|
|
|
|
Day Trading GuideSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am C & C Constructions (Rs 104): BuyWe recommend a buy in C & C Constructions from a short-term trading perspective. It is evident from the charts of C & C Constructions that it had been on a medium-term downtrend from its September high of Rs 184 to October low of Rs 71Source: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Angst, anguish, angerThe only other occasion I can recall which gave rise to so much of anxiety, anguish and anger throughout the length and breadth of India as in the case of the Mumbai carnage was the Chinese invasion of 1962. I was at that time in the Union HomeSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Chidambaram made Home Minister as Patil steps downNew Delhi, Nov. 30 The aftermath of the most audacious and deadly terrorist attack on Indian soil has claimed its first major victim: the Union Home Minister, Mr Shivraj Patil.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am GAIL, ONGC to get gas from Reliance’s K-G fieldNew Delhi, Nov. 30 GAIL (India) Ltd and ONGC will get the allocated share (together three million standard cubic metres a day) of the gas produced from Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) Krishna Godavari gas field.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Range-bound movement seen on Dalal StreetMumbai has been freed from the grip of terror. The global cues were positive on the weekend. This should clear the gloom though many unanswered questions about country’s internal security systems, may bother investors. The change in FinanceSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Gold futures to consolidateGold futures, ended moderately higher on Friday helped by a recovery in the US equity markets which an economic indicator. Markets will also be eyeing the next week’s US manufacturing, payrolls and auto sales data for further clues on economicSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Coming to terms with terrorMumbai, Nov. 30 The otherwise glittering Taj Mahal hotel looked desolate and lonely on Sunday evening, a day after the terror-siege on it was brought to an end by the country’s elite commandos.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am No strategy to combat terrorismLast week, I was dining at a diplomat’s home in Paris and it was while we were relishing the finest after-dinner eau-de vie cognac from the Charentes region, that the first news of yet another terror attack in India, the fifthSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Ennore Coke plans Rs 1,000-cr projectChennai, Nov. 30 Ennore Coke Ltd, whose 130,000-tonne coke plant at Haldia began operations just a few months ago, is preparing a plan to put up a 1 million-tonne plant that may require over Rs 1,000-crore ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am Holes in law enforcement, says Ratan Tata - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 8:06 pm New role poses big challenges for Chidambaram - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 8:05 pm ‘Focus is on how to tap emerging technologies to improve efficiency’Bangalore: Software Engineering and Technology Labs (SET Labs), the research arm of Infosys Technologies Ltd, India’s second-largest computer services firm by revenue, says it has helped the firm improve productivity by as much as 10% in some areas through software tools. The labs, set up eight years ago, sees opportunity in building solutions “in the intersection of IT’ in areas such as nanotechnology and biotechnology, Subu Goparaju, vice president and head of SET Labs, says in an interview. Edited excerpts: How has SET Labs helped Infosys improve to serve its customers? The initial focus was on using the right framework, methodology, and internal software engineering and ensure in improving quality and productivity and doing everything right. As part of the non-linear growth of Infosys, how do we create significant IP and commercialise and monetise that? We actually have several initiatives in areas such as convergence, knowledge engineering and grid computing that create intellectual property. The next thing is being a partner in co-creation and innovation for clients. Today, given the company’s size and kind of services and solutions we offer, we have clearly become a trusted advisor and the expectations from clients are how do we help them in innovation. So, you run ideas with clients, build systems jointly and find solutions? What we are innovating may be different in different industries and in different client situations. Sometimes the focus of the client may be in operational efficiencies; sometimes it would be new products and solutions. In the current crisis, do you see an increase in customers wanting to find solutions for more urgent problems? It is not restricted to the current crisis. While the projects are going on, looking at emerging technologies, using the technologies and benefiting the clients. For example when you are in a growth phase, the focus is on how do we exploit emerging technologies for new products that are focused on clients. In situations as these, the focus is on how do I exploit these technologies for improving our efficiencies. By how much can productivity and efficiency be improved? We are an applied research group and majority of what we do goes into internal efficiencies – software engineering efficiency. We created IP assets -- lot of those things are used in projects and we are able to do clearly right things at the first time. We measure that by different products – Mantra, it is maintainence platform, where productivity improvement is 8-10%, some times even more. Similarly with Radiant and Influx. We have clearly seen productivity improvements mainly in the way we do things The biggest advantage for clients is that doing projects within budgets and in schedule and clients value that a lot. (Mantra, Radiant and Influx are software tools that help simplify processes and boost productivity and quality). How do you do that? First of all, the needs of the system are captured completely. If you don’t do that well, everything goes off the tangent. How do we estimate the time and budget and set the expectations clearly?. The benchmark data clearly shows that projects beyond a certain size -- almost 75-80% of them -- are not completed within budgets and time. That is anything beyond about 50-60-person-years kind of effort... Basically (it is due to) not capturing business needs accurately and completely and not (being) able to create a system architecture that translates those things into the system. What are the medium and long-term projects you are working on? For us, to benefit from a project in a medium term it is 12-18 months and beyond that is long term. Some of the projects are convergence research group, knowledge learning and grid computing, there are mix of projects that go beyond 18 months. Grid computing lab we started more than three years ago, not that anybody was asking for things around that. We believed that in terms of improving internal efficiencies as well as new opportunities, it would be an important to look at. Today, virtualisation has become a big thing, we are looking at it. We are seeing good amount of traction in our clients wanting to use IP that we have. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:48 pm ‘Focus is on how to tap emerging technologies to improve efficiency’Bangalore: Software Engineering and Technology Labs (SET Labs), the research arm of Infosys Technologies Ltd, India’s second-largest computer services firm by revenue, says it has helped the firm improve productivity by as much as 10% in some areas through software tools. The labs, set up eight years ago, sees opportunity in building solutions “in the intersection of IT’ in areas such as nanotechnology and biotechnology, Subu Goparaju, vice president and head of SET Labs, says in an interview. Edited excerpts: How has SET Labs helped Infosys improve to serve its customers? The initial focus was on using the right framework, methodology, and internal software engineering and ensure in improving quality and productivity and doing everything right. As part of the non-linear growth of Infosys, how do we create significant IP and commercialise and monetise that? We actually have several initiatives in areas such as convergence, knowledge engineering and grid computing that create intellectual property. The next thing is being a partner in co-creation and innovation for clients. Today, given the company’s size and kind of services and solutions we offer, we have clearly become a trusted advisor and the expectations from clients are how do we help them in innovation. So, you run ideas with clients, build systems jointly and find solutions? What we are innovating may be different in different industries and in different client situations. Sometimes the focus of the client may be in operational efficiencies; sometimes it would be new products and solutions. In the current crisis, do you see an increase in customers wanting to find solutions for more urgent problems? It is not restricted to the current crisis. While the projects are going on, looking at emerging technologies, using the technologies and benefiting the clients. For example when you are in a growth phase, the focus is on how do we exploit emerging technologies for new products that are focused on clients. In situations as these, the focus is on how do I exploit these technologies for improving our efficiencies. By how much can productivity and efficiency be improved? We are an applied research group and majority of what we do goes into internal efficiencies – software engineering efficiency. We created IP assets -- lot of those things are used in projects and we are able to do clearly right things at the first time. We measure that by different products – Mantra, it is maintainence platform, where productivity improvement is 8-10%, some times even more. Similarly with Radiant and Influx. We have clearly seen productivity improvements mainly in the way we do things The biggest advantage for clients is that doing projects within budgets and in schedule and clients value that a lot. (Mantra, Radiant and Influx are software tools that help simplify processes and boost productivity and quality). How do you do that? First of all, the needs of the system are captured completely. If you don’t do that well, everything goes off the tangent. How do we estimate the time and budget and set the expectations clearly?. The benchmark data clearly shows that projects beyond a certain size -- almost 75-80% of them -- are not completed within budgets and time. That is anything beyond about 50-60-person-years kind of effort... Basically (it is due to) not capturing business needs accurately and completely and not (being) able to create a system architecture that translates those things into the system. What are the medium and long-term projects you are working on? For us, to benefit from a project in a medium term it is 12-18 months and beyond that is long term. Some of the projects are convergence research group, knowledge learning and grid computing, there are mix of projects that go beyond 18 months. Grid computing lab we started more than three years ago, not that anybody was asking for things around that. We believed that in terms of improving internal efficiencies as well as new opportunities, it would be an important to look at. Today, virtualisation has become a big thing, we are looking at it. We are seeing good amount of traction in our clients wanting to use IP that we have. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:48 pm Taj hotel now a destination for disaster tourismMumbai: Before the shattered glass had been cleared from the road, before the last of the firemen had gone home, before even half a day had passed since the death of the last terrorist, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel had begun to fill the role it will play for at least the next couple of months—as a tourist spot of regrettable notoriety. On Saturday evening, gawkers filled the promenade outside the hotel, pointing to the parts of the façade that had featured in the ceaseless television coverage, taking photos of themselves with commandos or in front of a particularly damaged section, or just watching the muted hum of activity. There was still a lot to see. A Mercedes-Benz pitted with bullet holes, its glass shattered, still stood to one side of the road. Large smudges of soot still seemed to creep like strange fungus over the hotel’s outer walls. The windows in the heritage wing gaped empty, some of them now starting to be boarded over with sheets of plywood. Click here to watch video Almost continuously, for the two-and-a-half days of the terror attacks, Kamini Sheth had watched the events develop on television. “When it was over, I wanted to show my daughters the hotel,” she said, gesturing to two shy young girls trying to hide behind each other. “My elder daughter was too scared to even leave home at first. But I wanted to come, to light a candle, but also to see where everything had happened.” And where there are tourists, there are, invariably, self-appointed tour guides. The bespectacled Digvijay Gaikwad claimed to be from a “coordination committee” of the government, although he offered no identification to that effect. Gaikwad held court to a small ring of onlookers with questions, answering them breezily, all the while picking apart and putting back together the two empty halves of a pistachio nut. “Everything you saw on television was wrong. I was there, I know what happened,” said Gaikwad, during one of his fulminations. “For instance, some news channel said that the terrorists would booby-trap their own bodies as they died, so that any attempt to move them would cause an explosion. It wasn’t true. It was just said to improve ratings, to stir some excitement.”  