Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has announced plans to invest over £50million to launch six television channels in India over the next year.

The regional channels will be run under the Star brand and will broadcast in six languages. Mr Murdoch’s investment plans point to growing Western interest in the rapidly expanding Indian media market.

A bid by the Indian state-controlled Oil and Natural Gas Company for the energy group Imperial Energy could be under threat from a Chinese company.

State-owned Sinopec has apparently approached Imperial offering more than the £1.3billion put up by its Indian rival. Imperial has declined to comment on the situation.

A row between two of India’s richest brothers may have damaged their country’s international business reputation.

Relations between Mukesh and Anil Ambani led to a merger between Indian mobile phone company Reliance Communications and Africa’s largest mobile provider MTN falling through.

Older brother Mukesh Ambani claimed he had the first right of refusal to buy his brother’s company. The possibility of lengthy court proceedings scared off MTN and ended the deal.

Bangladesh business leaders have voiced disappointment that Indian industrial giant Tata Group is pulling out of a proposed £1.5billion investment programme.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry said other investors might be deterred. It would have been the single largest investment programme in the country. Tata planned to invest in the power, steel and fertiliser industries.

Latest reports put the average price of a UK home at £15,000 less than it was as year ago and prices are falling at their fastest rate since 1991 in the year to July.

Difficulties in securing loans and fewer mortgage packages on the market have resulted in there being over 40% fewer first-time buyers now than at the same time last year.

Airlines are not coping with the rising cost of fuel, according to Air India, and comes as British Airways announce record losses of 90%.

The cost of air travel is set to soar around the world, but it is believed to be even worse across Asia.

Air India’s Director of Corporate Communications Gigenber Bhargova says the fuel accounts for about 50% of costs so they have no choice but to increase fares.

It is reported that Chrysler are in talks with Tata Motors about selling its Jeep Wrangler SUV in India and possibly other Asian markets.

It is believed that if sealed, it could lead to a larger deal over time. Tata recently purchased Jaguar and Landrover from Ford.

Investment plans of Indian companies will be hit by the interest rate increases by the Reserve Bank of India and economic growth could further slow as a result, industry bodies said today.

The RBI raised its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points to 9%, the highest in seven years, in a bid to contain double-digit inflation in the country. Previously in June, it had raised the rate by 75 basis points in two steps.

It also raised the cash reserve ratio by 25 basis points to 9.0%, following a 50 basis point hike in June.

A public school educated Muslim has been hired to run one of the City’s oldest firms. Naguib Kheraj, the former finance director of Barclays, was yesterday appointed chief executive of investment bank JP Morgan Cazenove, the Queen’s stockbroker.

44-year-old Mr Kheraj will take up his new role on 6th October.

Four out of ten house sales are collapsing because buyers pull out or fail to get a mortagage, according to figures released by the Bank of England yesterday.

The bank reported many sellers were refusing to accept lower offers, while some buyers were pulling out because they feared house prices could fall further.

House prices are falling faster than at anytime since the 1950s, some analysts say they could fall by as much as 35% in the next two years.

A fresh round of energy price rises seems imminent after Britain’s second domestic supplier said that it is likely to impose higher prices on customers before long.

A spokesman for Scottish and Southern Energy, which has 8.8million customers, said it was becoming "more difficult by the day" to resist raising prices despite oil falling from £73 to approx £62 a barrel recently.

The Chief executive of SSE, Ian Marchant said, "the extent of the energy shock with which the entire global economy is having to contend has been well documented, and its full impact on prices for electricity and gas in the UK has still to be felt."

The taxpayer could become responsible for billions of pounds of mortgages under radical proposals to restart the housing market.

The Government would offer to take the risk of newly issued mortgages on to the books of the Bank of England and exchange them for short term Government bonds.

The scheme, which is being considered by ministers, would provide the banks and building societies with the resources and confidence they need to increase lending.

16million customers of British Gas will pay about a third more for gas and electricity from next month, with average bills rising to £1,300 a year.

The other major energy companies - E.ON, EDF, Scottish & Southern Energy and Scottish Power – are expected to announce similar increases.

Centrica, which owns British Gas, issued a fresh warning that domestic gas bills will rise from about £600 now to more than £1,000 per year if oil prices remain high.

An American private equity firm is investing £40million in budget Indian airline Spicejet, the second biggest budget airline in India, with around 10% of the market.

The Indian airline industry is feeling the pressure of rising fuel prices; some carriers may be forced to drop some short-haul routes.

Britain’s economic woes may mean taxes have to rise under a Tory government, leader David Cameron has admitted.

Mr Cameron said he hopes short-term hikes would not be necessary if his party is in power, but said "Government always has to do what is right".

The warning came as Mr Cameron set out an economic recovery plan to deal with the credit crunch and called for US-style bankruptcy proceedings.

India is lagging behind 40 other countries in industrial competitiveness, according to a United Nations Industrial Development Organisation report.

Singapore tops the list along with Japan and Ireland. India lies ahead of Pakistan, which comes 55th. Bangladesh is 67th and Sri Lanka is 75th. The UK comes 16th in the list.

