Hitler's drinking glasses expected to fetch around ??8,000, sold for just ??3,000

LONDON: A set of drinking glasses that once belonged to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler have been sold at an auction for 3,000 pounds.

The collection auctioned at the Northamptonshire Auction Centre in Britain , was expected to fetch up to 8,000 pounds, but was snapped up by a buyer in Sweden for just 3,000 pounds, The Sun reports.

Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert , of JPHumbert auctioneers, said the price was still reasonable for an item with no written proof of its background.

"Anything Nazi can be a little bit awkward to place and although we had an immense amount of worldwide publicity people were very cagey about expressing pre-sale interest," said Humbert.

"They sold to someone from Sweden who bid via the Internet. They have no paperwork, no written provenance, it was really based on the hearsay from the vendor in America," he added.

He said the goblets belonged to the vendor's late father, a highly respected militaria dealer .

The engraved goblets, edged in gold and etched with the distinctive Nazi eagle, a swastika and the initials A.H., are thought to have been used by the dictator in his Berlin bunker.

Rio Tinto cuts Q3 iron ore prices as spot drops

SHANGHAI: Rio Tinto Ltd , the world's No. 2 iron ore miner , will drop its prices by up to 3 percent for Chinese steel mills for the third quarter, sources with knowledge of the contract details told Reuters.

The modest price cut was in line with a decline in spot prices of the steelmaking raw material. Global miners have been using spot values as the basis for setting contract rates since the industry moved to a more flexible quarterly system after scrapping a decades-old annual pricing scheme.

Rio has asked some Chinese steel mills to pay $2.7234 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) for iron ore fines and $3.0109 per dmtu for lump ore for the July-September period, sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Those compare with Rio's second-quarter price of $2.7638 for fines and $3.1063 for lumps, the sources said.

The price puts Rio's 62-percent Pilbara Blend fines at $168.85 per tonne, compared with $171.35 in the second quarter, in line with initial industry estimates.

An official who buys iron ore for a mid-sized steel mill in northern China said the company had received the pricing details from Rio Tinto on Wednesday.

Several more steel mills in eastern China had received the notice with the same pricing details, another market source said.

US may land deal for re-engining of Indian Air Force's Jaguar Deep Penetration Strike Aircraft

BANGALORE: The US is likely to be the prime beneficiary of yet another lucrative military contract, after the defence ministry withdrew its commercial tender for the re-engining of the Indian Air Force's Jaguar Deep Penetration Strike Aircraft last month.

New Delhi is likely to proceed through the Foreign Military Sales route as the existing defence policy does not allow procurement from a single vendor.

The latest development is likely to propel the US-based diversified conglomerate Honeywell, which was one of the two vendors invited to supply new engines, as the prime contractor for the new engines, especially after British engine-maker Rolls-Royce pulled out of the competition in March 2011. The tender for the re-engining of the Jaguar aircraft, which was cancelled by South Block last month, has been estimated at $670 million, and calls for the supply of between 200 and 250 engines.

"Commercial tenders cannot end up in a single-vendor situation. This (Jaguar re-engining tender) is likely to be a government-to-government deal," a ministry source said on the condition of anonymity.

For the Jaguar re-engining programme, Rolls-Royce, the world's second-largest engine-maker, had offered its Adour MK-821 engine, an upgraded version of the Adour-811 engines that are currently powering the fleet.

In an emailed response to queries sent by ET, the Westminster, London-based company said it has informed the government, IAF and state-owned defence undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics that it "will not be responding to the RFP".

"The IAF RFP issued in November last year and later confirmed at the Bid Conference in Delhi now calls for a new engine not an upgraded engine," the company said in a statement.

However, Honeywell has elected to stay in the competition, through its offering, the F125-IN Turbofan engine. "Honeywell remains fully committed to supporting the Indian Air Force and the Indian Ministry of Defence in their procurement process for an engine upgrade for their fleet of Jaguar aircraft," Pritam Bhavnani, president, Honeywell Aerospace India, wrote in an email.

The IAF, currently, has about 125 Jaguar strike fighters, but the existing engines on the aircraft have been deemed underpowered as per modern-era battlefield requirements, and a decision to install brand-new engines with greater thrust, has been taken.

With Honeywell still angling for the contract, New Delhi is likely to work directly with Washington for the supply of the engines, with the deal being concluded at the government-to-government level, according to informed sources.

