IMF growth forecast

New York, Jan. 28: The International Monetary Fund has projected the world economy to grow at 0.5 per cent this year— the lowest rate since World War II — and revised its growth prospects for India to 5.1 per cent in 2009 against its earlier forecast of 6.3 per cent. “We now expect the global economy to come to a virtual halt,” IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard said.

TCS deal

Calcutta, Jan. 28: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has signed a $100-million deal to provide IT services to UK’s 4U Group — the holding company of Phones 4U — to enable it to increase capacity, boost skills and create a flexible IT model to meet future demand.

3G delay

New Delhi, Jan. 28: The cabinet is understood to have referred the issue of 3G spectrum allocation to private players to a group of ministers, further delaying its rollout.

RIL plant

Mumbai, Jan. 28: Reliance Industries (RIL) has scrapped its plan to set up a captive power plant at Nagothane in Maharashtra after it realised that no gas would be available for the plant after meeting the requirements of other users.

FDI cleared

New Delhi, Jan. 28: The government has cleared 31 FDI proposals worth Rs 1,277.23 crore, including those of Morgan Stanley Financial Services, Keystone Realtors and Ramky Enviro Engineers. The proposals of Keystone and Ramky are worth Rs 320 crore and Rs 300 crore, respectively.

Carnation

Calcutta, Jan. 28: Maruti’s former managing director Jagdish Khattar said the first outlet of his own company, Carnation, might be operational next month in Noida. The company plans to open at least 10 multi-brand car sales and service outlets in the first year.

ACC award

Mumbai, Jan. 28: ACC Limited has won CNBC-TV18’s India Business Leaders Award in the category of India Corporate Citizen of the Year 2008. The award was presented by Accenture to honour the best in Indian business.