Scores are based on how goods keep up to date with the latest technologies and competitive industrial performance indices. Industrialised countries continue to lead the rankings, while transition economies are tightly grouped in the middle ranks.

Two feuding brothers, believed to be the richest men in India, could jeopardise the creation of a new powerhouse in the world communications market.

The Ambani brothers inherited the Reliance empire in 2002, but squabbles ever since have put in doubt a merger between India's second largest mobile company and South Africa's largest, MTN.

Mukesh Ambani, the eldest and richest of the brothers, claimed last month he should have the first right of refusal to buy RCOM, which is controlled by his estranged brother Anil.

Talks between the companies, that have already lasted 45 days, are expected to continue until at least tomorrow.

Indian car firm Tata Motors has announced the company will do whatever required to make successes of its new purchases, Jaguar and Land Rover. Tata bought the two businesses from Ford last month in a £1.7billion deal. Whilst Land Rover was profitable for Ford, Jaguar never made any money for the company.

Ravi Kant, Tata’s managing director, says money will be invested and changes will be made if existing business plans do not work.

Land Rover and Jaguar have sites at Solihull and Castle Bromwich, near Birmingham, Whitley in Coventry, Gaydon in Warwickshire and Halewood on Merseyside.

Inflation in India has risen by a record breaking amount in the third week of June, as the cost of food, fuel and steel continued to increase.

Inflation of wholesale prices increased to 11.63%t, up from 11.42% in the second week of June. This is the highest rate of inflation since records began in 1995.

The increase means it’s likely there’ll be another increase in interest rates, following two last month. Wholesale prices in India are scrutinised more than consumer ones, as the figures are published weekly and based on more products.

India and Japan have sealed an agreement for a bilateral currency swap facility to address short term liquidity difficulties, the Reserve Bank of India said yesterday.

The deal, which was signed by the governors of the banks of each country in Basel, Switzerland, enables both countries to swap Yen or Rupees against the US dollar for up to £1.52billion.

Bangladesh and Pakistan have announced a significant rise in domestic fuel prices in response to soaring global cost of crude oil. The increasing cost of fuel is pushing up the price of staple foods worldwide – and many of the poorest people in South Asia are being affected.

The price of rice and other staple foods has doubled in Bangladesh over the past year, and inflation in Pakistan is at a 30 year high.

The Bangladeshi Government is urging oil producing countries and the UN to intervene to being crude oil prices under control.

It is reported Asian and other ethnic minority households are twice as likely as white households to struggle or fall behind with mortgage payments.

The findings come from a report by the housing charity Shelter, which investigated the impact of high housing costs on the UK population.

The report suggests Asian households suffer because Asian families tend to be larger and often have elderly relatives to support.

There are growing fears that further rises in Indian interest rates will be needed after inflation hit its highest rate since records began 13 years ago. Wholesale prices went up by 11.42% in the 12 months to 14 June, which was higher than had been expected.

Earlier in the week, the Reserve Bank of India raised interest rates from 8.0% to 8.5% in an attempt to keep inflation under control. It was the second increase in interest rates in two weeks.

The government has cut duties on items such as crude oil as well as cutting exports of rice to try to keep prices down, but interest rates are still expected to have to go up again.

Indian steel giant Tata Steel has said that last year's £6.2billion acquisition of Anglo-Dutch company Corus had boosted profits by 60%.

Tata Steel, the world's sixth biggest steel firm, reported underlying pre-tax profits of £1.2billion for year to March 31st, compared with £764million the previous year.

The company, which produced more than 25million tonnes of steel in 2007, has benefited from a surge in demand which has pushed up prices so far this year. Tata Steel is part of the Indian cars-to-tea conglomerate Tata, which also owns Tetley.

Asian currencies continued to fall across the board today in reaction to oil prices showing no signs of easing. This news comes despite a pledge by Saudi Arabia to increase oil production if necessary.

India's economy is particularly vulnerable to the rapidly increasing cost of the commodity, as 75% of its oil is imported.

Government subsidies designed to keep fuel prices down have hit public finances, while the higher cost of importing oil has hurt India's balance of payments. These worries have been reflected in the value of the rupee.

Homeowners have been forced to cut the asking price on their properties by 1.2% during the past month as the reality of the housing market downturn hits home, according to figures published by the property website Rightmove.

Householders in England and Wales had to reduce the cost of their home by nearly £3,000 during the five weeks to 14th June, with the average price tag on a property now at £239,564.

The fall – the first recorded during the peak month of June by Rightmove – followed a 1.2% house price the previous month, suggested that homeowners in the south of England were being worst hit by the stagnating market.

A five-day hearing starts today to decide whether Vodafone will owe Indian tax authorities £1billion for its takeover of one of the country’s largest mobile phone networks.

Indian authorities say the British firm is liable for capital gains tax on the nearly £6billion deal with Hong Kong-based Hutchison Essar, as the company’s assets are based in India.

