Infosys, TCS, ITC and Mahindra and Mahindra are among the 16 Indian companies named in Forbes' magazine's 2010 compilation of the Asia-Pacific's 50 biggest listed companies.

India and China together account for 32 of the 50 companies in Forbes' sixth annual 'Asia's Fabulous 50 listed companies'.

The other Indian companies making it to the list are Adani Enterprises, Axis Bank, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Hindalco Industries, Jindal Steel and Power, JSW Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen and Toubro and Sterlite Industries

"Economies around Asia bounced back last year and so did many of our Fabulous 50 companies. Earnings, revenues and stock prices soared almost across the board after a rocky time the previous year," Forbes said.

Among the Indian firms, Forbes specifically talks about Axis Bank and ITC.

"The two are leaders in their industry -- Axis Bank, India's third-largest non-state-owned bank, and ITC, led by Y C Deveshwar, who is determined to give ITC a life beyond tobacco.

The Planning Commission said the new Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is a better reflection of changes in consumption pattern as it includes a wider range of consumer items like mineral water and flowers.

Inflation for August stood at 8.5 per cent, according to the new WPI series with the base year of 2004-05, released by the government.

As per the old series, which was based on 1993-94 prices, the inflation stood at 9.5 per cent for the month.

Consumer items widely used by the middle class, like ice-cream, microwave ovens, washing machines, gold and silver are reflected in the new series of WPI inflation

The new WPI series has 241 more items. With the additional items, the WPI now measures a total of 676 items against 435 earlier.

"Updation of inflation (index) was absolutely essential because the earlier index had gone out of range. We should not mind the change at all," he further added.

Ahluwalia, however, refused to predict the dip in overall inflation by December.

When Vijayawada-based Vijaya Prasad walked into his bank branch for a gold loan only to be rudely turned away by the clerk behind the counter, all he did was shoot off a one-word SMS to his bank ‘Unhappy’.

Within minutes, not only did he get a call from the bank’s call centre, the branch manager personally sought him out and cleared his gold loan in just one hour flat.

Over 16,000 disgruntled bank customers like Prasad have found to their delight that one SMS did for them what months of running around from one bank branch to the other could not.

This is a unique paperless and instant customer grievances redressal initiative being pilot-tested by the state-run State Bank of India (SBI) in Andhra Pradesh in a bid to don a customer-friendly avataar.

What’s more interesting is that SBI, which has for long been weighed down with an image of being a slow-moving ‘sarkari outfit’, has not only designed the software for the system in-house, it has gone one step ahead and filed for a global patent for the initiative branded as the ‘Unhappy Service’.

“We filed a patent for our ‘Unhappy service’ last month after extensive research indicated something similar had never been attempted anywhere in the world,” Diwakar Gupta, deputy managing director (national banking group), SBI.

In fact, so impressed was SBI chairman O P Bhatt with it that he has decided to replicate it nationwide. The service is expected to go national by the end of the year.

EPFO promised 9.5% return for 2010-11 on the back of discovery of a hidden surplus of Rs 1,731.52 crore.

The organization was giving a return of 8.5% for the last five years .

Private trusts are complaining that they do not have such windfall gain as it happened in case of EPFO and they will face shortfalls in incomes to give 9.5% returns.

Companies need to pay from their pockets to fill the gap .

It is learnt that most of the trusts are going to appeal to the finance ministry, which is yet to approve the EPFO’s proposal to give 9.5% return.

However, it is unlikely that finance ministry will scrap such a popular decision, considering the fact that it does not have to contribute any money.

Earlier this week at the Google Zeitgeist conference, the company's chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt said there was a divergence between his sector and the rest of the economy.

While high-tech firms are currently receiving new

investments, rolling out new products, and hiring new workers, the broader economy is at a standstill.

He's also pushing for an overhaul of America's visa system and described Arizona's controversial new immigration law as "nearly racist."

He said the guiding principle for the US visa policy should be to let all smart people stay in the country.

He added that the cap on H-1B visas for educated workers was "the stupidest thing we've ever done."

Schmidt is excited about Google TV, the company's effort to bring the power of the internet to television programming

India’s top mobile phone firm Bharti Airtel took the initial steps to replicate its hugely successful outsourcing model in Africa by awarding a $1.5-billion contract to IBM for managing its IT requirements across 16 countries in the continent.

The 10-year deal will involve IBM consolidating Airtel’s IT operations in Africa into one integrated system.

The US firm also handles Bharti’s information technology requirements in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh under a 2004 deal, which is estimated to worth at least $3 billion.