The IAF wants to retain its Jaguar fleet and have been insisting that new engines will increase its longevity. Operationally, the the Jaguars have been used by the IAF, with a great degree of success during the Kargil conflict, in conjunction with its Mirage-2000 fighters.

However, upgrades of existing fighter fleets have not met with much success in recent times, with the Mirage-2000 retrofit seemingly in limbo, as the government continues to be at logger heads with French defence vendors Dassault and Thales over costs.

China's boom beginning to show cracks: Analysts

SHANGHAI: New economic analyses of China provide further indication that the nation's supercharged economy is beginning to slow, and warn that soaring inflation, rising labor costs and mounting local government debt threaten to weaken growth even more.

Several economists in China have recently lowered their growth forecasts for this year and next year to about 8.5 per cent, down from earlier forecasts of 9 per cent to 10 per cent, while also warning about the possibility of a sharp rise in nonperforming loans at the nation's big state-owned banks.

On Monday, for instance, Credit Suisse said data recently released by the Chinese central bank showed that credit in China had expanded at "alarming levels," far more than previous government estimates suggested. Credit Suisse downgraded its profit forecasts for Chinese companies and state-owned banks, as it warned of slowing growth for the overall economy.

The reports come at a time of heightened concern about slower growth in other parts of the world, including the United States, Europe and Japan.

Since the financial crisis, China has been the world's leading growth engine. But for much of the past year, China has been trying to rein in overly aggressive bank lending as a way to tame soaring inflation and property prices.

Those tightening measures have not only weakened growth in China, analysts say, but have also begun to expose a host of other problems in the nation's financial system.

While few analysts expect China's growth to slow to below 8 per cent in the next year, they still paint a troubling picture. The Chinese stock market has been in a slump for much of the last two years, the property market looks weaker and inflation is running at a 34-month high.

Analysts said exports have begun to show signs of weakness in recent weeks. Credit Suisse said Monday that China's export growth could be flat in the coming months, partly because of weaker demand in the United States and Europe.

Credit Suisse's new figures also indicate that off-balance-sheet lending, much of which took place outside the banking system, pumped a large amount of additional credit into the financial system last year. As a result, Credit Suisse downgraded its ratings of Chinese companies and the big state-controlled banks, and warned of a possible rise in bad loans.

Vincent Chan, the head of China research at Credit Suisse, said that the nation's economy might avoid a "hard landing" but that growth over the next year was likely to be less robust.

"The market consensus is for a soft landing and two or three quarters of slowing down, then a growth rebound," Chan said in a telephone interview Monday. But, he said, "we're saying that after that, the growth may not re-accelerate and the indebtedness may be more serious."

Earlier this month, Wang Tao, the chief economist in China at UBS, said China's economy was still strong but warned that over the next few years, loans to local government investment companies could result in as much as $460 billion in nonperforming loans.

Although Beijing used state-run banks to bolster growth after the financial crisis hit in late 2008, the central government is ordering them to help rein in growth.

Chinese banks have already raised interest rates and set aside larger reserves. The government is expected to announced additional measures in the coming months.

LVMH co Sephora in JV talks with Mukesh Ambani's company Reliance Brands

MUMBAI: Reliance Brands, a privately held firm of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani , has been in talks to launch Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) owned beauty retailer Sephora, and a high-end women's clothing brand BCBG, as the company looks to add more international brands to the country's evolving fashion and personal grooming business.

This subsidiary of Reliance Retail has existing joint ventures and long-term distribution pacts with global brands like Diesel, Zegna, Paul & Shark, Timberland and Steve Madden. Industry sources briefed on the developments said Reliance Brands, spearheaded by fashion industry veteran Darshan Mehta, has been scouting for high-street locations for launching Sephora and BCBG (abbreviated for Bon Chic Bon Genre in French). The two brands fit into Reliance Brands strategy of bringing in international brands catering exclusively to women's wear, personal grooming and accessories business.

Reliance Brands CEO Darshan Mehta declined to comment on market speculation . LVMH could not be reached for immediate comments . The nature of the proposed alliance with Sephora and BCBG, whether it is JV or long-term licensing of the brand, could not be ascertained . The deal with Sephora was still in discussions and not sealed, sources added.

