New Delhi: India has overtaken China in exports growth rate, recording an increase of 16.1 per cent in 2011, topping the list of all major trading countries in the world, says a WTO report

"India had the fastest export growth among major traders in 2011, with shipments rising 16.1 per cent. Meanwhile, China had the second-fastest export growth of any major economy at 9.3 per cent," World Trade Report 2012 of WTO said.

China had topped the list in 2010 with shipment growth rate of 28.4 per cent, while India recorded an increase of 22 per cent. According to experts, the Indian government's and exporters' endeavour of diversification of export markets have benefitted the country's shipments.

"Mainly the diversification of markets to Middle East countries, South East Asia and China has yielded good results for Indian exports," said K.T. Chaco, director of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT). Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president Rafeeq Ahmed also said market and product diversification strategy have yielded positive results.

After the economic slowdown in the India's traditional export markets - the US and Europe -- the government had extended incentives to exporters to explore new markets, including in regions like Latin America and Africa.

Mumbai: Telecom operators are on their toes to manage the increased Internet traffic to view the Olympic Games. A large number of people are expected to view the Games via their mobile phones and/or tablets.

With 3G and 4G-enabled phones in the market, telecom operators are expecting an increase in usage, especially for events where Indian athletes are participating. "Our systems ensure scalability and manage traffic dynamically. Additionally, for customers seeking live video-feed, the time difference will give the advantage of off-peak traffic," said a Vodafone India spokesperson.

According to telecom operators, if they could withstand the IPL traffic, Olympics should not be a problem. A number of cool applications will allow users to download, view and share real-time updates.

"This is an exclusive Olympics app that gives an overview of all the action taking place at the Games. Users will also get access to premium video snippets from the Olympics. Although there is no live streaming, the premium videos will give users a flavour of the Olympics. We have two million users globally and half a million users in India," said Rohan Kumar, global marketing head, PlayUp, an app developer.

"We have a robust infrastructure in place, as our app can give users access to nine sports and 27,000 matches a year," he added. PlayUp has tied up with Samsung to give real-time updates. Other android and iOs applications give details on the medallists and schedule.

New Delhi: Union coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and Coal India chairman S. Narsing Rao are expected to meet investors and companies in Singapore and Hong Kong next month as part of efforts to attract much-needed foreign investment into the secto

"There are many opportunities in the coal sector, such as setting up of washeries and contract mining, which would be highlighted. We want to bring more expertise and the latest technology to India," said an official.

Currently, foreign investment in sector is negligible. "This is because we have a captive policy regime. Only if a foreign investor joins a power project that has been given a captive mine, can it get involved. Such a scenario is rare," said Dipesh Dipu, director in consulting at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India.

Coal India plans to engage private companies for contract mining by paying them a fixed amount for every tonne extracted, Narsing Rao had said in a recent interview.

The former secretary and advisor to the coal ministry, Alok Perti, and the joint Secretary, A.K. Bhalla, will accompany Jaiswal at the road shows organised by IDFC.

The figure was disclosed in the information that India received from France on Indians having bank accounts, under the exchange of information clause of the DTAA.

In 219 cases, tax authorities detected undisclosed income totalling Rs 565 crore, and taxes amounting to Rs 181 crore have already been realised, the CBDT told Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recently.

In a presentation on NRI taxation, the CBDT said 30,765 pieces of domestic information about suspicious transactions have been obtained by field intelligence units (FIUs), which are under investigation by respective agencies.

The PAC was informed that New Delhi has commenced tax information exchange agreements (TIEA) with 25 new jurisdictions this year. As a result of TIEAs, requests from field officers to foreign tax authorities have increased from 39 in 2008-09 to 386 in 2011-13. Till June 30, 120 such requests have been made, the presentation said.

The CBDT said that at the beginning of 2009, India had 78 DTAAs, 75 of which do not have provision for exchange of banking information. With six new DTAAs coming into force, India has a total of 84 such agreements with foreign countries.

Moscow: Almost half of Russians -- 46 percent -- believe that the Syrian conflict is the result of interference by hostile foreign powers seeking to increase their influence in the Middle East or to weaken Syria.

According to a public survey published Friday by Russia's state-run VTsIOM pollster, only 19 percent of those polled describe the Syrian crisis as a popular uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

More than one third -- 34 percent -- of respondents were undecided on the nature of the conflict.
The poll also showed that the majority of Russians seem not to care what is going on in Syria. Less than half of those polled -- 44 percent -- said they were following the events in the Middle Eastern country, and those were mainly elderly Russians.

Eight percent of them said they follow the events closely and another 37 percent said they know about the situation in general.

But 52 percent, most of them young people, said they were not interested in the conflict.
More than 17,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the unrest in March 2011, according to UN estimates based on Syrian activist accounts. Thousands have fled their homes.
While the Russian government is widely seen in the West as a staunch supporter of Assad, the majority of ordinary Russians -- 57 percent -- say they support neither the Syrian government, nor the insurgents fighting to end more than 40 years of the Assad family's rule.

Among those who have taken a clear stance on the conflict, 14 percent support the Syrian government and 11 percent favour the rebel cause. Another 19 percent could not define their position.
The poll conducted July 7-8 involved 1,600 people in 138 locations spread across 46 regions.
Russia, along with China, has vetoed three Western-backed UN Security Council resolutions against Assad, citing a pro-rebel bias. Moscow insists it has no special interest in seeing Assad remain in power, but said that the 'Syrian people' must decide his fate.