India News Headlines: January 2009

Saturday, January 31, 2009

India's Spice joins race for fraud-hit Satyam

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The race to acquire Satyam Computer Services (SATY.BO), the outsourcing firm snared in India's biggest corporate scandal, heated up as diversified Spice Group offered to buy a 51 percent stake, joining other potential bidders.

Satyam (SAY.N) is struggling to survive after founder and chairman Ramalinga Raju quit this month, disclosing profits had been overstated for years. Since then, the government-appointed board has named bankers to identify strategic investors for the firm.

Spice Chairman B.K. Modi said on Friday his group was keen to buy control of Satyam via new shares and pump in more than $400 million to help the struggling firm overcome a cash crunch. MORE...

US special envoy Richard Holbrooke to visit India

US special envoy Richard Holbrooke is expected to undertake a visit to India in the near future, providing the latter the first opportunity to share with the Obama administration evidence regarding Mumbai attacks.

Holbrooke, who has been appointed as envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan by President Barack Obama, will be travelling to these countries, sources said.

Dates for the visit, which will mark the Obama administration's first contact with India, are not known yet but it is expected in the near future. MORE...

India to meet 7.0 pct growth this year: politicians

DAVOS , Switzerland (AFP) — Indian politicians expressed optimism Saturday that India will achieve seven percent growth this year, saying the economy would resist the global downturn better than fellow Asian giant China.

"The IMF is pessimistic about 2009. We're not," Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of India's Planning Commission, told the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The International Monetary Fund this week projected that India's economy would expand by just 5.3 percent this year, while India's central bank has forecast 7.0 percent. MORE...

India-Pakistan tensions down, says Gen Kapoor

The tensions arising between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks have “come down now”, a report in the Hindustan Times quoted Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor as saying on Saturday.

According to the paper, Kapoor said there had been extra movement of troops on the Pakistan side after the Mumbai attacks, as tensions between the two countries escalated.

At the same time, the terror infrastructure “is very much in existence in Pakistan”, he was quoted as saying. MORE...

Ishant inspires India win

Ishant Sharma claimed four wickets as India bowled out Sri Lanka for 241 to win the second one-day international by 15 runs in Dambulla.

Chasing a target of 257, Sri Lanka slumped to 36-3 in the eighth over with Tillakaratne Dilshan (eight), Sanath Jayasuriya (17) and Kumar Sangakkara (four) all back in the pavilion.

Mahela Jayawardene and Thilina Kandamby resurrected the hosts' hopes by adding 100 for the fourth wicket, although the runs came slowly and the required rate began to spiral. MORE...

Five babies die in fire at India hospital

Five newborns receiving treatment for a skin ailment at a government hospital in north India died after a fire broke out Saturday, authorities said.

Surinder Singh, the medical superintendent of Rajendra hospital in Punjab state, told CNN that all babies were less than 2 weeks old.

"It appeared to be an electric short circuit" that caused the fire, Singh said. MORE...

We will soon share findings of our investigations with India: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has held out the hope that his government’s investigations into the material provided by India on the Mumbai attacks would help to defuse the tensions between the two countries.

Speaking to reporters in Multan on Saturday, Mr. Qureshi said the report was being examined by the Law Ministry and Pakistan would soon share the findings with India. MORE...

Friday, January 30, 2009

India's Tata Motors losses $54 million in quarter

Tata Motors lost 2.63 billion rupees ($54 million) last quarter as cost-cutting efforts failed to make up for withering demand, high commodities prices and foreign exchange losses, company officials said Friday.

A year earlier, the company posted a quarterly profit of 4.99 billion rupees.

"I do believe we had the worst" during the quarter, Managing Director Ravi Kant said. "We don't expect to see this kind of thing, I hope, in my lifetime. We are seeing signs of improvement which is sustainable."

Tata, India's largest commercial vehicle maker, said it sold 98,760 vehicles from October to December, down 31.7 percent from the same period last year, while revenues slipped 34.4 percent to 47.6 billion rupees ($977.9 million). MORE...

India’s Rupee Completes Monthly Decline as Funds Sell Stocks

India’s rupee completed a monthly loss as overseas funds dumped stocks on concern the global economic slump will hurt growth and erode earnings.

