Helping The Homeless Get Into Business
The St. Patrick Center, a homeless shelter, this week opened a new small business incubator and trades training center with a goal of helping the homeless, or those at risk, find stable, good-paying w...
2008-10-11 15:22:23WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI
BUS1Business/Business/EconomyIndia's central bank says financial system well regulatedWashington/New Delhi, Oct 11 IANS A day after Indian equities crashed in line with the global meltdown and on worries over declining industrial growth, Reserve Bank of India RBI Governor D. Subbarao has said overseas exposures of domestic banks were small and that the country's financial system remained well-regulated."What we are witnessing today in the Indian markets is an indirect, knock-on effect of the global financial situation," said Subbarao, ahead of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund IMF in Washington that starts later Saturday."This is only a reflection of the uncertainty and anxiety in global financial markets," added the central bank governor, who is representing India at the meeting as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram cancelled his visit at the last minute."The banking sector through overseas branches has some exposure to distressed financial instruments and troubled financial institutions. But this exposure is part of the normal course of their business and is quite small relative to the size of their overall business."Maintaining that Indian banks do not have any direct exposure to the sub-prime mortgages, the central bank governor further said the Indian banking system and the foreign exchange market were sound and well regulated."The fundamentals of the Indian economy have been strong and continue to be strong," he said, adding: "There is no reason for any anxiety or uncertainty."Subbarao's remarks came against the backdrop of a key Indian stock market index closing with one of its steepest losses in recent months, with interventions by the government and regulators having little impact on lifting the battered sentiments.Banking stocks were particularly hit, with ICICI Bank, the country's largest in the private sector, crashing 26 percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange, while Axis Bank and HDFC Bank lost 15.64 percent and 5.93 percent, respectively.While Chidambaram announced a panel under Finance Secretary Arun Ramanathan to study the impact of the global financial turmoil on the Indian economy, the central bank reduced the cash reserve ratio for commercial banks - the minimum balance they have to keep - by 100 basis points to inject more liquidity into the system.But the news that shattered the already battered mood was that the country's industrial production based on official data had expanded by a mere 1.3 percent in August which was the lowest growth in a decade."Our policymakers seem to be in a denial mode," said noted business economist D.H. Pai Panandikar, referring to statements by Chidambaram and regulators that the main problem in the Indian financial system was liquidity."Yes, liquidity is a problem and I am glad the finance minister says so. But the markets have crashed, rupee is sliding, there is a global turmoil and inflation remains high. All this could affect our growth," Panandikar, who is president of RPG Foundation, a think tank, told IANS.Industry lobbies like the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry Assocham now warn that if corrective measures like interest rates cuts, reduction in input costs and infrastructure needs are not taken, the situation could worsen and adversely affect India's growth. --Indo-Asian News Serviceap/jg554 Words*11101308
2008-10-11 04:00:08Obama, McCain Scramble to Address Voters' Fears - Wall Street Journal
Boston GlobeObama, McCain Scramble to Address Voters' FearsWall Street Journal - 3 hours agoSens. Barack Obama and John McCain issued new economic proposals on Friday, underscoring how...
2008-10-11 03:00:00Indian banks have little exposure to distressed assets: RBI
D Subbarao has said the Indian banks have some exposure to the distressed financial instruments, but this is very small compared to the overall size of the business....
2008-10-11 02:04:09Candidates Present 401k and Small-Business Plans - New York Times
ReutersCandidates Present 401k and Small-Business PlansNew York Times - 2 hours agoBy SARAH WHEATON and LESLIE WAYNE Senator John McCain proposed on Friday that investors should be given a...
