Kerala News Headlines

A month after getting the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s nod to launch an asset management company, Dutch financial services major Aegon and Religare Enterprises have decided to part ways.

Indian shipping companies’ reluctance to take piracy insurance is probably linked to sky-rocketing costs. According to the site of London-based corporate security firm BGN Risk, piracy in the Gulf of Aden could increase insurance and transport costs by $400 million. Special risk insurance for crossing the Gulf has soared from $500 a voyage last year to $20,000 now, the company said.

The government and Reserve Bank of India are working on opening a massive Rs 75,000 crore refinance window to provide concessional funds for infrastructure, housing and small and medium enterprises by partly leveraging the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

The airlines unilaterally withdrew the 5 per cent commission from November 1, citing the aviation meltdown and the need to conform to international practices. Instead the airlines have asked the agents to charge a transaction fee from customers, which they have refused to do.

A spokesperson of ICICI Bank, which had approached the regulator seeking a probe into what they called ‘beating down’ of their shares by vested elements, declined to comment.

In the nine weeks since Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, global syndicated loan volume declined 37 per cent

He said it is evident that the crisis has touched all segments of the economy and the society and that it ‘could assume the proportions of an economic emergency unless it is handled with determination, clarity of thought and creative new approaches’.