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China's No. 1 target is the US, next is India: George W Bush

MUMBAI: Former US president George W Bush on Tuesday delivered a blunt warning to Indians about the intentions of China. The former president who has courted trouble in the past with his aggressive and overthe-top assertions said China was looking to upstage India. "China's No. 1 target is the US, next is India," he told a group of select CEOs at a late dinner meet on Tuesday. Bush, the two-term president whose reign saw a dramatic improvement in Indo-US relations, also said his country's patience with Pakistan was wearing thin, according to one of the participants. "If the US had not befriended Pak, Pak would have become more dangerous. But now US patience is wearing off," he said. In the course of a free-wheeling discussion, Bush also touched upon a number of important topics. He cautioned businessmen never to do business with Russia and said the EU would have a completely different look in five years but the euro would stay. "If Iran goes after Israel, the US will go after Iran," Bush said, referring to the tense stand-off in the Middle-East over Iran's nuclear weapons programme. "While making history, timing is most important," he added. Those attending the dinner meet included HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh and ICICI Bank Chairman KV Kamath. Closed-door dinner RPG promoter Harsh Goenka, GVK group promoter GVK Rao, Bajaj Auto chairman Rahul Bajaj and IIFL promoter Nirmal Jain were also present. "This event was kept a secret because the main condition from George W Bush's office was that there will be no announcements about this engagement and no media coverage given to it. Even the list of guests was kept secret," said a senior executive from ICICI Lombard. The visit was organised ICICI Lombard and Fairfax Financial Holdings, a Torontobased company that owns 26% of the Indian general insurance company, and was attended by their top officials from India and the US.

Uttar Pradesh to be split into 4 states? Maya drops poll hint

LUCKNOW: Chief minister Mayawati is likely to soon push for reorganization of Uttar Pradesh, splitting the sprawling state into four parts. The move is being seen by her supporters as a masterstroke ahead of the 2012 assembly polls. Well-placed BSP sources said Mayawati was planning to make the pitch to carve four new states out of the country's largest state which, with its 75 districts, is larger than many countries. As per the blueprint, the eastern part of the state with 32 districts will form a new state of Poorvanchal; the 22 western districts will be grouped together as Harit Pradesh; Bundelkhand will take seven districts while the remaining 14 will fall in central UP, the fourth state. Mayawati did not deny the move when questioned by reporters at a press conference to announce the raise in state advisory price for sugarcane . A smiling Mayawati said, "It's a big issue but I will not talk about it today because if I do, you people will downplay the SAP story, a big pro-farmer step of the state government." This response strengthened the buzz around the reorganization. Division of UP has been talked about for long because of the problems involved in administering such a large area. The state remains unwieldy even after the hilly region was hived off to form Uttarakhand . But the move has gained momentum now because of impending elections , with BSP sources hoping it would set the campaign agenda, while diverting attention from the incumbency. That hope is not without basis as almost all parties have at various times advocated division. Congress has championed the creation of Bundelkhand state, saying distance from Lucknow has added to its backwardness. Parties wary of Maya's move to divide state ahead of polls Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati's broad hints of a division of the state was met with caution by political parties, which have, at various times backed such a move. The possibility has also set the ball rolling in the poll-bound state, especially given the backdrop of the row over a separate Telangana. Congress has been batting for Bundelkhand, but has not taken a stand yet on Harit Pradesh. However, the ruling party will find it difficult to oppose such a move because its prospective ally Ajit Singh has made Harit Pradesh a battle theme. The BJP, which carved Uttarakhand out of UP, has consistently prided itself for its commitment to smaller states - pointing to the creation of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in 2000. The party has now taken up the cudgels for Telangana . But on Tuesday, it chose to downplay Mayawati's proposal . BJP's national vicepresident Kalraj Mishra said the party had always been in favour of smaller states but the decision to divide UP should be taken after a thorough study by a state reorganization commission.

Kingfisher faces more turbulence, over 30 flights cancelled

NEW DELHI: Cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines got into more turbulence today by cancelling over 30 flights for the fourth consecutive day even as some pilots and cabin crew did not turn up for duty by reporting sick. Thousands of passengers across the country were inconvenienced by the cancellation of flights and in some cases paid a premium of 20-40 per cent to travel by other airlines. Over the past four days, the Vijay Mallya-owned airline has cancelled more than 120 flights maintaining they were taking some aircraft off their schedule to add business class seats in them. Airline sources said 30-odd pilots and cabin crew have not reported for duty in the past few days on grounds of sickness, but discounted reports that 100 pilots had quit the airline recently. The payment of October salary and allowances of the airline staff has been delayed. The airline has suffered a loss of Rs 1,027 crore in 2010-11 and has a mounting debt of Rs 7057.08 crore. Kingfisher's flight schedules have also been severely hit with three oil companies -- HPCL, IOC and BPCL--stopping granting credit to it for lifting jet fuel and asking it to make payments on a daily basis. Industry sources said the airline has grounded eight of its leased turboprop ATR aircraft. The cash-strapped carrier also has unpaid dues to the operators of airports and other agencies, which have been putting pressure on it. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had yesterday issued a show-cause notice to Kingfisher asking why it had not taken the regulator's prior approval to curtail its flight schedules as required by the Aircraft Rules, 1937. Officials said the airline is yet to reply to the notice but added that a reply was expected in a couple of days.

