Balrampur Chini Mills, one of the largest integrated sugar manufacturing company, on Saturday announced a marginal increase in net profit at Rs 66.19 crore for the second quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared to Rs 65.65 crore in the year-ago period.

The net sales for the quarter rose 15.93% to Rs 357.11 crore, compared to Rs 308.03 crore for prior year period.

Further, the company's total income surged by 14.84 per cent to Rs 357.34 crore, from Rs 311.15 crore in the corresponding period in the previous year.

Cryolor, French industrial gas tanks manufacturer and a 100 per cent subsidiary of Cryolor SA, has decided to set up a manufacturing facility near Chennai.

The plant would be setup at Melmaruvattur in Chennai, covering a built up area of 15,000 sq. m.

The company intends to pump an investment worth Rs 45 crore on the plant through its fully owned subsidiary Cryolor Asia Pacific.

Property developer Indiabulls Real Estate (IBREL) has informed that company's board of directors has finally approved a plan to raise $600 million (Rs 3,000 crore) through qualified institutional placement (QIP) of securities.

The QIP proceeds are expected to be utilized for funding its power projects, mainly a 1,320-megawatt project planned in Amaravati in Maharashtra.

The board of directors took a decision to this effect at its meeting on April 24 (Friday).

With Akshaya Thrithiya - an auspicious day by the Hindu calendar – falling on April 27, gold suppliers are hoping for a turnaround for the better so far as demand for gold is concerned! Since the gold prices in India having more or less hovered around the Rs 14,000-15,000 per 10-gram range for some time, the jewellery sales have plunged substantially. In fact, there was hardly any import of the yellow metal during February and March.  

The bill introduced by US Senators Mr. Chuck Grassley and Mr. Dick Durbin on Thursday is expected to have grim implications for the Indian IT firms, as it aims at curtailing the use the of H-1B and L1 visas, thereby limiting the competitiveness of the offshore vendors.

The bill proposes to alter the H-1B and L1 visa stipulations in such a way that US employers would be prohibited from employing additional H-1B and L-1 guest-workers in case more than 50 per cent of their workers are H-1B and L-1 visa holders. The implementation of the proposal in its current form could cause a big dent in the profitability of the Indian IT services market.

The directive by the Department of Telecom (DoT) - whereby Internet Service Providers in India have been compelled to surrender spectrum falling in the Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) space - has become a contentious issue. Taking a hard line stance against the edict, the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) has filed a petition with the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.