However, Vodafone maintains the deal was done between two non-Indian companies. It is seeking an injunction against a request from the Indian tax authority for information about the deal. Vodafone says its goal is to become the top mobile provider in India by 2010.

Tata announced the details of a £700million investment plan for Jaguar Land Rover yesterday which included creating up to 600 new jobs. The Indian company said it will focus on recruiting engineers to work on "sustainable technologies" to improve the environmental performance of its vehicles.

A spokesperson said most of the jobs will be based at the firm's development centre at Gaydon in Warwickshire. News of Tata's expansion plans come just weeks after it bought the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford for £1.7billion.

Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Communications, India’s second largest mobile phone operator, is considering buying more than 40% of MTN, Africa’s largest wireless telecoms company.

Mr Ambani is looking at how he could maximise an in-effect controlling position in MTN by seeking to persuade the African mobile operator’s shareholders to waive their right to a tender offer.

Until now it has been thought Mr Ambani would limit himself to a 34.9% stake in MTN, because if he went any higher he would be obliged under South African laws to make an offer to buy out the company’s other shareholders. If the shareholders agreed, Mr Ambani could end up owning 40-45% of MTN.

Indian shares climbed 1.4% today to their highest in more than a week as investors picked up beaten down stocks such as financials. No. 2 mobile operator Reliance Communications was among the big losers in the top 30 BSE index, amid fears a family feud could delay a multi-billion dollar tie-up with South Africa's MTN.

The stock ended 1.5% down at 535 rupees after starting up 0.5%. Energy group Reliance Industries, run by Mukesh Ambani, said last week it had the right of first refusal to a controlling stake in Reliance Communications, owned by younger brother Anil Ambani.

The third largest drug company in Japa, Daiichi Sankyo, has bought a 50.1% stake in India's largest drug company, Ranbaxy Laboratories. The deal, for nearly £2.3billion (or £8.73 per share), was made on 11th June and is a 31% premium over Ranbaxy's current share value.

The deal will double Ranbaxy's market capitalisation to £4.3billion. At a press conference in New Delhi, Ranbaxy MD Malvinder Singh admitted that "he had never ever anticipated not holding equity in Ranbaxy", and the move comes as a surprise given the strength of Ranbaxy stock in spite of rocky trading in many indices.

It is thought by analysts that the unexpected deal is a result of Daiichi's offer being too strong for Ranbaxy to refuse, following tentative steps to spread its market from traditional, generic pharmaceuticals to new drugs, where it faces strong international competition.

The Asian Development Bank warns high inflation could undo the economic progress made in Asia over the past 20 years. The managing director of the Asian Development Bank says inflation in 2008 will exceed the 5.1% annual figure predicted in April.

He is encouraging monetary and fiscal authorities to "recognise inflation as a very major concern" and says rising fuel and food prices were key issues to be dealt with in terms of combating inflation.

A further fear is that rising inflation could hit investment and corporate earnings, destabilising governments in the region. This news comes as India announced on Friday its inflation had risen at its fastest rate in seven years.

Provider of Islamic home finance alburaq has today launched the UK’s first retail Shariah-compliant alternative to a guaranteed equity bond.

With a minimum investment of just £500, the alburaq savings plan provides a new way for those wishing to invest in accordance with their faith.

It will provide savers easy exposure to potentially unlimited returns linked to shares in major companies, all with the added comfort of capital protection and Shariah compliance.

The product has been developed and will be marketed by alburaq and is offered in partnership with the Bank of Ireland who has a long history of providing guaranteed equity bonds to UK consumers.

India's main share index, Sensex, fell more than 4% today, after concerns that inflation rates will reach double figures due to the high price of oil. The index fell below 15,000 for the first time since March, falling as much as 4.4%.

Oil prices have reached record highs recently, doing little to abate fears that they will continue to rise and cause problems for world economies. Drops in other Asian indices have been observed, including South Korea's, Taiwan's and Japan's.

Central banks worldwide have warned of interest rate rises to curb inflation rises, which could have a detrimental effect on demand.

The sale of Ford’s Land Rover and Jaguar to Tata Motors is finally complete, in a deal worth £1.7billion.

Tata paid £1.2billion for the two marques, and £600million into the pension funds of the two brands: around half the amount Ford paid.

Ford sold the two companies to try and boost its own profitability in the US, where Land Rover has always made money, but Jaguar did not.

Bradford and Bingley has bailed itself out by selling nearly a quarter of its business. The deal with a US private equity company will raise nearly £108million.

On the stock exchange, bank shares plummeted, but savers are being told their money is safe.

India’s state oil firms, suffering massive losses due to the soaring price of crude oil, are being forced to wait for compensation, whilst politicians decide an increase in fuel prices.

Analysts say the government is likely to issue a 5-10% rise: less than half that requested by the Oil Ministry.

The move comes at a politically sensitive time, with the loss of a key state election by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress Party. Furthermore, leftist allies strongly oppose any increase, and general elections take place next spring.

A decision was expected to be announced last Saturday, but differences within the cabinet remain. An official reported no decisions would be made before Wednesday.