China's second largest telecom gear maker, ZTE is increasingly focusing on the Indian telecom market for growth during the year.

ZTE India had generated total revenues of $ 700 million during 2012 but had recorded a loss of $400 million in the previous year. The company is looking to improve earnings this year and has recorded an increase of 35.9 per cent in net profits during the first quarter from January to March, 2013 in India.

Idea Cellular, the telecom service unit of the Aditya Birla Group, has announced the launch of two more 3G smartphones namely, Idea ID 920 and Idea Aurus III aimed at different market segments in the Indian market.

Both the Idea ID 920 and Idea Aurus III come with dual-SIM support, will be powered by 1GHz processor as well as Google's Android platform. The company said that ID 920 is an entry level phone and is aimed at semi-urban markets while on the other hand, Aurus III comes with Android 4.1 OS and 4 inch TFT screen, 5MP primary camera as well as video calling facility.

XOLO might be planning to launch the new Q1000 smartphone in the Indian market to expand its presence and compete better with the rivals.

Some e-commerce sites have already listed the device with the Coming Soon sign even before the company has announced the device. The listing on the site said that the dual-SIM Q1000 will feature a 5-inch HD IPS display with 1280x720 pixels and it is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor with PowerVR SGX544 graphics processor and 1GB of RAM.

Advantage Computers India Pvt Ltd (ADCOM), which imports IT and technology products, tablets and mobiles in India, has announced the launch of the new affordable ADCOM Thunder smartphone series in the Indian market.

The new Thunder smartphone will feature 5.3 inch screen and will be powered by a dual core CPU. It runs on Android 4.1, and has 4 GB ROM and 512 MB RAM for faster performance. As for the camera, the device features a 8MP camera for clarity in pictures.

Disgraced Phaneesh Murthy, former president and chief executive of iGates Corp, has claimed that neither had he violated any company policy nor he was involved in any sexual harassment of his subordinate.

Fremont, California-based software services firm iGate Corp on Tuesday terminated the employment of Murthy with immediate effect over undisclosed relationship with an employee of the company.

Utah-based, drilling services provider Boart Longyear, which is listed in Australia, has been forced to cut more than 1000 jobs worldwide since the beginning of the year due to lower demand for its services.

The Indian unit of automotive giant, Ford Motors is planning a innovative strategy to reduce the cost of ownership of its vehicle in the Indian Market by using Child Parts.

Child parts are much smaller parts of components of an assembly that would enhance reparability of its models. The company has been able to reduce costs by replacing just the Child Parts in any case of breakdown instead of replacing the entire assembly in the vehicle. Replacing smaller parts allows customers to incur much lesser costs on repairs.

Indian two wheeler giants, Bajaj Auto has planning a host of new launches in the Indian two wheeler industry during the coming 12 months to take on rivals like Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India.

Bajaj recently lost its number two position in the Indian market to Honda and thus the company is aiming to launch 2 new Pulsar, and 6 new Discover variants during the next 12 months to increase the competition and regain their No 2 position in the country. The company is planning to expand its presence both in the Indian market as well as in foreign markets with the 8 new models planned.

India's Essar Oil Ltd is on the verge of signing a $1 billion financing co-operation deal with China Development Bank Corp (CDBC) and PetroChina International, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Sources said that the $1 billion financing agreement could be signed between the two sides on Tuesday during China's Prime Minister Li Keqiang's first official visit to Mumbai.

Yahoo Inc announced on Monday that it would acquire online blogging service Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash.

So far, this acquisition is the company's largest since Marissa Mayer became the chief executive of the Inter firm in July last year. This deal also marks Yahoo Inc's most expensive acquisition after the company's $1.3 billion acquisition of online search engine Overture nearly a decade ago.

Bangalore, May 20 : Leading pharma and nutraceutical export player Sami Labs Monday unveiled a holistic strategy to increase its market share in India to 10 percent in the near future from two percent currently.

"We are expanding and diversifying our client base across the country to sell a range of bulk actives and supply finished products for increasing our market share in India by five times," Sami Labs managing director Muhammed Majeed said here Monday.

Marissa Mayer, the Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo! is moving ahead with her plans to acquire blogging site Tumblr in a deal valued at $1.1 billion.

Staffing services major TeamLease has said that the salaries are expected to increase 12 per cent across industries and functions this year.

The company also said that there will be an increase in the hiring activity in the coming few months. The TeamLease' Salary Primer for 2013, showed that the hiring activity and the salaries across sectors are expected to rise in the coming months.

Hector Beverages Pvt. Ltd, the maker of the popular Tzinga Energy Drink, has been able to raise about $8 million from Sequoia Capital and others existing investors including Catamaran Ventures and Footprint Ventures.

The company has said that it will use the raised funds mainly for marketing and expansion of production capacity, it said in a statement. Tzinga Energy Drink has emerged as leading energy drink in several markets in the country and the additional funds will allow the company to consolidate its position and penetrate deeper into the Indian market to boost its presence across markets.

According to some report, the Nokia EOS phone has been spotted by a fan and the device is believed to be Windows Phone similar to the company’s 808 PureView phone.

A portal focussed on Windows Phone, WMPowerUser said it has received some information about the device from someone who has seen a prototype of camera central device. The portal quotes the source to say that the phone's body is made of polycarbonate material just like Lumia phones and would be as thick as Lumia 920 but with a lesser weight.

The one-man committee, headed by former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Mukul Mudgal formed to investigate the Walmart's lobbying activities with American lawmakers for expanding into the Indian market, is set to submit its report this week.

Marissa Mayer, the Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo! has hinted that the company is planning to acquire Tumblr for about US$ 1.1 billion to expand its presence in the social media.

Mayer said that the discussions are going on with Tumblr's David Karp for the proposed acquisition. The takeover will allow Yahoo! to expand its reach to the internet users with 15 billion page views a month. Tumblr has been doing well with the marketers and investors where Yahoo! has faced problems in recent times.

New Delhi, May 18 : Gemfields, a global coloured gemstone producer, has collaborated with four Indian jewellery designers for a collection of bespoke pieces.

The international brand has collaborated with a total of 36 jewellers. Among these are four from India - Amrapali, Bina Goenka, Farah Khan Ali and The Gem Place. They have used Gemfields' emeralds, rubies and amethysts for special lines.

Amrapali has created a set of necklace and earrings using Gemfields' Mozambican rubies, pearls and diamonds set in yellow gold.

Beating street expectations, India's leading cigarettes firm ITC Ltd on Friday announced a year-on-year increase of more than 19 per cent in its quarterly net profit.

ITC announced that its net profit grew 19.4 per cent to Rs 1,927 crore in the three months ended March 2013, from Rs 1,614.36 crore in the corresponding three months of the previous year.

In spite of gestation costs to its new FMCG business and investment in areas like paper and packaging and hotels; the company enjoyed growth in all segments.

The outgoing Chief Executive Officer of chip maker, Paul Otellini has admitted that Intel has missed an opportunity to offer its processor inside the first iPhone.

Otellini said that Apple had approached the chip-maker to supply a chip for the iPhone but the two companies did not reach an agreement on the matter because of the difference on the price that Apple was willing to offer and the price estimates by Intel. He said that his gut feeling was to say yes and also expressed regret on the decision not to go ahead with the business deal with Apple.