Rupee moves up by 4 paise to 44.39 vs dollar PTI | Apr 29, 2011, 11.50am IST

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee moved up by 4 paise to 44.39 per US dollar in early trade on Friday on fresh selling of the American currency by banks and exporters in view of the persistent fall of the dollar in overseas markets.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the domestic currency opened steady at 44.43/44 per dollar, but moved up to 44.39 per dollar before quoting at 44.41/42 at 103 hours.

It moved in a range between 44.39 and 44.47 in morning deals.

Banks and exporters preferred to reduce their dollar positions on the back of the sustained fall of the dollar in the New York market, a forex dealer said.

The US Dollar fell for the sixth straight day yesterday in the New York market, as stocks inched up and gave currency traders more reason to shift out of perceived safe havens.

NAME- DEEPAK KUMAR JHA
PGDM 2nd sem (210-12)

PAC setback for RBI governor Subbarao TNN | Apr 29, 2011, 04.05am IST


NEW DELHI: Questions over Duvurri Subbarao's role in the 2G spectrum scam could be a setback to the former IAS officer's chances of getting a second term in the Reserve Bank of India in September.

In fact, the names of economic affairs secretary R Gopalan and chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu have already started doing the rounds as a possible successor. Both joined the finance ministry afterPranab Mukherjee moved into North Block in late 2008.

Apart from having been in charge of the financial sector department in the ministry, Gopalan was a public sector bank employee before joining the IAS. Basu is an economist who is on leave from Cornell University.

When Subbarao moved to Mumbai in September 2008, he was given a three-year term and he was widely expected to get a two-year extension. Yaga Venugopal Reddy, Subbarao's predecessor on Mint Road, had served a five-year term while Bimal Jalan's three-year term had been extended though he decided to resign midway to become a Rajya Sabha member.

The draft PAC report, which was not accepted by all the committee members, had said Subbarao should be asked to explain why he did not raise questions over telecom ministry's move to ignore finance ministry's recommendations.

Officials said there was no formal proposal to either extend the present governor's tenure or find a replacement. A final call would be taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee closer to the expiry of Subbarao's term.

In 2008, in a first, a committee headed by P Chidambaram, then finance minister, with C Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister's economic advisory council, as a member shortlisted possible candidates and zeroed in on Subbarao.

Though Subbarao is seen to have handled the impact of the global financial crisis well, he has publicly opposed the government on at least two issues. The first area of difference was the establishment of a joint committee of regulators for dispute resolution that is headed by the finance minister. Similarly, he was severely critical of the government's decision to set up the Financial Stability & Development Council, which is again headed by the finance minister.

On both occasions, however, he was placated by the government after signals from the North Block that RBI governor is the first among equals when it comes to financial sector regulation.

After Chidambaram's departure from the finance ministry, the government has stayed away from reappointments in regulatory agencies with former Sebi chairman C B Bhave and former RBI deputy governor Usha Thorat being examples. At least two senior finance ministry officials - revenue secretary P V Bhide and finance secretary Ashok Chawla - were not given extensions and were allowed to retire just a month before the budget was presented.

In case of banks and financial institutions, too, the government has decided that any reappointment will take place only after the incumbent's performance is reviewed by a specially-appointed panel.
NAME-- DEEPAK KUMAR JHA
PGDM 2ND (2010-12)

Gold hits new high at Rs 22,470, silver up by Rs 3,400


NEW DELHI: Gold set a new record at Rs 22,470 per 10 grams today on brisk buying by stockists and jewellers for the upcoming 'Akshaya Tritiya' and marriage season, driven by a record rally in global markets. Silver also surged Rs 3,400 to Rs 72,000 per kg.

The white metal had hit a record level of Rs 74,300 on April 25.

Traders said Akshaya Tritiya festival (May 6), which is considered auspicious for buying gold, bolstered trading sentiments for the yellow metal.

The market also received support as the gold advanced to a record high in international markets, after the US Fed pledged to keep interest rates near zero to bolster the recovery, weakening the dollar and boosting demand for precious metals as a store of value.

Gold in the Asian region gained 0.4 per cent to reach a never-seen-before level of USD 1,533 an ounce. Silver also strengthened by 0.6 per cent to USD 48.13 an ounce, approaching the record level of USD 49.79 set on April 25.

The Fed signalled yesterday that it will maintain monetary stimulus and kept its target rate for overnight lending between banks at zero to 0.25 per cent, while ending USD 600 billion of bond purchases on schedule in June.

On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity surged Rs 275 each to Rs 22,470 and Rs 22,350 per 10 grams, respectively. Sovereigns followed suit and rose by Rs 100 to a new peak of Rs 18,300 per piece of eight grams.

Silver ready staged a strong come back and spurted by Rs 3,400 to Rs 72,000 per kg and weekly-based delivery jumped up by Rs 3,195 to Rs 70,695 per kg.

Silver coins, too, zoomed up by Rs 3,000 to Rs 77,500 for buying and Rs 78,500 for selling of 100 pieces. 
 
GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM-2nd Semester

finance news

Wipro Q4 net up 14% at Rs 1,375 cr, announces 200% dividend

 

MUMBAI: The country's third largest software exporter Wipro on Wednesday reported a growth of 13.77 per cent in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, to Rs 1,375.4 crore.

Last year, the company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,208.9 crore for the fourth quarter.

"We have made good progress in creating a leaner, simpler and more customer-centric organisation structure. We believe our business strategy along with the new structure will deliver industry leading growth," Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said in a statement.

IT services, which contributed 76 per cent to the company's revenues in FY'11, stood at $1,400 million, a sequential increase of 4.2 per cent and a year-on-year increase of 20.1 per cent.

The company said it expected its revenues from the IT services business to be in the range of $1,394 million to $1,422 million for the first quarter ending June 30, 2011. IT revenue forecast is based on an exchange rate of 44.29 rupees to a dollar, in line with current rates.

The IT revenue forecast reflects a decline of 0.4 percent at the low end to a rise of 1.6 percent at the top end when compared to the fiscal fourth quarter that ended March 31.

"I am disappointed by their guidance. They have forecast flattish growth in the first quarter compared to expectations of about 2.5 to 3 percent growth," said Shradha Agrawal, a sector analyst with Batlivala & Karani Securities in Mumbai.

"It will make the task of matching the growth rates of rivals tougher for them."

Wipro's IT business, which develops software applications, integrates IT systems and manages call centres for clients such as Citi, Cisco and Credit Suisse, accounts for about three-quarters of its revenue.

The IT services segment hired 2,894 people this quarter and 14,314 people during the financial year, taking the total headcount to 1,22,385 employees as of March 31, 2011. It added 68 new customers for the reporting quarter and 155 new customers during the year.

"The business environment is positive and we are focusing on growth by directing investments on momentum verticals. We have announced wage hikes effective June 1, 2011, which would have an impact on the operating margins," Wipro Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Suresh Senapaty said.

Net income from sales for the reporting quarter stood at Rs 8,302.4 crore as against Rs 7,016.1 crore in Q4 , FY2009-10, up 18.33 per cent.

For the fiscal ended March, 2011, the company has registered a net profit of Rs 5,297.7 crore, compared to Rs 4,593.1 crore during the previous fiscal, up 15.34 per cent.

Net income from sales in the 2010-11 fiscal grew 14.51 per cent to Rs 31,098.7 crore from Rs 27,157.4 in the previous fiscal.

On a standalone basis, the company has reported a net profit of Rs 1,337.6 crore for the quarter, a growth of 8.15 per cent vis-a-vis the same period last year. 




GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM 2ND SEM

NIIT's Pawar appointed Nasscom chairman


NEW DELHI: Technology industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) sees a strong revival of demand that could not only help meet, but exceed growth expectations for 2011-12.

Newly-appointed Nasscom chairman for 2011-12, Rajendra S Pawar , said in an interaction with ET: "We are coming back to growth levels seen prior to the slowdown and in the near term we see lot of headroom to catapult this growth.''

When asked whether this means Nasscom will revise its 15-17% growth target for the year for the $70-billion technology and business services sector, Pawar said, "It's too early to comment, but we are on track to exceed this target.''

Pawar, 60, co-founder and chairman of education software company, NIIT , took over as Nasscom chairman from Harsh Manglik. Nasscom also appointed N Chandrasekaran as vice chairman of its executive council. Chandrasekaran is CEO & MD of TCS , the largest Indian technology services company.

As chairman of the executive council, Pawar will lead and assist Nasscom in catalysing the growth of the Indian ITBPO industry and enabling the fulfillment of its future goals and aspirations. Towards this end, Pawar wants to focus on two areas. First, how Nasscom can facilitate growth of the small and mid sized companies.

"There are lots of SMEs focused on software products, telecom, internet space, driven by IP. By the end of this decade, we see quite a few of them becoming very big,'' Pawar said.
 
GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM-2nd Semester 

Wipro Q4 net up 14% at Rs 1,375 cr, announces 200% dividend

MUMBAI: The country's third largest software exporter Wipro on Wednesday reported a growth of 13.77 per cent in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, to Rs 1,375.4 crore.

Last year, the company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,208.9 crore for the fourth quarter.

"We have made good progress in creating a leaner, simpler and more customer-centric organisation structure. We believe our business strategy along with the new structure will deliver industry leading growth," Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said in a statement.

IT services, which contributed 76 per cent to the company's revenues in FY'11, stood at $1,400 million, a sequential increase of 4.2 per cent and a year-on-year increase of 20.1 per cent.

The company said it expected its revenues from the IT services business to be in the range of $1,394 million to $1,422 million for the first quarter ending June 30, 2011. IT revenue forecast is based on an exchange rate of 44.29 rupees to a dollar, in line with current rates.

The IT revenue forecast reflects a decline of 0.4 percent at the low end to a rise of 1.6 percent at the top end when compared to the fiscal fourth quarter that ended March 31.

"I am disappointed by their guidance. They have forecast flattish growth in the first quarter compared to expectations of about 2.5 to 3 percent growth," said Shradha Agrawal, a sector analyst with Batlivala & Karani Securities in Mumbai.

"It will make the task of matching the growth rates of rivals tougher for them."

Wipro's IT business, which develops software applications, integrates IT systems and manages call centres for clients such as Citi, Cisco and Credit Suisse, accounts for about three-quarters of its revenue.

The IT services segment hired 2,894 people this quarter and 14,314 people during the financial year, taking the total headcount to 1,22,385 employees as of March 31, 2011. It added 68 new customers for the reporting quarter and 155 new customers during the year.

"The business environment is positive and we are focusing on growth by directing investments on momentum verticals. We have announced wage hikes effective June 1, 2011, which would have an impact on the operating margins," Wipro Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Suresh Senapaty said.

Net income from sales for the reporting quarter stood at Rs 8,302.4 crore as against Rs 7,016.1 crore in Q4 , FY2009-10, up 18.33 per cent.

For the fiscal ended March, 2011, the company has registered a net profit of Rs 5,297.7 crore, compared to Rs 4,593.1 crore during the previous fiscal, up 15.34 per cent.

Net income from sales in the 2010-11 fiscal grew 14.51 per cent to Rs 31,098.7 crore from Rs 27,157.4 in the previous fiscal.

On a standalone basis, the company has reported a net profit of Rs 1,337.6 crore for the quarter, a growth of 8.15 per cent vis-a-vis the same period last year. 


GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM-2nd Semester

All UBI branches to sell National Pension System

MUMBAI: The pension regulator today said banks are reluctant to distribute new national pension product despite higher returns that it gives in the long-run.

"Only about eight per cent or 4,000 branches out of over 50,000 bank branches are selling New Pension System (NPS)," Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority ( PFRDA )) chairman Yogesh Agarwal said.

Agarwal was here at the launch of special NPS facility developed by Union Bank of India under which UBI will distribute NPS through all its branches.

"Due to poor distribution and very low commission, NPS could not take off. We have around 20 lakh members, besides around 6 lakh corporate accounts. Out of this, 12 lakh are Central employees and 6 lakh state staff. The corpus is still small at around Rs 9,000 crore," Agarwal said.

He urged other banks to come forward to distribute it, as NPS distribution has not really picked up despite over six years into operations.

"Pension fund gives the best return. It gives nearly 30 percent more return than insurance or MFs," he said.

He also pointed out though banks were asked to switch to NPS from April 2010, no tangible rise in membership is visible as yet.

On the other hand, UBI said after piloting NPS distribution at 27 of its branches, all its 3,000-plus branches will be selling NPS now,

"This is part of our overall objective of offering the complete suit of banking and financial products from under one-roof," UBI Chairman and Managing Director M V Nair said.

The contributory NPS was launched by the Centre for its employees in January 2004. In May 2009, it was extended to other people in the 18-55 age bracket.

As a part of its social and economic inclusion programme, the Centre also launched a rural pension scheme--NPS Swavalamban in September 2010. 


GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM-2nd Semester

RBI announces new FY-12 Weighs and Means Advances limits for government

MUMBAI: RBI issued fresh limits for the federal government to borrow from the bank under Weighs and Means Advances (WMA) for the financial year 2011-12 starting April.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the maximum the government can borrow under WMA is 300 billion rupees for April 1 to April 20 and 450 billion rupees for the period of April 21 to June 30.

Earlier, the government's WMA limit was 300 billion rupees for the first half ending September 30.

It added, the government can further borrow 300 billion rupees between July 1 to September 30 and another 100 billion rupees for October 1 to March 31, 2012.

The government usually borrows from the RBI under WMA when it does not have enough funds with itself and needs to spend in the economy.

"The RBI increased the WMA limit so that the government does not have to issue dated securities to fund its overdraft. This is a positive development for the bonds market as it will lead to increased liquidity without fresh borrowing," said a head of treasury at a foreign bank.

The government has been borrowing from the RBI under WMA since the first two weeks of April. During the week ending April 15, the central government borrowed 506.07 billion rupees, exceeding its first-half borrowing limit.

The RBI also said that the government can raise funds via fresh market borrowing in case it utilises 75 percent of the WMA limit.

The government has already announced 200 billion rupees of fresh market loans through cash management bills this month.

"This is the maximum that the government can raise as per the budget announcement through cash management bills. So, there will not be any further such bill issued," said another dealer at a foreign bank.

The government has to repay the loans borrowed under WMA at the repo rate, which is 6.75 percent.

In case, if the government overshoots the limit, it has to repay the additional amount at 2 percent above the repo rate. 


GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM-2nd Semester

2G scam: Raja, Shahid Balwa complain of incomplete documents

NEW DELHI: Former Telecom Minister A Raja and two corporate honchos, who have been chargesheeted in the 2G Spectrum allocation scam case, today complained to a Delhi court that documents supplied to them by the CBI was incomplete.

In an application filed before Special CBI Judge O P Saini, Raja, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd Managing Director Sanjay Chandra and Swan Telecom Promoter Shahid Usman Balwa sought supply of the deficient documents along with their companies.

On this, CBI assured the court that the documents would be supplied to the accused by April 30.

"A Raja, Sanjay Chandra, Shahid Balwa, M/S Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd and Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd have filed application seeking supply of deficient documents... Senior public prosecutor submits that deficient documents would be supplied by April 30," the court said.

The court has now fixed April 25 for scrutiny of documents and extended the remand of all the accused till then.

The court had earlier on April 20, dismissed the bail plea of five corporate honchos -- Sanjay Chandra, Group MD of Reliance ADAG, Gautam Doshi, co-promoter of Swan Telecom, Vinod Goenka and Reliance ADAG's Surender Pipara and Hari Nair, who have been named as accused in the chargesheet.

The court had dismissed their bail plea saying they may tamper with evidence and even flee to avoid prosecution in the "highest magnitude" 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The agency, in its first chargesheet, running into about 80,000 pages, had said that Raja conspired with top bureaucrats and corporate honchos to cause a loss of Rs 30,984 crore in the allocation of 2G spectrum.

Besides these corporate leaders and Raja, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's personal secretary R K Chandolia and Shahid Usman Balwa have also been named as accused in the chargesheet.

CBI had also named Swan Telecom, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Private Ltd and Reliance Telecom in its first chargesheet in the case. 


GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM-2nd Semester

Axis Bank Q4 net up 33.5%, proposes 140% dividend

MUMBAI: Private sector lender Axis Bank clocked 33.5 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 1,020.11 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2011.

The bank had a net profit of Rs 764.8 crore in the same quarter in the previous fiscal, Axis Bank informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Total income of the bank rose by 48.3 per cent to Rs 5,817 crore in the January-March quarter compared to Rs 3,922 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

Interest Income improved to Rs 4,366.6 crore against Rs 2,988.4 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

The bank proposed a dividend of 140 per cent, or Rs 14, per share for 2010-2011.

For the entire fiscal ended March, 2011, the bank's net profit grew by 34.7 per cent at Rs 3,388.4 crore, compared to Rs 2,514.5 crore in the previous financial year.

Total income increased to Rs 19,786.9 crore during the year, compared to Rs 15,583.8 crore in the previous fiscal.

Consolidated net profit increased to Rs 3,339.9 crore in 2010-2011 compared to Rs 2,478.14 crore in the previous fiscal.

Net Interest Margin (NIM) was 3.65 per cent at the end of March 2011. At the same time, Capital Adequacy Ratio of the bank stood at 12.65 per cent.