Telcos earn Rs 46,891 cr in Q1, Airtel leads pack

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel has cornered around 22 per cent of the total revenue of Rs 46,891.61 crore earned by telecom service providers during the first quarter of 2011-12, regulator Trai said today. Airtel's gross revenue was the highest at Rs 10,212.96 crore, followed by Vodafone at Rs 6,893.91 crore, Idea Cellular at Rs 4,600.77 crore and state-run BSNL at Rs 4427.80 crore, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in its India Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report. Revenues of Reliance Communication, state-run MTNL, Videcon and Quadrant Televentures, however dipped to Rs 3,014.90 crore, Rs 750.62 crore, Rs 162.18 crore and 51.40 crore, respectively. Tata Teleservices earned Rs 2,865.66 crore, Aircel Rs 1,541.09 crore, Unitech Rs 538.90 crore, Shyam Sistema Rs 279.05 crore, Loop Telecom 186.05 crore and S Tel Rs 38.52 crore. The gross revenue of Rs 46,891.61 crore is up by a marginal 3 per cent from the previous quarter. The revenue growth is 13 per cent compared to Rs 41,392.75 crore earned in the same period last fiscal. The adjusted gross revenue (AGR) on which the government charges the licence fee grew by 3.56 per cent Rs 32,589.93 crore in the first quarter, sequentially. Telecom service providers are charged a licence fee of 10 per cent of AGR in the metros and category 'A' areas, 8 per cent in in category 'B' areas and, 6 per cent category 'C' areas.

Reliance MediaWorks to restructure business

MUMBAI: Reliance Mediaworks Ltd , part of billionaire Anil Ambani's group, said on Thursday its board will explore options for restructuring its business, including creating subsidiaries for exhibition and film and media services divisions. The restructuring will help position the film and entertainment services company to pursue strategic growth and enable it to boost revenues and profitability as well as expand products and service offerings, it said in a statement. Its film and media services division is expected to be a dominant contributor of revenues with over 60 percent share in FY13, it added. "This strategic structuring initiative will enable us to effectively pursue the best business opportunities available to each operating unit independently," Chief Executive Anil Arjun said in the statement. Reliance MediaWorks has also received board approval to raise upto 5 billion rupees through a rights issue for "substantially reducing the debt, incurred for creating the asset base."

TVS Motor to invest in West Bengal-based plant

TVS Motor Co., India's No. 3 two-wheeler maker, said on Saturday, it will invest in the spin-off entity carved out of Mahabharat Motors Manufacturing Co., after required regulatory and legal clearances. The company, however, did not say how much it will invest. TVS Motor, which had entered into an initial pact with West Bengal-based Mahabharat in 2008 for providing technical support to later's plant, will thereby take a larger role in the spin-off entity that makes two-wheelers, it said in an emailed statement. TVS, which has plants in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh to make two- and three-wheelers, will retain the existing staff and workers of Mahabharat Motors and hopes to make around 1,000 motorcycles per month initially, it said. Mahabharat's manufacturing plant had commenced production in September 2010, it added.

Wheels India plans to foray into air-suspension for trucks and trailers

CHENNAI: Leading steel wheels manufacturer Wheels India today said it plans to enter into manufacturing of air-suspension for truck and trailers. "On the suspension side, we have been predominantly looking at bus suspension. We are now increasingly looking to enter into domain of truck suspension and trailer suspension, Wheels India Managing Director Srivats Ram told reporters. The company is also working on ambulance system, he added. He said as far as wheels are concerned there is demand, "but on the suspension products, what we are trying to do is to create a demand in this segment." On their future plans, he said the company proposed to increase the capacity of its five plants to 15 million wheels by next year from the present 13 million wheels at an investment of Rs 70 crore. "Presently, we are producing 12 million wheels (across five plants). We will be adding another million and half capacity over the next year. Right now, we can reach up to 13 million wheels ... next job is to reach 15 million... that may be by next year," Ram said. Of the Rs 70 crore, "bulk" of the investments would go into their two plants in Chennai. On their technical collaboration with Japanese-firm Topy Industries, he said, "By tying up with Topy Industries, we get involved in early product development and design. As a result, there is a possibility for us to become a preferred supplier (to the customers of Topy Industries)," he said. Asked about the company's manufacturing plant at Wardha in Maharashtra, where it is diversifying into power sector, he said the plant would break even by the fourth quarter of 2011. "We have invested around Rs 25 crore. We started last year, it is expected that fourth quarter of this year, we will break even," he said. In the first phase, the company plans to manufacture critical structurals like auto-weld beams, boxes, columns and girders for large boilers made by some of the biggest power plant suppliers, and other applications. On the outlook for this financial year, he said the domestic market has been sluggish in the first quarter and is likely to remain so in the third quarter as well. However, "We expect fourth quarter to be strong," he said.

CBI joins Facebook, seeks netizens help

The Central Bureau of Investigation has joined social networking site Facebook in a bid to get help from people in cracking cases. CBI sources said the idea of going online is first being implemented by its Bhopal unit on experimental basis which will be further followed by all its wings after assessing people's response. The sources said the agency is garnering good response from internet surfers and getting information from all concerned. "Our Bhopal unit is on Facebook. People can share any information which they feel can be of some use to CBI. We will assess people's response through this and if its found encouraging we may plan the same for other units too," a senior CBI official said. The agency will seek help in cracking the murder case of Bhopal-based RTI activist Shehla Masood through its Facebook account. "We are getting some help related to Shehla's case. Though it has been transferred to our Delhi unit, we feel the information may be of some use to us. The information, after cross verification, will be passed on to concerned officials probing the matter," another CBI official working with Bhopal unit, said. Masood was shot dead outside her residence in the posh Koh-e-Fiza locality in Bhopal on August 16. The case is being probed by the agency's Delhi-based Special Crime Unit. The CBI, which remains clueless in the case, had announced an award of Rs five lakhs in September for anyone providing credible information about the murder.