U.S. retail e-commerce sales rose for the eleventh consecutive quarter in April-June, online market tracker comScore, Inc. said, but added that it was cautious about the second half of the year. Online retail spending jumped 15 percent in the second quarter of 2012 to $43.2 billion, comScore said, registering the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit […]
Its death sparked widespread outrage and cries for an alternative ‘life support’ system to keep it alive. Now, a year after it was supposed to be ‘moved on’ from, Gnome 2 is back on the latest edition of a (more or less) mainstream Linux distribution, Rosa. In a rather surprising move, the Russian company behind […]
The National Alliance of People’s Movements, the biggest umbrella organization of NGOs in India, has seized the opportunity of the government fixing new 2G spectrum rates to hit back at the detractors of India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). In a statement released on Sunday, the NAPM, which includes activists like Medha Patkar and Saraswati […]
After two months of respite, India’s import bill has again started going up, partly due to high crude prices and the restarting of refineries under repair. Exports, however, continued their 30% year on year growth in January, though they slipped by around $2 billion compared to December. Oil imports bounced back from $6.9 billion in […]
Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users reached 419 million units in the second quarter of 2012, a 2.3 percent decline from the second quarter of 2011, according to Gartner, Inc. Smartphone sales accounted for 36.7 percent of total mobile phone sales and grew 42.7 percent in the second quarter of 2012. “Demand slowed […]
A 2009 US diplomatic cable leaked by Wikileaks has exposed how Pakistani leaders had to practically beg the US ambassador for money to carry out basic functions such as providing education and drinking water to its people last year. The cable written by US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson shows Pakistani finance minister Shaukat Tarin […]
The newly formed Congress government in Kerala seems to be heading for a controversy that has an uncanny similarity to the CVC PJ Thomas episode at Centre. While the Congress-led government at the Centre appointed a corruption accused as the chief of India’s anti-corruption body, in Kerala, the days old Congress-led government has appointed an […]
The decision by the Joint Parliamentary Committee to ascertain the ‘loss of revenue’ due to a shift in telecom policy 12 years ago is likely to open another can of statistical worms. The move is also likely to be aimed at obfuscating the core issue of a minister manipulating existing policy for favoring a handful […]
The 1.9 million tonne cement plant and captive power plant being set up by Nirma near the Coast in Gujarat is likely to be forced to relocate after the environment ministry’s expert committee upheld the findings of a small expert fact-finding mission. In its recommendations — published by the environment ministry a few hours ago […]
With TV channels not giving the same level of coverage to Anna Hazare’s fast as last time, many supporters of the movement have chosen to express their frustration at mainstream TV channels on social media networks such as Facebook and Youtube. “Boycott all those channels that are not showing India’s biggest movement as breaking news,” […]
One of India’s biggest associations of companies, the National Association of Software and Services Companies has welcome the government’s move to re-examine its recent moves on taxing India-based operations of foreign companies. There had been signals from the Income Tax department that it will scrutinize the value ascribed by foreign companies to the work done […]
Two founders of NIIT, Rajendra S Pawar and Mr. Vijay K Thadani, have sold a combined stake of 7.4% in NIIT’s technology subsidiary, NIIT Technologies. In a statement released on their behalf, they said the money will be used to fund the expansion of NIIT University (NU). NIIT University, a Not for Profit University, has […]
The government has done away with tax deductions linked to accumulated losses, moving towards an investment-linked tax incentive scheme. In the budget for 2011-12, the government said it is withdrawing the so-called 10-A and 10-B deductions due to rampant misuse by companies. Many companies artificially lower their profits or declare losses to get the benefit […]
Anna Hazare’s broad-based anti-corruption alliance ‘India Against Corruption’ seems all set to form a new political party after Anna’s supporters voted overwhelmingly in favor of the option, according to initial trends. Anna Hazare himself said he was in agreement with the requests of his followers. “I will not be part of any party, but I […]
Google and NIIT joined hands to introduce a training service for young professionals in India. The program named ‘Google Web Academy’ aims to bridge the digital skill gap in the country and help students and professionals capitalize on the emerging job market for the online industry. Under the initiative, NIIT will be Google’s first partner […]
In its first major move after former commerce secretary Rahul Khullar took over as TRAI chief, the regulator has proposed tightening the penalties for mobile operators who flout number portability (MNP) rules and subscribers who send commercial SMSes and calls. It also suggested doing away with the so-called ‘processing fee’ on recharge coupons, thus enabling […]
Essar Oil said it has tied up credit arrangements worth Rs 5,000 crore from Indian banks to pay its sales tax bill of Rs 6,169 crore. Essar Oil is a subsidiary of Essar Energy, listed on the London Stock Exchange as ESSR. In April this year, the Supreme Court of India had rejected Essar Oil’s […]
India’s IT spending will buck the overall global slowdown and grow at a strong rate of 16.3% in dollar terms this year, International Data Corporation (IDC) said. The growth forecast is unexpectedly strong and bullish, given that Gartner recently predicted that global IT spending will grow only 3% this year. According to IDC, India’s total […]
In the era of cheap me-too 7-inch tablets, PC peripherals brand Intex has launched a standout ultra-slim tablet with a built-in keyboard like that of the Microsoft Surface. The Intex i-Buddy, priced at Rs 6,500 (the same as Micromax Funbook), seems better value for money than the Micromax model and many others in the 7-inch […]
After several years of relentless increases in spending on populist schemes such as the National Employment Guarantee scheme, food, fertilizer and fuel subsidies, the government has finally applied the brakes in the budget for 2011-12. Instead of increasing budgets to rope in more people under the schemes, the government has proposed to make the schemes […]