Total advances rose by 36.4 per cent Rs 1,04,341 crore during the year as compared to Rs 1,42,408 crore in the previous fiscal.

name-deepak kumar jha
pgdm 2nd sem (2010-12)

Retail Banking / Payment Innovations 2011

The only event in the financial services industry that focuses on innovation, Retail Banking/Payment Innovations (RBPI) highlights outstanding financial products and services around the world.
The average banking customer has too many options and too little time. Often, we find that innovation is not about interrupting people with big full-page ads, smoothing the edges or going for the middle ground. It is about identifying a market with a need and delivering what they really want.
Banks wanting to innovate will have to ask these questions: What do innovators across industries have in common? What do customers really want from new channels such as mobile banking and payments? How can we choose the right opportunities and identify markets worth investing in? What platforms and capabilities will we need to be the leading bank?
In its third year, Retail Banking/Payment Innovations 2011 offers an efficient way to keep up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in banking. Drawing on strategies from across industries, the agenda is built around real-world concerns of bankers in the region.
Highlighting innovative products and services in the financial services industry that are worth spreading the word about, the event will continue to insure senior executives who seek success and look to navigate the turbulent market by staying on top of the wave.
With top-notch speakers delivering industry-leading case studies and an honest, in-depth panel discussion, engage in a conversation that will help you deliver real outcomes and gain practicable insights.
JITENDRA KUMAR SINGH
PGDM-2ND SEM

NRIs from Gujarat develop a system of cultivating cash crops

PUNE: Chandubhai Banth, who runs a hotel in Nashville in Tennessee, has found a way to cultivate his farmland in Gujarat. And it is not for money, he says.

Call it bonding or business acumen, this trend among farm-owning non-resident Indians (NRIs) has kept coffers ringing for many villages in Gujarat. "Money is not important. It's purely for sentimental reasons. What is important is that our ancestral land must remain in good condition. I have given the right of cultivating my land and appropriating the revenue from it to my friend," said Banth, who owns 55 acres of agricultural land close to a sugar factory in Surat district.

While Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh have NRI landowners , Gujarat is enjoying prosperity from NRI farmers. Instead of keeping ancestral land fallow, NRIs from Gujarat have developed a system of cultivating cash crops - mainly sugarcane and banana - through friends or relatives. Some have even given power of attorney to relatives to collect the proceeds.

Bardoli, which witnessed an uprising against British rule in 1928, has the highest number of NRI sugarcane farmers.

"There are many NRI farmers in Surat, Navsari and Balsad. We do the cane payments in the name of the NRI farmers, who collect the money after two or three years," said Bardoli Sugar Co-operative managing director Pankaj Patel.

With most NRIs preferring to collect their farm proceeds once in two or three years, some sugar cooperatives in Gujarat have become cash-rich holding the payments in the form of fixed deposits.

"There are a considerable number of sugar factories in Bardoli, Madhi and Calthan, which have deposits of a few hundred crores. It's a regular practice in Gujarat that sugarcane farmers keep their payment with the sugar factories as fixed deposits for an interest rate of about 5%," said MK Patel, chairman of Gujarat Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation.

Ashwin Patel, who is president of Surat Jila Panchayat and chairman of Kamrej Banana Cooperative, cultivates land in Surat for some friends and relatives. "Sugarcane is the most preferred crop by NRI farmers, while banana is cultivated on the banks of the Tapi river," he said.

The revenue-sharing arrangement between NRI farmers and cultivators varies from case to case. While Banth does not charge Patel for cultivating his land, others share revenue in the ratio 60:40 or 70:30.

"We get good treatment and hospitality from our friends during our stays in the mother land. This is more than enough for us," Banth said.

As everywhere, the bonding of the NRIs with their land has opened routes of prosperity for many Gujarat villages. "Some NRIs have donated funds for construction of infrastructure like roads and libraries. We are thinking of institutionalising their funds for rural development," Patel said.
GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM-2nd Semester

Microsoft says India a strategic market, offers $1 lakh prize money for best start-ups

MUMBAI: Microsoft today said India is a strategic market for it, and also announced a $ one-lakh grant to promote innovation among domestic start-up companies.

"Microsoft is happy to reiterate its commitment to India by fostering innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Towards this, we are pleased to launch the ' Microsoft Bizspark India Start-up Challenge' under which four most promising start-ups will share a prize money of $ 1,00,000," Microsoft Corp chief operating officer Kevin Turner said here today.

On investment plans for India this fiscal, Turner said they will continue to invest here as it is strategically an important market. But he refused to give any specifics in terms of the timeline or quantum of such investment.

The Microsoft Bizspark India Start-up Challenge is a unique contest for start-ups in the field of product software to showcase their creativity, get constructive feedback, inputs on technology roadmap and gain mentorship from peers, investors and Microsoft.

The first two winners will get $ 40,000 each and the two runners-up will get $ 10,000 each under the contest, which will be open to all the 1,300 member-companies of the Microsoft BizSpark platform. The contest opens today and will run till June.

The BizSpark platform has been running to promote a local software ecosystem, Microsoft India general manager for developer platform evangelism Moorthy Uppaluri. Over the years, through the Spark series, Microsoft has helped and guided many aspiring entrepreneurs, Uppaluri said and insisted that this is not a revenue-based business model but an investment being made under personal guidance of Bill Gates .

"What more, with 4.5 million downloads of Microsoft programmes/products, a year, India has become the largest free-software download market in the world," Uppaluri said.

The Spark series include DreamSpark, WebsiteSpark, I-Spark, BizSpark and BizSparkOne aimed at students and entrepreneurs alike.
GAURAV KUMAR 
PGDM-2nd Semester

Reliance Industries' record profit challenges ONGC's top rank

NEW DELHI: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries today came close to challenging PSU giant ONGC's position as the country's most profitable company, with a record net profit of Rs 20,211 crore for the fiscal 2010-11.

RIL's consolidated net profit for the fiscal ended March 31, 2011, grew by over 27 per cent to Rs 20,211 crore.

The company had recorded profit of Rs 15,898 crore in the previous fiscal 2009-10, making it second most profitable company after ONGC.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), the nation's largest oil and gas explorer, had recorded net profit of Rs 16,767.55 crore in 2009-10. The PSU major is yet to announce its figures for the fiscal 2010-11.

In the first nine months of 2010-11 fiscal, ONGC has reported a net profit of Rs 16,133.13 crore.

Analysts expect that the full-year profits of the two companies could be very close to each other and it would be interesting to see whose figures are higher, although not by any big margin.

They said that RIL's figures for the last quarter would have been much higher, but for a decline in the production from its main gas field KG-D6.

Commenting on the results, RIL Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani said: "Reliance had a record year with strong financial and operating performance. Global economic growth, emerging markets demand and tightness in the markets led to recovery in refining margins and record petrochemical earnings."

"We are fully geared to participate in India's growth and continued global recovery in the coming years. Our committed investments in core business and new initiatives are expected to result in sustained earnings growth," he added.

In the league of five most profitable companies, ONGC and RIL are followed by Indian Oil (Rs 10,220 crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs 9,426 crore) and SBI (Rs 9,166 crore), based on their comparable latest available fiscal year results.

In terms of turnover, RIL is ranked second after Indian Oil and is followed by BPCL, HPCL, SBI and ONGC.

GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM-2nd Semester

MUMBAI: Amid concerns expressed by the Reserve Bank, country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday announced withdrawal of special home loan schemes, or teaser rates, with effect from May 1. SBI Easy Home Loan and SBI Advantage Home Loan (teaser rate products) will be replaced by floating interest rate schemes on par with other commercial banks. Under the teaser home loan scheme, SBI was offering lower rate of interest of 8-8.5 per cent for the first three years. It invited severe criticism from RBI, which had said the scheme could impact the asset quality of SBI's home loan portfolio. The withdrawal of teaser rates comes within a month of the new chairman Pratip Chaudhuri taking charge at SBI. The home loan from SBI will now attract an interest rate of 9.5 per cent to 10.25 per cent depending upon the loan amount, SBI said. SBI has also launched the SBI Advantage Car loan Scheme, under which credit would be provided at 10.75 per cent for a maximum period of 7 years.

NEW DELHI: Gold crossed the psychological Rs 22,000 mark today on aggressive buying by stockists, amid a rising global trend. It rose by Rs 115 to Rs 22,060 per 10 grams. Silver also climbed to a new high and rose by Rs 1,850 to Rs 66,300 per kg on rising demand from industrial units.

Silver coins followed suit and shot up by Rs 1,500 to a record high of Rs 72,000 for buying and Rs 72,500 for selling of 100 pieces.

Trading sentiments remained bullish as gold extended its record-making rally to top USD 1,500 an ounce in global markets as dollar fell on mounting debt in Europe and the US, prompting investors to seek bullion as a store of value.

In international markets, gold climbed 0.3% to USD 1,500.43 an ounce and silver jumped 0.9% to a 31-year peak of USD 44.35 an ounce.

