Satyam to exercise cost-cutting, relocate onsite staff

Satyam Computer on Thursday announced cost-cutting measures including relocating onsite support staff to tide over the current financial crisis in the company and meet the challenges posed by the global economic slowdown.

The company has also put a freeze on expenses relating to internal issues. "All capital expenditures, unless required to meet customer deliveries, are being suspended till further notice. This includes renewal of laptops, office renovation.

The company has suspended external training as well as the advertising and marketing co-lateral expenses for the time being.

Azharuddin to join Congress

Former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin is all set to join the Congress party.
He wants the Congress to come back to power.

Gold touched a record high above Rs.15,000 per 10 gm in Mumbai

Taliban plan to target India

After Pakistan agreed to enforce Islamic law in large areas of its restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP), including Swat Valley, in a concession to buy peace in the region, intelligence sources confirmed the threat that Taliban actually poses to India which is not far from the Indian boundary.

Government may ban FDI in cigarettes

The commerce ministry is considering a proposal to ban foreign direct investment in the manufacture of cigarettes for sale in the country.

A proposal to prohibit FDI in the manufacture of cigarettes, where it is manufactured for domestic consumption, has, accordingly, been initiated by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and is under consideration of the government.

Satyam recalls 1,500 onsite staff

Satyam Computer Services has called back more than 1,500 overseas employees, attached to projects that are shut down due to termination of contract by clients.The first batch of 170 employees who were attached to State Farm Insurance, an Illinois-based insurance company, that terminated its contract with Satyam, has already returned to Satyam headquarters in Hyderabad.

The Ford Story 2.0 Web Site Launches

Ford created TheFordStory.com Web site in December to help show the public that the company is different – Ford has a plan centered around great new products that deliver on fuel economy, quality, safety and smart technologies.

Now the company is introducing “version 2.0” of this social media Web site. Highlights of the updated site include:

· Daily updates of fresh content, showing the progress on Ford Motor Company's plan. A particular emphasis will be on fuel economy and quality, as Ford tries to make the reality of where we stand competitively match the perception the public has today.

· An Outside Voices area, providing visitors the ability to not only see what Ford is saying about itself, but also what consumers and the news media are saying about the company directly.

· Easier ability to share individual articles and videos, allowing visitors to spread Ford's story and progress to others.

· Connection with other external social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr – and it now can be browsed on iPhones.

3G auction may fetch only Rs 20,000 cr

The Finance Ministry has sharply scaled down the estimated income from auctioning 3G spectrum. The Budget estimate for the year 2009-10 pegs revenues from the auction, expected to be held later this year, at Rs 20,000 crore only.

The total income from collecting telecom licence fees, entry fees and spectrum charges from the operators for the year 2009-10 is estimated at Rs 33,335 crore compared with the revised estimate of Rs 13,174 crore during 2008-09.

USO fund
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While the Universal Services Obligation fund has collected nearly Rs 20,000 crore for rolling out telecom services in rural areas, the Finance Ministry has allocated only Rs 1,800 crore for 2009-10.

Rs 100-cr tax concessions in TN budget

The Tamil Nadu budget, presented by the State Finance Minister, Mr K. Anbazhagan, on Tuesday, shows a deficit of Rs 11,823.64 crore, chiefly on the back of tax concessions worth Rs 100 crore and interest-free crop loans to be given to farmers wh o repaid their loans on time from this fiscal.

Land tax for dry land would be reduced to Rs 2 from the present Rs 15 a acre, and to Rs 5 from Rs 50 for wet land.

Pakistan army vows to hold fire in Swat

Pakistan's military on Tuesday vowed to hold fire and respect a controversial agreement signed between the government and militants to enforce Islamic law in the violence-torn Swat valley.