Flood losses Rs.12,000 crore, Andhra seeks help

October 5th, 2009 BANGALORE/ HYDERABAD - Heavy rains and floods over the past week have wreaked havoc in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and claimed over 230 lives and displaced over a million people. On Monday, the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will undertake an aerial survey of the flood-ravaged states to assess the damage.

October 4th, 2009 HYDERABAD/BANGALORE - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister P. Chidambaram will visit flood-hit Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka Monday and Tuesday to assess the havoc wreaked by heavy rains there and meet the affected people.

October 4th, 2009 BANGALORE / HYDERABAD - Incessant rains and the flood fury have wrecked havoc in four states of Southern and Western India. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have been the worst hit, with over 180 people killed in the last three days.

October 3rd, 2009 HYDERABAD - As many as 15 helicopters and about 600 army personnel have been deployed in Andhra Pradesh for rescue and relief operations in flood-hit areas. The choppers, which will fly from Bangalore, Tirupati and Vijayawada, will also drop food and drinking water packets in the badly affected districts of Kurnool and Mahabubnagar where thousands of people are marooned for the last two days.

September 1st, 2009 GENEVA - Over 50 global carriers lost $6 billion (Rs.30,000 crore) in January-June this year, according to the sector's representative body International Air Transport Association. In a statement Tuesday, IATA also said the losses stood at $2.02 billion (Rs.10,000 crore) in the second quarter this year (April-June) and forecast cumulative losses of $9 billion (Rs.45,000) for the year.

August 31st, 2009 MUMBAI - Infrastructure company Maytas Infra posted a net loss of Rs.489.79 crore last fiscal compared to a profit of Rs.99.64 crore in the previous period, it said in a regulatory statement Monday. The Hyderabad-based company, promoted by the family of B.

August 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Private carrier Kingfisher Airlines has reported a net loss of Rs.1,608.09 crore ($338.5 million) for 2008-09, but said it has plans to raise Rs.500 crore from the equity market. The airline's expenses on employees cost stood at Rs.823.85 crore last fiscal, while expenses on aviation fuel and aircraft lease rental were respectively at Rs.2,602 crore and Rs.1,185.13 crore, Kingfisher said in a regulatory statement Wednesday.

July 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Cash-strapped national carrier Air India is expected to register a loss of Rs.5,000 crore last fiscal, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told parliament Tuesday. "Nacil (National Aviation Co of India Ltd, that operates Air India) is expected to register a loss of approximately Rs.5,000 crore in 2008-09, largely due to high operating expenses, which have been compounded due to the present economic recession resulting in a drop in passengers," the minister said in a reply in Rajya Sabha.

July 7th, 2009 HYDERABAD - The Andhra Pradesh government Tuesday said it has cancelled the Hyderabad Metro rail project contract awarded to Maytas Infra, run by the family of former Satyam chairman of B. Ramalinga Raju.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has increased its outlay for rural roads by 57 percent to Rs.12,000 crore ($2.5 billion) in the budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday in parliament. "Rural roads have been identified as one of the six components of Bharat Nirman with the goal to provide connectivity to all villages with a population of 1,000 (500 in the case of hilly or tribal areas) with an all-weather road by 2009," said a finance ministry statement.

June 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - About 31,000 employees of flag carrier Air India will receive their June salaries only in mid-July as the national carrier attempts to overcome its losses, which were over Rs.4,000 crore (Rs.40 billion/$8.4 billion) during last fiscal, a top official said Sunday. The July salaries could be delayed by over two weeks, said a senior civil aviation ministry official.

April 6th, 2009 HYDERABAD - Who is the richest politician in Andhra Pradesh? It's neither actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi nor Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's son Y.S.

April 4th, 2009 HYDERABAD - Telugu superstar and Praja Rajyam Party chief Chiranjeevi on Saturday filed his nomination papers for the Tirupati Assembly seat in Andhra Pradesh. His wife Surekha and son Ram Charan Tej accompanied him at the time he filed his nomination.

March 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A proposal from top international events broadcaster Neo Sports and another from the US construction equipment giant John Deere were among 26 applications for foreign investment worth Rs.1,043 crore (nearly $200 million) approved by the government. Neo Sports seeks to induct foreign equity worth Rs.258.53 crore in its Mumbai-based arm that is engaged in uplinking and broadcast of non-news and current affairs programmes.

February 18th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Kerala's 2006 per capita debt stood at over Rs.14,300 - the highest among states in south India - against the national average of around Rs.9,000. This was stated in the Economic Review 2008 tabled in the Kerala Assembly Thursday.