Centre of attraction: People take pictures of the Taj hotel after operations to dislodge the terrorists ended. Reuters “Around 9:30pm, both of us got calls, from our hotels, saying that there was trouble, so we both headed out. I was here the entire first night, and he was there,” Kadam said, summarizing what must have been a nightmare for their mother. At that point, one woman, saying she was collecting pieces of debris from the site, asked if there were any bullets to be had. “Not here,” Kadam said, looking a little put off. “Inside, though, scores of them. The place is littered with bullets.” The various arms of the security forces seemed unsure about how to deal with the tourists. There was clearly a pecking order in operation, and when the onlookers sidled up to the barricades to compliment members of the National Security Guard or the Rapid Action Force, the Mumbai police and the personnel of the private Checkmate Security outfit hung back, unwilling to interfere. The minute the commandos were left alone, however, the public was driven away by the police and the security guards, to the accompaniment of shrill whistles and shouts of the patently absurd “There’s nothing to see, move on.” But there was everything to see, and after ebbing for a few moments, the wave of people would start to flow imperceptibly back towards the Taj. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:39 pm All-party meet on terror sees differences on POTANew Delhi: An all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the Mumbai terror strikes on Sunday night saw sharp differences on the issue of a tough anti-terror POTA like law with BJP making a strong demand for such a law and UPA opposing it tooth and nail. Several parties spoke in favour of setting up a federal agency and strengthening intelligence gathering machinery and beefing up coastal security. BJP leaders V K Malhotra and Jaswant Singh pitched for revival of POTA but the demand was shot down by UPA, which contended that despite POTA being in force, terrorists attacked Parliament when NDA was in power. The UPA allies suggested a new law minus the “draconian provisions” of POTA. Several leaders sought strong action against Pakistan for supporting terrorists to carry out violence in India with the National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah seeking a “tit for tat” action against the neighbouring country, sources said. However, no party spoke of hot pursuit or something that could lead to a conflict with Pakistan. A few leaders including LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan sought to differentiate between a Pak-based terrorist and a Pak-supported terrorist saying that terrorists have carried out violence even in Pakistan. BJP is understood to have also raised the issue of Malegaon blast, saying that there should not be politics for the sake of votes, which triggered sharp criticism from UPA partners. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:39 pm Ask Mint | Today, we may be at the peak of the interest rate cycleTo help readers keep pace with what’s happening in the real estate sector, Mint’s Q&A appears every other Monday. I am planning to buy an existing flat for which the owner is still under hypothecation with the bank. The current value of the flat is approximately Rs20 lakh. But the loan he has from the bank is only Rs10 lakh. If I do a loan transfer from the existing bank to a new bank, will the new banker give a loan based on the price at which I am buying the flat or only to the extent of the loan outstanding of the borrower, that is, Rs10 lakh? Stay with the floating rates; they’re still lower and whenever rates come down, you will benefit When I took the loan in 1997, it was at a fixed interest rate but then the interest rate came down and I was advised to convert to a floating interest rate by paying a small fee. I changed it to floating in 2001 and now interest rates are soaring — my EMI (equated monthly instalment) has increased a lot. Is it time to switch back to a fixed rate? It is very important for a customer to completely understand the concept of a floating rate loan. Please note that housing loans are typically long-term—15 to 20 years—and over this period cyclical movements in interest rates are inevitable. I am sure you would have benefited by converting to floating rates in 2001 as the rate between 1997 and 2001 fell approximately almost 4-5 percentage points. My advice now would be that you should continue with the floating rates as even today floating rates are much lower than the fixed rates. Moreover, today we may be at the peak of the interest rate cycle and hence, as and when interest rates come down, you will stand to benefit. Renu Sud Karnad is joint managing director, HDFC. Readers may write in with their queries and comments to askmint@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:36 pm Ask Mint | Mark-to-market accounting rule is potentially the market’s best friend Johnny: Let’s start our discussion today with one of the most basic questions for many people like me. What is a mark-to-market accounting rule? Jinny: Mark-to-market is a very simple and straightforward accounting rule that prescribes a method for finding out the fair value for all kinds of financial assets. The list of financial assets, as you know, is fairly long—all your stocks, bonds, options, swaps, et al can be called financial assets. How, you may wonder, does the mark-to-market accounting rule apply to so many different kinds of financial assets? Well, the mark-to-market accounting rule relies on the use of the current market price of your financial assets to arrive at their fair value. So if you are holding a stock that is currently trading at Rs100, then as per the mark-to-market accounting rule, the fair value of your stock is Rs100. You may have actually acquired the stock by paying Rs200 and expect that one day the same stock would trade at a much higher price, but in the realm of the mark-to-market accounting rule, future expectations do not play a role. The worth of your asset is always determined by the price at which you can currently sell it in the market. There is no need to look at any other statistic like future earnings, growth potential or any other fact or fiction surrounding your financial asset. Even a blindfolded man can know the fair value of any financial asset by just using the current market price as the yardstick. Johnny: So in the mark-to-market accounting rule, everything depends on the current market price, right? Jinny: Yes. In a way, the mark-to-market accounting rule seems like an extension of the efficient market hypothesis that believes that the collective mind of the financial market always reflects the correct price of the assets. In other words, the market is always right. However, many sceptics believe which the efficient market hypothesis may sound good in theory, but in reality the free play of market forces may not always reflect the correct price. Sometimes the scale of the market may excessively tip to one side or the other, moving prices away from where they should be. For instance, distress sales hardly give any chance of selling your asset at the right price. In the worst case, as the experience of the subprime crisis showed, the financial market itself may freeze completely, leaving you with assets for which there are absolutely no takers.  Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint Johnny: Then what conclusion can we draw? Should we completely discard the mark-to-market accounting rule when the financial market is in distress? Jinny: Well, we can’t accept the mark-to-market accounting rule as the last word on valuation of financial assets. Neither can we completely dump the mark-to-market accounting rule. We definitely need to strike a balance. The main attraction of the mark-to-market accounting rule lies in its simplicity and objectivity. The mark-to-market accounting rule compels us to look at the real picture. The whole financial market can’t become an enemy of your stocks and bonds for no rhyme or reason. If we can’t find any buyer for our asset, then something must have gone terribly wrong. The mark-to-market accounting rule cannot be blamed for simply telling us the reality. In such a situation, what other options do we have? We can very well use our own assumptions to find out the true worth of our financial assets. But assumptions are only as good as the person making them. In some cases, assumptions may be right but in some cases they may go wrong. So barring extreme situations, the mark-to-market accounting rule still has the potential to become the best friend of our financial market. Johnny: Thanks for telling me all this, Jinny. Sometimes our best friends may look like enemies. What: The mark-to-market accounting rule prescribes principles for assessing the fair value of financial assets. How: Financial assets are to be valued as per their current market price. Why: In an extreme scenario, the mark-to-market accounting rule may aggravate the situation by leaving no room for discretion. Shailaja and Manoj K. Singh have important day jobs with an important bank. But Jinny and Johnny have plenty of time for your suggestions and ideas for their weekly chat. You can write to both of them at realsimple@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:36 pm Ask Mint | Retirement plans help you weave a social security net I am a 42-year-old man working with a multinational company. I want to start planning financially for retirement. I want to know how retirement plans work and if they are beneficial. India lacks a well-defined social security system and the traditional support system is weakening. So, a vast majority of us are left to fend for ourselves postretirement. Life insurance and retirement plans help you plan your finances and provide a strong social security net for people in case they outlive their savings. In essence, most people buy life insurance to achieve peace of mind so that they are not dependent on anyone in their golden years. A retirement plan has two phases: accumulation phase and payout phase. During the accumulation phase, you get a way of creating an appropriate retirement fund by saving regularly, and also get a tax benefit. The main benefit of retirement plans is that they force you to save regularly. In the payout phase, you get a periodic payout which is called an annuity. This mechanism ensures that you have periodic cash flows during your retirement, akin to a salary during your working days. It thus obviates the possibility of a lump sum being consumed immediately. Hence, retirement plans help you weave your own social security net for your golden years. I am a 33-year-old man. I had purchased a unit-linked insurance plan (Ulip) from a private life insurer two years back. How can I invest my surplus funds to get better returns? Top-ups are a feature provided in most Ulips to help you invest additional sums of money. Top-ups allow you to supplement the regular savings plan as and when you have a surplus—like when you get a bonus, an inheritance or proceeds from an asset sale. You need not buy a new policy, which might involve additional processing time and costs. All you have to do is fill up a simple form and invest the surplus. Some products might require additional underwriting, though. Please check with your financial adviser or your insurance company’s customer service unit to check how you can avail of this facility. Readers are welcome to write in with their queries to askmint@livemint.com. The questions will be answered by senior executives from leading insurance firms. This week’s expert is Rajesh Relan, managing director, MetLife. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:35 pm India may not be receptive to the American message this timeWashington / Chicago: As evidence mounts that last week’s attacks in Mumbai may have originated on Pakistani soil, US officials’ aggressive campaign to strike at militants in Pakistan may complicate efforts to prevent an Indian military response, which could lead to a conflict between the bitter enemies. In December 2001, when Pakistani militants attacked the Indian Parliament, and again this summer, when militants aided by Pakistani spies bombed the Indian embassy in Afghanistan, the Bush administration used aggressive diplomacy to dampen anger in New Delhi.  Tough choices: Rapid Action Force personnel outside the Taj hotel. Any hint of a military mobilization by India will give Pakistan the excuse it wants to shift forces away from its western border areas to the east. Jayanta Shaw / Reuters Officials in New Delhi might also feel less compelled to follow calls for a controlled response from the Bush administration, which has steadily escalated a campaign of airstrikes on Pakistani soil using remotely piloted aircraft. The Pentagon has even sent special operations forces into Pakistan to attack suspected militant targets, partly in an attempt to stop the militants from crossing the border into Afghanistan, where they are helping fuel an increasingly robust Taliban insurgency. The White House has adopted a clear position to justify those attacks: if a country cannot deal with a terrorism problem on its own, the US reserves the right to act unilaterally. Should it become clear that the men who rampaged through Mumbai trained in Pakistan, even if the Pakistani government had no hand in the operation, what will stop the Indians from adopting the same position? “In some ways, it doesn’t even matter whether this attack was hatched in some office in Islamabad,” said Paul Kapur, a South Asia expert at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and Stanford University. “The provocation in this case is orders of magnitude more than anything that’s happened before.” Even if the Bush administration can keep the situation from escalating, President-elect Barack Obama will find his administration trying to broker cooperation between two aroused and suspicious regional powers. An important element of Obama’s plan to reduce militancy in Pakistan and turn around the war in Afghanistan has been to push for a reconciliation between India and Pakistan, so that the Pakistani government could focus its energy on the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan that are controlled by Islamic extremists. Obama’s advisers have spent the past few days watching the unfolding crisis for hints about how the situation might look after 20 January. While they said they understand that the tensions unleashed by the Mumbai attacks might hobble the new president’s aspirations, they held out hope that the attacks might, instead, open the door to increased cooperation between Pakistan and India to weed out militants intent on more attacks. Some in the Bush administration, as well as outside experts, agree that an Indian military response is not a foregone conclusion. Singh’s government has long believed that the instability caused by a conflict with Pakistan would act as a brake on the rapid economic growth India has enjoyed. Singh has also seen Pakistan’s new civilian government as a hopeful departure from the militarism of former president Pervez Musharraf’s government. Washington could use Singh’s past hopes for better relations to try to shape a modulated Indian response. Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, said one possibility was that the Indian government could decide to strike Kashmiri militant training facilities in Pakistan’s federally administered tribal areas, rather than facilities in the heart of the disputed territory of Kashmir, where Pakistan’s government has a greater presence. Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani author whose work has been studied by the Obama team, said that any hint of a military mobilization by the Indians will give the Pakistani military the excuse it wants to shift forces away from its western border areas and back to its eastern border. If that happens, he said, it could cause a repeat of 2002, when a stand-off between the nations forced the US to turn at least some of its attention away from fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda to work to avoid war between Pakistan and India. That time, the impetus was an assault on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 that India said was the work of Kashmiri militants. So far, Obama has tried to walk a careful line during the latest crisis, expressing support and concern without appearing to get in the way of President George W. Bush. Even as Obama was preparing to host several dozen guests for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, a foreign policy adviser, Mark Lippert, and a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official arrived at his house in Chicago to brief him on the latest from Mumbai, according to an aide. Obama ushered them into a side room as the rest of the house buzzed with dinner preparations. Obama also called secretary of state Condoleezza Rice three times over the last few days seeking information. But he waited until after Bush called Singh to place his own call to the Indian Prime Minister late on Friday night. (The call was patched through the state department operations centre.) Advisers to the President-elect said that while they were not aware of everything the Bush administration has done during the crisis, they knew of nothing that Obama would have necessarily done differently. Given the disastrous implications of any armed conflict between India and Pakistan, it is not hard to envision the Obama administration following a similar playbook to the one the Bush administration followed during the two countries’ occasional flare-ups. As some experts see it, though, there is a danger in the US’ continuing to intervene directly when tensions between India and Pakistan escalate. “If both sides think they can afford to go closer to the edge because the US is always going to keep them from going over,” said Kapur, “then they are more likely to edge up to the precipice.” © 2008/THE NEW YORK TIMES feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:34 pm India should allow 49% FDI in insuranceLondon: Gerry Grimstone, chairman of Standard Life Plc., wears three hats. Apart from heading the Edinburgh-headquartered asset management group, he is also chairman of Candover Investments Plc., one of Europe’s oldest private equity funds, and the India Champion for the UK’s Financial Services Sector Advisory Board—a coordinator between the two governments.  Investment plans: Grimstone says the firm will make two or three quality investments in India, China and Hong Kong, starting small. Tamal Bandyopadhyay / Mint In a recent interview, Grimstone said Standard Life is keen to raise its stake in the insurance company to 49% and the government should allow that as there is a clear distinction between foreign control and foreign financing. He said the asset management company, or AMC, has certain property assets that have “turned out to be not as good quality as we thought they would be” and the promoters have found a way of removing those assets from the fund to the benefit of the investors. He said he is also keenly looking for opportunities in the private equity space. Edited excerpts: The Indian government has not yet cleared the Bill to allow foreign players 49% stake in insurance companies. It must be very frustrating for you. We were the first life (insurance) company to form a joint venture in India. When we formed the joint venture with HDFC, it was conceived as a 50:50 relationship. Click here to listen audio What do you mean by 50:50? HDFC and Standard Life share the business. I look to Deepak (Parekh) for certain insights and aspects of business and he looks to me for certain insights… We are very much in it together. The original agreement between shareholders had envisaged that we would be able to increase our shareholding to 50:50 as and when the law allows. We are very keen to do that. It makes good sense to have 50:50 economic interests and I see no difficulty with (it) if India for public policy reasons may want to maintain control of these businesses… I myself cannot understand the difference between 26% and 49%. If we are allowed to raise our stake, the capital burden of the business will be split more fairly between the two promoters and still HDFC can have control with 51%. Even with a 26% stake, you are offering management expertise. So why do you need to raise your stake to 49%? My impression is that in India life assurance promoters are now conscious of the capital requirement that a growing life assurance company has and they will find it helpful if their foreign partners assist in maintaining the capital requirement. I think it’s also becoming clear that foreign direct investment is more stable and more beneficial than foreign institutional investments. There are huge opportunities in infrastructure and other sectors and it needs capital… My view is if you can draw the capital from outside the country, why not do that? I am very pleased that the cabinet has decided to push forward with the proposal and I think it is unlikely to be going to be passed in the coming session (of Parliament) purely because of time but I think it’s quite a watershed to have at least the political opinion behind it in pushing forward. I think it’s a win-win situation for India. The control will continue to rest with the local companies while some of the capital will come from the foreign counterparts. When you say 50:50, actually you mean 51:49. Right? Absolutely. You have been waiting for seven years for this to happen. Will you get out of the insurance venture if you are not allowed to raise your stake? If India wishes this to be under Indian control, why won’t it allow foreign financing? Are you happy with the growth in business? Isn’t HDFC Standard Life Insurance very conservative? It’s true that both Standard Life and HDFC are conservative companies. In a way it’s our strength. At the moment, we are the most strongly capitalized among the UK life assurance companies... Our persistency rate is better than anybody else in the Indian life assurance industry. We think we provide better training to our staff than other people and we think we are running a high-quality business... What’s the plan on the insurance firm’s initial public offering (IPO)? We will take it to the market but you won’t see that unless the market conditions improve. We were thinking this in 2010 but it could happen in 2009. Will you dilute your stake through the IPO? We will be keen to maintain our stake. We see India as an extremely important business for us. I believe your AMC has compromised on the quality of assets for growth. Like other asset management companies in India, we have a triple-A liquidity fund and has a very high market share. In order to enhance the returns of that fund, you invest in papers that are more complex than treasury bills… The fund has certain property assets owned by Indian property companies and those assets have now turned out to be not as good quality as we thought they would be. The promoters have found a way of removing those assets from the fund to the benefit of the investors in the fund. We believe these assets are of good quality in the longer term but in order to the preserve the nature of the liquidity fund, we have taken steps to protect the shareholders. Now that would be a very typical movement of Standard Life and HDFC. We were not obliged to do it. We did not want people to have any worries about the fund. We have substituted some of the assets of the fund which have a longer duration with high-quality short-term assets to make sure that the fund’s liquidity is preserved. And I think we are one of the few funds in India which have been attracting money in last few days... By shifting these assets to HDFC’s book, aren’t you being unfair to HDFC shareholders? We have not announced where we have shifted these assets. We just said that the promoters have taken steps. Also, we are not taking about large sums of money in the context of market capitalization of HDFC and Standard Life. The promoters are acting together to ensure the stability of the fund. Any plans to hike your stake in the AMC? It was a 50:50 joint venture and Deepak wanted to have a slightly greater economic interest in it. So we sold 10% to HDFC. There will be an IPO of the AMC at some point but the market conditions are not favourable for that yet. In last three-four months, it has gone up in ranking. That’s possibly the root of the problem. The AMC became aggressive to capture market share and in the process burnt its fingers… I would challenge the “burn your finger” bit. There is a difference between an asset which you’re quite sure that will be worth Rs100 in 18 months’ time but because you are marking to market, may be worth Rs85 or Rs90 now. If you face redemptions, you are faced with two choices—you redeem the asset at Rs85 and, in this case, people who are taking money out suffer. Or, the promoters take the responsibility and they tell themselves that the asset is worth Rs100 and it will fetch that money in next 18 months and we will take that away from the fund so that customers do not have to suffer. We have done that. We want to be seen that this is the best place to put your money. In the longer term, you will get more benefit. Post-IPO, will you dilute your stake? Generally speaking, we have not walked through the fine print of the IPO. We want to maintain or increase our exposure to India. As a major international financial services company, we would like more exposure to India through primarily raising stakes in the existing ventures. We are also considering to set up an actuarial service centre in India. Standard Life will have a training school for actuaries to provide actuarial services to Standard Life in Edinburgh. We are also doing health insurance under the life insurance company. You seem to be wedded to HDFC. In the financial sector you don’t necessarily need to be monogamous… In marriage, one doesn’t need to be monogamous but many people find it the most pleasurable way of living, especially if one is very happy with one’s wife. We have a very strong and close relationship with HDFC and that’s why the company has done so well. Both shareholders have decided to take a more active role in the management of the life insurance company. Aren’t you late in entering the private equity space in India? You must remember that some of the existing people have lost a lot of money. I think our timing in India is fantastic. This is a very good time to look to buy businesses in India. A couple of years ago, we decided to do business in Asia. We have a team of six people in Hong Kong and we have recruited Harsha Raghavan from Goldman Sachs for our Mumbai operations. Our plan is...to understand the market first. We will then make some investments, using our own funds from our own balance sheet and hopefully those investments will be successful and we will then move to raise third-party funds. There is no money which a private equity fund looks after more carefully than its own money. How much money you want to invest? That will depend on the opportunities. We will make two or three good quality investments in India, China and Hong Kong. We will start small and within 18 months to two years, once those businesses are successful, there will be time to go for fund raising. It can happen in 2010 or 2011. When do we see the first investment? When Harsha and his team identify the first company. He is close to do(ing) that. He has some interesting ideas. How are you different? Candover runs an unusual business in the private equity world. We have been in the business for almost 27 years now and that makes us one of the oldest private equity funds in the world. We are a listed entity from the first day and, as you know, listed entities have degrees of governance and transparency. We love to think that we are the most consistent performers among the European private equity houses. Like all private equity companies, we look for solid cash flow and good management. We are very operational company. We tend to make our money not through financial engineering but through operational improvement. The other area in which we are very interested is helping Indian companies to acquire companies in Europe and the rest of the world. We are looking for some cross-border deals out of India. How will that work? We will both put our money in. We will work closely with managements—not over-aggressive in leverage. We will use our skills to allow companies to make acquisitions; improve their operations. Your areas of interest? Consumer services, oil and gas, particularly offshore services such as drilling, and leisure will make good money. We will look for both listed and unlisted entities. Tamal Bandyopadhyay was in London at the invitation of the City of London Corporation. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:32 pm ‘Sakaal Times’ shuts Delhi office on lossesNew Delhi: Sixty-one people at the New Delhi office of Sakaal Times, an English daily published by the Pune-based Sakaal Media Group, may be the first newsroom casualties of the ambitious expansion some groups undertook during a five-year media boom. The group has decided to shut the Delhi offices and terminate the services of the 61 reporters, editors, photographers and infographists, and has given up its ambition of making it a multi-edition daily newspaper. Staffers find the office locked on Sunday, with a notice outside about the closure “The new daily is incurring heavy expenses in Delhi operations, resulting in substantial losses to the company. You are aware that this is further compounded by the present serious downtrend in the economy…As a result, the operations are stopped forthwith and the persons working for Sakaal Times operations are being relieved. The necessary communication has already been sent to the individual employees on their postal address registered with the company. The relevant employees need not attend the office from today onwards,” the notice, signed by an unnamed “authorized signatory”, read. “All the work was going on smoothly till yesterday (Saturday), and today when we came in, this is what we saw,” said a journalist, who just found out he had lost his job and didn’t want to be identified. Abhijit Pawar, managing director of the 76-year-old Sakaal Media Group, said staffers had been informed earlier. “It has just been brought to my attention that the communication hadn’t reached everyone, and I’m sorry if that is the case. I have been told that a communication had been made informally to senior members of the staff in Delhi and it was supposed to have reached everyone. Everyone is being adequately compensated,” Pawar added. He said the compensation would be based on contractual terms. Late on Sunday evening, the journalists formed an action committee to protest against the way in which they had been fired and to demand more compensation. “We have filed a police complaint against this lockout, tomorrow (Monday) we will be consulting lawyers to mull appropriate legal action, we are meeting the Delhi Union of Journalists to mobilize all journalists and we will be meeting the minister for information and broadcasting,” said K.K. Laskar, who was chief photographer at the daily and is convener of the action committee. He denied that staffers had been informed in advance about the closure. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:32 pm PSU OMCs to log positive margins from today after under-recoveries - Financial Express
Source: Google News India - Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:29 pm Can the failed UPA govt restore confidence? Despite frequent terror strikes, we have not learnt any lessons nor applied correctives. The will to tackle terrorism is completely missing. The scale of the Mumbai devastation and its grievous impact to the Indian psyche is so huge that we as a nation can no longer afford to soft-pedal terrorism. People of the country expect accountability from their elected governments to restore their faith in the institutions. Against this expectation, the resignation of home minister Shivraj Patil—who has become a subject of indignation and ridicule—is welcome, though it is a little late. Deputy chief minister and home minister of Maharashtra R.R. Patil, who has described the terror attack as a “small” incident, has shocked people and must be forced to resign for the sheer insensitivity of his remarks or should be made to apologize for his tasteless comments. Talking of the Mumbai attacks, there is a significant difference in the nature of terror attacks in Mumbai and in different cities in the last two years. Most of the recent bomb explosions in the cities of Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad have been caused by local terror modules, mostly involving local youth. The latest Mumbai attack is a war-like external aggression unleashed by terror networks from across the border. Earlier this year, there were widespread protests from the political class in the wake of Batla House encounter and the investigations into Malegaon blasts case as our cynical politicians from the entire political spectrum viewed terrorism from a political and a communal perspective. Also Read G.V.L Narasimha Rao’s earlier columns Acting tough on terror elements from within the country was caught in the mindless pursuit of vote bank politics. But one hopes that these inane considerations would not come in the way of dealing tough with external terror elements. But with the general election barely a few months away, the political parties can be expected to raise the spectre of terrorism to consolidate their vote banks and to engage each other in no-holds-barred political battles. Would the Mumbai terror strikes influence the outcome of elections to the assemblies of Delhi, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir? Perhaps not. Click here to watch video Terrorism has failed to emerge as a major issue in assembly polls, despite the best efforts of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its hard-hitting campaigns. The Mumbai attack has surely spurred more people to vote in Delhi elections, but that has not necessarily prompted them to vote for the BJP. For the common man, both the BJP and the Congress have had their share of failures in dealing with terror. As people seem to lose trust in the political class per se, they are looking for leaders who can make them feel safe. Does this mean that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government may not have a reason to worry about the issue of terrorism hurting the alliance in Lok Sabha polls early next year? Will the BJP fail to benefit from the glaring failures of the UPA government in dealing with terrorism during its tenure? As I have been stressing over the past few weeks, the electorate is increasingly looking at the capacity and competence of their leaders and not just political parties to lend their support. If terrorism emerges as a major issue in Lok Sabha polls, as I guess it would, people will vote for parties that have credible leaders who can make them feel safe. It is here that the ruling UPA has reasons to worry about. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is known for his integrity but does not come across as a strong leader who can squarely deal with terror. Priyanka Gandhi’s candid comment last Saturday that a leader such as Indira Gandhi would have dealt with an attack such as this one with an iron hand echoes the sentiment of an average Indian. Every Indian feels humbled and humiliated by the Mumbai experience and is craving for leadership that will help him hold his head high. The UPA government over the last few months has been bereft of direction and gripped with inertia. The Mumbai terror attack is a challenge and the Prime Minister must seize the initiative and take immediate steps to show the government’s resolve to tackle the menace. If this was India’s own 9/11, let us show to the world that we are capable of dealing with the challenge to avert such incidents in the future. For heaven’s sake, let us not treat this as another “small” incident and let our incompetence and irresponsible leadership not be couched to glorify the famed resilience of our hapless citizens. G.V.L. Narasimha Rao is a political analyst and managing director of a Delhi-based research consulting firm. Your comments are welcome at thebottomline@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:29 pm NTPC, Sri Lankan partner disagree over payment guaranteeNew Delhi: Differences have arisen between India’s largest power generation company NTPC Ltd and Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Electricity Board, or CEB, over payment of security and sovereign guarantee on a proposed 500MW joint venture coal-based thermal power plant in Sri Lanka. The project has been planned as an equal venture with the CEB, involving an investment of $500 million (Rs2,490 crore). A senior NTPC executive said the company wanted the project’s chief financial officer, from the state-owned Indian utility, to preside over any situation involving a default on the part of CEB. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the executive said CEB, on the other hand, wants such an eventuality to be handled by the board. “Since they (CEB) will have an equal representation on the board, it will never be able to approve it,” said the executive, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. CEB officials could not be contacted for comment. Sri Lanka has a power generation capacity of 2,500MW, against India’s capacity of 145,000MW. The NTPC plant in north of Trincomalee is expected to significantly enhance power generation in the island nation. “There are some issues regarding the joint venture agreement. This is normal. Our team is already there to resolve the issue. The matter will also be taken at the government-to-government level,” the NTPC executive said. R.S. Sharma, chairman and managing director, NTPC, however, denied any problems. “We want to finalize the agreement by December this year.” A senior official in the ministry of power confirmed the differences over the pact: “Ceylon Electricity Board has certain reservations. We are trying to work on it and resolve the issues.” He also didn’t want to be identified. The Sri Lankan project is seen by NTPC as an effort to demonstrate its ability to set up power projects in other countries. Also, the company has set itself an ambitious target of increasing its power generation capacity to 50,000 MW by 2012 against the present capacity of 29,144 MW. Analysts, however, feel that even if the project is halted because of the differences, it wouldn’t dent NTPC’s expansion plans in a significant way. “Considering the expansion plans of NTPC and its current capacity, 500 MW is too small a capacity to impact its expansion,” said Madanagopal, an equity research analyst at Mumbai-based Centrum Broking Pvt. Ltd, who prefers to use one name. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:26 pm Sebi may tighten mutual funds norms - Business Standard
Source: Google News India - Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:21 pm New Delhi seeks US help to send a tough message to PakistanNew Delhi: The Union government has begun to grapple with the problem of how to send a tough message to Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks without escalating tensions to such a level that it could be accused of preparing for war. Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rejected national security adviser M.K. Narayanan’s offer of resignation as he was key to the Mumbai terror investigation, according to a Congress party leader, who didn’t want to be named, the government was preparing to request the US to help mount pressure on Pakistan to cooperate with Delhi. Singh spoke on the phone with US President George W. Bush, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. Bush had been expected to reiterate Washington’s willingness to extend all the help Delhi needed and note that a team from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation was already in Mumbai in this regard. Concerns that Pakistan could dodge US attempts to get it to cooperate with India are growing But it seemed as if Delhi was already readying itself to ask the US to do more. Namely, in the wake of an about-turn on the part of the civilian Pakistan leadership on sending the director general of Pakistan’s intelligence agency to Delhi, Washington could put pressure on the “real power centre in Pakistan, the army, to begin some sort of cooperation with India”, said a government official who didn’t want to be named. It is also expected that foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon, who was leaving for the US Sunday night on a pre-arranged visit, during which he is expected to meet his counterpart undersecretary of state William Burns, would use the new circumstances to present some of the evidence Delhi has gathered on the attacks. “The statements of support by Western governments should be translated into action. We would expect them to do that,” the government official added. But even as security teams from the US and Israel in Mumbai wait for access to the scenes of the crimes as well as to the bodies of their nationals (six Americans and five Israelis, among others), concerns that Pakistan could dodge American attempts to cooperate with India are growing. Vikram Sood, a former chief of India’s external intelligence service Research and Analysis Wing and currently an analyst at the Observer Research Foundation, said the refusal by the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) to send its director general to Delhi, as promised by Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, was “only an indication that the Pakistan army still runs the show in Pakistan”. “The political establishment is a nonentity. As far as India is concerned, nothing has changed,” Sood said. Strategic affairs analyst K. Subrahmanyam said there was a real danger that the Pakistan army could cite growing tensions with India to move some of its forces currently fighting the Taliban and the Al Qaeda in the western borderlands to the eastern border with India. “Senator (Barack) Obama has already demanded action on the western front, but the Pakistanis could easily tell the Americans that we can’t continue the fight against terror with the same intensity,” Subrahmanyam said. He agreed that Delhi was in a real dilemma, especially as the Americans could hardly afford to jeopardize the war against the Taliban-Al Qaeda. However, he added, “if the Indians have transcripts detailing Pakistan’s involvement, whether they are rogue groups or linked to the ISI, then Western agencies will definitely have the same information”. Meanwhile, the Congress party leader pointed out that notwithstanding the apparent tussle for power in Pakistan, between President Asif Ali Zardari’s political leadership and the army, India’s options on how to deal with terror were also limited. “The government may well create a federal investigative agency that coordinates information, but the intractable question is what to do with Pakistan? The PM will not accept any belligerent ideas, he certainly does not want India to repeat Operation Parakram (when the armies of India and Pakistan confronted each other for nine months after the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001). Question is, what should India do?” the Congress party politician asked. He went on to answer his own question. “Unless the big Western powers are on board, India won’t be able to do much on its own.