The currency extended last year’s 19 percent slide, the steepest since 1991, as the Reserve Bank of India this week lowered the growth forecast to 7 percent for the year ending March 31, the slowest in six years. The next fiscal year will be “more difficult,” Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Jan. 27. The benchmark stock index slumped 2.3 percent this month as equity sales by foreigners exceeded purchases by $1.1 billion. MORE...

Pakistani Calls Attack Evidence Flimsy

A senior Pakistani diplomat said last year's terrorist rampage in Mumbai wasn't planned in Pakistan, and accused India of backing up its allegations of a Pakistani link with "fabricated" and "flimsy" evidence.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's high commissioner to Britain, made his comments Friday to The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets. It was unclear whether his views represented the government's official conclusions on a dossier provided several weeks ago by India. The dossier, prepared by the Indian government, said the plot for the November assault was hatched in Pakistan and carried out by Pakistanis directed by Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba. MORE...

Struggle for Justice by Deceived Afghan Bride Resonates in India

Twenty-year-old Sabra Ahmadzai finished her final high school test in Afghanistan, took out a bank loan and then flew to India on the last day of November. She came to look for an Indian army doctor who she said had deceived, married and then abandoned her in Kabul, making her an object of shame and ridicule.

In India, Ahmadzai's journey has become a rallying point for young women across college campuses who find in her a source of inspiration to question powerful hierarchies of traditional societies. The students in three universities in the capital are trying to set up a "Justice Committee for Sabra" by enlisting eminent lawyers, retired judges, professors and independent activists. MORE...

India get Sehwag boost for second Lanka ODI

Hard-hitting Indian opener Virender Sehwag has been declared fit for the second one-day international against Sri Lanka starting here on Saturday. Sehwag, who missed the last match in Dambulla on Wednesday due to a back injury, batted more than half an hour in the nets on Friday. He has so far scored 6,124 runs in 196 one-dayers with nine hundreds and 33 half-centuries.

"He (Sehwag) is fit. He made way for a batsman in the first game and a batsman will miss out here," India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni told reporters on the eve of the day-night match. MORE...

India Allows Duty Free Sugar Imports as Output Drops

India, the world’s biggest consumer of sugar, permitted duty free imports of the sweetener for sale domestically to prevent an increase in prices as output slumps.

Mills can purchase raw sugar abroad provided they export a similar quantity after processing within two years, Vinay Kumar, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd., said in a phone interview in Mumbai. MORE...

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

India Cuts Retail Fuel Prices Second Time in 2 Months

India cut retail fuel prices for the second time in less than two months after crude oil prices extended their slump amid a global recession.

Gasoline prices will be lowered by 5 rupees (10 U.S. cents) a liter, diesel by 2 rupees a liter and cooking gas by 25 rupees a bottle effective midnight, Oil Minister Murli Deora said today. Gasoline currently costs 45.62 rupees a liter in the capital, New Delhi, diesel 32.86 rupees and cooking gas 304.70 rupees a 14.2 kilogram bottle, according to the Web site of Indian Oil Corp., the nation’s biggest refiner. MORE...

Attack on women at a bar in India raises fears of 'Hindu Taliban'

There was a bit of a street brawl outside a pub, nothing too unusual on the face of it, except for what happened next. After pushing a few men out of the way, the 40 or so attackers revealed what they were really after: young women at the bar, whom they slapped, pummeled and yanked by the hair, in what they later justified as a bid to safeguard traditional Indian culture.

Video of the smashed-up pub, Amnesia: The Lounge, and of several women being assaulted, with at least two being pushed to the ground, has topped news broadcasts for days. One Indian minister described the incident Saturday in the southwest city of Mangalore as a bid by Hindu fundamentalists to "Talibanize" India; others suspect a political ploy. MORE...

Human Rights Watch Calls for Aid to Burma Refugees in India

Rights group, Human Rights Watch, is calling for India to provide access to the United Nations to assist up to 100,000 Burmese ethnic Chin who have fled persecution and poverty in Burma. Human Rights Watch accuses Burma's military government of wide-ranging rights abuses in Chin state.

A Human Rights Watch report is calling for Burma's military, known as the Tatmadaw, to halt ongoing human rights abuses against the ethnic Chin - a largely Christian community living in western Burma. MORE...

Tata Steel India ops Q3 net halves; says demand weak

Slumping sales more than halved quarterly net profit at the Indian operations of Tata Steel Ltd (TISC.BO) and top officials said a recovery in demand was only expected in the second half of 2009.

