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The net profit of city-based power utility CESC Ltd increased 5 percent during the quarter ended Dec 31, a company release said here Wednesday.

The net profit for the third quarter of the current financial year stood at Rs.980 million (Rs.98 crore) against Rs.930 million (Rs.93 crore) for the corresponding period last fiscal (2007-08).

Total income increased from Rs.7.05 billion (Rs.705 million) in the quarter ended Dec 31, 2007 to Rs.7.91 billion (Rs.791 crore) for the period under review.

India’s market regulator Friday summoned B. Ramalinga Raju, disgraced founder of Satyam Computer, to appear before it Saturday as it began a probe into his Rs.70-billion (Rs.7,000-crore) accounting fraud, even as the Andhra Pradesh police began an enquiry.

A board meeting slated for Saturday was cancelled Friday.

In Delhi, the Company Law Board issued an order to the existing directors of the board to appoint new directors within seven days.

The 54-year-old Raju will appear before a team of the Securities and Exchange Board of India at the Satyam corporate office at 4 p.m. Saturday, his lawyer S. Bharat Kumar said.

SEBI wanted Raju to depose Friday itself but the lawyer sought a day’s extension as the time was too short.

‘The regulator has granted my client (Raju) 24 hours for deposing before its investigative team on our request. My client has been directed to appear for the hearing at Satyam corporate office at 4:00 p.m. Saturday,’ Kumar told IANS here.

The lawyer met the SEBI team at the Satyam office Friday evening and informed it that Raju was not keeping well and the time given for deposition Friday was too short.

‘I requested the regulator in writing for one-day extension, as the summons were served today (Friday) at 2:30 p.m. for the hearing at 4:00 pm. As the summons were given at a short-notice, it was difficult for my client to rush for the hearing as he has also not been keeping well,’ Kumar said.

In the absence of Raju or his family at his residence in the upmarket Jubilee Hills neighbourhood, the summons were handed over to the security officer on behalf of the regulator.

The Satyam board had nine members - Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju, wholetime member Ram Mynampati and six independent directors. Four of the independent directors quit the board in the wake of aborted bid by Raju Dec 16 to make Satyam buy two firms, Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra, run by Raju’s two sons.

With the resignation of Mangalam Srinivasan, Krishna Palepu, Vinod Dham (all three based in the US) and M. Rammohan Rao, the board now is left with Mynampati, T.R. Prasad, former cabinet secretary to the Indian government, and V.S. Raju.

The day began with speculation that Ramalinga Raju might be arrested though the Andhra Pradesh police had said Thursday that they cannot do so merely on the basis of his confession that he had rigged figures to inflate the company’s profits.

There were also an unconfirmed report that Satyam’s chief financial officer Srinivas Vadlamani had attempted suicide, but the company denied it. Vadlamani’s name does not figure among the people Raju has mentioned in his resignation letter absolving them of any wrongdoing.

Vadlamani Thursday sent his resignation to the interim chief executive Mynampati, who said the resignation has not been accepted.

There were also reports circulating that the interim team has also sent a mail to the employees saying they would not be paid salary for two months. Mynampati told a press conference Thursday that the December salary is being paid and the company has funds to meet salary commitments for January.

Mynampati said the interim management was scouting for a strategic investor as the company was facing severe funds crunch. He said the option of outright sale of the company was not ruled out.

He also said about 100 clients who contribute 80 percent of the $2 billion revenue had assured they would stay with the company.

The Satyam scrip was further mauled in Friday’s trading. At one point it was quoted at around Rs.6.

While the New York Stock Exchange had stopped trading in the scrip Wednesday, the day Raju stunned his investors, employees, clients and the people in general by his admission of the massive fraud, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) had taken it out of its key 30-scrip index, the Sensex.

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Buck Knives are also famous as hunting knives. These knives are created by famous manufacturers. These knives are available in the form of small pocket knives, heavy duty multipurpose knives, folding blade knives. They have superior quality and can pierce into any object easily without much hassle. These knives are mainly used for recreational purposes like hunting, hiking, camping, fishing and other non recreational works. These knives come with variety of handle settings; people can choose the handles according to the size of the knives. These knives come with a life time guarantee.

There are options like free efile of your income tax which will make the filing process a lot quicker and hence get the refunds a lot faster than expected. Instead of going for the conventional way to file your tax returns you could opt for efile option which is free to use and will require hardly 25% of the time when compared to regular tax filing options.

With the efiling option you can do the free file of returns and don’t have to depend on the tax consultants to do it for you. The efiling of tax is very easy to use and submit.

Besides there are voluntary organizations available for the eligible people who can offer free online tax preparation for them. All you need to have is to fulfill certain eligibility criteria to get it done for free and correctly. The eligibility criteria for the free online tax preparation can be obtained from the IRS website.

With free efile of tax returns one main advantage is that you will get the refund of your tax faster against the conventional method. You have also some private services which do free file of tax returns but you must also fulfill certain criteria to be eligible for this.

The Indian equities market posted healthy gains during the week despite concerns about the troubled US auto market, with a key index gaining 724.87 points or 8.08 percent over its close Dec 5 thanks to the fiscal stimulus package the government announced Dec 7.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed at 9,690.07 points Friday, compared to 8,965.20 points Dec 5.

Similarly, the broader-based 50-share S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) finished the week at 2,921.75 points, up 207.35 points or 7.63 percent from its closing the week earlier at 2,714.40 points.

The BSE midcap ended the weekly trade at 3,050.48 points, up 157.53 points or 5.44 percent from its previous week’s close at 2,892.95 points.