2008-10-11 00:39:47Vienna Stock Exchange in steep fall after suspension ends
BUS28Business/EconomyVienna Stock Exchange in steep fall after suspension endsVienna, Oct 10 DPA Shares on the leading ATX index of the Vienna Stock Exchange fell by 10.91 percent Friday afternoon after the market had been suspended until midday due to high volatility. Vienna Stock Exchange spokeswoman Beatrix Exinger said the bourse had also needed time to implement new trading rules in response to the expected market fluctuations. According to these new guidelines by Austria's financial oversight authority, trading of a company's share can be stopped if its price moves by more than 10 percent. For eight out of the 20 companies on the ATX, trading was suspended Friday afternoon. The Vienna Insurance Group was among the affected shares, as it had lost 18.17 percent until its trading was halted. As in the past days, Erste Group Bank AG and Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG also suffered heavy losses as their shares plummeted by 13.88 percent and 21.72 percent respectively. Another factor for closing the market were the heavy losses over the past days, Exinger said. This week, shares on the blue-chip ATX index have lost 23 percent of their value by Thursday evening. As falling banking stocks account for around a quarter of the market capitalisation on the small bourse, the Vienna Stock Exchange has underperformed other European exchanges this week. Since the ATX was one of the smaller European indexes in terms of capitalisation, Raiffeisen analyst Johannes Mattner explained, investors withdrawing from the market had a bigger effect than in bigger bourses. "If someone backs out, these markets lose ground fast," he said. Another factor for the bad performance of companies listed in Vienna was their exposure to Central and Eastern European business, analysts said. Bauernfried said that previously, Vienna had outperformed other markets because of this factor, but now it had become "a big liability for some companies", such as the building group Strabag SE, whose trading was also suspended. The Bucharest Stock Exchange also halted regular trading Friday for the second time this week, while stock exchange authorities in Moscow announced that they were delaying the opening of trading. Since its record hight in July of last year, shares traded in Vienna have lost 61.5 percent of their value and stood at a total of 64.5 billion euros $88.2 billion as of Thursday evening.--DPAsnb/vt430 Words10102021
2008-10-10 11:02:12Metro Cash & Carry bags APMC licence in Bengal
NAT60National/BusinessMetro Cash & Carry bags APMC licence in BengalKolkata, Oct 10 IANS With ruling Left Front partner Forward Bloc relenting, Metro Cash & Carry India, the Indian arm of German wholesaler Metro AG, was Friday granted licence to sell farm commodities and other food items to hotels, restaurants, provision stores and other institutional buyers in West Bengal.A Memorandum of Understanding MoU outlining the conditions for Metro's operations was inked between the company officials and the state agriculture marketing board chief Naren Chatterjee at the state secretariat, Writers' Buildings here."We are delighted that we have received our APMC Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee licence as it is crucial to our business model," Frits van Peski, member of the Executive Board of Directors, Metro Cash & Carry India, said in a statement.Forward Bloc, which controls agriculture and agricultural marketing departments in the state and also heads the licensing authority State Agriculture Marketing Board, had earlier opposed renewal of the licence to Metro Cash & Carry India, but relented after pressure from front allies including major partner Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI-M. Peski thanked Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Agriculture, Consumer Affairs and Agri Marketing Departments Minister Naren De, and Chatterjee for facilitating the renewal. According to the MoU, Metro would have to pay one percent transaction fee on every purchase and sale executed by the company. It would not be allowed to do contract farming of any agriculture produce and livestock and every vendor of farm produce would have to be registered with the state marketing department."We are keen to start our operations to demonstrate the benefits of our unique business-to-business concept to our customers in Kolkata", said Martin Dlouhy, managing director of Metro Cash & Carry India. "We have approximately 350 trained local employees eager to serve our registered professional business customers. We should have the outlet fully up and running in six to eight weeks."This store will be Metro's fifth outlet in India. Of their other four, two are in Bangalore and one each in Hyderabad and Mumbai, where various small and medium businesses like kirana retail stores, hotels and restaurants have partnered the whole seller.The German company started the project of constructing this 100,000 sq ft outlet for an investment of $30 million in Eastern Metropolitan Bypass couple of years back. The entire project got delayed due to land disputes.After eight months of legal battle between the state government and the previous owner of the land, the company finally got permission to resume construction of its first store in the city and started work last November.The state government granted a licence to trade in APMC commodities in 2005, which was subsequently renewed twice in 2006 and 2007 and was to be valid till March 2008. However, in June 2007 the licence was unilaterally withdrawn by the APMC authorities. The company filed for issuance of fresh APMC licence in March 2008.--Indo-Asian News Serviceag/ssp/rn/dg516 Words*10101909
2008-10-10 10:00:00Obama offers plan to offer credit to small firms Reuters
Reuters - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday proposed a new loan program for small businesses, saying it would help stem job losses amid the deepening financial crisis....