Besides, retail customers and jewellers buying for the coming marriage season further fuelled the uptrend.

On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5% purity shot up by Rs 115 each to a new high of Rs 22,060 and Rs 21,940 per 10 grams, respectively.

Sovereigns also moved up by Rs 100 to fresh peak level of Rs 18,000 per piece of eight grams.

Silver continued its record setting spree and spurted by Rs 1,850 to new peak level of Rs 66,300 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 1,530 to Rs 65,055 per kg.

name-deepak kumar jha
pgdm 2nd sem (2010-12)

SBI withdraws teaser home loan scheme

MUMBAI: Amid concerns expressed by the Reserve Bank, country's largest lender State Bank of India(SBI) on Wednesday announced withdrawal of special home loan schemes, or teaser rates, with effect from May 1.

SBI Easy Home Loan and SBI Advantage Home Loan (teaser rate products) will be replaced by floating interest rate schemes on par with other commercial banks.

Under the teaser home loan scheme, SBI was offering lower rate of interest of 8-8.5 per cent for the first three years. It invited severe criticism fromRBI, which had said the scheme could impact the asset quality of SBI's home loan portfolio.

The withdrawal of teaser rates comes within a month of the new chairman Pratip Chaudhuri taking charge at SBI.

The home loan from SBI will now attract an interest rate of 9.5 per cent to 10.25 per cent depending upon the loan amount, SBI said.

SBI has also launched the SBI Advantage Car loan Scheme, under which credit would be provided at 10.75 per cent for a maximum period of 7 years. 

NAME-DEEPAK KUMAR JHA
PGDM 2nd sem(2010-12)



HDFC Bank Q4 net up 33% at Rs 1,115 crore Reuters | Apr 18, 2011, 05.06pm IST

MUMBAI: HDFC Bank Ltd, India's third-largest lender, posted a 33 percent rise in the fourth quarter profit, beating street estimates, as demand for credit and fee income rose in the fast growing Asian economy.

The bank said its net profit in the January-March quarter rose to 11.15 billion rupees ($251 million) from 8.37 billion rupees a year ago.

A Reuters poll had projected net profit for the New York listed bank at 10.99 billion rupees.

HDFC Bank and its bigger rivals, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank , have been seeing a rise in loan demand in the past few quarters aided by an economy that is expected to have grown 8.6 percent in the fiscal year ended in March.

But credit growth at India's leading banks is likely to slow down in coming months after a series of interest rate hikes in Asia's third-largest economy to tame inflation, and the banks' margins may come under pressure due to a rise in deposit rates.

Shares in HDFC Bank, which the market values at nearly $25 billion, ended 2.2 percent lower at 2,311.80 rupees ahead of the earnings announcement, while the 50-share NSE index closed down 1.6 percent.
NAME-DEEPAK KUMAR JHA
PGDM 2nd sem (2010-12)

Did India grow faster than China in 2010?

WASHINGTON: Crouching Tiger snuck past the Fiery Dragon?

The intense debate about whether lumbering India can overtake China's red hot economy has been fed more fuel with The Economist suggesting that it may already have happened in 2010 "without anyone as much as noticing".

On the face of it, China grew by 10.3% last year, comfortably outpacing India's estimate of 8.6%. But the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook released earlier this week says that India grew by 10.4% in 2010. How can that be? Here's how the acclaimed journal crunches the numbers to arrive at the same conclusion. India typically reports its GDP "at factor cost", meaning it adds up all the income earned in the course of producing the country's goods and services. Other countries, including China, typically report their GDP "by expenditure", i.e. by adding up all the spending (including taxes) on domestically produced goodies.

So, says The Economist in a blog post, you have to factor in a couple of things into the Indian GDP: taxes and subsidies. A sales tax adds to the amount you have to spend on a good. A subsidy has the opposite effect. If these taxes and subsidies remained steady as a percentage of output, they would not affect the growth rate of GDP, even if they do affect its level.

In India, net indirect taxes rose from 7.5% of output in 2009 to 9.2% in 2010, boosting the growth rate of GDP by expenditure for that year. So if New Delhi adopts the same metric as other countries to measure its GDP, i.e., by expenditure, it lifts India's growth to 10.36% in 2010. "That's fully 0.06 percentage points faster than China. Jai Hind!" says The Economist.

Not everyone buys into the conclusion. "Brilliant. So all India has to do is increase indirect taxes every year by 1000% and her GDP will go to the moon," one reader wrote in snarkily. Another maintained that exchange rate is a more important factor than taxes, pointing out that the IMF estimates growth rates by converting the GDP of countries in local currencies to dollar at market exchange. While India's currency appreciated 6.4% in 2010, from Rs 48.85 per dollar in 2009 to Rs 45.93 in 2010, China's Renminbi appreciated only 0.9%, from 6.84 per dollar in 2009 to 6.77 in 2010. So India's GDP got a push that was higher than China's.

The Economist itself had a tongue-in-cheek take on the whole India versus China growth issue, saying that given the fervid debates "it would be ironic if the moment (of India overtaking China) had already come and gone, without any fuss, fanfare or felicitation".
NAME-DEEPAK KUMAR JHA
PGDM 2nd sem(2010-12)

Inflation unchanged at 4.27%

NEW DELHI, JULY 20:  Inflation remained unchanged at 4.27 per cent during the week ended July 7, as steep fall in prices of some essential items like fruits neutralized the impact of other articles becoming dearer, easing pressure on the RBI to further tighten monetary policy in July 31 review.
Inflation stood at 4.83 per cent during the corresponding week of last year.

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Weekly data on wholesale prices-based inflation would come one more time before the Reserve Bank releases its quarterly review of monetary policy.
Analysts feel the central bank is unlikely to further tighten money supply as inflation is within expectations. RBI has targeted inflation to remain close to five per cent this fiscal and 4-4.5 per cent in the medium term.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram had also said on Thursday that high crude oil and food prices did not necessarily mean that monetary policy would be tightened further.
"We will keep a watch on food and commodity prices and monetary policy will be kept tight. It does not mean that monetary policy would be tighter," he was quoted as saying in an interview.
Vegetable prices continued to rise after rains across the country disrupted their supply. Vegetables became costlier by 4.4 per cent this time.
However, fruits more than moderated the effect of vegetable prices as their prices fell steeply by over 16 per cent.
JITENDRA KUMAR SINGH
PGDM-2ND SEM

Steel Authority of India FPO in market by May-end

New Delhi: The much-awaited Rs 8,000 crore follow-on public offer of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is set to hit the capital market by the end of next month, a source close to the development said.

"The FPO will hit the market by May-end. This is final," the source said on condition of anonymity.

However, attempts to contact SAIL Chairman C S Verma went unanswered.
The FPO of SAIL, in which the government holds a stake of a little over 85 per cent, has failed to meet repeated deadlines since December last year due to unfavourable market conditions and problems with merchant bankers.

The delay in SAIL's FPO thwarted the achievement of the government's divestment target for the previous fiscal.

Compared to the target for Rs 40,000 crore fund generation through disinvestment in state-owned firms, the government could only raise more than Rs 22,000 crore.
JITENDRA KUMAR SINGH
PGDM SECOND SEM

Samsung to launch Galaxy S sequel in S.Korea in late April

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's No.2 handset manufacturer, plans to roll out a new version of its flagship smartphone Galaxy S in South Korea this month through KT Corp, the telecommunications operator said on Friday.
The local debut of the ultra-slim Galaxy S II comes after bigger rival Apple Inc introduced the iPhone 4 in South Korea in September , expanding the offering by ending an exclusive deal with KT and adding SK Telecom Co Ltd last month.
South Korea is one of the most lucrative markets for Samsung's smartphones. It sold about 2 million Galaxy S handsets last year, one-fifth of the total global shipments.
KT, South Korea 's second-biggest mobile carrier, said on Friday that it planned to release the new model around April 25. Bigger rival SK Telecom said it had yet to decide a launch date.
Samsung declined to reveal launch details but said the smartphone, based on Google Inc's Android operating system, would be rolled out in April as planned.
JITENDRA KUMAR SINGH
PGDM SECOND SEM.

Rupee down by 3 paise against US dollar in early trade

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee fell marginally by 3 paise to Rs 44.20 against the US dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange on Thursday, weighed down by a weak trend in the stock market, but steady FII inflows restricted the losses.

The rupee had strengthened by 25 paise to close at a five-and-half month high of Rs 44.17/18 per dollar in the previous session, buoyed by healthy capital inflows and sustained sale of dollars by exporters and corporates.

Forex dealers said the lower opening in the stock market mainly put pressure on the rupee sentiments.

Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by 69.21 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 19,542.99 in opening trade today.
name-deepak kumar jha
pgdm 2ND sem (2010-12)

BSE Sensex was trading at 19,474, down 116 points down over the previous close. It had earlier touched a day's high of 19,697 and a day's low of 19,487. It opened at 19,602.