The BSE smallcap finished the week 207.42 points or 6.2 percent higher at 3,530.96 points from last week’s 3,323.54 points.

The week opened strong following measures taken by the central Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government to boost a slowing economy. The central bank slashed key lending and borrowing rated Dec 6, while the government Dec 7 announced a 4 percent excise duty cut and Rs.200 billion additional expenditure among other measures to pump prime the economy.

The Sensex finished Monday at 9,162.62 points, up 197.42 points or 2 percent while the Nifty closed 2,784 points, up 69 points or 2.56 percent from its previous close.

The stock markets remained closed Tuesday on account of Eid-ul-Zuha, and performed well Wednesday, with the Sensex closing at 9,654.9 points, up from 9,162.62 of its previous close.

The Nifty Wednesday did equally well with a rise of 5.18 percent or 144 points to close at 2,928.25 points.

However, the Sensex fell a marginal 0.1 percent or 9.44 points Thursday to close at 9,645.46 points, as investors capitalised on the previous two days of gains.

The Nifty followed a similar trend and fell 0.28 percent or 8.1 points to shut shop at 2,920 points.

Friday saw the Sensex plummeting in the morning session as news of the collapse of the US auto bailout plans came out, but recovered over 400 points during the day’s trade to close at 9,690.07 points, an increase of 44.61 points or 0.46 percent higher than its previous.

Even the announcement of the Index of Industrial Production turning negative first time in 15 years did not have much of a dampening effect, as the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty of the NSE also recovered over 100 points from its lowest level and closed at 2,921.75, a gain of 0.04 percent from its close Thursday close.

‘The market is currently in an up-trend and will continue to discount all news, good or bad, in the short term,’ said Neera Jain, chief technical analyst at stock analysis firm CRN India.

Oil leapt 6 per cent on Monday to more than $43 a barrel, as a rebound in global equity markets and further evidence of supply cuts by top exporter Saudi Arabia helped the market break a six-session losing streak.

Prices dropped 25 per cent last week, their biggest weekly fall in nearly 18 years, depressed by the world economic outlook.

US crude for January delivery was up $2.56 to $43.37 a barrel by 1003 GMT. It fell more than 6 per cent on Friday to close at $40.81, its lowest since December 2004.

London Brent crude rose $2.56 to $42.30 a barrel.

“Prices are higher on account of a short-covering bounce from extremely oversold conditions,” Edward Meir, of futures broker MF Global, said.

“OPEC’s meeting is nine days away, meaning that we could see some strengthening leading into the meeting,” he said.

Oil has fallen more than $100 a barrel from a record peak above $147 in July, as the credit crisis has started to hurt the wider economy and shrink demand for fuel.

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have called for more supply cuts when the producer group meets on Dec. 17 in Algeria.

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One important thing you should look for when buying straight razors is that what the blade is made of. It should be made of high-carbon steel. Which is finely sharpened and strengthened to achieve the sharpness that is required for the perfect shave. Although of late most of these razors are made up of stainless steel which is also an acceptable alternative to carbon steel. One best steel among the high-carbon steel is the Swedish steel which is the best and costlier version of it.

If only if it is properly maintained by washing properly after shaving, these razors can last long and can only be needing minor maintenance once in two or three years.

You should properly close the razor inside the cash by folding it fully so as to avoid accidents while handling it. You should never attempt to sharpen the blade yourself, instead should give it to the experts who can do it with ease and make your shaving experience a pleasure rather than sore.

Qantas Airways Ltd. has slashed its profit forecast for the current year and will cut back on services to cope with plummeting demand because of the global financial downturn.

Chief executive Geoff Dixon said in a statement Tuesday Qantas now expects its profit before tax for the year to the end of June 2009 to be around Australian dollars 500 million ($316 million). Dixon said the forecast was still within analysts expectations.

Qantas said in August it expected profit for the year to be around AU750 million ($474 million), but with a range of between AU$430 million and AU$1 billion ($270 million and $630 million). Dixon said Qantas would reduce capacity to the equivalent of grounding 10 planes, and that “actual flying” in the next six months would be 4 percent less than the same period in the previous year.

“We are in unpredictable times and the international business market, in particular, has slowed,’ Dixon said in the statement. To meet the capacity cuts, the company would not take up the planned lease of two A330-200 planes, change flying patterns of the remaining fleet, and halt all planned domestic market growth for Qantas and its budget stable mate, Jetstar.

Incoming chief executive Alan Joyce said Qantas had benefited from cheaper fuel in recent months but this was offset by falls in demand since September.

Assuring the investors that there is no evidence of manipulation in the stock markets, SEBI Chairman C B Bhave has said that retail as well as some foreign investors are actually picking up stocks at current levels.

“We have not found anything in the market that would give us suspicion that something had seriously gone wrong with the market itself,” he said while addressing the HT Leadership Summit in New Delhi on Saturday.

When observed by the moderator whether there was any scam as was witnessed during the bull run, Bhave said, “So far we have not seen anything.”

Only leveraged foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are going out of the market, he said, adding long-term investors like pension funds and university funds are buying stocks.

“Equity is going into the hands of people who have patience,” he said, pointing out that many people who have stayed away from the market have started buying stocks.

Asked about the redemption pressures being faced by the mutual funds, Bhave said, “When Sebi analysed (Fixed Maturity Plans), it was found that 90 per cent of their assets have the highest rating of AAA and P1 (plus).”

The liquidity pressure, he added, has come down as only Rs 4,000 crore of the special window of Rs 20,000 crore opened by the Reserve Bank is currently being used.

Mutual Funds, he said, “have some liquidity pressure, fortunately in the month of November that also got reversed.”