Ms Shah, a 35-year-old general manager with a leading MNC, has recently separated. A single parent of two kids, she wants to ensure adequate financial protection for her children and also plan for her future.

Seen as one of the the most exciting merger and acquisition deals since Ranbaxy’s acquisition by the Japanese major Daiichi Sankyo, the US-based multinational pharma company Abbott has acquired the domestic formulations business of Piramal Healthcare Limited.

Acting on several complaints and tip-offs about sub-standard fuel and medicines being sold by government institutions, officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted a special drive from May 12 to May 20, raiding government-run hospitals as well as fuel depots across Maharashtra.

The acquisition of Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) by ICICI Bank may lead to a relook at the valuations of other small private sector banks.
On Thursday, the stock prices of private sector banks such as Karnataka Bank, South Indian Bank and Federal Bank were up 2-5 per cent.

Cement major Grasim has recorded a net profit of Rs 654 crore for the March quarter, up 15 per cent over the previous year. The numbers are not strictly comparable because Grasim had demerged its cement business to subsidiary Samruddhi Cement in October ’09.

The high bids for 3G spectrum made by telecom companies will haunt them for some time to come. The high licence fee coupled with the capital expenditure required for rollout of 3G services will push some of the firms into debt.

Two top gainers amongst the large cap stocks on Thursday were ONGC and Oil India. Both the companies saw their share prices soar by 8-9 per cent — following the government’s decision to raise natural gas prices. These companies produce over 50 million cubic meters/day of natural gas which will now be sold at $4.2/unit instead of the earlier price of $1.9/unit. Analysts estimate that this can push up the profits of both the firms by up to 20 per cent.

The 3G auction may spell good news for the government, but the successful players now have a tough job at hand. They need to visibly show that the money spent on acquiring the new licenses was well spent. Even before the auction had started, several analysts tracking the sector had raised the prospect of over-bidding – or winner’s

With Wednesday’s blood bath on Dalal Street that saw the Sensex swoon 467 points on the German blitzkreig, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index has fallen 1,639 points from its high of 18,047 on April 7, a drop of 10 per cent.

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday, criticised Union home minister P. Chidambaram for taking a cowardly stand against the Naxals and demanded that they should be dealt with like enemies of the state.