■INDIA
Central bank raises rates
India’s central bank has hiked interest rates more than expected as it continues its fight against high inflation. The Reserve Bank of India is raising the repo rate — at which it makes short-term loans to commercial banks — by a quarter of a percentage point to 6 percent with immediate effect. It raised the reverse repo rate — the rate at which it borrows from commercial banks — by an unexpected half percentage point to 5 percent. Economists had expected quarter point hikes in both rates. This is the fifth rate hike this year.
■BANKING
China profits down
The earnings of major foreign banks in China plunged last year even as their Chinese rivals turned big profits, underlining the challenges facing overseas firms in the country, a report said yesterday. Profits at the Chinese unit of HSBC Holdings PLC plummeted 60 percent compared to 2008, while Standard Chartered’s China unit saw earnings fall 34 percent, the Wall Street Journal said, quoting a report by accountants KPMG. Profits at JP Morgan Chase’s unit in China fell 21 percent, it said.
■REFRIGERATORS
Samsung aims for the top
Samsung Electronics yesterday set a new goal of becoming the world’s top refrigerator maker next year, following its dominant position in computer memory chips and flat-screen TVs. Samsung is now the second-largest player in the global refrigerator market with a share of 11 percent after US rival Whirlpool’s 14 percent. Hong Chang-Wan, vice president of the company’s home appliance division, told reporters Samsung could become the world’s top refrigerator maker next year.
■ENERGY
GS, Siemens win Oman bid
A consortium of South Korea’s GS Engineering and Construction and Germany’s Siemens has won a US$1.3 billion deal to build power plants in Oman, GS Engineering said yesterday. It said in a statement the consortium would build two thermal power plants northwest of the capital Muscat by April 2013. Each plant will produce up to 750 megawatts of electricity. It said its previous projects to build power plants in Oman and Armenia helped it garner the deal. GS Engineering in April completed a US$218 million project to build a thermal power plant in Yerevan, Armenia.
■TELECOMS
ZTE wins India contract
Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE (中興通訊) said yesterday it had secured a contract to supply technology for a mobile network in India after New Delhi relaxed a ban on imports of telecoms equipment. The agreement will see ZTE build and supply second- and third-generation equipment for a network belonging to Indian mobile company Reliance Communications. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in the statement.
■TECHNOLOGY
Google taking on iTunes
Internet search powerhouse Google is trying to put together an online music service that would take on Apple’s market-ruling iTunes, a report on Billboard.com said. Google is courting record labels for a service that would let people download songs in digital format or store music in the Internet “cloud” for streaming to online devices, according to unnamed sources cited by Billboard. Google is reportedly proposing charging annual subscriptions of about US$25 to let people store music online and then stream or download tunes as desired, Billboard said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source