Indian debt at $125.2b :

NEW DELHI: India’s external debt rose to $125.2 billion through the past fiscal year ended in March, but the borrowings remain well within limits, the government said on Monday. The Finance Ministry said India added $2 billion in net foreign loans through the fiscal year that ended in March. Surging exports and increased capital inflows have helped in slowing India’s debt accumulation in recent years, the ministry said. Also, India’s external debt position compares well with other indebted countries, it said.—AFP

Nokia, Motorola ties :

HELSINKI: Nokia Corp and Motorola Inc, said they will work together to make sure their digital video-broadcast enabled handsets are interoperable. Both companies are using the open technological standard called digital video broadcast-handheld or DVB-H, which enables users to watch TV on their handsets. “Among many digital technologies delivering mobile TV services, Nokia and Motorola share the view that DVB-H is an effective technology for deploying broadcast mobile TV,” the companies said in a release.—AP

Rate hikes likely in EU :

FRANKFURT: The economic recovery in the 12-country eurozone is robust enough to cope with higher interest rates, European Central Bank executive board member Juergen Stark said in a newspaper interview published on Monday. “I see no substantial risk that higher interest rates will substantially interfere with the economic recovery,” Stark told the business daily Handelsblatt. “The upturn has gained in breadth, it is fairly robust and we’re doing our part by safeguarding price stability,” he said. — AFP

Citigroup in Vietnam :

HANOI: US banking giant Citigroup has signed a cooperation agreement with Vietnam’s Eastern Asia Commercial Bank (EAB) as part of efforts to win better access to the growing communist country’s market. The two banks linked card networks and EAB will receive training from Citibank staff in areas of consumer finance and corporate banking.

The agreement should help the two banks “identify opportunities to cooperate in the local Vietnam market,” it said. — AFP

NADA gets new team :

KATHMANDU: The 30th annual general meeting of Nepal Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) has elected a 22-member executive committee under the chairmanship of Sunil Khetan. Four vice-presidents are Yagya Ratna Kansakar, Sourya Rana, Mahendra Acharya, and Tara Giri. Bhai Raja Shrestha is the general secretary, while Gautam Shrestha has been elected as the secretary. Manoj K Sethia is the treasurer and Hira Lal Acharya is the co-treasurer. The newly-elected members are Moti Lal Dugar, Lok Harsh Shakya, Deepak Thapa, Saurabh Jyoti, Nanda Kishor Shahi, Bindu Ratna Tuladhar, Akash Golchha, Dipak Kaji Tuladhar, Purendra Lochan Subedi, Cabinet Shrestha and Arun K Agrawal. — HNS

Cooperatives’ mission :

INARUWA: A private cooperatives in Itahari has decided to provide Rs 100 each as elderly allowance to old people who have reached or crossed 77 years of age as a mark of respect. Nepal Multi-Purpose Cooperatives Ltd of Itahari in Sunsari district announced this on Sunday on the occasion of the fifth annual general assembly of the cooperatives. — RSS