to decide whether to allow Pakistan cricketers in the IPL," said the offie.Harbhajan, meanwhile, felt it was too early to take a call on the International Cricket Council`s decision to reduce the number of appeals from three to two in the umpire referral system."Let us see how it works during matches. It is too early to comment on this. During the India-Sri Lanka series last year, the ICC rule wherein a team can refer controversial decisions to the third umpire three times in a match got very positive response from the players," Harbhajan said.



Bureau Report

Seven suitors line up for Satyam Computers

New Delhi, Jan 29: Scam-hit Satyam Computers has been approached by as many as seven possible suitors, including private equity players, even as the company's investment bankers are trying to find the best match. "So far we are aware of four (companies that have approached Satyam Computer). But we have heard that another two or three firms are also interested," Satyam Computer board member Tarun Das, who is also the chief mentor of industry body CII told reporters here. Investment bankers are talking to everybody and finding out which firm is interested, what is the level of seriousness and are evaluating the proposal before getting back to the board.

The process is likely to take six weeks, Das added. Earlier this week, the board of Satyam Computer Services appointed Goldman Sachs and Avendus Capital as investment bankers and mandated Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to act as its management adviser. Asked whether Satyam's founder Ramalinga Raju had inflated employee numbers as claimed by the Andhra Pradesh police, Das said: "We have done a head count using external agencies and we believe in the basis of investigation that we are well over 50,000 people in Satyam. So I do not think that there is any inflated numbers." Earlier, Andhra Pradesh CID had claimed in a court that there were 13,000 ghost employees on the rolls of the IT firm, following which the human resources department of Satyam Computer Services conducted a verification of the head count.

Bureau Report

Satyam may axe 10,000 employees: Report
NEW DELHI: With a big questions mark on its cash position and a minimum outgo on salary estimated at Rs 500 crore a month, Satyam may lay off over 10,000 employees next month, says a recruitment firm. "It is most likely that Satyam will cut 10,000 jobs next month as the company is left with no cash to pay the salaries. The current fiasco is likely to put pressure on salaries, which may reduce by 10 per cent due to the surplus of about 20,000 people in the jobs market," Headhunters India CEO Kris Lakshmikanth said. Satyam interim CEO Ram Mynampati while admitting that the cash position is not encouraging, the company, however, has taken care of salary for December. Lakshmikanth said till Tuesday evening there were about 7,800 people from Satyam who had posted their resumes on job sites and by Wednesday afternoon, it has gone up to 14,000. The uncertainty about jobs is killingly painful for the 53,000 employees of Satyam, especially when the industry is going slow on recruitment. Further, possibility of a takeover too looks distant as the accounting fraud done by the company would make it difficult for any firm to evaluate its correct market value, which is compounding the worries of the employees. IT-BPO union Unites Professionals general secretary Karthik Shekhar said, "In case of any lay off at Satyam, we may take legal action." "We have received over 7,000 hits since the news break. Yesterday, in one hour we have seen over 800 hits (no of people visiting the site) from Hyderabad. People have been enquiries on how the union can help them," Shekhar added.