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:19 pm We made nearly 150 promises... almost all have been addressedHyderabad: Andhra Pradesh is a crucial state for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) if it hopes to return to power at the Centre in the next general election. In the last election, it won 36 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats from the state. Chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, whose government has completed four-and-a-half years in power is undeterred by charges of corruption levelled by the opposition against his government in projects including irrigation, infrastructure and industrial parks. Defending the government’s track record, he says it has initiated a number of welfare programmes and projects.  Man of his word: Reddy says his government’s new industrial policy aims at promoting both physical and social infrastructure. It has announced subsidies to attract major investments in upcoming SEZs. Bharath Sai / Mint Andhra Pradesh is emerging as a manufacturing hub as well, Reddy says. A new industrial promotion policy should soon attract major investments in the automobile sector, although the state has so far failed to draw automobile makers. He refutes accusation by the opposition that fertile agricultural land has been acquired for 97 special economic zones (SEZs), the largest number in the country, coming up over 12,795 hectares of land. Terming the corruption charges levelled against his government as baseless, he dares opposition parties to take their complaints to bodies empowered to investigate bribery. Edited excerpts: How do you rate your performance in the last four-and-a-half years? My government has been successful in transforming the agriculture sector into a profitable economic activity, besides promoting employment generation in all sectors—agriculture and industry—by empowering the youth with soft skills and technology to improve their employability. To what extent have you been successful in implementing the electoral promises made as a part of election manifesto in 2004? We made nearly 150 promises during the 2004 elections, of which almost every one (or each) has been addressed. In fact it is a record that we have taken up programmes and projects, which we did not even mention in our manifesto. Why is the state failing to attract investments from major automobile makers? I refuse to accept your contention that the state has failed to attract investments in the automobile sector. We gave the best possible deal for all the automobile manufacturers, including Volkswagen AG, Ford and also the Tatas for their Nano project. One key reason for lack of interest from the automobile companies to invest in AP could be the absence of ancillary units here. And the credit for failure to attract automobile industries should go to our predecessors, who did not promote any ancillary industries in the state. Our new industrial policy is aimed at promoting both physical and social infrastructure needed for all-round industrial growth. We have already announced subsidies in power, water, land registration, flexible labour laws, etc, to attract major investments in SEZs coming up in the state. How do you address concerns over threat from terrorists and Maoists in the state? My government has not been complacent to the issue of law and order. In the backdrop of last year’s bomb blasts by terrorists, every effort has been made to ensure the safety of the citizens and also maintain peace and tranquillity in the state. Besides regular police force, we are raising a special force to deal with terrorism—Octopus—for which we are recruiting nearly 30,000 policemen, of which 17,000 are already in the training fields. Since this government took over in 2004, we have successfully contained the CPI (Maoist) influence in the state by driving them away from the forests in the state borders. The Maoist violence has almost been contained in the state. What is being done to ensure the success of the state’s key industrial sectors? AP is always at the forefront in exports of IT and pharmaceutical products and has made distinctive forays in biotechnology and ITES (IT-enabled services) sectors as well. The latest reports of Assocham, CII and the RBI all have clearly indicated that AP was the chosen destination of investment and that the state also was emerging as a hub of manufacturing sector. Our concern now is the global economic slowdown and its likely impact on the state’s initiatives The state has received a record industrial investment proposals of nearly Rs108,559 crore in the first half of 2008. We have set a record of sorts with principal approvals for 97 SEZs with a proposed investment of Rs150,000 crore to provide 2.5 million jobs. How do you respond to the allegations by the opposition that the government machinery is forcefully acquiring fertile lands of farmers for SEZs instead of barren lands? AP has been the beneficiary of the Government of India policy of SEZs. We have received sanctions for 97 SEZs, of which 71 have been in various processes of approvals. Naturally the level of industrial activity anticipated and the employment generation projects involved acquisition of huge tracts of land for setting up the needed infrastructure for the economic activity. However, there is no forcible acquisition and except where it is essential fertile land of the farmers is not taken. How do you explain the inordinate delay in completion of large irrigation projects across the state? The irrigation projects take lot of time to be completed. There were some delays in the projects owing to land acquisition and environment clearances. Everything is on schedule, though works rather got delayed due to late approvals in the backdrop of hurdles placed by the opposition parties. Secondly, several projects were added in course of time, thereby increasing the capabilities and number of projects entailing more investment. All the projects have now received the sanction of the Centre with necessary approvals. What is your response to the corruption allegations involving irrigation projects levelled by the opposition against your government? If they (opposition parties) have any proof on corruption in any of the projects, why cannot they approach the appropriate bodies meant to investigate such misdeeds? I am not saying that everything is fool-proof. Projects of this magnitude are bound to have some lapses. If there are any specific cases of lapses and corruption, let the opposition bring them to our notice so that we can rectify them. What do you have to say on the allegations of nepotism that you were offering undue favours to your relatives either directly, by granting them government permissions, or indirectly wherein the industrial houses benefited by the government investing huge amounts in the business ventures of your family members? All of them are normal and routine allegations in a democratic society. They are voiced prominently by a section of the media and also the opposition parties. I have many times offered to conduct inquiry even if an iota of proof is provided in any of the instances. They are all baseless charges. How do you explain the administration’s failure in arresting the unusual rise in prices of essential commodities? Price rise in essential commodities is a global and national phenomenon, a fallout of inflation and oil prices hikes. Unlike other states, we have undertaken market intervention programmes to contain the impact on the common man. The Rs2 per kg rice scheme is one such programme that is benefiting nearly 1.74 crore families below poverty line. The government has also introduced a unique package providing 25kg of rice, 1kg each of dal, tamarind and edible oil—all for just Rs115. We have also reduced the open market price of rice to Rs20 per kg by pressuring the rice millers and setting up over 1,571 retail outlets. Topping it all, we have also absorbed the recent hike of Rs50 per LPG cylinder to provide succor to the housewives in the state. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:17 pm Sebi may tighten mutual funds normsMay bar premature withdrawals from fixed maturity plans.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:14 pm Mumbai is still a safe city, say expat CEOsExpatriate CEOs, many of whom have made Mumbai their first homes, may be unnerved by the three-day terror strike in Mumbai, but none of them feel Mumbai or other parts of India have become unsafe toSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:12 pm Patil quits, Chidambaram to be home ministerPM to hold finance portfolio for now; pressure for action on Pakistan.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:11 pm Stumbling and shufflingFor a newspaper that has called for a “muscular approach” to fighting terrorism, the “sacking” of home minister Shivraj Patil is a welcome sign of a UPA government that is belatedly coming to terms with India’s new reality—of widespread anger and helplessness. That finance minister P. Chidambaram is taking over will be seen as putting an able, action-oriented administrator into a crisis management role. But thanks to Messrs Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram’s mismanagement of public finances from India’s recently ended economic boom, the economy has floundered, with the government unable to respond firmly to the cascading global crisis. That Chidambaram has been mostly rhetorical— some of his remarks were rather ill-timed—has been quite clear in the liquidity crisis. So, as India stares down a twin barrel of national crises—economy and security—let’s remember that what we now need the most are deep, perhaps painful, structural reforms in both these areas. Unfortunately, neither a much diminished Singh nor a micromanaging Chidambaram has yet shown us they really have the stomach for implementing— not just talking—reforms Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:07 pm Multitude of agencies, but no one in chargeMumbai: A rubber dinghy carrying heavily-armed men and explosives pulls stealthily into Mumbai. The men disembark and go on to launch the most audacious terrorist strike India has ever experienced. Three nights and three days later, at least 183 are dead, about 300 injured and two of India’s most prestigious hotels lie in ruins. A once-in-a-lifetime experience? Naval security experts say it may not be. The horrific attack mounted on the night of 26 November in Mumbai could happen again unless drastic action is taken to secure the coast. And again. No less than 23 agencies operate on the Indian seas, but there is no one in charge of security and no one in particular to be held accountable, rendering the 7,500km-long coastline vulnerable to terrorist penetration. During peace time, the navy and Coast Guard are like a police force without guns, because they don’t have the legislative authority to pursue ships. And they don’t have enough men, ships, equipment and intelligence back-up. Asked to identify vulnerable spots along the coast from where similar operations can be carried out, Harihara Balakrishnan, a former Indian Navy captain, says, “It’s not a few places that can be hand-picked and you can say here is the threat, let’s seal it. You can’t do that and so the whole coastline is exposed.” The only way to prevent such an attack again is by taking a dramatically different approach to maritime security, says retired vice-admiral Arun Kumar Singh, former director general of the Coast Guard and commander-in-chief of the Eastern Naval Command until last year. India has 28 million sq. km of water to patrol and it simply does not have enough resources. The navy has about 70,000 men, 130 ships and 200 aircraft, according to Singh. “On the other hand, Korea, which is the size of Chhattisgarh, has 260 ships and four times India’s manpower. Japan has 520 ships and the US has about 2,000 ships. Even to start, we need to double the size of the navy and triple the size of the Coast Guard,” says Singh. But inadequate resources are just one of India’s maritime security problems beca-use in a chaotic mess of policy, a multitude of agencies govern different marine activities. For instance, fishing (India is the world’s third largest fish producer) and the 314,000 small boats engaged in fishing are overseen by the ministry of agriculture; merchant fishing is under the purview of the ministry of shipping; customs is covered by the ministry of finance; the ports run themselves but do not have any dedicated security agency for ships coming into the ports; the Indian Marine Police reports to the home ministry; while the navy and Coast Guard function under the ministry of defence. The Coast Guard’s pollution control duties are overseen by the ministry of environment and forests. The navy and Coast Guard are also the two agencies responsible for security during war time, but say they cannot perform those duties in peace times because the government policies do no empower them to take any action on the high seas. “Even if we see anything suspicious, we do not have the power to chase and stop the ship. We cannot ask them to show us their papers. We cannot fine them, we cannot arrest them. We just have to let them go,” explained a senior officer in the Coast Guard who requested anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the media. vice-admiral Singh confirmed this assessment. But the problem is larger. Singh says that even if the navy had the authority, the men and the ships it needs to patrol the seas, it will still need crucial inputs: information and intelligence. “The need of this hour is to create a central, electronic data link and database of names, photos, fingerprints and details of every suspect that India’s entire defence system can access and upload information to. Something similar to the US Homeland Security system. The Indian security agencies also need a secure, effective, real-time communication system that will not only allow the top-level officials to communicate to the remotest outpost, but allow the outpost to communicate with people in the headquarters,” he says. Experts are pointing to the US Patriot Act as an example. Under the Act, the US has made its Coast Guard the single authority responsible for keeping the seas safe. “So now, 200 miles out from the coast of America, the Coast Guard demands every ship declare its destination, estimated time of arrival, speed and cargo,” says Singh, who has closely interacted with the US Coast Guard. Balakrishnan, who has studied the Act and its provisions, says: “If they are suspicious of any ship, the Coast Guard is empowered to board the ship, demand to see the papers, examine the cargo and arrest the crew if they suspect them of any illegal activity. What’s more, even the US navy can act as its Coast Guard . If the navy sees suspicious activity on the seas and the Coast Guard is not close by, the ship can pull down the naval flag, hoist the Coast Guard flag and carry out checks as the country’s Coast Guards.” “Only when we are able to do at least some of these things do we have a chance of preventing another attack,” he says. Experts say greater coordination between agencies isn’t the answer. “Put someone in charge, give them the equipment and power and hold them responsible. It’s the only smart way to approach security issues,” says Balakrishnan. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:06 pm Security check: how safe are our workplaces?Mumbai / New Delhi: Last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which targeted two of the city’s top business hotels, are again confronting chief executives and human resource managers with the questions they have wrestled with for some time: Can their companies react with speed and precision to minimize casualties and limit damage in situations such as these? The answer is mostly no, as a team of Mint reporters who worked on this story found. As terrorists strike Indian cities—from Bangalore to New Delhi, Ahmedabad to Jaipur— and, most recently, Mumbai, with alarming frequency and impunity, what is becoming evident is that a workplace such as yours could be the next target. But most Indian firms (as also places with large public concentrations such as shopping malls, hospitals or even schools) just don’t have the systems in place to deal with attacks that rank high on sophistication and planning, as last week’s strikes in south Mumbai. Awareness of the need for security and preparedness is highest among local units of multinational entities and sectors such as information technology, in which companies have security clauses written into their contracts with overseas clients, says Chiranjit Banerjee, general partner at Peopleplus Consulting, a Bangalore-based human resources firm. The mindset, according to one urban security expert, is otherwise still thrifty towards security and related processes, limiting such efforts to X-ray frames or physical inspections of vehicles. Hotels, for instance, “are more receptive to buying luxury cars for visitors but (even today) make token investments by opting for metal detectors instead of explosive vapour detection systems”, says Diwan Rahul Nanda, global chairman and managing director of Tops Security and Services Group. “Metal detectors cannot detect chemical or plastic explosives that terrorists these days use.” The cost of such vapour detection systems begins at Rs4 lakh and ranges up to Rs40 lakh. Sticker prices on sophisticated trace detection or backscatter X-ray equipment, both of which can detect chemicals even if they are present only in ion-level quantities or produce a skin-level body image, can run into millions of dollars, which explains why their use is mostly restricted to airports or border crossings. To be sure, some companies have begun opening the purse-strings. At Gurgaon’s Ambience Mall, says Deepak Kapur, general manager of mall operations, three “non-linear junction detectors” or devices that detect material even if they do not have embedded electronics (such as timers or triggers) were installed three months ago at a cost of Rs12 lakh. To scan underneath cars and other vehicles, Ambience Developers and Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, the company that owns the mall, has devices with cameras mounted at the end, instead of mirrors, that transmit pictures to a hand-held monitor. DLF Ltd, India’s biggest real estate company by revenues, says it too goes beyond just checking the bags of employees and visitors at its offices. “For instance, we have CCTV (closed circuit television) cameras around the offices and inside,” says Rajiv Talwar, group executive director at the realty company. DLF consults international and Indian security firms regularly, he added, declining to name the firms. Post-attack readiness Still, such measures, said most of the some two dozen executives and experts interviewed for this story, are not fool-proof in an age of suicide terrorists and human bombers. Harsh Vardhan, chief executive of TerraForce Security Services Pvt. Ltd, part of the DLF Group, lays emphasis equally on “systems” within companies to deal with the aftermath of an attack or a natural disaster. Even in instances where employers have so-called disaster mitigation and business continuity plans, “in most cases it’s just advisories and messages sent to the employees to stay away from a particular area or avoid a particular situation”, says A.S. Bedi, a vice-president at Wal-Mart Inc.’s joint venture with Bharti Enterprises Ltd, who handles asset protection and security. Some such as the Aditya Birla business group, the local unit of PepsiCo Inc. or India’s top tech and back office service firms say they have processes that address situations arising out of attacks or emergencies. PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd has, for the last six years, in place what is calls a crisis management team comprising six managers from different functions and headed by a non-executive board member. The Gurgaon-based company, which spends Rs5 crore a year on security in India, is looking to install a digital system, which will help zero in on an employee’s location. “There are technological solutions available which can help us track our employees and also enable them to reach out in case of emergency,” says Pavan Bhatia, executive director for human resources at PepsiCo India. After last week’s attacks, a travel advisory was sent out from PepsiCo’s Purchase, New York, headquarters against its people travelling to Mumbai, he added. At mining company Vedanta Resource Plc.’s Indian operations, “top performing management trainees are given the opportunity to work as shift security officers periodically before they take on their respective roles,” says A. Thirunavukkarasu, president, group human resources, at the company that engages 15 different agencies to take care of its plants and its 20,000 employees. Thirunavukkarasu says the company has installed biometric entry protection systems at select locations. In Bangalore, Infosys Technologies Ltd, India’s second ranked tech services company by revenues, has a business contingency group that takes over when a crisis happens. “It is activated immediately. They will do a round-the-clock monitoring” in the event of a crisis, says T.V. Mohandas Pai, director and head of human resources at the firm. External stimulus Infosys says it has disaster recovery centres, mandated in customer contracts, spread across multiple locations that it doesn’t disclose. Like Infosys, Aditya Birla group firms and several others mandate that no two senior staff take the same flight when they travel and provide personal security to senior personnel. Santrupt Misra, group director for human resources at Aditya Birla group, which includes companies such as Grasim Industries Ltd and UltraTech Cement Ltd, won’t reveal details but says his company has in place clear processes for events that require “drop-dead succession”. The group works closely with firms such as International SOS Online Inc., a top name in worldwide emergency health care assistance and security services. The oil-to-steel conglomerate, Essar Group, keeps its emergency response system on its toes by internal and external safety audit checks by risk management companies, said a senior executive, who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to talk with the media. Some 90% of the group’s sites in Hazira and Vadinar, both in Gujarat, and its corporate office in Mumbai follow the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration norms that focus on workplace safety and health. Insurance-related processes help, this executive said. “We conduct mock drills (nine in the last 18 months at the refinery) and rehearse it to insurance companies for cover,” he said. Mahindra and Mahindra group, whose flagship is an eponymous auto maker, set up Mahindra Special Services Group, a team to protect the business group’s assets, in 2000. The unit has since evolved into a business that serves the likes of Hindustan Unilever Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd and Essar. It devises contingency plans for emergencies. Says Raghu Raman, chief executive of Mahindra Special Services Group, “Certain locations that have been identified will be turned into a command centre, where external lines will be laid out, fax machines set up, additional mobile phones set up and several new communication lines are opened up.” Formerly an army captain, Raman rues what he calls the “moralistic” attitude of Indian companies and chief executives who lay the responsibility for security entirely at the government’s door. “It is high time corporate India wakes up; it cannot be an individualistic selfish view,” he says, hoping “this lesson has been driven down into the heads of the influentials for the first time” after last week’s attacks. “I think we lost a few billion dollars last weekend,” he says. “Corporate India will realize that we need to have a paradigm change in the way we deal with terrorism.” satish.j@livemint.com Raghu Krishnan in Banglaore, and Shauvik Ghosh, Shabana Hussain and Rasul Bailay in New Delhi contributed to this story. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:05 pm UPA tries to contain the political falloutNew Delhi: In a move to contain the political fallout of the Mumbai terror strike, the sixth attack on an Indian city in six months, and to retain its strategic focus on the economy, the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance, or UPA, replaced home minister Shivraj Patil with finance minister P. Chidambaram on Sunday and brought the finance ministry directly under the control of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Opposition political parties, some key cabinet ministers such as Lalu Prasad and analysts maintained that it was a case of too little too late, as some key Congress politicians, including general secretary Rahul Gandhi, mounted pressure on the leadership to adopt a more aggresive stance towards Pakistan. Click here to watch video The announcement, which preceded an all-party meeting, followed nationwide outrage over the terrorist attack in south Mumbai that left at least 183 people dead. The government’s delayed reaction, especially the Prime Minister choosing to address the nation only 18 hours after the attack began on Wednesday night, and the absence of demonstrable political leadership in dealing with the crisis fanned the anger. The Congress leadership is also contemplating the removal of Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who along with Patil and national security adviser (NSA) M.K. Narayanan bore the brunt of criticism following the Mumbai attacks, said three people familiar with the developments, who did not want to be identified. Also See Vulnerability Exposed (PDF) The people said Narayanan had offered to step down, even though there was no official confirmation. Intelligence bureau chief P.C. Haldar also might be asked to go on leave as a part of the damage control exercise, they said. Haldar is due to retire on 31 December. The widespread anger over the handling of the Mumbai crisis by the Congress-led governments both at the Centre and in Maharashtra is expected to dent the ruling party’s prospects in the ongoing state assembly elections and parliamentary polls due to take place by May. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, was quick to seize on the Mumbai attacks to press its claim that the UPA was soft on terror. BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy blamed the “collective culpable negligence” of the government for the Mumbai attacks. “The resignation of the home minister is too little and too late,” Rudy said. “The BJP feels that the government has been irresponsible and people would settle the score. Asking for the government’s resignation is of no consequence today as there are only a few months left.” Railway minister Lalu Prasad said Patil’s ouster had been delayed “too much”. The UPA’s former allies, the Left parties, were critical. “Changing faces will not solve the problems. What the government should do now is to immediately take effective steps to revamp and strengthen the intelligence and security set-up,” said Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo member S. Ramachandra Pillai. Communist Party of India national secretary D. Raja called for “introspection” by the government. The Congress party sought to deflect the criticism. “The need of the hour is to look ahead, not back...as well as develop a political consensus on fighting terror,” party spokesman Manish Tewari said.  Political casualties: Shivraj Patil (left) and M.K. Narayanan. PTI/AP According to a person familiar with the development, who did not want to be identified, the Prime Minister proposed Chidambaram’s name for the home minister’s post at a meeting held at UPA chief Sonia Gandhi’s residence. “No other name was discussed,” the person added. At a late Saturday meeting of the Congress Working Committee, or CWC, that lasted at least 3 hours, almost all the nine members who spoke were “highly critical of both the home minister and the NSA,” said another party leader who attended the meeting. “Finally when he offered to step down, there was pin-drop silence in the room,” he added. Patil is only the third home minister to have resigned. Some Congress party leaders, who attended Saturday’s CWC meeting, demanded a more aggressive stance towards Pakistan, given that security agencies have identified some terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks as being from that country. These leaders included Rahul Gandhi, people in the Congress party said. Chidambaram’s shift from the finance ministry may help parry criticism on the economic front, some Congress leaders say. “I do not know whether he would be a better home minister. But I am glad that he is out of the finance ministry,” one ruling party politician said, citing inflation as a still troublesome issue. Some analysts went further. “Markets will rejoice (at) the FM going out—he’s made a mess of the economy. People will accept that the government has removed two non-performers and this can positively influence the markets tomorrow,” said Arun Kejriwal, director at Kejriwal Research and Investment Service. Political analysts said the changes would augur well. “Patil’s resignation is good news and any change is welcome,” said B.G. Varghese, political analyst and visiting professor at the Centre for Policy Research. liz.m@livemint.com Reuters contributed to this story. