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UPA, NDA neck and neck in exit poll projections
SOURCE | BJP | CONG | LEFT | OTHERS |
Times Now | 142 | 154 | 38 | 209 |
CNN-IBN | 135-150 | 145-160 | 110-130 (TF) | 70-100 |
Star News | 196 | 199 | 100 (TF) | 36 |
Headlines Today | 180 | 191 | 38 | 134 |
India TV | 194 | 195 | 108 | 46 |
News X | 191 | 199 | 104 | 48 |
*TF stands for Third Front | ||||
New Delhi: The Congress-led UPA has been projected to have an edge over NDA and others in the Lok Sabha elections, while the early projects by some agencies give NDA a clear edge.
The results of the surveys, shown by the channels at the end of the fifth and final phase of polling in the month-long exercise, have placed the BJP-led NDA not very far behind the UPA and the Third Front at a little over 100 seats.
Exit polls had been way off the mark in 2004 Lok Sabha polls, with most of them projecting BJP-led NDA as the winner which did not turn out to be correct.
Ultimately, in 2004 elections the Congress and its pre-poll allies got 216 seats against a projection ranging from 170 to 205 seats. The BJP-led NDA had secured 187 seats against the projections of over 240 to 250 seats. Here is a broad indication of the findings of various agencies:
Cong leading: Headlines Today
'Headlines Today' channel gave Congress and its allies 191 seats against 180 to BJP and its allies. The Left parties, which played a crucial role in the outgoing Lok Sabha with 60 seats, has been projected to get 38 while 'Others' including the BSP are set to get 134 in a House of 543.
UPA ahead: India TV
In its projections, 'India TV' channel said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will finish as the single largest coalition in a hung Lok Sabha with 195-201 seats, an India TV exit poll said Wednesday.
This tally could go up to 227-237 if the seats bagged by the estranged Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Samajwadi Party were also to be included, it said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was expected to finish with 189-195 Lok Sabha seats and the Third Front with 113-121 seats, it said. The survey covered 530 seats and involved 1,000 enumerators.
NDA may sweep: Times Now
There is a clear NDA sweep in Bihar, according to the exit polls by Times Now. The ruling JD(U)-BJP alliance is projected to win 29 out of 40 seats, with the RJD-LJP combine trailing with six seats and Congress with a mere three seats.
In Andhra Pradesh, the exit poll shows the Telugu Desam Party and Telengana Rashtra Samithi bagging 20 out of 49 seats. Congress is projected to win 15 seats and the Praja Rajyam Party of Chiranjeevi four seats.
In Madhya Pradesh, BJP is poised to win 23 and Congress 6 seats.
In Assam, the BJP-AGP combine leads with seven out of 14 seats, followed by Congress with five seats. In Gujarat, the BJP is projected to win 19 out of 26 seats and Congress 7. In Rajastan, Congress is projected to get 13 seats, BJP 10 and Independents 2. In Kerala the Congress-led United Democratic Front is projected to win 15 out of 20 seats against five seats projected for the CPM-led Left Democratic Front.
In Karnataka, BJP is poised to win 16 seats while Congress is projected to win nine and H. D. Deve Gowda's Janata (Secular) will have to settle for just three seats.
The exit polls showed that there is no change in seat sharing in Maharashtra. Congress and Nationalist Congress Party are set to retain 12 and 11 seats while BJP-Shiv Sena combo is set to win 25 seats with BJP taking 13 seats.
In Uttar Pradesh Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party is projected to win a massive 27 seats, while BSP's archrival Samajwadi Party is expected to win only 23 seats. Meanwhile BJP and Congress are projected to win 14 and 13 seats, respectively.
In West Bengal Congress and Mamata's Trinamool Congress is projected to win 17 seats, while CPM-led Left Front will win 24 seats down from 36 seats they won in 2004.
In Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa is poised to make a big impact with 24 seats, while AIADMK's allies are projected to win another 4 seats. At the same time DMK is likely to suffer huge loses with only 7 seats projected to win, while Congress is expected to win only 4 seats.
India Syndicate and Agencies
MSN Special
General Election 2009
Wed, May 13 07:13 PM
New Delhi, May 13 (PTI) Admiral Timothy J Keating, the US Pacific Command chief, will be in India on a day-long visit tomorrow to discuss issues concerning the South Asian region in the wake of the Taliban crisis in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Admiral Keating's visit comes just before he hands over command to his successor Admiral Robert Willard, who was named to the post by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates soon after Barack Obama took office as the President.
The US Admiral, during his stay in the capital, would meet his Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta and share notes on the security concerns of the region, Navy sources said here today. Keating heads the US forces in the Asia-Pacific region comprising nearly 2.5 lakh troops and five aircraft carrier strike groups.
India and the US have just completed their annual Malabar series of Naval exercises, which is normally a bilateral event but included Japan this time around. They were held between April 29 and May 3.
The visit also gains significance, as US has been asking India to sign three bilateral deals including Logistics Support Agreement, which would ensure free access to US warships and aircraft to India air and sea ports for refuelling and replenishment of supplies. PTI.
Rural job guarantee scheme inflated: Study
Wed, May 13 07:48 PM
New Delhi, May 13 (IANS) Rural jobs shown to have been created under a centrally-sponsored scheme are often grossly inflated, a study released here Wednesday by former Reserve Bank of India governor Bimal Jalan said.
'There were a large number of districts in many states, where the number of households that have been issued job cards is more than the total number of households in these districts,' the report said.
The study, 'Evaluating Performance of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act', was jointly conducted by Public Interest Foundation (PIF), a non-profit organisation that Jalan heads, and the Delhi-based think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).
'The scheme has worked well but the level of satisfaction has been only 50 percent,' Jalan said while releasing the study.
'It is a good scheme (NREGA), but it will be successful only if it is made a national people's scheme rather than that of any party.'
The study has suggested that job cards for beneficiaries be regularly filled up at the work sites to prevent fudging of job creation figures, and said the scheme ought to be implemented by states.
'We should make NREGA a state-formulated scheme, the main provisions of which should be controlled by the state. However, it should still be part of the central act,' Jalan said.
Criticising the government estimates about employment trends, the study said: 'The claim of provision of 100 days of employment to 10 percent households in the official data is also doubtful because independent surveys, social audits, and field studies have revealed several cases of data manipulations.'
However, Jalan said NREGA has improved the share of scheduled tribe (ST) households in employment and the it also 'outshines the earlier programmes as far as participation of women is concerned'.
The report added that the official estimates of wages realised by workers were 'inflated' as the actual wages received by workers were much less than what was shown in the documents.
The study recommends penalising of states that violate the Act. Some of its major recommendations are:
*Providing dedicated staff to oversee the project
*Raising the limit of administrative expense and getting states to share half of that
*Handing over job cards to all households seeking employment under NREGA and punishing those who are hoarding job cards
*Regular checking and verification of bank or post office accounts
*Putting in place a grievance redressal system
*Fixing wages slightly below market rates
'NREGA is a good scheme especially for poor and thus it is critical to improve the working of the scheme. We, therefore, need a simple NREGA without complex administrative procedures for the common man,' Jalan added.
It may be quite RHETORIC that Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) President Ram Vilas Paswan on Wednesday escaped a fire that broke out in one of the rooms of his official residence in New Delhi! The residents of Bolangir in Orissa are facing an acute water crisis due to the intense heat wave and drought conditions.
Bookies and punters see Prime Minister Manmohan Singh retaining power as the curtain rang down on the five-phased Indian elections and reports of exit polls started coming out Wednesday evening!