“This will be the first of the many strategic partnerships in Africa,” said Manoj Kohli, chief executive of Bharti’s international operations.

Telecom analysts say the next major deal for Bharti will be an over $2-billion network outsourcing contract, which will be for 3-5 years.

The partnership will allow Bharti Airtel to deliver innovative and affordable 2G and 3G mobile services across the (African) continent, the telco said in a statement.

IBM will also oversee the management of all of the technology applications, data-centre operations, servers , storage and desktop services, both companies added in a joint statement.

HUL has dragged P&G to court on the latest Pantene shampoo advertisement, terming it as ‘‘disparaging’’ to its Dove brand.

Incidentally, a complaint filed by HUL to the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) against P&G’s ‘mystery shampoo’ outdoor and print advertisement has been upheld by the advertising watch dog.

The hoardings put up by P&G at July-end, talked about a mystery shampoo which ‘‘80% women say is better than anything else.

P&G’s move was immediately ambushed by HUL which came out with a parallel hoardings of Dove, saying, ‘‘There is no mystery. Dove is the No.1 shampoo’’.

While this clearly took away the surprise element from P&G’s new Pantene launch, HUL did not sit quiet on its marketing punch.

It later filed a complaint with ASCI against P&G’s hoarding ad, terming it as ‘‘misleading’’.

HUL’s complaint was pinned on the fact that P&G had used an old study done in Thailand in 2008 to target Indian consumers.

Big B means big moolah for advertisers.

Sony Entertainment Television, the channel on KBC will now be showcased acquired the rights of the Indian version of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ from Two Way Traffic the international rights owner, has closed all sponsorships on the quiz show.

Cadburys India paid around Rs 12 crore for presenting sponsorship while telecom partner Idea Cellular paid nearly Rs 18 crore.

Both Cadburys India and Idea Cellular will get 90 seconds of ad time per episode.

The six associate sponsors on board are LG Mobile, Videocon, Tata Motors, Oliver Communications, an FMCG brand and Axis Bank.

Each associate sponsor has paid between Rs 8 to Rs 9 crore each for 60 seconds of commercial time during each episode.

With these eight advertisers, 75% of the show’s commercial inventory is full.

Remaining ad inventory will be sold to spot buyers for almost

Rs 4 lakh per ten seconds of ads, according to industry estimates.

Media experts believe that Sony will be able to command a premium on the property given that the show will be launched during Diwali, when most advertisers spend their ad budgets.

Rafael Nadal may pass Roger Federer as tennis’ top earner after completing the career Grand Slam at the US Open.

Nadal became the seventh man to win all four majors with his four-set victory over Novak Djokovic at the National Tennis Center in New York on September 13.

At 24, Nadal is also the youngest winner of the career Grand Slam since tennis turned professional in 1968.

He will transcend even the Federer brand,” Simon Chadwick, a professor of sports business strategy and marketing at the Coventry University Business School in England, said in an interview.

Chadwick estimates the Spaniard’s latest title may boost his earnings by as much as $20 million a year to $41 million.

Federer, a 29-year-old from Switzerland, has won a men’s-

record 16 major singles titles, and is the sport’s leading male brand and top earner.

Forbes Magazine in August estimated his annual earnings at $43 million, including prize money, appearances and endorsement deals with companies.

Nadal brought in $21 million from prize money and sponsorships with companies led by Mapfre, Spain’s largest insurer; South Korea’s Kia Motors; French racket manufacturer Babolat; and Nike.

That put him third on the list of best-paid tennis players, trailing Maria Sharapova, the Russian is in second place with $24.5 million.

Ask Wilfried Aulbur, chief executive officer and managing director of Mercedes Benz India, about where he’s headed, now that he has put in his papers at the luxury car maker, and all you get is that he’s moving to Mumbai.

Having spent close to seven years in India is not the only reason he regards himself as half Indian but also because his wife is an Indian.

“We had been in India till 2002 and when we came back in 2005, there was a remarkable change that had taken place across the country in the three years we had been away,” he reminisces.

Clearly an understatement since he has

been busy travelling the length and breadth of the country, understanding customer needs and being there to handhold them.

His travels, in fact, have been the source of great curiosity. At a recent informal conversation with the local press, he polled how many of those present had been to Jalna, a small town in the interior of Maharashtra.

Not only did he know the town, he also knew the profile of his likely buyers and their businesses.

That, he adds, was the future of the luxury car market: the Tier II and III towns.

“There has always been money in those towns but there is now an openness in attitude, to invest in lifestyle products such as a luxury car.

There is continued prosperity and the availability of finance, factors which are driving growth for us in these areas,” he remarks.