India

Air India is entering a crucial phase of its long-awaited turnaround that could determine whether the venerable airline escapes from massive losses or slides into decrepitude, The Wall Street Journal reported. For the past 11 months, Arvind Jadhav, chairman of state-owned parent company National Aviation Company of India Ltd., has been pushing restructuring measures he says are needed to stem a steep decline in the carrier's fortunes caused by the global recession, payments for new aircraft, an entrenched staff, a botched merger and increasing competition. Among Mr.

Kingfisher Airlines Ltd has roped in US firm Seabury Aviation and Aerospace to advise on restructuring its operations and help the airline boost performance on the back of a reviving domestic industry, the Economic Times of India reported. Prakash Mirpuri, Vice President, Corporate Communications, told Retuers on Monday that fleet optimisation would be one of the areas the consultancy would advise Kingfisher on. The airline has a fleet size of 66 aircraft. Mirpuri did not say how soon Seabury would come up with its recommendations.

Ericsson said it would cut 1,500 jobs as part of its broad restructuring plan. In addition, the vendor's profit plunged 92 percent in the fourth quarter, hit by higher restructuring costs and weaker sales, FierceWireless reported. The Swedish company reported net profit of $43.4 million in the quarter, down from $539.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Sales slumped 13 percent to $8.08 billion, down from $9.29 billion in the fourth quarter last year. Networks sales fell 16 percent in the quarter and professional services sales were flat year-over-year.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's ABN Amro operations in China said it has uncovered potential irregularities within its small and medium-size enterprise banking business in response to a Wall Street Journal inquiry. The scale and nature of the potential problems at ABN Amro China still remain unclear. ABN Amro has one of the biggest foreign banking franchises in China, operating 18 retail banking outlets in the country. The ABN Amro China spokeswoman declined to give further details about the potential irregularities, citing the bank's ongoing investigation.

General Motors Co. will cede a majority stake in its China passenger-car venture to partner SAIC Motor Corp., while forming a new partnership with the Shanghai-based company to sell low-cost vehicles in India, Bloomberg reported. GM agreed to transfer 1 percent of Shanghai General Motors Co. to SAIC, China’s biggest carmaker, the companies said in a joint statement today. That will boost SAIC’s holding to 51 percent. They will also form an equally controlled venture in the first quarter of next year to make and sell small cars and mini-commercial vehicles in India.

The chief executive of US automaker General Motors has apologised and expressed "deep regret" for the company's handling of a sale of its subsidiary Opel to Canadian manufacturer Magna and Russian investment bank Sberbank, a deal that was aborted last week, the Press Trust of India reported. GM CEO Fritz Henderson expressed his "deep regret" for shocking the nation and provoking outrage among government leaders, trade unions and Opel workers by making an unexpected announcement last week to cancel the deal and instead to keep Germany's second largest car manufacturer under its fold.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged on Sunday to spend more on health care and education and make it easier for foreign investors to take part in India’s $1.2 trillion economy, The New York Times reported. At a World Economic Forum meeting, Mr. Singh said that public sector spending on health care would more than double, to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product, and education spending would increase to 6 percent. The government “should have done a lot more in both areas” in recent years, he said. Under Mr.

ING Groep NV will become a mainly European bank following the dramatic overhaul of its business announced Monday, which includes spinning off its insurance activities and raising €7.5 billion in a rights issue, Dow Jones reported. "ING will be a dominant mortgage, savings and commercial bank in the Benelux and other parts of Europe, but also will keep its presence in growing Asian markets like India and Thailand," Chief Executive Jan Hommen told reporters. As part of a plan to satisfy E.U.

India’s central bank took the first step toward withdrawing its record monetary stimulus as inflation pressures build, ordering lenders to keep more cash in government bonds, Bloomberg reported. Stocks fell the most in two months after the statement spurred speculation the Reserve Bank of India will boost borrowing costs by year-end, eroding corporate profits. Today’s shift also signals intensifying global concern about consumer and asset-price increases, with Norway tomorrow forecast to follow Australia in raising rates this month.

India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced plans to borrow a record 4.51 trillion rupees ($93 billion) to fund budget spending on roads, power and aid for the poor, Bloomberg reported. Stocks, bonds and the currency slumped. Unveiling the budget for the year to March 2010, Mukherjee said India’s fiscal deficit is expected to widen to a 16-year high of 6.8 percent of gross domestic product from a revised 6 percent. Indirect taxes will be streamlined through a goods and services tax, he said in his speech in New Delhi today.