The Bharatiya Janata Party led NDA is trailing behind the Congress-led UPA in the projections given by different exit polls in the Lok Sabha elections. but WASHINGTON is PROMPT enough to Contact RSS PRIME MINISTER FACE Lalkrishna Adwani to ENSURE the CONTINUITY of COUPLATION. Congress today said it will hold talks on government-formation, if needed, after counting of votes for Lok Sabha poll on May 16 and played down the political significance. On the other hand, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said on Wednesday that leaders of the Left and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would meet on May 18 to discuss the possibility of forming an alternative secular government. While, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday told reporters here that the BJP will emerge as the single largest party and NDA will form the next government after votes are counted on May 16.
The Zionist CORE US ECONOMY depends so much so on the PERIPHERRY!
Despite ADVANTAGE CONG, USA may not risk to lose the RSS Overwhelming support while the RULING Hegemony keeps the OPTION of a CONG BJP Coalition in case MAYAWATI emerges FRONT RUNNER!
India's month-long general election ended on Wednesday with the ruling Congress-led coalition forecast to be leading over Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance. Desi ILLUMINASTI, Ruling Intelligentsia and the Toilet FDI fed Media wanted exactly this result for the implementation of ZIONIST TRI IBLIS MASS DESTRUCTION agenda encashing War against TERROR, INDO US Nuclear Deal and strategic realliance in US ISRAEL lead!Neither group will win a parliamentary majority. They will now be battling for new allies to form a government at a time when Asia's third largest economy is faced with a slowdown and mounting instability in neighbouring Pakistan.
The HORSE TRADING all ready in VOGUE will reset the DEFAULT RULING Hegemony of UPA NDA LEFT Combine very well.
No doubt.
No doubt, our people, the Aboriginal Indigenous Minority Communities lost the VARNA YUDDHA, the CASTE war and remain as ENSLAVED as BONDED and PREDESTINED to be KILLED with Inherent Inequality Injustice.
MK GANDHI has fixed the PROGRRAMME so well that no Soft ware engineer would change the DESTINY set with the POONA PACT dismissing SEPARATE ELECTORATE for our communities divided into more than SIX Thousand graded castes.
We feel GLORY to bear the CURSE of APARTHEID and thus, the avenues of LIBERATION happens to be CLOSED for ever.
I have been consistingly writing that NO CHANE in bengal is POSSIBLE at all despite few losses in the Tally for the Left Front. A 70 percent turnout was reported in 11 constituencies of West Bengal in the final phase of Lok Sabha elections Wednesday amid sporadic clashes that left five people injured and charges and counter-charges of rigging. But this PROGRESSIVE Politically Conscious involvement of masses is only POLITICAL and it has no SOCIAL RELEVANCE whatsoever! Whatever JOLT the Marxists feelin Changed situation is just because of a MASSIVE MUSLIM Swing otherwise while SC, ST and OBC bases of the MARXISTS remained INTACT as the PARIVARTAN campign NEVER did the ISSUES related to this MAJORITY ! The fifth and final phase of general elections 2009 witnessed an overall 62 percent polling for 86 Lok Sabha constituencies across nine states and two union territories.
Every Political Change needs SOCIAL mobilisation first and Dr AMBEDKAR, the ACADEMICALLY sound man who knew Hindu scripts, History, economics and marxism very well, was not a FOOL!
Post AMBEDKARITES did a little bit of Social Engineering based on only CASTEOLOGY without being TROUBLED to mobilise INCULSIVE Mobilisation of socail and Productive forces!
Hence Awakening, Empowerment, Organisation and Education with internal democracy had never been tried. Enligthened Caste Hindu CLUBBING defeated the SUBALTERN alternative once again in a MAJORITARIAN Electoral system.
No wonder!
An exit poll by C-Voter polling agency showed the Congress-led alliance winning 189-201 seats with the BJP-led alliance taking 183-195 seats of the 543 seats at stake. The poll was conducted for India TV and UTV Business.
