Indian consumers continued to be the most optimistic in the world while confidence levels in the United States and China rose markedly in the last quarter of 2011, according to the Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions. All three countries saw consumer confidence and optimism increasing during the last three months of […]
Malayala Manorama, Kerala’s largest selling newspaper has carried yet another picture of a Christian figure on front page with the allegation that the saint has been pictured in the likeness of Che Guera by Communists. Two days earlier, it had carried a rendition of ‘The Last Supper’ put up by a Left trade union that, […]
Japanese electronics giant Panasonic said media reports on talks over the merger of its semiconductor operations are not “official,” but it is studying “various options.” Various media reports, quoting unnamed sources, said Renesas Electronics, Fujitsu Ltd and Panasonic are in talks to merge their chip operations The talks follow a similar move by Sony, Toshiba […]
Being insensitive to other people’s feelings and concerns and having poor personal hygiene can rapidly turn your first date into your last, according to a pre-Valentine’s Day survey of 2,415 US adults. The survey also found that women are more likely to judge quickly and break off contact if things don’t go smoothly on day […]
Jennifer Aniston was voted the most wanted female celebrity “dream date” for Valentine’s Day, according to the annual Valentine’s Day survey by omg! website from Yahoo! She got 14% of the 2001 votes in the poll. For women, the dream date was George Clooney, who beat Johnny Depp, the last year’s winner, with 19% of […]
International credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has given a ‘BBB’ rating to Reliance Industries’ latest move to raise funds in the United States to finance its shale gas activities in the country. Reliance plans to issue U.S. dollar denominated senior unsecured notes through its subsidiary Reliance Holding USA Inc, S&P said in a note. […]
The economic recession has impacted American consumer behavior — particularly their credit card, living, spending and saving habits, according to a survey in California by Citibank. In keeping with the recent uptick in consumer sentiment across the country, Californians too believe the conditions of both their own and the state’s finance will improve in the […]
Air Asia, credited with popularizing the low cost airline phenomenon in Asia announced special Rs 6,666 return tickets for its new flights from Chennai to Bangkok in Thailand. Tickets must be booked online at the company’s website between 9 to 14 February for travel during anyday between 23 March and 27 October 2012, it said. […]
Indian companies expect industrial growth, already slipping in the last 2-3 months, slow down further in the next six months, according to a pre-budget survey by the industry association FICCI. FICCI’s latest survey showed a fall in the overall business confidence index from 76.2 in the previous round to 63.8 in the current one. The […]
January was not a good month for U.S. home prices, especially in the Midwest, according to Clear Capital’s monthly Home Data Index (HDI). Home prices fell 2.6% in January on a nationwide basis, thanks primarily to a 5.2% dip in the Midwest and a 3.5% fall in Western United States, the report said. Midwest had […]
According to an online poll by global research company Ipsos, 28% of employees in India have a strong desire to go abroad for a full-time job and another 39 percent would “consider” the option. The survey asked employees in 24 countries to consider the opportunity of a full-time job available in another country at least […]
Hiring numbers in India bounced back to their ‘regular’ levels after setting off alarm bells with a steep dip in October, according to the Job Speak Index by Naukri.com. Hiring numbers had fallen more than expected in October as the usual festive lull in hiring combined with an overall cautious atmosphere in Indian economy to […]
Al Jazeera targets Indian market with Dish TV tie-up Al Jazeera, the news channel known as the voice of Middle East, has entered the Indian market through a tie-up with one of India’s biggest DTH platforms, Dish TV. The company had earlier announced its intention to beam its English language feed to the Indian market […]
The number of domestic air travelers dipped 5.3% in January to 49.4 lakhs, primarily due to the absence of festival and holiday travel witnessed in December 2010. However, Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines was the only domestic airline that did not see a decline in its occupancy level in January. It increased seat occupancy level from […]
Indians would end up buying five times as many media tablets this year as they did during the last, consultant and research firm Frost & Sullivan said. According to the firm, which conducts regular market surveys on products, Indians bought around 60,000 tablets in 2010. This year, however, that figure is likely to grow to […]
Worldwide spending on enterprise security software and services will grow 8.7% in 2012, technology market research firm Canalys said. The total enterprise market will be $22.9 billion in 2012, even smaller vendors such as Kaspersky Lab, Panda Security, F-Secure, ESET and AVG make gains in market share. “Smaller vendors are working to displace Symantec, McAfee […]
Nasscom, India’s national association of IT and BPO companies, has expressed worry over what it sees efforts to tap anti-outsourcing sentiment ahead of the US Presidential election next year. Nasscom’s comments came in the context of a bill in the US House of Representatives that seeks to make it mandatory for call centre employees to […]
The Internet now has 220 million (22 crore) domain names (web site addresses), according to the latest ‘Domain Name Industry Brief’ published by VeriSign, an online authentication and Internet services provider. That is about one domain for every 32 individuals on this planet, or about one for every six persons connected to the Internet. The […]
The government released the Review of the Economy 2010-11 that predicted a slower economic growth in the second half of the current year. Against 8.9% in the first half, it predicts full year growth to be around 8.6%, indicating a 8.3% growth during the second half. Agriculture expected to grow at 5.4% in 2010-11 and […]
India’s voracious appetite for gold — the biggest in the world — is threatening the health of its foreign trade balance, trade association Assocham said in a new report. It noted that India imported a whopping 33.8 billion dollars worth of gold last year in the year ended March last year — the biggest gold […]