But shares in the world's sixth-largest steel maker rose 2.6 percent to 176.85 rupees in a strong Mumbai market, lifted by a global rally in steel stocks on hopes metal producers will press for cuts in input prices. MORE...

Swift verdict in India rape case

A court in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh has sentenced five people to life imprisonment for the rape of a female German tourist last year.

The victim was in India in September to attend a wedding.

She was in the car park of Chandigarh's Taj Hotel when she was picked up by a group of men.

According to the prosecution, forensic evidence proved the case conclusively. It took just eight days to try, convict and sentence all five men. MORE...

Slumdog' backlash: Fair or foul?

Whenever there's an overwhelming favorite in the Oscar race, you can be sure, human nature being human nature and the media being the media -- in short, an institution that likes to build 'em up and then knock 'em down -- that the overwhelming favorite will soon find itself fighting off a nasty backlash. MORE...

Dhoni's India upstage Jayasuriya with cricket victory

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir cracked half-centuries to upstage Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya as India posted a six-wicket win in the opening one-dayer here on Wednesday.

Opener Gambhir made 62 and skipper Dhoni an unbeaten 61 to help India achieve the 247-run target with 11 balls to spare for a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Gambhir set up the win with a 113-run stand for the second wicket with Suresh Raina (54) before Dhoni completed the job with his 26th half-century. Rohit Sharma remained unbeaten with 25. MORE...

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Arrests in India women bar attack

The leader of a right-wing group is among a number of new arrests that have followed an assault on women drinking in a bar in the city of Mangalore.

Pramod Mutalik heads the little known local group called the Sri Ram Sena (Army of Lord Ram) in the southern state of Karnataka.

Public and media outrage over the attack is growing and almost 30 people have been arrested so far. MORE...

India's Central Bank Keeps Key Rates Unchanged

The Reserve Bank of India or RBI Governor, D. Subbarao, while reviewing the monetary poly for the third-quarter of fiscal 2009 on Tuesday, kept all the key rates unchanged, in view of deteriorating global economic outlook and uncertainty about the global financial sector ever since its Mid-term Review in October 2008.

The central bank in its monetary review lowered the GDP growth estimate for the fiscal year and expects the inflation rate to moderate by end March 2009 in the medium-term objective. MORE...

India's Satyam will pay January salaries

MUMBAI, India: Satyam Computer Services Ltd. will be able to pay January staff salaries on time and has appointed Goldman Sachs and India's Avendus Capital as investment bankers to help the company figure out its strategic options in the wake of a $1 billion fraud scandal, the company's new board said Tuesday.

Satyam has struggled for survival since Jan. 7, when its founder and former chairman B. Ramalinga Raju confessed to filling the company's balance sheets with $1 billion in "fictitious" assets and "nonexistent" cash. MORE...

Scandal in India creates opportunity for Dallas firms

For once, an Enron-style case of corporate fraud could be a boon for American companies.

But while the meltdown at an Indian outsourcing firm is a multibillion-dollar opportunity for its U.S. competitors – including those in Dallas – it's an opportunity that could be short-lived.

The catalyst for this land rush came earlier this month when the founder and former chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd., based in Mumbai, resigned after admitting to years of falsifying profits and claiming a cash balance of more than $1 billion that did not exist. MORE...

Cummins, Godrej, Maruti, Satyam, HCL: India Stock Preview

The following companies may have unusual price changes in India trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices are as of yesterday’s close.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, advanced 329.73, or 3.8 percent, to 9,004.08. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange rose 3.5 percent to 2,771.35. The BSE 200 Index gained 2.9 percent to 1,061.64. SGX CNX Nifty Index Futures for January delivery added 1.1 percent to 2,795 in Singapore today. MORE...

Energy status and future outlook: India and Bhutan

India is the seventh-largest country in the world, with a total land area of 3,287,263 square kilometres and a population of over 1.1 billion, which is the world’s second largest population. In terms of occupation, two-thirds of the Indian workforce earns its livelihood directly or indirectly through agriculture in rural villages. However, towns and cities account for over two thirds of the Indian economy in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). MORE...

India ex-leader Venkataraman dies

Ramaswamy Venkataraman, who helped to draft India's constitution and served as president from 1987 to 1992, has died at the age of 98.

Mr Venkataraman was admitted to the hospital on 12 January but his condition deteriorated, a government statement said.

Announcing seven days of mourning, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India had lost an "outstanding figure".