Inflation unchanged at 4.27%

IMAGE_CAP_1
NEW DELHI, JULY 20:  Inflation remained unchanged at 4.27 per cent during the week ended July 7, as steep fall in prices of some essential items like fruits neutralized the impact of other articles becoming dearer, easing pressure on the RBI to further tighten monetary policy in July 31 review. Inflation stood at 4.83 per cent during the corresponding week of last year.

Advertisement

Weekly data on wholesale prices-based inflation would come one more time before the Reserve Bank releases its quarterly review of monetary policy.
Analysts feel the central bank is unlikely to further tighten money supply as inflation is within expectations. RBI has targeted inflation to remain close to five per cent this fiscal and 4-4.5 per cent in the medium term.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram had also said on Thursday that high crude oil and food prices did not necessarily mean that monetary policy would be tightened further.
"We will keep a watch on food and commodity prices and monetary policy will be kept tight. It does not mean that monetary policy would be tighter," he was quoted as saying in an interview.
Vegetable prices continued to rise after rains across the country disrupted their supply. Vegetables became costlier by 4.4 per cent this time.
However, fruits more than moderated the effect of vegetable prices as their prices fell steeply by over 16 per cent.
MANALI  PGDM 2NDSEM

FMC expects futures mkt to grow 25%

New Delhi: The commodity futures market is expected to grow by 25% to about Rs 150 lakh crore in this fiscal due to recovery of the global economy, commodity markets regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) said. The cumulative turnover of the commodity futures market, which comprises of 23 commodity bourses, is estimated to have risen by 53% to R119 lakh crore in FY' 11, it said.
"I would take a conservative view of 20-25% growth at R140-150 lakh crore in the current fiscal," FMC chairman BC Khatua said.
Since the global economy is in "recovery mode", trade volumes are expected to be higher on the commodity exchange platforms, he said.
Khatua noted that the growth of the commodity futures market may not be like last fiscal as prices of gold and silver are already at peak level.
He, however, said the commodity bourses have potential to achieve higher than the conservative growth estimate of 25% this year...
MANALIPGDM 2NDSEM

Going gets tough for Tata succession panel

MUMBAI: The $72-billion Tata Group is facing challenges in finding a successor to chairman Ratan Tata. India's largest corporate house may be forced to review the selection parameters after struggling to shortlist potential candidates in the past eight months.

Tata Sons, the group's holding company, had set up a high-profile selection committee in August 2010, which was expected to name the successor by March this year. Tata, who transformed the group into an international conglomerate, will retire in December 2012 after turning 75. The group's internal magazine published a recent interview with Tata Sons director, and one of the search panel members, R K Krishna Kumar, in which he said: "Our committee has come to the conclusion that we cannot find a replacement for Mr Tata!," and goes on to add that, "We may have to change and rearrange the model in terms of what we are looking for."

"There are challenges but we will soon come to a conclusion," Krishna Kumar said. The committee has met some nine times since it was constituted. Tata Group has been searching for business leaders both within and outside the conglomerate with emphasis on candidates having managed a global enterprise. Besides, the candidate should also fit into the group's value and cultural framework.

Several well-known names, including Tata's half brother Noel Tata have been doing the rounds for the coveted post but the group has not reacted to any speculation till date. The deadline to name a successor is now being extended. The group had earlier set a March deadline to provide the successor enough time in understanding the group's functioning.

In the past, Tata had stated that his successor could be an Indian or a foreigner. Till now, the 140-year-old group has had five chairmen with four of them being from the Tata family. The one non-Tata chairman was Nowroji Saklatwala. The group has a presence in almost all sectors from salt-to-steel and tea-to-telecom and is spread across the globe. More than 60% of its revenues now come from overseas following a string of global acquisitions which include Corus, Jaguar Land Rover, General Chemicals and Tetley. Though Tata intends to keep his date with retirement, several shareholders of the group's listed companies had suggested that he should continue to be chairman emeritus and oversee the group's operations.
NAME-GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM 2nd (2010-12)

Double-digit pay hikes for techies this year

BANGALORE: The salary increment season has just started. And techies have something to look forward to. In contrast to the salary cuts and the single-digit hikes during the slowdown years, increments this year are expected to be in double digits for most.

The surge in demand for IT globally and rising customer confidence have substantially increased the demand for people. A quick check done by TOI found that average increments would be in the 12% to 15% range. People in specialized areas, like the product space, are expected to get up to 20% or more.

Fresher salaries/stipends are already up by 10% to 15% compared to last year. Hires from premier educational institutions have seen 15% to 20% increases this year. Recruiters say the country's top tech firms - TCS, Wipro, Infosys, HCL and Cognizant - are considering a 10% to 15% average hike this year. A senior official at Infosys said the company is looking at a pay hike in June and that it should be in the range of 10% to 12%.

Wipro has just started its appraisal process. An e-mail to employees on Wednesday said the process would be completed by May. Increments are expected to be announced in June-July, and will be effective June 1. Sources in the company said increments would be in the 12-15% range, against 8-12% last year.

C Mahalingam, senior V-P and HR head in Symphony Services, said the situation had improved significantly for IT companies. "Markets are warming up. Customer rates are improving. There is also tension in the talent demand-supply scenario. All these will have a positive impact on increments this year,'' he said.

Roy Joseph, head of HR in the technology product development and sourcing of Mahindra & Mahindra, said that with the economy rebounding quicker that expected, there is additional pressure on retaining the best talent. "There is limited supply of quality talent. That means a scramble for good people. Ultimately, what prompts good talent to remain where they are is the remuneration.''

Mahalingam said that people with 3-8 years of experience have become particularly hot property. That's because business has increased rapidly and has not given enough time for companies to train freshers to deal with these orders. However, increments will remain lower than what they were in the years immediately preceding the global recession. Companies are cautious about the global economic outlook, given the sluggish recoveries in western markets and the problems in Japan and West Asia. Salary hikes this year will reflect that caution.


NAME-DEEPAK KUMAR JHA
PGDM 2nd (2010-12)

Maruti Suzuki stock slips on products recall

MUMBAI: Car-maker Maruti Suzuki fell by over 2 per cent in early trade on the BSE on Thursday after the company said it will recall 13,157 units of three diesel-drive models -- Dzire, Swift and Ritz.

The scrip of the country's largest car-maker slipped by 2.18 per cent to an early low of Rs 1,266.35 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Investors offloaded the company's stock on the National Stock Exchange as well, where it dropped by 2.27 per cent to a low of Rs 1,268.

In an announcement to the stock exchanges after the market close, the company said, "Maruti Suzuki India will inspect the 'Connecting Rod Bolt' for 13,157 units of Swift Dzire, Swift and Ritz diesel cars with engines manufactured between November 13, 2010, and December 4, 2010."

Yesterday also, the scrip settled 1.40 per cent lower on the BSE at Rs 1,294.65 a piece.

Meanwhile, the BSE key index Sensex was quoting down by 43.97 points at 19,568.23 at 1043 hrs.
NAME- DEEPAK KUMAR JHA
PGDM 2nd SEM (2010-12)