The five-phased general elections for 2009 came to a close at 5 p.m. on Wednesday with roughly 355 million registered voters participating in an exercise that is widely expected to deliver a hung house.
To rule a party or a coalition requires the support of 272 lawmakers forcing the Congress and the BJP to launch a frantic hunt for new allies. however, as confusion continues over the future of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, senior leader of Janata Dal (United) Sharad Yadav on Wednesday said his party was with the NDA. While, Former prime minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda Wednesday maintained that his party was not quitting the Third Front and said his son H.D. Kumaraswamy met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi late Tuesday to discuss some issues concerning the state.
Exit polls have had a mixed record in the past, given the difficulties of assessing an electorate of 714 million people, or more than twice the population of the United States. The polls were way off the mark in the last 2004 general election.
The actual count of votes is scheduled for Saturday and results from all the races to the 543-member lower house of parliament will be known that day.
The possibility of a hung parliament could mean the election is decided by backroom deals in the weeks after the election, perhaps leading to a short-lived and unstable government.
Indian shares fell 1.1 percent on Wednesday amid investor nervousness over the election outcome. Shares had rallied 4.1 percent in Tuesday's closing session on speculation the BJP would form the next government, traders said.
Long and winding elections to Lok Sabha finally ended on Wednesday, but roughly half of the 71.4 crore registered electors participated in this democratic exercise that is widely expected to deliver a hung house. The Congress-led UPA is looking for a new term in office while the NDA steered by the BJP is trying to end its term in the opposition, although it isn't clear if one of them would on their own be able to muster the 272 seats needed to stake claim for power.
The results of the surveys, shown by the channels at the end of the fifth and final phase of polling in the month-long exercise, have placed the BJP-led NDA not very far behind the UPA and the Third Front at a little over 100 seats.
The three firms lose Rs 48 crore per day on fuel sales.
The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved between 3,610.20 and 3,709.60, before ending with a loss of 45.85 points at 3,635.25.
All the sectoral indices except consumer durables recorded losses in varying measures. The metals and IT sectors suffered the most.
Market players adopted a cautious approach, brokers said, adding that some brokers booked profits on every surge.
Reliance Industries fell 1.04 per cent, Infosys Technologies 1.51 per cent and ICICI Bank 1.61 per cent. All the three together carry nearly 32 per cent weight in the Sensex.
The metal index suffered the most, losing 2.07 per cent to 7,812.99, as Sensex-heavy Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries, SAIL and Ispat Industries lost heavily.
The IT sector was the second-worst performer and lost 1.56 per cent to 2,792.64 with Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Techno falling sharply.
'Headlines Today' channel gave Congress and its allies 191 seats against 180 to BJP and its allies. The Left parties, which played a crucial role in the outgoing Lok Sabha with 60 seats, has been projected to get 38 while 'Others' including the BSP are set to get 134 in a House of 543.
In its projections, 'India TV' channel said UPA would get between 195 seats and it could go up to 227 if 32 seats of RJD, LJP and SP are added. The channel has given NDA 189 and the Third Front 113. 'Others' are projected to get 14 seats.
Exit polls had been way off the mark in 2004 Lok Sabha polls, with most of them projecting BJP-led NDA as the winner which did not turn out to be correct.
Ultimately, in 2004 elections the Congress and its pre-poll allies got 216 seats against a projection ranging from 170 to 205 seats. The BJP-led NDA had secured 187 seats against the projections of over 240 to 250 seats.
In the predictions by 'NewsX' channel, the UPA has been projected to get 199 seats against 191 of NDA while the 'Third Front' gets 104 and 'Others' 48. Congress alone is expected to get 155 and BJP two less.
'UTVi' channel gives UPA 195 and along with SP, LJP and RJD, it gets 227. The NDA has been given 189 seats and 'Others' 14.
Yet another channel 'News 24' gave projections made by the political parties. In the Congress projections, gets 218 as against 194 of NDA, 101 for 'Third Front' and 30 for the 'Fourth Front'
The channel quoted BJP exit polls giving UPA 170 as against NDA's 215. The 'Third Front' has been given 125 and the 'Fourth Front' 33.
