Stock Market News, Financial News - Mar 11, 2009

Citigroup cheers markets but economies still bleak

By Jonathan Stempel and Sachi Izumi

NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - Citigroup said it was profitable in the first two months of 2009 and Toshiba was reported to be set for an operating profit of $1 billion next year, two rare shards of corporate news to lift markets.

Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, following a strong rally on Wall Street, but economic news remained gloomy.  (More ...)

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'US protectionism not to impact Indian IT'

By ENS Economic Bureau

At a time when US President Barack Obama's statements on curbing tax breaks for outsourcing companies in the US rang alarm bells in the Indian IT sector, Indian IT representative body National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) today said it does not expect the recent protectionist measures taken by the US government to impact the Indian IT-BPO industry.  (More ...)

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NHAI plans funding to road developers

By Gunjan Pradhan Sinha, Indian Express Finance

In a bid to prevent work on road projects from coming to a halt, the government is considering a proposal to allow the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to extend working capital loans to developers. In a meeting held on March 7, the roads secretary and NHAI officials discussed the possibility of such a move with road developers. According to developers present at the meeting, the move may help them tide over the tight credit situation they face for projects undertaken by them under the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP).  (More ...)

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LandT, 8 others in race for Chennai mega container terminal

By Financial Express Bureau

Nine companies have submitted their requests for qualification for the development of India's first mega container terminal at the Chennai port. Estimated to cost Rs 3,686 crore, the terminal, with a rated annual capacity of 4 million TEUs, is likely to become operational by 2012-2013.

The last date for submitting the request was on March 9, 2009. The applicants are: LandT Transco Pvt Development Project Ltd, Chennai; Navayuga Engineering Co Ltd, Chennai; DP World Pvt Ltd, Mumbai; IL andFS Maritime Infra Co Ltd, Mumbai; Vadinar Oil Terminal Ltd, Mumbai; Mundra Port and SEZ Ltd, Ahmedabad; Lanco Infratech Ltd, Hyderabad; FGI Group of companies, Malaysia and GVK-Leighton Consortium, Mumbai.  (More ...)

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Nine million GSM users added in Feb, tally rises to 277 million

By Financial Express Bureau

The country added a total of 9 million GSM subscribers in February, taking the total tally to 277 million at the end of the month. This marks an increase of 3.43% in the total number of subscribers, compared to the month of January.

The country's largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, added the highest number of GSM subscribers during the month, at 2.5 million. With this, the total number of mobile subscribers for the company went up to about 91million. Bharti continues to have the largest market share in the GSM segment with 32.88%. Bihar once again added the largest number of subscribers for the company, with 4 lakh additions. Karnataka added the second highest number of subscribers with around 3 lakh, with Rajasthan close behind with 2.9 lakh additions in the month.  (More ...)