BSNL's FY11 losses increase 50% to Rs 2,725 crNEW DELHI: State-owned telecom firm BSNL is expected to post 50% higher losses for the year ended March 31, capping a series of dismal results in the last four years that saw the erstwhile monopoly being reduced to a bit player in the fast-growing market. The unlisted company has told the government that it will post 2,725-crore losses for the year-ended March 11. BSNL, which suffered from rampant pol ITI )cal interference under former telecom minister A Raja, had earlier announced a loss of 1,823 crore for the year to March 2010, a first for the company since it was set up. The losses would have been much higher but for the 4,132-crore income from non-telecom-related activities. The telco has also told a government panel that its revenues for the fiscal ended March 11 was expected to be 31,738 crore, about 1% lower compared to the previous year. The company has projected 623-crore losses for 2011-12. However, the revenue is likely to see a jump for the first time in five years with a projected increase to 36,569 crore in FY12. BSNL has presented these figures to the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises, which has been in discussions with the telco's top management to chart out a revival path for it. ET has reviewed the BRPSE report, which contained the details of the telco's financials. BSNL has been deteriorating in financial performance over the years as it could not expand on time. It could not compete with the nimble-footed private mobile phone firms, such as Bharti Airtel, which were taking decisions quickly. Such is BSNL's slide that it has sought a 3,000-crore loan to meet operating expenses in the fiscal ended March 11 as its expenditure was higher than its revenues by this amount. BSNL saw its overall revenue fall from 39,715 crore in 2006-07 to 38,053 crore in 2007-08 and further to 35,812 crore in 2008-09, before falling to 32,046 in 2009-10. Its fall from grace is best explained from the fact that its annual revenues were over the 40,000-crore mark for the year-ended March 06. For the fiscal year to end-March 2009, BSNL showed a meagre 575 crore as profit. Even this was possible only because interest income from its cash reserves was about 3,900 crore. In 2007-08, its net profit was 3,009 crore on interest income of 4,004 crore, proving that its profits in the past three years has less to do with its telecom business. In 2009, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , worried about the steep decline in BSNL's profitability over the years, sought revival suggestions from Sam Pitroda Pitroda and banker Deepak Parekh. They in turn recommended a strategic 30% stake sale and staffs cut by 100,000 and also raise funds from the sale of its infrastructure, such as signal towers and real estate. But the government's failure to act on the Pitroda report, despite the BSNL board's approval, has posted a serious setback in plans to revive the telco. BSNL's plans to sell 30% stake through an IPO. But the telecom department told a parliamentary committee last year that BSNL's listing will be taken up only after the company's performance improves in order to get the right valuation. ET had reported on Tuesday that Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises has recommended that BSNL merge with its smaller sister MTNL as well as communications gear maker Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) . NEW DELHI: State-owned telecom firm BSNL is expected to post 50% higher losses for the year ended March 31, capping a series of dismal results in the last four years that saw the erstwhile monopoly being reduced to a bit player in the fast-growing market. The unlisted company has told the government that it will post 2,725-crore losses for the year-ended March 11. BSNL, which suffered from rampant pol ITI )cal interference under former telecom minister A Raja, had earlier announced a loss of 1,823 crore for the year to March 2010, a first for the company since it was set up. The losses would have been much higher but for the 4,132-crore income from non-telecom-related activities. The telco has also told a government panel that its revenues for the fiscal ended March 11 was expected to be 31,738 crore, about 1% lower compared to the previous year. The company has projected 623-crore losses for 2011-12. However, the revenue is likely to see a jump for the first time in five years with a projected increase to 36,569 crore in FY12. BSNL has presented these figures to the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises, which has been in discussions with the telco's top management to chart out a revival path for it. ET has reviewed the BRPSE report, which contained the details of the telco's financials. BSNL has been deteriorating in financial performance over the years as it could not expand on time. It could not compete with the nimble-footed private mobile phone firms, such as Bharti Airtel, which were taking decisions quickly. Such is BSNL's slide that it has sought a 3,000-crore loan to meet operating expenses in the fiscal ended March 11 as its expenditure was higher than its revenues by this amount. BSNL saw its overall revenue fall from 39,715 crore in 2006-07 to 38,053 crore in 2007-08 and further to 35,812 crore in 2008-09, before falling to 32,046 in 2009-10. Its fall from grace is best explained from the fact that its annual revenues were over the 40,000-crore mark for the year-ended March 06. For the fiscal year to end-March 2009, BSNL showed a meagre 575 crore as profit. Even this was possible only because interest income from its cash reserves was about 3,900 crore. In 2007-08, its net profit was 3,009 crore on interest income of 4,004 crore, proving that its profits in the past three years has less to do with its telecom business. In 2009, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , worried about the steep decline in BSNL's profitability over the years, sought revival suggestions from Sam Pitroda Pitroda and banker Deepak Parekh. They in turn recommended a strategic 30% stake sale and staffs cut by 100,000 and also raise funds from the sale of its infrastructure, such as signal towers and real estate. But the government's failure to act on the Pitroda report, despite the BSNL board's approval, has posted a serious setback in plans to revive the telco. BSNL's plans to sell 30% stake through an IPO. But the telecom department told a parliamentary committee last year that BSNL's listing will be taken up only after the company's performance improves in order to get the right valuation. ET had reported on Tuesday that Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises has recommended that BSNL merge with its smaller sister MTNL as well as communications gear maker Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) .

NEW DELHI: State-owned telecom firm BSNL is expected to post 50% higher losses for the year ended March 31, capping a series of dismal results in the last four years that saw the erstwhile monopoly being reduced to a bit player in the fast-growing market. The unlisted company has told the government that it will post 2,725-crore losses for the year-ended March 11.

BSNL, which suffered from rampant pol ITI )cal interference under former telecom minister A Raja, had earlier announced a loss of 1,823 crore for the year to March 2010, a first for the company since it was set up. The losses would have been much higher but for the 4,132-crore income from non-telecom-related activities. The telco has also told a government panel that its revenues for the fiscal ended March 11 was expected to be 31,738 crore, about 1% lower compared to the previous year. The company has projected 623-crore losses for 2011-12. However, the revenue is likely to see a jump for the first time in five years with a projected increase to 36,569 crore in FY12.

BSNL has presented these figures to the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises, which has been in discussions with the telco's top management to chart out a revival path for it. ET has reviewed the BRPSE report, which contained the details of the telco's financials.

BSNL has been deteriorating in financial performance over the years as it could not expand on time. It could not compete with the nimble-footed private mobile phone firms, such as Bharti Airtel, which were taking decisions quickly. Such is BSNL's slide that it has sought a 3,000-crore loan to meet operating expenses in the fiscal ended March 11 as its expenditure was higher than its revenues by this amount.

BSNL saw its overall revenue fall from 39,715 crore in 2006-07 to 38,053 crore in 2007-08 and further to 35,812 crore in 2008-09, before falling to 32,046 in 2009-10. Its fall from grace is best explained from the fact that its annual revenues were over the 40,000-crore mark for the year-ended March 06.

For the fiscal year to end-March 2009, BSNL showed a meagre 575 crore as profit. Even this was possible only because interest income from its cash reserves was about 3,900 crore. In 2007-08, its net profit was 3,009 crore on interest income of 4,004 crore, proving that its profits in the past three years has less to do with its telecom business.

In 2009, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , worried about the steep decline in BSNL's profitability over the years, sought revival suggestions from Sam Pitroda Pitroda and banker Deepak Parekh. They in turn recommended a strategic 30% stake sale and staffs cut by 100,000 and also raise funds from the sale of its infrastructure, such as signal towers and real estate. But the government's failure to act on the Pitroda report, despite the BSNL board's approval, has posted a serious setback in plans to revive the telco. BSNL's plans to sell 30% stake through an IPO. But the telecom department told a parliamentary committee last year that BSNL's listing will be taken up only after the company's performance improves in order to get the right valuation.

ET had reported on Tuesday that Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises has recommended that BSNL merge with its smaller sister MTNL as well as communications gear maker Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) .
JITENDRA KUMAR SINGH
PGDM SECOND SEM.

Silver spikes to Rs 58,400 on global cues

Silver continued its winning streak for the third straight session and surged Rs 900 to hit yet another high of Rs 58,400 per kg on Wednesday on sustained heavy buying by stockists, driven by a firm global trend.
Silver coins also rose by Rs 1,500 to scale a new peak of Rs 64,500 for buying and Rs 65,000 for selling of 100 pieces.
Gold also rose by Rs 150 to Rs 21,300 per 10 grams on heavy buying by retail customers for the ongoing 'Navratra' festival.
Trading sentiments turned bullish in overseas markets, as silver rose to a 31-year high and gold to a record level as the sovereign-debt crisis in Europe deepened, after Moody's Investors Service cut Portugal's credit rating and higher grain and oil prices worsened the inflation outlook.
In global markets, gold rose by 1.55 per cent to USD 1,457.80 an ounce and silver by 1.79 per cent to USD 39.28...
MANALI
PGDM 2ND SEM

Maruti Suzuki recalls 13,157 diesel cars

New Delhi: India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India today said it will recall 13,157 units of its three diesel driven models of Dzire, Swift and Ritz due to a possible faulty engine part. "Maruti Suzuki India today announced that it will inspect the 'Connecting Rod Bolt' for 13,157 units of Swift Dzire, Swift and Ritz diesel cars with engines manufactured between November 13, 2010, and December 4, 2010," the company said in a statement.
Of the total recalls, 4,505 units will be of Swift Dzire, 6,841 units of Swift and 1811 units of Ritz diesel cars.
"If the Connecting Rod Bolt is found defective, the company will replace the component free of cost,".
MANALI
PGDM 2ND SEM

How should I start planning my finances?

How does one begin financial planning? Though a lot of advice on investing and planning is available in the media and on the Internet, where does one actually start? What should be the first step? The question is basic, but like all fundamental ones, it's an interesting query to answer. While planning your finances, the first step should be the assessment of various risks to your income.

Financial planning, at its core, is about managing one's income across a period of time. Sometimes, we set aside today's income for tomorrow; at other times, we spend tomorrow's income today. Even if we use it to build an asset, we hope to use it in the future, if there is a need. So, the obvious first step is to ask how secure your income is and the risks it can be exposed to. During the early stages of life, the focus is on securing income, which is why career plans emphasise on earning one. When we encourage a student working at a call centre to consider higher education, we are persuading him to invest in the human asset to enhance future earnings. When my driver chooses to educate his son in an English-medium school, he is keen to secure his son's future income.