Meanwhile, the Ayyar BRAHAMIN DRAVID leader, the TAMIL AMMA, AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa, whose party fought the Lok Sabha elections as part of the Third Front, on Wednesday appeared to be keeping her options open, saying she has got feelers from "many places" and that would decide on her strategy after the results are out.
It makes the Equation RIPE for BULL market in the HORSE EXCHANGE!
Asked who would lead the coalition government in that situation, Sinha said whichever party has the highest number should have its leader as the Prime Minister.
Somnath Chatterjee, the FACE of the BRAHAMINICAL Hegemony speaks the TRUTH!
At the same time, the veteran leader felt that the Left will play an important role after the polls.
Voters in nine states including the swing state of Tamil Nadu in the south went for the final round of polling on Wednesday, a process that began on April 16 to allow security forces to move across the sprawling country to supervise the vote.
The vote also included Jammu and Kashmir where a former separatist and head of a faction of the regional People's Conference party, Sajjad Lone, has broken ranks to stand for election from Baramulla in the north of the state
Indian elections are notoriously hard to predict, but most polls had tipped Congress as the likely victor. Nonetheless, in the final stages of the vote, the pro-business BJP was seen as having gained late traction with some savvy alliance building.
Either party may have to depend on the parliamentary support of an unstable coalition of regional parties and the communists.
That scenario that could slow key reforms, such as relaxing labour laws, and rock investor confidence in an economy that faces a huge fiscal deficit.
A clue to which party may take power lies with Tamil Nadu, the southern swing state in 2004 election swept by Congress ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and which now rules the state.
But Congress this time has lost allies in the state, one of the biggest prizes in the national battle with 39 seats. The party faces the resurgence of the AIADMK party, led by former film star J. Jayalalithaa, a likely powerbroker after the polls.
"The Congress is suffering because of the DMK's unpopularity," said Cho S. Ramaswamy, a political commentator.
One person was killed and several hurt in clashes in Tamil Nadu today, while another was killed in a clash between Trinamool Congress and CPI-M activists outside Kolkata before polling began.
Besides BSP, Left parties, AIADMK, TDP, BJD and JD(S) will also participate in the meeting.
The decision-making bodies of Forward Bloc and RSP would also be meeting on the same days.
Jayalalithaa alleged that some of the EVMs were not functioning properly in certain booths in Chennai. "I have received complaints that EVMs are not working properly in many places. In South Madras constituency I have received a number of complaints in this regard," she said.
'I met madame (Gandhi) and discussed the Karnataka political activity,' he told reporters later.
'There is no question of leaving the Third Front. I request the country (constituencies going to polls Wednesday) to vote for the Third Front,' he added.
However, the nearly two-hour long meeting that came just four days ahead of the Lok Sabha results, was percieved as the JD-S getting closer to the Congress.
Late in the evening, Kumarswamy, who is the son of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, was seen driving into Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence, attempting to avoid mediapersons.
TV channels soon aired the visuals of his car entering the residence with Kumaraswamy apparently trying to cover his face with handkerchief. He told reporters that he was only wiping the sweat off.
The JD-S-Congress meeting is viewed as a jolt to the Left parties, which are trying to form an anti-Congress, anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government after the elections.
It was JD-S, after all, that initiated efforts to form the Third Front by organising a rally at Tumkur, near Bangalore in March.
This would be the second shock for the Left parties. Two days ago, one of the key Third Front parties, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) of K. Chandrasekhar Rao, attended a rally organised by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Ludhiana.
Asked to comment on the meeting, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the party was these days holding 'informal meetings' with other 'secular parties' to form post-poll alliances.
'We welcome all the secular parties,' Singhvi told a TV channel, refusing to give any details about Kumaraswamy's meeting with Gandhi.
