The demand to deploy the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at various business establishments has increased following the recent terror attacks on the financial capital of the country.

Recently, Tatas and Oberois have approached the Union Home Ministry to get the CISF cover for additional security of their prestigious business establishments.

It is recalled that hotels of both business houses were recently attacked by the terrorists, leading to a large scale bloodshed and property loss.

The largest private sector bank of the country, ICICI has slashed interest rates by 50 to 75 basic points with immediate effect. Now, people can enjoy low interest rates on home and auto loans.

The announcement has come after some public sector and private lenders have taken initiative to reduce interest rates in line with the interest rate cut by the apex bank.
 

Indian Stock Markets were trading marginally lower on second trading day of new year. At 10.16 am, NSE Nifty was down by 11 points at 3022. BSE Sensex was down by nearly 35 points at 9868.

The external debt of the country slides marginally to $222.6 billion in the second quarter ended September 2008.

According to the sources from Finance Ministry, the reporting quarter witnessed lesser commercial borrowings from abroad and non-resident Indian deposits that helped to decline the debt figures.

Country's external debt was registered at $223.81 billion at the end of June. The ratio of foreign exchange reserves to total external debt also stands at comfortable level of 128.6%.

HP has introduced three new Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) products in the market. The products, namely T1000v, T1500 and R3000v are designed to offer ease of use, manageability and reliability. These products would help HP to build its portfolio in the Network-Critical Physical Infrastructure sector.

The newly launched products would offer high power efficiency and cooling optimization at affordable prices. These would enhance its datacenter solutions and management capabilities in the market.

ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) has received the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) images of the moon by Chandrayaan. Scientists are observing the various aspects of the lunar surface and these images would soon be released to the general public.  

The Moon Impact Probe has started its operations after detaching from the orbiting Chandrayaan. It landed on the surface of the moon at 8:31 IST on November 14, 2008. ISRO had released two images while it was landing.