Every investor should determine the potential risks to his income and begin the financial planning process accordingly. For a film star or a sports star, a short period of high income is a risk. Building assets that replace his professional income when he retires early should be his primary strategy. Building a second career could be another one.

A salaried investor would identify retirement as a source of risk and set aside his current income to build a corpus that would replace regular income after he stops working. For an entrepreneur, whose life's earnings are invested in his business, the risks are tied too closely to those of the business venture. The assets he builds outside his business will have to consider this threat. Even a corporate treasurer aims to build other income that will de-risk the main source of income for the business.

The two key elements of managing risk are insurance and investment. To insure is to secure the income from unexpected events, such as poor health and death. To invest is to augment, or in the best case, replace the regular source of income with that from investments.

The third element is more tactical and involves using leverage or borrowings. It involves building assets using borrowed funds, so that the benefit of the asset over and above the borrowing cost, goes towards augmenting the income. The risk in this strategy is the possible fluctuation in the value of the asset and the possibility that it drops below the outstanding loan. Day trading with margin funds is a high-risk, income-generating tactic, if the cost of funds exceeds the income generated.

Risks to income can also come routinely if it is ill-matched to your needs or simply inadequate. Illness in the family can push an uninsured, low-income family into indebtedness. Family functions, expenses on durables, renovation, educational expenses are all lump-sum requirements for money that cannot be met by regular income. Financial planning is about providing for such large outlays, either through savings and investments, or through borrowings and staggered repayment. How a household manages the routine and expected charges on income, and the ad hoc and unexpected demands on it, determines how financially healthy it is. Routine borrowings reduce the future income and ability to spend and save, while regular savings cushion possible shocks to the future income. As risks to future income drop, households tend to spend more and save less. Ability and willingness to borrow also moves up with increased confidence about the future income.

Hence, financial planning cannot be described narrowly as a disciplined and frugal exercise of setting money aside for your needs. As long as it is aligned well to the expected future income and realistically considers the risks, it is a step in the right direction. 

ROHIT KALIA 
PGDM 2 SEM

India's gold demand to grow to 1,200 tonnes by 2020

Mumbai: Gold demand in India will continue to grow and is likely to reach 1,200 tonnes or approximately Rs 2.5 trillion by 2020 at current price levels, according to a research by World Gold Council (WGC).

"The rise of India as an economic power will continue to have gold at its heart. India already occupies a unique position in the world gold market, and as private wealth in India surges over the next ten years, so will Indian demand for gold," WGC Managing Director, India and the Middle East, Ajay Mitra said in a statement here.
MANALI
PGDM 2ND SEM

The bull market is here, that’s for sure: Deepak Mohoni

The market rallied further last week, with the Sensex finishing 3.21% or 604.75 points higher, and the Nifty ending 3.04% up. The CNX Midcap Index outperformed the two main indices, marginally with a gain of 3.90%.

DLF was the biggest winner among the index stocks with a 9.1% gain. The other index stocks to go up included Maruti Suzuki , Hero Honda , Reliance Infrastructure and HDFC , with gains ranging between 7.8% and 6.6%. None of the index stocks declined last week.

Atlanta was the biggest winner among the more heavily-traded non-index stocks with a 31% advance. The other non-index stocks to move up included Gravita India , DB Realty , Kwality Dairy India , Delta Corp , Reliance MediaWorks , LIC Housing Finance and HOEC with gains between 21.5% and 11.1%.

Acropetal Technologies was the biggest loser among the more heavily-traded nonindex stocks with a 16.7% loss. The other non-index stocks to go down included Piramal Healthcare, Tech Mahindra, Fineotex Chemical, Jain Irrigation, MOIL , Coal India and Sun Pharmaceutical, with losses falling between 13% and 2.8%.

INTERMEDIATE TREND

The market's intermediate trend is up. The uptrend would end if the Sensex breaches 17,775, the Nifty 5,325, and CNX Midcap 7,525 (Figures rounded down to the nearest 25). The uptrend has been on since the Sensex's March 21 bottom of 17,792.

LONG-TERM TREND

Our long-term (major) trend has been finally confirmed as up, meaning a new bull market is on the way. Several bull market signals were triggered in the past two weeks. The Sensex, the Nifty and even the CNX Midcap index have gone above their past intermediate tops. The Sensex and the Nifty are both above their 200-day moving averages. The same behaviour is being seen in an increasingly large number of stocks.The shortest bear markets of the past 25 years have ended within three months, and the mildest ones had a 20-25% loss. The bear market which may have just ended shows a decline of 18% in a little over three months.

The bull market has started on February 11 when the Sensex bottomed out at 17,295. The index has been among the best global performers since then, just ahead of Indonesia, the Philippines and South Korea.

TRADING & INVESTING STRATEGIES

Existing portfolios should be held on to as we are in a bull market now. Even the more volatile stocks are somewhat safer, as the bull market has reduced the downside risk. Investments should now be made after the next intermediate downtrend develops and runs for a week or more.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

A few global markets, including the Dow and the Nikkei, are in an intermediate uptrend now, and the recent rally may have placed many of the others in unconfirmed ones. The Dow will fall into a downtrend should it breach 12,140.

Global markets have generally been in bull phases for several months. Our market and Brazil had been among the very few exceptions, and Brazil too may be bottoming out. Japan crashed into a bear market territory following the recent disasters, but has already recovered over half the lost ground. The Dow would go into a major downtrend if it were to breach 11,500.

The Sensex had gained 9.9% in the 12 months that ended on Thursday, up six positions to the 16th place among 35 wellknown global indices considered for the study. Sri Lanka continues to head the list with a 92.9% jump.

Argentina, Indonesia, South Korea and Denmark follow. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 12.8% and the NASDAQ Composite gained 15.8% over the same period. (These rankings do not take exchange rate effects into consideration).
NAME- DEEPAK KUMAR JHA
PGDM(2010-12)
ROLL NO.-06

PF trusts have enough surplus to pay 9.5 percent interest

New Delhi: Private provident fund trusts have enough surplus to be able to pay over 9.5 percent interest on PF deposits, says an analysis by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO).

Some of the private PF trusts have sufficient funds to pay interest of up to 11.5 percent on the retirement funds of their employees, the analysis said.
 
Manali
PGDM 2nd sem
 
 

Top-level changes likely at Sebi

NEW DELHI: A major makeover may be in the offing at Sebi, with as many as five new faces expected to join in the market regulator's leadership positions over the next few months.

The changes—in the positions of two whole-time members and three executive directors—would follow the appointment of a new Sebi chairman, U K Sinha, in February.

The nine-member Sebi board comprises a chairman, three whole-time members, two independent members and three nominee directors, including one each from Reserve Bank, finance ministry and ministry of corporate affairs.

The three-year terms of two whole-time directors, M S Sahoo and K M Abraham, are ending in July and the government has already begun the process of finding their replacements.

The finance ministry had in February invited applications till March 30 for the two positions, but has now extended the deadline till April 18. Before beginning the search process, the ministry had asked former Sebi chairman C B Bhave, and later his successor, about whether the two incumbents should be granted extension. pti

Besides the Chairman, another change recently occured in the Sebi board as Corporate Affairs Secretary D K Mittal replaced his predecessor R Badyopadhyay as the nominee of his ministry.

Even as the search continues for two whole-time members, the tenure is also ending for three executive directors, namely K N Vaidyanathan, J N Gupta and J Ranganayakulu.

These three persons have some key portfolios under their charge. While Vaidyanathan is incharge of mutual funds, J N Gupta takes care of secondary markets and Ranganayakulu of legal affairs and enforcement departments.

While the appointment of new whole-time members would be done by the Finance Ministry, Sebi conducts the search process for executive directors and then suggests the prospective names to the union government.

The two-year term of both Vaidyanathan and Gupta would end in July, while Ranganayakulu's three-year tenure ends in August this year.

The impending changes in high-level decision making positions at Sebi are being eagerly awaited in the backdrop of a number of new regulations proposed by Sebi in the areas being handled by the the incumbents, a senior official said.

Some of the major actions taken by Sebi in recent months concerned mutual fund space, while final rules are awaited on issues like new takeover norms and governance and ownership structure of stock exchanges. 

PRABHAKAR MANI 
PGDM 2 SEM

Wipro may be forced to rethink its strategy to score over TCS, Infosys

With over a dozen small and large acquisitions in the last 10 years, Wipro has pursued inorganic growth more aggressively than its peers. The latest acquisition of the US-based SAIC's oil and gas business is a testimony that Wipro's new CEO TK Kurien will continue with the company's 'string of pearls' philosophy.

But has the inorganic strategy helped the country's third-largest IT exporter to score over its peers? The past financial performance suggests that Wipro has lagged behind its bigger peers TCS and Infosys , who have largely relied on organic growth. And with Cognizant , a relatively smaller player, closing in fast, Wipro's top brass may be forced to rethink its strategy.