Mr Venkataraman was an MP in the first parliament and also a vice-president. MORE...

Slumdog Millionaire faces protests in India

Slum dwellers in Patna city held protests against Oscar-nominated film Slumdog Millionaire, demanding the makers of the film to remove the word dog from the title.

The protesters said their sensibilities had been offended by the title, which they said was abusive of people who live in slums. The city has witnessed protests ever since the film was released in India last Friday.

A group of slum dwellers protested against the showing of the film in the city, while some protesters tore down posters and banners of the film. MORE...

Monday, January 26, 2009

India's lessons from Satyam

What a tragic fall. B Ramalinga Raju, founder of Satyam Computer Services and an icon of India's software success, is now a prisoner in Hyderabad's Chanchalguda jail.

It appeared initially that he had committed the crime he confessed to - namely fudging the balance sheets of his company to show higher profits and greater reserves in order to bolster shareholder confidence and rake in more investor money. MORE...

LHI designs India’s second largest container port

Lanka Hydraulic Institute Ltd. (LHI) was awarded the project of mathematical model studies for RRM for improvement of Draughts in Hooghly Estuary, where sediment deposits at the entrance of the river has made India’s second largest container port redundant.

Hooghly River is on the west of the town of Hooghly, which is approximately 40 kilometres away from Kolkota. MORE...

Slumdog Millionaire, an Oscar Favorite, Is No Hit in India

On Friday, a day after Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, the movie filled just 25% of the seats for its debut in theaters across India, the country of its setting. Buoyed by the hype the movie has generated in the U.S. — along with its Oscar nods and four Golden Globe awards, Slumdog on Sunday won the "best cast" award from the Screen Actors Guild — Fox Searchlight released 351 prints of the film across India last weekend. MORE...

India parade honours Mumbai dead

India has been celebrating its 60th Republic Day with the traditional Delhi parade and honours for six security officers killed in the Mumbai attacks.

Families of the officers received the awards - India's highest peacetime medals - from President Pratibha Patil.

About 20,000 security personnel were deployed around Delhi and the parade passed off peacefully. MORE...

Kashmiris mark India’s Republic Day with strikes

A complete strike was observed in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) on the Indian Republic Day, with businesses, offices, banks and courts remaining closed, APP reported on Monday.

The strike call was given by All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, senior Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Gilani and the High Court Bar Association of IHK, KMS reported. MORE...

In India, Clues Unfold to a Fraud’s Framework

NEW DELHI — How did B. Ramalinga Raju, the chairman of one of India’s largest information technology companies, carry out the biggest financial fraud in this country’s history? Apparently it does take a village.

And although the billion-dollar fraud at Satyam has been called this country’s Enron, an examination of the company’s accounting suggests the scandal may more closely resemble the fraud cases at HealthSouth and Peregrine Software. MORE...

Jayawardene wants to regain form against India

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene admits he has not contributed much to the team as a batsman lately and says he wants to use the upcoming one-day international series against India to regain his lost form.

"I know I need to contribute to my team with the bat but I failed to be among the runs in the last two series," Jayawardene said Monday. "The challenge ahead of me now is to work hard and correct whatever flaws with my batting.

"I sensed some improvement during the Pakistan series and I hope that I will return to form during the India series." MORE...

The Story of India’s Satyam Computers Man: Lies Unlimited

BANGALORE, India—He was cooking the company books with a generous dash of lies, and the figures looked and smelt very attractive. The portion of lies, however, was getting larger and larger every year. It went on for seven years, garnering several awards for the cook and company along the way.

The lies, however, became too ‘fat’ to hide at the end of the third quarter of the seventh year. The monster of untruth had turned into a one billion dollar fraud—the first mega-scam of India’s IT space, with global impact to boot. Left with no choice, the cook, B Ramalinga Raju, who happened to be the CEO and co-founding chairman of Satyam Computers Services Ltd, decided to tell the truth—or rather, the untruth. MORE...

Slumdog Too Real for Mumbai's Multiplexes

One day after Slumdog Millionaire had been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, the film opened to 25%-full theaters across India, the country of its setting. Buoyed by the hype the movie has generated in the U.S. — winning four Golden Globes and five Critics' Choice awards — and also by the controversy it has aroused in Bollywood, where heavy-hitters have come out to bat for and against it — Fox Searchlight released 400 prints of the film across India last Friday. But while Indian critics have largely embraced the film's "Bollywood idiom" and its "message of hope", audiences are staying away. Sales reached 50% of capacity on Saturday, which was an improvement on the opening day, but hardly a 21-gun salute. MORE...