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:03 pm Extroverts have a clear advantageMy boss recently told me that I am very competent and have a clear vision for my team, but in order to get promoted, I need to show a stronger personality. As a naturally introverted person, what should I do? Name withheld, Atlanta  And now, back to business, and a question of our own: How do you feel about the prospect of putting on a perky face and a big voice and trying to chit-chat and “ho, ho, ho” your way into your team’s heart? Panicked? Depressed? A little of both? Or do you simply feel worried, knowing how much people generally dislike phonies? If so, we’re with you. Competence and vision are all well and good—and congratulations on having those qualities—but the inescapable fact is that authenticity matters too. And if you take your boss’ recent advice, you’ll no doubt be quashing your own. Except—and this is a big “except”—you have no choice. Your boss is trying to help you, and he’s right. Over time many introverts stagnate in large organizations. They can work hard, deliver to expectations or even beyond, but rarely seem to get their due. Note that we’re talking about big firms. Almost anyone with a great idea can soar at a start-up, and small companies often give individuals more latitude to be themselves as long as the results are there. But in a big, bureaucratic enterprise, atmospheric conditions give extroverts a marked advantage. Click here to watch video The reasons are myriad. Big firms are looking for people to move across divisions or around the world, and extroverts, by rights or not, simply appear more prepared for such opportunities. With their charisma and superior verbal skills, they’re thought to be more “out front”, able to communicate powerfully and motivate their people—especially during tough times. Extroverts also tend to make relationships with more ease—another boon in gummy environments. And finally, extroverts tend to outshine introverts in large companies because early on their outsized personalities earn them opportunities to make presentations to higher-ups, which is always a good way to accelerate the process of getting out of the pile. Indeed, big firms are so oriented towards extroverts that introverts who stay within them often experience a dyna-mic not unlike the one experienced by many women and minorities in corporate environments. They have to over-deliver just to stay even. There are, of course, exceptions. Everyone can tell the story of a reserved, shy, anti-social or otherwise introverted individual who has risen through the ranks to run something big. But in every such case we know of, the introvert has something special going on such as a brilliant, anticipatory mind for technology and its trends, an uncommon understanding of emerging markets or a unique ability to critique deals. These savants become so indispensable to their firms’ competitive success that they move upward in the ranks. Despite their differences, their value demands it. Indeed, that’s why many introverts who end up in senior management positions are often the brains of their organizations, while someone else runs operations. Now, it could very well be that you are one of those rare introverts whose special competency will eventually carry the day, and you can just keep acting naturally. But if that’s not the case, we’re back to where we started. If you want to take charge of your career in your current company, you’ve gotten not just your marching orders, but sound mentoring advice. Start getting out there, mixing it up, speaking more often and connecting more routinely with your team and others in the organization while deploying all the positive energy and personality you can muster. Will your team notice and recoil? Possibly. Remember, they’re on phoney alert. Our suggestion, though, is to go right ahead and tell them what you’re doing, which is really just trying to bring more of your inner self to the office so you can all work together more effectively. You might even ask for their help and feedback. You’d be better off to seek it. Ultimately, any and all candour you can bring to your public transformation will hold you in good stead. Write to Jack & Suzy Jack and Suzy are eager to hear about your career dilemmas and challenges at work, and look forward to answering some of your questions in future columns. Jack and Suzy Welch are the authors of the international best-seller, Winning. Their latest book is Winning: The Answers: Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions in Business Today. Mint readers can email them questions at winning@livemint.com Please include your name, occupation and city. Only select questions will be answered. ©2008/By NYT Syndicate Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:02 pm ‘Liquidity not a constraint for economic growth’ - Financial Express
Source: Google News India - Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 6:55 pm Fly Kingfisher Red, get free meals too - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 6:44 pm Markets to remain on positive note - Financial Express
Source: Google News India - Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 6:42 pm Investors seen holding their nerves amid low volumes - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 6:42 pm Taj mourns death of its employees - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 6:41 pm India Inc's terror cover may fall short - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 6:41 pm Directors’ & officers’ premiums increase on litigation fears New Delhi: Several insurance companies have increased premiums on directors’ and officers’ (D&O) liability policies significantly in the past two months, anticipating a rise in litigation against top executives as companies liquidate and restructure assets amid the economic slowdown. D&O cover—or professional liability cover—protects directors and other company functionaries against civilian liabilities arising from charges of harassment, discrimination, wrong disclosures, hiding information, inaccurate financial statements, mismanaging corporate assets, fraud and dishonesty. This protection, however, is limited to legal expenses and doesn’t cover criminal liabilities and penalties. “In the past two-three months, premium rates for D&O policies have gone up by around 20-50% depending on the risk profile of the company. In India, it has a total market of around Rs100 crore but given the recent downturn, the demand has increased for such covers,” said Rahul Aggarwal, chief executive of New Delhi-based Optima Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd. HDFC Ergo General Insurance Co. Ltd, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd and Tata AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd offer D&O cover. “In India, the sum assured of D&O policy ranges between $1million (Rs4.98 crore today) and $5 million. The size of the cover and the premium charges depend on factors such as the net worth of a company and risk profile. Normally, a policy with the sum assured of $5million costs around Rs7 lakh (in annual premium),” said Aggarwal. Premium rates on D&O cover are decided on a case-to-case basis and depend on liabilities company officials are exposed to in India and abroad, said Santosh Balan, marketing head of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. “If the risk levels of the company go up on account of retrenchment or other factors, the premium is accordingly calculated for the policy,” Balan said. Corporate lawyers say the economic slowdown and credit crunch that has hit companies could lead to an increase in litigation. “In the case of companies going for restructuring and liquidation, personal liabilities are likely to go up on directors,” said U. K. Chaudhary, a senior lawyer in New Delhi. Litigation can be initiated by shareholders, creditors, customers, statutory authorities, employees and competitors. There is no cover under D&O policy for cases filed by the company or a director against another director. “With renegotiation of commercial contracts, more prosecutions can come up in the period ahead,” said Kalapataru Tripathy, partner at Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co., a legal firm. Some of the laws under which directors can be held liable are the Companies Act 1956, Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954, Child Labour Act, Negotiable Instruments Acts, Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and Wildlife Protection Act 1972. “In the case of a company with high-risk profile, such as real estate companies, premium rates for directors’ and officers’ liability cover have gone up,” said Pavanjit Singh Dhingra, vice-president of Prudent Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd, a Gurgaon-based insurance broking company. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 5:56 pm Wall St Week Ahead: Stocks eye dour jobs, shopping dataNEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street may struggle this week to build on its best weekly performance in almost 30 years as investors grapple with a raft of economic data, including the November jobs report, that will likely provide more evidence of a deep economic downturn.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 5:43 pm Sluggish markets hit shipbuilding firms’ fund-raising plansBangalore: Two of India’s top shipbuilding companies, as well as a third that is constructing a new facility, may have to defer plans to raise money from the public to fund their projects due to sluggish market conditions. Local firms had outlined plans to invest close to Rs20,000 cr over the next three-five years “Nobody wants to touch the IPO (initial public offering) market now. It is for everyone to see,” said Bhavesh Gandhi, vice-chairman of Pipavav Shipyard Ltd, the country’s newest shipbuilder that began constructing the first of a series of 26 ships worth Rs4,300 crore for French, Greek and Norwegian fleet owners early this year. Pipavav Shipyard had received clearance in October from India’s stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, to raise as much as Rs800 crore by selling shares to the public through an IPO. The shipyard, promoted by SKIL Infrastructure Ltd and Punj Lloyd Ltd, has time till December to launch the IPO. The Sebi clearance for public offerings is valid for three months. “If we are not able to complete the IPO by December and the approval lapses, we will refile the prospectus and take fresh approval from Sebi,” Gandhi said. “We are waiting and watching for the good times. It is just a question of the markets getting charged up before we take the plunge,” he added. Gandhi said any delay in IPO would not impact the commercial shipbuilding project. “The current project is fully funded through debt and equity. The IPO was meant to raise additional resources to fund expansion plans to cater to offshore vessels as well as building and repairing ships for the Indian Navy,” he said. Poor market conditions have also nixed the plans of state-run Cochin Shipyard Ltd to sell shares to the public. “We will not be going for an IPO now,” said an official at Cochin Shipyard who did not want to be identified. The company, though, is proceeding with all the pre-IPO related work so that it can enter when the market picks up, the same official said. Cochin Shipyard had recently received approval from the Union government to set up a small shipbuilding division with an investment of Rs98 crore. The company had also floated plans to build a second dry dock to construct bigger ships. A dry dock is a narrow basin that can be flooded to allow a ship to be floated in, then drained to allow that ship to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance and repair of ships and typically cost around Rs800-1,000 crore. Chennai-based ship owning firm Goodearth Maritime Ltd has also put off plans to raise money from the public, citing unfavourable conditions, said an executive at the company who did not want to be identified. Goodearth Maritime has started work on putting up a new shipyard at Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu with an investment of over Rs2,000 crore. “The company’s board has deferred IPO plans for now. We will revisit the plan at a later date,” said the same executive. Goodearth Maritime is now making use of the Rs265 crore it received from IDFC Pvt. Equity early this year to fund the project. India has some 23 yards that are currently building about 250 ships valued at Rs24,000 crore. The country’s shipbuilding capacity is projected to reach 4 million tonnes (mt) (cargo carrying capacity) by 2012 from the present 2.8mt and rise further to 19mt by 2017, aided mainly by cost competitiveness and availability of skilled and cheap labour, according to a recent industry-funded report prepared by KPMG Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. At this stage, India will have a 7.5% share of the global market, up from less than 1% now, said the report, which was submitted to the government. Local firms had outlined plans to invest close to Rs20,000 crore over the next three-five years to build new facilities and tap the potential that prevailed till early this year when shipping and global trade were at their peak. But the global credit crunch, the deteriorating economies in the West and the downturn in global shipping have put the brakes on the ship acquisition plans of global fleet owners, forcing local shipbuilding firms to trim their plans. For instance, Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T), the country’s biggest engineering firm, has scaled down its earlier plan of setting up a Rs3,000 crore mega shipyard at Kattupalli in Tamil Nadu on the country’s eastern coast. The firm will now be investing only Rs1,800 crore to erect the yard with a capacity to build 12 ships in a year compared with 60 earlier. “Because of the global meltdown, high cost of funds and slowing demand for new ships, we have pruned the capacity of the yard,” said an executive at L&T who did not want to be identified. “We can scale up the capacity later depending on the demand,” the executive added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 5:36 pm Markets seen relieved PM to caretake financeMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's markets will likely react positively on Monday when a cabinet reshuffle sees the prime minister take on the finance portfolio, just days after the nation was rattled by the deadly attacks on Mumbai.