US small business agency to promote exports to India

Washington, April 19 (IANS) With the demand for US products and services on the rise in India, a US government agency helping small business concerns and an Indian-American trade association have joined hands to advance export opportunities there.
A strategic alliance memorandum (SAM) signed by the US Small Business Administration (SBA) and the US-India Business Alliance (USIBA) will allow them to share resources to help start, maintain, and expand small businesses, particularly through trade with India.

The first of its kind agreement for SBA and the US-India business community will last for two years.

"The strategic alliance memorandum will further align the SBA and USIBA missions to support America's small businesses," SBA administrator Steve Preston said Friday.

"Working together, we can strengthen US small businesses by helping them access growing markets like India, where business and consumer demand for US products and services is on the rise," he added.

"USIBA is excited about administrator Preston's enthusiastic promotion of a trade agenda," said Sanjay Puri, president and CEO of the USIBA, which works for increasing commerce between the US and India.

"This agreement with SBA will extend each organization's efforts to foster and facilitate further involvement by the US small business community in trade with India. We look forward to an enduring and impacting institutional relationship that will continue to contribute in a meaningful fashion for many years to come," he said.

The SBA and USIBA alliance will strengthen and expand small business exporting opportunities through education, advocacy and matchmaking opportunities.

SBA will provide USIBA with timely information on the agency's programmes, services and resource partners, update them on events that will advance their mission and provide speakers at USIBA events.

It would also invite them to SBA-sponsored events and provide a hyperlink from SBA's website to USIBA's website, and assign a point of contact to serve as a liaison between SBA and USIBA.

As part of the pooling of resources, USIBA will cooperate with SBA and its resource partners to provide information to members about its businesses development programmes and services.

It would also disseminate current SBA news and information, provide speakers for SBA-sponsored events and provide a hyperlink from USIBA's website to SBA's website and assign a point of contact to serve as a liaison between USIBA and SBA.


Fight for Indian skies catches Forbes' fancy

New York, April 18 (IANS) The fight for dominance of Indian skies between Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and Kingfisher owner Vijay Mallya has earned them a place in a new list called 'Battling Billionaires' published by the Forbes magazine.
Goyal, the established player in India's air travel business with a net worth of $1.4 billion, is being challenged by Mallya, the upstart who floated Kingfisher Airline only a few years ago and is worth $1.2 billion, the US business magazine said.

"The two are now going tit for tat connecting Indian cities to foreign hubs," the magazine added in a recent story featuring eight pairs of billionaires engaged in feuding.

Anil and Mukesh Ambani's fierce competition to outdo each other in expanding their part of the Reliance empire has, however, not made the cut in the Forbes' list.

Donald Trump and Mark Cuban are in the list for a war of words that erupted after Trump alleged Cuban's short-lived television series, "The Benefactor", had ripped off his own reality programme, "The Apprentice". Trump called Cuban a loser and Cuban in turn retorted by saying he felt sorry for Trump.

Larry Ellison, the chief executive of Oracle, and Ernesto Bertarelli, a Swiss pharmaceutical billionaire, had a showdown in court trying to dictate rules for what they both covet - America's Cup, sailing world's most prestigious race.


Google posts surprise earnings despite weak US economy

New York, April 18 (DPA) Google Inc reported a 30-percent jump in first-quarter earnings Thursday to $1.31 billion, allaying fears that the internet search engine leader was struggling with the effects of a US economic slowdown.
Revenue also climbed 42 percent to $5.19 billion, with more than half its sales coming from outside the US, the company said after market close.

Google's shares shot up more than 11 percent in after-hours trading as the earnings report beat analysts' estimates.

"People said 'Google can't keep defying the laws of gravity,' but it looks like Google is flying high again," Jerome Dodson of Parnassus Investments told Bloomberg News.








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