Saloni Nangia, vice president , retail and consumer products at consultancy firm Technopak Advisors, said the premium personal care segment is growing at a fast clip compared to the growth in the industry. The entire beauty and personal grooming segment is estimated to be $4.5 billion and is growing at 7-8 %. On the other hand, the premium category, which is 5% of the total market ($250million), is growing at 18% annually. Higher disposable incomes and consumers upgrading to premium products are driving growth in this category.

Paris-based luxury goods group LVMH has been working on Sephora's India strategy for a while, and came close to striking a deal with DLF . Sephora, with over 700 stores worldwide, sells beauty and hair care products under its own name as well as some 100 other well-known brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, By Terry and Issey Miyake. Some of the brands Sephora sells, for instance, Body Shop and Lancome are already present in India. "Sephora's entry will herald the first premium multi-brand retail channel for beauty products in India. Till now, it was the grey market and the mom and pop stores that catered to the high end multi-brand cosmetics retail," said Amit Bagaria , chairman, Asipac, a retail and mall management consultancy.

French designer Max Azria-owned BCBG clothing has been embraced by celebrities and trend-setters globally, and has found admirers in Bollywood stars like Kareena Kapoor and Preity Zinta. BCBG bridges the super-premium and luxury segments competing with rivals such as Roberto Cavalli, Prada, Burberry and Donna Karen. Reliance Brands, which also intends to invest behind indigenous fashion houses, operates 25 stores in seven cities between all its portfolio brands and reported a loss of Rs 6.23 crore in FY11.

Eye on talent, Wipro rolls out promotion offer for mid-level managers

BANGALORE: For the first time in nearly two years, top managers at Wipro have been promoted to become vice-presidents at different business units and functions, as India's third-biggest software exporter plans to offer more growth options for mid-level managers and retain key staff.

Coming out from an economic recession during 2009, when customers shelved software projects and tech firms like Wipro, Infosys and TCS were forced to freeze promotions and even trim payrolls, the challenge now is to ensure that key staff don't get poached by rivals offering lucrative posts and better salaries. Earlier this month, Infosys, the country's secondbiggest software exporter, handed promotion letters to dozens of its mid-level managers and promoted three of the company's next-gen leaders to the board.

According to at least three people familiar with the developments, Wipro will now have 30-40 vice-presidents, more than double the 15-odd managers it had at this level until two years ago. Rishad Premji , Wipro's chief strategy officer who joined the company as a business manager in 2007 and was promoted to become general manager two years ago, has also joined the vice-presidents' club.

"Good to see people talk of promotions now, after months of restructuring and bad press," said one of the managers who was promoted. He requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media. Sunita R Cherian, Supriti Bhandary, Priti Rajora and Isaac George are among the general managers promoted to become vice-presidents in Wipro's human resources division.

Ashok Tripathy , who heads Wipro's PC business, has also been promoted to the vice-president level along with Durga Prasad, who heads Wipro's Saudi Arabia unit.

As top customers such as Citigroup and BP increase outsourcing of IT and back-office projects, Wipro needs to promote its managers to handle bigger, more complex roles. "In the past few years there have been few promotions as there was the downturn and there wasn't too much longterm visibility. But this year a lot of general managers have been promoted to the vicepresident level and vice-presidents have become senior vicepresidents," said an official on condition of anonymity.

"There are several reasons for this - the market has opened up and there is buoyancy. Even peers such as Infosys, TCS and Cognizant have rewarded employees well, so in a way they are keeping up with the industry. Also, now that the restructuring is almost complete the company has a longterm view and wants to reward those who have done well," the official added. Wipro's appraisal process kicked off in April and ended on June 15. Employees have started getting letters and the process will be completed in the next few days.

"The total number of promotions is definitely higher. It's also an outcome of the fact that overall we have grown; we have added 20,000 employees in the past few years so the number will be higher. The promotions have been good across the board and there is also a feel-good factor," another company official added. Experts say as demand picks up companies like Wipro will reward team leaders.

"Companies are rewarding employees at the operating level (team leaders, projects managers, etc) because the opportunities for them in the market are much higher. While compensation is good, there is more sanity compared to the 2006-07 levels," said Ajit Isaac, managing director & chief executive officer, IKYA Global.

Earlier this year, Wipro announced 12-15% hikes for its offshore employees. The company also standardised its appraisal procedure, fixing the first quarter of the year as the appraisal cycle. The wage hikes are effective from June 1. TCS announced 12-14% hikes, while Infosys gave out increments of 10-12% earlier this month with retrospective effect from April.