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 5:12 pm Goa taxi drivers' strike hits tourists hardTourists taxis in Goa stayed off the roads for the third consecutive day Sunday after a tiff with private tour operators, affecting a large number of tourists traveling to and within the state.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 30 Nov 2008 | 3:31 pm Delhi operations of Sakaal Times closed, employees angryThe Delhi operations of the Sakaal Times, an English daily brought out by Maharashtra's leading Sakal media group, were closed down Sunday allegedly without informing the employees in advance. The group's management has denied the charge.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 30 Nov 2008 | 3:31 pm Dubai property giant Nakheel to cut 500 jobsDubai's real estate giant, Nakheel, on Sunday announced to scale down its operations and cut 15 per cent of its staff in the wake of the current global financial meltdown.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 1:47 pm Citigroup to sell trust banking unit in Japan: reportsTokyo: US banking giant Citigroup, beset by the global financial turmoil, has decided to sell its Japanese trust banking unit NikkoCiti Trust and Banking, reports said today. The bidding will likely take place next week, with major domestic trust banks including Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking and Sumitomo Trust & Banking expected to make bids for the firm, the business daily Nikkei and Kyodo News reported, citing unnamed sources. Kyodo News reported that the sale could amount to ‘tens of billions’ of yen. Nikkociti’s total net assets stood at ¥18 billion ($190 million) as of the end of September. The reports came after the US government in late November stepped in to guarantee over $300 billion in potential losses at Citigroup and pump $20 billion more into the financial giant. Nikko Cordial Securities, a major Japanese securities house also under the umbrella of Citigroup, has also decided to trim jobs through calls for early retirements, the reports said. Despite the subprime housing loan crisis which emerged earlier this year, Citigroup has pressed ahead with expansion into the Japanese market, this year taking full control of brokerage house Nikko Cordial Corp in a $4.8 billion share swap. But in February it announced it was selling its Tokyo headquarters to its rival Morgan Stanley in a deal reported to be worth ¥48 billion ($455 million). Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 1:44 pm Pollo Campero to foray into IndiaGlobal QSR (quick service restaurant) chain Pollo Campero is planning to foray into the multi-billion-dollar Indian fast food marketSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 1:36 pm Chartered Accountants to be in demand: ICAIIn the wake of the global meltdown and slowdown affecting the country, the profession of Accounting would take lead in ensuring financial discipline at all levelsSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 1:36 pm GM in talks over debt-for-equity dealLondon: American auto maker General Motors (GM) is in emergency talks with its lenders over a multi-billion dollar debt-for-equity deal which could save the company from filing for bankruptcy, a media report said. “GM is in emergency discussions with its lenders this weekend over a multi-billion dollar debt-for-equity deal that could save the iconic American car giant from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing,” The Sunday Times said. The report said that the auto maker’s chief executive Rick Wagoner is scrambling to secure a deal by Tuesday, when he will make a fresh attempt to secure up to $12 billion (£7.8 billion) in financial aid from the US government. According to the publication, Wagoner is trying to persuade some of the debt-holders to swap part of General Motors’ $43-billion debt pile for shares, in a move that would shore up the balance sheet and reduce its crippling interest costs. The auto maker has been paying nearly $2.9 billion a year in interest payments. Further, the company has lost about $13 billion in the first nine months of this year due to weak demand and restructuring costs. The report noted that the new capital structure would form the basis of a new business plan for a much smaller, leaner business. If agreement can be reached this weekend the company could avoid seeking bankruptcy protection. American auto giants — General Motors, Chrysler and Ford — have been severely hit by the ongoing financial turmoil and have been seeking assistance from the US government to shore up their fortunes. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:45 pm Mittal richest person in South Africa againIndia-born steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal has been named the richest person in South Africa for the fourth consecutive yearSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:41 pm China losing competitive edge in world market: HuChina, "the world's factory", is losing its competitive edge in the world market amid the raging global economic crisis, President Hu Jintao has warned.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:33 pm Himachal Pradesh invites Brakel to sign power project agreementHimachal Pradesh has invited Dutch firm Brakel Corp NV to sign the pre-implementation agreement (PIA) for the execution of a multi-million dollar hydropower project awarded to it in December 2006, a government official has said.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:31 pm Mumbai terror could further hit Goa tourismTourism in Goa, already reeling under the global meltdown, will further be hit in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) president Ralph de Souza said Sunday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:30 pm Dunlop declares suspension of work at Sahaganj unitTyre-maker Dunlop India Ltd Sunday declared suspension of work at its Sahaganj plant in the Hooghly district, leaving the future of over 1,200 workers in uncertainty.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:30 pm Amway India eyeing Rs.25 bn turnover by 2012Describing its business model as 'recession resilient', fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major Amway India Enterprises Sunday expressed confidence that its turnover would reach Rs.25 billion by 2012 from the present Rs.10 billion.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:30 pm Chidambaram as Home Minister will boost confidenceP Chidambaram as Home Minister and his finance portfolio going to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will boost investors' confidenceSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:29 pm Security and hospitality can`t go together, says Oberoi!The govt should work pro-actively in improving the security at important places including star hotels, said Oberoi.Source: Zee News : Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:16 pm `We will rebuild Taj to full glory`!Tata Group Chief Ratan Tata on Saturday assured that Taj will be rebuild to its full glory.Source: Zee News : Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:16 pm OPEC ends Cairo meet without new cuts!OPEC held off on announcing new oil output cuts on Saturday, but its alarm over falling demand and a slumping economy.Source: Zee News : Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:16 pm Attacks chill economic prospects!The deadly terror strike on Mumbai clouds the future of India.Source: Zee News : Business | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:16 pm Agro Tech in Chandigarh attracts more city folks than farmersAgriculture technology and business fair, 'Agro Tech 2008', underway in Chandigarh seems to have caught the fancy of the urban population and entrepreneurs more than that of farmers.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 30 Nov 2008 | 12:00 pm Mumbai terror, economic crises bad news for Kerala tourismMembers of the Kerala tourism industry, already reeling under the impact of the global economic crisis, fear their losses will mount as foreign tourists are likely to stay away in the aftermath of the terror attacks in Mumbai.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:33 am Microsoft announces reworked WindowsMicrosoft has announced an overhaul of its Internet-based Windows Live communications platform.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:23 am New York's Famous Famiglia to enter IndiaNew York-based pizza chain Famous Famiglia is all set to enter India through the franchise route and is scouting for partners.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:22 am Citigroup selling NikkoCiti: ReportUS banking giant Citigroup has decided to sell off NikkoCiti Trust and Banking Corp, its custodian administration arm in JapanSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:22 am US listed Indian stocks lose $3 bn in a monthAs bourses worldwide traded in volatile zone, the collective value of Indian stocks trading on the American markets tumbled by nearly USD three billionSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:20 am Dubai's Nakheel cuts 500 jobs as global crisis hitsDUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai government-owned Nakheel, developer of the Gulf trade hub's man-made palm islands, said on Sunday it had cut 500 jobs or 15 percent of its workforce as it scales back projects amid the global financial crisis.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 8:57 am New York's pizza company to enter IndiaNew York-based pizza chain Famous Famiglia is all set to enter India through the franchise route and is scouting for partners.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:00 am Mumbai attack - mixed bag for insurersThe bottomlines of insurance companies that have insured the terrorist-attacked hotels in Mumbai will not be affected by property damage claims as the loss will be met from a terrorism risk pool, managed by the state-run General Insurance Corp of India (GIC), say industry officials.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 30 Nov 2008 | 6:30 am ACS to ramp up India headcount by 1,000 by mid ‘09By PTI New Delhi: Amid gloomy scenario in the global job markets, hiring in India is continuing at a strong pace with world’s largest business process outsourcing firm Affiliated Computer Services planning to recruit 1,000 people in the next 6-8 months in the country. “We are looking to increase our headcount by 1,000 employees in India in the next 6-8 months, out of which about 500 would be employed in our new facility at Noida, which is in the process of being set up,” ACS India country head and vice president Aman Mustafa said. The company is in the process of setting up a new facility in Noida, while it already has offices in Bangalore, Kochi and Chennai and the total employee strength of the company is around 5,000 in the country. Bangalore operations have about 2,800 people and around 1,800 people are stationed in Kochi. “Despite the global economic crisis our business has not been affected and our existing and new clients have been approaching us for services to reduce their costs,” Mustafa said. Mustafa further said that ACS Inc’s balance sheet is stable with strong cash flows amid the economic downturn, even as its shares have taken a beating at the New York Stock Exchange. The global firm has a market capitalization of over $3.86 billion. Recently, a host of firms, including Metlife India, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, State Bank of India, Larsen and Toubro are planning to recruit over 70,000 people in the country. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 30 Nov 2008 | 6:19 am China's president warns of deepening economic downturnBEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao has warned that his country's competitiveness and trade strength are being threatened by a sustained global economic downturn, testing the grip of the ruling Communist Party.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Nov 2008 | 2:57 am Indian Railways, Cox & Kings to launch luxury trainThe terror strike on Mumbai might have put a big question mark on the fate of luxury tourism within the country, but it surely has not stopped Lalu Prasads Indian Railways from drawing up bigSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 29 Nov 2008 | 6:42 pm Singh, Sonia move to take stockWithin hours of security action against the terrorists in Mumbai getting over, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi put their political management plan in action.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 29 Nov 2008 | 6:41 pm Terror insurance premium to riseWith terror attack claims likely to wipe out over 70 per cent of the Rs 700-crore terror pool, insurers are expected to chip in with additional funds to replenish the corpus and raise the premium paidSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 29 Nov 2008 | 6:40 pm Attack may leave Rs 500 cr bill for TajRestoration of colonial woodwork could take almost an year.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 29 Nov 2008 | 6:40 pm Mumbai breathes easy, finallyAttackers had enough ammo to kill 5,000, says Maharashtra Deputy CM R R Patil.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 29 Nov 2008 | 6:39 pm
|