2008-10-10 10:13:06Hawkers in Dal Lake witness decline in business
Srinagar, Oct 10 ANI: With continued agitation and protest in Jammu and Kashmir, hawkers, mainly selling their goods to tourists in houseboats, are witnessing a decline in their business.A 52-year-old hawker starts his day by rowing from houseboat to houseboat in Dal Lake in search of customers, but all he finds are few foreign tourists relaxing in their houseboats.Farooq Ahmed Pala deals with precious and semi-precious stones and sells his products to tourists staying in houseboats.For many years, hawkers have been in the business of providing shawls, jewels, dress materials, carpets and other handicraft items to the tourists staying in houseboats to save time from going to markets.But due to the recent protests in Srinagar, sparked by a decision to grant land for raising shelters for pilgrims to Amarnath shrine, tourism has been affected and in turn, the business of these hawkers.Some of the hawkers also set up mini-super market in Shikaras, a small boat, selling groceries and other essential products to the customers.Like Pala about 1000 other hawkers are also suffering huge losses."We had good business of Kashmir handicrafts like shawls, jewellery, wood carving and carpets. We were earning good livelihood, but the propaganda and shrine land issue made by the politicians and others have affected our business. It has come to five per cent from 100 per cent, said Pala.Tourists enjoy the picturesque beauty of Srinagar staying in houseboats and the hawkers offer them exquisite jewellery and other handicrafts items. ANI
2008-10-10 08:00:00Very few goats sacrificed during Durga Puja in flood-hit Bihar
NAT26National/Religion/RightsVery few goats sacrificed during Durga Puja in flood-hit BiharPatna, Oct 10 IANS The devastating floods in Bihar this year have come as a blessing for thousands of goats. They have escaped being killed during Durga Puja and Dussehra when Hindus sacrifice animals as part of a ritual to appease the goddess.Animal rights activists are also a relieved lot. The floods have rendered millions of people homeless, making it impossible for them to celebrate Durga Puja and Dussehra in the traditional way.Unlike last year when thousands of goats were sacrificed to mark the festival, fewer animals were sacrificed during Durga Puja, that concluded Thursday.The floods caused by the Kosi river breaching its banks affected the districts of Saharsa, Madhepura, Supaul, Araria and Purnea.The flood-affected districts witnessed low key festivities this year."A few people did offer the customary animal sacrifice this year to show sympathy for the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the floods," Ranjeev, an animal rights activist in Saharsa, said.Animal sacrifice is an age-old practice during the festival in Bihar. Satyanarain Madan, who has been working in the flood-affected districts, said in Madhepura and nearby places hardly 10 percent animals were sacrificed at temples to appease Hindu goddess Durga. Some flood victims living in relief camps told IANS over telephone Friday that they celebrated the festival without any animal sacrifice. ”It was not at all possible, we are fighting for survival,“ Manoj Paswan, a small time businessman in Supaul, said. Paswan's shop was badly damaged in the flood.Duhna Sahni, a flood victim at a relief camp in Saharsa, said he has been sacrificing a goat each year for the past two decades, but this year he was unable to. “I am eagerly waiting to return to my village. I will sacrifice an animal next year if everything returns to normal,” he said.Sanjay Singh, an agent dealing with animals in the cattle market, said business was dull due to low demand of animals for sacrifice. ”The numbers of animals sold in most of the markets was disappointing,” Singh said.It has been over one-and-a-half months since the Kosi breached its embankment in upstream Nepal, flooding hundreds of villages in Bihar.More than three million people were rendered homeless and over one million cattle were affected by floods. The calamity has claimed over 191 lives, according to official estimates. Officials said 993,992 people have been evacuated to safer places till date. About 370,000 people have taken shelter in over 300 relief camps in the flood-affected areas.--Indo-Asian News Service ik/rn/dg 471 Words10101456
2008-10-10 05:00:00
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