SBI raises NRI deposit rates

State Bank of India, the country's biggest lender, has raised term deposit rates for non-resident external accounts by up to 574 bps from January 1.

Deposits below 10 million rupees will earn interest rates of 9.25 percent, while those above 10 million rupees will earn 9 percent for 1-2 years maturity from 3.82 percent earlier, it said in a press release.

The Reserve Bank of India deregulated interest rates on non-resident external rupee deposits and ordinary non-resident accounts earlier this month to provide greater flexibility to banks to attract dollars.

Anna Hazare begins three-day fast

Veteran social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday began his three-day fast against the weak Lokpal Bill tabled by the government in Parliament.

Hazare, who reached here last night from his village Ralegan Siddhi, paid respects at Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Juhu before proceeding to the fast venue, MMRDA ground, in suburban Bandra in a rally.

Amid concerns over his health as he was suffering from viral infection, Hazare had earlier said he will go ahead with his protest and claimed that his movement was not against any side, person or party.

After his three-day fast, Hazare will launch a civil disobedience "jail bharo" campaign. Online, more than one lakh 37 thousand Indians have offered to participate in the agitation.

In order to accommodate the huge number of people courting arrest during the jail bharo call, Mumbai Police has reportedly decided to make Kalina Ground a makeshift jail. Kalina is in western suburbs of Mumbai, close to the MMRDA Ground.

The government introduced the new version of the Lokpal Bill in Lok Sabha on Thursday after a lengthy debate during which almost all parties opposed the introduction of the Bill in its current form.

Team Anna has rejected the government's version of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament, and termed it to be weak. They have been pressurising the government to accept their demands including bringing the CBI under the ambit of the anti-corruption ombudsman. (ANI)

Earth sized planets found

This chart compares the first Earth-size planets found around a sun-like star to planets in our own solar system, Earth and Venus. NASA's Kepler mission discovered the new found planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus with a radius .87 times that of Earth. Kepler-20f is a bit larger than Earth at 1.03 times the radius of Earth. Venus is very similar in size to Earth, with a radius of .95 times that our planet.

Sony launches Tablet S, Tablet P in India

Sony launched two tablets - Tablet S and Tablet P - in the Indian market, priced at Rs 29,990 and Rs 36,990 respectively. Both Sony tablets are built around a 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor.

Kingfisher to get $47 mln loan from Sahara

The Sahara group will give a loan of more than 2.5 billion rupees to cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines , to help the carrier continue operations, the Times of India reported on Saturday, citing sources.

Kingfisher, India's third largest airline by market share, has been struggling to raise funds to continue operations and repay debt.

The carrier, majority-owned by Vijay Mallya controlled UB group, has a debt of about 65 billion rupees and its creditors have asked the airline to raise at least $160 million in equity.

Early this year, the Sahara group invested $100 million in Force India for a 42.5 percent stake and now co-owns the Formula One motor racing team with Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya.

Britannia to develop its HQ property in Bangalore.

Biscuit to dairy products manufacturer, Britannia, run by the Wadia family one of India's oldest business houses, is drawing up plans to unlock a mega real estate play in the heart of Bangalore.

Britannia, which is India's largest biscuit manufacturer, has its headquarters spread across a 6-acre plus land parcel that's situated on old Airport Road, one of the city's arterial roads connecting the central business district to the IT hub of Whitefield.

According to real estate sources, Britannia has sounded out a number of consultants to look at the prospects of re-developing this land parcel, which at today's prices is valued at around Rs 450 crore.
Given that the particular land parcel is situated on the main road it enjoys a FSI (floor space index) of around 3 to 3.5, which translates to a built up area of 10-lakh square feet, for a 6 plus acre property. Commercial rentals in the area at present hover around the Rs 80 per sqft mark.

Honda launches new City, price slashed

 Japanese car maker Honda today launched a new entry-level variant of its flagship sedan City in India, slashing the price by Rs 50,000 compared to that of the existing model.

The company, which is present in India through a joint venture with the Siel Group, had cut the price of the City by up to Rs 66,000 in June also, after implementing various cost reduction measures.

Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) today launched a refreshed version of the new City at prices ranging from Rs 6.99 lakh to Rs 10.22 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The old City was priced between Rs 7.49 lakh and Rs 9.89 lakh.

"Our target is to offer a product as affordable as possible to customers. So we have launched a new Corporate Edition of the City that do not have some features, and we have cut the prices from the earlier entry-level version," HSCI Director (Marketing) Seki Inaba told reporters here.

The company's R&D division is also working on to increase the localisation of components and implement cost reduction activities, he added.

HSCI will start taking booking orders for the new City immediately and delivery will start from January.