Dell to enter US smart phone market with AT&T

Dell Inc.,the world's third-largest computer maker, is entering U.S. mobile phone market this year. The mobile phone will be using a device that uses AT&T Inc.'s wireless network and runs Google's Android software.

Dell, announced the deal on Wednesday before the official opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Itl has already built versions of the phone, known as the Mini 3, for wireless carriers in China and Brazil. The price and release date for the U.S. model is yet not disclosed.

Dell also plans to use CES to show off devices that are bigger than a smart phone but smaller than the average netbook, including a tablet-style computer. None will be available immediately.

Nandan Nilekani resigned from the board of Infosys

Nandan Nilekani has resigned from the board of Infosys, in order to take charge as the chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority. Under the new role, Nilekani will work for the Govt. initiative, to issue Multipurpose National Identity Cards (MNIC) for every citizen, to tackle illegal immigration and terrorists. A National Population Register will be created by 2011, under which the MNIC cards will be issued.

Nandan Nilekani is a co-founder of Infosys and has served as a director on the Infy's board since its inception in 1981. Between March 2002 and June 2007, he served as the company's Managing Director and CEO. Thereafter, he was re-designated as the co-chairman of the board of directors. He will now relinquish his post of co-chairman to be inducted in the rank of a Cabinet Minister in the Indian Government. The resignation will be effective from July 9, 2009.

DLF in talks with StanChart - $300 mln loan at 7%

As per magicbricks.com India's largest real estate firm DLF is close to raising $300 million by way of a foreign currency loan at a rate significantly lower than what it would have to pay in the domestic market, a top company executive said.
The company is raising the loan from Standard Chartered Bank at an interest rate of around 7%, as against its current average borrowing cost of 12.5% in the domestic market, said the executive who asked not to be named.
The 7-year loan is being raised at a rate of Libor plus 500 bps. The loan will be used for one of the integrated township projects of DLF. The realty firm is developing around half-a-dozen townships, but it could not be immediately ascertained which project this fund will be deployed.
A DLF spokesman declined to comment. Stanchart India too declined to comment, citing “confidentiality reasons”.
The loan will be through the External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) route. Current central bank rules permit such overseas loans to be raised only for integrated township projects. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had permitted real estate companies to raise funds through the ECB window for integrated townships late last year to boost activity in the housing sector in the light of a serious liquidity crunch at home.
But the seizure in the international credit market in the aftermath of the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers last September meant overseas markets were not available for fund raising.DLF, which had net debt of Rs14,000 crore at the end of March, has been raising long-term loans in the domestic market to replace shorter duration debt. Since December last year, it has raised at least Rs3,000 crore of long-term debt from a clutch of state-run banks and insurance major LIC at an average borrowing cost of 14%.