Polls peaceful, Trinamool tried to create trouble: Left Front
West Bengal's ruling Left Front (LF) Wednesday described the final phase of Lok Sabha polls in the state as 'peaceful' and accused the opposition Trinamool Congress of indulging in violence and trying to create tension by spreading rumours.
'The elections went peacefully apart from three-four sporadic incidents,' LF chairman Biman Bose said here.
'The opposition party (Trinamool) tried to create tension; they even tried to spread it through the media,' Bose alleged.
Polling was conducted in 11 Lok Sabha constituencies covering 77 assembly segments.
Bose said one Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) worker was killed by armed Trinamool workers when he was returning after casting his vote at Naraynapur in Jainagar Lok Sabha constituency.
The car of Sudin Chattopadhyay, Forward Bloc (FB) candidate from Barasat, was damaged by Trinamool activists at Ashokenagar in North 24 Parganas district, Bose alleged.
The FB is a member of the CPI-M-led LF.
In the satellite township of Salt Lake near here, police arrested five Trinamool supporters who had allegedly come from outside to disrupt polls.
In Dum Dum, a CPI-M worker suffered a head injury at Ruia when some Trinamool workers pelted stones at him, Bose alleged.
He flayed the opposition Trinamool for spreading canards in North 24 Parganas Bongaon that a temple of the dalit community Motua had been attacked.
'They spread this rumour to stop the deeply religious Matua people from voting,' he said.
In Bhangor of South 24 Parganas, Trinamool workers hurled bombs injuring three CPI-M workers.
29-year-old Varun lodged a complaint with the poll observer posted at the booth. SDM Bisalpur M Akhtar will be investigating the matter, official sources said.
The complaint related to a polling station in Luhichaa village in the Bisalpur assembly segment. Supporter's of Varun had alleged that the election officials had helped the BSP candidate Ganga Charan Rajput.
However, the Returning Officer R K Singh denied any such incident and said,"a voter came to a poll official and asked which button has to be pressed for the BSP candidate. The concerned official only guided the voter."
According to a study carried out by leading financial portal myiris.com on the financials of more than 1,400 listed companies over the past five years, 200 firms have discrepancies in their annual audited financial results.
The study has said that errors were serious with the balance sheet of a company showing a whopping Rs 216 crore discrepancy.
"109 companies had errors in the balance sheet, 66 in their cash flow statements, while 34 had errors creeping into their profit & loss statements," the study revealed.
Myiris.com Founder and CEO S Swaminathan said, "For all of the companies, one or more numbers simply do not add up. If you add up numbers in schedules under one head, this computed value should tally with total reported for the corresponding item in the main balance sheet or the Profit and Loss (P&L) statement as the case may be.
"We find that for these 209 companies, they don't add up."
Outlining the approach adopted by his team, Swaminathan said that the errors were discovered while creating the country's first ever corporate fundamentals database in Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).
e-learning outsourcing biz to touch $603 mn
According to a study by business intelligence and research provider ValueNotes, the e-learning outsourcing industry will suffer the impact of the global economic recession for the next 6-8 quarters but growth is likely to pick up after that.
"While, the economic recession will impact the growth in the industry for the next 6-8 quarters, the market will recoup and grow much faster until 2012," the study said.
Further, the market size of Indian e-learning outsourcing business will touch the 603 million dollars level by the end of calendar year 2012, it said.
Last year, the revenues from the e-learning offshoring industry in the country stood at approximately 341 million dollars.
Considering the estimated correction in the outsourcing market in the country, the study titled 'e-learning Outsourcing 2009: Advantage India' finds that the e-learning offshoring industry will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 per cent till 2012, though growth will be more subdued till 2010.
10th IIFA to have 'Best of the Decade', 'Green IIFA' awards
Mumbai The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) will be celebrating the 10th edition of IIFA Weekend in Macau next month with special awards like 'Best of the Decade' and 'Green IIFA'. 'Best of the Decade' will be given for the five popular categories of Best Film, Director, Actor, Actress and Music Composer, Sabbas Joseph, Director of IIFA said.
