Alcatel picks former Vodafone executive

Loss-making telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent has picked Michel Combes, the Frenchman who steered Vodafone's European business through the financial crisis, as its new chief executive. Combes, 51 and a former finance chief at France Telecom , will replace Ben Verwaayen, who led Alcatel-Lucent for five years but failed to deliver a long-promised turnaround. The Franco-American group, which plunged to a net loss of 1.37 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in 2012, has been hit hard by the rise of low-cost Chinese competitors in the past decade and trails market leaders Sweden's Ericsson and China's Huawei in size and market share in mobile equipment.

India 19th largest exporter in the world

India is the 19th largest exporter with a share of 1.7 per cent in the worldwide merchandise trade, Parliament was informed today. On the other hand, the country is the 12th largest importer with a share of 2.5 per cent in 2011. In commercial services, the country is the eighth largest exporter in the world with a share of 3.3 per cent and the seventh largest importer with a share of 3.1 per cent, he said.

Japanese investigators have identified the causes of fuel leaks and other problems with Boeing's 787
but are still investigating the more serious battery problem that forced the worldwide grounding of the jets.
An oil leak was caused by an improper paint job that led to a switch not working properly, while inadequate taping led
to cracks in cockpit glass, and a faulty part led to braking problems, according to an AP report.

I-T Dept found undisclosed income of 6,799 cr in 2012

Reiterating that the drive against tax evasion was an ongoing process, the government today said searches conducted by the Income Tax department detected an undisclosed income of Rs 6,799 crore during April-December last year.

At 1430 hours, BSE is up 55 points at 19,380.16, and NSE is at 5,867.70, a gain of 15.45 points.

Bharti Airtel is planning to meet global investors starting on Monday for a potential benchmark-sized dollar bond sale, a source with direct knowledge of the deal said. Standard Chartered, Barclays, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and UBS are arranging the meetings in Asia, Europe, and the United States, said the source. Benchmark sales are usually of at least $500 million. 

The bilateral trade between India and Singapore fell by 15.9 per cent to SGD 29.8 billion ($24.05 billion) last year from 35.43 billion Singaporean dollar (SGD) in 2011, trade promotion agency International Enterprise (IE) Singapore said today. India, ranked 11 among Singapore's top 15 trading partners, accounting for 3 per cent of Singapore's total trade of SGD 984.9 billion in 2012, IE said.

The bilateral trade between India and Singapore fell by 15.9 per cent to SGD 29.8 billion ($24.05 billion) last year from 35.43 billion Singaporean dollar (SGD) in 2011, trade promotion agency International Enterprise (IE) Singapore said today.
India, ranked 11 among Singapore's top 15 trading partners, accounting for 3 per cent of Singapore's total trade of SGD 984.9 billion in 2012, IE said.

Indians whose names appear in the now-famous list of account holders with the Swiss private banking arm of the British bank -- HSBC -- have been asked by Indian income-tax officials to sign on a two-page letter spelling out their account details and, more significantly, surrendering their rights under the Swiss secrecy law. The individuals have been asked to submit a copy to the Income-Tax department.

At 1048 hours, both BSE and NSE are marginally down at 19,322.81 and 5,846.40, respectively.

Many equity investors are a bit disappointed as their hopes of cashing in on the much-anticipated pre-budget rally crashed this month, reports Economic Times. Typically, they have now turned their focus on the budget wish list of market pundits to ride the possible post-budget rally.