The Planning Commission has scaled down the growth rate for the Eleventh Plan ending 2012 to 8.1 per cent from 9 per cent in the wake of the global financial crisis that slowed the pace of economic expansion.

On September 7, 2009, the government had instructed all its departments not to travel first class within or outside the country on government account.

The US government's $700 billion-bailout programme, aimed to bolster the country's crisis-ravaged financial system, is projected to cost as much as $109 billion to the American taxpayers.

Wachovia Bank NA will pay $160 million to the US authorities to settle allegations related to its anti-money laundering compliance programme.

India-born Banga has been responsible for Unilever's food, home and personal care business, besides being a member of the executive board.

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has said it might not downgrade India's sovereign credit rating further, after the government announced plans to reduce the gap between income and expenditure

News channel NewsX, which was sold last year by INX Media following a financial crunch during the global economic meltdown, is set to be relaunched under a new brand within the next few months

The US Federal Reserve has retained the benchmark interest rate at near-zero level and struck an upbeat note saying that the American economy has continued to strengthen in recent months.

Because of global economic meltdown and stimulus packages provided to industry.

The Reserve Bank has entered into an agreement buy up to $10 billion (over Rs 45,000 crore) worth notes from the IMF to help the multilateral agency shore up its resources for assisting countries hit by the global financial meltdown.

Observing that it will take another half a decade for the country to fully recover from effects of economic slowdown, senior CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury said increased spending on infrastructure sector could help accelerate the pace of growth.

Mobile phone maker Motorola's India-born chief Sanjay Jha has emerged America's top paid chief executive officer, while Citigroup's Vikram Pandit tops the league among bailed out banks, a survey said. Another Indian on the list is PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi at the 36th slot with a pay package of $13.98 million.

After years of playing second fiddle to newer areas such as Bandra Kurla Complex and Andheri in Mumbai, Nariman Point, once the most coveted address in Mumbai and the country's first central business district (CBD), is bouncing back with a vengeance.

The hike in excise duties will be largely passed on to customers.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee seems to have stuck to increasing income for the government as the sole focus of the Budget 2010. The key problem faced by people -- inflation has been thrown out of the window of consideration.

A day before the Budget, the Economic Survey on Thursday predicted up to 8.75 per cent growth in 2010-11 while recommending a gradual roll back of stimulus -- a move that could entail hike in excise duty and service tax.This is what the Economic Survey 2009-10 says!

If budget policy started changing around the mid-1980s, it is for a reason. The original oak wood table used by successive finance ministers, right from the time of the interim government before Independence, went missing around then.

Check them out!

The singer held the US city spellbound.

When they decided to build a Formula racing car, they were looking at building something that would win. Earlier this week, the Orion racing team from the K J Somaiya College of Engineering in Mumbai shipped their car to Germany, to compete in the Formula Student Germany International Design Competition. Take a look.

With a 13 per cent rise in quarterly profit, India's third-largest software services exporter, Wipro limited, said on Wednesday that it was adapting successfully to the global meltdown.

'I believe that the world is headed for the biggest health crisis ever because of the lack of transparency.'

The rate of inflation for the week stood\nat minus 1.14 per cent as against minus 1.61 per cent for the week ended June 6,\nofficial data released in New Delhi on Thursday.

The global financial crisis can be turned into a great opportunity for growth in India and China if the two Asian giants join hands to collaborate in five key sectors such as gems and jewellery, says a Ficci-KPMG report.

Full recovery may still be a good way off, but the job market is showing clear signs of improvement.

Speaking on the sidelines of an HR conference organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce, S Tambe, vice president, human resources & corporate administration, TML said, "There are companies that haven't given a raise this year but we are definitely looking at giving increments this year."

According to leading global consulting firm Watson Wyatt, more than a third (34 per cent) of directors said their companies had already reduced salary, target bonus and/or long-term incentive award levels, while, six per cent plan to make those changes in the next six months and another 48 per cent are considering making them.

In the past few years, a decidedly 'imperfect' storm of scarce resources, global warming debates, shifts in customer demand and regulatory changes have compelled many businesses to react to the sustainability challenge

Today, the worry is that a change in incentives against saving may tip the balance in favour of those who don't save.

The financial and economic meltdown in G7 nations has had a negative impact on growth in India and other developing countries. Could anyone seriously believe that there is some form of financial alchemy which consistently provides returns on capital well in excess of national GDP growth rates and the major equity and bond indices over decades?

Tourism Minister Ambika Soni said 5.08 million tourists visited India in 2007, recording a growth of 14.56 per cent. This was better than the world average of around 6 per cent. However, since October 2008, there has been some reduction, she said. In December 2008, foreign tourist arrivals numbered 521,990; this was 12.5 per cent lower than the number of arrivals in the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly, January saw a 17.6 per cent drop to 487,262 arrivals.

Certain educational institutions under ministry of human resource development have reported that campus selection has gone down this year to some extent, minister of state for HRD D Purandeswari told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The University Grants Commission is providing grants to universities for establishment of career counselling centres.

The Congress chief said the Centre was engaged in providing relief to the people of the country and promised to complete various projects. The Congress chief said the Centre was engaged in providing relief to the people of the country and promised to complete various projects.

"The global meltdown is an opportunity for our customers to come to India. We (IT industry) faced a crisis in 2001. Our customers came to India in 2001," IT company Mastek founder Ashank Desai told reporters at the India IT 2020 Conference.

The alloted hotel sites facing cancellation are at Anand Vihar, Mandavali, Vivek Vihar, Mayur Vihar and Alipur Road. DDA had auctioned 33 sites in the capital for construction of hotels keeping the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in mind.

Experts feel that the international tourism will be 10 to 15 per cent less compared to last year. The year 2008 saw average 20 per cent less foreign tourists visiting this coastal state famed for its pristine beaches. The impact has already started showing up as Monark, one of the largest chartered flight carrier, cancelled its once a week Goa operations from January 9 onwards.

While 'staycation' means a holiday spent at home due to straitened financial circumstances, 'brickor mortis' is a period of difficult times in the housing industry, and 'bad bank' refers to a state-owned financial institution created to alleviate a financial crisis. As well as the economic downturn, the trend in social networking has also been recognised.

According to rating agency Standard & Poor's, about 46 global equity markets lost a combined $17 trillion, as emerging market indices fell 54.72 per cent and developed markets dropped 42.72 per cent for the year. However, the equity markets somewhat rebounded in December last year with 19 of the 21 emerging markets and 22 of the 25 developed markets posting gains during the month, S&P added.

The freight rate for the very large crude carriers in the spot market has declined to an average $46,426 a day for the quarter ending December 31, about 21 per cent lower than the corresponding period of the previous year. In the same period, smaller crude carriers such as Suezmax rose by about 9 per cent to an average of $42,801 a day. Freight rate for Aframax, a carrier smaller than Suezmax, rose by 25 per cent to an average of $28,628 a day.

At malls, the owners are facing problems to attract customers but at the same time the shopkeepers are expecting to generate good business in the coming days. Kishore Biyani-led Future Group that owns Big Bazaar, has seen good business because of its on-going festival - 'The Great Indian Shopping Festival' at the mall.