News that you have missed last fortnight

Eleven central trade unions struck work for two days hitting key services, including banking and transport. Production in the auto hub of Gurgaon came to a halt as auto leader Maruti Suzuki and two-wheeler giant Hero MotoCorp shut their plants. The losses due to the strike are estimated at Rs 26,000 crore.

CORPORATE
The government has decided to allow 4G licence holders to also offer voice services. This is seen as a boost to the Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries' telecom re-entry plans. Companies with 4G spectrum can offer voice calls by paying an additional Rs 1,658 crore for a pan-India licence. Until now, only Bharti Airtel has launched 4G services. Reliance's imminent entry may shake up the market the way it did when it bundled low-cost services with low-cost handsets a decade ago.

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  Azim Premji
  The spectrum auction starting on March 11 faces a new hurdle, with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India challenging the Telecom Department's decision to auction 900 MHz airwaves in the Delhi High Court.
• Wipro Chairman Azim Premji will commit more of his wealth to philanthropy. In 2010, he had donated 8.7 per cent of the total stock of Wipro from his personal stockholding.

Low fares are back. India's second-largest carrier, Jet Airways, has offered two million seats at discounted rates for travel up to December 31 this year. SpiceJet came up with its own scheme, offering a million seats for travel between February and April. GoAir, IndiGo and Air India followed suit with similar or lower discounts on select routes. After Kingfisher Airlines was grounded, skyrocketing fares forced passengers to opt out of air travel. The latest offers are a bid to stimulate the market with deals and discounts.

Samsung and Apple are engaged in a smartphone war in India. After sales of Apple's iPhone picked up, thanks to its EMI scheme, Samsung launched a mega campaign, reintroducing its EMI scheme for high-end phones. With BlackBerry 10 devices set to launch in India shortly, the action will only hot up.

• Switzerland-based Nestle, the world's biggest food company, has withdrawn beef pasta meals sold in Italy and Spain after finding traces of horsemeat in them. The scandal has left a sour taste in the mouth of consumers, with a fifth of adults indicating, in a survey, that they had cut down on purchases of meat.
• China has a new status: the world's biggest trader. The country has surpassed the United States in total imports and exports by a margin of $44 billion. Beijing insists it is a developing country. Last year, Chinese imports and exports totalled $3.86 trillion, compared with America's $3.82 trillion, according to trade information from both countries

ECONOMY
India has suspended jewellery imports from Thailand as exporters from other countries have been taking advantage of the Indo-Thai early harvest scheme to take advantage of the concessional duty of one per cent. India has raised the import duty on gold by up to 10 per cent to curb high consumption, which has pushed the current account deficit to record levels. Gold jewellery imports from Thailand touched $92 million in the April to November 2012 period, against $13 million in 2011/12. Of $92 million, $72 million was imported in October and November.

India's exports are likely to miss the target of $360 billion in 2012/13 and settle at $300 billion because of the slowdown in demand in traditional markets, according to Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma.
 
New Delhi's Connaught Place is the world's fourth-most expensive office location. It is ahead of even Tokyo and New York, according to a survey by global real estate consultant Cushman and Wakefield. London's West End is the most expensive, regaining the top spot from Hong Kong's central business district after five years. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil took the third position.

$1.01 bn The investments by private equity firms in 82 deals in India during the October to December 2012 quarter. This is a decline of 32 per cent from the same quarter a year ago, both in value and volume of deals, according to a PwC report. The IT and ITeS sector is the leader, with 30 deals worth $167 million.

$17.1 bn The estimated global revenues from business intelligence software by 2016, as enterprises focus on ways to improve decision-making and analysis. The revenues are expected to grow seven per cent and reach $13.8 billion in 2013, according to research firm Gartner.

MARKETS
The Finance Ministry has cut market borrowing for 2012/13 in a bid to keep the fiscal deficit within the revised target of 5.3 per cent. It has cancelled the auction of government securities for Rs 12,000 crore. The government has so far borrowed Rs 5.5 trillion in 2012/13.

Microfinance institutions have reported a healthy clip in loan demand. They have disbursed loans totalling Rs 6,194 crore in the October to December quarter. This is an increase of 22 per cent over the July to September period. Interestingly, MFIs outside Andhra Pradesh, the hub of these institutions, reported 70 per cent of the total loan disbursement. A restrictive state law has halted MFI activities.

COMING UP

• The RBI has issued guidelines on new bank licences. This will pave the way for corporate houses to enter the banking sector. Companies must apply by July 1.
• Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that the government is likely to shortly clear several of the 39 oil and gas fields stuck for want of clearance by the Defence Ministry.
• The 14th edition of Asia's largest media and entertainment event, FICCI Frames, will be held in Mumbai from March 12 to 14. This year's theme is A Tryst With Destiny: Engaging a Billion Consumers.