2 Die in Clash in India

NEW DELHI — The Indian police said Sunday that two Pakistani militants were killed in a shootout in a suburb of New Delhi, a day before India’s Republic Day celebrations.

New Delhi, the capital, Mumbai and other Indian cities have been on high alert for the holiday, which commemorates the adoption of India’s Constitution after the country gained independence from Britain. The festivities come just two months after terrorists killed more than 160 people in coordinated attacks in Mumbai; India and other nations blamed Pakistani militants for the violence. MORE...

Two auditors detained by India in Satyam case

Indian police on Saturday detained for questioning two partners from the consulting firm Price Waterhouse in connection with the fraud case at Satyam Computer Services Ltd., news reports say.

"We do not know the basis for them being detained," Price Waterhouse said in a statement quoted by The Wall Street Journal. "Over the last fortnight, the firm has fully cooperated in all inquiries and has provided the documents called for by the Indian authorities." MORE...

Pakistan wants good ties with India, says Gilani

MULTAN: The Pakistani government wants to maintain friendly ties with its neighbours India and Afghanistan “on the basis of equality”, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday.

Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of Head Muhammadwala Bridge on the River Chenab between Multan and Muzaffargarh, Gilani said New Delhi should respond positively to Islamabad’s desire for good ties. MORE...

World's highest drug levels entering India stream

PATANCHERU, India (AP) — When researchers analyzed vials of treated wastewater taken from a plant where about 90 Indian drug factories dump their residues, they were shocked. Enough of a single, powerful antibiotic was being spewed into one stream each day to treat every person in a city of 90,000.

And it wasn't just ciprofloxacin being detected. The supposedly cleaned water was a floating medicine cabinet — a soup of 21 different active pharmaceutical ingredients, used in generics for treatment of hypertension, heart disease, chronic liver ailments, depression, gonorrhea, ulcers and other ailments. Half of the drugs measured at the highest levels of pharmaceuticals ever detected in the environment, researchers say. MORE...

Nine security personnel honoured with Ashok Chakra

New Delhi, Jan 26 (PTI) It was a sombre beginning to the Republic day celebrations today as Maharashtra Police ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte and four others killed fighting Pakistani terrorists in Mumbai were among nine security personnel honoured with the Ashok Chakra today.

Mumbai Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar and Assistant Sub-Inspector Tukaram Ombale, who had nabbed the surviving Mumbai attack terrorist, apart from NSG commandoes Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Havildar Gajender Singh were also honoured with the highest peace time gallantry medal posthumously for their acts of bravery during the November 26 strikes. MORE...

Massive ground-to-air security for Republic Day celebrations

New Delhi, Jan 26 (PTI) The national capital was put under a massive ground-to-air security apparatus for the Republic Day celebrations today in the wake of the Noida shootout in which two Pakistani terrorists were killed and intelligence inputs about possible attacks.

Mobile hit teams, anti-aircraft guns and sharpshooters of the elite National Security Guards have been deployed at various locations while paramilitary and Delhi Police commandos kept a tight vigil along the route of the Republic Day parade. MORE... Read more...

Prime Minister recovering well after by-pass surgery

New Delhi, Jan 26 (PTI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who underwent a successful coronary by-pass surgery to overcome multiple blockages to his heart, is recovering well and his vital parameters are stable, doctors attending on him said today.
The 76-year-old Prime Minister is "recovering well," Dr Vijay D'Silva, who is taking care of Singh in the ICU, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said.

Five grafts were done to overcome the blockages to Singh's heart at AIIMS on Saturday. MORE...

India celebrates 60th Republic Day

New Delhi, Jan 26 (PTI) Kaleidoscopic images of India's rich cultural diversity and the might of its military were on full display on the magnificent Rajpath here today as the nation celebrated its 60th Republic Day amid an unprecedented security cover.
An impressive and colourful parade, a traditional attraction of the national event, marched down the thoroughfare connecting the Rashtrapati Bhawan and the historic India Gate as President Pratibha Patil took the salute from marching contingents.

Armed forces in battle regalia proudly marching before their supreme commander, scintillating show of air power, fascinating tableaux depicting the diverse culture and hundreds of colourfully-dressed dancing school children were part of the parade. MORE...