India to issue another warning to US on hike of professional visa fees

NEW DELHI: India will issue yet another warning to the United States on the non-compatibility of the recent hike in professional visa fees and imposition of additional import taxes on government purchases with World Trade Organisation, or WTO, rules.

Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma will take up the issue with US Trade Representative Ron Kirk later this week.

"We are seriously pursuing the issue with the US government as we feel that both the measures violate global trade rules. The minister will discuss the issue at length with the USTR," a commerce department official told ET. Sharma is scheduled to meet Kirk in Washington DC on Wednesday.

India had issued a non-paper or an informal communication to the US earlier this year stating that both the measures, that were part of the country's attempt to fund its enhanced border security plan and health programme for 9/11 victims, flouted multilateral trade norms of the WTO. The US, however, is yet to respond to the communication.

"The minister will try to drive home the point that we are not willing to let go of the issue as the measures have a significant negative impact on Indian business," the official said, adding that the commerce ministry is in consultation with WTO lawyers and is preparing the ground for filing a case if required.

The US increased professional visa fees (H-1B and L-1 visa) by a minimum $ 2,000 for all US-based companies that have more than half of their employees on such visas till 2015. It would mostly affect Indian IT firms, like Infosys and Wipro , and is expected to cost them $200 million annually.

It also imposed an additional import duty of 2% on all government purchases from countries like India that are not part of the government procurement agreement (GPA) of the WTO. Only a handlful of members are in the GPA including the EU, Japan, Switzerland, China, South Korea and Iceland.

A Delhi-based trade lawyer following the issue told ET that while prima facie there is no discrimination against Indians on the issue of visa fee hike, de facto there could be a case of distinction as mostly Indian firms are getting affected by the measure. "The visa issue could be disputed at the WTO if discrimination is proved," the lawyer said.

Levy of higher taxes on imports from non-GPA countries is a ``trickier'' issue because although it is in confirmity with the GPA, there could be compatibility concerns with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade or GATT (the agreement that preceeded the WTO) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services or GATS. "It will be interesting to see how the WTO dispute settlement panel will view the issue if India decides to file a dispute against the measure," the lawyer added. Sharma will also meet US under secretary for political affairs William J Burns during his three days visit and address the annual summit of the US-India business council

Spying devices come cheap and easy

NEW DELHI: For as little as a few hundred rupees, a bugging device can be bought off the shelf to listen into other people's conversations. Add a few hundred more rupees, and you can buy sophisticated miniature video cameras that can be hidden in a flower vase or behind books.

For all of these, there is a flourishing market in India, thanks to the perverse violation of privacy and officially sanctioned snooping activities that are undertaken by government agencies. And the completely illegal snooping activities by many private sector companies as part of corporate espionage, or for other reasons.

A trader in Delhi, who specializes in supplying snooping equipment, said he could sell a listening device for as little as Rs 500. "From Rs 500 to Rs 50,000 we have equipment," the trader , known for supplying hidden cameras to TV channels, said.

A listening device would include a transmitter and a recorder to which the voice is sent as radio waves. Similarly, there can be a hidden camera and its recorder.

For long, the Indian market for such devices was dominated by western companies. But in recent years, firms from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Israel have entered the market. "Former Soviet countries brought down the cost of these equipment significantly," an official said. He said snooping equipment were primarily bought for either audio or video recording. In both cases, a host of factors decide how effective the equipment is, how small the transmitter is, the life of its battery and the power of the transmitter to transmit to the maximum distance.

The official said he was aware of equipment that with batteries that could last from a couple of hours to an entire day. There are exceptional equipment where the battery life can last for several days, he added. The microphones (transmitters ) can transmit voice to a minimum of 40-50 metres to a couple of km. They transmit it to a pre-determined receiver.

"A listening device is nothing but a microphone that converts voice into radio waves and transmits it to a recorder kept at some distance," said Maj Gen V K Singh, a retired officer who was with the Army Signals and RAW. Technology was evolving in snooping, he said. "But the basic premise remains the same," he said.

Another former officer said snooping could be done in far better ways than using adhesives to stick microphones, as was found in Mukherjee's office . He said an agency could place a copper wire inside a phone, converting the receiver into a transmitter.

Another way is to modify three-pin plugs to transmitters. Agencies also flood rooms with high frequency radio radiations , using a laser beam focused on a windows to pick up micro-vibrations.