'Green IIFA' will be presented to a film personality who has been working in the area of creating environment awareness, he said.
Speaking about the choice of the venue of the 10th IIFA, Sabbas said Macau presents a meeting ground for Indian, Chinese and Hong Kong film industries.
"IIFA was working closely with the Macau government and 'The Venetian', venue of the three-day event to give finishing touches to organisation of the gala event," he said.
Choice of the film for the premiere would be decided in a few days depending upon how producers who had stopped new releases in multiplexes since last month, take a decision on fresh release dates, he said.
"We will also showcase films like Kaminey, Aladin during the three day event. Three more films are in the process of being finalised," he said.
Sonam Kapoor will perform live for the first time on stage.
Ritesh Deshmukh and Boman Irani, hosts of last year's IIFA awards event in Bangkok, will continue this time too, Sabbas said.
IIFA's 'Green Agenda' will continue this year too.
TERI's campaign 'Lighting a Billion Lights' in association with IIFA has been well received, he said.
Sabbas said IIFA has discussed the possibility of a separate event to celebrate non-Hindi language films.
"We are sure that it will take shape", he said.
He said it would not be possible to incorporate non-Hindi language films in awards categories along with that of Hindi will make the IIFA awards nite.
The three-day IIFA event will commence on June 11 and the award ceremony will take place on June 13.
Intel fined record $1.45 bn EU antitrust fine
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Reuters
Posted: May 13, 2009 at 1508 hrs IST
Brussels The European Commission imposed a record 1.06 billion euros ($1.45 billion) fine on chipmaker Intel Corp on Wednesday and ordered it halt illegal rebates and other practices to squeeze out rival AMD.
"Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years," European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement.
The EU executive said Intel paid computer makers to postpone or cancel plans to launch products that used AMD chips, paid illegal, secret rebates so computer makers would use mostly or entirely Intel chips, and paid a major retailer to stock only computers with its chips.
It ordered Intel "cease the illegal practices immediately to the extent that they are still ongoing."
Intel may continue to offer rebates, so long as they are legal, the Commission said.
The EU antitrust fine is the biggest imposed on an individual company, exceeding an 896-million euro penalty last year against glass maker Saint-Gobain for price fixing, and a 497-million euro fine in 2004 on Microsoft for abuse of dominance.
The Commission investigated practices dating back to 2002, and said Europe accounted for 30 per cent of Intel's current worldwide 22 billion euro market.
The Commission said Intel must pay the fine, which represents 4.15 per cent of the company's 2008 turnover, within three months of the date of the notification of the decision.
Intel, whose microprocessors power eight out of every 10 PCs in the world, posted first quarter sales of $7.1 billion. Analysts estimated the company enjoys a sizeable cash balance, generating close to $10 billion in cash last year.
The Commission, tasked with ensuring companies do not abuse any market dominance or make deals that restrict competition in the 27-country European Union, started its investigation into Intel in 2001 after a complaint by Advanced Micro Devices.
AMD has also filed a US lawsuit against Intel, which is set to be heard in court in 2010.
The Commission characterized its investigation as one of several, citing rulings against Intel by the Japan Fair Trade Commission and the Korean Fair Trade Commission.
It also referred to investigations by the US Trade Commission and the State of New York.
The decision comes against the background of a renewed determination by the United States to pursue dominant companies that use their power to crush rivals.
The US Justice Department's antitrust chief, Christine Varney, announced this week she "will be aggressively pursuing" such abuse.