More than a decade ago, Wipro had planned to enhance its deliverables faster than its peers by acquiring niche players across verticals and geographies. The strategy, however, has not propelled Wipro's growth; the company still languishes at the third place in the IT pecking order.

Wipro is yet to report a rebound in its growth despite revival in the global outsourcing demand. In each of the last two quarters, growth in its trailing 12-month revenue was lower than its bigger peers. The acquisition of SAIC's oil and gas division would give Wipro a headroom in the$19-billon US market for upstream IT solutions. The SAIC's management has pegged FY12 revenue from the segment at $200 million, which is less than 5% of Wipro's current IT revenue.

In its analyst call two weeks ago, SAIC had revised its FY12 total revenue guidance downwards after adjusting for the discontinuing oil and gas vertical. It, however, left the earnings guidance untouched, which suggests that its oil and gas business, which is now acquired by Wipro, is not profitable enough. SAIC's CFO Mark Sopp stated during the call that the division has shown high margin volatility in the past. With offshoring component, Wipro may be able to stabilise margins of the new business.

A major turnaround in Wipro's growth momentum in the immediate future is less likely as Wipro has guided for a modest 3-5% sequential growth in its dollar denominated revenue for the March 2011 quarter. Its peers are expected to grow at a higher single digit rate.



PIYUSH JOSHI

PGDM-2sem

54 beneficial compounds 'discovered' in maple syrupComments Email print Financial Express Facebook Twitter more Washington: An Indian-origin scientist-led claims to have discovered 34 new beneficial compounds in pure maple syrup, and confirmed that 20 compounds found last year in preliminary research play a key role in human health. Navindra Seeram of University of Rhode Island and his team have isolated and identified the 54 beneficial compounds in pure maple syrup from Quebec in Canada, five of which have never been seen in nature. "I continue to say that nature is the best chemist, and that maple syrup is becoming a champion food when it comes to the number and variety of beneficial compounds found in it. "It's important to note that in our laboratory research we found that several of these compounds possess anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which've been shown to fight cancer, diabetes and bacterial illnesses," he said. These discoveries of new molecules from nature can also provide chemists with leads that could prompt synthesis of medications that.Comments Email print Financial Express Facebook Twitter more Washington: An Indian-origin scientist-led claims to have discovered 34 new beneficial compounds in pure maple syrup, and confirmed that 20 compounds found last year in preliminary research play a key role in human health. Navindra Seeram of University of Rhode Island and his team have isolated and identified the 54 beneficial compounds in pure maple syrup from Quebec in Canada, five of which have never been seen in nature. "I continue to say that nature is the best chemist, and that maple syrup is becoming a champion food when it comes to the number and variety of beneficial compounds found in it. "It's important to note that in our laboratory research we found that several of these compounds possess anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which've been shown to fight cancer, diabetes and bacterial illnesses," he said. These discoveries of new molecules from nature can also provide chemists with leads that could prompt synthesis of medications that.Washington: An Indian-origin scientist-led claims to have discovered 34 new beneficial compounds in pure maple syrup, and confirmed that 20 compounds found last year in preliminary research play a key role in human health. Navindra Seeram of University of Rhode Island and his team have isolated and identified the 54 beneficial compounds in pure maple syrup from Quebec in Canada, five of which have never been seen in nature. "I continue to say that nature is the best chemist, and that maple syrup is becoming a champion food when it comes to the number and variety of beneficial compounds found in it. "It's important to note that in our laboratory research we found that several of these compounds possess anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which've been shown to fight cancer, diabetes and bacterial illnesses," he said. These discoveries of new molecules from nature can also provide chemists with leads that could prompt synthesis of medications that...Washington: An Indian-origin scientist-led claims to have discovered 34 new beneficial compounds in pure maple syrup, and confirmed that 20 compounds found last year in preliminary research play a key role in human health. Navindra Seeram of University of Rhode Island and his team have isolated and identified the 54 beneficial compounds in pure maple syrup from Quebec in Canada, five of which have never been seen in nature. "I continue to say that nature is the best chemist, and that maple syrup is becoming a champion food when it comes to the number and variety of beneficial compounds found in it. "It's important to note that in our laboratory research we found that several of these compounds possess anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which've been shown to fight cancer, diabetes and bacterial illnesses," he said. These discoveries of new molecules from nature can also provide chemists with leads that could prompt synthesis of medications that...

Washington: An Indian-origin scientist-led claims to have discovered 34 new beneficial compounds in pure maple syrup, and confirmed that 20 compounds found last year in preliminary research play a key role in human health. Navindra Seeram of University of Rhode Island and his team have isolated and identified the 54 beneficial compounds in pure maple syrup from Quebec in Canada, five of which have never been seen in nature.
"I continue to say that nature is the best chemist, and that maple syrup is becoming a champion food when it comes to the number and variety of beneficial compounds found in it.
"It's important to note that in our laboratory research we found that several of these compounds possess anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which've been shown to fight cancer, diabetes and bacterial illnesses," he said.
These discoveries of new molecules from nature can also provide chemists with leads that could prompt synthesis of medications that...
jitendra kumar singh
pgdm second sem

The bull market is here, that’s for sure

The market rallied further last week, with the Sensex finishing 3.21% or 604.75 points higher, and the Nifty ending 3.04% up. The CNX Midcap Index outperformed the two main indices, marginally with a gain of 3.90%.

DLF was the biggest winner among the index stocks with a 9.1% gain. The other index stocks to go up included Maruti Suzuki , Hero Honda , Reliance Infrastructure and HDFC , with gains ranging between 7.8% and 6.6%. None of the index stocks declined last week.

Atlanta was the biggest winner among the more heavily-traded non-index stocks with a 31% advance. The other non-index stocks to move up included Gravita India , DB Realty , Kwality Dairy India , Delta Corp , Reliance MediaWorks , LIC Housing Finance and HOEC with gains between 21.5% and 11.1%.

Acropetal Technologies was the biggest loser among the more heavily-traded nonindex stocks with a 16.7% loss. The other non-index stocks to go down included Piramal Healthcare, Tech Mahindra, Fineotex Chemical, Jain Irrigation, MOIL , Coal India and Sun Pharmaceutical, with losses falling between 13% and 2.8%. 


GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM-2sem

Ratan Tata faces PAC probe in 2G scam

The graft scandal, potentially India's largest, has tarnished the stature of Prime Minister Manmhohan Singh and fuelled doubts that he will not serve a full term.

It is one of the several corruption scandals that have emerged during Singh's second term, hobbling policymaking and diverting the government's attention from pushing forward crucial economic reforms.

A dispute between the government and opposition over whether a parliamentary panel should investigate the scandal paralysed parliamentary proceedings for weeks late last year, until Singh caved in to the demands of his political opponents.

The scandal has also led to several official decisions being scrutinised or reversed, raising regulatory risk.

Shares in Reliance Communications, DB Realty and Unitech, whose units were charged on Saturday, all fell on Monday morning, lagging a broader market that was in positive territory.

Tata ranks No 61 in the Forbes list of the world's most powerful people as head of autos-to-software conglomerate Tata Group. Neither he nor his telecoms company, Tata Teleservices, have been charged by police in the case.

But Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a lawmaker and former telecoms entrepreneur, has said Tata Teleservices gained from a change in policy in 2007 on the rules for granting 2G licences. Tata has denied his company received any undue benefits.

Andimuthu Raja, the telecom minister during the licence allocations, was forced to resign and has been arrested. He was charged on Saturday with abuse of official position, cheating and criminal conspiracy.

Tata had earlier backed Raja and the policy changes he made, saying they "broke the powerful cartel which had been holding back competition".

BILLIONS OF DOLLARS LOST

India may have lost as much as $39 billion in revenue due to violation of rules when lucrative 2G mobile phone licences were granted in 2008, the state auditor has estimated, a sum equivalent to the country's defence budget.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the panel which will question Tata, scrutinises the accounts of the government and is chaired by Murli Manohar Joshi, an independent-minded lawmaker from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

Anil Ambani, the billionaire chairman of Reliance ADA Group, is due to appear before the panel on Tuesday.

Apart from the PAC, the scandal is also being investigated by a special cross-party parliamentary committee.

The police investigation is being monitored by the Supreme Court, which earlier reprimanded Singh for not moving quickly enough to act against his minister.

Several corruption scandals, which include charges of graft in the run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games and allegations officials at state-run banks took bribes for corporate loans, have undermined Singh's image as a clean and effective leader.

They could also affect the performance of his ruling Congress party in five state elections across April and May, in which the party must perform well or risk the coalition unravelling.

The first round of elections began on Monday with the northeastern state of Assam going to polls.
name-DEEPAK KUMAR JHA
PGDM(2010-12)
ROLL NO.-06