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In his Tuesday-published annual letter to shareholders, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer highlighted hardware and online services as the future focus areas of the software giant; thereby indication a new strategic course for the company.

Going by the comments which have been made by Ballmer in the letter, it is highly likely that Microsoft may ultimately develop its own handsets to broaden its hardware portfolio which currently comprises the market-dominating Xbox gaming console and its upcoming own-brand Surface tablet.

Rising chocolate consumption in urban and semi-urban areas of India will likely push the country's chocolate market above the Rs 7,500-crore mark by 2015, a study by industry body Assocham said.

As per Assocham (the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India), the Indian chocolate market is currently at around Rs 4,500-crore mark.

D S Rawat, secretary general of Assocham, said the consumption of chocolates is currently registering a compound annual growth rate of 25 per cent.

The Government will soon allow airlines to operate the Airbus 380 (A-380) on regular flights to India, a senior civil aviation ministry official revealed.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the senior official said that the ministry was considering relaxing of rules in bilateral air service agreements (ASAs) by deleting the `aircraft type' clause.

Revealing the government's plan, the official said, "We will allow carriers, who want to fly Airbus 380s into India under the existing bilateral allotments they have."

Ref Soyaoil yesterday traded with the positive node and settled 3.67% up at 6

Aiming to penetrate deeper into the Indian market and offer cost-effective brands, US-based retail giant Walmart has decided to establish smaller stores in the country.

Walmart, the world's largest retailer, has plans to hit affiliations with small and mid-level Indian suppliers across various product categories to offer private label brands that will cost 10-15 per cent lower than established brands.

Raj Jain, managing director & chief executive of Bharti Walmart, said that Walmart's that strategy would allow it to go deeper into the Indian market.

Mustardseed yesterday traded with the positive node and settled 3.45% up at 4143