Retail sales drop unexpectedly in April | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Retail sales fell for a second straight month in April, a disappointing performance that raised doubts about whether consumers were regaining their desire to shop. A rebound in consumer demand is a necessary ingredient for ending the recession. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that retail sales fell 0.4 percent last month. Many economists had expected a flat reading, and the April weakness followed a 1.3 percent drop in March that was worse than first estimated. Retail sales had posted gains in January and February after falling for six straight months, raising hopes that the all-important consumer sector of the economy might be stabilizing. But the setbacks in March and April could darken some forecasts because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity. The hope had been that consumers were starting to feel better about spending, helped by the start of tax breaks included in the $787 billion stimulus bill. Households had spent the fall hunkered down in the face of thousands of job layoffs and the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. The latest retail data "are yet another illustration that, although the worst is now over, there is still no evidence of an actual recovery," Paul Dales, U.S. economist with Capital Economics in Toronto, wrote in a research note. While anecdotal evidence suggests some improvement in sales in recent weeks, "to offset the plunge in wealth, the household saving rate still needs to double from the current rate of 4 percent," Dales wrote. "With falling employment hitting incomes, this can only be achieved by a further retrenchment in spending." The jobless rate rose to 8.9 percent in April when a net total of 539,000 jobs were lost and 13.7 million people were unemployed, the Labor Department said last week. Wall Street tumbled after the weaker-than-expected retail sales report. The Dow Jones industrial average lost about 130 points in morning trading, and broader indices also fell. In a separate report, the Commerce Department said business inventories fell 1 percent in March, a decline that matched economists' expectations. It marked the seventh straight decrease, the longest stretch since businesses cut inventories for 15 straight months in 2001 and 2002, a period that covered the last recession. Businesses are continuing to cut their stockpiles in the face of declining sales, a development that has intensified the current economic downturn. Still, the reductions in stockpiles held on shelves and in backlots eventually should help businesses get their inventories more in line with reduced sales. If that is the case, any strengthening in consumer demand should lead to increased production. The April retail sales dip came despite a 0.2 percent increase in auto sales, which fell 2 percent in March. Excluding autos, the drop in retail sales would have been 0.5 percent, much worse than the 0.2 percent gain economists expected. Sales outside of autos showed widespread weakness last month. Demand at department stores and general merchandise stores fell 0.1 percent and sales at specialty clothing stores dropped 0.5 percent. Department store operator Macy's Inc. on Wednesday reported a wider loss for the first quarter due partly to restructuring charges. Still, the company expects to see an improvement in sales from its localization efforts beginning in the fourth quarter of 2009, and in the spring of 2010. Liz Claiborne Inc. reported a first-quarter loss that was worse than Wall Street expected. The apparel maker said its quarterly loss swelled on restructuring charges and a drop in same-store sales stemming from lower consumer spending and an extra week of sales in the year-ago period. Sales also fell in April at furniture stores, electronic and appliance stores, food and beverage stores and gasoline stations, according to the Commerce Department. The performance at department stores and specialty clothing stores came as a surprise since the nation's big chain stores had reported better-than-expected results for April. Same-store sales, rose 0.7 percent last month compared with April 2008. It was the first overall increase in six months, according to the tally by Goldman Sachs and the International Council of Shopping Centers. For April, some mall-based clothing stores saw their declines level off and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, had reported its same-store sales rose 5 percent, excluding fuel, which beat expectations. Same-store sales, or sales in stores open at least one year, is considered a key metric of a retailer's financial health. The chain store sales report last week showed that Gap, American Eagle and Wet Seal posted smaller sales declines at their established locations than analysts had forecast. The Children's Place, T.J. Maxx owner TJX Cos. Inc. and teen retailer The Buckle saw bigger gains than expected. But luxury stores again were hard hit as their higher-end wares find fewer takers. Consumer spending grew 2.2 percent in the first quarter of the year, after posting back-to-back quarterly declines in the last half of 2008. Economists believe the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, will show a decline of around 2 percent in the current quarter. That would represent an improvement from the steep declines of 6.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and 6.1 percent in the first three months of this year, the worst six-month performance in a half-century. © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 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