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Two suspected Pakistani militants shot dead in India

Two terror suspects were killed in a shootout early Sunday on the outskirts of New Delhi, according to Indian police.

Gurbachan Lal, inspector general of police in the Uttar Pradesh, which borders the Indian capital, told CNN that one of the suspects identified himself and his companion as Pakistani nationals before he died on the way to a hospital.

Police seized two AK-47 rifles, four magazines, five grenades and explosives from them, Lal said. A police officer was also injured in the encounter at Noida, according to Lal. MORE...

India debates media curbs after deadly Mumbai attack

Add another casualty to the list of victims of the Mumbai attacks: the credibility of India's 24-hour television news channels.

Since the November assault that killed more than 170 people, India's wide-open broadcast networks have come in for rebuke, accused of informing their viewers so quickly and completely that the alleged masterminds in Pakistan were able to tell the attackers what Indian security personnel were planning and when. MORE...

Mumbai horrors to cast shadow over India's national day party

India readied on the weekend elaborate security measures for national day celebrations to be held Monday in the wake of the deadly Islamist militant attacks in Mumbai.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev was slated to be chief guest at the Republic Day military parade in the national capital, with India's President Pratibha Patil due to observe the event.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, recovering from heart bypass surgery performed Saturday, would not attend the two-hour parade at which India showcases its military hardware and heritage, his office said. MORE...

Mandelson pacifies India over Miliband terror gaffe

Peter Mandelson has had to smooth over a diplomatic rift with India caused by the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, it emerged yesterday.

The Secretary of State for Business last week flew into the storm caused by his Cabinet colleague and reassured Delhi of Britain's "solidarity" with the country.

Mr Miliband enraged Indian counterparts by linking the terror attacks in Mumbai to the Kashmir dispute in a newspaper article. New Delhi ministers and officials also complained he had been a "disaster" and "arrogant" during talks earlier this month. MORE...

Kazakhstan and India to cooperate in fight against terrorism

Kazakhstan today joined India in demanding that the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks are brought to justice at the earliest and pitched for intensified global cooperation to combat terrorism.

The two countries agreed to forge cooperation in fight against terrorism as part of strategic partnership besides enhancing cooperation in other areas including hydrocarbon sector.

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev strongly condemned the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and reiterated the need for intensifying global cooperation in combating international terrorism, said a joint declaration after the talks between the two sides. MORE...

State Bank of India, ICICI Profits Advance on Bond Investments

State Bank of India and ICICI Bank Ltd., the nation’s two largest lenders, said third-quarter profit increased after government bonds posted their biggest quarterly gains in at least a decade, boosting investment returns.

State Bank, which accounts for almost a fifth of the nation’s loans, yesterday posted a 37 percent advance in net income to 24.8 billion rupees ($503 million), matching analyst forecasts. At Mumbai-based ICICI, profit rose 3.3 percent to 12.7 billion rupees, more than analysts had expected. MORE...

India detains 2 accountants for Satyam probe

NEW YORK (AP) — Price Waterhouse India, auditors of the troubled Indian outsourcing giant Satyam Computer Services Ltd., confirmed Saturday that two of its partners have been detained by Indian police.

"We do not know the basis for them being detained," the accounting firm said in a statement. "Over the last (two weeks), the firm has fully cooperated in all inquiries and has provided the documents called for by the Indian authorities." MORE...

India’s Singh ‘Conscious, Stable’ After Heart Surgery (Update1)

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is “conscious and stable” after undergoing a 10-hour operation on his heart, easing concerns about his health as the nation prepares for national elections that must be held before May.

“He’s conscious, responding and very stable,” K. Srinath Reddy, head of the panel of doctors treating Singh, told reporters in New Delhi today. Singh will spend the next eight days at the city’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, where he’s currently recovering in intensive care after heart bypass surgery, cardiologist R.K. Panda said.

The 76-year-old will be fully fit in six weeks, Reddy said, just in time for his party’s poll preparations and as the government strengthens security following last November’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, in which 164 people died. Singh replaced the home minister after the assault and established a new federal agency to coordinate counter terrorism.

“The Congress party would have banked upon him to sell their successes,” N.R. Bhanumurthy, an economist at the Institute for Economic Growth in New Delhi, said before the operation. “The prime minister’s absence will definitely have some impact.” MORE...

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